Chapter 9: When it rains, it pours
**** Grimmauld place, July 9th, early afternoon ****
Margret was roused by a crash from downstairs. Rushing to identify the cause, she encountered a sight that would come to haunt her over the coming nights. In the foyer, right past the door still open door, her daughter was lying over a prone Harry, crying
Fearing the worst, she screamed for Henry and rushed down to help.
Closing in, she could see that Hermione seemed all right, but that Harry certainly wasn't. He was curled up into a ball and shivering. Hermione had pulled his head into her lap and was stroking his hair while crying softly. Margret dropped to her knees beside them and hastily felt for his pulse, which she found hammering like a racehorse's pace at Ascot finals.
At that moment, Henry ran down the stairs, nearly falling in his haste, and stopped before them. Seeing his wife care for the boy, he turned to Hermione and asked what happened.
"We were attacked by Death Eaters after Dumbledore tricked us and revealed our true identities. Harry was hit by a torture curse, and then I got knocked out. He protected me until Tonks came and sent us home."
"How is he?" Henry asked his wife.
"His pulse is racing and his muscles are cramping. I think we should get him into his bed. I think another dose of muscle relaxant might help. Maybe some pain reliever, too."
With a nod, Henry knelt down and lifted the boy into his arms. He was shocked when instead of being limp, Harry proved to be stiff as a board. He could feel those muscles rippling under the boy's clothes, cramping continuously. He rushed up the stairs, and deposited Harry in his bed, while Hermione followed as quickly as she could, leaning heavily on her mother.
As soon as she entered the room, Margret told Henry that she would leave to search for their medical equipment. Hermione held her back. "I'm so stupid, should have thought of it first," she stammered, then shouted, "Dobby!"
"Yes, Mistress Gran... EEP! Master Harry is being sick! Dobby will be helping! What is you needing?" Dobby had popped in, and started shouting at the sight of Harry, wringing his ears.
"Bring every healing potion you can find. There should be a lot in my parent's stored trunk. Bring my parent's medical stuff, too. Whatever looks medical, ok?" Hermione said, while she slowly lowered herself to a chair.
Her mother took a look at her, held one of Hermione's eyes open. She then shielded it against the light with her hand a few times, watching the pupil's dilation. "Might be a concussion," she noted towards her husband, who was currently trying to undress Harry, looking for further injuries.
"I banged my head while dodging a spell. Don't really know what happened afterwards. I got lucid sometime during the portkey ride. I feel slightly sick from that," Hermione spoke with a thick voice, and held her head. She was developing a splitting headache, too.
A few seconds later, Dobby popped in, and started resizing stuff. A cardboard box with the potions in various bottles - whatever was available at the time Hermione brewed them - their doctors' satchels, the medicine cabinet and much other stuff. Hermione stopped him when he resized her father's antique dentist's stool, which had stood in his office as a keepsake.
While her mother started rooting in her satchel, Hermione slowly stood and shuffled over to grab a milk bottle with a deep green fluid, and gulped down a large gulp of the Bludger hit restoring potion. She sighed as the headache lessened and her dizziness faded a bit, and handed her mother some potions for Harry.
Meanwhile, Henry had Harry in the bed, and Margret was checking him over again. She fumbled around and finally got a chance to give Harry an injection when Henry grabbed Harry's arm and held it down forcibly. It took a few minutes for them to relax Harry's muscles, and the teen uncurled; now lying flat, only a full body shiver left from what would have been horrendous cramps. Only now they were able to feed him some of the potions.
Usually, the effect of these potions was immediate, but this time, it was like they had poured water down his gullet. Nothing happened.
"Harry? How do feel?"
"Hurts… Bad… Everywhere." Harry moaned, to which the elder Grangers exchanged a look.
"Nerve damage," Henry said with a sad glance at his wife, then looking at Hermione. "There's nothing we can do against that, except strong painkillers to knock him out. But he might get addicted to them before he gets better, if ever. Got any potions for that?"
Hermione shook her head. "No, all I got are blunt trauma and burn damage. No pain potions. I don't know. Maybe... wait a minute... Dobby? Can you find Auror Tonks?"
The elf had not left yet, just retreated into the background, and jumped to attention. "Yes, Dobby cans, Master Harry's Grangy, Miss!"
"Could you please go to her, and ask her discreetly what to do against Cruciatus exposure? Ask her to talk to you alone; we don't want anybody to know. Maybe she has some potions or can tell you which to buy. Take these coins and buy all she tells you," she said, fetching and handing Dobby Harry's purse, which still contained about two hundred gallons from their earlier withdrawal.
After Dobby had popped away, Hermione unceremoniously crawled under the heavy blanket to cuddle Harry's side, and started cradling his head and caressing his hair, whispering encouragements into his ear.
If the situation weren't so serious, her parents would have ribbed her about that. But being as it was, Margret sat down at Harry's other side, patting his hand, while her husband stood behind her, his hand on her shoulder, giving silent support. Still, Harry did not respond to anything, and kept shivering and moaning in pain.
It must have been no more than 5 minutes later when a pop announced the elf's return. He carried a big box with the apothecary's logo on it.
"Dobby did as told, Dobby did buy everything Miss Tonksie said, as much as he could." he said, dropping the box on the nightstand, and vanishing the lid with a snap of his fingers.
"Miss Tonksie said that Master Harry Potter, Sir, must be taking one of the blue now and one of the purple when the potion works and Master Harry, Sir, is being awake again. Miss Tonksie said we can not do more than that for Master Harry, Sir, but Master Harry, Sir will be getting better by tomorrow evening," he said and paused to hand Margret the correct potion, which she immediately fed to Harry with help of Hermione.
"Miss Tonksie wills being visiting Master Harry Potter, Sir, tomorrow morning, Miss Tonksie did say. Dobby is being sorry not being able to do more for Master Harry. Dobby will beg Master Harry Potter, Sir, to let Dobby punish Dobby when Master Harry Potter, Sir, awakes," the elf whined, his hands flinching as his desires fought against his orders not to punish himself.
"That won't be necessary," Henry interrupted gently. "By the way, where is Winky?"
"Winky is not being called, so Winky is being working and waiting for Dobby to tell Winky about Master Harry. May Dobby go and calm Winky?"
"Oh, how stupid of us," Margret gasped. "Winky!" she called, causing the other elf to appear. Obviously, Winky was as distraught as Dobby; she arrived crying.
"Mistress Grangy-Mum called?" she said after sniffing the tears away.
Margret left Harry's side to kneel before Winky, hugging her. "Harry has been hurt, but now he will be getting better, thanks to Dobby's help. I just called you so that you needn't stay alone."
Being relieved that her master would be fine; Winky even forgot to be properly embarrassed, and let her be guided to the bedside, where Margret sat down again, while Winky and Dobby joined the vigil - of course only after they had popped out quickly to bring seats and refreshments for their caring masters.
True to Tonk's prediction, Harry got lucid about an hour later, got his second potion and promptly fell asleep again. None of the Grangers left their positions that night.
*** In a dark hideout ***
Screams were echoing through the halls of Voldemort's lair as the Dark Lord personally debriefed the capture team in person. While he knew that the mission had been initiated on the fly after the Malfoy boy had stumbled across the Potter brat and the old coot, failure still was no option. Only his weakened state kept him from killing them outright, but punishment had to be dished out.
After all, he had sent eight of his own against Dumbledore, Potter and his mudblood. And what happened? Dolohov dead, and two captured! Once more he channelled his anger into his Cruciatuscurse as he debriefed the last man of the team before turning towards the leader kneeling next to the curled up man.
The dark lord stopped as he saw the nearly eager expression on the face of his only female lieutenant at the prospect of getting cursed. "No, Bella, I am not going to curse you," he said with a sickly sweet voice, watching her face fall. Right then, he realized to his great displeasure that she truly was beyond help. She had been crazy already when he met her, but after her stint to Azkaban she was only inches away from complete insanity. He had to make sure he never cursed her again if he didn't want to loose her.
"You deserve a special punishment, my dear," he whispered sweetly, causing all people present to wince in anticipation. "You will not torture, hurt or kill anyone for a month, not even watching, except if I send you on a mission. And even then, you will not cause any collateral damage beside your orders," he told her, watching the insanity briefly leave her face as she looked at him like a kicked puppy. "Also, you will go down to the chambers every morning, healing all present prisoners, and then take them the memories of their abuse before you bring them away and release them into the Muggle world unharmed," he told her, delighted in the horrified look she sported now.
"You all will make sure that there are always some prisoners present," he said with a look around at the other assembled and watching Death Eaters, gaining a chorus of delighted positive responses.
"Now leave!" he barked, causing all of them to quickly move out.
"Oh, and Bella," he added while returning to his throne and sitting down slowly. "If you dare disappointing me once more or misbehave even the slightest during this punishment, I'll make you bed the male ones," he whispered, his crimson eyes staring into her dark ones, before they rolled up into her head as she fainted at the bare thought of doing so.
*** Grimmauld place, July 10th, 7:34 ***
"Damn it!" Tonks muttered again as she materialized in the deserted entrance area.
Adding one and one, she quickly made her way up to Harry's bedroom, where she encountered Harry and the Grangers, the elder ones sitting in chairs next to the bed and Hermione still under the sheets cuddling Harry. Before she could say a word, Hermione spotted her, and sat up, waving.
"Hello Tonks. What's wrong?" Hermione asked when she saw her frowning.
"The Order! Dumbledore found out," Tonks hissed, her hair turning deep purple. "He noticed me talking to Dobby last evening at the Ministry. We were both tied dup in the questioning, but he has been trying to contact me all morning."
After some expletives of varying gravity were uttered around the room, Henry asked the million pound question.
"What does that mean for us?"
"They are looking for you, and given the connection between Dobby and Harry, they now know I am in contact with you. If they can add two and two, they will shortly know where you are hiding. Take a good look out of the window; I bet the Order is already waiting out there. Also, I will be hounded day and night by them to return you, if they do not try to get me arrested outright."
A quick look out of the window proved her guess. There were at least three members already waiting in front of the house.
"Hermione…" Harry croaked. The heated voices had woken him.
With a cry of "Harry," Hermione threw herself at him.
"Are you ok? You stupid... boy! Why didn't you just dodge that Cruciatus? You must have seen that even before me!" she sobbed.
"Would have hit you..." he croaked, before her hug silenced him.
Tonks snorted and elbowed Margret slightly to gain her attention. Bending over without taking her eyes from the teens, she whispered "When is the wedding, again?"
"As soon as I can arrange it," was the answer from Henry, who had overheard their talk. It seemed that by taking a literal bullet for Hermione, Harry finally gained his complete approval - at least for the moment.
After the teens had separated, Tonks got to business. "I need your version of the fight for the report."
After a quick look, Hermione began to describe the beginning, up to her fall and injury while dodging the curse.
Harry finished the tale and finally, Tonks gave her update about Pettigrew's fate, and that Scrimgeour, the new Head of MLE had already reopened Sirius's case.
"I wish I could have heard it. Witnesses claim that Fudge was cursing up a storm, but Scrimgeour, my new boss, wouldn't have any of that," Tonks told them with a broad smile. In fact, Scrimgeour was personally pushing the case - using the opportunity to weaken the Minister for his own political gains. There was no way he would miss out on a chance like that.
"You know, we managed to captured the one Hermione had downed and one of the others. When us Aurors showed up, the cowards retreated quickly, including my crazy aunt," Tonks continued her tale, ending in a frown.
"How deep in trouble is Harry this time?" Hermione asked, worrying her lip in concern. "Are there any charges against him?"
"Don't worry, girl, it was me and Kingsley who briefed Scrimgeour about the scene. He declared that the moment it became clear that Bellatrix was with them, any force was justified; he had signed the report instantly, clearing you from any misdemeanour," Tonks reported with a gleam in her eyes. "Admit it; sometimes it's nice to have a hardliner in charge, isn't it?"
All the time, Margret was rocking in her seat, itching to talk to Harry. "How do you cope with things, Harry? How do you feel about it?"
"I'm fine," Harry used his trademark line, but furrowing his brow. "That actually bothers me a bit. Shouldn't I be devastated or something? I don't feel anything, at all, over killing that man."
"Not necessarily," Henry interrupted to encourage his future son-in-law, patting his shoulder lightly. "After all you've been through, it can be expected that you're a bit jaded. But you won't see me crying, either. As long as you don't start to enjoy it, you're all right."
"Just one more thing, Harry," Tonks said. "While I can understand, it was stupid of you to shield Hermione."
Quelling the enraged responses with both hands raised, she moved on to explain. "While a Cruciatus is nasty business, she's a big girl and girls can take pain. With you disabled by the curse, on the other hand, both of your lives were endangered! You are the better fighter; you're fast, you don't hold back, and on full power, as proven, some of your curses even smash through their shields."
"The best course of action would have been to blast Pettigrew first, and then the man cursing Hermione. You see, as long as he' torturing her, he's not killing her, so he has practically taken himself out of the fight, increasing your chances," she ended her lecture, smiling at the people staring at her in shock.
"Remind me to never get on your bad side," Henry said after a low whistle, shaking his head.
While the now besieged where updating each other of the various topics, someone rang the doorbell.
"That would be Dumbledore," Tonks prophesied, and Henry made a face at her.
"Gee, I thought it would be Jehovah's witnesses," he drawled, rolling his eyes, demonstrating him being related to his daughter.
"Shall we ignore it or talk to him?" Harry asked while sitting up. Hermione did try to help him, hovering nicely, much to Margret's pleasure.
"Since he can't get in, as long as you don't invite him in, you could at least hear him out," Tonks ruminated.
"Ok, then I'll dress and we meet downstairs," Harry finished the conversation. Hermione lingered a bit, considering whether she should stay and assist Harry, but a look from her mother told her that now would be a bad moment for that. She decided to wait outside to help him down the stairs.
"Can't you do something? You are an Auror, and they are well overstepping their authority!" Henry huffed as they reached the entrance hall. "They practically forced us to stay hidden in this house and would have abducted Harry if you hadn't port-thingied them away."
"We are talking about Dumbledore. He is one of the most powerful - magically or politically - in Britain. He is head of our parliament and has enormous influence in the Ministry. He could easily get away with anything. And I believe he does have some legal title when child welfare is concerned, because of being Headmaster, and thus, Harry's magical guardian," Tonks explained as Harry went down the stairs. He went under own power, at a snail's pace and wobbling along on stiff legs, but Hermione only a thought away from helping him.
Henry gave Tonks a frown. "So he isn't actually breaking any laws, yet?"
"Nope, he has written most of these laws himself. He knows exactly what he can and can't do."
They were interrupted by a second, more insistent ring. Tonks hair flashed yellow as she jumped in shock. She suddenly stiffened as she remembered something. "Remus…" she whispered, before babbling at Harry.
"Remember Harry, whatever you do, do not invite anybody in, nor step out of the door or touch anyone. They are still locked out by the wards. Talk to them; stall them. I'll try and get Remus here. I fear we both will have to move in here," Tonks said in a rush, gave a quick goodbye and ran for the Floo, while Harry, with the Grangers in tow, went to answer the door.
When the heavy oak door was pulled open, Dumbledore's smiling face came into view.
"Ah, Harry, finally. We have come to escort you back to your family," he stated, as if stating the sky was blue.
"Strange, I don't remember calling a taxi," Harry countered, which made Henry snort. A quick glare from Margret quieted her husband. The rest of the order members, now nearly a dozen, were acting outraged, as they always did when someone dared to contradict their almighty leader.
"Harry, please. I know you are upset, but you have to return to your family."
"I am with my family!" Harry shouted. "Those evil assholes at Privet Drive never were and never will be my family - I am with my family, right now!" he said, demonstratively waving his left arm towards the Grangers, but failing to notice their proud smiles behind his back. His right hand was still on the doorknob, helping him to stand straight.
"Harry, you know that you need to go back. With Voldemort around, you are simply not safe here."
That statement made Harry laugh. "Sir, you are only able to talk to me because you know the secret. Voldemort doesn't. And if I am not safe here, why are you still out there?"
"I see," the old man sighed. "Maybe we should sit down and talk about that, Harry," he offered, and when Harry didn't react, he prompted "May I come in?"
"Do I look stupid, Headmaster?" Harry asked, "You are exactly where I do want you to be. I'll certainly not bring my enemies into my home."
A sharp collective gasp was heard from most of the Order members - only Snape chose to snarl instead. Molly Weasley, who of course was present, was the most vocal, and immediately started berating him.
"Harry Potter! Do not talk to the Headmaster like that. He is certainly not your enemy! What has gotten into you, young man?"
"Common sense!" Harry barked hotly in return, causing the Weasley matron to jump and puff herself up while sputtering incoherent sounds in her gurning outrage, and giving the overall appearance of a huge enraged chicken in a dress and apron.
"Oh, of course," Margret meanwhile snarled at the shocked looking Dumbledore from the background, "you are so obviously not our enemy. You led an assault team directly to Harry, uncovering his disguise in the middle of a crowded place. Were you born that stupid or did you work on that? With friends like you, Harry doesn't need enemies," she spat venomously at them.
"I assure you that this was all a big misunderstanding, Mrs. Granger," Dumbledore tried to calm the irate woman, knowing very well that her opinion would influence Harry. The Order members were just gaping at the muggle woman who dared to insult their leader like that.
"Of course, Headmaster," Harry sneered. "But now, since I still have some errands to do, I would like to wish you a good day. It was nice talking to you."
With that, Harry turned to close the door, but Dumbledore didn't want to leave it with that.
"Harry, I must insist that you come with me."
That was exactly the worst thing to say in that moment. Harry completely lost it. "Ever heard about a thing called 'CHOICE'? Who the fuck do you think you are, you meddling arse?" he yelled at the old man. It might have been his words, or the sparks flying from him, or the storm blowing around him, tugging at Dumbledore's robes, but the whole Order gasped and scrambled for cover. Not even Molly said one word, but tried to hide behind a lamppost.
"You have absolutely no right what-so-fucking-ever to demand anything from me. I have a written permission from the Dursleys to stay here with Tonks and Remus until my seventeenth birthday. So once again, I WILL NOT GO BACK!" Harry yelled, spittle flying from his mouth as he screamed out his anger at the man before him.
Dumbledore stood there, stoic, but the smile had left his face. He now emanated a small aura himself. The Grangers instinctively began to move back, slowly, as did the few Order members who had not found cover, yet. Only Hermione didn't; she moved a bit behind Harry, knowing that there was no safer place in the confrontation everyone thought inevitable.
"Mr. Potter", Dumbledore began, after taking a deep calming breath. "Let me inform you that that permission is irrelevant. Your relatives have changed their minds and have agreed to forget your behaviour and let you return home. Also, your actions yesterday and your current outburst make it plain that you are certainly not fit to live without supervision and guidance by competent adults. Since you insist on not returning to Privet Drive, you will accompany me to Hogwarts, where you will be under my supervision and tutelage 'til the beginning of your next school year, to show you the error of the way you have chosen. I'll not stand aside and watch you turn dark, like Riddle before."
Everybody, sans Dumbledore, cringed, as they expected Harry to let loose. But to their surprise, Harry relaxed. Thinking that he might have the kid browbeaten into submission, Dumbledore relaxed, too, and began smiling at Harry, again.
That smile died immediately when Harry laughed and told Dumbledore to "Go home and snog Snape," while slamming the door shut.
Turning round, Harry saw five unbelieving faces, staring at him. The Grangers just stared at him, while Tonks, who must have returned with Remus sometime during the confrontation, was imitating a fish on land, opening and closing her mouth continuously, with her spectacular hot-pink hair standing straight up. Remus looked at him in utter horror, while Hermione looked disgusted.
"What?" he asked.
"Dumbledore snogging Snape?" Hermione asked, wrinkling her face in disgust.
"That's nothing to even joke about Harry," Remus interjected agitated, "I nearly lost my lunch when you said that and I still think I need to be obliviated of that mental image."
"As do most of the Order members out there, I believe," Margret laughed, and jumped with a terrified shriek when a loud bang was heard from outside the door.
Tonks and Remus immediately ran to the windows next to the door, while Harry instinctively brought a shield up and stood in front of the Grangers.
His back to the wall, Remus took a quick look out, but stopped at his way back into cover. He moved in front of the window, goggling out of the window, laughing hard.
Quickly, everybody ran there and took a look, just in time to see a smouldering Snape being portkeyed away from the street, while some others were helping Dumbledore to his feet.
"I can't believe that Snape was stupid enough to try blasting the door," Remus laughed, slowly sliding down to the floor, holding his belly.
While the Order departed, one by one, the inhabitants of the besieged manor went to lunch. Harry had to be aided by Hermione again, now that the adrenaline had left his system again, but was already better than before. They all chatted happily during the meal, knowing that there was no pressing need for action, but still, lunch-talk had mostly one topic.
"Ok, the good news first," Tonks took control over the talk. "We are rather safe in here. I doubt Dumbledore will get Aurors or Curse Breakers to beat down the wards, since that would mean he would have to divulge the secret. And believe me, these wards won't budge without a small army attacking them, and one taking heavy losses at that. The Blacks have been famous for their wards for centuries. You would have more of a chance breaking Hogwarts, since those wards don't kill you for making a mistake. Also, he doesn't really have anything on us which would support such a measure."
"So until he gets desperate or manages to fabricate something, we're rather safe?" Henry asked, and Tonks nodded.
"Ok, Harry, what next?" Margret asked.
Since Harry had made it clear that he wouldn't go back to Hogwarts, they discussed his other options. The general consensus was that Hermione shouldn't go back to Hogwarts either. You didn't need to be a seer to know that she would have a hell of a time there now, and probably end up as bait.
Remus, for one, was the perfect bait. If he were seen outside of the manor, Dumbledore might try to get him arrested for some trumped up charges just to blackmail Harry.
But since Remus was a licensed teacher, Tonks had a good idea to kill more than two birds with one stone and started to tell everybody about it.
"Please explain once again," Harry demanded after Tonks had blurted out her plan.
"With pleasure, Milord Black," Tonks grinned at Harry, hinting a devout dip while smirking mirthfully at him. "If you place a deposit of a thousand Galleons each, at the Ministry, along with an application for tutelage by Remus, a certified teacher, you will be exempted from the underage ban, no matter whether you actually are being tutored or not. That also would lessen Dumbledore's leverage of you not having proper instruction."
"So you are telling me that most purebloods are exempt from the ban simply because they have greased the right palms?" Hermione asked incredulously.
"Don't tell me you didn't expect that," Harry harrumphed, earning himself a death glare. Even in his weakened state, he proved to be immune. He was the Boy-who-lived, after all.
"Officially, it's a deposit to cover the cost of reversing whatever trouble you cause while being tutored, and those cost will then have to be redeposited. Incidentally, the balance falls to the Ministry when you become of age, so in reality, you're right: if you have money, you can do what you want," the young Auror admitted.
In the following hours, Dobby was sent away to clean out Tonks' and Remus' apartments, and Remus and Tonks were given rooms in the Manor, while Winky insisted in cooking a huge dinner, although no one had the proper appetite. Tonks, the only one left who could move somewhat freely, had gone to fetch the paperwork from the Ministry.
While they were working their way through the pounds of application parchment, there was another knock on the door. Harry shortly thought it had an echo, but chose to ignore that.
A quick look at the clock revealed that it was already past eight in the evening, and the 'to be done' paperwork stack was still bigger than the 'done'. Sighing, and weighting the evils, Harry decided the guest, whoever he might be, to be the lesser.
He opened the door just a second after hearing another echoing knock.
"Strange, I say, my brother!"
"Yes, indeed; it is, my favourite brother."
"Really? Why, thank you - I am rather fond of you, too - but still, I would have expected a wheelbarrow"
"Or another wheeled contraption"
"Maybe levitation,"
"Or a featherlight charm."
"Still, I would believe the size might have been a dead giveaway. Shrinking charm?"
"I don't believe any man would use it in that situation, my beloved brother."
"Oh, of course, I forgot. Please strike that from the protocol."
Harry gaped at the intruders, who had given him a look over and that strange greeting.
"What are you clowns talking about? At this hour, nonetheless," he asked, incredulously.
"Your balls, of course," the left twin intoned, just to have the sentence completed by his brother to his right.
"We were expecting you to carry those enormous, probably metallic examples of manliness in a wheelbarrow, at least."
"That at least, my brother: Yelling at our revered Headmaster, and while hinting at his sexual preferences to boot! That is something not everybody would dare to do," the second one took over.
"No one, to be exact," the other one finished; and then they chorused a "Hello everybody!" beaming at something behind Harry. Turning, Harry saw the rest of the "Besieged" hanging on each other, laughing tears.
"To be honest," the left one intoned, "we want in. Whatever you have planned, we want to be a part of it."
"Yep, usually the most fun is being had where you are, and we certainly won't be returning to Hogwarts this year either."
"Even if they retract our expulsions," the other voiced concern.
"So we thought about opening the joke shop we wanted,"
"turning respectable,"
"being hard-working members of society,"
"or just joining you in your excellent adventure,"
"which we have watched benevolent since the very beginning."
They stopped for a second, drew their wands and chorused, "We do not have any intention of stopping Harry and his excellent adventure away from Hogwarts at all, nor of snitching anything we learn to the order, in any way. On our magic, so we swear."
"So, since the niceties have been exchanged, would you be so nice as to give us a helping hand in?" the right one intoned with a bright grin that made Harry once again question the Twin's sanity and develop a slight headache.
"Okay, but I am not adding you to the wards just yet. And at the first over the top prank, you are out, clear?" Harry relented knowing full well that forbidding all pranking would be like telling them to stop breathing.
At their nodding, timed to be exactly opposite to the other, probably intentionally just to make someone dizzy, Harry sighed, again, extended his arms and pulled the twins in through the ward barrier, just to be crushed by hugs and backslaps, before they went to greet the other people. Harry tried to memorize that the formerly left twin was introducing himself to the Grangers as Fred.
Settling down at the parchment laden table, Harry's first question was clear. "How did you get past the Order guards? I would have thought that this place would be surveyed day and night by now?"
"May I, George?"
"Your pleasure, oh brother mine."
"Well, using our vast intelligence, our seer abilities, and our unlimited skills, we found the perfect way to overcome this night's guard:"
This was followed by a dramatic pause, punctuated by Fred's conclusion.
"We slipped Dung a bottle of Firewhisky."
After the laughter had died down, Harry popped the next question.
"How is it at the Burrow?"
"Oh, mum is fuming; she is absolutely seething at your performance. She keeps on shouting about 'no respect at all,' and she 'didn't' raise you like that.' She even referred to us as being better mannered." Fred told them, to which George added, "Which made us seek you out to improve our education."
Hermione laid her hand on Harry's shoulder as he dropped his head and sighed. "Ron? Ginny?" she asked, hopefully.
A slightly more sombre George answered that question. "Ron is the usual prat, sulking about you having gone to Hermione instead of him, and how you always get everything. It seems that he was as interested in you as we always guessed, Hermione. Expect a tantrum if he ever finds out about you dating," he added, waving at the cuddling couple.
"Then he should have had shown it a bit more instead of picking fights all the time," Hermione snapped, "I can count the good, rowless conversations with him on one hand. I knew he liked me, but I came far behind food and Quidditch, and that's inacceptable to me. What about Ginny?"
"Oh, she's fine; you know, when we asked her, she told us that she is actually happy that it's you with Harry, because you won't keep her away from being his friend, like Cho would probably have done. Guess she knows you, Hermione."
Hermione smiled at that. It didn't faze her that the girl had immediately drawn the right conclusions. While she didn't confide in Ginny with all her fantasies, Ginny knew that she liked a good 'hero saves girl' novel as much as any other girl. No one else at Hogwarts knew even that much about her.
"And your Dad?" Harry interrupted.
"He's fine, as always: trying to calm mum down, and telling her that you might have reasons to act like that, that there might be some misunderstandings that made you act that way. You know, like Dad."
Harry had to smile at that. That's exactly how the gentle, understanding man would act. He just hoped Arthur wouldn't have problems with Molly for defending him.
Fred suddenly sat up. "By the way, this might interest you: Dumbledore is currently down two Curse Breakers. He tried to convince Bill to take Fleur to break down the wards here so he could grab Harry."
"Oh yes," George chuckled, "Bill declined, quoting that this wasn't the way he had planned to spend the next weekend – dead!"
"Seems he prefers spending the weekend snogging the lovely Fleur, which I can totally understand. Lying on her surely beats lying in a coffin any time," Fred joked, earning himself a cuff over the head from his brother.
"Watch it - we have female audience!"
"Sorry," Fred replied, sounding about as contrite as Lee during a Quidditch match commentary.
"When Dumbledore insisted that it was important, Bill just told him to shove it. Mum went ballistic at that, but quickly changed tune when Bill started talking about maybe having their wedding over in France at the bride's house, as tradition demands. They are currently over there, getting to know her family and taking a vacation on the beach."
"That's yet another reason mum is angry at you. She blames you for being a bad influence. Could you please show us how you do that?" George grinned, wiggling his eyebrows at Harry. "We would love to be able to influence near strangers from afar."
After some more amiable chatting and lots of laughter, the twins made their goodbyes, promising to spy and play blockade runners for them, for a price, of course. Harry asked Tonks to duplicate the forms two more times.
It would be a long night.
Chapter 10: Breaking the Siege.
After Tonks had filed the kid's tutelage forms and theirs and the twins' NEWT applications - those two were too lazy to file them themselves - at the Ministry, things began to escalate rapidly.
The first and biggest piece of manure to be hit with the banishing charm was a Daily Prophet article in which Rita Skeeter dubbed Harry 'The Boy Who Killed'. Rita was her usual caustic self, attacking everybody, although in a very clever way. She attacked Dumbledore for not capturing the others and the Aurors for being too late. But her attack on Harry was a masterpiece...
"While no one can blame Mister Potter for defending himself and his girlfriend against the alleged Death Eaters, eyewitnesses claimed that Potter actually cast the first spell, starting the fight, and used a lethal one, without even trying to simply subdue the man. Since the same witnesses reported that this spell blew right through the shield of one of the Death Eaters, this reporter asks herself what kind of spells they teach at Hogwarts nowadays..."
She then carried on about the capture of Peter Pettigrew during the fight, and Sirius Black's exoneration after damning evidence from Pettigrew's interrogation. The resulting verbal attack on the Ministry managed to paint Fudge in a bad light while still having Scrimgeour look like a bumbling town constable.
Harry took Skeeter's antics in stride. After all, except for another very well hidden hint at his becoming a Dark Lord, he came out rather unscathed while Dumbledore was literally rotating over the spit. Also, Sirius's name was officially publicly cleared now. It was the first article of Skeeter's that Hermione had not edited yet still met with Harry's tacit approval.
Dumbledore didn't take the bad press, Harry's defiance, and their tutelage - which he thought implied the veiled threat of the boy leaving Hogwarts - too kindly. After a few shouting matches with the Headmaster at the doorstep, where Dumbledore accused him going dark and murdering people at whim; Harry refused to open the door anymore.
Tonks told him that Dumbledore actually had the gall and tried to have him arrested and put under his supervision for the same accusations, something that Scrimgeour rejected outright.
There was no way the new Head of the DMLE would oppose Potter after the boy had defeated He-who-must-not-be-named only a few weeks ago and just battled another team of Death Eaters successfully. To do that would be political suicide, especially since Fudge was very much in favour of Dumbledore and Potter being on the outs.
Dumbledore's revenge was a master-piece of psychological warfare. Harry wasn't sure how it came to be that he suddenly was receiving mail within the Fidelius protected manor, but he was sure that Dumbledore had done something with the secret to make it available to post owls. Remus told him that they had managed to get owls to the Headquarters before, but he didn't know how it was done.
Harry was literally showered by letters, mostly Howlers, from the Headmaster, Molly, and everybody else with a sense of entitlement, a Daily Prophet and access to a quill and parchment, or so it seemed.
The elves quickly took over and started fetching the letters as they arrived and popping them to a silenced room in the attic to explode safely. Still, Crookshanks made it a habit to leave the room whenever he saw an owl approaching after an ignored Howler exploded while he was sleeping not far away. Hedwig had taken to having long flights each night and only returning well after breakfast, the usual mail-delivery time.
Two days after the incident, leaving the Manor became practically impossible. Due to follow up articles and rumours, a few visits anywhere all ended in quick retreats as people reacted curiously, admiringly or with hostility, depending which slant of stories they accepted. Also, some Order members tried to force Harry to come with them at one encounter. Although no wands were used, all these encounters could have turned nasty, so they usually retreated quickly by their newly acquired portkeys and stopped going out at all. At least the people got tired writing him, and the Howler count started to dwindle slowly - except for Molly Weasley's. They even heard some of her letters through the enchantments of the 'Mail bomb room'.
Meanwhile, the twins came over every other day for an hour or two, sometimes to train, sometimes to bring news. Even the hilarious way they presented the news they brought couldn't make them less disturbing. While they kept peace with the magical world, the Death Eaters had started anew to bring terror into the Muggle world, and the death toll rose daily.
Instead of focusing completely on this, the Order changed their tactics to following and harassing Tonks all the time to get Harry, something that did cause some unrest among the more intelligent, or as the twins put it, "the less retarded" members.
Finding the situation annoying, Tonks took an extended unpaid leave, citing family reasons, which Scrimgeour granted, hinting that he understood that she was trying to protect a family member from harm. He would have made it a paid leave, but that wouldn't stand with Fudge. Tonks was okay with that and focused on teaching the teens with Remus, who took over charms and the more theoretical subjects, along with the whole theory teaching, since Tonks was more of a hands-on person.
*** Grimmauld Place, 17th July ****
"Stop waving your hand like a wand, Harry; you don't need that!" Tonks yelled. Since his wand didn't help him at all and was very severely burnt after that battle at Diagon Alley, they had just forgone it, which was fine with Harry, although Hermione made him promise to teach her wandless casting. And not just an 'I'll try' promise, no sir! She had stopped only shy of making it an unbreakable vow.
"I just can't do this!" Harry huffed. For a week now, he and Hermione had been drilled by Tonks.
Tonks tried hard to break his habit of doing the wand movements with his hand, which lead to trying teaching them some advanced techniques, like non-verbal casting and point-casting, the art of forgoing the wand movements and just casting with a point at the target.
Skilled dueller need those, lest they be ripped to pieces in one-on-one duels. Only the fact that the Death Eaters held back saved the teens in the ministry. At Diagon Alley, they were underestimated, again. But there was no reason to think that they could surprise them again. The next time, there would be no pardon given.
Those two techniques would of course be faster than incanting and swishing a wand, although it would reduce the power of spells. Since Harry had enough power to spare, that wouldn't matter, since he could cope. Hermione couldn't do that, but the advantage of fast casting in a fight was obvious.
At these techniques, Hermione had a serious disadvantage. Her usual perfectionism with wand movements did hold her back, since she had problems doing magic 'the sloppy way'.
"And I can't either," Hermione huffed. "These movements do have a reason; they are needed! You can't just expect us to ignore them. Same for incantations!" she shouted with a stomp of her foot.
"Ok, sit down, you two. I think I started this wrong. I'll explain." Tonks said, and slumped onto a chair. As soon as the two teens had sat down, she started again.
"Sorry, I'm used to working with Aurors. Those have learned at least some wordless casting in school and are therefore a bit further along. Wordless and point-casting are NEWT level, 6th and 7th year, respectively. Your wandless ability, on the other hand, would nearly certainly earn you Mastery, Harry. If you can do wandless magic word- and motionless, all you would have to do is to bring evidence of you fighting against at least 4 wizards alone or of you slaying a dangerous beast single-handedly as proof of your practical experience, and the Mastery is yours," Tonks directly went off topic and into a tangent, like every time she started explaining something.
But this time, Hermione laughed out loud. "Would pensive evidence suffice?" she asked, and Harry started to grin as he cottoned on.
"What? Oh, you mean the dragon? He didn't slay it, so it's not enough. And the Ministry doesn't count, since he wasn't alone." Tonks countered.
"I believe my brilliant girlfriend refers to the Basilisk I killed in the Chamber of Secrets, don't you?" Harry stated with a smug grin, which earned him a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
"Oh!" Was all Tonks could utter for a few seconds, blinking rapidly. "I think that should suffice."
"Yep, and for good measure, we should give them the memory of Voldemort's resurrection party, too," Hermione smiled.
"You wicked thing!" Tonks laughed, "That will confirm the identity of His followers, and shred every last doubt on His return. I like that!"
"Not to quell the euphoria, but first, I have to get this casting stuff done." Harry interrupted the giggling witches.
"Oh, yeah, that small issue remains," Tonks said, returning to lecture mode. "First of all, ask yourself why we use incantations and wand movements?"
Of course, Hermione instantly had the answer. "The incantation and motions are derived from the spell's arithmetic formula - they represent the magic and form the magic."
"Not exactly," responded Tonks, and Hermione's face fell. She immediately took a deep breath in order to object that this was in fact the correct answer, but Tonks simply raised her hand to stall her.
"Calm yourself, Hermione," Tonks told her, as the girl seemed about to tear into her, "you don't know the whole story yet. This stuff would only be taught after seventh year, when you go for Mastery. Remus does have one, and I have Auror training, so we know about that. He knows much more about the theoretic stuff, so better ask him later during your theory lessons for details, ok?" she finished, and knew that her boyfriend-to-be wouldn't know what had hit him as soon as Hermione was out of here.
"So, yes, the movements assist the magic in taking form, but the intent behind it matters the most. That is why you usually don't get the full effect of spells on the first try unless you know a lot about what a spell does beforehand or have a lot of power, simply forcing it to work. Usually, the incantation is also a hint on what they do, but you don't need them. If you know exactly what you want to do, you can do it without."
Hermione shook her head. "So if I know exactly what I want to do, my magic will do it?" That made sense. She always read far ahead in class, and she always got spells faster than the other students.
"To some degree, yes," Tonks told her, "It's easier if you learn the spell normally, and remove the incantation and motion after you know it. But you could also invent a spell that way, if you can focus enough on the effect you want to create. An arithmetic formula will give you the incantation and compatible supporting motions to make it usable for other wizards who lack that ability or have less magic."
Harry huffed. "So, by using spells, you can cast more easily, but it limits the better wizards? And wandless casting is the same?"
Tonks shook her head. "Well, yes, but wandless magic is a rare art, and needs a huge amount of power to pull off. You see, forgoing incantation and motions will already decrease the power of the spell. Since the wand is a magical focus, casting through it is much easier. Wandless casting is focused by intent and willpower, forming a focus, and thus uses a lot more magic for the same effect, since that focus is not a magic conduit per se."
As Harry only gave her a dumb look, Hermione came to his help. "Since a wand contains a magic material, magic flows easily through it."
Harry looked at Tonks. "Why didn't you say that?"
"I did!"
Harry turned to Hermione, asking, "Did she?"
"She did."
"If you say so," Harry grinned cheekily, which earned him slap on the back of his head by Hermione. Tonks sighed, stood up and decked him, too. The main difference was that Tonks actually left a bruise.
After that was cleared up, the teens started improving rapidly. It took both only a few days of training to forgo incantations. Actually, Hermione had managed to cast her first wordless charm the same day, but it took Harry two more days to copy her feat.
Although he took longer than she did, it still would be considered a great feat by anybody, since less than half of the wizards were able to get it at all. Still, it would take them quite a while until they stopped occasionally slipping and incanting out loud.
Both had made some headway in eliminating wand movements, but that process was harder, since it had to be learned for every single spell, minimizing the motions step by step while keeping a firm visualization of the result; until only the slightest flick was left without losing too much effect. Hermione was able to do this for smaller charms, but for fighting purposes, she knew that she should better keep them. The power loss that she endured was massive.
Also, her inner perfectionist was banging his cup at the bars of her prison, metaphorically speaking, whenever she tried to do so. She finally settled for being able to do it if she wanted to show off or needed to, and left it at that. She didn't plan to become an Auror or Duellist anyway.
Harry, on the other hand, did fare rather well with the approach of a not so formalized magic, and rapidly improved his casting, although he still was no match for Tonks or Remus, at least in mock duels with hexes and jinxes only. If he went crazy on them with high-powered curses, he might overpower or exhaust them rather quickly, but they were probably still too good for him to last that long. Both of his instructors shuddered at what he would do to them if he had a working wand. Hermione still sighed every now and then when she saw her boyfriend cast wandlessly without effort.
His bone breakers were especially vicious, which he attributed to his experience with broken bones. He could easily visualize the effects, making those curses - which they practiced on conjured pig-halves, something that took a while for Hermione to stomach - downright nasty.
She had actually gotten sick a few times during training when a spell had produced a rather gory mess, confirming her suspicion about her fighting aptitude.
The twins joined them occasionally in training, and proved to be capable fighters, but they just didn't have it in them to use dangerous spells, yet. They couldn't help adding jinxes into their casting, which were not really harmful, but usually embarrassing. The unexpected effects proved helpful, but their tendency to play with their enemies was a double-edged sword.
Hermione found their approach intriguing, and soon got very creative in adding at first glance harmless spells into her fighting repertoire.
Harry still flinched at the memory of the depilatory charm she once shot at the groin region of the target dummy. Remus advised them all to be cautious, for that specific target area won't work well with some - mostly female - enemies. This comment made Tonks grin broadly and much to Harry's joy, it made Hermione blush slightly, too.
Harry was running as fast as he could, but no matter what he did, the Dementors were still closing in. He had burnt his wand to ash trying to repel them, but his Patronus faltered as they closed in on him. Stumbling, he dashed forward through the Forbidden Forest, branches tearing at his clothes and hitting his face and arms painfully. Running like mad, he had lost the Dementors after a few minutes, and stopped, panting and gasping for breath, his heart beating so hard that it hurt.
Doubled over, his hands on his knees, he tried to regain some composure as he heard the sound. Something was clicking in the trees around him. Looking up, he saw something he had wished ever since his second year never to see again in his life. Hanging in huge webs spanning from tree to tree, hundreds of dog-sized Acromantulas were closing in on him.
With a hoarse yell of sheer terror, Harry practically threw himself forward into the woods, trying to get away from the eight-legged terrors. Blindly, he stumbled through the trees until his foot became tangled in a root and he slammed to the ground.
Lying face down on the ground, he spun around frantically and saw an undulating wave of spiders flowing towards him. Scurrying away from them, he reached for a stone or something to defend himself, but grabbed something soft and warm to the touch, instead.
"Ouch!" Hermione yelped, waking Harry from his unpleasant dreams. Looking around groggily, he noticed that he was in his own bedroom, and it was rather early in the morning, according to the dim light flooding the room through the high windows.
"Damn, Harry!" a well-known voice came from his right side. "You know I like it rough, but that'll leave a bruise," Hermione lamented, massaging her left breast - her very exposed left breast. To be correct, it wasn't the only exposed one; there was a second one on her right torso, currently without massaging hand, and therefore even more visible while being just as naked.
Harry's conscious mind took a short vacation as he tried to come to grips with the view, silently thanking the powers that be that these beautiful mounds come in pairs. These weren't the first breasts he had ever seen - there was always page three - but these were the first in 3D, and they even had a real girl attached to them.
"See something you like?" Hermione giggled, and the resulting movement made it impossible for Harry to respond with more than an even more rigid stare. That rigidness quickly transferred to a different part of his anatomy when Hermione embraced him in a soft hug and whispered into his ear.
"Happy birthday, Harry - I thought you might like being woken up like this," she purred into his ear as she caressed his chest, snuggling into his side. And she was perfectly correct in her assessment. He liked it very much, and immediately started to show her how much he did.
As she tangled her legs with his, Harry could feel her legs still covered by pyjama bottoms. Apparently she had just forgone the top, but that was perfectly fine with Harry. She had taken his hand and was currently teaching him how much pressure she actually liked applied to Harry's new favourite toys. It took him only a few tries to get it right and both savoured the new way to get mutual pleasure.
"You know, I think I'll insist on being woken up like that from now on," he noted between mutually exchanged bites and kisses.
"And why should I… Oh!" Hermione gasped as Harry found a special place on her neck to nibble on. "Okay, I think we could negotiate… Just don't stop…"
About a week into August, the teens were starting to get bored with their daily training routine and began to explore different parts of the library. Harry had started to look into warding, and thus begun to read introduction level books about runes - much to Hermione's delight - and she always was around him, reading more advanced tomes while helping him along with eventual questions.
Their other explorations, on the other hand, were progressing nicely along the lines of a healthy relationship. By now, there was only a tiny part of uncharted territory left, which was usually covered by silk panties. A few expeditions had made brief surveys into that region, but they did stop without doing any environmental modification.
Those expeditions were usually nightly occurrences, since Hermione happily obeyed Harry's birthday order, and both broke the news to her parents that there would be another room available for potential visitors when they asked what she had gotten him for his birthday.
At this, Henry started singing a song and vacated the room, his fingers firmly planted in his ears, but Margret was happy with their decision to move in together.
Of course, she did ask Hermione about all the details she could squeeze out of her daughter in the next of their occasional gossip sessions. Tonks had also started joining them some time ago, changing their picture of the gentle, soft-spoken Remus forever.
Henry chose to ignore those happenings surrounding his daughter as much as he could, which gave his wife and daughter many opportunities to tease him.
Like at one particular breakfast, when Tonks started to comment about Harry's newfound studious nature.
"I didn't peg you for much of a reader, Harry. Seems like Hermione has finally had some good influence on you," she teased.
Hermione just couldn't let an occasion like that go to waste. "Yeah, I'm rubbing off on him!" she chirped, batting her eyes at Harry.
"Haven't you both proceeded past there already?" Tonks returned, just when Henry had taken a sip of his tea. The fountain he jettisoned across the table was remarkable. Tonks immediately swished her wand and vanished the mess, while the table joined in a good laugh.
Hermione patiently held her reply back until her father had continued his meal.
"Yeah, we have, but it's still one hell of a past-time!"
A long silence followed as everybody looked at the wall, and the tea covering a sizeable portion of it, dripping down slowly.
"Ok, you won, Hermione. That was at least three feet further than my attempt," Tonks broke the silence, sliding a galleon over to the girl.
Oh yes, there was a lot of fun made at Henry's expense.
One evening about a week into August, a loud, booming laugh filled Grimmauld Place. Curious, Hermione went to find the source, and found Harry in the living room, laughing loudly, his laughter having drawn her out of her studies.
She approached the laughing man of her dreams curiously, as he was slouched in the biggest couch, holding his belly and crushing an open book to his chest.
"What's so funny?"
"Remember how Sirius was always called a scoundrel, or rakish," he asked, between gasps for air and laughter.
"Seems to be a family tradition of sort", he proclaimed to Hermione, who had already been joined by the rest of the inhabitants, raising his book for all to read the title, History of the noble and ancient House of Black. He instantly was overcome by another bout of laughter.
Their curiosity woken, everybody took a seat, and when Harry had calmed down, he started to tell the tale.
"The Blacks were an old family, but in the late 1600's, they were nearly broke. They had started to sell their assets, and were close to loosing everything - including the family itself, since they had only a daughter left to the line. By some quirk of luck, their fate changed in 1713, when on a visit to sell one overseas property, that daughter, Annabeth Venus Black, caught the interest of one Edward Teach, who actually bought that island.
Harry had to guffaw when Hermione blushed furiously at that name, while her mother perked up, too. Remus started to laugh, while Tonks and Henry were looking blank.
"You both might know him better under his assumed name of Captain Blackbeard," Harry clarified, laughing again when their eyes shot wide open as they recognized the name.
"That man, who despite cultivating his vile business image, was - according to this book, at least - in fact a rather nice guy, and a wizard to boot. After only a short time, he fell for her and they married, after he was adopted into the family and had changed his name to Edward Teach-Black to preserve the line."
"When his pirating days came to an end, he accepted a pardon and used the good opportunity of a bumbled assassination attempt by a young English lieutenant named Maynard to fake his death. His crew actually won the fight, but they left Maynard and his crew with changed memories and a transfigured head that looked like Teach's," Harry continued the tale, shaking his head at the resourcefulness of the sneaky pirate.
"He retired to the Black property, which he most creatively called 'Black Reef', and the vast riches he plundered were the base for the new prosperity of House Black," was the summary of the last few pages that Harry gave the others.
"So Sirius was the great-whatever-grandson of Blackbeard? And the Blacks were pirates turned nobility?" Remus laughed, rolling around on the floor.
"I guess that makes Harry the Head of a pirate clan," Margret quipped, grinning at the intensifying blush on her daughter's face.
"Arrrr! Aye, aye, capt'n," Tonks snarled, having morphed into a pirate, complete with conjured eye-patch.
"So that's where Sirius went," Hermione said, "I knew it had to be somewhere tropical after he sent you that bird!"
"Right, and I believe, we will all go there, too, since that book hints that the island is unplotable, warded and can only be reached by sea or a permanent two-way portkey in the form of a nautical knot-board in the Lord's study in Black Manor," Harry answered, wiggling his eyebrows. He nodded at them as everyone's face lit up as they understood what he was referring to.
"So, all in favour for leaving here and moving to an island in the Caribbean, say 'ARRRR'!" Tonks cheered, and a group snarl sealed the deal.
"Ok, so tomorrow morning we'll go for a visit, then," Harry said, only to be shot down by Henry, who voiced a reasonable point.
"Bad idea, Harry - we should try tomorrow noon or evening, since we will have at least six hours time difference," he objected.
"Then I would prefer the evening, since it leaves us a whole day to prepare." Hermione suggested.
"Ok, folks, we'll make a short visit tomorrow, with just an overnight bag, then if it's fine, we'll move in permanently. And now off to bed everybody; I want us all to be well rested. This means especially you, Remus," Margret commandeered.
The day before yesterday had been the full moon, and Remus still looked a bit like it. He had spent the night in a cage up in the attic that all the magical inhabitants had transfigured together.
When Remus had informed them that he had to leave for a few days, Harry was having nothing of it, and was devastated as he apologized about forgetting to take care of this need of Remus's, who had given up everything to help him. Remus, being rather unstable emotionally because of the waxing gibbous moon, had embraced Harry in a teary hug and thanked the boy for seeing him as so normal that he even forgot that he was a werewolf. That led into a crying session joined by all the females that Remus and Harry would rather have buried and forgotten. Fat chance Henry would ever let them.
After they had created the cage, Harry had even sent the elves on guard duty to make sure that Remus was safe. The standing order of the next days after the full moon for the elves was to make the attic room an inescapable playground for a lone werewolf. Harry and Hermione had thought about starting animagus training to keep him company, something that Remus friendly but firmly rejected for now, citing that they had already enough study topics on their schedule. He promised to work on it with them once they had a bit more time.
Everyone obeyed Margret's order without much grumbling, Tonks even yawning slightly, still tired, since she had held vigil for her 'Wolfie', too.
Hermione, on the other hand, jumped up and nearly dragged Harry up to their room. Not that he gave much resistance.
In spite of Margret's suspicions, Harry didn't get really lucky tonight, but, by Merlin, he didn't complain. Not a bit.
*** Later that night, in a dark hideout ***
Voldemort hissed as he was staring at the mouldy tome in which he had found the final piece of the puzzle. How could he have missed something so obvious?
It was a small, but critical error with the timing of his first resurrection. Due to the unique timing issues, and the incompetence of Crouch, he was forced to undergo the ritual in late June, after the solstice. But this tome stated that the resurrection needed to take place before the solstice to be fully effective.
Voldemort pondered a bit as he caressed the page in front of him. The later date could have caused this body to be unstable. This would mean that it would have started to decay rapidly, but it hadn't. At least not until whatever Potter did to sever the connection between them. So it must have been the connection to Potter had stabilized this homunculus body. That would make sense, since it was reported that Potter was significantly more powerful since that day. It was very much possible that their connection had siphoned away a sizeable portion of Potter's magic to keep this body intact - blood was a powerful and incalculable factor in magic.
There was a big chart on the next page, displaying some dates and their significance in resurrection rituals. Voldemort was glad that this was one of the last remaining copies of the translation of the long lost original Egyptian scrolls on resurrection. Reading Egyptian glyphs made his eyes itch.
'According to this graph, since my body was destroyed on Halloween, the death day, the perfect day for resurrection would be Beltane, its polar opposite,' Voldemort concluded, with a raspy breath before coughing up some blood. He took a large gulp from the goblet of blood replenishing potion near his reading station, and leaned back into his stuffed chair as the potion ran its course. He was already up to a quarter dose every other hour to keep his body working. Severus had better hurry to find something to give him relief until he could rectify the error. He closed his eyes and started to doze off lightly, a nasty side-effect of that potion.