Harry Potter Year 8: Malfoy Manor

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4 Harry Potter Year 8 Malfoy Manor Elias Thienpont 3

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6 Harry Potter Fan Fiction fanfiction.com This websites has over 85,000 stories submitted by more than 28,000 authors and read by more than 94,000 members Harry Potter Year 8: Malfoy Manor is an original work written by Elias Thienpont, Richardton, North Dakota using characters and settings created by J. K. Rowling Cover artwork by Elias Thienpont Cover photo: Muckross House, Killarney CC0 is in the Creative Commons and is free for commercial use without additional attribution (pixabay.com) 5

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10 Harry Potter recounted the adventure in the forest to Ron and Hermione, and he spoke to the portrait of Dumbledore in his tower office, concluding, I am putting the Elder Wand back where it belongs. It can stay there, and if I die a natural death like Ignotus, its power will be broken, won t it? And Dumbledore nodded. [JK Rowling: Harry Potter, The Deathly Hallows] Then as Harry stood up and turned, he found that McGonagall and Kingsley Shacklebolt were both standing behind him listening to all that was going on. Harry blushed, for surely this was now to be McGonagall s office and he felt like he was intruding on her space and time. He made to leave, but McGonagall said, You and Hermione stay here please, Ron, would you please go and find Neville and bring him back here, with his grandmother if she is with him. And Ron left the office. So Harry, she said, do you still wish to be an Auror? And Hermione, is that your plan too, or do you have a different plan now? Harry said that he did want to be an Auror, but Kingsley spoke saying, There will be no classes for Aurors this year. The ministry is in complete disarray, and I have as yet no clue as to who I can trust and who I cannot trust. And all that I can trust will be busy rounding up the remaining Death Eaters. We will think about your request next year. Harry s face fell, but the McGonagall spoke, And where will you go? Will you return to the Dursleys? They no longer live on 9

11 Privet Drive, you know. Harry almost choked, but McGonagall continued, Or will you go to the Weasleys? I think that they will be busy enough pulling their own lives back together again. I m sure they would have you but I have another idea. I want you to stay here at the castle, at Hogwarts for the next year. First we have lots of work to do to set the School back in order again, and you will learn even more magic working with us than you would learn in class anyway. And when school starts McGonagall paused, and then spoke more quietly, I want you to teach here next year. And you too, Hermione. I have a lot of work to do, and like Kingsley, I do not know who to trust either. But I know that I can trust you two. Harry nodded. So Harry, you will be teaching Defensive Magic to grades one, two, three and four, and you will be using classroom 303, the largest in the school, for I expect that your classes will involve a lot of Physical activity. Your office and your quarters will be there as of this minute. Hermione, you will be teaching Charms, grades one, two, three and four, and will occupy Professor Flitwick s old classroom and quarters. Professor Flitwick will move to the old Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom and will teach grades five, six and seven, both Charms and Defense Against the Dark Arts from there. Hermione, I suppose you will want to visit your parents, I think there are some spells you need to take care of there. Hermione blushed, and McGonagall continued, Be back here August first and we will be ready to get you started. At this time Ron, Neville and his grandmother entered the tower. McGonagall turned to Ron and asked And, Ron, what are your plans now? What will you be doing? Do you still want to be an Auror? Ron for his part fidgeted, and stammered, I am not sure any more. I, I thought I would help George with the store, since he no longer has Fred to help him. I don t think I can create stuff as well as George and Fred could do together, but but Well, I think that is what I want to do. 10

12 Professor McGonagall smiled, and said that this was a wise choice, and that he could always come back when Auror classes would be held again. Then McGonagall turned to Neville. You have done splendidly this year. Really wonderfully. You are a real wizard in your parents mold, and your grandmother should be very proud of you. And what are your plans for the future. Neville paused and shrugged, but then McGonagall continued, I want you to stay here and teach. You will be teaching Herbology, and professor Sprout will take over my place in Transfigurations. Go now with your grandmother and be back here on August first. Neville blushed bright red, but his gran beamed with pride. People filed out of the office, but McGonagall was holding the back of Harry s robe. He paused and looked up at her, as the others left. Then she said, Harry, you were the greatest thing that ever happened to me and to this school. I ll try to be half as good a headmaster as Dumbledore was, but I am not Dumbledore, but you, you are still Harry Potter. Now, she continued, there is one more thing that I must take up with you. And that is the issue of Professor Snape. You know now why Dumbledore trusted him, especially with you. His love for your mother never wavered. I have here his will. His last will and testament. Harry tried to demur, but ended up saying, Doesn t that have to be screened by the Ministry? Kingsley Shacklebolt was standing right there, and answered, I have seen it, therefore the Ministry has seen it and we find no reason to delay further, subject, of course, to our inspection of his house. Minerva continued Severus Snape left everything to Lily Evens-Potter. You are her heir, and so his estate comes to you. There is not much in the way of an estate, what little money he has is in his account here at Hogwarts, and all that is left is his house at Spinner s End. 11

13 Where is that? asked Harry. It is where Severus and your mother Lily grew up, explained Kingsley, it is not the nicest neighborhood anymore, and it is a Muggle neighborhood, a Muggle neighborhood where an uncommonly large number of half-blood wizards and witches are born. And it was foolish for Tom Riddle and others to dote on the notion of Pure-Blood, for the blood of a wizard, Harry, is always pure no matter how many generations removed they are from their wizard or witch ancestors. Spinner s End used to be a place of wizards and magic but during the industrial revolution the fabric of the area changed. A big textile mill came, and then went, until all that was left of it was a tall chimney on the other side of the canal. Then McGonagall continued, I do not know what plans you and Ginny have for the future, but I think that you should look at this place, yes even set up housekeeping there, and then you should decide together, if together should ever be. Personally, I d like to see Ginny study education in a Muggle university, and perhaps take a teaching position in Spinner s End, looking for young wizards and witches to help them to grow into our world as your mother, and as Severus have done. Remember, Harry, Magic blood can remain hidden for ten, twenty, or thirty generations before it blossoms into another witch or wizard. Harry was dumbfounded at McGonagall s thoughts, and turned red at the thought that she knew of Harry s attraction to Ginny Weasley. But Ginny still had another year at Hogwarts. After that year Harry assumed that he would have years of study to be an Auror, and if Ginny did as McGonagall proposed, she too would have years more schooling to undertake. McGonagall continued, Yes Harry, I see your thoughts and concerns. Time makes love stronger, not weaker, and believe me, I know about that. Harry looked at her with a start. He had no idea that McGonagall had ever known love, its pangs, its joys and its sorrows. She continued Yes, Harry, it is so. 12

14 Kingsley spoke up, In any event, you and I will have to go to Spinner s End to see this house and then turn the keys over to you. What happens after that is up to you, Harry. Or maybe Ginny, eh? 13

15 2 The Next Day Harry left the headmaster s tower and wound his way down to the Great Hall. He found Hermione and the Weasleys sitting together and sat down with them. Immediately Mrs. Weasley invited him to come to the Burrow. Harry ached to go with them to be with Ron and Hermione, and also with Ginny, but now he was committed to another course of action. After a few minutes he called Kreacher! And Kreacher showed up almost at once. What does master want with me? he asked politely. Harry said to the Weasleys and to Hermione, Professor McGonagall offered me work and a position here, and I have accepted. Kreacher, will you please show us to my new quarters? Hermione, of course had known about this, after all, she too would be teaching here in the fall, but she had not realized that Harry was starting immediately. The Weasleys were taken aback, especially Ron, but Ginny beamed at him behind Ron s back. Kreacher led the way up to the third floor and entered classroom 303. Harry said Here is where I will be teaching Defensive Magic, I suppose my office and quarters are upstairs. Kreacher said, Yes, yes, the house elves got everything ready for you, follow me. The went up a curving stairway to what was the professor s office, there was not much in it, only a desk, some chairs and an empty bookcase and a fireplace. Maybe one of the reasons Professor McGonagall gave Harry this room was because of the Fireplace. Somehow she knew he would be doing a lot of going and coming. Looks like I ll have a lot to do just to fill up this 14

16 office and get ready for my first class! I sure hope that Hogwarts has a budget for this sort of stuff. Kreacher led them into the next room. There was a small sitting room, beyond that was a good sized bedroom, all made up, albeit without the personal extras that make a room your own. And there was also a private bathroom. Pretty Spartan remarked Hermione. I don t suppose you have very much from home to bring in here to make it your own. Nope, all that I have is in that beaded bag you are carrying, replied Harry. Not even a change of underwear! Well we will go down to Hogsmeade tomorrow morning and resolve that issue, exclaimed Hermione. Oh, by the way, said Harry, it appears that I am heir to Professor Snape s estate. He left everything to Lily Evans-Potter, my mom, and so now whatever it is, is mine. I am told that it is not much but it does include a house in Spinner s End, wherever that it, but it is the neighborhood where both Snape and my mother grew up. Kingsley says that although it is a Muggle neighborhood now, it used to be a rich wizarding area before the industrial revolution, and there are likely to be a large number Muggle-born wizards and witches there. Kingsley is going to take me there on Monday. I, I was hoping that Ginny would like to come with me to look at this property. Harry blushed when he said that last, but it just came out, and rather as-matter-of-factly too. Ron fell off of his chair, and Ginny laughed, not at Harry but at Ron. Ron said, Hey, we ll come too. but Hermione kicked him in the shin, and said, we have to be at the Burrow this weekend. Mrs. Weasley took in the scene very quickly, and gushed at the idea that even her youngest, her daughter was now an adult. Ginny, she said, that sounds like a plan! Ron seemed to be choking on something. Hermione said, It is about time they are able to get away from you, besides we have 15

17 our own things to talk about, don t we. Ron turned about as red as red could be, Mrs. Weasley was delighted! The others retired either to their dorms or to guest rooms that were hastily prepared for them by the elves. The following morning, Harry, Ginny, and Hermione were among the first at breakfast. All three were still officially enrolled at Hogwarts, and the year had not officially ended. The O.W.L. tests and the N.E.W.T. tests were officially a shambles, and other methods had to be adopted. Ron, Harry, and Hermione were officially determined to be on a school assignment for Professor Dumbledore, and were each given a brief review by professors McGonagall and Flintwick, and received their N.E.W.T.s with full marks. Outstanding in Every subject, this for their work against Voldemort. McGonagall gave them special permissions to visit Hogsmeade so that Harry could purchase the essentials that he needed for remaining at Hogwarts. Harry and Hermione were given a 500 galleon sign-on bonus for this purpose. New clothes, work clothes, robes and personal essentials were all needed. (To say nothing of new underwear!) They would also need to get textbooks for the upcoming school year, but those, of course were a Hogwarts expense and not a personal expense. Indeed, so many parents were arriving at Hogwarts, and many were staying in Hogsmeade though there was hardly room for them all, that students were allowed to go to Hogsmeade with their parents or under the supervision of friend s parents. This emptied out the castle to a large degree, and professors McGonagall, Flintwick, Sprout, and Slughorn spent the day examining the castle, and making a list of all of the repairs and improvements that would have to be made over the summer. Professor McGonagall was officially appointed Headmistress, and acquired a rather generous budget from the Ministry to make the needed repairs. As they, Ron, Hermione, Harry and Ginny approached Hogsmeade, Hermione grabbed Ron by the ear and dragged him into Madame Puddifoot s café, while Harry and Ginny were able to make their escape into Dervish and Banges to look at robes and 16

18 other attire. Harry liked a deep green robe with silver trim until he realized that these were the Slytherin colors. Ginny showed him a deep red robe with gold trim. Harry bought one of each, and then realized that Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw were missing from his wardrobe, and ordered another one that was Deep Blue for Ravenclaw, but with wide Yellow trim for Hufflepuff. Harry went in for solid colors, as he did not think much of stars, moons, comets and rainbows. He bought a matching red robe for Ginny, sure she would be using Hogwarts robes this coming year, but out in public she would look just fine with this robe. Harry then bought a new trunk as he had no idea what had become of his old trunk which he left at Privet Drive. Into it he piled spell books, defense books, and a curious volume entitled Cast your Own Spells. which while expensive looked to be something useful, especially since he wanted to go on to be an Auror. The arranged to have the trunk (a wizard never outgrows his need to have a trunk!) delivered to the castle, and then donning their matching red robes, Harry and Ginny went out in search of Hermione and Ron, who were not unsurprisingly by now, in the Three Broomsticks with a knot of people gathered around them, while they told and retold their parts in the defeat of the dark lord. Harry and Ginny entered, and there was a round of applause for them, Hermione smiled at their attire, while Ron fell off of his stool and landed on the floor. Mrs. Weasley produced a wide welcoming smile with a real sparkle in her eyes, such as she had not had for the whole year. She opened her arms and pulled Ginny toward her, and then reached out a hand to Harry, who also had a wide smile on his face. Harry pulled Ron up off of the floor, and in a soft voice meant for him alone he said, So are you ready to be a brother-in-law yet? Ron pulled or rather tried to pull his emotions together, and realizing the new reality in the world, bent to the idea that Harry and Ginny were serious about their relationship. Harry began to tell the assembled people what happened when Voldemort killed Professor Snape, What he had seen in the 17

19 Pensive, and what happened to him in the woods. How Voldemort struck him with the killing curse. He had expected to, had intended to die there. But he did not. The curse had failed for two reasons: first Harry s life had been bonded to the life of Voldemort when the Dark Lord had taken his blood in that graveyard. As long as Voldemort lived, Harry also would live. And second, the Elder Wand, the Death Stick that Voldemort used, that he had taken from Dumbledore answered only to Harry. It was Draco Malfoy who had disarmed Dumbledore on the day of this death, and so the allegiance of the wand passed to Draco even though he never possessed it. Then several weeks ago Harry had disarmed Draco, and indeed was using Draco s wand since then, the allegiance of the Elder Wand passed to Harry. As appreciative and fascinated as the crowd in the Broomsticks was, Harry was ready to get out of there, and taking Ginny s hand he smiled and waved good bye to them, and then went back out into the crowds in Hogsmeade. He paused, then went to the Hog s Head, which also was doing a bumper business this day, and, after seeking out Aberforth, and exchanging pleasantries, asked about banking in Hogsmeade. Was there a Branch of Gringotts here? Having this information, he found a blank door in the middle of town, inside there was a stairway that went up to a small second floor office on the left. Gringotts Private Bank read the sign painted on the door. There were two wizards sitting at desks in there, but no sign of any Goblins. Harry set up a money account there. Wizards apparently knew nothing of checks or credit cards. It turned out that his credit was good, and he arranged to have his pay disbursed there. When he wanted money, he could sign a chit in one of several shops in Hogsmeade, (no money was actually held in the Private Bank) and transaction would be made. But this method was only good in Hogsmeade and of course at Hogwarts. In other places he would have to visit an office of Gringotts Private Bank in whatever place he was, providing of course that there was a branch there. They gave him a list of such locations, and told him that he could also set up a Muggle currency account at Gringotts in Diagon Alley. There he could get a Muggle checking account and a Muggle credit card, but those could not be used in wizarding locations, but only in Muggle institutions or shops. 18

20 As it was now getting late, Harry and Ginny walked back to Hogwarts, and Ginny went to the dorm to change into her Hogwarts robes while Harry looked around the Great Hall. Professor McGonagall swept over to him admiring his robes, and showed him to his place at the staff table. The students that remained at Hogwarts were talking a mile a minute when Harry Potter sat down at the staff table in his new robes for the first time. He felt quite humbled, yet he felt confident that he could do the teaching that was being asked of him in this upcoming year. Before the supper began, McGonagall quietly went down again to the Gryffindor table, collected Hermione, Neville, and Ron, and brought them up to the staff table. They took places around the table, and Professor McGonagall, sitting in the head seat rang a goblet with her spoon. It took a moment for the crowd to come to order. Draco was sitting with his parents at the Slytherin table a dark countenance on his face. McGonagall rang on the glass again, and then said, Through the efforts of many, indeed through the efforts of all in this room today, the Dark Lord has met his end. He is dead. He is no more. He cannot ever come back again. The Dark Lord. The Dark Lord, she repeated, had sliced his soul up into eight pieces, and each one of these pieces had to be destroyed before the Dark Lord could be killed. Harry, Hermione and Ron spent all of this year, at Dumbledore s orders I might add, looking for and destroying these Horcruxes. As you can well imagine, this was a dark and terrifying task, and many people lost their lives in its accomplishment. Indeed one of the last Horcruxes was Harry Potter himself. A part of Voldemort s soul was implanted in Harry when he was first struck 17 years ago. Harry had to die. He presented himself to Voldemort for the purpose of letting Voldemort kill him. And while that effort failed, I am delighted to say, it did erase that second to last Horcrux. The last Horcrux was his snake, Nagini, and the snake was slain by Neville Longbottom in the courtyard right outside of these doors, not 100 feet from here. After that Harry Potter was able to slay Voldemort permanently. Why Harry, you ask? That was Voldemort s choice, a choice that he made 17 years ago. The room was suddenly filled with chatter, and Professor McGonagall paused for a minute and then rang again on her goblet 19

21 with her spoon. Now I have some other announcements to make. O.W.L. students, if there are still any here, still have to take their O.W.L. tests, you can arrange to take them here or at the Ministry of Magic starting on July First. If you are unable to do this, please get in touch with me to see what we can do. N.E.W.T. students must also take their tests either here or at the Ministry starting on July 15 th. For some students this requirement has already been waived by the Ministry. And I have one final announcement to make. Mr. Harry Potter has been appointed to teach Defensive Magic to grades one through four, Miss Hermione Granger has been appointed to teach Charms to grades one through four, and Professor Flitwick will teach both Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Charms for grades five, six and seven. Professor Sprout will teach Transfigurations, since I will be your Headmistress, and therefore Mr. Neville Longbottom will teach Herbology. Professor Longbottom s appointment is permanent, Professors Potter and Granger will be teaching this upcoming year only, for they are going on to Auror studies at the Ministry in the following year. Now let us remember those who have died with a moment of silence. And the Great Hall was silent, and then silently, the supper appeared on the tables, and the sound of talking bubbled up from the Great Hall. Draco Malfoy glared at Harry, but his father struck him in the back of the head and said Be at peace. You are still alive! 20

22 3 Spinner s End Visited On Monday Morning, Kingsley found Harry and Ginny, and said, Now we must tidy up the issues at Spinners End. They walked out of the castle, wearing their best robes, and once past the grounds the apparated into Spinner s End. Kingsley consulted a map, and then the signposts. They wound their way through a warren of identical, attached three story brick houses, until the found the correct number not far from the canal and the tall but disused smokestack on the other side of the canal. Before the Industrial Revolution, this was a very strong wizarding community. Kingsley told Ginny, but with the revolution came that textile mill across the canal. Hundreds of Muggles moved in looking for jobs there, and built these houses. The Wizards were crowded out, some selling their land, others just moving into these new homes. Mr. Snape was indeed a Muggle, and he married a Witch, and they had a son whom they named Severus. Now down the road, by that park over there, lived a family named Evans. Lily Evans was a witch, but her sister Petunia was not. Lily spent a lot of time with Severus, and they both went to Hogwarts together. There are still many magic people in the area. Through marriage and inter-marriage they became mixed into the population and we really have no way of knowing who might be magical and who is not. The Ministry keeps an eye on this area for signs of magic in the children. Some we find but others we may indeed miss. It is an area of great interest to the Ministry. Now here, Kingsley said, is the Snape house. It is or rather was owned by Severus Snape, his parents having been long deceased. He spent most of his summers here, reading reading 21

23 and remembering, for you must always remember, Harry, that he always loved your mother, Lily. People on the streets, and there were not many of them, looked askance at the three visitors in their colorful robes, but bright clothing was no longer unusual in England. Kingsley took a key from his pocket and opened the front door. The room was dark and stuffy. Kingsley lit a gas lamp from his wand, Electricity was never installed in this unit. He opened the windows to let in sunlight. The room was musty but appeared comfortable. They looked around the house. There was a kitchen behind this room, apparently this room could also be used for dining. Ginny said that they could knock down the wall, if it wasn t holding anything up, and make this into a much bigger, lighter room. They climbed the stairs where there was a more formal parlor. There was also two small bedrooms, with a small bathroom squeezed in between them. They climbed up the final stairs, and found an open attic space. It had a low overhead, but was still suitable for development in to living space. Here was many years worth of junk, some of it obviously magical. Kingsley said that it would take months to examine and catalog all of this stuff. Some of it might be related to the Dark Arts, after all, and would need the Ministry s decision on its disposition. They went back downstairs to the first room, and Kingsley pulled some papers out of his robe. He handed them to Harry. Here is the deed to the property, as you can see, it is fully paid off and the building is yours. Unfortunately, the land that it sits on is not yours, it currently belongs to the Prince, and you will have to pay an annual land rent to him. The bank has been taking care of this for Professor Snape, and will continue to do so for you, but we will have to go to the bank to get the paperwork in order. The land rent will undoubtedly go up with the title transfer of the building, and will likely go up again if you do any improvements to the building. It probably needs a total work over, with new plumbing and new electricity. It is hard to saddle you with so much debt for just taking over the house, but it is far cheaper than buying a house, especially out here in Muggle-land. 22

24 Still, there are enough magical people here that you will find out who they are quickly enough, and there is a branch of Gringotts here. That is where we will be going next. And so they closed the window and locked up the house, and walked two blocks to what looked like a main street. There was a bus line running here, and there were many shops, stores, and businesses. Kingsley looked at his notes, and found an unmarked solid wood door, which he opened, and went up a dark flight of stairs. Again to the left was another wooden door with the legend Gringotts Private Bank on it. They entered. Again there were two wizards sitting at two desks, with no sign of any Goblins. Good Afternoon to you, Mr. Shacklebolt, Mr. Potter they said in unison. Unlike the Hogsmeade bank, this one did have a teller s desk, and could exchange money. They all sat down at a small conference table, and Kingsley took out the deed and papers for the Snape property. He set them down in front of the manager. Ah, Severus Snape s house. A great pity about him. Lily Evans-Potter was his heir, very tragic about her too. And this must be Harry Potter, will he be the Heir to this property then? Kingsley nodded and then looked to Harry, well, he said, what do you think. It is your decision to make in any case. Harry looked at Ginny with a question on his face. What do you think? Harry had never made a decision like this before in his life, it never occurred to him that Ginny had not either, but Ginny had a direct way about things. Ginny answered, Well if you are proposing an engagement with me, then my answer is yes, but even if not, it is still your choice to make. Harry held Ginny s hand, looked into her eyes, and said, Yes, I am proposing a marriage to you, and yes we will keep the house and Professor Snape s estate, whatever that is. The manager was a little taken aback, although Kingsley was not at all surprised, and the manager said, Severus did leave an 23

25 account here with the bank, let me find the papers on that. he went back to an old file cabinet, blew some dust off of it, took out a card, and blew some dust off of that. Ah here is a copy of his will and of his card. You can take this to Diagon Alley and have them move the assets to your vault. It should be in the area of twenty million Galleons. Now it was Harry s turn to fall off of his chair. After picking Harry up, they finished their paper work at the bank, Kingsley departed from them, for he had said that he had other work to do elsewhere, and thank you for a wonderful diversion. He bowed to them, and disapparated. Harry took Ginny s hand and walked down to a small park by a bit of the canal. Harry saw a willow tree, and walking over to it with Ginny and sat down. It was just about here where Lily and Severus spent time in the summers waiting for their first year at Hogwarts. They sat there until late afternoon, but since they had no Muggle money in their pockets, they disapparated to Daigon Alley. They were browsing some of the shops and ended up at a jewelry store. Harry was looking at some rings. One of them sparkled and then winked at him, he took Ginny by the hand, pointed to that ring, and had her try it on. Ginny was astounded, and she tried to both smile and weep at the same time. Harry said, We will take it, there is no need to wrap it. The shop-wizard said, That one is 700 galleons. Harry replied again, Yeah, and there is no need to wrap it. You can charge it to my Gringotts account. The wizard swallowed, bowed, and handed Harry the chit to sign. Harry signed a chit for the first time and when the shopwizard put the chit in the register, the green flag came up indicating that transaction was successful. Ginny said, So that is how the wealthy side lives? Harry said, I guess so, I have never been wealthy before. But really, my wealth is standing here next to me. And he kissed her. 24

26 I wonder if Gringotts keeps bankers hours or if they are still open now. Harry mused out loud. Only one way to find out, said Ginny, and they walked up the doors to the bank, which were opened for them by the Goblins at the front door. Most of the tellers were gone, but one was there, and Harry presented his information. Let us see said the Goblin. Severus Snape, oh yes what a shame about him, he was such a great wizard! Hmmm Ok, 22,450,000 Galleons moved from his vault to that of Harry Potter. Then Harry asked about a Muggle credit account. Yes, we can do that for you. The rules of money exchange are very complicated. You cannot take Wizard money out of the magic world. But you can use this card as a credit card in the Muggle world, and the exchange take place in this bank. If you want Muggle cash, you can use a muggle cash machine, or you can change Galleons for Pounds here in the bank. Thank you, said Harry, please give us a second card in the name of Miss Ginny Weasley. Ginny blushed to the top of her already red head. Harry and Ginny left the bank, and were on the way to the Leaky Cauldron they went by the Magical Menagerie, and when Harry passed he caught out of the corner of his eye a white owl. HEDWIG? he gasped, and the owl turned to look at him that same penetrating gaze that Hedwig has always given him. The owl followed his every movement. Excitedly, Harry asked the shop keeper about the owl. It was a one year old owl, well almost one year, she was born on the evening of July 27 th she amended. Harry recalled that it was the moment when his owl was killed. Harry bought the owl then and there, turning to Ginny he asked, Do you want one too? No, she replied, one will do for us. Harry smiled, and asked the clerk for a chit to sign. This he did, and the sale was completed, along, of course with a nice wooden cage. They finished the evening with a nice dinner in the Leaky Cauldron, and then apparated back to Hogwarts. 25

27 They found the Weasleys in the Great Hall well after supper time, and Harry invited them to his room. They sat around the table. Kreacher had found some more furniture around the castle, and had set up some flowers, pictures and other things that made the room look more like home. Harry s new trunk was at the foot of the bed. Ginny quietly put her hand on her mother s lap, and when she looked down at the hand she saw the ring. She grabbed up her daughter and hugged her tightly. Hermione caught a glimpse of the ring next, and she grabbed Harry to hug and congratulate him. Ron still had no idea what had just happened. Ginny turned toward him and held out her hand. Hermione turned to Ron, And when do I get mine? she smiled at him, but in a jocular way that did not commit him if he was not ready yet. Ron was not rich, in fact he had no money at all. Harry said to Molly, We have set no date or anything like that yet. Ginny still has another year here, and I will be here teaching for that year. We will think about dates and details next year. After this year I expect that Ginny will go on to a university, and I will, I hope, be entering Auror studies. Still, I now own the Snape house in Spinners End. It will need a lot of work. So Ginny is still your daughter for another year. 26

28 4 Lucius Malfoy Lucius and Narcissa were sitting in their parlor, there were bright blue skies outside, and a beam a sunshine floating in through the open window. An owl also fluttered in through the window. It had an envelope in its beak and dropped it in front of Lucius. Lucius trembled, and opened the envelope. It was from the Ministry of Magic. Normally this would have been no occasion of fear for him, but now, with Voldemort dead, and with Kingsley Shacklebolt as Minister of Magic, and the Death Eaters being quickly erased from the landscape, Lucius felt a string of fear run down his spine. Many Death Eaters were of course killed in the Battle of Hogwarts, others have been arrested and sent to Azkaban. Malfoy had already been in Azkaban after the fracas in the Ministry two years ago. He escaped with a crowd of ten when Voldemort turned the Dementors to his will. He had been living freely in the wizard world since then. But what now. His hands trembled as he opened the envelope and read My Dear Lucius Malfoy, As you know you still have three years in Azkaban, but because of your recent behavior during the Battle of Hogwarts, I want to visit with you, at your manor this coming Monday at 9:00 AM. I look forward to seeing you at this time and to try to repair this and other outstanding issues that involve you and the Ministry. I believe that this will turn events to your benefit. Sincerely, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Minister of Magic. Lucius turned white, and showed the letter to Narcissa. He said to Narcissa, Kingsley was close to Dumbledore, and was part of 27

29 the Order of the Phoenix. He was never under Voldemort s thumb, and never had anything to do with the Black Uprising. I wonder what he wants. Then he was heard talking to himself, I will not. I will not go back there. I will never go back to Azkaban. Never. No I will not go! He was in a funk for the whole week, growing darker and darker, he spent several days restless and without eating. He did not dare go out of the house. The Daily Prophet brought him no new information. The tenor of the stories were positive, but there was no mention of the Death Eaters or of what was happening to them. He dared not contact any of them. Draco saw and felt his father s unease and resolved to see what he could find out. Draco apparated to Diagon Alley, and consulted with Mr. Borgin. He was somewhat less than helpful to Draco, but Draco learned that Borgin knew little of what was happening to the remaining death Eaters. Indeed Borgin did not know who was killed and who was still alive and/or even who was back in Azkaban. It is better that we do not know who is still alive, because then the Ministry will start looking for them. They have published no list of the dead Death Eaters, perhaps they do not want us to know the magnitude of the loss, or of who can be trusted and who cannot. I see Lucius is still alive, but then I have heard that your father wimped out in the end, so I would not trust you with any information that I might have even if I had any. Be gone now, you and he are dirty and I do not want to be a part of that. Draco was shocked by this, and he was about to argue with Borgin, but instead he bowed, and left the shop. The heck with him! But Draco took his words to heart, and decided that he did not want to be seen about in public either. 28

30 5 Privet Drive The students were gone. The families were gone. The Weasleys were gone. You could have counted the staff left at the castle on your fingers. They set up just one table in the great hall, and they rolled out the drawings of the castle. They marked the places where major stone work was required. Professor Flitwick went out to the quarry east of the castle, and using his wand he cut and finished the stones according to the plans, and Hagrid and Grawp carried them down to the castle. Harry and Professor Sprout used their magic to put them in place. Professors McGonagall and Slughorn used magic to fit and polish them. Watching them work would make one think that they would have the project done in a week. But there was much more castle that needed to be repaired then there were days in the week. Aurora Sinistra, the Astronomy Professor, and Septima Vector the Arithmancy professor used magic to scrape and paint the walls. And of course a number of workers and tradesmen from Hogsmeade were there to help with things. Mr. Filch supervised these in the polishing of the floors and the cleaning of the pictures and in the fixing of bathroom pipes. Glazers came in to repair all of the windows in the castle: even magical workers take time to work their crafts. Indeed Harry did learn more magic from them, for magic is much more than a book or of simple spells and charms. Using magic was obviously the best way to learn magic. At dinner on Thursday, Professor McGonagall spoke with Harry, Your aunt and uncle now live in Chelmsford, northeast of London, Vernon has a much better job than he had before, and Petunia loves the new house on a quiet lane near an open field. But they will be back at Privet Drive tomorrow to close up that house and get it ready for sale. I think it would be nice if you went out there to see them, to bring them up to date on your doings and on 29

31 the demise of the Dark Lord. That bit of information never made the Muggle news, you know. Harry Thought about this, and she continued, They will arrive there around 10 am, perhaps you can magic them a nice dinner and make your peace with them. And Harry, with some trepidation, replied that he would do this. In the morning, Harry, wearing his best red robe, apparated to Privet Drive, and he walked around the corner to see if Mrs. Figg was still there. She was, and Harry spent some time bringing her up to date on the affairs at Hogwarts, although she knew most of them already. He explained his presence at Privet Drive, and invited her to come with him to visit his aunt and uncle. The Dursleys arrived about ten minutes to ten, and found Harry and Arabella Figg sitting on the stone wall outside of the house. Vernon of course was taken aback, Petunia put her hand to her mouth, and Dudley sat there with his jaw dropped. Harry went to the car, opened the door and gallantly helped Petunia out with a smile. Professor McGonagall told me that you would be arriving here today, she thought it would be nice if I helped you to get the house ready for sale. And just how did you know about that, boy? Thundered Vernon, though it must be said that his voice no longer had the thunder to it that it once had. He seems to have mellowed what with his new position and his new home. Even Dudley, while still heavy, looked a bit more normal in size. He was indeed looking quite healthy. Well, said Harry, you see, Arabella here, she has been Dumbledore s friend for ages upon ages. I suppose she heard about it and let Professor McGonagall know about it. After all, you have had the house listed in the Muggle papers just recently. Vernon and Petunia looked to Arabella, who smiled shyly. Harry continued, She had been keeping watch over me all of the time that I lived here, just to be sure that I did not get into and real 30

32 trouble. And she really helped out that night that Dudley and I were accosted by those Dementors. Petunia spoke up, Then you are a witch? No, no, no, actually I am a squib, that is a person born of magical parents who does not have any magical ability of their own. So how could you have helped them if you could not do magic? Vernon asked. Just by being there, just by talking him through the situation, and helping him and Dudley make their way back home again. Just by letting Harry know that he was not alone. That is important, you know. Harry took care of the Dementors all on his own, and which, I must say, truly upset the Ministry of Magic which at that time was already bending to the will of the Dark Lord. And just what has become of this Dark Lord? All I was told, by a bleeding owl no less, was that it was safe to go back to Privet Drive again, declared Vernon. He is dead, said Harry, and after a pause continued, I killed him just outside the gates of Hogwarts. You? screamed Vernon, how could you do that when a whole world full of wizards could not do it? Voldemort chose me the day he killed my parents, the day he gave me this scar. We were tied together. It is a long story, but at the moment ought we not get your house ready for sale? Vernon mumbled, and fumbled with his keys, and opened the door. The house looked almost as clean as the day they left it, until they got to the kitchen and found stacks of cast off clothing. Oh, said Harry, we did leave in kind of a hurry. Left your clothes behind it looks like, said Vernon, and then holding up a bra for the inspection of all, he gave Harry a funny look. 31

33 There were fourteen of us, there were seven disguised as me, and seven to ride guard on us. We departed on brooms, explained Harry, leaving it at that. Those who were disguised as me left their clothing behind, and put on other clothing to make them look like me. It was a scary night, there were thirty of them, Death Eaters, waiting for my escape, luckily they just were not planning on following seven of me, and so we got away, but not without treachery, injury and death. Harry took out his wand, and with a gentle wave and a flick, all of the clothing vanished. Well, what do you know, I really can do the vanishing charm! Harry winked at Arabella, What else do we need to clean up? They went through the house, vanishing everything that did not belong. Some of Harry s stuff was packed into his old trunk and with the command, locomotor trunk! Harry led it out to the back patio. Vernon said, So you can do magic now, I mean, without getting into trouble? Oh yes, they cannot put a trace on me now that I am over 17. We are still not supposed to do magic in the presence of Muggles, but you are my family, and know all about magic, and so that is keeping it all in the family, as it were. Gee, it is getting on to noon. Have you thought about a lunch yet? It is a nice day, let me make some lunch for us. Harry went into the back yard, and taking his wand, cast a circle, and a table with five chairs appeared. A table cloth was on it. Plates, glasses and silverware appeared. Then Harry said, Let us give thanks for our family, and for our daily food. He bowed his head. After a moment, he waved his wand again and the plates were filled with spaghetti with sauce and with garlic bread, and the glasses were filled with wine appeared on the table. Err, Enjoy, said Harry, as they sat down and began to eat. Now that I can do magic, lots of things become more simple. You cannot, of course, conjure food out of thin air, this food was 32

34 prepared at Hogwarts, and I just used some magic to put it here on our table. So, asked Petunia, what are you doing now? I am staying at Hogwarts this summer, there is a lot of work to do to put the castle back into shape for the new school year. It was quite a shambles, as you might imagine, after that battle with the Dark Lord and his minions. A lot of damage has to be fixed, and those stones are heavy. Sure we can use magic to move them, to fit them, to polish them, but it still is work. Then there are the problems at the Ministry of Magic! The Dark Lord had that place fully penetrated, either with his own people, or by others who were put under his spell. It will take a long time for Kingsley to sort things out there. That is to say Kingsley Shacklebolt, the new Minister of Magic. He is a fabulous wizard, and was never in the pocket of the Dark Lord. But he must move carefully, for he knows not whom he can fully trust. And just where do you come in in all of this? asked Vernon. Harry replied, It is my desire to become an Auror. That is sort of an agent of a magical Scotland Yard if you will. But they will not be starting any new classes at the Ministry this year. As I said much needs to be done there first. Instead I will be teaching at Hogwarts this year, since Professor McGonagall does not have all that many people whom she can trust with these tasks either. Hermione and I will be teaching. My friend, Ron, will be working with his brother George at a shop they have opened. Harry waved his wand again and the dishes disappeared, and bowls of ice cream took their place. Then Harry asked, And Master Dudley, how have you been doing, are you still at Smelting s, you must have another year there, yes? Petunia answered for him, Well his grades have certainly improved since we moved. He gets to stay at home more and study, you see. 33

35 This is wonderful, replied Harry, and then on to college, have you decided where you want to go yet? Before Dudley could answer, Harry continued, Ginny, that is Ginny Weasley, I just put a ring on her finger a few days ago, she still has another year at Hogwarts, and then she will be looking for a university. Professor McGonagall wants her to go to Oxford of all places! Harry turned to Arabella, You heard that Severus Snape was killed by the Dark Lord. He left his estate to Lily Evans-Potter. Petunia, you knew that he always had that crush on Lily. Anyway the estate includes the house at Spinner s End, and a couple million galleons of gold in his vault. Petunia, you know the Snape boy, you grew up in Spinner s End too, so you know where his house is. Gold, exclaimed Vernon, his eyes almost falling out, You have vault filled with gold! Well, yes, replied Harry, Mom and Dad left me with quite a bit of gold in their vault, Dad came from an old wizarding family you know. And then when my godfather was killed, his gold was added to that. And now the gold from Severus. I have no idea how much gold is in there, I do not think it has ever been counted. Vernon was quite flustered now. So Harry continued, Wizards use three different coins. Copper Knuts, silver Sickles, and gold Galleons. Their worth in the wizard world and in the Muggle world have no correlation with each other. Something that costs ten galleons in the wizard world, might cost fifty pounds in the Muggle world. Still the value of a galleon in your economy would be in the many hundreds of pounds. Harry took a galleon and a few Knuts out of his pocket and put them on the table. I guess this would be a small fortune to a gold merchant, he said, poking the galleon with his finger, but it would buy a modest lunch at the Leaky Cauldron in London. I can carry these around with me, after all, I might want a lunch at the Cauldron, but currency speculation is strictly verboten, with enormous penalties in the wizarding world. I would not be allowed to convert Muggle money into Wizard money, but going the other way is ok, but then, only at Gringotts exchange rate. Wizard money never leaves the wizard 34

36 world, at least not as a medium of exchange. Harry handed the coins to Vernon. Keep them in memory of Lily. Vernon, ever the accountant, asked, But you are working at this school, and you get paid in this money, how is it that you can still spend money in our world. Harry explained, My vault is in Gringotts Bank in London. It is in Diagon Alley, behind the Leaky Cauldron. That street is a strictly wizarding street, with all sorts of magical shops. It does not plot out on Muggle maps. Gringotts is the Wizard s bank, however it is run by Goblins. Their vaults are deep under the bank, stretching down maybe thousands of feet. Perhaps they even mine gold there, I wouldn t know. Anyway, I have a money account there, it works like, and fact it is, an ordinary credit card. Any London merchant or cash machine for that matter will accept it at face value, and the bank code returns the debit to Gringotts Bank who takes care of it for me at the set exchange rate, and really, I have no clue what that might be, but it does work out in the customer s favor. Gee, it is getting late, said Harry, we d better finish work on the house. And with a wave of the wand, the tables and chairs, the bowls and the silver all vanished. The Dursleys went back into the house, but Harry approached Arabella. What are your plans now? Will you stay here, or what? Well there is nothing to keep me here, but on the other hand there is no place to go. I m not even sure who pays the rent on my house. That was always taken care of by Dumbledore. Well, said Harry, I now own a house at Spinners End. Ginny and I plan to move there in about a year or so, but in the meanwhile, I am going to have it gutted and rebuilt. Perhaps, if you like, I can install you in a house or an apartment in Spinner s End, and you can supervise the renovation. Harry, I d love that, but I d better check with Professor McGonagall first. 35

37 Harry walked Arabella back to her place, and then returned, shook hands with all of the Dursleys, and said I sure hope you will accept my owl from time to time, it really would be nice to keep in touch with you. Harry shook hands with the three of them, then went into the back yard, and lifting up the end of his trunk, he apparated back to Hogwarts, while the Dursleys looked on somewhat stupefied. 36

38 6 Into the Manor Harry Received an owl from Kingsley informing him that he would arrive at Hogwarts on Monday morning, and that they would apperate to Malfoy Manor to reconcile the Ministry with the Malfoys. Harry was ready at the appointed time, and he wore his new green robe for the first time. He thought that it would be appropriate for visiting with Slytherins. They arrived at the Manor just before nine in the morning. Draco let them in, a smile for Kingsley, after all with the Dark Lord gone, he had to suck up to somebody, and the new Minister of Magic seemed to be a good idea. He gave a smirk to Harry, not just because he was Harry, that would occurred anyway, but because Harry had chosen to wear Slytherin colors. They sat in the parlor for a short time waiting for Lucius and Narcissa to appear. After ten minutes, they still had not arrived, and so Draco took it upon himself to go upstairs to see if they were ready yet. A few moments later Harry and Kingsley heard the most blood curdling scream imaginable. They flew up the stairs and into the Malfoy s bed room, where Draco stood paralyzed, and the Malfoys lay dead on their bed. Harry rushed over to Draco, and held him tightly, just like Lupin did for him when Sirius died. The human touch, especially man-to-man on occasions like this seemed to be what love and humanity required. Harry then stepped away from Draco, and went to Lucius, he thought for a moment, and then held out his hand and said, Pensive-scope. Harry had never heard of a pensive-scope, and did not know if such a thing ever existed. But he knew what he wanted, and he knew what he wanted it do. Immediately something 37

39 like an old silver binocular appeared, with fancy silver engravings and reliefs on it appeared in his hand. It consisted of two tubes about eight inches long, and each tube not more than an inch in diameter. There was a wheel between the two scopes. Harry took the instrument and approached Lucius, he opened his eyes, and placed the scope against them. He looked into his end of the scope. He saw nothing. He turned the wheel. Images like still photos came into view. He rolled the wheel back to the day when Lucius received the owl from the Ministry. He was even able to read the letter, which looked simple enough to him, but he sensed a growing fear in Lucius from that date. He could not hear Lucius words, but he could feel his emotions. His emotions grew stronger and darker as he flicked through the days, until today, when the fear and outright terror was overwhelming. Harry saw a potion in Lucius hand, he gave one to Narcissa, and then all went blank. Harry backed up the scope to the last frames. He saw a clock on the table. The time on it was 9:55! They were still alive when Kingsley and Harry entered the Manor! Harry dropped the scope to the floor, held out his hand, and said, Bezors! Two Bezors appeared in his hand. He tossed one of them to Kingsley, and he forced the other one into the mouth of Lucius. He lifted Lucius to a sitting position. He pounded him on the back a few times. Kingsley did the same for Narcissa. Harry laid Lucius back down on the bed and took out his wand. He placed his wand to the forehead of Lucius, and then motioned Draco to the form of his mother. Take out your wand, he said. Harry held the wand to Lucius forehead, and placed his right hand to his abdomen, and pressing gently began to chant Father of my Friend, Father of my Friend. He looked up to Draco and said Your chant is Love for my Mother. Harry continued his magic. Then looking up to Draco he said, Gently, we are doing magic, not CPR. Harry continued with his magic. The he took another wand out of his sock, it was Draco s old wand. That is your mother s wand, here, you have to use your own wand. Put your love into it, into you wand, into your Mother. Tears poured down Draco s face as they continued their magic. 38

40 Then Harry began to breathe purposefully, deeply, Draco breathe for her deeply, think of her breath as you breathe. But Harry s chant had changed, he was now chanting, Love for my Father. Love for my Father. The magic continued for about ten minutes, when Lucius eyes flittered open. Harry removed his wand from Lucius forehead, and help him to sit up. Moments later, Draco had his mother sitting up. Harry breathed a sigh of relief. Kingsley looked dumbfounded. Harry weakly smiled at him. This was a large bedroom, and so Harry conjured a round table with five chairs. He pointed at one of them with his wand, and it glowed white. Kingsley, have a seat here please. He pointed his wand to the chair at Kingsley s left, it glowed silver. Draco, help your mother to sit here. Harry guided Lucius to the chair at Kingsley s right, and he sat himself down next to Lucius. Draco was left with the chair between Harry and his mother. Let us rest for a moment, it has been an exciting few minutes. Let us catch our breath. Let the memory of what has happened pass from our minds. Let us start the day afresh. After a time, Harry waved his wand, and bowls of chicken noodle soup appeared on the table, along with buttered toast and cups of tea. Let us eat, let this food strengthen us, for we surely need such strength now. And they ate quietly and it seemed that peace returned to their souls. When they had eaten, Harry took a deep breath, he vanished the soup bowls and spoons, but left the toast and the tea on the table. Kingsley spoke, You, Lucius, knew of course that I was rounding up Death Eaters and returning them to Azkaban, and so I can see now that you reacted poorly to receiving my owl. Still, I never sent any owls to those whom I returned to Azkaban. I saw how you and Narcissa behaved during the Battle of Hogwarts, how you fought not for or against either side. I saw your fears, and I saw your hope when you told Draco that he was still alive. And now you too are still alive, and I hope to keep you that way for a long time to come. Yes, you have an unfinished term to serve, but 39

41 now you are on my parole, you are not going to be sent back there. I need you here, I need and want you in the Ministry. I am looking for people I can trust Lucius looked at him with a new light in his eyes. As if he had seen the resurrection. Kingsley continued, You know, Voldemort, and anyone else who would want to be a Dark Lord is fighting a losing battle. Nobody can stand at the head of a people unless that people wants him there. Voldemort could kill people, but Harry here, did something different. Something that he had never done before, something that nobody showed him, something that nobody had ever done before. Anyone could kill, but Harry brought life out of death. That is something that only God could do. Harry is not God, but his love channeled the love of God into the bodies of your parents. I do not know how he did it, I am certain that he did not know how he did it. He did what felt right to him and was drawing on some very deep magic indeed, did something far greater and far more impressive than just putting an end to the Dark Lord. All real magic is pure-blood magic, Lucius. Nobody can do any magic at all without being a pure blood, for magic itself is pure. It does not matter how many generations have passed between one Wizard and the next through a long line of muggles, the wizard blood when it shows up is always pure, because somewhere deep in the past it came from a real wizard. You call yourself a pure-blood and rightfully so, but it is not because your family line is unbroken for all of these generations. No it is simply because you are a wizard, and that, Lucius, is enough. Now enough of this I did not come here to talk the theory magic with you. I came because I want you in the Ministry. I will name you, with your consent, of course, as Curator of Magic Artifacts, but mostly of course I mean of Dark Objects. And the objects by themselves are neither black nor white, they are simply objects that can be used for dark purposes by a dark wizard. Take for example the Vanishing Cabinet. Is that a dark object just because Draco here used it to move people into Hogwarts? Clearly not, for I could set one up in Diagon Alley and another in Hogsmeade, and charge people money to move between one and 40

42 the other. Just like any other door in any other wall. No the objects are not dark, nor are the people who handle them. As curator, you will locate, describe and catalog magical artifacts. And you will either move them to a safe location in the Ministry, return them to their rightful owners, or perhaps sell them either for the owner or for the ministry. Draco I hope that you will be so kind as to work with your father in this ministry. And continued Kingsley, raising his hand toward Harry, your first target is Harry s house! Lucius and Draco spoke almost in unison, Harry has a house? Yes. Yes, it is Severus Snape s old house in Spinner s End. Lilly Evans-Potter was named as Severus heir since his love for her never faltered, never wavered. And so that house has passed on to Harry. Kingsley made no mention of any cash inheritance, for the Malfoys always assumed that Snape was mostly penniless. And it might be said that Snape never knew about that money, or it was more likely that he simply never cared about it. Obviously, unlike the house which came from his father, a vault in Gringotts would have had to come from his mother s side of the family. But the Goblins of Gringotts knew it was there and had kept track of it all these long years. Kingsley continued, We will want to get to that property first, since Harry here wants to do a complete interior renovation. He will gut the house and start over, and I suppose, when you see it, you will agree that that is probably the best choice for this house. You will want to work in the daylight, since the house has no electricity in it. But there is another estate that we will need to look at right away too. That will be far more complicated, and that will be the Lestrange vault at Gringotts. Harry raided that vault several weeks ago, but all that he took out of it, all that he wanted was the Huffelpuff cup that Voldemort had turned into a Horcrux. That has obviously been destroyed since Voldemort had once again become mortal and subject to Harry s spells. 41

43 When Harry attacked it, the treasure there doubled and tripled until most of the contents that you will see there now are dross. You will have to pick out the real treasure from the dross under the very watchful eyes of the Goblins. Anything that is dark, you will so mark as dark, and set it aside. The rest can be liquidated to the heirs of Bellatrix and Rodolphus, if they even have any heirs that we can find. Gringotts will take care of that, but clearly you, Narcissa will be part of that estate. Who knows, perhaps Harry also through his connection with Sirius. If Bellatrix left a will, he would surely not be in it, but if she left no will that we can find, registered with the Ministry or at Gringotts, then Harry may very well be a part of this estate too. Kingsley finished, I will give you the information on Harry s house in a day or two. And Lucius, welcome back to the Ministry! Kingsley and Harry left Malfoy Manor on good terms with the Malfoys. Kingsley told Harry, Wearing that green robe was one of the best moves you have made yet. You are going to be a very, very fine wizard, you know what to do, and you do it so naturally. Now, back to Hogwarts with you! 42

44 7 Mrs. Figg After another hard day of work at the castle, Harry sat down with Minerva McGonagall, and brought her up to date on all that had been happening these past weeks. She had already heard from Kingsley how things went at Malfoy Manor and of the outstanding magic that Harry had performed there. Harry spoke to her about Mrs. Figg, and, yes, Harry could set her up at Spinner s End, but that he would also pick up her rent and salary, and help her to move. So Harry asked if he could have the morning off to go to Spinner s End to set things up for her. He would be back at the castle by noon, and that he and Ginny would help her move on Saturday. Early in the morning Harry apparated to Spinner s End, and went to the branch of Gringotts Bank there. He asked the wizards there about an apartment for Mrs. Figg, and they found one for rent on the block between Harry s house and the main shopping street. Actually, the back yard of Harry s house backed up to the back yard of the rental he had just arranged. Harry paid six month s rent on the apartment and took the keys from the banker. He then asked about contractors to work on the Snape house. It would need a complete makeover inside, but the outside would only be repaired to make it match all of the other houses in the neighborhood. The banker gave Harry the cards of some of the contractors and then told him that he would need an architect first. Then Harry apparated back to Hogwarts just a little bit before noon. That evening, Harry sat down in his office, took a parchment and quill and wrote a letter to Ginny. xoxoxoxoxox&sss2 Dear Ginny, 43

45 This seems so odd to be writing to you like this. It seems as if now I am a man with real responsibilities, and real things that are so important to me. To us. I was at Malfoy Manor yesterday morning with Kingsley, and did that ever get hairy. Lucius thought that Kingsley was going to put him back in Azkaban, and he and Narcissa had actually committed suicide. I do not know how or why I did what I did, but they are now completely revived. Kingsley was quite impressed. We are now on good terms with the Malfoys, and with Draco as well. They will both enter the ministry as Curators of Magical Artifacts. and their first assignment is Snape s Attic. Listen, on this Saturday we will have to move Mrs. Figg to Spinner s End. She is an old squib who used to keep watch over me all these years at Privet Drive. We will now move her to an apartment that I rented for her near the Snape house. I ll come to the Burrow, this Saturday morning, and then we can apparate to Privet Drive, hire a mover to move her goods, and move her to Spinner s End. You can travel with her by train and bus. She will manage the Snape house for us while we renovate it. I ll let you find a moving company for her household goods and arrange for your train tickets. Gringotts in Diagon Alley should have some leads for you to contact. A wizarding firm would be best, but I ll let you take care of that. I have the names of several contractors in the Spinner s End area that were given to be by Gringotts Bank, and so we will have to sit down and sketch some plans, then we can get some estimates from these contractors to do the work for us. Ginny, All my love (And mushy mushy snoggles and hugs) Harry Harry worked around the castle very hard the next few days, and it looked like it was almost ready to receive students again, even though that was still weeks away. Early on Saturday Morning, Harry put on his red robe, and Apparated to the Burrow. He arrived there before most of the Weasleys were up yet. But Arthur was there to greet him, and congratulated him on his choice 44

46 of a fiancée. They spoke for a while about many things, and about the Snape house which seemed to interest Arthur greatly, what with his interest in all things Muggle. No the house did not have any plugs at all yet, but is still had gas lighting just like the house at Grimmauld Place. Ginny was up just as soon as she heard Harry s voice, and then Molly, Ron and Hermione were also around the breakfast table, with pancakes sizzling on the grill. Ginny was bubbling about having the truck and the train tickets laid on, especially difficult for the truck on such a late notice, but this being a Saturday helped. Ron and Hermione wanted to come with them too. Hermione thought what the heck, Ron has to accept Harry s engagement to his sister, and that he would no longer try to sit in between them as he had done at Christmas time. Harry thought, the more help the better. Ginny put on the red robe that Harry had given her, and so Ron and Hermione decided to make it unanimous, and to wear their robes as well. The Apparated to Privet Drive, and what do you know but what Mr. Dursley was there to help conclude the sale of the house at number four. They waved to him, but seeing that he was busy they continued on to Mrs. Figg s house. Arabella Figg was waiting for them, which is to say that she had tea and buttered toast waiting for them. Ron and Harry went to find a nearby super market where they could scrounge up some boxes, while the girls sat and chatted with Mrs. Figg. Ginny showed off her ring, so that when Harry got back (with Ron of course) he was smothered with hugs from Arabella. They spent hours filling the boxes, went back for more boxes, and then filled them up too. There was not much furniture to move, some chairs, a table, a dresser, and the bed. They were hoping to get things finished before the truck arrived, and that they did, since the truck was late in arriving. In fact, Ginny and Arabella had to leave before the truck even arrived. Ginny and Arabella took the bus to the train station, and then were able to board their train without difficulty. This was Ginny s first time navigating by herself in the Muggle world, and she took care to do it correctly. She would always do things correctly. She had grown as much as Harry did over these few short days in the summer. The train would get to Spinner s End sometime tomorrow morning. Ginny had even booked them a sleeping compartment. 45

47 Meanwhile the truck did arrive, and the boys, with the help of Hermione got the truck loaded quickly and that was off to Spinner s End. It would arrive sometime after the train. Harry took the keys to the real estate agent that Professor McGonagall said was the agent for the property. The agent inspected the house, and then dickered over issues of some sort. Harry said, Sorry, I m only returning the keys, any other issues you may have will have to be taken up by the people who originally rented the property for Mrs. Figg. Harry figured the Gringotts bankers could handle anything that needed their care. Before they left, Mr. Dursley, assuming that this is where they all would be, stopped by to say hello. The wizards all looked quite respectable even in their robes. Harry introduced the others, then they all shook hands with Mr. Dursley, who said, And don t forget to send us an owl once in a while! A lot of people had grown this summer. Harry, Ron and Hermione then apparated to Spinner s End. Hermione saw the tall smoke stack and the decayed mill on the other side of the creek, and then looked at the rows of identical houses, all three story attached brick homes in a neighborhood that was even a little more rundown than what is was when Severus and Lily had lived here. Harry walked in a block and then up to the house which he opened with his key. He opened the shutters and the windows to get some light and air into the place. Hermione did not think much of the house or of the neighborhood, but Ron was taken with the possibilities. The house at Grimmauld place was bigger, but it would also need more work. It was also not plotted, so getting work done on it would be a very interesting project indeed. This was a muggle house in a muggle neighborhood, and so renovations would be simple by just following muggle rules. But Harry planned to use wizard contractors if he could. Hermione began looking at the book titles on the extensive bookshelves. Harry said the he and Ginny would go over them to see what should be kept, what should be sent to Hogwarts, what should be collected by the Malfoys and so on. Harry showed them the rest of the house. When they got to the third floor, Ron s jaw dropped, Look at all of this stuff, he exclaimed. One could have a field day up here. Harry said, They sure will, the Malfoys, Lucius and Draco will come here next week to examine and inventory what is up here. Any black magic objects will be moved to the ministry, and they agreed to take the rest of it off of my hands. 46

48 The Malfoys! echoed Ron and Hermione. Well, yes. The Minister of Magic had appointed Lucius and Draco as Curators of Magical Artifacts. It is an official position at the Ministry that Kingsley Shacklebolt has set up, and we, that is Kingsley and I went to see them at the Manor to put the position together. And since this house is an inheritance, it needs to be examined by the Ministry, this will be their first assignment. But all of this stuff! said Ron. It is just that, stuff. I never owned it before I took over Snape s estate, and I do not need it now. It is just in the way, we are going to gut and renovate this whole house. That is why we need that stuff out now, because we want the house fully renovated and ready to move into when this school year ends. How are you going to do all of that while you are at Hogwarts? That is why we are bringing Mrs. Figg here. I have rented her a house, that house, Harry said, pointing out the back window. And let s open some more windows in here. I expect we will stay here tonight, or perhaps at Mrs. Figg s since that has light and such. Of course, this house has the furniture, and Snape did live here until the beginning of the last school term. They locked up the house, and went around to the next block to look at the house that they had rented for Arabella. It was a decent house in a suitable state of repair, but of course it was a rental and so has had a great deal of use. Ron said, Perhaps we can at least paint this before she arrives tomorrow. Hermione thought that was a good idea, and so they walked to the business street, found a muggle hardware store and bought several gallons of paint. Harry paid for it with his credit card. Hermione knew all about credit cards, but Ron was shocked that you could buy stuff just by looking at a piece of plastic. Harry said, It s even easier in Hogsmeade or in Diagon Alley, you don t even need the card. Paint, Brushes, Rollers and drop cloths all made it into what they began to call the Figg House, while everyone still called Harry s house the Snape House. They worked for several hours, and then went back to the business street and found a nice Restaurant. They had some really nice dinners, and again Harry paid for them with his card. Ron said, I 47

49 have to get me one of those cards. Hermione snickered, You still have to have the money in the bank, and after all you cannot spend money that you do not already have. She was not about to tell him about how credit cards really worked. Indeed, Harry did not even know that. All he knew that Gringotts would pay his debts monthly from the monies that were in his account, and that was that. By three am in the morning, the task of painting the Figg house was completed, and the trio went over to the Snape house to find comfortable places to sleep. Harry gave the bedroom to Hermione, and he and Ron found themselves on a sofa and a chair in the Living room. It was nine am when Harry awoke, and got the others up, for the train would be arriving at the station shortly. They apparated to the station, and in good time too, for the train arrived here a bit early. Ginny and Arabella were walking along the platform when the others found them, and they found their way to the correct bus that would take them to Spinner s End. They all rode the bus together, and then walked Arabella to her new apartment. It was gorgeous to her eyes, even though the truck would not arrive for several hours yet. They went out the back door of the Figg house, and into the back door of the Snape house. Here it was more comfortable, after all, it had chairs and a table at least. Eventually Ron and Hermione went back to the Figg house to await the truck, while Ginny, Harry and Arabella started examining the books and other artifacts of the house. Harry explained to Arabella all about their renovation plans, and while they were waiting for the truck, Ginny pulled out some parchment and a quill, and started sketching out plans for the renovation of the house. She started with a simple, empty rectangle, and she marked where the doors and windows were. Everything else would go. She sketched a shape like a kidney bean in the same place on each floor. Then behind that she sketched a stairway, the sort that goes up half a flight to a landing, and then continues in the opposite direction to attain the next floor. She told Harry that it would take up less space that way. Harry asked about the kidney bean. Oh that, replied Ginny, that is an open atrium sort of a thing. That way we can hear what the kids are doing no matter what floor they were on Well it worked just fine at the Burrow. Mom always knew what we were up to! She called the first floor the Great Room, and in a rear corner of this room she drew a modern kitchen with modern muggle appliances, including a washer and dryer. Harry was still trying to picture this in his mind when out came another parchment and she began on the second floor. Toward the front of the building she sketched a master bed room 48

50 with a modern muggle bath and plenty of closet space. Behind the stairway she drew in two offices. A his and her office as it were. Well we will each need an office, I as a teacher, and you as an Auror. Then another parchment went down, the third floor. She put two bedrooms toward the front, and two toward the rear, along the sides between the bedrooms was a place two bathrooms. I think that two bedrooms could share a bathroom. Let me make a door between the bedrooms and the bathrooms. Just how many children are we going to have anyway? asked Harry. Well, I come from a large family, and I want a large family. The confusion would do us some good, don t you think? Just what we need, lots of confusion! Out came a fourth parchment. The house only has three floors, objected Harry. It has a basement. As long as we are renovating we will fix up the basement too. It does need water proofing, new cement walls and a new floor. There should be a bathroom down here too, just in case we need to set up a guest accommodation here. Otherwise the space will be open. Better be padded incase the kids try to fly around down here. Out came a fifth parchment. The house has a back yard, Ginny explained, without waiting to be asked about it, and then said, Do you suppose we could buy the Figg House too, that would make future expansion simple. Harry gathered up the plans and said he would take them to his banker as soon as he had the chance. Let s go over to the Figg house, the truck should be there by now. At least that got him out from under the avalanche of plans that was rolling off of Ginny s desk. And indeed, the truck did roll us just as they arrived, and while it was late in the day, and Arabella took charge, and directed the furniture and boxes as she wanted, and by supper time, she had everything exactly as she wanted. Having four magicians to help her sure made things easy. They then went out to find a restaurant for an evening dinner. On the way, Harry stopped at a cash machine, and while they all looked on he 49

51 tried to figure out what to do with the machine. It turned out to be fairly simple, if you followed the directions on the screen. He took out three hundred pounds. He gave two hundred to Arabella, promising her more next week, and gave Ron the other one hundred. Ron and Hermione planned to stay in the Snape house for several days. Hermione would pack up all of Snape s books and send them to Hogwarts, along with anything else that she thought Harry would want. Ron would pack up and send to the Burrow anything that he wanted to look at, and which would be sure to please Arthur. Ginny declared that she would stay with Arabella for a few days. Harry said that it was time for him to return to Hogwarts: he had to work the next day. I ll send Hedwig to the Burrow, letting Molly know where you guys are, and that you are all ok. Then after dinner, Harry apparated to Hogwarts. 50

52 8 In the Figg House Ginny and Arabella turned in a little after ten pm. Mrs. Figg in her bedroom, and Ginny on a couch in the front room. Saying that they were all ok, however, was a little bit premature. Around three am, there was a loud crash at the front door, and the door was broken in. Three over hormoned males broke into the house with a loud ruckus, which woke Ginny up instantly. Where is that old witch. they shouted at her. One of the intruders was holding a knife. She is not a witch, said Ginny indignantly, But I am! and with a flick of her wand, the knife went flying across the room. The men moved quickly to get to Ginny, but with all of the skill of a fast quidditch player, she cast her spells. The three men were petrified and bound tightly with ropes. Arabella rushed in to see the commotion. They shall not be a bother to you anymore. and then she apparated over to the Snape house, awoke the others, and apparated back to the Figg house in under thirty seconds. Moments later Hermione and then Ron apparated into Arabella s living room. Hermione, stay here with Mrs. Figg, Ron, go find us a policeman, Ginny ordered. A what? exclaimed Ron. A muggle law enforcement officer, you will likely find one on that business street. He will be wearing a blue uniform, and have a club in his belt. This was not the time to explain what a night stick was, that would only confuse Ron. Tell him that there has been a break-in here at this house, and that three perpetrators have been captured by the tenants. That should get them here fast enough, Ginny thought. She also thought about repairing the front door, but then reflected that it would be best that the officer should see the damage before they repaired it. 51

53 It took about ten minutes, but then Ron reappeared with a police officer in tow. A look around showed him the damaged door, and three men tied up on the ground. He looked at the women and then looked at the three men, and shook his head in disbelief. The officer said he would call for a car, but that it might take a while. Ginny replied, The police station is only three blocks away, we saw it when we went out for dinner, we can walk these suckers there in just a few minutes. She drew her wand, and the leg bindings fell away. Stand up you suckers, we are going for a little walk! They stood up, but now a rope was tied between each one and she gave the free end to the officer. We are going to follow this officer to the police station, and there will be no shit out of any of you because I ll be walking right behind you. The cavalcade started off, and sure enough the last man in the line, the one who had the knife, tried to pull away, but he could not run, for Ginny quietly used a levicorpus charm on him, now he was floating upside-down at the end of the procession, and not having any contact with the ground, his contortions were quite useless. The officer did not seem notice his condition until they got to the station house, but as they passed the door, Ginny released him back to his feet. The desk officer was quite confused. This was not the normal way that officers brought perpetrators to the station house. The three men were standing before the desk sergeant, all tied up while the patrol officer explained what happened and then sat down to write out his report, and fill out all of the necessary papers. Ginny explained that they had just rented this house for Mrs. Figg, (yes she was still at that address along with others of their group), and how this lot had broken down the front door claiming that Mrs. Figg was a witch. Do you even have witches in this part of England? Ginny asked. The desk sergeant hesitated, and that told Ginny all she wanted to know. Well, I can assure you, Mrs. Figg is no more a witch than she could play football while standing on her head! Those of us who are witches or wizards do not want to harm anybody for any reason. We just want to live and let live. And we have no need to use lethal charms on anyone just then a rat ran across the floor, Ginny cast a casual flick with her wand. A blast of green light appeared, the rat flew up into the air and fell to the floor dead. She looked back up at the sergeant and continued, but I suppose we could do so if we had to. After all, this jerk was attacking us 52

54 with a knife. The three men looked at Ginny, and then at the rat and shuddered to themselves. Ginny took out a sheet of parchment, set her quill to it, and while she was talking with the officers, her report appeared on the parchment. When it was time to leave, she rolled up the parchment, handed it to the sergeant, and left the police station. Yup, the sergeant said, I guess we do have witches around here. The officer laughed and levitated his paper work to the sergeant s desk. By the time that Ginny got to the Figg house, she found that Ron had the door put back in place, stronger than it was before, and Hermione provided the location with many magical charms. When the sun came up, they went out to the business street and found a little café that served breakfast. Then they went into a supermarket. Neither Ginny nor Ron had any idea that there was such a thing as a supermarket. The filled up their basket, and also bought a nice child s wagon, the kind with big wheels and high side rails. They put all of their groceries, paper goods and other household needs in it, and then pulled it back to Arabella s house. She was pleased with the wagon, for this would let her do her own shopping without difficulty. Ginny paid for their purchases with her credit card, while Ron looked on dumbfounded. While they left Arabella to set up her housekeeping, the three went back to the Snape house, and found Hedwig sitting on the door step waiting for them. They opened the door and the bird flew inside. Harry sent back Ginny s plans with very few additions or changes. xoxoxoxox+sssss Dear Ginny, (hugs kisses and snoggs) Here are the plans back. An architect will have to make legal plans. Let the wizards at Gringotts find us a good architect, and ask them to draw up plans for the house. Let the architect find us some builders. Try to find wizarding people for these jobs if we can. Yes, go ahead and ask Gringotts about the Figg house, if you think we can get a deal on it, go ahead and buy it. And get 53

55 Arabella a credit card in her name. They will probably have to arrange that with Diagon Alley, but I am sure that they know how. Also, go to a hardware store and buy some extension cords so that we can run some electricity to the Snape house, just for a few clamp on type work lamps. Hermione can help with that, she knows about muggle electricity. The Malfoys will need them when they come to inspect the artifacts. We ll let them stay there in the house for the time that they are working there. If you want to stay there, you can go ahead, but while the Malfoys are there see if you can stay with Arabella. Perhaps you can get a couple of extra camp beds and stuff. All my Love, Wish you were here, Love + Snoggs, Harry Hermione read the letter and exclaimed, I didn t know Harry could be so mushy. Ginny said, That s just it, he really is not mushy at all, he is serious but caring. And, he s mine! All mine! 54

56 9 The Malfoys at Spinner s End Hermione and Ron apparated off to the Burrow, leaving Ginny in her new house. Actually, once the Malfoys arrived, Ginny would be staying with Arabella. And the Malfoys, Lucius and Draco, arrived on Wednesday. They found the house mostly the way that had Severus left it, except that the books were gone. They settled themselves in and were grateful that Harry had left them some power and light. They made their way up to the attic and were overwhelmed with the amount of stuff that they found there. They quickly decided that anything with a power cord on it was a muggle artifact, and they set these aside to be discarded. They were still left with a roomful of unknown artifacts. Lucius muttered, Arthur would have a field day up here. The found several scales that had three baskets on them rather than the usual two. Clearly not muggle, and clearly something that a potion master would find interesting. These went into a pile of items to be packed up and sent to Hogwarts, let Slughorn figure them out if he could. The found something that looked like a medium sized telescope, but when looked into, you could not really see through it, even looking toward a light. It showed a cloudy something, perhaps a galaxy, perhaps some clouds, but nothing of immediate interest. This was the first object that they packaged up to send to the Ministry as a dark object. But the task became more onerous Draco complained that there really was no way to examine this stuff here, that they needed a lab and resource books. So Lucius said, Just pack up all of the stuff we are interested in and send it to the Ministry. Let Harry deal with the rest, he will just have his contractors get rid of it along with the rest of the interior of this House. Really, I do not know how Severus could have live here. But then his needs and wants were quite simple. 55

57 They put everything they wanted to take in one place, Draco brought them down, Lucius made a catalog of them, and Ginny was kind enough to check in on them, and then made herself the errand person, fetching boxes and packing materials from the nearby supermarket. Then they started in the basement. The stuff down here was less interesting to the Malfoys, but they also found out that they needed to go through it carefully, since were definitely dark arts objects down here. Some of these, Lucius even packed up to send to the Manor, after all he was told that he could examine some of the stuff at home, just so long as it was cataloged correctly. Indeed, as it turned out, Kingsley seeded the basement with some interesting articles just to see if they were cataloged correctly. And Lucius, careful to take this job seriously did just that. It did indeed take all week, they were grateful for the accommodations that Harry had set up for them, and for the assistance that Ginny had rendered them. As they left, they thanked Ginny for here help, and they even left the living places of the house intact for her. The attic and the basement were another matter, but were of no concern to Ginny or Harry. Once the Malfoys left Ginny went to the bank, they had selected a good wizard architect, and Ginny contacted them to meet them at the house on Saturday. She sent Hedwig back to Harry with this information. Harry apparated to Spinner s End early Saturday morning. Ginny had a fine breakfast set for him when he arrived. It was even tastier than the ones that Molly Weasley ever made, but to be fair, Ginny had time whereas Molly always had a cloud of people flying around her at meal times. You can magic a good meal together, but it still takes time and attention. And besides, Ginny had her own ideas. This was the first meal that she had made for Harry, though she had not thought about it while she was doing it. Harry was impressed, and felt his love building and building for her. She was not just a pretty face or a cute body, she was a serious help mate who could share his cares and carry her end of building the house. By ten o clock Phineas Holmes arrived with his briefcase. He came prepared to work on this project. He used tape measures, and other instruments to magically document each floor. To accurately plot doors and windows. To plot weight bearing surfaces. It was his purpose to discover all of the features, assets, and deficiencies of the house. By noon he finished looking at the house, Ginny prepared a fine lunch, fresh sandwiches, fruit, toast and tea. Phineas took out Ginny s sketch There are some things that I ll have to change to accommodate load bearing issues and to remediate 56

58 some of the issues of the house, but this gives me something to work from. This atrium is the central feature of your plan, and I can make that work for you, I may turn the stairway around to make it a part of the atrium space. He continued, There are fireplaces in the house, do you want to keep them, or just make them go away. Ginny said, Yes, we will need a fireplace, just to use floo powder. Phineas said, This fireplace, this house was never on the floo network, I can build the fireplace, and make it of a proper size for the network, but you will have to get it connected to the network at the Ministry. That should be no problem even if you were not Harry Potter, but if we make it a feature of the living room it will detract from the atrium. You, know, if you are not going to use the fireplace for heating, and I would not bother, I would put it on the street end of the basement. Or you could put it in the living room, but either way, we will have to install a new chimney, and we cannot put it on the outside of the building, since this is a landmark building in a landmark neighborhood. We can repair and restore the outside, we can put in new doors and windows, but we cannot change the external appearance. Then Harry asked, What about the back yard. Where are our property lines, that is what exactly are we renting with our land rent. There seems to be an alley there, and people seem to be driving on it, but is it platted there, or are people just driving on it because they can. You see I also bought the house directly behind this one, and I was thinking of building a wall between the two buildings, just to give us some privacy in the back yard. You, know, we do not want magical kids to cause issues with the local muggles, and keeping cars out would indeed make the yard safer. Phineas said, These questions I cannot answer yet, I will have to look into it. If the land rent you are paying covers the area, then it is no problem regardless of what others on the block may think. On the other hand, if it is not part of your land rent, and if you cannot add it to your rental, then you will have no control over it. You will only be able to put fences around your own lease. Like I say, I will carefully look into it. If I make waves, people will surely object, and then we will not get it. But these are old leases, written before the advent of the automobile, so I would not be surprised if there was no easement for an alley. I ll have first sketches for you in about two weeks, if we go ahead with the project, it will take me a little more than a month to make the proper blueprints. 57

59 After that we have to get them approved, and then locate a contractor to do the work. Ginny said you wanted me to manage that for you. It costs more that way, but you will end up with a far better product. They shook hands, Mr. Holmes apparated back to his office, and Harry and Ginny went out shopping and then took Arabella out to dinner. Ginny remained at Spinner s end, Harry apparated to the Burrow on his way to Hogwarts. 58

60 10 Harry at the Burrow Harry spun into the yard at the Burrow, and Ron and Hermione greeted him, and brought him inside. The house was empty. The only Weasleys at home were Molly, Arthur, and Ron. George was at the shop in Diagon Alley, and it was lucky that he found Ron and Hermione there, since Ron usually stayed in the Alley, but he and Hermione had just got back from visiting her parents. Then Hermione, flashed the ring that was on her finger. Harry congratulated Ron. They had both been visiting the Grangers, so that Ron could meet her parents. They were impressed with Ron, and gave their blessing, but no date had been set yet. So Harry asked them, Have you found a house yet, a place to live. Hermione asked. Do you have any extra that you are giving away? Well, yes, I do. What do you think you could do with 12 Grimmauld place? Oh Yug! said Ron and Hermione. But Harry continued, What if I talk to Kingsley, and take the magic off of that house. It would then reappear between 11 and 13, and you would be able to have it completely renovated. I just met with a wizard architect about the Snape house, and it all looks quite doable. In fact I am planning on doing this whether you want it or not. So perhaps it will be fully renovated it and I will just rent it to you, or if not then to someone else. But if you want it, I will give it to you. I ll even renovate it first, so you do not need to decide now. Ron and Hermione looked at him in unbelief. Harry said, I have more houses than I can live in. I also have the house in Godric s Hollow. I was thinking of using that as a summer house. 59

61 Neither Ron nor Hermione wanted to be in debt to Harry, but Harry was sincere, and he was honest about things, He simply did not want the house, and so Ron and Hermione said, The gesture is touching, and we know that you mean this, but we still have to think about this. You have pulled this on us so suddenly, we really do have to chew on this. Harry looked at Molly and Arthur and shrugged. An empty house had come upon the Weasleys much faster than they had ever thought that it would. They appeared to be at a total loss. All of their children grown up and gone away, sure the house was empty all of the time that they were at Hogwarts, but now they would not be coming back again. Harry said, Ginny is planning on a large family, looking forward to it in fact. She may stay at Spinner s End for a while, but soon the contractors will tear the place apart, and so she will be back here quickly enough. Perhaps even before the school year begins. And Ron, there is something that I want from you! From you and George. I want you to produce a line of notebooks that would be a magic equivalent to or something. What s Well, it is something that muggles do with a computer. They can use their computers or even their portable telephones to send messages to each other. What I want to do is to open my book, write say Ginny s name on it, the page will put the time and date on it, and I could write my letter, and then when I sign it, and it will appear in Ginny s book. Or I could write Molly on it and my note would appear in Molly s book. When she writes a reply, on the same page, that reply would appear in my book. Simple isn t it? I know you two guys can do it, and I ll buy several copies. I m sure it will be a big hit, and you sell hundreds or thousands of them. Ron said, You re as good with ideas as Fred was. I do not have that same gift with George, but yes, I think we can get it done. Harry then apparated back to Hogwarts. 60

62 11 The Year Begins Harry and Hermione started at Hogwarts as professors on August First. Not as prefects, not as quidditch captains, not as head boy or as head girl, but as professors. Headmistress McGonagall met with them and with Neville, about the new school year. They had to sit down and write their syllabus, and class plans for all of the classes that they would teach. For Neville, this was easy, all he had to do was read over Professor Sprout s notes. The same was true for Hermione, all she had to do was to follow Professor Flitwick s notes, and add her own ways of teaching. But Harry, he had to start from scratch. Each year that he had been Hogwarts he had had a different Defense against the Dark Arts professor, and they each had different ideas on what the course was supposed to be about. But Harry did have an advantage: He had his own ideas about what he wanted to do. And Headmistress McGonagall gave him more guidance by calling the course Defensive Magic rather than having to do anything with the dark arts. For grades one through four that should be enough. Professor Flitwick would handle the Dark Arts in grades five, six and seven. The plan that Harry created would be to teach first year students from all houses on Mondays and Thursdays at eight am. He would teach second year students from all houses at eight am on Tuesdays and Fridays. He would teach third year students from Slytherin and Gryffindor on Monday and Thursday at ten pm, and from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff on Tuesdays and Fridays. That left fourth years. He decided that he would teach double sessions at three pm, Slytherin on Monday, Gryffindor on Tuesday, Ravenclaw on Thursday and Hufflepuff on Fridays. But then Harry found out that he would also be teaching Muggle Studies to sixth and seventh year students on Wednesday. He decided to do sixth year students from all houses at nine am on Wednesday, and seventh year at 2 pm also on Wednesday. Actually he planned to give the same material to both years, and that the subject would be required. He would do the same for first and second year Defensive Magic courses. One thing was for sure, this was going to be a busy and strenuous year. 61

63 Not only all of this, but Ginny went ahead and approved the architect s plans and contracted builders. Work had already started on the Snape house, and Ginny went back to the Burrow for a week before catching the train to Hogwarts for her seventh year. The train arrived at Hogsmeade, the boats with the first year students set off across the lake, the carriages brought the rest of the students directly to the castle. They entered the castle finding the Great Hall as they had always seen it. The settled down at their tables, and when they looked up to the staff table, they saw Harry, Hermione, and Neville seated up there with the professors. Harry was wearing his splendid dark red robe with the gold trim. He looked handsome sitting there with the others. Hermione had a black robe with red and gold trim, and Neville had a green robe with light green trim. None of them were wearing hats, nor had their hoods up. A bedlam of talk broke out at the sight of these three on the dais. The boats arrived and professor Flitwick brought them into the Great Hall performing the duties that Professor McGonagall had heretofore performed. The four legged stool was in place, and the Sorting Hat looked somewhat more worn after its experience with Voldemort and Neville Longbottom. First years were sorted. The names went right past Harry, names were never a strong point of his. He knew that he would have to learn everybody s names, at one point or another he would be seeing each and every student in one of his classes. The only one he would not be teaching was the fifth year students. These would have been third year students the last time Harry sat at the Gryffindor tables, so he knew most of the sixth and seventh year students. Most of his classes would be students with whom he had had little contact. And there were many sixth and seventh year students who should have been here but were not. Those were killed in the Battle of Hogwarts. Harry missed them. The sorting concluded, the feast began, and then after the feast Headmistress McGonagall tapped on her goblet with her spoon. The Great Hall fell silent. I have several announcements. The Dark Forest is forbidden to all students. We raise some rather dangerous animals in there and we do not want to send your left over parts home to your parents in a little box. Now as you can see, there are several staff changes for this year. Let me introduce to you Professor Potter. Professor Potter will be teaching Defensive Magic to first, second, third and fourth year students. That is a mandatory course, and so students in those classes will get to meet Professor Potter. He will also be teaching Muggle Studies to our sixth and seventh year students. This is also a mandatory course, but will not be required for your N.E.W.T.s unless you want to take a NEWT in 62

64 that course. Professor Potter had grown up in a muggle household even though he was a wizard. His wizard parents were killed by the Dark Lord when he was just one year old. We want you to be able to live in the muggle world, to know about their money, and other customs that differ from ours. Too many wizards look like jerks when they go out in the muggle world. Our next new teacher is Professor Granger. She will be teaching Charms to grades one, two, three and four. She will also be helping Professor Potter with Muggle Studies. Finally Professor Longbottom will be teaching Herbology. He will be teaching all grade levels, and this is a permanent assignment, unlike professors Potter and Granger, who will only be here for this year. They will be going on for other studies at the Ministry in the following years. Professor Sprout will be teaching Transfiguration in my place, and Professor Flitwick will be teaching the upper years for both Charms and Defense Against the Dark Arts to our fifth, sixth and seventh year students. That concludes all that I need to say now. Your prefects will help the newcomers to their houses. You will find your class schedules posted in the dorms. Now get upstairs and have a good night s sleep. The students broke away from the tables, and rumbled up (or down) the steps. Harry went down to the Gryffindor Table, and many of the older students, including Ginny gathered around to gawk with Harry. He was gracious to all, and students from the other tables gathered around as well. Ginny then went up with the other Gryffindors, and then some of the girls noticed and began talking about the ring on Ginny s finger. Another round of talk excitedly erupted when they found out that she was engaged to Professor Potter. Breakfast went well, and then first year students found their way up to classroom 303. Harry had set all of the seats along the two long sides of the class room. Using magic, some of the seats were blue, others green, some red more were yellow. They were in groups. Harry watched as the students wandered in, and as he expected they sat on seats according to house. Well, welcome to my first official class ever. I did teach some unofficial classes when Dolores Umbridge was here, but now I am 63

65 teaching for your credits. So now this is Defensive Magic and we will learn to defend ourselves. You have discovered in your previous lives that there were some people attacked or bullied you, so defense is important wither you are in the army, or if you are a farmer planting potatoes. Somebody will not be happy with you, will have unkind things to say to you, or worse to say behind your back, and nobody is exempt from this. Voldemort notwithstanding, even I have had people against me even here in Hogwarts. My door is open, you can come and see me at any time. I do not play favorites, and I certainly try not create for myself students who do not like me. It will happen, life happens, but I will try to be fair. I can promise no more. I have no textbook for this class, you will write when I talk, you will do homework when I ask for it, but that is mostly all that there is to it. This room is laid out so that we can get down here on the floor and actually exercise the tasks that we will be looking at. Now, today s lesson is to listen and write. And my first lesson is to stand or sit up straight, pay attention to what and whom is around you, and make it look like you are not a target. If you are slouching, if you are not paying attention, if you look like you are lost, you make yourself a target. And if you look like a target someone is truly going to use you as a target! Harry flicked his wand toward a Slytherin student who was clearly not paying attention and a black cloth settled over his head. Harry went over to him, bent over, canted his head and looked under the cloth and said, Hello in there, do you have a name? Who me? Well, ah yes. I am talking to you. Take that silly thing off of your head. What is your name? Oh, he stammered, I am Bill-Robert Taft. Pleased to meet you, Mr. Taft, I am Professor Potter, how are you? Do you recall what I had just said in this our first lesson. um no sir, I wasn t paying attention. Well that is obvious, so let me repeat for the benefit of everyone, because this is the whole point of this lesson. Sit up straight, stand up straight, pay attention to what and who is around you and what they are doing, and what that is nearby that can hurt you. You pick up a knife, and 64

66 you realize that you can hurt yourself on it if you do not handle it safely. It is the same thing every moment of every day. So that you all can learn this lesson, I will be watching you closely throughout your days here at Hogwarts, and if you look like a target, you may find a black cloth over your head. Now that is a simple lesson, isn t it? It is something that each and every one of us can do with or without the use of magic. There is another thing. When you speak with people, you speak politely, when you listen, you listen politely. You hear them out and are not trying to frame your comeback or reply. Hear them. Questions are always offensive. Now why do I say that? Just look at what just happened. I asked Mr. Taft his name, and he was instantly on the defensive. How can you hold a conversation with somebody if they are already on the defensive? If I were to ask you, Harry turned and pointed at someone at random, What are you doing tonight after supper? What would you think, what would you say? You would think, why does he want to know? What answer does he want? What does he want me to do? Obviously you cannot interact with others without questions, but think about what you want to say. Does it really need to be a question or is there another way to start a conversation. Instead of asking, what are you doing after supper? I could have said, I m going down to the quidditch patch after supper to fly my broom, do you want to come with me? Now at least he knows what is on my mind and he can answer without having to put himself on the defense. Because Defense and Offense are two sides of the same action. If I am the captain of a naval ship at sea, and I want to defend myself, what am I going to do? I m going to shoot my guns at that other ship. Now suppose that Mr. Taft here wants to have a fight with me. He was not happy with that black cloth I conjured over him, and he was embarrassed and he wants to have it out with me. Come on down here Mr. Taft! Stand right here, and hold up your fists. Make like you want to fight with me. And Harry turned his back to him and walked away. 65

67 Yup, Harry said from the other side of the room. Your best defense is sometimes to just walk away. I am no less a man, no less a wizard just because I declined to fight with you. Most people here know that I can fight, I fought off the Dark Lord Voldemort more than once. I killed Voldemort, I am surely not afraid of Mr. Taft. But I have no need to fight with him. Why would I want to fight? Do you know what the second line of defense is? That is to run away! To duck under cover if someone is shooting spells at me. To scramble and to keep moving. Harry turned around to face Billy-Robert, pulled out his wand and sent a beam of white light at him. Nothing happened. Hey it is just a beam of light. That s all. Now the rest of you get down here on the floor, and I ll try to hit you with my light, or perhaps to put a black cloth on your heads. All you have to do is to run around and not get hit by the light, not to have a black cloth land on your head. Go ahead, run around, and I ll try to get you. The students got down onto the floor and Harry hit several of them with his wand light, but as they began moving and ducking Harry hit fewer and fewer of them. He launched several black cloths, but none of them landed on anybody. Keep running, keep running! called Harry, he stepped up onto a platform that had been put into the room for this very purpose. He flashed and flashed his wand at people. Run faster run faster, quick, hide somewhere. He flashed the light and cast black cloths, but mostly he was just watching the kids run around. The bell rang, See you all again on Thursday!... No Homework tonight! Harry had some time to rest, his next class was with Gryffindor and Slytherin third years. Harry changed to his green robes for this one. The students filed in and sat in their sections as Harry had planned. His lesson for this class was going to be the same one he just used on the first years. As the DADA classes had been rather uneven, he wanted to have all of his students to have a basic foundation. The students were sitting at their desks for several minutes before Harry appeared. He stalked into the room in emulation of Professor Snape. He cast some black cloths over some of the students who were not already paying attention. Now do I have your attention? Wands away. Books 66

68 away. You will find parchment and quills to be quite helpful this morning. These first few weeks are not from the book, you will have to write down what I say, because I will test you on it. My last class just got out of here without homework, and you can too if you don t make a mess of things. I have put your two houses together because of their known affection and harmony for each other. Harry said affection and harmony sarcastically, He smiled at them. And so the class continued. And then it was lunch time, and he sat at the head table, with Hermione sitting next to him. Well that didn t go so badly. Problem is what I do for the next class. 67

69 12 Muggle Studies Harry started his Muggle Studies courses on Wednesday. It was the sixth years. Students came in. Most of them sat in their house sections. Well, you all know me, I m Harry Potter, and yes indeed, I survived and Voldemort did not. As you know, I was not around here last year. I was out hunting Horcruxes on Dumbledore s instruction. So I was still officially a student here even if you did not see me. Well, now this is Muggle Studies, but it is going to be different from what we have done before in Muggle Studies, which, by the way, I did not take in any event. Today, this course is required for sixth and seventh year students, but you do not necessarily need to take the NEWT test in this subject. You may do so, or you can skip it, it is your choice, but if you want an NEWT in it make your choice known to your house professor. I am a half-blood wizard, my father James Potter was a full blood, and my mother Lily was born of muggle parents. We will be discussing that later in the year. But as most of you already know, my parents were killed by Voldemort when I was just one year old. What many of you might not know is that I grew up with my muggle aunt and uncle, and their lump of a son Dudley. It is a good thing that I do not have to teach about a functional family, for these people were clearly a dysfunctional family. I have since made up with them, and uncle Vernon even asked me to send him an owl once in a while. So after 18 years we can be adults with each other. I suppose that is a good thing. Why are we teaching Muggle Studies to you? Well this is an entirely new format, and will have no relationship to the previous Muggle Studies classes. What we are going to do here is, well first of all you should be writing this down because from this point forward, anything that I say can and will appear on a test. You can skive off of this course occasionally and I ll not be upset with you, but the reason for this class is for you the student to understand how the muggle world works. What their money is all about, what their banking laws are, how to use their transportation systems, we can even look at traffic laws and maybe we can get some 68

70 cars up here and learn how to drive. We have to look at things like science, electricity, flight. We will look at muggle literature and how to write correct muggle language. Even how to dress in the muggle world. Many wizards show up in the most outlandish costumes and claim that they are muggle clothes, because they bought them in a muggle shop. You d be better off wearing your magical attire than to run around with inappropriate muggle attire. I have seen senior wizards in the Ministry not know how to get on a subway train. We want to avoid these issues. I m sure you do not want to make fools of yourselves just because you are in a muggle neighborhood. Write this down, There will be homework on this, one Galleon is worth 5 muggle pounds if you exchange money at Gringotts. But the same gold Galleon if you take it to a gold merchant it would be worth about one thousand muggle pounds. Ah you see the problem already. You might want to take a galleon out of the wizard world and exchange it for muggle money. Why not? Because when Brittan and more notably the US allowed ownership and trading in gold the price of gold went through the roof. To prevent speculation, all new galleons cast have a base metal core with a gold plating. While we have tons of real gold still in our vaults, most of the galleons in circulation now have a ferrous core. People who have old gold could cheat the system, but they would face harsh penalties in the wizarding world. Gold leaving Gringotts has a tracing spell put on it so that if it appears in the muggle world, we will know about it, and could take action. The muggle money, or even the ferrous galleon is now what is called fiat money. You want to know that word, look it up. It is worth what it is worth because we say that it is worth what it is worth. Its value is decreed by fiat. Because we said so. Money used to be gold and silver. But there is more money than there is gold or silver to back it. For a long time gold was not even permitted to be traded in most muggle countries. While muggles are now allowed to hold gold, its value has no correlation to what their money is worth. A pound is worth a pound because the Great Brittan treasury says that it is worth a pound. How much gold it will buy fluctuates with the gold and money markets. By history, the pound was worth 240 silver pennies. That was the number of pennies in a pound weight. It is called the Pound Sterling because it the pennies were of sterling silver. Pure silver would have been too soft to serve as currency. You do not need to know these numbers, we are only looking at the history of British money at the moment. 69

71 Today s pound is worth a pound because we said so, and there are now 100 copper pennies to the pound, and they are worth what they worth are because we said so. I know that I just lost most of you, so you will have to think about it and write me about ten inches of parchment on fiat money. It does not have to be right or wrong, but just what you think about the idea. What you understand about the idea. That will tell me what to talk about next week. We need to start thinking about such things, and muggle money is at the foundation of almost everything else we will look at. I grew up in the muggle world and so its money is so second nature to me that I can hardly describe it. Wizard money was so confusing to me when Hagrid fetched me into the wizard world, I could hardly think of it as money at all. If you have not used paper muggle money before, you too can be confused by it. Have a nice week and we will look at this again next Wednesday. Harry taught the same lesson to his seventh year students. Ginny was in this class, and so Harry was a little more self-conscious, but once he got going it made no difference at all. As class was letting out he caught Ginny s eye, I m going to get some broom time in after supper, do you want to join me down at the pitch? And so it was agreed. After supper, Harry found his old quidditch robes in the locker room and put them on. He had his firebolt with him and Ginny put her robes on as they went out to the pitch. They were flying for about ten minutes when the Slytherins came out of their locker room and saw the pair of them flying about. Harry swooped down to them and said, Don t mind us, I just wanted to get some broom time in, and Ginny said she would come fly with me, if you know what I mean. Pay us no heed, and we will keep out of your way, after all we are not spying for Gryffindor! So the Slytherin team took off, and Harry and Ginny kept well out of their way and hardly watched them at all. But it was not long before Harry was watching their seeker, and she was not very fast. Harry dove toward the snitch, and passed their seeker in a moment, He was getting close to the snitch, and then he pointed at it and peeled off in a safe direction. He came down to land next to their seeker who was a little bit rattled at his dive. Harry said to her, be bold, and be fast, and don t be 70

72 rattled by another seeker zooming in after you. They are going to do that you know. You always but watch out for other players, yours and theirs, and for their seeker who after all is after the same snitch as you are, and don t forget the bludgers! You can do it so let s keep practicing Now get up there again. The Slytherin team took to the air. The practice went back and forth. Ginny saw what Harry was doing and she swept down to help the keeper. He kept flinching away from the quaffle. Ginny grabbed the quaffle before anyone on the team knew it and she flew right at the keeper. The keeper lined up to block her shot, when at the last second, Ginny banked to the right and scored through an open hoop. Ginny turned about and hollered at the team, What are you snakes doing up here. Aren t you going to give him some help or what? She flew up to the keeper, You have three hoops here, you cannot guard only one of them, and if I am aiming directly at you, you have to know that I am going to go somewhere else! Watch my eyes as I approach you, they may or may not give me away, but for most of your opponents they will give you a clue as to which way they are going to jump. Your fellow students are not all that good at hiding their intentions! Now give me that quaffle and we will try it again, and remember, one of these days you and I will meet in a game! Ginny took the quaffle and flew around the pitch once and then made a bee-line to the goals, she dodged bludgers, and withstood other players trying to strip her of the ball. She bore in on the keeper, flying straight toward him, she quickly glanced to her right, and then flew to her left for the score as the keeper dodged to the right. Getting better you are, now I only have a one in three chance of fooling you instead of two and three chance! Watch my eyes, yes, but each player is different, most will give themselves away, but I am not other players. Ok Guys, called Ginny we will get out of your way now. Play Ball! Harry and Ginny flew high above the Slytherins as they practiced. But then Harry saw the snitch, and out of habit, he turned and dived. The Slytherin seeker had no idea, had not seen the snitch and had not been monitoring Harry s movements. Harry changed direction and fell away from the snitch, then he leveled out and approached it from a different angel. Their seeker only saw the snitch when Harry pointed at it and pulled off out of her way. She flew in, not all that quickly, Harry was tempted to turn about to catch it, but he did not. He just watched. Her efforts were not a thing of beauty, but she did nab the snitch. Well, nice try, he said, but I saw that thing about 30 maybe 40 seconds before you did, and you only saw it because I was pointing at it. You have to watch the entire field from end to end and from bottom to, oh heck, I chased 71

73 that sucker up about a thousand feet one time. Be alert. This world needs more lerts. Harry flew back up to where Ginny was, This is fun he said. I m glad we got out here to fly. Yeah, but you are helping the enemy, she snorted. I am a professor, they are all my teams now. Besides, if you cannot out fly this lot you do not deserve to win anyway. But you are not the quidditch coach. My broom thinks that I am! 72

74 13 Grimmauld Place The next time Kingsley visited Hogwarts, Harry spoke with him about number 12 Grimmauld Place. I want to renovate the place, but I also want to remove the magic that protects it. I want the property to re-join the muggle world so that we can use it normally. Let me think about that Harry, replied Kingsley, As you know that plan is fraught with complications. We do want to keep magic out of the public eye. But I did not put the magic on the property, so I did not perform the magic. Is it magic to stop doing magic? Still Harry knew what Kingsley meant and was really not trying to be funny. Just stating things in his own way, and Kingsley understood that too. I will let you know, Harry, I ll let you know after I talk with others at the Ministry. You know that is not something that I want to tackle on my own. And Kingsley continued his visit at Hogwarts without further reference to Harry. One morning a tawny barn owl dropped a letter at Harry s place at the staff table. He read the message, and then looked at Ginny, and when she noticed him he nodded at her, and moved his head slightly as if he wanted to see her up in his office. Harry went to his office, and in a few minutes Ginny was there. I asked Kingsley about the Grimmauld Place property. I want to give it to Ron and Hermione, but obviously I want to renovate it first, and I want to remove the magic from it. Kingsley is going to think about this for us and let me know what I can get away with. Ginny looked at him quizzically, just so long as we don t have to live there. I guess you have my permission to get rid of it if you can. 73

75 Harry kissed her, and she ran off to her first class and Harry went downstairs to his class. First year students they might be, but the whole school knew that Ginny and Harry were engaged, and so there was some snickering and some cat calls as Harry entered the room. A black cloth covered one of the Huffelpuff students. Harry said, You weren t watching, were you? The lessons were proceeding nicely. A few days later, another owl arrived for Harry. Go ahead and take the magic off of the house. Do it at 0230 on a Sunday morning. Most of the muggles sleep in on Sundays. Meet the Malfoys there at noon on Saturday. Saturday arrived, and so did the Malfoys. Harry conjured the house as they had done before, and then they entered it. Harry explained what magic the Ministry and the Phoenix had put on it, and then explained about the Portrait of Mrs. Black in the foyer. Lucius went to the portrait of Walburga and opened the curtain. Walburga was about to start shouting again when she stopped and looked again. Lucius, it is you. How is it that you are here? Well as you know this house now belongs to Harry Potter, as a matter of fact he is here with me now. He is going renovate this house, but he is going to also remove all magical protections from it. Look here, Walburga, If you like you can come with me to the Malfoy Manor, or if you will not leave here, then Harry will probably try to destroy your picture, even if he has to destroy this wall. Yes, you can stand up to him, but really, you would be much happier to come with me, wouldn t you. It is a shame about Bellatrix, but I am afraid that all of the Lestrange line is now dead. Indeed the Ministry is going to open her vault. At least I will be there to keep an eye on their things. Walburga Black was weeping in her grand portrait, with no options left open to her. She could feel the change of time happening around her. Is it true that my Regulus was killed by Voldemort? Yes mam, admitted Lucius. And Sirius is dead also? Killed by Bellatrix. replied Lucius. 74

76 My dear Sirius and my Dear Bellatrix! What is happening in the world, Lucius? It is as you said, Walburga, the times are changing. And Mr. Potter here, he killed Voldemort? Yes that is so. Harry, Harry, dear. You loved Sirius, did you not? Yes, Mrs. Black, He was my Godfather, and while I only knew him for a short time, he was the only father I have ever known, Replied Harry politely. Harry, remember me kindly when you remember Sirius, will you do that for me? Yes, mam, I will do that. Then please, Harry, use this old house well, and I will bless you. Lucius, it is time for me to go. Lucius tapped the portrait in its upper left hand corner, and it rolled itself up into a tube. Lucius treated it gently, and took it from the House. Come Harry, Draco, we are not to be anywhere near here when the magic is removed. Harry you can come back next weekend to see what has happened. Draco will keep an eye on the property for you from a distance. At least vandals, muggle or otherwise will not harm the property. They left the property. At 0230 on Sunday morning, the spells and charms came off of the house, and it reappeared in its place as number 12 Grimmauld Place. On Sunday Morning people came and went along Grimmauld Place, and few had noticed the change, until someone from number 11 came home from church and could not get in. He could not believe his eyes. The place looked so run down. His wife looked out the door from number 11, and said, what are you doing up there? Our house is over here! He looked, he saw the number 12 on the door. He looked at his house, and he looked at the next house. Where did this extra house come from? 75

77 He went to his door, and asked his wife, Where did this extra house come from? What are you talking about, she asked? Hasn t our house always been next to number thirteen? Yes dear, that was the big joke about this block, number 12 is missing. Well, it is not missing anymore, it is right there between us and number 13! Oh bosh, you were supposed to be at church not at the bar. Well go look for yourself then! She went out, she counted the houses, she looked at the numbers and number 12 was right where it never used to be. She was flummoxed and did not know what to do about it. She called her sister across town. She then went to the neighbors at number 13, and they came out and counted the houses. Other neighbors on the block were awakened and they counted the houses. Yes number 12 was there just like it was never gone. But it was gone, wasn t it? They called the police, but the policeman on the beat was new, and could not see anything wrong with number 12. Yes, said the neighbors, but it never used to be there. There was just some mistake down at the post office, they just forgot that 12 comes after 11 and numbered that house as number 13. This was getting more confusing than the officer could handle. He called for backup. The sergeant called the post office, and the postmaster assured him that yes, there was no number 12 on that block. Well, it is here now, replied the officer, come down and take a look at it. The postmaster arrived, and he counted the houses, and sure enough, number 12 was there. It took a while, but then the news media twigged to this mystery, and being a slow news day they, got there with cameras and trucks, and interviewed anyone or anything that moved. By noon it was on the news all over England. But Harry was not in a place that had news coverage. Kingsley had put the kibosh on any wizard media that might have wanted to cover it. That was enough to let the wizard world know that something 76

78 had happened, but it was Kingsley s goal to let the muggles muddle through it if they could. Someone had the original idea to examine the archives. They discovered when the buildings were built in 1864, and they even found the blueprints. Yes, number 12 was built, and that is number 12, what is the problem. The building inspectors denied that there was a problem. The Lord Prince William owned the land, and people paid land rent to him. His office looked through their records. Yes the rent has been paid ever since the building was built, yes on time by a bank. No, never late. Always paid in full, so what is the problem, asked the prince s office. Official London claimed that the house was always there, and that there was no problem with it. Still the TV, radio and press kept on talking about it as if the government had said nothing. They interviewed more people. They found pictures that people had taken showing that number 11 was indeed next to number 13 and that number 12 did not exist. But the builders built it, it was sold, and paid for in full, the land rent on the property was always paid in full. The house just disappeared and now seems to have reappeared. The payments were handled by Gringotts Bank, but nobody had ever heard of Gringotts Bank. Finally hidden in the back of the banking regulation commission, a notation was found for Gringotts Bank, but it was little more than an electronic routing number. Deeper investigation found that they were located at number 12 Diagon Alley, London. But there is no Diagon Alley in London. There was a post office box number attached to that note, Number 12, central post office, London. NUMBER 12 again! screeched some news editor. They went to the central post office in London. Yes, that mailbox is fully paid up. Yes it is owned by Gringotts Bank, has be so since the 1600s. Their street address is 12 Diagon Alley. We put mail in the slot, and they take it out of the slot, and that is all there is to it. The newscasters watched box 12. Yes letters were put into the box, but then the post office closed and the news crews were shooed out, and the doors were locked. The next morning, they rushed back in again, and the box was empty. 77

79 Mystery upon mystery compounded itself wherever they turned. Draco was keeping watch over the property from a good distance. He was vastly amused by the proceedings, but knew that it would not be long now before vandals tried to make their mark on the house. Sure enough, on Wednesday night some teenagers approached the house with nefarious intent. As soon as the touched the building a loud piercing siren went off and the youth ran away. On Saturday, Harry, Ron and Hermione arrived at the house, all in rather plain clothing. They walked up to the door, unlocked it and went inside. Draco came across the street to join them, and to explore the house. Harry told him that Mundungus Fletcher had carted off anything of value but that he was free to have a look around. Harry let Ron and Hermione try to draw up plans for what they might want to do with the house, but that proved to be almost impossible, so Harry called on his architect, Mr. Holmes, to come out and have a look at the place. Holmes was laughing himself silly as soon as he saw the place. He had heard about the mysterious appearance of the house at number 12 Grimmauld Place, and as soon as he saw Harry standing there, he figured out the whole issue, which from a wizarding point of view was not a mystery at all. All that Harry told the neighbors is that he had inherited the house from his deceased Godfather, and asked what it the big mystery? Are there supposed to be ghosts in here or what? Mr. Holmes let out that he was an architect, and all he was doing at the moment was taking a look at the house and making new blueprints for the house so that Harry could get on with renovations. Neither Harry nor I are from around here, so we cannot tell you what wasn t here when it wasn t here explained Holmes. Holmes banged on the building with a small hammer, seems pretty substantial, if you ask me. If you don t mind, I ll get on with my work. Meanwhile, inside, Draco said, Er, Hi Hermione. Mr. Shacklebolt has suggested to us, me and dad, that all magic is supposed to be pure blood, and it is the magic that is pure, not the family. Apparently he thinks that you, for example, to be magical, had to have magic somewhere in your ancestry, maybe 10, 20 or more generations ago. That is a long time. Nobody can check things that far back. Nobody. But he says magic will 78

80 out in the end. So I guess you are a witch whether I like it or not. After all of the changes in the pure-blood families, I can see his point. The Blacks are gone, The Lestranges are gone, many others are gone, and dad spoke kindly to that portrait of Mrs. Black, and she left quietly, satisfied that Harry was a reasonable person to inherit this house. I saw it, I don t believe it, but too much has happened in our family and with so many people that I have known He paused, and held out his hand to her. She took it, and that is another one that grew up this summer. 79

81 14 The Strange Lestrange Vault It was Monday morning when Kingsley, Lucius and Draco went into Gringotts Bank. Mr. Shacklebolt tendered the official papers and notice to the bank officials. They found some comfortable chairs and sat down to wait. Some Goblins brought them refreshments. The time turned into hours, and then they were met by the official bank official, and a coterie of official goblin aids and overseers. In the wake of the ruin that Harry had caused to the bank when he invaded the Lestrange vault in his quest for Horcruxes, and then fled on the back of a huge dragon, the underground railway was gone. In its place was a bank of elevators. In keeping with Gringotts, these were fast elevators. Very fast elevators. For security reasons only one elevator went down as far as the Lestrange level. That there were levels below this was obvious, but what was below the Goblins would not say. All they would do is smile, and shake their heads. They went to vault number 4, and the official bank official applied his magic to the door and it opened. A few more magical spells and all of the dross was vanished. What was left was the pure treasure, and it had no spells left on it. The Goblins put the money into sacks for counting. It would be held in a holding vault pending official Ministry disposition. This left a full vault of objects of varying value. Under the watchful eyes of the Goblins these were classified, cataloged, and protected. They would remain in this vault pending disposition by the Ministry of Magic. Obviously dark artifacts were cataloged separately from the others by Lucius. He would not be able to remove them today, but soon enough they would be in his lab in the Ministry. 80

82 Neither Gringotts nor the Ministry could find any wills that pertained to the Lestrange family. A legal notice was to be published in the Daily Prophet for 30 days. The estate of Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange is being liquidated by the Ministry of Magic. This includes the entire contents of vault number four at Gringotts Bank in Diagon Alley. Anyone having a claim against the Lestrange estate must make their claim known to the Ministry within in 30 days of this official notice. The notice ran and the 30 day period began after the last publication date. Many people sent in claims against the estate, few of course would be honored. The Lestrange vault after all was not a grand prize in a lottery. Sitting at the head table at Hogwarts one morning, Harry, who knew that this was coming, suggested to Neville that he should put in a claim against the estate for the injury done to his parents. Harry nodded at him and suggested with a wink that his claim would receive a high priority. Neville sent an owl to his grandmother to this effect. The thirty days ran its course, the Ministry examined the claims. Harry himself put in a claim on behalf of the Black family, Lucius on the behalf or the Malfoy family. Nobody was found in this time period to make a claim as an heir. Rodolphus could have done so, but he was in Azkaban, and would never come out of there alive, so his claim was forfeit and discarded. The money and the treasure was to be divided among those who were determined to have a valid claim. Forty percent was awarded to the Malfoy family since Narcissa and Draco were Bellatrix s only living relatives. Twenty five percent was awarded to the Black family, with Harry Potter as heir. Twenty five percent was awarded to the Longbottom family for damages received at the hands of Bellatrix and Rodolphus and ten percent was paid out to minor claimants, or held by the ministry against future claimants. More money went into Harry s vault at Gringotts. He did not bother to ask the goblins for an accounting. As for the artifacts that remained in vault number 4, the ministry confiscated anything that looked like black artifacts, and anything that clearly may have belonged to a living magical family or the heirs thereof. This left a large inventory of property to be adjudicated. Harry waited for the Malfoys and the Longbottoms to take according to the formula from 81

83 the goods in the vault. He then went in, picking over what was left. There were several items that clearly belonged to the Black estate, and these he took, as for the rest, he arranged for them to be sold at one of the better shops in Diagon Alley, and that the proceeds should go to St. Mungo s Hospital. Harry decided that he had way too much money in his vault, and in the magic world there was no tax on such holdings. There were no such taxes in the muggle world either, for as far as they were concerned, these holdings did not exist. He resolved to discuss with Ginny the possibility of a project of philanthropy. 82

84 15 Visiting the Burrow Ginny got permission to go with Harry back to the Burrow for the weekend. Arthur and Molly were alone. All of their children had been gone at one time ever since Ginny started at Hogwarts, but now it was different. They were not coming back except for visits. And this visit made the visit a jubilant occasion. Harry brought them up to date on the affairs at Spinner s End. The construction was coming on very quickly. Harry then turned the discussion to 12 Grimmauld Place. They had not heard of the disturbance on muggle radio or TV, especially since it was never covered in the Daily Prophet. Those wizards who knew of it thought that it was a great joke on the muggles, and apparently, none of the muggles ever connected the event with magic. Of interest to the Weasleys was the ease with Lucius was able to speak with Walburga Black, and how she left the house without any fuss, and even had given Harry her blessing with the house. Harry s architect was looking at the house, but Harry decided, pending any input from Ron and Hermione, that he would work it up similar to what was done in the Snape house. Harry and Ginny put their feet up and relaxed for the first time in weeks. Arthur was not so sure about Kingsley brining Lucius into the Ministry. Harry said that both Lucius and Draco were gracious to Harry and Ginny and even Hermione. Arthur, without saying so decided that he would give the Malfoys the benefit of doubt, and would watch to see what was happening. Harry mentioned about Draco s issues with Borgin, saying that he got himself like to near thrown out of the shop. He went on to ask if Borgin knew anything about the death eaters killed at Hogwarts last spring, and what had become of them. And just at that moment, Kingsley Shacklebolt apparated into the yard. Did somebody mention Death Eaters, he asked, I had just been up to Hogwarts, but they told me that you were down here for the weekend. 83

85 You want to know about Death Eaters, well, to be truthful to you, so do I. Indeed, I keep a little notebook on them, here, let s take a look at it. Alecto Carrow Arrested at Hogwarts 20 years in Azkaban Amycus Carrow Arrested at Hogwarts 20 years in Azkaban Antonin Dolohov Killed at Hogwarts Buried at sea Agustus Rookwood Killed at Hogwarts Buried at sea Avery Captured at Hogwarts Life in Azkaban Corban Yaxley Unknown At Large Vincent Crabbe Killed at Hogwarts Buried at sea Goyle Sr. Killed at Hogwarts Buried at sea Fenrir Greyback Unknown At Large Mulciber Killed at Hogwarts Buried at sea Nott Killed at battle of Mysteries Buried at sea Rabastan Lestrange Killed at Hogwarts Buried at sea Rodolphus Lestrange Killed at Hogwarts Buried at sea Bellatrix Lestrange Killed at Hogwarts Buried at sea Pius Thicknesse Captured 5 years in Azkaban Selwyn Killed at Hogwarts Buried at sea Logan Travers Unknown At Large Treavor Travers Unknown Free Draco Malfoy On Parole Free And that, young Harry, is all that is known of the major Death Eaters. Of other followers of the Dark Lord, many were killed at the battle of Hogwarts, and buried, unnamed, unrecorded at sea. Others have melted into the wizarding and/or muggle world. Some we do not talk about. Let them guess if they can, who we have, who are, or who are at large. And of those at large, whom are we watching. I ll never tell. Let them guess if they can. Harry looked at Kingsley waiting for him to say some more. Kingsley looked at Harry waiting for him to say some more. So Harry asked, What is being done now? Are we going after them or what? We, young Harry, we? I don t know that we are doing anything. And if you are asking what I am doing, what the ministry is doing, well then, I m just not telling, am I. But you Harry are a great wizard and will be a very great auror, but you have not been trained yet, and frankly, I do not want any attention directed towards you. If I tell you anything, you may give away the game. They are watching you, my young friend, they are indeed watching. So you will know nothing. Except I will tell you this, I am using you as bait, behind your back of course, so be on the watch, just as you have told all of your students to be on the watch. If 84

86 someone goes after you it will not be with a black cloth or a harmless beam of white light. Watch your back. Watch your back. Watch your back. I am not going to be having someone watching your back for you because you may mistake them for an enemy and kill them. If something is not right, fire spells first and ask questions later. Protect yourself, protect your friends, and protect your family. Be on watch. That is all I can tell you. Kingsley turned to leave, but then turned back again, Jolly good show at Grimmauld Place, wouldn t you say? Kingsley disapparated. Harry picked up the list. Greyback, Travers and Yaxley. Those would be the ones that Harry had to look out for. Harry shared his thoughts with the Weasleys and with Ginny. They looked at the list. These three. These three are the ones. Harry said aloud. Watch your backs. Ginny, we are going to practice. I ll tell Ron and Hermione too. You will tell us what, said Hermione as she and Ron apparated into yard. Well come on in, said Harry, it felt odd inviting Ron into his own house, and we will look at this list that Kingsley just left with us. Harry then played back all that Kingsley said to them. Practice, Practice, Practice, who knows, we might even make it to Carnegie Hall! proclaimed Harry. What, they asked him. Muggle joke, and American at that, still we must practice, and keep our eyes open, shoot first and ask questions later. And if you see any one of these three, they go down without any question. Alive would be best, but just take no chances. If these three have a wand, or if Greyback is within striking distance, the killing spell can be used. Ask questions later. Did Kingsley say that? challenged Hermione. No he did not say that, but since he is dangling me out there as bait, I m going to make my own rules here. Kingsley will just have to back me up, won t he? Harry Potter is at Def Con One, you better damn well be so too! 85

87 16 Going Beyond On Sunday, Harry told Ron and Hermione about Grimmauld Place, He showed him the prints that were being used at the Snape house. He gave them to Ron and Hermione, You can make any changes that you like to these, but otherwise this is what I plan to do at Grimmauld Place. Hermione took the plans, and Ron looked over her shoulder. This is Ginny s design, isn t it? Ginny said, Yes and what of it? Because it is better than anything Harry could have come up with. I like that stairway, and the open space. Lord knows that Grimmauld place needs to be opened up. This is bigger than the Snape House, Ron, you are going to have to work overtime to fill this house up. Ron did not catch the jibe. By the way, we set the date for June fifth. Said Hermione. The Wedding will be in my parent s town, at my old church, Mom and Dad have many friends that they want to invite. There will be a reception and all of that stuff, mom is just gushing in anticipation. And Ginny asked Harry, Have you set our date yet? Nope, just you sit down with mom and dad, decide on a date, and then let me know. I ll be there for sure! After a light lunch, all of the young ones apparated for Diagon Alley. Weasley s Wizard Wheezes was doing a fine business, so Ron slipped behind the counter and Hermione grabbed George by the ear and dragged him off upstairs. They went over Kingsley s information. George took the information seriously. He remembered Fred, and missed him deeply. Ron is good, he is very, very good, but he is not Fred, his mind and mine are not in sync the way Fred and I were. 86

88 Ron showed Harry the progress he was making on the notebooks. Harry and Ginny took a pair of them to try them out. George thought that Harry had a great idea. Some idea, replied Harry, just because wizards don t have computers and all. While in Diagon Alley, Harry stopped by Gringotts and got Arabella a credit card for her use. They had not mentioned anything about a salary for her. Harry figured that she could get whatever she wanted, including money with that card, and he wasn t about to worry about how much she used. While at the bank, Harry asked about insurance and such on his properties. The Goblins assured him that they could cover fire, theft, homeowners, flood insurance, and liability insurance. Harry asked about health insurance, but was told not to bother, he could just pay cash as needed and save a fortune on premiums. Harry asked about his employment of Arabella Figg, and learned that domestic help was covered by his homeowners insurance. The homes and the homeowners insurance would be arranged through muggle companies since those were classified as muggle properties. Harry and Ginny then apparated back to Hogwarts for another week of study and work. Harry found that he liked teaching there. He especially liked flying his broom over the quidditch pitch. He helped all of the teams equally. Ginny spent time with him in the air, and she got better and better. She was the last Weasley to come to Hogwarts, at least from this generation, and she was determined to make it a sweep for Gryffindor. Harry kept teaching Defensive Magic, and was now looking at protection and stunning spells with his classes. He was now giving his third and fourth year students more choice on what they wanted to see. Muggle Studies students covered electricity very carefully, after all a bad power cord would be very dangerous. Harry brought in several power cords that he lifted from the Snape House. He showed good cords and bad cords. Of course he could not demonstrate this at the castle since they had no electricity in the castle. Harry briefly talked them through some of the simple building codes and warned them that such changes to building wiring should be done by a licensed contractor and must follow the electrical codes. He also explained that there were plumbing codes. You could not just install pipes in a building, but that they had to be done in certain ways. It was not within the course to study building codes, but only to know that building codes existed. I now have two houses, said Harry and neither one of them would pass today s codes, since they were built in the 1800s when no such codes 87

89 existed. I hired architects, and licensed contractors to work on them. If you need to work on a building in the muggle world make sure that your contractors are licensed, bonded, and have proper insurance. Does anybody know what I just said? A sea of confusion looked back at him. A licensed contractor has a license from the government to hire himself out as a contractor, he has passed certain tests, and has the skills to perform his job properly. He would have to be a master craftsman, even though he may have a journeyman do the actual work. An apprentice craftsman would not be working on a job site alone. A bonded contractor has purchased a bond from an insurance or bonding company to guarantee to you, the customer, that he will perform the contracted work or the bonding company will make it good. An insured contractor has purchased liability insurance to cover himself and/or his contractors and/or employees, that they are covered in case of injury and other insurance to protect your property while he is working on it. Guess what! If he is not insured then it is you the building owner who are liable for any injuries to the contractor or his employees. Doing stuff in the muggle world is a complicated business! Homework: find some news stories about problems that homeowners or contractors have had with employee injuries. If you want to do it right, and you are a Gringotts customer, you can have them, for a fee, assure that these requirements are met for you. It all goes back to Money. We looked briefly at money, but it is money that makes things work in the muggle world. If you are going to confine your lives to the wizarding world, and many witches and wizards do, all well and good, but people, we live in the muggle world at the same time as we live in the wizarding world. They interface each other in many places, and you really need to know how the muggle world works. Harry thought that this was a good lecture, he d find out more when they turn in their homework, and even more as he attuned himself to what others were saying about him. In the evening he dropped by Professor McGonagall s office to talk about his performance. Headmistress McGonagall was by and large 88

90 pleased with him, I don t suppose there is any way I could talk you out of being an Auror and becoming a full time teacher here, is there? Well, allowed Harry, I wanted to talk about that. I do want to be an auror, but teaching here looks like a wonderful job course too. And the more I think about it, the more we must do with Muggle Studies. Everything that the public schools teach we have to cover in almost one course. There really is much we need to do to bring Hogwarts up to a standard where our diploma will be interchangeable with diplomas from other public and private schools. We need to have our students be recognized so they may go on for other studies in a university. There is so much that wizards do not know when the graduate from Hogwarts. Sure, they are fully qualified wizards and witches, but are they fully qualified citizens of the United Kingdom? Professor McGonagall was taken aback, What do your propose, if you ran the zoo. Well, first, I d get some electricity in this castle. Not the whole thing, but in places at least where it was needed, I d say in certain classrooms, in the house common rooms, in the kitchen: refrigeration and freezers would sure be nice. We would have to generate electricity ourselves, since we are too far from any place that has electricity. Perhaps we could install a few wind towers somewhere out of sight, and provide power to Hogsmeade and to the castle. I d install some paved roads, mostly as walks mind you, but also for automobiles. It is true, nobody can drive a car to either Hogwarts or to Hogsmeade, but the school should have a few cars just to teach driver s education. I ll tell you what. These things alone will cost lots of money, but the truth is, I have lots of money, Professor Snape left me enough money to cover things like this, and I will be happy to pay for these things out of my own pocket. Make it my contribution to the school for all that you have done for me. Professor McGonagall was dumbfounded. Snape had money? Yup, said Harry, Many millions in fact. That would have come from the Prince side of the family, maybe his mother inherited it late in his career, and most likely he just didn t care about it. 89

91 I ll still have to take your proposals to the board, and the board to the ministry, but I guess I ll get started on that, but I ll need some real plans on paper to take to them. Yup, but at least you now have something to take to them. Harry continued, Perhaps we could look at how we teach some of our core subjects. If you like, I will draw up a plan for you to look at, and I will not be upset at all if you, the teachers or the board trash it. What the heck, I am a recent graduate and really know less and less the more I know. Harry, Draw that plan up for me. I do want to look at it. 90

92 17 The fall of Fenrir Greyback Harry and Ginny went down to Hagrid s, and after a visit that lasted all afternoon, they were walking back to the castle. They were walking quietly hand in hand, when a frightened scream pierced the air, and a young Huffelpuff girl ran out of the forbidden forest. She tripped, she fell, and like a flash Greyback approached her. Ginny pulled out her wand, Levicorpus! she yelled, picking the girl up by her heal and whisking her away from the forest. Ginny was still holding the girl in the air when Greyback, turned to attack Ginny. Harry pointed his want at Greyback, Avada Kedavra shouted Harry, and Greyback fell where he was. Harry was taking no chances from a distance he added, Pertificus Totalus. Even so he approached the body with care. He conjured a heavy canvas sheet that fell upon Greyback, and using that he turned him over and over to wind him up in the sheet. Ginny brought the girl down near them. Hagrid ran out to see what the commotion was, and upon hearing that Harry had performed the killing curse on Greyback, he became worried. Harry told him to go and fetch Professor McGonagall, and then he asked Ginny to take the girl to the hospital wing. Harry waited, watching the canvas sack for any movement. Professor McGonagall arrived shortly, with Hagrid in tow, and moments afterwards, Kingsley apparated in the field near them. Harry went right to Kingsley without any hesitation, he admitted to the killing curse, and then explained the episode. Ginny took the girl to the healing wing. I do not think she was bitten, but I have no clue. I did not stop to look. When Ginny cast the levicorpus charm on her, she pulled her way up into the sky, away from Greyback, but then Greyback attacked Ginny. I do not even think that she knew he 91

93 was attacking her. Her responsibility was on the charm she was working, my responsibility was to protect her back. This I have done. Kingsley unrolled the sheet and saw Greyback and confirmed that it was Greyback and that he was dead. Harry had killed him. He turned to Harry, If you had been an auror, you would have been suspended for a week while the case was reviewed. You are not yet an auror, so I cannot suspend you, and as things stand I would not want to do so anyway. Your action does need to come before the Wizengamot for a hearing, but I will be presiding, so it will be no more than a formal review of what happened. You have done well, Harry, and your use of the incantation was fully justified. But don t get into the habit of using it. You are far better off with the Expelliarmus charm, but of course, Greyback had no weapon to expel. You did what you had to do, and we will leave it at that. Kingsley cut off one of Greyback s fingers, for identification purposes, rolled up the body in the canvas that Harry had conjured and then said, I will dump this in the ocean where we dumped the others. Harry, you can strike him from the list that I gave you. And by the way, that list is private, between you and me only, we will not make any notice of his passing, nobody beyond this circle is to know that he is dead. The less the living Death Eaters know, the better it is for us. We want to keep them in the dark, so if one of them pops his head up we will be sure to see it. What about Ron and Hermione, asked Harry, They were all deep in with me on the trail of the Horcruxes, and of Voldemort, I could not have done it without them. Kingsley thought for a moment. Ok, you and they are now in the Order of the Phoenix, and that will clear them for this information. Kingsley then added to the others, This is really the first time that Harry has killed anybody. The record shows, regardless of what others may say, that Voldemort was killed by his own curse. It was he and not Harry that cast a fatal curse. Harry, I want you to think about this, not to worry about this, but to consider it carefully. You have taken a life, one that needed to be taken for sure, but take it you did. You cannot help but be changed by this, and I hope that you can pass this without having emotional issues over it. I will come back and talk to you about this for a while, and Professor McGonagall will visit with you, in your office, every week for a month to discuss this and any other issues you may be having. The reason we 92

94 have unforgivable curses is not for the dead so much as for the living. Yes, I can forgive you. The Wizengamot can forgive you, but the question becomes, can you forgive yourself. That is the deep human question, and sometimes magic cannot reach there. Kingsley, Professor McGonagall, Hagrid and Harry retired to the hospital wing to see the girl. Hazel Travers was a third year student, a 13 year old Huffelpuff. An examination by Madame Pomfrey showed that she had received no injuries other than the usual cuts and scrapes one would expect by running through a forest. Why she was in the forest was another matter. She was told by Renwald Warfack, a 15 year old Slytherin boy that he had just seen a unicorn in the forest, and that she went in to look for it. Hagrid objected, There are no unicorns in that part of the forest, they stay way south of here closer to the lake. Oho, exclaimed Kingsley, taking the professors aside where no one could hear him. This is getting interestinger and interestinger. Harry, you will investigate this Warfack boy for me. We will see what his story is. Professor Slughorn is his house faculty, so question him first to find out who Warfack is, who his parents are, who is friends are. Contact other faculty members quietly to see what they know about him. Don t let it get to his friends however until you have a full dossier made up on him and his friends. Then have Slughorn bring him to your office for your investigation. Kingsley also continued, Also investigate Hazel and her parents and their friends. If there is any interface between the Travers and the Warfacks make a note of it and sent it to the ministry at once. Harry, you know what to do, and as far as I am concerned, you are now an Auror on duty for me. Er Mr. Shacklebolt, can I ask Ginny to help me with some of this? Well, you are rather close to her as I recall, and she is an adult, so it is your investigation to run, and you certainly can use informants, but Greyback we will hold as confidential. Kingsley disapparated from the castle. 93

95 Harry said to Professor McGonagall, I thought that people could not apparate in the castle. Well, being Minister of Magic does have its privileges. 94

96 18 Harry s Quests Harry and Ginny went to his office to consider all that had happened and what Kingsley had told them. My flying time is going to be even more limited by this. Not just this of course, but Professor McGonagall wants me to rework a model syllabus for the school. It looks like I will be burning oil far into the night. I d like you to poke around, discover who Hazel s friends are, and who Renwald s friends are. Just who they are, but if you see any interface between any of them let me know so that I can look into that. Become Hazel s friend, hang out with her and her friends. Find out what you can hear. Who knows, maybe she needs a friend. Ginny left his office, and Harry went down to Pomona Sprout s office, and she invited him in. You saw what happened to Hazel? She asked. Yes, Ginny and I were walking up from visiting Hagrid when she burst out of the forest with Fenrir Greyback at her heals. Ginny used the levicorpus charm to whisk her up and away from Greyback, She held her up in the air while I got rid of Greyback. We took her up to see Poppy in the hospital wing. Apparently she had no lasting injuries. And I heard that you used a killing curse. Well, I cannot say anything about that. Officially, no one knows anything about what happened to Greyback. Officially, you know nothing, and cannot talk about that. Greyback was here, and now he is not here. The ministry does not want the existence or disposition or escape of any former Death Eater known. They do not want remaining Death Eaters to know who is alive, who is dead, or who is in Azkaban. The ministry wants confusion among the remaining Death Eaters, so it is not a matter of suppressing information as it is for secrecy and security at the moment. 95

97 And the spell? Ah, yes, the spell, well, let us just say that you know nothing about that. I m sure that you can ask Minerva about it, but I don t think you will get a clearer answer from her. So if we cannot say, what does that tell you? She smiled at Harry. I guess that is the best answer anybody is going to get about that. I ll just say, I don t know about that. and that is that. Well, I came to ask you about Hazel Travers. I ll need to know who her parents are, where they live, what friends and/or enemies that she may have here at school. A small pile of information to get us started with our investigation. Our investigation, Mr. Potter? Does the school investigate things like this now? Well that is the other side of the issue, Kingsley appointed me as an Auror, and assigned me to investigate what happened. You see, we think that she was lured into the forest by the tale that there was a unicorn in there. Instead it was Fenrir Greyback that was hidden in there. We think it is a possibility that someone wanted her to be attacked. The Ministry is taking it seriously, and is investigating. So if you will get that information to me I would certainly appreciate it. We would like that done quietly so that other students do not find out that we are investigating. Pomona took his request to heart, but she thought to visit with Minerva first. Harry returned to his office where he found a brown barn owl sitting on his desk. He opened the package that the owl had brought to him. A shiny new badge fell out of it along with a note from Shacklebolt. Harry now had an Auror s badge and identification card. The ministry owl flew away. Harry turned to Hedwig, You up for some work? Harry wrote a note to Ron and to the Burrow, saying that he needed a meeting with them this weekend, and suggested doing so at the Burrow. Hermione was here at the castle, so Harry went to her office next. She was just finishing a class when he walked in and she went wild, HARRY, what the heck did you do? She was about to go on, but Harry 96

98 pulled his wand on her and cast a silent silencing charm at her, and then walked past her to her office. She kept gesticulating, and followed him up the stairs. She found Harry sitting in a chair opposite her desk. He waited for her to sit down. I told you that Kingsley would have to back me up, didn t I? Harry placed his badge and ID card on her desk. He removed his charm from her, and she sat there staring at his badge. That was my father s badge. Kingsley just sent it to me. The badge number was 18. Hermione caught her breath, relaxed, and then quietly said, Harry, what did you do? It s all over the school. I certainly hope not, Kingsley does not want this information public. You, you used the Avada Kedavra charm. Why? Who says that I did? When you hear things like that, put the kibosh on them. Any way Fenrir Greyback will not be attacking any students for a while. Did you kill him? That is confidential Ministry information. replied Harry, and now that I have your attention, I have more news for you. You, Ron and I are now in the Order of the Phoenix, and so I can tell you a little more than I can tell to others. I asked Ron to meet with you, me and the Weasleys at the Burrow on Saturday. So, what just happened, continued Harry, I will tell you. Ginny and I were coming back up from Hagrid s when this girl, Hazel Travers, 13 from Huffelpuff comes running out of the forest being chased by Greyback. Ginny used a levicorpus charm to remove Hazel from the area, holding her up in the air. Greyback turns and charges at Ginny, and I hit him with the Avada Kedavra curse. He fell, and then adding a petrification charm just to be sure I approached him, conjured a large canvas tarp over him, and then rolled him up in it. I waited for Minerva and for Kingsley to arrive. Kingsley pronounced him dead and cut off one of his fingers. He will dispose of him in the ocean. 97

99 This information is restricted to you and the Phoenix. The ministry does not want any remaining Death Eaters to know who is alive, who is dead or who is in Azkaban. He wants there to be confusion among them, so that they must show themselves to see what is happening. Now then, after Hazel was taken to the hospital she said that she entered the forest to see a unicorn that a Slytherin named Renwald Warfack, age 15, told her was in there. But Hagrid says that there are no unicorns in this part of the forest. They are all down at the south end of the forest, near the lake. Oh, Him, exclaimed Hermione, He is a problem kid for sure. Worse than Draco ever was. Well, that is what I need to know. Kingsley appointed me to investigate what happened. If you have any information for me, you should write it up, along with all of his friends. Ditto for Hazel Travers and her friends. We want to know what interaction there may be between them and their friends, and their families. Well, ok, I guess I can do that, but you got to let me know what is happening. Yes, I ll do that, we worked together before, and it seems that we will be working on this still. I ll see you later, I have to visit Slughorn next. Harry left Hermione s office and went to track down Professor Slughorn. Harry found him in his office. Harry, my boy, come on in! Long time no see! Well, I m afraid that this is a business visit. I need to know more about Renwald Warfack. I need to know who are his parents are, where they live, and who are his friends around here. Why, Harry? I do not know if I can give you this information. Harry took out his badge and ID card, and said, I m afraid that this is an official visit. Oh, muttered Horace. 98

100 Horace, this is a confidential investigation, you must not let the students and especially Renwald Warfack know that we are making this investigation. You have heard no doubt about the attack on Hazel Travers who was lured into the forest by the story that there was a unicorn in there. That girl! What happened to her? She went into forest in search of the unicorn, and came out being chased by Fenrir Greyback. Ginny used the levicorpus charm to lift her away from Greyback, and hold her safely in the air. Unfortunately, Greyback turned to Ginny and attacked her. I used the Avada Kedavra spell to stop him. You, You didn t gasped, Slughorn. What did Shacklebolt have to say about that? He gave me this badge. It is my father s old badge. He also assigned me to this investigation. Well, Harry, I don t know what to do about this, complained Horace. Well, I ll tell you. You will write out the information that I asked for and send it up to my office by evening tomorrow. Harry? Slughorn looked at him. Slughorn looked again at Harry s badge still on the table. Harry scooped up the badge and said, Tomorrow, Horace. Now Harry was puzzled why Professor Slughorn was so worked up over this, but he made note of it as he departed his office. 99

101 19 Harry s Work Continues Harry sat with Hermione at the staff table through supper, and then winked at Ginny, and she met him right after the supper broke up. Let s go flying, I need some air time after all of this. They went down to the Gryffindor locker room, put on their robes, and leapt up into the air. Harry told Ginny, that this attack was not the only thing that happened in the past few days. I have to write a new syllabus for the school. Especially for first years and for Muggle Studies. Why you? Ginny asked. Well I suppose because I suggested it to Professor McGonagall. There are some changes that I think will be good for the school, although most of that is not academic at all. Things like some paving, perhaps some electricity, perhaps some cars. Why do we need cars? We have brooms for that! Only reason to have cars is to teach people how to drive. I don t know about getting people a driver s license, they will have to do that on their own, but at least they should be able to drive a car when they leave here. And how is all of this going to happen? Well, I do not know how much we have in gold in our vault, it has never been counted, but I do know that it is more than we will ever need. I thought that we would pay for it. Things do not happen here or in the muggle world unless somebody does it. I d rather use the money here than elsewhere. You are such a big dork! That is why I love you. 100

102 Look, answered Harry, Those are the Gryffindors taking the field down there. Let us go find us a snitch! The Gryffindors were taking the field, and were happy to see that Ginny had not forgotten the practice session. Harry watched the events unfold. Harry watched the seeker. She looked good, but she didn t see the snitch. Harry dived on it. She saw him, she saw the snitch, and she too dived. Harry flew faster, nabbed the snitch and flew off in a safe direction. The captain said, Are you back on the team, Harry! Not hardly, I m faculty, so I cannot play, but I surely can fly! If you want this snitch, you have to out fly me! Harry tossed the snitch to the seeker, and took off for the sky. He flew up rather high. The Gryffindor seeker flew up to where he was. He called to her, I would not fly up here if I were you, the game is down there. You are giving yourself an extra-long distance to get fly to get to the snitch, but do not go so low that you cannot see the whole field, but high enough so that it would not be likely that the snitch might appear above you. She flew lower, Harry flew higher to watch them fly. Harry saw the snitch, bent over, and attacked the snitch. The seeker did not see the snitch until Harry flashed past her. She tried for the snitch, but it was clear that Harry would get there first. But Harry just pointed at the snitch and then bent off in a safe direction. Eventually the practice ended, and Harry and Ginny went into the locker room with the team. As they came out, Harry showed Ginny his new badge. It was my father s badge. How is the house coming? It s almost done, we could be in there by Christmas if we wanted to be! Let s invite your family we have plenty of bedrooms! Sounds good to me. Harry apparated to the Burrow. Hermione arrived there ahead of him, and Ron arrived just a little bit later. 101

103 Where were you, asked Hermione, I thought that we would apparate together. Yeah, well, I had an appointment in Diagon Alley. Harry turned to Molly and Arthur, Ginny is doing very well, we both get out to go flying, she is still on the Gryffindor quidditch team, but we buzz around all of the teams. I give pointers to all of them. Even Ginny helps other team s players. Well you called this meeting, Harry, so what is up. Ok, let us sit down at the table and I will tell you what is happening. Harry waved his wand and buttered toast and tea appeared on the table. First of all, the three of us are now officially members of the Order of the Phoenix according to Kingsley s approbation. And so now we also have a new task to work on. So let me wind this back to the beginning. Ginny and I were visiting Hagrid, and were walking back up to the castle, when some girl come shrieking out of the forest being pursued by Fenrir Greyback. Ginny used the levicorpus charm to lift the girl, a Hazel Travers, from the ground up into the air. Greyback changed his target to Ginny and ran directly at her. I caught him in the face with the Avada Kedavra spell. He dropped dead. That is confidential information. We spoke with the girl, a 13 year old from Huffelpuff house. She said she was told that there was a unicorn in the forest. She said that it was a Renwald Warfack, 15 of Slytherin house who told her of the unicorn. We did not see him when we came around. But Hagrid told us that there were no unicorn in that part of the forest, that they were all down at the south end of the forest near the lake. Kingsley decided that this was a ministry issue and that I was to investigate it and report back to him. By the way, he gave me this, it used to be my father s. Harry put his badge and ID card on the table. Molly exclaimed, This means that you are now an Auror! Yes. It does. I have some of the professors getting me information on these two students, and their parents. But there was a Travers who was a Death Eater, and his whereabouts are quite unknown. Travers is an old 102

104 wizarding family, so I do not know if this Hazel has any relationship to this Death Eater. I have not interviewed her or her family yet. Arthur asked, What information do we even have on the Death Eaters. That information is confidential, but since Kingsley said we were now in the order, and he is in the order, I am going to assume that I can share this with you. It is strictly confidential. Harry showed him the card that Kingsley had given him. With Greyback gone, the only big time Death Eaters unaccounted for were Yaxley and Travers, both had been wheels in the Voldemort ministry. They continued to talk until about three pm. Then Harry said that he had to get back to Hogwarts, because he had another meeting with Professor McGonagall. Ron left Molly and Arthur with some of those notebooks. They could use these for quick notes to each other. Harry and Hermione floo to Hogwarts, where they were in time for the evening dinner. McGonagall looked up at them as they sat down, a little relief on her face. After dinner she collared Harry, You have been gone all day, and I was looking for you, even Ginny did not know that you were gone. Well, I did not tell Ginny on purpose because she would have wanted to come, but the truth is we went to the Burrow, and I knew that Molly would object to her presence since we were discussing Order of Phoenix business. You knew of course that Shacklebolt inducted the three of use, Ron, Hermione and I into the order, and we wanted to let the Weasleys know what had happened, and what we were looking at. Very well, replied McGonagall, but we are having a Hogwarts Board meeting tonight, and I want you to attend. We want to look at some of your proposals. They retired to a large meeting room away from any student traffic, in a staff hallway of the castle. Harry had not even known it was here, although he would have bet anything that Fred and George knew. He was directed to a seat at the table. McGonagall told him, You are filling the seat previously occupied by Lucius Malfoy. 103

105 Professor Flitwick was the chairman of the board, and he called the meeting into order. The board unanimously elected Harry to the Board to fill the unexpired term of Lucius Malfoy. After a little business, Flitwick called attention to Harry s plan to pave some streets and walkways, to look at electrical service to the castle, and for the purchase of two cars to offer driver education to sixth year students. There was some talk of course about funding when Professor McGonagall announced that, if approved, Harry Potter would be funding these improvements himself. The board looked at Harry. I have the money my parents left me, and the money that Sirius left me. The money that Severus left me is a little bit beyond belief, it is money from this source that I will use here, and then there is money that the Black estate received from the Lestrange estate, which also is quite considerable. As for the artifacts that I received from the Lestrange estate, these are being sold in Diagon Alley, with all proceeds to St. Mungo s Hospital. Ginny and I decided, as Professor Snape had before us, that we do not intend to live a lavish lifestyle, but to live modestly off of our own salaries if we can. Then the board asked about Severus Snape, and what his relationship was to Harry, for he seemed to be the most unlikely heir to his estate. Severus was in love with Lily almost all of his life. She left him when he became a Death Eater, and she married James Potter. Severus left his estate to Lily, and I am her only heir. He already knew that, of course, but this was his choice was it not. In any event I must tell you that the rough relationship I had with him was a carryover from his relationship with James and Sirius. When Voldemort resolved to attack the Potters, he defected from them to Dumbledore suing for the protection of the Potters. He had been loyal to Dumbledore ever since. It took a strong, strong dedicated man to play the role that Severus had to play. I was with him when he died, I was the last person he saw and spoke to, and he gave me a thread of his memory to read in the pensive in his office. I saw in that memory many of the things that I have just told you, and more. Yes, I will honor him like I do my own father. Flintwick continued, It seems that Mr. Potter has some new ideas for a remodeled syllabus here at Hogwarts. He did promise Professor McGonagall a look at this, but with the Travers affair happening his energy has been directed to that investigation and reasonably enough has not gotten anything written down yet. Harry, can you give us a quick synopsis of what you are thinking. 104

106 Yes, Professor, this is based on my own experience here at Hogwarts. Potions under professor Snape was quite difficult, but I breezed through the course with Professor Slughorn. I think that first year students should not be dumped into the soup so abruptly. They should have classes to familiarize themselves with the equipment, with measurements, and how to use them. Eleven years old may be too young to learn some of the heavier sciences, but they need to know about atoms, and about molecules. The need to know how they join and how they come apart. The first lesson would be to measure and boil water. While the water boils, the professor would briefly describe the periodic table of the elements, and then nature of molecules. Then toward the end of the period the class would measure the water again, and then since matter cannot be destroyed, they will learn what happened to it. Following classes they would learn to make tea, soup, and other familiar potions before they are exposed to the more simple magical potions. As I have done with first year Defensive Magic, the beginning is simple. Be alert, be aware, know how to walk away, and when to run. After that we will look at protective spells and simple stunning spells. But I think the biggest and most important change would be in Muggle Studies. Long gone is the day when a majority of wizards live in a closed community. We interact with Muggles every day now. We need to know currency, science and especially electricity since that can be dangerous, history and what drives people to do and believe what they do. We need to know how to drive a car and get around in the Muggle world. One senior ministry official did not even know how to get on the London Subway. We have to fit in in many places and so we must learn what they do and know. Yes, I will have to sit down and with Professor McGonagall work out the kinks and the details, but this is a summary of what is on my mind. We or at least I would like credits from Hogwarts to meld into a recognizable course of study so that our students will have no trouble entering a muggle university for a higher education. Indeed, Mr. Shacklebolt has suggested that Ginny go on to a university and to seek employment in a muggle grade school in a place where wizarding people have been known to live, to recognize young wizards and witches, and help them and their parents move them on to Hogwarts School. 105

107 20 A visit to the Travers In the following days, Harry looked through the information given to him by Professors Sprout and Slughorn, by Ginny and by Professor McGonagall. He correlated a few friends with other friends and asked Ginny and Hermione to look into them. He meanwhile looked at the parents. Travers was a well-known wizarding name and that of a pure blood family. But also the name of a Death Eater. Harry had to ponder that. Renwald Warfack it seems was not of pure blood stock, and little was known by the ministry of the Warfack family. Harry had a name and address for his parents, but decided not to visit them at this time. Maybe never, it depends on what he discovered elsewhere. Harry consulted with Professor McGonagall, and decided to send an owl to the Travers home and suggested that he might meet them there on Saturday evening, if that was acceptable to them. By return owl they offered their invitation. Harry chose his blue and yellow robes and apparated to the correct location, and found the address without difficulty. He was invited in. Hazel s Father was Kirk Travers, her mother Susan nee Vauxhall. She, Hazel, also has an older brother named Trevor. I am Harry Potter, and I am a professor at Hogwarts. So first of all I want to tell you that Hazel is well, and is a fine student. What happened a week ago is that she went into the forest looking for a unicorn that she was told was in there. What she found in there was a werewolf who was chasing her as she fled out of the forest. Ginny, a seventh year student and I were visiting another professor, and were walking back to the castle when we saw Hazel fleeing from the forest. Ginny used a charm to lift Hazel off of the ground and into the air, and out of reach of the werewolf. The werewolf then attacked Ginny, and I used some spells to get rid of him. 106

108 Now we keep many things in that forest, but werewolves, I assure you, are not among them. Hazel was taken to the infirmary wing, examined and only the normal scratches and bruises that you would expect from running through a forest were found. She had not been bitten by the werewolf. Mr. Travers said, Well Hogwarts does not usually send a professor to explain every event that happens there. So what is different here? The boy who told her about the unicorn, Harry explained, is Renwald Warfack a 15 year old in the Slytherin house. What made this most interesting to us was the fact that Hagrid, our game keeper, tells us that there are no unicorns in this part of the forest, they are well to the south of there, down by the lake. I guess the main reason why this has escalated is that I used a prohibited spell on the werewolf, and because of that Kingsley Shacklebolt, the Minister of Magic was called. He interviewed Hazel, Ginny and myself and he started an investigation. So we are looking to see for what reason did Renwald Warfack have for suggesting to Hazel that there was a unicorn, and more ominously, did he know that the werewolf was in there. Has Hazel ever mentioned Renwald to you, perhaps in letters or something? No. replied the Travers. Do either of you know the Warfack family? No. Travers is a well-known and very honorable wizarding name, but it is also the name of a known Death Eater. Would you have any knowledge of that? There was a hesitation that Harry caught. The Travers seemed immediately on the defensive. And you are just a Hogwarts professor, you are a little young for that aren t you. 107

109 Yes, I am rather young, I only graduated last year myself, but since the Battle of Hogwarts where the Dark Lord was vanquished things have been quite a bit of disarray. Professor McGonagall wanted some people she could trust, and so I was tapped for the Defense job, since I had some experience in this field. To answer your other question, I am still far too young to be an Auror, since that requires three more years of schooling, and that course is not even being offered at the Ministry, again because the Minister does not know who he can trust and who he cannot. Still, Minister Shacklebolt gave me the Auror s badge because he trusted me. He gave me the same badge that my father held. Yes, said Mr. Travers, you are Harry Potter, and are you not the one who defeated the Dark Lord? Yes, that was my work, and it was very frightening for the most of last year, tracking down the various artifacts of Voldemort. And the last full moon was nowhere near the time that Hazel s attack occurred. Ergo, am I to assume that the werewolf in question was Fenrir Greyback? Yes, that is so. What do you know about him? replied Harry. He waited for Mr. Travers to say more. He is cruel, and I hear that he is a Death Eater. So then, you understand our concern. The Ministry does not know what Death Eaters are still at large. Most of those who were killed at the Battle of Hogwarts, Death Eater or other opponents were disposed of at sea. The Ministry has a policy of not letting people know who is dead, who is captured and who is at large. The confusion works for us, since we are not so confused. Mrs. Travers spoke out, But what about Treavor, is he still alive? So, Treavor Travers is the one who was a Death Eater then? Asked Harry, As far as I know, nobody had a first name for him. Did he ever have any issues with Hazel that would prompt him to cause an attack on her? Eric Travers said, He had lots of issues, and ever since Hogwarts he flew with the wrong kind of people. It would not surprise me if he was 108

110 a Death Eater, he certainly idolized Voldemort, but he never told us anything, and he never had an issue with Hazel. Well, replied Harry, We shall surely keep working on this case. If we find Treavor alive he will probably be tried by the Wizengamot, what happens after that is open to speculation although a term at Azkaban is quite likely. I am sorry, since he seems to be loved by you, but really there is little more that I can say on this matter. They concluded their meeting with some more pleasantries, and Harry apparated to Hogwarts. Back in his office he examined some of the other information that he gathered, he made a report to Kingsley and sent it with Hedwig. There was a little time left and he was about to pull out a parchment and work on a Muggle Studies syllabus, when the notebook in his pocket vibrated. He took it out, it was a note from Ginny saying that the Snape house was finished and that they should come out to accept the work. Harry wrote back, Saturday Love You. I m back if you want to come up for a few minutes. Ginny came up, they embraced and kissed, Ginny said that she was so excited, then she told Harry all of what she had found out. Hazel was a quiet girl, not well liked, but by no means despised. She had some friends, but mostly in Huffelpuff. No boyfriends, and none in Slytherin. Well, maybe it is time for me to talk to her. Harry replied, and looked at his calendar. Maybe tomorrow at four. I ll let Professor Sprout tell her. The next day, a thin but somewhat attractive 13 year old Hazel Travers arrived in Harry s classroom. Come up to my office, I need to talk with you about what happened down by the forest. She came upstairs with some fear, and Harry provided her with a seat, poured some hot tea, and placed a tray of cookies on the table between them. You have had some time to think, to reflect on what happened last week, do you have any thought that you might want to tell us that you did not think of before. 109

111 She said nothing, so Harry continued, You told us that Renwald Warfack was the one who told you about the unicorn in the forest. Has he ever spoken with you before? Oh yes, many times, mostly picking on me, claiming that my brother was a Death Eater. So then you know about Death Eaters? Did you ever think that Treavor was a Death Eater? Well, he certainly could have been one, the way he went on and on about Him Who Cannot be Named. Has Treavor ever attacked or hurt you in any way? Physically? Emotionally? I never told mom or dad, but sometimes he was hands all over the place, where they should not have been. But only when we were home alone, never when mom or dad were around. So why did you never say anything to your parents? Well, because I felt, like, dirty. Besides he never did anything to me. Did he ever suggest that you should have sex with him or with anybody else for that matter? No, he did not. And where is your brother now? I don t know. We have not seen him at home in years. Not since he graduated here. That was before I came to school here. You are 13 now, so maybe you were ten when he did these things? He would have been what 16 or 17? Yes, I suppose so. Let s get back to Renwald Warfack, what were you doing when he told you about the unicorn? Where were you? 110

112 I was walking with Tracy Filbert, she is a fourth year in Huffelpuff, and we were walking around the south edge of the castle. We were about to come in when Renwald comes up from down by the forest, and says I just saw a unicorn in there, just down there where that white tree is. Tracy is like, Yeah whatever. But I look down there and say I ve never seen one of the unicorns before. and then Tracy says, well we are not supposed to go into the forest. And then Warfack is like, it s just inside the forest fringe, you should be able to see it from the grass. So I go down there, and I find the white tree, and stand there looking for the unicorn. I see something move, and so I figure it is the unicorn, so I take a few steps into the forest. Then I see some movement to my left, and so I move that way some more. All of a sudden, the big guy jumps out at me and tries to grab me. I twist and run, I fall and I get up and run some more, but this guy is very fast you see, I trip again. And that is when Ginny casts a spell at me and I go floating up in the air. At first I am terrified, but then I realize that she is keeping me away from that man, who then charges directly at her. Then you, Hey it was you who cast that spell at that guy, wasn t it? Just then Ginny enters Harry s office, Oh sorry, Harry, I did not know that you were busy. No problem at all, says Harry, come on in, Hazel has just been recounting to me what happened the day Greyback was chasing her. That guy has a name? asked Hazel. Harry replied, Everybody has a name. His is Fenrir Greyback, and he is both a Death Eater and a werewolf, and a very dangerous person. He certainly was not supposed to be anywhere around here. Had we seen him he would have been back in Azkaban within the hour. Where he is now I cannot say. Ginny adds, Hazel really is a good girl, attentive in classes, has a good number of friends, I think she is ok. Well I think she is just ok too. If you have any problems with anyone, or want to talk to one of the professors about anything at all, you just have to ask. Or if you like you can ask Ginny, you can trust her, after all, that is my ring she is wearing. Ginny Replies, It s MY ring, you gave it to me, and just you wait Mr. Potter, I m going to put a ring right through your nose! 111

113 Ok, dear, replies Harry, Hazel we are all looking out for you here at Hogwarts, so if you need anything just ask. Hazel leaves the office, Ginny sits down with Harry. Harry starts, Her brother is Trevor Travers, he may or may not be a Death Eater, his parents are not so sure one way or the other but I think he is far too young to be the Travers we saw at the Ministry. I got an Owl back from Kingsley, they think the Death Eater that they are looking for is Logan Travers, and he thinks that it is possibly the uncle to these young Travers kids. He does not know of any connection between them and the Renwald Warfack boy. Ginny replies, Warfack has several dark friends, and of course they have dark friends. Most of the students here in the school think that Renwald Warfack is not somebody to trifle with. Many detentions all over the place, does not play quidditch, he does spend time darting in and out of the forest. It is a wonder that Greyback did not bite him. Greyback would not care if he is friend or foe, only that he is young and tasty. Maybe, says Harry, It is time to go down and visit Hagrid, see what is happening in his part of the forest. Hagrid was at the evening meal, and Harry and Ginny accosted him on the way back to his cabin. They followed him all of the way down, making small chatter, but once inside Hagrid offered tea, and Harry pulled out a tin of butter cookies (in self-defense of Hagrid s baking skills.) Harry starts, We wanted to talk to you about what happened down here a week or so ago. That girl, Hazel Travers come running out of the wood with Greyback on her heals. Had we not been there she would have been lunch. She said that she went in there looking for a unicorn. She tells us that Renwald Warfack told her that it was in there, just by the fringe and could be seen from the grass. Well, of course that is a lie, Harry. I told you that the unicorns were all in the south, and none of them would ever be near the fringe of the forest. Yes, of course you are right, but then there are not supposed to be werewolves in the forest either. Now you know that Greyback was in there, but you also know that Greyback is well and truly dead, but don t tell anyone that. As far as you officially know, he must have gotten away. But we hear that this Renwald Warfack boy is in and out of the forest, 112

114 and who knows what else he might meet in there. We d like you to keep your eyes open, let the centaurs and the hippogriffs know to keep an eye on forest. Maybe Grawp would appeal to this guy. Maybe we can let him see Grawp deep in the forest, and let Grawp bring him out again. Or maybe let Grawp listen to what he wants, and then tell us. Yes if Renwald tries to ask something of Grawp we can set up some sort of a sting operation. Well will let you think about it, and if anything comes of it, let us know. They visited for a while longer, then returned to the castle. Harry went in search of Professor McGonagall. He explained to her what had happened and of all the discussions that he had had with various people. Harry asked her if she thought it was time to talk with Master Renwald Warfack. Yes, do so tomorrow evening. 113

115 21 Master Renwald Warfack In the morning, Harry went to see Professor Slughorn, and got from him the information that he had, and then Harry told him to bring Renwald to his office at four pm. When four pm arrived, so did Professor Slughorn and Renwald Warfack. Harry thanked Horace, and asked Renwald to sit down. We want to look at an afternoon about a week and a half ago. Miss Hazel Travers wandered into the forest in search of a unicorn that you said was in there. You said it was near the fringe of the forest. Do you recall that afternoon? No, I don t think that I ever was involved in such a conversation. Surely I was not there when that girl was attacked. No, as far as I know you were not there. Then why are we having this conversation. Harry put his badge and ID on the table, and said, Because the Ministry of Magic told me to investigate this affair. That is why we are having this conversation, and so now I am investigating. And since you were mentioned by witnesses in front of Professor McGonagall, Minister Shacklebolt, myself and others I have spoken with other witnesses and with the parents of Hazel Travers, and everything seems to lead me back to you. You know this is an issue of the Ministry of Magic, and you do not have the same rights that you might have in an English court. We have our own way of doing things. But look, I am rather new at this, and indeed this is my first investigation, so I am not going to open up a beaker of truth serum and pour it on your head, but we do want to get to the bottom of what has happened, and who was involved with it. And, we have other 114

116 witnesses who heard you mention the unicorn in the forest, and when she demurred, you offered that it was near the fringe of the forest. Now let me tell you that Hagrid tells us that there are no unicorns in this part of the forest, they are much further south near the lake, and in any event none of them would ever be near the fringe of the forest. You know that this is called the forbidden forest, and you are forbidden to go in there at all to say nothing about going into the depths of the forest. I must tell you that I have been deep into that forest, both with Hagrid and by myself, and it is not a place where you should be wandering about especially by yourself. But on the other hand, I have never seen anybody get as much as a detention for doing so. So I am going to ask some questions, and you are going to answer them truthfully. Ok, how many times have you gone into the forest? Never. Well, that is not what others have testified to. Like I said nobody has ever gotten detention for going into the forest, but lots of people, including myself, have gotten detention for telling lies. Harry showed him the back of his hand. So let us try that again. How many times have you been in the forest? I don t know, a few times, I suppose. Well that is a nice round number. Five? Ten? Fifteen? Once a week? Twice a week? More? Well, yes more than twice a week. And why would you go into the forest? Just because it is a nice shady place to walk. Yes, it is all of that, and did you meet anybody in there, or any creatures? I have seen few creatures in there, they like to get away from people. And Harry asked, Did you find anyone or any creature that did not run away? 115

117 Harry continued, Maybe he had a conversation with you? No, no one sir. And do you know a certain Fenrir Greyback? Renwald looked up startled by that name. So you know him, Continued Harry. Well, yes I know him, everybody has heard of him. Did you talk with him? There was no answer. And that was an answer. Harry looked at Renwald in the eye, and he found that he could read Renwald s thoughts. Yes he had been in the forest. Yes he had met Greyback there. Yes he had been expecting to meet Greyback there. His uncle had sent him an owl saying that Greyback would be there. Yes, he was asked to lure Hazel Travers there. Yes he did so, and no, he knew not why. Ok, Renwald, you can go now, enjoy your supper, I may want to talk to you again, but more likely I will not need to, you have been as helpful as you could be. It was almost like looking at Lucius Malfoy s thoughts, but this time without a Pensive-scope. Maybe Harry was a legilimens. Harry quickly wrote a note to Kingsley telling him of the encounter with Renwald Warfack and how he was able to look into his thoughts. Now the question was, what about this uncle of his. Kingsley replied to Harry early the next morning. Renwald s uncle was Harrison Lessmaster, and the ministry was now looking into him. He did not appear to be a Death Eater, certainly not a high-level high-priority subject. His priority just went up to the top of the list. Harry would let the ministry look into the Warfack Lessmaster family, he saw nothing more to do on this case at the moment and so he turned his thought to syllabi. Since the school had been unable to keep a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher since Voldemort last applied for the job, Harry figured to change the name of the course to simply Defensive Magic. Dark arts 116

118 defenses would be included in the 5 th 6 th and 7 th years, but simpler tasks, if it could be said to be simple, the Patronus charm would be seen in the 4 th year, after all casting a Patronus can be lots of fun, and the kids would enjoy casting them at each other. As far as potions went, Harry wanted students to start with understanding their equipment with cutting and storing herbs and liquids, how to control the temperature of a cauldron, and actually a great deal of atomic and molecular science that underlies potions. Sure you can make a potion without understanding science, but Harry was of the opinion that even a rudimentary understanding of atoms and molecules pointed to the how of potions. Understanding how things worked would lead to better control of potions later. This would put things like the Periodic Table at a much earlier level then their muggle counterparts, but then potions was far advanced of anything a muggle would learn, other than making soup. 117

119 22 The New Snape House Early Saturday morning, Harry, Ginny and Hermione apparated to the Snape house in Spinner s End. The met the building contractor, and he showed them through the finished house. The lights worked, the floors gleamed, and the kitchen was fabulous. The stairway and atrium was everything that Ginny wanted, the fireplace at the other end of the room was a serious wizard portal but of a modern design that complimented the room. Upstairs the master bedroom was light and airy, and above that the four bedrooms looked even a little bigger than they actually were. Down in the basement was a full bath, and the heating and airconditioning plant. Harry thanked the contractor, and offered him a tip for his excellent service. But of course the house was empty. The three of them, along with Arabella, went out to the business street, looking for a furniture store. There were several of them, but one caught Harry s eye, and they spent time looking in there. Since they were wearing their robes, here they were treated as special. Harry figured that these people were wizards. When the sales person came up to them, Harry said that Severus Snape had recommend them to him, and did they know Severus, perhaps you had him in school. The sales clerk said, oh him, he was better at detentions than he was at potions. And so without tipping his hand to a potential muggle, he found out that these people were wizards. So Harry said, I was with Severus when he died, he was a very great man, and that is great praise from a bunch of Gryffindors like us. Anyway, I inherited his house, and I have had it fully remodeled, and now I have to put furniture in it. It has none, so we will have to buy a whole house full. 118

120 Ginny started in the Great Room, Couches, tables, chairs, lamps and draperies. Hermione started looking at kitchen stuff. She selected a range, refrigerator, dish washer, washer, dryer, and other appliances. Harry started with the kids rooms a bed and a dresser for each, and a desk to study at. He also selected a desk, chair, file cabinet and such for his office. Ginny looked at these selections and doubled the order. Ginny looked at the appliances that Hermione selected, and decided that these were the best built in the store. Hermione had an eye for such things. The then looked at furnishing for the master bed room. Harry watched Ginny select these things, he could not have wanted better. Harry then said that he wanted four fold-away beds for use in the basement. Arabella was making notes of what was purchased and where it was supposed to go. This was a rather large order, and not surprisingly, the tab was quite tall, the clerk was about to talk about financing, but Harry just pulled out his credit card and handed it to the clerk. You mean all at once? exclaimed the clerk. Sure, said Harry, why would I want to pay interest on top of all of this. The clerk looked at the card and stammered, Harry Potter!? Yup, replied Harry, We have to apparate back to Hogwarts, but Arabella Figg lives just behind us, and she has all of the keys and things, and will help you place this stuff in the right rooms. Are you able to connect and set up the appliances? They then went to a department store and bought sheets, towels table cloths, blankets, quilts, some more clothing, and also some other furnishings. These they had to carry back home. Hermione went with Arabella, Harry and Ginny went back to the Snape house. They sat on the floor, then lay back, just holding hands. They fell asleep there. They were awakened when Hermione came it to collect them to apparate back to Hogwarts. When Harry got back from Spinner s End, a ministry owl was waiting for him. The sealed letter from Kingsley told Harry that one Trevor Travers was in Hogsmeade, and that he, Kingsley had put a purple trace on him. The purple trace would turn his nose purple, but that would only be visible to an auror. Harry hastened to Hogsmeade, and easily 119

121 found Trevor in the Hog s Head. Harry stepped in, cast ropes so that he was bound head and foot, and then used the levicorpus charm to raise Trevor from the floor. Harry cast another rope over him, so that Harry could move him along like a parade balloon. And off they went to Hogwarts. Students pointed at Harry and his capture as they went through the castle and up to Harry s office. Harry let Travers down and freeing his arms, set him in the chair opposite his desk. Trevor s feet were still bound, but Harry offered him some tea and toast. Harry looked at his left arm, and there will still traces of the Death Eater s mark on the arm. Harry sat opposite him, clipped his badge to his robe and said to Travers, Ok, I suppose you know why I have brought you here. You are or were perhaps, a Death Eater, and as such subject to investigation. But this investigation for the moment concerns you and your sister Hazel. Travers looked up with a start, his face showed worry. Hazel was lured into the forbidden forest by someone with Death Eater associations so that one Fenrir Greyback, a werewolf could attack her. Trevor s face went white. Were you the Death Eater that arranged this? No! I did not know! I would not have done anything like that. And what was your relationship with your sister, Harry continued. What do you mean, she is my sister, I am her brother, I would do nothing to her. Then why did she call you octopus hands? Trevor swallowed, but said nothing. Did you ever hurt her? Physically? Emotionally? Sexually? Asked Harry No, No, Never I seem to have heard otherwise, Harry pressed. 120

122 Well, just a little. But it was nothing. Nothing? Hazel seems to have remembered it. She seemed somewhat afraid of you. She is of course, here in the castle, should I ask her to come in and describe what you have done? No, I tried to touch her, her breasts, her But she fought me off, perhaps I tried some more, and she cried, but I never ever did anything with her. So why did you arrange to have Renwick Warfack arrange an unpleasantry for her? I didn t, I didn t, I swear that wasn t me! Then who do you suppose it was. Asked Harry gently. I don t know, I did not know that anything would happen What don t you know? Why might anything have happened? Who did you talk to? I said I don t know. Who did you talk to? I spoke to nobody. Did you talk to Logan, your uncle? What does he have against Hazel? Trevor stopped talking, his eyes were open wide. Harry looked into them, He read Treavor s Thoughts aloud Your uncle Logan invited you to be a death eater. Your uncle Logan was part of the dark ministry. You did some things for them, you were a snatcher. You tortured people and turned them over to the dark ministry. You captured Harry Potter, and brought him to Malfoy Manor. You went to Hogwarts for the Battle of Hogwarts, You sat aside weeping as the battle raged. You were worried about your sister. Logan was angry that you were not fighting. You showed fear for your sister. You fled as soon as you could. You apparated to a forest. You supported 121

123 yourself by stealing. Logan was looking for you, you kept moving about. Harry pulled his Ron-book out of his pocket and scribbled a note to Ginny: Please Bring Hazel Travers to my office. Ginny replied almost immediately, I m on the way to find her. It took a little while to get the attention of someone in Huffelpuff house to open the door, but then she brought Hazel to Harry s office. Harry meanwhile freed all of the bonds from Treavor. When Hazel saw Treavor she ran to him and he to her, they hugged for a moment and then Harry had them all sit down again. Well, Said Harry, I guess that clears Trevor of plotting to injure Hazel with a werewolf. Trevor, I am still going to have to take you to the ministry, and you will still have to answer for your actions as a Death Eater, but it is clear to me that these were minimal, and I expect you to be released. But I want you in jail right now to keep you safe. Hazel, you are not to tell anyone, not even your parents, that we have Treavor, for your safety as well as his, and also to keep the opposition guessing as to what we are doing and who is alive, dead, or in Azkaban. The less they know the sooner we can wrap all of these things up. Ginny and Hazel left Harry s office. The ropes bound up Treavor again, and a cover was slipped over his head. Harry jotted a note to McGonagall: Gone to Ministry, be back shortly. Harry then moved Trevor to the fireplace, and with floo powder transported himself and Treavor to the Ministry. Kingsley was waiting for him, and he took him down to a private cell where they unbound him. Harry gave Kingsley his notes. Kingsley looked them over and told Harry that this was a job well done. Harry was back to Hogwarts even before McGonagall got is message that he was gone. 122

124 23 In Search of Logan Harry floo down to the Hog s Head and was sitting at the table when Aberforth awoke and walked in to find him there. Harry produced hot buttered toast and tea, and stared to eat some toast while Aberforth looked at him. Maybe I should shut my flue once in a while, eh? Nah, replied Harry, I kinda like it this way. He continued, We have caught Trevor Travers, but he while a Death Eater, does not seem to be the Travers that we really want. The big boy is the uncle, Logan Travers. We are going to break with our tradition of not publicizing our affairs with the at-large Death Eaters, and will publish a note that Travers was seen in Hogsmeade. That may stir up some activity, so watch out for yourself! Those sorts of people seem to like this place, though I cannot fathom why. We are looking for Travers or Yaxley in particular, and we have no idea if they are in contact with each other, or any other Death Eaters or hangers-on. We could send some Aurors out here, but sometimes we still do not know who to trust. You should consider that you are on your own. Petrificus Totalus might be a good one to use. Keep your wand near at hand at all times. Harry handed him a notebook, This is a Ron-Book, write my name and your message, and I ll get it almost at once. I will be able to reply to you on the same page. Maybe I should give Molly a heads up too. She has one of these books, just write to Molly and the message will go to her book. Harry then took out his Ron-Book and sent the message to Molly, suggesting that Aberforth might need some backup out here. The Reply came back almost at once, I am on my way. And just a few minutes later, she appeared coming out of Aberforth s fireplace, dressed as an old witch with a shawl covering most of her head. She had some knitting with her. 123

125 Harry Grinned at her, Looks convincing, but I haven t run the notice in the Daily Prophet yet. Why don t we go up to the castle and visit Ginny for a while, I don t think Aberforth will need help until tomorrow. Molly and Harry Floo back to the castle, and Harry composed a news article for the Prophet saying that Travers (he said not which Travers) was seen in Hogsmeade and people were asked to look out for him and not take any chances. The article would run in tomorrow s paper. They joined Ginny for dinner, with Harry sitting at the Gryffindor table. Within in about 30 minutes, Harry received a Ron-Note from Aberforth Yaxley is here asking about Travers. He is being very circumspect about it. Harry and Molly Floo back to the Hogs Head, Molly took out her knitting and sat near the door by a window, with her hood up. Harry went to the Three Broomsticks, he too sat down by the window. While Harry was sitting there, the skies turned dark and cold. Harry stepped outside and looked around. Three Dementors were moving silently along the street. People ran indoors, and then to an inside room. Then he saw Yaxley approaching the Dementors. He bowed his head. It seemed as if the Dementors were drawing information from him, or perhaps issuing instructions to him. Then the Dementors disappeared, and Yaxley disapparated. The evening warmed up, and Harry ran to the Hog s Head. Molly had felt the Dementors, but did not see Yaxley. Harry took out his Ron-Book and scribbled a note to Kingsley describing what happened. Within a few minutes Kingsley replied back, ok. Harry asked Aberforth what else he had seen. Yaxley entered, looked around and went out again. He went toward the main street, but I did not see where he went. Harry said, I wonder how he got here so quickly, Tomorrow s Daily Prophet hasn t hit the street or stands yet. Probably hasn t even hit the press yet. How did he know to come here? Either he has someone inside the Prophet or it was a coincidence. Or maybe he intercepted Hedwig. She has not come back yet. Molly stayed that the Hog s Head, Harry Floo back to Hogwarts. Hedwig was there, Harry held out his arm, and she flew up to it. He examined the owl, and she had no obvious injuries on her. She sat still and he looked into her eyes 124

126 I flew to the Prophet without difficulty. Someone in the owl office there took the message. A wizard took the message, but did not go into the press room. A wizard came in to look at the paper. Another wizard came in to look at the paper. Yaxley came in and looked at the paper. Yaxley said Print it and left. The others left. I flew back right away. Nobody bothered me. Harry looked up, amazed that he could even read the owl s mind. Sure it was only pictures not words. Well, there was a word, but was something that the owl had sensed. Harry took out his Ron-Book and sent another message to Kingsley. The reply came in three minutes, Am looking into it. Maybe the Prophet is still under the control of the dark side. Harry went to bed, to his comfortable warm bed and was guilty about leaving Molly at the Hog s Head. During the night Arthur apparated to the Hogs Head to support Molly and add to the Order of Phoenix there. Harry was also guilty about not telling Ginny that her parents were in town, but she was not yet a member of the Order. In the morning Harry brought Hermione up to date on what was happening. During the lunch period she Floo to the Hogs Head and met with Molly, Arthur and Aberforth to think the issue over. The penetration of the Prophet was a big concern. Was Yaxley working openly there, or was one of the wizards there a Death Eater in contact with him. He could have apparated directly to the owl room. From the number of people whom Hedwig saw there it seemed to be clear that several in the owl-room at least were compromised. The communications department was always the target of spies. They must have known that the snowy owl was Harry s How would that have affected things. Harry did not tell the Prophet that he was an Auror. He did not say that he was Harry either. He had signed Rosmerta s name to the message. Now he had to wonder if he had gotten her into trouble, but decided that he had not. The Daily Prophet might not have known the difference but Death Eaters would not be fooled. The article appeared in the Daily Prophet as Harry had written it. Its target was Travers, and so maybe others besides Travers would be interested in Travers. Meanwhile, Kingsley brought to Harry photos of the owl-room crew at the Prophet. Harry was able to identify the person who first received the owl, but of the others he did not recognize any. Whom did the first man call in? Nobody seemed to know. 125

127 Well, after another while, I ll send another owl, but not Hedwig, with another story, and we will have to have someone monitoring to see what happens. Dementors in Hogsmeade, ought to do it. Kingsley Agreed, Tomorrow send that message. Meanwhile, the notebook in Harry s pocket vibrated, and he pulled it out right away and looked at it. Travers was in Hogsmeade, heavily disguised, but recognized by Aberforth nonetheless. Harry and Kingsley flew through the floo, and arrived in the Hog s Head just after Travers left to go up the main street. Aberforth explained that he came here looking for a Mr. Treavor, and Aberforth said that he had no rooms let out last night. Kingsley walked through the village on a back road since he was very recognizable what with his robes and all. Harry was wearing his Slytherin colored robe: Not many people in town knew that he had this robe. Harry ducked into a side alley, tossed the invisibility cloak over himself and stepped out onto the main street where he found himself a vantage point from which to observe the street. Arthur was further down the road near the Three Broomsticks, when the each saw Travers exiting the post office. Harry sent a Ron-note to Kingsley who came up through the alley and put his arm on Travers. Travers jumped, but Harry was right next to him and simply pulled his wand out of his hand as he turned to face Kingsley. Kingsley said, Well, now here is another piece of the puzzle. How are you doing Travers, long time, no see? Arthur came up and conjured a sack over Travers head, while Harry cast a binding spell from under his cloak. Harry took the cloak off, and the hustled Travers back to the Hog, where Harry, Kingsley and Travers floo to the Ministry, and the Weasleys floo to the burrow. They went into a basement interrogation room, and uncovered Travers head. His hands and legs were still bound when Harry sat opposite him. Kingsley stood behind Harry. Kingsley asked him, Do you know Renwald Warfack? Who, no, I do not. Harry was looking him in the eye, he pulled one finger off of the table. Kingsley asked, Do you know Harrison Lessmaster? 126

128 No, I do not. Harry removed another finger form the table. No, said Kingsley, why do you lie to me? I have plenty of Veritaserum here in the Ministry, It will not take us long to empty out your head. You already know that your next stop is Azkaban, and that will be for a life sentence. Your friends the Dementors are no longer there at all. We have far more terrifying guards there now. Can you imagine that, eh? Kingsley continues, You of course know your own niece, Hazel Travers, she was attacked at Hogwarts by Fenrir Greyback at the behest of Renwald Warfack. Why did you set that up? What was your gain? Of course I know Hazel. I would never do anything to harm her. But then why did you set this up with Renwald Warfack? I didn t Exclaimed Travers, Harry continued to look him in the eye. He removed another finger from the table. But you are lying to me. Why are you lying to me? Who is forcing you to do these things? Nobody is forcing me to do anything. Another finger left the table. So you arranged this attack on your own? If nobody is controlling you, then I must assume that you have your own reasons for attacking Hazel. Feeding your own niece a werewolf! Can you live with that? I did not arrange this attack on my own, I d never do that So then you did arrange the attack with someone else. Who was that person? Harry peered deep into his eyes he could see scenes clearly, a face appeared, it was that of a Dementor. Then Harry took the questioning from Kingsley, A Dementor then, gave you the orders to have Hazel attacked? 127

129 A d- d- Dementor? Dementors do not order things, they do not talk to you, they just kill you, they have no agenda but your soul ripped and lost. Ah, but I have seen a Dementor talking to Yaxley, and either the Dementor was commanding Yaxley or else Yaxley was commanding the Dementor. Which is it? Are the Dementors in control, or is Yaxley in control? I know nothing about Yaxley, I have not seen him since the battle. Maybe I thought that he was dead or captured. Ah, this is not so. You saw Yaxley about a week ago, and he was not very pleased with you. He used the Cruciatus curse on you. Why did he do that? Travers did not reply. Harry continued, Was that the first time he used the Cruciatus curse on you? No. Why did he use the curse? What did you do? I refused to Please make this stop, just put me in Azkaban and let this stop! Where is Yaxley now? asked Harry, Where can we find him? I don t know I don t know, please make this stop. He is going to kill me! There are things a lot worse than death, said Harry, a lot worse than death! I don t know where he is, I don t know what he wants! You do know what he wants. I can read it in your eyes, He wants to be the new Dark Lord. He already rules the Dementors, How does one rule Dementors, Travers, How? I don t know how he does it. I don t know where he is. I don t know who he is! Make him stop! 128

130 Harry replied, I saw him in the Daily Prophet, he got there very quickly when he was called. Does he still use the death mark or does he have his own mark, his own ways of summoning people? The death mark is dead, he cannot use that. None are left. None are left. There are no Death Eaters left? You and Yaxley are certainly here! We are the only ones. What about Treavor Travers? Where does he fit in to you band of Death Eaters? Treavor was a minion, he did what he was told, he was never a top line Death Eater. Where is Treavor now? He was last seen in Hogsmeade, you read it in the paper as well as I did. So you went to Hogsmeade to find him? Yes! I wanted to find him. I did not want to be alone. I need help. I cannot fight Yaxley alone. And so where is Treavor now? I don t know, I never found him. And where is Yaxley now? I don t know. He appears when he wants and disappears when he wants but where he is I do not know. Where are the Dementors? Azkaban is Dementor Free. I do not know, I do not want to know. Harry looked into Travers eyes, and saw the truth in them. Harry turned to Yaxley, Are there any other questions? 129

131 No, we will transport him to Azkaban, but I am going to redouble our guard there, and we will block all communications and install anti-dementor spells. Hippogriffs are primary guards. I am going to study more on Dementors. 130

132 24 Thanksgiving at the Snape House The Snape house was complete, and it was wonderful. Harry planned to invite many people to a Thanksgiving dinner. He made his list, and sent his invitations. Mr. & Mrs. Weasley were at the top of the list, Ron and George, Hermione and of course Ginny, he also invited Kingsley, McGonagall and Professor Flitwick. Arabella Figg would be there too. There was a method to his madness. In addition to a thankful dinner, he was going to use the opportunity to discuss the issues of Yaxley and the Dementors. Thursday arrived, Ginny had a Thanksgiving dinner in the oven, and guests began to arrive at nine am. By ten am they were all here, and Harry began showing them around the house. He installed Arthur and Molly in the master bed room, upstairs he installed Ron, George, Hermione and Ginny. Harry would be staying in the basement. Kingsley and Professors McGonagall and Flintwick would not be staying overnight. Fortunately, serving eleven guests at the table that Ginny had chosen was no problem at all. It could seat 12, maybe more at a pinch. The dinner appeared at the table as if by magic. Afterwards dessert appeared and then disappeared and Harry spoke, We are all members of the Order of the Phoenix, yes even Ginny has been installed by the approbation of Minister Kingsley. That cut off any debate on the subject by Mrs. Weasley that Ginny was too young. The question before us is Yaxley and the Dementors. Harry suggested, A Patronus can chase them away, but it cannot kill them. Avada Kedavra can kill a Dementor, but hitting the Dementor through his robes is a chancy proposition. The Dementor does not fill out his robes. What we want to do is to find a way to kill the Dementor. Kingsley added, The Dementors have been seen in Hogsmeade recently, and they were treating with Yaxley. Who was controlling whom 131

133 is not known. That they would meet with Yaxley instead of dementing him is in itself quite disturbing. Because of this Yaxley is subject to the Avada Kedavra curse if other means of capture are not possible. The Dementors are subject to death, but we must discover a method of doing this effectively. We also need to know where they are. Where they are living, hiding or whatever. Kingsley continued, We have discovered that they can be destroyed with methane gas. Ron, George, can we develop something that will cast methane gas, and ignite it without hurting the wizard that casts it. Maybe Professor Flitwick can devise a spell to allow this to be done with a wand. What I would really like to know is where we can find and attack the Dementors without waiting for them to come to us. McGonagall said, An attack at their home with methane gas is not very elegant nor is it hardly magical, but it appears to be necessary. But perhaps a spell can be found to deflate them. To draw their life out of them. What are they anyway? What is their nature outside of their robes? Maybe destroying the robe will allow their being to dissipate. Maybe the Weasley Wheezes can make a vacuum that will disrobe and suck up a Dementor. We will need every weapon we can conjure. George said, I think I can create a virus or a bug of some sort that can be cast at a Dementor, attach to the robes, and then we could track the Dementor to see where it goes. Good one, George, replied Kingsley, he continued, We are still keeping this information close, to the Order only, and not to the Ministry. We have troubling information that information sent to the Daily Prophet was leaked before its publication. Harry saw Yaxley in the Prophet office. Actually Hedwig saw him when Harry sent a false story to them, and Harry was able to look into Hedwig s memory. Very clever is our Mr. Potter. Incidentally, Kingsley continued, Trevor Travers, brother to Hazel Travers is in protective custody at the Ministry, and no one but Harry, myself and Kreacher who watches over him knows about it. He will be released when it is safe for him and for us to do so. Logan Travers has been arrested and is in Azkaban. Fenrir Greyback is dead by Harry s hand. As far as I know, only Yaxley is left of the top tear Death Eaters. The conversations went on until supper time, a light supper of soup, buttered toast and tea appeared on the tables. After supper, the dishes disappeared, and Professors McGonagall and Flitwick, and Minister 132

134 Kingsley left. This left Harry with a house full of Weasleys, and of course Arabella. Harry felt, well, different, being the host in his own house. While Ginny and the Weasleys planned a wedding date, it would be July 6 th, Hermione played the piano. That would make two weddings next summer. Clearly now Ginny was waiting for next summer to be here as soon as possible. Clocks and calendars have this habit of slowing down when you want something to happen. It was a full house at the Snape House, filled to capacity now, what would they ever do when they also filled it with Children. Ginny was up early, she had French toast, bacon, sticky buns and tea, as much as anybody could want. A dish washer indeed, a flick of the wand and everything was clean and back in its place. Ginny too was pleased to have her own house. 133

135 25 Malfoy Manor Revisited After Thanksgiving, Harry sent his owl to Lucius Malfoy, and was invited to the Manor on Monday Morning. The next day, Harry arrived, again in his green Slytherin robe. Lucius and Draco greeted him and as they entered Harry observed the portrait of Walburga Black in the entry way, in a place of honor, as Lucius had promised her. Harry and Walburga exchanged greetings. They went to the sitting room, and buttered toast and tea was offered and accepted. Dementors, said Harry. I sent to the Prophet a news item, signed as if from Rosmerta in Hogsmeade. Perhaps you saw it, it mentioned that Travers was seen in Hogsmeade. That same day, within the same hour Yaxley shows up with three Dementors. Yaxley is talking with the Dementors although I could not say who was giving instructions to whom. Clearly the Dementors did not attack him. When Hedwig came back I examined her, she had no injuries and did not appear to have been intercepted. I looked into her eyes, into her mind, and saw her land at the Prophet, and then hop up to the owl roost for some feed and some water. She saw the worker there remove the letter, open it, and then call for someone who came in. He called for another, and then Yaxley came in, he looked at the note, tossed it down and disappeared. After that Hedwig flew back to me at Hogwarts. It occurred to us that someone at the Prophet is still enamored with the dark side, but that is a separate issue. We are worried about the Dementors. Are they working for Yaxley? Is Yaxley working for them? I cannot tell, but what I want to know is where the Dementors are? They are not at Azkaban, but where else might they be? Would they stick together, or would they go somewhere individually? 134

136 We know that we can use the Patronus charm against them, but that will not kill them. Avada Kedavra is possible, but there is little inside of those robes to actually hit with the charm. We are looking for something that will kill them. Lucius thought about the issue, Yes they will stick together. They are not magical, they cannot apparate, but they can fly quickly. They seemed to travel from Azkaban to Hogwarts in about five minutes. Let me guess that they are in the area of Scapa Flow or maybe as far north as the Shetland Islands. There is a lot of territory up there, plenty of fissures cracks and caves for them hide in. I do not know how far they can or will fly, what their range is. They pulled out a map. They will not want to be any place that has habitation nearby. They looked all over the Shetland Islands. Both Scapa Flow and the Shetlands were too well populated. They looked at island after island, and found that they were all inhabited. Finally Draco pointed to Sula Segir, no more than 500 feet wide and about 1500 feet long. No air strip, no landing place for a boat, and a very nice crag, probably with a cave. Too far out at sea for a small boat, no place to land a bigger craft, about 150 miles from Hogwarts. Lucius agreed, If I were a Dementor I would like that place. Sole Stack is a possibility, but that is more of a rock than an island. Here is something north-west of there, no name on it. It does have a structure on it, maybe a light house or else a weather station. Yeah, Sula Segir is my guess. Killing them, this I do not know. They are not human, they are not UK subjects. They are not magical creatures under the protection of the Ministry of Magic, nor are they an endangered species. I see no legal reason to refrain from killing them. But how to do it? This I cannot begin to guess. After some more conversation and pleasantries, Draco showed Harry out of the Manor, Harry taking time to admire the Walburga portrait, and Draco waved his hand, produced a much smaller copy of the portrait, Here said Draco, something to replace the one that we took from Grimmauld Place. Harry thanked him and said that he would place it in the house. 135

137 26 Baiting the Trap Harry was indeed running himself ragged, but he was on top of all of his classes, and these seemed to be progressing well and the students seemed to like him. Still, Harry went to see McGonagall for a consultation. Harry s course load was not too onerous, and Hermione was helping him with Muggle Studies, but Harry thought that it would be easier to be either a teacher or an Auror, as he was spending a lot of time on Ministry business. McGonagall heard him out. Harry, yes, it would be easier to do one or the other, but to be honest with you, you are managing both tasks very well, just as Dumbledore did. I think your work here is excellent, and I would keep you on as a teacher regardless of what else happens. On the other hand, Kingsley likes your work too. You are doing very well as an Auror, you are able to investigate things that others cannot do. Your ability as a Legilimens is simply outstanding, and that is a gift that others do not have. I am very much afraid, Harry, that you will always be torn between the many things that you have do, or want to do. The other thing that you absolutely must do, is to delegate. You cannot do it all yourself. So Delegate, You have the Order of Phoenix at your command, Kingsley will give you any number of Aurors to command. Just ask for help and you will get help. For now just keep going on! Now what have you found about the Dementors. I spoke with the Malfoys, they think they are on an island west of the Shetlands. But there are a lot of islands out there and we will have to narrow it down a bit. If I want rattle Yaxley s chain, I ll have to get started on that. Before I do that, I ll have to consult with Ron, and Kingsley. Well, in between classes, I ll do something about it today. Thanks for the support: that is what I really needed. And Harry left to teach some more Defensive Magic. 136

138 In between classes, Harry took out his Ron-Book and wrote a note to Ron. Ron, Greetings from Hogwarts. How are we coming with being able to trace Dementors? We will need something soon. I spoke with Lucius Malfoy, he thinks that they are on a vacant rock/island west of the Shetlands. But that is a lot of ocean out there. I will need to have Wizards apparate out to several islands in order to triangulate on where they may go to. I imagine wizards with wands that can tag the Dementors while they are down here, and then be tracked with other wands as they return to whatever hole they live in. I will have members of the Phoenix track them until we can find them. I guess I do not trust other Aurors yet to ask for them. Second, extensible ears are nice, but I need extensible eyes with the ears. Something much smaller than your ears or mad-eye s eye. Something the size of a beetle that I can get Hedwig to drop in the post office at the Prophet. I need to see who is in there and what they are saying. How close will I need to be to hear and see what is happening in there? I only need access for about ten minutes. All my best, Harry And then Harry wrote another note to Kingsley, Kingsley Can you come to visit me, I have some things to talk about. Harry Harry then had students for his next class coming into his classroom. Sometime during the class, Kingsley apparated into Harry s office, and he stood at the top of the stairway watching Harry teach. When the class left, Kingsley said, You are a great teacher Harry, You are needed here as well as in the ministry. So what do you want to talk about? And Harry went up to his office and offered Kingsley a seat. 137

139 I went to visit with Lucius, I wanted to see where the Dementors might be hiding out. They are no longer in Azkaban at all, right? None are there, replied Kingsley. So I asked Lucius what he thought, do they live together or separately, and where they might be. He said they probably are living together, probably a place where there are no people nearby. We figured islands to the north. We looked at Scapa Flow, and at the Shetlands, but these and the other islands all around them are populated. On some of them the populations cannot be more than 100. We did find some that looked promising, but that still is a lot of ocean up there. I asked Ron how he was coming with his tracking virus or whatever, but he has not gotten back to me. The other question is the Daily Prophet. I ll want to send Hedwig down there with a news story, and I want her to drop of spy device to see who comes in and who goes out. Maybe we could post a couple of Aurors somewhere watching to see who enters and leaves about that time. My timing on this needs to be carefully worked out. Someone could apparate from Diagon Alley to Hogsmeade in under a minute, but Lucius figures that it would take five to ten minutes for the Dementors to fly to Hogsmeade from wherever they are. So I ll need two or three Phoenix here to contaminate the Dementors with Ron s product. They will need to see what way they are going and then apparate out ahead of them to continue following from a distance, and eventually triangulate their destination. Lucius and Draco have agreed that an island, somewhat more than a rock, called Sula Sgeir, and it is a good guess. It is a pretty raw place, Dementors could live there, but Yaxley could not. Kingsley thought for a while, Yes, this could work, and yes I can help with one or two Aurors that I can trust. It is far better that you do the Hogsmeade-Hogwarts area with the Phoenix. Kingsley sat with the professors at lunch time, Harry sat with Ginny. After lunch Harry, Ginny, Hermione, McGonagall, and Flitwick met briefly in Harry s office after lunch, they went over some of the details. Their plans were set, the timing was not: they needed to hear from Ron. 138

140 Speaking of the Ron He Floo into Harry s hearth with the charms he wanted to work on. Professor Flitwick cancelled a class and came to visit Harry and Ron, and the perfected their charms. The first part of the charm is Sequor and would cause charmed particles to cling to a target. The second part of the charm is Locus which would point the wand in the direction of the charmed particles. The Locus charm can detect the charmed particles up to a distance of about 15 miles. The charm would continue to work for about one hour. Ron and Flitwick went out into the Great Hall, and found Peeves there. Ron pointed his wand at Peeves and said, Sequor. There was no light or intimation that a spell had occurred. Flitwick said Locus and his wand pointed at Peeves. Peeves flew away through the castle, Flitwick and Ron stayed where they were, then they parted in opposite directions. They used the Locus charm and within about ten minutes they were lead to Peeves. Harry watched the exercise and decided to post watchers at ten mile intervals to serve as trackers. He decided that when the Dementor in question would pass one watcher, he would apparate to a place about ten miles beyond the last watcher. Ron then showed Harry the super-eye, it was weighted so that it would always be right side up, the camera was on top and had a 360 degree view, and while people would be distorted, they could be identified. The battery would last about six hours, and it could transmit out to a range of 300 meters. Figure Hedwig to take about three hours to fly from Hogwarts to Diagon Alley, she would fly up to the roost, drop the camera and then fly down to allow the mail department to retrieve the message. She would fly out immediately. Ron would floo to the Ministry and give Kingsley the receiving instrument. Harry sent Ron-Book messages to the Phoenix, They should arrive at Hogsmeade on Monday. Harry, feeling good about the arrangements, got his broom and headed to the quidditch patch. Ginny skipped a class, and joined him for the exercise. 139

141 27 The Trap is Sprung On Monday all classes were canceled, and only a few professors were at the head table. Harry sent Hedwig to the Daily Prophet with a note that Travers was seen again in Hogsmeade. Hedwig planted the super-eye and then delivered the message. Kingsley was sitting atop Gringotts Bank. He had good reception from the super-eye. The clerk that took the message was quickly identified as Galvin Gaddlegate, a regular employee in the mail room at the prophet. He stepped into the next room and a wizard identified as Ferdinand Hooper came in and then left again. Several minutes passed and then Hooper came back in again with Yaxley. Yaxley read the message, tossed it down again and left. Gaddlegate then sent the message to the newsroom. Kingsley did not see Yaxley either enter or leave the Prophet, so he assumed that he apparated directly into the Prophet, and then disapparated again without going outside. Kingsley took out his Ron-Book and sent a message to Phoenix: Yaxley saw the note, disapparated. Kingsley Members of the Phoenix were peering out many different windows in Hogsmeade. For about twenty minutes nothing happened, then Dementors appeared around the town. Everything became cold and dark and fear invaded the town. They Yaxley apparated into town. Several members of the Order of the Phoenix stepped out and cast the Sequor charm. Three of the Dementors were hit, and did not know it. The Dementors went through the town trying to flush the game, but of course there were no Travers in Hogsmeade to flush. Harry stepped out and hit Yaxley with a stunning charm right square in the back. Next he cast a binding charm, and followed that with levicorpus and dragged him into the Three Broomsticks. One of the Dementors saw this and flew towards Harry who quickly cast his Patronus which ran down the 140

142 Dementor. Suddenly there were about ten Patronus charms flying through town while the Dementors retreated. The Locus Charm followed them and while they moved quickly they were moving in a straight line, and so members of the order apparated ahead of them. From several edges of the Shetland Islands the wands quickly triangulated, and the found that they went directly to Sula Sgeir. Lucius Malfoy called that exactly right. Now Harry had to worry about how the Malfoys knew. Was it a perfect assessment of the situation, or did they have some other knowledge. Harry was not in a hurry to investigate this issue further. Even if Malfoy gave away the location, maybe he assumed that the Ministry could not destroy them. That had never been done before. But knowing where they were was the biggest issue. The Order could mount an attack at their leisure. Which probably meant tomorrow. Members of the Phoenix were returning to Hogsmeade or to Hogwarts. Harry floo Yaxley to his office at the Ministry, sat him in his visitor s chair. He remained fully bound until Kingsley joined him. Kingsley starts in interrogation, So what is with you and these Dementors? Are they controlling you, or are you controlling them? Yaxley said nothing, but Harry was looking into his eyes. So they are controlling you, but you called them to Hogsmeade. Kingsley continued, So why did you call them to Hogsmeade? Again Yaxley said nothing. They want Travers, I want Travers, Travers holds the secret, the key to The Dark Lord s lair. With Voldemort dead we can collect his final Horcrux. Kingsley spoke, Voldemort is dead, all of his Horcruxes have been destroyed, and none are left. Again Yaxley said nothing, but Harry looked into his eyes, They did not destroy the eighth Horcrux, nobody knew of the eighth Horcrux. 141

143 Kingsley asked, Then why is he dead? Harry continued to read his eyes, Is he really dead. You buried his body but his soul remains. We can attach to that soul and take over his position. Harry then spoke, Back up a bit. Which Travers were you looking for, Treavor or Logan? Harry continued to read Yaxley s eyes, Treavor, the Boy, Voldemort never touched him, but he transferred the information through his power of thought. The boy was very simpatico with him. Kingsley then asked him, And where is Treavor Travers now? Yaxley said nothing, but Harry saw, We do not know, we keep looking for him but we have not found him. Kingsley asked, What does this Horcrux look like? What is it? Is it an object or is it a living thing? Yaxley did not speak, It is an egg form Nagini, and it has the same sliver of soul that Nagini had. It would have been passed down to the egg. Kingsley asked, Where is this Voldemort s lair? And why did this part of his soul not keep him alive? Harry saw, We do not know where the lair is, we just do not know, but Travers does, he must! The egg could not keep him alive, but when it hatches the soul will reappear. Harry asked him, When will this egg hatch, how do you know it has not already hatched? Yaxley was silent, 142

144 It cannot hatch until the heir takes the egg. Harry continued, And who is the heir, is it Treavor Travers, or is it someone else? And Harry read, No, I am the heir, but Travers knows where the lair is and how to get into it! Kingsley then asked, And if we kill you, then who will be heir after you? Again Yaxley said nothing, but Harry looked into his eyes, You won t kill me, you don t kill people, put me in Azkaban and the Dementors will have me out in a few minutes. And Harry asked, But who is heir after you? Can the Dementors attach to this soul? Harry looked into Yaxley s eyes, but they were blank, there was nothing there. Then Harry said, I know where his lair is, I have been in his lair, I have been in and out of Voldemort s mind for years. So we will kill you, and then destroy this egg. Yaxley closed his eyes, tears were welling up. Kingsley said, You are coming with me, I will secure you in a place where the Dementors cannot enter, and we will look into what your thoughts have revealed. 143

145 28 George Weasley s Weapons George and Ron Weasley apparated to Hogsmeade and made their headquarters at the Hogs Head. Harry, Ginny and Hermione Floo down to see what they had created. First was the Fuel-Air bombs. The armed ones weighed two hundred pounds and so could be carried on a broom. He brought about ten dummy weapons so that Harry and Ginny could make some practice runs up at Hogwarts. Ginny s weapon would have no igniter in it. Harry would follow on and drop his charge which did have an igniter on it. There was to be a five second delay between deployment of the gas and the detonation of the igniter. The idea was not only to give Harry a chance to get away, but to allow the gas to permeate the entire cave. They would test for that too, but they did not want to set the timer too long, because they did not want Dementors to get out. Next was a death-ray, it consisted of 50 pounds of gas, and an igniter. This would allow two 25 pound charges per attack. Someone could fly directly toward a Dementor and shoot a charge of gas and then hit the igniter as they flew past and were clear. These would work at about 25 meters, and so the flier would have to charge the Dementor, shoot the gas, and after flying past the Dementor, the igniter positioned at the rear of the broom would discharge so that they would leave the detonation well behind them. They had brought several of these packages with them. The have a couple for testing, but they had ten packages for those who would be attacking the Dementors. They bundled up their goods and went up to the Quidditch stadium. Harry and Ginny were to attack the stronghold, Ron and George would be among the guard circle. Hermione would be on a nearby prominence where they hopped she would be able to see if there were any Dementors up as a guard so that the raiders could take care of them quickly. They needed eight more fliers. 144

146 Harry called a meeting of the Phoenix in his office for just after lunch. Kingsley did not want to supply any Aurors since he did not trust all of them. They needed to find eight fliers. McGonagall said, Fliers, I have. Over 17 is an issue. They will have to be over 17 to apparate to the rally point. Seekers and beaters will work out, but do I have any old enough? She wrote a list and passed it to Flitwick. Flitwick looked at the list. I will go and get them and bring them here. They will all be survivors of the Battle of Hogwarts. After some time eight men entered. Harry conjured more chairs. Kingsley stood up and spoke to the students, I am Kingsley Shacklebolt, the Minister of Magic. As you know we, that is Harry here, has killed Lord Voldemort. There are still Death Eaters at large, and we at the moment we are plagued with the Dementors as well. The Ministry now knows where their lair is and we wish to attack it. What we are looking for is some broom fliers to protect Harry and Ginny who will be the ones to actually attack their stronghold. You will need to protect them from any that are up, and to attack any Dementors that may escape from the stronghold. This will be a dangerous operation but you are all skilled fliers, but I am coming to you since all of my best Aurors are dead, and the others cannot yet be trusted. I do not expect any deaths or injuries, but nothing is certain in this world. So I am looking for volunteers, you do not have to do this, but if you want to be a part of this operation, your Ministry admits that it needs you. Nobody left the room. Kingsley said, Thank you. Harry Potter is a skilled Auror and will take care of the rest of this mission. Thank You. Kingsley left the meeting. McGonagall then spoke. It is quite unusual for the Ministry to ask students to help for a combat mission. But it is not unheard of. It has happened before. We have considered using the UK military to take care of this issue, but we have decided that it would be better to do this on our own. We do have wizards and witches in the military, and they do hold high ranks, but it is difficult to make use of this. We do have a liaison with the Prime Minister, and you have just met him. This is essentially a snuff mission, McGonagall said, Harry and Ginny will lead the attack, you are being asked to protect them and to 145

147 extinguish any Dementors that escape. I will let Harry explain the mission. I wish you all well. McGonagall and Flitwick left the room. Harry said, Now the rubber meets the road. The commanders have stepped aside and it is time for us to get the job done. You know Ginny, you probably also know Ron and George. We will meet on the quidditch field tomorrow morning. We have ordered ten new Firebolt brooms with the special fast package on them. If you survive, you get to keep these. And by the way, you must know that I do not plan to loose anybody. Any one of you is far more important to me than a whole hold full of Dementors. We will practice with the equipment tomorrow morning at Our equipment was made for us on very short notice by George Weasley, and you know how good his magic is. Tomorrow afternoon at 1300 hours we will apparate to North Rona, an island off the western Scottish coast. That is five miles from our target. We will have to fly five miles over the ocean out, and then five miles back. Ten wizards will form a circle about a mile wide around the target island. Any Dementors in the air will be taken out by Ron or George. Ginny and I will come in from the north-west and launch two 200 pound methane bombs into the target cave. This methane is a very highly compressed gas, and it will expand rapidly before detonation, it should penetrate every part of the cave the Dementors are in. You who are in the mile wide circle will have to attack any Dementor that escapes before the bomb detonation. None will of course escape after the detonation. The weapons that will be attached to your brooms consists of a fifty pound store of methane gas under very high pressure. This will give you two shots. Your range is about 25 yards, so you will have to fly very close to the Dementor, when you pass the Dementor an igniter mounted at the rear of your broom will flash. This way you will be racing away from the Dementor before the explosion occurs. These brooms have a top speed of about 80 miles per hour. We want to get as far away from the ignition of the gas as possible before ignition occurs. As most of you know, a Patronus charm will chase Dementors away, but we want them dead. We do not want them to exist in our world. This mission has been approved by the Ministry of Magic, and by the Department for the control of magic creatures. We will meet on the quidditch pitch after breakfast. There will be no classes tomorrow, Most of the professors will be with us, but they are a little old to fly at 80 miles per hour but they will supply support and 146

148 will be able to heal minor injuries, more complicated injuries we will have Madam Pomfrey standing by on North Rona Island. I thank you for you participation in this continuing part of our battles with Voldemort. We will answer questions, look at maps and consider improvements to our plans for as much time as you need. Harry stepped down and unrolled some nautical charts on his desk, and then enlarged images of the targets. The fliers gathered around the images, and chatter filled the room. 147

149 29 D-Day The morning arrived and the crew was outside at the quidditch patch. Ron and George were running the other fliers as well as themselves in attacking individual Dementors. They used the quidditch hoops as their targets. The gas had a colorant in it so that you could see where it was going. They quickly discovered that the circle would not work, they had to shoot with the wind so as not to get the back spray on themselves. They would have to line up behind the Dementor, pass them and then spray the gas after they passed the target. Ron had to detach the igniters from the broom and run them on a line about 70 feet behind the broom. Ginny was able to his the simulated target ten times out of ten. Harry would have to wait before his attack incase Ginny s charge was ignited by something in the cave. Once Harry attacked, he would have to get out of there quickly, they set up the timer to wait 15 seconds before destination. A Dementor or two might get out before the charge went off. We would need to see what would happen. At 1300, the crew apparated to North Rosa Island. They landed on a low prominence north and east of the island so that the bulk of the island would be between the target and themselves. Hermione went up to the highest point on the island, she was on her belly with a powerful telescope. She saw two Dementors hovering over the island. The Dementors were known to have poor vision, but excellent hearing and sense of smell. Fortunately they were down wind of the Dementors. Ron and George took of due east and then bent down to attack the Dementors with the sun behind their backs, unfortunately the wind was also at their backs, but they flew in fast enough that they outran any aroma they might have had. Ron attacked the right Dementor first. He flew up directly behind him, for the Dementor was looking shore-ward. Ron passed within 10 feet when he fired the gas, and he whipped by the target at 80 mph. The igniter flashed and the Dementor was immolated. The second Dementor looked toward his companion while George hit him in 148

150 the back from about 15 feet, passed him, and his ignitor discharged, and he target was negated. The other eight fighter brooms made a line west of the target, and from behind them Ginny made her bombing run, in moments later she released her weapon right on target. Harry counted out the seconds as he watched two Dementors leave the hold, again looking land-ward. Harry bore in, released his weapon, and fled the scene and one more Dementor came out and tried to overtake Harry. Harry s weapon detonated, the blast was very much more subdued that what was expected. There was a strong back flash from cave entrance. The fighter brooms took out the first two Dementors as planned, but the third was close on Harry, he banked right and up at his best speed, and he ran back to where the fighter brooms were stationed so that they could intercept the rogue Dementor. This one too was immolated. The blasts were far less than what was expected. There was little sound for there was no compression, no container to be exploded. It was more like lighting a gas range. Harry and Ginny fell to the rear of the squadron keeping all fliers in sight, Ron and George took the point to lead the group back to North Rosa. Most of the squadron was well ahead of Harry and Ginny when another Dementor approached from the south. Neither Harry nor Ginny was armed for an attack against a Dementor, Harry readied his wand, he could at least cast a Patronus. Ginny turned and flew directly at the target, she banked to the left turning her broom upside down, she increased her speed and rammed the front of her broom right in the middle of the Dementor s robe. After impact she flipped her broom right side up. She was dragging the Dementor behind her entangled in his own robe. Ginny held on to the robe so that it would not pull free. Ginny flew lower, she was only feet above the surface of the ocean. The Dementor was banging his head on the surface of the water, and Ginny was doing 80 mph. She approached North Rosa Island, and lifted only slightly, so that she could clear the rocks. The Dementor was banged right into the rock, bounced up a bit, and the Ginny brought the broom safely down where the others had landed. Harry landed a few minutes later. 149

151 McGonagall approached the Dementor. He looked naked outside of the robe. She pointed her wand at the Dementor and spoke Avada Kedavra. Kingsley wrapped the Dementor up in his own robe. Harry conjured another canvas sheet, and the Dementor was then wrapped in that as well. Everyone was together, and the Professors and the students apparated back to the Hogs End in Hogsmeade. Harry, Ginny, Ron and George flew back out to Sula Segir. They approached the cave that they had just attacked. They looked in and saw little. The rocks were scorched. Ron dropped in a super-eye. It could see little in the dark. Ron turned on a bright LED light at the bottom of the super-eye. There was still little to see, and it was appreciated that this was a very large cavern, very much bigger than the island itself. Ron took a sample of the air. All of the methane had ignited, and much of the oxygen had been burned up in the explosion. Ron and Harry conjured a bubble-head charm, and were let down on a rope by George and Ginny. The cave was enormous. Bodies of Dementors were found all over the place. Pictures were taken. Harry took about a hundred gold galleons and spread them about inside of the cave, and took more pictures. The scale would be able to demonstrate how deep the hole actually was. They climbed back out again. The apparated to North Rosa Island, collected Hermione and all apparated to the Hog s Head. The met with the other fliers. There were no injuries or losses. Kingsley gave each of the students a bag of 500 galleons and his thanks. The school would honor them, and their achievements would be recorded on their records. Kingsley, Ron, and George apparated to Diagon Alley; Harry, Hermione and Ginny walked back up to Hogwarts with the other students and faculty. Most of the students were near the gates to receive the returning warriors and waiting to hear the story. They followed into the Great Hall. The tables set themselves up for a buffet of some sorts with varieties of finger food and drink, and leaving plenty of room for people to circulate with each other. Harry made enlargements of the pictures that they took in the cave to show everybody the size of the halls in which the Dementors had ensconced themselves. They allowed all of the students to share in the glory of these eight. 150

152 After a time Professors McGonagall and Flitwick; Potter, Hermione, and Ginny sat at the head table. Professor McGonagall rang her goblet, and after a few moments there was enough silence for her to address the students. The Ministry has been concerned with the Return of the Dementors. There are no Dementors at Azkaban, they will no longer be providing security there. Through the efforts of many including the students here at Hogwarts, the Ministry has eliminated a Dementor stronghold. Are there other strong holds? We do not know. Were there Dementors absent from the Hold when it was attacked? Probably. Are we finished with this war against the dark side? No we are not. Each of us has our own dark sides. Any one of us could become the next Dark Problem. Tom Riddle did it, others may too. You are responsible for what you do and who you are. We are who you are. We have some photos of this operation you can gather round and take a look at them. 151

153 30 A Visit to the Ministry While others were celebrating the victory over the Dementors, Harry floo to the Ministry of Magic where he discovers that he has an office on level two in the Auror Headquarters. The sign on the door reads Harry Potter, Captain of Aurors. Kingsley visits him there, and then they go down to have another interview with Treavor Travers. Kingsley and Harry sit down opposite Treavor. Harry lead off the interrogation. We have captured Yaxley. He tells us that you are the heir to Voldemort. That he said that Voldemort transferred to you the information on where his lair was located, how to get in there, and where the eighth Horcrux is located. So what can you tell us about this? Treavor looks at Harry with fear in his face. I never saw Voldemort, he never spoke to me, and I have never spoken to him. Harry replied, That may well be, but can you tell us where his lair is? How could I possibly know? Does Voldemort talk to people in their subconscious? Well, yes he does. I have read his mind for many years, and he mine as well. Look into my eyes. And Harry looked into Trevor s eyes: I see Voldemort in your mind. I see him speaking with you. Voldemort is attracted to you, he thinks he can control you and your thoughts. I am able to form a bridge from your mind to his mind as he was thinking of you. He tells you of his lair. Yes, his lair is deep under the Hogwarts castle. Yes he is telling you of where the egg is. It is an egg laid by his snake Nagini. I see the egg in the Secret Chamber 152

154 Harry continued, Can you tell us how to get into this lair, this Chamber of Secrets? Treavor spoke, The Chamber is under Hogwarts. I do not know how to get in. I do not need to get in. I am not the heir of Voldemort. I am the secret keeper as it were. Yaxley is the heir. But Yaxley does not know where the lair is. I know where the lair is, Yaxley does not. I can get into the lair, but can do nothing when I go in there. The egg will not hatch for me. The egg will hatch for Yaxley, but Yaxley does not know where the lair is. He does not know how to get in. Harry continued, Yaxley is in Azkaban, he will not be getting out again. I would not count on that, the Dementors will rescue him, so says Voldemort, so says Yaxley. But the Dementors will never again get into Azkaban. We have destroyed the Dementors lair, and the Dementors with it. How can anyone destroy all of the Dementors? I do not know for sure, you see, that is the problem. But I cannot release you from here until I can be sure that Voldemort s lair and that egg has been well and truly destroyed. So what can you tell me to help you to get out of here? You do not need to worry about Yaxley getting to you. Harry then said, look again into my eyes, I see the Chamber of Secrets. I see the walls of snakes on both sides of the pond. I see the Basilisk. I see the mouth that was his lair. I see into the mouth. I see the tunnel that held the Basilisk. I see it winding into the raw earth. I see an earthen chamber. I see a Basilisk Egg. I see several smaller eggs, Nagini s eggs. I see the lair writhing with snakes. Does that seem to you what Voldemort showed to you? Yes, that is where it is. But the Dementors will still come back, they will still free Yaxley, Yaxley will come back again. The heat of his hand will hatch the eggs and then Voldemort will return. 153

155 Thank you, said Harry, we will see what we can do about this. They took Travers back to his holding cell. Kingsley and Harry went back up to his office. They were walking along the second level, when they saw that Delores Umbridge was there. She looked at Harry, Harry looked at her. Kingsley did not look at her but proceeded into Harry s office. Then Kingsley thought a bit, and then asked Umbridge to step in if she would. Harry sat at his desk, Kingsley sat in a side chair, and offered another chair to Delores, and spoke to her, You were never a Death Eater, but your conduct starting with your time at Hogwarts suggests to me that you no longer have a place here in the Ministry. But I do not want to bring you before the Wizengamot, nor do I want to dismiss you, so then, if you want to remain with the Ministry, what place would you suggest. She looked at Kingsley, and incredibly, she looked at Potter, who showed her the back of his left hand and looked at her. She addresses Kingsley, So tell me, how does Harry rate such a high position in your ministry right out of Hogwarts? Kingsley replies, Because I can trust him. Because he is hard working. Because he is a great Auror, and by the way, a great teacher of Magical Defense, not to mention Muggle Studies. Isn t it interesting how he can manage full time work here and at Hogwarts? For all I know you might be looking at the next Minister of Magic. But I was wondering what to do with you. What do you say? I d say that you and he have bitten off more than you can chew. I am going to Challenge you when you come up for a vote as Minister. Harry looked into Delores eyes and read, How dare you speak to me like that? Who are you to challenge me? I who am a pure blood witch while you are the ultimate interloper. Kingsley looked to Harry. Harry shook his head just so slightly. Kingsley said, Did you know that Harry is the best Legilimens that I have ever met. He can read deeply into people s minds. People sitting across from him simply do not have a chance. 154

156 Harry said, Well, there is no doubt that Umbridge is a very fine administrator, she just does not know squat about dealing with young people. Hogwarts was an impossible fit for her. She is also a liar. Pure blood, indeed, I *know* better. Your mother, Ellen Cracknell was a muggle. Your brother is a squib. Selwyn, indeed, that name is nowhere in your genealogy! And you stole that locket from Mundungus, but did you know that that locket was an heirloom of Voldemort and that he fashioned a Horcrux out of it. We are all lucky that Ron Weasley was able to destroy it with the Sword of Gryffindor. So how can the Ministry best make use of your considerable but tainted talents? Kingsley spoke, Well that is what I asked you. How can we best put your talents to best use? Umbridge did not reply. Well, Harry said, If it were my choice, I would make you the administrator of Azkaban. People there will understand your interpretation of truth and justice. Very Well, said Kingsley, We will cut orders for your new assignment later today. Or you are of course free to resign from the Ministry. Kingsley then, ignoring Umbridge, turned to Harry and asked, You have been in Voldemort s lair, and you know how to get in. You have seen these eggs. Do you have a plan to deal with them? Sure, we used seventh years to deal with the Dementors, let s use some of the younger students to go on an egg hunt. This will break the secret of the lair and of the Chamber. Turn them loose in the lair to chart it and to find eggs, but we will know where to go to attack the eggs. And this brings to me an idea about the Dementor s lair so that any remaining Dementors will not go back there again. How will you do that, Harry? I will publish an article in the Muggle papers about that island, its location, and mention that there is gold in there. After all, I did dump about hundred galleons in there for just this purpose. Let the Muggles go in there looking for them, and explore the caverns and tunnels. That detonation was nowhere as loud as I expected it to be, ergo the cave is much bigger than we know. Let us be sure that there is no other exit from it elsewhere. 155

157 Harry looked up and saw that Delores was still there. Is there anything else that you wanted from us, as you can see we do have a lot of work to do? Umbridge stalked out of the office. Kingsley grinned at Harry. That is why it says Captain of Aurors on your door, and here is your new Captain s badge. Now get back to Hogwarts and do some teaching. Geology sounds like a good topic for tomorrow s lessons. Harry went back down to the Atrium and floo back to his Hogwarts office. 156

158 31 Into the Lair Harry went to the Headmistress s office and suggested a geological expedition to the Secret Chamber. They would use ropes and climbing gear to enter the caverns through the fissures that Harry and Fawkes used to escape the chamber. Harry obtained climbing gear for 120 people. He would lead the expedition with Hermione, Neville and Ginny seeking the eggs, the other students would know that they were hunting eggs, but in reality they would be exploring the caves and generally having fun. Flintwick, McGonagall, and other faculty members would be supervising the students. Slughorn would remain outside of the cavern, and would supervise any students who gathered around the opening to watch. Harry figured that bringing so many students into the chamber and letting others see it happen it would at least break the secret of the chamber. On Monday morning, all classes were cancelled and 25 students from each house would be selected to enter the chamber. They took their equipment, learned how to use it, and learned all of the safety precautions. They were given paper, measures, and survey equipment, they were told that they were going to photograph and chart the chambers. They were also asked to mark the location of any eggs that they found. They would be kept roped together in groups of five, and there would be a trailing rope, so that they could always find their way back. At ten o clock sharp Harry led them into the caverns. Some of the groups fanned out into the nearby tunnels to see where they went, most of the groups followed Harry toward the chamber. Some again looked into some of the side passageways, but then there were still fourteen groups that arrived at the snake door. Harry spoke to the door in Parseltongue, and the door opened. People gasped at the sight in front of them. They took pictures and magically measured the chamber. Harry and Hermione went right ahead. They climbed up into the mouth of the statue of Salazar Slytherin and entered in, with their wands lit. The passage turned east and west, up and down. Without the ropes the journey would have been impossible. At no time was the diameter of the tunnel any wider than three feet. It was slimy in places, and rocky in 157

159 others. On the crawled. And then at the end it opened into a chamber about 30 feet in diameter and height. There were two large eggs, about five feet in diameter, there were a dozen smaller eggs that might have been laid by Nagini. Harry went to the nearest of the large eggs. He put his wand to one of them and used the Confringo charm to blast open the egg and then used the Avada Kedavra charm to destroy any living organism within the egg. Hermione did likewise with the other egg. They then went about smashing any other snake egg that they could find. As the climbed out they used the Confringo charm to destroy the camber, and any egg that might be left therein. They made their way back out through the tunnel, they found no off shoots, except one that just led back into the main chamber. The students were still impressed with the chamber and were running about taking pictures and making measurements, and generally having fun. By two pm, Harry called them to order and instructed them to move back to the entrance of the chamber. He stayed at the bottom until all were out and accounted for, and then climbed out himself. The students who remained outside of the Camber were amazed at the pictures and by the charts and maps that they produced of the Chamber. Many students wanted their turn to go down into the Chamber. Harry suggested that it should be a regular part of the Fourth year program. On Sunday morning the Times of London had a report in the travel section about Sula Sgeir, and about its cave. There were even pictures taken inside of the cave, and some of them even showed golden coins, and bones at the bottom of the cave. It warned about the dangers of the tides and the rocks, but it provided enough information for amateur boaters to go out and have a look. Harry hoped that there were no Dementors left on the island. In the meanwhile, at Harry s suggestion, Kingsley cut an arm off of the Dementor remains that they had brought back from the island, and just to stir up trouble had the arm sent to the University of Glasgow for DNA testing and carbon dating. Kingsley knew Professor Willard Goldwitch, a wizard at the university. He did not tell his friend much about the limb, but given that it was Kingsley who sent it in, not much needed to be said. This was such an unusual find that there was no way that it would not get 158

160 thoroughly looked at. They even made their report suggest that the limb was washed up on the Scottish coast near the Kylesku Bridge. Harry and Kingsley were smiling to themselves about what they would find with this and what would happen when people began bringing more of these bones up from Sula Sgeir. 159

161 32 Christmas at the Snape House Ginny and Harry invited all of the Weasleys (and Hermione, an almost-weasley) to their home. Ginny set up a Christmas tree, and really decorated the great room. It looked very festive. Presents began to accumulate under the tree as more and more people arrived. Arthur remarked to see Harry s office on the Second Level of the Ministry. The title Captain was impressive. Arthur did not know about this promotion until he saw the door. Harry said, I didn t know about the promotion until Kingsley brought me to my office. Want to know something funny. Delores Umbridge was gawking at me walking with Kingsley, and then Kingsley led me into the office, and Umbridge almost fell over. Kingsley asked her if he could help her. Seems like getting her out of the Ministry was more difficult than one might imagine. Then he asked me for an idea for her new assignment. I told Kingsley that she was a wonderful administrator, but did not know squat about dealing with people. I suggested to make her the new administrator at Azkaban. She was quite shocked, especially when Kingsley said he would cut her new orders for the Azkaban posting, or she could resign if she did not like it. Last I heard, she accepted the posting. Ron exclaimed, Talk about a Christmas present! The others laughed. Ginny dimmed the lights, lit the tree, and put some Christmas songs on the music system. Unlike other wizarding homes, Harry and Ginny had a TV set in the basement, and computers on their desks. Ginny would need one when she went on to the University, Harry to teach computer technology in the Muggle Studies classes. He undoubtedly would find many more uses for it. 160

162 Arthur went wild over plugs that actually worked. How cool were the light bulbs, refrigerator, and other appliances. And they all had cords on them. Harry took the time to show him how the electricity worked from where it came into the house, how it was distributed, and how it was used. Ron and George liked the atrium. They floated up and down in it instead of using the stairs. Harry showed them all the central heating, and air conditioning system. They were impressed with this stuff until they learned that Harry had to pay for the conveniences that they used: gas, power, telephone, TV, internet. That is a lot of costs for things that you really do not need! Well, yes, everything has to be paid for. This after all, is a Muggle house, Harry explained. Harry also explained about insurance, land rent, and other expenses. Ginny came out with a fabulous Christmas dinner. Afterwards they gathered around the tree to exchange gifts, and enjoy each other s company. Molly and Arthur had the master bed room again, Bill and Fleur one of the front bed rooms, Ginny and Hermione each had a bed room, and Charles took the 4 th bed room, while Ron, George and Harry had beds in the basement. All accommodations were reported to be comfortable. In the morning, on the day after Christmas, Ron and Hermione apparated to her parents house for another celebration of Christmas. Harry and the Weasleys watched the TV set for a while, but found it mostly boring, and so they went for a walk to explore the community. This was the first time that Harry actually began to explore the village of Spinner s End. There was the canal, you could not call it a river or a stream, but it was wide enough for canal barges to make their way through. The canal ran west to east, Spinner s End was on the north side of the canal. You could see the remains of the mule paths on either side of the canal, and by the factory the canal was much wider to accommodate barge loading and unloading. The street by the canal was called, in a fit of originality Canal Street. There were no houses between Canal Street and the Canal, instead was a wide open swath of grass varying from ten to fifty feet wide. The homes in this neighborhood were all three story attached brick structures stretching from Second Avenue in the west to Bridge Street (12 th Avenue) in the East. Moving north from Canal Street, was Prince Street, Spring Street, and then Market Street. Market Street was the main 161

163 business street. North of Market the houses were of wood framed single family dwellings set on larger plots of land. The Snape house was on north side of Prince Street. It was on the north-east corner of 6 th Avenue. The Figg house was on the south-east corner of Spring Street and 6 th Avenue. Harry and company walked to the canal, and followed Canal Street east to 12 th Avenue, where a bridge crossed the canal, and so the road was more commonly known as Bridge Street. Across the bridge to the south was a commercial and industrial neighborhood with very little housing save for some wood framed attached structures that boasted of store fronts on the street level and apartments on the upper level. Across Bridge Street to the east was the public school serving grades one to eight. Lily and Severus must have gone to school here until it was time to go to Hogwarts. Embedded in the pavement of Bridge Street was the remains of a trolley line which turned west to follow Market Street and then across the Atwater Bridge. They walked north on Bridge Street to Market Street, and then followed it all the way to First Avenue where the canal turned to the north for several blocks. Along both sides of Market Street were attached shops, all with one or two stories above the stores. At the north end of Market Street was the Atwater Bridge which crossed the canal and led to the village of Atwater on the other side. Moving south again along First Avenue they found that a large green space park was on their right between the street and the canal. Here the green space was more than 70 feet wide, and had an assortment of playground equipment, and a small soccer pitch. Harry recognized the swing set from looking through Snape s memories. Here Lily must have played on the swing, letting herself fly through the air to the displeasure of Petunia and the delight of Severus. At the bend in the canal was a willow tree, perhaps Lily and Severus had lain on the grass there watching the water and the summer go by as they waited for their first year at Hogwarts. Harry treated the park with honor, as if part of himself was born here. He wondered which house was the Evans house, but he had no idea. East of First Avenue was a number of single family brick structures. The houses around this corner were also detached dwellings of modest size and appearance. The attached brick houses began east of Second Avenue and ran all the way to 12 th Avenue. 162

164 Harry and company walked as far as 6 th Avenue and then returned to the Snape house. 163

165 33 Beginning the New Year By Tuesday the house had cleared out, and Harry and Ginny had it to themselves. By Tuesday afternoon, Kingsley sent Harry the report from Glasgow University, from Professor Goldwitch. Dear Kingsley, This was a very interesting specimen that you have sent to us. I had students examine it for carbon dating. Apparently this creature must have died very recently, since most of the cellular structures are intact. Because carbon dating only puts objects within a 100 year window, I guess I am free to presume that this creature died very recently. There is a large amount of damage to the soft tissue structures indicating a violent death. As for DNA, this is a tangled mess that my students are still working on. The short story is that the tissue is part human DNA and part reptilian DNA. The reptilian DNA, while clearly reptilian in origin demonstrates absolutely no commonalities with any known reptile. I was hoping that you might shed some more information about this creature, since I suspect you undoubtedly know exactly what this is from. As far as the public is concerned, they will only know what my students tell them, and I will hold in confidence any additional information that you may pass on to me. Sincerely, Willard Goldwitch The note to Harry from Kingsley suggested that Harry might tell the professor what was known about the limb. So Harry sat down at his 164

166 computer. First he had to set up an address. He did this with his IP provider. The address that he set up was Once he was sure that this worked he also set up an address for Ginny at Then Harry opened an addressed to Dear Professor Goldwitch, Minister Shacklebolt asked me to reply to your recent message to him. I am Harry Potter, a Professor at Hogwarts, and an Auror for the Ministry. As you should know, Dementors used to be used to guard the prison at Azkaban. These went over to the dark side with the return of the Dark Lord. They have since been removed from Azkaban, and they seemed to have congregated on the island of Sula Sgeir where they were for the most part destroyed by a fuel-air explosive mix delivered and detonated by myself. Some Dementors which were outside of the hold prior to our attack were destroyed by a methane fueled explosion cast by Hogwarts quidditch players who volunteered for this assignment. After the destruction of the hold and of the free Dementors we returned to our staging area on the island of North Rosa. At this point a new Dementor approached us from the south, perhaps returning from somewhere. Since Ginny and I were Winchester on weapons, and the rest of our squadron flying ahead of us unaware of this new Dementor, Ginny attacked with her broom, snagging the Dementor by his robe, and then flew low dragging the Dementor across the water surface at 80 mph, and then banging him against the rocks as we landed. Professor McGonagall applied the Avada Kedavra curse to the remains of the Dementor, and Kingsley apparated with the remains to St. Mungo s Hospital in London. I suspect, but of course do not know at all, that the reptilian DNA that your students were looking at undoubtedly came from a dragon. Of what sort I do not know. Charles Weasley is working with dragons in Romania, and may be able to provide 165

167 us with other tissue samples. I will send to him for these samples and to forward them to you when I get them. Should you want to examine more of this beast, I would suggest you visit St. Mungo s in London. Perhaps you have seen the article about Sula Sgeir in the Travel section of the London Times. It is our fondest hope that Muggles will go exploring in there when the weather gets warmer and the seas more moderate, and if so, we are sure that more tissue and bone samples will begin to appear at universities across the UK. When Sula Sgeir becomes a Muggle attraction, it is our hope that any remaining Dementors will eschew this place as their lair. Sincerely, Captain Harry Potter, Auror, at. Harry shut off his computer and brought the letters to Ginny to look I have an address? she exclaimed to Harry. Well you will probably have several soon enough. Certainly you will have a university provided address while you are a student there, and another from your employer when you get a job somewhere. Neither Hogwarts nor the Ministry uses Muggle computers yet, but who knows about the future. With the expansion of the Muggle world I suspect that Wizard world will quietly merge with it to some extent. Indeed it has been going on for years with mixed marriages and such. And we ourselves now live in the Muggle World. What we should do as long as we are here this week is to find where witches and wizards gather, perhaps at a church or some other setting. Why don t we walk around the neighborhood to see what sorts of people we may find? So, Harry and Ginny then put on their nice robes and walked down by the canal. They walked to the west, and rested on some benches when they found some children and their parents playing in the park. One of the mothers looked over to them, and then came up to them and asked Harry, Aren t you Harry Potter? 166

168 Yes, I am Harry, and this is my Fiancée, Ginny Weasley, and you are? I m Erma Bancroft, I was Erma Greenbrier when I went to Hogwarts, I was in sixth year when you entered, so I guess we did not have much to do with each other, especially since I was in Ravenclaw, but you did make a quite a stir. And Harry replied, You should have seen the stir I created last year! Yes, if the Prophet had it correctly, you were quite busy. What are you doing here? Well, you will have heard, no doubt on the killing of Severus Snape, he died right in my arms as a matter of fact. He had always loved my mother, Lily Evans, who also lived around here somewhere, and so he left his estate to her, which I in turn inherited. That included his house at 601 Prince Street, which we have renovated. I am now working as a professor at Hogwarts, and Ginny is in the middle of her seventh year. I am also working directly for Minister Shacklebolt as an Auror. So you can see that our time is well and truly spoken for. We are naturally staying at Hogwarts during most of the year, but when Ginny enters the university next fall, we will both be living here. Kingsley has told us that there are many wizard families here, and many of the muggle families may have latent wizardry in their blood lines. My mother Lily was born of muggle parents, Severus Snape of a witch mother and a muggle father. Kingsley and Professor McGonagall both want to see Ginny teaching here in Spinner s End. Wow, replied Erma, This is so wonderful to have you living in our neighborhood. There are about 60 wizard families living here, and many of us have children in Hogwarts. My oldest will be starting there next year. He is looking forward to that, I m not so sure that I am ready to have him leave home, but since I have been there, I know that it is one of the greatest experiences a kid can have. Many of us bring our families to this park on Saturdays from 11 in the morning until one or two in the afternoon. Do come to join us if you are in town. Thanks, Ginny replies, that is what we were looking for, to find others and what they are doing around here. What churches do the wizards 167

169 here belong to, and where are they, we did not see a church in our walk around town, but then we haven t really gotten out to explore yet, you know. If you follow First Avenue north of Market, explained Erma, the canal makes another left hand turn and you will find the Church of England on the right side of the road as it bends to the west. If the Catholic Church is more to your liking, that is on Market a block east of Bridge Street on the south side of Market. The Presbyterian Church is on Bridge Street about three blocks north of market. I guess most of us attend there. If you do not have a car, and many of us do not, some of us never learned to drive, the bus route comes across the Atwater Bridge every 15 minutes. The [12] route continues east on market to Stanycliffe, and the [16] route goes south on Bridge Street to Chadderton Fold. Going West on Market they go on to Middleton where the [16] bus continues on to Hamilton Park, and the [12] bus heads down to Harpurhey. The Mill Hill train station is on Bridge Street about five blocks north of Market. The [35] bus has a funny schedule passing through town in order to arrive in time to catch departing trains in the morning, and to meet arriving trains in the afternoon. Since you are right in the middle of town, you will probably find it easier to walk wherever you go, if you don t apperate, that is, and once you have kids apparation becomes less inviting. Harry asked, Do any of these churches has a wizard for a pastor? Yes, that would be the Presbyterian Church. My parents used to live in Godric s Hollow, and while I only passed through there once at night time, the church there did not look like a Catholic or Anglican Church, at least from the outside. I wonder if that was my parent s faith. Gee, said Erma, That is pretty tough not even knowing where you were baptized. I d check with Pastor Aberforth to see what he could dig up for you. Just go to the manse and knock on the door. If he is home, he will be happy to see you. Well, thanks, said Ginny, I think we will do just that, Harry and Ginny then left the park and continued north on First Avenue, across Market and then up to Elm Street, which seemed to run east, it should be a 12 block walk. But of course it was not, the streets were different on this side of market, not at all laid out in a grid, and so in the end it would have been far faster to walk along Market street to 168

170 Bridge street instead of tackling these twisted roads up here, but eventually they came out on Bridge Street, and they looked about, and found that the church was one block to their south. A knock on the door brought Rev. Aberforth Green to the door, and he invited them in immediately. He had a wife and two boys, the boys ran off into the back yard and wife Andrea served some tea and sat down with her husband. Harry said, Hello, I am Harry Potter and this is my Fiancée Ginny Weasley, I just inherited Severus Snape s house and have renovated it. Ginny is still in school at Hogwarts, and for this year I am teaching there. Minister Kingsley as also made me an Auror. So we were just wondering about attending church here. And Aberforth Green smiled broadly, Yes we have all heard of Harry Potter, and account the death of your parents up in Godric s Hollow. What happened to you after that, you kind of fell off the radar for many years? What church did you attend then? Harry said that his mother Lilly Evans was from this town, and he grew up with her sister Petunia Dursley. The Dursleys did not attend church all that often, and there was no church at Hogwarts. So I really do not know how my parents would have brought me up. Rev. Aberforth said that there were not many churches up there near Hogwarts, Catholic or Anglican churches were out of the question since the bishops appoint pastors and we could end up with someone who opposed our world, even if they knew nothing about it. Of course older Presbyterians and Calvinists would have been aghast at magic too, but at least the congregation hires the pastor. Thus many wizards and witches would have little to do with a church. But they still celebrated Christmas and sometimes Easter. Ginny added, Our family did not attend church very often, sometimes on Christmas, sometimes on Easter. There was no church near us, we had no car and out parents did not drive at all, so getting to a church was always a project. But your name! We know an Aberforth up in Hogsmeade. Yes, I am named after him, my mother loved that name. There is a Congregational church in Hogsmeade, but students never saw it because they were never out of the castle on Sundays. 169

171 Now then Harry, I do know more about your parents in this regard. They were married here before James and Lilly moved up to Godric s Hollow. James was baptized and buried in the church at Godric s Hollow, The Evans family went to church here. So, Harry, what are you going to do about the House in Godric s Hollow? That property is still owned by the Potters, meaning you. It is sort of a shrine now, but maybe you will want to do something with it. If you travel up there you can stop at the Gringotts branch there to find out more. In any event, I ll write to the pastor up there to get a copy of your baptismal records. And Harry asked, And how do I get in touch with other wizards and witches in this area. Is there a way to meet such people? Aberforth explained, This be the place. We do have muggle parishioners, but they are aware that most of the congregation is of magical extraction. Follow our bulletin and you will know what is happening. Ginny and Harry thanked the Greens, and walked back to the Snape house hand in hand. 170

172 34 Harry at the Ministry It was still a few days before the next term started at Hogwarts, Ginny went back to the Burrow and Harry floo to the Ministry and went up to his office. There was a pile of papers there that required his attention. Kingsley came by and Harry asked him about Harrison Lessmaster, the uncle of Renwald Warfack. Oh, yes, replied Kingsley, I suppose it time to delve into that bag of worms. Let s see where we are with him. Harrison Lessmaster suggested to Renwald to lure Hazel into the forest to meet Fenrir. They were really trying to flush out Treavor whom we still have in isolated custody. From there we caught Logan and Yaxley and hopefully put an end to the Dementors. But what did Lessmaster have to gain from all of this. Did Yaxley or Logan push him to do this, or was he working on his own? Let me see. Yes, here is his address, and he does not seem to be working at the moment. His wife is Alice Lessmaster, she works at St. Mungo s as a cleaner. I guess he might be at home. It is worth a try. Will you interrogate him at home or bring him in here? I ll talk with him at home, no point in spooking him, but I ll bring him in here if I have to. Be careful then, meeting a questionable wizard on his home turf can be very dangerous. Keep you wand ready. Shoot first, you can always ask questions later! Harry apparated a block south of the address, and walked past the house. The curtains were pulled, but there were cracks of light from within. The garage door was open, but there was no car inside. It was not filled with clutter, it looked like it was used for a car. Harry walked down the block where there was a bus kiosk from which vantage point he could watch the house. He went across the street to a deli, and got himself a hot dog to eat, and also a donut. I suppose it may be a cliché, but officers are supposed to eat donuts, just like spies are supposed to read newspapers. A maroon car passed Harry, a woman was driving it, and it drove into the open garage and the door closed. 171

173 Harry walked back to the house. He saw the woman opening the curtain in the living room and then go into the back somewhere. Harry waited fifteen minutes, and then went up to the door and rang the bell. The woman came to answer the door. Alice? Harry asked, Are you Alice Lessmaster? I was wondering if your husband Harrison was at home, and might I visit with him. Yes he is in the back yard with the dog, why don t you sit down and I will call him. Whom shall I say is calling on him? Yes, mam, I am Harry Potter, a professor at Hogwarts School. There was an incident a while back and your husband s name came up as a person of interest. Very Well, I shall go and find him. A tall wizard entered. He had blond hair and blue eyes, there was dirt on his hands. Harry invited him to have a seat. Several months ago a young 13 year old Hufflepuff girl was attacked by Fenrir Greyback. I am glad to say that the attack failed and Greyback is gone. But the girl was Helen Travers, and her brother and uncle were both Death Eaters, so she may have been attacked for many reasons. The Ministry investigation showed that your nephew, Renwald Warfack was the one who made the suggestion to Helen to look in the forest for a unicorn. Some of our information suggests that his uncle, perhaps that meant you, had suggested this to him, without of course giving him a reason why. Harrison said, I thought you were a professor, but here you are asking Ministry questions? What gives? Yes, I am a professor of Defensive Magic, and of Muggle Studies, but Kingsley Shacklebolt was there, since I attempted a prohibited cures on Greyback, and he gave me this case to investigate, along with my father s Auror badge. So, yes, while I am a professor, and must be back in class next Monday, Kingsley and I were just running down some loose ends that we left dangling while we dealt with a Dementor attack in Hogsmeade. Your name was down on a third string of Death Eaters whom we were not pressing at the moment. But this event brought your name to 172

174 the top of the list. Did you suggest to your nephew to lure Helen Travers into the forest? No, I did not. Harry looked deep into his eyes: Baskets of Pineapples, Oranges, and Pears. Bananas and Coconuts, and Apples. Ohooo Very good Occlumency, observed Harry, You are the first to block my looking into their eyes. Did Lord Voldemort look into your eyes too? issshhhhhhefffff ghhhhhssssssiiiiiipppppppp sssshhhhhjjjjjjjiiiiilllllmmmm nnnsjduuunskkdue. And Harry replied dddhyyyyeerrrrrgrvvvvv eeessssshhhhhhjjjj iiiifffgggguuussssssssgggghhh fffiiighhehddddsssgh. s s s s s s f f f f f f g j j j a a a a s s s s s s s c c c c h h h h, ssshhhhhhooooooocccvvvvvvffffsssssshhhh. Harrison moved for his wand, but Harry stunned him, petrified him bound him and hung him up in the air before he had a chance to move. His wand next pointed to Alice, who just stood there with her hands in plain sight, afraid to move. Harry said to her, I will take Harrison to the Ministry, and then, perhaps, will visit with you again later. And Harry apparated with Harrison to his office in the Ministry. Kingsley heard and saw Harry apparate into the office. He came in and found Harrison, bound and sitting opposite Harry. Very good at Occlumency this one is. Said Harry, first he shows me baskets of pineapples and oranges, so I asked him if he was taking these to Voldemort, and he replied in Parseltongue, that he was and that the Dark Lord would rise again, and that we had not put an end to him. I replied to him in Parseltongue, and he drew his wand, or at least tried to, but I was both ready for this move and he got no chance to reach it. So I guess I ll examine him here. If he thinks he can occlude Harry Potter, he has another thing coming. 173

175 Harry turned to Harrison, and looked deeply into his eyes, again he saw baskets of pineapples, trees with pears, and oranges rolling around the table. Harry penetrated deeper, and found his dog. He looked into the dog s eyes (dogs are no good at all with Occlumency) and pictures emerged of Harrison digging in the back yard, of digging under the patio, of placing a box under the patio, of planting a rose bush in the hole that he had made, and filling the hole in. Harry asked him, What was in that box you just buried under the patio, where you planted that rose bush? Harrison s eye contact with Harry broke, he was about to proclaim what box, but Harry still looking at him saw in his eye the contents of the box. There was a ring, a locket, a diadem, and a book. Harry said to him, You are missing the cup and the snake. Snakes got eggs, Harrison replied. So where are these eggs? Is that the secret you were trying to get from Travers? Travers spoke too much, you know. And he did not even try to block my mind from penetrating his. I have had a lot of practice with Voldemort, you know. So, Harry said, keeping his eyes locked on Harrison, You don t know where the eggs are do you? You are not the Secret Keeper. Travers was the secret keeper. Ah but which Travers you ask yourself. You do not know that either. So an attack on Helen Travers, successful or not would bring one or both of the Travers out in the open. Ha, but you were not counting on Yaxley s interference. Harry spoke to Harrison again, So, what is Yaxley to this scheme of yours? A little birdie told me that only his touch would bring the eggs to hatch. And where is Yaxley now, do you know? And Harrison spoke aloud and in plain English, His touch, pah! Yaxley was not the only one who could bring the egg to life. I do not care if Yaxley is alive or dead or in the next room laughing at you. Potter Boy, you are way out of your depth! So, tell me how I am in over my head? But Harrison did not speak again. 174

176 Harry said, Lets send him to Azkaban, we can bring him back again if we need him. Harrison was taken from Harry s office by a pair of Ministry guards. Harry turned to Kingsley, I do not know if sending Umbridge to Azkaban as an administrator was a good idea after all. She is going to have access to people we send there and she herself may become the next Dark Lord. Nope, said Kingsley. I took a page from your book, and I cast a very subtle mind spell on her. I can see a transcript of all her actions and her words. Seeing thoughts are a bit beyond this charm however, but the charm does have a rider on it. If I do not like what I see I can cast her into madness such as they will have to bring her to St. Mungo s and then I ll turn you lose on her. So fear not, she is my weapon in Azkaban. I suspect that I will get a lot of information from her. Harry goes down to the holding cell where Trevor Travers is held, and sits down on the chair across from him. How are you doing here? Has our house-elf treated you well? Apparently Harry was not expecting an answer, for he continued, Do you know Harrison Lessmaster? Treavor looked at him blankly, and Harry saw that he did not, and so continued Harrison was the one who persuaded Renwald to suggest to Helen the presence of a unicorn in the Forbidden Forest. But you do not know him. Never matter, he surely knew you, but now he is in Azkaban, and so I see no reason for us to continue to hold you here. Come! Harry took Treavor by the hand and Apparated to the Kirk Travers home, and knocked at the door. His Father opened the door to find Harry and Treavor standing there. He brought them inside and called to his wife and to Susan. Susan ran up to him and hugged him, You are Home! she squealed. The Family hugged him, and he seemed to feel out of place in this home, he had been gone for so long, and in all that time never felt the love he felt just now. This is where you belong, said Harry, Use this time here well, eventually you may go on to marry and raise a family of your own. Or perhaps you will have other endeavors in mind for yourself. Enjoy the hospitality of your parents, but get a job and prepare to set out on your own again, this time perhaps on the correct and honest track. By the way, Harry continued handing Treavor a small sack, Here is 200 galleons from the ministry to compensate you for the time that we held you without any real charges, Get yourself some presentable clothing. 175

177 Find a job, even a menial job is an honest job and will put you in good steads for better work in the future. Harry turned to face the family, May peace be upon you. I do not think you will have any fear of Death Eaters or of Dementors, but if there is, be sure to let me know at once, so that I can look into this and protect you as best I can. Good bye for now. Harry turned and apparated to the Ministry. 176

178 35 Into the Spring of Things Harry found himself dividing his time between the Ministry and Hogwarts, but he hoped to spend this semester at Hogwarts, doing those things that a professor should do, including all of the extra activities that were proper to a school. And Minerva McGonagall wanted him to stay on at the Muggle Studies professor, and was looking for ways to make this happen. She told Harry, Anybody can teach Defensive Magic, and I will find someone to do it, but you have a gift at Muggle Studies, and I think that you are the only one who can bring it off the way in needs to be taught. My plan, therefore Harry, is to have you teach Muggle Studies every afternoon, a double period for all students in each grade level through their OWL exams. Monday, first years; Tuesday, second years and so on. You will keep your classroom and quarters. I have shared my idea with Kingsley, and he has agreed that you should work in the Ministry every day between eight and one, and here starting at two. Since you will be married this summer, I assume that you will live at the Snape House, and apparate to the Ministry or by floo to Hogwarts. Ginny has interviews at both Oxford and the University of Manchester, which of course is closer, within a short driving distance to Spinner s End, even though Ginny will probably travel by apparation. Harry answered, Well you have certainly figured it all out, and I could not ask for better. Kingsley has made me a Captain of Aurors, but that is mostly a pay grade since I ll not have any Aurors under me except as someone else assigns them to assist me with something. Mostly, I guess, I am an investigator. I will examine evidence and question people about whatever it is we are investigating. It seems that I have become rather skilled at legilimens. But for the moment things have quieted down at the Ministry, and so I ll be devoting more time to the school this semester. 177

179 Harry may have thought that things would be more normal this spring, but his thoughts did not take into account Delores Umbridge. Umbridge was the administrator at Azkaban, mostly upon the recommendation to Kingsley by Harry. And she was not pleased. The upper level of the tower had been partly destroyed by Dementors when they broke out ten Death Eaters. Now the structure had no proper roof, and water leaked in continuously. Down the walls it ran, through the cracks, dripping, dripping everywhere. Even in Delores office. She was not pleased at all. And now some wizard architects have apparated in to assess the damage and to make recommendations. And their recommendation was to tear it down to the original 1607 structure, and to build new cells on the floor of the North Sea. There were to be six tentacles to this star, each one of them a kilometer long. Each one with 400 cells. And each one could be expanded almost indefinitely. And what was worse to Umbridge s way of thinking, she would no longer have any physical contact with the prisoners. She would not even be able to open a single cell door. Doing that required an Auror to apparate in from the Ministry. Contact with the prisoners was part of her scheme. While she was never aligned with the Dark Lord, his Death Eaters, or the Dementors, she always had schemes of her own. She was as much a prisoner at Azkaban at were those in her custody. She just had nicer quarters and better meals. Delores had made it a habit of calling various prisoners into her office on the pretense of interrogating them, but in reality she was feeling the out, trying to determine which of these might further her schemes and how these might be accomplished. Delores was not a Death Eater, a Dark Follower, or even a crook: she was all for Delores all of the time, and the heck with anybody else. She failed to realize that these people, once powerful people, also had their own agenda, which if the truth be told, were the mirror image of her own. Yaxley was in her office for the third time. Yes his hands were tied. Yes his feet were tied to the chair, but one of the many flaws in Delores plan was that her office was never built as an integration room, and the chair upon which Yaxley sat was not attached to the floor. 178

180 The moment Delores stepped into range, for she liked to sit on the edge of her desk since she fancied this was intimidating, Yaxley jumped up and came across at her chair and all. He grabbed her wand as he sailed over and past her. He turned quickly, pointed the wand at her.. Avada Kedavra! Harry, sleeping in his room at Hogwarts, felt a sharp pain on his forehead such as he had not felt since the demise of Voldemort. He saw Umbridge fall to the deadly curse, he pointed his wand at the ropes that bound him, and he jumped into the fireplace and floo away. Harry struggled with the vision. Was it real? Where was it? And who was he? He saw the vision from the perspective of the first person. But who was this person. Harry reconsidered the vision. Delores Umbridge was killed by the curse, ergo the event had to have happened at Azkaban. He floo out of the office, ergo he had been Delores office, the only place in Azkaban that had a fire place. Harry took out his Ron-Book and headed a note to Ginny, Hermione, and Kingsley about the killing, and that he was going to floo to Azkaban to see what had happened. He quickly dressed in fighting gear, went to his fireplace and floo to Azkaban. Delores was on the floor. Dead. He found and pressed the alarm button, and guards flooded into the office. Harry held out his hand and said Pensive-Scope and the Pensive-Scope appeared in his hand. He looked into the now dead eyes of Delores. All was blank, turn the wheel, and all was blank. She, unlike the Malfoys, had no living brain cells to scan. She was dead and he knew not what had happened. Harry put his Auror badge on his robe where it would be seen and then integrated the guards. One of them admitted to bringing Yaxley into her office. Yes he had done so many times, Travers and others too. Umbridge was interrogating them. Yes they were always secured to the chair. Yes, they always retired from the room. No, they did not think that this was unusual. Harry s scar burned again and his vision saw Lucius Malfoy dead on the floor of his manor. Avada Kedavra and Narcissa was also dead on the floor. This was not good. Yaxley was supposed to be heir to Voldemort, and Harry s scar burned in fierce pain with the Actions of Yaxley. Out came the Ron-Book, and another note followed on the first one. He said that he would floo to the Manor. 179

181 Harry instructed the guards take care of Umbridge and to lock down the fortress. He then entered the hearth and floo to Malfoy Manor with his wand at the ready. One sight of Yaxley and he would be cooked. Harry entered the manor in the library. He put his invisibility cloak over him, and began to search the manor. He went the Malfoy s room, and found them dead. He also heard sounds down by the kitchen. But first he went in search of Draco. He found Draco asleep in his own room, he woke him quietly, told him that Yaxley had escaped from Azkaban and that he was here in the Manor. Quickly, Quietly, Draco pulled his robe over him, and joined Harry under the cloak. In stealth they searched the upper level of the house, and then went down toward the kitchen, where they found the lights on but the back door flapping in the breeze. The House was empty. They went back up to the library, and took off the cloak, and Ginny and Hermione floo in through the fire place. Moments later Kingsley arrives. Harry explained to them that he was awakened by the pain in his scar; that he saw Umbridge murdered, and that the perpetrator used the floo network to escape. The guards identified the subject as Yaxley, and then through another pain in the scar he saw Lucius and Narcissa murdered in their own bed room. Yes, he and Draco had searched the rooms. The others would now spread out and search the Manor thoroughly. Harry and Draco went to his parent s room, and this was the second time Draco saw his parents dead. But this time there was no help for it, the Avada Kedavra simply switches of the brain and that is the end. Harry asked Draco to look around the room to see if anything was missing or disturbed. Papers in a side table had been disturbed, as had some of the drawers in the dresser. Draco then looked again at his father and gasped, His Ring! His Ring is missing. And you could see the mark on his finger where the ring had been. Draco explained, That is a very powerful magical object, I cannot even begin to tell you all of its properties. Just then Harry doubled over in pain, the scar on his forehead had struck again. And again. In his mind s eye he saw Susan and Kirk Travers dead in their home. Harry flew down the stairs to tell the others that Yaxley had struck again, this time the Travers, Helen and Kirk were dead. There was no sign of Treavor. Yaxley searched the house and then left by the front door. 180

182 Kingsley, asked Harry, where is Treavor, he got a job somewhere didn t he? Yes he works nights at St Mungo s Hospital Let s go, and at once Harry apparated to St. Mungo s Hospital. Lock the doors. he yelled at a security man. Block the fireplaces, block apparition into the building. Fortunately, Kingsley, Ginny, Hermione, and Draco made it in before Harry s blocking spells went into effect. Harry picked up a muggle telephone on the service counter and dialed 112 and told the operator that he was Captain Potter, and that there was a double murder, and gave the Travers Address. Harry remembered that they lived in a Muggle house. Quickly they found Treavor, and put protection around him. Kingsley ordered an entire battalion of Aurors to enter and protect St. Mungo s, and then released his spells on the hospital. Hermione apparated with Treavor to Grimmauld Place, and put him under heavy magical protection. She stayed with him, and then when the contractors arrived to work on the building, she told them to take the day off with pay. Ginny went to Grimmauld, Harry, Draco and Kingsley apparated to the Travers house. The local police were nonplused to see Harry, Draco and Kingsley appear in the house. Harry was still wearing his Auror badge on his red and gold robe, the others also in robes. Harry went up to the officer that appeared to be in charge. I m Captain Potter, and these gentlemen are ministry officials. And with that, they walked past the officers to see the victims in their bed room. There was no mark on them, although the Avada Kedavra blast had left them in an unnatural position. Harry came back down, They were definitely murdered, but you will never be able to prove it. Have the ambulance take them to the morgue or wherever you take them, do a fine autopsy on them, but you will find nothing. And since you will find no evidence of wrong doing, we will work the rest of the case ourselves. The officer was quite confused, But I can t do that, and who are you anyway. What the heck is an Auror? Harry replied, You will have to do what you have to do, don t let us stop you. But the case, for you, simply ends here. By the way, they 181

183 have two children, Hazel, now 14, she is away at school. We will take care of that. They also have a son Treavor, who was at work at the hospital tonight. He is certainly the perpetrator s real target. We have removed him from the hospital and have him under our protection is a safe location. What school? What location? exclaimed the officers? Kingsley spoke, I am Kingsley Shacklebolt, the Minister of Magic, Captain Potter works for me as an Auror. These victims are a witch and a wizard, the perpetrator is a wizard named Corban Yaxley, he killed these people with a death spell, and that sir, takes the issue out of your hands. You can write it up as I have told you, or you can just forget about this information, and let your investigation play itself out which might be the wiser course for all concerned. And the net result will be exactly the same. Harry, Draco and Kingsley all disapparated in front of the astonished officers and returned to Malfoy Manor. Harry and Kingsley sat down with Draco. Harry said, It is about time that I brought you up to speed on what has been happening. This little episode all started last fall with a failed attack on Hazel Travers. At that time there were several first tier Death Eaters at large. Fenrir Greyback I killed when he attacked Hazel. There were two Travers at large, Lucas on the first tier, and Hazel s brother Treavor on the second tier. Yaxley was also at large at this time. Through various ploys we captured all three of these at Hogsmeade, and of course you knew the part that the Dementors played. We sent Delores Umbridge to Azkaban as administrator, she used her position to interrogate certain prisoners for her own ends. She was not supposed to do anything of the sort, and this time Yaxley got the drop on her, killed her, and escaped via the floo network. Every time he killed someone my scar hurt, you will remember how the Slytherins teased me about it, but I was able to see what Voldemort was doing and now I am seeing what Yaxley is doing. I was Yaxley, or actually, I was reading directly through Yaxley s mind. I had not felt that since Voldemort, We could read each other s minds. It has been told to us that Yaxley is heir to Voldemort, but he does not know where Voldemort s lair was located. Apparently Treavor Travers was the secret keeper for that. He needs Treavor to tell him where to find one of Nagini s eggs, which in turn, contains a piece of Voldemort s soul, or so it is thought. 182

184 So, as far as we know, Yaxley is the only first tier Death Eater on the loose. The question is who are the second tier Death Eaters? Who are the third tier Death Eaters? We need this information, and while you or Travers may know some of these, they are not that important to us right now. What is important is you, Draco, and your parents. What arrangements will need to be made for Lucius and Narcissa? Who do you use for your funeral director? Do you have a grave yard here, or do you use some other place? Do you need someone stay with you or help you through this period? Can we call someone for you? You are our concern now. Draco said, I am at a loss, I do not know who to call or what to do. My father always did everything around the house. Harry said, Let me call Mrs. Weasley, She will be happy to come and help you through this. What about your father s finances? Do you know all that you need to know, or will you need help with that. Mrs. Weasley knows how to do that to. Draco took a deep breath, Yes, I d really like her help. Harry took out his Ron-Book and addressed a note to Molly. Within five minutes she appeared through the floo network. Draco finally broke down into tears, and Molly held on to him. Nothing more need be said. Harry and Kingsley apparated back to the Ministry. Harry, you are good. Very good. I am happy to have you as part of our ministry. 183

185 36 Putting People Back Together Again Hermione floo back to Hogwarts and brought McGonagall up to date on what happened today, Hermione went to Huffelpuff house and found Hazel, and brought her to the headmistress office. McGonagall had her sit down. Hazel, I have bad news for you. Your parents have been killed this morning, murdered by a Death Eater that had escaped from Azkaban this morning. Apparently they were after Treavor, but Treavor was at work at St. Mungo s. He has been moved to a secure place. Ginny Weasley is with him now. I am very sorry for you, and I wish there was something that I could say. Hermione added, Harry Potter was there within minutes of the murder, the fourth and fifth this morning. Since your house is in a muggle place, the muggle authorities were called. They will find nothing, but the Ministry will stand by you and your family. If there is anything you need, let Professor McGonagall know at once. We will get you together with Treavor as soon as it is safe to do so. We are still moving him about, keeping him out of sight. Hazel broke into tears, and Hermione held her to herself, and let her put her head on her shoulders. She stayed with her for about a half an hour. Hermione then accompanies Hazel from Hogwarts to the Snape house and met there with Ginny and Travers, who just had arrived here. This is our house, Harry and me. We will try to keep you safe here, but this, like your own house is a muggle address and is not fully protected by magic. I am going to ask you to stay indoors, and not to go out until we tell you that it is safe. I am also going to ask Arabella Figg to come over and stay with you. Mrs. Figg has been watching over Harry for the past 18 years and so she knows what to do. What papers did your parents have? Wills, Deeds, Insurance, their wishes for their funeral, stuff like that. 184

186 You don t know, we will look into it. Do you have a copy of their house key? We will have an Auror take care of things for you. Arabella came in through the back door. Her house is right behind ours, Ginny explained. Arabella, these are Treavor and Hazel Travers. Treavor, Hazel, this is Arabella Figg, she takes care of our house when we are not here. She will also be our baby sitter once we start having babies. Arabella, Ginny spoke to her, Treavor s parents have been murdered this morning. Do you remember Delores Umbridge, she was administrator at Azkaban, and she was also killed. Do you know the Malfoys? Lucius and Narcissa were also murdered. I can assure you if I see Yaxley, I ll kill him first and ask questions later. Hazel and Treavor flew into each other s arms. Hermione said to all, Arabella will take care of all that you need, she will stay here in one of the spare bedrooms here. You should be safe here, but do not go outside yet. 185

187 37 Draco at the Burrow This was the first time that Draco had been inside the Burrow. He had known that it was a poorly made ramshackle structure, one room built upon the other, and must have been held together by sheer magic, for it otherwise defied all of the laws of physics. But when he got inside, he felt the full power of the burrow. Everybody sat together in the kitchen or the living room. Bedrooms were upstairs, stairs that went in a different direction from every landing, like boxes stacked on boxes in the most improbable manner. But it was the people that made the difference. There was love here that he had never felt in the Manor. Everyone was concerned about him, but nobody was overpowering him. It was a family of love such as he had never felt before. Food appeared before the people almost as soon as they sat down. Hot buttered toast, tea, and hot chocolate. Eggs and sausages appeared next. Molly kept offering him more food, and people were talking to him as if he were a real person. His mother and father never threated him this well. Discipline and proper decorum was the rule at the Manor, here people ran around in every direction, shouting up and down the stairs, and apparently having fun in their lives. As if this was normal, as if this was the way that real people lived. He very quickly discovered that it was the people, not the building that made a house a home. It was still four am in the morning when Molly announced off to bed with you all, Hermione take Ginny s room, Ron and George to George s room. Draco and Harry can have Ron s room. Harry said to Draco, that is up at the very top of the house. Ron and I have spent many nights up there. Up they went Harry found some pajamas for Draco, and a pair for himself, and the slipped into their beds. Harry knew that Draco was not asleep, he heard him weeping. He reached out and touched him, I know that are miserable tonight. There 186

188 is nothing that I can do about that. But if you want to talk, I ll listen, there is a lot of burden that you have to get off of your chest, and talking may help. Draco said, I loved my mother and my father, they are after all my family, I know no other, and I know that mother loved me deeply. Yes, said Harry, I knew that too. On that night in the forbidden forest when Voldemort struck me down with the Avada Kedavra curse, I feigned death, and your mother was sent to my side to see if I was dead. She must have felt my heart beating a hundred times a minute, and she asked me as quietly as she could if you were still alive. I whispered to her yes. and she was relived, she pronounced me dead to Voldemort. He hit me with several Cruciatus curses, and bounced me up and down in the air before slamming me back to the ground and forcing Hagrid to carry me back to the castle. You survived all of those curses? asked Draco in awe. Yes, this was the second time that his death curse failed against me, and Lupin and Mad-Eye had hit me with enough Cruciatus curses that I could withstand the one that Voldemort used. But I was most impressed with your mother s love. I know little of my own mother s love, but I felt it from your mother. So yes, I know of her love for you. Draco was openly crying, and Harry pulled him to himself, and let him cry on his shoulder. They sat there about an hour. Just crying and sitting. Then Draco spoke, I loved Pansy Parkinson, but she would have no part of me if it meant coming to the Manor. She said the place spooked her. But seeing how the Weasleys live, I can feel the difference between here and the Manor. Call on her tomorrow, Harry said, let her know that since you parent s death you do not want to go back there either. Make that tomorrow evening, I suspect that Kingsley will show up before too long and want to examine the Manor now that you are master of that ring. I suspect that Kingsley knows something about that ring. The Manor is a lot larger on the outside than it seems from the inside. Usually, magical houses are just the opposite, smaller on the outside and spacious on the inside. I imagine that there are many hidden chambers in there. You told me that the basement was honeycombed with chambers in order to hold up the weight of the Manor, but the basement that you held us in was rather small. There is more there than meets the eye. Get some rest if you can, tomorrow and all tomorrows will take care of themselves when they get here. And remember you are 187

189 welcome to stay here or at the Snape House until you are ready to make other plans. Draco slept fitfully, Harry rested lightly. By ten in the morning life began to stir in the Burrow, Breakfast was being served, Kingsley floo into the Burrow, and Harry and Draco went downstairs. Draco ate a little better than earlier. Kingsley spoke to Draco. We all want to see the Manor, call it curiosity, morbid or otherwise. I know it is your home, and whatever we find in there is really none of the business of the Ministry. Draco spoke next, I will not be remaining at the Manor. I will need to see what is in there, and decide what I want to do with it, but let the building become the property of the Ministry, let it be a museum to wizardry and to what we used to call Pure-Blood Families. I have stayed here in the Burrow for one night, and felt more at home here than I ever did in the Manor. I now know what a family really is. And I finally know what Pansy was talking about not wanting to live at the Manor. I d rather be a real person than a figure head in an empty house. 188

190 38 A new look at Malfoy Manor They took turns using floo powder to go to the Manor. Draco thought he knew the Manor, but with his father s ring he found key holes that he never knew about. He went up to a wall just left of the portrait of Walburga Black. There was a red dot on the wall that none of the others could see. He went up to it, touched his ring to it and a hidden door slid open. Inside there was a flight of stairs going down. The group went down. Harry and Kingsley had brought some muggle style battery powered LED lamps. They were very bright. At the bottom of the stairs there was nowhere to go. There was a landing and nothing else. But when Draco lifted his ring there were red dots on the right and on the left, and even on the wall in the front of them. Draco opened the door on the left. It was a stone chamber, with a stone floor, and was in a good, dry condition. But there were rank after rank of skeletons hanging from the ceiling. Each skeleton had a written tag hanging on it. Most of the names and dates were of the Malfoy family: fathers, sons, daughters, grandparents, great grant parents, uncles, great uncles and aunts, dating all the way back to the 1400s. The Manor itself was built in 1704, so these people had to have been brought here. Perhaps the house was built on top of an old grave yard. There were some skeletons, on the opposite side of the room where the names and dates were unknown. All prior to Who they were nobody knew. Kingsley suggested that DNA samples be taken from these to see what identifications could be made. He also said, let them remain here. Funny thing about skeletons. Without the connective tissue they would all fall in a heap on the floor. Closer examination showed that these were held with waxed strings twisted to perform the functions of the long gone tendons. Someone spent a lot of time restoring these skeletons, magic notwithstanding. 189

191 They left this room and turned left and opened the room that was just across from the stair. This room was full of artifacts of all sorts. Chalices, cups, plates, silverware, gold-ware, lead-ware, fine rugs, heraldry, coats of arms, armor, swords, other weapons and much more. They left this room and entered the third room. This room was filled with gold. Not galleons, but gold bars, coins and ingots. There were pallets of gold. Some of it had markings and serial numbers on them. Some of it was clearly Nazi gold, with Hitler s eagle on them, together with serial numbers. There were ingots with bank marks from all over the world. Kingsley said, Most of this gold cannot be identified, so it is yours. Nazi serial numbers cannot prove anything, since nobody has a record of who is supposed to hold those bars. They were freely traded around Europe during the war. German banknotes were worthless, and they were known for dealing in counterfeit banknotes from other nations. So they had to deal in gold in their trade with other nations for raw materials. My suggestion is to move it to a vault in Gringotts instead of keeping it here, especially if you are going to let go of the house. You see converting this to money will put you on the radar, and then the government will tax the hell out of you maybe not on this gold, but it puts your name in their books. Convert it to galleons and you will get Gringotts exchange rate, which will do you no good at all. Take it out a bar at a time, one or two a year, maybe more, and you will never get on the radar that way, especially if you exchange it overseas. I think I would take a lower rate from a reliable merchant than looking for the best rate for it. No way you can spend it all. It is not possible. You do not have to make a decision right away, but I d pack it up fifty pound boxes and move it to Gringotts. Get yourself a good money advisor, I am not one of those, so do not even listen to me. Lock it up again and get yourself an advisor. Ask Gringotts to recommend several such wizard advisors, maybe check in the Muggle world to see what their advisors recommend. But I would be careful broadcasting this find, this amount. Keep it secret, keep it safe. They went back up the stairs, locking all of the doors. They looked around and found another red dot on the opposite side of the lobby area. They opened this door. Another stairway led them down. On this landing there was an opening to the left and to the front. The left door reveled a room that was filled with antique furniture. Probably very valuable. The other door opened into an empty space. Harry recognized 190

192 it as the room they had been held in, and had a stairway at the far end. They knew all about that. The looked around the house, and found a red dot opposite the master bed room, it led to a closet filled with clothing, and much of that was in the form of expensive robes such as a king might wear. They left and closed that door. There was a red dot on the wall opposite Drago s room. It was largely empty, but with many boxes of books. The looked at the books, nothing stood out as anything other than old books. Kingsley suggested that they should be looked at by an expert in such books. Many of the books were undoubtedly valuable. There might be something valuable in one of the books. They locked up the rooms, went upstairs, and looked around the Manor. There was a stairway in the kitchen, it was not protected, and anybody could open it. It was filled with canned foods and other kitchen stuff. They walked around the house the kitchen store room had a stairway and door to the back yard. There was another such door at the other end of the house. It was not locked, they went down there, and it was full of coal. Harry walked into the coal cellar. There was an empty area to the left, and a large pile of coal to the right. Harry said Accio Coal and transported the coal from the right side of the room to the left side of the room. There, under the coal, Harry saw something: Eggs. Snake eggs. Large snake eggs. Were these Nagini s eggs? Harry went to each one of them, poked his wand into them and said Avada Kedavra. Eight eggs, eight curses. The eggs were then collected by Kingsley, packed safely, and set aside for transport to the ministry. Harry said to Draco, bring your ring here, and look for another door along this wall. And it was found, for Harry had been keeping track of the dimensions of the house in his mind, and had come up short. This room must have been at the center of the house. The walls were of stone, but the floor was not. There was a wooden trap door in the floor of this room, and this Harry lifted. It was heavy, Draco helped him with it. A stairway lead down, so down they went, down about 25 feet to an earthen chamber. There were thirty seven burlap sacks. They carefully untied them. Diamonds in four sacks. Emeralds in seven sacks. Rubies in nine sacks. Sapphires in three sacks. Onyx in three sacks. Topaz in four sacks. And seven sacks with mixed stones, gold and silver. Each sack weighed about 20 Kilos, and they were heavy. They went back up to the middle chamber. Shine your ring around this chamber. Harry suggested. There were red dots on all four 191

193 walls (one they had already come through.) Each in turn was opened, but they only led back into chambers that they had already seen. That is some house, Kingsley told Draco in awe. You would never have to work, but work, my dear Draco is what makes life interesting. Do not withdraw from life to live in your treasure. Your real treasure is where your heart is. Marry Miss Pansy Parkinson, live somewhere else with as a real family, the more the better. Be not like your father, with only one son, for that might make the line of Malfoy short indeed. Multiply and do not worry about magic, blood or purity, but enjoy the bounty of the earth rather than that of money. Enjoy your family, your wife and your children. And that goes for you too, Mr. Potter. The others apparated to the Ministry or floo to the Burrow. Harry remained with Draco. Your father never showed you any of this did he? Do you still want to get rid of the property, or what? I don t know, Harry, Pansy will never come here. You have the wherewithal to buy whatever sort of a house or property you could want, do you want to go visit Pansy now, I will go with you if you like. Yes. Yes, I think I need that, let s go. Draco held out his hand, Harry took it and they apparated to the home of Pansy Parkinson. Mrs. Parkinson opened the door to a simple house in a muggle neighborhood. Pansy, Draco is here! She came running down and embraced Draco, and then saw Harry. Harry gestured that they wanted to come in. Pansy, you know Harry, of course, Mrs. Parkinson, this is the famous Harry Potter. And Draco began to cry again. Pansy, Mrs. Parkinson, Harry spoke, Draco has had a very hard hit yesterday, his parents were murdered by Yaxley. Actually Yaxley murdered five people yesterday. And yesterday, the Weasleys and I captured Yaxley right there in the Manor, he was tried and executed at the Ministry early this morning. Actually Draco and I tossed him through the Threshold of Death. Draco is now the heir of Malfoy Manor, but he tells us that he no longer wants to stay there. The place is too big, too cold for a real family. 192

194 Draco was still crying, Pansy and Mrs. Parkinson sat on either side of him and held him. Mr. Parkinson entered the house to this scene of tears, then he saw Harry, he recognized him from the Daily Prophet, but Harry got up and introduced himself anyway, and Mr. Parkinson introduced himself as Andrew. Harry explained the reasons for Draco s distress. Then Andrew sat down with Harry and Harry gave him the details of the recent events. I do not know what to say, explained Andrew, and Harry replied, Neither do I really. I knew that Draco had a crush on Pansy all through Hogwarts, and them being in Slytherin and all, and me a Gryffindor, I never saw eye to eye with Draco, and never really met Pansy. But the Malfoys and I have buried the hatchet, and now are friends. I guess this event is very hard for Draco. I too lost my parents, but I was only a year old then. I have lost several others including my Godfather in this war with the Dark Lord, so I do know the pain that Draco is going through. And really, his mother was a mother to me for a moment when I needed that little extra something, though she will never know what it meant to me. I have mentioned it to Draco however since he needed that comfort. I Guess Draco and Pansy will sort things out. My understanding is that Draco will no longer return to the Manor to live. Maybe it was never a home. A Home is more than family and a house. The family has to be real and I do not think Lucius ever figured that one out. Draco pulled himself together and sat up. He looked at Harry. Harry asked gently, Will you stay here tonight, or will you come back to the Burrow with me. Yes, I am coming, Pansy, I will keep in touch with you. I love you. Harry and Draco went to the hearth and floo back to the Burrow. 193

195 39 Another visit to the Snape House The Easter Break was almost over, and Harry was due back in the school. He asked Draco if he was ready to visit Diagon Alley, and Gringotts. It was something that Draco would have to do, and as Kingsley helped Harry through this, so Harry helped Draco. They Apparated to the Alley, and went up into Gringotts. Kingsley had given Draco the proper death certificates for Lucius and Narcissa. Harry spoke to one of the Goblins, and he took them to a small office or parlor, and after a while, a bank officer came in to see them. So Harry started the conversation, This is Draco Malfoy, heir to the late Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, and I am Harry Potter, here as a friend. He would like to change their vault over to his name, and since he does not know what is in the vault he wants to go down there and see what is in there. He will also need a wizards money account, and a muggle credit card on his account. Is this so, Draco? asked the officer. Yes it is. I guess I have a lot to learn about money and banking. Well yes, I suppose so, your father has never brought you in here, has he? Let us go this way. They walked to a bank of elevators, and took one down to the 8 th level down. Harry explained that this used to be done by a rail car until some crazy group of kids came down here to raid a vault, and then set the dragon loose to make their escape. The Banker looked at Harry but kept a straight face. It was not proper to speak of failures in their security. Besides, Draco knew exactly who those crazy kids were. They arrived at vault 801, and it opened for Draco. It of course was dimly lit, but Harry had his pocket muggle flashlight which was much brighter than a wizards wand. There were rows and rows of gold 194

196 ingots, and many sacks of galleon coins. Draco asked how much was in there. The Goblin looked around with his practiced eye, and announced that there were 800 ingots of gold, and fifty sacks of 1000 galleons each. Say 500,000 galleons and assuming that those are five kilo ingots I would guess 127,808,000 British pounds, or about 18 million galleons. A tidy sum, Mr. Malfoy. Draco said, There are many more gold ingots in the vaults under the Malfoy Manor. Maybe three or four times this much. There are also many bags of gemstones. Maybe I would like to move it all here. Can that be done? Mr. Malfoy, anything can be done. Harry said, Let us go back upstairs They sat down in the conference room again. Harry asked, Who has the deed to Malfoy Manor, and is it a freehold? Oh of course it is a freehold, and Lucius has the deed in the Manor, you will have to look for it. I see that you have Lucius ring on. Have you found all of his hidden doors? Obviously you found the bones the goblets and the gold, for they were all in the same area of the house. Draco asked, Does the bank know all about the ins and outs of the house. Oh, certainly Mr. Malfoy, your father had a bank administrator in every five years or so. Just in case he passed on without telling you about it all. But, maybe I don t want to live there anymore. Maybe I want the ministry to use the house as a museum or something. All can be arraigned, Draco, but I surely would keep the house and land in your name, although the Ministry of Magic is a most suitable custodian if you do not want to manage it yourself. Well, I thank you very much, I will be in touch with you. The shook hands and left. Harry held out his hand to Draco and the apparated directly to the Snape house. Draco recognized it at once, Wow! What you have done in here. 195

197 Treavor and Hazel were still here, and Arabella came in to see Harry. Harry introduced them, Draco, these are Treavor and Hazel Travers, their parents will killed by Yaxley as soon as he left your house. Travers was at work at St. Mungo s and Hazel was at Hogwarts at the time. Treavor, Hazel, this is Draco Malfoy, his parents were also killed by Yaxley. Since then you need to know that Yaxley was captured and executed by the Ministry. Hazel can go back to Hogwarts any time she wants, and Treavor, you can stay here a while if you like or you can Floo back to you own house any time you want. Or you can walk around the neighborhood here, it will be safe to do so now. If you want to stay here, then Draco will join you since he does not want to go back to the Manor right now. Maybe you can help each other recover. I have to go back to Hogwarts, but you may stay here as long as you like. Snoop around the neighborhood. If you like what you see, bring Pansy here to see if she likes this part of the world, and if a house similar to this one would suit her. Arabella will be happy to look in on you. You can trust her with any problems that you may have. She is a very caring soul, and knows how to listen and answer. Also look around the neighborhood, it is a Muggle neighborhood, but you will find that hundreds of witches and wizards live here too. If you like these houses, many of them around here are for sale. So Arabella came over, and she found Draco a wonderful young man, and yes she did have a shoulder to cry on if that was necessary. Harry said his good byes to Draco, and went to the fireplace and floo back to Hogwarts. 196

198 40 The Travers Home Treavor Travers floo back to his parent s home the next morning. The bodies had been removed, but the house was a mess. He started cleaning house, He cleaned up their bedroom, and he made the bed, and put things away. He turned his attention to his own room, cleaned that up, and made the bed. Next he started vacuuming the house. He really did not know why he was doing all of this, he just needed to do something, let his mind run on idle. He had been with others the past few days, and now he needed to be alone, or so he thought, but this was not to be. Answering a knock at the door, he found two police officers standing there. The house was apparently still a crime scene, and they had not let anybody in there yet. How did you get in? the sergeant asked. Treavor innocently answered that he floo in, pointing to the fireplace. This did not amuse the officers who did not understand what he meant, after all they were muggles. Who are you, do you have an ID card, a driver s license? He showed the officers his driver s license which gave this as his address. Where have you been? the next officer asked. I don t really know, I was at work at the hospital when some Aurors and the Minister of Magic came in looking for me and informing me about the death of mom and dad. The said that the killer was really looking for me, and they took me to a safe house somewhere. First one here in London I think, and then someplace up near Manchester. Yesterday I was told that it was now safe for me to go home again, and so I came back this morning. How did you get back here, how did you get past our lock on the door? I don t know about any lock on the door, I did not use the door, like I said, I floo in. What do you mean, you flew in? What does that mean? 197

199 Through the fireplace. I think I d better go and call Harry to help me here. Treavor picked up a handful of floo powder and disappeared. Moments later he was back and Harry was with him. Harry brushed off his robe, pinned his badge to the robe, and invited the officers to sit down. Harry and Treavor sat down, the officers did not. Harry waved his wand and cold glasses of Diet Pepsi appeared on the coffee table. Now, how can I help you gentlemen? Harry asked. This house is still a part of a crime scene, we did not expect anybody to come in here. Oh well, I did not know that when I told Treavor that it was safe for him to come home again. I was certain that your people would find all that there was to find the first day that you were here. Kirk and Susan were dead. You found no cause for death, ergo no crime that you could identify. So I saw no reason that you would prevent Treavor from coming here, which after all is his home. And in answer to another question, Harry replied, I first took him to a home that I own on Grimmauld Place in London, but since that place was undergoing a complete renovation, it was not really a fit place to stay, so we moved him to my home in Spinner s End north of Manchester. That home was fully renovated just recently, and while I am staying at Hogwarts, where I am a teacher, this house was available, and, since I have a full time employee there to take care of the property, she was able to care for Treavor and his sister, Hazel, whom we brought down from Hogwarts. Hogwarts is a school up in north-east Scotland, a school of witchcraft and wizardry. And so you are wizards? the officer asked. Well, yes, we told you that on the day that the murders took place. You called these murders, the sergeant said, but we could find no cause of death. But we are still looking. Yes, you can look all you like, but you will find nothing more, Harry answered, They were murdered, murdered with a magical curse, it would leave no traces that you would be able to find, it is sort of like just turning off a switch, switching off the brain like turning off a light 198

200 bulb. Nothing to see here. Least wise you would not see it. I examined them moments after their deaths. You got here first because I dialed 112, but I arrived just as soon as we moved Treavor from the hospital to the first safe house. I arrived here within five minutes of the death, I should have been able to detect brain activity, I should have been able to look into the brain and see what they saw. You know that the whole body does not die all at once. Each individual cell goes out as it dies from lack of circulation. But here there was zero brain activity, ergo, the Avada Kedavra spell. That spell was cast by Yaxley, first name Corban, a wizard who had within the half hour of this action escaped from the wizard prison at Azkaban. In his escape he murdered the prison administrator, went on to kill another witch and wizard here in England, and then floo up here to kill Kirk and Susan. The 18 year old son of Lucius and Narcissa was left in his mansion together with Mrs. Weasley, a skilled Auror and a wonderful mother to keep him company. During the night Yaxley returned to the Malfoy mansion, and Molly, that is Mrs. Weasley, called for help using a magical system similar to your texting systems, and several Aurors including myself floo to the location where we captured Yaxley. We took Yaxley to the Ministry of Magic, tried him, found him guilty and executed him. Wheels of magical justice do not turn slowly. So the case, as far as we are concerned, is closed, as far as your case is concerned, you can do what you want with it that is not my problem. How you present this information to your superiors is your problem, not mine. And just how am it supposed to close a case like this? the Sargent asked. Just mark it Case Closed by the Ministry of Magic. And now we can let Mr. Travers have his house back again. Then Harry turned to Treavor, You know that you will now have responsibility for Hazel. You are an adult, she is not. She is ok at school, and while she is old enough to legally be left alone at home, say while you are at work, you are responsible for her care and wellbeing. If you are unable to do this, she is welcome to stay at my house at Spinner s End, where Arabella will be happy to watch over her. If she wants to stay here with you, and you need assistance, just contact the Ministry, they will know how to find me. 199

201 Harry turned again to the officers, You see, we do not have welfare in the wizarding world, we simply take care of each other. We will have no problem taking care of Hazel when school lets out in June. Arabella, that is Mrs. Figg, helped look out for me for 18 years, and now I have her in my employ to watch over my house, and will babysit my kids once I marry this summer and start raising a family. The Sargent looked at Harry, How old are you anyway. Treavor is older than you are, isn t he? Oh yes, I turned 18 last summer. I was still 17 when I killed Voldemort, but because of my skills, I am working two jobs, Professor at Hogwarts and for the Ministry as an Auror. Age does not count for much when you can do the work. Of course, being Harry Potter does not hurt either. Never heard of Harry Potter, and who is Voldemort, and why did you kill him? Voldemort was a seriously evil wizard, and he caused many deaths in your world last spring, but you guys just wrote it off to weather, or a gas explosion, or a badly built bridge, or something like that. You are always looking for rationality in your explanation of things. We, on the other hand, knew better. Anyway Voldemort killed my parents when I was just over 1 year old. Tried to kill me too, same curse that Yaxley used on the Travers, but all I got out of that was this scar. Tried to kill me a few more times too, but in the end I killed him. The magical world is something apart from your world, but here we are living in the same country and doing the same sort of things. See I am supposed to keep magic out of the muggle world, but now I have told you everything, as if that matters, if you try to tell them nobody else is going to believe you anyway. Have a nice day. Harry went to the hearth and floo back to Hogwarts. 200

202 41 The End of the Semester The semester finished up quickly. Quidditch games were won, Ginny would have it no other way. Professor McGonagall offered Harry a new contract as the Muggle Studies Professor for grades one to five, it would meet for double sessions in the afternoons, leaving Harry free to work for the Ministry in the mornings. Muggle Studies would not be offered in grades seven and eight. Instead year six students would have an intensive course in English Language and Literature in the first semester and in European and Magical History Studies in the second semester. Seventh year students would receive an intensive course in the Sciences in the first semester, and in Mathematics in the second semester. Different professors would be brought in to teach these courses. These would be PhD wizards working in muggle universities. When these course were completed, the degree from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry would be the equal or better than any other secondary education in England, and would be universally recognized as such. Harry also received a contract from the Ministry of Magic. His rank as Captain of Aurors would remain, but he would sit in on other Auror classes as he was able. Your position, Kingsley told him is as an investigator and as a coordinator. You do not have Aurors under your command. The rank of Captain reflects your pay scale not your pseudo-military rank. Yet in time, they will merge. In time you will undoubtedly be the commander of all Aurors, but do not let that idea go to your head, or it will never happen. Be humble with your superiors and with your juniors. Greatness is measured by how well you treat those under you, not those over you. You may never complete all of the courses that other Aurors are taking. I do not require it of you. But you should get the books and follow along as best you can. You do need to know what all of this is about. And you will need to eventually write your book about your own war with Voldemort. Others here will want to know, so you may as well get that out of the way fairly quickly. You have done well with this case this year, it was more complicated than some, but less so than many. You will be watched 201

203 since you did not come up the same way as others have. This is more like a Battlefield Commission, but a commission it is nonetheless. You now have to earn the respect of all. You do that by being humble, by never putting anyone down for any reason, by accepting the mistakes that you or others make, by accepting responsibility for your mistakes, and for those who are working for you. You have nothing to fear by taking responsibility. Now it is time for Ron and Hermione s wedding, and a big multicultural event I expect it to be. So you will be on vacation until August first, unless some panic comes up and I need you to come in. Go set up the Snape House so that it will be ready for your marriage in July. Harry thanked Kingsley, whom he now loved as a father and floo to the Snape house. Draco was still there with Pansy by his side. So things are going well for you! This is good. I have some business to do with the bankers here in Spinner s End. Would you two like to come with me? And so the three of them found their way to the Gringotts branch here in Spinner s end. Harry sat down at the table with the wizards there and introduced Draco and Pansy. Who owns the rest of the houses on this block, he asked of them. It turns out, as Harry suspected, that they were all owned by an elderly wizard a scion of the Prince family no less, and he would indeed be happy to rid himself of the burden of these houses, not necessarily for the right price, but rather for the right person or persons. He had no children, and no heirs to his estate, and no longer wanted to maintain the properties. Harry bought the west half of the block, a total of six more houses. All were occupied with tenants, and the rent was not all that great. But the houses were paid for, the land rent covered, and the houses were in good condition. Harry paid 225,000 pounds each for the houses, just over a million pounds. Harry asked Draco, Do you want to buy the east half of the block, a total of eight houses? Some you can rent out and others you can renovate to live in as I have done. This way, between us we will own the whole block, our kids can fly around without the muggles catching on. Draco said that he had no idea how to manage properties. Well, I did not either, until I bought or inherited properties. It is not all that hard, and for a fee, Gringotts will do most of the work for you. Of 202

204 course major financial questions will come to you for a decision. And you will tell them what those parameters are. Since I, at least, will be living on the block, I can help with that for you. And Draco asked Pansy. She looked at him, Why ask me? Well, I guess there are other questions I should have asked first. Will you marry me? Yes, I will! she exclaimed with joy. The banker said, Well that makes two. Two what? Draco asked. Harry proposed to Ginny right here in front of us as well. Harry asked, Are any of these houses vacant at the moment? Yes, two of Draco s houses are empty. You can live in one while you renovate the other that is if you like Pansy said, OK, Let s do it! Can we afford it? Pansy, I have more money that we could ever spend in one lifetime or in two, no matter how high on the hog we chose to live. I am going to take Harry s advice though. I am going to find some work to do, here, at the Ministry, somewhere where I can be a useful asset to society. What sort of work do you have in mind to do, remembering that raising a family is a useful asset to society. I was hoping to teach. Well then, you and Ginny can go to the university together, Harry said, for she wants to teach in this neighborhood herself. Harry said to the banker, Call the wizard who owns the property and tell him we have a deal. I have to go back to Hogwarts, the semester is not over there yet. You can stay in the Snape house until you are ready to move into one of your own homes. Ginny and I will help you bring furniture and stuff from the Manor to here when you are ready. But we are getting married on July 6 th, and so will move in here after that. Thanks, Harry, I ll see you later. 203

205 Harry returned to the Snape house with them, and then Floo back to Hogwarts. Harry found Ginny at the Gryffindor table and sat down next to her. I just bought six more houses on our block, so we now own a square of eight houses. Draco and Pansy have bought the other eight houses on the block, so between us the whole block is now ours. They will have to play some musical houses as they renovate houses, but they are willing to do that. Pansy wants to teach and so I suggested that you might want to go to the university together. By the way, I have signed my teaching contract for next year, and have also signed my Auror s contract, so I will work mornings with Kingsley, and afternoons here. We will live at the Snape house, and apparate to school or to work. Whoa, back up a minute. Are those house occupied? Yes we will be collecting rent from all of them. As vacancies open, I may try to move some people around so that I can renovate the one next to us at least. Draco has two vacancies, so they will move into one while they renovate the other. Doesn t Draco have the Manor? Yeah, but Pansy will not live in there. She only said yes to him when he showed earnest on moving out of there. He does not want to stay in there anyway. He may turn it into a Museum, maybe a Museum of Magic. Besides, with the amount of gold and jewels he has in there he will clearly be one of the richest men in England. But I think he decided to be humble about it and get a job somewhere, just to be useful in life. Something his parents did not do, and apparently he found something missing in life at the Manor. England does not need more idle rich living on their arses. 204

206 42 A Curious Find On May 16 th some remains, bones with flesh on them appeared in the morgue in Liverpool. Determined not to be human, they were sent to the University of Manchester for examination. They were examined and found to have a very contorted DNA structure. Part human, part reptile. The presence of intact, albeit dried soft tissue suggested a recent death, the condition of the soft tissue suggested a traumatic end. This information remained in the University, a curiosity but nothing that anybody could explain. On May 18 th some remains, bones with flesh on them appeared in the morgue at Port Glasgow. These were passed on to the University of Glasgow. They matched the ones that Professor Goldwitch received from Kingsley. He matched the reptilian DNA with the samples sent by Charles Weasley. All of these samples had common DNA that was not common with other reptiles, but the one marked Welsh Green was a perfect match. Professor Goldwitch wrote to Harry asking about any human DNA samples that might be of interest to him. Harry remembered the skeletons in Malfoy Manor, and got bone samples, fully documented, from Draco. Harry sent these to Professor Goldwitch, saying that these had recently come to light, and no, the Ministry was not holding out on him. On May 25 th an article appeared in a London tabloid: Recent discoveries on the rock island of Sula Sgeir off the western Scottish coast have brought to light the remains of heretofore unknown species. The species in question are part human and part reptile. Specimens of these creatures has been seen in London, Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow. They have all come in within the last nine months. Tissue samples suggest that the demise of these creatures was just nine months ago. Further examination of the tissues demonstrates 205

207 a traumatic death as evidenced the destruction of tissue structures. The reptilian component of the DNA does not match any known reptile, while the human component of the DNA has been demonstrated to be about 500 years old. Recent acquisitions by the University of Glasgow show that the reptilian component to be of Dragon-kind. A colony of Dragons in Rumania being studied by the Ministry of Magic in London show four specimens that have similar DNA, and one of these, the Welsh Green Dragon is an exact match for the DNA found in the subject creatures. Below are pictures of the Welsh Green Dragons as living in Rumania. Below, right is a photo of a largely intact specimen of a Dementor in the custody of St. Mungo s hospital in London. The Ministry of Magic confirms that they had made a raid on Sula Sgeir last fall with the intention of destroying remaining Dementors and that it was they who leaked to the Travel Section of the London Times and article about the joys of visiting Sula Sgeir and exploring its rocky cavern which is apparently quite a bit larger than the island itself. It is said to be a dry, but under sea chamber of interesting proportions. This ministry suggested that it was in their interest to allow the public to examine this cavern and probe its properties, and that they welcomed publication of any and all findings. Recent findings in a crypt in south central England displayed intact skeletons from the 1400s and 1500s that may match the DNA in the samples collected by visitors at Sula Sgeir. Pictured below are the skeletons found in that crypt. The identification information still legible on tags attached to the skeletons provide family names that are no longer in use in Great Britain, i.e. the male line had died out. Whether any descendants from these remains are extant is questionable since these chains of DNA were not found in any known human sample. It is interesting to note that there are many other samples of DNA that can be traced back to the 1400s and beyond. Speculation by the Ministry of Magic suggests that the human remains in question were merged with those of the Dragons sometime in the 1400s to create the creatures called 206

208 Dementors, and that these manipulations ended the line of the human subjects in question. Released by the Ministry of Magic by Harry Potter with the approbation of Kingsley Shacklebolt, Minister of Magic. Apparently not many in the Wizarding community read this particular London Tabloid, since word of its publication did not make it back to the Daily Prophet for more than two months. That is two months that Harry Potter enjoyed peace and quiet. The word of its publication did get back to the University of Glasgow rather quickly. Professor Goldwitch contacted Kingsley Shacklebolt right away. Kingsley replied, Yes, yes, my dear professor, you are certainly free to confirm these findings as you see fit. The very next month, an article appeared in a prestigious geological publication. Followed by more information in other scientific journals. But these were not in common circulation in the wizarding world either. Harry wrote to Rita Skeeter asking about the lack of this information in the Daily Prophet, and included all of the articles printed to date. Rita did publish this information in the Daily Prophet, but it did not draw a lot of attention among the magical community. Oh well, Dementors, what s the big deal! 207

209 43 A Muggle Style Wedding Ron and Hermione were to be married on June 5 th in Christ Church in Dartford where she grew up with her parents, Wendell and Monica who were dentists. From the Wizarding world, the Weasleys were all invited, as was Harry, Professor McGonagall, and Kingsley Shacklebolt. The magicians stayed the DoubleTree Hotel just down the block from the church, and was where the reception was to be held later that night. Neither Harry nor any of the Weasleys had ever stayed in a hotel before. Arthur was mostly impressed by the elevators. They were not at all like the magic elevators at the Ministry. And there were plugs and outlets everywhere. The magical folk came in their best robes which the muggle guests found to be quite different, but upon interacting with them found them quite enchanting. Magical ways were different from muggle ways and this difference kept spilling over in their conversations. They were most amused that these people did not own cars, and few of them knew how to drive. Arthur shrugged to one guest, No need to drive anywhere when we can just go there on our own. The Church wedding was not at all like the wedding of Bill and Fleur, but the church service was especially interesting to Harry and Ginny. Harry paid attention to the service, and afterwards found a place to buy a Bible. The day after the wedding, all of the Magical people apparated to the Burrow for a Magical reception, and the Grangers were present for that. Behind the Burrow the tents and pavilions were set up the same as they were when Bill and Fleur were married, but this time the wedding was not crashed by Dementors and Death Eaters. What a difference a day makes. Among the wizards was Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson, and they were most gracious to all assembled. This Draco knew was what real families were all about. 208

210 Harry presented them each with a card in an envelope. Hermione opened her envelope and there was a nice card of congratulations. Attached to the card was a key. The fob on the key read Gringotts Bank vault There was no indication as to what was in the vault, but Hermione knew at once that the sum would overwhelm her. Ron opened his card from Harry. There was a nice card inside of it, and attached to that too, there was a key. The fob on the key read 12 Grimmauld Place, London. Neither Ron nor Hermione were in the Grimmauld house since before it was finished, and so they had no idea how the reconstruction was coming along, or what was in the house. During the reception there was dancing, food, talking, food, drink, food, and frolic. When the evening reached dusk and most of the guests had left, Arthur said to all of the Weasleys that it was time to apparate to number 12 Grimmauld Place. The remains of the wedding party arrived outside of the house. Ron picked up Hermione and approached the front door. Without using the key, Hermione tapped the door with her wand and the door opened. They stepped in and the lights came on. The house was fully furnished in a very tasteful style. Ginny s taste in furnishings was impeccable. It was a mirror image to the Snape house, but on a somewhat large scale. Room for more kids. Ginny told them. Ron and Hermione along with all of the guests explored all of the corners and rooms in the house. Eventually they all sat down in the living room, and drinks and food appeared by the magic of Ginny. It was about two am in the morning when the party began to break up. Many would stay here overnight. But before the party broke up Draco caught Ron and Hermione and brought them to the kitchen table. Hermione, I do not know what your plans are for the future, but I want to hire you to be the head of the Draco Institute for Magical Studies. What is that. she asked. I don t know what it will be yet. That is for you to decide. For now it is in a room at Malfoy Manor, but there is plenty of space on the grounds for you to build as large a building as you may require, and while this year you will have a budget for a staff of six, when the new building is built, you will have a budget for a staff of 50 to 100, and I should expect that those will be highly qualified witches and wizards with a superb sense of magic and history. 209

211 You will study wherever your studies will take you. You will also be the administrator of the Museum Malfoy. The Manor will be opened to the public, Muggle and Magical, as a history witches and wizards in Great Britain. To start with it will just be artifacts in the Manor itself, but you will have to go through these deciding what to keep on display and how to best use the rest. Use your imagination, your talent. You will need to work out with Kingsley what may be displayed to the muggles and what should be in a more private section of the museum. Your starting salary will be whatever you name, and we will double it for your second year. After that we will establish a board of directors that will manage such things. As for Pansy and me, we have bought property in Spinner s End, on the same block as Ginny and Harry. Ginny, Pansy and I will attend a muggle university, and then look for teaching positions in a muggle grade school there. We believe that children are the greatest hope of the world, and teaching them is a job that needs to be done correctly. The Weasleys were overwhelmed with the gifts that came from Harry and Ginny, and especially by Draco s decision to leave the Manor and to join the real world. 210

212 44 A Wizard Style Wedding July sixth came up very fast. Harry and Ginny were to be wed at the Burrow. Rev. Aberforth Green, the pastor from the church in Spinner s End would celebrate the wedding. This was an even bigger event than the one for Ron and Hermione. The entire staff of Hogwarts was there, as were many from the Ministry and hundreds of other wizards and witches. The wedding itself was smaller, and held at the Burrow, but the reception was held and catered at the Pig, a much larger reception hall outside of Ottery St. Catchpole about fifteen miles east of Exeter. The Grangers and the Dursleys were among the few muggles who were present: they came from their homes by Limousines ordered by Harry. There would be plenty of accommodations here for those who would be staying overnight. Toward the end of the reception, Harry gave Ginny an envelope. The card was perhaps expected but the contents were not, inside the card was a key. The fob on the key read House at Godric s Hollow. Harry had looked into the house, and the neighborhood and community at the urging of Rev. Aberforth, and as heir to the Potters, he took possession of the house, had it restored and renovated, and furnished in a summer style. The next day, in front of all their guests, they apparated to Godric s Hollow. The home was rebuilt in a fabulous manner, and in such a way that it would not remind him at all of the visions and pain that Voldemort had caused him. The arrangement of all the rooms was different. In the front north end of the house was a great room with windows on all three sides, and a veranda front and rear. To the south was a kitchen dining area. In the middle was an open stairway such as they had built at the Snape House. Upstairs there were four bedrooms, a bath and in the south east corner was a large master bedroom with its own bath and windows on all three sides. To the north there was an open deck 211

213 accessible only from the master suite, but visible from two of the bedrooms. Below the master bed room, and east of the kitchen/dining room were two guest room with a shared bath. The road north of the house went west into the heart of Godric s Hollow. There were pleasant shops, the church, a town square, a nice playground and several homes in town. Following the road in the other direction was an area of open fields and then a nice stream. Harry had bought the land between his house and the stream. He hired a man to clear the ground and plant a lawn, and he raised some quidditch goals. On Sunday the town held a reception for them after the church service. It was all so very home like, but it was a summer home, the Potters would not be in Godric s Hollow all year round, but the promised to appear regularly nonetheless. After two lovely weeks at Godric s Hollow, they floo back to the Snape House, and got down to the work of growing old together. Ginny, Pansy and Draco all went to the University of Manchester to study elementary education. The registrar was amused that these three thought to commute from Spinner s End rather than taking a house nearby. And what s more, they did not require a parking permit. Ginny assured him that they would be home faster than other students could walk across the quadrangle. Harry taught them all remedial computers 101. Not that he knew all that much about computers, but he did know how to type. Ron and George invented an interface device that translated a wizard s thought into a typewritten page on the computer. They all had to have laptops for class. One afternoon they were sitting back listening to the professor, but not typing on their keyboards as the other students were. As the professor walked around the room, he saw the screen filling with text just about as quickly as it could, and certainly faster than anybody could possibly type. Ginny just said Better interface card. Just by thinking about what she wanted to appear on the screen it did so. One of the girls in class asked Pansy how she could type so fast and so accurately. She pulled a dongle out of her computer and plugged it into the other girl s machine. At once Pansy was able to write on her machine pages at a time. She took the dongle back and put it back in her machine. Where can I get one of those? 212

214 Oh, it s just an interface. Ginny s brother makes them, but I am afraid they will not work for you. You see, you are not a witch, so it will not pick up your thoughts. Wizards and witches never bothered with computers until this year. But if we are going to work closer to the muggle world, we had to learn how to use muggle tools. This thing takes the place of both the mouse and keyboard, but don t ask me how it works. I have no clue. Before returning to work, Harry visited all of his tenants. He made a note of complaints that he could not fix right then, and then said to them. I am changing the lease requirements as it pertains to the back yard. We are removing the driveway that some have been using. The east end of the quadrangle will be blocked off as I have done at west end. The courtyard will be a commons, and anyone can walk or play anywhere on it. It will be planted in grass. You can keep and picnic tables, chairs or whatever within three meters of your house, but that is all. If there is junk you do not want, either in the back yard or in the house, just put it out in the back yard and on Monday it will be collected and discarded. In consideration of this change, your rent will be reduced by 50 pounds a month. It took a while but then it was done and the entire block was bordered by the houses, or by brick walls as tall as the houses at either end. The walls did have wooden doors in them that could be opened wide enough to let construction equipment in. Down the row, Draco and Pansy moved into one house and renovated another. Then they moved to that house and renovated the first. After that he moved tenants around by offering two free month s rent, and moving them to a renovated apartment at the previous rate. It took two years but in the end it was done. Harry and Draco would have liked their quadrangle to be an allwizard community, but the laws in England prohibited discrimination. They got whoever could afford the prices of the renovated houses. Still they erected some low quidditch goals and soon enough they were flying around to the amusement of their muggle neighbors. Other witches and wizards joined them until they had two teams. The bludgers and the snitch were not used, for they did not want to fly so high that they could be seen from outside of the quadrangle. The next summer, Harry and Ginny had a son whom they named James Sirius. After that came Albus Severus, Lily, Molly and Ron. By the time Ron was born, Harry had renovated 603 Prince Street, and expanded his house into that with more bedrooms on the upper level 213

215 and more space on the main level, and decent guest rooms on the middle level. After Ron came Arthur, Hermione, and Ariana. Well Ginny said that they wanted a large family To Draco and Pansy came Scorpio, Lucius, Tanner and Rose. 214

216 45 Museum Malfoy Ron and George worked in their shops in Diagon Alley and in Hogsmeade, and they prospered nicely. George had a new friend named Andrew, and he clicked with George almost as quickly as Fred had done. They lived together in Hogsmeade while Ron ran the shop in Diagon Alley, but there was so much back and forth in the development of new products that there was no telling where one of them might be. Except of course for Ron. He was always home at Grimmauld Place by 6 in the evening. He always had dinner ready for Hermione when she got home around 6:30. Ron turned out to be quite the cook and kitchen maven. The big Wizard s Kitchen in the basement is where the family mostly lived. Their children are Rose and Hugo. Hermione took the room that used to be Draco s bed room, and made that and its adjoining area into her office. She quickly examined the Manor, and decided that it was of course not your typical wizarding home, but rather much suited to an important baronial manor. This would make it difficult to present an honest picture to visitors of the wizard s way of life. Wizards would not notice, but it was not quite the picture she wanted to present to the muggles. The first thing she did was to get rid of the kitchen, and install a proper Wizard s kitchen, with a large hearth, and its caldrons, and large inviting tables and settees. She highlighted different aspects of the wizard world and included rooms for history, artifacts, quidditch, and education. There was a wing dedicated to the Ministry of Magic, and another room for St. Mungo s Hospital. It was very tastefully and cleverly done so that muggles could go away thinking that they saw something out of a fantasy, while wizards and witches were impressed with the collection, and by the Manor itself. The upper rooms were already very much suitable for public access, the basements were another matter however. She had to improve the stairways, add lighting, open access between the chambers 215

217 so that there would always be at least two exits, and she opened the back yard access through the old coal room to make the place seem a lot less claustrophobic. The Skeletons remained where they were, but were placed behind glass so that they could not be touched. A family tree was made to show where each skeleton belonged in the Malfoy family tree. The room that held the cups, plates, bowls and other valuable metal treasures showed photos of what the room once looked like when it was full, and left several samples of what was there under protective display covers. The room that once held the gold, still held what looked like gold. The real gold was removed to Gringotts Bank but good replicas, made by Goblins took their place. Even the Nazi gold looked convincing. She made a five minute video presentation on the history of gold, the movement of gold, and of where the Nazi gold came from and where it went to. Stashes such as this were probably never removed from the country to hide it and keep it for some nefarious reason, although that could not be ruled out, but rather through Germany s legitimate trade with other countries which insisted upon gold since the German money was becoming worthless, and because the Germans were counterfeiting money from other nations. Simply put, gold is the ultimate money. When the Nazi gold was placed here is was worth only a few hundred pounds per block, now it is worth several thousand per block. When some of this older gold was placed in here, and while it was always great wealth, its value in today s money was a fraction of what it is worth now. Another room was dedicated to information on wizard banking with a display of wizard coins. Gold coins used to be just gold coins, but when the value of gold rose once ownership of gold was permitted in the US and the UK, the coins were now cast in ferrous metal with a gold, silver or coper coating to prevent speculation. Still there was no denial that wizards witches and Goblins held most of the fungible gold in the UK. The highlight of the tour was closed to visitors (safety reasons, you know) but at least they could look down into the hole and catch a glimpse of what it looked like. And there were pictures around the wall of what the bags of gemstones looked like. No value has been ever obtained on them, since to do so would flood the market and diminish their value. They are now stored in Gringotts Bank. 216

218 There was a whole room devoted to the Wizarding wars, and the Goblin Wars. Especially noted we Dumbledore s battle with Grindelwald, the rise and fall of Voldemort, and Harry Potter s dealings with him and the Horcruxes. The museum was free to visit, although there was a gift shop where stuff was sold, and concessions where both muggle and wizard s foods could be had. Ron and George even opened a little version of Weasleys Wizard Wheezes. There was a dining room, and so that was used as a dining room allowing guests to arrange meetings or receptions there. And Hermione did not forget to work on the Draco Institute for Magical Studies. That became a building about the size of a medium to large sized high school. It had three floors, and the main floor was somewhat sprawling with dining room, banquet hall, and an auditorium. If Draco wanted to spend his money, she would help him do it in style. Of course she had no idea how very deep his pockets were. And the very best magical historians, teachers, and professors did work there. It became very quickly a world class institute with many varied interests and expertise. 217

219 Comments When I began this, my first attempt at writing a novel, I began without a plot or even an idea of what I would write. I knew where I wanted Harry and Ginny to go, The Snape House was about the only thing that I knew I wanted to write about. I started with a blank computer page, and began to write. I pulled the title out of thin air note even knowing where the story would go. I just began to write and the story went where it went, a simple flow of consciousness. I needed a bad guy, and so I brought in a bad guy and then conquered him. Having gotten rid of him I brought in another one. I did not do much with interpersonal actions or emotions. I would not have known how to write about them. And would you believe it, everything brought us back to the Malfoy Manor again, and again. I am happy with how the story worked out, it is for you to decide if it works as a Harry Potter story. All of the story is of my own creation, most of the characters, places, and situations were of course created by J.K Rowling, and owned by Warner Brothers. They are used here as a work of fan fiction. 218

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