Unofficial Portkey Archive

"Something is definitely not right around here, why are all these weird things happening?" Hermione asked.

"You got me," Neville answered shrugging his shoulders.

"Someone is obviously trying to sabotage Harry's work," Ginny said angrily.

Harry looked thoughtfully at his three companions. He tried to put all the puzzle pieces together, but large chunks of information were missing. How were all the owls intercepted? What and where did the strange fog come from? Who was this ~a friend~ who seemed to be able to get owls through in spite of the fact that no one else could? What exactly was the situation with Colette and why had Bili not come by to explain? All these thoughts gave him a headache.

"Well," Harry started, "I think the moral of this story is that we appear to be under someone or something's scrutiny. I can only guess that they want us to fail in our endeavor. That makes me want to get it accomplished even more. We need to go ahead and do an experimental run of the machine. Perhaps our answers will lie in uncovering the rest of my great, great grandfather's work."

The other three nodded their heads and agreed.

"So Ginny, what have you heard from Ron?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, he has probably sent me tons of owls and I of course haven't gotten a single one. What is he up to?" Harry followed enthusiastically.

"Well," Ginny said with a sly grin, "he and Luna decided to go on a trip together. At first Ron was just visiting, but Luna's father believes he is on to a story about Sherpa monks who have learned to become animagus, despite the fact that they are verified muggles. Apparently they can turn into silk moths on a whim. Luna asked Ron to go and he said yes, so they are somewhere in the Tibetan Himalayas."

"You're joking right?" Hermione quipped.

"No, he really went," Neville said with a nervous laugh.

The four of them just sat there with incomprehensible looks on their faces.

"Well… isn't that nice for them… Tibet? Wow, I'm not sure… silk moths you say? Hmm," was the only reply Harry could offer.

They all let out a warm laugh at the idea of Ron wrapped up in yak hides and traipsing around Tibetan temples, asking monks about their shape changing behavior.

Hermione stood straight up as her face was taught with concentration.

"Oh my gosh!"

Everyone stopped laughing and looked at her.

"I'm so stupid, how could I have not seen it!"

She began to pace the room fervently. Harry wanted to ask, but knew now was not the time to interrupt her.

"I must be getting addled in my old age."

Harry stood up and walked a few pace toward her without saying a word. She turned around and began shaking her hand wildly as she spoke.

"I don't know why it took me this long to realize it, but I just realized how close this scrutinizer really is. When Amelia told me that she was taken to doctors it was an immediate clue that she was not the witch I assumed she was. I got the exact same clue from Colette and it never even dawned on me what she had said. She specifically told me that her 'physician' had given her orders. Her physician! Not her healer… she's a muggle, just like Amelia. That's why she hasn't been cured, because nothing has changed. All these generations have come and gone and still the wizard healers refuse to take muggle patients. You know what this means Harry?!"

Harry looked off in the distance with a strange look on his face and spoke softly, "Yes, I know exactly what it means. It means we have someone to test the machine on for real. To use it in the exact way that Heaglevert had intended, to cure a muggle of an incurable disease."

Neville and Ginny looked at each other and then back at Harry.

"I'll prepare the machine. I want the three of you to apparate over to Bili's estate right away and do whatever you have to do to convince them we can help her."

"Harry… what if Bili already knows… what if he is some kind of monster keeping Colette sick against her will? Maybe he doesn't want her to get better and he is the one who has been sabotaging our efforts," Hermione spoke seriously.

"She's right Harry," Ginny replied. "How do we know who our friends and who our enemies really are? Maybe Bili is controlling that fog."

Harry began to walk out of the room and then stopped. Without turning around he spoke ominously.

"I never said to get Bili's permission. Just get her over here; however you have to do that. If Bili cares for her, then he will want this, if he doesn't… then I'm not about to let him stand in the way of Colette getting well."

With that he made his way down to the cellar. The three of them stood still for a minute, but then suddenly became animated and took action.

"Right," Neville said, "you heard Harry. Let's go get this poor woman and save her… from whoever she needs saving from."

Ginny shook her head furiously up and down. Hermione nodded as well and the three of them pulled their wands out. Without question they all put their complete faith in Harry and his great, great grandfather's machine. Before the day's end a miracle was going to happen and Harry Potter was just the wizard to pull it off.

--- ---

"I need you to do this for me Teebel," Harry pleaded. "You absolutely must not let me down. Can I trust you?"

Teebel feeling a deep sense of guilt for hiding the letter from him that he agreed wholeheartedly. Perhaps this would somehow make up for not giving Harry the letter. Not that Harry knew anything about it, but it still made Teebel feel better to do this for him.

"You can be counting on me. Teebel is not letting Harry Potter down."

"Are you sure you understand what I need? It's very important that you get exactly what I have written down and I can't stress enough that time is something we don't have. So, do whatever elf magic you need to and fly like the wind."

"I am leaving at this very right now Harry and I will be back as quick as any house-elf has ever been coming back."

With a small parchment in his hand Teebel disappeared with a snap. In his possession were the exact specifications for a telescope lens that would fit into the slot above the throne, inside of The Great Machine. Neither hell, nor high water was about to get in Teebel's way. Harry needed him and he was going to do everything in his power to come through for him.

--- ---

"What on earth is taking the blasted ministry so long to get here? They should have mounted a full scale assault on Harry and his hapless crew by now."

Griltskin was once again pacing up and down the narrow length of beach outside of his cave. As long as a descendant of the Leakwood line was actually somewhere on the property, then he could not bypass the protective enchantments. However, once Harry was forcefully removed from the place he would have nothing standing between him and the Eye of Narlroot. He was so close he could almost taste it. He would have sent a letter to the ministry himself, but he was a marked man. The letter would have been disregarded, or worse they would find a way to track it back to him. The curse placed upon him not only gave him a grotesque form of immortality, it also made it so no witch or wizard would believe a word that came from his mouth or written by his hand. Fortunately for him, Colette was no witch and confusing her weak mind had been quite easy.

By his estimation the ministry should have already received the owl and sent in the Unspeakables to come and 'clean' up the situation. It was no small source of irritation that they had yet to show. He was so desperately close and yet so horribly far away. The sapphire that could cure him was almost within his grasp. He quickly decided that once he had it, Azkaban was too good for the last of the Leakwood clan. It was his sapphire; he was the one who got swallowed by the great dragon. He was the one who found the thing inside the beast. He was the one who had the muggle jeweler hone it down to sweet perfection. It was his. The Leakwoods stole it and they would pay for taking it from him. He would find delicious new ways to torture and kill Potter. Oh, yes indeed.

--- ---

"Colette?" Hermione called out. "Colette, are you there?"

A woman's voice called back from one of the rooms at the top of the stairs.

"Hermione? Is that you? I'm so sorry. Bili isn't here right now or we would have properly greeted you. Please come up straight away. I've been anxious to speak to you. I feel so terrible for what I've done. My dearest and I talked at length about it and I truly must apologize."

Ginny and Neville looked inquisitively at Hermione, who merely shrugged her shoulders in confusion. She then went straight into wealthy upper-crust speak to make Colette feel more at ease.

"I have two frightfully close friends who have come to visit Harry and I. I told them about your wonderful estate and they simply had to come and see it. Do you mind if they come up with me?"

There was a moment of hesitation and then Colette responded, "Of course, of course. Any friends of yours are friends of mine. Do come up."

The three of them made their way up to the dining hall and then on to the sitting room where Colette was sitting in her favorite chair. She turned toward them when they walked in, despite her blindness.

"It is so good to see you," Hermione said earnestly.

"And you as well. Please sit down; I have so much to tell you."

"Colette, I have to apologize. Our time is so short. I am asking you to place a great deal of faith in me right now. I want to help you. I... I want you to come back with us. I have no idea of how to even begin..."

Colette cut Hermione off with a whisper, "You mean... you actually got it working? The machine I mean?"

"Yes, well we think we have... but, how did you know?"

"I... I'd rather not say. Do you think it can help me?"

Hermione's answer was very careful, "I believe it can Colette. I believe it will cure your illness."

"Will it make me pretty again?"

"I'm not sure... I know it will cure you, but I don't know what kind of restorative capabilities it has. All we can do is try."

Colette began to wring her hands. She wanted to wait for Bili to return, but if he was right about this magical ministry coming to shut everything down, this could be her last chance. Did she really want to be saved?

"Alright. I'll do it. For my Bili. He would want me to. Take me with you."

Hermione breathed out a sigh of relief. She was not normally one to give in to irrational fears, but she distinctly felt that whatever was out there trying to stop them was growing impatient. A sense of real danger crowded her thoughts and try as she might she could not shake it. Neville and Hermione reached down and helped Colette to her feet. Now it was just a matter of getting her over to the manor.

--- ---

A small grey owl came in for a landing inside the Ministry of Magic's owlery. Attached to its leg was a rather plain looking white envelope. A house-elf reached out for it and took it down to the mail reception area. Stamped right on it was a delivery code from the Russian Ministry of Magic. Somehow the letter got mixed up in delivery. Thinking how odd that was the elf immediately brought it down to one of the wizards in charge of incoming information. The young wizard looked at the letter and quickly opened it.

He read through it once and immediately sat down. He read it again and a touch of sweat appeared on his brow. He pulled out a rubber stamp and brought it down hard on the outside of the letter. It marked the following quite clearly: Immediate Action Required on the part of the Unspeakables. He then handed it back to the elf who shuddered at the request that followed. She was to immediately deliver this into the hands of the department head of the Unspeakables. She had only been there once before in her entire life and it was a frightening experience at best. She had no choice in the matter. The young wizard insisted that it was an emergency. With a resigned look on her face she apparated down to the lowest level of the ministry and quietly walked up to a large door. With a polite knock she waited. A voice from inside told her to come in.

A very powerful wizard was sitting at a large, black oak desk. His eyes looked piercingly at her. With a trembling hand she reached up and placed the letter on the desk and quickly ran out of the room. The wizard picked up the letter and read its contents. A look of concern and then anger swept across his face.

"Well, well, well. It appears that someone has decided that sleeping dragons are not best left alone."

He stood up and made his way to a strange looking oblong crystal. He gently touched it and it immediately lit up and caused the room to glow. He then spoke quite calmly.

"We have a serious problem. You are to gather together a group of eight or nine of your most trusted. This is what needs to be done..."

--- ---

Hermione strapped Colette in with the utmost of care. She would stop often to ask if she was comfortable.

"Surprisingly, it is quite comfortable. If I didn't know you were strapping me in, I would feel right at home," Colette said with a smile in her voice.

After a few more moments Hermione spoke again, "Okay, I am going to pull a lever that will bring down a shell that will enclose you. Right now we are just waiting for Teebel to return with the lens we need. Harry assured me he would be here any minute."

"It all sounds so terribly complicated," Colette said with excitement.

"In a way it is the most complex machine anyone has ever built, but the actual concept of how it works is incredibly simple," Hermione said in turn.

"In other words, only a genius could do it," Colette laughed.

"Exactly," Hermione answered with a smile.

--- ---

"How did Teebel be winding up inside of this cave?" the house-elf said aloud.

In his right hand he held a pouch that contained a very expensive, very capable telescope lens from the finest astronomical shop in Diagon Alley.

"First, Teebel is trying to come home and now he is not being at home. Hmmm."

The elf snapped his fingers and looked crestfallen when nothing happened. He snapped his fingers again and still nothing. A distinct worry could be heard in his voice.

"Uh, oh..."

--- ---

Harry looked at Amelia and she at him.

"This is it," she said.

"Yes, yes it is," Harry replied. "I'm really sorry. You know desecrating your grave and all like this."

"Oh, it's fine. I don't mind at all," she replied in an upbeat voice.

The switch to start the machine was inconveniently located just inside Amelia's stone coffin. It was quite upsetting for Harry to open it and see a tiny skeleton lying inside. Amelia reminded him that she was not in there. That she was right here in front of him. All that lay there was a bunch of bones that were not even remotely important to her. He tried hard to concentrate on that thought.

Harry was merely waiting for Teebel to return with the lens. Hermione would set it in place and then send word by Neville for Harry to start it up. He sat there with his thoughts and ran through each and every piece of the machine in his mind. Every diagram and chart, every word written by his ancestor, every brass wheel and every iron cog. He could see it in his mind's eye and it all seemed to click. Everything made perfect sense to him and he knew exactly how the machine worked, down to the last detail. He also then realized exactly why it would not work. His heart sank inside of his chest. There was no way the machine could actually work. Concentrating all the magic down to a single point and running it through a person would not cure any problems unless the focal point just happened to drop exactly where the problem lies. What were the odds of that? A thousand to one, no more like a million to one. Harry felt his whole world crash down around him. There was no way to save Colette.

"Amelia?"

"Yes Harry?"

"It won't work. There's a terrible flaw in the design of the machine. I just couldn't see it until now."

Amelia could feel the terrible disappointment in Harry's voice. Her own thoughts grew sad and heavy. He sounded so certain.

"We don't need a beam of pure magic; we need a whole wave of pure magic for it to work. A telescope lens simply doesn't work that way. You would need something very different. Something that would refract the magic into thousands of... little... rays..."

Harry's voice trailed off as a thought started to form.

"We don't need a lens, we need a prism! A perfect prism! THE perfect prism!" Harry yelled out.

"Where are we going to get that?" Amelia asked.

Harry smiled at her, "We already have one. It's been here since the very beginning and I just couldn't see it until now."