A/N: I still own nothing. Thanks once again to Lady Starlight, without whose help, this would surely
be...not so good.
Chapter 21 Homecoming
******************Hogwarts, DADA Professor's quarters*********************
"Merlin that felt good," Harry muttered as he staggered out of the shower, clad in only a pair of pajama bottoms. The haggard wizard that had left the prison hours before was gone, replaced by a seemingly eighteen-year-old young man, albeit one who needed a few meals, and who had sat through Madame Pomfrey's healing charms for two hours as she repaired the cracked ribs, a slightly cracked skull, four missing teeth and other minor indignities that the Death Eaters had inflicted on him over the years.
Malfoy had always been careful to have his healers repair any major damage to Harry, but his guards weren't always as considerate. Harry had been able to dampen the pain and shove it into a small little ball as soon as Hermione sundered the gates of Azkaban and hence the ancient, ancient wards preventing their minds from fully linking. Malfoy had never learned the true depth of their bond or he might have tried to just kill Harry to take them both out. Of course if he did, a Hermione with Harry's powers as well as her own would have ripped him to shreds before the bond dragged her beyond the veil to be with Harry would have most likely proven to be his last mistake. Harry's exhaustion and pain had finally crashed as he arrived at Hogwarts, collapsing into Hermione's arms in the midst of Dumbledore's office.
On the couch, before a roaring fire despite the fact it was still July, Hermione sat, her feet up on a cassock, an old decrepit copy of an immense tome open in her lap. Without asking, Harry flopped down on the couch, and dropped his head onto her lap. She lifted the copy of Hogwarts a History automatically, a sign of long, long practice at this particular maneuver. Smiling, she bent forward and met his lips, she had already been flexible when she was a teen, and fifteen years of combat practice had only helped.
Sitting up with a small smile, she absently ran her fingers through his messy hair, another thing she had desperately missed all these years. Harry just snuggled closer if possible, and let out a contented sigh. Hermione stared into the fire as she spoke; haltingly, even now he was the only one she would let see with her emotions as they were. "I'm sorry, Harry" she murmured as she choked back tears.
"C'mere, Mione" Harry muttered as he sat up for a second, then grabbing her hand, pulled her back down until they both lay on the couch, her nestled in his arms. She could feel the slight quiver in them, both of his feelings, and of his utter, absolute exhaustion. Even as powerful as he was, he had been in Azkaban for seven long years, and he had spent a great deal of energy tonight and was literally tapped out. Even so, his first concern was for her, a thought that even after almost twenty years together in one fashion or another, and all they had seen and done, still gave her a quiver in her stomach. "For what, love?" Harry asked, genuinely puzzled at her apology.
"I took too damn long, Harry" Hermione snapped, but he just squeezed her tighter in response. Wriggling, she turned until she faced him, still lying in his arms. "I should have figured out the potion sooner, then we...I waited another year, until the time was right, until the resistance was ready and the Americans could get the supplies in place..."
He didn't respond right away, other than gently planting a kiss on her forehead. He looked into her eyes, It's all right; I knew what I was doing...
But Harry...
We had the time; he replied with a thought as bent his head forward to hers. Another of the curses Tom inflicted on us. The tone of the thought was ambivalent, as they had last discussed the repercussions right before those terrible nights in August seven years ago, to outlive our children, and their children's children.
I could be wrong Harry. She responded instantly, but they both knew that she wasn't. Voldemort had ultimately failed in his quest for immortality, but that night that he had fought them for the last time in a dark, dank cavern under Hogwarts, with his death, one last power had been transferred to them, and fused with their own. Hermione had speculated that the energies he had released with his death, had acted synergistically with their own, far, far from insignificant powers and had imbued them with what Voldemort had desired. Since that day, despite the birth of two children, and other trials and tribulations, they had not aged significantly. I think Ron knows, somehow. She shrugged and settled her head under his chin.
If he does, we'll deal with it. Harry replied sleepily. With that last thought his eyes grew heavy and he slowly drifted to sleep, Hermione following not a moment later. The first true sleep either had had in almost seven years. A minute, then two passed in the room, the only sound a slight crackling and popping from the fire. Then quiet enough not to wake either of them, a slightly louder pop rang out. From the level of the seat of the couch, a pair of bright green eyes, hovering between a pair of bat-like ears, and sitting atop a pencil-shaped nose appeared. Dobby cracked a smile, and snapped his fingers. A blanket appeared on the floor, and carefully so not to even come close to waking the pair, Dobby spread the blanket over them, and backed away.
"Welcome home, Master Harry, Mistress Hermione" Dobby muttered as he absently swept a tear from the corner of a large green eye, then with another snap of his long fingers, he was gone.
9:00am
"UH Hem" murmured a bespectacled old man with long, silver-gray hair and beard, a crooked nose and twinkling light blue eyes. Dumbledore was sitting in an old armchair across from the sleeping pair on the couch, his feet up on a bedraggled ottoman. He folded the copy of the New York Times he had been reading, as there were no functioning newspapers Wizarding or Muggle left in England, or most of the world for that matter.
With Lucius' conquest of almost the entire eastern hemisphere, the majority of the world's population had entered a second dark age. Only the Americas and embattled Australia remained free, though the island continent was constantly besieged. And only the presence of American forces, in the guise of their orbital weapons, and Navy kept the Dark Legions at bay. Soon after the American wards had been established, the Australians powered their own, with ancient, tribal magic, and just as in America, no X' Sheen, or Death Eater had been able to Apparate directly over. The route by sky and sea was similarly guarded by the American orbital platforms, and third, fifth and seventh fleets, its fusion powered aircraft carriers bobbing next to its magic powered dragon carriers.
Dumbledore had instantly known their exhaustion after Dobby had found him on his return to the castle. He had been operating out of this ancient fortress and school for almost his entire, long fight in Britain; it had been the last place anyone would think to look, as it was so obvious. Their fatigue was readily apparent, as he had been able to walk directly into the room without either stirring. A feat that would have been almost impossible, even if he were sneaking, had they been anywhere near normal. He had heard of what they had done last night and he wholly approved. Dumbledore had more than once thought of tearing down the prison himself.
He looked over as Harry blearily pried an eye open, then closed it just as rapidly. Eyes still closed, "wake me tomorrow" Harry murmured, and tightened his grip on his wife, who shrugged closer to him, not fully waking. Dumbledore smiled indulgently at the pair, then he stood, and raised his voice, "OK you can come in" The couple's eyes flew open as two pairs of thundering feet ran into the room, and stopped suddenly. Five feet from the couch, two pairs of green eyes, one set flecked with hazel, stood, staring at their mother whom they had not seen in over a year and a man that they had not seen since they were in preschool.
Slowly Harry and Hermione sat up, and looked over at their children, she bit her lip not knowing whether to laugh or cry as her daughter and son looked at her then at Harry and back. A long moment of silence fell, as in the background Ron appeared and leaned in the doorway, trailed by Luna, and his daughter, Harriet. He silently held out a hand to stop them from interfering, and looked over the tableau nervously.
Emilia looked at her mother, as if wanting to ask a question. Her finger idly twirled a curl of her bushy hair, while her other hand rested lightly on the hilt of a sheathed wand. Then with the same flash of fire that her mother's eyes held when she had been conned into doing something potentially dangerous by Ron or Harry, "Daddy?" she asked, softly, hesitantly.
"Em..." Harry replied quietly, his voice cracking. Then neither said anything intelligible as both children swept into their parent's arms, so fast that anyone else would have thought they Apparated there. His tears wetted her dark curls, while Emilia's dampened his chest. Horatio crowded in on one side, and Hermione wrapped her arms around them both from behind. "I'm so sorry..." Em made shushing sounds in response, once again reminding Harry of her mother, and he smiled.
******************************Astronomy Tower***************************
2pm
Harry stood looking out over the grounds, a view he had not seen for all these years. Far, far below, he could see the kids playing some game; Emilia and Harriet seemed to be teamed up against Horatio and Abigail Lupin, while Lupin and Tonks' other child, Xander sat under a tree with Elliot reading a large book and taking occasional notes. Over to the side, he could see Hermione, Tonks and Luna talking together; intermittently looking over at the kids to make sure too much damage wasn't occurring. He noticed that over by Hagrid's hut a single Thestral meandered out of the dark forest, and nosed up against the overgrown pumpkin patch. Harry sighed bitterly as he thought of Hagrid. Hagrid had came back to Hogwarts in Harry's first year teaching as a full time professor after a brief fling with Maxine, then had disappeared early in that week that everything fell apart. "Oi mate" Ron called as he came out onto the tower roof. He ambled over to Harry and propped his elbows on the parapet, and followed Harry's gaze out over the grounds. "We never found out, did we, bro?" Ron muttered, as he too looked at the ruins of Hagrid's hut.
Harry growled a bit, and never taking his eyes off the grounds or his kids, "Ron" he asked out of the side of his mouth, "What happened after..."
Ron made a small noise, and spoke, "After we got the kids back...we ran, there was no other word for it. Hermione, she got us back here, I still don't know how...Lucius may have given his word, but the Death Eaters didn't seem to have gotten the message. We got here and Dumbledore had already sent the staff and most of the house elves into hiding.
When we got here, Hogsmeade was already abandoned too. I remember when we all arrived; Dumbledore met us at the secret passage into our old headquarters and didn't even ask a question, he just levitated the kids to the infirmary. We held up for a day or so before we Portkeyed to the States. Dumbledore activated the defenses of this place, it never really fell." He frowned and looked down at his feet, "I guess they were better than those on the Ministry; it's just a hole in the ground now. The Americans dropped a nuke, I remember watching the announcement on the telly at Dumbledore's place. I forgot, that Portkey took us to some estate that Dumbledore owned in the States; he said it won it in a game years ago, and kept it 'cause he liked it. Said he enjoyed the horses, nice place outside Lexington, that's a city in Kentucky, that's in the States..."
"I know Ron" Harry replied tolerantly, an amused look decorating his eyes.
"Sorry about that, I didn't until we got there." Ron shrugged, "America's different, now...after Lucius took the rest of the world, that was kind of hard to hide from the Muggles, and after the Ministry was nuked the Muggles could see Dragons, Dementors and such. It seems that the old wards were centered there, and when it died, they died. Between the two, and the fact that the wizards and Muggles had to work together to keep from being slaves...they more or less get along." Ron chuckled at some random memory, "You know Hermione's theory; the one she wrote for her NEWT thesis?" Ron asked another laugh escaping his lips.
"Yeah Ron I even understand it...more or less" Harry replied as far below, Horatio knocked Emilia sprawling. She got up and started chasing Horatio, wand in hand. Merlin, I feel for him. He "heard" a giggle in his head and waved to the brunette standing next to the fuchsia-haired witch.
"Lucky you, I have enough problems living with a clairvoyant. Anyway about three years after that theory was published, turns out that it filled in the missing piece in several bits of Muggle 'science', she was invited to speak at a University there in Lexington. You should have seen the way she responded when some old bloke stood up and goes, and I quote, 'so basically magic is just physics'" He chuckled to himself, "I thought she was going to conjure an alligator and feed him to it. I think his name was Fagen or something. You know she picked up a couple more doctorates, one in Potions and one in DADA, she more or less did them to keep her mind off you...but Merlin...it was bad for all of us, but she..." Ron shrugged and turned from the grounds and stared back at the castle. He turned his head to look over at Harry, "She almost came after you, two, three times, even before she and Dumbledore cracked the potion to cure the kids. I could see it in her eyes, but otherwise, she wasn't all there, not all the time."
"You know the hell of it Ron?" Harry muttered, and before Ron could say anything, he continued, "You remember when I told you about when Umbridge and Fudge tried to take Dumbledore away in fifth year? He told them Azkaban couldn't have held him, only wasted his time. It was the same, I could have left, I probably wouldn't have destroyed the place on the way out, not alone anyway, but I could have left. I stayed 'cause I couldn't risk them," Harry waved over the grounds, and Ron knew he included his and Lupin's kids as much as Harry's own, "I knew that when Hermione solved the riddle, she would come for me. She said as much before I let them take me. That's the same promise she made when I had to go to the Dursleys that last summer, and she kept it then, I knew she would keep it again. Ron, she was the only one who never doubted me, never lied to me if she could help it at all...I mean I love you Ron, you were the brother that I never had, but even you doubted me for a bit..."
"Sorry about that mate" Ron murmured.
"Forget it, bro..."Harry broke off, then with a breath to settle his nerves, "what about the rest of the family, Ron? Hermione hasn't mentioned anything, or even thought about it, I can tell she's not even thinking about it on purpose."
Ron muttered something under his breath, and with a nervous gesture he pulled his wand from a holster along his leg and examined it minutely as he rolled it between his hands. Still not looking at Harry directly, "Mum and dad...they're alive. But they are both carrying guilty consciences about as wide as the Thames around. Dad still blames himself for the Ministry falling, and Mad-Eye dieing, thinks he should have done something else. And mum, mum still thinks that it was her fault that the kids got taken in the first place. Hermione has gone out of her way to let her know it wasn't her fault. The whole Ministry thing is moot though now...The Americans took out the place for good. There's actually a rumor that the Department of Mysteries survived the hit, though." Ron put in as an aside.
Harry looked tired at the news, Ron walked over and put an arm around his shoulder, "Sorry mate, for the rest of us it's an old hurt." Ron sighed, "Charlie was last seen in Romania, Bill and Fleur disappeared in France, they had Teresa and Andy with them." Harry grew progressively paler at the news, but motioned for Ron to go on, fortunately the remainder of the news was better. "Fred and George are both somewhere in London, Angelina and Alicia are back at the estate in Kentucky, they'll be here this week, both of them are preggers...again. I'm not totally sure how that happens, since they are always working." Ron laughed at another random thought, "It was funny when we would go out to town and we had this little group of British accents in the midst of all these American drawls. I don't guess you noticed that your daughter can drawl a British accent." Both Harry and Ron laughed; Harry had noticed the habit, but knew better than to comment.
Harry looked down at his feet, then at Ron standing next to him. Below, almost five hundred yards away, Hermione's head spun back to them as she could feel a decision being made, as if it were being written in fire in the very air. He turned to Ron, and Ron knew, as Dumbledore knew in the war against Voldemort, that the die had been cast. "Lupin and Sirius are coming back here tonight?" Ron nodded slowly, "Call the Order...all that survives, and that will come."
"Do you really wish that course, Harry?" Dumbledore asked quietly, he had just appeared on the rooftop, his robes like that of old; purple, today, topped with a soft squashy hat. The wind suddenly kicked up and whipped up Dumbledore's ropes, and Harry and Ron's hair.
"You fought the last three wars, I need your help Grandfather, but you are not obligated, you can stay here..." Harry replied calmly, evenly.
"Of course I will be at your side Harry." Dumbledore responded instantly, a slight glow lighting his eyes at the words.
"And me" Ron said somberly, his hand on Harry's shoulder.
"And me, Love" Hermione muttered, she had appeared next to Dumbledore, with no more noise than the breath of a ghost. She rushed over and threw her arms around Harry and he squeezed back, their thoughts racing back and forth.
"Harry...happy birthday" How about I show you just how happy it can be?
We do have years to make up for. Harry replied as Ron and Dumbledore discretely vanished. The wind whipped up her hair as she leaned in to nuzzle his neck. A flare of energy flashed and they vanished to reappear in their quarters. What about the kids?
Lock the door. Hermione's chocolate eyes darkened as Harry waved his hand in the general direction of the door. It flashed white and the door sealed with a loud squelch. A soft gasp escaped her lips as his fingers slipped under her shirt. Her small hands threaded themselves in his hair and pulled his lips to hers. A soft growl was heard as his tongue slipped past her lips. She smiled into the kiss as Harry unbuttoned her shorts and slipped them down her hips.
"No foreplay?" Harry growled as she nibbled his neck.
"I've been ready for this since I woke up." She replied and Harry laughed. Hermione snapped her fingers and Harry's pants vanished to join hers on the ground. Her back thumped softly against the wall as his hands crept down under her arse and lifted her up. Hermione's legs came up and wrapped around his waist as her hands cradled his face and pulled him to her. She let out a strangled moan as his tongue danced with hers.
Emerald and chocolate eyes met and flared blue; they fell into each other's thoughts. Harry staggered slightly as they tumbled onto the nearby bed. Hermione grinned saucily as she flipped them over on the bed so that she was smiling down at him. Harry grunted softly as she rubbed against him, and sat back to finally jerk off the t-shirt she had been wearing. Harry whimpered a bit as he was reminded afresh that she hadn't felt the need for a bra today.
Hermione captured Harry's hands and held herself up on them as he braced his elbows against the bed. Her heartbeat, or was it his, pounded in his ears as she slowly lowered herself. A purr of utter contentment came from somewhere in her chest as she sat motionless for a long, heart stopping moment.
Slowly, languorously, she moved. Still balancing herself on his palms as her hips rolled, Hermione leaned foreword to once more capture his lips. A curtain of hair hid their faces as they became one once more. "Ohhh..."
"Hermione...I..."
"Shu...shut up." She whispered harshly, "less talk..." Harry smirked slightly as he looked up to see the blue glow leaking from her half closed lids as soft, cat-like mews greeted his ears.
He could feel the quiver in her arms that signaled her readiness to let go, and knew that he wasn't far behind. One more bounce, two and she froze, shuddering, and he went with her an instant later as a wave of energy snapped out from them. Vases and glasses shattered and books fell to the floor with a clatter. Harry collapsed limply to the bed as Hermione fell on his chest with a sigh of happiness.
She smiled and kissed his nose, then his lips chastely as she snuggled into him. Harry swept her damp locks back from her eyes, which were brown once more. She glanced around the room at the destruction and laughed. "I thought we had stopped that when we were eighteen."
"Yeah...damn spontaneous energy releases." He replied with rolled eyes and she giggled. He turned serious for an instant, "I love you Hermione Potter...I can't tell you how much."
"More than anything Harry." She crooked a chestnut eyebrow as a sudden reaffirmation of his feelings became evident. "Well if you insist Mr. Potter."
"I do."
************************Gryffindor Common Room*************************
July 31, 2019
10:00pm
The cast assembled in the old Gryffindor common room this night was a varied lot, not that there was much choice. Dean Thomas, Parvati Patil and Cho Chang had arrived together; they had been with a resistance group out of Edinburgh. Fred and George Weasley had arrived only minutes after Ron's call. Malfoy's Death Eaters had learned to fear going into London in groups under twenty or so on their watch. Sirius, Lupin and Tonks next came in the room together, and claimed a couch. No one here yet knew the events of last night, but even with Malfoy's total control of normal news channels there had been rumors. The Creevy brothers arrived next, both looking terribly older, and tired. Finally Minerva McGonagall, Dumbledore and Cordelia came in the portrait hole together, accompanying Neville and Ginny who were leading an obviously weak Draco. Fred, George, Luna and Parvati all ran over to Ginny and gave her huge hugs. She smiled wearily at them as Fred and George waved her to a seat on the couch. Neville sat next to her. The pair next helped Draco to a seat beside them, the Weasley's mistrust of Draco had been burnt away, by almost thirteen years of his battling his own father, or being locked in an endless sleep in Azkaban for his actions. Cordy watched him be seated before crossing to Sirius and planting herself on his knee.
Harry and Hermione had yet to reveal their presence, both were watching, standing over to one side under Harry's infamous cloak with Harry holding her tightly from behind. With a slight smirk, that only he could see, Hermione mentally pointed him at Cho and Parvati whose joined hands seemed to indicate more than a platonic relationship, well that's new, she mused as she watched both of the girls look at Draco interestedly.
Harry returned a silent bark of laughter; I don't know what I should think about that...I guess she couldn't find anyone else that measured up...after me, so she had to get two. Harry teased, mischievously.
Bullocks, Potter, I know that she never...Hermione reached up and back and gave him a soft, undetected tap on the back of the head under the cloak, as they were quite practiced at much more aggressive movements under that cloak, it wasn't hard. I always did suspect Parvati and Lav, though.
Suspect, hell, Ron caught them once didn't we ever tell you? Hermione shook her head, I guess Ron was too busy with Luna and forgot. Harry felt the grin flit across her face, and he squeezed their joined hands under the cloak, Lets do this, Hermione. With a sharp, practiced move, Harry swept the cloak from them. "Hi guys," he said simply. Cho and Parvati gasped; while Ron just smiled, he knew they were there all along. Luna already knew as well, but it was just possible she could see though the cloak anyway. Fred and George sprung up and jumped the several feet, each grabbing them in a huge hug, trading for the other after a second. Sirius and Lupin already knew, they just nodded, but McGonagall's, McGonagall's reaction was classic. She turned and whomped Dumbledore aside the head, hard.
"ALBUS" she snarled in her burr, even as she was crossing over to Hermione, "you didn't tell me Harry was free and they were both back." Without waiting for a reply and while Dumbledore was still rubbing the back of his head, she grabbed Hermione in a crushing hug, the strength of which would have been surprising for any eighty year old, witch or not. After a minute and getting a murmured comment and nod from Hermione, she pulled Harry into a hug too. Tears were pooling behind her glasses, as she looked at them. Harry and Hermione, of all the students she had ever had, might as well have been her grandchildren. She had been at their wedding, she had carried them up to the head's chambers after the battle with Voldemort, had sat with Hermione after her parents were murdered, had watched Harry battle his demons after Sirius had seemingly died, and had watched the pair dance around their true feelings for years, before they finally admitted them in fire and blood. Hell, she grinned in her head, I probably was in the same room as more than one of their make-out sessions, knowing just how good they were with that cloak and silencing charms. And I of course knew they were living together for the last two terms of their schooling here.
Harry smiled at her, in his mind too, she had been almost a grandmother to Dumbledore's grandfather, though in that he really was. "I will answer all of your questions in a bit, but first Hermione and I ask for your indulgence. During the last war, I was kept in the dark for entirely good reasons, but in the end it cost us." Harry looked directly at Sirius when he said that last, and the animagus nodded in silent agreement. Harry glanced at Ron, Luna, Lupin and Tonks, and they all gave their agreement, with another series of silent, hesitant nods.
Harry turned to Dumbledore, "Get them" he said simply and watched as Dumbledore vanished silently. Harry sat down on the edge of the table; Hermione jumped up next to him, and rested their joined hands on his leg. Five minutes passed while some of them made small talk, then the portrait hole opened again, and the six youngest witches and wizards in the castle came in, hustled along by the man who hopefully would once again be their headmaster. Harry and Hermione shared a knowing glance, as all five of them sat down together, in a little pack, just like the Gryffindors they may yet become. After they had been settled, and most of the wizards and witches took a drink of coffee or coco, that Dobby had brought by, Harry swept his gaze over the lot and sighed. "Just as way of introduction, the six that just came in are Emilia and Horatio, my and Hermione's twins, Harriet Weasley, Abigail and Xander Lupin and Elliot Longbottom..."
The kids had each raised a slightly nervous hand at the introduction, and most of the adults had good-naturedly chuckled at their discomfiture, except Draco who just gave them a nod, and winced a bit, clutching his side. It turned out that Lucius had not been content to let him sleep, but had had him woken for periodic beatings. "As I said I was kept in the dark, by adults that I trusted to have the best intentions for me, and honestly, I feel that they had their hearts in the right place." He added consolingly to those few survivors of the old Order. "But I'm not going to repeat that mistake..." At the questioning glances he received with the words 'I'm', "yes...Albus has had to lead the fight against the Dark three times now."
"Harry, it was your abilities and those of your friends and family that defeated Tom in the end," Dumbledore demurred, though almost everyone present rolled their eyes, yes, Harry, Hermione and Ron, along with their friends had fought Voldemort and his minions in those pivotal battles first at Hogsmeade and then at Hogwarts a year later, but both times, Dumbledore had almost single-handedly held their flank, first against trolls and dragons at Hogsmeade, then against a almost hundred strong force of Death Eaters at Hogwarts.
"That would include you, you barmy old codger." Everyone including Dumbledore laughed, then with a small smile, "Honestly..." Hermione responded for the both of them, "Thank you, in case I haven't said it...for everything."
"It was nothing...granddaughter." Dumbledore replied with a slight case of the misty eyes. She nodded and the few that had never known of the familial relations in this room looked confused, someone would tell them, later, for now theirs was a war to handle.
"Seriously...thank you everyone," Harry said quietly, but every ear heard him. "Thanks to Ron to helping raise...grandfather...Minerva...everyone." He jumped up from the table and stated pacing, Hermione did not get up, but her eyes tracked him back and forth. "As of early this morning Azkaban is gone." There were excited murmurings at that, and at least one "ALL RIGHT!" From Sirius. Before that announcement, the only ones to know had been Ron, and Dumbledore.
"Mione and I dropped the dammed place into the sea." Further murmurings, along with several slightly shocked glances, that announcement was right up with 'a few trolls and a dragon' from Dumbledore at Hogsmeade in Harry's sixth year. Harry stopped pacing at glanced back at his wife; she gave him a reassuring glance so he looked back at the rest. "That was probably an over reaction on our part, or maybe not we're not yet sure. But in those years I was there I learned things, which I'm sure Lucius never meant for us to know. First and foremost, He and Tom and Grindelwald, they all seemed, from snatches of information from the older Death Eaters as guards, and when Malfoy would think he had tortured me unto unconsciousness, that they referred to a 'source' of their powers, that's the part I'm not sure of. I do know that they all seemed to get their powers from somewhere." Dumbledore nodded at this information, he had suspected something of the like for years. Second, Lucius' propaganda aside, he did not capture me. I gave myself to him." Cho, Parvati and Dean groaned in unison as he related that tidbit, most everyone else had known. "They had the kids. Our cover had been blown somehow..."
"Harry," Cho interrupted, a perplexed look on her face, "cover...I thought you all were teachers here when the fall happened. I was an Auror based out of the Hong Kong office, and I..."
At her confusion, Harry, Hermione, the Weasley's, Hermione and Draco all chuckled. Luna rolled her eyes at them, but grinned a bit shaking her head ruefully. Harry quickly acted to cut off Cho's hurt look, "Sorry Cho, we just can't believe that the cover still holds." She raised her shapely eyebrows in a mute question, "The Phoenix Group, Cho.... that's us, and about ten levels down, the headquarters are still there and functional."
"But that group, that was a myth, wasn't it? I mean you guys had..."
"All the toys, an unlimited budget and licenses to kill as MI-6 used to say. Yeah Cho we did, still do technically, though I'm not sure Fudge would recognize our charter any longer." Harry replied with an air of dark mirth. "We had Fred and George on gadgets, myself, Hermione, Ginny, Draco, Ron, Luna, along with some others as field agents." Harry glanced over at Hermione who shrugged, he looked back at Cho and gave her a 'sorry' gesture with his hands, "You were actually scheduled to come in for an interview, Cho. Your work in Hong Kong was good. And from what I've heard from Ron and Sirius, your fight to make it back to Britain from Hong Kong, to fight in the resistance was a thing of legend."
Harry nodded to himself as she squirmed in her seat. "Lucius is right now wondering exactly what happened at Azkaban. By now, he should know the place is gone, but there were not any survivors from the Death Eaters as far as we know, some of the Dementors did get away of course, but we all know their loyalty to the current Dark Lord is problematic at best. None of them may have actually deigned to let him know yet. So just in case he doesn't know, I want to remind him." Harry paused once again as he looked over the assembled wizards and witches, his mind's eye filling in the absent friends and loved ones. Lavender, Seamus, Padma, Hagrid, Flitwick, Bill, Fleur, Charlie, Percy, Arthur, Molly... the list was long and tiring, not all of them were dead of course, Molly and Arthur were too old for this fight, and a few of the others were possibly still alive even, especially Bill, Hagrid, Charlie and Fleur, since no one had heard from any of them in nine years and no one had actually seen them die, but the chances were slim.
Harry looked down at his hands, and then growled slightly, as if he were in his animagus form. "Ok, Fred, George...the palace, Fudge and Malfoy are in it, in London?"
Fred glanced at his twin, they had just got beck from that beleaguered city, "Fudge yeah, Harry. He never leaves it any more, ever since he went out last summer to be among the people, and Malfoy had to call out his stormtroopers to save his little puppet. A mixed batch of Muggles and Wizards rioted, though anymore, Malfoy's started registering wands, and taking them away."
"Like any tyrant, he's afraid of the people..." Harry mused aloud, "Malfoy though?"
"Lord Malfoy if you will, Harry, mustn't be disrespectful" George said from the back of the room, and everyone laughed grimly. "He might be, but he seems to be held up somewhere else, most of the time. Easy to tell though, every time he's in there they fly the Death Eater flag above, why?"
Harry didn't answer, he looked at Cho and Parvati, "Ladies, how would you two fancy a bit of street work?" Hermione snapped her gaze over to him, and quietly moaned.
A/N: Next....back at it again...