Yeah, it's been a bit, but I've been busy with RL and other works...
Chapter 28: Yesterday...Yesterday, Seems so Far Away...
*******************************Godric's Hollow***************************
October 31, 2019
1:00 pm
The lion and phoenix over looking the twin, white stones was dirty and weather worn, as Harry dropped to his knees on the overgrown grass covering a pair of graves. Down below, Harry could see the house where he had lived his first year and a half, and then had lived off and on for almost six years after Hogwarts. A small hand found his shoulder and he bent his head towards it, as Hermione's fingers worked gently against the tension. He glanced up and smiled at her slightly before she slid to the grass, to kneel next to him. "Hi, James, Lily," Hermione whispered softly and reached out to touch their headstones.
"Are we ready, Mione?" Harry muttered as she reached out and weaved her fingers through his, she just nodded. "I don't know when we'll be by again, mum, dad." He looked out towards the unseen sea, "We'll bring by Horry and Em when we do, though, if we can. They are back at school; Granddad reopened it, as I guess you already know. I guess Hermione and I and the rest are off to save the world again." As if drawn by his words, he saw another four presences appear down by the house, and he nodded, "From Lucius this time, because we didn't clean up our mess the first time. We'll be back, I promise." Harry stood and held out his hand for Hermione, after kissing the stones; they started off, down the hill towards the house and the waiting Marauders.
Harry and Hermione had already been to the graves of Roger and Jane in Canton, when they had arrived to find the entire village deserted. Not a soul stirred in Godric's Hollow, save the two that paced down an empty street filled with fall leaves and a couple of rusted, broken down cars. "Harry," Ron, said softly as Harry approached. The long, black traveling cloak he wore flapped noisily in the late October winds, "Ready?" Luna shivered, before Ron pulled her into his chest and wrapped his cloak around both of them.
"Yeah," he replied softly, glancing up towards the hill where his parents overlooked the house where their grandchildren had played. "Let's go," Harry said, looking at each of them in turn.
"Where?" Neville asked, with a slight shrug, as he checked his wand's fit in the sheath along his thigh. Ginny glanced over at him, before reaching up and back, pulling her long hair into a tail and tying it back.
Hermione glanced over at Harry, "Budapest," she pulled a small blue ball from a pocket, looked at something in its depths and replaced it.
"You were there, right Harry, a few years back before...?" Ginny asked absently as she reached out for the large flashing Portkey, that Dumbledore had especially charmed to rip through Malfoy's barriers around the island.
Ron grinned slightly as he looked over at Harry and Hermione and the original trio shared an amused smirk, "Yeah, he was, Ginny, and his timing couldn't have been worse..." the Portkey flashed, and the sextet vanished in a fall of color and a rush of wind.
*************************Budpest, Hungary**************************
May 23, 2008 (11 years before)
1:00 pm GMT.
"Why the hell are you here, mate?" Ron growled as he slid up next to Harry and slid a pair of Omniocculars over the low lip of the roof that they were laying on. Far below them, several figures in poorly fitting Muggle clothes stood nervously outside of a warehouse, jumping every time a car drove by. The ancient district they were in was full of old, worn-down buildings like the one Harry and Ron were hiding on or the one they were observing. Several members of the oldest profession were clustered in a group up the street from where the few, poorly disguised Death Eaters were clustered. Harry watched with a small shake of his head as a Police patrolcar pulled up to the group.
One of the girls, a tall raven-haired girl strode over to the car, and bent down into the window. She said something lost in the distance and handed the driver a plain envelope before sharing a rough kiss with him. The car drove away, as the girls waved. Harry rolled his eyes, reminded that Wizard or Muggle it was all the same, except for the car, nothing down their would have been out of place in Knockturn Alley.
Harry looked at Ron and shrugged, before putting the glasses back to his eyes and continuing to observe. "Ron...You know that I married Hermione Granger, right?" Harry asked rhetorically, "and you know that I love that girl more than my own life right?" Ron nodded, puzzled at Harry's point. "She bloody well kicked my arse of the door this morning and told me to get my arse out here, and finish this op. She's already pissed off enough that she's out of the field until after she's had the twins and is cleared by Poppy. And she wants them more than I do, but she also developed the intelligence for this one herself, and I fuck it up...well..." Harry stopped and crooked an eyebrow at Ron, "Come to think of it, why are you here, Harriet's what, six weeks old..."
"Yeah," Ron grinned, and rolled on his back, keeping behind the low lip of the roof and out of sight of the street below, "I have new pictures," he added with an odd, happy smile.
"Cool," Harry replied and waved for an agent to take over observation as he slid down to look at Ron's new pictures of his Goddaughter. In the first, Luna was sitting in a large, wooden rocking chair that Harry knew was on the porch of the Burrow, cradling Harriet in her arms as she smiled up at the camera, occasionally waving and every so often picking up Harriet's limp arm to wave. In the light of the twilight setting, when the picture had been taken, the already thick blonde hair of the infant was taking on the reddish highlights she got from her father. "That's a good one, bro."
"Here," Ron handed him another one as he took the first picture back, "you can keep this one, it's a copy I had made for you and Herms." Harry silently nodded his thanks as he took the new picture and his heart hitched for an instant as he saw the teary chocolate eyes of his very pregnant wife, holding a sleeping Harriet to her chest and rocking her. She was smiling softly as she looked down at the infant and then up, towards himself. It was the day that he and Hermione had taken the oath to be the Godparents to Harriet, just like Ron and Luna already knew of and had accepted Harry and Hermione's wishes for them to do likewise for the newest Potters. "She's gorgeous," Harry whispered unconsciously.
"Yeah she is, gets it from me," Ron smirked.
"I meant Mione, dufus," Harry retorted softly, "but yeah...they're both beautiful. Are you really sure Harriet's yours, Ron, I can see Luna in her, but..." Harry grinned as Ron growled at him.
"Boss, they're moving," Sean Asten snapped, lowly, as his partner, a small, reddish blonde girl, rolled over the top, and loaded a sniper rifle with silver.
Harry kissed the picture of Hermione, before slipping it into a pocket of his combat rig. He reached down, patted his wands in their leg sheathes, pulled a pistol from its holster at the small of his back, checked the load and reholstered the weapon. He looked back over the roof, at the five additional agents with him, "GO!" he snapped and vanished.
*****************************Hogwarts, Transfiguration 2********************
1:05 pm GMT
Hermione Potter was sitting, propped against the corner of her desk, watching as her first year class was trying to turn mice into teacups. The sudden crunch and tinkling sound of broken china seemed to indicate that it wasn't going that well. She sighed and placed both hands over her rounded belly, wishing furiously that Harry was here. I made him go, he didn't want to, but I made him, damn duty...sometimes I wish I had been a Hufflepuff.
Her head shook at her sudden thought as Jamie Spinerett, a cousin of Angelina's, dropped her mouse on the floor and several girls jumped up on their chairs screeching. Hermione rolled her eyes; she had never understood why girls were supposed to be afraid of mice. "Crookshanks...go," she whispered as her Familiar snapped into motion, leaping from her desk, bounding once off the front-most table, right between two Gryffindor firsties that had yet to hit their mouse with a spell, let alone change it, to land as a ginger-colored streak. A quick, non-scuffle later, Crookshanks hopped up on Jamie's table, dropped the unharmed mouse in front of her and sauntered off back to his mistress. Hermione grinned down at him as she scratched his ears in reward.
Hermione's hand froze as she felt a warm dampness running down her legs. She fell back against the desk slightly as she took a breath, "THAT WILL BE ENOUGH FOR TODAY," she announced calmly, though her heart was suddenly racing. "I would like two feet from each of you on his assignment in one week, dismissed." Harry, love...now would be a good time to come home...I really wish I hadn't made you go, a flicker of fear snapped along her nerves as she watched the last of the first years leave and followed them out of the classroom, with Crookshanks on her heels. She slowly started to walk towards the Hospital Wing, not trusting herself to Apparate without nature's cushioning intact for her children. She started on the stairs, took a breath, and muttered imprecations about her own ancestors who designed this castle with so many stairs.
Curiously, not a single staircase moved while she was on her way, in fact every one she needed was sitting, waiting for her as she climbed to the Hospital Wing. She stepped in the door, and looked around until she found Poppy tending to Wade Wilder, he had evidentially annoyed a Stinging Mountain Rose in Herbology. She spun to the door at the bell announcing a patient and found Hermione, who just gave her a nod. "Take this and don't annoy the plants again," Poppy growled forcefully, handing the boy a slightly glowing yellow potion, before she hurried over to Hermione. "It's time then, dear?" she asked softly, already knowing.
Poppy led Hermione to a small, decorated room adjacent to the infirmary with only one large bed. Several glowing orbs were hovering over the head of the bed, along with an assortment of other medical necessities. "Sit on the bed, Hermione," she paused, and flicked her wand at the door, knowing that the news of Hermione being in labor would be all over the school in minutes anyway, but that there were things better not heard. "How fast are they coming, dear?" she asked as she helped Hermione lie back on the bed and shed her heavy outer robe. "And should I send for Harry?"
A flash of pain whipped across Hermione's face, but Poppy knew from the monitors, it was from her comment only. "About 5 minutes apart," Hermione responded as Poppy began to run a faintly glowing wand down her belly. "Harry's on assignment Poppy," Hermione whispered, "I made him go, he didn't want to, but I didn't want them to miss the chance to recover it..." Pomfrey nodded, as she didn't even want to know what "it" was. Hermione shuddered slightly and reached out to grab Poppy as she started to move away, "He'll be here," Hermione voice held a hint of fear, but more over a sense of total irrefutability, "he has never let me down."
"I know, child," Poppy whispered to the twenty-year-old girl as she went to go secure supplies, this almost ludicrously powerful witch, who was scared out of her wits, desperately needing her other half and too much a Gryffindor to ever admit it to anyone but him.
********************************Budapest********************************
1:10 pm GMT
Both Death Eaters guarding the door, spun with wands drawn at a soft scraping noise, and crumpled as a blur shot between them, dancing out of the shadowed alley. Harry straightened at the door, not turning as a pair of SG-1 agents pulled the Death Eaters into the alley. Harry shared a nod with Ron as the redhead pulled a baklava down over his face and waved towards the door. Harry drew both his wands and took a step back, as Ron pointed his wand at the door and pulled a suppressed pistol with his other hand. Alohomora, the door clicked open and they eased in. The door closed behind them, as a pair of agents took the place of the Death Eaters in the late Eater's outfits.
As the door closed behind Harry and Ron, they were plunged into darkness, broken only by the light spilling from an open doorway several meters down the hall. Harry slipped to the door, and paused, hearing two rough voices from within. He held up two fingers to Ron, who nodded, took a breath and rolled around the corner. Two muffled pops sounded from the room, as Harry stepped around the corner. Ron looked up from the two Death Eaters and frowned slightly. He pointed at a an odd black stain spreading from the wound of one of the Eaters, "Hermione was right," Ron muttered, "silver reaction, they were werewolves."
Harry nodded as he crept to the closed door at the other end of the room. He reached out to the door with his left hand wand, and froze. His breathing became ragged, as he turned to Ron, with his eyes glowing softly. "I need to get home," he stood and turned towards the door, Ron gulped as the air seemed to crackle with power, "and Lucius' minions are between me and there." His fingers flicked and the door opened.
Harry took one step into the room and stopped as ten Death Eaters standing around a large, open crate in the center of an almost otherwise empty warehouse looked up. All ten drew their wands and pointed them at the door, then around the room as Harry vanished from in front of their eyes. "Surrender, NOW!" Harry snapped, his voice thundering in every ear.
"Get him," the tallest one roared, firing off a curse into the darkness.
A black blur danced out of the gloom. Harry stepped right, ASPHYXIATIA, DIFFINDO, a Death Eater fell away, his hands to his throat as the first watched his wand hand fall away still holding his wand. Harry spun and vanished as eight Kedavras shot through the space he had occupied. Two more Death Eaters crumpled as the Eaters' spells claimed their own.
A black lion bounded from out of the shadows, opening the throat of a Death Eater as he passed, bounded once and with a crunch of impact another fell. Harry SHIFTED back to human, stepped right and sliced upwards with a suddenly-appeared sword. Harry ducked backwards under a swing from an axe-armed Eater, and swung sideways. A head fell away into the dark, as Harry flung out a hand and summoned another Death Eater onto the return stroke of his sword.
Two wands clattered onto the concrete floor as the pair of remaining Death Eaters raised their hands over their heads. A spot of darkness solidified in front of them, and Harry gestured annoyedly.
Glowing steel cables pinned their arms to their sides as Harry walked over to the crate and looked within, "It looks like it's here," he commented as Ron walked up behind him, summoning the fallen Death Eaters' wands as he came. A large, rune inscribed book was sitting in the straw, emitting a faint greenish light. "Natasha," Harry yelled as a tall, black haired witch in SG-1 blacks stepped into the room with a wizard's staff cradled in her arms, "clean up here, send the book to the Department of Mysteries."
"Won't Hermione want to look at it?" she asked, as another pair of agents nodded at her wave and started to search the fallen Death Eaters.
"She's a bit busy right now," Harry replied, softly, as he grabbed Ron's arm and vanished taking the redhead with him.
**************************************Hogwarts**************************
1:45 pm
Poppy looked into the side room where she had placed Hermione and winced as a glass vase shattered on the bedside table as another pulse of magic snapped out from the brunette witch. Hermione grunted and rolled onto her side, curling up into a ball the best she could. Her eyes were oddly bright as she looked over to Poppy, pleadingly. Poppy gave her a small smile, and placed a cool cloth on her head before walking back out into the main Infirmary, and closing the door behind her.
"How is she?" a concerned, tight burr asked as Pomfrey come out into the room. Poppy gave a tiny shake of her head, and a slight motion of her head towards the few students occupying beds. She led McGonagall into her office, and closed the door behind her.
"Your bloody damn Gryffindors need to learn when to put duty aside, Minerva," Poppy snapped heatedly, then took a breath, "The stupid girl sent Harry away, to go complete some mission, she needs him here." Poppy frowned at McGonagall, and at the older witch's nod, poured her a cup of tea from a service set on a side table.
"What's wrong?" Minerva inquired softly, her eyes flicking unconsciously in the direction towards where Hermione was lying.
"What I was afraid of," Poppy replied quietly, "right now she has little control of her own magic, and on top of that, she has twins, both of whom will probably be nearly as powerful as their parents."
"I've been at the births of other witches and wizards, Poppy," Minerva objected softly, "and they don't usually have these bouts of spontaneous magic, that..." a wave of magic snapped out, shaking the tea service, "damn near shake the castle apart."
"The witch's and the infants' magical levels can usually be measured on the standard scale too," Pomfrey retorted and started to gather items. "Also in a way, she's unconsciously protecting her children, even from me. She doesn't trust me, not without Harry here to keep her rational mind in control," she staggered slightly as another pulse snapped out rattling glassware in a cabinet behind her desk. Pomfrey frowned and left her office at a run, only to realize, all of a sudden, that the air was calm, and only the normal soft buzz of magic at Hogwarts surrounded her.
She took a step into Hermione's room and with a soft sigh of relief; she knew the reason for the quiet.
Harry was kneeling next to the bed, with his head leaning on the bed next to hers and the fingers of her right hand intertwined firmly with those of his left. Hermione's fingers were slowly combing through his hair, as if it were her doing the comforting instead of him. As she came around the edge of the bed, a faint blue glow could be seen from Harry's almost closed eyes.
"Are you in any pain, child?" Poppy asked as she ran a wand over Hermione and raised her eyebrows at the results that printed themselves out on the clipboard floating after her.
Hermione ran her bottom lip through her teeth as she ran her thumb over the back of Harry's hand, she didn't look up as she responded; "I've been in worse." She laughed softly, "Who would have thought the Cruciatus would be training for childbirth..." Harry laughed with her without opening his eyes.
McGonagall and Pomfrey shook their heads as one, "It could still be a few hours, Hermione, I will check on you in a while." She looked down at Harry, "You should probably get comfortable, Harry, or there is time for you to get something to eat, if you would like to."
"I'll stay here," Harry replied not moving from his uncomfortable spot kneeling on the hard stone floor. Poppy and Minerva nodded and stepped from the room, closing the door behind them once more. "I'm sorry, Mione," Harry whispered, "I should have been here."
"I told you to go, Harry," she whispered, and winced as a contraction shot through her, "now get up off
that floor, and help me up, we'd probably both be more comfortable."
"Really?" Harry said hopefully.
"You, anyway," Hermione corrected, "but I'll feel better, at least." She smiled at him, as Harry flowed to his feet and pulled her to her feet. She let out a small sigh, snuggled back into his arms as he wrapped them around her from behind, and closed her eyes. "Did we eat least get it?"
"Of course," Harry responded in a mock-affronted tone, "don't I normally do what you ask?" She nodded and brought one of his hands to her lips where it rested against her belly and kissed it, before replacing it back on her stomach. "I had the book sent to the Department of Mysteries, didn't think you'd want to be reading black magic anytime soon." Hermione waved at the wall and watched as the bricks rearranged themselves into a doorway. Grabbing Harry's hand, she pulled him out onto the balcony and looked out over the Hogwarts grounds. Far off in the distance, she could see Norbert flying through the waterfall at the far end of the canyon leading to the lake. Hermione let out a small laugh as down near Hagrid's hut, in the other direction, several tiny dots were running, screaming as something large and furry chased them.
"You're probably right," she agreed as a small orb floated over her, relaying her vitals to Pomfrey. "I wish that our parents were here, Harry," she muttered after a bit.
"Me too, baby, but they're watching," Harry replied as he looked over her shoulder at the scene. He squeezed her hand, "Ron went and got Luna; there's a crowd outside waiting." He frowned, considering the scene he had left, "The twins and Sirius started a pool," he shrugged.
"They do know that I can get them through that wall, right?" Hermione smirked, and winced as another contraction hit. She turned with a grunt, to look at him.
"They like living dangerously," Harry replied with a shrug, "what can I say?"
"Promise that our kids won't grow up like them?" Hermione pleaded, slightly.
"Sorry, love, bad genes for that."
"That's alright," Hermione giggled softly, then groaned. "What time does Dumbledore have?"
"Sorry, Mione, he has five thirty," Harry apologized and reached up, pushing a damp curl out of her eyes and behind an ear. He bent forward to kiss her forehead. "Has Poppy given you anything, or are you wanting to..."
"Harry, I've been shot, hit, tortured, had Dark Lords in my dreams and mind...I've had enough in my life, to know better...She can't because 'I'm special'," Hermione rolled her eyes and glanced pointedly in the direction of Poppy's office. She gave Harry an odd look, and don't you go taking all the pain away, Harry, she added suddenly, as she felt any discomfort start to vanish totally, he moderated his efforts, That's fine you can take the edge off, but you aren't doing the 'I'm guilty' thing.
I love you, Mione.
Yeah, you too. She sighed and pulled on his hand again, leading him back to the door, Let's go walk around the corridors and you can tell me about the mission.
Harry looked at her, and let her lead him from the room, Do you want to see Molly and all of them? She just shook her head and walked, slowly until she reached a barely protruding stone, she pressed it and watched as the wall opened. Do you really want to wander away from the Hospital?
We'll be fine, now that you're here, Harry, Hermione replied, and besides we're not going far. A long line of torches blazed to life to light the hidden corridor in a soft, yellow glow. The pair of them clumped along, for several dozen yards before Hermione pressed another stone, opening another door and slipping back into the main passages. Hermione looked back at him and indulgently let him hold her, as they walked down the hall. They waved to a pair of Hufflepuff fifth-years who whispered behind their hands as the duo passed, When are they going to give up giggling every time we pass?
Never as long as you are soo cute, Harry replied, and kissed her on the cheek. They passed out onto one of the flying bridges that connected the Hospital wing with the Astronomy tower. Hermione took a breath and leaned against him as they looked down, at least five stories onto the grounds below. After a moment, several owls and a large eagle rolled over the top of the covered bridge and dove at something far below. We got the book; it was shipped in under a Muggle carrier just like you said.
Hermione nodded, only half paying attention as they watched several seventh year DADA students, probably Auror candidates, working with Wizard Staffs. The clank of wood on wood carried up all the way to them from their practice field on the lawn. Ever since Harry's acceptance of the DADA professorship the class, especially the NEWT levels were more, serious. The twins will be here in eleven years, Merlin willing.
Yeah...He grinned at her, so...think of all the stuff we can teach them, Hermione.
Don't go planning on getting my babies expelled before they even get here, Harry.
We never got expelled.
We probably should have been, Hermione shot back, and Harry nodded after a bit. She grabbed her stomach once more and looked over, Let's go back in, Hermione reached up to play with the hair on the back of his head, you should let Dobby bring you something to eat. Harry opened his mouth to object. No baby, you haven't ate anything since yesterday, have you?
I'll be fine Hermione, Harry objected as they started back. He held the door open for her, guiding her through the door with a hand on the small of her back.
Oh, I forgot, I already had a kid to take care of, silly me, Hermione grinned as Harry mouthed , "Yes, mum." She giggled slightly as Harry Disillusioned them both and they slipped past a large crowd populating the benches outside of the main Infirmary. Molly was holding Harriet and rocking her in a conjured, oak rocker. Ron was sitting on a long wood bench, with his head thrown back against the wall, and his feet pushed out in front of him. Luna was sleeping with her head on his lap; Hermione knew she had not gotten much sleep the night before. The twins had conjured a large chalkboard, and had written names and times down on it.
They noticed that Tonks had 3:20am, and glanced over to see the Auror had arrived, looking pregnant, with a fifteen-month-old Xander dressed in a tiny Quidditch robe asleep next to her. Lupin was probably still at the Ministry, as he had complained, half-heartedly to Harry the other day that all the female Aurors and agents either seemed to be pregnant, or still on maternity leave, so he was even more understaffed. Harry hadn't really listened to him, as his wife was one of those Aurors.
Ginny was sitting next to her, holding Elliot with one hand as she read the prophet she had propped up against a raised knee with the other. She was still wearing her Auror uniform, with the shoulder flash indicating that she was still a trainee, in the, in her case, extremely abbreviated program. She thanked Dobby softly as the elf popped in and handed her a mug of coffee, before giving one of tea to Molly, and a goblet of Pumpkin Juice to Tonks. Hermione started to giggle again, almost giving them away before Harry silenced her with his hand, and pulled her back into the room.
5:45 pm
The entire extended clan had appeared from everywhere and anywhere to be here at this time. Sirius had returned about an hour ago from an assignment in Romania, flushed from running all the way from the gates to the grounds that marked the edge of the Apparation wards. Lupin had arrived not ten minutes later, still in his work robes, with his badge hanging around his neck on a chain from where he had had to go look into a Death Eater sighting in Bristol. He had immediately sat next to Tonks and picked up Xander and set him on his lap, quieting the child from where he had woken noisily. Tonks gave him a grateful look and leaned against, sighing slightly.
Molly had returned Harriet to her mother and was pacing back and forth, talking a mile a minute to Arthur who along with his security detail had appeared an hour into the vigil. Fortunately there was enough of a presence of the MLE and Unspeakables to send the detail away to hang out somewhere else. Which from the look that Jacob had been wearing, was much appreciated. All of them, except the kids, who were thankfully all sleeping, looked up as Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall approached from the direction of the Headmaster's office and paused, just inside the waiting nook. Dumbledore smiled and looked to the door to the Hospital, and as if his arrival had been a signal, it opened slowly.
Harry eased out into the room, still in his blacks, though with only his wands still strapped to his side, he had vanished his vest and sidearm back to his quarters, and paused to take a breath as everyone silently looked to him. Harry looked down at where he was absently flexing his right hand and rubbing it with his left. He looked up with a tired grin; he took a breath, "Sorry guys, Poppy had to, uhh, heal my hand..." Muted laughter came from the waiting audience. Harry glanced over at Fred, who was manning the chalkboard, then at the rest of the awaiting audience, "For the record, and the to settle the books," Harry said wryly, "Emilia Jane Potter was born at 5:15 weighing in at five pounds four ounces and sixteen inches long." Xander stirred slightly and whined in his sleep, causing Tonks to stand up with him and start bouncing slightly. Harry chuckled at the interruption, "And her brother, who already seems to have the relaxed attitude of his namesake decided to come greet us ten minutes later. Horatio Sirius Potter," he paused as Sirius jumped up and held his joined hands as if he had won a race, "done Padfoot?"
"Almost," Sirius replied and did a small jig before returning to his seat amid loud whispers for him to "Sit down and let Harry speak."
Harry laughed, "My son came in at the same height as his sister, but a ounce heavier," he added in a slightly choked voice. He took a breath, "Mum and the twins are sleeping, fine." He was almost immediately crushed by a hug from Molly, "Can't breathe..." he muttered and she let him go with a tittering laugh. Harry suffered through embraces from the rest of the family, until finally Luna let him go, kissed his cheek and took Harriet back from Molly where she had handed her while she was congratulating Harry.
Harriet cried, hungrily, as Molly handed her back and Luna glanced over at Ron and nodded towards a side room. Ron nodded, and turned to Harry, he threw his arms around him, and rapped his back sharply, "Congrats bro," Ron whispered, his voice almost as choked as Harry's had been. "Hermione alright?" Harry nodded and stepped back, wavering slightly on his feet. Ron's hand shot out, catching him before anyone else noticed, "Let's get you something to eat," Harry shook his head and started to turn back to the Hospital wing, Ron rolled his eyes and tossed his arm around Harry's shoulders, "Hermione will be asleep for a bit, probably, and even if she isn't she'll want you to take care of yourself mate, come on," he whispered and started to lead a mostly unresisting Harry towards the Great Hall where Dinner was now being served. "I'm going to take Harry to get something to eat," he announced in a normal tone of voice and the pair left by the door that Dumbledore had arrived at.
Behind them, over by the twin's tote board, Dumbledore took possession of a small sack of gold, which he pocketed with a smile.
**************************Budapest, Hungary***************************
November 2, 2019
2:20 am
A pair of shadowed shapes sat huddled together on a balcony of a sixth floor room of the old, ruined Muggle Hilton, overlooking the shattered city. They sat back, under the lee of the half-fallen balcony from the room above as a black, winged shadow passed between them and the clouds above them for a minute before flying on with the odd, warbling roar of a Siberian Acid Dragon. Harry sighed, and looked back into the room, through the glassless frame of a sliding door at the lumpy, double sleeping bag on the floor of the room, with only Ginny's long red hair showing in the dim light from a metal can of Gabrathian Fire, which Hermione had summoned for warmth, on this early November night. Up on the broken bed, Ron and Luna were tightly wrapped up together in another double bag. Ron was silently snoring, courtesy of the Silencing Charm Harry had cast soon after he and Hermione had taken the watch.
They had arrived in Budapest to find the conditions much as they were in London, with a few select Death Eaters and their supporters living much as they had done before the war, with the majority of the Muggle population living as best they could in the absence of electricity and heating fuels. Every so often far below, the flicker of spell fire or more rarely the discharge of a Muggle weapon broke the snowy darkness as some Death Eater on patrol, or a Muggle defending himself, or trying to survive would come in dispute. Hermione shivered slightly, before worming her way back under the cover of Harry's cloak.
Winter had come early, hastened by the small, hundred-ton, boulder that American forces had dropped from space on a concentration of X'Sheen a couple of hundred miles away where they had gathered in a wilderness area for some odd reason. For whatever reason they had had, it had not been a wise choice as the "clean" strike had utterly destroyed that force, at the cost of a temporary weather shift for the region. Unfortunately, there were still Legions more, dark forces untouched. Hermione gave him an invisible smile as he wrapped his arms around her, trying to share their body heat. Go into the catacombs in the morning? Harry asked as they watched another of the Dragons that Malfoy's European forces tended to use to patrol over the captured cities, which no one really controlled.
In the end, as Dumbledore had avowed earlier, the main factor holding together Malfoy's empire was his enslaved legions of X'Sheen. An estimate by the American Wizarding Intelligence Agency, the counterpart to the Unspeakables of Britain from before the war, estimated that there were perhaps as many as five hundred thousand actual Death Eaters under arms in the world. This was verses a population of at least ten million wizards or witches worldwide with at least some degree of magical ability, if untrained in many cases, and a population of almost seven billion humans at the start of the war. The count of other fully sentient creatures, centaurs, house-elves, merpeople and higher-level familiar animals and others was unknown but substantial as well. That was what the situation had been at the start of the current phase of the struggle seven years ago; now the population map had changed. Many, many had died of starvation, abuse and other factors, the numbers of which had yet to be, and might never be truly tallied.
However as dark as that statistic was, there was an odd light at the end of the tunnel, providing that humanity didn't destroy itself, or let its ancient enemy do it for them. Since the founding of Hogwarts, over a thousand years ago, the number of Muggle born children and half bloods had been more or less constant with the numbers ebbing and growing, but always staying at about ten percent of the population for the Muggle born births and perhaps as much as thirty percent as Muggle borns for the half blood students, where only one parent was a wizard or witch. The main reason for this was of course, simple. Muggle borns and half-bloods alike, tended to marry other wizards and witches, in effect making their family lines purely Wizarding after a generation or two, though those lines still tended to occasionally intermarry with the general human population. The Pureblood lines, the true ones that had only married based on genealogy were slowly dying out and being replaced by other "pureblood" lines created only by longevity to keep the ratio of "Purebloods" approximately the same as the others.
That had been the case, up until the destruction of the Chamber of Secrets. When it had died along with the last known Heir of Slytherin, the odd force that had been gathering power for ten centuries had died with it, and along with that, the force that had been suppressing magical births, especially among Muggles. When Emilia and Horatio had been born, Minerva McGonagall had already been making plans on how to handle the largest first year class in nine hundred years, with the increase almost entirely due to Muggle borns. It would have been even higher, one would suppose, save that so many wizards had died, at least in the region that Hogwarts served in the twenty years of on and off warfare that had preceded that event.
In the dim evening, lit only by a bit of back-scattered light from the fire behind them, Hermione's thoughts were, in the main, not here but thousands of miles away, among rugged highlands and inside ancient stone walls. I suppose, Hermione replied inattentively, we've had the entrance under surveillance for the last two days with no movement. Godric's manuscript said to go to where the keepers of time rested their heads, forever. Budapest is the city where the Wizard Baralan Tabor and his followers created the first Time Turners. Considering the time when he wrote the clue, this is probably where he meant.
They'll be fine, Hermione, Harry whispered leaning forward to kiss her hair, and pulling her back to him, tighter, as he took a sip from a large mug of conjured coffee. Hermione reached back and grabbed the mug from him and took a sip, before handing it back. Ewww--Hermione spit, Harry teased.
I'll remember that the next time you want a kiss, and as if to prove her point, she leaned back and kissed him pushing back into his lips, see, I remembered it. I know Harry, I know. It's just that...I never wanted this for my kids Harry, we both lost our parents to this...and Em and Horry aren't stupid. They know what we are up against, they know that we might not come home to them...Harry didn't reply. Behind them Ginny muttered something about someone hurting Neville. She started to thrash about until Neville's soft tenor muttered to her, and she calmed back down, murmuring in her sleep. Harry ran his fingers through his hair, frowning before he looked back to the outside. That girl and her sister we pulled from McDuer...Makaila and her sister, Caitlin-both of them were going to be slaves Harry, more or less, they could have been our kids-or me if we had failed in the slightest way with Tommy.
We got them out, Mione, Harry reminded her, as they watched a pair of red bolts snap across the skyline in the distance. She nodded, and pulled Lily's wand from the holster strapped down her left thigh and started to twirl it absently through her fingers. They sat silently for minutes more, sharing the mug between them until it was gone, watching as several figures hurried down the street, trying to avoid the attention of several toughs standing on a darkened corner. They passed on with only some comments shouted to the shorter of the figures.
Em and Horry were so brave when you were gone Harry, Hermione said after the group had escaped, you would have been proud...we used to talk about having more kids...do you still want to?
Yes, but like usual, our life is fucking with us, Harry replied bitterly, and rested his head on top of hers.
Someday, Harry, someday...Harry?
Yeah?
About Makaila and Catilin, I've spent some time with them...they need a family, Harry. They are all that either one has left...the Eaters killed their parents in front of them when they took them...Makaila should have been at Hogwarts not at Delores' little school six years ago, not in hiding from Lucius' little nibblers...and definitely not as convenient punching bags for whatever Death Nibbler came along.
Harry sighed and ran his finger through his hair. He scrubbed his scalp vigorously before frowning slightly, and looking out into the night. That's a big step, Mione...We need to talk to Em and Horry.
Yeah, we do.
A/N There you go, I love this universe, I've just had issues with it...Thanks as usual to Lady Starlight
for her work on this chapter.