Unofficial Portkey Archive

By the third week of the Paladin Program, Harry and his two regular female visitors had developed a standard procedure to help them resist the first minutes of more primal urges caused by the potion. If they met at Mrs. Figg's, the front door would be unlocked and Harry would knock on it, wait for a ten count, and slowly open the door, holding tightly to the door handle and frame. If he was visiting with Hermione, she would be standing in the doorway leading to the back of the house, holding herself in check in like manner. Then they would carefully and slowly move to sit at the opposite ends of the sofa after the initial compulsion to run lips first at each other had passed. Mrs. Figg, who'd been watching over them, would leave when the two had entered the more objective part of their time together. In each new visit it took less and less time and effort to contol their urges - this was the design purpose of this part of the visit. At the Dursleys' residence, the process would be reversed with Hermione holding tightly to the front door, Harry gripping the frame at the end of the hallway, and Petunia looking on. If it was Ginny Harry was visiting with, she would not have to hold onto the doorframe, not being on the Acceleration Potion, but she kept her distance in either house, removing temptation from Harry's immediate proximity. By the time the young Paladins had participated in their fourth or fifth visit with a member of the opposite sex, they had all gained enough strength of will to resist without overwhelming effort. They'd felt the urge, but it had begun to dissipate somewhat, and their developing willpower made the time needed to resist shorter and easier each visit. Most chaperones for these early moments eventually saw that they were not needed in this role, but still watched. In another week most Paladins were not chaperoned at all. The urge was almost inconsequential and resistance was easy enough. Back on the second Thursday of the program, Hermione had been very excited to tell Harry all about how her father and mother had been able to provide real assistance to the Paladin Program. Her father had helped many of the aspiring champions settle into a meaningful routine of physical exercise and conditioning. Many Paladin participants had favorably commented on the magical videotapes of Ted Granger's exercises and flexibility martial arts training. That no complaint had come from Professor Snape and the few Slytherin participants, whoever they were, was also proof of the tape and program's merit and acceptance. One afternoon, during a relatively loose study time, Hedwig arrived with Harry's owl posts. There was not only his copy of the Daily Prophet, but he also received the new issue of the Quibbler. He was shocked to see a picture of himself fighting off dementors on the front cover. No such picture had ever been taken. He immediately thought of the disreputable Muggle tabloids that had fabricated pictures of events that had never occurred. But then he read the headline underneath the picture:

Harry Potter Fights Dementors All Over England
By Training His Fellow Students with the Patronus Charm
His Exact Instructions Inside - Complete and Unabridged!

The picture was a bit sensational, obviously faked, but the idea came across if you read the first two headlines. There was a map of Great Britain in the background. The moving picture on the front cover showed Harry raising his wand and casting the charm. His stag Patronus burst forth and dementors scattered everywhere. If you read the third headline you would probably want to buy a copy off the newsstand, which was a necessity for the Quibbler to stay in business. He couldn't blame Sol Lovegood for trying to profit from his publishing efforts. Harry just hoped people would understand the symbolism of the picture. He also hoped they would read and put into practice what he had written. He knew there was no call to blame himself because people he'd never met had been dementor kissed hundreds of miles away. But he felt a cold stab in his heart every time it occurred - he hurt for those lost and those who had lost someone. He quickly paged through this issue of The Quibbler to see what else was in it. He saw a list of sightings of impossible animals and other creatures, but no Crumple Horned Snorkacks. There was a report a few pages from the back about the latest accusations of Minister Fudge's attacks on goblins. All in all, this issue contained nothing too outlandish to negate the veracity of his Patronus casting instructions. Actually there wasn't that much about him personally. His instructions were highlighted throughout. This issue had been designed primarily to be a service to the wizarding community. There wasn't even a mention of the pathetic recommendations by the Ministry of Magic regarding how to resist a dementor attack. Not trying to brag, but having read that useless guide to self-protection when it had been published, Harry felt there was no comparison. The Quibbler had delivered a helpful bit of information, he hoped. The Ministry and the Daily Prophet had not. There were interviews with all of the students who had fought off dementors all over Great Britain, except for Cho Chang. The reporters had not been allowed to interrupt her studies at the wizarding archeological preserve at Woodhenge. There was little in each interview about him. Harry appreciated the fact that instead, each sub-article spent most of the column inches talking about the specific student interviewed, their hopes and aspirations, and how they had specifically fought the dementors - what their happiest thoughts were and how they went about concentrating on them instead of the dementors drawing near. After he finished reading all of the interviews he realized the points raised in each interview supported the major points of his instructions. He owled the Lovegoods, congratulating them on the excellent issue of their magazine. ______________________________________________ It has been said, and is well known, that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. That statement will be a universal truth as long humans are human. In the story of the beauty and the beast, the beastly looking and acting beast revealed his attractiveness over time. A beautiful woman at first glance can be 'hard-looking' after a conversation where she reveals her harsh opinions and cruel demeanor. The handsome Gilderoy Lockhart lost his appeal upon closer inspection. Professor of Astronomy at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Artemis Sinistra, disliked her first name as much as Nymphadora Tonks hated hers. Like Tonks, she was halfblood - quarter-blood actually, Sinistra's maternal grandmother was a Muggle - but unlike Tonks she'd never successfully convinced everyone to call her by her last name only. She had grown up in a mixed Muggle and Magical village and she played with several little Muggle boys who thought Artemis was a man's name. They nicknamed her 'Artie,' and quickly forgot all about any stigma with either name. She never forgot. She was hardworking, ambitious, brave, and clever. She presented an unusual challenge to the Sorting Hat at her first year Welcoming Feast. If the Sorting Hat did not immediately discern a House affiliation for a first year, it usually had a difficult choice between two houses only - Gryffindor/Slytherins were not too uncommon, surprisingly. Neither were Hufflepuff/Slytherin or Ravenclaw/Slytherin choice conflicts. Hufflepuffs were common choice conflicts with all other houses. Ravenclaw/Gryffindor choice conflicts were the most rare. The ancient hat thought Artemis Sinistra would have fit well in any house, and said so to the not too far from twelve-year-old. She was just a few days too young to have received her Hogwarts letter the year before, so she was the oldest and tallest of her year. She'd had a shouting match about her first name with Polinder Whitkins on the Hogwarts train, and when the hat mentioned the problem of where to place her, Sinistra said, "The house where most people call each other by their last names." "Slytherin!" the hat shouted. She was overjoyed by the selection for just less than three minutes - just long enough for young Mister Whitkins to also be selected for Slytherin. Her dorm mates verbally attacked her on her first night because of her blood status. Argus Filch found them gagged, bound, and tied to a suit of armor in a little-used corridor just before sunrise. Artemis Sinistra's paternal grandmother believed a young witch should be able to protect herself. By the third day of her first year she was sitting at the opposite end from the rest of the Slytherin table during meals. She stayed in the library while it was open. And Artemis sat in the corner of her common room least visited by others. She was a loner in all appearances and in all practices and even temperament, but she did want friends - at least a few. She was not clever enough to make excellent grades without hard work. She worked hard only because she was ambitious. She only went after her goals with such abandon because she was brave enough to overcome her fears. And she was only brave enough to overcome her problems because she was bright enough to know it was her only chance to succeed. She thought of herself as perfectly mixed up in her first year. She thought of herself as the perfect Hogwarts mixture by her seventh year. In the interim years she'd gathered around her, and spent as much time as possible with, the misfits of her year at Hogwarts - the misfits who upset everyone in their seventh year. They made the most "outstanding" grades on their N.E.W.T.s. They made the best reports and speeches. They won three out of five of the Dueling Club top seats. They volunteered for responsibilities no one else wanted and made the most of those positions. And they claimed their victories for their misfits group, not their respective houses. The original Artemis was the Greek goddess of the hunt, the twin sister of Apollo, daughter of Zeus, and quite beautiful. As a professor, Artemis Sinistra was not considered beautiful by her first and second year students. From their shorter viewing angle, her large jaw and sharp nose were exaggerated, and she visited all of her students with a disconcerting stare when they displeased her. Even so, she was very patient and very careful that all her students had a firm grounding in Astronomy, regardless of their year or house. The Astronomy professor wore her hair in a no-nonsense, easy to maintain, severe bun under her hat. Her hat had a pointed brim that came down to the middle of her forehead. Whenever she took off her hat to look through her telescope, her severe hairstyle, parted down the middle, emphasized the prominence of her nose. With any other, more flattering style, she probably wouldn't have been thought of as large-nosed. Her dark blue eyes had a penetrating gaze that made most people feel that she was trying to see through them, and beyond. Her concentration made her eyes seem harsh. She was a large woman - not fat at all - but almost six feet tall and configured in a manner that would be pleasing to a man of six and half feet. She had always maintained her weight and exercised - a most un-witchlike occupation in the main. An equivalently proportioned woman of five and a half feet in height would be considered wonderfully put together. Large jaw, pointed nose, severe hairstyle, penetrating eyes, larger than usual - all of these added up to a woman not considered very attractive by most. The exact opposite was true. It would have taken Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown no time at all with their lotions and cosmetics to turn the chief Hogwarts Stargazer into a great beauty. All they would need to do would be the opposite of what the Astronomy professor did to herself on a daily basis. Artemis Sinistra, with a softer hair arrangement, a little make-up, and laughing at a joke, was very beautiful. Few realized this, but one of them was a co-worker. Artemis Sinistra was four years older than Severus Snape, which meant nothing now that they were thirty-six and forty, but at eleven and fifteen, there had been an eternity between them. The mixed misfit group she congregated with did not have a chapter in the class three years below. Had they, Snape would have found a home and friends. But Sinistra's stand-out misfit group was a one-class-year phenomenon, not seen before in memory, and not seen since. ~*~ Severus Snape found himself a Death Eater before he truly understood all of the ramifications of that designation. Artemis Sinistra found herself a target of the Death Eaters before she knew it - and before they knew it also. Sinistra, as she insisted on being called, entered the service of the Ministry of Magic working for the prestigious but little known Committee on Experimental Charms. She started in research in a hard-working demeaning clerk position, but she quickly became involved in specific charm analysis. In a few years, following a convoluted but interesting to her preparatory regime, she just might be accepted into the relatively secretive Arithmanic Spell Crafters Apprentice Program. Unfortunately, her analysis work on the lingering effects of the Unforgivable Imperius Curse drew the attention of the self-named Lord Voldemort. Sinistra had avoided his under-aged recruiters at Hogwarts, and wanted to be left alone with her research. The Death Eater who volunteered to investigate her efforts and enlist her in their ranks if need be, was her former least favorite Slytherin, Polinder Whitkins. Sinistra had avoided Whitkins' attempts at recruiting and snooping into her research like she would a screeching adolescent Mandrake, when Polinder first began to try to winkle into her confidence, but he somehow found out that she was about to discover the key to answering the most important question about those under the Imperius Curse - just how amenable had the person under that curse been to do what had been done? This could remove the legal defense effectively used by many to explain away why they had done something terrible. All Death Eaters had been placed under that curse long enough so that its residue could be detected. This provided the excuse used quite often in the past to gain release from doing nearly anything. Artemis Sinistra's work could unravel this legal defense and unlock other involvements and confessions of wrongdoing. However, she did not know, and never did discover, any of this. Death Eater Polinder Whitkins approached her to join the ranks of her many fellow Slytherins in the Dark Lord's service. When she laughed in his face, Whitkins told her that he, and he alone, could report back her uselessness to his master. All she needed to do to curry his, Whitkins', protection and favor would be to agree to be his mistress - he didn't want to marry anyone but a pureblood. Sinistra answered Whitkins' proposal in a most Gryffindor manner - she struck him on the face and used her knee to further reiterate her feelings about his advances. Polinder Whitkins fell over and split his skull open on the heavy iron claw of a table leg at the pub where he'd cornered her. He died in moments. The standard procedure manslaughter trial after such a death cleared Sinistra of all wrong doings - there had been plenty of witnesses who'd seen Whitkin's advances and had heard his words. She walked out of the Ministry of Magic lobby on the day she had been exonerated, and three Death Eaters had tried to kill her right there at the Ministry Apparation Point. Professor Dumbledore walked onto that concourse at the moment of attack. He'd been appointed Headmaster in Sinistra's third year. He'd also been on the Wizengamot Board hearing her case. She walked into the Apparation Point. The Death Eaters appeared and started shooting curses at her. Dumbledore walked into view. Less than thirty seconds later, all three Death Eaters were unconscious and bound with tight ropes. In less than a week Artemis Sinistra was the professor of Astronomy at Hogwarts. _______________________________________________ Little Minnie Burns was a bundle of nerves and adrenalin. She'd read all of her Hogwarts books as well as Hogwarts: A History, twice. She knew she was off on the adventure of her life - her first year. She'd never thought that she would see a knight in shining armor on her first day. But there he was, sans armor. He was tall and lean - very muscular in his leanness, though. To the eleven-year-old girl, he looked like a powerful Beater despite his lean build. His flint gray eyes were piercingly captivating, and his face was carved from granite with a determined handsomeness. He had a full luxurious head of very dark brown hair, combed straight back and to his shoulders.He had a look of disdain on his face for all of the proceedings in the train station. She immediately felt his displeasure must be for the frivolity displayed all around him - students renewing their acquaintances after the long summer break and the excitement for the new year. Minnie knew - she just knew that this serious young man had the right idea. Though excited, she understood at her young age that a proper education was crucial, and that war was in their future. Two wars actually. Grindelwald was already gathering forces to his side even in the autumn of 1936. Because most of his efforts were on the continent, the British Ministry of Magic tried to ignore his actions, but many who remembered the rise of the last Dark lord would not leave the subject alone. Minnie also was aware that disconcerting events were taking place on the continent in the Muggle world. Her father agreed that keeping distant from Muggle affairs was wise, as had first been proven during the Roman occupation of Old Albion in the first century A.D. But her father, Tiberius Burns, also felt that ignoring the Muggle world was ill advised. There were just too many Muggles out there, living in close proximity to the unknown magical communities all over the country. Following her father's example that information was essential, Minnie had read her father's Muggle newspaper after him each day, just like she read the Daily Prophet. During school her father would send her clippings he felt most important, but it wasn't until her fifth year that she discovered the Transfiguration professor also read a Muggle daily. He agreed to let her read it after evening meals. Minnie thought that these serious events must be running through the mind of the handsome young man that she could not take her eyes off of. Assuming what she felt was an equivalent look of solemnity, Minnie pinched her lips, just like maternal grandmother Gwent did, to tell the world she too was concerned with current events and took her education more seriously than most. She hoped the young man would catch a glimpse of her demeanor and give her an approving nod. The nod never came, but a glance did, and a smile - barely a smile, but a smile for sure, she thought - and then he turned and disappeared onto the train. At the Sorting Ceremony Minnie Burns became a Gryffindor and so did Alan McGonagall. Through quirks of seating arrangements they somehow ended up sitting next to each other, even though five others joined their house between their own sortings. Minnie could not spy out the handsome, serious young man at any of the house tables. She'd stood on a bench at the end of the Welcoming Feast and still could not find him, even though she was sure she'd scanned the students twice. Alan McGonagall helped her down and walked with her to the common room they would share for the next seven years. The Burns/McGonagall friendship grew during the next two years. They'd both challenged each other to excel in all classes. She was slightly better in Transfiguration and Defense Against the Dark Arts. Alan was slightly better at Potions and Charms. They were equals in all other subjects and made top marks on even their poorest class work. At the end of her second year only one thing stood between her and becoming Alan's girlfriend - the memory of a mysterious, handsome and serious young man three or four years her senior - a young man who she'd never seen after he'd boarded the train that first day. Just before her second year's spring term exams, Minnie served her only detention. She'd Jelly-Legged Clarence Bulstrode for Trip Jinxing Alan, and old Professor Tanquary, head of Slytherin house, had seen her and given her a cleaning detention. That night she'd learned the handsome young man was a Squib and apprentice to the caretaker, Apollyon Pringle. Young Argus Filch's embarrassment at her shock was painted on his face with a chisel. She reported for detention just as Pringle ended his latest tirade at Filch's multitudinous failings with the final punctuation mark, "Useless Squib!" She thought that young Filch bravely took the abuse with such stoicism, and she just stood there, slack jawed, because of the venom in the caretaker's words. Upon later reflection, she realized that she must have looked like she was disgusted by his non-magical status. That night, everything she did, everything she said, all was initiated to make him know she held his unfortunate condition as not a condition at all - just the way things were. However, everything she did and everything she said had the opposite effect. She bungled her words, and her every action produced more work for the caretaker's apprentice. His master blamed him for her blunders and added more work to his chores. Pringle ignored her claims of guilt. Though rather well spoken and read for a twelve-year-old, Minnie's every word that night seemed to sting the proud powerless young man trying to make his way in a power-filled world. When dismissed from her punishment, she stumbled into the Gryffindor common room and fell onto a sofa, streaming silent tears. She did not make a sound to draw attention to herself, but cry she did. In a moment, Alan was by her side handing her an embroidered handkerchief, silently there to console her. That night, in her heart, she questioned her selection for the house of legendary courage - she had none for facing the magical world and her family at the side of a Squib. At that time such relationships were more frowned upon than Muggle and magical pairings. But even that was a lie. Deep down her heart knew she'd seen the disinterest and disgust in young Argus' eyes. She felt like he'd observed her to be a proud pureblood from one of the oldest wizarding families in Scotland. She felt he knew her to be scandalized by what might happen to children of such a union. She cursed herself because she knew he was right. The next morning, she'd awakened to Alan stroking her hair. She'd been fearful of discovery because they had spent the night together on the sofa, even though they'd been fully clothed. Alan had stayed awake to watch over her and keep her company. He never did ask her what had upset her that night. Much later she realized that it had been from that night that she'd first felt that she loved Alan.From an early childhood bedtime story, Minnie had often had a dream of being rescued by a handsome knight from an evil monster. During most of her first two years at Hogwarts, the monster had been Grindelwald, and the lean young man from her first train trip had been the knight in shining armor. From that night on, the hero of that dream became Alan McGonagall. Over the years to come, that recurring dream evolved from a childhood fantasy, to a horrible ravager of her rest, brought on by battle fatigue and shock of war. But Alan would always be her knight in shining armor - even in the rare occurrence of that dream decades later. After their exams that year Minnie consented to be Alan's girlfriend. They were the perfect couple, and their love grew to be an example of hope for the future to all who knew them and fought along side them during the darkest of days of that war. Mr. and Mrs. Alan McGonagall had one year of bittersweet, perfectly loving, childless marriage before he succumbed to the wounds he'd received while in a horribly torturous captivity. Minerva Burns McGonagall never completely finished mourning her husband of that one year. ___________________________________________ As Harry studied Spell Mongery, he became convinced of two things. First, this was very important to his future. Not only could he decide on and then create most any piece of magic he wanted to use, he felt sure there was a way to produce strong magic unknown to Voldemort, and therefore Harry's new magic could perhaps offset Voldemort's decades of more experience.Secondly, Harry realized that the unfounded bad reputation of Spell Mongery might cause him trouble. The people who wanted to think badly of him would find ample means to deride him when it came out that he was a Spell Monger. Fudge and the Daily Prophet would probably find more ways to attack him.He could face that additional persecution surely, if only his friends stood by him. Particularly he hoped his rule-adoring best friend Hermione would not be too upset. He could not stop thinking more and more about Hermione in non-too-best-friends manners. He hoped Ron would never find out. Harry under estimated the reactions of the world to his new role as Spell Monger. _______________________________________ When Severus Snape heard the assignment given to another, he determined that he should finally act on his inclinations. He had been a Death Eater for one year, and he had regretted joining those dubious ranks for three hundred and sixty-one of those three hundred and sixty-six days he'd been in service to the Dark Lord. Exactly five days after taking the Dark Mark, he'd begun to wish the unSlytherinly wish that he'd not done so. Regulus Black was tortured to death for failing Lord Voldemort in a small way - the immature lad had merely wanted out. To Snape the Dark Lord seemed only mildly irritated, and out of such pique, the Dark Lord had ordered young Regulus killed so painfully. Snape's disenchantment had started on that day. On day three hundred and sixty-six, Lucius Malfoy was commanded to choose the ones to attack and kill Artemis Sinistra, should she be acquitted and released in the manslaughter case of Polinder Whitkins. Snape delivered an almost anonymous piece of parchment to the headmaster of Hogwarts, warning of the attack. For three hundred and sixty-one days Severus had contemplated how to escape and who to trust with his defection. For several months he'd calculated and recalculated that Dumbledore was the only one who could redeem him. It was most Slytherin of Snape to use the rescue of a favorite student of Dumbledore's, Artemis Sinistra, to contact the headmaster and begin his defection. For a Gryffindor, it was even more Slytherin of Dumbledore to make the 'suggestion' to Snape about spying on Voldemort. It was never said that it was penance and payment for his restitution, but Snape felt that his services as spy was exactly how he'd purchased his redemption. And he kept paying and kept paying....The post of Hogwarts Potions Master was not so much payment for services rendered, as the only possible safe haven for the former Death Eater. Professor Severus Snape joined Professor Artemis Sinistra on her left at the head table. Though Dumbledore and McGonagall called the two by their first names, as did most of the other professors, the two continued in calling each other by their last names as had been the habit in Slytherin House during their years as students. This apparent coolness, along with the impression left on most that the two could show no emotions other than anger and disdain, hid from all, even each other, the fact that she thought him most handsome, and he thought her attractive without comparison. _______________________________________ In all of his fifty plus years at Hogwarts, Argus Filch never admitted to himself that he'd only considered one student witch he'd ever seen beautiful enough to tell her so. He'd also thought for sure she'd despised him for his magical-less-ness. The one time they'd been face-to-face after she'd found out, he'd felt sure that he'd only seen derision in her eyes. Then, twenty short years or so later, she'd come back to Hogwarts as the Transfiguration Instructor. It only took twelve more years for the two to very circumspectly admit they'd seen each other before she'd been introduced at her first staff meeting in 1956. Eight years later, they had a modest professional friendship. Caretaker Filch appeared to almost all of the students as a bitter man projecting nothing but barely suppressed animosity, and a desire to see all of them in irons for the barest infractions of the school rules. They all remember well his sneers, scowls, and looks of pinched-face disdain. His mentor in caring for the school, had taught him well that a Squib would have to strike fear in the students from day one, or they would pay him little or no heed. That hard seething visage disappeared in the staff room, except when complaining about the students to those who could best correct and/or punish those he deemed worthy of such actions. The relaxed Filch, the lover of cats and most animals, barring Fluffy, was quick with a wry smile and even laughed quickly yet quietly at the banter of the staff lounge and meetings. Though not talkative, he did possess a very dry wit that delighted most of the Hogwarts professionals when he trotted it out. Filch's nose was straight and looked pointed only when angry. He had a firm sculpted chin, with a striking cleft in the middle. His flint gray eyes were still just as piercing, but that look was reserved mostly for miscreant students and tough stains. With the slightest of smiles the gray would twinkle, not too differently from the twinkle noticed in the headmaster's appreciative looks. The wrinkles around his eyes added to his fierceness when bearing down on a student about to be punished. The same wrinkles were really jovial laugh lines when he smiled. His brown hair, now shot through with gray, was nearly as full, but his forehead has risen to a degree. His co-workers considered him a very kind man; he never forgot a card for a birthday or anniversary, and was almost always first to volunteer to assist with a project any other professor or staffer had to execute. Starting on September 2, 1971, Professor McGonagall, and caretaker Filch were drawn together more and more by the antics of four of her Gryffindors - James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew. The two, failing at curbing the enthusiasm of the four, began a collegial friendship while trying to stop the shenanigans. She'd eventually been able to talk of Alan with him, and Filch had found a friend who did not blanch at his lack of power or treat him as though he were one of the Muggle handicapped persons he'd read about in a horrible comparison article in Witch Weekly. In fact, her outrage at the article had gone a long way towards cementing the friendship of the two peers. And she made it clear that she considered him a peer, not an underling. She understood and properly admired his abilities and they'd spent time together drinking tea during breaks, whenever their nightly rounds happened to coincide. From 1978 to 1989 their friendship did not grow so much as comfortably mellow. They silently enjoyed each other's companionship when the occasion arose, and nothing more. To Filch she seemed lost in her love of Alan McGonagall, who they had discussed on more than one occasion. Filch had admired the wizard for his great courage and accomplishments in fighting Grindelwald before, and especially after being captured. Filch felt sure this was the barrier between them. Professor McGonagall thought that Filch still remembered her rejection of him in her second year's detention episode. Minerva felt sure this was the barrier between them. _______________________________________ In 1989 the caretaker and head of Gryffindor House were thrown together on an ever-increasing number of occasions. The Weasley twins made themselves known on their first night when they'd said that all of their dungbombs had blown up as they were trying to dispose of them - they said that they had taken the caretaker's warning to heart, and an accident had occurred while trying to remove them from Gryffindor Tower. It was a coincidence that the twins could not explain that the dungbombs went off at the entrance to the Slytherin House dungeons, just as a freakish heavy breeze blew into the dungeons. The next years were legendary. The Marauders had produced slightly more mischief, but there had been four of them - five when Lily Evans had joined them. The Terrible Two were in an equal but different class of troublemakers. These two terrorists, and later the Gryffindor Three - Hermione, Ron, and Harry, had brought Minerva McGonagall and Argus Filch together more and more. They'd found themselves holding hands on several occasions over the years. They'd shared a kiss on two occasions in Harry's fourth year. Then disaster struck the relationship. In 1995 Dolores Umbridge entered the professorial/staffing equation of Hogwarts and the balance became unbalanced - the McGonagall/Filch relationship budding for over thirty years suffered a significant blow. The caretaker and the senior caregiver to the young lions found themselves at odds. Increasingly they shouted at each other on the nights they had attempted to keep company with each other. By mid October they did not see each other, except when professionally necessary. Upon his return, Dumbledore asked his assistant headmistress to go through the effects of the recently resigned/escaped temporary headmistress. Professor McGonagall found a cryptic set of notes that tersely described throughout the year the High Inquisitor's different machinations, public and covert, to control the Hogwarts staff. One particular effort, which was described in a most vague manner, could only be interpreted as attempting to use a weakened version of the Imperius Curse on the professors and staff. This particular odious manipulation had only succeeded on the sole Squib in residence, causing him to support her efforts unthinkingly. The wording of the notes could not be used against Umbridge legally, but the information was clear. Minerva McGonagall realized she had lost a friendship developing into something wonderful, through no fault of those in the relationship. _______________________________________ Harry had used a book on the vampire wars of the sixteenth century as his tool to learn speed-reading. After a few days he found that he was reading not quite three times as fast as he had been, and every book was more interesting than it might have been. He was surprised that he was also understanding the subject matter quicker, and remembering what he read more easily. Because of his new-found speed, he would quite often re-read a passage or chapter, again improving his comprehension even more. He wrote the headmaster an owl post thanking him for the suggestion. In addition to the assigned homework reading, which he'd finished in two weeks, he was making his way through the library that Dumbledore had made a part of his changing room.However, Harry read very slowly and carefully the book Dobby had loaned him on Spell Mongering. It was written in journal form. Telemachus Grind started journaling after his apprenticeship as a Spell Monger, but he did go back in his reminiscences from time to time and discuss most of his training.Young Telemachus had been raised in seclusion from most of the wizarding world. His Potter mother had died in childbirth when the lad was seven, and his father, mourning her loss and the baby, finally moved to the seclusion of the Scottish hills. Hogwarts would be founded in Grind's twenty-ninth year, so the young wizard's training was undertaken by his father and the man who lived on the other side of the small valley that had helped them survive the first colder than usual winter they'd moved there.John-Thomas Courson saw that Phillert Grind was ignoring his son in his grief, so Courson invited Telemachus to visit as often as possible. Courson helped the lad bury his father in the boy's twelfth year. Courson had been unable to complete a Spell Monger's apprenticeship, but he taught what he had learned to young Grind. The boy was a natural. By his twenty-first year Courson had convinced the last Spell Monger magister to take Telemachus into his household in anticipation of an apprenticeship in eight to ten years. Telemachus was given that status in under four years - an unheard of occurrence. Spell Mongers were a dying profession. The Arithimanic Spell Crafters were all in vogue. At that time they had succeeded in being made a part of what was the forerunner of the Ministry of Magic. They proclaimed their methodologies of spell creation more scientific, a phrase always successful in denigrating an opposing process. Now with 'official' status, the Crafters proceeded to cast dispersions on Spell Mongery. Spell Mongers had to sell their creations for the magic to be released for another's use. The highbrow, the envious of financial success, the bureaucratic-minded, the opponents of individualism and free enterprise - all find the means to cast dispersions on those going about their own business and not minding public opinion. More and more Spell Mongers only found employment with Darker wizards to produce their types of magic. Mongering had nothing inherent that leaned toward evil, but Mongers found less and less Light oriented commissions as the years progressed. And a percentage of all occupations and in the wizarding and Muggle worlds alike, are prone to evil and the Dark.The truly Dark and evil will always receive whatever passes for more press coverage than ordinary folks going about their daily lives. In the two generations prior to Telemachus, several Dark Spell Mongers had garnered some hideous accusations for their practice and profession, and of course the governmentally backed Arithmanic Spell Creation Crafters made sure all of Spell Mongery was tarred with the same brush. The Grind family was rather well off financially. Telemachus could learn the ways of the Spell Monger without fear of having to produce curses to buy his keep. He traveled the country selling to the everyday rank and file witch or wizard useful spells and charms for Knuts and Sickles that could have brought many Galleons from the wealthy. For a few years it looked like Grind might single-handedly change public opinion of Spell Mongery. Then Telemachus went on his crusade to save the recently discovered barn-infesting elves from being hunted into extinction. ~*~ If they really thought about it, no one could blame Harry Potter for the types of magic he began Mongering. He was a far more gifted and natural-born Spell Monger than the prodigy of a millennia before, Telemachus Grind. Other than the school reading assignments, Harry mostly read a strongly Defense-oriented selection from his summer library. This summer he was trying to develop the curriculum he'd promised Dumbledore for the expanded DA. He was also hunting for magic to better defend himself and his friends - the stunning, shielding and binding spells they'd used in the Department of Mysteries had been too easily countered by the Death Eaters. And with no hesitation, Harry was desperately looking for any manner and method to fight and defeat Vodemort. Therefore, the pieces of magic Harry experimented with as he practiced his Mongery had a decidedly Defensive nature to them. _______________________________________ Slugs and Jiggers Apothecary was not only an apothecary shop. They were the primary and most visible face to the wizarding public of the giant potions and ingredients firm, S & JA, Ltd. Many potions ingredients needed to be freshly picked, caught, snipped, bled, killed, strangled, skinned, or otherwise prepared at the moment of, or shortly before being included in a potion or magical mixture. All ingredients that could be prepared in advance were available from S & JA, Ltd., the holding company of Slugs and Jiggers Apothecary. Livingston Shunpike, older brother of Stanley "Stan" Shunpike of Knight Bus fame, had worked at S & JA, Ltd, since finishing Hogwarts with two O.W.L.s. Livingston, or Livin' as his friends at the pub called him, was a hardworking and conscientious shipping and receiving clerk who also restocked shelves and performed a few simple mixing operations under close supervision. It wasn't Livin's fault. His manager had insisted the elder Shunpike sweep up the spilled Jobberknoll feathers and include them in the shipment. Livingston tried to explain to his manager that there had just been a spill of Erumpent fluid there moments before, and he did not think it was completely dry. The manager was in a hurry to complete the gigantic shipment of ingredients to Hogwarts for the huge project, and did not want to let down Professor Dumbledore. All the ingredients needed for the entire project were to be shipped on time so there could be no tampering with them, after the project became known to the families of those participating. _______________________________________ Two days before Harry Potter could leave his aunt and uncle's house for the summer, Professor Snape reached into the container of Jobberknoll feathers and placed all of the Erumpent fluid contaminated feathers into the next batch of Paladin Acceleration Potion. Severus Snape kept what he referred to as the most scientifically and artistically precise potions laboratory in England. He maintained at least one of every type of equipment he needed, many times he had several backup devices if the items were easily broken. Arguably the most ticklish timing procedure in brewing the Acceleration Potion, was timing the twenty-two minute countdown to the fixing activation of the moonstone additive. Therefore, Potions Master Snape used a calibrated twenty-two minute sand filled hourglass timer for that particular countdown. At the end of the day before, he'd noticed what appeared to be a hairline fracture in the timer he'd been using, so he pulled the spare from the shelf and used it for the first time on this day. Indeed there had been a fracture on the old twenty-two minute hourglass, but there was also one on the new timer, and that fracture was at the base where it could not be seen. It was a tiny hairline crack, and it had only let in a trace amount of moisture. That small amount of moisture had produced only the slightest lump in the sand, making the timer actually a twenty-three and a half minute timer. Being one of the most thorough potions masters alive today, and for the past two centuries for that matter, Severus Snape had several people constantly available to him during the complex procedures and processing of the Paladin Potions - just in case he felt the slightest possibility of the need of assistance. Professors McGonagall and Sinistra were there. Both had made excellent grades on Potions during their years as students, and they were there "just in case" during each daily preparation of the accelerating elixir. The Jobberknoll feathers added a Memory Enhancing or Imprinting Serum effect to the Paladin Potion. The armadillo bile, cut up ginger root, and ground scarab beetle added wit-sharpening elements to the melange. The frozen Ashwinder eggs were illegally used in love potions. Legally, in the Paladin Potion the Ashwinder eggs induced the controlled attraction-and-respect-sessions referred to as 'the visits' with the opposite sex. These five ingredients were added at precise times so their proper effects could be exactly set by the addition of moonstone. Moonstone, used most famously in the Draught of Peace, had emotional balancing properties. It also balanced the properties of these five ingredients at the precise strength and effect when it was briskly stirred into the Paladin Potion. Three minutes before the time to add the moonstone, Argus Filch entered the Potions dungeon to assist in portioning the potion into vials for each student. He also helped with cleaning after the potions had been carried off to the students by the various agencies of administration. One minute before the twenty-two minute hourglass told Snape to add the moonstone, the Erumpent fluid residue on the Jobberknoll feathers exploded, splashing the potion into the faces of the three professors and the caretaker. They received a burst of the potion's effect as it existed at that particular moment. Severus Snape looked deeply into the eyes of the Astronomy professor and said, "Beautiful Artemis, I have loved you for years." She released her hair from its constrictions and smiled, and then threw herself into the potions master's embrace, pulling his head to hers in a very passionate kiss. Argus Filch said, "Minerva, I've been a fool to not accept your apology. I love you more than life itself." They kissed very tenderly. It was the kiss of those who have unknowingly longed for each other for decades. In an equivalent timing to the way the students on the Paladin Acceleration Potion experienced roughly two minutes of semi-violent shaking on their beds or pallets, these four experienced two minutes of totally focused passionate snogging, unfazed by the presence of the others in the room or the passing of time itself.. The four broke their embraces and blushed. Professor Snape quickly inspected the potion for any damage, but all was well by every indicator. He looked at the hourglass and saw roughly a half a minute was left. He therefore thought that they had kissed for a brief moment and that he had missed nothing. In fact the potion had gone over a minute too long before the stabilizing moonstone was added. Snape announced, "That unexplained explosion must have sprayed us with a slight amount of Ashwinder egg which is used in love potions, causing us to, er... show interest in each other. There was not enough splashed on us to damage the potion." He paused to add and briskly stir in the moonstone at what he thought was the right time. After the mixture reacted properly by all telltale signs, he breathed easily and turned to his colleagues. "The timing is still accurate, the color and consistency is within acceptable limits. We can proceed without fear of adverse affects on the students." There was a backup plan for such emergencies, but it was very complicated, and painful to a degree for the students. All were relieved that the secondary plan would not be needed. All four finished their tasks and helped ladle and dispense the potions going to the various students the length and breadth of Great Britain. All four separated at the end of these tasks to go about the rest of their day. Each wondered if they would ever be able to face their specific partners in this day's misadventure again with equanimity, or - for that matter - any shred of genuine composure. _____________________ On that particular day, the day the aberrant potions were dispersed, each student in the Paladin Program received their dose at 3:47 pm. They each participated in a typical ten-minute rest period including the shaking, followed by a short nap. They'd each had a large early lunch at 11:40, and would have a fairly large snack - six strips of dragon jerky, three ears of cooked corn, and a quart of celery juice - before they went to their visits. Each awoke to find their clothes were a bit tight, except Harry Potter, who still mostly wore Dudley's castoff clothing. He did notice that his trainers were the slightest bit uncomfortable, but foot growth was not uncommon for the summer under normal circumstances at this age, and the specific shoes he wore were over a year old. A growth spurt was not part of the schedule for this time in the program, but the students did not know that. Some days they would noticeably grow, and on others they wouldn't. Each student had already seen their clothing shrink on them as they neared the halfway mark of the intensive two-month program. Dean Thomas had grown four and a half inches already and gained nearly two stone in weight. Neville Longbottom's face was no longer as round, and a glance at his shoulders was enough to tell that he'd broadened as well as grown taller. Terry Boot, Ernie Macmillan, Anthony Goldstein, and Zacharias Smith were all two to three inches taller than they had been before the start of the Paladin Program. Every lad on the acceleration potion series was quickly leaving the physical aspects of boyhood far behind. The young ladies in the program were all concerned with their increased weight, until they observed that their figures were much more like mature young witches who'd been out of Hogwarts for a few years. At this age, there was not one young witch, or their mothers, who were not secretly proud to have to buy certain noticeably larger clothing. Lavender Brown and her best friend, Parvati Patil, were beside themselves with delight at how wizards of all ages seemed to watch them as they walked by. They were statuesque. Parvati's identical twin, Padma, tried unsuccessfully to downplay her own delight with this attention. The Patil twins were still identical. The senior Weasleys and Grangers laughed among themselves as Hermione and Ron tried NOT to notice each other's development even though all at Grimmauld Place had realized by this time that the two would be just friends, not a couple. The parents laughed, but all four were ruthless at keeping the two in specified and appropriate contact with each other as outlined in the Paladin Program. Hermione found herself daydreaming about whether Harry had noticed her, er... improvements. Daydreaming in any way was most un-Hermione like, and it disconcerted her intensely that she could not stop the direction and content of this line of daydreams. On this particular day, Ron finally reached his full height of 6' 4", but he would add another stone and a half in weight over the next thirty days - twenty-one more pounds of all muscle. Hermione would add another inch of height to the three she had grown thus far. She had added nearly a stone and would add half again as much, seven pounds, before September first - mostly muscle. It had hardly registered to Harry that he was two inches taller, but it was obvious that he was almost two stone heavier. He mostly attributed the weight gain to eating much better than he had ever in his life at number four, Privet Drive. That was true, but only half true at this point. Every ounce he had gained was muscle, and it was not as obvious as fat would have been, muscle being leaner than body fat. Harry's growth was about on par with others under the administration of the acceleration potions. He would gain one more inch that very afternoon, reaching his father's exact height of 5' 9", but he would weigh nearly a stone more than his slightly stockier father had at the end of James Potter's seventh year. Because Lily Potter had been as tall as her husband, Harry should have reached six feet in height. However, being denied a proper diet from age one to eleven had stunted this growth. Regardless, because of the special diet, potions series, and exercise, even before this day Harry was more muscular than his father had ever been. ~*~ On what would be called Aberration Day by all of those dealing with the ramifications of this day for months to come, all students awoke from their naps, ate their snacks, and changed clothes or whatever to prepare for the 'visit' with a member of the opposite sex. The 'visits' had been designed and instituted to trigger and manage the emotional growth in roughly two months that would have occurred over the same two years this physical growth would have taken place. The emotions of love and physical attraction were by far the most stressing of this lifecycle time segment, and managing these would usually help all other emotional control to develop. And to date this had worked just about perfectly. By this time in the program each participant had grown enough self-control to resist the first urges at the start of the 'visit.' This was a most obvious proof that the benefits of the visits were producing the emotional growth desired. In the past four or five visits none had been truly tempted more than just a bit to rush the other. They knew this was unacceptable emotion - desire for another should be based on affection at the very least. However, some of them had reached the point where they might kiss for a few moments at the end of the session, because many of the students had become couples during these visits. After learning to control the lustful first primal urges, learning to be friends with the opposite sex was the second and most long-term benefit of the 'visits'. In this manner, almost all of these students became friends with those they regularly visited if they weren't already, and better friends if they were. Even obvious incompatibilities were overcome by the requirement to sit and talk with that particular person for one to two hours at a time. Each person in the program, except for Harry, had three to five members of the opposite sex they would visit with on a rotating basis. The visits were not one-time events, so each person was able to develop true friendships with their regular partners. Conversational outlines were not dictated, but there were suggested topics to discuss as conversation starters. Most pairs started with the suggestion to discuss their dreams, goals, and aspirations. The harder to broach topics of their fears and worries were much easier to explore together after their friendships had developed. A number of boyfriend-girlfriend relationships started, and suggested guidelines existed for those occurrences as well. Such romantic relationships occurring in the first two weeks, usually broke up quickly. However, the requirement to sit and talk with the one you had just broken up with gave those who did so an opportunity to recover the friendship, a rare occurrence for most people, young or old. Padma Patil and Zacharias Smith found themselves a couple the first week, and broken up the next. She'd remembered how much of a pillock he'd been to Harry Potter during the DA meetings. They fumed at each other for the third and fourth weeks, but by the fifth week of the program they had pounded out a workable friendship based on the modern day application of chivalry towards each other. Because they worked so hard at this, the two did become good friends, rather unlikely good friends. Padma was able to help Zacharias overcome his jealousy of Harry to a significant degree and become more of a team player in the two years to come. Even most of Zacharias' fellow Hufflepuffs thought that would have been unlikely. The romantic pairings developing in the third week and beyond stood a greater chance to last for a while. A few of these relationships eventually become permanent. But at this point, the longer-term courtships followed a similar pattern to the other student pairs during a visit. Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbott finally accepted what all other Hufflepuffs felt was foreordained - they fell for each other. During the first two weeks Hannah had confronted Ernie in a very positive and supportive way that few non-Hufflepuffs could manage. Everyone who knew him fairly well thought he was rather a stuffed shirt, but likeable. He was a bit arrogant, just a bit, and he could be a bit pompous sounding. His moderate pomposity was an endearing trait to those who were his very good friends, but even they had to endure the occasional breakout of pontifications. Those who did not know him well, walked away from him or laughed at his speeches declaring the virtues of whatever struck his fancy at the moment. By week three, Ernie and Hannah were closer to each other than either had ever thought they could be with any member of the opposite sex. His first kiss in the last minute of a two-hour visit would compare to such occurrences on a Wizard Wireless daytime romance story. By July 28th, Aberration Day, the students were all so successful at controlling the first irrational moments of a visit, that few were ever chaperoned any more. It just so happened that none of them were chaperoned on this particular Sunday afternoon. The genius of this two-month plus process to gain emotional control in so many areas of life, was the genius in the make-up of the potion itself. The powdered moonstone added emotional balance to the student taking it. The emotional balance was at its height at the start of the one or two hour visit session. For a number of reasons the strength of the moonstone varied with each daily dosage. That was why the visit sessions were to last one or two hours, nearly exactly. Even in situations where the participating student lived in close proximity, even in the same house as in the case of Hermione and Ron, the students were required to break away from each other for a short period of time at the end of the visit, even though they would re-enter the same room together after the break. On Aberration Day, the moonstone had been added about one and a half minutes too late, and all but three visits went like the following meeting between Susan Bones and Justin Finch-Fletchley. The Jobberknoll feathers in the acceleration potion added momentarily increased memory capabilities and would imprint on the subconscious the core elements of whatever the individual taking the potion was doing at the time of the potion's highest potency. The memories, both intellectual and experiential, were deeply embedded into the core of the instinctive thought processors of the brain of that individual. Had any student taking the aberrant potion that day started studying instead of going to a visit session with the opposite sex, that studying student would have conquered very complex concepts with ease and remembered, understood, and be able easily apply everything he or she read or even looked at. Not just the specific knowledge, but even the ability to excel much further than ever before in that particular subject was imprinted into the thought processes of the recipient. A small fortune could be made selling such a mixture to those studying for O.W.L.s or N.E.W.T.s. No one studied during the one-hour session prescribed for the day. The Ashwinder eggs created the controlled passion surge capabilities in the potion, but they had been active too long before the moonstones fixed their potency. This element of the potion, used illegally in love potions, did not create a love potion per se. However, a momentarily overwhelming attraction did assault the senses of those taking the potion and in the presence of their visiting partner. Only one person was not with a visiting partner at the time the potion took effect. Let's look at one typical 'visit' that Aberration Day. Justin Finch-Fletchley and Susan Bones had been very good friends since the Sorting Hat placed them in Hufflepuff on the same night. In their second year, Justin had been Petrified by the basilisk, and since they lived near each other geographically, Susan had spent a good portion of that following summer holiday helping Justin make up what he had missed while imitating a rock in the infirmary. Justin walked to Susan's home when he visited with her. Because he was Muggle-born, he also used her Floo fireplace when he went to visit with others. The Finch-Fletchley home was not connected to the Floo network, and in fact it did not have a fireplace. On the days he visited others, he and Susan took great pains to NOT see each other before their visits with others. On Aberration Day, Susan's parents were off selling the latest herbs and ingredients ready for market from her father's plantings and greenhouse. Justin walked into the home, as was practice, and went to the door to the parlor. They'd tried to pounce on each other the first few visits and her mother had deftly prevented it. Since then, their usual procedure was to stand holding the doorframes of the two different doors to the Bones family salon. They'd done an admirable job of controlling this and found it noticeably easier each visit. On this day, they saw each other, and that was all they remembered until the warning timer went off. Susan always set a timer to give them a five-minute period to end their conversation and prepare to leave at the exact moment they needed to part. Susan always set this timer before the visit began. They found themselves at the timer bell's ring, leaning back on the couch together in an embrace and in a vacuum-sealed lip lock. They'd done nothing but kiss passionately for that hour, but this activity was far beyond what the guidelines called for. They were barely able to part on time. Susan told Justin that she would Floo call the Hogwarts' fireplace dedicated to deal with such emergencies; then she would call Justin. The Bones home was a rare wizarding household; it had a telephone because her mother was a Muggle. She promised to call him with any news. The two friends cancelled their platonic date to go to the cinema that evening. With only three exceptions, all across Great Britain, those who were rising sixth years committed to the Paladin Program had similar visits to what Susan and Justin had experienced. But, fortunately, what could have been a disaster ending in lost virtue and possibly pregnancies did not occur. Each student had been able to find the strength within themselves to go no further than kissing. The tenets of chivalry and the development of their emotional control thus far combined to prevent tragedy. Aberration Day did prove a setback to their emotional growth, but the fact that each student had stopped when they did proved that the program was working to a significant degree. Therefore, the Paladin Program was not abandoned. The first of the three sessions that did not instantly become an hour-long snogfest was the visit Neville Longbottom participated in. Just before time for him to prepare for his visit, Luna Lovegood and Neville had been working in his garden on a hybrid plant he was trying to develop. About forty-five minutes before the afternoon's visiting session began, Neville left Luna chatting with his grandmother on the back garden patio. Luna was not a Paladin since she had only finished her fourth year. Neville's Gran was not sure about the young Ravenclaw, but they always had a lively discussion on millinery matters. Neville went to his room, took the potion from his house-elf, Plinkers, lay down, went through the ten minute vibration period, took the short nap, and eventually went to greet his guest when she arrived for their visit. Luna chatted with Mrs. Longbottom much longer than they had thought. The girl asked to use a washroom for a moment before leaving, and had absentmindedly walked the wrong way to leave by the front door. Instead she walked in not quite two minutes after Neville had started his passionate kissing session. Luna guessed that something was wrong beyond just a loss of willpower, and after some magnificent wand work, she dragged Neville next door to the workout room he had in his wing of the house. (All of the households of Paladin Program students had been exempted from the Misuse of Underage Magic restrictions, for training purposes.) She somehow got the two onto a treadmill and stationary bicycle and made them talk while she used an extra strong Sticking Charm to fix his hands to the treadmill, and his visit guest's bottom to the bicycle seat. Neville in particular worked on the treadmill at a furious pace for the entire hour. The device had been charmed to have built in weights to work upper body strength while running in place, so this was a particularly brisk workout.Luna stood at a distance for the rest of the session, allowing the two privacy for their conversation, but waited at a distance to release the girl, escorting her out of the room to send her Flooing home at the end of the hour. She left Neville running in place for an additional twenty-minutes before unsticking him. The second couple on Aberration Day to NOT spend the hour doing just what they wanted to do, was Ron and Hermione. Mr. Granger happened to enter the library looking for a book just as the two locked into their embrace. The two had always sat on opposite ends of the huge sofa in the library at twelve, Grimmauld Place during a visit. As he went to separate the two it was his daughter who unknowingly struck him and knocked him unconscious for a minute. Ted Granger rose and was barely able to pry the two apart and keep them that way. He began shouting but it was a very long minute before Molly Weasley came to find out what all the racket was about. She helped subdue the two but they'd had nearly two minutes of inappropriate kissing at the height of their initial surge. It was just over Six minutes into the hour when Ginny came rushing up from the kitchen, calling the alarm. Mrs. Weasley stopped the lecture to the two she had encased in ropes - Ron she had hanging upside down. Ginny burst into the library in a perfect tear. "Harry's being attacked by Death Eaters at Mrs. Figg's house!" ~*~ After the brief nap following his afternoon potions, Harry went on a walk before his 'visit,' using his carte blanche permission from his aunt to go "wherever" and to visit with "whomever." Though wanting Harry to succeed with his mission to defeat "that murderer" as she called Voldemort, to keep peace with her husband she had taken the ostrich-head-in-the-sand approach to her nephew's comings and goings. She wanted to honestly state her ignorance about everything, should Vernon ask any questions. Harry knew that Hestia Jones would be his Order minder today. She was naturally quiet and did not like it when Harry tried to have a conversation with her as they walked together. They'd discussed this once. She wanted to fully concentrate when they walked. Hestia liked heights for observation purposes. Standing just over 5' 2", when she was not escorting Harry somewhere in the estate, she usually climbed a tree or sat on the roof at number four, Privet Drive. When they walked, Harry respected her desire for silence, understanding that she felt a little more exposed and less able to observe than when guarding Harry in his aunt's house from the rooftop. That Hestia did not respond to his initial greeting did not surprise him, she rarely did. As he walked, Harry did not hear her normal swishing produced by the Invisibility Cloak rubbing against her robes, but he thought nothing of it. One usually moved slowly in an Invisibility Cloak and the swish did not occur. But he had to walk at a normal pace not to appear odd to the nosey neighbors, so she needed to walk faster than normal. Harry was ahead of schedule by about ten minutes, so he decided to take a spin towards the park. It was a hot day, and the trees there along with the landscape created a breeze that would be refreshing. He would only be able to stay for a minute, but even the momentary cool air would be welcomed. "I'm going to detour to the park for a minute to escape this heat for a bit, Hestia." No response. "I have my wristwatch so I won't miss my appointment." Harry never figured out whether if this random decision spared him from simply being disqualified from the Paladin Program, or if it saved his life and two others. Tragically, Hestia Jones was probably already dead. The fastest way from the park to Mrs. Figg's went right by the alleyway where he and Dudley had encountered the dementors the previous summer. With an out of place shiver despite the temperature, Harry swerved to that side of the road and paused to look down the alley. He heard a muffled shout, "There he is!" He saw a hand with a wand appear in mid air about four and a half feet from the ground. He ducked just in time to avoid the Stunning spell sent his way. Harry rolled and came up wand in hand. He felt the surge of morbid excitement he'd felt too many times before, as he went into his battle mindset. But this time it wasn't only adrenalin coursing through his veins. There was something else he felt for a fraction of a second as he dodged a Body Bind spell and made his way out of the alley. Instead of running, Harry dropped flat and peeked around the corner to see if he could identify his assailants. Death Eaters didn't hide under Invisibility Cloaks that he was aware of. Out from their cloaks, swinging them around like capes, Harry first recognized Dawlish, the Auror who'd been there in Dumbledore's office to arrest the headmaster. Dawlish had also been one of the Aurors attempting to take Hagrid on the night of the Astronomy O.W.L. - one of the Aurors who had hit Professor McGonagall with the Stunners. Dawlish was a strong supporter of Cornelius Fudge, and therefore no friend of Harry's - as if the attempt to stun him wasn't enough proof. Whereas Dawlish was a short, pug-nosed man with even shorter wiry gray hair and dressed in a worn, simple black robe, his companion was a tall, handsome man with a flowing ponytail. He wore immaculate dark red robes, which he straightened before running out the other end of the alley and away from Harry. This wizard who always wore dark red, was Williamson, the Auror who had stood by Fudge in the Ministry of Magic and openly discussed with the Minister that they had really seen He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named right there in the lobby. Harry rose and ran until he judged Dawlish was about to round the corner. Harry fired a broad Reductor curse where he thought the Auror would appear as he rounded the hedge fence. The hedge disintegrated in a circular pattern about six feet in diameter, and the dustbins were blown over. Dawlish, however, Apparated eight feet beyond the alley entrance just in time to look back, drawn to the sound of the clattering dustbins. Dawlish looked at the bins, looked at Harry, and smiled a very satisfied smile. In rapid fire Harry shot a number of spells, jinxes, and hexes from his DA sessions at the Auror, which the short muscular man blocked with little effort. Harry did not hear the words of the spell sent at him by this minion of Fudge, because there was nearly fifty feet between them, but Harry's best Protego Shield Charm barely held, and he was knocked from his feet. The aquamarine light that passed over his head as he fell blew a hole the size of his head clean through a tree. Harry did not wait, firing a poorly aimed Petrificus Totalis over his shoulder, he ran in a zigzag towards the only help he could think of, Mrs. Figg. The postbox exploded to his right and he rolled behind a car. Harry turned and decided the old DA standby spells would not be enough. There were a number of spells, hexes, and jinxes that Harry had read about over the summer so far, but he reflexively called upon his own Mongered Defense spells, and the ones he'd based his various Mongering activities upon. Of course there is little thinking in such a fast-paced adrenalin-surged battle. You just act - on instinct - for the most part. Harry cast an Avis spell, sending a flock of birds into the air to his right, and he rolled out and up to his feet on his left. Dawlish could not help but follow the birds with his eyes for the needed moment. Harry was fifty feet from the Auror and the aerial distraction gave him the time needed. Harry shouted, "In Hostes Sagitta!" An arrow shot towards the Auror, who took the time to use his wand to shoot it out of the air instead of sidestepping it. In Hostes Sagitta Quniquiplico! sent five arrows toward Dawlish. The five times multiplier was a modification of the old disused Arrow hex that Harry had mongered. Harry ran and did not expect any of the arrows to hit his target, he was only buying time to run. He made three seconds in a straight line and was about to start zigzagging when he heard the groan accompanying an arrow hit. He turned to see if he had done serious damage, and saw his attacker using his wand to heal a wound on his left arm. Harry realized he had wasted precious seconds assessing his success, and determined to not do that again. Dawlish Apparated right before him and twenty feet away. Harry called out a new blocking spell as he skidded to a stop near a small storage shed. This old battle charm Inclusi Munio! caused a solid stone block to rise instantly out of the ground right in front of Harry. It was almost six feet high, just over three feet wide, and roughly a foot deep. It looked like and was in fact a type of stone, but the construct was made of a solid magical molecular structuring of the building blocks of the universe that could endure a number of the most destructive spell hits while slowly falling apart. The blasted away stone bits made it look like the attacker was about to break through, so more spells would be wasted on the defensive structure rather than attacking in any other way. The stone block was between Dawlish and the direction Harry wanted to run, so it bought him precious moments to distance himself from his attacker. Harry ran past a shed on an alleyway corner and down the alley. He heard hexes being sent towards the stone barrier and after a number of loud pounding noises, the barrier shattered. Harry turned from the alley to run along the side of a house. He paused when he rounded the house, trying to quiet his breathing. He leapt up onto the porch of the house and used the chair there as a poor momentary covering. He listened to see if the Auror was following him. Momentarily Harry heard indecisive footsteps pause, but then he heard running feet heading his way. Dawlish rounded the corner and Harry cast, "Conglacio Inclusum!" Harry's nemesis was encased in ice. This was the same spell Dumbledore had used on Voldemort in the lobby of the Ministry of Magic. This time The-Boy-Who-Hoped-To-Make-His-Escape made it to within five hundred feet of Mrs. Figg's front door before his next assailant struck. ~*~ Ginny Weasley truly enjoyed her opportunities to sit with Harry for an hour or two when it was her turn for a visit session with him. She knew that Harry's look of lust in the first moments had not been his real feelings, but the look of gratitude he gave her at the end of each session was quite nice. During their first session she had risked great emotional harm by asking Harry to talk with her about the Chamber of Secrets. Had he not wanted to she would have been too embarrassed to go on, but she would have had to keep meeting with him. Harry welcomed the opportunity to discuss it, first thinking he was helping Ginny cast off the last vestiges of stain from her mind and soul from the times of possession. It did help her - but he'd found their chats on the subject cleansing for him also, and he had told her so. The only time he'd been more afraid had been in his fourth year in the graveyard where Voldemort had been resurrected, but only a bit more, and he'd been two years older at that time. This he'd also shared with Ginny. But Ginny's risk that first session had set the pace for very meaningful dialogue throughout the course of their visits - even more meaningful than his like chats with Hermione. They'd eventually discussed his feelings about Sirius when she started talking out of the blue one day about a sleepless night Ginny and his godfather had both shared around the kitchen table during the previous Christmas holiday. Ginny did not know why Harry was so touched and grateful for that particular session. Ginny had been relieved it was such a chaste brotherly forehead kiss. She really was over Harry, and had been starting at the Yule Ball in her third year. Ginny had watched Harry not enjoy Parvati's company while he almost constantly kept his eyes on another. Seeing Harry not look her way, confirmed that she needed to move on. Dating Michael Corner had been a cleansing experience and a good bit of light-hearted fun. He became too serious when she'd given up a good bit of time together in her fourth year to join the Gryffindor Quidditch team upon Harry's ban. After trouncing Cho Chang to catch the Snitch, she'd told Michael to go play with the squid, and shoved him in the lake to make her point. Dating Dean Thomas had also been fun but she hadn't seen him at all this summer, and his posts were shorter and fewer between. Oh. Well, there were plenty of guys to date casually, and she'd keep an eye out for a boy who'd yearn for her like she'd yearned for Harry.Being friends with Harry was a lot less stressful than hoping he's notice her, and she knew it was important for the guy to adore the girl for there to be a successful long-term relation ship. Her prince would come one day, and she had an idea that he might already be there in her common room.Ginny Flooed to Mrs. Figg's that afternoon twenty minutes early, and they enjoyed tea together. Harry usually arrived a couple of minutes ahead of schedule and called out to the kitchen. Mrs. Figg would look at her Hogwarts coordinated clock and send her in at the exact moment the session would begin. The cat lady would still chaperone the first few minutes, even though Ginny's lunk-head brother had been able to control himself by this time. Harry had much more slef-control than Ron. The clock continued to spin towards the appointed time and still no Harry. The two walked into the front room and looked out of the window. "I'll go look for him," said Ginny. "No, deary." Ginny noticed an odd look on Mrs. Figg's face, and that she'd cocked her head to an odder angle than usual. "There's powerful magic going on not too far away. Best stay here until we know what's happening." She looked at Ginny and produced a smile. "Besides, once he sees that pretty face of yours outside this controlled situation, he's liable to lose his willpower." Ginny smiled at the compliment but was curious about some of the older woman's words. "Mrs. Figg, you can sense magic? I thought you're a Squib?" Ginny hoped after the fact that she had not insulted the kindly woman before her. "Yes, deary, I am. But I have always felt magic around me with its tugs, pushes, and pulls. Mad-Eye told me that it's a kind of 'Squib magic,' sensory, passive, and interpretive. Argus Filch has been around tons of magic all of his life at Hogwarts. Moody and he have been experimenting with it. I can't do anything; I just feel others' magic." Before Ginny could ask another question, Mrs. Figg paused and looked right into Ginny's eyes. "Of course Harry's magic's what I'm most sensitive to." At that precise moment, the clock struck the start time for Harry's visit session with Ginny. Arabella Figg turned beet red and thunked down on a chair she had been standing in front of. Ginny rushed to her side and before she could say anything, the magic-empathic Squib opened her eyes and eerily said, "That was Harry. He's about to amaze us all." ~*~ Harry turned onto Wisteria Walk at a fast run, sensed danger, and rolled under a car. The roof of that car was ripped off; an orange beam of light that had narrowly missed him. Williamson had circled around from the other end of the dementor's alley and now he was attacking Harry. These were serious spells and curses, even though they were not Unforgivables. In a fleeting thought before going back into the battle zone mindset, Harry hoped Fudge would somehow be smeared with dirt when this unwarranted attack came to light. But first he would have to survive to tell of it. Harry knew that his escape route was at Mrs. Figg's if he could make it there after he'd incapacitated Williamson. This Auror did not know about her or they would have waited for him there in ambush. He chose a circular route towards her house away from Williamson in order to draw him out of his concealment. At five hundred feet from Mrs. Figg's house, Harry rolled and zigzagged hard to the right. He saw his attacker send a Stunning Spell his way. Harry blocked it easily and kept running. He looked back and Williamson was not there. The Auror Apparated right before the soon-to-be sixteen-year-old and sent a Jelly-Legs at the younger wizard. Harry fell hard dodging the spell and had the breath temporarily knocked out of him. He did not let loose his wand, but hid it at his side. Harry looked up at his would-be captor, who'd walked up next to him but instead of binding his prisoner, Williamson was straightening his robes and fluffing his hair. The lad surreptitiously raised his wand just enough to silently set Williamson's robe hem on fire. When the vain Auror looked down and moved to extinguish the fire, Harry cast Capillus Calvus! and all of Williamson's hair fell to the ground before him. At the exact moment when Harry's session with Ginny was supposed to start, at the moment Arabella Figg had swooned, he started a Stunning Spell. Harry's adrenalin was up and his heart was racing, but just when all of his fellow sixth year Paladins found themselves rushing to kiss their visit partners, Harry was in a serious battle, which was about to become more so. Ted Granger had described to Harry the heightened senses in a firefight. The true warriors have a situational awareness in a life or death struggle that endows them with extraordinary fighting skills, and if they survive, they are never quite the same. Harry knew exactly what the dentist had talked about; he already was that type of warrior - tempered in the Chamber of Secrets, in the fight with a hundred dementors, and by facing Death Eaters and Voldemort on many occasions. At that exact instant of spell casting, that which would one day gather its all in The-Boy-Who-Lived and destroy Voldemort forever - that essence met with the over-activated parts of the acceleration potion coursing through Harry's body. The same over stimulation that was coursing through all of the Paladins at this moment was totally focused on the emotions of battle in one Harry James Potter. All of his strength, skill, power, and determination were supercharged through his body at this moment, and would be for the next few crucial minutes. Every physical, sensory, and emotional advantage humanly available in a fight was multiplied in Harry Potter that Sunday afternoon - and something more. The Stunning Spell aimed at Williamson blasted him over forty feet through the air and knocked him unconscious for almost an hour. He was fortunately hidden from the Death Eaters who arrived on Wisteria Walk in the next moments. ~*~ Ginny squealed, "Death Eaters!" and moved to the door, drawing her wand. She could see Harry starting to fight them about two hundred and fifty feet away. Because of a curve in Wisteria Walk, they could look out on the houses to the right easily. An iron grip stopped her. The elderly Mrs. Figg said, "He's going to be all right. You can't draw attention to us. We have the only escape route you two can take with this Floo fireplace. Besides, he won't need you. You can't feel it, but somehow he's a much more capable warwizard than cut my grass yesterday. Let's just watch." The Squib's grip did not loosen until Ginny lowered her wand hand completely. They turned to observe the unfolding spectacle. Harry handled the first three Death Eaters like he might three first year students, but then eight more of Voldemort's minions Apparated all around him on Wisteria Walk. Ginny raised her wand again and this time the firm hand pushed her towards the fireplace. "You have to go for help, I don't know why I didn't send you earlier, I was just tuned to Harry and knew he could take those three like he did. Go to Grimmauld Place. Bring back reinforcements." "NO! I've got to go help Harry! Oh-!" Arabella Figg slapped her. "You'll be dead in seconds out there. I can't Floo travel, you must go. Your only hope to save him is to bring back help. GO! NOW!" Just before Ginny threw the secure Floo powder into the fire and called out her destination, she thought that she glimpsed a man not dressed as a Death Eater through a window, conferring with a Death Eater. ~*~ After balding and incapacitating Williamson, Harry turned to run through front gardens near houses to present less of a target than he might have been if he'd run straight down the street. This aided him in the next battles he faced. He'd covered two house lengths; five more houses to go to Arabella Figg's. He wondered how he could contact whoever needed to clean up the magical mess and Obliviate any Muggles who might have seen the battle. Then he stopped in his tracks. He'd just fought two Aurors! He'd be arrested. Who'd believe he was the innocent victim and not a criminal? And why had they attacked in the first place? This train of thought ended abruptly when the three Death Eaters popped into position, in a half circle around him, all three within ten feet of him. A voice he did not recognize said, "Come with us, Potter, and you won't be hurt." The owner of the voice barely finished his demand when he was knocked down by a Body Bind spell. Harry blasted the Death Eater beside him with a broad swipe Reductor curse that bowled him over into a heap. The third Death Eater nearly landed a Cruciatus Curse on Harry but our hero had started to roll away from the third as he blasted the second. Harry stood and cast a Protego shield. Previously in his experiences Harry's Protego had only occasionally slightly diverted that torturing curse. This time his shield bounced the curse directly back towards its sender, and the Death Eater began to scream and writhe from its effect. Harry wondered why they had moved so slowly to attack him. Harry started running again and made his way two houses closer when eight more Death Eaters completely encircled him. He fell on his face and the Killing Curse from the one behind him - Harry had just known it was coming - killed the Death Eater right in front of him. Harry shouted, "Exaggero Aquor!" and a torrent of water knocked down the Death Eaters to his left. The Boy-Who-Would-Not-Be-Taken-Today fell backwards and a Killing Curse and a Cruciatus Curse hit each other in mid air above him. A horrific explosion followed the momentarily brighter than bright light just before his eyes. It was intensely bright even through his tightly closed lids. He rose and placed two quick Body Bind spells on his blinded and unconscious attackers. The last Death Eater standing fired a wild Stunning curse at Harry to no effect - it hit him but it did not stun him. Harry turned and saw this Dark follower standing behind a life-sized lawn statue of Admiral Horatio Nelson, hero of the battle of Trafalgar. Harry cast Circumretio! and the arms of the statue grabbed the Death Eater and held him firmly before turning back into inflexible stone. Silencio quieted the captive's verbal abuse. Harry had almost reached the edge of Mrs. Figg's property when eighteen Death Eaters Apparated all over, covering the front of two housesand and the street. Two even stood behind two cars parked on the edge of the tarmacadam. In a frozen moment of time, Harry heard all of his senior mentors from four weeks earlier say in one voice, "This is war." It was a quiet voice, nothing stirringly patriotic or attempting to manipulate. Harry just knew that statement heralded his moment of truth. Somehow, instinctively knowing exactly what to do, Harry shouted the Stone Barrier spell, "Inclusi Munio," three times, creating a triangle with the three barriers roughly three feet from each other. They were taking hits from various spells even before he reached them. Harry's total battle with the Death Eaters took just over six minutes. Mrs. Figg would declare for the rest of her life that this battle had been the most amazing event she'd ever witnessed. In a blur of magic Harry cast spell, after jinx, after charm, after curse. Water torrents, arrows, Body Bind spells, and Impediment jinxes, flew at his assailants as if three or four Aurors were in the center of their attack, not one boy just shy of his sixteenth birthday. Over and around the barriers flew visible and invisible spells, projectiles, water, fire, and ice. Several times Harry repeated one of his Mongered battle charms, Depluit Scopulus! This dropped boulders onto four Death Eaters. He thought it was simply a mongered version of the Stone Barrier Charm, which drew the substance of the barrier from the quanta matter of the soil or flooring underneath. The fact that Harry's Dropping Boulder battle charm drew its material from the air was on an astounding level of magical achievement. One of the four assailants was crushed by the boulder; the rest were badly hurt. But Harry was not finished. Deflagratio encased two Death Eaters in fire - one Apparated away; one didn't. Convoluto rolled over the two automobiles hiding Death Eaters - one was pinned under and fainted from the pain; the other was pulverized. When the last attacking Death Eater was encased in ice, and Apparated away, the silence roared in Harry's ears. He surveyed the carnage wrought from his wand, and almost thought he was finished fighting. At that moment, the green light of a Killing Curse shattered the weakest of the stone shields he'd conjured. More Avada Kedavras could be heard. More Death Eaters Apparated into the battle scene - many more. As Harry began his defensive measures again by conjuring four more stone barriers, he realized that every ten to fifteen seconds two or four more Death Eaters were appearing all around him - it was as if a tap had been opened and the flow would not stop. Harry decided in that moment that he would live to tell of this day. The effects of the aberrant potion coursing through his veins at top strength combined with the adrenalin of the moment and the full measure of what it means to be Harry Potter. This created an amazing display of magically fighting rarely seen in history. Harry fought with his wand in one hand, and his left hand pointed forward with all fingers straight and tensed; spells, jinxes, curses and hexes flew from both arms. Some were cast wandlessly; some were cast wordlessly, and a few were sent out without word or wand.He began a random pattern of jumping behind and over the top of his four stone shields. He started raining down arrows by calling In Hostes Sagitta Quniquiplico eight times in less than ten seconds and pointing his wand at different groupings of Death Eaters. Eventually he merely pointed his wand and thought his multiplied Arrow spell. At that moment Harry was hit by a Cruciatus Curse. He was knocked to the ground and began the writhing that curse produced. Though it was excruciatingly painful he did not lose complete control. However, he had dropped his wand nearby. In seconds he realized that he was lessening the tortured effects by sheer will power. In his fourth year he'd fought and eliminated the effects of the mind controlling Imperius Curse. He thought perhaps he was fighting off the effects of this curse also,. The curse was ended by a Death Eater who now stood over him. Marcus Flint, Harry's former Quidditch nemesis of several years before, took off his mask. Harry almost laughed at the preposterousness of comparing that contest to this one. Marcus glared at Harry and pulled back his wand. Harry knew he was going to be killed, despite what Voldemort might want. As Avada Ke-made its way out of Flint's throat, Harry completed his spell first. Without a wand Harry raised his right hand and shouted "Deflagratio!" Harry's voice had an unearthly quality to it, and Marcus Flint was encased in a fireball. As the Death Eaters still conscious looked on their emolliating comrade, Harry Accio-ed his wand to him As he backed his way up the steps and into the house, he began firing spells at a blinding speed with his wand in his right hand and with his empty left hand. Stepping through the door opened for him by Arabella Figg, Harry called out, "Inclusi Munio!" eight more times to barricade the front of the room facing his enemies. "Quick, Harry, Floo away." The hysteria was plain on the old lady's face. "No one on my side dies today. You first!" "I can't; Squibs can't - nor Muggles. Save yourself, Harry. I'm an old-" "NO MORE SACRIFICES FOR ME!' he screamed in her face near hysterically. After several moments and more curse crash sounds, Harry said to himself, "Think, Harry, think." An explosion demolished the fireplace from the outside. Five more times Harry cast Inclusi Munio! on two sides each, and eight more times on the final side. He and Arabella Figg were encased in a short-lived barricade. Mrs. Figg said, "Ginny was here. I sent her through to get help. Maybe she'll be back before-" The top of one of the barrier stones crumbled and the rock debris hit both of them in the head and shoulders. Both had minor cuts on their faces. Harry sent five more arrows out of the opening, heard the grunt of one hit, and turned back to her. "No time. We've got to get you to safety - me too," he said with a wild-eyed grin. Another stone barrier top burst and Harry cast the spell that caused a large boulder to land just outside the new opening. Harry gave her a look of inspiration, and shouted, "Dobby!" with all his might. The house-elf appeared in seconds. "Harry Potter Sir called Dob-" "No time, Dobby. We're about to be killed by Death Eaters. Can you Apparate a person?" "No, Harry Potter Sir, Dobby can't-" "No time, Dobby. You're powerful in Apparating, aren't you? You can go through all of Hogwarts wards and protections, can't you?" "Yes, sir, Harry Potter Sir." Dobby spoke no additional comments this time. A barrier rock burst next to them and Harry took the brunt of it. He staggered but sent return fire out of the hole. He cast another Inclusi Munio! to block the opening. He bought them more time by pointing his wand in a number of random directions all around the house, shouting out a variety of spells, hexes, jinxes and curses. The assault lessened momentarily. Bleeding from numerous cuts on the right side of his face, Harry grabbed Dobby's hand and calmly said, "Here's what we're going to do. I've read about wizards Apparating others. It usually takes more than one, so you're going to help me." He placed his hand firmly on Mrs. Figg's upper arm. "Arabella, take his hand. Take his hand!" he shouted. The woman was nearly catatonic, but the two finally joined hands at Harry's command. To Dobby he said, "At the count of three we'll Apparate her with us to twelve, Grimmauld Place. We'll go to the center of the large living room. You've been there, Dobby, with Professor Dumbledore and me." "Harry Potter SIR," Dobby's voice was quite shrill. "House-elves can't Apparate humans." "You won't, Dobby. I will. You'll add your power to me and I'll do it. Trust me. Concentrate on this: You are obeying my order to Apparate there AND give me as much Apparation power as you can spare. You are OBEYING your master. Say it." "Dobby is obeying Harry Potter Sir." But there was not conviction in the house-elf's words."Good. Now, we'll do it on three. Ready? One. Two. Three!" A deafening Apparation roar pierced the crumbling shield stones Harry had erected. The sound burst the eardrums of three nearby Death Eaters, and shattered windows as far as three houses away. In less than thirty seconds the Death Eaters had destroyed the barriers from all sides. Their frustration at not capturing Harry caused them to utterly destroy the house they stood in. One minute later the remaining conscious Death Eaters left their wounded and dead to escape the arriving Kingsley Shacklebolt, and other Aurors. All of the cats in the home survived, though one did have three inches of her tail cut off. From that day on, each feline there was even more sensitive to loud noises than was normal for a cat. __________________ It took Mrs. Weasley almost two minutes to calm the frantic/panicking Ginny, extract the complete story from her, and begin issuing orders. Ted and Madge Granger asked pertinent questions to hasten the storytelling. Ron wanted to be untied immediately so he could rush to Harry's aid, and so did Hermione. Before anyone could deal with the tied teenagers, Kingsley Shacklebolt entered the library, wondering why everyone was there and why the teens were tied up. It took less than a minute before everyone made their way down to the kitchen. Shacklebolt tried to Floo call the Figg home, but by then the fireplace there had been destroyed. Most fights take longer to tell than to live. The tall dark Auror said, "I'll go to headquarters and Apparate from there with as many Auror squads as are available. And the usual clean up crew." He ran to the kitchen and was gone in a flash - literally. At the Ministry of Magic Shacklebolt found that there were two people spearheading efforts to send support and reinforcements to aid Harry Potter. Both instigators were highly unlikely - one only on initial inspection - the other even more improbable when all the facts were known. _____________________________

Mr. Potter, Once again we in this department find ourselves issuing you a warning for breaking the Restrictions on the Use of Underage Magic. Really - you have permission to perform all sorts of magic in the confines of your home because of your involvement in the Paladin Program. After remembering your past record, even you must admit that this indulgence is most kind on our part. I won't even bother to send a team to confiscate your wand. I'll await Professor Dumbledore's excuse. PLEASE cease and desist using magic outside of the permissible area! Best wishes for an enjoyable summer, Mafalda Hopkirk
Improper Use of Magic Office

The first Ministry owl sent to Harry that day was older even than Errol. She arrived after Harry had left the vicinity of the dementors' attack alleyway. She circled several times, saw nothing and heard nothing due to poor eyesight, poorer hearing, and plain laziness. She decided to try to catch an afternoon snack before returning to the Ministry Owlery.

Mr. Harry Potter: REALLY, young man! Can't you stop performing magic? Not only have you ignored my first owl, you have increased both in number and seriousness the spells, charms, hexes, and jinxes being illegally performed. CEASE this minute. DESIST from all use of magic. Wishing you not quite that enjoyable a summer, Mafalda Hopkirk
Improper Use of Magic Office

The second owl arrived just as the first Death Eaters Apparated into Little Whinging. This owl had survived the first war with Voldemort and knew trouble when he saw it. Rather than deliver the note, he decided to fly back to the Ministry. An undelivered letter always drew a considerable amount of attention.

Mr. Potter, The quantity, nature, and strength of the magic you are performing is alarming! Do you need assistance? Please send a reply with this owl explaining your actions. With concern, Mafalda Hopkirk
Improper Use of Magic Office

This letter was sent by the strongest, bravest, and most determined owl in Ministry service. She knew her duty. Unfortunately, the owl flew right into the line of fire of a Killing Curse aimed at Harry. The owl did not stop the curse, but it did deflect it enough to spare the one targeted. That particular owl exploded in a small cloud of disintegrated feathers and burnt bird flesh.

Harry! Hold on! I'm sending help as quickly as I can! You can do it, lad, Mafalda H.
I.U.M.O.

This last owl arrived in time to feel Harry Potter's presence leave the area. Since twelve, Grimmauld Place was unplottable, he started to take his message back to the Ministry of Magic. He saw the first owl hunting for prey and stopped to chastise her. Halfway back to the Ministry the fourth owl felt the designate of the letter appear at St. Mungo's. Once again he changed course to complete his delivery assignment. ________________ Kingsley Shacklebolt arrived at the Ministry Apparation and Floo Concourse in time to see Mafalda Hopkirk frantically trying to hurry a squad of Magical Law Enforcement Officers to go Harry Potter's aid. Normally unflappable after years of seeing and hearing every imaginable excuse for the improper use of magic, Mafalda was in a completely uncharacteristic pique, insisting on all haste. Just as Shacklebolt informed those there that it was a Death Eater attack, and that they needed to wait for Aurors to amass the fire power needed, the second rescue group rushing to Harry's aid entered the concourse. Dawlish led a group of Aurors frantically strapping on heavy equipment packs for a hot battle. He was calling for all speed to go to the rescue of The-Boy-Who-Lived. Kingsley interrupted the preparations to ask, "How do you know about this, Dawlish?" The substantially shorter Auror looked up with initial anger, then quickly changed it to a look of concern. "Oh, it's you, Shacklebolt. You're not the only ones concerned with the boy's safety. Though Dumbledore keeps him warded and guarded, we check the area from time to time." Dawlish displayed a new look of intrigue and said, "Hey, where was the kid's minder this afternoon? Williamson's in St. Mungo's and I nearly froze to death before releasing myself from an Ice Encasement hex." Pondering all of the ramifications of what he had just heard about Harry from these two sources, the tall shaven-headed senior Auror assumed command of the joint rescue force and Apparated to the scene of destruction. _________________ Almost everyone at the Order of the Phoenix headquarters was in the kitchen or heading that way. Cries of agony caused all of them to rush to the living room. Some screams came from a human and some were very high-pitched and produced by a house-elf. Arabella Figg stood in the center of the room, shaking violently, and holding her right arm halfway between her shoulder and elbow. Trace amounts of blood could be seen between the fingers of her left hand. Harry's right hand and Dobby's left hand were splinched together. Hermione reacted instantly and cast a Freezing Charm on the joined flesh. It deadened the pain but would not destroy the flesh if it was removed in a few minutes.Molly screamed, " We must get you to St. Mungo's. Let's pick them up-" "Wait!" Harry shouted through gritted teeth. Dobby merely whimpered in pain. "I was first attacked by Dawlish and the Auror that always is with Fudge - ponytail - always wears red robes." Harry grimaced and continued. "Before we go, we have to get Dumbledore to go with us. Perhaps Madam Pomfrey for now?" Molly said, "Poppy can't deal with this... interspecies splinching. How'd you do this, Harry? For that matter, how'd you Apparate here? The wards... but I'm babbling. Hermione, Floo wherever to find Albus, start with Hogwarts and use the secure Floo powder. You'll arrive in a sealed room and the password out is 'Bertie Botts.' "Ron, pick them up and-" "I can walk, Mrs.-" "You won't, Harry Potter," she said sternly. "You might cause more damage. Trust me. Carry them both to the fireplace, Ron and Ted. We'll go through to St. Mungo's. Ron and I will both go with Harry and Dobby. Madge, you and Ted start calling other Order members, once we go through. The call instructions and addresses are on the parchment I wrote for you. "Ginny, try to care for Mrs. Figg. Go find Poppy Pomfrey if you need to but the wound doesn't look too bad. There's a magical first aid kit under the kitchen sink if you don't know the spells needed." Harry groaned, "I thought I saw Dawlish talking with a Death Eater before I left - thought I must be imagining..." "Quiet, Harry, dear. This is a large fireplace but not that large. Ron. You'll just have to pick up both of them and go through. I'll throw the powder, but you have to call out 'St. Mungo's.'" "I know how to Floo, Mum. I'll try to be gentle but this is going to hurt..." Harry, succumbing to the pain, said, "Just do it, Ron - freeze... wearing... off..." Hermione found Dumbledore in seconds and stepped through to his office to tell him of all that she knew. She wanted to go with Harry, to hold him, but that would have hurt him even more, most likely. She couldn't stop the words 'my brave Harry' from screaming through her head over and over again throughout the rest of the evening._________________________ Cornelius Fudge and Albus Dumbledore had a strained meeting. Fudge was congratulating himself for protecting the boy, when the headmaster accused the Minister's favorite Aurors of killing Hestia Jones. It was a verbal donnybrook that degenerated from there into more shouts and splutterings by Fudge, and even more pointed sarcastic witticisms by the professor, whose eyes did not twinkle once during the interview. By the end of their most heated conversation, Fudge was blustering about Harry Potter murdering Death Eaters. Dumbledore warned the Minister of Magic that he would fight such accusations with all resources available to him. Fudge walked out of the room in a huff, before returning - it was his office. Dawlish regaled the Auror Corps with accounts of his and Williamson's defense of The-Boy-Who-Lived, but few fully believed the fantastic account. Pro-Dumbledore Aurors and others took Harry's account more seriously and delighted in the fact that Harry had defeated Fudge's two favorites. And they were particularly glad to hear that Williamson's hair would have to grow back; it could not be replaced by magic. He had to go into Muggle London to buy a particularly pathetic men's hairpiece. Vanity, thy name is Williamson. Normal splinch reversals were almost as easy as a Disinfecting Charm. House-elf to human splinches had no precedent in magical medical knowledge, and everyone wanted to be a part of the correction, but no one wanted the responsibility. Harry threatened to hex them all, and for once, Molly Weasley offered to do it for him instead of correcting him, she was so furious with the mediwizards. The pain was numbed properly, and finally the chief mediwizards on the Spell Damage floor and the Creature-Induced Injuries floor conferred together. They jointly corrected the damage. The same simple procedure for severing human splinch joinings worked perfectly, and Molly Weasley could be heard mumbling just below a shout about the swelled heads of nincompoop healers. Arthur Weasley arrived and was barely able to stop her from trying Ginny's Bat Bogies hex on all the medicos around her. ________________________ Vernon Dursley and family saw the destruction as he steered by the end of Wisteria Walk at the end of their Sunday afternoon drive in his new Range Rover. He just knew it was 'that boy's' fault. The Dursleys, being Harry Potter's relatives, were on the list of people not to Obliviate when Muggle encounters with magic occurred. Therefore, Harry's uncle refused to let the boy back in their house, and told Remus Lupin, "Your Professor Bundlebore can ruin me financially if he wants. But I dare him to try after all of this. I'll take it to court, your courts, and see if I can receive justice." Remus looked defeated and Vernon looked elated, but just before he Apparated away, Remus said, "Petunia, in the meantime, can Harry have your permission to spend two weeks away with friends?" Before Vernon could sputter out an indignant 'no,' Harry's aunt agreed to the request. But the 'clock' had already stopped adding minutes to Harry's required time with his aunt. ________________________ "You asked for me, Professor?" Argus Filch had received the bit of parchment at lunchtime on the tray delivered by a Hogwarts house-elf. The four who had been splashed in the potion explosion had not shown themselves at a meal or public place in the two days since the event. They helped with the potion production in stone cold silence, only speaking when absolutely necessary. The caretaker and potions master had become guarded friends in the last few years. They'd both respected each other's work and professionalism, but both were so private. The tacit friendship had developed when working in their own ways to thwart Voldemort's design on Hogwarts and its staff and students. No difficulty had ever strained their relationship like the events of two days before. Severus Snape looked over his half-moon reading glasses, a necessity he would never let a student observe, and said, "Sit down, Filch." The potions master continued to scratch on a scroll and the caretaker did not sit. The scritching sound stopped. Snape looked up; he took off his glasses and sat up straight. "Argus, please be seated, if you would," he said tiredly. The respectful Snape, never seen by the students, even those of Slytherin House, was a rare creature indeed, and only slightly respectful. But that rare creature appeared for a few minutes three times this day. The host opened his desk drawer and drew out two glasses and a bottle of extremely old firewhisky. He poured without asking, passed the glass to his guest, and they both drank without toasting each other. "Thank you for your hospitality, Professor, er, Severus." "Argus, I..." He ran his right hand over his face and continued after making a slight noise of exasperation. "I analyzed the elements of the drops of the potion that splashed into our faces. I assumed that day that it had to be the Love Potions-related properties of the Ashwinder eggs that caused our... our actions. Erumpent fluid was found on a few of my Joberknoll feathers - it's used to cause explosive reactions." They stared wordlessly and motionlessly at each other for nearly twenty seconds. "However, three times I tested the residue of the potion that splashed us. The events that day with our students have called for additional analysis. Just an hour ago I confirmed my findings with an outside source. They also analyzed what caused us..." The caretaker remained motionless except for his left eyebrow, which rose an eighth of an inch. The potions master blurted out, "There were no trace elements of Ashwinder egg in the mixture that hit us. The content was mostly an emulsion of Jobberknoll feathers." The caretaker showed the slightest degree of realization when Severus Snape continued. "It was in the exact concentration found in a Truth Serum. You and... you did not react to a love potion. You acted on your true feelings. We... all... did..." Argus Filch showed no emotions at all, except when he nudged his glass forward almost a minute later. "Gladly," said the potions master as he hastened to fill the request. They drank quickly and did not look at each other. "I told... Minerva a half an hour ago now. I'll tell Artemis..." Snape still did not look at his guest. "You might-" Argus Filch interrupted him. "Thank you for this information, Professor, and for the firewhiskey. By your leave, I'll be about my business." Neither said anything in parting. The door silently shut in another moment.

Author's Notes - The Hair Scalping Hex - I've read several fanfics where there was a hair removal spell used. The only one I remember by name is Kokopelli's The Letters of Summer, a fine tale I have referenced in other chapters, but it wasn't the first story where I'd read about a scalping hex. Three Fanfic Sources For This Chapter - This chapter builds on the works of three excellent authors whose storylines I reference with their permission. All three stories can be found at SugarQuill.net. SugarQuill is a Harry/Ginny site, but these three tales are have no ships, per se. They are just excellent!

"Bones to Bones" by Ashtur an'Vangan - This marvelous tale follows the Hufflepuff DA members through the fifth year. Ashtur invented a world that makes Hufflepuff possibly the most admirable of the Hogwarts houses. "Oversexed, Overpaid, and Over Here" by B. Nonymous - The story title refers to a Muggle Briticism from WWII. B. invented the entire relationship between Minnie Burns and Alan McGonagall during the war with Grindelwald.The Squib Tales by Ozma - Ozma has created an Argus Filch we can all love and respect. She created young Filch as an apprentice to Apollyon Pringle during the days Tom Riddle was a student. She created Filch, Snape, and Minerva McGonagall as friends and peers during the canon days, and the idea of a slowly budding romance between Argus and Minerva during canon days. Ozma also created the concept of 'Squib Magic' mentioned by Arabella Figg in this chapter. I am the one who created little Minnie Burns' interest in the young Filch, and its ramifications to the works of B. Nonymous and Ozma.

Recognizing One Other Story - In the passage where Minerva McGonagall (Minnie Burns) is a first year, there is a reference to her father, Tiberius Burns, agreeing with the lessons learned in the first century A.D., that magical folk should be separated from Muggles. That story line reference comes from my own tale, Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C. You can find it at fanficauthors.net. (See note just below.)

Story Discussion - There is now a forum where you can go to discuss my story, should you so chose. http://forum.fanficauthors.net/ It's a part of a terrific site of outstanding authors, http://www.fanficauthors.net/ and I am honored to be invited to join it. All my work will begin posting there by the end of this week at the latest. Hopefully sooner. This site is not a ship-specific site, but there is plenty of compelling Harry/Hermione reading to be found there among the fifteen, soon to be sixteen authors.