The Final Lesson
by Jardyn39
Summary
Hermione didn't say anything, but he knew what she was thinking. Why was it necessary for Harry to put additional protections on something that only he, Hermione and Ron could gain access to anyway? Finally he said, "I'm worried about Ron. Something happened while you were away." Continuation of The Kemmynadow Betrayal.
Or
While Ron's recent associations become of increasing concern to his friends and family, Harry becomes embroiled in an investigation to identify the traitor responsible for Voldemort's recent successes. Soon Harry and his Muggle friends cross paths again and together they try to solve the mystery before the Ministry becomes overrun by Voldemort's supporters. Harry comes to suspect there is more going on than he's been told. Continuation of The Kemmynadow Betrayal.
Introduction
This story is a continuation from The Kemmynadow Betrayal, a story which continued events and characters in The Deceiver's Distillation.
There are a number of events and characters that are important to the continuing story, but rather than include a complete recap here, I have as before summarised the main characters and events below. Although some reminders are included in the text, you may find the answer to an obscure reference here.
I have excluded minor characters and events that have no direct bearing on this part of the story.
Please note that these notes contain spoilers to the previous two stories.
Character Profiles
New characters follow after.
Harry. Has received some bequests from Dumbledore's Last Will and Testament. Includes the Kemmynadow Book, Dumbledore's draft standard book of spells and a Phoenix chick named Phryne. Growing prowess with dark magic halted by Hermione. Uneasy truce with the Dursleys. Agreed to teach Neville, Ginny and Luna during their school holidays. Invited to attend and participate in Muggle task force dedicated to defeat Voldemort. Saddened that his friend Bateman no longer remembers him.
Hermione. Long periods with no contact with her parents. Has split with Ron and is now romantically linked with Harry.
Ron. Recently got job working for Fred and George, but isn't too happy about his prospects. Came good in the end, but suffered at hands of Bateman's men who didn't like his moaning.
Kreacher. Displays growing affection for Harry whilst revelling in any opportunity to infuriate him. Has been promised freedom by Harry when he is ready. Came to help Harry on Archive raid because Dobby was forbidden to come. Became unlikely hero when he escaped and raised alarm at the Ministry. Tricked Dudley into performing ritual dance to the gods of the doorframe.
Dobby. Working for Harry at Grimmauld Place. Usually in conflict with Kreacher.
Professor McGonagall. Newly appointed Headmistress of Hogwarts. Has offered private defence tuition to Harry. Gave Harry Dumbledore's Kemmynadow Book against her better judgement. Has been subject to a number of attacks as Voldemort wants his candidate appointed as Head. Was very upset when Harry got angry because she was putting herself at risk.
Kingsley Shacklebolt. Key member of Prime Minister's anti-Voldemort task force, unknown to Scrimgeour. Often astonished at knowledge gathered by Miss Alice.
Muggle Prime Minister. To Harry: "I know there are things you have got to do, and I know we will never know what they are. If you need resources that we have, just ask for them. Realistically, we will never amount to much more than a diversion or distraction against the Death Eaters and Voldemort. Just remember, if we use what we have at the right time, we just might give you and the Aurors the edge." (From The Kemmynadow Betrayal.)
Dursleys. Now living inharmoniously with Harry at Grimmauld Place having returned early from a luxury cruise paid for by Harry. Vernon has tried to sell off Grimmauld Place and Dudley escaped only to need rescuing by Harry. Petunia is beginning to see Harry more as family.
Grangers. Hermione's parents are together but in hiding. Harry briefly met up with them working as dentists just before they were moved on to another location.
Ollivander. Rescued by Harry from Voldemort's camp. Killed the Healer's nurse. Kidnapped Hermione. Suspected by Harry to be The Healer. Seen by Harry at the Archive and assumed to be a guest of Voldemort.
Voldemort. Finally forced to relinquish Dumbledore's bequest to Harry (a Phoenix egg). Was shot and wounded by Terri Hope. Tried to kill Hermione and make Harry fall victim to The Kemmynadow Curse.
These characters were introduced in The Deceiver's Distillation:-
Sergeant John Bateman. Nicknamed "Bear," he is the leader of the Muggle Special Forces team assigned to Harry. He is physically imposing, fit, strong and quite a bit older than his charges. He was attacked by Hagrid when he failed to heed his warnings concerning Hermione's treatment. His best friend, also a veteran solder, died shortly after being rescued from the Arena. Trusted and respected by Harry, Bateman is experienced, clever and very skilled at what he does.
Bateman leads his usual team consisting of Duke, Carlyle, Hagland and Smith. Hope and Careem are recent additions from other duties.
Bateman is twice divorced and has one daughter. Has grown to become protective of Hermione and respects her intelligence, although he does sometimes pull her leg.
Met with Fred and George and commissioned a number of items, including weapons and clothing.
At the end of The Deceiver's Distillation, after the raid on the Archive, Bateman announced to Harry that he was going to have his memory modified in order to forget Harry and his friends. Harry gave him a gold coin so he could send messages (although he won't remember the sender).
Duke. Second in command. Likes to tell jokes and show off. Loves being in a fight and appears to have caught Bateman's enthusiasm for teaching those under his command. Scornful of Officers, he has been known to speak out of turn occasionally. Assigned to Harry for close personal protection.
Careem. Weapons and explosives specialist. Clever but physically slight compared to the others. Assigned to Harry for close personal protection. Was the first to (jokingly) suggest they bayonet Ron.
Terri Hope. Only female member of the team. Assigned to Hermione for close personal protection. Disobeyed direct order to follow Hermione into the camp when she gave them the slip.
Carlyle. Assigned to Hermione for close personal protection. Experienced rock climber, broke arm on way to Archive.
Hagland. Recognised the Prime Minister from the television but thought he was a football manager. Assigned to Ron for close personal protection. Suspected to have knocked Ron out on their way to attacking the Arena camp.
Smith. Still thinks a football manager gave them their mission orders. Assigned to Ron for close personal protection.
Jack Gurnet. Died shortly after Arena rescue. Soldier. Best friend of John Bateman. Captured and tortured in the false belief that he had Bateman's mission to protect Harry. Suffered mutilating surgery at the hands of the Healer along with Alison Weston. Made to fight in the Arena.
Alison Weston. Civilian casualty nurse. Died shortly after Arena rescue.
The Healer. The surgeon who mutilated Voldemort's Muggle captives. Used a mixture of magic and Muggle surgical techniques to prolong their suffering. Identity unconfirmed, although Harry alone thinks it is Ollivander.
These characters were introduced in The Kemmynadow Betrayal:-
Miss Alice. Muggle analyst working for the Prime Minister against Voldemort. Very clever. Once tricked two Ministry wizards and ended up having tea with Dumbledore. Liked and trusted by Harry. It was Miss Alice who assigned Bateman to protect Harry. She located the Archive in Kent and planned the raid. Ordered casualties to be left in the cave systems.
Brigadier Colonel Falcon. Paranoid and incompetent career soldier. Assigned to investigate Magical events but actually fed false information for years. Attempted to interrogate Harry but was interrupted by Bateman. Died at the Archive having suffered at the hands of the Healer.
Scenariste. Librarian and only ghost survivor of the Archive. Dislikes Voldemort for making him re-index his entries from "R" to "V". Afraid of becoming another ghost victim of Voldemort's attempts to access the Archive data. Helped Harry escape the labyrinth and later helped Kreacher escape.
Herita. Giantess freed from Ministry captivity by Harry after the Archive raid. Her brother was murdered by Voldemort in front of her. Now living in mountains overlooking Hogwarts under protection of Hagrid.
Phryne. Phoenix chick hatched at the moment Voldemort attempted to use a killing curse on Hermione. Named by Hermione, "after the Greek courtesan not the place, obviously."
The Traitor. Identity unknown. Suspected to be a Muggle, but could be pretending. Could be almost anyone!
Items, Places and Events
Dumbledore's Standard Book of Spells. Loaned to Fred and George but now in Harry's possession. Incomplete book manuscript begun by Dumbledore when they hoped Voldemort was gone for good. Would have become a bestseller and the new standard reference for teaching spell work. Combined several disciplines of magic.
The Kemmynadow Curse. Ancient dark magic. Like a spirit that ensures that Dumbledore's last wishes are complied with. Prevented Voldemort from attacking Harry until he had passed on Dumbledore's bequest of a Phoenix egg.
The Kemmynadow Book. Name given to Dumbldore's personal reference book of the darkest magic he ever faced and the counter-spells for most of them. Book is sealed to everyone except Harry. Very powerful, Harry only has to touch the book and the book pushes the dark knowledge into him. Addictive. Harry had problems after prolonged exposure.
Privet Drive. Number Four was trashed by the Death Eaters after Harry and the Dursleys vacated it.
The Library. Cathedral like underground library that was originally part of a separate department of the Ministry of Magic. It was later converted and expanded into the Archive.
The Arena. A gladiatorial arena created for the Death Eaters entertainment. Original was destroyed, but an underground recreation was discovered next to the Archive in a disused underground reservoir.
The Archive. A large underground depositary located somewhere in Kent. Was all but forgotten by the Ministry of Magic until the Muggles raided it, convinced it could help gather information about Voldemort's plans. Was already occupied by Voldemort but he was evicted by the Muggle raiding party. Staffed entirely by ghosts, the documents are stored in the surrounding rock strata. The ghosts' pleas for help when Voldemort began attacking them were either ignored by the Ministry or intercepted by sympathisers. The Archive is currently under Ministry guard but the ghost librarian, who controls all access to information, is no longer sympathetic to the Ministry.
The Journal. Not seen and present location unknown. Written by Falcon and may help identify the Traitor.
Locket. Suspected Horcrux found in Kreacher's possession. Now locked away in Gringotts. This is the only new Horcrux found to date.
Grimmauld Place. Subject of a new Fidelius Charm which Harry performed but the Secret Keeper has not been revealed. Harry has intimated that there is a twist in the new secret to prevent the problems caused by the Dursleys being repeated.
Room of Requirement. Sealed to everyone except Harry, Ron and Hermione. Harry can seal the room to all others. The room provides anything they need upon arrival, but it usually looks the same now. Seven large fireplaces provide Floo access in and out. Hermione likes to study there now.
Hogwarts. Harry now has access to the grounds. He can create an opening in the boundary wall for himself only.
Story Rating
As before, this story is rated PG and this has dictated the limited language used. To be honest, I considered for quite a while whether or not the language needed to be stronger considering the some of the themes and situations.
This need is most evident when there is a confrontation with Ron and (as written) the seriousness of the accusation and indeed his response needed to be more evocative.
The problem remains that it's simply too easy to read it and think, "so what was so bad about that?"
Timeline
This story begins during the winter, just before Christmas, in what should have been Harry's Seventh year at Hogwarts. Harry met Bateman at the beginning of the summer and the raid on the Archive occurred towards the end of the summer.