Chapter 4 - The House of Black vs. Riddle Manor
"What happened?" Fred demanded as soon as Professor McGonagall had finished removing her scarf. George was glowering behind him anxious to get some answers.
"I don't know," McGonagall snapped angrily, "where is Madam Pomfrey?"
"I'll get her," George said quickly.
"We were attacked by avatars," Ron said as he came up behind McGonagall. Luna and Ginny were close in tow. "Hermione ordered us all out."
"Potter did the same," Moody chipped in. "He didn't seem to think we'd be up to tangling with that lot and I'd have to say he was probably right."
"I've got to try to call up a breaker squad to go help them," Ron moaned.
"Don't be silly Ronald," Luna interrupted. "We don't have a functional breaker squad yet and even if we did we couldn't send them in. They'll have put up wards to block us by now."
Ron scrunched up his face then sighed. "You're right, I can't apparate."
Suddenly the air quivered as Harry and Hermione portkeyed into the room. McGonagall let out a gasp and rushed to help them. They were both swaying on their feet and their charred clothing smoked heavily.
"We're fine," Harry said roughly. He and Hermione were supporting each other as they got their footing back. "They rebounded one of our spells back onto us, that's all."
The worn out couple slowly made their way to the two ornate chairs that Harry had created earlier. Remus was asleep on the sofa but Harry didn't know how long that would last as the Grangers and Madam Pomfrey came rushing over to them.
"Hermione are you okay?" Mrs. Granger asked hysterically.
"I'll be all right Mum," Hermione said irritably. Harry could feel she was embarrassed to have her mother fussing over her in front of everyone. Mr. Granger seemed to understand this too because he held his wife back while Madam Pomfrey diagnosed them.
"We'll you're both better off than you should be," she said finally. "My revealing charm doesn't know what kind of spell traces those are."
"An elemental corporeal fire," Hermione said absently. "I cast it…my own magic can't hurt me that badly, especially with the barriers we were using."
"We need to call the Order," Harry said, trying to wrest the conversation back to more pressing matters, "there were five of those things there."
"We can't fight that many at once," Hermione said. "Doesn't the Order have any information on them? How did you deal with such terrible apparitions during the last war?"
"There were no avatars during the last war," Professor McGonagall said. "I'm afraid these are creatures of the prophecy. Voldemort would never empower his followers like this unless he knew that they would be unable to harm him. Their loss of will isn't absolute after all, since they seem to retain their former personalities."
Avatars were created by allowing a person to tap directly into a host's powers, in this case Voldemort, via a dark ritual that leaves the avatar a twisted cursed shell of their former person. Voldemort would never allow a rapacious dark wizard to gain his powers unless he knew that his creation would be unable to threaten him. The prophecy foretold that only Harry could kill the Dark Lord so there was nothing to restrain him from creating such powerful minions.
"Wonderful," Harry said darkly in response to McGonagall's explanation. "Then I suppose we need to locate Voldemort himself and end this as quickly as possible. He must have a base of operations."
"Yes, he most assuredly does," McGonagall said peevishly, "and we know the place he is using. In a supreme twist of irony he has chosen Riddle Manor as his headquarters. The problem is that no one can remember exactly where it's located now. Clearly it is protected by a Fidelius Charm, just like this house, and it will be unplottable too, obviously."
"Still, we know the general area just not the exact location, right?" Hermione asked.
"I don't see how that helps us," McGonagall replied.
"Ron, have teams go out discretely and map the entire region around where Riddle Manor must be. The area protected by the charm will be narrowed down at least some and perhaps we can find a way to break it if we have enough information," Hermione instructed.
"Also, have someone go over the boxes I sent back to our expendable staging area," Harry said. "Make sure there are no tracking charms or other means of tracing them embedded, then bring them back here if they're clean. We've got enough ingredients to supply Remus with Wolf's Bane for a decade."
Hermione shifted in her chair and switched her clothes into some loose comfortable robes with a simple spell. She also took the opportunity to grow back the hair that had been burnt off. Harry followed suit and mentally hoped that their dragon hide hadn't been damaged. He didn't think it had been since the spells Hermione had woven into the Light Bearer uniforms were quite strong and had taken the brunt of the blows.
"I need to talk to Harry," Hermione said tiredly, "can you all leave now or at least be quiet?"
"Wake us up when the Order is ready to hold a full meeting," Harry added as he shifted into a more comfortable position too. The small crowd of worried friends and mentors watched as the two exhausted teens quickly fell asleep.
Harry slowly became aware of a large elegantly decorated room that he had never seen before. Hermione was standing at the other side of the room dressed in a long light blue dress of simple yet fashionably classic design.
"Where is this place?" Harry asked as he closed the distance between him and Hermione.
"No where," Hermione replied. "This is entirely my imagination."
"I take it you want to dance?" Harry asked. Soft music filled the room and the lighting dimmed.
"I just realized that there are so many things we haven't got to do," Hermione said wistfully.
"We'll get to do all those things…someday," Harry assured her.
"You don't know that," Hermione said softly. She stared up into his eyes longingly as they moved awkwardly about.
"We can believe even if we don't know," Harry replied.
Hermione laughed. "I can't dance at all can I?"
"You're better than me, if that helps," Harry smiled back.
"Maybe a little," Hermione said. The room shrank down into the more familiar Gryffindor common area. "We've got a lot of work cut out for us Harry."
"Yeah and we're still a long way from perfecting the Sorcerer's Stone too," Harry replied.
"I'm afraid that the Stone will have to wait. We need to discover the secrets of the auror eyepieces so that we can make them for our members. That need is greater than any other research right now." Hermione said. Harry winced slightly at the thought that such a powerful medicine would be delayed now but he realized that Hermione was right. They could make the eyepieces relatively quickly compared to the stone, which was still an undetermined amount of time away from completion.
"Do you have any idea how we can make such potent magical devices?" Harry asked.
"Not yet, but I know how we can get some ideas. We'll borrow one from Shacklebolt or Tonks," Hermione said.
"Do you think they'll loan them to us after what happened last winter?" Harry said hesitantly. He and Hermione had left on poor terms with the two aurors over whether or not the books on so called black magic in the library should be destroyed.
"The Order has joined us and they're part of the Order," Hermione said. "Either they help us or we chuck them out. Besides, Dumbledore can probably persuade them and I'm sure he'll see the necessity of this."
"I hope so," Harry replied. He didn't have anything against Shacklebolt despite what had happened and he still really liked Tonks. She reminded him of Sirius in a nice comfortable way and even though the pain of Sirus' death had faded with time Harry still wanted very much to remember his godfather.
Harry realized that Hermione was no longer standing next to him an instant before the common room dissolved into Hermione's sleepy looking face, which was wreathed in bushy hair and hovering in front of him.
"Wake up Harry, something's going on," Hermione said insistently. She gave him another hard shake and Harry finally lurched out of his chair.
There were still little knots of refugees milling about, many of whom were probably bored from what was promising to be an extended stay at Grimmauld Place. Hermione pointed to a long beam of light that was spilling out from between the double doors that led into the dining room where the Order had always held its meetings. Muffled voices came from within.
"They didn't," Harry breathed.
"You'd better believe it," Hermione said grimly. They had started the meeting without their leaders.
"Kreacher," Harry said into the gloom. The little elf appeared immediately. "Get Ron and the others. Tell them to get to the main dining room now."
"Yes Master," Kreacher said before cracking away.
"Let me handle this Hermione," Harry said. He knew Hermione was about ready to hex someone and he didn't want to alienate their supposed new allies. With a gentle shove the doors swung silently open and the couple slid unobtrusively into the room.
Snape was standing at the foot of the table giving a report to the Order and Dumbledore was presiding over the meeting at the head. Almost every member that Harry knew of was sitting up and down the long table in what appeared to be an order of seniority. Snape froze in mid sentence when he spotted the two teens making their way toward the other end of the table.
"Please, continue," Harry said softly. Hermione drew up large ornate chairs on either side of Dumbledore for them to sit in.
"What is the meaning of this," Snape hissed dangerously. Clearly no one had informed him that the Order was under new management.
"Not now Severus," Dumbledore replied calmly, prompting him to finish, "you were saying?"
"Voldemort is most concerned about this new faction that has sprung seemingly out of no where to oppose him. He is creating more avatars even as we speak in order to stop this new menace before it gets started and to capture the Potter boy. Voldemort is suspicious of everyone more than ever, including his inner circle, and he divulges precious little these days. Lucius is most displeased at being shut out and at having his home used as a Death Eater base." Snape said in a crisp businesslike tone. It was odd to hear the professor talk in any way other than his usual slow sneering drone.
"Do you have any recommendations as to our next course of action Severus?" Deumbledore asked.
"If Voldemort fears these so called Light Bearers so much then it would at least be worth the effort to seek them out and propose cooperation," Snape said slowly.
Harry almost burst out laughing and he could feel shock radiating off of Hermione too. Apparently Voldemort didn't know as much about them as they had feared he might. Not only that, but Dumbledore had played this most masterfully indeed by getting Snape to endorse Harry without realizing it. The usually stoic McGonagall looked like the cat that ate the canary.
"I agree," Dumbledore said smoothly. "You'll be delighted to know that we have found the Light Bearers and already entered into a mutually acceptable agreement with them."
Tonks had been studying Hermione sourly ever since they had come in but now she perked up. "Really? How did you manage that? The Ministry hasn't been able to get even a whiff of them since their appearance in Diagon Alley last winter."
"Of course not, their activities have been severely constrained due to the fact that most of their entire leadership has been attached to Hogwarts until now," Dumbledore said. Tonks' gaze flickered from Harry to Hermione and back again. Snape's usually inscrutable mask had fallen away into open disbelief at the obvious insinuation Dumbledore was making.
"You can't be serious," Snape said nastily. "Potter has neither the disposition nor the power to do such a thing."
"Severus, please, for the last time, try to see past your old grudges." Dumbledore said wearily. "If we are to prevail against Voldemort all of us must be united. We must all help each other."
"What could this, this boy possibly do to help us," Snape roared indignantly.
"Need I remind you that Harry is the one destined to defeat Voldemort? No greater aid could be rendered by anyone than the accomplishment of our purpose for being here tonight." Dumbledore said, agitation edging into his voice. Harry sat back with mixed feelings about Dumbledore's new attitude. It was definitely refreshing to have the Headmaster finally defending him though.
"If you doubt Mr. Potter's potential Severus I'm sure Miss Granger would loan us her pensieve long enough for you to see how he fared against three avatars just a few hours ago," McGonagall said.
"Regardless," Dumbledore broke in. "It was made painfully obvious to me that this war, and make no mistake this is a war now, cannot be won by us alone. Harry is the one prophesized to defeat Voldemort and thus he is the one to lead us in this struggle. I have pledged my loyalty to Harry and accepted the emblem of his service. I renounce the oaths of the Order of the Phoenix and release you all to join or leave as your conscious may dictate."
Stunned silence seemed to impact physically on each person seated around the table. No one even looked up as Ron, Ginny, and Luna slipped in the back of the room.
Harry stood up swiftly. "Before any of you decide anything I'd like to say something."
Eyes riveted toward him expectantly. Even Snape looked interested in hearing him. Harry silently thanked Hermione for making him give all those uncomfortable speeches in the past.
"I want to be up front and honest about what you'll all be getting into should you agree to join. Don't expect things to be like they were before, this is not the Order of the Phoenix. That being said I commend Headmaster Dumbledore on his exceptional efforts in bringing together so many of the greatest mages in England." Harry said. He looked around at each person slowly as he continued.
"The Light Bearers, on the other hand, is mostly made up of your average witches and wizards. These people didn't experiment on new potions for years or master animagus transformations. They are not aurors or hit wizards and most of them have never drawn a single sack of Ministry gold as a salary." Harry continued. His voice had risen slightly as he got wound up in his monologue. He motioned for Ginny, Luna, and Ron to step forward. Several people looked around as they noticed them for the first time.
"We formed the Bearers of the Light not just to defeat Voldemort but to also provide a strong voice for the end of the injustices of the wizarding world which made Voldemort possible. We have an unprecedented opportunity to acknowledge the rights that our friends like Remus, Hagrid, and Dobby should have always had. Help us, help yourselves, freedom for anyone makes everyone safer." Harry finished, voice thick with emotion at the force of his convictions and sat back down.
Hermione tossed down a tangled mass of silver emblems and chains onto the table. With a wave of her wand they dispersed to hover in front of each former Order member. "Who will join us?" she asked.
Everyone except Tonks, Shacklebolt, and Snape placed the emblems around their necks. The three untouched necklaces crumbled to dust at rejection.
"We cannot," Tonks said. "The Ministry keeps close watch on all its employees, especially aurors. We would be discovered immediately. Severus has a similar problem."
"Right," Harry said quickly, not mentioning that they already had one other auror in the same situation, "You are needed to continue in your roles as double agents of course."
"We are with you though," Tonks said, "in spirit."
Harry looked at Shacklebolt and Snape. Slowly they bowed their heads in muted acceptance. Even if they weren't thrilled they would at least cooperate as they had with Dumbledore, though Harry still didn't entirely trust any of them, even Tonks, which really hurt.
The rest of the meeting was less exciting and more filled with Ron discussing current Light Bearer activities. Harry was impressed as Ron laid out the numerous Light Bearer safe houses, logistical structures, and staging grounds. All that was left for them to do was create their own private Azkaban to hold enemies that they might capture. With the petrifaction potion they should have little trouble keeping their prisoners locked down as long as they managed to keep the facility secret from Voldemort.
Eventually people began leaving the meeting out of necessity to keep up appearances or take care of important things in their lives like families. Dumbledore left to check on all the locations that had been set up to ensure they were amply defended from attack or discovery. Hermione had been going to do that herself but she was grateful that Dumbledore's more extensive experience would be doing it instead. As the last few people filed out only Tonks was left standing behind her chair, her auror eyepiece on the table since Harry has asked for her or Shacklebolt to provide one. Hermione was hesitant but Harry approached her, touched by how in the end she had stood with them.
Unexpectedly Tonks threw her arms around Harry in a tight hug before pulling back. "I'm sorry Harry," she said sadly, "I'm sorry about the things I said, the things I assumed. I should have trusted you more. When I heard the prophecy…and now this..."
"Its all right," Harry replied softly. "I know you were only concerned for us."
Tonks' eyes flitted to Hermione for a moment. "Though I'm still worried about you Harry. Aurors are trained to be extremely wary of the dark arts. I know now that you have a destiny that you can't ignore and like Dumbledore said you have to fulfill it your way, not ours. Don't get caught up in it though, don't enjoy it Harry, please, don't lose yourself. The ends don't justify the means. Promise me."
Hermione came up behind Harry and gripped his forearm. "I've already made a promise," Harry said, his free hand moving to cover Hermione's, "that I would stop Voldemort no matter what the cost. I can promise though, that I will never become like…him."
Tonks scrutinized them both for a moment before nodding her head slowly and backing out of the room. Her hair had sagged and lengthened into her natural form and her face bore the unmistakable resemblance to the Black family to which she was related.
"That went better than I expected Harry," Hermione said gently. She picked up the eyepiece and examined it, not wanting to analyze everything that had happened just yet. Harry wrapped his arm around her waist and led her back into the main room where Remus was still asleep.
Now that they had a working auror eyepiece the efforts to develop one of their own went much quicker. Harry and Hermione spent all the time they could muster over the next few days to perfecting their more powerful variant so that it could be mass-produced. Disruptions were frequent though between the Dursley's complaints, Death Eater attacks, and overseeing the search for Riddle Manor. Not to mention that the Death Eaters were apparently searching intensively for Grimmauld Place too. Voldemort supporters and dark creatures were seen prowling all over London.
Harry sighed as he placed another transparent red disk into a small beautifully decorated box. He was getting very tired from the efforts of making one vision-enhancing eyepiece after another. Hermione was stooped over a small cauldron that they had sat up in the main room to make endurance potions. Voldemort's minions were fond of attacking in the dead of night so they needed the potion to make them alert quickly and keep them from getting fatigued. Hermione finished stirring and moved back to the table they were using as a workbench.
"Have you decided what you're going to say to everyone at the meeting?" Hermione asked. They had set a date for a full meeting of all Light Bearer members. Everyone was to come disguised to prevent too many people from knowing who their colleagues were. No one knew yet that Harry and Hermione had decided to take Dumbledore's advice to reveal their identities. First they would tell their followers and then they would start appearing without disguise so the general public would know too. Harry wasn't entirely comfortable with the plan but Hermione thought that Dumbledore's idea actually had merit this time. That more than anything had helped convince Harry.
"You look tired dear, maybe you should take a break," Mrs. Granger said hesitantly from the doorway. She slid into the room with her husband in tow.
"We wondered if we could talk to you," Mr. Granger added.
"Of course, but we've got to keep working on these eyepieces," Hermione said suspiciously. Her parents mostly tried to stay out of their way. When they came around acting all nonchalant it usually meant something was up. Sure enough Mrs. Granger dropped a newspaper onto the table between Hermione and Harry. Hermione winced when she saw the picture of herself and Harry sitting together on the sofa in the Dursley's living room. She had nearly forgotten about that horrible article.
"I thought your parents were okay with…us," Harry said with concern. After Hermione's parents had finally absorbed the nature of the young couple's soul bond and the obvious affectation they had for each other they had not objected to their relationship.
"Mum," Hermione blushed uncomfortably, "I already to you about that article, remember?"
"That's not exactly what's bothering us," Mr. Granger said. He opened the paper and pushed it towards his daughter. Hermione started to squirm as she quickly scanned down the pages.
"This is a load of rubbish," she finally said exasperatedly. "They've dredged up every old accusation ever made against Harry or myself."
"So you didn't do any of those things?" Mrs. Granger asked with obvious relief.
"I can't believe you took this seriously Mum. I told you how much the Prophet has it out for Harry and now by extension for me too." Hermione said. Harry grabbed the paper and looked down the list, which he had to admit was pretty impressive looking. What was worse, many of the incidents the Prophet had actually happened but with different circumstances than the paper described. Like for example when he had cursed two Slytherin students last year who were in the process of tormenting a defenseless little girl. The Prophet conveniently left that fact out and instead construed the incident to look like an unprovoked attack on his part.
"You really shouldn't worry," Hermione was saying. "Everyone knows the Prophet is a propaganda rag for the ministry these days."
"You shouldn't underestimate the power of bad press," Mr. Granger replied. "Especially when it goes unchallenged."
"We just don't have the time or the resources to reply right now," Harry broke in. "The Quibbler is having a rough time and I don't want to make Luna's father a bigger target than he already is by giving interviews again. If anything happens to him our biggest source of favorable press will vanish not to mention Luna would be devastated."
"You've got to remember that the Ministry is actually afraid of Harry," Hermione explained. "I know he's supposed to defeat Voldemort and everything but what happens after he succeeds? The Ministry has been forced to come to terms with the fact that there exist individuals who can act with virtual impunity outside of the law. Voldemort certainly can, Dumbledore did for several months during fifth year, and Harry could too if he wanted."
"Don't forget yourself," Harry added cheekily.
Hermione flushed, "The point is that this is bigger than just a vendetta against Harry personally. The established authorities are actually concerned that they could be displaced. It's only natural that they'd have this kind of paranoid overreaching analysis of Harry's activities. It isn't fair or right, but it does have a perverse kind of logic behind it."
The Grangers seemed to consider this for a moment while Harry placed his newly finished eyepiece into one of the empty cases that had been conjured to hold it. Unlike the auror eyepieces these were a deep crimson color and would hold themselves in position over the wearer's eye with no strap needed to attach to the head. The devices would be able to see through most solid objects and any invisibility charm of equal or lesser strength to Harry's. They had finally decided that Harry's charm was slightly stronger than Hermione's so it only made sense to use his as the benchmark.
"What was that?" Harry asked suddenly. A vision of a burning room flashed through his mind.
"Someone's calling for our help," Hermione said, "but they must be too weak or something because I'm not getting a fix on their location."
The Grangers looked on with concern as the two teens stood up, conjured their Light Bearer uniforms to disguise themselves, and took their wands out. Seconds ticked by before Harry finally pinpointed the location and sent it to Hermione. They shimmered silently away with a twirling of cloaks and appeared in the center of devastation.
"Look for survivors," Hermione said urgently as she sprayed white foam out of her wand onto the burning ruins.
"I don't think there are any," Harry said sadly as he crouched over a dead witch and her small child. Neither of them had an injury on them anywhere. Harry levitated debris and soon found a wizard dressed in a Light Bearer uniform. He quickly banished the uniform so that no one would know that he had been a member just in case.
"No portkey," Hermione whispered when she pulled up his shirtsleeve. All their members had been issued emergency portkeys in the shape of a bracelet but due to the involved process in making them a few had yet to receive theirs.
"Their kid couldn't apparate," Harry said sadly. It was the same reason his parents had died all those years ago. They could have apparated away and saved themselves but instead they fought to the death for their child.
"We were too late," Hermione said emotionally a few moments later when they reappeared in the living room where they had left her parents. Harry sunk back into his chair dejectedly and flashed off a message to Ron informing him of which member had been killed.
Harry didn't know how Hermione's parents managed to keep from being overcome with worry for their daughter after seeing her go out over and over again to confront Voldemort's minions. He suspected they were just putting on a brave face for their benefit because they knew there was no other choice.
The issue of what he was going to say at the first full meeting of the Bearers of the Light came back to the fore of Harry's mind as he tried to forget the horrific scene he had just witnessed. He didn't think that he needed to say very much since everyone already knew why they were fighting just not who they were following. Harry decided that he should probably explain why he was revealing his identity now and maybe answer questions. He winced slightly at that idea. Ever since he had answered questions after his speech in the Room of Requirement during the last term he had been a bit queasy about enduring a similar grilling all over again.
"Don't worry Harry," Hermione's voice broke into his thoughts. "Everyone is already behind you and I'll be there for you if you need me."
"Thanks Hermione, I know I'm just being silly, but I feel so inadequate for all of…this," Harry said dejectedly with the mental equivalent of a sigh.
"Everyone has those same feelings Harry, even Dumbledore," Hermione said.
Harry snorted, "Of course Dumbledore feels inadequate."
Hermione smiled at his glib and started work on another eyepiece. Her parents had stayed for a while but now they drifted back off to whatever they usually did to occupy themselves. He had seen them reading some books from the library even though they couldn't practice magic. Harry supposed that such things might be rather fascinating even to a muggle.
Remus was up and about again, though still a little stiff and sore from his ordeal. He told them that his escape had been grueling and he doubted that he was allowed to go on purpose. He had only managed it because the guards that had been left to watch over him had been muggle werewolves. The wizards had assumed he was too badly injured to escape at that point. The ambushes that followed were probably just the result of Voldemort's minions making the best they could from his escape.
The summer continued to tick by and the Light Bearers were still taking losses a few at a time. Fortunately it seemed that Voldemort had no idea who the Light Bearers were specifically and so it was only during his random strikes on muggle born people that he occasionally got in a lucky hit. Emergency portkeys had been fully distributed and so almost all the Light Bearers that came under attack managed to escape. The general public on the other hand was a different matter. Some people most at risk for attack had taken to moving from place to place or hiding out in the countryside and using as little magic as possible to blend into the muggle population. Lots of muggle born individuals were fleeing England if they could find a place to go to but even then safety wasn't guaranteed. There were rumors of Death Eaters abroad, either English Death Eaters who went hunting the fleeing muggle born escapees or else foreign national Voldemort supporters who were operating of their own accord.
"These things are great," Remus said excitedly. He had affixed one of the red eyepieces over his left eye. "Won't everyone be able to see each other's identity's though?"
"We already thought of that and made sure that the scarves would block such devices," Hermione said absently. Each member of the Light Bearers wore disguises as a part of their normal uniform. Harry and Hermione wanted their followers to be able to operate without fear of being singled out by the Death Eaters for reprisals.
Remus glanced around with the eyepiece for a few minutes before becoming bored and moving on to the other things that Hermione had left scattered about. Harry smirked at the kindly werewolf's inquisitive nature as Remus flipped through one book after another.
"What's this?" Remus asked. He held up some large white piece of paper that had fallen out of one of the folders.
"That," Harry said, "is where we're going in about fifteen minutes after the last recon patrol gets back in."
Remus looked puzzled so Hermione broke in with a more thorough explanation. "We've been sending out search teams for days now to try to narrow down the location of Voldemort's main headquarters. As soon as we get the last map segment from the patrol that's out right now Harry and I are going to take a crack at penetrating the magic that's keeping Riddle Manor hidden."
Concern flashed across Remus' haggard face. "How many people are you taking with you?"
Harry shifted uncomfortably. "Just us, no one else can apparate fast enough to keep up with us on this one."
"I don't know if that's such a good idea, what if Voldemort took the opportunity to gang up on you," Remus said.
"Honestly Remus," Hermione said with frustration apparent in her voice, though not with him. "We'll be fine. If anything happens that we can't handle we'll portkey away."
The werewolf tilted his head oddly, anxiety still apparent in his features but nodded in agreement. Harry put down the book he had taken up when Ron came hurrying into the room waving the final piece of the map.
"This is it guys," Ron said once they had put all the pieces together on the table. "We've got accurate descriptions of the entire region except for these areas here."
Harry studied the large indefinite mass that was unable to be mapped and knew that somewhere inside it was Voldemort's main base. Now it was time to see if he and Hermione could succeed where the other scouts had failed.
"All right, don't wait up for us," Hermione said. Harry summoned his Light Bearer uniform at the same time as Hermione did hers. "We'll go straight from the field to the meeting."
"Don't take too long," Ron replied. "You've still got to start growing the fortress."
"Actually you can do that for us," Hermione said. She dug a tiny block of obsidian stone out of her robes and tossed it to the red head. "Just bury that in the ground and it should be ready to do its thing."
Harry and Hermione had been working on that little piece of stone as an offshoot of their alchemy experiments to restore the Sorcerer's Stone. It was in effect a preprogrammed conjuring spell that would slowly enlarge and shape itself into a great fortress that they intended to use as a prison. Everyone would find out about it in just a few hours when the meeting was held at the future fortress' location, place that had been named Middle Yard.
Harry and Hermione shimmered into existence on the fringe of the magically concealed area revealed by the attempt at mapping the region. The landscape seemed to be pretty much the same as any other part of England but looks could be deceiving when magic was a factor.
"Let's just apparate through it a few times and then meet back here," Hermione said.
Harry nodded and began jumping very short distances in rapid succession. It was dangerous to try to pinpoint an area to appear in when outside of that area's visual range because of the effects of the spell blanketing everything. If Harry's perceptions of the terrain were distorted he could end up apparating into a rock or a tree and killing himself. Harry knew he should be fine so long as he could physically see where he was going, at least he hoped that the magical protections couldn't affect him that much.
Harry made a few more jumps but didn't see anything that could be Riddle Manor. He also suddenly realized he was completely lost. With a sigh he jumped back to the starting point so he could try again.
"Harry!" Hermione's shaky voice shouted. He felt himself caught up in one of Hermione's monstrous hugs.
"What's wrong?" he asked, bewildered.
"I didn't know what to do," Hermione answered in a distraught tone. I've been waiting for hours and I couldn't even find you through our link.
"But how? I've only been gone a few minutes," Harry replied.
"You must have been really close to the focal point of the spell," Hermione surmised, her panic diminishing now that Harry was back. "It must have distorted time for you somehow to prevent you from finding the location being protected."
"We're close then, we've got to go back," Harry said excitedly.
"No!" Hermione exclaimed. "What if you got stuck again and couldn't get out this time? I've never heard of such a thing happening before, we need to research this much more thoroughly. It's nearly time for the meeting too and unless you want to make people question our reliability we'd better go now..."
Harry looked up at the twilight sky and sighed. At least he could console himself that they had gotten that much closer to uncovering Voldemort's hiding spot. Hermione squeezed his hand and together they shimmered away to the location that had been dubbed Middle Yard.
Middle Yard was currently little more than a few beaten wooden structures out in the middle of a field. However, Hermione had hidden the location and fortified it with the strongest protective wards they had. Also, there was now a lump of black stone beginning to peak out of the ground that would grow into a huge black fortress within a few weeks. With the new generation of wards they were currently developing Harry hoped they would be able to turn the magical structure into a formidable stronghold like Hogwarts.
"Hey you guys, we were beginning to get worried," Ron hissed unexpectedly from behind them. Luna, Neville, and Ginny were also nearby discussing something. There was a raised platform illuminated by magical fires off in the background that was already surrounded by dozens of uniformed and masked Light Bearers.
"Harry nearly got stuck in the spell protecting Riddle Manor," Hermione explained. "That whole area is off limits until we can get a better idea of what we're dealing with."
Ron nodded grimly and the trio turned towards their other friends. It had been a long time since Harry had seen Neville and he was eager to see how the clumsy wizard's progress was coming. Neville's improvement during the D.A. had been remarkable and even though he would probably always be the weakest out of the group, except possibly for Ginny, he had still become a first class wizard. Neville's determination to help his friends and live up to the Longbottom name like his gran wanted him to had inspired him to work harder than most people that Harry knew.
"So how's the team coming Neville?" Harry asked when the trio finally closed the distance. Luna drifted over next to Ron and looked up at him with her huge blue eyes.
"We're as ready as we'll ever be," Neville said nervously. Neville had asked to lead the first specialized team of their sixteen best warriors who would be dedicated exclusively to combating the deadly avatars of Voldemort. "We've incorporated all the tactics that we've been able to find from our sources in the auror department."
"I have a feeling that you'll get a chance to see how effective those strategies are any day now," Hermione said. "Harry and I just can't keep up with the avatars. They're purposefully hitting small targets in a random dispersed way to keep us running around."
"Uh, guys," Ron said insistently, "we don't have all night you know. We don't want to raise people's suspicions by keeping our members out all at once for such a long time."
Harry raised an eyebrow in faint surprise at Ron's keen planning. The red headed teen had really taken on a new sense of mission after being controlled by the Death Eater Tram. "Okay, let's go, and remember the plan, I do all the talking and I'm the only one that reveals their identity, right?"
Hermione nodded in agreement. They had reached the conclusion that even though several people, mainly Hogwarts' students knew the identities of Ron and Hermione too, it wouldn't be as weighty a secret as Harry's identity was. A secret less pressing would be less likely to be discovered by a strong legimens so it was worth the effort to continue concealing their identities.
Harry and Hermione waited a moment while the other four teens got into place before shimmering in a tiny apparation onto the stage. It took a few moments for the crowd to quiet down after they realized that the meeting was ready to begin. Harry took a couple of calming breaths and magically amplified his voice just a little to make sure everyone could hear him. He didn't even have to use his wand for such a simple spell.
"I'm glad that nearly all of our membership is here this evening for the first ever gathering of this kind. More than that I am honored that so many people have volunteered to put themselves on the line for the freedom of the entire world of magic. Our purposes are many but none more pressing than the first to be addressed."
Harry paused and glanced around at all the masked figures looking up expectantly at him. Silver glinted in the dim light off of the immaculate uniforms that Hermione had mostly designed. Harry raised his voice a little more as he continued.
"All of you know why you joined the Bearers of the Light. You joined because a dark and evil force threatens our world. You joined because you no longer believed in the Ministry's ability or willingness to safeguard your families. Most of all you joined because you thought you could make a difference. I'm here tonight to reassure you that you will make more difference than anyone else in the war against Voldemort."
The crowd stirred slightly and Harry grinned to himself as he felt a wave of pride wash over him through his bond with Hermione.
"Since the prophecy was leaked to the forces of darkness and then to the general public I am aware that many of you worried that no matter what you did you would be unable to affect the outcome of this conflict. Moreover, now that we have grown larger and stronger it is finally time for all Light Bearers to know who has drawn them together under our common cause."
Harry didn't wait for the obvious implication of his words to sink in. Instead he banished his scarf and stood illuminated in the light that bathed the stage. Shouts of "the Chosen One" or "The-Boy-Who-Lived" rang out across the stage. Harry raised his hands to continue but never got his chance.
Green flame flashed brightly in the center of the gathering near the front of the stage. Harry's hand flickered to his wand but never made it as he realized who was standing there.
"What in the bloody hell," Hermione's voice barked angrily through Harry's head. She too had been an instant away from cursing the Headmaster for his unscheduled arrival.
"Who knows," Harry replied with the mental equivalent of an exasperated sigh.
"Every single one of us has exactly one chance of stopping Tom Riddle," Dumbledore boomed as he pointed at Harry. "And he is standing right there. I pledge my life that no harm will come to Harry Potter so long as I can stand between him and anything that would stop him from doing what only he can do."
Harry flushed, he didn't want people throwing themselves between him and killing curses, he just wanted them to help him.
"All our lives before Harry's," Hermione's high-pitched voice added quickly. More and more people added their vows and soon everyone was cheering for Harry to prevail.
"I didn't want this," Harry moaned.
"Harry please, don't you see, this is brilliant," Hermione shot back. "Even with the prophecy Dumbledore's influence will still help us immensely."
"I thought you hated him," Harry replied cheekily.
"I'm still upset with him Harry but if he keeps this up he'll have gone a long way to making up for it in my eyes," Hermione said seriously.
Harry sighed and held his hands up for silence. "Thank you all, I only hope I can justify the sacrifices you are all making with success in our cause. The other reason that this meeting was called is to distribute new equipment…"
"Harry, I think you're forgetting something," Dumbledore said calmly. "We eagerly await the identity of our other leader, uh, I believe you call her Greywing."
Hermione studied Harry's reaction to Dumbledore's proposed outing of her identity. She silently agreed that there was no reason to hide it anymore but she had felt Harry's protective emotions wind up so much when she had suggested it once that she hadn't the heart to force it on him. Harry's cloak was fluttering behind him rather dashingly due to his hands still being held in the air to call for quiet. She flushed and shifted her feet uncomfortably while trying to shake distracting thoughts out of her head.
Harry hesitated, caught off guard, so Dumbledore continued. "Voldemort will have easily figured it out after what happened last year Harry. There's nothing to be gained for anyone by hiding now."
"Very well," Harry shrugged, defeated by the logic and because he knew Hermione didn't want to stay hidden anymore, even if she didn't bring it up to him.
Hermione stepped forward to take her place at Harry's side and banished her mask. Bushy hair flared out at being released from the restraint of her disguise which made her instantly recognizable to anyone who had read the Daily Prophet since the release of the picture of her and Harry. The crowd murmured eagerly at this, especially the Hogwart's students who were already aware, and Harry was sure he heard a voice suspiciously similar to McGonagall's calling out something about "the brightest witch of her age."
After much more hand waving Harry finally got control of the meeting back and finished explaining about the new eyepieces. He was preparing to banish the stage to help hand them out but Hermione stopped him at the last second.
"Harry, don't get in such a hurry, I want to teach them our spell," Hermione said to him over their link before addressing the crowd. "There is one final tool that we have prepared for tonight. A psychological weapon that we will use against the Death Eaters like they have used the Dark Mark against us."
Hermione pointed her wand at the sky and said the words of the spell out loud so that everyone could see how it was performed. "Arguo Verax" Instantly a glimmering outline of a torch made up of shimmering liquid silver imposed itself onto the night sky. A soft white light, not unlike that of a full moon, shined down on them gently.
Harry jumped down after Hermione and banished the stage. He grabbed a box of eyepieces and helped the others hand them out while Hermione gave individual instructions on how to use her spell. Harry generally had no idea who he was handing out the red lenses to except when he ran across someone wearing the distinctive phoenix insignia that revealed their previous affiliation with Dumbledore's Order. One person, however, was clearly recognizable since he wore no disguise.
"So, do you need one of these?" Harry smirked at the old wizard. "Or can you see through our invisibility cloaks?"
"I believe I shall muddle through on my own somehow," Dumbledore said with a wink. "I've grown too old to change my ways now or to rely on new devices."
"I suspected as much," Harry replied. "Will you be returning with us or…?"
"I'm afraid not Harry," Dumbledore said. "Hogwarts needs me for now to keep it safe. There are many things that I must attend to."
"Just remember who you work for now," Harry said, miffed at the old wizard's response.
"Of course," Dumbledore replied humbly before disappearing in a twirl of cloak.
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