A/N: Once more we enter a tiny bit of a lull as the deck is set up for the next few chapters. Caliban will be MIA for a couple of chapters, but there is a good reason for that. You also get the real reason why Hermione was worried before the Wizengamot. There may come a small point in this chapter where you will think I went against something I commented on in an author's note earlier, but if you read a bit further in the section you'll see why I did what I did.
The chapter title refers to "Dumbledore's Army," or at least the core group of it. You should be able to guess what happens as far as their loyalties.
Chapter 25: Mutiny
Harry appeared in the front yard of the Burrow, his mind buzzing with all of the implications of what he had just done. He had no doubt that he hadn't heard the last of Dumbledore; the old coot would still try to run his life from afar. Still, he hoped that he had begun the process of separating himself, and more importantly his family, from Dumbledore's influence.
He still had reservations about doing the obvious thing, which was kicking him out of Hogwarts altogether. He still wasn't sure how he would stack up against Voldemort in a one on one duel, and Dumbledore could still be used to his advantage of being the one wizard that Voldemort ever feared.
He slowly walked into the living room, and was surprised to find everyone gathered around a lone person in the middle of the room. Arthur was bent over him, tending a warm cloth to his forehead. Harry's eyes widened as he recognized the person as Colin Creevey. Quickly he moved down next to Hermione, who was across from Arthur.
"What's going on," he asked with some degree of desperation. He wasn't exactly close to Colin, but he had a knot at the bottom of his stomach if his hunch about what had happened was right.
"He came in like this," Neville explained, sitting across from Harry. "He stumbled into the backdoor and collapsed on the kitchen floor. Luna and I drug him in here just before Mr. Weasley came home." Harry nodded and turned towards Hermione, who seemed to have collected herself quickly after the episode with Dumbledore.
"Death Eaters?" he asked to her rhetorically, pretty much already knowing the answer. Hermione nodded her head, and pointed to Colin's left arm. Harry looked down, and was sickened to see a reasonable facsimile of the dark mark carved into Colin's arm. From the pattern of the mark, someone had rather quickly used a razor blade on his flesh, probably by means of magic given how detailed the mark was. Colin appeared to be sleeping it off, though he still had beads of sweat on his face. Harry felt his blood run cold at the sight of him.
"He'll be alright," Arthur said, standing up, "I don't even think he'll need to go to St. Mungo's other than for….that." He pointed at Colin's arm, frowning as he did so. "The wound seems to have stopped bleeding for now, but it's deep enough that I don't think any amount of magic is going to prevent scarring." The group nodded, each with a solemn look on their face. Luna stood up and headed for the fireplace.
"Father will be returning soon," she said, "I really should be there to greet him."
"I'll take you," Neville offered, "None of us should be by ourselves right now. I should be getting home too anyway." He turned back towards Harry, "I'll be back tomorrow Harry. I have some things to discuss with you after I have a talk with Gran."
"I'll be back as well," Luna said. Harry smiled at the both of them.
"Thank you, the both of you. Go home to your families." They nodded and grabbed a pinch of floo powder from the jar, throwing it into the fire and stepping into the green flames to the Lovegood's residence.
"Here Ron," Harry said, leaning down and grabbing Colin's left side, "Help me get him into a room." Ron nodded and lifted up the unconscious boy's right side, the two of them taking Colin up to an unused bedroom.
Once Harry and Ron had settled Colin in for the night, they both went back downstairs and gathered around the dining room table to discuss the night's events. They filled in Ron and Ginny on the conversation with Dumbledore, and Arthur eyed them with a bit of frustration in his eyes as they told the tale. When they finished, Arthur set down his cup of tea and looked straight at Harry & Hermione.
"I know what Dumbledore has done to the both of you, to all of us but," he pursed his lips and thought about his reaction, "Are you absolutely certain you won't return to Hogwarts? It does offer some degree of safety, and given your status as the heir…" he trailed off as Harry held up his hand. Hermione offered him an apologetic smile.
"It's something we discussed at length," she explained, twining her finger's with Harry's, "And we both came to the decision that we just couldn't go back. It'd be like saying that everything was alright, that nothing had changed. But things have changed; too many things have changed for us to simply ignore them."
"But you can't throw away the rest of your lives just for this mission," Arthur said in a somewhat frantic tone. "At least go back to finish your education…"
"There's nothing at that school that Hermione and I can't learn on our own." His face fell slightly as he added, "But I understand if you want Ron and Ginny to go back. That's not my decision to make."
Arthur looked at his two youngest, seeing the hardness on their faces, and sighed as he glanced down at the table, "That's a decision they'll have to make," he whispered, before looking back at them. "Understand that you're future may be greatly effected if you don't go back, but if you do then there will be consequences as well. Harry & Hermione might be immune to whatever Dumbledore's plot is directly, but…"
"He could use us to get to them," Ron said, finishing his father's sentence. He nodded his head and stared right back at his father. "I already know I'm not going back. I'll be of age in nine months, and you can still get a job with the Ministry even with just O.W.L. scores to back you up. If nothing else," he let out a sigh, "I'm sure Fred & George can give me a job at their store."
"I don't know," Ginny softly answered a far-off look in her eyes, "I haven't even taken my O.W.L. tests yet, but I've never really felt like I belonged at Hogwarts till last year." Ron rubbed her back in a show of support, and she smiled at him, "All the same, I don't know if I could go back anyway. Not with everything else going on."
"We'll understand whatever decision you make," Hermione reassured her, and placed a hand on hers, getting a small smile from the youngest Weasley. Ron cleared his throat and turned towards Harry.
"Of course, I want you to teach me everything you know," Harry nodded, before a wry smile came over his face.
"Who are you and what have you done with Ron Weasley?" Ron gave an affronted look, but quickly chuckled, and the whole table jumped at the small chance of some mirth being added to the proceedings. Harry waited till the moment passed before nodding his head again.
"We're going to take you and Ginny to Potter Manor, where we've been staying for the last few days. If Neville and Luna want to join us, then they are welcome to as well."
"Somehow I get the feeling Colin will want to join us when he wakes up," Ginny added, and Harry nodded in affirmation.
"Right, once we're their, Hermione and I will use a spell to slow down time so that one day equals close to a year." Ron's eyes went wide.
"Brilliant," he said enthusiastically, causing Harry to smile and turn towards Hermione. He paused for a moment when he noticed that her eyes were pointed downward, and her hands were folded in her lap.
"Mione?" he asked concern in his voice. Hermione looked up at him and smiled.
"I have something I need to talk with you about," she replied, with a bit of nervousness in her voice.
/ - / - / - /
Albus Dumbledore paced back in the back room of the Hogshead Pub in Hogsmeade, the makeshift headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix at the given moment. The moment Harry had stated that the Order was no longer welcome at Grimmauld Place, anyone associated with the House had been unceremoniously dumped on the street in front of the house and were unable to get back in. Dumbledore himself had tried to floo to the house, only to be comically spit out of the flames, landing in a heap across from the fireplace in his office. For lack of a better place to meet at the moment, Dumbledore had chosen his brother's bar. Aberforth was currently off gallivanting with some manner of creature, in truth Albus really didn't want to know what his erstwhile brother was doing in his spare time.
Things couldn't have gone much worse with Harry at their last meeting. Between Miss Granger's emotional explosions (something about which caused Dumbledore pause, but nothing of great consequence) and Potter's flat out refusal for his help in defeating Voldemort had steamrolled a good portion of his machinations.
Still, he had to remind himself, the meeting wasn't a total loss. Based on the fact that he knew that Harry was the head of several ancient lines, he now had an idea as to where to look for him. If he had to guess, he'd stake his fortune on Harry holing up at Potter Manor.
Problem was, he didn't know where exactly that was.
It was a problem he could deal with, certainly. Given enough time, he'd be able to find out the information one way or another.
The question was what to do with it once he had it. From Dumbledore's perspective, there were only two choices: either try once more to control Potter as he had tried to do with Tom Riddle, or to simply give up on Potter as a potential source of power.
Given the fact that the prophecy seemed to be coming true, at least what part of it he knew, the latter seemed most viable. All he needed now was a way of setting the board in motion in such a way that he could deal with Potter and Granger…permanently.
He was disturbed from his thoughts by the door to the bar opening. He looked up and saw Alastor Moody stagger in, his hair wet from the rainstorm outside. "Alastor," Dumbledore greeted.
"Albus," Moody returned, shaking his head and removing his trenchcoat. "I haven't been able to breach the wards. Whatever Potter did, he did it permanently."
"I have no doubt Alastor, Grimmauld Place is a very old house that has been in the Black Family for years and the wards on it are extensive. Talk to William, I'm sure he…"
"That might be a problem Albus," Moody interrupted, taking a seat across from him and staring at the fire. "Bill Weasley resigned from the Order this evening, along with three others. We're losing manpower fast…whatever rift that existed between you and Lupin seems to have spread to the rest of the Order. You're strongest supporters are still shored up, but we've lost a great deal of the newer members, such as Tonks and the Weasleys."
"That is unfortunate," Dumbledore replied, half-distracted. He moved towards the blinding rain that blew in sideways against the glass. There was a loud crack of thunder, and Dumbledore's countenance seemed to stiffen slightly as he turned back towards Moody. "Alastor, I think it is time we rethink our strategy….Perhaps Voldemort is not quite the ultimate evil we thought him to be."
"Albus?" Moody leaned forward, his fake eye fixated solely on his old friend.
"You know of the Prophecy which mentions Harry…I have no doubt that he is the subject of that prophecy and that Miss Granger is the love that he will meet in his youth and grow to marry." He paused, considering his words for a moment, before summoning a small glass of firewhiskey. He took a sip and stared out into the space, the firelight twinkling madly off his eyes as they seemed to change colors in the twilight. "What concerns me most is another quatrain of the prophecy which concerns the Heir of Morgan LeFey."
Moody's eyes went wide, "I thought you said Voldemort was the Heir of LeFey?"
"Perhaps…perhaps….but still it worries me." He took another sip of whiskey and turned towards Moody, "We must be prepared to take steps if necessary. I have recently discovered the locations of several artifacts that Voldemort was hiding. If we can convince Harry to work with us if only for a short while…"
"Given everything you've done Albus," Moody said scowling, "That may be difficult."
Albus took an even breath, glaring at his friend. "You presume too much Alastor. Anything I did was for the greater good, you know that."
"I do," Moody clarified, "And I beg your pardon if I insulted you sir. But the fact remains that while you know that, and I know that, Harry doesn't know that, or at least chooses to ignore it."
"More the reason we should be on our guard, just in case." Dumbledore stood up and turned towards the rain again, "If Harry refuses to help us defeat Voldemort…we may have the makings of another Dark Lord on our hands. And I intend not to let what happened twice before happen again."
/ - / - / - /
Hermione Granger paced back and forth in the room that she and Harry shared at the Burrow. In her hands was a device she had procured on a side trip from the Wizengamot, stopping at a small druggist's shop just outside Kensington where she used to live. It held the results of a test that both excited her and frightened her to no end.
It was a pregnancy test.
Truth be told she and Harry hadn't exactly been too careful during their time at the Manor, especially towards the end when they had become more…intimate…with one another. She had performed contraceptive charms before they engaged in sexual activity, but given her inexperience with said charms and the somewhat rushed mood they were in at times, they could have been performed incorrectly. The more she worried about it, the more she began to doubt whether or not she had actually performed them at all one or two times. She hadn't given much thought about it until a couple of days prior, when she had realized that she was late in her period. She knew of a magical spell that could tell her the answer, but the muggle test was just as (if not more so) accurate as the magical test.
Now how to tell Harry.
She was thrilled with the prospect of starting a family with Harry, that didn't scare her in the slightest. What did scare her was the idea that they were both so young, neither one officially of age yet (though both of them had physically aged beyond their years in the time warp. How could they possibly be mature enough or responsible enough to care for a child? How could they even begin to care for a child with Voldemort and possibly Dumbledore still lurking out there to make their lives a living nightmare?
A small nagging portion of her mind asked the question: What if Harry doesn't want a family? She tried to ignore that part of her subconscious.
She was broken from her thoughts and pacing by Harry walking into the room, softly setting the door shut, and sitting down on the bed. His emerald eyes looked deeply at her, and the small nagging portion of her mind died away quickly as she felt the love radiating out of his concern for her well-being. "What's wrong Mione?" he softly asked, motioning for her to sit down next to him on the bed. She nodded her head and did so, still cradling the small device in her hands, hidden from view. Harry placed an arm around her neck and held her closely, and Hermione allowed herself to be enveloped by him, letting all of her worry and fear die away for a single moment as she embraced herself in Harry's loving care. "You've been acting strange tonight, something's gotta be bothering you." Hermione nodded into his chest, and wiped away a tear she didn't know that she had shed. Taking a deep breath, she pulled away from him and folded his hands into her lap, looking him dead in the eye.
"Harry, you know what we did…with each other…in the time warp?" She let the question linger for a moment till a pleasurable understanding overtook Harry as he recalled the memory. Hermione took another deep breath and added, "There's a chance that we might not have been properly protected."
Harry sat there silent for several moments, his eyes widened a bit. Hermione added, "I'm late on my period. That doesn't necessarily mean anything but…well…there's a chance that…" she trailed off, and Harry nodded, letting out a staggered breath at the bombshell that had been dropped, but had yet to explode. He stood up for a moment, pacing towards the door, his hand ruffling through his hair. Hermione looked down at her hands and meekly added, "I-I stopped at a druggist before I came back here to get a test that will tell me if I'm…well." She was having trouble even saying the word. Harry looked back at her, concern obvious in his mind. He saw the tears that had once again begun to leak out of Hermione's eyes, and he sat back down next to her, placing one hand on her face and pulling her gaze directly towards his.
"Hermione, I'd be lying if the prospect didn't scare me half to death. I mean, this is being a father, something I know nothing about, and something that is a huge responsibility, even bigger than the prophecy." He paused a moment, considering his words, before he trudged on, "But I want you to know, that no matter what that test says, I will always love you. And whatever the outcome, you won't face it alone. We'll be together to face it."
Hermione's eyes seemed to light up with tension easing out of her face. "Do you mean that Harry?" she whispered.
"Yes," he said with a smile. He then added, "And I also want you to know, that there isn't a single person on this earth that I could consider starting a family with besides you." Hermione gave a bright, broad smile, and the two of them kissed each other passionately. When they broke away, she looked down at her hands. Slowly, she opened one hand which had been firmly closed over the indicator….
…and felt a wave of relief wash over her when she saw the minus sign appear.
"Oh thank Merlin," she exclaimed, only to stop herself when she saw Harry's face fall slightly. "That's not what I meant Harry," she quickly amended, "I mean that I don't know if we're ready to start a family yet, and with Voldemort and…" she was silenced by a quick kiss from Harry, effectively putting an end to her rambling. He broke away, and smiled at her.
"I know what you meant," he answered, moving a lock of hair from her face. "For what it's worth, you're going to make a great mother someday."
"Not as much as you'll be a great father someday," she replied, causing Harry to lean back and smile.
"It's hard to think about sometimes," he solemnly said, as she leaned back into his chest and felt contentment. "The future that is. I mean…there's so much promise in just thinking about it cause…"
"Cause it means we'll get through this," Hermione finished, looking up into his eyes. "And we will get through this Harry. Together."
"Together," he repeated, holding her tighter. "No matter what," he whispered silently to himself, as the two of them slowly drifted off into a peaceful sleep.
A/N: Just felt like a bit of fluffiness was needed there, as well as more dynamic relationship-building between Harry & Hermione. We'll get the training up and running next chapter, while focusing on Colin for a large portion of next chapter.