Unofficial Portkey Archive

Chapter 13 - The Transfer

An: I do not own Harry Potter.

Hermione shut her version of the journal with a loud noise. Harry gave her a cross look. He still had half the journal left to read. She knew if she pushed him he would get upset with her so instead her mind went to work on a plan to stop Salazar. The plan she had in mind required the use of spells she was not familiar with but she was sure she could use some of the spell books in the library to familiarise herself with them. She was sure she had enough time to do that while Harry finished his reading.

She quickly scanned the shelves and soon her hands were filled with five tomes. She looked around the room they were in and realised that she would disturb Harry if she tried to practice any magic in the room. The Manor was huge. She was sure she could find an appropriate room, so she left him and set off. He hadn't even lifted his head to ask where she was going so she assumed he was engrossed in the journal. It was quite a captivating read.

S-2

James, Sirius, Remus and Edward arrived at the gates of Slytherin Manor. Usually during the day there would be a few wizards moving about conducting business but the grounds were deserted. There was no sign of life anywhere.

"Where do we start?" Sirius asked.

"With the main Manor," James said firmly.

"Why don't we split up?" Edward suggested. "Sirius and I can tackle Malfoy House, since Lucius is the one that conducts all of the business on behalf of Mr. Riddle. The records we are looking for might be there as well. You and Remus go to Slytheirn Manor. This way we can accomplish more in the limited time we have."

James nodded.

"Aww, I wanted to go into the Manor," Sirius whined.

"Malfoy House is smaller than the Manor we should finish there with plenty of time for you to get in some play time at the Manor," Edward teased Sirius who glared at him.

James and Remus went left towards the Manor and Edward and Sirius went right towards Malfoy House.

S-3

"Lilly, we've been riding around for two hours now and we haven't seen Narcissa. We've seen lots of other Slytherins but not her. How are we going to find Narcissa?" Julie asked.

"If little Rus was being hunted by a bunch of maniacs, what would you do?"

"Try to find him before them. I would go to all the spots that I know he would hide out at?" Julie replied.

"And that ladies is exactly what we're going to be doing."

"But we don't know anything about Draco?" Tonks pointed out.

"That is why I sent that owl off to ask Draco. It should be returning shortly."

They waited about five minutes before a plain brown owl returned to Lilly. She took the letter quickly. It had two words: The Hills.

"Oh I remember now!" Tonks said. "Narcissa was fond of how cunning foxes were. She used to take Draco there to show him. It was supposed to be their spot. They know the area inside out."

"That's where we head then ladies," Lilly said gathering the reins in her hands and pointing her horse in the direction they need to go.

S-4

For what must have been the twentieth time since Hermione left the room he heard the sound of a vase breaking. He looked up at the house elf in front of him that came to keep him company after Hermione left.

"Are you sure she's ok?" he asked.

"The mistress is fine. She's practicing some spells. From the sounds of it, she's doing perfectly fine," the house elf stated proudly.

Harry flipped through the pages, he had about ten left. Would it be acceptable if he just read the last page? He was tired of reading the boring history of the relationship between Godric and Salazaar. So far all the information that he gathered was that they were great friends and maybe both had a crush on the same witch. What was the point of reading this journal?

The sound of another vase breaking distracted his inner monologue.

"How many vases does this Manor have?" Harry asked the elf curiously.

"She's breaking the same one over and over but don't mind the Mistress. She left strict instructions that you must finish reading. You're almost done."

"Oh so you're my babysitter then," Harry replied glaring at the house elf but he got back to reading the journal

S-5

Before James and Remus entered Slytherin house, the Auror pulled out his favourite article of clothing, his invisibility cloak.

"This should help us sneak around undetected, just in case some of the Slytherins stayed behind to guard Mr. Riddle."

Remus nodded and they both slipped under the cloak. A simple spell from James and the door was unlocked. They slowly swung the door opened and peeked inside. No one was around. They entered quickly and closed the door quietly behind them. The first floor held nothing of interest. James was quite surprised at how sparsely furnished the Manor was. The Slytherins were always boasting about their opulence yet the inside of the building did not convey that. It made it easy to scan through the rooms. They were circling back to the front door when they heard it click close.

They manage to catch sight of Peter Petrigrew before he disappeared behind a door that had appeared below the stairs. James immediately headed in that direction. When he reached the door he tried the first spell he had used to open the Manor's front door. It failed. He then started going through his repertoire of spells to open doors.

Remus realised that James was not going to quit until he got that door open, so he decided he would take a chance and survey upstairs by himself. He didn't expect any trouble upstairs. Chances were that Mr. Riddle was behind that secret door.

S-6

Harry finished the journal and headed in the direction of the breaking vase. He found Hermione in what appeared to be a large dining room with several items lined up on the dining table; the vase was one of them. She had not noticed him yet, her entire attention focused on the objects in front of her. She was chewing on her bottom lip as she concentrated. Harry thought she looked quite fetching. She lifted her wand and performed a series of complicated spells. Each one directed at an object on the table. She managed to hit all, though not all the spells were as powerful as they should have been. The vase shattered to pieces again and she restored it quickly to its previous pristine condition.

It was impressive but Harry knew he was better. He was faster, more accurate and more powerful. He had had three years of training to perfect what she was trying to accomplish in an hour. He thought in a few more years she would be as good as he was. As she was about to start up with another round, he interrupted her.

"And why do you want to assault the poor vase?" Harry asked.

"I'm practicing for when we confront Mr. Riddle. I need to know how to defend myself against his guards."

"We won't be confronting Mr. Riddle," Harry said.

Hermione's head snapped towards him and he thought he saw steam pouring out of her ears.

"Do you plan on leaving him alone or did you miss that 10 wizards stormed my house Harry with the intention to hurt us!" she asked angrily.

"No I don't plan on leaving them alone. My father and I will deal with Mr. Riddle," Harry said.

"You're leaving me behind?" she asked.

"I'm not leaving you behind, I'm leaving you where you are safe," Harry countered.

"No, I'm going with you, besides I'm the one with plan," the brunette witch stated fiercely.

"Plan, what plan? I can form my own plan," Harry said.

"And how far have you come with that?" Hermione asked.

"Uh,"

"Precisely what I thought, not far at all." She said picking up a tome from a chair behind her and shoving it into Harry's hand.

"Your plan is another book?" Harry asked.

"This is the tome that Salazaar wants. My plan is to prevent Salazaar from jumping bodies. There is also a spell in here," Hermione said opening the book to show him the spell, "that can stop him doing that. If you read the journal properly you would remember Gryffindor speaking of a spell that he had been working on to stop Salazaar. He tied the spell somehow to the Gryffindor line. We are his chosen descendants, I tried to do the spell but I think it needs both of us to do it. You can't do this without me. You can learn it on the way to the Burrow. We also need Draco."

"The Burrow? Why are we going to get Draco?" Harry asked.

"Did you think that Mr. Riddle would just let us walk up to him to perform the spell," she countered sarcastically.

Harry was going to retort but the witch was already out the door headed towards the main entrance where they had left the broom. That witch was going to be the death of him.

S-7

Draco was pacing wildly in Ron's room. Since the owl from Mrs. Potter they had had no word from the outside. He was very concerned that they hadn't heard from Hermione yet. The young witch had a penchant for getting into trouble and he was worried that the Slytherins may have caught up to her. He knew there was a slim chance of that though. As much as he hated to admit it, Harry was an extremely good flyer.

"Can you please stop that?" Ron asked from his place on his bed. He was playing chess with Luna who was actually putting up a decent fight.

"No," Draco said continuing his path.

"You're wearing a path in the carpet," Anna pointed out. She was seated on a chair while Ginny braided her hair for her. The red haired witch just watched on in amusement.

"I can pay to have it replaced," Draco snapped.

"If you're alive," Charles replied. He was leaning against Ron's study table. He was bored.

Draco turned sharply, pointing his wand at the youngest Potter male. William quickly stepped in front of his brother.

"You think you can take me," Draco sneered.

"I can defeat you easily," William replied.

"That's enough boys. Killing each other is not going to answer the question of what's going on out there." Ginny said.

"I don't know how you all can just sit by and do nothing. Hermione is out there with at least ten Slytherins after her, who will hurt her if they catch her and we are here hiding." Draco said.

Ginny laughed and Draco scowled at her. "What so funny?" he asked.

"You're beginning to sound like a Gryffindor."

"Oh God, I've gone mad haven't I?" Draco replied throwing his hands up in the air wildly.

"Not yet," Hermione responded bursting into the room with a disturbed looking Harry dutifully following behind her.

"It's about bloody damn time. Where have you been?" Ron asked, "This Slytherin is driving me nuts."

"He's driving all of us nuts," William said.

"No I think us girls are quite fine with him," Ginny replied defending Draco.

"You look like you have plan," Luna said, she knew her friend well and Hermione's posture and facial expression screamed she had found a way out of this mess.

"I do, do you trust me Draco," Hermione asked.

"Oh no, it's one of those plans," Draco replied fearfully.

"It's definitely one of those plans," Harry agreed.

"It's going to require you to show us why you're a Slytherin Draco,"

Hermione started to explain in detail what she planned to do. Ginny and Luna wanted to help but Hermione insisted for the plan to work, it had to be just Draco, Harry and herself.

"Ok let's do this then," Harry said.

S-8

The Hills was an area of gentle rolling hills to the south of Slytherin Manor. It was a large area and because of the dip and rise of the hills, Narcissa could be in between anyone of them.

"Ok girls we split up and meet back here in an hour," Lilly said to them. "I'll take that section over there, Julie you do that piece, Tonks you try over there," she said pointing in different directions.

It must have been fate or something because Tonks was the one for find the witch in question. She was seated halfway up one of the hills watching a fox taking care of her kit.

"Hello Aunt Narcissa," she greeted politely.

"Nymphadora," her aunt replied. No form of warmth or familiarity in her voice.

Tonks hadn't interacted much with Narcissa or her other aunt Bellatrix growing up. They were upset with mother, for marrying what they termed beneath their status. Tonks didn't believe that at all. Her mother was far happier than either of her sisters.

"We know you're looking for Draco. He said we would find you here," she told her aunt.

The elder witch's head snapped towards her niece.

"Where is my son?" she asked.

"Safe," was Tonk's reply.

"He said you set him up for the slaughter,"

"I tried to save him. I never wanted that for him. I hoped Mr. Riddle would have selected another boy but he chose a Malfoy. Lucius was proud. At first it was supposed to be Lucius but then Mr. Riddle thought his body could handle a few more years and he would wait for Draco to be of age. He was even more impressed that Draco was able to become an Auror. That would give him unrestricted access to anywhere in the town. He also included in his will that the Manor would pass on to Draco. Lucius liked that the Malfoy name would gain more prestige."

"Lets us help you save him then,"

Narcissa let out a bitter laugh. How ironic that it was her niece offering to help her save her son, the same niece that she had scorned, particularly when she married that werewolf.

A snowy white owl landed on the grass next to them.

"Hedwig?" Tonks questioned pulling the note from the owl. She scanned through the note quickly.

"We have to get going. We have a plan to save Draco and we need you," Tonks said.

Tonks used her wand to erase the letter and write a new one to Lilly and Julie telling her to meet them at the gates to the Slytherin estate. She then sent Hedwig on her way.

S-9

Edward and Sirius had hit the jackpot inside Malfoy House. Edward had been right. All of the business documents were stored with Lucius. There were hundreds of documents going back over a century detailing all of the business transactions for the Estate but the ones of most concern were the ones that involved a Mr. Lee Chang.

There were several documents that proved that Lee was the man that brought the troll into England. Lucius had paid him handsomely for that. He was also paying him for a lot of other illegal items. There was evidence that they were paying off a lot of senior officials as well. He started putting protection spells on all of the documents. That last thing they needed was for Lucius to get rid of the evidence.

"What have we here?" a witch sneered,

Edward and Sirius turned around to come face to face with Belletrix Le Strange and Lucius Malfoy.

"Did you think that I would leave my house unprotected?" Lucius asked. "The moment you set foot in this house I was notified. We will deal with you first and then your friends in the main Manor."

S-10

Draco met his mother at the gates. It was a bittersweet reunion. Narcissa was happy to see him but at the same time she frowned upon his friendship with Hermione. Draco ignored her. They only needed her to get close to Mr. Riddle so that they could end this plot and save Draco's life.

A stray spell broke a window at Malfoy House attracting the group's attention.

"There's a fight going on over there," Harry said, "Wait here, I'll go check it out."

Harry carefully approached the house, through one of the windows he could see Sirius and Edward fighting with Bellatrix and Lucius. Sirius was holding his own but Edward was not doing too hot. If Sirius was there, his father and Remus had to be around as well. He quickly made his way back to the group.

He quickly told them what he found.

"We have to help them," Hermione said.

"No," Harry said. "We have to stop Mr. Riddle first. If Lucius and Belletrix are occupied elsewhere it will make our task easier. If Sirius is here, I'm sure my dad must be around here somewhere."

As if to prove his point, the front door of the Manor flew open and Remus followed by the floating head of James Potter ran out.

S-11

Remus was on the top floor of the Manor when he saw the spell exit the window. He quickly made his way back downstairs and found James staring sullenly at the closed door.

"Sirius and Edward are in trouble,"

That was all he needed to say to get James's attention before both wizards were out the door. Whereas Remus chose to enter Malfoy House via the door, James blasted one of the few unbroken windows and entered that way.

"About bloody time," Edward said relieved to see James. He was exhausted.

"I thought we were doing quite well on our own," Sirius boasted.

James snorted, "You've barely scratched them thus far,"

"That because they're slipperier than an eel!"

Lucius sneered at them, "I'm going to hex you out of existence,"

"You can try," James said cockily. Remus's entrance through the front door meant that neither Bellatrix nor Lucius realised he was there.

The werewolf quietly snuck up behind them, he managed to stun Lucius but that drew Bellatrix's attention who then tried to stun Remus. Sirius used that opening to stun Bellatrix.

"Tie them up and take away their wands," Edward said leaning heavily against the table he had been hiding behind. He wiped the sweat from his brow.

"We need to get back to the Manor, I saw Wormtail," James said.

"We need to finish protecting these documents. This is the evidence we need to put away all the corrupt officials in this town." Edward insisted.

James reluctantly stayed to help with the protection spells.

S-12

Hermione jumped in fear when she saw James or what looked like James's disembodied head floating off in the direction of the Malfoy House behind Remus.

"Relax," Harry whispered in her ear, "the invisibility cloak is hiding the rest of his body."

"Invisibility cloak," Hermione repeated to herself.

Harry felt he could literally see the gears turning in her brain. She was modifying the plan.

"If we use that cloak, it would be easier to get in unnoticed than trying to sneak behind Draco down the staircase. We could then wait for an opportune moment to cast the spell. With the cloak we could even get up close,"

Hermione kept her eyes glued to James. The further away from the Manor her got, the further the cloak slipped off his body. She marked the spot where the cloak fell away from James. She ran forward to fetch it, meeting up with everyone at the entrance to the Manor.

"Everyone ready," she asked

S-13

Inside Salazaar's chamber an old frail man sat on his throne. The Crabbes and the Goyles were there with him. They made excellent gophers for anything he needed. He looked up as Narcissa Malfoy arrived with her son.

"My Lord, I have found my son. We beg your forgiveness. We offer you our wands" Narcissa said bowing her head and holding their wands in her outstretched hands.

"Why should I believe you?" he asked her.

Draco glared at the old man but his face soon turned to one of horror as the snake at the base of the throne uncoiled and moved towards him.

"Nagini," the man said stopping the giant snake.

"My mother has done everything you asked of her. She does not deserve to be treated like this. If it had been explained to me what was happening, I would have gladly submitted to you my Lord," Draco said bowing deep.

"And what brought about this change of heart?" Mr. Riddle asked.

"I am a Slytherin. I am loyal to my house. As my mother explained it, this would increase our power. Make us better than the other houses. I would never stand in the way of a plan to improve out greatnesses," Draco said.

"The ceremony can begin," the old man said. He nodded his head towards Mr. Goyle how took the wands from Narcissa and brought it to Mr. Riddle who promptly snapped them in half.

"That is punishment for your disobedience. Bring the boy to me," he ordered his stooges.

"I can walk towards you on my own, my Lord," Draco said moving forward.

Mr. Riddle struggled to stand. A burst of light suddenly arched through the air and crashed into him knocking him unconscious onto his throne. Nagini's tongue poked out into the air and the snake immediately picked up on the scent of the two introducers. Faster than one thought a snake that size could move, Nagini was on top of them. The invisibility cloak fell away revealing them to the occupants of the room. Harry blasted the snake away from them, sending Nagini crashing into the Crabbes and Goyles.

Lilly, Julie and Tonks came running down the stairs to support them. Each witch had been taught how to defend themselves by their husbands. In the scramble to stun and restrain everyone in the room, no one noticed the rat that scurried up the stairs.

S-14

By the time James returned to the Manor, his wife had levitated everyone up the stairs and into the hallway.

"What happened here," he asked confused. He had no idea when his wife had arrived.

"We apprehended the suspects," his wife boasted.

We he thought, looking past his wife to see Julie, Tonks, and Harry.

"Did you get Peter?" he asked her.

"No I didn't see him," she told her husband.

"I can go check."

"No," Lilly said stopping him. "There are all sorts of dangerous items down there. There's supposed to be a basilisk further in the chamber. Just lock the door and we'll deal with it later."

"But Peter?"

"Wasn't there when we went down. I know you're upset but we'll find him. You can always seal this door with your own spell to lock him in if you think he's down there." Lilly said.

James immediately stepped up to the door and casted his own spell to seal it. He was proud of that spell, it had taken him fifteen years as an Auror to perfect it.

S-15

James Potter walked confidently into Ravenclaw Manor where Lee Chang had just sat down to eat dinner. He had a team of fifteen Aurors with him.

"What is the meaning of this?" Lee demanded.

"I'm here to arrest you for breaking several laws,"

"Arrest me? You can't arrest me. I'm the head of Auror Department,"

"Not anymore," James responded holding up a piece of paper that reinstated him as the Head.

"It's over Lee we have all the evidence to convict you."

Lee grabbed his wand and tried to send a stunner at James but the Auror was obviously faster.

James turned to Frank, "Do you know how long I've been waiting to hex that man?"

S-16

Godric's Hollow was again decorated for a party but this time it was a celebration for the victory over Salazaar Slythering. It wasn't as crowded as Harry's birthday. All of the Slytherin's with the exception of Draco and all of the Ravenclaws with the exception of Luna did not come. Granted there weren't many Slytherins that were not in jail. Everyone older than Draco had been thrown in jail for their involvement in the illegal trafficking of deadly items. As for the Ravenclaws they were embarrassed by what Mr. Chang had done and they were keeping a very low profile in the town at the moment.

Before they could question Mr. Riddle or as a few of Aurors really knew, Salazaar Slytherin, the man had a heart attack in his holding cell. It had been very suspicious but given his age, it was to be expected. Most of the Slytherins were not taking well to life behind bars. Draco was now head of the Slytherin Manor. He had a huge task ahead of him to turn things around. The finances were in a mess since all the illegal forms of income were cut. Strangely enough Ginny stepped up to help Draco sort everything out. There was also a challenge among the Aurors as to who could get the Basilisk safe out of the basement.

Ravenclaw Manor wasn't any better off. With the removal of Lee as head, many wizards stepped up to replace him. It looked like a long bitter fight ahead, and Luna and her father fled the Manor. They didn't want to get sucked into the drama. Ron and Luna were discussing a business idea that they were both interested in. Hermione put twenty bucks on them getting married first then Ginny and Draco. She also bet Ginny would be pregnant first. Harry took her up on the bet.

James and Sirius were setting up the poker room in the back when James looked up at Sirius.

"You know I never did get to hex Peter?" he commented to Sirius

S-17

On a ship headed to the new world, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, a familiar rat scurried around in the hold of the ship looking for food.

An: Epilogue will be up tomorrow. It's already finished.

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