A/N - Another re-write for me creates another extra chapter for you, even so we do creep ever closer to the end..... I don't own Harry Potter or Back to the Future. I don't make any money from this. Much as it pains me to admit that. Also I acknowledge that not all aspects of Harry's plan were revealed in previous chapters, this was done deliberately to keep at least a small amount of mystery and suspense around what they would do. As always, a HUGE thank you to my BETA's Katia, Dementor149 and Ragavendran.
Chapter 16 - Once more, into the breach
They arrived back outside Dumbledore's office window just in time to see the other Harry and the other Hermione disapperate into the past, but still Harry hesitated.
`What are we waiting for?' asked Hermione in a stage whisper.
`I come back, remember... to get the extendable ears.'
`Right.'
A few seconds later Harry popped into existence again inside the Headmaster's office. They watched as Ron handed over the extendable ears and then as soon as Harry popped out again they swooped into the office and removed the invisibility cloak.
`Bloody Hell, Harry! Have you been hiding in here?'
Harry grinned, `Hey, Ron... you've got no idea how good it is to see you, Mate.'
`I just saw you a few seconds ago.' Ron appraised him, `Though I gotta say, you sure don't look the same.'
Harry laughed, `What can I say?' he shrugged, `I've been working out.'
`I can see that, how long have you two been gone?'
Hermione responded, `It's been two years since we've seen you.'
`Blimey, Really?'
Harry nodded, `Well, not a full two years for me... but nearly.'
`Merlin! So did you do it then? Did you manage to get all the Horcruxes?'
`I managed a lot more than that, Mate, my parents are alive right?'
Ron frowned, `Of course they are, why, weren't they before?'
Harry shook his head, `Nope, they died when I was just over a year old.'
Ron's eyes almost bugged out of his head, `So... Merlin... I don't even know what to say mate... How weird is that going to be?'
Harry nodded his head in complete agreement, `I know. I just met my sister for the first time.'
`Jazzy?'
`Yeah, I didn't even know what her name was until I saw it on the Marauder's map!'
Ron laughed, `You didn't call her Jasmine did you?' Harry nodded and this time Ron roared with laughter, `In the whole time I've known you, you've only ever called her that once and it was after she broke your Nimbus 2000!'
`She broke my Nimbus?' Harry asked, confused.
`Well there wouldn't have been any Dementors because Sirius probably never went to Azkaban, much less escaped from it. Since you've got your Firebolt I guess your first broom would have to have been broken somehow.' Hermione explained reasonably.
`Right,' Harry turned back to Ron, `What about second year, did we save Ginny from the Heir of Slytherin, and the stone in first?'
Ron smiled, `Yeah that all happened.'
Harry questioned him further, determined to know at least the bare facts about his history before he encountered others, `Was I still in the Tri-Wizard tournament in fourth year? Is that when Voldemort came back?'
Ron nodded, prompting Harry to ask with equal parts dread and hope, `and, Cedric, did he die?'
Ron just nodded again, then frowned, `Wait a minute... Sirius went to Azkaban?' Ron asked.
`Yes,' Hermione added, growing impatient, `it's a very interesting story, but right now we need to get organised, we're going after Voldemort tonight.'
Ron looked from Harry to Hermione and then back again, `So did you two come up with a plan in the two years you were away or are we just going to do what we usually do and wing it?'
Harry laughed, `We do have a plan, but the first thing we need to do is gather everyone together.'
Harry gave Ron the Marauder's Map, `I need you to find everyone and get them up here as soon as possible, ask other people to help you if you like but make sure anyone who should be here is in five minutes. Hermione and I will organise everything.'
Ron nodded and took off. When he was gone Harry and Hermione started work, the first thing Harry did was put the rest of the potion into his flask and banish the cauldron. He felt a bit stupid for not thinking of this before, but on a balance he thought it was probably a good thing Ron had stayed behind. He needed someone he could trust to ask questions about things he should already know.
Having got rid of the cauldron, the chairs, and pushed Dumbledore's desk to the back of the room Harry and Hermione then set up the things they would need. The first was the enlarged map of the Riddle Mansion that they'd obtained from the Muggle shire council. The second were the portkey pins Harry had created. The third was the stack of shields he'd made from the boiler they'd used to contain the Fiendfyre spell. Lastly was Hermione's Pensieve empty but for a single memory set down especially for this night.
They'd just finished getting all of this organised when people started coming into the room, the first was Charlie Weasley.
`Hey Harry, what's all this?'
`Hey Charlie, I'll explain in a second when everyone else gets here.'
Others started filtering in, mostly they were Weasley's to start with (though Harry noticed Ginny's absence) but there were also a few familiar faces that he'd both been hoping to see and dreading he wouldn't see.
`Sirius! Mum! Dad!' cried Harry happily when they entered the room.
`Hey Mate,' his Dad replied, patting him on the back, `What's all this?'
Harry couldn't stop the grin that was now plastered over his face, he'd never admitted it to Hermione but he'd been terrified that something else would happen to them and he'd return to the future only to find that he was still an orphan. The conversation with his sister had gone a long way towards allaying those fears but it wasn't until he saw them that he felt really happy.
They both looked great, older of course, but great. The resemblance between himself and his father was still very pronounced but now that they weren't so close to the same age it was no longer uncanny. His mother was still beautiful but age had given her a more matronly look, she reached out and squeezed his hand.
`How are you?' she whispered
`I'm great,' Harry replied sincerely.
While he'd been distracted a few other people had filed in until the office was starting to feel quite squashed. Harry looked around and started to feel the first twinges of fear, he only knew about three quarters of the people assembled but they were all watching him as though waiting for him to speak. Harry quickly found Ron and pulled him aside.
`Mate, do I trust all of these people?' Ron looked at him like he was mad so Harry elaborated, `I don't know all of them so I have to ask you, before I left tonight did I trust all of these people.'
Finally Ron got it, `This is like the Jazzy thing then, right?'
Harry nodded, `Yeah exactly, I don't know some of them at all.'
Ron looked around the room as though considering the question, `Yeah, mate, you trust them all. Which one's don't you know?'
Harry pointed first to two women standing near Sirius and Remus, both women were around his mother's age but he was confident he'd never seen them before in his life.
`Well I suppose that makes sense,' Ron commented, `If the Sirius you knew was in Azkaban he'd never have married. The blonde is his wife, you usually call her Aunty Lyra, and the brunette is Professor Lupin's wife she's pretty strict with you but you still call her Aunty Sabine.'
Harry was amazed that both Sirius & Remus were married in this time-line and briefly considered asking if they had any kids before deciding it was a conversation for another time and moved on to the next lot of people he didn't know.
`What about those two standing with Neville over there?' asked Harry trying not to point.
The two people he was talking about did seem vaguely familiar, in the same way that Bill and Charlie Weasley had the first time he'd met them. He had the feeling he knew them, even though he really knew that he didn't.
`They're his parents, Frank and Alice Longbottom, but we never call them anything except for Mr and Mrs Longbottom.'
Harry nodded, realising now why he'd recognised them. They certainly looked different from the last time he'd seen them, he wasn't sure how the changed time line had spared them from their previous fate but he was glad that it had.
Harry clapped his friend on the back, `Great, thanks,' then turned to address the assembled crowd.
`Voldemort thinks he's had a significant victory tonight!' His voice boomed out over the suddenly silent crowd, `He thinks that his greatest obstacle has been removed, he believes that Albus Dumbledore is dead.' The crowd gasped in shock but waited, breathless and expectant to hear what Harry would say next.
`Voldemort couldn't be more wrong!'
They now broke out in whispered conversations as they digested the news; Harry gave them a few seconds to get it out of their systems before continuing.
`Not only is Voldemort more vulnerable tonight than he has ever been before, but we are coming after him and we are going to take him down.' The hissed conversations again broke out but this time Harry held up his hands asking for silence. `Anyone who feels that this mission is too dangerous for them or anyone who thinks they aren't up to it, I'm going to ask that you leave now. I don't want to jeopardise this mission by having anyone who doesn't need to knowing the details of what we're about to do.'
The crowd was completely silent and not a single person moved even an inch, Harry smiled and continued.
`Right, now that we've got that sorted I'll fill you in on what we'll be doing. First off, I want everyone to take a shield and then take one of the blue pins, to go on your robes, and a handful of the red pins to go in your pockets.'
There was a small commotion as people surged forward to outfit themselves as directed, after a few minutes and a bit of co-operation from everyone concerned they were all properly outfitted.
`The shields are made from cast iron and reinforced with every strengthening spell known to Wizards, they will protect you from pretty much anything that can be thrown at them. Most importantly, as long as you get the shield between you and the beam of the spell, they will protect you from the killing curse as well. Just be careful because the spell will rebound so make sure your holding your shield straight so it will re-bound back on the caster instead of into any of our friends.'
Harry looked at each person carefully then to make sure they all understood, he didn't want anyone to die (if possible). He'd spent too long planning this invasion for it to be messed up by deflected spells.
`The pins you've got are Portkeys, the blue one pinned to your robes will take you to the Hospital wing here at Hogwarts as soon as you touch your wand to it. The red ones are for use on fallen Death Eaters; if you pin it on them and touch your wand to it they will be instantly taken to a secure room. Make sure you do this with any fallen Death Eaters, unless they're dead. We don't want them getting back up and coming at us from behind.'
Harry then moved stepped aside so they could also see the map behind him clearly.
`This is the floor plan of the building where Voldemort is hiding out,' using his wand as a pointer he indicated the room on the upper floor where Voldemort had held court back in 1979, `This is the room where Voldemort and the majority of his death eaters will most likely be, remember they think they've had a significant victory tonight and their guard will be down. We're going to use that against them.'
Some of the people present looked shocked at the detailed nature of the information Harry was presenting but most of them were leaning forward, listening eagerly.
`The apparition point is here, it is the only point in the building which the Death Eaters can apparate to or from' Harry said now pointing to the dining room, `so we have to keep our guard up in that room at all times, just in case more of them pop in or some of them try to escape. This is also important to remember because if there are any Death Eaters on the ground floor when we get there, they will most likely be in that room.'
`Are we going to apparate there?' Mr Longbottom asked.
`We'll be apparating nearby, but not inside the house itself. You'd need a Dark Mark to be able to do that and even then you can only go apparate to or from that one point, so it'd be too dangerous. We know that he's got wards set up to prevent anyone from Portkeying in and I expect that by now he'd have wards set up to alert him if anyone flies in on a broom. We think we'll be most likely to get past the wards if we walk in on foot and avoid using any magic at all until we're ready to attack.'
Several people nodded, but Harry noticed his father smirk when he'd said, "by now" but Harry pushed that observation aside. He'd definitely have to have a long talk with his dad very soon, but now was not the right time for it.
`There will be two squads, one around the back and the other at the front, on my signal we'll kick open the doors. Again don't use magic, do it with your foot or something, Voldemort relies solely on Muggle repelling charms to keep the Muggles away and doesn't seem to expect Wizards to ever use Muggle methods. If our intelligence is faulty and that doesn't work smash one of the windows instead.'
Some uneasy looks returned on Harry's admission that some of their intelligence may be faulty but he ignored it and ploughed on regardless.
`Once you're in you'll have to work quickly, have a good look at this map, we'll need to clear all of the rooms on the ground floor as quickly as possible and then take up positions here,' he used his wand as a pointer again to indicate doorways into the corridor that led to the stairs, `don't forget to have a couple of people watching that apparition point just in case, but this part is the most important. If we can get the ground floor cleared quickly enough and get set up here soon enough we'll be there in time to catch the Death Eaters as they come down the stairs to find out what the noise is.'
Harry looked at them all, `If we can do that then we've won, it'll be like shooting ducks in a barrel.'
Mr Longbottom spoke up again, `You don't think they'll figure out that we're down there pretty quickly and take up position at the top of the stairs instead?'
`Mr Longbottom, I expect that Voldemort will only send a few of his Death Eaters down at first, if we wait until they are at the bottom of the stairs before we attack then it should give us time to get rid of them before he sends more out to find out what happened to the first lot. The next lot will be more on their guard, of course, but they'll still have to come down the stairs Don't forget, Death Eaters are arrogant, they think they are invincible and they won't be expecting the shields. We have to use everything we can to our advantage.'
Mr Longbottom nodded, `and how many of them are we expecting?' he asked next.
`Voldemort has an unknown number of spies and sympathisers but his inner circle consists of about 20 to 30 Death Eaters, they are the ones we'll be facing tonight. This is like the head of the snake, if we chop this off the body will die. We might be outnumbered but we'll have the tactical and defensive advantage not to mention the element of surprise on our side.'
There were murmurs of agreement around the room so Harry moved to the next phase of his plan, gesturing to the Pensieve behind him with the single memory in it.
`In the Pensieve I've stored a memory of the place we'll be apparating to, so I need you to all form a line and view it so that we can get going.'
`When did you get so bloody pushy, Pongs?' asked Sirius, grumbling as he moved into line with the rest.
Harry ignored the question in favour of focusing on the more important things, `Remind me to have a word to you later about that nick-name, too.'
Sirius just whistled and pretended he hadn't heard, but his wife, Lyra, put a hand on Harry's shoulder. `Don't worry about it Harry, the only people who are immature enough to call you that are Jazzy and your Uncle Sirius. Jazzy is a twelve year old girl, I don't know what your Uncle's excuse is.'
Harry smiled at her, finding it much easier than he'd expected to act as though he knew her, `Thanks, Aunt Lyra, I'll still be carrying out my revenge though.'
She laughed, `Again?' Harry wondered what he'd done previously but knew that now was not the time to ask, so he just smiled again in response and they moved down the line towards the Pensieve.
When everyone had viewed the memory Harry brought out his flask with the remainder of the time potion, `This potion was given to me by Professor Dumbledore, one sip will allow you to apparate out of Hogwarts but it's one sip, one trip so don't try apparating back, use your Portkeys if you need to. We're apparating to the graveyard you saw in the Pensieve, when we're all there we'll split into our teams and go from there.'
Harry took his sip first then passed it to Hermione, who in turn passed it to Ron, who then passed it to Neville. Once the teens had all taken their sips of potion it was passed onto the adults. Harry saw a look of mutiny on his father's face, along with a matching one on Mr Longbottom's, and had the distinct feeling that if he had passed the potion on to the adults first he wouldn't have been going anywhere that night.
Once the potion had made its way around the room Harry put the stopper back in and returned the flask to his pocket before addressing the crowd again.
`Right, now we just need to divide into teams-' Harry began, but he was cut off by Mrs Weasley.
`And I suppose you think the four of you will all be on one team, and going in through the front door? Honestly, Lilly' she said now addressing Harry's mum, `it's bad enough that you let your son run wild, but for him to endanger our children as well.'
`Molly, I hardly think--' Lilly began
`I know that you hardly think but surely you can see -', but this time it was Mrs Weasley who was interrupted by James.
`Molly we've been friends for a lot of years, but I will not allow you to stand here and insult my wife and son. If you want to keep a short leash on your children, and pretend that none of this affects them -'
`Just because I want to prevent my son from being killed--' Molly began to shriek
The adults continued to yell at each other while Harry looked on in amazement, `What on earth is going on?' He whispered to Ron, as the debate raged around them.
Ron shrugged, `Well I don't know about the time line that you came from but, my mum has always kind of thought you were a bad influence on me.'
`What?' Harry sputtered.
`Well, I guess she's got a good reason, when we were kids the three of us were always getting into some mischief or another.'
`The three of us?' Harry queried.
`Yeah,' Ron looked at him expectantly, `You, me, and Neville. The three of us have been best friends since we were about three.' Seeing Harry's blank and surprised look Ron continued, `Anyway, you're Dad always thought our pranks were funny and you never got in any real trouble for it so whenever we got busted you took the wrap for it. My Mum thinks you're a bad influence.'
Harry nodded, `Right, that's quite weird really because your mum used to love me.'
Ron snorted, `I find that hard to imagine.'
The adults were still arguing but Harry decided they'd delayed for long enough.
`That's enough!' He boomed, `I don't know what you think is happening here, Molly, but this is my show, not yours. You were given an out at the very beginning and you didn't take it, for yourself or your son. This is not some prank I've planned; this is an extremely important and sensitive mission and I'll be damned if I leave behind someone who knows the details and could compromise the entire thing.'
Molly was still looking mutinous so Harry continued, using the most authoritative tone he could muster, `If you think I don't take this seriously think about how long it would have taken to gather the intelligence necessary for these plans, think about how long it would have taken to make all those Portkey's and all of those shields. This is not something I've done lightly and Ron and Neville have helped Hermione and I plan it all.' Though the last part of the statement wasn't strictly true Harry didn't feel it was really a lie either, and if a lie was necessary to get his friends help on this then he considered it a small price to pay.
`I just don't think you realise how badly someone could get hurt.' She said, her voice now small.
`You don't think I realise that someone could die? Or that if someone is held under the Cruciatus curse for long enough then they can be driven insane? Or that people can lose limbs or worse? Because I do. I realise all of that. You obviously see everything I've done since I've been at Hogwarts as a series of pranks but I can tell you now that facing Voldemort when he was sticking out the back of my teachers head, was not fun. Neither was having to fight a twenty foot Basilisk when I was twelve, to save your daughter.'
The room was so silent that a pin could have been heard to drop.
`I don't mean to put to fine a point on it, Molly, because I've got a lot of respect for you. But I know that if you think about it you'll realise that by the time we were thirteen, we'd faced Voldemort more times than you had in your entire life. So I don't think I'm the one who doesn't understand what we're about to face.'
`I see,' Mrs Weasley replied coldly, `and I suppose this is nothing like the half-baked idea you came up with last year that almost got the four of you killed?'
Harry had no idea what she was talking about and her new attitude towards him was really starting to get irritating, `Well, you know the details of both plans as well as I do, what do you think? Is this plan half-baked?'
Unexpectedly it was Mr Longbottom who answered, `The lad is right, Molly. I didn't like that stunt they pulled last year any more than you did but this is an entirely different matter. Not only is it well thought out but it's got a very real chance of being successful. Besides if they've planned it, they've got a right to participate in it.'
Molly's lips thinned but Mr Longbottom kept talking, `We won't have all four of them on one team anyway. We'll have Neville and Ron with the four of us,' he said indicating himself, Mrs Longbottom and Mr Weasley, `Charlie, Kingsley, Tonks and Filius, while Harry and Hermione can go with Lilly, James, Sirius, Lyra, Remus, Sabine, Hagrid, and Minerva.'
Harry was a little miffed at his plans being completely taken over but was grateful for the support so he kept his mouth shut and just nodded.
Mr Longbottom looked at Harry and gave him a small smile, `Well lets get going then, Harry, will your team take the front?'
Harry nodded again, `Yes, Mr Longbottom.'
The room began to empty as people started to disapperate, Harry grabbed Ron's arm and held him back for a moment. Ron looked at him quizzically but Harry waited till the room was empty before asking the question he'd been secretly dying to have answered since they'd entered this new time stream.
`Ron, I know now is not a great time for this but, I've got to know, did I ever date Ginny?'
Ron let out a sharp snort of laughter before quickly clapping a hand over his mouth, `Your joking, right?' He asked, obviously holding back more laughter.
Harry shook his head, `I'll take that as a no?'
Ron started to giggle uncontrollably, `That's a definite no, Mate, you've always thought she was a spoiled brat! Are you telling me that there exists a universe in which you not only like her but where you actually dated her?'
Harry shrugged, `There isn't anymore.'
All of Harry's other questions had to be put on hold, it was time to face Voldemort again and Harry was determined that this would be the last time.
A/N - Just wanted to make a note here about apparition, a pre-emptive strike if you will. As I reminded reviewers after chapter 1, the Balm of Time potion "changes the nature of apparition" and the fact that they are apparating through time as well as space means they can get past the Hogwarts anti-apparition wards. Even though the time they are apparating to is "now" this is still true.
-->