A/N: WOW! I don't know if I can thank you all enough! Over 400 reviews! I am honored. Thank-you to all of you who have been faithfully reading my story and leaving your comments, I do appreciate every one of them. Here is the next chapter; it's starting to heat up. Enjoy, and please leave a review on your way out!
None of these characters belong to me, but I sure am having fun creating this adventure for them!
Chapter 40
An Unfortunate Visit
After a good night's rest, Ron seemed to be almost back to normal; the dark bags under his eyes were the only telltale signs of his struggle. Harry subconsciously rubbed his throat where he felt there should be bruises; his near-death encounter with Voldemort still fresh in his mind. He was recounting his experiences over breakfast.
"So, I thought I was a world famous Quidditch player?" Ron asked through mouthfuls of food.
"Yeah, you thought quite highly of yourself," Harry said amused.
"And Luna was there?"
"Only as the ghostly spirit that she created. There were no surface memories of her that I could see."
"I'm glad," Ron said.
"I still don't know how she did it," Harry said, looking over at her.
Luna just smiled serenely at him.
"I found it surprising that he was so solid and able to choke you," Hermione said.
"I guess because he didn't have a wand, he had to resort to other means to try and stop me," Harry replied as he rubbed his throat again. "He seemed older, too. I wonder if that has anything to do with it?"
"It's a possibility. If he was older, he would have been more experienced, and have more power," Hermione said.
"You never told me what happened when I had the tiara," Hermione said after a moment. "What kind of fantasy world did he create to distract me?"
The memories of that day came flooding back, and Harry felt a jolt go through him. He glanced over to where she was sitting, waiting expectantly.
"You were dancing," he said after a moment. "At the Triwizard's Ball."
Hermione grimaced at that. "With him? How vulgar. I'm surprised it wasn't you or Victor."
Harry could feel the flush of embarrassment as he avoided looking at her.
"You weren't dancing with him as Voldemort, he was the younger Tom Riddle. You were angry with me at that time, remember?"
"Ronald, I could use some fresh air. Walk with me?" Luna said suddenly, standing up.
"In a minute, Luna. So what did you do?" he asked eagerly, never having heard the story before.
"Ronald!" Luna said as she yanked on his arm. "I'm leaving now, and so are you."
"But…but…" he protested as she pulled him away from the table.
Harry snorted. "She sure knows how to get what she wants,"
"I was angry at you because of your behavior," Hermione said, ignoring his comment.
"I know," Harry said. "It's just that I…" he trailed off, flushing.
"You what, Harry?" Hermione asked
"I…I was afraid of losing you," he stammered. "And I almost did."
Hermione smiled at him, with a twinkle in her eye.
"Were you jealous?" she asked mischievously.
Harry saw the glint in her eyes and smiled, relieved that she hadn't asked for more details. He put his coat on, avoiding her gaze. Of course he had been jealous, but he couldn't tell her that.
"Well, were you?" she asked again.
"No," he finally lied.
Hermione looked surprised. "You weren't?" she said.
"Nope. I knew you were just waiting for mister right to come along and sweep you off your feet,"
Hermione snorted. "My knight in shining armor?"
"That's me," Harry said as he bowed low. "Would milady care to join me? I believe that a challenge went up earlier from a certain redheaded knave and his fair lady for a battle on the snow fields."
"And does this brave knight have a battle plan?" Hermione asked as she put her coat on.
"I though we would just wing it," Harry said as he followed her out of the Great Hall.
"That, sir knight, was a lame joke."
"Thank-you."
****** ****** ****** ******
It was several cold hours later when they all came in, exhausted but happy. As they made their way up to the Gryffindor tower, a grim-faced Professor McGonagall met them coming the other way.
"The Minister of Magic is here, Mr. Potter, and he is requesting an audience with you," she said.
"I don't suppose he's here to wish us a `happy holidays'?" Harry asked.
"I don't think so," McGonagall said.
"Well. I for one would like to get changed first," Hermione said.
"Give us ten minutes," Harry said to Professor McGonagall. "See if you can contact Professor Lupin. I think I saw him with Professor Tonks."
They carried on upstairs and changed quickly, curious as to what this was all about.
As they entered McGonagall's office, they could see Scrimgeour standing stiffly, looking out the window. Tonks and
Lupin were sitting in two high backed chairs, talking quietly, and McGonagall was behind her desk writing furiously,
while stealing the occasional glance at the figure at the window. At the sound of their footsteps, Scrimgeour turned
around. He was obviously not happy to have so many people in the room.
"Ah. Mr. Potter. I see you brought your…friends," he said as he scanned the group.
"I didn't realize it was a private party," Harry said as he sat down.
Scrimgeour looked from one face to another.
"Yes, well…no sense beating around the bush then. I wanted to discuss the incident at the Riddle house from a few weeks earlier."
Harry, Ron and Hermione glanced at each other.
"What makes you thing we had anything to do with it, sir?" Hermione asked.
Scrimgeour frowned.
"Three young people, one male with black hair and glasses, one male with red hair and one female with brown hair," he said as he ticked off his fingers. "How stupid to you think the Ministry is, Mr. Potter?"
Harry chose not to answer that question.
"The thing is, your personal vendetta against You-Know-Who is creating difficulties within the Ministry. We are having to use a vast amount of manpower to deal with his retaliation for what you did to his family home. "
Harry stiffened at his accusation, and it was only the hand on his arm that stopped him from jumping up.
"My personal vendetta?" he repeated stiffly.
"Mr. Potter, we all know of the tragic losses that have been thrust upon you by You-Know-who, and we sympathize for your loss. However, you need to let the Ministry deal with this. We have fully trained, qualified Aurors, capable of handling the situation. Your interference is creating more harm than good. Surely you must see that."
Harry was gripping the armrest so tightly that he thought for sure that he would rip it off.
"My interference?" he said through gritted teeth. "Is that how you see this?"
Scrimgeour sighed. "Harry, if this is a part of a mission that Dumbledore left for you, let the Ministry help. We are trying to come to a peaceful resolution for all involved."
Harry got up and paced away from the Minister to look out the window.
"There's no such thing as a peaceful resolution when it comes to Voldemort," he said.
Behind him, the Minister flinched at the familiar use of the evil wizard's name.
A flash appeared in the sky, catching Harry's eye and suddenly he could see Albion flying towards him.
`The Order is needed, Harry. Neville and his grandmother are under attack,' Albion said as he circled.
Harry pulled back from the window.
"If you are finished, Minister, we have some homework to do."
Ron and Hermione exchanged confused looks before glancing back to Harry. Had he forgotten that it was the Christmas break?
"I believe Professor Lupin wanted to discuss our last assignment with us," Harry said as he met their stare and silently sent out one word to both of them: attack.
Ron continued to look confused, as though he couldn't quite understand the message, but Hermione's eyes showed her understanding. Lupin caught on and stood, nodding to Professor McGonagall as he turned to Harry.
"Yes, I did. There was some information on your last parchment that needed revising, and Mr. Weasley, yours was missing a few key points as well. Perhaps Miss Granger could help?"
"Of course sir," she said as she nudged Luna.
"It was a pleasure to meet you sir," Luna said, nodding to Scrimgeour. "I hope the nargles haven't been bothersome over the holidays."
Scrimgeour looked confused as they made their way to the door.
"Potter!" he called before they left.
Harry stopped and turned to face the Minister, waving the others to go on.
"Heed my words, Mr. Potter, or you may find yourself in trouble."
Harry smiled grimly.
"I am quite used to that, sir," he said as he turned to go. He stopped again and turned around. "Oh, and you may find that I don't respond well to threats," he said before following his friends down the stairs.
"Neville's grandmother's place is under attack," Harry said as they jogged down the corridor.
"How did you find out?" Lupin asked.
"Albion," Harry said. "Neville's there, but he's going to need help. Ron, inform the twins and Ginny, Hermione, can you go and grab our cloaks and gear, and I'll go and try and contact the rest of the Order."
"I'll contact them, Harry," Lupin said. "Go help Hermione and I'll meet you by the front gates in five minutes."
They all dashed away, and within five minutes they had met at the front gate. With the pull of a portkey they were standing just outside an old manor. They could see flashes of wand fire and they quickly moved into the fray. Harry could see flashes coming from an upper window and then four or five Death Eaters would send several spells in return. Harry realized Neville and his grandmother were trapped.
They had the element of surprise as they dropped the first five Death Eaters, but then the attack turned against them. They traded ineffective spell fire back and forth for a few minutes, until Harry saw two Death Eaters break off and head for the house. He heard a pop behind him as Mr. Weasley and Shacklebolt arrived.
"The Ministry is on its way!" Mr. Weasley shouted over the firepower. Harry nodded his understanding.
"Have Lupin get the students back to where they came from. I'm heading towards the house," Harry called back.
"Wait for me!" Hermione called as she dropped another Death Eater.
The two of them arrived in time to see two Death Eaters shooting flames at the house before Apparating away. The flames began to lick at the walls, climbing higher and higher as Harry and Hermione ran to the house.
"Neville is still in there!" Harry called as he blasted the front door.
A wall of heat and flames made him stagger back and use `Aguamenti' several times with Hermione's help.
"Neville!" Harry called through the front door, coughing as he moved inside. "Stay here! Keep the fire away from the front door if you can.
The old manor was tinder dry, and there was a lot of fuel for the fire. Harry knew they didn't have a lot of time.
"Neville!" Harry called again as he made his way to the staircase.
"Up here!" Neville called.
Harry hurried up the stairs, sending sprays of water as he went. He found Neville and his grandmother trapped in a bedroom. Neville was pinned under a bookcase, his wand lying just out of reach. Harry couldn't see his grandmother.
"Wingardium Leviosa," Harry cast at the bookshelf and Neville scrambled out, grabbing his wand as he did.
"Thanks. Gran took a spell and fell behind the bed," Neville said as he limped over. "She didn't respond when I called her."
Harry could hear the fear in his voice.
They found her crumpled on the floor, unconscious. Neville looked up with pain-filled eyes.
"I wasn't fast enough," he whispered brokenly.
"She'll be okay," Harry said, trying to reassure him. "Let's get her and get out of here."
The two of them levitated her slowly down the stairs and out the front door, to where Hermione was anxiously waiting, frantically spraying water at the front of the house. Mr. Weasley hurried over as they gently laid her down on the grass.
"Harry, if you plan on staying incognito, you and Hermione need to go now," He knelt down beside Neville and his grandmother. "Go to Grimmauld place. Ron and Luna have already gone ahead."
Harry gave Neville's shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "Don't worry Neville, she'll be up and bossing you around in no time, I promise."
Neville gave a weak smile and nodded, and Harry and Hermione Apparated to Grimmauld place. They arrived to find Ron and Luna eating in the kitchen. Ron looked up at Harry in surprise.
"What on Earth happened to you?" he asked. "You weren't that dirty when we left."
Harry dropped into the nearest chair and took off his glasses to clean them.
"They set the house on fire. We had to go in and rescue Neville and his grandmother."
"Are they okay?" Ron asked.
"I think so. Neville was a bit scratched up and his grandmother took a spell that knocked her out. Your dad took over and told us to wait here for any news. I think I'll go have a shower while we wait."
"That sounds like a great idea," Hermione said. "Do you want to go first?"
"We could save water…" Harry suggested.
Hermione frowned at him, and Harry took that as a no.
"Give me fifteen minutes," he sighed as he got up.
He came down twenty minutes later to find Ron, Luna, and Hermione around the fireplace, talking to Mr. Weasley. Hermione looked up with tear-filled eyes, and threw herself into Harry's arms as he neared the fireplace, nearly knocking him down. He looked down to see Mr. Weasley looking back at him sadly.
"I'm sorry, Harry, Augusta Longbottom didn't make it."
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