Love Enough for Both by Manwe Valarian
Summary: Harry heard a goblin speaking and he came out of temporary stupor. He was surrounded by witches and wizards all staring at him. The most shocking thing was he had his arms around someone. Who was she and how did they get here?
Rating: PG-13
Categories: Alternate Universe
Characters: None
Genres: None
Warnings: None
Challenges: None
Series: None
Published: 2012.10.25
Updated: 2018.05.01
Love Enough for Both by Manwe Valarian
Chapter 33: A New Plan
Author's Notes: “Mr. Weasley! Mr. Weasley, please wake up,” said a voice from the other side of his bedroom door.
“I am awake,” Arthur responded groggily. He looked at his watch and saw it was only 4:00 AM. He had only been in bed for only an hour. He received a Patronus from Molly shortly after midnight announcing the birth of their grandson and that Harry and Ginny were doing fine.
“Why are you waking me?”
“There is a situation, sir. Mr. Moody wants you down in the map room immediately,” said the voice from the other side of the door.
“Tell him that I will be right down.”
Arthur listened as the messenger’s footsteps faded. He sat up in his bed. He was still in his robes. By the time he had passed along the information that Harry wasn’t dead and he was a grandfather, he didn’t take the time to change out of his day clothes. Standing up he felt his muscles protesting their use. He just hoped whatever the reason it was a good one, because he needed some sleep.
Five minutes later he walked into the map room. There were both Order leaders and the leaders of the royal family’s guards.
“Voldemort has started phase two of his attacks against the Muggles,” Moody said. He looked even more tired than Arthur felt. “There are attacks on the major airports and shipping ports. They aren’t attacking outgoing flights but the incoming.”
“With these attacks against foreign citizens, their governments are stopping all flights and forms of transportation to our island,” said Clyde Ferndock. “I just returned from arranging the morning events. While I was out planes were getting blasted out of the sky. There also several attacks on ships entering our ports. It was actually to our advantage that they attacked at night. Fewer planes in the air. If they had waited until morning, there would have been ten times the planes to shoot down.”
“The Queen can’t go to London under these circumstances,” said Kingsley. “We cannot assure her safety.”
“I understand that,” Hopkins, another security guard, said. “She will go and the only thing that we can hope for is nothing happening to her while she is on the telly.”
Arthur looked up at the map board. There were pieces moving all about the board at seemingly random patterns. “Have they broken the inmates out of Azkaban?”
“We don’t know,” answered Moody. “If not by now, I can only assume that will be on the top of his to-do list tomorrow. This plan is really brilliant, they are moving around hitting random targets. They can cause the most destruction and create the most fear by this method. We might be able to stop one or two attacks, but we would need to be extremely lucky to find them.”
“Has anyone told the Queen?” asked Robards.
“Let her sleep,” said Clyde. “She can’t do anything to stop this. Her position is purely ceremonial. The Prime Minister is the only one to activate troops. She will do her part tomorrow morning to lift the spirits of the British citizens.”
“At this rate, Britain will be isolated by sunrise tomorrow. Hopefully, the Queen can instill enough confidence in our government to stop any widespread panic,” said Hopkins. “This tyrant, Voldemort, is a brilliant man.”
“He knows how to spread fear, if you call that brilliance than he most definitely is brilliant” growled Moody.
[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
Voldemort stood at the gates of Hogwarts and stared at the castle. The dew was heavy on the grass. The sun was turning the sky red as it breached the horizon. It was a perfect morning to kill his last worthy opponent. The castle seemed to be glowing in the morning light. It must sense its new master at its doorstep.
He should be walking through the halls again. This was going to be his permanent home. It was the first place he had called home or wanted to stay forever. He was going to move the Ministry or his government here after the Order of Phoenix was crushed. The failures of Lucius Malfoy prevented him from obtaining his prize at the proper time.
It was simple task. Come to the castle while Dumbledore was reeling from the loss of Harry Potter and kill him. Lucius should have used the children to catch Dumbledore off guard. He even told Lucius that, but he failed to execute the plan. He allowed the Muggle children to escape, and Dumbledore enough time to reinforce the wards.
He had never felt such strong wards before around the grounds. The wards in the past were deterrents that would warn the Headmaster if someone was entering the grounds. They were placed there to give the Headmasters time to set up other defenses. The wards that are in front of him are much stronger.
“The old fool thinks he can stop us with wards around the castle,” he said rhetorically. Luckily for the people around him, no one responded to the question.
He moved his wand in a large arc while casting a Marking Charm. A blue line appeared on the wards directly in front of him. “I want all of you to cast a Bombardia Charm along the blue line. I don’t care who cast it where, just make it evenly spaced and keep casting it, until I destroy the wards.”
He watched each of his followers cast the Charm. They ensured that the spells collided with the ward evenly. The final person to cast their Bombardia was Bellatrix. The ward was unstable now. With his brilliance and magical knowledge, he could sense the ward shaking and all it needed was one final spell to make it crumble.
“Bombardia,” he shouted. The instant his spell hit the ward. It fell. It wasn’t a quiet destruction of a ward, in fact the concussion of the ward exploding knocked him back a few steps. There was nothing between him and his rightful home now, except a tired old man.
He stood there for several seconds staring at the open path to what should be his ancestral home. The great Salazar Slytherin should have taken control of the school. It was his right as the greatest if the Hogwarts four. If it wasn’t for those three traitorous friends of Salazar, he would have been raised here rather than in a Muggle Orphanage. It was time to reclaim what should have been his home.
“It is time to kill us a Muggle-lover,” He said to his subjects. With a wave of his wand the metal gates flung open granting him access to the Grounds of Hogwarts. “Everyone follow me.”
“Master, the children too?” asked Lucius.
He looked at the failure of a Death Eater. He saw a weak person and a weaker follower of the Dark Arts. “Not all of the children, Lucius, just your son Draco. We have waited long enough.”
Voldemort started walking through the gates of Hogwarts. The sound of birds and animals running out of the forest and towards Hogsmeade was alarming. He had never heard animals like this running from the forest. The first indication that something was amiss was when all the sounds created by the animals seemed to stop for barely a second. Then he saw it a split second before he felt it.
The castle seemed to surge with tremendous magical power. Its glow increased to make it brighter than the sun. The sunlight should have overpowered the magical glow. Then every stone, window, door, and shingle on the roof, exploded out with tremendous force. Voldemort was blasted back through the gate and landed hard on his back. Debris landed all around them, even though they were nearly a half mile away.
Standing up, he saw the destruction caused by Dumbledore. His rightful home was destroyed. Without a doubt, Dumbledore was dead. No person could survive a blast like that. His plans had been further delayed. He will rebuild the castle, but it may take years to accomplish. This was all Lucius’s fault.
“Crucio,” he hissed, as he pointed his wand at Lucius. “Your incompetence caused this.”
He poured more pain into the Curse as he heard Lucius’s screams of agony. Lucius deserved to suffer before dying.
“Please stop,” wailed a small voice.
“Silence Draco,” hissed Bellatrix.
Voldemort kept his wand trained of Lucius, but had to lessen the intensity of the curse so he could hear over Lucius’s screams. He was staring at the young wizard with tears running down his face. “Why should I stop? He failed me. I reward those who do well and punish those who fail.”
“He helped to bring you back,” Draco wailed.
Voldemort seethed that the boy would remind him of a time when he couldn’t control his destiny.
“Avada Kedavra,” he shouted. He smiled as the green light hit Lucius and drove him onto the ground. “There I showed more mercy than he deserved.”
Young Malfoy never heard any words he said, because the spoiled brat was wailing over the death of his father.
“I am returning to the Ministry,” calmly announced Voldemort. “Search the castle and bring everything of significance to me. Draco, you are to come with your Aunt Bella and me.”
“But my father’s body,” cried Draco. His voice was a high pitched whimper.
“Master, my sister would want to bury her husband in his family plot,” Bellatrix said with her eyes downcast.
“Very well, Bella take Draco and Lucius’ body back to his wife. Return to me with Draco as soon as possible,” he said. “I want all the children that are of school age at the Ministry. Bella and I will personally start their training. Too long has Dumbledore and the Professors at Hogwarts allowed these children to become soft and useless. If we are going to rule the world we will need strong and ruthless wizards and witches.”
Voldemort stared at the smoldering ruins of Hogwarts castle. It bothered him that Dumbledore had known that he was coming to take it over. It was as if there was a spy in his ranks informing the Order of his every move. He will need to make some inquiries and find the spy. With a loud pop, he Apparated back to the Ministry.
[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
Minerva McGonagall was tired but she would get no rest today. She wanted to lie down and get a couple of hours of sleep, but Hagrid had arrived. She had taken it upon herself to bury him and give as proper of a service as one could in a forest while on the run. They had just completed the service where many took time to say a few things about the lovable half-giant. The sun was now rising above the horizon, and they will need to start their journey to Potter Manor on the other side of Scotland.
“Professor, what are those?” asked Susan Bones. She was pointing at something over the forbidden forest.
She turned to see what the girl was pointing at in that location.
“Those are Threstrals, Susan,” said the dreamy voice of Luna Lovegood. “They have been there the entire time we have been walking through the forest.”
“Then why didn’t I see them before,” snapped Susan with a waspish tone.
“Because you never saw anyone die before Hagrid,” said Luna. “I was there when my Mummy blew herself up experimenting with Potions.”
Minerva stared at the Thestrals. She too had been able to see them. There had been incidents during the first war, where she saw people killed by Death Eaters. She never thought that someone as young as Luna would be able to see Thestrals.
“It looks as if they are trying to leave Hogwarts, too,” Luna said. “Maybe we should help them.”
“Let us hope they will be safe,” Minerva said the Luna. “We don’t have time to backtrack…,”
Minerva stopped because there was a loud boom. The ward protecting Hogwarts seemingly exploded. She didn’t know that was possible, but the Thestrals were now flying away from the forest and it appeared as if they were flying the same direction that she was planning to take the children. Many non-magical birds seemed to join them and the forest seemed to be clearing of wildlife.
Minerva was about to gather up the children and start off when another explosion rent the morning.
She turned to see the former castle fill the morning with dust and debris. There were pieces of stone flying straight up in the air while the majority was scattering across the lawn. She was hoping for some sort of a sign that the school could still be intact through the dust and flying debris. That wish was quickly dashed as the gentle morning breeze pushed the cloud of stone dust away from where the castle used to stand.
Hogwarts had been reduced to rubble scattered across its lawn.
“Thank goodness that happened,” said Bane. His voice was always abrasive, but it now sounded like he enjoyed the sight of the castle being destroyed.
“Why did you say that,” Minerva shouted at him. She just watched one of the most important magical buildings explode into a massive pile of stone. She was not in the mood for a cheeky and irate centaur to say derisive things about sorcerers.
“If the Dark Lord had taken over the castle, he would not have been able to be defeated. There is still hope,” Bane said icily. “Our world is changing, both yours and mine. We must leave our past behind and move forward or fall under the Dark Lord’s reign.
“I bid you well on your journey, Professor. We must leave for a different location. The Thestrals have shown us the direction.”
Bane turned and left without anything else being said. The centaurs were ready to leave. She didn’t know when they had time to get organized for the trip, but they were all walking away. She looked up and the Thestrals were flying more towards the south now; the same direction that the centaurs were walking.
She finally realized that many of the students were standing around her. They had to have heard what Bane said. Many of them had tears in their eyes.
“I never thought I would see the day that Hogwarts would be destroyed,” she said to them. “I am sure the Headmaster had good reason to destroy it. I think the centaurs are correct. We must look forward to how we are going to defeat Voldemort not back at our past. I know we are all tired from the night we had, but we must start our journey. We have a long distance to travel, and we really don’t know what we will be encountering along our way. Let us begin.”
“Which way, Professor?” asked Penelope Clearwater.
Minerva was actually stumped. She knew that Potter Manor was on the Eastern side of Scotland, but she didn’t know where.
“Professor, I think we should travel due East,” said Percy. “If my calculations are correct we should be traveling slightly south of the rising sun. It is late June, and the sun is actually rising slightly north of true due east because of our present latitude.”
Filius held his wand on his flat hand and cast a Charm. His wand pointed a direction. “That is north,” he announced. “So the direction Mr. Weasley indicated was due east,” he said. “Our Head Boy has done well in astronomy classes. Five points to….” Filius stopped talking.
There were no more houses to award points. It was obvious that Filius was as upset about the destruction of their school as she was.
“Mr. Weasley, you may lead us,” she said to the Head Boy. In years past, he would have taken a superior attitude about leading the column of students. He just look resigned and quietly started walking. All the students picked up their meager supplies and followed.
Before she started walking, she sent off a Patronus to Arthur Weasley. She wanted to keep him appraised of their situation and location.
[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
Vernon Dursley peered out of the kitchen window looking at the sky. He had been walking around his house looking out each window for the past hour in case his freaky nephew would attack. He was ready for them. He bought a hunting gun yesterday.
He paid an exorbitant amount for this shotgun and the ammunition. There were only a few guns left on the shelf and the store had sold out most of its inventory in the few hours since the cowardly attack in London. There were five others wanting hunting guns and only four guns left to sell. He paid three times the normal price to get the gun without a background check, but he was ready for when those freaks attack.
“Vernon, would you please stop looking out the windows and put that gun away. You are scaring poor little Dudders.”
Vernon snorted through his mustache. His son scared of the gun. He wanted to shoot it as soon as he saw it last night. Besides, Dudley was still upstairs in bed.
“Be quiet and turn on the telly, the morning news should be on shortly. We don’t want to miss anything. The entire country could be overrun with freaks and we won’t know it.”
“Could you at least take off that ridiculous hat,” Petunia said waspishly at him.
Vernon wore a 1920 vintage combat helmet. It may be a bit rusty and the chin strap a little moldy but it was his only protection against the freaks and their magical sticks.
He looked out the front window at the nearly empty street. It was thirty past six, so the people would not be leaving for work just yet.
“…I must implore all the citizens of Britain to not panic. Our country has faced greater destruction of our lands in the past and came out victorious.” The Queen spoke on the telly.
Vernon shuffled around the telly so he could see the Queen. She was standing there in front of the still smoldering Parliament building. She was dressed smartly for such a location with a blue dress and blazer, white blouse and a red hat. She had a determined look on her face as she spoke about living through the bombing by the Nazis.
“We will win this war if we stick together as a nation. We must watch out for our neighbors. I do not say this to cause you to fear your neighbor or fellow citizen, but to help protect them. The threat we are now facing are living among us. They may attack at any time. If you hear something strange in your neighborhood, call the authorities for help. Do not attempt to attack these foes. They are dangerous and would not hesitate to harm you. Let the proper authorities handle the situation.
“When I woke this morning, I discovered that we were cut off from many of our allies because of the dangers within our own land. We will fight this evil within our glorious land. We have always been an isolated nation of islands. Being cut off from other nations will not cause us to fall. We will succeed in driving this evil off out of our land. We will be victorious.”
Vernon was so overcome with emotion at the Queens speech that he stood at attention and saluted her while slamming the shotgun down beside him. When the butt of the gun hit the floor, it accidently discharged blasting both barrels of shot into the ceiling of his sitting room ceiling and nearly making him deaf.
“Vernon,” screeched Petunia. “Dudders is upstairs.”
He watched as she ran up the stairs. He was too much in shock from the sound of the blast. His ears were ringing and the plaster dust from the ceiling had covered his left side. He went to ask if Dudley was all right, when he realized that he hadn’t shot into Dudley’s room. The water started as a small drip that became a steady stream of water and within seconds pouring down onto him.
“Vernon call the plumber,” shouted Petunia from the upstairs. “You blew up our vanity and sink.”
Vernon looked up at the water pouring from the ceiling. “Thank goodness it was the bathroom sink and not the toilet.”
[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
Harry had a funny feeling in his chest. It was a tickling feeling. He turned his head and looked down at his chest to see his son breast feeding and his long red hair laying along his arm by Xenon’s little head. They were in a room with white marble walls and table. On the table were rolls of parchment covered with strange writing.
Harry sat up in his bed and looked around. What just happened to him? He never had such a vivid connection with Ginny before. He took in his surroundings. It was morning, and people were up and moving around. He saw the expectant faces of Sirius and Remus staring at him.
“Where’s Ginny and Xenon?”
“Egypt,” replied Remus. “Bill and Molly went with them. Don’t worry Poppy protested her going anywhere, but Ginny seems to be fully healed. Poppy checked her.”
“Why…?” Harry started talking but Remus cut him off.
“Your wife insisted that you rest a little longer. I think she cast some spell on you before she got up. She laid her hand on your forehead and said that you needed your rest since ‘dying is very taxing to the system’.”
Harry stood up and saw nearly every eye in the ward on him. “What time is it? Never mind, I am going to Egypt.”
He never took a step before Sirius grabbed him and wrapped him in a fierce bone-crushing hug. Harry was caught off guard by Sirius’s sudden show of affection. Soon though, Sirius started crying on Harry’s shoulder.
“I thought I had failed you like I had failed your parents,” Sirius said through his tears.
Harry was quite touched by Sirius intense emotions. This was not some big show to let everyone know he was upset. There were true emotions spilling out of Sirius right now. Even after having Ginny in his life, he was still a bit put off by any overly emotional people. She had strong emotions, but he was comfortable with her displays except when her anger was directed at him. This was something unusual from Sirius and Harry wasn’t sure what to do to comfort him. Then he remembered something, he would need to be careful how loud he said it.
“You didn’t fail my parents, you mangy mutt,” Harry said jokingly.
Sirius looked up at him surprised. “Lily used to call me that.”
“Come to Egypt with me,” he said to Sirius and Remus.
“We were not going to allow you to go there alone,” Sirius said harshly.
They all left without saying another word. The trio remained silent as they walked through the main house down to the transportation vault. As soon as the doors shut them inside of the vault, Harry turned to them.
“The Horcrux is gone. I remember getting hit with the curse,” Harry said to them calmly. “I could feel the curse rushing through my body, when it hit my brain strange things started to happen.
“I found myself in this place. It didn’t seem to have any walls, floors, or ceilings. The only distinct feature was a doorway at one end of this place. The doorway had a curtain over the opening and the light on the other side was showing through the gaps around the curtain.
“I could hear Mum and Dad whispering to me from the other side of the curtain.” He stopped talking and looked at Sirius and to gauge his and Remus’ reaction.
“All around us…,” Harry started to say more but was cut off.
“Us?” asked Remus.
“Voldemort’s fractured soul and me,” He responded. “There were these splotches of dark and white. They seemed to float and swirl around the entire area. I could hear Ginny calling to me, but I couldn’t see her. I hesitated going to the light filled archway because I wanted to see Ginny again.
“The fractured piece of soul didn’t hesitate. It started towards the doorway. It was a hideous thing to look at. Its back was bent and its arms and legs seemed to be too long and were twisted. It got close to the archway, but a dark and scaly arm came out of one of the dark splotches. Its nails looked like talons. It grabbed Voldemort’s soul splinter and sank its talons deep into its chest and abdomen. The soul splinter screamed for a second before the arm pulled it into the dark spot.
“After that happened all the dark spots disappeared. There was only the doorway and Ginny’s voice left in this place. I wanted to walk through the doorway. It felt like the right thing to do, but I also wanted to go back to Ginny. I wasn’t sure what to do. That was when I heard Mum’s voice from the other side of the doorway ‘Do what your heart tells you to do’ she told me. Dad said that he was proud of me for everything that I have done. I told him that I hadn’t accomplished anything so far.”
Harry stopped talking and looked at Remus and Sirius. They were standing there staring at him with their mouths open.
“He said I married a redhead and that was something. Mum yelled at him, but I didn’t hear exactly what she said. At the mention of Ginny, I could hear her voice even louder and I desperately wanted to come back to her and our child. Mum told me to go back to her and then told me to tell that you never failed them.
“I turned away from the door and started searching for a way to get back to Ginny. I could hear her but I couldn’t locate a way to find her or to get to her. As soon as I started to look for her, the doorway disappeared. I was getting scared that I would never find my way back. I started hearing this strange voice speaking or chanting in a language that I didn’t know. Suddenly, I was lying on the floor of the infirmary with Ginny on top of me.”
Harry once again stopped talking to hear what they had to say, but both of them were silent. Remus had a look on his face like he was analyzing everything he had just heard. Sirius though was standing there with tears welling up in his eyes.
“Did Ginny say this morning how she was able to bring me back?”
“She just woke up and said she needed to go to the Atlantean’s library,” said Remus. “I think she cast the Spell on you to protect you from Molly’s yelling. Sometimes I think that woman has a permanent Sonorus Charm cast on her. Anyway, Poppy checked Ginny and your child over before declaring them perfectly fit to travel. Molly demanded to go with Ginny and told Bill he also had to go. They only left about an hour before you woke up.”
“Potter Manor, Egypt,” Harry said to the vault. There was a slight shudder indicating they had arrived. “Is there anything else that needs to remain a secret before I go to Ginny?”
“No go see your wife and son,” said Sirius. He had a happy look on his face like he rarely ever had.
The door opened to reveal the Spectral High Priest. “The goblins have requested your presence and guidance in a situation, Master Potter.”
“I don’t have time. I want to see Ginny,” Harry told the High Priest as he walked past him.
“They are waiting outside of the Atlantean’s library. They wanted to talk to your wife, but they could not break through the wards.”
Harry missed a step at the High Priest’s statement. How was Ginny able to get through the wards? How will he get through them?
“Just walk through, silly,” she said in his head. “They will allow soul bonded people through, but block all others.”
“I will not get used to you speaking to me like this,” he said in his mind while thinking about his wife.
“It is a bit strange.”
“Finding out you are super wealthy is a bit strange. Communicating with someone through you mind is beyond strange.”
He could hear her giggle at his comment which brought a smile to his face. The smile quickly disappeared when he reached the top of the stairs. There was Molly and Bill standing with three goblins and another wizard. The other wizard was obviously a prisoner. He was in chains and kneeling with his head bowed. Harry couldn’t see his face, but he knew it wasn’t Severus Snape.
“Rodolphus Lestrange,” said Sirius, who immediately pulled his wand. The goblins all reacted to this act with raised battle axes.
“Lower the wand Sirius,” whispered Harry. “You can’t do magic at this location.”
Sirius grudgingly complied.
“Master Potter,” said the Goblin who looked as if he was in charge. “This wizard came onto our property with nine others. They all tried to curse us, but their magic didn’t work. This one was the only one to drop his wand. So we spared his life for now. Since you are the master of this land, it is your decision on what shall be done with him.”
“I say have him beheaded, Harry,” said Sirius. “He was one of the ones that tortured Frank and Alice Longbottom.”
“I know Sirius,” Harry replied. He was perplexed on what to do. It seemed too much like murder to have him killed, but he was also a liability and possible formidable foe if he would get loose. “Why did you drop your wand, Rodolphus Lestrange?”
The Death Eater glared at him with hate filled eyes. “I could tell it was a trap. My wand wasn’t working right. Is that what you had planned for Severus?”
“Where is Severus?”
“Dead, the Dark Lord killed him. Said he had no need of his services anymore.”
Rodolphus sneered at Harry. It was obvious that this foul man thought that it was amusing to see Severus killed. Yet, Harry couldn’t bring himself to have him executed. “Take him somewhere and lock him up. He cannot escape.”
The lead goblin looked disappointed. “Should we feed him?”
The simple question was rather amusing to Harry. “Keep him alive.” His simple three word response was met with an evil smile from the head goblin.
The other two goblin guards hit Rodolphus with the butt of their spears. Rodolphus started to swear at the goblins, before he turned onto Harry. “It will only be a matter of time before the Dark Lord comes after me. When he comes here, he will kill you. He will kill all of you,” he shouted as the goblins dragged him away by the chains that tied his manacles, handcuffs and the steel collar around his neck together.
Harry watched as they dragged him away. “He has already tried it twice,” he said barely above a whisper. Everyone around him sniggered at the comment. “Molly, Bill, I don’t mean to be rude, but I want to see my wife and child.” He walked past them and straight through the magical barrier.
The other side of the barrier had a totally different feel to it. It felt brighter and airy in the library. He looked around for the torches that illuminated the library, but he couldn’t see any.
“The marble is infused with magic from Atlantis,” said Ginny without looking at him. She was still feeding Xenon. “The light is emitted from the marble.”
Harry walked up behind her and looked over her shoulder to see the face of their child contentedly nursing. It was a sight that brought tears to his eyes. He kissed his wife on the top of her head. As he stood there taking in the sight, Xenon stopped nursing and fell asleep. Ginny lifted him up and handed him to Harry.
“Here, you need to learn how to gas him,” she said with a smirk. She draped a flannel over Harry’s left shoulder. “Lay him so his head is on the flannel and gently rub and pat his back until he gasses or spits up.”
Harry looked at her with wide eyes. She started giggling at his reaction.
“Relax that is why the flannel is there, besides we can just Banish anything that runs off the flannel and down your back.” Harry started patting his son on the back. “The first thing that you are probably wondering about is all this and why the Atlantean left to help us. He came here over three thousand years ago because of a prophecy….”
Ginny told him about the life of Xenon and how he was able to pass the information along to her through a magical healing bond. He had been waiting for them, and recognized them because of their soul bond. The elf had sacrificed his life so Harry and Ginny could live and continue the fight against Voldemort. While he was listening to Ginny, he had gassed his son and was now holding a sleeping baby. What started out as seeming so strange fifteen minutes ago was now a natural act.
Ginny picked up a silver tube and plunged a spoon into it and pulled out a spoonful of something that looked like extra thick honey colored gelatin. Without saying anything, she gently shoved the spoon into his mouth. He was going to protest until the flavors erupted in his mouth. It tasted like everything he ever liked, everything from fresh baked bread, treacle tart, and roast beef.
“Ambrosia, the nectar of the gods, is what the Greeks called it,” Ginny said with a smile. “It was what all the Atlanteans ate. One spoonful is enough for a meal, unless you are a Weasley, then you need two.”
Harry swallowed the strange food and started to laugh. “Ron would need three.”
They both laughed at his comment. Ginny closed the tube. She looked at him with a very serious expression.
“I think this library holds the secret to destroying Voldemort. I have been glancing over some of these scrolls that Xenon compiled while he was here. They had control over magic that our society does not understand. It seems that if we had already started our training with a wand when we met, the soul bond wouldn’t have worked.”
“I am glad we did meet, when we did,” he said.
Ginny became watery eyed before stepping to him and softly kissing him. The three of them stood there holding onto each other for several minutes. Harry was tearing up too. He didn’t want to leave here. Here they were all safe. The outside world need them. Then something occurred to him. “How can you read these scrolls? They are not in English.”
“I received much of Xenon’s knowledge through the bond. I was able to heal myself after delivering our Xenon with some of the knowledge that I received from him. I can also now read his native language. Harry there are tens of thousands of years of knowledge in this library. This is an entirely different way of using magic. I could spend the rest of my life in here researching and reading.”
“We have a Dark Lord to defeat and then a family to raise. Sorry dear you can’t hide in here,” he said to her.
“I figured you could take care of those things by yourself.”
Harry was shocked that she thought that way, until she smiled. “You are just winding me up?”
“Of course I am,” she said with a huge smile on her face. “I guess we should go out. Mum seemed rather put out about being left outside, and she hasn’t held her grandchild nearly enough.”
[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
Arthur Weasley was sitting in the map room watching individual markers flying around the map. He had noticed that Lucius Malfoy’s indicator had fallen off the board indicating that he was dead. Arthur hardly felt pity for the pompous arse. He couldn’t feel pity for any of the Death Eaters who died in this war. They were monsters obeying an even larger monster. The death and destruction they were causing now was tremendous. Between the attack on Parliament and the attacks on the aeroplanes and shipping ports there have been a reported one thousand dead and another five hundred injured.
There had been a Patronus from Minerva earlier today. All his children along with the high risk children from Hogwarts were safe. Hagrid had died defending the children from Acromantulas. The worst news was that Hogwarts had been destroyed. She assumed it was Albus that had done it to prevent Voldemort making it a home base.
Guilt washed over him as he thought about how fortunate he was that his entire family was safe. A thousand people died today and that didn’t include members of magical society. He knew the death toll wouldn’t be that high, but it was still significant.
“Has there been any more news about attacks on Muggles?” Kinglsey Shacklebolt asked. He had just awakened because he had been up all night and well into the morning guarding the Queen as she walked amongst the attack zones.
“They seem to be content watching the airports and the seaports,” said Alastor. “This is just a guess, but I think he will be content for the next couple of days, as he reorganizes our government.”
“There were some of his followers that we had traced up North for several hours,” Arthur said. “We can only assume that he has emptied Azkaban.”
Kingsley whistled at the news before taking a long sip of tea. “I counted close to a hundred prisoners that were possible followers of his. We are definitely outnumbered. I hope Harry can come up with a good plan, when he returns.”
Arthur wasn’t sure if Kingsley was challenging Harry’s abilities with that statement, but he wasn’t going to let that out there. “Harry always consults everyone involved before making a final decision. It will be up to all of us to devise a plan of attack.”
Kingsley nodded his head in agreement as he went back to his tea. Arthur knew there were more complications than the newly released prisoners, but he couldn’t say anything.
“The master and mistress has returned," shouted one of the House Elves as it ran into the map room. The House Elves were rushing around to make sure everyone was ready. People started looking outside, but Arthur knew better.
“They will be coming from over there,” he said pointing to an area by the fireplace. He ignored everyone’s questioning looks as he wanted to meet his grandson. He had just made it to the hidden door when it opened. Harry opened the door for Ginny and his grandson.
“Here is your first grandson.” Ginny beamed with happiness as she handed the swaddled baby to him.
“Isn’t he precious, Arthur,” gushed Molly as she ran to hug her husband. Arthur held his grandson with both arms as Molly hugged him. The only thing he could see was a little pink nose and cheeks sticking out through the cloth. Arthur could barely hear the commotion that Harry’s appearance was creating in the house. He was focused on this little life he held in his arms. He looked up to see Ginny smiling at him. “I think I will just find a quiet place to rock him for a bit. Has he eaten lately?”
“About ten minutes ago, he should be good for another hour or two, Dad. I will come with you.”
“Me too,” demanded Molly. “I have barely had a chance to hold him.”
[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
Pain, confusion, and darkness filled her very presence. The side of her face felt like a ruin. She tried to move her arms, but they didn’t seem to be working properly. The pain she was feeling was a different type of a pain. It wasn’t from a curse, but more from an injury. Her left arm finally started to move and she reached up to feel her face.
There were bandages wrapped around her head and the right side of her face. Her right eye was covered over, but she should be able to see out of her left eye. As she was gathering her senses, she noticed something else. It was extremely windy wherever she was.
Groping around she tried to find her wand. She didn’t expect to find it. It was obvious she was in some type of a prison cell. They wouldn’t have allowed her to have her wand.
“Madam Bones is that you?” whispered a sweet voiced girl.
“Yes, it is,” she said with a raspy voice. Her throat was very dry and the bandages made it difficult to move her jaw. “Where are we?”
“Please keep your voice down,” she whispered again. A dim light from the girl’s wand filled the area around them. “My name is Abigail Swanson. We are hiding in the Ministry’s ventilation system. No one knows we are here, but we must whisper or they will hear us.”
“Where is my wand?” Amelia demanded. She didn’t trust this girl. She won’t trust anyone until she could hold her wand again.
“Here it is,” said Abigail, as she handed the wand to her.
Amelia went to grab it, but discovered that her right hand was completely wrapped in bandages. She grabbed the wand in her left hand. It felt a little strange, but she could tell that it was her wand.
“How did I get here and what is going on with the battle?”
“We were able to drag you into here before collapsing the walls and ceiling in the Transportation Room. No one knows we are here. I am only here because I am Muggle born. Voldemort has taken over the Ministry after he killed Harry Potter. You have been unconscious for thirty-six hours.”
Amelia was having a hard time understanding everything. It must have been from her injuries. “Who else survived the battle? Are you the only one left that was fighting with me? What ventilation system in the Ministry?”
Abigail smiled at her. “The entire Ministry building has this massive channel running through it. Hardly anyone knows about it outside of the maintenance workers, and only about half of them even knows how to get into it.
“There were only four that survived from the fighting in the Transportation Department. Gregory Bright dragged you out of the Department before we collapsed the ceiling and walls. Everything in the magical transportation room was destroyed.
“All of the other maintenance workers are being forced to rebuild the Ministry according to his demands. They are being worked night and day to clean up and rebuild the Ministry. The Death Eaters don’t suspect us as long as we do their bidding.
“I am here because many of the Ministry employees know I am Muggle born. I have also been trained in first aid. I tried to fix you up the best I could, but I am afraid you will have some nasty scars.”
“I have more important things to think about than my appearance,” Amelia said. She needed to figure out how to contact the Order and even who was left to contact.
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.
This story archived at http://www.siye.co.uk/siye/viewstory.php?sid=129631