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SIYE Time:23:12 on 28th March 2024
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Perilous Journey
By potterfan2008

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Category: Alternate Universe
Characters:All
Genres: Action/Adventure, Drama, Romance
Warnings: Death, Mild Sexual Situations, Negative Alcohol Use, Sexual Situations, Spouse/Adult/Child Abuse, Violence
Rating: R
Reviews: 314
Summary: During Christmas at Grimmauld Place, Harry and Ginny realize they can help each other overcome the memories of their past. Watching them, Sirius finds the courage to forgive himself for his past mistakes and start living again. Umbridge, however has other plans. She expels the couple, starting them on a very perilous journey. *Mentions of child abuse and alcohol/substance use*
Hitcount: Story Total: 144693; Chapter Total: 5023
Awards: View Trophy Room




Author's Notes:
Sorry for the very long delay in posting a chapter. I have added a summary to help remind you of key facts that you might have forgotten. I hope you enjoy this one. I had already given James' parents names prior to JKR telling us their names on Pottermore, so I chose not to change their names in this story. Thank you very much to both Arnel and seekers_destiny for the beta skills!

Summary: Harry and Ginny were expelled from Hogwarts by Professor Umbridge starting them on their perilous journey. They have been helped by a group called 'Friends of Lily'. After almost a year on the run, they reconnected with Sirius who has been teaching and sheltering them. Harry and Ginny were married on Ginny's 16th birthday. While her brothers are all thrilled with the marriage, Mrs Weasley has been slower to accept it. All of the Horcruxes (that they know about) have been destroyed except for Nagini. In the last chapter, Sirius and the Potters befriended a MI5 agent, Emma Charles, who is helping them in their fight against Voldemort. Carys Astley is one of the women who helped Harry and Ginny in their journey (they meet her in Chapter 7).




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December 25, 1997 — January 3, 1998

Sirius glanced at his watch as he waited for Emma to join him. He’d been a bit surprised when she invited him to join her for a late lunch on Christmas, but pleased. The two had spent quite a bit of time together over the past month and he would readily admit he was attracted to her. He was surprisingly nervous about their date.

When he’d been young, he’d been known as quite the ladies’ man. With his looks, skills, and money he’d never had to work too hard to find female companionship. While he enjoyed women, he’d never felt that deep connection that James had felt to Lily and that he now saw between Harry and Ginny. After his escape from Azkaban, he hadn’t been living like a monk, but he’d not really developed any deep relationships either.

Emma was very different from his usual type of woman. Certainly she was very beautiful and fit, but she was also outspoken and challenged him, not to mention was easily able to take care of herself. Emma was clever and well respected in her job and she’d taken the news of the wizarding world with amazing grace. He had to admit there was a very small juvenile part of him that enjoyed how much his parents would despise him dating a Muggle, but he didn’t want her to be a rebellion.

While she was only seven years younger than him, at times he felt much older than her. His years in prison had affected him both mentally and physically. While he was doing much better now, he still occasionally had nightmares. Harry had helped with that immensely. Once he’d realized how much Harry needed him, he’d done what he had to do to be there for him.

He smiled as he thought about Harry. This morning they’d celebrated an old-fashioned family Christmas. He’d given Harry a new photo album this Christmas, one with pictures from his first Christmas as well as pictures from Africa. Harry had loved it. It seemed that great minds thought alike. For Sirius, Harry had a picture from his wedding of Sirius, Harry, and Ginny framed in a silver frame etched with both the Potter and Black coats of arms. Sirius had given Ginny a diamond and emerald bracelet made from the jewels he’d found in Bellatrix’s vault.

It had been a wonderful Christmas so far. Harry and Ginny were visiting with Deena and David Harper, the couple who had sheltered them in Keswick the previous summer. Looking around the restaurant, Sirius was surprised at how many people were eating out on Christmas Day. He’d always spent Christmas with family — first his own and then the Potters. The two Christmases he’d been on the run had been the only time he’d been alone on Christmas.

He grimaced slightly as he thought about that first Christmas. He’d spent it in Hogsmeade in his Animagus form. He’d been half deranged with guilt and anger. It had been a very difficult time for him. The Dementors caused him to relive his finding James and Lily over and over again. He’d only found refuge in Padfoot and the glimpses of his godson he’d had since his escape. After the events at the Shrieking Shack, Dumbledore had helped Sirius make his way to Jamaica where he received treatment for both his physical injuries as well as counselling for the almost crippling depression he’d fallen into.

The treatments had helped, but until Sirius had realized that he needed to put Harry’s needs ahead of his own, he hadn’t improved much. He wondered if Emma would be able to understand what he’d gone through. They hadn’t talked much about their pasts, but he fancied that she might be sympathetic.

He looked up and saw Emma entering the restaurant. She smiled and waved as she took off her hat and scarf, stuffing them into the pockets of her coat and hanging up her coat. Sirius stood as she approached.

He hugged her. “Happy Christmas!”

“Happy Christmas!” she returned as she sat down. “Thanks for having lunch with me.”

“Of course,” Sirius replied. “I was glad you asked. A bit surprised, but glad.”

She blushed slightly. “I was a bit surprised you were free. I thought you’d be spending the day with Harry and Ginny.”

“It’s their first Christmas together. I wanted to give them some time on their own,” Sirius explained.

The conversation halted for a minute while the waiter approached the table. After ordering a bottle of wine, Sirius continued, “I thought perhaps you would be with your family today.”

She shrugged. “Usually, I do spend Christmas with my parents, but they are in visiting my sister in Cornwall. They invited me, but with the number of attacks that have been reported lately I thought it better to stay in London.”

Sirius nodded. “I can understand that. I guess it’s a bit harder for you to travel than me.”

“Definitely,” she laughed. “What are Harry and Ginny doing today?”




“She is beautiful,” Ginny said as she smiled down at baby Emma Harper. Dropping another kiss on the baby’s head, she looked up at Deena and David. “How old is she?”

“She’s almost ten months old,” Deena said proudly watching as Emma squirmed in Ginny’s arms. Ginny gently set the baby on the blanket on the floor and watched as she pulled herself up to stand. “She’s just started cruising.” Seeing the blank look on Harry’s face, she explained, “She can walk holding onto things. My mum thinks she’ll be walking on her own soon.”

Reaching over, Ginny hugged Deena. “I am so happy for you. I can see how happy you are.”

“We are,” Deena said after a moment. “We’ve waited a long time for her.”

Harry was watching the baby in amazement. “She seems to love the Christmas tree.”

“She was hardly interested in her presents this morning,” David laughed. “She was so entranced by the lights on the tree. She did eventually get into the spirit of opening her presents. Thank you for the stuffed dragon. She loves it.”

“I had one when I was little,” Ginny laughed. “I loved it, so I thought she might also. My brother always complained that it wasn’t accurate, but it’s so cute.”

“It is,” Deena agreed. She looked up startled as what Ginny said registered. “Wait, are you saying dragons are real?”

“Yes,” Harry and Ginny both replied.

Deena shook her head. “The more I learn about your world, the more I can’t believe we are so oblivious to it.”

“That’s probably a good thing,” Harry said.

“Did Emma get in touch with you?” Ginny asked.

David nodded. “She did. We’re happy to do whatever we can. Sirius and another man, Kingsley, came by and added some protection to the house.”

“Where is Sirius?” Deena asked curiously. “I expected him to be here.”

“He was here this morning,” Harry explained with a twinkle in his eyes. “We had a fun family Christmas, but he is meeting Emma for lunch.”

“Really?” Deena turned to look at the Potters. “Are they dating?”

“Not officially,” Ginny explained, “but I think they are both interested in each other.”

“I like her,” Harry said. “I keep encouraging him, but he’s…I think he’s nervous.”

“About what?” Deena asked.

Harry shrugged a bit uncomfortably. “I think it has to do with his time in prison.”

“I don’t think that would bother her,” Ginny said, rescuing Harry. “I think Sirius just doesn’t want to blow anything, especially if everything is coming to a head. He wants to make sure he’s there for Harry. He wouldn’t let anything get in the way of that. I think Emma understands that.”

“I just…I know that I’m a lot better with Ginny than without,” Harry said, flushing slightly. He smiled at her and reached for her hand. “If Emma can do that for Sirius, I’m in favour of it, but he wants to keep it casual for now.”

Deena nodded as she grabbed Emma who was making her way towards the fireplace. She brought the baby back and set her down on the blanket. Looking at Ginny, she asked, “How are things with your parents?”

“Getting better,” Ginny said optimistically. “They came to our holiday party. We wanted to go to my parents for Christmas Eve, but my dad was worried that there are still people watching the house. We exchanged presents this year, so that’s an improvement. Bill and Fleur are joining us for dinner tonight. So we will have lots of family around this year.”

She leaned into Harry who kissed her on the cheek. Deena smiled at the young couple. “I’m so happy for the two of you.”

Ginny jumped up. “Would you like to see our wedding pictures?”




Ginny smiled at her husband as Sirius saw Bill and Fleur to the door. “That went really well.”

He nodded as they helped Dobby clear the table. “Thank you, Dobby.”

“Dobby is pleased you enjoyed your dinner,” the little elf said happily. He was wearing a new pair of brightly coloured socks with his uniform. “Master Harry, you doesn’t need to help.”

“I’m happy to help,” Harry laughed as he levitated the last of the silverware to the sink were they started washing themselves under the power of Dobby’s magic.

“Thank you, Dobby,” Ginny echoed. “Everything was delicious.”

“You are welcome,” Dobby beamed.

Hand-in-hand the Potters walked into the sitting room. After Harry sat down, Ginny sat down on his lap. Smiling, Harry wrapped his arms around her. “Thank you for a wonderful Christmas.”

“I didn’t really do anything,” Ginny objected.

“You make everything better,” Harry countered leaning in to kiss her which she returned enthusiastically.

A throat clearing behind them broke them apart. Sirius was standing in the door with a big smile on his face. “I’m heading over to the Tonks. Are you sure you don’t want to join me? Andi and Ted would be glad to have you.”

Blushing, Harry shook his head. Sirius laughed. “Have fun, kids. Happy Christmas.”

“Happy Christmas, Dad,” Harry said with a laugh.

Ginny hopped up and went over to hug Sirius. “Happy Christmas. Thank you for everything,” she said before kissing him on the cheek.

“You are more than welcome, love,” Sirius replied before heading out.

Beckoning to her husband, Ginny said, “Why don’t we move this upstairs?”

Eagerly, Harry followed. When they reached their bedroom, Ginny looked up at him. “Give me a few minutes.”

Harry reluctantly let her go. Smiling, he walked over to the balcony and looked out over the lake. Christmas twinkled from various points around the shore. He and Ginny had decorated one of the trees on their property with Christmas lights. It had been a wonderful Christmas. He knew that Ginny felt better now that she was talking to her parents again. While he was not entirely comfortable with Mrs Weasley, he wanted Ginny to be happy and of course he didn’t want her to regret her decision to marry him.



Ginny brushed her hair. Blushing, she looked at her reflection in the mirror. She was wearing a green negligee edged with white lace. While she knew Harry wouldn’t reject her, she was a bit nervous about being so forward. She’d never done anything like this before and she wasn’t entirely sure she knew how to go about seducing someone.

Checking her reflection one last time, she pulled on the white silky dressing gown that matched the negligee. She debated whether or not she should put some shoes on, but decided against it. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door.

Harry was facing away from her when she first opened the door. His jaw dropped as he turned and stared at her. Feeling encouraged by the look on his face, she walked over to him. Placing one hand on his chest, she placed one end of the tie of her gown in his hand and smiled up at him. “I think, Mr Potter, that you have one more present to unwrap tonight.”

“You are so beautiful,” Harry breathed, leaning down he kissed her deeply. As always when Ginny was in his arms, he lost track of everything but her. He didn’t think he’d ever unwrapped anything with the care and attention that he paid to his wife. It was many hours later that they finally fell asleep cuddled up in each other’s arms.



“This is amazing,” Hannah said shyly as she looked around Neville’s garden.

He had obviously put a lot of work into his garden. One section had traditional English plants and flowers — although any English gardener would be surprised to see tulips, daisies, and marigolds flourishing in mid-winter. There was a section of wizarding plants — including his prized Mimbulus Mimbletonia. The last section was a selection of exotic, tropical plants including a variety of palm trees including a coconut palm tree, a beautiful hibiscus plant, and a bright purple bougainvillea that grew up a trellis in the back of his greenhouse. In the centre of the garden was a fountain with a unicorn statue and carved into the edge of the fountain were the words ‘In honour of Frank and Alice Longbottom’.

“Thank you,” Neville replied. “I’ve always enjoyed plants and Gran let me have free reign back here. My mum as a big gardener, but after she ended up at St Mungo’s her garden grew wild. My mum’s elf, Bibi, gave me my mum’s journals and helped me recreate her garden. I think at first Gran thought it was a huge waste of time, but now she quite enjoys coming out here. In the beginning of July every year she hosts a garden party out here.”

“You’ve put a lot of work into the garden,” Hannah commented. “Susan told me you want to do something with plants once you graduate.”

Neville nodded enthusiastically. “I’ve spoken to a member of the Royal Horticultural Society. He told me about the education they have available for those interested in horticulture. They offer a programme of study that combines Wizarding and Muggle gardening. I will be taking classes at their Wizarding garden at Hestercombe. It’s an amazing estate and almost fifty acres of gardens in Somerset.”

“I’ve heard Professor Sprout mention Hestercombe before,” Hannah said thoughtfully.

“Professor Sprout is the one who told me about the programme,” Neville said with a shy smile. “She’s been wonderful about helping me apply for the programme and helping me figure out what I want to do after Hogwarts. Now Gran’s actually very supportive of my plans. For Christmas, she actually gave me a membership in the Royal Horticultural Society.”

“That’s wonderful,” she said warmly. “She must have come around if she’s helping you pursue your passion.”

Neville nodded. “We had a long talk. I told her that while I am incredibly proud of my parents and everything they did to fight Voldemort, that is not what I want to do. Don’t get me wrong, I will fight and do my part, but once this is all over I want to build my own nursery. My parents were great Aurors, but that’s not at all what I want to do with my life.”

“That sounds so lovely. I’ve always like gardening — nothing like this, but we’ve always had a small kitchen garden as well as a flower garden. We didn’t have a garden this year, but my dad and I are planting one next year in honour of my mum. We’re planting zinnias — I read that they are planted in memory of a loved one.”

Neville nodded. “I have both zinnias and forget-me-nots planted in honour of my parents.”

The pair made their way back up to the manor house where Susan was waiting for them. Ostensibly she’d said she was tired, but Neville was fairly certain his friend was just giving him and Hannah some time alone. Either way it was greatly appreciated.

Susan looked up as they re-entered the sitting room. “Did you enjoy the gardens?”

“Very much,” Hannah said as her cheeks flushed slightly. Neville looked pleased.

“How is your aunt handling her new responsibilities?” Neville asked changing the subject. “My Gran was thrilled that she was appointed the Chief Sorceress.”

“It’s different,” Susan admitted. “We have a lot more security than we did before. I know Mr Shacklebolt is quite concerned about her. We still don’t know who supports You-Know-Who and who doesn’t. The attack on the Ministry itself and Professor Dumbledore’s death shook so many people. My aunt hopes that some of his less committed followers may be questioning if they should follow someone like that. I understand that You-Know-Who’s appearance is quite scary and he doesn’t really look entirely human anymore.”

Hannah shook her head. “I really don’t understand why anyone would follow him.”

“He’s a very powerful wizard,” Susan replied. “My Aunt said that before he changed his appearance so much he was a very handsome, very charismatic wizard. Unfortunately, there has always been a segment of our Pureblood society that is fascinated with the Dark Arts and he started recruiting them first. He appealed to their sense of entitlement and wanting to believe they were superior to other wizards.” She shook her head. “It’s all quite ridiculous — look at our year. Draco Malfoy, the poster boy for Pureblood superiority, can hardly hex his way out of a paper bag whilst Hermione Granger is tops in all of our classes.”

“I can’t believe how much nicer it is at school now without Malfoy and his friends,” Hannah said. “Not to mention no more Professor Snape.”

“I always tried to understand why Professor Dumbledore allowed him to act so…horribly,” Susan admitted. “I try to look for the best in everyone, but I really couldn’t find anything to admire in Professor Snape. He was very knowledgeable in Potions, but he never shared that information with students. I hate to speak ill of one of our professors, but he never really taught us.”

“Writing instructions on the board and yelling at the class isn’t really a teaching method,” Neville agreed.

“He rather scared me,” Hannah admitted.

Neville smiled. “Trust me; he always scared me as well. I don’t understand how he could just make fun of students, but the way he treated me was nothing to the way he treated Harry. He was horrible to Harry.”

“We heard stories,” Hannah said looking over at Susan who nodded her agreement.

“They are probably true,” Neville said. “He honestly had something against Harry — something that had to do with his father. Snape picked on me because he knew he intimidated me. That is one of the amazing things about Harry — even way back in first year he never let Snape intimidate him.”

“That’s Harry,” Susan said with a touch of amazement. “I don’t believe Snape was as mean to us as he was to the Gryffindors, but I was still scared of him. He’s reduced many Hufflepuffs to tears over the years.”

“I can believe that. I am actually doing well in Potions now,” Neville said. “I’ve had to hire a Potions’ tutor in the past to help me, but Professor Slughorn explains things really well. I swear for the first few years I wouldn’t have passed if not for Hermione explaining things to me.”

“Hermione is brilliant. She helped me with History of Magic. I tried as hard as I could, but I couldn’t manage to follow Professor Binns. Professor Ambrose is brilliant,” Susan put in. “I’m really glad I stayed in History of Magic. Professor Ambrose knows so much about history and I’m glad to learn about more than just goblin wars.”

“Me too,” Hannah laughed. “I’m also glad I skipped Divination.”

“I wish I’d done that,” Neville said ruefully. “Professor Trelawney really scared me at first. She always seemed to know everything and with her predicting Harry’s death so often, I was quite worried.”

“Has anyone heard from Harry and Ginny?” Hannah asked. “I mean since Professor Dumbledore died.”

“I think Ron has,” Neville admitted. “I know he saw them over the summer. He told me and Hermione before the beginning of the term. I don’t know for certain if he’s seen them again, but the way he was acting at the end of the term I have a feeling he was in contact with Harry.”

“I hope they’ve been in touch,” Susan said. “I can only imagine how worried her family has been.” Looking around, she lowered her voice and added, “I think my aunt’s heard from them or at least from Mr Black, but of course she can’t say.”

“From what I’ve heard, Mr Black is very protective of Harry and Ginny,” Neville allowed. “I can’t imagine he’d allow them to be out in public until he was sure of their safety.”




Hermione looked up at the sound of the knock on the door, but her mother waved her back into her chair and went to answer the door herself. Hermione curled back up in her favourite chair and looked appreciatively around her parents’ sitting room. While she enjoyed the eclectic style at the Burrow, she loved the more traditional décor at her parents’ house.

The walls were white with light grey trim. The deep comfortable couches were cream coloured with bright pops of colour. She was sitting in her favourite chair - it was a large comfortable leather armchair. The floor to ceiling wall of bookshelves was a testament to the love of reading the whole family shared. The large Christmas tree dominated the far side of the room. She and her parents had fun decorating the tree and listening to Christmas carols. At first it had been a bit odd to see the electric lights and the ornaments that didn’t move, but she was reminded of the Christmases of her youth before she’d known she was a witch. While her mother wasn’t the cook that Mrs Weasley was, they’d had a wonderful Christmas full of fun. Now she was feeling a bit torn, she’d spent so much time in the wizarding world over the past years that she’d missed out on a lot of advances in the Muggle world.

It was a bit odd to go from the uncertainty of the wizarding world to the Christmas celebrating Muggle world, but Hermione had to admit she was enjoying the break. She and her mother had gone Christmas shopping in London and had even gone to the cinema together. After the trauma of the past few months, it was nice to have some normalcy.

The sound of her mother’s voice attracted her attention. It sounded like they had visitors as her mother had shut the door, but Hermione could still hear voices. Setting down her new book, Hermione stood to see who was visiting. Before she could join them, her mother led the visitors into the sitting room.

Hermione’s sense of normalcy disappeared as she saw Professor McGonagall and two other women in her parents’ house. At the sudden pallor in Hermione’s face, Professor McGonagall hastened to reassure her, “Nothing has happened, Miss Granger. The Weasleys and your other friends are fine.”

Grasping the back of her father’s favourite armchair, Hermione was relieved at the news, but still anxious. “What is going on, Professor?”

Professor McGonagall turned to her other two companions and Hermione also looked at them more closely. The pretty blonde woman looked familiar, but Hermione couldn’t immediately place her. The other woman was a bit older, perhaps around her parents’ age; she was a pleasant looking woman with shoulder length dark hair. Hermione didn’t recognize her at all. Before introductions could be made, Mr Granger joined them.

Looking relieved, Mrs Granger smiled at her husband. “Dear, this is Professor McGonagall.”

“Of course,” he replied, “it is good to see you again.”

“Professor McGonagall needs to speak with the three of us,” Mrs Granger explained as she led the way into the kitchen.

It was very different from the Weasley’s kitchen. With its gleaming modern appliances and lack of fireplace, it was obviously a Muggle kitchen. The Christmas potpourri was heating in a warmer on the countertop creating a lovely scent wafting throughout the house. While Hermione sat in her normal spot at the sleek black rectangular table, Professor McGonagall conjured up three chairs for herself and her two guests. Mr Granger appeared astonished as he’d been about to retrieve the extra chairs.

“That’s quite handy,” he murmured as he sat at his traditional spot at the head of the table.

Professor McGonagall favoured him with a small smile. “Magic certainly has it’s uses.”

“Can I offer you something to drink?” Mrs Ganger asked. “I have some white wine or I can make some tea.”

“I’d love some wine,” the older Muggle woman said with a smile.

The others agreed and Mrs Granger brought the wine and her better wine glasses to table. At a gesture from his wife, Mr Granger poured the wine while she brought a nice box of store bought treats to the table.

Hermione looked around at the three women anxiously. She was getting impatient with the small talk. Her two worlds were colliding and she wasn’t certain if that was a good thing or not. Finally her mother sat down at the table.

Professor McGonagall introduced the other two women to the Grangers. Indicating the blonde woman, she said, “This is Miss Emma Charles and Mrs Carys Astley.”

Emma smiled at Hermione. “I don’t know if you remember me or not, but I came to interview you about Harry and Ginny. I’m an intelligence officer in the counter terrorism unit.”

“But…” Hermione gaped at the young woman. She was a Muggle! What was she doing here with Professor McGonagall? Carys Astley — that name sounded familiar as well. Her eyes widened as she realized that this was one of the women who had protected Harry and Ginny on their trip.

“Miss Granger, I realize this is highly unorthodox, but Miss Charles is indeed a Muggle. She was caught up in a Death Eater attack in Cokeworth last month. She…ended up with Sirius Black and the Potters.”

“But the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy,” Hermione said in confusion. “That’s illegal. Why wasn’t she Obliviated?”

“Because thankfully, Sirius is a bit more progressive,” Emma replied with an edge to her voice. “I realize that Voldemort is a wizard, but his actions affect both of our worlds. I was in Cokeworth and I saw what he does. He needs to be stopped. I am an intelligence officer, something that doesn’t seem to exist in the wizarding world. I have been working with a group of wizards including Sirius, Bill and Fleur Weasley and Carys. We are looking to combine wizarding and Muggle technology to defeat Voldemort.”

Hermione looked between the three women, her mind whirring in a confused mass of questions. Professor McGonagall took pity on her and explained, “The Order of Phoenix has been working with Emma and Carys to develop methods for tracking magic and it’s use.”
Speaking up for the first time, Carys said, “We are using a combination of advanced Arithmancy and satellite imagery to find pockets of Dark Magic.”

“How can we help?” Mr Granger asked. After Hermione’s fifth year, he’d made sure he and his wife were kept more in the loop about the events of the wizarding world. He corresponded regularly with Arthur Weasley who was thrilled to have a Muggle pen friend.

“We are recruiting Muggles to assist us,” Professor McGonagall started.

“What?! No,” Hermione exclaimed with tears welling up in her eyes as she gazed at her parents. “It is too dangerous. They can’t protect themselves against Death Eaters. I saw what happened in Bannockburn when Death Eaters attacked the Muggles. They just died.”

“Love, I know we can’t do many things, but we do want to help,” Mr Granger said in a reassuring voice.

“We aren’t proposing to have your parents face Death Eaters,” Professor McGonagall reassured her. “We would like to include them in a network of Muggle family members who can gather information we don’t have access to and to establish safe houses for those in danger. Regardless of their decision we would like to offer protective charms for your parents. You are Head Girl and a very well-known Muggle-born student and as such your parents are targets.”

Tears spilled over as images from both Bannockburn and Professor Dumbledore’s funeral overwhelmed her. That couldn’t happen to her parents. Mrs Granger reached out and drew her daughter into her arms. “Hermione, love, I know this is scary, but let’s listen to their suggestions.”

Calming herself, she wiped her eyes and nodded. “Sorry.”

“No need to apologize, Miss Granger. These are frightening times and we are all worried about our families. We are attempting to protect the Muggle families of all of our students,” Professor McGonagall said. “Miss Charles has established a network of Muggles within the Muggle government who know about the wizarding world. We are attempting to educate the Muggle populace about the dangers of Death Eaters.”

“I saw a brochure in London,” Mr Granger said. “It talked about a terrorist group that used masks and robes and should be considered extremely dangerous. It mentioned a special number to call if you witnessed an attack.”

“Good,” Emma smiled. “I’m glad they are getting out.”

“Who does the number contact?” Mrs Granger asked curiously.

“It’s a number that notifies the joint Wizarding — Muggle task force,” Emma explained. “It is a branch of the anti-terrorism unit from the Home Office. Once a call is made, it mobilizes the Aurors as well as members of the anti-terrorism unit who have a wizarding background and understand the dangers that wizards pose. They are armed and permitted to use deadly force if necessary. I watched the task force training — it was amazing. I’m new to this whole world of magic, but there are many who grew up with it.”

Professor McGonagall nodded. “There are many Muggles who have been exposed to magic through siblings, in-laws, or even some who have simply stumbled upon our world. We have never thought to ask for their help before. When Sirius decided to enlist Emma’s help, he made us realize that we needed to reach out to them.”

“What can we do?” Mrs Granger asked.

“First I would like to offer magical protection for you and your dental practice,” Professor McGonagall explained. She held out a box that contained a bracelet and a tie clip. “These are both Portkeys. If you feel that you are in danger, you can grip the gemstone and stay the word ‘Sanctuary’. It will transport you to a safe house.”

Hermione watched anxiously as her parents took the proffered devices and put them on. “Safe house?”

“Miss Granger, I don’t feel it is safe or advisable to go into more details about the safe houses. We have several set up around the country,” Professor McGonagall explained. “I would like cast protective wards around your house and your office if necessary.”

Mr and Mrs Granger shared a silent exchange before Mrs Granger turned to the professor. “I believe we would like to take a short sabbatical. It seems like things are coming to a head rapidly and I would hate for any of our patients to get caught up in the war.”

“Mum!” Hermione looked at her mother in shock. She had never thought her parents would have to give up their practice.

“We’ve talked about it,” Mrs Granger explained as she squeezed her daughter’s hand. “We didn’t know exactly how we could help, but we want to be there for you in whatever capacity we might be able to help.”

Searching her mother’s eyes, Hermione saw love and conviction shining out of her mother’s eyes. She nodded slowly. Turning to Professor McGonagall, she asked, “Are you certain they can be protected?”

Before Professor McGonagall could answer, Mr Granger responded, “Of course they can’t guarantee we won’t be harmed, love. Please don’t try to hold anyone to that impossible standard. We realize it might be dangerous, but at least this way we are helping you fight back rather than being unaware of the dangers.”

“Your father is right, Miss Granger. One only needs to look to Mr Potter’s parents to realize we can’t guarantee anyone’s safety, but we can do everything we can to keep them safe. Professor Flitwick, Mrs Astley, and one of our recruits form the Unspeakables have developed a form of the Fidelius Charm that protects them from the wizarding world while allowing contact with the Muggle world. Bill Weasley will place additional protective wards around your parents’ house.”

“It sounds reasonable,” Mrs Granger said thoughtfully.

“We will also take the precaution of removing your names and information from all phone directories. I understand that Voldemort as well as Snape were raised in the Muggle world. While they act as though they eschew the Muggle world, it seems as though they would be willing to use whatever means is at their disposal to achieve their ends,” Emma spoke up.

Hermione relaxed slightly. She still wasn’t happy that her parents were becoming involved in her world, but she could understand the impulse to want to help. She’d never really thought about it before — it must be very hard on Ron for all of his family to be so heavily involved in the Order.




Bill felt the sweat dripping down his face as he worked on the Malfoy’s wards. He desperately wanted to wipe his face, but he didn’t even dare blink. The wards were among the most difficult he’d run into. Fleur and Sirius were watching his back as he had to block out any extraneous sounds. If someone wasn’t watching his back, he’d be a sitting duck for any of the Death Eaters roaming the grounds.

They were crouched next to a low stone wall and partially hidden by the yew hedges. There was a ward stone in the wall that needed to be disabled before they could move onto the iron gate that protected the long driveway. They’d already discovered that there was a charm on the gate that searched for the Dark Mark — they weren’t certain what happened if someone tried to walk through without the Dark Mark, but it surely wasn’t good.

In addition to the wards, there were multiple statues throughout the garden that Bill suspected would defend the property. Satellite photos had shown multiple peacocks and snake dens on the property as well. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t concerned about what would happen once they breached the wards.

Finally, he felt the wards slip. As he stood up, the area was blanketed with spells.

Harry swore as the Room of Requirement re-set. “Damn, I really thought you had it that time.”

“So did I,” Bill said as he stood and helped Fleur to her feet.

“Who cast the spells?” Ginny asked.

Walking over to examine the stones from which the spells emanated, Bill cast some sensing spells. “No one cast them. If I’m reading this correctly, the stone was charmed to attack once the wards fell.”

“So if you can avoid the attack, it won’t attack again?” Carys asked from the corner where she was watching and evaluating their attempt.

“I don’t believe so,” Bill replied. “I’d like to get a look at the actual stone, but I don’t know if that will be possible.”

“They have excellent wards,” Sirius agreed, “but it doesn’t seem as though Lucius has added a lot of his own spells. Some of these defences date back almost four hundred years.” He frowned as he looked at the runic inscription on one of the stones. “It could date back even further. Narcissa used to brag that the Malfoys came over with William the Conqueror and were awarded their lands for helping him. This ward stone could date back six hundred years.”

Bill nodded. “It is possible that some of them are not up to date.”

“I wouldn’t count on that,” Sirius said. “My grandfather had Malfoy Manor evaluated before he signed the betrothal agreement. He oversaw Narcissa’s betrothal and while Lucius might be a bit lazy, old Pollux never was. He didn’t trust Uncle Cygnus to negotiate his daughter’s betrothals, especially after Andromeda was able to marry Ted without triggering any reprisals.”

“Did you have a betrothal agreement?” Harry asked curiously.

Sirius made a face. “Absolutely, as the oldest son of the one of the most prestigious members of the Sacred Twenty — Eight, my grandfather searched high and low for an appropriate bride. As my parents were cousins, he wanted to find a family we hadn’t intermarried with so he chose Vivianna Greengrass. She was actually rather sweet, but she was horrified when I was Sorted into Gryffindor. She convinced her father to break our betrothal. That was the last straw for my father, he was so angry he threatened to disown me. That’s when I left for your grandparents’ house.”

“I’m so glad my parents don’t believe in all of that nonsense. It’s amazing we are still on the Sacred Twenty-Eight,” Bill commented.

“I think you’d be kicked off by now,” Sirius pointed out cheerfully. “You’re engaged to a part-Veela and your sister married a half-blood.”

“Why weren’t the Potters on the Sacred Twenty-Eight?” Bill asked curiously. “I thought James was a Pure-blood.”

“What on Earth are you talking about?” Harry asked looking between his dad and brother-in-law.

“Some Pure-blood fanatic, probably Cantankerous Nott, published a Pure-blood Directory so that you could maintain a ‘pure’ blood line. Not to mention to make sure that you didn’t marry too close to your own bloodline,” Sirius explained. “There were a few Pure-blood families that didn’t make the list — the Potters, Princes, and Crabbes to name a few. My father swore that meant they had ‘mixed with Muggles’, but I think Nott didn’t like them. The Potters were one of the richest wizarding families and I know old Nott was upset that your grandfather married Celestina rather than his daughter. I think he didn’t include the Potters thinking it would be an embarrassment to them. Obviously, it wasn’t. James could have cared less about the stupid list.”

“Who keeps track of these things?” Harry asked in amazement.

“My mother was obsessed with lineage,” Sirius explained. “She knew whose claim of being a Pure-blood was questionable and whose was not. She and Druella worked very hard on that dreadful family tree. She wanted to expand it, but my father wouldn’t pay for another tapestry to be made. Regulus was betrothed to one of the Longbottom cousins, I can’t remember which one, but my mum researched the poor girl and practically interrogated her before agreeing to the betrothal.”

“One of Neville’s family?” Harry asked in surprise.

“I think they are distantly related,” Sirius said. “One branch of the Longbottom family was aligned with the Dark families, but they were wiped out in the first war.”

“As interesting as this is, we need to focus on Malfoy Manor,” Carys said forcefully.

Harry flushed. “Sorry.”

Acknowledging his apology, Carys continued, “Dobby might have more information about the spells and charms used to defend the Manor than he realizes. Sirius, ask him specifically about the protocol for guests. It concerns me that the gate senses the Dark Mark. I don’t know how we will get around that requirement.”

“I’m not certain about that either, but I think we will have to bring down all the defences as once,” Bill said as he waved a wand and brought up a scaled down replica of Malfoy Manor in front of him. “I don’t want us to be fighting defences while we are fighting Voldemort and his Death Eaters. The way the defences are set up, they are meant to be triggered one after another. If we can trip them all at once and neutralize them, we can catch them off guard.”

“Of course triggering them all at once will be much more dangerous,” Ginny spoke up.

“Ginny, where did you get in?” Bill asked looking down at the model.

“There,” Ginny pointed to the courtyard. “The Portkey landed me in the courtyard. I was able to enter the house without difficulty. I presume they selected the courtyard as the entrance is near the ballroom. That is where Tom seemed to be holding court.”

Bill touched the model and the view switched to the interior of the house. Dobby had been essential in mapping out the inside of Malfoy Manor. “I wonder if they’ve added any new charms or spells since you broke Harry out.”

“Dobby has offered to attempt to contact one of his cousins who still works at the Manor,” Sirius said uncomfortably, “but I am hesitant to do so as he could easily be captured and/or killed. I know Lucius treats his elves horribly and I don’t want Dobby to lose his life if we can gain the information in another way.”

“Let’s set aside the issue of new charms or wards,” Carys suggested.

Sirius nodded. “The latest estimates are that Voldemort has three hundred and fifty Death Eaters at his disposal plus another one hundred ‘Dark Creatures’. Remus estimates that he’s recruited almost fifty werewolves, but he’s not made any inroads with the goblins or vampires. He has the Dementors and we should assume that he will be able to rally some trolls, Giants, banshees, Acromantulas, and a variety of snakes.”

“I really hope he doesn’t have another Basilisk hanging around,” Harry said with a shudder.

“I hadn’t even thought of that,” Ginny said. “Would he be able to make one?”

“He could,” Sirius said, “but I don’t know if he would. Supposedly it takes years for a Basilisk to mature and he doesn’t have that kind of time.”

“That’s a relief. What about other creatures?” Carys asked. “Would he let loose Manticores or cockatrices?”

“I don’t think so,” Ginny said firmly. “He might consider a Basilisk because he can control snakes, but I don’t think he would want to rely on an animal he can’t control.”

“Good point,” Sirius agreed. “I don’t think he’d risk relying on a beast master. He likes being in complete control.”

“It looks like he still has plenty of creatures he can rely upon,” Harry said. He glanced at Sirius. “How many do you think we can mobilize?”

“We have at least three hundred members of the Order and Aurors,” Sirius replied. “Emma thinks we can mobilize another one hundred to one hundred and fifty Muggle operatives. The problem is that not all of the Order and some of the Muggles have not been trained in combat. Emma and Kingsley are working together to knock up a training course to make sure that we don’t Portkey people in only to get them killed. If they have a fighting chance that’s one thing, but if they are just going to freeze they will be killed.”

“Will we get this training?” Harry asked gesturing between him and his wife.

Sirius nodded. “Unfortunately, you have to be there. We can’t avoid that so, yes, I most certainly want the two of you involved in the training. I’m fairly confident in your skills, but I’d like to give you every advantage I can.”



“Where are we?” Neville asked Ron as they arrived near a stable via Portkey.

Ron shrugged as he looked around. They were out in the country somewhere. He could see mountains in the distance, covered with trees. They appeared to be in a bit of a valley.

Before Ron could say anything a familiar voice called out, “Over here, gentlemen.”

The pair followed Professor McGonagall’s instructions and found themselves in a paddock surrounded by many of their classmates and former classmates. Behind them was a long stable block that appeared to be made of both wood and stone. There was no tell-tale scent of animals so Neville supposed it no longer housed them. The large paddock was surrounded by a low fence and in the distance a there was a large stone house.

As they found a spot near the fence, Neville spotted many of their fellow Gryffindors — Seamus, Dean, Hermione, Lavender, and Parvati as well as students from both Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. He recognized some of the former members of the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw Quidditch teams and others he vaguely recognized, but didn’t think he could name. Most of the DA was present and Neville had to admit he felt proud to be part of the group. Blushing slightly, he waved to Hannah and Susan while he noticed Ron doing the same to Hermione who was making her way over to them.

Professor McGonagall stepped up on a platform in front of the stable block and immediately commanded everyone’s attention. “Thank you all for coming out here today. Everyone here has been approached because of their commitment to defeating Voldemort. In recent months, there have been many changes in our world. While some of these have been devastating, others have provided an opportunity to defeat Voldemort and his followers.”

Neville dimly heard several people gasp, but they quickly fell silent. Professor McGonagall continued, “You have all been invited here to train and work with the teams that will defeat him. This is by no means mandatory, this is war — we will lose friends and family. Before we proceed, I must impress upon you the utmost need for secrecy. You will be asked to swear an oath not to assist Voldemort or any of his Death Eaters. Once you have sworn your oath, you will be checked for the Dark Mark. We have several projects on-going and we will try to put you where you will do the most good.

“If you don’t believe you can make a commitment to this endeavour, you may leave and no one will think less of you. If that is what you choose, go see Mr Lupin. He will remove the knowledge of this plan before you leave.”

There were a few minutes of silence before a handful of people made their way to the edge of the paddock, seven people in all. After a short conversation with Remus, they Apparated away one by one. When no one else came forward, Professor McGonagall nodded approvingly.

“Welcome to the new incarnation of Dumbledore’s Army. Follow me, please,” she said as she led them into the stable block. Any evidence of the structure’s original purpose were long gone. As they entered the building, there was a large table with several witches and wizards sitting behind it. “Step up to the table and give your name. You will see lists of areas in which we need help — research in Ancient Runes and Arithmancy, Potions and Healing, and Magical Beasts. If you don’t have an expertise in a specific area, you will be trained in fighting.”




Sirius made his rounds of the groups in the stable block. It was the third day of intensive training and to Sirius’ surprise everything was going well. Harry and Ginny were due to join them the next day. They’d been working with Kingsley and Professor McGonagall on advanced fighting skills. He glanced over to the front of the largest group where Emma, Tonks, and Hestia were working with the students on tactics and fighting.

His gaze lingered on the pretty blond for a moment. Two nights before he and Harry had taken Ginny and Emma to the cinema together and the four of them had a lot of fun together. He recalled the conversation he’d had with Harry on the night of their double date.

The girls had been walking in front of them giggling about the movie they’d just seen, Titanic. While the girls were swooning over how cute the lead actor was and how romantic the story had been, Sirius glanced over at Harry who was smiling as he watched his wife.

Realizing his father was looking at him, he looked over and grinned. “What do you think, Dad? Was it a romantic movie?”

Sirius rolled his eyes. “It was interesting. Did I hear someone say that the ship really did sink?”

Harry nodded. “The main characters were made up, but the rest of it is supposed to be fairly accurate. It’s sad when you think of how magic might have helped them.”

“Anytime there is a major disaster in the Muggle world, there is always a debate on whether or not we should have intervened,” Sirius said thoughtfully. His gaze lingered on Emma who looked wonderful in her tight Muggle jeans and soft, blue jumper.

“You like her, don’t you?”

Sirius’ eyes flew to his son’s. An automatic denial died on his lips. “She’s a lot of fun,” he hedged. He shrugged. “I don’t know that this is really the right time to start anything.”

“There’s never a ‘right time’,” Harry disagreed. “I’m sure there are people who would say that Ginny and I didn’t choose the ‘right time’ to fall in love and get married, but I disagree.”

“I just don’t know that I could really put the energy into a relationship that I should,” Sirius admitted. “We need to concentrate on getting rid of Voldemort before we worry about our life afterwards.”

“Well, I want to go on record as saying it would be a great idea,” Harry laughed. “I think she’s fun and she’s good for you.”


Emma must have felt his gaze for she looked up and winked before returning her attention to the group in front of her. Sirius grinned before moving into the room to assess the fighting group. This was by far the largest group as everyone had to rotate through to brush up on their duelling skills. The group was further divided into smaller groups, each one working on different skills. Sirius could see they had basically divided into beginner, intermediate, and advanced fighters. Hestia was working with the beginner group while Tonks was circulating between the intermediate and advanced fighters.

Ron and Neville were paired up in the intermediate group working on cutting and blasting spells. Each pair had a small training circle spelled so no spells would escape from the circle. As Sirius watched, Ron got through Neville’s shield and hit him with a Cutting Curse. Tonks had cast a training spell on all of the wands so there would be no serious injuries, but each curse that hit would light up on the person being hit.

“Good job, Ron,” Sirius said as he helped Neville to his feet. “How’s it going?”

“Really well,” Ron said enthusiastically. “Tonks is brilliant. I’ve learned so much from her.” He glanced over at the beginning group. “We’re really lucky that we had Harry as our first teacher. That group didn’t and they aren’t having as easy a time of it.”

Neville nodded in agreement. “I remember a lot more than I thought I would.”

“You’re doing really well,” Ron said encouragingly.

Neville made a face. “I think working with my own wand helps.”

“Don’t sell yourself short,” Sirius advised. “These are skills that you need to practice. Your strengths are in growing and nurturing plants. It is a totally different skill set.” Looking over the group, he commented, “I only see one twin…working with Lee.”

Without even looking over, Ron nodded. “George. Fred is working with the Potions’ group.”

“Potions?” Neville and Sirius exclaimed together.

Ron laughed. “Surprising, isn’t it? A lot of their wheezes are potion based. Fred has always been really good at Potions. I think if he’d had a professor other than Snape, he’d have done really well.”

Sirius pulled his wand. “Let’s see how you boys can do two on one.”

After a quick whispered huddle, Ron and Neville faced Sirius who was holding his wand loosely at his side. Ron went on the offensive with a combination of cutting and blasting charms while Neville provided shielding for the two of them. It forced Sirius to defend himself rather than go on the offensive, but he dodged well and was only hit with two cutting curses. Neither curse would have incapacitated him so he kept fighting. He moved quickly around the circle, putting both boys on the move. “Glisseo!”

The circle was now slick as an ice rink. Neville slid and almost took out Ron who managed to stay upright by the inventive use of a gripping charm. He reached down to help Neville up and that gave Sirius his opening.

“Locomotor Mortis!” Sirius yelled. As the two boys fell, he silently cast a Cushioning Charm.

“Finite Incantatem,” Sirius said cancelling both the Slippery Charm as well as the Leg-Locker Curse. He gestured both boys to sit on the boxes that were scattered around the room. “What do you think happened?”

“I think we were overconfident,” Ron said ruefully. “I think because we were two on one we thought we’d have the advantage.”

Sirius nodded. “You usually don’t have the advantage of knowing who you are fighting when you are fighting Death Eaters. You could be fighting a brand new Death Eater or you could be facing Lucius or Bellatrix, both of whom are very formidable fighters.”

“I wasn’t expecting you to change the surface,” Neville said.

“It is very important to keep your eyes on your environment. Anything can be used as a weapon,” Sirius explained.

“A Freezing Charm would work as well,” Ron said thoughtfully. He looked up at Sirius. “What else can you do?”

Sirius grinned. “Starting tomorrow, Minerva will be working with all of you on the use of transfiguration and its use in combat.”

Ron’s eyebrows raised. “Transfiguration? How does that work?”

Sirius looked over at Neville. “Any ideas?”

“You could use something solid as a shield,” Neville said tentatively.

“Exactly,” Sirius said approvingly. Standing, he gestured for Neville to do the same. “Send a spell at me — any spell.”

Neville sent a Babbling charm at Sirius, but it was deflected off of the box that Sirius had transfigured into a solid looking stone. “You can summon objects, transfigure them, or even conjure them, but you need to be able to do it rapidly.”

Frowning Ron said, “So if you had cover, you might be able to conjure something or change the terrain to your benefit.”

“Yes,” Sirius said proudly. “Tomorrow we will be starting the day with an exhibition fight to give everyone a better idea of what they might be facing. You’ll probably see more of that type of thing.”

Feeling a bit more confident, Ron and Neville went back to practicing and Sirius continued to walk among the students offering suggestions and praise. He made his way up to the front of the room where Emma and Tonks were watching the group. Hestia was still working with the beginning group.

“What do you think?” Tonks asked.

“Overall they’ve improved dramatically in the past few days,” Sirius said as he watched Oliver Wood evaded a curse and managed to put down his opponent. “Those who are moving around are doing much better.”

Tonks nodded. “Hermione was in here this morning. She has a wide knowledge of spells, but it takes her a while to decide what to cast and she tends to stand in one place. The more athletic are doing better.”

“That’s not surprising,” Emma spoke up. “I’ve noticed the same in the Muggle world. When people first learn to shoot, it is like they forget they can move as well. It takes a while to be able to integrate the two.”

Sirius nodded. “James’s father would cast stinging spells at us to get us to move. It worked — his stinging spells were powerful.”

“James?” Emma asked curiously.

“Harry’s father,” Sirius said easily. “He was my best friend. His father, Michael, was an excellent dueller. He competed on the duelling circuit when he was younger and he helped train me and James.” He grinned. “I used the same concept on Harry and Ginny.”

“They’re both very graceful,” Tonks commented. “They probably picked it up easily.”

“Are we all set for the exhibition tomorrow?” Sirius asked.

“Yes, it will be out in the barnyard,” Emma explained.

“I talked to Kingsley earlier, but I wanted to let you know that Oliver came up with the idea of having a flying group. He’s been working with some of the better fliers to develop some strategies,” Tonks said.

“Excellent,” Sirius smiled. “It sounds like things are coming along well.”

After watching for a few more minutes he made his way into the next section. The group in there was examining the model of Malfoy Manor with Bill. The walls of the stable block were covered with drawings of different runes. There was a bookcase for reference books, although most of the books were on the table being flipped through by a witch or wizard. Hermione was working in this group. Sirius bit back a grin; she was definitely in her element. Bill had told him that Hermione and another student, Justin, were both very gifted in Runes. In addition to Bill, they were working with a Rune expert from Ministry, Jemima, in an attempt to discover a way to overcome the defences at Malfoy Manor.

Sirius walked to the back wall and looked at the drawings. Bill looked up. “I think we’ve identified that rune that got me.”

“Really?” Sirius walked over to peer over Bill’s shoulder.

“It’s an older combination of the blocking rune, Isa, with the traditional protection rune, Algiz,” Bill explained as he pointed out the elements of the two runes. “Hermione and Jemima discovered that this was a more traditional combination in the Tudor era.”

“Excellent,” Sirius said smiling at the two women. “Do you have a way to counteract it?”

“We are working on it,” Jemima said. “These kids have some really good ideas.”

Pleased with the progress, Sirius made his way to the far end of the stable block where Hagrid, Remus, and Charlie were working. They were the Dark Creatures group — the students were learning how to combat the most common types of Dark creatures. Remus was teaching them to combat vampires, werewolves, and banshees while Hagrid was teaching them to handle serpents and Acromantulas.

They weren’t sure how many or what type of Dark creatures Voldemort had managed to recruit, but they didn’t want anyone caught unaware without the knowledge of how to defeat one of them. Charlie was teaching them to conjure silver daggers to combat werewolves, wooden stakes for both vampires and banshees, and magically enhanced earmuffs to protect them against the shriek of the banshee.
Charlie had also recruited several dragon handlers from both the Romanian reserve and the preserve in Wales. He’d even managed to convince Freya MacFusty to assist them. Freya was one of the clan MacFusty, the wizarding family who was in charge of looking after the Hebridean Black dragons that lived on the Outer Hebrides. They hoped that if Voldemort used any dragons, the handlers would be able to take care of them.

“Sirius,” Charlie called the older man over. “Freya heard rumours about wizards looking for the Isle of Drear.”

Sirius looked over at Freya in dismay. She nodded. “I had a letter from my dad. A group of wizards came to visit the reserve and were asking about the Isle of Drear. They were asking if we ever saw any quintapeds on the reserve.”

“Damn! Do you think they might be able to find any?” Sirius asked.

Freya shrugged. “Unfortunately, there are always those who search for quintapeds. Sometimes it’s young wizards trying to prove they
can do it, but Dad said these wizards were older. The island is Unplottable, but you can still find it if you try. My brothers keep an eye out and they haven’t seen anyone landing on the island.”

“Could they Apparate directly onto the island?” Sirius asked.

“I don’t think so,” she replied. “I’ve never seen the island myself, but my brothers have told me the old stories. There are a few man-made structures on the island. If you know what you are looking for and have a general idea of the whereabouts you can see them. Could you try to Apparate there? Probably, but the structures are in the centre of the quintaped territory. I imagine anyone there would be attacked immediately. Fools who try to capture quintapeds usually arrived by boat and set traps on the beaches, any further inland and it is too dangerous.”

“I hope they don’t succeed,” Sirius said. Leaving the barn, he headed up to the house.

“How are they looking?” Carys asked when he entered the kitchen.

“Really good,” Sirius replied. “I’m very pleased with how well things are going.”

“Me as well,” she agreed. “I was working in the Potions’ lab this morning. We have quite a stock of antidotes to some of the poisons we know the Death Eaters most commonly use as well as some basic healing potions.”

“Did Poppy make it over?”

“She did,” Carys smiled as she set a mug of tea down in front of Sirius. “I like her.”

“She’s been a great friend to the three of us.”

“She’s very fond of Harry and Ginny.” Carys laughed. “She’s recruited Professor Slughorn to help make potions.”

“Is he here?”

“No, Minerva doesn’t entirely trust him so she’s asked that he’s kept at arm’s length,” Carys explained. “He’s at Hogwarts and Poppy is bringing the potions here.”

“I can understand that,” Sirius sighed as he thought about Snape’s betrayal. “I never really liked the way Slughorn picked favourites. He wasn’t as biased towards Slytherin as Snape was, but he definitely favoured those who were well connected or did well in Potions.”

“Poppy worked with Hagrid and Charlie to make sure we have anti-venom for any poisonous magical animals we might run up against,” Carys told him. “Emma has been working with her group within the Ministry to compile a comprehensive list of the zoos and other wildlife organizations that have access to large amounts of snake anti-venom just in case.”

Sirius nodded. “That’s a good idea. I looked at the pictures of the snake dens he’s created. He has a few non-venomous snakes — I spotted a few grass snakes and even some smooth snakes, which are rather rare, but a majority of his snakes are venomous or constrictors. I saw both green and black mambas, several varieties of cobras, rattlesnakes — I can’t even name all of the types of snakes I saw. I’d hate to think what might happen if they are let loose.”

“I wonder if there’s a way to warn those in the village.” Carys mused.

Frowning Sirius shook his head after thinking it over. “I don’t think so. If we report a bunch of poisonous snakes, they will want to investigate. If Muggles approach Malfoy Manor they won’t leave.”

“Very true,” Carys sighed. “I just wish there was a way to ensure that no more Muggles are killed in this crazy war.”

“Is there a way we can put tracking spells on the snakes?” Sirius asked, thinking aloud. “If we could apply them as we enter, we could make sure we know where they all are once it’s over.” Glancing over at Carys, he asked, “Didn’t I hear something about a flying group?”

She nodded. “Someone called Madam Hooch is putting it together. Oliver Wood is the lead flyer.”

“I believe he was Harry’s first Quidditch captain,” Sirius said thoughtfully. “I think he was recruited to play professionally. If we can have them blanket the dens with tracking charms, that way we can at least round them up afterwards.”

“We might as well have them add containment spells as well. I can’t imagine they would hold if Voldemort wants to let them loose, but it can’t hurt,” Carys commented as she made notes on a parchment.

“Are Harry and Ginny going to be back tonight?” she asked.

Sirius nodded. The Potters had been undergoing intensive training with Kingsley and Professor McGonagall while Dumbledore’s Army had been undergoing training at Carys’ farm. “They will be participating in the mock battle tomorrow morning.”




Walking up behind his wife as she looked out the window, Harry wrapped his arms around her and kissed her on the side of the head. “Good morning, beautiful.”

She glanced back at him. “Good morning.”

“Have you seen anyone?” he asked as he looked out over the snow covered barnyard of Carys’ country home.

She shook her head. “Not yet. Carys said they weren’t due for a while yet.” Turning around in his arms, she wrapped her arms around his neck. He laced his fingers behind her back as he leaned down to kiss her. As always when Ginny was in his arms, he lost track of his surroundings.

“Good morning,” an amused voice came from behind them.

Harry reluctantly broke the kiss and lifted his head to see his dad leaning against the doorframe. “It was a better morning before you interrupted us. Do you always have to do that?”

Sirius laughed. “Come on, kids. Let’s get some breakfast.”

The three made their way down to the kitchen where Carys had breakfast waiting for them. She smiled as they sat down. Harry helped himself to porridge and toast while Ginny and Sirius both chose eggs.

After she finished her eggs, Ginny asked Carys, “How has the training been going?”

“Very well,” Carys replied with a smile. “Your friend, Hermione, is very clever. She and a young man called Justin have been invaluable in working with the Runes. Your brother, Fred, is brilliant at Potions. He has been working with the Potions’ group on healing potions as well as antidotes to common poisons.”

“Really?” Harry was surprised. He’d never really imagined the twins as very scholarly.

Ginny however was unsurprised. “He’s always been interested in Potions. They are the basis for a lot of their products. Of course with Snape they didn’t have great marks in Potions, but Fred has always experimented on his own.”

“They were showing me some of their products,” Sirius said, “They are brilliant. That Portable Swamp — Emma wants to use them. She’s been working with George on some…what were they called?” he asked Carys.

“Flashbangs,” Carys replied. “They are small hand held, explosive devices that are designed to make a loud noise and flash a bright light to disorient people. George thought it could add Stunners as well as the noise and bright flashing lights.”

“That would be great,” Ginny said approvingly. “How is everyone else working out?”

“I know that you two haven’t liked staying out of the training,” Carys began, “but I think it was the right thing to do. You are more advanced than your friends and I think you would have caused a big distraction on the first day. Now that they’ve become more accustomed to what we want them to do, I think you won’t cause as big a distraction. Your friend, Neville, has asked about you.”

“How’s he been doing?” Harry asked interestedly.

“Really well, he’s amazing with plants,” Carys said. “He examined the photos we have and identified some plants being used in the defence of the manor. He and a young lady, Hannah, have been working on ways to get past them.”

Sirius added, “Charlie and Hagrid have been working with some of the others on the animals we know they have at the manor. Remus has been making sure that everyone can cast the Patronus Charm and Tonks and Emma have been working on general fighting skills. They are all very pleased with the way things are going. Everyone has been working hard and have honestly come up with some brilliant ideas.”




Ron settled into his seat in the temporary stands that had been erected in the barnyard for the DA to watch the exhibition. Neville was on one side and Hermione on the other. The stands were full and everyone was in high spirits. The snow had been melted and charms had been cast to create some sort of courtyard in the centre of the barnyard. The walls surrounding the courtyard were made of grey stone. Ron realized uneasily that there were gargoyles on top of the walls. Two of the walls obviously represented the manor with French doors leading out into the courtyard. One of the walls was a low stone wall will an opening that led to a covered walkway of stone arches. The last ‘wall’ was actually a tall hedgerow that appeared to lead to a maze. Inside the courtyard, there were several decorative statutes surrounding a central fountain.

“I wonder what this is supposed to represent,” Hermione murmured as she looked around.

“It looks like a manor house,” Neville spoke up. “I don’t see a crest, but they may have left it off purposefully.”

“A crest?” Hermione asked curiously.

“Usually families will have their family crest displayed prominently at their manor house,” Neville explained. “Especially in older homes. This style of house would most likely have the family crest displayed.”

Before they could continue their conversation, Sirius walked out into the middle of the courtyard. Casting a Sonorus Spell, he announced, “Thank you everyone for coming. I want to reassure you that shielding has been placed so no spells will connect with the audience. At different points in time you might see different Dark creatures, please be assured they are not real, but here for demonstration purposes. We have chosen to have our ‘Death Eaters’ in traditional ‘Death Eater’ garb. Our fighters, the resistance, will be wearing grey and they will be hooded as well. Please take note of the tactics and spell work used by both sides. The training spells that you have been duelling with all week are still in use. You might see our ‘Death Eaters’ using Unforgivables for the sake of realism, but they will not injure or kill anyone.”

Low murmuring broke out as Sirius made his way out of the courtyard, but soon silence fell as they waited for something to happen. They didn’t have to wait long. A group clad in grey started sneaking in the courtyard from the covered walkway. As soon as they entered the courtyard itself, an alarm seemed to have sounded because several Death Eaters appeared at the French Doors and the gargoyles seemed to have awakened.

The Death Eaters launched the first spells, lobbing several cutting and blasting curses towards the resistance fighters who immediately spread out so as not to provide such an inviting target. Two gargoyles landed in front of some of the resistance fighters and one went down even while the others concentrated on stopping the creatures.

“How are they stopping the gargoyles?” Ron murmured.

“I think a Reductor Curse,” Hermione said as she watched the action.

One of the resistance leaders, a tall figure, led several others in a direct fight with the Death Eaters. Hermione gasped at the speed of the spell casting. Members of both groups were ducking and weaving to get out of the way of incoming spells. Three Death Eaters fell as well as another resistance member.

The heart stopping cry of ‘Avada Kedavra’ was heard. Ron watched as the green spell sped on its way to its target. Instead of hitting someone, one of the statues was summoned and took the brunt of the spell.

Ron’s eyes widened. This is what Sirius had been talking about the other day. Over the course of the battle, he saw several instances of Transfiguration being used creatively. A sheet of ice appeared over the steps from the house causing several Death Eaters to fall and they hit a row a sharp spikes that had been conjured up. Two of the statues came to life and started defending the house.

One of them pushed a resistance member into a vine cover wall. The vine reached out and grabbed the person. Neville groaned. “Devil’s Snare.”

Another resistance member quickly cast, “Incendio,” releasing their companion. The statue was quickly demolished with another well placed Reductor Curse.

With a loud roar, two werewolves emerged from the maze to join the fight. One resistance member fell to the beasts, but two others turned and yelled, “Argenteum Sica!”

Silver daggers brought down the werewolves. A lone figure made its way out of the manor house and was using the shadows to hide its approach. It took down two resistance members before another member conjured up a wooden stake and drove it into the vampire’s heart.

“Are they using martial arts?” Hermione asked in astonishment as she watched two of the resistance members bring down several Death Eaters by non-magical means.

Ron shrugged at the unfamiliar term. “I’ve never seen fighting like that before.”

As many of the fighters on both sides were injured, the fighting grew more fierce. One of the resistance members conjured spikes and small daggers that were then thrown at the Death Eaters. While the Death Eater managed to dodge the spikes, several of the daggers found their mark. They vanished afterwards.

In the end, there were three Death Eaters and two resistance members left fighting. The spell work flying back and forth was almost impossible to follow. All of the fighters were using the environment to shield themselves, but also using anything at hand as a weapon. The two resistance members were working together in an attempt to force the Death Eaters into the centre of the courtyard.

As the Death Eaters neared the centre, the fountain suddenly came to life and started swirling around the Death Eaters like a cyclone.

“How are they doing that?” Neville asked in wonder.

“I have no idea,” Hermione said.

Ron glanced over at her. He could see her itching to go research how this was possible. One of the things that he admired about her was her enthusiasm for learning. While he didn’t share that interest, he liked how she was interested in just about everything and wanted to learn as much as she could. With difficulty he tore his attention away from her and back to the fight.

The water cyclone served to disorient the Death Eaters and the resistance members were able to Disarm them. The tall resistance member discontinued the cyclone and a bell sounded. Sirius’ voice called out, “Exercise over.”

The fallen Death Eaters and resistance members pulled themselves up. It was disconcerting to see laughing Death Eaters pulling off their masks to reveal themselves as Order members. Ron wasn’t overly surprised to see his brother Bill was one of the Death Eaters. Fleur and Remus were also Death Eaters while Tonks and Kingsley were revealed as resistance members. The biggest surprise was when two the last resistance members pushed back their hoods and revealed themselves as Harry and Ginny.




“Harry!” Neville bounded over to his former roommate, closely followed by Seamus and Dean.

Harry embraced his friends as Ginny was similarly greeted by her former Quidditch teammates. Professor McGonagall had not invited anyone under the age of seventeen, so only a few of Ginny’s classmates were there.

“Harry, I don’t think I would have recognized you,” Seamus said.

Harry laughed easily. “Thanks.”

“You’ve been working out,” Lavender said admiringly.

Harry blushed under the combined gaze of Lavender and Parvati.

“Is it true the two of you are married?” Lavender asked looking between Harry and Ginny.

“Yes,” Harry said proudly as he pulled Ginny close to him. “We’ve been married for a little over four months now.”

Ginny proudly displayed her engagement and wedding rings. She was immediately surrounded by the other Gryffindor girls. Harry watched in bemusement as she was swept away.

Bill came up behind him. “Great job, Harry! That water cyclone was amazing.”

“Thanks,” Harry said a touch shyly.

“Did Professor McGonagall teach you that?” the older wizard asked.

Harry nodded. “She’s brilliant. We really learned a lot. I mean I always knew she was a good teacher, but one-on-one she taught us so much.”

Hermione, who had stayed behind with Harry and Ron, perked up. “You had one-on-one lessons with Professor McGonagall?”

“Yes, while you lot have been here, me and Ginny have had lessons with Professor McGonagall and Kingsley,” Harry said.

“Ginny and I,” Hermione corrected automatically.

Harry laughed. “Sorry, Ginny and I were receiving lessons with Professor McGonagall and Kingsley.”

The display of the manor house had disappeared and in its place Carys set up a table of refreshments. Harry made his way over to the table and grabbed a bottle of water.

“Great job, son.”

Turning, Harry saw a smiling Sirius. “Thanks, Dad.”

“Are you ready for the evaluation?” Sirius asked.

Harry nodded. He grabbed another bottle of water for Ginny who was still surrounded by the Gryffindor girls.

A whistle split through the talking and laughter. “Everyone grab something to drink and head into the stable block. We will be reviewing the battle and strategies used.”




Harry looked out over the crowded room. He knew most of the people there, but this was a bit different from the DA. It seemed like a lifetime ago that he’d taught some of the people there. He looked over at Ginny a bit nervously; he hadn’t realized how many people had been involved in this training. Many of the people there were older than him, how on earth could he have anything to teach them?

Sirius clapped his hand on his son’s shoulder. “Don’t worry about it.”

Startled Harry looked up. “How did you know what I was thinking?”

“It was written on your face,” Sirius said with a smile. “Don’t worry. You have more advanced training than most of the people in this room. Not to mention the fact that you have more real life experience in fighting Death Eaters than most of these people.”

“But some of them are a lot older than me,” Harry said. “Why would they listen to me?”

Ginny joined them and slipped her arm around Harry’s waist. “Everything okay?”

“Your husband is having a bit of a crisis of confidence,” Sirius explained. Looking back at Harry, he said, “Harry, they may be older than you, but they don’t have your training or your destiny.”

“Don’t forget how many horrid defence professors there have been,” Ginny chimed in. “Most people haven’t had consistent defence training.”

“Fred and George were telling me about their defence line,” Sirius said, “they mentioned how they had more orders than they thought because so many Ministry workers couldn’t cast a simple Shield Charm.”

Harry looked a bit doubtful, but as he looked out into the audience he saw Ron and Hermione looking at him proudly. He took a bit of confidence from their faith in him. It was a bit humbling to be sure.

Everyone took a seat and Sirius began the meeting. “First I’d like to thank all of our participants — both Death Eaters and Resistance.”

A wave of applause rang around the room. Sirius waited for it to die down before continuing.

“As many of you may have surmised, we modelled our fight on the actual courtyard of one of the homes we believe Voldemort might be using as a headquarters. No, I’m not going to say whose house it is, but I’m sure many of you can guess who it might belong to. We will give you more information once we are certain of our intelligence.”

“I bet its Malfoy’s,” Ron whispered. Hermione quickly shushed him as Sirius kept on talking.

“We included some of the Dark Creatures that you’ve been learning to defeat. We honestly don’t know how many or what type we might run into.” Sirius looked out over the crowd. “Yes, Hermione?”

“Won’t we be able to avoid werewolves by avoiding the full moon?” she asked.

“It is possible,” Sirius acknowledged, “but we might not be able to choose the date of the fight. Additionally, there are some werewolves who attack humans even if they are not transformed. One of Voldemort’s followers, Fenrir Greyback will attack and bite people no matter the cycle of the moon. Even if he’s not changed at the time, he can still inflict quite a bit of damage.”

Looking a bit unsettled at what she’d heard, Hermione settled back into her chair.

“What are some of the things you noticed about the fight?” Sirius asked the group at large.

There was silence at first, but after a moment people started talking.

“How fast they were.”

“The number of different spells they used.”

“The soundless casting.”

“How they could move out of the way of the spells.”

“That water cyclone was cool!”

Sirius smiled at the last comment. He cast a spell that went through the fight, bit by bit. To his surprise, Ron found himself taking notes as Sirius reviewed the tactics and spells involved. Everyone involved in the battle participated in the discussion and occasionally demonstrated spells they had used and Sirius entertained all questions. Emma was at the front of the room taking notes.

“We will also have a flying group,” Sirius said. He nodded to Oliver who stood up. “We have a group of people who are comfortable flying and casting spells at the same time. If there is anyone else who is interested in participating, let me know.”

“I’m glad to see that everyone is taking this so seriously. I was hoping you would notice some of the things you have commented upon. While all of you have improved dramatically in your spell casting, as you can see there is always room for improvement. We’ve spoken to you this week about being mobile and dodging spells, but I think this exercise has shown you how beneficial this can be.

“I would encourage all of you to participate in some sort of physical exercise. Walking, running, yoga, anything to keep you moving; if you don’t know how to get started please see one of us.”

Professor McGonagall spoke up, “I know that everyone here has been taught the concept of non-verbal spell casting. I would like for everyone to practice that skill. As you saw, your opponent not knowing what spell is coming provides an advantage. More powerful spells require the spell to be spoken, so we don’t believe that any of the Death Eaters are capable of casting any of the Unforgivables non-verbally.

“I want to stress that we don’t know the capability of all of the Death Eaters. Like our group, some are new and others are very experienced. Lord Voldemort is another matter.”

Harry had to supress a groan that some people were still reacting to his name. “People, he made up Lord Voldemort to make himself sound more powerful. He is a half-blood named Tom Riddle. Fearing his name only gives him power!”

“Well said, Mr Potter,” Professor McGonagall said. Looking out over their army, she continued, “As I was saying, Lord Voldemort is an
extremely powerful wizard. He has many years of experience on most of you. Do not engage him! We have a plan for taking care of him, but please stay clear of him.”

“Does anyone else have any questions?” Sirius asked. When no one spoke up, he said, “Okay, let’s break into our groups and get to work.”



Note: Argenteum Sica means silver dagger. I used it in 'Unintended Consequences'.
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