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SIYE Time:13:42 on 28th March 2024
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Love Enough for Both
By Manwe Valarian

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Category: Alternate Universe
Characters:All
Genres: General
Warnings: Death, Mild Language, Mild Sexual Situations
Story is Complete
Rating: PG-13
Reviews: 356
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?
Hitcount: Story Total: 214728; Chapter Total: 5835
Awards: View Trophy Room




Author's Notes:
I feel so ashamed Leif betaed this chapter in four days and I couldn't find time to submit it for over a week. Sorry!




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Albus Dumbledore removed the letter from the owl’s leg. The large Ministry owl flew off without waiting for a treat. Looking at the sender, Cornelius Fudge, he knew what he wanted. Fudge will want to make some sort of bluster about the escape from Azkaban to make it look like he was competent.

Opening the letter, he glanced over it. It was a simple letter requesting his presence at the Wizengamot in two hours. He would of course be there. He didn’t want to leave Cornelius and Lucius to do whatever they wanted without a fight. It bothered Albus that the request was for the Wizengamot and not his office, if he was just planning strategy. Hopefully, there wasn’t going to be some hasty trial. They didn’t need to start that practice again. It caused them enough grief in the last war.

Albus turned back to his desk and stared at the person sitting on the other side of it. Severus Snape was trying to avoid direct eye contact with Albus, without making it look that way. It was rather amusing to him. Albus kept his gaze on Severus while he sat down in his high back leather chair. He wasn’t going to use Leglimency on Severus.

If Severus can defy Voldemort’s attempt at Leglimency, than Albus doubted if he could crack through the same shields and there were other ways to determine if someone was lying.

“Did you know about the attack on Azkaban?” he asked Severus.

“Yes, I knew about it before,” he drawled impassively.

“Why didn’t you inform me about it?”

“You would have tried to stop it, exposing me to Voldemort,” Severus said back to him. “You have often said that I need to become one of Voldemort’s most trusted advisors, to do that he must first trust me. Trust isn’t an easy thing to gain from the Dark Lord.”

Albus sat back, removed his glasses, and pinched the bridge of his nose. Severus was right about gaining Voldemort’s trust, but there were limits to what he could allow Severus to keep from him. He needed to find out what Severus would divulge.

“You say you didn’t tell me about this attack because you needed to gain Voldemort’s trust. You also told me in the summer that you couldn’t inform me of an attack on the Burrow because it would have compromised your position. Tell me Severus, what would make you tell me what Voldemort is planning? Would it take an attack on the Ministry or Hogwarts? You will need to start revealing information and allow me to discern what is important enough for us to act upon.

“Even though I wouldn’t want the break out to happen, I would not have stopped it. You should have let me decide that.”

“Is this where you threaten me with going to Azkaban?” asked Severus calmly. “You told me earlier that I was expendable. Maybe it is time I think about what is best for me after the war is over. Do you really think you can win this war? I cannot see how that is possible. If you are placing all you confidence in Potter, you will fail. He is no match for the Dark Lord.

“The Dark Lord’s knowledge of magic has increased since his last demise,” said Severus with gritted teeth. He raised his left arm and allowed the sleeve to slide down his forearm revealing the Dark Mark. “He can sense his marked Death Eaters now. He has changed the spell slightly and he can tell when one of us is betraying him.”

Albus stared at the Dark Mark. He rubbed his chin as he thought about Severus’s claim. He couldn’t see how that was possible, but he supposed it could be done. If that is the case than Severus would be useless to him.

“How can he monitor all his Death Eaters at one time?” Albus asked Severus.

“I do not know, but I am also not willing to take the chance that he will find out.”

“Has he asked you about your plans to have me murdered?”

Severus cocked his head slightly to the side and stared at the Headmaster. “No!”

“Will you tell me about the plans, before you have me killed?”

Severus’s face twisted into a grimace as he stared at him. “I agreed to do that, but I haven’t been able to finalize a plan just yet.”

“Very well Severus, you may go, and please allow me a bit of warning when you plan to have me murdered by one of my own students,” Albus said indifferently.

He watched as Severus stood up and left his office. Albus didn’t know what to think right now. He looked over to a corner of the room and watched as the Potter family Invisibility cloak slid off Ginny Potter.

“He was lying to you almost the entire time, Headmaster,” said Ginny. “I don’t trust him completely.”

Albus stared straight forward not speaking. There seemed to be something a bit off about the way Severus was acting. He was pretty sure he was lying, but Ginny’s statement confirmed his suspicions. If he can no longer be trusted than he just became a major liability to the Order since he can enter Headquarters. He also had been given a Portkey

“Headmaster, he was lying about the Dark Mark,” said Ginny. “I don’t know why he was being deceitful concerning the Mark, but he wasn’t telling the entire truth. It might only be a slight lie, but it was still a lie.”

“I thought he was being dodgy,” said Albus with a sigh. He truly hoped that Severus would have remained loyal to him. “He can enter Headquarters and also he has a Portkey to our emergency location.”

“The Portkey isn’t a problem. He told Harry that the Death Eaters could force him to take several of them to the location with the Portkey. Harry set the location to Egypt. We can easily move Headquarters, but should we let Severus know we are changing Headquarters? What about his assignment to arrange your murder? Were you being serious when you asked for a little warning to your murder?”

“I was speaking half in jest and all in earnest,” he said chuckling. “I suppose if we move the actual headquarters. We could still hold meetings at Grimmauld place. If we can’t trust Severus, we should start feeding him misinformation. I wonder how forgiving the Dark Lord will be when Severus tells him something that would end up being a trap.”

“How many people should we let know about what we are doing with Severus?” asked Ginny.

“You, Harry, Remus, Bill, Minerva, Sirius, and Alastor should be kept informed,” said Albus.

“What about Madam Bones?”

Albus stared at this young girl. She was so mature for her age, and she was correct. “Yes, we should tell Amelia. We shall call a meeting and rethink what our next move will be. I need to go to the Ministry. The Owl I received was from the Minister. He wants me to attend a meeting at the Wizengamot.”

Ginny nodded at his statement. “While you are gone, I will talk to Harry about preparing the Potter Manor for the new Headquarters.” She turned and walked out of his office.

[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]

Ron Weasley was busy eating when Hermione elbowed him in the ribs causing him to nearly choke on his eggs. He coughed and nearly coughed up eggs all over the table.

“Blimey, Hermione are you trying to kill me,” he said to her.

“If you wouldn’t eat so fast, you wouldn’t choke,” she said waspishly. She then jerked her head in a strange way several times.

“Is there something wrong with your neck?” he asked.

Hermione rolled her eyes and sighed. “You are so thick at times, Ronald.”

“Neville is there something wrong,” she said to Neville as she leaned past Ron.

Ron turned to look at his dorm mate. He was glaring at the front page of the Daily Prophet. His face was pale, but his brow was furrowed as he glared at the paper that was held in his clenched fists.

“Yeah, there is something, all those Death Eaters breaking out last night. That is the first time anyone has ever broken out of the prison,” Ron said to Neville.

Neville lifted his head and saw everyone was staring at him. He immediately balled up the paper and left the great hall.

“Are you going to talk to him?” asked Hermione.

“Why would I do that?”

“Because he is obviously distressed over the break out,” Hermione said in her overbearing tone of voice.

“He’s a bloke,” replied Ron. He stuffed a piece of toast in his mouth.

“You’re an idiot, but that doesn’t mean you can’t learn. Something is obviously upsetting him. Did he lose family in the last war to any of those Death Eaters?”

“I dun know,” he said with a mouth full of toast.

“Might I remind you that he has always supported and been a friend to you even last year,” she whispered in his ear.

He hated when she did that. Not only being right about something and making him feel guilty, but getting so close to him. He could feel his face get warm when she whispered in his ear. He swallowed his mouthful of toast and finished his goblet of pumpkin juice in one gulp before turning to Hermione. She was staring at him in disgust.

“Don’t you chew your food?”

“Not when I am interrupted,” he replied to her. “Let’s go find Neville.”

They walked out of the great hall. Ron turned to go up the stairs, but Hermione grabbed his arm and dragged him towards the doors leading outside.

“Why are we going outside?” he asked her.

“Because we are looking for Neville, and he will be going outside.”

“Why would he go there and not to his room?”

“Honestly Ronald, What is Neville’s favorite subject? It is Herbology. He is probably going out to the greenhouses,” Hermione lectured him as they opened the main doors.

Ron didn’t have time to respond to Hermione. They met Neville on the other side of the doors.

“Neville,” said Hermione brightly. Her condescending tone had vanished.

“I need to talk to you two,” Neville blurted out. He was standing there with the Daily Prophet crumpled up in his left hand. “I know you are getting extra training from your family Ron. I want to join you. I need extra training in defense.”

“Neville, you are pants at Defense,” replied Ron. Neville had problems with the simplest of spells.

“I don’t care I need training,” shouted Neville.

“There is no need to shout,” said a voice from behind them. Ron turned and saw Professor Lupin and Professor Black walking towards them. “Let us all go to Professor Weasley’s office and we can discuss this there,” said Lupin.

Professor Lupin then did something that seemed strange to Ron, he walked over to Neville and placed a hand on each of his shoulders. “How are you holding up Neville,” asked Professor Lupin gently. “I thought about you when I heard the news. If you ever need someone to talk to I am here. Your parents were wonderful people.”

“Thank you Professor,” said Neville with his face turning bright red.


[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]

Albus Dumbledore sat and listened to Cornelius Fudge rant about Amelia Bones for the past thirty minutes. He was blaming her for all the problems in the Ministry over the past year. After all that time, the Minister still hadn’t detailed any actual criminal intent in Amelia’s actions. Albus had enough.

“What are the exact charges against Madam Bones,” demanded Albus interrupting the Minister.

“That she is negligent in her duties and by doing so she has allowed this rash of escapes. I have been talking about that for the past thirty minutes, if you remember,” replied Cornelius sardonically. He and several others chuckled at his apparent slight at Albus’s memory.

“I remember you saying many things in the past thirty minutes Cornelius, but you never mentioned official charges. You have been talking about incompetence in the Ministry, which you are the Minister of, therefore it is your responsibility. As far as the breakout at Azkaban, you haven’t said how that happened. If you don’t know how that happened, than how can you accuse someone of criminal intent? If there is no criminal intent, then there can be no trial. If we are not here for a trial, then this is all a waste of our time, Cornelius. So please, present your case against Madam Bones, or allow all of us to get back to our regular duties.”

When Albus finished talking, he sat there and stared at Cornelius. The man looked as if his face would blow up like a puce colored balloon. His eyes were bulging and his mouth was moving but no words were coming out.

“I am the Minister of Magic,” he shouted at Albus.

“As the Minister you are bound to oversee the running of the Ministry and uphold the laws of this governing organization. I know this Minister, because I am the Supreme Mugwump of the Wizengamot and am charged with overseeing its polity and adherence to the laws it has created. As the Supreme Mugwump, I must insist that either you present formal charges or I will call this session to a close.

“If you still insist that Madam Bones is responsible for all of these beaches of security, it is within your powers as Minister of Magic to replace her as Head of Magical Law Enforcement. I personally find those accusations preposterous. It was proven that the previous breaches of security were in fact from the Magical Transportation Department, which Madam Bones does not oversee.

“This breakout last night at Azkaban is rather serious, but if we look back in the records of the Wizengamot we will find that five years ago Madam Bones and I suggested removing Dementors from Azkaban. You objected saying that they increased security at the prison. If my memory serves me correctly, the last human to stand guard at the prison goes off duty one hour before the breakout occurred. Is that correct?”

“Yes, you are correct Supreme Mugwump,” said Amelia.

“It appears that the Dementors were the ones that allowed the prisoners to escape. The same Dementors that you insisted stay at Azkaban against the advice of Madam Bones.”

Albus again stopped talking and stared at Fudge. The man was a pompous idiot. He was being manipulated by Malfoy and the Death Eaters and he didn’t even know it.

“The public will want answers to this latest breakout,” Cornelius shouted.

“Then tell them the truth. The Dementors allowed the prisoners to escape. You have people in the Ministry that can do that, but that is not the responsibility of the Wizengamot. If you have nothing else that requires the presence of this organization, than I believe we are done here.”

“No, I have nothing else,” said Fudge, as he sat back down.

“Good, let us follow proper procedures and have a motion to adjourn so I can go back to Hogwarts and see about increasing security.”

“I move that the meeting be closed,” said Amelia Bones. Several people chuckled at her speaking out so quickly.

“I second,” said a wizard from behind Albus.

“All in favor say aye,” he said to the Wizengamot He heard nearly everyone vote for adjournment. “Those opposed?” he called out. When no one voted against, he spoke again. “I call this session of the Wizengamot to a close. Madam Bones may I speak to you before I return to Hogwarts about increasing the security at the school?”

“Yes, Albus, I am going to my office now.”

[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]

Ginny sat and stared at Harry. He was sitting on their settee staring into the fireplace. She was beside him, but he barely acknowledged her presence. His eyes were bloodshot and there were dark circles under them. He looked as if he had aged ten years last night because he hadn’t slept at all. They had gone to bed at the same time and she had mentally reached out to comfort him as they both fell asleep. She was sure they had fallen asleep. Evidently he woke up without disturbing her.

She reached out and took his hand with hers. She tried to pour her comfort into him again to ease whatever it was that had him so upset. It didn’t matter what she did, he just sat their staring. He would still glance her way and give her a small smile. She was sure he even stared at her stomach for a second or two before turning back to stare at the fire.

“Are you going to tell me what is bothering you?” she asked her husband, after waiting fifteen minutes for a response.

“Just this mission we are on,” he said softly. “If we don’t defeat him quickly people are going to die.”

“I know, love. We are moving forward as quickly as we can. We have all the information we need to find his Horcruxes. We just need time to locate them and destroy them.”

Harry turned to look at her with a haunted look in his eyes. “Yeah, we need to do that,” he said rather morosely.

Ginny felt a chill run over her body; it wasn’t a feeling from Harry right now. It was his general attitude that scared her, and the secret she had been keeping from him.

“It will be difficult to destroy them if we are chasing his Death Eaters all over England to protect the innocent people from torture and death.” Harry had turned back towards the fire and spoke to her without looking at her.

“Harry didn’t you get any sleep last night?”

He didn’t respond immediately, but she could tell he heard her. His head drooped a little and he squeezed his eyes shut. He sat there for nearly a minute before replying.

“After you fell asleep, my headache came back. It wasn’t just a headache, I could hear him. I could hear Voldemort in my head and it was causing me pain. I had to use Occlumency to shut him out. It all started to add up. My headaches have always coincided with Voldemort’s activities. He must be able to enter my mind. The only way I can keep him out is to keep my mental wards up, but if I fall asleep, he can enter my mind. I can become a liability if he is able to extract the information from my mind that we have about his Horcruxes.”

Harry was nearly shaking with emotion. She could see he was frightened. He had figured it out that Voldemort was entering his mind and causing the severe headaches that he had been experiencing. He just had not figured out that Voldemort was able to do this because he was a Horcrux.

Ginny was at a loss to respond. She had no idea how to comfort him and get him to relax without telling him that she knew more about his situation than she had previously told him. If he thinks he is a Horcrux, then he might become reckless, or he may just give up the search and go into hiding. It was the one fear that she had because of his wealth and all the properties they owned. They could bounce around between estates and no one would ever be able to locate them. If Harry would ever decide to disappear and leave England to its own fate, no one could stop him, except her, and she couldn’t even blame him for doing that. The task they have is far too great for two teenagers.

The thought that they were teenagers made her smile. She may not know the best way to talk to him, but maybe if she could get him to smile he may relax and trust her.

“What are you smiling about?” he asked her.

She hadn’t been looking at him when thinking about them being teenagers, so his comments caught her by surprise. Maybe if she told him the truth.

“I was thinking about how impossible this task is that we have in front of us, especially since we are teenagers. Well, you are the teenager. I am still only twelve.” She stopped talking and stared at him. “And pregnant, not exactly model citizens are we. Whenever our child asks why they can’t date until sixteen when I was married and pregnant at twelve, it will be you responsibility to explain it.”

Harry raised his eyebrows at her before a smile graced his lips again. He rolled his eyes and shook his head. “If we survive, I will gladly take that responsibility.”

His smile disappeared and he became solemn again. “When we came back ready to fulfill this prophecy, I figured we could do it easily. However, Voldemort had already planned his resurrection.” He stopped talking and looked at Ginny for a second before he continued. “I never even considered we would be fighting against him. I just thought it would be us looking under rocks in England for his Horcruxes.”

Ginny laughed at the picture of them finding the Horcruxes under some rock in Voldemort’s backyard. She sniggered out loud when the image of them using some type of a dog to sniff out the Horcruxes popped in her head.

“Now what are you laughing about?”

“I just thought about us hunting Horcruxes,” she replied to him. “Is there a special dog to sniff them out?”

“Yeah, a Scottish Horcrux Hound,” laughed Harry.

“Love, I have sensed that there was a connection between you and Voldemort,” said Ginny. Harry stopped laughing and started to say something, but she held her hand up to halt him. “The connection isn’t as strong as you think. Something happened the night he tried to kill you, you have a connection with him. I can chase him out of your head by pushing happy loving thoughts into your mind. You can do the same thing.

“Harry, if you are so concerned about Voldemort gaining access to your mind, then keep your Occlumency wards up. You said he woke you because he caused you pain. You will always know when he has entered your mind. You can block them. If you need sleep, I can stay awake and keep him out of your mind for you.

“Harry, we are in this together. Together, we will defeat him,” she said to him. He smiled at her. It was the first time she saw true happiness on his face that morning.

“I am so lucky to have met and bonded with you,” he said to her. He leaned over and kissed her.

“Yeah, you certainly are lucky,” she teased him. “Why don’t we go to bed so you can get some sleep? Dumbledore wants to meet with all of us, but he won’t be back for several hours.”

“How did the meeting with Snape go this morning?” he said as he stood up and offered his hand to her.

“He is lying about things, but I couldn’t tell what he was lying about. He seems to have become rather uncooperative. He knew about the prison break, and justified not telling us by saying he needed to gain Voldemort’s trust.” Ginny sat at the head of the bed and pulled Harry down. “Lay your head on my lap.”

Harry did as he was told. She started running her fingers through his hair. She could feel him immediately relax. It only took a few seconds before he fell asleep.

“I never knew Snape to be cooperative,” murmured Harry as he fell asleep.

Ginny smiled at her sleeping husband. She never got the chance to tell him about moving headquarters to Potter Manor. She can tell him when he wakes up.

[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]

“Why can’t Neville join us for the next training session?” Ron asked his brother Bill.

Bill was sitting behind his desk in his office. Professor Lupin and Professor Black were sitting against the wall to Bill’s left. Ron, Hermione, and Neville were sitting in front of Bill. They had just asked Bill about Neville joining the advanced Defense sessions.

Ron expected him to approve the idea without hesitation, but Bill didn’t respond positively or negatively. He just leaned back in his chair and stared at the three of them.

“Professor Weasley, I know I am not very good at Defense, but I am willing to learn. I will try harder,” said Neville.

“I am not hesitating at agreeing to this, because of your perceived lack of ability, Neville. After reading this morning’s paper, I am thinking about stepping up all of the defense courses. It won’t be nearly as intense as the advanced group, but I don’t think you will be the last person to ask for these advanced classes. We just don’t have enough room for our group to grow as large as the dueling club.”

“Minus the Slytherins,” said Ron interrupting his brother.

“I doubt if the Slytherins would be involved,” said Bill to Ron. “But! You never know what might happen. Let me talk to the Headmaster and get a feel for what we can do to prepare you for what might come.”

Bill leaned forward and softened his Professor persona. “Neville, I can understand what you may be going through with this breakout. We started this class specifically for my family members. This past summer there had been two attempts to murder my entire family. We had to do something to help Ron and our brothers defend themselves. I want to do the same for you. It isn’t as easy as saying sure the more the merrier, because of the...,” Bill stopped talking for a second before continuing. “…Ministry. I don’t trust the Ministry to do the right thing. They may try to stop us or send someone to oversee our training methods.

“I don’t want the Ministry and all of the bloody bureaucrats involved in my classroom. I will contact you when we can get something figured out. All right, Neville?”

Neville jumped to his feet. “Thank you sir.”

Ron snorted at someone talking to Bill that way. He still had a difficult time not calling him Bill in the classroom, but to hear people calling him, sir, was too funny.

“Is there something wrong, Mr. Weasley?” Bill asked him.

“No, nothing, Bi -er- Professor Weasley,” said Ron, as stood he up to leave the room.

He, Neville, and Hermione left Bill’s office. They walked quietly back to the common room. It was a Sunday morning so that didn’t need to go to class. Ron was trying to remember hearing about Neville’s parents or some other relative that was involved in the last war. In fact, he could not remember Neville talking about his parents, only his Gran and Uncle Algie. He must have lost his parents to some of the Death Eaters that escaped.

As they walked, a group of Hufflepuffs passed them. He started to wonder how Susan Bones was feeling about the escape. She had lost most of her family in the last war. She was another person that would want to improve their Defensive skills.

They had reached the common room without saying anything. Ron and Neville ran up to their dorm to get their books and homework to work on in the common room. They still hadn’t spoken since leaving Bill’s office.

“Ron, I would like to thank you for letting me talk with your brother,” Neville mumbled without making eye contact.

“I didn’t take you to Bill. Professors Lupin and Black did that,” replied Ron. He hesitated asking the question that had been bothering him. Neville seemed extremely nervous about something. He stood there by his bed shuffling his feet and occasionally glancing towards Ron.

“Nev…,” Ron started to ask, but Neville cut him off.

“The Lestranges, they…,” Neville started, but stopped talking for a few seconds. He suddenly started talking very fast. “They tortured my parents into insanity. They are in St. Mungos spell damage ward.”

Ron was shocked at what he heard. He figured it must have been Neville’s parents. “I am sorry to hear about your parents,” he said to Neville.

The two boys stood there and stared at each other and shuffled their feet for several seconds.

“I guess we should go back down to the common room. Hermione will be wondering where we are,” said Ron, finally. “I need to see if she would do my homework for me.”

Neville sniggered at his comment. “Good luck with that, Ron.”

[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]

Alarms went off in Ginny’s bedroom. She and Harry jumped up with drawn wands at the noise. Someone had just broken into their living quarters.

“Oi, put those bloody wands down,” yelled Sirius.

He had his hands up in the air. Bill, Remus, and Dumbledore were standing behind him in their sitting room, while looking into the bedroom.

“Why did you break into our room?” croaked Harry. His voice was rough from just waking up from a deep sleep.

“We have been trying to get you for the past hour,” said Sirius. “We sent three Patronus messages, but you didn’t respond. Have you been sleeping this entire time?”

“What time is it?” Ginny asked them.

“It’s five in the evening,” said Bill. “We wanted to have a meeting in a half hour. What is wrong with you two?”

“I couldn’t sleep last night. Ginny was able to get me to fall asleep and she must have fallen asleep too,” said Harry. His wits seemed to be coming back to him. “What is the meeting about?”

“Are you sick Harry?” asked Professor Dumbledore.

Ginny could feel that Harry was nervous about telling the truth.

“No, I could not stop thinking about how much Voldemort advanced his cause in the past six months,” he said.

Ginny tried to contain the smile that was budding up inside of her. She was proud of Harry. He was able to give them true information without revealing all of his secrets. She could sense that Dumbledore wasn’t buying his explanation, but the other three weren’t so skeptical.

“I could have Madam Pomfrey give you some Dreamless Sleep Potion, if you are having trouble falling asleep,” offered the Headmaster.

“Thank you, but no, I will be fine,” replied Harry. “What is this meeting about?”

Dumbledore stared directly at Ginny making her feel a little nervous about not informing Harry about everything. At least, she cannot remember if she had informed him of everything.

“Some of the developments of the past twenty-four hours,” she said. “I wasn’t able to completely tell you everything, before we went for a kip.”

“Shall we go to my office and get everyone updated?” asked the Headmaster.

“Yes, we will follow you,” said Harry. He reached out his hand to her.

As she took Harry’s hand, she felt her stomach rumble from hunger. Being pregnant has increased her already active appetite. “Will you have anything to eat in your office?” she asked the Headmaster.

“I will have the House Elves bring us something,” the Headmaster responded.

“Thank…,” she started to reply, but she saw past them to the door of her and Harry’s living quarters. It was removed from the wall. It wasn’t just the door, but the entire frame. The door was still closed in the jamb, but the entire unit had been removed from their entrance way and was now leaning on the wall to the right of the doorway. “…What the Bloody Hell did you do to my door?”

“You need to use more than Locking Charms,” said Bill in a Professor’s style of voice. “Impertubles will extend beyond the door and jamb to the wall itself. We couldn’t get the Charm on the door to release, but luckily we were able to remove the entire unit.”

Ginny stood there and stared at her older brother. He didn’t seem the least bit apologetic that he ripped her door and its frame off the wall.

“A brilliant solution, if I say so myself,” said Sirius. “I would have probably blasted the door and the wall down to get in here.”

Ginny blinked at Sirius’ comment. They all seemed to think this was something humorous. “Can you fix it?” she asked her brother, while holding back her anger. She will just wait until the next time they are dueling to extract her revenge.

“I will have it reset and in place in a couple waves of my wand,” said Bill.

They waited until Bill had replaced her door before going to the Headmasters office. The Headmaster had gone ahead, but Sirius and Remus waited with them. She stood holding Harry’s hand while watching Bill repair the door. She could feel his emotions, so he wasn’t using his Occlumency shields. She also could feel that he wasn’t in any pain, which was good because Voldemort wasn’t trying to enter his mind.

“What is this meeting about?” asked Remus. He was looking at Harry.

“I don’t know. I imagine the breakout last night,” he replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

“That was obvious,” said Bill. “Ginny, what happened this morning?”

“Wait for the meeting,” she said. She could tell that there were people near her. They were probably in classrooms or broom closets, but she didn’t want to say anything secret in the hallways. Here it wasn’t only the people that could pass along information but also the portraits.

They walked the rest of the way to the Headmasters office in silence. They were greeted by the Headmaster, Madam Bones, Professor McGonagall, and Alastor Moody. There was also a tray of sandwiches and a pitcher of pumpkin juice.

Ginny grabbed a couple of sandwiches and poured herself some pumpkin juice before sitting down. Harry grabbed a sandwich and sat beside her. He took a sip of her pumpkin juice and smiled at her. It was a simple act, but it made her feel good that his depression and fear was under control.

“Now that everyone is together, we have some important things to discuss,” said the Headmaster. “The breakout at Azkaban is the most important item, but there are many other complications that came to the surface in the past twenty-four hours.”

The Headmaster made eye contact with Ginny. She could sense that several others in the room saw that. Harry was one of them. His anxiety spiked at that exact moment.

“What else has happened since last night?” asked Moody. It sounded more like a demand.

“I was almost sent to Azkaban, if Fudge had had his way,” said Madam Bones.

“What are you talking about?” responded Moody.

“Fudge tried to blame me for the breakout and the other incidents this summer with prisoners not making it to Azkaban. Albus defended me brilliantly,” she said with admiration in her voice.

“Yes, Cornelius was trying to convince the Wizengamot that Amelia was corrupt and working with Voldemort. It was easy to defeat his charges.”

Moody, Sirius, and Remus all laughed at the Headmaster’s comment.

“Fudge is barmy, if he thinks Amelia would ever help Voldemort,” laughed Moody. “I can’t believe he would even consider such a charge.”

“He is being influenced by Lucius,” said Amelia.

“Is he under an Imperious Curse?” asked Moody.

Madam Bones and Albus Dumbledore stared at each other for several seconds. Albus was the first to speak. “I didn’t see any of the normal signs of being Imperioused.”

“I haven’t either,” said Madam Bones. “I just think he is a power hungry idiot.”

Ginny chuckled at her comment. Madam Bones had always said everything politically correct. It must have been her years working in the Ministry. Except now, she referred to the Minister as an idiot.

“That really isn’t anything we didn’t know before,” said Remus. Sirius and Moody laughed even harder. “I didn’t mean to make a joke about it or downplay what he tried to do to you Madam Bones, but we have always known that he was a puppet. What else have we discovered, and how many Death Eaters actually escaped?”

“Only five, Rodolphus, Rabastan, and Bellatrix Lestrange, Antonin Dolohov, and Augustus Rookwood,” said Madam Bones. “He left over thirty of his followers still locked up inside.”

“Why would he do that?” asked Harry.

“Voldemort had an inner circle of Death Eaters; his most trusted followers. Those five were members of his inner circle,” said the Headmaster.

“Was Snape part of the inner circle?” Harry asked the Headmaster.

“No he wasn’t, he hadn’t been a member that long when you defeated Voldemort the last time.”

Everything seemed to fall into place for Ginny. She just figured out why he was acting like he was this morning. The breakout changed his status with Voldemort. She didn’t remember saying anything when she realized this, but everyone was now looking at her.

“Yes, Mrs. Potter,” the Headmaster said to her.

“It makes sense now why Severus was acting the way he was this morning,” she announced. “If Voldemort is reorganizing his inner circle and pushing Snape out of it, he must do whatever possible to regain his trust. That was why he didn’t tell us about the prison breakout.”

“You are telling me that Snape knew about the breakout and didn’t warn us?” asked Sirius. He looked angry enough to walk out of the meeting and find Snape.

“He said he did it to gain Voldemort’s trust. Mrs. Potter is correct. Severus would have gone along with the plan to regain the trust of Voldemort and the ones he broke out of prison. As far as trusting Severus, remember that we keep secrets from him. He still doesn’t know he is being monitored. That is the nature of the spy business. Everyone keeps secrets from others.

“Mrs. Potter have you had time to discuss with you husband the plans to move Headquarters?”

“No,” Ginny felt slightly embarrassed.

“What plans to move Headquarters?” barked Moody.

“Harry,” said Ginny a little nervously. If she would have approached him under different circumstances she was sure that he would approve of the move, but he must completely agree with the use of Potter Manor for Bill to rework the wards. “The Headmaster wants to move Headquarters. I suggested Potter Manor in Scotland.”

He raised a single eyebrow at her suggestion. “I suppose if we can work with those wards to get everyone through. What about Snape? I am not sure I want to allow him access to the Manor.”

“We were thinking about still using Grimmauld place for the meetings. The map would be moved to Potter Manor and we would relocate the Brandenburgs and Proudfoot there.”

“Brilliant, Snape would never gain access to our main Headquarters,” exclaimed Sirius. “We could start large scale training exercises at the manor. It has enough land with it that we could really create some realistic battle scenes. I think it is a brilliant move.”

“Excuse me,” said Madam Bones. “I thought your parent’s home was destroyed when you first defeated the Dark Lord.”

“Yes, the house we were living in was destroyed, but that wasn’t the only place the Potters owned at the time.”

“I think the move would be advantageous,” said Remus. “We could have full access to your family library. We could start extensive training at your facilities. The Ministry wouldn’t be able to detect anything we are doing. I am assuming that you would be bringing Order members back to England through the Manor, so that would make that process easier. We wouldn’t want to Portkey Order members onto the property. The Ministry can track Portkeys. The final question, is do you want to allow Mundungus Fletcher access to that manor?”

Sirius laughed out loud and slapped Remus on the back. “That bloody thief will try to nick everything in the house. Hell, his heart might explode from excitement.”

“You have some valuables in the house?” asked Madam Bones.

“A few,” said Harry. “I can always assign a House Elf to follow him around. I am concerned about the wards. I don’t know how to alter them to allow people through. Bill, do you have any suggestions?”

Bill sat there with an expression of deep concentration on his face. It took several seconds for him to respond. “I can’t tell you right now, they are the most complex wards I have ever seen. I think you and Ginny can allow people access to the manor by escorting them through the wards and saying they are permitted to enter the manor. The Wards will respond to your commands, but be sure that both of you mean it. I will do some research and try to find how they made the wards.”

“What type of ward is that you are talking about,” asked the Headmaster. “Why not use a Fidelius Charm?”

“These wards are stronger than a Fidelius,” said Bill. “I started researching them, but ran into a couple of snags that I haven’t had time to sort through. Hopefully, over Christmas I will have time.”

“What do we do until then?” asked Moody.

“I think Harry could possibly move everyone from Grimmauld Place to the Manor this weekend,” said Bill. “I do know that if both Harry and Ginny allow someone through the wards, they shall be able to pass through them alone, but no one with them will gain access.”

Ginny, Harry, Remus, and Sirius all chuckled at Bill. He had tried to bring a witch into one of the estates in France. He passed through the Wards while holding her hand, but she was trapped in the Wards. They wouldn’t release her until Harry and Ginny said in unison to release her. It ruined his plans that night.

“That isn’t good,” stated Moody. “What do we do if we need to take someone there to hide? Will we need to introduce them to the Potters so they can enter the place? I would like to see a Fidelius Charm in place. The Potters can be the secret keepers, but we can take people onto the property without revealing to them where they are and tell people where the Headquarters are located.”

Ginny could sense Harry’s hesitation at changing the wards. “Can we work with the Wards we have now? After Bill has had a chance to work with them, we will revisit the possibility of changing to a Fidelius Charm.”
“Do we have the plans to relocate Headquarters properly discussed?” asked Bill.

“I believe so,” said the Headmaster. “Is there something you need to bring up?”

“Yes, I would like to increase the intensity of the Defense Classes,” he said. “I am not sure how the board of Governors would react to my plans. I want to eliminate the dueling club and use the great hall for spell casting practice. Many of the students don’t really have a chance to improve their techniques casting spells legally. If we allow them to use the great hall in the evening, they would have an opportunity to improve. I wouldn’t be teaching them anything new, but just giving them a chance to hone their spells casting. I was thinking that we could have them work on Charms and Transfiguration also, if Professors Flitwick and McGonagall approve.”

No one spoke for several seconds, Ginny could sense Bill was getting nervous. “I think it is a brilliant idea,” she said trying to encourage him. “Are we still going to have advanced sessions once or twice a week?”

“I don’t know. I would like to pick out a few high risk individuals beside my family for advanced classes. Headmaster, what do you think of my idea?”

“I think it is logical considering that these children will need to prepare for a war, even though they are under age. I am not sure what the Board of Governors will say. Lucius Malfoy sits on that board. There is an even split right now. If one of my supporters should shift his allegiance…”

“I will use my right to vote on the board,” said Harry. “The Potters have a permanent seat on that board. I just have never used my right to vote. I like the idea, Bill. If the Headmaster doesn’t object and the other Professors agree, you have my support.”

Madam Bones started laughing. “Fudge is going to become paranoid that you are trying to form an army, Albus. You and an army of children seem to scare him more than the dark lord.”

Ginny watched as a sad expression formed on the Headmaster’s face. What Madam Bones said was true, and it was disturbing. The Minister would probably be more concerned about children learning how to defend themselves, than stopping Voldemort from taking over Britain.

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