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SIYE Time:15:51 on 29th March 2024
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Abraxas
By Brennus

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Category: Alternate Universe
Characters:Harry/Ginny, Hermione Granger, Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom, Ron Weasley
Genres: Action/Adventure
Warnings: Death, Disturbing Imagery, Intimate Sexual Situations, Rape, Violence
Story is Complete
Rating: R
Reviews: 369
Summary: It started with a surprising proposals from an unexpected source, but that was only the beginning. Soon, Harry finds himself dealing with forces beyond his imagination and dreams, and ultimately finds that the world is not what he believed it to be.
Hitcount: Story Total: 98732; Chapter Total: 4087





Author's Notes:
I like this chapter ā€“ it has a little bit of everything in it, from a vengeful Hermione to Harry giving lessons on the correct way to fight a counter-insurgency war.

Huge-mega thanks to Arnel. I swear my spelling auto-correct is changing things when Iā€™m not looking!




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Chapter 13 — A Thousand Stars



“Luna’s brilliant with those kids, isn’t she?” Ginny noted.

Harry looked over to where their blonde friend was leading a group of excited first years in a dodging exercise that involved them running between a number obstacles while she tried to hit them with a Tickling Charm. Quite a few of the group were already rolling on the floor helplessly roaring with laughter. After the last of the first years, a dark-haired Ravenclaw, fell to her knees, cradling her sides with laughter, Luna rushed in and began tickling the helpless children the old fashioned way. A number of them tried to retaliate, and soon Luna was laughing as loudly as her pupils.

“Yeah, they really seem to have taken to her, don’t they?” Harry agreed. “I guess it’s because she seems so childlike and innocent herself. They can relate to her.”

Luna had by this point clambered to her feet and cancelled the charms. Her excited pupils all leapt up and surrounded her, chattering excitedly. She just smiled happily at them, praising each of them in turn. Harry was amazed Luna could actually remember all their names.

“Are they nearly finished?” Hermione asked, seating herself next to Harry and looking over at the first years expectantly.

“I think so. Luna looks to be just about done with them,” Ginny confirmed as Ron and Neville wandered over and joined them. Sure enough, the first years all began to drift towards the exit, but not before Luna had hugged each and every one of them. Surprisingly, none of them, not even the boys, looked in the slightest embarrassed about it.

“Oh, they’re all doing so well!” Luna declared happily as she skipped over.

“You’re doing a brilliant job with them,” Harry confirmed. “Giving you the first years to teach was a good move.”

“I’m really enjoying it. They’re all so much fun to teach, and so enthusiastic,” she gushed, as excited as he’d ever seen her.

“As heartening as this all is, we have other things to discuss,” Hermione interrupted primly. “What are we going to do about those Slytherins and their planned attack on Katie?”

“Well, as I see it, we have two options,” Harry began. “We either tip the teachers off, and I’m sure McGonagall will deal with the matter properly, or we deal with it ourselves. Why don’t we go round the group and everybody can voice their opinion. Hermione?”

Hermione looked at them in turn with a hard look in her brown eyes.

“I know you all think that I’m going to insist that we get the teachers involved, and until recently I probably would have, but I really don’t think that will be sufficient in this case. The idea that those boys think Katie should be punished just because she escaped being raped by Dolohov is just reprehensible! And even if the teachers do catch them, what will happen? I expect they’ll be expelled at worst, and they’ll just go to Durmstrang or someplace similar to complete their education, where they should have gone in the first place! No, that’s not enough for me. We need to teach these bastards that they can’t use rape as a weapon. I say we deal with it ourselves.”

The group stirred uneasily, clearly unsettled by Hermione’s words.

“I think Hermione’s right,” Ron ventured. “If you lot had seen the state of that poor woman we rescued in Hogsmeade… no, the authorities will do bugger-all to these thugs. We need to teach them a lesson ourselves.”

“I agree,” Neville said. “Even if the Ministry does pull its finger out and actually imprison them, we’ve all seen how secure Azkaban is now. V… Voldemort will probably bust them out with a few weeks, and reward the little shits for good measure. Nah, we should handle this.”

“Luna?” Harry asked turning to her.

“These people have no morality and think they know best,” she shrugged. “You can’t re-educate them, Harry, you can only stop them doing it again. We should take care of them.”

“Ginny?” he asked finally.

“I say we string the bastards up by their balls,” she spat. “Hermione hit the nail on the head, as far as I’m concerned. We have to make sure that they never rape a woman again.”

“Okay, I guess it’s unanimous then, because I think we should deal with them, too,” Harry agreed. “The only question is, how do we do it and what do we do with these gits afterwards?”

“I’ve been thinking about that and I have a plan,” Hermione said in a determined voice.

“Is this linked to that little trip you took to the Restricted Section of the library using my cloak the other day?” Harry asked with a grin.

“It is indeed, and I found a very useful book while I was there. This is what I think we should do…”

Twenty minutes later, the group left the classroom with a fully-formed plan and a lust for justice in their hearts.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

“ Where’s Ginny tonight?” Demelza asked slightly too loudly as they left the girls’ changing room.

“Oh, she’s meeting up with Harry tonight. She’s very lucky to have such a wonderful boyfriend,” replied Katie in a dreamy voice which was rather unlike her.

“Yeah, isn’t she?” Demelza replied flatly a moment before she was hit by a bright red beam of light and she crumpled to the ground.

“Hello, Bell,” a masked man purred as he stepped out of the darkness. “Did you really think you’d escaped punishment, you dirty little slut?”

Three more robed, masked men appeared and formed a rough semi-circle around Bell.

“What do you want?” the dark-haired girl demanded defiantly.

“Why, we want you, you half-blood whore,” one of the young men chuckled.

“We’re going to make you wish that Dolohov had actually had the chance to finish with you,” another growled. “Compared to what we’re going to do to you, you’d have gotten off lightly.”

“You do realise he was probably going to kill me after he’d finished with me. You do realise that, don’t you?” Bell pointed out.

“Oh, you’ll be begging for death by the time we’re done with you,” the leader laughed. “Bind her!”

“What about the other little slut? She’s not bad looking,” one of the others commented.

“Yeah, bring her too, if you want,” the leader replied in an offhand manner.

“Great, we’ll really have some fun tonight,” the other smirked.

“Oh, I very much doubt you’ll be having any fun tonight,” Bell said calmly. “In fact, I think you’ll all have just about the most horrific time of your lives.”

“Oh? And how do you reckon that, bitch?” the leader snarled.

“Because of this,” Bell smiled, and snapped her fingers.

The four masked young men all toppled to the ground as they were simultaneously hit by Stunning Spells.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPH PHP

Terence Higgs awoke slowly. Blinking, the world around him slowly came into focus. Above him was the canopy of a forest, illuminated by the orange light of a bonfire burning nearby. He tried to rise, but realised that his hands and feet were secured to the ground by tight cords that bit into his skin. It then dawned on him that he was naked.

Raising his head as much as he could, he saw Potter’s disgusting pet Muggle-born, Granger, standing casually, her attention absorbed by a book she was reading by the light of the fire.

“You’d better let me go right now, Mudblood, if you know what’s good for you,” Higgs snarled.

Granger continued to ignore him, but instead the near Squibb, Longbottom, lurched into sight and kicked him in the side — hard.

“Shut up, pig,” Longbottom growled with such ferocity that Higgs decided to remain quiet for the moment. Wincing with pain, he tried to look around, but could only dimly make out his friend, Adrian Pucey, pegged out in a similar manner to him nearby. Adrian’s head lolled, suggesting he was still unconscious. Desperately, Terence tried to figure out what was happening.

“I think I’m nearly ready, Harry,” the Mudblood announced suddenly, closing the book she was holding.

From the other side of the bonfire, Potter came striding into sight. Terence felt his lip curl in disgust at the sight of the boy, although he also felt a stab of fear, too. Potter was the arch enemy of the entire Slytherin House, yet he always seemed to come up smelling of roses no matter what scrapes he got into. Higgs wasn’t certain that he believed that Potter and his friends had actually killed Dolohov and those other Death Eaters, but there was no mistaking that the half-blood bastard was becoming more powerful. The question was, what was he up to?

“Great, do you need us to do anything, Hermione?” Potter asked.

“No, I’m all set up,” the girl replied in an offhand manner. “You might want to let Katie have her say, though. I doubt this lot will be in a mood to listen once this is over.”

“Katie?” Potter called.

Then, out of the darkness, their intended target appeared. Dimly, he noticed the girl was dressed differently to when he’d seen her earlier, and he began to wonder if it had really been her that they’d accosted. This whole thing was starting to feel like a setup.

Bell marched up until she was standing at his feet. He felt himself burn with embarrassment that he should be so helpless before this filthy wench. He glared at her, hoping to intimidate her with his eyes.

“You bastard,” Bell spat at him. “You dirty, worthless piece of shit!”

“You can talk about being worthless, you little… oof!”

Terence’s rebuttal was ended by Longbottom’s boot, which again smashed into his side. Gritting his teeth, he tried to stop from crying out, even if he was certain that a rib had just been broken.

“I was going to deliver some lecture to you, telling you what a racist idiot you are, but what’s the point?” Bell continued. “You won’t listen. Your type never do. You’re so convinced of your own superiority that you think that you can do any bloody thing you like. Well, you can’t. There are people who will always stand up to your sort, and they are far better than you in every way. They agree that there’s no point in talking to you, because you’ll never change. Instead, we’re just going to make sure that you never get the chance to force yourself on a witch again, or pollute the world with any offspring from your foul seed. Do it, Hermione!”

With that, Bell turned away and was instantly replaced by two other witches. One was Potter’s red-haired little whore and the other was that mad Ravenclaw bitch that hung around with them. The two witches stood either side of Granger, completely expressionless. Then, without warning, the three of them turned towards the bonfire as one. Higgs watched in fascination as the three of them began to chant; a low, melodious mantra that he couldn’t quite make out.

They continued for some time, with the strangely rhythmic beat of their cadence almost lulling him to sleep. Then, just as his eyes began to droop, Granger let loose an inhuman screech that echoed through the darkened woods. Then, ominously, she turned and faced him with her wand drawn and pointing straight at his groin.

“Virilitas Eversio!” she cried and a beam of greenish-blue light hit his lower body.

Higgs screamed. There was no way he could not have, as he was suddenly in agony. He struggled against his binding with all his might, crying out in pain as he did so. It felt like the lower half of his body was on fire.

Eventually, the pain subsided. He looked up through tear-streaked eyes and saw the three witches and Potter standing glaring at him. Longbottom was to one side, and that red-haired ape Ron Weasley was also watching him impassively.

“What did you do?” he managed to gasp.

“It was a very old spell,” Granger informed him calmly. “I suppose you could compare it to chemical castration. From this point on, you are completely sterile and will never be able to father children, which is a blessing for the world as far as I’m concerned. In fact, your libido will drop to virtually nothing and you’ll be unable to perform in any way.”

“You’ll never have a stiffy again, Mr Limp-dick,” the Weasley girl chuckled evilly.

“I especially liked this spell as it can only be performed by at least two witches,” Granger continued. “I think that’s especially fitting bearing in mind what you planned to do to Katie and Demelza.”

“You bitch! You BITCH!” Higgs screamed. “I come from a noble pureblood family. It’s my duty to carry on the family line!”

“Not with that thing, you won’t,” Lovegood giggled, pointing at his shrivelled manhood.

“I’ll kill you. I’ll kill the lot of you! Don’t think you’ll get away with this,” he threatened.

“You won’t even know that we did it,” Granger smiled thinly. “We intend to Obliviate you and dump you back up by the changing rooms. You won’t even remember Katie talking to you. No, you’ll wake up in a few hours, completely unaware of what happened, and with notes pinned to your chests informing you that if you try anything this stupid again that you’ll be killed.”

“And don’t think we won’t do it,” Longbottom snarled. “We polished off those Death Eaters in Hogsmeade easily enough. You bunch of pricks won’t be much of a challenge.”

“You won’t even know you’re impotent until the first time you try any sexual activity. Mind you, I expect you wank-off most nights, so you’ll probably figure it out soon rather than later,” Weasley inform him smugly.

“I’ll remember,” Higgs said defiantly. “I’ll remember you did this to me, and I’ll make you pay.”

“I doubt it, sunshine. Harry will be doing the Obliviation and he’s powerful enough to wipe your memories out completely,” Weasley sniffed.

“Come on, we have the other three to take care of first,” Granger said firmly.

Crying with rage, Higgs pulled at his binding. How had it all gone so wrong? How had they been so humiliated by a bunch of mixed-blood kids? He bitterly pondered those thoughts, until he was distracted by the sound of his friend Pucey, screaming in pain as the spell was cast…

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP


Harry peered intently down the street from the roof of Madam Puddifoot’s. He had to admit, the place looked a lot better from up here. Try as he might, he couldn’t see Dumbledore in sight, anywhere.

A moment later, Ginny glided silently into view and landed next to him with the grace of a cat. She grinned mischievously at him as she made herself comfortable.

“Any sign of him?” Harry asked.

“Nah, I think he’s hiding indoors, somewhere,” she confirmed. “I think he’s getting wise to us ambushing him from above.”

He smirked. Teaching Ginny how to fly had been a really good idea. Not only did she absolutely love the sensation of flight without any visible means, together they made a formidable airborne team. Their ability to leap from rooftop to rooftop, and to literally fly out of trouble, had made them an equal match for Dumbledore in their mock combats. The old wizard had been forced to resort to some fairly sneaky and underhand practices to even keep even with them.

“No point asking to get hit. Let’s stay here for a while and see if he tries to find us,” Harry reasoned.

Ginny just nodded, and stretched out on the slates of the roof, keeping a sharp lookout in the opposite direction Harry was looking.

“Do you think Hermione’s alright?”

The question caught Harry completely by surprise. He turned and looked at his girlfriend with a quizzical expression.

“I think so. Why, do you think there’s something wrong with her?” he asked.

“Well, not as such… but… have you noticed she’s a lot less sympathetic than she used to be? Not so long ago you could go to her with any problem, be it schoolwork or something more personal, and she’d be happy to talk it through with you. She was always looking for the good in people, too. No matter who it was, she always tried to say something positive about them. But since Hogsmeade, she’s changed a bit. She has a lot less time for anyone, and she is a lot less tolerant, too,” Ginny explained.

Harry paused for a moment. While it was true that his friend had been a lot quieter of late, he hadn’t really noticed a major change in her personality. She was extremely helpful to everyone in the Duelling Club. In fact, now he thought about it, perhaps a bit too helpful; like she was desperate for everyone to learn how to defend themselves to a reasonable standard.

“The attack on Hogsmeade affected us all,” he admitted. “Hermione’s always been a sensitive sort, and I doubt she liked being caught up in that sort of thing one little bit. Besides, being a Muggle-born she knows what to expect if the Death Eaters ever get hold of her.”

“Yeah, that’s true, but I think it goes deeper than that,” Ginny said with a frown. “We never did find out exactly what she and Ron saw when they went upstairs in that house to rescue that woman. Ron certainly won’t talk about it, and I’m beginning to think it was something that’s had a pretty major effect on the pair of them.”

“Really? I haven’t noticed much change in Ron. He’s been a bit bolshie to the Slytherins lately, I guess, but after everything that’s happened I can’t really blame him for that.”

“It goes a bit beyond bolshie,” she snorted. “McGonagall warned him the other day that he’ll lose his prefect’s badge if he keeps trying to pick fights with the Slytherins. More worryingly, Hermione never seems to try and stop him these days, either. I almost get the feeling that she’s keen to start a bit of trouble with them, herself. Just watch her next time Pansy Parkinson or any of her mates come into a room. I swear Hermione looks like she wants to strangle the girl with her bare hands.”

“I can’t really imagine her like that, but I do promise to keep an eye on her a bit more. Do you think we should try and make her discuss what happened at Hogsmeade?”

“I’m not really sure either of them will talk about it. Merlin knows, I’ve already tried,” Ginny told him with a shrug. “I do think we need to watch them, though. Whatever they saw that day has left a pretty big mark on them, and they might do something foolish. I know that’s the sort of thing you’d expect from Ron, but I honestly think Hermione’s ready to lash-out, too.”

Harry sighed. “Okay, I’ll keep an eye on them as much as possible. Hopefully they just need a bit of time to work it out of their systems.”

“Maybe, but it’s been four weeks since the incident, and Hermione seems to be getting more angry, not less. She keeps muttering about how stupid the Wizarding world is in comparison to the Muggle one. I guess the whole Muggle-born thing is getting to her.”

“To be discriminated against purely because your parents weren’t magical is completely illogical to her,” he agreed. “She’s a hundred times smarter than all those morons in Slytherin, but they still look down on her because of her blood. It is bloody daft when you think about it.”

“I’m not arguing,” Ginny agreed. “Still, I thought I should mention it. As you say, hopefully she’ll calm down given time.”

“I’m glad you did. You know I’m a bit thick when it comes to noticing stuff like this,” he grinned.

“Well… obviously!” she laughed.

“Hey, I never said I… aaaaggghhh!”

Harry’s last comment was cut short as he suddenly found himself covered in a green, sticky substance. Beside him, Ginny also found herself covered from head to foot in the same oozing gunk.

Looking down, he saw a grinning Dumbledore standing in the street with his wand still pointed at them.

“Sorry, was I disturbing you, at all?” he called out, his voice heavy with mirth.

“Oh, he’s going to pay for that!” Ginny growled.

Wiping some of the slime of his face, Harry could only nod in agreement.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP HPHP

Despite Harry’s best hopes, three days later something occurred that further soured Hermione’s mood. They had all finished lessons for the day, when they were intercepted by Dumbledore as they made their way to the Great Hall.

“Harry, I wonder if I could have a moment of your time after dinner? I have some rather grave news that I must impart onto you.”

“Sir, if it’s important, I think my friends should hear it, too,” Harry replied, having already noticed Hermione and Ginny’s frowns.

For a moment the old wizard looked at him thoughtfully.

“Yes, I have no doubt that you will relay the news to them anyway, so I might as well save you the trouble. If all of you would like to come to my office after six o’clock, we’ll chat then.”

Without a backward glance, Dumbledore hurried off. Ginny’s frown deepened as she watched him.

“What do you think that’s all about?” she demanded.

“More bad news,” Hermione said darkly. “That’s all we ever heard these days.”

They ate their dinner in comparative silence, and Harry took the opportunity to watch his bushy-haired friend carefully. While she and Ron had become extremely close this term, only now did he notice that the pair of them seemed to huddle together as if for protection. Ron seemed to be less interested in the food on his plate, too, and frequently put down his knife and fork to whisper in his girlfriend’s ear or give her a small rub on the back. He glanced at Ginny, who nodded at him, obviously aware of what he was seeing.

After they had finished their meal, the six friends all trooped up to the headmaster’s office with a certain sense of foreboding. When they entered the elegant room, they found Professor McGonagall already there, deep in conversation with Dumbledore.

“Ah, there you all are,” Dumbledore said as they all filed into the room. “Take a seat, if you would.”

“What’s the matter, sir?” Harry asked immediately. “Has something bad happened?”

“It has indeed,” the old wizard nodded solemnly. “Yesterday, a group of Death Eaters attacked the village of Tatenhill in Staffordshire. There were numerous fatalities, and the Muggle government are blaming the whole thing on a ruptured gas pipe which caused a major explosion and a subsequent fire. I expect this will be only the first of many such incidents to come.”

“Tatenhill? I’ve never heard of it,” Hermione announced. “Why did they attack there?”

“Seemingly, for no reason at all,” Dumbledore confirmed. “I suspect it was picked for destruction completely at random as a morale building exercise for the Death Eaters after their comparative mauling at Hogsmeade.”

“A morale building exercise?” Hermione repeated angrily. “That’s how they increase morale, is it? By killing innocent people? How many died?”

“The latest figures indicate over fifty fatalities, with a number of people seriously injured. To the followers of Voldemort, the slaughter of Muggles is always a cause for celebration, I’m afraid.”

“That’s sick! It’s just plain sick!” Hermione raged. “How can anyone seriously support this kind of behaviour? How come the Wizarding world hasn’t risen up to eradicate these sadists?”

“Sadly, Miss Granger, too many wizards and witches, Muggles are simply of no interest. I’m sure if they actually witnessed such barbaric behaviour first hand, they would change their tune, but as it stands news of such events would probably be met with a shrug and an off-hand comment that it was nothing to do with them.”

“There was nothing about this in any of the papers,” Luna interrupted. “I’m sure if Daddy knew about it, he would have published something.”

“I believe the Ministry is largely suppressing this information. Minister Scrimgeour believes that printing details of this massacre would actually help the Death Eaters’ cause, rather than turn the populous against them, and I fear he has a point,” Dumbledore explained.

“That’s ludicrous!” Hermione practically yelled.

“Sadly, Miss Granger, I believe it to be true,” McGonagall chipped in. “The news that Voldemort’s forces have committed another atrocity so soon after Hogsmeade would only create fear and panic among the population, which will play into his hand. At least with the attack on Hogsmeade they were able to report that a number of the Death Eaters had been killed. No such success can be reported here.”

“Exactly, and, in addition, those in the magical community who harbour ill feelings towards Muggles might even be encouraged to join the ranks of the Death Eaters by such an easy victory. Propaganda is a vile practice at the best of times, but in such situations it must be denied to the enemy.”

“Sweet Merlin,” Neville muttered in disgust.

All this while, Harry had been thinking furiously. The attack on this innocent Muggle village was a normal tactic for Voldemort, and one that had served him well in the past. There had to be a way to counter such attacks, though, hadn’t there?

“So, what are we doing to prevent such things happening again?” Harry demanded.

“I’m sorry, Harry, there is very little we can do,” Dumbledore replied sadly. “The enemy will always have the element of surprise and the ability to unleash terrible damage extremely quickly. Even the Ministry’s Magical Detection system can’t react that quickly, and the Death Eaters will have been and gone long before Aurors or the Enforcement Patrols can arrive.”

“If we can’t hit them where they’re going to be, we need to be hitting them where they are now,” Harry retorted. “What’s being done to hunt them down? There must be quite a few suspect locations where these bastards are hiding. Are they being searched?”

“Not exactly,” Dumbledore admitted uncomfortably. “Most of these suspect locations are owned by wealthy and influential families, and the Ministry has no authority to just randomly search these places.”

“Bullshit!” Harry raged. “What about the homes of those in Azkaban? Surely they can be searched, can’t they? Even if they can’t, why can’t the houses be put under covert surveillance? Even if they are under magical protection, the chances are the Death Eaters will have to leave cover to Apparate to their targets and we can spot them when they do.”

“It would be quite a dangerous task for anyone to try and covertly observe a location occupied by Voldemort’s followers,” Dumbledore pointed out.

“Hey, it comes with the territory! I’m sure most Aurors didn’t sign up just because of the great health care package. Besides, are you telling me that someone like Mad-Eye couldn’t successfully monitor, say, Malfoy Manor without getting caught? We need to start being more pro-active and aggressive, sir. No one has ever won a war by being totally defensive.”

“Besides, Monitoring Spells could be cast at these locations,” Hermione pointed out. “I’m sure they could be used to alert the Ministry if a large group of people Apparated from one location, and no one would be at risk. Harry’s right; we need to hunt down these devils before they can start butchering innocent people again.”

“While I can’t fault your reasoning or ideas, this is not the way things are normally done,” Dumbledore said with a frown. “The Minister is a former Auror himself, and I suspect that such new methods will seem totally alien and rather unchivalrous to him.”

“You know, sir,” Harry began with a wicked grin, “perhaps it’s time for me to meet the new Minister. Fudge was always keen for me to be seen as supportive of the Ministry, and I’m sure Scrimgeour will be the same.”

“Oh? And would you be prepared to give such an endorsement?” Dumbledore asked in surprise.

“Under certain conditions,” Harry said in a determined voice.

Both Dumbledore and McGonagall exchanged a worried glance, while Harry’s friends looked at him approvingly.

Sometimes, it was easier to work with the system than try to break it.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPH PHP

Several days later, Harry received a summons to report to the headmaster’s office again. He’d been expecting the call, and had actually been a little surprised it had taken so long to arrange. Clearly, the new Minister for Magic was a busy man at the moment.

Entering Dumbledore’s office, he found in addition to the headmaster himself, a tall man, standing looking out of one of the windows. There were also a couple of other people wearing Ministry robes, one of whom was clutching a camera, but Harry instantly sensed these were unimportant support staff.

The tall man turned to regard him as soon as he entered, and Harry instantly recognised Rufus Scrimgeour from his description. Ron and Luna had told him that the man had a passing resemblance to an old lion and, with his grey-streaked, tawny mane of hair, Harry could see why. It was the predatory glint in Scrimgeour’s eyes that most made Harry think of a large cat, however.

“Ah, Harry, there you are,” Dumbledore said cheerfully. “I would like to take the opportunity to introduce Rufus Scrimgeour, our new Minister for Magic. Minister, this is our most famous pupil, Harry Potter. I’m sure you do not need to be told of his exploits.”

“Indeed,” Scrimgeour said and walked towards Harry with a slight limp, before offering his hand. “Young Mr Potter’s deeds are legendary. It is his most recent ones that I’m particularly interested in, however.”

Harry glanced at the two support staff, who were both standing by the wall trying to look inconspicuous.

“Perhaps, Minister, we should discuss such things in private,” Harry said cautiously.

Scrimgeour actually looked a little surprised, but turned his head and nodded at the two Ministry staff, who immediately hurried out of the room. If the Minister was surprised by Harry’s request, he was even more shocked when Dumbledore rose from his seat and also ambled out, his hands clasped behind his back and a whistled tune on his lips.

“Why do I get the feeling this visit has been carefully engineered?” Scrimgeour noted as soon as Dumbledore left.

Harry shrugged. “I thought you wanted to see me, Minister,” he replied. “At least, that’s what Dumbledore told me.”

“Yes, and up to this point he has been very careful in preventing such a meeting. I’m curious to know why things have changed, and why he is now so comfortable leaving us alone when previously he’d been so protective of you?”

“Circumstances change,” Harry smiled, before taking a seat. Scrimgeour did likewise, and sat with his legs folded, regarding him intently with his yellowish eyes.

“I’m fully aware that my predecessor reached out to you a number of times, before suddenly deciding that you were more of a liability than an asset,” Scrimgeour commented. “Of course, that backfired on him badly when it was proven that you’d been telling the truth all along.”

“Fudge always was an idiot,” Harry noted. “If he’d listen to me and Dumbledore earlier, we could have been prepared to fight Voldemort properly. As things stand now, we’re going to have a hard time beating him as he’s managed to establish himself firmly. But that’s really what I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Oh?” Scrimgeour said with a raise eyebrow.

“Minister, I consider myself something of an expert when it comes to the Dark Lord,” he began. “I’m pretty confident when I say there is no living person who knows more about Voldemort, or Tom Riddle to give him his real name, than me. With that in mind, I have to tell you that the Ministry is going about trying to defeat him all wrong.”

“Really?” the Minister snorted. “You’re trying to tell me, an Auror of over thirty years’ experience who fought in the first war against the Dark Lord, that we’re doing it wrong? I’m starting to think Fudge was right about you, boy.”

“Tell me, Minister, is there another person who has fought Voldemort face to face and lived to tell the tale? Is there anyone who actually managed to defeat him? Come to that, has there ever been anyone that evil bastard ever expended so much effort to kill?” Harry inquired with an edge to his voice. “I’ve made it my business to learn all I could about him, as my very life depends upon it. Between Dumbledore and I, there is no greater source of knowledge about him and his followers.”

Scrimgeour stared at him intently. “Let’s say for a moment that your words are true. Why do you think the Ministry is approaching this confrontation incorrectly?”

“Fudge has already ensured that we’re on the back foot in dealing with the Death Eaters by allowing Voldemort time to consolidate and build up his forces,” Harry began. “From this point, his army will just continue to grow. The Dementors will be next, lured away by the promise of as many fresh souls as they want. Unless we can prevent it, the giants will follow, and why shouldn’t they? They have no love for humans. The werewolves will probably follow, too, as successive governments have stripped away their rights and made them outcasts. Remember, only a handful of them are blood-thirsty monsters like Fenrir Greyback. All the while, more and more witches and wizards will flock to his banner, either through fear or greed. A large chunk of the pure-bloods will follow him as they secretly believe in his racist, anti-Muggle agenda. In short, the more time Voldemort gets to prepare, the more formidable his army will be.”

“That, young man, is nothing I didn’t already know,” Scrimgeour spat. “The question is: how do you stop him?”

“By not allowing him the time and space to build his forces, and demonstrating to the less fanatical and those just out to earn themselves some gold that being a Death Eater is a dangerous business. We need to be a lot more aggressive, and start hunting down Voldemort’s followers wherever they might be.”

“And how do you propose that we should do that?” the Minister demanded angrily.

“By stop being a politician and start becoming a general,” Harry retorted. “You’ve been so scared of stepping on the toes of the rich and powerful that you’ve effectively disarmed yourself. You need to start getting serious about things. So high-ranking members of the Ministry object to random checks for Dark Marks or to see if they’ve had the Imperius Curse cast on them? Tough! They’ll just have to lump it. So what if they cause waves? Remember, Lucius Malfoy was Fudge’s closest advisor and look how he turned out.”

“While I won’t dispute what you say, I’m walking a fine line, here,” Scrimgeour admitted, sounding a lot less dismissive. “A no-confidence vote in the Wizengamot could see me thrown out and someone a lot more amenable to You-Know-Who’s ideas installed.”

“The only people who would vote against you are Voldemort’s followers. If you instigate an immediate policy of arresting anyone with a Dark Mark, or who has proven to support him in the past, you’ll have no problem maintaining a clear majority in the Wizengamot,” Harry pointed out. “That old defence of being under the Imperius Curse might have worked for Fudge, but we both know it’s bullshit.”

“You do realise that I’d effectively be declaring war on a section of our own society if I do that, don’t you?” Scrimgeour countered.

“Sir, they’ve already started the war. Look at that attack on Hogsmeade, not to mention the raid on that Muggle village.”

“That’s classified,” the older man snarled. “I suppose Dumbledore told you about it, did he?”

“He did,” Harry confirmed unrepentantly, “and bearing in mind that my friends and I have so far been the only ones to mount any effective response to the Death Eater attacks, you can’t really blame him, can you?”

“The fact that you and that little group of followers you have just happened to be in the right place at the right time doesn’t mean much,” Scrimgeour pointed out. “The Dark Lord’s forces can appear out of nowhere and be gone before we can mount any response. Just because you got lucky doesn’t mean that we will.”

“Exactly, and this is what I meant about being more aggressive. We can’t afford to sit back and let them pick us off willy-nilly. Hell, many more attacks on the Muggles like the last one and the Statute of Secrecy will be in danger. No, we’ve got to hunt them down, to go on the offensive. Arrest the ones who are trying to remain an active part of our society. A watch also needs to be kept on all property belonging to any suspect Death Eater. If you haven’t the manpower to watch all the places, then Monitoring Charms will tip you off if any large-scale activity takes place, like a group of the bastards Apparating out on a raid. Once you’ve pinned down the locations they are using, you need to hit those places hard with strike teams made up of Aurors, Hit Wizards and curse-breakers. Disrupt their operations by taking out their bases and making them look over their shoulders all the time.”

“That… could work,” Scrimgeour agreed reluctantly.

“Of course it could. Oh, and you need to take the kid-gloves off your personnel, too. Trying to Stun and capture your suspects is all well and good, but the time for that is long past. Your Law Enforcement staff need to be cleared to use lethal spells without repercussions. That’s especially important as I’m guessing Azkaban isn’t looking too secure at the moment, is it?”

“How can you possibly know that? Even Dumbledore doesn’t know about the latest breakout!” the Minister gasped.

“I said I knew how Voldemort thought, didn’t I?” Harry countered. “Have the Dementors all gone over to his side?”

“Yes, and they slaughtered most of the prison guards before they left, too,” Scrimgeour admitted. “We’re using the holding cells in the Ministry at the moment, but we don’t have a lot of spare capacity.”

“There must be somewhere in the Department of Mysteries you can use. Hell, if it comes to it, hire the goblins to run your prisons. I bet the little buggers would love it. You’ll need the extra space if you’re going to start rounding up anyone with a Dark Mark. Voldemort’s been particularly generous in granting them. Just arresting a few poor sods who were genuinely subjected to the Imperius Curse isn’t going to cut it.”

Harry and his friends had recently read about the arrest of the Knight Bus conductor, Stan Shunpike, who had to rate as the most unlikely Death Eater recruit going. Still, if he was under the effects of the curse, imprisonment was probably the safest thing for the man.

The Minister stood and walked over to the window. He looked out for a moment, before turning back to Harry and giving him an appraising look.

“How is it that a sixteen-year-old schoolboy has come up with more ideas about how to defeat You-Kno… I mean, V…Voldemort, than all my senior advisors and supposed experts?”

“As I said, I know him best, and I’ve got the most to lose if he isn’t stopped, I reckon,” Harry pointed out bitterly.

“Very true,” Scrimgeour nodded. “Very well, there’s wisdom in what you propose. I had hoped we could contain this without ripping our society apart, but I guess it’s too late for that. If only that moron Fudge had gotten his finger out… well, I suppose there’s no point worrying about what might have been. I rather think, young Harry, that we’ll be working together from this point.”

“Glad to hear it, Minister,” Harry grinned. “Shall we fetch in your photographer and make it official?”

Scrimgeour smiled and nodded.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPH PHP

Despite so much positive going on his life, Harry couldn’t help but feel a certain sense of foreboding as autumn progressed. The reason was pretty obvious to him and all his friends: Halloween was coming.

Despite it generally being regarded as one of the most popular celebrations of the year at Hogwarts, for him it was a time of dark depression, when he was most aware of exactly what Voldemort had taken from him. Add to the fact that bad things normally seemed to occur around that time, too, and it was no surprise that he dreaded the holiday.

His friends were all aware of his blackening mood, with Ron and Hermione in particular being extra supportive. Strangely, Ginny seemed to adopt a ‘business as usual’ approach, and even started mildly berating him when he became too sullen. While he understood what she was doing, he couldn’t help but feel she was being a little unsympathetic.

As it turned out, he couldn’t have been more wrong.

The 31st of October actually, for once, passed without incident. There were no reports of Death Eaters attacks, or even trolls going on the rampage in the dungeons. Through the diligence of his friends, Harry didn’t even have to suffer any cruel jibes from mean-spirited Slytherins. Generally, he had to admit, the day was going usually well.

At that moment, he was sitting in the common room with Ron and Hermione, waiting to go down to the Great Hall for the annual Halloween feast. Ginny had yet to make an appearance, and Neville had already left to meet up with Luna. While he couldn’t truthfully say he was looking forward to the feast, he wasn’t loathing the idea, either.

“Right, time to head down,” Hermione decided suddenly, rising to her feet.

“What about Ginny?” Harry protested as Ron also stood up.

“Oh, you’ll have to wait for her,” Ron replied breezily. “See ya later.”

And with that, his two best friends vanished through the portrait hole without a backward glance. Considering how protective the pair had been of him throughout the day, he thought this was strange behaviour.

“Hi, Harry,” a voice greeted him.

He turned his head to see Ginny standing at the bottom of the staircase that led to the girls’ dormitory, a radiant smile on her lips.

“Hi yourself. I was getting worried you’d drowned in the shower, or something,” he replied grumpily. “The others have already left, but I’m sure we can catch up with Hermione and Ron if we hurry.”

“No.”

“Err, what?” Harry said in surprise.

“I said, no,” Ginny repeated firmly. “We’re not going to make it to the feast this year.”

“Why not?” he asked suspiciously.

“Because its time you had a few positive memories of this holiday. I’m sure the feast will be fun and all, but we’re going to be partaking in more traditional entertainments tonight.”

“Like what?” he asked, genuinely intrigued at what she had planned.

“This is Samhain, to give it its proper name. A night when spirits walk the earth, and when the walls between the world of the living and the dead are at their thinnest,” Ginny announced with a familiar blazing look in her eyes. “A night when witches take to the air and fly!”

“Yeah?”

“Oh, yeah! That’s what we’re going to do, Harry; you and me. We’re going to soar through the moonlit skies, and then later I’ve arranged a little supper of own in the Room of Requirement.”

“Sounds like fun,” he admitted. “Are we taking our brooms or flying under our own steam?”

“Under our own steam,” she grinned.

“Okay, that definitely sounds more entertaining than just sitting around stuffing ourselves,” Harry grinned.

“Of course,” Ginny replied haughtily before offering her arm for him to take. “Shall we?”

“Do let's,” he smirked.

They made their way out of the common room and down to the ground floor and out of the large, oak doors. The night proved to be crisp and clear, with the moon waxing but sufficiently bright to light up the grounds clearly. With only the occasional cloud in the sky, it looked like a perfect night for flying.

Harry was slightly surprised when Ginny began to lead him in the direction of the Quidditch pitch, but he said nothing until they were standing outside the locker rooms.

“What are we doing here?” he asked her curiously.

“I thought it would be a good place to leave to leave our clothes while we fly. After all, we don’t want some git to come and nick them, do we?”

Dubiously, he looked around. He could already see his breath clearly in the cold night air, and the temperature promised to drop further with the possibilities of a frost.

“Umm, Ginny, as much as I love getting naked with you, it’s a bit parky to be running around in the buff, isn’t it?”

She looked at him in surprise. “You realise that you can regulate the temperature of the ambient magic that lifts us as we fly, don’t you? I always make sure I heat the air up a bit when I fly.”

He looked at her in stunned silence for a moment, before he sighed and shook his head. It was so obvious! Heating the air around him as he flew would be simplicity itself.

“That’s brilliant, luv,” he grinned. “See, this is exactly why I need you as a girlfriend. I’d have never have thought of that.”

“Naturally, Harry; you’re a boy. You probably think it’s more macho to freeze your bits off,” she laughed.

“Having swum in the lake during the Triwizard Tournament, I can assure you that there is nothing macho about your bits freezing off,” he assured her with a snort.

“Just as well. I’ve grown very fond of your bits,” Ginny replied saucily. “Come on then, let’s get out of these clothes and into the air!”

They vanished into the changing room, both of them using the girls’ section, only to emerge cautiously a few minutes later. While they assumed everyone was at the feast, they couldn’t be totally certain. Fortunately, no one was in sight.

They looked at each other expectantly, before they both effortlessly rose into the air. Despite a chilling mist that clung to the ground, Harry felt warm and secure in his blanket of magic. Although unnecessary, he instinctively stretched his arms out in front of him as he flew, and noticed Ginny did the same.

“Superman’s got nothing on me,” he muttered to himself as they began to pick up speed.

Ginny clearly had a plan, as she banked sharply to the right and began to head straight for the lake. It was probably a good idea, he realised, as it would be extremely unlikely that any casual observers might spot them as they flew over the water. As they approached the expanse of water, a smile came to his lips. It was a breath-taking night. The dark waters glistened in the light of the moon and the sky shone with a hazy glow. The stars had started to appear in the heavens above, glittering like diamonds.

With his previous sour mood completely dispelled, Harry looked over towards his girlfriend, who was flying parallel to him. Her hair was billowing behind her like a fiery red mane, and the moonlight was reflecting off her pale skin. Truly, she looked like some wondrous, unearthly deity rather than a fifteen-year-old girl. Hecate herself would have greeted Ginny as an equal that night.

Unable to restrain himself, Harry started to bank towards her. Seeing him approaching, Ginny grinned and turned on her side, her arms open to welcome him. He slid into her embrace even as they sped above the dark waters of the lake.

Their pace began to slow as he kissed her, eventually coming to a complete halt near the center of the lake. They hung in the air, their bodies entwined as they greedily ran their hands over each other. Harry was barely aware that they were drifting gently, maybe thirty feet above the water, such was his complete preoccupation with the fiery witch in his arms. Dimly he realised that they were discharging an enormous amount of magic, but he simply didn’t care. Let them raise a storm! It would be a fitting accompaniment to their passion.

“Harry, I want you,” Ginny gasped urgently.

No force on earth could have stopped him after he heard that. Pulling her closer to him, he slid into her effortlessly. She wrapped her legs around him as they spun in the air, oblivious to everything other than each other. A brilliant flash of lightning briefly lit up the sky, illuminating Hogwarts against the skyline, but Harry was oblivious. All he cared about was thrusting himself deeper and deeper into the girl he loved.

Ginny cried out in pleasure, her hair whipping around her head and shoulders as she urged him on. A sudden blast of icy wind turned the previously calm waters into a raging mass of waves, but still they drifted on, untouched by the mounting chaos around them.

There seemed to be voices in the wind as it raced by them, calling to them and screaming their approval at their union, but Harry ignored them. He knew he was close to climaxing, as was Ginny, and he could barely maintain any conscious thoughts. His body was operating on automatic, his senses completely overwhelmed and incapable of action. Then, without warning, he came; empting himself into Ginny with such a sense of release that he thought he might die from pleasure. Ginny howled like a wounded beast, her body bucking and shaking against him.

And then they were done. The skies cleared as quickly as they had clouded over, the raging waters were suddenly calm, while the air became still. Clutching each other desperately, the two lovers drifted gently and without direction, too wrapped up in each other to know or care where they were going.

Eventually, Ginny lifted her head and looked directly into Harry’s eyes.

“Oh, that was unreal!” she gasped, her beautiful eyes wide with wonder.

“It was indescribable,” Harry agreed, unable to even begin to put what he currently felt into words.

Ginny just smiled and hugged him even tighter as they floated onwards, deeper into the night. Never again would Harry just associate Halloween just with unpleasant events. Indeed, he realised, he would probably never be the same ever again.










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