Year Six
Thanks for all the reviews.
You’ll be happy to know I didn’t add more than clarifying paragraphs to the last chapter.
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Harry, Sirius, and Remus were sitting in the study of Grimmuald Place. It was late in the evening, and they were having cocoa and afters. Each eating their preferred dessert. Harry was nervous and it was showing.
“Harry, what’s gotten into you?” Sirius finally asked, after the teen sloshed his cocoa over his fingers for the third time.
“I have something to tell you and I’m not sure how you’re going to take it,” the boy confessed, putting his cup down, wiping his hand on a napkin, and picking up his treacle tart. He took comfort in the sweet treat, though the plate he was holding was rattling, his hands were shaking that hard. He didn’t know why he was so nervous. Sirius would still love him.
“Just spit it out,” Remus suggested, eating chocolate cake, his go to dessert. If it was chocolate, it was his. It didn’t matter what form it took.
“There is nothing you could say that would make me love you any less,” Sirius stated firmly. He didn’t have any dessert, but he did have a glass of firewhiskey. He had drunk his cocoa straightaway and then turned to alcohol. He preferred to have a stiff drink at night. He still had nightmares about Azkaban.
“I think my scar is a horcrux,” Harry blurted out, dropping his dessert plate in his lap. His fingers giving out at the bluntness of it. He quickly picked it up and put it on the table next to him.
“Shite,” Sirius said, also putting his glass down. That wasn’t something he was expecting to hear. The only way to rid something of a horcrux was to destroy the vessel. He wasn’t about to do that to his godson.
“Why do you think that?” Remus wanted to know. He discarded his cake as well.
“The visions and dreams I get, and the pain afterwards. Then there was the pain I felt around Quirrell. When I’m around the other horcruxes, I get a tingly feeling. It isn’t much, I don’t mention it, but it’s there,” Harry said, ticking off all his symptoms on his fingers. He cut his eyes to his godfather, who looked very worried and angry. It wasn’t a good combination to see.
“Shite,” Sirius said again. He put his head in his hands and grabbed his hair in frustration. “There has to be a way to get it out of there,” he snarled more to himself than to anyone else.
“We’ll figure it out,” Remus said, always the calmer one. He reached over and put his hand on one of Sirius’ arms. His eyes never left Harry’s though. He didn’t want the boy to think there was anything to worry about.
“It’s not like I can have Sally bite my head,” Harry snapped, then took a calming breath. “Sorry,” he said, looking contrite. “I haven’t slept well,” he explained, rubbing his eyes as if to prove his point.
“I can imagine,” the werewolf said, giving him a commiserating smile. The boy’s eyes had dark marks under them, like this had been plaguing him for days, if not weeks.
“I’m calling Bill,” Sirius said, getting up and going to the floo. It wasn’t three minutes later that Bill was coming into the study with Sirius.
“What’s this I hear your scar is a horcrux?” the redhead asked, peering at Harry like he was a particularly interesting puzzle to solve.
Bill was a handsome bloke. He was tall, lanky, and had cool red hair that hung to his shoulders. There was a fang earring hanging from his left ear. He looked like a cross between a biker and rockstar.
“I think so,” Harry said, relaying to him what he told the other two. He was relieved that Bill was here. The curse-breaker would know what to do. The twins had nothing but good things to say about their oldest brother. They always admired the way Bill had left home the first chance he got and never looked back.
“Let me look at it,” Bill said, getting out his wand and coming up to the nervous teen. He waved his wand over the scar and said a few words. A scroll popped up and words formed on it. He looked at the results of his spellcasting and frowned. “Well, it is, and it isn’t,” he stated, confusion laced his tone.
“What do you mean?” Sirius asked, a bit of anger in his voice.
“He’s a horcrux, but not a true one. There’s a piece of soul in his scar, but there’s no binding ritual holding it there,” Bill explained, still reading the results. “It’s like it’s hanging there by a thread. There was no ritual that made it stick,” he added, trying to explain as best he could.
“Oh,” came the understanding reply from the three other men in the room.
“Can you remove it?” Remus asked, leaning forward a bit as if to hear faster.
“I can’t,” Bill said, making Harry sigh in defeat, “but the goblins can,” he finished, making everyone perk up. “For a fee,” he added with a smirk. “The goblins charge an exorbitant amount for rituals such as this,” he said, making sure they understood.
“We’ll pay whatever they ask,” Sirius said, waving the thought of any cost being too much. He’d give up his entire vault to get rid of it.
“I’d start with letting them have some of this goblin-made silver back,” Bill said, pointedly. “That’ll go a long way into getting into their good graces.” He knew they’d cut the cost of the ritual in half to get most of these treasures back into their hands.
“Done,” the dogman stated, calling the house elves. He told them to gather up all the goblin-made silver and put it into a bag and make sure it was not cursed. If it was, leave it. He’d deal with that another day. “Tomorrow, we go to Gringotts,” he told the room.
So that’s what they did. Bill gave them the name of the goblin to bargain with, Zogwart, and what to say. It was a simple matter of handing over all the silver and a small ritual and Harry was extra soul free. To say they were all relieved was an understatement.
They didn’t count it as one of the horcruxes that Voldy knew about, since there was no ritual attached to it. They concluded that somehow Harry was cursed by mistake. It had to have happened that Halloween night that his parents died.
However, that wasn’t the only business that Sirius had with the goblins. His account manager, Sharptooth, caught him before he left the bank. They had almost made it to the door too when the goblin waylaid them.
“Come with me,” the manager said, waving for them to follow him.
“What now?” Sirius groaned. He hated getting caught unawares.
They followed him down the many hallways and into the office, which was barren except for a large wooden desk with a comfy looking chair, a filing cabinet, and a few extra wooden chairs for clients. They sat in those chairs. They were hard and not comfy.
“Since you are the lord of the House of Black, you need to decide what to do with Bellatrix Lestrange’s vault,” Sharptooth said, pulling out a file. His desk was littered with them. There was other office paraphernalia, such as quills, inkpots, a stapler, scissors, and paperclips. They were all magical of course, but they were still boring office equipment.
“Just give…” Sirius started but was stopped before he could just give the vault away.
“Wait,” Remus said, grabbing Sirius’ arm. “Do you really want to give Voldy money?” he whispered into his friend’s ear. “That’ll give him more money for the war. You don’t know if Narcissa is in his pocket or not,” he added urgently. “Lucius may be dead, but Draco is not. He still spouts off pureblood propaganda,” he continued, going on what Harry told him.
“Right,” the dogman said, turning back to the goblin and saying, “Go through it. Take out the goblin-made stuff and uncurse anything dark. If you find anything interesting, let me know.” He turned to Remus and smiled, like he was looking for approval.
Remus just rolled his eyes.
“It will be done,” the manager said, making notes and then waving them away. He was a very busy goblin after all.
They got up, bid the goblin farewell, left the office and then the bank. They decided to shop for a bit but were soon bored and went home. They decided to celebrate. They went out to have pizza and a movie. They wanted it to be just them.
They discussed it and called Bill. It was going to remain a secret, between just the four of them. The goblins were discreet. They wouldn’t tell anyone their clients’ secrets. Harry didn’t like keeping secrets from his friends, but he understood why it had to be this way.
His scar was gone, but for a faint outline. He was going to explain it away as a partial truth. That he had a cleansing ritual done by the goblins. The story was, that it was Sirius’ suggestion for health purposes.
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The Order meetings were still going on, but the Order was being a bit more proactive now. They were still guarding the prophecy, though not as stringently as they had been. Mostly because there were Death Eater raids going on, and they were trying to counterraid them.
Snape was doing his best to tell them when and where, but he had to maintain his cover. Sometimes he wasn’t told about them, and others he was tricked to see if he was spying. His Occlumency told him of those times. Most of the time. Voldemort was an Occlumens too. So, Severus had to be very careful.
The Order usually showed up in time to help the victims at least. Unfortunately, they weren’t much help in stopping the raids. To give them credit, they were doing more than the Aurors, who were still being bogged down by politics.
Fudge’s days were numbered. His greatest supporter was gone, as was his undersecretary. The Wizengamot was meeting soon to vote on whether or not to keep him. There was talk of having Bones as Interim Minister. Possibly permanent. She was harshly protesting that post.
Harry, and the other kids, were left out of the loop for the most part. Sirius would tell them what happened after the fact, but there was little that they needed to know. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to help, but they were burdened with the rules of underage magic, and the Statute of Secrecy. They were severely limited in any action they could take. It was simpler to let the able-bodied adults handle it.
Dumbledore was hiding something, but no one could get it out of him. He fired Remus again and hired Snape as the DADA professor. The kids didn’t like that at all. Remus was the best teacher for DADA they had had.
“I’m glad I’m not in school anymore,” Lee said one day when he and the twins were helping Harry in the suitcase. They were gathering up Acromantula webbing for some joke products. There were some things that required delicate weaving. That and the silk was strong, it was good stuff and expensive. The fact that Harry was giving it to them was saving them a bundle.
“I wish I wasn’t,” Harry complained. He really didn’t like Snape. He had hoped to be shot of the man, but now he had to put up with him for at least another year. Possibly two. “That’s not true, but I’m not looking forward to his class,” he reiterated, putting down the cage he was holding.
“Harry, have you ever thought of selling off any of these animal byproducts?” Fred asked, winding up some webbing. He was holding quite a large ball of it by now.
“How do you think I keep this lot fed?” Harry asked, feeding some rabbits to his giant spiders. They were staying far away from the humans, so he released some live rabbits for them to hunt. He hated that he had to do it, but he understood the survival of the fittest. He did the same for Sally and the others. Though, Buckbeak preferred ferrets.
“Oh, who do you sell to?” George wanted to know. “I would have heard if basilisk venom was for sale,” he added, a thoughtful frown on his brow. “It would have been all over Diagon and Knockturn Alley,” he added, giving Fred a knowing look.
“I only sell that to the goblins,” Harry said, a wicked grin on his face. The other three boys exchanged looks behind his back and nodded at the wisdom of that. “They pay top galleon for that. They use it for some super-secret recipe that has to do with gem making.” He was proud of that transaction. “They say it’s like an acid and it cleans the gems, or something like that.”
“That was right smart of you, Harry. Did Bill set you up with that contract?” Fred wanted to know.
“I wouldn’t put it past our brother to set something like that up,” George concurred.
“No, it was Waters. Well, someone in his office. He doesn’t deal with contracts,” Harry said, putting the cage that had had the rabbits in it down and going to help them gather the webbing. “I sell Sally’s shed skin to a leatherer and the cobblers. This webbing goes to tailors and weavers. The elves find others that can use it. Like you lot,” he said, jostling George’s elbow with his.
“Oi, I like that,” George said, good-naturedly.
“Buckbeak’s feathers can be used for arrows and hats, and other such things,” the dark-haired teen continued. “The Sphinx really doesn’t have much she can contribute, but she does let me use her dung, like the rest, for fertilizer.”
“So, you’re sitting on a goldmine,” Lee concluded, putting his ball of web in a basket they had set aside for just that purpose.
“Yup,” was the answer. “And you lot are getting it for free,” he added with a smile.
“Lucky us,” George chimed, smiling like a loon.
They finished with their task, Harry checked on all his animal friends, and Umbridge, who the others still didn’t know about, and they left the suitcase.
Summer continued along that vein, along with them taking trips to muggle London for shopping, eating and movies. They made sure to include Ron and Ginny. It wasn’t polite to leave them behind.
They all had a great time and nothing particularly dangerous happened to them. Well, other than the occasional attempted muggings, or intimidation by the locals. London wasn’t a particularly safe place all the time and they didn’t stick to safe neighborhoods. They wanted to see everything. However, the twins and Lee usually took care of that with some quick use of magic and pranks. They kept it lowkey and never hurt anyone. There was no mugglebaiting. They used just enough to distract and get away.
“Dumbledore wants permission to show you some memories of Tom’s,” Sirius said one day at dinner after the Order had left. The request had caught him by surprise. “He can’t do it without yours or my permission because of the restraining order,” he explained, unnecessarily.
“What? Why?” Harry asked, serving himself up some Toad in the Hole. He loved this meal. Dobby cooked it at least twice a month.
“He said it was so you could know your enemy,” the other man said, taking some of the meal and putting it on his plate. “Or something like that. I couldn’t get a straight answer out of him. You know how he is,” he grumbled.
“I don’t want to know Tom,” the teen protested, pouring himself some pumpkin juice. “He’s a psychopath. What more do I need to know about him?” He was completely blindsided by this request.
“That’s what I told Albus, but he’s being pretty persistent,” Sirius said, taking some vegetables and adding them to his dish.
“Tell him to give them to you and you can go through them. Then you can decide if Harry needs to see them,” Remus suggested, sticking to salad. His stomach wasn’t feeling well. It was too close to the full moon. He poured some milk for his beverage.
“That is a good idea,” Harry agreed, taking a huge bite of his dinner, and considering the matter closed.
“I’ll do that,” Sirius said, and started on his meal too.
A week later, Sirius came up to Harry while the boy was relaxing on his bed.
“So, I looked at those memories and I can tell you that Tommy boy had a rough childhood, and some pathetic parents and relatives. Well, not his father, but the rest, yeah. Anyway, I don’t see that you need to see the memories,” he told the teen as he leaned against the doorway of his room. “That is unless you want to,” he added. He understood that Albus was trying to steer Harry towards the horcruxes. The necklace and the ring in the memories were a dead giveaway.
Now all they needed to do was find the cup.
“If you think it’s not necessary, then I’ll pass,” Harry said, looking up from the book he was reading. He really didn’t want to look into the mind of Tom Riddle.
“Good call,” his godfather said, turning to leave the room.
It was a few days after that they got the letter from Gringotts. That letter had them all trooping to the bank. It was also Harry’s birthday, and it wasn’t how they wanted to be spending it, but the goblins made it sound urgent.
They were taken to Sharptooth’s office, and they sat in the uncomfortable chairs. Sharptooth wasn’t there, and they were making small talk until he showed. It was unusual for a goblin not to be where he said he was going to be.
“I apologize for making you wait. I was speaking with my king,” the goblin said as he came rushing in the office. “We found something in the Lestrange vault that had the whole bank up-in-arms.” He stood looking at them, like he was about to impart some bad news.
“Let me guess,” Sirius said, dread in his voice, “you found a horcrux.” His shoulders slumped. He knew his cousin was crazy, but not that crazy.
“How did you know that?” the goblin asked, anger in his tone. “Do you know how many treaties that violates?” he demanded. There had been talk of war over this breach. It was only because this woman was a known sociopath that it was held off.
“Woah, I didn’t know she had one in there. That crazy bitch did that long before I was lord of the House. I’ll lay ten to one odd that no one in the family did,” Sirius protested, holding up his hands defensively.
“We’ve already killed three. We know the You-Know-Who made seven. We’ve been hunting them,” Remus said, quickly. “We didn’t think anyone would be stupid enough to put one in their vault,” he added, making an ‘it’s not our fault’ gesture.
Harry just looked at everyone, kind of confused as to what the problem was. They found it and it was destroyed, so he didn’t understand the issue.
Sharptooth took a deep breath and calmed down. “You’re right, it’s not your fault,” he stated, going to his seat, and picking up a file. “Nevertheless, it has been destroyed. Half of that vault has been seized in recompense. Your vault will be left untouched,” he stated, looking at Sirius.
“Sounds fair,” Lord Black said, nodding his head. It could be a lot worse. “Was it a cup?” he asked, genuinely curious.
“Yes, how did you know?” the goblin asked, just as interested.
“Dumbledore told me,” Sirius said, a bit of a snarl in his tone, making the others in the room look at him queerly. He waved them off for now.
“At any rate, the vault is closed, and the rest was put in the Black vault. Lady Malfoy had come and demanded to have the treasures from the vault given to her but was denied. I told her to take it up with you,” Sharptooth continued, reading from his notes.
“I’d like to see that,” Harry said with a snicker.
“Shush,” Remus said, though there was laughter in his eyes.
“That is all I have for you,” Sharptooth said, putting his notes down and looking at them expectantly.
“Well, then we are off to celebrate, not only that, but Harry’s birthday,” Sirius said, getting up and going to the door as quickly as possible without running.
They left and went back to Grimmuald Place, where Harry’s friends were waiting with a surprise party. Half the Order was there as well, and it was a good time had by all. Well, not Molly or Moody, but for different reasons. Molly was upset that she was not allowed in the kitchen, and Moody just wasn’t a party person.
The next day, Harry, and his friends, went to visit the twins’ joke shop, Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. Sirius kept good on his promise and when the twins and Lee had five NEWTs each, he helped them set up shop. Lee decided to be a silent partner. He had a third share and did share the flat above the shop. It was a three-bedroom flat, so it worked out.
The store was a marvel in magic, it was colorful and sparkly, and it had loads of jokes, pranks, and other doodads. There were things that could get you out of danger as well, which they gave Harry, Neville, Hermione, and Luna free of charge. They gave them to them in a care package.
Things like Decoy Detectors, Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder, Jinx-Off, and Sheild Hats and Gloves. They were all they had at the moment, but they were working on more. There were some jokes in there, like the Portable Swamps, and Weasleys' Wildfire Whiz-bangs, that could be used to help someone get away.
Harry and the younger members of his group of friends had a great time browsing the joke shop. But summer came to an end, and they had to say goodbye to the entrepreneurs. The twins were just as putout that they wouldn’t be seeing as much of their little buddies as they used to, but they had a business to run. However, they would be coming on Hogsmeade weekends to collect ingredients from Harry’s suitcase. So, there was that to look forward to.
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Then it was time to go back to school, and Harry was still upset that the twins and Lee wouldn’t be there, but he had Luna and the rest, so he endured. They were all sitting in a compartment, sans prefect Hermione, just chatting away about Luna’s creatures, when the door flew open.
Draco Malfoy stood there, his face a mask of hate. “I know you had something to do with my father being put to death,” he snarled at Harry. His wand was in hand, but it was pointed at the floor. His two bruisers were nowhere in sight.
“What? No, I didn’t,” Harry protested, completely shocked at the accusation. “I am not a cop, or a lawyer,” he stated, not understanding where that logic was coming from.
“You had him arrested in the first place,” Draco reasoned.
“How do you figure that?” Harry asked, not shifting his eyes even a centimeter. “I was with Neville and Luna that night. They can tell you that we were in the woods the whole time,” he said, looking to his two friends.
“Yeah, Malfoy, you’re stirring the wrong cauldron,” Neville stated, his face a blank mask.
Luna just dreamily stared at the boy.
“My father was petrified,” Malfoy said, a sneer firmly on his face. “You have a snake that can do that. You are the only one that can do that,” he stated as if it were a foregone fact.
“I don’t know what to tell you,” Harry said, standing up and going to the irate teen. He stood toe-to-toe with the blond. They were of the same height. “But here in the world of magic, there are loads of spells that can ‘petrify’ someone. Prove I did something, then come and talk to me. Until then, bugger off,” he said, shoving the boy out of the compartment. He closed the door but didn’t lock it.
“He’s going to be trouble,” Luna predicted. Her eyes reflected her worry.
“Is he now?” Harry asked, hating it when she was right. Which was more often than not.
“You need to keep a close eye on him. He’s already a Death Eater,” she said, crossing her legs and kicking the top one carelessly.
“Dammit,” Harry said, breaking out his mirror and calling Sirius. He relayed what had just happened to the man and let him know what Luna said. Sirius cussed and went to tell everyone in the know. Neville and Luna were curious about the mirror, and Harry told them about it and swore them to silence.
The group went on to talk about how they’d keep an eye on Draco without being caught. The twins had given Harry the map, and he had his invisibility cloak. He also had his spider friends, so there were possibilities. They went over scenarios, until Hermione came back and then stopped. They didn’t want to involve her, since she was a prefect.
A professor named Horace Slughorn invited Harry to tea in his compartment. Harry went to see what it was all about and spent a boring hour listening to the man toot his own horn about the famous people he knew, and how he could introduce Harry, and the other kids there, including Ginny, to them.
When that little party was over, Harry returned to his friends, and they all had a good laugh over it. Slughorn was going to be interesting at the very least. They just hoped Snape was a better DADA teacher than he was Potions.
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The feast was lively, yet uninteresting. The first week also went by with not much happening. Slughorn’s class was much more entertaining than Snape’s ever was, though Harry only got his information secondhand. He wasn’t interested in taking Potions.
Snape was an excellent DADA professor. Much to everyone’s chagrin. They all had to eat crow over it because they all thought he’d be terrible. He knew his stuff and was concise on his instructions. He still had to watch his tongue when it came to Harry, yet he didn’t seem to be quite as inclined to cut him down in this class.
Harry was still going to his extra classes with Grubbly-Plank, though she was running out of things to teach him. He now knew everything he needed to know about his suitcase, so they were learning how to study animals in the wild. That was completely different, and Harry was excited.
Harry had a few of his spider friends tagging Draco, and they kept seeing him go into the Come and Go room. They would follow him in there, but since they couldn’t talk, they couldn’t tell Harry what he was doing.
He would just follow them there and see them crawl all over a cabinet. It didn’t make sense to him. What did this wardrobe have to do with anything? He just continued to keep a watch on the other teen.
It was a month into the school year when Fudge was ousted from his office. Amelia Bones took the Interim Minister position. She swore they had better not make it permanent. She wanted to stay head of the DMLE. She suggested they elect Greengrass as a neutral party.
The race was on, Dumbledore was backing Amos Diggory. The dark faction was backing Theodore Nott Sr, and Bones was backing Stephen Greengrass. It was going to be a tight vote.
However, while Bones was in office, she was cleaning house. There were people being fired right and left for being terrorist. They were questioned and then incarcerated. They were in every part of the Ministry, and she was not happy about that. There had been three attempts on her life, but the Order of the Pheonix and her own Aurors had been there to save her. She was beefing up the Auror force and putting forces at Azkaban.
The dementors had already abandoned their post and the DoM was coming up with a way to banish them or kill them.
Harry didn’t have any more visions, and he was thankful for that. He dreamed of Voldy’s snake and wondered if he could save it. He even pictured where he’d put it in his suitcase. He asked Sally if she’d share her enclosure with it. She said she’d have to meet it first.
The tension in the school was high. There was the Minister race and the war. Muggleborn were on razor’s edge and had their wands, and other weapons, ready at all times. The dark faction were bullies that were hardly ever taken to task by the staff, so the rest of the school had to defend themselves.
Slughorn tried to lighten the mood with his Slug Club, but it did little to help. Mainly, since only the cream of the crop was invited. Harry always took Luna when he was invited, and they had fun talking about her animals and confusing the other guests. Slughorn indulged them like he did everyone he thought would further his career and life.
“Have you figured out what Malfoy is doing yet?” Luna asked him one day after one of those club meetings.
“No. All I know is that he goes into the Come and Go Room,” Harry said, pouting. They were walking along the hallway and looking around at the paintings they had seen a million times.
“What is he doing in there?” she asked, linking her arm in his.
“Something with a wardrobe,” was his answer. “Want to see?” he asked, thinking maybe she’d know what it was.
“Sure,” she said, and they made their way to the Room of Requirements.
“This is it,” he said, showing her the cabinet that the spiders had showed him.
“This is a Vanishing Cabinet,” she said, looking the thing over and seeing the runes carved on it.
“What does that mean?” Harry asked, looking at it in a different light. He should have known that. He could see it now that she pointed it out. He passed his OWLs in Runes. These were NEWT level though. His friend was just so much smarter than he was.
“If you put something in it, it shows up in its mate,” Luna answered, examining it closely. “This one is broken, but it looks like he’s fixing it. I wonder why?” she mused.
“It can’t be for a good reason,” Harry said, taking out his wand. He was just about to obliterate it when she stopped him.
“No, wait,” she said, putting her hand on his arm. “I want to do something,” she said, a mischievous smile on her lips. She took out her wand and started carving something on the back of the cabinet.
“What did you do?” Harry asked as they were leaving.
“Anything that comes through will be inside out,” she said, a sadistic grin on her face.
“Oh, you are wicked,” he said, kissing her on the cheek.
They went on to spend the day together and parted at curfew. They wound up spending a lot of time together, which seemed to piss a lot of girls off. Well, bugger them. He liked Luna and those other girls were just people he knew in passing.
Hogsmeade weekends were a lot of fun. The twins were there, and they made everything worthwhile. They regaled the younger crowd with stories of the customers from their shop and how well their stock was selling. The whole group would spend time in Harry’s suitcase gathering ingredients for the twins. And a fun time was had by all.
That was until one day that the Death Eaters attacked. The group didn’t even know about the attack until they were coming out of the suitcase. The town was in chaos and Harry went back in and had Buckbeak, the Sphinx and Sally come and help the town. He and his group came out fighting. He would have had the spiders and Jeffery, but they didn’t listen too well to him yet.
Buckbeak and the Sphinx tore into the Death Eaters like paper. Sally stayed half in the suitcase, like she had at the World Cup. She petrified those near her and went back to her area. Harry and his group were cursing anyone wearing a mask.
“Is it me, or are these blokes not very good?” George asked, as he downed a Death Eater with moderate ease.
“Well, they are not striking terror in my heart,” Fred agreed, taking down another.
“I don’t know about you lot, but I’m having some difficulty,” Harry disagreed, fighting for all he was worth. His opponent was actually pretty damn good. They were jumping around and trading spells on equal footing. Then again, Harry was only sixteen and not a trained fighter.
Suddenly Sirius was there. “I’ve got this, Harry,” his godfather stated, putting himself in front of his godson. He wasn’t having any issue with the Death Eater.
“Are you sure?” Harry asked, keeping his wand ready and looking around for other enemies.
Most were down, and Buckbeak was actually eating one. Oops, he was probably going to get in trouble for that. He didn’t wait for an answer, he hurried over and pulled the hippogriff away and led him back to the suitcase. Buckbeak protested the loss of his meal. The Sphinx followed without prompting. She had swallowed her foe whole. There was no evidence.
Harry rejoined the fight after his friends were settled, but it was all over but the cleanup. Someone had vanished Buckbeak’s meal, which was good. He’d have to find out who and thank them for that later.
“What are you doing here?” Harry asked Sirius as he walked up to the man, carrying his suitcase.
“Diagon Alley was hit. Voldy was at that one,” his godfather said, checking him over for injuries, glad he didn’t see any. “I came here, while the Aurors and the Order handled that one. I wanted to make sure you lot were okay,” he stated, looking over the rest of the group. George had a gash on his left cheek and Fred had a slash on his chest. Hermione’s hair was missing a hunk, and Luna had a black eye. Neville and Lee were unscathed.
“We’re fine, Mr. Black,” Neville said, he never called Sirius by his given name. It was always Mr. or Lord Black.
“Good, good. Now let’s get you back to the castle,” Sirius said, counting heads and leading the way. He wanted to talk to Albus about the last horcrux. They were still stumped as to what it might be.
So, they all trooped back to Hogwarts and continued with their day. Well, the twins and Lee left. They had to check on their shop. Hopefully, the raid on the Alley didn’t hurt it, or at least not too much.
There were five townsfolk dead and three students. Many of people were injured and there was a triage set up with Madam Pomfrey already there going over them.
Six Death Eaters were killed and eleven arrested. That’s not including the two that were eaten by Harry’s animal friends, but no one was counting them.
Time went on, and now that they knew what Draco was doing, Harry left him to it. He kept his spiders on him in case he did anything different, but for the most part, he left him alone. That was until Katie Bell was poisoned.
The only reason he knew Draco had anything to do with it was because the spiders he had spying on him were crawling all over the sick Katie. At first, people were trying to say Harry had something to do with it, because there were spiders on her. However, Dumbledore put paid to that rather quickly.
“It has come to my attention that some of you think that Harry Potter poisoned young Miss Bell. I would like to snuff that notion out right now. I know for a fact that it was an assassination attempt upon myself that inflicted harm upon her. She is but an unfortunate victim that was caught in the middle between me and Voldemort. Mr. Potter had nothing to do with it. So, cease and desist on spreading that particular rumor,” the headmaster said at breakfast the day after Katie was taken to St. Mungo’s for treatment.
The whole student body started talking about how Katie got caught up in a web of assassination attempts. It was the topic of conversation for a week, until Ralph Cummerbund broke up with Cristy Richardson. Even then it was simmering on the backburner.
Stephen Greengrass won the election, much to Harry’s relief. He didn’t want the light or the dark factions to have a foothold during the war. Not that he was much into politics, but if he couldn’t have Amelia Bones, he’d take Greengrass.
Harry’s detection ring kept going off. He noticed the more time he spent with Luna the more it went off. He went to McGonagall and told her. She said there was little she could do about it unless she caught who was doing the potioning.
“You know there are times when I think that adults are useless,” Harry told Sirius on the mirror after that talk with his Head of House.
“Hey,” his godfather said, completely affronted.
“Not you, but the ones at this school,” he clarified, waving the implied insult away. Then he told him about the conversation he had just had with McGonagall.
“I have to agree with you there,” Sirius said, looking at something off the mirror. “I do have good news. I won my lawsuit against Umbridge’s estate. Bones also won her case against her for multiple counts of assault and battery against minors. If she ever shows up again, she’s facing prison time.”
“That’s great,” Harry said, acting like he didn’t have the woman in his suitcase. “I hope she never shows up though. That woman is wily. She’d talk her way out of it somehow,” he added, keeping his tone neutral and his face blank.
“Right,” Sirius said, eyeing his godson. Then he shook his head and said, “Anyway, I got 100,000 galleons from her estate for using dark magic on you. No one else thought to sue her, so there was no class-action lawsuit.”
“I wonder if they can go for it now?” Harry asked, thinking he could put a bug in a few ears.
“Let drop a few hints,” Sirius said, giving him permission to do just that.
“Anyway, I want to get a few things done before curfew,” Harry said, wanting to talk to Luna before then. They were getting very close to being a couple and he wanted her thoughts on that.
“Alright, I’ll let you go. Keep out of trouble,” Sirius said and signed off.
Harry grumbled and went to find Luna. She was in the library. He took her out of there and led her to the lake. He then proceeded to ask her how she felt about being girlfriend and boyfriend.
“I think that’s a lovely idea,” was all she said.
And just like that they were a couple.
Hphphp
The rest of the year was a mix of good and bad. A few more times someone tried to kill Dumbledore and a student was hurt instead. His assassin was incompetent. Harry was almost certain it was Malfoy, but he had no proof. Sure, he could say his spider told him, but they were inadmissible in court. So, he continued to keep a close eye on the other teen.
On the other hand, he had a girlfriend that loved his animals and liked bugs.
He also found his animagus form. He was a Jumping Spider. It was tiny, furry, spotted black, and he could hide anywhere. He was using it as often as he could but couldn’t sneak away as often as he’d like. He just couldn’t make up a reason for long breaks in routines. He just had too many responsibilities. Meaning he couldn’t stalk Draco.
It was towards the end of the year that the worst happened, and the Death Eaters were let into the school by Draco Malfoy. The first five were turned inside out, via Luna’s rune, but then it fizzled out and the rest came streaming in. One of them was Fenrir Greyback.
By the time anyone could do anything there were already fifteen students dead, and many injured. The upper years were pulling them to safety when Harry opened his case and let Sally, the Sphinx, Buckbeak and Ling out. Ling wasn’t completely trained, but she understood well enough not to attack the kids. She stuck with the Sphinx, who Harry really needed to name.
Sally went through the school swallowing any person wearing a mask. She was moving so fast that it was hard to track her. She was weaving her way through the students and scaring the hell out of them, but getting the Death Eaters that were terrorizing them. One of the first people she got was Greyback.
There was no petrification, or death by gaze. She just opened her mouth and swallowed them.
Buckbeak trampled them, as did the Sphinx. Ling was directed to burn any adult with a mask. She was happy to set them on fire. They would scream, run, and then burn to a crisp in a timely fashion. The fire was just that hot.
The students and staff of Hogwarts were delighted to leave the animals to it. They ran for the dorms, empty classrooms, and the Great Hall and locked themselves in. Well, not all of them, but most of them did. Dumbledore, McGonagall, Flitwick, and Snape stayed and fought.
The upper years, and the rest of the staff got the other students to safety as quickly as they could. some took refuge in the Great Hall, where Madam Pomfrey set up her hospital triage. A great many children were in shock and there were injuries from trying to escape.
Harry was riding on top of Sally. He wasn’t going to miss this for anything. That and he needed to make sure his friends weren’t hurt. He also needed to guide them back into the suitcase when they were done.
While he was riding her, he was throwing some Whiz-bangs about and wearing the Sheild Hat and Gloves. He was causing much chaos for the enemy. He even threw out a Portable Swamp in the middle of the Transfiguration Hall. That caught three Death Eaters.
“Harry, you must stop this senseless killing,” Dumbledore yelled from his fifteen feet distance away. He could get no closer, the restraining order would not let him. He was trying to keep pace with the snake, but it was lightning fast.
“Are you bloody serious right now?” Harry shouted back, stopping, and gaping at the man. “Do you not see Death Eaters in your school ready to kill your students?” he asked loudly, looking at the man in shock.
“The students are safe now. There is no need to kill these people,” Albus yelled, trying to put up a shield to prevent Sally from eating another Death Eater. He failed.
“Look, they are here to kill children. There is no way I’m going to stop Sally from eating them,” Harry yelled, though the men and women who had come to raid the school were on the run now. He took off again and they got four more before they made to their destination.
They were running back to the RoR and heading to the Vanishing Cabinet. There were some that were running out the Entrance Hall and out on the grounds. They were being chased by Buckbeak and Ling. The Sphinx was keeping those two from leaving Hogwarts.
“It’s over, Sally,” Harry said, when the last one disappeared through the cabinet. There were some sixth- and seventh-year students that fought with the enemy and left with them. Not all of them Slytherin. Draco Malfoy was one of them that had ran with the Death Eaters.
When all was said and done, there were twenty-five dead Death Eaters. Fifteen dead students, one dead teacher, Vector. A great many injured, and one pissed off Harry Potter. Well, he wasn’t the only one mad, but he was particularly upset with Dumbledore.
“Severus, you had better report in,” Albus said, shooing the man to retreat to Voldemort. “Explain to him that you were ordered to fight by my side,” he said, trying to cover the man’s arse. “Tell him you did your best, but Harry disobeyed my orders and brought his snake to the fight,” he stated, giving the Boy-Who-Lived an outraged look.
“Of that we can agree,” the dour man said as he twirled and left.
The only reason Harry heard them was because it was so quiet in the halls, and they were talking loud enough for him to hear. He was sure they were doing it on purpose. He got off Sally’s back and went to find the rest of his wayward animals. He also went to pick up his discarded suitcase. He needed to get all of them inside before anyone got hurt.
It took a good half an hour, but they were all safely tucked in, and the school was once more safe. Well, someone needed to get rid of the Vanishing Cabinet.
Harry then called Madam Bones. She was livid that she was called to the school six years in a row. He told her what happened and showed her the wardrobe, and she took it as evidence.
Snape was punished by Voldy for not leaving with the rest of the Death Eaters, but his role as a spy was safe.
Dumbledore was scolded for trying to save the killers, and not arresting them. He had been found innocent in the Umbridge case, but this one… well, he wasn’t looking overly clean. He was an officer of the court, in a fashion. He should have called in the Aurors as soon as the first Death Eater showed.
Sally got a bit of a belly ache from eating so much and was down for a few weeks digesting. Rolf said she’d be fine, she just needed to sleep it off. So, Harry left her alone in her cave, only checking to see if she was awake every now and then. She was still asleep when he went home for the summer.
It was time to go home. The end of the year exams were done, and everyone thought they did well. Though Harry didn’t get any new animals for his suitcase, he did get his animagus form. Maybe it would come in useful in this war. At the very least he could hide with it.
They only had one horcrux left to find. If they could just figure out what it was.