Harry Potter and The Heirs of The Founders

Chapter Fifteen

Plans and Preparations

Harry led his father into their quarters early the next morning despite his lack of sleep. Lily had revealed Harry and Hermione's location to James so that he would be able to find them whenever he wanted, that is after she had given them a little time alone for their honeymoon. Harry was going to guide James through his Pensieve as requested. Although Harry didn't really feel that it was quite appropriate after the weekends escapades, it was something he wanted to get over and done.

'You wanted the truth, both the good and the bad right?' Harry asked his father.

'Yes,' he replied looking at his son slightly confused. 'Harry, you're my son. I want to know what has happened to you. I know that it will probably be very difficult for me to see some of these things, but there's nothing I can do about it now.' Harry hoped he was prepared to see both the good and the bad. He was the first to admit that his life had not exactly been pretty.

'Right,' Harry said with certainty. 'Let's do this then.'

They entered the Pensieve, Harry ready to explain anything that his father did not understand.

They began with the night Voldemort had attacked them. Harry watched his father as he witnessed his mother's "death". He appeared as if he were in pain.

'Do you actually remember this Harry?' his father asked.

'I didn't,' he replied. 'I used to have dreams of riding on a flying motorcycle. Hagrid used Sirius' to bring me to the Dursleys. It wasn't until Sirius escaped and Hogwarts was surrounded by Dementors that I actually saw this. And I haven't really been able to forget it.' His father nodded with understanding.

Harry showed his father few memories of his life with the Dursleys, but just enough so that he got the idea of what life had been like. He saw the look of anger on his father's face as he watched the way Harry had been treated. It almost made Harry scared, his father looked as if he were ready to murder VernonDursley.

He showed his father the day at the zoo when he had accidentally set a python on Dudley. Harry was relieved to hear his father laugh.

'If you had been there you would have disciplined me,' Harry said with amusement at his father's laugh.

'I don't know,' he replied. 'If it had been anyone else, but it was a Dursley!'

Harry guided his father through the next few memories,the Dursley's keeping his letters from him, the happy, yet confusing memories of when he discovered he was a wizard and the truth about his parents; the day he first came to Hogwarts and his first game of Quidditch. Harry was happy about the proud face his father was wearing. Then he guided his father through their discovery of the Philosopher's stone and the journey that they undertook to retrieve the stone so that Voldemort could not. His father looked in awe yet proud at the same time. He guided his father through the Chamber of Secrets. James looked at his son with surprise.

'You're a Parseltongue?' he asked.

'Yeah,' Harry responded. 'Apparently when Voldemort tried to kill me he passed on some of his talents to me.' Harry hoped that this wouldn't change his father's opinion of him. 'It's how I set the python on Dudley and how I managed to save Ginny from the Chamber.'

After the surprise decreased, he showed his father the day Fred and George gave him the Marauders map and additionally the day where it insulted Snape. His father watched those memories with a sort of amusement crossed with pride. Then he showed his father the night they had met Sirius. James watched the exchange with intent; Harry could see him concentrating on the exchanges that occurred in the Shrieking Shack.

'Do you want to keep going?' Harry asked after he had shown his father how they had freed Sirius.

'No,' he said. 'I want to see it all. I need to know.'

Harry guided his father through the year of the TriwizardTournament; he showed him both the glory and the bad. He observed the paleness of his father's skin as he witnessed Voldemort's re-birth. He glanced at his father who was pale and clammy. Harry enquired again if his father had had enough but he insisted to continue. He showed his father the events of the summer after Voldemort's return. His father watched in amazement as he witnessed the Dementor attack on Harry and Dudley that had resulted firstly in Harry's expulsion, then pending expulsion from Hogwarts. James mumbled something about the Ministry being plan idiots. His father was amused as he witnessed the advance guards rescue of Harry from Privet Drive. His father again appeared angry as he witnessed Harry's trial and was further infuriated by the way Professor Umbridge had treated him throughout fifth year. He was additionally saddened as he watched Sirius' duel with Bellatrix Letsrangethat had led Harry to believe he was dead. He didn't comment on Harry's stupidity although noticed that his father was less attentive yet appeared still very interested. He seemed to have calmed down as Harry showed him his seventh year until he glimpsed Harry pulling Rose out of the rubble of the Shrieking Shack.

'She was in there?' he asked pale as a sheet. 'She almost died?'

Harry nodded.

'Did you know who she was?' he asked.

'No,' Harry replied. 'You'll see later.'

Harry tried to guide his father through the Pensieve, however he appeared extremely distracted. Harry cut his losses and pulled James out of the Pensieve.

When they were done Harry turned to his father.

'I hope that was helpful,' he said. 'But I'll ask you not to ask me about some of these things again.' Harry was surprised at how strongly his voice came across.

'I understand,' James replied. 'I am very grateful to you for allowing me to see this. I've just experienced a number of emotions in a short period of time. It's quite difficult to comprehend.' He paused for a moment. 'This isn't easy for me to say, but it needs saying. We barely know each other Harry but from what I've seen I'm very proud of the son I have. Despite the challenges you've had to overcome you seem to have turned out alright. I'm glad though that you have the same tendency toward rule-breaking as I did. I hope that we can get to know each other better Harry. Thank you very much. Now, I think we have a meeting to go to. It's in Sirius' rooms as Chrystal is stuck in bed. Afterward I think I shall go and visit Rose. You're welcome to join me if you'd like.'

Harry murmured something that sounded like okay in reply as they headed for the Black's quarters. Harry entered the room to find the doors between their bedroom and their sitting room wide open. Chrys was lying in bed and Sirius was sitting on the bed next to her. Lupin was sitting on the floor next to the bed with Tonks at his side. Mundungus Fletcher and Dumbledore were sitting on the sofa and McGonagall, Snape and Mad-eye Moody were occupying the three chairs. Harry turned around and saw Bill, Charlie and Ron sitting on the floor near the coffee table. On the other side of the table Fred was there and Harry clued that some operation was about to commence. He couldn't see his mother but sensed that she was somewhere, having chosen to hide herself as his father had done. Spying Hermione in the corner of the bedroom he chose to make his way towards her so at least he would have someone to talk about stuff with. He did note that quite a few members of the Order were missing.

Dumbledore called the meeting to order soon enough and explained to everybody the reason for the meeting.

'We sent a small group of operatives to survey the situation on the Shetlands on Saturday,' he began. 'We located the camp of people on Professor Black and Professor MacLeod's island. It is an island known as HaafGruney, to the north-east of the main group of islands and is totally deserted, bar the group of people we witnessed there. All of the prisoners appear to be Muggle-born witches and wizards. It is imperative that we infiltrate the island and free these people before anymore harm comes to them. I believe with the right strategy it can be done. Was there anything else Professor Àille?'

'Only that almost everybody there appeared to be under the Imperius,' she said softly. 'It may be far more difficult to 'save' them than you think.'

'Alastor, how many men can you spare?' Dumbledore asked.

'Well officially the Ministry denies the existence of these islands,' he replied. 'When I reported this to Fudge he told me straight off that I was crazy, which may work for the best. I doubt he will tell anyone what I told him. There are a group of Hit Wizards with not much to do at the moment. If I told the Ministry that I was sending them on training you could have the entire team. It is Mr Weasley'steam. Say Ronald, how would you like to lead the team on the expeditation?' Harry saw Ron's eyes light up. This kind of mission was the reason he became a Hit Wizard and the chance to lead a team was not going to arrive very often.

'I'd be honoured Sir,' he said to Moody. 'Does this mean I can dump my partner?'

Moody laughed at the suggestion.

'You are finding Terry Boot a little frustrating aren't you Weasley,' he said. 'Nothing escapes my notice.'

Interrupting, Dumbledore continued the planning of the mission.

'Fred Weasley, who can you spare?' he asked directing his attention to Fred.

'I'm unsure as to when George and Katie will be returning,' he said. 'So at the moment it's just me. Percy cannot get caught up in it being a Ministry employee and I will need Ernie and Dean to work in the shop. Angelina will probably be able to help but Lee is busy working in the Diagon Alley store. He doesn't have too many assistants; we've struggled to find ones who are trustworthy lately.'

Dumbledore agreed by nodding his head.

'And Alicia Spinnet?' he asked.

'That one's difficult Professor' he said. 'I haven't seen much of her lately. Things aren't good between her and Lee and as I'm Lee's friend I think that she's been avoiding me. On another note, Bill will be back on Wednesday and I'm sure will be able to assist.'

'Mr Fletcher, how many of your people can be spared? Dumbledore asked turning to Mundungus Fletcher who had set up a wizard security firm last year.

'I can spare about ten men that are trustworthy,' he said. 'The others I wouldn't trust with a bar of soap, but they do make good security.'

'Right,' said Dumbledore pondering this carefully. 'I shall meet with Professors Black and Snape now to come up with a strategy. I will brief you all throughout the week to prepare to attack early Saturday morning. If anybody has suggestions please come and see me before Thursday. If you have not received briefs by Thursday please come and see me. And if anybody in this room knows anything about Medical magic and is able to tell me how our Defence Againstthe Dark Arts Professor was magically cured, please let me know. Thank you all.' He added dismissing everyone quite abruptly which had become the manner of the Order lately. Harry caught sight of his mother and father and realised that he and Hermione should stay. He noticed that Snape had also remained.

'Chrystal we've gotten the test results back from St Mungos,' Snape said. 'You were infected by a magical toxin that takes about a week to activate, then another week to kill. The Mediwizardsare just as mystified as to how the toxin got into your bloodstream as we are. It's not native to any environment and has to be made by hand. Have you left Hogwarts recently?'

'Only on Saturday,' she replied. 'And that's about a week too late.'

'That means she had to be infected about the time of Harry's wedding,' Lily suggested. 'What did you eat?'

'Sirius and I shared everything on my plate of food,' she said. 'It couldn't have been something I ate. And I was only drinking water all night.'

'Did you give that to anybody? Did you leave it out of sight?' Snape asked.

'I guess I could have left it somewhere,' she said. 'The question still remains that if somebody did slip something into my drink at the wedding, who could it have possibly been? We were extremely careful about the guest list.'

'The other question remains how did you recover?' Snape said. 'That toxin is lethal unless the right antidote is administered. As far as we are aware there is only the one cure and we did not administer that. Yet the second blood screen shows no sign of the toxin. Do you remember?'

'No,' she said evasively. 'I don't. Why don't you ask Sirius?'

'I don't know,' Sirius said defensively. 'All I remember is Rose coming in and collapsing. I was more concerned about her for a brief period of time.' Harry watched the exchange with guilt. He had been there and seen what had happened, however he simply was not prepared to say anything until he spoke to Chrystal and his sister. Finally everybody prepared to leave. Harry turned to his mother and asked for a favour.

'Hermione and I need to talk to Chrystal alone,' he said firmly. 'Can you reveal us and come and get us in half an hour?'

Lily looked curious but agreed once everybody else had left the room. Chrys looked up in surprise to see them standing there.

'Do you remember what happened?' he asked almost with accusation. She didn't respond. It appeared obvious to Harry that she did and knew that he knew she did. 'I was there.'

'Oh,' she replied. 'I don't exactly remember Harry. I dreamt that something happened, but I am unsure whether or not it was reality. It was Rose wasn't it?'

'Yes,' he said. 'Do you know how?'

'No,' she said shaking her head. 'I can assure you of that.'

'She did it without a wand,' he said.

'I've been looking up everything I could find to try and work out how she could do that,' Hermione said. 'Of course it's very easy to do wandless magic. It's just difficult to do something specific.'

'She looked as if she were draining something out of your body,' Harry added. 'It was freaky. I've never seen anything like it.'

'Did she cast an incarnation?' Chrystal asked.

'Yes,' Harry said. 'But I don't remember what it was. And I want to talk to Rose about it before I go to Dumbledore.'

'When you decide to go to Dumbledore Harry, please let me come too,' Chrystal said. 'I may or may not be able to help, but I'll talk to Lily between now and then and we'll try and work on something. When's the next Quidditch match?'

'Begins on Monday,' he said. 'Against the revamped Cannons, so it could be a very interesting match.'

'Might be one worth seeing,' Chrystal replied. 'That is if they'll let me out of this room.'

Harry saw Hermione blush. Luckily Lily re-entered the room at that moment.

'What are you two going to do when I re-cast the charm?' she asked.

'We're going to check up on Rose,' he said. 'Then we've got some things to take care of.'

'I'm going to sit with the patient for a while,' she said before she recast the charm, allowing Harry and Hermione to wander around Hogwarts without being seen. They checked up on Rose, who appeared to be doing well. James and Ron were with her and Harry had to laugh at the thought of them trying to get along. Ron was certainly very nervous around James and his father had given Harry the impression that he was slightly overprotective of his little girl. When they had returned to their rooms Harry glanced at Hermione curiously.

'Why did you blush like that?' he asked her in a slightly joking manner.

'Well I just felt a little uncomfortable,' she said. 'After all Chrystal just miscarried.' She had a small mischievous grin on her face. The one that Harry absolutely adored.

'Hermione,' he said. 'Are you trying to tell me in some cryptic way that you're pregnant?' A smile appeared on her face. 'Is that a yes?'

'Yes Harry,' she said. 'It's a yes. Are you happy?'

'Never been happier,' he said as he moved to embrace her.

*~*

Ron and James sat by Rose's bedside. Ron was only slightly uncomfortable. It wasn't the fact that he had anything to hide; it was just that he felt slightly uncomfortable in the presence of a man who was supposed to be dead and was just slightly overprotective of his 'little' girl. It wasn't going to stop Ron from staying though. He cared about Rose too much to just leave her there. Madam Pomfreyhad assured everyone that she would be fine and that she was suffering merely from exhaustion but Ron wouldn't have felt right if he left her.

James broke the silence.

'What is it about me that makes you uncomfortable Ron?' he asked. Ron found it difficult to hide his surprise. It was a vert blunt question. 'You must forgive the directness of my question; it's one of my faults.'

'I'm sorry if I've been rude Mr Potter,' he said before seeing the look on James face. 'I mean James; it's just strange having to deal with you.'

James laughed.

'It sounds as if I'm some big issue,' he said.

'It's not that,' Ron said trying to get himself out of the hole he felt he was digging. 'I just was never very good with the father thing. And not only are you Rose's dad but you're Harry's dad and Harry is my best friend in the whole world. If anything was to happen between Rose and I, well it would be awkward.'

'Ron,' James said carefully. 'I have learnt over my life that it's not worth worrying about what might happen. You need to live in the present and not worry about the future. Lily used to say that you should let each day worry about itself. Can I ask you something? Do you love my daughter?'

'I think so,' Ron said stammering. 'I've thought I was in love before, with Hermione, but I what I felt wasn't nearly as strong as what I feel for Rose.'

'All I ask is that you promise to take care of her,' he said. 'If something happens, then you'll have to answer to Harry, but you won't have to answer to me. That is depending on the circumstances of course. From what I've heard you're a fine honourable person Ron. You're brave and courageous and you have a good moral sense. I'd say my daughter is lucky to have you. So don't be nervous about me and don't be nervous around me. I don't bite, in my human form and I'm an herbivore in my Animagus form!'

Ron was touched by James' honesty and kindness.

'I promise to take care of her, as much as I possibly can,' he said. 'James can I ask you a question?'

'Certainly Ron,' he replied.

'How's she coping?' Ron said. 'With you and Lily. She was struggling over summer; however she seemed desperate to find you.'

'Do you think she's struggling?' James asked.

'I'm not sure,' Ron replied. 'At first she was feeling smothered by this family that was kind of forced upon her, but last time we spoke about it she seemed very confused. That was the night of Harry's wedding, just after she had found you.'

'I'll look out for her then,' James replied.

*~*

Sirius and Severus were waiting for Dumbledore in his office. Remus had decided to accompany Sirius and this did not seem to suit Snape at all. He seemed to be uncomfortable until Dumbledore entered the room.

'Sorry to keep you waiting,' he said. 'Ah Remus, I'm glad you're here too. It will not be easy to infiltrate the fortress if Mr Malfoy's blueprints are accurate. I've located a possible entrance here.' He pointed to an area on the print; the three men peered at the map while Dumbledore pointed at a large area of the map. 'From Lily's information the fortress she was in was only guarded by the two men at the front, so if we can distract them long enough to get the people out that should be all that is necessary. Of course then there's also the matter of their gaolers to consider.'

'Well I'm sure Mr Malfoy will be able to help us with the gaolers,' Sirius said. The others looked at him in surprise. Sirius explained further. 'When he is in his Animagus form he has learnt to produce a venom that will out someone to sleep for an hour. Typical Slytherin thing to do, although I didn't encourage it, it would appear it may be quite useful, don't you think?'

Remus laughed and even Dumbledore himself had a bit of a chuckle.

'So the idea would be that he could slither up to the guards and bite them, clearing the whole tower of guards,' Severus said. 'At least it's one they'd never suspect.'

'Well this may be simpler than first thought,' Dumbledore said. 'Mr Malfoy will lead us in and then Mr Weasley will go in with his team of Hit Wizards and ensure the guards are asleep. Then the rescuers can go in and portkey everyone out. It sounds ridiculous but it just might work.'

As they were laughing the flame in the goblet behind them extinguished.

'The time of the Covenant is here,' Dumbledore said seriously. 'We should form it as soon as possible.' He glanced at a chart on the wall. 'Wednesday evening at midnight. Will you make the arrangements Severus?'

'Yes Professor,' Severus said. 'However don't we require Slytherin's blood?'

'The goblet has not named Slytherin,' he replied pondering the thought. 'If it was required then we would know. Just the people the goblet named should be sufficient Severus. It will provide us with protection for our battle in Saturday.'

*~*

Lily sat down next to Chrys' bed.

'How are you feeling today?' she asked.

'Tired,' Chrys said. She sounded more than tired. She sounded flat and lifeless. 'I saw Helena and Hermia there, Lily.' Lily felt shocked. Although the twins had kept to themselves in their early years at Hogwarts they had certainly come out of their shells and had become extremely good friends with the group of Gryffindor girls by the time Lily had reached fourth year. They were kind and funny and they were Muggle-born. 'They looked dreadful Lil, barely recognisable of their former selves. It was awful.'

'I hadn't thought about the twins for a while,' Lily said softly. 'I never thought it was possible that they were victims of this plot. What do you think is going on?'

'I think a war is inevitable,' Chrys said softly. 'Unless we can get in and stop it before it happens many people are going to suffer unnecessarily.'

Lily nodded in response still shocked by the thought of the twins being tortured.

'You sound tired,' Lily said. 'I'd best go. Is there anything I can do for you?' Lily saw the tears well in Chrystal's eyes as she answered.

'The only thing I need is my mother Lil,' she said. 'I need to talk to my mother.'

Lily moved toward her friend and held her close.

'I know what you mean,' she said as she let Chrystal cry on her shoulder. 'I know exactly what you mean.'