Trinity

Chapter 4

Aberforth Dumbledore walked down the path that led from Hogwarts to Hogsmeade and reflected on the meeting that had just finished. Young Potter was going to do well, he could almost feel it. You could plainly see that he hadn't wanted to take on the role of leader of the Order but he'd accepted with a great deal of grace. Abe shook his head at the thought of the Horcruxes. What in Merlin's name had possessed Voldemort to do something like that?

He sighed as he pushed the door of the Hog's Head open and made his way round to the back stairs. He paused for a moment to be sure he had not been followed then he pushed a small section of wall. That small section moved inwards and a door creaked open. He slid through the door and closed it quickly behind him before heading down the stairs in front of him. He walked down for far longer than one would expect then he knocked on the door at the bottom of the stairs and opened it. The room beyond appeared to be empty and he looked around carefully.

"Albus?" he said softly.

Albus Dumbledore stepped out of the shadows, followed by Severus Snape.

Abe shook his head. "You know I'm the only one who can get down here," he said irritably. "You don't need to hide."

"One must be wary," Albus said calmly as he gestured for Abe and Severus to sit before taking a seat himself. "How did the meeting go?"

Abe chuckled. "Very well. Young Potter accepted the leadership of the Order." He paused and eyed his brother sharply. "Didn't tell me he'd get a phoenix out of doing that."

"Did he?" Albus said benignly. "Well, fancy that. What did he do?"

"Told us about the damn Horcruxes," Abe growled. "Did you know the locket the two of you went after was a fake?"

Albus looked shocked. "What?"

Abe grumbled. "The boy found out after you'd died. The locket is a fake. There was a note to that effect inside from someone with the initials R.A.B. He assumed it was Regulus Black and was proven right. The Black's house elf had hidden the thing. Potter's got it now."

"What does he plan on doing with it?"

"Destroying it...as soon as he can figure out how to," Abe replied. "I said I'd look through your things to see if you had any information."

Albus chuckled. "Yes, I do actually. It should be easy enough to find in my office. What else?"

Abe quickly detailed the events of the meeting and Harry's request for training from Moody. He then told Albus of the Fidelius charm Hermione had cast.

"Good, they're safe and well on the way," Albus said with satisfaction. He still looked slightly pale and ill.

Abe shook his head. "I'd say so. Now, tell me, Albus. How the hell did you pull this off? You've been too ill for me to demand answers from you until now."

Albus settled back into his seat and chuckled. "It was not easy, Abe. It had to be done in such a way that it was believable, for Severus' sake as much as anything else."

Abe glanced over at the Potions Master. "Why?"

Albus raised an eyebrow at Severus who scowled before answering.

"Narcissa Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange came to see me during the summer," he said irritably. "Narcissa because she wanted something of me and Bellatrix because she did not trust me. I saw an opportunity to rid myself of the whispering little voices that have been plaguing my attempts to work my way into the Dark Lord's favour. I revealed how I had managed to convince the Dark Lord of my loyalty and implied I had fooled Albus. Narcissa then carried on for a while over the task Draco had been given and between her and Bellatrix I was backed into a corner. I had no choice but to act the way I did."

"Which was?" Abe prompted.

"To swear an Unbreakable Vow to aid Draco and carry out his task if he failed," Severus replied bluntly. "To do anything else would have brought back Bellatrix's suspicions tenfold and made my task that much more difficult."

Aberforth shook his head. "Damn," he murmured.

"Indeed," Albus said. "Severus told me of what had passed as soon as he could and I began to determine if there was some way of circumventing the Vow. I soon established that there was not and told Severus he would have to carry it out." Albus gave Severus an amused look. "He was not pleased."

Severus crossed his arms across his chest and scowled.

"I had the genesis of a plan on how that could be done that involved the use of a Simulcrum," Albus continued.

Abe blinked. "A Simulcrum? I thought the knowledge of how to make those had been lost."

"It had. I found it in a book in the library at Grimmauld Place," Albus replied. "It was surprisingly easy. A single spell. The only drawback is that to control it you have to remain reasonably close to the Simulcrum in order to provide its speech and movement."

"So what actually happened when you got back?" Abe asked. "I got the story as Harry understood it from Minerva but I'd like to hear the real version of events. After all, Harry's of the opinion you're dead."

"Obtaining the locket was...difficult and draining," Albus said. "The potion that I had to drink was dangerous and I was in very poor shape when we came back. I suspect that if I had not gotten the help I did I would have died within a few hours of returning. Of course we saw the Dark Mark over the school and we got back as quickly as we could. I had us land on the battlements because it was one of the few areas that would provide sufficient hiding spots. I sent Harry to get Severus and when he turned I soundlessly cast the Simulcrum spell then used the full body bind on Harry before hiding. He was hidden under his Invisibility Cloak so he would be relatively safe."

Albus sighed. "As it turned out I was just in time. The door to the school opened and Draco emerged with Fenrir Greyback and some Death Eaters. I knew word would have gotten to Severus and I dragged things out long enough for him to arrive. I was confident that Draco would not be able to kill me but I was far more worried about Fenrir. Even outside of the full moon, werewolves have an enhanced sense of smell. I was terribly afraid that he would pick up the scents of two other people on the battlements, myself and Harry. When Severus arrived, I knew the time had come. I knew he would take the opportunity that had been provided to fulfil the Vow, I just had to make sure he knew it was the Simulcrum. So I pleaded with him. I knew he would understand such an uncharacteristic action."

"So you died," Abe said.

"So I died," Albus repeated. "I trusted that Severus would get Draco and the Death Eaters out of there quickly. I cancelled the spell on Harry knowing he'd think that it was because I had died. He also left and I made my way down to Severus' office. I have the ability to become invisible as you know. I was able to dose myself well enough to get out of Hogwarts for I could not risk being found there. I made my way to the Shrieking Shack. I knew Severus would think to look there when he was able to get away. The potions I had taken allowed me to last until he could get there and treat me more accurately."

"So what are you going to do now?" Abe asked.

"Remain dead," Albus said firmly. "Severus is safely ensconced as Voldemort's favourite and is unlikely to be dislodged any time soon. As distasteful as that is for Severus, it is highly useful. My reappearance would have a very deleterious effect on Severus' longevity. We shall work through you, Abe, since you have seen fit to throw your lot in with Harry. You have numerous contacts so we shall be able to feed information to the Order via some of these supposed contacts."

"Oh, alright," Abe grumbled. "Just make sure you launder the information appropriately. I don't want to have to answer six thousand questions about my sources and have people get suspicious. What will you be doing?"

"I will stay here mostly," Albus replied. "I may venture out in disguise a few times but I don't want to risk anyone finding out that I am not dead."

Abe nodded as Severus rose to his feet.

"I must go," the Potions Master said. "I cannot afford to be absent for too long." He bowed briefly to both men. "Albus. Aberforth."

The two old men watched Severus sweep out of the room then Abe looked over at his brother.

"He's put himself in a lot of danger," Abe said mildly. "The Order want him dead...slowly and painfully."

Albus sighed. "I know, Abe," he said regretfully. "But there is nothing that can be done. Severus has never been able to get this close before and we'll need his information to track down the last of the Horcruxes."

"Everyone thinks Potter's a bloody genius for suspecting Snape even though you repeatedly told people he could be trusted," Abe observed with amusement.

"I'm sure they do and that is all for the good," Albus replied.

"You did it deliberately, didn't you?" Abe said with surprise. "Let Harry be the only one to be the voice of suspicion?"

"Well, not as such," Albus protested gently. "But perhaps I did not work too hard to convince him of Severus' loyalty."

Abe frowned. "You knew something like the Vow was going to happen?"

Albus shook his head. "No, that was an unfortunate set of circumstances. But there was always the possibility that Severus would have to do something unpleasant to get closer to Voldemort. If that happened it would only be for the best for Harry to be seen as having the clearest vision regarding Severus."

"Is the Vow fulfilled?" Abe asked.

Albus nodded. "Severus said he felt the Vow end when he killed my Simulcrum. The Vow, while powerful, is not overly sophisticated. The ruse was enough to fool it into being completed."

"And why was getting Snape that close so important?" Abe asked.

"Because we do not know the location, and in one case the form, of the three Horcruxes Voldemort still possesses," Albus explained. "With any luck, Severus will be able to find that information out."

"How on earth are you going to get that information to the Order in such a fashion that they will believe it?" Abe asked with exasperation.

"I shall have to think on that," Albus replied with a twinkle in his eyes.

Abe shook his head then snorted with amused disbelief. "People are going to kill you when this is all over, Albus. They're going to shout at you and then they're going to kill you."

Albus chuckled. "I daresay it will be a contest to see if Harry, Molly or Minerva are at the head of that list. Now, help me back to bed. I promised Severus I would behave myself. He says if I have a relapse because I overdid it he's going tie me to the bed for a week."

Abe chuckled as he helped his brother rise. "Good on him. Glad you've got someone to keep you under control."

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When Harry, Ron and Hermione arrived back at Grimmauld Place they were startled by the flash of fire that appeared in front of them. They relaxed when the phoenix that had appeared at the meeting flew around them. It landed on Harry's shoulder and gave him a reproachful look.

"I'm sorry," Harry said to the phoenix. "I forgot. I wasn't exactly expecting to get a phoenix today."

The phoenix made a sound that was almost a snicker and started preening itself.

Harry rolled his eyes. "I suppose I ought to give you a name then. Are you a boy?"

The phoenix gave an affirmative chirp.

Harry looked over at Ron and Hermione. "Any ideas for a name?"

"I think that's your job," Hermione said with a smile.

Harry rolled his eyes and the three of them headed upstairs to get some sleep.

The next morning when Ron and Harry came downstairs, they found that Hermione was already up and, according to Dobby, waiting for them in the library. The boys looked at each other and shrugged before eating their breakfast as quickly as possible. They then headed for the library where Hermione was sitting as one of the table, several piles of parchment in front of her.

"I finished transcribing everything from the Prince's book," she said with satisfaction. They'd all taken to referring to the book's owner as the Prince, not really wanting to mention Snape's name. "And I've sorted everything out. We need to get the potions laboratory going as quickly as possible. Because these potions are going to take the longest to prepare."

Harry walked over and flicked through that pile. Veritaserum, Polyjuice, Skele-Gro and right at the top of the list, Felix Felicis. "Doesn't Felix Felicis take six months to brew?"

Hermione nodded. "That's why I want to get it underway as soon as possible otherwise it won't be ready until after Christmas." She paused. "It was unbelievable how useful it was that night. It was like we knew exactly where we had to be to get things done. I understand why you acted like you did the night you used it, Harry. Some of what we did seemed crazy but was absolutely perfect."

Harry gave her a wry look. "You were really lucky?" he suggested.

Hermione laughed softly. "Yes, I suppose we were."

Ron walked over at looked through a second pile. "Pepper-up Potion? Dreamless Sleep? Isn't that one used for headaches? Why these ones?"

"Because with...with Snape gone, the Order would have to buy these and they can get expensive," Hermione explained. "I think between the three of us we can make all of these. That will make life a lot easier for the Order members who go on any sort of mission and us for that matter."

"Good thinking," Harry said as he moved onto the other piles of parchment. "What are these?"

"Spells," Hermione said. "Some from the Prince's book but most are from our textbooks. We'll have to talk to Moody about it but I think these are a good place to start for our training. We need to learn all of them and we need to learn how to cast them soundlessly too." She straightened the piles of parchment. "And Harry, you and Ron need to get your Apparition licences."

"Yeah, I know," Harry said as Ron groaned. He then picked up a piece of parchment that was sitting on its own. "So what's this?"

"Our shopping list," Hermione said. "Everything we're going to need for the potions laboratory and a few other things I think might be useful. We should go this morning. Moody's not arriving until this afternoon so we've got time."

Harry nodded. "Okay. Let's get ready and go."

The three of them headed upstairs and got ready. When Harry walked down in his new long overcoat, Ron had whistled in appreciation and Hermione had rolled her eyes.

"What is that?" she said with exasperation.

"It's an overcoat, Hermione," Harry replied with a grin.

Hermione opened her mouth to answer then threw her hands in the air and turned towards the kitchen with a muttered, "Boys!"

Harry laughed and followed her, with Ron behind him and the three of them Flooed through to the Leaky Cauldron. They waved a hello to Tom and hurried through the pub, making their way into Diagon Alley. Their first stop was Gringotts where Harry withdrew a large sum of money from his vault and enquired about alternate methods of paying for expensive items. He was told the shopkeeper could make a direct deduction from his vault and that the shopkeeper would give him a magical piece of parchment to sign to authorise the transfer.

"Are you sure you want to pay for all of this?" Hermione asked as they walked out of the bank. "Surely the Order has funds for these sorts of things."

"It's okay, Hermione," Harry assured her. "I'm happy to spend my money on this."

"Where to now?" Ro asked as they stood on the steps of the bank.

"The Apothecary," Hermione said firmly heading in that direction.

When they entered the dim, cool shop, the proprietor came forward. "Ah, welcome, welcome. What can I do for you? It's unusual to have students come in at the start of the holidays."

"We're not exactly students," Hermione said briskly as she slapped her piece of parchment down on the counter. "As you can see, we wish to set up a potions laboratory and we need sufficient quantities of all of these items."

The proprietor looked down at the list then back up at Hermione. "I can't sell some of these things to a student, miss, and this will be terribly expensive."

"I am of age," Hermione said dismissively. "And the cost is no consideration. We have the funds."

The proprietor looked down at the list and Harry could almost see his eyes light up at the thought of the number of galleons this was going to bring in to him.

"Very well, then, miss, sirs," the proprietor said rubbing his hands together. "This will take a bit of time. Perhaps if you were to some back in, say, an hour?"

"That will be fine," Hermione said calmly and the three of them left.

"What now?" Ron asked.

"Flourish and Blotts," Hermione said. "We'll just split up and go through the whole shop and select any books we think might be useful."

"What fun," Ron said dryly as they headed for the bookshop.

An hour later they left, each with a magically enlarged bag full of books, and headed back to the apothecary. They walked in to find several large trunks on the floor in front of the counter. The proprietor was just placing some bottles of ingredients in one of the trunks and closing it as they walked in. He looked up and beamed at them.

"It all ready, miss, sirs," he said. "I've been generous with your supplies since you said money was not an object. The only thing I couldn't supply was the Phoenix Tears. I've not had any in stock for over a year now. They're dreadfully hard to obtain."

"That's alright. We'll make do," Hermione said with a slight smile, obviously thinking of Harry's still-unnamed phoenix then she looked at the six large trunks with trepidation.

Harry tapped her on the shoulder. "It's alright. I have an idea. Dobby!"

There was a small pop and Dobby appeared next to Harry.

"Harry Potter summoned Dobby?" the little house elf asked enthusiastically.

"Yes, Dobby," Harry said. "Could you take these trunks and our bags home please?"

"Dobby would be happy to do that," Dobby said looking pleased.

The little house elf took the bags from each of them and placed them on top of one of the trunks. Then he stood amongst the trunk and snapped his fingers. The trunks, bags and Dobby all disappeared.

Harry then walked up to the counter. "How much?"

The proprietor named a sum that caused Hermione to gasp and Ron to blanch. Harry didn't react; he knew he had a hundred times more than that sum in his vault...at least. He asked the proprietor to deduct it from his vault and the man quickly prepared the bill. Harry signed it and they walked out of the Apothecary. From there Harry led them over to Madam Malkin's where he organised for each of them to be measured for duelling robes. Madam Malkin served them herself and once the measuring had been done she told them it would be at least a week before they were ready. Then she asked them what spells they would like to have woven into the fabric, presenting them with a list. They looked it over and selected as many of the protective spells as the fabric would take then Harry paid for the robes and they left the store.

"Let's go and speak to the twins," Harry said as they emerged into the daylight. "I want to get them started on a couple of projects."

"The werewolf protection?" Ron asked as they walked along Diagon Alley towards the twins' shop.

Harry nodded. "Remember the brother of the Montgomery sisters? Greyback doesn't care about how old the children are. Wasn't he just five or something?"

Hermione nodded, looking slightly sick. "Yes, he was."

"So that has to be an absolute priority," Harry finished firmly.

He pushed the door of the shop open and they walked in, a little bell tinkling over their heads. The shop was empty at the moment and the twins bounded out at the sound of the bell.

"Harry! Ron! Hermione!" they burst out.

"Come to do some shopping?" Fred said with a grin.

"Going to prank Voldemort to death?" George suggested with an identical grin.

Harry shook his head and gestured for the twins to head out back. "I've got a couple of jobs for the two of you."

The twins sobered. "Whatever you want, Harry."

They were led out to a workroom and the twins cleared off some stools for them.

"Have you taken that Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder off the shelves?" Ron asked a little harshly.

Fred and George nodded soberly. "Yeah and we've put out a recall notice in the Daily Prophet and the Quibbler. Said that it's proved to be unstable. We won't get all of it back but we've got most of it. It's in the back. We're only selling it to the Ministry and we're giving it to the Order."

"Good," Ron said firmly.

"Guys, I've got a project for you," Harry said, gaining the twins' full attention. "You know that Fenrir Greyback is working for Voldemort?" The twins nodded. "I want you to come up with something to hurt or repel werewolves that kids can easily use or wear. Greyback likes to go after children and he doesn't care how old they are. One of his victims was five." He paused. "He died."

The twins nodded thoughtfully. "I werewolf repellent for kids," Fred muttered.

"Nice challenge, Harry," George added.

Harry hesitated for a moment. "You might want to ask Remus if he could help but don't you dare hurt him. You'll answer to me if you do...that's if Tonks doesn't get you first."

"Well, if it's a repellent, just something to keep them at bay until help arrives, then it doesn't necessarily have to be lethal," Fred said, scribbling something on a piece of parchment.

"That might be a better idea," George said to his twin. "That way we might be able to lure some werewolves over to our side by saying 'see, we're not trying to kill you'."

Fred made some last notes then looked over at Harry. "Anything else?"

"We're going to need a supply of all of your more serious items," Harry said.

The twins nodded.

"We'll put a package together," George said, making some notes on the parchment Fred had been writing on.

"We'll include some of our more experimental items," Fred added. "The ones that work, of course," he added hastily at Hermione's expression.

"We'll deliver it to Headquarters tomorrow morning," George finished.

"Thanks, guys," Harry said with a smile.

Fred waved an airy hand. "No problems, Harry, my boy."

"Always glad of a challenge," George added.

Harry, Ron and Hermione stood and made their way out of the shop. They needed to get back to Grimmauld Place. Moody would be arriving some time soon.