Stormseeker: Unwanted Destiny

There's a lot to be done to get Caer Danas fixed up. Rispy doesn't mind helping out with getting it cleaned up and livable, especially since I do a lot of the work myself, but he makes it clear that he's not going to do the housekeeping.

In an attempt to get back into the hang of using complex wand-based magic again, I set up a contingency spell over the gazebo to ring a set of chimes in the main hall when someone appears there. I don't get it quite right, though. It does make the chimes ring, but so long as someone is standing in the gazebo, they don't stop ringing.

Unfortunately, I don't realize that until someone shows up there a few days later. It must be Dumbledore, since he's the only other one who knows the secret, but he remains in the gazebo instead of just coming in. He probably has someone with him who doesn't know the secret.

I groan a little and say to Rispy, "Let's go see who it is. The doxies can wait."

We head out back. Standing in the gazebo and making the bells ring incessantly are Dumbledore and Remus Lupin. I smile broadly when I see Moony, and it's all I can do to resist the urge to run up and hug him.

"Good day, Harry," Dumbledore says. "I'd like to introduce Remus Lupin. He was a friend of your parents, and will be your Battle Magic teacher this year."

"Rispy, could you give Remus the secret so the bells will stop ringing?" I say, grinning.

"The headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix is at Caer Danas," Rispy says to Remus.

"Bells?" Remus says in confusion, looking over at the castle that has just appeared for him.

"Well, I put up a contingency spell to ring a set of wind chimes in the main hall when someone shows up in the gazebo," I say. "But now it's ringing anytime someone is standing inside the gazebo, continuously. Not really a big deal, I suppose."

"Ah, my apologies," Dumbledore says, stepping out of the gazebo. "I didn't realize."

Remus looks at me in surprise. "A contingency spell? You haven't even started school yet!"

I chuckle softly. "Come inside. We have much to speak of."

"I didn't tell him," Dumbledore says as we head for the back door. "I'll leave that as your secret to share with whom you will."

"Thank you," I say.

"What secret?" Remus wonders.

We step inside. This is a home I can feel safe in. Well, aside from the doxies, anyway. Anyone that can be here is someone that I can trust. Here, of all places, I can speak completely freely without worry of eavesdroppers or traitors.

"I'm a time traveler," I say. "Chronologically, I'm about twenty-two, actually. Although I've only actually seen up through the first half of 1995, due to various circumstances. Ah, it's a long story." And not one I'm eager to tell, either.

"A time traveler?" Remus says. "I suppose that would explain much. Why did you decide to come back in time? Did the war against Voldemort go badly and everyone you cared about died?"

I laugh aloud at that. "No, no, nothing like that. I don't get to choose when I go back, actually. If someone hits me with a Killing Curse, suddenly I'm back in 1991 again. But it's only certain things that will send me all the way back. Most of the time, I just go back to the last time I woke up. Even if it's just from taking a nap or even being knocked unconscious."

"You go back in time when you die?" Remus says, raising an eyebrow. "I've never heard of anyone with an ability like that before."

"Neither have I," I say. "Admittedly, the breadth of my knowledge isn't nearly as wide as it could be. Watch the doxies," I warn Remus as he goes to sit down on the couch. "We've been working on getting the place cleaned up. It's been abandoned for over a decade. But it's been slow going with just the two of us."

"I could stay and help with that, if you like," Remus says.

"Hell, you can move in if you want!" I say. "What are your living arrangements like? We've got plenty of room here."

"I wouldn't want to impose..." Remus begins.

"Nonsense," I say. "Come, live with us."

"I'm not sure if that would be a good idea," Remus says, looking uneasily to Dumbledore.

"Oh, don't worry," I say. "I know all about your 'furry little problem'. Just don't forget to drink your potions or at least keep the door locked or something. I'm really not concerned."

"I should be going," Dumbledore says. "I have things to take care of. Farewell." He turns to go.

"I suppose if you really want me here, I won't complain," Remus says. "It looks like you've got your work cut out for you here, as well." We get back to cleaning things up.

"I'm going to need to go to Diagon Alley on the thirtieth and thirty-first," I say. "Will that be doable?"

"That's fine. The full moon is on the twenty-sixth this month," Remus says. "Why those dates in particular?"

"That's when some people that I need to 'coincidentally' meet will be out shopping for school supplies," I say. Come to think, Hermione is going to show up sometime in July, but I don't remember when. And the Weasleys are coming in August, but I don't remember which day for them either. That's not good. Hermione I can miss, but I need to catch the Weasleys.

"Who?" Remus asks.

"Neville Longbottom on the thirtieth, Draco Malfoy on the thirty-first," I reply.

"Why do you want to meet with Draco Malfoy?" Remus wonders.

"I need to steal something from his house," I say. "A dark artifact that's going to cause some serious problems if it's not destroyed."

"Ah, I see," Remus says.

"I also need to meet the Weasleys," I say. "I just don't remember which day they'll be going to Diagon Alley. I think it was about a week or two into August. Gah. That's really important, too. I've got to catch that rat."

"What rat?" Remus says, looking up at me in surprise.

"Peter was the Potters' Secret-Keeper," I say. "He faked his own death and has been hiding as the Weasley family's pet rat."

Remus stares at me for several moments as the implications of what I've said work their way through his head. "You mean, Sirius is innocent?"

I nod. "Hopefully, capturing the damned rat will lead to getting him out of Azkaban. And if the Ministry decides to sit on their hands and pooh-pooh about it, I'll go break him out myself!"

"But nobody's ever escaped from Azkaban," Remus says.

"He got out on his own once," I say. "And I've broken him out a few times myself. It's not like I haven't done this before. It'll just likely cause a big stink, and he'd still be hunted for escaping. I'll try the legal way first and leave forcing the matter for if that doesn't work."

"You really have this all planned out, don't you," Remus says.

"You have no idea how much time I have spent thinking about what I might do the next time I came back here," I say. "I wasn't even planning to go to Hogwarts again this time, but Dumbledore talked me into it. Although I refused to do it unless he made some changes to the curriculum."

"Hence, Battle Magic," Remus says.

I nod. "I find it astonishing that he hasn't actually made any serious attempt to circumvent that curse before."

"It's going to be difficult not to think of you as eleven-year-old Harry," Remus says. "You're actually an adult, after all."

I shrug. "The only thing that'll really annoy me is if people don't listen to me, or try to protect me 'for my own good' in some stupid manner. I can't die, so I'm really less than concerned about that."

"Very well," Remus says. "I feel like I should warn you to be careful, but..."

I chuckle. "Get used to it."

Toward the end of July, Solomon comes in and drops me an envelope. With the way the wards are set up, only Solomon can come in, so messages are delivered to an outside location for Solomon to pick up. It's my Hogwarts letter, listing supplies that I'll need this year. I'm quite pleased to notice that no Astronomy supplies are listed. No more needless midnight classes for something I don't even care about!

I head to Diagon Alley with Remus on the thirtieth of the month. I want to make a good first impression on Neville in this life. I spot his grandmother before I notice Neville himself, although she's a bit hard to miss considering her interesting fashion sense. A stuffed vulture on her hat? Really?

"There he is," I murmur to Remus. "Let's go meet them."

I head over to intercept the Longbottoms. It's strange to see the Neville I remember looking so small and scared again. He's not the same Neville anymore. But I know that the potential is there.

"Good day, Augusta," Remus says.

"Ah, Remus!" Augusta Longbottom says. "It has been a while. Who is this you've got with you today? Is that... Harry Potter?"

"Yes, ma'am," I reply, smiling at her. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"This here is my grandson, Neville," Augusta says. "It's his birthday today. Yours is tomorrow, if I remember right?"

"That's right," I say, and grin at Neville. "I should get you a present!"

"Thanks, but that's really not--" Neville says.

"Come on!" I say, grabbing his hand to drag him off.

"Boys!" Augusta calls. "Don't run out of sight, now!"

"I'll keep an eye on them," Remus offers valiantly, following along after us.

I giggle as I drag Neville around the alley enough to make sure that we've really lost Augusta. We very nearly lose Remus, too, but he's better at keeping up.

"Where are we going?" Neville wonders.

I stop near Ollivander's and look around. It's just us, with Remus trotting in. No vulture hat in sight. "I think we lost her."

"I think she's going to go spare," Neville says.

"That's okay," I say. "I'll take full responsibility. Come on." I head into Ollivander's wand shop.

Neville follows along after me uneasily. "But my gran said I was supposed to use my father's wand..."

"Ah, another young customer?" Ollivander says. "You never get the same results with a wand that hasn't chosen you, you know."

"You'll be a great wizard someday, Neville," I say. "But you need a wand of your own."

"My gran is definitely going to go spare about this," Neville says.

"I'm not scared of your gran," I say.

"You're braver than I am, then," Neville says, wide-eyed.

"Nonsense," I say. "You're one of the bravest people I've ever met."

"But you just met me," Neville protests.

I chuckle. "Trust me, okay?"

"Well, alright," Neville says.

I don't remember what Neville's wand was, beyond that I think it was unicorn hair, so I step back and let Ollivander do his thing. Sure enough, after a while, Neville gets matched with a wand of cherry and unicorn hair, thirteen inches. I pay for the wand and say, "Happy birthday."

When we step outside, Neville says, "Thanks, Harry. Maybe it would be best if I hide this till I get to school."

There's no way he'll be able to hide it forever, but perhaps he'll manage to stop being so afraid of his grandmother after some time at Hogwarts.

"Let's get you another 'present' that you can show your grandmother, then," I say, heading off again. I spot a shop selling plants, and head over. "Take your pick."

"You don't have to--" Neville begins.

"I don't have to do anything," I say. "But I want to."

"I suppose," Neville says.

Neville picks out a small plant with purple flowers, and I pay for that as well. We then head over to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. The three of us are munching on ice cream cones at an outside table when Augusta finally catches up to us.

"There you are!" Augusta says. "Running off like that! I trust you've kept them out of trouble, Remus?"

"They've been perfect saints, Augusta," Remus assures her.

"Would you like some ice cream, Mrs. Longbottom?" I ask.

"No, thank you," Augusta says firmly but politely.

The next day, I head back to Diagon Alley with Remus. We hang around a bit, collecting some miscellaneous supplies while I'm at it, until I spot Draco heading into Madam Malkin's clothing shop. I turn and go over there and head inside.

"Ah, Mr. Potter," Madam Malkin says as I come in. "Your order is ready for you and waiting in the back. I'll have someone bring it out for you in a minute, if you don't mind waiting."

"Alright, I'm not in any rush," I say. I wander over toward Draco nonchalantly.

"Did she say Potter?" Draco says. "I'm Draco Malfoy."

"That's right," I say. "I'm Harry Potter. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"You had your clothes already ordered?" Draco asks.

"I wanted some extra work and enchantments done on them," I say.

"Oh," Draco says. "You're starting at Hogwarts this year, too? Huh, my father said you'd be about my age."

I nod. "It's strange being back in England again. I don't even really remember when I was here as a baby."

"You were raised in the States, I'd bet by your accent," Draco says. Yeah, the accent that I've been intentionally exaggerating to cement the idea that I've just come to Britain.

"Yeah," I reply. "This place is awfully different. I've never seen so many wizards in one place before. But it's great. You excited about going to Hogwarts?"

"I am," Draco says. "I'll probably be in Slytherin, too, since my whole family has been in Slytherin. Your parents were in Gryffindor, weren't they? So I guess you'll probably be in Gryffindor, too."

"Nonsense," I say. "You aren't put into a house just because your family was. Besides, I had a grandmother who was in Slytherin. Your Aunt Dorea?"

"Oh!" Draco says. "Right, of course. Now that you mention it, I think I had another aunt who was a Hufflepuff, too, actually. I don't know if I'd want to be in Hufflepuff, though. That would be just embarrassing."

"Nothing wrong with it," I say. "It'd mean that you're a loyal and determined person. If you want to look at Hufflepuff as a dumping ground for Muggleborns who don't belong anywhere else, then look at Slytherin as a dumping ground for purebloods who don't belong anywhere else. You can't seriously tell me that the likes of Crabbe and Goyle would get put there because of their cunning?"

"You... have a point," Draco admits. "You seem to know an awful lot, considering you just arrived in the country."

Yeah, I was probably pushing that a bit much. "My family told me stories, and I read a lot of books."

"Here's your order, Mr. Potter," says a witch, coming out with a pile of clothes.

"Ah, thank you," I say. I take them and shove them into my bag of holding.

"Nice bag," Draco says.

"It's very useful," I say.

"So where do you think you'll end up?" Draco wonders. "I suppose nobody really knows until they get there, but you've got to have some idea."

I shrug. "Might be Gryffindor. Might be Slytherin. It could be Ravenclaw. It might even be Hufflepuff. I won't be disappointed no matter where I wind up. They all have their good points."

"There you go, Mr. Malfoy, all done for you," Madam Malkin says, shooing him along.

I head out of the shop along with Draco. Remus is waiting for me outside, absently leaning against a wall and watching passersby.

"You get your clothes, Harry?" Remus says. I nod to him. "Who's your friend?"

"This is Draco Malfoy," I say. "Draco, let me introduce Remus Lupin. He's going to be our Battle Magic teacher this year."

"Battle Magic?" Draco says.

"For various reasons, Defense Against the Dark Arts has been removed and replaced with Battle Magic," Remus says.

"Oh!" Draco says. "That sounds like fun."

"And hopefully, nothing horrible will happen to him by the end of the year," I add.

"So where are your parents, Draco?" Remus asks.

"My father's next door, buying my books," Draco replies. "And my mother's down the street."

I need to play this carefully. I won't get another chance to make a first impression, and this seems a bit much to commit suicide over to retry. I must get that diary.

Lucius Malfoy comes out of the shop next door with a pile of books in hand. He looks over to us appraisingly, his eyes coming to rest on the scar on my forehead. "Harry Potter?"

"Hello," I say brightly. "Are you Mr. Malfoy?"

"I am Lucius Malfoy," the blond wizard says with a neutral expression.

"It's good to meet you," I say, bowing to him.

"Likewise," Lucius says with a forced smile.

"Do you mind if I tag along with you for a bit?" I say. "I haven't really had much chance to hang out with other kids my own age before."

"I don't see why not," Lucius says, giving a look to Remus.

"Go ahead, Harry," Remus says. "Have fun." He heads off and leaves me alone with the Malfoys.

"So, do you play Quidditch, Potter?" Draco asks.

"Please, call me Harry," I say. "And no, Quidditch was never really my thing. I'm terrible with brooms. Lucky I don't fall off and break my neck. I like dueling, though. There's no Dueling Club at Hogwarts, though, sadly. But Professor Lupin tells me they're bringing back the Theatre Club, apparently."

"You're interested in theatre?" Draco says dubiously.

"Sure, why not?" I say. "It'll give a good basis for politics, too."

"What do theatre and politics have to do with one another?" Draco wonders.

"What don't they have to do with one another?" I reply.

"Who was that you were here with?" Lucius asks. "Was that one of the teachers? He seemed vaguely familiar."

"That was Remus Lupin," I say. "He's teaching Battle Magic this year." I grin. "Yeah, Dumbledore's finally done away with Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"Hmm," Lucius says. "Interesting."

Narcissa catches up to us momentarily. We go over to Ollivander's and get Draco's wand -- hawthorn, unicorn hair, ten inches.

As we're leaving the shop, I chuckle at that in a bit of amusement. "Hawthorn, huh," I say. "My great-grandmother's name is Hawthorne."

"Was that on the Potter side, or the Mu- Muggleborn?" Lucius says.

"Lily Evans wasn't a Muggleborn," I say. "Her mother was actually a Squib. I was raised by cousins of hers, a pureblood family living in the United States."

"I see," Lucius says. "Well, that might explain some things. She seemed quite talented for a Mu--"

"Mudblood?" I supply, smirking.

"Yes, that," Lucius says. "Though it would be crass of me to use the term in front of you."

I shrug. "I'm not going to be offended, at any rate."

"Where is your family now, that you were here with a Hogwarts professor?" Lucius wonders. "Did they remain behind in the States?"

"Ah, they-- they died," I say.

"All of them?" Draco asks. "What happened?" He pauses for a moment, then seems to realize how abrupt that was. "Sorry, if you don't want to talk about it--"

"It's alright," I say, shaking my head. "I'll tell you all about it. But not here. I'd rather not talk about it out here in public. Besides, it's not like I don't have any family left. I've still got you guys, right?"

"How did you know we're related, anyway?" Draco wonders.

"Hawthorne made me memorize my family tree," I say with a smirk.

"Oh," Draco says.

"Why don't we go back to Malfoy Manor and have some tea?" Lucius suggests.

"That would be nice," I say. I suppress my excitement at getting them to actually invite me over without having to explicitly ask. That'll make things easier.

The four of us take the public Floo back to Malfoy Manor. We head into the parlor, and Dobby brings us some tea and scones.

"How many house-elves do you have?" I ask.

"We have five of them," Lucius says, putting lemon into his tea.

"I don't suppose you'd be willing to sell one?" I ask. "When I got to England, I discovered that I'd inherited some property, you see..."

"Ah, certainly," Lucius says. "It wouldn't do for Harry Potter to have to do household chores."

"That's great!" I say, beaming brightly at him.

"You can take your pick after tea," Lucius says.

"So, um, what happened to your family?" Draco wonders. "The ones who raised you, I mean."

"Draco, let him tell it in his own time," Lucius admonishes.

"It's alright," I say. "We lived in a small village. We were the only magical family around for miles and miles. But there was this dark wizard who called himself Sedder. Not his real name, of course, it was a word in some old language that was supposed to mean 'Shadow' or something. Anyway, he had a grudge against my great-grandmother for some reason or another."

"He-- He killed them?" Draco says.

I nod gravely. "He even... I had... There was a set of twins, girls, nine years old, my cousins Helga and Hilda. He... he tortured them to death, made me listen to their screams. It was horrible... but I escaped. I got away, and came to Britain. I don't think he'll follow me here."

The memory of it brings up very real trembling and tears. It's been a long time, but it's not something I could ever forget. Their screams filled my nightmares for years. At least I haven't had the nightmares nearly so frequently lately. I think I'm actually a lot better now than I've been since before the attack.

"That's horrible," Draco says. "How did you escape?"

"Let's just call it a miracle," I say. "And leave it at that."

I imagine that Lucius isn't sure whether to offer me sympathy or to be concerned about the Dark Lord. "Where are you staying now?" Lucius asks. "You mentioned some property. And who is your guardian now?"

"Dumbledore, technically," I say. "But I'm certainly not staying with him. He seems content to leave me be, for the most part. I was staying at the Leaky Cauldron for a while, and then at another place, but it's not really in good condition, being abandoned for so long."

"You are welcome to stay with us for a while, if you like," Lucius says. "You can send your new house-elf along to get the place fixed up and move in properly when it's ready to be lived in."

"Could I?" I say brightly, smiling at him. "Thank you!"

I don't remember how I acted when I was actually an innocent child. Was I ever that innocent? I think I'm doing a good job of it, though. Maybe. I've slipped a few times and revealed too much, but I've been able to cover it up so far. I'll need to be careful. At least I won't need to be around the Malfoys too long. Just tonight should do the trick.

We finish tea, and Lucius calls out his five house-elves to stand before me in a line. "These are Muffy, Tinky, Curry, Dobby, and Glod," Lucius says.

I look over at Dobby. "Was this the one who served us tea?" I say.

"Dobby make tea!"

"Ah, Dobby is a bit troublesome at times," Lucius says. "He might be hard to handle."

"But he makes good tea," I say.

"Perhaps you would prefer one of the other ones instead," Lucius says.

I shake my head. "I don't mind if he's a little spirited. He makes good tea."

"Well, if you insist, that's your choice," Lucius says. "I won't charge you full price for such a recalcitrant elf, though. Eight hundred galleons."

"Alright," I say cheerfully. I really don't care to haggle at the moment. Nor am I going to bring out those books for this. I can avoid likely dealing with Parkinson again, but I don't need Lucius's suspicion.

We deal with the formalities of getting the money over to his vault, since I don't have that much on me at the moment, and Lucius transfers ownership of Dobby to me. Narcissa shows me to a guest room where I can stay for the night, and I go in with the excuse of getting cleaned up before dinner.

"Dobby," I say.

"What does New Master wish of Dobby?" He seems positively cheerful at his change in ownership, as if daring to hope that things will be different.

"One moment," I say. "Rispy!"

The other elf pops into the room. "Ah, did you get Dobby?" Rispy asks.

I nod. "Yeah. Give him the secret and show him to the place to get to work."

"Alright," Rispy says. "We could certainly use the help." He leans over and whispers into Dobby's ear, and they both disappear.

So far so good. Now to just grab that diary. I go into the adjoined bathroom to actually take a bath. Then, after dinner, I play a bit of wizard chess with Draco before bed. I take an hour-long nap, and wait patiently for everyone to have gone to sleep.

The house is quiet. I slip out of the guest room and creep downstairs, down to the basement. I go up to a specific wall and make an S motion with my wand, and say, "Sanctimonia Vincet Semper." The secret door slides open, allowing me entry into the hidden storage room.

There are many dark artifacts in here, some of them quite dangerous, most of which I don't even know what they do. They aren't what interests me tonight, however. I look around for Tom Riddle's diary. There it is. I almost miss it tucked away on a shelf. I grab it quickly and shove it into my bag of holding. I don't want to touch it or carry it too much, but I'll have to for now. I'm paranoia about winding up possessed.

As I'm turning to leave the room, I hear footsteps from outside. I freeze in mid-stride. That wasn't a house-elf. Lucius is still awake? My heart practically leaps into my throat in a panic. I have to hide. Quickly, I pull my invisibility cloak from my bag and toss it over me. Just in time, as Lucius steps into the doorway, shining wand-light into the secret room.

"Is someone in there?" Lucius demands. "Potter, is that you? Come on out. Show yourself!"

I don't dare to move, barely breathing. This isn't good. It will look really, really suspicious that the door to the secret room was open on the very night that I was invited to stay here.

"Homenum Revelio," says Lucius. I feel a strange swooping sensation near me. "I know you're in there. There's no use in hiding. Reveal yourself."

I sigh, and pull off the invisibility cloak. I step into the light, wand in hand. "Hello, Lucius," I say darkly, standing ready in a dueling posture.

"Potter," Lucius says, narrowing his eyes at me. "What are you doing in here?"

"You had something I needed," I reply.

"And what do you think you could possibly do against me if I chose to attack you?" Lucius says.

"Think for a moment, Lucius," I say. "I'm obviously not what I appear to be."

"Polyjuice?" Lucius says, raising an eyebrow.

"Not quite," I say. I focus my Time Magic and urge my body to be older, around twenty. If I'm going to fight, I'd best do it in a form I'm used to. My new clothes, thankfully, change size with me.

"Metamorphmagus?" Lucius hisses. "Who are you really?"

"That's a secret," I say. "Now, Lucius, is it going to be a fight?"

"What did you steal from me?" Lucius demands.

"Also a secret," I reply.

Lucius pauses an glares at me for a few moments, before shouting, "Stupefy!"

I dart to the side to avoid the attack, and cast, "Protego!" A shield shimmers into existence before me.

"Surrender and answer my questions and I may spare you," Lucius says.

"Sorry, afraid I can't do that," I say. "Fulgoris!" I cast. A bolt of lightning shoots from my wand and almost strikes Lucius.

"So, is that the way it's going to be?" Lucius says. "So be it. Sectumsempra!"

Slashes open up along my face and neck. Blood gushes out from my throat. I collapse to the floor, bleeding out my lifeblood. I'm dead in moments.

I wake in the guest room in Malfoy Manor. That didn't go well. I need to be more careful. I must not get caught. I decide to sit up and read a bit, to make certain that I won't be interrupted.

Around three in the morning this time, I sneak out down to the hidden storeroom again. This time, I wear the invisibility cloak the entire time. At the entrance to the storeroom, I cast "Accio Tom Riddle's diary!"

The small book flies out of the room toward me and hits the wall beside me. At least it's not breakable. I bend over and pick it up, and shove it into my bag of holding. I quickly close the secret door and head for the stairs.

I hear footsteps, and hurriedly ascend the stairs out of the basement as quickly and quietly as I can manage. Did Lucius put a contingency spell over the basement? That wasn't there when I snuck in here in the last timeline I came here. Maybe he just didn't trust me all that much this time, whereas he must have trusted me before. Either way, I make my way back toward the guest room, avoiding Lucius. Hopefully he will assume it was a false alarm.

I slip back into my guest room and try to go back to sleep. However, I'm too high strung and paranoid now to rest, so I give up on it after a while. Come morning, still not having slept, I head downstairs for breakfast.

"You look like a wreck, Harry," Draco says. "Didn't sleep well?"

I shake my head. "Couldn't sleep," I say.

"If you're having trouble with nightmares, dear, I can get you a Dreamless Sleep Potion," Narcissa says.

"That's alright," I say. "I think I'll just go home and help Dobby clean the place up. It'll give me something to do."

Lucius is looking at me suspiciously, but he says nothing about the alarm that must have gotten tripped last night. Perhaps he assumes that I was wandering around while being unable to sleep, and it got triggered by mistake.

After breakfast, I take the Floo back to Diagon Alley. I slip away someplace out of sight, and summon up my duck Patronus. "Tell Remus Lupin to come pick me up at the public Apparation point in Diagon Alley."

I head over there, and find Remus already waiting for me. He must have Apparated over immediately. I smile wearily at him. We don't exchange any words, not here in public. He Apparates me back to Caer Danas.

"Mission accomplished," I say. "Now, I'm going to take a nap. I was up all night just to make sure I got the damned thing."

I don't care to mention getting killed in the process. He doesn't need to know that. Even people who know about my power tend to worry needlessly when I die. No, I was really more concerned about the possibility of not dying neatly. My life feels very strange when I'm more worried about a Stunner than anything that could really hurt me.