The Crux of the Matter

Chapter 2

After a long talk with the elf, Harry convinced him to turn over the locket that had been found among the Black family relics. Holding the heavy item in his palm he stared at it.

"What are your secrets?" he silently said to the locket. "How do I get you open? You once belonged to the Gaunt family, so you are a Slytherin relic, like the ring."

Harry noticed that the edge of the locket seemed to be worked in a snake motif. The snake was around the entire edge of the locket, grasping its tail in its mouth to form the loop to hang it on a chain. When the locket opened it would split down the middle of the snake's back. He stared at the snake and hissed 'Open'. There was a soft click. It popped open in his hand.

"I thought so. Now how to destroy the piece of Riddle in you," he said, snapping it closed. Harry knew that until he actually started doing something with it, like until the diary was written in, the locket would remain dormant. As he had no desire to activate the locket and evoke whatever protection was on it, he placed it back into the small lockbox he had Remus get for him. He stood and walked into the workroom. Hermione and Ron were huddled over a cauldron.

Harry was impressed by how Hermione had set up the work table. She transfigured some items into a large metal hood that hovered a few feet above the table. sort of like the hood over a kitchen stove. She had also found a variant of the Impeturbable charm that acted as barrier to liquid and gas, so the potions work was isolated from the rest of the room and any fumes were vented outside. Hermione was now in favor of using Harry's potion's text, especially now that she knew all the marginalia were written by Snape, for all his faults and evil ways, was a recognized master of the craft. On more than one occasion, over the last two days, she had commented that using this book was akin to actually learning as his apprentice. Harry lamented that Snape could have shared the contents of the book in every class and made everyone's life much easier, in addition to turning out innumerable skilled potions brewers.

Harry settled down on an open chair at the table. Ginny was across from him engrossed in a book about enchanting items by using Runes.

"So, find out anything about that locket?" she asked.

"Yeah, it opens by saying the command in Parseltongue. I'm not going to try anything else until we find out a little more about it. I don't want to repeat what happened to you with the diary."

"Good idea. I don't fancy doing all that again, either."

"I had a thought, do you think you can still speak in Parseltongue?"

"What makes you think I could speak it in the first place?" asked Ginny.

Harry replied, "You opened the Chamber, so he had to give that to you, I guess."

"I don't know. I never really tried."

"We can work on it this summer, if you want."

"I'll think about it."

"What was that, Harry? You got it open?" asked Hermione.

"Yeah."

"I think that we should have Bill look at it," said Ron. "Hermione, what should I do next?"

"Bottle it up, single dose vials."

"That the headache potion?"

She nodded.

"Good, then we can start those Rune extracts. I don't fancy a whomping headache without having some on hand," said Ginny.

"Have you found out any more about Horcruxes?" asked Harry.

"No. I'm waiting for Professor Lu...Moony to show me those library charms he mentioned yesterday."

"How about the Fidelius Charm? I really should read over it again."

"I have that marked in those two books over on the table by the wingback chair. You need to finish the Runes extracts before you can attempt it. I still think someone else should actually cast it, though."

"We've been over that. I'm going to do, if for no other reason I can afford to be laid up for two days," said Harry. "I'm not going anywhere and I'm not the one still on potions. Ginny can't cast it, so who does that leave, Remus? He's not around all that much. And I don't want anyone else to know that I'm going to be the Secret Keeper."

"Remind me again why I can't?" asked Ginny, putting down her book.

"Well, if we wanted to wait until next week, then you could. But right now your 'condition' precludes you," said Hermione.

"I'm going to finish the third extract tonight. And cast it tomorrow. Do you think a hundred yard circle around the tent is enough?"

"It should be. Just remember, after you complete the last Rune you need to seal it with three drops of blood, as you are both the caster and the keeper. No more than three, though. That is why we can't...the blood needs to be free from most potions or other taint and you can't have a bleeding condition, for a witch that means she can't be having her period. I guess the chance of too much blood is why," said Hermione, frowning.

Ginny frowned too, "There isn't much to do about that."

"Right, the final wand movement is to cast the last Rune, once over my heart, once over my lips and finally once over my forehead...or if someone else is keeper over them. Then I touch each location with a drop of blood picked up on the tip of my wand," said Harry looking at the marked passage. "Not too difficult."

"No, it's not, but it is very draining. It has been known to knock fully trained Aurors out for two days."

They spent the rest of the day working on either potions or researching Horcruxes. The most they had found on them was in a heavily annotated book from the Black library. It seemed that this was the book that Regulus used in his research. Reading the hand written notes in the book Harry began to see a picture of Regulus that Sirius never knew. It seemed that rather than be totally taken in by a lust for power and prestige, Regulus approached joining the Death Eaters as true Slytherin, with his eyes fully open. It didn't take too long for him to realize that instead of heading toward a dream of Pureblood supremacy he was pledging his very life to the whims of a madman, and a half-blood to boot. Regulus had found out, quite by accident that Voldemort had made a Horcrux. A short note, on a yellowed piece of parchment explained it.

One night, Regulus and several other new recruits had been sent to the cave with a load of recently killed Muggles. Being steeped in Dark lore Regulus had been assigned the task of transforming these bodies into guardians for the cave. While brewing the needed potions he had time to explore the cave and he saw what was being guarded. He recognized that the item had to be a Horcrux, especially with all the precautions being taken. So he had arranged that the next time, about three months later, he would also be the one to animate the corpses. He was also becoming very disillusioned with his service to Voldemort. By the time the third group of corpses was collected, Regulus had his preparations finished and made the switch. It was easy using one of the dead to snatch the original locket from its resting place. But after that he could do nothing to destroy it. Within weeks we was killed, his research unfinished.

The most important part of his notes, both on the parchment detailing his research and in the book, were lists of other texts that he had either consulted or planned to consult. Fortunately twelve of the fourteen listed works were in the books Harry received already. The other two were in languages other than English, French or Latin, besides being nearly impossible to find. Only four of the fourteen were works banned by the Ministry, so Harry was free to pursue the missing works.

But so far, they hadn't turned up anything that Regulus hadn't covered in his notes. Harry was hoping to get a bit more information from Ginny's memories of what the avatar of Tom had showed her in the diary, but neither or Ginny were ready to extract those memories.

That night he settled down with the learning pensieve for the last installment of the Rune extracts. In the morning he was going to cast the Fidelius. He was wanting to try a variant he had been thinking about, but Hermione and Remus were set against it, both stating that it was too important to be experimenting with. Harry's variant consited of using stakes inscribed with the proper Runes and tying them to the tent with a cord. According to his thinking, the tent could then be packed up and the stakes pulled up with it. When it was set up again, and the stakes fully extended the tent would be protected. Bill and Fleur both thought Harry's reasoning was sound and wanted to try it. Remus settled for a compromise, of waiting until Harry had recovered from the casting on the main tent and then attempting the variant on the other tent.

After a full breakfast, Harry began the task of marking the plot of land to be included in the charm. The inscribing of Runes and brewing of potions were two areas of magic that always fell beneath the Ministry's monitors, so even though Harry was 'outside' of a Wizarding home, the Ministry would not be able to say he was preforming magic. About two hours after he had begun, Harry completed the last rune. When he re-entered the tent, he cast the runes on himself and sealed them with his blood. His last act, before collapsing on the couch was to reveal the 'secret' to the occupants of the tent. Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Remus, Tonks, Bill and Fleur all accepted the 'secret' and breathed a sigh of relief when they realized that once again, they knew where they were.

"I'm knackered, I think I'll kip here," mumbled Harry when Ron asked him if he wanted help back to his bed.

Undaunted, Ginny made Harry sit up and sat on the end of the couch. She then pushed his head down on to her lap and started to rub his forehad and temples.

"That feels good," mumbled Harry.

"Shush. Mum used to do it for me whenever I wasn't feeling well. Just relax and try to get some sleep, you'll feel better if you do."

"But I feel better already," he noticed her glare at what she new not to be the truth, so he added, "well with you doing that, I do."

Harry awoke several hours later, feeling rather refreshed. Ginny had obviously moved after he had fallen asleep, because his head was now resting on a pillow. He stumbled his way to the kitchen, where the others were just sitting down to dinner.

"So what did you do while I slept the day away?" he asked, stifling a yawn.

"I've been researching your idea about making a moveable Fidelius for the tent. I really think it would work. Since you can define an area around the dwelling when casting it, using the rune stakes should work." said Bill.

"I still say we need to check it out, first," said Remus.

"I agree," said Harry, loading a plate. "The more I thought about it, the more I realized you and Hermione were right. We needed to get a secure place as quickly as possible, now we have some time to play around."

Over the next several days, Harry spent his time crafting a set of rune encrusted stakes to use for the Fidelius on the other tent. On the morning of the fourth day since casting the original spell he took the other tent and walked a short distance into the woods. He cast the spell, again using himself as the keeper. Not quite as exhausted as when he cast the original, he made his way back to the others, who were gathered outside the first tent.

"It is that way," he said pointing back the way he had just come. "If you get to the lightning struck oak tree you've gone too far."

He made his way back into the tent and collapsed onto the couch. About an hour later the group arrived back, waking him.

"Oi, can't you see someone is trying sleep in here?"

"Sorry!" said several voices.

"No you're not. You want to know where it is. Well, Potter's tent is fifty yards in front of the lightning struck oak," mumbled Harry.

Ron ran out and a few minutes later, returned with the tent.

"It was there, plain as day. I was able to pull the stakes, but after I packed it up and moved away it disappeared. But I still feel like I'm carrying something."

"Ron Weasley is carrying Potter's tent," said Harry, shrugging his shoulders.

Ron gasped, along with everyone else in the room. "I'll be..."

"Well, I guessed that worked, not exactly like planned but still it worked," said Remus.

"I'll cancel the charm and we can get moving."

"No, don't cancel it. You can see the tent no matter what, so just pack it up and we can use it when we need it," said Hermione. "Like when we go back to the Burrow."

"Good idea. We can keep Witherwings in it. Remus, you said that things can be kept in the tents when moving them, but not people or creatures, right?"

"Yes. Someone is going to have to cast a Disillusionment charm on Witherwings and fly him back. The rest of us, who aren't flying can Apparate."

"Why can't we use some other form of travel?" asked Harry.

"Like what?"

"Well, carpets, but then again those are outlawed in Britain. Portkeys are regulated to death. What about portals?"

"They need to be made to fixed locations from a fixed location. In addition to being incredibly difficult to cast, they require precise location information," said Remus.

"The information is the same as for a portkey, right?"

"Yes, but the fixed location is the problem. There aren't too many people willing to..." he stopped abruptly. "Just what are you thinking?"

"Well, why not make a few to key Order locations and then put them under the Fidelius. I'm sure Moody would think there is a major risk, but we need to be able to get from point A to point B without interference, especially now that Dumbledore isn't around to make portkeys."

"Also," said Bill, "we can use blood based wards on them. Only those people who are recognized by the wards can use the portal."

"But isn't Blood magic considered a Dark Art?" asked Hermione.

"Yes and no," answered Remus. "Wards and contracts that are sealed with blood are allowed. Anything that requires forcibly removing blood from someone is disallowed. Bonding ceremonies, as long as all parties involved agree to it are also allowed, but they are a sort of gray area, except for marriage ceremonies."

"So we would be safe there. There aren't any regulations on portals like there are on portkeys?"

"No. Mainly because they fell out of favor when portkeys were invented."

"So that 'vanishing' cabinet that Malfoy used to bring in those Death Eaters is most likely a portal?" asked Ron.

"Yes," answered Remus.

"So it was a mated pair of objects, that could be carried around and set up anywhere. That gives us a few more options," said Harry. "Does the portal have to be three dimensional?"

"What do you mean?"

"Could it be a piece of parchment?"

"Yes, but it has to be at least as large as the biggest thing you want to go through it."

"I was thinking of using paper. With a blood ward on it, any one else trying to get through would just tear it. And couldn't we put a self-immolation charm on it, like a Howler?"

"Set to go off when torn," said Remus, grinning. "Harry, you are thinking just like your father."

"Beell, we should be going, your muzzer is going to be angry with us," said Fleur. "We should have been back hours ago."

"Right. Sorry, Harry," said Bill, looking at his watch.

"That's okay. We will be there soon. I guess, they will be. I'll fly Witherwings. It shouldn't take me two and a half days to fly back, not having to stop every half hour. I'll take the tent with me, in case I do need to stop for the night."

"You'll do no such thing. We all flew here, we will all fly back," said Ginny. "Besides, I can't Apparate."

"You could Side-along it, you know."

"Haven't you figured out that is the worst way to travel that there is?"

"Um...no, I haven't soloed yet. I thought it felt the same either way. But then again, unless I'm on a broom I have problems."

"No, mate, it doesn't. Solo is the only way to go," said Ron, a huge grin plastered on his face.

"Okay, so getting back isn't going to be all that easy. Bill, you and Fleur just go back, the rest of us will follow as best we can. Remus, don't you have to meet Tonks tonight?"

Remus answered, "Yes, we are planning to hunt down Greyback."

"Two weeks to plan?"

"Yes."

"How are you going to kill him? Silver?"

"Silver hurts us but it isn't really fatal," said Remus. "And no, before you ask we won't be using any firearms. First off, none of us are good enough with them and we don't want to alert the Muggle authorities by using illegal weapons."

"What about using traps and crossbows?" asked Hermione.

"Fenrir is good at sniffing out traps and most of the time he would just dodge a crossbow bolt."

"He goes after children? Where will he most likely strike?" asked Ginny.

"That's the thing, we have no idea. There are several possible targets, but with him you never know. One of the things that was discussed before the Hogwarts attack was going after Muggle children at a camp, but that was never agreed to...or it was put off until later."

"I think he might be wanting to go after Bill," said Ron. "Bill is a failure for him. He didn't kill Bill or turn him, so I think he is going to try again."

"Plus wouldn't the wedding make an inviting target?" asked Hermione.

Remus sat down, thinking. "You lot are good. The four of you together are better than most of the rest of us on thinking this out. But this isn't getting us back to the Burrow. We'll continue this later. Hermione, your new project is how to trap and kill a werewolf."

She looked a bit upset as she agreed. "I don't really like the killing idea, but I guess it must be done. When we get back to the Burrow will you show us those library charms, you told us about?"

"We need to get back to the Burrow, soon. I'll Apparate there and talk to Bill, if they haven't left yet. If I can't find him, I'll set it up with Arthur," mumbled Remus.

"What are you talking about?" asked Harry.

"Oh, just setting up a portal. I think that is going to be the best way to get everyone there quickly. I'll come back here and set up this end."

"That is going to take a while," said Harry. "Let's just fly."

"With Witherwings it will take forever."

They continued in the same vein for several more minutes, until Hermione spoke up. "This isn't getting us anywhere. Honestly, you two are acting like children. Harry, I think Remus has the best idea. Let's just do that and get it over with. Until he gets back, I'll be in the library, reading up on werewolves."

Harry agreed, "She's right, Remus. Let's just do it your way. I really just wanted to fly."

"Harry, you are more like your father than you know. James and I used to argue that way all the time." said Remus, with a large grin on his face. He then turned and walked outside, before Apparating.

Several hours later, Remus returned, along with Tonks.

"Well, it is all set at the Burrow. I'll set up here, then every one can go through and then I'll collapse the portal and Apparate."

"Sounds great, let's get started," said Harry.

A short while later, everyone was standing in the orchard at the Burrow. A soft pop announced the arrival of Remus.

"Ron, give me a hand, we'll set up the small tent here for Witherwings." said Harry.

"Why don't we set up both tents?" asked Ron.

"Why?"

"That will give us a place to work without mum going spare." said Ron, shrugging. "Besides, we can always use it for other things, just remember I don't want see or here about any of them, okay?"

They quickly set up both tents, the smaller one complete with the Fidelius. After finishing, Harry and Ron made it to the house just in time to catch the end of one of Mrs. Weasley's famous tirades.

'That is final, young lady.' was the last thing they heard before being nearly run down by the young lady in question.

"Ginny, what's mum going spare about now?" asked Ron.

"Me...the wedding...school...everything, I don't know just leave me be, Ron. I don't want to talk about it."

Harry whispered something in Ron's ear before approaching Ginny. "Ginny, come on, let's go feed Witherwings."

She nodded and went with Harry. As they were leaving Hermione walked up to Ron.

"That didn't go too well, I think I'm going to look up something in the library, join me?"

Ron turned to follow Hermione, until his name was called out loud enough to wake the dead. "Umm...sorry, I think I'd better see what mum wants."

Hermione nodded and headed back to the orchard.

Harry and Ginny were quietly tossing rats to the hippogriff when Hermione found them.

"Ginny, I think that after the wedding your mother will be a bit calmer and easier to talk to."

The other girl shrugged, "I guess so. I think that I'm going to go lie down. I have a bit of a headache."

"Your room or the tent?" asked Harry. "The potions are in the chest on the work table."

"Tent, I guess. Hermione, get me up in about an hour. I'll need to help mum with dinner."

"Sure thing."

After she left, Hermione turned to Harry. "I don't know how much you heard or what she told you, but Mrs. Weasley really laid into Ginny when we went in the house. Kind of like that Howler after you and Ron flew the car back to Hogwarts."

"I know, she told me all about, while flinging rats."

"You need to tell Mrs. Weasley what is up. Why you are doing this."

"I don't know if I can. It just..."

"Harry, she's worried about you...and Ginny...all of us, really. Honestly, sometimes I swear you should be a Hufflepuff. Maybe not, most of them I know are less timid about talking about things than you are."

"Yeah, well, that's me. I guess we can blame that on my upbringing. You know, being taught not to ask questions and to not talk about things, from an early age does kind of make it hard to do what you want."

"You're not serious! They couldn't have been that bad."

Harry grimly nodded. "I made a mistake of asking about my parents once. I ended up grounded for that and being told they died in a car crash, that was caused by my father being drunk while driving. I'm not all that smart Hermione, I bought that for years."

"Harry, that doesn't make you stupid, at least you are doing better now. I know that wasn't the best way to grow up."

"Yeah, but at least I'm alive. Enough of this. I don't think that is really what you wanted to talk to me about."

"True. We will talk about it more, sometime. But, as much as I like Mrs. Weasley we really have to do something about her. I mean Ron is now of age, so am I and you will be in a couple of weeks. You know what we need to do, and I agree with you. I will help you no matter what and so will Ron and Ginny."

"But we need to make her understand. Hermione, I know this and I've been thinking about it, since before the end of term and everything that happened. Dumbledore and I had some long talks. He was preparing me for not only finding the Horcruxes, but leading the Order, I think. I know what to do, but I dread doing it. It just might make things worse, at least around here and I can't really afford to lose the Weasleys."

"You won't lose us, mate," said Ron, sitting down next to Hermione. "Maybe mum will be upset, but the rest of us are all right with what you have to do and we will be with you."

"Ron, you don't have to be, you know."

"I know that, you prat, I WANT to be. Heck, I've been your 'sidekick' for the past six years, if you think I'm quitting now, forget it."

"Fine, now here is what we are going to do. For the next couple of weeks we will take it easy, do nothing to get your mum upset, she has enough problems with the wedding and everything. We will quietly study and plan. After the wedding, though, I want to start some serious training and then about the end of September or so, we start the hunt. Remus and Moody are nominally in charge of the Order so we shouldn't have any problems there."

"Where is Ginny?" asked Ron. "Shouldn't she be here for this?"

"She's having a lie down, headache. She doesn't need to hear this, she's the one who came up with that plan," said Harry. "Anyway, Ron why aren't you a little more worked up over her joining us."

Ron turned a little pink, "Umm...well, it may have something to do with a certain girl cornering her older brother and threatening to hex his balls off if he didn't wise up and grow up."

"I guess that would do it. So, you really don't have a problem with her joining us?" asked Harry, over Hermione's laughter.

"I guess not. Especially after what she said to you the other night. She's right you know, she is a target all by herself."

"It is getting close to the time to go wake her up." said Hermione. "You know Harry, you should get a new watch already. I saw some nice ones in one of those catalogues from Diagon Alley."

"That and new glasses. I think we need to take a shopping trip soon. For more than potions ingredients and books." he said, looking pointedly at Hermione. "Also I think we need brooms all around. Something like Ron's Cleansweep, solid and steady."

"Yeah, that is why I picked it. It is a great Keeper's broom and a good all around flier, not as flashy as your Firebolt and easier to control."

"I'll have you know, my Firebolt is very easy to control."

"Yeah, at about ninety miles an hour, not at slow speeds and you are constantly making adjustments everytime you try to hover."

"Come on," said Hermione, dragging the two of them out of the tent. They entered the other tent, still going at it. Hermione just walked over to the room she shared with Ginny and gently woke the other girl. When the girls rejoined Harry and Ron, they were still arguing over the advantages of each broom. Ginny looked at Hermione and started laughing.

"Let's go, Ginny and I need to help with dinner. Mrs. Weasley said she'll show me some of her recipes tonight."

Harry stopped arguing, "I think I'll volunteer too. I've always wanted to learn some of them."

Ron's jaw dropped, "You cook? That's such..."

"Yes, Ron, I can and do cook. With the way you eat, I think you should learn how too. I'm not going to be doing all the cooking when we go off chasing after those damn Horcruxes," said Harry, a little testily. He turned and strode towards the house, Ginny and Hermione following. Ron stood there, mouth agape for a short while before running after them.

Molly seemed to be much calmer after the offer to help from Harry. Dinner was still a slightly strained affair, with Bill and Fleur arriving a little later than expected. Fleur explained why they were late by introducing Gabrielle to everyone. Gabrielle spent most of dinner staring dreamily at Harry and sighing. Every so often she would mutter something in French that would start Fleur and Hermione laughing. After dinner Fleur and Hermione disappeared, leaving Harry, Ginny and Ron to deal with the eleven year old. Bill caught up to them a short while later.

"Harry can I drag you away for a few minutes?" asked Bill.

Seeing the glare that Ron was shooting him, he answered, "Sure, but make it quick. I think Ron wants to continue our discussion about brooms."

Bill nodded at Ron, smirking. "Sure thing, little brother."

"Hey, I'm almost as tall as you." said Ron.

Gabrielle just giggled.

Out of earshot, Harry turned to Bill, "So what did you want?"

"Well, it has to do with Gabrielle."

"What about her?"

"Well, since--oh I don't know how to do this!" he said, throwing up his hands.

"What, she has a crush on me and you don't want me to encourage it or something?"

"Yeah, that's it, exactly. I know how Gin used to act around you and well..."

"I know. Look, I'm not trying to do anything. I did a pretty dumb thing pulling her out of the lake."

"Not dumb, Harry. Maybe not the best thought out thing, but never dumb."

A week later, everyone seemed to be much calmer. There were no attacks since the end of school and everyone was slowly getting back to normal. It had only taken two days for Gabrielle to stop following Harry and giggling (and several death glares from Ginny). Gabrielle turned out to be more of a tom-boy than Fleur ever was. She was not a bad Quidditch player so the pick up games were a bit more exciting, especially now that Hermione was willing to take a turn.

The Friday after they returned to the Burrow, Harry called his three friends, Remus, Tonks and Bill to a quick meeting in the tent.

"Hermione has come up with a couple of things that should help with going after Greyback."

Hermione looked very similar to Mconagall as she began, "The first thing I thought of was something to knock him out quickly. I know that most spells aren't going to work, unless several wizards cast them together, so why not use a Muggle drug. Something will knock out a raging bear."

"That might work, but how will we deliver it?" asked Bill.

"Well, when Muggles want to study wild animals they use dart guns to administer the knock out drug. I don't think we can get one, so bolts dipped in it."

"That would work, but I don't know anyone other than Hagrid that is any good with a crossbow," said Remus.

"I'm not, but I have been practicing banishing darts to a specific target. I can hit the bull's eye about eight out of ten times," she said, smugly.

"We can all try that, but I don't think any of you should be anywhere near him, if you can help it," said Tonks.

"I know, but I have a suspicion that he will be trying to attack the Burrow," said Hermione. "I culled all the old Prophet articles that I could find about him and it seems that he doesn't like failure and tries to do something about it, usually trying to kill those he missed the first time around."

"Don't tell mum that," said Ginny. "She doesn't need to worry about it, too."

"Right, Ginny, she doesn't need to know," said Ron.

"What if that doesn't work?" asked Harry.

"Then we pull out all the stops, and start using aconite powder. In high enough quantities it will even poison a normal person. What it does to a werewolf, I don't even want to think about."

"Where are we going to get enough?" asked Tonks. "It is a controlled potion ingredient, most apothecaries don't carry it in quantity."

"You've been to the garden store in the village?" asked Bill.

"Yes. Oh, there was a large amount of it there...Muggles grow it as an ornamental."

He nodded.

"How are we going to deliver it?" asked Harry.

"Water balloons," said Hermione, with a smirk.

Ginny started laughing, "Those ones that Fred and George made. The ones that are charmed to follow the target until they connect?"

"Exactly. We don't have to be too accurate with them, just lob them toward the intended target and the balloon does the rest. We will go with them right off if more than Greyback shows up."

"What about me? Aconite and I don't exactly get along." said Remus.

"Go to the Shrieking Shack and take Bill with you."

"But if Bill doesn't transform then I don't want to hurt him."

"Don't worry about that. I've got a few tricks up my sleeve, wards that should be able to stop a raging manticore. I'll be safe."

"Maybe I should be worried about how safe I'll be?" laughed Remus.

"Look when I was in school you were still a legend around the tower, you think I'd harm one of my idols? Nope, I'll just trap you in a box and let you sleep the night."

"Why can't you put those up around here?" asked Harry.

"Because they are indiscriminate. They'll trap friend or foe alike, so they work better in small enclosed spaces."

"I'll buy that. Good to know," said Harry. "What were they used for?"

"Guarding treasure and tombs. The only problem was once they were triggered they had to be reset, so many times the first attempt on the grave set them off and later attempts succeeded in robbing the place."

"We need this stuff ready to go by next Sunday, the twentieth," said Tonks.

"I know. I can have enough aconite extract by Tuesday for a couple of hundred balloons. My father is getting the tranquilizer, I should have it Wednesday. I need a gross of darts and that will be ready."

Harry stood and said, "Okay, I guess we plan on going shopping tomorrow."