The War of Shades

Chapter 46 - Spring Break with the Weasleys

Saturday, since a morning run was out of the question, Harry and Ginny allowed themselves to sleep in until 6 a.m. before heading to the gym Mr. Weasley had installed in the basement. It was quite a simple set-up - a stair climber and stationary bike, a rowing machine, wall mounted pulleys, and free weights with stands. They locked the door so that Ginny could remove her glasses without her parents or even Kreacher knowing. When Harry first tried the stair climber, he wondered why it did not work quite as smoothly as the ones at Hogwarts' gym did, and then he saw that there was an actual electric cord attached and plugged into a wall outlet. Then he started looking around and saw various scars in the wall where someone had very clumsily tried to drill holes to place the screws to attach pieces of equipment.

"Look at that, Ginny," said Harry pointing to the marks. "You reckon your father put all this stuff in himself?"

"It looks like it, and without magic. I sure hope he didn't wire the house as well - remember it didn't have electricity before."

"Well, if he did, it's been working for awhile without anything burning yet, but I think we'd better quietly ask your mother about it."

"Really! I hope they at least had it inspected by someone competent."

"Are there wizard electricians? Or maybe a squib who prefers to live in the muggle world? Anyway, I'll bet your father had a lot of fun playing with the muggle tools and hardware."

Ginny laughed. "It'd be the perfect relief from government business."

Harry arched his eyebrows. "Well, second-best - your parents have had a lot of time in this house alone over the past nine months."

"Eww, Harry, don't say that. I don't want that image in my mind."

"Aw, come on, Ginny. It's one of the most wonderful things about your parents, that they're still so very much in love and attracted to each other." Then Harry spoke a bit lower and looked her in the eyes. "I certainly hope that's what my life will be like when I get to that age."

Ginny blushed and smiled. "That's the way it should be, isn't it. You reckon I'll be there with you?"

Harry looked furtively around, and then said, "We'll have to keep it a secret from my wife."

"Oi, you!" Ginny shouted and tackled him onto one of the exercise mats. They wrestled for several minutes before settling down holding each other.

Harry looked her in the eye again, "I don't guess either of us can make any long-term plans with this war on, but I'm certainly not with you just to have someone to play with. You know I had plenty of opportunities for girls to play with, and they didn't come with so many big brothers to make things difficult if they don't like something I do. I like the fun we have, but it's so much more for me."

"Me, too, Harry. I suppose all we can do under the circumstances is take each day as it comes, but I hope they can add up to something golden." She kissed him tenderly, then pulling away she stood up and gave Harry a hand up, "We'd better start making some noise with this equipment or Mum will be down here."

"We could charm the equipment to work itself," said Harry with a wink.

Ginny grinned. "Now, now! We have to be in top condition for whatever happens." Then she gave him a pat on the cheek and a small slap on his bottom and picked up a pair of dumbbells.

In the afternoon, Bill, Charlie, Fred and George came over. After a warm welcome, and various shoving, back-slapping, and jokes appropriate for male-bonding, Mrs. Weasley said, "Bill, where's Fleur? I thought she was coming with you?"

"Oh, sorry, Mum, she would have, but she's back at her folks' home this week. This is her sister's first year at Beauxbatons and it's their Spring Break this week also."

Harry did a bit of quick figuring. Gabrielle had appeared to be about 8 at the time of the TriWizard Tournament, three years earlier; that would make her 11 now, same as first year at Hogwarts.

"Well, at least most of my boys could be here."

"Well, for part of the time, anyway," said Charlie. "We're going to be heading to Hogwarts for the Spring Skirmish first thing tomorrow morning. We're going to have some team drills and tactical sessions before the big event. Fred and George say they have enough space in the basement of their Hogsmeade shop for us to stay there."

"That's enough, Charlie," said Arthur. "You know you can't talk about specific preparations around Harry, and just in case I wouldn't say anything around Kreacher, either."

Arthur jerked a finger toward the kitchen door, where they all saw the door suddenly close as a greenish flappy ear withdrew just as quickly.

What about Ron? Is he going to make it here at all?" asked Bill.

Ginny spoke up. "Between the Spring Skirmish and preparing for NEWTS, he couldn't get away. He's still working on the Grand Strategy for this week, as he calls it."

"Well, how about you - you're going to be there for the Skirmish, aren't you, Ginny? At least for the battles," George said, with a 'how could you miss it?' grin.

"MOCK battles," said Harry. "They're supposed to be mock battles."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, Harry," said Fred, "We'll be good - what can happen?"

Harry scowled at him, and then said with a sigh, "I know you're not trying to get into them. It's a curse of some sort. I'm just worried about all of you."

George gave him a very concerned look, placed an arm around Harry's shoulder, and said, "And we're really worried about you, too, Harry."

Harry shrugged him off and they both laughed at the jape.

"Anyway," interrupted Ginny, "I'll be spending the week here. I reckon the DA can function for one week without me."

"Ooooo" said Fred. "Can't pull away from the new boyfriend, can you?"

She smiled broadly. "Don't want to."

What do you reckon, Fred," said George, "think they'll make it to the summer still together?"

"Now we'll have none of that out of you two," said Molly. "They haven't been together all that long. We'll have no talk of breaking up, got that?"

"So, Harry, how's about giving us a tune-up on dueling skills, so we can survive the Skirmish," said Bill.

Harry rolled his eyes, but replied, "Sure, I could use some practice myself. I guess we can use the basement."

"Good," said Arthur, "I've heard that all of you have improved your skills this year, but I haven't seen you yet," said Arthur.

"Just be careful," said Mrs. Weasley. "I don't want any trips to St. Mungo's."

They all went downstairs and Harry readily adopted his 'coach' persona, pairing them off for duels and critiquing their work. After about an hour, Charlie said, "I thought you were going to get some practice in, too, Harry. How about dueling us, too?"

Harry smiled. "Okay, sounds good." He drew his wands and went into battle stance. "On the count of three. One, Two, ..."

"Wait a sec, Harry," said Bill. "Which of us are you dueling?"

Harry grinned. "I thought Charlie had challenged me to fight all of you."

"Oh, you are such a show-off," said Ginny. "Well, if you want to drink your dinner through a straw, it's fine by me. Let's show him what Weasleys can do, boys."

They squared off again, and Harry counted down. At three, they all began firing spells at Harry, spreading out around the room, sometimes deliberately and sometimes as they dodged reflected spells. Harry dodged and deflected spells the whole time. After about five minutes, Charlie gave a loud whistle to call timeout.

"Aren't you," he panted, "even going to ... fight back, Harry?"

"If you insist. I'd better let you old folks have a rest before we go on though."

Bill and Charlie both looked at each other and then glared back at Harry. "OLD FOLKS!" they said together.

Then Bill continued, "We'll show you who can see a battle through."

Once again they commenced, but this time Harry fought back, though with five dangerous sorcerers arrayed against him, defense was still the primary task. Harry aimed the reflected or converted spells back at the various Weasleys, dodged, apparated about the room, and worked in his own spells, usually obscure ones that were disabling but little known to the others. It was a little under ten minutes before they were all disabled. Harry then proceeded to unhex them all, starting with Ginny, who had been the last to fall and laughed at the fun of it all as Harry unhexed the rest.

"I knew I wasn't going to make book on that," said Fred, "but I thought we might have gotten ONE spell through on you."

Harry grinned. "Since the Battle of Gringotts, the only spell that's gotten through to me is Tonks's Cheering Charm, and I know how to block that now, too."

Arthur gave a low, admiring whistle. "This has been a real eye-opener for me. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it. I can usually keep count of the spells in a duel, but even when it was just two of you going at it, I quickly lost track."

Fred put his arm around Harry's shoulder. "Harry really challenges us to do our utmost. He's a heck of a coach!"

"Thanks Fred," said Harry. "It's easy with eager students."

"Can any of the other students fight like that?" asked Arthur.

Harry answered. "We have about 10 or so that can fight at Ginny's level, maybe fifty at the twins' level. Don't you two frown - she's as good as Hermione and you remember what she did to you last year."

"Yeah, well, we've gotten better," said George.

"So have they," said Harry, grinning, and then turning back to Arthur. "And I'd say we have at least two hundred that can fight like Bill and Charlie. They were a bit rusty when they started this year, but they've picked right up."

"Picked right up!? They're at a level already that would have beaten all but a few aurors before the training camp this summer. You must have some force there when they are all together."

Harry snorted and grumbled. "You'd think, but they spend more time fighting each other than preparing to fight. It seems to be some sort of a curse that makes them so terribly short-tempered."

"Is that what you and Ginny have been researching, Harry?" asked Molly.

"Exactly."

"But," she continued, "they're all getting along here. There's no testiness at all."

"Yeah, somehow the curse is suppressed around me, although last week, Dobby blew up at me, too, so even that's not foolproof. I thought for a while that the glasses were involved, but it's not affecting the few students who aren't in the DA. Somehow it only affects the DA and teachers that are also preparing to defend. Maybe it only works at Hogwarts, and we'll all just have to move somewhere else."

"No, that doesn't work either" said Ginny. "Some of the aurors and auxiliaries were squabbling before we left training camp for Hogwarts, remember?"

"Yeah, so it's those who are preparing to fight Voldemort's forces," said Harry thoughtfully. "You know, that didn't start until Ron and I rescued Hermione. I wonder if something happened then - maybe to one of us - that's affecting everyone else."

"That's an excellent suggestion, Harry," said Arthur. "That goes with something I've noticed - that the fighting doesn't happen with these boys away from Hogwarts. And it hasn't happened with the aurors since they left training camp. You know, detecting curses on people and things is exactly what I was teaching in Defense Against the Dark Arts last year. I still have my materials and texts. We can work on determining if you have a curse on you during the evenings this week."

"That'd be great, but why only me? Ron went on the rescue, too"

"Ah, but he is affected the same way everyone else is, isn't he? If you're going to disable an army like this, you want the curse to hurt everyone but the person carrying it, because if the carrier gets disabled and has to leave the army, then the curse will no longer apply."

"Well, it takes some time to wear off. It seemed to have continued its effects during the week I was away at Christmas."

"Perhaps it takes time to weaken, like a slow poison. But you're also a better choice because you were the target of that attack. They may not have even expected Ron to come."

"But they were trying to kill me."

"Perhaps, but this could be a fallback ploy, a way to win even if they were not able to kill you. They had to know you were able to defend yourself," said Arthur. "Well, there are quite a number of tests we can try to see if there is a curse on you."

Harry looked down. "That would be an awful one. It would force me away from the people I love."

"That it would, Harry, unless we can beat it. Let's find out first if it exists, though," comforted Arthur.

"Harry?" said Molly. "I'm wondering about something. You were apparating during the duel."

"Yes?"

"There's an anti-apparation spell on the house."

"Yeah, I thought I felt some resistance," he said. "I can apparate through all but the strongest ones, I find. I can't apparate in Hogwarts' castle, and I couldn't in Gringotts until the goblins modified the spell to allow me to."

Charlie nodded. "Yeah, there are different strengths. I've apparated to a few places where there are rather weak anti-apparation spells, like around the dragonholds. We try to keep people from accidentally apparating into the dragon's range, but we didn't have any goblins or other expert anti-disapparation spellcasters. It's enough to keep out most apparators and the rest can't help but be aware of it, so they are warned it's not a good place to be. We didn't worry about it being any stronger. In fact, that's how I was able to get the job - they needed someone who could check the eggs in the nests. I can spend two or three minutes at them before the mother figures out where the human smell is coming from and turns her attention under herself. I watch for that and apparate back out."

"I'll bet you've been scorched a few times, Charlie," said Harry.

"Once, Harry, that's all it takes, and then you take no more pointless risks."

With that, they decided to head upstairs for post-workout showers and dinner.

For the rest of the week, when Arthur Weasley was not at the Ministry, he was working with Harry and Ginny to run every sort of test he knew or that they could find in the books to see if Harry himself, or his wand, or other possessions were carrying a curse. The rest of Harry and Ginny's free time was spent in the library researching other ways to deliver and apply a curse.

At one point, Ginny shook her head and laughed. "I should be ready for the DADA NEWT next year."

Harry grumbled. "If we don't find a solution there may be no school at which to take NEWTS, even if you're alive to take them."

"Oh, you're a right bundle of laughs, aren't you?"

"Sorry, but if I had worked like this on preparation for the Triwizard Tournament tasks, I probably would have won outright and Cedric would be alive. I can't forget that my laziness and weakness may have cost him his life."

"Harry, don't do that to yourself. You didn't really want to be in the tournament in the first place. It's no wonder you never were all that enthusiastic. No one can fault your lack of effort over the past two years."

"If we all die, there won't be anyone around to fault me."

All the efforts were for naught. They even called Dumbledore on the mirror to ask him about any additional tests for curses. He knew nothing they hadn't tried. He also had no further ideas for what type of curse might be involved.

At the next Saturday's dinner, Hedwig arrived with a note. Harry recognized the near-illegible scrawl as Hagrid's: "Dear Harry, hope you've been enjoying your break. It's real important when you return that you apparate back to my cabin. Send Hedwig back with your return time so I can make sure I'm there to meet you. - Hagrid."

"That doesn't sound good," observed Harry, handing Hedwig a strip of London broil. "Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, have you heard from any of the boys?"

They exchanged quick glances with each other, then Arthur cleared his throat and, looking into his plate, said "Erm, no, Harry, nothing significant."

Harry cocked his head. "THAT didn't sound very convincing!"

Molly tried to comfort him. "Well, there've been a few disagreements, but it sounded like it wasn't anything to speak of. We didn't want you to worry."

Harry sighed. "That's the problem - the people under the curse are convinced it's not so bad, even while they carry their victims off to hospital. I suppose it's a good sign that Hagrid's cabin is still standing, but then they said they were going to stage part of their exercises in the castle." He took out a quill and spread the parchment to write a note back. "Ginny, how about we return at about 4 tomorrow, okay?"

"Can we make it 6:30 and have an early dinner here? We hadn't seen Mum and Dad in so long."

"Of course," said Harry. "It sounds like what's done is done. I just have to accept that some things are out of my hands."

After dinner, Harry and Ginny took Hedwig up to the new owlery to send her off. Harry watched north toward Hogwarts even after he could no longer see her.

Ginny put her arm around him and leaned her head on his shoulder, "It'll be alright, Harry, you'll see."