Harry Potter and the Antiquity Link

Chapter 21

The Auror Leader

He Disapparated, and was suddenly in his bedroom at Grimmauld Place. Looking around, he realized that he felt very different than he had the last time he was there. He associated the place with a feeling of restriction, of wanting to hide, to be left alone. I'm going to have to get a new place, he thought. Definitely build something in Godric's Hollow, maybe on the same land as my parents. I'll have to look at plans when I get some free time, but I'm going to be pretty busy for a while.

"Ron!" he heard Hermione shout from downstairs. "I asked you a question!"

He smiled; this was going to be fun. He started downstairs.

"What?" shouted Ron from the living room.

"I told you, I'm making some lunch!" she shouted. "Am I making it for one, or two?"

Harry reached the bottom of the stairs, visible from both the kitchen and the living room. "How about for three?"

There was silence for a long second as they both stared at him. Hermione let out a high-pitched squeal and ran to him, throwing her arms around him and holding him tightly. "Harry!" As he hugged her, he grinned at Ron over her shoulder; Ron grinned back. Separating from Hermione, he then hugged Ron.

"Oh, Harry, we missed you so much!" exclaimed Hermione. "Are you back?"

Even though he knew what she meant, he raised his eyebrows, pretending he didn't. "I seem to be."

"You know what I mean. Are you done traveling, you're back for good?"

"I'm back for good," he assured her. "No more traveling."

"It's good to see you, mate," said Ron. His tone becoming more solemn, he asked, "Does this mean you're going to be..."

Harry nodded. "Auror Leader. Yes, I am."

Even more solemn, Ron nodded. "Half of me wants to congratulate you, and half wants to say I'm sorry for you. I assume you know what happened at Gringotts. You've got quite a job ahead of you."

"That's true," agreed Harry. "And that's why, as always, I need your help. Both of you. I have to build a new group of Aurors, and you two are the first people I want with me."

"Both of us?" asked Hermione, surprised. "Me, too?"

"You, too," Harry affirmed. "I know it's something you never wanted to do. I'm not asking you to make a career commitment. If you do, that's great. But at least, I want you until I can get the Aurors' numbers up to a reasonable level, and that could take a few years. I need your help, both of you."

"I'm in," agreed Ron.

Hermione hesitated, then nodded. "I didn't know what I wanted to do; I would have never chosen being an Auror. But I know you didn't choose Auror Leader, either, and you're doing it because we need you. So yes, I'll do it. I'll consider whether I want to leave or not when the numbers are okay. You know, Harry, we can't say no to you."

He exhaled; he hadn't consciously realized how important it was to have them with him. "Thank you both, really. It means a lot to me. Now, this hadn't occurred to me until now, but I'm really hungry."

Hermione smiled. "Coming right up. As long as you tell us about what happened while I'm making the food." Harry and Ron sat at the kitchen table as Hermione prepared lunch, and Harry started talking.

Thirty minutes later, Harry finished his food, having taken longer than them because he had talked a lot while eating. "So, what's the situation here right now? What's Kingsley doing?"

Ron looked grim. "He told Dad, very confidentially--Weasleys only--that the Council has told him he's gone, and that it'll happen tomorrow. He's scheduled an event in Diagon Alley, his resignation speech."

"Okay, that's the first order of business," said Harry. "Now that I have some food, I can get started. I have some things to do this afternoon--this is Sunday, right?" They nodded. "Okay. I'll be needing your help later, maybe in an hour or two. I'm not sure how long this is going to take.

"I have a question before I go, and it may sound strange, but it's very serious. Do either of you have any problem with Neville?"

Surprised, they glanced at each other. They shook their heads.

"You like him, you trust him?" Harry pressed them. "You would put your life in his hands?"

More confused, they again nodded. "What's this about?" asked Ron.

"It has to do with why I did that oracle thing," said Harry. "I'll explain more later--"

"What do you mean, 'more'?" Ron asked sarcastically.

Harry grinned. "Ah, sarcasm. It's good to be back. I really will tell you later, not too long from now. But I have a few errands first, and it seems there's no time to lose." He stood and Disapparated.

Knowing the location of the place because of the memories he'd seen, he Apparated into the small but ornate room which contained the five portraits comprising the Council of Elders. They gaped at him; he acted normally. "Good afternoon, gentlemen. I'm Harry Potter."

"This room is immune to Apparition and Disapparation!" said one, sounding offended.

"Ah, I didn't know that," said Harry. Not surprising, he reflected. "I suppose I should also explain that I'm now Auror Leader. The ceremony announcing it will be tomorrow. I'd appreciate it if you'd keep it under your hats for now."

The men looked even more astonished. "When did this happen?"

"Recently," answered Harry. "I'd like to..." He almost said, 'ask a favor,' but he didn't want them thinking he owed them something. "...request that you rescind your intention to get rid of Kingsley. I want him to remain as Minister."

"Oh, you do, do you," remarked the one in the lower left, with understated sarcasm. "And why is that?"

"I'm going to have a hard job ahead of me," said Harry. "I need a Minister who'll give me his full cooperation, and not play political games with me, like, I'll do this for you if you do that for me. I don't have time for that. Also, Kingsley will do better for the people than anyone else you could name."

"He has not, so far," said the same one.

"The same things would have happened no matter who was Minister--"

"You do not know that."

"He made no poor decisions--"

"The dementors--"

"I agreed with that decision. I know it asks something of society--"

"It asks too much! The people have shown that they've had enough!"

"Of course, we take seriously the wishes of the Auror Leader," said another. "Especially one so revered as you. But it is not as simple as you asking us to do something and us doing it. We are sworn to do what we think is right for society, and what the political circumstances demand."

"The political circumstances will be changing," said Harry confidently. "Tell you what. I'll come back in a week, and we'll talk again. In the meantime, I'd like your promise that you'll do nothing without consulting me."

Four looked agreeable, but the one in the lower left looked very offended. "We are not your puppets, for you to make demands of. What makes you think you have the authority to treat us as your servants?"

Harry hadn't looked closely at their faces. He stepped forward and looked at the man. There should be plaques with names, thought Harry. "Are you Minister Dennekin?"

"That's right," the man said indignantly. "What of it?"

Harry stared at the portrait, trying to decide how strongly to assert himself. "William, trust me, you do not want to make an enemy of the Auror Leader," said the first one Harry had talked to.

Ah, thought Harry. Speaking to the one who had just spoken, he said, "He doesn't know what I can do?"

The portrait's occupant shook his head. "There has only been one Auror Leader since he arrived, and that one had no particular political preferences."

Harry nodded, still speaking to that one. "Please understand, I don't want to cause you any trouble. It's just that the situation now is really difficult, and I don't need any more headaches than I'm going to have already. I really need Kingsley to stay."

"We understand your wishes," the man assured him. "We--"

"Well, I don't!" interjected Dennekin.

"--will do nothing without talking to you first. And we will explain the situation to our esteemed colleague."

Harry grinned at the man's wry humor. "I appreciate that. I'm looking forward to getting to know all of you."

"That's what we're afraid of," joked another.

Harry chuckled, as did two of the other portraits. "That wasn't what I meant."

"I know," said the man. "But as the others know, I hate to pass up the opportunity for a joke. There is so little humor here."

"I can imagine," agreed Harry. "Thank you for your time." Next stop, Hogwarts, he thought as he Disapparated.

Enjoying the ability to do so, he Apparated into the headmistress's office, in front of the large desk. He didn't necessarily think she'd be there on a Sunday afternoon, but she was. Head down, writing on parchment, she looked up at the Apparition sound, and did a startled double-take on seeing Harry standing in front of her. "Potter?" she gasped.

"Hello, Professor," he said. "Sorry to just barge in on you like this, but I'm in kind of a hurry."

She stood, staring at him, still shocked. "How did you do that? Is there some problem with the school's Apparition suppression? Or is it the Elder Wand?"

"Neither," he responded. "Well, for all I know, the Elder Wand might have been able to do it. Anyway, Professor, I need to see Neville."

She eyed him suspiciously. "You have not decided that you want the job after all, have you?"

Puzzled, he frowned. "No, I don't. And what does Neville have to do with that?"

"Professor Longbottom is now teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts."

Harry grinned. "Really? Well, good for him. He's a good choice. But anyway, I need to see him. Like, right away."

"Mr. Potter," she said sternly, "However you did it, one does not simply Apparate into the headmistress's office and demand to see this or that teacher. If you will tell me what your business is, I will deal with your request."

"Professor," he said calmly. "Please do a Reveal Magic spell on my forehead."

She looked at him as though he'd taken leave of his senses, then did as he asked. She clearly recognized the symbol; she was flabbergasted. He'd never seen her look anywhere near that surprised. "Auror Leader... but how?"

"By passing the test," he said quietly. He gave her another few seconds to recover, then said it again. "Professor... I need to see Neville, and I need him to come with me. I need his help with something."

Still staring at him, she walked to the door and left the office. He looked at the portraits for the first time, naturally focusing on Dumbledore's. "Hello, Albus."

"Hello, Harry," Dumbledore responded genially. "I see that you are back for good, as you are identifying yourself by your title."

He nodded. "I just had to work out a few things. It seems I got back just in time."

"It would seem so. Have you talked to the Council?"

"I just finished. They're going to hold off for a while."

"Good. You have a daunting task ahead of you, but there is no one in whom I would have more confidence to manage it."

"Thank you, Albus. That means a lot to me."

"How was Japan?"

"Strange. Interesting. Good. It was good to see things in another way. Learning about their culture made me see ours in a different way."

"That's good, Harry. I'm glad you had the chance to do so. I know you will be having precious little free time, but I hope that one evening at home you will tell me a few stories."

"Of course, I'd be happy to," he said.

"Good. Oh, I believe the headmistress is returning."

Harry looked at the door, and sure enough, McGonagall entered, followed by Neville, who looked surprised and pleased. "Harry! You're back!"

Grinning, Harry clasped Neville's shoulder. "It's good to see you, Neville. You look good. Look, I'm here because there's something I need you to do. Can you come with me, right now?"

Neville looked at McGonagall, a 'what's this about?' expression on his face. "Professor Longbottom, you will never be able to look at Mr. Potter in quite the same way again, after..." She did the Reveal Magic spell. Neville had roughly the same reaction McGonagall had had; clearly, he knew enough about Auror lore to recognize the symbol. "Merlin's beard," he whispered, awed.

Not sure what to say, he knew he had to give Neville a few seconds to get used to it. "How long will this take?" asked McGonagall.

"I'm not sure," said Harry. "Maybe a few hours. I also might need him tomorrow. Before noon, I think."

"He has classes, Mr. Potter."

"If this goes as I think it will, it'll be more important than his classes. Far more important. Also, tomorrow, I may need a few other people, D.A. people. Ginny, Corner, Zacharias, Luna..."

"Miss Lovegood is not at Hogwarts," said McGonagall. "Her father passed away last week. She is on bereavement leave; we are not sure when she will be back."

"I understand," said Harry. "I'll talk to her later. Neville, are you ready?"

"Yeah, okay," said Neville, calming down slightly. "What are we doing?"

"Something very useful," said Harry. "I hope, anyway. Let's go." He hooked his arm around Neville's.

Startled, Neville pulled away. "That's not going to work."

Harry smiled. "Some things have changed." He grabbed Neville's arm and Disapparated.

* * * * *

Fifteen minutes later, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville took the Portkey in Harry's bedroom, and they suddenly appeared in Kingsley's office. Working at his desk, head down much like McGonagall's had been, he didn't hear them arrive. "Kingsley," said Harry.

Kingsley looked up, and it was as if he saw a ghost. "Harry..."

Harry decided to leave any personal conversations for later. "Ron tells me that there's a room in the Ministry that has a dementor trapped in it, but he's not sure which one it is. We need you to take us there."

Kingsley was still staring; Harry wasn't sure whether he'd been heard or not. Finally, Kingsley recovered. "Yes, it's a meeting room near where Umbridge had been interrogating Muggle-borns. There's three in there, actually. Someone had herded them in there after Voldemort died, and no one wants to deal with them. So, they've just remained there. No one will open the door."

"Well, we're going to open it. Come on."

"I can just tell you where to go..."

"No, you need to come too." Harry gestured towards the door with his wand. Still looking at Harry strangely, Kingsley led them out.

They saw almost no one in the halls, as it was a Sunday. It took less than two minutes to get there, by elevator and walking. They entered the large hearing room; Kingsley gestured to the meeting room door. "Ready?" asked Harry. Ron, Hermione, and Neville nodded. They formed a semicircle, and held one of their hands out toward the center. As they'd practiced at Grimmauld Place, the four held hands in such a way that each person's hand was touching the hand of all others; this, Harry had been told, was essential.

Harry swung the door open. Nothing happened for a minute, then a dementor came drifting out. Harry quickly closed the door, and the four activated their Patronuses. They directed them at the dementor, the four Patronuses coming at the dementor from all sides. The dementor tried to slide away, but the four Patronuses followed it, seeking to box it in. Harry's stag, Hermione's otter, and Ron's terrier forming three sides of a pyramid, with Neville's bear comprising the bottom. A part of each Patronus touched a part of every other one at the edges of the pyramid. Harry's stag melded with Ron's terrier and Hermione's otter; the top part of the pyramid was solid. The dementor thrashed around, but couldn't escape at the top. Neville's bear formed a solid link with the otter and the terrier, but a gap kept opening between the stag and the bear. It tried to close, but kept coming open. Finally, its thrashing increasing, the dementor pushed its way through the opening, and flew free, moving faster than Harry had ever seen a dementor move. Harry disengaged his hand from the others' and they all let go.

"Ron, Hermione, would you put it back in the room, please," asked Harry. "Neville, could you come with me for a minute?"

They stepped out into the empty hallway. "Neville, you and I seem to have a problem."

"What do you mean?" asked Neville. He seemed a bit nervous, but Harry wasn't sure.

"The spell only works," explained Harry, "when all four of the people have a close relationship. They care about each other, trust each other, feel close to each other. That's what causes the sides of the pyramid to seal, seamlessly. Every side sealed except the side that connected our Patronuses. So, there must be some problem. We need to find out what it is."

Neville looked at Harry, then looked away, now definitely nervous. Harry decided to venture a guess. "Is it Ginny?"

Very surprised, Neville looked at him. "What have you heard?"

"Nothing. No one told me anything. But when I did what I did to get this information, I had visions, visions that I know were accurate. One of them was of you and Ginny, hiding from Filch in a closet." Neville gaped. "Another was her asking you to the end-of-the-year party."

Still silent, Neville appeared not to know what to say. Harry spoke again. "Neville, look... I don't have any hold on Ginny. She was right; I never made anything clear, mainly because I didn't know what I felt. I broke up with her a year ago, and never gave her any reason to think that had changed. She was more than free to do whatever she wanted. I didn't do anything, and she felt she couldn't wait forever. So, that was that."

Neville was finally able to speak. "You... really had visions?"

Harry nodded. "You had liked her ever since the Yule Ball." Neville's stunned surprise would have confirmed that Harry was right even if he hadn't already been sure.

"Neville... if you and her weren't together right now, I'm not sure what I would have done. Maybe I would've looked her up, and maybe I wouldn't." Harry knew he was playing with words a bit, that it was much more likely that he would've than that he wouldn't have. But he didn't want Neville to feel bad. "But you and her are together now, and I have no intention of trying to get between that. You're happy, and she's happy. You are happy, right?" Neville nodded. "So, that's fine," said Harry. "But it doesn't affect you and me, as far as I'm concerned. I've known you for seven years. We're good friends, I care about you, I trust you. This has nothing to do with that." After another silence, Harry sighed. "Neville, could you say something, help me out here?"

Neville gave him an embarrassed grin. "Sorry. Harry, I... it's very hard to know what to say. I feel like I snatched her away from you--"

"You didn't. She said that, too. She didn't want you to think like that."

Neville nodded, still seemingly unnerved that Harry knew so much. "I know. It's just hard not to. And now, here you are, Auror Leader, and I'm the one that waltzed away with your girlfriend while you were fighting Voldemort, then dealing with major issues. I thought it was really understandable that you didn't know what you wanted for a while."

"I know, you told her that. She was annoyed at you, she didn't want you thinking like that. Neither do I."

"But you did all that for us! Fighting Voldemort, breaking into Gringotts which led them to kidnap you, then leaving the country, which was also really understandable--all that happened because you were trying to help us! I just... felt really guilty about it. I mean, I like her a lot, I love to be with her. It's just hard not to feel bad about it where you're concerned, like I... took something away from you." Neville sounded miserable, his tone one of someone confessing his most embarrassing secret.

Harry was trying to be noble, but it was difficult. He still liked Ginny, and didn't know that there couldn't have been a future for them. Some part of him mourned for what could have been, but he had to deal with the here and now, and what they were trying to do. He hadn't known that Neville felt this way. He tried to put himself in Neville's shoes, and he could understand, at least a little. "You didn't, Neville. If you took something, I left it there to be taken. And she's a person, she can make up her own mind. There was a long history of me disappointing her. She approached you about the party, not the other way around. So, you have nothing to feel bad about. C'mon, Neville. You know I'm right."

Neville stared past Harry. "In a way, yes, I know. But sometimes your feelings are different from what you know is right. Do you know what I mean?"

Harry chuckled. "Oh, yes. Definitely. But in this case, it's... it was just circumstances, things kept not coming together. But this was between me and her, and now between you and her. Not between you and me. Okay?"

Neville nodded. "Okay. Thank you, Harry. This had really been bothering me. And I hadn't been telling Ginny about it, because I knew what she would say. But... you're being really good about it. I'm surprised, to be honest."

Harry shrugged. "It's the visions. They made me see a lot of things in a different way, understand things I hadn't understood. Anyway, let's go back, let's do what we came here to do." Patting each other on the back, they went back into the room.

They took up position again, all four hands interlocked; Ron opened the door, another dementor came out, then he closed it. They did their Patronuses, easily encasing the slowly moving dementor. Harry focused on placing his Patronus perfectly, and merging his Patronus with the sides of the others', especially Neville's. Again, the dementor started whirling around, in great discomfort... the seals on Harry's connections with Ron's and Hermione's Patronuses were solid, as were Neville's with theirs... and after an agonizing few seconds in which Harry's connection with Neville wavered, they melded together, sealing tight. The whirling dementor began to emit what sounded like a loud moan, getting louder... then suddenly, there was a very loud pop, followed by a soft whooshing sound. A little debris that looked like ashes fell as the Patronuses faded into nothingness.

Ron and Hermione cheered; Kingsley looked stunned. Harry and Neville turned to each other, smiled, and hugged. Happy and excited, Neville suddenly hugged Ron and Hermione as well. Harry looked at Kingsley; a tear was running down Kingsley's cheek. He didn't wipe it away. "Thank you," he said to Harry, who nodded in acknowledgment.

"Wow," said Ron. "That was extra cool. So, what do we do now?"

"The other two?" suggested Neville. Harry agreed, and it only took a few minutes.

"How is it nobody knew dementors could be killed?" wondered Hermione. "I mean, Aurors went all over the world asking."

"I got this spell from... a kind of mystical source, I guess you could say," said Harry. "I don't know where it was originally from. It feels like a Japanese spell. But the Japanese had barely even heard of dementors. What I'd guess is that a thousand or so years ago, they had them, but someone came up with this spell, and it drove them away. They didn't record the spell, or did and it got lost, or something. Luckily for me, one Japanese guy found an account of the mystical source, and I was able to go and find it."

"Lucky for all of us," said Kingsley quietly. Harry still had mixed feelings about Kingsley, but was happy for him that his long-cherished goal would finally happen.

"Okay, so I'll ask again," said Ron, "What do we do now?"

Harry turned to Kingsley. "You were going to give a speech tomorrow, right? In Diagon Alley?"

Kingsley nodded. "This comes too late to help me, but it really takes the sting out of what happens tomorrow. I can leave with fewer regrets."

"Well, sorry, but you're not done yet," said Harry. "You're going to change the plan a little bit. Here's what I want you to do..."

* * * * *

Harry spent the next two hours in Diagon Alley, going to the most popular shops, letting himself be seen and talked to. He told people that he'd be giving a speech the next day at a few minutes after noon, the timing chosen so that people could come during their lunch hour. The news spread so fast that by the time he left, most of the people he ran into already knew about his plans. Lastly, he visited Flourish and Blotts and talked to his Wizengamot colleague. He asked for whatever books they had on the subject of Auror Leader. Clearly intrigued by the request, Flourish rounded them up immediately. He tried to give them to Harry for free, but Harry insisted on paying, explaining that he didn't want to get into the habit of not paying for things. Flourish asked confidentially if there was a reason Harry wanted those particular books. Harry gave him a knowing smile, and suggested that he close the shop at noon so his employees could attend his speech. Harry knew, of course, that Flourish would feel free to spread the word, since Harry hadn't officially told him anything. Harry wanted as many people as possible in Diagon Alley tomorrow at noon.

He Apparated straight to his bedroom and thought about what to do next. He knew he should make an appearance at the Burrow, but he wanted to make sure he had nothing else pressing to do. He considered the plan for the next day, then over the next few days. Like Anders said, he thought, you have to look ahead. He knew what he would do next, but decided to look at the mail first.

He scanned everything, dividing it into piles of fan mail and mail he knew he would need to look at. Seeing one from Luna, he opened it immediately. He read it, again impressed by her insight, and chuckled at one point:

Of course, I can't know why you feel like you can't get on with your life. I don't think anyone can know for sure. But from everything you've said, one thing that comes to my mind is that when you walked into the forest, you made your peace and said goodbye to your life, to everyone you loved and cared about. So, maybe it's hard to get used to the idea that you have a life to get on with, and you can't do anything until your mind adjusts to that. If that's true, then it's a matter of just waiting until you start wanting to do something. Maybe 'hiding in Grimmauld Place,' as you said, is the best thing for you for now. Like I said before, I think we naturally do what's best for us, even if we don't know why.

Amazing, thought Harry admiringly. I couldn't figure it out, no one around me could, but she did, just from my letters. Then again, maybe letters are better; it seems easier to talk about more personal topics this way than face to face.

He finished reading the letter, then scanned for any more letters demanding his immediate attention, but there were none. There were a dozen from the Wizengamot, probably all routine notifications of pending cases. Now, that's interesting, he thought. Is it okay for an Auror Leader to sit on the Wizengamot, judging people he caught, or his subordinates caught? Guess I'll have to work out that one over the course of time.

He went to the kitchen, found the coffee, and took out one bean from the bag. Back at the desk, he wrote a short note: "Would like to meet, preferably before tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. Please owl back with time and place." He put the note and the coffee bean into the envelope; he didn't sign it, knowing that the recipient would know who it was from. He found the owl that Hermione had bought while he was gone--white with brown patches, she had said he could use it if he wanted--and sent it off.

He then Apparated to a home he'd visited before, and rang the doorbell. He heard an Apparition behind the door; the occupant must have been upstairs, and Apparated downstairs to get the door, which opened. She smiled, but was incapable of anything other than a sad smile. "Hi, Harry."

"Hi, Luna," he said as she gestured him inside. "Hey, how did you get the house rebuilt? The last time I saw it, it was kind of... falling apart." He'd also seen the home in the visions, but it hadn't occurred to him to wonder why it wasn't a pile of rubble.

She shrugged her shoulders lightly. "So I heard. A kind man who lives not far from here did a spell that causes a broken object to fix itself by... going backwards, like a visual image being shown in reverse. It needs to be reinforced every now and then. So, I don't think the place will collapse on us." She looked around placidly, as if wondering if her words would cause it to happen. Nothing did, to Harry's relief.

He nodded. "I'm... very sorry about what happened."

She nodded her thanks. "I feel like you now. It's been almost two weeks since he died, but I can't seem to leave here, or do anything but what's necessary to get food. I have so many regrets."

They sat down on the sofa in the living room. "Well, at least you got to see him before he died. You were able to forgive him."

She looked at him strangely. "What makes you say that?"

"I went on... a kind of magical quest, maybe you could say, to get information on what to do about the dementors," he explained. "There was a very ancient, very powerful magical intelligence, and it gave me visions while I was doing it. One series of them was about your father. I saw you talk to him, the box in the closet, everything. I was glad he was able to die at peace."

She seemed to stiffen. "Harry, I don't want to criticize whatever gave you those visions, but they were wrong. I didn't see him before he died."

He was stunned. "That's impossible."

She shrugged. "I was at Hogwarts when he died. It was two days before they found his body; they had to take it away before I could see it, because it was starting to..." A tear welled up. "I couldn't even see him, much less talk to him. That was one of my biggest regrets."

He took her hand and held it. "I'm sorry, Luna. But I'm really confused. This intelligence, it was major, it was serious. I saw all kinds of things, and had some of them confirmed since then. I'm sure they were true. I can't imagine why yours wouldn't have been."

"I don't know," she said absently. "Maybe what you saw was another dimension, or what I wished could have happened."

He frowned. "I don't think so. And what about the box in the closet?"

"I don't know what that is."

"Can we go up to your father's bedroom?"

She slowly nodded. "I haven't been up there, since... but yes, all right."

As they walked, she asked, "What have you been doing since you got back?"

"Letting people know that I'm Auror Leader, and working on a plan to get rid of the dementors."

"Oh," she answered, as if these were routine things. "What's Auror Leader?"

He briefly explained. "And, it means I'm going to really need the help of my friends. Obviously, including you."

They entered the bedroom. "Well, I may be available," she said. "I'm not sure whether I'm going back to Hogwarts or not."

"Why wouldn't you?"

She shrugged. "I just have a feeling that whatever I do with my future isn't going to involve N.E.W.T.s. But I also have bad associations with Hogwarts right now. I feel guilty for going there during the summer."

"Why?"

"I think it's because I was angry with my father, because of what he did. I think I unconsciously went back to the summer session instead of staying with him because I didn't want to be around him. I might not have done it otherwise, and now I know that I really should have stayed with him, because of what happened to him. I was trying to get away."

"Stuff happened to you, too," Harry pointed out.

"I know. But I think Azkaban was almost worse than what I went through. It breaks a person's spirit. So," she said, looking around, "what was this box you mentioned?"

Could she have been given a Memory Charm? Harry wondered. Not impossible, but it would really be cruel. And what would be the purpose? The closet was already open; he could see the smooth wall in the upper part of the closet. "Reveal Magic."

A bright square suddenly appeared, then faded to reveal a compartment in the wall. Luna gaped at the closet, then at Harry. "Summon," he said. The familiar--to him--box with pictures of tulips on the lid drifted down into his hands.

He realized he needed to think about how it would hit her, since clearly, inexplicably, she had no idea what it was. "You need to know before I open this..." He suddenly felt the responsibility of something that could have a strong emotional impact. "Your father was already middle-aged when you were born. That's because he had another family--a wife, and an adult child--before your family. They died, at the same time. He was devastated, and after a while, met your mother. This box has mementos of his first family."

He expected her to be surprised, but she didn't react; there was a long silence. Finally, she slowly nodded. "This explains a lot of things. Little things; I had never put them together before. But especially, why he was always so worried, and so protective. Why did he never tell me?"

She seemed to be asking almost as a rhetorical question, but he answered. "He didn't want you exposed to tragedy. Your mother made him promise to tell you before Hogwarts, but..."

Her mouth opened slowly in understanding. "Then she died, and he couldn't face telling me. He'd already lost so much, I was the only thing he had. Then..." She started to cry. "...I abandoned him, he died alone..." Sobbing, she leaned her head into his shoulder; he held her.

"He didn't die alone, Luna," he said comfortingly. "I saw him die. He didn't die alone."

"I wasn't with him!" she exclaimed through tears. "Your vision was wrong!"

"I don't think it was," he said, stroking her hair. "I think there's another explanation."

She looked up at him, tears still falling. "Then, what?"

He gently wiped a few tears away. "Could you have been given a Memory Charm?"

She thought, then shook her head. "I was at Hogwarts when he died. There must be a dozen people who could confirm that."

Makes sense, thought Harry. "An impostor, Polyjuice Potion?" he asked himself aloud. "No, that doesn't make sense. Also, I think the vision would have told me if that was the case."

She opened the box, and gasped. "It's upside down!"

"What?" asked Harry. The photo album was put away face down, but so what?

"When my father puts something away, it's always face up," she explained, suddenly animated. "Most people do. But I always put things away face down. We used to joke about it. I put this away! I must have!" She had stopped crying, and almost seemed happy. "You must be right! But how? What happened?"

She started to flip through the pictures, settling on one of the three of them. "I almost never saw pictures of him, at this age," she remarked. "He looks so nice, they all do. Tell me what you remember about the vision. What happened, what did I say?"

He related it as well as he remembered it. "When I watched it," he concluded, "I was surprised that you would lie to him about my forgiving him. I thought you might have been able to, but obviously I didn't."

Her face lit up. "You did!"

"No, I didn't." Strange how the shoe is on the other foot now, he thought.

"Do you forgive him, now?"

"Yes, I do."

"Then you did!"

Wow, where did this come from? "I don't get it."

"Don't you see, Harry? It's the only answer. We go back in time."

Thoroughly taken aback, he blinked, and thought about it. All of a sudden, it fell into place. "You're right. We do."

She nodded. "I wonder why, though. I'd be surprised if it was only for this reason. Not that it's not a good reason, and I'm so glad he didn't die alone. But usually, if you go back in time, there are more important reasons. I would guess, anyway."

He was beginning to become more sure of his footing. "Yes, and I know what those reasons are. Luna, I'm the leader of the Aurors now, but there aren't any Aurors. Well, only one besides me. I have to build a new group of Aurors. I've already asked Ron and Hermione, and they said they'd do it. I'm going to be asking more of Dumbledore's Army. But I have to train them, and I'll need Kingsley and Hestia to help me train them, and to train me, somewhat. It'll take time, and wizarding society will be vulnerable in that time. Taking the whole group back in time is the perfect solution. But that means you come too, and the feeling I get from you is that you wouldn't want to be an Auror."

She nodded. "You're right. I wouldn't. I'm sorry, but that isn't who I am."

"I know," he agreed. "Just like intuition, I knew. But then, why do you come back?"

"To talk to my father," she responded, as if it were obvious. "But there's probably another good reason. There'll be things that need to be done, with whoever you take back. Meals, daily life stuff. Maybe I'm the person who deals with that."

"But where are we going to go?" he wondered aloud. "Going back in time is incredibly risky, and with Voldemort around... all somebody has to do is say his name once, and we're in huge trouble, both in terms of safety and the timeline."

"You'll think of something."

He chuckled. "I appreciate your confidence."

She looked through the pictures. "Lots of flowers."

"She was a florist."

Luna continued looking, and after a few minutes, put them away. Harry levitated the box back into the closet, and the magical hiding place resumed operation. She suggested they go downstairs, and they did, sitting on the sofa again.

"I know you're busy," she said, "but I hope you can stay for a while. I've been alone for a long time, and I could use the company."

"Sure," he agreed.

"Thank you," she said, and leaned over to hug him from a sitting position. They held each other for a long moment. "Thank you for that. I've needed that for a long time, too. Can you tell me more about his other family? Whatever you can remember from the visions?"

Two people without parents, without family, without anyone to really talk to for a long time, they talked for hours, about anything and everything. When he finally left, Harry felt a lot better, and a lot less alone; he knew she felt the same way. It gave him more strength with which to face the huge burden he was taking on.

As he got into bed that night, thoughts raced through his mind. It was the first time he'd slept in that bed since being kidnapped by the goblins, but it felt very different. Also very peculiar was that the last time he'd slept, he'd done so at the Sato home. It felt like a very long time ago.

He asked himself, are you really ready to do this? Part of his mind answered back, what choice do I have? I'm Auror Leader, and this society needs one like it never has before. I can blame Kingsley for the fact that I'm Auror Leader, but it's really just fate, I think. It's almost ironic: from society's point of view, I'm pretty much the perfect person to be Auror Leader. Already famous, already respected; I'm not going to have to prove myself to anyone. Well, to the Aurors, whoever they may end up being. They'll respect me, but I'll still have to prove to myself that I'm worthy to lead them, and just that test isn't going to do it. Being responsible for them is going to be the most daunting thing about this.

In their long conversation, he had said something to Luna along those lines. She said, when you deal with people, both Aurors or just anyone, know how much they like and/or respect you, and be the person they see you as. It seemed both simple and profound, but then, Luna had a talent for saying things like that. On that thought, he drifted off to sleep.

* * * * *

"Ah, there you are. I was about to wake you up."

On his side, Harry didn't move as he slowly came awake. "It's nice to know that now that I'm back, you've resumed your role as my early morning comic relief."

"Hey, don't knock comic relief," protested Fred. "You had precious little of it in Japan, I daresay."

"Well, that was Yosuke's job. He wasn't bad, considering the cultural confines he has to work within. But sometimes I felt like I was their comic relief."

"There's a scary thought."

Harry sat up in bed and stretched. "Tell me about it. No, no one can hold a candle to you and George."

"That goes without saying. By the way, you should know that Yasunori summoned me through that shrine of theirs last night."

Harry grinned. "No kidding? Good for you, you old honored ancestor."

"Well, I may not be anyone's ancestor, but I do now seem to be a reasonably respected figure over there, for my role in what happened. His father gave him permission to talk to me through the shrine every now and then, but he still has to talk to his own ancestors sometimes too. It's a sad thing; I'm the only one who comes through that shrine who he really wants to talk to."

"That doesn't exactly mean a whole lot."

"Yes, it is rather damning with faint praise," agreed Fred. "He said he was going to call me next week, with the other two blokes you hung out with. Great privilege for them, I'd say."

"Hard to argue with that," joked Harry. "Oh, I figured out that riddle you gave me the first time you appeared here. When you said that you and I had something in common."

Fred looked mildly skeptical that Harry had solved it. "And that is?"

"We both died."

Impressed, Fred nodded. "Yes, very good. Not literally, in your case, but in one way, definitely. How did you figure it out?"

Harry shrugged self-deprecatingly. "I kind of had to. As it turned out, I couldn't get on with my life until I did."

"Well, naturally," agreed Fred. "But, just so you know, in the future you don't have to take my riddles quite so seriously that you put your life on hold because of them."

Harry chuckled. "I'll keep that in mind."

* * * * *

He took a shower, got dressed, and had breakfast, made by Hermione. She and Ron had offered to vacate the house, but Harry asked them to stay. Over breakfast, they talked about the day ahead.

Checking the mail, he found a response from Malfoy. "10:00 a.m. Malfoy Manor," the note read. He would have several stops to make before then. The first was Hogwarts. He met with McGonagall, who reluctantly allowed him to disrupt a few classes. He asked to talk to a few students, the first one being Ginny. They met in an empty classroom.

"What class am I getting you out of?" he asked as they sat.

"Potions," she replied casually. "I think Professor Slughorn really envies that I get to meet you, but he doesn't."

Harry grinned. "Probably." The grin fading, he began. "First, I want to apologize. For everything I did, and everything I didn't do."

She shrugged, as if he were greatly exaggerating. "You don't owe me any apologies. You had no obligations to me."

He grunted. "Maybe not in the most literal sense. But morally, yes, I did. I should have tried harder to tell you what I was feeling, even though I didn't know what that was. I had no idea how badly I was hurting you."

"You didn't hurt me, Harry. It's all right."

He would have known she was lying even if his new senses hadn't told him. His inclination would normally be to allow her to pretend she hadn't been hurt by what he did, but he felt a strong need to completely clear the air. The Japanese would never do what I'm about to do, he thought wryly. "Did Neville mention I had visions?"

"He said something about it. I wasn't sure how seriously to take it."

"'No more wizards would be killed, everyone could live in peace again. All because of one very special baby. His name was Harry Potter.' Your mother told you that, as a bedtime story, when you were five years old. You went to sleep with visions of Harry Potter dancing in your head."

Her eyes went wide. "Wow, I barely remember that... okay, I take it back. Those were some impressive visions. What else did you see?"

"All the times I ignored you, that I hurt you by not paying any attention to you. That you hated Cho because I liked her and not you. That you had almost given up on me by the time I did notice you, and all it did was get your hopes up again, and you tried to pretend it didn't bother you when I broke up with you--"

"Okay, okay, I get it," she said, embarrassed. "Why did it need to show you all that?"

"It showed me five people who I hurt, whose actions I couldn't understand, or both. You were one of them. I hadn't realized how much I hurt you; I was just blind to it. Seeing stuff like that, for you and the others, made me understand that you can't really know what other people are going through. If what they do seems strange to you, probably there's a good reason, you just don't know it."

She looked down. "I guess we all do that. I did some." Looking into his eyes, she went on, "Neville tried to tell me that kind of thing, but I didn't want to listen to him. He tried to get me to imagine what your life was like, all the stuff that's happened to you, how it might have affected you. He said if he were you, especially in the past year, he might have done exactly the same as you did. I didn't believe him, because I didn't want to. I was just thinking about myself. Everyone does it, Harry."

"Maybe. It's just a different thing, to see so directly the pain you've caused."

Clearly embarrassed, she continued on anyway. "Look, I... tried to act like it didn't bother me, because it's not right that you should have to feel bad about that. Yes, I was really angry with you sometimes, I was frustrated that you didn't notice me. But that's not your fault. You never lied to me, never led me to believe something that wasn't true. It's not your fault that I pined after you for five years, got all these ideas because you saved my life once. I feel stupid for having done it, but it has nothing to do with you. It was just me."

"Well, I wish you wouldn't feel stupid. I don't feel like you were stupid. But I get your point. You're being very good about it."

"Being happy with who I'm with now helps," she said. "But I couldn't have said all this two days ago. Yesterday, after you finished at the Ministry, Neville told me everything, including your conversation. We talked for a long time, including about some of this stuff. It's behind me enough now that I can see it more for what it was.

"And I want to say," she continued hesitantly, "even though I don't want to, but you may have seen it in the visions anyway... I was angry after you went to Japan, even though I was told the reasons. I knew that you had been through something crushing, but I mainly thought about it as how it affected me. I feel really bad about that. I know it didn't hurt you exactly, but still, I'm sorry."

"It's not like I've never had reactions I wasn't proud of. But, I appreciate it."

She nodded. "So, Neville said you might be wanting me and some others to help you today?"

"Yes, but I wanted to talk to you first. I hoped we could be okay with each other."

"I'm okay," she said. With a slight grin, she added, "Really, I'm not lying this time."

He grinned. "I know."

"You?" she asked.

Feeling more comfortable with her than he had for quite a while, he was reminded of how good it had felt to be with her before, and couldn't help wondering what might have been. She was still very appealing... but she was with someone else now, and he had to accept that. Would I try to get her back, he asked himself, if it wasn't Neville, but someone I didn't know? I know I shouldn't, but I'm not sure. But it is Neville, so I definitely can't think about that. He felt a pang of regret, and tried to stifle it.

"I'm okay."

"Are you lying?" she teased him.

He couldn't help but grin, but he knew that he couldn't even hint otherwise. Any regrets he had couldn't reach her ears, or Neville's. "You and Neville are my friends. If you're happy, I'm happy. So, let me tell you about what I want you for, for today--"

"Wait, one other thing before we get to that," she interrupted him. "I was wondering about it last night. Neville told me about the spell you did, how it works. Was there some reason that you chose him and not me? Like, you thought I was still angry with you?"

"Not like that," he said. "I didn't know Neville felt so guilty; the visions included him a few times, but were mostly about you. I didn't know there would be a problem. With you... with that spell, you have to trust the person completely. I didn't feel comfortable asking you to trust me, even if it was trust in a different way. I didn't think I had a right to ask that of you."

"Makes sense," she said, with a light sigh. "It sounded really cool, though. So, what do you need me to do?"

"First, I need to get Neville in here, and anyone else who was in the D.A. who's now at Hogwarts."

* * * * *

"You can't be serious," exclaimed McGonagall, thirty minutes later in the headmistress's office; Harry had just explained his intentions. "That's beyond dangerous. That's reckless."

Harry, Neville, and Ginny were in the office with her; Neville, as a Hogwarts professor, and Ginny, partly in her capacity as Head Girl. "It's far from reckless, Professor," protested Harry. "There is some danger, of course, I won't deny that--"

"Very generous of you," she put in sarcastically.

"Which is why I need as many people as I can get," he persisted. "And I need it not to get around. If I start looking at the Ministry for people who can do Patronuses, this won't work like it should. Having the Hogwarts students gives us an important leg up on the whole thing. Some people there will be able to do them as well, and that'll help. But every last one is important."

"Mr. Potter, I don't question that you need them for your plan to work. I question your plan. Professor Longbottom, what is your opinion of what Mr. Potter is proposing?"

Harry was sure Neville would support it, and he was right. "It's risky, but it's bold. I like it. And I do think that more people than we think will be able to help. Harry did ask people, in the Merlin speech, to learn the Patronus Charm. I have to believe that a lot did, and that most of them will be people who'll be attending. I think it should work."

"The point, Professor, is the question, what's the alternative?" asked Harry rhetorically. "There's just no other way to do this, unless you want them back in Azkaban again. If you know a better way, I'm all ears."

"It might be better to delay this while more time can be taken to come up with a less risky plan."

He shook his head. "This event has already been set in motion; I can't change it, and another one wouldn't work the same way. It has to be now."

"You are asking people to unknowingly risk their lives!"

Harry hated to say it, but he knew he had to start acting like Auror Leader. "I don't see where that's your business, Professor," he said levelly.

Her mouth hung open. "I beg your pardon?" she said indignantly.

"I'm asking your permission for these students to help, and whatever risk there is, they'll know about. It seems to me that it isn't right for you to make that decision based on factors that have nothing to do with the safety of Hogwarts students, like the risk I'm asking other people to take. That's for me to worry about."

She continued to gape at him, as if he had taken leave of his senses. "Look, Professor," he said sternly. "I say this with all respect--and I really do respect you, and I think you know that--but I don't think you've really wrapped your mind around the fact that you're not talking to Harry Potter, middling Hogwarts student, but the Auror Leader, and what that means. You know what the Auror Leader test is, how horrific it is. I didn't ask to take it, but I passed it, which even Professor Dumbledore didn't do. It doesn't mean I'll have perfect judgment, but it means people will trust me to do what's right, what's best, as I see it. The risk to Hogwarts students is very minimal; they have Patronuses. The Auror Leader is asking for their help, and yours, for an operation that he thinks is important for our society."

There was absolute silence. McGonagall stared at him, apparently searching his eyes for any doubt or uncertainty. He stared back. No one had talked to her like that for a very long time, he was sure, but he felt he had to. He would be asking more of her in the near future, and she needed to see him as Auror Leader. And the Auror Leader wouldn't hesitate to say such a thing to the Hogwarts headmistress, he was sure.

"Would the three of you wait outside in the hall for a moment," she said. The three nodded, and filed out, Harry last.

"Wow," said Neville as they stood in the hallway, at the top of the stairs.

Harry shrugged. "I think I was right. She needs to get used to it."

"She may need more time," said Neville. As Harry opened his mouth, Neville added, "I know what you're going to say, we don't have time. It's true, I know."

Harry could, if he concentrated, hear what was going on inside the office; she was talking to the headmasters' portraits. He heard Dumbledore say, "There has never been an eighteen-year-old Auror Leader, Minerva, so I understand that this is an adjustment for you. But his plan is reasonable. More importantly, he is right. The risk of his plan to others is not your concern."

"But he's always taken such large risks. Is he still doing it?"

"Minerva, he said it, and he was right: that simply isn't your decision."

Harry heard the unhappiness in her voice. "Albus, it doesn't feel right."

"Look inside yourself, Minerva. Are you thinking of him as an Auror Leader, or a Hogwarts student?"

She paused, then answered quietly; Harry had to strain to hear. "Honestly, I feel like a mother whose grown child just talked back to her, told her he's on his own now and doesn't need her help."

"He needs your help, Minerva, and your guidance. But this is an adjustment for him as well. As Auror Leader, he must stand on his own; he must have the aura of command and confidence. Especially at the beginning, we must trust him."

She sighed. "It is difficult, but I suppose you are right. But whether it is my business or not, I will ask: what is your opinion of his plan?"

"It is ingenious, showing audacity and creativity, turning the situation to his advantage. It is like a chess player embarking on a combination of moves whose outcome cannot be predicted with certainty; he does it because his intuition tells him it is the best course. If you accept the premise that the dementors must not be allowed back into Azkaban--a position which, as you well know, I have long held--his plan leads, I believe, to the lowest long-term loss of life. It may well save many."

Harry heard nothing more, and a minute later, the door opened. Harry, Neville, and Ginny filed back in.

"Very well, Mr. Potter," she said. "You will have whatever support you need. I only ask that you make abundantly clear to all involved that this is strictly voluntary. Not that that will stop them," she added, half to herself.

"I was going to do that anyway, Professor," said Harry. "But, thank you. Now, Neville, Ginny, you know a little better than I do exactly who can do a Patronus..."

* * * * *

With a little time to spare before 10:00, Harry made one of the stops he'd intended to at some point in the morning. Back at Grimmauld Place, he took the fireplace to the Witch Weekly offices, even though he could Apparate; he didn't know if those offices allowed for Apparition, but he realized it was better if this, like most of his Auror Leader abilities, wasn't commonly known.

Pinter looked up at the man coming out of his fireplace, and did a double-take, then grinned and got up to shake Harry's hand. "I heard you were back. You're speaking in Diagon Alley today?"

Harry nodded. "A few minutes after noon."

"Good, I'll be there. You know, Flourish has been spreading rumors since last night. Not only that you're back, but that you might be taking the test for Auror Leader! You aren't, are you? I mean, you're still very young."

"No, I'm not going to take the test for Auror Leader," replied Harry, expressionlessly. After a slight pause, he added, "I already have." He gazed at Pinter meaningfully.

"No..." exclaimed Pinter in disbelief. He took out his wand. "May I?" Harry nodded, and Pinter did the Reveal spell. Shocked, he sat down in his chair. "Unbelievable..."

Harry gave Pinter a moment to digest it, then asked, "When does Witch Weekly come out?"

"Friday. In time for the weekend."

"And the deadline?"

"Usually Wednesday..." Pinter trailed off, as if not daring to hope.

"Tomorrow afternoon," said Harry, "you can interview me. I'm not sure how much time I'll have, but you'll get three hours if I have it and you need it. Okay?"

Pinter's eyes became as wide as saucers. "I assume that's a rhetorical question. Of course, anytime, anywhere."

"I'll let you know the time tomorrow morning; we can meet, and I'll get you past the Fidelius Charm on my home."

Pinter looked even more stunned by this than by the revelation that Harry was Auror Leader. To himself, he marveled, "This is the 'get' of the century, any reporter would kill for this..."

"I hope, not you," joked Harry, deadpan. "I'd rather not be interviewed by someone who would kill."

Pinter grinned. "Well, that leaves out Skeeter, then."

Harry chuckled. "That's not the only reason she's left out." He remembered his father. Sorry, Dad, he thought, but I have to do what I feel comfortable with. Not that he'd argue with me, of course; it's just not what he would have done.

"This... this is because of Granger?" asked Pinter.

"She doesn't know about this, but if I understand your meaning, then, yes. I'd like to think that doing the right thing can have good results."

"Well, I'm convinced. Thank you, Harry."

"Thank you, for before. Until tomorrow."

* * * * *

Harry had never seen Malfoy Manor from the outside; it was almost large enough to resemble a castle; all it lacked was a moat. It seemed designed to be ostentatious. He rang the doorbell; a loud chime could be heard from inside.

Narcissa Malfoy opened the door; her greeting was more like a sneer. "Potter."

"Mrs. Malfoy," he said politely.

She raised an eyebrow. "Now, you call me Mrs. Malfoy? Where was this politeness before?"

"I was in Japan," said Harry. "They emphasize respect for elders."

She scoffed lightly as they walked down a hallway. "This respect has not extended to publicly crediting me for my actions."

"Friday," he said simply. "Witch Weekly."

Again, an eyebrow went up. "Why?"

"I've come out of hiding."

"And why is that?"

"That," he said as he saw Malfoy approach, "is what I'm here to see your son about. How are you doing, Malfoy?"

They shook hands. "Not bad. Staying out of trouble. How about you?"

"The usual. Getting into trouble, and selflessly helping others."

Malfoy laughed. "I'll bet." Having reached the living room, he gestured Harry to a chair, and they sat. "Would you like some coffee? I mean, good coffee, not that pedestrian crap you sent me?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "It was a metaphor, Malfoy, not a gourmet recommendation."

"Obviously," sniffed Malfoy. "But why not have the finer things, if you can afford it?"

With a straight face, Harry replied, "Because it's wrong to have more than others do."

Fooled for just a second, Malfoy grinned. "Yeah, right."

"No, no coffee, thanks. And how do you know what kind I sent anyway, from one bean?"

Narcissa spoke from the doorway that led to the kitchen. "There are spells that tell you such things, Potter. For those to whom they matter. You know, I was out earlier, and I heard the most absurd rumor. People are bizarrely excited that you have returned, and are ready to proclaim you Auror Leader."

"Actually, that happens at noon, but yes, I did start the rumor. Don't want it to be a complete shock."

She stepped into the room, aghast. "You must be joking."

Malfoy eyed Harry carefully. "No, Mother, I think he's serious." He held up his wand, gestured for permission, and did the spell. Nodding, he added, "It makes sense, now that I think about it. First test, skill test. Broom, right?"

Harry nodded. "How do you know what the tests are?"

With a superior look, Malfoy said, "We Malfoys know things. Things we're not supposed to know. Second test, this one surprises me. You were able to off someone?"

"A bad guy, to save a hundred thousand. Still, it wasn't easy."

"No, I'd guess that's the point," agreed Malfoy. "Third and fourth, though, no surprise. That's right up your alley."

"Thank you for your sensitivity, Malfoy."

"If you wanted sensitivity, this was not the place to come," said Malfoy offhandedly. Seeing Harry's face, he sighed. "All right, Potter. I know what that is," he said, in a tone that suggested an apology that would never be spoken. "Still hurts."

Harry nodded. "Always will."

Malfoy's expression was serious. "I get that. But what can I say? We talked about this before. It's the price of heroism. I wouldn't do it, and I wouldn't feel bad about not doing it. Most people wouldn't, which is why Auror Leaders are so rare."

"I know. For the next few weeks after it happened, I swore that if I had it to do over, I wouldn't do it."

"Yeah. I can understand that. But you know, you would. You are who you are."

"Unfortunately... it stinks, but yes, you're right."

"There must be some good things about being Auror Leader," suggested Malfoy.

Harry shrugged. "If there are, I haven't--oh, wait, you'll like this. I talked to the Council of Elders yesterday. Told them Kingsley's staying."

Malfoy frowned. "Auror Leader doesn't have that power."

Harry grinned. "Not telling you how, but I can get dirt on the Council. They'll do what I say."

Malfoy laughed. "Oh, Potter, you're making me jealous! What a waste, that that power lies with you!" His laughter winding down, he added, "But why Shacklebolt? I know the timeline, Potter, I can put it together. He didn't ask you, he threw you in there. If I were you, I'd hate him."

"I did. Still not going to marry him. But I'm not doing him any favors. I'm the boss, and he knows it. He's going to be making it up to me for a long time."

Impressed, Malfoy nodded. "There may be hope for you yet."

"I'm so pleased you think so."

"I can tell. But there's not much point in being Auror Leader when there aren't any Aurors. I'd guess you're recruiting. D.A. people first, of course."

"Right again. So, Malfoy, would you like to join?"

Malfoy stared for a second, then burst into uproarious laughter that didn't abate quickly. Finally, Harry said, "I'm not kidding, Malfoy."

"I know, you moron," said Malfoy through laughter. "If you were kidding, it wouldn't be funny! Oh, Merlin..."

Harry waited for Malfoy to recover. "So, I guess that's a 'no'."

Malfoy laughed again. "Oh, my, that was funny. Sorry, Potter. I have to ask, is this because of Dumbledore?"

"No. I mean, I might never have thought in these terms if not for him, but this isn't some project. I wouldn't have asked if I didn't think it could work."

"Then you're an incredible optimist." Malfoy shook his head in wonder. "I know you mean it as a compliment, Potter, and I will be nice enough to thank you for that. But I wouldn't fancy you as my boss, and even if I could, it just isn't me. Never mind walking into forests, even putting myself in danger for society's sake isn't something I could see myself doing. You should've known better."

"I thought it was worth a shot."

Malfoy chuckled as a thought occurred to him. "Slug Boy would've never forgiven you."

It took Harry a minute to register the reference. "You'd have called him Slug Boy, he'd have called you Ferret Boy, you'd have gotten along famously."

"Oh, I'm sure," said Malfoy sarcastically. "But the slug thing was funnier, because he did it to himself."

"Maybe, but that wand saved us later on." Harry briefly told the story.

Malfoy grunted. "Lockhart deserved it, he was a buffoon. See? There's my point. You can't be an Auror with that kind of attitude, can you?"

"Well, I'd prefer to argue that he deserved it because he went around Obliviating people, but I see your point."

"Yeah. Well... tell you what. Even if I can't be an Auror, maybe I can help you out, in a weird way." He pointed his wand down the hall, and soon a small, white object floated into the room and into Malfoy's hand. He put it on the coffee table between him and Harry. "I'll let you have this. Let's call it an extended loan; can't say for sure I won't need it again."

Harry looked closely; it was six-sided, shaped roughly like a diamond, though clearly not made of mineral. "What does it do?"

"Something that for me is incredibly unhelpful, but given what you have ahead of you, you may find useful. In a very confined area--not a whole lot more than the size of your body--it makes time go incredibly slowly. I think it's eight thousand to one, something like that, meaning that one second under its influence would seem like two hours to the person using it. If you stand, it covers only your body. If you sit, there's a small area in front of you that you can use. You can read a book, or write, if you keep everything close enough to your body. And of course, you can think. That's about all you can do. You can shift position, but you can't get up and move while you're using it. Things like the need to sleep, eat, go to the bathroom, they all move at the pace it would be outside. You can go for what seems like weeks without needing to sleep, which is a weird feeling."

I'd know about that, thought Harry. "Why are you giving--sorry, why are you extended-loaning it to me?"

"Out of the goodness of my heart," cracked Malfoy. "So you'll owe me a favor, obviously. That debt depending on how useful this is to you. I've used it for all I really can, for now, anyway."

"Couldn't you read a ton of books? Get important information?"

Malfoy shook his head. "Also, not me. I tried that, but I can't stomach it. Got bored out of my mind at some point. May not be that different for you--one thing we have in common is not being bookworms--but this Auror Leader business may make it more valuable for you. So, give it a go."

Harry nodded, picking it up. "I will. Thanks."

They chatted for a few more minutes, and Harry left. Thought he'd say no, thought Harry, but I wanted to try. He is right, though, Ron would have had a fit, and whoever else I recruit wouldn't have liked it. Oh, well.

* * * * *

In the largest open space in Diagon Alley, a crowd had been gathering since eleven o'clock; it was now almost full, with a few thousand people milling about. Harry walked to the hastily erected platform from behind, and wasn't seen until he was standing at the podium. He was greeted with cheers and very strong applause.

"Thank you. Thank you very much," he said, as after a minute, the applause finally started to die down. "It's good to be back.

"Thank you all for coming. I have an important announcement today. I think many of you know, but some of you don't, about a position called Auror Leader. To tell you about it, I've asked the Minister here today; I think he knows more about it than I do, having been an Auror himself."

Kingsley stepped up from behind and took the stage to a mostly indifferent crowd response that included some applause and a few scattered boos. Ignoring the response, Kingsley began. "I don't believe there's anyone here who is old enough to remember the last time our society had an Auror Leader..."

As Kingsley talked, Harry looked around. All the preparations had been made; he saw most of the D.A. members where he wanted them, at strategic points in the crowd. He'd used Malfoy's artifact soon after meeting him, and found that it did indeed produce the effect Malfoy had related; he'd kept an eye on a clock, which hadn't moved as he sat there. He'd spent what felt like a few hours thinking about what he would say, thinking about everything in general. He eventually stopped, if only because he found he was thinking unproductively about the operation to come. He would use the artifact more later.

Kingsley was describing to the audience in general terms what the test entailed, and explaining that any Auror who wished was entitled to view the memory of the important parts of the test, "so they can know exactly what the Auror Leader was willing to give up, what hardships and sacrifices he was willing to make for the sake of the other Aurors, and society in general. Now, we already knew this about Harry Potter, but still, to be Auror Leader, one must take the test. Many of the greatest names in our history, Aurors and non-Aurors, have taken and failed this test. Only fifteen in over a thousand years have passed, and Harry Potter has become the sixteenth."

Kingsley was interrupted by an enormous burst of applause, and it continued for longer than a minute. It washed over Harry, and he felt conflicting emotions. He was proud, of course, and he thought of what his father would be feeling, or was feeling, if he could watch. He knew that it represented people's real feelings. But he also remembered what he'd said to Ron and Hermione, that one Rita Skeeter article could change it. Now he realized it wasn't quite that simple, but he did feel that the basic premise was true, that this adulation could go south at any time. He enjoyed it on one level, but knew from his days at Hogwarts that he couldn't become addicted to it. Things could always change.

Suddenly, the sky started to get darker, and even though he couldn't see them yet, he knew they weren't far away. He stepped forward quickly, elbowing Kingsley out of the way.

He made sure to keep his voice calm. "Attention, everyone, please keep calm. We are under attack by dementors, many of them. Walk, don't run, inside. If you have a Patronus, please stay and help us." He saw a few people start to run. "WALK, DO NOT RUN!" he shouted in as commanding a tone as he could manage. "We are going to take care of the dementors, once and for all."

The dementors--Harry guessed there could be as many as a hundred or more--swarmed in a tight group into the middle of the crowd. Good, thought Harry. He saw what looked like fifty Patronuses go up, with more joining all the time. "We are keeping them in one group, bottled up," said Harry to the crowd, which was starting to thin, but not as much as Harry would have thought.

He stepped down from the stage, and was met by Ron, Hermione, and Neville; they joined hands. Already having agreed that they would follow his stag, Harry trusted the D.A. and others to keep the main group of dementors at bay, and Kingsley to reset the shield so the dementors couldn't escape. He had planned it, Kingsley and Hestia had approved it, and he had to focus on what only he could do.

Fortunately, speed was not one of the dementors' strong points. Harry's Patronus found the nearest one, and they quickly boxed it in, and in only a few seconds, they heard the groaning and popping noises. Harry found another one, and they did it again.

After five had been destroyed, both dementors and onlookers began to take notice. "They're killing them!" shouted a wizard. "They're killing the dementors!" For their part, the dementors seemed to be trying to flee; they glided upwards, but at a height of a hundred feet ran into the shield, and could go no further. As Harry had hoped, but Kingsley hadn't promised, the shield was now small enough to only encompass the part of Diagon Alley in which they were standing.

Harry found another low-flying one and they trapped it, bringing the count to six. This time, people were clearly watching, and there was a small cheer when the dementor popped and disappeared. Some of the Patronuses were following the dementors up to the top of the shield; Harry shouted as loudly as he could, "Keep your Patronuses low! Your job now is to block them from coming down, not push them away! We need them bottled up!" The Patronuses came down, and now several dozen Patronuses ran back and forth at a height of between forty and sixty feet.

Harry now had to reach high in order to get the next one; his stag pushed one of the desperate dementors away from the others, and his friends boxed it in as he did. Seconds later, it made the now-familiar popping noise, and disappeared; there was another, slightly louder cheer. "Keep those Patronuses going, this could take a while," Harry shouted at his helpers. "Stay alert."

One by one, the dementors fell. It was slow, since Harry and the others were the only ones able to do it. As each one was eliminated, the crowd cheered louder and louder, and slowly grew as people who had gone inside came back out at the urging of those who were still watching.

Some of the D.A. members, including George and Ginny, slowly made their way over to Harry and the others, partly because interested citizens were occasionally trying to talk to Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville, and they had to concentrate on what they were doing. D.A. members shooed them away while also maintaining their own Patronuses.

To Harry's great surprise, the crowd over the next ten minutes filled up even more; they obviously understood that the danger was past, and he guessed they all wanted to see what was clearly a unique event. Harry and the others got rid of one dementor every thirty seconds or so, the cheers growing still louder.

Finally, fewer and fewer were visible--in a group, they could be seen easily, but individually, it was difficult. After they had killed the last one that could be seen, there was a pause as they looked around. "Can anyone see any more?" shouted Harry. A few answers of 'no' greeted him. "Okay, send your Patronuses anywhere you want. Let's see if there's any to flush out." Another minute passed as Patronuses flew all about, but no more dementors were seen.

Harry looked at Ron, Hermione, and Neville, and they exchanged smiles. Harry stepped back up to the podium, and found the magical microphone again. "Well," he said, "that would seem to take care of the dementors."

He had planned to continue, but to his surprise, a huge cheer went up, and there was strong applause; it was as though a celebration had started. He waited for it to die down, but two minutes later, it was still going strong. Finally, it started to quiet down, and he could speak again.

"Thank you," he said. "Thank you to Dumbledore's Army, and the other Hogwarts students and teachers who helped out... and to anyone who happened to come here today and contributed their Patronus. And of course, to my close friends Ron, Hermione, and Neville." He looked in the front of the crowd to find them, and applauded in their direction, after which the audience did as well.

"I should explain that spell, which was something I learned when I was away, just before I came back. I'd been hoping to find something like that for a while. The way it works is very ingenious, and symbolic. The four people doing the spell trap the dementor, as you saw, with their Patronuses. But there's something very specific about it: the four people doing it must be close friends, must trust each other, otherwise, the spell doesn't work.

"I think it's symbolic because that's what we need our society to be like. I spent the last three months in wizarding Japan. I was hosted by a very kind family, and I made some friends. It's a very unique culture, and it has a lot of aspects that would seem very strange to us. But one lesson I took from there is the part of their culture that says that they have to consider themselves as one people, one culture, not a lot of individuals doing their own thing. They're raised to consider, when they do something, how it affects others much more strongly than we do. Now, I'm not saying that we should do that with everything we do in our lives, but I think the idea is an important one. The late, great Professor Dumbledore told all of Hogwarts, after Voldemort came back, that we needed to work together to fight him.

"I get credited with getting rid of Voldemort, sometimes as if I did it all by myself. Well, obviously, I didn't. A lot of people worked very hard to make that happen, and some of them lost their lives for it. Everyone who risked something deserves credit. We do best when we work as a group. In Japan they have an entire category of group spells, which they learn from childhood and are unknown to us. Not that we have to start learning group spells all of a sudden, but you get my point.

"Now, while I was gone, the wizarding world suffered a terrible tragedy, the loss of almost all of the Aurors. Of course I'll be recruiting new Aurors, and undertaking an accelerated training program. During that time, we'll also continue to rely on the assistance of Percy Weasley and others from the Ministry in their efforts to provide security for the population. But it's also very important to me to ask you, all of you, in this very difficult time, to work together. Try to do something to help your fellow citizens, no matter what it might be. Think of what's best for society before thinking about what's best for yourself. If we can do that, we can get through this time. And I'll be asking you to help me, as I do my best to help you, help all of us. We're a community, and we need to come together." Harry paused as the crowd applauded vigorously.

"As you know, the goblins kidnapped me a few months ago. They wanted to put me on trial for breaking into Gringotts, though I eventually learned that their main motivation--from one particular leader, the last one who had personally witnessed terrible treatment of goblins by humans--was to get revenge for humans' historical misdeeds. Unfortunately, it didn't matter to him that no human alive was responsible for that. What the goblins did to the Aurors was inexcusable and unforgivable." The crowd started to applaud; Harry held up his hands, asking them not to. "But, but... most of their society didn't agree with what he was doing, just like most of our society didn't agree with Voldemort when he was in charge here. They should have resisted him more; they didn't, and that's their failing. That leader is dead now, dead in the nuclear blast that killed the Aurors." The crowd cheered; Harry hadn't intended them to, but didn't try to quiet them. He waited until they were finished. "Now, we need not to waste our time and energy trying to hunt down goblins. We need to devote it to rebuilding our society. They're in hiding, and I don't think we could find them even if we tried. But, we shouldn't try. We have more than enough constructive things to do.

"Finally, there's something I need you to understand. After I found out how to kill the dementors, Ron, Hermione, Neville, and I practiced against a few that had been holed up in the Ministry. After that worked, I came up with this plan. I knew people here would be happy, and that happiness would lure the dementors. I had Kingsley lower the shield, then when they came, raise it to trap them. I made sure there were plenty of Patronus users around. The risk to those attending was small, but not zero. I did it because it was the only way to lure most or all of the dementors together; to give them something they couldn't resist. If I hadn't done this, it would have been a matter of slowly, painstakingly hunting them down while they soul-sucked more and more. I asked everyone to share some risk, while not knowing they were doing it. That may happen sometimes, though of course no more often than it has to. I'm just going to ask you to trust me when that happens, that it was the best way, and that I wouldn't ask anyone to take any risk I wouldn't take myself." This was met with healthy applause; he was most gratified by that applause, coming when it did, as it suggested they wouldn't hold what he did against him.

"All right, that's most of what I had to say. Now, as we were going to do before the dementors interrupted us, there was supposed to be some ceremonial thing where Kingsley does the Reveal spell on my forehead, where you can see the mark that's given to all Auror Leaders on their forehead. Though I will ask you all not to try to do Reveal Magic spells on me when I'm walking around, as I've had more than enough people staring at my forehead for a lifetime." The line got some laughs, as Harry had hoped it would.

"Okay, Kingsley... where is he?" he said, half to himself, to more chuckling. "Oh, over there." He saw Kingsley talking to an older man wearing green robes, which he recognized as those of a Healer, most of whom operated out of St. Mungo's. "Okay. Well, while we wait for Kingsley, I'll just say that while it seems likely that what we got was all of them, and that even if it wasn't they'll probably hesitate to show their faces again, we can't take it for granted that they absolutely won't attack again. So, while we should take the shields down, and not fear to walk or fly around again, we should exercise caution for a while. If you see any, contact the Ministry immediately--"

Kingsley bounded up onto the stage and leaned into the microphone. "Sorry, Harry, I was talking to Healer Robertson, the senior Healer at St. Mungo's. He reported... something most extraordinary. As you know, the people whose souls had been sucked by the dementors were being kept alive in a certain St. Mungo's ward. Well, starting a little less than an hour ago, those people started... waking up."

"What do you mean, waking up?"

To Harry's surprise, he could hear real emotion in Kingsley's voice. "I mean, they started regaining consciousness, asking questions. Some remember having their souls sucked--"

"But that's impossible!" Harry exclaimed, forgetting for the moment that he was on a stage with a few thousand people watching him. "I was told that that's permanent!"

"They're as surprised as you are, as I am," agreed Kingsley. "That's what we thought. But we also thought dementors couldn't be killed. The best guess we have right now is that... somehow, the dementors kept those souls within them, and when you and the others killed the dementors--"

"The souls were freed," finished Harry, awed. "How many have come back?"

"Almost all of them," said Kingsley "About ninety or a hundred."

"Oh, my God... I never... imagined..."

"No, none of us did. So, your information saved, or restored, about a hundred lives. Good first day as Auror Leader."

Prompted by Kingsley's comment, the crowd cheered again, and a chant started, and grew. "Pot-ter! Pot-ter!"

Emotional, Harry just stood there, not quite knowing what to say. He let them chant for a minute, then held up his arms, asking them to quiet down. Finally, they did. "I was just saying to someone earlier today that I like to think that if you do the right thing, there may be a good result that you didn't expect. Letting the dementors stay in Azkaban was wrong; anyone who had ever been around one would know that even real criminals didn't deserve it. Kingsley didn't end this by letting them go back, because it was wrong. If he had, I wouldn't have had to look for another answer, and this would never have happened."

He took a deep breath, then turned to Kingsley. "Okay, are we going to do this thing?"

Kingsley waved his wand, and the Reveal spell showed not only the mark on his forehead, but enlarged it so that it was seen, two meters wide, above his head. "By virtue of this mark, the mark of the Auror Leader," read Kingsley, "I, the Minister of Magic, do certify that Harry Potter is, until resignation or death, the Auror Leader, possessing unchallenged control of all matters related to the Aurors or law enforcement and security, responsible to no one but his own conscience, and responsible for the safety and security of the people of the wizarding world. Do you, Harry Potter, accept this title and responsibility?"

This is it, thought Harry. "Yes, I do."

"Congratulations, Leader Potter," said Kingsley solemnly, extending his hand; Harry shook it, and the image of the mark disappeared. The crowd applauded once again. "I'll be seeing you all in Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade, and wherever there are wizards," he said to the crowd. "Thank you very much for your support." He waved a few times as a last burst of applause and cheers erupted. He stayed on the stage for a minute, then looked down to the right and saw his friends. He waved one last time, and walked down the steps. Hermione was first, and she hugged him hard. Then Ron, Neville, Ginny, George, Luna, Cho, Dean, Padma, Parvati... he had never felt part of a community quite so much as he did then.

* * * * *

Next: Chapter 22, A New Chapter: Even though he understands Kingsley's actions far better than before, Harry finds it difficult to forgive him. Also, Harry finally agrees to tell his story, in a way that stuns Ron and Hermione.

Chapter 22 is the final chapter.

From Chapter 22: "Madam Umbridge, you were responsible for persecuting Muggle-born wizards, accusing them of stealing magic, taking their wands. Do you regret that?"

"Of--of course. I had to do it, the government was insistent. I feared for my safety. I hated what I had to do." She sounded convincing, but Harry knew that every word she had said was a lie. "Mr. Potter... if there is anything I can do for you..."

"There is, Madam Umbridge. I'd like you to resign as Undersecretary."