Harry Potter and the Amulet of the Moon

Chapter 10

Cleaning Out Hogwarts

Moving his eyes up, Harry saw through her eyes a large, familiar, oldish home. She knocked and entered, and the first thing she saw was the overjoyed and relieved face of Xenophilius Lovegood. As she hugged him, over his shoulder she saw his printing press, with copies of the Quibbler next to it. The headline read, "Potter: Undesirable No. 1." They must have come the same night they took her, he thought.

"Okay, I'm going," he said to Ron and Hermione. "It shouldn't take more than an hour, probably less. I've told Luna I'll check in after an hour, or she'll check with me. If I'm out of contact--which could only mean I got taken by surprise--she'll let you know. But I'm sure nothing will happen."

"We'll be getting ready for you," said Hermione. He nodded and Disapparated.

He was suddenly in the familiar surroundings of the seventh-year dormitory. He looked around and saw Neville, Seamus, Parvati, and to his mild surprise, Lavender. He supposed Parvati had decided that Lavender could be trusted to be quiet, and he had left the decision with Parvati.

"Harry!" she exclaimed. "Oh, Merlin, I almost didn't believe her when she told me you'd do that! How?"

"I told you, he has an artifact," said Parvati, who clearly had decided not to tell her friend everything.

"But you're not our Harry, right? I mean, you do look a little older--"

"No, I'm not your Harry. Neville, are we ready? The Room's set up?"

"Everything as it should be," said Seamus confidently. "Like I said, Neville's the man."

Harry grinned. "Yes, he is. Okay, we're off. Sorry I have to do this, but..."

"It's okay," said Seamus. "I mean, probably nothing would happen before the switch, but you're right, it's not worth taking the chance."

"Chance of what?" asked Lavender. Harry slipped the Cloak over himself and Neville, then cast Memory Charms on Seamus, Parvati, and Lavender. He and Neville made their way to the dormitory door.

"Why were we in here, again?" asked Lavender.

"The pleasure of my company, it must have been," responded Seamus as Harry and Neville closed the door behind them. It had been Neville's idea to give them Memory Charms, so that in the unlikely event that they were interrogated about the evening's events under Veritaserum--or by a skilled Legilimens, like Snape--they could truthfully answer that they knew nothing. As older Gryffindors, they would probably be questioned first.

Harry and Neville quietly crept through the common room and through the portrait hole. Moving slowly, they made their way to the Room of Requirement, where they found Terry and Anthony. The latter, like Lavender, seemed very surprised to see Harry, though having been told that he would be there.

"Good to see you, Anthony," said Harry, offering his hand.

Anthony shook it. "Sorry, but I just have to see for myself..." He pointed his wand at Harry's forehead, and again looked shocked at something he already knew. "Merlin..."

"Neville, got the map?"

Neville walked with him to a wall, which showed a map of Hogwarts; of particular interest was the teachers' quarters. Fortunately, the ones he wanted were there. "Okay, this is good. Thanks, Neville."

Neville turned to the two Ravenclaws. "Thanks for holding the room, guys," said Neville. "You staying?"

"I think we'll wait until Harry's done," said Anthony. "After what happened today..." To Harry's inquiring look, Anthony explained, "Four people got tortured today, including Neville. Our Neville," he clarified, glancing at Neville.

"Well, that's going to stop," said Harry firmly. "Now, let me do the first thing, before I forget..."

It took him only a few minutes to find Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem, Apparate to the Chamber of Secrets, use a basilisk fang to kill the Horcrux, then Apparate back to the Room. He handed the diadem to Anthony. "If you could put it back, I'd appreciate it. Sorry, I tried not to damage it too much."

"The way I see it, You-Know-Who damaged it when he put the Horcrux in there," said Anthony, reaching out to take it.

"Okay, I'm off," said Harry as he took a look up to check Luna's status; she was talking to her father. "Neville, Terry, see you on the island. Anthony, thanks for your help, and keep up the fight."

Anthony smiled. "We will, thanks." Harry nodded, threw on the Cloak, and Disapparated.

He suddenly appeared in Amycus Carrow's quarters. Sitting at a desk, the man suddenly looked around, surprised at the Apparition sound.

Harry stuck his wand under the bottom of the Cloak. "Imperio," he whispered. Carrow suddenly sat up straight; Harry threw off the Cloak. "What's the best way to contact your sister without anyone noticing?"

"I send a spell, a bolt of light, that seeks her out," said Carrow dully. "When it reaches her, she will come."

"Good. Please do that." Carrow obediently pointed his wand at the door, and the light traveled out of his wand and through the door.

"Get out a piece of paper, and write down what I say.

"My sister and I have decided to leave Hogwarts," he dictated, looking over the man's shoulder to make sure he was writing it correctly. "We realized that our use of torture is terribly wrong, and we want to atone for our deeds. We cannot stay here, because we know that the students have lost confidence in us. No Hogwarts teacher must torture, or allow torture, ever again. We plan to go to places where our presence will be of benefit to the wizarding community."

Just as he finished, he heard footsteps, and threw on the Cloak again. Alecto Carrow entered the room, and was soon captured by the Imperius Curse as well. "You sign it," said Harry to Amycus, then repeated the instruction to his sister.

He left the note on the table. "Okay, let's go."

With Harry following under the Cloak, the two siblings made their way through the castle. At one point they came across Filch; Harry instructed Amycus to Stun Filch, which of course he did. Amycus aimed at Mrs. Norris, who always accompanied Filch, but she was too quick, dashing off behind a corner. Encountering no one else, they made their way out of the castle, and in a few minutes, were far enough away from the castle to Apparate. Harry accompanied them both back to camp.

As Harry had thought would be the case, Dean and Justin were there. Harry greeted them as he turned the Carrows over to Hermione. "They're all yours," he said. "Did you need me to keep the Imperius Curse on them?"

"No, it's okay," she said. "Dean and I were practicing it earlier today." She cast the spell on them and instructed, "Give me your wands," which they promptly did. "This is good. Dean's counterpart doesn't have a wand, so Dean, keep these in your pocket, and he can choose between them later. It's good to have spares."

"Okay," said Harry. "Hermione, you and Dean do your thing. Ron, Justin, I have one more thing to do at Hogwarts, then I'll be needing you two."

"We'll be here," said Ron.

Harry nodded, put on the Cloak, and Disapparated. He found himself in a room that was almost totally dark, but he didn't remove the Cloak. "Professor," he said in a normal voice. "I need to talk to you."

"What?" said the disoriented voice. "What's going on? I was already asleep, and--"

He turned on the light, and almost at the same instant, Harry pulled off the Cloak. "I'm sorry to disturb your sleep, Professor, but this is important."

Horace Slughorn gaped in astonishment. "P--P--Potter?"

"Yes, Professor. It's good to see you." Harry sat in a chair near the bed as Slughorn sat up on his bed.

"How--how did you get in here?"

"There are some things that you're better off not knowing, Professor. Now, I'm sorry to be abrupt, but there's kind of a time issue. I'd like to ask you a question. Do you want to see You-Know-Who defeated?"

Slughorn appeared mildly offended at the question. "Of course I do," he declared, and Harry's sense told him that the answer was not a lie.

"Thank you. I'm sorry to ask that, Professor, but I wanted to be sure. Now, I wonder if you'd be willing to help me out. There are several types of potions that would be highly useful in what I'm doing, and two especially: Polyjuice Potion and Veritaserum. It would really help me if you would give me as much of those as you have."

Slughorn hesitated. "I want to help, Harry, of course. But the school, Headmaster Snape, relies on me for things like that. The first time he asks me for some Veritaserum and I say I don't have any, he's going to want to know why. And he's a Legilimens."

"It's no problem. You'll be able to honestly say that you don't know what happened to it."

First quizzical, Slughorn's face turned to unhappiness. "Harry, I can't say I fancy being given a Memory Charm."

"No, not many people would," agreed Harry. "But I promise I'll lift it after a few days. The fact is, he's not likely to press you on it, and I can promise you that you won't be a suspect. There will be another much more likely candidate."

"Who would that be?"

"I can't tell you. But believe me, he will not suspect you."

Slughorn nodded. "All right. Let's go."

Twenty minutes later, Slughorn was in his bed sleeping, not aware that anything out of the ordinary had happened. Harry popped back to the Room of Requirement. "Everything went as planned," he reported to Neville, Anthony, and Terry. To Anthony, he had a special instruction. "Tomorrow, start spreading the word around that the Carrows were seen leaving the castle, and that they Stunned Filch when they saw him."

Anthony grinned. "Did they?"

Harry nodded. "They've had a change of heart."

All three students laughed. "That'll be good for morale," said Anthony.

"That's the idea," agreed Harry. "See you." He touched his wand and Disapparated.

Standing outside the door of the house, Harry wasn't surprised to see it suddenly swing open. Luna and her father were sitting on a sofa talking. He walked in. "Hello, Mr. Lovegood."

Looking bewildered, Xenophilius motioned him in to sit down. "Mr. Potter, I--"

"Please, call me Harry."

Xenophilius nodded. "Harry... my daughter has been telling me the most extraordinary things. You and she, she says, are from the twin dimension."

"We're pretty sure of that, yes."

"And you are Auror Leader in that dimension."

"Yes, that's right."

The old man shook his head. "Amazing. Were I to write about it, I would certainly not be believed."

If you wrote about it, yes, Harry uncharitably thought but naturally did not say. "Well, you may be at some point, I hope. I assume Luna's told you that you have to leave. They may have discovered by now that Luna has escaped--"

"For which I thank you, from the bottom of my heart," said Xenophilius effusively. "I was terrified, beyond the power of words to express. I am ashamed to say that I was all too willing to do as they demanded of me," he added, gesturing to one of the new Quibbler issues not too far from him.

"Don't worry about that," said Harry. "But as I was saying, they could be here any time. Are you ready to go?"

"Is it absolutely necessary?"

Harry sensed that he'd been arguing with his daughter over this topic. "Mr. Lovegood, they will absolutely be here before long, and it could be any minute. Every minute you stay puts you and your daughter in danger. We must go now."

Xenophilius sighed. "I simply hate to leave my printing press, which they would likely destroy. Without it I cannot publish, which is my life's work--"

"Daddy," protested Luna, "I already told you--"

"Mr. Lovegood, we may be able to take it with us," said Harry.

"Luna has already said it could be reduced, but I tell you it is too large for that. I have tried before, and not only did it fail to shrink more than a small amount, but it damaged the mechanism."

"Just a little bit, Daddy. You were able to fix it in a day."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Lovegood, but there's no choice. Luna, would you Apparate back to the camp, and tell Ron and Justin to come?"

Luna nodded, and within a minute Ron and Justin suddenly appeared in the living room, Ron's hand on Justin's shoulder. Harry introduced them to Xenophilius, and explained what they intended to do. He knew it would be better with Hermione, but she was busy, and couldn't be reached in any case. He and Ron would have to do the best they could.

"No reason this can't work two-person," said Harry to Ron. "Ready?"

"Ready."

They backed off a few meters, pointed their wands at the machine, and fired. As Harry hoped and expected, the spells fell in together and became one. The spell hit the printing press, and it immediately shrank to about a third of its former size; it was now approximately the size of a Muggle dishwasher, perhaps a little smaller.

"Merlin," whispered Xenophilius.

Luna Apparated back in. "Wow, pretty good."

"That ought to be good enough," said Ron. "Justin?"

The two of them picked it up, each with one hand from opposite sides. Justin was holding a tennis ball, which was no doubt the Portkey. "Catch," he said, and tossed it to Ron, who missed it entirely as the ball rolled across the living room. Justin gave Ron a humorous 'you couldn't catch that?' look; Ron shrugged.

"Here you go," said Harry, Summoning the ball across the room to Ron, who caught it this time. Both men and the printing press disappeared.

"I must get all my tools," said Xenophilius, still quite surprised that it had been accomplished. "I fear it will be difficult to set right, but as you say, there was no choice." He and Luna started packing.

Ron Apparated back in and stood next to Harry. "Where are we going to put that thing? And him, for that matter?"

"That's next on the list," agreed Harry. He looked at his watch; the time read 12:10. "Ten past midnight, so we have about three hours. Still some things to do."

"Wonder how Hermione and Dean are doing," said Ron.

Harry patted him on the shoulder. "I'm sure they're fine."

* * * * *

Hermione Apparated onto the London street under the Cloak with Amycus Carrow. Unable to take off the Cloak--it was late, but this was a fairly busy area--she had them duck into an alley, then took it off. "Don't move," she instructed him, Disapparated, then came back with Dean.

Dean looked around, both of them under the Cloak. "Ah, Earl's Court tube station. Any particular reason?"

She shrugged. "I've been here a few times, and I read a few months ago--well, last year, but a few months ago from now--that they installed an old-style police box in front of the station. It seemed like a good place."

"Why not a police station?" he asked.

"I wanted there to be plenty of witnesses," she replied. "Okay, let's go."

Still using the Imperius Curse, she instructed him to approach the police box, pick up the phone, and plead for the police to come, saying that there was an emergency. After he did, she had him hang up the phone.

He then started to howl like an animal, getting strange and alarmed looks from the passersby. "What did you do that for?" she asked Dean.

Dean shrugged. "Adds to the whole atmosphere we're trying to create. Also, it should help the police get here faster."

Indeed, in less than two minutes, two uniformed officers, one taller and one shorter, came jogging up. "Quiet down, sir. Now, what seems to be the problem?"

Dean waved his wand under the Cloak. Carrow immediately reached down, through his buttoned but unzipped pants, and proceeded to begin urinating in the direction of the shorter officer's feet.

"What the hell?" sputtered the officer, who tried to dance out of the way of the stream as Carrow updated his aim. The other officer grabbed Carrow from behind by the shoulders and pushed him face first into the side of the blue police box. He moved Carrow's hands behind his back and held them there.

"Jesus Christ!" fumed the officer. "What's wrong with this idiot?"

"Must be a drunk," said the officer holding Carrow.

"I am not drunk!" shouted Carrow loudly, again following Dean's instructions. "I must pee on your shoes!"

The two policemen exchanged incredulous looks. The one holding Carrow leaned close to his face. "Doesn't smell drunk, no alcohol," he said.

"I'm taking off the Imperius Curse," whispered Dean to Hermione.

"What's your name?" demanded the other officer, still angry over Carrow's assault.

"My name is Willie Dean. I must pee on your shoes!"

"Why?"

"Because the voices tell me to!"

"What voices?"

Carrow looked around, as if seeing his surroundings for the first time. "What is this? Where am I?"

"You're in London, mister. Howling and peeing like a bloody animal. Now, would you like to explain yourself?"

Carrow struggled against the officer, who firmed his grip on Carrow as the other officer produced handcuffs and snapped them onto Carrow. "You must release me at once!"

"Not likely. You'd better--"

"I am Amycus Carrow, Professor at Hogwarts! Release me at once, or my retribution will be swift and merciless!"

"Yeah? What are you going to do, pee on us again?"

"Wait," said the tall one. "What did you say your name was?"

"My name is Willie Dean! I must pee on your shoes!"

"Oh, dear," the tall man said to his colleague. "One of these."

"I am telling you," said Carrow dangerously, "you are in great peril. I am one of the most important wizards in England, a leading follower of the Dark Lord. If you continue to detain me, your deaths will be slow and painful."

"Or moist, at least," retorted the shorter man, unimpressed. "Threatening a police officer. Ted, cameras getting all this?"

"Yes, they are," confirmed the tall officer. "I'm calling this in, getting a car. Don't want this moron to pee on anyone else on the way to the station. What do you think, Mark? Hallucinogens?"

"Nah, I think he's a straight-ahead fruitbat. Nothing fancy."

"Muggles!" exploded a furious Carrow. "You are nothing but vermin! Led by the Dark Lord, we will destroy you all!"

Ted looked at Mark. "Yeah, okay, I'm beginning to see your point on that. Say, Willie, what's the Dark Lord's name?"

The change in Carrow's demeanor was immediate; fear was in his eyes. "Of course, we cannot say his name."

"And why not?"

"No one dares say the name! Anyone who does will be seized immediately by the Dark Lord's agents! As will you, once he hears of this!"

"Maybe he's called 'The Great Urinator,'" suggested Mark.

"See, Mark, and you were complaining yesterday that this job was getting boring."

Mark rolled his eyes. "I didn't want it to be so exciting that I'd need new shoes."

"I must pee on your shoes!" insisted Carrow, twisting his body and producing a small stream of urine aimed at the shorter officer again, narrowly missing the shoes, as he couldn't aim with his hands.

"Bloody hell!" cursed Mark, stepping out of the way again. "I'm standing behind this idiot. You move him in."

"His thing's hanging out of his pants!"

"I'm not gettin' near his thing or his pants! You pull 'em up." As the tall officer pulled up on Carrow's pants, Carrow twisted around again, livid at the circumstances in which he'd unexpectedly found himself. "You will be exterminated! You are beasts!"

"Well, at least we don't pee on people's shoes," retorted Mark from behind Carrow.

"I must pee on your shoes!" cried Carrow, twisting with all his might, but held firmly in place. A slowly expanding wet area was visible in the front of Carrow's pants.

The car pulled up, and the officers slowly moved him towards it. "Mark, let's not say anything more to him. It just seems to aggravate him."

"He's bound to run out of pee at some point," muttered Mark as he closed the door on the police car, which drove away.

Hermione grabbed Dean's arm and Apparated them back to the camp. Throwing off the Cloak, still on the ground, they dissolved into hysterical laughter. Ron and Justin looked at them, at each other in confusion, then back to Dean and Hermione. "Hermione?" asked Ron. "What happened?"

She tried to stop laughing. "He--Dean told him--" was as far as she got before bursting into laughter again, which set Dean off anew. Lying on the ground, neither could control their laughter.

Bewildered, Ron looked at Justin. "Wow. I've never seen her like this."

"We'd better give them five or ten minutes to get over it," suggested Justin. "But I was talking to Dean before, and I have a sense of why it might be so funny. Dean said that he was going to set it up so that when Carrow was asked his name, he'd say, 'I am Willie Dean, and I must pee on your shoes.' And, he'd say 'I must pee on your shoes' any time he saw shoes or heard the word 'shoes.' And not only would he say it, he would try to actually do it."

Ron grinned. "Sounds good. I'm looking forward to seeing it in the Pensieve when we get back. But all this was for a laugh? Doesn't seem like something Hermione would do."

"Well, Dean was going for a laugh with that, but given their condition, it seems to have been that something unexpected happened," suggested Justin. "But humor wasn't the main point. The point is to make it appear that Carrow is crazy, and judging from their reaction, it looks like they succeeded."

"But they can't keep him under the Curse anymore," pointed out Ron.

"Don't--need to," gasped Dean, finally starting to recover, as was Hermione. "He'll do the rest himself." Looking at Hermione, he added, "His retribution will--" He failed to finish the sentence as they both fell about laughing again.

"See," said Justin, "the brilliance of Dean and Hermione's plan--a non-Muggle-born could never have thought of it--is that a Muggle will think a wizard is crazy just for saying what to us is ordinary, for wizards. Add to that a few well-chosen crazy-sounding hypnotic suggestions, and they're in the loony bin, probably for good. They have no wand, the Dark wizards have no idea where they are, and the Muggles do our work for us. They're out of commission until we go and get them."

"Dean, stop it," pleaded Hermione as she stood. "Don't try to make me laugh again, at least not until we're back on the island." To Ron, she explained, "Part of the problem was that we were under the Cloak, we had to suppress our laughter, or we'd be heard. And it was really funny. So when we got back, it all just spilled out. Things seem even funnier if you have to suppress the laughter."

"Not that Carrow's performance needed any help to be funny," chuckled Dean.

Hermione took a deep breath. "Okay, are we ready to do the other one?"

Dean nodded. "Think this one'll be as funny?"

"I hope not," said Hermione. "I don't think I could take it."

* * * * *

A half hour later, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Dean, Justin, Luna, and Xenophilius were in or near the tent in which Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Malfoy had been staying. Malfoy Apparated back to the site, and signaled Harry that he wanted to talk privately. They walked off, about thirty yards, to be alone.

"I assume you know that they're not staying," Malfoy said.

"You mean the Lovegoods?" asked Harry, thinking he knew but wanting to be clear.

"I mean, anybody but the four of us. That was the understanding when we started, and I don't fancy that understanding being changed without my consent."

"No, I know," agreed Harry. "I wasn't planning on them staying, but it was important for them to get out of their house. Justin said that Colin's family is pretty well off, and they have a little guest house that he can persuade their parents to let Luna and her father stay for a few days."

"Doesn't Lovegood have his own tent? A lot of people do, for camping."

"Hmmm, I didn't think to ask, but I will. Anyway, this does bring up the question of money."

"You mean, to buy a tent?"

"Yeah, like that. I need to get into my vault, or into Grimmauld Place, either one. Did my counterpart say anything about the notion of trying to get back into Grimmauld Place?"

Malfoy nodded. "He has no objections to your trying to call the house-elf, but he'd rather you didn't try Grimmauld Place until you have some reason to think it isn't dangerous. Granger is pretty wary of it. As for the vault, he leaves that to your judgment."

"Okay. Have you gotten in contact with that kitten guy?"

Malfoy grinned. "Be sure to say that to his face. He'll love it. Yeah, he wants a face-to-face, told me to tell him when and where. I haven't responded yet. I'd bet, though, that a tent is going to be through the roof. It'll cost."

"You mean, a higher percentage than other things?"

"Yes. See, Potter, the hotter you are, more quiet it has to be, and the more it costs. Like I said before, being wanted by the Dark Lord, we could hardly be hotter. He's taking a risk dealing with us at all. But a tent, miniature food, things like that, they're perfect for people on the run, and the Ministry will be keeping an eye on those who sell such things. Asking questions about the buyers, wanting to see records, like that. So, more people have to be paid to be quiet, including some in the Ministry. And he'll want a higher profit, to compensate for the higher risk. Just so you know what you're getting into."

"Hmmm. Suppose I walked into a shop in Diagon Alley, with Polyjuice Potion, and just tried to buy one. Think I could do it?"

"Depends. How good a liar are you?"

"Not very."

"Thought so. They ask you questions, you have to be able to think on your feet, be a good actor. I could probably do it, but I'm more interested in getting rid of the Dark Lord than putting people up."

"Luna's doing what she can to help us, Malfoy," said Harry quietly. "A lot of people are. You need to help the people who are helping you. I wasn't going to leave her to rot, or worse, in Malfoy Manor. And having broken her out, her father wasn't safe. So, that becomes my responsibility."

"Especially since she now seems to be your girlfriend."

"Doesn't matter. They kidnap you, I'll take risks to bust you out."

Malfoy nodded his acknowledgment. "What did you mean, 'or worse?'"

"Don't mention this, and we don't know for sure, but... we think that after she was abducted--it was just before the last switch--this side's Luna may have been sexually assaulted."

Malfoy thought for a few seconds. "Short, slim guy? Dark hair, pattern baldness?"

"That was more or less how she described him, yes."

"I know who he is, his bark is worse than his bite," said Malfoy confidently. "Can't be certain, of course, but I doubt he did anything serious. Likes to paw at anything female, but no balls to speak of."

"Our Luna was a guest at Malfoy Manor for a much longer time, until we rescued her. Well, sort of. She said that your counterpart kept that guy off her."

Malfoy's eyebrows went up. "Well... that was very gallant of me."

Harry grinned. "I thought so." To his surprise, Malfoy shared a smile with him.

"So, what about Kitterman?"

"I need to know about the money first. Let's go back to the camp, I'll try to call Kreacher."

"Nah, call him from here. Nobody's going to be with him, Granger was just being weird."

"Yeah, probably, but this is a little close to the camp. Let's Apparate further away, and if someone comes, we'll just go back to the camp."

Malfoy rolled his eyes. "Yeah, whatever. She's made you weird, now."

Harry Apparated them a mile away, then spoke. "Kreacher!"

Nothing happened. "Should I try it louder?" Harry asked Malfoy.

"Doesn't matter. You could whisper and he'd hear you."

"So... he's sleeping?"

Malfoy shook his head. "He'd wake up, and come. Coming when your master calls is a very important magic for house-elves. If you called yours and he didn't come, it means he's dead."

Harry tried again. "Kreacher!"

"But, hey, don't take my word for it," said Malfoy sarcastically.

"Damn it," Harry muttered, frustrated. He wondered how Kreacher had died. Defiantly, at the hands of Death Eaters? If so, Grimmauld Place definitely could not be re-taken.

"I guess this means Kitterman is on hold."

"Guess so. I'll think more about Gringotts between switches. Hey, what about the book?

"That's what I've been doing, of course," said Malfoy. "It's good news. I read the section carefully, and thoroughly. I can do it, and it's not as hard as I thought it would be. So I'm doing it tomorrow, when the other Potter comes back. The sooner, the better."

Harry nodded. "Good, I'm glad to hear that. But you know, it may not be a bad idea to have Hermione look at it, she might be able--"

"For Merlin's sake, Potter!" burst out Malfoy in great annoyance. "Is Granger your brain or something? If she wasn't around, would you and Weasley be mindless zombies? I'm not going to join your little cult of making sure Hermione approves of everything we do, because she's the smart one, as she never tired of reminding everyone in class, raising her hand every chance she got. I have a brain of my own, Potter. I read the book, I understand it, I can do the spell. I don't need Granger to tell me that. Okay?"

Harry sighed lightly. "I'm not going to insist. But you know why her hand was up? Because she was always right! That tells you something about whether it's a good idea to trust her. It doesn't mean we don't think. But if you have two good Seekers, and a brilliant one, you use the brilliant one. I don't think you need to be brilliant to understand that.

"But hey, I believe you. You read it, you know it, fine. I was just making a suggestion. No need to get mad."

Malfoy calmed down. "I'm not that mad. It's just that hand-raising stuff always used to bug the crap out of me."

Harry chuckled. "The other Malfoy said that too, almost exactly the same words."

"Not a surprise. Well, let's go back."

It was 1:35 a.m. when Harry began his final task of this busy night. He Apparated to Kingsley's hideout and awoke him, then had Kingsley take him to the site he'd asked Kingsley to find for him. It was nearly perfect: a remote hill which no one lived within a few miles of. There were trees, though not nearly enough to mask the entrance, as was the case with Kingsley's hideout.

Still, Harry was very satisfied. "Thanks, Kingsley, this is great. I'll get Ron and Hermione."

He left, and a half a minute later, all three were there. "Harry, did you plan to carve out living spaces with a Reductor Curse?" Harry nodded. "It's going to take you all night, you know."

"Kingsley, after we fire, would you put up a shield in front of us, for any dirt that comes back at us?"

Kingsley shrugged. "Very little will, but sure, okay."

The three exchanged a look. "One, two, three..." said Harry, and they fired. The three spells met, became one... and blasted a hole in the dirt and rock that Harry estimated was the size of three or four refrigerators. Quite a bit of dirt was reflected back at them; it hit Kingsley's shield and fell to the ground.

"Good Lord," muttered Kingsley. "How did you do that?"

"Ever heard of group spells?" asked Harry as they shot again. "I was in Japan, and learned this idea. The three of us can do this, it makes us pretty powerful." They fired yet again, carving out larger and larger spaces in the side of the hill.

Every now and then they had to pause, to Summon loose dirt and rocks from the ever-expanding cavern they were creating, and soon very large piles of dirt were spread all around. While they cleaned up the dirt, Kingsley did complex stationary magic spells, which Harry saw as magical pillars, providing structural support to the ceiling of the new cavern and preventing any cave-ins.

"Okay, we should probably stop there," said Harry after a half hour; a look at his watch showed that it was 2:10 a.m., and he wanted to be in bed by the time of the switch so that if their counterparts were sleeping on the island, they wouldn't be woken up by finding themselves sitting up when they switched back. "In terms of space, this is pretty good, anyway."

"Bigger than the Burrow, for sure," agreed Ron. "Ceiling could be a little higher in the back, though."

"I was thinking that too," said Hermione. "Next time, we should do some detail work, then finish it up. Kingsley, you're going to have to do a Fidelius Charm on it, and the Secret-Keeper has to be someone who doesn't go bopping back and forth between dimensions."

"I'll work on that," said Kingsley.

"Do we have to worry about, say, Muggle hikers finding this?" asked Ron. "It does look kind of conspicuous."

"After you guys leave, I'll do Muggle-repelling spells," said Kingsley. "They'll never see this."

"Thanks, Kingsley," said Harry. "Okay, let's get back."

The three returned to the campsite, where only Malfoy remained. Justin and Dean were back at Justin's family's home, where Dean had become a long-term guest; a brief long-distance conversation with Luna told Harry that she and her father were now moving into the Creeveys' guest home, and Luna was writing a note to her counterpart. Harry talked with a still-awake Malfoy for a few minutes, got into his sleeping bag, and closed his eyes. He didn't necessarily expect to be asleep by the time of the switch, but he was.

Harry awoke in his own tent on the island; Kingsley had thoughtfully made sure that everyone was in their proper tent before the switch. Harry had already decided that wake-up times would be flexible for the duration of the switching crisis. Everyone was supposed to know the next switching times, and plan their sleep schedules accordingly.

Looking up through Luna's eyes as he left his tent, he saw nothing but blackness. He guessed she was still sleeping, and had probably been awake when the switch occurred. He walked out to the table. "Hello, everyone."

Most everyone returned his greeting. "Hermione's been telling us about last night," said Kingsley. "You were quite a busy beaver."

"Thank you, Harry," said Padma, "for getting rid of the Carrows. You can't imagine how much that'll help morale. I'm sure celebrations are going on right now over there."

"Won't they just send in more Death Eaters, though, and resume torture?" asked Lee.

"If they do, then I'll get rid of those," said Harry. "They'll get the message. In the note I had Amycus write, I had him say something like, 'torture must never occur at Hogwarts ever again.' I don't know if Snape'll get the message, but he might."

"But," said George with a big grin, "the stars of the night were Dean and Hermione. Speaking of keeping up morale!" There was scattered laughter at the table.

To Harry's confused look, Ron explained, "Dean put the memory in the Pensieve. I think everybody who's up has seen it by now."

George raised a glass, as if for a toast. "All hail the Great Urinator! May his stream be continuous and eternal!"

Many laughed; Harry looked at George in great confusion. "Go watch it," advised Ron. "You'll understand."

Shrugging, Harry stood and walked to the supply tent, which contained the Pensieve. He put his head in, watched the scene, and walked back to the table, still laughing. "Well, you're right, that was very good," agreed Harry. "I think it may be funnier if you're a Muggle-born, because you can understand the cops' attitude better. But Carrow himself is what really sells it."

Hermione nodded. "It's the contrast between how Carrow sees himself and how the police see him that makes it so funny."

George shook his head a little, as if Hermione had committed a faux pas. "Humor shouldn't be analyzed, Hermione. It should just be enjoyed."

Ron chuckled. "Oh, she enjoyed it plenty last night, believe me."

"So, what did you do with the other Carrow?" asked Corner. "Same thing?"

"Of course not," said George with feigned disdain. "You can't ask a woman to pee on someone's shoes!"

"That one," said Dean, "was a lot less funny."

"Almost sad, really," added Hermione. "The point is that the behavior has to be something that'll get you committed. Just being weird isn't enough; you have to be a danger to yourself or others, or they won't commit you. The trick is to find that point between not being dangerous enough, and being dangerous but not so much that someone gets hurt or killed. Dean and I discussed it, and decided that certain things like scatology or nudity are in that middle ground.

"So, for Alecto... we hypnotized her with the suggestion that if she's wearing clothes, it's very important to take them off immediately. She'll be agitated if she doesn't. And..." She hesitated, not wanting to continue.

Dean picked up the thread. "We weren't sure if that was enough. So, we made it so that she feels a compulsion to... 'service' every man she sees."

There were many surprised looks. "And did anyone get 'serviced'?" asked George.

"We did want to avoid that actually happening," said Dean, "not that she wouldn't deserve it if it did. Teaching that Muggles are lower animals, and all that. We ended up sending her, naked, into a big-city police station. Hermione went in with the Cloak, to see what would happen. She kept getting down on her knees and trying, but of course they wouldn't let her, and she had a fit when they tried to wrap a blanket around her. Finally they put her into a cell, and called the people in white coats."

Hermione saw puzzled looks. "He means, Muggles whose job it is to deal with people who are insane."

"Um," began Padma hesitantly, "not to criticize, but isn't that getting close to some ethical boundaries? I mean, maybe it hasn't happened yet, but it still could, and if it does, that's coerced performance of sexual activities. You see what I mean."

Terry shook his head. "You don't take Muggle Studies. I do, and you should really hear what she says. I've got to say, I've got no problems with what Dean and Hermione did."

"Well," Padma replied, "I was making more of an abstract ethical argument, and for that kind of situation, whether the person deserves it is irrelevant--"

"Yeah, but this is life, and life isn't abstract," cut in Terry, sinking his teeth into the argument. "Muggle-borns got severely mistreated, Ron has lots of stories that the Muggle-borns told him. By teaching people to hate and treat Muggles badly, she's morally culpable for that. Honestly, if she did end up 'servicing' somebody, I would consider that poetic justice."

"You can't be serious! Would you say it was all right if she was raped?"

"Hermione and Dean's intent--"

"Answer the question!" Padma demanded. "Would that be all right?"

"No," Terry conceded, "but their intent was not for it to actually happen; their intent was for her to try to do it and be stopped, and they put her in situations where it would be almost impossible for it to actually happen. And their intent matters in judging their actions."

"Their intent doesn't matter--"

"Of course it does, if you're judging them ethically--"

"Only the chances of it actually happening, which I admit I can't judge. What do you think, Justin?" Padma turned to her left to look at the surprised Justin. "What are the chances that in the next few months, she'll succeed in what she's been hypnotized to try to do?"

Glancing over at Hermione, Harry saw the discomfort on her face. "It's unlikely, but not impossible," Justin said. "Everyone at the facility would know about that, and it only takes one unethical worker to take advantage of the situation for it to happen. But the chances are very low."

Dean shook his head. "The chances are almost zero. Hermione and I had this discussion before doing it, which, I want to say, was my idea. As a man, I'm confident that it wouldn't happen. A man just isn't going to put that into a crazy woman's mouth. She'd be just as likely to bite it off! Men are very protective of that, believe me."

"I'm getting queasy just thinking about it," volunteered George.

Lee nodded in agreement. "Rather lose an ear, huh?"

George snorted. "Rather lose both ears."

Justin spoke again. "Yeah, you have a point; I admit I hadn't thought about it from that perspective. It's hard to imagine any man being that stupid."

"Hermione wasn't sure, but I persuaded her," said Dean. "It's just not going to happen, and I doubt any man at this table disagrees with me. Anyone?"

No one spoke for a few seconds; Dean nodded, satisfied.

Corner spoke up. "Harry, you're the Auror Leader. What do you think?"

With a straight face, he replied, "I wouldn't do it."

Most everyone laughed. "I hope not," joked Ron.

"Yeah, but seriously," urged Corner.

"Like Terry, I've got no problems with what they did. And I also agree with Terry that intent matters. If they'd been like, 'Well, this might happen, but we don't care,' then that wouldn't be good. But they considered it, and decided it was highly unlikely. So, I'm okay. But I also think it's good that Padma brought it up; we do need to think about it, ask ourselves these questions, like Dean and Hermione did before they did that. And we have to keep in mind that by doing this, we're taking Dark wizards out of the game, which makes us all safer."

There were a few seconds of silence. Harry looked at Kingsley, silently soliciting his view. "I've been present for many an Auror debate about topics just like this," said Kingsley thoughtfully, "and I think there are really no right and wrong answers. Everyone's opinion is going to be a little different. What I think is important, like Harry said, is just to have the debate. I'd say that when you're about to do something that you worry is unethical, think about how you would defend your action to other Aurors. If you think you couldn't defend it, then probably you shouldn't do it."

The conversation then went on to other matters, which Harry was happy for it to do, as Hermione still looked uncomfortable. He hoped she wouldn't bend too far backwards the other way; he wanted to make sure those Dark wizards wouldn't get out of the Muggle mental hospitals any time soon.

The next switch would occur the next day, from 5:25 to 11:58 p.m., according to Hermione and Terry. As had become usual, Harry spent most of the day trying to work out the best way to spend the time. A lot depended, of course, on the success or failure of Malfoy's effort to rid Harry of his Horcrux. If it succeeded, more thought could be given to the question of how to defeat Voldemort. If it failed, they would have to try something else.

He spent a half hour in his tent with Luna, talking. As had been the case with their letters before he'd been abducted by the goblins, he found that he felt better when he talked to her. She was worried about how her father would adapt to his new surroundings; at his age, she felt, people didn't react well to change.

He asked her what, if anything, her counterpart had written. She told him that the 'other' Luna had said that her treatment in captivity was 'bad, but could have been worse.' Luna told Harry that she interpreted that to mean that the other Luna may have been groped, but nothing worse than that. Harry could tell that Luna was at least somewhat relieved--he knew that she had feared the worst--but still felt guilty over her role in getting caught, and probably no amount of talking on his part would change that.

Though he thought a lot and made many plans, what frustrated him most was that there simply wasn't, and couldn't be, a plan for ending the switching. He had long since accepted the fact that this was a case of dimensional, not time, changing, but the knowledge didn't help at all in determining what to do about it. Lee, Cho, and Angelina were planning to visit the main public wizarding library to research the phenomenon, but the last switch had occurred too late for them to do so, as the library closed at 5:00 p.m. Their counterparts had been urged to do it, but if they had, they'd given no news of it in their notes, or to Kingsley. In any case, Harry was pessimistic that they would find anything useful. How are we ever going to stop this, he wondered.

He knew that there was no reason that he should be able to come up with anything--after all, what did he know about space/time issues?--except that he was Auror Leader, and so, responsible for everything that happened. Funny, he thought, I try to make her feel better about what happened with her counterpart, but I can't make myself feel better.

He'd discussed a lot with her in their half-hour together, but not this. He strongly felt that he couldn't discuss with her his feeling of responsibility for their current predicament, because she believed that that she herself was responsible. If he brought it up, she would only say that it was her fault, and it wouldn't help either of them. But one of the strongest feelings he had with her was that he could talk to her about anything. Anything but this? He sighed. Relationships are hard, he thought.

* * * * *

The next day, Harry again felt the pressure of the countdown to the switch, though it felt different. Two days ago, there had been a specific mission, with time pressure; now, important plans could not be made until they found out what had happened with Harry's Horcrux. He tried to focus on his practice, and talking with others about what they would do during the switch.

At Kingsley's suggestion, Harry decided that Kingsley and Hestia would receive a debriefing from each Auror trainee (for Luna and Cho, it was optional) about their actions during the last switch, and their plans for the next one. Their job would be to look at the wide view, and Kingsley's knowledge of the Muggle world would help them use its resources. Kingsley suggested that instead of relying only on magical tents, which were admittedly much more comfortable, they consider acquiring some Muggle tents, which would be perfectly adequate for most purposes. Also, if they were careful about using magic, they could stay in those tents at Muggle campgrounds. Listening to Kingsley, Harry found himself wishing that he and Hermione had thought of some of these ideas last year; it would have made their time on the run much less uncomfortable.

About ten minutes before the switch, Harry saw Hermione walking alone through the trees, evidently just having come back from one of the beaches. He walked over to her; she stopped near the trees, understanding that Harry wanted to talk to her privately.

"Hey," he said. "I hadn't talked to you since yesterday, and I wanted to make sure everything was okay."

"You mean, with Padma?"

He nodded. "That whole thing in general."

"Yes, it's okay. I wasn't happy about it, and it was good of Dean to take responsibility. And yes, it was his idea, but I approved it, which makes me responsible as well. Anyway, Padma talked to me about it yesterday evening, said she wanted to make sure I hadn't misunderstood her. I ended up getting into a conversation with her and a few other people--Justin, Dean, Ron, and Terry--about what to do with other people we need to take out of commission. We found a few good ideas. A trigger to make someone scream or howl in a public place, kiss every baby they see, walk into a restaurant or coffee shop and start spitting into everyone's food or drink. The problem is that even us Muggle-borns can't be sure that it would work, which is why Dean and I chose such extreme ones--they were guaranteed to get the person committed. Padma suggested that I find a Muggle doctor who specializes in this sort of thing, pretend to be a Muggle reporter, and ask specific questions about what kind of person gets committed for nonviolent actions, ask for a few hypothetical examples. That would help us narrow down what would work."

Impressed, Harry nodded. "Good idea."

"I thought so," she agreed, "except that it would take at least a few hours of my time, maybe more, and we have things to do. I don't know if you'd want to spare me for that."

"I'm not sure either," he admitted. "But if this keeps up, we may have a lot of free time over there. So, if it looks like you've got a few hours with nothing to do, it may not be a bad idea."

She looked at her watch. "We should go to the table, it's almost time."

They walked over and sat down. "Say, Harry," asked George, "is there any progress on a centralized meeting place for us over there?"

"Yeah, we're working on it. It may be ready this time, definitely next time."

"Good," said George.

There were scattered pockets of conversation at the table, but Harry, Ron, and Hermione were silent for a few minutes. Harry looked at his watch: 5:25. Was the watch fast, or had Hermione and Terry miscalculated slightly?

Ron leaned over. "You think Malfoy was successful?"

"I sure hope so. I suppose we're about to

Harry suddenly found himself lying on the ground, staring up at the ceiling of the tent. Hermione was sitting next to him, looking down at him. Ron was on his other side, looking across the room. Harry's first thought was that this wasn't good.

* * * * *

Next, Chapter 11, Harry's Horcrux: After brushing aside Harry's suggestion that Hermione check the spell, Malfoy's effort to rid the other Harry of his Horcrux ends disastrously.

From Chapter 11: A few dozen feet outside the cave, Malfoy spoke. "Look, Potter... yesterday I got an owl from an old friend of my father and my grandfather. He's someone who's always looked out for me over the years."