Based on the Harry Potter Series By J. K. Rowling
Chapter 42 “ On the Run, On the Attack
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“Are you all right, dear?” Molly asked when they had all entered the Granger’s sedan. Even before asking about Ginny and Harry, Percy’s heavy breathing was a cause for some alarm to a mother already nearly drained by the death of two sons.
“Yes…I’m just…out of…shape. Give me…a moment.” Out of shape is right. Percy thought, when his brain had received enough oxygen to spare for sensible consideration.
“Mother…Father…they got away...but...I think…we’ve forgotten…about something.” Percy said through his gasps for air. “If the...Prime Minister knows...where Ginny is...staying, then...we should get...everyone out of there...immediately.”
“Good heavens, he’s right,” Tom Granger added. “Percy, can you Apparate directly to Fred and George’s flat? Or are you too tired?”
“Tom! Let the boy catch his breath,” Molly shot back angrily.
“No, Molly,” he persisted. “It’ll take us twenty minutes to get back there driving. That may be too long.”
“He’s right, mother... and I’m just tired from... the stress, I can do it.”
“All right, son,” Arthur decided, “if you feel up to it. But don’t take any chances.”
Before anyone could say something else, Percy had vanished with a pop.
“Molly, Arthur, I’ll drive by the building. If everything looks clear, one of you can run up and take whomever Percy has not Apparated out. Is that all right?” Seeing both Arthur and Molly nod their heads, Tom Granger continued his drive away from St. Thomas and towards the flat.
Harry lay Ginny down on the parlor sofa and attended to the pick line in her arm. Collecting a gauze pad, and plaster from the first floor loo, he returned to the parlor and looked at what he was about to do. Here I go. Folding the gauze pad upon itself twice, Harry pressed it on the spot where the tube entered Ginny’s arm, then he extracted the tube in one steady motion. Exactly as Hermione’s mother had said, the line came out easily. Lifting the gauze, Harry watched a drop of blood slowly formed at the puncture site, so he replaced it and put the plaster on.
Sitting on the edge of the sofa, Harry was looking at Ginny’s stitches when her eyes opened.
“Hello, beautiful. How’re you feeling?” he asked quietly.
“Who are you?” Ginny was barely able to speak, and clearly did not recognize Harry or her surroundings.
“Just sleep, love. I’ll be here.” Kissing Ginny’s forehead, Harry sat on the floor next to the sofa and waited.
“HARRY! Get up!” Percy called into the parlor, the urgency in his voice had the desired effect. Not even having had the time to doze off completely, Harry jumped up in surprise.
“What? What’s going on?”
“Harry, the Muggles are outside Fred and George’s flat, we have to Apparate everyone here. Come on!”
Harry saw Tonks holding James in the kitchen and asked her to watch Ginny just before he Apparated back to London. Percy’s urgency was well founded. By the time everyone was back at the Burrow, the police were battering in the door to the flat.
Moody was growling about something with Tonks and Remus when Harry returned from his last trip with George. Molly, Arthur, and Tom Granger would not arrive for at least two more hours, being forced to drive to Devon. Ginny was still sleeping on the sofa where Harry had left her twenty minutes earlier, so he returned to his vigil. Everyone else had congregated around Moody, Tonks and Remus to find out what they were discussing. It was soon clear that they were talking about the need to find a safer location.
“If they knew where to find us in London, they may have this place under watch, too,” Moody argued reasonably.
Remus agreed, but everyone else thought they were being overly cautious or that they should at least wait until Ginny woke up and told them how much the Prime Minister knew about her family. The discussion continued a few more minutes until Percy announced that he was heading upstairs to rest. Remus and Moody eventually gave in but told everyone to, “Stay close together, don’t use any lights and don’t leave the house.”
As the afternoon wore on, boredom set in and tempers shortened. Harry yelled at people to be quiet around Ginny, Ron picked a meaningless argument with Hermione, and Fred and George tried to play chess, but without the magical pieces they found the game boring. With nothing else of interest to do, they sat with Patty trying to out-swear each other and see who could be the vilest; Patty won. Finally, they heard a car pull up outside the Burrow and Remus greet Molly, Arthur, and Tom.
Entering the door, Remus asked Tom “Are you certain you weren’t followed?”
“Yes, Remus! Molly and Arthur were always watching the traffic behind us.”
“What about overhead?” Patty asked.
“Huh?” Arthur grunted.
“Helicopters; police use helicopters for surveillance, too”
“Damn! I forgot about that,” Tom Granger spat out in disgust.
Percy walked down the stairs, joining the conversation, but in silence, for now.
“NO! We’re not running again. We have to start chasing the problem, not the other way around. ” Harry was standing in the doorway between the parlor hallway and kitchen. The tone of his voice reminded Ron and Hermione of his instructions right before they had plunged into the Chamber of Secrets. It was the voice of authority and determination.
“What are you thinking about, Harry?” Arthur asked warily.
Looking over to the stairs and seeing that Percy had joined them, Harry responded, but not to Arthur. “Headmaster, are you ready?”
“Yes, Harry, who’s first? I don’t see Minerva, yet.” The words, unmistakably belonged to Severus Snape, but had come from Percy’s mouth.
Molly looked at Percy and then back to Harry. Fortunately Arthur was close enough to catch his wife as she fainted away.
Arthur was too stunned to ask the obvious question, but not Remus. “Harry, what is this?”
“Not bad, Percy!” Moody exclaimed; previously unseen, he was watching the road from outside the front door, but listening to this development. Believing Percy to be doing and imitation of Snape, Moody suddenly realized it was no act.
“We may not have much time,” Harry told the room, “if we were followed. Should something happen, Percy and I will Apparate everyone to the garden behind Hagrid’s hut. The anti-Apparition wards around Hogwarts have been dropped.” Harry walked to the kitchen and asked everyone to sit around the table. Percy sat next to him and they started explaining their plan.
“Mum, sorry about the shock, but we had to keep this completely secret until we were ready to move.” Molly, who had revived, and was still being held up by Arthur, looked frightened.
Harry continued the story. “When Professor Snape and I were in Merlin’s world, back in his cave, I asked a question about stopping the changes going on in our world and putting things back together. An image of myself appeared, like Galen had earlier.” Harry was counting on everyone recalling his earlier story about the world Merlin created.
Percy/Snape now took over. “Initially, I found the image chosen to answer Harry’s question amusing. But after some reflection I realized that the images we saw were directly related to the problems we were trying to solve. Merlin had started everything and he was the first one Peter and later I, encountered. The cave, his world, and the magic to keep it in existence all originated directly from him. Next, Harry and I met Galen in the cave. We were curious about the people who had journeyed to the cave and back. Because Galen was the one responsible for their return, he appeared.”
Harry took over the story again. “The last person we saw was me. I had asked how to stop the changes going on in our world, and my double appeared. We were told that we had to restore the balance in the world.” Harry continued to relate the unusual answer they had received from Harry’s double. As Harry prepared to tell about the final information his double had given them, Moody shouted out a warning.
“Someone’s coming’ up the drive. Harry, Percy, get ready.”
Harry darted toward the parlor but stopped just short of knocking Ginny over in the hallway. “Ah-ee, Airy.” Ginny whispered weakly. “I uz jus tyin ew e-uh a o-ry.”
“Come on, Gin, back to...”
“Oh, Airy. I can sith i the kithen wih eweyuh ells.” Catching Harry’s eyes, Ginny made it clear she was going to have her way. He walked her into the kitchen, where everyone’s eyes were focused on the front door, Harry was able to sit Ginny down quietly and wait for word from Moody.
The car got closer and closer until it stopped and Moody began to laugh.
“Did you take a cab all the way here?” Moody asked a person obscured by the cloud of dust the car had stirred up.
The unmistakable voice of Minerva McGonagall cut through the haze and greeted Moody without her usual curt voice. “Nearly so, Alastor. Would you give me a hand with this darn thing?”
“You carted that all the way down here, did you? All right, let me have it.”
In a few seconds, the stunned onlookers saw McGonagall and Moody appear out of the dust. Moody was carrying something large and flat, covered in a blanket.
“Does anyone have Muggle money?” McGonagall asked. “I owe this fellow two hundred pounds, at least.”
Standing, reluctantly, George handed over almost all the Muggle money he had made at the shop the other day.
Ignoring the stares and questions, McGonagall pointed to a chair and told Moody to, “Put it there.” After it was safely seated, McGonagall pulled the covering off, revealing Dumbledore’s empty portrait.
“Have I missed anything?” McGonagall asked, as she surveyed the people around her. “Percy! How lovely to see you, welcome back. Tell me, have you spoken with Severus lately?”
“Hello Minerva, I’m right here.” Percy/Snape responded.
“Oh, how excellent. Then we have all the pieces together, Severus?”
“Everything except our guest of honor.” Percy/Snape answered, a little smile creeping into his lips. “You arrived at just the right moment, Minerva. Harry here was just about to fill everyone in on the plan.”
For the second time in fifteen minutes, Remus shouted out, “Will someone tell me what you’re talking about?” But this time most of the people around the table joined him.
Harry picked his head up and looked at Percy, who nodded, signaling the start.
“This is what I learned with Professor Snape: The collapse of our magic didn’t start when Percy and Peter broke into Merlin’s world. In fact, their ability to enter the world was a sign that magic had all ready deteriorated a lot by then. It really started on April 16th, last year.”
Most at the table knew that date; Arthur spoke for those who didn’t. “That was the day Harry destroyed Voldemort. And if I follow you, it was the day the Chamber of Secrets was destroyed.”
Nodding, Percy/Snape again took over from Harry. “We all saw the signs that something was happening, but they were too faint at the start to appear important,” Percy/Snape looked towards McGonagall, “at least by most of us. In any event, that’s why Peter was thrust from a memory of the story into the world itself. After Harry left Merlin’s world through Percy, whatever had been holding our world together collapsed completely. Harry and I spoke about this earlier, there was only a minute or so between Harry’s departure and when he nearly lost his own life in the Floo network.”
Snape waited for Molly, Remus and Ron to sit, they had all jumped up in surprise; Harry had not told them about this part of the day and his frightening experience at the fireplace at St. Mungo’s.
“Percy recognized a change, and though he didn’t understand what was happening, he called out to me. I, on the other hand, knew exactly what was happening and why. The only way I could return to Percy, and through him to you, was to do what Harry’s double had told me. I had to leave something of myself behind. My physical body was gone and I needed to use my mind to help Percy, so...”
Percy’s face bore a sad look, except his eyes which were bright and alive. It almost appeared as though Percy was controlling all parts of himself, except his eyes. He confirmed this by his next words which were no longer produced by Snape. With a drooping head and downcast eyes, Percy told them why he was able to come back.
“Severus minimizes the risk to himself. The only way for us to leave any portal open to Merlin’s world was through the mind of someone partly in this world and with a spirit in the other. Severus wouldn’t tell Harry this because he knew Harry would have sacrificed himself, even over the man he’d hated for most of the past eight years.”
Percy wasn’t looking at anyone; in fact, he seemed withered and very weak. He heard a few sobs around the table but continued his story.
“When Severus came into my mind I was nearly dead, so much of my mind had been lost in the accident. He knew then, but didn’t tell me, that only one of us would have a slim chance to come out alive from his probe into my mind.”
Percy continued despite the additional cries he was hearing. His voice was deep and throaty, some words were slurred and others too soft to hear.
“As the weeks went by, Severus and I found ways to measure time and strengthen our minds to the point where I was able to become responsible again for my physical body. Not to the point of consciousness, but close enough. I had been so near death, that little of me remained for him to work with, but he did. When the time was right, and I had told him everything I knew about what had happened, Severus was able to enter Merlin’s world through me, as others had through Galen many centuries ago. But even then neither of us realized exactly what was happening, just that the answer lay with Peter. Now wait.”
Percy’s head fell to the table with a thump, there were screams, but Moody yelled for them all to stay where they were. After a few moments Percy revived, but now he was back to being Snape.
“Percy and I cannot exist together much longer, perhaps another day. Some of you have, undoubtedly, already realized this.” Percy looked towards Moody, then to Harry. “We exist for one last purpose. Minerva, would you please tell them?”
McGonagall was ready, her eyes shiny with unshed tears.
“Shortly before we lost our magic Monday, I had finished repairing this portrait. Albus scared the dickens out of me with one of his silly pranks as he returned.” McGonagall’s voice told of her delight, but the expression on her face was quite the opposite.
“When I told Albus about Severus losing his life trying to save Percy, he realized what had happened. If Severus had truly died, Albus would have known. We spoke about the possible meanings of his actions, and the only one we could make sense of was if both Percy and Severus had become one mind. The body of Severus Snape would be dead, but his spirit would live in Percy until one or the other gave up.”
“What do you mean ‘until one gave up,’ Minerva?” Molly asked, though she really knew the answer already.
“You know what I mean, Molly,” McGonagall sat in the deathly quiet room for a few seconds looking into Molly’s eyes. “When this is over, only one can live, and perhaps not even one.”
“Stop worrying, mother, nothing has been decided,” Percy said, his face barely lifted off the table.
McGonagall ignored Percy’s comment and addressed Snape. “Severus, is this the confirmation you needed?”
Again, Percy’s head lifted up a centimeter, this time Snape spoke. “Yes, Minerva. Thank you.” Percy was then able to lift himself up in the chair and everyone understood why. Percy was so far gone that it was Snape living in his body that gave Percy any meaningful existence.
“Minerva, would you please try first?” Snape asked, closing his eyes. McGonagall walked over to Percy and stood next to him with her eyes closed also. This, everyone expected from the conversation; seeing Harry rise was unexpected, but he quickly calmed everyone down with a simple explanation.
“Minerva can’t enter Percy and Snape’s mind without my assistance. Ready?”
Both Percy and McGonagall nodded. Harry took out his wand, touching it to the former Headmistresses temple, and linking the silvery memory to Percy. When the transfer was complete, only three or four seconds later, McGonagall opened her eyes and smiled.
“Wow!”
The exclamation was so disparate from McGonagall’s character that a few people jumped up to come to her aid. Waving them away, she walked back to her seat and sat. Then reaching for a teacup, everyone watched McGonagall take out her wand and transform it into a mouse and back to the teacup. She had her powers back!
Cheers erupted around the table; McGonagall had a huge smile on her face and tears running down her cheeks. But Snape quickly brought everyone back to reality.
“Yes, Minerva, I’m very happy for you. But you understood the risks better than the rest here.”
“Professor Snape is right,” Harry cautioned the rest of the table, “We still don’t know why some people died when Galen tried to bring them back.” That quieted everyone down VERY quickly; that part of the story had been forgotten.
“Harry?” Ginny asked through her pained and bandaged face, “Why doesn’t someone go into Merlin’s world and ask it?”
“No need, Ms. Weasley, I’ve already done so.” Snape offered. “Unfortunately, the image that came to answer my question didn’t know.”
“Could you try again, Professor Snape?” Hermione asked.
“To what end, Mrs. Weasley?”
“I’m sorry, sir, I didn’t mean that you should ask the same question. Perhaps if you tried questions about those who died; they might give us clues.” This seemed like a good suggestion to everyone, except Harry and Snape.
“Hermione, Professor Snape can’t move between the worlds like that. I guess I could try.” Dead silence filled the room. “If something happened to me Minerva could continue this.”
“’Airy!” Ginny protested, feebly through her injured mouth.
“Harry, I’ll go.” Hermione offered. She noticed looks of horror on Ron and her parent’s faces. “I’ll be fine, don’t worry.” Before anyone protested, Hermione walked over to Percy and stood ready.
Ron sat, aghast, but also knowing Hermione was probably the best person to find out what they needed to know. As Harry performed the magic, everyone waited.
Like McGonagall, Hermione was back in seconds; but she stood there, with a quizzical expression, and without words. After a few seconds, Harry prodded her and Ron rose to stand with her.
“Sorry everyone, I, uh, definitely got the answer.”
Seeing she was still not moving, Ron asked, “Is something wrong, Hermione?”
Hermione took in a deep breath and the expression on her face changed again. Ron looked at Harry with a smile. They both knew that look on Hermione’s face after eight years.
“She’s thinking through a problem,” Ron told them. “By the looks of it, a pretty complicated one, too. Maybe she’s stumped!” Ron said with a laugh to Harry, and received a push from his wife for the comment.
Still Hermione hadn’t spoken, but she did start to walk around the kitchen. For five or six minutes she would take a few steps, stop to think more, and repeat the routine. Finally, her first words, “Wow! Amazing!” were such a let-down that she laughed at the looks she was receiving.
“Care to share your little secret with us, dear?” Jeannie Granger asked.
“Uh, yeah, just a sec everyone.” Hermione took out her wand and tested her powers. Pointing to the same cup McGonagall had changed into a mouse and back, Hermione spoke the levitation charm and watched the cup rise into the air.
“Ok, sorry about that. After I asked about the deaths I wanted a few more answers. I guess it was a little more than I expected. I hope you all didn’t wait to long for me.” Hermione said, apologetically.
“What do you mean, Hermione?” Fred asked. “You were only gone a couple seconds.”
Laughing, Hermione told them her version of the visit. “That world is amazing. I was gone for days! I wanted to stay longer but thought you would all get angry with me.”
Ron, who was clearly getting frustrated with her, nearly shouted. “No, we weren’t, but what about people dying?”
“Oh, sorry, that’s nothing. They died because didn’t want to leave. Apparently, in his enthusiasm to bring everyone back, Galen took some who didn’t want to leave. But that’s just the beginning. That world is like an encyclopedia. Every time I asked something I received an answer. Like when I asked about the people dying. First Galen appeared and gave me a vague, meaningless answer. After a while I started asking questions that only those who died could have answered. That’s how I determined the cause of their deaths. There were only nine that died, but it had an effect on Galen and somehow corrupted his ability to answer fully. Maybe it was guilt, I don’t know.”
Hermione was standing behind Harry and Percy, she looked much like a teacher.
“After solving that mystery I tried a progression of questions from the simple to the difficult to see what sort of answers I would receive. As far as I knew, every answer was correct. Then I tested its knowledge of current events. The responses I received were amazing. That place has a complete knowledge of everything that’s happened in the world since Merlin created it. Not down to the level of you and me, but in a broader view. Major events, such as wars, discoveries, plagues, and dynasties would have some specific information, but there seemed to be no pattern to how it gathered detailed information.”
As Hermione continued her story, the room was silent in total amazement. The implications of this discovery were mind-boggling. Yet questions remained and Hermione had answers.
“I need to find a way to record everything I’m telling you, in case I forget it. But there’s so much you have to know. Um…”
Harry and Ron could tell that Hermione was being overloaded with her own information. Ginny saw this, too, and through the waning effects of her sedative, she was able to start associating Hermione’s descriptions and facts with something in the far reaches of her mind. She couldn’t quite complete the connection, like a word you know but can’t say.
“There’s something you have to know about us. Magic, and the cave, and us… arggg. Why can’t I explain this? I saw it. Merlin and his children. They carried on...”
Hermione’s behavior was beginning to become erratic and worrisome, almost like her mind was going too fast for her mouth. Molly and Jeannie were telling her to slow down, take her time… And then Ginny remembered what it was. Jumping up, a little too fast, Harry steadied her and whistled loudly enough to get everyone’s attention, including Hermione’s.
“At’s i, Herioee, At’s ith... egg-ee-ing. Wingwoar ith a wagnkire.” Ginny’s speech was so slurred by the plaster and row of extracted teeth that her declaration was indecipherable.
Everyone stared at Ginny, occasionally glancing at someone else to see if they knew what she had said.
“A angkire! A angkire! Wingwoar ith a angkire! Aw, thit!”
“’An angkire?’ Gin, what’s an ‘angkire’?” George asked.
“I think I know what ‘thit’ is,” Fred snickered.
“Give her some paper, Harry. It’s in the drawer behind you.” Molly suggested.
Grabbing the paper and quill from Harry, Ginny slapped it down on the table in frustration and wrote out VAMPIRE, and then held it up for everyone to see.
“Tha, thee, Wingwoar ith a angkire.” Pointing to the word vampire on the paper. It did not help too much so Ginny wrote her whole statement out.
SCRIMGEOUR IS A VAMPIRE.
Showing the paper to Harry, he read it out loud. This previously unknown fact triggered more gasps around the table, but not as many as what Ginny would reveal next.
Taking the paper and quill up again, she began to write: HARRY - HERMIONE - PROFESSOR MCGONAGAL. WOULD ONE OF YOU PLEASE HEAL MY... MOUTH SO I CAN TALK? Before handing this message to Harry she crossed out the curse word she had written between MY and MOUTH.
“Sorry my dear, how thoughtless of us,” McGonagall replied, standing and walking over to her. Preparing herself for the spell, Ginny tore off the plaster covering her stitches. Everyone knew it had to hurt, one of the stitches came out and the cut began to ooze blood; Ginny barely flinched. McGonagall only needed to use a basic healing spell, when she was finished Ginny’s cut was just a pale scar. Spitting out a wad of bloody gauze from the inside of her cheek, Ginny was finally able to communicate again.
“Thank you! Listen everyone...” Ginny went on to explain the morning’s events, emphasizing her discovery of Scrimgeour’s identity.
“When I first saw that he was a vampire, I asked him how he could be a vampire after Monday’s events. He didn’t say anything, but he did grab something around his neck, just long enough to draw my attention to it. I’d forgotten about it until now.”
“You think whatever it was he carried was protecting him?” Patty asked.
“I’m not certain, but I believe it has something to do with Merlin and his past. There was a symbol on it that I’ve only seen two other places.” Taking a new sheet of paper, Ginny drew a crude picture of two equilateral triangles, one sitting inverted on the top angle of the other. Together they looked just like...
“An hourglass?” Arthur guessed.
“Yes, dad, but I think it means more than that.” Taking up the paper, she handed it across the table to Hermione, who was already looking at it deeply in thought.
“Remember? Your third year.”
Hermione thought back to that year as everyone’s eyes shifted from Ginny to her. The year Harry met Sirius. Ron’s rat had turned out to be a wizard. Remus was the Defense teacher. And I was… “The time turner, Ginny! Whenever I used that horrible thing I would feel like I’d jammed too much into my head. That’s what I feel like now!”
“And that’s what Scrimgeour had, I think, but it wasn’t like your time turner, or the ones we saw in the Ministry, it was more like a medallion, it had a course surface, tan colored...I can’t remember. I only saw it for a second or two, but there’s some connection between that world of Merlin’s, what just happened to you, and Scrimgeour’s medallion.”
“Yes!” Came the shout from Moody, Remus, and Snape, all at the same time. But it was Harry who explained their reaction.
“The Ministry of Magic set up that investigation committee after 9/19...”
Harry went on to tell how Fudge had recorded a memory of the meeting before being killed. Next he walked everyone through the part of the memory, with help from Moody and Remus, where Madame Tumult and the committee chairperson, a wizard named Michaels, had known...
“...a Ministry Researcher named Plato Sumar, a friend of Professor Dumbledore. Sumar went on to discover what he believed was the source of a very powerful and ancient wizard by following a strong trail of trace magic. It lead him to a location just outside of the Egyptian town of Abu Sunbul. There, in the sand, the trace magic dispersed.”
Moody picked up the story here. “A few years later, a cousin of Tumult’s ran into Sumar, became friends and eventually told him about a document she was trying to restore; a very old, burned, moldy piece of parchment. Sumar took her to his office and spread sand over the surface of the document and restored it almost to its original condition. Michaels, the committee chairman, recognized this as being the sand we later used in time turners.” Moody pointed to Hermione.
“As far as we knew, all the remaining time turners were destroyed in the battle three years ago in the Department of Magical Mysteries. I think we need to assume that at least one survived.” Remus hypothesized. Now everyone was deep in thought, trying to remember anything that might fit into the amazing story. Not surprisingly, Hermione made the first comment.
“Or, that Scrimgeour found enough of the sand to form this medallion. Was he at the Ministry around the time of the battle?” No one knew, and they could not go back to look at records.
“How about Scrimgeour’s age? If this medal gave him an extended life, we might have some record of him from decades ago.”
Molly Weasley offered a suggestion. “Ron, would you please go to my room and bring back the three volume set under my night stand?” Leaping up, Ron disappeared as Molly continued. “A number of years ago, maybe about 1980, Arthur and I purchased the first comprehensive series about Aurors.”
Ron returned, dropping the three heavy volumes on the table in front of his mother.
“Yes! The Complete History of English Aurors: 1009-1972 Who would like Volume 1?” Molly handed it to Remus and Tonks. “Volume 2?” That one went to Harry, Ginny, Hermione, and Ron. “And Alastor, I assume you want Volume 3?” Handing the most recent book to Mad-Eye, Patty, Fred, and George gathered around him.
“Harry, dear, before you get started would you mind connecting me with Percy and Severus. Then I can whip up something for dinner while everyone else is reading.” Standing, Molly walked over to Percy and waited for Harry. Performing the same procedure, Molly was gone and back in about six seconds. When she opened her eyes they were full of tears, but she smiled down at Percy and kissed him.
“Molly, next time please check who you are kissing.” Snape said in his typical unpleasant drawl, but with enough Percy in his voice to give his mother a warm smile.
Molly had one other suggestion before she started cooking. “Minerva, would you please set up some wards around the Burrow? We might as well have peace and quiet for a while.” With that, McGonagall left to do her work while Harry escorted all the former witches and wizards through Percy to regain their powers.
When everyone was finished, or Harry thought everyone was finished, Fred turned to Patty and asked, “What about you, Pat, you’ve earned the right?”
Patty had been thinking about it. Those around encouraged her to go, but after thinking about it, she declined. Her decision seemed to startle some, while others clearly understood. When Patty gave her reason, everyone accepted it regardless of their personal opinion. “If I become a witch, I’ll have to learn a whole new lifestyle. I mean, you know I have nothing against it, but I’m happy with where I am and who I am.” Smiling at those watching her, Patty stood and said, “I think I’ll take a walk. Don’t worry, I’ll be careful.”
A couple minutes after Patty left, Hermione threw a piece of wadded up paper at Fred. He seemed to understand the meaning and excused himself from the table.
Dinner was served about seven that evening, but the research and reading kept up. Fred and Patty had not returned, but when Molly mentioned it Moody grumbled, “Oh, for heaven sake, Molly, sit down and eat. It’s too damn cold outside for them to do anything.”
“That never stopped Remus.” Tonks said under her breath to Harry. Remus, hearing the exchange, announced that he and Tonks were going for a walk after dinner.
“Hey Tonks,” George called out from the far end of the table, “are you going to stay looking like that? You could have another little Lupin running around soon.”
The comment received a few laughs from around the room, Tonks, however, had the last laugh. “Remus didn’t need me to look like this to make another baby.”
“WHAT?” Hermione shouted, “You’re pregnant, again?”
With that comment, the entire room erupted in questions until Remus settled all curiosity. “Yes, we’re having another baby.”
“Wow!” “Quick work.” “Congratulations!” Were flying from everywhere to Remus and Tonks. Both seemed peaceful and happy, even when Hermione told Tonks, “Don’t Apparate any more than absolutely necessary.” A reminder of a not-so-happy time for her just a few months before.
Ginny sat soaking a piece of stale bread in the beef stew, trying to chew on the right side of her mouth. After a while, she gave up and pulled Harry away from the table to talk in private. “Harry, I know we’re doing important things here, but we have to do something to get Scrimgeour out of Downing Street. Until he’s gone the situation will only get worse. I’ve been sick at the thought of Rebecca and the boys in the house with a Vampire.”
Pulling Ginny to him, Harry admitted to feeling the same way. “Gin, we have a house full of good wizards here. We could go in blasting away at Scrimgeour, but if we were to fail, or he got away, it would make us appear aggressive to the Muggles, even if we are doing the right thing.”
Feeling Ginny slump with frustration, Harry sat on the sofa with her and held her hands. “Gin, I know how important this is to you. I really don’t believe Scrimgeour will do anything to the family, it would be stupid. If he’s trying to use Thompson to control the country he can’t very well go killing his wife and kids off. I’ve been thinking about popping into the house, just to see what’s going on, but I’m not sure that’s a good idea... unless… come on!”
Harry dragged Ginny back into the kitchen to share his idea. “Ginny and I were talking about the need to find out what’s going on at Downing Street. I have an idea how we can get in and out quickly and safely.”
This got everyone’s attention, though Molly was giving Ginny a disapproving look. “Don’t worry, mom,” Harry said when he saw her look, “I’ll be the only one going, and only for a short time. But I have to set it up right away.”
“Ok, Harry, what’s the plan?” Moody asked, fiddling with his magical eye, it was still not working despite accompanying him to Merlin’s world.
Ignoring a number of unhappy looks from around the table, mainly coming from adults, Harry offered his idea. “I have a direct phone line to Jeff Benton, the Prime Minister’s secretary. I could ask him to arrange a safe place in the house for me to Apparate into. He couldn’t get me up to the second floor, but his office is close to the parlor where Thompson does most of his work.” Looking hopefully at Moody, Harry waited for an answer.
“What if Scrimgeour has Benton under the curse, too? You’d be walking into a trap.” Moody didn’t want to shoot Harry down, but he certainly was not going to let him get killed, either.
“Yeah, that’s a good point. Is there a way to tell if a person’s under the Imperious Curse just by talking to him?” George observed.
“You could ask him some binary questions, and from his answers make a reasonable guess.” The table looked as one to the back door where Patty and Fred had silently entered.
“We don’t have time for that, Patty. I’ll just ring him and get a feel for his state of mind.” Several doubtful looks found their target on Harry, but he was not deterred.
Taking out the mobile phone, Harry dialed Benton’s number, and listened. The only motion anyone saw from Harry for half a minute was his eyebrows arching, as if in surprise. Then he calmly said, “Ok, Jeff,” closed the connection, and burst out laughing. It was not quite the result everyone expected. When Harry stopped laughing he shared the humor.
“Jeff must have caller ID. As soon as the phone rang he picked it up and started whispering something like, ‘Harry! Get me out of here. Who is this creepy guy? He keeps looking at me very strangely. I’ll call you back a little later, He’s coming down now with the PM.’ Then I said, ‘Ok, Jeff,’ and hung up. I guess we should wait until he calls back.
At ten after eight, Harry’s phone rang; it was Benton. In a whispered voice, he told Harry everything he needed to know.
“Harry, they’re all upstairs. What’s going on? The PM’s acting very strange and that Scrimgeour fellow reminds me of Count Dracula. Are all wizards like that? Never mind. The boss is preparing a speech tomorrow morning for Parliament and then a national address right afterwards. I don’t know exactly what it’s about but, Harry, he ALWAYS shows me his speeches.” As terrible as the situation was, Harry had to put a hand over his mouth to stifle a laugh.
“Look, Jeff, we need you there. I can’t explain everything now but Scrimgeour is controlling Mr. and Mrs. Thompson. He cannot deliver that speech tomorrow.”
“You don’t even know what it says, Harry.”
“I don’t have to, Jeff. You can bet that anything he says is coming from Scrimgeour, and that means it’s coming from a murderer.” Harry was rolling his eyes and shaking his head; Benton had started whimpering when Harry said “murderer.”
“Calm down, Jeff. If he was going to kill you he would have done it all ready. But he needs to make everything around there look normal, which works in our favor. Is the rest of the family safe?” Harry asked this intentionally for Ginny and nodded when Benton confirmed their safety.
“Ok, here’s what I need from you, Jeff...” Harry went on to tell him what his plans were. Benton calmed down when he heard Harry was going to perform magic to get himself into the house. After running through precise directions, Harry looked at his watch and made an adjustment then said he’d be there in exactly one minute, and hung up.
“HARRY, do not take on Scrimgeour by yourself.” Arthur insisted.
Nodding his head in acknowledgment, Harry ignored the other comments and questions from the table and took Ginny into the parlor to talk for a few seconds. “Gin, I’ll be fine, just a quick pop in then out. If I see Rebecca I’ll let you know. Bye now.” Checking his watch and taking out his wand, Harry counted down the last few seconds to himself then Disapparated.
BANG! The noise echoed all through the first floor. Two guards ran into the hallway at the same time Benton saw Scrimgeour and Thompson look down the stairs. The huge pile of heavy law books he had just dropped flat on the floor toppled over. The guards laughed and walked away, but Scrimgeour gave Benton a nasty look that sent shivers up his back.
“Jeffery, don’t do that again,” was the response from his boss, then he and Scrimgeour disappeared around the corner. Benton was certain Scrimgeour was carrying a wand.
Leaving the books for now, Benton hurried back to his office and found Harry waiting for him.
“Excellent, Jeff. Now, I need you to get Scrimgeour down here somehow.”
“What?! You said just a quick look!”
“Er”sorry, I lied. Can you get him down here and keep him here for fifteen minutes?”
Benton looked like Harry was asking him to clean a loo... at Wembley stadium... after a football game. “How am I going to do that? I can’t very well have the President call him, now can I?” Stopping dead, Benton had an idea…Or can I?
It took a minute for Benton to tell Harry his plan, with which Harry was duly impressed. The logistics might have been difficult under normal circumstances, but that was not an issue now. Harry stood flat against the wall in Benton’s cube with his wand drawn and a particularly nasty curse in mind, should it be necessary. Glancing down, Harry saw Benton dial a three digit number.
“Minister, the White House is on the phone and wants to know if Mr. Scrimgeour has a few minutes to chat.”
Harry heard someone, presumably the Prime Minister, yelling at Benton.
“I understand, sir. I can relay your message… but he did sound anxious, I imagine the opportunity to speak with someone who used to be able to perform magic… well, yes, sir, I’m sure there are some over there... Very well, but sir, that may be considered rude.”
The conversation back and forth took another minute and Benton’s ability to manipulate both Thompson and Scrimgeour was amazing. Flattery, taunts, and outright lies rolled off his tongue with ease. Finally a smile appeared on Benton’s face.
“Yes, sir. I’ll arrange it for five minutes from now in the parlor. Well, I’m sure he’ll use the red phone, sir. Yes, sir, I will. Would Minister Scrimgeour care for tea with…yes sir, I’ll do that.” Hanging up, Benton turned to Harry with a tight, evil grin on his face. “I’d never thought of placing a teapot there!”
Four minutes later Benton rang the family quarters and informed Thompson that the President would be calling in one minute. A few seconds after that, Harry and Benton heard Scrimgeour AND the Prime Minister walking down the stairs. Both conspirators looked at each other and mouthed “Damn!” But there was nothing to be done about it.
Benton then started to leave, but Harry stopped him, whispering, “Jeff, if anything happens, get out of here and disappear.” Benton nodded curtly and adjoined to the parlor.
Harry heard the parlor doors along the hallway leading to the stairs close, and Benton announce that he would patch the call in as soon as it arrived. At this prearranged signal Harry walked as quietly as he could from Benton’s office to the stairs, stopping to listen for anything unusual, then he ascended to the family living quarters.