harry_19

Haven’t said this in a while so I should probably mention. I don’t own Harry Potter. I’m not sure of the specific legal ramifications of a character called Harry Potter but not actually the same guy. But anyway, I don’t own any of the stuff I’m not supposed to own. I may own the stuff I’m supposed to own but since I’m unlikely to publish it probably doesn’t matter.
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It was a nice garden, the garden at Malfoy Manor. At one time the bushes were elegantly crafted topiary, a menagerie of fantastic creatures in fanciful poses, but they had been untended for a year and now they looked just like bushes. Just here or there you could see a shadow of a dragon, the wing of a swan. It was like looking at clouds. The grass had grown up too, long blades that got between your toes. It was half wild but then that was good. It was a wonderfully peaceful place.

So why oh why had they nailed two bloody great quidditch goals into it. Harry snorted, they were ruining the view with their stupid game.

“Come on Harry!” Ginny swooped down laughing. “There’s a spare broom!”

“Right, the broom’s the problem.” Harry laughed back, waving his cane. “Not the fact that I’m disastrous in the air at the best of times and am currently down a limb.”

“So you’re just gonna stay down there on the grass like an old man?”

“Just keep it quiet you hooligans.” Harry laughed as Ginny rose into the sky again. It would have been fun to go up and make a fool of himself, make them laugh when he fell off. But if he ever wanted to get rid of the walking stick he would have to let himself actually heal. If he burst his guts open nobody would laugh. Well… maybe the twins would.

Harry turned and stomped off across the grass, back towards the house. The sun was beating down like a hammer and Harry was sweating by the time he reached the wide veranda. He took a moment before climbing the stairs. Everybody knew he was recovering from his injuries but he didn’t like to let them know how hard some things were for him. Better to just take a minute.

Harry stomped up the wooden stairs and dropped into a folding deckchair. The whole veranda was new wood, tacked onto the back of the ancient mansion. The marauders had conjured and constructed the thing the first day they got there, at Draco’s urging. The young Slytherin took an almost pathological pleasure in slamming beams into the ancient Malfoy mansion. It was all they could do to stop him using fifteenth century daggers as nails.

The whole place had been transformed into a kind of marauder summer camp. All of them were there, at first they had just come during the day to hang out, then in dribs and drabs they had attached themselves to rooms and began staying overnight. Harry was loving it, he had a captive audience. And now that the marauders numbered twenty they were a good audience. Except when they did pointless things like play quidditch or do homework. But at other times they were brilliant.

“So,” Harry turned to the deck chair beside him, containing his newest initiate. “Who’s winning?”

“I can’t tell.” Pythea took a dainty sip from a glass of lemonade. “They seem to have released four different snitches so I don’t know how to score.”

“Four snitches?” Harry’s eyebrows arched.

“Ginerva and Draco were left in charge of setting up.”

“Probably just trying to outdo the twins.” Harry shrugged. “How many bludgers were there?”

“Twelve I believe.”

“Seemed like more.” Harry glanced up at the game flowing above the vast grounds. Sixteen marauders were swooping and diving in the hot, dead, air. Like swallows. Harry envied them, not for the ability to fly, but for the relief from the heat that flying would bring. Harry brushed his sweat filled hair out of his face and fanned himself with his hand. He turned to the girl next to him. “How are you not sweating? It’s like a warm day in Hades.”

“I’m used to Greece Harry.”

“You’re used to a floaty castle in the sky.” Harry leant back to soak in the rays. “I however need some shade.” Harry drew his wand and floated a standing umbrella over. It shook a little as it settled into place. Harry frowned, his new wand wasn’t his favourite. For one thing it wasn’t an Ollivander wand.

His first wand had been taken from him by Voldemort at the end of his fourth year, it had never been recovered. His second lay broken in Godrics Hollow. Both had worked for him wonderfully and he had wanted something as good. The first day he had got out of hospital he had stomped down to the old wand-makers shop to buy a new wand. Unfortunately the old man had had other ideas.

“Out! Out! Wand-killer! Get out of my shop!”

“But I just want-“

“I heard what you did to Dumbledore’s wand! Travesty to destroy such… such… Get out! get out! get out!”

Harry had been bundled from the shop by the scrawny old bastard. As he fell backwards out the door, his cane clattering on the cobbles, he had yelled.

“I did also defeat Voldemort you know!” But the door had been slammed shut in his face and he had gone back to the mansion empty handed. Given that he didn’t want to go to long without a wand he had scrounged through the things taken from the captured death eaters. Eventually he had found one that worked. He never found out who it belonged to, didn’t really matter to him. It was made of reassuringly tough oak and had a nice round handle. It was just sometimes a little… finicky. Finicky was the right word. He just had to get used to it.

“You could try another wand-maker.”

“Are you sure you can’t read minds anymore?” Harry smiled over at Pythea.

“You were staring at it.”

“I was not.” Harry holstered his wand again in his pocket. Out over the garden a cheer went up as one team or another scored-slash-fouled in a way that was apparently impressive. Harry chuckled, the children were playing. “Are you planning to get a wand ever?”

“I don’t use one.” Thea hovered her lemonade up above her hand by way or proof. “I had a different kind of teaching.”

“Could you teach me?”

“Do you have a few spare years?”

“Ouch.” Harry threw his hand to his chest in mock wounding. “I’m not that dumb.”

“We’ll see when the O.W.L. results come.” Pythea glanced at the sky. “When do you think they will get here?”

“Oh eventually.” Harry put his arms behind his head. “I’m in no hurry. No wait, scratch that. Once they come we don’t have to listen to Hermione worrying anymore. They need to come now. Right now.”

“They’ll be here in about half an hour.” Pythea said confidently. Harry didn’t bother asking her how she knew, this was a seer he was talking to.

Harry stretched out in his chair and yawned. It was nice to have an actual holiday again, no worry about Voldemort, no quest to undertake. It was relaxing. Harry eased his injured leg into a more comfortable position. He needed relaxing. His leg and his stomach needed relaxing. His brain needed it too. Harry closed his eyes and sighed happily. Through his magic vision he could see Thea look over and smile fondly.

“Have you decided whether you’ll go to Hogwarts yet?” Harry asked her.

“I don’t know what I’d do there.” Pythea tapped her finger against her glass. “I wouldn’t be a student and I couldn’t be a teacher.”

“You could be a teaching assistant.” Harry grinned. “Help Trewalny-“

“Don’t even finish that sentence.” Pythea shuddered. “That thought is too horrible to contemplate.”

“But most of all you can be close to the order in case they need your arcane talents.” Harry wheedled. “Your impressive arcane talents. Your amazing and unparalleled arcane talents.”

“Wouldn’t I be closer here?” Pythea raised an eyebrow quizzically. “Here in the order headquarters?”

“But what if the marauders needed your talents.” Harry pleaded. “Your impressive, godlike talents.”

“Harry…”

“And besides.” Harry smiled warmly. “You never got a chance to be a kid. Take this chance, come to Hogwarts. Let the marauders show you how to have fun.”

Pythea didn’t say anything, but she smiled.

“That’s a yes. You smiled so that’s a yes.”

“Harry…”

“It counts as a yes. You’re stuck with it now.”

“You…”

“Me.”

“Stop it.”

“Can’t.”

“And you call me a brat.”

Harry chuckled and laid back in his seat. He must have fallen asleep because the next thing he knew was a owl was pecking at his face.

“Get. The. Hell. Off. Me.” Harry groaned.

Peck, peck, peck.

“Oh fine.” Harry woke and cracked his neck. The owl wasn’t holding a letter. “Where are my bleedin results you stupid bird?”

“Here Harry.” Thea was sitting comfortably, holding a folded scrap of paper in her hands.

“The owl gave it to you?”

“I’m good with animals.” Thea glanced down at the piece of paper. “Don’t you want to know your results?”

“Not particularly.”

“No? We could actually have a situation where I go to Hogwarts and you don’t.”

“Has… has that happened?” Harry felt his heart drop.

“Ah so you actually do care.” Pythea glanced at him slyly.

“Brat.”

“You haven’t failed.” Pythea smiled. “You got four. Four O.W.Ls.”

“Well that…” Harry nodded faintly. “That’s not bad. That’s not too bad. Considering.” He reached over and picked the results out of her hand. “Charms O. Ok that works for me. Defence… E.”

“How could you get an E in defense.” Pythea shook her head at him. “You defeated Voldemort.”

“Defeating dark lords doesn’t have a written portion.” Harry said indignantly.

“Did you see the other results?”

“Managed A’s in astronomy and creatures.” Harry shrugged. “Good enough to go back to Hogwarts.”

Pythea opened her mouth to say something but didn’t get the chance.

“The results! The results are here!”

Harry’s ears were assaulted by Hermione’s screams. Thea raised her hand to her ears and winced.

“Welcome to the marauders.” Harry said, over the ringing in his ears.
*


The next day they did the only thing traditional after receiving Hogwarts letters. The customary, almost pilgramigical, trip to Diagon Alley.

“Wait why are you going?” Harry had asked Fred and George. “You’ve had your last year.”

“We’re going to go look at something.” Fred had replied evasively.

“What?”

“Just… just something.” Fred shrugged.

“This is about your joke shop isn’t it.” Harry guessed shrewdly.

“Maybe.”

“What about you?” Harry turned to Joshua Split. “Why are you coming?”

“I’m bored.” Was his succinct reply.

Harry shrugged. Fair enough. The Weasley parents were there as well of course. Harry knew that on some level they disapproved of their children being soldiers in a war on eternal darkness. Harry knew this, and could barely bring himself to care. The war was effectively over for now, they weren’t soldiers for now. Not for a few years at least. Harry shrugged, he would have preferred if the marauders could go alone. Being parented after so long taking care of himself was galling. Ah well, with so many marauders they couldn’t possibly keep tabs on all of them.

Harry shrugged and hoisted his cane. Ah well, time to do the back to school shop. How very normal.
*


Harry dropped into a seat in an ice-cream parlor. His left leg, and left arm were both killing him. He had never been more thankful that his bottomless bag absorbed the weight of the books he’d bought. If he’d had to carry them the traditional way he might well be dead. It wasn’t even just the weight or the injury, it was the people. What had happened in the department of mysteries was known to every wizard in Britain and probably a good number outside as well. Harry didn’t know which ones were worse, the ones that demanded an autograph like he was he was a bloody celebrity or the ones that shied away from him like he was a god. It was draining, physically and mentally. He needed a break.

“Are you alright Harry?” Ron asked.

“Everyone wants to stop for ice cream right?” Harry panted. “We’re all stopping for ice cream. Not because I’m almost dead. Stopping for ice cream because we want to, not because I’m a bloody invalid.”

“Um… yeah Harry.” Padma nodded faintly. “Because we want to.”

“Great!” Harry sat back. “Double scoop, coffee and chocolate please.”

“Why do I have to get it?”

“I’m injured.” Harry held up his cane and put on a hangdog expression. “War wounds.”

“Make up your mind.” Draco muttered and shook his head wryly as the marauders pushed tables together around the one Harry had claimed. Harry just sat back and grinned. The heat had beat down harshly all day but now it was evening and the air was pleasantly cool. Very peaceful. Harry wondered idly what he would do with a year of peace. Probably go mental. Possibly get arrested. Without his lofty goals to justify his lawlessness he was liable to end up expelled. He might have to rein himself in a bit. Just a bit. It was unfortunate that he had no idea how to do that.

“Coffee and chocolate.” A cone was shoved into his hand by Padma.

“What? No waffle cone?”

“Don’t push it limpy.”

“Ouch.” Harry chuckled as the marauders pulled up chairs around the table. Despite her sarcasm Padma pulled up the chair next to Harry. Thea sat down quietly on the other side. She was quiet with everyone but Harry still. For someone who had been one of the most powerful women in the world she was remarkably shy. Harry opened his mouth to ask her something when he felt a tug at his sleeve.

“Watch.” Padma hissed quietly and cheekily. Harry’s eyes followed her surreptitious gaze to the other side of the table. Ginny and Draco were sitting at the far other side. As he watched Ginny held her ice cream out to Draco, who bent to lick it and ended up with a spot on his nose. Ginny laughed louder than it was natural to laugh at something so cliché and wiped the spot off with a napkin. The napkin brushed down Draco’s face just a moment longer than was necessary. With his magic eye Harry could even see Ginny’s heartbeat quicken. Harry turned to Padma.

“And he still remains totally oblivious.” Harry shook his head in disbelief. “Does he have some sort of empathic blind-spot?”

“Apparently.” Padma snorted cynically. “I think Ginny’s getting desperate. It’s almost embarrassing. My darling sister has been lending her mascara. And creams.”

“Interesting that you say creams in the same manner that others would say… oh I don’t know. Skunk bile.”

“If he’s that oblivious he’s not worth it. By the way, if you want to swap some of the creams for skunk bile I’m game.” Padma grinned slyly.

“That would be really mean.”

“She would attract attention though.”

“We don’t prank fellow marauders.” Harry turned to the girl on his other side. “Maybe you can tell us. See anything in their future? Something small and squalling perhaps?”

“I’m not a fortune teller Harry.” Pythea said coldly. It was only the faintest twinkle in her eye that told him she was kidding.

“Not even a little fortune?” Harry arched an eyebrow.

“What do you expect me to do Harry?” The little seer smiled. “Read tea leaves?”

“Would that work?”

“Of course not.”

“Wait a minute!” Ron spun round from Pythea’s other side. Harry saw the seer jump in surprise but cover it a moment later. Ron hadn’t noticed. “Tea leaves don’t predict the future?”

“No. However could they?”

“What about clouds? Tarot cards? Casting bones?”

“I’m sorry Ronald none of those will give you any insight into the future.” Pythea answered calmly.

“Then what have I been doing for the past three years?”

“Making stuff up?” Harry suggested.

“Well yeah I knew that but… what did I get an O.W.L for?”

“You got an O.W.L for putting up with Trewalny for three years.” Harry reached over and clapped Ron on the shoulder. “It’s well deserved.”

Pythea laughed lightly into her hand causing Harry to notice something.

“Hey, you haven’t got any ice cream.” Harry cocked his head. “Did you want something else? I think they’ve got coffee and tea and stuff.”

“Harry it’s alright.” Pythea seemed to shift closer to him. “I just don’t have any money that’s all. I left Greece with nothing and I’ve been staying at the manor ever since you know…”

“You should have said something.” Harry held out his cone. “Here. You’ll like it, chocolate is one of the three safe U.K. flavors, coffee ice cream however is dangerously experimental.”

Pythea chuckled as she daintily licked a drop off the side of his ice cream cone. Harry turned it to let her get at all of it. He heard a snigger behind him and looked over his shoulder to see Padma covering her mouth with her hand.

“What?” The sniggering continued. “What?”

“Nothing.” Padma’s eyes flickered to Draco and Ginny on the other side of the table then back to him.

“Wha… what are you suggesting that… no no that’s… that’s totally different.” Harry protested, which only prompted a gale of laughter. “It’s not the same thing… I mean she didn’t…. whereas they… Shut up.” Harry turned away from the sniggering marauder and tried to ignore her. He and Pythea finished off the cone by turns, and by the time they finished Harry was pleasantly cool.

It was a totally fun and peaceful scene. Harry should have known it wouldn’t last.

“Having a pleasant day out Mr Potter?” A shadow fell across the table. “It was a beautiful day I felt.”

“Hello James.” Harry’s eyes fixed on the old gentleman. Maybe it was his tone of voice but the marauders went still in a moment. They went from laughing happily to taught as a drawn bowstring in an instant. Hands hovered near wands. Harry waved to them. “Don’t worry guys, he’s not dangerous. He’s not even really here. Again.”

“A pity really.” James turned his pale, lined face to the sky. “It looks like such a nice evening.”

“Is it cold where you are?”

“I am not telling you where I am.” James smiled. “But I do not blame you for fishing.”

“I’m certainly curious as to who you are.” Harry leant forwards. “Last time I followed your advice I was framed for murdering some death eaters.”

“A regrettable event Mr Potter, but not my fault.” James spoke dryly and precisely. “The information I gave you was entirely correct.”

“Yes.” Harry nodded towards the Baker twins, both (despite his words) looking ready to spring. “You told me that their father was targeted to be attacked so I don’t think you work for Voldemort. But that doesn’t mean you’re on the side of good.”

“Good is meaningless.” James said definitely. His crisp Oxford enunciation making the words seem even colder.

“Now I know you’re on the wrong side.”

“Think whatever you wish Mr Potter, it doesn’t particularly matter if you like me. Although obviously I would prefer if we were on amicable terms. Nevertheless you will listen to what I have to say.” James waved a gloved hand at the bustling street. “You will listen or in just about ten minutes these people will all be dead.”

“You’d better talk fast then.” Harry’s fingers were gripping the sides of his chair.

“Voldemort will attack here.” Was the simple response from the elderly visage in front of him.

“Voldemort has just two death eaters and is supposed to be almost dead.” Harry grated angrily. “How could he possibly mount an attack.”

“Dear boy do you expect me to tell you everything?” James smiled faintly. “You would think that this would be enough. Just know that as soon as the moon rises about twenty werewolves and at least as many wizards will be attacking here. Whether you chose to believe me… is up to you.” James disappeared where he stood, startling a passing family.

“Harry?” Ginny was speaking worriedly from across the table. “Do you believe him?”

“Yes.” Harry’s teeth grated together. “Sod the bastard but yes.” Harry grabbed his cane and pushed himself to his wobbling feet. “Neville, get inside the shop and flue the aurors, and the order. Everybody else start spreading out and getting people into the fireplaces. Do not panic them. GO!”

“Right.” Harry turned to the worried looking Pythea. “Can you fight if it comes to it?”

“I was never trained.” Her voice sounded very small.

“Ok, don’t take this the wrong way but if something happens you need to stay out of the way.” Harry raised his hand to her shoulder. “Stay safe.” Harry stepped back and waved the marauders to the left and right down the street. He himself painfully stepped onto the table and amplified his voice.

“Listen… ag… This is Harry Potter.” A cheer went up from the crowd, some people began to scrabble for things for him to sign. “No no, Listen. We’ve received a tip that there might be something bad happening here soon. It’s probably a false alarm, just some idiot who thinks he’s funny, but I’ve talked to the aurors and they think we should evacuate anyway. Just proceed calmly into the nearest shop and flue back to your homes. No pushing, just please go home. Don’t worry about your friends up and down the street, we have people warning them too.”

Harry tried to keep a calm smiling face as he waved people into away, nodding with an almost banal normality. He heard clattering footsteps behind him.

“Harry!” Neville dashed up behind him.

“What did the aurors say?”

“I couldn’t reach them, the flue’s blocked.” Neville panted. “I went through the back and tried the next shop. It’s down too. I think they all are.”

“What?” Harry spun to look at the shop he had been waving people into. As he turned a cry went up and seemed to ripple along the crowd. Harry could here the cries of ‘it’s not working, why isn’t it working?’. He felt is heart drop. He spun and grabbed a man out of the crowd. The man looked down at him in shock but Harry spoke right over him. “Can you apparate?”

“Wha… what’s that?”

“Try to apparate.”

“Is there a problem?”

“Just try to bloody apparate!”

“I…” The man paused. “I can’t. It’s blocked or… or something.”

Harry spun back to face Neville. The nervous marauder was gripping his wand hard. Harry amplified his voice harshly, twisting his wand until he could feel his vocal cords twanging.

“MARAUDERS! THIS IS REAL! GET EVERYBODY OUT INTO LONDON!”

Harry left Neville in charge and clattered back towards the leaky cauldron, his leg felt like it was on fire. The entry wall came into sight, closed. People were crowded up against it, clawing at the bricks like rats. Harry stopped, shocked.

“Harry!” Lucy Kingston ran up to him, the Baker twins trailing behind her. “We tried to get them out but the flues are down. When they found out the panicked. I’m… I’m sorry.”

“Get out of the way.” Harry ordered them, raising his wand towards the crowd. “EVERYBODY MOVE!”

The crowd turned towards his yelling voice, saw the raised wand and the look in his eyes, and parted like the red sea.

“Confringo!” Harry aimed the curse at the center of the wall and blasted a hole in the masonry. He shot again and the wall fell in, crumbling into rubble. Behind the wall a figure stepped forward, his face veiled by a rough cloth and the rest of him covered in deep green. That was what everybody saw. Magic eyes saw more.

“Get away from him!” Harry yelled, but he was too slow. The figure shot forward like a snake, his hand jerking into his clothing and coming out with a thick bladed dagger. In one smooth movement the man was amongst the crowd. The knife came forward and Harry saw a spray of blood. The knifeman spun and plunged the blade into the back of a woman who had turned to run then Harry was knocked to the side by pressing bodies as the crowd stampeded away.

“Let me through!” Harry yelled as he was buffeted madly. He could still see the knifeman in the cold blue of his magic sight. The man was spinning randomly through the crowd, opening veins and cutting throats like the flickering picture of liquid death. Harry tried to push his way towards him but he was thrown back. “Screw this! Galbinus digitus! Hammus Missus!”

The vines on the wall to his side expanded like a mad octopus, arching across the street. Harry had already cast a chain up to the green arch and jerked himself up over the crowd. Swinging madly, barely in control, Harry was drawn through the air above the heads of the writhing crowd. Harry’s eye caught the knifeman and he let go, swinging his legs out, steel-toed boots coming up.

The man dodged like a wildcat and Harry twisted in the air to avoid getting a knife in his neck. He landed painfully, his leg bending under him, unwilling to support his weight, and he stumbled. The knife flashed towards him.

“Stalagmite!” Harry jabbed his wand down and the cobbles exploded upwards in a jutting spike, knocking the knife away. But the man was too fast his left hand dipped into his clothes and came back with a thin wand before Harry could even stand. Harry had to roll away as a tearing net of razor threads came shooting towards him. He tried to stand but his leg buckled and he saw the flashing knife again, too close this time.

“Stubefy!” The red light smashed the knifeman from behind and threw him to the floor. Harry struggled to rise as Lucy and the two Bakers pushed through the last of the crowd to get to him. Lucy grabbed his arm and he gratefully pulled himself upright. “Are you alright?”

“No!” Harry summoned his cane and glanced around. There were bodies everywhere. He hadn’t been fast enough.

“We tried to-” Terry Baker began to speak but a knife bloomed from his shoulder and he was thrown back into his sisters arms. “Aaaah!”

Harry spun with his wand out. Out of the hole in the wall were climbing three more green shrouded figures. Harry’s eye buzzed through them and was more behind them. Lots more.

“Get him out of here! Fall back!” Harry yelled. He twitched his wand at the floor and swung it like a sword, growing a wall of stone out of the rough cobbles. Harry saw Anna Baker crying as she dashed away with her bleeding brother at the same time as Lucy ran to stand next to him. “I meant you too!”

“I’m not leaving you.”

“That’s fine, I’m retreating too!” Harry hobbled backwards, his wand trained on the wall. A blurred shape catapulted over the wall, spinning in the air. Harry’s wand flicked out. “Ferio!” The hex struck the man in the air and he crashed to the floor head first with a sickening crunch. Two more followed him and Harry threw more spells, beside him Lucy was madly throwing curses. Harry could see the street behind the wall filling up with enemies. There were far more than the twenty James had warned about.

“Difindo!” Harry raked his wand along the bottom of the wall, forcing himself to ignore the three more warriors that had leapt over the top of it. “Depulso!” His wall flew backwards along the street like a wrecking ball, sweeping the attackers back. Harry didn’t have time to gloat as a lion made of fire leapt out of thin air and raked his arm with burning claws. He didn’t bother to flame-freeze it, just blasted it out of the air and sent the flames back at the dark figures advancing up the street towards them.

“Harry, didn’t that man say something about werewolves?” Lucy was panting beside him.

“Listen if you see a bloody werewolf tell me!” Harry yelled through gritted teeth as he smashed a pillar of ice out of the air. “Until then I think I’ll deal with the problem in front of me!”

Harry blocked another curse but even as he did so two more whizzed past him and hit the crowd. He heard cries of pain and anguish. He couldn’t stop all of them. He couldn’t even stop most of them. This was going to be a bloodbath unless he could stop it.

“They’re on the roofs!” Someone in the crowd yelled.

Harry’s eye swiveled up and he cursed. There were at least five shadowy figures dashing along the rooftops towards them, the sheer slope not even giving them pause.

“Bloody hell who are these guys? Cover me!” Harry ducked behind Lucy as he jabbed his wand up at the shingles. “Pinguis!” The tiles suddenly gleamed like an oil slick and the running figures tumbled like skittles, skidding and scrabbling to find purchase before falling to the cobbles with a crunch.

Harry saw more spells coming from behind him and felt like cheering as he saw five more marauders dashing to help out of the pressing crowd. Draco skidded to a stop next to him and instantly had to raise a shield to stop a spinning blade.

“They’re attacking on the other side too!” Draco yelled, his face covered with a sheen of sweat. “Ginny’s keeping them back but there’s nowhere for the crowd to go. We’re between a hammer and an anvil!”

Harry cursed even as his eye swirled in it’s socket and tried to focus to the other side of the crowd. No good, too many people. But he could see spells flaring up from the street beyond. Harry swore again and had to fire off a desperate counter to a purple curse hat hissed through the air like a snake. Harry swung his wand at the shops on either side of the street and yelled a charm. The glass in the windows shattered into knife-edge shards and swept across the street like a scythe. Harry could hear the thuds as it bit flesh. It only gained them moments, new figures appeared almost instantly, crouching behind their dead comrades for cover. Harry used the time to raise the cobbles in another wall but almost instantly it was struck with curses. Blasting away the stone and leaving holes for their enemies to fire through.

“When are the aurors getting here?” Ron asked desperately.

“How the hell should I know!” Harry yelled back angrily. “They may no even be able to get in!”

“What about knockturn alley!” Neville called out suddenly, pointing back into the crowd. “Could we get people out that way?”

“This many people? Crammed in there?” Draco ducked behind a conjured shield. “It would be a meatgrinder!.”

“It may be the only chance!” Harry’s eye swivelled to find the dark side street. Some people were trying to escape down it but most were shying away. Harry’s eye focused further, further down the street… “Oh for the…! Werewolves! Werewolves in knockturn!”

But the cry came too late. They burst out of the darkness like a wave of sweating hair, cutting into the crowd like butter. Whether there were twenty or fifty or more was impossible to tell, they just seemed like one giant raging beast. The screams came louder and louder, as did the howls.

“No! Draco, Ron! Stop them now!” Harry jabbed his arm back towards the alley.

“Can you manage here without us?” Draco said as he began to move.

“Gonna have to!” Harry glanced back at the street, filling again with enemies. “I can’t move fast enough to fight werewolves.” Harry summoned a wrecked table, ducked behind his makeshift shelter and jammed his wand to the neck. “GINNY SEND TWO OF YOUR PEOPLE TO KNOCKTURN ALLEY. WEREWOLVES!”

Harry had no way to know if she had heard. He just had to hope. Ron and Draco couldn’t do it on their own. Harry’s eye whirled like a marble, trying to find some other way out. There was nowhere to hide and every moment they waited people were dying. His eyes found gleaming pillars of white marble. A massive building, defensible.

“INTO GRINGOTS!” Harry bellowed out across the crowd. “EVERYBODY INTO-“

Harry was thrown to the floor as his table exploded, showering him with knife sharp splinters. He felt one bounce of his magic eye and shuddered to think of what it would have done to his real one. A knife spun out of the blue and cut a slice out of his arm.

Harry stumbled backwards and almost fell, catching himself on his cane. He aimed a stunner a moving shape but it went wide. He cursed, there were too many of them. Gringots had better be defensible, or they were all truly screwed.
*


Ginny abandoned the failing shelter of a doorway and dashed for a pile of rubble. Spells zinged above her head, too many to count. She dove to the floor and felt her skin tear as she slid behind her the bricks. The street was full of madness. Whoever the hell these guys were they were good. Better than death eaters.

Heat. Lots of heat.

“Ginny get out of there!”

Ginny threw herself forward before the pile she was hiding behind exploded into blue flame. She dashed back to the other marauders, spinning and casting spells at the shadows flitting towards them. Too many to count. Every doorway was a potential attacker. Ginny reached the marauders and spun in time to shield and weather a blast of frozen blades. She heard the crowd behind her yell in pain. Whatever the marauders did it wasn’t enough. The people were getting into Gringots but not fast enough, the crowd was too huge and the doors to the bank too small. Too many dying. Ginny steeled herself against the blood. It smelled like a slaughterhouse. She wanted to vomit.

“There’s no more cover.” Hermione’s voice was shaking. “There’s no more cover.”

“We are the cover.” Ginny yelled, trying to sound like Harry. “Line up in front of the crowd!”

“There aren’t enough of us.”

“Then line up in front of most of the crowd!” Ginny yelled archly. “You chose who you want to let die!”

Ginny ducked to the floor and shielded as strongly as she could as a barrage of spells knocked her back. She didn’t try to fire back. She had to use everything she had to keep the shield up. On either side it butted up against Hermione’s and Cho’s, right now it seemed like a paper wall. Ginny gritted her teeth they had to hold. Just a little longer.

The crowd was surging backwards, slowly seeping away. The marauders backed their wall to follow them. Ginny tried to ignore the fact that every meter the crowd pulled back revealed more bodies from under their feet.

“Ah!!” Ginny’s head whipped around at the familiar scream in time to see Cho fall, her clothes burning with purple flame.

“Hold the line!” Was the first thing that came to Ginny’s lips as she dropped her shield and blasted water onto the fallen marauder. She dashed to Cho’s side and grabbed her arm, hoisting the older girl onto her shoulder. She threw up a hasty shield that shattered instantly under the onslaught and was driven to her knees. Ginny summoned another shield and dragged her burden back, trying to ignore the fact that the arm draping over her shoulder was black with burns. Ginny’s brain seethed with rage and she itched to drop her shield and fire dark curses at the enemies before her. But she couldn’t. Wand shaking in her hand she kept her slow retreat, her mind recoiling at every spell that slipped through.
*


The black wall of rage just kept coming. The werewolves were mad with moonlight, they didn’t even care when they were burnt or bled. You had to cut them down. The cobbles were slippery with blood and viscera.

“Difindo!” Draco flicked open a spurting gash in the neck of a snarling wolf, screeching howls of pain went up. He blocked them out. He glanced behind him, the crowd was squeezing back into the bank like a living thing, they were almost all inside. The marauders were almost back to the entrance now, one wall of defensive shields, one wall of aggressive firing death. He could see Harry breaking giant chunks of road to fling like wrecking balls.

“Draco duck!”

Draco didn’t even think, he just slammed himself to the floor. Green light blasted above his head. That was not a werewolf! Draco rolled to his feet, wand out. In amongst the werewolves were loping figures, wands out and firing. Black shrouds of tattered robes around them. Killing curses one after another and another blasting out. They didn’t even seem to care if they hit the marauders, the werewolves or one of their own.

“These aren’t the same as the ninja guys!” Parvati screamed, ducking into a doorway to avoid the storm of curses. Draco stabbed his wand forward.

“Incendio!” A cloaked figure burst into flame but kept coming. Draco cursed and took aim at a cloaked head. “Reducto!” The head exploded but the body kept lurching forwards.

“What the hell are they!” Ron’s quivering voice yelled out from behind. “They don’t die!”

“Back up!” Draco desperately waved the marauders back. He stumbled backwards, nothing could give people this power, this was insanity. A hallucination or else a fever dream. Draco dashed across the square away, there was no holding back these creatures. There were still people in the street! Draco ducked behind a bloody werewolf carcass but there was little point, there were enemies all around now. The marauders were being pushed back, the green-clad assassins coming from left and right and the werewolves and impossible warriors crashing in from the front.

Draco screamed as his arm was engulfed in flame and extinguished it with his arm. He shot a curse down the street at a shadow but missed. They were losing. A dark shape loomed over him and he spun, too slow. The robed figure fell on him and he felt steely-cold hands grab both his arms. With an inhuman strength he was held to the floor. The hood came up and Draco felt his eyes go wide with fear.

The face had rotted away.

“Fulgar Fletch!” The corpse above him was thrown backwards as a cloud of knives sliced it to ribbons. A second cloud reduced it to flayed meat and the rotting husk fell to the ground in pieces. “Get up Draco!”

Draco scrambled to his feet and spun to see Harry standing like a bloodstained god of war. He swung his wand in a tight arc and the knives leapt into the air again, each growing a set of dragonfly wings and darting forward to slice another shambling shape to ribbons.

“We can’t kill than but we can shred them!” Harry yelled, standing in plain sight like he was daring the things to try to kill them. “We just need to hold for a few more bloody seconds!”

Draco dashed back to the marauder line, spinning and sending flaying curses behind him at the pursuing creatures. In front of him he saw Ron struck in the side, with what he could not tell. Draco dashed to help him but the cobbles between them exploded into razor sharp shrapnel and he was driven back.

“Just a few more seconds!” Harry appeared out of nowhere, one arm gripping his cane like a vice, the other moving in a blur of spell casting. Ron was lifted from the floor and flew towards Gringots, Harry hadn’t even been looking at him. “A few more!” His arm was caught with the edge of a curse and he was spun off his feet, pitching him onto the floor.

Draco spun, found the doorway the spell had fired from and sent a swarm of hornets. They were burnt up in mid air before they got halfway.

“Now!” Ginny’s voice shouted out. “Everyone inside!”

Draco’s feet skidded on the cobbles as he dashed for the steps of Gringots. He shielded as a curse winged towards him and had to roll out of the way of a killing curse. Ginny’s marauders were holding the line for just a moment longer, giving the rest of them a chance to get in. Draco powered up the steps and spun when he reached the door, firing curses as fast as he could. Harry was the only one left out there, slowly backing up the steps with his wand out.

He can’t climb stairs! Draco realized with horror. But just as the thought hit him Harry spun and fired a chain up past the line of fighters. Harry flew like a firework into Gringots, falling to the marble floor.

“That’s it. Everyone in!”

Draco didn’t need Ginny’s shouted command, his feet were already skidding him backwards. The heavy doors were slammed shut on his heels. He could hear curses sparking against the wood and cracking stone.

“Colloportus!” Harry was back on his feet and pointing his wand at the door.

“Will that hold?” Draco asked, his breath coming heavy in his ears.

“No.”
*


“I want those tables stuck across the windows!” Harry gestured with his cane. His eye was flickering around desperately trying to spot any other way their attackers could breach the building. “Raise walls across the floor to shoot out of. And get all these people down into the tunnels!”

“Mr Potter you cannot give orders here!” A goblin appeared from nowhere, his eyes flinty. “You had no right to involve Gringots in wizard business!”

“It was the only was to save these people.”

“That is not my problem.” The goblin snarled. “Leave now or we will open the door and let those people in.”

“Listen shorty.” Harry grabbed the goblin by the neck and lifted him off the floor. He was instantly surrounded by a group of armed goblins. Each of them was pointing what looked like a crossbow at him. They didn’t look happy however as they were quickly surrounded by a larger group of armed wizards. Harry turned back to the goblin in his fist and hissed, “There are more of us than you.”

“And if we open the doors there will be a lot less.” The goblin twisted out of his grip and dropped to the floor.

“Wait!” The crowd was pushed aside and Pythea, her face streaked with dirt, stepped between Harry and the goblin. She turned on the goblin with her hands spread out. “You have to let them in.”

“I do not have to listen to the fema-“

“These people have accounts. They have vaults.” Pythea spoke quickly. “By law if they request to access their vaults you must let them.”

“You-” The goblin spluttered but the crowd had already surged towards the tunnel. “No, no wait!”

“I don’t think they’re listening to you.” Harry said to the goblin, over the roar. “And besides, if they get in here do you think they’ll stop at killing the humans?”

“You… human.” The goblin spat the last word before disappearing into the crush of people. A moment later the building shook like a bell. Harry spun and looked towards the door, he groaned.

“They’re trying to break the door down.” Pythea breathed, her voice steadier than Harry thought he could have managed.

“They’re using one of the pillars for a battering ram.” Harry tried desperately to think of something to bolster the door. “Mythril! Dia-obsero! Portapavo!” The door went silver and crusted over with crystals.

“Do you think that will keep them out?” Pythea asked doubtfully.

“No.” Harry glanced around at the marauders desperately boarding up windows with anything they could find. He shook his head, the aurors had better come soon. “Is Ron alright? I saw him get hit.”

“For now he’s alive.” Pythea shuddered. “If the ministry don’t get here he will not last.”

“If the ministry don’t get here we’re all royally screwed.” Harry was looking around madly, trying to think of some other way plan. “How about the rest of us?”

“Terry Baker has a knife in him, I believe it may be poisoned but I cannot tell.” Pythea shook her head. “Miss Chang has been burnt, I have done what I can for her. George Weasley was exsanguinated, I have spliced his circulatory system to his twin and they should survive for a while. Joshua Split cannot walk and I have no idea what is wrong with him. He can speak but he doesn’t seem to be aware of what is going on. Oh, and I cannot wake Padma Patil. She seems comatose.”

“Is anyone not maimed?” Harry growled, anger mixing with fear mixing with grief.

“Harry…”

“We’re not gonna last.” The building rumbled again. “We’re just not.”

“Harry!” The cry went up from the other side of the bank. Harry spun and dashed over to where Hermione was peering out a small gap left in the bottom of a window.

“What?” Harry skidded over. “Are they coming in?”

“I thought I saw someone in that house.” Hermione pointed down the street. “Can you see?”

“Hold on…” Harry let his eye focus out through brick and plaster, then cursed. “There are three people in there. Children. They’re trying to hide in the basement. They’re failing.”

“What?”

“Six… no seven. Three werewolves and four of the unkillable freaks are in there with them. I think they can smell them. The kids won’t stay hidden for long.”

“What do we do?”

“We can’t do anything!” Harry punched his aching fist into the wall. “We can’t get to them!”

“Maybe… maybe we can sneak out!” Neville glanced at the shaking door. “The ninja men are pretty focused on breaking in, maybe they won’t bother with one or two people trying to get out.”

“The werewolves will,” Draco said dully. “They’ll chase anything that moves.”

“Yes, they will…” Harry put his hand up to his face. “And the dead men seemed to act the same. Maybe I can draw them off.”

“You can’t.” Ginny snapped at him. “You can’t run!”

“You… you’re right.” Harry felt like punching the wall again. “You’ll need to do it. Take…” Harry cast around for someone else who could run fast. “Take Vanessa.” He pointed at Vanessa Gibbons.

“Me?”

“You.” Harry turned back to Ginny. “Draw them back towards the Leaky Cauldron. If you meet the aurors coming the other way tell them to hurry the hell up!”

“What about those three children.” Hermione pointed out the window again.

“If someone gets up to the roof through… through that window they can get over there without drawing attention.” Harry gripped his cane angrily. Something else he couldn’t do. “Draco I need you to go alone. We can’t spare more people.”

“They’re children!” Hermione protested.

“So are we!” Harry shouted back. “And so are half the people huddling in the tunnels right now! Why do you think they picked the day after the Hogwarts letters to attack! We need to save as many people as we can.” He stumbled as the building was rocked with another blast. The stone around the door was beginning to buckle. Harry swiped his wand along the floor to clear a space. He pointed down at the marble.

“Koupa!” The stone bent into a heavy bowl. “Ginny, Vanessa. Get in.”

He waited while the two girls huddled into the makeshift shelter then hovered it off the floor.

“You ready?”

“Yes.” Ginny said confidently. Vanessa just stared out fearfully.

Harry raised them to the level of the window, then drew them back. With a flick of his wand the two marauders were thrown out into the street in their stone cradle. Spells chipped and blazed against the marble but Harry held it as a shield for the two girls, anchoring it to the ground. The rest was up to them.

“Get that window boarded up again!” Harry turned back to Draco. “Go now. You need a lift?”

“No, I got it.” Draco turned, cradling his arm. Harry hadn’t noticed it was injured. Nothing to be done though, they were all injured. Harry watched as Draco climbed up to the window and broke the boarding just enough to crawl out. Harry turned back to the marauders.

“What are you looking at? We still need to protect this place!” They scattered and Harry began raising line after line of walls as defence. He drew lines of spiked wire in front of the door and disillusioned it. Hopefully they wouldn’t notice it.

“Harry maybe you should go into the tunnels.” Pythea said quietly behind him. “You’re injured too.”

“Thea I just sent some of my best friends out to die because I can’t do it.” Harry’s own voice sounded bitter in his ears. “But I’m sure as hell staying here to stop them getting through. That’s all I can do, but I’ll do it if it kills me.”
*


“They’re not following us!” Vanessa was peeking out from behind their stone shelter, jerking her head back as a shower of spells bit chunks out of the floor.

“Damnit.” Ginny’s blood was pumping heavily in her ears. Nothing they did could make the werewolves chase them. Nothing. They were just milling around in front of the bank and howling while the ninja men tried to break in.

“Maybe this will work.” Ginny raised her wand up to her arm, where she was covered in blood and soaked the tip of her wand in the oozing liquid. “Oderifer.” Red mist floated out from her wand, pooling about them. “Tempesto!” The blood mist drifted out towards the werewolves. There was a long moment when the wining and barking stopped… then a bone-chilling howl.

“Go! Go! Go!” Ginny dashed out from behind the stone and almost tripped as she saw the werewolves bearing down on her. Her feet scrabbled on the cobbles but was moving, blitzing it down diagon alley.

“The dead ones are coming too!” Vanessa screamed as she darted ahead. Ginny threw a look over her shoulder and saw the truth of it. The dead men were sprinting madly in amongst the wolves, their hooded faces up and sniffing the air. Drinking it in like it was honey. Ginny thought she could see glowing red eyes beneath the black hoods. For a mercy the ninja-men seemed to have more self control. They were not following, but instead pounding again on the door of the goblin’s bank.

Ginny put all the muscle she could into her aching legs and pounded away from the beasts, barely keeping up with the little sylph of a girl disappearing ahead of her. Vanessa looked over her shoulder,

“Ginny duck!”

Ginny didn’t even think, she just let her legs fold under her, falling like a stone. The a wolf flashed over her prone body and crashed to the floor. Vanessa stunned it before it had a chance to rise. Ginny scrambled to her feet but she couldn’t move fast enough. An arm closed around her leg. She kicked madly but the arm had the strength of the dead.

“Summon me!” Ginny screamed.

“Accio Ginny!”

Ginny was pulled across the painful cobbles but the pressure on her leg was still there. She looked down and started in horror as she saw a bloody and rotting arm dangling from her ankle. She kicked it off and jumped to her feet, ignoring her injuries.

Well they had wanted the monsters to follow them. At least it had worked. Even if they didn’t make it.
*


Draco slid out of the window and pulled himself over the peak of the roof to hide on the other side. He tried to pick good footing as he hurried along the tiles. One chimney… two chimneys… he was looking for the seventh house. For a moment Draco wished he had Harry’s eye but pushed the thought away. That way of thinking lead to unfortunate paths.

Seven chimneys. Draco put his ear to the tiles and heard nothing. Damnit.

Back in front of the bank he heard a horrific howling go up. Ginny must have got the wolves attention. Good, at least one of them was doing their job right.

Draco tried to think of a way to break through the tiles without causing too much noise. Silencing charm. Draco cast it and blasted the silent tiles away with a reducto. The space below was black. He leant down, lighting his wand. The light seemed swallowed by the inky darkness.

Suddenly the tiles by his legs erupted and he felt his legs dragged back. He fell like a stone through the tiles and landed on his back with a lightning stab of pain. He kicked as hard as he could and stabbed his wand at the dark shape clutching his leg.

“Confringo!” The figure’s chest exploded, raining Draco with skeletal shrapnel. He felt a stabbing pain in his chest. Through the pain his eye caught movement by the stairs. He rolled just before green light obliterated the floor where he had fallen.

“Confringo!” The explosive curse seemed the best weapon against these dead things. Draco pulled himself to his feet and stumbled to the stairwell. He heard a scrabbling and stunned a werewolf as it put it’s matted head around the bend.

Draco was breathing hard. He put his hand to his chest and felt a long sliver of bone stabbed into him. Perfect. With his wand held out shakily, Draco slowly made his way down the stairs.
*


They were almost to the Cauldron, Ginny could see it appear around the bend. Vanessa was dashing beside her, her eyes wide with fear. Ginny vaulted over the pile of rubble from the wall and spun with her wand out. They were so close!

“Reparo!” The bricks flew together madly, Ginny willed them to come together faster than the beasts were moving. Vanessa spun beside her and began firing through the rapidly closing gap. Two werewolves leapt through and were sliced to the side. Ginny held her wand tight and tried to force the spell to work faster. A cloaked figure slammed through the bricks and pounced on Vanessa, throwing her to the floor. Vanessa screamed with horror.

The wall wasn’t fixed yet!

Keeping her wand trained on the bricks Ginny darted over and slammed her foot into the back of the robed figures head. It didn’t even seem to feel it. She kicked again, crashing her foot into the beast’s shrouded face. There was a hideous crunch and the head snapped back, hanging by strips of skin. The last brick slammed into place and Ginny whirled.

“Depulso!” The thing was thrown off Vanessa. “Difindo!” She slashed her wand like a blade and fetted blood spurted out, filling the air with a rotten smell. She slashed again, taking off first one arm then the other, then finally the legs, collapsing the dead thing into a twitching heap on the floor. Ginny stumbled to the gutter and vomited.

“Vanessa…” Ginny spoke between nauseous gulps. “Are you alright?”

Vanessa didn’t speak, she was staring at the pile of blood-soaked robes and body parts, her dark eyes wide.

“Why didn’t you fight him?” Ginny straightened up. “Did you forget everything I taught you?”

“It…” Vanessa sounded like she was speaking from deep in her own grave. “It was my father.”

Ginny felt her blood freeze. She walked over to the torso and gingerly lifted the hood off with her wand. She stumbled back and was almost sick again. There was nothing there but a mass of blood and broken bone. Her kick had stove in the rotted bone and left the face looking like rancid mince.

“It…” Ginny wet her lips. “It might have been your father once, but it was just… undead. He wasn’t alive anymore.”

“He knew who I was.” Vanessa was hugging her arms to her chest. “He looked at me and he was smiling. He said my name.”

Ginny reached out a hand to comfort her classmate but realized she had nothing to say. She turned to the wall and pointed her wand at the small pipe at the base.

“Oderifer.” There was plenty of blood already on her wand and the red mist floated out and down the pipe. There was an instant set of muffled howls from the other side. That should keep the werewolves and dead men off Harry’s back for a while.

And give Draco a chance to live. Maybe.

What was that! Ginny whirled, wand out, towards the Leaky Cauldron. She was sure she heard something from inside. Aurors? Not even the most optimistic of wishful thinking could persuade her of that.

“Vanessa, stay here. Keep the spell going.” Ginny motioned to the other marauder without looking and slowly stepped towards the doorway. The door was off it’s hinges but she could see nothing from inside, just broken tabletops and a bar full of smashed glass. She stepped to the edge of the door and peered around tentatively. There were bodies. But she had seen too many of them today to be horrified. Wait… two of the bodies were green robed like the attackers, slumped over a table. Ginny slowly stepped into the darkened pub and checked around. There didn’t seem to be anyone left alive. She stepped up to the two corpses and slowly drew their hoods back. Dull glassy eyes stared back at her out of faces twisted in pain. They had both been stabbed brutally and repeatedly, the second still had the knife embedded deep in his neck.

These two had probably been left as a guard, but who had killed them? Did the killer just leave?

Ginny’s blood froze as she remembered why she had come in here originally. She had heard a noise. Thinking back, it could have been someone dissapperating. But that meant that this place was outside the wards! Ginny dashed towards the fireplace and grabbed a generous handful of powder. The green flames that sprung up were the most glorious thing she had ever seen.

“Ministry of Magic! Auror’s office!”
*


“Confringo!” Draco didn’t even see if it hit before he whirled and shielded desperately as a werewolf pounced on him. It’s cursed claws skittered across the surface of the shield and it was thrown backwards. Draco dropped it and stunned the beast.

Where were the rest? Where were the children? These thoughts came to Draco through a haze of pain. The children were in the basement… he needed to go down. Draco staggered to a set of spiral stone steps and started down them, leaning his blooded body against the wall.

As he neared the bottom a door came into view. Before the door were two of the dead things, slamming their rotting bodies against the wood. As Draco approached they turned to face him. One set of glowing red eyes and one of empty rotted sockets.

“Confringo!” Draco ducked back into the stairwell as the first creature exploded and retreated further as a barrage of killing curses came flying down the stone hallway. Draco waited for a gap to spin out from around the corner. “Confringo!” The second beast disintegrated into shrapnel. Draco felt his bad arm explode with pain but didn’t look down. He stumbled to the wooden door and slammed his fist against it.

“I’m human.” His voice sounded thick and painful. “Let me through.”

The lock clicked and the door swung in. Draco’s legs gave out and he fell in. He kicked the door closed and glanced into the dark basement. Three shining sets of eyes looked back at him from tiny frames. None of them could have been older than four. They were in pyjamas, already ready to be tucked in when all hell broke loose.

“Are you here to rescue us?” One of them whispered.

“Just stay quiet.” Draco dragged himself to his feet and trained his wand on the door. “Stay very quiet.”

Above him there was the sound of a muffled explosion. The doors of Gringots had finally fallen.
*


Harry was thrown backwards and rolled to his feet. A black shape landed in front of him, long knife raised. Harry slammed his cane straight up into his attacker’s crotch and kicked the man’s legs out from under him. Harry raised his wand to finish the job but another figure darted at him, wand out, out of the dust. Too quick! Harry stumbled backwards as he fenced with flashing lights against his attacker. The man was too bloody quick! The bastard jabbed in with his left hand and Harry felt a gash open along his ribs. Do not let them get close!

“Excalabus!” Harry slashed out and saw shock in his attackers eyes as the shining sword clove him in two. But his first attacker was back up and raging for blood.

Harry didn’t look for help. There was no help. The ninja screeched something and Harry couldn’t dodge in time. Writhing pain in his chest drove him to his knees. Harry turned the fall into a roll and came up with his wand out.

“Ferio!” The spell was blocked but it had given Harry time to stagger backwards. They were coming faster now. Spilling through the broken doorway too fast to count. Harry was driven back by a barrage of spells and ducked behind a barricade, only to have it explode in a mass of marble gravel.

“Atrax!” Harry swept his wand across the rubble, every shard grew spindly legs and fangs and darted towards the enemies. Harry had never used the charm before and hoped to god the spider-rocks were poisonous. He leapt behind a pillar before spinning and jabbing his wand back at the entrance. He fired off a spell and thirty came flying back. The pain in his chest was back. Harry looked down to see his shirt drenched in blood. His or other peoples? Both. Harry could see through the cloth to where his skin had been flayed off in huge chunks by his attacker’s curse. Nothing he’d seen before. Who the hell were these guys?

The sound of other marauders desperately fighting raged in his ears. They couldn’t do much, there was too much dust, to much chaos, for them to see who they were firing at.

Wait…

“Tempesto!” Harry slammed his favorite charm to life and whipped a gale to life, the rubble and dust was thrown away and the creeping bastards were shown to the world.

“Stubefy!”

“Confringo!”

Spells sparked out from the still standing marauders like a wall off spears. Harry’s eye darted madly around the hall, trying to keep up. No, who was that on the floor? Neville… not dead. Harry could see his heart beating.

“Stubefy!” Harry stunned a charging ninja and levitated him up block. Harry darted out from behind his pillar. Three daggers instantly slammed into his human shield. Bugger. Harry dropped the dead weight and dropped to the floor, skidding across the wet marble. He grabbed Neville’s leg and yanked him out of the firing line, throwing a chain to drag them both back to the barricades. Harry dropped him there and darted back to his place by the pillar.

Harry heard a scream and saw a gush of blood. Who was it? No time! Harry swung out from his hiding place and sent a storm of lighting into the mass of attackers. His pillar was struck with a curse. There was a rushing sound and it began to glow from rapidly spreading cracks…

Harry shielded in panic but it barely dulled the force when the pillar exploded from within, throwing him across the room and slamming him into the wall. His arm shattered and pain overwhelmed him.

Occlumency! Come on!

Harry blanked his thoughts for all he was worth and, with agonizing slowness, gained control of his mind again. His arm was broken, shattered like a rod of glass, and hung limply at his side. The wound in his stomach had broken open and was gushing blood. Could he raise his wand? Could he even raise his wand?

“Harry!” Harry could see a bloodstained Hermione hunched over him, shielding him desperately. She grabbed his arm and dragged him back behind the last standing barricade. “Can you stand?”

Have to. Harry tried to rise but fell back. There were only two marauders left fighting and Harry wasn’t arrogant enough to count himself in that number.

Not enough. Not enough left.

They were finished.

Harry grimly gripped the top of the barricade and raised his wand. There were only three pillars left standing. If they went… It he destroyed them… They could at least save the people below. And maybe someone would dig their corpses out of the rubble.

“Reducto!” Harry saw a long crack open through the marble. “Reducto!” The crack widened. “Redu-”

“Wait!” Hermione grabbed his wand. “They‘re… they‘re gone…”

“Wh…” Harry’s eye flickered around, nothing was moving. Nothing but the marauders and the groaning wounded. “Wh… where did they go?” Harry’s mind tried madly to process that. It seemed like they had been fighting for his entire life. His eye cycled out. Out beyond the walls. Black robes. But the good kind. He could pick out Ginny and Vanessa’s small frames out in the middle.

“The aurors are here.” Harry struggled to his feet. Leaning against the wall he could almost do it. “They came. About bloody time…”

Blackness drained back into his mind and he fell back into familiar unconsciousness.
*


Draco pushed the cellar door open gingerly.

“Is it safe?” One of the children whispered.

“Shut up.” Draco muttered.

“Are they gone?”

“Shut up.” Draco slowly made his way forward, wand out in one hand, the other pressed against the wall for support. The bodies were gone. Was that good or bad? Everything was bad.

“Is it safe?”

“I told you to shut-” Draco bit off his angry admonition. They were too young and their parents were probably dead. Give them something. “I think it‘s safe. Let‘s go. Stay behind me. And stay quiet.” Draco dragged his feet up the spiral stairs and stopped at the top. He could hear voices from outside. Someone was yelling orders. Aurors. Finally the bloody ministry.

“The ministry‘s here. No STAY BEHIND ME!” Draco added sharply, grabbing the children back. He stepped forward, carefully looking in every corner. There could still be someone there. No… it was empty. Satisfied he waved the children forward and followed their eager feet to the door.

The cold moonlight hitting his face felt heavenly after the stifling fear of the cellar.

“Here!” He waved to the aurors. “Survivors! What‘s the situa-”

“Look out!”

Draco spun, too slowly! The window above him exploded outwards and all he saw was a flash of fur and teeth before he was driven backwards. On top of him the mountain of snarling death roared, pressing down on his chest. He writhed to try to get out but it pressed down on his frame, sending every old injury raging into new inferno.

“Get off! Depulso!” Draco cried desperately. The beast was catapulted into the air, shadowed against the stars. Draco rolled out desperately and the werewolf crashed back down, it’s bones splintering with the impact. Draco stunned it to be sure and got slowly to his feet.

“You could have helped.” Draco grated at the aurors approaching. “Useless.”

The black robed wizards stopped a few meters away, their hands on their wands.

“Do you know who‘s these children belong to?” Draco waved at the three huddling three. “Do you know…”

The children took a stuttering step away from him. The oldest spread his arms as if to protect the other two.

“What?”

The aurors surrounded him, their wands shaking.

“Do you know… who their parents… or…” Why did his head feel like this?

The children were dragged away from him.

“Why are you doing this…”

Ginny was in the crowd, her hand to her mouth, her eyes wide with horror.

“What‘s going… on… why are you… scared.” His mind burned with crimson fog. “I saved them, they‘re fine… They‘re… fine… no…”

Draco’s eyes dropped to his arm, to the bleeding wound. The bite mark. Red and blazing like writhing cursed fire. A werewolf bite. The pain of all the other wounds faded away, everything else was gone.

“Damnit.” Draco whispered falling to his knees. “Damnit.”
________________________________________


That was a hugely long chapter wasn’t it?

________________________________________
I don’t own Harry Potter. I own… this piece of chicken. So ha!
________________________________________


Harry came to on a stretcher. How long had he been out? The sky above was pitch black. They hadn’t even moved him from Diagon alley, Instead he was lying in a line of the bloody and mauled, a line of white-sheeted and red-stained victims in a triage tent. His eye told him it had been set up barely a stones throw from the decrepit bank. All around him healers bustled between screaming patients, their wands flickering a desperate dance to keep hearts beating.

Harry looked down at his own body. He hadn’t been properly healed, more like… stabilized. Obviously some healer had had time to stop him imminently dying before moving on to more serious cases. Harry looked around for his cane but didn’t see it, ah well, least he still had his wand. Harry picked a long splinter off the floor and enlarged it into a staff. Levering himself up on that he got to his feet.

“Lie back down.” A nurse bustled over to him. “You could still have internal bleeding.”

“I don‘t.” Harry’s eye rolled back in his head. “Trust me.” Harry limped out of the tent into the open air. Aurors were hurrying around purposely and Harry thought he saw members of the order as well. There were bodies laid in rows with sheets pulled over them, a lot of bodies.

Harry cursed, he needed to find someone he recognised, someone who could tell him what was going on. A friendly order member, a familiar auror. A Marauder? Harry tried to find one… no good. Hopefully that meant they were safe. He couldn’t see any of them among the dead. Unless they were one of the ones too burnt to recognize. Harry felt a lump rise in his throat and squashed it down.

“Mr Potter. Good to see you‘ve recovered.” Harry turned slowly, and looked up into the harried face of Kingsley Shacklebolt.

“Why are you here?” Harry asked bluntly. “Aren‘t you acting, temporary, interim minister for magic?”

“If I wasn‘t here I would be back at the ministry giving orders to empty chairs.” Shacklebolt looked tired. Harry had never seen the man tired. “Everyone is out here, doing what they can.”

“Because you told them to.”

“Well yes.”

“And what can they do?”

“Not much.” Shacklebolt had to stand aside as a body was levitated out of the tent. The healer carrying it laid it carefully at the end of the row of dead and conjured a sheet before hurrying back into the triage center. Shacklebolt shook his head. “So many dead. More than we lost in any one attack in this war or the last. And I cannot even think of what the losses would have been if you and your friends had not been here.”

“Yeah, about those friends.” Harry glanced worriedly at the line of dead.

“You’re friends are alive Harry. Every one of them.” Shacklebolts rumbling voice dropped a pitch to a sympathetic murmur. “But every one was injured. Some quite badly. I cannot say how deeply in debt the wizarding public is to you and your circle of friends.”

“We‘re called the marauders.” Harry corrected absent-mindedly. “Where are they?”

“They are all in St Mungos, except for young Draco who is back at his home.”

“Why isn‘t he at St Mungos?”

“There was nothing more they could do for him.” Harry noted the ominous note in Shacklebolts voice. Unfortunate possibilities.

“Tell me everything.”
*


Harry pushed open the wide front door of Malfoy mansion and stepped into the marble foyer. It was totally silent inside these walls but Harry’s eye found movement. He made for it, his makeshift staff tapping on the stone floor. The halls and rooms that had held friends all summer now felt cold and desolate.

Under a distant doorway Harry saw light and made for it, though his eye was already telling him it wasn’t who he was looking for. Harry pushed the door open carefully and slipped inside. Snape was stood before an array of cauldrons and beakers, all bubbling away and leaking fumes. Natalie Zhao was there also, leafing swiftly through a thick volume.

“I’m surprised.” Harry addressed Snape. “Shacklebolt told you were trying to get a head around all this.”

“I think best when I am brewing.” Snape didn’t look up from his work but Harry could see the thin lines of tension around his eyes. If Snape was giving away how stressed he was then… Harry stepped up to the table and glanced over the ingredients. They told him nothing, but he could guess the potion anyway.

“Wolfsbane?”

“Yes.” The lines grew a micron sharper.

“So you’ve heard.”

“Yes.”

“I was trying to find him.”

“He is asleep. You should allow him to remain so as he will likely get little rest tomorrow night. There is no time to give him a full coarse of Wolfsbane potion. What I am brewing now will merely dull the jagged edge of his inevitable insanity. “

“How could this happen?” Harry hung his head. “Shouldn’t have let them do it.”

“It is my understanding that they formed this army in your absence.” Snape glanced up at him before dropping his gaze back down to his work. “I believe every member knew the risks they were taking.”

“They didn’t know the risks.” Harry almost spat. “Death’s just a word till you’ve been there.”

“Then the majority of this planet is similarly ignorant.”

“How could this happen?” Harry repeated. “Voldemort should be as weak as a newborn kitten, you told me that.”

“Clearly I was mistaken.” A snap of acid entered the Professor’s voice. “The dark lord seems to have capabilities none of us knew.”

“Werewolves I get. I mean I don’t, they all left him when I killed Greyback. But… well maybe they have a new leader, or something. The zombies too, I at least understand what they are. But those other guys” Harry shook his head. “They were never death eaters. The spells they used, their whole style of fighting. I’ve never seen it before. Do we know who the hell they were?”

“Lei Gou.” Those were the first words Natalie Zhao had spoken since Harry had entered the room, but she filled them with menace.

“Lie Gou.” Harry’s brow furrowed. “That’s Chinese isn’t it?”

“It is.” Zhao nodded.

“Well who the hell are they?”

“Mercenaries.” Snape hissed the word, like it was a curse.

“More than mercenaries.” Natalie corrected. “The Lie Gou are centuries old, they take initiates from all over eastern Asia. They are incredibly skilled. They are also feared, and rightly so. The hiring a company of them has been the tipping point in more than one war. They are ruthless, entirely so.”

“How would Voldemort contact Chinese mercenaries?” Harry scratched his head.

“They have factor houses in many cities.” Zhao said with irritating calm. “That is not the most pertinent question.”

“So what is?” Harry asked irritably.

“How did he pay for it?”

“The Lie Gou are expensive.” Snape explained, his eyes peering down into a pool of simmering liquid. “There is a famous tale about two twin brothers, the heirs to a vast estate in Russia, centuries ago. When their father died they both took half the wealth and tried to claim the other half also. There was a private war between their armsmen until one brother hired the Lie Gou, wasting a large part of his inheritance. That side had almost won when his brother offered the Lie Gou more money to switch sides and the battle raged the other way. This went on until both brothers were penniless, the estate reduced to a wasteland, and the Lie Gou growing fat on the suffering.”

“That is just a legend.” Zhao rolled her eyes. “But it does demonstrates both the vast funds needed to hire the Lie Gou and their fickleness with regards to who’s side they fight on. They will also only accept real riches, nothing conjured or created by magic. Gold or jewels, and many of them. Only a rich idiot would employ them.”

“Unless they had the funds to assure that they could match any offer their enemy made.” Snape said irritably.

“Which we know the dark lord cannot have access to.” Zhao snapped her book closed angrily.

“You have no idea what the dark lord has access to-“

“And you do because-“

“Hey!” Harry slammed his staff against the floor. Two sets of eyes flashed to him. “Have a lovers spat on your own time. Clearly Voldemort does have the resources or I wouldn’t have spent this pleasant summer evening being shot at, my gut wouldn’t feel like it had a spear driven through it and a lot of innocent people wouldn’t be DEAD! Now I have the Potter family gold and we can probably count on the Malfoy riches as well. Is it possible we can just buy these people off?”

“You want to give them money?” Zhao looked aghast.

“If it’ll stop them working for Voldemort. Um… Yes.” Harry stuck his hand on his hip. “Would that work?”

“It is possible.” Snape responded guardedly. “I am not entirely sure it is wise.”

“Yes, I got the point of your instructional fable.” Harry snorted. “How can we contact the Lei Gou?”

“I assume through their factor house.” Snape added a pinch of red powder to a cauldron without looking. “Though how we find that is another matter.”

“I may be able to find it…” Harry bit his lip. It was a long shot but he knew where he could find information. “Last year I had some contact with…. disreputable types. Maybe one of them‘ll know where we can get in contact with the Lie Gou.”

“Harry,” Snape had rounded the table and was standing in front of him. “You must swear to me that you will not go to deal with the Lie Gou alone.”

“I won’t. I’ll bring backup.”

“I meant without me.” Snape added harshly. “You must tell me if you find their factor house.”

“Tell me again how you’re better than Dumbledore?” Harry stepped back from the potions master.

“Do not say things you do not mean.” Snape said coldly. “We both well know the difference between myself and Albus Dumbledore.”

There was a moment of silence. Inside his own head, Harry gulped. Since he had found out the truth and come to peace with it he hadn’t though about his true origins much. It was very easy to just think of himself as Harry Potter. Very easy to slip back into that glove. Being reminded of it was jarring, like being hit with the truth all over again. Harry shook it off. It was better to remember, not that he would ever really forget.

“I know.” Harry tried to make his voice calm. “This has been a very trying day.”

“For everyone.”

“Your potion’s boiling over.”

“It’s supposed to.” Snape turned and stepped back behind the table. Harry took a deep breath and tried to think of anything else to add, but his tired mind kept coming up blank. Thankfully Snape had something else to ask,

“Other witnesses said they saw the dead men fire spells?” Snape asked. His voice said the question was almost trivial, but Harry saw Zhao perk up at the words.

“They weren’t dead.” Harry’s mouth was dry with the memory.

“Explain.”

“Their hearts were beating and they were breathing air. They may have been rotten but they were at least partially alive. And yes, they were casting spells.”

“You’re sure Harry.” Natalie leant forward. “You’re sure it wasn’t the Lie Gou. Maybe in amongst the dead men?”

“In amongst means nothing to me.” Harry tapped his eye. “The dead men cast spells. Well… one spell really. The killing curse over and over, but I saw one levitate a chair out of his way so they are capable of casting other spells.”

“That is not possible.” Zhao shook her head. “Neither zombies nor inferi can perform magic. And neither have heartbeats. It’s… impossible. Magic can only be performed by living creatures, that has been proven over and over again, you must have life. What you describe is impossible.”

“Clearly it isn’t.” The edge of irritability was back in Snape’s voice. “Clearly the dark lord has many capabilities we know not of. The question is why have we not seen them before?”

“The question is how do we stop them?” Harry broke in.

“I have already sent order members to check the graves of known death eaters. They have orders to exhume and burn any bodies they find still resident.” Harry nodded, he had been about to suggest that. Snape continued, “Other than that… we must find the dark lord.”

“Call him Voldemort.”

“No.” Snape snapped.

“You’re still scared of him.”

“Some fear is healthy.” Snape tapped a long silver spoon with his wand and set it to circle slowly in his bubbling pot. “Especially now that we know he has capabilities far greater than we ever imagined. What I cannot understand is how he has recovered so swiftly from his injuries.”

“Maybe he hasn’t.” Harry shrugged. “He can direct troops and buy mercenaries even if he’s just a floaty head, or a disembodied voice.”

“He wouldn’t negotiate with the Lie Gou from a position of weakness.” Snape shook his head. “And whatever he has done to those walking corpses it is clearly powerful magic. No… I fear we must assume he has his old strength back. The parallels between the living corpses reanimated and the dark lord’s remarkable recovery are to obvious to ignore.”

“You think it’s the same thing?”

“I think we can safely assume the two are linked.”

“Brilliant.” Harry threw his hands up in the air. “So we have three mysteries. How did Voldemort raise himself and his army from death? How did he get the gold to hire the Lie Gou? And why did the werewolves pop back up after deserting him over a year ago?”

“Three mysteries.” Natalie Zhao murmured quietly. “Or maybe they’re the same mystery. We don’t know.”

“We don’t know anything.” Harry grimaced. “We don‘t have a bare shred of info and we could be attacked again at any turn.”

“Then perhaps you should go talk to your contacts.” Snape whispered a word and the fire beneath his cauldron snapped out. “But remember what you promised.”

“I will.” Harry pointed at the bubbling potion. “Is that finished?”

“It is, but-”

“I‘ll take it down to him.” Harry grabbed a goblet and dipped it into the broth.

“Should you not let him sleep?”

“He‘s awake.” Harry tapped his eye and turned to leave.

“Harry,” Snape’s voice stopped him before he could leave. “You know that there may be a very good reason why the dark lord has returned.”

“Is there?” Harry looked back over his shoulder.

“You know the prophecy. There is only supposed to be one person capable of killing him. It is possible that, now that person is dead, the dark lord cannot die.” Snape was eyeing Harry levelly. His face gave away nothing.

“I am well aware of that.” Harry replied dryly. “I’ll settle for dismemberment. I’m not giving up.”

“Good.” Snape nodded faintly. “Neither will I.”

Harry turned around and carefully carried the steaming potion from the room. He padded down the corridor, the fumes twisting into spirals in the air. It was hard to keep the goblet steady while hobbling along with his staff. Damn stupid injury. Broken invalid that he was he was he was next to useless. Couldn’t even carry a bloody cup. Harry gritted his teeth and tried to push those thoughts away from him. They resisted, hovering in his hindbrain, mercilessly haunting him. Harry reached Draco’s room and pushed the door open. He didn’t bother to knock, Draco almost certainly wouldn’t have answered and he could already see what Draco was doing within.

As Harry stepped in Draco didn’t look up from what he was doing. Harry placed the goblet lightly on a table and stood, unspeaking. Draco still said nothing, but simply kept running his wand along long metal poles. Welding them together and conjuring more.

Building a cage.

Harry still said nothing, but instead sat on the edge of a chest of drawers and crossed his arms. Draco would speak eventually, he had to, it wasn’t in him to not give his thoughts voice.

“Don‘t try to stop me.” Draco said over his shoulder. “I need a cage.”

“I know that.” Harry nodded, speaking quietly. “But we could build it in another room, no call to ruin the room you‘ll have to sleep in the other twenty-seven days of the month.”

“I‘m building it here.” Draco didn’t give reasons. Harry supposed he didn’t need to. “I need you to make it unbreakable, can you do that?”

“I can. If you want.” Harry waited until his friend nodded, before stepping forward and raising his wand. “This won‘t take long. You want to drink the wolfsbane potion?”

Draco didn’t answer, he just stepped over the goblet and drained it. A flicker twisted his features for a moment before they settled back into a blank, impassive state. Harry flickered some charms over the iron bars of the cage. It wasn’t very large, not considering that a werewolf would be in there. Draco would be fairly cramped. Harry added some cushioning charms to the thick bars.

“Draco, this isn‘t the end.” Harry felt like he needed to say something.

“Isn‘t it?” Draco said bitterly. “Harry I‘m cursed. Permanently damned to be a monster. I‘ll lose my mind each full moon, I‘ll be a dark creature. I‘ll have become the things we kill.”

“The wolfsbane can help you.”

“Liar!” Draco hissed. “There‘s nothing that can help me. There‘s no cure. There‘s no hope. Just go Harry. Just leave me. There is nothing you can do for me… unless… unless you were prepared to-”

“Stop. Talking.” Harry bit the words out.

“I tried to do it myself.”

“Stop.”

“The killing curse doesn‘t work if you cast it on yourself.”

“Stop talking now.”

“Please…” Draco’s eyes were wide and his voice shook. “Please do it or leave me to.”

“Don‘t say this. Don‘t do this.” Harry felt his grip on his tall staff tighten. “Just shut the hell up.”

“Fine.” Draco drew his wand. “Just leave then Harry. I‘ll do it myself.” He raised his wand but Harry was faster, slamming his staff up into Draco’s hand and sending the wand spinning away. Harry darted forward and grabbed Draco by the front of his robes.

“I have had enough of that from you.” Harry hissed, his rose up close to the pale face of his friend. “I will take your wand away if I hear you talk such undisguised cowardice as that again. You. Can. Still. Live.”

“As a monster. As something I despise.”

“If there is one thing I‘ve learned from all this crap I‘ve been through is that life is precious and death is pointless.” Harry released Draco from his grip.

“You‘ve said nothing that changes anything.” Draco turned away from him, bowing his head. “My life is pointless now. Entirely so. I would rather be dead, and unless you intend to stay with me every day you cannot stop me.”

“I would stay with you every day, I really would. But I‘ve got things to do so… ” Harry moved like a snake, whipping Draco’s legs out from under him and sliding him across the floor. He flicked the heavy door of the cage open then slammed it closed again as Draco tumbled through. With a second flick Harry summoned Draco’s wand into his hand, then the knife that was in a Draco’s pocket and a letter opener from a drawer. His eye tried to seek out anything else that could be used to cut or kill. After a moment’s thought he summoned Draco’s potions kit out of his school trunk, who knew what poisons there were in there. Draco had lifted himself up to his knees and was staring at him, eyes full of hatred. Harry stepped right up to the cage.

“You are not dying today. You will not kill yourself. I will not let you.” Harry locked the cage door with several charms he knew no wandless wizard could break through. “Your life is not over. Maybe nothing I can say can make you realize that right now, but you‘re still going to live. Whether you like it or not.”

“But…”

“I have to go. People to see.” Harry turned towards the door, on the way he grabbed a book and tossed it to Draco. “Here, something to read. You‘ll need to study for the year at Hogwarts that you will be attending.”

Harry stepped out the door and pressed it shut, leaning back against the wood. Everything was going to hell, and he had no idea how to fix any of it. Not the slightest idea. Where was he even going? He had a few ideas but… nothing concrete.

He could go to St Mungos perhaps… check on the other marauders. But he wasn’t sure if he could take any more misery. There was nothing he could do for them anyway. But then there was nothing he could do out here either.

“I‘m beginning to think stabbing that bastard in the neck was a fantastic waste of time.” Harry muttered into the empty air.

The job isn’t done yet.

Harry shuddered at the dread certainly in his mind.

More work to do.

Harry pushed himself forwards, leaning like an old man on his splinter-staff. Still more work to do. There was just one place he could find the information he needed.

He needed to visit The Tarot.

But there was somewhere else he had to go first…
*


Ginny curled her legs up under her. The chairs in the St Mungo’s rooms were familiar now, but it was still impossible to get comfortable in them. They even seemed… empty. Only four chairs occupied, herself, Hermione, Lucy and Vanessa. The only four still on their feet at the end of the battle. Everyone else was in a bed, most still unconscious. Things seemed grim

Ginny had tried to keep their spirits up, pointed out that the four survivors were all girls and how they were never going to let the boys live it down. But there was no laughter here and Ginny had given up. She looked across the beds. Cho with her burns, Split paralyzed, Anna slammed against a wall like a doll by one of the dead men. They were lucky to be alive, Ginny told herself, lucky to be alive.

Ginny shook her head. It was hard to think of this as any sort of luck.

She turned towards the other set of beds, stepping up to stand next to them. No… hard to see it as any kind of luck. She looked down at her parents. Hard to see it as any sort of luck. She put her hand carefully on her mother’s bandaged arm. The healers said it would be weeks before they were even awake. Not luck at all.

Ginny shuddered and turned back towards the marauder beds. Vanessa was awake again and clinging to the side of Elizabeth’s bed like it was a life-line. The little girl was badly shaken, not surprising really. Ginny thought of her as a little girl despite the fact that they were in the same year. Poor girl had seen her evil father chopped up in front of her. At least the first time he had died she hadn’t been there to watch.

Ginny shook herself. Draco’s father had died in front of him and he had recovered alright, but maybe that was because it was Draco that had killed him.

Draco…

Ginny glanced towards the door. She wanted to go to him, comfort him. But her parents were here, they needed her. The marauders were here and they needed her too.

Except that there was nothing she could do here.

There was nothing she could do there either.

Ginny gritted her teeth and tried to stop herself from screaming. The one thing she hated was to feel useless.
*


Harry was getting odd looks from passers by. He ignored them. Not just because that was his way but because Harlesden wasn’t a place you stared at people in. It wasn’t a terrible place, Harry knew far worse parts of London for a clearly injured man to walk through. But it was bad enough to make him check alleys with his eye before walking past them, and enough for him to keep his wand tucked in his sleeve in easy reach.

He checked the scrap of paper in his hand and headed quickly towards a tall, brown, concrete block of flats. Harry checked the paper again and reflected on the brilliance of the invention of the elevator. A group of kids in hooded jumpers stared at him as he stomped past, trying to look threatening. Harry sniffed, barely stopping himself from laughing. Thought they were tough did they?

Harry stepped into the cold entrance hall and pressed the call button for the elevator. As it slowly descended towards Harry he spent a quiet moment reading the graffiti. It reminded him of when he was young.

Harry rode the elevator up, his nose wrinkling up at the very noticeable urine smell and stepped out on the top floor. It wasn‘t even a corridor, just a long concrete balcony. In winter it must have been freezing. He didn’t need to check the paper again, he had it down by now. Apartment 12. Harry knocked loudly and waited. He heard footsteps on the other side and focused his eye through the wood. He was gasping in surprise long before the door opened.

“Tonks?” Harry’s eyebrows raised. “Didn’t expect to see you here?”

“Harry? Wh… What are you doing here?”

“What are you doing here?” Harry cocked his head to one side. “Shouldn’t you be cleaning up diagon alley?”

“I was injured. Kingsley sent me home.”

“But you didn’t go home.” Harry said pointedly. “You went here.”

“How do you even know where here is?”

“Werewolf registration act.” Harry held out the piece of paper for her to see. “Any concerned citizen can find out where the monsters live.” Draco hovered into Harry’s mind and his stomach lurched a little. Not monsters then… not all of them. Most of them though.

“You came to see Lupin.” Tonks put her hand to her mouth in shock.

“Yes. Can you get him? Please.”

“I… I don‘t know. He‘s only transformed back an hour ago. I came to bring him some breakfast and help him recover. He still hasn‘t got out of bed though.”

Which means you had a key. Harry didn’t say it. Instead he harshly said,

“Draco was bitten. Didn‘t you know?”

“Draco. Oh god no…”

“Yes. He was bitten.” Harry stepped forwards angrily, forcing Tonks back into the apartment. He‘ll have to go on a bloody list and take that putrid poison they call a potion and he‘s in his room at the manor right now in a freekin cage he built himself!” Harry bit his words off before he told her what Draco had wanted him to do. Later, when he was better, Draco wouldn’t want people to know.

“And you want Remus to… what? Talk to him?”

“Just get the bloody wolfman Tonks. Get him now. Oh wait…” Harry glanced over towards the faded bedroom door. “Never mind.”

“It‘s alright Tonks.” A grating moan sounded and the door was pushed open slowly. “I’m awake.”

“Are you sure he was a wolf?” Harry stepped out from behind the pink haired girl. “He looks like he’s hung-over.”

“Harry,” Tonks held her hand, her eyes narrowing angrily. Harry was forced to remind himself that the girl with the heart shaped face was an auror of the Moody school.

“Professor Lupin…” Harry addressed the grey-faced man. “Draco was-“

“I heard.” Lupin said flatly. “There is nothing you can do. There is nothing I can do.”

“I’m not after a cure, I’m not that stupid.” Harry growled back. “I need you to talk to him. You need to show him he still has something to live for.”

“Look at me Potter.” Lupin glanced down at his shivering, robed body. Harry, for the first time, noticed multiple old fractures in his bones. Almost every bone in him bore some mark of his lifelong curse. Harry gritted his teeth. Maybe he should have just done what Draco asked… No! Those kind of dark thoughts led to things like gouged-out eyes.

“Look just talk to him.” Harry pleaded. “I have work to do, I need to go to some dark places today and meet strange people with little sense of humour and less personal hygiene. I know you hate me. I even know why… a little. I don’t understand but… whatever. Long story short you despise me. But whatever you think about me don’t take it out on my friends. Come on… help him.”

“There is nothing I can do.”

“Tell him it isn’t as bad as it seems.”

“It is as bad as it seems.”

“Then lie to him.” Harry snarled. His fingers gripped his staff so hard the wood splintered. Lupin stepped back, his eyes wide with shock. “Lie to him if you have to. Tell him turning into a wolf isn’t so bad. Tell him it’s a barrel of laughs. Tell him it’s like a sneeze only better. Tell him anything!” Harry stepped forward, pointing his staff like a weapon. “Tell him whatever the hell you would have wanted to hear. I don’t care! All I know is that while you lie here with a booty call young enough to be your daughter my friend, my friend who has saved my life on numerous occasions, is thinking his life is over and I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO SAY TO HIM! I don’t know! I can’t think… I can’t help him! He’s saved my life and I don’t know how to help him!” Harry turned his side to Lupin so he could only see his fake eye. Couldn’t see that he was crying.

“I do not know how to help him either.” Lupin half turned back towards his bedroom. “He will have to get through this himself.”

“You’re a coward. You always did like to hide.” Harry let the words flow from his lips like silk over ice. The effect on Lupin was electric. The werewolf spun back to face Harry, his eyes wide with shock.

“How… how…”

“Just something I remembered.” Harry let the words sink in. He didn’t really remember much. Dumbledore had taken his own memories of James Potter and thrown them into Harry’s mind. Now that he knew that he could almost tell where they were. It was like there was a giant black tar pit over one part of his mind. Occasionally things would bubble to the surface but it was impossible to go swimming. Lupin swallowed harshly before opening his mouth and levelly saying,

“Get out of my home Potter. Get out.”

“You going to talk to Draco?” Harry didn’t move. “Or are you going to hide in your shack?”

“I will talk to the boy.” Lupin gritted his teeth. “Because he is Tonks’ cousin. Not because of you. I will-“

“So not interested in your reasons.” Harry snorted and turned back towards the door. Harry pulled the door shut on two angered faces and dropped backwards off the balcony. He was halfway down before he remembered he no longer had a drop-gem embedded in his chest.

“Bardus accido!” Harry had barely whipped his wand out in time and the spell didn’t have time to catch properly. Harry crumpled and rolled as he his the floor. His leg screamed with pain. Harry grabbed his staff and pushed himself to his fee-

CRACK!

Harry was thrown back to the floor as his makeshift staff finally gave out and splintered into giant shards.

“Bugger.” Harry grimaced and looked around. There were no convenient pieces of wood he could work with. No twigs or splinters. Wait… there was a tree over there by the road. Harry hopped to his feet and limped painfully in that direction. He made it to the tree and picked a knobbly twig off the floor. Another engorgement charm gave him a rude walking stick. Harry leant on it gratefully and breathed heavily. It just made everything more difficult. Harry shook his head, where he was going next he couldn’t afford to show too much weakness. Harry brushed his sweat filled hair out of his eyes. It had been a long day. The parts that hadn‘t been excruciatingly painful had been full of aggravation…. the next person who pissed him off would-

“Give me your wallet!”

Harry didn’t even think. His staff flashed up and slammed the mugger in the chin. Harry could have sworn he saw teeth shatter and fly away. The moaning would-be thief crumpled to the floor before scrambling up and fleeing, white trainers flashing and scraping on the pavement.

“I don‘t carry a wallet.” Harry turned and limped off down the street.
*


Ginny slowly pushed the door open. In the middle of the room was a cage of blackened metal. The lights were dimmed to the point of total darkness but Ginny could still see the pale pump in the middle of the cage, a mountain of pale hair barely fitting in between the bars. It rose and fell slowly with the sound of breathing.

The floorboards under the cage were torn and splintered, and covered in blood. The wolf must have known it couldn’t get out between the bars, but it had tried anyway. Hair and slobber stained the floor with a pale carpet. The whole room smelt like the den of an animal. How could so much have happened? How could this have happened?

Ginny shivered. No one was watching now, she could break down. Everyone was hurt, diagon alley was ruined. Was it her fault? She could have trained them harder. Should have pushed them to keep training even after Voldemort’s apparent death… nothing should have stopped them keeping in practice. People were dead because of that. People were dead because of her. And that made her insides knot up like rope. Was it bothering Harry? Probably not… he was probably out beating someone up for information or fighting a dragon or something. Nothing rattled him.

Ginny sat down in a heavy armchair and pulled a throw over herself. It smelled like wet dog. The whole room did. Ginny pulled the heavy cloth up and bunched it in front of her. For a moment she wondered where her childhood teddy bear was. Probably in a cupboard somewhere.

Ginny pulled her legs up onto the chair and hugged them to her chest.