Chapter 12 - Blood on the Floor

Bathsheda Babbling was reading a rather disturbing scroll from Dumbledore, offering her the position as Head of Hufflepuff - without mentioning why her friend Pomona was no longer filling that particular position. Pomona had made it quite clear she had no interest in taking over from Minerva as Deputy, and also that she had no idea why Min had so suddenly left Hogwarts in the first place. What in the name of Merlin was going on at the castle?

While quietly pondering this conundrum, another scroll arrived by owl. That this owl was from Pomona should have cleared most of this mystery up, but instead this new information just added to the confusion. Here was another job offer, from Headmistress Sprout no less - and the pay was almost the same as the Head of House position Dumbledore was offering

The scroll apologised for the lack of information, including the name of the school Pomona was apparently Headmistress of. Presenting this scroll in Gringotts though would see the goblins supplying a portkey - allowing Bathsheda to visit Pomona and have all her questions answered. Since she had many, many questions, one of the youngest yet top rated Ancient Runes Professors in all of Europe reckoned she might be talking with Pomona for a while.

The ping of the floo alerted Bathsheda there was an incoming call. Seeing it was from Septima, she accepted and her confusion just reached new heights.

"Bathsheda, I've been offered Filius' Head of House - then a scroll arrived from Pomona offering me a position at a school she's apparently now headmistress of. What the hell is going on?"

"I don't know, but I think we'll get far more information by going to Gringotts for this portkey to Pomona than Albus is likely to tell us. If Pomona, Filius and Minerva have all left Hogwarts, then I think we need to treat Pomona's offer seriously - and at the very least find out what's going on."

Both quickly made plans to meet in Diagon Alley later today. They needed to reach a decision on this matter as quickly as possible. Albus' note was phrased in such a way that he was already pressing them to make a commitment to Hogwarts.

-oOoOo-

Lucius was livid, his anger growing with every minute that passed - and also every stupid question Edmund asked.

"How could a muggle house possibly have wards?"

This was at least the fifth time Edmund had asked this very same question, and Lucius had learned from those previous times that not giving an answer was simply providing an excuse for Edmund to speculate on answers of his own. Since those speculations got wilder and weirder the longer they remained outside the home of the mudblood, Lucius did not wish to offer his partner on this venture another such invitation. It was also another opportunity for Lucius to try and renegotiate their current deal, in his favour of course.

"I don't know, but it's costing me a family heirloom. The Malfoy wardstones will create a hole in the wards, but also set off any alarms attached to those wards. With these people being muggles, it's who those alarms might bring to the house that we need to worry about. We won't have time to collect the stones after grabbing the mudblood bitch. Have you any idea how much gold it will take to buy a replacement set?"

An old hand at dealing with Lucius' greed, Edmund simply fobbed him off. "With the gold we're going to make from this, you could buy dozens of sets..."

All talking ceased as a vehicle turned into the Grangers' driveway. With tinted windows, neither Death Eater got a good look at the occupants. The garage door opening automatically saw the vehicle drive straight into that opening - again denying them any information on who would be in the house.

With time running out though, they'd wasted hours standing here waiting on some sign of life coming from the house, both Lucius and Edmund knew they had to take action soon.

"We really are just going to have to blast the doors in and take care of what we find behind them."

Edmund was uneasy with that. "What if Potter is already in the house? That would be two wands against us."

Using his best sneer, Lucius let his partner know what he thought about his unfounded fears. "Two wands, in the hands of a witch and wizard barely into their teens. If Potter is here, that would save us a whole lot of trouble, and time we don't really have. Are you with me?"

Nodding, Edmund accompanied Lucius to the edge of the wards. "We'll need to remove these muggle-repelling and notice-me-not charms from each other before we blow the doors in, otherwise the muggles won't be able to see or hear us. Kinda difficult for them to answer our questions if they can't see or hear us."

Not having thought of that, Lucius agreed as he prepared to activate the stones.

-oOoOo-

Hermione was with Harry, trying to make sure everything would be organised for tonight's barbecue, when a clearly upset Dobby popped beside them. The little elf didn't stand on ceremony but got right to the point.

"The Granger house wards are being attacked. Dobby thinks bad wizards have come."

Harry was really just thinking out loud. "Remus is at the Italian Ministry and Sirius just left to pick up Bill in Naples..."

"Harry, we have to go. I'm ready for this, we can handle it." Hermione didn't need their bond to know Harry didn't think they were anywhere near ready to handle something like this. He also recognised though that they simply had to respond.

"Dobby, can you take us there?" The little elf nodded enthusiastically as both drew their wands.

-oOoOo-

Dan had long ago mastered the art of nodding in all the right places as his wife droned on about a particularly troublesome patient she had seen this afternoon. Both were standing in the kitchen, jointly preparing tonight's meal.

They knew each other's moves so well now, you would probably need to bring in a choreographer to make their dinner routine any slicker. Like everything they did, the Grangers even had mealtimes organised so they ran like well-oiled machines.

The blasts that destroyed their front door also instantly catapulted their nice stable organised little world into utter chaos. Before they even had a chance to register what was happening, two masked men in robes were upon them. Any doubts over their identity or intentions was soon laid to rest. A curse froze Dan as stiff as a board, he lurched back against the fridge and was trapped there like a rusty tin man as the Death Eater now trained his wand on a terrified Emma.

"Check the rest of the house while I question the woman, and be quick about it." As Edmund raced out the kitchen, Lucius then gave his undivided attention to the terrified woman in front of him. "We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. Where is your daughter?"

Emma barely managed to mumble 'I don't know' when unbelievable pain seemed to attack every part of her body at the same time. She screamed loud and hard while thrashing around on the floor she'd dropped to but nothing alleviated the pain.

Lucius stopped administering the curse after thirty seconds or so, any longer and he knew there would be no answers coming from this bitch. He then spoke with Dan in an almost conversational tone, like they were standing next to one another at the bar in their local pub.

"Normally we would take our time and have some fun with the woman, but you having wards on your home denied us that pleasure. Then again, your wife's a muggle - Edmund's not too choosy but I am. Your daughter on the other hand, I like nothing better than teaching mudblood's their place in our society. Now, will you tell me where the little bitch is - giving me Potter's location might just see us leave right now - or do I need to curse your wife again?"

Lucius watched as the muggle's eyes widened in fear - he enjoyed this form of mental torture almost as much as the magical and physical forms. It was only then Lucius realised the muggle's eyes weren't wide with fear, and his gaze was locked somewhere over Lucius' left shoulder.

"I hear you are looking for me?"

Lucius spun around and fired off the cruciatus curse as quickly as he was able, only to see it unbelievably hit a shield Potter had cast. While all three unforgivables were supposed to pass through any and all magical shields, whatever Potter had cast not only stopped the curse getting through - it appeared to be absorbing it as well. To make matters worse, Lucius found himself unable to break the spell and was already feeling the strain on his magic. This should not be possible. He screamed 'Potter' at the top of his lungs, hoping Edmund would appear and rescue him from whatever this little bastard had cast.

Harry had more important things on his mind, his link with Hermione had practically shut down. He had known Hermione wasn't ready to face this, her actions - or rather inactions - here were proof. She was standing there as stiff as Dan, staring at her still convulsing mother while Harry drained Malfoy of his magic. "Hermione, you need to move..."

Move she did. Hermione stumbled like a zombie toward her mother before dropping to her knees beside Emma, and also dropping her wand in the process. She wasn't kneeling there for long however before being roughly dragged to her feet.

Parkinson thought he had it made, his own daughter had confirmed Potter would do anything for his mudblood. Well he now had that mudblood by the throat, and his wand pointed at her head. "Drop the wand, Potter, or your little girlfriend here will get her face blown off. Your choice, but make it quick."

Harry felt Hermione join him once more in their bond. The terror and grief of the scene they'd arrived to had seen that brilliant mind practically shutting down. Hermione was back though, and she was very, very angry.

He tried to talk her out of what she intended to do but there was no stopping a now determined Hermione. The Death Eater had one arm around her throat while his other held a wand steadily pointed at Hermione's head. She was rather ashamed that her wand was lying beside her still twitching mother, but Hermione had another method of casting a spell. Slipping her left hand behind her back, and between their bodies, Hermione cast the most powerful spell she had ever attempted with her ring.

Watching the impossible position Harry had just been placed in saw Dan fighting against the curse that held him even more ferociously. If Harry dropped his wand, Dan was positive they would all die today - and not in a pleasant manner. He had been preparing a courgette when the attack happened and, even frozen, Dan still had the little paring knife in his hand. Dan didn't know that Harry draining the magic from Malfoy was affecting the strength of the curse he was being held under, and providing him with the opportunity to fight back against the spell that was restraining him.

With a roar Dan was free, and that knife was imbedded in the neck of the bastard who dared to lay hands on his daughter. As this coincided with Hermione casting a powerful cutting curse at Parkinson's abdomen, she was instantly free of the now dying Death Eater's grip.

Harry had told Amelia that nothing could penetrate the shield that robbed first Macnair and now Malfoy of their magic, it turned out that was not quite true. A more factual way to describe the phenomenon might be that nothing magical could penetrate the shield. An absolutely enraged Dan Granger with a bloody knife in his hand didn't seem to have any trouble repeatedly plunging said knife into a now screaming Malfoy.

"You'll never lay a finger on my family, never, never, never." As every 'never' was accompanied by Dan hammering that very sharp knife into Malfoy, the blond's screams were perhaps understandable. Those screams stopped when a frenzied Dan thrust that knife into Lucius' throat and the Death Eater dropped to the floor. Dan couldn't hold on to the blood-coated knife handle and his weapon slipped from his hand.

Dan seemed ready to kneel down and try to finish the job properly when Harry grabbed him by the shoulders, shaking and shouting at the deranged man to garner his attention. "We need to get the fuck out of here - right now. Dobby!"

The little elf arrived and started to wail at all the blood, the once pristine kitchen now looked like an abattoir. Harry needed him focused though. "Dobby, none of this blood is ours. I need you to get Hermione and her mother out of here, and then come back for her father and me. Can you do that, or do you need help?"

Once Hermione was certain that neither Death Eater was any longer a threat, she had instantly reverted to kneeling while holding her mother's head in her lap - sobbing uncontrollably while doing so but at least still holding her wand this time. Seeing the state of his mistress, Dobby squared his little shoulders.

"Dobby can do."

Dobby gently placed his hands on Emma and Hermione before popping them away. Seeing both his ladies taken to safety saw Dan's resolve crash, he was now crying as much as Hermione had been. Harry was practically holding the dentist up, and struggling to do so.

Harry could hardly make out what Dan was trying to say through his sobs. "You both warned us... animals... fucking animals... he wanted to... I thought you were going to put your wand down... Hermione..."

He so wanted to rant and rave at this man who had almost gotten Hermione hurt but the concern for her parents flooding their bond stopped Harry stepping down that path. Harry chose a different route.

"Mr Granger, we have two women who need us to be strong. Hermione and Emma are now safely in Italy, we'll be joining them as soon as Dobby can manage it."

That seemed to calm him down slightly, though Dan was now having a good look around their kitchen. His gaze soon locked on Edmund Parkinson's body. There was blood everywhere and the wizard's intestines now spilled all over Emma's previously pristine parquet floor. "Did I do that?"

"No sir, Hermione took him out with a cutting curse. I'm pretty sure you punctured his jugular with that knife though, certainly helped him along."

"And you had the other one under control as well. Fuck, I couldn't even do that right."

Looking at the little knife sticking out of a rapidly dying Malfoy's throat, Harry had some more words of comfort for the distraught father - a father who desperately needed to feel he had played some part in protecting his family. "You saved me having to to decide whether to leave Malfoy as a squib or kill him, thanks for that."

Dobby's return had Harry speaking earnestly to the little guy. "Dobby, if you can't manage the institute, getting us to Gringotts would be fine. We can portkey from there."

"Dobby can manage, but Dobby might need to take a little rest when we get home."

"Dobby, you take all the rest you need. Remember, you're family and need to look after yourself too."

Hearing that from Harry Potter was like drinking a pepper-up for the elf. He took each of them by the hand and popped all three of them to Italy - and pandemonium.

-oOoOo-

As bad luck would have it, two Hogwarts professors, Bill Weasley and an Italian Architect had all arrived within minutes of each other - before Dobby dropped Hermione and Emma into the middle of the crowd. The noise their bloody arrival generated had quickly attracted everyone staying at the chateau.

Harry's arrival with Dan was set to kick that pandemonium to new heights before Harry took command. He could immediately see what the problem was, and acted to reassure everyone.

"People, calm down. None of this blood belongs to us." He spotted Poppy racing into the room and provided her with the information she needed to save precious time.

"Poppy, Mrs Granger was placed under the cruciatus curse. Please check Hermione for any physical damage, a Death eater had her in a chokehold. Mr Granger could probably do with a calming draught too but is otherwise uninjured. I'm fine."

Poppy was soon levitating Emma away, with Hermione following beside her mum. Remus was leading Dan to join them while Sirius was at Harry's side.

"Twenty minutes, I was gone twenty minutes."

"Sorry Sirius, just bad timing. We simply couldn't wait. Lucius Malfoy was torturing Hermione's mother with the cruciatus when we arrived, while making her father watch. We didn't think they would all run, and you were there when we all warned her parents of the danger they might be in. I so want to scream and shout at those two for putting Hermione in danger, but then I look at them and it's impossible. I thought the wards would at least buy us enough time to get them out of there."

"Old bad master had many, many dark things hidden in his manor. Dobby wonders if he used some of them to help."

Harry knelt down and hugged the little guy. "Dobby, you were magnificent today. Thank you so much my friend, now go and rest. That must have taken a lot out of you."

With a smile, the little elf gave Harry an answer he wasn't expecting. "Dobby has a powerful master, that makes Dobby powerful too. Dobby does need a little rest though..." With that, he popped away - leaving Harry facing a stunned room. He decided just to dive right in.

"Professors, pleased to see you. I've never taken your subjects but Hermione and the Headmistress speak very highly of you both. That's a good enough recommendation for me."

Looking now at the unknown redhead male that had Ginny wrapped in his arms, Harry made what he considered was a very safe assumption. "You must be Bill Weasley? The twins and Ron can fill you in with what's been happening while I try and deal with my own family emergency here. I promise we'll sit down and talk soon."

Harry's final comment was aimed at the blonde lady standing there seemingly considering whether jumping out a window was a safe method of escaping from this madness. 'Miss Rossi, I'm delighted to see you here but sorry for the current circumstances. Perhaps this will give you some idea of why we're so desperate to move to Italy, where they don't have Death Eaters torturing and murdering innocent people. I'm sure Sirius or Remus can answer any questions you have for now. Again, I really want to talk with you as soon as we can manage it. If you'll all excuse me, I badly need to shower and change clothes before checking on my betrothed and her family."

It was a vastly relieved Harry who finally felt Hermione's presence return to his mind. It would seem getting her mother under Poppy's care had allowed his betrothed to once more focus on the world around her. He was reassuring Hermione she didn't need to apologise for her behaviour, they both had known she wasn't ready to face such a thing, when Ron interrupted their thoughts.

"Harry, you never said what happened to Malfoy?"

Looking at the splashes of blood down his clothes, Harry gave the only answer he could. "Malfoy and another Death Eater finally lived up to their name. Both are lying dead on the Granger's kitchen floor." With that, Harry left the room - a room that had suddenly become as silent as a grave.

-oOoOo-

Normally they would mentally back away when the other was in the toilet or showering but not today. Harry needed Hermione's presence as much as she needed to be there. 'I think I may have shocked our friends.'

'You heard my dad telling me what Malfoy said, I'm certain that's why he went all berserker on us.'

'Yeah, which is why I simply can't feel any remorse at Malfoy's death. We have memories that show us what he's capable of, along with first hand experiences of the bastard that totally backs those memories up. I don't know if these memories are hardening us to what we saw and did today but, to be perfectly honest, you cutting a finger would concern me more than every single Death Eater dying. If that makes me a callous git then I'm guilty as charged.'

"Well I'm guilty too, because I don't feel one bit of regret either. Those bastards deliberately broke into my house to torture, rape and murder. I will not feel sympathy for them being the ones killed instead of us. Dad said Malfoy called the other one Edmund, I can only think that would make him Pansy's father.'

Quickly searching Tom's memories had Harry reaching the same conclusion. 'That's the only Edmund I can think of too. It's trying to explain our new tough stance on Death Eaters to our friends and family that might be a problem.'

Hermione was unrepentant. 'The fact that I've still got a family is enough for me at the moment. I thought we were going to be popped in there and drag my resisting parents out, not step into the middle of a battle. I just wasn't prepared for that love, sorry I let you down.'

Harry was having none of that. 'You didn't let anyone down. I couldn't cast the control spell, we don't know if it would work on Death Eaters that may have been in other parts of your house. We all came home in one piece, Hermione, I'll settle for that.'

Harry was now out of the shower and changed, heading toward the room where Poppy had placed Hermione's parents. He hardly made it through the room door when Hermione was in his arms. Their kisses were more of the needy variety, rather than romantic. It was almost as if they were checking what they had between them had survived the ordeal.

"You should go and have a shower, a change of clothes will make you feel better too. I'll stay here until you get back, you won't miss a thing."

Glancing toward her resting parents, Hermione reluctantly agreed. Though she too would be keeping their bond wide open while she was away from here. Hermione had barely stepped out the room when Poppy approached and started scanning Harry.

"Poppy, I told you I was fine."

"This coming from a boy who would tell me he was fine if his leg was hanging off. Excuse me if I don't believe you."

After she completed her scan, Harry raised a questioning eyebrow. Trying to keep a straight face, Poppy gave her verdict. "You're fine."

Shaking his head, Harry walked over to sit between Hermione's parents. Having Hermione in his head sniggering at Poppy's joke had him smiling too. The room had been magically enlarged to serve as Poppy's infirmary, and had four single beds in it - while Poppy's own room was next door.

Having hardly sat down, Harry was rather shocked when Hermione's father started speaking to him. Dan's eyes were closed, while his voice had a rather emotionless quality to it that worried Harry at first - then he remembered the calming draught.

"You're good for her, you know. My little princess has led quite a lonely life. Only at Hogwarts has she found friends - found love."

Spotting the tears running from Dan's still closed eyes, Harry wondered what this man's reactions would be without the calming draught. It was soon evident Dan's experiences today had breached whatever structure he'd built to contain his emotions, and Harry was about to discover first hand what the problem was in the Granger household. Through their bond, Hermione was getting every word of this too.

"Emma and I were very much looking forward to the birth of our child, more and more so as the pregnancy progressed, then everything that could go wrong seemed to happen all at once. At one point I thought I was going to lose both of them, and I was helpless to do anything. Those very same feelings returned today with a vengeance."

It was now easy for Harry to understand what had brought these revelations to the surface, and the calming draught was allowing Dan to talk about things he would normally keep bottled up inside him.

"Just like today though, our little Hermione was a fighter and pulled through. Emma however was in a coma for seventeen days, the seventeen worst days of my life - until today. Even after Emma came back to us, she was very weak for a long time after that. Hermione spent most of her first year being cared for by my mother, and those two loved one another - Hermione's first word was 'Nana'."

Harry felt a wave of emotion coming from Hermione and immediately understood the story was about to take another downturn.

"My mother passed away rather suddenly when Hermione had just turned two. How do you explain to a two-year-old the person they love most in all the world is no longer there for them..." At that, Dan's eyelids shot open. "Harry, I'm sorry. That was very insensitive of me, since your own parents died when you were young too."

"It's fine, sir. My relations solved that problem by telling me my parents were a couple of drunks who died in a car crash - a crash that their drinking caused."

Dan stared in silence at the young man for a moment before deciding nothing he could say on the matter would make any difference. He closed his eyes once more and continued with his own family's story.

"Emma had been so ill, she never bonded with her baby girl. Hermione hadn't lost out though, she had her Nana. When my mother died, Emma did try but Hermione was inconsolable. So much so, she started having bouts of what we now know was accidental magic. If Emma held Hermione, things in the house would start shaking and falling from shelves. Remember, we knew nothing of magic at the time - it was bloody terrifying. If I held Hermione, Emma would then be in floods of tears because it didn't happen. I have two women in my life that I love more than my own life, yet holding one upset the other."

Harry knew Hermione was now out her shower, and the wetness on her cheeks was because of the tears she was crying. He so wanted to go to her but felt this needed to be out in the open. What was happening here could affect the rest of their lives. Hermione understood, and completely agreed with Harry. She would be there soon but staying outside the door in case her presence stopped her father speaking.

"Emma being assigned as my lab parter at Uni was life changing for both of us. I was terribly shy, she was even worse, but right from our first lab we worked incredibly well together. We slowly grew closer but it still took me a couple of months to ask her out for a coffee - without a doubt the best decision I ever made. We gradually coaxed each other out of those shyness shells we'd both grown around ourselves and were married right out of Uni, with Hermione coming along a couple of years later."

Hermione had arrived, but stayed outside the door so her father wouldn't know she was there.

"That shyness came back to haunt both of us though when our family hit problems. Crawling back into our shells was one way of stopping the hurt, we were safe in there. Emma and I were never ones for public displays of affection but soon all signs of affection between us stopped. I'm certain the affection is still there, we've both just gotten so used to hiding it. Now we have a wonderful daughter who thinks her mother hates her, and her father is a buffoon. So now you know what you're considering marrying into..." Dan was shocked into silence as his daughter made her presence known.

After hearing that, Hermione knew it was time. She silently approached her father's bed, brushed the hair from his forehead before gently kissing it. "Your jokes may have been terrible, but my dad was never a buffoon."

With the both of them in tears, Harry was getting ready to retreat and leave father and daughter to it when Hermione's head whipped around. "Harry, don't you dare leave. You're part of this family too, it's going to take all of us working together to put it back together."

"Your young man said no one was going to touch his family this time, you have no idea how delighted I am that he meant it."

"That's one thing about my Harry, he always means what he says. How are you feeling?"

"I was just going to ask you the same. That brute had you in a chokehold, then you made sure he wouldn't be doing that to anyone else. You warned us, and we didn't listen. I'm so sorry, they were everything and more you said they would be. You and Harry still came to rescue us, I'm so proud of you both."

That earned Dan another kiss on the forehead from his daughter. "That man who was torturing mum is a personal friend of the Minister, and his gold helps dictate ministerial policy. The shit will really hit the fan when he's found, in full Death Eater regalia and with an unforgivable curse the last thing he cast, dead in our house. Harry legally took away everything he owns - property, goods, gold - Malfoy lost the lot. We did the same to the richest Death Eaters in Britain, they're all now paupers. That's why we wanted to get you and mum out the country. They managed to get through the wards we had on our house, forcing us to fight."

"I've never seen anything like what he did to your mum. Will she really be ok?"

"That curse has every nerve ending in your body registering pain. Using it on someone is a one way ticket to prison. Poppy has given mum a potion to sooth those nerve endings. She's also under a dreamless sleep potion, mum will sleep through most of the healing. She will be sore when she wakes, some pain relief potion should see mum able to get up and about. Then we need to talk about what happens next, and you need to listen to our advice."

A gentle knock at the door saw Poppy coming from her own room and intercepting the couple who were standing there.

"We just wanted to see how Hermione's parents were?"

"Five minutes then, and keep things as quiet as possible."

Ron stepped in with Millie and suddenly had a tearful Hermione wrapped around him. "We were worried our friends would be staying back from us now."

Ron was smiling as Hermione then hugged Millie too. "Never going to happen, you should know better. When I told Bill it was Malfoy who gave Ginny that diary, he wanted your address so he could go and have a kick at the body. The gang's all behind you, one hundred percent. Sirius and Remus are talking with that blonde architect while Sprout deals with those other two professors. What I'm trying to say is we're good, so you can take your time and fix things here. Just having Bill around is already making Ginny feel so much better, thanks for that."

Squeezing Ron's shoulder in thanks for their support, Harry then passed on information he wanted everyone to know. "Thanks for that, mate - we've had quite the day. Malfoy was torturing Hermione's mum with the cruciatus curse, her dad was in a body bind and being made to watch. He said Parkinson would rape Emma, while Malfoy couldn't wait to get his hands on Hermione to show the mudblood her proper place. Hermione and I can't pretend we're sorry they're now dead, we're just happy the four of us got out of there alive."

Hermione was nodding in agreement. "We had arranged with Remus and Sirius that they would provide us with some training when we got here. Things have been so hectic though, there simply aren't enough hours in the day..." With a wide smile, Hermione was broadcasting to Harry how they could solve their problem.

-oOoOo-

Sirius was very impressed with this young architect, and not just on a professional level. Francesca Rossi was a stunningly beautiful woman - and Sirius hadn't seen too many of them in the last decade. Remus was taking reams of notes, things he would need to ask Harry about, when Harry walked in the door.

"Shouldn't you be with the Grangers?"

"I am, but I can spare you an hour - then I need to get back there."

A grinning Sirius caught on at once, while Remus' relief was palpable. They were dealing with sums of money here Remus could hardly imagine, let alone be comfortable spending someone else's.

Francesca was soon getting the answers she needed, and found this young wizard to be very decisive. Harry on the other hand couldn't believe they hadn't thought about the institute having a pool, something they definitely wanted. They were done well within Harry's hour, and Francesca said she had more than enough to work with. She would go and prepare an initial set of drawings, perhaps even a scale model, before returning to present that to the rest of the staff. With a set of rough drawings, they could start to order building materials while the staff worked on the fine details of the plans. If they wanted this building up and ready by September, this was the only way it could happen.

As Francesca left, Harry could now concentrate more on Hermione's meeting which wasn't going as well as his. Their bond was still there when they used Hermione's time turner, though thankfully just with the Hermione who travelled back in time with him.

Harry entered the meeting just as an enraged Professor Vector was getting ready to storm out. Seeing Harry gave the professor a new target for her ire.

"A thousand years of history and you want to piss all over it! You're not even fourteen, yet Harry Potter knows better than everyone else. You can take your job offer and stuff it. I'm staying at Hogwarts, and going straight to Albus to tell him what you're up to."

"That is your right, and the portkey Gringotts provided will take you back. I need to do one thing first. Brutus, cold you ask Poppy to join us?"

As the elf popped away, Vector tried to push past Harry. Left with no option, he cast a body bind spell on the professor. "I'm really sorry about this. If Poppy gives you a clean bill of health, you can leave the institute immediately - with a formal apology from House Potter for this treatment."

Poppy soon arrived, giving Harry and Hermione funny looks since she passed them in the infirmary coming down here. "Poppy, can you check the professor for compulsions? I suspect our old friend has been up to his usual tricks."

Running her scans, Poppy's brows were soon furrowed. "I'm finding a compulsion but this time I think it's a new trick. There's something in her pocket I don't want to touch..."

Since they were rapidly running out of time, Harry used his ring to levitate a scroll from Professor Vector's pocket. Bathsheda recognised it immediately.

"That's the job offer from Hogwarts, I've got an identical scroll sitting on my desk at home."

Pomona was livid. "Dumbledore's putting compulsions on items now. I suppose it saves him having to personally visit and cast it on you himself. Septima, we have a Gringotts curse breaker staying with us at the moment. I want to get Bill Weasley to examine this and give his opinion." As Harry released his spell, Filius led a now confused Septima into another room - away from the scroll. Minerva went in search of Bill while Harry and Hermione really had to go, their hour was up.

Thinking they had just witnessed a casual display of wandless magic, Pomona and Bathsheda were left wondering just how powerful Harry Potter was.

-oOoOo-

Draco's time was up too, the time by which he'd set himself to go looking for his father if he had't returned. His father had actually returned much earlier in a rage, checking his information again to ensure he had the right address. When his father descended into his special basement to collect something he now needed, Draco was able to quickly copy the mudblood's address.

It was now long past time Draco thought his father should have returned, Pansy had been repeatedly on the floo asking if there was any news so Draco knew his father wasn't at the Parkinsons either. Stepping outside the manor wards, Draco held his wand out to summon the Knight Bus. Reading out the address to the conductor, he was then bounced and shaken the length and breadth of Britain before arriving at his destination.

Finding the wards wasn't difficult, they wouldn't let Draco past. He walked around the perimeter of the wards until Draco discovered what his father had returned home for - wardstones. Passing through the gap, Draco cautiously approached the house. Wand now clutched in his hand, Draco made his way through the doors that had so recently been blasted off their hinges.

The house was silent and dark, and Draco didn't know how to switch the lights on. There was also a rank smell permeating the air that had Draco feeling nauseous. After coming all this way, Draco felt he was left with no other option - casting the lumos spell he began his search of the house.

It didn't take Draco long to discover the source of the disgusting smell, their fathers' dead bodies. Pansy's father appeared to have been ritually gutted, before having his throat cut. There seemed to be Parkinson blood and guts everywhere, and this easily accounted for the atrocious smell. It was his own father's body though that commanded Draco's attention.

The sticking charm that normally fixed his father's mask in place must have ended, the mask had slipped half off and allowed Draco to see the terror on his father's face. There were pools of blood from multiple wounds he'd sustained but there was no doubt what had killed his father, the hilt of a knife protruding from Lucius Malfoy's throat was pretty conclusive evidence.

That something so mundane could end his seemingly indestructible father's life was a catastrophic trauma to Draco. That trauma triggered an accidental magic release which blew out every window in the ground floor of the Grangers' home - before Draco sank to his knees on the bloody floor and cried over his loss.

That amount of magic being performed in a muggle-born's home raised an alarm with the ministry's under-age magical detectors, and saw a magical-reversal squad dispatched to investigate. Discovering wards on a muggle home, and then that those wards had been illegally breached, had them sending for auror back-up before proceeding any further. It didn't take the combined force long to find the scene of carnage which had converted a kitchen into a charnel house, a scene which would rock the Ministry to its very foundations.

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