Midnight Duel, Midday Love
Midday Love
By Draco664
Midday Love
The four professors, six aurors and one student stood arrayed under the massive opening to the world above with their wands drawn. Flooding through them was the thought that never again would the world suffer under the threat of Voldemort. Even facing a demon from another plane of existence, many of those present couldn't keep a smile from their face. As one they shouted in unison, "Expecto Patronum!"
For the second time that day, Prongs rode again. At his side ran a massive, fearsome looking badger, courtesy of Harry's godfather.
Harry first thought that Dumbledore's patronus was a just large cloud of silver mist, but it twisted and turned on itself enough that Harry recognised it for what it was. A massive swarm of bumblebees.
A large, lumbering bear ran on all fours towards the demon, as imposing as its summoner.
The potion master of Hogwarts added a glimmering ten foot adder to the charge, sliding with silent yet deadly grace towards its target.
Only four of the six present aurors managed to produce a corporeal patronus; the five magnificent creatures summoned by those from Hogwarts were joined by a bat, an owl, a huge lizard and, curiously, a platypus.
Where spells and weapons proved ineffectual, the charge of the silver brigade proved slightly more effective. Silent as they were, the Shadow Demon was caught completely off guard. Prongs again all but opened eighteen wounds on the demon's flank, the glowing points of his antlers pressing uncomfortably into the impenetrable flesh.
Sirius' badger sank its teeth into the base of the demon's left wing, clinging on with the stubbornness of its summoner. Mad-eye's lumbering bear body checked the much larger demon, but was able to tackle it to the ground.
All nine patroni attacked the howling demon with animalistic ferocity. The unnatural darkness and shadows that surrounded the Shadow Demon started slowly dissipating, and everyone present felt their hearts lift.
Until a second unearthly roar shook the cavern. The bestial features of a second Shadow Demon appeared through the portal. The head was almost as large as the portal itself, and twice the size of the free demon currently in the cavern.
Dumbledore adjusted his aim, and cast a second patronus charm at the new arrival. A second, smaller swarm of glowing silver bees sped towards the new threat, causing it to slowly retreat to the safety of its own plane of existence with a hiss of anger and disappointment.
"We need to close that portal!" shouted Wodenbane.
Sirius shook his head. "The circle of crystals has been broken." he said, pointing to the portal, where only a little over half the circle of glimmering crystals still held their shape. "That circle needs to be complete before the spell to close the portal is read."
Suddenly two aurors screamed in unison, clutching at their chests. With one swipe of the Shadow Demon's razor sharp wing it had sliced through the silver owl and bat. The pair of wizards fainted.
The demon shook one arm free of the long lizard's grip, and reached over its shoulder to grab Sirius' badger. Sirius hissed as the impossibly sharp claws dug into the silver badger before it was pulled away from the demon's shoulder and thrown across the room. The massive creature struck a pillar and collapsed at the base, slowly fading away.
Moody's bear was next. With a deep grunt of effort, the demon swung its arm and swatted the bear's silver head from its body with one massive blow. Hogwarts' current Defense professor fell to his knees, gasping in pain.
Dumbledore turned to Harry. "Harry! Do you have Virginia's portkey?"
With a shake of his head, Harry replied, "No, Voldy blew it up when I tried to banish it to her."
Wodenbane yelled in denial, struggling unsuccessfully to remain upright as the demon smashed its taloned foot down upon the center of the giant silver lizard's back. One more patronus faded away.
"Look at its head!" shouted Harry, pointing to where he had head butted the demonic creature.
Dark, viscous blood all but gushed from the wound. About the size of Harry's forehead, there was a hole in the Shadow Demon's skin and bone. Even from this distance, the bubbling and sizzling could be seen; the phoenix tears eating their way through the demon's hide and skull. The blood that fell from the wound hissed and spat where it landed on the ground.
Harry touched his scar, still slightly tingling. He was sure he had cracked his skull on the demon's rock hard head, but the tears he spilt on himself had quite obviously healed him quickly.
The tears!
"Phoenix tears!" shouted Harry. "Headmaster! Call for Fawkes!"
Dumbledore shook his head, flicking the perspiration running down his face from his nose. His normally benign features were now contorted into an expression of extreme concentration; maintaining both patroni a large drain on his mental resources. "Fawkes had a burning day yesterday." he said. "He won't be able to fly for almost a week."
The shadows in the chamber lengthened and deepened as the Shadow Demon casually impaled the platypus patronus. Prongs charged at the demon's flank, once more striking it with his massive antlers. Again, the demon was knocked to the ground. This time, one of its wings sliced Snape's adder in half.
Both Snape and an auror with purple hair fainted as their patroni were forcefully dispelled. Sirius noticed the auror fall. "Tonks! No!" he shouted, his voice weak.
With an explosive breath, Dumbledore allowed one swarm of his summoned bees to disappear. With a sigh and a look of apology, he shrugged. "Maintaining two patroni is difficult." he said to Harry.
Harry nodded. "Just keep any more demons from coming through the portal." he said. "I'm going to rain tears on that thing" he added, before collapsing as Prongs was dispelled a second time by the demon's claws.
Dumbledore cursed softly, panic rising, as he saw his only source of phoenix tears fall down in front of him. The ancient wizard looked around and took a deep breath and prepared himself to cast another patronus charm.
Of those capable of summoning a patronus, only Sirius and himself still stood. The two aurors who couldn't make a corporeal patronus were working to move the fallen to the rear of the cavern. Looking up at the massive nightmare come to life, Dumbledore wasn't sure that the thought that Voldemort was gone was happy enough to summon another swarm of bees.
He completely missed Ginny Weasley.
Ginny slowly crawled away from the main group as they cast the patronus charm in unison. The nine silver forms lit up the room with their luminosity, temporarily lightening her mood. Without a wand, she was useless in this fight, but the young Weasley knew there was something she could do to help. Something that would serve as penance for her crimes.
The red haired witch moved slowly towards the naked, shivering form of Tom Marvolo Riddle. She reached his scattered crystals and torn robes. Ginny stopped momentarily, and scooped up a handful of the glowing crystals.
Slowly, she let them trickle through her fingers.
Uncertainty was replaced with determination, and Ginny quickly searched through the remains of Voldemort's robes.
A few seconds later, she found what she was looking for. Ginny quickly ran behind another pillar, out of sight of both Tom Riddle and the demon. She started removing her robes.
Once she was clad only in her underwear, Ginny spread her robes out on the ground as wide as they would go. She sat in the middle cross legged, and took a few breaths working herself up to what she was about to do. She looked around the pillar to lay eyes on the boy she loved one last time, only to see him fall.
Harry hit the ground hard, his heart seemingly on fire. Having one patronus forcefully dismissed was painful enough, but two in less than ten minutes was too much.
Though dazed, he could still feel the mood of the room. The darkness that spread from the Shadow Demon permeated him, and he felt despair once more.
The demon had torn everything away from him, but his godfather had saved him. Harry almost smiled at the memory of Sirius' first words to him after casting the summoning charm that pulled Harry from harm.
But now, he was going to die. The world would die. There was no way to close the portal to hell. There was a demon free, and though it was injured, only Dumbledore and Sirius were still standing and able to do something.
Since nine witches and wizards acting in unison had been unable to do more than delay the thing, Harry had no hope that the pair could do more than slow the thing down briefly.
Darkness again washed over him. He would never see Cho again.
Cho.
Cho.
As he thought the name of his love, Harry could almost swear that he heard her, responding in song.
Dumbledore shouted, "Expecto Patronum!" as the growling Shadow Demon moved closer. A silver mist jetted from the point of his wand, testimony to the fact that the old wizard couldn't form a very happy thought. With a snarl and a single beat of its wings, the demon blew Dumbledore's attempt away.
Looking up into the eyes of this demonic creature, Dumbledore felt his will drain away. Knowing Harry had managed to fight back after several seconds under that draining gaze was the only thing that kept him upright.
The demon shifted its gaze to Harry, still lying prone and moaning softly. Sirius jumped in front of his godson in one of the most courageous stunts Dumbledore had ever seen.
A faint musical noise sounded from far away. The beautiful noise grew louder by the second, and caused the demon to grunt in surprise and step back, looking around for the source.
With an explosion of joyful sound, an electric blue and silver phoenix flew through the hole in the ceiling, singing at the top of its voice. Despair was washed away from their souls, the shadows faded, while the demon grabbed the sides of its head and moaned in pain.
Harry gasped and arched his back, looking like he had just taken his first breath. The song of the phoenix touched all present, and like a sunrise, every witch and wizard slowly rose to their feet.
Wodenbane had a look of awe on his features, Dumbledore one of joy. Harry looked around at the others.
Mad-Eye Moody had a most unexpected look; a genuine smile. On the face of the old auror, it made him look three decades younger and far less intimidating than normal. Harry was shocked to see a tear run down Snape's cheek.
Without thought, Harry held out his arm. With a trill of joy, the phoenix landed on his wrist, flapping her wings a couple of times to get balanced.
Harry stared into the dark brown eyes of the blue phoenix. "Cho?" he asked in wonder.
Cho bobbed her avian head, and let out another trill of joy. The sound sent shivers of pure delight down Harry's spine.
A roar from the Shadow Demon shook the cavern again. Cho turned her determined gaze onto it, fluffed her feathers and let out her musical voice.
The aurors exploded into action as the Shadow Demon fell back, again covering its ears. This time, instead of attacking the demon, the Ministry personnel cast their restraining spells. Ropes wrapped around the demon's legs, felling the creature.
Dumbledore began chanting a long string of unintelligible syllables, the tip of his wand spitting a long stream of small darts of light. The darts assembled themselves into an iridescent cage around the fallen demon.
With a nod and a grin, Wodenbane raised his wand and joined in, the same repeating stream of almost-words causing more darts of light to join Dumbledore's in forming a tight cage. The Shadow Demon lashed out at the bars, causing them to splinter and break, but no sooner had the tight-knit bars been shattered than more conjured darts of light reformed the destroyed portions.
Harry turned to his girlfriend, her magnificent avian form still trilling proudly. "Tears, Cho! We need to rain tears on it!"
Ginny looked around her pillar, noting that both a blue and red phoenix were now flying around the caged monster. The pair were dive-bombing it, swooping low then soaring off again. Each time one of them swooped, a drop of liquid fell from them. If the liquid fell on the creature it screamed in agony, clutching at the sizzling wound. The tears didn't appear to lose potency after time however, and now dozens of burning holes appeared in the demon's hide.
Ginny sat back behind the pillar, breathing almost in relief. The demon she had unwittingly released onto the world looked like it was pretty much caged, and now they had a tactic that was effective.
That only left sealing the portal left. For that, they would need new crystals. Crystals that could only be taken from someone who willingly drank the potion Voldemort gave Harry.
With trembling fingers, Ginny withdrew one of the last two vials from the rack she took from Voldemort's robes.
"I'm so sorry, Harry. I'm sorry Daddy. I'm sorry Mum. But I need to do this to set things right." she whispered.
Ginny tossed back the potion in one swallow.
Snape stood at the back of the crowd, not feeling the need to get too close to the Shadow Demon now things seemed to be at hand. That idiot Black obviously still couldn't subdue his moronic Gryffindor impulses, and now stood less than two meters from the caged demon, yelling encouragement and advice to the pair of animagi.
Given it took almost a full minute for each bird to shed a single tear, having two phoenix animagi drop those tears on the caged beast hardly seemed the quickest way to take care of the beast, but it probably was the safest way.
Snape shook his head, recalling how Harry had greeted the new arrival. Obviously, the 'special project' Minerva had been working on with a student had proven effective. Another mystery solved.
The screams of the Shadow Demon as it was eaten alive filled the cavern, almost deafening in volume, another reason Snape deemed it prudent to stand well back.
Thus, he was the only one to hear another muffled scream during a short lull in the demon's cries.
Snape frowned and looked around. From his vantage point he could see most of the cavern, and none of the human occupants looked to be in any pain. Quickly and methodically, he started searching behind each pillar, finally coming across Ginny.
The witch was curled into a ball, clad only in her underwear and lying on her robes, shaking as her small frame was wracked with pain. All across her skin, tiny secretions solidified and fell away, leaving tiny glowing crystals on her spread out robes.
"What the... No!" he shouted, instantly dropping to his knees. With ungentle hands he grabbed Ginny's head and turned it to face him. He pushed his fingers between her lips and forced the girl's mouth open. On her screaming breath he could smell the telltale scent of a magical potion.
"Oh you stupid... you took Serpent's Tears, didn't you!" he shouted in her face.
Ginny nodded, her spasms slowly becoming less frequent. "For... the... portal." she gasped.
Snape growled in frustration, his teeth grinding together. Muttering something about the world needing less idiotic Gryffindors, the potion master set about gathering the precious crystals Ginny shed, ensuring that none were wasted and lost.
Dumbledore stopped chanting, feeling more fatigued now than he could ever remember. The auror chief nodded, but kept chanting, keeping the cage of light slowly healing itself. Though now, the Shadow Demon was almost subdued.
The attacks on the bars on the cage were half hearted at best, though Sirius had to duck at one point as one wing got free and tried to decapitate him. Cho had managed to fix that permanently, one of her tears landing directly at the base of the wing. That single tear had promptly eaten through the wing joint, and now the black razor-feathered wing lay limp and unusable.
Dumbledore sat down hard on the rough stone floor, unable to summon the energy or focus to transfigure a chair for himself. The portal Voldemort opened to another plane of existence drew his attention. His patronus still guarded the opening, though it was fading. Dumbledore shook his head. Even after all they had done this day, stopped Voldemort, saved Ginny and Draco, even defeated an incredibly powerful demon, they still had to find a way to close that portal. Dumbledore looked up at the caged demon. Well, they still hadn't defeated it yet, though through Harry and Cho's efforts it seemed only a matter of time.
Moody stomped over and sat next to his old friend with a grunt and sigh of exhaustion. "So, do you think we can safely leave the world in the hands of the next generation?" he said into Dumbledore's ear, the roars and whimpers of the demon having all but rendered everyone dear. The grizzled ex-auror' steel-grey hair was plastered down on his scalp, drenched in perspiration.
Dumbledore smiled, looking up at the pair of beautiful phoenixes as they continued their aerial assaults on the Shadow Demon. "I believe so, Alastor. A few years ago I might have disagreed, but young Harry has surpassed all expectations."
Moody snorted. "Yeah. He's killed every Death Eater south of the North Pole, saved every hostage taken in the last six months, and just delivered the bloody Dark Lord up for justice, incidentally stripping him of his powers. The bloody world never needs to worry about him again." The old auror sighed. "If only he'd been in Slytherin."
Dumbledore chuckled. "He once told me that the Sorting Hat wanted to place him in Slytherin."
"Yeah, he told me that too. I wonder how my old friend Snape would have handled that?"
The pair looked around for Hogwarts' resident ex-Death Eater. Moody spotted him first, standing over Ginny behind one of the pillars. "Over there." he told Dumbledore, pointing at Ginny's hiding place.
Dumbledore looked over to where his old friend was pointing only to see his Potion Master escort a pale and shivering Virginia Weasley around the pillar. In his hand, was a small glass beaker of glowing crystals.
Harry swooped away, another tear striking the caged demon. The horrible creature looked even more dreadful now, several dozen open, smoking, oozing wounds visible on its hide. The bright cage of light surrounding it was holding it in one place, enough that the demon couldn't gather enough strength to break free.
One gaping wound in the Shadow Demon's chest tore wider as it thrashed about, exposing the beast's internal organs. Harry's vision blurred as another tear formed, but this time, he had a specific target.
The blood-red phoenix dived and shook his head with a practiced flick, sending the pearly tear down into the wound on the demon's chest.
Directly onto the black, beating heart.
With a roar that temporarily deafened everyone in the room, the mortally wounded demon lashed out, shattering one side of the cage Wodenbane was struggling desperately to maintain. Back and forth the Shadow Demon heaved, smashing against the sides of the prison of light. With a sudden pain-fueled jerk, the demon stood upright, breaking free through the roof of the conjured prison.
After an instant of panic in the assembled wizards and witches, the Shadow Demon started to visibly deflate. Streams of semi-visible souls flew from the creature's wounded chest, speeding around in all directions before fading themselves.
Like slowly releasing the air from a balloon, the demon shriveled up. Though it maintained its height, it hissed and dried, the powerful muscles and organs turning to dust under the ever tightening hide.
Finally, the remains of the demon fell back, and the previously rock hard skin turned to dust, leaving nothing by a hideous skeleton behind.
With a final trill that sent a pulse of victory down everyone's spine, Harry and Cho landed and transformed back. Amid applause from the assembled aurors, the pair shared a hug.
Wodenbane was shaking his head in disbelief. "Two unregistered animagi, both phoenixes, and both students." He looked around the assembly. "Dumbledore!" he shouted.
"Over here, Tiberius." said Dumbledore wearily. The ancient wizard put his arm around Ginny's shivering shoulders. "You wish to talk to me?"
"Oh, yes! Something about unregistered... ah- Miss Weasley. I shall organise a team to escort you back to your father."
"Not now, Tiberius. I believe Miss Weasley has something for us."
With a faintly shaking arm, Ginny took the precious beaker from Snape and passed it to Dumbledore. "You can use this to seal the portal."
The ancient wizard gave a sigh, and wiped his still damp forehead. "I'm afraid I do not know the diagrams Tom used to make the portal. Only Harry and yourself saw it in its complete state."
Harry raised his hand. "Um, Professor? A phoenix can see what an object looked like at a certain time in the past. It can 'focus' on a time as well as a place."
Dumbledore blinked, a rare look of complete surprise on his face.
Though a similar look of surprise flashed over Snape's face, he quickly schooled his features into an expression of defeat. "You'd need to be able to pour the crystals accurately, Potter. I doubt you'd have much luck with your talons."
Cho cleared her throat. "Um, Professors? I can see whatever Harry can see."
Dumbledore gritted his teeth, drawing on the last of his impressively large reserves of magical power, then scraping the bottom of the well for more. His third patronus swarm silently buzzed around Cho and Harry's animagus form as they slowly and carefully recreated the circle of power.
Harry, as a phoenix, focused his gaze on the circle of glowing crystals and a few hours ago. Dumbledore shook his head slightly (moving it too quickly hurt). Yet another unusual skill the boy had.
Cho gently placed a tiny pinch of Ginny's crystals onto the edge of one of the existing diagrams. Where the crystals touched each other, they stuck, allowing Cho to build the diagrams out from the existing patterns.
With Harry's vision showing her what the etchings were like, the pair were painfully slowly rebuilding the gate that could then be closed on the alternate world.
The silver swarm of bees had buzzed down and driven off several dozen smaller demons and hundreds of tiny imps, keeping them from distracting the pair of students as they completed the most important piece of teamwork the magical world had ever seen.
For hours the pair worked in complete silence, Cho checking and double checking the positioning of every single pinch of Ginny's magical essence. Apart from the aurors stationed at the newly created perimeter wards, everyone present quietly watched in awe as the pair of phoenix animagi worked together.
Later, Harry and Cho sat together on the hard stone floor, ignoring their discomfort from sitting on such an uncomfortable surface. To the relief off all present, the circle of power had been completed, with only a few tiny grains of Ginny's sacrifice remaining.
Wodenbane had been examining Voldemort's notes, and incanted the almost offensively short ritual to close the portal.
Like the opening in reverse, blocks of stone rose up from the portal, slotting together like a fire-edged jigsaw puzzle. Once all were in place, the fiery outlines themselves leapt into the air, dancing wildly, leaving unmarked and complete stone slabs behind.
As the wicked fire sprites danced and faded into thin air, only the circle of glowing crystals remained behind on the floor, the only evidence of the recent tear in the fabric of the world. Even as the group of professors, students, aurors and Unspeakables breathed a collective sigh of relief, the crystals faded to nothing, their power spent.
Even through the jubilation, the aurors kept working. Site de-contamination, it was referred to.
Tonks had transfigured a twig into a sledgehammer, and was happily turning the deep etchings in the stone floor that outlined the patterns of the circle of power into rubble. She shot a wink at Harry while doing so, who blushed slightly. He was interrupted by a discovery by his godfather.
"Um, Harry?" said Sirius, his voice shaking. "Is that what I think it is?"
Harry looked to where his godfather was pointing. "Yes. That's what's left of Wormtail."
With a whoop of joy, Sirius did a mad dance around the charred remains of the despised Marauder. He stopped when he noticed Harry not joining in. "What's the matter? The man who betrayed your parents is dead. The man who raised Voldemort is gone. What's wrong?"
Harry sighed and shook his head, his breath hissing from between clenched teeth. "He helped me. At the end, he actually helped me." Harry looked up into Sirius' eyes. "Voldy was going to kill me, but Wormtail reached out and snapped his master's wand. He even apologised to me."
Sirius looked down at Wormtail's remains. He knelt and picked up the unmarked silver hand, shaking it slightly to remove the ash. "This man framed me, Harry. He put me in Azkaban for twelve years."
"I know!" Harry hissed, clenching his eyes and fists shut. "But he saved me, at the end."
Sirius nodded, and moved over to his godson and placed his arm around Harry's shoulders. "You think he may have redeemed himself? That he may not have been worthy of your hate?"
Harry shrugged. "Perhaps not all of it."
Sirius softly cupped Harry's cheeks, and gently turned his godson's head so the pair were eye-to-eye.
"This man murdered Cedric, Harry. He didn't need to do that. He had a debt to you, and in your mind he may have discharged that debt, but do not doubt that he was evil."
Harry froze for a second, then took a deep breath and nodded. "You're right. Thank you."
Sirius smiled and grabbed the young wizard in a tight hug. "Right. Now, don't you dare do anything like that again! Have you got any idea how scared I was?" he shouted.
Harry closed his eyes and grinned, luxuriating in the sensation of being loved by a parent figure. Loved enough that he was being yelled at for putting himself in danger.
A few hours later, Harry led Cho, Sirius and a pair of his Unspeakables back into the main cavern. Floating behind them on enchanted sleds were the contents of the other rooms in the labyrinth, including Macnair's corpse and collection of exotic weapons.
Already packed into tamper-proof containers were Voldemort's robes, magic (in the form of crystals) and wand fragments, the Shadow Demon's skeleton and Wormtail's silver hand. The parchment containing Voldemort's notes on the summoning were also sealed in a tightly enchanted container. Voldemort himself had been escorted away, presumably taken to the Ministry for questioning.
Ginny lay sleeping on a hastily transfigured bed in one corner, exhausted in several ways. Her father sat vigil over her, holding her hand and gently running the fingers on his free hand through her hair. The Minister had arrived just minutes into Harry and Cho's effort to rebuild the circle of power, and had spent his time comforting his only daughter. He looked up and saw Harry's arrival back in the chamber. Letting go of Ginny's hair, he beckoned Harry over.
Harry swallowed nervously, and looked questioningly at Sirius. The head of the Unspeakables simply raised an eyebrow, then nodded slightly. Harry turned to face Cho, who also nodded.
Harry walked across the room to Ginny's bed, where Mr. Weasley had already transfigured an extra chair for him.
"Please, Harry, sit." he said, gesturing towards the new chair. "There are some things we need to discuss."
"Do you wish to discuss them here, Minister?" Harry asked, looking around at the aurors working around them.
The Minister nodded, but waved away the honorific. "Please, call me Arthur. If you can't handle that, Mr. Weasley will do. After all, that is what you used to call me." he said with a grin. Before Harry could respond he continued, "We will not be leaving until we have been given the all clear. After I arrived, I gave the order that no one else be allowed in or out, to be sure we don't have some sort of illness or disease stemming from exposure to the other plane of existence."
Harry nodded. "That is something the muggle authorities do with animals when they go between countries."
Arthur Weasley nodded, a small smile on his face. "I know, that is where I got the idea. Tiberius isn't happy, but he sees the necessity for such an action."
Harry nodded again, and looked down at Ginny. "Is she asleep, or unconscious?" he asked.
"Asleep, though that was potion induced. However, it is on Virginia's behalf that I would like to thank you."
Harry suddenly looked uncomfortable. "I don't deserve any thanks. I wasn't able to save her before Voldemort tortured her, or stop her from sacrificing her magic."
Arthur shook his head. "Harry, Virginia did something terrible to you. Even under normal circumstances charging off alone to save a friend is heroic, doing it when you certainly had no reason to call either person in trouble a friend truly speaks volumes about your character."
Harry swallowed to remove the stubborn lump in his throat. "Thank you. What will happen to Ginny now? Will she be coming back to Hogwarts?"
Arthur sighed and looked at the ceiling. "I doubt it. There are still four months until your OWLs, so while she may still be able to take the written portion, she will not be able to take the practicals. Even then, without passing a practical OWL, she will not be able to go back to Hogwarts in September. I'm afraid that Ginny will probably never return after today."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be, my boy. If Ginny has to live as a muggle, then she will have to live as a muggle. It can't be too hard or the muggles themselves would not be able to do it." he said with a smile.
"Plus you will get to play with all her gadgets when you visit." guessed Harry.
"Yes, silver lining and all that." replied Arthur with a chuckle. Arthur soon lost his smile however, and again looked at Harry in seriousness. "We were finally able to send Molly a message a few minutes ago saying that you, Ginny and myself were alright. Her response came so quickly I believe she is waiting rather impatiently just outside the boundary Wodenbane has erected. Apparently, in the last few hours, Draco has been telling horror stories to his visitors. I imagine that there will be dozens of wild speculations running rife at Hogwarts, given the few students who are actually there. There may well be maybe thousands of conflicting stories of what happened here once the parents hear of it."
"Yes, I know." said Harry bitterly. "I know how things like this get around. However, I think the truth will be worse than the majority of those stories."
Arthur gave him a look of sympathy. "Yes, you would, wouldn't you, and you may be right. Now, at present, there are only five people inside the boundary not under my direct authority. Albus, Severus, Alastor, Cho and yourself."
Harry nodded, indicating that he should continue.
"Albus recognises the necessity for secrecy in this, and can order both Severus and Alastor to remain tight lipped about the events of today. But you Harry, and Cho are under no such obligation."
Harry looked around at the people milling around. "You want Cho and I to keep what happened her a secret." he surmised.
"Yes, exactly. While I am breaking one of my own cardinal rules here, I do believe that if the knowledge that an almost unstoppable beast was summoned and released became available, then panic would ensue. We have collected all known records of the summoning ritual and even the recipe for Serpent's Tears."
"Will that knowledge be destroyed?"
Arthur sighed. "I don't know. The thing is, the knowledge can be used both to summon such a creature and also to bind and dispel it. If we destroy the records and another cache of knowledge is found by the wrong people, then future generations may not have the capability to defend against it. On the other hand, if someone like Lucius Malfoy gets a similar amount of influence over the Ministry, then if we keep the knowledge it may be used." Arthur gently tugged at his thinning hair. "It is decisions like this that make this job so difficult, Harry." he confided.
Harry tilted his head to one side. "Are you sworn to defend current witches and wizards or future ones?"
Arthur blinked. "Well, current people."
"Then order the knowledge destroyed. The ministry is too corrupt at the moment to police itself."
Arthur looked at Harry with a bemused expression. "Then how would I know that the material had truly been destroyed, and not just hidden by my corrupt ministry?"
Harry shrugged. "Then give it to Dumbledore. Tell him to put a charm on it, making it only available to the true headmaster of Hogwarts and only if required."
Arthur stared at Harry for a long time before laughing out loud. "If you didn't have two years left at school, I'd hire you in an instant to be my advisor."
Harry blushed. "Thank you."
Cho, Sirius and Dumbledore quietly joined them. "Sorry to interrupt Arthur, but the medi-wizards have completed their preparations. They are ready to start examining us. I suggest you and Virginia go first. If you make Molly wait any longer, you will be able to hear her from in here."
Arthur nodded. "Thank you Albus." he said before turning to Harry. "I hope you don't get tired of people thanking you, because I know Molly will want to break your ribs with a hug." the Minister said with a small smile before gently picking his daughter up and cradling her to his chest. "You will keep what happened here today a secret, won't you?"
Harry nodded. "I will, and I will do my best to convince Cho."
"Excellent. Well gentlemen, I'm off to see my wife. I'll see you soon." said Arthur, before bending over and gently picking Ginny up. He made his way over to the opening in the roof, and apparated up to the lip of the crater.
Dumbledore turned to Harry. "Arthur was not the only person who received some communication. Minerva was kind enough to send me a message detailing what has happened at Hogwarts in my, excuse me, in our absence." The headmaster gave Cho a sly look.
Cho blushed a fierce red.
With a twinkle in his eye, the exhausted headmaster continued. "Apparently, Miss Chang all but physically tossed Sybil from my office before demanding that Minerva help her perfect the final change in her animagus transformation." With an smile at Cho, Dumbledore said, "Once Miss Chang had left my office on her incredibly fast wings, Minerva heard the Sorting Hat mention that it may have been mistaken to have put her in Ravenclaw."
"What?" shouted Cho, earning her an amused look from those within earshot.
Dumbledore waved away her concern. "I wouldn't worry too much, Miss Chang. You will remain in Ravenclaw for the rest of your time at Hogwarts. There has never been a student resorted in the history of the school. Minerva was just as surprised, but it would appear that young Harry's traits are rubbing off on those he spends time with."
Cho's blush intensified. "I'm sorry for what I said to professor Trelawney, but I needed to get to Harry quickly, and that meant getting professor McGonagall to help me with the final stage of the animagus transformation."
Harry smiled brightly, looking at his girlfriend with pride. "What did you say to her?" he asked, as excited as a puppy.
Cho looked at Dumbledore apprehensively, but whispered extensively in Harry's ear. His expression ranged from shocked to highly amused. Finally, he cupped Cho's cheeks and issed her deeply for several seconds. After Harry pulled away, he looked deep into her eyes and said, "Ah, my Cho! I am so in love with you!"
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