A Pearl of Great Price

Part 5 – A New Kind of Normal

AN - As I have said repeatedly Dorothea Greengrass has been an amazing generator of ideas for this story. She may have changed jobs, gotten even more responsibility and made it to the very top of her profession (my heartfelt congratulations to you Dorothea), but she has still found the time to troll through my pitiful first draft multiple times and keep me on track. I want you to have no doubt that without her input, thoughts, well-crafted ideas and pointing out my stupid mistakes this story would be so much less than it currently is. So once more - Thank You Dorothea, you are a genuinely amazing person and it's been a pleasure to work with you on our stories - long may it continue, my friend.

- APOGP - After a few comments this is my attempt at Past and Present Delineation (I hope that they make the reading easier and that I got them in the right places).

She sighed and shifted her position in their bed once more, her glance falling on the luminous dial on Harry's watch as she did so. It was three thirty in the morning, high time for her to sleep. She sighed, that was unlikely for a little while yet, and her memories had their hooks in her now and weren't going to let her go easily.

With another frustrated breath she pulled Harry's arms around herself until she was sheltered in his embrace and snuggled her back against his chest. His semi aroused member pushed against her bottom. She was no longer embarrassed by his reaction to her body, no, she was flattered by the fact that by merely being in his arms his manifest attraction to her was so evident, even if it was a purely physical response.

She reached a hand in between them and shifted him to a far more comfortable position between her bottom and his lower belly. Harry barely registered her action, apart from a small pulse in her hand, he was so used to her doing that so that they could snuggle in the mornings. A smile worked its way on to her lips. They had come a long way in their relationship that he was so comfortable with her touching his body. She could touch, move or shift him into whatever position suited her best if the mood struck her.

This wasn't a one way street anymore though, she had felt the thrill of Harry taking charge of their bodies, whether for sleeping and pulling her into whatever embrace he desired at the time, or for other much more interesting activities that may or may not include a bed. She could easily remember the first time they had shared a bed; her face fell as the memories of that early August evening came rushing back. It had been anything but thrilling.

- APOGP -

'Mistress, Mistress, you must comes quicks, Master be's needing you. He is just be's finding outs that his alertly wards at's the nasty house has beens tripped.' Dobby's insistent tug on her hand caused her heart to skip a beat, then race as images of all sorts of terrible things that could have happened to Harry in the three minutes since he had left her company from Cedric's house and travelled to the Black's newly refurbished Corbenic House in Clwyd, flickered before her inner eye.

She had just been about to take her own leave via the Diggory's Floo when a frantic Dobby had popped back and tugging on her hand to go. Her mind was spinning horrendous idea after idea, until Cedric took her other hand together with Hermione's in his and spoke to Dobby.

'Can you take us all there now, Dobby?'

Harry's little elf bounced his head in the affirmative, and the next moment that familiar squeeze and then confusion as Dobby took them from Ottery St Catchpole, Devon, to Little Whinging, Surrey, in seconds. She staggered on arrival as the little elf's knees buckled beneath him. With a shaky hand the elf pointed inside the house. 'He is being in there.'

Cedric was moving as soon as Dobby had pointed, wand out. The door was wide open, but no sounds were emanating from inside. Hermione was hot on her heels as she followed Cedric into the kitchen, an arm barring her way as he stopped suddenly.

She looked past him, seeing a woman's beige shoe with a sensible heel lying alone on the kitchen floor. Cedric signalled them to be quiet, and they crept past the shoe and into the lounge where a scene of devastation awaited them. Every piece of furniture was turned over, except one, which held the large, unmoving, but still breathing body of a man.

A woman sans one shoe was against a wall, her body having slid down so that her right cheek was on the carpet. Unseeing eyes gazed forward; Daphne would have sworn she was dead, if it wasn't for the fact the woman was breathing.

A third body that of a large, rotund boy, was laying on his back slumped across what Daphne now knew as an upended television. She took all this in at a glance, as her eyes sought frantically for and found her boyfriend, who was sitting against the hallway wall, banging his head against the wall, muttering over and over that this was all his fault, he should never have left the alert stone behind.

She bolted forward and tried to clutch Harry to her breast, before managing to scoot him forward so that she could rest his head against her chest, and ran a soothing hand through his hair, whispering into his ear that it was going to be okay.

She didn't know how long she sat there, trying to comfort her boyfriend, before Harry's broken eyes finally looked into her own; others arrived in the lounge room, but she paid them no notice.

'Daphne, what are you doing here?' he asked in a hoarse whisper.

She climbed out from behind him, pushed him back against the wall and sat on his lap, facing him. 'Looking out for my boyfriend. This is not your fault. You hear me, Harry Potter, this is not your fault.'

He averted his eyes and withdrew into himself once again. Damn it, he didn't believe her in the slightest. She pulled him to her and kissed him as hard as he could. When she was out of breath she pulled back and looked him in the eyes again, using her hand to keep his eyes focused on hers as he went to look away. 'Harry this isn't your fault, you weren't here. What ever happened was outside of your control.'

Their moment was broken as Amelia Bones knelt down beside them. 'I'm sorry Harry, but there is nothing we can do for your relatives; they appear to have been subjected to a Dementors Kiss, but we will …' the rest of her sentence was cut off as Albus Dumbledore arrived in a flash of flame with his wand out.

The Headmaster took one look around at the multitude of people. 'What are all you people doing in Harry's home?' he asked in an authoritative voice.

Amelia had taken charge of the situation, leading Dumbledore further into the house and explaining what had occurred.

She continued whispering soothing words into Harry's ear, whilst continually running her hand through his hair. Harry's face scrunched up, he leaned against her and sobbed into her chest. They still sat like that when Dumbledore came back.

'I need to speak with Harry alone, Miss Greengrass. Please move and give us some privacy.' His tone didn't tolerate any objection.

Harry clutched at her back, tightening his grip on her body. She gave Dumbledore a hard stare. If he thought she'd leave Harry in this situation, he had another thing coming. 'I'm sorry Headmaster, but I will not be leaving my boyfriend's side tonight.

'Miss Greengrass, it is imperative that I speak to Harry alone, I have information for his ears only. Now please, move!' Dumbledore's voice was sharp.

Harry's head shifted from her breast, but she held him tight, stopping his movement. If she had to, she would take on the world to ensure that Harry was protected until he could fight for himself again.

'No, if you want to talk to him, you do it in my presence or wait until he is in the condition to fend for himself.'

Dumbledore gave her one of his patented disapproving looks. 'Miss Greengrass, you forget yourself. You have caused quite enough trouble, leading Harry away from the light …' that was as far as the old man got.

Harry surged to his feet, with Daphne still clutched in his arms. His magic flared into life, making the hairs on her arms and the nape of her neck rise. She locked her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck. He was still in shock; Merlin only knew if the old fool's ill-advised words and meddling would send him over the edge and cause an uncontrolled outburst of accidental magic. As strong as Harry had become, the old coot wouldn't enjoy that experience, no matter how much he deserved it.

'You sanctimonious, morally deficient, meddling old bastard,' Harry shouted. A strong pulse of raw magic raced towards the old man and sat him on his arse. Harry towered over him, Daphne still wrapped in his arms. 'How dare you even think that Daphne is corrupting me? Who do you think you are, you dottery old goat buggerer? Daphne has done nothing but support me, unlike some wither old fool who spouts sermons from on high, and yet with all his vaunted power he's done nothing to fix the many and varied ills of our world, not to mention leaving me in an abusive home.'

Dumbledore opened his mouth to answer, but Harry kept going. 'What have you done in your life to aid and heal our world with all that power you have amassed over the years? I'll tell you what you have done; a big fat fuck all. For all your political power and prestige, Dumbledore, you've done diddly squat to fix any of our worlds injustices.'

Harry's magic swirled around them, continually buffeting the Headmaster, making it impossible for him to stand and only increasing in strength with each word Harry yelled at Dumbledore. And yet whilst she was in the middle of the storm she didn't feel threatened, quite the opposite in fact; his magic was caressing her gently almost reverently, soothing away her own worries about Harry as he continued his rant at Dumbledore. 'Apart from defeating a Dark Lord, and your work on Dragons blood, I can't see any other achievements that have the name of Albus Dumbledore on them. Daphne in her fifteen years on this earth has done more to fight for equality than you have done in your many many years, you senile old coot, so don't you dare stand there and attempt to lecture or separate me from my girlfriend, you pompous prick.'

With that Harry lowered her to the floor and led her out of the hallway and into the backyard, sat on a bench drew her onto his lap, and broke out into fresh sobs again. She leant into his embrace, put her arms around him, and once more tried her best to comfort her emotional boyfriend.

She lost track of time again, her world had narrowed and only Harry and herself seemed to exist in this moment. Harry's head rested against her breast, his breathing slow and steady. He had cried himself to exhaustion and then passed out, still clutching her body to his. She gazed into the night sky, eyes unseeing and lost until she heard her name being called softly, yet insistently.

'Daphne … Daphne!' A hand touched her shoulder, and she turned to see her mother's concerned face.

She tried to smile, but with no success, 'Hi mum … What are you doing here?'

'Sirius Floo called us and told us what happened. Are you both okay?' Selene's voice was low and soft.

Daphne nodded. 'Physically at least, we're fine. But emotionally not so much, Dumbledore didn't help either.'

Selene knelt down next to them and brushed some of the hair away from both of their faces. Harry whimpered slightly, pulling her still closer to him. 'No, I imagine not, Sirius is in there, tearing strips off him now. Your friends have been watching your back, not allowing anyone near you until we arrived.' She gestured towards Hermione and Cedric, who stood guard near the backdoor.

Movement at the backdoor drew Daphne's attention away from her mother. Cedric and Hermione raised and then lowered their wands as they recognised the two people exiting the door. Illuminated in the door frame for a second was the tall intimidating frame of Lord Sirius Black. He made a hushed comment to Hermione and Cedric, then stalked towards Harry and her, along with the at least half a head shorter, but no less intimidating Amelia Bones.

Sirius nodded to her mother before he too knelt and caressed Harry's hair. Harry stirred fitfully in his sleep, but did not waken. Before Daphne could muster any words Sirius had beaten her to it.

'Selene do you think that Harry can stay with you for a while? I don't think it would be wise to separate him from Daphne for the short term, and I will be busy taking care of all the other issues associated with tonight's events.' A tear rolled down his cheek as he continued to stroke Harry's hair.

He pulled his hand away from Harry and focused his attention on Selene, 'I know he's an emancipated minor, but I'm his lawful godfather, and for the moment I will be taking temporary responsibility for House Potter. I need to know that he's safe so I can focus on what needs to be done. I would appreciate being able to visit him as often as I can, though.'

Her mother gave him a sad smile, 'Harry is always welcome in our home, as are you, Sirius. If you give me a blood vial, I will have Michael key you into the wards so that you can visit whenever you want.'

- APOGP -

It was the first time she had seen Harry broken and vulnerable. To be honest, it had scared the wits out of her; he had always seemed so strong. By the time they got him back to "The Acres" - the Greengrass Heir's Residence in Dorset - Harry was nearly catatonic and mumbling to himself about being bad luck and that everyone should stay away from him. It had broken her heart to see him in this state. She knew that even though Harry and his relatives didn't get along he would never have wanted them hurt because of him, they were after all the only close family he had left, Sirius and the other Black family relatives not included.

They had bundled him upstairs, and Daphne had been about to leave the room so that her mother could help get him into some sleepwear, but he had clutched hold of her and started to cry, sobbing silently into her chest, his body wracked with spasms as the events of that evening finally caught up with him. In the end her mother had just sighed and put them to bed together, Harry in his bathers and t-shirt, and she remained in her bikini and a t-shirt. Her mum had helped her step out of her short denim skirt as she knew it would ride up and be uncomfortable.

She had pulled Harry into the bed, laid his head on her breast, and combed her fingers through his hair and gave him a light scalp massage. Selene had pulled the blankets around them, gave them one last look and turned off the light as she left the room. She had every intention of getting Harry to sleep and then going to her room for a shower and a much needed rest in her own bed, but at some point she too had fallen asleep, wrapped in Harry's needy embrace.

- APOGP -

It was early morning, the sun had barely started to creep above the horizon, she was hot, sweaty and confused, and this was not her bedroom! She blinked her eyes, trying to get her sleep blurry vision to clear. A warm breath tickled the back of her neck, and she froze. She turned her head slightly, trying and failing to get a glimpse of whatever or whoever was behind, until it suddenly dawned on her; she had never left Harry's bed. He was obviously still sleeping, given his breathing was deep and steady.

Not wanting to wake him, she relaxed back into him. His arm tightened around her in his sleep. At some point during the night Harry's hand had found its way under her t-shirt and was now holding her left breast quite intimately. A wave of heat rushed to her face. At least her bikini top was still between their skin; she wasn't quite ready for him to get full unfettered access to two of her best assets, but given he had done this whilst asleep she wasn't going to hold it against him. It felt nice … safe even, his hand never moved, it just held her in its embrace.

Just as she was about to drift back to sleep he shifted slightly and something hard poked into her bum. Why was Harry's wand in his pocket and not in the wand holster they had given him? She yawned, dismissed the thought as unimportant, her eyes blinked close once more and sleep claimed her again.

- APOGP -

She smiled at this memory. His wand, indeed. Come to think of that, maybe she needed just that; a distraction. She could roll Harry onto his back and have her wicked way with him, it wouldn't take much to get him aroused, and who knew what the morning would bring? Too many times they had woken to find out there had been more bad news overnight.

His steady breathing on the back of her neck indicated he had fallen asleep again. He had been exhausted when he got back from the mainland, with cuts and bruises on his body, and his shoulders slumped with fatigue. She'd smoothed bruise paste over his ribs and healed the minor cuts and abrasions on his shoulders and knees before she'd attempted to interrogate him. It was of no use, he'd clammed up and wouldn't tell her what they'd been up to; none of them would, it was like they'd taken a vow of silence or something.

Harry, along with AV, Susan, Katie, Vicky, Cedric, Neville and Sophie, had left early yesterday morning and taken a Portkey to Merlin knew where on the Continent to who knew what. That had left her and the rest of their group going frantic with worry; too much was riding on tomorrow for them to go gallivanting around Europe and not tell anyone what they were doing.

Although to be fair, everything was in place, they had one more task to finalise and then it would be time to celebrate. Maybe she should take matters into her own hands and start the celebrations early, Harry wouldn't mind at all, and he deserved some payback for the way he had disappeared and left her steaming in her worry all day long until he finally returned in the late evening.

She should have been so forward when Harry was still hurting for that week after the Dementor attack on his relatives.

It had taken Madam Bones all of a week to discover what had happened, despite the best efforts of the individual involved to cover it up. Moving a Dementor wasn't something one could do without paperwork and at least a few people knowing.

It had taken Amelia three days of solid work to find a crack in the false paper trails that had been laid, three days in which various people tried to influence her investigation. Some wanted answers right here, right now, and damn the evidence. Others tried to point out that it was only three muggles who had unfortunately been kissed, no great loss at all, really. In the end she had a week to make some progress or the investigative team would have been wound back and it would have likely become a part of a long term caseload for a single Auror.

The breakthrough came when Azkaban's Warden had his people pull every Dementor transfer record they held and went through them with a fine tooth comb. Even then it was only a lucky break that found the chink in the armour. It was late in the afternoon on the third day when one of the supervisors glimpsed a clerk tucking some parchment into his robe pocket. He found it suspicious and informed the warden, who had everyone who had been working on the documents checked before they were allowed to leave the room for the evening.

For the next two days Amelia and her team followed a single interdepartmental memo through a series of convoluted memos that had addendums attached to them and seemed to double back on themselves through multiple departments, before they finally led to one Dolores Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic.

She had blackmailed the clerk into sending her the original kiss order via these numerous back channels, but had forgotten that any action within the Ministry generates some sort of parchment trail. Had the clerk not got spooked and left the initial memo log alone, it was unlikely the investigative team from the DMLE would have found the entry to be suspicious before the investigation was wound down.

She had once again joined Harry in the Wizengamot chamber as the full curt sat in judgement of Dolores Umbridge, and although none of them were completely happy with the thirty year sentence she received - ten years for each muggle life as Harry put it - at least this time justice had seemingly been done.

About the only other good thing to come out of this episode was the shake up that rocked through the ministry because of the attempt on Harry Potter's - the Boy-Who-Lived - life. Fudge's fear of public reprisals for his Senior Undersecretary's actions gave Amelia Bones carte-blanche to conduct widespread evaluations into every department, reviews that were still ongoing as they arrived back at Hogwarts for their fifth year, with Cedric as their Head Boy. He'd share the duties with Stacey Fawcett from Ravenclaw as the Head Girl.

Although Harry had been offered a Prefect role, he refused when they had discovered that the female Slytherin role had been offered to Pansy Parkinson. As far as he and everyone else in their group was concerned it should have gone to her and if it wasn't Daphne, at the very least it should have been Sophie, as they were the two top girls in their Slytherin group. The surprising thing to them all when they heard about it later was that Draco had also turned down the role as prefect. The role would be taken up by Theo Nott. Harry had been adamant that it was just Snape and Dumbledore being bastards.

After Harry had sent a letter back and advised Professor McGonagall to give it to Neville, they along with Cedric had to almost browbeat Hermione into submission so that she also wouldn't quit in protest as well, regarding Pansy. They would later find out that although McGonagall had submitted Neville's name as the Gryffindor male prefect, she had been overruled by Dumbledore, and the honour went to Ron Weasley, much to her annoyance and vehement protests. Hermione was livid when she heard about Ron's appointment a week before school started and vowed she would hold him to task regarding his duties as a perfect, if it was the last thing she did. She planned to nag him into quitting within the first month.

- APOGP -

Dumbledore rose from his chair at the head table, and every conversation in the Great Hall ebbed away. Daphne cast a glance at the Gryffindor table. Harry was watching her, a dreamy expression on his face. Her face heated up; she knew what he was thinking about. A poke in her ribs prompted her to turn to the grinning girl next to her. 'A knut for your thoughts Daphne … oh, okay, nope, don't worry about it. I can see Harry's face from here and I know what you're both thinking about,' Iris whispered in her ear.

Daphne's cheeks became even warmer, and she gave her friend a wide-eyed look. Iris gave a low chuckle in reply and turned her attention to the head table.

Daphne followed her example and listened to Dumbledore's introduction of a new teacher. 'Please, join me in welcoming our new Defence against the Dark Arts Professor, Abilene Farley. Professor Farley comes to us from the Auror department and is currently on convalescent leave after sustaining injuries in the line of duty.' Dumbledore led the applause as Professor Farley rose from her seat, leaning on a walking stick, and nodded her head toward each table in turn.

The Auror's hair was pulled back into a very functional ponytail, allowing them to see that she had three visible scar lines on the right side of her face, as though her face had been clawed by a talon or trident. The three scars were parallel and evenly spaced, the upper most scar started just behind her eye, with the bottom scar line starting just behind the corner of her mouth. All three lines travelled back into her hairline - the upper two bisecting her ear - with her hair visibly greying around them.

Besides the visible scars, Auror Farley was a good looking woman, who looked to be in her late twenties or early thirties, but Daphne knew from experience that judging a witch's age after they entered their twenties was very hard to do until they reached somewhere in their seventies or eighties; only then would they start showing their age. She just hoped that this year's DADA Professor wouldn't join what Harry liked to call the Let's-Kill-Potter club.

She was so lost in her thoughts she hadn't noticed that the feast had ended until two arms encircle her and a warm breath whispered against her ear. 'I missed you.'

She turned her head to see sparkling green eyes looking back at her. Her body was moved on its own and her lips met his. The feeling of his lips on hers still thrilled her as it had on their first kiss, and she sighed, content all was right in the world once more.

As she rose from the bench with Harry's assistance, Professor Farley also rose and moved with the aid of her cane down towards the doors. The Auror walked with a visible limp on her left side and carried her left shoulder as though it were stiff. As they waited to exit the Great Hall with the rest of their friends, Professor Farley appeared to be making her way to them. Daphne nudged Harry and alerted him to that fact with a flick of her eyes.

Harry turned, saw the Professor approaching and stopped his movement towards the doors, drawing her to a halt with him and causing the rest of their friends to stop in their tracks as well.

Abilene Farley drew to a stop in front of them both and gave a slight nod of her head to them all. 'Mr Potter, Miss Greengrass and friends.' Her gaze took in the rest of the assembled group.

Harry inclined his own head. 'Professor Farley.'

She was unsure of when or how it had happened, but by the end of the summer people naturally deferred decisions to Harry. It was he who decided where they would meet the next day and what they were doing, ideas were brought forth by them all, but the final decision for the group always seemed to rest on Harry's shoulders.

Abilene smiled at them; the skin puckering and pulling tight against her scars caused her smile to be heavily lopsided. 'I was approached by two fellow Aurors asking me to continue your group's training whilst I'm in the school. I was wondering if we could discuss this over breakfast tomorrow morning?'

Harry looked around to the rest of their gathered group, taking in their nods of ascent with one quick glance. 'It looks like we have a date, Professor,' he replied with a roguish grin. 'I will dress appropriately.'

Daphne slapped his arm, and their friends laughed; he was spending too much time with Sirius and her father.

Abilene smirked at him. 'I look forward to it, young master Potter,' she said, emphasising the young part of her statement and bringing chuckles all around.

'Milady,' Harry returned with another roguish grin and a small bow.

She once again inclined her head to the group and limped away.

They were all about to start moving off to their dorms. Harry offered his arm to escort her down to the dungeons, to which she responded to with a look of mock disdain, when something within their group caught her eye.

Katie had watched Harry's antics. Now her glance focused on Adrian Pucey, who was also laughing. Katie's face morphed from laughter to a very determined look. With a half muttered, 'Aww screw it,' Katie launched herself at a very surprised AP, who caught her around the waist as her lips crashed into his. Behind their backs, their group exchanged wide-eyed looks of surprise.

Five seconds went past before Adrian closed his surprised eyes and kissed Katie back. Iris wolf-whistled, and Daphne relaxed against Harry, doing a silent inward happy dance. It was about time, Katie extracted the digit, as Hermione said.

Harry suddenly released her body, and she was startled from her silent contemplation of her friend as he moved away. He whispered something to Neville. Neville's eyes became wide, and a slight look of panic appeared on his face. What mischief was Harry up now? The next moment Harry propelled him into an unsuspecting Sophie.

Sophie didn't have to be told twice what to do. She pulled Neville's head down to her own and seemed to try and swallow his face. Poor Neville didn't know where to put his hands until Sophie disengaged one of her own hands from Neville's head and captured one of his and placed it on her arse.

Daphne shook her head at her very straightforward friend. 'Sophie, you're a tart.'

Sophie's response was to flip her the bird as she continued to kiss a now much less flustered Neville.

Eventually Professor Sinistra came over and broke up the two new couples and directed everyone to their dorms. Neville escorted Sophie to the Slytherin dorms along with Kenneth, AV and Harry, of course.

AP had attempted to escort Katie to Gryffindor tower; however, she had declined; since she was the one to take the initiative, she would do the escorting, thank you very much. That led to all the boys playfully pointing out to AP that it was obvious who was wearing the pants in this new relationship.

AP had taken the ribbing in the manner it was intended, even playing along by asking Katie what sort of flowers she was going to bring him in the morning?

Breakfast the next morning was an interesting affair, Katie didn't disappoint them and brought a bunch of flowers made up of purple and white Lilacs and Primroses. Those from the old families fell over themselves laughing and eventually managed to explain that those flowers represented the First Emotions of Love, Youthful Innocence and Young Love.

Professor Fawley also joined them at the Hufflepuff table to discuss their training, which got them a strange look or two from not just the head table, but from every other house table as well.

It also appeared that the group had gained another three permanent members during the summer. Lisa Turpin, who had managed to score herself several invites earlier on during the summer had by the end basically become a permanent fixture, which as far as Daphne was concerned was fine, now that Sophie had final managed to hook Neville with Harry's help.

The now sixth year Hufflepuff chaser, Tamsin Applebee, had been invited along by both her cousin Scarlett several times and her team captain Cedric. Like the true Hufflepuff she was, she'd spent most of that time helping the fourth going on fifth years with all their summer homework. She was also a highly talented chaser, and had struck up a tentative relationship over that with Terence Higgs. They made a striking couple with the golden haired and pale Higgs balanced by the dark mocha hair and Arabian skinned Applebee.

Tamsin's grandmother was a Muggle born Arabian immigrant who had met her husband at Hogwarts after her family had left the war ravaged Tobruk when she was eight. Jaxson Applebee had married the exotic beauty against his family's wishes, but they had not disowned him, rather distanced themselves from him for the first decade of their marriage instead. By the time they understood that Jaxson and his wife Taslima were not going to separate, they had two sons and were expecting a third child.

That third child was Charles Applebee, Tamsin's father, who had been a highly successful chaser across several teams both in Britain and on the continent. He had hung up the gloves and left the Ballycastle Bats in Northern Ireland two years prior and was now one of the coaches at the Falmouth Falcons.

The last member of their expanded group was Oliver Rivers, Michael's best friend. The heir to the Rivers' magical farming empire had three much younger triplet sisters, who it was said were born with the aid of muggle technology. The tall, aristocratically handsome boy was actually a lot of fun if you could get him to let his hair down, but like Hermione he took his studying very seriously. His family owned large tracts of land which were perfect for pick-up games of Quidditch, and so he found himself acquiring numerous new friends among the Quidditch mad group.

Daphne once more was brought out of her musings by a poke in the ribs from Iris as Professor Fawley addressed them.

'I will come straight to the point. Aurors Jones and Vaisey approached me separately once they found out that I would be teaching here for the year, and asked if I would continue your training. I have in principle agreed to their request,' Abilene started once they were all seated.

Excited chatter broke out amongst the group, the training sessions with both Ra and Occy were hard but very rewarding. They had learnt more about offensive and defensive magic over the summer holidays than they had in their four, five or six years at school.

Abilene continued, 'However, Auror Jones also had a second request after assessing your practical magic skills over the summer. After some consideration, I find myself in agreement with her and would like you all to consider the following, should I find that her assessment of your classmates is accurate.'

Silence reigned as the group waited to find out what the two Aurors had discussed.

'Should the overall class performance be as low as I am now expecting, I would like to start a second study group open to all at the school, and I would like you all to consider helping me with the instruction of that group. You will find that teaching someone else these skills hones your own.'

'Now I don't want an answer yet, like I said I want to assess your classmates abilities, but I would like you to start think about this as a possibility. I will let you all finish your breakfast, please discuss this and I will arrange another date with young Mr Potter in a couple of weeks.' With chuckles all round she rose stiffly and made her way out of the Great Hall.

- APOGP -

That first half of the year had been quiet in the end - the quiet before the storm. They had continued to meet as a group and train; Abilene was as good as her word taking over from where Occy and Ra had left off and pushing them all to their limits and beyond. Daphne found that what she thought was fit wasn't even close to what she could actually achieve.

She stirred again and rolled to face Harry once more, pushing him flat on to his back before almost giving into temptation and rolling completely on top of him. Instead she rolled herself into his side and allowed her fingers to play with one of his nipples, still lost in her thoughts. Sometime later a delicious shiver rolled through her body, followed by that tell-tale tightening in her core. She startled. Harry's hand caressed her behind in the most delightful way. He must have done so for a while without her realising it. If he wanted to, he was as sneaky as any Slytherin.

Daphne gave her boyfriend a playful frown and went back to her musings. It had been a strange year, at least that was what Harry had told her prior to boarding the Hogwarts express to journey home at the end of their fifth year. It didn't mean that weird things hadn't happened throughout the year, but they weren't happening to Harry, or if they did somehow impact him he was on the periphery of the action rather than being front and centre.

Voldemort too was seemingly content to lay low at the moment. The lack of any significant and visible action was something that none of them could comprehend, and as the year progressed and they waited for the war to kick off it lay over them like some ominous and claustrophobic blanket.

The next thing that came to mind was Draco Malfoy's total lack of any overt action against Harry. That wasn't significantly strange in itself since Draco had been notably subdued since Harry's altercation with him in the Great Hall, however, his almost polar shift in attitude towards those he had previously deemed unworthy was strange. It had been a slow start, but once they started noticing it was hard not to see the Malfoy heir's change in attitude.

He wasn't going to become Hermione's or Justin's best friend by any stretch of the imagination any time soon, but he wasn't their antagonist anymore, either. In fact, he was polite yet distant. When partnered with someone in class who wasn't of pure ancestry, he offered no protest and even paid the very occasional backhanded compliment. The arrogant boy of the previous year had been replaced by a determined, yet aloof and isolated young man.

Abilene had continually paired him against half-bloods and muggleborns in the supplementary DADA club she ran with the help of the TGS group twice a week. Abilene had laid the law down at the very first meeting, stating in in no uncertain terms she would brook no argument whilst people were at these meetings and if they didn't like it they could leave.

She identified her helpers from the TGS group who would assist her by going around the students, offering tips and corrections during the lessons. It was of little surprise that Harry, Susan and herself from fifth year, Katie AV and Vicky from sixth year and Cedric, Kenneth and Tamsin from seventh year, were all chosen to hold these roles as they were the best exponents of DADA within their age groups. That didn't mean they were all equal by any stretch of the imagination. Whilst most of them could hold their own against most opponents, Cedric, Tamsin, Vicky and Harry were in a league of their own.

Cedric had pushed himself relentlessly to be better after nearly dying in the graveyard to the point that it was only Hermione who could get him to stop and have some fun occasionally. Whilst Cedric was driven, Vicky and Tamsin were just talented. Tamsin's grace on a broomstick was replicated on the ground, dodging bludgers on the Quidditch pitch seemed to translate well to dodging spells, and she had knowledge of Arabian magic which gave her a distinct advantage over other opponents.

If those three were gale force winds then Harry was a Hurricane mixed with the immovable rock, his shields could withstand a battering from up to three opponents simultaneously. Abilene had recognised that he had power to burn and had taught him several advanced shields including the Utor shield which he could transfer into his off hand, allowing him to hold it wandlessly. It fed off the power of the spells used against it, both strengthening and enlarging itself the more it was hit. The Vorso shield would reflect the attackers own spell against them. The major issue with both of them was that they were exhausting to hold. The Utor was mostly fine as long as it was being feed energy from other spells, but was very hard to hold if nothing hit it for more than thirty of forty seconds. The Vorso shield, however, was such a heavy power drain that even Harry could only use it in bursts of less than half a minute, which was why most practitioners cast it of mere moments, only long enough to reflect a spell and move.

If he wasn't on the defensive then his spells packed a punch. It was far better not to get in the way of them as Harry's stunner took a good couple of hours to wear off naturally, and very few of them could Renervate someone hit by one of them and even if they did manage it the person was very groggy for several minutes later and useless in a fight for a good ten or fifteen minutes as they regained their equilibrium.

Only Vicky could hold her own and even that was becoming more debatable the more they trained together. She employed a type of passive legilimency that was a developed family trait which was very difficult to block completely, even by master Occlumens whilst fighting, and her skills were honed against her Auror father. Still these advantages only allowed her to move and predict Harry's attacks. On her best days she could slip spells of her own past his guard, but the margins were getting smaller as his wandwork got faster.

Hermione's birthday came and went. With the group now totalling twenty-two they hosted a lovely pool party for her in the Room of Requirement. Somehow their group had ended up with a nice even mixture of boys and girls, and there were some very interesting new couples starting to develop. Michael had literally cornered Megan, and Oliver Rivers, not to be outdone by his Ravenclaw counterpart, had taken it upon himself to try and make Susan blush as much as possible.

In that one birthday Hermione had gone from a witch who couldn't care less for her image to someone who now took pride in her looks. She was never going to be one of those girls who sat down and talked about the latest fashions, but she had been given a massive boost in confidence from the joint birthday present from Daphne, Sophie, Iris and Scarlett of a year's supply of personalised shampoos and conditioners.

The girl's bushy hair had been significantly tamed and now hung in large, yet still somewhat boisterous waves down her back. What had Hermione so excited was that the more she used the products, the more controlled and shiny her hair would become, it was like her very own self-fulfilling prophecy. Hermione had almost broken down in tears when she unwrapped the present and told the girls later on that she had almost raced to the showers straight away to get started. Her hair was the one thing that she felt she could not control and it had bothered her immensely.

Not content with that Vicky had taken Hermione under her wing and was showing the girl that with magic it took next to no time to look more than presentable. That wasn't to say that those spells were as good enough to use prior going to a ball, no, the best results still came from hands on work. For most days, the three minutes in the morning they took to do and a couple of minor touch up spells throughout the day could make a girl feel quite good about themselves, Vicky suspected that Hermione had never had the motivation to want to learn them before, now that she was with Cedric however she wanted to put her best foot forward given the looks that her boyfriend received from many of the girls in Hogwarts.

The awestruck look on Cedric's face the next morning when Hermione met him at the doors to the Great Hall was something she'd remember for a long time. Daphne had never seen a shy or demure Hermione before; gone was the all-conquering, all-knowing Gryffindor Princess; instead she stood, her head slightly bowed, fidgeting under Cedric's hot gaze. It took Kole nudging Cedric into action for him to regain his ability to move and speak only one word: "Beautiful."

He had cupped her cheek, raised her face to his own, and gave her a soft lingering kiss, which Hermione returned tentatively at first before losing herself in the moment. They broke apart after a short while and looked at each other tenderly, their foreheads resting against each other's. The heart-warming moment was broken when Kenneth started applauding their performance and shouting "Bravo, Bravo", causing both of them to blush.

When Halloween neared Megan noticed that Harry was slowly withdrawing into himself, and she approached Daphne about it. Daphne berated herself for about two days for not noticing the subtle changes in her boyfriend, all the while procrastinating about whether or not to ask Harry what was wrong. In the end she dithered for too long and it was Katie, his Quidditch sister, who sent everyone except Daphne and Hermione away, pulled him aside, sat him down, and asked him what was wrong.

- APOGP -

'Harry… please look at me.' Katie nudged his shoulder with her own, giving him the impetus to look up at her.

Harry lifted his head, gave her a brief, tight smile, then looked back down at his hands and fidgeted with the hem of his shirt.

'Harry, we can't help unless you let us. Now, I thought we'd got past this whole Mr Broody Pants routine last year, but evidently you're slipping … and I for one don't like it. So, tell me, buster, what's eating you up so much that you won't even talk to your beautiful, intelligent and downright awesome … Quidditch girlfriend?' Katie asked him, dragging the last few adjectives out as both Harry and Daphne blushed before gaping at her in unison.

Daphne slapped Katie's shoulder, and Harry gave a rueful chuckle before his face became sombre once more and he sighed. 'Let me ask you something Katie. What does Halloween mean to you?'

Katie gave him a wide smile. Daphne let out a silent breath, she had finally got him talking. 'Well, Halloween means not much to me, really. Samhain, however, is the festival of the harvest and means significantly more to me. It's also the night that the veil is at its thinnest and we believe that our ancestors walk among us. If we weren't required by the Headmaster to be here during the Halloween feast, something Dumbledore instituted during his tenure as headmaster I might add, I would attend one of the Samhain bonfires with my family in a protected circle and give an offering of blood and thanks that they have watched over us, and that my family might prosper for the coming year.'

Harry gave her a tight smile. 'Anything else?'

Katie gave him a confused look. 'No, not really, Harry; we usually give thanks and offer our hopes to the fires for the next year. I know that might seem simple, but that's all there is to it. Why, what's wrong?' She reached a hand out and clasped his forearm. 'If you don't tell us we can't help.'

Daphne stayed quiet, holding her breath, noticing Hermione do the same as Harry swallowed a couple of times before he finally managed to find his voice? 'It's funny you know, I've never really given the day any serious thought until this year.' He ran a hand through his hair and leaned himself back against the chair's back. 'I guess it wasn't really a date that I considered until Cedric told me that his family would celebrate it in the same way you just described, Katie.'

Harry pushed himself from his seat and started to pace in front of them, his tight face showed how hard he was working to stay in control. 'And that … right there is the crux of the matter that has been stewing in my mind for the better part of a week: my family died on that day all those years ago, and not once have I ever stopped to think about them and say thanks.'

Daphne stifled her gasp, Hermione wiped furiously at a couple of stray tears that rolled down from her eyes and Katie's face paled as they all understood the implications of what Harry was saying. Harry had never really stopped to think or remember his parents, in the entire time they had been together not once had they gone to visit the graves of James and Lily Potter. And for the previous four years at Hogwarts Harry had essentially ignored the fact that his parents had sacrificed their lives on that fateful Halloween night way back in nineteen eighty one.

Daphne rushed to him and pulled his face down to her own so that she could look him in the eyes, trying to convey every soothing emotion she could send him. 'You listen to me Harry James Potter, and you listen well. Your parents would be nothing but proud of the man you have become, they would not have wanted you dwelling on their deaths. They gave their lives so that you could live, and that's what you've been doing, you've been living Harry, not stuck on what could or should have been. Trust me, I know that by just being you, you have been honouring your parents better than any of the rest of us.'

Harry gave her another tight smile, but a tear escaped from his left eye. Its warmth seeped beneath her fingers as she continued, 'I tell you what, how about we skip the feast and hold our own Samhain celebration in the protected circle here at Hogwarts? I'm sure we can organise something small between the two of us. I will show you how to make the offerings, and we can give thanks and remember your parents.'

'No, Daphne,' Katie said quietly. Her voice became stronger as both Daphne and Harry turned towards their friend. 'If you're going to do that I will be helping too.'

It was left to Hermione to sum up what was actually going to happen. 'You're both out of your pretty little minds if you think the two of you are going to be the only ones there for Harry at something like this. I can tell you this right now, not one of our friends is going to want to attend a ridiculous and meaningless feast when they could be supporting Harry to remember his parents in such as meaningful way.'

- APOGP -

Hermione had been right of course, and with so many helpers their Samhain came and went quietly, except for when Dumbledore had given them all detentions for skipping the mandatory Hogwarts feast. They'd been trooping back into the entrance hall, when the Headmaster imperiously strode up to them all and handed out the detentions, a smug and self-satisfied Ron Weasley standing in the background. The Headmaster had not deigned it necessary to even once ask them for an explanation and was turning to leave when he uttered a threat that was a step too far for Harry.

- APOGP -

'I expected better of you, Mr Diggory. Perhaps I was too hasty in granting you the Headboy's position this year. I will be reviewing my decision and will let you know the outcome in due course'

Daphne's gaze flicked towards Cedric, whose face looked crestfallen at the thought that his role might be taken away from him. Hermione wrapped her arms around her boyfriend, trying to offer him some comfort. She like the rest of them gaped when Harry started a slow clap as the Headmaster took his first couple of steps away, freezing him in place before he gradually turned his head to look incredulously back at Harry.

What followed became the stuff of Hogwarts folklore. Harry tore strips into the headmaster with several statements that were long overdue to be made. 'You know Dumbledore, I'm not sure what I'm more shocked by, the fact that Ron Weasley was observant enough to notice we weren't at the feast, or the fact that you have managed not yet to drown in that ocean of hypocrisy you swim in every day.'

Ron's face turned purple and he made choking sounds, whilst Dumbledore spluttered just as incoherently. Harry ignored them and just kept talking.

'What, old man, you think I haven't noticed you seem keen to forgive everybody who commits a crime, but me or my new friends? Harry you must rise above this hatred and turn the other cheek!' he said in a mock falsetto. His eyes stabbed the headmaster. 'Do you know what happens when you turn the other cheek to someone who hates you or isn't repentant about their actions, Dumbledore?' He never waited for, nor gave Dumbledore time to answer. 'It gets slapped, Headmaster, that's what happens. Somehow, however, I don't think the people I am dealing with are going to stop at a slap. Do you?'

'Harry, you must understand that … '

Harry steamrolled over top of whatever Dumbledore was going to say. 'Yes, yes I understand that you're a self-righteous, meddling old fool, Headmaster, and if it wasn't for the fact that it's my life you insist on playing with, I'd probably find it amusing. For some reason known only to you however, you have decided no matter what Harry Potter is doing, as long as he is dancing to your tune then it's fine, but as soon as he starts to look like he's marching to his own drummer, you try to guilt trip him into being a good little boy. Well, guess what, old man, the tune your piper is playing no longer gets my feet tapping. I'd sooner drown in shite than listen to any further drivel that escapes your mouth and is called wisdom by the sheep of this world. Stop trying to control things that are not yours to control, Headmaster.'

'That is quite enough Harry.' Dumbledore almost, but not quite growled.

'Really? But my dear Dumbledore, I was only just getting started.' Harry bit back, sarcasm dripping from his words. 'Did you ever plan on introducing me to any Magical customs? I have been with Daphne less than nine months, and yet she and the rest of our friends have already introduced me to the festivals, holidays and beliefs that a majority of the magical population adhere to and yet you have been conspicuous in your absence regarding such things. Did you not want me to know about my heritage? My friends have made me aware that my father celebrated these holidays with some of their parents, and that my mother was introduced to them by her friends whilst a few of the practices were still allowed to be conducted here at Hogwarts, and yet it seems to me that you have very deliberately withheld this part of my heritage from me.'

Dumbledore turned and opened his hands in a placating gesture. 'Harry my boy, I had thought that-'

Harry cut him off. 'I highly doubt you thought about it at all, Headmaster. In fact, I think that you think far too little of me. However, now that I say that, it's probably a good thing. Should you attempt to remove Cedric's Headboy badge from him, then be prepared to reap what you sow. He has supported me unconditionally in something that I could not do for myself. I will not fail him.'

Ron, who had somehow managed to get his temper under control enough to engage his mouth, broke into the conversation, beating Dumbledore to an answer. 'Awww poor little Harry Potter, woe is me, everyone is being nasty to me and I don't like it, so I'm going to take my broom and quaffle and go home.' The youngest Weasley male sneered and pantomimed crying with both fists.

Harry turned ice cold emerald eyes on his former friend and shook his head. 'Ron, you're so pathetic, you're not even worth my time.' With that, Harry turned and strode off down the corridor by himself, a breeze seeming to flow in his wake, and left behind at least forty gobsmacked students and teachers.

- APOGP -

McGonagall had also been very unhappy with them all until Hermione and Katie had explained the reason why they had all been absent. Dumbledore insisted on taking Cedric's Head Boy badge, but McGonagall had been staunch in his defence and had finally won the day, suggesting his loyalty to his friend should be rewarded not punished. Dumbledore had eventually capitulated and had allowed Cedric to keep his badge, but it had been a close run thing. She hadn't been able to lift the detentions, given that they actually had broken a school rule, but she promised them she would have a solution in place for next year, should they wish to do the same.

It wasn't until they were returning from the Yule break that things went tits up, as Justin called it rather indelicately, for the first time that school year. Which wasn't accurate in hindsight since the actual catalyst for what happened occurred the day prior to them leaving school for the Yule or Christmas break.

A small story the day before they were to board the train for their return to Hogwarts, on the second page of The Independent Magical, was the only indication that something had occurred and even that indicated that details of the incident were being suppressed out of respect for the family by the DMLE.

The story, if you could call it that, stated that there had been an incident in The Department of Mysteries some fifteen days earlier, but other than the fact that a Ministry employee died little else was known at this stage. Even as they boarded the train there was still very little information known apart from the fact there had been an issue and one person was believed to have died one day later in Saint Mungo's.

It was the eagle eyes of Scarlett and Hermione who had read the article and asked if anyone knew what it was about. Susan's aunt had been somewhat sorrowful, but tight lipped, and Sirius had looked apologetic, but also hadn't offered them any answers. In fact not one family member who work at the Ministry was saying anything on the subject. They didn't know what to make of it, and it felt like the first time, that they were deliberately excluded from knowing what had happened by any of their guardians.

- APOGP -

Their carriage door opened with a crash, startling them all, and wands immediately appeared in their hands along with those of their friends, Sophie, Neville, Susan and Megan.

'Where were you, Potter?' asked a snarling Ron Weasley, face red and contorted with rage.

Harry blinked, his wand flicking back in to the holster on his wrist as he relaxed somewhat.

'I'm sorry Ron, I don't understand what you mean,' he asked his former best friend in a confused voice as he stood up and took a pace away from the window seat to stand in front of Daphne.

'I said, where were you, Potter, when my father died?' the red head snarled again, stepping forward further into the carriage, trying to loom over Harry.

Daphne blinked in confusion. The emotion was mirrored on what she could see of her boyfriend's face.

'Ron, I don't understand.'

'Hippogriff shite!' Weasley was almost froffing at the mouth with anger. 'Where was the great Boy-Who-Lived whilst my father was bleeding out on the ground, protecting one of your secrets? Too good to help those lower than you now?'

Harry blinked in confusion at him, mouth agape.

Whatever he was going to say was cut off as the red head threw a vicious right handed punch which connected with Harry's open jaw, snapping it across and closed. There was the sharp crack of bone breaking, and she froze as Harry collapsed bonelessly backwards in unconsciousness, his jaw flopping sickeningly from side to side. The back of his head smacked into the windowsill with a nauseating thud before he crumpled to the ground, sprawled against the cabin wall.

Ron stepped forward, with his foot raised as if to kick Harry whilst he was down. She had a spell on her lips, but Susan beat her to that. She unceremoniously banished the red headed arsehole out of the carriage door to crash headlong into the opposite door behind him.

She was moving to the door, half a dozen hexes on her tongue, when Sophie grabbed her tightly around the middle.

'Daphne, stop,' Sophie commanded.

'Let me go Soph, I'm going to hex his bollocks off, no fuck it, I'm going to leave him the dick-less wonder of Hogwarts, let me go!' she snarled, struggling to get free and bring her wand to bare on the bastard who thought he could hit Harry and get away with it.

'Daph, stop, he isn't worth it,' Sophie tried again, struggling to keep the enraged girl pinned against her. Help came in the unexpected form of a small but sharp slap on Daphne's cheek from Susan.

Daphne blinked at the strawberry blonde in front of her, trying to register the fact that Susan had struck her. 'Daphne, stop it, I'll deal with the idiot over there, you see to your boyfriend.'

Daphne blinked again, 'I …' her eyes turned towards the still prone body of her boyfriend, 'Oh shit, Harry!' She briefly struggled in Sophie's arms again before the other girl let her go and she collapsed to her knees and lifted Harry's head onto her lap.

Her fingers came away sticky and red, and she started to panic, her hand shaking before her eyes as she saw Harry's life blood coating her fingers, 'Oh Circe, he's bleeding, please we have to help him.'

Concerned eyes met above the prone body on the floor, before Megan was up, pushing past Susan and dashing out of the door towards the front of the train.

'Shit,' muttered Susan. 'I'll get this arsehole out of here before he gets killed by the rest of our friends. I'll take him to the Heads carriage; they can deal with him for the moment.' There were nods all around, and Susan left, levitating the moaning Ronald Weasley towards the front of the train.

'How long does it take to find someone?' Daphne asked no one in particular. Time seemed to have slowed in its march forward as they waited for Megan to return with help.

'Daph, it's been less than a minute,' Neville said from her side as he pulled a neatly folded handkerchief from his pocket and handed it towards Daphne.

'Oh,' was Daphne's only response as she slowly carded her unbloodied finger through a still unconscious Harry's hair.

'Here, use this to help stop the bleeding,' he placed the handkerchief in Daphne's hand and looked at Sophie and Daphne. 'Remember, no-one casts a spell on him until we get him to the healers, it could do more damage to his brain if he has a brain injury.'

Both girls nodded as they remembered the basic field first aid that Abilene had taught them. In an unconscious state from a concussion the brain was far more susceptible to damage from foreign magic.

Daphne took the handkerchief and held it against the back of Harry's head where it was weeping blood at a steady rate. She was just about to ask about help again when the train gave a lurch and started to slow down. 'What's happening?' she asked to no one in particular instead.

'We're going to be getting help, I think,' Neville answered, stood up, headed to the door, and peered down the corridor.

The inter carriage doors banged and then running footsteps headed their way.

Neville had stepped through the door, and the first of their friends in Hermione and Cedric arrived in the doorframe as the Hogwarts Express ground to a halt.

Daphne returned her attention to her prone boyfriend's form. Hermione let out a startled gasp. Daphne's eyes flicked back up at that, just as Susan pushed through the crowd and back into the carriage and asked, 'How is he?'

'No change, still unconscious and bleeding,' Neville answered before Daphne could form a sentence.

'Right, Cedric do you think you can apparate us back here?' Susan asked the Head Boy.

Cedric looked at his strawberry blonde housemate with a blank expression before comprehension dawned on his face. 'Give me a moment,' he requested and pushed his way through the crowd of their friends and ran outside. A sudden pop later and he appeared in front of the carriage window, just as quickly disappearing again, only to appear several yards further away.

'What's he doing?' asked a confused Justin from the doorway.

Hermione answered as she watched Cedric make a series of three more small jumps. 'He's learning the location, it's not somewhere familiar and he doesn't have a map or any other way to visualise the location, so he is making a series of small jumps in the area so that his magic will be familiar with this location. That way he can easily apparate back to this location because it will be familiar to his magic.'

Hermione turned towards Susan. 'I take it you're going to use your Portkey?'

'Yep, I might get in trouble for it, but it will be worth it. He needs medical attention and he needs it now'; why there are no supervisors on this train I will never know.'

Cedric pushed his way back into the carriage and nodded at Susan. 'Alright, I'm ready when you are.'

Susan smiled at them all as she pulled a locket from inside her clothing. 'Wish us luck … I may just need it.' She gave a bark of laughter. 'Grab on Ced, we're going for a ride.'

Cedric smiled at her and reached out to grab onto the chain holding the locket around Susan's neck.

She smiled at them all again, held her wand against the pendant and said clearly, 'I really need to go,' then they were whisked away out of the carriage.

Silence reigned in the carriage, and Daphne continued to card her fingers through Harry's hair as Hermione moved forward and picked up one of his hands and held it gently in her own. 'He'll be okay Daph, he's been hurt far, far worse …' She paused a moment as if contemplating her next thought before asking in a more subdued voice, 'Do you have any idea why Ron did it?'

Daphne's fingers froze, stuck in Harry's fringe, and fury flashed across her face. Then she breathed deeply, her fingers resumed their activity, the deep breath came out as a ragged heavy sigh. Her voice, however, held a dangerous edge to it as she answered Hermione's question. 'No idea, actually… He stormed in here, accusing Harry of allowing his father to die or something like that.'

Hermione's breath hitched. 'Arthur's dead?' she squeaked out. Looking around as if trying to locate someone, but failing to do so, she asked the still quiet crowd, 'Has anyone seen the twins?'

There were muttered variations of 'No,' from all in the vicinity. 'We'll go look for them Hermione, I think we are missing some information here,' Vicky spoke up finally, indicating that Tamsin would help her, as nervous shuffling broke out among those standing.

'Thank you, Vicky, I am praying that this has been some great big mistake.' Hermione's eyes drifted down to the prone form of her friend. 'But somehow I don't think that's it, I think it more likely that something terrible has happened.'

The set of very despondent looking red headed twins appeared several minutes later, along with their girlfriends Angelina and Alicia. They took one look at the unconscious Harry, shared a glance, and then one of them asked in a dead voice, 'Ron?'

The question or statement was answered with nods all around, and there were dual sighs from the twins. 'He's been teetering on the edge of reason since Dad was "mortally injured" in the Department of Mysteries,' one of them stated flatly, using air quotes, before the other picked up their tennis match style talking.

'It's been fairly well kept out of the papers by the Ministry so far, they don't want it known that he was attacked inside the Ministry, nor that the Auror's fought a running battle with You-Know-Who's minions all the way up to the atrium, but his funeral was yesterday, so we expect it will be common knowledge soon.' He gave an apologetic shrug and continued in a very subdued voice, 'We are sorry none of you knew, but Bill and Charlie decided to keep it small as Mum has had a bit of a breakdown and isn't dealing with things at all well.'

The other twin picked up where his brother left off. 'Anyway, we know he was there guarding something, we don't know what or why, but we know it was for Dumbledore.' He cocked his head to the side and continued, 'Neither Bill nor Charlie know, and Dumbledore's not saying what it was either … they are less than happy about it.'

'What we do know is that something went wrong, and he was bitten by something poisonous. He crawled back to an antechamber of some kind and was seen by a portrait, who raised the alarm, but it was too late. He bled out on the floor before help arrived, although the official story is that he died in Saint Mungo's,' the first twin finished with a sneer, before the other once more started speaking.

'We also know that Madam Bones was furious with Fudge that he again tried to keep a lid on the press rather than let everyone know that You-Know-Who is actually back and was in in the Ministry for Magic, but we overheard her telling Bill and Charlie as far as she was concerned the only good news that came from our fathers death were the concessions she wrang out of the Minister. Just so you know the DMLE is now on a war footing.'

Daphne was just about to ask why Harry and Hermione hadn't at least been invited to the funeral as they were still close to the twins and most of the rest of the family, even if they were on the outs with the youngest two Weasleys, when they heard the tell-tale pop of apparition outside the window.

Susan, Cedric, Amelia, and another Auror appeared outside the window. Cedric collapsed to his knees, obviously exhausted by ferrying three people with him. Amelia waved her wand over a long piece of cord and tapped it with her wand before handing it off to the other Auror, who promptly disappeared with another pop.

Hermione tried and failed to stifle a gasp as she stepped towards the window, a hand reaching out to Cedric as if to help him. Susan hauled the wizard to his feet, glanced at Hermione and nodded in the direction of the Head's carriage, before dragging the dead on his feet wizard in that direction as Madam Bones moved to the nearest carriage door in their direction.

Hermione nodded her acknowledgement, then bent and kissed Daphne on her forehead, 'Look after him, Daph, I need to go and see to Cedric.'

Daphne just gave her a sad smile and said, 'I will, go and see to your wizard, I'll look after mine.'

With Madam Bones on the scene things changed quickly; other students were moved along, the twins left telling her that they would talk later, and a three member medical transport team from Saint Mungo's arrived with a mixed patrol of three Aurors and three members of the Magical Law Enforcement Patrol.

The green robed medical team filed into the compartment; Amelia's team pushed everyone out except her and her cousin Adrian who had stepped forward and behind her, laying a comforting hand on her shoulder as the medical team began to work on Harry. .

The Healer examining Harry's head swore under her breath and ran a different diagnostic. 'We need to move now people, I have an intracranial bleed here. We need to prep him for transport now! You need to move away, Miss.'

Her heart froze in her chest, she stared at the healer, not able to move. Adrian pulled her up and away from Harry, allowing the medical team to scurry around him. She watched everything happening in front of her as if it were some sort of foggy nightmare. Words lost their meaning, she was bent forward on Adrian's lap, struggling to reach Harry when Sophie stepped in front of her and held her hands. By now the tears ran down her cheeks in thick droplets.

Sophie might as well have been speaking mermish for all that Daphne understood. Clarity came when Sophie flicked her between the eyes and spoke with a commanding voice, 'Daphne, stop this now, you can't help him, you're just making this harder on the medical team. Now pull yourself together. Harry will be alright, they just need to get him to Saint Mungo's as soon as they can … okay?'

Daphne hiccoughed and nodded mutely, her eyes still glued to the very still form of her boyfriend who was now strapped down on the floating stretcher that one of the medical team had pulled from a bag.

- APOGP -

She reached a hand up and cupped Harry's face, stroking her fingers down to his jawline. There was no evidence of the break any more of course, his treatment at Saint Mungo's had seen to that. She recalled as they loaded him on a magical stretcher, the tethers would suppress most of the magical impact of transport to the hospital allowing them to easily and safely transport him.

She had only had time for a quick kiss to his forehead before he was gone. She had tried to convince them to take her with them, but it was futile, and she found herself once more being held back by a firm yet gentle AV. As soon as they were off the train they popped away and she would have collapsed if Adrian hadn't been holding her up.

The last thing she remembered clearly was seeing Ron Weasley being taken from the train by two of the Law Enforcement Squad members before they too popped away. After that it was like trying to remember what a view looked like on a foggy day, she had almost no recollection of the train starting up again, or the rest of the journey to Hogwarts. In fact, she remembered only hazy little flickers until she woke up in a bed under Madam Pomfrey's supervision. She had been placed in the same bed that Harry had carried her to that fateful night.

It had taken a Calming Draught to get her to listen to Madam Pomfrey. Daphne wasn't in a mood for listening and was trying to get up so that she could go and find out what had happened to Harry when Madam Pomfrey all but force feed her the potion.

Four days, that was how long she had to wait to see him! He was mostly fine when he returned to school, a little lethargic but that was from the final potion of twenty he had received during his Saint Mungo's stay. They told him the lethargy would were off by the weekend, but it seemed to her he was doing fine already by Friday night.

The Weasley twins, with a downcast Ginny in tow, had been among the first people who had found Harry upon his return and had apologised profusely on behalf of their family, and then as almost blubbering messes thanked him for not pressing charges against their dangerously stupid younger brother.

Daphne hadn't been happy with Harry about that particular point, but as Harry had pointed out, by pressing charges, even if it was warranted, it would tear the Weasley family apart. He still had at least two good friends in the twins and potentially a third in Ginny, whom he didn't want to hurt like that, not to mention Bill who along with Cedric he thought of as an older brother. They had argued for the very first time about this until she had conceded that yes, it was his choice, but she didn't like it one bit.

Harry had in typical fashion just waved the twin's and Ginny's apology aside and asked how their mother was faring, concern etched on his face. Even if he wasn't at all as close to the Weasley Matriarch as he once was, he still held some affection for her in his overly large heart.

The long story short according to the twins was that she wasn't doing at all well. Charlie had already decided to quit his job and was moving back to England to be closer to the family. Bill was going to take a month long sabbatical from Gringotts, and they were going to try and get Molly back on her feet. They had also, after several discussions with the twins, acknowledged that it was currently the calm before the storm and they wanted the family to be ready for whatever was coming.

They also informed them that Ron wouldn't be returning to Hogwarts, either. He had been expelled against Dumbledore's wishes. For once, McGonagall had put her foot down and informed the board of governors of the incident. Their vote had been unanimous. Bill had managed to cobble enough money together to enrol him in the closest regional magical hub school Saint Petroc.

Saint Petroc's was the hub school for those who couldn't afford the cost of tuition or didn't receive one of the assistance scholarship to attend Hogwarts in the Cornwall, Devonshire, Somerset, Dorset, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire districts. It was more commonly known as the Southie School. It was a day school; Ron would Floo to and from it every day, and it was something that Harry hadn't even known existed.

At the end of the conversation Harry had cocked his head, and after several long moments of consideration basically ordered the twins to tell Bill and Charlie that he wanted to see them as soon as possible.

The twins had exchanged a look and asked exactly what Harry was planning on doing?

Harry's enigmatic answer of "help" was met with blank stares. The twins who trusted Harry implicitly, exchanged a look, nodded once to each other and then nodded to Harry, and they walked away with Ginny, who hadn't said a word.

Harry had helped, alright. He had forced a five thousand galleon, interest free loan on the two older brothers, refusing to take no for an answer. It was a fait accompli before the two oldest Weasley brothers had turned up. Harry had written to Gringotts and had the Potter account manager set up a separate vault with two keys, one for each brother. He'd told his account manager that he was to aggressively insist that the money could not be returned to him for at least a five year period and that then and only then loan repayments could be discussed.

When Bill and Charlie hurried to Hogwarts and attempted to remonstrate with him, Harry had thrown a very broom shaped package at Charlie and said he hoped the rumours were true. This had confused the hell out of the two Weasley brothers right up until Charlie had unwrapped the brand new Nimbus 2001. A grin spread over her face as she remembered the look on Charlie's face as he had simultaneously tried not to admire the broom and give it back to Harry.

- APOGP -

'Harry, I can't accept this, mate,' Charlie said with reverence in his voice as his fingers trailed over the black lacquer handle. He gave the broom another longing gaze, shook himself and tried to hand it back to Harry.

Harry stood there with his arms crossed and refused to take hold of the broom, causing Charlie to frown. 'Well, you're going to have to. I checked with the twins; they said your current broom had more burnt and broken bristles than a Hippogriff had feathers, and they aren't really conducive to controlled or fast flying.'

'And why in the name of Merlin's saggy underpants would I need to fly fast?' Charlie's voice matched the baffled look on his face.

Harry smiled enigmatically at him, pulled a letter from his robe pocket and held it out to a still confused Charlie.

'You'd better hand that to your brother to hold for a moment.' Harry nodded at the broom and then to an equally perplexed Bill.

Charlie's confused frown deepened, but he thrust the broom into Bill's arms and reluctantly pulled the letter from Harry fingers, who continued to smirk at the two redheads. With a scowl Charlie opened the unsealed letter and started to read. His eyebrows rose and almost disappeared into his hairline the further he read into the letter.

Bill, giving up any pretence of patience, stepped behind his brother and read over his shoulder. When he came to the end, Bill's mouth formed a silent "oh", and his eyes had become wide. He looked at Harry. 'How is this possible, the trading season has been closed for at least three weeks?'

'It was all fairly simple, really, the only person who I know who plays on a professional Quidditch team is my former captain Oliver Wood.'

Daphne now twigged as to what her boyfriend had managed to get done in the three days of furious letter writing that had Dobby popping all over the UK. She had tried to wheedle out of him what he was up to, but to no avail, only Scarlett and Hermione had been allowed to know what he was up to, and neither of them were talking either.

'I remember him saying that "Charlie Weasley was good enough to play for England," and that he couldn't believe that you'd gone off wrangle dragons or something like that.' He turned his attention to Bill. 'You're right, however, what I asked Oliver was if there was a chance that someone could train with the team until the next transfer window so that they could attend the open tryouts. Oliver ran it past the reserve coach, and they okayed it before they asked who it was, as apparently they have at least six to ten other hopefuls who do the same thing every year.'

He flicked his head in Charlie's direction. 'When I mentioned Charlie's name that's what they sent back. It appears Oliver wasn't the only person impressed with Charlie's skill set when he was at Hogwarts. Concurrently it appears fortuitously for Charlie that their third string seeker had a massive accident a week ago and will be out for at least four to five months, and their current reserve seeker is nearing retirement and thinking about hanging up her broom at the end of the season. They were putting together a roster of potential injury replacement signings which is apparently allowed under the rules when my letter arrived back with Charlie's name on it.'

'Let me get this straight, you've not only got me a try-out at Puddlemere United, you've given me one of the best brooms on the market for that tryout so I can practice, but if that try-out goes well I'll end up being signed to a two year contract with the option of a third?' Charlie asked, disbelief awash in his voice.

'Yep, that about sums it up,' said a smug Harry. The next moment he was all business again. 'That contract has been looked over by Scarlett and Hermione, both who want to go into Law. Scarlett actually wants to get into contract Law and be a sports agent. They may be young, but they are bloody scarily smart. I'm sure they won't mind if you get someone else to look it over if it will give you peace of mind. Make no mistake, Charlie, this is only a foot in the door, you need to kick it down and grab it with both hands. They understand that your skills maybe a little rusty and you may need a little time to get back up to speed so to speak, but this will be whatever you make out of it.'

Whilst they had kept their attention on them, the two witches in question had proceeded to walk up behind the two Weasley men. 'They are also right behind you so they can take you through the in's and out's of what Puddlemere have offered you across the first two years, and for the potential third year as well, as the provision for living at home whilst you guys get your mum back on her feet.'

Charlie turned, said a quick 'Hi,' to the girls and then proceeded to try and crush the life out of Harry as tears ran down his face. 'Thank you Harry, I promise I won't let you down.'

- APOGP -

Charlie was as good as his word and let no one down, with his efforts easily securing the contract that had been mooted, further securing the Weasley Family future. Fred and George had kept them posted regarding all things Puddlemere and Weasley.

It wasn't until they were on the Hogwarts Express for the final time that year that they heard the news that had been kept very quiet up until that point, that both Octavian and Sara had been part of the response group that arrived once the alarm had been raised. Both had suffered minor injuries but had been fit for normal duties the next day. The disturbing thing as far as they had been concerned was the distinct lack of any noticeable Death Eater activity since.

There had been some isolated murders of somewhat minor public officials, and multiple small raids that could be attributed to the Voldemort's lackeys, but there had been no real activity they could discern. It wouldn't be until much later in their holidays that the Second Blood war would kick off in a big way.

She allowed her fingers to trace down Harry's side, feeling down to his floating ribs on his right hand side, the sole remaining reminder of that night evident to her touch. A puckered scar the size of a young girl's palm, rough in places, yet with a smoothness that felt waxy and wrong. The wound was from the last spell cast by a Death Eater that frightening night.

- APOGP -

Daphne turned her head slightly from where it lay on Harry's shoulder when the door opened. Amelia Bones strode into the 2nd floor parlour that the boys were going to be bunking in for the night and looked pointedly at her watch. 'Come on, girls, out. Kiss your boyfriends good night, it's late and you have to get up reasonably early to go to Megan's for her birthday tomorrow.'

There was a distinct lack of movement. A wicked smile crossed Amelia Bone's face, and Daphne found herself slightly worried. 'Ladies, I will give you all till the count of ten, then I'll start sending stinging hexes to places no-one in here wants a stinging hex. I'll be starting with you Susan, now mo-' her voice broke off; she stiffened and turned a piercing gaze towards the window and the after midnight darkness. Those around her the room froze.

The older woman rushed to the window, barking out an order to her niece. 'Susan, extinguish the lights.'

Susan hesitated a moment and stepped towards her aunt instead.

'Now Susan!' Amelia snapped.

Susan bolted to the doorway and flicked the runic switch on the wall, cutting the lights in the room and plunging it into darkness, apart from the moonlight streaming in from the almost full moon. Daphne and several others stepped up to the window beside the Head of the DMLE. Harry came to a halt just behind Daphne and placed a calm hand on her shoulder. She reached up and covered it with her own.

In the distance flickered the tell-tale eerie fireworks of spell fire.

'Aunty, what is it?' Susan asked in a trembling voice, though she did her best to keep it under control, as she turned back from the doorway and joined them at the window.

'Someone is trying to breakdown the outerwards,' Amelia answered in a stone cold voice. 'Go to the Floo and call the Aurors. Susan scurried away with someone - probably Oliver - hot on her heels.

Amelia turned to face the rest of the TGS. 'Have you all got your wands?' Everyone nodded yes. It was a rhetorical question, all of them had been gifted quick release holsters for Yule from Susan and Amelia. Whilst they weren't as good as the Hit Wizard holster that Harry wore as a present from her family they allowed them all to keep their wands on them at all times except for when they were in the bath, shower or were swimming.

'Aunty,' yelled a now clearly frightened Susan as she rushed back in the room, 'The Floo is out.'

Nervous whispers broke out among them. Amelia swore under her breath. Harry's shrill whistle close to her ear made Daphne jump, but she guessed she could forgive him under the current circumstances. She didn't know how, but it seemed like he was the calm in the centre of the storm that was about to start raging around them.

'Amelia, what's the safest room on the ground floor?' Harry asked as soon as everyone had quieted down.

Amelia gave Harry a nod. 'Good thinking.' She turned to Susan. 'Right, I want you all to follow Susan and move down into the old larder, once you're in there start fire proofing and strengthening the ceilings and walls.'

Most of the others started to follow Susan, but Harry, Katie, AV, Vicky, Tamsin, Kenneth and Cedric hung back to talk to Madam Bones. When the last of her friends disappear out the door Daphne took a step towards the remaining group, a frown on her face.

'You all need to go downstairs and into the larder. That's an order, I cannot …' Amelia frowned at Harry and the others.

Harry politely, but firmly held up a hand and cut her off. 'If you think we're leaving you to fight off god only knows how many Death Eaters on your own, Madam Bones, you're clearly out of your mind. Now, where are the other parents? Where is Mrs Diggory and Mr Turpin?'

Amelia fixed Harry with a look that would have cowed almost anyone else in the magical world, raised an eyebrow and gave a small shake of her head. 'They are in the downstairs Parlour, I left them there when I came to usher the girls off to bed.'

'Are either of them fighters and do you have another way out of here apart from Susan's emergency portkey?'

'No and no,' answered Amelia, ignoring the fact that Harry had taken charge, much to Daphne's astonishment. 'Besides, most likely they have anti-portkey jinxes already in place.'

'What about the elves?' Vicky asked. 'Could they carry people out, or at least take a message to the Aurors or someone?'

Amelia gave Vicky a calculating look and called out for the Bones Family house elves, Mifty and Larco, who arrived moments later with twin pops.

'Mistress?' asked the two somewhat frightened elves in unison.

'Can you apparate someone outside the wards?' Amelia asked calmly as she crouched down in front of her elves. Both elves screwed their faces up in concentration for a moment, then shook their heads morosely. 'It's okay, don't worry about it. How about this, can you take a message to the DMLE or someone outside the wards?'

Again both elves concentrated for a moment. Finally Larco nodded his head. 'It could be done Mistress, but Larco is not knowing if he can pop back in once he is gone.'

Amelia hesitated, a frown on her face, then moved to a side table and summoned a piece of parchment and a Self-Inking-Quill. She tore the parchment in half with a quick turn of her hands, scribbled two notes and handed both to Larco. 'Take this note to Master Auror Shacklebolt, he should be in the Auror Bullpen. The other take to Lord Black, tell him I said he needs to get to the DMLE ASAP, no excuses, and come back when you can.'

Larco nodded, took the two notes and popped away with a 'Yes Mistress.'

Amelia turned her attention back to Harry. 'Right, now Harry, as much as I appreciate your leadership of the group my niece has tied herself to, this is my house and my rules, got it?' She waited until a slightly sheepish Harry nodded his understanding. 'Good! Okay Mifty, I want you to go to where the wards are currently under attack and find out how many attackers are out there. I want you to do this unseen and you come back right after, okay?'

The little elf nodded once and popped away.

Amelia started towards the door. 'Follow me, we'll go collect Abigail and Jasper and wait for Mifty to get back; she shouldn't be too long. The outerwards are still holding. Even if those masked bastards collapse them in the next couple of minutes, they will still have to get past the innerwards, which, although stronger, are far closer to the house than I would like. However, going by the amount of power they are pouring into their current efforts that will probably only buy us another ten or so minutes, but hopefully long enough for a squad of Aurors to get here.'

Daphne hurried to take Harry's hand, and they followed the others downstairs. Amelia informed the other parents on the way, and together they all walked to the larder. 'Okay listen up, all of you, we don't have much time. The Aurors are on the way; however, I cannot guarantee they'll arrive in time. I am therefore going to ask you to bar and ward the door as best you can, I will disillusion it from the outside.'

'Aunty?' Susan piped up, a tear escaping one of her eyes and tracking its way down her cheek.

'I'll be fine, Susie. This lot behind me have decided they aren't going to allow me to wander off on my own. Now, we need to get going, once we leave no-one exits this room for at least two hours unless we come and get you. If we don't identify ourselves by saying …'

She stopped and thought furiously for a moment. 'The dark hunters are down,' Vicky threw in.

Amelia flashed Vicky a grin and nodded. 'That will do nicely.' She leaned forward and kissed her niece on the forehead. 'We will be careful as we can. Stay here and keep the rest of our guests safe. We need to get going.

'Abigail and Jasper I leave them in your capable hands. Should the worst happen, listen to Susan, she knows every way in and out of this property, most of which can only be used by non-family members if all the wards are down.'

Susan sniffed and hugged her aunt as if she didn't want to let her go, released her and offered a 'Good luck' to them all.

Just as Madam Bones had finished disillusioning the door, Mifty popped back in.

'There be twelve of the dark one's, Mistress.'

'Thank you. Mifty. Now I want you to start putting the house on lockdown. Should any of the Dark ones try and enter our house you have my permission to stop them with extreme prejudice.'

The little elf's sombre expression morphed into a malicious grin at her last words. 'Mifty be not letting you down Mistress.' With that she popped away.

Daphne gave Amelia with a wide-eyed look. The older woman smirked in return. 'Never mess with a Bones' house elf's house, especially if they have been let off the leash.' The next few minutes were a blur as Madam Bones outlined what they were going to do. All of a sudden she stiffened.

'Okay, we are out of time. Remember, I want no heroics, we just need to defend the House until the Aurors arrive, has everyone got that?'

Everyone nodded. 'Okay, let's move to our positions, remember, watch each other's backs and make every shot count. They came here thinking they would only have to deal with me and Susan, let's show them the error of their ways, but make sure you all come out of this alive. No Stunners, Blasting Hexes, Cutting Curses. Anything that will take them down is the order of the day!'

Her kiss with Harry contained all her love and fear that this would be the last time that they kissed. Far too soon he was turned away and jogged off with Tamsin and Katie, whilst Cedric, Vicky and AV moved off in another direction. Daphne followed Madam Bones, along with Kenneth, until they heard a muffled explosion which had Madam Bones swaying on the spot for a moment.

'Fuck, I think they just used a runic bomb to bring down the innerwards.' Kenneth growled, looking out the window that looked over the backyard. Daphne stepped beside him. The tell-tale sign of raw magic fizzled down out of the sky, and a pillar of steam or smoke rose some forty metres away, like the sick imitation of the columns that adorned the entrance of the Bones Manor.

Amelia soon recovered and reached for the door to the back garden. 'We need to get going, we'll only have moments now.'

They rushed into the back garden, moving quickly to the large raised garden beds that were dotted around Bones Manor, or the Ossuary, as it was more formally known. While they were on their way, shadows emerged from the two smaller wings of the house, moving stealthily into position and using what cover there was to remain unseen. A feral grin appeared on Daphne's face. That Death Eater scum won't know what hit them when the crossfire began.

It was Madam Bones, Kenneth's and her role to draw the attackers in as though they were the only three defenders for the house. Once the Death Eaters passed the other two positions, the others were to rain down as many spells as they could manage. This would hopefully break the attack before it got started.

The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men,
Gang aft agley.
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promis'd joy!

For strange, unbidden reasons the words of her favourite Scottish poet floated through her mind as twelve distinct shapes made their way boldly across the large expanses of tiered lawns that stretched away from the formal gardens where they hid.

Her pulse raced and she gripped her wand tighter in her hand. Amelia turned her face to her own and nodded once before she stood up and called loud, 'Who goes there?'

The twelve silhouettes froze, then one of them called out, 'Well, well, well, lookie what we have here boys, a very foolish Auror. I haven't played with one of those since the Prewett boys.'

'Dolohov.' Amelia's voice was the low growl of a very angry dog.

'Aww, it's so nice to be recognised. 'Dolohov couldn't resist mocking her as he and the rest of his men continued to edge forward. 'Well, as much as I would love to stand here and chat all night, I really can't, it's such a pity it has to end so soon, things to do and all that, you understand.' A bolt of purple light flashed from his wand and raced towards Amelia, who calmly swatted it away.

That was the signal for all hell to break loose. Daphne cast a bludgeoning hex over the flower bed, which decapitated the flowers on the way through. A flash of sickly yellow light slipped past her as she pirouetted out of its path and she adjusted her aim at the new Death Eater who had fired upon her. She could hear several screams of pain, but had no idea who was responsible for them. She ducked and moved again in the same direction, foolishly pushing herself out and past the protection of the garden bed.

She was about to move back to cover whilst sending a cutting curse into a small group of Death Eaters when they disappeared in a deafening boom of dirt and debris. Pieces of earth and other things she didn't want to think about rained down around her while she seemed to be frozen to the spot.

She blinked and shook her head, hoping to clear away the shock of what had just happened, when a flash of red light hit her in the middle of her chest and she fell to the ground, screaming in agony.

She convulsed on the ground, screams echoing in her head as every sinew and fibre in her body felt like it had been lit on fire. She screamed some more, musty flavour of freshly turned earth on her tongue and the smell what must have been freshly cut grass in her nostrils. There was a movement in the corner of her eye. Harry stood up, left the cover he had been behind and strode purposefully in her direction, his wand flashing, face furious and his eyes deadly.

Oh no, how could he make himself such a target? She opened her mouth to scream at him not to be such a chivalrous fool, but no sound came out.

The pain stopped, but still she convulsed on the ground. A blue spell impacted Harry's right side which caused a fountain of something to explode out behind him. He didn't cry out, he even showed no sign of pain, he just kept walking forward towards her like an inexorable force, wand still moving and conducting a symphony of light. Tamsin stepped up beside him, her wand dancing and her body moving with a grace and purposefulness that had an eerie beauty. Even as she lay on the grass in pain she admired the courageous girl. Katie rushed past them both, dropped to her knees in front of Daphne, blocking her view. The next moment she pulled her behind the garden bed and covered her with her own body.

She blinked trying to clear her vision which had grown foggy for some reason and heard Amelia's distant call of "cease fire." Katie crying as she shifted behind her to cradle her aching body against hers. Her friend's slightly shaky hand stroked her sweaty forehead, whilst repeated again and again like a mantra, that it was over and she was going to be okay. Her vision started contracting at the edges and darkness claimed her.