Chapter Eight

Getting the Point

"There he is!"

Harry followed the voice to its announcer and the large amount of people that were surrounding a place that he and Susan were quite familiar with as of last night. For effect he turned around and looked behind as if they were actually pointing to someone other that the boy-who-lived.

He turned back around and let a deep frown adorn his features. "Oh, he means me."

Putting on his best annoyed grimace he rolled his eyes, visibly huffed and continued on toward the self-appointed town crier.

"Look, for the last time, I don't know how Wizard's Breath got a hold of that photograph and I'm not going to give you an autograph."

An official looking Auror-type wizard broke through the crowd and made his way toward the couple.

"No, not even to an Auror," he said as a final thought.

The Auror gave him a raised eyebrow and stopped mere feet in front of the couple.

"I don't think he wants your autograph, Harry," Susan commented.

"Mr. Potter, please surrender your wand. I'm placing you under arrest."

Harry's eyes narrowed and he turned his head slightly toward his fiancé. "Susan, honey, you might want to step back while I deal with this Death Eater."

Several gasps sounded from either side of the couple.

Harry saw out of the corner of his eye that the Auror's wand had dropped into his hand. Susan released his arm and stepped to the side, playing along with whatever he seemed to be doing.

"Mr. Potter, are you refusing to hand over your wand to a designated officer of the Ministry."

"Um … yeah," Harry noted. "Any idiot that has bothered to pick up a paper over the last couple of weeks knows the prophecy and also knows that Voldemort is out to kill me. Now since you claim to be an Auror I'd expect knowing I'm the only person that can kill Voldemort you'd have the sense enough to know I'm not about to give up my main means of defense to someone I don't even know."

The Auror's demeanor became more threatening.

"Which means either you are a Death Eater or you are quite possibly the world's worst Auror."

A new voice sounded from behind the Auror. "I'd tend to believe the latter, Potter."

The clip-clop of a wooden leg resonated through the Alley. "I'll handle it here, Simmons."

"Mad Eye," Harry said in mild greeting. "What have I done now?"

The gruff looking elder Auror thumbed behind him, to the crowd of Aurors and Ministry officials. "A fair bit of dark wizard catching if you ask me. But everyone else is screaming bloody murder … literally.

Harry brightened. "Oh? Someone finally take it into their own hands?"

Moody's magical eye centered on Harry and stopped momentarily before spinning out of control again. "Saying you had nothing to do with Pettigrew's nearly headless body laying over there?"

Susan returned to Harry's arm and entered the conversation. "Did I hear right?"

Harry nodded. "Seems like Wormtail's finally got what was coming to him."

Moody didn't seem like he was believing what Harry and Susan were selling. "What's it going to be, Potter. Did you have anything to do with this?"

Harry's smile widened. "As much as I'd like to claim credit, Mad Eye, I'm going to have to let this one go."

"The Minister said we were to arrest him on sight, Moody," the Auror said.

Moody's mad eye swiveled to the Auror. "Still here Peabody?" he said gruffly.

Peabody looked back and forth between Mad Eye and Harry then turned in a disgruntled huff and returned to the crime scene. Harry eased back and gave off a semi-relaxed demeanor. "I'd like to help, but I was otherwise engaged when this happened."

A slim smile stretched Moody's scarred face. "Didn't say anything about a time, Potter."

Harry's eyes narrowed but he didn't lose his head at the slip of his tongue. "Doesn't matter 'cause I was otherwise engaged at the time … whatever time it was."

Moody's body language stayed at its advantage, assertive. "We figure sometime after midnight."

Susan butted in at that before her fiancé could dig himself in the hole any deeper. "After midnight, Harry and I were having sex."

Harry's eyes widened and his head turned slowly to her in shocked awareness. Moody was no different. In fact, Harry didn't think he had ever seen the Auror at a loss for words, no matter the situation.

"Don't look so shocked, Mr. Moody," Susan continued. "It is not against modern civil convention for a couple to engage in pre-marital relations if they are, in fact, engaged to be married."

Moody's mouth snapped closed and his mad eye, along with his normal one centered on Harry. "Been busy this summer, Potter?"

Harry shrugged. "Don't think I need to explain personal issues with Dumbledore's ear at the moment."

Moody's mood changed. His hackles seemed to be on end at the accusation. "I'm no one's lapdog, but I think many people would be interested in what you've been getting yourself into." He shifted his attention to Susan. "And you, missy, should hold yourself back from shoutin' off in the middle of a public street who you are shagging," he paused and smiled in a scarred, condescending way, "Or should I say 'engaging' in civilized relations with." He stopped and visibly looked around. "You never know who's listening."

Susan squeezed Harry's arm. "And that, Mr. Moody, is why you aren't my personal advisor. I know exactly who is listening and what I am saying." Her grip tightened. "In case you haven't been kept up on current events, I am currently head of the Bones family, and as head of our respective houses, Harry and I have decided to join as one."

Her head snapped to the side and she visually connected with Rita Skeeter, who was scribbling on her notepad with furious abandon sketched across her face.

"Get all of that, Rita?"

The reporter paused for a moment. "Every word, oh yes, every word."

Susan continued on, including Rita in the conversation. "Harry's mine and I'm his. We're going to become a family soon and I give warning to those of you that decide to interfere with my family. You don't want to even think about how horrible retribution could be." She turned her head in the direction of Wormtail's body and even though she couldn't see him at the moment she smiled knowingly for the onlookers in the crowd.

She tugged on Harry's arm. "Come on, Harry. You promised me a ring."

Moody let them continue on without interference, and Harry closed in on his fiancé. "You're giving warning?"

She smiled, letting Harry see she was pleased with herself. "I think I'm acquiring some of your bad habits."

(OoO)

After leaving the jewelers with a respectable but not too gaudy engagement ring Harry looked around with the distinct feeling of being watched. This occurrence, in and of itself, was not unusual. After all he had been stared at for one reason or another since his very first trip on the Hogwarts Express. However, this time he was justifiably sure he was being watched by someone, perhaps, with a magical revolving 'mad eye'.

Regardless of what Moody had to say in difference to Harry's comment about being 'Dumbledore's ear', he was reasonably sure said lapdog was dispatched to figure out what, exactly he and his fiancé were up to. They sifted their way through the mass of bodies that were coming and going, baring witness to the excitement of the previous evening, until they exited the Leaky Caldron and looked left and right in unison.

"Feel like a bite to eat?" asked Harry.

Susan shifted and inquiring grin back to her fiancé. "We just ate breakfast only an hour ago."

He nodded in thought. "Then perhaps a tea or coffee?"

Not knowing what he was up to Susan agreed silently and took his arm once more as they proceeded to a small corner café and set themselves at one of the outside tables. A waitress arrived within a couple of minutes and they placed their order of two teas.

"You're looking rather fetching today," Harry plucked out of the air.

Susan smiled and leaned in to kiss on the cheek.

"Something's wrong?" she whispered before replacing her grin "This new Harry has me swooning," she added and giggled to keep up appearances.

Harry looked a little uncomfortable for a moment. "I think I picked up a rock or something in my shoe. Hold on a mo'."

He bent under the table and made like he was slipping off his trainer, instead, he withdrew his wand and send a stunner to the empty chair that was pulled out across from the two of them. Half expecting the chair to go flying Harry grit his teeth but was pleasantly surprised to see a male figure fly backward and an invisibility cloak land beside his target.

Their waitress chose that moment to return and screamed at the display before her.

Harry reached into his pocket and whipped out a small wallet, flashing what appeared to be an official identification card. "M.I.-5, official ministry business, please go back in the café."

She looked back and forth between the body and Harry briefly before back-stepping through the entryway.

Susan gave Harry a strange look before dashing over to see who he stunned. "Who's this?"

Harry bent over the body and withdrew the cloak that was still covering the upper half of the body. "Dolohov … he's a Death Eater."

Susan stepped back and drew a quick breath.

"He's stunned, Susan," Harry paused. "Incarsarous!"

He took a second for Susan to look at the bound Death Eater. "It's okay. We've got him."

Her eyes darted back and forth between Harry and the bound body. "You got him. I … I didn't even know he was there."

Harry shrugged. "It's not like you've been doing this for the last five years or anything."

She abruptly sat down, still dumbfounded. "But you have, Harry. You were amazing. You knew something was wrong. You knew there was a Death Eater sitting in that chair."

"I really …"

"No, Harry. You knew. I would have just led them back home, but …"

He could see the self-doubt in her face along with another emotion he was intimately familiar with – guilt.

"This is my life, Susan. Sometimes … most of the time, really, I wish it were different. This is the reason I've chosen to call out Voldemort and put an end to this war once and for all."

He looked around and grimaced at the few patrons that were sitting by the window looking out onto the patio at the pair of them. "Don't suppose you know how to obliviate someone?"

Susan shook her head.

"Damn," he whispered in response. "This is too good of an opportunity to get rid of him but with this many people around…"

His fiancé raised her wand and pointed it at her hair. Harry snapped out his hand and grabbed hers. "Tell me otherwise you're going to get a nasty letter from the ministry."

She leaned in. "Change the color of my hair and yours. Then maybe a Confundus Charm would work."

"Excellent!"

Harry grabbed Susan as they stepped to the side and he changed her blonde hair to strawberry-blonde and his own to a light brown then he reentered the café.

He withdrew his identification again and flashed it briefly to the eight people that were gathered watching the small event.

"M.I.-5, I have to ask for your attention, please."

They all turned to him and he whipped his wand out and cried, "Confudo!"

He watched as their eyes glazed over briefly. He took that moment to snag his glasses off and proceed like he was talking to them already. "So you see where this is a matter of national security."

A couple of the patrons looked around in confusion for a moment.

"Considering what you've witnessed today do you think I might have your cooperation?"

"Confundus!" Harry charmed them again. "Coloro!" he changed his hair color again to a dark blonde. "The Ministry thanks you for your cooperation."

"Confundus!" he added for general principles.

Once they had Dolohov under Harry's invisibility cloak and floating along beside them they made their way along the street to a deserted alleyway where Harry set the Death Eater to the side.

"We can't run him through the streets; we're libel to bump into someone eventually. I'm going to Apparate him to the house and I'll be back in half a tic to get you." He looked around real quick and then passed her the Invisibility Cloak.

(OoO)

"Aguamenti!" A jet of water shot out of Harry's wand into the Death Eater's face.

"Harry, you have to use the Reviving Charm first," Susan noted.

"Huh," Harry said in mock cluelessness. "Oh yeah. Rennervate!"

Dolohov spluttered awake spitting out the water that had accumulated in his mouth.

"Hey, Dobby just cleaned that floor this morning! Quit spitting."

The Death Eater instead spit at Harry.

"Aguamenti!" Harry yelled back and shoved his wand in Dolohov's face. "I said no spitting!"

The Death Eater squirmed a little more and then gasped as Harry ended the charm.

He leaned against the kitchen counter and smirked at the person who had almost killed one of his best friends only a month ago. "You're going to tell me where Voldemort's headquarters is."

Dolohov just glared at the young wizard and said nothing.

Harry nodded. "Susan, could you be a dear and fetch the ammonia from the upstairs bathroom."

The Death Eater looked confused and turned his head to watch the restored to blonde girl leave the kitchen.

"Take a good look 'cause it's gonna be the last thing you'll see if before I take your eyes out and pour that inside the sockets." Harry laughed. "And you think the Cruciatus hurts? You'll be screaming for hours."

Dolohov looked from side to side in panic and pulled at his restraints. The old chair he was tied to gave a little, enough for the Death Eater to slip one of his hands free and lunge for his captor.

He slammed Harry against the counter as he trailed the chair along with him and Harry grunted in pain as he hit the floor. He kicked out at Dolohov's knee and struck a glancing blow but not enough to do any real damage.

Dolohov slammed the chair against the counter in an attempt to free himself. One of the kitchen drawers caught on a splintered piece and pulled free tossing various kitchen implements across the floor amongst where Harry lost his wand.

Scrambling to his feet Harry grabbed the first thing that his hand fell on and started to pound away at his enemy or more to the point stab away.

Dolohov screamed in pain and dropped to the ground breaking the last of the chair away from his grip but not before Harry raised up with both hands gripping the rather large ice pick and driving it into the Death Eater's eye.