Quartets

Petunia had rushed to the school as soon as she got the phone call, if her little Diddums was injured then her little soldier would need his mummy. She was in tears after being shown into the first aid room to meet her beloved offspring.

"Oh my precious baby, what have they done to you?"

He was holding an ice pack over one eye to try and reduce the swelling while Dudley had obviously been bleeding from his lip and nose. There were also vivid scratches down his cheek that left Petunia asking if her son had been attacked by some sort of wild animal.

The school's first aider had learned early on after taking on these duties not to get involved in this side of the equation, he was here to fix the injuries and leave dealing with irate parents to the school's guidance staff. Thankfully Miss Adams turned up mere moments later.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Mrs Dursley, I had to deal with some rather distressed girls first."

"Did they witness what happened to my Dudley? I would think that would be enough to distress anyone, let alone four young girls seeing what happened to their friend."

"Hasn't Dudley told you what happened?"

The silence told its own story, forcing the teacher to tell the tale. "There were a number of students at the school unhappy that your family basically provided the information that led to the terrible attack on the Grangers. Rather than being contrite about the affair, Dudley voiced his opinion that the attack should have happened sooner - before the Grangers' teenage daughter returned to her private school. As you can perhaps imagine that did not go down to well with Miss Granger's friends, you see the results before you."

"Are you saying that those four girls did this - just because of something my Dudley said?" When the teacher nodded in answer that was Petunia's signal to explode. "...and just what are you and the school going to do about this? I think it's disgraceful that you allowed my Dudley to be attacked just because he expressed his opinion."

"When that opinion is absolutely abhorrent to everyone who hears it, then I think the girls' reactions were understandable - not excusable though. As soon as we're finished here, they will be sent home with a letter to their parents explaining what happened today."

"Where was this abhorrent reaction when my son and his friends were attacked by Granger and her gang outside the cinema? Tony Dylan was in hospital for weeks and his family left so traumatised they moved from the area."

"I'm sorry, Mrs Dursley, I don't know anything about that. I'm assuming this incident happened before Dudley came to us at Hazelwick..."

The distraught mother didn't want to hear excuses, Petunia wanted something done. "He wouldn't have been here at all if that bloody great hole hadn't opened up and swallowed half our house, my Dudley was down to attend a private school before that pit ate all our savings and forced us to remortgage. Come on, Dudley, we're going to see the doctor and have your injuries treated properly. My husband will be in touch, Miss Adams, you haven't heard the last of this."

They left the first aider to tidy up behind them, this saw him muttering to his colleague. "You wonder how some kids are the way they are - and then you meet the parents and you just know. They don't care that a woman nearly died because of them - but a few scratches on their precious son and they want us to call the armed forces in to deal with it. A firing squad at dawn for the girls who dared to hit their precious son!"

The guidance teacher privately agreed, and now she had to go and deal with the young ladies who'd set about the fat bully. Dudley thought he was safe mouthing off while surrounded by his friends / gang, those same students wanted nothing to do with a quartet of screaming and scratching girls. Dudley had found himself having to deal with the situation on his own, eventually being reduced to running away crying to tell a teacher.

-oOoOo-

Padma felt like running away for a good cry, something her sister picked up on immediately. That the other three didn't look much better set Parvati off.

"What has that madman got you doing now? It must be bad to affect the four of you like this."

Neville's arm had never left his mate's shoulders, down seven flights of stairs and now sitting down to lunch. Padma certainly needed his support today. "Moody was teaching us about the unforgivables this morning."

The silence that followed Neville's answer was total, it was as if all the air had been sucked out of the room to leave a vacuum. Nature abhors a vacuum although Luna's voice was barely above a whisper as she tried to confirm what they'd just heard.

"He didn't have you casting them, did he?"

All the friends could hear the crack in Hermione's voice as she answered. "No, Luna, he demonstrated all three of them on a spider..."

Padma's voice did break as she said the next bit, she also pushed the food in front of her away. She wouldn't be eating lunch today - none of them would. "...he had to take it further though, and then started casting the Imperius on us. I looked into my Neville's eyes when he was under that curse and didn't recognise who I saw there, that to me was worse than having the curse cast on myself."

Parvati now had her arms around a crying Padma, as did Neville. Parvati though was in fighting mood. "What gives that bastard the right to do that, shouldn't he be heading off for a stay in Azkaban about now?"

Padma was now clinging to Neville, burying her face in his chest in the hope their friends wouldn't see her tears and to give herself a chance to recover her composure. Neville held her close as he answered Parvati's angry question. "He's a Master Auror and is allowed to cast the curse for training purposes, providing the person grants their permission. We all gave our permission, our Orders of Merlin allow us to do that."

They had been joined by Sirius, Henrica and Remus, all of whom had made their way over after spotting the obvious distress amongst the four. "It's part of auror training that Moody pushed through during the last war. That curse was having devastating effects all over the country, Moody successfully argued that the auror force needed to know how to defeat it - and the only way to do that is have someone cast it on you in a controlled environment. I know how you feel, Padma, I had to undergo the same training before I became an auror."

Parvati took no comfort from Sirius' well intentioned words, her sister was in pain - again. "You can't know how it feels, she may have an Order of Merlin but that doesn't change the fact that she's only thirteen. She shouldn't be having to do all this bloody training, none of them should."

Padma had managed to pull herself together enough to answer for herself, she took her twin's hand and gave it a squeeze of thanks. "I know you're trying to look out for me Parvati, and I love you for that. I'm going to be a Longbottom though and the death eaters want to see that family wiped out almost as much as they do the Potters. Anyone wanting to get their hands on my Neville is going to have to go through me first, and I aim to make that as difficult as possible by training to be the best I can be. We had already worked out the stuff Moody was throwing at us was straight out the auror manuals, that just surprised us today."

"Probably because that isn't in those manuals, do I want to know how you four managed to get your hands on a set?"

"Probably not, Sirius, probably not." Harry was angry more than anything else at the moment, angry at himself. Hermione's bracelet had provided enough protection for her to throw the curse off by its second application, Harry's armour allowing him to do the same by the third. They were then reduced to standing watching as their friends suffered under that vile curse, Moody might only have had them acting silly but they all knew the potential was there to do much worse.

There would be a letter heading to his father today, Neville and Padma would both have some protection before their tutor walked back into Hogwarts. Their status as Friends of the Nation meant there would be no problems with providing goblin protection. It would be a different case for the rest of their friends though - that was something only The director could make a decision on.

-oOoOo-

Augustus and Bella had reached the same decision as Peter, that it was better to take the train through the Alps than walk. Unlike Peter though, there was no hiding below containers of a freight train for these two. Using the same procedures that had worked so well on the cross channel ferry, they were now sitting in what was effectively their own private compartment. Rookwood had even chanced leaving his mate alone while he visited the buffet car, meaning they were sitting down and eating the first food they hadn't heated themselves for weeks.

Not that they were complaining about the packets of provisions they'd stolen from the muggle camping shop, it may look nothing like it was supposed to but the food still tasted better than anything they'd been fed in Azkaban for the last decade. That they would eat their food outside and in each other's company meant that they would have enjoyed anything put in front of them.

Augustus thought their time away from Azkaban had done his mate the power of good, a couple of months of fresh air and decent food - not forgetting there were now no dementors hanging around them twenty four hours a day - and Bella was blossoming into the beautiful witch she'd been before their enforced island holiday.

"If my big strong wizard keeps looking at me like that, we might just have to christen this compartment - I've never done it on a train before. These seats will certainly be more comfortable than our sleeping bags on the ground."

Rookwood thought here was something else the muggles had gotten right. It said first class on the compartment door and he certainly couldn't think of a better way to travel than this. He quickly reinforced the notice me not charms on the door and windows, there wasn't a hope in hell Augustus was going to turn down his mate's offer.

-oOoOo-

It was beginning to look like every goblin on the planet had headed to London for the offer of free gold. Neither Harry nor Hermione had wanted to miss their training but both also wanted to appear in Gringotts today so it was dinnertime before they entered the bank. The young couple were astonished at what they found as soon as they left the public facade of the bank behind, the atmosphere was almost carnival in nature.

Children of any persuasion are going to be bored stiff queuing for hours, even with the prospect of free gold at the end of their wait. As the queue snaked further than could be seen in the tunnels, disgruntled children should have been everywhere.

Instead, at every nook and cranny there would be vendors selling their wares. Whether that was food, drinks or trinkets / toys was immaterial, it kept the children entertained and waiting to see what the next one was selling. In some of the bigger spaces there were swings and even a merry-go-round available, a group performing a favoured children's story on a makeshift stage were proving very popular. Since all these attractions were keeping their children amused, and the cost involved a mere fraction of what was waiting for them at the end of the queue, the parents were more than happy to indulge their children today. This had the knock-on effect of making those children, and the vendors very happy too. The entire event was becoming one giant party.

Harry and Hermione were of course being recognised. The epaulets on the shoulders of his tunic proclaimed him a centurion, as the only centurion not born a goblin then Harry's identity wasn't exactly hard to determine. The witch proudly walking beside him, wearing duelling robes and with a goblin blade at her hip, could only be the centurion's mate, Hermione Granger.

That same Hermione Granger was suddenly greeted by an excited squeal as a goblin the couple knew well shot out the queue to hug them. If anyone was surprised at a centurion hugging this young female goblin no one said anything about it.

""Oh I was hoping I would see you here today, isn't this just brilliant!""

""I can't believe the size of the queue, I thought most of the children would have reached the gold by now.""

""They have, Hermione, this is our third time - and father reckons there may be enough gold left for one more trip. You should have seen it, there was a bloody mountain of the stuff! You get a bag, its size depending on your age and then you're allowed to fill it. They didn't want anyone hurting themselves by trying to drag away more than they could carry. After depositing your new gold it's straight to the back of the queue for another bag.""

Both were then practically dragged across to meet her two younger siblings and four awestruck cousins. Hermione now understood why Harry was politely ignoring Sapphire's father, the next move was Goldskin's to make. They didn't have long to wait.

Everywhere Goldskin looked he saw more and more evidence of how Britain was changing, he didn't need to do much searching to discover who was at the heart of most of these changes. With Sapphire clearly acknowledged in both worlds as one of Crow's closest friends it was now way past time he buried his animosity toward the centurion. Since arriving in London he had managed to procure a memory crystal of Crow's first fight in the pit, he had even allowed Sapphire to watch the part where her friends' bonding was displayed to everyone.

He'd also managed to share a few drinks with another centurion who'd been part of the force that had raced to Hogwarts that fateful morning, hearing the description of what they found in that chamber blew away any residual doubt over Harry's character. Learning too just how highly regarded Harry was considered amongst his fellow centurions, all would have no qualms about entering a battle with their youngest member by their side, clinched the matter.

""Well met, Centurion. I would like to thank you for the care and hospitality you have shown my daughter. I would also like to thank you for today, this is very generous of you.""

""Well met, sir. Your daughter is our friend and will always be welcome in any house we own. As for today, that gold was tainted and I wanted nothing to do with it. Only by passing it through the hands of innocents can that gold be cleansed once more - it can also help our nation prosper. Today, visitors from all over the world can see for themselves what this country could be, ending forever whispered half-truths or downright lies that seem to become more prevalent the further away from London we travel.""

""This will wipe out any remaining Bloodfang influence quicker than young hands can fill those sacks with gold.""

""I know, Sir, why do you think I did it?""

Goldskin thought the centurion's smile at that was pure goblin, he then watched as they both said goodbye to Sapphire and made their way along the corridor. The bows and salutes both received as they did so left him wondering if it wasn't time to return to Britain, his daughter being close to that couple certainly wouldn't do his family any harm.

They passed through the ring of guards, there purely for crowd control. This fortune had been gifted to The Nation's children and no self-respecting goblin would ever steal from them. Even the parents of toddlers, those deemed too young to perform the deed themselves, would only take the amount of gold that they could fit in their allocated bag.

Making their way over to a goblin both immediately recognised, it was a smiling Barchoke who greeted his children.

""Father, how can there be so much gold left if the children have been filling bags all day?""

""My daughter, had that been the Potter wealth they would have been filling bags for the next month.""

Hermione knew the Potters were wealthy but seeing gold piled up like that was simply mind-blowing. Her father offered an explanation to why there was so much.

""Harry decreed that all their wealth was to be converted into gold and given away, this meant everything they owned was sold so today could happen. Normally flooding the market like that would greatly reduce prices, that didn't happen here. Since everyone knew where the money was going they all insisted on paying a fair price, no goblin would want to steal from children.""

She watched as they carried their heavy bags of gold along to a row of tellers that would allow them to bank their new wealth - and return straight back to the end of the queue. The entire event was run with military precision and Hermione realised she should have expected nothing less.

Things had run extremely smoothly, pleasing Barchoke no end, what pleased him most though was that he would shortly sit down to dinner and spend an evening with his children, that to him was worth more than all the gold that had been dumped here today.

-oOoOo-

The Minister couldn't believe how much this bank draft was worth, it would not only add a new wing to St Mungo's but pay for it to be equipped and staffed too. Amos though wanted to know more of the background behind this offer, Barchoke had expected nothing else.

The ambassador and his assistant were meeting with Arthur, Amelia, Amos and Cornelius in the minister's office, The Minister hadn't said a word since laying eyes on the bank draft Barchoke had presented him with.

"We have been running an investigation and it would appear Bloodfang's family were a lot smarter than we gave them credit for, that intelligence though must have faded through the generations. They had a scheme operating that saw their wealth increasing slowly but surely, it also explains why they were so focused on my son."

The Ambassador now held everyone's attention, not needing to say that anything being heard here today shouldn't leave the room. "The family had an ancient Loki Talisman that they had obviously used for generations, used though in a way they had designed to be undetectable to us. When a wizarding family dies out, the contents of their vaults eventually falls to the ministry. With those records no longer being current, they don't require an account manager and are locked away until such time as they reach the agreed upon time limit of one hundred years. Generations of Bloodfang's family have been systematically looting those dead vaults and altering the records, the talisman allowing them to bypass all the safeguards we had in place to prevent this. We have no way of knowing how long this has been going on or much they stole, so that bank draft is merely a gift from an embarrassed nation to its friend who has been wronged by a subject of that nation. Harry decreed that everything they owned would be converted to gold before being given away to our children, our nation was honour bound to ensure that happened."

Amelia picked up on something though, "You didn't explain why they were so focused on Harry?"

"We think there were two main reasons. Firstly, I don't think I would be breaking any confidentiality agreements if I said that the Potter account is the most senior and prestigious that Gringotts holds. Harry being still alive stopped all that gold from falling into their clutches. Secondly, he's been the catalyst that has brought our nations closer than they've been for centuries - certainly not something Bloodfang wanted." The Ambassador was almost growling as he spoke further on the matter. "Their intentions that night were to ritually gut Emma and Dan, ensuring the world knew they had been murdered by goblins. Harry's reaction to that would have revolved entirely around Hermione, I really could see both of my children leaving Britain and all of us behind."

Of the present company, aside from their father, Bill and Amelia knew the young couple best. Neither could argue against Barchoke's conclusion.

That result would have terrified Cornelius too, he made his thoughts on the entire matter known. "Arthur has told us how giving someone's fortune away like this is considered a grave insult amongst your people, this is a punishment we at the ministry fully support. I am also delighted on behalf of the ministry to accept this gift from our goblin friends for St Mungo's, we will also consider this matter closed and continue moving forward as we have been. I would just like to add a personal note that I am deeply sorry your son was forced to take the actions he did."

"Thank you, Minister, I too was sorry to see him enter the pit again. My son was right though, his actions that day made an impression that will protect our family more effectively than a squad of warriors."

Here was the opening Amelia was looking for. "Speaking of protection, Mad-Eye was raving about how quickly both Hermione and Harry could throw of the Imperius. Imagine his surprise when he next returned to Hogwarts to find Padma and Neville now able to do the same. That eye of his soon spotted the devices those two were wearing, my question is whether it would be possible to get any more?"

Bill raised his sleeve to show he wore a copper bracelet. "This is the device you are talking about, it provides a measure of shielding which enables me to fight off the curse. Padma and Neville now have the same but, like mine, theirs is blood bound to them. I could take this off and pass it to my father and it wouldn't do him one bit of good."

"Both Padma and Neville are Friends of our Nation so there was no problems with them being equipped like this. As my assistant, Mr William Wesley also easily qualified. The Director is currently considering a proposal that would see similar bracelets worn by others at Hogwarts, Susan, Cedric and a number of Weasleys amongst them."

That last bit of news certainly pleased Amelia though she couldn't totally hide her disappointment at what was a very nice refusal. "I know you and your nation are bending over backwards to help us, Barchoke, and please don't think me ungrateful that Susan might have some protection from that vile curse. We lost a lot of good people to that unforgiveable last time, and the thought of taking away one of their most potent weapons was certainly appealing."

"Like your ministry, The Director has to balance his response to appease the more hard liners our nation also has. His first priority though is to protect Gringotts. Can you imagine what would happen to the bank's reputation if a wizard could cast that vile curse and gain access to any vault they chose? The Nation can't risk our protections falling into the hands of others, it isn't just death eaters who would like to get past our security."

Amos too was delighted his son might have the opportunity to be protected from this curse. Like Amelia though, he too had seen the devastation this curse had caused in the last war. Rather than attempt to have the entire population protected, he tried to find a middle ground that Ragnok could justify to his people. "The wards around the ministry should help immensely with this problem, I was wondering though if it would be possible to offer extra protection to certain key personnel? I'm just thinking back to the tactics they used the last time and wondering how much damage could be done by using that curse on someone like Arthur."

The Ambassador could see something along those lines being accepted and promised to put their case forward.

-oOoOo-

Tonks felt as if they were at last moving forward, Remus had certainly admitted he would take on a relationship with her in a heartbeat - if it wasn't for his furry little problem. She was trying to make him see that, far from hiding things from her, he was more inclined to paint the picture as black as possible. She put it to him that, if his only objection was being a werewolf, it should be her choice if she wanted to see if there could ever be more between them?

They were sitting having dinner in the great hall and her last question seemed to have pierced the defence professor's shields. Sensing he was weakening, Tonks pushed her temporary advantage with a full frontal attack.

"Next weekend will see most of the students head off to Hogsmeade, I intend to see their visit passes as safely as possible. I plan to spend much of this weekend scouting the entire area with a representative of the goblin forces. I know you're struggling with the whole idea of us forming a relationship but I have no intention of diving into anything. If you were to come along this weekend, we could make it a double date with Hermione and Harry. You should be safe from me with those two along for protection."

The werewolf was left wondering why she couldn't see what was right in front of her eyes. "Tonks, you're young, beautiful, hold our country's top award for bravery and have the entire world at your feet. You could have your pick of any man you wanted, why would you even be interested in me?"

Again, she had an answer for him - though certainly not one he expected. "I'm a metamorphagus, Remus, meaning you could have any woman you wanted. Instead, you have been singularly pursuing an obsession to get to know the real me. Why would you be interested in Nymphadora when Tonks is so much more fun?"

The marauder thought he was on safer ground here, Remus really should have known better. "Tonks is the persona you show the world, Nymphadora is the real you. A young witch I happen to like very much..." He'd hoped to make her smile but this one was almost predatory.

"...and Professor Remus Lupin is the real you. The werewolf is a persona that only has control for one night a month, I certainly think that's a price worth paying to have you in my life the rest of the time. All I'm asking is that we give each other a chance, surely you could go that far?" She then got to see an emotion that the auror didn't understand playing across his features. Tonks could recognise fear when she saw it, she just didn't know what it was doing there.

Remus was practically trembling by the time he answered the young witch. "Dora, I could easily fall for you - fall hard!"

A beautiful smile lit her entire face, Tonks was counting on Remus doing that very thing. "Don't worry, Professor Lupin, I'll catch you when you fall - or is that what you're worried about?"

Sirius was seated next to Remus and had long given up pretending he wasn't hanging on every word spoken between the two, his laugh at Tonks' last comment proved too much for Remus.

"Do you mind, Padfoot."

"Actually, Moony old chum, I do mind. I want my godson and his mate to have some alone time when they visit the village, and not spend the entire day protecting their Uncle Remus from the big bad auror with the pink hair."

Henrica was sitting beside Tonks and it was now her turn to laugh, signalling Remus' defeat. The defence professor decided to stop kidding himself, he was already head over heels for the beautiful auror. He just couldn't see how she could possibly be interested in Remus Lupin and was sure the entire thing would end with him having his heart broken - not a good condition for a werewolf. Remus had kept to himself for so long the mere thought of sharing his life with someone else terrified him.

-oOoOo-

Peter thought his life was over, the knife at his throat gave a lot of credence to that supposition. When he heard whose hand held that knife, his terror if anything intensified.

"Well, if it isn't little Peter Pettigrew. What the fuck are you doing here? I better like your answer or you'll never speak another word." Bella then felt a presence in her head, a presence they'd just spent months searching for.

"Ah Bella, it's-s-s s-s-so nice to know s-s-some things-s-s haven't changed. You're s-s-still my little killer."

"Master?"

"Tell Rookwood to come forward, there is-s-s no danger for my faithful followers-s-s here."

"Hey lover, you can come out now - our master's here."

Suspecting a trap, Augustus had held back to provide cover for his mate if she needed it. Hearing that their master was present saw him entering the small forest clearing where their search had led them. The very large snake that rose out of the grass to face him originally caused alarm, that was until he noticed the red eyes. He felt his master enter his mind and offered no resistance, to attempt to do so would surely lead to pain.

Voldemort was working his way through his servants' memories and not liking what he found there. He couldn't fault their actions, even Rookwood tricking Bella into blood bonding with him won Voldemort's approval - they would never have made it off the island otherwise. Bella killing Lucius saved him a task and Augustus was a much better match for his little killer than that fool she was forced to marry. He too was apparently able to exert a modicum of control over her psychopathic tendencies.

He needed to accelerate his plans and gain a new body as quickly as possible. Thankfully having two of his finest death eaters to assist him should make that possible. Voldemort pushed what he wanted done into his servant's mind, this process was a lot less taxing for him than having to describe it step by step. It was still a very tired snake who made its way to sleep beside the warmth of the fire Wormtail had going.

The transfer process was also very taxing for the person receiving those instructions, an exhausted Augustus sank to his knees and would have toppled if a quick thinking Bella hadn't caught him.

Peter found himself being press-ganged into helping get Rookwood over to the fire, Bella then produced a sleeping bag and they lowered him down onto it. She was then a hive of activity, using his fire and supplies from their pack to quickly whip up some sort of meal. Watching as she then spoon fed this concoction to a clearly exhausted Rookwood was another big shock for Peter, a domesticated Bellatrix Lestrange was hard to believe.

She could see the colour returning to her mate's features and brewed the last of their coffee to help that process along. Augustus may be trying to teach her to be more patient but Bella was desperate to discover what their master had to say. The snake was already curled up asleep.

Augustus felt the food and coffee reviving him, at least to the point where he could tell Bella what just happened. He handed her the cup still half full of coffee, earning him a kiss of thanks.

"Peter, I would like to thank you for taking care of our master, no one else appears to give a fuck. He told me you have gathered all the ingredients for the ritual next week, all except one. Bella will deal with that and I will now brew the potion, I am a better brewer than you."

Peter was nodding like a madman at that. Rather than being upset or jealous, he would have done practically anything to escape having to prepare that potion.

"Our master can now see he needs to make his return to Britain as quickly as possible, and that Halloween will only be but a step on this journey. We are to take him and Nagini to a cemetery outside a village called Little Hangleton where, on the night of the winter solstice, we will perform another ritual that will see our master back with us once more. Then he will summon his death eaters and see who answers his call, and who dares to oppose him..."

Bella still had loads of questions but could see she wouldn't be getting any more answers out of her mate tonight, he simply couldn't stay awake any longer. She placed her sleeping bag next to her mate's before realising there was someone else she could get some answers from. Peter telling her that the missing ingredient needed for the ritual was a baby didn't bother her in the slightest, Bella would gladly give up a child of her own to see her master return.

Peter was soon the only one still awake as Bella wrapped herself around Rookwood and slept. He was sitting there staring into the flames and wondering if his life had just taken an upturn or was on a downward spiral. Not having to steal a baby and prepare it for the ritual was certainly a plus in his book, having to be around Bellatrix Lestrange twenty four hours a day was a danger he could have done without. One wrong word, a wrong reaction or just being there at the wrong time could see him end up dead, Bella would think no more of ending his life than she would snuffing out a candle before she went to bed.

That Rookwood appeared to have some sort of relationship with the crazy witch shocked Peter, he had always thought Rookwood was one of the most intelligent of the death eaters. It just proved that even the most intelligent of wizards could let their thinking be influenced by their head without a brain. No one could deny that the witch in question was gorgeous, that beauty though came with a thirst for blood and causing others pain that only their master could possibly match.

A first date with Bella might be all you got, there was always a chance you wouldn't be around for a second.

-oOoOo-

It was a delighted Tonks who set off with Remus for their first 'official' date, Hermione was also hyper too - especially since Harry had kept today's visit to the village a secret. They had their usual lesson with Bill this morning and it wasn't until that was over Harry asked his mate if she wanted to have lunch in Hogsmeade.

They would have lunch together and discuss the best way to use the aurors and warriors that would be here next weekend, the four would then scout around the village and study the route down from the castle to see if they could spot any potential ambush spots.

Remus found himself enjoying what was effectively a working lunch where all four offered suggestions as a rough plan began to take shape, Tonks suggestion that they would probably have to do the same again tomorrow to refine the plan was met with three grins that even spending hours routing through the village's back alleys and surrounding countryside couldn't wipe off. Tonks though had to veto Sirius' suggestion of making sure Harry got some alone time with Hermione, she was still his minder and wasn't for letting him out of her sight.

They had no way of knowing that the danger they were getting prepared to defend against was currently over two thousand miles away, that danger though would soon be heading in their direction.