Chapter 57: Promise

November 22, 1944

Saturday Afternoon

Harry moved slightly over to his right side, his wand levelled at the rage-filled man across from him. There was no doubt with Elaine at his side and the woman across from him, the fight would be horrible. Harry cursed Walburga too, for the woman realising the threat that Elaine posed was due to Walburga as well as Elaine's pose. He knew the fight would gradually rise in intensity and viciousness. Whoever was around him, wherever they were, their safety would be compromised the moment the fighting was reinitiated.

That was why Harry didn't fire off the first spell, why he and Elaine simply stared at the two across from them. Elaine's fighting capabilities surpassed his own by no small deal; furthermore, she loved reacting and besting you in such a way that your own anger would rise into becoming a detriment during the fight. The Rosier woman wouldn't likely fall for such a tactic on account of her experience and skill level, but he knew that'd be Elaine's initial plan.

"Won't you start?" Elaine asked, breaking the silence as she smiled lazily at the Rosier woman and her minion. "My lover and I have much to do aside from clearing out the rest of your forces this afternoon, so if you'd start your inevitable defeat sooner rather than later, it'd be very much appreciated."

The Rosier woman's smirk in response seemed to say that she wouldn't start the fight any more than he or Elaine would, but her plan was interrupted by the man firing a vicious sickly-yellow looking spell at Harry after a few seconds' reprise. He dove out of the way, dodging it by mere inches, and from that point on their fight had resumed.

Harry didn't pay any attention to Elaine as a result, and the Rosier woman would only garner herself the occasional glance to ensure she hadn't turned her wand on him; Elaine wouldn't be so easily bested, he was sure, but what he wasn't sure of was if Elaine could truly beat the woman in a one on one match.

After a quick-cast shield charm to prevent a spell from impacting his chest, Harry went on the offensive. One spell after another, with dozens more soon to follow, was thrown at the man. Harry's anger, annoyance and sheer power of will forced his enemy backwards until the man was stuck in a small alley where no dodging or manoeuvring could be done. From that point onwards, as far as Harry was concerned, the fight had been finished.

Shield charm after shield charm was busted whilst whatever cover would be transfigured to protect the man's enemy would very shortly thereafter be dealt with. That game of cat and mouse went on for half a minute or so until an opening was presented and Harry's former spell of choice struck him dead in the chest; Expelliarmus.

With a wand in each hand and his enemy defenceless, Harry paralyzed him. Death was certainly deserved for the attack on a peaceful, student-ridden town, but Harry wouldn't kill a man in cold blood just yet. Not until he was truly well and gone in the pursuit of stopping Grindelwald. Even then, murder, for that's what it would be, was something he didn't think he'd ever be able to commit.

"I see you dealt with him," Elaine said suddenly from behind him, an eerie smile on her face and a certain darkness in her eyes. "Mine ran, though I managed to kill two that tried to follow her - their bodies are where you were previously standing. I expect Grindelwald will make his presence known soon if he's so bold as to attack Hogsmeade, especially with that attack failing his main objective. His followers can't think him weak, after all."

Harry didn't mind her casual mentioning of killing all that much. There were many words the two of them would need to have, especially regarding Corene's revelation that Elaine had made many a promise to him that she didn't intend to keep or the fight here that she likely had some semblance of foreknowledge on for her to show up as she did. Still, he knew in the now wasn't the best of times to do so, and as much as it annoyed him, he took hold of Elaine's hand as he spoke.

"Grindelwald can go bugger himself. We have people to help, the sound of combat should be indicative enough of that," Harry pulled her into the building where he'd thrown the two Ravenclaws and sighed when he saw the two hiding underneath a transfigured kitchen table. "Come on you two, we've won."

Elaine gave him a sideways glance but didn't say anything further as the two younger students practically wrapped themselves around him.

"Sarah's in a building nearby - I transfigured the basement door to match the wall and made sure the room she was in wouldn't collapse. Do you know if any of our friends were at Hogsmeade, Elaine?" He looked at her face when he asked the question, wanting to read it as best he could even if only a split-second reaction would be visible.

"Aster and Reinhard are likely to be present on account of those two never missing the chance to procure foodstuffs or alcohol. We could check the sweets shop first, there's undoubtedly a large number of students cur- you're hurt. Don't move," Elaine's sentence was cut off mid-way through and her tone changed to match her newfound concern; his minor injuries.

Harry tried to pull away from her, but with a surprise showing of strength, Elaine held him still as she traced her wand over one of his deeper, more serious wounds. Truth be told, through the dodging of many spells and the occasional explosion, Harry had been hurt a fair bit; numerous cuts were strewn about on his body, his hair was singed in a couple of spots and there was a particularly deep gash on his right shoulder near where his neck was.

All in all, with the adrenaline leaving him on account of the fight being over, he felt cruddy. Harry was Harry, however, and because of that one fact, he moved onwards with not an ounce of worry regarding himself. He still had friends out in the village to save, and so the minor stream of blood in addition to a throbbing pain was nothing if it meant helping any of them.

Evidently, Elaine didn't think that way.

"If you move one more time, my love, " Elaine started in a dangerous tone as her grip on him tightened. "I'll stun you until every injury, regardless of how minor it is, will be healed completely."

Harry rolled his eyes but relaxed. If Elaine wanted to ensure that he was fine and deal with the dozen or so injuries he had within a minute or two, it'd go faster than him trying to stop her. There was the added benefit that he'd stop losing a steady amount of blood and the touch of pain would go away too, but he was entirely too used to both of those feelings to mind them any more attention than he usually would.

"There, we've dealt with them all," Elaine said as she withdrew her wand and released her fisting of his shirt.

"Let's go then," Harry urged, grabbing hold of Elaine's closest hand as he renewed their journey to the house in which he'd left Sarah.

He wasn't overly worried about the girl, not with how secure and safe she was. If anything, Harry's major concern now that he had Elaine and the two Ravenclaws with Sarah soon to join them was finding the rest of their friends before they made it out of Hogsmeade. With the Professors and Aurors from the Castle already fighting, hence the increase in the scale of the battle on the side closest to Hogwarts, there were only so many of Grindelwald's forces that were likely to be loitering about aimlessly.

If that proved to be the case, the odds of their little group going door to door checking for their friends or other people in general whilst doing so safely would rise very high.

"Here's the house," Harry whispered, stopping the other three as he slowly entered it with his wand raised and a Lumos spell cast for vision.

At first glance, it seemed undisturbed. There didn't seem to be one item out of place nor the smell of fire that was so prevalent a few streets back where they'd come from. When he looked closer and Elaine made to cast a spell that he'd heard from Hermione once before, that being Homenum Revelio, it showed that there was only one person as expected at the same time he saw tracks leading inwards in the direction of the kitchen.

The door to the basement wasn't down there, he knew, and so with a nod for Elaine to stay with the two Ravenclaws, Harry moved towards the kitchen. "I'm checking the back entrance," he would offer up when Elaine forced an answer from him.

Only one room away and on the tracks' heels, he saw that the person had loitered for some time based on the amount of sludge they'd tracked in from outside. It was heavily prevalent right in front of the fridge, though if anything were taken from the seemingly empty building, he wasn't sure.

When he once more picked up the trail and opened the door to see where the tracks led out, he saw that the person had seemingly vanished halfway across the backyard. They'd apparated away, he knew, and it was then with an iciness in his veins that he concluded the person was one of Grindelwald's forces.

Why else would there be no sense of urgency in their movements? Why else would the person check the fridge of a mostly empty building for any form of sustenance, and finally, why would they walk to the middle of the backyard only to vanish?

He didn't know the answer to any of those questions, and as Sarah came up thanks to Elaine dispelling his transfiguration, he'd decide not to ask them. Not with how nervous and horrible the Goldhorn girl looked despite her being in one of the safest positions for the majority of the fighting.

"Are you alright, Sarah?" Harry asked as he stepped fully out from the kitchen and into the living room to join the rest of the group.

Sarah nodded a few times, the motion jerky and weird. "Yes. The others?"

"Now that we have you, we're going to go and find them. They'll be fine, I'm sure. Marcus and Vee are tough fighters - I never told you either, but Sammi was studying magic a year ahead of her that'd likely put most blokes in their place easily enough. I can only imagine that she'd deal with dark wizards and witches well too so long as the three of them are together as we know they are," Harry offered assurance after assurance regarding their mutual friends, especially Sammi, for he still saw the shock and aimlessness on Sarah's whole body.

He wasn't used to consoling people.

"Sarah," Elaine said, the taller girl wrapping her arms around the smaller one. "Harry and I are unparalleled when together. I can assure you that we'll cut a path to your sister and should there be any who would harm her, they'll be sent away before the chance is given. Potter and Weasley are proficient in combat too, as you know well enough from when the two tried to duel me in fourth year."

"I remember that," Sarah said with a sniffle and smile as she held onto Elaine as if the witch were a Muggle liferaft. "You still won."

Elaine smiled and stood up, bringing Sarah with her. "It's a good thing you're with Harry and I then, isn't it? None of these dark witches or wizards will so much as have a glance at you before they're gone running with their tails between their legs," Elaine's smile grew evermore charming as she released her grip of Sarah and moved towards the door. "Let's go find your sister and the others as Harry suggested. I'm sure they'll be waiting for you if they're not already headed out to make sure you're fine."

Harry nodded at Elaine's words and instantly moved to her side with Sarah right behind him. The two Ravenclaw peers they'd rescued followed a short distance behind Sarah, the two of them feeling the renewed sense of confidence in the group but still seeming somewhat nervous regardless. With the year or two younger that they were in compared to the rest of the group, he couldn't particularly blame them.

Must be the first time the magical society's been attacked in decades, maybe even a century.

If only history had been a favourite subject of his prior to coming to this time, or better yet, if he'd bothered with it to any degree here as he was, he would know the answer to that.

"Fighting's died down again," Harry commented as they made their way through the streets of a deserted and rubble-filled Hogsmeade.

"It's only a matter of time before the Professors and Aurors make it to where we currently are then. They'll secure the nearest buildings first and spread out in groups of two or so, clearing the rest until everything's been dealt with," Elaine said, her knowledge of how they'd work surprising him, Sarah and the other two peers of theirs; everything surprised the Ravenclaws with how shocked the two still were.

"Hope they make it through fast then, there're still too many buildings burning," Harry gestured to one that was a good dozen or so buildings down from where the group currently was, the very foundations of it buckling inwards on account of the structural damage it'd taken from an undisturbed fire.

Elaine looked between Harry and the building twice before she raised her wand towards it. Then, with a muttered incantation that he missed, what remained of the fire was put down in an amazing show of power by way of a spell that shot water. Sarah seemed genuinely impressed by Elaine based on the look the Goldhorn girl shot her, but Harry had seen more than enough by then.

"Where were you all headed before the fighting?" Elaine asked, raising an eyebrow when the answer wasn't immediately given to her as they continued to prowl the streets near aimlessly.

"The sweets area," Sarah responded hesitantly. "Vee and I wanted to bring the rest of them to a special shop that's only open a few hours every few weekends. It doesn't make much, but what it does… I guess it doesn't matter anymore. I'll show you where we were going."

Harry winced when Sarah gave up on her explanation, the pure defeat and worry in her voice despite Elaine's earlier encouragement was maddening. He didn't blame her for it, that couldn't be farther from his mind; Harry was disappointed with himself. Months and months he'd trained, working his body into a constant state of soreness and aggravation whilst his brain feasted on numerous spells… only to choke against the Rosier woman and the man he'd left in an alley.

Had he truly made as good of progress as the others had stated, the two people combined would have proved to be nought more than obstacles or minor inconveniences. That Elaine had to save him lest he was overwhelmed after everything he'd done, that he couldn't keep the whole group together to ensure their safety rather than doing what they were currently…

I've failed them, I've failed myself, and I've let down that stupid, stupid being that put me here in the first place.

"We're close," Sarah whispered, her hand holding her wand starting to shake following those words.

"Tell us when we're right about to see it, I'll go first," Harry responded in an equally hushed tone.

He may have let her down especially hard on this day, but he'd make up for it by not letting her put herself in any more danger than she'd already faced. It was the least he could do.

Thus, with him thinking that and Sarah obliging half a minute later, he found himself at the backdoor entrance to the shop they'd meant to go to later on in that day. After a short, quick inspection so that they didn't dally any whilst they were out in the open, Harry concluded nobody had broken in or come through this way in the first place. Not unless they'd repaired every bit of damage and covered their tracks.

Elaine raised a fair point that these were adult wizards that were skilled in fighting wars against not only other wizards, but Muggles too. While they made him wary in regards to opening the door, it didn't change his course of action enough to prevent him from doing exactly that.

"I'll take a few steps in, Elaine, keep the rest of them safe, yeah?" Harry asked with a smile, his wand held tightly and his posture ready for a fight.

He knew that if he failed to show her that he was ready to do exactly what he said, she'd do it so that he wasn't put in harm's way. So long as that was true, Harry figured a mask of confidence and a stance that showed he was ready to get down would work in convincing her. Even if it didn't, he'd probably still risk it and go in anyways. Lacking as she was in the care department, Elaine more than made up for it in sheer ability, thus his reasoning to keep her with the rest of the group convinced him that this course of action was the best.

"You'll be watched just as closely as the rest of them, Harry," Elaine said, surprising him by her lack of objection and seemingly indifferent attitude.

"I wouldn't expect anything less," He replied, shooting Sarah a reassuring smile and doing the same to the two Ravenclaws before he moved towards the door.

If she's not concerned, there's probably nothing in here in the first place, Harry thought. It wasn't at all unlike Elaine to think she'd cast a detection spell whilst he'd been scanning the nearby buildings, windows and alleyways for Grindelwald's supporters.

First room seems empty enough.

Harry slowly, cautiously let out a breath as he ensured the safety of the kitchen. Pots were still about, filled with various, delicious-smelling sweets or the like. Most of the other baked goods were still on cooling shelves or in raw form with bowls still beating them thanks to enchantments. Nothing seemed out of order, not a bowl on the ground or a burning item in any of the numerous ovens or stove-top pots.

If anything, that made Harry feel like the place was more suspicious. How else could it be so perfect so as to avoid any damage, be it to the property itself or the contents of the shop?

As it turned out, his question would be answered when a half dozen wands or more were suddenly pointed at him from hidden compartments.

"Hand's up lad, no point in fighting this out," An older man's voice rang out from his left, one of the cabinets turning into said older man as he stood up from his camouflage. "Hogwarts student, aren't ya?"

Harry nodded, but before he could speak, somebody else did for him. "That's Harry Peverell, sir. He's one of our friends that we came here with… well, one of the ones that we planned on coming here with," Sammi stepped out from behind a fake wall, lowering her wand immediately as she dove at him for a fiercely tight hug. "It's great to see you, Harry. Is Sarah alright? Where is she?"

"Merlin, let the bloke breathe, will you?" Marcus asked with a usual roll of his eyes as he mouthed the word 'birds'.

Well, he's alright and Vee likely is too.

"Sarah's right outside the kitchen exit, Elaine and a couple of Ravenclaws we've not really interacted with are there to-" Sammi was gone, leaving Harry with the older man, a younger woman, Marcus and a couple of other people he didn't know.

Marcus walked over to the vacant spot beside Harry and patted him on the shoulder. "Good job keeping Sarah safe, mate. We were worried for the both of you, least until Vee said how good you probably are with your wand. Guess those rumours of the Peverells being well and good in a tough scrap are true, yeah?"

Harry shrugged with a grin on his face, gesturing to himself. "Made it here fine with the rest of them, didn't I?"

One loud, egregious scoff came from behind him as he heard Sammi entering in with the rest of the group - it wasn't surprising in the slightest that it came from Vee right at that moment in time.

"How much of that's because of Elaine bailing you out, Pev?" She asked, a smug grin on her face as she came to stand beside Marcus, ribbing him when she was close enough. "Don't you have something to tell him too? Particularly about a beautiful redheaded witch that's standing right next to you?"

Harry looked curiously between the two of them, noticing Marcus' blush and Vee's superior look. If he had to guess, something had happened while he'd been gone and Marcus hadn't exactly been entirely fond of it.

"Can't that wai-" Marcus tried, only for Vee to cut him off with a pinch to his bum and a shake of her head, the girl surprisingly light-hearted despite the circumstances they currently found themselves in.

"Nope," Vee practically sang, "Tell him before I do, else you'll be the worried Princess of the story."

Marcus huffed and swatted at her hand before he turned his attention back over to Harry. "Vee saved me."

Harry blinked a couple of times, his expectations a lot worse than that. "That's it?"

I'm definitely missing something, but the context and lack of details aren't helping me any.

Before anything else could be said or any more people could join the conversation, there was a particularly loud knocking at the front entrance of the small building. It persisted for nearly five seconds, at which point a voice came through it. "This is Professor Merrythought, if there's any students or residents inside, please come out of the building in a slow, controlled manner. Hogsmeade is safe, the Aurors have set up a perimeter and we're now evacuating the area to ensure everything goes over smoothly."

The older man that seemed to be both the owner of the business and the leader of the little group in the building looked at the students, then he whispered something to them. "Sound like that Professor o'yours, or a ruse?"

Elaine responded despite having only entered a few seconds earlier. "That's Professor Merrythought, sir. I've not a doubt in my mind."

Harry nodded along with her words, sure that it was the Professor's voice he was hearing. After another few seconds passed and the rest of the students - Ravenclaws included - nodded their heads, the man grunted and ushered the lot of them towards the door. "Out we go then, before the Aurors blast the damned walls down."

There were a couple of chuckles, albeit forced or stressed, at the man's words. Then, with the doors slowly opened and the group of them exiting the building as instructed, there was silence… followed shortly thereafter by a flurry of words from half a dozen Aurors and Professors or more.

Harry felt relieved as the rest of his friends looked when they saw the familiar faces, especially the mass of students and residents trickling away with guards beside them towards the exit of Hogsmeade. Far more people had survived than he would've thought, and the few bodies he'd seen of defenders or aggressors were already gone. Aside from the rubble that was still present and already in the process of being taken care of thanks to house-elves, all was back to normal.

He only hoped that would continue, that Grindelwald would pay for this attack and that Dumbledore would soon return. Harry very much doubted their chances against Grindelwald without his former mentor, for the sheer destructive capabilities of his followers as well as the skill of that Rosier woman were too high to surpass without the man who'd done it… previously?

November 22, 1944

Saturday Evening

"You're alright, aren't you?" Elaine asked Harry, rousing him from the nap he'd abruptly fallen into once they'd returned to the Slytherin Common Room.

"Yeah," Harry responded with a yawn and roll of his neck. "I'm fine, didn't really get all that hurt. Just really tired, the fighting was a lot tougher than I thought it'd be, and I did a good bit of it before you showed up - there were three of them at once."

Elaine patted him on the cheek. "I told you many times before, we're equal in so many ways. For you to be able to halt three attackers at once without serious injury is impressive, Harry. Any of the others would say the same."

I bet they would.

"Thanks. Actually, about the others, I was hoping to speak with you about something. Since it's only the two of us with the rest of them being out on all those tasks you handed out earlier, do you mind if we have that conversation now rather than later?" Harry figured with the rest of the group, Corene and Emilene especially, being gone that the perfect time to call her out was here and now.

Seldomly were the pair of them as alone as they currently were thanks to the threat Grindelwald constantly presented not only to Hogwarts but Magical Britain as a whole. Truly, if it weren't for the constant news Corene was given by her elf thanks to her father and the occasional morsel of information that the others such as Emilene or Daphne provided, they wouldn't be nearly so busy.

Then again, most of the work they were doing with the information was self-given and said to be 'future-proofing'. As much as he agreed that a safe place was needed should Hogwarts get attacked, he didn't much see the point of storing months and months worth of supplies in the Chamber. Not with Grindelwald as their adversary, for if there was one man who could find the way in, it would be him.

"Ask me whatever you'd like to, my love," Elaine said with a wave of her hand before that very same one came down to take a hold of one of his. "I will answer whatever you ask of me."

Not very truthfully though, lying bird.

Harry tightened his hold of Elaine's hand and brought her chair closer to his. "Thank you," he said as he straightened himself up from his more relaxed position and into something more serious. "You said previously that we should always be honest with one another. Tell the truth, never lie, I think you said."

Elaine nodded along with his words, a smile on her face and not a hint of worry or concern mixed within.

"Have you always done that with me since you've talked about it? Especially these more recent months as we've gotten closer?" Harry figured his first question was a lot more open to flaws, thus, he amended it with a second that would take more effort and words should she try and lie to him.

He figured she may just try and do that too, should Corene's words be completely true.

"Do you doubt my sincerity, or are you distrusting of me as you previously were?" Elaine shot back at him, no hint of malice or otherwise in her tone. If anything, with how she leaned back in her chair whilst maintaining their hand-holding, it seemed as if she was more relaxed than usual.

"I trust you more now and in these last few months than I ever have before, so no, I'm not distrusting of you," Harry answered, shaking his head softly. "As for your sincerity, there's times where I don't believe that you mean what you say. Sometimes, I'm sure you know it as much as I do, I think you tell me exactly what you think it is that I'd like to hear - don't deny it either, I've seen how easily you change yourself depending on who it is that's with us. You'd make a great Minister with that ability alone."

Elaine smiled widely at him when he finished speaking, her beautiful smile, perfect teeth and otherwise enamouring facial features the epitome of ladylike despite the more savage tone that he could see under such soft looks. "You've finally come to understand that words are wind unless you have the means to guarantee assurances, my love," Elaine said to him as her thumb stroked the back of his hand and she leaned forward in her seat. "I'm so glad that you've seen through it and had the gall to say as much. None save for yourself would dare do so… no, no I think not. It's but another reason that I find myself desiring you in every sense of the word down to my very being."

He swallowed at her blatant insanity, the words and actions taken only striking that primal feeling of fear within him.

"I've known that you change yourself around each person since the first few weeks of our initial friendship. When you finally got closer to me and guaranteed the sharing of all secrets going forwards, I thought I could take you up on that at face value. You're right too, I see that now. Assurances are key, especially with you and I've just thought of a great one for the two of us," Harry raised a hand when Elaine opened her mouth, not wanting her to speak before she tried to worm her way around or spoke more crazy words. His action caused the girl to raise both eyebrows when he silenced her and carried on. "We'll stay together so long as you keep me filled in regarding everything. Any deceptions, any promises you don't mean to keep, anything along those lines that comes back to me will be a strike for you - I mean it, Elaine. I want this to work, you need it to work."

"What if I stopped it from getting back to you?" Elaine asked with a cocked head, a mannerism that she'd taken recently from Corene and applied a certain haughtiness to it that the other girl always lacked.

Harry shook his head and raised her hand high enough to kiss the back of it. "The truth always gets out eventually. There's no stopping that from happening."

"I already have you. You're mine just like I'm yours," Elaine said, seemingly disregarding his words as the unhinged portion of her came closer to the surface.

With how her hand tightened around his to the point of nearly being painful in addition to the edging of her chair the remaining distance so that they were now touching, he knew he needed to stop the conversation. Elaine had hopefully been given the nudge that she needed to prevent her from promising his support where it wasn't given or lying to him.

If this hadn't been enough, there was always the ace up his sleeve that he could pull.

"Yes, you have me and I have you, there's no point in worrying about that. We'll talk more about this when you're a bit more like yourself and I'm a lot less tired," Harry said as he pulled Elaine into his lap, the taller girl immediately enveloping him with her free arm and both legs as he fought to keep a yawn from coming out; stress, a string of anxiety, there was a myriad of things running through him thanks to the horribly convoluted conversation and fight they'd been in. "The truth. That's all I want going forward. No half-truths, false promises or anything of the like."

"I promise," Elaine said simply.

There wasn't a doubt in his mind that she'd go back on her word, but what mattered most to him was that she knew it wouldn't be so easy to get away with. There was also the fact that come a later date, tomorrow or the next few days afterwards, he would ring out of her just where it was that she stood regarding a fair few things they'd previously discussed; what would change and what would stay the same would be interesting… perhaps he shouldn't let her out of sight in their more private areas either, just for caution's sake.

November 24, 1944

Monday Morning

Now that it was a couple of days later from the attack on Hogsmeade, the one that he had to remind himself was meant to capture him, the true losses had come out thanks to the Prophet. Initially, there wasn't anything he'd rather do than avoid reading or otherwise looking at the paper out of his own anger - anger that was heavily directed at himself. Sometime later and after he was told that many people would be making a recovery, he allowed himself to read the section that listed the dead and injured.

As Sarah had told him, as Corene and Aster had told him too, it wasn't nearly as extensive as it was in his mind. He thanked Merlin for that, he thanked whoever else if there was anybody in the first place for their help too.

Seven dead was the official tally, with six times the number of wounded, some seriously despite the days that'd gone by. Magical medicine, the spells predominantly though the potions weren't far behind, were truly… magical in their abilities. If Muggles could regrow bones like Magicals could, if they were given the chance to cure whole illnesses with the sip of a potion, Merlin, they'd be horribly strong.

"What're you thinking about?" Corene asked him as the two made their way through one of the various long, empty hallways of Hogwarts.

"Nothing much, not really," Harry said in response to her question with a reassuring grin.

"You're lying. That's not very flattering, Harry," Corene said blandly, blinking at him when he turned his attention back over to her.

He raised an eyebrow much like how Elaine would at the Carrow girl. "What makes you think I'm lying?"

Corene snorted and raised a finger to tap her jaw, next, she brought his attention to her fist where she clenched and unclenched it a few times. "That's what you were doing, and your jaw was very tight-looking. What's bothering you?"

"No getting anything past you, huh?" Harry asked rhetorically, chuckling to himself before the two turned a corner and he continued. "That battle, if you could really call it that, with how weird Grindelwald's forces were being. I know they wanted to capture me, I'm sure Elaine told you as much too, but I can't for the life of me figure out why that'd be. Yaxley probably didn't say a lot to them, he wasn't even mentioned by Aster's cousin, I think it was. Not only was all of that weird, but there's also something… something else too. I haven't told Elaine yet, I haven't told anybody."

With that, Harry paused and sighed. He wasn't sure if he should tell Corene about Walburga setting him up to speak with Grindelwald via that letter. Beyond that, despite Walburga being very weird in this time and downright rude in the other, there was a portion of him that didn't want to ruin her life by outing her as somebody who had contact with Grindelwald. Sirius had never said she was outright evil, just wrong in her thinking, horribly wicked and lost in her ways… minorly evil was probably a better term for her. Either way, there was no telling what that'd do to this time if she went to Azkaban or on the run.

I have to talk to her.

Harry knew he did. On the flip side, a confidant that wasn't overbearing, opinionated and outright deviant in some ways was definitely needed; who else but Corene could fill that role?

"If I talk to you about that, would you do me the favour of keeping it between us?" Harry asked finally, glancing at Corene to try and attempt a reading of her emotions.

There was almost nothing to go off of other than the slight firmness that came to her expression. That was if you could even call her lips going into the usual straight lines of theirs 'firmness' in the first place - her lack of emotions had always bothered him, but truthfully, it wasn't any business of his as to why she was that way. It certainly made it easier for her to hide how she felt, that was for certain.

"Whatever you mean to tell me so long as it doesn't explicitly work against Elaine will be held close to my chest," Corene said to him.

He nodded at her statement despite the weirdness therein and spoke after tossing up a privacy charm on their persons. "Grindelwald is in contact with somebody at Hogwarts that wasn't Yaxley. She hasn't been actively working against the school or towards helping him take everything over so far as I can tell, rather, it seems to me she's ensuring her status is kept. That's part of what's been keeping me so distant and thoughtful these past few days - the battle is obviously the other half on account of how terrible it actually was. Really, I thought there'd be dozens dead rather than the few there really were."

"Grindelwald preaches Magical lives are of a far greater value than Muggle ones, and so the spilling of it angers him just as much as it does most Wizards and Witches. That's if you believe what he says, I personally think that those who follow him put far more stock into it than he does on account of the crimes he's committed against whole communities of Magicals that didn't agree with him," Corene said, prompting Harry to remember the papers he'd read earlier in the year that spoke of such crimes. "I could only guess who it is that you're referencing as having contact with him too, on account of you mentioning familial positions. I do not believe it would be any within Gryffindor or Hufflepuff, by and large, so I'm more apt to believe it's a housemate of ours or a Pureblood of Ravenclaw. I'm sure regardless of my deductive reasoning, you'll tell me the name of the person you accuse of having contact with him."

Harry couldn't help but have a small smile come to his face at Corene's correct assumptions, and thus, he nodded. "You're right. She's not in Gryffindor or Hufflepuff, and yes, I will tell you: Walburga."

I'm not going to lie to Corene about this even if I shouldn't really have told her. Suppose this is how I'll see if she's actually a close friend or a puppet of Elaine's.

As much as Harry wanted to trust and believe his friendship with Corene was true, the fact was that she was a relative - despite keeping it a secret - of Elaine's in addition to knowing her longer than she had him. With that said, an easy way to know exactly where she stood was to see if this found its way back to Elaine. If it did, Corene was done so far as he was concerned.

If it didn't, the friendship they already had would grow even stronger. Perhaps she'd even tell him exactly what it was that her family wanted help with. Help that had to come from him, which seemed weird enough.

"I can't say that I'm entirely too surprised that Walburga would work with Grindelwald," Corene said nonchalantly as if the news wasn't horribly shocking. "Do you know the extent of their working relationship by any chance? Walburga's never been one to lift a finger if she could help it, so to hear that she's working for and with him in any manner of the word is rather weird."

"I could show you a letter if it hadn't done itself in, because that's all I've got on her. One of her friends, I don't quite remember her name - Anna or Annie maybe, delivered the piece of parchment to me and said that it came from Walburga. I know it did too, the writing I've seen before and the wording was similar," Harry stopped and folded his arms as he leaned against the wall.

"You don't know what it is that she does then, no?" Corene asked with her usual cocked head.

Harry shook his head and shrugged. "I don't have a clue specifically as to what it is that she does. If it's with Grindelwald, regardless of what it is, it can't be very good. I only hope it's nothing to the degree of Yaxley in the sense of leaving and offering up Merlin only knows what for information."

"Walburga would be unlikely to risk her current position and as such, won't do anything similar to what Yaxley did. Not unless she's been playing everybody since the very beginning, and between the two of us, I'm unlikely to think she has half the required intelligence to do so," Corene shook her head and tugged on Harry's closer arm. "We should continue lest Elaine comes looking for us. Thank you, Harry, for telling me about her - I'll not break your trust and you have my gratefulness for not breaking mine."

Ah, right, her relationship with Elaine. Bun telling Elaine that.

"Your personal matters are exactly that," Harry said, smiling at Corene as the two of them left their spot from the wall and resumed their earlier journey to the Great Hall.

Corene nodded to him once in thanks rather than repeating the earlier words. Each knew how the other felt, and with the conversation done, each had the new priority of food.

"Harry," Elaine greeted as soon as his arse hit the bench. "You and Corene were late, is everything well?"

"Yes, yes. Everything is perfectly fine, it's been good as long as the two of us have been good. We still need to continue our talk, actually. We didn't exactly cover what it was that you did or didn't tell me or what was twisted," Harry smiled politely at Elaine then, showing that he wasn't mad or otherwise bothered by her - really, he just desperately wanted to get to the bottom of her as a person.

Elaine's demeanour changed to one that he hadn't seen in quite a long time; her face went slack to serious, her smile went charming as when she'd speak with a Professor or other bigwig of Magical Society, and finally, her voice deepened to that of her business tone.

"Tonight, then, if it's all the same to you, my love. I'm sure if you've waited as long as you have, a few hours won't mean all that much to you - it's not nearly as much as you think either, I can promise you that even if you'll not believe me," Elaine ran a hand lengthwise up his arm and took a sip of her morning tea. "Much has to be said to the others to get them to understand and continue on with what I tell them, your mistake lay in the initial months of getting to know me, where you missed out on a lot of those inner workings. Still, I did promise you and I don't want to risk this newfound bond between us."

Harry didn't believe most of the words she spewed out then, especially with her very obvious change in persona. But, if there was one thing he'd put more stock into than the rest, it was her not wanting to risk their newfound closeness. She had tried for months on end to get him closer to her, and now that she had him closer, he had to believe Elaine wouldn't risk it.

"Answer me one question and then we'll wait for the evening," Harry said, pushing the matter and raising his head so that she knew he wouldn't cave in as he used to.

Sure, he hadn't been nearly as easy for her to push around as he used to be, but the point of the matter was that his pushover actions had given way for inaction - inaction was, in his opinion, only slightly better than when she'd rolled over him all those months ago.

"I don't thi-"

"Purebloods," Harry prefaced at the same time he cut her off, "Where do you really stand on them? You told me that-" Elaine waved her hand as he spoke, very noticeably putting up a privacy spell despite the low whispering the two were doing "-you wanted to stop them from being given as much favour as they currently are, especially with them being behind so many of the messes that the wizarding world faces. Yet, imagine my surprise when I hear from numerous people including Ministry contacts that you not only hold blood purity as a matter of importance but wish to further raise the Pureblood elite. Where do you truly lie, and look me in the eye when you answer this, Elaine."

Elaine sighed and turned her attention fully to him, those dark eyes of hers staring into his with an intensity that was only matched by her more lustful moods. "In the eyes. Aren't you nervous that I'll look into your mind like I did when we first met?" Elaine twirled a strand of her hair in a girlish manner, very clearly playing coy with him. "After all, that's why you were scared enough to avoid looking me in the eyes for a few weeks, wasn't it? That's why you're still hesitant when we're together too, but I know that you know a good deal about me. You've seen me in those seer dreams of yours… it'd be an unfair advantage if I didn't see into your mind just as you've seen into my soul."

Harry shook his head when she was finished speaking. "I'm not worried about looking you in the eyes. You haven't looked in my mind since that day, and it's not solely because I asked you to avoid doing so either - there's some bit of you that knows it's wrong to do against me. I'd reckon you don't do it do Corene, Daphne or the others either. As for that seeing stuff that you put so much stock into, a lot more than me that's for sure, everything I see has the chance to not happen. Now, how about you answer the question, yeah?"

"Purebloods need to persist if we as a society are to continue, reforms are necessary, certain families will have to stay. Is that sufficient enough of an answer for you, my love, or should I tell you more whilst we're in the presence of the entire school?" Elaine cocked her head in that haughty manner, with one hand coming to rest upon her hip after doing so.

For Harry, that was enough of an answer. She wanted the Purebloods and the status quo to continue by and large. He would change that, yes, he'd do whatever was necessary when she took the position of Minister to ensure all were given a fair shot in the world.

"That works for now. Merlin knows I won't get anything out of you while we're whispering at the table," Harry said, shrugging in an unimpressed way as he began digging into his food. "Thanks, by the way, for dealing with the Rosier woman. I don't think I ever said it, much less asked how easy it was to send her running."

Elaine's mood seemed to lighten up now that he'd finished pressing her, and like a coin, everything about her switched to pleasant with the privacy charm waved off as easily as it'd been waved on. "She wasn't anything too beyond my capabilities, and I should think that you wore her out to some degree too. You proved yourself that day, Harry, and I'll not forget how you stood up to three of his fighters. Nobody will forget that."

Such emphasis was put on the word nobody, and the loudness in which she'd said it only added to his curiosity; whoever the point was being made for had surely gotten it if he had.

Out of habit or thanks to a lingering thought in the back of his mind, his eyes sought out Walburga. The girl didn't seem concerned, rigid or otherwise bothered by Elaine's words. One would almost think she was mostly normal if they didn't know what Harry did regarding her choice of friends.

She'd have to be dealt with. Many and more people would need to be.