Chapter Forty Three - The Throckmorton Plot

Disclaimer: The Harry Potter universe belongs to the proverbial Duchess of Magic, JK Rowling, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, Warner Bros and some other high falutin' companies. No matter how much I whine about not owning anything related to the HP universe, other than a few fanfic plots, I do not profess to own - and would never dream of making any money off - JKR's wonderful world... Damn it!

Chapter Forty Three - The Throckmorton Plot

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—==(oIo)==—

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About an hour later both Sirius and Remus arrived from Black Manor. Theoretically, they were there to add extra wands to defend the Potters and Astoria from another attack while in Diagon Alley, similar to what happened the previous summer. Personally, Harry thought any excuse to see him and his wives for either of the two men was okay by them, and him.

"So, Harry," began Remus. "Get up to much mischief at school this past term?"

"No," grumbled Sirius. "Not one prank. Not one, Moony. I was ashamed on James's behalf to be related to him."

"No pranks, Padfoot?" grinned Harry. "Who said we didn't carry out any pranks? Just because you never caught us in any, does not presuppose we weren't involved in any."

Turning to his godson with a wide grin and a sparkle in his eye, Sirius asked, "Oh? And, pray tell, which ones were yours?"

"The one that had Snivellous walking around with the theme song for the muggle cartoon Batfink playing, and that only he couldn't hear," replied Harry, beginning to tick things off on his fingers as he walked.

"The one that had Crabbe and Goyle following Ginny Weasley all over the school and swearing their undying love for her," smirked Hermione.

"Wait," said Sirius. "That was you three? We had a seventh year Gryffindor for that."

"Misdirection," said Daphne. "We set him up after he tried to pinch my bum. A minor compulsion charm on him had him cast two major compulsion charms at a wall in a vacant classroom. That set him up to have the two charms that Hermione and I hit Crabbe and Goyle with show on his wand with a Prior Incantatem."

Matthias, who'd been listening in, gave a sudden snort of amusement. "And, as the boy's wand displayed two major compulsion charms being cast, the teaching staff had no reason to look any further. And thereby punishing both young Miss Weasley and the fiend who took liberties."

"Precisely," smirked Daphne.

"What else?" asked Sirius, clearly happy to learn the three Potters were maintaining traditions.

"The third one we got in trouble with Luna about," sighed Hermione. "Remember a lot of the walls in the castle turning pink for an afternoon?"

"Oh, yes," laughed Sirius. "That was you?"

"Yes," replied Harry, trying not to laugh. "These two lovely ladies figured out how to use a protean charm to temporarily link one of the anchoring runes for the magic suppression fields in the corridors to all the others throughout the castle. Then they simply turned the one wall pink and allowed the protean charm to turn the rest pink."

"But Luna figured it out pretty quickly, as it only turned those walls pink that she knew had already had the anchoring runes carved, and nowhere else," added Hermione. "She was pretty irate about it and explained how it had a negative impact on how the magic suppression fields worked; and made us cancel them."

"So that's why none of the staff could turn the walls back to normal," laughed Sirius. "We all thought it was a charm of sorts when, all along, it was rune-based. Clever."

"But, that was all we did," said Hermione. "I'm still not happy with committing pranks. It's too... anarchical for me."

"It's not 'committing', Hermione," disagreed Sirius. "It's 'pulling'! And, of course it's anarchical; that's the whole point."

"It's rule-breaking," she grumbled back.

"We harmed no one, love," said Harry, trying to soothe her. "We promised our pranks would not target anyone, specifically... except Professor Snape. And, even then, it did no harm to him. The one on Weasley and Atkins was more in the form of punishment, than a prank."

"Except make them laughing stocks for the day," she muttered.

_‗_

—==(oIo)==—

ˇ

Harry and his wives were surprised that their shopping outing went off without a hitch. There were no sudden attacks by Riddle or his thugs out to do mischief, and no major events to distract them from their tasks. The only downside was the general behaviour of the entire alley, with many store owners and shoppers being furtive and very wary, even with it being the Yule season.

After switching off with adults and forming different groups, everyone was able to buy Christmas presents for everyone else without them being around.

When Deece declared she, Hermione, Daphne and even Astoria would be spending a bit of time in Madam Primpernelle's, everyone knew what it was for. That Astoria was joining them saw Matthias quite unhappy about it, but he didn't say a word. That Astoria had only just turned thirteen was clearly playing on the man's mind.

To distract him from his thoughts, Harry, Sirius and Remus dragged him off to Quality Quidditch Supplies, where Harry engaged him in a serious discussion about the hopes of the next season of the professional Quidditch league teams. It helped that Matthias was an avid supporter of a team that was a rival of Harry's favourite team, the Caerphilly Catapults.

When Harry mentioned that the Catapults were favoured to win the league, this year, Matthias shot back, "Oh, come on! Caerphilly have done nothing of much note since their oh-so-wonderful win over the Karasjok Kites in 1956 to take the title. Since Dai Llewellyn left in 1962 their limited successes have only been the result of luck, more than anything!"

Harry just scoffed back and said, "And the only thing the Tutshill Tornadoes have going for them is a good seeker. Their chasers are appalling, their keeper isn't much better, and their beaters are average at best. Put a decent seeker against them and they'll end up being relegated."

"Blasphemy!" exclaimed Matthias, at the slight to his favourite team. "Bond or no bond, I don't know what my daughter sees in you; honestly!"

"A person who's not blinded by the pretty blue the Tornadoes wear because they're a Johnny-come-lately team in a league where all the good colours had already been picked," huffed Harry.

"A rich, half-millennium history does not make them Johnny-come-latelies!" glared Matthias.

While Harry and Matthias were having their 'debate', Sirius and Remus had joined the store proprietor, Phineas Quincy, over by the counter.

"Is this usual?" asked Remus, indicating the two.

"Nope," said Sirius as Quincy said, "Yep!"

Realising the misunderstanding, Quincy elaborated. "It's usual for my store. I don't know about usual for those two."

"Harry's just distracting Matthias over how his youngest daughter is currently in Madam Primpernelle's to pick up some of those potions," said Sirius. "He's doing a pretty good job of it, too."

"His youngest?!" exclaimed Quincy, trying to keep his voice down. "Isn't she... what... nine?"

With a smirk, Remus corrected him. "Thirteen," he softly said. "And, it's not as if she's actually needing the potions, you understand; because, I don't believe there's a boy in her life. I think it's just a... precaution."

With a grunt of acknowledgement, Quincy nodded and said, "They just seem to grow up so fast, these days."

With the 'argument' between Harry and Matthias apparently over for the time being, Harry approached the counter and asked, "Any news on when the new Bolt broom is likely to hit the markets?"

"Not yet," replied Quincy. "However, rumour has it, it'll be called the Lightningbolt; and it'll be even faster than the Firebolt."

"Well, can you keep me informed?" asked Harry. "I'd like to be one of the first to buy it, when it finally hits the market."

"I'll go you one better, Mister Potter," smiled Quincy. "I'll let them know you're interested, and see if they might be able to find a way for you to get one of them even before they hit the shelves."

"Really?" asked Harry. "That'd be brilliant! But, I don't want to have to actually endorse it, or anything, to get it early. I've got the money to pay for it fair and square, just like everyone else."

With a smile Quincy replied, "I'll let them know."

_‗_

—==(oIo)==—

ˇ

After returning to Greengrass Farm, Harry set aside the gifts he purchased for family and friends and sought out a quiet room to meditate to begin the process of getting in touch with his magic. He found the best room was right next door to the Potter room, in one of the guest bedrooms.

Settling down, he found it easiest to sit lotus-style with his shoes off and his wrists resting on his knees. It was the sitting style he used to learn of his animagus form.

'Sitting comfortably, check,' he thought. 'Not too hot and not too cold, check. Relax. Begin breathing. In through the nose, hold it. And out through the mouth, pause. In through the nose, hold it. And out through the mouth, pause'.

As he focussed on his breathing with one part of his mind, he let the more conscious part imagine a lit candle sitting before him in a dark room. He focussed on the flame. And focussed on the very centre of it.

As he continued to breathe in a steady rhythm he imagined himself losing himself within the steady flame of the candle. He became part of the flame. He was the flame.

His meditating was shortly interrupted by Hermione, who had apparently come looking for him.

"Harry, love," she said, pulling him out of his meditative state. "Harry. Open your eyes."

When he finally opened his eyes he realised just how alive and relaxed he felt. Turning to look at her he frowned, a little annoyed to have his meditation broken.

"What's going on?" he asked. "I've only been at this for a few minutes. I need more time."

"Harry, you've been sitting in the same position for more than three hours," she softly replied. "We're being called for dinner."

Shocked at how much time had actually passed, he asked, "Three hours?"

"More than," she replied. "It's been closer to three and a half."

When he unkinked his legs and tried to stand he realised how numb they felt, and groaned.

Hurrying forward, Hermione helped pull him to his feet, supporting his weight.

"You alright?" she asked.

"Yeah," he softly replied with a slight hiss. "My legs are just a little stiff, that's all."

After getting feeling back into his legs, he said, "Better, thank you."

"Need me to help you down to the kitchen?" she asked, tentatively stepping away from him a bit.

"Nope. Thanks, though," he replied with a sigh. "I'm fine now."

Together, they walked downstairs to join the rest of the family for dinner.

_‗_

—==(oIo)==—

ˇ

After a wonderful Christmas Day, the three Potters moved to the Granger residence. This time, instead of side-along apparating, they took a portkey from the safe room to the garage at the Grangers.

Dashing to the door, Hermione flung it open and called, "We're here!"

"Cele!" called Ant from somewhere within. "I think I'm suffering from auditory hallucinations! I can hear Pumpkin calling us!"

"Daddy!" Hermione happily exclaimed before she ran across the hallway into the front parlour.

As the others glanced at one another with matching grins, they followed Hermione through the door and across the hall. They entered the parlour just as Cele walked in through the other door cradling little William in the hollow of her shoulder.

They found Hermione attempting to squeeze her father half to death with a hug. But, noticing her mother walk in with the baby, Ant was quickly abandoned with a squeal as she then quickly made her way to her mother and the baby.

Gently pulling the blankets wrapped around the baby aside, so she could see her baby brother's face, Hermione was cooing to the sleeping infant's face.

"Ooooh, he's getting so big!" she softly said.

"I should think so," said Cele. "He's almost two and half months now."

"I'm missing so much!" whined Hermione.

As Hermione was cooing over the baby, she was joined by Daphne as Harry made his way over to Ant.

"How was the Farm?" asked Ant.

"Yeah, good," replied Harry. "It's just a pity we don't get to spend a lot of time with any of you."

"Two weeks isn't a lot of time, but it's better than nothing," shrugged Ant. Watching Hermione and Daphne fawning over baby William he said, "Don't either of you get too clucky. I have no interest in being a grandfather just yet, thank you very much."

Daphne just grinned as Hermione poked her tongue out back at her father, before turning back to the baby.

"It's not going to happen, Ant," said Harry. "None of us have any interest in parenthood until both Riddle and our studies have been dealt with. And, even then, we want to establish our careers first."

With a quite audible sigh, Ant said, "I know, but accidents happen."

"Not with the potions," said Daphne, who had overheard. "I understand there were risks with the muggle potions; but, they don't exist with the magical ones."

"But, what about with how magically strong..." said Ant, gesturing to Harry. "We were told there was a risk because of the bonds."

"There was," she acknowledged. "However, if that was going to happen, it would have happened before now."

"We're safe, Daddy," nodded Hermione. "The potions are strong enough to ensure we won't fall pregnant until we're ready. We're being responsible."

"See that you continue to be so," said Cele. "I'm sure little William here doesn't want to be an uncle to someone in the same year as him at Hogwarts. Or even only a few years his junior."

"Study, Riddle, study some more, establishing careers and then babies," said Harry. "By the time a nephew or niece turns up at Hogwarts, little 'Wags' will probably already have graduated."

Cele scowled at him. "I wish you wouldn't call William that. That sort of nickname tends to stick."

"Sorry," he smiled back. "But, the oldest Weasley boy is named 'William'... Bill. So..."

"And you don't want to be reminded of the Weasleys..." she sighed.

"Oh, it's not that, exactly," he said, hoping to show it wasn't too big a deal. "I know I can trust the twins, Fred and George. I'm pretty sure I can trust Bill and Charlie, the two oldest, too. The same goes with Mister Weasley, Arthur. I'm not sure, though, about Percy. And we definitely cannot trust Ron, Ginny or Molly.

"It's just that, in the old timeline, there was no William Aragon Granger. And William, Bill, proved to be quite helpful when he knew I was Ginny's boyfriend. He dotes on her, as she does him. However, now that I'm one of the ones who saw her face trial for the attempted Amortentia dosings, that trust may no longer exist; though, I'm pretty sure it should."

With a sigh, Cele relented a little. "Fine," she said. "But, only in the presence of family. Please don't use it in public. And, when he starts to make friends and they're over, not in front of them."

"Better 'Wags' than a lot of other nicknames I could think of," smiled Ant.

_‗_

—==(oIo)==—

ˇ

Over the course of the break, Harry continued to spend as much time as he could working on recreating the bond he had with Riddle through his curse scar. However this time, as he would be the one controlling it, he made sure to set up defences between the connection and his mind. This was his penultimate layer of protection; with the final layer being his active Occlumency defences. This time, Riddle would not be able to send him false visions or torment him in his sleep.

His concept, which he made reality, was to first find where the connection was originally anchored in his mind. Once he found it, he built an all encompassing fortification around it with a small doorway that only he could pass through. It was essentially keyed to his own magical signature. Other than that, the fortification was of null magic construction; that is, Riddle couldn't cast spells at it to tear it down.

Next was spent a great deal of time trying to find the actual link between his and Riddle's minds. And, once he had it, he set about trying to configure it to be only one-way. That is, he could enter Riddle's mind, but Riddle couldn't come back the other way.

It was on the final day of their break, before heading to Platform 9¾ the next morning, that he felt he was ready to push down the link.

It was after a very satisfying night of sleep and a fulfilling breakfast, Harry retired to the bondmates' room to make the first attempt at entering Riddle's mind.

First, he cast upon himself a mental disillusionment, sense confounding and an overlaid Notice-Me-Not charm before he began to explore the path between the two of them. Then he gently began to ease along the connection.

At first he only sensed an emotion of disgruntlement with an underlying more primal sense of fear. Holding off Harry tried to figure out why Riddle was feeling that way.

'Of course,' he thought. 'The whining is from his apparent loss of magical power; and the fear is from it being discovered by his lickspittles.'

Pushing forward, Harry began to sense conscious thoughts. Again, he held position to see if he'd been detected.

As the thoughts did not change, he pushed further forward until, almost suddenly, he could make out things through Riddle's eyes. He could almost peripherally smell a musty scent, feel the touch of the Acromantula silk robe on Riddle's body, the slightly seeping cold, and hear everything even slightly muffled.

Wondering how long it would take Riddle to sense his presence, Harry held position in the connection and just monitored.

By the time he ended the connection, which felt like a couple hours, Harry understood why Voldemort hadn't ordered as many attacks as the last run though. He was spending almost every waking hour researching why he was so magically weak. Instead of sending his Death Eaters on attacks, he was sending them around the world looking for books that would give him the answers he sought.

Of course, he couldn't just send them for books specifically related to magical weakness. He could not risk them figuring out he was weak. So he sent them after books on a range of subjects. Some were on soul magic including soul bonds, soul bindings and the like. Others were on dark rituals used to strengthen the core, both temporarily and permanently.

Owls were often flying in with the latest acquisitions from around the world.

As for the few attack 'missions' Riddle had sent his minions on, they were because he wanted to keep those DEs he kept in England busy. The one on the train, Saint Mungo's and the assassination attempt on Harry and Professor Flitwick, and the one on Amelia Bones were the few Riddle had developed, personally. All the others, especially the attacks on the homes of the muggleborns, were initiated and devised from among his followers.

That the four attacks Riddle had personally developed were all failures was causing a great deal of doubt in his abilities among his so-called loyal followers. He'd had to kill half a dozen of his new recruits after the failed attack on the train, just to enforce discipline.

The other news Harry had learned was that Riddle was definitely planning an attempt to gain the prophecy from the Department of Mysteries; and, as they expected, an attempt to collect the information about muggleborns the Ministry had in its possession. It was also clear that Riddle was unaware the information had all been placed under a Knowledge Fidelius and was, therefore, useless to him.

New information to Harry was that the attempt also had a third objective, a second attempt at assassinating high level Ministry employees; including Amelia Bones and Tiberius Ogden. He watched as Riddle wrote down the information and an overview to the plan on parchment before him at the conjured desk he used.

Carefully withdrawing from the connection, Harry wrote down what he'd seen and witnessed through the connection. He wrote out the same plan overview, and then started on listing who Riddle had summoned to his presence to give further instructions.

While the Death Eaters all wore masks while out and about, they were banned from doing so in the privacy of Riddle's 'throne room'. Other added names were those who he specifically named for specific tasks in the plan.

Once he was finished, Harry made a copy of everything he'd written down and sent a copy, together with a covering letter, to Madam Bones. Hedwig took it to deliver it a little while later.

_‗_

—==(oIo)==—

ˇ

Walking into the kitchen he found his wives and Cele sitting around the kitchen table drinking tea. He already knew that Ant was at the surgery for the day.

"Here he is," smiled Daphne. "How'd it go?"

"We came up a couple of times to check on you," explained Hermione. "You seemed to be alright, so we left you to it."

With a wide grin, Harry replied, "It worked. I was able to get into his conscious mind without being detected; then used that connection to spy on him."

That had both wives perk up.

"What did you learn?" asked Hermione, almost eagerly.

Before answering, he passed the parchment he'd been writing on across to his wives and replied, "This is a copy of the information I discovered. I've already sent Hedwig off with a copy of it to Madam Bones."

Quickly scanning down through it all, Hermione gasped and said, "This is amazing!"

"What date is Riddle likely to try for the Ministry?" asked Daphne.

"No idea, yet," he replied with a sigh. "And I think that's because Riddle doesn't know when he wants to make the attempt.

"However, now that I know I can get into his head without being detected... and how... I'll be able to keep a near constant eye on him."

"You're thinking of using his attack on the Ministry as the time you go after him, personally," said Daphne, leaping to the same conclusion Harry had earlier.

"Yes," he grinned. "What better place to defeat him than inside the Ministry itself? Nice and public."

"You intend to set a trap," said Hermione, already knowing what was to come.

"I do," he replied. "And, with the help of Madam Bones, Unspeakable Croaker and their combined forces, I intend to defeat him."

"Then, we need a plan," said Daphne.

_‗_

—==(oIo)==—

ˇ

Though they knew there was no second attack upon the Hogwarts Express planned, the trip back to the castle still saw a small contingent of aurors board at Kings Cross with the students. They spread out to be two per carriage, and immediately transfigured their robes into those of students. On their persons they carried single doses of Polyjuice potion, but they wouldn't be taking them unless and until the train was actually attacked.

However, from Harry's initial trip into the mind of Riddle, they knew the identity of an auror who was feeding information back to Riddle. And, using that traitor, they ensured Riddle knew a trap lay in wait for him and his Death Eaters if they did attack the Express. Therefore, they both ensured the Express wouldn't be attacked, and the true trap was still kept secret.

From within their compartment Harry and his wives were the only ones who knew of his connection to Riddle. It was such a precious secret that they could not take the risk Riddle would learn of it. Therefore, they didn't speak of it with their friends.

The train was slowing down at the end of its journey when Harry felt the wards at Potter Retreat signal someone had arrived by one of the special portkeys.

He suddenly stiffened in shock.

"Harry?" asked Hermione, first to notice. "What's wrong?"

"Someone just triggered one of the special portkeys," he said. "We need to go."

"What?" asked Tracey, confused by Harry's behaviour.

"We need to go, Tracey," said Daphne, as the three bondmates all stood. "We'll see you at the castle."

Harry quickly pulled a knick-knack from his pocket to pretend it was a portkey and held it out as he and his bondmates all ejected their main wands into their hands, ready to cast.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Ready," both wives immediately replied.

"Activate home sweet home!" he said almost barking it out.

The last thing the three saw as the portkey swept them away with the hook behind the navel feeling was their friends staring back at them in shock.

_‗_

—==(oIo)==—

ˇ

As they were released from the swirl of the portkey, all three immediately erected shields with their main wands as they ejected their second, hidden wands into their hands ready for battle.

Landing in the entrance hall of Potter Retreat, Harry quickly turned about looking for trouble, as did his wives. All he saw was the face of Ant peering around one of the doors leading out of the room.

"Dad?" asked Hermione, also spotting the man and quickly walking over to him before enveloping him in a hug.

After ensuring there was no immediate attack, Harry turned to Ant Granger and asked, "Is everyone alright?"

Coming further into the room, he led in Cele, who was carrying baby William in her arms. "Yes," he sighed in relief. "The three of us are fine. But, I don't know about Winky."

"Quickly, what can you tell us?" asked Harry.

"We don't know how many of them there were," replied Ant. "All we know is the alert ward triggered that magicals had just attacked our wards.

"Thankfully, all three of us were in the lounge when it happened. Winky popped in and declared we were under attack. Then she grabbed Cele, who was already holding William, and disappeared with them. Then she came back and popped away with me.

"She had taken us to the hidden room with the CCTV equipment, which she'd already activated. From that we saw there was at least three of them; three Death Eaters, all making their way to the front door.

"As one of them used some sort of spell to blow the front door off the house, Winky ordered us to grab one of the quoits. Then she... activated it.

"The next thing I know, we're here, in the middle of the floor. But, no Winky."

"Three, you say?" asked Harry.

"Yeah, three," replied Ant.

"Winky's gone to ensure the protection of whatever assets she can, Dad," said Hermione. "She's been ordered to do so, but her priority is to stay safe, herself."

Ant frowned and began, "I don't like..." But was interrupted.

In the few moments they'd been talking, Daphne had conjured a patronus and sent it off. Harry and Hermione knew it was being sent to Madam Bones as a messenger patronus advising her of the attack on the Granger residence.

Harry, not really listening, pulled another quoit off the mantelpiece and held it out to his wives. "Sorry, Dad; but, we have to go again."

Both wives immediately hooked a finger on the quoit as Harry continued, "We'll be back in a little while. Call Jeeves and he'll look after you."

Once both wives had secured a grip on the quoit, Harry activated it before Ant could respond, as Harry knew he would in an attempt to stop them. And they were gone again.

_‗_

—==(oIo)==—

ˇ

As planned, the portkey quoit dropped them off in the garage. Allowing his senses to expand outwards, Harry could sense there were no anti-apparation or portkey wards in place. Obviously, the Death Eaters did not believe the 'muggles' would have access to such.

Hermione quickly made her way to the connecting door and, casting a quick silencing charm on the hinges, pulled it gently open; but only enough to peer out.

Quickly closing it again she turned to her bondmates and indicated with her hands. From her gestures Harry and Daphne understood there were two to the left and up - obviously, up the stairs. And one to the right and further back - the end of the hallway or kitchen.

They'd practiced this, so few words needed to be said.

With the order of who was where, the three bondmates assumed their positions. All three then cast silencing charms on themselves. Hermione was then first through the door and stepping right, ready with a shield charm. Then Daphne through and to the left with the same readiness. Finally, Harry stepped through.

A quick check to ensure those two upstairs were not aware of them, the three made their way stealthily down the hall and to the kitchen.

Inside, they saw the back of a large Death Eater, bent over with his head looking inside the refrigerator. The three quickly stepped in behind him.

Hermione cast a silent petrifying charm on him as Daphne erected a small anti-portkey ward around him. Finally, Harry gently lowered the man to the ground.

A quick stripping of his wand, a second hidden wand, and two portkeys; the man was quickly stunned, bound and dabbed with the Sleepy-byes potion.

From the kitchen, the three carefully returned to the downstairs hallway before making their way towards the front of the house and the bottom of the stairs.

Hermione reminded them of which stairs creaked. However, Harry cast a silencing charm on the whole staircase before leading the three of them upstairs.

From the noises the two upstairs were making it was easy to determine the two were in the master bedroom. The door was open.

Hesitating to make sure his two wives were properly positioned to rush the room, Harry gave the signal.

Stepping boldly into the room, Harry quickly stunned the first one he saw as Hermione, the second one in, stunned the other.

Very quickly, both were bound, potioned and stripped of wands and portkeys.

"Three, right?" Harry softly asked his wives.

"That's what Dad said," Hermione replied just as softly.

With a sudden pop, Winky appeared before them. She almost got herself cursed, so startled were the three of them.

"One more out the front, Master Harry, sir," she said. "Winky took care of her."

With a snort of amusement, Harry was about to reply when Hermione suddenly said, "Bring them inside and put them in the lounge room, please Winky."

With a firm nod, Winky popped away again.

As Harry and Daphne levitated the two Death Eaters out of the bedroom and towards the stairs, Hermione led the way. And just because they now knew there were four, did not mean they could lower their guards just yet. She led with both her wands drawn.

The three had just lined up the four unconscious Death Eaters on the lounge room floor when the repaired front door burst open, and three aurors almost stumbled in. The three had only had time to feel the alert of the wards ping, and turn to the front door with wands ready and shields in place, before they were inside.

"Identify yourselves," barked Harry.

"Awww," whined Hermione. "I'd just repaired that door!"

The lead auror, on facing three wands from whom he assumed to be teenagers, hesitated only for a moment before he raised his wand and other hand in the surrender gesture. "Aurors," he calmly replied.

With a gesture to his partners, he asked, "Mister Potter? May we lower our hands?"

With a nod, Harry lowered his wand. His two wives did the same.

Looking down at the floor to the Death Eaters as the three aurors stepped more fully into the room, the auror smirked and said, "Well, Mister Potter... ladies... yet again you've done all the work except the paperwork for us. Perhaps I should send you a copy of the forms and you fill those out for us too, eh?"

"I'll pass, thanks," smirked Harry.

Bending down, Hermione had already removed the masks of the four on the floor. Neither Harry nor Hermione recognised any of them. However, Daphne seemed to recognise at least one of them.

"Wilkes," she sneered at the one who had a little silver embossing on his mask. "I never did like him."

"Brenton Wilkes," agreed the lead auror. "His brother was a Death Eater and killed in the last war. I was sure he wasn't one."

Giving a slight cough, Hermione stepped forward and offered the auror one of their usual wand and portkey bags. "Auror?" she asked.

"Senior Auror Stephenson, Ma'am," said the auror, taking the bag. "This is all their wands and portkeys?"

"Yes, Senior," she replied. "And, they've all been dosed with Sleepy-byes. All that's left is to portkey them on their way."

The auror smirked and gestured to the two aurors behind him. "You heard the lady," he instructed them. "'Cuff 'em and port' 'em!"

While his two partners set to work, he asked, "Any muggles need obliviating? Or, need a hand, here, to set things to rights?"

"No to both," she replied. "We contained it in here. However, we've no idea how much the neighbours saw."

"We'll take care of it," he said, gesturing to doff his hat as he gestured for the other two to follow him out. "Good evening," he said, pulling the slightly re-ruined door closed behind him.

"Well, back to Potter Retreat to send your parents back," sighed Harry.

"I want to scan everything and again repair the door before we go," said Hermione. "We've no idea, yet, whether those thugs left any magical traps, or the like."

"Good idea," murmured Daphne.

After the three went through the house from top to bottom, checking for traps and the like and finding none, they portkeyed back to Potter Retreat.

_‗_

—==(oIo)==—

ˇ

Arriving in the middle of the floor of the welcoming hall, the three still arrived with wands out in a defensive formation.

"Jeeves!" called Harry.

When the majordomo house elf arrived, and confirmed only the Grangers were there, the three relaxed. Just as they did, Ant entered the room from the dining room kitchen direction.

With a relieved sigh, he said, "I'm glad to see you're all safe."

"We are," replied Hermione. "And so's the house."

As they headed for the kitchen, where it appeared Cele was at the informal dining table in there, they explained about there being four masked terrorists; and that all four had been captured before they could damage the house.

"I'll be checking with Madam Bones, in the morning, to see if we can get the protections on your house boosted," said Harry. "The attempted attack should now be enough for me to convince her to allow me to boost those protections, yet again."

"But, it's safe now?" asked Cele.

"It is," nodded Harry. "This attack was not a Riddle organised one. I think it was organised and carried out by one of his minions in an effort to see himself elevated in Riddle's ranks. It was a... rogue, for wont of a better term... attack. There's no reason to believe it will happen again.

"However, it just might. So, that's why I can use it to see your wards strengthened."

"But, it's safe to go back, tonight?" asked Cele.

"As safe as it can be in our current political environment," replied Harry. "Besides, Winky can get you out if, contrary to the very low likelihood you're attacked again, it does happen again."

"That's good enough for me," Cele stated quite firmly. "Where is Winky, anyway?"

"Probably keeping an eye on things," said Daphne. "Call her."

"Winky!" called Ant.

With a sudden pop Winky appeared before him. "Yes, Master Ant-knee, sir?"

"Just checking to make sure you're alright, Winky," he assured the little house elf.

"Thank you, Master Ant-knee," she replied. "You is a kind Master."

With the help of a portkey, the Grangers returned to the Granger home a little later. The three Potter bondmates almost immediately left via Floo for the Three Broomsticks.

_‗_

—==(oIo)==—

ˇ

Stepping out of the Three Broomsticks, the three bondmates were surprised when they arrived just as the last few carriages were loading with students to head for the castle.

"Oh, thank Merlin," sighed Daphne. "We don't have to walk."

"I thought we'd definitely be too late," agreed Hermione.

The three immediately hurried to jump on the last carriage, even though with them it made it a little crowded. Harry had to stand on the loading step at the back and hold on to the rail.

Walking directly into the Great Hall once the carriage pulled up outside the main doors, Daphne hurried over to the Slytherin table to let Tracey and the others know they'd arrived safely. Hermione immediately sought out Neville to let him and Hannah also know.

When both his wives returned, Harry had already sat at his usual spot opposite Luna; and was about to ask her how her break went when both wives joined him, sitting either side.

"How'd it go?" he asked them both.

"I invited them up after the feast," said Daphne.

"Me, too," said Hermione.

_‗_

—==(oIo)==—

ˇ

After the feast the three bondmates immediately made their way to their apartment.

"Dobby!" called Daphne, as soon as she walked in.

"Yes, Mistress?" asked the little elf, after popping in.

"When you're ready, you can collect our trunks," she said. "However, we've also invited some friends up for a quick hot chocolate and a talk. There should be about half a dozen of them. If you wouldn't mind organising those for us, that'd be wonderful."

"Yes, Mistress," replied Dobby, giving a little bow before popping away again.

Harry had pulled out his wand to do a bit of 'interior decorating' when Dobby obviously did it for them. There was now sufficient lounge seating for a dozen people.

"Hunh!" he huffed. "The little ratbag beat me to it."

Daphne snickered at the almost dumbfounded look on Harry's face as she and Hermione walked past to enter the bedroom.

"Trunks are here!" called Hermione back into the common room.

Harry was about to follow his wives in when there was a knock on the door.

Quickly walking to the door, he opened it; to let in Tracey and the other Slytherins, Draco and Blaise. But, no Horace.

"The girls are in getting changed," he told them, letting them past.

He was just about to close the door as Tracey hurried to the bedroom, when Neville arrived with Susan and Hannah in tow.

"Come in," he told them.

Once everyone was inside, he said, "Dobby's just organising hot chocolates for everyone; and the girls are, I think, getting changed."

Once everyone had returned to the common room and found seats, Dobby popped a serving of a large jug of hot chocolate with a dozen mugs on a serving tray, and a small tureen of tiny marshmallows.

Once those who wanted one had a hot chocolate in their hands, Hermione told them about the attack on her parent's home.

"You caught them?" asked Susan, clearly surprised. "All of them?"

"There were only four," replied Hermione. "And, we had the element of surprise."

"Still, that's better than Aunt Ami's aurors achieve," said Susan.

"That's because we didn't charge in yelling 'Aurors!'," said Harry. "As Dobby would say, we were being all sneaky-sneaky."

Blaise snorted in amusement.

"A mild wizard's Notice-Me-Not charm, masking charms on our perfumes and deodorants, a silencing charm on our feet, and carelessness on their part," said Daphne. "The first one we walked up behind while he had his head in the muggle icebox, cast a silencing charm on him and dropped him with a mild petrifier."

"And the two upstairs were not expecting us to step in through the door and stun them both before they could even blink," added Hermione. "Winky took care of the lone watcher outside by herself."

"We had them all trussed up like Yule turkeys, stripped of wands and portkeys, before the aurors even arrived," said Daphne.

"The Death Eaters' biggest problem is they're not trained to operate as a team," said Harry. "They are, in effect, all individuals who happen to be together when they attack. We three, however, have been trained to work together as a team. That way we work as a single unit far better than the sum of our three parts."

"How long did that take you?" asked Draco.

"We've been training with Professor Flitwick and Snape for months," replied Daphne. "However, we were training independently since the beginning of fourth year."

"We combined helping Harry train for the Tri-Wizard Tournament with learning to fight properly," added Hermione. "We worked out what worked best for the three of us working as a team, and then employed it."

"That's why we were able to easily take down the nine thugs in Diagon Alley during the summer break, the four last night, et cetera," said Harry, giving a little shrug. "We trained as a team; they didn't."

_‗_

—==(oIo)==—

ˇ

Classes quickly resumed and the fifth years were, soon again, swamped with assignments. If anything, the second term was even busier than the first. And they already knew the third term would be the worse yet.

Only a week into the second term and Hermione was already beginning to stress about the approaching OWL exams.

"We really need to keep reviewing," muttered Hermione. "There's only four and a half months to go until OWLs."

"Hermione love, stop it," Daphne berated her. "We're three of the top students in the year. We don't need to devolve into a panic."

"But I need to recalculate our revision schedule," she near-whined.

"No, you don't," Harry firmly shot back. "Think of it this way; if we work too hard now, we'll be burned out before the exams are even close. If we maintain a careful pace, we'll go into the exams alert and prepared. Now is not the time to hit our stride."

"There are at least a half dozen students, every year, who burn out before either OWL or NEWT exams. We don't want to become one of those," added Daphne. "Harry's right. A careful and steady pace is what is called for, at this moment."

"Can I set the schedule up and we discuss it?" asked Hermione. "Please?"

"Fine," sighed Harry. "But no trying to meet it until we all agree; alright?"

"Thank you," she softly replied.

_‗_

—==(oIo)==—

ˇ

While Hermione's schedule for revision wasn't followed, it made an excellent basis for doing assignments and the like. Once Daphne made the suggestion to use it that way, she and Hermione brainstormed between them to come up with something that worked for them.

Of course, things like their fight training with Professors Flitwick and Snape could not be moved about, nor could class times, but that still gave them a lot of leeway.

When not working on an Arithmancy assignment because he didn't take that class like his wives did, Harry used the time to spy on Riddle through his re-established link. He learned that Riddle was becoming more and more frustrated as the 'hordes' of purebloods he expected to flock to him after his rebirth was, in reality, only a trickle. He was further hoping that many would come from the Ancient Houses; but, again, there was only a few.

With the loss of most of his original inner circle, Riddle had also lost the majority of his funding. Lucius Malfoy brought with him the entire Malfoy fortune, as did Rabestan Lestrange and his fortune. The rest were only on family retainers or their retainers plus their income from employment. However, many of them were the dregs of society, even if they were purebloods. Many could barely cast the killing curse, and not much else. Both the torture and imperious curses were beyond their magical power.

Riddle had planned on bringing mercenaries over from the mainland; however, the funding for that was no longer available to him. He had begun plans to capture young Draco, to gain access to the Malfoy fortune. But, yet again, the plan was abandoned; as young Draco had fallen under the protection of the House of Black, and his Regent had sealed the Malfoy vaults for the duration.

With Lucius dead and Draco safe within the House of Black, he had no access to the Malfoy fortune; with the three Lestranges dead and ending the Lestrange line he had no idea what had happened to the Lestrange fortune. He had no idea that, when he ordered the death of Regulus Black, he tossed away any chance of gaining access to the Black fortune; as the House of Black was now firmly entrenched on the side of the Light. With the exception of Greengrass, all the other ancient Houses with fortunes were firmly entrenched on the side of the Light. Bones, Longbottom and Potter were Light; Bell, Abercrombie, Harper, Greengrass, Smith, Quirke and Blenkinsop were locked into the Neutral faction. Of those, if one should fall to his wand, it would likely drive the rest straight to the Light. They were, effectively, untouchables.

No, any money he had a chance of accumulating had to come from outside magical Britain. He needed to send emissaries to speak with the old pureblood lines on the continent. However, he had too few who were capable of holding themselves poised and skilled, or pure enough, to succeed.

When he came out of his connection meditation Harry smirked at his wives, who were watching him.

"News?" asked Daphne.

"Tommy's getting frustrated that he's losing Death Eaters faster than he can replace them," he continued to smirk. "And, he's only able to replace them with the unskilled and unfinancial. He's short on funds and manpower, both. So, he's beginning to learn he's losing his war."

"Awww... diddums!" laughed Hermione.

"Why is money such a big deal in fighting a war?" asked Daphne with a slight frown of curiosity.

"There are three 'Emm' ingredients in prosecuting a war," explained Harry. "They are Message, Manpower and Money. The message is 'Pureblood supremacy, pureblood rule' and 'Muggles are beneath us, are a threat and need to die or be forced into slavery'. You accumulate manpower through your message. A good enough message will bring support to you. And, money is brought in through the same method as manpower.

"Without money you cannot buy weapons, food, potions or ingredients to make them, and a host of other things you need to buy to keep your troops fit, healthy and happy to follow you.

"Right now, Riddle has a workable message. However, with the information control Minister Ogden and Madam Bones have implemented, Riddle's finding it hard to get his message out into the eyes and ears of those he's hoping to pull to his side. If anything, the counter-message from the Ministry is pulling that support away from him even further.

"In other words, Riddle is currently being defeated through attrition. He has little actual support; he has few followers left, so cannot afford to use them as cannon fodder; he cannot go and buy followers, as he hasn't the funds to do so; he can only gain followers through empty promises of future riches, and only the weak minded and desperate will fall for it; and without funds he cannot hope to provide them with food and other resources, anyway.

"So, all that is left to him is clever strategy and shows of power he can achieve with heavily reduced forces. That means assassinations, bombings, and the like. Those are the tactics of guerrilla warfare. But, it also proves to one and all that he lacks the support each time he employs such tactics. He proves himself weak. To counter that he's allowing them to run their own little raids and attacks. That's what all those attacks on muggleborns have been, including the one on the Grangers.

"That means he needs to be careful about what he does and when. He will seek maximum effect for minimal risk. But, if he doesn't do much, those followers still working for him will soon grow disenchanted and leave. And they'll take with them the message that Riddle is all talk and no action."

"So, what's happening is, Riddle is being forced into an action of our choosing. By limiting his options we're reducing the variables of what target and when. He's being strategically forced into a fight we want him in."

"But, wouldn't he know that?" asked Hermione.

"Of course," replied Harry. "However, there's little he can do about it. And one of those little things is employing distractions. Allowing his people to attack the homes of muggleborns is, sadly, one of those forms of distraction. That's little different than Viking raiding parties of yesteryear."

"So," said Daphne after a bit of a hesitation. "You know he wants the prophecy. You know he's going to go after it. And, because it was a major turning point in the old timeline, you expect it will happen in a similar fashion in this timeline. Because you know it's going to happen, it's towards that confrontation you're forcing him."

"Well, not me, per se," smirked Harry. "I think that's what Madam Bones is doing. Too many people will die if we don't give Riddle a bit of a hurry-up and get on with it. We know where; but, we don't know when. My spying on him through the link we have will, hopefully, help us to learn that in the not too distant future.

"There are a very limited number of people who can actually collect that prophecy sphere. Dumbledore was one, but he's now dead. Trelawney is another, but he doesn't know that; he does not know who spoke the prophecy. There's someone working in the Hall of Prophecies who can touch them... an unspeakable probably; but he wouldn't know who that would be. He, of course, is another. And then there's me.

"Last time, he tried to fool me into getting it for him. It very nearly worked, too. However, this time he's going to have to go, himself; and that's the opportunity we need. His driving desire to know, and fear of, the prophecy will now be his undoing."

The evil grin on Harry's face had both his wives grinning right back.

"Now all I have to do is make sure Madam Bones and I are on the same page with this," he said.

_‗_

—==(oIo)==—

ˇ

Over the next few days Harry and Amelia Bones; with input from Unspeakable Croaker, Daphne and Hermione; hashed out the plan to trap Riddle in the Ministry for the final fight. The one between Riddle and Harry.

When Harry gave his initial plan, at first Madam Bones was reticent. However, she also understood it would be a place where Riddle had to be, and a place where they could make sure what happened did not result in a catastrophic breach of the Statute of Secrecy, was in a place of their choosing, and would mean a minimal loss of life for either side.

Once she realised what Harry planned to do, she immediately placed the plan and preparation for it under the tightest security seals she could; Unspeakable seals of National Security. It went under a Knowledge Fidelius.

Between times, the three bondmates continued to work on their OWL year assignments, trained and kept themselves busy. However, at odd times, Harry would disappear for a while and drop into the mind link with Riddle.

As the Easter break approached and there was no apparent movement from Riddle to go after the prophecy, Croaker and Bones went to Hogwarts to meet the bondmates and to see what they could do to push the confrontation along.

"I don't think there's much more we can do without running the risk of Riddle becoming suspicious about what we're doing," shrugged Harry with a sigh.

"What're you getting from the link?" asked Croaker.

Amelia Bones and he were the only two outside of 'family' who knew about the mind link Harry was doing. With Harry's permission, Croaker had also tried to use Legilimency on him while he had the mindlink open. However, Croaker could only detect the link was there, not use it.

"He's getting more and more frustrated. And, I've been trying to give him an 'impression' that his fear of what the prophecy may state is making things hard for him to properly think and strategise," replied Harry. "If I push any harder he's likely to suspect his thoughts are being tampered with."

"But, you still think he's going to make a play for the prophecy?" asked Madam Bones.

"Definitely," Harry firmly replied. "His planning is still heading in that direction."

"Can you gauge how firm his plans have come along?" asked Croaker.

"I think he's close," sighed Harry. "Over the past week his plan alterations are more akin to... shuffling about what's already in place. For example: Go for the prophecy, first or second; go on a weekday or the weekend; early evening or late at night; that sort of thing."

"What seems most likely, at the moment?" asked Croaker.

"A Monday or Tuesday, very late evening," Harry promptly replied. "With what little funds he has available to him, he's likely to hire mercenary hit wizards to boost his own forces. He and his forces will go for the prophecy while the hired hit wizards will make a play for whatever senior Ministry personnel are working back.

"Further, because he'll have to hire the hit wizards, it won't be a spur of the moment sort of thing. He has no choice but to choose a day, in advance, to hire the hit wizards for that specific purpose.

"They'll portkey into the atrium, take out any aurors stationed there, then split up to accomplish their various objectives. Depending on who they know will be in the Ministry working back at the time will determine where all but Riddle and his personal forces go or split up.

"Once they've completed their objectives, they'll reconvene in the atrium before portkeying away, again. However, Riddle's trying to get someone associated with control of the wards over the Ministry building to have the anti-portkey ward taken down for the evening. That way, once their objectives are achieved or they're ambushed, they'll be able to portkey out immediately; rather than go back to the portkey point in the atrium."

"What we have is our very own Throckmorton Plot," said Croaker. "An attempt to have the head of government and possible replacements removed by assassination and replaced with their own, chosen, successor."

Harry nodded and said, "That's more than likely to be Pius Thicknesse."

"Yes," agreed Madam Bones with a bit of a low growl. "My own personal little songbird, who's currently reporting as much as he can of what I'm doing back to Riddle."

"Senior auror, right?" asked Croaker.

"Yes," she nodded back.

"How about using him to draw Riddle out on a specific day?" asked Harry, as he developed a little smirk.

"How?" she asked. Her head suddenly snapped up to stare at him. "You've figured something out; or, have an idea for a plan."

"I do," he agreed. With a small little evil grin, he learned forward. "How about this for an idea?..."

_‗_

—==(oIo)==—

ˇ