Chapter Forty Four - Attack aaaaannd Check!

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 Four - Attack aaaaannd Check!

_‗_

—==(oIo)==—

ˇ

Once Harry had outlined his idea to Bones and Croaker, and between them they refined the concept, the two left with a bit of a spring in their steps. Everyone could now see the endgame in sight.

The idea was to see Riddle informed of a meeting of the Heads of Departments, including the Minister and his Undersecretary, on a Tuesday evening in about two weeks. The meeting would supposedly be for the Ministry to put in place a strategic plan to combat the problem of Voldemort. Of course, with the exception of Amelia Bones, the actual Heads of Department would not be there. Instead, the roles would be filled by combat specialists from the Department of Mysteries and skilled combat hit wizards and aurors from the DMLE.

The Unspeakables would also set in place a second, back up, set of anti-apparition and anti-portkey wards powered up but inert, ready to be deployed. The Floo network would also be taken offline after Riddle and his forces arrived.

Once in place, the only way in and out of the Ministry would be via the phonebox and specially prepared portkeys made by a single magical signature; Croaker's. Those tasked with combating Riddle's forces on the night would be the only ones who carried the portkeys.

For the bondmates, especially Harry, training in combat was suddenly increased. Though Riddle's magic was obviously nowhere near the previous levels, his knowledge of magic, especially the dark arts, was unchanged. He was still a formidable opponent.

When Harry, two nights later, expressed how he didn't want either of his wives anywhere near the Ministry on that night, he suffered over three hours of both witches yelling and screaming at him.

It wasn't until after midnight before both witches calmed down enough that he could try and reason with them.

"You don't need to be there," he reiterated for about the twelfth time. "It's Riddle and me; not Riddle and us three."

"And that's utterly irrelevant," Daphne shot back for about the tenth time. "We are bonded, you moron! We've trained for this. You've said it yourself; we are greater than the sum of our parts."

"Just because you have to be the one to ultimately kill him does not mean we can't hurt him," added Hermione.

"And what happens if you die!" he shot back. "There's no way I can face your parents, after something like that."

"And if you die we're as good as dead, anyway," snapped Hermione. "You know that! Hell, it'd be more merciful if we died alongside you. At least, that way, we won't be tortured by Riddle's flunkies before they eventually killed us anyway."

"We're your 'shield-maidens', Harry," said Daphne. "We provide defence while you focus on attack. You're only going to beat him if we work together."

"Your parents are going to kill me if I bring you to face him," he moaned.

"You leave them to us," Hermione firmly retorted.

"I wonder if this is why our angels activated both soul bonds," he muttered.

"What was that?" asked Hermione.

"Nothing," he sighed. "I was speaking to myself."

"So... finally... the matter is settled," said Daphne, quite firmly. "We'll be standing beside you when you face Riddle. And there'll be no further attempts at stopping us from doing so."

Harry just sighed and rested his head on the back of the sofa he was sitting on when the whole 'discussion' started. "Fine!" he grumbled.

"And don't use that tone with me, or you'll be sleeping on that couch for the foreseeable future," she added.

He couldn't win a trick.

The one thing the three agreed on from the start, was that the families would not be informed of the plan until after Riddle was dealt with. They did not want to see the Order, Sirius, Remus or Matthias, especially, turn up and get themselves hurt or killed. The combined forces of the DMLE and the Unspeakables was more than adequate manpower to deal with the issue without muddying things up with others acting as righteous vigilantes.

_‗_

—==(oIo)==—

ˇ

Immediately after class each day, with the exception of when they went into training with Professors Flitwick and Snape, the three headed directly to the Room of Requirement. There, they configured the room to be similar to the atrium at the Ministry.

Once configured, and with the use of duelling dummies, they went into combat/battle training. They trained with using both wands and making generous use of the environment.

One problem they immediately recognised was a complete lack of 'detritus' to use for configuration into marble blocks to block killing and cruciatus curses. To alleviate the need for conjuration, and the inherent waste of magical energy that went with it, the girls carried with them little blocks of stone. And spent a great deal of time practicing snap-casting transfiguring them into large enough blocks of marble to block such curses.

Harry also practiced, more and more, the aegis shield charm to surround the three of them. However, even the aegis shield with it's whirling objects, wasn't good enough to block certain curses.

For example, area affect curses could not be blocked that way. They had to be dispelled before they reached you, or soon afterwards. The same also applied to charms such as Incarcerous, Fiendfyre and the flame whip, and combinations such as Aguamenti and Glacius. For each of those they needed to be careful with their counters. However, Fiendfyre would always be a real threat, but required a very skilled and powerful wizard or witch to cast and control it. Riddle no longer met the second of those conditions.

Because of the skill of Riddle, Harry developed and practiced very quick spell chains that rated from simply annoying the victim, to being flat out lethal. Everything was practiced and, where possible, incorporated into the chains.

A particular favourite was the pranking cantrips and hexes. Professor Flitwick was firm in his conviction that such, used at specific times, could even be the turning point to bring about victory. He then went and proved it with nothing more than a tongue-locking jinx, coupled with a jelly-fingers curse, tickling charm and finally wrapping Harry up in ropes with an overpowered Incarcerous charm. Not one spell was beyond the capabilities of a first year.

So, Harry's spell chains included those plus jinxes and cantrips such as the knock back and tripping jinxes, the scouring charm, and a host of others. Anything that would annoy Riddle and interrupt his attacks was valued and used when possible. The idea was to so annoy Riddle he'd finally make a mistake that Harry could use to slip through his concentration and take him out.

_‗_

—==(oIo)==—

ˇ

It was when they were about to return from such an evening when they were attacked using a method they'd not previously considered.

While all passageways, corridors, and the like throughout the castle were now warded against spell casting, there were still the odd areas that hadn't been so warded. Of course, these included some broom closets, though Luna had recognised the issue and her teams of rune carvers were attending to them; some unusual sets of stairs; unknown even to them hidden passageways; most of the abandoned or unused classrooms; and, of course, the Room of Requirement.

It was as they were cooling down after a training session and walking back to their apartment it happened. The first Harry learned of it was when he was hit around the kidney area and went down with an arrow piecing his side.

He heard Hermione scream, "Harry!" and saw and heard little more after a second arrow hit him high in the right shoulder as he tried to stay standing.

When Harry was hit, both girls spun about and tried to conjure shields but found them weakened by the anti-magic fields. When a third arrow flew out of the doorway of a broom closet at Daphne she was able to dodge it but could not retaliate with magic. Instead, she snatched a handful of her remaining small rocks out of her pocket with her left hand, and flung them at the doorway, hoping to distract the attacker.

Both girls heard a much hated voice cry out, "Death-Eater bitch!"

Hermione screamed, "Dobby!" and the little elf popped in.

Dobby took one look at what was going on, flung his hand out and banished whoever was standing hidden in the closet back within, and slammed closed and elf-locked the door. Again, they heard the hated voice cry out as it was sent flying backwards.

Grabbing Harry he said, "Master Harry needs medical help!" and popped away with him.

Daphne quickly checked to ensure the door to what they recognised as a broom closet was closed and warded before she spun about and grabbed the arm of a clearly shocked Hermione.

"Come on!" she barked, pulling her sister wife along towards the stairs.

A few moments later, after being dragged a few steps first, Hermione had snapped out of her shock and was chasing after her sister-wife.

_‗_

—==(oIo)==—

ˇ

Running down the stairs as fast as they could, they sent other students scuttling for the walls to clear their way as they ran.

As soon as they burst through the doors into the infirmary they could see Harry laying face down on a bed with Madam Pomfrey working on him. Both arrows were still sticking out of his back - one low and one high.

Dobby was hovering nearby and bouncing from foot to foot.

"This should not have been possible with that ward schema you and Miss Lovegood designed," said the healer.

"Someone found a way around it," retorted Daphne. "They cast arrows out of their wand from within one of the unwarded broom closets."

"It was something we had not foreseen," said Hermione, still upset.

"You're not expected to anticipate everything, Missus Granger-Potter," the nurse lightly scolded. "What you have already accomplished has already made my life a great deal easier."

"Why are the arrows still in him?" asked a worried Daphne.

"Because I need to see if any damage will happen if I remove them first, and be prepared to deal with it," replied Pomfrey. "At the moment, I have him under a light somnulous charm to keep him asleep, so he doesn't move about and cause further damage."

A few moments later, the nurse muttered, "Right," and with a wave of her wand vanished the second arrow out of Harry's shoulder. Then she cast a quick episkey healing charm on the wound before moving onto the first, more serious, injury.

As she worked, she spoke about what she was doing and seeing.

"The arrow pierced through the top of the kidney very close to the adrenal gland," she explained. "From there it's passed through and also nicked a section of the upper intestine. At the very least, the arrowhead is lodged within them."

A few more waves of her wand and what looked like a three-dimensional CAT scan appeared to hover in the air above his back. You could see the arrow head firmly lodged partway through the kidney and into one of the ropes of upper intestine.

"Alright," she muttered. She reached for her ever-ready wheeled cabinet of potions, selected one, and spelled the contents straight into Harry's stomach. "Organ heal," she muttered.

She gave that a moment and spelled a second one in. "Skin knit," she also muttered.

Another moment to let the potions settle within and she vanished the arrow.

As blood bubbled up she was quick to begin casting healing charms and hurrying the potions to do their work.

As both girls and Dobby carefully watched and fretted, Headmistress McGonagall came striding in. "What happened?" she asked.

Daphne stepped back from the bed and turned to her. "An attack from behind. Someone, we believe Ron Weasley, shot wand arrows at Harry and us two. He was standing within the doorway of one of the unwarded broom closets on the seventh floor under a disillusionment charm or similar.

"Dobby banished him fully into the closet and then shut and warded the door closed. You should find him still there. Dobby should be able to let him out for you."

"Don't let him still be here when Harry wakes up, please," begged Hermione. "Harry'll kill him without even thinking about it."

"He won't be, whoever it is," said the Headmistress firmly. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to drag him out of the closet and call the aurors," before she left again.

_‗_

—==(oIo)==—

ˇ

Harry woke the next morning, sore but healthy. His wives were watching over him but talking between them.

When he tried to sit up, he groaned from the pain around his lower back. Both wives turned to him and put their hands on his chest, holding him down.

"Don't try and sit up, Harry," said Daphne. "You were hurt pretty bad and the wound is still healing."

Suffering from fur-mouth he gestured for water, which Hermione was quick to provide.

After taking a couple of sips he sighed in relief and asked, "Who attacked us?"

"Ron Weasley," Daphne near-snarled.

"Has he been... suitably dealt with?" he asked with a bit of a growl.

"Headmistress McGonagall pulled him out of the broom closet Dobby locked him inside of, dragged him to her office and called the aurors," explained Hermione. "The aurors cuffed him and took him away."

"For a start, she expelled him on the spot," said Daphne with a pleased little huff. "But, she couldn't snap his wand, because it's evidence of the attack. Madam Pomfrey had to vanish the two arrows that were... sticking out of you... but there was another that didn't hit anyone still up in the corridor on the floor. That's also been taken away as evidence. The red-headed git didn't know, or forgot, that conjured items retain the magical signature of the caster."

"The aurors came back later and interviewed us," said Hermione. "We've both given memory strands and statements of what happened.

"According to the aurors, irrespective of what happens with this, Weasley's going to Azkaban. He's breached the conditions of his court order from the potion case, so the full weight of the findings of that case will be added to this one."

"And this one is a case of assault causing grievous bodily harm at a minimum; but it will probably be considered attempted murder of a member of the Wizengamot," growled Daphne. "He's going away for a very long time, if he doesn't get the Veil."

"He's a minor," said Harry. "His sixteenth birthday isn't until the first of March."

"That's only a couple of weeks away," scoffed Daphne.

"But no less relevant," sighed Hermione. "You are not considered in full control of your actions until you turn seventeen. And, as he's only fifteen, he won't get the Veil for his actions."

"But he will be locked away for a great many years," said Harry. "The Veil may prove to be a kindness for what he's going to go through."

Harry was stuck under Madam Pomfrey's care for another day before he was released in the morning two days after the attack. His wives made sure he had all his assignments on hand, and they worked together to get it all out of the way during the day he was convalescing.

_‗_

—==(oIo)==—

ˇ

The next morning Harry and both his wives received letters from the DMLE detailing the court case of the Ministry of Magic v Ronald Bilius Weasley. He was informed he wouldn't be able to sit the Wizengamot, that day; while his wives would both be called as witnesses for the prosecution.

It seemed that the Wizengamot were most eager to speedily try cases when one of their own was attacked, as the case was due to be heard only three days later. Ron was being kept in the DMLE holding cells for the duration instead of at Azkaban due to his status as a minor.

Harry was expecting his own personal howler from Molly Prewitt over it all. He wasn't aware until later that Professor McGonagall had changed the wards so that all howlers were automatically destroyed as they crossed the school's boundary, anyway. However, as far as the Weasley twins knew, their mother hadn't sent one.

"We're really sorry about this, Harry," they told him.

"Not your fault, mates," he replied. "Ron's jealousy and overblown sense of self-entitlement was always going to lead him towards doing something like this. I just didn't expect it to happen while we were all still at school."

"His mind healer, counsellor, is appalled," said one twin.

"Ron had her completely fooled," said the other.

"She thought he was well on the way to getting over his... issues," said the first.

"Apparently not," said the other.

"Look; know that I don't hold any other Weasley responsible for this, yeah?" said Harry. "And please make sure your Dad knows that, too. This was all Ron."

"We're actually surprised he figured out a way around the magic suppression wards," said one twin.

"We didn't think he was smart enough to do that," said the second.

"It surprised us, too," said Hermione. "It was a... condition... of the wards we didn't expect to be a weakness. We'll be working to block that weakness, you can be assured."

Once the twins left again, Harry turned to Hermione and asked, "And how are we going to do that? The wards and anchoring runes would all need to be recarved."

"No," smiled Hermione. "All we need to do is finish warding those areas that are not yet done; such as the closets."

"As long as there is no area where someone can stand and launch something like arrows at those passing by, the weakness will be blocked," said Daphne. "However, the weakness will remain for active classrooms. Someone will be able to stand within the doorway of the classroom and attack."

"And there's nothing we can do to cover that," sighed Harry.

"The ward scheme isn't the be all and end all of stopping attacks, Harry," said Hermione. "It's just made it a hell of a lot more difficult for someone to do it successfully with magical means. Of course, someone can still attack another with, say, a kitchen knife or something. We can't stop everything."

_‗_

—==(oIo)==—

ˇ

Over the next few days, Harry worked hard to recover from his injuries before they could return to the Room of Requirement and their combat training.

The only break was sleep, meals and classes; with the one morning at the Ministry for the trial of Ron.

Apparently still angry at everyone and everything, Ron sat in the accused's chair with the chains binding him tight. And, from there, he glared at almost everyone.

Of course, much of it was a façade. A careful look at his hands where his fingers tightly gripped the arms of his chair showed he was literally shaking in fear.

Harry sat in the visitors' gallery in support of his wives. As he hadn't actually seen anything he was not a witness; and Madam Pomfrey was there to detail the extent of his injuries.

Once everyone had provided their testimony, and evidence such as Ron's wand and the conjured arrow were presented with the results of magical analysis of both, the Wizengamot were quick in their deliberations.

While they were deliberating, Harry looked around. Arthur Weasley sat with his five eldest sons and daughter, as Percy was not the court scribe for the proceedings. Molly sat apart but clearly wanted to join them, casting her longing eyes towards them every few minutes. She refused to even look in Harry's direction.

When the Wizengamot concluded their deliberations and the gavel was banged to show they were ready to proceed, Madam Longbottom, as Chief Witch, read out the sentence.

"Mister Ronald Bilius Weasley, this court... on the preponderance of evidence against you... finds you guilty of the charges of attempted murder, assault occasioning grievous bodily harm, assault upon the person of a Wizengamot member, and revisits and finds you guilty of the charge of assault occasioning bodily harm for your part in the attempted potioning with love, loyalty and aversion potions of one Harry James Potter, and breaching your bail conditions relating to that crime.

"As such, and in recognition of your current age and status as a minor, it is the decision of this court to sentence you to no less than ten years imprisonment in the medium security section of Azkaban prison. Sentence is to be carried out immediately."

Madam Longbottom banged her gavel once and intoned, "We are adjourned."

Ronald had to be physically lifted out of his chair and dragged off. It appeared he had fainted.

The Weasleys were all sad with Ginevra actually sobbing. As too was Molly Prewitt. She sounded as if she was softly wailing, "My baby; my poor baby," repeatedly.

Harry and his wives quietly left in the company of Sirius, to return to Hogwarts. They Floo'ed from the atrium directly to his office.

_‗_

—==(oIo)==—

ˇ

Once they had all safely arrived, Hermione spun about and threw herself into Harry's arms. She was sobbing her heart out.

"Why?" she almost wailed. "He was our friend!"

"No, he wasn't, love," Harry firmly replied. "He just pretended to be our friend. He was just a very sad boy who grew up thinking he was hard-done-by being the sixth son of six sons; and felt the world owed him. It didn't help that his mother made he and his sister aware of how I'd probably be unaware of the magical world and my place within it.

"And, it was his mother that dragged him into her plans for getting a large slice of the Potter fortune. He grew up thinking he was going to get rich off my money. He grew up absolutely assured the Potter fortune was going to be theirs before long. He could not accept that all his mother's planning was for nought. He could not accept the Potter fortune was never his to begin with. That's what's led to him being jailed, probably for life. I can't see him being of strong enough mental fibre to withstand the effects of the dementors for long."

"It's just so..." she said, waving her hands about and unable to find the right term for her feelings.

"Yeah, I know," he sighed. "Our view of the world, and our place within it, took a knee to the groin. Until today we were, I guess, hoping our angels were wrong about everything. Or, that Ron would see the error of his ways and turn back into what we thought of as a friend."

Hermione nodded as she quietly sobbed into his robes.

_‗_

—==(oIo)==—

ˇ

With Harry's injuries from Ron's attack fully healed, the three returned to the Room of Requirement whenever they could to continue their training in magical combat. That training was also reflected in their training from Professors Snape and Flitwick.

However, it was only a couple of days later when Professor Flitwick called a halt.

With a sigh he looked at the three of them and said, "You've reached a point where, if we were to continue, people would become seriously hurt. You're now having to hold back, as are we, on your spells because they will cause significant harm if they connect.

"I don't know what to do from here, other than to teach you better spell chains and shortcuts in casting."

"Point casting," said Snape. "They need more practice in that."

"And they can practice that on their own," said Flitwick, turning to his colleague. "They're already well beyond NEWTs for anything related to Dah-Dah. And they're pretty close to that for the related subjects of Charms and Transfiguration.

"If they were to turn their knowledge of both incantless and point casting to the seventh year curriculum for the Dah-Dah, Charms and Transfiguration practicals they're a shoo-in for Outstanding Pluses in all three subjects."

"I wouldn't go that far," sneered Snape.

Ignoring the sneer, Flitwick shrugged his shoulders and said, "If they get the written theory down between now and then, they will be. And that's just independent study. If I didn't know it could cause problems, I'd suggest all three prepare to sit their NEWTs at the end of the year, rather than their OWLs."

Looking like he'd just thought of a good idea, Flitwick said to Snape, "What about if we were to cover the use of potions in the combat environment?"

Instead of just sneering and scoffing at the suggestion, Snape frowned and appeared to think about it.

"I consider all three adequate brewers. Missus Greengrass-Potter may even be a little better than that," he softly said.

"High praise, indeed," smiled Flitwick.

"Nevertheless, I doubt we'll have time between now and when their likely confrontation with the dark lord will occur to get much out of it," continued Snape. "I think it may be more productive of my time if I was to brew the potions for them."

"And what would you recommend, Sir?" asked Daphne.

"Healing draughts, Pepper-Up potions, core rejuvenators, Essence of Dittany, and similar," the Professor immediately replied.

"Excellent choices," nodded Flitwick.

"Then I shall dedicate this weekly time slot, in future, to that endeavour," said the sour Potions Master. Without another word he rose and headed for the door.

"Professor Snape?" called Harry.

When the dour man turned back before reaching the door, Harry softly said, "Thank you, sir; for your efforts and time."

Snape hesitated for a long moment before he finally gave a single curt nod before turning back to the door and leaving.

"Well Mister Potter, Missus Granger-Potter and Missus Greengrass-Potter," said the diminutive professor, drawing their attention back to him. "I suppose we'll spend the rest of this lesson working on spell chains and speeding up your ability to cast them."

The professor stepped the three of them through a couple of specialist duelling spell chains and explained how and why each charm was in the chain. All three bondmates carefully watched each but knew something was wrong. It was Hermione who figured it out, first.

"Professor, I noticed something about each spell chain that proves a problem for us," she carefully said.

"Oh?" asked Flitwick. "And what would that be?"

"First," she replied. "Each spell chain is developed with a duel in mind under... what... International rules?"

"Yes," he replied.

With a nod of acknowledgement, she continued, "We won't be duelling, let alone operating under rules. This will be a fight. A dirty, no-holds-barred, bare knuckle fight. No referee; no mandatory distances; no duelling piste; no duelling circles."

"Secondly," Daphne piped up, before the professor could respond. "Secondly, we fight as a team of three. Hermione and I work primarily on defence, while Harry goes on full attack. These spell chains are developed for the individual who needs to work on both defence and offence at the same time."

"We need different spell chains, Professor," said Hermione. "We need spell chains developed for someone who is primarily on defence; and someone who goes full out offence."

"Ah!" said the Professor sitting back and frowning. "I see."

Harry turned to look at his two wives, hoping they'd understand what he was asking of them. With Hermione he gave a small flick of his eyes upwards and smiled. From the expression of surprise on her face and her eyes widening in understanding, it was only a moment before she smirked and nodded.

Turning to Daphne he gave the same signal, but she didn't seem to understand. He said, "Requirement."

Suddenly, she understood and, when Harry indicated the professor with a slight tilt of his head towards the man, she smiled and nodded.

Turning back to face the Professor, Harry could see the man knew they were talking about something between them, and smiled back.

"Professor," he calmly said, "We're going to show you a really big Hogwarts secret. It's somewhere well beyond any magic that we, daresay, even you could understand. But, we're very sure it's something the founders put in place."

"I doubt there's much about Hogwarts I do not already know of, Mister Potter," smiled the Professor, as if he was humouring Harry. "However, you have me suitably intrigued, and the Ravenclaw in me urges me to learn more."

With a grin Harry and his wives stood and led the Professor out the door of the classroom they were using.

_‗_

—==(oIo)==—

ˇ

Entering the dead ended corridor with the tapestry, Daphne and Hermione had the professor stand between them with his back to it.

"Watch," smiled Harry.

He began to walk back and forth the required three times. As he passed on the third time, he heard the Professor gasp as the door appeared in the wall directly in front of him.

"My word!" the professor exclaimed.

Grinning and walking to the door, Harry said, "Professor; welcome to the Room of Requirements, and pushed the door open and stood aside."

Flitwick walked in to see the room configuration the three Potters had been using up until they started configuring it like the atrium at the Ministry of Magic. There was the wide platform with the five duelling dummies at one end; the ablutions room with it's toilet, hand basins, mirror, shower and bath; the study table they used that was still loaded with books on offensive and defensive spell casting, especially curses, charms, hexes, jinxes, cantrips and the like; and the small potions workbench with it's small cabinet of ingredients, a cauldron with a cauldron fire, and a couple of potion recipe books.

"My word!" the Professor near whispered again.

"Now watch this," said Hermione, who stared hard at a section of wall off to the right.

A few moments later, a fireplace appeared surrounded with a mantelpiece.

"Merlin!" the Professor gasped.

"The room can configure itself into any configuration you want," explained Daphne. "It can even assume the form of an island oasis, complete with sea breezes, the sounds of birds cawing and chirping, and living plants.

"The only limitations we have found is that most of what appears in here cannot be removed from the room. They're conjurations that do not last beyond the boundaries of the room."

"Can I... see something else it can do?" asked the Professor, still a little awed.

"Of course," said Hermione, pleased. "For minor changes, we can stay in the room. For major changes, though; we need to step outside."

With a gesture from her, the four of them stepped outside again, and the Professor watched as the door faded back into the stone wall until it has disappeared.

"Now, let's see..." mused, Hermione. "Ah!" she suddenly said.

She then developed an expression of deep concentration before she walked back and forth in front of the wall. As she passed for the third time, a new door appeared.

Harry could see the professor was surprised by it's appearance.

"Surprising, isn't it?" chuckled Harry. "It seems to pick a door that would best suit, shall we say, the decor within."

Hermione walked over and opened the door, holding it open as she gestured everyone in. Having recognised the door, inside Harry wasn't surprised by what he found. It was the Room of Lost Things.

Professor Flitwick stood just inside the door with his mouth agape. It was the most flummoxed Harry had ever seen his Head of House in all the years, both timelines, he'd been attending Hogwarts.

It caused him to burst out laughing.

After giving Harry a dirty look, Hermione turned to Professor Flitwick and said, "Welcome, sir, to the Room of Lost Things. Any time over the past one thousand years that the House Elves have not known to whom a lost item belonged, or something was damaged beyond repair, they brought it here.

"In here, besides broken furniture, you will find a full millennium's worth of items belonging to students who never claimed them back. In here, I've no doubt you will find copies of old text books and the like that have been out of print for hundreds of years; priceless antiques and other works of art.

"For instance," she said, before raising her wand and clearly intoning, "Accio an original edition of Hogwarts, a History!"

It took a few moments but, suddenly a copy of the book soared through the air from out of the stacks towards her. She caught it on her chest.

Checking she had the right one, she then offered the book to the Professor.

The professor took the book with trembling hands. "It's real," he softly said. "It's a first edition, and quite well preserved. It must be worth a fortune."

"In here, Professor," said Daphne. "Is the answer to Hogwarts financial problems. If you were to use the castle's house elves during a period when the school is empty and they've little to do to begin to sort through all this, you'll find there is plenty here that can be sold to raise funds for the school. From what's in here it shouldn't be too difficult to create a bursary fund to keep the school well funded in perpetuity. It'll just take a little effort, and the services of an expert on antiques... and a selling agent... to create that fund."

The little Charms Master and Deputy Headmaster was completely gobsmacked.

"Let's step back outside, shall we?" asked Harry, after a moment. "We came here to show the Professor what we've been up to, duelling-wise."

Once everyone stepped back outside, with the Professor still holding the original edition of Hogwarts A History, Harry reconfigured the room back to their personal duelling self-study classroom.

Stepping back in, Harry said, "Now, for what we've been practicing. Professor, if you wouldn't mind remaining off the platform? It has a containment area to stop spell fire exceeding the boundaries of it."

"Understood, Mister Potter," replied Flitwick with a bit of a bow.

Turning to his wives, he gestured to the platform and said, "Ladies?"

Once the three were on the platform and ready, Harry called to the Room, "Five inner circle Death Eaters, please. Level Five."

The five duelling dummies immediately reconfigured to look like five death eaters in robes and masks.

"Okay, here we go," he warned his wives. He then barked, "Begin!"

And the three of them were then battling the five duelling dummies as a single team.

After about thirty seconds Hermione called, "Hold!" And the five dummies, immediately froze in place. "I think that should be enough," she said, as the three of them relaxed.

As the three stepped off the platform the Professor looked at them with an expression that looked like it kept changing from awe to a little anger.

"You've been holding back even more than I thought during our sessions," he accused them.

"We have," agreed Daphne, not in the least embarrassed to make that admission. "Even now we don't know how much we can trust Professor Snape. We feel it's best we don't show our true level of ability in his presence; just in case his position within Riddle's ranks is compromised and Riddle learns the truth."

The Professor looked a little thoughtful before he gave a slow nod of recognition. "Wise, I suppose."

He then looked more fully at them and said, "Who else knows of this room?"

"We know Riddle knows of it, but not how much he knows of it," replied Hermione. "We found something that belonged to him in the Room of Lost Things. It was something we had to destroy."

"Even so, it's too good a training aid we need for my eventual confrontation with the Dark Tosser," said Harry.

"Then, I suppose we should move all your combat training to here," said the Professor. "You're right. It's too good a training aid not to make use of it. However, once the... unpleasantness with Riddle is done with... I want you to teach me everything you can about this room."

"Agreed," smiled Harry, as both wives smiled and nodded.

_‗_

—==(oIo)==—

ˇ

The next evening, after dropping into his... as he called it... communication trance in the common room of their apartment about fifteen minutes earlier, Harry suddenly popped out of it and crowed, "It worked!"

Surprising both wives with his sudden movement, it took a moment for Hermione to exclaim, "Merlin, Harry!"

Daphne asked, "What worked?"

"Riddle's taken the bait!" he laughed. "He's going after the prophecy and the Heads of Department on Tuesday evening, as we expected."

Quickly rising from where he sat on the floor on a thick piece of carpet, he hurried to his stationery and pulled out parchment, quill and ink.

Quickly, he wrote, 'Carrot is a go!' before blow-drying the ink and hurrying over to Hedwig on her roost.

"To Madam Bones, Hed," he whispered to her. "Quick as you can."

After Hedwig gave his finger a quick and affectionate nip before flying out the window, Harry turned back to his wives. "That was the 'go' signal to Madam Bones. Riddle took the bait. He attacks the Ministry on Tuesday night."

Even though both were clearly worried, both grinned back.

"That means this whole thing can be over in a couple of days," said Daphne. "Thank Merlin!"

""What was the 'go' signal?" asked Hermione.

"Carrot," replied a grinning Harry.

"Carr... Oh!" said Hermione, a little sheepishly. "As in, 'You dangled a carrot and he took it'."

"Yep!" he positively grinned.

"Clever," she smiled.

"Pardon?" asked Daphne, confused.

"It comes from a muggle expression," explained Hermione. "You dangle a carrot in front of a donkey to get it moving in the direction you want it to go. By holding the carrot before it, it will continue to head towards it."

"And the carrot for Riddle was the opportunity for him to take out the leadership of the Ministry at the same time as he went for the prophecy," added Harry. "Madam Bones has an auror who reports back to Riddle. And she used him to ensure Riddle knew of the opportunity."

"So, that's how you're going to get Riddle into the atrium at the Ministry," said Daphne. "I was wondering why you were so sure the final battle was going to take place there, rather than at Hogwarts as in the old timeline."

_‗_

—==(oIo)==—

ˇ

During the intervening days between when they learned Riddle took the bait, and the actual day of the battle, the three increased their training. They were just pleased that two of those days was the weekend.

Finally, the Tuesday rolled around. The previous evening, the three all took sleeping draughts to make sure they had a decent night's sleep, and then followed it up with a morning of stress relief in the form of sex.

Professor Flitwick was made aware the three would not be attending classes, that day, so ran interference for them from the other professors.

That they never put in an appearance for either breakfast or lunch led to their fellow students believing the three of them were sick; and were staying in their apartment due to their illness being contagious. The Professor did not dissuade that belief. If anything, he encouraged it.

Finally, at six in the evening after an early light dinner, the three snuck out of the school and were collected from the Shrieking Shack by one of Madam Bones's trusted senior aurors, Shacklebolt.

They were taken under glamour direct to her office, where they settled in to wait.

"How're you making sure the rest of the Ministry is evacuated before Riddle gets here?" asked Hermione.

"We're publicly claiming it's so the whole building can be fumigated," explained Madam Bones. "But, we're privately claiming it's for a special war council meeting of the Heads of Department. And that's an open secret."

"Of course," said Daphne. "You tell a lie they all know is a lie, and let slip a second lie everyone then believes is the truth for which the first lie is the cover."

"Precisely," smirked the older woman.

"And actually holding the Heads of Departments back adds to the evidence of the second lie," said Hermione. "A lie, hiding a lie, covering the truth."

"Is everything else in place?" Harry suddenly asked.

"It is," replied Madam Bones.

"So... now we wait," he sighed.

"Now we wait," she agreed.

_‗_

—==(oIo)==—

ˇ

As soon as the aurors and Unspeakables were pretty much assured the building had been cleared of 'all non-essential personnel', the three were hustled under disillusionment charms down to a room off the atrium. It was a broom closet that had been hidden and magically expanded within.

Inside, the room had a magical toilet installed behind a temporary wall and door, and other equipment moved in. The room had all the appearance of a tactical operations room. There were Unspeakables and aurors moving about within.

The three had just entered when they were approached by Croaker. "Potter," he softly said. "I didn't expect your wives to be accompanying you."

"You argue with them," Harry shot back. "It was them who reminded me we fight as a team, and that the prophecy only requires I be the one to kill him. They, as can everyone else, can still hurt him."

Croaker turned to look at each of the ladies before he gave a grunt and said, "No thanks. However, their safety is your responsibility."

"We know that," snapped Daphne.

Croaker just gave another grunt before he moved away again.

Moving further into the room, Harry and his wives could see that one of the long walls was covered in large mirrors. And those large mirrors were acting as communication mirrors similar to the paired ones he had between he and Sirius.

On the screen, they could see that certain rooms and hallways were being displayed. Harry could see one that showed the narrow aisle between racks of prophecy orbs, and guessed it was the aisle that contained the prophecy orb containing the fake prophecy they had cause to be made.

Another was of a lavishly appointed boardroom. And guessed it was the room where the supposed meeting of the Heads of Department would take place.

A third was the Floo control room. A fourth was the room of spinning doors in the Department of Mysteries. A fifth was of the lobby immediately in front of the lifts leading in from the atrium beyond the security point. A sixth was of the security checkpoint. A seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth were of rooms and corridors Harry didn't recognise.

"Alright," he told both his wives. "I'm going to find a corner, drop into my communication trance, and see if I can get a handle on what Riddle's up to now."

Both wives nodded and followed him to the corner. He conjured himself a wide stool with a large cushion and settled onto it, lotus fashion, before dropping into his meditative state.

Five minutes later, he was back.

When he opened his eyes it was see Croaker standing directly in front of him, staring at him. "Well?" he asked.

"He's just finished assembling his troops," replied Harry. "I pulled out just before he started what I'm sure was an impressive monologue into how great he is. I'll go back in a couple of minutes."

Croaker gave a firm nod and said, "Let me know when he makes his move."

With murmurs of assurance to both his wives, Harry caught Croaker's eyes before letting him know he was dropping back in.

When he came back out about fifteen minutes later, it was to again face Croaker. This time, everyone else was watching him, too.

"They're minutes away," said Harry.

"You know how they're coming and the break up of teams?" asked Croaker.

"I do," he nodded back.

"Right," said Croaker, reaching out and dragging him to his feet. "You're up front and briefing everyone. I was unable to use Legilimency on you."

"Me?" squeaked Harry.

"Yes. You," growled the older man, dragging him to the front of the room in front of the mirrors.

Turning to the crowd, Croaker barked, "Listen up! Potter's giving the briefing!" Then stepped away to listen, himself.

Taking a deep breath, Harry said, "Okay..." Plucking his Gryffindor courage, he firmly said, "Riddle's broken his forces into seven groups. With the exception of the last group, they'll be coming about fifteen seconds apart.

"First, is a team of four that appears to be led by someone with knowledge of the Ministry's ward keystone. They'll be heading directly for the wardstone. They seem to know exactly where that is."

That had a few Unspeakables lightly muttering between themselves for a moment, before they turned back.

"Second is a team of four mercenaries led by a Death Eater. They're heading directly for the Ministry boardroom to assassinate the Ministry leadership. They're armoured with various dragon hide under their robes.

"Third is two Death Eaters tasked with going to the Floo control room to take control of it. They have someone on the inside for that."

"Fourth is a group of four low-level Death Eaters who are setting up a fallback position in the atrium near the lifts.

"The fifth is a group of Four Inner Circle Death Eaters and three not-so inner circle, with Riddle himself leading. They're heading straight for the Hall of Prophecies in the Department of Mysteries.

"The sixth is a group of six, I think, Death Eaters led by an Inner Circle member. They come through about five minutes behind Riddle and take up positions near the apparition point. They're Riddle's forward support.

"The final group of what's left remain at Nott Manor, where they've all assembled. I think it might be about half a dozen to a dozen but I'm unsure of the exact numbers. They provide extra wands, if called; and they're his rear support. They're intending to apparate in at the apparation point if they are. But, Riddle doesn't believe he'll need to call them, so they're not expecting such.

"All teams know their objectives and know they'll be killed if they don't accomplish it. So, be prepared for them all to fight to the death. Give no quarter.

"That's all."

Croaker immediately stepped forward and barked, "Team Baker; you've got the wardstone. As Mister Potter said, give no quarter. Go!"

And four Unspeakables suddenly apparated out with the barest sound of cracks.

"Everyone else, you know what's coming, when, and what their objectives are. There are no surprises except for the wardstone, and that's now covered. Teams Alpha, Charlie, Wolf and Shadow... go!"

Almost all the remaining Unspeakables left almost as one. The slight cracks of apparation sounded like a muffled string of firecrackers going off.

"Teams Cracker and Warden, prepare for an assault on Nott Manor immediately but hold. As soon as we know Riddle's dealt with, you'll be leading the remaining forces on that Manor."

When Harry looked around the number of occupants had been reduced by about half. Those who had gone were all Unspeakables. But, there were still a few of them mixed in with the aurors or carefully watching the mirrors.

Once he'd finished giving orders to his people, Croaker turned to Harry and said, "Good job, Mister Potter. Again, I hope you'll consider a career in our ranks once you've completed your studies."

Harry just smiled back. It was something he'd have to discuss with his ladies. Last run through he had his sights originally set on becoming an auror. This time, he really didn't know what he wanted to do. However, any position within the Ministry other than as a seated member upon the Wizengamot was low down on his list. It would all depend on what the angels had in mind for them.

_‗_

—==(oIo)==—

ˇ

A couple of minutes later, one of the aurors watching the large mirrors suddenly pointed and said, "There!"

As expected, the first group of four had apparated in and were hurrying across the floor of the atrium towards the lifts.

"That's group one," said Harry.

They'd no sooner disappeared when the second group arrived. This group had the single Inner Circle member and the mercenaries. They, too, hurried over to the lifts and disappeared.

"That's the group heading for the Boardroom," said Harry.

The third and fourth groups arrived together and hurried to the lifts.

"That's groups three and four arriving together, it seems," he said. "Two will head for the Floo Control Room while the other four remain behind in the atrium."

This time two continued into the lifts and were away, while the other four simply stopped in the little foyer between the check point and lifts and proceeded to mask their appearance. One kept an eye on the lifts while the other three kept an eye on the check point.

Finally, Riddle and his group arrived.

"Heeeeerrre's Tom!" said Harry. "Next stop, the Hall of Prophecies. I wonder if he'll enjoy what he hears?"

Croaker just grinned at him, while everyone else appeared slightly confused. Clearly, Croaker hadn't told his people of the switch.

Riddle simply strode across the floor with his bald head held high, heading direct for the lifts. He didn't even bother to look to either side as he went. He simply relied on his flunkies to watch his flanks.

He'd barely been gone when the final group arrived. They immediately separated to each side of the room and donned invisibility cloaks or disillusionment charms.

"How long do we wait?" asked Hermione.

Croaker turned slightly towards her and said, "I give the signal to go when Riddle picks up the prophecy globe. You wait until I've got the atrium clear."

The first group of Death Eaters to reach their target was the team of mercenaries targeting the, now empty, board room. As soon as they breached the double doors with wands ready and spells flying they were shot from behind with stunners to the heads. Two went down immediately, the Death Eater and one of the mercenaries. The other three were taken down with stunners to the face as soon as they whirled about.

In the monitor mirrors, they watched as Madam Bones stepped forward and shot each of them at close range to the face with a potionball gun.

As each shot was fired, the three bondmates winced. "Ouch!" said Harry. "That's gonna leave a welt."

As he was talking, Harry watched as a young auror leaned down and dabbed his finger into one of the splats of potion on a mercenary's cheek. As he raised his finger to peer at it, he suddenly keeled over.

That had the three bondmates and the Unspeakables all laughing, while Madam Bones looked directly at what must've been the other mirror, high on the wall in the corner and seemed to roll her eyes.

"Well, that's one auror who's going to find himself on perpetual night watch duties when this is done," muttered an Unspeakable.

One of the aurors still with them said, "Tompkins. He always was an idiot."

"Remind me to talk to those Weasley twins," Croaker chuckled to Harry.

"Will do, sir," he dutifully replied.

Next group was the two heading for the Floo Control Room. They walked in, bold as brass, and immediately toppled over to stunners. A third stunner was fired at someone who had been hiding under a desk, and rose to greet them with a smile on his face.

All three were dabbed with potion by Master Auror Scrimgeour before they were stripped of wands, portkeys, masks and whatever else before being bound.

After watching Riddle move through the Department of Mysteries, he finally made his way into the Hall of Prophecies. Just as clearly, someone was leading him to the right area.

"Another traitor," sighed Croaker. "Whoever it is, they're a walking dead man."

As Riddle strode up the aisle of prophecy spheres, the one leading him turned and indicated the correct sphere.

Croaker, almost surreptitiously, raised his hand to hover a finger over a pip on the hem his hood.

Riddle reached out with his left hand, appeared to almost begin to caress the sphere, then quickly plucked it off it's little stand before raising his wand to it.

Croaker suddenly pressed the pip and almost barked, "Execute!"

Immediately, Harry watched as there was sudden movement at both ends of the atrium on the mirror monitors. Spells flew and bodies went down. All Death Eaters.

With swishes and shimmers, invisibility cloaks and disillusionment charms were removed.

On the monitors, Harry saw Alastor Moody stomping over from a door at the security end of the atrium and pull out one of the potion-guns from his robes. Just like Madam Bones, he quickly shot his four in the face with the gun, and didn't even blink when he did it. He left the four for the two aurors who were with him to finish policing as he quickly glanced at the lifts before stomping back out through the security gate.

A quick double tap on their door from outside and a head peered in. "We're clear," it said, before pulling out and away again.

"Come on, lad," said another Unspeakable, who indicated Harry on his way out. "Let's get you set up for your confrontation, shall we?"

Croaker, from where he was watching his mirrors, gave Harry a quick glance and nod before turning back to them.

Harry indicated for his wives to join him and the three followed the Unspeakable out the door, leading most of the remainder of the room out.

As he walked out the door, Harry heard Croaker say, "The white knight is crossing the chessboard. The black king is on his way."

_‗_

—==(oIo)==—

ˇ