Chapter Eighteen

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Harry froze when he heard Voldemort's plan. He knew what would happen, how the whole thing would play out. This was the decisive event he was now witnessing. The one meeting that would lead, in five year's time, to the death of his parents. He now knew specifically why the Potters had been targeted, why Voldemort had chosen them specifically to be killed, and why he had been orphaned at little over a year old. Some of the questions that had been plaguing him for years were finally answered. The puzzle with so many missing pieces was now complete. Everything he had been meaning to find out from Dumbledore since the end of his first year now came into sharp focus. He had suspected the reason, and had come up with some fanciful ones of his own, but now he was faced with the grim reality of the situation, and he wished he had never found out. Of course, it was a relief to finally know why he had been left at the Dursleys, and what the reasoning behind Voldemort's obsession with him was. He also realised that something else made sense. When his parents had been killed, Voldemort had told his mother to stand aside. He knew that much from his encounters with the Dementors. He now understood that he and his father were the heirs of Gryffindor, and not Lily. On the other hand, if Heather was anything to go by, then Voldemort may have planned to take his mother if she had lived to use as the same form of mental torture on his unseen enemy as her sister.

When Harry thought about it carefully, he realised that it would in fact be five years before his parents were killed. He also understood why. From what he had recently learned, Minh's father was a Gryffindor. As her parents were never recorded in the human world, only in the elven realm, Voldemort would not have been able to find out the relation. Harry was confused by this. Even if it had taken five years for the information to come to light, it still seemed strange that the information had been leaked somehow. Minh never told anyone that he was aware of. He would have heard about it. And Gaerwyn wouldn't tell. She was wise, and was sure to recognise the danger of announcing her grandson to be Gryffindor's heir when the heir of Slytherin was rising to power. Harry's brow wrinkled in thought. He couldn't imagine how it could possibly have come to pass that anyone would give up such a closely guarded secret.

Harry was dragged from his thoughts by cheering from the assembled Death Eaters. His head snapped around as a tall woman was led forward, a blank look on her face and dull empty eyes looking forward towards her `master'. Harry let out a loud gasp as he recognised Heather. A nearby Death Eater looked around at the noise, wondering where it had come from. Harry slapped a hand over his mouth and cautiously moved back over towards Sev. As he made his way to his friend, he called back his snakes. He had a feeling he would need to leave soon, although he couldn't understand why. Better safe than sorry, he thought as he quickly opened a mind link.

~Simbi? Nirah? Come back now. We'll be leaving soon~

After a few minutes, the pair of snakes came through Crabbe Sr.'s legs and attached themselves to Harry's ankles. Relieved to have them back, Harry turned his full attention to the monster in front of him, who had his arm around Heather in a way that made Harry's blood boil.

“ My loyal Death Eaters. I am proud to present our spy in Dumbledore's ranks, and the ticket to my nemesis' downfall. Some of you will know this, but most of you won't. She is a trusted member of the Order of the Phoenix, and with my Imperius curse in place will be an invaluable asset. She is also a relation of Harry Evans, a wizard who has plagued me for thirty years. Last time, he got away with his life. This time, he will not be so lucky. But first, I will show him what a Dark Lord is really capable of. With the help of my young concubine, I will truly break him once and for all.”

As soon as Harry heard the word `concubine', his temper started to rise. Anger flowed through him until he was balling his fists so hard, blood was trickling onto the floor. How dare he? She's just a young woman. He's pay for this, he thought as he imagined the implications that single word had. As his wrath reached a peak, he unleashed his rage through the Dark Mark on Voldemort's arm. Immediately the Dark Lord let go of Heather and grabbed his throbbing limb with a cry. The Death Eaters watched in shock as their Lord and master screamed out in agony and fell to his knees, tears of pain flowing down his cheeks. Harry watched in grim amusement as his enemy squirmed and humiliated himself in front of his followers. It brought him little satisfaction, but it did give him a reasonable outlet for his fury. After about ten minutes, Harry's ire had calmed to a reasonable level, although he was still looking at Heather in pity. He knew he couldn't help her, as Dumbledore needed her to feed false information to the Dark Lord. This made him more than a little disgruntled at Dumbledore, especially now that he knew what his aunt had to be going through.

Once Voldemort had recovered from the searing pain, he stood and looked out across the sea of masked faces. The Death Eaters were shuffling in place, uncomfortable with their Lord's scrutiny. After a minute or two, Voldemort realised what had to be going on.

“ Evans. I know you're here. It's the only explanation for what just happened. Come out now, or I'll do something to the girl.”

Harry watched in fear as Voldemort wrapped both hands around Heather's delicate neck and began to squeeze. The Boy-Who-Lived suddenly realised where his anger had gotten him, and a pool of guilt settled in the pit of his stomach. He closed his eyes for a moment, before reaching a decision. I may as well do a little damage while I'm here, he thought. With a wave of his hand, Harry turned Sev invisible while the Death Eaters were distracted, before sending him a mental message.

~Sev, do you want to have a little fun?~

~Define fun. You seem to be in a bit of a fix. What are you going to do, Harry?~

~Trust me. Change shapes and start attacking the nearest Death Eaters. It should keep them busy for a while~

~Do I have to hurt people?~

~I'm afraid so. In the future you're going to be asked to do worse things for Shirley. You may as well practice on the bad guys~

Seconds later, Sev turned into his animagus form, the transformation for which he had completed only recently in his lessons with Harry. He let out a low growl, which was mirrored from a space to his right, where he realised Harry must be. As one, the invisible force of the leopard and the velociraptor started attacking the Death Eaters. Voldemort could only gape as his followers fell to a force they couldn't see, and therefore couldn't fight. The other Death Eaters, having realised what was happening, started to disapparate. After a few minutes, once the meeting was in total chaos, Harry made his way over to where his Housemate was and grabbed him by the tail, disapparating the pair of them back to Domus Corvus Corax.

“ Well, that went well,” Harry said as he led Sev into the ball room.

“ In what way!?”

“ The bit with Lucius was funny.”

“ Well, yeah, but did you have to attack him? He knows that you know his plan now.”

“ Yes, but at least if he finds out Dumbledore knows, he'll assume I told him. It'll take all suspicion off you.”

“ True, I guess. And I did get to try out my form in a combat situation…”

“ See? A success all round!”

By this time the pair had reached the table, and turned to look at the silent figures waiting patiently for them to return. They both gave the Order council a sheepish grin before taking their places.

“ What's this about a combat situation? I thought it was a simple information gathering mission,” Dumbledore started.

“ Well, it began that way sir, but it got a little out of hand…”

“ Well, I got angry, and gave myself away…”

“ Harry! How could you do something like that? You endangered the life of our one and only spy!”

“ No I didn't! I just stirred up a little trouble…”

“ What happened?”

Harry took a deep breath and explained from start to finish what happened at the meeting. As he explained what happened to Lucius Malfoy, the other time travellers all started to laugh quietly, and even the stern looking headmaster seemed to soften a little at the tale. Once he was finished, Harry sat back and waited for his mentor to pass judgment.

“ Well Harry, I think it was a little irresponsible of you to lose your temper like that, as it could have done a lot of damage. But, seeing as there seem to be no ill effects, I will let it slide this time.”

Harry let out the breath he had been holding and slumped back into his chair. He knew he shouldn't have lost it like that, but the thought of his aunt being Voldemort's concubine didn't sit well with him. If he had had his way, he would have attempted to rescue her there and then. He knew he would not be able to do that, though, as she was needed to secure Sev's position in the Order. Looking over to his friend, he realised that he had to consider the consequences if he was found out. They had become close friends in the last few of months, and he wanted to protect his friend for as long as possible. When he thought it through, though, he decided that he would make sure Heather was rescued before he went on to the next time period. He didn't trust Dumbledore to pull her out if he wasn't there to make sure it happened. He still had several months left, and that would have to be enough to convince Voldemort of Sev's loyalty. As the Order meeting was wrapped up and the members dispersed, Harry couldn't help but feel guilt for what his aunt was going through. It was his fault, and he knew it. The question was, would she ever forgive him?

The following weekend found Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and the Marauders gathered in a secret room Sirius had found the year before. After years of studying, James, Sirius and Peter were all finally ready to attempt the animagus transformation. Sitting in a circle with the time travellers and Remus, they all closed their eyes and thought over the information they had researched since Christmas. Harry and his friends gave the three some last minute tips and talked them through the process once again. After a few moments, the time travellers and Remus were surrounded by galloping animals. James tossed his head from side to side as he leapt around the room, Sirius hot on his heels and barking happily. Peter wandered around by himself, sniffing various corners before moving on. Remus had a huge grin on his face, and the others could see tears of emotion welling in his eyes. The four sixth years looked at each other before turning into their animals and taking off after James and Sirius. The latter gave a loud yelp as Harry pounced on him, and James played with Ron, racing him around the room. The thestral was the clear winner, but the stag simply poked him with his antlers and took off again. Hermione and Ginny flew around the room, the younger girl swooping down to land next to Remus, who was looking a little left out. Transforming, she put her arm around her friend as they watched the others frolicking.

“ What's wrong, Remy?”

“ I don't believe you.”

“ I'm fine. Really.”

“ Sure, if you say so.”

“ How can I ever thank them? I mean, they did all this, just so they could accompany me on the full moon. I'll never be able to repay them.”

“ Remus, true friendship is based on love and loyalty. If they really are your friends then they won't expect you to do anything in return. They did it because they are loyal friends who just wanted to make your transformations easier to deal with. It's a wonderful gift, and I know you feel indebted, but if you tell them you want to pay them back, in any way at all, then there's a good chance they'll feel insulted.”

“ You really think so?”

“ Being my friend.”

The pair was interrupted by Sirius, who slid to a halt in front of them, panting, and changed back to his human form.

“ That was great! I can see why you four enjoy your forms so much. Thanks for helping us; we never would have finished it without you.”

“ It's fine, Siri. I'm sure you would have managed it eventually.”

“ Sure, after we'd left school maybe. We can go with you two tomorrow night.”

That had been the point of completing the transformation. The full moon was the following night, and the Marauders wanted to make it their first excursion with the werewolf. Ginny had been with Remus the last few months, just to make sure she could control him. She had told the three fifth years and the other time travellers how to best subdue a werewolf during the lessons, and they all felt reasonably prepared. This first time, Harry, Ron and Hermione were accompanying the group just in case anything went wrong.

“ I'm looking forward to it, Sirius,” Remus said.

“ I never thought I'd hear the day when Remy was looking forward to the full moon,” James said as he came up behind the three.

“ Did you enjoy yourself, James?”

“ I did, Ginny. Where's Peter gone, by the way?”

“ I don't know. He was sniffing around in the corner the last I saw him, but that was a while ago.”

The four sat and watched their friends for a few minutes before everyone eventually returned to their human forms and they sat together in front of the fire.

“ You know, we need nicknames,” Sirius announced.

“ Good idea, Siri.”

“ I know it is James. All my ideas are good.”

“ Really? What about the one you had last June…”

“ Now, we don't need to talk about that,” Sirius quickly interrupted, looking into the laughing eyes of his friends.

“ What happened?” Ron asked.

“ No force on this earth would make me tell you that story,” the dark haired boy replied.

“ Not even veritaserum?”

“ So what are we going to call ourselves?” Remus asked.

“ Well, you should be Moony,” Sirius said with a smile.

“ I like it. What about you?”

“ Well I'm a dog, so something canine orientated.”

“ How about Padfoot?” James suggested.

“ Perfect! I like it. And you couldn't be anything other than Prongs!”

“ What about me?” Peter asked.

“ Anyone have any suggestions?” Remus asked.

“ Wormtail,” Harry whispered.

“ What was that, Harry mate?” James said.

The following night had everyone following Remus to the Whomping Willow, the Marauders under James' invisibility cloak, and the time travellers invisible of their own accord. Once they all got to the Shrieking Shack, James hid his cloak in a corner where it wouldn't get damaged and they all sat around to wait. As soon as Remus felt the change begin, he curled up in a ball on the floor, which was the others' cue to change. Soon the Shack was looking like a proper menagerie, with animals of all kinds strolling around. It didn't take much to subdue the werewolf, and soon the eight friends were leaving the safety of the Shrieking Shack and heading into the Forbidden Forest. They spent the night chasing each other around, investigating the forest floor and visiting the various animals that resided there. James and Sirius were delighted when they ran into a herd of centaurs, but the highlight of Harry and Ron's time there was when they met some unicorns. As they all knew, only virgin girls could approach the creatures, yet in animal form the unicorns paid them little attention. They looked a little nervous when they saw Harry was a predator, but when he bowed his head to them slightly in respect, they ignored him.

As they were headed back towards Hogsmeade in the early hours of the morning, they were surprised to meet a few grazing thestrals. When Ron first saw them, he bounded over and greeted them with a whinny. Harry watched in amazement at the creatures. He never knew that the Forbidden Forest was home to thestrals, as he had never seen any before on any of his trips there. While he knew they pulled the Hogwarts carriages, it had never occurred to him where they would live for the rest of the year. Watching his best friend, he made a mental note to ask Hagrid about them when they returned to their own time.

Eventually, the sky began to lighten and the group headed back to the Shrieking Shack, where they watched as Remus changed back into his human form. The young boy collapsed on the floor in exhaustion as soon as the transformation was complete, and James and Sirius had to pick him up and carry him back to Gryffindor Tower. Before the time travellers parted ways, Hermione turned to them all and smiled.

“ We did a good thing here. Helping them will make Remus' change more bearable in the future.”

“ I know, `Mione. And Sirius' animagus form will be useful when he's on the run.”

“ Yeah. We did good.”