The five were sitting under the shade of a parasol as Sirius explained what happened at the trial, it had gone pretty much as they expected. When he told them about his conversation with Xeno and the fate that had befell the youngest Weasley boy, none of them were sure what to say to that revelation.
It was Hermione who finally spoke, "I can live with that result, I was really worried at how I was going to face Ginny on Wednesday with two of her brothers gone. The main thing is he will never hurt anyone again."
If Hermione could live with that, then Harry would too. "I think you mean 'she wont hurt' love. Do you think it would be taking revenge a step too far if we set her up on a date with Crabbe or Goyle, or even both?"
Hermione tried to look sternly at her husband, she really did but when the giggles took hold she couldn't help herself. A lot of anxiety and tension eased from her body as she dissolved into laughter with the thought of Ron Macho Weasley in a little flowery print dress. Like Neville putting a dress on his bogart image of Snape, this exorcised the last of her fears away. He'd received what Hermione considered poetic justice and she didn't have killing him on her conscience. Yes, she could live with Ronda Weasley living out the rest of her life in Egypt.
It was Emma though who brought up another point, "Do you think the changes you made turned the old man mad or was it there all along and this just exposed it?"
It was a thoughtful Harry who answered, "We may have hurried him along the road a bit but I think he would have gotten there anyway. When you look at some of the decisions he made, there really had to be something wrong with him. The whole 'trap Voldemort' stunt was doomed to failure, three first years were able to beat his traps. Then to give a twelve year old the ability to alter time was crazy, irresponsible and anything else you want to add in there. The heir of Slytherin / basilisk fiasco was followed by dementors around the school, don't even mention that bloody tournament. Then for a full year he doesn't speak to me but allows Snape into my head. I told him what Draco was up to, he put the safety of the entire school at risk trying to save one boy who'd already made his choice. His final gifts to us were all a sick joke, I can imagine him chuckling as we nearly got killed on numerous occasions trying to solve the bloody clues."
Harry's voice had gotten quieter as he'd went on, it was now barely above a whisper. "He'd arranged my whole life so I would walk into that forest and let Voldemort kill me. There was no back-up plan or 'what to do if you survive' in place. I had a piece of that bastard's soul in my head and he never told me, far less did anything about it. I need to believe he was going senile, otherwise I have to really, really hate him. I don't want to do that, I just want to live my life in peace with my family. That shouldn't be too much to ask, surely?"
Hermione had her arm around Harry and her head resting on his shoulder, "It's like when you made that list Harry, it's only when you see it all together that you realise that everyone was passing off the old man's craziness as eccentricity. He won't get anywhere near us love, we won't be returning to Britain until he's no longer a threat. We didn't take down Voldemort just to let Dumbledore beat us."
Sirius quickly agreed with the young girl, "When we leave here, Harry will be wearing the portkey to Black Island at all times. In the highly unlikely event of Dumbledore tracking us down, get yourself out of there. This isn't Voldemort who would murder the rest of us, Dumbledore is fixated on you and will ignore us if you escape."
It was Dan who interrupted Sirius before his children could, "Much as I agree with your plan Sirius, there is one major flaw in it. The Dursleys will win parents of the year before Harry or Hermione would portkey away and leave us to face Dumbledore. I'm not saying they wouldn't run if the situation demanded it but they would stand and fight before leaving anyone behind."
Sirius could see the truth of that argument though it was Emma who had an alternative suggestion. "That would only work if we all had portkeys we could use in an emergency. They don't need to bring us here, just get us away from where we are."
The group began to thrash this idea around and came up with a workable plan, they would get portkeys made that would drop them all at different parts of a major city where they would make their way to a predetermined rendezvous point. With Hestia, Luna and Ginny, that would be eight portkeys being activated within seconds of one another to all different destinations. That should confuse anyone trying to track the portkeys long enough to allow them time to get a bus, taxi or tram out the area. It wasn't perfect but at least it would provide some degree of protection from an attack, however unlikely that may seem. They had no intention of underestimating Albus Dumbledore.
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