Peverell Beach House,11/12/1983, 21:48
Harry put on his Grey robes over dragonhide armour and flipped up his cowl, it had been a long time since he had worn his unspeakable robes and he couldn't suppress the excitement building in his chest at the thought of what he was about to do tonight.
He had been scouting his target all week and had succeeded in creating himself a hole through the wards around the Crabbe family home last.
The wards themselves were fairly simple but the anchor stones were very powerful. Setting up a backdoor through the wads had been an exercise in patience but he had managed to do it without the Crabbe's being any the wiser.
Harry slipped a silver harmonica box and a Gringotts bottomless back into the pockets of his robes and turned to find his wife watching him from inside the nursery a curious look playing on her face.
"I see you are ready," Bellatrix said as she stepped into the bedroom, she had just put the twins down for the night so she was talking very softly.
"Yes, this should be fairly quick but I have learned never to assume anything," Harry said, his voice coming out distorted from under the cowl of his robes.
"I have worked with Crabbe before, he relies heavily on the killing curse," Bellatrix warned.
"I know, I've seen him fight before," Harry assured her, he still remembered watching the memories from the battle of Hogwarts in the D.o.M years ago.
The unspeakables had collected memories from every perspective possible during that battle and Harry had spent weeks watching them all. Crabbe had been part of the group that came in through the forest ahead of the acromantulas and had been responsible for many deaths that night.
"Fine just be careful," Bellatrix said tensely.
Harry flipped his hood off of his head and pulled his wife to him placing a soft kiss on her lips before he whispered in her ear, " I will."
"Good, when you get home I will let you do whatever you want to me," Bellatrix whispered in his ear.
"I'll definitely be in a hurry now," Harry muttered as he shivered from her breath in his ear.
"Good," Bella purred as she started kissing the side of his neck.
"I can wait a few hours before I leave," Harry suggested as his trousers started to feel uncomfortable from his wife's attention.
"Oh no, you have to get going, you need to take care of your sister-in-law's problem," Bella smirked as she pulled away from him before dropping her robe to reveal her nude form.
'She really is evil,' Harry thought as his wife darted into the bathroom making him groan in frustration as he really did need to get going soon.
Crabbe Family Home, Wiltshire, 11/12/1983, 23:48
Harry stepped through the 'backdoor' he had set up in the property's outer wards and walked across the small lawn to a small somewhat rundown two-story home.
'Two-hundred and fifty thousand galleons and they still live in his hovel', Harry thought as he neared the front of the home.
Thankfully the Crabbe family didn't own a house-elf making this job so much easier, strolling up to the front door Harry quickly unlocked the door and stepped inside.
His first thought upon entering the home was that these people really needed a house-elf, there was junk everywhere. The place had a rank smell that really hit you in the nostrils. There was all manner of things piled three feet high upon the floor. There were clothes, boxes, broomsticks old cauldrons, and trash it reminded him of a scaled-down version of the room of hidden things. There was a narrow pathway that led down the hallway to the stairs.
Not bothering to try and hide his presence Harry quickly navigated the path through the junk and began making his way up the staircase which was thankfully free of garbage.
Harry already knew the rough layout of the home as the Crabbe family home was one of the first raids he had been a party to during his short time working for the auror corp so he already knew where the master bedroom was the on the second floor, the last door on the left.
Walking down the second-floor hallway Harry drew his wand and strolled toward the master bedroom taking a second to put a silencing charm on Gregory's room as he passed it.
He had already decided that the shock and awe approach would make more of an impression here as he wanted Victor Crabbe to really remember this experience.
With this thought in mind, Harry scanned the master bedroom doorway for any wards or other traps. Once he had confirmed that there were none in place, Harry flicked his wand throwing open the door open so hard it slammed into the wall with a thunderous BANG!
Harry followed this up by casting a lumos orbis maxima sending a blinding ball of light into the room before he cast a summoning charm for any wands in the room.
Three wands flew threw the open door and Harry deftly snatched them out of the air as he heard crashes coming from inside the room. Harry cancelled the lumos spell making the blinding white quickly disappear and plunging the room into darkness disorienting the occupants even more. Flicking his wand again he lit the candles set around the room before stepping inside to find a terrified woman in her late teens on the bed looking in his direction a look of terror etched into her features.
Scrambling to his feet and looking more than a bit dazed was a hulking man with slightly crossed green eyes and close-cut brown hair, he was built like a guerilla and stood well over six feet tall. It took the groggy man a minute before his eyes came into focus enough to make out the figure standing in front of the bedroom doorway garbed in grey robes with a cowl pulled over his head obscuring the intruder's face.
"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOIN' IN MY HOUSE!" Victor Crabbe roared before attempting to charge forward to physically attack this intruder.
With a lazy flick of his wand, Harry caught Crabbe in the chest with a banishing spell before the man had even cleared the end of his bed. Crabbe was blasted into the wall with considerable force and cashed into his nightstand as he crumpled to the floor with a pained groan. Harry decided to play it safe and bound Crabbe's hands behind his back before coming to stand over the dimwitted death eater.
"Good evening Mr Crabbe, I am here representing the interests of Lady Narcissa Malfoy, you owe her a large sum of gold Mr Crabbe, I am here to collect," Harry said easily.
"Tha' debt was with Lucius, he died so I don' owe her shot!" Crabbe retorted angrily as he craned his head to look into the darkness under Harry's hood that shrouded his face.
"Ah, that is where you are mistaken, Mr Cabbe. You owe the debt to house Malfoy which lives on through the Malfoy heir. Still, if you don't intend to pay your debt then I shall just have to find other things of... value," Harry said as he made a show of turning his head to look at the pretty blond who was cowering on the bed.
"Stay away from Sierra!" Crabbe bellowed and fought against his binds.
"She would fetch a nice price from the Slippery Petal in Knockturn Alley, she might even bring your payments current within a month," Harry drawled his voice coming out very creepy due to the voice-altering enchantments woven into his hood.
"I'll kill you if you touch her!" Crabbe bellowed.
"You are in no position to make such a threat, it holds no weight. However if you want to hear a threat that can be backed up ponder this, if you do not pay Lady Malfoy the gold you owe her by noon tomorrow I will sell your blushing bride to a two sickle brothel and make you watch the memory of those savages breaking her in for the first time," Harry said in a deadly cold tone.
"Pl-please our vault i-is in t-the basement," the woman Harry now knew was named Sierra stammered out.
"And how do I open this vault?" Harry asked conversationally.
"I-I can open i-t for you," Sierra answered in a timid voice.
Nodding Harry pointed his wand at Victor and hit him with a stunning spell before turning to look at Sierra, "Very well madam, please lead the way," Harry instructed in a pleasant tone.
The woman quickly climbed out of the bed revealing she was wearing a plain cotton nightgown and walked across the room, she slipped on some house slippers and led him back down the hallway.
Harry never liked to use the method he was using tonight. It was standard training for prisoner interrogation to use leverage against the person you were attempting to gain information from and more often than not that leverage was a child or a spouse. As much as he detested the method he could not deny that more often than not it yielded results.
Harry was brought back to the present when the young blond opened a door that led into a dark basement. With a wave of his wand, three yellow glowing orbs floated through the air over the stone stairs leading down to the basement.
"T-thank you," Sierra muttered as she began walking down the stairs.
Harry remained quiet and followed her down the stairs, the light was more for him than it was for her. He did not take for granted that she could be leading him into a trap so he wanted to be able to see what he was walking into.
The basement was a twenty by twenty foot stone room, oddly there was nothing in the room, after seeing the hallway upstairs he had expected something similar down here but the room was almost completely empty except for a lifesized painting of a knight wearing black armour on the wall to the right of the stairs.
Harry watched as the Lady Crabbe approached the painting and curtsied before saying, "stronghold" causing the painting to swing on a hinge revealing a two feet by four feet steel vault door recessed into the wall behind the painting.
"I-I need my wand to open the d-door," Sierra said looking at Harry fearfully.
"Very well but if you try anything I will be forced to hurt you," Harry warned as he pulled her wand from his robe pocket.
"You h-have my word," she said before gently taking her wand and muttering a long spell before touching the tip to the vault door and then pressing her left palm to the spot her wand had just touched.
Harry heard the 'click' of many heavy locks before the door swung open revealing a modest chamber with several large mounds of gold galleons piled on the floor and what Harry would assume were dark artefacts off to the side Harry also thought he saw some goblin made jewellery before he pushed it from his mind, he had a job to do.
"How much is here?" Harry asked turning his head to look at Sierra Crabbe.
"F-four hundred and t-twenty-nine thousand galleons according to Victor's ledgers," She answered quietly.
"Very well, please place three-hundred thousand in this sack and do not try and cheat me, I am watching you Sierra" Harry instructed as he pulled out a Gringotts bottomless bag and handed it to Mrs Crabbe.
"I thought you said he owed you two-hundred and fifty?" The woman's asked as she accepted the sack.
"It is, the fifty is my payment for having to come here to collect it when your husband refused to pay the debt that was owed, now hurry up time makes fools of us all," Harry instructed.
Harry felt no shame about taking an extra twenty per cent from the Crabbe's, he was not taking it all so they should feel grateful for that, he was tempted to just clean out the vault but figured that would be a bit heartless as the woman did have a three-year-old to take care of.
She nodded nervously and began floating galleons into the bag using a spell that summoned a specific amount in each time, in this case, she was adding gold to the bag a thousand galleons at a time.
It became quite tedious after a while but Harry forced himself to focus and keep count of how many piles she placed in the bag. Finally, after what felt like an hour she floated the thee hundredth pile into the bag and offered the sack of gold to Harry.
"Thank you lady Crabbe, you've been most helpful this evening," Harry said as he slipped the bag into his pocket, very grateful that the bag was near weightless.
"So y-you will leave now?" Sierra asked hopefully.
"Yes as soon as I retrieve one more thing," Harry said as he waved his wand over Sierra casting a sleeping spell on her and catching her limp form with a mobili corpus charm before she collapsed to the stonefloor.
Harry made his way back up the stairs leaving the vault door wide open and levitated Sierra back to the master bedroom where Crabbe was still unconscious on the floor near the end of the bed.
Harry floated Sierra over to the bed and cancelled the spell before walking over to Victor Crabbe and cast an ennervate spell on the unconscious death eater.
"Congratulations Mr Crabbe your debt to house Malfoy has been settled, now we just need to take care of a personal matter for the regent Malfoy," Harry said as Crabbe's eyes fluttered open.
"What more does tha' bint want?!" Crabbe demanded angrily as he struggled to free himself from the ropes binding his arms behind his back.
"Well I am sure you know by now women can be soft sensitive creatures, their feelings are often very easy to hurt," Harry said conversationally as he squatted down beside Victor and drew his wand before continuing, " on the flipside of that coin, the female of our species can be quite vengeful when she believes she has been wronged and vicious when seeking retribution," Harry said as he paralyzed Crabbe's left hand and unbent his index finger before placing the tip of his wand to Crabbe's finger just below where the Crabbe lord's ring rested.
"What are you doing?" Crabbe demanded though Harry could easily detect a note of fear in the man's voice.
"Clearing your debt with the Regent Malfoy for the insult you paid her," Harry explained patiently before he cast a nonverbal cutting curse that neatly separated Crabbe's index finger from his hand.
Crabbe shrieked in a mixture of rage and no doubt a significant amount of pain as blood poured over the man's back. Harry ignored this and cast a spell to cauterize the stump where Crabbe's finger used to be filling the room with the smell of burnt flesh and the renewed screams of Victor Crabbe.
"I believe our business is settled, have a good evening, Mr Crabbe," Harry said as he slipped Crabbe's finger and lords ring into a rectangular small velvet lined silver harmonica box and rose to his feet.
"I'LL FUCKIN' KILL YA FOR THIS!" Crabbe roared from his place on the floor.
"You can certainly try but it would be very unwise, Mr Crabbe," Harry said patronizingly as he strolled from the room leaving Victor bound in ropes facedown on his bedroom floor.
Harry made his way down the stairs tossing the three wands he had taken from the Crabbe's master bedroom over his shoulder and hearing them clatter down the second-floor hallway.
As he stepped out of the door into the cold November night he couldn't help but think that this kind of work wasn't near as fulfilling as working with serpents.
He had debated on killing the man since he had collected all of the gold owed to the Malfoys but thought it best to wait. He had carried out the task as directed and made a substantial side profit so all in all, it was a productive night.
Harry crossed the lawn and slipped through the hole he had made through the wards before closing the portal behind him.
"Now I can finally give Cissa the finger," Harry chuckled as he spun on the spot intent on holding his wife to her promises from earlier that evening.
Malfoy Manor, Wiltshire, 11/13/1997, 10:29
Harry stepped out of the fireplace with Ignotus held in his left arm and waited patiently for Bella to come through with Carina.
Harry was very pleased with how the job turned out last night, it really was a stroke of luck that Crabbe kept his money in a family safe as opposed to Gringotts.
Bella stepped out a minute later and they made their way to the drawing-room where Narcissa usually spent her time in the morning.
"Draco get off of that table this instant!" Harry heard his sister-in-law's scolding voice carrying down the hallway.
"Harry stepped into the drawing-room to see Draco perched upon an end table with a toy broomstick between his legs looking as if he was thinking of flying it off of the table. Narcissa was making her way to the little rascal looking very cross.
" I said get your bum off of that table this instant!" Narcissa exclaimed and Draco stumbled over himself to get back on the floor before his mother reached him.
Harry watched in amusement as the three-year-old tried to fly his toy broomstick away from his mother only for Narcissa to summon the broom out from under him and scoop him up in her arms.
"Did we come at a bad time, sister?" Bellatrix asked looking just as amused as he felt.
"My little Dragon is going to give me grey hairs, no this is as good of a time as any. What can I do for the Peverells this morning?" Narcissa asked as she carried her squirming son back to her chair and took her seat holding him in her lap.
Harry took the shrunken playpen out of his pocket and set it on the floor before unshrinking it and setting Ignotus inside.
"We need to talk," Harry said once he had straightened back up.
"I hope you have come to deliver good news?" Narcissa said pointedly.
"Better than I expected actually," Harry said as he reached into his robe pocket and removed the sack of gold before walking over and handing it to her.
Harry watched as she opened the bag and touched her wand to the bag's contents before casting the counting spell, smoky grey numbers appeared gloating over the bag.
225,000.00
"This is all of it?!" Narcissa exclaimed in surprise.
"Yes, It would seem the Crabbe's do not trust the goblins," Harry chuckled.
"Very well done, but what of my souvenir?" Narcissa asked curiously.
"I have that as well," Harry said as he handed her the repurposed silver harmonica case.
"Excellent, please tell me he was awake when you removed it?" Narcissa asked as she opened the case making sure to keep it out of sight of her curious offspring and peaked inside.
"He was very much awake," Harry assured her as he took a seat on an armchaair and made himself comfortable.
"Good, I believe he should learn his lesson about disrespecting the house of Malfoy, or its regent," Narcissa said with a satisfied smirk as she snapped the box shut and slipped it into the pocket of her robes.
"There might be retaliation for this he seemed very... upset," Harry said delicately.
"Oh I have no doubt he will try, the wards on Malfoy Manor are quite strong and if he does make it through the front door there is will be a very special surprise waiting for him, I have a sample of his blood after all," Narcissa said unconcernedly as she patted the pocket she had just placed the silver box in.
"Very well, do you have the information I need?" Harry asked curiously.
"I do, my aunt is planning to expand our territory into other parts of Europe. Also, from what I gather she needs to speak with Grindlewald to learn the location of a certain artefact he was once in possession of," Narcissa explained as she let Draco run off to play but refused to let the boy take his toy broomstick.
"What artefact?" Bellatrix asked curiously as she took a seat on the arm of Harry's chair.
"It's called the tongue of silver and it is purpose is to make someone very persuasive. It is said to be enchanted to make the words of whoever holds it almost impossible to resist acting on the listeners like a powerful confundus charm," Narcissa explained.
"According to what I've read that item was seized after Grindlewald was defeated, it's in an ICW evidence room if it hasn't already been destroyed," Harry pointed out.
"It was a creation of Gellert Grindlewald, do you not believe he made more than one?" Narcissa asked pointedly.
"Fair enough, I can only imagine what she could do with something like that," Harry muttered feeling alarmed at the implications of something like that in the minister's hands.
"Exactly, the Wizengamot would pass any law she presented and believe it was their idea all along," Narcissa agreed.
"Isn't there a way to fight its effects, I mean obviously there has to be or he would have won the war, wouldn't he?" Harry asked as he glanced over at Bellatrix.
"It's believed that those who practice the mind arts can resist it but no one knows for certain if that's true or not," Narcissa shrugged.
"It must be true, otherwise Grindlewald would not have had to fight Dumbledore in the first place," Bella reasoned out
"True, I do have some good news for you on that front though," Narcissa said with a knowing smile playing on her lips.
"What is that?" Harry asked warily.
"Aunt Cassie plans on getting the artefact and then tossing Grindlewald through the veil of death," Narcissa replied as a tea service appeared on the coffee table between them.
"Why, I thought she idolized the man?" Bellatrix spoke up sounding surprised.
"She did at one time but I believe she would rather run things herself than bow to another," Narcissa shrugged as she poured herself a cup of tea.
"It doesn't have anything to do with the fact that he is over a century old?" Bellatrix asked shrewdly as she fixed herself a cup of tea.
"It could, Aunt Cassie was very disappointed when she visited him in Nurmengard, she said he's just a shadow of who he used to be," Narcissa admitted as she took a sip from her cup.
"Well he has been there for almost forty years and if that place is anything like Azkaban they don't put much effort into keeping the prisoners healthy," Harry reasoned out.
"No she expected that, what she did not expect was for him to renounce what he's done, according to Cassie he truly regrets his actions," Narcissa explained.
"Thank god for that, at the height of his power Grindlewald made Tom Riddle look like an amateur," Harry muttered.
"Yes, well that is all I have been able to find out on that matter I'm afraid," Narcissa said.
"You said something about her wanting to expand British territory?" Harry asked deciding it was time to move on.
"Yes, she has been planning on taking certain territories since she was elected as minister," Narcissa nodded seeming pleased about the change of topic.
"Exactly where is she planning on expanding British territory?" Harry asked curiously.
"A chain of Islands off of the coast of Greece, and another off of the Spanish coastline she wants to take them from their respective ministries," Narcissa answered looking troubled.
"That would be considered an act of war," Bellatrix muttered.
"Which is why she has been attempting to strengthen our auror corp," Narcissa pointed out.
"I don't get it, most of those islands that are controlled by the Greek ministry are reserves for XXXXX magical creatures and the only island controlled by the Spanish ministry is a dragon preserve for Catalonian Fireballs," Harry said getting a faraway look in his eyes as he thought on it.
"Exactly, there are some of the most sought after creatures in the world on those islands, those dragons you mentioned are almost extinct and their parts go for exorbitant prices as do the parts from chimaeras, basilisks, and gryphons which all have reserves in Greece," Narcissa agreed looking at him expectantly.
"Son of a bitch! She wants to harvest them for her potions company," Harry exclaimed when the pieces fell into place.
"Exactly, she has had her eyes on those reserves for years and stands to make a killing if she can wrest control over them," Narcissa said.
"That can't be all there is to it, taking those islands would cause all sorts of international problems and sanctions. If she takes it far enough the ICW would step in," Bellatrix exclaimed.
"It isn't but I'm afraid that is all I know on the matter, for now at least," Narcissa shrugged.
"Fine, what about her personal auror squad and all these muggleborn laws that she keeps presenting to the Wizengamot?" Harry asked.
"That is a little murkier, I believe she wishes to separate the classes so to speak. From what I gather, she wants to make it so that muggleborns are not allowed to hold positions in government facilities any longer," Narcissa answered as she refilled her cup and stirred in three sugar cubes.
" So she wants the mudbloods out of the ministry?" Bella asked curiously.
"Yes and out of St Mungos as well," Narcissa nodded.
"Is she trying to drive them back into the muggle world?" Harry snorted.
"No, they make up over half of the magical world's population. If they stopped spending their money in the wizarding world the economy would quickly take a nosedive, she wants them to stay in the lower class," Narcissa answered with an unconcerned shrug.
"Can't say I disagree with that," Bellatrix said thoughtfully.
"Bella, there are only so many pureblood families in Britain, if those families only marry into other pureblood families eventually the gene pool will become stagnant and there will be a surge in squib births," Harry argued.
"So you expect the pureblood families to marry mudbloods," Bella snorted as if the idea was insane.
"Yes, in case you forgot Dumbles and Voldy are both half-bloods and they are way more powerful than any in their line were before them," Harry pointed out a smirk playing on his lips.
"Fine but our children are going to marry the right sort," Bellatrix huffed.
"I believe I will leave that up to them," Harry grinned.
"What else, Cissa?" Bella asked as she shot her husband an annoyed glare.
"Aunt Cassie also wants all incoming Muggleborns to attend separate state-run schools, eventually she wants to make it so that they are no longer allowed to attend Hogwarts," Narcissa answered.
"She'll never pull that off, Hogwarts is a private school and the ministry has no jurisdiction over it since Hogwarts predates the ministry," Harry argued.
"It won't stop her from trying but it's doubtful she will be able to succeed, Dumbledore will fight her on the issue tooth and nail," Narcissa agreed.
"And the aurors?" Bellatrix asked wanting a change of topic.
"Aunt Cassie has her goon squad pillaging any property owned by prisoners currently serving time in Azkaban, they already raided LeStrange Manor last week and she plans on hitting the Travers and Gibbon properties within the next month," Narcissa answered.
"She is starting to sound more like a pirate than a minister," Harry exclaimed.
"Indeed, she doesn't plan on holding the position for very long, mostly she is just trying to gain as much as she can while she can hold the office," Narcissa shrugged.
"Anything else?" Bellatrix asked shrewdly.
"Yes, she is trying to find someone to take care of Augusta since your husband failed," Narcissa said shooting Harry a mocking grin.
"I didn't fail, I just decided she would be of more use alive," Harry scowled.
"Yes I agree though I think it would be prudent for you to pass along a warning to dear Augusta," Narcissa suggested.
"I know, I just hate dealing with that old hag," Harry said with a tired sigh.
"Welcome to politics," Narcissa smirked.
"This is why I hate politics, uh-oh," Harry muttered as he saw movement out of the corner of his eye.
Harry flicked his wand aiming at a spot on the floor across the room and casting a hasty cushioning charm as Draco fell backwards off of a bookshelf from about ten feet in the air.
Narcissa shrieked in horror as she spun to look where Harry had pointed his wand and saw Draco falling from the large bookshelf on the other side of the room.
Narcissa let out a sigh of relief when she saw Draco land unharmed on an invisible cushion of air before her eyes narrowed in fury and she stalked toward her reckless offspring.
"DRACO LUCIUS MALFOY, GET YOUR TAIL OVER HERE THIS INSTANT!, Narcissa screeched.
" I think we are going to head out Cissa," Harry said and got a distracted dismissive wave from his sister-in-law.
'Poor Draco is about to get it,' Harry thought in amusement as Bella said goodbye to Narcissa getting the same reply as he did.
"Alright come on you two," Bellatrix cooed as she leaned over and scooped the twins out of the playpen while Harry shrunk it down and slipped it into his pocket.
"That was informative," Harry muttered as he took Carina out of Bella's left arm the sounds of Draco's dressing down echoing in the background.
"Yes, it was though I don't believe that is all there is to it," Bellatrix said as they made a hasty retreat from the drawing-room.
"No, I don't think so either," Harry agreed as they walked down the hallway.
"It still gives us an idea of what she's up to," Bella pointed out as they arrived in front of the fireplace.
"Yes let's get the kids home so we can administer your punishment," Harry grinned.
"Punishment?" Bellatrix questioned as she threw some floo powder into the large fireplace.
"Yes, you said mudblood a lot today," Harry pointed out before stepping into the flames and disappearing in a shout of," Peverell beach house!".
"Oh goodie, Bella needs a spanking," Bella giggled before following her husband through the floo.
Lady Miser's Tea Shop, Leeds, 11/21/1983, 11:38
Harry walked into the stuffy teashop and was uncomfortably reminded of the teashop in Hogsmeade. The only difference was that this tea shop was filled with middle-aged and elderly women sitting around gossiping instead of teenagers snogging.
Harry stood out like a sore thumb as he made his way through the crowded shop, many of the women's heads followed his path as he walked to a table where an elderly woman was seated. The woman had been getting strange looks since she had arrived due to the ghastly hat on her head and the stroller she was pushing as she was way past child childbearing age.
"Madam Longbottom," Harry said respectfully before taking a seat across from her.
"What do you want Peverell, your letter said this was urgent so let's dispense with the pleasantries," Augusta grunted.
"Alright, I have received information that our minister wishes to have you assassinated, you're doing a very good job of thwarting her plans in the Wizengamot and she is getting impatient," Harry said after casting a privacy charm over the table
"Why are you telling me this, you have worked for her in the past?" Augusta asked suspiciously
"The only time I have worked for her was when I killed a werewolf that had been terrorizing Europe for decades. I do not agree with her aims and I will sleep better when she finally passes on," Harry said bluntly.
"We agree on something at least, so what would you have me do?" Augusta demanded.
"First off fix your damn wards, they do not go deep enough into the earth, there is still a tunnel behind your greenhouses that Crouch dug when he attacked Longbottom hall in eighty-one," Harry answered.
"Very well, I don't suppose you could just take care of our minister for me?" Augusta asked as she sipped her tea.
"No, I cannot attack anyone in the Black family it was written into the betrothal contract," Harry admitted.
"I assumed as much," Augusta nodded.
"There is something else," Harry said seriously.
"Well?" Augusta asked somewhat impatiently.
"She is negotiating with foreign ministries to have Gellert Grindlewald transferred to Britain," Harry said pointedly.
"You can't be serious?" Augusta exclaimed loudly.
"I am deadly serious, it will take months for her to pull it off as there is all kinds of red tape involved in such a high profile transfer but she intends to have him brought here," Harry explained.
"I will ask my brother to look into this matter. If that is all really must be going, good day Lord Peverell," Augusta said as she finished her tea and got up from her seat.
"Good day Madam Longbottom," Harry called to her retreating back as she pushed the stroller with the sleeping toddler out of the shop.
"Excuse me, sir, will you be paying that ladies tab?" a young blond woman asked politely from his left.
"Yes," Harry sighed as he dug a twenty-pound note out of his pocket, "keep the change," Harry said before getting up from the table and leaving the shop.
Dealing with that woman was always frustrating but unfortunately, he needed her alive if had any chance of preventing Cassie from achieving her goals.
If he remembered correctly from the tapestry, Cassiopeia Black had passed away in ninety-two in his timeline. He could not take a decade more of this, something had to be done about her but because of the damn contract, it couldn't be him.
'Ugh, I'm already looking forward to Australia,' Harry thought as he spun on the spot a disapparated to his next port of call.
Peverell Beach House, 12/25/1983, 09:38
Harry sat watching the twins snuggle the stuffed dragons he had gotten them for Christmas, the Peverell family was enjoying a quiet Christmas at home this year, though next year he suspected that the children would be a little more active.
The twins had already begun crawling much to Athena's delight who enjoyed slithering after them and hissing encouragingly to Carina.
Speaking of Athena, she was currently in her room hunting for her Christmas dinner which was a very fat white rabbit he had released this morning.
He had gotten Bella a very nice set of dragonhide boots and the latest wand holster made from the same dragon as her boots that had a few new enchantments placed on it.
She had bought him a deluxe wizard's tent with a full bath and a bedroom though Harry suspected that was more for her as she hated sleeping on the bunk beds in the tent he had been using.
The last few weeks had been very interesting, a band of mercenaries had attempted to attack Longbottom Hall and were currently spending a few weeks in St Mungo's spell damage ward. Interestingly this had happened the night before Cassie had forth a bill to open up state-run schools for all incoming students not of wizard birth. Thankfully the bill sank like a lead balloon so the minister was once again back at square one.
Harry was looking forward to getting out of the country for a bit as the political nonsense was driving him mad, he had already sat through three Wizengamot meetings and there was another to look forward to before he left for Australia.
"Harry stop worrying about politics and look at this," Bellatrix exclaimed pulling him out of his ruminations.
Harry glanced at where his wife was and gasped, Ignotus was standing up holding onto the bars of the playpen and gibbering excitedly at his mother.
"Oh my, he's standing," Harry muttered in awe.
"I know it's wonderful," Bellatrix grinned proudly.
"Who's mummy's big boy," She cooed at her son who grinned happily at her.
"It's amazing but once he can walk he's not going anywhere near his cousins," Harry said seriously as he crouched down in front of the play pen beside Bella.
It turned out that Draco seemed to enjoy climbing things he shouldn't, last week he had climbed all the way to the top of the bookshelf he had fallen from on Harry's last visit. Apparently, his nephew had gotten stuck and Narcissa was forced to levitate him down, she had since placed an age line around the shelves to prevent a repeat.
Tonks was just as destructive as ever and had found herself a new hobby that was giving Andi grey hairs, skateboarding. This absolutely baffled everyone as the girl could barely walk a straight line and now she wanted to zip along on wheels over concrete.
Harry was of the opinion that both of the twin's cousins were bad influences and could not be trusted around their children.
"Finally you're seeing things Bella's way," his wife grinned as she stuck her hands between the bars of the playpen tickling Ignotus and making him giggle adorably.
"Look, I think Carina's getting jealous," Harry beamed.
Harry grinned when he saw Carina copy her brother's movements and slowly pulled herself on the bars of the playpen so she was standing upright beside Ignotus grinning widely at him and Bella.
"Oooh, she's doing it too," Bella exclaimed happily.
"It won't be long now," Harry said as he beamed at his children.
"Long until what?" Bellatrix asked distractedly.
"Until they are running through the house like wild heathens," Harry chuckled.
"Don't jinx it Harry" Bell chastised.
"Yes dear" Harry grinned as he kissed her cheek.
'The world may be going mad but this is what really matters,' Harry thought as he scooped the twins out of their playpen.