Hogwarts, 10/31/1989, 19:59
Harry was in Hagrid's old hut, he had recently converted it into a storage room for his creatures and the supplies for his class.
From what he had found out from Newt, Hagrid had been working at a dragon reserve in Romania for the past couple of years. Harry liked to think that his coming to the past helped his half-giant friend, the man had always loved dragons and now he was working with them full time.
Harry was tending to a sick fire-dwelling salamander on the scrubbed table. One of his students had fed it something that made its body temperature to the point it was in a state of hypothermia.
Harry had just gotten the salamander's body temperature close to where it should be when he heard Minerva's magically magnified voice echoing over the grounds.
"ALL STUDENTS ARE TO REPORT TO THEIR COMMON ROOMS IMMEDIATELY, AND ALL HEADS OF HOUSE ARE TO TAKE ROLL OF THEIR STUDENTS. ALL OTHER FACULTY PLEASE REPORT TO THE GREAT HALL!"
Harry quickly finished his task before placing the salamander into the firebox with the others. Rushing out of the cabin, Harry made his way up to the castle, wondering what on earth could have happened to make McGonagall put the school on lockdown.
Harry stepped through the castle doors seconds before they slammed shut and powerful locks engaged one after the other, sealing the castle.
"Professor Peverell, I thought you had already left for the evening," Minerva said as he approached the entrance to the great hall.
"I had an issue with one of my fire-dwelling salamanders. One of my students thought it was funny to feed it ice mice and the little guy was... sick," Harry replied, shooting her a questioning look.
Sick was really an understatement, he had to feed the salamander Tabasco sauce to counteract the mint in the candy. Harry wasn't sure just yet which student had done this but they would pay for harming one of the creatures in his care.
"We have a bit of a situation, a muggleborn student was attacked," Minerva said, correctly interpreting his look.
"Who?" Harry asked warily.
"Penelope Clearwater, a second-year Ravenclaw," Minerva said in a grave tone.
"Is she okay?" Harry asked looking sharply at the professor.
"Poppy's seeing to her now but there are signs she was... assaulted. The aurors are on their way here now," Minerva answered as she walked Harry into the hall where the other staff members were already gathered.
"You've got to be kidding, she's what twelve?" Harry asked as a wave of fury came over him, his eyes starting to glow a faint green.
"Yes, and until she wakes, we can't confirm who her attacker was," Minerva admitted, looking just as furious as he felt.
"Let the aurors sort it out, I don't suppose there were any paintings in the area she was attacked?" Harry asked hopefully.
"No, it happened in the dungeons as she was returning from detention with Severus," Minerva sighed before leaving him to address the rest of the staff.
Harry listened as McGonagall filled the other professors in on what happened.
Harry was shocked by this turn of events, what kind of sick bastard could do something like that to a twelve-year-old girl?
The Penelope he remembered from his timeline was a kind-hearted girl. Penelope had been the Ravenclaw prefect when he started his first year and had helped him quite a few times that year when he had gotten lost. The fact that he knew the victim from his timeline only incensed him more.
Harry suspected she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. The odds were pretty good that something bigger was at play here. Otherwise, whoever the attacker was would have taken steps to cover their tracks better. The attack took place in the dungeons, which made it fairly obvious that it was a Slytherin student who attacked her. Most Slytherins were smart enough not to do something that would point right back to them, which led Harry to believe that this was done intentionally.
Considering that many of the Slytherin students had family members that were death eaters or sympathisers, it didn't take a genius to figure out who had ordered this attack.
It wasn't long before the aurors arrived on the grounds and Dumbledore granted them entrance into the castle. Harry wasn't familiar with any of the aurors Amelia led into the hall but he could tell that most of them were rookies, looking like they were fresh out of the academy.
"Peverell, I'm surprised you're still here," Amelia commented after she had sent her team went to go process the scene of the crime.
"I got hung up and I-
Harry was cut off as a familiar dog patronus burst into the hall, coming to a stop in front of Harry and Amelia.
"Harry, your house is under attack, the kids are safe!" Sirius' voice issued from the mouth of the dog before the patronus faded away.
"Oh no!" Harry exclaimed as he felt his heart drop into his stomach.
Harry knew that Bellatrix was more than capable of taking care of herself but that didn't stop the terror he felt when he heard that his wife was in a fight for her life. Harry gave Amelia a look before he turned and ran out of the great hall.
The front doors were still open and he didn't even slow down as he ran through them and leapt over the steps, hitting the ground at a full sprint with Amelia hot on his heels.
"Get to your house, I'll get a team over there as quick as I can," Amelia hollered from twenty yards behind him as they both ran across the open.
Harry had a feeling that by the time the aurors arrived that the fight would be over. Harry was grateful for her concern but he planned on dealing with this himself.
Harry covered the grounds as fast as he could, ignoring the stitch in his side as he saw the main gates up ahead. Harry passed through them blowing by the two aurors standing guard, apparating before they could finish saying the word 'halt'.
Peverell Beach House, Cornwall, 10/31/1989, 20:28
Harry appeared on his deck, he could hear the sounds of battle coming from the sitting room as soon as he landed.
Harry's wand was out in an instant as he rushed through the door to find his wife battling three death eaters at the same time.
All around the room, more black-robed men littered the floor some of them bleeding from open gashes others showing signs of being struck with very dark spells.
They were fighting in the middle of the sitting room the broken furniture had been pushed against the walls giving the fighter's room to move around.
Harry took in his surroundings as he focused on the four-way fight. He didn't want to do something that would distract Bellatrix and risk her catching a spell in the process. Bearing that in mind, Harry made sure Bellatrix saw him enter the room before he acted.
Harry chose a target that was attacking his wife from the side, the man was staying out of the main duel and taking potshots at Bellatrix when she was focused on fighting the other two.
Harry cast a spell at the man as the death eater began going through the wand motions of the killing curse. The yellow beam of light left Harry's wand as the man began to yell his spell out loud.
"AVADA KEDAVR-
Harry's piercing hex hit the man before he could finish the incantation, the piercing hex gouging a galleon-sized hole through the centre of his chest, spraying the wall and floor behind him red before he collapsed lifelessly to the floor.
"Don't ruin Bella's fun, Harry," Bella cackled as her next spell struck the death eater to her left
Her spell separated the man's head from his body, the headless corpse collapsing to the floor as its knees no longer held it upright. The head rolled across the floor, coming to a stop next to the fireplace.
"I can't let you have all of the fun, Luv," Harry answered as he and Bella began to overwhelm the last death eater.
"This lot was pathetic. The dark lord sending a bunch of scrubs after me is an insult," Bella scowled as she sidestepped a cruciatus curse and struck back with a cutting curse that sliced through the man's robes and left a deep gash across his chest.
"Oi, don't you have any manners, the lady was speaking," Harry huffed before hitting the man in the shoulder with a bone-breaking curse.
"You want him alive?" Bella asked curiously as Harry's follow-up spell struck the death eater in the kneecaps, shattering them both with a sickening 'crack'.
The large robed man collapsed with a bloodcurdling scream landing on his back and cracking his head on the floor. Not slowing down, Harry flicked his wand again binding the death eater in glowing blue ropes as Bella summoned the man's wand.
"We need to know why they're here... besides the obvious.," Harry shrugged.
"But this one is a big cry baby, I want to really make him squeal," Bella pouted as she ripped the last man's masks off.
"He is making a lot of fuss over a few broken, isn't he?" Harry muttered as he recognized the man laying at their feet.
"How did you know I was being attacked?" Bella asked curiously as she kicked the man between the legs, making him scream even louder.
"Sirius sent word," Harry said as he looked into Viktor Crabbe's bloodshot eyes, the man was looking between him and his wife with terror etched into his features.
"D-don't kill m-me, Crabbe blubbered, tears were running down his fat cheeks, putting Harry in mind of an overgrown baby.
"Stupefy," Bella said dispassionately, the stunning spell silencing Crabbe.
"So they tried to attack you and the kids?" Harry asked, a cold edge to his voice.
"Yes, they collapsed the wards. I had Jangles take the twins to Sirius' before I greeted our guests," Bella admitted as she unmasked the others that were laying on the floor.
"Looks like you've still got it. Did any of them even land a hit?" Harry asked as he studied the faces of the downed death eaters.
"No, they had no idea how to work together. I tore them to pieces," Bella smirked as she came to stand beside him.
"I think they're recruits, the only one I recognize is Crabbe," Harry said before he placed a kiss on her sweaty forehead.
"There are a few more upstairs, they went looking for the kids while these morons tried to kill me," Bellatrix cackled, an evil grin crossing her lips.
"Then they're probably dead or pretty close to it if they went anywhere near the jungle room," Harry muttered as he heard the sound of incoming apparition.
"They couldn't have been stupid enough to send more," Bella asked incredulously as they heard people walking up the stairs leading up the deck.
"No, I think that is Amelia coming with backup," Harry said as he heard footsteps on the deck.
"Department of magical law enforcement, hold your fire!" A familiar voice xclaimed from the doorway.
Bella and Harry both aimed their wands at the door as Amelia and a different group of aurors entered the sitting room.
The sitting room now resembled a warzone with destroyed furniture and broken glass littering the floors. There were gaping holes in the walls looking into the kitchen and part of the ceiling had collapsed so that they could look into one of the guest bedrooms on the second floor. That combined with the black-robed bodies strewn around the room and the severed head laying next to the hearth made it clear a fierce battle had taken place here.
"Holy shit!" John Dawlish exclaimed when he took in the carnage around the room.
"We left a few alive," Harry said as he gestured to Viktor Crabbe.
"You two did all of this?!" Kingsley Shacklebolt asked weakly as his eyes lingered on the severed head wearing a death eater mask
"No, Bella did most of it. I just caught the end of the fight," Harry said, a touch of pride in his voice.
"Get the ones that are still alive to the cells and portkey the rest to the morgue," Amelia barked to the team of aurors.
"I need to get a statement from Lady Peverell," Auror Savage said as the other aurors began portkeying the death eaters away.
"Are there any others?" Kingsley asked, looking at Harry.
"Yes but I may have to escort you upstairs, I think they may have run afoul of my familiar," Harry suggested as Bella went to talk with Auror Savage.
"What is your familiar?" Kingsley asked warily.
"A South American bushmaster, there are two of them upstairs," Harry explained.
"Lead the way," Kingsley nodded, looking a bit uneasy at this revelation.
"Alright, just stay behind me," Harry instructed as he made his way towards the stairs, Kingsley and a few of the aurors following behind him.
Harry's suspicions were correct as he found two men in black robes lying on the hallway floor beside Ignotus' bedroom door.
They were breathing rapidly and clutching their abdomen, groaning piteously as their body's wracked fom painful muscle tremors.
Athena's venom acted very quickly and she could dump an enormous amount with a single bite. From everything he had read, Harry knew that death by a bushmaster bite was an agonising way to go.
§Athena, Ares, it is safe now§, Harry called down the hall.
Within thirty seconds he saw the two serpents slithering towards him, their tongues flicking rapidly.
§The two legs wanted to harm the hatchlings so we bit them§, Athena hissed as one of the men on the floor vomited blood onto the hall floor.
§You did very well, I am quite proud of you both§, Harry praised as Kingsley led the group of aurors over to them.
"You had better get them to St Mungo's, Auror Shacklebolt. Tell the healers they need an antidote for lachesis muta venom within the next ten minutes or they're probably going to die," Harry said as the aurors began searching the men for weapons.
"Got it, those two aren't going to bite us, are they?" Kingsley asked as Ares coiled at Harry's feet, his tail twitching nervously.
"No, they won't attack you. They do not attack people unless provoked," Harry assured him as he leaned down and gently picked Athena up, letting her coil around his chest for warmth.
"We will have to interview you and your wife but this looks like a pretty clear case of self-defence," Kingsley said as the aurors began portkeying the death eaters to St Mungo's.
"I understand," Harry said as the prisoners and aurors disappeared in a flash of blue light.
"We had better get back downstairs and get your statement," Kingsley muttered as he glanced at the pool of blood on the floor.
"Alright, did Amelia return to Hogwarts?" Harry asked as he followed Kingsley down the stairs, Ares slithering behind him.
"Yes, her team will be there for quite a while," Kingsley answered distractedly.
§The two legs are everywhere§, Ares hissed as they came to a halt in the doorway leading into the sitting room.
Harry could tell Ares was a bit uncomfortable, over a dozen aurors were busy processing the crime scene which was not a safe environment for a snake slithering on the floor (or the unlucky auror that accidentally stepped on said serpent).
§I can have Jangles take you to the hatchlings§, Harry offered.
§Yesss, I want to go to the hatchlings§, Ares said, nodding his large head eagerly.
"Jangles," Harry called.
'Pop'
"Master Harry," Jangles asked looking a bit shaken but pleased to see him nonetheless.
"Are the kids okay?" Harry asked worriedly.
"Yes sir, they are with the doggy man having hot cocoa," Jangles answered.
"Thank god! Could you take Ares to Ignotus please?" Harry asked gesturing to the reddish bushmaster curled up at his feet.
"Of course sir, come here little snakey," Jangles cooed as he gently picked Ares up, the snake curling around the elf's body.
"You have done well tonight, Jangles. You are a credit to the house of Peverell," Harry said sincerely, causing his elf to smile widely before he disappeared with a soft 'pop.'
"You had your elf take the children when the attack began?" Kingsley asked pulling Harry's attention from the spot the elf had just disappeared.
"I wasn't here when the attack began. I was at Hogwarts," Harry admitted, noticing Bellatrix was still being interviewed by Auror Savage.
"And you made your way here when you got word?" Kingsley asked as he started taking notes on a notepad.
"Yes, Lord Black sent word of the attack. Auror Black was present when I received the Patronus message saying that my house was under attack," Harry explained.
Harry quickly retold the events of the attack from his point of view, patiently answering all the side questions Kingsley asked. Harry knew perfectly well Kingsley was doing this to find holes in his story, this was a common auror interrogation tactic. After Kingsley was satisfied with Harry's statement, he joined Auror Savage in interrogating Bella, while Harry came to stand beside his wife.
Harry could tell his wife's patience was wearing thin at the repetitive line of questioning, but she was keeping her cool which was an accomplishment in itself.
"And why didn't you leave with the children, Lady Black?" Auror Savage asked.
"I haven't been in a fight in years, home defence is the only way I can legally hurt people anymore," Bellatrix answered, causing Harry to cover up his laugh with a cough.
Good old pureblood laws made it so that a Pureblood lord or lady could do anything they wished in defence of their property. They could cast any spell even the unforgiveables and the ministry couldn't do anything about it as long as it was considered 'self-defence'.
"Very well, we may have to contact you in the next few days after we interrogate the ones you left... alive," Auror Savage said, giving Bella a look of disapproval.
"We're going to be staying at the London Townhouse until we can raise new wards," Harry said, giving Kingsley a subtle nod.
"Good, I know where that is," Kingsley said as he looked over at his partner.
"Then I suppose we have all we need," Auror Savage said, pocketing her notepad.
"Thank you for responding so quickly," Harry said genuinely.
"It's our job, Lord Peverell," Auror Savage said giving him a respectful nod before turning on the spot and disappearing with a soft 'pop'.
"Auror Shacklebolt, if you ever want a snake of your own, just let me know," Harry offered.
"After seeing the state of those two upstairs, I think I'll pass," Kingsley said giving Athena a wary look before following after his partner.
"Suit yourself, good evening Auror Shacklebolt," Harry chuckled as Kingsley followed his partner's example and disapparated with an audible 'pop.'
Once they were alone, Harry turned to Bella who was looking quite pleased with herself.
"Let's get over to Grimmauld and then we can have Jangles bring the kids," Harry said as he approached the fireplace and threw some floo powder into the fire only for nothing to happen.
"We may have to pay Madam Edgecombe a visit," Harry said thoughtfully realizing what this meant.
"Yes, I believe it is time someone did something about her," Bellatrix agreed, a dark look coming over her features.
"And you want to be that someone," Harry smirked.
"Everybody wants to be someone, Harry," Bella said in her little girl voice.
"I'll look into her," Harry promised.
"It looks like we'll have to apparate out of here," Bellatrix said looking over at him.
"Let's go, I want to check on the kids," Harry said as he offered Bella his hand.
"Okay, but be gentle," Bella giggled as she took his hand.
"Always," Harry assured her before spinning on the spot and taking them to Number Twelve Grimmauld Place.
Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, London, 11/1/1989, 17:15
Harry sat at the table in the basement kitchen as order members filed into the room.
Normally Harry wouldn't attend these meetings but he wanted to find out what they have found out about the attack last night
Harry and Bella had gotten settled in last night before having Jangles bring the twins over from Sirius' house. Harry was pleased to see they were both fine if a little hyper due to all of the sugar Sirius had been giving them.
They had only been back at Grimmauld Place for a day and already he missed his home. Bellatrix felt much the same and was already looking forward to getting new and better wards placed over the beach house.
"How are you doing?" Sirius asked as he entered the kitchen followed by a couple Harry recognized instantly.
"Alright, but this place is bloody depressing," Harry shrugged.
"Tell me about it," Sirius grinned as he took a seat on Harry's right.
"Thanks for looking after the twins," Harry said with a grateful smile.
"The twins weren't a problem, the seven-foot highly-venomous snake you sent later was," Sirius huffed.
"He was getting nervous with all the people around him, I didn't want him getting stressed out," Harry said, amused that after all of these years, Sirius was still so terrified of snakes.
"The thing is bloody terrifying," Sirius shuddered.
"You sent him a snake?" The woman that so resembled the Neville from his timeline asked curiously.
"Yes, the snake is going to be my son's familiar and he really is quite a gentle soul, Sirius is just being dramatic," Harry sniggered.
"Oh, where are my manners? Harry, this is Frank and Alice Longbottom," Sirius said gesturing to the couple seated across from them.
"Pleased to meet you both, I am Harry Peverell," Harry said politely.
"We know who you are. There is a tale going around that you and your wife are responsible for sacking Azkaban last spring," Frank said with a wide grin.
"Surely you're too old to believe tall tales," Harry smirked.
"I'm not near as old as I look," Frank assured him.
"We still feel like we're in our twenties sometimes," Alice giggled.
"You know that Bellatrix-
"She didn't do that to us, we were able to get our memories of that night back... somewhat. It was mostly cousin Barty that tortured us," Alice admitted with a far-off look in her eyes.
"Why would you want to remember something like that?" Harry asked in alarm.
"We wanted to know what happened to us and why we missed so much of our son's life," Frank answered bluntly.
"We were able to remember a lot of our time in the hospital as well. So we did get to see him grow in a way," Alice said with a sad edge to her voice.
"I'm just glad that potion Cissa was designing, worked. Even if was to butter up the minister," Harry admitted
"So are we," Frank replied and Alice nodded her agreement.
"Please tell your wife that there are no hard feelings on our end," Alice said as she looked at him critically as if she was looking for something in his features.
"Mum still hates her though" Frank added with a chuckle as Dumbledore entered the kitchen.
"I'll let her know," Harry nodded, glad that this conversation was cut short.
He knew that Bellatrix played a role in the Longbottom's being in a vegetative state for almost seven years. It felt strange talking to them about his wife, he had made peace with who she was years ago but he still didn't like to think about what she had done before they met in this timeline.
"Welcome everyone, we had a series of incidents take place yesterday evening. The worst of which was the attack on the Peverell family home," Dumbledore began pulling Harry from his thoughts.
"It was a bloody massacre, eight dead and three critically injured," Moody grunted.
"The wife is not someone to cross," Harry chuckled.
"Yes, we saw that first hand. Do we know the reason for the attack?" Dumbledore asked, looking towards Mad-Eye Moody.
"Aye, according to the only prisoner we could interrogate, the attack was meant to be punishment for Lady Peverell defecting. The attack at Hogwarts was carried out to keep Lord Peverell out of the way," Moody explained.
"I bet that's why someone poisoned my salamander," Harry muttered as the pieces fell into place.
"What?" Sirius asked in confusion.
"The only reason I was still on campus when Minerva made the announcement was because of an incident in my third-year class. A student fed one of my fire-dwelling salamanders a cooling candy that made it very ill," Harry explained.
"Do we at least know who assaulted the girl?" Sirius asked.
"Yes, he was taken into custody this morning," Kingsley replied with a look of disgust.
"Who?" Harry asked, pushing the salamander out of his mind.
"Lewis Selwyn, he was a Slytherin student repeating his seventh year so he could retake his N.E.W.T's," Kingsley answered giving Moody a meaningful look.
"Was he marked?" Frank asked.
"Yes, he claims he was ordered to attack a muggleborn to put the school on lockdown," Kingsley said.
"That's not all he said, during his interrogation, he admitted there are other death eaters in the school," Moody grunted.
"I assure you this will be looked into," Minerva said with a hard look in her eyes.
"I take it Voldemort is unhappy with the results of the attack on my home?" Harry asked as he looked toward Snape.
"Yes, the dark lord was quite livid. He sent twelve death eaters to kill your wife and she wiped the floor with them," Snape snorted.
"What do you know about Madam Edgecombe?" Harry asked, his eyes still focused on the potions master.
"She has been Yaxley's contact in the floo network for years," Snape replied in his usual emotionless tone.
"The floo at my house was shut off, I didn't realise it until after the aurors left," Harry explained at Dumbledore's questioning look.
"You've known this all along and you didn't say anything!" Sirius exclaimed.
"You never asked," Snape shrugged.
"From what we saw last night, I believe that Voldemort is taking steps to tie up loose ends," Dumbledore said thoughtfully
Before anything could be said, the kitchen door opened about six inches before Athena slithered in, hissing in annoyance.
Sirius nearly climbed on the table as she slithered up the back of Harry's chair to settle on her companion's shoulder.
§This place is awful§, Athena hissed petulantly.
§I know, we won't be here long§, Harry assured her.
"Is that the snake that bit those two last night?" Moody asked, eyeing Athena warily.
"Yep, are they going to make it?" Harry asked.
"The healers aren't certain, the antidote seems to be working but there is severe tissue damage around the site of the bite. They have also started to swell up around the envenomation site," Dedalus Diggle answered.
"I used to make a fortune collecting bushmaster venom because they have yet to invent an antidote for this species' venom that will work consistently," Harry sighed as he gently stroked Athena's head.
"I always thought you were making that up just to mess with me," Sirius muttered scooting his chair away from Harry.
"Both of my bushmasters know not to bite humans unless they or the family are in danger," Harry assured him.
"Severus do you have any more insight into the attacks last night," Dumbledore asked getting them back on the original subject.
"The dark lord ordered the attack last night because he thinks Bellatrix is a risk to the movement. She has knowledge of the death eaters' mode of operation that could pose a lot of problems for him," Snape answered.
"That must mean he's planning on coming back to Britain soon," Harry said after thinking it over for a minute.
"He is, the dark lord is planning on moving operations back into the country by the first of next year," Snape answered.
"We knew that was coming," Alastor snorted.
"He is also interested in the prophecy around himself and Harry Potter," Snape added.
"The prophecy that you brought to his attention," Harry said matter of factly.
"I-I had no idea it concerned the Potters when I informed the dark lord of the prophecy," Snape stammered out, the colour draining from his face at the accusation.
"How do you know of this?" Dumbledore demanded, all pretence of the kindly grandfather vanishing.
"My wife was privy to quite a bit of the dark lord's plans before she broke the imperious curse," Harry answered, his eyes still focused on Snape.
"We both know full well your wife wasn't under the imperious curse," Snape sneered.
"Rather she was or not is irrelevant. She's with me now and as we saw last night, she's not going back," Harry said with a tone of indifference.
"Severus is atoning for the mistakes of his youth, you obviously understand this more than most," Dumbledore cut in.
"I know Albus, that is the reason I haven't sought vengeance for the death of my cousin and his wife. Snape is a necessary evil," Harry answered.
"The dark lord also believes you and your wife are responsible for the attack on Azkaban," Severus added, giving Harry a pointed look.
"I have no idea how that rumour got started, I am just a lowly school teacher," Harry snorted finally breaking eye contact with the death eater spy.
"So was Albus back in forty-five," Moody pointed out
"Quite right, whether you had a hand in Azkaban or not, Voldemort believes that you and Lady Peverell were the ones to destroy his dementors," Dumbledore replied
"Well he better stock up on body bags because anyone he sends after my family will meet the same fate as the one's last night," Harry said a hard edge to his voice.
"I believe that will wrap things up for the evening but everyone please stay on the alert. As we saw yesterday, Voldemort is becoming more active again," Dumbledore said as he stood from his seat.
After that, the kitchen emptied with Dumbledore and the Hogwarts contingent leaving first. Harry had to deal with quite a few members coming up to him and shaking his hand and congratulating him for dealing with the death eaters so effectively.
It took about twenty minutes before the last order member left and it was only him and Sirius left in the room.
"You're still not going to join the order, are you?" Sirius asked as he got up and walked over to the cabinet, retrieving two bottles of butterbeer.
"No, I have no interest in following Dumbledore's lead on this," Harry replied.
"You definitely inherited your mother's stubbornness," Sirius sighed.
"I've been told, look it might be best if you and Amelia started staying here as well," Harry suggested.
"We've considered it but Amy thinks we should stay at Bones Manor," Sirius said looking unconcerned.
"Yeah that could work, it's unplottable isn't it?" Harry asked as he accepted the offered beverage.
"It is, it also has some pretty nasty protective wards and plenty of room for the kids to play," Sirius nodded.
"Just make sure the wards go deep into the ground, that was the weakness Barty Jr exploited on Longbottom Hall," Harry warned.
"I'll pass the word onto Lord Bones," Sirius promised.
"Good now I do believe I have some unruly youngsters to deal with," Harry chuckled as there was a loud thump over their heads, followed by childish laughter.
"Good luck with that, I need to get back to my own unruly brats," Sirius grinned as he walked over to the fireplace and threw in some powder.
"Take care of yourself, Padfoot," Harry said as Sirius stepped into the flames.
Harry wasn't that surprised to learn that the attack at Hogwarts was carried out with the intention of keeping him at Hogwarts. He knew this was par for the course when it came to Voldemort, his plans were usually overly convoluted (the incident at the end of the Tri-Wizard Tournament was a prime example of this).
Harry would have to ponder what he was going to do in retaliation, but for now, he had to get his home sorted out. The death eaters had collapsed some pretty well-constructed wards on the beach house. He was considering raising the fedelius wards over the home but he was unsure if he wanted to do something so extreme.
Harry walked up the steps to find the troll's leg umbrella stand on its side and Carina chasing after Ignotus. Ignotus was on his toy broomstick with her doll clutched under his arm staying just out of his sister's reach.
"Give it back, Iggy!" Carina screeched angrily.
With a sigh, Harry summoned the broomstick with Ignotus still on it, much to his son's surprise.
"Give her back her doll back," Harry instructed when Iggy came to a stop in front of him.
"Here," Ignotus huffed as he handed Corina back her doll.
"Now go to your room and get ready for bed," Harry said as he picked Iggy up under the armpits and set him on the floor before snatching up the broomstick.
"But dad, my broomstick," Iggy whined, his lip starting to curl up.
"You aren't supposed to fly in the house and you definitely aren't supposed to use it to pick on your sister," Harry said in a tone of finality.
As Iggy went through a tantrum over how unfair Harry was being, Harry couldn't help but wonder if his son would ever grow out of this brat-like behaviour.
"You'll get your broom back when you start behaving like an heir of Peverell. Now go to your room and stop with the backtalk or I will donate the broom to charity," Harry said flatly, his patience having run out.
Ignotus stared at him in shock before turning on his heel and running up the stairs the sound of him crying noisily echoing behind him.
"I still think you should spank him," Carina said as she clutched her doll tightly to her chest.
"No, I don't think so. Now I believe you should start getting ready for bed as well, princess," Harry said as he took her hand and led her upstairs.
"But daddy, I've been good," Carina whined.
"You have but you also have lessons tomorrow," Harry replied as they stepped off the second-floor landing.
"Go get ready for bed, princess. I'll be in shortly to tuck you and Iggy in," Harry said soothingly.
"Fine," Corina sighed, reminding him strongly of her mother.
"Well done," Bellatrix said from the doorway of the drawing room.
"I am going to have to do something about our son, he's becoming a little brat," Harry sighed.
"Yes, I think he needs an outlet for his energies," Bella said thoughtfully.
"Torturing muggles," Harry suggested with a teasing grin.
"Perhaps, though I was going to suggest fencing," Bella smirked.
"Like with swords?" Harry asked, already liking the idea.
"Yes, it is perfectly respectable for an heir to learn a martial skill," Bellatrix answered as she hooked her arm through his.
"I will look into it," Harry agreed.
"Good now let's go make sure the children are getting ready for bed," Bellatrix said as she led him toward the children's room.
Tonight he would deal with his unruly offspring, tomorrow he would start looking into who had poisoned his fire-dwelling salamander and make their life unpleasant for a while.
Hogwarts Grounds, 11/19/1989, 11:28
It had taken considerable effort to find out who had poisoned his salamander on Halloween. Harry was aware that most people wouldn't have cared that much about a lizard but he was not going to let this slide.
He had resorted to a simple yet very effective method of finding the culprit. He had tasked Athena with sneaking into the Slytherin common room and eavesdropping. It had taken her a couple of weeks but eventually, she learned the poisoner's identity.
Currently, he was finishing his third year Gryffindor and Slytherin class and the bell was seconds away from ringing.
§That's him§, Athena hissed from his shoulder as he passed a group of Slytherins.
§The blond-haired boy?§ Harry asked.
§Yesss, the one with the big ears§, Athena replied as she stared at the boy, making him pale at her attention.
"Mister Bole, detention with me tonight at six," Harry said matter of factly.
"For what?" Lucian Bole demanded.
"For poisoning my fire-dwelling salamander on Halloween," Harry replied as the bell rang.
"You have no proof I did anything," Bole protested hotly.
"True, but this is not the ministry of magic, I don't need proof. I know you did it, you know you did it and that's all that matters. Also, that will be another detention tomorrow morning at five o'clock for backtalking a professor and there will be another detention tomorrow evening for not addressing me properly," Harry smirked.
"Yes sir," Bole grit out, his face reddening in suppressed rage.
"Good, just count yourself lucky I am not taking points from your entire house for your stupidity," Harry smiled before gesturing for Bole to leave.
§Well done, Athena. I think you deserve a treat§, Harry said as he stepped into the cabin and showed her a fat muskrat in a steel cage sitting on a shelf
§Oh, that looksss deicousss§, Athena hissed excitedly.
§I've heard they are quite good, two legs even eat them. Be careful though, they have been known to eat serpents§" Harry warned.
§I love a challenge§, Athena hissed as she eyed the muskrat through the cage.
§I thought you might, I will have Jangles take you to the jungle room§, Harry chuckled.
§Thank you, Harry§ Athena hissed, the tip of her tail flicking excitedly.
"Jangles," Harry called out.
'pop'
"Please take Athena to the jungle room and then release this into the jungle," Harry instructed as he handed the elf the cage before he gently transferred his familiar to the elf's shoulder.
"At once, Master Harry," Jangles chirped before disappearing with Athena and her lunch.
Harry was still in the process of warding the beach house but the snakes preferred to feed in their habitat. Harry had been getting Jangles to transport them when it was time for them to feed.
He would have to swing by the beach house tonight and pick Athena up after he oversaw Bole's detention.
Harry kind of felt like Snape a moment ago but Bole had gone against everything the class stood for and Harry couldn't let that go. So Bole would be completing the most disgusting task Harry could think of for all of his detentions.
'Perhaps Snape has some ingredients that needed processing,' Harry thought as he made his way to the castle to get some lunch before his third-year Ravenclaw/Hufflepuff class.
The Rookery, Otter St Catchpole, 2/17/1990, 14:29
Pandora was in the final stages of testing her experimental vanishing charm. She had finally figured out all of the theory work on a spell to make an object completely compress in on itself. This spell would work similarly to the common vanishing charm except it would work on anything even magical items that you could not vanish with the standard spell.
This morning Pandora had finally worked out the arithmancy on the spell. So today was the day she would find out if her calculations were correct. If they weren't she would have to start over from the beginning.
Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, Pandora began the complex swishing motion as she concentrated on the ordinary chicken's egg in front of her.
"Imploso completum evanescus," Pandora incanted and watched with delight as a lime green spell left her wand and struck the egg, the egg compressed inward in a blur before disappearing with an audible 'pop.'
Pandora was ecstatic, the spell had worked exactly like it was supposed to.
"I did it Moonbeam, the spell works," Pandora squealed as she glanced at her nine-year-old daughter who was colouring on the floor in front of the fireplace.
"That's good, can we have pudding now, mummy?" Luna asked hopefully.
"As soon as I finish testing out this new spell," Pandora promised.
"Hurry up mummy, daddy says the nargles like sugar," Luna warned.
"I just have to do one more test, Moonbeam," Pandora assured her.
Pandora reached under her desk and pulled out a goblin-made dagger noticing the pendant Lord Peverell had given her for Christmas, felt cold on her bare chest.
Delicately, she placed the goblin enchanted blade on her desk and then pressed her thumb to a rune etched into the desktop, activating the protective wards around her work area just in case something went wrong.
Pointing her wand at the goblin blade she cast the spell again.
"Imploso completum evanescus," Pandora incanted, much more confidently than last time.
The lime-green beam of light left her wand and contacted the blade just like before and the blade began to shrink in on itself.
Pandora was about to squeal in delight when the blade exploded in a powerful blast, 'BOOOOOOOOOM!'
The force of the blast sent shards of goblin-made silver through the air in every direction.
At the exact time the knife exploded, the pendant Lord Peverell had gifted her heated up before Pandora was engulfed in a sphere of red light.
Pandora felt the magical drain as the amulet drew more magic from her to prevent the deadly shrapnel from tearing her to pieces. The red barrier seemed to work like a powerful protego shield causing the deadly pieces of metal to bounce harmlessly off of its surface.
Pandora didn't even have time to process what happened. Less than a millisecond later, a wave of raw magic slammed into her pendant shield hurling her through the air.
"Mummy!" Luna squealed as Pandora was blasted backwards
Pandora barely registered she was being thrown through the air before she was slammed into the wards she had placed around her workstation. Luckily, the shield generated by the pendant she wore, prevented her from sustaining serious injury.
"I-I'm fine, moonbeam," Pandora said weakly as she staggered to her feet as the pendant shield faded away.
Pandora staggered back to her desk which was split in half from the force of the blast. Pandora pressed her thumb to the rune on the left half of the desktop dropping the wards.
As she crossed the room and collapsed onto the couch, she realized how lucky she was to be alive.
"What happened?" Luna asked still looking scared.
"The goblin magic reacted with mine, I didn't factor that into my arithmancy," Pandora admitted as she closed her eyes and tried to catch her breath.
"Your necklace lit up bright blue and covered you in a red bubble," Luna exclaimed, looking at her mother curiously as she clutched her stuffed unicorn.
"Yes, I believe Lord Peverell's gift saved my life," Pandora muttered still feeling a bit dizzy from the magical discharge.
"Then you will probably have to serve him until he deems your life debt is paid," Xenophillius said wisely as he stepped into the room.
"Yes, I will have to be his personal love slave," Pandora agreed looking over at her husband.
"I am glad you're okay, I felt that explosion upstairs," Xeno said as he inspected the two pieces of her desk.
"I am too, I think I need to contact Lord Peverell and make and inform him of my life debt," Pandora said as she shakily got to her feet.
"Yes, go call him at once. I think I'll take Luna with me to the office," Xeno agreed.
"If I am not made his personal concubine I will see you this evening," Pandora said as she kissed her husband on the cheek.
"Good luck, my Love," Xeno said before he lead Luna down the stairs to take her on a trip to the office in Diagon Alley.
'I hope my new master believes in bare bottom spankings," Pandora thought giddily as she walked into the naked room to make the floo call.
She was so lost in those naughty thoughts that she didn't even notice the gem on her pendant around her neck was flashing bright blue as it drew in ambient magic to recharge the amulet.
Great Hall, Hogwarts, 4/9/1990, 13:27
Harry sat enjoying a plate of roast beef and mashed potatoes after a long morning of classes. After being outside all morning the hearty lunch really hit the spot.
He had started to get into a bit of a routine now that he was in his second year of teaching. For the most part, he had enjoyed teaching, minus the incident at Halloween, there had been no problems in his classes.
"You're starting to get a following, Peverell," Minerva said as she sat down beside him at the head table.
"I am?" Harry asked in confusion.
"Yes, I just had the second-year students sign up for their elective classes. Every female student in the year signed up for your class," Minerva smirked.
"I'm sure you had similar problems when you started teaching," Harry rebutted.
"Unfortunately I did. I was in my mid-twenties when I started teaching. You know how teenage boys can be," Minerva sighed.
"So I have a full class next term," Harry asked after taking a sip of pumpkin juice.
"Yes, thankfully your niece will be graduating next year," Minerva sighed.
"She's been better this year," Harry pointed out.
"Because she wants the internship next year," Minerva shrugged.
"Well, I wouldn't open the champagne just yet. The year after she graduates the Potter and Malfoy heirs begin their first year," Harry smirked.
"Believe me, I am aware," Minerva sighed.
"They are actually pretty well behaved... for the most part," Harry admitted.
"We can only hope," Minerva sighed.
"It's my twins you should be worried about, they can be right terrors," Harry said as he refilled his goblet.
"Lovely, and I thought the Potter boy raised by Sirius Black would be my biggest problem," Minerva muttered.
"I should have them straightened out by the time they get their letters," Harry promised.
"Good or you'll be dealing with their detentions. By the way, I meant to tell you that you have been volunteered to chaperone the Easter Ball this Friday," Minerva smirked.
"Who volunteered me?" Harry asked suspiciously.
"The deputy headmistress," Minerva answered a smug smile playing on her lips.
"I am starting to think you're punishing me for something," Harry said in amusement.
"Two words, Donkey wards," Minerva replied shooting him a knowing look.
"Fair enough, can I bring my wife?" Harry asked hopefully.
"Yes, you can set an example by dancing. Usually, it takes a while for the boys to start asking the young ladies to dance," Minerva agreed.
"Excellent, we haven't gone to a ball since the summer of the attack," Harry admitted.
"Yes, how are your children dealing with the attack?" Minerva asked.
"They're handling it pretty well, I don't think they really understood what was going on," Harry shrugged.
"And your home?" Minerva questioned as she helped herself to treacle tart.
"We recently set up some pretty aggressive wards, we're moving back in over break," Harry admitted.
Suddenly Minerva jumped to her feet and rushed over to the Gryffindor table where Percy Weasley had just unknowingly set off a prank that turned him into a donkey and he was causing a scene as he reared back and brayed in distress.
This year, a certain pair of pranksters had started Hogwarts and they were almost constantly in trouble, driving Minerva up the wall.
From Harry's observations, they were much more troublesome than Tonks and her clique ever were. Thankfully, Minerva couldn't blame their misbehaviour on Harry as she had done with his niece.
Harry enjoyed the rest of his lunch while McGonagall changed Percy back to normal and drug the Weasley twins out of the hall by their ears.
'I don't think I ever warned her about the Weasley twins,' Harry thought with a grin as he enjoyed the show with the rest of the occupants of the hall.