Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, London, 7/21/1992, 21:24
The last month had been insane!
Sirius had been placed back on active duty two weeks ago. He'd been put in charge of a team of hit wizards that were going out to round up vampires.
He hadn't been on active duty for years and he couldn't deny that he preferred doing real auror work as opposed to holding down a desk.
They were starting to make progress four cities had been cleansed so far and he was starting to feel optimistic about their progress.
Then last night had happened!
A muggleborn family was attacked in the dead of night. The mother and father were killed and their twelve-year-old son was bitten by a vampire and was currently a resident of St Mungo's.
From the looks of things, the death eaters had brought a vampire with them as the boy's muggle parents were both hit with a killing curse. The boy was bitten by multiple vampires but was not drained of all of his blood which usually happened during vampire attacks.
"There were also reports of Vampires being sighted in Scotland which was spreading the DMLE even thinner than it already was.
Sirius was currently sitting beside his cousin who was looking around the room with interest. She had been bugging him to bring her into the order and he had finally caved and brought her along tonight.
He wasn't all that concerned with her joining the order if he were being honest. She only had a few weeks until she left for the academy and she wouldn't be allowed to leave until December. In any event, the order wasn't doing very much anyway so there wasn't very likely that she would be fighting anytime soon.
Sirius noticed that Charlie was here tonight and he suspected Tonks had something to do with that.
"How's it going, Black?" Frank asked as he took a seat across from him.
"Been better, how are you?" Sirius asked.
"Same, I have joined the corp again. Bastards are sending me to train up the recruits," Frank shrugged.
"They don't want us back in the field until we can pass qualifications and Frank got lazy since we regained our sanity," Alice cut in.
"I was dealing with muscle atrophy for months after we came back to the land of the living," Frank protested.
"So Frank is going to run the snots through their P.T and get plenty himself in the process," Alice smirked.
"I plan on running my qualifiers next spring," Frank said as Minerva McGonagall and Snape entered the dining room.
"How's Peverell?" Frank asked as Moody stomped into the room behind the two professors.
"He still isn't back from his collection trip," Sirius said.
"Maybe we should switch jobs with him, at least he gets to travel," Alice muttered with a wistful look in her eye.
"Not bloody likely, I hate snakes," Frank said very seriously.
"Join the club mate," Sirius chuckled as Dumbledore stepped into the kitchen.
"Looks like we're about to start," Alice said looking amused at the two men's aversion to serpents.
"Nymphadora, what the hell are you doing here?" Mad-Eye demanded when he spotted the pink-haired woman seated at the table next to Charlie Weasley.
"Joining the order, sir," Tonks barked out as if she were still at the academy.
"And a fine addition you will make, Miss Tonks," Dumbledore smiled kindly.
"Don't get yourself killed, lass. Until you finish your training the ministry owns you," Alastor warned making Frank cough to hide his laughter.
"Same old Moody," Sirius chuckled as the man in question took his seat.
Moody had barely taken his seat before Dumbledore cleared his throat causing the room to fall silent.
"Thank you all for coming here today. We have three new faces in our midst so to Miss Jones, Miss Tonks and Mister Weasley, I bid you welcome," Dumbledore said his voice carrying easily over the room.
Sirius looked around at Dumbledore's words and quickly spotted Hestia Jones sitting next to Emmeline Vance towards the other end of the table.
"We have had more attacks in the past week and it seems that Voldemort is changing his strategy," Dumbledore sighed.
"Aye, he's starting to go after muggleborn families again," Moody growled.
"Indeed. For those of you who aren't aware, the Finch-Fletchley family was attacked by death eaters who brought multiple vampires along with them," Dumbledore said sounding very sombre.
"How bad was it?" Molly asked sounding horrified.
"The parents were murdered and the boy was infected," Moody grunted.
"Is there any word of Justin's condition, Dedalus?" Dumbledore asked sounding worried.
"The boy seems to be responding well to the treatment though there is a large amount of the virus in his blood from several sources. It will take longer than usual for him to recover completely," Dedalus answered.
"I do not believe that the vampires involved in the attack were newly turned vampires. I am almost certain that this was done by some of the vampires that the dark lord brought in from Romania," Snape admitted causing Molly to gasp in horror.
"Do you know of any others who might be in danger, Severus?" Dumbledore asked hopefully.
"I would watch the Dobbs, the Clearwaters, and the Grangers families closely. Quirrell has been giving the dark lord information on the muggleborn students he has taught over the previous year," Snape answered in an emotionless tone.
"I feared as much, we may have to warn Dirk Cresswell and Reginald Cattermole to be on their guard as well," Albus said giving Arthur a meaningful look.
"I'll pass along the word," Arthur promised.
"Dirk probably already knows, he was always pretty sharp," Minerva said.
"Well besides the attack on the muggleborns, there have been countless attacks on muggles in the past two weeks," Kingsley said sounding frustrated.
"The muggles are starting to notice something is up. They think it is an outbreak of some kind of new illness," Arthur admitted.
"It is an illness, Dad," Bill pointed out.
"According to my contacts, the muggles are considering putting quarantines on all of the major cities in northern England," Elphias Doge said looking troubled.
"At this point, it doesn't matter what they do. Until the vampires are flushed out of heavily populated areas, this madness will never end," Moody with a note of irritation in his voice.
"How are the efforts to round them up coming along, Kingsley?" Dumbledore asked.
"Well enough, we picked up on their ambush tactics pretty quickly and have made significant progress in the last month. Birmingham is clear Ledds is almost complete as well," Kingsley answered sounding pleased to be able to deliver some good news.
"Croaker wants us to start using gas before our teams move in now," Sirius added.
"Gas?"Arthur asked in confusion.
"We call them stinky bombs, it's a distilled and vaporized form of essence of garlic that spreads out like a thick fog. The gas comes in canisters modelled after muggle tear gas grenades," Sirius chuckled.
"Do they work?" Moody asked with interest.
"We've only tested them once but the gas had every vampire in the building we raided swelling up and flopping around on the floor when we deployed it," Sirius shrugged.
"That should speed things along quite nicely," Dumbledore said looking thoughtful.
"I wish. You've heard about the reports coming out of Glasgow, they've moved up to Scotland now," Moody growled.
"You can't be serious?" Elphias Doge asked sounding alarmed.
"We have received multiple reports of vampires being sighted in Edinburgh and Dundee. We're sending teams there to assess the level of infestation but Bones is pretty sure it'll be as bad or worse than what we're seeing in England," Kingsley grimaced.
"And does Lady Black have any course of action planned if they do find vampires in Scotland?" Dumbledore asked as he glanced over at Sirius.
"Amy says Scrimgeour is debating bringing in three containment teams from Transylvania to help us get a lid on this mess. If they find other cities with an infestation she might not have a choice in the matter," Sirius admitted.
"Don't know if that it'll do much good at this point," Moody shrugged.
"Well let us move into our next order of business, I have received word that Miss Snyde will be brought back to Britain in September after she is tried in Bulgaria," Dumbledore said before the vampire conversation could circle back around.
"That will be good news provided she doesn't escape," Frank said clenching his jaw at the memory of the last escape.
"Security has been tightened tremendously since the last escape. The holding cells are no longer at the ministry and are under fedelius. Only a select few know where they are and those aurors are under oath," Kingsley assured him.
"Good, the girl could help us locate the coven from Romania," Arthur said reasonably.
"Perhaps," Dumbledore said thoughtfully.
"If we can get permission to interrogate her," Kingsley pointed out.
"I doubt you will have any issues with that," Dumbledore chuckled.
"They won't, the minister is chomping at the bit to be seen making progress," Sirius agreed.
"Excellent, she may just be able to help us figure out a solution to our current problem with the vampires," Dumbledore said.
"We can hope," Moody said not sounding very optimistic.
"Hope is always a good thing, Alastor. Now, I believe that Severus has something important to share with us," Dumbledore said as he looked at his potion master expectantly.
"The dark lord performed a ritual that corrupted the gem of a horned serpent. He was boasting about its power at our last gathering," Snape said.
"What could he use something like that for?" Molly asked worriedly.
"Breaking through wards," Bill answered at once.
"Yes, that is my theory as well," Albus agreed.
"Now we know for certain he was the one who attacked the horned-serpent reserve," Sirius pointed out.
"Indeed," Albus said.
"He did not say what he would use it for, he was just trying to awe his servants," Snaped sneered.
"By the look on your face, I would assume that he failed," Frank chuckled.
"Oh, the recruits were overjoyed and amazed that the dark lord had such power at his disposal. They have no understanding of what a magical item like that would require from whoever uses it," Snape shrugged.
"I would hazard a guess that even a wizard such as myself could only use an object like that a handful of times before succumbing to magical exhaustion," Dumbledore said as he absentmindedly stroked his beard.
After this, the meeting became a lot less interesting with members reporting on what they observed during their various assignments. The most interesting ones were from the members working on rooting out vampires but even those reports got monotonous after a while.
After the meeting was dismissed and Sirius was left alone in the dining room he summoned himself a butterbeer and thought about what he'd heard tonight. The order really didn't have much to go on right now. Most of the death eaters from the last war were dead or in the ministry's top-secret prison. The death eaters that were still at large were either in hiding or new death eaters that had graduated from Hogwarts in the last five years.
He was already looking forward to the next job that Harry planned on pulling off. The last time he worked with Harry he actually felt like he had accomplished something which was more than he could say for most of his time in the order.
Sirius sat there long enough to drink his butterbeer, enjoying some peace and quiet before he returned to the chaos that would more than likely be awaiting him when he got home.
As he set his empty butterbeer bottle down on the table Sirius whistled to himself. He slowly made his way up the stairs and headed towards the front door.
As Sirius crossed the entrance hall, he didn't notice his cousin and her boyfriend going up the stairs intent on borrowing one of the guest bedrooms.
Riddle Manor, Little Hangleton, 7/21/1992, 23:46
The last month had been going very well... well for the most part.
The vampires had been an overwhelming success and Voldemort couldn't help but wonder why he hadn't thought of this before. His numbers were still very low but the newly turned vampires were taking up the slack.
The ritual had been successful and he could now channel any magic he wished through the horned serpent gem.
He had only tested it briefly and had quickly discovered one alarming fact. Even with his above-average core, he couldn't channel more than a few spells through it before he felt himself starting to weaken. This made it useless for combative magic which was very disappointing as he had hoped it would give him an edge over Albus.
It could still be very useful in breaking through wards as few if any could withstand a blast from a spell channelled through this particular foci.
Luckily, Daciana had pointed him towards another tool that could help him achieve his goal, the elder wand. That would have to wait though as he had more immediate tasks to focus on.
He had started ordering attacks on muggleborns again but was trying to make sure the public knew vampires were involved.
He still wanted to be able to bring as many magicals into his fold as possible but some sacrifices had to be made. His cause had taken too many losses of late and the people had to have reason to fear his death eaters.
He was surprised that there hadn't been any more attacks from Peverell of late though he couldn't deny that he was glad for this fact. The last attack from the Reaper had been a devastating blow and made it nigh impossible to move his plans for the Bulgarian ministry forward. That was on top of the fact that his primary tool for bringing creatures and new death eaters into the country undetected had been destroyed.
The Reaper would have to be dealt with and soon. The man had done more damage to his forces in the last few years than Dumbledore and the ministry had done during the whole of the last war.
That too would have to wait however as he had heard unsettling news from his only spy inside the ministry. It would seem the ministry had developed a way to neutralize vampires. This was a most unwelcome development. He had hoped to keep them busy for years but from the way John described this weapon, it could incapacitate a whole building full of vampires relatively easily.
He was already planning his next move after the vampires had served their purpose but was having trouble with a few minor details. Getting all of his people in place would be a logistical nightmare. There was also the fact that his death eaters' timing would have to be precise and they would have to work as a cohesive unit. Unfortunately, most of his death eaters were not very skilled at teamwork especially the ones that remained from the last war. The recruits he'd taken on in the last few years worked well as a team because Antonin had trained them that way but as Valentine's Day had shown him, they were still green and did not have experience in combat.
'I may have to send them back to Dolohov so he can prepare them more thoroughly,' Voldemort mused as he pondered his plan and debated on how best to accomplish his goal.
Voldemort was pulled from his thoughts when he heard a soft knock on the door of his study and he sighed internally. There was a reason he preferred working alone. When he was on one of his personal missions he didn't have to contend with these constant interruptions.
"Enter," Voldemort said as he looked towards the door and pushed his annoyance down when he saw who it was that was disturbing him.
Auror Dawlish entered the room dressed in his auror robes looking as though he had just gotten off duty. Dawlish quickly crossed the room and came to stand in front of the dark lord's desk bowing his head respectfully and waiting to be acknowledged.
"Auror Dawlish, to what do I owe this visit?" Voldemort questioned as he looked at his servant curiously.
"I have just learned that Merula Snyde will be turned over to the ministry after she is tried for her crimes in Bulgaria, my lord," Dawlish answered at once as he looked up to meet his master's gaze.
Voldemort had been quite surprised to learn that Most of the recruits at Avery's property in Bulgaria had not been killed in the attack as he first thought. Merula had become one of his favourite death eaters and it had disappointed him to think she had been killed at the hands of the Reaper.
Unfortunately now he wished she had been killed. She knew a lot of information on things that he would rather the ministry not learn about and he wondered once again why the Reaper had spared her.
"Do you know where she will be taken?" Voldemort asked already knowing the answer.
"No, my lord. The new holding facility is top-secret. Only a handful of aurors know the location and they are all under secrecy oaths," Dawlish answered nervously.
"I assumed as much, do you know when she will be brought in?" Voldemort asked.
"Sometime around the first week of September, though the time may vary according to how long her trial takes, my lord," Dawlish replied.
"Very well, I shall think on this. You may leave, John," Voldemort said in dismissal feeling annoyed his servant had presented him with yet another problem to solve.
He had limited time to figure out a solution to this problem. The way he saw it he had two options.
He could break her out which presented all manner of difficulties. After his last breach of the ministry, they would be on the lookout for the tactics he had used to kill the minister.
The other option was far simpler but he was loathe to do it. He could imperius one of the guards that worked at the prison to poison her.
"Decisions decisions," Voldemort mused aloud as he pondered the pros and cons of both options.
"If he was going to rescue her he would prefer to rescue all of his other followers at the same time but how could he pull that off?
No, he couldn't risk the problems rescuing his followers would cause... Not yet anyway.
If he were going to break her out it would have to be when she arrived at the ministry escorted by Bulgarian aurors.
He would ponder this conundrum before he made a decision either way, in the meantime he had another attack to plan.
Peverell Beach House, Cornwall, 8/8/1992, 14:29
Today Harry was holding his first beach get-together of the summer.
The last month had been unbelievably hectic. He had spent most of his time travelling between three continents.
He had taken the family to Italy the Sunday after Ted's Funeral and they had really enjoyed themselves. True the children had found some of the museums and monuments a bit dull but they had loved the warm weather and enjoyed swimming in the pool at Cissa's vacation home.
Afterwards, they travelled with him to Africa and got to see the wildlife of the African plains... from a safe distance of course.
He even took Ignotus with him to collect venom for a few days while Bella took Carina on a trip to Egypt and visited their wizarding shopping district.
After his collections in Africa were wrapped up they took a portkey to Arizona to do a check on the horned-serpent reserve. Unfortunately, Adsila was still not ready to lay her egg but she was healthier than ever much to Harty's delight. Her gem was now three-quarters of the size it was before she was attacked which was better than he'd hoped for.
He had given the other serpents a check-up and then took his family to the Grand Canyon and visited a few of the other tourist destinations.
They spent a week in Arizona there before they took a portkey to Black Villa so they could wait as their application for entry into Britain was processed. They spent another week in France while they waited on the ministry's response though none of them was complaining as France offered a lot of opportunities for them to sight-see.
In the end, they had to take a portkey to the ministry where they were held for four hours while their arrival was processed by the transportation department. Truthfully they could have gotten out of there much sooner if they didn't have three venomous snakes with them.
They had gotten home four days ago and Harry couldn't be more thrilled to be back. The kids seemed to have enjoyed themselves and Bellatrix was in a good mood of late, so he considered the trip a success.
Currently, he was lounging in a sun chair while the children and the children of his guests played in the waves.
The Greengrasses, the Abbots had come over as did Andi and Tonks. Sirius had brought Harry, Susan, and Edgar but Amelia was once again stuck at work.
Narcissa and Draco were here though Draco seemed to be a bit put out. From what Harry gathered Narcissa had taken Draco's broom away from him for the entire summer and the boy was stuck watching Harry and Hannah Abbott flying overhead.
Hermione was here with Susan and the two girls were sunbathing while They watched Harry and Hannah zipping through the air.
"Are you asleep, husband?" Bella asked as she came up beside his sun chair and stood over him casting him in her shadow.
"No, I was just thinking," Harry assured her.
"You should teach my cousin how to do that, it is a skill he has never learned," Bella said as she sat down on the edge of his chair and turned her head to look over her shoulder at him.
"I tried, he never could figure out how to do it," Harry chuckled as he admired her purple two-piece bikini appreciatively.
"Believe me, Bella knows. I just came over here to let you know that the Lovegoods are here," Bella said as she gestured to Pandora who was sunbathing French-style not far from where they were sitting.
"Lovely," Harry said as he hastily looked away from Pandora rubbing tanning oil on herself.
"Sirius thought so," Bella giggled.
"I wish Amelia was here, that could be pretty entertaining if she caught him gawking," Harry said as he ran his hand up the arch of her back.
"Well Pandora is quite attractive," Bella said reasonably.
"Not attractive enough for me to stare at her when my wife can see me doing it," Harry shot back.
"I can go and give you some time to leer if you want," Bella offered.
"No, I would rather admire you in that bikini," Harry assured her as little Harry and Hannah flew over them casting them in their shadow for a split second.
Harry glanced up to see his younger self stop in midair not far away before Hannah nearly ran into him.
"Well your younger self doesn't share that opinion it would seem," Bella smirked as they watched Hannah practically dragging his younger self away from where he was hovering over Pandora.
"It looks like he has his own woman problems to deal with," Harry pointed out.
Bella touched her wand to the chair making it expand so that it was wide enough to accommodate them both before she reclined back beside him.
"Where are the twins? I expected to see them zooming around on their brooms," Harry asked as he wrapped his arm around her.
"Cissa wanted them to help host the party," Bella shrugged.
"She does know that this isn't one of those kind of parties," Harry sighed.
"She does but she believes there is a proper way to host any gathering," Bella shrugged.
"She is making sure they don't get behind in their lessons," Harry realized.
"She is," Bella agreed.
"Well I hope she doesn't keep them busy all afternoon, this is supposed to be fun," Harry said as he glanced at the twins who were over by the picnic tables with Narcissa listening intently as she talked to them about something.
"She won't though while we're on the subject of Cissa, she wants to come with us tomorrow when we inspect the manor," Bella said as she scooted closer and rested her head on his shoulder.
They had received a letter shortly after arriving back in England informing them that the former LeStrange Manor had been warded to their specifications and that they needed to go to the manor so they could configure the wards to their liking. Harry was still unsure if he wanted his family to move there given the manor's proximity to the vampire attacks but he wanted to finish getting the place ready for the day they did move in.
"She might as well come along, we were planning on asking her to help us decorate anyway," Harry shrugged.
"My thoughts exactly," Bellatrix agreed.
"She also said she knows when we can get to Alecto," Bella added.
"Good, I would like to deal with her before school starts back up," Harry muttered.
"We will," Bella assured him.
"Good, though it won't make much difference really. Voldemort's biggest weapon so far has been the vampires," Harry sighed.
"The vampires are just a distraction to keep the ministry's focus off of him," Bella corrected.
"And unfortunately it is working," Harry muttered.
"For now," Bella shrugged.
"We'll worry about that later," Harry said as Andromeda came over and sat down on the empty lounger beside them.
"How are you, Andi?" Harry asked as he looked over at his sister-in-law.
"I'm getting along," Andi smiled as she reclined back in the lounger.
"How are you doing at Cissa's?" Bella asked curiously.
"It's been quite nice actually. Cissa has let me teach the toddlers at her day school," Andi smiled as she cast the sunblock charm over herself.
"You're teaching children etiquette after you raised that pink-haired little monster," Bella asked sounding incredulous.
"I tried to teach her proper manners but the telly undermined all of my hard work," Andromeda defended sounding amused.
"Which is why we don't have one," Bella said smugly.
"That and it would be a pain to get electrical service to the house," Harry added with a chuckle.
There were no homes within miles of their cottage and the muggle government didn't even know this section of beach existed thanks to the Blacks warding the property centuries ago. This meant it would cost a fortune to get their home wired into the electrical grid. Harry didn't want a telly badly enough to go through the headache so he just took the family to the cinema every so often which seemed to suit everyone just fine.
"You don't know what you're missing," Andi said as she gave her sister a knowing look.
"What are you doing about your house?" Harry asked curiously before Bella could ask what she meant.
"That was Ted's parents' home, we inherited it after they passed away. To be honest, I don't know what I will do with it," Andi said with a barely noticeable sniff.
"Oh," Harry said not really knowing what else to say.
"I will probably move back eventually. Ted and I had a wonderful life there but every time I go there now I can't help but remember... that night," Andi said in a soft voice.
"Cissa may try to keep you at her manor forever, she loves free labour," Bella said giving her sister a knowing look.
"Cissa has intimated that she would love for me to stay with her permanently," Andi admitted.
"How has Tonks been doing?" Harry questioned.
"She's getting better. The Weasley boy has been helping her a lot," Andi said sounding conflicted.
"So she has stopped training so hard?" Harry asked as he spotted Tonks and Charlie swimming a few hundred yards off of the shoreline.
"She still trains in the morning but Amelia had a talk with her about training too much. Amy told Nymphadora she wasn't allowed to do any more ministry training until she returned to the academy the week after next," Andi said sounding pleased.
"Good, we'll wait until then to visit Alecto," Harry said thoughtfully.
"I couldn't agree more," Andi said as she crossed her ankles and put on a pair of sunglasses.
"Good, Bella won't have to babysit," Bellatrix beamed.
"Oh dear me, Pandora is going to cause an accident," Andi muttered as she watched little Harry nearly fly into Hannah much to the girl's annoyance.
"And to think, he used to have a crush on me," Bella sighed dramatically.
"If you start sunbathing topless, I can pretty much bet that those old flames will reignite," Harry sniggered.
"Not in front of the children," Andi hissed when Bella made a face like she was considering it.
"Fine, spoil Bella's fun," Bellatrix sighed before she shut her eyes and leaned her head back letting the sun wash over her face.
"I think that I'll go and give Sirius a hand with the burgers," Harry said as he smelled the tantalizing smell of meat cooking over charcoal.
"Don't burn my dinner," Andi said flatly.
"Harry is a very good cook," Bella said as Harry got to his feet.
"And Sirius is not," Harry added before he left the two sisters to their sunbathing idly noticing that Andi had opted to wear an almost identical bikini to Bella's today.
Harry crossed the sand to the pavilion that covered the picnic tables moving much faster than he usually would due to the hot sand burning his feet. The grill was set up outside of the pavilion but the structure still cast the area in shade which Harry was deeply thankful for.
Harry arrived to find Sirius and Jonathan standing by the grill and sipping their beer. Sirius was tending the grill while Jonathan was talking to him about something that happened at the last Wizengamot session.
"Peverell, glad to see you pried yourself away from my cousin," Sirius beamed when he spotted Harry approaching.
"I had to make sure you didn't ruin our dinner," Harry smirked.
"I would never," Sirius said as if the idea was ludicrous.
"Oh bugger, I think he's about to fly into her," Harry said as he glanced across the beach to see his younger self nearly collide with Hannah Abbott... again.
"His flying is really off today," Jonathan said looking a bit concerned.
"I believe Pandora is responsible for that," Harry chuckled.
"What has my wife done now?" Xeno asked as he approached them dressed in an old-fashioned black and white striped bathing costume.
"She is distracting my poor godson," Sirius guffawed as he looked away from the flyers.
"I suppose punishment is in order," Xeno said looking thoughtful causing Jonathan to sputter into his beer.
"Oh bugger, not you too?" Sirius asked as he looked over at Xeno incredulously.
"Women like a firm hand on the tiller," Xeno said sagely.
"Sirius wouldn't know about that, Amelia has him by the tiller," Jonathan chortled.
"Piss off," Sirius huffed.
"I think you hit a nerve," Harry said as he grabbed himself a beer and offered one to Xeno.
"So I heard that you are wanted in South America, Peverell," Jonathan said after the laughter had died down.
"I am?" Harry asked in surprise.
"According to one of my contacts, you are wanted for suspicion of stealing a XXXXX creature from a potions warehouse in Peru," Jonathan said sounding very serious.
"That is... surprising," Harry said feeling a bit wrong-footed at this revelation.
"Why because you didn't do it or because you didn't know that you were wanted?" Xeno asked sounding curious.
"How are the burgers coming along?" Harry asked pointedly ignoring the question.
"Well I personally don't care whether you did it or not but I figured you should know not to visit the South American countries that are controlled by Chupacabra Potion Suppliers unless you fancy rotting in a Peruvian prison," Jonathan said before taking a swig of his beer.
"Thanks for the warning," Harry said and gave Jonathan a grateful smile.
"Don't mention it," Jonathan chuckled.
"Alright, burgers are done," Sirius beamed as he transferred the last run of burgers onto the large pile of cooked patties already on a serving platter.
"Aren't you doing sausages?" Jonathan asked hopefully.
"No, Ted usually brought them and I didn't think about that when I picked up supplies," Sirius said quietly
"He did love his grilled bratwursts," Harry said feeling a pang of sadness when he thought about his brother-in-law.
"Let's get them all to the table," Jonathan said after draining his bottle looking a bit subdued himself.
"Yeah, the sooner we eat, the sooner we can have dessert," Sirius agreed with a forced grin before he carried the platter over to the three picnic tables lined end to end.
Twenty minutes later everyone was gathered around the table helping themselves to burgers and sides prepared by Jangles.
Harry waited until everyone had fixed their plate before he rose to his feet and cleared his throat.
"Before we tuck in, I would you all to raise your glasses in remembrance of our beloved friend. Ted was a good man and he will be missed by us all in one way or another. Here's to Ted," Harry said as he raised his glass.
"To Ted," everyone at the table chorused as they raised their drinks in the air.
Harry took a deep drink from his Coke as everyone copied his actions.
"Thank you, Harry," Andi said softly as she wiped the corner of her eyes with a napkin.
"Don't mention it, Andi," Harry said softly as he sat down between his wife and Andromeda.
Around him, everyone began to eat but Harry wasn't really very hungry anymore. Luckily his son was making up for his lack of appetite. Harry watched Ignotus begin to devour his burger and couldn't help but smile at his son's enthusiasm.
Harry hadn't realized how much Ted's passing had affected him until a little while ago. The husbands usually gathered around the grill during these get-togethers and he could definitely tell the difference without Ted here taking the piss out of Sirius.
Harry was still thinking of a way to really hit Voldemort where it hurt but he was coming up short of ideas. After all of the attacks he'd done over the decade, death eaters were not easy to find. Tom's forces had been reduced to his death eaters and the vampires.
He would think on this some more but he knew that his best bet would be to arrive on the scene of one of the attacks so he could take a large chunk of them at once.
"You look distracted," Bella whispered into his ear.
"I was just thinking," Harry said as he took a bite of his hamburger.
"Bella knows that look, you're plotting something," Bellatrix smirked as she ran her foot over his calf under the table.
"I am but we'll talk about it later," Harry said as he noticed the twins attempting to eavesdrop on their conversation from where they were sitting across from him and Bella.
"Stop whispering at the table, it's rude," Andi said shooting them both a curious look.
Harry pushed his earlier thoughts from his mind and ended up getting drawn into a conversation with Charlie Weasley about his first year as a dragon handler.
Harry was glad he set up this cookout, it was exactly what he needed. Andromeda seemed to be enjoying herself as well though she still seemed a bit sad but Harry couldn't really blame her there were some wounds that only time could heal.
Later that evening when everyone had eaten their fill and the sun began to get lower on the horizon, Harry lay in his sun chair with Bella watching the kids enjoy the last vestiges of daylight while the adults sipped chilled wine and chatted amongst themselves.
"So what are you plotting?" Bella whispered into his ear pulling him from his thoughts.
"I want to hit the death eaters where it hurts but I am boggled as to how to do that," Harry admitted.
"We have to catch them when they gather," Bella said after a moment of thought.
"But how will we manage that?" Harry asked with interest.
"We may have to pay Snape a visit," Bella said as the sun began to set casting the sky in a pink glow.
"Alright, let's do that," Harry agreed before pulling Bellatrix into a soft kiss and pushing his plans to the back of his mind as his wife moaned into his mouth.
There was a time for everything and right now was not the time to be worrying about battle plans or war. At this moment the only thing that mattered was the woman in his arms and his friends and family that were all around him.
But soon he would make his move and make Tom Riddle regret ever targeting him or his family.