30

Due to the grindylow incident each Champion (except Harry) was graded on their method of traversing the lake and finding the hostages.

Cedric and Fleur were each awarded points for their use of the Bubble Head charm, Fleur achieved a higher mark for her method of tracking as she had provided herself with multiple trails of pebbles which gave her a backup plan. Cedric had no back up plan.

Viktor was awarded top points for his use of self-transfiguration and the choice of fish. He did lose points for removing his ability to cast spells or access his hands.

Amelia Bones was officially ordered by Fudge to investigate who placed the charm on Fleur Delacour. Fudge needed to do all he could to improve his standing with the international community, this would be a good step, as far as he was concerned Fleur was nothing more than a creature who should be destroyed for trying to bring her perverted and deviant sexual tendencies to his glorious country, she had no rights as a Veela by British Wizarding Law, but her status as daughter of the Deputy Minister for Magic of France gave her diplomatic protection. In his mind it was disgusting, he felt dirty having to help her.

The sooner the tournament was over the sooner her filth would be removed from his land. It was high time to put the other creatures in their place, having goblins, elves and werewolves roaming all over the place was disgusting, it needed to be stopped.

Harry spent several weeks after the tournament trying to devise a way to 'see' magic. Mad-Eye could see through invisibility cloaks with his fake eye, so he should be able to see it himself. That was what made him think he could 'see' magic. He was fairly certain he had done it before, when he had transported the entire Hogwarts Express at the beginning of the third year. He had pulled magic into himself to heal himself after the Dementor attack, and the world had looked very different.

Replicating the same scenario was easy enough, but it was another matter to actually interpret what he saw. Harry brought the twins in to help him catalogue various things and to experiment. For all their jokes and foolhardiness, they were excellent researchers. Harry would never say it out loud, but they were better than Hermione.

Although they made significant progress in creating a manual using the surrounding magic in the castle, they soon realised that it would be a perpetual task as new magic was discovered and analysed.

For some reason no one else was able to view magic like Harry. Much to Hermione's dismay.

Fudge was getting ready to put his plans in motion. With any luck, by September 1st, Hogwarts would be on it's way to being back under Ministry control. He couldn't force anything in regards to the land and property, but the school itself was the responsibility of the Ministry and that gave him all the leverage he needed.

He just needed to pass a few laws through the Wizengamot and he would be set to go.

His next major plan was to get control of the Goblins. If that insolent brat, Hogwarts could do it then anyone could. He needed to find the best fighter that was truly loyal to him. Have him beat Hogwarts and then have the winner lose to him. He would then control the banks and the Goblin armies.

Whilst that was going on, he would make it nearly impossible for the werewolves to exist in Britain. Fudge had dreams of making it illegal to hire a werewolf, for them to own property, and even… making it legal to hunt and kill werewolves… at anytime, even in human form.

By the time Fudge was finished, Britain would be pure and under his control. Just like it was supposed to be.

As time passed, so did lessons and the Champions got better at the various magics they were being taught. They also managed to achieve their animagus forms. They soon discovered that they were not able to attain magical forms.

Viktor's form was a black stallion, as soon as the various females discovered this they demanded to see it and Harry was soon very pleased as he was no longer the centre of attention in the castle.

Cedric became a lion. This caused him much confusion as he didn't know whether to be pleased at being such a majestic animal or upset at being the knew Gryffindor mascot.

Fleur became one with her avian side, she achieved the form of an osprey. Hermione and Joyce discussed for some time whether this was influenced by her Veela's avian nature or it was simply her personal animagus form.

Hermione had put forth the proposal that the three Champions should try again but with Xander brewing the potion and that Xander, Hermione, Harry and Neville should try with Minerva brewing the potion, just to see if they could attain an additional form.

The lights and sirens were blaring again.

Xander still hadn't figured out how the other Head's of Houses had managed to foist this duty onto him. He was supposed to be one of the Head's after all. At least it wasn't late at night. It was barely dinner time.

Xander stepped out of the apartment.

"Where to Jerry?" He asked the guardian suit of armour.

"Second floor." For some reason he seemed amused.

Xander teleported out with a sigh. On arrival he began following the lights and burst into the classroom.

"What the frilly hell?" In front of him was Dan Granger with the four champions. Cedric had his shirt off and Fleur had his hands all over him. "You're having an orgy and you didn't invite me?"

"What are you on about?" Harry asked.

"Somehow you managed to trigger the alarms for the over amorous. I assume you were using Cedric as the dummy?"

"Yeah, but Fleur was using a stethoscope." Harry said indicating the device hanging around his fellow Champions neck.

"Joyce?" Xander called out.

"You rang?" Joyce smirked as she did a purely terrible impression of Lurch.

"Yeah, why would the guys learning how to use a stethoscope cause the alarms to go off?"

Joyce stared intently at the tableaux before her. Then a smirk crept across her face.

"Well… Cedric is topless, Fleur is a female and at least one of them is thinking about performing the same exercise with their girlfriend or boyfriend."

"Judging by the full body blush, we have our culprit." Xander grinned.

"I'm a teenage boy, sue me!" Cedric said with a roll of his eyes as he spouted one of Xander's favourite retorts.

"Joyce, can I assume that the hospital wing doesn't have these alarms?" Dan asked.

"That's right, sometimes Poppy or the healer would request a students aide or take on an apprentice."

"Any chance of you creating a separate room up there for us to work in?"

Joyce just laughed. "Consider it done, it's up there for you now, just let Poppy know."

It was a wonderful spring day. The sun was out, little cotton balls of cloud floated in the sky and a cool wind blew through the trees.

Birds flew, chirping through the air and the children of Hogwarts, Durmstrang and Beauxbatons skipped through the streets of Hogsmede. It was a brilliant spring day in the middle of April.

It was a large group that was made up of Harry, Hermione, Cedric, Cho, Fleur, Viktor and Neville. They spent the morning wandering through the various stores until the girls split off for a specific clothing store that left the boys blushing.

The boys wandered through various shops like Zonko's before heading to the Three Broomsticks where Madam Rosmerta greeted them.

"Good afternoon gentlemen, just the four of you today?" She asked cheerfully.

"Three others will be here in a bit for lunch." Cedric answered.

"Right then, an expanded booth for you all then." She said before leading them away. The boys were soon settled in.

"Here are the menus."

Cedric frowned as there had never been menus before. But before he could query it Harry had taken his and vanished.

Harry struggled to open his eyes. He was groggy and his head was killing him. But he struggled harder as he could hear people talking.

He remembered sitting down in Madam Rosmerta's and then nothing.

Harry managed to open his eyes to find himself in a graveyard, he appeared to be shackled to a large monument type of gravestone. There was a large cauldron in front of him over an open fire, Harry could see the stubs of gravestones that had been callously broken to make room. The sun was still high in the sky so it hadn't been long since he had been kidnapped, hopefully Neville would alert Xander and they would help him out.

On the other side of the cauldron was a man a bit older than Xander, he was wiry with dark hair and a grin that spoke of dark enjoyment. He carried a bundle that looked like it might be a baby, Harry hoped it wasn't.

"Do it now!" Came a high-pitched voice that sounded far from pleasant. It came from the bundle and Harry had certain proof that it wasn't a baby.

The man emptied the bundle into the cauldron, Harry briefly glimpsed a hideous baby like creature.

The man strode around the cauldron and waved his wand, levitating what looked like a thigh bone and dropping it into the cauldron.

"Bone of the Father, unwillingly given." The man chanted.

The man then pulled out a hideous looking curved knife.

"Flesh of the servant, willingly sacrificed."

Harry watched in horror as the man sliced his own hand off with nary a peep nor wince. The sound of the severed hand splashing into the potion was terrifying.

But then the man strode over and Harry felt like an ice cold hand had gripped his insides. He desperately tried to teleport out or phase through the ground but his magic wasn't helping him. He could feel it, but it was like he was trapped.

The man grinned maliciously at Harry, looking directly into his eyes.

"No! Please, no!" Harry cried.

"Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken."

Harry screamed in agony and despair as the man grasped his right hand and twisted it tightly, snapping the bones easily. He then began to slowly slice through Harry's wrist clearly enjoying himself.

Harry had known pain before. He had felt the Cruciatus, but this wasn't just about pain. This man was removing part of him. The pain was excruciating, Harry tried desperately to remove his mind from the pain but he couldn't.

There was a lightness in his arm and then less stress, Harry couldn't bear to look at what he knew was now nothing more than a bloody stump. He felt pain, weakness, he was shaking uncontrollably.

He saw the man walk away, clearly holding a hand. His hand. The man held the stump of the hand over the cauldron and squeezed, causing the remaining blood in the severed appendage to flow out, when it had been reduced to a drip, he casually tossed it behind him as though it were the core of an apple he had just finished.

"The Dark Lord shall rise again!" The man declared triumphantly.

The cauldron burst into flames and smoke that flared brightly but briefly.

When the smoke cleared and the flames died Harry barely noticed that there was a pale white hairless figure kneeling naked where the cauldron had once stood.

The man who had performed the ritual stepped forward and awkwardly draped a cloak around the figure, his own lack of a hand not aiding him.

"Barty, my wand." The figure ordered with a high pitched and nasally voice.

The man, Barty, reached into his jacket and withdrew a wand and handed it to the pale figure. He then knelt before him and extended his bare fore arm on his uninjured limb.

The figure poked his wand into the forearm and suddenly, there were pops and cracks as figures began to appear around where the cauldron had stood. As each one saw the figure, they dropped to their knees and bowed their heads.

The pale figure began to speak, as though addressing a rally or lecturing. "Welcome my friends. Thirty years it's been, and yet you stand before me as though it were yesterday.

"I confess myself disappointed, not one of you tried to find me." He chided as though they were five year olds caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

The figure began slashing his wand at the figures, removing their masks and hoods.

Through the pain and fatigue of his injury, Harry finally realised that the pale figure was Voldemort. The Dark Lord was back and Harry was surrounded.

Harry ignored the rambling of the insane wizard, he steeled himself and slowly turned his head to see how bad his arm was.

Despair reared sharply in his chest and tears flowed down his cheeks as he saw the devastation that was now the end of his wrist. The cut was ragged and clearly made to remove as much skin and cause as much disfiguration and pain as possible. The bone was splintered with shards hanging off of his torn flesh.

Whoever the man was, he was malicious and pure evil.

But he had given Harry a chance at freedom. His arm was no longer trapped by the shackle.

"See now how I reward those who are faithful to their Lord." Harry heard Voldemort declare.

This was his chance to slip away. He gingerly but with great pain, slipped the stub of his arm through the cuff of the shackles.

Tears flowed stronger as he got a closer look at the bloody mess.

None of his attempts to flee had worked so far. Teleportation, flying, phasing, even trying to contact Xander mentally.

He had the beginnings of a plan forming.

With all his will he pulled his magic into a tight ball around him.

"HEY TOM! WATCH THIS!" Harry screamed hoarsely.

As everyone turned, Harry poured everything into turning himself into a giant Lumos spell. The Death Eaters and Voldemort screamed as they were blinded by the pure white light.

Harry didn't pause as he focused on the only hope he had of regaining his limb.

He shifted to his dragon form.

The Death Eaters couldn't see what was happening, but the events of the First Task gave them all the knowledge they needed to understand what the horrifying roar meant.

Lucius could hear screams rending the air as the dragon began tearing into the Death Eaters.

"My Lord, we must retreat!" Lucius called out.

But no one responded.

"My Lord?"

Lucius knew better than to assume their lord was dead. But there was nothing he could do at the moment, he blindly activated his emergency Portkey and was whisked away.

Harry was angry and in pain. His limb had been replaced by his dragon leg, but he still felt the pain. He just wanted to go home and see Xander, Joyce and Minerva. He wanted his family.

"Harry!"

He knew that voice, it was like heaven to him. It was Xander.

Xander was his saviour, his safety, his father.

The days events and his injuries caught up with him and he shifted to human form and fell to the floor.

"Sweet Merlin!" Minerva cried as she and Xander rushed over to their son.

"FAWKES!" Xander screamed.

The Phoenix burst into the area above them and landed quickly.

Xander didn't say any words, he gently took Harry's stump and held it up for Fawkes to cry on. The bird trilled sadly and tilted his head.

Minerva was cradling Harry's head in her lap and crying silently. Her boy was severely injured and it was clear from the carnage around them that he had undergone immense horrors. As far as she was concerned Harry would not be leaving the castle for the foreseeable future, she would be damned if she was going to let him get hurt anymore.

Sirius and Sal were securing the area with a troop of Goblins and several dragons that the Goblins had teleported in. They had glimpsed the horror of Harry's injuries but knew they had a job to do.

Fawkes could heal the wounds, but he couldn't re-grow the hand. Xander had Fawkes take Harry and Minerva straight to the Hospital wing.

"This was an attack on my son. A prince of the Goblins. I want the rest of the perpetrators found and brought before myself or my son for their punishment!" Xander roared.

"Sirius, go to Bones. I want her here now. This is a Goblin matter, but the Ministry will help us.

"Sal, there will be no one not of our family or Goblins and Dragons to set foot in this area. Anyone tries, imprison them in the Goblin cells."

Sirius returned quickly with Amelia Bones. When the Head of an Ancient and Noble House turns up demanding your presence at a crime scene, you don't ask why, you grab your wand and follow.

"Lord Xander, what happened here?" Amelia asked as she surveyed the carnage of bodies and the assorted Goblins and Dragons surrounding the area and looking very menacing.

"Follow me." Xander said stiffly before turning and striding away.

Amelia followed worriedly. She had never known Xander to be like this, he was clearly tightly wound.

Eventually Xander stopped and pointed to the ground. There, lying in the grass and mud was a severed hand. It clearly belonged to a young person, possibly male.

"Who's hand is that?" Amelia asked worriedly.

"That…" Xander said tightly. "is the severed wand hand of my son, Harry."

Amelia gasped in horror. It was clear to see that it had been removed in a callous fashion.

"Sweet Merlin!" Amelia was pale. "Please tell me he was not awake when that happened."

Xander turned and stared straight into her eyes. He allowed his wolf eyes to fade and his patch to appear. He then reached up and removed his patch revealing the gaping hole beneath.

Amelia's complexion took on a tint of green.

"I do not know as Harry was rushed to Hogwarts as soon as we found him. But I believe he experienced every millisecond of pain, just as I did when my eye was crushed."

Amelia didn't even flinch as behind her Sirius let out an almighty roar of anger. She just stood there as tears streamed down her cheeks.

Harry was a lovely boy. Kind and caring, the type of boy that every mother wished for their daughter to bring home. For him to be attacked and tortured like this was… unthinkable.

But Amelia had to think professionally. Harry was the Head of an Ancient and Noble House, son of the Head of several Ancient and Noble Houses and current heir to yet another Ancient and Noble House. He was also the Prince of the Goblins and most likely to succeed his father as their King when his time came to challenge him for leadership. Something that Lord Xander had been preparing him for since his third year.

She had recognised some of the bodies as Xander had lead her to the severed hand of Harry Potter. Goyle and MacNair were two of the more prominent ones. This would be a nightmare for the Ministry.

Amelia turned and bowed deeply to Xander. "My Lord, I stand ready to assist."

Xander simply nodded and Amelia stood up awaiting instruction. "We need to investigate the area so we can determine what happened and who was involved. I do not believe that these bodies were the only ones.

"I also want to know why my son was unable to communicate with me or teleport himself to safety."

"My Lord, I believe Lord Harry of Gryffindor would be best able to tell us who was involved, he is a man of great character and good standing. His word is enough for me."

Amelia paused and marched over to a crumbled head stone with chains hanging from the debris.

"I believe these are magic suppressing cuffs used on criminals. It would explain why Lord Gryffindor was unable to access his magic.

"Can I assume that it was yourself and your rescue party who managed to kill the ones littered here?" She asked, Xander had yet to replace his patch, he didn't seem intent to do so anytime soon.

"No, that was Harry. We arrived to find him in his dragon form tearing into them. He collapsed on our arrival." Xander said with a hint of pride.

"He managed to do this even with his injury?" She asked in shock. "But how if he- oh sweet Merlin, no." She cried morosely. "Without his hand, he could have slipped his chains and breeched the suppressing field."

It was just another morbid detail that painted an even more detailed picture of the horrors young Harry had to endure.

"Please excuse me Madam Bones, I must go to my son." Xander said stiffly.

"Of course My Lord, I will work with My Lords Slytherin and Black." She bowed. "My Lord, with your permission, might I visit my niece this evening? I must discuss today's events with her."

Xander just nodded and vanished on the spot.

Amelia took a moment to centre herself before retreating behind her mask of professionalism. She would see justice for Harry.

Xander teleported straight to the Hospital Wing where he found Harry lying in bed crying silently as Hermione held him tightly and Fawkes sang softly on the headboard.

Xander walked over and pulled them both into a tight hug careful not to jostle Harry's arm.

"There will be dragons surrounding the school, goblins and werewolves too. This place will be your haven as long as you need it." Xander whispered into Harry's hair.

"Where's your w-w-wolf eyes?" Harry asked through his sniffles.

"So long as my son is not whole, I can not be whole myself." Xander said quietly.

Harry shook his head violently as sobs came harder, he pushed himself away from Xander to look him in the face. "No one else suffers for me. Not after today. Please, bring them back." Harry begged.

"Harry-"

"Xander, he needs you to be strong." Joyce said quietly as she appeared next to the bed. "He needs some normality."

Xander sighed but brought his wolf eyes back.

Xander pulled Harry into a tight hug before handing off to Joyce. Hermione whispered into Harry's ear before kissing his temple and sliding off of the bed. She led Xander to Poppy's office where the school matron was working as she silently cried.

"Oh Xander, I don't know if he'll ever get over this." Poppy cried as she finished sealing the door.

"We just have to help him as best we can." Xander assured him. "Why hasn't he tried a partial morphing of his hand?"

"He did." Hermione said sadly. "But he became hysterical and it reverted back."

"It would be too vivid a reminder, Harry is right handed." Poppy offered.

"I think the bastards knew that and did it on purpose." Xander snarled.

"I can't get him to sleep, he refuses to take dreamless sleep potion." Poppy said worriedly.

"He's afraid that the 'dreamless' part won't be effective and that he'll be trapped in his nightmares." Xander said with a shudder. "I suffered the same thing when my eye was destroyed." He explained.

"Maybe some calming draughts?" Hermione suggested.

"We can try." Poppy conceded.

"Prepare them, I need to retrieve Harry's memories of what happened, I don't think it's going to be pretty."

Neither of the women protested. They knew it had to be done, better to do it now than dredge it up again later.

Xander and the two girls walked back to Harry and Hermione resumed her place on the bed.

"Harry, this is going to be hard, but I need the memory of what happened." Xander said softly.

To their surprise Harry merely handed a vial to Xander. "Didn't want to do it later, did it in the bathroom." Harry said tiredly.

"Nice one Harry. Now, Poppy is going to give you a calming draught and I want you to try and get some sleep." Harry went to protest but Xander got there first. "I know you don't want to, but you do need to. Fawkes will sing whilst you try and Mom will get Godric to sit on your head and hopefully provide some added protection."

They were interrupted by the Hospital Wing doors opening and Nicholas Flamel marching in.

"Harry, I heard what was happening and thought you could use my services." He said handing him a vial. "This is the Dreamless Sleep Potion without the element that makes you sleep. So you will be able to use it and awaken from any nightmares that break through. But you can't use it too often, use it tonight, but try not to tomorrow."

Harry spent the night in the Hospital Wing, Poppy assured him she would have him back in his room by the following day, but she wanted to keep an eye on him. Fawkes sang him to sleep as Neville and Hermione took beds on either side of him.

That evening Amelia arrived at the castle to meet with Susan and Xander. She decided to see Xander first.

"My Lord-"

"Just Xander, Amelia. This day has been too long and hard to fight with titles." Xander said tightly. They were seated in Minerva's office whilst she stood watch over Harry. Minerva had felt trapped all day at not being able to comfort her son. She would spend all night curled up at the foot of his bed in cat form and all day with him tomorrow.

"Xander, from what we observed at the scene, there were some thirty wizards, all were likely death eaters. If Harry was the only one facing them, then he got three of them.

"We believe that some kind of ritual was being performed and that Harry… Harry was… made a part of it.

"We can't identify the wizards that escaped, but the three that died were MacNair, Goyle senior and Cartwright."

"MacNair? Didn't he work in the Ministry?" Xander asked.

"He did. I intend to run checks for the Dark Mark and demand loyalty oaths starting tomorrow morning." Amelia assured him.

"I will also need to speak with Gregory Goyle Junior and inform of his father's fate."

"Of course, I take it you haven't spoken to Susan yet?"

"I came here first."

"Good, would you join me in witnessing the torture and abuse of my son?" Xander asked stiffly as he held up the vial of Harry's memory.

Amelia paled, but she shakily nodded. This was her duty.

Amelia nearly broke down as soon as she entered the memory. The sight of Harry tied to a gravestone was terrible, but knowing what was coming… she wasn't sure she would be able to handle it.

She turned her attention away from Harry to the large cauldron and the figure with a bundle.

"By Merlin! That's Barty Crouch Jr.!" She exclaimed.

"Crouch's son?"

"He's supposed to be dead, died in Azkaban years ago." Amelia replied.

"I suggest we have a word with Barty senior tonight." Xander growled.

"You think he is party to this? He sent his own son to Azkaban for being a Death Eater."

"Never rule anyone out." Xander said without expression.

Xander walked up to the man to inspect the bundle. "That is one butt ugly baby."

Amelia marched over. "That's… I have no idea what that is." She said in disgust and revulsion.

"My guess… Voldemort." Xander shrugged impassively. "This is probably a ritual to get his body back."

"Merlin!" She whispered.

They watched as Crouch Jr. began the ritual, the horror as he sliced off his own arm, and then as torturously headed over to Harry.

But it was too much for Amelia, she buried her head in Xander's chest and he held her tightly as they heard Harry's screams of agony and terror.

"It's done Amelia, just focus on the cauldron." Xander instructed, his eyes had never left his son, tears streamed down his face.

Amelia spared a glance at Harry and Xander had to pause the memory as they hastily exited the pensieve and Amelia threw up in a corner.

Xander cleared the mess and called for Dobby to bring some appropriate refreshments.

Amelia was a sobbing mess, it was clear she would not be able to continue watching. Xander grabbed her shoulders and teleported to the Hospital Wing.

"Xander? What's wrong?" Godric asked as he saw the Head of the DMLE sobbing uncontrollably.

"We were trying to view Harry's memory of what happened… she couldn't take it." Xander said stiffly. It was clear that Xander was struggling himself.

"Place my hat on her head, I will remove the memories. Call Poppy for a Dreamless Sleep Potion." Godric instructed.

In short order Poppy, Godric and Xander were seated in Poppy's office as Amelia Bones rested in a bed outside.

"Amelia is the toughest person I know." Poppy said morosely. "That she could not handle it speaks to just how horrific it must have been for Harry.

"How can you stand it?" She asked Xander.

"I redirect my rage and horror into more… creative outlets." Xander said without emotion.

"What happened to Harry?" Godric asked.

"He was used, tortured and mutilated in a ritual to bring back Voldemort." He said flatly.

"Voldemort!" Poppy gasped. "Merlin help us."

"No, Merlin help him." Xander snarled. "By the time I am done with him and his cronies, he will be begging me for death… but there is no mercy for him."

Neither Poppy nor Godric had any inclination to doubt Xander's word.

Xander sighed and rose from his chair. "If you will excuse me, I need to go and finish viewing the memory." Without another he opened the door with Poppy and Godric following only for them to crash into his back as Xander snorted.

He stood aside to reveal the three female dragons and the eggs they were nesting for Norbert along with a company of Goblins and a pack of werewolves, he would ask later, but he wouldn't be surprised if Harry had subconsciously summoned them all. All of them had awakened and been in a defensive stance the second the door opened. Xander just smiled weakly and waved goodbye to them as he vanished.

Before heading into Minerva's office and the Pensieve, he headed back to the apartment to grab a camera that Luna used to take pictures of memories for the Quibbler.

Xander took a deep breath before entering the Pensieve. He took pictures of every scene and the faces of every Death Eater and Voldemort himself. He wouldn't subject Amelia to trying to view this a second time, but he would provide her with all the evidence she needed.

He watched with pride and awe as Harry struggled to overcome the pain and magical suppression cuffs. He also managed to shield his eyes just before Harry blinded them all.

When he was finished he removed the memory from the Pensieve and placed it behind the same portrait that held the ownership papers for Hogwarts.

Xander teleported straight to his bedroom where he knew Nym was waiting anxiously for him. He was surprised to see Fleur in her nightclothes in the bed too. Both ladies quickly rushed up and hugged him.

"What are you doing here Fleur?"

"After today there was no way I would be staying anywhere other than with you." She stated firmly. "Papa has signed a marriage contract, all you need to do is sign it as well and no one will be able to complain." She indicated the sheets of parchment on the desk.

"Dad drew one up for me and signed it with Sirius as well. Neither of us wants to put this off any longer." Nym said with a frown.

"But… you're girls… don't you want a wedding?" Xander protested.

"We want you. Anything else is… dressing." Nym countered.

"Just sign them, so we can go to bed. I know you must be exhausted." Fleur pointed out.

Fleur was right. Xander was exhausted, physically and mentally. He wanted nothing more than to curl up in bed. He signed the contracts with little hesitation.

Fleur and Nym led him to the bed where they held each other as they cried themselves to sleep.

"Susan?" Amelia called as she entered the Hufflepuff common room.

"Auntie?" She cried happily. "What are you doing here?" She asked as she hugged her only remaining family.

"Just some business to discuss with Lord Hogwarts. Take a walk with me so we can catch up?" The news of Harry's disappearance had been kept very quiet. Nobody had wanted to spook the children.

As Amelia led Susan towards the lake she listened to her niece rattle on about school and her friends. Amelia was simply content to have her favourite girls voice soothe her soul. But they soon arrived at the lake.

"Ok Auntie. What's the real reason you're here?" Susan demanded.

A small smile graced Amelia's features. She had trained her adopted daughter well.

"Very good Susie." She cast a privacy charm around them. "What do you know about what happened to Harry Potter last night?"

Susan frowned. "Nothing, is he ok?"

Amelia sighed. "Not even slightly. Susan… what happened to Harry was… Madam Pomphrey and Lord Godric had to obliviate the memories from my mind… they were so bad that I couldn't cope with them." Tears began to streak down her cheeks.

Susan was really worried. Her aunt had never cried before, she knew that she had a reputation for being one of the hardest Aurors in the past century.

Amelia wiped her cheeks with her hand. "Susan, Harry was kidnapped yesterday at lunch. He was taken and used by Death Eaters to bring back Voldemort. They cut off Harry's hand in a brutal fashion… and he was awake for the whole thing."

By this point Susan was crying as well. "Bu- bu-but-" Susan needed to know why someone would do this, she just couldn't figure out how to ask.

Amelia pulled Susan into a tight hug. "Right now, Harry is lying in the Hospital Wing without his hand. He is struggling to cope with that and the brutal torture he under went."

"Can we help him?"

Four muffled and sobbed words… but four words that made Amelia prouder of her young niece than ever before.

"I want us to offer our allegiance to the House of Hogwarts, Potter and the others that Harry belongs to. I want us to swear to aid them in gaining justice." She said as she held Susan at arms length and stared into her eyes.

Susan just nodded vigorously. "Yes. We help Harry anyway we can." She said adamantly. Susan had been taught all the traditions of Purebloods, she knew that Amelia was saying that if Harry raised an army or militia, they would be among the first to volunteer. Both ladies felt indebted to Harry already for the simple fact that they felt he had extended his protection to them already with the Lily Charm. The House of Bones would stand by the House of Potter et al.

"Gnarlfang, report." Xander ordered

Assembled in Minerva's office were a select group of people, which included his brothers, Joyce, Minerva, Sirius, Remus and Amelia. Gnarlfang was the goblin in charge of investigating yesterday's tragedy.

"My liege, we have determined that there were 33 wizards present at the site. A potion of unknown origin was brewed but the cauldron and its contents some how vanished.

"We found that the grave of Tom Riddle Sr. was raided and at least one bone was removed. We found the blood of Prince Harry on the statue that was Tom Riddle's grave.

At this point Gnarlfang began to grin proudly. "Prince Harry managed to kill three of his attackers and injure at least three to the point that they bled. Most interesting was this."

Gnarlfang placed a silver hand on the table, bound to the severed end was flesh and bone.

"Good." Xander said snarl. "Harry got the man who removed his hand."

"You know who this is My Liege?" Gnarlfang asked in surprise.

"I have viewed my son's memory of the attack. I took pictures of the Death Eaters."

"My Liege, if we could view the memory ourselves, our oldest mages might be able to identify the ritual used."

"I warn you, it was far from pleasant."

"It will only stoke the flames of anger amongst your servants, My Liege." Gnarlfang said with a bow.

"Was there anything else you feel we should know specifically?"

"Just one thing that has occurred to me. As we can identify the attackers, we can freeze their vaults. Under Goblin Law, we cannot touch it or claim it. But as they have committed crimes against the Goblin Royal Family… we can be… inventive in how we return it." He said with a malicious smirk.

Xander returned the smirk with a knowing nod. "Inform Ragnok I will be by today to discuss our next move concerning the vaults and our announcement to the public.

"Also, remove the rest of the bones… in fact, remove the entire graveyard. The last thing we need is for them to be used again, but they may be useful to us later."

With that, Gnarlfang took his leave to carry out Xander's orders.

"Well?" Xander asked the assembled adults.

There was an uncomfortable silence, war was coming, and Harry had been the victim of the first salvo.

"What do you plan to tell the public?" Amelia asked.

"Every thing." Xander said flatly. "Complete with various pictures. I'm also going to subject Harry to something that may set him back somewhat, but I am going to have him stand next to me and take pride in his kills when I mount the heads outside of Gringotts."

Amelia, Sirius and Remus all winced at that. Amelia and Remus remembered just how bad Harry had been, and how far he had come. But what affected the three of them was the mounting of the heads of enemies. Especially by young Harry.

None of them liked the idea, as they hadn't grown up being taught Goblin customs. For Sirius it reminded him too much of his families traditions of mounting the heads of former house elves.

All of them knew better than to question Xander.

"Harry still has the final task to complete in as well." Godric scowled.

"Don't worry, Harry is going to stroll through it. Crouch has made rules of no flying, teleporting, apparating or phasing. Harry has a final trick up his sleeve-"

There was a collective wince as once again, an innocuous comment in reference, even metaphorically, to Harry's hands reminded them of the trauma he had been through.

"Amelia, what do you think the Ministry will do?" Sal asked.

"I honestly can't say." She sighed. "By including me in the investigation the Ministry has to respond. But Malfoy has Fudge deep in his pockets… it doesn't help that Fudge seems to be becoming more and more unhinged when Hogwarts is mentioned."

"What's the immediate plan for Harry?" Remus asked Xander.

"I'm tempted to take him and run to Australia or Canada. Just to try and give him some happiness or time to re-coup." He admitted. "But it wouldn't do him any good."

Xander looked at the severed silver hand sitting on the table, as left by Gnarlfang.

"But I have an idea to get him back on track for recovery." Without another word he stood and left, taking the hand with him and leaving everyone staring after him.

Harry was lying in bed and trying to think about anything that didn't lead back to his missing limb or yesterday's horrors. His friends were in class, only Fawkes was there to keep him company… and the assorted dragons, werewolves and goblins guarding him.

Every so often, Harry would forget he had no right hand. It was his primary hand, his writing hand, his wand hand. But it was also the hand he used to scratch his face with.

He would forget this and find himself staring at the stump that was left. Several times he had vomited in shock. Fawkes would sing softly and one of the others would tend to him.

Harry had run out of tears.

He had no energy to cry or sob.

He had no will left to live.

He just wanted to sleep.

To never wake up.

"Harry!"

He jumped as he hadn't noticed Xander come in. Yet here he was standing next to him.

"Sorry, I teleported in." Xander apologised.

Harry just nodded. His depression left him with barely any energy.

"Look at me Harry." Xander said sternly.

Harry barely turned his head to Xander. He just wanted to sleep.

"Harry, do you recognise this?"

Harry slowly looked down to what Xander was holding and promptly fell off the bed and vomited. Having thrown up so much, he had nothing but bile left.

Xander rushed around, absently vanishing the mess.

"Harry, I know this is very bad for you, but I think it holds a part of you getting better." Xander said as he grabbed Harry's shoulders. "Harry, do you remember seeing the bastard Barty Crouch Junior having this hand made by Tom?"

Harry was desperately trying to crawl under the bed next to his, he didn't know why his dad would do this to him. Didn't he love him? Care for him? Promise to keep him safe? But here he was waving a piece of yesterday's horrors in front of him.

"HARRY! Focus!" Xander grabbed Harry's face and forced him to stare into his eyes.

"Do you remember this hand being made?"

Harry's breathing was becoming erratic. But he nodded.

"Harry, do you remember one of the first things I taught Neville in that very first class? Remember I told Neville that if you watch the adults do it, then you can pretty much mimic them?"

Harry nodded, calming as Xander stared into his eyes and spoke in a flat monotone.

"Harry, Tom is an adult. You can far exceed anything any adult can do. This hand will be mounted outside Gringotts tomorrow. A trophy and declaration of your victory over your enemies.

"For tonight, I want you to think about this hand, think about why it is your ticket back to the road to recovery and how you can do better than Tom."

Xander placed the severed silver hand on the table at the end of the bed, he then bent down and picked Harry up, placing him on the bed.

"Harry, there is something else I need you to do."

On the bed between them, the Pensieve appeared. Xander held out his hand and a vial of memory appeared.

"I've seen you fight through fear to stand up to evil wizards, abusive adults, killer giant snakes, dragons made of Fiendfyre and so much more.

"It's time for you to fight that fear and face your nightmare. I want you to come with me and review your torture yesterday. I want you to be analytical, I want you to point out your flaws, and theirs."

Even in his state of depressed numbness, Harry could see what his father was talking about with Crouch's hand. He knew that Xander was trying to make him stronger from his experiences. Throughout all the things Xander had mentioned, Xander had also been there. Encouraging or protecting as needing, but never giving him more than he could handle, or preventing him from doing what he could.

Once more, Harry put his trust in the only father he ever knew and entered the pensieve.

A/N: I don't usually do this but I wanted to give a short explanation as to why Harry went through what he did. In short, Wormtail was a coward, he wouldn't have the stomach to do that sort of thing and only fear made him able to cut off his own arm. If Crouch Jr. had been there he would have revelled in it, he always struck me as a fanatic and psychopath and would take pleasure in torture, which would explain his part in the torture of the Longbottoms.

I will be posting the next chapter later today rather than waiting the full day as usual.