The Story of Tonight

Fleamont was shocked the say the least. The man introduced as his grandson from the future was nearly the twin of his son James. The difference lay in two places, he was more slender than was usual for a Potter and his green eyes. "Albus, what is this?" He asked as he tried to place the man before him. "James is twelve, he doesn't have a son!"

"He doesn't yet." Harry said, "And honestly even if he does, it won't be me. According to the research done by the Unspeakables, I was sent to an alternate past." He walked closer to Fleamont, "I am not exactly your grandson, but it's still nice to meet you. When I went to Hogwarts in '91, all of my family was dead except for my mother's sister and her husband."

"If it will help," Albus said, "Harry has left me with copies of his memories, I would be willing to allow you the use of my pensieve. But first, we need the Cloak."

"The Cloak, why?"

"Harry posses the Elder Wand and the Resurrection Stone. I believe that our coming battle with Voldemort will require the final artifact of the Three Brothers." Albus began, "We have received information that Voldemort is planning an attack on Hogwarts." He began to explain the events of the past few hours. Harry watched as his grandfather in his old life listened intently. The way he seemed to dissect every sentence reminded him of Hermione.

He missed Hermione a lot. They had never been intimate, barring one drunken night after the death of the Weasley family. What would she make of this timeline? That was a question he'd asked himself quite often as time had passed. Obviously she would work to the same goal, the destruction of Voldemort, but her methods would have been far harsher. She had been the one who'd planned the destruction of Malfoy Manor as retribution for the death of her in-laws.

Would she approve of the way he'd done things? He doubted it. She would be angry that he'd 'fraternized' with her killers. Especially Narcissa, she would never be able to get past what the Malfoy family had done.

He was broken from his thoughts when Fleamont and Albus went to the fireplace. His grandfather went through the emerald flames. "He will return with the Cloak." Albus explained, "We need to gather our forces and to that end, I am going to send for some connections I have in the Ministry."

"Croaker and Moody will be here of course." Harry said when the Headmaster nodded he continued, "Who else are you thinking about?"

Albus thought for a moment, "I have a number of muggleborn former students that have gone into the armed forces and the clergy. I have a theory that we need to test, actually two of them. The first is what will happen if demons encounter entrenched soldiers with blessed bullets, the other is can we bless an aguamenti spell as it comes out."

Harry turned and drew his wand, summoning a patronus he sighed and began to dictate a message, "Andromeda and Apolline, turns out it is the fate of the world after all. I won't be home for dinner, tell Peter that the Hogsmeade trip is canceled until I say different." His silvery stag vanished through the wall and Harry turned back, "I was having dinner." He said simply.

"A meal is a terrible thing to waste," Albus said as he began to use his own charm to summon the people he wished to speak with.

Scene Break

Narcissa was glad for her sister's company. She missed Harry when he was away but she understood that the others deserved a chance to be with him as well. Bellatrix was going over one of her dueling manuals while Narcissa studied her healing spells. Madam Pomfrey had promised an exam before the end of the next week on bone setting and she wanted to be ready.

Bellatrix groaned and tossed her book aside, "I am so bored." Bellatrix exclaimed as she stood up from her chair and flopped down on the carpet by the fireplace. "The Death Eaters are laying low, our husband is with his Consorts, I can't even sneak you out for drinks because you are studying," she groused.

From her book, Narcissa replied, "So your problem is that it's peaceful?" She rolled her eyes as she continued to read, "Peaceful is good, peaceful means our husband is still alive and will be able to meet his firstborn." At that thought, Bellatrix smiled at her stomach. She was looking forward to what she hoped was the first of the set of three children she'd seen in her dream so long ago.

"I am looking forward to that." She admitted to her youngest sister, "I never thought I would be excited about having children."

"Because you didn't want to have your first husband's children," Narcissa said dryly.

Bellatrix laughed, "No I did not. Imagine a girl with his mono brow, or a boy with his back hair." Narcissa joined her sister in laughing at that, only to be interrupted by Harry walking into his room holding a silvery cape. "Well, look who came to visit." Bellatrix said walking over and kissing him, "What did you bring us? I- is that an invisibility cloak?"

"It's The Invisibility Cloak, the first one," Harry said as he continued to his desk. "Albus convinced my grandfather that he should loan it to us."

"Why? For that matter, why are you here?" Bellatrix asked him. Narcissa rose from her seat and walked over. She touched the cloak with a trembling hand. The Black family had been very interested in relics like this for as long as anyone could remember. It really was the Cloak, she could feel powerful magic inside the fabric.

Harry frowned, "Turns out the Headmaster thinks that the 'Master of Death' part of the legend might have an upper hand in this fight." Harry sat down at his desk and opened the drawer. Inside a small box sat the ring containing the Stone. "The demons have possessed the other Death Eaters, as far as Nott knows they have all been taken."

Bellatrix's hand came up to her face, she covered her mouth in shock. "So much for pure-blood meaning anything to Riddle." Narcissa said after a moment, "All the pure-bloods are good for in his mind is money and an easily led band to use as his own private army."

Bellatrix's hand went from her mouth to her stomach. She felt her heart clench at the idea of being used as a vehicle for hellspawn. "So," she began as she regained her words, "When are we attacking Avery Manor?"

"The Chief Unspeakable is sending a team of specialists there. The plan is to destroy whatever they can there so that Riddle has as few soldiers as possible." Harry said, "I'm worried though, if they can possess any corpse they get control of, what stops him from using any of the Unspeakables they kill?"

"Nothing." Bellatrix said, "However, nothing will stop him from opening every graveyard he finds either." She sighed and walked over to his side, "We need to bring Andi and Apolline here. If he's going to attack, I'd rather have everyone that I would miss in one place."

Harry nodded, "I'll bring them all to Hogwarts. Alex will enjoy having Peter here. Will you be alright having Walburga here?" The winces from his wives told him the answer, "Perhaps she could stay at the house and attend to the wards."

"I trust her with that even less that I dislike the idea of being near her." Narcissa said after a moment, "Bring her if she will come. If she won't, I suggest stunning her and locking her in a cupboard." She rose from her own seat and walked over to Harry. She leaned against him, "I-"

She didn't get a chance to finish her thought. A Hogwarts Elf appeared in front of them, "Perfessr Fawksey, they are needing you!" The tiny being vanished, leaving the trio alone.

"Get them here as quick as you can!" Harry called and made his way out the door and back towards the Headmasters office. He found a grim-looking Albus standing beside a chair holding a bloodied man. Cecil Croaker was tending a long gash on his arm. "What happened?"

"What happened was Riddle had Avery Manor rigged to blow." Croaker said angrily, more at himself than Harry. "The ward-scheme was smart, I'll give him that. The outer wards fell like normal, but their falling triggered a secondary ward that sent the explosion outwards. The shockwave took the legs out from under three of my men."

"So he's fallen back to somewhere else?" Harry asked, "Malfoy Manor is in Wilshire, and the Riddle home was in Little Hangleton."

"We checked those after Albus sent a letter about the Ring and the Diary." Croaker said, "Put charms on the outside of the grounds to keep an eye on them. They are all still reporting as normal, so either he's not there or he's put in a workaround. In any case I've got another team preparing to perform a physical check on them." He winced as he pressed his wand to the wound, "I have done my job before you know."

"In that case, what's the next step?" Harry asked as Croaker sealed his wound with a muttered spell.

Croaker sat up in the chair, "Regroup. Once my team returns from their recon they will report to me here. This is where he's planning on attacking, so this is where we'll make our stand." He turned to face Albus, "The Headmaster has been busy while you were with your women and I was getting thrown into a stone fountain."

"I finished my floo-calls to the men we discussed. Father Brendan Reilly of St Margaret's in Wensleydale is very eager to try blessing both our ammunition and our waters. Major Malcolm Davis of her Majesty's Armed Forces will be conveniently losing a small supply of munitions and the whereabouts of a few dozen former students of Hogwarts." Albus said as he made a note on his parchment, "In a few hours we will have a small contingent of men, I will need the Elves to prepare rooms for them."

"Room for the soldiers and for my men as well. Until Riddle is dead and gone we aren't leaving." Croaker added, mending his torn sleeve. "Now, are we sure we've gotten all the Horcruxes?"

"That's impossible to say." Harry said, "We don't know how many he had made for certain. You don't think we're going to have to keep killing the bastard?"

Croaker grimaced at the thought, "I had a better idea: we're going to trap his soul when he dies." He stood up from the chair he'd been sitting in. "I'm going to bring a very powerful artifact from my personal lab. You've seen it before, the Mirror of Erised."

"The mirror that shows the viewer their heart's desire? How would that help?" Harry didn't understand how that would be useful. However, the slowly growing grin on the face of the normally humorless Croaker concerned him.

"I've made a few modifications to the enchantments on the Mirror. It'll still show the viewer their heart's desire, but it will also trap them inside it." Croaker chuckled darkly, "I think an eternity trapped in his own mindscape will be just the sort of punishment he needs."

With that Croaker stood and walked to the fireplace. He vanished in a swirl of emerald flames as he used the floo to go to his office. Albus looked at Harry, "The village will be alerted, those who will accept it will find shelter with the Ministry. Cecil will be informing the Minister of the threat while he is there no doubt."

"And the ones who don't?"

The Headmaster frowned in worry. That frown told Harry enough. No matter how much they prepared for this battle, people would die. The question was how many and on whose side.

Scene Break

Alexandra was surprised to have the Fawkes House Elf appear in front of her. "Dobby? Why are you here?" she asked the tiny being.

"Dobby was asked by Mr. Petey to tell you he's in Master Harry's office if you wish to see him." Dobby explained, "Mr. Petey is looking most worried."

"About what?"

"Dobby does not know ma'am." With that Alexandra went past Dobby and made her way out of the Common Room. When she arrived at the classroom she found Peter looking at the practice dummies.

"Peter? Why are you here?" She asked as she walked over to his side. Without prompting, he put his arm around her and drew her into a hug.

Peter surprised her by doing something he'd never done before. He initiated a kiss. When it broke he stroked her cheek, "Harry brought us here. This is the most defensible place they have. The Death Eaters are going to attack Hogwarts."

"What?" Alexandra said frantically, "A-attack here?"

"Yes. He's coming with an army and my husband and the Headmaster are going to stop him." Alexandra and Peter turned around to see Bellatrix at the door leading to the Professors Quarters. "He's going to die before he gets to the Courtyard and he's going to stay dead and gone until men are nothing but a fairy tale told by rabbits."

Alexandra took in a breath, "I want to help, however I can."

"You can help best by keeping an eye on Peter then. Take him somewhere quiet and don't let him get any bright ideas about fighting." Bellatrix smirked, "He heard about the attack and his first thought was to come and protect you." She watched the two look at either, a small flush on both of the teens cheeks. "Just in case it needs to be said; the spell is Sterilius and you didn't learn it from me."

Bellatrix watched the two leave the classroom with a smile. "I know you are behind me and you know they need each other." She turned to face Narcissa, "If Riddle is coming here to try and add our souls to his army, I think the least we can do is let those two love each other."

"'Love each other'?" Narcissa repeated, "You just gave them permission to find an empty classroom and do as they will, and you gave the spell to make sure that she can finish her schooling."

"Exactly. She can finish." Bellatrix said, "Even if something did happen, that squib of hers would take care of the baby and we both know it." She sighed and went to Harry's desk and sat down at it, looking over the classroom. "Albus offered me this job when Harry takes the Defense class next year."

"Wonderful," Narcissa said, "I can't be rid of you so you might as well be at the school where I'll be performing my apprenticeship." She groaned quietly, "At least you won't be here full time."

Harry came to his classroom from his last meeting with Albus. "Well you look exhausted," Bellatrix said to her husband, "Come into your quarters, we have something for you." She grabbed his arm and pulled him inside. There sat Andromeda and Apolline with the dinner he had made.

Apolline gave Harry his plate, still full of potatoes and duck from earlier. "We need to all eat as best as we can." She took out a bottle from a wicker box on the table, "I brought some wine for us to share as well."

The five sat down with the meal and the wine. It was the most peaceful moment Harry had experienced since finding out that the attack was coming soon. One one side was Bellatrix, leaning against him, the mother of his first child, one the other was Narcissa, his youngest wife and one of the most brilliant people he'd ever met. Apolline and Andromeda, two witches who, in spite of all the danger that being a part of his family involved, was still here. He couldn't help but fall a little more in love with his wives and for the first time, he truly felt open to romantic feelings with his consorts. "We might not see the end of the battle," Harry said bringing up his glass, "but when they write the events in the history books, they will tell the story for us. Hopefully it will inspire the next generation when they face whatever power-mad jackass they come across."

"To kicking the ass of the biggest threat since Grindelwald," Bellatrix said touching her glass to Harry's.

Andromeda raised her own, "To giving our children a world worth living in."

"To freeing us from evil." Narcissa brought hers up.

Apolline raised her glass, "To finding our way to the dawn."

The glasses clinked and they drank their wine.

That night found Harry in a position he'd never been in before; sleeping in between four witches. Bellatrix and Apolline were on his right while Andromeda and Narcissa were on his left. Bellatrix and Andromeda had the outside and so Narcissa and Apolline were cuddled into him. It was nice, he thought as he pulled Narcissa and Apolline slightly closer.

Apolline pressed herself tighter to him, when his arm moved around her waist she gripped it in her sleep. He leaned over and kissed her temple softly. They would survive this and they would have a life together, all five of them.