hpml375-380

Chapter 375

"Hey, you okay, Daph?" Harry asked gently as he looked at his newest partner who had a

light sheen over her eyes that he'd almost missed through the sweat on her brow.

"I'm fine, Harry. You worry too much," she responded smiling at him and sitting up slightly,

letting the sheets fall down from her bare shoulders.

Harry frowned and reached up to wipe a finger across the corner of her eye. "Then why are

you crying? We didn't have to have sex, Daph. We could have just gone to sleep. I don't

want to…well you know I didn't intend to – "

He cut off as Daphne lightly punched his shoulder with a wry grin. "I know we didn't have

to do anything and I know that you were scared of reminding me of Draco, Mr. Noble. I'm

not teary because I'm upset, idiot. I'm teary because this was the first time I've slept with a

man and not flashed back to that afternoon." She paused and frowned. "That came out

wrong. I'm not sleeping around. I don't know why I put it that way…" She trailed off and

her frown turned to mildly annoyed glare. "I swear, Potter, I always seem to lose the ability

to articulate my intent around you these days! It's annoying! How do you do that?"

Harry chuckled and flashed her a smirk that Neville had taken to dubbing 'The Potter

Charm'. "It's a talent. Works on guys too if Colin Creevey is any indication."

Daphne's glare broke down into an amused lifting of her eyebrows. "Oh really? Should I

tell the others we need to watch out for him joining the group?"

"Not by my choice," Harry said giving a theatrical shudder. "Nothing against Colin and all,

but I don't swing that way. I should probably send him towards Ernie though from what

Hannah was saying the other day…Actually," he said thoughtfully, "I'm surprised a lot of

the girls around me seem to…"

Daphne laughed and rolled her eyes. "I imagine we all are. A perfect storm of

circumstances. And you have a somewhat small group of close friends. I can assure you

that Su at least is not interested in the fairer sex."

Harry cocked his head surprised. "Oh? And where does that information come from,

Mistress Daphne?"

Daphne just shook her head at the teasing. "Tracey apparently approached her to see if

she was interested in joining the Slytherin Harem. I was nearby and it was quite amusing

to watch."

"Seriously?" Harry asked laughing. "Wow. So she's officially decided to build a harem

now?"

"Not really. She was mostly worried that she wouldn't be able to keep up with Luna

whenever Luna decides it's time to get intimate. Since I have no intention of joining in on

those trysts she wanted to ensure she had another option for Luna. That little blonde can

be quite tiring outside of the bedroom, I shudder to think of what she'll be like inside it."

Daphne shrugged. "I'm not sure who Tracey is going to set her sights on next. I'm a bit

worried that Luna is now in touch with Gabrielle Delacour through Astoria. I already have

one Veela trying to tempt me into bed. It's a bit worrying to consider a second in my other

main relationship…"

Harry tried to think of a suitably appropriate response and came up with nothing.

Eventually he just shrugged and replied, "Well that would certainly make things

interesting."

"That's one way of putting it," Daphne muttered.

Harry just nodded agreeably completely missing the sarcasm. "So…how was it? Was I, uh,

similar to Tracey?" Daphne's blue eyes locked onto his green ones and her nostrils flared.

Harry immediately sensed danger and tried to backpedal. "Shite, I've done it again haven't

I? You'd think by now I'd have gotten used to what was considered appropriate items to

ask a girl about."

Daphne's annoyance visibly faded and she reached down to playfully smack the back of his

head before she laid her own down on his chest. "A, I'd really prefer we don't start down

that road, Harry. It's never going to end well. B, you can't easily compare being with a girl

to being with a guy. It's…different. C, you know I love you both so does the difference in

sex really matter?"

"No, it doesn't. Sorry, I was just curious," he murmured.

"I know," Daphne sighed and entwined her fingers into his own. "Look, it's different okay.

It's always going to be different. I can say that while I used to be more relaxed with Tracey

thanks to…Draco…that's apparently not going to be as much of an issue with you anymore

as just recently evidenced. I enjoyed this night quite a bit, Harry. You were never a Knight

In Shining Armor, until that afternoon. You were always my friend. It's nice to see that I can

go back to thinking of you like my friend again without having to worry about the extra

baggage. So to answer your question, it was very good. Satisfied?"

Harry nodded and wrapped his free arm around her tighter. "I'm glad you enjoyed it, Daph.

I did too."

"Good," Daphne sighed into his chest. She stayed silent for a few moments idly running

her hand up and down his muscles. "I am sorry for making your life even more complicated

than it used to be."

Harry laughed at that and shook his head. "Daph, our weird love life is not remotely

approaching the level of crazy complications that are my life. Look at my history. In four

years of reentering the Wizarding World I've discovered I'm a rune savant, blew up a troll's

head, fought a possessed professor for a fake stone that would've been safer if I'd never

gotten involved, fought a 60 foot snake with a sword and a girl I'd only know for a few

months to save another girl possessed by a soul shard of the same man who possessed my

teacher, got adopted by another teacher, found a way to kill Dementors while saving my

best friends from having their souls eaten and my godfather who was wrongfully

imprisoned for a decade, got into a fight with terrorists at the Quidditch World Cup while

making friends with French Veela, got entered into a sabotage-ridden Death Tournament,

fought my Evil Double – "

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Chapter 376

"Yada yada yada, yes, yes, I know, Harry Potter's life is like something out of an adventure

book," Daphne said chuckling.

Harry's chest vibrated with his answering snickers. "It's worse than adventure books. I

know. I've read some of the 'Harry Potter's Adventures in…' novels. Did you know one has

me fighting a dragon at age eight? I actually liked that one. I got to ride off into the sunset

on its back at the end."

Daphne lifted her head to stare at him. He just shrugged and smiled. "What? I was curious.

Felt I should actually read a few before asking them to stop printing new ones."

Daphne groaned in frustration as she flopped back down onto him. "People in this world

are insane. There's entertainment and there's just stupid. Who's going to believe it's even

remotely possible for an eight year old to tame a dragon?"

"Gabrielle," Harry stated. He felt Daphne's jaw drop open and kept talking. "She visited

over the summer. Girl looks a lot more her age now. Fleur said something about 'The

Change had finally hit her' or something. Anyway, after she finally stopped running around

the Manor and looking at everything and chattering away in French she handed me that

book and asked if I had actually done it because she wanted to meet the dragon, but

couldn't find a place on the grounds with a big enough enclosure. Poor girl was

heartbroken when I said most of those stories were made up. She perked up though when

I offered to introduce her to Charlie since he could take her to see real dragons."

"Merlin…thank god you don't have another House to claim…she'd likely muscle in for one

of those spots," Daphne stated awed.

"Her and Ginny probably," Harry agreed laughing again. "I agree though. Thank god, that's

not going to happen. I don't need another House to worry about. I just want to run my

store and have a family."

Daphne stayed silent for nearly a minute. Eventually she asked softly, "Harry, when you say

family…do you me, us, Shiva and Lily or do you mean a family of your own?"

"I want to be a father someday, Daph, if that's what you're asking. Can't say how many

kids I want, but yeah, I do want kids."

"Good answer, Potter. Good answer," she growled leaning up to capture his lips with her

own, before she pulled back smiling. She then pinned his shoulders before she rolled on

top of him and winked seductively. "Ready to go again, Wonder Boy?" Harry nodded

numbly, and she shifted seating him inside herself with a low moan. Tonight was going to

be a good night.

Voldemort eyed his target ensuring that his Death Eaters were in position. Finally – after

weeks – the pain had receded. He didn't know what Potter had done, but he knew it was

the boy. He had had a brief glimpse of a small living room consumed by a whirlwind of

magic and the boy standing in the middle gazing into the air with a broad smile. Voldemort

could only assume that Potter had found a way to rid himself of the Horcrux within him.

Voldemort must have been caught in the backlash of the effort involved. His spies had

reported that Potter had been incapacitated for several days a month ago though the boy

had evidently recovered far more quickly than Voldemort had.

This could not go unanswered. Three Horcruxes were now destroyed and only four

remained…his soul was unbalanced, a mere hair's breadth away from a cursed number of

parts. This required recompense – a death for a death. The hunters had been identified

and they would fall – one by one.

He would strike in increasing significance to the boy. Let Potter sweat while Voldemort

destroyed everything important to him. Kingsley Shacklebolt would be first. With his death,

Harry Potter would begin to experience the same clawing fear that was trying to take root

in Voldemort. Potter may be a worthy adversary, but Voldemort would not accept the child

threatening his immortality.

Voldemort spared a short glance at the half Moon and allowed his mind to briefly drift

back. Rookwood had asked why he scheduled the raid for tonight…The question had

actually made him laugh. It was simply such an entertaining answer. Potter apparently

believed October 31st to be a cursed date. A part of Voldemort was tempted to agree with

the boy – at least from the Light's perspective. Some of his most impressive actions and

orders always seemed to be carried out on this day year after year…Voldemort chuckled

again as he thought how from his own perspective, Halloween might almost be blessed. As

long as one discounted his 'death' in 1981. And his failure to kill Lily Potter that same night.

And his failure with the Stone. And…perhaps this date was cursed for them both? No

matter.

"Begin," he whispered, the force of his prior spell carrying the command to all of his

followers. As one forty bodies advanced. Only five were experienced and of those five only

two were from his most trusted. He needed at least one lieutenant to cover the flank and

the other would lead the charge in case Shacklebolt had any surprises waiting. There was

no need for Voldemort to risk his newly healed – and reconstituted – body after all. Not

when he had so many willing reserves.

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Chapter 377

Voldemort ensured that the anti-apparition and anti-portkey spell had been raised as the

team breached the front and rear doors. His sycophants in the Ministry had already

disabled the Floo network. All avenues of escape should be closed to the Senior Auror.

Voldemort's expression darkened as spellfire flared inside the building and the screaming

cries of pain drifted to his ears before abruptly cutting off. Shacklebolt was alone, but it

was no secret that the man was an excellent combatant. He waited until another three

new recruits died before he moved forward to enter the building himself. His scowl

deepened as he passed a deeply lacerated corpse on the stairs. The loss of Dumbledore

seemed to have had the unfortunate side-effect of unchaining the Light from their foolish

obsession with stunning his followers. Without Dumbledore, Voldemort was far safer, yet

his Death Eaters were in more danger than ever. The irony was not lost on him.

He continued his measured pace towards the battle. It would not due to appear worried or

overeager. Not yet at least, not when he was only on the first target. He could not afford to

come across as anything less than fully in control until he was targeting Potter's women.

The Metamorph was an impressive combatant after all with extreme stealth skills and the

Veela had a great deal of raw destructive potential. It was a shame his followers would

never have accepted him converting the women to their cause. Breaking of minds was

always so…endearing. That they had already been claimed by Potter made it all the more

enticing of an opportunity. Yet…Voldemort had built his foundation on championing

Purebloods and with his forces still somewhat below expectations he couldn't afford to

admit half-breeds and Blood Traitors just yet.

Perhaps he'd get lucky and one of the females would survive long enough for him to allow

the recruiting requirements to fall.

Voldemort strode into the main living room and took in the scene. He couldn't help a small

sigh. Shacklebolt was successfully holding off two recruits as well as Rookwood and Travers.

Such a shame to destroy one so impressive. He disliked having to destroy so much of this

country in order to rule the remainder.

As Voldemort raised his wand Shacklebolt pulled out one of Potter's infernal runes and

unleashed a three foot spike of metal. It speared straight through Rookwood's weakened

shield and tore through the man's throat. Rookwood dropped like a stone, his blood

painting the walls as he died.

Voldemort's appreciation of his target ended and his outrage boiled over. He roared in

frustration and hatred and cast curse after curse. He barely noted as Travers twisted and

dove out of the room and his curses killed one of the recruits too slow to follow the

lieutenant's lead. Shacklebolt's defenses held for five seconds then shattered. Voldemort

sent a bone-breaker followed by an eviscerating curse followed by a severing curse. The

large man's body crumpled at his feet.

Scowling Voldemort took several seconds to re-center himself and push his aggression

down. He was having more and more trouble with that lately. It was becoming annoying.

"Report," he said softly.

"No further resistance, My Lord," Travers said stepping forward and nodding his head.

"There was no one else present. Shacklebolt was trying to reach for one of Potter's runes

when we first breached his study however Rookwood managed to destroy it before it

activated. I'm not certain what that one would have done. The boy has quite the

assortment he has distributed to his friends…"

Voldemort shook his head. "No matter. Enough time has passed that we must leave. Have

one of the newer personnel retrieve what they can from Rookwood. He might have kept

something useful on his person. You may leave the body. Let them see that our might is

impressive enough that even Unspeakables are not safe." A frown of confusion crossed

Travers' face yet he proved his worth by swallowing any objection and immediately moving

to comply.

Voldemort strode from the room and smiled. One target down. Now to begin planning for

the werewolf.

Halloween. October 31st. Lily had been subdued for most of the day. For most others this

was supposed to be a happy occasion. It was a day of celebration and fun. Even for the

followers of the old ways, it was a time to rejoice for they could connect with their lost

loved ones during All Hallows Eve.

For Lily Potter all it served as was a memory of the past. Halloween was a reminder of the

years lost, the son who was no longer a child, the husband buried, the sadistic murderer

still on the loose. She had known waking up that this day would be difficult. What she

hadn't quite realized was just how much it also affected her son. Her friends – and Shiva in

particular – had warned her that Harry was especially antsy and jumpy on this day

but…well the true scale of that warning had eluded her.

When he'd shifted to Midnight and nearly clawed her as she simply hugged him from

behind in the morning that warning became far more real. It would have been amusing if

he hadn't been utterly serious about the whole thing. Even still…he had to be overreacting.

Harry Potter's life was complicated true, but they weren't talking about Friday the 13th

here. Halloween sucked, but it was just a sad day, not a day to expect the Apocalypse.

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Chapter 378

"Lily," Sirius said sitting down at the staff table next to her, his face pale and strained.

"Grab some food then get Harry and the others. I…I have some bad news that everyone

needs to hear."

Lily felt her stomach clench and she cast an involuntary glance towards Hermione and

Daphne. "The girls?"

"Fleur and Tonks are fine. Remus is too. It's Kingsley." Lily's insides began to loosen though

she hated herself for it. Something bad had just happened to a family friend and she was

happy it hadn't happened to someone she was personally interested in? "Finish eating. I

imagine the shite is going into the blender soon so might as well eat while you can."

"Shite hits the fan, it doesn't go in the blender," Lily responded automatically. His recent

attempts to use more Muggle phrases were endearing at times though the timing of this

one left something to be desired. "Points for trying though."

Sirius sighed and shook his head. "I don't care about the right phrasing, Lils. I wouldn't

even be down here if Minerva hadn't made the feast mandatory."

"Neither would I," Lily murmured.

The rest of Halloween feast was extremely subdued and passed in a bit of a blur for her.

She managed to grab Shiva as her girlfriend finished her meal and with barely a glance at

Lily's face the Runes professor went rigid. "Who died?"

Lily shook her head and whispered back, "I don't have details. I think Kingsley."

"Goddess," Shiva cursed. "I'll grab the teens. Core group?"

"Yes. Sirius is already heading up to the Room. Conference configuration."

Shiva nodded then pulled Lily into a hug. "It'll be okay, Lils. We're getting close and we'll

take the bastard out before he does anything else," she whispered into Lily's ear. Pulling

back and giving her a quick kiss on the cheek, Shiva moved away and let Lily trail off after

Sirius.

She had just finished materializing the door to the Room of Requirement when a gang of

teenagers practically ran around the corner and into the hallway. "Mum!" Harry called

from the forefront as he skidded to a stop in front of her. "How bad? What happened? Are

there more attacks coming?"

Lily just gave him a sad smile and squeezed his shoulder. "You probably know more than I

do at the moment, Harry. Especially considering I imagine you spoke to Tonks and Fleur on

your way up here."

"Fleur," he said nodded curtly. "She's okay. Tonks is busy in the training room cutting down

dozens of target dummies so she's not okay, but she's not hurt. Mione talked with Remus

and Daphne tried to talk with Amelia, but – "

"She was too busy to explain and all she said was there had been an attack by the Death

Eaters led by Voldemort," Daphne finished.

"Let's take this inside everyone," Hermione said pushing to the front and opening the door.

"We shouldn't discuss this in the middle of the corridor."

Lily nodded and followed the students inside squeezing Shiva's hand briefly as the woman

passed by. Once everyone was inside, they took seats around the table with Sirius in the

middle drinking a cup of hot chocolate – presumably provided by Kreacher or one of the

castle elves.

She had barely sat down when Harry started firing off questions to Sirius. "Amelia said

there was an attack and Shiva said it was bad. You're never this upset unless Pettigrew is

involved so either the rat learned to fight or someone died. Who died? How many were

hurt? Is there more coming? What are we doing in response?"

Lily could only blink in astonishment. When had Harry become a general? She'd seen him

defend against the Aurors over the summer and she'd seen the aftermath of his sprint to

reach Daphne – half the castle had seen the aftermath of that, claw marks on walls and

floors were not a normal occurrence after all and the destroyed classroom on the Third

Floor had been home to veritable fan club until Minerva had come back to fix the damages.

This though was completely different. Her fifteen year old son had taken charge of the

situation and was speaking of events as if he was getting ready to lead the charge on

Voldemort himself!

Maybe that was exactly what Harry was doing…

"Amelia called to tell me as much as she could while the investigation was getting started,"

Sirius said sighing and setting down his mug. "The Death Eaters conducted a raid on

Kingsley Shacklebolt's house. It appears that there were at least two of the Inner Circle and,

from what the neighbors said, almost three dozen rank and file members. Plus Voldemort

himself."

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Chapter 379

Murmured curses followed that statement and Lily felt the last bit of hope she'd had die.

Kingsley hadn't survived.

"Shack did good. He did really good," Sirius said raising his glass in a silent salute. "He took

out ten of the regulars and he managed to kill Rookwood too."

Lily's mouth twitched into a small grin at that. The ex-Unspeakable had been one of the

worst of Voldemort's minions. He had been sadistic in a detached manor, interested only in

furthering new research projects without a care to the pain or horror his efforts and work

induced. Rookwood's 'test subjects' had been permanent residents of St. Mungo's since

before Lily had 'died'. From what she'd heard several of them had been trying to get the

Healers to let them die ever since arriving under their care…

Sirius grimaced and shook his head. "We know that Voldemort fought personally. There

were too many bodies in too bad of a shape for him not to be involved. Amelia thinks that

he lost it after Rookwood died. Kingsley didn't make it out of that engagement." Faces fell

and heads hung around the table. "I think it's safe to say that this was in retaliation for the

Horcrux Hunt."

Hermione's gaze snapped up with a deep frown etched across her features. "Why wait

until now if that's the case?"

Shiva held her hand up at that question. "Snape reported that Voldemort had been staying

secluded for the past few weeks. The dates coincided with when Harry used the Soul Cage

so we assumed that he had been hit by some sort of backlash or something. Why he was

knocked down for so long compared to the kid is anyone guess though."

"We were tied through it," Harry said. "The Soul Cage may have traced the link back and

attacked his connection to his own body while it was expelling the soul shard in me. The

link would've broken as soon as the piece in me was gone, but I imagine he'd already been

hurt pretty bad. Too bad I didn't think of that before…I could've tried to weaponize it…"

Luna shook her head, no hint of a dreamy expression anywhere in her appearance. "It's

good that you didn't, Harry. Killing a ghost would be much harder than killing a living being.

We don't know for certain that Voldemort would be destroyed if he was a wraith when the

final Horcrux is vanquished. I don't think we can afford to take that risk."

Harry sighed and nodded. "Yeah, you're right Luna. It's better to be safe than sorry. I'd hate

to have to kill him a third time."

Lily frowned. "As interesting as that is, Sirius did you have anything else to report?"

"Sort of, but nothing directly related to Kingsley so if you have any other questions ask

now," he said.

Neville raised his hand. "I have a question. Why didn't he call for help?"

"Or portkey away?" Susan asked immediately after. "He should've had a finished version of

the Tracekey now shouldn't he? I thought Harry had distributed those to almost everyone

by now with Aunt Amy's help."

Sirius nodded. "He has and we do. The problem is that not everyone likes to sleep with

earrings in. I know Shack takes his off and leaves it by the bed at night. The call for help

isn't the important thing though as he had other means at hand of contacting help. He

used them too, it's why the Aurors were able to respond quickly…just not quickly enough.

The Tracekey is really a mixed bag. The way it's designed, he could have ended up back at

their headquarters if the Death Eaters had portkeyed into location within range. Though…I

don't think they did. Amy agrees with me. She said that it looked like Shack might have

tried to get to his rune stone before the attackers got between it and him."

Hannah shook her head and grabbed Neville's hand. "I knew I wasn't being paranoid

keeping that in my pocket."

"I recommend necklaces," Tracey said. "A bit of a glamour and it looks just like a regular

necklace. Plus it's always touching skin so you can activate it whenever." Lily stared in

wonder at Tracey. Was everyone Harry associated with at Mad-Eye levels of paranoia? At

least she wasn't the only one looking askance at the Slytherin. "What? After what

happened to my girlfriend do you really think I'd walk around without a bit of a security

blanket people? Besides I'm a half-blood so I'm going to be a target anyway."

Luna cocked her head and patted Tracey's arm. "We understand, love. Though I think the

glamour is a bit much. I find the rune stone quite stylish myself!"

Harry rubbed his forehead. "Sirius what was the other thing?"

"Remus, Tonks, Fleur and I are going to be raiding Bella's manor tomorrow." Shouting

broke out at that announcement. Sirius responded by shouting over the rest of the voices.

"We're not going unprepared, people! We're not going to get a better opportunity than

this. If we raid now, they'll think this is in retaliation to the death of Kingsley and they

won't suspect we're looking for the Horcrux while we're there!"

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Chapter 380

Harry scowled as the room quieted. "I thought we agreed that it was unlikely to be hidden

in the Lestrange manor. Just because there are Aurors watching place doesn't mean the

Death Eaters can't get into it. Voldemort was pretty clear when he thought about not being

able to reach it."

Sirius shrugged. "We're running out of ideas, pup. Unless my bitch of a cousin dropped the

damnable thing into the English Channel we're going to have to search her house sooner or

later. Might as well do it now."

"It's always possible it is actually there, kid," Shiva asked trying to mediate between the

two. "He could have noticed you in his head at the time and tried to trick you. It's not like

we've had a ton of luck finding the one here…"

Harry's scowl deepened. "I know. Which is ridiculous! We've been going room by freaking

room through this whole bloody castle and nothing so much as twitches! We've found five

new secret passages, two secret rooms and one new staircases thanks to the elves helping

out and yet nothing that remotely feels, looks or acts like a bloody Horcrux!"

Hermione laid a hand on his back and rubbed small circles. "It's okay, Harry. We missed

something obvious and once we figure it out we can bang our heads on the table. Until

then, we have to stay positive."

"Kinda hard to do that at the moment, Mione," Harry muttered. Hermione sighed and

wrapped her arm fully around him pulling him into a crushing embrace for a moment. Lily

found herself in complete agreement.

"Look, Sirius, are you willing to take anyone else on this raid?" Lily asked turning the

conversation back around.

"Amy is sending Scrimgeour and Proudfoot with us and I think a Hit Wizard is going to

hitch a ride as well. We need to sell that this is revenge not a hunt," Sirius said nodding.

Lily sighed and leaned back into her chair. "That'll do I guess."

Daphne was still frowning as she asked, "Just how sure are you that your Horcrux

detection spell works Sirius? We have no proof of concept since we destroyed the others

prior to you finding it in your library. We don't even really know the range. What if there

really is one of the items there and you miss it?"

Sirius shrugged again. "I'm…pretty sure it works. I consulted with Phineas Nigellus and he

said the spell had worked in his day so…pretty sure. I still say we should only count on it

for about 21 meters. Anyway we're not really using the spell. We're looking for priceless

artifacts. That's what he'll have used."

Shiva sighed and shook her head. "I don't like this, but it's your call, Sirius. Please let us

know when you all finish so that our minds will be a bit eased."

Sirius nodded. "We will."

Harry leaned back and closed his eyes. "Thanks, Sirius. Everyone else, if you haven't been

following Tracey and Hannah's example, please start wearing your Tracekeys on you. It's

not a perfect escape, but at least you'll have something in an emergency. Everyone staying

at Hogwarts let's recenter. I think I'm going to talk to the elves again. Maybe if I ask the

question a bit differently they'll have better advice. Luna you're friendly with the Grey

Lady right? I know she and the Bloody Baron are two of the oldest ghosts in the castle; can

you ask her if she has any idea where things might be hidden?"

"Oh course, Harry," Luna said nodding.

"I'll see if the Baron has any idea as well," Daphne said. "I don't like that we are

outsourcing these questions so much. The ghosts talk…"

Harry grimaced. "I know, but we're running out of options. We have to find these bloody

things, Daph. Please, I just…please?"

A round of heads bobbed across the table and the meeting wound down. Lily let the

students troop out of the Room before she moved over to sit on Shiva's lap. "Our boy is

fighting a war."

"He's been fighting a war for awhile now, Lils. I missed it for a long time too," she sighed

and wrapped her arms around the red-head. "This thing with Voldemort needs to end

soon. I would really prefer to have a rune savant for a son rather than a soldier."

Lily chuckled. "Well at least you got to see his growth spurt! Maybe I'll get to see the next

one's."

Shiva blinked and pulled back. "Come again?"

Lily rewound to go over the last few moments and paled. "Not what I meant! Not right

now! Not…oh bloody hell."