Chapter 44 Welcome Back, Harry

Harry's POV

"Oh, Harry, I am so glad you're okay," his bushy-haired friend said from where she was hanging on to his side. "We've been ever so worried about you. I just kept imagining all sorts of torture you could be going through. We had no idea who kidnapped you, or why. Who was it?" she asked, and then plowed on before he could answer. "You don't even want to know what I've been thinking. I felt so helpless. You've never had to go off without help. Well, once, or maybe twice, still it was horrible to know that you were alone. Tell us what happen," she demanded, but continued before he even opened his mouth. "We were so worried. I was still very scared. You made Luna cry, don't ever do that to me again," Hermione rambled, hugging her chest against his side, which the boy greatly appreciated. She then leaned back and thumped him when her demands for answers went unreturned.

"Harry, stop thinking perverted thoughts, and tell us what happened. I saw you tied to something big, and until a few minutes ago, I thought you were in danger. Well, I knew you'd survive, but not in what condition you would return in. I know I shouldn't have fretted, but you are very dear to me. And I know that you're far more powerful than anyone living, so how did you get kidnapped in the first place?" Luna asked as she dragged the dark-haired teen to the couch, so they could cuddle with him and feel that he was alive and well. She shoved the unresisting boy down and took up the space on his left, while Hermione sat at his right. They both snuggled deep into his embrace and held on to what they could find as if he were going to disappear again.

"If this is the welcome I can expect, then I'm going to go off again," he said with a grin, earning two more hits to his pecks. "If you two will take a deep breath, I'll answer your questions. By the way, Hermione, you can hug me anytime you want. Why, you don't even need to wait until I'm in danger," Harry stated out of the blue, holding said girl to his side. "You too, Lovely Luna. I do like it when you hold me close," he added tightening his other arm and kissing both girls on the head. "Really though, I'm sorry I worried you. I can say that I did let my guard down. I mean it was Fudge, and from what you lot have been tell me. I didn't even think about testing the tea."

"Wait, before you explain anything else. Are you hurt, Harry?" Sirius asked as he looked his godson over. Well, what he could see that wasn't covered by young female bodies. For a fleeting second, he was jealous of his godson, but then remembered how demanding teenage girls could be, and mentally wished him luck. Getting back to his purpose in stopping Harry, he glanced over the now returned teen. Nothing was out of place, even his clothes appeared to be fine. That didn't fool him though, there are a great many spells that show no signs of damage. Upon thinking that, Padfoot waved his wand and gave a great sigh of relief when nothing showed on his diagnostic spell.

"Yeah, I'm uninjured. Well, at least I think I am. I mean, I was knocked out for most of it, but they never laid a hand on me while I was awake. I have a small headache, but I don't know if I hit my head, or it was the potion that did it," the now very comfortable teen stated as he took in the warmth of the two young women at his side. He could certainty tell they were girls, and he wasn't about to move from his cozy spot.

"That's good to hear. My spell shows that they didn't do anything while you were out. However, there's something you need to do before you get too comfortable," his godfather said, pulling his communication mirror out of his breast pocket, and handing it to the confused teen.

"What, see if I'm still pretty?" Harry asked, looking at the vanity mirror with a raised eyebrow. "I already know I'm quite handsome, thank you very much," he boosted, not taking the object in question.

"Don't be daft, it's a communication mirror. Kinda like those cellyfones, you showed me, only with vedio," came the scoffed reply. "Your dad and I used to use them when we were in separate detentions. They made passing those times go faster."

"It's cellphones and video," was Hermione's automatic correction.

"Anyway, you need to call Remus. Just say his nickname and he'll appear. See if he's still at the Ministry. For all I know they're still searching for you. It's not every day that a celebrity gets kidnapped, you know," Sirius stated as he continued to hold out the mirror, only now he was being persistent.

"I'm not a fucking celebrity," Harry growled. He hated his fame, no matter what his personality. He didn't earn it and he had lost his parents to get it. He still felt their loss, even if he couldn't remember everything about that night, just hideous laugh and a flash of green light. He could recall what they looked like from the album in his stuff, and he vaguely remembered his mother's voice begging for mercy for him. Not for her, but for him, and it made him feel the pain all the more.

"Yeah, you are. Sorry," was Neville's reply as he moved behind Harry to see how the mirror worked. "I've heard about you all my life. There was a time that I was quite jealous of you. Now that I've see the stuff you go through; I know I wouldn't want your life." He gave a full-body shiver. No, he really didn't want Harry's life. His was bad enough.

"Yeah, Harry, it's all those stories that's got little Gin-gin wanting to be the future Mrs. Potter," Fred said with a smirk as he too looked at the mirror. His brother joined him and Neville behind the couch, leaning over to see how it worked.

"Though we're going to have to tell her she's got competition," was George's input.

"I just say 'Moony' and Mr. Lupin will appear in the mirror?" Harry asked, ignoring the twins and changing the subject. He still cringed whenever he saw that moonstruck face. Ginny was a nice enough girl, but the hero worshipping… that he could do without.

"Yeah, you need to tell him that you're okay. That and, Madam Bones will want to know what happened. You'd best make an appointment to get back there. Only this time I'm going with you. Or you could have her come to the castle, which would make me feel better," his godfather suggested, rubbing his goatee in thought. He had no problem with Bones coming here, but the fewer people that knew where he was the better. Public opinion on the whole Sirius Black case being dismissed was bleak. He heard what people said about him when he went into public. Gossips would say he was just like Malfoy and bought his way out of Azkaban. He cringed to think of being compared to that overstuffed peacock. He was very grateful that Harry was a prodigy in magic. His glamor never faded, not once and it had been weeks. Still it was risky going out to London proper. Who knows what would happen to him if anyone caught wind of who he was.

That wasn't going to stop him from going with Harry, risk or not. There was no way he was letting the boy out of his sight again, not until the two men after him were taken care of. Even if he were found out and had to put up with all the sheep in the Wizarding World calling him a murderer and a cheat, well for his godson, he'd do it. Hopefully with his disguise, they'd think he was either a young Auror or a seventh year. Either way Harry wasn't going alone.

Not that he had been alone this time, and yeah Padfoot was going to have words with Moony.

Just as he was about to press the issue and show them how the mirror worked, the back door opened to let in a very mussed up werewolf. He had taken his time coming here. He nosed around the Alley and Hogsmeade to see if he could find anything, but it was a bust. Still he dallied as much as he could put it off. He was very glad to see the boy. Now, Sirius would curb his temper. Maybe.

"Harry! Thank Merlin, you're here," the man exclaimed, joining everyone in the living room.

"Yeah," Harry said, pocketing the mirror for now. He wanted to look at it. He was sure that he could make more, and that would be handy in case something like today happened again.

Sirius growled at his best mate, making the teens in the room to look back and forth between the adults. "I'm very mad at you, Moony. I still can't believe you let Harry go off by himself. There are two very powerful wizards looking for him. One to kill him, and the other to 'talk'. You should've known better. What the fuck was going through your brain?" he all but yelled as he stood to get in the other man's face.

"Look, I'm sorry about that," Remus said sincerely as he threw himself in a chair and ran a hand through his greying hair. He never wanted anything to happen to Harry, and he was more than thankful that the boy was alright.

Sirius seeing his target was out of range sat back down too. "Sorry, doesn't cut it," the glamored man snapped, giving his friend a hard look.

"He's almost an adult."

"He's still a minor," was the snarled comeback.

"Look, Padfoot, you can't wrap Harry in wool and protect him from the world. I don't think he'd let you for one," the werewolf tried to reason. It had been a long day, and he and Bones had gotten nowhere on the damn horcruxes. They had just settled down to go over candidates when Sirius had called.

"I can damn well try," the other man said, earning a glare and scoff from the teen in question.

"And it wouldn't work for another. I mean, Dumbledore and You-Know-Who would still come for him. They are far more powerful than you or I. Any protection we put up would be futile. Harry has his own magic that is better than ours. Look, Sirius, you need to back off. It was a mistake, and I won't repeat it. He's here now, so drop it."

"I'll drop it when you explain why you let this happen."

"Fudge is weak, magically. Everyone knows that. I didn't think that he'd be any match for Harry. You, yourself, said that no one is as powerful as he is. There shouldn't have been a way for that man to get the drop on your godson," Moony said, looking at the boy in question. "Want to tell us what happened?"

So, Harry told about his day from the moment he left Remus's side. Everyone was hanging on to his every word. The males of his little group all got mischievous looks in their eyes, like they were going to rib him for being taken down by a simple potion. They listened to what happened in the graveyard. Each speculating, in their thoughts, as to who the two were, and 'ahhing' in understanding when Harry reveal the hooded offender. The teens were expecting great feats of magic, or a huge showdown, where Harry would kill the Dark Lord, and the traitor. The boys were slightly disappointed when he simply ruined the potion. Though, Hermione nodded her head at the basic logic. When Harry got to the last part, telling them who the baby-like thing was, his godfather exploded.

"You let my godson get kidnapped and taken to You-Know-Who," growled Sirius, once again getting up from his chair.

"And he got away with just a thought," Moony said as evenly as he could with his heart beating fast at the realization that Harry had been in the hands of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. However, he needed Sirius to be calm and not do anything rash. The man just got free, and the last thing he wanted was for his best friend to go back to Azkaban.

"That's beside the point. Harry was near the person who everyone fears."

"No, that is the point, he got away unharmed. What I want to know is why he let Wormtail go?" he inquired, desperately grasping on to the first thing he could think of. Not that it was much better, but it took the attention off him.

"Well, this may sound morbid, but I'm pretty sure he's dying, and I wanted him to slowly bleed to death. I mean, it's not like a dead man can go to the hospital. No, he's going to die; very alone, and very scared," was vindictive reply from the content teen. "And when the body is found, I can truly say I had nothing to do with it," he bragged.

"Remus, can you send a Patronus to Bones telling…, or better yet, Harry write up what happened, and we'll have Winky take it," a calmer Sirius suggested as he pointed to the writing supplies. He was relishing that the man who had sent him to prison was more than likely bleeding to death in some shabby hideaway. Nothing would make him happier than to hear that that rat bastard traitor had died. "While you guys do that, I need to talk to Moony. You should get back to the castle. I'm sure the staff is wondering where you all are," he added taking up his friend's arm and dragging him from the room.

"Right," Harry said, not want to be in the house with yelling adults, no matter how entertaining it might be. So, the teen wrote up his experience, and handed the completed missive to the house elf. Then he and the gang chatted about what happened before he was kidnapped as they made their way to the school. They certainly didn't want to hang around two feuding friends. They were just in time for dinner, so they took their normal seats as if the day didn't happen, though the girls were a bit clingy.

The staff was none the wiser about Harry's latest adventure.

Amelia's POV

Amelia was finishing going over all the clues from her investigation. She was just about to assign some Aurors to look in the Alley again, when a house elf popped in.

"This better not be bad news," she grumbled as she took the note from the elf with thanks. Winky popped away, leaving Bones to open the letter. It was short and curt, and the content depicted the boy hero's day as he remembered it. This made her sigh in relief, though she still had to figure out how he was taken out of the Ministry. However, she was glad that part was over

She penned a quick reply, sent it off with an owl, and then headed to Azkaban. She really needed to talk to Snape to put this to bed. All her ducks needed to be in a row, if she was going to accuse the Minister of foul play. Right now, she had some of her top people out looking for him and his undersecretary. They both seemed to have disappeared as well. She had no idea if they were dead or merely hiding.

Thinking of all the things she needed to accomplish, she distractedly put on the warding necklace. Without much thought, she made her way to Snape's cell. It wasn't until she saw his face that she snapped back to reality.

The man looked positively gleeful to see her, like she was going to bring him good news. He even bounced on his toes a bit.

"Good evening, Mr. Snape. You look to be in a fine mood, considering your surroundings. I came here because I need you to tell me what the Minister wanted. I know he came to see you the other day. It is imperative that I know what that visit was about," she stated formally, pulling out a pen and small notebook. She gave him an inquiring look, and still wondered why he looked so happy.

"Is the brat dead?" was his elated question. "If you tell me that that is true, I will sing like a bird." not even the Dementors would take that thought away from him. He'd hide in the deep recesses of his mind and take it out when they were gone and cherish it for the rest of his days.

"Are you speaking of Mr. Potter? If so, then I am delighted to tell you that he is alive and well. Why do you ask? Is that what Minister Fudge wanted, for you to give him something that would kill the boy?" she asked curtly, pulling the vial of truth potion out of her pocket. She wiggled it in front of his face, making sure he knew that she had no qualms about using it.

"No," Snape drawled, and you could see that he was very disappointed that his most hated student still lived. "That incompetent told me there was a plot to kidnap the… boy, and that he needed a strong sleeping potion. It was only when he told me what plans were in action that I gave him a recipe to a brew that is almost as strong as the Draught of the Living Dead. He informed me that there were those that thought the boy was too powerful, and that he needed to be… curbed." He smirked at the thought that someone would torture Potter. The egotistical brat deserved nothing less. It was that spoilt child's fault that he was here in the first place. If Potter's spawn had died all those years ago, then Snape would have left Great Britain and never looked back.

"Did he tell you who was behind the plot?" Amelia asked, tearing Severus away from his petty thoughts.

"No, only that it was a hooded man that had laid it all out for him. He was absolutely giddy at the prospect of bringing a powerful wizard under his control. I could have told him that Potter was mediocre at best. If the Minister was stupid enough to believe the words of an unknown, that is not my concern. I merely gave him a recipe," the imprisoned man waved the plight of Fudge away. He had been hoping to be questioned about the demise of Potter, but even that was denied to him. He knew that Cornelius was an impatient man, and only a small miscalculation would have killed the brat. That blasted boy had the luck of leprechauns.

"Very well," Amelia stated, tucking the truth potion away and taking up her notebook. While she didn't get everything, she needed, she parted in better spirits than she had come with.

She asked some questions on the brew he had given Fudge and a few more that the man might think would be helpful. In return, she said she'd speak up for him when he was eligible for parole, not that many of the prisoners lasted that long.

He didn't believe her, not now that he had all but confessed that he helped with the kidnapping of the Boy-Who-Lived, but potions were his passion. He hoped to get some of his brews into the world, before he forgot them. So, he told her some of his favorites. The Potions Master was in his groove and gave up a lot of formulas that would help her department.

She had a few brewers that had not be brought down by that man's 'teaching'. They were some of the best that had come out of Hogwarts in decades. Not as good as Snape, but almost. Now all she had to do is find someone to find those bloody tunnels.

Harry's POV

Harry and his friends had just finished their dinner when Bones' reply came.

"She wants to meet me at her office tomorrow. Something about viewing my memory," our hero said with a grimace. "I'm not sure I want anyone in my head, but at least she's asking," he said as he reskimmed the missive.

"Don't be silly, Harry, she'll use a pensieve," Luna said as she nibbled on her chicken leg. She was sitting very close to the boy wonder, determined to not let him out of her sight until curfew. Both she and Hermione had been clinging to him like Flusterwallows to Marshshallow plants. Though, being the pervert, he is, he didn't seem to mind. It made her feel better to keep within reaching distance. It was going to be hard to separate this night.

"What's a pensieve?" he asked, fiddling with his fork, pushing his potatoes around his plate. He wasn't very hungry, what with the day he had had, and the thought of someone in his head made him less so.

"It's a runic bowl that is used to watch memories," the little blonde answered with a reassuring smile. She seemed to feel his discomfort, so she patted his arm reassuringly.

"Still, she'll be looking at my memories, and the few I have are very precious to me. How would I get that memory into this 'bowl'? I mean, it sounds like it will be removed from my head. I don't want to lose any that I have," he said very much concerned. His crew was going over ways that no one would be able to take anything from his mind. It is what they are there for.

"Don't fret, Harry, they only take copies. Your memories will still be safe in your head," the Ravenclaw said, firming her grasp on his arm.

"Oh, well I guess that's okay," he said with a slow nod of his head, like he was still thinking it over.

"You'll be fine," Luna confirmed, and then looked at her other friends to back her up.

"She's right, Harry, you'll be okay, and all your memories will be intact," Neville said, giving the other boy a reassuring smile.

"Okay, yeah, okay…. I think I'm ready to hit the hay. It's been a very long day," the boy hero stated, getting up from the table. "I just want to sleep the next week off."

"Yeah, I guess I would too, if I had been kidnapped, tied-up and forced to face my worst enemy," Hermione stated thoughtfully.

"What do you mean— kidnapped?" came the question from behind them.