95

CHAPTER NINETY FIVE:

As Luna had cautioned, Monday morning was cool and grey, and Harry followed her advice and stayed inside. He felt quite rested after the lazy Sunday he had spent with Severus and his friends, and it was with renewed energy that Harry sat down to write up a rough schedule of the near future, knowing that things were gradually coming to a close and that he should make himself an overview of what still needed to happen before he skipped off to another country.

"Let's see," he mused, setting quill to paper and jotting down that day's date: Monday, 27th March. Rather than scheduling the day, he simply wrote down the expected happenings and appointments of the day, which were a meeting with Madam Tinkleweather, Nick and Mick, and Death Eater trials starting at 2 PM.

The next few days he left blank but for a scribble reading 'DE trials', then remembered what Amelia had said about Rita Skeeter's book being published. In all caps, he wrote down under Tuesday 'THE LIFE AND LIES OF ALBUS DUMBLEDORE – BUY!'. He looked forward to reading it and seeing how it compared to the original.

For Friday the 31st he wrote 'DUMBLEDORE EXECUTION', along with a few notes to remind himself to pick up protective artifacts from his vaults and cover himself in spells leading up to the execution. He planned on being as prepared as he could before walking into that situation.

In fact, he resolved to swing by Gringotts and poke around for suitable artifacts once he finished his schedule, knowing that it would take a while but that he was unlikely to have another morning off before the execution. His lips twitched as he imagined himself on the day: Bedecked in glittering jewels and heavily enchanted armor, twitchy and bellowing "Constant vigilance!" at anyone who dared come close. He rather felt Moody would be proud – or derisive of the jewelry. Hey, it wasn't his fault that Purebloods liked to enchant jewelry to protect them, right?

That decided, he roughly outlined April and May, writing only 'HOLIDAY!' in June. Oh, was he looking forward to that! The beginning of the summer holidays marked the end of his responsibilities, and Severus'. It meant an extended vacation and time spent only with people he chose to, and only the responsibility of checking in on Black Manor from time to time. Yes, he was looking forward to it.

Shaking his head to clear the goofy smile from it, Harry sternly told himself to concentrate on the present first. "Protection, Dumbledore, disband Order, house elves, funding for werewolf department at Ministry," he muttered as he wrote. "Speak with Madam Longbottom about Neville," he added as an afterthought. He might also have to take Neville aside and tell him that if he thought Hermione didn't know something, he should speak up – Severus had told him with a rather wicked smirk about Hermione's faux pas during their first date. Harry wondered briefly whether it was even his place to interfere in their relationship, but decided with a small shake of his head that they were both his friends and that Neville had to know not to let Hermione walk all over him. She did have the tendency to.

Stiffening abruptly, Harry remembered someone he had completely forgotten about since he had first arrived in this time. "Greyback," he hissed, hate clearly audible in his voice. Standing and pacing angrily, he asked himself how he could have forgotten the werewolf. The monster had been only too happy to swell Voldemort's ranks with forcefully turned Muggles, brainwashing the newly turned werewolves into believing the wizards were trying to kill them – and Greyback had also found a grisly pleasure in attacking random wizards and disfiguring, turning or killing them, with Bill Weasley being one of the few victims who remained alive and unturned, albeit with harsh welts covering his face. Harry had taken great satisfaction in killing the monster with a fiery whip, scoring the werewolf all over before ending his life.

Breathing deeply, Harry stalked back over to the desk and picked up his quill, writing himself a terse reminder to have Kingsley deal with it. It was up to the Aurors to do clean-up, now.

Leaving a note for Severus should he come down while Harry was gone, the young lord dropped the quill, grabbed an over robe, and stalked out of the room. Maybe going to Gringotts would take care of his frustration.

OoOoO

It was an even surlier Lord Potter who returned to Hogwarts some hours later, and Severus took one good look at him before asking drily, "Are you attempting to replace me as the ill-tempered dungeon bat?"

"Maybe," Harry answered sullenly, dropping into the seat next to Severus at the Head Table. "Two attempts on my life, and all the good protective artifacts in my vaults are hideously gaudy. Either that, or rings, and I refuse to wear that many. These two are already enough," he scowled, gesturing at the plain rings on either pointer finger. "Mild spell resistance, especially to disarming and stunning spells, and a spell boost," Harry explained at Severus's questioning look, gesturing at either ring. Severus's eyebrows rose.

"The ring increases the potency of your spells?"

Harry nodded, touching the ring on his right hand. "It's a handy one, alright. The other one's just as useful, though."

Judging by Severus's slow nod, the man agreed. "Were you able to find anything of use in your vaults? Do you speak only of the Potter and Black vaults, or also of the other vaults you… acquired?"

Harry quirked a little smile at his lover's phrasing. "Just the Potter and Black vaults. I might ask the goblins for a list of useful things in the other vaults, but that'll take them longer than I have to spare. I did find some things, though," he said, briefly touching the silver filigree choker around his neck and pulling a chain out from under his shirt. "The choker is supposed to counteract all poisons I swallow, and the pendant is a portkey that can punch through any set of wards, even those at the Ministry or here at Hogwarts. Repeated use, apparently, so that could be useful." Grimacing slightly, he pulled several items from a pocket and placed them on the table, precious gems and diamonds winking up at them.

"So gaudy," Harry sighed. "Powerful, though. Shields, protection against poison, magical boosts… This tiara supposedly has pure magic stored in each gem, but I doubt I'll ever need that much magic at my disposal – and I refuse to wear a tiara. Imagine what the newspapers would say."

Severus chuckled at Harry's expression of disgust, but reached out to nudge a ring. "And this?"

"Mental protection, apparently," Harry replied, picking up the ring. "I was told the stones are significant, but I'm clueless when it comes to stones."

"Quartz?" Severus volunteered, touching a pale pink stone. Harry shrugged.

"I don't know. It doesn't really matter, though, since I know Occlumency. I only took it because I thought Luna might find it pretty."

"I see," Severus nodded, turning back to his food. "You return to the Ministry after lunch?"

"Yeah," Harry sighed, pocketing the artifacts and helping himself to a sandwich. "Oh, by the way – Amelia said Rita's book is scheduled to go on sale tomorrow. I'll pick one up for you." The glint in the glance they shared said it all.