44

When Xander first arrived in this reality, he had been pissed at what Harry had been through. He quickly grew to love the little boy who had suffered so much. Joyce's suggestion of adoption was the best thing he had ever heard.

It took a few years before Harry was able to freely express himself. He quickly learned from Xander the art of making jokes, from the Fred and George he learned how to pull pranks. From his mother's he learned to love.

Hermione taught him a different type of love, he had trouble expressing it, but Hermione was patient and understanding.

By the beginning of Harry's fourth year he was able to be a normal teenage boy. Xander had never been prouder. Harry was making jokes, pulling pranks and snogging the hell out of his girlfriend and actually making friends on his own.

Then the bastards had taken him and tortured him.

Xander still had nightmares about what he himself saw and witnessed. Now and again Fleur and Nym would wake him from his thrashing and growling, he loved them even more for it.

Harry had nearly reverted completely to his eleven year old self. It had been his newly developed ability to generate artificial limbs that had helped him reassert himself. If there was one thing Harry wanted to do in life, it was to help people. Harry was able to cope with teaching the small groups in France and Europe because as far as he was concerned the patient volunteering was the centre of attention.

This had given him the confidence to sit with Poppy on stage and even answer questions. Harry was truly healing from his ordeals.

Then came the revelation that Harry was 'Death'. Which was weird considering that was the role they played when scaring Death Eaters. Xander had no idea what to do with the revelation.

He had become withdrawn as he had always tried to protect Harry, from the bad things in life like being hurt and having to hurt others. But he had already failed to protect him from being hurt and Harry was now the personification of the other side of the coin.

Nicholas had had to sit him down and explain that Death was not a malevolent being out to capture as many souls as possible. Death was a keeper of the peace. Ensuring that those who died were meant to and those that weren't lived.

Harry had later helped when he took Xander along for a trip to Australia where he watched in horror as Harry opened himself up and started removing his own organs for transplant and then re-grow them.

The less said about Harry playing midwife the better.

The bottom line was that Xander was one exceptionally proud father. Harry had weathered a horrendous slew of storms in his young life and emerged battered and bruised but ultimately stronger and wiser.

Occasionally he did things that made him wonder about his sanity. Like today.

They were meeting with the Queen and her people to discuss their next move when Harry placed several disgusting objects on the table. There was a dirty pillowcase, a toilet seat which didn't look very sanitary, a pair of underwear which again hadn't been cleaned, a dead rat which Harry had fortunately tied into a plastic bag and finally a dustbin that Harry had clearly nicked from the streets of Newcastle as it had the city emblem on it.

"What is the meaning of this?" Jenson demanded in outrage.

None of the other magicals aside from Neville had a clue. "What do you think the meaning of this is?" Neville asked calmly.

"This is clearly some kind of outrageous insult!"

"Why?"

"You have just emptied a bunch of rubbish on to the table where her Majesty sits." Jenson sneered. "How much more insulting could you get?"

"Well, the king of the Goblins and Werewolves is also at the table, not to mention a Phoenix, Death and the Master of Magic… so I would say a whole lot more insulting. If you are correct in that this is an insult."

"How could this be anything but an insult?" He demanded.

"Ya know, it's questions and statements like that that make me wonder why Her Majesty let you get as far in the ranks as you have." Xander sighed.

"We would have to agree." The Queen agreed glibly.

Jenson looked like he had swallowed a slug. He had effectively been backhanded by his ultimate commander.

The General grabbed him by the shoulder and dragged him back into his seat. "I assume there is a story behind this mess, Lord Gryffindor?" He asked with an amused smile.

"Yes General there is!" Harry said blithely as he glared at Jenson. "These are the horcruxes. Working with the RAF we were able to locate them all. The Unspeakables of MI5 then proceeded to scout the locations and were able to provide myself, Dad and Neville with plenty of information so that we could go in with an appropriate team to retrieve them."

"Can I ask what your team consisted of?" Agent Marsden asked curiously.

"A family friend and worker for Gringotts who is an expert curse-breaker as well as a team of Goblins and Werewolves for back up in the event of trouble of the Death Eater kind. And then of course was the MI5 Unspeakable team on the hill behind us watching the location." Harry smirked knowingly.

"How did you know about them?" He asked in surprise.

"They were not downwind." Xander grinned.

"Plus I make it a point to check all areas around me when I go some where. I've been captured and tortured for most of my school life, I do my best to avoid it nowadays." Harry groused.

"I'm fairly certain you have no idea what torture is." Jenson scoffed.

"Admiral, should you choose to make just one more disparaging remark of disrespect then I will have you brought up on charges. You clearly haven't read the files on our esteemed guests or you would realise that what Lord Gryffindor has been through makes your time in Vietnam seem like a walk in the park!" The Queen ranted.

"Admiral, take a look in my eyes, if you dare." Harry said quietly as he gazed at the repugnant man.

Despite the chastisement by The Queen, Jenson didn't think much of the 'wizards'. He certainly wasn't going to back down from a challenge from some whelp. He returned the stare.

Like with most things, Harry was making this up on the fly. He stared into the eyes of the Admiral and pushed his memories of the graveyard into the man's mind.

The Admiral began to scream in agony and fear. Harry broke contact as the man fell to the floor and started heaving. He soon vomited.

"Oh god, I'm sorry!" Harry cried as he dived through the table, phasing as he went. "Neville, start singing!"

"What happened?" Sirius asked.

"I don't think I just sent him the visual side of things, I think I miscalculated and sent him the feelings and sensations!" Harry said frantically.

"Out of the way Potter." Moody snapped as he knelt down beside the shivering man and cupped the back of his head. He aimed his wand between the man's eyes. "Obliviate!"

The man instantly went limp.

"You removed his memories?" Marsden queried.

"Just of the horrors. Not the effects it had on him. He took up the challenge and failed, he needs to remember he failed." Moody explained. "He'll have some nightmares, might need your muggle counselling, but he'll survive." He said almost disappointedly.

"How is he physically?" Marsden enquired. He wasn't really worried, the Admiral had all but asked for this.

"He's fine, he might develop a headache but that will be stress related." Harry neglected to tell them the man had soiled himself, as far as Harry was concerned that was covered by the confidentiality laws. Harry was cursing himself for being so stupid. The Queen had already intimated that the man had ben tortured, so he likely had some residual issues and his actions had just brought them to the fore and exacerbated them.

"You are without a doubt, one of the strongest me I have ever met." The Admiral breathed quietly as he lay with his head still in Harry's lap.

"Admiral, how do you feel?" Harry asked earnestly.

"Like a damned fool." He spat as he struggled to rise. He leaned heavily with his hands on the back of one of the conference table chairs. "As Her Majesty stated earlier, I served in Vietnam. I was captured and tortured. What helped me rise through the ranks was a desire to ensure that none of my men ever suffered what I did.

"You suffered worse. Far, far worse. And not just because of your age, which was… disgusting. Anyone doubts your experience, send them to me." He said with a grimace as he held out his hand.

Harry didn't hesitate as he grasped the proffered hand and shook it.

"Perhaps we should continue with the meeting." Mark offered.

"Now, as I understand it, having all these horcruxes will allow you to kill Riddle?" Mark asked once they were seated.

"Harry can kill him regardless, but the horcruxes were dangerous to begin with, now they are just trash." Neville explained.

"They 'were' dangerous? How?"

"The original objects used as containers were items of great historical and magical value. They were also objects with a purpose, a cup you drink from, a locket you wear, a diary you write in, etcetera.

"They were also charmed with compulsions to make someone use them, this would have allowed the horcrux to latch onto their souls and create a copy of Riddle. I transferred the horcruxes to these pieces of rubbish and added a charm to make them more repulsive, which might explain Admiral Jenson's earlier behaviour."

"No, I appreciate the out you are offering, but those were my own mistakes, no one else had such a reaction." The Jenson admitted sadly. "But I will admit to feeling… repulsed."

There was a general consensus of that fact.

"If the horcruxes are here and relatively safe, why not simply destroy them?" Admiral Rothshide of Her Majesty's Navy asked, he was a very quiet man that reminded Xander of Oz. Only spoke when necessary and even then was fairly economical with words.

"Dad?" Harry offered the floor to Xander. "This was your idea."

Xander rolled his eyes. "Fine, last time Harry freed a horcrux from it's container it fled the castle and we believe it returned to join with Riddle. According to my brothers, sister and mother, Riddle would have been deeply affected by the return of a piece of his soul. He would have suffered emotions like guilt and sadness that he got rid of by, essentially, getting rid of his humanity.

"The plan is for Harry to release these pieces of souls just prior to whatever attack we plan on Riddle. This should weaken and disorientate him enough for anyone to take him out."

"And the plan is to kill Riddle?" Marsden asked.

"The plan is for Harry to act in his role as Death and destroy his soul completely." Neville said with a quiet seriousness. "There will be no afterlife for him. The energies of his soul will be completely dispersed into the universe."

Xander could see they were uncertain of this choice. "Ask yourself this, could you really justify allowing him to perpetrate his crimes on others? Because that is what will happen."

It was agreed that this was a decision beyond them, they would leave it, reluctantly in the hands of Death and his two Phoenix companions.

The rest of the meeting was a productive effort which established a plan that would see Harry and Xander's desire of being rid of Riddle by Christmas fulfilled. After the meeting Harry called Admiral Jenson aside.

"My Lord?" The Admiral with what was clearly a great deal of respect.

"Please, just Harry sir. I wish to speak with you as a Doctor. When I injured you earlier I-"

"Harry, you did nothing I didn't seek, granted I got more than I bargained for, but that was far from your fault." The Admiral corrected.

"Still, when you were hurt I slipped into my role as Healer and scanned you to make sure you were ok. As a result I am now bound by any and all confidentiality laws concerning your health. But the reason I wanted to talk to you is your leg."

Jenson had lost his leg during the Iraq/Kuwait war, he was subsequently removed from the field and promoted. He was amputated above the knee.

"If you are offering to heal, it wouldn't be wise, from a secrecy standpoint, people will notice if I suddenly re-grow a limb." He chuckled.

"But what if only those you told about it could tell it was real?" Harry said excitedly. "I believe I could cast a Fidelius charm so that the secret would be that your prosthetic leg is real, anyone else who sees it would see the prosthetic."

"It's a tempting thought, but I would feel wrong. I wouldn't be able to tell my wife. My children will not be able to know." He explained sadly.

Harry sighed tiredly. "Look, magicals are an evolutionary step. If there was no secrecy and separation between the two worlds, then there would be no such thing as a 'non-magical'. For whatever reason, I am now the Master of Magic. I intend to see to it that the world gets back on track and that magicals become the primary primate on the planet. Non-magicals shouldn't exist, you should be a magical, it's only because magicals chose to hide away that you and everyone you know isn't a magical.

"Who knows, maybe this is the reason I was made and am in fact the Master of Magic."

"You want to offer this to all war vets, don't you." The Admiral challenged with a wry grin.

"Why not? They sacrificed for us, as did you. There is even a chance I can start inducing magic in completely non-magicals, I'm definitely going to turn all squibs into magicals like I did with Her Majesty."

Jenson chuckled in amazement. He couldn't believe he had been such a fool to have judged the young man so harshly. "Come with me My Lord." He said as he guided Harry back to the table.

"Your Majesties, gentlemen, Lord Gryffindor and I would like to discuss something on a different topic with you all."

"Oh god, he's gonna do it again." Xander groaned.

"Do what?" Mark asked.

"Change the world." Xander snorted. "What do you have planned this time?"

"Lord Gryffindor has offered a way to heal our wounded veterans without revealing magic to anyone but the veterans and their close family relatives. He has proposed to re-grow missing limbs but cast a modified Fidelius charm that makes those not in the know see a prosthetic."

"I take it he asked you to be his test subject?" Xander asked.

"Considering the benefits to our wounded men and women, I have agreed." Jenson answered.

"It's a damned slippery slope." Moody grunted. "It starts with magicals re-growing the limbs of combat veterans, which I am all for." Moody patted his own re-grown leg. "Then it'll be having Healers on site to heal the wounded as they come in so they never actually lose the legs. Then there'll be demands for wizards to apply protection charms and shields… which will eventually lead to wizards being recruited to fight… which leads to full blown wizarding battles… which leads to a complete breakdown of the Statute of Secrecy… and we all know where that leaves us… tied to a stake as we burn."

There was a moments silence. "Ladies and Gentlemen, Alastor Moody." Sirius said as he rolled his eyes.

"Tell me I'm wrong." He challenged.

"You're wrong."

Everyone turned in surprise at the softly spoken statement made by the just as softly spoken Neville.

"You know some thing Phoenix-y?" Xander asked.

"I know that Harry is the Master of Magic. I know that Harry has the deepest understanding of magic since Merlin. Deeper than that of a Phoenix. If Harry says that there shouldn't be non-magicals, then that is the truth.

"Anyone with an ounce of common sense will see that the wizarding world will be exposed within your children's lifetimes, Harry is merely ensuring that when that happens, wizards are seen as a people to be welcomed and aspired to."

It was somewhat of a shock to hear Neville speak so firmly and specifically. His very nature as a Phoenix meant he was privy to information that he couldn't reveal and had learned over the past few years to be very careful in what he said.

But here, the human Phoenix had given what could very well amount to a prophecy, or a blessing for Harry's personal quest.

"Would you like to walk out of here on your own two legs, Admiral Jenson?" Harry asked.

"Sounds better than walking out on someone else's legs." Jenson nodded with smirk.

"God that sounds so gross." Xander grimaced.

"I'm going to remove the lower half of your trouser leg, I can fix it afterwards." Harry explained as he indicated the Admiral should sit in one of the conference room chairs.

He efficiently vanished the aforementioned material revealing the synthetic and robotic looking prosthetic limb.

"This is a highly advanced model." Harry mused.

"It's a prototype, I help with the testing." Jenson explained as he began to remove it.

He handed the limb to Rothshide who placed it on the conference table.

"Ok, first, I numb the area, it might feel a little uncomfortable otherwise." Harry cast the numbing charm. "Now I just apply some magic and let your body and the magic sort things out and put it all right." Harry explained as his hands began to glow.

The assembled monarchs, ministers, agents and soldiers watched in fascination as the skin around the stump began to peel back revealing the bone and tissue, they watched as the bone and muscle began to spiral out and form rest of the tibia, the knee cap and lower leg finishing with the ankle and foot.

"Are you sure you want all ten toes?" Harry asked.

"Harry!" Sirius gasped.

Jenson just chuckled. "I believe it would be nice to be able to count past fifteen again."

Harry just smiled and continued applying the magic, once the muscles and bones were complete the flesh, blood vessels and skin began to grow.

"Right, would you like the piggy song as I do the toe nails?" Harry smirked.

"Piggy song?" Jenson could help himself asking in amusement. His emotions were high as he witnessed the young man rectify a great tragedy in his life.

"When I do kids, I leave the toenails off and sing the piggy song, you know 'This little piggy went to market…'"

As Harry sang the nursery rhyme he would grow the toenails for each 'piggy' causing them all to laugh.

"Right, I now pronounce you Man and Leg." Harry declared happily. "I'm going to remove the numbing charm, do not move or try to move it. You haven't had a leg for a long time and your brain needs time to deal with the new sensations or you will cause a feedback overload and likely pass out.

"It was not a fun time the first time that happened." Harry muttered.

"I understand." Jenson said with a happy grin still plastered over his face, he looked like he had lost twenty years of age.

Harry didn't remove the charm completely, but he did lower the strength.

"Now then, I am going to start massaging your leg from the top down, I will be going very slowly, just focus on the sensations.

"Do you not need gloves?" Marsden asked.

"I doubt I can catch anything or carry anything, but I can cure everything from the common cold to small pox." Harry explained as he continued massaging.

Jenson gasped. "My god that is a peculiar feeling."

"Yep, and I haven't even fully removed the numbing charm yet."

"Thank god." He muttered through gritted teeth.

"Are you in pain, Admiral?" The Queen asked with concern.

"Not pain, Your Majesty, the equivalent of a heavy dose of pins and needles."

"I hate that, the other day I woke up and couldn't move both my arms because Nym and Fleur had slept on me funny." Xander grimaced.

"I can't believe you are actually complaining about sleeping with those two gorgeous women." Sirius said disgustedly.

"Hey, I was desperate to pee and they both sleep like the dead." He said defensively.

"Gentlemen, you remind us of our grandsons." The Queen commented dryly. "When they were seven."

Both men looked chastised.

"Ok Admiral, try shifting your leg but don't put any weight on it." Harry instructed.

"Can you cure AIDS?" Marsden asked with a slightly frantic hope.

Harry looked at the Agent carefully, he placed a hand on the Admiral's shoulder and instructed him to keep going slowly but not to try standing yet.

"What happened?" Harry asked as he stood and faced the man.

"My son, Alec. He's a paramedic, there was an accident and an artery started gushing and it got in his eyes. He's been diagnosed with HIV." Marsden slumped into a chair at the table.

"I can cure him, but only close family will be able to know he is cured. People will be wondering how he got cured otherwise."

"It's not a problem. My wife and I can support him financially, he isn't married, no children, he's only 22."

Harry sighed and considered his options.

"Ok, bring him to the Ministry of Magic tomorrow. Sirius can you arrange a room for me to meet them in? You might want to be there as well."

"Changing the world twice in two days, Harry? Wouldn't miss it for the world. But bring Hermione, she'll love seeing it and I'll love seeing her."

"I can't, he'll be under my care, my patient."

"You just invited me. We can both be there for what ever else you have planned."

"My Lord, I don't believe Alec will object." Marsden offered, his earlier franticness was taking a toll and he was beginning to feel weary.

"Ok, we'll sort it out tomorrow, say around 7pm?"

"We'll be there, sir." Marsden breathed in relief.

"Ok Admiral, I believe you have good control over that leg." Harry smirked as he watched the man waving it in the air.

"Nev, Dad give us a hand here?"

Xander took a position behind the Admiral whilst Harry and Neville grasped his arms and helped him up.

"Let's take a slow few circuits around the room." Harry instructed. The group of four maintained their formation as they went.

Whilst the others watched on, General Rothshide turned to the Queen. "For the record Your Majesty, I fully support whatever plans Lord Gryffindor has for helping our soldiers, I've known the Admiral since before we joined up, he finally has that spark he lost decades ago."

"We certainly agree, General. We do not believe that we have any true say in whether Lord Gryffindor proceeds with his plans, but it is merely our duty to aid him and ensure the safety of all our subjects."

"It's a grand day in a man's life when he is given back a lost limb." Moody added having been one of Poppy's test patients whilst Harry tutored at St. Mungo's.

"How is the leg feeling?" Harry asked they began their second circuit. "Does it feel much different from your other leg?"

"No, but I am having to focus on the actual movements for my leg instead of the natural movement." Jenson admitted slowly.

"That's because you haven't had a kneecap and ankle to control properly till now. For about a week or so you will need a walking stick just to help your stability, but try to keep walking and your brain will begin to remember the old routine." Harry conjured an ornate walking stick. "Here, try a circuit on your own."

Harry and Neville backed off and rejoined the others whilst Xander maintained his position shadowing the Admiral from behind.

"Do you have an actual plan written down for all you world changing agendas?" General Rothshide asked with an amused smirk.

"Nope, I'm just winging it and doing what should be done."

"I, for one, am glad he is." Jenson grinned as he rejoined them. "Everything feels right!" He declared with a joyous laugh.

"Excellent, just remember that you might slip up now and again, you might forget that you have two working limbs and try to use the leg the wrong way, it will take a few weeks to get things naturally.

"In the meantime, do you and your wife ever dance?"

"We have attended various functions and danced, yes."

"Good, clear some space at home and start doing a simple box step. It was a Canadian doctor who suggested this as the one movement we take for granted is stepping to the side. It takes a whole set of new motions that aren't covered by walking and can easily catch you by surprise."

"My wife has been asking when the next function will be, this seems like a decent excuse." He sighed.

"Ok, last thing we need to do is cast the Fidelius." Harry declared. "We need to test this so if everyone else would wait here, we will go over there and cast it." Harry said as he led the Admiral to the other side of the room.

"I hate it when he does this." Xander groused.

"You're not the only one." Moody grumbled.

"Does what?" Marsden asked.

"When he casts the Fidelius to cover information we should already know. It's annoying because you know that there is information that you can't remember and it can really bug you. It's fine though if you don't know he's casting it."

"Ok, all done. Now, what did I do?" Harry asked with a grin.

"You… damn! You're right, that is annoying." Sirius said in surprise.

"Something to do with the Admiral's leg… you were going to improve it… or oil it?" Agent Marsden asked dubiously.

"I'm not sure whether I should be insulted by that or not." Jenson remarked with a raised eyebrow.

"You should probably tell them the secret." Harry prompted.

"Ah… yes. I Admiral Anthony Jonas Jenson have two flesh legs." He stated.

"Oh thank Merlin! That feels so much better!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Doctor Emma Granger has a theory that if someone knows the Fidelius is cast and that they should know the secret, not knowing could drive them insane." Harry explained.

"As someone who has been driven half insane, I can confirm that." Sirius groused.

"It works, as annoying as it is." Moody growled unhappily.

"I recommend you don't tell your wife till tomorrow, wait till you've shown her the magical world so she doesn't freak out." Harry advised.