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Disclaimer: This story is based on characters, ideas, and situations created by JK Rowling and owned by her and her publishers. I own the original elements & characters. No money is being made by me, and no trademark or copyright infringement is intended.

Chapter XXX
Thursday, October 31, 1996

The DA was ready. The Order was ready. Selected aurors were ready. Harry and his consorts were ready.

And nothing happened.

Whatever Voldemort was going to do wasn't going to come off at Halloween.

The tension around Hogwarts collapsed, and it would take a few weeks for everyone's full attention to come back.



The following Monday morning, a little after 2:40 am, a hidden door opened in the Chamber of Secrets. Voldemort spent the next two and a half hours spreading crushed quartz in ritual patterns.

He was gone by 5:00 am.

They would likewise miss two return trips in mid-November. The Order, and Harry, were lucky that Voldemort had been forced to decide that clearing the blockage caused by the cave-in, which had grown larger, would likely alert the wards he felt (incorrectly) the Headmaster would have had to erect on the other side,

In the original time line, Voldemort had made the same discovery, although earlier, but with the same results. That had been why he had given Draco the task of creating the alternative route into the castle. Had he known that there was no ward, the invasion of Hogwarts would have happened during the Sorting at the start of Harry's Sixth year in the original time line, not at the end of the school year.

For Dumbledore and Remus, however, the exciting news for the month was the discovery of a family descended from the Slytherin progeny which had lived in Ghent. A daughter of the family had married out in the mid-1400s, into a family of magical merchants which had lived (and still did) southeast of Dijon.

This had made no sense to Harry, even when Remus and Hermione tried to explain the concept of medieval Burgundy and Flanders to him. More importantly, with Harry's help, they managed to discover three current members of the extended family of four different branches and nearly fifty members who possessed the gift of Parseltongue -- two adults and a child.

The two adults were introduced to the Slytherin vault in Gringotts the first weekend of December. While they felt honored to be able to extend their ancestry, both were slightly disappointed to learn that whatever treasures had been in the vault had long ago been cleaned out. Instead, they purposed to go through the papers, in the hopes of publishing some of them and making a bit of money that way.

The point, of course, was that having more acknowledged heirs, especially blood heirs, to Slytherin meant that there were a few less rituals available for Voldemort to invoke. And, since he wouldn't know of these heirs for a while, if ever (the heirs agreed to keep their heritage a secret until given the okay, or for five years), there was a chance Voldemort might try to invoke his connection to Slytherin in a ritual and it would backfire.

Another positive aspect of the later enactment of Voldemort's mysterious ritual was that it allowed the Celtic clans time to organize. They had, for the most part, spent the previous few hundred years in a complex game of both intermarriage and one-upmanship.

Harry had magically learned modern Welsh, Old Irish, Old Welsh, and two Gallic languages (one Belgic and one Gaulish) in early October. This had given him a severe headache for three days and took him two weeks to fully integrate. It also made him fully acceptable to the Celtic clans as a potential war leader, if needed as such.

That meant that by mid-December, the ritual specialists of the clans had visited Hogwarts and both strengthened and tightened the wards. Their antiquarians found ancients spells which would both help Harry in his astral projection and even allowed him to have some combat capabilities on that plane and in any dreamscape Voldemort might lure him into.

In late November, Harry learned Sanskrit the same way (to Chandragupta Patil's satisfaction). Leo Korsakov was then able to take Harry deeper into the art of meditation, and finally true astral projection.

To Korsakov's slight surprise, Harry's Bondings and experiences with his scar connection actually help him learn astral projection quickly. He had been afraid that Harry's prior experiences (all negative in some way) would have created a natural reluctance to repeat the experience, even under Harry's control. He also had thought that the Bondings would tend to anchor Harry too much, as that had been a common belief for millennia.

Instead, it was the anchors of the Bondings which gave Harry the confidence to totally let go his physical connections -- he knew his Bondmates would be able to call him back to his body, that he could never 'get lost'. Having sent his soul and magic back in time (something Korsakov did not know about), Harry was also somewhat predisposed in his current body to the art.

By early December, Harry's spirit was wandering around the castle for an hour or so every night, which had scared Peeves the first time the poltergeist had encountered Harry. Peeves had never run into a spirit who could fully use his magic, and did not want to ever again.

Harry had examined most of the castle, although after accidentally running across Su Li twice in the Prefect's bath, he stayed away from there, even at 5:00 am.



Meanwhile, Hogwarts prepared for a normal autumn of Quidditch and Hogsmeade weekends. When Ron, as the Quidditch captain, led Gryffindor to a crushing victory over Slytherin, Lavender decided that she could take the chance on his at least having a Quidditch career, and so led him to the Couple's Corner eight days later.

Harry's example had, in fact, led to an upswing of such Bondings. By the start of the Christmas break, there would be a higher percentage of Bonding couples than at any point since the mid-1870s. When asked about his opinion of that, Harry merely shrugged and said, "Just because I'm against most of the Pure-blood agenda doesn't mean I'm against most wizarding traditions."

Harry did not know what to make out of the fact that one of the newly Bonding couples was Draco and Margot. As a couple, they were behaving and keeping their heads down. Blaise reported the same from Slytherin. Margot was keeping to herself in Ravenclaw, and the only disturbances she made were a few loud nightmares, where she had thought she was being smothered.



As there was still the good chance that Voldemort might attempt his ceremony on the winter solstice, nearly every non-DA student would be leaving for the winter break that year, which started early (on Saturday, December 21). Padma and Susan had, in early November, suggested a winter dance for the night of the 20th. This helped distract the vast majority of students.

Meanwhile, Harry was working hard on his astral projection. By mid-December, he was trying hard to track Voldemort down. He could detect the magical connection between them with ease. However, Harry had kept that conduit tightly closed since his return to the past. Nor had Voldemort tried to open it. While the connection therefore had a great deal of potential power, it had little actual strength.

In short, Harry could easily follow the connection, but only very slowly.

Even following it for up to twelve hours at a time only put Harry across the Channel into northern France. Harry kept at it, however, as that would enable him to trace the link more quickly, should Voldemort do anything which accidentally pushed it open.

The whole exercise greatly strengthened the bonds between Harry and his lovers. Tracey and Susan were fully Bonded with Harry by early December, less than seven months after they had started on the process.

Harry was actually rather glad of this. Sex three times a day, alternating with five beautiful women, was great, but also very tiring. If he hadn't been in perfect shape (and in a teen-age body), he never could have coped. They all now preferred straight sex to fellatio, reserving that for foreplay or sometimes as an alternate during their periods when they didn't feel like anal.

It was the weekend before the dance (and the solstice) that Harry made a discovery which he would ruefully admit he should have made long before. He had by then searched every inch of the castle, wondering, as he did do, why he kept on running into Su, who was usually nude or close to it.


Those were the two reasons why he had finally returned to the Chamber of Secrets.

He had been shocked.

The basilisk's body was gone, and he knew that it should have been mummified. The explanation was there, on the floor of the Chamber -- a complex web of runes and ritual markings, done in chalk, paint, blood, and rock crystal.

There was obviously another way in, one that Harry had not known about. Ignoring that, Harry surveyed the entire Chamber carefully, so that he could show the set-up via a memory.

Harry would lead Dumbledore, his consorts, Remus, and Korsakov into the memory the next morning. None of them, not even Dumbledore, could figure the entire configuration out, at least not by themselves. Voldemort had created his configuration from runes and theories from at least seven different cultures.

After over six hours of study, the group wearily ate a late lunch. "So," Harry asked, "where are we?"

"Confused?" Tracey asked.

"We need more information," Dumbledore stated. "I suggest I contact Bill Weasley. Harry, perhaps you should contact your friends at Gringotts."

"Ron mentioned that Bill has been working Sundays, so that he can be with Fleur in France on Fridays and Saturdays," Hermione offered.

"Then I'll take the memory to Gringotts and leave it to them," Harry said. "Maybe you could all write down what you found out, and what your best guesses are. That might help them as well."

The group agreed, and got to work as they finished lunch.



A very tired Bill showed up with the analysis Tuesday evening.

"There's bad news and good news," Bill told them, plopping down in a chair. "The biggest bit of bad news is that we don't see how to interfere with the ceremony going off. The set-up looks, at least for now, like it any interference would cause a magical inversion."

Everyone gasped but Harry. "Meaning?" he asked.

"Meaning at the least, the magic of whoever was present at that time would lose their magic, and there is a good chance it would drain all the magic in the area. . . ."

"Hogwarts?"

Bill nodded and said, "Possibly. Considering the amount of ambient magic in and around Hogwarts, the result would be a huge explosion."

"And what else is bad?"

"If this works, a fair amount of the ambient magic would be drained off and channeled into the receptacle, which look like it should be Voldemort himself."

"And the good news?" Korsakov asked.

"It won't work," Bill answered. "Voldemort needed to use diamond dust, not quartz. Thanks to Luna's prophecy, we know what the result will be -- that still holds good as far as we can tell. It's possible that the ritual will wreck the Chamber. I suggest we have a small goblin crew reenforce the tunnel area leading to the Chamber. That should prevent the castle foundations being damaged."

"We should also warn the merpeople to stay away from that part of the lake," Hermione suggested. Dumbledore wrote himself a reminder to do so.

"The other good news is that the timing of the ritual was built into the designs," Bill said. "It should be about three hours before sunrise, on the Twenty-second."

"Bill, please make your plans with Gringotts," Dumbledore ordered. "We must act with alacrity."

"Do we know enough to evacuate everyone the morning after the dance?" Hermione asked.

"That would tip our hand," Harry pointed out. "If they do all leave, we should do it quietly, after most of the students leave." Hermione nodded her understanding.

"Remus, you meet with Minerva and Filius and start making plans. Once you have a rough idea, bring in Pomona and Poppy. We'll bring in Horace and the other staff once we know for certain we have to leave, assuming that we do indeed have to evacuate," Dumbledore ordered.

The group agreed. "You look almost happy," Tracey said to Harry.

"I am," Harry answered. "I've lived with this confrontation coming over my shoulder for too long." He raised his hand to stave off any comments. "I know. Riddle is still very powerful. Despite the prophecy, I may still have to fight him. I could lose. But I lose a lot just by having this continue." Everyone nodded. Those in on all of Harry's secrets all thought that the stress was starting to make Harry's face match his magical age. "And, when this is over, I can be happy with all that was accomplished, besides the defeat of one madman."

"Remind us, my lord," Susan said with a smile.

Harry returned it. "We changed the government from one that was corrupt and incompetent into one that is more honest and fair."

"And weren't most of the supporters of Fudge honked off when it turned out that one of their biggest fears -- higher taxes -- wouldn't occur because without all the internal graft, there's been just enough money to pay for the improvements?" Padma said with a giggle.

"And the fairness extends to all magical people, not just Pure-bloods, and is starting to include other sentients as well," Hermione pointed out.

"House rivalries are fast breaking down," Susan said. "We're becoming a school that competes in four groups, instead of four factions trapped in one school."

"The Celtic clans are becoming more active," Tracey said with some satisfaction, "and they're interested in working with the Government instead of just insisting on their own rights."

"And you've made five witches very very happy," Luna pointed out.

"And content," Susan added.

"And on that note, we're taking Harry to bed," Hermione stated firmly. "Ladies?" Hermione asked standing. The other four stood as well. "My lord?"

Harry stood and bowed. "My lady." He bowed to the others. "My ladies." The group left.



It was not easy to keep pretending as if they knew nothing about what might be happening on the upcoming solstice, but the sextet managed to do so. The excitement over the winter dance helped distract many of the people around them, plus the two earlier alerts helped lull some of the DA into believing that the solstice would just be another drill.

Therefore, the Ball was a great success. With all the pressures on Harry, he and his consorts were hardly very active dancers. To the aggravation of Ron and a number of others, the star couple of the dance actually turned out to be Draco and Margot.

When Draco had spun his partner past Harry's table for the fifth time, Margot swishing her hips as they did so, Hermione and Luna caught a movement from Harry's hand.

"What did you do?" Hermione hissed.

"Me?" Harry asked, looking innocent.

"I wouldn't believe you were innocent if you had a nimbus," Hermione stated.

Harry smiled even more sweetly, and a halo appeared around his head. Hermione sniffed, and allowed Padma to come and take her for a spin around the dance floor.

"Whatever you did must have been naughty, since you won't own up to Hermione," Luna commented.

"It was," Harry admitted.

"Draco or Margot?"

"Margot," Harry said. "She's the one who hurt you, not Draco."

"Draco didn't hurt Hermione?"

"He did, but her slapping the smirk of his face sort of evens them up," Harry said.

"What did you do?"

"Every time she opens a Christmas Cracker, she'll get the same prize," Harry said.

"What will she get?"

"A set of Muggle nose plugs," Harry admitted.

"What are those?" Luna asked.

"A little Muggle device that pinches your nose shut, so water doesn't get up it underwater," Harry answered.

It took Luna a second to figure out the connections, and then she paled. "That was naughty indeed. Father Christmas will not be happy."

"Father Christmas ignored me for nine years at the Dursleys," Harry almost growled.

"Whatever it is you two are talking about, you're entirely too serious," Susan said, as she and Tracey made their way around the table.

"Quite right," Luna agreed. She stood, and Tracey led her out onto the dance floor. Harry did the same with Susan.


The next morning, the students were roused early. Most of them were heading home for the holidays right after breakfast. The large number who were in the DA were remaining, however.

Harry addressed them after lunch, and then Remus and Hermione explained exactly where things stood. Then Harry spoke to them again.

"First of all, let me say that there is a lockdown in effect," he told them. "Owls cannot get in or out, and no one can fire-call or enter or leave the castle until after noon tomorrow. With luck, everything will be over by then. However, it is possible that Voldemort has forces we are unaware of. If so, had this ritual not been discovered, the wards here would have been very damaged, and we would be open to assault. We have taken care of that part of the problem, at least. If Hogwarts is attacked tomorrow, the attackers will find the wards intact, and a large group of very capable defenders!"

The students cheered. While they did so, Harry's consorts were passing out medallions. These were up-graded versions of the fake Galleons Hermione had made for the DA in the first time stream.

"Get anything you need to get out of your system, well, out of your system before dinner tonight," Harry went on after explaining how to use the medallions. "You will be patrolling the corridors from after dinner tonight through noon tomorrow. If something is going to happen, it will happen in that time-frame. Ron and Millicent will be passing out the patrol schedules in a moment. The first patrols start tonight at Six. From Six until Midnight, Ron and Neville will be out on random patrol and Professor Flitwick will be here in the great hall with Cho. Report any problems to whomever is closer. From midnight until Six in the morning, it will be Millicent and Blaise on patrol, Professor Sinistra and Su here. From Six until Noon, it will be Ernie and Justin on patrol, and Professor McGonagall and Morag here. You will be actively patrolling for two hours, and be on alert for four. For those of you on the night shift, Madam Pomfrey has a very mild sleeping draft. It will help you nap for a few hours between dinner and midnight." He smiled. "So, are you ready?"

They cheered again.



The night was quiet, for which all were thankful. Dawn comes late at Hogwarts on the shortest day of the year -- it would be nearly 8:00. That meant the Voldemort's ceremony was likely to go off between 4:00 and 5:30. Harry and his consorts all took the napping potion, and were wide awake by 2:00.

Harry ate a light but high energy breakfast, and was in his astral form down and down in the Chamber at 3:55. His body waited in the Room of Requirement, along side his consorts.

And then, everyone just waited.

To the east, Voldemort started the ritual at 4:42, Hogwarts' time, by slashing the throat of a Muggle boy he had kidnaped.


At Hogwarts, Luna said softly, "It has started," and then fainted.