Categories > Books > Harry Potter > Harry Potter and the Dark Lady
Chapter 15
Sequel to Harry Potter and the Witches' Secret. Harry thought it was all over. His desire to settle in with his wives will not get fulfilled. Go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Rotaryfile
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Harry Potter and the Dark Lady
Chapter 15
Potter Castle
Masters Study
Tuesday
8 Oct 1996
08:00
Harry sat at his desk in his study, sweating lightly. Today’s PT had been tough; well, nobody to blame but himself. He had asked the ’Claws for those weight-increasing charms. He looked at the long pink scar on his arm. Who knew that bar snapping would send that sliver of steel out like that? Even the stone hadn’t been able to absorb all its energy in the seventeen inches it had before the splinter hit him. Good thing his arm had been there really, damn splinter could have hurt one of the girls. The girls, another story there—they had reacted well and Harry was being treated before the pain set in too much. Of course the ass-chewing that ensued had been a little extreme.
Nym looked over from her position curled up in the oversized chair. “Grrrr.”
Harry had taken Ted’s advice and Nym had happily agreed. His study was open to any mate but they had to keep their things out of it other than maybe a book or throw to curl up under in the huge overstuffed leather chairs.
“Grrrr, Nym?”
“Yes, Grrrr, you dolt. What if that arm had been your head?”
“But it wasn’t, Nym. This doesn’t change anything. As soon as I stop sweating we’re going to Azkaban.”
“I know, Harry. Just try to be careful, baby.”
Harry shot her a grin and joined her in the chair. “Of course, my love.”
Nym smiled gently at the dolt and laid her head on his chest. A few breaths later, “Harry, when you finally cool down you should probably shower again. Why are you still so hot?”
Cho had noticed this too and had started looking in to it. “The wardstone dumped the energy absorbed as heat into Harry, Nym.”
“Oh, that won’t be good, Cho. What if we get shot with a machine gun?”
“We did, Nym, remember those Russian troops at Chita? Apparently they all dump to Harry’s stone which dumps to him and the distance they were sending the energy over ameliorated most of it. Marietta is working on a solution, but it’s so complicated it hurts my head.”
Nym and Harry sat silently for a moment. “Well, let us know when she’s ready to change it, Cho.”
Nym nodded along with Harry. If it was hurting one of the brightest ’Claws’ heads, they didn’t want to deal with it unless they had to.
Harry was getting close to ready to move. “Okay, while we’re waiting for me to cool down let’s review the bidding for today. Amelia Fastida and Bellatrix are on as Battle Captains. Anastasia, Dinara, and Anastasia’s group of twenty-five are going to work on the Russian Royal Academy and Imperial Palace at Chita. Narcissa, Pansy, Parvati, and their group of twenty-five are going to look at Chita and relay out the town. Nym, Hestia, and I are going to Azkaban with twenty, and Hermione and the rest are going to continue mining Russia where we left off yesterday.”
Hermione added. “Cho and the air troop are on as first reserve. The Mages are on as second reserve. The Goblins are running a FTX (Field Training Exercise) with the Veela, Harry.”
“Thank you, Hermione, did I miss anything?”
“The Black Dragons. I hate that. Bao, Hua, Jun, and Ling will be working with Daddy, Sir John, and Leslie today. They want to put together the mining template for China. Amanda is working with Amelia Bones and Chu to put some pressure on the magical mainland Chinese to get them to cooperate.
“Sarah and Andrew are at a Royal engagement; Elizabeth and Phillip are also engaged today.”
Harry nodded and Nym, the only mate in the room with him, chuckled. “I have a feeling about today. Let’s send a squad with a Duchess to cover all four of them.”
Hermione looked at her rosters. “Okay, Harry, hold on a minute. Donalda, Heather, Fiona, and Grier, pick up your Veela, Goblin, and Mage squad members and cover the Royals.”
“Yes, Hermione.”
The Division had broken down into what the Americans called a task-organized unit. Each mate had a habitual work relationship with a Mage, a pair of Veela, and four Goblins, giving a total organization for a squad of eight. The mate was normally in charge but the Mages, with their generally vast combat experience, were their advisors and functioned in the role of Senior Non-Commissioned Officers.
“Harry, that’s not necessary. We have security.”
“Let’s oblige Harry here, Sarah. If nothing else it will get the Duchesses seen. The Mages, Goblins, and Veela will stay under cover.”
“Well, at least we’ll be able to talk to these, Nym. This could be fun; these appearances are so boring sometimes! Uh-oh, maybe not. Andrew just told Phillip, got to go be Alpha like.”
Harry grunted and stood up; Nym wrinkled her nose. “Shower, Harry.”
Harry groaned and then screamed a little as he found himself naked under the cold water of the shower. Nym laughed and joined him when the water had warmed up. “You scream like a girl in the shower, but that cold pool or that below-freezing lake doesn’t bother you? Oh, quit grumbling, you big baby. Mmmm. Harry...we’ll be late. Harrmmmmh....”
Nym smirked when Harry morphed to her and then morphed to his form.
The bonded went about their last-minute preparations laughing at their Alpha’s antics. The laughter stopped when things got very interesting. Nym broke the handrail when Harry took her full-length.
Fifteen minutes later a dressed Harry and Nym appeared in the entry hall. Seonaid McNeil Potter looked at them with a raised brow. “We have some time if you want to do better?” She laughed as they blushed. They really didn’t have time, but the delicious little “Oh yeah!” that ran through the bond from both of them was amusing. Oh well, time to put ’em to work; she was Troop Commander for this exercise.
Seonaid looked around at the twenty mates and their accompanying Mages. “All right, here we go. Remember—when we land, bound by twos to your assigned sectors and stand ready with your Patroni. Happy thoughts, everyone—should be easy after Harry and Nym’s little happy-thought refresher. Stand by—ready, execute!”
Harry and Nym put a hand each on the seamless large rune-covered crystal box between them and faded it and themselves away at the execute command.
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Azkaban Island
High-Security Wing Entrance
Tuesday
8 Oct 1996
08:30
Harry and Nym landed exactly on time and set up the crystal box covering the door. Harry Vanished the door and sent the thought “Ready” in the bond.
He and Nym stuck the box down with the sticking charms and conjured blocks of granite around it and stuck those to it with sticking charms also. Harry activated the first runeset and the front of the box turned sideways and slid back against a long side.
Nym nodded at Harry and he faded himself to the end of the High-Security entrance hall and stayed just out of view.
Nym shook her head; she knew they had abandoned the prison and that Michelle had petitioned to pull the Aurors away from the soul-sucking hell-hole and that Amelia had agreed, but had she expected to find at least one or two humans on the island. After all, it really was a fortress and could have been seized by an enemy. “Harry, stop laughing.”
“Okay, Nym, but you know I could melt this place to slag and I’m fairly confident I can destroythe Dementors all in one go. The only reason we’re catching them is because Emmeline wants to free the souls they’ve captured in that experiment.”
Nym grumped as the mission went forward. The Regimental teams with their Mages in tow bounded by pairs to the far reaches of the fortress, and on the signal from Seonaid they turned and cast their Patroni. A bewildering array of forms sprang from staffs and Harry sagged slightly. The mates had drawn on him heavily. The Patroni were not just fully formed, they were fully corporeal. They began diving into rooms and cells and the horrible screaming that emanated induced another round of Patroni. Soon the population of Dementors was fleeing. They were driven toward the entrance to the High-Security wing, all the while being savaged by thirty-eight various animals and two Harry Potters in full fifteenth-century tournament armor with lance, shield and a enormous flame-bladed zweihänder riding a huge Hell Stallion in full barding.
Harry blushed almost as badly as Ginny at the form her Patronus took. He would have to talk to her about that sword, though; it was too big and the double parrying hooks could possibly hurt the horse.
Nym howling with laughter didn’t help.
Harry just barely got her to activate the rune set that closed the box when the last of the remaining Dementors crammed themselves into it like college kids in a phone booth.
Once Harry moved the now closed and sealed Dark-filled box away, Ginny tackled Nym, and as they rolled around wrestling, Emmeline and her crew of research mates, masters candidates, and Unspeakables arrived, followed by Ann and her crew of technomancer mates and technomancer masters candidates. They smirked at the Duchesses’ huge tickle-wrestling match and went about their business. Harry sat on a rock waiting.
“Harry, we’re done here. We’re going to explore a little.”
“Sure. Be careful, though, Seonaid.”
“You too, Harry.”
“Huh? Whoa—hey, what? Why me? Nym, stop that. Anyone could see. Ginny!”
Seonaid laughed at Harry’s ineffectual defense as Nym and Ginny defeated it in detail and walked back into the fortress from the courtyard.
Harry found himself faded to the top of the highest tower and turned over to Ginny by a smiling Nym. Several charms later and Nym was sitting in a hot tub on top of the tower with two Ginnys. Suddenly there were two Ginnys and a Harry.
Seonaid and the assault crew continued to explore as Emmeline and Ann cleared rooms and Geoffrey and the Potter elves cleaned and repaired the rooms they had already cleared. Seonaid finally made her way into the bottom level of the fortress and found a natural stone hump covered in runes protruding into a enormous, dirt-floored room. “Uh-oh.”
“What’s uh-oh, Seonaid?”
“Better come look at thi,s Harry.”
Seonaid rolled her eyes and conjured naked Harry/Ginny some clothes after he changed back to Harry. “You could have dressed, Harry. What if I hadn’t been alone?”
“‘Uh-oh’ makes me nervous. What have we got? By the way, why were you alone?”
“I was just walking the main areas, Harry.” Seonaid pointed to the rock and Harry walked around it, reading the runes. Nym and Ginny showed up, dressed, and followed Harry around the rock.
“Does this say what I think it says?”
“If you think it says that if you can overcome the stone you own Azkaban, then yes, Harry.”
“But I own Azkaban already.”
“Not according to this. You have to overcome the stone first.”
“Okay. Fine.”
Nym sprinted toward Harry. “Harry, don’t—too late. Why does he always do things like this?”
Harry had simply extended his arm and placed his palm on the rock. He was instantly drawn in. He watched as Azkaban was raised and the island became home to a group of—of elves? How long ago was this? Wow, elves were cool and monstrously powerful. A stop on the journey to the west? No, the guardian of the portal to the west.
Back in the physical world Harry smiled and Lothar appeared in his hand. Harry touched staff to stone and Azkaban shook itself and seemed to come alive. Harry poured magic down the staff and the walls changed. Some more magic and the floors changed to polished granite, leaving the hump of rune-covered rock the same. Harry called on the Realm and dragged the mates in. The stone vibrated in response to the enormous jolt of magic. A light emanated from it and connected first with Harry and then with all of the bonded, no matter where they were. They collapsed under the onslaught of magic and knowledge.
The Mages went defensive and began looking around as the light receded back into the rock and Harry sat up. He ducked Nym’s slap. “Hey!”
Nym was seriously put out. “Harry, what did I tell you about things that talk to you?”
“Errrh...don’t touch?”
“That’s right, Harry, don’t touch. Oww, my head. Get over here and help me up, Harry.”
“Are you hurt, Nym?”
“No, Harry, just tired—and that was a lot to process.”
“Yeah—what was that, Nym?”
“The knowledge to defend the portal and the power to do so. Azkaban has tied itself to us through you, Harry.”
“Hmmm.”
“Hmm? All you can say is Hmmm?”
“Well, what else, Nym? I mean, really, if I get excited every time something odd happens to me I’ll burn out in two days.”
“Who are you and what did you do with my Harry?”
“Very funny, Nym. Put Galadriel away and let’s go explore!”
“Okay, but no touching things that talk to you for the rest of the day, Harry.”
Ginny shook her head and followed the kvetching Alphas. Hmmm...an opportunity would present itself soon and she would finish what she and Harry had started. Stupid elf boobytrap. She had just gotten him turned the right way when it interrupted.
“Hey, look at this, Ginny!”
Ginny caught up and looked in the room that had appeared to Harry’s right. It was a dreamily romantic bedroom. Okay, so not-so-stupid elves. Ginny pushed Harry and Nym into the room and closed the door, which promptly vanished.
Emmeline, her crew, and Ann and her crew were finding things exactly as they needed them. The fortress was apparently modifying itself to suit their needs. Outside Seonaid and her assault team explored a wholly different island than the one they had arrived on. A soft weathered, forested isle surrounded by but not covered in a mist. It was amazingly peaceful and rejuvenating.
Hestia faded into the basement and dropped a wardstone set with a charging stone onto the lump of rock. She was forced to close her eyes and fade away as the Aegishjalmur formed and, glowing like the filament of a Mundane light bulb, began sinking and expanding.
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Chita
Geographic Center
Tuesday
8 Oct 1996
09:00 Zulu, 18:00 Local
Narcissa recovered from Azkaban tying itself to them and looked around. She grimaced. Harry had literally leveled the town and surrounding military bases; great glassy scars were all that remained of apartment buildings, shops, office blocks, and factories. This would be expensive.
Ringmail looked around, aghast; he and his Goblin Battalion had been assigned to start rebuilding this town. There was nothing to rebuild. They would have to clear it to the foundations and start again.
“Well, Ringmail?”
“Clear it to the foundations and start again, Your Grace.”
Narcissa nodded. “Go ahead and start clearing. We’ll begin a plan.”
Ringmail nodded and turned to Arbalest, his Senior NCO. Arbalest nodded and put the Battalion to work. Arbalest was very proud of the Commander; when he reduced a target he really reduced it. Hmmm...how to get Flamberge bred? The girl was completely focused on her work. Good thing, and she was a great officer, but really! Her mother, Colichemarde, was driving him crazy for grandgoblets from her—like Crinet, Flamberge’s litter mate, hadn’t already whelped three litters. Hmmm—another talk, maybe, or just throw her in front of the Duke for the next operations offering.
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Chita Oblast
8.3 Miles Northeast of Town Center
Tuesday
8 Oct 1996
09:00 Zulu, 18:00 Local
Anastasia and Dinara stood looking at the walls of the natural cul-de-sac they had identified on their map reconnaissance after they recovered from the Azkaban linking. It looked different from the ground and this Goblin Battalion Commander was certainly not what they had expected. First, she was an aged, battle-scarred Shield Maiden, and second, who named a Goblin Tuningfork? Her Senior NCO Maul, however, looked exactly the part and he was all respect for her. That it was a crack Battalion could be no question.
Tuningfork leaned back from apparently kissing the rock. “Good hard basalt. We can work with this. There will be a granite extrusion that we can put the actual structures in. The basalt can be an ablative layer; we’ll just tunnel straight through.”
Anastasia nodded. “We bow to your wisdom, Commander. When you’re ready.”
Maul smiled. Respect for his mistress. They would build these females whatever they wished. At Tuningfork’s nod he turned and put the Battalion to work. A Company began tunneling in at a four-degree downslope. B Company began the excavation for the pit trap that would cover the whole cul-de-sac in front of the entrance. C Company began scaling the walls and excavating holes for further trap weapons. And D Company began sinking a vertical shaft so they could then tunnel out the magical tube tunnels.
Anastasia, Dinara, and the mates accompanying them began the ward set starting with the Fidelius. Anastasia wanted to get done so she could go talk to Pitior.
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Russia
Eastern third
Tuesday
8 Oct 1996
10:00 Zulu
Hermione dropped the stone in the main entrance of the Smolensk airport and popped to the next location on her list. Russia was an interesting but dichromatic type of place. The cities like this Smolensk were filthy, black and white, run-down hovels of places, while the countryside was beautiful green or fall colored and mostly clean.
In the cities she was constantly accosted by groups of boys and men who thought a little swagger and bluff would make her theirs and were normally only dissuaded when one of them was burned to ash for touching her. While in the country villages she could go sit in a pub and, first, not be bothered beyond the stares; second, the people instinctively seemed to treat her as her station demanded—not that Hermione insisted or even advertised the fact; they just seemed to know and take an odd satisfaction in treating her as nobility.
Her detachment of mates were working all the towns with rail or air terminals on a generally north-south line from Pskov in the north through Smolensk in the middle and ending in Shebekino in the south. They had done most of the major towns in Eastern Europe the same way the previous day.
Leslie’s satellite maps made it easy to transport from place to place, but you needed to be ready to catch yourself at first. Hermione’s first several fades had taken her to her targets but at an altitude of about a thousand feet. She had almost screamed before she popped into her Dragon and caught herself. It had taken all day yesterday and the first ten fades this morning to figure out the problem and adjust; the satellite view did not provide depth of field. Now they could do thirty sites a minute and they were using stones at an astonishing rate.
Ann’s technomancers had developed a machine that first ground or cut granite into uniform marble size, maybe twelve-millimeter pieces, and then used diamonds to etch the runes on them. Harry activated them by the pallet load, two tons at a time. Hermione chuckled; Narcissa and the older mates had been mortified when they found out the technomancers were using diamonds as tools. It had taken hours to explain the diamonds weren’t gem-grade and to convince them this way was fastest. Of course Ann starting the machine and the avalanche of stones pouring out of it had done a lot of convincing.
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London
Heathrow Arts Center opening
Tuesday
8 Oct 1996
10:47
Phillip watched over Fiona and Grier like a hawk. Elizabeth chuckled; this would apparently require more work. The girls were there to protect them in case some magical nutcase tried something, but Phillip was like a sore-toothed lion, growling at anyone who approached them. That poor art critic, Giles what’s-his-name for the Times, might never recover. He had gushed over Grier and Fiona in their Regimental dress in his lisping little voice and come charging at them, bouncing like an overjoyed Pomeranian. Phillip’s scowl had barely slowed him; the little man had shrugged off the Prince’s growled observations like they were water until Phillip had finally firmly grasped the fellow’s arm and showed him to a respectful distance away. Some rather ugly threats were soon involved, backed up by the Royal detail from the Yard. Fiona and Grier had rolled their eyes and snickered behind their hands. Elizabeth was glad this was the only appointment for the day.
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London
Children’s Hospital
Tuesday
8 Oct 1996
12:34
The opening of the new surgical wing had gone well and Donalda and Heather were the absolute cynosure of the press in their Regimental dress. Lunch was proceeding splendidly. Heather never moved as her Mage leaned forward, still in his Disillusionment charm, and whispered, “Two armed men in the crowd. We’re going to put stones on them. Keep going as you are; hold the attention of the press.”
Heather reached over and laid her hand on Andrew’s arm while apologizing to Sarah in the bond. The explosion of flashes from the photographers present nicely covered the two men’s disappearance.
“That was very smooth, Heather. Your squads have our thanks.”
“I’ll tell them, Sarah. Too bad about these press people—the tabloids will have a field day.”
“Fuck ’em. I wonder if Harry would like a little rampage on Fleet Street.”
“SARAH!”
“Errrh...oops, Your Majesty?”
“Really, dear, no feeding nasty reporters to Harry. We’re just using them, after all.”
“Yes, ma’am, I just forget. They’re very irritating with their suppositions reported as fact.”
“Buck up, dear, it will only get worse.”
“Grrrr.”
“My, my, the Alphas are so erudite today.”
Tinkling laughter filled the bond at Elizabeth’s gentle chiding.
The mates and Sarah settled in the bond as they picked at their de rigueur rubber chicken.
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Potter Castle
Runes Lab
Tuesday
8 Oct 1996
14:00
Marietta leaned back from the magnifier and rubbed her eyes.
“All done Marietta?”
“Yes, Susan. Is Roxanne there? I want to try this set.”
Roxanne’s contralto replied, “I’m here, Marietta.”
Marietta nodded and put the stone on the training dummy. She returned and lined up on the dummy with the .50 caliber test barrel and nodded to Susan/Roxanne; they put on their earmuffs and Marietta counted down on her fingers and then pulled the lanyard.
The 665-grain ball projectile hit the area of influence of the stone and began shedding its 2900 foot-pounds of energy in the localized increasing resistance the stone created in its path. Roxanne smiled as she felt the energy transferred to her. The projectile fell to the floor short of the dummy and rolled a couple of inches to a complete stop.
Marietta removed her earmuffs and walked to the training dummy. She touched the stone cautiously and smiled when it wasn’t hot.
Roxanne was thrilled. “Marietta, that’s great! You found a way to use its energy against it and convert the excess to magic. How do we modify the others?”
“We need to add a rune set, Roxanne. Then they’ll charge the energy to the sentient stones. You all can stand much more heat than Harry. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get rid of that effect; some residual heat is still transmitted.”
Susan took back over the body. “Okay, it’s all right, Marietta. Show us the set in the bond and we can modify our stones; then we’ll do the Royals and vassals as we meet them.”
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Potter Castle
Theater (Division Operations)
Tuesday
8 Oct 1996
15:04
Amelia Fastida looked at Bellatrix; the very busy day was winding down. The ready company had not been activated, although Amelia was ready to send them into a moderately large Russian city and have them eliminate it just to teach the stupid mortals to keep their hands to themselves. Hermione’s group had incinerated twenty-two Russian males today. Bella was sure the word would spread: leave the women in the tartan robes alone if you value your life.
Donalda and Heather’s prisoners had already been interrogated, hired thugs for some organization or another. It didn’t matter. Harry would pay their masters a visit and they were dead men walking. The decision had already been taken that the Royal’s advance teams would mine all future locations twenty-four hours in advance and they had been shipped (Geoffreyed?) a pallet of standard stones.
The new rune was being applied to all the protective stones and Ginny had gotten her wish several times. Azkaban was firmly the Clans and it was amazing; Geoffrey had already appropriated large portions of it for dungeons, and transport Arms had started appearing on the floors. Now you could step to Azkaban as easily as stepping into the bath—well, almost.
Bonded were running all over the Realm in pairs with their Mages, Disillusioned of course, in tow. For some reason there had been several incidents in Denmark of males being too aggressive. The beatings the mates had handed out were spectacular. Not as spectacular as some young tough running around screaming while he burned to death, but the Danes got the message: look but don’t touch. Several Danish Aurors had gotten the message too when they accosted Emma and Victoria, intending to question them, and were left understanding that one accosted a Duchess or a person wearing the Regimental uniform at his own peril. The Mages’ running commentary on the beatings, clearly heard by Victoria and Emma and therefore the bonded, had been hilarious.
Amanda was already in receipt of the protest and Harry had issued an edict stating the wearing of the Potter tartan by other than a bonded or a bound man was punishable by a ten thousand Galleon fine, minimum. Accosting anyone wearing the tartan meant you took responsibility for your actions. The edict was to be read over the WWN starting with the five o’clock news reading.
Harry had faded into Fredensborg Palace and introduced himself to Margrethe the Second and explained the problem. She agreed to look into it and to take the appropriate steps. Harry had smiled and kissed her hand between the first and second knuckles before fading away. Margrethe was left smiling and speculating.
Glenda Chittock had rushed Harry’s edict onto air as soon as it hit the studio and now all the world wizarding electronic media were broadcasting it at the end of every commercial break. Rita was fuming that the “harpy” had scooped her, but she planned the in-depth series of articles supporting the edict.
When not actively engaged in their missions the bonded were in the bond planning the Ducal House robes in Potter tartan that Demelza had requested, as well as how the Goblins and Veela would display the tartan. The Mages solved the problem by changing their body-armor shells’ outer fabric covering to the tartan.
Ann had returned and cursed luridly when she discovered that the screens in the commons were following the bonded again. Fred and George were pulled from class for another grilling. Luckily the pixillation over Harry had stayed, or Ginny would have given her brothers a whole new motivation to remove the charm, several times and with apparently several different partners and two Harry Potters. Also the screen was without sound, as the Extendable Ear Mk1 Mod 2 had not been issued yet, thank Morgana.
Hermione and Hestia had had detailed briefings from Ann Sothern Potter about the possibilities of networked units, and the issue of the EE Mk1 Mod 2 was coming soon. Teanni, Ann Morely Potter, Ann Sothern Potter, and the other technomancer/IT-inclined mates were just making the devices secure, something about frequency-hopping burst transmitting that made both Amelia Fastida and Bella’s heads hurt. They personally thought Harry should just bond enough females for every squad to have a mate.
Bao, Hua, Jun, and Ling had retreated to the sitting room after pulling hours of memories for the command council and then being questioned as gently as possible. They were exhausted. Miranda Carlisle had shown up and collected them, giving the command council some very pointed looks and vigorous foot tapping. Molly Weasley had sent a vituperative official protest to Elizabeth and copied Sir John.
All in all a vigorous day in the Division operations center. General Ham had watched and approved; he finished up his notes and turned over to Colonel L.W. Smith for the night shift.
At 1:730 Bella started her notes for battle handover while Amelia got the closing reports. Harry would be in to review the logs and training reports after dinner, and Jocelyn and Meiko would take over at 18:30 after they ate so Amelia and Bella could eat with the other bonded. Tonight would be monitoring only, but Cho was taking the air troop out for an overflight of Eastern Europe in Dragon form to test the stone seeding system. These seeded stones included a location reporting string so they would show on the maps.
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Royal
Fourth Grade Common
Tuesday
8 Oct 1996
18:00
Harry faded into the common and went around kissing and seating mates. The extended Clan (vassals, children, wards, guests and courtiers, and bound men in shifts) had taken to using the grade school commons for dinner as the group was a little large for the Castle dining room. In the grade school common they could be seen and if a student needed to talk to one of them in person they were accessible, while still allowing room in the other commons for students to eat. Many of the grade school students stuck around for dinner just to see them.
Harry sat at five after and looked up at the monitors. “First question tonight is....” He looked at Nym.
“Ravenclaw, Harry.”
“Ravenclaw.”
Christopher James Colder, Royal Ravenclaw second form, stood. “Sir, could Squibs attended the Royal Academy? You see, I have a sister, sir, and—well, two years ago our village was attacked by Riddle’s Death Eaters. She got roughed up, sir, and she gets so upset when she can’t see me.”
Harry sat stunned at the “Duh, are we stupid or what? Why didn’t we think of that? We teach all the Muggle requirements and Squibs can do lots of things,” rattling across the bond in addition to the light that dawned on him involving Squib Battalions with a few wizards from the bound men filling out the Division. Hell, he could make a real Corps. Dan and Moody could train them. Ann and the Technomancers could arm them. Merlin, what an idea! Squibs could do potions and Herbology work, too. Oh my, it’s a whole new world.
Harry smiled as did Luna. That’s what she had seen and the reason she told him they wouldn’t need the American Magical Division. This was wonderful.
“Sir?”
Chu looked at Harry. “The smile is a yes, Christopher, and take fifty points for your House for service to the Realm.”
Christopher sat stunned amidst the Ravenclaws’ deafening cheers at Chu’s pronouncement.
Harry looked around. “Anyone else?”
The Houses were all looking at each other. They decided to wait until they had figured out exactly what got Ravenclaw all those points.
Harry smiled a beatific smile all the way through dinner. Nym dragged her scheming mate away after dinner.
Harry stopped by the theater and read through the day’s logs and watched Cho and the air troop hopscotch around Russia making lines of wardstones spell out “Harry and Anastasia’s” on the map. He laughed, and by ten p.m. the bonded were in bed.
Chapter 15
Potter Castle
Masters Study
Tuesday
8 Oct 1996
08:00
Harry sat at his desk in his study, sweating lightly. Today’s PT had been tough; well, nobody to blame but himself. He had asked the ’Claws for those weight-increasing charms. He looked at the long pink scar on his arm. Who knew that bar snapping would send that sliver of steel out like that? Even the stone hadn’t been able to absorb all its energy in the seventeen inches it had before the splinter hit him. Good thing his arm had been there really, damn splinter could have hurt one of the girls. The girls, another story there—they had reacted well and Harry was being treated before the pain set in too much. Of course the ass-chewing that ensued had been a little extreme.
Nym looked over from her position curled up in the oversized chair. “Grrrr.”
Harry had taken Ted’s advice and Nym had happily agreed. His study was open to any mate but they had to keep their things out of it other than maybe a book or throw to curl up under in the huge overstuffed leather chairs.
“Grrrr, Nym?”
“Yes, Grrrr, you dolt. What if that arm had been your head?”
“But it wasn’t, Nym. This doesn’t change anything. As soon as I stop sweating we’re going to Azkaban.”
“I know, Harry. Just try to be careful, baby.”
Harry shot her a grin and joined her in the chair. “Of course, my love.”
Nym smiled gently at the dolt and laid her head on his chest. A few breaths later, “Harry, when you finally cool down you should probably shower again. Why are you still so hot?”
Cho had noticed this too and had started looking in to it. “The wardstone dumped the energy absorbed as heat into Harry, Nym.”
“Oh, that won’t be good, Cho. What if we get shot with a machine gun?”
“We did, Nym, remember those Russian troops at Chita? Apparently they all dump to Harry’s stone which dumps to him and the distance they were sending the energy over ameliorated most of it. Marietta is working on a solution, but it’s so complicated it hurts my head.”
Nym and Harry sat silently for a moment. “Well, let us know when she’s ready to change it, Cho.”
Nym nodded along with Harry. If it was hurting one of the brightest ’Claws’ heads, they didn’t want to deal with it unless they had to.
Harry was getting close to ready to move. “Okay, while we’re waiting for me to cool down let’s review the bidding for today. Amelia Fastida and Bellatrix are on as Battle Captains. Anastasia, Dinara, and Anastasia’s group of twenty-five are going to work on the Russian Royal Academy and Imperial Palace at Chita. Narcissa, Pansy, Parvati, and their group of twenty-five are going to look at Chita and relay out the town. Nym, Hestia, and I are going to Azkaban with twenty, and Hermione and the rest are going to continue mining Russia where we left off yesterday.”
Hermione added. “Cho and the air troop are on as first reserve. The Mages are on as second reserve. The Goblins are running a FTX (Field Training Exercise) with the Veela, Harry.”
“Thank you, Hermione, did I miss anything?”
“The Black Dragons. I hate that. Bao, Hua, Jun, and Ling will be working with Daddy, Sir John, and Leslie today. They want to put together the mining template for China. Amanda is working with Amelia Bones and Chu to put some pressure on the magical mainland Chinese to get them to cooperate.
“Sarah and Andrew are at a Royal engagement; Elizabeth and Phillip are also engaged today.”
Harry nodded and Nym, the only mate in the room with him, chuckled. “I have a feeling about today. Let’s send a squad with a Duchess to cover all four of them.”
Hermione looked at her rosters. “Okay, Harry, hold on a minute. Donalda, Heather, Fiona, and Grier, pick up your Veela, Goblin, and Mage squad members and cover the Royals.”
“Yes, Hermione.”
The Division had broken down into what the Americans called a task-organized unit. Each mate had a habitual work relationship with a Mage, a pair of Veela, and four Goblins, giving a total organization for a squad of eight. The mate was normally in charge but the Mages, with their generally vast combat experience, were their advisors and functioned in the role of Senior Non-Commissioned Officers.
“Harry, that’s not necessary. We have security.”
“Let’s oblige Harry here, Sarah. If nothing else it will get the Duchesses seen. The Mages, Goblins, and Veela will stay under cover.”
“Well, at least we’ll be able to talk to these, Nym. This could be fun; these appearances are so boring sometimes! Uh-oh, maybe not. Andrew just told Phillip, got to go be Alpha like.”
Harry grunted and stood up; Nym wrinkled her nose. “Shower, Harry.”
Harry groaned and then screamed a little as he found himself naked under the cold water of the shower. Nym laughed and joined him when the water had warmed up. “You scream like a girl in the shower, but that cold pool or that below-freezing lake doesn’t bother you? Oh, quit grumbling, you big baby. Mmmm. Harry...we’ll be late. Harrmmmmh....”
Nym smirked when Harry morphed to her and then morphed to his form.
The bonded went about their last-minute preparations laughing at their Alpha’s antics. The laughter stopped when things got very interesting. Nym broke the handrail when Harry took her full-length.
Fifteen minutes later a dressed Harry and Nym appeared in the entry hall. Seonaid McNeil Potter looked at them with a raised brow. “We have some time if you want to do better?” She laughed as they blushed. They really didn’t have time, but the delicious little “Oh yeah!” that ran through the bond from both of them was amusing. Oh well, time to put ’em to work; she was Troop Commander for this exercise.
Seonaid looked around at the twenty mates and their accompanying Mages. “All right, here we go. Remember—when we land, bound by twos to your assigned sectors and stand ready with your Patroni. Happy thoughts, everyone—should be easy after Harry and Nym’s little happy-thought refresher. Stand by—ready, execute!”
Harry and Nym put a hand each on the seamless large rune-covered crystal box between them and faded it and themselves away at the execute command.
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Azkaban Island
High-Security Wing Entrance
Tuesday
8 Oct 1996
08:30
Harry and Nym landed exactly on time and set up the crystal box covering the door. Harry Vanished the door and sent the thought “Ready” in the bond.
He and Nym stuck the box down with the sticking charms and conjured blocks of granite around it and stuck those to it with sticking charms also. Harry activated the first runeset and the front of the box turned sideways and slid back against a long side.
Nym nodded at Harry and he faded himself to the end of the High-Security entrance hall and stayed just out of view.
Nym shook her head; she knew they had abandoned the prison and that Michelle had petitioned to pull the Aurors away from the soul-sucking hell-hole and that Amelia had agreed, but had she expected to find at least one or two humans on the island. After all, it really was a fortress and could have been seized by an enemy. “Harry, stop laughing.”
“Okay, Nym, but you know I could melt this place to slag and I’m fairly confident I can destroythe Dementors all in one go. The only reason we’re catching them is because Emmeline wants to free the souls they’ve captured in that experiment.”
Nym grumped as the mission went forward. The Regimental teams with their Mages in tow bounded by pairs to the far reaches of the fortress, and on the signal from Seonaid they turned and cast their Patroni. A bewildering array of forms sprang from staffs and Harry sagged slightly. The mates had drawn on him heavily. The Patroni were not just fully formed, they were fully corporeal. They began diving into rooms and cells and the horrible screaming that emanated induced another round of Patroni. Soon the population of Dementors was fleeing. They were driven toward the entrance to the High-Security wing, all the while being savaged by thirty-eight various animals and two Harry Potters in full fifteenth-century tournament armor with lance, shield and a enormous flame-bladed zweihänder riding a huge Hell Stallion in full barding.
Harry blushed almost as badly as Ginny at the form her Patronus took. He would have to talk to her about that sword, though; it was too big and the double parrying hooks could possibly hurt the horse.
Nym howling with laughter didn’t help.
Harry just barely got her to activate the rune set that closed the box when the last of the remaining Dementors crammed themselves into it like college kids in a phone booth.
Once Harry moved the now closed and sealed Dark-filled box away, Ginny tackled Nym, and as they rolled around wrestling, Emmeline and her crew of research mates, masters candidates, and Unspeakables arrived, followed by Ann and her crew of technomancer mates and technomancer masters candidates. They smirked at the Duchesses’ huge tickle-wrestling match and went about their business. Harry sat on a rock waiting.
“Harry, we’re done here. We’re going to explore a little.”
“Sure. Be careful, though, Seonaid.”
“You too, Harry.”
“Huh? Whoa—hey, what? Why me? Nym, stop that. Anyone could see. Ginny!”
Seonaid laughed at Harry’s ineffectual defense as Nym and Ginny defeated it in detail and walked back into the fortress from the courtyard.
Harry found himself faded to the top of the highest tower and turned over to Ginny by a smiling Nym. Several charms later and Nym was sitting in a hot tub on top of the tower with two Ginnys. Suddenly there were two Ginnys and a Harry.
Seonaid and the assault crew continued to explore as Emmeline and Ann cleared rooms and Geoffrey and the Potter elves cleaned and repaired the rooms they had already cleared. Seonaid finally made her way into the bottom level of the fortress and found a natural stone hump covered in runes protruding into a enormous, dirt-floored room. “Uh-oh.”
“What’s uh-oh, Seonaid?”
“Better come look at thi,s Harry.”
Seonaid rolled her eyes and conjured naked Harry/Ginny some clothes after he changed back to Harry. “You could have dressed, Harry. What if I hadn’t been alone?”
“‘Uh-oh’ makes me nervous. What have we got? By the way, why were you alone?”
“I was just walking the main areas, Harry.” Seonaid pointed to the rock and Harry walked around it, reading the runes. Nym and Ginny showed up, dressed, and followed Harry around the rock.
“Does this say what I think it says?”
“If you think it says that if you can overcome the stone you own Azkaban, then yes, Harry.”
“But I own Azkaban already.”
“Not according to this. You have to overcome the stone first.”
“Okay. Fine.”
Nym sprinted toward Harry. “Harry, don’t—too late. Why does he always do things like this?”
Harry had simply extended his arm and placed his palm on the rock. He was instantly drawn in. He watched as Azkaban was raised and the island became home to a group of—of elves? How long ago was this? Wow, elves were cool and monstrously powerful. A stop on the journey to the west? No, the guardian of the portal to the west.
Back in the physical world Harry smiled and Lothar appeared in his hand. Harry touched staff to stone and Azkaban shook itself and seemed to come alive. Harry poured magic down the staff and the walls changed. Some more magic and the floors changed to polished granite, leaving the hump of rune-covered rock the same. Harry called on the Realm and dragged the mates in. The stone vibrated in response to the enormous jolt of magic. A light emanated from it and connected first with Harry and then with all of the bonded, no matter where they were. They collapsed under the onslaught of magic and knowledge.
The Mages went defensive and began looking around as the light receded back into the rock and Harry sat up. He ducked Nym’s slap. “Hey!”
Nym was seriously put out. “Harry, what did I tell you about things that talk to you?”
“Errrh...don’t touch?”
“That’s right, Harry, don’t touch. Oww, my head. Get over here and help me up, Harry.”
“Are you hurt, Nym?”
“No, Harry, just tired—and that was a lot to process.”
“Yeah—what was that, Nym?”
“The knowledge to defend the portal and the power to do so. Azkaban has tied itself to us through you, Harry.”
“Hmmm.”
“Hmm? All you can say is Hmmm?”
“Well, what else, Nym? I mean, really, if I get excited every time something odd happens to me I’ll burn out in two days.”
“Who are you and what did you do with my Harry?”
“Very funny, Nym. Put Galadriel away and let’s go explore!”
“Okay, but no touching things that talk to you for the rest of the day, Harry.”
Ginny shook her head and followed the kvetching Alphas. Hmmm...an opportunity would present itself soon and she would finish what she and Harry had started. Stupid elf boobytrap. She had just gotten him turned the right way when it interrupted.
“Hey, look at this, Ginny!”
Ginny caught up and looked in the room that had appeared to Harry’s right. It was a dreamily romantic bedroom. Okay, so not-so-stupid elves. Ginny pushed Harry and Nym into the room and closed the door, which promptly vanished.
Emmeline, her crew, and Ann and her crew were finding things exactly as they needed them. The fortress was apparently modifying itself to suit their needs. Outside Seonaid and her assault team explored a wholly different island than the one they had arrived on. A soft weathered, forested isle surrounded by but not covered in a mist. It was amazingly peaceful and rejuvenating.
Hestia faded into the basement and dropped a wardstone set with a charging stone onto the lump of rock. She was forced to close her eyes and fade away as the Aegishjalmur formed and, glowing like the filament of a Mundane light bulb, began sinking and expanding.
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Chita
Geographic Center
Tuesday
8 Oct 1996
09:00 Zulu, 18:00 Local
Narcissa recovered from Azkaban tying itself to them and looked around. She grimaced. Harry had literally leveled the town and surrounding military bases; great glassy scars were all that remained of apartment buildings, shops, office blocks, and factories. This would be expensive.
Ringmail looked around, aghast; he and his Goblin Battalion had been assigned to start rebuilding this town. There was nothing to rebuild. They would have to clear it to the foundations and start again.
“Well, Ringmail?”
“Clear it to the foundations and start again, Your Grace.”
Narcissa nodded. “Go ahead and start clearing. We’ll begin a plan.”
Ringmail nodded and turned to Arbalest, his Senior NCO. Arbalest nodded and put the Battalion to work. Arbalest was very proud of the Commander; when he reduced a target he really reduced it. Hmmm...how to get Flamberge bred? The girl was completely focused on her work. Good thing, and she was a great officer, but really! Her mother, Colichemarde, was driving him crazy for grandgoblets from her—like Crinet, Flamberge’s litter mate, hadn’t already whelped three litters. Hmmm—another talk, maybe, or just throw her in front of the Duke for the next operations offering.
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Chita Oblast
8.3 Miles Northeast of Town Center
Tuesday
8 Oct 1996
09:00 Zulu, 18:00 Local
Anastasia and Dinara stood looking at the walls of the natural cul-de-sac they had identified on their map reconnaissance after they recovered from the Azkaban linking. It looked different from the ground and this Goblin Battalion Commander was certainly not what they had expected. First, she was an aged, battle-scarred Shield Maiden, and second, who named a Goblin Tuningfork? Her Senior NCO Maul, however, looked exactly the part and he was all respect for her. That it was a crack Battalion could be no question.
Tuningfork leaned back from apparently kissing the rock. “Good hard basalt. We can work with this. There will be a granite extrusion that we can put the actual structures in. The basalt can be an ablative layer; we’ll just tunnel straight through.”
Anastasia nodded. “We bow to your wisdom, Commander. When you’re ready.”
Maul smiled. Respect for his mistress. They would build these females whatever they wished. At Tuningfork’s nod he turned and put the Battalion to work. A Company began tunneling in at a four-degree downslope. B Company began the excavation for the pit trap that would cover the whole cul-de-sac in front of the entrance. C Company began scaling the walls and excavating holes for further trap weapons. And D Company began sinking a vertical shaft so they could then tunnel out the magical tube tunnels.
Anastasia, Dinara, and the mates accompanying them began the ward set starting with the Fidelius. Anastasia wanted to get done so she could go talk to Pitior.
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Russia
Eastern third
Tuesday
8 Oct 1996
10:00 Zulu
Hermione dropped the stone in the main entrance of the Smolensk airport and popped to the next location on her list. Russia was an interesting but dichromatic type of place. The cities like this Smolensk were filthy, black and white, run-down hovels of places, while the countryside was beautiful green or fall colored and mostly clean.
In the cities she was constantly accosted by groups of boys and men who thought a little swagger and bluff would make her theirs and were normally only dissuaded when one of them was burned to ash for touching her. While in the country villages she could go sit in a pub and, first, not be bothered beyond the stares; second, the people instinctively seemed to treat her as her station demanded—not that Hermione insisted or even advertised the fact; they just seemed to know and take an odd satisfaction in treating her as nobility.
Her detachment of mates were working all the towns with rail or air terminals on a generally north-south line from Pskov in the north through Smolensk in the middle and ending in Shebekino in the south. They had done most of the major towns in Eastern Europe the same way the previous day.
Leslie’s satellite maps made it easy to transport from place to place, but you needed to be ready to catch yourself at first. Hermione’s first several fades had taken her to her targets but at an altitude of about a thousand feet. She had almost screamed before she popped into her Dragon and caught herself. It had taken all day yesterday and the first ten fades this morning to figure out the problem and adjust; the satellite view did not provide depth of field. Now they could do thirty sites a minute and they were using stones at an astonishing rate.
Ann’s technomancers had developed a machine that first ground or cut granite into uniform marble size, maybe twelve-millimeter pieces, and then used diamonds to etch the runes on them. Harry activated them by the pallet load, two tons at a time. Hermione chuckled; Narcissa and the older mates had been mortified when they found out the technomancers were using diamonds as tools. It had taken hours to explain the diamonds weren’t gem-grade and to convince them this way was fastest. Of course Ann starting the machine and the avalanche of stones pouring out of it had done a lot of convincing.
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London
Heathrow Arts Center opening
Tuesday
8 Oct 1996
10:47
Phillip watched over Fiona and Grier like a hawk. Elizabeth chuckled; this would apparently require more work. The girls were there to protect them in case some magical nutcase tried something, but Phillip was like a sore-toothed lion, growling at anyone who approached them. That poor art critic, Giles what’s-his-name for the Times, might never recover. He had gushed over Grier and Fiona in their Regimental dress in his lisping little voice and come charging at them, bouncing like an overjoyed Pomeranian. Phillip’s scowl had barely slowed him; the little man had shrugged off the Prince’s growled observations like they were water until Phillip had finally firmly grasped the fellow’s arm and showed him to a respectful distance away. Some rather ugly threats were soon involved, backed up by the Royal detail from the Yard. Fiona and Grier had rolled their eyes and snickered behind their hands. Elizabeth was glad this was the only appointment for the day.
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London
Children’s Hospital
Tuesday
8 Oct 1996
12:34
The opening of the new surgical wing had gone well and Donalda and Heather were the absolute cynosure of the press in their Regimental dress. Lunch was proceeding splendidly. Heather never moved as her Mage leaned forward, still in his Disillusionment charm, and whispered, “Two armed men in the crowd. We’re going to put stones on them. Keep going as you are; hold the attention of the press.”
Heather reached over and laid her hand on Andrew’s arm while apologizing to Sarah in the bond. The explosion of flashes from the photographers present nicely covered the two men’s disappearance.
“That was very smooth, Heather. Your squads have our thanks.”
“I’ll tell them, Sarah. Too bad about these press people—the tabloids will have a field day.”
“Fuck ’em. I wonder if Harry would like a little rampage on Fleet Street.”
“SARAH!”
“Errrh...oops, Your Majesty?”
“Really, dear, no feeding nasty reporters to Harry. We’re just using them, after all.”
“Yes, ma’am, I just forget. They’re very irritating with their suppositions reported as fact.”
“Buck up, dear, it will only get worse.”
“Grrrr.”
“My, my, the Alphas are so erudite today.”
Tinkling laughter filled the bond at Elizabeth’s gentle chiding.
The mates and Sarah settled in the bond as they picked at their de rigueur rubber chicken.
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Potter Castle
Runes Lab
Tuesday
8 Oct 1996
14:00
Marietta leaned back from the magnifier and rubbed her eyes.
“All done Marietta?”
“Yes, Susan. Is Roxanne there? I want to try this set.”
Roxanne’s contralto replied, “I’m here, Marietta.”
Marietta nodded and put the stone on the training dummy. She returned and lined up on the dummy with the .50 caliber test barrel and nodded to Susan/Roxanne; they put on their earmuffs and Marietta counted down on her fingers and then pulled the lanyard.
The 665-grain ball projectile hit the area of influence of the stone and began shedding its 2900 foot-pounds of energy in the localized increasing resistance the stone created in its path. Roxanne smiled as she felt the energy transferred to her. The projectile fell to the floor short of the dummy and rolled a couple of inches to a complete stop.
Marietta removed her earmuffs and walked to the training dummy. She touched the stone cautiously and smiled when it wasn’t hot.
Roxanne was thrilled. “Marietta, that’s great! You found a way to use its energy against it and convert the excess to magic. How do we modify the others?”
“We need to add a rune set, Roxanne. Then they’ll charge the energy to the sentient stones. You all can stand much more heat than Harry. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get rid of that effect; some residual heat is still transmitted.”
Susan took back over the body. “Okay, it’s all right, Marietta. Show us the set in the bond and we can modify our stones; then we’ll do the Royals and vassals as we meet them.”
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Potter Castle
Theater (Division Operations)
Tuesday
8 Oct 1996
15:04
Amelia Fastida looked at Bellatrix; the very busy day was winding down. The ready company had not been activated, although Amelia was ready to send them into a moderately large Russian city and have them eliminate it just to teach the stupid mortals to keep their hands to themselves. Hermione’s group had incinerated twenty-two Russian males today. Bella was sure the word would spread: leave the women in the tartan robes alone if you value your life.
Donalda and Heather’s prisoners had already been interrogated, hired thugs for some organization or another. It didn’t matter. Harry would pay their masters a visit and they were dead men walking. The decision had already been taken that the Royal’s advance teams would mine all future locations twenty-four hours in advance and they had been shipped (Geoffreyed?) a pallet of standard stones.
The new rune was being applied to all the protective stones and Ginny had gotten her wish several times. Azkaban was firmly the Clans and it was amazing; Geoffrey had already appropriated large portions of it for dungeons, and transport Arms had started appearing on the floors. Now you could step to Azkaban as easily as stepping into the bath—well, almost.
Bonded were running all over the Realm in pairs with their Mages, Disillusioned of course, in tow. For some reason there had been several incidents in Denmark of males being too aggressive. The beatings the mates had handed out were spectacular. Not as spectacular as some young tough running around screaming while he burned to death, but the Danes got the message: look but don’t touch. Several Danish Aurors had gotten the message too when they accosted Emma and Victoria, intending to question them, and were left understanding that one accosted a Duchess or a person wearing the Regimental uniform at his own peril. The Mages’ running commentary on the beatings, clearly heard by Victoria and Emma and therefore the bonded, had been hilarious.
Amanda was already in receipt of the protest and Harry had issued an edict stating the wearing of the Potter tartan by other than a bonded or a bound man was punishable by a ten thousand Galleon fine, minimum. Accosting anyone wearing the tartan meant you took responsibility for your actions. The edict was to be read over the WWN starting with the five o’clock news reading.
Harry had faded into Fredensborg Palace and introduced himself to Margrethe the Second and explained the problem. She agreed to look into it and to take the appropriate steps. Harry had smiled and kissed her hand between the first and second knuckles before fading away. Margrethe was left smiling and speculating.
Glenda Chittock had rushed Harry’s edict onto air as soon as it hit the studio and now all the world wizarding electronic media were broadcasting it at the end of every commercial break. Rita was fuming that the “harpy” had scooped her, but she planned the in-depth series of articles supporting the edict.
When not actively engaged in their missions the bonded were in the bond planning the Ducal House robes in Potter tartan that Demelza had requested, as well as how the Goblins and Veela would display the tartan. The Mages solved the problem by changing their body-armor shells’ outer fabric covering to the tartan.
Ann had returned and cursed luridly when she discovered that the screens in the commons were following the bonded again. Fred and George were pulled from class for another grilling. Luckily the pixillation over Harry had stayed, or Ginny would have given her brothers a whole new motivation to remove the charm, several times and with apparently several different partners and two Harry Potters. Also the screen was without sound, as the Extendable Ear Mk1 Mod 2 had not been issued yet, thank Morgana.
Hermione and Hestia had had detailed briefings from Ann Sothern Potter about the possibilities of networked units, and the issue of the EE Mk1 Mod 2 was coming soon. Teanni, Ann Morely Potter, Ann Sothern Potter, and the other technomancer/IT-inclined mates were just making the devices secure, something about frequency-hopping burst transmitting that made both Amelia Fastida and Bella’s heads hurt. They personally thought Harry should just bond enough females for every squad to have a mate.
Bao, Hua, Jun, and Ling had retreated to the sitting room after pulling hours of memories for the command council and then being questioned as gently as possible. They were exhausted. Miranda Carlisle had shown up and collected them, giving the command council some very pointed looks and vigorous foot tapping. Molly Weasley had sent a vituperative official protest to Elizabeth and copied Sir John.
All in all a vigorous day in the Division operations center. General Ham had watched and approved; he finished up his notes and turned over to Colonel L.W. Smith for the night shift.
At 1:730 Bella started her notes for battle handover while Amelia got the closing reports. Harry would be in to review the logs and training reports after dinner, and Jocelyn and Meiko would take over at 18:30 after they ate so Amelia and Bella could eat with the other bonded. Tonight would be monitoring only, but Cho was taking the air troop out for an overflight of Eastern Europe in Dragon form to test the stone seeding system. These seeded stones included a location reporting string so they would show on the maps.
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Royal
Fourth Grade Common
Tuesday
8 Oct 1996
18:00
Harry faded into the common and went around kissing and seating mates. The extended Clan (vassals, children, wards, guests and courtiers, and bound men in shifts) had taken to using the grade school commons for dinner as the group was a little large for the Castle dining room. In the grade school common they could be seen and if a student needed to talk to one of them in person they were accessible, while still allowing room in the other commons for students to eat. Many of the grade school students stuck around for dinner just to see them.
Harry sat at five after and looked up at the monitors. “First question tonight is....” He looked at Nym.
“Ravenclaw, Harry.”
“Ravenclaw.”
Christopher James Colder, Royal Ravenclaw second form, stood. “Sir, could Squibs attended the Royal Academy? You see, I have a sister, sir, and—well, two years ago our village was attacked by Riddle’s Death Eaters. She got roughed up, sir, and she gets so upset when she can’t see me.”
Harry sat stunned at the “Duh, are we stupid or what? Why didn’t we think of that? We teach all the Muggle requirements and Squibs can do lots of things,” rattling across the bond in addition to the light that dawned on him involving Squib Battalions with a few wizards from the bound men filling out the Division. Hell, he could make a real Corps. Dan and Moody could train them. Ann and the Technomancers could arm them. Merlin, what an idea! Squibs could do potions and Herbology work, too. Oh my, it’s a whole new world.
Harry smiled as did Luna. That’s what she had seen and the reason she told him they wouldn’t need the American Magical Division. This was wonderful.
“Sir?”
Chu looked at Harry. “The smile is a yes, Christopher, and take fifty points for your House for service to the Realm.”
Christopher sat stunned amidst the Ravenclaws’ deafening cheers at Chu’s pronouncement.
Harry looked around. “Anyone else?”
The Houses were all looking at each other. They decided to wait until they had figured out exactly what got Ravenclaw all those points.
Harry smiled a beatific smile all the way through dinner. Nym dragged her scheming mate away after dinner.
Harry stopped by the theater and read through the day’s logs and watched Cho and the air troop hopscotch around Russia making lines of wardstones spell out “Harry and Anastasia’s” on the map. He laughed, and by ten p.m. the bonded were in bed.
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