Chapter 113: 113 The Return of a Legend

Bokuboy

Harry felt trepidation after the summons by the headmistress. He walked at a fast pace to her office, because he knew that if she wanted to talk to him, it had to be something serious. The gargoyle blocking the staircase hopped aside as he approached and Harry was too nervous to wonder at the magic needed to perform that function. He stepped onto the moving staircase and rode it up to the top, only to see the door was already open.

“Please come in, Mister Potter.” Minerva McGonagall said when she saw him.

Harry entered the office and didn't have to look around to see the woman standing beside the desk. “Amelia?”

Amelia strode across the room and took him into a hug. “Don't overreact to what I say, all right?”

Harry nodded and didn't speak, worry clear on his face.

“St. Mungo's was attacked by Death Eaters yesterday.” Amelia said and saw Harry's face go cold. “I won't hide anything from you, Harry.”

“What happened?”

“There were several deaths, of both hospital staff and death eaters.” Amelia said and Harry didn't react. “We almost lost an Auror to an organ expelling curse.”

“You wouldn't be here if that was all.” Harry said and she nodded.

“Ela was also attacked and her hands were damaged by overpowered Bone Shattering curses.”

“Sirius?” Harry asked.

“I went to get him personally and he's been by Ela's side since yesterday. It's why he didn't call on the mirror to tell you himself.” Amelia said. “I came here as soon as I could after talking to both her and him until last night about how to handle things.”

Harry took several breaths and looked into her eyes. “Why Ela?”

Amelia explained that the death eaters were there to get supplies for treating the Azkaban prisoners and interrogated Ela about how Sirius was healed so quickly.

Harry's face went from impassive to anger. “So, it's my fault.”

“Harry, it's not your...”

“It is. I did something that shouldn't have been possible and caused the death eaters to come after Sirius' healer to find out the secret.” Harry said and took another deep breath. “Don't worry. I'll handle it.”

Amelia sighed. “Harry, it's not your responsibility to...”

“Yes, it is.” Harry said and let her go as he stepped back. “Are you taking me to the hospital?”

“I can't lift the restrictions until we've finished gathering up the evidence.” Amelia said.

“When can I go see her?” Harry asked.

“We can go on Saturday. I should have everything done by then.”

Harry nodded. “Okay. I think I can manage it by then.” He said and walked towards the door to leave.

“Mister Potter, where are you going?” Minerva asked, a little shocked that he was going to leave without being dismissed.

“I have an urgent letter to send to a friend.” Harry said and opened the door that had apparently closed behind him when he entered. “Bye, Amelia. See you Saturday.”

“Harry.” Amelia said and thought about asking what he was going to do, then changed her mind. “Is there anything you want me to say to Sirius and Ela?”

Harry turned to look at her. “Yeah. Tell them I got this.”

“Harry, Ela's hands...” Amelia sighed again. “She said to tell you that she won't be able to take care of you this Christmas break.”

“That's okay. I'll be taking care of her instead.” Harry smiled and left the office at a fast walk.

“I knew I shouldn't have cancelled my train tour.” Amelia said after the door shut. “Damn those death eaters!”

Minerva stood and touched the other woman's arm. “You needed to stay here and investigate. It's not your fault this happened.”

Amelia sighed and rubbed her face. “That boy has the entire wizarding world's hopes riding on his shoulders. He finally got rid of all that pressure with Voldemort's vanquishing, his second vanquishing I mean, and now he's got to deal with the idiots that can't accept that their dark lord is really gone.”

Minerva sighed as well. “He's still just a boy. People can't expect him to be the one to deal with things.”

Amelia huffed a laugh. “Minerva, he's the Boy-who-lived. Twice. Even I'm looking at him as an example now and I know he's only twelve.”

Minerva sat down and it was her turn to rub her face in frustration.

“Have you noticed any changes in his behavior since that night?” Amelia asked.

“Only that he and Miss Granger seemed to have had a falling out and he fell right into Miss Lovegood's waiting arms.”

Amelia blinked her eyes at that statement. “Excuse me? Can you repeat that?”

Minerva did and also relayed what the two students do with their behaviour all around the castle and in the Great Hall during meals.

“He's only twelve!” Amelia gasped.

“They've also visited every broom cupboard in the school and have the same dreamy smiles when they go to class.” Minerva said. “I'm sure they are only kissing, because it's all that Miss Brown and Miss Patil can talk about.”

Amelia was sure that wasn't a relief to hear, except that Harry wasn't doing other things to that innocent little girl. She didn't realize it was that not-so-innocent little girl's idea in the first place.

“I'm keeping an eye on them and nothing untoward has happened. I'll continue to monitor them and if they do step out of line, I'll be sure to correct their behavior.” Minerva promised.

Amelia nodded and went over to the floo. “Thank you for letting me come straight here this morning.”

“I know how busy you are.” Minerva said. “My floo is always open for you.”

Amelia nodded and took the floo back to her own office. She had a lot of work to do.

*

“You be careful, Princess.” Luna said as Harry tied the letter to her leg. “It's a long flight.”

“Hoot!” Hedwig responded. Thanks!

“She said thanks.” Harry said and pet Hedwig's feathers. “You know how important this is to our family, so if anything comes close to trying to delay you, make sure it doesn't survive.”

“HOOT!” Hedwig shouted. ALWAYS!

Harry nodded and gave her several strips of bacon before Hedwig took off.

“I'm sure she'll make it.” Luna said and hugged her boyfriend.

“She's flown it before; but, it's a very long flight like you said.” Harry said and hugged her back as they watched Hedwig disappear. “Now we wait.”

“And hope.” Luna said and gave his cheek a kiss. They walked arm-in-arm back to the castle to go to class.

*

Harry and Luna laid in bed that night, cuddled in close, and worried about Hedwig. They barely slept all night and only dozed off a little. The morning came very early and they were both exhausted. There was a little shimmer of something at the foot of the bed and then Hedwig was suddenly there with a package in her beak.

“You're safe!” Harry and Luna exclaimed at the same time and lunged at her to briefly hug Hedwig carefully. Harry took the package and opened it up to see exactly what he had hoped to see.

“Is it really real?” Luna asked as she peered into the box and saw the red stone, a galleon, and a note.

Harry opened the note and read it out loud. “You know what to do with it. When you are done healing your healer, lay the stone on the galleon and say my nickname.”

“I'm curious about what it is and also don't want you to say it.” Luna said and nodded at the coin. “It'll activate if you do.”

Harry chuckled and closed the box. “It's hilarious and we laughed when he visited the last time.”

Luna smiled and watched as Harry took out his invisibility cloak, turned it inside out, and wrapped it around the box. It disappeared from sight and Harry tucked it into his trunk.

“Let's get showered and dressed for class.” Harry said and both he and Luna left the bed.

Harry opened the window to let Hedwig out and then cast an energizing spell on himself and one at Luna to get them through the day. Neither of them reacted as they stripped off and showered beside each other. They had long ago gotten used to seeing each other naked and dried off before they dressed in their school uniforms and robes.

They didn't bother trying to hide that Luna had stayed in his dorm room, because they had found out that everyone knew they were sneaking around anyway. They went down to breakfast and ate, the both of them in much better moods. They only had to wait until the weekend for Harry's plan to be completed.

*

Harry was excited as he waited by the castle gate for Amelia to appear. When she did and opened the gate for him, he jumped at her and hugged her tightly.

“I'm happy to see you, too.” Amelia said. “I'm sorry that our weekend training sessions have been on hold for so long. With the death eaters active again, I don't have as much free time as I used to have.”

“I know. It's okay.” Harry said and shared his magic with her.

“Oh!” Amelia gasped as his magic flooded through her. “Harry, what... how...”

“I've been feeling great since the summer.” Harry said and beamed a smile at her. “Let's go.”

Amelia nodded and apparated them to the room at the hospital. She took his hand and led him out of the room, through the library, and to the stairs. They went up to the fourth floor and the Auror on the door gave them a nod and knocked on the door.

“Just... a minute!” Sirius exclaimed loudly and then started cursing.

Amelia covered Harry's ears so that he wouldn't hear the majority of them, only for Harry to laugh under his breath. “You are to never repeat those words. At any time. Ever.”

Harry gave her a smile and didn't agree.

“Harry, it's bad enough that you're snogging the heck out of Luna all the time. I don't need to hear that you're cursing, too.” Amelia said, her voice stern.

Harry laughed. “Okay, no bad words.”

After a couple of minutes, the room's door unlocked and a dishevelled Sirius stood there. Everyone could tell that he had hastily put on his clothes and Ela's blush from across the room was quite bright.

“HARRY!” Sirius yelled and scooped him up into a hug. “I'm sorry I haven't called. I've been by Ela's side this whole time.”

“I know.” Harry said and hugged him back.

“Come in, come in.” Sirius said and let him go and waved Amelia in before shutting the door and locking it with magic.

Harry walked over to the bed that Ela was in and he saw where her hands were strapped down. “Did they regrow the bones yet?”

Ela nodded. “They're working on trying different techniques to get my nerves to respond.”

“Did they try the Cruciatus curse?” Harry asked and Amelia gasped, Sirius cursed, and Ela's face paled.

“Harry! How could you say that?!?” Sirius asked, angrily.

“That's what it used to be for.” Harry said. “It was a medical spell to test people's nervous system and to revive them from shock.”

Amelia and Sirius stared at him.

Ela nodded. “It wasn't called that back then.”

“It was called the Twitching Curse.” Harry said. “They don't use it anymore, do they?”

“No. The stigma from the Torture Curse has tainted it too much for it to be acceptable for use.”

“Well it doesn't matter anyway.” Harry said and turned to cast the immobilizing spell on Amelia and Sirius.

“Harry! What are you doing?” Ela asked, shocked that he would do that to them.

“I can't let them interfere.” Harry said and reached for Ela's strapped down hands.

“No! Don't touch them!” Ela exclaimed.

Harry stopped reaching for them and moved his hands to her face to cup the sides. “You're family. I would never do anything to hurt you.”

“It's not that.” Ela said and tears came to her eyes. “I can't feel anything and it's really odd to have someone touch them and not know that they are, even though I can see they are being touched.”

“You won't have to worry about that for much longer.” Harry said and took out a vial of red liquid. He placed it between her thighs on her lap and then touched Ela's wrist as he undid the things holding her hand steady.

Ela watched as Harry did his best to not touch her deadened hands and released them from their bindings. With no feeling in them, as soon as they were released, they curled in on themselves and stayed that way. It was almost as if they were in defiance of being held flat for nearly a week.

Harry took out the Philosopher's Stone and heard two inarticulate sounds from behind him. “Yes, it's real. No, I don't need the help.”

“Harry, what is that?” Ela asked.

“It's what I borrowed to help Sirius and my friend let me borrow it again.” Harry said and poured his magic into the stone.

It glowed very brightly and Ela squinted her eyes at it. “Harry!”

“Shh. It's okay. You have the knowledge to heal yourself, so all I'm doing is giving you the magic to do it.” Harry said and reached up to cup the side of her face again with one hand to share his magic with her, as if they were going to apparate.

Ela gasped at the flood of magic and then Harry pressed the glowing stone to her forehead. “OHHH!”

The ripples of magic flowed over her rapidly, much faster than they had for either Sirius or the Longbottoms. Ela's magic easily joined with Harry's, because it was eager to be used once more, and the ripples flowed down her body to her hands. Her hands glowed and trembled as the ripples of magic flowed through them and down her fingers.

Ela moaned as her medical knowledge let the magic go through her damaged flesh and repaired the torn and badly healed muscles and tendons to return to the way they were before the bone shattering curse ruined them. The feeling returned to them in a rush and she gasped almost in pain as her brain remembered that she still had hands.

The stone's glow faded and Harry picked up the vial from her lap and opened it. “Drink this.”

Ela didn't ask what it was and drank it down immediately. She normally wouldn't do that, except she had moved her hand automatically to grab it and actually felt it! “It's delicious!”

Harry took the vial back and corked it before tucking it back into his pocket with the stone in his other pocket. He then grabbed both of Ela's hands and held onto them as he looked into her eyes.

Ela couldn't stop the tears and she stared back into Harry's eyes. “Harry, you... you need to...”

Harry nodded and let her hands go, then stepped back from the bed and waved his wand at the two still immobilized people.

Sirius lunged past him to Ela and his hands replaced Harry's as he grabbed onto Ela's with a tender strength. “He did it. He really did it.” He mumbled and kissed her hands several times each.

“You and I are going to have a long talk later, young man.” Amelia said, her voice harsh.

“I know.” Harry said and stepped close to her to let Sirius and Ela get reacquainted.

They stood there for nearly ten minutes before Sirius and Ela stopped kissing, then Ela's hands started to pull Sirius' clothes off.

“Time to go.” Amelia whispered and quickly dragged Harry to the room's door, dispelled the lock spell, and took Harry outside into the hallway. “Don't disturb them for a while.” She said to the Auror guard. “If any healers come to check on them, send them away. No one gets in to see them without my approval.”

“Yes, Ma'am.” The man said and saluted.

Amelia took Harry's hand and led him back to the stairwell. She didn't say anything as they went down to the ground floor or when they reached the apparition room. She took him into a hug and didn't react when Harry's magic flowed over her. They disappeared from there and reappeared in Amelia's home. She walked with him over to her couch and took off her coat and Auror armor to leave herself in just a thin blouse before she sat down.

Harry sat beside her and waited for her to start asking questions. As soon as she opened her mouth to do so, he smiled and sat forward, took out a galleon and put it on the coffee table before he placed the Philosopher's Stone on top of it.

“Old Bag Of Bones.” Harry said and both the stone and the galleon disappeared.

“Harry!” Amelia gasped.

“I didn't want you to think I was going to keep something like that around. I'm not that stupid.”

Amelia sighed and rubbed her face. “Harry, if anyone finds out that it was you that healed Sirius...”

“Ela wouldn't tell them that.” Harry said, confidently. “She loves me too much to do that.”

“I do, too.” Amelia admitted. “That's why I'm so worried about...”

Harry sat back and put an arm around her. “You don't have to worry. Sirius will get them, whoever they are.”

“Harry, Sirius is suffering from...”

“I know.” Harry interrupted again. “No one's ever threatened Ela before, though.”

Amelia thought about her conversation with Sirius the night before and she had to agree. He seemed like a completely different person than he had been since getting out of prison. The confidence, the insight, and the conclusions he came up with over who he suspected were still active death eaters, were all things he hadn't shown previously or volunteered to tell her about.

Just learning that he and James Potter were a miniature Hit Squad for the Order of the Phoenix twelve years ago during Voldemort's first rise to power, was a shock to her. A pleasant shock. She now had new attack patterns for the death eaters that she hadn't known before. She had scrambled to get Kingsley to disseminate the information to the other Aurors.

With the new information, their own search patterns changed. Amelia hoped that they could track down the missing death eater prisoners quickly. The sooner they had the criminals in hand and back in prison, the sooner she could get to sleep at night and not be constantly worrying about Susan and Harry.

“Sirius is in no condition to help fight the death eaters.” Amelia said.

“Yes, he is.” Harry said. “As soon as he gets Ela out of the hospital and safe at home, he's going to take his motorcycle and he's going to hunt them down.”

“He didn't see Ela's memory of her attack.” Amelia said.

“He will.” Harry said with a smile. “Professor McGonagall offered to let him use the school's pensieve to go over his old memories to try and remember my parents better after being in prison for so long. It's part of the therapy Ela has him on.”

Amelia took a deep breath and let it out. “Did you use it, too?”

Harry nodded. “I didn't want to share my memories, because I didn't want to think about them.” He leaned his head on her side and Amelia put her arm around him to hug him. “Ela said repressing them or ignoring them won't let me get past them. It'll just simmer and keep my anger at the unfairness of it all in the back of my mind.”

“You'll be angry at the wrong things if you held it back.” Amelia offered.

Harry nodded again. “I didn't know that could happen and tried to hide it all, not telling anyone about it. After my first session and showing Sirius and Ela my earliest memories, they told me that it wasn't my fault and that if I didn't tell anyone, no one would ever know how horrible my relatives are and that Dumbledore put me there on purpose, because he knew they were like that.”

“How do you know that?” Amelia asked.

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“Professor McGonagall was there when I was dropped off that night and told Dumbledore that the muggles were the worst sort that she's ever seen after watching them all day.”

Amelia hugged him tightly and sighed. “You really shouldn't be dealing with all of this.”

“I know. I'm just a kid.” Harry said and lifted his head to look into her eyes. “I'm also the chosen one and I lived. Twice.” He smiled. “I'm sorry I did what I did to you today. I knew that you couldn't help, because only Ela had the knowledge to fix her hands.”

“The extra magic I could provide...”

“It wasn't needed. Ela's magic wasn't damaged and it really wanted her hands to be fixed. I could feel it.” Harry said. “Ever since that night, I... it's weird. I can feel things even more than I did before. I can feel the wards you have on your house.”

Amelia sucked in a breath. “You can?”

“Yeah, it's like a little pressure in the back of my head. I can't tell what they are, though. I looked at a ward book at school and it doesn't describe stuff like that.”

Amelia thought about it for a minute. “Does Hogwarts give you a headache?”

Harry shook his head. “If McGonagall's explanation is right, the headmaster feels the same thing.”

“You asked her about it?” Amelia asked, surprised.

Harry chuckled. “No, I'm not stupid enough to tell everyone what I can do. I just asked about the wards of the school and she told me how she can feel them and knows when something bad enters the castle.”

Amelia closed her eyes and leaned back on the couch to rest, pulling Harry along with her to keep him tucked into her side. “Harry, I don't even know what to do with everything you're telling me.”

“I still can't believe you've never asked me what it was I was using to heal people and you've seen me use it four times now.” Harry said.

Amelia laughed and it shook him slightly.

“I like your laugh. Do it again.” Harry almost demanded, which made her laugh again. “Thanks.”

Amelia shook her head and opened her eyes as she turned her head to see that Harry was still looking at her face. “How many times have I warned you about being cheeky?”

“At least once. I think. I honestly wasn't listening.” Harry joked and grinned at her.

“Ha!” Amelia barked the laugh and then they both laughed for a few moments. “Do you want to do anything for the rest of the morning?”

“I think this is good enough for me.” Harry said and put his head down on her chest. “If that's okay?”

“It's more than okay.” Amelia said and her hand ran through his hair on the top of his head. “I don't remember the last time I did anything like this.”

“I did it this morning with Luna.” Harry admitted.

“Harry!” Amelia gasped and Harry laughed. “If I thought it would make a difference, I would tell you to not do that at school.”

“The others don't care or bother us about it now.” Harry said.

“Wait, they know?” Amelia asked, surprised.

“There's only so many times Luna can sneak into the boys dorm before someone sees her.” Harry said and hugged her tightly. “After the twentieth time, Neville pretty much told us that we were idiots if we thought we were actually sneaking around and no one knew about it.”

Amelia snorted and then laughed and laughed.

Harry kept his ear on her chest and enjoyed listening to Amelia laugh and the feel of her chest jiggle against his face. He wasn't sure why it felt so nice, except that Luna's words about getting to touch her boobies later kept coming back to him.

I think this was why. Harry thought and closed his eyes. He liked the soft feeling and took several deep breaths to relax. He felt tired suddenly and let sleep claim him.

Amelia calmed down and felt Harry's dead weight. She stopped petting his hair and looked at his face, only to see he was fast asleep. He actually fell asleep with me laughing. She thought with amusement. He must have used a lot of magic to heal Ela and it wiped him out. She put her arms around him and closed her own eyes. A nap sounds good right now.

The two slept for quite some time because the both of them really needed it.

*

Severus Snape once again at in his office at school and held two missives. One from his godson's mother and one from Mad Eye Moody. Both demanding, quite viciously, for his services. He had discarded the previous letters and burned them, because he didn't want to deal with them. He still didn't.

Unfortunately, his refusal had precipitated the attack on St. Mungo's Hospital and he felt guilty about that, even though he could never have predicted that it would happen. So, this time he actually wrote out his responses, just to make his position clear to both parties.

I am out. I have been for the last twelve years, as have you. Your threats are meaningless, since you need my services. Attack me for my refusal at your peril, however. According to the law, I can kill you if you come for me, no matter who you are or who you bring with you.

Severus Snape

Severus read it over, copied it, and folded them into envelopes. He went to the owlery and sent both off, knowing they would be delivered promptly and his life would now be in danger.

It's not like that hasn't happened before. Severus thought and walked back into the castle. He had some things to prepare if anyone did believe that they could attack him in retribution. With no Dark Lord to back them up, their words and motivations are as hollow as their souls are.

The Order of the Phoenix didn't worry him very much, because they almost never used lethal force. They would stun him and then beg for him to help. He wouldn't, as he just promised. If they wouldn't take no for an answer, then he would have to make sure that they would think twice about coming after him again. He wasn't the youngest Potion Master in the world for no reason.

*

Padma sat on her sister's dorm room bed and stared at the solid gold cauldron as she ate a piece of the delicious marble cauldron cake that had been inside of it. “That can't be real.”

Parvati giggled as her hand rubbed the rim of the golden treasure. “It's one of the benefits of being friends with Harry.”

“One of?” Padma asked.

“He's really good at everything.” Parvati said. “His notes from class are eagerly copied by all of his friends, even Luna, and she's not even in our year.”

Padma blinked her eyes for a moment. “You're kidding.”

“Nope! Harry's at the top of our class, right along with Hermione.” Parvati said. “She's a little peeved about that, too.”

Padma chuckled. “I can imagine.”

“He beats her in every practical lesson, too.” Pavarti said, smugly.

“What? How?” Padma asked.

“He practises constantly.” Pavarti said. “I think he said he went through the entire charms book before school started.”

Padma's mouth dropped open. “H-how... how did he do THAT?!?”

Pavarti laughed at her sister's shocked expression. “He's great, that's how.” She said and broke off another piece of cake. “Thish is sho good.”

Padma remembered her piece and took another bite. “He gave you a whole cake and a solid gold cauldron.”

“Yesh.” Pavarti said and swallowed. “I really need to come up with something to get for him.”

“What about Neville?” Padma asked.

“Lavender's got him well hooked.” Pavarti said with a smile. “She even let him touch her boobs yesterday.”

“No way!” Padma gasped.

“Yep! His face was so red that I thought his head was going to explode.” Pavarti said and laughed. “I think Harry was right about girls maturing faster than boys.”

“Well, some girls do.” Padma said and looked down at her own budding chest. She hadn't developed enough to warrant a training bra, let alone the smallest size called an A cup.

Pavarti laughed. “We haven't started puberty yet!”

Padma thought about that for a minute. “Lavender has?”

“She did and her boobs were a bit sore. She complained about them and wished she had someone nice to rub them for her, because her hands were busy.”

Padma burst out laughing. “Poor Neville!”

Pavarti nodded. “He got right in there to help her and felt her up for a few minutes before he realized what he was doing.”

The two sisters laughed and laughed.

*

Harry woke up warm and wrapped in someone's arms, so he felt very comforted. He lifted his head to kiss Luna, like he did every morning, and she responded enthusiastically. He broke the kiss with a chuckle and sat up on the edge of his dorm room bed, then he turned to push open his curtains... only they weren't there and he stumbled out into the darkness.

Harry knees hit something wooden. “OW! Goddammit! How did my nightstand get out here?”

“H-Harry?” A woman's voice asked.

Harry caught his breath and reached for his wand. It lit up and showed him the entire room. It wasn't his dorm room and the bed he just got up from was actually a couch. His mind immediately filled in the forgotten details and he remembered falling asleep with Amelia. He also remembered kissing her like he kissed Luna.

“A-Amelia, I... I'm sorry.” Harry said.

“I'm sure the table's fine.” Amelia said as she sat up. She rubbed her face and pulled out her timepiece. “Oh, no. We really overslept.” She said and stood as she drew her wand. She waved it at the walls and the lights turned on. “I need to get you back to the castle before curfew.”

Harry put his wand away and looked at his own timepiece. “We really did sleep the whole day away.”

Amelia nodded. “We won't be eating at Rosmerta's today.” She said and put her hand on his back to lead him to the hallway. “I'll explain to McGonagall about what happened.”

Harry gave her a concerned look.

“I meant about sleeping, not healing Ela's hands.” Amelia clarified.

Harry wasn't thinking about that, though. No, he was thinking about how nice it was to kiss her, even though he didn't think he liked her like that. When she put her arms around him to apparate, he looked up into her eyes.

“Concentrate, Harry.” Amelia said and he nodded.

Harry closed his eyes and pushed out his magic strongly.

Amelia barely caught her breath at the strength of it and they disappeared. She was glad that she had the apparition point in her mind, because she wasn't sure where they would have ended up if she hadn't been thinking of getting Harry back to the gates of Hogwarts.

“I'm sorry.” Harry said and blushed.

Amelia gave him a warm smile. “It's all right.” She said and gave him a slightly tighter hug before letting him go. “Let's get you inside.”

Harry nodded and Amelia opened the gates to go up to the castle. They walked in silence as they went across the grounds and came to the front doors. They opened for them without Amelia doing anything and Minerva McGonagall was waiting there for them.

“I certainly hope there's a good explanation for you being away all day, Mister Potter.” Minerva said.

“I healed Ela's hands with a magical artifact that I've already returned to its owner and then collapsed from magical exhaustion.” Harry said with a grin. He had been debating telling her, then remembered her being there the night he died. There was no point in hiding the truth from her after she kept that secret.

Minerva's mouth dropped open and she stared at the young man in front of her.

“I guess I don't have to make an excuse for you.” Amelia said with a soft laugh. “Go on inside and I'll fill Minerva in about what happened.”

“Okay.” Harry said and took a step away, then turned back. “Amelia, I... about when...”

“We all do things automatically when we wake up, if we're used to doing them.” Amelia said and then smiled. “If the weekend situation changes and we can start up training again, I'll let you know.”

Harry nodded and walked over to the grand staircase, then he looked back at her to see that her smile was still on her face. He gave her a smile back and then he jogged up the stairs.

“I think you're about to tell me an interesting story.” Minerva said as Amelia stepped inside the castle and the doors closed behind her.

“Only if you want to believe the impossible.” Amelia said and the two women walked through the castle to go to the headmaster's office.

Minerva thought about that and gave her a knowing look. “I think we've both seen too many impossible things to discount anything.”

Amelia laughed and nodded. “One being the young man that just ran up the steps to get back to his girlfriend that he's too young to do anything with and she's too young to appreciate that!”

Minerva laughed as well. “They do tend to grow up so fast.”

“Susan's already at the training bra stage and she hates it!” Amelia said, amused.

“Well, you could let her languish with having to feel all the different types of fabric directly on her pointy bits.” Minerva suggested and Amelia laughed some more.

“I think I might just do that.” Amelia said as they entered the headmaster's office. “Please tell me that you have access to some nerve tonic.”

Minerva chuckled at her slang for alcohol. “Wine or fire whiskey?”

“Whiskey, please.” Amelia said and sat down in front of the desk. “Harry, he...” She shook her head. “I don't know what to do with him.”

“He is a bit of an odd duck.” Minerva said and served her a large glass of amber liquid.

“He's quacking in places he shouldn't and he's laying golden eggs that we need to hide as quickly as possible.” Amelia said and took a long swallow of fire whiskey.

Minerva sat down behind her desk and took a sip of her own drink. “All right, tell me what happened.”

Amelia did, right from picking Harry up until they had to rush out of the hospital room and went to her place, only to quickly fall asleep on her couch.

“Is that why you're not wearing your armor?” Minerva asked.

“What?” Amelia looked down at herself and saw that she only wore a loose blouse and not even a coat. She barked a laugh and shook her head. “We left in such a rush after waking up that I completely forgot to get properly dressed to go out.”

“You really were asleep all this time?” Minerva asked.

“Yes, and I hadn't realized I needed it, let alone Harry. Neither of us showed any signs, then he decided that my couch was comfortable and we laid down for a nap.” Amelia laughed. “A full day nap!”

Minerva laughed as well. “I won't hold Harry responsible for overusing his permission to leave for half of the day today.”

“Thank you, Minerva.” Amelia said and took another sip of whiskey. “Things have been too hectic and dangerous to have Harry over for training like we did last year.”

“I know. I've been trying to get the remaining members of the Order of the Phoenix to start gathering information.” Minerva said. “Unfortunately, a few members don't feel the need to risk themselves when Albus isn't here to back them up.”

Amelia huffed and finished off her glass of alcohol. “That man has never had anyone's back... except his own.”

“Amelia...”

“He only helped those that he knew could be beneficial to him later.” Amelia said. “That's why he never helped me when I asked him to stop sending my brother and his wife out against the death eaters.”

Minerva sighed and nodded. “I can't argue on his behalf, because you're right. He's done too much to hurt those he was charged to protect.”

Amelia nodded, because they had both just seen the boy whom had received the worst of Albus' help. “Have you gone to see him before?”

Minerva shook her head. “I was told to stay away, because I was one of his staunchest supporters.”

“They are afraid he might manipulate you.” Amelia guessed.

“Worse. That he already has and that if I showed up, I would bring a means for his escape without knowing I did so.” Minerva admitted.

Amelia opened her mouth to comment, then closed it. “I assume Thorfinn took your words that night to heart?”

Minerva nodded and took a big swallow of her drink. “He found three compulsion spells, loyalty potion residue, and he couldn't count how many obliviations I've had.”

Amelia just stared at her friend with wide eyes.

“No, the healers can't fix them.” Minerva said, sadly. “Even if they had his wand, which I broke, they couldn't go back decades to start undoing the erased and altered memories.”

Amelia sat there and thought about the problem. “Are you both going over them in a pensieve?”

“We tried. I can't pull them out because they aren't memories that I'm remembering. We can get the ones around key events and then the event itself is just a black space.”

Amelia nodded. That was the telltale sign of an altered memory. “You're not going to do anything else about it, are you?”

“No. I'm just going to live my life and forget Albus as much as I can.” Minerva said.

“More obliviations?” Amelia asked with a smile.

Minerva snorted. “I wish it was that easy.”

“Let me guess, one of the compulsion spells embedded him into your subconscious.” Amelia said and she nodded.

“At least he won't be getting out anytime soon.” Minerva said.

Amelia caught her breath at her words. “Minerva, I... I told you months ago.”

“Told me what?” Minerva asked.

Amelia took out a piece of parchment and wrote something on it. She handed it over and Minerva read it.

“N-no... no, it's not possible.” Minerva whispered.

“It's true.” Amelia said and stood. “You should get Thorfinn to check you for forgetfulness curses as well.”

“How? How could I forget this?” Minerva asked and waved the parchment around.

“I don't know.” Amelia said and went to the door. “I'm also wondering what else you've been forgetting that no one's noticed.”

Minerva nodded and looked down at the paper again. “I'll have him check me as soon as I see him tomorrow.”

Amelia nodded and left her office.

Minerva dropped the paper into the top drawer of her desk and used a sticking charm, then wrote 'checking with Thorfinn' under the other words. She closed the drawer and went to her apartment behind the office. She undressed and changed into her sleeping attire, then laid in bed. Her mind replayed the words in her head, over and over.

Albus Dumbledore had escaped from Azkaban.

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