Harry Potter and the Skittering Spouse

[FictionPack]

Which basically sounds like if they had put anyone younger in there, the Weasley Twins would be facing a manslaughter charge.

 

[Nmaiz]

Which basically sounds like if they had put anyone younger in there, the Weasley Twins would be facing a manslaughter charge.

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As it was Montague (the student) ended up trapped inside one of Hogwarts sewer lines and Snape had to help dig him out.

Just another reason for me to dislike the chaos twins.

 

[Ithillid]

If you were looking at using the vanishing cabinet offensively, skip the whole magical nonsense, you can get chlorines or flourines as industrial cleaners.

 

[Otritzi]

On the thing with Hermione, Harry and Ron are literally her first friends in canon. She spent all of grade school being isolated by her tendency to prefer books over people and the brats in her classes being kids and not being willing to reach out to her.

 

[Barghest Blue]

I guess that was mostly an implied fan theory thing to explain why noone uses his made up name?

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Yeah because otherwise no one can come up with a reason for why they are literally scared of his name to the point that just hearing it nearly gives them heart attacks, this tendency being passed on to the children of the people who survived the war (also raises the question for how the fuck the children actually know what the name is if people can't even bring themselves to say it)

and the brats in her classes being kids and not being willing to reach out to her.

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It should also be noted that her early personality isn't any better, she does a fine amount of the work in isolating herself with her early behavior

 

[TheManW/oAPlan]

Omake: Veni, Vedi, Cucurri

"Harry., you have got to stop her," Ron gasped, clearly out of breath. Harry had three guesses as to who he was talking about, but he figured he should get some confirmation anyways.

"Is it my wife? What has she done now," Harry asked, half amused, and half scared.

"Well, I left her alone after she stuck a bunch of giant spiders on me, but now she has bees, a Hagrid, and an interested Hermione," Ron explained, still out of breath.

"So she has switched from spiders to bees? I mean, I thought you were afraid of spiders. Aren't bees an improvement?" Harry asked.

"Well, yes. If they were normal bees. Then Hagrid somehow cross-bred them with an arcomantula egg, so now they are eight legged, winged, stinging spiders that Hagrid thinks is cute, and Hermione thinks she can use to write a research paper on," Ron clarified.

"Ron, this sounds like something you hate, why did you even go there in the first place?" Harry asked.

"Well, I thought Hermione wanted to explore broom closets or something. She had a soft silk string that I thought she was going to use to tie-" Ron started thinking wistfully.

"I get the picture. But this is an excellent way to conquer your fears. Taylor won't hurt you, and this sounds like a brilliant excuse to hold Hermione really close. You can also say you conquered your fears. Veni, vedi, vici," Harry commented.

"Yeah, this would be more like: I came, I saw, I ran," Ron replied. Just then, the lady of the hour walked in. She was beaming. Harry had not think she had smiled like that ever, even when they got rid of there leash.

"Oh- Harry,you are going to love the applications of these stinging spiders Hagrid bred," she started.

"AHHH!" Ron, like a true Gryffindor, bravely ran away, passing Sir Robin and Sir-Not-Appearing-in-this-Omake.

Harry could see the question mark floating above Taylor. He decided he had enough of this for now.

"Don't worry about it, you just gave him nightmare fuel," he commented.

"I didn't mean to?" she half asked, half said.

"I mean, he'll get over it eventually. What did you want to talk to me about?" He asked, and the married couple went about their day.

 

[HanChenYou]

I can see her being upset at first, but not holding on to it for more than a few minutes and certainly not for over a week.

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I think that it is largely a trust in authority vs a trust in results. Hermoine trusts very strongly in authority as long as it has not proved untrustworthy.

Harry following scrawled notes in the margins of a book, and getting better results was a significant challenge to her worldview, I think.

 

[Fencer]

Omake: Veni, Vedi, Cucurri

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Thread marked

 

[parnary]

I think that it is largely a trust in authority vs a trust in results. Hermoine trusts very strongly in authority as long as it has not proved untrustworthy.

Harry following scrawled notes in the margins of a book, and getting better results was a significant challenge to her worldview, I think.

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So was every single adult in her life since she turned 11. I'm not sure why the book is the final straw.

 

[Fencer]

AN: From here on out I will do everything in my power to keep Taylor and Dumbledore from interacting. I just cannot write them arguing without it turning into a back and forth where no one walks away satisfied. They are like oil and water if there was a constant threat of someone tossing in a chunk of an alkali metal. I like writing dialogue. It is a skill I fought tooth and nail to develop, but this was exhausting, and it went nowhere while still being plot relevant. Because their working relationship, such as it is, is important. At least the rest of the dialogue went somewhere useful.

{}{}{}{} Harry

Watching Taylor stalk back and forth across the floor of her personal rooms at three in the morning, her eyes unwaveringly fixed in the direction of the castle's main entrance, was an unnerving reversal of our earlier wait for Malfoy.

Catching her up on Dumbledore's lesson hadn't taken long. She then summarized the entire thing rather glibly.

"So he's the product of a failed baby entrapment, the result of rape, and his mother was an abused idiot, and rapist. How exactly is any of this meant to be important to us now?"

I didn't have a good answer to that question. I didn't have any answer to that question except that I thought the ring from the memory being physically present meant it was somehow important. Given what we knew about Tom's survival that was suggestive.

Taylor confirmed that she set everything in motion and now… now we were waiting. Taylor far less patiently than I. Hedwig might be quick but she still needed to travel all the way to London and then there were, hopefully, security checks, and inevitably bureaucracy. There was also the chance that the enemy intercepted the letter. But, like Taylor, I wasn't likely to get any sleep until things ran their course.

"If they wait until breakfast to march in here things could get so much messier." She muttered.

"Should we move him?" I asked. "I know in the letter you told them what room to find him in, but it would send a stronger message if the school saw him bound in the great hall with his mark on display."

Taylor looked over at me thoughtfully.

"If it was just about sending a message, then yes that would be more effective. But if any other supporters try to interfere?" Taylor shook her head. "I doubt it will come to that, but let's not risk it with so many readily available hostages."

… Fair enough. Rubbing the junior Death Eater noses in the fact they could be targeted wasn't worth putting a bunch of first years in danger.

Sighing Taylor marched to the small kitchenette in one corner of the room and set about making a pot of coffee.

"You want a cup, Harry? If we're actually staying up all night waiting, I'm going to need the caffeine."

It wasn't a hard question to answer.

"Please."

Taylor came back with two cups of coffee and curled up on the end of the couch opposite mine. She seemed to look past me as she held the cup in both hands just under her lower lip, seemingly savoring the smell and heat. I took a sip and smiled. She remembered how I liked it. Maybe it was because she looked smaller just then, maybe it was the fact I was tired. Hell, maybe it was just an inexplicable need to say something. But just then I felt bold enough to ask something silly and personal.

"What kind of chocolate do you like?" I asked.

Taylor looked up, a little startled.

"What?" She asked, looking nonplussed.

I shrugged as casually as I could.

"What kind of chocolate do you like? I just… When you dropped the Veritaserum into my bag that first potions lesson I swore I'd do something nice for you. There's an amazing sweets shop in Hogsmeade village, so I figured, well, I wanted to know what kind of chocolate you like."

Taylor's eyes widened, just a little, and she glanced away while she took a sip of her coffee.

"I like milk chocolate." She admitted.

For some reason that simple admission made me grin.

"Anything you like with it? Strawberry? Almonds? Coconut? Toffee? Honeydukes has more options than I ever knew existed before I snuck in there my third year."

Taylor actually took a minute to think about that.

"Honestly, I've had chocolate bars before, and a few truffles before Mom died, but I can't say I know a lot about different kinds of chocolate." She admitted with a shrug.

I hummed thoughtfully.

"Well, all the more reason to try a few things. Maybe we can get a sampler box?"

"That sounds nice." Taylor smiled, just a little. "I was wondering if you wanted more than just sleeves added to your dragon hide vest?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"My new base costume is just about done, though I need to put some serious thought into cold weather additions. I don't know if you would find it silly or not, but we could make you a full costume instead of just the vest. I was thinking maybe a stag or grim theme. I thought you might-"

"Yes." I cut her off. "I would… that would mean a lot to me. If the Death Eaters can run around in masks, then so can we."

Taylor smiled. Just for a moment. It was a nice smile.

"Alright then, what kind of theme did you want?" She asked.

I actually gave that some thought as I sipped on my coffee.

"A grim. It feels… appropriate."

Taylor hummed.

"Something like Bitch's costume maybe? Can't make it too animalistic or some idiot might mistake you for a werewolf with how stupid some people on both sides seem to be. But maybe a half mask, and if I make thick enough thread from the silk, it could mimic fur if I just have it hang off the base layer? Give you a real shaggy look?"

"That sounds brilliant!" I cheered.

Taylor stood and collected a sketch pad. We spent the night talking about designs and whatever else struck our fancy. It was nice, but the long stretches of comfortable silence felt like victory all their own.

{}{}{}{} Taylor

Hedwig was getting absolutely pampered when she came back. I'd never really considered messenger birds before as anything but history trivia. I wasn't exactly clear on the distance and time involved, but clearly she deserved to be praised for her hard work.

Downing my third full cup of coffee in four quick gulps was enough to get my mind off that tangent, which was good because the ministry was finally here. A glance at the clock showed seven fifteen. I handed Harry a cup of his own.

"They're here."

Harry sat bolt upright, exhaustion falling away as adrenaline began to pump. He downed his coffee even faster than I had.

"Let's go!" Harry called over his shoulder.

Shaking my head I jogged after him and held him back long enough that we could tail the newcomers at a distance as they went up. Meanwhile I maneuvered several pixies into place so they could properly eavesdrop.

"-assure you all there is no threat to the school." Dumbledore said as he attempted to dissuade the group of red robbed aurors.

"Headmaster, I want to believe you, really, I do. But the letter said you had been notified and dismissed the warning of a marked student. Which was the reason we were contacted by owl in the first place. The Director personally ordered us to check the room, and the student, named in the letter, no excuses. We're to bring him in if he is marked. I'm sorry sir, but we have to confirm this." One of the aurors said firmly.

Dumbledore subsided though the way he constantly ran his good hand through his beard made it obvious how nervous he was feeling.

I grinned as I relayed the conversation to Harry.

"He's going to know I broke my word." Harry muttered. "I know it needed to be done, but I don't like breaking his trust in me."

I shrugged.

"I know you have a lot of respect for the man, but I don't think there's any way for us to get real explanations from him without forcing his hand. And honestly if forcing his hand means keeping the baby terrorist away from a bunch of preteens, I'd say we're in the right."

"I know." Harry nodded. "I agree. I just can't shake the feeling that things will get messy before they get better."

"I don't think there was any avoiding that. It's just… people in authority are just like this. They're right, everyone else is wrong, or ignorant, or they don't matter." I took a breath. I needed sleep after this, I was talking too much. "He doesn't have peers, just students, and employees, and subordinates, and people he has to maneuver around. Why get a second opinion when you obviously know what's best?"

And how much of that could be said about me? I'd done what I needed to do time and again. And there were certainly good reasons for some of it. But… I'd been stuck with nothing but my own thoughts too often for too long since ending up in this dimension. Couldn't change things now. And it wasn't like I'd had the necessary knowledge to make better plans in advance. Well mostly. In hindsight thinking I could fool a Thinker seven had been pretty stupid, but I couldn't regret joining the Undersiders.

Regardless, whatever I'd screwed up, I certainly hadn't been the only one. There was more than enough blame to go around back home. Besides, this plan wasn't just mine. Harry had been just as involved in making it. If Hermione would get her head out of her ass and Ron would get with the proactive program they could have weighed in too. But no one else wanted us doing anything and that just was not going to work. So here we were, throwing a wrench in the works with the best of intentions.

The aurors preceded Dumbledore into the room where we left Draco with wands drawn.

"Well, that's straightforward." One of the aurors muttered as they got a clear look at Draco, sleeve rolled up and arm across his chest to clearly show off the mark, bound in a chair and still unconscious.

Dumbledore brought his good hand up to rub at the bridge of his nose.

"Johnson, cut him loose then bind him for transport. Headmaster, we'll be taking him with us… I hate to say this, but you should maybe get your thoughts in order, sir. All things considered I don't think anyone is going to be happy about you not reporting this. Madam Bones least of all, but if that detail leaks… I'm sorry sir, but if it does a lot of people are going to demand an explanation. Whether you knew about this or not. One anonymous testimony isn't proof of anything, but that won't stop public opinion."

"I'll escort you off of the grounds, gentlemen." Dumbledore said ignoring the suggestion. "Then I believe I need to organize several meetings and an announcement."

"Come on." I gestured to Harry. "They're on their way back down now. Let's get to breakfast and see if we can't find seats with a good view of the door. They'll have to march past on their way out."

Harry nodded.

"Good plan." He let loose a jaw cracking yawn, then shook his head. "Can I kip on your couch after breakfast? It's a lot closer to the Great Hall than the dorms."

I glanced at him.

"Sure. I need a nap after this too. Too used to cellphones. Didn't really think about the time requirements for owl mail."

"Bit of an adjustment." Harry nodded. "I did think of it, but I've had owls show up near enough to immediately after being sent a time or two… I'd swear there is some kind of magic involved and the sillier birds just forget sometimes."

"Should have sent Hedwig to the ministry instead of to Moody then." My lip twitched upwards. "I could swear she is smarter than a couple of my old enemies."

"She's brilliant." Harry said, beaming with pride. "But I'll very happily deal with slower mail and a sleepless night if it means keeping Hedwig away from anyone I don't trust."

Honestly, that was more than fair.

We slipped into the great hall and snagged seats near the door. Neither of us were being terribly subtle about watching the doorway.

Ron and Hermione who had been seated farther down the table exchanged looks, then grabbed their plates and moved to sit across from us. Hermione far more grudgingly.

"Morning you two." Ron said before biting into a sausage. "Harry, never made it back to the dorm last night, everything, err, alright? We were sort of expecting you after Dumbledore's lesson."

I rolled my eyes and kept my focus on the group making their way down the stairs.

"Ah, well, Taylor and I might have set some things in motion last night before my lesson. We stayed up all night waiting to see the results. I'll fill you two in on everything later, once we're sure the castle won't immediately break out in a riot or anything the two of us are going to need to sleep for a few hours. That or we're going to need another pot of coffee."

It was at that moment Luna Lovegood slid in beside me twirling her wand between her fingers.

"Do you expect riots? Is that what that note was about?" She sounded dreamy, but there was a certain spark hiding behind her eyes which I considered encouraging.

"Note, what note?" Hermione demanded.

"To the DA members Harry thought we could trust." I answered. Shaking my head I stopped watching the door and started scanning the room for people liable to get angry or do something stupid. "A general warning that we planned to kick the hornet's nest, and to be ready to fight if certain prejudiced fools realized both sides of a war are at risk."

Snape was here. As were Malfoy's muscle and a few other students I'd noted as being decidedly dark leaning. I noticed a good dozen or so of Harry's chosen DA members all eyeing up their fellow students warily, and two or three with wands in hand.

"We captured Malfoy last night." Harry said in a low whisper.

Hermione sucked in a sharp breath.

"Harry!" She hissed in obvious disapproval.

"Shh!" Harry shushed her sharply before continuing in a whisper. "Quiet! He was here to kill someone, and he worked out a way to get an entire team of Death Eaters into the castle!" Harry glared.

Ron's mouth dropped open, which was disgusting considering he hadn't swallowed his last bite yet. Hermione reared back like she had been punched, and Luna sighed very quietly before downing her cup of tea.

"I'll give you all the details later," Harry barreled on not giving anyone a chance to start shouting, "but I tried to bring this to the headmaster. He claimed it was all under control, and that we should just let him wander the castle. But he didn't even have a watch on Malfoy, so I let Taylor send a letter we wrote in advance to the ministry. We were up all night waiting for the aurors to show. They're taking him now. So right now, the only thing that matters is that we all be ready, just in case."

"In case what?" Hermione hissed in a whisper.

"In case Snape snaps and tries to free Malfoy." I answered quietly. "In case some of the unmarked supporters try to free him to win points. In case any of those idiots panic when they realize this isn't going to be a one sided slaughter and throw curses around. Heck, in case a bunch of angry students form a lynch mob and try to murder all the Slytherins." I shook my head. "The war isn't just outside the school anymore, and that's going to scare people. Dumbledore demanded we report suspicious behavior during the welcoming feast, but ignored a report of a marked student a week later. When that gets out there's going to be even more confusion and anger. The school might not be primed to blow, yet, but it only takes one idiot to start something."

Harry nodded sharply. Just then the aurors hustled past the entrance to the great hall. Malfoy, still comatose and now floating vertically, mostly hidden between them and Dumbledore.

Instantly conversation died then roared back to life as those nearest the door craned or stood to get a better look.

I carefully tagged Snape with insects, and palmed a can of pepper spray with one hand. Jamming the last of a breakfast sandwich I'd constructed into my mouth. I chewed rapidly and pulled one of my new knives out to hold ready under the table.

Honestly, I didn't expect any trouble from the students, not right now with Malfoy all but gone. Give it some time for reality to sink in, then maybe we would see something. But Snape was someone's double agent, and depending on Malfoy's value he might act. That was the real danger here.

The teachers all looked up in surprise at the sudden increase in volume but apparently, they'd all been far enough away or distracted enough to miss the scene at the door. That was good. If anything did happen Malfoy would at least be away from the castle first. Several students came running into the hall and went directly to their friends to share what they had seen coming down behind the aurors.

The noise in the hall continued to grow as rumors were invented, debated, and spread at a pace that nearly boggled the mind.

Five minutes later Dumbledore was back. The man looked tired. Under other circumstances I might have felt sympathy, or even pity. But not now. Not under these conditions.

Dumbledore stood there in the doorway seemingly lost in thought. Conversations died down.

"Last night," Dumbledore began, his voice carrying clearly in the now silent hall, "several students discovered that another student carried the Dark Mark. They subdued this marked student, and notified the Ministry. Mr. Malfoy has been arrested on charges of being a member of a terrorist organization. Additional charges may be applied during the course of the ministry's investigation."

Dumbledore closed his eyes and sighed once before continuing.

"Please take this lesson to heart. Our actions have consequences."

The old man's eyes flicked to Harry and I, then away again. If that was supposed to make me feel guilty, I was going to quote it back to him later.

"The consequences of Mr. Malfoy's decision will likely follow him for the rest of his life. Professors, we will be having a staff meeting this evening. I have much to see too before then. A good day to you all."

His peace said Dumbledore turned and walked away. Probably back to his office.

I eyed the hall. Snape was shaking, barely, but I could feel the tremors through my swarm. Several Slytherin students looked worse, pale and stunned. Several looked angry. All across the hall students began to speak in furious whispers.

Luna tapped her wand against the table three times before tucking it behind her ear.

"Well, you two certainly let the niffler in among the leprechauns." The blonde girl said airily. "I'll let everyone know to come by Taylor's room around eleven for tea and explanations. I'd suggest getting a nap before we arrive." Nodding to herself, she stood and headed off in the direction of some of the other DA members.

I watched her go thoughtfully. Scanned the room once more and decided she was probably right.

"You know, I think I'm starting to like her." I said.

Harry groaned and took three more bites of breakfast potatoes, then washed it down with some juice.

"It doesn't look like we're going to have immediate trouble." Harry said cautiously. "I know we both need that nap… and if we really want to do things differently, we need to let people know about some of what's happening. Probably not about how Voldemort survived. That is really sensitive, he can't know we're onto him, but at least about what's going on with the war effort and Dumbledore. If he's not going to take our safety seriously, they need to know and be prepared."

"And we need a group at our back if we can't count on the Order." I added as I put away my knife and pepper spray. "I guess I'm hosting a tea party that doubles as a resistance movement. How positively British."

Harry barked a laugh and stood, offering me his arm.

"Well then, Mrs. Potter, if I might impose on you for the use of your couch, I'd be delighted to escort you to your chambers." Harry's eyes shone with mirth as he dialed up his accent to eleven and spoke with more pomp than I had ever heard from him.

Maybe it was the lack of sleep, or the relief that I wouldn't need to pull eleven year olds out of the middle of a fight. Whatever it was I felt good and decided to play along, just this once. Smirking, I took his arm.

"Well bless my soul," I said in my best southern bell impression, "a proper English gentleman. In this day and age. Very well Mr. Potter, lead on."

Harry laughed again and it sounded heady with relief and delight. There was still plenty to worry about, but our first move was a tentative success and no one had gotten hurt. I could indulge in a moment of humor.

"Harry!" Hermione called after us, but Harry only waved her off with his free arm.

"Come round with the rest for tea, Hermione." He called over his shoulder. "It's been a very long night and I desperately need a nap."

{}{}{}{} Harry

Taylor, after looking around at the twenty DA members Luna had brought with her, threw up her hands, made me enlarge the kettle and teapot. Two dozen tea bags into the cauldron sized teapot later and then she had me floating it around to pour cups because. "Harry I am not trying to pour from that monstrosity when you have magic."

"Bloody hell, she must be American." Cormac McLaggen muttered just loud enough to be heard.

Taylor chucked a washcloth at his head.

"I've had three hours of sleep and my cozy little apartment is packed to the rafters with strangers." Taylor spoke flatly. "I strongly suspect after this little meeting I'm going to have to fend off Dumbledore. It's entirely possible he might decide to kick me out of his school over this, in which case my only contact with the resistance will be people he controls and owl mail. Forgive me if I try for some expediency right now."

I stepped up before she could rip more chunks out of McLaggen.

"Alright everyone, listen up, we're neck deep in a mess and it's a lot more complicated than last year."

Everyone settled down and gave me their full attention.

"Taylor and I spent the summer getting used to our situation, and trying to get information about the fight against Voldemort out of Professor Dumbledore."

"Harry." Susan Bones interrupted me. "I know you've never shied away from calling him that, but my aunt says they expect he'll be putting the taboo back on his name any time now. You really should get out of that habit before it gets you killed."

"What's a taboo?" I asked, nonplussed. Sure, we didn't need to be getting sidetracked right now but if she thought it might get me killed…

"It's a curse on a word. It lets him know when and where anyone uses his name. In the last war anyone who used it was calling down Death Eaters to attack them. It's why everyone's afraid of his name… didn't anyone ever tell you?" She asked.

Closing my eyes I reached up and rubbed the bridge of my nose.

"No, no one ever explained that." I answered. "Thank you for the warning. I guess I'll have to call him the lich, or Tom, whatever offends him more. Anyway, that is a perfect example of what I was going to say. No one fighting this war wants to tell me anything. I've faced, vol- the lich in one form or another five times since coming to Hogwarts."

All around the room people leaned forward in interest or away in surprise.

"Every time I won or escaped. He has made it very clear that one way or another we'll be fighting till one of us is dead. I am in this war no matter what anyone else has to say about it. But as far as the people fighting it are concerned that means nothing.

"Now, I don't know much about fighting a war, but I know if you want to win you have to actually fight back. The Ministry is chasing rumors, and so far, they haven't found much. If they interrogate Malfoy they might finally get somewhere, but we'll have to wait and see. Dumbledore is leading a group, but they're mostly gathering information and reacting. If nothing changes, we are going to lose this war whenever Tom makes his move."

All around the room faces paled.

"Taylor and I have been trying to figure out a way to turn things around. We've got a few members of Dumbledore's group chomping at the bit to bring the fight to the Death Eater's, but Dumbledore is not letting them. Maybe he has some grand plan in the works, but if he does, he isn't telling anyone what it is. But I had a hunch about Malfoy. A hunch we confirmed."

Multiple people started to ask questions, but I held up my hands and they quieted back down.

"Taylor and I ambushed him and confirmed he was marked. I went to Professor Dumbledore and told him. He basically told me not to worry about it, and to trust that he had everything under control, but Taylor had the time to follow him this week, and no one was even keeping an eye on him. I don't know if the castle should be considered safe. For anyone. It might be best to start acting like the chamber of secrets has been opened again. Stay in groups, keep an eye on the younger students, the whole lot."

I couldn't tell them everything. Not if one of them might be another traitor. Not without a vow. Most of them I trusted. But not all of them. Not when the stakes were this high.

Dead silence.

Taylor spoke up.

"I know none of you know me, but believe me when I say I have experience with dangerously useless authority figures. The kind of attitude Dumbledore has about all this could get us all killed. You all need to consider your options."

I could see a few skeptical looks and cut that right off.

"Taylor's right. I'm in this fight because I hate Tom, and his agenda, and because he's not going to give me a choice. This is my fight… but it doesn't have to be yours."

I looked every one of them in the eye.

"If you don't think you can fight to kill. If you can't face the chance that you might be captured, tortured, or killed. If you just want to live your life, get out. Grab your family, and any friends willing to leave, and just go. America, Australia, put an ocean between yourselves and this mess. The continent might be too close for comfort in another decade if we can't stop him."

I swallowed as I looked around the room again. I knew I needed the support. I knew if they decided to stay, they would need to train. This war was bigger than just Tom and I. It didn't help. There was every chance some of these people, people I considered friends, might die.

"If you can't or won't leave for whatever reason, and you don't think you can get by just keeping your head down. I can help get you in shape to survive. If that's not good enough, if you want to do more than survive, if you want to fight back? I could really use the help." I admitted quietly.

"You're restarting the DA then?" Nevile asked.

"For a start, Nev. For the more advanced group, we're going to have to figure out something more serious than the contract Hermione wrote up last year. Maybe an Unbreakable Vow." Eyes widened and people started to protest.

"Quite!" I snapped. "I know how serious that is. And I know it's not something to do on a whim, but the situation has changed. And clearly a vague threat wasn't good enough to protect us last year, even if it did make the traitor obvious. That wouldn't have done us any good if instead of Umbridge we got hit with a Death Eater raid. If it's just tutoring in defense spells that's one thing, but if we are really training to fight? You'd be declaring against Voldemort. You'd be a target." I glared at the lot of them.

"Do not jump into this. Do not tell me now with witnesses around. We haven't even worked out what oath everyone would need to swear. I'm just making sure you understand what's on the line, what's at stake. Vol- damn it, Tom is recruiting, launching the occasional attack to keep the pressure on, and who knows what else behind the scenes. Dumbledore's people are sitting on their hands and gathering information. Dumbledore is tied up in hunting for a way to make sure Tom stays dead this time. I'm stuck here trying to get information out of anyone I can and trying to learn anything that might keep me alive." I spread my hands.

"That's what's happening. I'm training to go on the offensive as soon as I can, because I'm sick of being on the backfoot when that wanker comes after me. Anyone who wants to be part of that? I need all the help I can get, but it's going to be bloody dangerous."

Everyone was quiet.

Finally, Luna downed her tea like a shot and stood.

"Mr. and Mrs. Potter." She curtsied. "Thank you for the tea and the enlightening explanation."

I cracked a smile.

"It's just Harry, Luna. And I'm always happy to explain things to a friend."

Luna beamed.

"Please, call me Taylor, all of you. I'm American. Most of my teachers didn't even call me by last name."

That won a few washed out smiles from the group and a round of introductions. But their hearts weren't in it, neither were most of their heads. I could tell a few would be coming back to learn to fight and I thought one or two might already be planning to run. But most of the group were lost in their thoughts debating their options now.

Most of the group filtered out until it was just Ron and Hermione.

Taylor pulled a copy of Malfoy's interrogation transcript out of its hiding place and handed it to Hermione.

Hermione started reading.

"He really did find a way past the castle defenses." Hermione murmured. "A team of Death Eaters right in the middle of the castle. They could have snuck in, in the middle of the night. It would have been a slaughter."

"We'll reduce the cabinet to kindling, today if we can, but he didn't even know how to start on repairing the thing so it can wait a bit." Taylor responded.

Hermione tossed the papers down and started to pace back and forth across the room. Ron sunk into the couch, leaned back, and scrubbed at his face with both hands.

"Why didn't you talk to us about this?!" Hermione finally snapped. "We could have helped!"

"Harry could have handled this on his own, I barely did anything, and you haven't talked to either of us since Wednesday." Taylor answered flatly.

Hermione spun on her, red faced and angry. Taylor only shrugged, unconcerned.

"Do you believe me now when I tell you there are things more important than good grades?" Taylor asked flatly.

Hermione flushed.

"Hey, enough." I cut in. "We've got more than enough people to fight without fighting each other. Why are you even so mad at her Taylor?"

And mad felt right. Taylor had been kind of catty about all this. Sarcastic, violent, paranoid. Those fit Taylor usually, but catty? That felt personal, like how she talked to Tonks, like she was really angry but knew she couldn't make this a real fight.

Taylor glared at me, but I wasn't backing down, not about this. Finally, she turned her glare on Hermione.

"I don't get you. You say you're in this fight because the boys won't leave. You broke into the ministry and fought a battle with them, but you're turning your back on him over a class. It's petty, and childish. and I just can't wrap my mind around why someone willing to risk death is so offended over something so inconsequential. If it was about the safety of messing around with something that can explode that would be one thing. If he was using those notes every class and bragging about how much better he is, sure. But he did it once and as soon as he was reminded some of the changes could just as easily produce a bomb if this half blood prince got something wrong, he stopped. But you're just…" Taylor just gestured at Hermione, apparently out of words.

Hermione stared at Taylor open mouthed. I honestly wasn't sure if it was anger or if she was just too surprised to put together a response.

"Taylor, you do know sometimes friends fight, right?" I asked.

She had been really vague about her life before she got powers though I'd definitely gotten the hint that bullies were involved. Taylor looked… kind of lost.

"About important things, sure, but this isn't important?" Taylor actually sounded a little confused.

"Taylor, we argue about dumb shite all the time. We get mad and avoid each other for a while, and then, well maybe we don't agree about whatever it was, but we don't stop being friends just because we disagreed about something either."

"I get that, but if she's going to get this mad over something this small, what's going to happen when we kill a Death Eater if she disagrees? Or if you have to flee the school?" She looked at Hermione again, a little calmer now. "I just don't get your priorities."

Grinning now I looked at Ron.

"We could have been killed-" I started.

Ron grinned back

"Or worse, expelled!" Ron finished with a laugh.

Hermione flushed.

"That was one time! I was eleven!" Hermione protested.

"That's just how Hermione is, Taylor." Ron spoke up, grinning. "She'll be right there with us when we're getting into trouble every time, school's just sacred."

Hermione huffed and looked away with a blush, but didn't say anything. Taylor still looked like she thought Hermione might be mental, but so long as she wouldn't pick any more fights over it that was fine.

Ron's face sobered in a hurry.

"Dumbledore really told you not to worry about Malfoy?" Rob asked.

"Yeah, mate. Nearly trashed his office all over again." I answered. "Maybe old age really has caught up with him, I don't know what to make of it. But you add this to the last five years we've had and I'm starting to wonder if he ever cared about student safety."

Hermione opened her mouth, no doubt planning to defend the professor. Then she glanced at Taylor and paused. She took a deep breath and settled down obviously thinking. It didn't take long for her to start frowning.

Knocking at the door cut off that potentially explosive train of thought.

Taylor's head whipped to the door one hand going for a weapon, before she suddenly relaxed.

"House elf, oh, that's Dobby. Not sure if they all have a stranger rating, or if he teleported." She muttered.

Ron and Hermione looked at Taylor oddly, but I knew perfectly well she'd checked with her swarm. I was closest so I got the door.

"Great Harry Potter sir! Professor Dumbledore is calling you and Mrs. Potter to his office!"

"Of course." Taylor scoffed. "Let's get this over with."

We all headed out of Taylor's room, Taylor nodding politely to the painting of a weaving woman who guarded the door.

"We'll see you two for Lunch unless this meeting runs long." I told Ron and Hermione.

"Good luck mate, sounds like you two might need it." Ron waved.

Hermione chewed her lip for a moment before speaking up.

"Try not to damage your relationship with the professor any more. Whatever else might be true he still knows things about You-Know-Who and this war that you need to know. And I don't know where else you could learn those things."

That was unfortunately sound advice. Which ran right into the problem of how to make the professor take us seriously and tell us things when he didn't even want to tell the Order any of this. I mumbled something noncommittal and wondered what it would be like to have people actually deal with me honestly as an equal.

Thinking back on conversations with Taylor… well I suppose I did know how that felt. Pretty nice honestly.

{}{}{}{} Taylor

Dumbledore's angry Grandfather face is in fact even less compelling than his 'disappointed in you' face. The man was about as intimidating a disciplinarian as Mr. Gladly. Even the fact that we were doing this in his office with all the regular props like 'behind a big desk', and 'my chair sits higher so I can look down on you' didn't really help.

"I did warn you." I shrugged. "I even gave you a chance to act before I got the ministry involved. If you wanted us to follow your lead all you had to do was explain the plan so we could fix the obvious holes in it."

"How are you so certain my plans are flawed if you don't know them?" Dumbledore asked while looking down at me over the top of his glasses.

Was I supposed to be intimidated? He wasn't even threatening us with a weapon. Even Parian wouldn't have been cowed by this.

"Because I tracked him for a week and the only ones who followed him anywhere were his muscle, and the girl who wants his babies." I answered. Harry snorted. "If you're not even monitoring the known terrorist, I'm almost afraid to find out what your full plan was."

"This situation was under control, I assure you Mr. Malfoy was not a danger to the school." Dumbledore insisted.

I just looked at the man, one eyebrow raised.

"Is the reason you have a phoenix just the fact that it's the only pet you can't permanently kill through negligence?" I asked, genuinely curious. Maybe there was a tiny little pet cemetery somewhere on the grounds with row upon row of dogs, hamsters, and goldfish that the professor managed to kill before he somehow conned the bird into hanging around.

Harry, the idiot, broke out into wild laughter. He kept trying to fight it down, but then he would look at me, or the preening bird, and lose it all over again. Maybe three hours hadn't been enough sleep for him.

Dumbledore… I think he was trying to glare, but with how tired the man seemed it honestly looked closer to a pout. I had to rub at my temples in the vain hope it would negate my slowly rising headache.

"Professor Dumbledore," I spoke over Harry's fading chuckles, "ignoring for a moment the fact that Malfoy was here to kill you, and I can think of at least six ways to do that without magic, with magic the possibilities are probably endless. There is no way to be certain that an attempt to kill you couldn't accidentally, or intentionally, hurt or kill others around you. Your students are supposed to be your priority. I will not apologize for putting their safety above a fool who decided to support the lich."

Dumbledore opened his mouth to say something, but I was not done talking.

"Furthermore, when we interrogated that little shit, we found out his master plan was to bypass the castle defenses using a pair of vanishing cabinets with one half already present here in the castle. Through which he would unleash a team of Death Eaters on an unprepared castle." I leaned forward and glared over the top of my glasses. "He was absolutely a threat to his fellow students, and the staff. If you try to brush off a credible threat again, I'm going to start questioning if you want to lose this war! What the hell were you thinking?!"

Harry wasn't laughing anymore. He was stone faced next to me.

"I'd apologize for lying to you, Headmaster, but you didn't leave us with a lot of options." Harry grimaced. "I meant what I said last night. You're asking for blind faith, and I can't give you that. Not when your decisions don't make sense and you won't explain anything."

"I am explaining things, Harry. Perhaps not as quickly as you might like, but did our lessons last night teach you nothing?"

"I mean," Harry glanced at me then back to Dumbledore, "not much. Honestly, I'm guessing, but I'd say the ring might be a Horcrux, considering you bothered tracking it down. If that's right… his old diary, family ring… if he ever tracked down the necklace maybe that's one too?"

Dumbledore looked pleased with Harry's guess so I suppose that confirmed it.

Harry shrugged.

"That's all important to know, Professor, but if you've done this research already, you could have summarized the whole lesson in three sentences and just shown me what the ring and necklace look like."

Dumbledore frowned at the pair of us now.

"Harry, I assure you, learning about Tom's past is of the utmost importance."

"Why?" I asked. "Hitler apparently had an abusive father and was a failed artist before he decided to turn to politics and genocide. But no one with any sense cares beyond it being one more example of why abusers shouldn't be allowed to have kids, or wives, and maybe kneecaps. So the lich comes from a messed up family situation, so what?"

"Mrs. Potter, surely you, as a young woman with such particular skills, understand that our experiences shape us." The old man said. "Can you truly see no value in learning your enemies history?"

Was that a dig against me for being a villain, or a genuine question?

"We all wore masks and went by fake names. Didn't stop us from trying to predict one another's next moves based on how they acted and what we could learn about each other." I looked him in the eye and considered my next words carefully, because this felt like he was once again deflecting, but the question deserved some kind of response.

"My best friend handled a lot of this kind of work. She could just look at a person and figure out what they were thinking based on facial expressions, body language, and whatever else. Some of that involved figuring out bits of their history or personal life, but how much of that she dug into varied. A part of our success was that she could usually guess how people would react. But she told us what we needed to know. We trusted her not to hold back anything important, or tell us if she wasn't sure.

"You aren't doing that. You're handing out important information a drop at a time to a group of teenagers, leaving your adult subordinates in the dark about this, while you leave us in the dark about any real fighting, and you aren't telling anyone your plans. From the sounds of it your lesson with Harry last night was you treating things like a classroom lecture. Unless you wanted a second opinion there's no need for that, you could have just told him your conclusions. But that's not what we were talking about. Why did you try to protect a marked Death Eater from the consequences of his actions at the risk of your students' safety?"

"Mrs. Potter, the pair of you have intentionally ignored my instructions and disrupted a careful balancing act in doing so. Why do you seem to believe this would make me more inclined to share information with you?" The old man sounded almost exasperated.

I raised an eyebrow at him.

"You do understand that we sent off the information we got from Malfoy, along with an explanation of the circumstances, to Moody right? I'm willing to meet people halfway and build trust. You don't trust me, fine. You don't feel you owe me answers, ok. But I don't trust you. I made that clear. I told you I'd give you a chance before acting on what I knew. Harry gave you that chance and you dismissed us, but still expected to be trusted. You could have explained the plan and maybe we'd have fought about it, or maybe we would have agreed, maybe we could have improved it. Instead, I did what I told you I would do and acted on the information available to me. And the information I had was that Malfoy had a plan which would endanger the school, and you weren't even monitoring him."

I spread my hands.

"What did you think I was going to do?"

"I expected Harry to talk you down from rash action." The old man responded. Once again giving us the disappointed grandfather look.

"Honestly professor, Taylor was the one talking me down." Harry admitted. "I wanted to shackle him up and put him on display in the great hall. Warn off anyone else thinking joining the Death Eaters might be a good idea. Taylor was worried that might push someone to do something stupid and we didn't want the great hall to turn into a brawl with spells. Decided quieter was safer."

I smirked at the old man.

"I'm honestly looking forward to the day we both agree to do something violent and dramatic." I admitted. "Now, what was the plan, how badly did we end up mangling it, and what can we do with Malfoy's testimony before word of his capture gets back to the lich and some of it inevitably becomes irrelevant. Do you want to call Moody in to organize things while you handle the politics? I'd be happy to scout ahead for them if you can get me out there."

Dumbledore massaged the bridge of his nose.

"Mrs. Potter, that's not what we are here to discuss, we are here to discuss Harry's and your breach of my trust."

"We've explained that already, you just don't like the answer. More important is that some of these locations may be emptied of people and material in a matter of hours if a sympathizer has sent their family an owl detailing Malfoy's arrest." I stopped for a second as a thought occurred to me. "Is Moody already out there with a team to hit a few of these? Is that why you're taking the time for this now?"

Dumbledore twitched.

"…Alastor and several others are not answering their fires, it's possible he did not wait for me to begin organizing."

"Good on him." Harry murmured approvingly. "Probably too late to get in on the raids then. Shame that." The last was said dryly with a look towards me.

"Playing with magic insects has been fun, but I've been going stir crazy. A chance to swarm some idiots in my new costume would have been good. If only there was a resistance movement, an order perhaps, that was taking the fight to the enemy." I deadpanned looking Dumbledore in the eye.

"Do you truly think it is so simple? That he can be defeated by merely chipping away at his supporters?" Dumbledore asked, voice tinged with anger.

"Of course not, but do you think if you just kill him all your problems will be solved?" I asked, sarcasm thick as mud. "That their ideology will vanish? That one death will be enough to turn your society around? Do you think that would be justice for the victims, killing one man and letting the rest get away with their crimes?"

I wasn't ranting, but I was rapidly running out of patience and more than happy to drive my point home.

"I have seen gangs lose their leader before. Maybe the gang fractures, maybe someone else takes over, but they don't just suddenly have a change of heart because you martyred their leader. They're still going to be a group of people that think killing others based on parentage is a great idea."

I took a deep breath and bit down on the impulse to continue hacking at what I suspected to be his plan. I didn't know his plans. Not yet. And this was yet another distraction from my real purpose here.

"I'm tired of asking this. I am tired of outlining what should be blatantly obvious. Why protect a terrorist?"

Harry reached out and put his hand on my shoulder.

"Professor, what would you have done if anyone else had discovered Malfoy being a death eater?" Harry asked. "The mark is inked into his arm, and he's never been afraid to call muggleborns slurs. Anyone could have gotten suspicious and reported him. With Tom back it was only a matter of time until people started to watch bigots like Malfoy carefully. I don't know what your plan was, but I can't imagine it surviving if anyone got suspicious. It's really not hard to stun someone and roll up their sleeves."

"… You two must understand that Severus' position as an agent within Voldemort's ranks is invaluable. In the course of securing that position he tied a great degree of his credibility within their ranks to the support of Draco Malfoy in his mission. In removing Draco you have made professor Snape's position far more difficult. And in so doing you have quite possibly ruined a number of my own plans, and possibly accelerated the entire course of the war."

That did not in fact answer Harry's question. It barely answered any of mine. If Snape kept Malfoy from being thrown out and on task, Snape would have gained credibility. With Malfoy captured, Snape would lose credibility. But why was having a spy so critical? What had been the long term plan considering Malfoy's mission? How did one captured junior death eater relate to the kind of escalation Dumbledore implied? Gangs didn't care that much about their rank and file. Beyond that though…

"So you value having an agent in his ranks above the safety of your students?" I asked, genuinely curious. I was about ready to strangle him with his beard, but I was curious. The wonderful thing about offloading my reactions to my swarm was that I could be so very furious and not give it away beyond my tone.

"That's not-" Dumbledore cut himself off with a sigh. "Can't you understand that there is a great deal more at stake here? Voldemort has supporters in the Ministry and on the continent. The threat is so much greater than just the school. Every advantage we can grasp to fight him with is priceless. And due to your actions one of the most critical sources the light has will soon be under intense scrutiny. He may lose his ability to operate as a spy in the worst case. I understand that finding a Death Eater among the students could be frightening but-"

"Frightening?!" Harry yelled, indignant. "I've fought Tom, and Dementors and a basilisk and a bloody dragon! Draco Malfoy is not frightening. What he is, is a slimy bastard who could take a firsty hostage, or rig an explosive potion outside a dormitory entrance, or just up and stab you in the back with a knife if he got the timing right! This isn't about fear, professor. It's about public safety! Finding out you knew about it and planned to do nothing. That is frightening. Because if you're not going to do the bare minimum to keep us safe, then who the hell are we supposed to trust?!"

"Mr. Malfoy was not a threat!" Dumbledore didn't raise his voice much, but his tone became sharp. "He is young, and foolish, and not at all prepared for the realities of joining forces with Voldemort. Everything would have been fine!"

For a moment no one spoke.

"I killed a man." I spoke into the heavy silence. "Just a few months ago. He did everything in his power to murder me, because I wouldn't allow him to keep a preteen drugged up in his lair as his personal oracle. We managed to outmaneuver him, barely. We couldn't let him walk away. He would have come back and tried again, and again, until he managed to kill my team and I. So I executed him. I am Malfoy's age."

No one said anything, so I kept going.

"There is a little girl back in my world who goes by Bonesaw. People think she's about twelve. She has spent six years being twisted into a monster by a group of wandering powered serial killers. Conservative estimates say she's killed fifteen thousand people. No one's really sure. They've taken to just quarantining places where they suspect she left booby traps if there isn't anyone left to save, so that makes exact counts impossible. That doesn't even touch on the torture and human experimentation she's done. That little girl is the first thing I imagine when someone says 'a fate worse than death.' I met her. I nearly became one of her experiments. She can make plagues that make the black death seem like the common cold. The only reason she hasn't wiped out humanity is because then she and her fucked up family wouldn't be able to have any more fun."

I took a deep steadying breath.

"Do not tell me that age makes someone safe."

Dumbledore looked horrified. Harry didn't look much better, but I'd told him enough about my world, and even a bit about the nine, that he wasn't entirely surprised. Maybe that was too much. I needed Dumbledore focused on the here and now. Not my past.

"You look at me," I glared at Dumbledore, "and I'd bet you see an angry teen. Maybe you feel sympathy or pity for whatever horror story you've invented for my past based on what I've said. Maybe you resent me for coming in and upsetting your status quo. Maybe it's both."

Dumbledore was looking at me again, his face a carefully neutral mask.

"I look at you and I see a politician and an administrator with a lot of personal skill. Someone who has convinced himself that this combination makes him a general."

Dumbledore sat straighter in his chair.

"But it doesn't." I said harshly. "My team wasn't ever big enough to call an army, there weren't even ten of us, and we were fighting gang wars. Though the Nine are terrorists, and the Empire were racists and I survived both groups so I have some idea of how this goes. I learned to fight and lead by following other people's examples. I learned it all fighting to stay alive against people that were stronger and more experienced. After what I've seen from you and the Order, that experience is enough for me to know I wouldn't want to follow you into a fight. Do you even want to fight?"

"Young Lady, no one should want to fight. It should always be the last resort." Dumbledore answered with just a touch of scorn.

"It's not about craving violence." I countered flatly. "It's about deciding there is something wrong with the world, and admitting that there is only one way to change it because nothing else works."

For just a moment there was something raw and painful written across Dumbledore's face. An old memory? More pity for what he considered to be children? Having something he didn't want to acknowledge thrown in his face.

It didn't really matter.

"Professor-" Harry stopped, considered his words, took a breath, then tried again. "Sir, we aren't going to apologize for what we did. I'll apologize for lying to you, but not for dealing with Malfoy. I want to be able to trust you. And I want you to trust me with what's going on. At this point I've got years of proof that not telling me anything just guarantees I'll end up in the middle of it all with only half an idea what's happening. If we can't get to that point though… Honestly professor, we've got a whole list of ways to get rid of Tom without killing him now, and I know Bill is looking into binding his wraith if we kill him again. We just need you to be straight with us so we can do the same."

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow. Skepticism dripped off his words when he spoke.

"And if you disagree with my decisions? Should I expect you to do this again? Disregard my plans because you disagree? Then justify your actions by declaring I'm a fool making mistakes?"

Yes, yes he should expect that. Because clearly, he didn't take advice from anyone. And I'd yet to hear anything like a good plan from him. Expecting one now seemed like an empty hope.

Harry grimaced. Then he scowled.

"Depends, are you going to just dismiss what we say out of hand again when we tell you something you don't want to hear, sir?"

I smirked at Dumbledore. It was good to see Harry develop a healthy distrust for authority.

Dumbledore stared down harry for a minute or so, then he sighed.

"Our lessons on Lord Voldemort will continue when I can make time for them. Due to recent events my schedule has become even busier. Please, see yourselves out. I have a staff meeting to prepare for."

Shaking my head I stood and left without another word. There was nothing more to be said. He wouldn't bend an inch. And neither of us would promise obedience when his track record was so poor.

I was mildly surprised to not have been kicked out of the school, but then it would be difficult to justify given the circumstances.

After the gargoyle guarding the man's office moved back into place Harry blew out an explosive breath.

"Trying to convince Dumbledore to take us seriously shouldn't feel so much like a fight." Harry said.

I couldn't help but snort a laugh.

"You've been in enough fights to know that's an exaggeration." I scoffed. "What a waste of time."

"I hoped he would at least pretend to treat us more seriously." Harry said, voice thick with disgust.

"Don't worry, reality will beat that optimism out of you eventually." I answered.

Throughout the castle insects swarmed, venting the rage I was unwilling to show. I hadn't expected things to go even this well. But it didn't make the reality any less infuriating. Now more than ever the loss of my reputation burned like fire. Not that it had ever done me much good when dealing with people in authority. But before my exile even the Protectorate learned that there was a price for not taking me seriously. But it hadn't helped. Not really. Not when they had been willing to out me. I needed to keep reminding myself of that.

So, I needed to forge a new reputation to make people take me seriously. Ideally a more positive one this time. Even, or maybe especially, if Dumbledore wouldn't take me seriously. There were plenty of other people to deal with.

Moody seemed to approve of me. Bill was at least a little impressed with how I'd guessed at Tom's soul jars. The Lupin's had a shadow of an idea about how scary I could be. But the students only know me as Harry's wife who went with him to ambush Malfoy.

If I wanted any influence in this world I'd have to build on that base. It was high time I made a new name for myself. The first time Harry's new oath bound defense group got together, Weaver would make her debut.

 

[jwolfe_beta]

Whelp, lines have been drawn and I suspect things are going to get even frostier between Dumbles and Taylor/Harry as time goes on and the DE body count/capture rate goes up.

 

[Shadedancer]

Honestly @Fencer , I know you felt bad about writing the dialogue, but if I hadn't read that note I still would agree this a perfectly natural place to end that kind of talk for the foreseeable future. The behaviors are set and any further cooperation will happen with brevity if at all until Dumblefumble gets a clue by four to the skull. You did good with a frustrating situation. Thank you for the chapter.

 

[Expiravit_Magus]

Yay! A new chapter! I only found this story a couple days ago but I'm really enjoying it so far.

I hope you keep up the good work!

I also think the sex 'scene' earlier was handled very well (not too much detail but did a good job describing the impacts of it)

 

[sunsunsunsunsun]

If I wanted any influence in this world I'd have to build on that base. It was high time I made a new name for myself. The first time Harry's new oath bound defense group got together, Weaver would make her debut.

Click to shrink...

Now we're getting somewhere!

 

[Windborne]

Damn, what a great chapter @Fencer, and I'm glad that Taylor and Hermione aren't at each other's throats. Because those two could be a really scary combination in battles and I want to see that.

As for Dumbledore, maybe after thinking for a bit Dumbledore will realize that he's made mistakes by not trusting his allies enough. The guy isn't stupid, and I think he's been knocked off balance enough by now to really comprehend that he needs to change. Probably not going to be enough to completely turn around his relationship with Taylor before he dies, but it should help. Taylor being so forthcoming about people like Bonesaw and Coil will really help cement that some people truly are evil. Even if we as readers know Riley was Mastered, Taylor doesn't know that.

 

[Aziranis]

I fucking love this.
Yes, Albus. The attempt to see the best in people is good and all. But not all of us are immensely powerful wizards with the strongest wand up our sleeve.

 

[Zeuseus]

Hmm. Seems like Taylor is reminding Dumbles of Gellert.

 

[Jen T]

I suppose the comments are gleefully venting their lust for Dumbledore's downfall, but more than anything like that, I think you did an extremely good job at hinting at his motivations without needing to outline them—or, considering how incoherent his characterization is in canon, to come up with them in the first place.

Vague allusions to his past with Grindelwald and how things ended there coloring his impressions of conduct in wartime and mercy, as well as refusing to disavow the comment about caring more about the spy than the populace of the school did a lot without needing to have him give a sermon on his magical terrorist boyfriend backing Hitler and how much having to beat down said ex, after their argument got his sister killed, fucked him up.

 

[Blaflaix]

Can't make it too animalistic or some idiot might mistake you for a werewolf with how stupid some people on both sides seem to be.

Click to shrink...

"A werewolf!"

"No you idiot, I'm not a werewolf. This is a costume. Just like hers."

"A werewolf and a werespider!!!!!!"

"..."

Draco, sleeve rolled up and arm across his chest to clearly show off the mark,

Click to shrink...

So, random thought.
When did they learn about the tattoo?

In the first war, things start of with sporadic attacks, and the Dark Mark floating in the sky.
So that's public knowledge.

But the tattoo would just be among the Death Eaters.
I doubt the Wizarding world has a practice of strip searches and tattoo checks, so it's entirely possible that only a few people saw a mark at all, much less more than once.

Then after Voldie blows himself up, they start grabbing lots of Death Eaters, but it's also a huge mess with lots of bribes and lots of trials.
It's entirely possible that nobody actually makes the connection for weeks, if not months or even years after.
Which might be part of the way so many were able to weasel out.

So now it's a new war, and Voldie hasn't quite picked up on the fact that having a "secret sign" that everyone knows isn't a brilliant idea.
Not to mention that someone might figure out a way to track them or hack the mark now that they are back in play.

 

[turtleduck]

Let's fucKING GOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

Taylor is gonna traumatize those kids and it's gonna be amazing. Looking forward to the next chapter!

 

[xbox432]

And Fumbles does his thing... It's like Taylor said, he doesn't see anyone as a peer. And thus, everything he does and plans is obviously perfect. His ego is the most dangerous thing about him.

Then there was that one line from Harry (paraphrased): Malfoy is scary, what IS scary is you knowing about a threat and doing nothing about it.

Like? Holy hell, Harry hit the nail on the head. I don't know how things will shake out between them going forward. But it was so satisfying to see Taylor slap him down with a logical argument, and not let herself get dragged into his political game of fallacies and distractions.

Also, I know we all joked about it after the chapter where Taylor officially met the order, but after a present like that Moody might actually adopt her/name her as his heir.

Hmm. Seems like Taylor is reminding Dumbles of Gellert.

Click to shrink...

Well, she IS a terrifyingly charismatic zealot. It's just that she's not insanely evil with a penchant for monologuing about world domination.

 

[Relissi]

Ahhhhh! You're spoiling us!

Also yay, it's about time Taylor kicks some ass! I bet QA's been hammering on her conflict button in the background.

Harry and Taylor are really a good pair and I love the way this seems to be going.


also:

"Is the reason you have a phoenix just the fact that it's the only pet you can't permanently kill through negligence?" I asked, genuinely curious.

Click to shrink...

You got a snort from me here. A genuine, out loud snort

 

[tortiecat]

Even if we as readers know Riley was Mastered, Taylor doesn't know that.

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That doesn't change the fact that some people are evil. It just pushes responsibility back one step to the Master.

 

[BigBadBen]

finally were getting somewhere. about damn time.I can not wait to see Harry and Taylor be a little more comfortable with each other. maybe once things calm down and voldermort and his ilk are dead and burried.

 

[Mystearica]

Bloody hell. Dumbledore would be so much more sympathetic and understandable if he weren't the headmaster of a fucking school. If he were just a politician and an administrator I could at least get where he's coming from. But despite arguably being the least important of his many hats, being Headmaster of Hogwarts tops the list in terms of priorities; it has to. The children have to come first. If he wanted to focus on big-picture he should have gotten someone else to take the post.