Ancestry 25 - Bad Plans, Many Bad Plans. by Voracity2

Ancestry 25 - Bad Plans, Many Bad Plans.

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Ancestry 25 - Bad Plans, Many Bad Plans.

Dobby appeared in front of a youngish man, staring at the priest. "Dobby be saying you come with him," he announced.

The man, Philip Callahan, stared at him. "Why would I?"

"Dobby be saying so. It's important." He took him with him, magicking all his books and notes into his bag to take with them. He knew about book people. Miss Grangy would beat him to death if he had made her leave books and notes out like that. He popped them to Dumass Glen then got a few others. "You all stay here. Dobby say is important!" He put up shields then left them there.

Philip huffed. "I need to go teach a class tonight," he called. Nothing. He looked at the others, who were shaking their heads. They had no idea either.

A new house elf, this time a female, appeared. "Welcome to Dumass Glen," she said quietly, staring at them. "Happy will announce your visit."

"Dobby brought us here and locked us down," Philip told her. "I have class in an hour."

"Happy will see what Dobby being doing. Dobby is little bit weird. It's because he's a free elf." She disappeared to tell Alexander and Harry, who were having a drink at the school in secret. She summoned Dobby. "You tell them why you put wizards and a witch at the house," she ordered. "Dobby is being weird."

"There be attacks and the insane one said that Banes be important," Dobby told her. "They not able to protect themselves yet."

"Excuse me?" Harry demanded. "Is it an attack like Voldemort?" Dobby nodded, staring at him. "Then let me go handle it."

"He not there," Dobby said.

"Oh well, we gotta find and get the rest of them too," Xander quipped. "Happy, go make sure they're safe. Dobby, go explain to them why you put them there, in real words. Let them make the decision to go help defend their own people even if they're not using magic." Dobby slumped but nodded. "Thank you. They may have people they want to save and they can't do it at the old house."

"Protections protect thems," Dobby said, staring at him.

Xander nodded. "I get that but it's up to everyone to decide if they're going to fight or not. Not up to us to knock them out and take them somewhere for their own protection. You can only do that to Harry if he's injured."

"I can protect myself," Harry told Dobby. "You protect kids and those who're too innocent to do it for themselves. But what is a Bane?"

"A group in the last blood war," Flitwick said as he came in to join them. "A group of students around your parents' years. They were a separate group from the Order of the Phoenix. Did a lot of damage to their side for us. Dobby, which ones did you protect?"

"Father Philip. Greggy like Snapey. Jokes woman. Few others. Draco sir's Emilia cousin."

"Yeah, let them decide for themselves," Harry ordered. "If they want to be protected they can but they may be able to help even if they've given up magic."

"With a priest, yeah he probably had to," Xander admitted, finishing his butterbeer. "Where, Dobby?"

"In town where Father Philip lives," Dobby said. "I tell them."

"Thank you. Let us go help them." He stood up and Harry followed him, marveling at there being a person in front of him. "When we get there, you contain, you tie up, you shield," Xander told him. "We need to get information from them and then make sure Voldie doesn't get them back." Harry nodded at that idea. "And we won't need much help. Get a few aurors."

He went to the house with Dobby, looking at them. "Emilia," he said with a nod. "Dobby put you here to protect you because there's going to be an attack he thought you couldn't handle," he told the obvious priest. Philip glared. "He was trying to protect you, all of you. So we're going to go protect your town. If you wish to, you can stay here and be protected."

"Never been my way before," Philip assured him. "I can protect 'em and get people cleared at least."

"That's fine. It's everyone's choice to fight or not, Father." He looked at Emilia, who nodded. "Okay. Dobby, put us there. The Father can help the people get out of harm's way." Dobby nodded, taking them with Xander first and the Father, who ran to ring the church's emergency bell. It got attention and people came in to see what was going on. Just about when wizards appeared to attack them.

"Go to the forests," Philip called. "Hide from 'em! They're deadly sorts!" They ran to do that, telling all the neighbors. Cellphones were a thing that wizards didn't count on. Xander took on the first few with calm certainty. Harry and a few others appeared behind him, with the others from the house. And Dobby, who dove in front of Harry to take a Crucio.

Xander called Library to help him get healed and she ran in to grab the house elf and take him to get better. Plus some more aurors since more death eaters were going to show up. They could get muggle healers for the muggle townspeople.

"Did they recruit?" Harry complained.

"Probably," Xander agreed. He shot a hex of misfortune at the group and their skills fell by a lot. Which led to Harry opening the ground underneath them and pinning them in place. It got a lot of the group but a few took off running. "Fuck," Xander complained, taking off after them. "I hate running."

Harry ran with him, going after one of the three. He sent a message to the others about who they were. Hermione took the notes down and went to tell Flitwick, who passed that on. And where the battle was. He stopped Hermione from going, letting her go patrol the school for problems trying to happen there.

One of the death eaters had found a family and had them hostage in case they tried to get him. He was threatening to kill them all horribly. Xander shot him instead, making him fall down dead. "No, I don't think so." He put the gun up and checked him then nodded at the family.

"You did not see him. He's a terrorist worse than the IRA," he told the mother. "Otherwise more bad ones will come here. They think you're easy prey. If you know, you are." She nodded, hugging her kids. "Good. Go hide better. The other two ran that way." He pointed. She took off in the other direction.

He went to help Harry, who had gotten one - who was growing into a tree that was eating it - and was fighting against another one. Xander stepped into view and threw a rock at him, then made it explode right before it hit the wizard. "Ha!" He grinned. "A combined technique." He pointed his wand at the person running their way. "Who're you?" he asked.

"The mayor of this town, sir. Who are you?"

"I'm the head of the Clan Dumass. This is my cousin. These people decided to attack here because of the artifacts. They think they can use them in some sort of thing." He waved a hand, making his wand disappear into his pocket. "We're stopping them but I need your people to forget they ever saw it and to ignore us while we do that. Before more people show up to make sure by doing something sciency to your memories."

"Like in the movies?"

"Like in brainwashing," Xander told him. "There's sonic methods."

"Great. Is Father Philip all right?"

"The one that got us here was trying to protect him," Harry admitted. "He should be fine, but in a bit of a temper."

"I'd have one too, Potter."

Harry grimaced. "So you're...."

"No, I'm a muggle. They attacked here the last time too to get the artifacts. I talked with your father about what was going on since I was an officer then."

Xander grimaced. "Is it a soul capturing one?"

"It's a well of souls."

"Yeah, he'd want that. Okay, we'll put a protection around it for Father Philip. The church can rant." He nodded, walking off. "If there's more let Philip call someone. He has our numbers."

"That's fine, lad." He watched them walk off.

Xander stopped to stare at the one in the tree then decided to take the tree with them, roots and all so it wouldn't die of it. He floated it at an auror, who looked amused. "I don't want to hurt a guardian tree. It can be replanted."

"We can probably get him out of there without hurting it." The auror looked at Potter then at him. "You two good?"

"We were having a talk to a drink," Xander said dryly. "Then Dobby found out. He tried to protect Father Philip." Philip looked over. "The people okay?"

"They're fine. The few we captured were put in the jail, Harris." He stared at him. "I never thought I'd see you out of Sunnydale."

He grinned. "I'm a man of many skills that my slayer and witch have no idea about because they're willfully blind and think I'm *normal*." He smirked and disappeared. Harry waved and followed to go check on the school.

Philip looked at his school friends, who were warding the church. "We'll talk to him later," Emilia said with a smile for him and then for Greg, who was helping a lot. "You okay?"

"I'm fine, Mil. Bit tired. I'm usually asleep right now." He yawned but got back to work.

The aurors looked at them. "You lot went to school locally?" he asked. Emilia showed off the tattoo on her arm, making him blanche. "You guys were a myth!"

"Not really. Most of us aren't heroic, we just don't put up with shit," Emilia said dryly. "We'll go talk to Potter later. See where we can help him too." The auror whined but nodded, going to handle things.

"I'll have the church move the well," Philip told the mayor. "That way they can't come back again."

"He tried for it before, Father. Please do. It worries the lasses something fierce." He clapped him on the arm. "Good job warning."

"I'm just glad they managed to hide. Do I need to minister to anyone in the healer's or do last rites?" he asked quietly.

"Not as far as I know yet. I'll let you know." Philip nodded, going to call and confess about that problem. That well really had to be moved. Tonight. The church didn't want to move it, it was supposed to be safe up there. So Philip hung up and called Sloan. "It's Philip Callahan," he said in greeting, getting the phone handed over.

"They came for the well of souls up here, Sloan." He listened. "They said it's supposedly safe yet I'm forbidden by my vows to protect it. It needs ta be hidden. Great. Thank you." He hung up. "Someone will come to move it tonight and maybe tell the church someday where it went." Emilia giggled a bit. "It's safer if you knew about them." He patted her on the arm. "Let me go check the villagers."

"We'll disappear in a few," she promised. She looked at Greg. "You can go nap on your mentor." He snorted, looking at her. "Or at least his couch." They finished up their warding and left together with the other two. Greg was half asleep so she handed him to Snape as they walked into dinner. "The well of souls is being moved. We warded the church and other areas so they're safe enough if they try later. He's in his usual nap time before work." She smiled at the headmaster. "Hi."

"Who're you two?"

"This is Greg Sanders. He was Severus' direct apprentice when he hired on here. A potions master in his own right. Often called the Wizard of Blood." Severus snorted at that name. "I'm Emilia." She smiled. "I do diplomatic work."

"I've heard some about you from Mr. Malfoy. Is it handled?"

"Quietly and efficiently. We don't think any villagers got hurt."

"Excellent. You may sit and talk to your cousin for a bit if you want. Let your friend there finish his nap." He ate a bite.

She strolled over, looking at Draco, who was sipping his water. "You okay?"

"I would've helped."

"Nothing you could've done and if we needed more bodies, we've got some, Draco." She sat down, staring at him. "How are you? I heard about your aunt."

"I swore so hard at her and great-great-aunt Druscila for that plot." She smiled. "It's really bad."

"It was." She nodded. "Did they come for you?"

"No, they still hope that I'll have heirs for the Black title."

"You can. Nothing's saying you can't."

"I know." He pushed his plate aside to stare at her. "Are you okay? Injured? I feel...something."

"No, that's me being around Greggy." She shrugged. "It's a long story."

"If you're certain. We do have an effective nurse here."

"I remember Madam P from when I was a student." She smiled up at her then at him. "Any good gossip?"

"A fourth year got happy with his pixie lust potion he bought off someone in the fifth and sprayed the whole of Gryffindor's common room," Pansy said with a smile. "Who're you?"

"Emilia Dorekson. Yourself?"

"Pansy Parkinson." She smiled and shook her hand. "Are you a former student?"

"I am." She grinned. "And the one I came with was the headboy of your house, and Snape's apprentice." She moaned at that. "He's a potions master." She looked at Draco, who grinned at that knowledge. "You could learn a lot from him, Draco."

"Potions take a persnickety nature that I do not have for it. I like doing it, I'm fairly decent at it, but I can't do it for my career."

"What sort of a career are you thinking?"

"Well, I can't follow my father into his Wizengamet seat any longer so I was thinking barrister."

"That's a hard job but can be fun. You get a lot of fun screwing over people who deserve it if you're in the right field." He grinned at that. "Or be a prosecutor who sends the criminals away so you can watch them suffer."

"That could be pleasant," he admitted, smiling at her. "Thank you."

"It's possible. You're bright. You study and test well."

"True, I do." He sipped more of his water to cover up the groan because one of the first years was coming up to them. "Yes, Mr. Pobance?"

"Are you a veela?" he asked her, looking adoring. "My mum's said a lot about your peoples. She works with creatures and said you're not one but some people think you are."

She ruffled his hair. "I'm no more a creature than you are even though I am a veela, yes. I use my gifts to keep peace at political negotiations."

"Wow. Can I tell her?"

"You can and suggest she read the book by Hoorwatz. He got it pretty correct."

He beamed. "Thank you, ma'am." He went back to write to his mother. Who hated veelas but she'd be interested in one being here.

"A few years back we had the tri-wiz," Draco told her. "Including the French school that had a few who were partial ones."

"I saw. Fleur's a cute little girl. Has a good head on her shoulders." He smirked a bit. "Wouldn't put up with you, Draco."

"She's older than I am. I don't need an older woman and I'd doubt we'd work together well."

"It can but not often. It has to basically work the same way a true mating would."

"Those are nearly mythical."

"Yes, but sometimes they do happen. Just at the wrong moment." She sighed. "Sometimes it's never the right moment."

He looked over then at her. "I think that's up to you, isn't it?"

"It is. But his career's fragile. He works in a criminology lab."

"A what?" Pansy asked.

"They're ...you know about investigative aurors?" Pansy slowly shook her head. "Huh. Well, we can let Greg talk to you guys about CSI tomorrow morning then. Maybe he'll encourage a few of you to try it for the Ministry. They could probably use some."

"They'd have to find a new building to house them thanks to that really dark Head of the Dumass clan," Pansy complained.

"He just called in what was rightfully his to stop them plotting to try to make him one of the 18," Draco said. Pansy gaped. He nodded. "Tried for me, Potter, and Granger."

"Oh, dear. That'd be one ...loud and messy household."

"Which none of us wanted," Draco agreed. "So he did what he was allowed to do by them violating a contract." He shrugged. "He could've done it years ago."

"They might've gotten rid of Fudge a lot sooner if they had," Emilia quipped. "The idiot monkey feces."

Draco snorted. "You gave him too much credit there, cousin."

"Probably. At least he didn't try to hit on me for the last few years." Someone tried to touch her back so she turned and cursed them. "I did not give you permission to touch me. That's not only rude but illegal." She stared at the boy, who was whining on the floor.

Draco stood up to look at him. Then sat back down. "He's got four siblings, all sisters, so he's not a waste if you throw him out into the lake like that." He finished his water.

She smiled. "I don't go in for torture, Draco. Just self defense."

"I've been learning some of that." He stared down at him. "If you wouldn't want it done to your sister, don't do it to others. Before I have Granger lecture you." The boy moaned again.

Hermione looked over. "I can talk to him about his issues surrounding the concept of consent," she called with a grin and a wave. "Gladly. That way others can learn from his bad mistakes and we have no more that try things without consent." She glared down the table of her house at Pailey, who shrank down to hide behind Seamus. She smiled at Emilia again. "Hello. Hermione Granger. Do I need to come take points as a Prefect?"

"If you want, dear."

"Good. I fine you fifty points for touching someone against their will and another ten for littering the floors of the Great Hall," she said firmly. "Should you not get up in the next minute, I'll take another ten points for every one you lay there and whine about your bad decision." The boy whined but got up and wandered off. "Thank you!" She smiled as she waved at his back. "We'll talk about consent and why it's important later I'm sure." She dug into her dinner again.

"Miss Granger, I believe you were a bit harsh," Professor McGonagall called.

"I don't," a Ravenclaw complained. "He kept trying to flip my skirt to catch sight of my panties and didn't learn when I kicked him in the face."

"If you had asked I would've taken points for that too and given detention," Hermione quipped with a smile. "It really is uncivil and unmanly to act in such a manner." She glared at the Hufflepuffs, who shrank down at that. "Everyone has the right to say yes or no. Even boys. Because I heard your discussion the other day."

A few pouted but nodded. "Good." She smiled at them then at the teacher. "Apparently I wasn't harsh enough because he may not have learned with how a girl just screamed at him in the hallway, ma'am. Do I need to go intervene? I have no idea which one is out there with him and if she can defend herself."

She went to look. She rescued the girl from being groped and swatted the kid herself then took off a round hundred and fifty points for being such a poor individual specimen of a man. He complained. The headmaster came out to grab him to talk to him about his problems and his parents with them. McGonagall checked on the girl, who went to eat and pout.

Emilia looked at the pouty kids. "The rule really should be if you don't want it to happen to your favorite sister, or mother, then you shouldn't want to do it to others," she told them. "Miss Granger is correct. Everyone has the right to consent to being touched, kissed, or anything else. If you don't hear yes, the answer's no." She looked at Draco.

"I've turned down a few who wanted my behind as their own," he said dryly. "Including the one you swore about."

"I was helping someone clear their aura of evil thoughts." She shrugged. "Did he reply?"

"No. The other did. I let Dumass handle his own former family member."

"Good idea. Justinius isn't a weakling and he's very into chaos magic."

"Can you actually use a different form of magic?" Pansy asked.

"Yes. There's like nineteen different types of magic in this world, Miss Parkinson." Pansy gaped. "From house elf style to nature magic like Wicca to chaos and beyond. We had a few people outside our year, just a few years ahead of us, who were doing chaos magic and some lighter demon summoning to learn their sort of magics." Pansy slumped.

"Most of them are gone, not by magical reasons, but one's the high priest to Janus and the other's a watcher over a slayer." She smiled. "Magic is a lot broader than you learn here. There's hints in the library if you go looking but it's not stated. They want to make you learn just the one here so you're proficient enough."

Pansy nodded once. "Then how do you learn it?"

"Most of us find it in a book. Cursebreakers find it in many books and tombs and all sorts of places. The smart ones learn from what they find. The rest, they want gold." She smiled. "The world is a wide place that's nothing like this school. There's no houses. There's not always loyalty from those you'd expect to have it. Alliances are sometimes fragile and sometimes even temporary.

"Your blood status matters to very few people outside the UK and most of them in the UK have never heard of any of us. Most of us can go among the muggles and not be spotted at all." Pansy slumped further. "Here is very sheltered. There's no students who are too poor to have a house. No students who can't afford food. No one homeless. No one with weaker gifts below a certain level.

"If the teachers were good, you'd spend this year working with those other houses because in the world of work, there's no houses and no one cares that you were a Slytherin unless it'll get them somewhere. You have to work with people from other schools, other houses, and some who're the sort you wonder if they ever attended a school." She smiled. "Even if you're a mother who's at home with the kiddies."

"Oh." She frowned. "But our friends."

"Friends keep you sane. Keep your true friends, the ones who'll stand beside you. I talk to a great many of my school friends every week." She smiled. "Most of them I could be assured would never turn on me. That's what a real friend is. It's not transitory."

"I didn't consider that." She looked at her few house friends. "Did you have friends in other houses?"

"Yes, the Banes were from all houses, dear." She grinned. "I wasn't a Slytherin but Greg was. Sandburg wasn't one of you but we wondered about him. One of the top researchers in languages today, Philip Callahan, was a Hufflepuff who has a best friend that's a Gryff. Houses don't matter in the real world and shouldn't matter in here about forging bonds."

"But blood status."

"Who cares? That's nothing to do with anything except for people who discriminate because of it. A pureblood bleeds just as red as the rest of us. The same as someone Irish and someone Scottish bleed the same as someone from China or Argentina or Germany." She stared at her. "Blood status matters to very few people and most of them have reached a point where they're not ever going to advance in life. Because that means knowing a lot about people instead of how their blood weighs."

"Girls like Granger don't come from pureblood families," Draco said quietly. "They're not encouraged to study that way."

"There's been more than a few geniuses from pureblood families, Draco. Some even female. They just can't do it until they're married because the view of women is based on the worth of their womb. But the kids grow up and move out then what do they have?"

"A husband," Pansy said.

"Who's sometimes just as much a child to raise. Who are they without the kids and the spouse? Do they even have a life outside their kids and spouse? What happens if they're widowed? Then what do they have?"

She frowned. "I guess I can see that but we'd just go back to our families."

"Would they allow that? Many won't. You marry into the other family so you're part of them." One girl down the table nodded at that. "Yours?"

"My aunt. Got widowed. Her parents said she was part of their family and they didn't want her because she had married in but only had a daughter. She struggled but made a career and raised her daughter to hate both families." She ate a bite.

"Not that uncommon in the wizarding world," Emilia agreed, looking at Pansy again. "Your graduation day is the day you're supposed to lose the Slytherin, the Gryffindor, the Ravenclaw and just become yourself. Just Pansy, not Slytherin Pansy. It's a hard transition for many. They didn't take the time to learn who they were outside the school.

"Didn't find any interests, didn't find friends that they could count on to tell them when they looked horrid in an outfit without sneering. Because those friends and all that stuff is the basis that you build the rest of your life on. Even in an arranged marriage where you live in a whole other state from your spouse with the kid."

"You find hobbies as you go along," Milli said. "Things that interest you. Like I like to crochet but I'm pants at it," she told Pansy. "It's a skill I'll get better at some day and can maybe give me something to do when I'm tired of the kids and husband. Even Granger probably has hobbies outside reading."

"I paint badly," Hermione called with a grin for her. "And I read fun stories instead of research things." She looked at Emilia. "Many kids find that in college instead if they go."

"They do," she agreed with a nod. "College can be a strong wakeup call. Even for girls like you because the important things in college aren't the same as they are here."

"Oh, I realize that I'm out of the usual girl things because I don't participate." She shrugged. "It bores me greatly to talk about boys and makeup."

"It can," she agreed. "It did me too but in college the girls are even more focused on it. And pushy about a career." Hermione smiled and nodded. "Which can lead to burnout if you don't have anything else."

"I've been meaning to try that gaming stuff. I just can't do that when I'm here."

"True, I doubt D&D is played in this school," she said dryly, smiling at her. "No one expects you to be a geek, Hermione. Just a nerd."

"Well, yes, I can claim both though." She smiled. "Women are unique and their own myths."

"True, we do build our own myths in our life." She looked at Pansy, who still looked confused. "Who are you outside of the school, Pansy."

"The same as I am here."

"Are you sure? Because there's a lot more to life than Hogwarts and magic. Magic is great but have you ever seen a really tall waterfall? Stood at the base of it and marveled at the thing nature created?"

"No."

"A lot of kids take a year after schooling to go travel and see the world, find out who they are and what the world holds. Maybe you should do some of that, even for a few weeks. Go somewhere unfamiliar, explore, see people you're never even thought existed. See all the sights. Go to Asia, see the jungles, see the temples, see the wonders of their cities. Then find a place for yourself in the world that's just for you. Just Pansy's spot."

"I... I'm due to be married."

"Many of you are," she agreed with a nod and a slight grin. "There's the concept called a honeymoon. Which means you'll have time to learn about your new spouse as well. He'll get to learn about you."

"I've met him for a week each summer at his house."

"That's excellent. Do you get on with his family?"

"His mother's relatively cool towards me so far."

"Sometimes mothers are very sure that no one's good enough for their sons. You just have to prove you are. Or sometimes mothers-in-law never lose that but they'll demand grandchildren. Remember, you won't always have her in your life."

"Point. He could finish poisoning her. He did it by accident once." She sipped her water. "Did you travel?"

"Of course. I travel all the time for business." She smiled. "I still find things that amaze me with how they are. You feel absolutely tiny standing at the foot of Niagra Falls or any bigger waterfall. You can feel absolutely like you take up too much space in the deserts because everything is smaller and closer to the ground if they're not cacti."

She grinned. "That's one thing about traveling, it teaches you things about others and yourself. I nearly died thanks to a komodo dragon trying to eat my foot. I wasn't mad at it, that's just what they do. It did remind me I wasn't all powerful. I'm a strong witch, a very strong witch, but I can't subvert nature and some things will think I'm tasty."

"What's a komodo dragon?"

"It's a huge lizard species out of Asia. Mostly found on some islands. There's a few in zoos so they can be watched over and learned from. Zoos these days aren't just to go stare at curiously. Now they're to learn from the animals and to make sure some don't disappear for good."

"I don't think I've ever been to a zoo."

"The best ones have habitats for the animals to live in, like they would at home."

"So no cages?"

"No, no cages. There's a few great ones nearby. You can go to a library and look them up."

"I have no idea how to do that. Do we have the book here?"

"I don't know. You could ask Madam Pince. If not, maybe she can get a listing for you by talking to another librarian."

"I can do that. Thank you, Emilia."

"You're welcome, dear. We want all of you to have a happy, peaceful adulthood. There's enough strife in this world that we shouldn't have to make more for ourselves."

Draco tipped his head. "Because quite a lot of strife in our lives we did to ourselves," he said. She smiled and nodded, patting his hands. "Thank you," he said quietly.

"It's not a problem. I've got to go remind a president he's not God in a few days but over the break you can possibly come see me for a quick bit of lessons."

"If I can. Thank you."

"Welcome." She went to check on Greg, then sighed and shook her head at Severus. "It's like fifth year again. He needs that really loud alarm." She waved and left them to go home.

Severus sent Greg to his couch and got back to dinner. It was good someone had laid that life lesson on the students. They could all handle it and needed it, especially with a new war starting.

Madam Sprout looked down at him. "Have you been to our nearest waterfall?"

"Many times to gather the moss that grows there. It's about twenty feet high."

"I went to Victoria Falls," McGonagall admitted. "It was over three hundred feet tall. Very loud, the sound of the water crashing shook my bones." She ate a bite of dinner. "I remember your apprentice fondly. Even if he did play pranks." She smiled at him.

Severus nodded. "I nagged him quite frequently about that." He dug in again. "I've never been but I've seen pictures."

"Three hundred feet," Madam Sprout said, looking up. "How tall is that?"

"Our ceiling in here is about fifteen feet," McGonagall said.

"Oh." She considered that size. "That...that would be impressive." She dug in again. "Maybe I'll do some traveling this upcoming summer."

"It does good for you to get away from the school. They have some fantastic plants down by there as well," McGonagall said. "Some very pretty flowers."

"Yes, I think I'd like to see that." She smiled to herself, making plans for her summer.

***

The Banes met again the next night in Hogsmeade, Emilia dragging Philip with her. "No one's asking you to use a wand, Philip. It won't break your vows."

"They made me vow to give it all up."

"Well, then have a butterbeer." He rolled his eyes but did sit out of the way of everyone else. Until Blair Sandburg floated him over. Philip stared at him but Blair grinned back. Emilia smiled at him for that. "Okay, how many other smaller attacks do we see?"

"Many," Nick admitted. "They're desperate to get some sort of soul capturing device but almost none have come up for auction since he lost his financial backer of Malfoy."

"Lucius was used as a staked goat. That doesn't speak very highly of his tactical training," Blair said. "Even I can do better than that." He poured Philip a beer and handed it over. "How's your town?"

"They tried for it during the last war too. Sloan's had it moved," he told Nick.

"Yeah, by us and the nicer church out there that you worked with a few times." Philip sighed but nodded. "I doubt he'll want to come to San Fran to attack us."

"No, probably not. There's an auror base right there hiding under Alcatraz."

"There is?" Emilia asked. "I knew there was something hidden." Nick and Philip both nodded. "Huh. Which one did Harris work with?"

"San Diego." Nick looked at the others. "No deaths yesterday. Just a few scared civilians." They all smiled at that. "Dumass got a bit temperish."

"He's been in a few too many battles recently," Philip said. "Between the Ministry thing and others...." He shrugged, sipping his beer. "Nice ale, Professor."

"Thank you," Methos said. "He did rather lose his temper, or perhaps loose his temper at them wanting him to become one of the former 18." Emilia grimaced. "Including your cousin."

"I heard from him. If he still had aunts they wouldn't have tried that."

"If the boy still had aunts, he probably wouldn't still be in Sunnydale," Nick said. "Though he did promise to help the slayer out there." Philip sighed but nodded. "You knew him before."

"I got assigned there to fill in an empty spot after one died of his drinking," Philip admitted. "I met the whole team over the six months." He took another drink, staring at him. "I had no idea about him but the girls are tired and Rosenburg's getting more and more mad."

"In what manner?" Emilia asked.

"Both." She winced. "She used ta steal books then just flip through them."

"Oh, that sort of witch," Emilia said dryly. "Lovely." Tipsy snorted, shaking her head at that. "Any good news from you guys?"

"Oh, I've got stuff for a battle or two planned and made. The twins were a great bit of help." She sighed. "I'm so messed up there."

Tipsy got patted by a few of them. "Age is just a made up thing," Methos said with a grin. "Some of us clearly don't look our age. You only look about ten years older than they are."

"I'm their mother's age. She's going to scream."

"They finally banned howlers from Hogwarts thanks to her," Ron said as he joined them and sat down. He grinned at Tipsy. "Treat my idiot older brothers well or I'll let Charlie feed you to a dragon or two. He said they like him a lot so he'd easily have the babies use you as a training toy." He grinned at her. "Otherwise, just don't tell Mum. Just show up at a family dinner with them someday in the future. She won't complain in public and the rest of us know to walk off. Except maybe Percy."

She stared at him. "Ron?" He grinned and nodded. "How did you get out of the school?"

"Tunnel to Honeydukes?" he said with a grin. "Hermione needed to run out for girl things. Harry wanted sweets, and I needed out of the house because they're arguing about who they got caught with when a fourth year dosed the whole common room with pixie lust potion that was too strong. A few it screwed a marriage contract."

"There's ways to put the hymen back," Emilia said dryly.

"And the babe?"

"Well, that's more difficult."

"Hmm. She's against all that but her mother's trying to claim it's Harry's. It's not, it's a sixth year's and he's a good match for her but they hate each other. It's a soap opera right now to quote Hermione, whatever those are."

Methos coughed but smiled. "Many times a day with teenagers. That's one thing that made teaching defense so amusing and yet so frustrating." He relaxed. "What are your plans for the upcoming things?"

"I want a called battle point. Harry's considering it a good idea but they'd probably try to get around it." The others nodded at that. "Hermione thinks he'll outright ignore it and keep going on."

"He would," Methos agreed. "He did the last time when Dumbledore tried it."

"Well, now he can't do that using stolen artifacts from families." He sipped his beer he had bought himself. "By the way, Harry does have that last one."

"Excellent. Is it destroyed?"

"We don't have a method anymore. It ran out of poison."

"We'll figure some way out," Methos decided. "Maybe I can help there."

"Please. It's great to see full grown people around us." He smiled at them. "By the way, the access for the school's battle wards?" He handed them to Methos. "They're not to be shared outside anyone coming in to help us during it. They erected full battle wards."

"A good idea," Methos said, looking them over. "That's fine. We can appear further down and run up." He let them see that notice. They all nodded at that. Methos burned it. "Any other good news?"

"We think Bill's getting married this summer. Not sure yet."

Tipsy winced and held her head. "No. Not at the Burrow, Ron." She rubbed her forehead. Blair and Emilia moved to help the muscle stiffness.

"I got that from the barmy vampire seer," he told her. "I didn't understand why though."

"Well, I saw a few dead people. Including one of the twins." Ron winced. "Yeah, so let's not have it there. I also saw the house burned."

"Then let's plan on it being somewhere else," Ron agreed. "I'll let Bill know. I'm not sure if he knows he's getting married this summer yet." A few laughed. "The only reason I knew is the seer told us that when we had her tied up until they gave us permission to stake her. Which they didn't."

Emilia looked at him. "Which one?"

"Druscilla Black."

"Like Spike's Dru?" she demanded.

"Yeah. She's why Bellatrix did what she did." She winced at that. "And thinks Draco's soft and nice smelling."

"We are but you can't really turn a partial or full veela. Not into a vampire or a werewolf actually. They'd fight each other and usually the veela side wins." She smiled at his beaming grin. "I'll let him know myself."

"Thanks. Might tell her too?"

"He can send her a letter. He's a relative." She sipped her beer. "What did you see, Tipsy?" She wrote it down and handed it over so they could all read it.

"Yeah, we're not gonna hold it there. Hate to see Remus dead and Tonks. I kinda think she's funny." He put it into his pocket with a grin. "I'll let Bill know first. That way they know there's a prophecy about his wedding. Do we see anything about Dumass? He's a bit wild to some of us."

"He's a bit lost," Emilia agreed. "He could use an anchor to pull both halves of himself closer to the center. A good lover will do that but I doubt it'll be Anyanka."

Methos spluttered. "He is?" he demanded.

"She got fired," Ron told him. "He said so." He sipped his beer. Methos went off on a quiet swearing rant about that woman in Arabic. "Huh. Is that language magical?"

"Arabic," a few people said.

"It can be used for verbal magic," Philip told him. "It's built into the base of the language itself. That was one of the first magical areas of the world." Ron nodded at that. "What else is going on up there?"

"The usual too many papers, too much homework, a lot of kids stressing out because break's coming soon and they're all tired of the homework."

"We remember," Blair said. "Fondly sometimes." He looked at Emilia, who he had spent a few breaks with. "How's Greggy?"

"His boss is super curious about what happened and all this stuff. He's also trying to abuse Greg's good nature about his hours. Greg's about to sue for overtime and them breaking the allowed federal lab hours rules. I doubt he'll leave Vegas though."

"We can always pop in on him to vacation," Tipsy said, lifting her head to have some beer. "Vegas has a lot of fun things to do even if you don't like casinos. An indoor amusement park and the like."

Ron looked at her. "A what?"

"It's like a county fair only bigger, brighter, and more flashy," Tipsy told him. Ron slowly shook his head. "You can go after graduation, Ron."

"Yeah, I can. Think Dad'll win the suit to cancel the debt?"

"There's always hope," Emilia said. "It's gone on for four generations." She looked around then at them. She nodded her chin at someone and a few looked, one grimacing.

Ron looked then sighed. "Goyle," he mouthed. "One of Draco's minions."

"Awww." She finished her first beer, going to talk to the boy, who looked miserable. "What's wrong, Goyle?"

He looked up, staring at her. "You're Draco's cousin."

"I am and meeting with a few buddies to catch up. What's wrong? You look like someone just crucio'd your familiar."

"I don't have one," he said, blinking at her. "I don't like my future wife."

"Then why have one?"

"They wanted me to marry Granger to prop up my bloodline. It was to stop that plot."

"Hmm. You're too pure so the magic's seeping out of the cracks," she said with a nod. "Which means that you could have a squib kid or even one with another type of magic."

"That would get us both killed by our families."

"Do you have someone you really like instead?"

"No," he admitted. Then he sighed. "There's a girl I like but she thinks i'm annoying."

"That's one definition of a teenage boy, Goyle. That and angry." He looked at her again. "If you like her and she may like you, propose an elopement. That'll make you look impetuous and young and in love."

"She hates me."

"Ask her."

"I did, she said she's not into me."

"Oh. Okay. Well, what about another girlfriend? Save another girl you know who'll be forced into a bad marriage contract?"

Ron looked over. "Save Millicent."

Goyle looked at him. "She doesn't have one."

"She does now. It was in the paper today. Teeth man himself."

"Flint?" Goyle demanded.

"Yup, was in the paper that there was now a signed contract. Part of the Gringotts automatic announcements from yesterday. I'm not sure if she even knows yet."

"No, she probably doesn't. She's been happy. I'll talk to her. I wonder if there's penalties."

"She can find out. It's got to be signed by her sometime."

"Point." He finished his firewhiskey and beer, then went to hike back to the school to talk to her.

Emilia patted Ron on the shoulder. "Good job."

"Bulstrode's not a bad kid to know," he said. "She's just not the typical girly sort. Even though it seems like she'd like to be. She's been nice enough to other houses when Pansy wasn't prompting her." He took another sip. "And I doubt Marcus Flint is a good enough wizard for anyone, even a stuffed doll."

"Could be," she said, coming back over there. Ron paid for the drink since Greg hadn't. The waitress smiled as she patted him on the head. The others got another pitcher of beer to go over ideas. They liked the called battle idea, and the protecting of the school during it. Would it absolutely work? Probably not. But they could nudge toward it so it worked better. Fewer attacks until then.

***

Greg Goyle walked back into his house, finding Pansy nagging Millicent about something. "Milli, you okay?" he asked.

"Why were you drinking?" Pansy demanded.

"Because I hate my future wife." She snorted at that, stomping off. He sat across from her. "I heard about yours. Are you okay?"

"I don't think I have a wife."

"Someone find the paper with the Gringotts announcements," he said. A first year brought over the week's papers. He found it and held it out to her. She read it. Then she stiffened. "Weasley read it," he admitted quietly. She slumped, staring at him. "He pointed out you can see the contract since you have to sign it."

"What am I going to do?" she muttered.

"I don't know. Right now I'm hating mine. She's stuck up. Thinks I'm big and dumb."

"You're certainly big," she said, staring at him. "But not really dumb." He nodded with a grin. "Oh, Merlin," she sighed, holding her head. "How could my mother do that to me?"

"I don't know. Depending on the contract you could probably wiggle out of it somehow. That depends on the penalties."

She blinked at him. "How would I even find out?"

"Ask the bank to see it," Draco said as he came over. He leaned down to look at her. "If the penalties won't cause too much pain to you, and if you don't care if your parents suffer, then elope with someone like Gregory. That solves both of your problems."

"That's what Weasley suggested," he agreed. He looked at her.

"Would the bank have a copy?"

"Yes and if not, call the Ministry by floo to see it. The headmaster would probably let you go do that."

She nodded with a sigh. "It's too late tonight. I think I'm going to get sick."

"Yeah, I did that with the thought of anyone kissing Flint," Goyle admitted, watching her run up the stairs to vomit. One of the other girls went up to help her. He looked at Draco. "Mine's stuck up. She thinks I'm big and dumb."

"I'll admit to big," he said with a smirk. "You are built like a wall." Goyle punched him on the arm. "Are there penalties in yours?"

"Only if I break it. If she does then there's none. Her parents insisted."

"How bad?"

"Few thousand galleons."

"Can they afford that?"

"Probably not."

"Do it anyway. You can pay it off for years." Goyle nodded, waiting on Milli to come back down. She didn't so he'd talk to her in the morning when she was finished crying and ready to talk. After she saw the contract.

***

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