Chapter 4

Harry smiled delightedly at Dobby. "Dobby! I'm so happy to see you, my friend! You were so brave to rescue us like you did."

Lily whispered to Remus, "I'm told only the strongest bond will cause an elf to sacrifice itself for a wizard."

Remus nodded. "Harry rescued Dobby from the Malfoys. Or considering everything we know now, maybe it was a set up, so that Harry would be protected."

Lily raised an eyebrow and tilted her head, trying to see something that would make the little elf sacrifice himself for her son.

Dobby threw his arms around Harry's legs, almost knocking him over. "Dobby would do anything for Master Harry. And anysways, you knows I could do it. Most people woulds not think so. What does Master Harry need Dobby to do for him?"

"I thought I told you not to call me Master. But that isn't what I wanted. Is there any way for you to contact the house-elves down at Hogwarts and see if they know what happened to my body?"

Dobby smiled slyly. "Dobby knows what happened to Master Harry's body. It was parts of plan."

Lily interjected, "Whose plan, Dobby?"

"The elveses, Missus. We knows we has to rescue Master Harry. He is one of Lady Hogwarts' favorites. But all we knows how to do is keeps him steady, not hows to fix him. So Master Harry's body is as steadys as we can makes him." Dobby had a rather self-satisfied look. He knew he had done well by his Master.

"Dobby, where is my body?" Harry looked like he was about to jump out of his skin. Hermione could have told him it was the same look of desperation he had gotten just before they had decided to ride Thestrals to London.

"Secret elf place at Hogwarts, Friend Master Harry, sir." Dobby was hopping around happily.

"Dobby. Dobby. DOBBY!" Harry had to shout to interrupt Dobby's dance of joy. "How do I get back to it?"

"I don't knows, Friend Master Harry. Too bad Missy Hermione isn't here."

"She isn't here, Dobby. But she might be at Hogwarts."

"Ooh, then maybes she fix Friend Master Harry. I see whats I can do to tell elves."

"Thank you, Dobby!" came the chorus from Harry, Lily and Remus as Dobby popped out.

"Is that little elf always that boisterous?" Lily asked.

Harry fell to the floor laughing as Remus did an imitation of Dobby's enthusiastic actions. Lily shook her head at their antics.

Early February 1999

Instead of just Cho, Charlie and Hermione, the group that set off after lunch to investigate the strange magical emanations that Cho and Charlie found turned out to be Cho, Charlie, Hermione, Viktor, Luna, Draco and Neville. When Daphne returned to her rooms to continue her studies, she found a message asking her to go to the Ministry's department of Customs. It turned out she was needed help sort out a shipment of illegal pets that were found in the suitcase of a wizard from the Amazon. The man had disappeared in a poof of smoke instead of telling anyone what his purpose had been.

They arrived at the site, Cho turned to Hermione and then took a deep breath. She had worked closely with the girl over the last couple of years and dearly wished they had been friends at Hogwarts instead of supposed rivals. They had accomplished so much, but she still felt that frisson of jealousy when she saw Hermione interact with her close friends, like Ginny Lestrange and Luna Malfoy. If Cho was being honest with herself, she knew how much she wanted that type of friendship and interaction. No time like the present to start something new. "So, Hermione, I did the basic sweep for unusual emanations on this area of the castle, and I found a couple of things. One of them is a variation of wizarding magic, and although I don't know enough about the type of magic in the ward, I think you might be able to figure out how to break it. Yes, I know you are a warder, but I know what kind of training the Goblins do, and I know you." Cho finished her statement with a wry smile.

Hermione returned the smile. Then seeing the bit of insecurity being displayed by Cho, she went with her impulse and gave Cho a hug. Hermione was delighted to have the hug returned tightly. Once they let go, Hermione spoke again. "So what was the second thing, Cho?"

"I have no idea. It is not like any magic I've ever seen and yet is is so very familiar. But that one is much more subtle, yet stronger. I think we will have to leave it for later." Bolstered by the camaraderie, Cho felt far more secure in her decision-making skills.

"You are the lead, Cho; it was your find. You are just bringing me in, so if you want to leave the second site for later, that is fine with me." As much as she was hoping one of these sites might give a clue as to what was going on with Harry, she deferred to Cho. Hermione knew how hard it was to start making executive decisions, especially when you had to call in someone ranked a bit higher than you were. The goblins expected you to protect your lead on the site, no matter who you chose to collaborate with, and that meant anybody.

"All right. We need to figure out what we are dealing with here. We know our strengths, so lets put them to good use." The others nodded immediately, revealing the sense of purpose in the group. Somehow the emanations from the magic or the castle put them all on alert, and instead of a group of friends having an adventure by checking out something strange, it was almost like a group of soldiers. Each of them settled in to do their part in figuring out the best way to identify what was wrong in the area. Hermione began casting, with Viktor following with a spell he had devised to help "push" Hermione's casting. Their magic was so in sync that it worked quite well for them.

"Oi, Vik, what are you doing?" Charlie was intrigued. He liked going along with Cho to see what her job was like sometimes, and if he could help her, he wanted to know how.

"I am, vhat is vord, pushing her magic to its limit. Ve are wery magically compatible, and I found I could do this. It sometimes finds something her original spells do not."

"Do you think you could show me?" Charlie looked back at his wife and gave her a charming little grin. I'm a lucky bastard.

Cho turned and smiled brilliantly at her husband when she heard him question Viktor. She was never certain that her husband didn't feel that he had to settle, but that enthusiasm for a spell created by Viktor to help his wife, who he so obviously loved, made her feel warm. Small steps, girl; small steps.

Just as Viktor was nodding his acquiescence, something buzzed one of Hermione's spells. "Viktor, could you cast your spell with me right here?" she asked, pointing to what looked like a collapsed wall.

They all gathered around as Hermione and Viktor cast together, and were quite impressed by the way their castings interwove with each other. The other couples all decided they needed to see if they could make their magic do that.

As the magic pierced the sophisticated ward, Hermione exclaimed, "Fenrir!"

"He's at the Ministry, Hermione. You just told us that at dinner." Neville was very patient with his friend; he knew how hard the war had been and had gotten used to people seeing things that weren't there.

She turned and gave Neville a hug. "You are always looking out for me, Nev. I know Fenrir is trapped at the Ministry, but I just meant that I finally recognized the magic. Fenrir liked adding some of his blood to his wards, which is why you could sense that they were wizarding wards, but they seemed to be an unusual variation. In order to break these we are going to need a tincture of aconite, milk and sunflower oil. And we will need to figure out the best runes to paint with them to weaken the wards, or bring them down entirely."

Luna spoke up from her place some distance from the wards, her hands up as though she were a mime in a box, "We need peace, healing, brotherhood, love and strength. And I think we will need some Muggle Vitamin D to add to the oil as a base. We will use the old Druidic runes and sigils."

Neville nodded as he heard what his friend had to say. "Luna, Hermione, would some artichoke and lemongrass work as a cleansing smoke? I have all the plants you two named, and the elves can get you the oil and milk; I know they use them in the kitchens."

The witches looked at each other and nodded. All of them were playing to their strengths and were coming up with a very powerful solution.

Draco had been frantically working some Arithmantic formulas. He looked up from his calculations with a smile on his face. "Neville's addition just threw this equation over the top. We were going to weaken the wards with what Hermione and Luna wanted to do, but that last bit gave us the edge to break through. It seems very important that we learn to do this for some unclear reason."

"The reason vill probably show itself later, Draco. The elves haff been restless about something, but I haff not asked the right questions. I don't know vhat to ask yet." Viktor's comment was not as strange as it seemed. He had rallied the elves when Voldemort was in power, helping a few of them with Bulgarian healing spells that reacted to magical beings of any kind.

Their tasks decided, everyone began to do what was necessary to break through Fenrir's wards. Draco went with Neville to get the ingredients that were required, while Luna, Cho and Hermione prepared the site. Viktor was teaching Charlie the spell he used to enhance Hermione's casting.

"That makes me feel so much better," Cho commented while she helped her friends prepare the site in front of the ward for their casting, jutting her chin toward the two men.

"He was pleased with the choice from the start, Cho." Luna's sagacity sometimes startled her friends.

Hermione added, "And more than pleased by Christmas. He told his father how much you helped him and how he was confused by his feelings when you were separated, even for a little while; he was worried about a longer separation. He was so proud when you earned that apprenticeship." Hermione knew this because Charlie loved to talk to Viktor. They sometimes had Seeker games one-on-one that made Hermione realize just why so many people were surprised that Charlie never went into professional Quidditch. I wonder why Cho never joined them? I think Viktor said they had invited her... she must have been a little insecure about playing against them.

Cho smiled at her friends. She had fallen for her husband, but was afraid that it was one-sided. She was so glad to hear that she wasn't just creating feelings where there were none.

Draco and Neville returned just then with the aconite, milk, Vitamin D, sunflower oil and a cauldron. Viktor transfigured a nearby rock into a work table, and they joked and laughed as they prepared their ingredients. Neville also brought an incense burner and prepared his lemongrass and artichoke mixture to smoke. He set it up in the center of the semi-circle. When they were done, Luna painted the necessary runes. As she finished the last one, the semi-circle they had set up around the ward they were hoping to break glowed briefly. Hermione raised her wand to cast, then thought better of it and called Viktor over. Knowing what she wanted, he wrapped his arms around her, and with both their hands clasped over both wands, they cast the ward-breaking spell. Their combined magic and the protective semi-circle helped disintegrate the wards without causing an explosion.

Neville said what they were all thinking: "That was bloody amazing!"

"It truly was, Nev. Powerful too!" Draco was basking in the release of power.

"We seem to have melded together there for a bit. I think I rather liked it," said a bemused Luna.

"Are we all OK?" Hermione asked. "That was wonderful, but a bit draining."

She got nods from everyone present. Once they had settled down again, Hermione turned to Cho. "Are you ready to finish this?"

"Absolutely!" Cho's voice was triumphant. She would have a good report to give to the goblins.

Hermione and Cho began the intricate set of spells used by the goblins to determine if a site was clear of destructive wards. Once Hermione and Cho determined that it was safe, they all rushed into what turned out to be a cave made out of part of the dungeon. They heard a weak voice, and as they all pulled their wands, Charlie gasped, then ran.

The others followed him but stopped dead when they saw the stocky red-head fall to his knees in front of the emaciated figure. "Bill!"