January 12, 1945
Tuesday Early Morning
He hadn't been woken up during the night. Grindelwald had not stormed the castle and massacred the population that morning. Everything that Harry had feared would happen, hadn't happened at all. There were no traitors nor mass destruction, there weren't Muggle bombers or men with guns mixed in with Grindelwald's followers.
The conflict stayed as a Magical one exclusively and even if that did mean there were other beings involved, Muggles were kept away from everything. It made sense in many ways, but most of all, Harry supposed it made sense for Grindelwald to avoid using them in this specific fight especially. If there was a chance for even one other person to betray Hogwarts in the same way that Walburga had, the lack of extra force was worth it.
Harry was certain that before the siege was over there'd be a traitor, somebody would eventually break and attempt to aid the enemy. It was normal, expected and the very reason that Elaine forbade anybody from leaving once they'd entered unless they were on a very short list of specific people.
She's deadly smart and wickedly beautiful, that's never changed since the first day I met her and really, if Tom was like that, it makes sense why so many people followed him willingly into the depths of immorality.
He rolled over and looked at Elaine's sleeping form. She was beautiful; those dark eyelashes with her darker hair and incredibly pale skin contrasted just as her personality did. In a way, it reminded him of the Battle at the Ministry with the smoke trails that the others had as they flew about the room. Some of her was wicked, horrible and devious beyond measure while another side of her was capable of empathy, kindness… he wished that side would have been as prevalent in his own time as it seemed to be in this one.
"You're looking at me whilst you think I'm asleep," Elaine said, her eyes still closed as she spoke to him. "I can't blame you or call it a weird action to take, I've done that exact same thing dozens of times. In our sleep we seem innocent, rested and at peace while we both know during our hours spent awake, we're anything but."
"I like to think I've maintained a bit of innocence," Harry said, the smallest of grins on his face as he yawned and stretched.
If the two of them were up, it wouldn't be too much longer before they readied themselves for the day. Until that time came, however, he would enjoy the companionship she offered as well as the warmth of the bed and her soft body cuddled against his. It truly made him feel as if the world were normal when the two of them were confined in this ornate bedroom.
Well, at least until he remembered where exactly they were and their reason for being inside of it. Once he did that, those feelings of happiness were very quickly replaced with anger and a sliver of hatred for the man who killed so many without a thought.
Elaine flicked him on the nose, one of her nails gliding across his skin just light enough to avoid leaving a scratch behind. "You think you're innocent?" she snorted this time and tossed the covers off of them so that she could stand up. "Need I point out that you're sharing a bed with me, a woman you aren't married to? I'll grant you your chastity is maintained, but we've done much that I would say others would consider you partially corrupted by me."
"You? Corrupt m-" Harry was cut off mid-joke when Elaine swung her leg over him so that she was straddling his waist, his surprise was obvious to the pair of them thanks to how quickly she'd moved from the edge of the bed to a position astride him.
"Wouldn't you consider this a corrupt, intimate moment, my lovely?" Elaine asked, her face portraying just as much levity and a sense of joking as his had with the slightest hint of crazy that had seemed a bit more prevalent as of late. "We'll need to wash, go over our plans for the day and dress in a way that has us matching before we make to speak with the others. I'm sure you agree on all accounts, as any hint of weakness could have the others rise up as they get tired of this space."
"Why can't we expand it? If they're bored of being in the other rooms, we could allow them access to the Chamber itself since it's much larger or, barring that, add additional rooms and space to this current section of the castle," Harry finished with a small, satisfied smile on his face as he registered Elaine was genuinely hearing him out much like she'd done the previous night.
The fact that she truly seemed interesting in what he said and beyond that, cared for him so much that she mentioned she'd do whatever it took to keep him safe; he was confused and stunned. Tom Riddle, the man who she would have been in a different time, had no similar sense of regard for the well being of others or interest in hearing their ideas.
Everybody was a pawn to him and similarly, Elaine's friends had been pawns to her by and large. Corene and Daphne enjoyed the highest of privileges, he recognised that, but even they still ultimately looked to her as a figure of authority despite the lot of them being students. Some of them were much, much higher in status too on account of their families, but they followed were nonetheless.
He was truly glad he'd changed that.
"The magic that makes the Chamber work is of an age and quality that even I dare not meddle with despite my confidence to do so correctly," Elaine said to him, a frown on her face as she looked around the room at large whilst she maintained her spot atop of him. "I could tell you that the magic in these very walls, wards and protections that Slytherin himself placed, has not been taught for centuries upon centuries. Much of it has evolved like everything else does with the passing of time, but some of it is forgotten - other wards, schemes and the like were done in ways that are no longer taught with methods we no longer comprehend on account of their limitations."
Harry scratched his head at that one. If anybody could understand anything, regardless of how stupid it was or useless it could be, Elaine was that person just as much as Dumbledore was. The two truly seemed to have a knack for learning spells that nobody else knew and even if that knowledge mainly came from his previous life, he'd witnessed it in this one too.
"You could learn it, beat it, couldn't you? I mean, we're here in his very chambers, the one he likely came up with much of that magic in the first place and with a journal where he spoke about it," Harry said, gesturing to where Slytherin's journal was on proud display once more before he looked back at her, confused. "We've placed warns atop of the ones he and others had too, haven't we? What's keeping them from interfering with the others?"
Elaine cocked her head, her eyebrows furrowing and her eyes alight with a look that he seldom, if ever, saw; he was proud to make her think so deeply about an issue that he was interested in, himself.
"If I were to theorise the same as others do on account of our inability to truly understand why Magic works the way it does, I would say it comes back to what I earlier said about methods and schemes. Should I do something one way and you do a task with the same end goal in mind but you utilise a completely different process, the likeliness that both methods work together is extremely high," Elaine said, patting him on the cheek and then kissing him on the nose. "Magic is complex and taught differently across every culture, it's part of the reason that no being alive has ever mastered it thanks to the lack of uniformity. The Roman Empire, a country I've heard you hold an interest in, was dangerous because of its ability to absorb magic from the many areas they took over."
That made… a lot of sense, actually. Harry hadn't expected it to, but the more he thought about it the more it seemed like it could work. In one scenario, he figured a man that grew up solely reading and learning from his village would be a master of that magic while somebody like Corene, a witch with a family that came from three different cultures, would know much more across many varying topics - it was easy to understand that the second person would always win.
"So our spells and such will work together with the ones Slytherin put all about?" Harry asked, clarifying what she meant.
Elaine nodded once and rolled off of him, her feet gracefully making contact with the ground as she did a small twirl to launch herself from bed without the usage of her arms. "That would be correct, yes."
"And the other spells or magic that protects his quarters… we can't use magic that expands the rooms even if it works under a different set of rules thanks to the different methods we're using?" Harry questioned, finally rising from bed himself as he made to move towards the bathroom attached to their quarters.
"Despite the difference in quality and how our wards or runes work, we could not safely do anything but add to our current home. While it's true that it wouldn't directly interfere since that wouldn't be our intent, the fact of the matter is that expansion of any kind would mess with all current magic," Elaine picked up her wand and held it daintily between her fingers, examining it for any sign of imperfection as she finished speaking. "Magic doesn't expand passively, all of his work and the others that came after him would stop at the same point it previously did. Should that happen, I shudder to think what would come crashing down upon his."
"Even if you're reasonably confident?" Harry asked, that being his final question before their morning work.
"Especially because I'm reasonably confident," Elaine said, smiling over her shoulder and nodding towards his wand. "If I wasn't confident in the slightest, I wouldn't know what I'm talking about. It's because of my confidence that I know with absolute certainty that any meddling would be beyond stupid whilst at the same time, needlessly dangerous - what could happen and what would happen, are impossible to predict. Now, undress and join me in the shower, we've slept past the time we were meant to rise."
Merlin, be more straightforward, why don't you?
January 12, 1945
Tuesday Morning
Elaine had lied to him and in all honesty, he should have expected it. They hadn't slept in, nor had they really slept for all that long in the first place. As usual, she was overworking and constantly wanted a hand in every cookie jar. It simply wasn't enough for her to have incredibly competent people like Corene or Daphne seeing to things, she wanted everything done her way with the lot of them constantly asking for her approval.
It was slowing quite a few things down even if it did maintain a high level of quality, but was the time lost and effort put forth necessary? Harry didn't think so, not if the people already looking after each task could do a wicked job of it all on their own.
"What's the reason for draining all of the water above us again?" Harry questioned as he, Elaine and Corene made to leave Slytherin's quarters; Aster, Daphne and Reinhard would remain behind in charge.
"If we don't do this now, the odds of cracks in the foundation forming as a result of the bombardment grow daily. As a direct result of those cracks being formed, the area in which we currently occupy, would flood, leaving us to deal with that as a reaction - reactionary opponents in any form of combat are always the ones that lose, Harry. You'll be much too busy plugging holes that should have been proactively dealt with." Elaine answered, straight to the point as the three emerged from the long, straight staircase at the end of the tunnel.
"I'll take the left," Corene said as soon as she was stood on the old, smelly and slimy stones of the Grand Chamber.
"Wait," Harry said, speaking up and causing Corene to halt in her movement while he grabbed Elaine's hand at the same time. "Aren't we going about this the wrong way?"
Corene cocked her head at him, clearly curious until she looked over at Elaine with much the same look on her face. It ticked to him right then that he had, without thought, attempted to override Elaine's plan and that Corene was curious as to how Elaine would deal with that.
"Explain," Elaine said to him, her voice deeper and business-like rather than sweet as was usual of her.
"You said we're clearing the immediate area of water and constructing new walls to keep the water out. If we're doing that to keep water from coming in this general direction, shouldn't we also figure out a way to redirect it in the event of a flood? I'm not sure if one's ever happened - actually, it has to have if every bit of this stone is as disgusting as it currently is," Harry said, confident as he brushed his foot over a particularly grimy bit of the stony surface below him.
"What would you have us do? There're many tasks to complete today and as such, we're quite limited in our ability to rework the plan that was made for this specific portion," Elaine's hands were on her hips as she looked at him, clearly expecting a plan if he made to offer up an idea with Corene present.
Harry shrugged. "If we planned on raising new walls to keep the water out, then it makes sense to me that we double down and make a new room atop the staircase that has another entrance hidden within the stone. Not only that, but we should probably add another wall or two down below that could act as additional security measures as well as blocking points if we get flooded."
Brilliant job, mate… if I do say so myself… which I do.
Elaine didn't respond immediately. She was visibly contemplating his idea whilst Corene looked on, interested and silent as the many statues that littered the entirety of Hogwarts. It was interesting seeing how the two girls, practically sisters for all he was concerned the more he looked at them, acted.
"We'll go with your idea and shorten our scheduled lesson for the day to make up for the extra time we'll spend here," Elaine finally said, her feet carrying her towards him until she stopped with barely a foot of distance. "I'm glad my lesson about proactive versus reactive stuck so quickly, my love. You truly do seem to catch on much quicker than the rest of our friends even with your wonderful skittishness."
Harry felt a bit embarrassed with Corene hearing that, but he ultimately brushed it off. There were always acceptable losses in every victory, so he'd take that one in stride.
Thirty minutes as Elaine had predicted and allocated ended up turning into nearly two hours with a bit of change tacked on at the end. It wasn't any surprise to him that they'd gone on much longer than she had thought they would, not with more and more work getting discovered as they drained the chamber; existing minor cracks, rats, a flooded cavern that ran parallel to them.
The last event had been the most surprising and interesting, but there wasn't time to explore it. Not when the day was already horribly off-course in Elaine's own words.
"We're finished? No more additional workings that you've thought up, darling?" Elaine asked, one of her long, cold hands resting on his back as she stood directly beside him, her shoulder pushing into one of his.
"I have completed the tasks that were given to me, including closing off the second passage until the time comes that you would like us to explore it," Corene said, dipping her head respectfully once while her eyes sought out Harry's to pay him the same level of respect; seeing her attempt to keep a balance for them as a couple was very interesting.
"Good," Elaine said, the young woman pressing a kiss to his cheek that lingered for a few seconds before she withdrew and pushed him gently towards Corene. "You two should go and check on the castle. Be quick, quiet and ready to flee at a moment's notice. Under no circumstances should any of our group fight without the rest present to be alongside them."
"We'll be careful - we made a promise, yeah? Grindelwald will lose to our wands, together," Harry assured Elaine, simultaneously reminding her of their agreement and affirming to her that they would take no risks of any kind so long as they could help it.
Elaine looked at him with an eyebrow raised while the corners of her lips rose ever so slowly until a small smile was present on her face. "We did and he most definitely will. There will be no chance of escape, he will answer for his crimes and we as a bloc will rise to positions of prominence as a direct result of our beating him. Life will finally be made perfect, as it should always be."
He wasn't completely sure that he bought that. People would always find something to take issue with and even if he fought to make sure Elaine remained in check when it came to her crazier ideas, there would always be the occasional slip-up. After all, there was that wonderful Muggle quote; to error is to human.
"His safety will be guaranteed, Elaine," Corene said as she stepped up, taking up a spot on his other side while one of her much warmer hands grabbed onto the back of his shirt. "You have my word that no risks will be taken nor will any staff prevent us from returning."
Elaine looked at the pair of them for a few seconds in silence until she eventually nodded towards the door; why there wasn't a stronger response confused him… she was the queen of overreacting and policing those within her sphere, after all.
When Harry and Corene eventually made their way out of the Chamber, what they first noticed was the lack of any of their peers, or anybody else, for that matter. Hogwarts was usually always busy, with dozens of students and staff visible all the while the occasional guest milled about. It was the way things were in any era, so it seemed.
Merlin, even when the Basilisk was about, people would still walk the walls of Hogwarts. It was that thought alone that truly put it into perspective for Harry.
"You can't see me, correct?" Corene asked quietly, her voice barely loud enough for him to understand her words.
He nodded before shaking his head, feeling like an idiot when he did so. "No," he finally said, putting it into words instead of a physical affirmation. "No, I can't see you. I assume the same is true for me, right?"
Corene tapped him on the hand once. "Yes, I can no longer see you or your many nods that you tend to make," Corene cleared her throat, a small, cute sneeze coming out of her that echoed through the halls despite her attempt to stop it.
They had to move quickly now, lest somebody hears it and came to see the people that shouldn't be moving freely throughout Hogwarts. So that was what they did, Harry and Corene took off, hand in hand, in the direction of the staircase that would lead them further upwards. The two of them needed to survey Hogwarts and Hogwarts' land, Hogsmeade included, to determine the severity of the situation.
Once that was done and only once that was done, would they return to the safety that the Chamber offered. Elaine wasn't happy that he had insisted on joining Corene during the entire two hours spent adding to their safety, but she didn't ultimately end up stopping him. He was more surprised about that than he was when he came to learn Marcus Potter was no longer in Hogwarts.
Veronica Weasley, Striker Canyon, all of the Goldhorns; every single one of that group that regularly spent time together had fled the school the very same evening Elaine had those of hers head into the chamber. She had kept that under wraps for whatever reason, but the following morning during their bath, she shared it with him - he wanted to rationalise it as her ensuring the authenticity of those claims.
I have to stop guessing her motives and her overall, all it's going to do is do me in the more I think about it.
He shook his head and refused the urge to huff. Any sound made was dangerous, hence the reason for their slow walking speed in the direction of the stairs while they kept their hands tightly wrapped around one another. If they got lost with as masterful a set of disillusionment charms on them as they currently had, well, that would certainly spell problems.
On and on they continued, the rubble of Hogwarts certainly not a major factor in its dungeons. That changed as they saw the staircase and only then, for it was very clear at that point that there was serious damage to the structure with how much rubble littered that area. It gave them pause as they looked at it, enough so that they didn't move for nearly a minute, but eventually, they continued on.
"If another bombardment begins, you will cast the shield charms to prevent us from being crushed while I guide us down and warn you regarding your step," Corene stated, her tone short-sounding and more serious - no that wasn't the right word - than he'd ever heard it before.
He thought long and hard about that too… no, not really, it was very evident why she was bothered. Hogwarts was a place she looked forward to, enjoyed even, just as he did and furthermore, Grindelwald had slaughtered many, many of her countrymen. Her hatred for the man was likely as strong as her mother's and in his mind, it was entirely justifiable. Maybe, just maybe, he could drag her along for that fight too.
If anything, it would make for a good bit of familial bonding and the extra person would definitely prove helpful in a fight against the best wizard to walk the earth since Merlin himself. The latter half of that was exaggerated and based on other people's accounts of Grindelwald since Harry had never fought the man himself, but if all of those stories were true, he had to be as brilliant as he was horrible.
Dumbledore being the one to ultimately defeat him made sense since he was more studious than any person Harry had ever known, including Hermione and Elaine. In the latter's defence, she didn't need to put forth all that much time for results while he was the opposite in most cases. If something didn't have his all, the maximum that he could give, it was pretty likely that what he was learning wouldn't stick around all that long in his mind.
"Stop," Corene whispered, her lips sounding as if they were an inch or so from his ear.
He nearly asked her why they were halting until he heard them despite how quiet-sounding they were; voices, a good-sized group of people if he had to guess. They were rapidly approaching the staircase based on how loud their steps were getting in addition to their voices as they spoke with one another. Still, as loud as they were, they remained impossible to understand until they were very close on account of birds and the interference of hallways.
"Hogsmeade is burned down, that's what the Headmaster said!" One boy said, his voice loud enough to be considered a yell as he turned one of the final, closeby hallways.
"I don't care what the Headmaster said. How would he even know if he's stayed tucked away in his office all night?" Another person, an older girl based on the sound of their voice, said. "For all we know, he's trying to scare us into listening since most of our friends aren't taking this very seriously. I mean, really, why would Grindelwald and his followers be here of all places?"
"We're the best school of magic in the entire world. Obviously, he'd want to recruit additional followers before killing the rest of the school off so that we're not in competition or against him in the future," Another girl, this one very arrogant-sounding said in response to her friend. "It's pretty simple, really."
The conversation stopped there and the group of five students turned the final corner, finally entering Harry's visibility.
He wasn't surprised when he saw that all of them were from houses other than Slytherin. It made sense when the vast majority of them were with Elaine in Slytherin's quarters and those that weren't tucked away with her group were very likely hiding in their temporary dorms. Self-preservation ran rampant throughout all of Slytherin while the urge to explore and move freely was something that Gryffindor students felt at nearly all times. One could argue that those from Hufflepuff had a similar urge to move about too.
That the students were nearly all from Gryffindor with one Hufflepuff only added credit to his thought.
"Moan about Hogsmeade all you'd like, I'm more worried about Grindelwalf - say he's really out there and this isn't all some elaborate nonsense to keep us under control while idiots attack the village. That would mean we're done, completely and utterly. Nobody here could beat Voldemort and if you listen to the Prophet, Dumbledore's the only person he's worried about crossing wands wi-"
The boy didn't get to finish his sentence before loud explosions rang out. They were nearly deafening and the shaking that followed not a second after was far stronger in their current position. For the first time since the siege had started, Harry truly felt nervous.
It wasn't a good feeling and it certainly made him glad that Marcus Potter's family had gotten him out of school as well as the rest of his friend group. Nepotism had its perks, Harry would give it that.
"Come on," Corene whisper-yelled, her voice barely discernable over the yells of the other group and the explosions that still rocked Hogwarts.
He didn't hesitate. Harry grabbed hold of his wand, ready to cast protection above them at a moment's notice and took off with Corene after she tugged on his hand for a second time. Hesitation would be their death, especially in a wide-open and rubble-heavy zone as the stairs seemed to be.
The two of them ran and ran and ran until they eventually ended up in a classroom on the opposite side of the bombardment. It was there that they would stay, as the strength of the blows that Hogwarts absorbed were far stronger than they had felt in the bowels of the school where they'd been.
"You can speak regularly now, I've placed the proper charms to ensure our privacy and security," Corene said, cuddled into his side as she was.
It was unusual of her, but not at all unwelcome. He was nervous the same as she seemed to be and neither of them could blame the other or themselves for that fact. Battle, War, a fight - it didn't matter what you called it, any form of violence was terrifying and fear-inducing to an extreme that words couldn't do justice.
There was a reason all those groups tended to scream at one another in parliament or in the Wizengamot rather than fling spells. Sure, one reason was an inherent bit of civilisation but the other was definitely out of fear of reprisal.
"Think Hogwarts will hold again today?" Harry asked, finally speaking in a normal tone of voice for the first time since they'd left the safety and security that the Chamber provided.
"Hogwarts has stood for hundreds upon hundreds of years and should you have read its history, it has never fallen once in any war or siege. The Ministry won't allow it, our allies across the channel and pond won't allow it," Corene cocked her head from its spot on one of his arms. "Everybody protects their family and friends, that's always been true, but people in today's world don't forget to look forward, to their future - we are the future."
Corene usually had a weird way of speaking and generally, her thought process was equally as indiscernible, but not this time. Every single one of those words made sense and he knew she was exactly right. The Ministry, the Wizengamot and the allies from all over the world knew how important Hogwarts was.
The school was a symbol, that much was true, but the occupants of it were far more important. Housed inside the ancient Castle were ancient texts with single copies, a history that would be lost to the ages should it be destroyed and nearly the entire youth population for Magical Britain. Should the walls come crashing down and the entirety of it be destroyed, so too would the society collapse without extensive outside intervention.
That wouldn't happen; Harry wouldn't let anybody destroy his home or the people of it.
Nearly an hour had come and gone by the time the final few spells impacted Hogwarts. Most of them did little damage, some of them next to none, but the occasional chunks that were seen out of their window that went flying outwards to the grounds. If that visual wasn't enough, the massive thundering sounds of collapsing stone that came from the direction of the stairs, were. Harry supposed a bit of damage to a place that could easily be repaired wasn't too horrible a cost to pay during a war, however, the lack of screams all throughout the noises of explosions seemed to imply little actual damage… to the defenders and people present.
When he and Corene made their way back towards the further staircase so that they could finally finish their task, they say nothing of note. There were no dead bodies of Aurors, Staff or their peers. Blood was absent, a majority of the rubble already seemed as if it were dealt with and the massive holes one would expect were simply not present. It didn't make much sense, especially the lattermost observation - they had heard the damage in real-time, so where had it gone?
Corene pulled on his hand, she did so only once and sharply. Whatever she had seen or wanted to direct his attention towards was missed, at least until he looked forward instead of where her body would be had she been visible.
The stairs that they needed to use to further climb Hogwarts, were destroyed. No longer could one freely climb upwards to the highest points and while that was very good on account of the hundreds of students, it presented quite the problem on account of what they needed to do. If he had his old broom, it would've been far less of a problem.
Sometimes, he really did miss all the flying around he used to do. That'd be remedied eventually when he didn't have a brilliantly mad girlfriend, too many political friends and a literal murderer outside of Hogwarts.
"Hold on," Harry whispered after leaning closer to where Corene's head likely was.
Her hand tightened around his as her body grew closer, enough so that it was firmly touching him. Once he felt that she was close enough to be safe and far away from any potentially dangerous rubble up above, he began to repair the staircases with their former pieces. They weren't magical, moving staircases that were necessary to use if you were in Gryffindor, but simple everyday mundane ones that didn't need more than basic transfiguration knowledge.
Luckily for him and Corene both, Transfiguration worked just fine for him. Everything seemed to nowadays, though that could just be the result of him truly studying. If he would have known previously all of the spells, knowledge and tricks he was missing out on, the odds were pretty high that he would have joined Hermione during her countless hours of studying; Runes and Arithmancy… the former was alright if overly complicated but the latter could bugger off.
Minutes went by, his transfiguration was slow-moving and precise as he attempted to repair the stairs before them in numerous spots. He had to give it to himself too, for when he looked back on a finished job, his style and ability almost perfectly matched that of the original creation. Sure, his work looked a little too pristine, but he wouldn't go back and damage the stairs any. If anything, his repairs would last centuries as the previous ones did and all while helping maintain structural integrity.
Corene and he continued, finally able to unabatedly go about their assignment. Really, it should have only taken thirty minutes at the most and when they returned, Elaine was likely to give the pair an earful. It didn't matter all that much to Harry and less when he could finally gaze upon where Hogsmeade was with his own two eyes rather than having to hear about it from Corene - it wasn't an insult to the girl, but Merlin, anybody else could do a better job when giving descriptions.
"I find it unfortunate that neither you nor myself have a camera," Corene said, her voice as neutral as ever even as they gazed at a village that held many a memory for the both of them.
He wasn't sure how she did it, the 'it' referencing her emotions… he couldn't feel anything but anger as he looked at Grindelwald's crimes. Hogsmeade, the village would never be rebuilt and as for the many shops, dozens of them that he loved, it made sense why they were never visible in his future.
It may not have happened like this, but that'll be the same come a few decades from now. I wonder what else happened differently thanks to me and what else will appear the same as I remember it. Suppose I'll have to see it then, Mortem knows I won't be leaving this time.
"Hogsmeade never really stood much of a chance, did it?" Harry asked, curious and growing in anger as he looked at the village's remnants.
"Not in the slightest. Had we all been present, all being a totally collective meaning, then possibly," Corene tapped him on the shoulder, her touch light and fleeting as was normal. "You have my apologies should there have been any friends, family or favoured shops of yours in Hogsmeade. He will pay dearly once this conflict is over, the inside of a cell is a sight his eyes will never claim."
"I thou-" Harry paused. "Elaine considered capturing him, but that won't be the case after all of this. He'll die here, huh?"
Corene's head turned towards him, a movement he could only feel thanks to their invisibility. "Many people will, I should think. This is a siege, Harry, how often do you hear of them lifting themselves with minimal losses on either side?"
He didn't answer, instead, he gazed once more out of the nearby window to take one last look at Hogsmeade. There were a scant few buildings still standing defiantly amongst the ruins of their friends, a dozen more were making their last stand against the bite of fire and all the while hundreds of tents watched on from beside the lake or carriage path. Grindelwald's forces were camped out so close to the Hogwarts population and they looked as if they didn't have a worry in the world.
Some seemed drunk as they stumbled about in the distance like an ant with too heavy a prize, others seemed happy in their dancing or playing games and a few stood stock still, just like the statues of Hogwarts did in their sentry duty. Harry shook his head and mentioned the stairs, they'd seen all that they needed to.
As for their playing or drinking, he'd forget all about it. In his mind, those were the actions of humans, not murderers who lusted for spilling innocent blood.
January 12, 1945
Tuesday Evening
"Good news, I hope?" Harry asked as Elaine entered their bedroom with a smile still gracing her lips, one that only moments earlier put to rest the worry that had begun to rise from her less-confident followers.
Elaine grinned, her teeth showing and her body language self-assured. "Grindelwald's pet Muggles retreated nearly five to twenty kilometres across their entire encircled pocket. The tides are changing and his sphere of influence shrinks with the passing of every second," her smile fell then and her hands sought out one another, wringing incessantly as her tone changed as easily as the weather often did. "Muggles will soon be near our Hogwarts - his Muggles and ours. Magic can only do so much to keep us hidden too, and in this age of technology, what would they do should they find out about our existence en masse?"
"You're worried the Muggle machines, guns and that lot will find their way to Hogwarts?" Harry asked, clarifying for himself in the hopes that he was misunderstanding her.
"I'm not worried it will happen, I know with absolute certainty that it will should we fail to break this siege ourselves. Grindelwald's Muggles, cutoff and poor in quality as they are, could very likely hold for a month or two on account of their condensed size," Elaine said, her pacing picking back up as she moved near the bathroom entrance. "We should rescue ourselves and keep them away from Hogwarts, all of them, down to the last Muggle. If our allies and Aurors won't do this, then you and I will."
Harry rolled his eyes and lifted his head. "You and I against Grindelwald's forces all alone, is it?"
"Of course not," Elaine said with a scoff as one hand came to rest upon her hip, one of those perfectly plucked eyebrows raised as she stared at him. "We would simply goad him into attacking Hogwarts and to do so, we'd need to cause a wonderful incentive that he couldn't pass on. Perhaps we could let loose a rumour involving your familial artefacts or something along that line."
"He's already after me and he already thinks I know everything. Why would that force him to attack unless he was truly desperate?" Harry scrunched up his lips and shifted them to the side of his face, his mind pointing itself like a compass towards his thoughts of Aster; that boy was far, far better at any form of tactical thinking than Harry was.
"I imagine with his front collapsing, his supplies running low and the morale of his followers decaying to the point of threats being used as a driving force, it won't be all that much longer before he has no choice but to rely on rumours of power. Once that happens, we will find ourselves in possession of two of the three," Elaine licked her lips as her eyes traced the entirety of his body. "We're already the most powerful couple alive, imagine us with divine power from a being that should have known far better - one that many consider among the strongest since creation."
Harry didn't entirely mind becoming the strongest wizard alive; his life as the boy-who-lived had been pretty troublesome, but if he had Dumbledore's positions with Elaine constantly at his side… yes, he could see how that'd be very attractive. It would take an amount of willpower that he wasn't sure he truly possessed to keep himself in check. All of his extra efforts would have to go towards keeping her in check because he knew for a fact that Elaine wouldn't willingly keep herself from going beyond normal boundaries.
"What about the first through fourth years? They'll be ripped apart if they go up against Grindelwald's followers, Merlin, most of Hogwarts would be if we brought the fight here," Harry said, pointing out the key issue in her thought process.
"Nearly all of them are hidden down below, in the dungeons of Hogwarts and in a few passages that no outsider would have knowledge of. All of the fights would be kept well away from them and should we lose - which I know to be impossible but I'll still humour my darling - I doubt Grindelwald would massacre a bunch of children," Elaine yawned, her chest expanding as her arms flexed to show off a lithe frame. "Come on then, won't you? I'd like a bath with you before we tuck in for the night. That plan, it's only necessary if our Aurors don't do their job and the reinforcements from the Ministry fail to reach us."
That was something Harry had noticed no matter the time period that truly irked him; the Aurors. "Why do the Aurors seem so… incompetent? You hear about them losing battle after battle and sure, we have a lot of them thanks to McMacson, but he doesn't strike me as the one to throw lives away."
"Any fault within any portion of the Ministry is only ever able to be traced back to one man and one man alone, Harry. If the Muggle Artefacts division fails, it was the Minister. Should the department for Law Enforcement fail, it was the Minister. He alone receives all of the praise and all of the blame even if it truly is the Wizengamot who holds much of the power… ah, yes, I do aim to change that gradually too," Elaine smiled sweetly, her arms outstretched as she gave him an inviting look in the direction of their shared bathroom once more.
Today had certainly been quite something. From seeing Hogsmeade be devastated and the massive army Grindelwald had brought with him to hearing of Elaine's plans and learning from her that morning.
He truly hoped the rest of the week would go by much, much more slowly.
January 15, 1945
Friday Afternoon
Hogwarts was safer, at least temporarily and before too much longer, it would be much safer… assuming Grindelwald didn't attack before then. Aurors had arrived in the dozens, possibly even hundreds, and with them came a massive amount of material support that saw Hogwarts in a far stronger position than it had initially been in.
If that hadn't been enough, the Ministry announced their most veteran forces would soon arrive and they would be returned under a man who knew Hogwarts intimately; Dumbledore. No longer would he conceal himself and his actions, now was finally the time that he made sure to show where he was.
Elaine hadn't been idle either, she had begun classes five times a day all for an hour each and all in varying fields. In their own bedroom as well as the bathroom, they'd even gone over the Patronus charm again. It was something that offered her far more trouble than it should, but once she finally seemed to pick the right memory whilst utilising the correct emotions, she was as perfect in that as she was in anything else.
The thanks he got from aiding her in doing something she thought impossible was wonderful too. They'd snogged for nearly half an hour, cuddled for twice as long and Elaine chose to reward him with whatever he wished on account of him being the 'greatest wizard to stand beside her'.
He loved to hear that and of course, he took up her offer, only in a way that he very much doubted she had intended… which led to their current position together on their bed, alone, in the early morning.
"We're both aware that you'll give in to your urges eventually, correct?" Elaine asked, tired-sounding as she blinked up at him from behind dark lashes with darker eyes.
Harry couldn't help but chuckle and move a bit of her hair behind her ear, the moment far more intimate than most in recent times. "I think we are, yeah. It wouldn't do, focusing on anything else until he's dealt with though, now would it?"
Elaine raised an eyebrow and dragged her eyes back to the book that was currently by their heads.
"That counts towards dealing with the current situation, doesn't it?" Harry asked, fighting to keep the smile from his face as she called him on his shite.
"If you think learning a series of spells that haven't been taught for centuries and for good reason at that, vital, then maybe I was perfectly correct in thinking to make you Director of Magical Law Enforcement," Elaine's smirk in the flickering candlelight was beautiful as ever and her sense of teasing when she chose to be lighthearted rather than overly serious or downright horrible, it was as beautiful as she outwardly was.
Shame that the dark bit of her doesn't fade away… at least she's not as crazy or possessive anymore though, yeah?
"I have a reason for learning these spells even if you do think they're far too old," Harry said, smiling calmly as he stretched his arms over his head. "We both know you would've helped me with this anyways too. You've grown a soft spot for me, but that's good, I'd be worried if you stopped trying to jump me for a snog between classes."
One of her hands came to trace down his back in a gesture that was decidedly more lustful than anything else. At the same time, her eyes seemed to turn heavier while her breathing grew deeper.
"Oh?" She asked, her smile growing as she propped herself up on her elbows. "You would be worried if I ceased my 'incessant' attempts to show affection regardless of where we found ourselves?"
Harry fought the urge to flick her nose at how she quoted a version of him from months upon months ago, and after a few seconds, he successfully did so. It was a close thing, but her nose remained unflicked for another day.
"I think I would be, yeah. You'd be just as worried if I just left one da-" Harry didn't get to finish his sentence before Elaine's hand that'd previously been on his back pulled him down and into another firm kiss, one that nearly had his bottom lip bleeding when she finally pulled away from him.
"You'd never get very far," Elaine said, her hands now seeking out his shoulders to knead them. "Let's head to bed, you can surprise me with whatever you're attempting to do by learning this tomorrow or whenever the time comes that you feel ready to finally do so."
Oh, you'll definitely be surprised.
Harry knew the magic he was learning was dated, old and obsolete in a way that few things were, but with that came opportunity; this way of spell creation and understanding the magic therein was unique as it was old. If he could master it, well and truly, then the spell he was aiming to bring into existence would be very dangerous.
Now he only had to hope that something didn't go horribly wrong, else he'd likely not live to see the results of it.