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Damaged Bridges	By : Gandalfs-Beard Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Harry/Hermione Views: 46870 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 6
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, all rights belong to Rowling and Warner Bros, nor do I make any money from the production of this work.

Chapter List
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The Dubious Plan

For a while, Harry sat in silence, Hermione’s arms around him, her bushy head on his shoulder, contemplating what he had witnessed in the Pensieve as he absentmindedly stroked her tawny curls.
Curious, Hermione watched the strangely neutral expression on Harry’s face. She had thought that witnessing his parents would have given him a sense of closure, putting to rest some of the ghosts which had haunted him ever since he’d seen Snape’s memory the preceding year.
“What are you thinking about, Harry?” she finally asked. “Missing your parents?”
“Er... no actually,” said Harry, frowning slightly. “Not exactly, anyway. I was actually wondering when Peter Pettigrew turned traitor - or at least started to question which side he should be on. He wasn’t in that memory of my mum and dad at the Three Broomsticks - Sirius and Remus were sitting by themselves...”
“Hmm...”
Harry smiled wryly. “Okay, what’s that ‘hmm...’ for?”
“Well, Peter might have had a reason for not being there,” Hermione answered. “And I suppose he might have started feeling left out of things. Sirius and Remus almost looked like they were on a date themselves...”
“Really?” Harry’s eyebrows shot up, disappearing under his messy fringe. “But I thought - the pictures of Muggle pin-up girls in Sirius’s room at Number Twelve - ”
“That might not have meant much in particular - in terms of who he was interested in,” Hermione pointed out. “He could have put up pictures of muggles just to irritate his parents, and of girls only, because he was more afraid of ‘coming out’ to his family as either gay or bisexual than he was of showing disdain for their pureblood beliefs. The wizard world is a lot like the Muggle World in regard to gay men, though it seems to be a bit more accepting of gay women.
“In any case, the way they were looking at each other - Sirius and Remus - in the Three Broomsticks, it just made me think there was a bit more to their relationship,” Hermione concluded.
“Huh!” said Harry thoughtfully, mulling over Hermione’s observation. “You might be onto something. Remus did seem awfully happy, about the happiest I’ve ever seen him, and Sirius did sort of have that look in his eye - though I thought it was just because Sirius had mellowed out too, like my dad.”
“Which might have been true,” Hermione agreed. “But that could have been from Remus’s influence if they had started getting closer. I’m not saying I’m a hundred percent certain - it’s just a feeling I got really, from their body language I guess.”
“Yeah,” said Harry, nodding, “I dunno, but the more I think about it, the more I think you might be right. ... That would explain why Peter wasn’t in the Three Broomsticks memory. Maybe you’re right about Pettigrew too - maybe he was starting to feel left out of things.
“But I’m wondering if there wasn’t a bit more to it too. The way Peter always kind of sucked up to my dad - I’m not sure, but it almost seemed like he wanted to be my dad sometimes in some of the memories - almost like he was jealous, or maybe envious is a better word. But at my parents’ wedding, I’m sure of it, Peter definitely looked jealous.
“For a long time I more or less believed what Pettigrew said to me in the Shrieking Shack - that he joined Voldemort because he was scared of him. But I don’t really think that’s true now, and in retrospect it really never made any sense.
“I mean, why would anyone betray their friends and join the bad guy just because they were afraid of the bad guy? ...especially when you’re being backed up by Dumbledore - the only one Voldy ever really feared. I could see it if Pettigrew had been captured, and was being tortured - anyone can give out under torture.
“But Pettigrew gave himself up and joined of his own accord without actually being threatened or tortured, by all accounts - including his own. So being afraid seems like a pretty feeble excuse really. I’m beginning to think that Pettigrew figured he stood a better chance of getting rich and getting girls without having to work hard, by sucking up to Voldemort instead. ... He’d be able to get away with anything then.”
Hermione’s brows furrowed pensively; now it was Harry who had got her thinking.
“You know Harry, I think you might be right...”

~o0o~
For several days Wormtail continued to explore the tunnel between Hogwarts and Honeyduke’s, both as rodent and as Pettigrew. It was as a rat he found more passages under Hogwarts on the third day of seeking. Wormtail’s whiskers quivered with excitement when he discovered a crack in the ancient stretch of timbers along the side of the tunnel.
He cautiously poked his little head through the crack. Wormtail’s beady black eyes could see nothing in the impenetrable darkness, but his whiskers sensed a slight draft passing through the crack, the change in air pressure indicating that there was a large chamber behind the timbers, rather than sediment and craggy rock.
Wormtail squeezed his rodent body through the crack and shifted into his human form. Retrieving his wand from a pocket in his overcoat, he lofted it in the air and murmured, “Lumos.”
Pettigrew’s breath caught as his eyes darted around the dank, musty cavern, slow drips falling from the stalactites above to meet the stalagmites below, glittering in the light from his wand. And in the rocky walls of the underground chamber were five dark openings braced with more ancient timbers. This was it; a nexus, a hub where the tunnels all met before joining up with the main tunnel to Hogsmeade.
Without a doubt, each passage must surely lead to an exit from the castle. It was possible that they were blocked at the other end though, as the entrance to the main tunnel had been so long ago. It was also likely that the tunnels branched further into more passages. There was only one way to be certain; further exploration was required.
Holding out his wand to light the way ahead, Pettigrew entered the first tunnel on his right. He was not afraid of getting lost - his whiskers and nose would always lead him back...

~o0o~

The rest of March seemed to drag on painfully even as the weather began improving, and Harry grew more impatient as there seemed to be little progress regarding a plan to steal the locket from Minister Umbridge. He had spoken to Dumbledore several times, each time receiving more or less the same answer, that the headmaster was waiting for an opportunity to present itself as he did not want to arouse the suspicions of the Minister or Voldemort.
It was the beginning of the third week of March when Dumbledore relented and gave Harry an overview of his plan, and some of the problems with it. Harry eagerly followed Dumbledore back to his office alone, as Hermione was helping Neville with his Transfiguration homework. Dora stuck with her, reckoning that Harry was fine on his own for the moment.
“The basic outline of the plan is relatively simple,” Dumbledore began with a sigh, after he had conjured up a pot of tea and some biscuits for himself and Harry, “which is for us to get close enough to the Minister in an enclosed setting with as few other Ministry officials as possible. Then, for one of us to surreptitiously cast a “Freezing” Charm - which would cause all of those affected to be “paused.”
“Then we would exchange a fake locket for the original, and unfreeze the Minister and whomever else might be in her immediate vicinity, leaving them none the wiser that any theft had occurred. There are a number of problems with this scenario though.
“Even if we were all to simply infiltrate the Ministry in disguise, taking the place of Ministry personnel - which is possibly the best approach, though I have not ruled out the use of invisibility cloaks by some of us - one of us would still need a reason to approach Minister Umbridge which would not give her cause for suspicion. She is, after all, despite everything, currently the apparent legitimate head of the Ministry.
“It is quite possible that one or more of us may be discovered and captured, and that would be disastrous. Therefore I am thus considering that it may be necessary for one of us - namely me - to approach the Minister undisguised, offering myself up for questioning in her ongoing investigation of me.
“However, as the Freezing Charm is exceedingly difficult to master, it may be best for Tonks to disguise herself as me, leaving me - under an invisibility cloak - to cast the Charm. Then, I would simply take her place as myself, leaving the rest of you to depart the Ministry with the original locket without arousing suspicion, and to destroy it with the sword of Gryffindor upon your return.
“Once I am reasonably assured that you have all safely got away, I could then “do a bunk” as it were, as I did last year from Hogwarts. Of course, in this scenario, I would not be able to return to Hogwarts, as an arrest warrant would undoubtedly be issued for me. It would be safer for the students and staff to all remain above suspicion of collusion with me, and for Professor McGonagall to assume the role of headmaster in my absence, while I continue orchestrating the Order in exile.
“Though this plan increasingly appears to be the most workable solution, it obviously leaves us with a whole new set of problems - not the least of which is that you may be targeted for reprisal by the Ministry, on either the Minister’s presumption of your involvement in my escape, or simply because she may see her opportunity to take another run at you without my presence at Hogwarts now that she is Minister. She is, after all, clearly not above manufacturing ‘evidence’ in order to target her enemies.
“In which case, it is quite possible that you and Miss Granger would also be forced to depart Hogwarts and go into exile to evade arrest and the likelihood of being turned over to Voldemort, if indeed he is behind Umbridge’s ascension to power. This clearly is not an optimal outcome, I am therefore continuing to seek a more satisfactory solution.
“I fear that the ramifications of any other solution would lead to even more severe outcomes though. If this remains the best option, then it is simply a matter of waiting for just the right moment to offer myself up for ‘interrogation’...”
Harry departed the headmaster’s office, shaken and none to pleased, to say the least, with Dumbledore’s plan, though he was hard-pressed to think of a better one. When Harry returned, looking very disturbed, Hermione finished her session with Neville. She and Dora retired to their quarters, and Harry gave them the basic outline of the plan.
“...anyway, maybe we can come up with a better one or tweak it to solve some of the problems if we put our heads together?” Harry concluded uncertainly.
“Blimey!” Dora moaned. “This is bollocks. So that’s why it’s taking him so long to figure it out...”
“Professor Dumbledore’s right,” said Hermione, as she tried considering all angles. “The basic plan sounds simple enough - and in any case, it’s not like we didn’t know we’d probably have to get into the Ministry to retrieve the locket from Umbridge. But even assuming nothing goes wrong, the potential outcome of any plan which involves us infiltrating the Ministry presents a complicated new set of problems.”
“That’s no joke,” Harry sighed. “I dunno though - I can’t really think of a better plan. It’s not very likely we’d be able to catch her off-guard outside the Ministry. She’s probably got undercover Aurors tailing her, on the lookout for anything like that, if she even goes out in public anymore - she’s certainly paranoid enough to do that...”
“That makes sense,” Hermione agreed, nodding her head. “Now that Umbridge is Minister, she would probably take all sorts of precautions to prevent whatever she or Voldemort did to kidnap or kill Scrimgeour from happening to her.”
“Yeah... that’s what I would probably do, if I were her,” Dora sighed. “Well, we might as well just get on with things for now. Maybe Dumbledore or one of us can come up with a brainwave before things come to a head...”
Given the situation, Harry and Hermione did their best to focus on schoolwork and training when not wracking their brains to come up with a different plan which would pass Dumbledore’s muster. They both reckoned that the least they could do was prepare themselves as much as possible for any potentiality - even leaving Hogwarts if that’s what it eventually came down to.
Harry and Hermione even managed to coax Ron and Lavender, and Neville, Hannah Abbott, and Susan Bones to participate in several practice sessions in the Room of requirement with them and Ginny, Luna, and Parvati. Between that and the continuing Legilimency and Occlumency lessons with Dumbledore, there was very little free time to be had as Harry studied harder than he ever had before in his other classes too.
Harry was doing so well, that even though he was three and a half years behind in translating Ancient Runes, his calligraphy and carving skills had nonetheless impressed Professor Babbling.
“Oh, very well done Mr Potter!” Professor Babbling gushed as she peered over his shoulder during class. Hermione peered over Harry’s other shoulder to have a look for herself.
“See there, Miss Granger,” Babbling pointed out, “Potter’s line-work and brush strokes are strong and bold, yet he instinctively knows when to employ a subtle, delicate touch. Any Runes he paints or inscribes will be more powerful for it. ... I dare say that Mr Potter is as good as anyone in this current year when it comes to his calligraphy.”
“I knew you could do it, Harry,” Hermione beamed as Babbling made her way back to her desk.
“I’m not really sure how,” said Harry, amazed with himself. “I’ve never really done this sort of thing before.”
“I think it’s a combination of several things Harry - your hand-eye coordination for one thing. Not to mention your ability to visualise - a must in anything artistic - and your natural instinct for any sort of physical activity. It’s why your wand-work is so good; it requires the same sort of skills. ... You’ll be brilliant at Runes when you get to more advanced translations...”
But Beginning Arithmancy continued to be a struggle for Harry - which Hermione assured him ultimately wasn’t an absolute necessity for him to master to become a great wizard. Harry’s biggest worry was whatever Nott and Crabbe and Goyle were up to, as they carried on their painstaking search through the castle.
“I don’t like it Hermione,” Harry said one evening over butterbeers in their quarters, scowling. “Someone should be keeping an eye on them, in case they do find some other secret tunnel that we don’t know about.”
“I agree Harry,” said Hermione. “But we just don’t have time to be following them around constantly. The best you can do is keep tabs on them by watching the Marauder’s Map at intervals.”
“Is it though?” Harry’s features brightened as a brainwave popped into his frontal lobes. “What about Dobby and Kreacher? They can follow them around and let us know if they find anything...”
“I’m not sure Harry. Don’t you think that might be taking advantage of them a bit?”
“Well, I’m not entirely comfortable with it myself, but Kreacher seems to like me now, and you know Dobby won’t mind.” Harry peered at Hermione pleadingly. “It’s important, and if you can think of a better idea, I’m all ears.”
“No, not really,” Hermione sighed, shaking her bushy head. “And you’re right about it being very important Harry...”
As Harry had predicted, Kreacher and Dobby had only been too eager to carry out his instructions, though Hermione was quick to remind them to take time to eat and rest. And fortunately as the last week and a half crawled by and April drew nearer, Kreacher and Dobby’s reports on the activities of the three Slytherins indicated their continued lack of success and growing frustration.
Unfortunately, the Daily Prophet’s reports indicated that Dumbledore was coming under increased scrutiny as the DMLE Inquiry proceeded apace. Dumbledore had already been sacked as Chief Warlock yet again - which had occurred not long after the initial reports of his connections to Grindelwald. And even worse, the DMLE was now investigating his alleged ties to the muggleborn wand thieves the Prophet had been harping on about - Voldemort seemed to have dropped off their radar.
“It’s ridiculous!” Hermione snapped during breakfast on the first day of the Easter Break, which happened to be on the first of April this year. “They’re obviously just making it all up now!”
“I bet they’re going to try to build a case that Dumbledore is trying to take over the Ministry,” Harry muttered crossly. “It’s like Fudge all over again, except the last time the DMLE weren’t investigating him. ... Without Madam Bones running the DMLE, Dumbledore is toast.”
“Well, that’s more or less what Dumbledore is waitin’ for, innit? ... Reckon he’ll probably initiate the plan soon,” Dora said quietly, glancing around the table to make sure no-one was listening; which they weren’t, as Lavender and Ron were paying more attention to each other, having lost interest in the Daily Prophet’s regular attacks on Dumbledore and Harry, and Neville was sitting with Hannah at the Hufflepuff table.
“What’s Dumbledore waiting for? ... What plan?”
Dora spun around and groaned, seeing Parvati with Ginny and Luna standing right behind her, holding their own edition of the Daily Prophet. Harry rubbed at his scar and sighed. Of course Parvati would be paying attention still, as she had been hanging out more with Ginny and Luna in their off hours. All three were currently the most dedicated members of the DA, showing up to every practice session, and were the most interested in keeping up with Harry and Hermione’s personal lives.
Harry shot Hermione a questioning look. She shrugged, not sure herself how to handle the situation. Harry sighed again and swiped some bacon with a napkin and a piece of toast.
“Right then,” Harry muttered at the trio of witches, “Let’s take this somewhere a bit more private.”
Munching the bacon and toast as he led the way to the Room of Requirement, Harry contemplated how much he could reveal. It wasn’t so much a matter of trust - he knew he could trust them all to keep a secret - as it was not wanting to put anyone in danger, or give Voldemort more chances to discover that they were hunting horcruxes through legilimency should he actually find a way to get into Hogwarts and begin interrogating students.
By the time they reached the Room of Requirement, and had all sat down on the mat in a circle, Harry hoped he had it worked out, and that Ginny, Luna, and Parvati would just accept that they couldn’t know all the details.
“So, what’s going on Harry?” asked Ginny, looking a bit worried.
“Okay, here’s the problem,” Harry began, “The Minister has an artifact that we need to get, which will help us defeat Voldemort, but Voldemort can’t know about it. The only way to get it is to sneak into the Ministry and steal it from Umbridge without her figuring out what we’re doing either.
“Dumbledore’s plan is to pretend to turn himself in at some point just before the Ministry tries to arrest him... We’re going to go in too, undercover, and steal the artifact while Dumbledore is distracting the Minister. Then he’s going to go on the run to take the Ministry’s attention off the students and the rest of the Professors so that they don’t think anyone at school was involved with Dumbledore’s actions, while Hermione and I, and Dora apparate back to Hogwarts with the Artifact.
“Dumbledore’s waiting for just the right moment to carry the plan out. ... There’s also a slight chance that Umbridge will try and concoct a reason to arrest me and Hermione too after Dumbledore’s gone, and we’ll have to do a bunk too if she does. That’s it in a nutshell... I really can’t give you all the details.”
Luna’s eyes turned into saucers and Ginny and Parvati’s jaws dropped.
“But that’s insane,” said Parvati, “Anything could go wrong.”
“What if you’re all captured and arrested?” moaned Ginny. “That would be awful!”
“Don’t think we don’t know that,” Dora chimed in, sighing.
“It’s risky, but it should work if we’re all careful,” said Hermione. “It’s really the only plan that stands a chance at all.”
“It’s not a slight probability that you’ll be leaving Hogwarts, is it though? Of course the Minister is going to come after you once Dumbledore’s gone - you’ll have to leave Hogwarts,” Luna said bluntly. “And once you’ve got the artifact, you’re going to fight Voldemort, aren’t you?”
Harry gulped, sharing a look with Hermione.
“We’re coming too then, when you leave Hogwarts,” said Parvati insistently.
“What? ... No!” Harry burst out. “That’s way too dangerous! You’ll be safer here than with Hermione and me...”
“We’re not letting you two do this alone!” Ginny glared fiercely at Harry. “Not after we helped fight at the Ministry last year, and practiced fighting with you this year.”
“I agree with Ginny!” said Luna.
“But this won’t be the same - besides, Dora will be coming with us...” Harry argued, growing frustrated; he should have known they’d try to pull this again.
Hermione cut in quickly. “You can’t come with us this time, if we have to leave Hogwarts. Harry’s right - this is totally different. You’ll still have the Trace on you for one thing. The Ministry will be able to track your magic...”
“Not me,” said Parvati. “I turned seventeen in February. And there’s no way I’m being left out of things this time!”
Harry felt like banging his head on the wall. This couldn’t be happening again. It was bad enough that he’d nearly got everyone killed last year. Hermione groaned, now knowing exactly how Harry had felt when everyone had wanted to help him infiltrate the Ministry before.
Dora peered at them both, her eyebrows raised, unable to hide the smirk on her face. “I don’t think you’ll be able to stop Parvati, if she really wants to come too, guys. ... But yeah, Luna and Ginny would ‘ave to stay here.”
“There must be a way around the Trace.” Ginny glowered at Harry and Hermione. “Harry’s not seventeen yet.”
“That’s because I nicked an emancipation form and a stamp with the Ministry Seal from the Ministry over Christmas,” said Dora. “Once I put Harry’s name on it and stamped it, Harry was free of the Trace. That’s the only way I know of to do it.”
“But unless you snuck back into the Child Services Department, you must still have the stamp with the Seal then, right?” said Luna, a slightly smug look on her face.
“Er... Maybe,” Dora hedged, inwardly groaning, as she had indeed not bothered to risk sneaking back into the CSD. “But even if I did, I don’t have any more forms...”
“Oh, that shouldn’t be a problem.” Luna smiled serenely. “Daddy’s got some extra emancipation forms at home. He got them years ago after Mum died, and he’s been saving them just in case the Ministry was ever taken over by the Rotfang conspiracy. I’m sure he’d send me two through the school’s Floo network if I poke my head through and ask him.”
“Blimey!” Harry moaned, covering his face with both hands, feeling defeated. “Then Ron’s going to want to come too, once he finds out you lot are coming with us - he just turned seventeen a few weeks ago. I don’t want to get all of my friends killed.”
“No he won’t,” said Parvati, grinning. “Lavender’s birthday isn’t till the end of May, so he’ll want to stay here with her. It’s obvious you’re going to have to do your plan any day now, if the news in the Prophet today is any indication.”
Harry tried to have one last go.
“Dora, I get that we can’t stop Parvati if she really wants to go with us, but please tell me you won’t stamp Luna and Ginny’s forms,” he begged. “Hermione, help me out here.”
Hermione felt a bit sick; she looked back and forth between Harry and Dora.
“I’m not sure Harry,” she said finally, looking stricken. “Maybe we should let Dora decide this one. She’s the only one who’s had enough experience as an Auror to determine if Ginny and Luna are really ready for this.”
Dora appeared hesitant for a moment, then she shrugged. “I dunno Harry, if they really wanna come with us, why not? They’re both pretty good with fighting spells, thanks in large part to you - better than a lot of Hogwarts graduates - good enough that if they had all the other NEWT level requirements they’d probably qualify for the Auror training programme.
“And they were at the Ministry last year, fighting Death Eaters. They both held their own by all accounts, and they’ll be even better now after the extra training we’ve been doing recently. ”
“Mrs Weasley is so going to kill me!” Harry groaned.
“No she won’t - I’ll tell her it’s my fault,” said Luna, beaming. Ginny grinned and gave Luna a hug.
“See, no problem!” said Ginny smugly. “You’re off the hook, Harry.”
“You’ll just have to get over it, Harry,” said Parvati. “We’re coming with you lot when you leave Hogwarts, and that’s the end of it.”

~o0o~
It had taken Wormtail longer than he had hoped, weeks of searching in fact, and he grew more desperate by the day. The tunnels did indeed branch into a veritable labyrinth, a network of passages sprawled beneath Hogwarts. He had already found a number of entrances which had long ago been blocked from the other side and began to despair - they were protected by Hogwarts’ magical wards as long as they were closed off.
But Wormtail was nothing if not persistent when he set his mind to something. He would have never been able to locate and restore the Dark Lord to power if not. So Wormtail kept at it, day by day, as Snape had been more than happy to not have to suffer his constant presence, and he had very nearly mapped out the whole underground system by the beginning of April. There were only three tunnels left to explore.
All Wormtail needed was one crack in one of the blocked entrances - just one would be enough to grant access through the wards...
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Damaged Bridges