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In His Place	By : SpeedyTomato Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Sirius Views: 72865 -:- Recommendations : 16 -:- Currently Reading : 16
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, so sad for me, and make no money off this story, even sadder for me.

Chapter List
- 27
- 28
- 29
Beta'd by the amazing Tenchi. Love you, woman, you're the best!

With help from Lynn who works with me when it comes to flow, continuity and other issues.

Just a reminder of what's on my profile: reviews complaining or whinging about the lack 'o sex in stories will get deleted. If you want a smut-filled romp, you need to find another story to read.

Chapter 28

By teatime that night, the house was fairly busy, as anyone would expect. There had been plenty people over to find out just what happened then to bring news of what they knew was going on in various areas. The three Death Eaters they received the reward for were the biggest ones caught, but the Hitwizards and Aurors had managed to snag a couple more. They weren't big players, but two more gone was good for all of them. Lucius and Narcissa were keeping track of what everyone said so they could add the information to what they knew and pass it to the proper people. Snape was supposed to come over later to pick up what they gathered so Albus could stay on top of what was going on since he couldn’t leave the castle at the moment.
As promised, Lucius had checked over Harry's cane. Though there was no major damage, there were a couple small cracks. Moody had taken it to the man that worked on it and Harry had it back in an hour. The cane was not only fixed, but the man added some decorations to the cane to cover up where it had cracked. Harry thought the gold that filled the cracks and had some kind of pattern to it looked pretty neat.
Other than those areas, Harry spent most of the night trying to calm down after all that had gone on. It was nerve wracking when he thought over how badly it could have ended. He was doing fine, of course. He also spent time composing letters to his friends in the castle with the best blow by blow of the battle he could give them. Those made him grin. Draco had helped some, chuckling as he was given the details of all that happened. Snape was going to take them back with him that night as well.
With a sigh after finishing his dessert, Harry leaned against Sirius and looked over his shoulder at the papers he was flipping through. Those had been delivered just before tea from the Ministry, so he was curious. “What are those?” He finally asked when he couldn't figure out what they were. All he knew was he, Sirius and Remus had received the same ones.
“Nothing to worry about,” Sirius assured him with a pat on the back. “They're our official statements. The DMLE wants us to read through them, add anything we forgot then sign them before sending them back. They'll need witnessed, of course, but we have plenty here who can do it for us. I'll walk you through yours when I finish reading this. Because you're still underage, I'll have to sign it as well because I'm considered your guardian. Its standard stuff, nothing to fret over,” he reassured his godson.
“It's all written up, then? We just have to go over it and add anything?” Harry asked just to make sure. It didn't sound hard, so he didn't have a problem doing so.
“That's all, nothing more,” Sirius promised him. “We gave the statement, of course, but the Alley was so chaotic by then they want to make sure we have it all down. That's the only reason. Completely understandable, of course. We'll knock it out in under a half an hour then send it off. After that, I say we all play a couple games or whatever, well, once everyone leaves that is. It's been a long day for all of us and we could do with some relaxing.”
“Very good idea, Sirius,” Narcissa told him with a smile. “I’ll have one of the elves set up a table in the parlor with the big fireplace in it and we’ll pick out a game.”
Once Sirius finished reading through his copy, he pulled over Harry's then pushed it between them. “Go ahead and read through it. If you see anything that needs changed or you want to add, let me know and I'll do it for you,” Sirius explained. As it was official paperwork, it had to be legible and the dict-o-quill would take too long for Harry to use.
With a nod, Harry went to work, figuring this wouldn't take long.
As he was plowing through what was there, not seeing anything he had to add, he looked up when the door opened then waited to see who it was. It wasn't like they were doing anything they wanted to keep hidden, but he was curious. With everyone who had been in and out all day, he wasn't sure who it could be as he was certain they had seen most of the Order by then. When he saw Snape come in, he went back to what he was doing.
After taking a seat at the table with a sigh, Severus took a cup of tea from an elf then looked around. “We're all doing fine, aren't we? No issues?”
“It's fine, Severus,” Remus told him with a smile as he signed off on his own statement and made a copy. Pushing the copy down to Severus, he explained what it was. Then he added, “We have the notes collecting what everyone's said since coming in as well. We'll keep one copy for Alastor and you can take the other to Albus.”
“I will,” Severus said, pleased, as he tucked it into his pocket.
“We'll have our copies shortly,” Sirius added distractedly as he helped Harry, though he didn't have to do much, and worked on his own.
Once Harry finished his and signed it, he pushed it over to Sirius for him to sign as well then relaxed, sipping his butterbeer. He was a tad tired, despite the nap earlier, but not too bad.
“Anything we need to know?” Sirius asked Snape as he finished his own, signed off on Harry's then made copies and pushed them to Snape as well.
“So far, no,” Severus told him with a shake of his head. “I've not heard anything from any of the parties involved. I assume most in the Ministry are working on the debacle today. Albus is busy tending to matters in the castle while trying to organize all he can. It's rather a mess, honestly, for all ends.”
“You haven't been summoned in a while, have you?” Lucius asked, brow furrowed.
“No, I haven't,” Severus told him honestly, brow furrowing as well. “That has me wary, now that you mention it.”
“He's cooking up something big then,” Lucius sighed, looking around. “Very big. I'm sure it'll be coming soon, the summons that is, because he'll want information before he pulls out whatever he's planning. I would prepare.”
Hands tapping on the table, Severus gave a slow nod. “I will. Yes, something is coming. While he does give me a break because of school, since he can get information from me he can't find elsewhere, I'm sure something is in the works. I've not even been summoned over the Parkinson issue. I'm sure he's getting information about her from elsewhere, of course, but he'll want more.”
“Very true,” Lucius agreed with a nod. Brow still furrowed, he said, softly, “I'm sure he's enraged by now. Between what Rufus has done, losing funding and what took place today, he's likely to make a big move very quickly,” he speculated.
“Probably,” Severus agreed, mind working on the problem. Since he was here and wasn't expected back for a few hours, he was going to pick Lucius' brain for what he thought might be coming. Lucius always had plenty of insight he could use.

While Snape was still in the house, talking to the others, Harry and Draco had grown bored with the conversation going on, so they moved to the room they would use later for the games they planned. Though Harry was still plenty behind Draco in many areas and needed to catch up, the two decided to work on trying to find that locking spell. Professor Flitwick had told Snape a few places he thought they could look and they were trying to find something in those categories. No luck so far, though.
As the two worked their way through a couple of books, they were talking. It wasn't about anything huge, of course, just areas like how Draco could work on Ginny, the Ron and Hermione situation, upcoming pranks and the like. As stressful as the day had been, it was good to have some laughs to relax.
Draco gave a blurry sigh as he turned the next page, not finding anything that could help so far, then said, “I think I have the Ginny issue under control. At least it's in the first stages of it. Her letters seem to indicate a willingness to get to know me anyway, so I say we press on to working on Granger and Weasley. Those two need help before they make everyone in the castle barmy.”
“True,” Harry chuckled, flipping through the pages and not finding anything either. “Unless you have a suggestion on how, I'm at a loss with those two. My thought has always been to let them have at it until they figure it out for themselves. They're both hard-headed enough that nothing I was going to say would work.”
“I'm not sure there, Potter,” Draco admitted with a sigh, leaning back. “We need to think on it, though. In the next day or so I'll sit down with you and pick your brain about what you know of the two then we'll put it together and try to find something that will work. Since we're not in the castle, we can't observe then work with a situation that presents itself.”
“True! Not even sure how we'll manage with letters, truthfully,” Harry tossed in. “It would be tricky if we were there. Letters—yeah, that's not the way to go about this.” Stopping, his brow furrowed then he said, “I vote we recruit Ginny. Not only will it work for you getting to know her better, as I'll have you do most of it, but she's plenty sneaky and is there. She probably knows more than we do, too.”
“Good idea, Potter!” Draco said, straightening up. After grabbing a sheet of parchment, he began to scribble down notes. “I'll take on writing to her so she doesn't see this bit as a way to get in better with you, but will make sure she knows what we're trying to do. Then I'll say we're trying to recruit her to help. I don’t think it'll be taken badly.”
“It shouldn't,” Harry agreed with a nod. “Also tell her it'll involve a tad bit of spying and ending up sneaky. With how Ginny is, it'll be something she'll like.”
“Perfect!” Draco grinned, adding it to his note. “We'll also ask her for suggestions so she feels like she's plenty involved.”
“She's actually a good one to get those from,” Harry told him honestly. “Hermione and Ginny are fairly close, so Hermione's likely to talk to her, about a lot of things.”
“More good that will help,” Draco chuckled, adding that in as well. “Let's see what we can manage after we get a letter from her.”
“Tell her we need regular updates about what's going on, too,” Harry tossed in. “We only know what's said in letters. Those aren't something we can judge by.”
“Oh yes, regular updates are the key,” Draco nodded, scribbling madly.
“I think we need to tell her she might be the one doing most of the work as well. As you said, we can't do this all by letters.”
“More good ideas from you, Potter!” Draco admitted, adding that suggestion in as well.
“She should love doing it, too,” Harry chuckled.
“More points in our favor,” Draco admitted with a nod. Finishing off the last of the notes, he said, “Right, let's start on this. If we hurry, Severus can probably deliver it for us tonight. The sooner the better with this plan. We don't want the two of them having another of their more spectacular squabbles before we can get a plan in place.”
“Oh yes,” Harry agreed straightening up and shoving another piece of parchment over to Draco. “They'll manage if we don't do something. I'll let you write it up, but will sign it when we're finished so she knows it's from both of us.”
Draco readied his quill and nodded, “The best way, yes.” Once he put in the standard salutation, he tapped the nib of the quill on the desk and said, “Now we have to figure out how to start this.”
“I say point out that this letter is from both of us as we have something we want her help with. Though make sure to toss in there it's something to keep to herself. I don't think Hermione or Ron will think anything is off since they're getting letters from us as well,” Harry suggested. “Maybe we can put a spell of some kind that hides the bits we don't want the two to see so she gets a bigger thrill at them not knowing.”
“We'll go about it that way,” Draco nodded distractedly as he went to work. As he wrote, he said, “I know the perfect spell and will slip it in there so she gets the hint. I'll make sure it's blatant enough she does.” Oh, this was perfect, in more ways than one! If Ginny knew he and Harry were working together, it would lean heavily in his favor, helping him accomplish what he wanted. Good!

“Let me ask this,” Remus said, looking around and holding his hand up. They had progressed beyond what they had been talking about and there was a slight lull, so he wanted to get them all working on one of the most troublesome issues they had to take care of. When Severus motioned for him to go on, he asked, “Do any of us have an idea how to prove to Albus the Horcrux in Harry's scar is gone? We really need him on the right track and he won't switch over until we do. So far, I've come up with nothing that will. And I can't see any of us leaving Harry alone with him long enough to figure it out for himself in some way.”
“No, but we need to,” Severus gruffed, leaning back and folding his arms over his chest. “I just don't know how as there weren't any real overt showings that he was one.”
Sirius thought over what was said then asked, looking around, “Snape, didn't you tell us the old man said Harry is a Parselmouth because of that connection with the evil arse? If he did, would it mean Harry has the ability because of the Horcrux?”
“That's what he told both me and Harry,” Severus confirmed with a nod. Thinking it over, he added, “It might be the only way if the gift is truly related to the Horcrux.” Brow furrowed, he then asked, looking around, “Does anyone know if he is still or not? It's not something I've heard about since he woke up.”
“I don't think any of us have, Severus,” Lucius said after looking around and seeing the rest shake their heads. “However, if it is linked and he's not anymore, it's an easy way of proving it. We can just conjure a snake and see if he can understand it. The rub would come in using it as I can't think of a way to do so in front of Albus that doesn't seem contrived.”
“Before we try to figure out the 'how', let's see if he still is. I'll talk to him before bed tonight and do the snake bit. If he is, I'll send off a letter to you, Snape, and let everyone know. Then we can take it from there,” Sirius said, looking around.
“Do that,” Severus nodded. “If he still is a Parselmouth, we need to find another way to prove he's no longer a Horcrux. Nothing anyone has said about Harry dying has made it through. I'm not sure if it's the multiple times or not that is the spanner. We need it out there, though, before this gets worse. With everything the Dark Lord is trying and stepping up, we can't have him dragging his feet on the matter. Rufus is doing plenty, but I'm damned sure Albus knows more that could help. Until Rufus can get that help, we don't stand a chance, no matter what we try.”
“And I have no idea how to prove it to him,” Sirius said honestly, looking around. “The one thing that might I'm not going to allow anyone to put out there.” Seeing most look like they were going to ask, he explained, “The predictions and whatever. I do not want that out there. Mostly it's for Harry's sake and what could come of it, but there are plenty of other reasons. We have a hard enough time dealing with what we are now, we don't need it made worse. Especially since Harry isn't up to what he was and can't defend himself like he used to. We also don't need it slipping out to the unwashed masses. That would cause absolute chaos.”
“Let's table anything beyond the finding out if he can still speak Parseltongue. If he can't, we'll draw Alastor in. He might know of something or have a way to prove it we can't think of,” Lucius told everyone looking around. “No sense in trying to find something if we have an easy way to tend to the matter.”
“I'll talk with Harry tonight and see what happens,” Sirius assured him. Then he began asking about anything that might be coming they needed made aware of. Snape was good at giving them plenty of heads up on all kinds of bits so they didn't get blindsided by something off the wall.

Harry nodded as he read the final draft of the letter to Ginny over Draco's shoulder. He thought they had everything in there they needed to at least start going with the project. After one suggestion on something minor to add, he said, “I think we have it. It should work. Let's see what she says in response before we start planning anything because she's bound to have a better way to go about this than we could come up with.”
“We do,” Draco nodded with a big grin. “Right, we'll send this off with Severus then see what she says. While we wait, we'll spend some time taking notes on what we think could help. You're the one that knows the two the best, so we'll delve into some of what you've seen over the years to pick up any patterns or hints.”
“Not sure how much help I'll be with that part, Malfoy,” Harry chuckled and shook his head. “I'm rather oblivious to plenty that goes on around me. Let's face it, I've had enough problems that people's relationships aren't something I paid attention to. I just know what they do around me, that's about all.”
“Well, true,” Draco smirked, shoulders shaking a tad. “You're well known for being plenty clueless about some bits, especially with the relationships bit or people who fancy you. We all saw it, but you never did.”
“And I seriously wasn't interested in almost all that were interested in me,” Harry laughed, shaking his head. “Being Captain Clueless has its perks, Malfoy!”
“I can understand how,” Draco snickered, shaking his head as he thought of so much that went on over the years. “Right, I think we're good to go with this. Let's see what she suggests for us then go from there. We should go about this methodically and do what we can to tailor it to their personalities.”
“That won't be easy. Let's face it, they’re plenty opposite in so much,” Harry snorted, rolling his eyes.
“True, but there has to be common ground,” Draco pointed out. “Let's see what Ginny gives us.” Leaning back after sealing up the letter, he let out a soft sigh. “I vote we just relax until the rest of them are done talking. It's been one of those days.”
“Oh, it has,” Harry told him with a mirthless chuckle and shake of his head. “Nothing I want to do again anytime soon, either! Yeah, blimey, that was bad.”
“I can only imagine,” Draco said sobering up. “It'll just get worse from here on out. I'm sure the Dark Lord is plenty irate over what's gone on. Then the failure today and several of his Death Eaters getting caught won't help anything. I don't know as much as Father does on the topic, but what I do tells me he's probably planning something huge.”
“Probably,” Harry admitted with a heavy sigh. Then, as he was about to take a drink of his butterbeer, that feeling hit again.
As he stiffened up, he tried to focus the way he had been working on with Narcissa then tried to think what to do to get it across to Draco. Whatever was coming was big, something he could feel, and didn't want just Draco here when it came. After breathing heavily and focusing as hard as he could, he managed to get out a garbled, “Get Sirius now. Fast!” Then he went back to focusing, staring hard at the table they were sitting at to give him a focal point to hone in on while he tried to hold off what was coming the best he could.
Brow furrowed at the way Harry's voice sounded, Draco looked at him. One glance told him what the problem might be. Standing and stammering, he said, trying to think the fastest way to go about this, “Hold it off, Harry. The best you can.” Then he dashed out to the kitchen planning to grab everyone and drag them to the parlor if he had to.
As he breathed heavily, Harry continued to stare at the table, desperate to hold off what was coming. As he did, he almost begged Regulus to hold on until they could get there. He already knew this was big and they needed to get the information to those that could help, so he didn't want to start until they arrived. Silently begging everyone to hurry, he focused and hoped.
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In His Place