AN:  Well, I apologize for the delay.  I hope you enjoy the story I put out a few weeks ago, Harry Potter and the Alchemist’s Apprentice.  It’s something that came to me while this one wouldn’t; it’s quite a bit different from this, and makes use of more canonical wand magic and introduces runic theory more than canon ever did.  It’s gotten positive reviews, so I hope you enjoy it if you check it out.

Onwards and upwards, here we go!

Harry Potter and the Unlocked Knowledge

Chapter Thirteen:  Winter Break

Harry’s revenge on Lucius Malfoy for his Prophet interview began on the ride to London via the Hogwarts Express, when he sent Hedwig off with a seemingly innocuous letter.  After his rest and meditation when his Animagus form was revealed to him, Katie and Ron helped him back to the dorm – Ron taking great amusement in turning him green from the unsettling levitation – to pack up his things so that he could leave Hogwarts.  The “plan” was for Harry to stay at the Burrow for most of the break and only leave to attend Remus and Tonks’ wedding taking place at Headquarters.  This “plan”, however, was one that Harry had little intention to follow, as he had several things to accomplish rather quickly if his revenge on Lucius was to be complete.  Most notably, he had to sneak out of England and cast several Fidelius Charms.  Besides, no one had consulted with him when they formed this “plan”.

Nothing like a nice, relaxing break without adventures, eh Harry?  Tom said sarcastically.

 You know, this is as much your plan as it is mine.  Harry regarded harshly.  He heard another snicker come from Ron and used his Occlumency training to avoid cursing the girl who was now resting her head on his shoulder.

Despite having one arm around Katie, Ginny thought it perfect to sit down quite closely to Harry in the compartment that they’d found.  She’d also apparently found Harry’s shoulder a lovely pillow, a fact that Ron found terribly humorous and sent him into a case of the snickers every few minutes.  Hermione was next to him with her Transfiguration text out practicing wand motions – she was still determined to beat Harry in Transfiguration, her best subject, and was much distressed to find herself far behind him thanks to Tom – and Luna beside her reading an upside down Quibbler with great interest.  

“Really, Harry, I don’t see why you’re so opposed to Ginny’s advances…not like you have another girl on your arm or anything…” Ron said with a smirk.  Harry’s wand joined his maliciously raised eyebrows as Ron’s eyes widened – surely Harry wouldn’t curse him on the train?

Harry, however, performed a particularly well-cast Switching Charm that left himself and Katie sitting next to Luna while Ginny’s head now lay against Ron’s arm, with Hermione on the other side of him.  Hermione was so surprised by the suddenness of the charm that she accidentally transfigured her own leg into a cactus.  Scowling at Harry for his “childish behavior – really, I’m trying to study!” she dug back into her Transfiguration text while the others continued their conversation.  Ginny only awoke to severe confusion and disappointment once they arrived at King’s Cross Station.  The group all pulled down their luggage – most students, like Harry, only packed a sack of necessary items instead of their full trunk – and departed the train with the rest of the students.  Harry said goodbye to Katie with a quick kiss, promising to write her all about the wedding, and was then attacked by Mrs. Weasley.

“Oh, Harry dear!  You have no idea just how worried I’ve been for you this term!  The stories I’ve heard, oh I just couldn’t bear it sometimes!”  She said frantically, clutching him painfully to her bosoms.  “And you lot!”  She turned to Ron and Hermione, still suffocating Harry “You should keep a closer watch on him!  You know what kind of trouble he gets into every year – Ron, you were probably encouraging it, knowing you!”

“Uh…mum?  I think Harry’s turning purple…” Ron started, prompting his mother to release Harry and pat his hair down – it sprang back to its former chaos immediately.

“Well, at least you look as though you’re eating properly – a bit of meat on your bones, finally!  Well, let’s all get back to the Burrow.  Professor Dumbledore arranged this Portkey for us to ensure our safety – wasn’t that wonderful of him?  Everyone hold on now.”  She held out a sock – definitely Dumbledore’s work, then – that everyone clutched.  A jerk from behind his navel and the group was in front of the Burrow; Ginny, Ron, and Hermione were on the ground, but Harry got an odd look from Hermione as he was still standing, having landed easily like Mrs. Weasley.  Tom of course knew how to land from a Portkey, having made and used enough illegal ones in his time.

“Ron, mind you don’t stain your robes – you’d think you could stand on those feet, big as they are!  Now come on you three, you don’t see Harry rolling on the ground now, don’t be ridiculous.”  Mrs. Weasley force-marched all of them up to the house and ushered them in, glancing around quickly before she closed the front door, as though her cursory glance would reveal a load of Death Eaters outside her door and somehow give her precious seconds longer.

Inside the house, two loud ‘CRACK’s caused Harry to drop to the ground and spin, wand out.  His spin swept the legs out from one of the recent arrivals, who fell on top of the other in a tangle of arms, legs, and Weasley-red hair.  

“FRED!  GEORGE!  WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU TWO ABOUT APPARATING INSIDE THIS HOUSE!!!?”  Mrs. Weasley roared.  Harry, realizing who the intruders were, got up off the ground and put away his wand; apparently, all of these attacks this year had put him on edge a bit.

“Sorry mum!”  Fred said with a wide grin, obviously not sorry at all as he removed himself from his twin and straightened his acidic green dragon hide jacket.

“Blimey, Harry, didn’t reckon you’d go all kung-fu on us there!  I thought we were friends!”  George said with an equally wide grin.  Harry smiled awkwardly at the two of them in return.

“Yeah, well…been a long semester, I guess I’m just on edge a bit.”  He absently rubbed his gut, which had nearly audibly groaned in protest to his quick movement.  Hermione was the only one who noticed, and she promptly moved everyone to a seat so that he might be more comfortable.

“We remember, Death Eaters and all that in Hogsmeade.  Not to mention famous ickle Harrikins all grown up and teaching seminars to the entirety of Wizarding England!  Oh George, they just grow up so fast!”  Fred dramatically wiped a tear and clung to his twin in a fair imitation of his mother, who was quickly by his side to whack him upside the head.

“We all happen to be very proud of Harry, Fred.  I think it’s wonderful that he teaches those who want to learn.  Arthur’s been quite popular at work since that seminar – everyone knows that we know you so well, dear.  I daresay he’s favored for the position of the Head of the DMLE!  After all, the Minister knows he can trust Arthur, who’s been so loyal for so long, and he was one of the first to be able to –” Molly said, starting on a tirade that the twins had apparently heard before, being around the house when they wanted dinner.

“Resist that awful Imperious Curse – oh my, how dreadful, to think of important leaders under that curse!”  Fred and George cut in, swooning in imitation of their mother, who merely glared at them.

“Fine, then, finish my speeches.  Is it so wrong to be proud of my husband?  Welcome home, dears, I’ll go finish up supper for us.”  Mrs. Weasley bustled into the kitchen, leaving the students at the mercies of the twins.  Fred nodded to George, who shot a nonverbal charm – Harry thought it might have been a silencing charm, but wasn’t certain – at the door Mrs. Weasley went through, then nodded to his twin.

“Harry!  Lovely little move back there, right George?”

“Absolutely Fred, almost as lovely as some of the moves he had back at the press conference.”

“Why by Merlin, you’re right, George!  Quite some lovely little moves.  Spill, you lot, where’d you learn to do that.  We’re a little doubtful that old Snape is that good of a Defense teacher, much as the slimy git may know about the Dark Arts.”  Fred added, looking pointedly at Harry.  Harry smirked at that – these twins were smarter than most people gave them credit for.

“We’ve been doing a bit of training, if you must know.  Mostly Ron and I, and Katie Bell; Hermione’s started coming a bit recently, though.”  Harry ignored the furious look that Ginny shot Hermione.

“Like the old DA kind of training?  Only since you and Ronniekins were some of the top members of the DA, probably more intense, eh?”  George said, stroking his chin a bit.

“A little more intense, yes.”  Hermione snorted in a very unladylike fashion, causing the twins to turn to her.

“Right.  Just a little, right Harry?  Not that you needed to learn loads of healing charms or anything to keep your limbs attached…” She said with a roll of her eyes.

“Oh come off it, Hermione.  We really only practice the dangerous spells on the dummies any more, so it’s hardly even dangerous to us.  Sure, Harry and I toss each other around sometimes to practice on an evasive target, but still…we’ve never been all that seriously hurt or anything.  Besides, you saw how effective it was when it came to those Death Eaters – Harry was all over the place with them, and I think Katie and I did a pretty decent job at taking them out.”  Ron defended somewhat hotly.  Ginny chose this moment to burst into the conversation.

“Excuse me!?  Why was I never told about this?  Don’t you think I might like to participate too?  Does my willingness to go to the Department of Mysteries mean absolutely nothing?  Or are you and Ron still upset at me for having a boyfriend?”  Ginny stood up and stormed off angrily upstairs to her room, leaving Harry to roll his eyes exasperatedly.  He continued the discussion without her.

“So what were you two wanting to know?”  Fred and George smiled identically at this question from Harry.

“Tell us more about these dummies of yours, Harrikins…” Harry quirked an eyebrow before launching into a rather detailed explanation of the target dummies; Hermione and the twins had both taken out quill and parchment and were copiously taking notes, the twins often asking for clarification on particular points.  Ron had long before grabbed Harry’s things and his own and carried them up to his room.  After Harry’s explanation, the questioning trio asked even more pointed questions about modifications.

“So if we made a few that were less resistant to spells than yours, and filled them with some ‘Boom juice’ – recipe courtesy of Neville Longbottom, who really has a future in demolition, I think – would the impact of the spells set off the explosion?”

“Now let’s say we went the other route – would the protective runework interfere with the animation spells?”

“Let’s say we wanted one to follow Percy around and trip him at regular intervals…which kind of invisibility do you think would be best?”

After a half hour of discussion, Mrs. Weasley burst in and announced supper was ready.  While the twins rushed towards the food, Hermione stayed behind and asked one last question of Harry.

“So which book are you going to claim these are in?  Because I’ve already checked the library and the books you borrowed from Professor Dumbledore for them, and they aren’t there.  So when you feel like telling me the truth, let me know.”  She turned on her heel and went with Ron, who’d nearly flown down the stairs, and Ginny to the dining room.  Harry sighed, seeing that some secrets of his might need to be soon revealed.

‘Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later.  Hermione really is a clever witch just as Severus was, and he figured it out a good deal sooner.  Alternatively, you could always memory charm her.’  Despite the suggestion likely being a good one, Harry felt somewhat guilty for considering the possibility of wiping one of his best friend’s memory.  ‘Honestly, Harry, it isn’t like you’re having your way with her first.  Although if you’re going to be memory charming her in the first place I don’t really see why not –’ Harry ignored Tom for now – he hoped the Horcrux was joking, anyway – and followed the crowd into the dining room, still enlarged from his first visits as it had been over the summer, suggesting that some of the Order might be joining them.

As it turned out, the enlarged dining room was quite a prerequisite for the family because Mrs. Weasley insisted that she see all of her children over the holidays, including Bill celebrating with the family (along with Fleur) and Charlie, recently arrived from Romania.  He shot Harry a broad wink and sat down near him and the other younger children at the table.

“Wotcher, Harry!  How’ve you been?  Messing about with any Horntails recently?”  Charlie asked with a grin.  Apparently Ron and the twins had gotten their somewhat boisterous attitude from him, though Ron was taller and much lankier than his second oldest brother, who Harry thought could have had a future in the Royal Marines, if they recruited wizards.  It had been an ambition of Dudley’s to join them, before Uncle Vernon convinced him of the notion that joining the military was for uneducated hoodlums these days; Harry wasn’t certain just why Dudley was unsuited for it, if that were true.

“No Charlie, I’ve been trying to stay away from creatures that could easily kill me.  Whether or not I’ve been doing a good job is another matter entirely, of course,” Harry said with a grin, making Charlie laugh appreciatively.

“And I suppose these terrors are doing well, of course?  I’ve got to say, that shield hat of yours was a frightfully good idea, kiddies!  Why, the first time I couldn’t get a shield up around me in time to block an upset dragon’s breath, my arse wasn’t cooked and all the blokes at the Pen wanted one!  I’ve to pick up another twenty for part-timers too, so forty total, boys – and I’ll want a discount!”  At the other end of the table, Bill was talking to Mr. Weasley while Fleur beside him listened to the conversations on either side of her.  Molly bustled about bringing the various dishes to the table when a voice she heard caused her to drop the green beans – Bill and Harry both whipped out their wands to stop it, smiling at each other as they did so.

“Is there room for another at the table, Mother?”  A stiff and formal voice that could only belong to one Weasley asked.

“Oh Percy!  Oh of course, dear!  Fred, George, move over and make room for your brother!”  Her voice went from teary to harsh instantly as she addressed first Percy, and then the twins; apparently she hadn’t forgotten the twins’ earlier imitation of her.  The twins, apparently not as anxious to forgive their older brother for his disloyalty as their mother was, scowled darkly before scooting over.  Mrs. Weasley retreated to the kitchen once more to get a few remaining dishes.

“Percy,” Bill said somewhat coolly, “Glad you decided to join us.”  At least Bill was making overtures, unlike Ron, who was blatantly ignoring the Weasley pariah.

“Of course, William.  The Minister believes family very important – he was quite generous to give me some time to spend with you all.”  Percy said rather quietly.

“Give you some time, ha!  I’ll bet –”

“You’re under orders to be here!”  The twins said together.  No one leapt to Percy’s defense, not even himself, as he merely ignored the barb.

“I’m glad you’ve at least learned to follow the better orders, then, Percy.”  Harry cut in diplomatically.  Percy met his gaze and nodded in polite thanks.  This had given Mrs. Weasley enough time to come back from the kitchen – not even the twins dared make a comment about Percy in front of her right now; they knew how volatile she could be when emotional, and this was about as emotional as she could get.

“Percy, dear, make sure you get enough mashed potatoes – I’ve no idea how you’ve managed out all by yourself, with only bachelor cooking to sustain you!  Heaven knows the twins would’ve starved if they hadn’t come back every night for dinner!”  She missed Ron’s mutter of “…Should be so lucky…” which earned him a glare from Hermione and a smirk from Ginny, and the rest of the meal proceeded smoothly if somewhat awkwardly.  Silence reigned throughout much of it, which was quite strange with so many Weasleys present, Harry thought, and Fred and George’s attempts for pranks on Percy only began once Molly ushered Ginny and Hermione to help her bring dishes to the kitchen for cleaning.  Almost the instant the door to the kitchen closed, Percy’s face turned tomato red and his hair vine green.

“Well would you look at that, Fred, I do believe our brother’s eaten something disagreeable!”  George said amicably.  Fred adopted a ‘thinking’ pose with the hand stroking his chin and then agreed.

“By George, you’re right, George!  I do hope it isn’t too permanent.  Quite embarrassing for such a prominent Ministry employee to look like that at his job, you know.  Dreadful.”  Fred responded.  Charlie had chuckled a bit at their antics, and Bill rolled his eyes and grinned, but Percy’s response was perhaps the most surprising of all.  

“Yes, well…I suppose I could always tell the Minister that his secretary has just been particularly amorous lately.”  He said straight-faced.  The silence at the table was deafening – no one had heard Percy crack a joke for as long as they remembered, much less take one of the twins’ pranks so well.  ‘Well perhaps he’s grown up some after all,’ Tom said with a mental grin to Harry.  Charlie was the first to break the audible silence, however, as he erupted into his characteristic deep, jovial laugh.  He was soon joined by Mr. Weasley and Bill.  The twins were still seemingly in shock, while Ron had found a sour expression that his face had taken a liking to.

“Merlin Perce!  What have they done to you at that office?  We check him for Polyjuice yet?”  Charlie said through his laughter, causing even the twins to chuckle a bit.  Percy had a wry grin on his face, but didn’t respond.  Indeed, Ron seemed to be the only one still upset – he had gotten up from the table and gone to the living room alone.  Harry excused himself and followed his friend.

“What’s going on, Ron?  Percy –” Harry began.

“I don’t want to hear about that bloody git, Harry.”  Ron said angrily.

“Come on, Ron, he’s being less of a git than ever right now, I think.”

“Doesn’t matter.  He walked out on us, Harry.  The Ministry was more important to him than us and I…who does that, Harry?  How could you walk out on your family?!  That’d be like me walking out on you, it’d never happen!”  Harry had to fight to avoid laughing at this proclamation.

“Ron, remember our fourth year when you weren’t speaking to me?  Or third year when you weren’t speaking to Hermione?”  Ron had the good nature to look embarrassed at this, at least, “People make mistakes, just as you’ve done and certainly just as I’ve done.  But with your family, with your best friends, you take ‘em back when they realize it.  Percy’s made an effort – and it was hard for him, no doubt, to take the twins’ prank good-naturedly.  So let’s go back in there, right mate?”  Ron took a deep breath and nodded, “Yeah, sure Harry.  Thanks.”  Ron went back into the kitchen and they emerged upon a quite humorous scene.

“FRED!  GEORGE!  YOU MAKE PERCY NORMAL!!”  Mrs. Weasley said, waving her wooden spoon threateningly; she had backed the two into the corner, leaving everyone else snickering behind her.

“Really mum, I think that’s far beyond our meager skills – I mean, we can’t even turn his face back to its usual color!”  Fred quipped with a smirk.  At this Mrs. Weasley made to whack her son on the shoulder with her spoon; Fred, however, was too quick for her and Apparated behind her, leaving her to hit George standing beside her.  He rubbed his shoulder and Apparated behind her too after saying, “Oww, mum!”  She turned on them, initiating a chase between the three of them as the twins Apparated away just out of reach of their mother’s spoon.  The rest of the family and all of the guests roared with laughter at their behavior before Mrs. Weasley just gave up and stormed out of the dining room, trying to hold back her laughter and stay mad at her twins.

The show concluded for the evening, Fred and George said their farewells and returned to their apartment above their shop in Diagon Alley, leaving the Burrow in nearly one piece.  Their departure and the subsequent settling of things, however, was interrupted by the Apparation arrival of a disheveled man wearing rags who promptly collapsed in a heap.  Bill and Arthur were the closest to his arrival, so they were the first who ran over to the man, wands out.  They weren’t needed, however, as Arthur was able to quickly determine the identity of the man, despite a beard, long hair, unwashed look, and general unkempt feeling, as though he’d been living with animals for some time.  There were also several injuries that looked suspiciously like bite and claw marks – it was the claws, mostly, that had shredded the robes the man wore.

“It’s Remus!”  Arthur cried, visibly shaken by the werewolf’s appearance.  The full moon had been only a few days prior, but Remus looked far more terrible than he ever had before after a ‘monthly visit’.  Ron and Harry were immediately at his side, attempting to cast the healing spells they’d learned over the previous term.  None of them seemed effective on the werewolf’s wounds, however.

“Ron, run up to my trunk and fetch the dittany and murtlap essence.  Mrs. Weasley,” Harry called to the distraught woman, whose hands were covering her mouth, still in shock, “Call Madam Pomfrey at Hogwarts over the Floo…these wounds are pretty serious, so she should check them out.  Have her fetch Snape, too.”  She nodded and walked near the fireplace, still looking at the state of Remus.

One of his wounds was far worse than the others, Harry noticed – his leg, if not healed, would likely leave a permanent limp.  Seeing no viable alternative and the wound being resistant to every other spell Harry had tried, he remembered the spell Snape used on the cursed wound from the Sectumsempra spell.

“Integropercuro!  Integropercuro!  Integropercuro!”  Harry said, repeating the incantation.  Unlike the rest, this actually seemed to have a noticeable effect on the deep wound.  Blood flow from it had slowed from a gush to a trickle, and when Harry repeated the spell three more times, it was totally staunched and somewhat healed over, though still leaving a particularly ugly scar.  When Ron came back with the desired potions, Harry mixed them both into a bit of a salve and covered it with bandages that Mrs. Weasley brought to him.  Finally, he Scourgifyed the werewolf, which removed most of the stench he was emitted, at least, and revealed several other minor wounds that Harry was able to close with the Integropercuro spell.  Harry wasn’t sure just where Snape had learned that, but it led Harry to believe that the disagreeable Professor might have had a future as a Healer in another set of circumstances.  Of course, his bedside manner might be unique.

Harry was just smearing more of the murtlap and dittany on the numerous minor wounds he’d just helped close when Snape and Pomfrey came through the fireplace; Snape was of course in a tizzy when Harry was anywhere near a potion.

“Get away, you fool boy!”  He yelled harshly, taking Harry’s place beside Lupin before Madam Pomfrey sidled up.  Both began casting detection spells and frowned somewhat.  Remus, however, seemed to be doing better and chose that moment to awaken, still groggy.

“Severus?  Madam Pomfrey?”  Remus looked around a bit, confused and disoriented, before continuing, “Oh good, I’m at the Burrow.  I was afraid I wouldn’t quite make it,” before losing consciousness again.

“Mr. Potter, what were you doing to him?”  Madam Pomfrey began.  Snape had already torn off the bandage Harry put on the leg wound and was sniffing it suspiciously before taking out a few of his own jars of creams and smearing them around Remus’ hip.

“The wounds weren’t closing to the simple healing charms that I know,” Harry began, but was interrupted by Snape, “That’s because they are bites and claw marks from a werewolf, Potter.  Honestly, it is quite apparent that you know nothing about Dark creatures despite all attempts to teach you if you couldn’t –”

“I thought the fact that they were caused by werewolves fairly obvious, Professor Snape, given the fact that he was attempting to infiltrate a werewolf pack.  Anyway, I ended up closing them using that healing charm that Professor Snape used on himself after he was cursed with the Sectumsempra spell.”  Snape’s scowl deepened even further – and it was a deep scowl from having been interrupted by Harry to begin with – as Madam Pomfrey responded.

“That is interesting – the wounds are similarly cursed, and therefore difficult to close…” She seemed to be considering writing an article about the process, “Well I’m certainly glad you thought of that, Mr. Potter, for I don’t know if I would have.  Certainly not standard procedure for werewolf wounds, if there is such a thing.  And what of the other treatments?  Something for scarring, perhaps?”  She raised her eyebrow questioningly.

“Yes, I had some dittany and murtlap essence in my trunk, so I used both.  I also used the same procedure on a bunch of minor wounds.  They closed more completely and might not scar, but I put on the salves anyway.”  Harry finished.

“That was excellent thinking, Mr. Potter.  Whatever made you think of using those?”  Harry smirked a little – experience, as usual, of course.

“Well, you mentioned dittany to help Professor Snape’s wound; I used murtlap essence myself on my hand after Umbridge made me use a Blood Quill in detention.  I figured one of the two might be a little effective.”  Harry noticed Professor Snape’s face burst into a very evil and sadistic grin when he mentioned Umbridge’s detentions.  Harry hoped he hadn’t given Snape ideas.  ‘Ideas?  That was like an early Christmas present for him, Harry!’  Tom thought, amused.

“Professor Snape formulated this salve especially for werewolf-inflicted wounds for Professor Lupin during his tenure as a Professor – just in case of any self-inflicted wounds, of course – so that will be the best.  But dittany and murtlap is a decent alternative, Potter.  Very nice work for an amateur, all together.  It’s a shame school isn’t in session, or I’d have awarded you a considerable number of points!”  ‘No doubt Snape would have taken them all away soon enough,’ Harry had to catch himself from replying.  The Professor in question had conjured up a simple cot in the Weasleys’ front room and levitated Professor Lupin into it.

“Now Molly, make sure he gets enough rest – he needs to get up tomorrow and walk a bit on that hip, or it’ll be too sore for the wedding, not to mention a potentially permanent limp!  I’m sure you’re all very tired, so Severus and I will head back to Hogwarts.  Have a good holiday, Mr. Potter.”  Madam Pomfrey really must have been impressed with Harry’s work for him to warrant his own separate farewell; Snape just sneered at him before Flooing back to Hogwarts.  Some things would never change, of course.

“Well,” Harry said after the excitement passed, “I’m about knackered.  Have a good night, everyone!”  Everyone decided that was a good idea, and followed his example.  Luckily for Harry, Ron, with whom he was sharing a room, decided to get a snack from the kitchen before joining Harry in the room, so he had plenty of time to conjure one of the golems and cover it with a blanket – also giving it black hair like his own – in a fair imitation of himself under the covers.  He Disillusioned himself in the room to see Ron walk in and also climb into bed.  He even responded “Goodnight” to Ron before silencing the area around him and Apparating away, making no noise that was audible to Ron.

He emerged on the shore of the English channel, not trusting his Apparation skills like Tom Riddle always had to see him safely on the French side, so he used a second jump before leaving British shores for the first time.  Of course, he had several memories of times abroad as Tom Riddle, and it was these that he was drawing on as he departed for southern Aquitaine, home of the Malfoy’s second home that he owned.

Voldemort had visited the French manor only once, but knew its location well, because it was often where Death Eaters retreated to after a less-than-perfectly executed raid.  If it involved the English Aurors, then it was an even more likely destination; the French liaison to England was securely in the pocket of Voldemort through Malfoy – who had a ridiculous number of French connections just as he had in Britain – and he had enough power to delay any investigations long enough for his men to recover and be long gone.  It had never happened, but contingency was Voldemort’s specialty, after all.

In a bit of a hurry since he only had a few hours to complete the Fidelius Charm on both of the properties, Harry immediately set about pacing the property line.  At certain intervals, he’d seem to trace designs in the air, sometimes after casting detection spells.  The entire process was complicated, particularly once he’d entered the manor and Apparated out on top of the roof to delineate the vertical limit of the Fidelius Charm.  Finally, after an hour of pacing and countless wand movements, Harry traced that same design on his forehead and said, “Fidelius!” forcefully.  All knowledge of the property was promptly removed from the mind of everyone but Harry in a rush of magic.  Harry was the second wizard living to have cast the immensely complex charm, he thought somewhat proudly.  Of course, he’d never have been able to do so without Tom – the Arithmantic predictions alone for the property would have escaped him for many years without the Horcrux’s mastery of the subject to draw upon.  He performed two more long distance Apparations before ending up in the Malfoys’ Italian villa.  And this would be the more challenging to complete.  The French manor house had a sizable amount of property, to be sure, but the Italian villa included a vineyard and several houses for laborers – not that any were currently present, but in the past it had been a notable wine producing villa – as well as guest houses and the main mansion, which was large if not quite the size of the English manor owned by the Malfoys.  

Sighing a bit at the prospect, Harry repeated the process in larger scale of the previous casting.  This time the perimeter tracings alone took four hours, and Harry’s brain seemed unlikely to function when he was finally able to trace the rune on his forehead and nearly feel the rush of magic that drew the knowledge deep within him, keeping it secret.  Four quick consecutive Apparitions later and he was back in the room at the Burrow; he Vanished the golem from his bed and climbed in, asleep before he could cover himself with blankets.

Harry awoke several hours later to a giggling redhead.  Resisting the impulse to groan, he merely sleepily muttered, “Er…hi Ginny.”

“Oh, did I wake you up, Harry?  Sorry!”  Harry doubted that somewhat, but didn’t say anything, which she took as a sign to continue talking, “Anyway, you’ve been sleeping all morning, but Mum said that it was probably because those healing charms you used on Professor Lupin were so exhausting.  Anyway, I just thought I’d bring up lunch for you, but then Professor Lupin came by and made a funny remark, so that’s why I was giggling.”  Harry was still a bit tired from casting the two Fidelius Charms until quite late last night, but he supposed that being a bit tired was a consequence of his necessary excursion.

“Thanks Ginny, that was nice of you.”  He said diplomatically to the girl.  A silent plea of ‘Please let me enjoy it alone,’ was added ineffectively.

“Oh, it’s really no problem.  Not like I have much else I could be doing here, it’s always so boring.  So Harry, I want to do that new D.A. training like everyone else.  Seriously, I’m no slouch with a wand, you know that from last year.”  Ginny said somewhat seriously.

“It’s not really D.A. training, Ginny.  It’s just a few of us – Ron, Neville, Katie, Hermione sometimes.  And it’s quite a bit more intense than the D.A.  But I actually think Neville would make a good partner for you, come to think of it.  Actually, why don’t you invite Luna too, since you’re in some of her classes.”  Harry said; he’d been meaning to invite Luna for some time, and seeing her at Slughorn’s recent party had only reminded him.

“Well, it’s just the same kind of thing, right?  Learn a few new spells, practice them…that’s all I meant.  But of course I’ll ask Luna – I know she hasn’t been having quite as good a time in classes now that she doesn’t have the people in the D.A. to be friends with.  Though it’s still loads better than it used to be for her…So let’s talk, Harry, I feel like we haven’t seen much of each other this year.”  Ginny said, changing the subject abruptly while Harry smeared jam on his toast.

“Er, well…I’ve been pretty busy with everything, Ginny.  A lot of things are sort of coming to a head in a way, you know.  Plus lessons with the Headmaster, training every day, the usual N.E.W.T. homework, spending some time with Katie – I’ve been busy.  And with it being your O.W.L. year, I’m sure you’re busy too.”  Harry said.

“Oh, of course, I’m very busy.  Hardly any time at all.  But tell me more about this training – Ron said you shoot spells at each other a lot?”  Ginny started.  Harry proceeded to tell her about some of the exercises they’d come up with, finally mentioning how Ron and Hermione were working on preparing for Animagus transformations, which Ginny seemed quite interested in also.  At this point Harry finished his breakfast and was thankfully stolen from Ginny by Remus, who entered the room looking well.

“Well if it isn’t my personal Healer – how’re you feeling, Harry?”  Remus said with a smile.

“Aren’t I supposed to be asking you that, if I’m the Healer?  And what do you think you’re doing out of bed?”  Harry finished in a crude impression of Madam Pomfrey.  Unfortunately the medi-witch was coming into the room behind Remus, and had a disapproving look on her face that made Harry grin.

“It seems I don’t need to ask you that question, do I Mr. Potter?  Are you always so productive on your holidays, sleeping into the afternoon?”  Harry’s smirk didn’t diminish at this; if only she knew how he’d spent his night, she might not be so critical.

“Well Remus, since Madam Pomfrey seems to have taken your well-being to task, what can I do for you this fine morn-afternoon?”  Harry asked pleasantly; Ginny of course giggled lightly at his joke.

“Well, Harry, I just wanted to thank –” Harry waved off his comment casually.

“It was nothing.  I was there and I tried a few spells and things that worked for me.  Snape had a better balm anyway, not to mention teaching me that spell in the first place, so he’s really to blame for you being up and around as well as you are.”  Harry said quickly.  Remus smiled and nodded.

“Well, I’ve already thanked Severus, and I thank you anyway.  And I wanted to thank you also for lending Kreacher to clean up Grimmauld Place for the wedding – it’s astonishing, how it looks, Harry.  I’m not sure what you said to him, but it will really make for a lovely ceremony.  So when’s the best man taking the groom-to-be out for his bachelor party?”  Remus said with a smile.  Luckily Bill and Charlie had overheard and burst in at that moment.

“Don’t worry, Remus, we’ll get you taken care of in that department.”  Bill said with a lecherous smile.

“Seriously, Bill, two words:  Veela strippers.  All I said was to ask Fleur if she had any friends.  This whole thing would’ve been insane if you had.”  Charlie put in, causing a laugh from all of the males in the room and a roll of Ginny’s eyes.  Of course, she never had been able to conceal her jealousy of Fleur, much less a full Veela.

“And I told you that I very much like my spot in her bed and don’t want to be on the couch when I’m at her place, so no, I won’t ask that.”  Bill said somewhat wryly.  Charlie shook his head woefully at this and sighed.

“That’s alright, Bill.  After all, if the next morning I’m getting married to –” Remus began before being interrupted by Bill.

“Oh no, Remus.  Bachelor party – not married.  You can’t think about soon being married, either.  That’s breaking the rules.  Anyway, Harry, as best man you pay for the drinks.  Hope that’s not a problem,” Harry assured him that it wasn’t, of course, stifling another protestation from Remus before it left his mouth, “And anyway, as a werewolf you should be able to drink us all under the table!  Oh this is going to be so much fun!”

Well Harry, Tom said with a smirk, Looks like tonight you won’t be getting to bed early either.  Just remember what happened in my seventh year in the Slytherin Common Room party and try to avoid that.  Terribly embarrassing when I showed them the pictures I took.

I don’t think I’ll drink enough firewhiskey to find the toilet water that appetizing, Tom.  And if I do, you stop me.  Tom’s silence indicated that Harry might be on his own, or even encouraged by the Horcrux to follow that path.

Much of the rest of the day was spent either in planning with Bill, Charlie, the twins, Ron, and chastisement from Percy, or casually playing Exploding Snap and wizards’ chess to pass the day.  Harry also received and wrote and delivered an inordinate amount of letters; he gave no indication as to their content, but always had a wide grin on his face after he sent back either the owl that delivered the letter or Hedwig.

Finally at around eight, the bachelor party was set to get going, and Bill pulled Ron and Harry aside before they left.

“Alright, boys, now as you know you aren’t technically old enough to go to any of the pubs, we need to fix things up a bit!”  Bill handed them each a small vial that Harry recognized – Fred and George had used the same Aging Potion before the Tri-Wizard Tournament to attempt to cross the Age Line.  

“Just down that vial and you’ll be 19 for the night.”  Both boys immediately did so; Ron grew another two inches and grew a bit of scruff all along his neck and face, while Harry, too, grew quite a bit and also filled out more than Ron had, the lean muscle he’d obtained from training growing a bit and alleviating his runty-ness some.  “Also, Harry, you might want to let me do a little transfigure your hair and eyes or something…make you a little less recognizable.  It’ll just make the evening a bit smoother – everyone knows how old Harry Potter is, after all, thanks to the Witch Weekly countdown.”  Harry rolled his eyes and smirked, nodding at Bill, who gave him dirty blonde hair and brown eyes; Harry used his Metamorph medal to change his facial structure some as well – the end result was far from Harry Potter.

“Wow!  That worked even better than I’d hoped, Harry!  You don’t look anything like you!”  Bill said to Ron’s agreement.  Harry replied, “Yeah, and you two could nearly be twins if Ron took more of that Aging Potion.”  Bill slung an arm around his younger brother with a grin before they rejoined the departing group.

“To the Leaky Cauldron!”  The twins, who’d already started the party a little early it seemed, yelled in unison.  Bill and Charlie grabbed Ron and Harry, respectively, and everyone Apparated away to Tom’s pub.

A large crowd greeted them; mostly every male member of the Order was there, and greeted the Weasleys warmly as they arrived.  Mr. Weasley would be coming later, as he was still working late, as was Kingsley Shacklebolt.  Most of the others, Harry, recognized, however, as he deflected a stray Stunning spell from Moody harmlessly onto the ceiling.

“Still keeping up the good reflexes, I see,” Moody growled at him with a sadistic grin; in a whisper he added, “Don’t drink too much, Harry, all these Order members are too pretty a target all together here.  You and me’ll keep our wits and wands about us, eh?”  Harry grinned affirmatively and Moody winked his good eye at him, turning away to slap a jovial Remus on the back once more.

“Hiya Tom – all these folks’ drinks are on me tonight, so don’t let Remus pay a dime.  And I’ll take a butterbeer,” Harry said to the bartender he’d gotten to know quite well.  Ron, on the other hand, had a firewhiskey shot glass in each hand and had already burped flames twice.  Harry grinned at his predictable friend.

Dedalus Diggle, after learning of Harry’s disguise, shook his hand and introduced himself several times as Harry made his rounds through the Order members.  He particularly made sure to apologize to Sturgis Podmore, who’d spent six months in Azkaban the previous year guarding the prophecy – he still had a somewhat haunted look in his eyes that always reminded Harry of Sirius when he’d seen him over the summer.  Elphias Doge, one of the oldest members of the Order, stopped in for a short while to wish Remus his best, but left after only a butterbeer; Mundungus Fletcher, on the other hand, was quite enjoying Harry’s hospitality by filling up two canteens he’d brought with Ogden’s Old Firewhiskey.  

Even Professor Dumbledore made a brief appearance along with Professors Flitwick and Slughorn.  While Professor Dumbledore enjoyed a butterbeer and left, claiming the need for plenty of beauty rest before the ceremony the following day, Flitwick and Slughorn decided to stay for a bit – Flitwick after feeling a bit tipsy from half of a butterbeer and Slughorn to get the chance to butter up Ron and meet his family.

“Ah yes, Tom, some of your special mead for me, if you will!”  Slughorn called out with a wink to Tom.  “My favorite, you know, as well as Professor Dumbledore’s; Tom always keeps some special for us.  So Ron my boy, you simply must introduce me to this William I’ve heard all about!  Goblins are a bit of a specialty of mine, I must say…”

“Hick!  I was just saying how much you’ve been missed on staff, Hick!  Remus!  Haven’t had nearly the quality Hick!  Defense instruction!”  Flitwick had a broad smile on his face and had fallen off of his stool twice now that he’d finished his second butterbeer.  Ron, quite drunk from Firewhiskey, couldn’t hold a competent conversation with Professor Slughorn because of his laughter at Flitwick.

Harry was watching it all with a bemused expression, while Moody was just getting agitated, his eye whirling frantically in all directions.  He seemed to be favoring an aerial bombardment currently as he scanned the skies.

“To the Hog’s Head!”  Bill and Charlie cried loudly to the rest of the bachelor party.  As many of them lined up in front of the Floo, Harry noticed that three figures quickly Apparated away soon after the announcement.  

If I keep this up I’ll be more paranoid than Moody, Harry thought ruefully as he settled the tab with Tom.  It was several hundred galleons, but Harry didn’t flinch at the price – he hadn’t seen Remus this happy as long as he could remember.

Harry Apparated outside the Hog’s Head to join everyone – most everyone Flooed because Apparation and Firewhiskey mix terribly, of course – and found that the party was still going full tilt inside.  He once again assured the bartender that he’d be picking up the tab – the tall barkeep grunted in agreement and returned to wipe down the bar.  Unfriendly bloke, he was, and never gave Harry another look.

Everyone was drinking to excess – except Moody, of course – and enjoying themselves when Harry saw a familiar green light outside the window.  He must have unconsciously magnified his voice magically because everyone heard his scream of, “Everyone down NOW!” and complied, leaving the Killing Curse to blast the window apart violently and strike the far wall of the pub.  The Death Eaters outside were clearly visible, now – Harry cursed himself for not thinking more of the figures who Apparated away, of course half the bloody Order incapacitated would be a fine target!

“Moody, Floo everyone to Headquarters, I’ll hold them here.”  Harry said in a commanding voice that he wasn’t quite aware that he had.  With a harsh few syllables, the fiery whip that Professor Dumbledore used in the battle against Voldemort flew from his wand and lay on the ground in front of the window.  With a thought the flames leapt higher, forming a wall of fire that might obstruct their view of the inside of the bar – an advantage for Harry, since the Death Eaters were lined up in a circle outside.  Harry grinned and with a horizontal arc of a slashing motion sent out Snape’s Sectumsempra in a wide angle that was five or six Death Eaters across.  He heard satisfying yelps from at least three different voices; perhaps some had been able to conjure up shields.  Their return volley was blocked by an enormous block of marble that Harry conjured where the window used to be; it stopped all their curses and would give Harry some respite for a few more rounds, at least.  

Ten of the Order had Flooed to safety, leaving a good many still waiting, as well as the six previous patrons of the bar, all of whom were also too inebriated to leave other than by Floo.  In a snap decision, Harry grabbed Bill and Ron and with much greater focus than he normally would have used to Apparate, Side-Along Apparated both of them with him to Headquarters and then immediately Apparated back to the pub and did the same thing a moment later with Charlie and Percy.  When he returned for the second time, his marble wall had taken too many curses to stand up to any more, so he Vanished the remains of it and sent back six rapid fire curses from several different points, hoping to make it look like there were more defenders than just himself.  

Conjuring a ball of marble in the air to block the green return fire as he ducked, Harry almost longed for the ease of using the Killing Curse himself, but settled for eight of his personal blue Stunning Curses – close enough to a Killing Curse for some unlucky Death Eaters, Harry thought as he heard the ‘thud’s on the ground that indicated his good guess on their locations.  A few yellow curses, likely bone-snapping or similar spells, flew from a wand to his right, while some angry transfigurations flew over his head.  Moody had joined the battle, it seemed as he winked to Harry, as did the bartender.

“Fight or flee, Potter, it’s up to you.”  Moody said with a grim smile.  Harry replied by saying, “Duro,” as the walls near his fiery concealment hardened tougher than stone, and the marble, this time even thicker than before, blocked the window.  Harry smiled at the two remaining men in the bar.

“That should buy us some time.  My plan was to bottleneck them at the door – it’s the only weak point in the perimeter now.  And here’s one more surprise for them.”  Harry conjured up two more walls of marble, eventually planning to barricade the door with another layer.  Then Harry used his wand’s cutting curses to engrave the marble with an interesting rune set that Voldemort had learned long ago, but was never useful unless dealing with another Dark Wizard.  The scheme was totally harmless unless one of the Death Eaters attempted to use the Killing Curse on the marble, which would charge and activate the rune set.  The marble would then be destroyed, but it was somewhat directional, so hopefully he’d have several of the Death Eaters in a line behind him, waiting to charge in.  Harry finished the quick carving of the marble and levitated them in place, binding the marble blocks with a Sticking Charm to each other and the floor.  

He was just in time, it seemed, because soon after, the door exploded inward and the sound of the Death Eaters could be heard.

“Merlin, another bloody block of marble!  Blast it, Jugson.”  It was Carrow’s voice that called out, and Harry was immediately looking forward to a rematch – it wouldn’t be Harry’s arm that was missing this time, he thought viciously.

“Avada Kedavra!”  Harry, Moody, and the bartender put up shields as Harry had warned them to protect from the chunks of debris flying away from the resultant explosion, but the Death Eaters had it far worse.  The explosion blew them away from the door in a hellacious fireball visible slightly on the outside through some of the cracks in the marble in the window.

“Ugh!”  Most of the Death Eaters were moaning until one yelled, “Retreat!”

Moody clapped Harry on the back as he cackled wildly, one last Killing Curse coming through the door and splashing with a burn mark on the far wall.  Even the grim bartender had a smile on his face, and that was when Harry recognized him.

“Dumbledore?”  He asked incredulously.  Moody turned to him with an even bigger grin on his face, “And why would you think that?”

“The smile…and your eyes.  Not to mention it smells like goats in here…Aberforth?”  The bartender’s smile dropped and he wore a rather disapproving frown.

“Aye.  Now, the drinks and the repairs come up to 400 galleons, boy.”  He said as he inspected the impacts of the Killing Curse on the walls, “Damned Dark Magic stains…need to Vanish the cursed thing to get it off…” Harry paid the barman and he and Moody Apparated back to Headquarters, where the entire Order – not just the drunken bachelor party-goers – awaited them.

“Some party, huh?”  Harry began with a grin.  The twins cheered uproariously at this, and Professor Flitwick fell out of his chair with a goofy smile and a raised glass of butterbeer.

“What in Merlin’s name happened?”  Mrs. Weasley yelled to Harry, who had reverted to his real appearance and was the only one seemingly coherent.

“Just a little gift from the Death Eaters to Remus.  Unfortunately he wasn’t in the right state to enjoy it like Harry and I were.  Damned fools.  They retreated and we came back here after Harry paid the bar tab.  No big deal.”  Alastor said, all with a wide smile that few had ever seen the like of on his face.

“Oh how horrible!  I knew it was a bad idea to –” Molly’s tirade was interrupted by a weak Stunning spell that nonetheless dropped her like a rock before she was caught by a surprised Harry.  Moody whistled and nodded his head sadly.

“Poor dear…must have been the stress.  Alright, people, you’re safe now, go back to your homes through that Floo.”  Moody turned to Harry and said, “Give me a copy of that explosive rune set tomorrow at the wedding and I might not ask you just where you got a hold of such a thing.  Night.  Oh, and nice work, Harry.”  It was the most complimentary thing that Alastor had ever said to Harry, and Harry was quite touched by it.

As it was close to three in the morning, however, Harry was also quite tired, so after he got Ron into bed, only having to Vanish his excreted stomach contents twice, he once more passed out on his own bed and slept soundly after extracting a promise from Tom to view Voldemort’s tirade that night in a Pensieve later.

***

“And of course, they were right about Remus as a teacher – how many times did I pass out while learning that Patronus Charm, after all?”  Harry joked at the end of his speech at the reception in the expanded dining room of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place.

“But seriously, and speaking of, if Sirius were here he’d say the same, I’m sure, Remus’ teaching must have been good, because he was the only competent teacher we had when we took our O.W.L.s and we all did well.  We wish him the best, and I’ll take up no more time with speeches, as I’m sure Tonks is itching to get this thing over with so she can have him to herself.”  Harry silenced the laughter with a grin and hitting his knife against his champagne glass with a grin and a wink at Remus, who obligingly kissed his new bride.

The ceremony had been simple, with Professor Dumbledore himself presiding over the small crowd – only Order members and the Tonks family, really.  Andromeda Tonks, who’d been anxious to meet Harry for some time, apparently, complimented him on the house, saying that it looked better than it ever had when she visited as a child.  Kreacher could hardly contain his pride, even if the compliment was from a “blood traitor bitch…but with good taste.”  

The reception was equally simple, though the roast pheasant was quite delicious and the cake looked extraordinary – the top layer charmed to change to a myriad of vivid colors in honor of Tonks, who was changing her hair to match.  Harry finally lowered the lights with a wave of his wand and started the Wizarding Wireless he’d bought and played some of the Weird Sisters’ music.  They were Tonks’ favorite, of course, and Harry was beginning to enjoy them as well.  The couples’ song, “Changing in the Moonlight With You,” which was one of the least popular songs the Sisters ever recorded, was met with a round of tears all around, not least of all from Kreacher, but they soon dissipated when an energetic number came on next and everyone flooded the dance floor.  Harry was contracted to dance with Hestia Jones, Maid of Honor, for the first number, and she turned out to be an extraordinarily talented dancer, so Harry kept with her – Tom had been quite graceful on the floor, to make up for Harry’s prior inexperience.

Soon enough, though, the two separated; Harry made his rounds with all of the other witches there starting with Tonks herself and moving on to Hermione, Ginny, Professor McGonagall, Mrs. Figg, Mrs. Weasley, Mrs. Tonks, and even giving Remus a spin to much raucous applause and laughter.  The twins thought this a fine idea and soon got in a contest with the couple as to just who could dance more outrageously.  Harry and Remus’ tango dancing was a close match to the twins’ steamy samba.  

It was quite the day, and a memorable one for all; the most extravagant gift that the new couple received was the secret that Harry shared with them – the location of Malfoy’s French manor.  Eventually, he intended to give it to the couple, but for now it was merely a vacation spot for them to use as they wanted.  Remus objected, but Harry merely rolled his eyes at his posturing.

The following day, Christmas Eve, was equally exciting to mostly everyone due to the press conference that Harry snuck out of the Burrow to attend, merely Apparating away once he was in the bathroom.

“Now, ladies and gentlemen, the benefactor himself, Harry Potter!”  Harry grinned as he ‘pop’ed in at just the perfect moment to thunderous applause in Diagon Alley.

“Thank you everyone, thanks.  Just a short speech I’ve prepared, and then I’ll go back to celebrating the hols.  Now, you may think that you have me to thank for this record donation to St. Mungo’s, but really you do not.  That honor falls to the originator of the fortune, Mr. Lucius Malfoy.  When I accused him of being a Death Eater and subsequently confiscating half of his fortune while he was imprisoned in Azkaban, I simply had no idea that he had done everything under the effects of the Imperius Curse as he claimed.  And, to be honest, that was frightening to me.  If a prominent citizen and skilled wizard like Mr. Malfoy can fall under the effects of the curse so easily – and repeatedly – then how have any of us got a chance?  I decided that something had to be done, and so I contacted St. Mungo’s to see if we could reach an agreement.”  Harry said, with varying emotions in his voice so convincingly that he was uncertain himself where they came from.  Malfoy, sitting front and center of the crowd, though he’d had no idea why he was invited to the event, glared coldly at Harry throughout his speech.

“And I am pleased to announce the opening of two exciting new additions to the wonderful hospital.  The Lucius Malfoy Memorial Imperius-Curse Clinical Research and Treatment Center will be located on the completely remodeled Spell Damage Ward.  And also on that ward is the special Muggle Receiving Center, which focuses on presenting a familiar front to Muggles whose family members end up in the hospital.  Notably, this Center will be linked to several leading Muggle hospitals, and run by Muggleborns specializing in Muggle relations so that we need not reveal magic to them at all while healing their family.  And neither of these would be possible without the encouragement and generosity of Lucius Malfoy, a true gentle-wizard like few I’ve ever met!”  Harry led the round of applause as the entire crowd leapt to its feet in applause to Lucius.  Malfoy, for his part, was suffering the realization that Harry had gotten rid of half his considerable fortune – not to mention two properties he swore he used to own, but couldn’t remember where they were located – and had yet to rise from his seat, his eyes wide and mouth open slightly.

The crowd called for a speech from Malfoy, which ended up mostly consisting of unintelligible mumbling and random thanks to St. Mungo’s.  The crowd applauded anyway, while Malfoy just looked incredulously at Potter.  Previously, the boy had no political sense, but now…he’d taken away an incredible amount of money with crude manipulation of the laws which Malfoy could easily swing back his way to get back, and then given it away so securely that Malfoy couldn’t think of doing anything but playing along.  If Potter got any more ideas like this one, he’d be destitute!

Harry just grinned widely as he wrapped an arm around a still stunned Malfoy for pictures and then Apparated back to the Burrow, where the entire Weasley clan looked quite upset sitting in front of the Wireless.  It appeared that they heard his speech…