The next morning, Harry called his main house-elves: Dobby, Kreacher, Twinkle and, reluctantly, Winky.
"I have a very important mission that only house-elves can succeed in. It is dangerous, so I'll only use house-elves who volunteer to do it after knowing the dangers." Only Winky seemed to have second thoughts about it.
"Here's what I need to be done: First, I want to find where the Death Eaters have bases, where they sleep, where they have their supreme command located, where they keep the giants and the trolls and any other allies they managed to find.
"Second: I want you to find where Nagini, the Dark Lord's snake, is spending her time. In many ways, this is even more important than the other tasks. Once it is found, I want someone to keep track of her at all times. Tagging her with a tracking spell could also be nice.
"Third: I want to make sure the Hogwarts students are safe. Some of the upper-class students may already be Death Eaters – I don't care about them, but the others should be as safe as possible.
"Fourth: I want to know of any prisoners or hostages they keep, their names, their locations and what they are supposedly charged with. Whenever possible, I want them released and brought to safety. We shall need to decide on a place to keep them safe for a while."
Harry stopped to think, looking questioningly at Hermione for any addition. "Well, I think that's all for now. The dangers are obvious, I think. If the Death Eaters find you, they won't hesitate to kill you. You must be stealthy and not be found out. In case of doubt, pop away from danger. That's about it."
He then remembered another point. "Oh, and the snake is also very dangerous. It has an excellent sense of smell and is extremely fast and powerful and quite venomous. Don't let it come close to you."
Hermione now took over. "Even if all of you volunteer, this task requires many more participants. Ask all the other Potter house-elves and find any free house-elves to join us. Are there other Black house-elves?"
Kreacher shook his head. "No, I'm the last."
She frowned. "We may need to assign one to apprentice to you, so you can pass the responsibilities when you become too frail."
She addressed the whole group again. "Check with the other house-elves and come back after lunch, so we may set teams, assign tasks and set schedules. That's all for now."
After the house-elves popped away, she turned to Harry. "I feel a bit like a fraud, sending them to face danger while I stay well protected. It doesn't feel right at all."
"There's nothing you can do about that. They are much better equipped for the task, They can easily stay unseen or even undetectable; they can pop in and out of places we have no access to and the way most dark families treat house-elves, they can even stay visible and nobody will notice. We can't do even a part of this. What we can do is plan. We can search for any weapons that can help us and any methods to assure our success."
He then smiled. "Besides, I think it's time to change our appearance, don't you agree?"
They needed to get some help from Winky and two other female house-elves, but two hours later, a blond Harry, sporting a short mane that lay nicely on his scalp and a blonde Hermione with slick hair that reached way down to her waist, although she initially thought to cut it to shoulder length, left the bathroom, not quite believing what they saw in the mirrors.
"Your hair stays flat," Hermione told him, caressing his hair.
"And yours has no knots in it," he said his fingers going smoothly through her glistening mane. He missed the bushiness and the knots, but as long as it was Hermione, it didn't matter too much.
"Our eyebrows are also blond," she remarked.
"The way we look, we could be mistaken for Malfoy relatives," he chuckled.
"In a way, he is your relative, although not very close," Hermione reminded him.
Harry shuddered exaggeratedly. That was something he could live without.
"Shouldn't we buy some more fashionable clothing to go with this look?" he asked.
Hermione looked pensive. "Maybe…"
She then shook herself out of her musings. "I think we should visit some library that has an internet connection. I'd like to see what we can find there. We may find ideas or even weapons for sale."
One of the house-elves took them to an alley in Liverpool, close to a big public library. A few minutes later, they walked into the library, found a free computer and sat in front of it.
Harry had no idea what to do, but Hermione, although not as knowledgeable as she would have liked, knew enough to search for relevant information. She spent a few minutes just to get herself re-acquainted with operating a computer and surfing the net and then started in earnest.
"I think I'll start by looking for any weapons sales, since they may have limited dates," she told Harry, who just nodded.
He was surprised that she found several such sales. Most were limited to licensed weapon dealers, though, but Hermione found in a different search how these licenses looked. They were difficult to forge by muggle means but posed no problem when using magic. She just had that demo license printed in colour. She was sure the house-elves would enjoy forging it.
Back to the weapon sales, there were two auctions and three straight sales. Hermione thought that some anti-tank missiles, including launchers, could be very useful against giants or trolls. These were auctioned. Some high-end sniper rifles were on direct sales, limited to people with sniper licenses. Hermione found a sample on the net and printed it too. She now needed to check if and how these licenses were computer-controlled.
Harry got bored by the computer, not understanding most of what she did. He didn't think it was a lack of intelligence, mainly a lack of knowledge. It didn't change a thing, though. He'd need to spend some time learning before he could use a computer as freely as his wife did.
Thinking of his wife, he wandered to the section of the library with books about marriage, relations and family. He found a book labelled "How to keep your marriage happy" and started reading. The book made a lot of sense. In a way, some of what he read there he had done instinctively, only the book explained why acting that way was a good idea and what the problem was in acting differently.
He was surprised when Hermione came for him. "We need to go home. Dinner will soon be ready."
Harry checked his watch, not quite believing that he'd spent so long on reading a book. He put it back in place and took her hand in his. "Let's go!"
Dobby came to take them home as soon as they entered that hidden alley. "How did you know to come now?" Hermione asked.
Dobby shrugged. "A good house-elf always knows when its master needs it."
Dobby seemed more apprehensive when they reached the Manor. "Dobby must apologize, Master Harry Potter Sir. Dobby went to Malfoy Manor and found some prisoners, so Dobby brought them here. They're in the first guest-room on the fourth floor with the shutters closed. If Master disagrees, Dobby will take them back."
"No, Dobby. You did well. Who are they?"
"The wand man, two other wizards and one younger."
"How are they?"
Dobby looked sad. "Not good. The boy is only slightly injured. The others are much worse."
"Alright. Let's see them!" Harry said.
Hermione held his arm. "Harry, you must first decide how much to tell them and where to keep them. I'm not sure it's safe to keep them here. Besides," now she smirked a bit, "You can't be the-boy-who lived. You're blond, you have no scar and your eyes are blue, with no glasses."
Harry shrugged and bowed theatrically. "Peter Gordon, ma'am, at your service."
Hermione laughed. "Alright, Peter. Let's go and see them."
Dobby didn't let them climb the stairs. He just popped them to the fourth floor and pointed at a door before vanishing.
Harry opened the door and stepped in. Hermione didn't follow. The room was well lit and there were four beds in it. He could immediately recognize Mr. Ollivander, who seemed to feel cold despite the warm house and the heavy blanket. He also recognized the younger man – it was Dean Thomas, his ex dorm mate. Dean's arm was bandaged but he looked well otherwise. Harry didn't recognize the other men although one seemed slightly familiar.
"Where are we?" one of the men groaned, noticing the newcomer.
"In a safe place. Who are you?"
"I'm Ted Tonks and this is Dirk Cresswell. The boy is…"
"I know the others," Harry cut him. "Do you need any medical treatment?"
Ted seemed to find the question humorous. "Probably. Something to relieve the Cruciatus effects would be nice, but just some real food would also do wonders for us."
"I'll send you some food as soon as I can. I'll see what I can do about medical help. We didn't expect to have such guests already."
Ted nodded understandingly. "Can we use a bathroom?"
"There's a bathroom you can use at the end of the corridor. You can't miss it, but please stay in your room only, when not using the bathroom. I don't yet have all the security we may need in place and you shouldn't wander around until it's put in place."
Dean seemed to wake up from some troubled sleep. He opened his eyes and looked confusedly at Harry. "I thought I recognised your voice, but you certainly don't look like the person I thought you were."
Harry chuckled. "I've heard this several times before. I wonder who's the person people confuse me with." He turned serious. "What happened to your arm?"
"Broken. They didn't even bother setting it correctly. Said I was bound to die anyhow, so why bother?"
"I'll see what I can do to help you. I suggest you all use the bathroom and clean up. I'll send you some food as soon as I can and I'll work on the security aspects to allow you to roam some more. Please don't go anywhere except for the bathroom until then."
Hermione was waiting at the third-floor landing along with Dobby.
"Can you erect some barrier to allow them to only go to the bathroom and back until we decide what to do?" Harry asked Dobby.
The house-elf clicked his fingers. "Done!"
Harry then told Hermione as much as he could about the people in that room. "I'm worried that Dean could almost identify me by my voice. Can we find some means to change our voices as well?"
Hermione didn't want to dwell on it. "We'll find something. Now, it's dinner time. Dobby has already told Sparky about our guests and she'll have dinner ready for them in a few minutes. We can also ask her or Twinkle about some house-elf with healing knowledge."
Harry was too preoccupied during dinner to pay the food much attention. He first called Twinkle. "Are the wards strong enough to allow us to host some fugitives here?"
Twinkle smiled reassuringly. "Aren't you the most sought after fugitive?" He then turned serious. "The wards are stronger than those of Hogwarts. When put into war mode, any attempted breach will send the offender into the ocean or outright kill them, probably quite painfully. Some of the outer wards are of Goblin designs, you should know. Then there are some house-elf designed wards that would not kill. They only transform the offenders into worms and send them to the chicken house. And then you have the human-designed wards, ones that improve on the Hogwarts wards with better detection and fiercer punishment."
Harry nodded. His guests would be kept safe. "How far do the wards extend?" He wasn't sure how much area such wards could cover. As far as he had heard, the stronger the ward, the smaller the area covered.
"They cover the whole property, extending about ten feet beyond the fences. Some of the alarm wards extend about half a mile farther, to allow proper reconfiguration of the wards in time."
"So, in which configuration are they now?"
Twinkle seemed to check it. "They are a notch below the maximum, to allow your house-elves in and out, and anyone they take with them. When set to maximum, nobody can go in or out."
This made Harry a bit more relaxed. He then frowned. "What about owl mail?"
"There's a mailbox near the main gate, at the edge of the wards. Owls are redirected to drop mail there and we collect it twice a day, if any arrives." Twinkle's expression made it clear that this had not happened often for quite some time.
"Then how can we send mail?" Harry asked.
"We have our own mail owls. They can take mail out and they can return after they drop incoming mail in the box."
This seemed to be fine, except… "How deep are the wards going into the ground? The one who betrayed my parents is a rat animagus. He may try to burrow his way in under the wards, if ordered so."
Twinkle's expression turned predatory. "The wards extend more than thirty feet into the ground. We also have some rodent wards to stun any burrowing animals and bring them to the surface, where the cats, the owls and other small predators take care of them. It keeps the fields and the gardens clear of pests."
This finally brought a smile to Harry's face.
"Now, do we have anyone who can treat medical problems? One of our new guests has a broken arm that may need resetting. Another is quite old and seems in very bad health. They have all been exposed to the Cruciatus curse, probably more than once. What can we do for them?"
Twinkle didn't need to think for too long. "Balmy may be able to help them, at least some. I'm not sure if we have enough of the potion to treat Cruciatus victims, but we can brew a new batch in about an hour and discard any old remains. I'll send Balmy to check them as soon as they finish dinner."
Hermione had some other questions. "Twinkle, can the Ministry detect spells cast in here?"
"No, mistress. Nobody outside the wards can know of anything within, unless allowed to. Currently, only you and Master can even see the Manor when outside. Other people only see a large field."
"What will our new guests see?"
Twinkle smiled. "Unless specifically allowed, they will only see some fields when looking through the window and if they step out, they won't be able to find their way back inside."
She looked at Harry. "This seems to be secure enough. As long as we don't tell them where they are and they can't identify the place, they can't tell anybody, even if they send mail or leave."
"That may be enough, but we need to change our voices too. What shall we do?" he asked.
Hermione sighed. "I can think of no muggle method to give us what we want, but I know several spells to do so. We could use different spells at different times, so even if we're heard in one place, we'll sound different at another."
Harry smiled at the idea. He could always trust Hermione to help him.
A.N. I appreciate reviews, but only ones that have some contents. If you give an anonymous review with only a letter or two of contents, then it's useless, although it may count as a review in the statistics. As a matter of principle, I remove them. So, if you have something to say about the story, either good or bad, please review. Otherwise, please don't bother.