Soon after dinner, they called Dobby to report of his finds. The house-elf was a bit apprehensive at first. "Dobby thought that with no other work to do, checking on Malfoy Manor would be a good idea. Dobby knows the place well and can easily sneak in and out of any room there."
"You did well, Dobby," Harry told the house-elf, making him stand straighter. "Now, what did you find?"
Dobby seemed sad. "There are many Death Eaters staying there. They make the place filthy. The Lastrage are there, and many werewolves come and go. The dungeon is being used, but only these four were still alive. Many died. The werewolves eat the bodies of the dead." Dobby couldn't suppress a shudder. Neither did the teens.
"The Dark one is not there, but should be back in a few days, so I heard," Dobby added.
"Did you hear anything about the giants or the trolls?"
"Oh, yes! They have a camp way in the north. Dobby will find the exact place and tell you. Dobby put tracking on those who keep in touch with them. Dobby will find very soon!"
The other house-elves from the earlier conversation were called to join. Winky excused herself from active action. "Winky is not brave enough to go there and Winky fears she may squeak or do something else in fright and endanger others. Winky will try to help in other ways."
"Can you heal?" Hermione asked.
"Winky knows some healing," was the reply. It was evident that Winky didn't trust herself to do a good job, but Harry already knew that house-elves were usually more knowledgable than they gave themselves credit for.
"Well, this should be enough for now. Balmy also knows some healing. You may work together on our new guests. You may go there now, if you like."
Winky squeaked happily and vanished.
Twinkle talked now. "I asked other house-elves. All the males volunteered and several of the females. Some are away and I didn't ask them yet."
"So, how many do we have for this fight?" Harry asked.
"We have about thirty for this task. We may have a few more in a day or two."
They spent about an hour, assigning tasks and planning timetables. They only planned for the rest of the week, knowing that any long-term plans were bound to change soon under the changing circumstances.
With that planning out of the way, Hermione used one of the voice-changing spells to slightly alter Harry's voice, making it a bit deeper and more throaty. "It's still you, but different enough not to cause any problems," she said.
She then taught Harry the spell and he used it to make her voice higher and more 'girly,' although she didn't agree with this definition. With that done, they could finally pay proper attention to their guests.
They found Dean and the two adults in a much better mood. They had all showered and were evidently given clean clothes and a good meal. Dean's arm looked straighter, although it was still bandaged. Only Ollivander seemed unchanged.
"I'm glad you three look much better," Harry told them. "What about him?" He pointed at the old man.
"We helped him bathe, but he's very weak. He barely ate and fell asleep as soon as we helped him back into bed. The house-elves that helped with our medical problems were unsure what to do about him. They left a nutrient potion and a strengthening potion, but seemed unsure about how much they could help."
Harry sighed. "I wish I knew of a trustworthy healer whom we could bring here."
"My wife is a healer. She's a pureblood and excels in her work. That's why they let her stay, but that couldn't help me. I'm muggle-born," Ted told them.
"But if she comes here…" Harry started.
"She'll be happier than when treating the bigots at St. Mungos. You may also ask her to take an unbreakable oath. I have no doubt she would agree."
"Fine. I'll try to contact her," Harry agreed.
"Can we tell our families we're fine?" Dick asked.
"I suggest you each write a note and the house-elves will deliver it. I'd rather not trust owls right now. They can be easily intercepted."
Meanwhile, Hermione was checking on Mr. Ollivander. He didn't look injured, but he looked ill. She suspected that he might need a long recuperation, with healthy food, lots of sun and lots of rest. Still, it was a good idea to have a competent healer check him.
She then turned her attention to Dean. "Don't you want to inform your family too?"
He shrugged. "My father disappeared when I was one, probably killed in the war. My mother is a muggle. I told her she should move to another place before I left, not to endanger her. If she did, I have no way to reach her, not until this is over."
"Why didn't you try to hide in the muggle world? Don't you think it would have been easier?" she asked.
"It probably would, but I wanted to still get information from the magical world. Some good friends of mine are still at Hogwarts. There's a girl…" He didn't elaborate.
Hermione sighed. "I can understand that, but still, the muggle world is immensely more crowded and you can easily merge in, becoming well hidden in plain sight."
He shrugged. "I didn't really think of it."
She smiled at him. "Well, you can rethink of it while recuperating. Still, if you write a note to your mother, we can probably deliver it, making sure she receives it in a way that wouldn't be dangerous to her."
Harry addressed them all. "I suggest you rest well tonight. We shall see what we can do for you tomorrow, when you shall hopefully feel better. Goodnight."
But Harry was not yet ready for the night. His mind was flooded with ideas, thoughts and concerns. They'd done in a week more than they'd done in several months while still with Ron. He dared not think what it meant about Ron's influence on them. Was that also a part of Dumbledore's plan? Whose side had the old man really been on?
Hermione also had some information for him. "I've ordered two sniper rifles. We shall have to go get them in person from an outlet in Leeds, and I have to prepare some documents first. We can go as early as tomorrow.
"I also entered a bid for some anti-tank missiles, offering a much higher price than the norm. Four launchers and eight missiles should do the work, I think. We have to wait for next week for the auction to be final. I'll need to prepare some more documents, though."
Some mischief crept into her voice. "Maybe we should ask one of the house-elves to 'borrow' such documents from the appropriate authorities. It can help us do better work at duplicating them and they can return the originals before they are missed."
Harry chuckled. "And I thought Hermione Granger was a law-abiding girl who respected authority."
She smiled innocently. "Well, that's Hermione Granger, but that girl is no longer. Valerie Gordon is anything but, and Lady Hermione Potter is quite disillusioned with authorities and authority figures. Besides, your wife, no matter what name she uses, is quite horny now. Care to handle that?"
It was an excellent distraction. They rushed to their bedroom, discarded their clothes and jumped to bed, forgetting everything but each other for a while.
\/\/\/
By the time they reached breakfast, the teens found out that the house-elves had been very busy at night. Mrs. Tonks, Mrs. Cresswell and Mrs. Thomas had each found a note from their missing family member on the kitchen table. Mrs. Tonks also found an additional note, encoded to only be readable to her. "If you want to leave your work at the hospital and join your husband and others who are trying to defeat the Dark Lord, then leave a note with the word 'Yes' only on the kitchen table before leaving for work. You will then be contacted. If no such note is found, you will be left alone and no further contact will be initiated."
It was already way past the time Mrs. Tonks left for work, and Dobby was glad to show his Master and Mistress the note with a large "YES!!" on it. Harry smiled at seeing it. The house-elves would have to prepare another guest room.
Unfortunately, Mrs. Cresswell was not eligible for such treatment. She had no position of her own and no useful talents, having to rely on help from her parents, who were unwilling to do anything against the rule of the Dark Lord, once her husband was forced to flee. She would need to survive the war somehow and hope to repair her relationship with her husband when the time came.
Harry wrote a note to Mrs. Tonks, asking her to pack all that she might need for an extended stay in a secret place, including all her medical stuff. Dobby or Winky would go there before she reached home, put the note on the kitchen table and wait to be called, staying invisible.
One of the house-elves had also visited a weapon control office and took some empty forms, including a serialized blank dealer license and a sniper license.
They spent the rest of the morning creating the missing documents and soon after lunch had Dobby pop them to Leeds. With their "genuine" license, they had no problem buying the two sniper rifles and a thousand rounds for each. With the Dark Lord's army numbering only a few hundred at most, that was enough ammunition for thoroughly practising and then using the rifles in combat with generous spares.
Hermione also thought that infra-red goggles and an infrared spotting laser could be useful, so she added one set for each. The dealer also recommended a spotting scope and two tripods, to which Hermione agreed. Harry wasn't sure what it meant, but trusted his wife.
Soon after their return, it was time to go for Mrs. Tonks. Kreacher thought that since she was Black by birth it would be fitting for him to do that. Harry thought that might not be very wise. He didn't want his identity to become known and everyone who knew about Sirius's will could know whom Kreacher served. Winky didn't have any known connection to Harry so her participation would cause no suspicion. Dobby also agreed, quite reluctantly, that she was more suitable for that job than him.
Winky came back almost immediately. It turned out that Mrs. Tonks had everything packed and shrunk since her husband had to go into hiding. She only kept two sets of working robes and underwear for work, nothing else, so she called Winky immediately when she saw the note.
Due to the quick return, the young couple missed the reunion of the older couple. By the time they reached the fourth floor, Mrs. Tonks ("You may call me Andy, or Andromeda – if you insist.") was already busy checking Dean, making sure that his bones were mending correctly and that the superficial injuries were also healing. She then turned to Mr. Ollivander.
Just watching her expression, it was very clear that she was worried for the old man. She ran several sets of diagnostic spells before she calmed down. "He suffers from exposure to Cruciatus, as do the others, but his main problem is sleep and food deprivation. The potions assigned by your house-elves will help him well and once he's a bit more capable, I'll add some exercise to his daily routine, to rebuild the muscles that were weakened by lack of movement."
She moved with Ted into the adjacent room that the house-elves had prepared for the couple. Just before closing the door, she asked, "Is there a way to inform my daughter that we're alright? She's pregnant, and I don't want her to worry."
Harry smiled. "Give a note to Winky. She'll have it delivered."
They conferred with Twinkle about having a shooting range prepared. Harry had no idea what that meant, but Hermione's visit to the public library also gave her some useful ideas about that and she was quick to instruct Twinkle about what she wanted. "The rifles have an effective range of three thousand feet, but we don't expect to become so good at it, so a range of a thousand feet should do. It's way more than the range of most spells. At such distances, the rifle is practically inaudible, since the bullet hits way before the sound arrives, although we intend to add some silencing charms."
She then proceeded to explain the different scenarios for shooting and asked for a setup to mimic each. "You'll have it by noon," Twinkle promised.
With everything taken care of for the day, Hermione urged Harry to take care of his duties as her husband. He was actually looking forward to that.