When they all parted, Harry held Andy back. "Will it be alright to visit Narcissa now?"
"It should be no problem. As Lord Black, you may impose your will on her in any case, but it's still early enough to visit even in the politest company. Can I join you?"
Harry smiled. "Yes, but I need to use some glamours to change my appearance back. I still don't know what would happen with her next, and I'd rather keep my new look secret."
Kreacher was content enough to be called. He first popped to Grimmauld place to adjust the wards for Andy and inform Narcissa of the expected visit. Hermione used this time to put some strong glamours on Harry, making him look as he had been looking a few weeks earlier. He took out his contacts and put on his old glasses.
Dobby was able to pop Harry into the Black house. Kreacher arrived seconds later with Andy. Both arrived at the entrance hall.
"Miss Cissy is waiting in the parlour," Kreacher said, leading the way.
Harry went in first, letting Andy wait behind the door, too excited at meeting her sister after many years of separation, yet not ready to face her with the news about Bella.
Narcissa, who was sitting on a sofa, stood up and bowed deeply. "Lord Black, it's an honour to finally meet you. I'm glad you found some time to meet me since I'm sure you're very busy."
Harry bowed his head shortly, acknowledging her bow. "Miss Black, I'm glad to finally meet you in person. I bring you some mixed news, though."
He sat down and motioned for her to sit too before he continued. "You may not have heard, but a short while after your escape, some young prisoners were brought to the Malfoy Manor."
Narcissa grimaced, showing that she knew this couldn't be good.
"The three girls brought in were continuously raped, I'm not sure what happened to the boy. Then they were rescued and brought to a safe place. The room where all this took place had caught fire when the chandelier fell and all the occupants died. Bellatrix Lestrange was one of them," Harry finished his tale.
"A fit end for the girl who turned a monster," Narcissa said, sounding quite unmoved. "I've already grieved for the loss of the loving sister she had once been, before the madness took her. I can't grieve for a monster."
"Are you ready to meet your other sister, though?"
"Andy? I'd love to. I've not seen her for more than twenty years, since she eloped. Lucius wouldn't even let me say her name. Can you bring her here?"
Harry smiled and pointed at the open door. Andy took it as her clue to step in. The sisters had one glimpse at each other and then it was as if all those years were melting away. Narcissa stood and rushed to her sister who also rushed in her direction, both falling into a tight embrace as soon as they reached each other.
Harry watched the reunion for a short while and then walked out of the room with neither noticing him. "Take me home," he told Kreacher, "and then return here and bring Andy back when they're done. Have some calming tea ready. I'm sure they would need it."
Kreacher nodded. He then popped Harry back to Potter Manor and returned to tend to the crying sisters.
Once back, Harry called Dobby. "Luna's earring and necklace were taken from her and thrown on the ground inside Hogwarts. Can you try to find them? They seem very important to her."
Dobby bowed. "Dobby will try his best," he said and popped away.
\/\/\/
Luna joined the Potters and the Lupins at breakfast. She was barefoot but wore some clothing suitable for physical training, which also seemed to enhance her figure.
"You look very nice in this," Harry complimented her. "Where did you get these clothes?"
Luna smiled thankfully. "I just asked the house-elf about appropriate clothing and she brought me this. She also told me that Dad was brought to a safe location during the night. I only hope he takes this well."
"I'll make sure you can visit him today. Don't mention my name, though. I already left a note to Narcissa to not mention me. He doesn't need to know any more than that he's at the Black House and that place is used as a safe house for some who need that."
"He'll miss his paper," Luna noted.
"I'll see what we can do about that. There's quite a large library there, but some books are cursed. Maybe Narcissa could help him."
Luna took on her dreamy look. "Oh, I'm sure they can help each other in more than one way."
As she turned her attention to her plate, something else caught her eyes. Her necklace and her earrings were waiting there for her. "How did you find them?" she asked, her expression thankful.
"Dobby did. You should thank him."
\/\/\/
They met Ollivander after their morning training. "We've got some wands 'rescued' during the other rescue operations. Is there a way to make them useful for others?"
The old man gave it some consideration. "Normally, once a wand chooses a wizard or a witch, it won't work well for any other, unless won in battle. There's a way around it, though. It may even help you give wands to all the rescued. You see, a wand can be personalized by adding a drop of its owner's blood to the core. The wands may not be the best fit, but they won't fight the new owners and would give an adequate performance in most cases."
He went silent for another moment. "Now that I think of it, I believe I can make some generic wands for all, and use the blood to make them work. They can then be used for emergencies, even if their owners get a fit wand as their main. I suppose you could find some appropriate wood, even in a muggle lumber yard, and just about any magical creature can supply hair or feathers to be used as cores."
\/\/\/
When Harry told the house-elves about this conversation, they came immediately into action. They "liberated" all the spare wands from abandoned magical houses and from Death Eater houses. Most of these places had wands used by ancestors and never touched again.
They visited Malfoy Manor and took any wand left unsupervised, also verifying the fate of those caught in the burning room. As expected, none survived. The remains were so badly charred that they could barely even be identified.
They checked on the concentration camp, finding no new occupants, while the guards stayed oblivious. They did take some unattended wands, though.
Another group of house-elves checked the Ministry's holding cells. They found a few small-scale criminals there, but most of the cells held muggle-born awaiting their 'trial' for 'stealing magic'. The house-elves couldn't pop the prisoners out of the cells, since these had been protected to eliminate it ages ago. They could, however, make the guards fall asleep and open the relevant cells. Once out of the cells area, the house-elves could easily pop them elsewhere, and so they did. When the guards woke up, seconds later, they couldn't notice anything amiss, as if none of the emptied cells had previously been occupied.
\/\/\/
Ollivander was still mostly bed-ridden, but finding himself with a multitude of wands on one hand, and many people lacking wands on the other, invigorated him enough to try and find some matches. Every able person was invited to try the wands, but very few matches were found. This prompted him to try the alternative method. He tried to find wands of close construction to each person's original wand and then personalized them by using a drop of blood and a spell. He first fit himself with a wand, helped by Harry, so he could perform the rest of his job. He then had each person fitted with a wand on a first-come-first-served basis. This still left about half the rescued population wandless, but the house-elves promised to bring some raw materials in a day or two. Everybody was looking forward to that.
\/\/\/
Soon after dinner, the teens were informed of a raid being planned on a small muggle village, not far from Birmingham. The teens went into combat mode at once. Remus, who was also present, wouldn't let them go alone. "I want to come along to either help you or only protect you, as the need may be."
Harry wasn't too happy about that. Remus might not fully agree with their methods, but they really weren't sure they could do enough when faced with a group of Death Eaters, despite their plans.
Dobby took them to the roof of one of the houses in that small village, facing the local pub. Remus then erected an anti-apparition and anti-portkey ward that would only prevent going out. He also cast a fire-repelling spell on the pub, along with some strengthening charms. Dobby, equipped with a laser pointer, hid somewhere closer to the pub.
They didn't need to wait for long. It took less than half an hour until they heard some apparition cracks, as five Death Eaters appeared in front of the pub.
Harry used a modified sonorus charm, invented by Hermione, to address them. "You are surrounded. Drop your wands and raise your arms up in the air, or die." The sound seemed to come from all directions at once, making it impossible to find its source.
Four of them looked around, trying to find their enemies, but the fifth, probably the leader, dismissed the warning and tried to cast a fire curse on the pub. He fell with a hole in his head before he finished the spell.
The other four tried to portkey away, only finding their escape route blocked. They desperately tried to cast curses in all directions, hoping to hit someone. They were so badly coordinated that one fell to a close-range reducto cast by another, increasing the panic of the remaining three. Two bullets found their targets soon after, and the last fell to a well-aimed piercing charm cast at his chest by Remus.
With their enemies gone, Remus removed the wards and the protection spells, making sure to also use some cleansing charm to mask his magical signature. He also collected their wands, including any spares.
Dobby made sure to vanish the bullets and then removed the left sleeves of the bodies.
The whole confrontation took only a minute or two and it looked like nobody inside the pub even noticed. Harry decided not to leave any signs of it, not to alert the muggle authorities. "Dobby, can you take the bodies to Diagon Alley?"
Dobby nodded enthusiastically.
"Leave them in a row in the middle of the street."
Dobby clicked his fingers and vanished along with the bodies. He returned a moment later. By then, the teens had packed their equipment and Remus had scanned the ground for any blood stains or other remains. They all held hands and vanished. Nobody in the pub had a clue that they had just been saved from a brutal death.
\/\/\/
Remus confronted the teens as soon as they were back. "This was not the first time you set an ambush, was it?"
Harry thought it was time to make things clear. "It wasn't. We also eliminated some other Death Eaters. They are all killers. Ollivander told us that they need to kill an innocent as a part of the Dark Mark ritual. They sealed their fates the moment they were marked."
Remus found it difficult to accept, but Harry had already heard all he needed about the subject, so he trudged on. "Very few regretted their actions. Regulus Black died trying to stop his master from gaining immortality. Some others were killed for even thinking of defecting. As for Snape – he killed Dumbledore. Do I need to say more?"
Remus sighed and shook his head. "It's just difficult to accept that people can be so evil and have no remorse."
"Do you think Ferenir Grayback ever regretted attacking any of his victims?" Harry shot back.
Remus shook his head decisively. "No, never. I assume those others are just as bad. It just doesn't feel right to kill them with no chance for redemption."
"Remus, most of them had years to redeem themselves, Some even pretended to do that, like Malfoy, but once He returned, they all flocked back to Him, embracing evil with both hands."
Remus sighed. "I understand it all. It's just difficult to accept."
Harry patted his shoulder. "I know. It's never easy to kill, even if they deserve no better. Go cuddle with your wife. I know I need to cuddle with my wife now."
\/\/\/
Harry wasn't surprised that the Daily Prophet reported about the five bodies on the second page. This was still an embarrassing event for the Ministry, but it was impossible to hide five cadavers in the centre of the busiest shopping area in magical Britain. Once again, the Ministry had no clue as to what had happened.
The house-elves had some more reports. "There's a lot of unrest among the Death Eaters at Malfoy Manor. They suspect there are spies among them but don't know whom to blame. The five that went 'to have some fun' yesterday didn't tell anybody else where they were going and still met death. Many seem to regret joining, but dare not say it aloud, as that would cause their death just as surely.
"The Ministry finally noticed the disappearance of the muggle-born from the holding cells. Once again, everybody is suspect. They all fear the return of the Dark Lord and his reaction to the news."
Harry was glad to hear about the unrest, but he knew that didn't guarantee anything. "We need to prepare for what may happen after He returns. He might want to take revenge and aim it at known opposition and at muggles. We must prepare a list of probable targets and either ward them well or evacuate them before he strikes."
"All the Weasleys are probable targets, as are the Diggorys and…" Remus was already starting to prepare a list and then mark the probable priorities.
"I don't believe he will try for some well-protected targets, like the royal palaces or the parliament. Aside from getting the whole muggle world aware of this, the danger of losing many of his followers is too large. He'll probably try to strike some villages, like the one you told us about last night."
"He might try to set the Dementors loose. That can be more dangerous," Harry commented.
"Do you think they can be destroyed by heat or explosion?" Hermione asked.
Dora tried to remember something. "I've heard that Fiendfyre can destroy them, so a hot bomb may do the same."
"The muggles have heat-seeking missiles. Maybe they can be modified to seek the coldest points. I'll need to go to someplace with an Internet connection to find out."
"We also need to check on that auction you took part in. We may be able to get those items today or tomorrow, if we won," Harry reminded her.
Twinkle had some comments to add. "Lady Lily wanted her study to allow for muggle equipment to be used. It's well shielded and also has what she called 'an AC generator' to give electricity for the various instruments. My mate Blinky kept that study updated with the latest muggle technology. She may be able to help you."
Hermione's eyes lighted with interest. "Can we check it now?"
Harry hid a smile as the whole group followed her.