Harry Potter and the Secret Nurse

Chapter Sixteen
Discovered Unforgivables


Mrs. Weasley was serving breakfast, ever fretting over the fact more than half her family was now in the Order, and the only one left who wasn't was not on speaking terms with her. Over and over she bemoaned over how empty the Burrow seemed these days, and she may as well move in to the Black house as everyone seemed to be hell bent on joining the Order. Harry did his best to comfort Mrs. Weasley and said she was always welcome to stay as long as she wished. Then Ron told him not to overdo it or she just might oblige and they'll never get any privacy again.
Even though Fred and George were gone, things were still going a hectic pace in the basement and everywhere else. Harry had trained so much he was figuring he could give up on his legs and walk all day on his arms. He had grown so strong over the summer there were times he couldn't even recognize himself. Every time he bent his arm to scoop some eggs into his mouth, he could feel the tip of his bicep strain and bulge against his forearm. It was a very strange but welcome feeling. Carrying a bundle of letters Mrs. Weasley dropped the pile onto the breakfast table.

"You got a whole mess of post this morning, Harry," said Mrs. Weasley, "Dig in, everyone, the Hogwarts letters are here!"

Harry read over his list of books and said, "Don't worry Mrs. Weasley, we'll head down to Diagon Alley ourselves today get what we need."

"As well you better!" said Mrs. Weasley, "I'm getting too old for this. Right then, I'll call in the ministry and tell them to bring a car around?"

Harry thanked Mrs. Weasley and read over his letter. There seemed to be some unusual add-ons in his schedule. There were three periods a week and were labelled "Tutorial". They were placed right where he figured his extra study periods should be. He showed it to Hermione, but she had never seen the mark before. For a moment she figured it must have been some kind of remedial class, but Ron's grades were no better than Harry's and he didn't have that mark anywhere on his schedule. However, both Ron and Hermione were supposed to be exempt from remedial studies since they were both prefects. Harry shrugged and figured he would find out when he got to Hogwarts.
Going through the pile of letters, Harry was glad to find one from Neville Longbottom, and he read out loud to expect to find him in Diagon Alley that day.

"He says we should meet in the Leaky Cauldron around 10 am, brilliant!" said Harry, "Right, scarf down your kippers and pull up your socks, we're going."

"Eww, Harry, kippers for breakfast?" asked Ron.

"Like you never watched an episode of Red Dwarf, you KNOW that's an expression!" said Harry and he slapped Ron on the back.

When the car arrived, Harry quickly noticed the ministry had sent a thoroughly unmagic black cab, which barely had enough room for three let alone five with a wheelchair, Harry put in Luna, Ginny, and Ron, then shut the door on them.

Ron called out the window, "What are you doing, Harry?"

"I'll race you there!" Harry called out, "Chair! Scooter!"

As the chair transformed itself, Harry took a silver bracelet out of his pocket and reached out to take Hermione's hand.

"Harry! What are you doing? Not here!" Hermione protested.

But instead of Harry’s cat costume, Hermione saw she was transformed into Black's motorcycle outfit. Harry patted the seat behind him and told Hermione to mount up.

"Quickly, they're getting away!" Harry called as the black cab pulled out with their friends hooting and calling for them to follow.

Hermione looked at her outfit for a moment and said, "If I'm riding that thing dressed this butch then YOU take the bitch seat."

Hermione pushed Harry back as he went "Hey" and he sat behind Hermione, the big bad motorcycle mama, riding a scooter barely big enough to pass for a Vespa. With expertise of many more years of riding a bicycle than Harry, Hermione glided the scooter through London, insisting on using every textbook hand signal along the way to Diagon Alley, even taking legal routes instead of cutting across pedestrian fairs like most scooter riders. Together they pulled in behind a victorious Ron and the girls egging them on for coming in last.

"We would have beaten you if Hermione would have just taken that bridge next to the Millennium Wheel," said Harry.

"Harry! That's a pedestrian walk," said Hermione.

"They allow electric scooters on pedestrian walks!" said Harry.

"It's not electric now, is it?id Hid Hermione as she dismounted, "It's magical."

"Picky! Picky! Picky!" tched Harry and he transformed the chair back to its normal self.

Hermione tapped her bracelet three times and was about to take it off and hand it back to Harry, but something about it grew on her. Holding it on her wrist, she admired it for a moment, thinking it was very pretty and decided to leave it on.

"That was brilliant," said Ron as he admired them, "What did you think of the ride, Hermione?"

"Hmm?" asked Hermione as she stared at her bracelet, "It was fun, but... I'd rather have ridden that Norton. I'd bet that would be a real nice ride."

"Strewth!" said Ron as he elbowed Hermione, "Hey, Harry, I think you got her hooked."

Looking at their letters, everyone saw that formal wear would be required for the end of the year for the seventh year's graduating ceremonies, which sixth years were required to attend to have a chance to good bye to their mates and know what to expect for their own graduating ceremony. Ron had commented they did something rather secret he was hoping to get Lee Jordan to tell him about it, but got nothing but anxiety over hints some last minute tests or performance evaluation had to be done. They all had a fun visit with Madame Malkins getting formal robes and then settled into the Leaky Cauldron for butterbeers and pastries. They got a table right next to a window facing the alley and watched students shuffle up and down the streets fetching their goods. With admiration they watched the first years excitedly run up and down the alley like they were visiting an amusement park.

"Look at them go," said Luna, "It's like watching house elves clean at Hogwarts."

"I just got me robes and I'm knackered already," said Ron, "Didn't this used to be easier?"

"We used to be younger," said Harry as he jokingly imitated the voice of a very old man, sounding a little like Tom the inn keeper, "You haf to mash up mah pastry into mush so I can suck it down wif a straw."

Then Harry put his glasses way down his nose and doddered his wheelchair around the table like a lost old man, banging into chairs and causing everyone to laugh out loud.

"Harry, they'll put you in a home if you keep that up," said Hermione.

Harry looked around the pub and pointed to the inn upstairs.

"You know, I once planned to make this place my home for the summer," said Harry.

"Really?" asked Ron.

"Yeah, you remember just before our third year?" asked Harry, "The summer I blew up my Aunt? Well, Vernon's sister, anyway. Then I had to come live here for the rest of the summer?"

"Yeah, I remember," said Ron, "Dad told me all about that memory wipe-and-recover they had to perform on her. Deflated her like a balloon they did."

"After that I planned to spend the rest of all my summers here," said Harry, "The inn keeper, Tom, was so nice to me. I was hoping to get a summer job here and pay to have a room until the school year started again. It's a shame I couldn't do it, though. I really liked it here."

"Now don't be givin'em ideas," said Tom as he came to wipe off the table, "Elsewise they'll be turnin' this place into a summer dorm. Don't get me wrong, Harry, you were the best bus boy I've had in and age, I mean that. But I don't want to be lettin' in no riff raff like that lot out there."

Harry asked what he meant by that, and the Tom pointed out the window. On the far end of the street there was a very small and frail looking boy in tattered clothes standing all alone on a corner with an upturned hat in front of him.

"He's been coming in here lookin' for work all summer," said Tom, "Says he's trying to get into Hogwarts, but ‘es got no sponsor."

"What is he, an orphan?" asked Hermione.

"I s'ppose," shrugged Tom, "Ain't seen no parent around 'im or nuthin."

"Hogwarts sponsors orphans!" said Hermione.

"An' right that they do," said Tom, "But they don't be sponsorin' no one less they gots some home to go to at year's end. It's a rule they’ve ‘ad ever since You-Know-Who went schoolin' there. He made so much trouble for them they abolished the summer dorms."

"So if he's homeless they wont take him in?" asked Harry.

"Could be worse'n that," said Tom, "If he's from a muggle orphanage they'll send the cops round to take him back. An' all muggle bound orphans MUST 'ave a magical sponsor of at least one wizard or witch or they don't get in."

"No!" cried out Ron.

"And 'es bin scrounging around all summer trying to raise enough money to pay 'is own way," said Tom, "Doubt 'es raised enough money to buy 'is books,"

Everyone around the table commented on how unfair that was. Harry looked at the small blonde orphan boy wearing broken glasses and wondered if he ever looked that small and pathetic. He tugged on Hermione's sleeve to get her attention.

"I'm going to take care of this," said Harry as he wheeled out his chair.

Just as Harry reached the door, several older wizards entered acting very flustered.

"Why I never!" said one.

"He should be arrested," called the other.

Then Harry crashed into Neville Longbottom who seemed to rush in from outside while yelling at someone to shut up.

"Sorry, Harry," said Neville, "Hi! I didn't see you in your chair."

"What's going on out there?" asked Harry.

"It's that kid across the street, he's a right bloody little foul-mouthed wanker he is," said Neville.

Harry just didn't know what Neville could mean, so he left the pub to investigate himself and everyone followed. Slowly as Harry approached the boy across the street he saw the boy was calling something out loud to the people all over the street that was causing everyone to run away from him, it wasn't until he got a clear view of him could he make out what the boy was bellowing.

"BLOOOOW JOOOOBS! SEVEN SICKLES A PIECE! C'MON YOU BASTARDS!"

Everyone with Harry just stood in shock over this.

"He's a nutter!" called Ron.

But Harry wasn't moved, he peered into the boy as though there was something not quite right about the way he was acting.

"He's under the Imperio curse!" yelled Harry, "DEATH EATERS! WANDS OUT!"

Harry barked out orders like a squad commander, and everyone followed. Harry told Hermione to secure the boy and try to shake him off the curse, the rest were going to surround him and keep an eye out for Death Eaters. Hermione grabbed the small child and the boy said;

"PISS OFF, YOU TART! YOU'RE NOT MY TYPE!"

But as he looked at Hermione, at the same time, he wasn't really looking at Hermione at all. His eyes were out of synch with his motions, as though the boy were under the command of a poorly skilled puppeteer. Harry was scanning the upper floors and roof, trying to think where could a Death Eater keep line of sight with the boy and go unnoticed from the street. Then he saw some shadowy figures on the roof right across the street from the Leaky Cauldron.
Harry knew he didn't have to call out to the others, right away he fired a stunning spell and a half second later his blasts were joined by several more. Ginny fired a Demolition spell that splinted the roof's edge and sent pieces and soot flying everywhere. Harry flew his chair up to the roof without even thinking about bringing reinforcements. Ginny had already crossed the line by firing a Demolition spell at a wizard, he was baring down on them all with hell on his heels. Three black cloaked wizards ran along the roof in the direction towards Knockturn Alley and quickly disappeared into thin air, one by one.
Harry cursed himself for being too slow, yet at the same time he realized if he wasn't in his chair at the time, he never would have had a chance to even glimpse at them. He couldn’t mout out their faces, but by their robes they were definitely Death Eaters. The only question was why did they run instead of standing their ground to fight? Surely three Death Eaters were more than a match for one Harry Potter, maybe these were lesser ones than what he faced in the ministry battle.
Back down on the street, Ron was trying to comfort Ginny to calm her down. She had almost committed an unforgivable offence trying to kill a wizard with a Demolition spell. Ginny said she wasn't trying to kill them, but slow them down by causing the roof to explode pieces into their faces. Only Ginny's exceptional marksmanship could make such a claim. She cursed she didn't see them sooner or she might have brought one of them down.
Harry went up to Hermione who was still trying to shake the boy from the curse. His glasses remained askew and he was a pale and ragged looking thing, almost doll like in appearance from his puppet-like movements. Hermione said he must have been under the spell for a long time to be this way. Finally he began to come to, as his own voice, far weaker and gentler made its way out of him. He ruffled debris from his scraggly blonde hair and tried to straighten his glasses. His ragged clothes hung on him like the way Dudley's old hand me downs used to on Harry.

"Thank you, gov," said the boy.

He then looked down to his upturned hat and everyone saw, to some horror, there was actually some money in it.

"Wished you would have come by 'bout an hour ago," said the boy.

"Are you alright?" asked Harry.

"I'm okay, gov," said the boy, "Just a minute."

The boy ran off to the alley to throw up, then came back.

"I'm gonna keep this," said the boy, who held his hat of money like a treasure, "I wonder if this will be enough to get me into Hogwarts?"

Hermione held her mouth in a fright and said, "Harry, we should get him to a hospital."

"We have to call the Aurors," said Harry, "Neville, go into the pub and tell them to call the ministry, we'll wait right here for them."

"Alright Harry," said Neville as he looked around, "But they must already be on the way."

Harry insisted everyone stay exactly put until the Aurors arrived, and about a minute later they Apparated around the street with their wands out, ready for battle. This caused a commotion that seemed to spread up and down the street. One of them, an attractive middle aged brunette noticed Harry almost right away and made right for him.

"Death Eaters?" she asked.

"They were on the roof!" Harry pointed, "Up there, they ran towards Knockturn Alley and Apparated off."

The brunette faced the other Aurors and ordered them into pursuit. Then she noticed some debris on the grounds from Ginny's shot and picked it up.

"Uhm, we gave them a bit of a fright, ma'am," said Harry.

"I'll bet you did," said the woman as she fingered the charred piece of roof tile.

Harry explained the little boy was under the Imperio curse and Harry and the rest gave the best descriptions they could give.

"Three of them?" asked the woman, "Not very good at it, according to you, Hermione? Must be some lackeys out on a lark. That's good work, Harry, spotting the Imperio curse."

She slapped Harry on the back in a strange act of comradeship he didn't expect from an Auror he hardly knew.

"I probably wouldn't have spotted it if someone more practiced was using Imperio on the kid," said Harry.

"Probably not," said the woman, "But you spotted it in a street full of wizards and witches who didn't. That's excellent Aurorship, Harry. If you caught them on top of that you would have gotten a medal as an Auror."

The woman then turned her attention to the child, and immediately treated him as a doting mother. Right away she found out his name was Tim, with nol lal last name as it wanstanstantly changed from being bumped around several foster care homes, that never kept him due to his peculiarity of being magic. When the other Aurors returned with no luck, they briskly gathered up Harry and his troop and Apparated the lot off to the ministry.
Harry didn't like being back at the ministry so soon after his battle there, but gratefully did not hang around any area where the battle took place. The entrance hall and fountain still oddly seemed to have been smashed, as the ministry was too busy with other things. The windows were turned off and boarded up like war time, and everyone was going up and down the halls with wands out as though ready to do battle at a moments notice, some were even wearing pith helmets. The office they were brought to was in the same office area as Kingsley Shacklebolt's cubicle, the one Harry saw this time last year on the day of his hearing.

The woman read out a deposition of the incident to her supervisor in his office, "The boy is physically unharmed, he was made to perform acts of humiliation in public for money by three Death Eaters, witnessed by Harry Potter. The boy is being taken to memory wipe as we speak to have the trauma of this incident removed, apparently some of the acts he was forced to perform were- of highly inappropriate for a child. We may have to investigate who actually- well, I really don’t want to go into that. You can read about it in my report."

The supervisor, a very serious looking man with a long nose and thin eyes asked, "How did Harry spot the Imperio curse?"

"What do you mean?" asked the woman.

"Did he see any funny blue aura around the boy?" asked the supervisor, "Strange sensation in the air? Unnatural feelings? That sort of thing."

"I just saw it because he was acting funny," said Harry.

"Oh," said the supervisor as he shook his head disappointingly, "It would have been helpful to have someone with that skill around. Oh well. Okay, say Bridgett, we have someone to take your post, so if you're still going through with this-"

"I'm as committed now as I was last year," said the woman, "That Umbridge woman really cocked things up, I intend to fix it good."

"Excellent," said the supervisor, "Right then, leave your report on my desk and clear out your station. You're on your way."

Harry asked what that was about as Hermione and the rest looked to the woman.

"I'm your new Defence Against The Dark Arts professor," said the woman as she held out her hand for Harry to shake, "I guess you can now call me Professor Bardwell. And when I ask you 'What are the symptoms of someone who is under the Imperio Curse', I expect all of you to ace the exam."

Standing outside the office, Harry and the rest waited for their new professor Bardwell to bring Tim back from Memory-Wipe-and-Recovery.

Harry just thought of something and said, "Ron! Go find your dad's office and tell him we're here. The Order should know about this."

"Right," said Ron and he took off.

"Ron!" Harry called out, "If your Dad's not in, Kingsley's office is to your left and three cubicles down!"

Ron saluted and took off, a moment later Arthur Weasley could be seen making his way back to them.

"I just heard, Death Eaters in Diagon Alley?" asked Arthur in a shocked tone.

"Three of them. We just chased them off not thirty minutes ago," said Harry.

"Lord, Strewth," said Arthur as he clutched his chest, "Well the Order's going to hear about this before the hour, I promise you. Dumbledore's not going to be too happy about you running into battle with Death Eaters AGAIN, Harry."

"These guys weren't heavyweights," said Harry, "Bardwell thinks from the description they were low powered lackeys."

"Bardwell, eh?" said Arthur, as though the mention of the name had special meaning, "Still, for lackeys that's brass bloody balls for showing their faces, robes and all, around Diagon Alley. You gave a description?"

"I didn't see their faces," said Harry, "I couldn't even tell you if they were witches or wizards, really. They were running away from me."

"If Bardwell's team is on their tail, they wont get far," said Arthur who became proud, "That's good work, you lot. Keep those bastards on the run, but don't tell your mum."

Ron and Ginny were running through their experience of how close they came to bringing down the Death Eaters. Arthur took it all in but told Ginny she might want to downplay flinging Demolition spells around. Harry was a little curious about something else.

"What do you know about Bardwell?" asked Harry.

"Ah, you met your new Professor, then?" asked Arthur, "You know, she actually taught Defence Against the Dark Arts for two years before Professor Quirrel."

"She doesn't seem that old," said Hermione, "She's very pretty."

"You noticed," said Arthur, "Trust me, we ALL noticed, especially when she goes undercover as- well- you'll see for yourself this year."

"What's she like?" asked Ginny, "As an Auror, I mean."

"She passed up promotion three times to stay in the field," said Arthur, "She's not in Dumbledore's league as far as battle is concerned, but as an INVESTIGATOR she has no equal anywhere in the wizarding world."

"An investigator? You mean, like a detective?" asked Ron.

"Yes, you'll find that's an awfully big part of being an Auror," said Arthur, "Often they don't get on the scene until after the fact. So they have to use investigative skills to track down wizarding offences. It's not all hexes and battle, you know."

"Ooh, like a magic Sherlock Homes," said Hermione as she became greatly intrigued, "Or a Jane Marple."

"What about Catherine O'Hara?" asked Luna.

"Who?"

"Oh my Lord, Hermione, all those books and you never read the adventures of Catherine O'Hara?" asked Ginny, "She's a witch who solves crimes!"

"Well, I never really get much of a chance to venture in the fiction section at Hogwarts," Hermione said reproachfully.

"OH! You have to read 'The Warlock of the Wands'!" said Ginny.

"Or 'Three Witches at Midnight Cross'," said Arthur.

"That was great, but I really liked 'The Trolls of Shrewsbury'," said Harry, "Lots of brain bashing going on there. Bloody good suspense."

Hermione looked at Harry with an expression of, 'You too?" and Harry explained he had to read something over the summer while being stuck at the Dursley’s.

"Honestly, Hermione, I'm surprised you never read anything by Jeanne King Rowan," said Ginny, "She's as big in our world as Agatha Christie ever was for muggles."

"I've heard of her, of course, but I just never got around to reading her," said Hermione, "I think I'll do that."

"She also wrote a series of novelettes about a young wizard who solves crimes and mysteries in both the magical and muggle world," said Ron, "His name was Jupiter Higgins."

"Oh Ron, those were kid's books!" said Ginny.

"I know, but I liked them," said Ron, "He was so small, but he always managed to win the day."

"Well he would in a kid's book, wouldn't it?" said Ginny, "The Catherine O'Hara books had REAL suspense! Remember the time she was cornered by Montague’s gang on the cliffs of Dover?"

"Or when they murdered her fiancé in a showdown at Glenburry Manor?" said Arthur.

"Or the time she crashed a rider dragon into Big Ben!" said Harry.

“Yeah, I read that,” said Ron, “I liked the movies, but they were never as good as the books, were they?”

Luna nudged Ron on the shoulder and said, "Oh, EVERYONE says that."

Taking this in, Hermione began to wonder if there was an awfully large part of the Wizarding world that she neglected. Hogwarts studies tended to focus on practical skills, but not a lot of attention (especially outside muggle studies) was put into arts and literature. Harry wanted to have a serious talk with Professor Bardwell about Tim and his future. The Aurors were intent on sending him back to his orphanage without any memory of the wizarding world, Hogwarts and all.

"He never should have gotten that letter, he would have been better off," said Bardwell.

"Listen, I was hoping to sponsor Tim myself," said Harry.

"That's noble Harry, but you're not of age," said Bardwell.

Harry cursed himself inwardly and wished the twins had not left for Paris, they could have helped him settle this.

"How about this, Hogwarts will sponsor him if he has a home to go to next summer, right?" asked Harry.

"Yes."

"I'm not of age now, but next summer I will be," said Harry, "What if I say he comes to live with me next year? He can go to Hogwarts now and have a legal aged wizard caring for him when the term is over."

"That's... pretty border line, Harry," said Bardwell, "But you know, I think we can make that work. Are there any legal aged wizards where you live now who can account for him for him until the term starts?"

"Yeah, a good dozen or more," said Harry.

"I think we can swing this," said Bardwell as she held her chin, "I'm going to Memory-Wipe-and-Recover and tell them to leave his memories of the wizarding world except for the Imperio curse. You wait right here."

"Say, listen, doesn't Tim have to go to St. Mungos because of-?"

"Oh THAT," said Professor Bardwell, "Fortunately that money he collected must have been people passing by who tossed coins in his hat out of pity."

"Are you sure?" asked Harry.

"Oh yes," said Bardwell, "There's a way of checking that. You'll find out about it in your studies. Rape cases are an important part of Aurorship. We actually have a whole squad dedicated to that. It’s behind you, to your right, over there."

Past the cubicles Harry could see a plain looking door labelled, "Sexual Assault and Battery". When it opened for a moment Harry could see another door inside where a woman dressed in a nurse's gown went through and it had a sign above it that said "Examination Room. DO NOT ENTER." Harry had a cold shiver over how many people had to go in there because of Death Eaters and other sick perverts. How many CHILDREN had to go into that room?
Harry announced his plans to his friends and they all welcomed a rather dishevelled looking child who was led out of the Memory-Wipe-and-Recover room. They greeted him as though he were already a member of the family. The little blonde boy was over whelmed and kept pulling his oversized shirt up his shoulder.

Tim looked to Harry, only glancing at his wheelchair and asked, "Is it true you're a full fledged wizard?"

Harry took out his wand, pointed it at Tim's Glasses and said, "Occulus
Repairo!"

In a blink, the glasses were as good as new. Tim took them off and marvelled at
them.

Hermione nudged Harry and said, "It's about time you learned that one."

"I figured I better after I finally bought my own pair," said Harry.

Through Tim, Harry had an adventure rediscovering his own wizarding world. It was so much fun for him so show this small child all the magical wonders it beheld. Tim of course, was extremely gracious to have Harry stay at his home, yet at the same time, tragically, he seemed a little reluctant to really commit to the whole thing, as though it all could be yanked out from under him at any moment.
When he took Tim to get fitted out for his robes and wands, Harry enjoyed paying a visit to Olivander who he had not spoken to since the weighing of the wands. As Tim tried out the wands, his matching with improper wands did produce the disastrous explosions that came from Harry's fitting. All that came were just minor sparks and tufts of smoke. When he did get the right one, spruce at six and three quarter inches, Tim produced a lovely bouquet of flowers like a silly amateur magician.
Harry was intent that little Tim would go to Hogwarts a lot more prepared than he was when he first attended. Through the potions lab the little child ran about in while wearing an oversized apron that nearly caused him to trip. He ran ingredients back and forth for everyone and worked with Neville in the arboretum learning about plants. Just a few days before the Hogwarts term began, Harry found Ginny working on her own little project in the corner.

"What'cha got brewing there?" Harry asked playfully.

Ginny almost had a fright and said, "Oh, just some simple bit of Banger brew."

"Nasty stuff," said Harry, "Say listen, have you had a chance to get your boots yet?"

"No."

Harry handed Ginny a debit card and said, "Why don't you take Tim out shopping today? Get him some decent muggle clothes and get something for yourself."

"Harry! Really?" Ginny squealed.

"Yeah, and don't dress him up too preppy," said Harry, "I don't want him looking like a pratt."

Harry gave Ginny his pin number, trusting she wouldn't go nuts. Ginny said she wanted to try the muggle double-decker bus on her way across town as she had never ridden one on her own before. After Ginny said goodbye going up the basement stairs, Harry noticed Hermione was watching them with a serious look on her face as though she were waiting for an opportunity to speak to Harry. She wasn't doing a good job of keeping a straight face as though something had really startled her.

"We need to talk, alone," Hermione whispered.

Hermione led Harry into the storage room away from the potions lab, where Neville was looking very shoo. H. Harry tried to ask what it was about but Hermione interrupted him and told Neville to take it easy and sit down on a bench. Then Hermione led Harry into the small office. She didn't say anything at all until she shut the door to the office and locked it.

"What is it?" asked Harry.

Hermione stalled as though she couldn't spit it out. Looking down at the stone floor she paced and then braced herself against the heavy wooden desk.

Hermione took a deep breath and said, "Neville found an unforgivable in the store room."

"No shit," said Harry as he breathed out the words in shock, "So... what is it?"

Hermione painfully looked at Harry and uttered, "Maybe I shouldn't tell you, due to plausible deniability."

"That bad?" asked Harry, "Where-?"

"I was cataloguing what we could find over on the west side corner," said Hermione, "And found it on the bottom shelf. Neville identified it right away. I swear I thought he was going to faint. It’s a good thing he was here, I never would have known what it was on my own. We were the only ones in the storage room at the time so no one else knows."

"Good, that's good," said Harry he had to think, "Well, we were anticipating this, weren't we? This is the House of Black after all. I'll just call the ministry to come and dispose of it."

"Harry! They might not be so accommodating, you might be arrested," said
Hermione.

"Oh come on, Hermione, they know this is the House of Black," said Harry,
"They're not going to blame me for it."

"You know what the law is for unforgivables," said Hermione, "To have one in your possession, for good or bad reasons, there's a mandatory life sentence. And even if it's determined not to be yours you can still lose your house if they find this in it. You remember the case study we did in third year? The house of Johnny Lipton?"

"Right, he rented a house unknowingly to a bunch of Death Eaters," said Harry,
"They brewed unforgivables in his basement, the house had to be demolished. He
nearly got chucked into Azkaban himself for negligence."

"He had to pay a fine, a big one, it bankrupted him!" said Hermione.

"Okay, okay, t tht then,” said Harry as he tried to calm Hermione down, “We were prepared for this. Does it pose a danger right now?"

"No, Neville says it's dormant, there's no reason for that to change."

"Can it be transported safely?"

"Yes."

Harry took out a set of keys he found in the desk. Grabbing the edge of the black board he slid a huge panel aside revealing an ancient looking iron vault. Harry used the keys to unlock a sequence of three locks that had to be turned in a certain pattern.

"Sirius told me about this," said Harry.

A silver handle folded out from the cover and with a firm heave Harry pulled the door open. In the vault were several safety deposit boxes, each with locks of their own. Harry ran his finger over them.

"In there is Apparo Dust, a bezoar from a dragon belly, a failed philosopher's stone, madweed, and resurrection potion," said Harry as he ran off a list, "And there's something in there unlabelled that randomly distorts time and space when disturbed. It was created by a mistake one of Sirius' ancestors committed over a century ago. It may have been a failed attempt to make a time turner."

Hermione just gasped and said, "Harry, this can get someone several lifetime sentences in Azkaban."

"Yeah," said Harry, "It's a good thing I sent Tim and Ginny away. I'll get Ron and Luna to help me drain cauldron number four, it's time to empty it anyway. While they're doing that you take these keys and-"

"Harry, it wont fit in those little boxes," said Hermione.

"Don't worry, they bend space, it'll fit," said Harry and he held out the keys.

Hermione sighed and took the keys, immediately crossing her arms afterwards looking very shook up.

"Hermione, just a general idea, how bad is it?" Harry pressed.

Hermione looked up like she could almost cry and said, "It's literally a weapon of mass destruction. You could kill hundreds, maybe thousands of people with it depending on where you used it."

Harry whistled and said, "Alright... don't freak out, Hermione. Consider this, did you ever wonder why the Order chose the House of Black as their base of operations?"

"You don't think they intend to use these-?"

"They were formed as an illicit underground order!" said Harry, "We all knew Dumbledore had some big guns stashed in his corner. He's the only person I would trust with these unforgivables, even the ministry trusts him with them. Think of it, is there any way this thing you found could be used to help fight the war?

"Well... if the Death Eaters ever attacked with an army of fire breathing dragons I guess it would... "

"I'll fetch Ron and Luna, you wait five and then put it in there," said Harry, "The locking sequence is left-right-centre-left. Got that?”

“Left-right-centre-left.”

“Right. It's the reverse of that to unlock it,” said Harry, “You and Neville keep categorizing on your own from now on, see anymore unforgivables and in they go, got it?"

Hermione shook her head and Harry held her hand for a second to give her courage, then wheeled his chair out. When Harry passed Neville on the way back to the potions lab he couldn't help but wonder just what did Hermione find, anyway? Hermione worked on a heavy pair of gloves and looked into the open drawer at the unforgivable. It looked like a round heavy root about the size of a rugby ball with a muddy brown colour.

“You wont need those,” said Neville, regarding Hermione’s gloves.

Showing his usual comfort with plants, no matter how dangerous, Neville reached into the drawer and very carefully lifted out the huge root. With expert care, Neville placed it into Hermione’s gloved hands.

“Why did you do that?” asked Hermione.

“I don’t know,” said Neville, “I just wanted to say I actually touched one, once, I guess.”

“You might want to put that off for a while,” said Hermione, “How do you set this off?”

“See that long root sticking out the side?” asked Neville, “Pull that off, then you better have a way of throwing it really REALLY far.”

“How much time do you have?” asked Hermione.

“I don’t know,” said Neville, “But it has to be as long as a hand grenade. At least ten seconds or more. Burgandy Banks used one during the war and tossed it into the Solway Firth, stopping the Nazi land invasion. He took out a whole fleet of U2 submarines.”

Hermione shivered and said, “It must have been an awful death.”

“No, they would have died instantly,” said Neville.

“Didn’t anyone notice?” asked Hermione.

“Muggles? No,” Neville shrugged, “It was smack in the middle of a really bad winter storm which the Germans were using as cover.”

“Lucky, that,” said Hermione as she gingerly walked, carrying the root, “Let’s hope our luck holds. I don’t understand why the Black family didn’t secure this in the vault.”

“It would make sense if they were afraid they needed to use it in a hurry,” said Neville.

“Why in the name of God wouldy ney need to use THIS in an emergency?” Hermione exasperated.

“We better keep an eye open for other unforgivables that are a lot more unstable,” said Neville, “If one of them were to go off, this thing would certainly take care of it.”

Hermione looked around at all the other hundreds of drawers they had yet to go through, pondering what dangers could lie in any one of them.

“Jeez, you’re right,” she said.

In the potions lab Harry was getting help from Ron and Luna in draining cauldron number four. The massive cauldron slowly tipped over, spilling its spent brew down a drain. Leftover heat caused a mist to spray up a little, filling the air with a pea soup kind of odour. Harry looked through the steam and saw Hermione close the door to the storage room, then she briefly shook her head at Harry to let him know it was secure. Tossing his gloves, Harry said it was time to call it a day.