The Third Time is a Charm

Posted: 16 February 2010

Chapter 75 Strategies of War

Becca got a big smile on her face, but tears were rolling down her cheeks unchecked. They were making little plop, plop sounds on the table as she wept. Everyone was looking at her for an explanation. Sal, who was sitting next to her, put his arm around her in comfort, but he too was puzzled at the reactions of the note. It was Gorbink who explained the note; he also had a huge grin on his face. The young woman was entirely too emotional.

“The note comes from another time line. It tells us that a couple of phoenixes, Silver and Black are at the place Becca calls Mission Control. They are not in this time but will arrive five months before the prophecy is fulfilled. They will be there to help.”

“How do you know this?” Severus asked, still not quite sure why Becca was crying about it.

“First, just look at the handwriting. Second, Becca would only have that reaction if the note was from her Great-grandfathers. They are both phoenixes, just as you are, but they are silver and black instead of white and black.” Gorbink looked around the table to see if he had everyone’s attention. “I was friends with Becca’s Great-grandfathers for many years; they have never failed to help their family and friends in a crisis. I would say this means that in seven months, we will have some extra help.”

“What does it mean when it said ‘Between Manor’?” Regulus asked.

“That would be the manor that was built between time lines, in the between place.” Gorbink stated. He knew they had not been there and probably didn’t even know about it. He saw understanding on the faces of the two men before him. They now understood that the phoenixes were their counterparts from Becca’s time line. Gorbink did not go into any further discussion about it, leaving it to them to do any more explanations.

“But how did the note get here?” Harry asked.

Salazar answered him, “It was probably not sent to arrive at this exact moment. When trying to shove a note through a time sliver, a fraction of the size of a time window, you cannot be exact. I would say they were hoping to let us know about their current whereabouts, not target a specific time or meeting.”

“I’m sorry, guys. I didn’t mean to breakdown like that. I just didn’t think I would ever see my Grandfathers again. This note means they got out before their time line collapsed. I may get to see them again.” Becca said to all who were in the room.

Sal, after looking around at some of the overemotional people, then stood up to address the room. “Attention everyone, I think it would be prudent for all of us to go home and get some sleep. It is very late, or very early; however you want to look at it and everyone needs some rest so they can clear their heads. I suggest we all come back here... It's almost dawn today, so come back here tomorrow; use today to clear your calendars. We will be spending some time in the training rooms. Does anyone here not know what that means?"

Everyone stayed silent so Salazar continued, "The more prepared we are, the less casualties we will have and the faster we can move. Let’s get some of these plans we came up with in motion."

Everyone agreed and slowly left the room to go back to their own houses, their minds running over the events of the last few hours and the revelations they were presented with.

At Potter Manor...

It had been over three months now since the Potters had brought their pride and joy home from the hospital. James was finding out that there was much work to being a good father, but he wouldn't trade a minute of it away. Harry was so cute with his messy hair and his eyes were getting greener everyday. He loved Lily's eyes and was grateful to Merlin that his son had inherited them.

Something had been bothering the Gryffindor every since he had come home from the hospital. He hadn't spoken to Lily about it yet, but he knew he would soon. It effected them all and she should know what was happening.

The only reason he hadn't said anything yet, was because of the baby. He had needed feeding every four hours at first and Lily had been exhausted, always sleeping when the baby was, so she could be awake to take care of him. James helped some, but only Lily could feed the baby, she didn't want to use bottles even if they had breast milk in them.

Now baby Harry was sleeping more hours at night and sometimes would sleep a whole eight hours before waking. The house was getting back to normal and at the back of James' mind he felt an urgency to tell Lily what had transpired at St. Mungo’s.

He found his wife in the kitchen fixing breakfast and went in to talk to her. The baby was still upstairs in the nursery and he could feel the magic of the monitoring charm in the room to let them know when he woke up.

"Lils, there is something I would like to talk to you about." He started the conversation hesitantly, not quite sure how to put his anxiety into words.

"Good, there is something I need to speak with you about too." Lily said to her husband.

"Well then, you go first." James said to his wife.

"No, I don't mind if you go first." Lily told her husband. Really, she was a little afraid to approach the subject as she thought he would not be receptive to her suggestion.

So James spoke first and relayed as much of the conversation Dumbledore had with their best friends while they were at the hospital. He told her of his observations that Albus had tried to purposefully create an argument with Sirius and Moony. He explained that when trying to speak with Padfoot about it later, he just brushed him off, saying that Albus had really taken him under his wing when he left his parents house.

"I really don't know why the old man would do something like that, but it looked deliberate. Moony was, as usual, the voice of reason. He attempted to defuse the situation and was only partially successful. I have to tell you Lils, I went back and read some more of that book and I think that the people Moony work for are people we need to really look at getting to know. I feel it, that the war is escalating. It's coming and the more we know about what is going on, the better prepared we will be. When I ask Albus about it, he tells me everything is in hand and he doesn't have any information he needs to pass on just yet.

"Have you never noticed" Lily said with a grimace marring her beautiful face, "that Albus likes to hold all his cards close to his chest so no one knows what is going on except him?" She let out a sigh and then continued "He likes to keep his secrets to himself."

"There are many things I have been noticing, especially at the meetings. I fear for our safety sometimes and don't like the unknown factors all these secrets create. We need a plan and I was thinking that Moony might be able to help us."

“He was the one that told us to read the dedication page of the book, I have read it a hundred times and I can only get one thing out of it.”

“And what is that?”

“It said ‘Anyone given unlimited power has just been given the right of unlimited corruption. No one person should be unaccountable for their actions, even those we trust absolutely, even Merlin’. What if we have been giving Albus Dumbledore too much power?”

“We need to speak with Moony.” James repeated to his wife.

"I would be willing to speak with him. I also wanted to ask you about attending a Ladies Social Club, I heard about. There is a group of ladies, mostly pureblood, that meet to discuss ways of keeping the peace in the home and other magical ways to promote safety in the family. Alice's mother-in-law suggested that we may want to go. She is acquaintances with Walburga Black. Now I know what Sirius says about their family, but I really see a shift in the attitudes of many purebloods and would like to try one meeting. The next one is going to be at the Longbottom estate."

"Did you say Walburga Black will be there? I don't know Lils, she can be a really staunch woman for all those pureblood ways she tried to drill into Sirius. Do you think it would be safe?"

"I don't think she would do anything at the Longbottom's Manor, James. That would just be foolish." Lily reasoned with him. “The woman may be a lot of things, but foolish is not one of them.”

"I suppose you’re right. I just don't want anything to happen to you." James assured her. "Will you be taking Harry with you?"

"No. I want to leave him here. That was why I wanted to talk to you about it. I want you to be here taking care of him so I won't worry about you."

"Are you expecting trouble at this meeting?"

"No, I just don't want to take Harry out yet. I, too, feel like the war is escalating and just want him to be safe." Lily said cautiously.

"I would advise that we don't discuss this with Sirius yet. Perhaps after we find out more about what is going on? I want some answers and the Order is not giving them to me. I feel we should do everything to protect our family. If other contacts and allies can help us, then we will do what we must to protect each other and to protect Harry."

"Thank you for not fighting me on this. I wasn't sure how you would react to my wanting to go to the meeting. If I understand it correctly, some of these women were wives of Death Eaters that have been released from the mark just as Regulus was or are widows because their husbands were killed in the activities they pursued as Death Eaters."

"Just be careful, Lils. I know Alice would not lead you astray. Just stay close to her, being an auror she may see something before you do. Stay alert. Oh, and be sure to tell Mrs. Longbottom I said hello." James finished with a grin. He and Frank used to get into so much trouble when they would play together as children.

"Sure, I can do that. The meetings are on the first Monday of each month so we will see what happens in the mean time." Lily then decided to sit on her husband's lap and kiss him for all he was worth. Just as the kiss was getting a little hot and heavy, the monitoring alarm went off to tell them their son was waking up for the day.

At Prince Manor...

Salazar was working with the goblins to create come new unrecognizable weaponry. He wanted to use the acromantula trunks they had in production as places to hide some of their people before an attack or to use them to cage some of the Death Eaters. It would give them the element of surprise if they hid in the trunk and popped out in the middle of the battle or give them a hiding place to discretely shoot off spells without anyone realizing where they were coming from. The production of these 'War Trunks' would have to be classified so they didn't fall into the wrong hands.

The Vampires were working with Remus Sr. and Tonks on modifying some spells to allow the person that was being cursed to return the curse back to the originator. The Vampires had a spell that could make someone feel all the pain they had caused another, but thought to modify it so that the spell could be attached to someone as a protection charm. Then when they were cursed, the spell would revert back to the sender. It was based on transferring evil intentions to the originator of said evil.

Moony and Regulus were working with the portraits of Rowena and Helga, and some of the other healers, to come up with some battle healing spells. They needed spells that would seek out and heal what was wrong, instead of one spell or potion for each ailment or injury. Helga said she personally didn't know why it hadn't been done before. It just made sense. They were using a diagnostic charm with several healing spells and stringing them together.

Severus and Harry had been extremely busy with Fawkes. There were gathering phoenix tears so that each member of their party could carry a vial with a few tears to heal themselves if they were seriously hurt or they could help an innocent that had been attacked. They also started working on a healing potions pack for everyone to carry with them.

Becca was in charge of coordinating the efforts of everyone else and on more than one occasion was feeding the children when Harry was helping Severus. They all knew the risks of them not being successful and they wanted to be as prepared as possible.

The house elves had joined the groups to teach them apparation through the anti apparation wards. It was one of the most difficult things to learn and they took turns teaching one group and then another. It was also one of the most essential if they were captured.

The Light and Dark Elvin cultures were excellent in untraceable portkeys and not only had made enough for everyone to have one, but were teaching some of their other members how to make one in case of an emergency. If someone was captured and stripped they would be able to use wandless magic by 'borrowing magical power' from the earth or rock and transfigure what was available to them into a portkey to escape. The trick was using this magic with house elf magic to get through the wards.

Becca was setting up a workshop for some of the women in the group. It would be essential to make sure the women were safe with the children, especially as their number of children continued to grow as they found the squib and magical squib born. They had been extremely fortunate that all the children were with good loving families. It couldn't last forever though and soon they would have to set up their own orphanage to see to some of the others that were found. For right now, it was too risky and everyone was more focused on what was happening in the war.

They hadn't made any decisions yet about the other magical children out there that were with muggle families. They were harder to find as the records were sealed but for now, they at least were being taken care of. Some of the women were specially trained to spot any child abuse of any kind and document it to get the children away from the muggle parents. This was a slow process however, but they were already working on three cases.

When Regulus and Moony had been brought up to date on the actions and character of one Albus Dumbledore, they at first spiraled into a depressed guilt from being so blind to the man's true character. How could one from the light be so evil in nature? Becca had to tell them that almost the whole wizarding world had the same blind affliction and they should not feel guilty. Just as the dark power of magic was painted evil, the light was usually painted good. Not everything was in black and white. Someone who used the power of light magic could still use it for evil purposes just as much as some who used the power of dark could use it for good.

This was the foundation of what made magical creatures different. They understood the powers buried deep beneath the earth and that rested in the air. This was part of the education that they hoped to introduce to the current generations and to make known to all of the magical community.

After a few days of endless activity, Severus was making his way to the nursery to see his children when he heard a female voice telling the children a story. He silently listened in the doorway as Becca was saying…

“Once upon a time, a long time ago there was a great power. The great power wanted company and companionship so from his own essence he took and created a feminine counterpart with all his powers and abilities. These were the first of the Gods and Goddesses. And as the great power looked at what he had done, he said "So mote it be."

The great power and his counterpart were very happy together and wanted to create more happiness. They then formed the world and separated light and dark so now there was day and night. They worked in the day and rested at night and saw that all was well. Out of the earth, they created creatures of all kinds, some were for the light of day and some were for the dark of night, over looking what had been created and keeping it safe. The great power and his counterpart were happy. Then the great power gave one last gift to his creations. The power of choice. The power to choose right from wrong and how they wanted to live their lives.

During the night the night creatures roamed the earth and kept watch, sleeping or resting during the time of light. During the day, the light creatures kept watch, sleeping or resting during the time of dark. During the dusk and dawn time when light took over morning or faded into evening, all creatures were able to get together for great feasts and companionship with one another, neither one serving the other any more than the other served him. All taking care of the world they lived in and protecting it.

After a fashion, the creatures wanted to spread their happiness and started to come together to create life and give birth. Many were soul mated and lived long and prosperous lives. Creature with like creature and human with like human.

But as with most things, something went wrong. There was a human that was born and did not want happiness; he wanted power over all things. He wanted to take the right of free will from the people and other creatures. The people and other creatures rose and defeated the evil power and then returned to rebuild their world.

All the creatures that had been created took care of the new world, each with their own special powers to protect and keep the gardens and fields safe. All worked together to live in peace.

The humans and creatures gave themselves names for their particular species. The men and women were witches and wizards, and then there were vampires, goblins, werewolves, elves, mer-people who kept the oceans safe. Within each of these species, there were other sub sets such as high elves, light elves, dark elves, alphas, packs. There were also other creatures, ones with out power such as cattle, fish, sheep and others that were for food.

As their family grew and the great powers grew old, they needed help. The smallest of the elves were less powerful than the others and actually liked helping their fellow creatures most. Their bodies were not as strong and their power was weakening with each generation. It was feared that they would die out and be no more. The great power, saddened by this news told them "If you bond with us and pledge yourself to us, we will be able to protect and give you some of our power. You will work within our homes and help us keep them clean and running smoothly. The elves agreed and went to the great power for his help. The great power created a ritual and bonded with the elves that had come to him. As soon as the bond was finished the grey pallor of the elves left and they were immediately healthier looking and standing up straighter and were stronger. So, thus, house elves were created.

Over many generations, they would look after the great powers and their children and help keep them happy and healthy. They served them by cooking and cleaning and helping where ever they were wanted. They stayed healthy under the protection of their masters and served them well. Other wizards started to go to the great power for their own elves and the whole community started to thrive once more.

There came a time, much later, that the great power and his companion were old and weak. The great power wanted to move on to rest and the companion with him. They gathered all their creations together and told them it was time for them to leave but the gifts that they were given, were for all times. Their work, rituals and research on the beginnings would be left with the two oldest children Merlin and Morgana who would follow all the old ways.

"Our human bodies are weakening and it takes more effort every day to sustain them. We will be leaving you very soon. Remember to care for your fellow creatures and not do any harm to them. Live in peace and harmony. We love you all and if there should be a bad time, rest assured we will still be with the earth and sky to help you through it. Goodbye all." With that said both the great powers were taken by the wind and earth and their power was imbued into the ground and sky as the powers could cover the earth and help protect it for all times.

When Becca finished her story she looked at the children in their cribs sleeping and said, “Now we have a new conflict, and the great powers have once again sent us the power and strength to overcome and to embrace the old ways and be happy.”