24.

It was closing in on midnight when Harry slipped on the new gauntlet, and began flexing his wrist to make sure it wasn't too constrictive. He kept moving his arm and inspecting it with a critical eye, while thinking about where he was going to place the new rune chains, and the magical focal crystals. This version was thinner than his last. Lighter. The rest of his new armor promised to be lighter as well which would allow him to move quicker.

Satisfied with his work, he slipped off the gauntlet and placed it beside its brother. He took the focal crystals he planned to attach and set them roughly where he thought they would go. A few minute adjustments and then he jotted down some notes on the pad of paper he'd been sketching the plans.

He ran a tired hand through his messy ebony black hair as he turned and went to his weapon rack and took down six slim throwing spikes down and returned to his work bench. He flipped the gauntlets over and then gently placed the spikes on the right gauntlet. He slipped his wand from his wrist holster, and placed it on the underside of the left gauntlet before again making a few notes.

The young wizard then cut several slim strips of dragon hide, and placed them over the spikes and his wand. Satisfied he set the weapons and his wand aside and took a small tool with a pointed tip and gingerly placed several marks where he intended to sew those strips into later.

A knock caused him to look up from his work where he found Lisa looking at him, a soft smile playing at her lips. Harry felt a sudden flurry in his stomach looking at the blonde. She was wearing form fitting jeans and a loose fitting shirt that fell off her left shoulder revealing a soft pink bra strap. Her feet were bare which harry found really cute for some reason, noting that her toenails were painted the same hue of pink as her bra strap, though her fingernails were clean.

"We hadn't seen you at all today." She said with a soft smile. "I… We were getting worried."

"I'm fine." Harry said as he made another note to himself. He set the gauntlets aside and unfolded the breeches. He moved back to his weapon rack and pulled down several edged weapons and came back, setting them down on the bench. Lisa watched, intrigued with Harry's work.

"How's it coming?" She asked, looking at all the scraps of dragon hide and the odd tools.

"Slowly." Harry grimaced. "But when it's done it'll be probably some of the best work I've done yet. It's lighter than any armor I've made so far, and will have five times the protections that my original suit had. I'd forgotten how rough that suit was until I had to wear it for the press thing."

"It wasn't as intimidating as your last suit, that's for sure." Lisa remarked. "It just looked like a bunch of scraps sewn together. No offense."

"None taken." Harry smirked. "And you're not wrong."

They remained silent for a bit as Harry continued to work, trying to ignore the girl who he was now certain he felt something more than friendship for. Though he was loathe to admit it, he'd been avoiding her ever since they'd kissed. While it had clearly helped Lisa breakthrough whatever barrier that had been preventing her from connecting to her magic in the way the other girls had, it had also brought on the stark realization that he fancied her as more than a friend.

Maybe he was lonelier than he wanted to admit, or maybe Annalise's constant badgering was getting to him, or maybe it had just been one damn fine kiss. Whatever the reason Harry had had a moment of weakness, and Lisa was a stunningly beautiful young woman. Out of all the girls in his house, she'd been the one he'd spent the most time with and gotten to know. It wasn't on purpose, and Harry hated thinking about whether things would change if he tried spending more time with the other girls. Would he fancy one of them more than Lisa, or would he still be interested in her when all was said and done.

Either way, he knew he'd acted on instinct when he had kissed her soft pouty lips. And now, it was almost all he could think about. He chanced a glance across the table at her, finding it so sexy when she slid her hand up to slide a lock of silken blonde hair behind her ear. He was torn between leaping across the table and kissing her until her legs gave out and screaming at her to leave him in peace so he could remain focused on his task.

Gods all he wanted was to finish his damned mission!

"And then what?" Sirius's voice echoed in his mind. "When you do finally kill that son of a bitch, and your war is over… what then? What will you have? You keep pushing people away and you're going to find yourself completely alone, kid."

"Did you need something?" Harry asked, looking up at Lisa who was staring at one of his notepads, a curious expression on her face.

"No, I just… Like I said, we hadn't seen you and I just…" She began.

"Well, I'm fine." he said a bit more bitterly than he'd meant. Lisa frowned, and Harry winced. "Sorry that was harsh. I just really am trying to focus on this."

"No I get it." Lisa nodded. "If I can help…"

"I have to do this on my own, Lisa, but thank you for offering." Harry said quickly. "How are you guys doing anyway? Figure out why you all passed out the other day?"

"We didn't pass out." Lisa protested. "We were all coherent after we located Katie Bell, but we were exhausted. Hermione has a few theories, but we haven't tried to connect since that night."

"You guys really freaked out Annalise, Sirius and Remus. We couldn't wake any of you until I doused you with water." Harry remarked. Lisa could only shrug.

"Like I said… we were drained. It was scary for us too. But we're all fine. And to be honest, speaking for myself anyway, I feel better than before." Lisa said, noting that he hadn't said if he'd been worried, though she did remember the look on his face when she'd awoken.

Really?" Harry looked up, now intrigued. "How do you mean?"

"Well, it's hard to describe." Lisa reflected. "It's like waking up completely refreshed. I don't know any other way I can describe it."

Harry stood there, mulling it over while Lisa watched him.

"You have a theory, don't you." She remarked. Harry gave a slight shrug.

"It almost sounds that you guys are… not bonding, but becoming… symbiotic? Like your magic is connecting and working with each other to strengthen each of you." he said flatly.

"Hermione said something similar." Lisa agreed. "We're all curious what will happen when we get Katie here with us."

"Any progress on that?" Harry asked. Lisa shrugged.

"Neville is out there again tonight." Lisa smiled. "I think he's starting to feel like a stalker though, and given what the papers have been writing lately about watching your surroundings, he's feeling like he looks suspicious for all the wrong reasons. He still thinks you should be the one to make contact with her."

"He needs to believe in himself a bit more. I told him to think of it as part of his training." Harry smirked.

"Can I ask you about that?" Lisa perked up. "What is it you're training him for? To be like you? Another vigilante?"

"No." Harry shook his head quickly. "When this is over, there shouldn't be a need for anyone like me again. Hopefully anyway. When I fought Voldemort that first time, I realized two things. The first was that I can't be distracted when facing him. I need to be completely focused on him, and he's good at distracting your attention, especially when he's weakening. He only sent that beast after me to distract me from the fact that he was tiring. And the second thing I realized was that if I get into trouble, it would be good to have someone to get me out. Neville's got it in his heart to get revenge for his parents, something I can identify with. But I also know that revenge is a dangerous, slippery slope. I figure if I can help him channel that negative energy, maybe I can help him avoid doing something that there's no coming back from."

"And you have someone watching your back." Lisa smiled. "Good plan. We've been noticing that he's been spending a lot of time with Pansy lately. I thought it was weird because when we were in school she was so mean to him. Constantly picking on him and stuff. But now he seems to be the only one she's really talking to. It's making a couple of the others nervous."

"Why?" Harry looked up a little confused. "Pansy feels she needs to make up for how she was forced to be. She's still trying to find her true self."

"We still don't know how this whole virgin priestess thing works." Lisa said, her face turning a light shade of pink. "And we're not sure what would happen if Pansy and Neville were to… you know."

"Ah." Harry nodded.

"But you're right about Pansy trying to make amends. She and I had a really long talk a couple of nights ago, and she told me about all the things she was going through while we were in school. I had no idea because she always looked like she was on top of the world, but she was just utterly alone. I can't even imagine how she must have felt. I mean my parents are strict and all, but at least they love me in their way." Lisa sighed.

"You don't talk about them." Harry noted.

"Not much to say really." Lisa shrugged. "I seem to be a constant disappointment to my mother, and my father… well I think he stopped understanding me when I started getting boobs. You know I don't know exactly when things changed. Maybe it happened so gradually that i never noticed, but when i was younger they were the best. I never ever felt like they didn't love me. But as I got older, and went to school, they just seemed to become more and more disappointed with me. In the summer before my last year, my mum and I had this big fight and I can't even remember what it was about, but when I got home after graduation, when I didn't make it into Healer School, Mum told me that I was an adult and that I should be responsible for myself."

"Have you written to them since you've been here? To let them know you're alive and ok?" Harry asked. Lisa just shook her head.

"I think you should." Harry said evenly. "They're probably going out of their minds worrying about you. And maybe when this is all over, you can go see them and ask them why things changed. Maybe there's a reason. Maybe they just felt you could do better than you were doing, or maybe… Maybe they were just sad because they were missing so much of your life while you were away at school."

Lisa looked up suddenly and there was a look of despair on her face. "I'd never even thought of that."

"You should write them." Harry repeated and Lisa nodded, her eyes becoming slightly misty. She smiled at him, rounded the table and hugged him tightly.

"You gave me a lot to think you." She whispered. "I think I'm gonna go and write a letter."

"This is stupid." Neville said to himself as he stared at the door to the Holyhead Harpies training facility. "She'll likely use the floo or apparate from the inside."

Neville had been muttering to himself for the last two hours since he'd arrived and took up a position where he could see anyone coming in or out of the famed Quidditch team's building. This was where he would find Katie Bell, who was the last Oigh Ban-dia, according to the six girls who'd sent him here. This was his third attempt at trying to make contact with Katie and warn her about the Death Eaters and everything else. The two previous attempts had been met with failure, as the players got hounded by fans, and had disapparated almost the moment they were out the door. Neville hadn't even spotted Katie either time.

However, he had been assured that this time would be different by Hermione, though she hadn't said how. So Neville had just had to wait. So that's what he did. Sitting on a park bench, trying not to look like some weirdo as people wandered about the park.

While he was stuck waiting, he began to think about the last couple of nights with Pansy. After two weeks, the former Death Eater was still having trouble integrating with her coven sisters, though she had admitted that it was her. The other girls have been rather welcoming and more than kind. However, due to the guilt and self hatred she still had for herself, she was keeping her distance with everyone except Neville.

Since her admission that she had feelings for him and his promise that they would get to know each other, that's what they had done.

But unlike any other girl Neville had spent time with before, his time with Pansy felt different. There wasn't the normal flirting, or getting to know you type of thing. With Pansy, they had had some very deep discussions. They had talked about their lives up to now, and Neville had often felt that in some ways their lives were very similar. Both had been raised by domineering adults, though to be fair, Pansy had it far worse than he had.

She was far more intelligent than he'd have guessed based on their interactions at school. She was softer, and sweeter than the persona she had presented during their education. She was so different, and Neville had to admit that he really liked this Pansy. This insecure, terrified, just trying to figure things out girl.

And it scared him a bit.

At exactly seven o'clock, the doors opened, and just as before, the Holyhead Harpies came out and were caught in a storm of cheers and shouts for autographs. However, Neville noted that a few individuals were making their way through the crowd going fairly unnoticed. But one in particular, Neville was watching very closely.

None of the fans seemed to care about Katie Bell, and Neville quickly surmised that as Katie was still in development, she wasn't yet recognized, though he was sure that was only a matter of time. Katie had been a phenomenal Chaser for the Gryffindor House team, and had been signed to the Harpies the day after she had graduated Hogwarts the year before Neville. She had also been the youngest player on the team for her first three years as Chaser, beating a large number of potential candidates in her first try out in her second year at school.

Neville noted that she'd hardly changed in the time since he'd last seen her. Still athletically built with a short stature, at least compared to Neville, and still just as pretty. She beamed at him as she approached, raising her hand in a friendly wave.

"Look at you Neville!" She said, giving him a warm hug. "You've grown like a foot. And what's this?"

She playfully ran her hand over Neville's four day old scruff.

"You're a proper man now, I think." She grinned at his light blush.

"We all gotta grow up sometime, right?" He shrugged.

"Yeah, I suppose we do. So what's up? Hermione's letter sounded really urgent." Katie said as they began to walk away.

"Hermione wrote to you?" Neville asked, realizing that must have been why Hermione was sure he wouldn;t have trouble tonight.

"Yeah, she said you had something really important to tell me and I should find you outside the training building. She didn't say what it was, only that it was important. So, have you come here to sweep me off my feet? Because I'm gonna make you work for it." Katie joked, nudging Neville with her shoulder.

"Unfortunately no." Neville said, looking around to make sure they were alone. "I think I might be more nervous if it were that. Have you been following the news?"

"Yeah! I guess I should apologize for making fun of you all those years. Turns out you were right about Harry Potter being alive all along." Katie sighed. "I choked on my morning tea when I read about it the other morning.

"Thanks, but not that… the murders. Of the girls?" Neville asked, and Katie's face darkened a bit.

"Yeah. I heard they found Daphne Greengrass last week. I didn't know her, but no one deserves that." Katie replied.

"Katie, I'm not going to play around here, ok?" Neville stopped and looked at his old housemate. "There are thirteen girls in total, all 19 years old, and all sharing a mark on their body. Hermione wrote you because she and the others think you're the last one. They want me to bring you to a safe house so they can explain what this is all about."

Katie stumbled, and Neville saw the look of horrific recognition on her face.

"You have the mark don't you." He said looking a little taken aback. Katie gave the faintest of nods as she took a step back from him. Neville went on high alert and began looking all around for anything that might signal nearby Death Eaters.

"Katie, you're in real danger. The Death Eaters could be hunting for you right now." Neville said with urgency that put Katie more on edge.

"No." She said flatly. "I can't just disappear. I have…"

"Katie, I've heard what happens to the girls the Death Eaters take. It's disgusting and vile and… I don't want that to happen to you or anybody. Please, just come see Hermione and the others. Come see Harry and…" Neville pleaded.

"Wait, Hermione is with Harry Potter?" Katie asked intrigued.

"He's protecting them all." Neville explained.

"Neville, I'm not looking to be part of a harem or…" Katie began to argue but Neville shook his head.

"It isn't like that at all. Just… please just come see for yourself." he tried again.

"And if I don't want to stay?" Katie asked.

"Then I'll make sure that no one tries to stop you." Neville promised.

Katie stood there for a moment pondering it and finally nodded. Neville gave a relieved smile and offered his hand. A moment later, they were standing in the back garden of an old run down looking home. Before Katie could say anything, Neville had opened the back door and gone inside. Katie felt disorientated, and confused. A million questions began racing through her mind, and just as she was about to try and apparate away out of fear, Neville came back, now joined by a smiling Hermione Granger.

"Katie! I'm so happy you're here." She said, as she hugged Katie warmly.

"Hermione. It's good to see you too. Can you please explain to me what's going on?" Katie asked urgently.

"Come on inside." Hermione said softly. "This is going to take a long time."

Katie gave Neville a questioning look and he nodded encouragingly at her. She gave him a dark look, but followed Hermione into the house with Neville right behind. The house was almost nice. It was clear some major remodeling was going on and that when it was done, the house would be superb. They stopped when they heard someone coming down the steps and Katie's eyes nearly popped out of her head.

She'd seen his picture in the paper, but it didn't even come close to doing justice. He was tall. Taller than she was by half a head, with broad shoulders and messy black hair that she suddenly had a strong urge to run her fingers through. When he smiled, she felt a flurry in her chest, and gave a bright smile in return.

"Harry Potter." She said, and he cocked his head, raising an eyebrow. "I'm Katie Bell. Neville brought me."

"Oh, you're the last priestess." Harry said in recognition. "Welcome."

"Priestess?" Katie looked at Neville. "You never said anything about being a priestess."

"It's a really long explanation, and Neville doesn't have all the details." Hermione replied. "This way and we'll fill you in on everything."

"It was nice to meet you." Katie said to Harry who nodded in return. Neville and Harry remained in the hall watching the young women disappear into the kitchen. When the door closed, Harry turned to Neville and gave him a brief smile.

"Well done." He said to Neville. "You've just stopped Voldemort from regaining full power. How's it feel?"

"Doesn't feel like anything." Neville shrugged. "I mean, I know it was important and all, but I don't feel like I did much other than play escort."

"It's not always about big moments with lots of fighting and stuff Nev. Sometimes it's just about small things that seem insignificant that make the biggest difference. Either way, you saved her life tonight." Harry said. "Come on upstairs. I need you to see something."

The two walked up and Harry led Neville into the attic and pointed to an incomplete set of armor lying on the workbench.

"Not bad." Neville smiled as he inspected it. "How much longer until it's done?"

"That's up to you." Harry remarked as he moved around the workbench and pulled out another set of armor that had been underneath. "This one is mine, and I think it'll be ready in about a week."

"Wait… so this is…" Neville looked confused and then, as realization dawned on him, he began to grin.

"My confrontation with Voldemort is coming, Nev, and I need you out there watching my back. I don't want another one of those mutant things getting in my way. He's going to throw everything at me, and I don't have eyes in the back of my head… but I've got you." Harry said earnestly, and Neville smiled, puffing up his chest with pride.

"Just tell me what I need to do."

"We're going to begin adding runes for protection. And you will need to be the one to etch them in because they're powered by your magic. If i did it, it wouldn't work when you wore it. Your suit, your runes, your magic. Got it?" Harry asked, and Neville nodded, still grinning.

"These have to be precise Nev, one mistake, and you'll have to start from scratch. So, we take our time, and we triple check everything." Harry said, handing over a couple of leather working tools to Neville. He then placed a pile of parchment on the table in the middle.

"We're going to start with the gauntlets." Harry said.

Katie Bell sat staring at the mug in front of her in the small kitchen. She was trying hard to process everything she had just learned from the seven girls in front of her. She looked up and peered around at each girl. Hermione Granger, arguably the smartest person in the world right now, though only those who had gone to Hogwarts with her really knew just how smart she was. A crime in Katie's opinion.

To her left, Lisa Turpin. And next to her, Mandy Brocklehurst. Katie hadn't known them in school, save for the fact they were in Ravenclaw. To her right, Tracey Davis who'd been in Slytherin. Behind Hermione, sitting on a counter was Hannah Abbot from Hufflepuff, and standing next to her was Susan Bones who was miraculously not marked, but still found herself a part of this. And finally, standing in a corner, with her arms wrapped around her chest as if she was trying to ward off a chill. All of them were now connected, part of each other's life because the most vile wizard in history needed them to somehow revive himself.

It was a lot to take in.

No that wasn't accurate. Finding out her best friend preferred witches to wizards… that was a lot to take in. When Alicia Spinnet told her she was engaged to George Weasley… THAT was a lot to take in. When she was asked to sign with her favorite Quidditch team straight after graduating Hogwarts… Now THAT was a lot to take in.

But this felt like she was drowning. Her mind simply refused to begin trying to process that she and these other rather ordinary young women could be some kind of super powerful coven with the potential to do some pretty amazing feats of magic all because they had never given themselves to a lover. It was ludacris.

She opened her mouth, made a small squeak, licked her lips and dropped her gaze back to her mug of tea.

"We know it's a lot." Hermione said softly.

"And we just dumped it on you all at once." Tracey added. "We've had a few months to get used to the idea."

Katie shook her head and waved her hands as if she were erasing an invisible blackboard.

"Stop!" She said suddenly. "Just stop all of you. This is mad! You can't expect me to believe any of this. I mean, Dumbledore didn't survive that fight, how could You-Know-Who manage it? And I barely passed transfiguration. How could I possibly have the kind of power you're suggesting? You've got to have the wrong witch here."

"Fine." Pansy sighed, looking at Katie with a haunted look. "Don't believe us. Go on and carry about as if everything is normal. Until one day, you come home and they're waiting for you…"

"Pansy. I don't think that's going to help…" Tracey started but Pansy ignored her.

"Or you go out on the town with friends and they lure you into an alley like they did to Marjorie Pucey. Or maybe they'll disguise themselves as a really attractive man and buy you drinks in a pub all night until you can't see straight, that's what they did to Samantha Pike. And then you wake up in a cold dark stone cell, naked and you don't know which way is up. And then the door opens and it's Bellatrix LeStrange, and she stuns you. When you wake up, you're still naked, but now you've got runic tattoos all over. And everytime she comes, you wake up with more and more tattoos."

"Pansy, don't." Hermione tried.

"And then finally, one night, they come and they take you, and march you naked in front of every single Death Eater and in the center of this room is a bed where HE is waiting. He binds you, he touches you and then he takes you infront of all his followers."

"Please make her stop." Katie pleaded.

"He takes you right there in front of all his followers, and you're powerless to stop it. He takes every part of you. Your mind, your badoy, your soul and your magic. You're helpless to do anything except watch as he draws your life right out of you while he defiles you until you're nothing but a husk to be disposed of."

"Please…" Katie said, tears beginning to fall. "Please stop."

"I can't stop, because I've seen it happen. I was forced to watch five different girls suffer through this, and just before I made it hear… I saw the last girl get chosen. Daphne greengrass. I tried to save her, but I was too late. They'd already started tattooing her, making it impossible for her to leave. Every single time he made one of those damned amulets, I was terrified that it was going to choose me, and I would be the next victim lying on that altar."

"That's enough Pansy." Hermione said sternly. Pansy looked ashamed, and wiped angrily at her eyes before marching out of the kitchen. The other girls could do nothing except look horrified at the door. After a moment, Lisa got up and followed Pansy.

"Katie," Hermione began, looking apologetic. "If you have the mark, then there's no mistake. You're one of us, and if our theory is correct, then you're the last possible victim. If you stay with us, then we prevent him from gaining any more strength and that gives Harry a chance to find him and fulfill his destiny."

"I can't! I can't stay here. I've got practice and I've got…" Katie rose quickly, panic in her eyes.

"Katie!" Mandy said, also getting to her feet. "Weren't you listening to Pansy? You won't be able to practice or anything else if you're dead!"

"They're hunting all of us." Tracey added. "If they stick to their timeline, then they're almost ready to make a new amulet."

"Harry is making himself new armor, and he's training Neville to help him. When they're done, they're going to find You-Know-Who and he's going to end him."

"But if Dumbledore couldn't do it…" Katie started.

"Dumbledore couldn't because it wasn't his job." Hannah snapped. "It was Harry's!"

"Harry was prophesied to be the one to end You-Know-Who." Mandy added. "No one else will be able to."

"This is insane." Katie stammered.

"I know." Hermione said, getting up and coming around to take Katie's hand in support. "But it's real, and I want to live. I want to get married and have a family and have a career i can be proud of, but I can't do any of that so long as You-Know-Who lives. He wants us. All of us, and if he gets us… well you heard Pansy. So, I'm asking you to stay with us. Find out what we can do, and let Harry do what he needs to."

"I don't have much of a choice here, do I?" Katie asked. Hermione frowned, and hugged Katie tightly.

"I'm sorry Katie." she said. The other girls came and hugged Katie as well.