ᵖʳᵒᵘᵈ ᵖᵃʳᵉⁿᵗˢ ; ʰᵃʳᵐⁱᵒⁿᵉ ✓

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter 14 - Bones

While Harry was getting ready to head off on their mission, he felt surprise coming from Hermione via their bond. Her mother had entered Hermione's room, and they both thought she was there to try and talk her daughter out of going. Hermione's surprise changed to a completely different set of emotions when her mother, right out of the blue, hugged her daughter. There were tears, there was laughter, Hermione was clinging tightly to her mother, and once more Harry found himself being swamped by his betrothed's emotions.

That these were positive emotions left Harry with the opportunity to try combatting this debilitating side-effect of their bond, rather than having to spring to Hermione's aid. He tried concentrating on the meeting they'd eventually held yesterday with the team of four who would accompany them back to Britain today for their mission.

-o- flashback -o-

After Bill's bombshell about rituals, they had searched Tom's memories and were pretty sure which one he would try. It would take too long to fabricate a believable excuse as to exactly how they came about that information, especially since Bill and Amelia were two very smart people - and they were already scheduled to be visiting Little Hangleton tomorrow. On this day for revealing the truth, Harry and Hermione told Amelia and Bill just about everything.

As the curse breaker and auror were digesting all that new information, Harry then informed all four of them what ritual they thought Riddle would use. Harry's suggestion of vanishing Tom's father's bones to prevent this happening immediately set Sirius off.

"If you empty that grave, Wormtail will stop the ritual - and then we're no better off. What we want to do is replace those bones with something that really screws up the ritual - and hopefully Voldemort's new body too."

This idea of possibly weakening a reborn Voldemort appealed to all of them, with Remus asking Sirius just what he was suggesting.

"Can you imagine replacing those bones with, say a transfigured dead squirrel? If that bastard took on any of the animal's traits, he would be finished with his pure-blood followers. Bow to Squirrelmort, the only dark lord in history with a bushy tail."

This was generating some sniggers but Sirius was serious and showed it. "This second prophecy says he will return greater and more terrible. What if we transfigured a pile of hippogriff shit and used that? Voldemort would return as a greater pile of shit, and smell really terrible."

Bill tried to be the voice of reason here, amongst the sniggers that particular image had produced. "We really don't want to give him any more advantages than he already has. Squirrels are incredibly agile and lightning quick. While using shit might be really appealing, imagine if he took on any attributes of a hippogriff? A flying Voldemort with razor-sharp claws as well as a wand is not something we would want to face."

Seeing the sense behind that, Remus voiced aloud their problem. "I know Wormtail will panic if nothing comes out that grave when he summons it, so we need to replace those bones with something. The question we need to answer here is what?"

Sirius came back with another suggestion. "A dead pigeon, transfigured to look like bones. While Voldemort is busy puffing his chest out and boastfully bobbing his head, Harry can wring his neck"

Trying to ignore Sirius' latest suggestion, Bill gave them some guidelines to work within. "Whatever the decision, the material has to have been living and animal to see the ritual complete. Something like stone or metal will cause the ritual to fail. While a squirrel would probably work, a tree branch wouldn't. I think all insects should be avoided too, a six foot beetle is a scary enough thought before adding in Voldemort's power and intelligence."