HARRY POTTER :flash forward.

"Clearly, you've recently sealed the bonds," she said.

"Yes, Ma'am," both girls replied.

"And I'm also surprised it isn't public yet," she added.

"As are we, Ma'am," said Harry. Turning, he gestured to the stairs. "Shall we?" he asked.

With a nod and smile, she said, "Yes, please."

Walking up the stairs to the apartment, Harry and Madam Bones walked side-by-side while Hermione and Daphne did the same just behind.

"Again, Mister Potter, I want to thank you for being so... lenient with my Susan," the older witch replied. "And to apologise for not ensuring she was aware her actions, even at such a young age, could lead to dire consequences."

"You're welcome, Ma'am," he replied. "I also suspected she was the victim of severe peer pressure. And I know what that can do to someone so young."

"That is not an excuse, Mister Potter," she replied.

"No; but, it is a reason," he said back, to which she only nodded in acknowledgement.

Once inside the apartment, Winky immediately popped in and laid out a serving of tea and coffee. Harry already knew the stern woman much preferred coffee to tea, so ensured it was available to her. Looking down at the small percolator carafe of coffee, Madam Bones said, "I see you've done your homework. There's not many who know I prefer coffee to tea."

"I asked Susan," he smiled.

As they sat sipping their beverages for a while, Madam Bones leant back in her Crookshanks was out hunting mice armchair.

"Perhaps we should begin with why you asked for me to visit, Mister Potter," she said.

"I have become a lot more observant of late..." he replied. "... Since I'm no longer being dosed with loyalty and what-not potions. And, I have seen and heard some worrying things.

"First, I... that is, we... witnessed Headmaster Karkaroff, in a quite agitated state, confront Professor Snape about the Dark Mark he bears. He said to our so-called beloved Potions Master that his Dark Mark is apparently getting darker. Professor Snape, trying to get the man to be quiet, confirmed that his, too, is also getting darker."

That got the woman sitting opposite to sit up straighter and stare fixedly on Harry. "It's getting darker?" she asked.

"Yes, Ma'am," he confirmed. "As you know, I faced the shade of Riddle in the form of a possessed Quirinus Quirrell in my first year; and as a shade, again, a year later in the Chamber of Secrets. So, we know his soul has not passed on, I believe the phrase is.

"My... research... tells me that the Mark getting darker means Riddle is making a comeback. That is, that he has a body now, or soon will. Karkaroff getting all panicky confirms he believes it, too. The man, after all, named names during his trial and would consider his life forfeit if Riddle returned."

Stunned, Madam Bones sat there for a few moments quite perturbed. "I see..." she muttered. From the look on her face, Harry could see she wanted to believe him.

"Further research into how the Death Eaters operated in the first war... yes, I believe there'll be another... led me to make some further enquiries about one of their modus operandis?" he offered. "Yes, that's it; their modus operandi."

"And?" she asked.

"One of the things they did was to attack the families of those they considered enemies in their own homes. It made me ask further questions," he replied. "For a start, how did they keep the families in their homes while they attacked? How did they stop them from leaving, through magical means, before they brought that family's wards down, or even straight afterwards?

"What I discovered was that they threw up temporary anti-apparition and anti-portkey wards or jinxes over the existing wards," he said. "But, why did the family not then use the Floo to make their escape?

"A check of public records shows that, each time an attack took place on a home, the Floo connection for that home was also temporarily down. The records state, in every instance, it was for the purpose of temporary maintenance. To me, logic dictates this makes no sense.

"Maintenance

on

an

individual

Floo connection is extremely rare. And is never at night, when the attacks apparently all occurred. So, that leaves the only scenario that someone on the inside of the Floo Authority was either a sympathiser of Riddle and his minions, was a Death Eater themselves, or was bribed. No other likelihood makes sense."

With a sigh she said, "Yes; we've always suspected; but, we've never been able to prove anything."

"Yes, well," muttered Harry. "Something further. As Bones is an allied House, and with my responsibility to that alliance in mind, I need to tell you a couple of things in confidence."

"Yes?" she asked.

"I must also ask you, ally-to-ally, not to pass on a suggestion I have for you to anyone else without my prior approval."

"I understand," she nodded, clearly eager to hear what Harry had to say.

With his own nod in recognition of her agreement, he flatly said, "I know, for a fact, you're a high priority target. And that the Death Eaters want you out of the way for their master."

"Yes, but I've always known I'd be a target if the Death Eaters got up to their tricks again," she said.

"They already have," said Harry. "The attack on the Quidditch World Cup was clearly their first... outing... in the recommencement of the war; or the opening salvo in the second war." Madam Bones just sat there, silently musing over what Harry had said.

"Now for what I want you to do, and keep silent about doing," he said.

When he had her attention again, he instructed, "I want you to excavate a tunnel from the basement in Bones Manor, out to well beyond your ward boundary. The direction is irrelevant to me and I do not need to know. It also does not need to have an end that opens above ground. It only needs to reach a spot far enough beyond your wards where you'll be able to use an emergency portkey, or apparate, to get the Hell out of there.

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