When Harry walked into the diner, he was greeted by whispering.
Just saying that might give off the wrong impression, because there was nothing covert about this communication. The whispering was so frantic, and done at such a volume, that the only thing he couldn't make out were the exact words. Harry glanced to the right, spotting a booth where all three occupants were sitting on the same side, lifting menus to hide their faces.
Then he looked the other way, spotting something that actually made him pause.
It was clearly Tonks. Her hair was the same bubblegum pink and she still had her muddy intelligent eyes. She'd changed clothes, strangely, into a sleek red dress just dark enough not to clash with her hair. Tonks shifted her head to look at him, tucking hair back behind her ear. Small triangular earrings hung off her lobes. Her makeup was more elaborate than Harry had seen since the time he looked at her wedding photos.
There was a menu in front of Tonks, flat on the table. A second was positioned opposite her.
Harry approached, taking the seat that was clearly meant for him. Somewhere on the other side of the diner, he heard an excited "Yes!" immediately followed by two voices going, shhhhhh!
Three pairs of eyes, two blue and one brown, were peeking over their menus.
He narrowly refrained from shaking his head.
"What are you thinking about getting?" Harry asked, referencing the menu in front of Tonks.
"I… already ate," Tonks said.
"Then what do you recommend?"
"The burger is great."
"Perfect! It's been ages since I got my hands on one."
Since the waitress hadn't come yet, a silence settled on the table. Harry pushed his menu back. "Sorry about them," he said. "It seems like they've put you up to something."
"Don't worry about it. I enjoyed the free makeover." Tonks laughed. "They did a serious job."
"It looks great," Harry said. "Though it's a bit sad to see your usual style disappear. Both are nice."
He turned to face the waitress as she arrived, ordering a burger just as planned, while across the table Tonks' hair started rapidly lengthening and shortening by a quarter inch the way a dog might wag its tail.
She got her hair under control before any of the Muggles noticed. Harry turned back as the waitress took their menus away.
"So, how is it being loose on London?" Harry asked.
"Well, I'm used to it." Tonks' voice was normal, although her cheeks held a faint blush. She was having a hard time looking Harry in the eyes, similar to the time they first met in Diagon. "Dad would take me out at least once a month growing up. I've seen all the major sights, shopped at the stores before…" She shrugged. "It is fun seeing them get excited about it, though."
Both of them cast their eyes toward the booth of the spying menus. The sheets of laminated plastic were quickly lifted higher to maintain anonymity.
"There is something nice about it," Harry agreed. "When I first got this job, it more or less fell into my lap. I didn't have the faintest clue what I was doing. It's been surprisingly fun."
"Are you going to keep doing it?" Tonks asked.
"I have no plans to leave, as it stands."
"Even if the war changes?"
Harry was silent.
"I'm not trying to pressure you!" Tonks said. "I just know the Aurors would be a lot more dangerous with someone like you involved. We'd stand a much better chance."
"The current ministry and I don't mix," Harry said. "I refuse to work for a man like Scrimgeour. I might be able to work with him, if he swallowed his pride… But at times pride seems to be what the Ministry runs on. I guess I'll cross those bridges when they come."
Tonks picked up her drink— some kind of dark soda. She took a slurp through the straw.
"I wasn't trying to lower the mood," she said.
"I don't mind," Harry said. His eyes picked out the shopping bags stowed at the booth his students were hiding in. Among them were undoubtedly the ones he'd been fooled into removing the weight of. The memory made him smile wryly, and brought a question to his lips. "What have you four gotten up to today?"
Tonks talked until his food arrived, relaying a steady stream of shop and neighborhood names to describe their path. Harry ate while he listened, interjecting with a comment or question here or there. He loved that Tonks could talk so freely. It was the first time they'd discussed a topic where she could babble, instead of having to choose her words. Even more than makeover, he found that freedom to relax made her more attractive.
Finally, when his plate had been cleaned, Harry stood and stretched.
"Make sure not to eat too much today," he said. "And that goes for all of you!"
Lavender, Parvati, and Hannah all jumped at the sudden address toward them. Harry turned away from Tonks, speaking primarily to his students.
"Dinner is a group event," he said. "I'll have a small surprise for everyone, too, so keep a small space open in those bags of yours."
"Which group are you off to see now?" Tonks asked.
Harry checked his watch.
"Flitwick's kids, most likely. I'll visit the library after that. Then I ought to start getting ready for dinner."
"See you later!" said the girls. Tonks gave him a wave.
When he was leaving, Lavender had already crossed the room and grabbed Tonks, dragging her to their new table to wring out all the details of her conversation.
Harry smiled, disillusioning himself as he stepped out of the door, and Apparated from plain view, invisible to the eyes of the Muggles around him. His last view through the window showed Tonks saying something and Lavender interrupting, gesticulating with a grin.
O-O-O
Lucca Taverna was an Italian bistro with a view of the Thames. Harry picked it out as a perfect mix of formal and casual— nice enough to feel like a special meal, but without a dress code that might cramp his student's style.
The reservation meant that when each group started arriving from their London adventures, a long rectangular table was waiting for them with enough seats to accommodate the whole class, chaperones included.
The door to the restaurant flew open, drawing the attention of the host on duty. Hermione trudged inside, muttering, "We're with them."
When she got to the table, she collapsed next to Ron, slumping back against her chair.
"What's got you so tired?" Ron asked. "You've been reading all day, haven't you?"
Unsaid was that a day of reading for Hermione was as good as a spa trip for another girl.
"I've been trying," Hermione said.
Blaise and Daphne sat down between Michael Corner and Ernie Macmillan. On his face, Blaise wore a small smirk.
Aurora Sinistra joined the chaperones at the far end of the table. She sat next to Flitwick, who offered her one of three complimentary bread bowls brought by the wait staff. Aurora waved him off with a solemn shake of her head.
"It must have been a long day, if you are too tired for bread!" Flitwick squeaked, knowing his coworkers tastes well after all the feasts they'd shared at the Hogwarts staff table.
Aurora didn't answer.
Four of the groups were there now that the library team had arrived. Tonks was the only chaperone missing, and her students were the only ones absent. At one corner of the table, Susan Bones was sitting as still as possible and wearing a blush. Tired out by the long day, Neville had passed out in his seat waiting for the other groups. At some point between then and now he'd slumped sideways, landing on Susan's shoulder as a pillow. Occasionally, he'd twitch in his sleep.
It was another fifteen minutes before the shopping group arrived.
"Sorry we're late, guys!" Lavender all but hurled herself into her seat, making it wobble back and forth. "Tonks had to find a private place to shrink our bags. But we still got here before Professor Potter!"
"Where is he, anyway?" Ron asked.
"He said he had a surprise to prepare," Parvati said. "It sounded like some kind of gift."
At least five voices said, "Ooooooh!"
Everyone likes presents.
The waiter arrived to take orders. He worked his way around the table over the course of five minutes while conversations started.
Terry and Michael teamed up to tell Fay and Ernie the entire plot of the movie they watched. Hannah was talking to Susan about the stores she'd visited, keeping her voice just quiet enough to not wake the sleeping Neville. "They had shirts that would look so good on you!"
Parvati had taken the open seat to Hermione's left. "So, how was your day?"
"Exhausting." Hermione's body language told the same story. Her arms were limp at her sides as she sat sprawled in her chair. "Blaise wouldn't leave me alone the whole entire day."
The boy in question was speaking quietly to Daphne about something, the blond nodding every so often. He wasn't wearing something as eye-catching as a tuxedo this time, though his mauve collared shirt was no less stylish. It had the top two buttons left open, showing a significant wedge of his chest. He gesticulated as he talked to Daphne, giving the girls across from him a view of his side-profile.
"I feel so bad for you," Parvati said.
Hermione sat forward, her posture sharpening. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Parvati sighed. "Hermione, have you taken a look at him? There are girls at Hogwarts that would fight a duel for a day with him. It's not exactly a curse."
"He's popular?" Hermione asked.
"You're probably the only person I know who'd have to ask that question," Parvati said.
Hermione squinted at Blaise, who was still focused on talking to Daphne, giving Hermione a chance to look him over.
"I suppose he's not bad looking," she said.
"That's the spirit," Parvati said mildly.
The waiter returned with appetizers. A cheesy bread dish was placed in front of Sirius, who happened to be sitting beside Hestia.
"Did you know that Muggles use a machine to make that?" Hestia asked. "They do it with electricity!"
"That's interesting, I suppose," Sirius said, very much in a hurry to stuff his mouth.
The day was just starting to get dark, winter meaning that the sun set early. Boats drifted past on the Thames while the restaurant filled. A mix of candles and electric lights gave the room a pleasant ambiance. "It's no wonder Nev fell asleep," Ron said, blinking. "It feels cozy in here. Makes me want to pass out too."
Fay was sitting to the side of him, sandwiching him between her and Hermione. "If you try to put your head on my shoulder, I'm drawing a mustache on your face. Don't let that stop you, though. It might even look good."
"I hope Professor Potter gets here soon," Hannah said. "He hasn't even gotten the chance to order yet."
"If it's him, I bet he's already planned around that," Michael said.
"What makes you say that?" Hannah asked.
Michael shrugged. "I don't know. He just kind of gives off the feeling that he's in control."
Others around him nodded, agreeing, although they couldn't put their finger on where that feeling came from.
"Whoa, they even have a dessert menu!" Anthony said. "I wonder if Muggle Tiramisu is any different—"
Neville lurched forward.
He hit his hands on the table hard enough to shake the silverware. Neville heaved air into his lungs, gasping so loudly that everyone's conversations stopped, their attention landing on him.
"They're coming!" Neville said.
Slowly, his classmates started to laugh.
"It's just a nightmare, mate," Terry said. "You're awake now. You're alright."
Even some of the chaperones chuckled, except for one, who had a very different reaction.
Professor Sinistra shouted, "Burbling boots!"
It sounded like nonsense, because it was. The phrase had been picked as one nobody could accidentally say while visiting London. That made it the perfect activation phrase for the Portkeys in each chaperone's possession.
There was only one reason she would've done such a thing, and Sirius, as an ex-Auror, realized it the fastest. "The Imperi—!"
He was gone before he could finish the word, whisked away along with every other adult wizard in the room.
Some of the students made alarmed noises, but most were too confused to react.
"No!" Neville said.
"What? What's happening?" Lavender asked. "Why would Professor Sinistra do that?"
Blaise was standing, his wand conspicuously in his hand. "You heard the man as he was being sent away. She was under the Imperius." Blaise scowled. "A bad one, too. She was disoriented the whole day. I should have recognized the symptoms!"
Hermione whispered something angry under her breath, thinking the same thing as Blaise.
"B-But… they'll come back, right?" Hannah asked. "They can Apparate here, right? They aren't really gone."
Anthony Goldstein cleared his throat. "I don't want to make anyone panic, but I can Apparate. I took lessons over the summer. I just tried and… It's blocked."
At the same time, every Muggle in the room stood up. They filed out of the front door, even the wait staff and the cooks from the kitchen, who walked out of the back and straight into the street in their white aprons.
"Everyone, listen to me."
Neville wasn't calm, he was just calmer than his classmates, sheerly from having faced horrible situations so many times before.
"Help is coming," he said. "Even if they're gone for now, the chaperones know we're in danger. The Aurors will be here soon. We just have to last until then."
"Are you telling us to fight? I can't fight!" Lavender said.
Neville drew his wand. The Trace would activate as soon as he used his first spell, but that hardly mattered now. If he was alive to face a Ministry trial he would consider that a win.
Neville tipped over every table in the room. The sound of cracking plates made a few of his classmates cry out, but Neville spoke calmly over them.
"Spread out and stay behind these. Use them as cover," he said. "If the idea of fighting scares you too much, just try to hide. No one will hold it against you. The rest of us will do what we can." He paused, assessing the expressions and added, "I've come face to face with the Dark Lord three times, and I'm still alive. We are not doomed!"
The first ones to move were members of Dumbledore's Army, the same students Neville had been practicing with in case of a scenario like this one. For a moment he felt a stab of pride.
Susan grabbed his hand.
She wasn't about to back down, but the fear was obvious in her eyes. "Neville, how did you know this was happening?"
"I get visions when I sleep," Neville said. "Sometimes, I see what Death Eaters are doing. I saw them coming before they got here. By now, they should be outside. I don't know how many."
"They're here for you," Susan said.
"They usually are," Neville said, forcing a smile.
Susan's face set. Her fear receded in favor of determination as she got behind the table, looking over it to watch the door. Fay and Parvati were next to her, their wand-hands trembling.
The table closest to the door was taken by Ron and Blaise. The boys looked at each other for a moment.
"I'm taking the first one that comes through the door," Ron said.
"Not if I get to him first," Blaise said. "The Death Eaters aren't the only ones who know curses."
For the first time ever, Ron laughed at something Blaise said.
The time period that followed felt both too short and interminably long to Neville. He was left standing, paralyzed by the many things he didn't know but wished he did.
Ultimately, the first spell shattered a window.
As the last one who was still standing up, Neville dove behind a table. He turned out to be sharing it with Hermione and Daphne. Only the rapid way Daphne's pupils darted around the room gave away her fear.
"How long do we need to keep them back?" Hermione whispered.
"I don't know," Neville said. "Five minutes, I think, at the shortest."
"We can do that," Daphne said. "As long as we're careful, we can do that."
It seemed she was talking to herself.
Unfortunately for Ron, the first Death Eaters didn't come through the door. They broke all three of the restaurant's wide front-facing windows and hurled spells through the openings.
The corner was taken off of the table Ernie was behind. The spell left behind a corrosive effect, eating away another three inches of wood after the impact. He looked at the spot with wide eyes, forced to imagine if that had hit his body.
"Stupefy!"
Anthony, Terry, and Michael all sent stunners out the window at the same time. Neville was fairly certain one of the spells even landed. Unfortunately, the Death Eater was back in the fight in seconds, revived by his allies.
"Keep holding on!" Neville shouted.
He didn't like their chances at all. They were students. A stunner was the worst spell that most of them knew, and he couldn't blame them, because they never chose to be in this position. But it would only take one curse to put any of them down, and stunners were a temporary setback for the enemy. If they were going to hang on, he had to step up.
Before Neville could make his stand, someone else made the first progress. Blaise aimed well with some kind of purple curse Neville didn't recognize at all. The Death Eater who was hit stumbled away from the window. The scream that he made was chilling.
"That was an Eye-Twister!" Hermione said, so aghast that she froze for a moment. "Just casting it can earn you a year in Azkaban!"
"What does it do?" Neville asked reflexively, even though there were undoubtedly more pressing issues.
"It turns the eyes," Hermione said. "Inside of their sockets. It causes permanent blindness if not treated within an hour."
"That one was pretty good!" a woman shouted outside. Next to Neville, Daphne's whole body stiffened.
The door to the restaurant flew open. Immediately, at least five students who'd been waiting for that cast Stunners.
All five were blocked contemptuously with a single shield.
"You're going backwards!" Bellatrix cackled. "Where is the fight you were giving a second ago? Show me something nasty!"
Blaise gave up his cover, offering her exactly what she asked for. Whatever spell he used, just hearing the incantation was enough to make Hermione gasp.
Bellatrix grinned. She did something that made her shield shoot away from her body like a battering ram, blocking Blaise's spell and smashing through the table he and Ron were using for cover. Blaise was thrown backwards, launched into the wall. He dropped his wand. Before he could move, Bellatrix conjured a collar around his neck that was fused to the wall. Blaise kicked and dug his fingers against his throat to pry it off, but couldn't make progress.
"You show promise!" Bellatrix said. "A wizard like you shouldn't die here. As for the rest…"
"We can't win." Daphne was hyperventilating. She'd dropped her wand, lacking the will to even keep a hold of it. "We can't hold out. We can't last. Not against her… Anyone but her…!"
Hermione touched Daphne's hand, trying to calm her down. Blaise was stuck. Ron tensed to take a shot at Bellatrix, but Neville knew he'd meet the same fate as Blaise. Only, Bellatrix wasn't likely to spare him.
It had to be Neville.
He rolled into view, bracing himself on one knee and keeping his arm straight. It was the best stance for accuracy. Neville opened with one of the strongest spell that he knew. "Bombarda Maxima!"
He aimed at the ceiling above her. Magical shields were more effective against spells than physical objects. A collapsed ceiling was more of a headache for a skilled duelist than a direct attack would be.
Bellatrix's eyes locked onto him, glittering. "There he is!"
She pointed her wand up, casting something that created a cloud of sludge. It hit the rocks falling toward her and coated them with a nasty oil-like substance. Bellatrix brought her wand down, aiming at the room, and somehow slung the debris in every direction.
Most of the tables shattered. Someone cried out in pain. Neville banished the chunk that came at him when it was a meter from his body. Somehow, just getting that close gave him a sense of vertigo. Whatever Bellatrix's first spell did had coated the rubble with something that attacked the mind, making it hard to focus.
"Confringo!" Neville said, but the haze over his mind made his aim sloppy, and the spell missed Bellatrix harmlessly.
"Feeling dizzy?" Bellatrix asked.
He was struggling to stay standing. He looked to the side at Hermione and Daphne, the only allies close enough for him to see.
Daphne was shaking as badly as if she was going through a withdrawal. Hermione had been afflicted by the same nausea that Neville was facing, holding onto her head. Even though they were next to him, Neville felt like his view of them was blurry. What had Bellatrix done to him?
The rest of the Death Eaters used the opening she'd given them to swarm the room. There were six of them. The same number that Neville watched hunt down Amelia Bones, one of the ministry's strongest duelists. What chance did kids like them have?
"Kill the extras, except the one stuck to the wall," Bellatrix said.
Words pounded in Neville's head. Kill the spare. "No!" he said.
Then, his head was clear.
The world snapped into perfect focus. His limbs filled with a surge of strength and all his fear, frustration, and anger turned into the perfect amount of motivation: enough to keep him going, but not so much as to make him reckless.
The source of the change seemed obvious. Between Neville and Bellatrix a glowing blue lion had appeared. Neville would recognize it anywhere. Gran had been so proud the first time he conjured a Corporeal Patronus, doubly so because of the animal he got.
But Neville hadn't cast the Patronus Charm. He'd never felt the positive effects of one this strongly before, either.
He wasn't the only one. Daphne had stopped shaking and picked up her wand again. A fat little songbird was perched on her fingers. Next to her, Hermione's otter had wound itself across her shoulder. The hopeless situation didn't feel hopeless to any of them anymore. When Bellatrix cast a spell at him, Neville was able to counter in mid air, their spells canceling out. "Push them back!" Neville said. He couldn't remember his voice ever sounding so clear.
Everyone responded, even the students who'd chosen to hide. Daphne cast a perfect disarming charm that forced one of the Death Eaters to shield himself. Hermione managed to hit one with a stunner that flung him against the wall, jarring his head. Bellatrix howled, whipping her wand into action, and Neville very calmly assessed that they still couldn't stop her. It was the strangest thing, being able to understand such a grave threat in an overwhelmingly calm manner. They were outmatched, he knew it, but fear had no foothold to grip him with. He was able to put his whole brain into thinking of ways to escape or delay Bellatrix, without being distracted by the prospect of failure.
He still came up with disturbingly little in the seconds he had to think. Which was when the stag arrived.
Neville couldn't tell where it came from. The Patronus was as big as his lion. It bore solid muscles and a dangerous set of antlers. Something about it immediately told Neville it was different. If not for the sense of calm that had taken him over, Neville wouldn't have noticed what gave the strangeness away.
This Patronus had footsteps.
It reached the Death Eaters in a few long strides. They too could sense something was off, but hadn't made the same observation Neville had.
"Don't freeze! It's a Patronus! Are you all Dementors? Then it's harmless!" Bellatrix said. "It can't touch—"
The stag's hoof hit the man to her right. There was a crack! as his mask shattered. The stag huffed, lowering its antlers, and only Bellatrix's speed with her wand allowed her to keep from being gored on its antlers.
"Impossible!" Hermione and Bellatrix said at the same time, using very different tones.
Someone ruffled Neville's hair. "You'd be right. I'm the first to use the spell, so it makes sense you wouldn't have seen it."
Professor Potter had come in the back entrance. He looked calm. He was even smiling. Neville felt himself relax a little bit more, even though the logical portion of his brain screamed that the odds were still awful.
In one hand Professor Potter had his wand. Under the other arm he was holding a bundle of white t-shirts.
"To commemorate the day," Harry said, giving Neville's hair another ruffle. "You've been through a lot in the last few hours, these fools included. I think you've all earned a break."
He let go of the shirts and sent each of them flying to a different student. The instant the shirts made contact, students winked out of existence. Neville barely managed to recognize Portkeys before one made contact with him. The next instant, he was in Hogsmeade, his friends and classmates appearing around him.
Everyone was there. Blaise landed on his knees, sucking in air. Susan hurled herself at Neville, wrapping him in a hug. Hermione ran to check on Ron, who had been punctured in the arm by splinters at some point during the short fight.
The chaperones were there too, along with other Professors like McGonagall. They ran to the appearing students with questions, but too many of them asked things at the same time, making it impossible to understand a single one.
Hannah screamed.
Everyone turned to her. She looked terrified, whipping her head around.
"Where's Professor Potter?" she said. "He's not here! He's still with them!"
Neville understood her concern, but for some reason, he didn't share it.
Because of his calm state of mind, Neville had been able to count the shirts in Harry's hands. There was one for every student and no more than that. Harry hadn't brought a Portkey for himself. He wanted to stay.
For what reason, only the professor himself would know.
O-O-O
"Perfect!" Harry said as Ernie Macmillan disappeared, marking the last of the class. "We should be all set, then."
Bellatrix looked focused, although her insanity still showed in her mannerisms.
"He said you would come," Bellatrix said.
"And when I realized Death Eaters were attacking, I really hoped you'd be here." Harry leveled his wand at Bellatrix's eye. "I didn't want the kids to see this part, but make no mistake, Bella… I'm going to enjoy it."