Chapter 2

Madam Pomphrey, he's getting worse!" Harry called out as he arrived thirty seconds later.

"Sweet Merlin, this is why I loathe working with servicemen. They always think they are invulnerable."

"You were an army nurse?" Harry asked.

"I was, Mister Potter. I was one of the first allied nurses on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day." She said with a hint of pride. "Fortunately none of these young men had injuries as horrific, although Private Jeffries here was ten seconds from death."

"Private Jeffries? How do you know his name?"

Poppy looked up at him with a disappointed look. "That is his name." She indicated the label on his chest.

"What about the Private bit?"

She pointed at the symbols on his upper arm. "This means he is a private."

"Oh, Ok." Harry shrugged.

"Those other soldiers are approaching." Arnie warned.

"Is he fixed? The others are arriving." Harry relayed the warning.

"He's fine, just a little weak as I don't have any blood replenishing potion for him." Poppy confirmed as she transfigured a hospital bed from a nearby blade of grass.

"You really served in World War II?" Jeffries asked.

"I'm a witch lad, I was born in 1919." She smirked.

"Wow, you look good."

"Thank you dear." She smiled proudly.

"Kid, get me up. No point risking a repeat of earlier." Jeffries gestured to Harry.

"Now I must protest-"

"Ma'am, no offence, but there is no way that the Captain is going to take your word that you served in World War II. If I don't go out there then you are going to have more patients." He said firmly as Harry helped him up.

"Fine, but Harry, you take all his weight." She ordered.

"Yes Madam Pomphrey." Harry responded dutifully.

"Medics, they're all the same." Jeffries snorted as he and Harry moved towards the approaching soldiers. Harry could only nod in agreement.

"I heard that!"

"Walk faster, kid." Jeffries muttered nervously.

"Private, report!" The Captain barked, Pomphrey had not just healed him, she had cleaned and repaired his uniform as well. The only evidence that he had been less than healthy was his current pale complexion and weakness.

"The medic, Poppy Pomphrey has healed my unit and myself. Other than some rest and food-"

"Perhaps we should leave the medical instructions to the medics?" Poppy scowled as she approached. Once again the guns came up and Harry tensed.

"Easy!" Jeffries said hastily. "This is Poppy Pomphrey, the woman who just fixed my unit."

"Identify yourself." The Captain ordered.

"Lieutenant Poppy Pomphrey, Royal Army Medical Corp, retired." She said primly.

"Just what are you doing out here trespassing on royal property?"

"My student, here, decided to do some late night covert operations which unfortunately seem to have brought him here. When your men were injured attacking him, he had me brought in to fix them up."

"Does your 'student' have a habit of performing late night covert ops?" He asked snidely.

"Unfortunately he does." She said as she glared at Harry. "Quite frankly, aside from his fourth year at school, he does at least one a year. I would point out that they are not sanctioned operations but he does do immaculate work."

"You think this is a joking matter?" The Captain demanded angrily.

"No, Captain, I do not." She said sternly. "Now, I would be most grateful if you would radio your superiors and give them the code word: Excalibur."

The Captain raised an eyebrow but gestured to one of his men for a radio.

There was a brief conversation that resulted in the Captain and his men standing down. There was then ten minutes of uncomfortable silent waiting until an army jeep pulled up and a Colonel stepped out.

"Who issued the Excalibur order?" He demanded.

The Captain snapped off a salute. "Sir, Lieutenant Poppy Pomphrey, RAMC, retired. She provided the codeword and I called it in. She seems to have healed an entire unit suffering from gun shot wounds. Private Jeffries here has been acting as a liaison."

"Before we continue, Colonel, these men need to be sent back to the infirmary for blood transfusions or fluids and rest. I've done what I can but I don't have my usual tools with me." Poppy said pointedly.

The Colonel raised an eyebrow at being given orders, but he was used to it considering the woman claimed to be RAMC. The downed soldiers where arrayed in conjured hospital beds.

"Captain, call in medical evac."

"Sir, I haven't had a chance to search the house back there. There might be more terrorists in there." Harry spoke up hesitantly. He really didn't do well around authority figures.

"What house?"

"There is a house that has been hidden from muggles, Colonel. If what Mr. Potter here, has told me is correct, then he has just taken out the Dark Lord Voldemort and quite a few of his Death Eaters." Pomphrey explained.

"Death Eaters? On the palace grounds?!" The Colonel asked in horror.

"I think I got most of them, but like I said, I didn't get a chance to check." Harry said.

"Master Harry sir, Dobby's children say no one else is there." Dobby spoke up as he appeared to the non-magicals.

Unfortunately several guns were aimed his way in shock.

"STAND DOWN!" The Colonel shouted. He really wished he had a unit of soldiers experienced with this type of thing.

"Great Dobby, are your kids safe?" Harry asked.

Dobby nodded happily. "Would Master Harry bond with them? Dobby only trusts Master Harry." Dobby begged.

"If that's what you want Dobby, then that's what we'll do. It'll be nice to have some more friends around."

"Lieutenant Pomphrey, consider yourself reactivated." The Colonel told the school nurse.

"Very well, but be aware that I have medical oaths that might supersede any orders regarding Harry Potter here or my other student patients."

"I am aware. Can you bring down the wards on this building? We need to secure it."

"Not myself I can't. I would recommend contacting Albus Dumbledore. He would be able to bring them down or arrange for them to be brought down."

"The Chief Warlock?"

"That is correct."

"You have permission to bring him in. But he must go through security first and announce himself properly."

"Harry, could you have Dobby take me back to Hogwarts? I will bring Albus back and send Dobby back to you."

"Yes Madam Pomphrey, you don't want me to come with you?"

"Harry, you are the only wizard around so you are the only one who can see the building and deal with any wizards that might turn up." She said sadly. She couldn't believe that she was leaving a fifteen-year-old to do an adult's job.

"I just want to go back to Hogwarts and sleep." Harry sighed. "Ok, Dobby, can you take Madam Pomphrey back to Hogwarts, then go and bring the prisoners from the Shrieking Shack here."

"Yes sir, Harry Potter Sir!" Dobby saluted as he mimicked the soldiers and vanished with Poppy.

A few of the soldiers chuckled at the little guy's antics.

"What's this about prisoners?" The Colonel asked.

Harry glanced at the man's name tag: David. He briefly wondered if that was the man's first or last name.

"On my way here to deal with Voldemort I had to deal with a group of Death Eaters who were about to invade my school and kill lots of people."

"You actually took them alive?" The Colonel asked clearly impressed.

"It wasn't hard, they couldn't see me. I had them all trussed up in under ten seconds." Harry shrugged.

At that moment Dobby popped back in with two Death Eaters.

"Only two? No wonder it didn't take long." One of the soldiers snorted in derision.

The Colonel really wanted to slap the man. He'd read the Potter Reports. He'd heard the rumours about the boy who, on a yearly basis, managed to thwart the most feared terrorist of the century.

"That's the first batch." Harry explained, ignoring the manner in which he was spoken to. "Dobby can't take more than two at a time."

"Just how many Death Eaters are there?" Colonel David asked.

"I didn't actually count."

"Thirty two." Arnie supplied.

"Oh, Arnie says there are thirty two."

"Arnie?"

"He's the- erm… voice in my armour?"

The Colonel decided to ignore it for now and leave it to those of a higher pay grade. His job was to contain the situation and limit the exposure of witches and wizards.

"Captain, call in a prisoner transport for thirty two." He called back.

"Is there a reason they are naked?"

Harry blushed. "I may have asked Dobby to strip the bodies of portkeys and wands… he seems to have been extra thorough."

The Colonel sighed. "Of course he was."

Whilst he waited Dobby kept bringing more bodies and the trucks for moving the injured soldiers arrived. Harry was very unnerved by the stares he knew he was getting but realised it couldn't be helped considering he was currently a six foot plus metallic monster.

Dobby was only half way done when the prisoner transports arrived, they brought Madam Pomphrey and Albus Dumbledore with them.

"Oh Harry, what have you done?" Dumbledore asked disappointedly.

"Don't you take that tone with him, Albus! He's done what no one else would do." Poppy admonished the aging Headmaster. "He's eliminated the threat of Voldemort. I will be most displeased if he is treated as anything less than a hero."

"I'm not saying he hasn't done a brave thing, but there were reasons that I hadn't acted yet."

"Why didn't you tell me the reasons then?" Harry asked, he was slightly annoyed, very tired and therefore quite cranky.

"I was telling you the reasons, my boy-"

"You were giving me pointless history lessons on Voldemort's childhood! I didn't see anything useful in those memories."

"If you had gotten the memory from Horace then I would have explained it."

"If it was that important why didn't you get it yourself?" Poppy demanded. "Horace Slughorn is-"

"Gentlemen, Lieutenant, could we please focus on the here and now." The Colonel interrupted. "My understanding is that Mister Potter has saved Britain and its King from a terrorist and his people and has uncovered a hidden base here on the palace grounds.

"Now, I am fairly familiar with His Majesty's stance on Voldemort, and I know he is quite livid with the way the Ministry of Magic is handling things.

"What I need you to do right now is remove the wards from the building we can't see."

"I'm afraid I don't have the authority." Albus replied.

"I am giving you the authority Mister Dumbledore. You can either comply with the order or find yourself a guest of the Tower of London." Colonel David warned.

"I would need permission from the Ministry of Magic to bring down the wards on Malfoy Manor."

The Colonel was shocked by that statement. "Are you telling me that the Ministry knew that there were squatters on royal grounds?"

"Of course they knew. Many a function was held at the Malfoy's."

David turned to Poppy with a thunderous look.

"I knew nothing about it. I didn't even know where we were until Harry explained it." She shrugged.

"This is outrageous! Captain! Contact the palace, tell them to lockdown the palace and get the royal family into hiding. I want the entire palace guard out of bed and on the grounds. They see anything suspicious they take it down with extreme prejudice. Also, get me MI5 and the Prime Minister's office."

The Colonel then gestured to some of the men that came with him. "Divest Mister Dumbledore of his wand and any portkeys and enchanted items. We are holding him on the charge of treason."

"Why?" Harry asked worriedly. He might not be too pleased with the man but this was quickly spiralling out of control.

Whilst the men were dealing with a highly cooperative Dumbledore, Poppy explained it to Harry.

"Any crime committed against the King is treason. It's one of the few crimes in non-magical Britain that can receive the death sentence. The Malfoys committed a crime by essentially stealing land from the King and then holding terrorist meetings on that land. It was downright insulting!" She scowled.

"But why are they arresting Dumbledore?"

"Because he as much as admitted that the Ministry of Magic not only knew of the Malfoy's crime but they also benefited from it. They willingly attended entertainment functions knowing that they were committing crimes."

"Lieutenant Pomphrey, I need you and Mister Potter here to lead my men into the building we can't see. We will establish a line of sight communication system and then we will need to take you in for debriefing." Colonel David informed them as he approached.

"You realise that you won't be able to see into the building until the wards come down?" Poppy asked. "Radios don't work inside the wards either."

"When did you serve, Lieutenant?"

"World War II, Colonel."

"Ah, we've had quite a few advancements since then. Whilst magic does play havoc with certain radio waves and electrical signals, we have made great strides with lasers, a form of light." He smiled proudly.

"Like signalling Morse code between ships?"

"In its most basic form yes, but we actually have the ability to transmit sound over light now."

"Amazing!" Poppy breathed.

"Quite. Now, if you could lead us in-"

"Master Harry can take down the wards." Dobby offered as he unloaded the last of the bodies.

"I can?" Harry asked.

Dobby nodded his head vigorously, his ears flapping hard enough for take-off. "Dobby knows where the ward stone be. Dobby can take Harry Potter and Harry Potter can destroy it with his goblin gryffie sword."

"Ok, we'll be back in a bit." Harry shrugged.

"Hold on there Mister Potter." Colonel David said sternly. "I don't care what you thought you could get away with doing before you presented yourself to me, but as of this moment you are under my guardianship. You are a minor and the Royal Army does not send minors off on dangerous missions. Especially without backup."

The Colonel called over the unit that had accompanied the Captain. "Men, this is Harry Potter, a civilian minor. With him is his adult supervisor, Lieutenant Pomphrey. You are to follow her orders to the letter. If you fail to follow her orders I will personally see you court marshalled… provided you make it out alive. What you are about to see and do is highly classified.

"Lieutenant, you are to take this unit and escort Mister Potter as he enters the invisible house and destroys the ward stone. You will report back immediately by which time I will have a trained unit here to secure the house."

"Understood Colonel." Poppy saluted. She then began transfiguring her nightgown and dressing gown into a military uniform. It was World War II era, but it still counted.

"Harry, get your shield out and take the lead. Follow Dobby's instructions but do not enter a room fully until I say so. You may step inside the doorway by two feet whilst the soldiers ensure it is clear."

"Yes, Madam Pomphrey." Harry sighed. He really wanted to get out of the armour and go to bed.

Poppy had each soldier use their left hand to grip the shoulder of the soldier in front of them, the lead soldier gripped her shoulder. Then they followed Harry into the Manor.

"Whoa!"

"Cut the chatter." Poppy snapped. "You are in enemy territory and the enemy has laid traps and mastered invisibility. Keep your eyes open for any visual distortions."

"Madam Pomphrey, I'm going to go invisible myself, that way you can see through me and anyone inside won't know I'm standing between you and them."

"Very well Mister Potter."

Very slowly they made their way through the rooms. Dobby kept insisting that there was no one else there but not even Harry wanted to risk it.

"Trust but verify, little buddy." One of the soldiers whispered to the elf. "It's not that we don't believe you, but we need to verify it for ourselves, just in case something managed to slip by you."

"But Dobby knows there is no one else here." He insisted.

"You ever eaten an apple?"

"No, but Dobby has seen wizards eat apples."

The soldier raised an eyebrow at the word 'wizards' but brushed it off considering what he was talking to. "Imagine you find a nice looking ripe apple sitting on a table. Everything you see and smell tells you that that apple is delicious and will be good for you.

"So you pick up the apple and start biting. You get half way through the apple when you realise you've just bitten through a worm. That's an instance of when you should verify the apple is good despite everyone and everything saying it is."

"Thanks for that disgusting image." Another soldier groaned. "Ever heard the expression 'Better safe than sorry'?"

Dobby nodded.

"This is what we are doing now. In the very unlikely chance that something slipped by then we are making sure that we aren't sorry we didn't make it safe."

"Dobby understands. Dobby promises to check Master Harry's apples for worms." He said solemnly.

"Gentlemen, thank you for explaining that for Dobby, but let's keep the chatter down." Poppy said with a wry smile.

They eventually made their way down to the dungeons with only one incident involving an itchy trigger finger and magical painting.

But the dungeon disgusted them all.

"My god." One of the soldiers muttered. "Is this all human?"

The floor, walls and even the ceiling was covered in blood splatter.

"Probably." Poppy snarled in anger. "Certain wizards are worse than Nazis, they believe that certain types of people should be killed simply because they aren't magical. They are absolutely despicable in their methods. Whoever was killed here was tortured horribly."

"Dobby, the ward stone." Harry croaked weakly. This was worse than the blood and guts he had spilt when he crashed through the roof. His actions had been accidental, the deaths would have been instantaneous, he knew that the Death Eaters would have spent days torturing whoever was held here. He began to feel a little less guilt over all the killing he had participated in today.

"This stone Master Harry, stab it with your Gryffie Sword." Dobby said as he pointed to a single stone in the wall that was fairly non-descript. Harry had no idea how Dobby could tell the difference but he wasn't going to argue.

Harry drew his sword and without pause plunged it towards the stone. He was surprised when the sword sank deeply into the centre of the stone and then flashed with a bright red light before crumbling to dust.

"The wards are broken Master Harry." Dobby smiled happily.

"Thanks Dobby. Why don't you go back to your kids for now. I'll call if I need you."

"Yes Sir, Master Harry, Sir!" Dobby saluted.

"Are all of his kind like that?" One of soldiers asked as the all chuckled at the spot where Dobby had vanished.

"No, but Dobby was abused for most of his life. As a result, he is a little more eccentric than most." Poppy explained. "Let's head up to the entrance and report to Colonel David."

"Did you want to see the dead bodies?" Harry asked.

"Oh yes, very well, lead on Mister Potter."

The trip back upstairs to the main room went without incident, despite one of the soldiers nearly taking a shot at another painting. When they reached the room two of the soldiers immediately turned and vomited.

"God kid! What did you do to them?" One of the puking soldiers asked as he wiped his mouth.

"I accidentally landed on them." Harry grimaced.

"'Landed on them'? You would have had to have been hundreds of feet up-"

"Marty." One of the other soldiers interrupted.

'Marty' followed the man's gaze to the ceiling and the large hole leading outside.

"You can fly?"

"Sort of… I can't control it properly yet so… I can really only fall from a great height."

"And you survived that fall… is that invincible armour or something?"

"It better be, I put enough runes on it and making it unbreakable was just one of them."

"There isn't anything we can do here." Poppy declared as she examined the bodies. "Jameson, Patrick, head outside to the Colonel, inform him the building is secure but there are crime scenes." She ordered Marty Jameson and the other man who had thrown up, Andrew Patrick.

Both men snapped a salute and jogged off.

"Harry, let's get that helmet off, I know it can't be too comfortable in there." Poppy said kindly.

"It's not too bad, just a little… cramped." Harry shrugged as he put his hands on his helmet and lifted.

And tugged.

And grunted with exertion.

"Harry?"

"I think it's stuck." Harry sighed.

"Gentlemen, if you would lend Mister Potter a hand."

"Kneel down Harry." One of the men instructed.

The average soldier in the unit was six foot, but Harry still towered over them.

Both soldiers tugged as hard as they could.

"Lieutenant, this helmet isn't budging. Any chance it is held on by your magic?"

Poppy raised a concerned eyebrow. "Harry, just what runes did you use and where did you apply them?"

"There were a lot of runes. I wrote them down in a book." Harry said worriedly. He really wanted to get out of the armour and pee.

"Can you have Dobby get the book?"

"Dobby?"

"Yes Master Harry?"

"Can you get the books I was using at Hogwarts to work on the armour? Also can you bring Draco here?"

"Dobby can get the books but Dobby can't be taking pupils out of Hogwarts. Castle is not letting people take children."

"Erm… what if you stick him in the vanishing cabinet and then collect him from the Shrieking Shack?"

Dobby nodded vigorously before he popped out.

"Why would you want Mister Malfoy here?" Poppy asked worriedly. "I assume you two are still engaged in that childish feud." She added with exasperation.

Harry was getting annoyed with this. "Let me get this straight, you have just willingly acknowledged that I not only tracked down, killed and/or captured numerous Death Eaters, but killed Voldemort himself… for about the fourth time running, but you still have the nerve to question me about Draco Malfoy?

"I assume you don't care about the fact that he has the Dark Mark on his arm, or that he willingly told me what he did to get it, or that I caught him minutes away from letting Death Eaters into the Castle to kill anyone not a Pure blood." He snarled.

"I-I-I… " Poppy sagged slightly shamed. "You're right Harry, I was completely disrespectful. We will hand him over to Colonel David and his men."

Dobby arrived with Draco and the books. Poppy ordered two of the men to restrain Draco whilst Harry found the notebook he had been working in.

"Here, this is the list of runes I used and where." He said as he held out the book to a specific page.

Poppy examined the page which she could only assume was a result of Miss Granger's work habits rubbing off on Harry as the information was meticulously outlined complete with diagrams of the armour and where the runes were to be placed.

"Harry, these are runes for flight and invisibility, I thought you used unbreakable rune schemes as well."

"Keep turning the pages." Harry instructed.

Poppy turned to the next page which outlined a bubble head charm that activated when the helmet visor was closed. It was fairly ingenious in that the runes where not complete until the helmet closed and it was powered by the user, this meant when Harry lifted the visor he could eat or drink quite happily.

"Harry-"

"Keep going." He said knowingly.

Poppy went through five pages of rune sets before she reached the unbreakable ones, she kept turning though for a further six pages as her eyes just widened in shock at what Harry had done.

"You must have been working on this for months!"

"Months? No, I did it all in about an hour or two ago." Harry frowned.

"Do you even take Ancient Runes?"

"No, I just saw that Draco was using the books to fix the cabinet so I thought I could improve the armour. It wasn't that hard."

"Harry, this is beyond the level that a Rune Master would work at."

"Oh… are you sure? It seemed really easy to me."

"I studied Ancient Runes for my NEWTS! This is genius level work, prodigy even." She said excitedly.

"Ok… in that case, why can't I get the armour off?" Harry asked slowly.

Poppy grimaced. "As I said, this is beyond Master level. We will need to consult with a Rune Master to answer that question."

"I don't suppose Professor Babbling is one?" The hope was evident, even if it was heavily tinged with doubt.

"She is not, but she is the closest we have." Poppy admitted. "For now, you are stuck in there until we can at least get back to Hogwarts."

"Lieutenant Pomphrey, report!" Colonel David ordered as he approached with a new squad of men.

"The building is secure, but I advise your men to not shoot the moving portraits. Also, the building is cleared of all living combatants but we don't have the abilities here to check for magical traps.

"This-" She indicated the bound and still unconscious Draco "- is Draco Malfoy, a sixteen year old student of my school. Harry Potter confirmed he was a marked Death Eater who confessed to at least one act of murder and torture. He managed to bind and capture him whilst he was attempting to let more Death Eaters into the school to massacre non-Pure bloods.

"Finally, Harry appears to be trapped in his armour for the foreseeable future until we can consult a Rune Master."

Colonel David nodded with a frown. "Excellent work, Lieutenant." He turned to Harry. "Mr. Potter, I have just spoken with His Majesty, he is aware of your actions here and the initial reason for your fame. For your act of heroism, that resulted in protecting both King and Country, he has declared himself your temporary guardian. This means that you are to be well taken care of until you reach the age of adulthood."

Harry looked at Poppy with a worried expression. "It's for the best, Harry. I don't think you should return to the school just yet, I will contact Professor McGonagall and ask her to send Professor Babbling out to see you."

"Lieutenant Pomphrey, this is Lieutenant Robert Flint. He's a low-magical." The Colonel gestured for an officer to step forward. "A 'squib' as you call them." He said with disgust at the term. "He will accompany you back to Hogwarts immediately so you can inform the heads of the school as to the location of Mister Potter, Mister Dumbledore and yourself."

Poppy did not look pleased at that idea. "Sir, the Lieutenant will be at great risk in a school full of Pure bloods."

"He will be armed and authorised to shoot any assailants." The Colonel assured her.

"Are you any relation to Marcus Flint?" Harry asked.

"My little brother." The Lieutenant said with a look of distaste. "I assume you had a few run-ins with him?"

"Mainly in Quidditch."

"Did you beat him?"

"Every time." Harry smiled proudly.

"Good man." The soldier replied with a happy grin.

"Here, it's a little heavy, but take this." Harry said as he handed his shield over. "It will deflect any spells back at the caster, which means if they fire a killing curse then they will kill themselves." He explained with an apologetic look.

"I am not fond of the idea of attacking children, but if they start throwing the old AK around then they get what they give." Lieutenant Flint sighed.

"Harry, would you mind if we borrowed Dobby again? I can side-along apparate one person, but not with that huge thing." Poppy asked.

"Dobby?" Harry asked, turning to his little friend.

"Dobby can take Looteety Flint." Dobby saluted.

This caused a bunch of chuckles from the soldiers.

"Whilst you're there, could you keep an eye on Lieutenant Flint and make sure he doesn't get attacked? Like you did for me with Lucius Malfoy?"

"Dobby can do, what will Master Harry do without Dobby?" He asked worriedly

"I'm sure I'll survive for a few hours." Harry assured him.

Dobby scowled, he didn't like the sound of that. He vanished on the spot.

"How unusual." Poppy exclaimed. "I've never seen an elf disobey an order before."

"I don't think he is. He just hasn't carried out the orders yet." Harry explained. "Ever since I've met Dobby he's always been a bit… creative with how he does what he's told."

Dobby popped back with another elf in short order. "This is Dobby's oldest son, Nobby will take care of Master Harry whilst Dobby takes care of Looteety Flint and Madam Pompey." He said with authority.

Dobby didn't wait for a response as he vanished with Pomphrey and Flint.

"Hi Nobby." Harry said carefully. "I hear you want to be my elf?"

Nobby nodded with a sad look. "Nobby wants to, but Nobby can't until bad masters give Nobby clothes."

"Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy are dead though." He told him.

"Not little bad master." Nobby pointed at the nearby trussed up Draco.

"Oh." Harry really didn't want to be stuck with Nobby whilst he was bound to Draco. "Wait here."

Harry walked over to the Colonel and cast a muffliato around them, it was unusual to do so without a wand but the gloves seemed to respond well enough.

"Sir, Nobby is a risk whilst he is bound to Draco."

Colonel David looked at the elf warily. "In what way, I need details."

"He will follow whatever orders Draco gives, regardless of how he feels about them. In order to free him we need to force Draco to give Nobby an item of clothing. I freed Dobby by tricking Lucius Malfoy into giving him one of my socks."

"A sock?"

"Yes sir."

"One of yours?"

"Yes sir."

"Whilst you were wearing it?"

"Oh, no. I had removed it and slapped it on a book, it was very dirty at the time. Lucius tore it off and threw it away where Dobby caught it."

"That… really doesn't make much more sense." The Colonel sighed. "Are you saying that if we threw our dirty socks at Draco and he throws them off, all Nobby has to do is catch one and he is free?"

"We could… we could also try scaring him into doing it." Harry jogged out through the large hole Voldemort had made in the wall and over to the mess that was Voldemort's dead torso and he gingerly picked it up and brought it back. "This is Draco's master. If we show him this and promise something similar for him, he might actually do it. He really is a coward."

"I'm not really comfortable doing that to a minor."

"He tortured and murdered a young girl who he didn't even know just to please this monster." Harry scowled as he brandished the torso. "He also told me he enjoyed it."

"He confessed this freely?" He asked dubiously.

"It helps that he has a huge ego and I am currently hopped up on luck potion. Which means there is a greater chance of this working if we do it now. By about seven or eight am the potion will have run out and my luck has never been good before."

The Colonel frowned. He was unaware of the nature of luck potion but at the same time it sounded fairly obvious. If the potion did as he suspected then he needed to consult with his superiors as the boy was currently a very potent asset.

"I can't authorise you to do anything." Colonel David said carefully. "I need to set my men to defend the area so I will leave Mister Malfoy in your hands whilst I consult with my superiors." Colonel David started to walk away before turning back to Harry. "Incidentally, what sort of clothing is required to free the elves?"

Harry was disappointed that he wouldn't be able to free Dobby's children but he couldn't hold it against the Colonel. He still needed his help so he answered honestly. "I've seen an elf freed with a handkerchief."

The Colonel nodded thoughtfully as he moved away.

"Wake that boy up lad. He needs to be awake to dismiss the elves from his service. Also, call in the other elves." Arnie instructed.

"But the Colonel said we couldn't do it." Harry argued.

"No, he said he couldn't authorise it. You need to learn to read between the lines. He has left you in charge of Malfoy with no supervision, he has also made sure he is otherwise occupied."

"Are you sure?" Harry asked doubtfully.

Arnie didn't get a chance to answer as one of the Colonel's men jogged up. "Colonel David said you could use these, also he said good luck with Malfoy." The soldier handed Harry a bunch of cloth like items and jogged back to his unit.

"See, he even had his men give you clothes to use." Arnie audibly smirked.

Harry decided to ignore Arnie, the smug bastard. "Nobby, can you bring the rest of the Malfoy elves here, Draco Malfoy needs to speak to you?"

"Yes sir, Harry Potter sir!" Nobby said before popping out.

Harry shifted the cloth items to one hand and picked up the torso of Voldemort and carried them over to Draco. He lowered his visor to muffle his voice and then cast an enervate at the bound and naked boy. It seemed Dobby had also stripped his former master.

"Who are you?!" Draco asked fearfully.

"I am the one who just killed your mother, your father and your master. We know you murdered a girl. You will suffer for your crime. How much you suffer depends on how much you cooperate."

"You lie! No one can defeat the Dark Lord!" Draco hissed.

Harry just lifted the bloody torso for Draco to see.

Draco paled severely before vomiting.

"Would you like to see the bodies of your parents?" Harry asked tauntingly.

Draco shook his head vigorously.

"Take these items of clothing and use them to free your house elves. Do this and I will tell the muggles to treat you fairly. Don't and I will deal with you myself."

"Muggles don't have-"

"I am a muggle, fool!" Harry said angrily. He really didn't want Draco to know who he was, it was fairly likely that if he knew it was Harry he would get belligerent, it felt like the thing to do so he assumed the luck potion was nudging him. "I did this to your master and I killed your parents, I should cut you down for the insult you have committed against our King! Now do as you are told or I will take my time dealing with you."

Draco quickly began tossing the various garments to the elves, each one popped away happily as they caught the item.

Harry quickly stunned Malfoy and re-bound him. He had no wish to deal with more snivelling, ranting or pleading. As far as Harry was concerned he was now the muggles problem and as long as they didn't hand him over to the Ministry of Magic or release him they could do what they wanted.

Having handed over Draco to the soldiers and bonded with Dobby's family, Harry and Nobby were now escorted into the palace.

Harry had never seen anything quite like it. The fanciest building he had ever seen was the Ministry of Magic, but that paled in comparison to the grandeur and beauty of Buckingham Palace. There were no flying paper aeroplanes or funny looking wizards, but the decorations and colour schemes screamed wealth and power in a way that wizards couldn't hope to achieve.

But it wasn't the wealth and power characteristics that impressed Harry; it was the sheer elegance. Everything wizards did seemed crude and old fashioned. There was detail, true. But there was very little beauty in it.

They eventually came to a room with an entire squad of army men standing guard outside. A man in a suit was also there.

"You are expected. Follow me."

Without a further word the man opened the double doors and Harry nearly stumbled. Even with his sheltered life, he knew the King when he saw him.

Harry watched as the man entered ahead of him and bowed, which Harry quickly copied.

"Your Majesty, I present Mister Harry James Potter." He then rose and stepped back outside.

"So you are the one who has revealed the treachery of the wizards?" Came the strong voice.

Harry was wishing he had his visor down so he could hide behind it.

"We owe you a great debt, Mister Potter." The King admitted as he stepped forward. The room was a simple sitting room with a conference table nearby.

"I didn't know they were here, erm… Your Majesty." Harry said nervously. "A friend showed me them when I was searching for Vo- erm… He-Who-Must-Not-B-"

"Please, Mister Potter. We hold no fear of the pretender. Feel free to use any name you wish to refer to him." The King assured him. "Your friend, we have not heard of them. How did they know about the house?"

"He was a slave at one point. I freed him. But I don't think he understood the crime that his old masters were committing against you, your Majesty." Harry added hastily.

"We would like to meet this friend. Like you, they are responsible for revealing this act of treason."

"He's at Hogwarts, protecting one of the soldiers that was sent there. The soldier was a squib and I was worried he might get attacked."

"We regret to inform you that he was attacked." The King said sadly. "But thanks to the loan of your shield, he is unharmed, the attackers however are dead."

Harry swallowed. This night was full of death and most of it by him. "Your Majesty, if you send anymore of your soldiers to Hogwarts or any ministry building, you should have them wear the armour from Hogwarts. Spells can't hurt them."

"Master Harry, Master Harry." Harry was startled as he forgot that Nobby had accompanied him.

"Oh, your Majesty, this is Nobby. He was another slave of the Malfoys, but I just helped free him. His dad was the one who showed me the house."

"We are pleased to meet you Mister Nobby." The King smiled.

"Great King is most kind to call Nobby a 'Mister'!" Nobby bowed low.

"You had something to say to Mister Potter?"

"Yes, yes!" Nobby nodded vigorously. "Master Harry's elves can bring all suits of armour to him for Great King's soldier men."

"That would be most helpful, Nobby. We intend to deal with the magical world tonight."

Nobby looked up at Harry expectantly. "Go ahead Nobby. Put the armour in the old Malfoy house for now."

Nobby grabbed his ears anxiously. "Nobby doesn't want to leave Master. Nobby must protect Master."

"I'll be fine Nobby. Nobody can hurt me in this armour. I can't hurt me in this armour." Harry sighed.

"Mister Nobby, We give you our word that We will see to Mister Potter's safety personally. Our personal guard will remain outside until you return." The King offered.

"Go on, Nobby." Harry encouraged.

Nobby pulled his ears one last time before he vanished.

"A most loyal friend you have there, Mister Potter."

"I freed his father from an abusive family and I just did the same for him and the rest of his family. They have chosen me as their master. I have no idea how I am going to look after them. I can't take them to my Aunt's home as they barely tolerate me."

"Yes, We have been informed of your living arrangements and have instructed Scotland Yard to investigate. For now, you are Our personal ward and We will take care of your living arrangements."

"Oh." Harry muttered. He hadn't had the best of experiences with 'guardians' but he hoped the King of England would do a good job. Speaking of guardians…

"Your Majesty, what is going to happen to Professor Dumbledore?"

"He is guilty of conspiracy to commit treason. He will be tried and sentenced. For now he is being interrogated by Our soldiers."

"He said something about there being a reason he didn't go after Voldemort. I was hoping he would tell me." He sighed.

"I am sure we will find out soon enough."

Of all the things Harry had thought he might do in his life, his current job was not on the list. The King had asked if he would lead a team of likewise armoured soldiers into the Ministry of Magic to take control. Harry had been reluctant, not that he had any love for the Ministry but more that he felt like he was being torn between two authorities. But the King explained that the Ministry was supposed to answer to him.

So here he was, leading a team of twenty soldiers in suits of armour. Ten around him as he led the way and ten behind watching their backs. In the middle were an additional fifty soldiers in regular gear but with shields from the King's armoury. Some were antiques but His Majesty had decreed that the lives of His men and women were more important.

The men in the middle were the only ones with guns as it was impossible to use a gun with the armoured gauntlets on. Harry's shield had been returned to him after Lieutenant Flint reported he had instituted a school wide search and captured the Death Eater students. Dobby and Madam Pomphrey were now staying as his guard.

The street where the phone box was had been closed off by the police there wasn't a soul in sight.

"This might be a problem." Harry said as he turned to the nearby by Officer, one Colonel O'Malley. He was one of the un-armoured soldiers.

"What is?"

"That is the entrance to the Ministry of Magic. It's an elevator and I don't think it will take more than one Knight at a time." Harry said using the codename 'Knight' that had been assigned to the armoured soldiers.

"Not to worry, we have the Ministry mapped out." He called for several soldiers to approach with trolleys. "We are going to make our own entrance."

The soldiers began laying shaped explosive charges that would cut deep into the ground and through to the Ministry atrium. The work took twenty minutes and Harry was getting antsy. He only had a few hours left on the luck potion and he wanted to use them to get this suit off.

"It's a nasty sense of irony that the Ministry of Magic is located under Regents Street." The Colonel grinned. "If the rumours I heard about the government being open to bribes are accurate. It's true, you can buy anything here."

A Private soon delivered the dismantled phone from the booth. "I thought Mister Potter might like a souvenir sir, if the techs have no need for it."

"Very considerate of you Private. I'll see if I can clear it." The Colonel smiled as he took the large device and handed it off to another Private to store safely.

"I can't help but wonder sir, what did they do before telephones." Captain David mused.

Both men looked to Harry.

Harry shrugged, an unusual sight in his armour. "Not a clue. We can always grab someone and ask them when we get in."

Twenty minutes later and there was a huge explosion.

Fortunately the debris was contained.

Harry was the first in the hole for reconnaissance. He was invisible and practically untouchable by witches and wizards.

There was one guard on duty at the wand weighing station who looked like he was about to pass out in a panic. Harry helped him complete his goal with a stunner.

He then pointed his hand up the large hole and fired green sparks. The signal that it was clear for them to come down.

The other soldiers in armour couldn't just jump down like Harry. They didn't have his rune enhancements on their armour. As a result a platform attached to a crane was used to lower them down as a group. They quickly set up a perimeter, defending the area with their shields out front.

In order to get the rest of the un-armoured men down the hole quickly they utilised rappelling equipment.

The entire breach and entry took less than five minutes.

Then the floos flared to life and the wizards started pouring out, in total there were just over fifty.

"I thought you said it was clear?" The Colonel hissed at the invisible Harry he knew was next to him.

"It was clear. Now it isn't." Harry hissed back.

"Watch my back." The Colonel muttered as he tapped one of the armoured soldiers and they allowed him to step through, Harry quickly followed and then took out his shield and stood in front of the Colonel.

"Wizards and Witches, by order of His Majesty, the King of England, you are ordered to surrender yourselves for trial and judgement for acts of treason against the Crown."

There was a second of silence before one older gentlemen spoke up.

"There's bloody muggles in the Ministry! Quick, kill 'em!"

The man threw a thin red spell at Colonel O'Malley and the crowd gasped as it bounced off an invisible shield straight back at the caster leaving a deep bleeding gash across his chest.

"As you can see, we don't have to cast a single spell or do anything more than stand here." The Colonel said, he was trying not to show his nerves as he hadn't realised Harry was in front of him when the spell was fired. He couldn't move though in case it hit someone unprotected behind him. For a moment he had honestly thought he was dead.

"Throw down your wands and sit calmly on the floor whilst my men take you into custody. You have seen how effective our defences are, you do not want to witness us use our weapons."

"Everyone fire stunners together!" A man in Auror robes ordered.

Of the fifty odd magicals only twenty fired.

Harry thought it was pretty helpful of the wizards to knock themselves out.

"Anyone else?" The Colonel asked exasperatedly.

"Avada Kedavra!"

The idiot who cast the killing curse slumped to the floor.

"By Merlin! He's dead!" A nearby witch confirmed.

There was a clatter of wands as the rest of the standing magicals threw them at the feet of the armoured soldiers.

"Unit three, Secure the prisoners." The Captain ordered.

The armoured soldiers moved aside to allow a team of ten men to get to the magicals and bind them.

The capture of the Ministry of Magic was nearly bloodless. There were of course the two idiots at the beginning, one who injured himself and one who killed himself, but shortly after that a team of Aurors led by Alastor Moody himself stormed the lobby.

Alastor had taken one look at the armoured soldiers and ordered blasting curses at the floor and ceiling. He had clearly researched or engaged armoured soldiers before.

What he hadn't considered was Harry jumping in front of Alastor's curse with his shield and sending it back at them all.

Alastors wooden leg was destroyed and his good leg might need to be replaced as well. The other Aurors were lying on the ground unconscious or moaning.

Based on the last two encounters, Colonel O'Malley ordered all the floos in the atrium destroyed. They began checking every room they came across and having Harry blast any floo to pieces. They didn't want anyone sneaking in without their permission.

They slowly cleared the building leaving the Department of Mysteries for now on Harry's advice. There was too much in there that was difficult to predict.

Harry looked at the clock and sighed. He was out of luck potion. He would need to find some more if he wanted an easy way out of this armour.

%

Harry was kneeling on the stone floor of the palace barracks, he was tossing a coin in the air and catching it repeatedly.

"Harry? What are you doing?"

He looked up to see Madam Pomphrey, Colonel O'Malley and the King.

Poppy looked concerned.

"It- my luck." He said, his voice thick with emotion. "It's run out."

"Harry, son, what do you mean?" The King asked as he knelt next to the large armoured figure.

"My luck potion, it ran out. I can't use it to get my armour off."

Poppy gasped. "Merlin! Harry, how much did you take?"

"I accidentally swallowed enough for twelve hours."

"How the devil can you 'accidentally' swallow Felix Felicis?" She demanded.

"Accidentally. We would presume." Came the dry response of the King. He gave Poppy a warning look. "Harry, why do you need the luck potion to get out of your armour?"

"I used Ancient Runes to modify it. But I don't study Ancient Runes. I only understood them because of the potion."

"Harry, that's not how the potion works." Poppy assured him gently. "The most the potion could do is guide you to the Ancient Runes because you are gifted with understanding them."

"Could Harry not simply take another dose of the potion?" Colonel O'Malley queried.

"No." Poppy said firmly. "A dose of twelve hours… it should have killed Harry. It could be years before he is able to safely take another dose."

"Perhaps another expert on these Runes then?" He suggested. "Give them a normal dose of the potion."

"The more of the potion you drink at once, the more potent the effect." Poppy said sadly. "They would have to drink the same potentially lethal amount Harry did. Depending on what Harry's intentions were whilst he was under the effects of the potion, then that person would need to take more than what Harry imbibed."

"My intentions?" Harry asked. He was kneeling there, his sword at his hip and his shield on his back, his visor up.

"Your purpose for doing things. For instance, you added runes that stop others removing the armour. Was it your intent to create runes to prevent others from removing it or were you simply wanting to make sure it wouldn't fall off?"

"Oh. I don't remember."

"It does not matter." The King said firmly. "We will scour the globe to try and find experts on these runes and those who might be able to breach them."