13 Chapter 13

He arrived in front of a strange-looking structure. It was oval in shape, but had a door and stairs clearly visible, since it was standing open. "Bill? Is that you?" Harry's voice called before he appeared in the door with a huge smile on his face. He seemed to be wearing some sort of muggle formalwear. "There you are! We've been waiting for you. Come on in." he invited with a wave, as he turned around and walked back. Bill shrugged and climbed into the strange structure.

"Bill Weasley, may I welcome you to The Saucer." Harry said as he spread his arms, indicating the larger inside and the seats that had a couple of people in them. "Take a seat and buckle up."

"Wait, what's happening?" Bill asked in confusion as the door started closing behind him.

"Take a seat, young man." came the strict voice of Professor McGonagall.

"Professor?" Bill asked. Then he noted the other people, as their seats swivelled to face him. The swivel seats were a new feature and could be locked in place, but they also had a better recline function, which would allow a person to stretch out completely. There were two men he didn't recognise and one more face he did. "Madam Pomfrey? What are you doing here?"

"I am so sorry I never realised, Bill." Madam Pomfrey said. "So when Harry told me he'd be attempting the impossible, I had to be here."

"Impossible?" Bill asked.

"Sit. Down. Bill." Harry said again, waiting for the man to take a seat, so he could help him buckle up.

Bill finally moved to one of the seats, and Harry buckled him in. "What's going on here?" Bill asked.

"We're going on a field trip." Harry said, as he finally took his own seat and buckled in.

Bill watched as the window in front of him showed the view rotating. "This is a flying machine?" he asked.

"It does more than only fly, Bill." Harry said, as he opened the 'garage' and entered, closing the door behind them and rotating so that Bill would get the full impact when it opened again.

"WHAT THE HELL!?" Bill exclaimed as the door opened and revealed a sea of stars in front of them.

"Welcome to the moon, Bill." Sirius said with a smirk. Of course he was there. Then he turned to Remus. "Doing okay?" he asked the werewolf.

"I don't seem affected." Remus confirmed with a bit of relief. "Good thing too."

"Wonderful." Harry said, landing the ship. "Let me just check that the wards are still good."

"Why am I being ignored?" Bill asked.

"We have priorities." Remus said, unbuckling, as Harry transfigured the Airlock around himself and the hatch. "First priority was to get you to a safe place, where the only magic on you is yours and that of the curse."

"I don't-" Bill started.

"Yes, we know you can't confirm it." Sirius interrupted. "And we'll 'not' try to help you." he finished sarcastically, watching the bank of monitors as the door opened and Harry stepped out with a smile, before turning back and the Airlock fixed itself.

"Good as if we're on Earth." Harry confirmed. "Good job, guys."

"Did you really doubt us?" Sirius asked.

"You, maybe, but Remus does good work." Harry joked. "Come on inside. Let's get this show on the road." he said as he turned around and walked back to the house.

"Come on Bill." McGonagall said. "We'll explain everything in the house." She was excited to be on the moon this time. It was with some disappointment that she realised she couldn't be the first Transfiguration Professor on the moon, but she could claim to be the first Professor, transfiguration or otherwise to step foot on it. Dumbledore didn't steal that from her.

Bill followed them as they all trekked out of the craft and onto the surface of the moon. He then realised he felt different. Lighter. He saw the others bouncing slightly as they walked and McGonagall seemed to be taking it very slowly. She didn't want to also be the first professor to trip and fall, after all. Bill then looked to the side and gaped. He was looking at Earth. It looked small. He stood there, gaping, until he was told to hurry up.

When they entered the house, normal gravity asserted itself and McGonagall sighed in relief. First professor to be in the first house on the moon, too. Harry was already in the kitchen preparing something to drink. Soon they were all seated around a coffee table with cups of tea and coffee in hand.

"Okay, can someone, please tell me what's going on?" Bill pleaded again.

"Short version?" Harry asked. When Bill nodded, he said, "A little over a month ago, I came to the moon in the first wizard-built spacecraft. I put up some wards and expanded a shrunken house. Shortly afterward, I was talking about alternate timelines with a friend of mine and comparing circumstances when a pattern emerged, along with some information I hadn't ever heard.

"That information had to do with family curses. Especially ones that may or may not affect a certain red-headed clan I know. At first I had feared love-potions, but now I'm thinking it was something equally sinister, though now I don't know who applied said curse. My main goal today is to see if my theory of how to remove said curse, works. I have a method and I intend to try it. Do you want to be part of this test?" Harry finished.

"So, this is untested magic?" Bill asked.

"Yes and no." Harry said. "No, we had test subjects and most of them survived. Yes, it's untested on humans, but we have the process down."

"What did you test it on?" Bill asked.

"Rats." Harry said. "And one pig and one monkey at the zoo. The pig and monkey are fine. The first couple of rats didn't make it."

"I still say we should have used some of the Purebloods we have in lockup." Sirius said then. "If they die, it will be considered a service, giving their lives some actual purpose, besides spreading evil."

"We're not executioners." Remus said. "We're just holding them until something permanent can be done about them that ensures the public's safety."

"Still." Sirius said, folding his arms.

"Madam Pomfrey? Have you seen these tests?" Bill asked.

"The last couple." Madam Pomfrey confirmed. "The science is lost on me, but I can confirm that the tests worked as planned."

"Professor McGonagall?" Bill asked.

"I don't like the plan, but I think if anything will work, this has the greatest chance." McGonagall admitted. "It's risky, but the chance to stop this and save your family is good if we succeed today."

Bill looked between the professor and the healer. Then he turned to Harry. "She said science. Since we're on the moon, I'm guessing the idea is yours." Bill said. "So hit me. What's the plan?"

"We're going to kill you and bring you back to life." Harry said seriously.

Bill wanted to laugh at the obvious joke, but Harry didn't show any sign of having joked. Neither did any of the other people. "How?" he finally asked.

"We're going to stop your heart." Harry said. "Then twenty seconds later, we'll start it again. It's the longest I want to risk, for the first try. The brain can survive for up to six minutes, so we'll have that time to use the other methods to bring you back. The reason we're telling you, is because you need to agree to the curse that will stop your heart, to override the other curse and hopefully dissipate it for good."

"You can't be certain a curse of that kind," Bill said, not being able to confirm he had such a curse, "wouldn't come back, though."

"As long as 'the cursed' doesn't make contact with 'their' family, before we can find out who cursed 'them' and either extinguish their line or get them to lift the curse from the rest of the family." Harry said. "We did our research too. Why do you think we're on the moon?" he asked.

"I honestly don't know, besides showing me that you aren't stupid." Bill admitted.

"It seems that magic doesn't easily travel through space." McGonagall said. "We're hoping that, should the curse be strong enough to return, even here, it'll buy time to discover the family that did it."

"That is, if you have such a curse, that you don't know about." Harry said. It was possible that Bill didn't know about one curse or another after all. If he was smart enough to pick up on the clue.

"You know, there may be some curse on the family I don't know about." Bill said catching on easily. "Maybe it would be best to test it on me, before we try it on one of you. I am old enough to allow it, and young enough to survive it more easily."

Harry smiled. "Well said, Bill. Well said." Then he got up and walked a short bit away. He transfigured the floor into a table, with a soft covering and beckoned him over. "Shall we get started?"

"Right this minute?" Bill asked, suddenly nervous. "Don't I get some time to write a will or something?"

"Your family gets everything, right?" Harry asked.

"Right." Bill sighed, before mustering his Gryffindor courage and getting up, with a determined look on his face. He was soon on the table and the others had joined them.

"Okay, Bill. I'm about to curse your heart to stop. Do you accept and agree to this?" Harry asked.

"I, William Arthur Weasley, being of sound mind and clear of compulsions, agree to accept the curse in its totality." Bill said formally.

"So mote it be." Harry said, as he reached into the man's chest with his magic and set the curse to stop his heart. "It is done." he said. "You have thirty seconds to live. Any last words?"

"If I don't come back, I'm seriously haunting you." Bill said. "I'll do it too. A Weasley never breaks his word."

"I believe you." Harry said, smiling down at the man. The rest were just as nervous as him. Harry counted down in his head, until he got to, "Five, four, three, two, one, now." And just like that the light left Bill's eyes.

"So, who wants to go get a drink?" Sirius asked trying to handle his nerves in the best way he knew of. Humour.

"I'm counting Sirius." Harry said. He'd not looked up from Bill's face.

"I'm just saying-" Sirius said again, five seconds later.

"Stupefy." McGonagall said, pointing her wand. Sirius didn't even attempt to block it. He'd rather be unconscious.

Harry continued counting and when he reached twenty, he sent the spell he had come up with to directly stimulate the heart, into his chest. The SA node sends an electrical impulse to the heart, forcing it to beat. It's what regulates heart rhythm and what Harry had found stops working when the heart stopped. Dumb animals didn't have the intelligence to not want to be cursed, so it had been simple to use them as test subjects.

The pig is a creature that largely resembles the human body, in make-up at least. The monkey was closer. But neither of them were human. So when Bill's heart started pumping normally again, he released a breath he hadn't known he had been holding.

"Enervate." Pomfrey said instantly.

Bill shot upright and looked around in confusion for a moment, before he asked, "Did it work?"

"You have to tell us." McGonagall asked quickly. "Who cursed your family?"

"Lucius Malfoy's father cursed the Prewitt line. We're doomed to never know if what we have is real love or simply physical desire." Bill said, for the first time in his life, since he found out. "Yes! It worked!"

"We don't know how long this will last." Harry, finally having caught his breath, said. "Do you have any further details?"

"My mother's father was the one to accept the curse, for the sake of his twin brother's widow. She was heartbroken and going to kill herself. He didn't want to lose the last connection he had to his brother." Bill said. ��We don't know for certain, but we suspect the Malfoys had set the whole thing up."

"That's excellent." Harry said. "Not the curse of course, but the reason. You Weasleys can be a noble lot."

"Thank you, Harry." Bill said, his face contorted with emotion, suddenly. "I needed to break the curse. I didn't want my baby sister to suffer never knowing real love."

"You are probably the world's best older brother for that." Harry said. "If we can't release your family from this curse through the Malfoys, I'll simply lift it manually from every single one of you."

"You'd have to do it with all of them at once, Harry." Madam Pomfrey said. "Are you sure you'd be able to do that?"

"Or half." Remus mused. "Half here. Half on Earth."

"Good point." Bill said, nodding. "But I'd prefer if you didn't need to kill my entire family, even on the off chance that one of them don't make it."

"I'll try another avenue of approach for that." Harry said, with a reassuring smile. "So, what do you want to do now? Do you still need to go in to work tomorrow, or do you want to come work for Marauders Inc.?"

"It'll be lucrative." Remus said with a smile.

Harry took out his own Comm. "I need someone to start making these. I imagine we'll be expanding business from this to something else, at some point, too."

Bill took out his own, and frowned at the blank glass. "Where did the message go?"

Harry looked at his own. "Huh, we must be outside of the range of the Index."

"Index?" Bill asked.

"Harry invented it. It's the cornerstone of his new invention. It will allow anyone who owns one of these to call anyone else that owns one." Remus said with a proud smile at Harry. "We already tested it and it works all the way around the world."

"The moon seems a little far though." Harry said. "I'll need to work on fixing that. Maybe we'll need a satellite at some point. Right between the Earth and the moon in some sort of synchronous orbit."

"Right, about that." Bill said. "Now that we have a moment, how about you start telling me about how exactly you did that?"

"Trade secret." Harry, Remus and McGonagall said together. McGonagall had decided to stop trying to resist it. She simply heard it too often.

"If you join our trade, though…" Harry trailed off.

"Harry?" Sirius asked as he came to, after Madam Pomfrey enervated him. "Why am I on the floor again?"

"Why is he on the floor?" Bill asked.

"He was distracting Harry. You know, the person who literally held your life in his metaphorical hands?" Remus said.

"Good job." Sirius said as everything came back to him. "But, next time, can someone catch me. I banged my head."

"Maybe it will knock some sense into you." McGonagall said unrepentantly. "You couldn't shut your trap for twenty seconds!"

"I was never one to like dramatic pauses." Sirius admitted as he made it onto his feet.

"You should see him watching a thriller. He sits there for ten seconds as the suspense builds, then he gets up to go do anything else." Harry chuckled. "Nerves of steel, he has."

"You laugh. James used to jump out at me from dark places and ended up cursed more often than not. My fight or flight instinct is hair trigger, and always fight." Sirius said. "Can't stand the suspense, because I want to pull my wand and fire at the bad-guys."

"At least it is a good instinct to have when you are protecting someone." McGonagall conceded.

"How long do I have to decide?" Bill asked.

"I can give you two weeks max." Harry said. "I go back to Hogwarts in a month and have a lot to teach someone that wants to make these. I'll also be taking care of that pesky curse in that time."

"You intend to lift the curse in the next two weeks?" Bill asked. "You do that and I'll give my letter of resignation the next day."

"I could probably handle it in a week or less." Harry said, thinking of a quick and easy way to end things. "I'll need to make a few arrangements, but it should be doable."

"You save my family, Harry, and I'll swear my allegiance to your line as a bloody vassal." Bill swore.

"Don't go that far." Harry said. "I'll take business partner and partner in crime."

"Maybe a year as defence Professor?" McGonagall asked, having just had the thought.

"He'll be far too busy for that." Sirius said. "Plus, I intend to teach a year. Dumbledore will be easy to convince and I was an Auror."

"Merlin help us." McGonagall said. "The day you teach at Hogwarts is the day I resign."

"Hey, I can be perfectly respectable!" Sirius said.

"Can you go one day without alcohol?" McGonagall countered.

"Sure, I tend to drink at night mostly, anyway." Sirius grinned. It was meant as a joke, but he could tell they thought he was serious. "Am I really that bad?" he finally asked.

"Yes." Harry, Remus, McGonagall and Pomfrey all said.

"There is this nifty sobriety charm the Egyptian Priests developed." Bill offered. "The only problem is it stops you from getting drunk for a year."

"I'll take it. How much do you want?" Harry asked. "It will be great to curse the old dog with sobriety."

"Hold on, now." Sirius said. "I don't need the position that badly. I make good money where I am."

"I wasn't planning on using it only if you end up teaching." Harry said with a sinister smile. "This is the perfect blackmail material."

"You've made him into a monster." Sirius accused Bill.

"If he'll be teaching me, I might as well teach him, as well." Bill said with a shrug, as he finally got up off the table. "I still can't believe I'm free. It's unbelievable."

"For now, at least." Harry said. "Depending on the strength, if you go back to Earth, you may be cursed again."

��But now I know it's being taken care of." Bill said. "I'll not need to worry about my family. Just, let me know if you need someone to kill a Malfoy. I'll take the hit if I need to."

"Don't worry about it. One of the Malfoys owe me a life-debt. I'll use that to set things up." Harry said easily. Draco was still alive, thanks to him.

"That might actually work." Bill said. "I mean, you couldn't force them to reveal their family magic, but you might be able to make a deal, to remove the curse. The only problem will be the blood feud. Lucius would rather die than give up the power he has over us."

"Then he'll die, and Draco will have to lift the curse." Sirius said.

"Don't worry." Harry said. "I have a far better way of compelling the man to do my bidding. His fight or flight instincts always drive him to self-preservation. Especially, when he learns who I have trapped here on the moon."

"You've-" Bill started.

"Trade Secret." Harry interrupted him. "Need to know, too. Sorry."

"Fair enough." Bill said.

They soon returned to Earth and Bill received a ride back to Egypt in Harry's saucer, covered in a disillusionment charm, of course. The experience had Bill starting his resignation letter in his head already. If he could learn to control the craft, it would already be pay enough, just for the view. What Charlie wouldn't give to experience that? He couldn't wait to tell him.

It took Harry a couple of days to arrange a meeting with the Malfoy Patriarch, but a friendly letter to the Minister about wanting to meet Lucius about a possible threat to his son's life, got word to him in hours.

They met in a boardroom at the ministry. Harry was sitting there with his feet propped up on the table as the man walked in.

"Hello Lucius." Harry greeted him with a calm face.

"Potter." Malfoy senior ground out. He had his suspicions about how his son had lost that diary, from the fact that his son had disappeared with Harry, before waking up and having forgotten the experience and having miraculously misplaced the diary, which would have brought his son back to the right frame of mind. "What is this threat?" he asked, not wasting time.

"You." Harry said, still relaxing on the leather-bound boardroom chair. "This chair is very comfortable. I simply have to steal it."

"What do you mean, me?" Lucius asked, with narrowed eyes.

"That diary-" Harry started.

"I knew that was you!" Lucius exclaimed. "You had no right!"

"Careful there, Lucius." Harry said, suddenly looking all business, even as he stayed in his relaxed position. "You're admitting to giving your son a dark artefact."

"I did no such thing." Lucius back-tracked instantly. "I'm referring to your messing with my son's mind."

"No, that was Hufflepuff." Harry said, calmly again. "They have a way to bring people around to their way of thinking. And I was referring to the diary that was trying to kill your son to resurrect the Dark Lord."

"What?!" Lucius asked, in shock. The diary had told him to find a young pureblood, so that it might educate them in the old ways and to pave the way for the Dark Lord's return.

"Yes." Harry said. "By taking the diary from him, I saved his life. Draco owes me a life debt. One I intend to call in, either now, or after you die."

"Are you threatening me!?" Lucius exclaimed, drawing his wand from his cane. It ripped from his hand and he saw it snapped in two, before he found himself suspended in the air, in a full body bind, slowly floating closer to Harry.

"If I wanted to threaten you, I'd simply do this." Harry said casually again. "After all, he who has the power makes the rules. Isn't that the Death Eater credo?" Lucius was unable to speak, as he slowly approached the boy. "No, if I wanted to kill you, I'd not threaten. I'd simply do this." He pointed off to the side and Lucius looked to see a see-through illusion of himself smirking at Harry. The next moment, his head spun around in a full circle, making a horrible cracking, tearing and grinding sound, as it detached from the body, which fell to the floor, while the face showed only shock in death.

"Simple really." Harry said. "As you can see, you are no match for me. I will get what I want, or I will kill you and your son and your wife, before I kill your extended family. Not to be cruel, but to save a new acquaintance of mine. A certain Weasley by the name of Bill. You should be careful with family curses. There are only two ways to break them. You either arrange their release, or you have to kill the entire family line." Harry made a nonchalant movement and said, "You may speak now."

"You can't demand family magic! It's against pureblood customs!" Lucius spat.

"Are you forgetting this?" Harry asked as the dripping head floated to in front of Lucius's face. "Also, I'm not a Pureblood. Who I am, is the person who holds your insignificant life in his hands. Along with the rest of your family's. I wonder, isn't what your father did illegal?"

"You can't prove he did anything!" Lucius spat again, even as he was sweating. This boy was not a boy at all. There was something else happening here.

"Oh, can't I?" Harry asked. "What if I told you, I had the power to temporarily lift your family curse from Bill Weasley? What do you think he'd tell me? A story about how your father offered a spell to a well-meaning maternal grandfather of his, perhaps? A spell that cursed his family to never know real love? Perhaps I should start offering similar services to other families? I wonder who would tell me what? After all, I doubt it's the only time your family has done this.

"Or I could force you to take Veritaserum and march you into the Head of the DMLE's office and ask you some very pointed questions. I suspect that would-" Harry was saying.

"You can't! It's against the law!�� Lucius exclaimed with wide eyes. The things he would say under Veritaserum would earn him The Kiss.

Harry slowly put his thumb and forefinger together, clamping Lucius's mouth shut painfully. "Don't speak, while your betters are speaking." he said. "Now, where was I? Oh yes, Veritaserum… I'm afraid I've forgotten my point, so I might as well address the question. It is illegal for an Auror to administer Veritaserum, yes. It is entirely different if you already have it in your system when they find you. Let's call that option two, though.

"Here's what's going to happen next, Lucius. I'm going to unbind you and you will break the curse on the Weasley family, or I will have no choice but to take option number two. And I'd hate to have to resort to that or the other option. Do you understand me? You may nod now, to tell me you agree." Harry said with a magnanimous smile.

Lucius was finally getting it. Whoever this truly was, was not playing. He had the power and the ability to do as he said and he'd ruin his family, before destroying it, too. He tried to speak, but his lips were still pressed together. He couldn't nod, because he couldn't undo the curse without his wand, so he started shaking instead.

"What's this? You're going to make me take option two?" Harry asked. Lucius shook his head vigorously. "Fine, you may speak again. Tell me, nicely, what the problem is." He lifted his fingers apart and Lucius could suddenly open his mouth. "A word of warning, though, before you do speak: Be careful you don't anger me. You don't want to end up like your old master, who I put in a place so cold and dark it would kill lesser men to experience for only a couple of seconds. He's looking forward to spending the rest of his immortal eternity there."

Lucius was dumbstruck for a moment. His master had achieved immortality, only to be cursed by it. Such an existence was painful to only imagine. He nearly lost bladder control, when he did imagine it, before answering. "M… my wand. I can't undo the curse without it." Lucius admitted, not making eye contact. He'd needed to play this role with a Dark Lord in the past, he knew how to not anger a powerful person unnecessarily. Especially this 'person', who could apparently hand out eternal punishments to immortal beings.

"Is that all?" Harry asked with a bemused smile. Harry was suddenly glad destroying the wand had been an illusion. "Let me make you a new one, then, shall I?" Harry asked and made an illusion of a stick appearing from thin air. A core boring itself into the wood, from the bottom up and then the wood started chipping off until it was a perfect 'replica' of Lucius's wand, when a pommel formed on it.

"Not as strong as the Elder Wand, but I suppose I can't make two of those, anyway." Harry mumbled as a flash of an illusion overlaid Harry's own, of a cloaked figure with a skull for a face and glowing orbs that looked like green fire, instead of eyes.

Lucius couldn't be sure he had seen it, it had been so fast, but every child had heard the stories of Beedle the Bard. His shaking doubled and he started sweating like he was hovering over the edge of oblivion looking down into the fires of Hell.

Lucius found himself lowered onto the ground and he stumbled for a moment. "Quick, quick, now Lucius. I have places to be."

Lucius swallowed and nodded before he took the floating wand and started incanting a spell, which was long and intricate. Before he was done, he cut open his palm and let a few drops fall on the boardroom table, where he drew a rune. "By my power as the son of Abraxas Malfoy, I release the curse placed by him on our enemies, Clan Prewitt, of my own free will. Let it be undone!" he finished, as he broke the uninterrupted line of the rune, by wiping through it with his bleeding hand.

There was a flash of light and the rune disappeared. "Well done, Lucius." Harry said. "You have my blessing to leave, but I shall ask one more boon of you, for the life-debt of your son, before you do so."

Lucius had already turned and had been about to make a hasty retreat, but froze. He had lifted the curse of his own free will! Had he stated that it was done in recompense for his son's life debt, this… thing, would not be able to demand more. He turned slowly back to Harry. "What boon may I gift you with… sir?" he tried for respectful.

"You may offer me a servant." Harry said. "Be it you, your son or your wife, I don't care. I need someone to take care of some deliveries for me, feed my Thestrals and Nightmares, and clean the stables. They must be magically capable, though. Since magic was the cost of the life-debt."

Lucius lost some colour. He had to choose from his family? But he needed a magical servant, right? "Sir, I have in my household, a trusted servant, who would serve you well, though I am loathe to offer him, for he is almost a member of the family. While my wife and son are both powerful in magic, this servant would better suit your needs and is experienced in such tasks."

Harry pretended to consider it. "It is capable?" he then asked.

"Very capable, sir." Lucius said, with a small hope burning in his heart. He loved his wife and son. He wasn't a good man, but he wasn't a bad father or husband, in his own mind. He'd not be able to choose between them, either.

"Very well, but I reserve the right to return it in trade. Should it fail to satisfy my requirements, you will not be afforded the opportunity to choose again." Harry threatened.

"Of course, sir!" Lucius said. "Dobby!" he called then.

"You calls, master?" Dobby said after appearing, with downcast eyes.

"You will be serving a new master from now on." Lucius said, nodding his head in Harry's direction. "You will serve him well, as you have served our family." He needed to sell it, so he added, "I thank you for your diligent and faithful service for all these years. You will be missed."

Dobby was shocked by the words, and looked up at Lucius, to see fear that had not been there since the days of the Dark Lord. "Of… of course, master." Dobby said, looking down again, not wanting to see his terrible new master. He knew it would be considered bad manners to make eye-contact, for those of the old blood.

"Thank you, Lucius. You may now take your leave." Harry said, dismissing the man like a scolded child.

"Of course, sir." Lucius said, as he beat a hasty retreat. The door closed behind him and Harry watched as the elf looked down and a tear rolled down his cheek.

"Why so sad Dobby?" Harry asked, cheerfully.

Dobby knew that voice. The tone before had been too unfamiliar, but now hope blossomed in his heart and he dared to look up for the first time. "The Great Harry Potter is Dobby's new master?" he asked in awe, with fresh tears rolling down his face as a small smile appeared there.

"If you want a master." Harry shrugged. "But call me Harry Black. I could also do with a new friend, rather than a servant, and I just happen to have a house-elf sized position open for you."

"Friend?" Dobby asked. "But, but…"

"If you'd rather be free, I would gladly offer you your freedom as well, but not as a punishment and only if you want it." Harry said.

"You would offer Dobby freedom, as a gift?" Dobby asked, moved beyond words. And then he started bawling his eyes out.

"Calm down, Dobby. You'll have all the time you want to cry, once we get home." Harry smiled. "Until then, do you want to help me steal all the chairs in this boardroom? They're very comfortable."

Dobby looked up like he had been handed a whole year of Christmases. Or a whole year of Christmas dinners to prepare, whichever house-elves preferred. Dobby then smiled a mischievous smile and snapped his fingers and all the chairs vanished, except for the one Harry was on.

"Awesome." Harry said as he got up. "We're going to get along famously." Dobby snapped his fingers again and the other chair vanished too. "Come on, I'll show you where home is." He quickly summoned the recording crystals, which he had mounted on all the walls and pocketed them. This will make movie night something to remember.

Harry appeared by Grimmauld Place and pulled Dobby in with him. As he recalled, house-elves could find their way in again, once they were there once. Kreacher appeared and scowled at the new house-elf. "Master Black has purchased another servant. Is my head to be mounted?"

"Kreacher, meet Dobby. He's going to be my personal assistant, until he decides to do something else. Your duties are still your own, but you can ask him to help you if you have too much to do. You're still the main house elf. Dobby, Kreacher is in charge in this house. If he asks you to help him, you may do so, but don't do anything without him asking for it.

"Kreacher, will you help Dobby get situated, please? He also has some nice new leather chairs, we stole from the ministry, for us and the wolves. Please see that he knows how to go there and get back." Harry asked.

Kreacher considered this. Help had never been offered. Maybe an extra elf, well trained, could be useful. "I'll see to it, Master." Kreacher said and vanished, followed by Dobby.

Harry smiled. It seemed that would work out better than last time. He pulled out his Comm. "Call Bill Weasley."

The Comm rang a few times, but soon died. Harry wasn't going to press for anything right that second, so he shrugged and went to get something to eat. He had just opened a cupboard to look for something when his Comm rang.

He answered it. "Harry here." he said.

"You are officially my new best friend, Harry." Bill said to him. "I felt the curse leave and I can talk about it. How did you do it?"

"Have you quit yet?" Harry asked.

"I was handing in my resignation when you called." Bill responded.

"Then get your ass over here. I'll show you how I handled it. I recoded the event for posterity." Harry said.

"If I bent that way, I'd kiss you." Bill said. "I have to pack some things and then I need to arrange a portkey and a place to stay, but I'll make time."

"We can always offer you a place at one of the wolf resorts." Harry offered. "And save your money, I'll come get you in the saucer."

"Thanks." Bill said. "Any chance we can make a stop in Romania? Charlie would flip for a trip in that contraption of yours."

"I've got nothing else planned." Harry said. "I was going to just get something to eat, then I'll come right over."

"That should give me just enough time." Bill said in thanks and ended the call.

Harry looked at the cupboard again, but heard a finger snap behind him and looked around. A whole buffet spread was sitting on the kitchen table, ready for him to eat from.

"Dobby?" Harry asked.

Dobby appeared. "I's being personal astant. I stole lunch from the bad master's table."

"That's the kind of thinking I can get behind." Harry nodded with a genuine smile. "Good job Dobby. Do me a favour and take some of this to the wolves when I'm done. I don't like food going to waste. Also, make sure Draco doesn't go hungry because of this. He's not the same boy he once was."

"Master Draco was being a good boy." Dobby nodded. "Dobby will make sure." he nodded and disappeared.

Harry quickly dished up and ate lunch. When he walked past the kitchen again, the food was gone again and he soon exited to the Texas house.

A short while later, he was hovering outside Bill's current accommodations. He called Bill and told him he was outside. Bill exited with a rucksack over his shoulder and Harry hovered down for him to jump in, only the opening becoming visible when it opened for him. He jumped aboard and Harry closed the door.

"Sit down and point the way." Harry instructed. "I only kind of know the direction."

"Sure thing, Mister Black, sir." Bill teased, sitting down in a seat and buckling up. "It's that way." he pointed North North-West.

Harry made the trip to the Romanian Dragon preserve in record time and they soon landed outside one of the bunks where the men slept, when they weren't working. Dragons kept irregular hours, so the handlers had to, as well.

"He should be sleeping, if his shift wasn't changed again." Bill said as he led the way. "They like to do that with the new recruits."

They made it to the bunk and Bill kicked the door open. "Charlie Weasley! Get your ass up recruit! We're changing your shift!"

"Again?" came a sleepy voice from off to the side. "I just got to bed an hour ago!"

"Charlie!" Bill laughed. "Get up and greet your loving older brother!"

"Bill? What are you doing here?" Charlie asked instantly up.

"Take it outside!" one of the recruits snapped at them, with affirmative grumbles all around. Nobody got up, though. This was apparently normal.

"Yeah, yeah, we're going, you lizard wranglers!" Bill laughed as Charlie smiled bemusedly and followed them out.

"Now, why are you here?" Charlie asked.

"Couldn't you tell?" Bill asked. "The curse has been lifted. We're free!"

"What?" Charlie asked. Then he realised there was someone else with them. "Who are you and how are we talking about…" Realisation finally dawned on the sleepy man. "We're free?" he asked unbelievingly. "We're free!" he yelled then and embraced his brother, lifting him up. "You did it, Bill! You did it!"

Bill just smiled and pointed at the boy next to him. "Thank Harry Black here for that. He broke the curse earlier today, actually. I'm hoping he'll take us to the Burrow to share the good news."

"Harry Black? The boy who's been doing weird stuff since first year and ordering teachers around like he's the headmaster?" Charlie asked, looking at the boy. "I thought you'd be taller." He said with a smile, before he grabbed the boy and lifted him up. "Thank you, young man. You've just become my personal hero."

"Not another fan, please." Harry scoffed as he easily broke the bear hug. And landed on his feet lightly, having lowered himself to the ground slowly. "And I'll have you know that I did everything I could to grow up good and proper. I'm hoping for a couple of growth spurts along the way."

"Did he just float?" Charlie asked.

"I think he did." Bill said. "What I want to know is how he broke your bear hug. I've not been able to do that since you were ten!"

Harry smirked. "Want to see something cool?" he asked.

"Sure." Charlie said, not thinking the boy could surprise him.

Harry smiled and lifted his arm, and shot up into the sky, like he'd been shot from a cannon. Then he made a turn and flew past the two so fast that Harry thought they might get whiplash from following him. When he came in for a vertical landing, the brothers were staring at him in open-mouthed astonishment.

"Cool, right?" Harry asked with a knowing smile. He remembered the stories of Charlie's glory days on the Quiddich team.

"Cool." Charlie confirmed, in awe. "Okay. I like you." he decided.

"Wait until you see how we got here." Bill said shaking his head, still wondering when the boy would stop surprising him. "How long do you have before your next shift?" he asked.

"Probably about four hours." Charlie said, lamenting his fate, but he so enjoyed the job.

"That can work, but you're not going to get much sleep." Bill warned.

"Curse is broken, right? I doubt I'd be able to sleep knowing that." Charlie said. He turned to Harry, "How'd you do it anyway?"

"I'll show you during the trip, if you can keep it to yourself. It wasn't clean, and definitely illegal." Harry warned.

"Did you kill the whole family?" Charlie asked. "Because that's what I wanted to do."

"Better." Harry said. "I played Lucius like a fiddle."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Charlie asked. "I want to see this."

Harry chuckled and led the way to the ship and opened the door as they neared. "Bill, show Charlie to a seat, please?"

"Yes, sir." Bill chuckled again. "Come on Charlie. I'll buckle you in and then you get to see something you'll never believe."

They soon lifted up and Harry started them slowly. When Bill swivelled around and sent him a questioning look, Harry winked and started accelerating, not negating all of the g-forces on purpose, to give the ex-seeker the thrill of the acceleration.

"Whoo!" Charlie cheered, lifting his arms as Harry kept them low to the ground and swerved between hills and mountains over and under power cables on towers and finally, he went up. And up. Until it started getting darker. Finally, Harry levelled them off and started accelerating, but without the g-forces, before inverting them, so they could look up, through the now-invisible ceiling, while keeping the gravity the right way around for them.

"How is this even possible?" Charlie asked in wonder as he tilted his chair to look up at the Earth, slowly moving by. "We shouldn't be able to be this high up."

"Yeah, I went to the moon last week with Harry. He's got a house up there." Bill said.

"That would be one of those trade secrets Bill." Harry warned.

"Sorry, Harry." Bill said. "But Charlie knows how to keep a secret. He won't tell people."

"On the moon?!" Charlie asked.

"Sure." Harry said. "Maybe I'll take you one day. And this is all thanks to a combination of science and magic. Muggles do the research, I use the results."

"But… the moon!" Charlie insisted. Never in his wildest dreams did he even think it would be possible.

"The muggles landed on the moon back in 1969." Harry pointed out. "Compared to them, we're late to the party."

"Seriously?" Charlie asked. "Wow. Us, wizarding folk are actually being left behind."

"Not exactly." Harry said. "They can't go for joyrides on spaceships. They can't build and visit houses on the moon. That's all thanks to magic. But the knowledge to achieve those things was all muggle. And the rate of the expansion of their knowledge is exponentially increasing. If we don't keep up, they will surpass us one day."

"So that's your plan?" Bill asked. "To keep up?"

"Of course not. I'm mixing muggle with magical and coming up with things greater than the sum of their parts. We're going to leave both the muggle and the wizarding worlds far behind with what we come up with." Harry said. "And then, we're going to share it with both."

The Weasleys looked at Harry in shock. "You're planning to break the Statute?" Bill asked.

"No." Harry said. "The muggles will find us sooner rather than later. We have to fix the wizarding world first, otherwise they will not like what they find. That's the current mission."

"Fixing the wizarding world?" Charlie asked. "What's wrong with it?"

"Seriously? Have your brothers and sister not been telling you what's been happening the last two years?" Harry asked.

"Rumours and hearsay." Bill said.

"****, obliviation, love potions and mind control." Harry said. "Seen it all myself. And that was happening in school. What do you suppose these people do once they leave school?"

"The muggles." Bill said in realisation.

"I stopped a seventh-year from trying his luck with two unconscious first-years, last year." Harry said. "I'm hoping that was an isolated incident, but I'm starting to think the magical world is really broken. Since then I've heard of human trafficking, smuggling, industrial espionage and even assassination. Since the people who do this are all magical, what do you think the muggles will think when they find out?"

"It will be the witch-trials all over again." Charlie said. "We can't let that happen! We have to do something!"

"We?" Bill asked. "Last I checked you had a passion you were pursuing. You're staying with your dragons. Let us handle this."

"But, Bill! Ginny is a first-year!" Charlie argued.

"Was, and I'm almost sure she's safe as long as Harry is around." Bill said sending a sad smile at Harry. "I'm reconsidering getting some sort of magical chastity belt for her, though."

"Yeah, and she won't resent you for that?" Harry scoffed.

"Better than the alternative." Bill said. "You can't be everywhere."

"I already put a stop to that." Harry said. "The Heads of House now have an earlier version of the Comm and can communicate with each other, while they can also keep track of all their students' movements in their houses. There have been one or two incidents, but they are becoming fewer and further apart as the security in the school improves. I even set up Filch with a state-of-the-art security system. Nothing happens in that school without one of the people in charge finding out."

"Well, that's that sorted at least." Charlie sighed in relief. "What about the other things?"

"Marauders Inc. is taking care of magical crime in the muggle world. Our detention centres are becoming a little overcrowded, but I suspect crime is starting to take a dip." Harry said. "The big problem is going to be what we do with these men. We can't keep them forever, but we can't release them under the current regime. The ICW don't care about muggles and they don't know about the dangers coming.

"I'm going to try and spread muggle-like technology so far that the people want to join them. When the people push for that, the ICW will have no choice." Harry finished.

"That's an admirable goal." Bill said. "But you're talking about changing tradition. Older wizards don't like change."

"Fuck them. I'm getting the children." Harry said. "I've already set up two cinemas in school. They are slowly learning about the muggle world and wondering about what they are missing out on. When we start making the entertainment options available to every witch and wizard, and the children demand to go watch movies at their friend's house, because the wizarding wireless, another copy from muggles, by the way, is simply not enough anymore, it will be too late. If they ban the technology, the children will leave the magical world, for greener pastures."

"Stealing the next generation?" Charlie asked, with a thoughtful look. "It's at least a better plan than letting them find us as we are."

"I have to think about this. I'm sure there's a better way." Bill said.

"Sure, if we had a hundred years, maybe." Harry said. "I'm thinking we have way less than that. We'll need drastic change for the better, but I won't become another Dark Lord. I won't force this down people's throats. If I did that, I'd be no better than Voldemort. We have to make change look like the best option. The only one that everyone wants. Combining things that convenience people, that make their lives easier is my current plan. Make them want to change themselves. The Muggleborn already outnumber Purebloods on massive scale and most of them leave the magical world after school. All I really need to do is make them stay."

"That's a tall order." Bill said.

"Not if I start a magical industrial revolution. All you have to worry about is helping me advance things." Harry said. "When people realise that they have become different, better people, they won't care anymore, because it will be a change for the better." He shook himself then. "Enough of this serious talk. I promised you a show. Just be warned, I had to play the role of a Dark Lord. The only physical damage I did was to his lips."

Harry placed one of the recordings in a projector and started the playback.

Twenty minutes later the two were breaking themselves with laughter.

"He looked like he wanted to crawl under a rock!" Bill got out.

"And he thought you were seriously asking him for his son or wife, just like that?!" Charlie laughed. "You really did play him masterfully!"

"Dad would have loved to see that!" Bill said as he started calming down.

"I really don't want your dad to see me like that." Harry said.

"Let him meet you first." Charlie suggested. "He'll be able to see it's an act."

"Probably better to keep mum and the younger ones from seeing this though." Bill said.

"The twins would worship you as a living god, though." Charlie added.

"Percy would probably debate turning you in." Bill said.

"Percy is alright." Harry countered. "He's just very goal oriented. A little support would likely go a long way to prevent him becoming another stuck-up pureblood."

"You'll show our dad this, though, right?" Bill asked. "He really needs to see it."

"I don't know." Harry said. "As I recall, your dad is a really nice man. I don't want him thinking I'm some sort of great evil on the rise."

"Just help him set it up so he can get one over on Lucius and you'll be fine." Charlie said. "He really hates the man. Having power over him will change his whole perspective, I promise you."

"Maybe he can imply that he summoned Death into the last living heir to the Peverell line." Harry suggested, after some thought. "Lucy would shit himself. Your father was exempt from the curse, right?"

"He was. His family were somehow made aware of it, though." Bill said, suddenly serious. "Peverell?" he asked.

"Yeah, my ancestor was the third brother." Harry admitted. "Got the cloak and everything."

"Merlin's saggy balls!" Charley swore. "The story was real?"

"Yes." Harry said, as he started turning the ship around. "Maybe it's best to rather keep that part to myself from now on."

"But, the wand and the stone?" Bill persisted.

"I got them." Harry said. "They are where I trapped Voldemort on the other side of the moon."

"Wait, what?! Doesn't that make you…?" Charlie trained off.

"No." Harry said emphatically. "I may, technically, own all three, but I never handled or held them all and I never used the stone or the wand. And Voldemort is a secret, for everyone's sake."

"You're one busy twelve-year old." Bill said after a couple of moments.

"Thirteen." Harry corrected. "My birthday was a short while before killing and resurrecting you."

"What?!" Charlie exclaimed.

"And you ended up giving me a gift." Bill said.

"Seriously, what?!" Charlie asked.

"Harry found a way to lift the curse temporarily so that he could find out who cast it." Bill said. "The details are mostly unknown to me and I suspect, trade secret?" he finished with a questioning look at Harry, who nodded. "Yes. Trade secret. Only Harry's family and those who work for him may know."

"You've got a way to lift family curses temporarily?" Charlie asked, still astounded. The space ship, Voldemort, Deathly Hallows, death and resurrection. Now this? Who the hell was this kid? Maybe he'd have more fun here, than with the Dragons?

"We're almost there." Harry said, not answering him, as he manoeuvred the ship around and down again.

"How do you know where the Burrow is?" Charlie asked.

Harry said nothing as he approached the house from over the field, next to it. He slowly made his landing and parked the ship, still invisible, in the backyard. "There you go boys." Harry said. "We've got two hours before lift-off, so that I can be sure Charlie is back in time."

Bill unbuckled and helped Charlie when he seemed stuck, before making his way to the door, where he stopped and looked back. Harry was still in his seat, smiling at them. "Why are you just sitting there? Come on. I'm sure mum will want to hug the stuffing out of you." Bill asked.

"You're not going to let us face the lot of them alone, are you?" Charlie asked.

"I wasn't going to interfere with family matters." Harry said.

"You think this won't make you an honorary Weasley?" Bill asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I can already see it now." Charlie agreed. "Mum will want to add another room to the house for you, for this."

Harry looked at them for a moment, before his buckles came undone on their own and he stood up. "Fine, but I'm blaming you if there's awkwardness."

"At some point, you will tell me how you did all those things you showed us you did to Malfoy, right?" Bill asked conversationally, as they approached the back door. It was around mid-afternoon now just a couple of hours after lunch. Their mum would likely already be planning dinner.

"I could." Harry agreed. "But that will have to stay between you and me. The process to learn it was claimed as family magic, when I basically created the process when I was four."

"I'm so sorry!" Bill said. "I didn't realise. I would never have asked if I knew."

"It's fine." Harry said. "I did show it to you, after all. Your curiosity was expected."

Bill sighed in relief. A duel to the death has been asked in the past for making such requests so openly. "I still shouldn't have." Bill muttered.

"But Harry should have warned you that family magic was at work, too." Charlie countered. "I was about to ask myself."

"Charlie is right." Harry said. "I know some of the traditions, but in the Black house, we treat rules and laws as polite suggestions, which we can choose to adhere to, when it suits us. Especially the older pureblood-oriented ones. It's fun to take advantage of them, to screw the purebloods."

"I can imagine." Charlie said, opening the door. "Mum! Guess who came to visit?!" he called out.

"Charlie!?" Molly was heard, before quickly approaching feet was heard on the wooden floors. Molly soon entered the kitchen. "Charlie!" she exclaimed as she grabbed him up in a hug, before realising her eldest son was there too. "And Bill!" she quickly exclaimed, hugging him too.

Harry was hearing quite a few other feet coming down the stairs, quickly. Molly's words must have reached them.

"Hey mum." Charlie greeted her first. "We decided to stop by for a quick visit, while we were in the area."

"Yes." Bill said. "We were just flying by with my new employer here, when he decided we should make a quick stop."

"New employer?" Molly asked, looking in the indicated direction. "Harry? What are you doing here, dear?" she asked as she approached him and hugged him too. "What's this about a new employer?" she asked turning back to Bill, after letting go of the boy.

"Harry is my new employer." Bill said with a smile.

"But what about the… um… you know." Molly asked, having long been used to talking around the curse.

"The family curse, cast by Abraxas Malfoy?" Bill asked.

Molly's eyes opened wide as she realised what he had just done. "It's lifted?" she asked. "You found a way?" There was both relief and fear in Molly's eyes.

"I'm sure dad will be okay." Bill assured her, giving her another hug. "And no, Harry was the one to, arrange, the curse being lifted."

"Harry?" Molly asked in shock, turning to the boy. "You did this?!"

"Should I be saying sorry, or you're welcome?" Harry asked.

"Thank you!" Molly said, grabbing the boy up and trying to smother him to death in her motherly way. "My personal issues aside, you saved all my children from my father's lapse in judgement!"

"You're… welcome." Harry got out. The woman was really strong! "Air." he wheezed. He could have broken the hold, but with how much effort she had put into it, Harry was worried he'd break her arms doing that.

"Mum! Let the boy breathe!" Charlie chuckled. "He doesn't have my constitution. He might well die from one of your hugs!"

"Oh, Charlie!" Molly said as she let go of Harry and turned to hug her second son again. "Does this mean you two will be coming home?"

"Sorry, mum." Charlie said. "The dragons still have my attention."

"I don't know where Harry will post me, but I'm almost certain he'll not stop me from visiting home." Bill said.

"Harry?" Molly asked again, finally getting some control of herself. "Come, take a seat. Tell me about this post you're talking about."

They all trooped to the living room, spotting the other children standing there in shock. Apparently they had heard the words 'family' and 'curse'. Ginny soon joined them, having been busy with something in her room, likely talking to Luna on the board Harry had gifted the two of them. "Bill?!" she exclaimed in surprise, as she ran to her brother, who scooped her up and twirled her.

"Hey Gin!" Bill said, hugging his youngest sibling. He had worried so much for her future. The curse could have possibly turned her into some sort of harlot and he couldn't stand the idea. The boys were different. They would likely enjoy the attention when the time came, but he couldn't let that life befall his little sister.

"Why are you here?" Ginny asked.

"You're about to find out." Bill said, putting her down and noticing Charlie was giving the other boys a group hug, apparently against their will.

"Did I hear you correctly?" Percy asked with some hope. "Is the family curse lifted?" He had long been corresponding with Penelope Clearwater in hopes that he could bypass the curse, by assuring her affection through the correspondence. He was withholding from any acts that may seem inappropriate and might lead to situations that might sully her good name, but if what he had heard Bill say was true, he may be able to finally kiss the girl. The fact that the curse had been mentioned on more than one occasion in front of an outside party also confirmed it for him.

"You heard right, Perce!" Charlie said. "Harry here… arranged… a meeting and using a life-debt Draco Malfoy owed him, he… arranged… our release."

"Why are you saying it like that?" Percy asked. "Was there some sort of underhanded dealing?"

"Harry scared the shit out of the man!" Bill enthused and thumped the boy on the back, almost sending him to the floor.

"Bill!" Molly exclaimed. "Language! And I don't care if he had to cut off both of the man's legs. Our family will not betray our saviour." She turned to Harry then. "You didn't threaten to cut off his legs, did you?" a sudden worry in her words. She had contemplated worse, not that she would admit that to the children. She knew how ruthless one would have to be to get to Lucius Malfoy.

"The worst he got was a sore lip." Bill said. "But that's not something we'll be discussing. I think dad will need the specifics, but the rest of you will have to trust that Harry did whatever he did to help us."

"I can accept that." Percy said with a nod. "Thank you Mister Black, for securing our futures." he said formally and bowed to Harry.

"Can someone tell me about this family curse?" Ron asked, with his arms crossed and a sour look on his face. Harry had denied him the friendship he graciously offered, when they started school. He wasn't going to be friendly to him now, no matter what he did.

"We'll let mum tell you the specifics when you're older." Charlie said. "It has to do with adult things."

The twins had been told, once it was deemed necessary for them to know. It hadn't really affected them, yet, but it had been on their minds more often recently. They were contemplating the revelation as well. They didn't care what the older brothers said. They wanted to know what Harry had done, but they knew they couldn't press the issue. They��d wait until they were back at school to ask.

"What about this post?" Molly asked, changing the subject back.

"Harry offered me a spot, helping him make cool things that he can start selling." Bill said. "Right now it's considered trade secret, though, so I'm not allowed to talk about it."

"Is it like the thing you gave me?" Ginny asked.

"It has those functions too." Harry said. "Don't worry, I intend to have everyone in the study group have one soon, but I want Bill here to help me as I make them, so that he can start on production and working out how to employ people to make more, without giving away my secrets."

"So I won't be sitting at a table all day producing?" Bill asked, slightly relieved.

"I'll still be adding the protections to the magics involved. That can't be changed, but once you have a firm grasp on the concepts, you can start looking into alternatives, to protect my, no, our processes and increase production." Harry said. ��We'll have to consider different models and other features as well, since different people have different needs. I'm thinking you'll end up co-head of Research and Development."

"How many people do you have already?" Bill asked.

"In my division?" Harry asked. "Only you. Remus and Sirius both have their own jobs. I make the fun stuff."

"Correction, Mister Black." Bill said. "We make the fun stuff."

"Have you shown him your lightsaber?" Ginny asked, with a giggle.

"That's actually a good idea." Harry said. "To the backyard!" he exclaimed as he started off to the backyard, pulling out his lightsaber and ensuring that it was in the safe position. When the others had all trekked out, the twins pulled their own lightsabers out and joined him, taking up positions on his flank.

"Master, we have come to serve." Fred said as he activated his staff.

"We have much chaos to sow." George agreed. Then he followed suit.

"Not today, my young Padawans." Harry denied. "I'll be making a different demonstration." He lifted his hands and the twins were lifted into the air, at Harry's direction. He made it a little dramatic, as he pushed them to go wait with the rest of the family.

"You have to teach us that!" Fred demanded.

"Can you imagine the impact, if your apprentices seem to actually wield The Force?" George added as he helped Fred up.

"The empire will reign supreme!" Fred agreed.

"Maybe next semester." Harry said. "If you're good."

"We've been nothing but good!" Fred objected.

"Nobody has complained about pranks and when there are pranks everyone enjoys them." George agreed emphatically.

"We've earned it." they said together.

"Fine." Harry said. "First thing next semester." The twins cheered at that. "As long as you have your mother's permission." The twins sagged and looked at their mother who was smiling at them. They'd be doing chores for the rest of the summer, they just knew it.

Harry smirked at their expressions. Then he made a dummy appear. "Setting number one." he said as he activated his lightsaber with the red blade. The twins looked up in surprise, not having heard of the different settings, yet. Then he proceeded to beat at the dummy. His lightsaber could make physical contact after all. After a bit he took a step back. "Setting number two." he said, flicking the safety feature to the red setting and the purple blade appeared.

"Purple?" Fred asked.

"We've never seen that before." George agreed. It wasn't a colour that appeared in the franchise.

"That's because…" Harry said, as he slashed through the dummy, the top coming cleanly off. "… it's different." The twin's mouths were hanging open. "You can understand why the normal student body can't have these, right?" he asked as he slashed lazily through what remained of the dummy, cutting cleanly through it twice more.

"Wicked." The twins whispered together in awe.

Harry flicked the blade off and placed it in the safe setting. "Professor Babbling is in charge of making these for me. The safe ones that the twins use, at least. As I understand it, she's currently working on making a ranged laser weapon of some sort."

"Can I?" Charlie asked, looking at the shiny metal hilt with what could pass for unholy desire.

Harry smirked and walked over, holding it up so he could see. "This is where you switch it on and off. This here switches back and forth, like so, and changes between the red and purple blades. Don't touch the purple blade. There is no resistance, it simply cuts."

"Got it." Charlie said.

"Be careful." Molly fretted. She knew she couldn't stop her son. He loved anything dangerous. She didn't like finding out the boy had the weapon to begin with, but at least it seemed he took it seriously. She'd still have preferred he never made anything like it, but she'd seen the twins play-fighting and enjoying it quite a bit, so she couldn't blame him for taking it further. She had asked the twins about it and they had proven that it was safe.

"I'll be fine mum." Charlie said, as he walked to the magically repaired dummy. He switched the staff mode on and instantly switched over to the blade. Then he made a couple of shallow cuts, trying to see if there was any resistance. There was a strange feeling to it as he stopped in the middle and went back, like the blade was stuck for a second, before it moved easily. Then he smirked and slashed through the dummy three times, very quickly and watched as the pieces fell to the ground. Then he realised there was another dummy, as Harry conjured more for him.

The next five minutes were spent in wild slashes and charges and the backyard was soon littered in broken dummies. Charlie was sweating, but only a little bit. "I must have one." he said, turning to Harry. "I must have one!" he repeated, insistently.

"You���ll have to wait." Harry said. "Professor Babbling is on holiday and doing her own research and I'll be teaching Bill here until the start of term. I'm also working on another project, I recently thought of."

"What are you working on?" Bill asked.

"Have you ever heard of paintball?" Harry asked. As he lifted a hand and the summoned the hilt to him, Charlie looking after it with longing. "It's a reasonably new sport the muggles have come up with. It is played with weapons that shoot paint balls that mark their opponents when shot. I was thinking we could work out something similar, but more magical."

"What would be the point?" Bill asked.

"Moving from place to place without being hit, capturing and holding a fortified position, free for all, or whatever works for the players, really." Harry said.

"And this is fun?" Bill asked.

"I hear it is an experience." Harry said. "I was thinking of going for a hosted session before I go back to Hogwarts. I'm thinking it will likely help teach kids about combat awareness and maybe some stealth skills. It'll be a magical sport after all. Normal magic will be allowed, as long as it's not for attacks. There will be special play-weapons for that."

Bill looked thoughtful for a moment as they all started trekking into the house.

"Will you three be staying for dinner?" Molly asked.

"I'm sorry, mum, but I have to be back at work in two hours or so." Charlie said.

"Have you arranged a portkey?" Molly asked, as she sped up, thinking she should put together a bit of food for her boys, before they leave.

"No. Harry will be flying me home in his magic flying saucer." Charlie said.

"He flies on a saucer?" Molly asked in confusion.

"It's called 'The Saucer' and it is much larger than you're thinking." Harry said. "It's a device I created for another project I did at the end of first year." He looked at Charlie. "The project is a secret, of course, so your sons couldn't tell you if they wanted to."

Charlie nodded in understanding. "Sorry mum, but I like being on Harry's good side. I'd rather keep him happy with me until he makes me my own lightsword."

"Lightsaber." Harry, the twins and Ginny corrected.

"Right. Lightsaber." Charlie corrected.

"Do you know if Mister Weasley will be here before we leave to take Charlie back?" Harry asked.

"I don't know." Molly said apologetically, looking between her eldest boys, at keeping a second-year student's secrets. Her own worry soon returned, as her hands worked to put something together to send along. What if Arthur never loved her? His family had somehow found out about the curse, so he knew, but she always worried.

"I'll see if I can get hold of him at his office." Bill offered. He knew Harry would want him to be there to share the news. "Maybe he can take an early day off."

Arthur Weasley soon joined the group, having done exactly that. When the news was shared, he walked up to his wife and kissed and hugged her, knowing of her insecurities. Then he hugged the boy, who he had only heard about, until that day. The general mood, was very happy, but it soon needed to come to an end, when Charlie noted that they had to leave. Molly Weasley stuck a parcel in his hand and told him to eat it on the trip, so that the 'other boys' didn't steal his dinner. She was, of course, referring to the other new recruits at the sanctuary. She had heard they were a rough bunch.

"Dad, do you want to come along for the flight?" Bill asked.

"We want to come!" the twins instantly chimed in.

"Me too!" Ginny and Ron also said in unison. Percy was in his room penning a new letter, to plan an outing with his girl.

"Well, there are enough seats, I suppose." Harry said. He really did want to share the recording with the Weasley Patriarch, though.

"I don't think so kiddos." Bill said firmly. "Harry is just being nice. He actually wants to talk to dad for a bit, and this would be the best time." The younger kids all looked mutinous at that. "I promise to pester Harry until I either know how to fly the saucer, or he takes you for a flight, okay?" he promised.

"We'll hold you to that." Fred said. George just nodded along.

Bill mimed crossing his heart and started walking out the door, "Come on, dad. You're going to love this."

The whole family trooped out, greeting Charlie as they went and asking him to write. When the family saw the door appear out of nowhere, Harry said. "This isn't my disillusionment charm."

"Invisibility works better on stationary things." Bill said. "It fails when they move though. You'll notice the door is back to the disillusionment?"

"Oh, yeah. I see that." Harry said noticing it, when he knew what to look for. "Turns out you may be able to teach me something after all."

"Was that ever in question?" Bill asked. "You may be some sort of prodigy, but I still have more life experience than you." He didn't, considering Harry's mental age was around twenty six and Bill was twenty two, but he couldn't know that, could he?

"Age is just a number." Harry said, not answering the question as he led the way into the craft.

"My word!" Arthur exclaimed, as he saw inside for the first time. "Is this some sort of modified muggle flying contraption?"

"Only in their wildest fantasies." Harry said as he closed the door behind them. "I adapted the design from popular muggle fiction and conspiracy theories."

"Come sit down, dad." Bill called. "I'll strap you in, before we lift off." He turned to Charlie, "Can you-?" he started.

"I only needed to see it once, Bill." Charlie said. ���I might not know too many muggle things, but I'm not an idiot."

"Just looking out for my younger brother." Bill said with a smile, as he walked to his own seat to buckle up, as Harry took the Captain's seat.

"Everyone ready?" Harry asked, as he started lifting them up.

"Good and ready, Mister Black, sir." Bill said with a smirk, clicking in the last strap.

"You're going to do that all the time, aren't you?" Harry asked.

"He's a comedian." Charlie said, even as he kept his eyes focussed on the window.

"Okay, then. Here we go!" Harry exclaimed as he made the ship shoot off in the correct direction. Charlie whooped for joy again at feeling the strong g-forces.

"The first time we used the ship, I hardly felt it move." Bill said.

"That was a different kind of trip. Don't try and trick me into revealing my secrets, Bill. I'm better at this game than you." Harry warned.

"You mean the moon trip?" Charlie asked, without looking back.

"That's it for your fun." Harry said as he countered the g-forces entirely, even as they still accelerated.

"Oh, come on!" Charlie complained. "You're taking all the fun out of this!"

"Moon trip?" Mister Weasley asked.

Harry just looked at Charlie with McGonagall's patented strict face #5. "Okay fine! I'm sorry." Charlie said. "Just don't look at me like that, it's eerily like Professor McGonagall."

"Where do you think he learned it?" Bill asked. "His 'Aunty Min' was with us on the trip I'm not allowed to mention." he said with a victorious grin. He'd high-five Charlie for spilling the beans, but their chairs were too far apart.

"If this is about keeping secrets, I promise I won't tell anyone." Arthur said.

"Bill said the same thing about Charlie." Harry said.

"It's in the family, still." Bill defended his brother.

"Oh, so its fine if it's kept in the family, is it?" Harry asked with an evil smile. "I'll have to tell Aunty Min you feel that way. I bet she'll have all sorts of stories to tell me, now that you gave the okay."

"How dare you betray Harry's confidence like that, Charlie!? I gave him my word!" Bill exclaimed suddenly, seeming truly angry.

"While I'm sure that there is much I can learn by letting this conversation play out, I'm going to have to step in here, it seems." Arthur said, enjoying the swivel on the seat as he turned to Harry. "I promise you, Harry, that any secrets my sons learned from you will not be retold. I give you my word as their father." He then looked at his sons. "Is that clear?" he asked authoritatively. As the Patriarch of the clan, they couldn't break promises he made for them, without bringing shame on the family. He couldn't be unreasonable, and he would never abuse it, but he thought this was an appropriate time.

"Yes dad." Bill and Charlie responded dutifully.

"Good." Arthur said. "Now, what is this about the moon?"

"Thanks." Harry said. "It's not that I don't trust you, you understand. It's just that some of my secrets are too dangerous to get out. Like this one." Harry said, starting the playback again.

"This is how Harry got us off the curse." Bill explained quickly, as he pointed at the recoding.

Twenty minutes later, Arthur was grinning from ear-to-ear. "Oh, that was satisfying." he said. "Can we see that again?"

"Let's wait for the return flight." Harry countered. "We still have some things to discuss."

"Like how you're the most powerful wizard I've ever heard of?" Arthur asked. "How did you make that wand?"

"Oh, that was just an illusion." Harry said. "I have been practicing illusions for a long time. You could say it's a speciality of mine."

"But he broke the curse with it?" Bill asked, not understanding.

"No, I meant breaking the wand was an illusion." Harry explained. "It's a crime to break a wizard's wand, you know."

"So all of that was just trickery?" Arthur asked.

"Pretty much." Harry admitted. "Illusions and levitation charms, with a body bind and a special kind of wandless magic I came up with, to press his lips together. With a bit of practice, anyone could pull that show off. Did you really think I was going to kill his whole family, too?"

"Not really, no." Arthur admitted, before a smile crossed his face again. "He did though."

"That's because he understands threats." Harry said. "It's what he would do. I was just speaking in a language he could understand."

Arthur nodded and accepted that. "So, what did you want to talk about?" he asked.

"Well, I intend to start making muggle inspired magical items." Harry said. "Bill here, is going to head up that branch of our business. I need someone who knows the laws about misuse of muggle artefacts to make sure we don't do something we're not allowed and help us prepare so that nobody can start claiming that that's what we are doing. That person would need to spend a lot of time talking to Bill, to iron things out. We may even need to employ such a person permanently at some point, at Bill's discretion, of course."

"Are you going to offer the whole family positions at some point?" Bill asked in shock. He wouldn't argue, though. His father was good at his job and knew the laws backwards. He had to admit, it was a good idea.

"Not until we start making artificial dragon mounts." Harry joked.

"You're going to what?!" Charlie asked, incredulously.

"I was joking, Charlie." Harry said. "What would be the point of dragon mounts, when I can make brooms that can fly faster than the speed of sound? Not to mention that little trick I showed you before we left."

"About that." Charlie said, remembering his unassisted flight. "How did you do that? Something like that would be very useful to dragon handlers, who could use an extra hand rather than steering a broom."

"It's still in development. I only have three of those made at this time and Remus and Sirius own the others." Harry said.

"Three what?" Charlie persisted.

"Exactly." Harry said, before turning to Arthur. "So, what do you say? Want to help us out?" he asked.

"Would this position be part-time, while I only assist?" Arthur countered. "I already don't spend enough time at home."

"We'll set you up with a Comm in the beginning." Harry said. "It'll make it easier and you would never even need to leave the office or home."

"That's not a bad idea, Harry." Bill nodded. Then he took his Comm out, to show his dad. "This is one of Harry's new items. I'll be helping him make more and design new ones, so we can start selling them commercially."

Arthur looked at the metallic plate with the glass face and asked, "What is it?"

"It works like a portable Floo, except it has more features." Bill said excitedly. He looked at Harry. "How do I send a message to you?" he asked. Harry hadn't had the time to show him that yet.

"Say 'Message Harry Black'." Harry instructed. Bill did, and the screen showed the original message Harry had sent for him to read. "Now say 'Dictate Message' followed by what you want written. End the dictation by tapping the Comm with a finger."

"Dictate Message." Bill said. "Thank you for the opportunity. I look forward to working with you." Bill tapped the Comm with a finger and a ping sounded from inside Harry's pocket.

Harry took out his Comm and showed them the blank Comm, before tapping it with a finger twice, and it switched to the new message. It was identical on both their Comms. Harry then turned the comm to himself and tapped the glass once, before dragging his finger over the glass to write a message, which the unseen scribe took as input to write a message in its own neat scrawl. Harry tapped his Comm twice and Bill's Comm pinged.

"You can send messages that way too, if you are not in private." Harry explained.

Bill looked at his screen and read the message out loud. "'You are more than welcome, Bill.' it says." he read. "Video call Harry Black." he then said.

Harry heard the ringing and tapped the screen, making the forward display point directly up. He turned the nob on the side and held the Comm flat, so the feed displayed above the screen at an angle. "Hello, Bill. Are you enjoying the demonstration?" he asked.

The other comm had also started its projected display and there was a bit of high-pitched feedback as the sound echoed between the two devices. "Is that normal?" Mister Weasley asked, hearing the strange new sound.

"You are too close." Harry explained. "The sound is coming through Bill's Comm and going into my Comm, making a loop, which sounds like that. It's called feedback."

Bill was listening, but also playing with the nob on the side. He'd seen it, of course, but since he didn't know its function, he didn't play with it. "That's useful." Bill said. "You can place it down and still have a conversation."

Harry ended the call and said, "Call Bill Weasley."

Bill's Comm rang and he answered it. But he held it away from himself. "Hello." he said, loudly.

"Look at me Bill." Harry said.

Bill looked around and saw Harry's Comm against his head. He copied him and said, more softly, "That makes more sense. No wonder you were struggling to hear me."

"You're not used to using logic yet." Harry said. "Muggles rely on it more often. As a result, they tend to work out ways to do things much more easily."

"It even sounds better like this." Bill said. "You sound like yourself again."

Harry ended the call again and looked at Arthur. "See?"

"I can see that this would be useful." Arthur agreed. "How does it work?" he asked.

"Trade secret." Harry and Bill said. Bill smirked.

"That's why I need time to train Bill. There are many magics on the Comm and he needs to understand them all." Harry said.

"Family magics?" Arthur asked. Harry nodded. "What do you get in trade for these secrets?" he asked then. He knew that such things would not come cheap. He really hoped his son hadn't swindled the poor boy, or that he'd been swindled himself.

"Money, what else?" Harry asked. "These will become popular very quickly. Bill makes a small percentage for his effort and draws a salary, with an option to buy shares in the company later to gain more of the percentage."

"Shares?" Bill asked interestedly.

"It's a muggle concept." Harry said. "You can buy shares, which is like investing money into the company, to become a larger shareholder, which will earn you a bigger cut of the profits over time."

"Like a partner?" Bill asked, thinking he understood.

"A minor partner, yes." Harry agreed. "You could eventually invest enough to buy enough shares to become an equal partner, but I'd need to consult a person more versed in accounting and economics to work out the shares and their values. It's a complicated system and I'm not focussing on that in my muggle studies."

"You take muggle studies?" Charlie asked. "I'd think you could teach it with your knowledge."

"You don't understand." Harry said. "I'm also studying for muggle schools, through the post. I intend to get a higher education after Hogwarts. Most likely something in the sciences or engineering."

"But, you have magic." Arthur said, with a frown.

"So?" Harry asked. "Magic only explains part of the world. Science explains much more. Muggles are smarter than you might think. This ship and the principles that make it work, are largely based off muggle science. My Comm devices use almost as many, for such a small device."

Harry noticed that they were nearing their destination. "Bill, hand me your Comm, please?" Bill held it up from his seat and Harry summoned it and focussed on it for a second, changing its designation in the Index, to one he had made for Charlie. Then he floated it over to Charlie. "There you go Charlie. That one is now yours."

"Hey!" Bill objected.

"You'll be making your own soon enough." Harry said. "Then you will be making one for your father. He can then call Charlie on occasion and never need to worry about him needing to be near a Floo. Would you deny your mother the ability to speak to Charlie?"

Bill saw the reason, but still grumbled, "I liked that one. Now I can't say I own a prototype anymore."

"You'll be able to say you made your own, though. Isn't that more brag-worthy?" Harry asked.

Bill had to concede the point. That would be better. "Okay, I see your point." he said. "Enjoy having that inferior model, Charlie. I'll soon have a bigger, better one."

"Actually, we're going for small." Harry corrected. "Smaller means less conspicuous. Less space used in a pocket. You wouldn't want to carry a heavy bag, just to be able to make a call, would you?"

"Fine." Bill said. "I'll soon have a smaller more compact version, with more functions."

"That's the spirit." Harry encouraged as he started angling them downward. "And exactly what I need you for. More features, more sales. More sales, more money. More money, better equipment. Better equipment, better products. Better products, more sales."

"And the cycle starts again." Bill said. Now he knew what Harry meant by industrial revolution.

Arthur, who had been contemplating these revelations finally spoke. "You're going to change the wizarding world with what you make, aren't you?"

"That's the idea, dad." Charlie said. "Harry and Bill will inform you of what Harry's found out in the muggle world on the flight back. For now, I need to get to my post. I have a dinner to eat and many things to think about, that I can't talk about to anyone." he said, before turning to Harry. "I'll probably be calling you, when I find a moment."

"Feel free." Harry said as he lowered them down above the spot that they had parked before. "I'm currently the only other one with one of these specific Comm devices, but Bill will likely call you from his, once he's completed his first one."

"And then you'll be teaching him how to make flying devices and lightsabers?" he asked hopefully.

"Not likely." Harry denied. "Bill will be focussing on communications and security to begin with. I'll consider teaching him more, once we have an established method to have others work on and produce more products. In the meanwhile I might consider making you a flight item and lightsaber, but you have to get some training in fencing first. Your mother would kill me if I gave you something that you can kill yourself with."

Charlie didn't seem concerned in the slightest. "Deal." he said easily as he undid his buckle when they came to a standstill. He walked up to Harry and held out a hand, to shake, which Harry did. "I'll be a sword master by the time you give me one of those." he boasted. Then he greeted his father and eldest brother, picked up his parcel, and walked to the opening hatch. "Speak to you soon!" he called behind him as he exited the craft.

Harry closed the door and started them back to the Burrow. Arthur had many questions still, and asked them on the flight back. Harry had to explain the lightsaber and flight items, the mention of the moon and what his sons had meant about what Harry had learned about the muggles. Suffice it to say, when they arrived at the Burrow, it was to say farewell to a troubled Arthur, but he soon regained his spirits at the warm greeting from his loving wife, when he remembered the curse being lifted.

Interesting times were coming, but with Harry's help, he doubted they would fail to be prepared for it.