getting to the now Black formerly Malfoy manor, Harry, Fleur, and Dobby looked around for someone that was currently there.
"Harry?" They heard Narcissa's voice call back.
Narcissa came out of one of the rooms, looking already quite obviously pregnant with her third child, while still clutching baby Cassiopeia in her arms.
"Where's Sirius and Amelia?" Harry demanded, not having the time to be polite.
"They're both over at the school, handling the expulsion problems for Su, Tonks, and Ariana while I stayed behind to watch after Cassie." Narcissa answered.
"What!" Fleur exclaimed in alarm.
"I figured that you already knew," Narcissa replied, "they got caught by Dumbledore and a bunch of teachers breaking into his room."
Both Harry and Fleur shook their heads, apparently Dumbledore had laid more than one trap that night and this one would be likely tougher to get out of.
"So if you aren't here for that, then why are you out of school right now?" Narcissa asked.
"We don't have a lot of time to explain." Harry admitted, "We need to get back to the school and let them know just what happened to us."
"They should be back in a few minutes anyway, I'm guessing." Narcissa told them, "They already managed to get the expulsions deferred by the school board and the Ministry until they have a hearing, but they'll likely have to miss the last few days of the school year."
"After what happened, I think that might actually be wise..." Harry responded.
Right now they still didn't have enough evidence against Dumbledore and he was already proving to be a very dangerous foe.
Dumbledore, he was sure, could likely manage to explain away both his and Fleur's testimonies about him kidnapping her, since they were still only teenagers, and apparently disgruntled ones at that, that were in the middle of having their friends - or lover's, rather - be expelled by him.
They were forced to wait a few minutes while Harry tried to press Fleur if she needed anything, to which she replied that she was fine, even though he knew better. It may not have set in yet, but eventually she was going to let it all sink in and he wanted to make he was there for her when it happened.
During that time, Narcissa went to go put Cassie down for a nap.
Finally Amelia and Sirius arrived back, not just with Su, Tonks, and Ariana, but Gabrielle, Pansy, and Susan as well.
"We've been looking everywhere for you, we thought something terrible must have happened!" Gabrielle confessed to both of them, giving them both huge hugs, "I'm so glad you're both all right, is this where you've been this whole time?"
"Not exactly..." Harry answered as he accepted hugs from Susan and then Pansy, "Tell me about this expulsion thing first."
Tonks briefly explained about getting caught in a trap laid by Dumbledore and then the threat of expulsion.
"Fortunately we managed to get a hearing scheduled before that could actually happen. I got them on leave for the rest of the school year and then I just decided to take all of you out as well." Amelia confessed, "We were also very concerned about you two missing, but it at least appears that you are all right. So what happened to you?"
"I was kidnapped." Fleur blurted out.
Immediately the temperature in the room seemed to drop 30 degrees as everyone let that sink in.
"How?" Gabrielle demanded breathlessly. Ever since the kidnapping several years ago, both her and Fleur's worst fear had been being kidnapped again.
"Are you all right? Why haven't you been medically treated?" Pansy asked of her, now sounding very much like the healer she had always been for them.
"I'm fine," Fleur insisted, "fortunately Harry came to rescue me."
"The Triwizard Vup was actually a Portkey." Harry told them all, "As far as we can tell, Dumbledore..."
"Wait a minute, are you saying Dumbledore kidnapped you?" Amelia demanded angrily, now gripping her wand so tightly that if it hadn't been laid with protection charms Harry was sure that it would have instantly been turned into powder.
"Let me finish the story, since we may need to act fast." Harry told her as he related the rest of the tale to all of them. When he had finished, they all discussed what to do.
"So let's see if we've all got this straight..." Pansy surmised, "Dumbledore kidnapped Fleur for a reason we don't know, he tried to steal all of Harry's memories so he could make Harry a clone, using a method we also don't know, we probably don't have enough proof to prove that Dumbledore even kidnapped Fleur, or if Dumbledore has created more clones is also a mystery."
"We've got a lot of unanswered questions." Amelia agreed.
It was Ariana who spoke up next.
"I think we might be able to answer the last one, at least partially." Ariana admitted, "I think I might be a clone."
There were several cries of protest, but Ariana merely replied, "Come on, you all know that it's at least likely. The gaps in information I should already know, magic that I shouldn't know and can't remember why I would want to learn them in the first place. Then looking just like Dumbledore's sister. It all makes sense. Especially after learning just how Harry managed to get Dumbledore out of his head. If Dumbledore had had sex before and gotten my great grandmother pregnant then why was sex so hard for him to defend against?"
"I suppose you may be right." Narcissa admitted fairly, herself the least biased towards Ariana, "We could still have you tested to find out."
"How would we find out?" Susan asked.
"Well if we had something with the original Ariana's DNA on it, I could do a spell to see if their DNA matches. The only trouble is getting our hands on something like that." Pansy suggested.
"That shouldn't be too hard to get in this case." Susan pointed out, "I know that Aberforth kept a hairbrush of Ariana's so we could probably use that if there is still some of her hair on it."
"That should work it." Pansy confirmed.
"I can go with you and get it." Amelia offered.
"I'll get it," Sirius recommended, putting a hand on her shoulder, "all of this stress and worry can't be good for the babies. You should go lie down honey."
"I'll be fine!" Amelia argued, but Narcissa gently pulled her aside, herself having enough pregnancy experience to tell just how dangerously stressed out Amelia already was.
She managed to get Amelia to grudgingly go with her to lie down for a bit.
Sirius confided quietly to Harry, "Amelia has had a hard time taking it easy during her pregnancy. She's also just been so hands on and rushing around and doing everything and now it bothers her that she can't do that as much. I'm grateful she's having triplets because I don't think she's going to want to get pregnant again after feeling so useless."
"She's already so huge." Harry pointed out.
"I know," Sirius laughed, "in more ways than one if you know what I mean."
Sirius gave him a wink as he held up his hands as if to show him something.
"You can spare me the details." Harry recommended.
Amelia had always been a mother figure to him and he really didn't want Sirius bragging about her sexual characteristics if he could help it.
"Well it's not every day that a man gets to brag about his wives and you're old enough to hear it." Sirius reminded him, "So what about you? Sex for the first time huh? I want to hear the whole story again when I get back."
Having briefly admitted that he had indeed had sex with Gabrielle for the first time as part of his retelling of escaping from Dumbledore, it was now open information to all of them and he simply would have to deal with the potential fallout from that later.
Sirius grinned proudly at him, but honestly he really didn't care just what Sirius thought, more concerned about the other girls' reactions even though even that was still in the back of his mind, overshadowed by the concern for the situation at hand.
"We'll see." Harry said noncommittally.
Sirius nodded at him and then went to go grab Susan.
Harry on the other hand was now more worried about Fleur, who he spotted just now leaving and heading down the hallway.
He rushed over to catch up to her.
"Are you all right?" He asked, gently putting a hand on her shoulder.
"I'm fine." She rebuffed him again, pushing gently against his chest.
"I would say that you most certainly are not fine." He told her, now trying to get her to look at him directly.
To his surprise, she finally broke down and gave him a hug, allowing herself to finally cry.
"It was just so awful, being kidnapped again. It wasn't even for very long and for most of it I was unconscious. It didn't really even kick in until just now." Fleur confessed.
"It's all right, you're going to be all right." He consoled as he hugged her back.
"How is it going to be alright?" She demanded angrily, "Three of us are in danger of expulsion, Dumbledore still has free reign to do whatever he wants, and he might even be cloning people including Ariana. How is that all right?"
"Since I'm Harry Potter. Saving the day and being a hero is kind of my thing." He reminded her.
It sounded stupid and cheesy and something that he would almost never say, but nevertheless it caused her to laugh.
"I love you Harry, even if you can't always do everything." She confessed, hugging him tighter.
"I love you too." He replied.
"So how was the sex with my sister?" Fleur then queried bluntly.
"Are you sure that you really want to talk about that right now?" He asked, partially because he wasn't sure if he wanted to talk about it.
"Better than thinking about being kidnapped." She pointed out.
He sighed and said, "Honestly, it was great, better than great actually, possibly the most enjoyable thing I've ever done."
She nodded, seeming to accept this and then said, "I just want you to know I'm not upset that you chose her to be your first. I'm actually rather happy for both of you."
"Good." He answered, feeling relieved.
"Just as long as I'm next." Fleur told him, seeming to only be half-joking.
"We'll see." He teased back.
DUELDUELDUEL
At that exact moment Ariana was still a bundle of nerves, wanting to be proven wrong and yet also still trying to figure out what she would do if she was right. What exactly would that mean for her? Would she really even be able to call herself human? She'd always be different, practically a created monster at the hands of an even worse monster.
An image of Frankenstein popped into her head. It was a book that she remembered reading and she couldn't help but wonder if she would end up like the monster. Alone and always searching for love and companionship that she would never find.
Then there was how she would be treated. Harry and the girls would probably look at and treat her differently now, no matter how they might try to avoid it.
Also what if the magical world found out? They would likely want to lock her up and study her or demand that she be destroyed. While she couldn't see Harry or the girls doing that, there was always a chance that her secret would be revealed and then what? Would she not actually deserve such a fate?
At that moment Sirius and Susan came back, with Susan clutching the hairbrush.
Immediately a huge weight settled into her stomach as she tried to deal with what she would soon learn.
She barely even noticed that Harry, Fleur, and then Narcissa and Amelia had come back into the room.
Pansy pulled a hair off of it and scanned it with her wand.
"Okay, if I could get one from you now Ariana?" Pansy asked.
Ariana nervously grabbed a single piece of hair on top of her head and yanked it out before handing it to Pansy.
Pansy held it up and also scanned it with her wand.
At the moment that Pansy's face turned grim she already knew, but what she said next completely confirmed it.
"It's an exact match." Pansy admitted.
Ariana suddenly felt like her entire life was ending at that moment. Everything that she had thought she knew about herself, her entire life was a lie and had probably been somehow inserted into her brain by Dumbledore.
So that was it then. She was a monster, a freak, a thing...
Immediately tears sprang to her eyes.
She couldn't be here, she had to run, do something to somehow make this okay...
Running from the room and then through the house she finally managed to find one that led outside and hurried out of it.
There appeared to be nothing but grass in all directions she realized as she looked all around, but it didn't matter.
Perhaps she should leave, she thought as she still ran aimlessly. That would probably be for the best, she figured. It's not like she really had a future here. Even if she wasn't expelled or simply went to another school she still had no place to go over the summer, other than to go wherever Dumbledore wanted her and that was something that she would never do.
She supposed that if she asked the Blacks they would let her stay with them, but she couldn't let them burden themselves over her. They already had enough to deal with.
Harry and the girls would probably miss her but she wasn't like them. Harry would never love her, not like he loved the other girls. She was only a clone and probably didn't even deserve to live.
Maybe somehow there would be a place for her, but it certainly wasn't here.
While she didn't have a broom, she didn't really need one anyway to fly away.
Using the spell that would allow her to achieve non-broom flight was done very shakily, first because of feeling so upset but also because of her realization that the spell had probably come from Dumbledore inserting it into her brain.
Even her own magic wasn't really even hers, she realized.
Yet she only managed to go up a few feet when her leg was grabbed.
"What are you doing?" Harry demanded as he still held onto her leg while standing just below her.
"I'm running away Harry, you don't need me here, so just let go!" She yelled at him.
He only held on tighter as she moved upward, causing him to be dragged up along with her.
Harry was being such an idiot, even if his courage and effort to save others was one thing she found so endearing about him.
"Let go Harry!" She screamed again.
"No!" He refused, still hanging on tightly.
She continued to move upward as they both went higher and higher until the huge Malfoy Manor looked like the size of a small hut.
"Ariana, I can't hang on to you for much longer." Harry told her.
"I'll come back down but only if you promise to let me go afterwards," She insisted.
"I won't so you'll just have to either come back down and let me talk to you or let me fall." Harry told her.
"I'm not worth risking your life over!" Ariana told him.
"Why not?" He asked as he struggled to still hold on, "You would do the same for me."
"You aren't a clone though." Ariana pointed out.
"Would you care any less if I was?" He reminded her.
She paused to think about that before saying, "I still wouldn't be worth it Harry. You already have many girls who love you. I would only spend the rest of my life wanting you when you'll never love me back. I'm nothing to you and nothing to anyone."
"That's not true-"
At that moment Harry finally lost his grip as he began to fall.
"HARRY!" Ariana screamed as she raced downward to intercept his falling body.
She managed to do so and grabbed his body as she then allowed them both to continue to descend until they both touched the ground while she rested his body on the grass.
"I knew you'd save me." Harry told her while still lying there keeping a firm grip on her now so she didn't try to fly away again.
"I'm so sorry Harry." She told him as tears still fell down her cheeks, "I can't believe I almost got you hurt."
She gazed upon him, now totally focused on his well-being.
Gazing into his face more intensely than she ever had, his gorgeous face with his beautiful emerald green eyes that she had always loved to gaze into, she simply couldn't resist any longer, all of her emotions too overwhelming.
She leaned in and kissed him the way she had always wanted to kiss him. It felt heavenly, better even than she had imagined it.
He seemed surprised but did not immediately resist.
Nevertheless she broke away and apologized. "I'm so sorry, I can't kiss you, I'm a monster and you already have so many beautiful girls and-and..."
Yet at that moment, he leaned forward and kissed her himself and while still tempted to break away, she didn't, slowly savoring the kiss as they deepened it before finally breaking away to take in air.
"What about the other girls?" She asked.
"They'll understand," He told her, "I'm not sure what's going to happen, but you need me right now and if this is what it will take to get you to stay until you're thinking clearly again, then so be it."
So perhaps they really wouldn't be getting together, but she could sense that he would still do it if it meant saving her.
Harry had always put others before himself, even if he did it without really thinking as he was now.
"You're so good to me," Ariana admitted, "even if I don't deserve it..."
"Why don't you deserve it? Because you're a clone?" Harry asked her.
"I'm a freak." She told him bitterly.
"I grew up in a home where I was always told I was a freak and never be worth anything." Harry informed her, "it took awhile for me to realize that they were completely wrong and just how much I was really worth, yet it took a lot of effort on the girls' part to help me realize that. I want to be able to do the same for you."
"If anyone found out my secret, it would endanger all of you." She pointed out.
"Fleur and Gabrielle would be shunned and treated like dirt if anyone ever found out they were slaves. They've run that risk everyday for years, but they know that if that ever happened I'd either put a stop to it or go to a place where they didn't have to deal with that anymore. I would do the same for you." He insisted.
"I'm not one of your girls though." She reminded him.
"You're still my friend." He answered.
"I don't want to be 'just friends' anymore, Harry." Ariana argued, "You and the girls are the only friends that I have and I'm sure that you would protect me, but it would only cause me to like or even love you more and that would only make it hurt worse."
She wasn't really sure if she really loved Harry or not, but ever since meeting him, her feelings for him had only grown stronger, which had been near torture watching him always in the arms of another girl. In every case a girl prettier than her that he already loved, yet she could not be mad at because she genuinely considered each of them friends. She just wasn't sure if she could handle it if those feelings continued to get stronger, only to increase her suffering for what she would never have.
"Perhaps we've all been wrong then." Harry responded, looking at her still with his piercing green eyes, "In the months you've been with us, you've already become part of our group and we enjoy having you be a part of it. Why not have you take the next step and become that much closer as one of my lovers?"
"No matter how much I might want it, I could never do something that the other girls wouldn't want, and I know neither would you if you were thinking clearly, so no." Ariana insisted.
He tried a different tact.
"If you aren't going to stay for that reason, then stay because we need you." He told her, "The thing is, Dumbledore scares me. I barely managed to get away from him earlier and I doubt I'd even have a chance next time. We'll all have to leave Hogwarts and we still don't have a way of stopping him. If we don't come up with something soon, then we're all sunk."
"How could I help?" She asked.
That at least was a possible reason to stay, yet she would be staying only long enough to see that through and only if she really would be necessary, she decided.
"Dumbledore may have cloned you, but he also gave you plenty of other things too, things we could use to defeat him." Harry suggested.
"He'll likely have thought of everything," Ariana reminded him, "I'm just a monster full of all this information he pumped me full of."
"No, you're just a bit different, and different can be good too." He said.
A thought suddenly struck her.
She was different, wasn't she?
"I think I know how to catch him in the act." Ariana concluded, now getting up as she allowed the smallest of smiles to appear on her face.
She ran back into the house to find everyone else still assembled in the same room.
"Pansy, are you sure that the DNA samples you took were exactly. I mean exactly the same?" She demanded.
Pansy looked concerned seeming to understand her question another way as she said reluctantly, "Look, I'm so sorry Ariana, if you're still hoping that you're not a clone..."
"It's not about that," Ariana argued, "I need to see if they are exactly the same, maybe not even through DNA, just magic. Perhaps there is a slight difference between a clone and an original or something that was left behind, a residue or something."
Pansy suddenly looked very interested as she went and handed her the hairs.
Ariana scanned both of them, checking to see if there was any difference in the DNA whatsoever but it came up negative.
Undeterred, she went through the small traces of magic that still permeated a person's body long after they were dead.
She still came up with nothing.
Deciding that perhaps it was simply too small to detect, she scanned herself, only this time checking for magic that was not her own. If someone had used magic in her creation, there was a chance that it was still left behind.
She was hopeful to find Dumbledore's even though she knew he had a way of concealing the magic that he used, but to her surprise, she found something, only it wasn't from Dumbledore, she knew at least that much.
"Whose magic is that?" Ariana asked, partly to herself and partly to her audience.
Unfortunately it was much more difficult to identify a person's magic that she wasn't already familiar with.
She allowed Amelia, Narcissa, and then finally Pansy to take a look, but all of them came up blank as to who it might be.
"Let me take a look." Sirius suggested.
"How would you know anything about magical signatures?" Amelia asked.
"Your husband knows plenty more things than you realize honey." He pointed out, grinning.
Sirius went to check and immediately he proclaimed, "It's Snape."
"Are you sure?" Narcissa asked him.
"Positive, I would know it anywhere." Sirius told them.
"It would certainly make sense." Ariana agreed, "I've been trying to figure out the time that the memories that Dumbledore gave me end and my own real life experiences start. When I first started Hogwarts would be a likely place and I remember Snape being around a lot during that time. He would also be a likely candidate to help with the cloning process."
"I suppose we just need to find Snape then and see if he can provide us any additional information." Harry surmised.
"That shouldn't be a problem," Amelia informed them, "Snape as a convicted criminal is required to have a tracking spell on him at all times. I can simply use that to find out just where he is."
"As long as Dumbledore hasn't already gotten to him first." Su pointed out, "After the events of today, I wouldn't be surprised if Dumbledore gets spooked enough to make sure he's no longer a concern."
Meanwhile Amelia held up her wand and cast a few spells, but instead she only frowned.
"Dumbledore must have blocked it recently somehow." She concluded.
"Don't worry, I'm pretty sure I know what spell he used and how to stop it." Ariana answered.
"Really?" Amelia asked, sounding impressed, "Just where were you when I was trying to train Aurors in tracking spells?"
"Having your head clogged up with spells by an evil genius wizard does have its privileges." Ariana grudgingly admitted.
After a few minutes, she managed it and proclaimed, "I got it!"
"Let's get going then." Su said eagerly.
"Wait! I'm going to call in a few Aurors to make sure that it's official if we're going to be interrogating him." Amelia suggested.
"You can start with me." Tonks recommended.
"Very well." Amelia said, making no argument.
"I agree that Tonks should go, but I think both you and Narcissa need to sit this one out." Sirius insisted.
"How can you actually ask me to simply sit around here when we're finally getting somewhere?" Amelia argued impatiently.
"It's likely to only be an interrogation, but I won't risk either of you or the babies if Snape tries something." Sirius told her, "Just get some Aurors to go and we'll handle it."
"You're seriously going to allow the children to go and not me?" Amelia asked.
"Children who happen to be very skilled duelists and have already proven they can take care of themselves and handle things even most adults can," Sirius pointed out, "and none of them are pregnant, unless Gabrielle..."
Gabrielle blushed very red and declared, "We used protection, don't worry."
"Then there you have it, we'll just go right in there, torture Snape a bit for information and then..." Sirius began but Amelia interrupted him.
"I am not authorizing you to torture him!" Amelia insisted, "You'll follow Tonks' lead on this one. In fact if you really are going to insist on going, you and the children can stay behind as backup."
There were multiple groans from several of the girls, Harry, and particularly Sirius.
"Amelia, it's been my dream to arrest Snape and then interrogate him though..." Sirius pleaded.
"That's exactly why I can't let you." She said, "Now no more arguing, or you'll be sleeping out of the bedroom tonight."
Sirius let out another groan, but otherwise chose to remain silent.
Amelia then began giving out orders to Tonks.
"You've been undercover for the last while, so you might be a bit rusty. Most of the Aurors should still be already at home this late, but I know that Peakes and Warhol are still on standby. I want you to inform them that I put you in charge of the operation but don't tell them exactly what it's for. If they ask about your long absence, tell them that it's classified. I'll also be sending you with a letter with my stamp of approval in case they question it."
"Consider it done!" Tonks agreed.
"We'll get ready as well." Gabrielle told her.
"I still don't have my wand back." Harry reminded her, "Crouch still has mine."
"I believe I've still got your dad's old wand." Sirius declared, "It probably won't work as good as your own, but I'll bet that it should work pretty well nonetheless."
"I'd certainly be grateful." Harry agreed.
"Well I suppose that we should get ready then," Gabrielle said, "although I have to admit I have another bad feeling about this."
"Not again..." Susan declared, earning a laugh from all of them even as they wondered if Gabrielle might be right yet again.