Harry handed Ath?na off to Nienna, cast Quietus, and told her to find Luna or Rolf to check the owl for injuries. Nienna veered off to the tree line. Harry flew a wobbly path toward the center of the clearing, where Hagrid still knelt atop the Niffler cage. Harry shook his head to clear his vision as the ground beneath him appeared to turn black. It didn't help.

  He was slowing to land beside Hagrid, when someone shouted "No, Harry, pull up!"

  Ron's voice drew instant instinctive action from Harry. Pulling up, he passed almost within arm's reach of the big man. He knew this because Hagrid's huge open hand passed just behind his tucked up feet with unbelievable speed and power. The wind off its passage actually threw Harry into a spin.

  He recovered, going into a hover, and turned back to the cage, noticing the people gathered around the base, some standing on the poorly made defensive walls. Ron, Neville and Sweetfang were grouped together, Sweetfang looking very distressed. Ron waved him over.

  Harry alit from his broom, immediately going to his knees beside the distraught hound. "It'll be okay, girl," he husked, arm around the massive neck. "We'll make it okay." He forced himself up, with wobbly knees making it harder.

  "Don't report, yet," he said to Ron. "Focus on this, and tell me quick."

  "Hagrid's been up there, taking everything they threw at him, ever since he dropped the protections." Ron said. "We can't get through to him, and he almost killed two people that got too close. He apparently did kill one of the enemy, 'cause we saw the last two dis-Apparate carrying what was obviously a body."

  "Obviously?" Harry asked.

  "No head, Harry. Very obviously, no head."

  "And he won't listen?"

  "Won't listen, or can't hear. Some of that blood seems to be coming from his ears." Ron shook his head. "I got nothing, Harry. You?"

  Harry's head was still muzzy. He sat down before he fell down. "No," he said. Sweetfang laid her head in his lap, whining. "No," he said again, rubbing her ears to comfort her. "Good dog. Good..." He stopped.

  "Yes," he said. "By the Gods, yes! Help me up!" Once on his feet, he said, "Cover your ears!"

  It said a lot about Auror professionalism that no one asked why, they just complied. Even Sweetfang understood the order.

  Touching his wand to his throat, he cast Sonorous. Getting a lot of use out of this spell today, he thought. He pulled his mind back from dithering.

  "DIREFANG! JUNIOR! HERE, PUPS!" He cast Quietus, already hearing something crashing through the belt of woods. The two dogs burst into the clearing, swiftly crossing the black ground, (black?), Direfang pulling ahead. Sweetfang rose to greet them, whining piteously for help. Direfang began to bristle.

  "Sit!" Harry said sharply. They did so, not as fast as they would have done for Hagrid, but still. They couldn't help casting worried looks at Hagrid, remote, unresponsive, and obviously hurting.

  "It's okay, pups, we're going to help him." Harry said earnestly. "We're going to help him right now!"

  Harry tried to mount the mound of dirt that had been the enemies' last line of defense. His boots were slipping in the loose stuff. Ron backed a step, and made the top easily. He reached out and took Harry's hand. Between Ron's pull and Neville's rather indelicately placed push, Harry was up, wavering slightly. Ron steadied him as he turned.

  "Direfang, here." Harry pointed to the spot beside him. Direfang didn't even have to jump to get up on the wall. Harry thought about showing Direfang what he wanted the pup to do, but the swimming in his head was not happy with that idea.

  "Ron," he said. "Lean over and place your hands on the wall of the cage."

  Again, instant obedience. Ron leant across the narrow gap, hands planted.

  "See, Direfang? Up!" The dire wolf cross looked where Harry was gesturing toward Ron, then the side of the cage. He reared and leaned, standing on his hind legs. His front paws came almost to the top edge, and his head easily rose above it.

  The vibrations apparently triggered Hagrid's defensive reflex, and his giant arm slashed out to the side, hitting nothing. It then returned to grip Moody's peg leg, firmly, as if it were the only real thing in the world.

  Direfang looked at Harry and whined. Harry stroked the hound's back, (that being as high as he could reach). "It's okay, boy. Hagrid just needs a Happy Bark. Can you give him a Happy Bark?"

  Direfang's sideways look spoke more clearly than words. Are you out of your leg-humping green-eyed mind?

  Harry rested his increasingly heavy head against the hound's big barrel of a chest. "Hagrid needs it, boy. He needs you, and Junior, and Sweetie. Just a Happy Bark."

  Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

  Harry's hands slipped off Direfang's chest, but he caught himself by grabbing his knees. As Ron's arms started to raise him back up, Harry tried again, in as gruff and deep a voice as he could manage, he husked out, “Who’s a Good Boy? Gi’e Daddy a Happy Bark!”

  Direfang's puzzlement cleared away. His massive head seemed to split in two as he turned toward Hagrid. The Colour of Magic flared inside his head, then flashed back to the center of his chest. He pointed his head at Hagrid, with his flail of a tail wagging hard enough to make a breeze. A flare of magic burst from his jaws as he gave a happy, “Yip!”

  The magic spread like a ring of "Good boy!" across the clearing. Ron had Harry upright again, Harry staring blearily at Hagrid. The great bulk stirred, and a rumble came from his chest.

  Direfang's tail waved harder. Ron moved Harry along the wall a bit. That tail would knock a bull for a loop, much less someone in Harry's condition.

  Direfang somehow pushed more magic into his heart, and, "YIP!"

  Hagrid's head came up from his chest, wavering, scanning round blindly. Literally blindly, Harry could see his eyes were gummed shut with blood.

  "G' b'y?" he mumbled uncertainly. This effort definitely came from his mouth, as bloody foam blew across the roof of the cage. He let go of the torch with one hand. It wavered up to his face, wiping feebly at an eye.

  Junior and Sweetie had their front paws up on the mound, leaning hard into Direfang's hindquarters. The giant wolf-hound seemed to draw strength from his brother and sister, all three tails blowing dust from the ground behind them.

  "YIP!!" The other dogs followed up with yips and barks and whines of their own. Hagrid's one eyelid parted a bit, then more, the eyeball under it wandering for a moment, then fixing on Direfang's tongue-lolling muzzle. Hagrid tried to grin back.

  "Good b...!" he coughed, then spat out a ridiculous amount of blood. His hand came down and wiped at his mouth. "Good boy! Good pups! Come to Daddy!"

  Direfang sat back on his haunches slightly, and basically hopped up on the roof. Sweetie and Junior each turned for a short run-up, and bounded up from the top of the mound.

  Harry smiled crookedly. All three dogs looked to be determined to lick and sniff Hagrid to death, and he made no effort to stop them. His other hand opened, and the peg-leg clattered to the roof, before rolling off the side. Neville gasped and started for the torch, then stopped, abashed.

  Yeah. Right." he said. "Everlasting."

  Hagrid looked up from his family reunion and caught sight of Harry, with Ron still supporting him.

  "Bedknobs and Broomsticks!" he said, a concerned expression on his bloody, burned, and battered face. "What hev yer bin inter, Harry? Y' look like shite!"

  ***

  Harry came back to himself fully, lying on the ground near the treeline. There were five women leaning over him, looking disapproving. Well, four women and a girl, and Nienna's expression was more along the lines of 'worried.' Wait. Four women, a girl, and an owl. At least the owl looked sympathetic.

  "Report," Harry said automatically. It was day, just after dawn from the light.

  Hannah snorted. "Bugger that for a game of soldiers."

  Hermione tsked, Demelza grinned, it rolled right off Luna, and Nienna seemed to be committing it to memory. Ath?na still looked sympathetic. That reminded him.

  "Ath?na?" Harry said. "As soon as I can get into my dimensional pocket, there is a full bag of Merkelson's Murtlap Owl Munchies with your name on it, you little heroine, you!

  Ath?na looked as if she wanted to flap her wings in joy, but Luna snapped, "Ah-ah! Rest it for a whole day, remember?" The owl gave a small trill, and settled for hopping side to side on Nienna's epaulet.

  "You, too, Nienna." Harry smiled at her. "I owe you. I won't forget."

  Nienna, wide-eyed, was shaking her head slightly, rolling her eyes and subtly gesturing with her head toward her mother. Demelza was looking suspiciously at Harry, then over at her suddenly frozen daughter. Demelza started to cloud up.

  Harry snapped, "Auror Robins!" Startled, she looked back at Harry.

  He opened his mouth, and changed his mind about what he was going to say.

  "Help me up," he said. "This isn't dignified."

  Three women huffed something on the order of 'Men!' Again it rolled right off Luna, who wandered off in a distracted manner. Soon enough, though, Harry was upright, and only very mildly dizzy.

  "Auror Robins," he started again. "First, tell me why Auxiliary Auror Robins was down at the battlefield.

  Demelza's mouth quirked at the title Harry had given her daughter. "I sent her, sir, with an important, time sensitive message. And I specifically told her to stay out of trouble!" she finished hotly. "What did she do?"

  Harry let the tension ease. "What she did, Auror Robins, was save my life." He paused. "And, for that matter, so did you. Just by sending her."

  He went on. "I was in hot pursuit of the murderer who killed one of our prisoners. He threw the anomaly container at me. I caught it, and it completely disabled me, physically and mentally. I got rid of it, but the effects lingered, and I was falling. He was following me down, wand drawn and raised, a man who had just killed one of his own, and I knew, I knew I was next."

  "Then, out of nowhere, silent as death, this young Valkyrie executed a perfect Barrel-Roll Body-Block. She knocked him ass over teakettle, completely off of his broom, thereby leaving him only time to recover his wand, destroy the broom and Apparate out." Harry frowned. "Incidentally, does anyone know what happens if a person Apparates while falling?"

  Blank looks almost all the way around. Hermione caught his eye, and shook her head slightly.

  "Never mind." Harry returned to the subject at hand. "So Auror Robins, I thank you and her. I assure you that she acted in the best traditions of the service, and I certainly know where she learned those traditions. With your agreement, I would like to enroll her as an apprentice in the Auxiliary Auror Section, and offer her a paid internship at the Ministry during any period she is free from school."

  It was hard to say which member of the Robins family was the most taken aback.

  Demelza looked at her daughter, who smiled tremulously. Demelza moved over beside Nienna, put an arm around her shoulders, and they both faced Harry.

  "Speaking for my daughter and myself," Demelza said firmly. "We are both deeply honored."

  "The honor is mine." Harry gave a formal bow.

  A quick Mother/Daughter hug later, Harry spoke again.

  "Keeping in mind that I have apparently been unconscious, there was something about a message? Because if I received it, I have definitely forgotten it."

  Nienna started, almost causing Ath?na to miss a hop.

  "Oh. Right. I know who the killer is."

  Another, More Serious, Authour's Note: As I move from character to character, and, more to the point, Scene to Scene, the timeline is overlapping in strange ways. There are also jumps forward and back for plot purposes. From now on, whenever I make a major change in protagonist and/or scene, I will place the Year 2014 Day, Date, Time and Location at the head of the chapter. I have already gone back through the book so far and made these changes. This will occur only at the head of the first chapter in a sequence.