"Harry, Hermione," Emma Granger looked at Lily Potter before continuing, "What exactly did the Weasleys do to the two of you that has you grouping them with Dumbledore?"
"It wasn't all the Weasleys," Hermione said, "the twins were okay. They died in the war the last time though."
Harry nodded in agreement, "The Weasley betrayal began in fourth year and just went on from there, getting progressively worse."
Hermione snuggled against him and they held one another before Hermione spoke, "First Ron turned on Harry, calling him a liar and a cheat for being in the Triwizard Tournament. Then when I asked Harry out he got nasty. He called me all sorts of names."
"Mudblood, slag," Harry said, "and those weren't even the worst. The way he was acting you'd think he had a crush on me! Hermione and I decided to ignore him. The twins were cool about it, said that they'd won the betting pool since Hermione asked me out. Ginny…."
"Ginny snuck into my room one night to try and hex me," Hermione said.
"Try being the operative word," Harry said, looking at her admiringly, "Hermione hexed her so badly the little bint wouldn't leave her dorm for a week."
"I was pretty proud of that," Hermione nodded, smiling at the memory. "From there it got worse. Dumbledore tried to get the Weasleys to press charges against me for harming their little pureblood princess. Arthur and Molly quickly did as he requested, and Molly even sent me a howler."
"I sent her a howler back telling her to leave my girlfriend and me alone and to control her children because Ginny owed me a life debt I would be happy to collect on if they didn't."
"They didn't get the message, or Molly deluded herself into thinking Harry meant he'd marry Ginny," Hermione rolled her eyes, "who collects on a life debt by marriage? It's so absurd; and slightly perverse," she added, "Besides, it doesn't even work that way. Marrying someone isn't the same as doing them a favor."
"Don't use logic, love. You know how the purebloods hate that," Harry brushed her cheek affectionately, which earned him a kiss. "They took it to court. I stood by her side, so did Neville and Susan and Luna."
"Before that I only had Arithmancy with Susan and neither of us knew Luna. Still, it was nice to have some support."
Harry nodded in agreement, "We gave them one last chance. Then we saw it. Their smug sense of superiority. That they were somehow better than Hermione because she is Muggleborn. They thought that whatever punishment they asked for they'd get. Ginny even told Hermione to 'enjoy' me while she had me because soon she'd never see me again."
Hermione kissed his cheek, "The trial began and of course the Weasleys were exaggerating what had happened to Ginny. Fred and George took the stand though and they defended my actions, saying that Ginny had a stalker attitude towards Harry. Molly screamed at them, called them traitors. We think she made Arthur kick them out of the Weasley family."
"Then I took the stand in Hermione's defense and presented a betrothal contract the goblins had drawn up for us. You should have seen the looks on their faces when they realized that they were using pureblood politics to go after Harry Potter's betrothed," Harry grinned at the memory, "Actually, we should show them that memory sometime."
"That was a good one," she nodded. "The next day we wrote to Sirius and he took Fred and George in under House Black, adopting them. They're big fans of the Marauders."
Harry continued, "Anyway, the fact that Hermione was my betrothed had them floundering. They couldn't exactly withdraw the complaint now that that fact had come to light."
"Then I took the stand and told them that I always had wards around my bed and when they went off I woke to see Ginny standing over me, her wand pointed at me. I cast a curse before she could."
"Ginny had to take the stand then and say why she was in Hermione's dorm late at night when everyone was asleep and why she would point her wand at a student in their sleep. She had no excuse and under Veritaserum confessed that she'd wanted to 'punish the mudblood bitch for daring to touch her Harry'. I pointed out I'd never said more than a few words to her to the Wizengamot. They just seemed incredulous at the Weasleys."
"Ultimately I was found to have been acting in self-defense and cleared of all charges. Ginny, on the other hand, was found guilty of attempted assault and trying to break a betrothal." Harry chuckled and Hermione shook her head, "Their plan backfired on them. Ginny was suspended from Hogwarts for the rest of the year and ordered to pay restitution for dragging my name through the mud, as well as Harry's."
"That is terrible, but still doesn't explain…"
"That was just the beginning," Harry said. "It goes downhill from there. But that scenario taught us that Dumbledore had his own agenda and was not to be trusted."
Hermione ran her hand through Harry's hair, "I think that's enough for today though. That day brings up some bad memories."
In the study Harry pulled her to the couch, "That day was scary."
"I know," she pushed him onto his back and they snuggled, "but they did deserve to know. We don't tell them everything and I think sometimes that bugs them."
"We did alot of stuff on our own; I think we're still not used to sharing. Plus a great many things won't come to pass. The Weasley betrayal, for example."
Hermione looked up at him, "We should begin plotting our first prank."
Harry nodded, "I think we should organize a war room meeting. We have lots of inside knowledge about the old bastard. Let's have the pranking genius of Marauders and Company assist."
"I will never forgive your dad for dragging my father into the pranking. He was a nice, simple dentist in the original timeline."
"No apologies," Harry grinned. Hermione rolled her eyes and he kissed her. "I love you."
"I love you," she smiled, kissing his jaw gently. "Let's prepare for the war room."
"Can we call it the prank room?"
"Yes, I suppose so," she resisted the urge to roll her eyes again, instead settling for tickling his sides and making him try to wiggle away as she attacked him.
One week before September 1rst they had the Prank Room. The Longbottoms, the Lovegoods, Amelia Bones, Remus, Sirius, and their parents all sat together in the training room that was the basement of the Potter home along with Luna, Susan, and Neville. Harry looked at Hermione, "Alright troops, let's get Operation Drive the Crazy Whiskered Wanker to Total Insanity underway." Hermione whacked him on the back of the head and he winced, "I mean, let's begin our preparations to neutralize the old bastard." Hermione schooled her features and he continued, "Now, Hermione and I have some insights into the old man that will guide this mission. Things that only he knows. We're going to use these things to push him over the brink and into utter insanity."
Hermione nodded, "Our only other option is to kill him. Dumbledore will never believe that Voldemort is really dead. We intend to make him think that Voldemort is returning by leaving him 'signs'."
"But that's just one aspect," Harry cut in, "there's other ways to push him over the edge. Grindelwald and his sister Arianna come to mind."
"We want to attack on all fronts," Hermione finished.
"It's scary how they do that," Sirius said to Dan.
"What's scary is they've been doing that since they were small," Dan responded.
"Pay attention boys," Emma scolded before asking the kids, "So what do you need us for?"
"Pranking ideas of course," Hermione answered. "And in some cases executing them. We can't do all of them on our own since legally speaking we shouldn't Apparate yet." Harry nodded in agreement.
"You mentioned his sister Arianna," Neville said, "what makes her so special?"
"It's Dumbledore's fault she died," Hermione explained, "Grindelwald killed her. He was Dumbledore's lover at the time."
The silence that followed Hermione's statement was long. "Dumbledore blames himself for her death," Harry said, "and from what we gathered when Hermione found Grindelwald's diary, he should."
Hermione nodded, "According to Grindelwald, they both wanted to control people and have them obey their commands. Grindelwald was violent and direct, like Riddle. Dumbledore was more passive, more manipulative. Their friendship became more intimate as they tried to find the Deathly Hallows to make them the Master of Death."
"But their differing opinions and inability to guide the other to their thinking caused some friction in their relationship," Harry continued, "they began to fight."
"The ultimate battle wasn't the one where Dumbledore defeated Grindelwald, though," Hermione said, "No, that battle paled in comparison to this one. They had an argument at the Dumbledore ancestral home and wands were drawn. Dumbledore's little sister Arianna was caught in the crossfire."
"She was killed," Harry concluded. "Grindelwald indicated it was impossible to tell which spell killed her. In his diary he indicated that Dumbledore seemed to suddenly become a different person. He accused Grindelwald of causing her death and vowed revenge. A man who loathed violence and tried to 'fix' wrongdoers was suddenly threatening death. Grindelwald ended their relationship and headed to Germany. Dumbledore then distanced himself from Grindelwald and began to publicly disavow him, though he kept their relationship a secret."
"Why? There's nothing wrong with being gay."
"In 1930s and 40s Britain there was," Hermione said. "Remember Alan Turing?" The magicals, minus Harry, Lily, and Remus, all looked quite confused. Hermione explained, "Alan Turing was a mathmetician and cryptanalyst, or codebreaker, in World War II. He cracked the German Enigma code. It's believed he ended World War II by up to two years with his skills. He also helped to lay out what would become a computer years later. He was a British war hero and look how he was treated because he was gay. Convicted of deviancy and chemically castrated."
Harry nodded in agreement with his girlfriend/wife. "And when you consider that wizarding technology and social morals are at least 150 years behind nonmagical ones imagine how bad it must have been for gay witches and wizards back then."
The magicals nodded in agreement with their words. "What had them fighting the day Arianna died?" Remus asked.
Hermione licked her lips and gazed at Harry for a long moment before answering, "It was a lovers' spat."
A chorus of "WHAT?!" reverberated around the room.
Harry thought about how to explain this. "Well think about it. Dumbledore and Grindelwald are both alpha personalities. They're both powerful wizards. When their tempers blow, they blow hard."
"Harry and I can sort of relate to this," Hermione said, "both of us are alpha personalities, we're both powerful, and we're both aggressive. That combination, when combined with our passion, has led to some explosive arguments."
"We broke the same bed at least half a dozen times from magical outbursts during arguments," Harry explained, "but our magic seems to insulate us from hurting one another. Even when we had an incredibly powerful argument, my magic would go around Hermione rather than hit her. And hers did the same to me. Because our magic knows that we don't actually want to hurt one another, it takes care to just take out anything else in its path."
"Our arguments never happened near drawn wands though," Hermione added, "and our fights always ended in bed together for some," she blushed as she finished the sentence, "makeup sex."
"Wickedly brilliant makeup sex," Harry grinned. Hermione's blush deepened and his eyes glazed over at the thought. They both fell silent at the memories that began to surface.
"Earth to horny kids," Sirius said, waving his hand in front of Harry's face. "Continue the story please."
"Right," Hermione poked Harry in the ribs to try and bring him back down to Earth, "After Dumbledore defeated Grindelwald and claimed the Elder wand, which my brilliant mother-in-law took from him," Lily blushed and James wrapped his arm around her, "he found himself wracked with guilt. The death of his sister wasn't appeased by the defeat of Grindelwald. We know this from personal experience," she qualified, "he went after the resurrection stone for one purpose. To see his sister and seek forgiveness."
"That stone is now lost to him. We think we can use that to our advantage."
Lily spoke, "We could recreate these horcruxes and use magic to make them appear to be the original articles."
"The ring could be Arianna telling him that he killed her and she'll never forgive him," Xeno offered.
"But first she'd have to visit him in dreams, compelling him to seek the ring," Alice pointed out.
"Okay, let's make a list," Emma stood and began writing down ideas on a large pad of paper that was affixed to the wall. "So the resurrection stone and the ring have to be made," she wrote it down, "what are the other horcruxes?"
"Slytherin's locket," Harry listed, "Hufflepuff's cup, Ravenclaw's diadem, and Riddle's diary. That will be the hardest to recreate, and we'll also need to sneak it into the Malfoys' possession."
"The others are easier to return to their hiding places."