Harry Potter and the Magical Girls Part 9 (Patreon)

Neville pulled his attention away from the full length magical mirror that Hermione had 'stolen' from her magical fashion game and looked at Harry and Hermione. "Can you think of any games or books that have spells or magical items that improve memory?"

"One of my Dad's games has Recall Memory that lets the character recall cutscenes and puzzle pieces but I'm not sure how much that would help with learning magic or information unless you want to review part of a lecture. Pensieves are also useful for reviewing memories but you have to remember to use them and they're rare," Hermione replied as she sorted through the books she'd looted from her Daggerfall character's library.

"Have you tried using your mirror and grabbing a plant that boosts memory?" Harry asked as he stuffed the box filled with phoenix feathers into his bag that he'd picked up from the shop in Hermione's Final Fantasy game.

"It's worth a try," Neville agreed as he glanced over at the clock on the wall. "I'll let you know if I find anything but I should get back before my family notices I'm gone."

Hermione glanced at the clock and winced when she realized they'd lost track of time. "We'll send you an owl once things calm down a bit."

"Thanks," Neville replied and teleported back home, eager to see what type of plants he could find using his mirror.

"We might have gotten a bit carried away," Hermione admitted as she glanced at the collection of boxes and weird magical items scattered around the computer room that they'd grabbed from various games.

"Just a bit," Rose teased from where she was standing near the door. "You should get back, we'll keep an eye on things and sort the loot."

"Thank you," Hermione replied as she walked over and pulled Rose into a hug.

"Don't take too long, we might get bored," Rose teased.

"We'll try," Harry assured her, then teleported back to the Black Family library with Hermione.

Ginny sighed in relief when Harry and Hermione appeared in an empty spot in the middle of the library. "What happened?"

Harry glanced around the Black Family library to make sure no one else was in the room then focused on Ginny. "The girls managed to kill a team of Death Eaters, it was easier than I was expecting," he admitted in a whisper.

"How?" Ginny turned and looked at the door as it opened, revealing Sirius and Snape in the hallway. "Any news?" she asked, curious if they'd tell them anything.

"Did you hire mercenaries?" Snape asked Harry.

Harry glanced at Snape then turned his attention to the shelves as if he'd been looking for something. "I wouldn't know where to start."

"Did you need something?" Hermione asked, hoping the ring of protection would make it harder for Snape to look at their memories since she didn't want anyone looking through her memories, especially her recent ones.

"No," Snape replied as he turned and left, relieved that Harry was safe and that he could tell everyone that Harry hadn't been involved in the massacre.

"Whatever," Harry muttered under his breath then turned to look at Sirius when his godfather walked in and closed the door behind him. "What was that about?"

"Another attack. He just wanted to make sure you weren't involved," Sirius replied then flicked his wand at the door and silenced it. "How did it go?"

"Better than I was expecting," Harry admitted. "The girls killed the team that showed up before they even realized there was a problem."

"How long do you think it will take before Voldemort tells his followers to burn my house to the ground?" Hermione asked, knowing the girls would have a much harder time defending the house if Voldemort showed up personally.

"I don't know," Sirius admitted. "He's trying to keep his head down so there's a chance that he'll just blame his minions and ignore it but I'm not sure he can afford to ignore the insult without looking weak."

"Would proving that he can't protect his followers help?" Harry asked thoughtfully.

"It can't hurt, the longer he has to build up, the worse it's going to be," Sirius replied. "What do you have in mind?"

Harry scowled as he thought about the newspaper. "I was thinking about the Daily Prophet and how Fudge is trying to smear my reputation, can we do the same to the Death Eaters?"

Sirius shook his head. "They're not going to print anything about the Death Eaters."

"It doesn't matter, people talk. If we give some of the summoned girls cloaks and masks and they start killing everyone in his inner circle, it should look like a civil war," Harry argued.

"I doubt you'd convince the actual Death Eaters but it might make it harder for them to recruit people," Sirius mused. "Where do you want to start?"

"Do you know where my parents were buried?" Harry asked, wanting to test the phoenix downs before he started a war. "I never got the chance to pay my respects."

"Godric's Hollow, I thought you knew," Sirius admitted, making a mental note to take the time to share more stories about his parents and their time at Hogwarts.

Harry sighed, not sure if the teachers and headmaster had deliberately hidden the information or if it was just another case of him not asking because he hadn't realized he should. "No one bothered to tell me. How do we get there?"

"It's a bit too far to fly and I don't want to take the night bus considering the travel time, we'll have to apparate." Sirius activated his transformation ring and changed into his female form, wanting to make sure no one recognized him. She looked at Ginny. "Sorry but you're going to have to stay behind."

"I know, Mum would go ballistic if I vanished," Ginny complained.

"Unfortunately," Sirius agreed as she held her hands out towards Harry and Hermione.

"Shouldn't we tell Remus?" Hermione asked as she grabbed Sirius's hand, knowing Harry would need emotional support if the phoenix downs didn't bring them back.

"He'd just argue about the risk," Sirius complained, knowing that it was often better to ask forgiveness than permission. "With any luck, he'll never know we left."

"Works for me," Harry agreed, looking forward to seeing the look on their faces if he could bring his parents back to life.

"Take as long as you need," Ginny told Harry. "I'll just tell people that you went to grab something from your room or that you went to sleep."

"Thanks," Harry said as he grabbed Sirius's hand, trying not to think about what he was going to do if he couldn't bring them back to life.

Sirius apparated with Harry and Hermione to Lily and James' graves. He glanced around the empty cemetery and relaxed when he didn't see anyone around. "I should have taken you here last year but I was still trying to get my head on straight."

"Don't worry about it," Harry told him as he pulled one of the phoenix feathers out of his bag and used it on his mother's grave, causing a cylinder of light to cover the grave for two seconds before a familiar red haired woman appeared wearing a nice looking black dress.

"Lily?!" Sirius blurted as she lurched towards Sirius.

"Brains!" Lily growled then snickered when Sirius stumbled backwards and fell over on his butt.

"That was cold," Sirius complained when he realized that Lily was obviously screwing with him, trying not to smile or laugh.

"Sorry," Lily lied, her lips curling up in a smile. "That's for rushing after Peter rather than making sure Harry was safe."

"That's fair," Sirius admitted as he got to his feet. "How the hell are you alive?"

"Phoenix downs," Harry replied as he used a phoenix feather on James's grave, causing another cylinder of light to appear along with his father.

"Last I checked Phoenix feathers can't bring people back to life," Sirius argued.

"Harry cheated." Lily smiled as she turned and pulled Harry into a hug now that he wasn't in the middle of bringing James back to life. "I missed you."

"Same," Harry replied as he hugged his mother, doing his best to ignore the tears of relief and joy that were leaking out of his eyes.

"You're next," James told Sirius as he stepped over and hugged Harry and Lily, rather amused by his friend's transformation.

Sirius laughed as she stepped forward and hugged the group. "We should have brought Remus."

"I wasn't sure it would work," Harry admitted, not wanting to spill Neville's secret.

"Where did you get the weird feathers?" Sirius asked.

"Not my secret to tell, except I have a hundred feathers I can use to bring people back to life," Harry explained, rather amused by the look of shock Sirius was giving him.

"That's going to change things," Sirius mused, thinking about the friends they'd lost over the years.

Lily smiled at Hermione. "You should join the hug."

Hermione stepped forward and hugged the group for a couple of seconds before she took a step back so that everyone could stop crushing Harry.

Lily smiled as she let go of Harry and stepped back to give Harry some space. "I'm going to need a wand, I need to curse my sister."

Harry shrugged. "I'm not going to object."

Sirius glanced between Lily and James. "You seem exceptionally aware, how much did you see?"

"Enough," James said, thinking about the Dursleys. "It's just as well the Dursleys are dead."

"Spying on the living is a popular pastime for the dead or at least the recently dead. We watched his sorting and most of his games, along with bits and pieces of his life here and there," Lily explained. "We spent a decent amount of time learning magic and having adventures."

"Are you mad that I brought you back?" Harry asked warily.

"Of course not," Lily assured him. "Death isn't something to fear but it's not something to rush towards either, it just is, especially if you're a magic user."

Harry sighed in relief. "Good."

"Can you get more feathers?" Sirius asked, wondering if it was worth using them.

"Shouldn't be a problem but it might take a couple of days," Harry said, fairly sure Neville would be busy with his family for the next couple of days.

"In that case, let's find some graves," Sirius said cheerfully, knowing they'd find plenty of witches and wizards in the graveyard that he wouldn't mind bringing back to life.

Harry smiled as he started looking around for familiar names on the tombstones. "Do you have any suggestions?"

"Several," Lily replied with a smile.

0o0o0

Albus looked up from the book he was reading when someone pulled the old chain on the door, ringing the bell for the first time in years. He drew his wand as he walked over and opened the door to his house. He froze when he saw a familiar blonde girl standing on the porch along with two dozen familiar figures that should be dead and gone.

"Albus," Ariana Dumbledore said cheerfully before he could blast her with a spell.

"Ariana?" Albus asked in disbelief before his fingers tightened the grip on his wand. "Who are you?"

"Ariana Dumbledore, someone brought us back from the dead," she explained.

"How?" Albus asked as he cast some discreet wandless spells to check for dark magic and polyjuice, more than a little surprised when he didn't find any traces of either.

"Someone or something gave Harry Potter a box of feathers with the ability to bring the dead back to life, he's been running around the graveyard bringing people back to life for the last ten minutes," Marlene McKinnon explained.

"I'm looking forward to seeing the look on Molly's face when we ring the doorbell," Fabian said with a smile.

"It's going to be great," Gideon added.

"Someone gave Harry a box filled with feathers?" Albus asked, wracking his memory for anything that might be able to bring the dead back to life and failing.

"Officially, we've got no idea what happened. Unofficially, Sirius and James gave him some suggestions but we're not bringing Harry into things, he has quite enough to worry about already," Merlene explained.

"Can you prove your identity?" Albus asked.

"Some of our passwords should be fine and the bank should have blood records," Fabian pointed out.

Albus glanced between the rest of the people that someone had brought back. "Give me a minute to compare passwords then you can use the floo to get to Gringotts."

"We appreciate it," Fabian assured him.

0o0o0

Harry stared at the broken remains of the house where he'd apparently spent his first year and a half, not sure what to make of the black sludge covering some of the stone. "You'd think someone would have taken better care of it."

"Nothing a couple of charms won't fix," James mused as he looked at the ruined cabin.

Sirius sighed as he studied the sludge he could see thanks to his transformation. "You're going to need to replace at least half of the stone that was on the second story, it's covered in dark magic."

"Alright, a couple of dozen charms," James admitted, doing his best not to start screaming about the fact that none of his friends had cleaned things up or at least sealed the place so it wouldn't rot.

Lily pulled her attention away from the overgrown flower beds and looked at James. "I can't believe they turned it into a creepy monument."

James scowled as he glanced at the sign that declared the ruin a monument. "We should probably talk to the goblins before we start rebuilding it."

"Or we could head back to the headquarters and get drunk, that way we wouldn't have to worry about it until tomorrow," Sirius offered.

"Tempting," James admitted.

"How long would it take the goblins to sort things out?" Hermione asked.

James shrugged. "A couple of minutes, especially if they think they'll get something out of it."

"Might as well, we're going to need our wands," Lily pointed out.

"Especially if I have to deal with Severus," James grumbled as he thought about Lily's old lab partner.

"They should be in your vault," Sirius assured them as he pulled a scrap of parchment out of his pocket and handed it to Lily. "Read this, don't say it outloud."

Lily read the parchment then handed it to James. "I'll grab some fire whiskey on the way back, I have a feeling we're going to need it."

"Probably," James agreed as he read the words on the parchment, knowing that any serious discussion that involved the Dursleys and Severus required firewhiskey. He handed the parchment scrap back to Sirius. "You should probably get Harry and Hermione back."

"Don't worry about it," Harry replied with a smile as he wrapped an arm around Hermione. "We'll see you when you get back." He teleported with Hermione back to the library before they could argue or complain. He promptly dropped into a chair when he saw the door start opening. "What did you think of the book?" he asked Ginny as Hermione sat down next to him, trying to make it look like they'd been there the whole time.

"It's better than the Defense book," Ginny complained, less than impressed by the piece of crap the ministry was trying to stuff down their throats.

"Care for a game?" Ron asked as he walked in with the chess board.

Harry glanced at his stack of books, fairly sure he wouldn't be able to concentrate considering recent events. "Sure, might as well."

"Fantastic, beats playing Bill," Ron muttered as he walked over and set the chessboard down.

Harry briefly considered pointing out something about karma but decided not to, if only because the game would be a decent distraction.

Hermione pulled a book out of her bag and opened it to where her bookmark was, leaned against Harry and started reading, trying not to worry about the dozens of people they brought back from the dead or the girls guarding her home.

0o0o0

Cornelius Fudge stared at Dawlish in confusion. "What do you mean Dumbledore is at the bank with two dozen wizards that should be dead?"

"I recognized half a dozen old aurors that should be dead, including James Potter, they were asking the goblins about using a blood ritual to prove their identity," Dawlish explained, wishing he'd just keep his mouth shut.

"Have you been drinking?" Cornelius demanded. "Everyone knows James Potter is dead, are you sure it wasn't Harry potter?"

"Lily Potter was standing next to him, I asked to make sure," Dawlish assured him, knowing how it sounded.

"What did he say?" Cornelius asked warily.

"He said that he woke up in the graveyard in Godric's Hollow along with a couple of dozen people and walked over to Dumbledore's house to use the floo after realizing that his house was a ruin," Dawlish admitted.

"That's it?" Cornelius demanded, wondering what trick Dumbledore was playing.

Dawlish sighed. "None of them had much to say, they remember blacking out and waking up in the cemetery."

"What did Albus say?" Cornelius asked warily.

"He said he was being cautious but optimistic about the future of the wizarding world and that the goblins would be able to prove their identity via blood rituals," Dawlish explained.

"This has to be a trick," Cornelius complained as Amelia Bones walked into his office. "Arrest Dumbledore."

"On what charge?" Amelia asked, keeping her expression neutral despite the fact that she wanted to laugh at the minister for assuming that he'd been able to make something stick.

"He is trying to destabilize the peace," Cornelius snapped.

"That's not actually a crime," Amelia pointed out.

"Impersonating dead heroes is a crime, arrest everyone with him," Cornelius ordered, fairly sure it had to be a crime to impersonate a dead hero, not that he could recall the exact law.

Amelia's lips curled up into a faint smile as she handed him a copy of Gringotts' official statement about the group with Dumbledore and their blood tests. "The blood tests match, James and Lily Potter are alive. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to spend some time with my brother and a bottle of firewhiskey."

"Get back here!" Cornelius snapped.

"My shift is over, I'm going home to celebrate," Amelia replied as she left the office, tired of listening to the corrupt asshole.

"If you don't get back here, you're fired!" Cornelius declared.

Amelia stopped and turned to look at Fudge. "You can't actually fire me without a vote and I doubt you'll have enough support without Malfoy bribing people. Besides, unlike Harry, James Potter actually knows how to manipulate the system and he has enough gold to make you eat your slander of his son."

"Without Malfoy?" Fudge asked, not sure what she was talking about.

"He's missing and presumed dead," Amelia replied cheerfully, enjoying the look of surprise and fear on Fudge's face. She turned and left the minister's office after a couple of seconds but before he could say something completely stupid.

"Arrest everyone in the bank that claims to have come back to life," Cornelius ordered, figuring he could still save things if he sent everyone that managed to fool the goblins to Azkaban.

"That would be a violation of our treaty," Dawlish warned him, not particularly interested in getting shot or stabbed by the guards.

"Then wait for them when they leave the bank!" Cornelius snapped.

"Yes sir," Dawlish replied as he left the office. 'I don't get paid enough for this shit,' he thought as he headed down the hall towards the auror department to pick up some reinforcements since he didn't want to try to arrest a bunch of ex-aurors by himself.