I do not own the rights to Harry Potter. If I did, Fred would still be alive.
I would also like to thank everybody at the Harry Potter Wiki for refreshing my memory of the series and helping me get my facts straight.
Something Wicked This Way Comes
There was a slight chill to the August air; a sign that an early winter was on its way. On any other normal day, the witches and wizards that were shopping along Diagon Alley might have commented about the weather. Except it was not any other day in Diagon Alley. For something that was thought to be impossible, had been discovered that morning. Since accurate details were still scare, there was much debate in the streets on what had occurred.
"I heard some veela managed to charm their way into the vaults," whispered one witch to her friend.
"Rubbish," replied a wizard who overheard the conversation, "Everyone knows goblins love their gold more than they love women. Besides, I heard it was a group of rogue house-elves."
The wind carried their conversation over to some teenagers who were sitting at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor. While the Fortescue it was named for had long been dead due to Death Eaters, a relative had reopened it after Voldemort's final defeat during the Second War twenty years ago. The Ministry of Magic encouraged such progress as part of their 'Return to Normalcy' campaign, designed to help the wizarding world recover from the numerous battles and losses due to the Second War.
The teenagers, unaware of the misfortune of Florean Fortescue, ate their ice cream slowly, savoring every bite. One was a boy who looked to be in his early teens and was wearing wizard robes. Even from afar, his dark hair was extremely noticeable. His companion, a girl who looked to be about his age, was eating her own ice cream cone, consisting of Neapolitan flavors.
The sight of two teenagers eating ice cream in the middle of the week was not unusual since it was still late August and Hogwarts was not yet in session. What might cause witches or wizards passing by to do a double take was what the girl was wearing. Unlike her companion she was not dressed in wizard garb, but was wearing Muggle clothing consisting of jeans, sneakers, and a sweatshirt, with her blond hair pulled back into a ponytail.
"Rogue house-elves?" the boy asked with a hint of amusement in his voice. He then took a bite of his strawberry ice cream.
The girl didn't even bother to look up; instead she finished her cone with a satisfying crunch. "Perhaps they finally wanted payment for all their hard work over the years."
He smirked. "Or perhaps it was a certain somebody wanting to make her mark on the wizarding world by doing the impossible."
"Technically, breaking into Gringotts isn't impossible, just highly dangerous. Harry Potter and his friends broke in and then out successfully, and six years before they did it there was that one attempt on an empty vault," she explained.
"And technically, the goblins increased their security and Gringotts hasn't successfully been broken into since," he said with a smirk.
"Did we really have to meet here?" asked a petite girl who pulled up a chair to join the other two. Her hair was a far lighter blond than the other girl's, almost white. Between it's limpness and her size, she portrayed a rather weak and fragile appearance overall. It was a perception that she encouraged, since it meant that people often underestimated her, which allowed her to take advantage of them. Very few people outside of her close friends knew about that aspect of her personality.
"Why not meet here?" replied the other girl with an innocent smile on her face.
The newcomer looked at her in disbelief. "Because of them," she hissed under her breath. 'Them' referred to the numerous aurors, guards, goblins, and wizards currently surrounding Gringotts. It was still closed off from that morning, and had yet to announce when they planned to open.
"'Them' are currently busy with conducting a proper investigation and searching for the villains responsible."
The boy raised an eyebrow at that statement. "Villains? Isn't that a little harsh?"
"There's nothing wrong with being a villain, without them you wouldn't have any heroes," the blond commented matter-of-factly.
After she had sat down, the fragile looking girl had proceeded to nervously tear apart a paper napkin that had been on the table. In a quiet voice she said, "Don't the heroes always win?"
"Whoever said they were the heroes?" retorted the boy rather angrily.
"The Prophet, for one," said the girl and dumped the latest edition on the table. Letting out a snort, the boy picked it up and started to scan the stories.
"I wouldn't put too much stock in the Prophet," replied the blond. "They denied Voldemort's return for a full year, while going after Harry Potter."
"Not to mention employing Rita Skeeter," added the boy. "Hmmm... it seems as though they've left out some details..."
She sighed, while the other girl merely shrugged. "Probably so they can use those details against whoever's responsible. Besides, we can always check the ta-"
The blond was cut off by him throwing the paper down on the table in a huff. He then angrily crossed his arms. "One of the details was what we wrote."
"But Nick, how could they do that?" whispered Ash. Her proper name was Astrid, but her friends preferred using her shorter nickname. As for Nick, it was the only name either girl had known the boy by.
The blond picked up the paper and started to read it. "Because they don't want to frighten people by implying another war is coming. No matter, it just means that we'll have to do something so big that even the Ministry can't cover it up."
"What could be bigger, Emmy?" asked Ash.
Emmy, the blond, smiled wickedly. "Oh, I have a couple ideas."
Harry Potter, former Boy-Who-Lived and current Head of the Aurors Office, surveyed the charred letters that were left on the floor of Gringott's Great Hall. The flames had been extinguished for quite some time, but the sooty remains stood out in such contrast against the white marble floor, it was still possible to read the message:
The time has come for the world to receive Promethesus's Gift. Those who stand in the way, shall be blinded by its light.
Signed, The Order of Prometheus.
The scene had been discovered by Lockhook, Head Goblin of Gringotts, who had walked in at six o'clock that morning to prepare Gringotts to open for the day. Upon entering the Main Hall, an explosion of sorts had taken place. While he was relatively uninjured, his eyebrows and hair had been singed off. More worried about the treasures below, he had hurried off, not even bothering to read the message.
At first it seemed that the vaults were untouched, but a gradual vault-by-vault search had revealed otherwise. Originally the goblins hadn't alerted the Ministry to the attack, preferring to take care of it themselves. But when eight o'clock, the normal opening time for Gringotts, came and went with the doors still closed, the Ministry was alerted that something was amiss at Gringotts. Goblins, especially the ones at Gringotts, were notorious for being prompt. Therefore when Gringotts failed to open on time the wizards outside knew something must have been wrong.
After refusing to open the doors initially, the Aurors were called in. It took Harry some time, but he eventually managed to convince Lockhook to open the doors and let the Aurors in. The goblins had mixed feelings regarding Harry. While he did manage to defeat Voldemort, who had no love for goblins, he had also broken in (and out) of Gringotts, leaving it a mess in the process. And while he hadn't been banned from the premises (the goblins had tried, but the Ministry had stepped in), he had noticed that more goblins accompanied him to his vault than was normal for other wizards.
"What's the Order of Prometheus?" asked Leanne Boot, a fellow Auror.
Harry was wondering the exact same thing himself. He dimly recognized the name Prometheus, but wasn't sure what it was from. It was times like these that made him wish Hermione was with him, instead of being back at the Ministry with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement; she would know what the message meant. For now all he could do was to make a note to ask her the next time he saw her.
Realizing that Leanne was still waiting for an answer, he replied, "I'm not sure..." He then bent to the ground and wiped the remains with his right index finger. Sniffing it, he frowned. The fire hadn't been set by a simple Incendio spell, but by something else entirely.
Standing back up, he held his finger out to Leanne. "Do you know what this is?"
She sniffed, and her eyebrows crinkled. "Gasoline? But Muggles use that. What's it doing in Gringotts?"
Before he could reply Seamus Finnigan, an Auror like Leanne, came up to him. "Just got back from the vaults. Sorry Harry, but they cleaned out you, Flitwick, and Shacklebolt. That's not to mention what they did to everybody else. It's a complete mad-house down there with all the goblins running about trying to figure out what happened."
"Excuse me, Mr. Pot-Potter? The Prophet has reporters outside wanting to know what's going on. Wha-What should I tell them?" said some meek wizard who worked for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Harry wasn't sure what his name was due to the fact the wizard usually froze up whenever Harry spoke to him.
The Prophet hadn't changed much since Harry's youth, it still had the habit of sensationalizing and over-reacting to news. While Rita Skeeter had gone on to create her own magazine, Romilda Vane had taken her place as the gossip queen. No doubt she and other reporters were ready with quills in hand to start speculating over the Gringotts incident. Harry was grateful that Ginny hadn't picked up those horrible habits since she had started working for the Prophet. Then again, she was the senior Quidditch correspondent, so she hung out with a different crowd than Romilda. Which, was actually quite good considering their history together.
Normally Harry wasn't fond of hiding important information from the wizarding world, but in this case he felt it was necessary until he figured out what the Order of Prometheus was and how much of a threat they were. The Second War had long been over, but Voldemort's reign of terror had certainly left an impact. There had been a mass riot in Diagon Alley years ago when the rumor that Voldemort wasn't actually dead had been spread by former Death Eaters. It was completely false, but the clean-up afterwards had been costly both financially and mentally. To release information indicating that another dark wizard was rising was foolish at this point, especially with the lack of information about the Order of Prometheus.
"Leave the reporters to me," said Harry finally, after reaching a conclusion regarding what he was going to say.
As he moved to exit the building and to deal with Vane and the others, Seamus grabbed his arm. "You feel it too, don't you? That it's about to start all over again."
Silently, Harry agreed with Seamus, but had been unable to admit it to himself. Now that he was finally confronting the realization, his eyes started to get a familiar, determined, look in them. "Not if I can help it."
**Author's Note**
Let me start by welcoming you to my latest fic, Prometheus's Gift. So far I have the first five chapters written with the rest planned out, allowing me to update every Thursday. The next chapter will explain how they broke into Gringotts (it's easier than you might think), what exactly the Order of Prometheus is, and give you a bit more background on Emmy, Ash, and Nick. Their background will gradually be revealed throughout the series, and for the most part I don't think they're that Mary-Sueish.
While I'm not new to fanfiction, I am new to writing HP fics. Well they're are good stories out there, there are also plenty of Mary-Sues, overused plots, and cliches. The combination of those things have me hesitant of writing an HP fic since I was afraid I would make those same mistakes.
About a week ago I was reading an article on Cracked called "6 Horrifying Implications of the Harry Potter Universe" and number five on the list was about wizards and technology. It brings up the idea that wizards probably have no defenses against nuclear weapons, radiation, or other modern Muggle devices since they don't even bother to understand them. If Arthur can't even figure out the purpose of a rubber duck, how is he expected to know to run from a gun? He'd probably run toward it wanting to know what it was.
And so the idea for this fic was born, using Muggle technology to bring down the wizarding world. It seems original for this section, but I just started exploring it again, so I might be wrong. My apologies if this has been done before.
I'm sticking with book canon, and what's known about the future. I plan on including a piece at the end of each chapter separating what's canon, and what I made up. If you like it, let me know and I'll keep doing so, and if you dislike it, I'll stop. So here it is:
Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor: Florean Fortescue being carried off by Death Eaters and killed. I just assume (and hope) a relative reopened it.
'Return to Normalcy' campaign: Never mentioned in the books, but it seems like something the Ministry would do. Basically it was a campaign that encouraged growth and rebuilding the wizarding world but giving out grants and loans to wizards who needed them.
Previous break-in's: Professor Quirrell tried to get the Philosopher's Stone during Harry's first year, but failed since Hagrid got to it first earlier in the day. The second was by Harry, Hermione, and Ron in the Deathly Hallows when they got the Hufflepuff's cup from Bellatrix's vault, and ended up escaping by flying on a dragon.
Lockhook: Since Voldemort killed all the known goblins after Harry escaped with the cup, I needed to create my own. I figure Lockhook sounds like a goblin name, and there were have to be a Head Goblin. Goblins strike me as prompt creatures, at least when it comes to dealing with money, and eight o'clock seemed like an appropriate time for them to open Gringotts.
Harry: It is canon that Harry eventually became Head of the Aurors. Originally I didn't plan on him having a big role in the story, but after learning that, it was inevitable that he would be involved, and his role expanded. I'm not sure if the goblins tried banning him from Gringotts, but I would imagine they wouldn't be too happy with him after breaking in and trashing the place in the process.
Hermione: It is canon that she went back to Hogwarts for a year before working for the Ministry. Eventually she was promoted to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Since she's not an Auror she probably doesn't work directly with Harry, but I would imagine that they consult on cases.
Leanne Boot: In the books she was a Hufflepuff that was friends with Katie Bell, and joined Dumbledore's Army in the last book. According to the wiki, she doesn't have a last name, so I married her to Terry Boot, a Ravenclaw and fellow DA member, to give her one. Since it is canon that those who fought in the Battle of Hogwarts were allowed to become Aurors despite education, I thought it would be a good career for her. Plus I had one less OC to come up with.
Seamus: The character was played by Ron originally, until I learned that he joined George at the joke shop after working as an Auror for a number of years. Canonically, Seamus was never mentioned among the dead, so I made him an Auror for the same reasons I made Leanne one.
Shacklebolt: Kingsley Shacklebolt was named Minister of Magic in the books. Twenty years is a long time to be the Minister, but it was never mentioned when he resigned/died, and I wanted a recognizable character in the role, that was also a decent and competent wizard.
Flitwick: Originally they were to break into McGonagall's vaults since she did become Headmistress of Hogwarts. However, she did eventually resign. Well it's not known when she did so, I wanted to reflect it in this fic, similar to what I did for Ron. Professor Flitwick seemed like the natural person to replace her, though it's not been confirmed as canon.
Ginny: Everything regarding Ginny is canon. She married Harry and played Quidditch for the Holyhead Harpies. When she started a family with Harry, she became the senior Quidditch correspondent at the Daily Prophet.
Romilda Vane/Rita Skeeter: Everything regarding these two is my own invention (besides Rita working for the Prophet). Romila seemed like the next Skeeter gossip-wise (her asking Ginny if Harry had a dragon tattooed across his chest and being all giggly). I'm going with Skeeter mentored her before going on to write more books and create her own magazine. It's seems like something she would do, and hopefully the Prophet raised its standards. Really, it's amazing they haven't been sued for libel considering some of the stuff she's written.
The riot a couple years ago: This is my own. I figured after everything the wizarding world has gone through, there would still be those so traumatized by what happened, that the mere suggestion Voldemort was back would create a mass panic.
That's it for now. Let me know if you loved it, or hated it, in a review, or if I got some facts wrong. Reviews are always nice to get, and I'm curious as to what people think of this fic.