Harry Potter and the Black Witch's Coven
Chapter I – Dark Forces Rise Again
Two men stood in the lobby of the Thistle Charing Cross Hotel in The City of London talking; to passersby they seemed to be two ordinary business men. One held a leather briefcase that was old looking but showing signs of once having been quite expensive. The younger of the men was speaking in a low voice which to the other people around was indistinct as if there was a buzzing noise that made it hard to hear.
"Why are we here, O'Donnell?" he asked, "Why couldn't we meet in one of the usual places?"
"She's in the country and she insists we meet in a muggle area when she is at a meeting." answered the older man. "After what happened to her in the states last year she thinks ministry Aurors have spies in all the normal magical places and she won't go to any of them."
"If what I heard is true, I don't blame her for that." said the younger man. "With all this secrecy it's hard to tell what is true and what is just rumor. Here comes Finch and Cummings out of that muggle cab; what a disgusting way to travel. I don't see why we can't apparate to a nearby place. Why use muggle transport? My instructions were to come on the muggle underground, intolerable I say. And why do we have to use these ridiculous muggle names?"
"Harrison, you can say whatever you want to me when we're alone but I would suggest you don't say it to her when she arrives, not if you want to live." said O'Donnell with a disturbed look on his face. "I saw Jenkins and Smyth go in the room before you arrived. Let's go in before she gets here and sees us standing in the lobby talking."
There were five men and five women sitting around a round table when
O'Donnell and Harrison entered the rented meeting room. Everyone nodded to each other but few words were exchanged.
"Muffliato?" asked O'Donnell.
"First thing I did." answered one of the men.
They sat and waited hardly looking at each other until the door opened and a tall woman all dressed in black with black hair and cold black eyes entered. Nobody stood or said a word. She was alone but gave the impression that she had no fear of traveling alone at night. She glanced at the people at the table then went to the only open chair and sat down making the thirteenth member of the coven.
When she spoke it was in a quiet voice but nobody asked her to speak louder and nobody missed a word she said. "All of you know to each other by false names and none of you as I previously ordered are to give your real name to any other. That way if anyone is captured they cannot reveal the true names of anyone else; I hope this impresses you with my desire for security. Today is the first time I have been back to London in nearly two years. I presume O'Donnell as number two of the coven you have fulfilled all my orders as directed."
"Yes madam." he answered.
"Good," she said. "Then we can proceed. This is one of many covens I have established in the past two years in different countries through out the world but I consider it the most important one. Only I know all of them and how to contact each one. The others will wait until we finish our business here before starting their own operations.
There are seven people in this country that must die before I am free to begin what we all desire, bringing the magical world back to its rightful position of power and the eventual elimination of muggles everywhere. These seven people have ruined my plans for the last time. They are all hiding under ministry protection but if you all follow my instructions exactly they will all be dead within the week. One every day for seven days and the last of them will know what is coming but be unable to stop it. Then we can finally move forward. I will talk to each of you separately now, unless someone has something to say to the entire coven."
Nobody spoke and after a few seconds she motioned for O'Donnell to come with her to a pair of chairs in one corner away from the main table and for everyone else to wait. After a few minutes O'Donnell rose and left the room and she called the next person over. It went like this until she was alone in the room and she smiled for the first time. Everything was set and soon her enemies would be trembling because they would know that she had returned.
Only about two miles away at 12 Grimmauld Place four friends sat around the dinner table finishing dessert. Harry Potter was reading a travel pamphlet from a muggle resort in Florida, United States. "This year," he said "we go on vacation without the ministry even knowing we are gone. No more working vacations, the security people they have watching us won't even know we're gone and back. Ginny's Quidditch season is over, Ron and I finish classes Friday and Hermione has put in for the following week off and her supervisor has approved it. By Saturday we'll be in Florida with the beaches and night life and relaxation for a full week."
Ginny looked worried, "Do you think it's a good idea to slip our security. Without knowing where Bellatrix is or what she's planning; we could be walking into a trap like last year."
"Last year the ministry planned the whole trip and we were almost killed despite their protection." said Ron. "I say we're better off keeping this trip secret and protecting ourselves."
"I agree with Ginny." said Hermione. "I would love to get away but I don't want to spend my whole vacation scared of an attack and watching every stranger that gets close."
"You all have had talks with Kingsley and Clyde." said Harry. "They don't even want us to go out shopping for food and they asked that we not visit Luna, or Neville, or even your family. All we do is apparate to the ministry and back here. Do you want to live like we're in prison for who knows how long? What if they don't find any information about Bellatrix for ten years? Do we stay in here the rest of our lives? I say that means Bellatrix won. We may not be dead but we're just as good as if we're not free to live."
"Alright," said Ginny "let's do it. I just hope Kingsley doesn't fire us all if he finds out, he ordered us to take the security."
"What about the class Clyde Chitterly asked us to teach, 'Soaring and Capture Tactics for Aurors'?" asked Ron.
"I got him to schedule that for the last week of June." replied Harry. "Told him we wanted a break after our classes finished but didn't mention that we would be away. What does everyone say, all you all ready to go."
All of them agreed to go; they needed to get away for a while. "Good,' said Harry, "because I made the plane reservations last week. We leave tomorrow night at seven from Heathrow airport here in London and fly directly to Orlando airport in Florida. A muggle car will be waiting to take us to our condo. Everybody pack you things tonight because you won't have time tomorrow."
"I will," said Ginny, "My Quidditch season is over; you forget I don't have to go to work again until the end of July."
"When they find we gone they will come looking for us." said Hermione. "Chitterly will track us down through our reservations."
"They're under false names." answered Harry. "I already took the course in tracking movements of dark wizards and know the ministry techniques."
It had been a long year since last summer's three days of rest that came between what seemed to be unending disasters. Set up without their knowledge as bait by the Minister of Magic to lure some dark witches and wizards out of hiding they had been almost killed several times and in fact lost a friend who died saving Ginny's life.
But all in all things had gone fairly well with dozens of their enemies killed or captured; however the main person behind it all, the evil witch Bellatrix Lestrange had escaped. Actually she had been killed but not before making a Horcrux, an object in which part of her soul was preserved allowing her to reform a new body and return. Though they had no proof she was in fact back, she had made such elaborate arrangements to protect herself that they all believed she had returned by now. The entire ministry of magic of Great Britain and those of several other countries had been searching for clues about her return for many months now without success.
The four of them had participated in this hunt for clues until almost six months ago. A few days before New Year's Eve the Minister of Magic made a decision that there were no more clues worth following and the four of them should return to their normal lives until new clues were uncovered by the teams of professionals Aurors he had assigned to the case. Over the months, because Bellatrix could not be found, their normal routine had become more and more restricted as their security was tightened.
It was now the first week of June and still nothing had turned up. In fact the people in charge were concerned by the lack of a dark magic activity. It was like all dark witches and wizards had disappeared from the face of the earth. People that were well informed were worried that some plot was being laid out in secret and the four friends and a few others deeply involved now lived under well camouflaged but strangling security.
In April their friend's father Xenophilius Lovegood had died after a lingering illness and they had to fight for permission to attend the funeral. "It's not safe for all of you to be in the same place." argued Clyde Chitterly, the person in charge of their safety. But in the end they all went to comfort their friend Luna who had save their lives.
Luna was out of the country now at an unknown location and asked that no Aurors go with her which upset the ministry but was eventually allowed. Her father had espoused theories about strange creatures all his life and Luna decided she would honor her father by finding a Crumple-Horned Snorkack to show everyone he was correct in his beliefs. Their other friend who was being protected was Neville Longbottom who was in love with Luna but could not go with her because of his classes in Herbology. He had four Aurors following him around at all times.
Neville's ambition was to become the Herbology professor at their old school, Hogwarts, and he could not leave until his summer break. Neville had confessed to Ginny that Luna hasn't been herself since her father's death. "I think she doesn't love me anymore because I was there when her father died and subconsciously she feels I should have done something to save him. I hope she only needs some time alone and this was her way of getting some. I miss her but don't want to intrude on her solitude and I can only hope she will return to normal in time; normal for her that is."
The seventh person under protection, Molly Weasley, Ron and Ginny's mother had become almost a recluse, rarely leaving her house. "I can't go anywhere without a team of Aurors around me." she told them on their last visit. "If I stay home only two have to be stationed at the house. I feel guilty making two more leave their other duties whenever I say I want to go somewhere."
Minister of Magic Kingsley Shackelbolt sat in his office across from head Auror Clyde Chitterly and frowned. "Are you sure?" he asked.
"Yes," Chitterly answered "that's why I came to check if they talked to you. Granger put in for a week of vacation time and Potter asked me to put off the course on soaring until the end of June. They're going on a vacation without letting us know. That means they will break security without orders just when we think something is going to happen."
"How sure are you that something is up?" asked Kingsley.
Clyde thought for a few seconds about the best way to make his point then said, "Every country we have been working with has said dark activity is almost non existent. We have all been rounding up the dark witches and wizards that were best know to the authorities for questioning. Most of them resisted and some were killed some locked away so that explains some of the lull in dark activity.
The troubling part is the gray witches and wizards; those considered potentially a problem but not high on the priority list. We've been too busy to bother with them so far; but many of them in different countries have disappeared on their own, gone underground, fell out of sight. Our analysts think they have been organized into groups in each country and they have been all ordered to keep things quiet until a signal is given to them all at the same time. We also think it is Bellatrix that did the organizing. She was known to have been in many of these countries before she went to the states two years ago.
It been like this for over a month so the experts think it can't be much longer before whatever it is happens. A few days most likely, just when Potter and his friends plan to sneak away."
"What about Luna?" asked Kingsley. "Is she still in Sweden hunting Snorkacks?"
"Yes and she still thinks she is unguarded." answered Clyde. "I have two Aurors on her; it's the best I can manage. Any more and she would be bound to notice them. I have come to realize how smart she really is despite the ditzy appearance she projects. But what do we do about the others? I think you should call them in and tell them we know their plans then order them to stay or be fired."
"Fire Harry Potter and his friends!" snorted Kingsley. "It would be us that got fired. Have you forgotten they are still heroes to everyone in the magical community? You know I can't fire them. Besides they're good at their jobs, better than most."
"And what would happen to us if we let them break security and they get killed." responded Clyde.
"They would probably bring back a couple of Dementors to kiss us both." said Kingsley. "What we need is what to protect them while they're on this vacation like you're protecting Luna."
"It won't work." said Clyde. "Potter and Weasley know all our Aurors faces and many of their disguises from class. We couldn't keep enough of our people to cover all four of them supplied with Polyjuice potion to keep changing appearance for a full week."
Kingsley though for a moment then asked, "Do you know where they are going?"
"No," said Clyde "I just found out today about Granger asking for vacation time. They have been complaining for weeks about the security being too tight and the thought of them sneaking out just hit me."
"If they're breaking security they won't stay in country;" Kingsley said, "their faces are too well known. To go far they have to apparate in stages or fly in a muggle plane. Check the muggle airlines for reservations first; if nothing comes up we will have to do more thinking on this."
"Then what?" asked Clyde. "Suppose I do find reservations, I still don't know how we cover them."
Kingsley smiled, "Half the countries in the world that have tourist resorts owe us big time for our help in the last two years. I think I will be able to call in some favors and get the Aurors in which every country to provide protection. It's not ideal to get foreigners involved but it's better than nothing. Maybe you could assign one or two Aurors as supervisors for the foreign ones. Tell your people to keep in the background where Potter and Weasley won't see them."
"You are really counting on luck in this operation." said Clyde as he stood up to leave. "It will be lucky if they travel by plane, lucky if I can find out where they are going, lucky if that country will help, and lucky if this all doesn't blow up in our faces."
The next morning when Kingsley arrived at the ministry he found Clyde waiting in the outer office. "What's the bad news?" Kingsley asked.
"Not bad; good for a change." answered Clyde. "Assuming they were flying they would probably leave from the nearest airport and probably in the first day or two after they finish class; they have to be back for that soaring class the following week. I looked for two male and two female passengers in their late teens or early twenties flying together. British Airways tells me there is such a group leaving for Orlando, Florida on Friday night at nine with return tickets next Saturday."
"Are you sure it's them?" asked Kingsley.
Almost positive said Clyde, "The names on the reservations are fake. I had our people in the muggle government office check them and there are no people by those names on record."
"Good said Kingsley, "I'll call the Secretary of Magic in the states and ask him to assign some of his Fleas. He knows Harry and owes not only me but also the four of them a debt he will never be able to pay. After all it was his secretary that was the leak that almost got them killed last year."
It was five O'clock and Harry and Ron met Hermione at the elevator on the way home. Angelina and Dean the other two Auror apprentices in the class with Harry and Ron were also there waiting.
"Two weeks off," said Dean it will be great. "You lot have any plans."
Angelina answered first, "Sleep late every day and then get some soaring practice before the soaring class starts at the end of June. I'm glad you two taught us to soar over the winter. It will be the first time I'll be better than our instructors at anything. We'll be able to concentrate on the tactics."
Harry, wanting to avoid talking about their plans added, "Yeah, Ron and I will split the class and the few like you that already know how to soar will work on tactics while the others learn the theory behind soaring. I can't wait to see some of the older Aurors try it."
At the apparition site in the lobby Harry, Ron, and Hermione held hands and apparated to Grimmauld Place just as Chitterly apparated in. There was a grim look on his face. He was in a hurry to see Kingsley and hated the fact that he couldn't apparate directly to the minister's office even though he agreed that for security reasons most of the ministry had to have apparating blocked.
The section of the lobby where apparating was permitted was quite small and restricted to high security personal while most ministry workers had to use the flue network. Although the experts insisted that something called quantum fluctuations prevented two people from apparating into the same space at the same time he couldn't help but think that at rush hour there was the possibility of seeing two bodies being stuck together because they apparated in at the same time.
The three minutes it took to get to Kingsley's office seemed like three hours and when he arrived he found the minister walking out of the office. He grabbed Kingsley by the elbow and turned him around leading him back in. Kingsley looked down at Clyde's hand bothered that anyone would grab the minister's elbow but the look on Clyde's face told Kingsley not to mention the affront because Chitterly was obviously upset.
As soon as the door closed Clyde spoke. "Luna is dead," he said. "I just got word from Swedish authorities."
"What happened?" Kingsley said.
"I didn't get a lot of details," said Clyde. "A more thorough report is being brought by hand and should be here in a few hours. I couldn't reach the two Aurors assigned to Luna this morning and after several attempts I contacted my corresponding number in the Swedish Auror's service asking him to send someone to the cabin where Luna was staying during her Snorkack hunt.
It is on the edge of a small remote town and my people have been staying in the town as close to the cabin as they could without being obvious. They took twelve hour shifts under disillusionment charms following Luna into the woods when she went out and staying near the cabin when she was there. When the Swedish Auror arrived he found my two people dead outside the cabin and Luna dead on the inside. There were also three bodies that he couldn't identify, two outside and one inside. I guess there was quite a fight and there must have been at least one other unknown person was present because I don't think the last two people killed each other simultaneously."
"As soon as the report arrives I want to see it." said Kingsley. "You have notified your people guarding the others about what happened?"
"Of course and two more Aurors have been assigned to each house. Our problem you know is we can't go into the houses. Potter won't let us in at Grimmauld place because none of them think they need protection. So our men are stationed around the outside. Neville goes to his grandmothers on weekends and while he is okay with us during the week the feisty old lady said she handled the death eaters during the war by herself so she and her grandson can certainly take care of thing now by themselves. Molly and Arthur still have the Fidelius Charm on the Burrow so they are safe as long as they stay inside. Our men just accompany Molly when she goes out and she almost never goes out recently."
Kingsley considered the options and said, "I think you're right about Molly but I want you to send your men into the Longbottom house. Tell them I ordered it and if Augusta argues tell her I will come over personally and arrest her and put her in protective custody if I have to. Also send your people into Grimmauld Place and stop them from leaving. Until we know the extent of what is happening they have to stay put.
Wait, on second thought I have to go to Grimmauld Place myself your men can't get in since they haven't been told how by one of the secret keepers. Also Harry will argue with your men but he will listen to me."
"You hope." said Clyde as he stood to go out and send the orders to the guards at the Longbottom house. "I will remain at the ministry all night to coordinate everything to provide for the safety of all of them. I will get the report on Luna to you as soon as it arrived. Will you be staying at Grimmauld Place or going home?"
"I'll stay there at least until you bring the report." answered Kingsley as he got up to go to the lobby to apparate out.
As they got into the elevator Clyde thought about when he arrived and that he didn't have the right to feel bad even the minister had to go to the apparition site in the lobby like everyone else.
In a muggle restaurant on Carnaby St. a tall woman dressed in black sat waiting. A man known as Smyth entered and sat down. "It did not go as planned." he said. "Two Aurors were there rather than one as was thought. Both were under disillusionment charms. The first was spotted and killed as planned but the second killed two of our people before we got him. The noise must have alerted the girl because she was ready with her wand and killed another of our people as we entered before I could kill her."
A look of anger appeared on the woman's face. "But the girl is dead?" she asked. "You are sure?"
"Yes madam, I hit her with a killing curse myself and checked the body to be sure." answered Smyth.
"Then our losses do not matter; tomorrow the second one dies." she said as she rose and left.