I am writing fiction as I only know American and nothing of British military outside of reading other stories and am using my own ideas on what might happen. Anything that matches actual procedures is purely coincidental. As always, I do not own Harry Potter or any of the things mentioned save the plot and any original characters.
The dragon strained as it climbed to the roof of Gringotts Bank in Diagon Alley. From there it could see the roofs of downtown London. With a sweep of its wings, the dragon took flight over the capital of Great Britain heading north.
Nearby, alerts and sirens sounded.
"We have an unknown airborne signature on radar. It just appeared over central London less than a mile from Buckingham Palace!" called out a soldier who was monitoring a radar station.
"How did anything flying get so close to the Palace?" the commander shouted as he turned to the monitor nearest to him.
"Hostile has turned north and is moving away from the zone at roughly 30 knots," reported the soldier. "Initial reports from spotters at the Palace are confused. Video feed being provided shortly."
The commander had begun to sweat profusely. He knew his career was over from letting anything airborne get this close to the Palace but he would continue to do his duty until relieved.
"All stations isolate and track that contact. Pass word to outlying stations that they must not lose it. Send in the alert fighter aircraft and helicopters to pursue and prepare to arrest anyone if it lands. The Queen's security was threatened today by whoever that is."
"Video feed coming in now, Sir," the soldier said in a tight voice. "It can't be what it looks like Sir, can it?"
The commander looked at the short clip of video from a Palace security camera before the hostile moved out of the field of view.
"What the bloody hell is that thing?" the commander whispered.
"Sir, I know it sounds insane. But that thing looks like a dragon," the soldier said.
The commander stood straight and barked out orders. He was not sure how to react to a dragon but he knew how to react to a hostile aircraft. Gather evidence and provide it to his superiors.
"I want footage from everything that whatever it is passed. I want the information to be airtight. Palace cameras, CCTV, security companies. Contact the Home Office and get permission to request video footage from traffic light cameras if necessary. I want to know where that thing appeared and send troops to search its launch site. I want it all as soon as possible if not sooner."
The soldiers immediately began making calls.
"Sir, I triangulated off of two feeds to locate the launch point. It is impossible but it literally just appeared over Charing Cross Road, downtown.
The dragon flew north past the urban areas near London without interruption as long range aircraft angled in to follow it from a distance. On alert army helicopters scrambled to take up following positions with gun cameras recording and retransmitting footage back to the bases as they closed on the hostile contact.
"Base, this is Alert 4, I have close contact with the hostile. I am having trouble maintaining visual contact as it seems to vanish if I look directly at it but the gun camera is having no trouble at all. I can see what appears to be a large creature with bat like wings. It is white in color. Reptilian in appearance. Long neck and tail with spines running along its back. Base, there also appears to be a trio of teenagers riding on this creature. Camera feed should confirm this visual Base so please do not think this is something the flight surgeon needs to pay close attention to me on," the pilot said in a light tone trying to calm himself.
The pilot of the attack helicopter Alert 4 had been an avid role playing gamer in his secondary school days. He was not going to go on record saying he was recording images of a DRAGON until someone else of higher rank would be willing to do so as well.
"Alert 4, Base. Be advised that the lot of us will be needing to see the flight surgeon after this one. Preliminary reports and video from London show the hostile appears to be classified as a dragon."
The pilot breathed a sigh of relief when a trio of additional attack helicopters arrived to follow the creature as it flew along north.
The police and military arrived at Charing Cross Road and surrounding streets to look for anything they could find but nothing appeared out of the ordinary. Further input had the hostile first appeared over a specific block of buildings. There was no evidence of how anything could have launched from this area One soldier did notice a strange old run down bar but he never bothered to mention it as his superiors never asked about it so he did not consider it important.
"We should shoot it down," said one colonel of the RAF. "It has been over the Palace airspace. If the world found out about this we will have terrorists thinking we are a soft target."
The general nodded slowly. He did not like this either. "What reports from the helicopters following the contact?"
"Course and speed unchanged for the past half hour, Sir. It is heading almost due north at 28.7 knots. No other status changes to note," a soldier with a telephone to his ear replied.
The general nodded. "We wait for now. Whatever this thing is may not be hostile. I am troubled by these teenagers that appear to be riding it however. There is something going on and they most likely have information we need. Pass this order on to the pursuit. They are to be taken into custody if possible but do not allows other lives to be threatened by this thing. If it attacks, defend yourself or any other lives on the ground."
The soldier passed on the orders immediately.
The second pursuit team relieved the first. It consisted of another three attack helicopters. They flew behind the dragon for nearly an hour before something happened.
"Status change! The teens have jumped off the dragon into a lake," the lead helicopter said to his flight. Unit 3, continue to follow the creature. Unit 2, come with me to provide cover. We are to prevent the suspects from escaping," the pilot ordered.
He noted the teens struggling to swim to shore after their long journey. He moved in when they had reached water shallow enough to stand in and dropped to hover off to one side of them roughly 5 meters in the air. He opened his microphone to an outside speaker.
"Attention, this is RAF helicopter XH336. You will fall to the ground upon exiting the water. Failure to do so will be seen as a hostile act and I shall open fire."
The pilot was glad when the trio fell to the ground as ordered. He did not want to shoot kids but he would do so if forced. The second helicopter took up an orbiting position to watch for anyone approaching the area.
Ten minutes later, the attack helicopter backed off some as another let arrived to drop off some troops nearby. The squad of SAS took no chances as they approached the 'hostiles'. Commands to lay flat on the ground were obeyed by two but the ginger seemed to be panicking. The other two were yelling at him to lie down but he started to reach into his pants for a weapon. The suspect in glasses crab crawled over and yanked the ginger to the ground to defuse the situation as the squad approached the teenagers.
The girl in some kind of gothic dress whimpered when the gun touched her neck.
"Do you have any weapons?" the soldier called out as two squad mates took up similar position on the boys.
"No," she replied after a hesitation.
The soldier did not like the hesitation as he held his weapon in place. A sergeant came up and roughly pulled the girl's arms behind her back and bound her wrists in an X with zip ties in both directions to prevent her slipping out of a single tie. The boys were bound in a similar manner before they were lifted one at a time to stand. The sergeant came back and attached manacles to the ankles of each and started to place a hood over each when the ginger panicked again. The other boy and the girl kept calling out 'Ron, calm down' at the ginger but it was no use. The teen began to thrash and flail his limbs about. The sergeant nodded to a specialist who stepped up and used a taser on the suspect. The ginger was loaded into the helicopter while the black haired boy and the girl went quietly.
The prisoners were stripped of everything including undergarments, searched and given plain orange prison jumpsuits to wear with all of their belonging confiscated. The ginger, Ron, was simply left in a cell naked under a blanket once he was stripped and searched. No obvious weapons were found but they had some trouble with a pouch around the black haired boy's neck. A solder swore that it had bit him when he removed it from the teen.
A problem arose shortly after the arrival when the black haired boy had some kind of seizure. He held onto his head moaning that 'He knows. He has the last one. We failed.' After some time the boy stopped and sat in a near catatonic state until he was questioned.
Hours later, an interrogator looked through the mirrored glass at the girl and black haired boy. They had freely given their names and home addresses. Hermione Granger of London and Harry Potter of Surrey were both checked out but there were some issues. Neither teen had any school records for the past seven years. The school photos did show similarities and age progression software was a near match to those two in holding cells. He thought it sad that eleven year olds had been recruited by terrorists. The girl's home had been unoccupied for months and neighbors said the family had moved out the previous summer. Australia had been mentioned by more than one neighbor. But no records of her parents emigrating showed in the records. They had simply vanished.
The boy's address had been more interesting. It had been abandoned months before as well but a search turned up a number of things. The smallest bedroom had a door with multiple locks on the outside and a cat flap in it. A cupboard under the stairs had an inscription 'Harry's Room' on a stair riser. The anti terror team was going through the rest of the house thoroughly as it was a solid lead. An abused child would be good fodder for terrorists as the child would be sympathetic to the cause of anyone who treated them well. But one thing here was similar. Like the Grangers, the Dursleys had vanished without a trace.
The ginger had given his name as Ron Weasley of a small town in Devon. No such person or family existed in their records. A nationwide data search for the name 'Weasley' only turned up an accountant who lived near Leeds. They would assume he was either foreign or a non registered child. Either way as a non entity he was considered dangerous.
A man in a dark suit took a deep breath and stepped into the room. The guard locked the door behind him. He looked at the black haired boy, Harry, and the frizzy haired girl, Hermione.
"Good afternoon. I am Agent Jones. Since you have cooperated to an extent and the preliminary identity information you gave us was completely accurate, we have relaxed slightly and are allowing you to remain together and unrestrained during our further questioning. Do not make us do anything to regret that. You are currently being held in one of Her Majesty's military installations while your final status is determined. The more you cooperate the better your future will be," Agent Jones stated. "Do you understand this?"
Both Harry and Hermione replied "Yes."
"Good," Jones said smiling slightly. He knew a friendly attitude would help slightly but he also knew being belligerent to teens would clam them up at once. "I cannot say the same about your friend however. He is safe and under no duress. He is just being held more closely until we can determine precisely who he is. He does not exist in any records so he will remain under the highest suspicion for the time being. We will get to him later."
Jones began his conversation building up his knowledge on the teens. He asked them the basics; the names of relatives, schools attended, friend's names and surprisingly, food allergies. None of the answers read to him like a lie and all the answers were only confirming information about the pair already found from outside sources. Once he had a good basic background confirmation, he got into the meat of his questions.
"Next, where have you been for the last seven years? Your school records do not have any kind of transfer in them. In fact, there is a glaring lack of information in them. There should have been a follow up with your non attendance but there is nothing."
Harry looked at Hermione weakly and the pair seemed to communicate non-verbally in a manner of close friends do before Hermione spoke.
"We both, along with Ron, have been attending an alternative school in Scotland since leaving regular schools," she said simply then got quiet.
"An alternative school then? Does this school have a name?" Jones asked.
Hermione seemed to want to say something but she started and stopped a few times before simply replying "Hogwarts" and getting quiet again.
Jones could tell there was something going on that he was not getting. "You suddenly seem reluctant to answer my questions, Miss Granger. Why?"
The girl blushed slightly and he could see a look of concentration on her face before she replied.
"I am not doing it intentionally, Agent Jones," she said. "I am bound by … law not to talk about certain things to certain people. If you could find someone in the government who knows what exactly Hogwarts is, both Harry and I would be able to explain everything to them. A full disclosure about anything they could ask us about. Please do not ask us about this further right now."
Agent Jones arched an eyebrow at that statement. He noted the girl sweating badly and started to tremble as if under a strain. He knew this might be a ploy but these teens were not going anywhere until he released them from his custody.
"Very well," he replied. "I shall wait and get this information passed on. It might take some time. You will be given time to think about things in solitude until then."
"Thank you Agent Jones," Harry said. "We want to cooperate but things are not always what they seem sometimes."
Agent Jones stood and moved to the interrogation room door and knocked. The guard let him out before several more escorted the teens to their separate cells in different parts of the building.
"Opinion?" Jones asked the man waiting in the next room.
"They had discussed nothing and only hugged for a moment when brought into the room, Sir," the technician running the recording equipment told him. "If they are colluding on something it was prepared well in advance. Body language shows they are familiar with each other and likely friends. This other one, the ginger is awake and asking when dinner is. He was told it would be some time so he changed to asking for a snack to tide him over. He does not seem that bright but I have seen worse acting for that."
Jones nodded. "I'll send up the names we got. The PM is breathing down our necks for information. Perhaps this is something black that we are not cleared for. The girl seemed earnest at first but she clammed up once questions involving her public records end."
A half hour later, a fax was sent to London with a preliminary report to the PM. It mentioned the names of the suspects and the name Hogwarts. The PM showed it to his director of MI5, the Home Office, who almost had a fit at seeing it. He got on his phone and made a call to a department that did not officially exist.
It was two hours later that a 'special' agent from the Home Office arrived at the base on a high speed transport.
Agent Jones looked at the ID of the man before him. He frowned at his idea of it being something 'black' had proven correct.
"Please understand that I believe the children are not being obstinate on purpose. I would ask that you remain here at your monitors until I call you into the room. Certain protocols must be observed before you can listen to them in person. Special secrets and all that. But pay close attention to the monitors and record what is being said. This is a very delicate legal loophole and it must be done correctly or else there could be serious consequences for all involved," the agent said.
Jones just nodded and nodded to the guard to let the man into the interrogation room before turning to watch the monitors as asked.
Harry Potter was anxious but not scared. The solitude of the confinement had not gotten to him in the slightest. He felt that it was much nicer than the Dursleys so he endured it easily. He felt Hermione would be going spare with no access to books or knowledge but she seemed to deal with it easily as well. This was his third time in the room, the second with Hermione present. He realized during the previous session that something else was happening when both Hermione and he were unable to speak to Agent Jones about wizarding matters. Hermione had almost hurt herself getting out the name of the school. They had to have been under some kind of magical compulsion to keep up the Statue of Secrecy.
The door opened and another agent he had not seen before came into the room.
"Mr. Potter, Miss Granger, good afternoon. I am Reginald Smythe with the Home Office," the now revealed Agent Smythe said.
"Good afternoon," both teens replied.
"This is important so please respond to my questions with clear and concise answers. It may seem strange at first but I must do things this way," Smythe said before sitting at the table across from the teens.
Harry watched as Smythe arranged a tablet and pen before him on the table. Hermione seemed interested in what was going on but remained quiet. The man then sat and looked at them directly in the eye. First Harry then Hermione.
"I must now completely introduce myself. I am Reginald Smythe, agent with the Home Office, Department M," he said as he reached into his jacket and pulled something out. "Ravenclaw, Graduate in the Class of 1981 from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I am a wizard," he said placing a wand on the tablet before him.
Both Harry and Hermione sighs in relief as it felt like a weight had lifted from them. Hermione was about to speak but Agent Smythe held up his hand,
"Procedures first Miss Granger, questions afterwards," Smythe said. "Now, you must answer some simple questions before we can continue."
"Mr. Potter, are you a wizard and of age in the Wizarding World?" he asked.
"Yes, I am," Harry replied.
"Miss Granger, are you a witch and of age in the Wizarding World?"
"Yes, I am," Hermione replied.
"Good. Hogwarts places a compulsion on minors who live mainly in the mundane world to help the enforcement of the International Statue of Secrecy. As both of you are of age as Magical citizens of Great Britain, you should have been freed of this by the Ministry before this but I understand this was not the case. Hermione had the correct idea in asking for an agent of the government."
Hermione blushed slightly at the praise.
Agent Smythe lifted his wand and made a series of motions. "As an authorized agent of Her Majesty's government, I must ask have either of you knowingly violated the International Statue of Secrecy?"
"No, Sir," both replied.
A minor glow came from each teen.
"Good. Do you both accept your role as adults in the Wizarding World of Great Britain and agree to abide by the relevant laws of this land regarding the Statute of Secrecy?" Smythe asked.
"Yes, Sir," both teens replied.
Smythe nodded and made a few more motions with his wand. There was a sound of glass breaking as the glow surrounding both teens broke apart and vanished.
"Very good. If either if you had lied on either question you risked losing your magic," Smythe said. "The Wizengamot might not like to admit it but they are still subject to the laws of Great Britain. One of these is that an agent of the government who is magical can accept adulthood and remove the compulsion. It is just another control on the populace they have placed. Agent Jones, you may come in now," Smythe said in a raised voice.
The door next to the mirror opened and Jones walked in looking shocked.
"Did you hear what was said and get a good copy of the statements on video, Agent Jones?" Smythe asked.
"Yes, it is a bit hard to believe but yes, I heard what was said and got the recording," Jones replied.
"Good, that solves any future issue as well. It is important that anyone talking to these people watch it before they talk to them. They do not have to believe it, simply view it."
Hermione understood at once what was happening. "You recorded our statements about being magical. Doesn't that violate the Statue?"
"Actually no. It bends it slightly but it does not violate it. It is a simple loophole in the Statute that was never closed in the modern age. As you made your statements not consciously knowing it was being recorded, you spoke the truth. I was able to remove the compulsion with your statement of being adults so it will not bother you in the future. Also, one of the laws written by Parliament and approved by the Wizengamot says any agent of Her Majesty's government is authorized to be told about the magical world so you are covered either way. The law was written quite vaguely so that if a person that is a government employee and simply knows about Magical Britain by any means you are not in violation of the statute by talking with them."
"Wizards have a tendency to be quite ignorant of logic and common sense at times," Hermione said with a wry humor
"Yes they are, thankfully. Your friend Mr. Weasley might be a tougher nut to crack however. My daughter is a Ravenclaw right now, second year. She mentioned all three of you at one time of another. She admires Miss Granger and was sad you missed your final year. Oddsmakers had you being Head Girl in spite of your heritage. Mr. Potter as the Boy Who Lived is famous enough in his own right. Then there is Mr. Weasley. His reputation is much lower among other houses that you might realize. Many people were glad he did not attend this year. All in all, quite a trio."
Hermione blushed once more and Harry coughed behind his fist.
"On to business now. The PM is livid at a lack of accurate information out of Wizarding Britain. Mail out of Hogwarts is being filtered and censored heavily. The daily newspaper reports nothing of significance. Our normal avenues of information out of your Ministry have dried up completely. What can you tell us about Scrimgour's government?" Smythe asked.
Um, it fell last August. It was replaced by a government controlled by Volde…," Harry began when Hermione stopped him from finishing the name.
"The Taboo," she reminded Harry. "Magicals who say his name activate a trace to their location that he uses to send his Death Eaters in to cause mayhem and break up resistance," she told Jones and Smythe.
Smythe frowned and nodded. That explained the disappearance of a few of the Home Office's magical agents over the past year.
"Most often, Professor Dumbledore would refer to him as Tom, his real name. The full name is Tom Marvolo Riddle. His father was a muggle, um, non magical who got potioned by a hedge witch," Harry stated looking at Agent Jones.
Jones wrote down the name for the researchers and motioned for the teens to continue. "For the official records about these Death Eaters. Who and what do they do?" he asked
"They are his most ardent supporters. Mostly purebloods and well off. They already controlled a large portion of the magical society with money and influence," Hermione supplied.
"His SS then," Jones relied and after a few moments of thought, Hermione nodded.
"I had not compared it like that before, but yes I suppose they would be," she admitted. "I had just considered them bigots before but with recent events I would have to agree with your comparison."
"Recent events?" Jones asked.
Between them Harry and Hermione filled in their impression of the current state of Magical Britain. The Death Eaters and the Snatchers were running a terror campaign on the non pureblood populace. There were rumors of the internment camps and the horrors that also were rumored to happen there. The frowns on both Jones and Smythe increased as pages of notes were filled. Hours passed as the teens told everything they knew, suspected or heard as rumors over the wireless. They gave the names of all known or suspected Death Eaters along with rumored locations of their homes. Ideas were bandied about as ways to track them were passed between Hermione and Smythe.
"You should have been a Ravenclaw, Miss Granger," Smythe concluded after they agreed to a break for dinner.
"The sorting hat did want me to go there at first, Agent Smythe. But it decided that my capacity for courage was greater than my mind," she admitted.
"Now, as to the dragon. How did that occur?" Jones asked.
Both teens blushed at that. "Rather badly I am afraid," Harry admitted. "We were trying to recover something Riddle cursed from Gringotts, the goblin run bank in Diagon Alley. We could not risk that they would refuse to hand it over so we were forced to steal it from them. We were discovered and had to fight our way out of their bank. We used the dragon as a means of escape."
Smythe just looked shocked at that. The goblins were a proud race and took their reputation in bank security as inviolate. They would be after these teens with a vengeance for making them look bad. Jones just kind of smirked and continued.
"So you robbed a bank and stole a dragon? If we did not have proof of that on video I would be laughing at such a claim. What is so important about this item?"
"It is the cup of Helga Hufflepuff. Along with a locket we previously recovered belonging to Salazar Slytherin, it contains a portion of the soul of Tom Riddle. It is an anchor to the world that prevents him from dying completely. He made a total of seven of them. As long as any exist, he cannot die and can be brought back to life through a dark ritual," Harry said with a lack of emotion. "Three have been destroyed already. We have two more and Riddle had one near him while the last one he recovered from its hiding place at Hogwarts."
"We only have one Harry," Hermione stated.
Harry looked down and shook his head. "Two," he repeated. "The cup." Harry paused and took a deep breath. "And me," he said pointing to his scar.
Hermione shook her head to deny it but Harry continued.
"There is a reason why I can 'see' what he is doing. To see through Nagini's eyes at times. Dumbledore hinted at it a few times but after all this time it is obvious. Even you can see that, Hermione."
"To kill Riddle forever we need to kill me first," Harry stated.
Smythe and Jones decided to end the talks at that point.
Harry and Hermione were taken to a cafeteria for dinner and Ron was brought in to eat with them. The ginger prat spoke loudly with no regard to the soldiers in the room.
They are trying to starve me into talking but I wouldn't give the muggles any information."
Hermione rolled her eyes and tried to explain the situation to her would be boyfriend.
"You guys okay?" Ron asked. Hermione filled him in on what they had been through. She avoided saying anything involved with Harry dying to finish off Voldemort.
"How are you doing, Ron" Harry asked to change the subject that he could see was bothering Hermione.
"They took all of my stuff and left me practically naked! All there was to wear was this thing." Ron tugged at the orange jumpsuit her wore identical to the ones Harry and Hermione had on.
"The color is the best though. Go Cannons!" Ron called out "You think they will let me keep it?"
"Who knows, Ron? Maybe," Harry chuckled.
Meals were brought out to them on Styrofoam plates with a plastic knife and spork to eat with. Drinks were provided in paper cups. The hard plastic trays were taken off by a guard. Rom marveled at the spork and the materials their dinner as provided on.
"It's called a spork, Ron. It is a combination of a spoon and a fork. It is used in place of both but not nearly as well," she explained with a sigh,
"Dad would love these. You think we can get him one?" Ron asked earnestly.
"Sure Ron. Remind me about it later. We can stop at the market for some," Hermione said ending the topic.
Then the redhead almost gagged at the flat taste of the food before complaining loudly about muggles trying to poison him.
"Ron, knock it off," Hermione chided. "The food is fine for what we are considered here."
"Huh," grunted Ron as he tried to swallow some deep fried chicken patty.
"We are being treated a bit better than I have seen on the telly but we are still prisoners here, Ron," she admonished the redhead. "They think we are terrorists who tried to attack the Queen."
"Queen? What queen? And what is a terro-wrist thing?" Ron grumbled.
"Honestly Ron. The Queen, Elizabeth the Second? Monarch of Great Britain?" Hermione prompted.
"Never heard of her. We got a Minister in charge not a queen," Ron groused.
Harry choked a bit hearing that. Even he knew about the Queen from a young age. Uncle Vernon made sure of it most nights when the lard had complained about her and most government officials.
Hermione huffed and just dropped the subject. She was tired, frustrated at Harry and not in the mood for educating Ron right now. She focused on the bland food but she too found it barely palatable. She looked over at a guard nearby.
"Might I have some salt please?" she asked politely.
A guard walked off and returned with a small packet of salt. Hermione thanked him and resumed eating after using it.
Ron finished eating what was in front of him and tapped the plate like he would at school or home for a refill. Nothing appeared and he grumbled once more. "Trying to starve us I tell you."
"Enough Ron," Hermione yelled. She picked up her unfinished dinner and dropped it in front of the redhead. "Have mine, I've lost my appetite," she said before turning to a guard.
"Can I go back to my cell now? I would really like to rest if I may," she asked on the edge of tears.
The guard looked at Ron once and nodded to the distraught girl before leading her out.
Harry just shook his head and remained quiet. He knew if Hermione had had her wand Ron would be a walking boil right now. Sometimes being the quiet one was safer.
"Mental that one," Ron said to Harry. Harry had to fight to keep from rolling his eyes and decided closing them for a few minutes was best.
"Don't worry, Harry. When I get my wand back I'll show these muggles a thing or two about treating wizards with proper respect," Ron said after about thirty seconds of silence. "They think they can just do what they want! I mean if I had my wand out before that flying thing would have been junk."
A slight thud was heard and began to repeat every five seconds or so.
"Harry, why are you banging your head on the table?" a bewildered Ron asked.
Author's Notes:
This is the only semi complete thing I have managed in over a year. Depression is not a good thing to have but getting help for it is a good thing. I have more but I do not rely on others for beta services so I only post what I feel is ready for the public. Other things are in the works a my writing has begun after so long a lapse.