Disclaimer: I don't own or make a profit from any characters mentioned in this story. They were created/belong to DC Comics and J.K. Rowling, I think.
Spoilers: For Harry Potter, up through Book 5, information in Books 6 and 7 are mostly ignored, although bits and pieces might be mentioned. For DC Comics, this is set after Guy Gardner: Warrior ended, but before the death of Donna Troy. Sorry, I can't really be more specific than that.
Rating: M. There will be mentions of things not appropriate for children in this story and this rating should be taken seriously.
Pairings: Harry/Pansy. I'm thinking Lavender/Tim Drake (Robin), or Lavender/Bart Allen (Impulse) or maybe Lavender/Connor Hawke (Green Arrow II), but I'm open to suggestions on pairings for Lavender and others.
Summary: Harry's hero complex might just get him killed, if Pansy doesn't murder him first. HarryPansy. A Harry Potter DC Comics x-over.
Author's Notes: I know that I haven't posted anything in a while, but inspiration and evil muses and all that. Not to mention that my mother is in the hospital (pneumonia). Anyway, I should be updating other things, but they didn't interest me. I'm not sure how often I'll be able to update or even if I'll be able to finish, but I do hope that I can finish this story. I rather like it so far.
Chapter 1
The scene was quickly becoming a staple of trips on the Hogwarts Express. She stood several feet away, only her head in the hallway. The rest of her body was safely in the compartment.
This would not end well. Or perhaps it would be better to say that the scene would not end well for her boyfriend, Draco Malfoy. Draco and his goons, Gregory Goyle and Vincent Crabbe had once more gone to challenge the Gryffindor Golden-Boy, the boy-who-wouldn't-just-lay-down-and-die, Harry Potter.
She sighed, then put a look of concern upon her face when a number of people cursed Draco, Greg, and Vince. Huh, she hadn't known that a bat boogey hex combined with a tongue removing jinx could do that.
Noticing that some Gryffindors were walking down the hall, she backed into the compartment. The last thing she wanted was to deal with overzealous lions. They tended to act first and think never. Draco had brought his fate upon himself. She would let him deal with the consequences. And anyway, somebody would help them… eventually.
She managed to lock the door with and without magic seconds before a Hufflepuff tried to open it. He gave her and angry look and slammed his hand against the glass before stalking off.
It looked like it was time to leave. She grabbed her trunk and her cat's basket before heading to the door. While the Hufflepuff complained to several other boys, she made good her escape, settling in a compartment several cars down. She ignored the first year Slytherins she shared her new compartment with, contemplating her choices over the years.
It had seemed so simple, at first. As a Slytherin, she'd quickly come to the realization that it would be nigh on impossible to befriend anybody in another house. As for the other Slytherins… if they had any idea of her true parentage, she knew quite well what would occur.
So she'd befriended other girls in her year, carefully sure that she didn't reveal anything about her mother's family. Her father came from a long line of purebloods, after all, why would they think her mother was anything but a pureblood. And a year and a half earlier, she'd agreed to go out with Draco.
Not that she could stand the spoiled little shit. But survival came before anything else and if Draco Malfoy wanted something, then he damn well better receive it. It was for the good of all those involved. She shuddered to think what would happen, should Lucius Malfoy ever learn who her mother was-or for that matter, who she was. The eldest of her younger siblings was only seven and her mother was expecting again.
So she did what she could to keep Draco happy. Luckily, he seemed pleased with kissing and heavy petting. No true pureblood girl of any standing would allow more than that. Draco hadn't thought anything of it when she'd refused to have sex with him, claiming that she was "saving herself" for marriage.
If nothing else, Slytherin had taught her much about being a good actress. There were times when she wanted nothing more than to kill her so-called friends and boyfriend, not that they ever knew her true feelings. There were times when it was all she could do to stop herself from breaking down, from trying to scrub Draco's touch from her flesh. As far as Draco knew, she was his adoring, if slightly clingy, girlfriend.
There was no end in sight. She'd marry Draco-the Malfoys were already talking to her parents about a betrothal.
There was no choice in the matter. Not really. She would do what she had to do to protect her family, no matter how disturbing she found it.
When the train pulled into the station, Pansy quickly got off. If she was quick enough, she might actually manage to avoid her fellow Slytherins.
The sight that greeted her was more than a bit worrying. Lucius Malfoy stood near the entrance to the Muggle part of King's Cross, his hand on the shoulder of Liam, her seven year old brother. Mr. Malfoy didn't seem to have noticed her.
She quickly gave Liam a once over. Shit. He looked like he'd been crying and seemed to be trying to shrink away from Mr. Malfoy.
Something was wrong, very wrong. Her parents hated that she was dating Draco, but understood why she did so. They would never allow Mr. Malfoy to get near any of her siblings.
She needed to have at least one hand free. Not to mention it was probably a liability at this point, something that could be used against her. She couldn't get rid of her trunk-that would be too suspicious.
Her wand was slipped under the waistband of her skirt near her spine. She quickly hid the top of it with her shirt. She put a twig she'd kept for just such an occasion in her wand holster. It had been carefully carved, sanded, and polished until it looked like her actual wand. One never knew when a decoy might be needed.
Putting an annoyed look on her face, she pushed her cat basket into the chest of a passing student. Damn. Potter. There was nothing for it; she'd have to continue with her plan.
"What the hell, Parkinson?" snapped Potter.
Pansy sneered at him, picking up her trunk, "Carry your own damn familiar!"
Knowing that she had just caught Mr. Malfoy's attention, Pansy confidently walked over to him. She contemplated her next move carefully as she did so.
Mr. Malfoy had Liam, but did he have Clover and Logan as well? Not to mention, what could possibly have happened to her parents?
Did she get Liam out of there and risk Clover, Logan, and maybe the child her mother carried as well? Mr. Malfoy could very well harm them if she did so. Or did she allow herself to be captured? She could try to work from the inside to get herself and her siblings out.
No. There was no real option. Should she allow Mr. Malfoy to take herself and Liam, she left Liam in harm's way. At the very least, Pansy swore to herself that she'd get Liam out of this situation alive.
The next thing she knew, something was touching her back. It felt like a wand. It seemed she no longer had any options.
"Keep walking, Parkinson," Mr. Davis said in a low voice.
Harry frowned at the object in his hands. Why the hell had Parkinson given him her cat? It made no sense; Parkinson was ridiculously protective of the thing (she'd once cursed the Weasley twins for trying to experiment on the cat-although what she'd done was better left unsaid. The two of them still couldn't look at any type of frog without making Ron's arachnophobia seem like a mild fear).
He moved to catch up to Parkinson. Once he was several feet away, he paused. A rather large man had his rather well hidden wand to Parkinson's back-if not for the angle he was at; Harry doubted he would have seen the wand. They were walking toward Mr. Malfoy, who was clutching a teary child. The child looked rather like Parkinson, now that he thought about it.
Oh god. She felt like she was going to be sick. This couldn't be happening.
Pansy didn't bother to move from her place on the floor, it would only anger Mr. Malfoy. The last thing she needed was to anger Mr. Malfoy while his attention was on her. At least not while Clover still breathed.
"How dare you attempt to steal the Malfoy fortune, mudblood," Mr. Malfoy said in low, dangerous voice. "You sullied the Malfoy name."
The consequences of "sullying the Malfoy name" lay on the floor, several feet away. While her real wand had not been found, Pansy's hands were chained in front of her body, making it impossible to reach. At least his death had been quick.
Clover huddled next to Pansy, shaking like a leaf. The cell she had been brought to after being "disarmed" was in the Malfoy's dungeon. That psychotic bitch, Bellatrix LeStrange had been practicing the Cruciatus curse on Clover and Logan when they'd arrived. Part of her couldn't help but wonder if LeStrange was so unimaginative that she couldn't think of anything else to use.
Moments after her arrival, Mr. Malfoy had given Liam to the LeStranges to play with. They'd taken him from the cell while Pansy had tried to object. Mr. Malfoy had backhanded her so hard that she'd fallen to the ground. Her ears were still ringing from when her head had hit the ground.
He'd then set his wand on Logan. The four year old hadn't stood a chance. If nothing else, he'd had a quick death. From what Pansy remembered, the Killing Curse didn't hurt when it killed.
On the way to Malfoy Manor she'd been told, in excruciating detail, exactly what her parents had done to incur the wrath of Death Eaters everywhere. Not only had Lawrence Parkinson refused to answer the Dark Lord's call, but Mr. Malfoy had discovered, during his torture of her mother, Columbine Parkinson, that Pansy's blood was far from pure.
Columbine Parkinson nee Brown was the daughter of a pureblood and a muggleborn from Baltimore, Maryland. If it wasn't bad enough that they'd discovered that Columbine was a halfblood from the Colonies (an unforgivable sin among wizarding aristocracy-the Colonies were where they'd sent their criminals too dangerous for Azkaban, before the American Revolution), they'd also found out that Lawrence Parkinson had only fathered Liam and Logan. Apparently Mr. Malfoy found it greatly insulting that his son had been courting the bastard halfblood daughter of a Muggle.
The deal Columbine and Lawrence had worked out was before their marriage was absolutely scandalous by wizarding standards. Lawrence had never particularly cared for the opposite gender-at least not in any way that would help facilitate the conception of heirs. Lawrence had proposed to Columbine on the condition that she give him two sons-an heir and a spare. In return, he would claim any other children she gave birth to as his own, complete with in heritance if male and dowry if female.
So Pansy had been born, four months after their wedding. And if she was a little early, at least her "father" had done the right thing.
Harry watched as his uncle was threatened, his mind going over his encounter with Parkinson. She was in trouble, that much was obvious. Did her father not kiss the hem of Voldemort's robe properly?
He scolded himself. Even if Parkinson was an evil little bitch, that boy didn't deserve whatever was being planned. Neither did Parkinson, no matter how difficult she'd made the life of hi friends this year.
"Professor Moody," said Harry, after Moody took his hat off. "I need to speak to you."
"I'm not your professor, boy. Call me Moody or Mad-Eye," snarled Moody.
"Right, Mad-Eye, could I speak to you about something?" Of all the people there, Mad-Eye Moody was likely the only person who could be of any help. And if he was useless, then he'd talk to Tonks or Professor Lupin.
"This way," said Moody, a measuring look on his face.
Once they were several feet away, Harry said, "How did Mr. Malfoy get out of prison?"
"Fudge let him out last night. Was that all?" Moody sounded rather put out.
"Uh, no. Malfoy and this other man led Parkinson-uh, Pansy Parkinson out of here at wand point," explained Harry. "There was a kid with them too."
"I wouldn't worry about it Potter," said Moody. "It sounds like Death Eater politics."
"You aren't going to do anything?" demanded Harry.
"If they want to kill each other, I see no reason to interfere. Saves us the trouble."
"But the kid couldn't have been more than eight!"
"Drop it, Potter."
"Fine. If that's what you think I should do, I'll drop it," said Harry, his voice emotionless.
He followed Moody back to the others. If they wouldn't help, he'd do something himself. Part of him couldn't help but wonder how they could allow Mr. Malfoy to kidnap somebody without any objections. They were supposed to be the good guys. It didn't matter if it was "Death Eater politics," a child-and for that matter, a girl, needed help. If the Order of the Phoenix was going to leave two people-no matter how distasteful he found one of those people-to be tortured and killed, then he didn't want anything to do with them.
"Harry! Wait up!" shouted a far too familiar voice.
He turned around just in time to see Lavender Brown run over. "Lavender?"
She hugged him tightly, her mouth next to his ear. "Are you doing anything about Mr. Malfoy taking Pansy and Liam?"
"Who's Liam? How did you know?" asked Harry.
"Hermione always says you have a saving people thing. And Liam's Pansy's younger brother. Are you going to save them?" It was then that Harry noticed how upset Lavender sounded.
"Yeah, I'm going to try," said Harry. "Professor Moddy dismissed it as Death Eater Politics." He paused. "Why do you care?"
"Pansy's my cousin," explained Lavender, careful to keep her voice low. "Aunt Columbine was found in their house this morning. There was-there was the Dark Mark. The letter Mum sent reached me a couple minutes ago. I couldn't find Pansy before she was taken." She sniffled. "If you're going to rescue them, I want in."
"Lavender-" Harry started to say.
"Don't you dare try to exclude me. They're my cousins. Mum can't do anything-she's a Muggle, but I can," snapped Lavender. "Liam's only seven and Logan turned four last month. Clover isn't even three yet. If you're going to rescue them, you'll need help."
"But your father-"
"Dad died during the first war," said Lavender. "And my grandparents are dead. If you're going to get three children and Pansy out of wherever they're keeping them, you'll need help."
"Alright," said Harry, finally relenting. "I need to be dropped off at home before I can do anything-they'll be suspicious if I'm not. Pansy gave me her cat, do you want to take it with you?"
"Yeah, I'll take Snowball," said Lavender. They're arms were still around each other, helping to make people think they were talking about something else. "Do you live near London?"
"Surrey. Why?"
"Should I meet at your house or you at my apartment?" asked Lavender.
"At your apartment. Where do you live?" asked Harry, already considering ways of eluding his guard.
"London. Let me write down the address for you-and how to get there from King's Cross." Lavender pulled away from Harry.
"Driving directions," Harry said in a low voice.
She dug a scrap of parchment out of her bag and wrote something on it with a pen. Once that was done, she handed it to him.
Speaking loud enough for Uncle Vernon and the Order members to hear, she said, "Thanks for carrying my cat for me. Don't forget to call."
"Of course I won't," said Harry, catching on to what Lavender was implying. "What film did you want to see again?"
"Oh, there's this wonderful foreign film that should be coming out soon," Lavender walked over to his trunk with him. "It should have subtitles."
"But-Oh, never mind. If that's what you want to see."
Lavender picked up the cat basket and gave Harry a kiss on the cheek before walking away. Harry looked up to see Professor Lupin, Tonks, and Moody looking at him.
"What? Am I not allowed to date during the summer either?" He paused. "Hey, Tonks, would you be willing to trade some Muggle money for a couple galleons?"
Luckily Uncle Vernon didn't hear what he'd said-he was too busy trying to avoid Moody.
"Need money for your date, eh?" said Tonks. "I'll give you twenty pounds for three galleons-just make sure to tell your guard when the date is."
"Deal," said Harry, handing over the money.
The only chance he'd have of rescuing Pansy and her younger brothers and sister would be to do magic. Which meant that he'd be risking expulsion. At least his cause was worth it. He may not like Pansy, but he'd read enough on Death Eaters to know he wouldn't wish his worst enemy (ok, he'd probably wish Bellatrix) to their care.
Harry turned to Hedwig. He opened her cage.
"Girl, I need you to fly around for a while," said Harry. "Make the Order think you're delivering letters for me. Come find me in two days. If I'm imprisoned, get help."
Hedwig bit his ear affectionately, hooted, and flew out the open window.
Harry opened his trunk. He'd only need to take it to his first stop, but it would be best to get rid of anything useless. Once he'd cleaned out old homework assignments and rotted potion ingredients, Harry began taking out useful objects.
The repaired penknife went into his pocket along with the invisibility cloak and Marauders Map. His wand was secured to his leg under his pants by the wand holster Sirius had given him the summer before.
This rescue would involve a great deal of magic. There was no way he'd manage it without risking expulsion. Considering his record and Fudge's opinion of him, Harry made sure to take anything that might be useful. He had a feeling he might be going into hiding, should he survive.
Pulling his trunk behind him, went into the kitchen. Luckily the Dursleys were in the living room, watching the TV. He doubted they would notice he was missing until the next day, at the earliest. Harry took several pieces of fruit, a loaf of bread, some peanut butter, grape jelly, several pieces of dried meat, and some of their silverware. Hopefully they wouldn't be needed, but Harry wasn't betting on it.
Once he'd slipped the food into his trunk, he pulled his invisibility cloak on, careful to cover the trunk as well. There were ways to leave number Four Privet Drive that his guards had no idea existed.
She stopped short, almost unable to believe what was in front of her eyes. Since she lived so close to King's Cross, Lavender had decided to take the subway home. Her mother had had a hard day and she hadn't wanted to make it more difficult by insisting her mother pick her up.
It had been the wrong choice to make. The dark mark floated in front of the door to the apartment. Obviously the Death Eaters had discovered that her father had been Columbine Parkinson's older brother.
She drew her wand before pushing the door open. Lavender couldn't help but look away.
Harry checked the number on the storage shed before using several bobby pins to open the lock. Once more he was grateful that the twins had taught him to pick locks. The storage shed belonged to Sirius and contained his possessions from before his imprisonment in Azkaban.
He turned on the light and then began to look around. He changed into a pair of Sirius's old jeans, a wifebeater, a dark shirt and an old leather jacket. A quick search provided Harry with a pair of slightly worn motorcycle boots. Luckily he and Sirius were only a half size apart in footwear.
Locating a set of saddlebags, Harry began to pack. He wasn't sure if he'd ever be able to return, so he packed anything he thought might be useful. Numerous books, magical objects, and pieces of clothing went into one of the saddlebags along with the contents of his trunk. Luckily Sirius had charmed them to have an unlimited amount of space within while weighing no more than ten pounds. He left the other two saddlebags empty, just in case.
After that he secured the saddlebags to the motorcycle. Harry was once more grateful that Hagrid had returned the bike after dropping him off at the Dursleys. Sirius had been quite excited about giving the bike to Harry when he turned sixteen and had insisted on teaching Harry everything about it, even though it was in storage miles away.
Harry pushed a button, smiling grimly when a sidecar appeared. He hit the button again, letting the sidecar go back to wherever it came from.
He walked the bike out of the storage shed, locking it behind him. Hopefully nobody but Professor Lupin knew about its existence.
Harry ensured that the kickstand supported the bike before turning the security system on. It had a notice-me-not charm for muggles along with a separate notice-me-not for wizards and several other bits of magic.
He put the helmet on the seat and walked down the street to Lavender's apartment building. Seeing a figure sitting on the stoop, Harry reached for his wand.
"If you are Lavender, what did Trelawny's prediction in out third year about what you feared happening mean?" demanded Harry, wondering if she was a polyjuiced Death Eater.
"That my bunny, Binky, would die," said Lavender, her face tearstained. "Why did you want to know?"
"There are potions that can make somebody look like somebody else," explained Harry, satisfied that she was really Lavender.
"Oh, right. You mentioned those in D.A.," muttered Lavender. "What does my patronus look like?'
"It was a hare." Harry paused. "Are you sure about this? If you get caught using magic…"
"My cousins are more important than my education!" snapped Lavender. She brushed away another tear.
'What's wrong?"
"I-I found the Dark Mark when I got home," Lavender said quietly. "Pansy, Liam, Logan, and Clover are the only family I have left. Aunt Columbine was found by the police hours ago and I doubt Uncle Lawrence is still alive…"
"Have you called the Aurors?"
"I'll call the police when we leave," said Lavender.
"Right. Do you want to bring anything with you?" asked Harry. "You should put on a jacket, it gets cold on the bike."
"The bike?" asked Lavender.
"My flying motorcycle. I inherited it from my godfather."
"I-oh. I'll go-I'll go get my jacket and call the cops. I should be down in a minute. Do you have a plan?"
"We're heading up to Hogwarts first."
"Why are we going back to Hogwarts?" demanded Lavender.
"Dobby works there. He's a House-Elf that used to work for the Malfoys, until I freed him. I'm hoping that he can get us into wherever they're keeping your cousins without drawing any attention to ourselves."
Lavender's eyes widened. "I'll be back in a moment."
She ran into the building, disappearing up a flight of stairs. She returned nearly five minutes later, carrying a thin scarf and her jacket.
"I'm ready," said Lavender as she wrapped the scarf around her head. She then put the coat on. 'The cops should be here in a couple minutes."
"This way," said Harry, leading her to the bike.
"Oh my," said Lavender when Harry undid the security charms. "I-I've never been on a motorcycle before."
"Don't worry about it. I'll be the one driving. You just need to hang on."
She climbed clumsily onto the bike behind Harry. "Where do I put my feet?"
"There," said Harry, motioning with his hand. "And make sure to hold on to me. This bike can move at four hundred kilometers an hour."
Harry didn't bother to mention that while the bike could move four hundred kilometers per hour on the ground, it could move up to twice as fast when in the air. There was no reason to frighten her.
They reached Hogsmeade nearly an hour later. Lavender had clutched him convulsively the entire time. Understandable, considering what Harry remembered about her fear of flying.
The bike landed in the Forbidden forest and continued on to a set of caves. Harry halted once they were within the cave system, pulling out the Marauders map. He put on the security system and helped Lavender off the bike.
"Come on, this leads to one of the secret passages," explained Harry. He tapped the map. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good. Lumos."
"What is that?" asked Lavender.
"A map of Hogwarts. Once we get into the castle itself, well have to use my invisibility cloak."
Harry tickled the pear, then opened the doorway into the kitchens. Once inside, he swept the cloak off himself and Lavender. Even with the students gone for the summer, there were still a hundred House-Elves in the kitchens.
"I'm looking for Dobby," announced Harry, before the House-Elves could start to press food on him.
"Harry Potter, sir," squeaked a familiar voice. "Sir wants to speak to Dobby?"
"Yeah, I do," said Harry. "Oh, and this is Lavender Brown. Lavender, this is Dobby, a free House-Elf that works for Professor Dumbledore."
"Uh, nice to meet you," Lavender managed to say.
"Can we talk to you privately?" asked Harry.
"Come over by fire, Harry Potter, sir, Miss Lav-Lav."
The only House-Elf by the fire was Winky, who looked rather morose, if sober. It was the first time Harry had seen her sober since the Quidditch World Cup.
"If Winky feels up to it, we could use her help as well," added Harry.
Winky didn't seem to notice that anything had been said.
"We need to know where Mr. Malfoy would take any prisoners," explained Harry. "And if possible, we'd appreciate it if you'd take us there."
"He took my cousins earlier today," explained Lavender. "Death Eaters have already killed Mum and Aunt Columbine today. I don't-I don't want them to die as well."
"They being children, Miss Lav-Lav?" Winky asked quietly.
"Pansy's my age, but Liam, Logan, and Clover are under eight."
"Death Eaters be hurting babies?" demanded Winky.
"We think so," said Harry. "Lavender and I want to rescue them, but we don't know where they are."
"Winky be protecting babies," announced Winky.
"Uh-" Lavender stuttered.
"House-Elves have very powerful magic," Harry whispered to her. "I wouldn't turn down their help."
"Thank you, Winky," said Lavender.
"Dobby?" asked Harry.
"Dobby be helping Harry Potter, sir, and Miss Lav-Lav." He paused. "They be put in Malfoy dungeon."
Kingsley Shacklebolt stood in the back of the room, listening as his partner gave her report. He trusted the Order of the Phoenix about as far as he could throw Dumbledore without magic. When Tonks had joined them, he'd come along to see if the Order was actually useful.
These days he remained a member to keep an eye on the various emembers and make sure that they didn't do too much damage. Somebody had to make sure that Dumbledore occasionally remembered that the law existed for good reason.
Their treatment of Harry Potter alone would have been enough to convince Kingsley that these people were far too dangerous for their own good. The boy lived in what could only be described as abusive conditions-and Dumbledore used the Order to ensure that Potter stayed where he was supposed to be.
Dumbledore treated Potter as his own, personal weapon. Through careful, discreet questioning, Kingsley had learned that Potter's Muggle family regularly starved him and that the only reason why he hadn't been removed by the Muggles was because of excessive memory charm use on social workers.
And the boy's time at Hogwarts… It seemed as if Dumbledore was either testing or training Potter to be his personal weapon. The man had practically sent the boy after Quirrel in Potter's first year. No child should have gone through what Potter had in his second year. Not to mention that Dumbledore certainly knew how to recognize a person possessed. There had been no reason for that diary situation to go that far. Children could have been killed, instead of petrified.
As for Potter's third… Kingslye still couldn't believe that Dumbledore had sent Potter and Granger to illegally break Black out of his holding cell, even if Fudge was going to have the man kissed. There were other ways it could have been done.
Potter's fourth and fifth years had been even worse. The Goblet of Fire had not constituted a magically binding contract. Yes, the boy's name had come out of the Goblet, but Hogwarts already had a champion. Potter never should have competed-especially since he was under the legal age of consent. It was practically criminal to ask a fourteen year old to go through a competition meant for NEWTs students.
Kingsley still didn't agree with the way Potter had been treated over the past year. Unfortunately, Black was the only one to have agreed with him. If there really was a prophecy about the boy-Dumbledore had played the first part of the prophecy to all the members-then Potter should have been properly trained-not allowed to blunder through those situations like he had.
At the very least they should have used a proper Occlumency teacher. He himself, along with Emmeline Vance was actually licensed to teach Occlumency. Hell, they could have at least told the boy that the dreams Voldemort was sending him were false visions.
He still had a hard time believing that Potter and his little friends had managed not only to break into the Department of Mysteries, but also stay alive while fighting those particular Death Eaters. Any other group of fourth and fifth years would have died. But Potter had managed to keep everybody alive and relatively uninjured until help arrived. If McGonagal was correct and Potter really did want to become an Auror… given the right set of training, Potter could become a better Auror than even Mad-Eye Moody or Crouch (before rumors of his corruption).
"Apparently the Parkinsons annoyed the Dark Lord," continued Tonks. "Harry saw Lucius Malfoy and Daniel Davis lead the eldest daughter and one of the sons out of King's Cross at wandpoint."
"Why didn't you report that?" demanded Kingsley, interrupting Tonks. "The Parkinsons have several small children."
"They brought it on themselves," sniffed Molly Weasley. "I don't see why we should help a dark family like that."
Several people chimed in to agree with Molly. Kingsley felt a wave of disgust. How could they be so callous? Children should never pay for their parents' crimes.
"Now, now," said Dumbledore. "I know how much you care about children, Kingsley, but we don't have the resources to save everyone."
"Understood," said Kingsley.
It was all he could do not to spit at Dumbledore's feet. The Order of the Phoenix certainly had the resources needed. Six or seven determined wizards could rescue the Parkinsons-hell, given half a chance, Potter and those friends he took with him to the Department of Mysteries could pull off the rescue.