AN:

School: Durmstrang

Year: 6

Word Count: 3581

Theme: Beating

Prompts: Parkinson (main prompt), 9. Hurricane. 10. Gringotts

"She has approximately three-dozen followers, by our best estimate," Harry said heavily, staring at the large chalkboard at the front of the Auror office, which was covered with various maps and photographs.

"That's not too many, is it?" Harry's deputy head of the department, a stout wizard called Alfonso Capprici, frowned.

"Compared to a lot of Dark witches and wizards? No," Harry agreed. "But Pansy Parkinson managed to get these followers of hers practically overnight. That's concerning to me. We need to get her now, before she stirs up even more support."

"Seems she came out of nowhere with that attack at Diagon Ally yesterday," Alfonso commented. "She wasn't even on our radar."

"No, but she's always been interested in the Dark Arts," Harry said. "She was in my year at Hogwarts; good friends with Draco Malfoy."

"Lucius Malfoy's son?" Capprici asked. "Did we check to see if he is one of her new followers?"

"Yes, but nothing turned out," Harry nodded. "I didn't think it would. Malfoy has been away from the Dark Arts for years now."

"I just don't get it," Capprici muttered. "Why'd she do it?"

Harry thought back to the chaos of Pansy Parkinson's attack on Diagon Ally the previous day. As Capprici pointed out, it seemed to happen completely out of the blue.

The stores had been packed with shoppers. It was the summer holiday, and students and their families were picking up all of the supplies they would need for their upcoming year at Hogwarts. Suddenly, there had been an explosion coming from Quality Quidditch Supplies, and dark, hooded figures emerged from the rubble.

Aurors had been on site within seconds, Harry leading the charge. As the hooded figures began to show their faces, Harry instantly recognized the figure at the front of the group. Though she had aged quite a bit since he had last seen her, Pansy Parkinson still had the same pug face that made her look as though she was permanently disgusted with her surroundings. On this occasion, though, she had a smug grin on her face.

"The ways of the Dark Lord have not been forgotten," she had announced. "For far too long the wizarding world has existed in ignorance! That ends today!"

And with that, she had raised her wand and shot the Dark Mark into the sky before disapparating away with her followers.

Fortunately, the explosion had not been fatal, though several people had to be transported to St. Mungo's to be treated for injuries. Still, though, the entire wizarding community was shaken by the event; especially those who had been around during Voldemort's reign. Therefore it had become the Auror department's top priority to stop this Dark Arts movement before it was too late.

"I don't know why she did it," Harry said, shaking his head. "Probably because it's been too quiet since Voldemort was defeated, and she finally decided to do something about it. We got lucky in Diagon Ally that no one was seriously hurt, but I'm sure that won't happen next time. We need to figure out where Parkinson is planning on striking next and take her down."

"Right," Capprici nodded. "I'll go start putting together a team to take out on the field once we find out where that is. Keep me posted."

"I will," Harry replied, turning back to the chalkboard as Capprici left the office.

The hardest part about determining where Parkinson would strike next was the fact that Harry truly had nothing to go off of. Though Pansy Parkinson was never the nicest girl at Hogwarts, she hadn't been involved with the Death Eaters, save for her vocal support of them. Her family had no history with any Dark organizations either. As far as Harry was concerned, she had just been someone who was, well, horrible.

There was a knock at the door. Harry spun around to see his daughter, Lily, standing in the doorway, carrying a large pile of parchment. Lily was fresh out of the Auror training program. After she left Hogwarts, she decided to follow in her father's footsteps and become an Auror. Harry was, of course, unbelievably proud of Lily. But having worked for over two decades as an Auror, he was also very scared. Thankfully, Lily had been given only paperwork and other desk tasks thus far.

"Hi Lily," Harry said, waving her into the office. "What is it?"

"These are the interview transcripts," Lily said, setting the pile of parchment down on the nearby desk. "Parkinson's parents, her brother, and Uncle. Her husband was unavailable to bring in for questioning. No one can find him; he's likely one of her followers."
"Most likely," Harry agreed. "Alright, thank you for bringing those up to me, Lil. I'll review them and see if maybe there is something in there that can help us figure out where she'll be striking next."
"Um, well, I sort of already looked through them," Lily admitted.

"Did you?" Harry said, raising an eyebrow.

"Well I know how busy it is around here," Lily said quickly. "And I thought it would be helpful."

"Course you did," Harry said, a faint smile coming over his face. "Right then, give me the report then."

"Well, Parkinson's parents were just as helpful as you'd think," Lily started. "They didn't know anything, the Veritaserum they were given confirmed that, but they are not going to go out of their way to help us bring in their daughter. If anything, they will try to help her as much as they can later on. They think she has the right idea. I think it'd be a good idea to monitor them closely."

"I agree," Harry nodded, impressed. "Go on."

"Well her Uncle was pretty much the same way," Lily continued. "But her brother…well, apparently he's the black sheep of the family. He hasn't been in contact with any of them for years."
"Really?" Harry said. "That's something. Was he able to give us anything useful."
"Well, not really," Lily sighed. "Since he hasn't talked with his family in so long, he didn't know anything about her plans. But…he did mention that Pansy reached out to him a few weeks ago."

"How come?" Harry asked at once.

"He, um, didn't say," Lily said. "He slammed the door in her face and refused to let her come into his house. She didn't have the chance to ask him anything."

"Brilliant," Harry mumbled.

"But, um, I have a theory," Lily said. "Can I run it by you?"

"Alright," Harry nodded. "Let's hear it."

"I did some digging around, and I found out that last month Pansy moved into a dingy flat on the outskirts of London," Lily said. "And her parents just had to sell a bunch of family antiques in order to keep their home."

"So?" Harry said, confused.

"Well gold is the one thing that Pansy desperately needs right now," Lily said. "She has nothing to her name! Same with her husband!"
"I'm still not following," Harry said.

"There was one other Parkinson family member who didn't believe in the Dark Arts," Lily said. "Her paternal grandmother. She died many years back, but she was very close with Pansy's brother. She left her entire fortune to him. I think that was what Pansy was going to ask her brother about! She needed gold! I checked; that fortune is locked inside of Gringotts; nearly all of it is still there! I-I think that's where she's planning on hitting next! She's going to steal the money she believes she is entitled to. I think she's going to break into Gringotts!"

Harry mulled this information over for a moment. He had to admit, it made a lot of sense.

"You've got a sharp mind about you, Lily," Harry smiled proudly.

"You think I'm right?" Lily asked.

"I think your theory is the closest thing we have to a lead right now," Harry said. "And it's a very sound theory. It'd be unwise of us not to check it out."

"You mean that?" Lily grinned.

"Yes," Harry said. "Very well done, sweetheart."

"Dad, you can't call me sweetheart at the office!" Lily hissed.

"Fine, fine, sorry," Harry said, rolling his eyes. "You did amazing, Ms. Potter. Better?"

"Much," Lily nodded.

"I'll keep you posted if your lead turns out any useful information," Harry said. "In the meantime, please go and check to see if they need any more help managing the damages in Diagon Ally."

"Alright, thank you, da-Mr. Potter," Lily said.

"Anytime," Harry chuckled.

"Just finished coordinating with the goblins," Harry said to Capprici later on that day as he came into his office. "They're not thrilled about it, but they've agreed to let us station groups of Aurors around the vaults for the next few weeks. If Parkinson is really going to try and empty her brother's vault in Gringotts, though, I reckon it will be sooner, rather than later. Have you drawn up the list of Aurors who will be going? They'll need to be alerted; I want them stationed right away."

"Here you go," Capprici said, handing Harry a long slip of parchment.

Harry scanned the list and frowned. "No," he said at once. "Take her off."

"Potter…"

"Lily is not going out on the field," Harry said firmly. "She's in training."
"No, she finished her training four weeks ago," Capprici pointed out. "And she was top of the training class. You said to get together our best Aurors…well, she's one of them."

"She's not ready," Harry said. "She doesn't have any experience out there yet."

"This is how Aurors gain experience," Capprici said. "Besides, she's the one who figured out that Parkinson will likely be coming to Gringotts."

Harry said nothing.

"We send Aurors who are straight out of training into these types of situations all of them time," Capprici said. "It's nothing new. I don't mean to overstep my bounds, Potter, but I don't think you'd be objecting if this was anybody else."

Harry continued his silence as he stepped over to his desk and glanced at one of the framed pictures he had. It was one from when Lily has only three-years old. She was sitting on his lap, laughing innocently as she leaned up to kiss his cheek. He let out a soft sigh. He knew Capprici was right; the only reason he didn't want Lily out on the field was because he couldn't stand the thought of his little girl possibly getting hurt. This had been the moment he had been most anxious about since Lily had announced she was going to become an Auror.

But he had to get over his fear. He couldn't keep Lily from fighting forever.

"Look, you're the head of the department," Capprici said. "If you want her off the list, she's off the list."

"No," Harry said heavily. "She-She can stay. I doubt she'd let me hear the end of it if she found out I took her off."

"I doubt she would," Capprici smiled. "I watched her a fair bit in training, you know. She fights just like you, you know. She was always eager to be front and center if every duel; even if it was only a simulation."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Harry muttered, taking one last look at the framed photograph.

"We don't know when Parkinson will strike next," Harry told a group of seven Aurors, including Lily, that evening as they stood at the back of Gringotts bank, towards the entrances to the vaults. "We cannot even be certain that she will come here first. But as Potter pointed out earlier, there is a good chance she will start here out of necessity."

"Why does she need gold?" one of the other Aurors asked. "Voldemort never went after gold."

"True, but remember, Parkinson is relatively new," Harry said. "She'll be able to win over a fair number of supporters with just her messages alone, but if she wants to be a real threat, and we know that she does, she'll need more followers. If she has a sizeable amount of gold, she'd be more capable of swaying witches and wizards over to her side."

There was a murmur of agreement among the group.

"But, like I said, we're not entirely certain she will come here," Harry continued. "Which is why you've all been divided up. Us lot will monitor the vaults down here in shifts. Capprici has other groups monitoring Diagon Ally and Hogsmeade. We will be switching off every ten hours. If there is any sign of Parkinson or her followers, send a Patronus and all available Aurors will move in to fight. We want to end Parkinson's reign before it gets started, understood? Now, Smith, Goldbloom, you two monitor the outside perimeter of the bank. Peters, Gomez, you two will be in the main entrance way. Tompilson, Green, you will be in the upper level vaults. Li-Potter, you will come with me to the lower level vaults."

The Aurors all nodded to show that they understood their assignments.

"The goblins have arranged for the security measures that protect the vaults be suspended for only us," Harry continued. "But still…be careful. The goblins won't go out of their way to help us. It took a fair bit of persuasion to even get them to agree to this. Be safe out there everybody and remember to send word if you need back-up."

As the Aurors dispersed to their proper locations, Lily stepped next to Harry. "Did you put me with you on purpose?"

"Hmm? No," Harry said quickly. "Purely a coincidence."

"Yeah, right," Lily scoffed. "Though I'm surprised you let me come out on the field at all, so I suppose I can't be too mad."

"You can thank Alfonso for that," Harry said. "But seriously, Lily, you need to be careful, okay? You may have done well in training, but this is much more different. You need to be on guard constantly."

"I know," Lily said.

"Come on, let's go down to the vaults," Harry said.

Harry and Lily took the back passageway to the vaults, stepping into one of the rusty carts that maneuvered bankers to their locations.

"How is it that we're able to get past the security measures?" Lily asked.

"The goblins checked our wands when we got here," Harry explained. "They put a charm on them that will make it seem as though we are with a goblin at all times."

"Why didn't they just come with us?" Lily frowned.

"They, er, are trying to distance themselves from the Ministry and me as much as possible," Harry said.

"Ah, right, because you broke in here when you were seventeen," Lily grinned. "And you worry about me? Look how reckless you were."

"Yes, well, I'd like it if you were as unlike me as possible when it comes to that stuff," Harry sighed. "But that doesn't seem to be the case."

"No, I can't tell you how many of the training Aurors told me that I fight just like you," Lily said.

"Lovely," Harry said weakly as the cart drove underneath a large waterfall. The cart then lurched and dumped Harry and Lily down into the pits of the vaults. Harry pulled out his wand and instinctively pointed it towards Lily to slow her fall, but his daughter had already pointed her own wand at the ground and managed to land gracefully on her feet while Harry tumbled to the stone floor."

"I'll pretend I didn't see that," Lily said, pointing her wand at herself and drying her clothes as Harry got to his feet. "Alright, now what?"

"Now…we wait," Harry said. "And look for anything suspicious."

"Right," Lily nodded. "Shall I take the vaults to the left and you go right?"

"Yes," Harry said. "Come check-in with me every hour."
"What?" Lily exclaimed.

"That's standard procedure," Harry said quickly.

"Sure it is," Lily said, pulling her wand back out and setting off to her left. Harry watched her disappear into the vaults.

She'll be alright, he told himself. She knows what she's doing.

For the next several hours, Harry and Lily monitored the vaults. Lily met up with Harry every hour, as instructed, to give the same report that nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

"Maybe I was mistaken," Lily sighed after six hours. "Maybe she isn't coming to Gringotts. Oh…that means I wasted all of the Aurors' time and-"

"Lily, your theory was the only lead we had to go on," Harry said. "You did a great job. No one knows where Parkinson will go. Your suggestion was-"

Just then a sickening crack sounded through the vaults. Lily and Harry both pointed their wands up, towards the source of the sound.

"What was that?" Lily whispered.

"I don't know," Harry frowned, not lowering his wand. "Stay alert and-"

But before he could give her any further instructions, there was another crack followed immediately by a loud blast.

Harry and Lily were both thrown off of their feet, and a rush of water and wind filled the surrounding area.

"Bloody goblins!" Harry cursed, struggling to stand up right. "This is their Hurricane Curse!"

"Their what?" Lily cried, also using all of her strength to keep her balance.

"It's one of their protective charms," Harry yelled. "It produces a contained hurricane!"

"But I thought we couldn't set off any of the charms!" Lily pointed out.

"No, but we didn't get the same treatment," a high-pitched voice sneered as dozens of cloaked figures dropped down from the hole the blast from the hurricane had created. Pansy Parkinson stood in the center of the wind storm; her long, black hair bellowing in the wind as she held her wand out. "Potter…I was hoping it'd be you I met down here. And look everyone! Why I believe this is his little girl!"

Harry quickly shot his Patronus from his wand and then just as quickly produced a blocking spell. A series of red sparks came flying right for him and Lily.

"Stay behind me," Harry muttered to Lily. "The others will be here soon, but-"

Lily, however, seemed to have other ideas. She darted out from behind Harry's protective spell and began to run right into the eye of the hurricane where Parkinson and her followers were.

"Lily!" Harry cried, quickly rushing after her.

Harry watched as Lily skillfully dodged spell after spell. She managed to get quite a few curses across as well, sending two of the followers down to the ground, knocked unconscious.

Harry disarmed as many of the followers as he could, all the while keeping one eye on Lily. His lack of focus, however, was definitely starting to show. He narrowly dodged a stunning spell and nearly let himself get blown over by a particularly strong gust of wind.

"Dad, I've got her followers!" Lily exclaimed, disarming two of the cloaked supporters at once. "Let me handle them and you focus on her!"

Harry gave one more glance towards his daughter. She truly was an exceptional dueler. But still…she was his little girl. And green flashes of light were not beginning to come from the wands. If one of them hit her…

"Dad!" Lily screamed, suddenly darting towards him and shooting a blocking spell right in front of him, causing the three streams of red sparks that were heading towards him to be deflected. "Don't worry about me! Get your head in this fight, will you!"

Harry shook his head. She was right. If he didn't start to focus, both of them would be in real trouble.

So Harry turned his back to Lily and faced Pansy Parkinson head on. He shot two stunning spells at her, which she blocked easily and shot two spells of her own back. Harry quickly dodged them and managed to take down a group of her followers that were advancing on his left.

"This isn't going to end well for you," Harry told Pansy over the roaring wind. "You're outmatched!"

At this point, the rest of the Aurors had finally arrived, and for the first time since they began fighting, Pansy looked unnerved.

"I can get more followers," Pansy sneered, looking around at her unconscious followers around her. She raised her wand, ready to disapparate. "Very well, Potter, you won this round. But I'll be-"

"Expelliarmus!" Lily cried from across the vaults. Pansy's wand went flying from her hand.

"Stupefy!" Harry yelled, knocking Pansy from her feet.

Without their leader, Pansy's followers didn't seem to know what to do. They were quickly rounded up by the Aurors, their wands all stripped from them. The winds of the hurricane finally seemed to die down; two goblins had made their way down to the vault and deactivated the security charm.

Harry rushed over to Pansy and quickly placed a binding spell on her hands.

"Take her out," Harry said to one of the Aurors. "All of them. Take them back to the Ministry and prepare to escort them to Azkaban tonight."

"Yes, sir," the Auror nodded.

As he regained his breathing, Harry turned towards Lily, who was catching her own breath.

"So?" Lily asked, panting. "How'd I do?"

"You," Harry said, putting his hand on her shoulder. "Were bloody brilliant."

"I was?" Lily beamed proudly. "You mean it? Ha! See? You didn't have anything to worry about."

"Lil, I'm always going to be worried about you," Harry told her gently. "Always."