Chapt. Two – Starts With A Bang

Albus Dumbledore was a very tired and frustrated man. Since the Ministry of Magic had conceded and finally admitted that Voldemort had in fact returned, he had spent the last few weeks being hounded by an almost constant stream of Owls, all of which carrying letter pleading for him to help advise and reassure people all over Britain and further afield into mainland Europe on how to stop themselves from being attacked.

The Headmaster was sitting in his office reading through yet another letter from a mid-high Ministry Official who was obviously clamouring to get back in the old man's good books, even thought the newly reinstated Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot knew that not two weeks ago this same man from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement had been quoted in the Daily Prophet as saying that Dumbledore was a 'deranged and probably dangerous individual who had lost his grasp on sanity and should be locked up for his own safety as well as the safety of the Magical population.'

After a slight chuckle and a shake of his head he added the letter to the, now rather large, pile that he would sadly not be replying to. As he pondered on the political future of the Magical world in Britain and its future, his train of thought was soon diverted to the one young man who, according to Prophecy, was the only one to lead the country to a bright future.

Harry Potter.

There was no doubt in the Headmasters mind that the young Gryffindor had the potential to do great things in his life. The only problem for Harry was that statistically, being top of a Dark Lords 'To Kill' list tends to shorten ones estimated life expectancy quite drastically. It was because of this that Dumbledore had taken such an interest in the life and security of Harry Potter.

As the old Headmaster poured himself a fresh cup of tea and glared as yet another owl soared through one of his open windows clutching what looked like two or possibly three letters from the Ministry, Albus contemplated how to move forward with regards to Harry. So far Dumbledore had managed to influence the young mans life in a way that he left was best in the grand scheme of things. Albus had on multiple occasions defended his decision to send Harry to live with his Aunt and Uncle. While he was aware that Petunia's dislike for magic was strong, he had hoped that she would still love Harry because of the family link. When Hagrid had delivered Harry's first school letter the half-giant had reported back to the Headmaster that he had some major concerns about how Harry had been treated.

Although this concerned the Headmaster, a lot of his worries were put to bed once Harry arrived. Albus remembered the anxiousness he felt during the sorting, which only intensified when the Sorting hat took an abnormally long time to sort Harry. The relief flooded Dumbledore's body when the Hat finally shouted 'GRYFFINDOR' and Harry was welcomed into the folds of the House renown for producing strong and brave witches and wizards who normally steer well clear of the Dark arts.

Through-out the first five years of Harry's schooling the headmaster had kept a close eye on Harry and watched as he grew to become a very capable young man. His modesty endeared him to many while his ability to lead and help others in his fifth year lead Albus to believe that Harry could become all he hoped for from the beginning.

During the five years Harry had been at school Albus had deliberately allowed Harry the chances to grow and develop in the way he had planned. Harrys natural curiosity he inherited from his father no doubt helped with this side of Harry maturing.

With a long sigh Albus recalled the tragic events of June when Harrys godfather Sirius Black had fallen through the veil in the Death chamber and taking a curse from one of Voldemorts top lieutenants, Bellatrix Lestrange.

Dumbledore had spoken at great lengths with members of the Order of the Phoenix about how this would affect how they operate with regards to the protection they give Harry. It was almost a dead split between those who though Harry needed time to himself to come to terms with the loss and grieve for his godfather and those who thought he needed as much support as they could reasonably offer without smothering him.

In the end it was decided that after just two weeks Harry would be taken from Privet Drive and allowed to spend the rest of the summer holidays surrounded by friends. Many members, mainly the ones with red hair, had argued that he should not have to spend any time there as it was not the right place for a grieving person to be. However Dumbledore had rejected that on the notion that Harry had to spend a minimum of two weeks a year at his relatives house to insure that the blood protections would hold for another year.

As Dumbledore pondered on a way to increase the protection Harry had he was distracted by a faint rattling sound coming from a corner of his office. As he glanced up he saw that one of his many trinkets was vibrating softly whilst pulsing with a deep red and murky brown light.

Dumbledore frowned at this in a questioning way. The item in question was set to react when a person with magic entered the wards surrounding the Dursleys house.

Dumbledore shrugged this off after noticing that the time was close for the next pair of Order members to relieve the current pair. He chuckled to himself as he remembered the argument caused when he asked Nymphadora to take the evening shift for the first week of Harrys stay. She seemed to think it was unfair that she had to work the unsociable shift for six days straight before her day off.

The old wizards' merry chuckle died instantly when the trinket monitoring the wards emitted a loud bang and a large cloud of thick black smoke. Dumbledore sprang to his feet, wand in hand. He immediately sent a number of silver streaks out the open window before disappearing with a soft crack.

Less than ten seconds later in various homes and places across the country silver phoenixes arrived in front of their intended recipients and spoke with the urgent, worried yet somehow calm voice of Albus Dumbledore.

"The wards protecting Harry have fallen. Your help is needed."

In all the locations across the country loud cracks could be heard before the second part of the short message could be spoken.


As Dumbledore arrived at his destination just outside where the wards securing the property should finish he immediately noticed the distinct lack of wards in the area. After taking a few seconds to properly look around he could see no obvious dangers so briskly walked the twenty metres to the bushes across from the Dursleys house where the ward stone anchoring the strongest and most vital wards was hidden.

Before he covered even half the distance he could see the disturbance in the bushes and earth underneath. Upon seeing this, his wand slid from the inside of his robe sleeve into his right hand and he began to stride across the road towards the house. As he approached the drive way of the house one door down from the Dursleys he saw a small number of people appear a short way in front of him. One quick look quashed the bad feeling he had when he recognised the sight of Arthur Weasley and four of his six sons.

Before any words were spoken the eldest Weasley child, Bill ran towards the ward stone whilst the remaining four men made their way to the Headmaster.

As Arthur came within ten feet of the Professor he urgently asked "What's going on? Where's Harry?"

Before he could answer a series of cracks could be heard from either end of the street. Looking behind the Weasley men, Albus could see at least six more members of the Order arriving as well as one slowly appearing from across the street who was obviously one of the current guards on the property. As Albus looked back at the Weasley's to tell them to follow him into the property he saw the fearful looks on their faces before quickly turning around and seeing the reason for the fear.

"Death Eaters." He heard the second eldest Weasley boy, Charlie say somewhere between a growl and a whimper.

Just at the first glance Dumbledore counted at least double the number of Death Eaters as Order members, but he had faith that his people could deal with the trouble as not all the Order members he had sent messages to had arrived yet.

Dumbledore cast the first spell and aimed directly in to the unorganised group of black-robed figures. A thick, violet colour beam of light shot out the end of Dumbledore's wand and into the crowd of Death Eaters, where the light struck one of the figures who dropped like a stone. Instead if dissipating on contact the beam bounced off the now unconscious form and into another, again the person fell to the ground. The spell continued on and took out two more people before the spell broke out of the crowd and fizzled out.

This seemed to spur the rest into action. As the Death Eaters tried to organise themselves into some kind of formation which would allow them to both more forward and revive their fallen comrades.

The Order of the Phoenix acted almost on instinct. The Weasley twins, Fred and George dived towards their eldest brother, who was crouched behind a small wall next to the bushes which covered the ward stone he had been working on. The twins started to fire a large range of curses and hexes at the Death Eaters who had taken up positions on the far side of the road. With Bill being covered he was able to start work on establishing some easy to erect wards designed to give a slight energy boost to those who were keyed into it. As soon as the ward was up he started to key in the Order members present as well as Harry.

Neither side seemed to be making any ground as curses flew across what was quickly turning into a small battlefield. Dumbledore was crouching behind a conjured steel barrier in front of the Dursleys house with Arthur, Charlie and the retired Auror Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody.

Moody's magical eye was constantly spinning, taking in all the battle while constantly shouting out to his fellow fighters about how to best fight back.

Dumbledore was firing a quick succession of spells over the barrier, causing a number of Death Eaters robes to catch fire and one to keel over stiff as a board.

After the quick barrage he called to the three men he was with. After they all finished the string of curses they were sending at a small group of the enemy who were hunkered down by a car 30 metres down the road they turned their attention to their leader.

Albus calmly spoke to them as though discussing the latest Quidditch scores. "Go to the house. Arthur, I want you to cover the door. Alastor, I want you and Charlie to find Harry and take him to Headquarters. When you have him, send green sparks out of the window and we shall all meet you there. If for some reason he is not there, send out red sparks. Go now."

As the two Weasley's ran towards the door, Mad-Eye conjured a heavy barrier to cover the short distance as he limped quickly to the house. As he got to the door Mad-Eye sent a high-powered unlocking charm at the door causing it to bang open loudly.

The moment the door opened a wave of magical energy pulsed out, causing everyone within a hundred metres of the property to be thrown off their feet. By the time the first people were scrambling to their feet and looking towards the house they noticed with horror the house which had five seconds ago been looking pristine was now ablaze on the ground floor with smoke starting to pour out of the open front door and the front window. However the slightly more alarming sight was the almost constant stream of spellfire flashes that could be seen in the windows of the first floor.

At the sight of this a number of the wounded Death Eaters took it as their signal that their job was done and disapparated away to tend to their injuries. The remaining group of black clad fighters only stayed around long enough to fire a series of powerful blasting hexes and explosive curses at the Order members before vanishing with a series of loud cracks.

Order members run forward to douse the flames that seemed to be confined to the hallway leading from the front door to the kitchen at the back of the house and the living room to the left of the hallway. As a number of people started to cast water spells into the house, Mad-Eye used his magical eye to look up through the house to where the spellfire was coming from.

"The kid's not alone up there." He stated in his gruff voice to Albus who had just arrive after securing a Death Eater who had been unable to get away.

"And who is up there with him Alastor?" Dumbledore enquired as he cast a powerful jet of water into the house, almost immediately lowering the intensity of the flames.

"Can't be too sure. One man down at the top of the stairs. Don't recognise him. Could be anyone." The old Auror said, slipping back into his informative feedback mode from his time in the Aurors.

Dumbledore listened intently as his spell finished dousing the flames between the door and the stair case.

"The boy's in one of the back bedrooms in the far corner. Fighting against two. Malfoy and the Lestrange woman it looks like. So much for Azkaban.." growled Moody.

The Order members in earshot all gasped at this revelation. Albus and Arthur who were next to Moody both paled considerably before making to move forward into the house before Moody updated his commentary.

"Looks like he has help. One female fighting with him. Look to be holding their own. But Harry looks tired and hurt. Get in there." Dumbledore was already across the threshold and on the bottom step of the staircase before Moody had finished his update.

As Dumbledore came to the top of the stairs he stepped over the body of the unknown man and turned left just in time to hear a yell followed quickly by a crack. Wand drawn in front he quickly advanced through the hallway and into what was obviously the master bedroom, but currently looked like a bomb site.

All the furniture was completely destroyed and the chilling sight of a blood stain splatter across the far wall. As Dumbledore surveyed the damage he heard the distinctive sound of Moody and his wooden leg walk up behind him.

"What happened?" the Headmaster asked without looking at his old friend.

"The boy's shield failed. Girl took a cutting curse to the shoulder" he said pointing to the blood splatter "two seconds later she grabbed the boy and disapparated away. Malfoy and Lestrange went as soon as the boy was gone."

After a few moments in which Dumbledore appeared to be deep in thought, Arthur asked quietly "Where's Harry?" to which Moody replied "Unknown. Girl looked liked Tonks in the disguise she used for the Gibbons' and MacIntosh case a few years back. The girl probably took him to Headquarters when she got injured."

There were a few murmurs of agreement before an unusually timid voice from the back of the now small crowd outside the room said "But sir, I'm here."

All heads snapped towards the voice and saw a very bedraggled looking Tonks sporting a black eye and split lip.

The young Auror sighed deeply sounding defeated before she whispered quietly to herself.

"Shit."