AN: Hello, long time no see. Sorry for a super late update, but all my troubles in real life is connected to a large surgery on one of my dearest family members (its passed now and all is good) and my exams. I am almost finished with them now, so I had time to finish this chapter. Truly looking forward to graduation now and summer. Summer equals more time to write on this fic after all. Blah, blah read, enjoy and review.
-.-.-
Into enemy territory
Despite of all his courage and strength, Harry had to admit that he was somewhat scared. A few moments earlier he was certain that his life was over and now he followed an unknown man into uncharted enemy territory. This was not his most brilliant day and many of his friends would have disapproved. I some ways he even did it himself.
While studying his newfound, but temporary, ally Harry came to the conclusion that he couldn't understand the man. Judging by his aristocratic features he belonged one of the old wizarding families, what Harry had seen of the man's magic also supported this – the dark arts wasn't frowned upon in some of the '28 sacred families'. He also moved with the grace of a predator, not in the cold and refined way Lucius Malfoy did, but more feline. Fast, precise and above all deadly. To say that Harry was on his guard was an understatement, the man's alliance and motives were still unknown after all. There was something more, a haunted look in his grey eyes- a look that felt familiar, but he was certain he had never laid eyes on the man before. Despite it all Harry decided that he was rather handsome.
The first room they entered was completely empty; sans some muggle equipment neither recognised nor paid any attention to. This entire house felt strange. Why was there so little security? Were they truly that vain or had everyone escaped? The hallway led into four different rooms, excluding the upper floor and they seemed to be without wards – probably to support the muggle mechanisms and objects. The first two rooms seemed to be guest rooms of some sort and held no vital information. A third door revealed a well-used kitchen. As they continued to look the two wizards became increasingly paranoid, something was wrong.
The forth room on the first floor was something different. A large assembly hall welcomed them, as did the first sign of magic. No room in a house that small could host a room of this size, the extension magic was nothing unheard of, but impressive nonetheless- an opinion that Harry didn't voice out loud, still suspicious of his companion. What seemed more astounding was that there was more muggle technology present that clearly had to work despite the magical disturbance.
Uncertain on how to treat the inventions the two wizards cleared the area for any paperwork worth of notice. This time around both had luck on their side and found two piles of left over papers, none seemed to be of utmost importance but one never knew so the newly gained information was stashed in Harry's extended pockets.
Not including the first few rooms this was going to smooth, outside there had at least been resistance. The remaining members of the League was upstairs, they had to be. Realising that he had overlooked one of the few aces he had up his sleeve Harry debated whatever to reveal it already or not. Deciding that it was the safest course of action he stopped his temporary companion by attempting to but his hand on the man's shoulder. The response was the end of a wand in his face; Harry took a quiet step back and gesticulated towards his pockets. Slowly searching for his cloak of invisibility, the process was rather uncomfortable and unsettling since he could feel objects such as papers, a book and at last the cloak where his leg ought to be. Very strange experience indeed but undeniably practical.
His reasons for not revealing it earlier was not mentioned, especially when a noise was heard from up the stair. Hiding under the cloak was hardly comfortable, despite still being rather short for his age Harry had grown since he first got it and his ally was just above average height. Slowly creeping upstairs together they were faced with their first enemy inside, who feel without noticing her opponents.
On the second floor there was a large door that immediately caught their attention, which seemed to be protected especially well with more technology. The heavy reliance on muggles might seem as a disadvantage at first glance, but then how many wizards knew how to handle modern muggle made equipment rendering all magic and skill worthless.
Harry led the man away from the room wanting to keep any interference at a minimum, especially from the likes of the muggle police.
-.-.-.-
When only the room behind the large door remained his companion had apparently gotten his fair share of objects outside of his area of knowledge since he cast a curse that disintegrated the door. The action was followed by a loud noise, clearly an alarm. The sound was quickly remedied but the muggle police was probably on their way and no one had disposed properly of the bodies outside. With any luck the League had any muggle repelling charms.
Harry quickly stashed his cloak so it wouldn't be damaged by the battle, as one of the few objects of emotional significance he had inherited from his parents he didn't want it destroyed.
The fighting was on again and the five wizards protected the room fought hard. The first two fell rather quick due to their attempting to protect even more muggle stuff, but the remaining three hold their ground. They did however not call for any form of backup. With the protective wards, that were interestingly enough muggle repellent, surrounding the walls some spells that missed their target rebounded.
Fighting as a team with someone, despite not knowing them, was oddly comforting and entertaining. There was no need to try attempt to worry or protect the other, not this time. With the adrenaline once more rushing through his veins Harry's morals became distant and he paid little attention to how dark some of the curses his ally used were.
"Avis" the spell Harry cast distracted his opponents by conjuring up small birds, very aggressive birds that dove for the opponents eyes in a similar fashion to Fawkes in the Chamber of Secrets.
"Deletrius" The spell was aimed at the man supporting him, but Harry quickly cast a shield that protected them both. The man gave Harry something that could be interpreted as a smile, before casting series of non-verbal curses and spells at their opponents. One of them, a woman had a bleeding eye socket; she was the one at the receiving end of the man's wand.
The fight was terrifying, but Harry had one comfort, there was no friends here that could get hurt because of him, he could now foccus on the action with out the distraction of guarding his fellow comrades in Dumbledore's Army. Needless to say Harry wasn't going to admit it to them, but it was a relief. Perhaps they would understand after what happened to poor Ron?
There was that familiar stab in his heart.
When a nasty looking cutting charm almost scraped him, he was forced back into the action. Harry made quick work of his opponent with a stunner, who had lost all sense of reason when the witch and the other wizard fell to some, in lack of better words truly disturbing spells.
Without the original caster to strengthen the temporary wards, all protection was stripped from the walls where, with any luck, important information was hidden. The man raised his wand at the fallen, but still living wizard with the intent of killing him. "Avada k"
Before the killing curse could be completed and fulfill its purpose, Harry interrupted him by grabbing his arm. "What are you doing?"
"We can't leave the enemy alive, he will know we were here. Step aside."
"Then you can figure out how to access the Intel on the computer over there, and that fast before the police arrives." Harry argued.
"The what? Well, you do have a point." He faced the muggleborn once more. "Imperio"
With the spelled man's help the two managed to access some truly interesting information. As brilliant the decision to use muggle equipment was to prevent other wizards, especially purebloods, from reading their secrets, it wasn't bulletproof. As much as Harry wanted to deny it, the unforgivable was quite handy in times as this and having an ally that had no qualms about using it was practical. The trail of thought was interrupted, a dangerous path to follow through. Why couldn't dark magic or even darker neutral spells remain pure evil in his head as it had before?
When the sounds of the muggle police started to grow closer Harry was in for a cold shower; when some truly unwanted information appeared. It was a digital letter, or was it called e-mail in the muggle world; Vernon or Dudley might have mentioned it once. Either way the correspondence was between the League and a certain Hermione Granger, at first it wasn't suspect as she was working to work out an alliance, but something was off.
Dear Miss Granger,
First we want to thank you for the information you have shared with us, our alliance will truly be beneficial for all parties. With your help we can now calculate Dumbledore's next move and the profile of Potter saved us quite some time.
Your mission at the moment is to distract the Order of the Phoenix with the promise of cooperation and keep a close eye on all key members, including Potter.
Concerning your demands, it all seems reasonable, with one exception which we will brief you of in person. The proposition concerning the house elves was excellent on the other hand; that Dumbledore has not yet used the strategy is surprising. The elves are almost completely loyal to our cause and we will set them free, even those who don't understand what's best for them - yet.
An email will inform you of the location of the next meeting.
Yours sincerely,
A.L Christinsen.
When had Hermione written this and why? Had she truly betrayed them or was she simply playing the League and this Christinsen? Who was that anyway, their leader or just someone responsible for recruiting new members? The questions was truly haunting, what if his last living best friend had changed her allegiances and joined an unexpected enemy. Was Ted Tonks a traitor too, the letter e-mail thing didn't mention him.
The rest happened fast; a green light killed the muggleborn wizard followed by several reducto spells that smashed the various equipment to smithereens, this to hide all evidence of them actually gaining any knowledge of importance. Someone was running up the stairs, the police? Time was clearly up.
Later in life Harry would remember his first Apparition as a truly horrible experience and one that caught him slightly of guard as well – who in their right mind would ever do that to themselves?
-.-.-.-.-
Having no idea of their current location Harry released and turned to the man once the nauseous feeling had somewhat diminished. "Is it always like that, apparition? Where are we?"
"No, it gets better. Outside London"
"Okay, I guess I'll take the Knight Buss home. This really didn't go as planned" Harry realised, the point of the evening had been to secure an alliance, instead they had tried to kill him and had almost, embarrassingly enough, succeeded. Ron and Hermione would have his head for this, Harry thought with a smile; until he realised that Ron was not alive anymore and Hermione could not be trusted. It hurt.
"I noticed"
"Thank you, you did save my life. What were you doing there alone anyway? You clearly weren't trying to establish an alliance."
An expression of pure disgust at the mere notion of an alliance with the League of Muggleborn rights momentarily deformed his companions face. "I prefer my own company. You coming along was unexpected, but why miss an opportunity to spread chaos among enemy ranks?"
"One of the letters we got to read mentioned another base in Northumberland. Are you moving against that target as well? If so I wish to tag along."
"You trust me already?" The man seemed rather amused at the notion; the haunted look in his eyes appeared even more devastating when he smiled. Why was it so familiar and who wore that look on his face when he thought no one looked, it was frustrating not knowing.
"No, but two is better than one. I don't want my friends getting hurt" Harry replied with an uncharacteristic coldness in his voice, he hated it when people seemed to laugh at his expense; it reminded him to much of the Dursley's.
"I can't see why not. If you die isn't the end of the world and I don't need the bothersome company of my associates. Assuming that you won't give my you location, how do we communicate?"
"With these" Harry pulled out two blank parchments from his pockets, that extension charm had come in handy many times that evening. "Just wait as I spelled them, then they will transfer messages." Preforming the charms that Sirius had shown him, Luna and Ginny, Harry enchanted the parchments, while making sure that no one but the two them could read its contents. His temporary ally had a very Slytherin air that made Harry slightly worried. Harry explained the general idea of how to communicate with the help of Sirius invention and prepared himself for calling the suicide bus that was called transport in the wizarding world before he realised something.
"What's your name? It feels stupid to refer to you as temporary ally or something similar."
"I don't trust you with my name, to important."
"Well, seeing as we have destroyed a base of a common enemy together and as the enemy of my enemy is my friend, share your first name if your last name is such a secret. Humour me. I am Harry." There was a perk that Harry didn't say out loud with this possibility, the man didn't need to know that he was Harry Potter and he could therefore be free from his role a few hours.
"You really are insistent. Rabastan" Definitely a pureblood name, one could wonder if he belonged to any of the new organisations, there was bound to be more that just the death eaters for pure bloods to join. Right?
Little did Harry know that he was shaking hands with someone he ought to consider an enemy and a dangerous one at that. Neville Longbottom was completely unaware that one of his friends was taking the first step towards an alliance with one of those who destroyed his parents, he was lucky not to be aware – yet.
-.-.-.
A:N And there is the new, very late update. Thanks for all support.
