It was the year 1997, nearly a thousand years after the founding of the first of the magical schools. Located deep in the Scottish highlands. The school was a port of call for Purebloods, the muggleborn, halfbloods, werewolves, politicians, and students from many lands.
It could be a dangerous place, but we all knowingly accepted the risks, because Hogwarts was our last, best hope for peace.
It failed.
But in the final years of the War, Hogwarts became something much greater: it became our last, best hope – for victory.
(adapted from the opening credits Babylon 5)
"The hero is no braver than an ordinary man, he is just brave for five minutes longer."
Ralph Waldo Emmerson
Chapter Six: The Wizard and the Warrior
Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes 20:00 27 June
George Weasley was sat upon the toilet with his trousers around his ankles, he had the latest edition of the Daily Prophet spread over his bare knees, and was reading with enjoyment, a particularly glowing review of their latest product line. You could not buy publicity as good as the article provided.
POP!! Squeak!!
Ignoring the sounds, George casually turned over the page, onto an article about Harry Potter and as he was the-boy-that-lived, why he had not yet stopped the rampaging Voldemort, well that was extraordinarily topical, George thought to himself.
"Harry?" George spoke without looking up from the Prophet.
"Er…Yes George" Harry, unlike most people, had never had any problem telling the twins apart.
"Why are you stood in my bath?"
There was an embarrassed cough, and another squeak, as the shower/bath screen was pulled back, revealing a bemused and slightly blushing Harry Potter, stood fully clothed in the bath.
"Well…I…I think I overshot my apparation coordinates, I meant to arrive in your lounge, and I…got a bit carried away, I needed to speak to you and Fred"
"Harry, you know I said you were always welcome here, right"
"Yes George"
"I didn't actually mean RIGHT here, ok"
"Er…right, well…I guess I'll wait outside then"
"If you wouldn't mind, I'd appreciate it"
Harry, rather sheepishly climbed out of the bath, stepping once more on the rubber duck that had been a flat warming present from Arthur Weasley, and avoiding eye contact with George he moved to the door and passed through it, closing it softly behind him. George, grinning shook his head, looked up and addressed the ceiling
"And they say I'm mad!"
Downstairs, Fred was cashing up the days takings, it had been another good day at the shop, at this rate his and George's much discussed expansion plans would soon come to fruition. He looked up when the shop door opened, causing a magical chime to sound, with a noise closely resembling a loud, gassy fart.
"I'm sorry, I've just cashed up, could you return tomorrow?"
The man who entered was wearing the strangest outfit Fred had ever seen, mainly a sandy yellow, with splotches everywhere. He carried a large black bag over his shoulder.
"I need to speak to Mr Weasley!" Fred eyed the black bag warily.
"If you're trying to sell us something you might as well save yourself some trouble, all our products are solely designed, created, tested and sold by us!"
"My name is Thomas Bell, I am looking for my sisters Katie and Helen, and I was told by a reliable source they are at your family home. And since I don't know where that is, I would like your help to go to them"
Fred stared at him, he had known Katie Bell for seven years, and not once in all that time had she ever mentioned to him about her having a brother, a sister yes, but not a brother, however the family resemblance was plain to see.
Thomas had Katie's strong cheekbones and intense brown eyes that seemed to bore right through you, and he had the same nose as Helen. And with the death of their parents, the two sisters would probably welcome seeing their brother.
"Well I guess you had best come upstairs to the flat then" After securing the shops front door, Fred led the way upstairs.
After a few moments George had finished his business on the toilet and left the bathroom to find his twin and a total stranger sat on the battered old couch watching an irate Harry pace back and forth in extreme agitation.
"Oh brother of mine, who is our guest?"
Speaking softly so as not to disturb the obviously already mentally disturbed Harry, George asked his brother, he thought the man looked familiar but couldn't place him.
"This is Thomas Bell, Katie and Helen's brother, he needs to see his sisters, after we finish here I will give him apparation coordinates so he can get to the burrow"
Thomas started to shake his head as they spoke.
"I'm sorry, but I cannot apparate, I have never learnt how, it's a long story which if you are very good I shall tell you later."
The twins shared a look, they had never heard of an adult that couldn't apparate before, gaining your apparation licence was almost like a rite of passage for wizards and witches comparable to gaining a muggle driving licence. Some like their mother preferred to use the Floo network instead, but she was still capable of apparition. There was something about this man that begged certain questions to be asked. Like where had he been all these years? And why had Katie never mentioned him?
"Right Harry, what is so important you had to come and interrupt my personal bathroom time?"
George turned his attention to Harry who was still pacing furiously up and down the lounge muttering to himself, and had not heard a word of the previous conversation.
"It's Ginny! It was Pettigrew! They have her, the Death Eaters! I need your help to get her back!"
The words came out so fast that they made no sense, the twins just looked at each other grinning, then as one they both stood up, each grabbed one of Harry's arms and forced him to sit down on the couch next to Thomas, who was regarding the black haired wizard with bemusement.
"Right Harry, calm down and…"
"…Just take it from the start!"
So he did, and, by the time he had reached the end of the tale the twins were looking very grim faced indeed, normally it was hard to get the born practical jokers to take anything seriously. Unless of course it involved their sister, Ginny was the first female born into the Weasley family in many generations, and they took looking out for her well being very seriously.
"And so I need to bust out Wormtail, because he's the only one who knows where Ginny and Helen Bell are!"
"Helen Bell? How…"
"…Does she fit into this?
"Because Wormtail somehow lured her outside the burrow, stunned her and turned her jacket into a one way portkey straight to Voldemort!"
"WHAT!"
Thomas exploded off the couch so fast, that both the twins were so shocked that they had drawn their wands as an instinctive reaction.
Harry's wand was already in his hand, which surprised him immensely because he didn't actually remember getting it out. For a moment he just looked at the slender wand in his hand, his brow furrowed, he simply must have pulled it out and just didn't remember doing it!
Looking back up, Harry regarded the tall man in front of him, as if seeing him for the first time. Harry had occasionally seen soldiers on television before, whenever the Dursleys weren't looking, in war movies and on the nightly news, after all if the Dursleys had been good for something, it was the fact they had a TV in every single room but his.
So he knew what the clothing signified, plus the man in front of him was already armed, because even if the twins had not recognised the muggle weapon, Harry had. The black pistol was tucked into a holster under the man's left armpit.
Thomas turned and found himself looking down the pointy ends of the three wands and slowly raised his hands up, palms facing outwards.
"Take it easy fellas, I'm one of the good guys, well actually that's a little bit misleading, lets just say I'm not one of the bad guys and leave it at that, you really don't need the wands!"
The three of them relaxed slightly and lowered their wands, although none of them were quite ready to put their wands away just yet, they had learnt the hard way not to be that trusting.
"So, let me get this straight, what you're telling me is that my youngest sister has been snatched, by the darkest wizard currently on the planet, and you three are the ones taking action to get her back, while the Ministry of Magic sits around on its collective arse and does nothing, as per usual! Well you can damn well count me in!"
Harry regarded the man for a moment, he seemed genuine enough, but it was surprisingly hard to get any sense of magic from him, although he was obviously born with the power, it was as if his power was hidden under a wet blanket, smothering it, and the vibration his wand caused was just as confusing. Unlike the twins' wands, which if he concentrated on them, he could sense their location with his eyes closed, with Thomas, he could detect the wand, but only in the most general of terms.
"What is it that you think you can do to help?" Fred asked, Thomas just smiled, and motioned with his hand to a large black bag sat unnoticed in the corner of the room.
"What can I do to help? When it comes to storming buildings, there is no one better trained to do it, I have five years experience doing it and I have a lot of tricks to help me do it. It's been my job for the Army, among other things"
Harry got the impression from Thomas's tone that he really didn't want to know too much about these 'other things'. Although Harry didn't know him, having someone along that actually knew what they were doing could only increase his chances of success.
"So what building do we have to bust this Wormtail fella out of?"
"The Ministry of magic building itself!" The very last thing Harry expected this man to do at that piece of news was to start laughing.
"Oh this is just too perfect! I've only been back a day, and I've already declared open war on the Ministry! I've already been attacked by three Aurors, and if that wasn't enough I'm about to storm the Ministry building!"
Harry didn't understand the joke, but knew there was more to this man than he had first thought if he could defeat three Ministry Aurors at the same time.
"So who's this Ginny bird the bad guys have got along with my sister?"
Harry felt himself tense up at the very mention of her name, he could not even contemplate what would happen if Ginny was hurt…or worse.
"My girlfriend, and their sister" Harry pointed at the twins.
"Excellent a four man strike team, just like old times!"
Harry shook his head, he had a plan in mind already, and he wanted to keep as many people outside the detention centre as possible. It was bad enough he'd end up either dead or in Azkaban, he didn't want to be sharing a cell with the Weasley twins, which he considered would be like spending an eternity in hell.
"No, just the two of us, these two will not be with us on the inside!"
"What! Now wait one damn minute…" The Twins Weasley temper flared.
"…Ginny is our sister, and we're going to…"
"…Do our bit to rescue her!"
"To pull this off I need the majority of the Ministry forces to be looking the wrong way while we are inside grabbing Wormtail, we need a really, really big diversion, can you honestly think of anyone better suited than you two for the job?"
The twins grinned evilly at each for a moment, it was true that when it came to causing mischief and chaos they were in a league of their own.
"I'm also going to need your fireworks"
"How many of them?" George looked suspiciously at Harry, who grinned viciously back at him.
"All of them!"
OoOoO
The Burrow
"He cannot possibly think he can snatch Wormtail and get out on his own!"
Bill's voice held a mixture of worry, incredulity, and a large dose of respect and awe, at the prospect of Harry taking on the entire Magical Law Enforcement department single-handed. There would be nearly fifty Aurors on duty, not to mention the staff manning the detention centre and any other Ministry night staff that felt brave enough to intervene, not even Voldemort himself would choose to take on those odds without considerable Death Eater back up.
"Harry knows he needs help, he went to see your brothers"
Luna voice was clear and business like, there was no sign of the dreaminess that they all normally associated with her.
"Bloody Hell! Why did he not just ask us for help! Does he think we're not up to it or something?"
Ron was angry, Harry was his best friend, and he should have known Ron so much better than this, Ginny was his little sister and he loved her dearly, so why did Harry think he had the monopoly on wanting to see her home, safe and sound?
"He wanted you and Bill here, to pick up the pieces, to care for Ginny and your family once the Ministry arrest him!" They all just looked at her blankly at this announcement. "Harry knows, even if he succeeds he will go to Azkaban, possibly for the rest of his life, he knows this and he gone anyway, that's how much he cares about your sister and Helen!"
Ron at least had the good grace to look a little embarrassed and ashamed at his outburst.
"The question we should be asking ourselves, how far are we willing to go to help and protect him? Harry is my friend, and I don't have enough friends to lose one without even putting up a fight, I know Harry would stand beside me if our positions were reversed without a second thought, as he would for any of you, so I will stand beside him regardless of where it leads, it really is the least we can do!"
Neville's quiet confident voice made everyone stop and think, Luna looked up at him and smiled, and for a reason as yet unknown to Neville he found himself blushing bright red.
"Look, don't get me wrong, it's my sister's life at stake here too! But Harry told no-one what he intended to do before he left, how do you know what he is going to do, Luna?" Katie asked quietly.
"Because she is the most powerful natural telepath and empath I have ever heard of!"
Everybody spun around to see Remus leaning nonchalantly up against the wall behind them, none of them had even heard his approach.
"You knew?" Luna sounded horrified that her secret was now public knowledge.
"Of course I knew, when I was your professor I had full access to all of your student files, plus I spoke to your father the summer before I started at Hogwarts. Luna, yours is a rare gift and can be both powerful and frightening, I wanted to see if I could make it any easier for you during your time at Hogwarts."
Remus came forward and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "I needn't have worried, I quickly ascertained you had the strongest mental shields of anyone I have ever met, excluding perhaps Dumbledore. That and the fact you went to great lengths to screen what was happening around you!"
Luna looked extremely sad for a moment. Then she looked up at Remus with a little grin on her face.
"Living with just my father, I could never imagine what it would be like at Hogwarts. It was overwhelming at first, so many voices speaking in my head at once, so many different emotions it actually hurt, but I quickly learned to become detached, to not focus on the moment so much, it helped block the voices out. But people thought I was strange, I wasn't very popular, remember 'loony Luna'"
Ron looked extremely guilty at this comment, he had been one of those who had used this name for her.
"But Ginny allowed our friendship that had started in our childhood to gain strength, because… well actually I don't know why, we weren't even in the same house, but because of her friendship, I came into contact with Harry. He is now the only one I can always hear through the block, normally its just surface impressions, very strong emotions, like a few times when he was very depressed or really happy, but tonight I wanted to help, to know what he was thinking, so I allowed myself to open up, I heard every thought, every argument he was having with himself, and I heard his final decision."
For a long moment there was silence as this newly revealed information sank in.
"Right, so are we agreed, we help Harry, despite any potential consequences?" Bill looked around the group, and one by one they all nodded to him.
"I know exactly how we can help him"
Ron looked up, his eyes fierce.
"The way I see it Harry's plan has three parts, the first is getting into the Ministry and snatching Wormtail. The second is reaching HIS location and rescuing Ginny and Helen, the third is whatever happens when he gets back here and the Ministry come after him, right?" Luna nodded at Ron's assessment of what faced Harry.
"So firstly we need to empty the Ministry of as many Aurors as possible, and secondly we need to tie up as many Death Eaters as we can at the same time, both of these help Harry get where he needs to go by hopefully cutting down the number he will face."
"Ok Ron, I'm listening, how do we do this?" Remus was listening intently, Ron always seemed more confident when he was discussing strategy; it was the wizards' chess player in him coming out.
"Well we're going to need some help, we will need the Order of the Phoenix, they will be our offence, and then we will need a little bit of a defence"
"Do you know anyone you can call, little brother?" Bill asked Ron, the younger Weasley smiled at his brother.
"Oh yeah, I know a few people we can speak to, but we shouldn't do any of this from our place, we don't want to implicate mum and dad in any of this"
"You can use my house, my father is staying at the quibbler offices in London tonight, so we won't be interrupted" Luna's suggestion was a good one.
"I think that we are going to need more than just your house Luna, we are going to need you to contact your father, we are going to need his help as well, I think its time to exercise a little freedom of the press"
Ron and Bill grinned evilly at each other, someone was going to get an awfully big surprise tonight.
OoOoO
Various Wizarding Residences Across Britain
Seamus Finnegan was having the same argument with his best friend Dean Thomas that they had been having for the past six years, football or Quidditch. Dean, despite all the evidence Seamus could supply, was just unwilling to give up on West Ham. Neither was willing to back down in the slightest, and despite the passion involved, neither let the argument get heated.
Seamus had invited his friend over at the end of school because his mother was unlikely to let him return to Hogwarts at the start of the new school year, and he would miss his friend. Although he got on well with all the other boys in his Dorm room, he was as close to Dean as Ron was to Harry, and he didn't want to let that friendship go.
The boys were sat in the front room, in front of the roaring fire which in magical homes was nearly always lit and were just finishing the tea Seamus's mum had made them, when with a sputter and a cough, Ron Weasley's head appeared in the fireplace.
"Ron? What's up mate?" Seamus and Dean crowded closer.
"I have a huge favour to ask! We are activating the DA! Harry needs your help!"
OoO
Colin Creevey and his younger brother Dennis had just placed their brooms away after a bit of Quidditch practice, they both hoped to win a place on the Gryffindor house team as beaters in the coming year, when they heard their mother scream in terror.
Drawing wands, they moved with the coordination that only years of training, or a brotherly bond could create, they entered the lounge to find their mother sat on the sofa, both hands covering her face and shaking.
"Mum! What is it, what's wrong?"
Colin quickly scanned the room, nothing appeared to be wrong or out of place. With an unsteady hand, Mrs Creevey pointed to the fireplace. Both boys crowded forward for a better look. Sitting in the fireplace, was a perfect replica of a girl's head, Luna Lovegood in fact, neither boy had seen her since Dumbledore's funeral.
Dennis grinned widely and bounced over to the fire, followed by his brother, he imagined a girls head appearing in the fire was a bit much for his poor muggle mother to take.
"Mum, don't worry, mum I'd like you to meet Luna Lovegood, she is in my year at Hogwarts, Luna this is my mum" Luna's head smiled and nodded to the now slightly quieter adult, before turning her attention back to the boys.
"Colin, Dennis, we are re-assembling the DA, Harry needs you!" To these two it was like uttering the magic words, if there ever were an official Harry Potter fan club, they would have been right at the front of the subscriptions queue, having camped out there for a week to ensure they were the first.
OoO
'Mad-eye' Moody had just taken a swig from his hip flask, when Bill and Remus appeared amid a flash of green flame, standing in the fireplace in the front room of 12 Grimmauld place.
"Alastair, please stop pointing that wand at us, thank you!"
The old, retired Auror had lost none of his reaction speed, or paranoia, probably why the tough old boot was still alive.
"So what can I do for you gentlemen?"
"I don't know about you Mad-eye, but I think its time the order went on the offensive and stopped running scared, I need all available members, and I need you to generate a target list"
"All of them?" Bill could understand Moody's astonishment, no one, not even Dumbledore, had activated the entire order of the phoenix before for a single operation.
"Everyone apart from those currently employed by the Ministry, those people we need to keep in the dark, I don't want to have to make people like Tonks and my dad have to chose a side if I can help it"
"I think you'd better explain yourself, Mr Weasley!"
"Ok, I'll try, Harry's going to need all the help we can provide!"
"Continue"
OoO
Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet had just finished eating, the two women had only recently purchased a flat together, and were taking it in turns to do the chores, and tonight was Alicia's turn. While Alicia cleared the table Angelina was happily stroking her new tawny owl, Nemo.
She had never owned an owl before, when she was at Hogwarts she had used the family owl, Oscar, or one of the school owls, but her mother, worrying over the recent turn of events in the country had insisted on buying the handsome bird as a flat warming present.
The two women, former team mates on the Gryffindor house Quidditch team, had both tried out as chasers for the Holyhead Harpies, a professional league team based in Wales. To their utter delight, both had won spots on the reserve team and high hopes of soon making it into the starting seven.
There was the sound of someone clearing their throat, but there was no one else in the room. Angelina returned the owl to his perch and drew her wand.
"Hello?" She felt extremely silly talking to the empty air, but when a voice answered her it felt even stranger.
"Hello, Angelina, Alicia, anyone there?" Standing, Angelina moved to the fireplace and was astonished to see Katie Bell's head looking back at her. The three of them had been the incomparable chasers of Gryffindor house Quidditch and they had all become firm friends.
"Katie, I'm so sorry to hear about your parents, how are you doing?" Katie's head gave her a sad smile.
"I've been better, is Alicia here too? I have something important to ask of the both of you."
OoOoO
The Ministry of Magic
The dingy, badly lit side street was completely unremarkable to the muggle eye. On the corner was a pub, which looked as if its best days were seen during the blitz, and several dour office blocks looked down on the depressing scene, as if standing guard.
About halfway down the street was a battered old red phone box with several panes missing, standing in front of a heavily graffitied wall, obviously forgotten in the British Telecom replacement program, for all modern boxes were now grey plastic things with no character.
It was this phone box that Harry Potter now studied, from his vantage point behind a builders skip he could see the entire length of the street. There was no one and nothing of any importance in sight.
"Wait!" Thomas hissed and grabbed hold of Harry's arm as he was about to step from cover, he was looking through a device held to his face that made a strange humming sound. "Here, look for yourself!"
Harry took the offered device and held it up to his face, he was astonished to see his view of the world change from colour to whites, greens and blacks.
"What is it?" Thomas gave a low chuckle, at the amazement in the young wizard's voice, these wizards and their damn superiority complex.
"It's a thermal imager, Harry, its how muggles see things that our normal sight cannot pickup, anything hot will display as white, the brighter the image, the hotter the object. Look over at the phone box"
Harry looked, he could see three blobs of white/grey, and the shapes were indistinct and unrecognisable, which he told Thomas. Reaching forward, to the front of the device, Thomas told him to keep looking.
Suddenly the picture sharpened, and Harry gasped as the three blobs became perfectly recognisable as people, he could make out clothing and to some extent, facial features. Removing the imager from his face, Harry looked again with his naked eye at the scene, as before he could see nothing.
"What you're looking at there, is three Aurors under disillusionment charms, they have placed extra security out, and I think this is going to be a whole lot of fun!"
Harry was not sure he liked to be working so closely with someone whose idea of fun echoed so precisely that of the Weasley twins, it did not bode well for the evening's activities.
"Right, you two know what you have to do?"
Harry turned to ask the two Red heads crouched behind him, they had blacked their faces with something Thomas had given them, he called it 'cam cream', and they wore black hats over their shocking red hair. They also wore full-length black robes, not unlike those Death Eaters wore, and that Harry hoped, was the whole point.
"Yes Harry!"
The twins chorused rolling their eyes at him, they had gone over it so many times they had committed it to memory, from their grins they shared Thomas's opinion of Harry's plan, it was risky, it was daring, it was fun!
"Off you go then, good luck, and keep your heads down!"
The twins moved past him, George paused for a moment and grasped Harry's shoulder, they just looked at each other, no more words were needed. George had always been the more sensitive of the twins, and Harry's favourite. The twins knew that for Harry, attacking the Ministry might prove to be the easiest part of the plan.
Harry nodded in gratitude for the unspoken support and with a smile of understanding George slipped away into the growing darkness, Harry, still smiling. glanced around at his new friend.
"Ready?" Thomas grinned back, and nodded. "Here we go then"
Harry rose from his position, behind the skip and began to walk towards the phone box, he felt rather than saw Thomas fall in step behind him, and although neither of them wore an invisibility cloak, the only way to know Thomas was there behind him was to turn around and look, Harry felt clumsy and heavy footed beside the professional soldier, the man moved with a cat like grace, reminding him constantly of Kingsley Shacklebolt.
The phone box got ever closer, and Harry hoped he didn't look as nervous as he felt. It had been his idea not to even attempt a stealthy entrance, but to just walk in through the front door.
He wore a set of brightly coloured robes borrowed from Fred, he could not have been any more obvious to the invisible sentries, and that too was part of the plan. Behind him, playing the part of official Ministry assigned bodyguard, Thomas wore the set of captured Auror robes he had taken. If anyone was actually paying attention, both of them had the appearance of hunchbacks, both carried items under their robes.
They got to within ten feet of the phone box before being challenged.
"Identify yourselves and your business with the Ministry?" The speaker sounded very young and quite nervous. Harry playacted being surprised by the invisible speaker, looking around fearfully.
"My name is Harry Potter, I am here to see the Minister!"
There was a moment of silence, and then three figures appeared from thin air, all crowding forward excitedly, all wanting a chance to speak to the boy-who-lived.
This part had been George's idea, and he had known Harry had hated it, but to the twins that had been just part of the plans appeal. Harry had at first wanted no part of it, but could think of no other way of capturing and holding the Aurors interest. Harry had just gritted his teeth and agreed to it, he had spent his entire life trying to live down his fame.
"Harry Potter, bless my soul",
"It really is you!"
"My kid's will never believe me!"
Three stupefy's rang out in quick succession, and the Aurors dropped to the floor in silence, Harry tucked his wand away, and watched as the twins reappeared from under his and Thomas' invisibility cloaks, grinning broadly.
"More underage magic…!"
"You'll be expelled if you…"
"Keep this up Harry!"
Taking the cloaks back, and tucking them into a small pack, Harry grinned back at them.
"Bit late for that guys, I've been apparating without a licence since we left Hogwarts, besides after tonight, I think underage magic use will be the least of my crimes, we'll see you inside" The twins nodded and with that turned away to hide the three stunned Aurors in the skip.
Harry and Thomas entered the phone box, which somehow seemed to be an even tighter crush than he remembered it. Picking up the receiver, Harry carefully dialled the number from memory, he had not been here since the department of mysteries battle…not since Sirius…Harry clamped down on those thoughts, for he had far too much at stake to break down tonight.
62442, the number spelt out the word magic, Harry waited for a moment, then heard the welcome witches cool voice sounding as if she was stood in the phone box with them.
"Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business" Harry spoke to the empty air.
"Harry Potter and Auror bodyguard, to see Minister for Magic Rufus Scrimgeour!"
"Thank you, visitor please take the badge and attach it to the front of your robes."
There was a slight delay, followed by a click and a rattle, and then a silver badge popped out into the chute of the coin return slot. Picking it up, Harry didn't even glance at it, just fixed it to his borrowed robes.
"Visitor to the Ministry of Magic, you are required to submit to a search and present your wand at the security desk, which is located at the far end of the Atrium"
Harry didn't need directions, he would never forget his terrifying experiences in the Atrium that night when Dumbledore had duelled with Voldemort, the night Sirius had died.
There was a slight rumble, and the telephone box started to slide below the street level. The pavement rose up past the glass windows until Darkness closed over their heads.
"Lumos!" Harry's wand tip flared brilliantly white.
Behind him there was the sound of teeth grinding together, turning Harry was surprised to see Thomas with a face like thunder.
"Scrimgeour is Minister for magic?" There was such open hostility in the tone of voice Harry actually took a step back.
"Yes, for over a year, since Fudge was replaced. Why, do you know him?" Thomas nodded once.
"Oh yes Rufus is an old friend, he and I go back a long way, fifteen years in fact, except he was a junior Auror back then, oh I would really like to stop by his office and spend a few minutes in his company tonight, oh don't worry Harry I know the girls are the priority, but one day soon he and I are going…to have words"
Harry felt a chill flow through him, it was like someone had flicked a switch, suddenly there was real menace in the man's tone, and Harry was forced to wonder what had occurred in Thomas's past to stir up such a powerful hatred of the man.
"How do you know he would want to see you?"
Thomas asked, trying, successfully to change the subject.
"Well he has wanted me as a propaganda mouth piece for the entire year, to tell the public I agree with the crackdowns and new laws he has brought in, to tell them the Ministry has everything under control, I was hoping he'd think that I had finally come around to his way of thinking"
"I take it that means you haven't" Thomas asked softly, he needed to know as much information as he could get his hands on, so he could properly identify both enemies and friends.
"No, I don't agree with him on any subject, that will never change!"
Below them, a golden light began to grow around their feet as the lift dropped into the Ministry of Magic Atrium, it was just as bright as Harry had remembered it.
"The Ministry of Magic wishes you a pleasant day," said the woman's voice, Harry just looked at Thomas and raised an eyebrow, and the soldier grinned and shook his head.
Stepping out of the phone box left them standing at one end of a long hall, the floor was highly polished dark wood, and many gilded fireplaces lined both walls, at the far end of the hall a set of golden gates were guarded by a manned desk.
Halfway down the hall was the fountain that had featured so prominently in the duel between Voldemort and Dumbledore, Harry felt strangely upset to see it had been repaired since that battle, almost as if every sign of Dumbledore was being slowly erased.
"Let's go" Harry led the way down the hall towards the fountain, pausing at a small smudged sign that read:
ALL PROCEEDS FROM THE FOUNTAIN OF MAGICAL BRETHREN WILL BE GIVEN TO ST MUNGO'S HOSPITAL FOR MAGICAL MALADIES AND INJURIES.
Harry dug into his pocket and pulled out a 10 Galleon coin, he looked at the coin a moment, before flicking it into the turbulent water, it had worked the last time, when he faced expulsion from Hogwarts for the use of underage magic, protecting Dudley from Dementors, and now he needed as much luck as he could gather.
There was the security desk, in exactly the position he remembered it, with the watch wizard in his peacock blue robes, he looked up as they approached, his gaze sliding off the tall man dressed as an Auror, and who certainly moved like an Auror, in favour of the brightly dressed youth.
"I'm escorting Mr Potter to see the Minister, he is expected" Thomas sounded gruff and businesslike, at the mention of the name Potter, the watch wizards gaze flicked up to Harry's forehead with its attendant scar.
"Step this way, Mr Potter" The watch wizard picked up a long golden rod, thin and flexible and passed it over Harry's body. Although they had taken precautions to avoid detection, Harry still held his breath, but no alarm sounded.
"May I see your wand please Mr Potter?" This watch wizard was much more polite than the one he had dealt with previously, it was a shame really considering what was probably going to happen in the next few minutes.
Harry placed his wand into the security guards outstretched hand, the guard turned back to the desk, and dropped the wand onto the strange brass instrument resembling scales. As before, it began to vibrate, and a narrow strip of parchment slid out from a slot in the instruments base.
"Eleven inches, phoenix tail feather core, been in use for six years, is all that information correct?" Harry just nodded and smiled, gratefully receiving his wand back. The guard smiled in return and waved them on their way.
Stepping past the security desk, and under the golden gates, they entered a smaller hall, containing the lifts. Moving out of sight of the desk, Harry quickly pulled the borrowed robes over his head, tossing them to the floor he watched Thomas do the same. Then grinning at each other they swapped loads.
Harry, as the most likely to be scanned, had carried all the muggle items Thomas had decided to bring, Thomas himself had carried as many of the twin's fireworks as he could carry, along with a few other 'special' items from the twins inventory.
Harry regarded the soldier for a moment, the man had swapped his desert coloured uniform for another, this time made of a thicker material, all in black, these came with a hood. Harry handed Thomas the special waistcoat, also in black, which clipped together down the centre of the chest, it had multiple pockets and pouches. Thomas had called it an 'assault vest'.
The man then collected two weapons, one, which appeared to have a torch attached under the barrel he slung across his back, the other he took a firm grip on and pulled a slide back under the barrel before pushing it forwards again
Harry wore a similar suit he had conjured to match what Thomas was wearing. On his back were two deep bags containing the fireworks, it was heavy load, but Harry knew before long it would get considerably lighter. Readying the invisibility cloaks, the two raiders turned to each other.
"Now we wait!"
"Now we wait!"
"And hope these twins of yours don't foul it up!"
"They won't, not when it involves Ginny!"
OoOoO
Here, There, Everywhere
The attacks began with a coordination that the Death Eaters could only dream of, up and down the country, far and wide, every business and property owned by a known or a suspected Death Eater was struck. Unoccupied buildings were razed to the ground, those occupied were cleared and any found bearing the Dark Mark were stunned and left bound for the capture squads of Aurors that soon began to arrive to investigate the attacks.
Death Eaters, alerted by the first few attacks, also began arriving in greater numbers in order to protect their property, sometimes they arrived just in time to engage the Aurors. Before long there were magical fire fights erupting in more than a dozen towns.
But neither side had guessed of the existence of a third group working in the shadows, a group that occasionally stepped in to aid the hard pressed Aurors, was manipulating both of them.
The night was not with out casualties, on both sides, and on one occasion deaths occurred when Aurors engaged a group thought to be Death Eaters, but were not.
For so long the Wizarding community had been living in fear of one man, even during the years of his absence, his name generated fear in the population. When morning came, the news was hard to keep under wraps, despite the news blackout imposed by a Ministry made to look inefficient and foolish, a group of concerned citizens had stood up for what was right, and had struck a blow for freedom.
The Order of the Phoenix had finally joined what had until that point been a very one-sided war.
OoOoO
The Ministry of Magic
POP!
With a completely over the top sound, the Weasley twins arrived by apparation in the middle of the Atrium, and immediately began hurling spells at the watch wizard behind his desk, or so it must have appeared to him, as he dived into the cover provided by his overturned desk. In fact none of the spells came close to hitting him, but they did make an awful mess of the Atrium.
The watch wizard, more of a pen pusher than a combat Auror, was terrified, he had seen just a glimpse of the black shapes appearing at the far end of the Atrium, and his fear fed on itself. Reaching out he quickly pressed a special button on the top of his desk.
"Death Eaters in the Atrium, I repeat Death Eaters in the Atrium! Help!"
Summoning what courage he had, the watch wizard pulled out his wand and prepared to return fire on the Death Eaters at the far end of the hall. He never heard the sound of a footstep behind him, never saw Harry level his wand at his back
"Stupefy!"
Waving merrily at the twins, Harry dropped the bags of fireworks either side of the golden gates out of sight of the lift foyer, and dashing back to the waiting Thomas, he hoped the twins would be able to hit such small targets.
Harry quickly deployed several of the Weasley 'specials' directly in front of the bank of lifts as extra little surprises.
Slipping under his invisibility cloak, Harry saw first one, then two, then at least ten lifts begin descending from levels one and two, the Magical Law Enforcement Department was on those levels, so each car would be jammed with Aurors. Harry grinned to himself this plan might actually work!
The Detention level alarms began to whoop in a rather persistent and annoying fashion, Tonks looked up in utter disgust at the interruption, from the desk where she had been attempting to fill out the required paperwork to transfer Peter Pettigrew to Azkaban prison. The alarm had completely ruined her concentration.
"Tonks! Come on girl, Death Eaters in the building, time to put your game face on!" Savage came tearing past her, his wand already out, rising, Tonks quickly drew her own and followed him out of the office.
In the corridor, the duty Auror shift commander Marcus Washburn was looking strained, he had already dispatched the majority of his available manpower to investigate a spate of magical attacks all over the country, and his resources were spread very thin.
All his remaining personnel were on their way to the Atrium to deal with the Death Eaters reported there, all he had left to deploy were the four Aurors that had brought in Pettigrew.
"Right you four, I want you to get our guest out of here. His mates are coming to spring him, or kill him, and he's just too valuable to lose, the intelligence he holds could be extremely valuable, take two of the detention level guards and get out of here! GO!" Marcus then drew his wand and moved to an empty lift, to join the battle downstairs.
The four Aurors ran to the cells, bringing two of the guards with them, these wizards were not trained to the same standard as Aurors, their spells being less combat orientated, but anything would do at a pinch. Flinging the cell door open, Tonks stepped inside and met the sly smile and empty, evil eyes of the small man sat inside. His face was still puffy and miscoloured from the beating he had received from Harry.
"Well Wormtail it looks like we're going to be taking another little trip together, stand up, turn around and place your hands behind your back."
The lifts emptied quickly, Aurors, wands out and spells already on their lips burst into the Atrium. To their astonishment the first group of Aurors found themselves suddenly on the ceiling as the gravity in front of the lifts was reversed.
Before any of their comrades could think of aiding them the gravity reverted to normal dropping the unfortunate Aurors straight into one of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes new and improved portable swamps. It was at this moment, while the Aurors were distracted that the twins began throwing concussion jinxes into the mix, while loud and annoying, totally harmless.
But other than the still figure of the watch wizard there was no sign of life, no indication of where the incoming spell fire originated. The Atrium and taken significant damage, but the fountain for once had not been harmed.
With no threat in sight the Ministry Aurors Relaxed slightly, the spells could have been time delayed, or triggered by their arrival, the Aurors milled around the golden gates, until one of them noticed a bag leant against the wall, he just about to investigate the bag when the twins popped up from behind the fountain and began firing repeated vanishing spells non-verbally into the bags.
The vanishing spells when it contacted one of Weasley's Wizarding Whiz-bangs had a curious effect, the spell multiplied their number by ten for a short time, but the fireworks had not been ignited, so instead of flying through the air, they just sat there and rapidly grew in number.
When each pile had reached a substantial height, Fred and George looked at each other and smiled, then each aimed a stunning hex at a pile, which also had an unexpected effect on the fireworks, firing their hexes, they sprinted towards two of the fireplaces along the walls of the Atrium, hurling Floo powder already held in their hands into the fires they bellowed.
"The Burrow!"
The world behind them turned bright red, followed by orange, and the sound of an oncoming express train filled their ears.
Already in the lift heading upstairs, Harry had to steady himself against the side of the lift, as the explosion rocked the lift car, there was the sound of metal under immense pressure and a rushing sound.
"See, I told you, when it comes to creating mayhem and devastation, I know all the right people!"
Harry was finally starting to loosen up a little and enjoy himself. Watching all those Aurors run right past him and Thomas, sometimes passing within inches of them under their invisibility cloaks, had been a thrill, almost like chasing down a snitch in a hard fought game of Quidditch. Then to see the Aurors fly up to the ceiling and land in the swamp.
Thomas grinned at him.
"Yeah, but lets not get carried away Harry, now comes the hard part. There was a charm I was taught at Hogwarts, it was a long time ago, but I think it was called the bubblehead charm, are you familiar with it Harry?"
Harry nodded, he had ensured he had mastered that particular charm after Fleur and Cedric had used it so effectively during the second task of the Tri-wizard tournament.
"Good, when the lift doors open on level two, I want you to be already wearing that charm, and have your fingers in your ears and your eyes closed." Thomas was busy pulling dark cylinders from the pouches of his assault vest and laying them at his feet.
"These are called flash-bangs Harry, they are completely harmless in the long term, but they will blind and deafen anyone for a short period of time and are especially effective inside buildings and confined spaces, and I am adding some CS gas to the mix, it makes you cough, your nose run and really stings your eyes. After they go off, we go in, your job is to stun anyone who still appears a threat, and mine will be to drag Wormtail back to the lift, ok?"
Harry nodded, it made sense, and hopefully there would not be many Aurors left up here by now.
Thomas pulled on a pair of thin black gloves, interlocking his fingers together to ensure they were a tight fit, he then took out a black mask from a pouch on his hip and pulled it on over his head, then pulled his hood up over the mask, the end result being not one piece of skin was uncovered. Lastly, a jet black helmet was strapped on over the hood, giving the soldier a sinister silhouette.
Turning to face Harry, Thomas grinned, Harry knew he was smiling, because Thomas always smiled with his eyes as well as his mouth. The mask had two bulbous eyepieces, and below them a circular apparatus that hid nearly all of his face, it gave him a strange bug like appearance.
"So what do you think?" His voice came out slightly muffled and distorted from behind the mask. He did a little twirl, making his weapons spin out from his body slightly.
"Very pretty, the girls must be all over you in that get up!"
"Actually Harry to tell you the truth, most of the people who have ever seen me dressed like this died very shortly afterwards, but I thank you for the compliment, and don't worry, not planning on killing any more people today"
Harry was stunned into silence. Thomas had already killed today? He had known the man was a soldier, but there were many kinds of soldier, military police, engineers, radio operator and drivers, very few had the actual job of killing others. He knew eventually he would be forced to kill someone directly, after all he could not defeat Voldemort by tickling him to death! But so far he hadn't had to, he could not imagine what that was like.
"How many…have you killed?" Thomas looked thoughtful for a moment, as if privately counting to himself.
"Thirty seven at last count. Harry you have to understand that every single time I wished there was another way, but Harry as you already know, there are some very bad people in the world who want nothing more than to hurt others. Sometimes we all have to do bad things for the right reasons, it's a hard thing to do, to take a life, but sometimes there is no other way. Enough chat, we're nearly there, time to charm up mate!"
They moved fast, wands at the ready. The Four Aurors fanned out and moved as a team, for the three of them, Savage, Proudfoot and Dawlish, it had always been this way, and they had been together from the start. Tonks was a late edition to the Auror capture team, replacing an Auror who had retired, and despite her contagious youthful exuberance and occasional bouts of clumsiness, she proving to be a very effective member of the team.
Savage in the lead, Proudfoot to the left, Dawlish to the right, and Tonks bringing up the rear, the two guards dragging an uncooperative Wormtail were in the middle of the Auror's protection. They were just crossing the main Auror office area, which contained rows of empty cubicles, heading for the lift, when it began to rise from the atrium level.
Savage whistled to get everyone's attention, pointing to the rising lift, without a word the four Aurors went to ground, seeking any cover they could find, wands trained on the lift doors. For a moment the guards just stood there, holding onto Wormtail, looking around themselves blankly, until Dawlish moved over to one of them.
"Get down you bloody idiot!" Dawlish hissed into the man's ear before resuming his place covering the lift. The two guards dragged Wormtail into a cubicle and sat upon him in order to keep him still and protected.
The lift doors parted, but no one stepped out into the office.
Suddenly four metal cylinders came spinning into the room in quick succession, thrown by someone in the lift, the four Aurors fired stunning hexes but succeeded in only hitting the back wall of the lift. There was an almost musical tinkle as the projectiles impacted on various surfaces, and then silence.
BADOOM!
Tonks fell to the floor, hands clamped tightly over her ears, as the explosion tore at her eardrums, she was screaming, she was fairly sure of that, but she could not hear or see anything. Her eyes were useless, it was if she had looked too long at the sun, all she saw was the after image of the brightest light she had ever experienced. Trying to stand up, she found her balance was completely thrown off, almost as if she had consumed too much alcohol, all she could do was scramble about on her hands and knees.
Blinking rapidly, Tonks found her vision clearing slightly, ahead of her, through the now smoke filled room, she could see the two detention guards rolling about on the floor, hands pressed to their ears, wands completely forgotten about. In front of them she saw Savage bent over double, coughing and spluttering, trying to wipe something repeatedly from his eyes.
Then two figures dressed in black emerged from the smoke like dark avenging spectres, the first moved in a sort of crouch, a black muggle weapon of some kind held out in front of him, swinging backwards and forwards. Behind him came another, this one carrying a wand, there was something familiar about this second shape, although Tonks was so disorientated she was in no position to recognise this fact.
Harry pointed his wand at the helpless Ryan Savage, the Auror was coughing hard, trying desperately to clear his lungs of the gas, to little effect. But he could recover within a few moments and Harry wasn't willing to take that chance.
"Stupefy!"
Savage slipped to the floor unconscious, Harry stayed close to Thomas, but knowing enough about muggle firearms to never move into his direct line of sight. Harry quickly stunned Dawlish as he attempted to stand up and bring his wand to bear, and Proudfoot appeared to already be unconscious, a flashbang having gone off virtually at his feet.
Moving through the now smoke filled room, they came across the detention guards, both of who were rolling about on the floor holding their ears. Thomas stooped and dragged the bound and semi conscious Wormtail from the floor, while Harry dealt with the guards.
"Alright, we got him now lets get the hell out of here!"
Harry nodded, his bubblehead charm making Thomas's voice even more distorted. He had not seen Tonks, and that concerned him greatly, because he knew she and the three Aurors always worked together as a team, and she was a great Auror and could cause him problems, he hoped wherever she was she had not been injured. Thomas dragged Wormtail towards the lift and Harry turned to follow.
"Reducto!"
Harry found himself slammed hard from behind, propelling him forcefully into the side of a cubicle, he bounced off of someone's untidy desk, only making it more untidy, and landed on his knees. The back of his left shoulder felt like someone and just stabbed a burning poker into it, a wave of pain washed over him, and he blinked away sudden tears.
Looking up he found himself staring into the pale, heart shaped face of the prettiest Auror he'd ever met, that of Nymphadora Tonks. She looked a state, her nose was running uncontrollably and her eyes were red and puffy, she looked as if she had been crying, and blood was running freely from a small gash on her forehead. But despite her injuries, her wand was held on him unwaveringly.
Cancelling the bubblehead charm with a small wave of his hand, Harry tilted his head and smiled sadly up at her.
"Wotcha Tonks!"
Tonks stared at him in disbelief, and for a moment her wand tip lowered to the floor, then an expression of grim determination came across her features and the wand came back up to point at his heart.
"Oh Harry you stupid git, you bloody fool, how could you do this? You have gone too far this time, not even you can be above the law, you'll be sent to Azkaban! Why Harry Why?"
"Ginny, I can't let her go Tonks, I made her a promise!"
"She's already dead Harry! Molly and Arthur are grieving for their daughter tonight, they needed you there for them. Do you really think Ginny would want you throwing your future away like this?"
Anger flowed through him, washing the pain clean away.
"Don't say that, don't ever say that, Ginny is not dead!"
Harry found himself screaming at Tonks, he could not face that possibility, not now, not ever.
Tonks opened her mouth to say something else when a movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention, snapping her head back up and around, what she saw sent fear coursing through her, she saw the second man dressed in black step out of the smoke, weapon aimed directly at her chest.
"Oh shit!"
She began to turn, tucking her shoulder in and starting a movement that would develop into a sideways roll, bringing her wand around as part of the movement, although she knew she would never change her aim in time. Time seemed to slow to a snails pace crawl and Tonks thought she actually saw the man's finger tighten on the trigger, and then everything went black.
BOOM!
Harry watched in horror as some invisible force snatched Tonks backwards from her feet, sending her crashing backwards back down the isle. She came to rest on her back, arms and legs spread-eagled, and she lay very still.
"No!"
He scrambled over to her, ignoring the pain that ripped through his shoulder, remembering from muggle television programmes the terrible wounds firearms could inflict, knowing the bloody red ruin her chest would look like. She couldn't be dead, she just couldn't be.
Tonks had befriended him from the moment they had met at Privet Drive, she'd fussed over him and become almost like the cool funky aunt every teenager wished for, and that had been before she and Remus had become romantically involved. She was family, he could not bear to lose any more family!
Remus, god how would he explain any of this to Remus, the man would never speak to him again after this.
"Harry we have to go, come on, leave her"
Harry felt Thomas place his hand on his shoulder, he felt an anger building inside her, Thomas had killed her, a member of his family. Slowly rising to his feet wand gripped so tightly in his hand that his knuckles turned white, he spun and was surprised to see Thomas, mask pushed up on his head, was in fact grinning at him.
"She's not dead Harry, what kind of psycho do you think I am? I don't just wander around killing everyone I meet! I fired a non-lethal round, it's basically a bean bag, about the size and shape of a teabag, it's designed to incapacitate, not kill, and in an hour she'll be bruised and aching but otherwise just fine!"
Harry just stood there looking at him, mouth hanging open, not dead!
He turned at looked down at Tonks on the floor at his feet, it was true there was no sign of the wound he had been expecting, his knees went weak with relief as he saw her chest rise and fall in a steady rhythm.
"Come on we have to go!"
Thomas dragged Harry to the lift where Wormtail looked at him with a bemused expression on his face, Harry, not wanting to face the man's mocking voice raised his wand.
"Silencio!"
With the lift moving downwards again, Harry found himself shaking uncontrollably, he could barely keep hold of his wand he was shaking so hard. Thomas, seeing the youth shaking, laid a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
"It effects everyone that way the first time Harry, some just freeze up, don't worry, you did brilliantly"
The youth hissed sharply in pain and spun away from the hand.
"Harry are you ok?
"I'm fine," He said through gritted teeth. Harry's voice sounded strained even to him.
"You're not fine, you're hurt, let me see"
Turning, Harry showed Thomas his back, it felt like his left shoulder was on fire, and he found that he could not move the joint at all, although he still had movement at the elbow. He had hoped to get away from the Ministry unhurt, and it would have to have been Tonks that hit him!
"Its nasty Harry, although it's not bleeding too much, it's very deep, I can see bone in the wound, we need to get you treatment"
Shaking his head, Harry turned to face him.
"No, I still have a job to do, I need to keep going, is there anyway you can bandage it up for now?"
Thomas nodded, and pulled a first aid kit from another pouch, Harry just shook his head in wonder, how many more things were stuffed into those pouches?
The ride to the Atrium continued in silence, as Thomas worked on Harry's damaged shoulder. When the doors opened they both stepped out wand and weapon raised and ready, dragging Wormtail behind them. They needn't have worried, no one was in any fit state to resist.
The fireworks had done their job, all exploding at once, and creating a devastating shock wave that had blasted every single Auror into unconsciousness, and pretty much destroyed the Atrium in the process. Stepping over and around the bodies, Harry was amazed it had worked so well. They moved to the fireplaces and stopped, it was the parting of the ways.
"You know how to use the Floo network Tom?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, I remember that much at least, are you sure there is no way I could come with you?"
"No, he won't take me where I need to go unless it's just me, and I'm unarmed. Right, remember to say 'the burrow' clearly, or something unpleasant could happen"
From the way he said it, Thomas knew the lad spoke from experience. Harry turned to address Wormtail.
"Wormtail, I'm giving you the chance to get back in Voldemort's good books, you can give him a gift, you can give him me!"
The evil man's eyes widened at this and a cruel smile crept across his features. Harry turned his wand onto Wormtail and cancelled the silencing curse, and released him from his bindings.
"Here, Tom give this to George Weasley for me will you?" Harry held out his wand, and Thomas took it and placed it into one of his many pockets. While Wormtail's sight was blocked by Harry's back, Thomas skilfully slipped three objects into Harry's pocket and winked at him.
"Roger that Harry, keep your head down OK!" Harry nodded and smiled in gratitude, and turned back to Wormtail.
"Alright I'm unarmed, and I'm coming alone, shall we?" Wormtail nodded and grinned.
"Oh Harry, My lord is so looking forward to the pleasure of your company" With that Wormtail grabbed a handful of Floo powder and threw it into the fire.
"Knockturn Alley!" Grabbing Harry's injured shoulder with his silver hand and squeezing hard, so that the youth screamed in pain, the dark wizard stepped into the fire, dragging Harry with him.
Thomas was left standing alone in the quiet Atrium, everything in his body cried out for him to follow Harry, but he knew they would have apparated away before he had arrived. Harry was very much on his own now, and there was nothing he could do, other than let those who cared about him know what was happening.
Not sure what he would find, and being of a cautious nature, Thomas slipped his respirator back into place and he unslung the MP5 from behind his back. Grabbing a handful of Floo powder, he flung it into the fire and watched it turn green.
"The Burrow" And in a flash he was gone.
OoOoO
The Burrow
In the military, the term used to describe what so nearly happened at the Burrow is 'friendly fire' or 'blue on blue', when two elements of the same side open fire on each other. Throughout the history of warfare, both magical and muggle, such incidents during wartime were tragically common.
The twins had arrived by Floo in a most spectacular fashion, being literally thrown across the kitchen to land in a red headed, laughing heap on the floor. Their black robes were smouldering, and smelt of gunpowder, and their faces were hair were scorched and singed, but none of this seemed to have affected their sense of humour from the wide grins they both displayed on their faces.
They had told an incredulous Arthur and Dan of the nights activities, and Arthur, shocked beyond words had to sit down heavily. He was a Ministry employee, and a department head, it was a job he took very seriously. Now he had just been informed that three of his sons (that really was how he felt about Harry) had just staged a jailbreak that would land all of them in Azkaban.
Dan was just crossing the kitchen, bringing one of the twins a drink, when the fire flashed green again, and another figure dressed in black stepped out. It was an instinctive reaction, but the big black automatic cleared the waistband of his trousers so fast Wyatt Earp would have been proud.
He spun and the pistol came up, and he found himself face to face with something that took him right back to his days in the Army.
What was a soldier wearing an S10 respirator and carrying an MP5 doing coming through the Floo network? For a dangerous instant, Dan Grangers brain locked up, as he tried to process the information. For perhaps a second the two men faced each other down their weapon sights.
"Drop the weapon, do it, drop it now!"
The voice had a tone that was used to being obeyed, that demanded to be obeyed, Dan could see the man's finger tighten on the trigger of the MP5 as he fought to control the adrenaline rushing through his system.
"No, Dan, he's with us! Its Katie and Helen's brother!"
George, or was it Fred? Yelled from the table. Carefully, so his actions could not be misinterpreted, Dan Granger applied the safety catch, and allowed the weapon to dangle from his hand. The soldier also relaxed slightly, allowing his finger to come off the trigger, and the weapon lowered.
Suddenly the twins were surrounding the new arrival, slapping the stranger on the back, both speaking at once, reaching up, the man pulled off the respirator off of his head and casually hooked it on his belt, and then he grinned and let his weapon dangle on its sling.
"Whoa, slow down guys, one at a time alright, first things first, your parents?"
Fred pointed to a surprised Molly and Arthur, Thomas moved over to them and held out his hand.
"My name is Thomas Bell, I am Katie and Helen's older brother, I just wanted say thank you to both of you for taking them in, and giving them somewhere safe."
Arthur shook the outstretched hand, still in a daze, but Molly gasped, her eyes widening, as she understood the implications of his arrival.
"Harry?..."
"We parted company at the Ministry, and that Wormtail fella took him wherever it was he took Helen and your Ginny, which was Harry's plan all along, his entire reason for the raid. Except I'm not sure it was in Harry's plan to get injured!"
Quickly Thomas relayed to them the events since he and Harry had last seen the twins.
"So I guess now all we can do is wait…" muttered Fred
"And hope Harry can pull off a miracle." George intoned grimly.
OoOoO
Somewhere Else
Harry was barely conscious by the time they finally arrived at their destination, Wormtail had apparated, Floo'd and portkeyed them around for what seemed like hours, all the time keeping up a relentless pressure on Harry's already ruined shoulder. He had long since ceased to scream, all he had left inside of him now was the barest whimper.
When Wormtail finally released his grip on his shoulder, Harry dropped forward to all fours onto a cold stone floor, he was shivering violently from a combination of shock and blood loss. He tried desperately to fight the nausea rising inside him, but it was hopeless, he vomited until there could not possibly be anything left inside of him.
Panting with exertion, Harry tried to climb to his feet, but found he lacked the strength to do more than kneel.
"Master, look at the gift I have for you"
"Wormtail, you have excelled yourself, your reward shall be great indeed"
A pale, clawed hand reached down and grabbed hold of Harry's chin and pulled his head sharply upwards, forcing him to look up into that monstrous face that had haunted his dreams since the first moment he had seen it.
"Hello Harry, so good of you to stop by, I have so missed our little chats. Today seems to be the day for house guests, what with dear Ginny stopping by earlier and now you"
Harry found to his surprise that there was no longer any fear of this creature remaining inside of him, Voldemort was something to be hated, perhaps to some extent even pitied, not feared.
At the mention of Ginny, Harry's anger flared, and the pain of his shoulder was forgotten.
"Where is she you bastard?" Harry screamed
Voldemort laughed, an evil rasping sound.
"Oh Harry, in your present situation, I would suggest you should be more worried about yourself. Dear sweet Ginny is currently being 'entertained' by three of my more creative servants, and while she may still be alive, I guarantee that by the time they are finished with her, there will be nothing left that you would recognise."
Stepping back, Voldemort raised his wand and pointed it at Harry.
"And now, while my servant's pleasure themselves with the flesh of your girlfriend, I am going to get some pleasure from you, I have been looking forward to this for such a very long time."
Harry knew what was coming, and tried to prepare himself against the pain, but it was no use.
"Crucio!"
Harry's world exploded into a whirl of bright colours and infinite pain.
OoOoO