Disclaimer: This story makes me no money at all. The only thing i get out of this is my own satisfaction and enjoyment.
Chapter 7 – the ROH and the hag
All too soon, it was Saturday again and the trio had left the school. They were currently stood in Madrid with Ragnok, Griphook and Sirius. They had removed their glamour's and were wearing formal robes. Maddie's were a rich red with the Rider logo embroidered in gold over her left breast, with the Potter and Granger logos below it. Her sword was strapped to her right hip and her left arm was bare revealing the scales.
Harry and Hermione's robes were similar to Maddies except they were a blue, with a silver embroidered logo over their left breast. They also had the Potter and Granger logos and their swords on them. They knew they had to make a good impression as the council controlled the goblins of Gringotts for the whole of Europe.
"Didn't you say we would be meeting the High Echelon?" Hermione asked. Ragnok nodded "To meet the High Echelon, you have to get a meeting. To get that meeting, you need to have the administrator of the Goblin High Council of Europe to organise it. And the only way to meet the administrator is through the council – hence, I had to organise the meeting with the council. You won't believe how many favours and gold I had to use to arrange this."
Hermione nodded and looked around the foyer. They were stood in the Madrid branch of Gringotts, which was even larger than the branch in London. They had been waiting for an hour when the door opened and eight guards marched out. It was clear they were different from the other guards from the very sharp looking sabres they carried and the ceremonial armour they wore. One goblin stood in the middle wearing black robes lined with gold.
"You are the Dragon Riders?" Maddie nodded and the goblin held out a bowl. "Verification, please" Maddie grabbed the offered dagger and sliced her hand before passing it to Harry and Hermione who repeated what she did. Ragnok and Griphook followed along with Sirius. The bowl glowed white and the goblin nodded, satisfied. He turned and walked through the door, and Maddie followed, the others hesitating only a second.
They descended into the bowels of the Earth before reaching a set of doors. The goblin held his hand up and knocked three times. The doors opened and they followed him in, finding seven goblins stood at the table. Three chairs had been placed in front of them. They walked up to the chairs and bowed. The seven goblins didn't reciprocate; however, Maddie had warned them to expect it.
"Sit." The goblin in the middle growled out, and everyone sat. "Who are you, and why have you requested this audience?"
"My name is Maddie. I am the Dux of the Riders." At this, the goblins at the table all got up and then bowed to Maddie, who stood and bowed back. They all sat down. "My apologies, Dragon Leader. We were not aware of your identity nor your position. We hope that we have not caused offence." Maddie inclined her head "None taken."
The goblin in the middle tapped his finger a few times, clearly trying to find where to start. "My name is Bonecrusher. I am the chair of this council. I must say, it was unusual when I got an urgent request from Branch Manager Ragnok. Normally, all requests go through the regional manager" he waved his hand at the group of three wearing cloaks with silver lining. "He then went on to talk about He Who Must Not Be Named and priceless objects being ruined. Perhaps you could enlighten us" the grin he gave would normally scare most people, but they recognised it as the goblins being annoyed.
"We requested the use of a pensive to help us explain – it would take too long otherwise." Bonecrusher turned to one of the guards and nodded, and the guard rushed out the room. He returned a few short minutes later and placed the pensive on the table. "You may use your wands to remove the memories. This pensive will take copies of the memories so you will be able to take them back."
Harry nodded and pulled his wand out slowly, watching the guards around the room ready their weapons. [{It's more for show than anything else. They know who we are, and therefore know that we will be able to defeat them}] Maddie said to both of them. Harry placed the wand at his temple and collected certain memories.
He collected the memory from Slughorn, of their first horcrux hunt, how they ran away (but not why), their mission briefing, and their collection of the items they had so far. After consideration, he also pulled his memory of the fight in the chamber of secrets from year two.
They waited while the seven goblins watched the memories. As each memory went, it was clear that they were getting angrier and angrier. By the time they watched Slughorn's memory, a couple of them were cursing in Gobbledegook. When they turned back Bonecrusher was practically snarling. "I can see why Ragnok sent the missive straight to me. You found one of these accursed items in our vaults?"
Harry nodded. "When we were captured and tortured at Malfoy manor, Bellatrix Lestrange was livid when she discovered we had the sword of Gryffindor and 'asked' if we had been in her vault. Hermione here put two and two together." Hermione flashed him a small smile. "As such, when we came back we decided to approach Ragnok to facilitate the finding of this object. We didn't want to offend you by storming your vaults." A few of the goblins chuckled.
"That being said, why have you come to us? You have the authority to approach the High Echelon directly." Trang, the administrator asked. "Because it's considered bad manners to just skip the line as it were. Also, we felt that if we approached you directly, you would be more willing to assist us."
"What are you offering?" Bonecrusher said before anyone else could say anything. "We'll help you get more rights in Britain, allow the use of various types of magic depending on what you want, and you'll get to make more galleons through the war." Bonecrusher nodded "And what would you like from us in return?"
"Your help in destroying the horcruxes and in destroying the death eaters and Voldemort. If it comes to a fight, we'd like to have the goblins as our allies" Harry said. "In addition, then Riders would ally themselves with the Goblins in future conflicts." The looks of surprise on the goblins face was amusing and it took all of Harry's willpower not to laugh. "Also, if you could release Tayzze, the dragon, from the London Gringotts" Hermione said quickly. Bonecrusher shared a look with the other goblins. "If you could wait outside, we will deliberate this." They stood up, bowed and went into the lobby.
"So, is that good?" Harry asked Maddie who nodded "They have already agreed. They are just working out how much assistance they will provide." Harry looked at her surprised so she elaborated. "The saying 'time is money' really can be traced to the goblins. The goblins, other than being war creatures, are driven by profit. Therefore, the Goblin High Council gets a lot of proposals about ideas. Since listening to a stupid idea is a waste of time and galleons, they will determine which proposals they want to listen to that they think are the most profitable. Ninety five percent of the time they have already decided to go with you. The other five is they thought it was good but after listening they want nothing to do with it."
Hermione frowned "What makes you sure they have agreed?"
"Because they are, beyond a race that works to make a large profit, a war race. War is very profitable if you play it right. That's why they stayed neutral. They could make a profit from both sides. However, you have shown them a future where they will suffer. They don't want that, hence they will help us to destroy Voldemort. If we end the war quick, businesses can open up and make money, generating profit for them. If the war drags on, we will need supplies and weapons and such – generating profit for them. But that'll only happen if we win."
The more Harry and Hermione thought about it, the more sense it made. Hence, when they were summoned back into the room, they were unsurprised to find that the high council had agreed to help them. Bonecrusher turned to the goblin on his left. "Trang, write a directive to all European branches of Gringotts. Tell them to search all vaults for contraband material. If they find a horcrux, it is to be sent with a goblin squad escort immediately to the London branch. That vault is to be fined the maximum amount, with triple interest." The grins that spread on their face were vicious.
"In the same directive, tell them to allow all transactions from known Death Eaters. All those transactions are to be completed in full with triple interest. All loans to them are to have daily triple interest." Harry whistled – they would effectively bankrupt the Death Eaters. "Branch Manager Ragnok, all transactions from ministry officials are to have double interest until they recognize that Voldemort is back. Give Minister Fudge triple interest, along with that toad of his." Harry burst out laughing while Hermione tried not to.
"Prepare another letter to the High Echelon and tell them of this meeting." He turned to Maddie. "We would like if you sign it as well, so that they recognise the importance of the letter." Maddie nodded.
An hour later, she signed and stamped the letter from the council to the High Echelon, which was sent with one of the Gringotts owls. With that done, they went back to Hogsmeade, and from there to Hogwarts.
Umbridge continued her war on their classes, though no matter how hard she tried she couldn't get a response out of Harry. What was odd though was that she hadn't given a detention since she had one with Maddie, who simply said "I served it, that's all." Harry knew there was more to it than what she was saying but didn't press – too much.
All too soon, the first meeting of the DA arrived. People came in groups of two or three, and were surprised to see Harry, Hermione and Maddie in shorts and T-shirts or singlets. "Ok, glad to see all of you" Harry said. "We'll be starting simple today with Expelliarmus and Protegro. And before you say it Smith" he looked at Smith who seemed surprised to find Harry knew he would interrupt. "These charms saved my life last year. Yes, Neville?"
Neville looked nervous but he wanted to see something. "Can we see you guys fight?" Harry turned to Maddie. "How? Wand or hand?" "Both?" Neville said and everyone laughed. Harry nodded. "Ok. Hermione, could you put up shields? Maddie, you ready?" she smiled as Hermione waved her wand. "Always."
They stood apart and pulled their wands out. Neither moved for a minute before Harry threw an Expelliarmus. Maddie moved and threw a stupefy which Harry conjured a shield. As the duel went on, they got faster and faster and started throwing nastier and nastier curses at each other. Somehow, they managed to knock each others wands out of their hands.
Harry pulled his sword out and swung but Maddie had stepped back. As he finished the swing he dropped as Maddie swung where his head was but then went flying when she kicked him. Maddie didn't wait though, rushing him and kicked the sword out of his hand. She dropped hers and threw a punch that he blocked with his arms, though it knocked him back a couple of steps. They traded blows before Maddie suddenly had a dagger.
Harry countered each of her moves, moving back as she moved forward. He tried to kick in her leg but she dropped and rolled, throwing the dagger. Harry caught it and threw it back where it embedded in the stone. He moved forward and then realised the large mistake he had made.
He had let her get near the chair.
He woke up on the floor with Maddie above him. She pulled him up and he looked around to find everyone slack jawed. "The Death Eaters just rely on magic. You'd still need the advantage, but if you are disarmed you'll be able to still fight back. Everyone ready?" everyone nodded and he split them down the middle, getting them firing Expelliarmus' and Protego's at each other.
A couple of hours later, everyone had improved considerably. Harry whistled, getting their attention. "Well done! We'll continue next week, refreshing and learning something new ok?" Everyone nodded. Hermione held up a basket "I made these coins – they have the date and time of our meetings on it. Harry will be able to set the date and you'll be able to come. Be careful – Umbridge probably knows about these meetings so don't talk in public about this."
"Shouldn't we come up with a name?" Ginny asked, and everyone in the room muttered in agreement. "how about the Anti-Umbridge League?" Angelina asked.
"The Ministry of Magic are Morons Group?" Fred said, gaining a few laughs. "We could call it the Defence Association? The DA for short?" a few people nodded.
"The Riders of Hogwarts" everyone turned to look at Luna, who was staring at Harry. "You're our teachers, and you are riders, so we should be called The Riders of Hogwarts." Harry turned to look at the other two who both seemed surprised at the suggestion.
"Well, lets put that to a vote. All in favour of the Riders of Hogwarts?" Hermione counted. "Motion passed."
"What about a logo or something? We can have it so we can identify fellow Riders if needed" Dean said. Harry nodded "Think you could come up with something?" Dean nodded. "Ok. I'll let you guys know what time next week this meeting is."
Three days later
Harry was sat at the table in his Gryffindor Quidditch uniform. Hermione hadn't come down yet, but Maddie had contacted him and told him she was just working out her nerves. He held a strip of bacon up and Hedwig grabbed it before settling on the table, and he fed another piece of chicken to Akira who was still draped around him.
"You know, no matter how much I look at her, she still gives me the creeps" Neville said. Akira stuck her tongue out at him and hissed, making Harry and Ron laugh, though Ron still looked like he would be petrified by her soon. Harry had tried to help him, and while his confidence was better (rather, he wasn't trying to run away like last time) it was still low. He looked up to see Hermione walk in with Maddie. Of course, he wasn't the only one looking after what they had done last night.
Flashback, last night
Harry was sat in front of the fire with Maddie leaning into him reading some letters to do with the operation of the Riders. He could tell Hermione was walking down the stairs and looked over. His brow furrowed as he looked at her trying to work what was different. It quickly became apparent that she had grown her actual hair back out and it was brown again.
"Hey" she said as she walked over and sat on the floor. "Hey – any reason you have your hair like that again?" he said more quietly. Hermione leaned her head back and looked at him. "I'm sick of having the glamour around my hair. So, I want you to cut and dye it in front of everyone." Harry sat there, mouth opening and closing while Maddie looked thoughtful. "That's actually a good idea. It'll prevent someone noticing inconsistencies with your glamour."
Hermione smiled then shuffled around, holding out a small knife. Harry took it and chuckled, the memory of doing this last time coming back to him. He grabbed some of her hair and started cutting.
To say the other Gryffindor's were surprised when they saw Harry doing this was an understatement. Several came over and asked if she was ok, and one actually asked if Harry had cursed her which she denied. It took a while, but Hermione had her short hair again and was blonde.
End flashback
Hermione walked over and sat down, ignoring the stares of the hall. Whispers broke out amongst the students who all huddled together. Even Malfoy was stunned, simply looking like a fish. Hermione ignored all of that, sitting down and eating the food that Harry had put on her plate.
"What the bloody hell have you done to your hair?" Ron nearly shouted, covering the table with the food in his mouth. He didn't get any food on anyone, due to Harry raising his wand and casting a shield spell.
"First – language. Second – Swallow your food before you talk. Third – I wanted to change it up" Hermione said, digging into the bowl of porridge. Ron just stared blankly at her, clearly still shocked that her hair was different. "I like it. You look more comfortable with it that way. It also helps not to have a large breeding ground for the shtickelsnaps" Luna said before turning back to the Quibbler, ignoring the confused looks she got from majority of the table.
"Besides, Ron, how will I play Quidditch with all that hair?" Ron stopped and seemed to think about it, realising she made a good point. "Still looks weird though" he muttered, going back to his plate of eggs. Harry looked over to the Slytherin table to find a couple of people with a banner that said "Weasley is our King". Harry ducked his head and smiled.
One hour later
Harry and Hermione were surprisingly calm, even though they were about to come out into the stadium. Ron looked as if he had badly performed a colouring charm on himself (indeed, Professor McGonagall had actually tried the reversing spell.) Soon, they heard the Slytherin team's names being called out, and then they heard Lee call out theirs. They flew out and landed. Harry looked over to the lake where he saw Ophelia, Polonius and Frozzaen.
After the customary hand breaking – no, hand shaking of the captains, they took off. Hermione was the first to grab the Quaffle and in less than thirty seconds had scored. Not only that, she had flown around and caught it, passing it to Bletchley, who seemed surprised that he had the Quaffle. He threw it to Montague, who then went to pass it to Warrington, but it was intercepted by Hermione who seemed to throw it wide. As one of the Slytherins went for it, it bounced off a passing bludger and Angelina caught it.
As the game progressed, Harry lazily flew above the pitch with Malfoy behind him. Slytherin was scoring quite a lot, and while Hermione was making the deficit up she didn't try to get the score up above Slytherin. Ron's performance started to go downhill as the Slytherin spectators started to sing "Weasley is our King"
[* Harry, the snitch is flying near the middle on the ground! *] Ophelia yelled and Harry dived, trusting that she had actually seen the snitch. Malfoy tried to follow but it was too late, and Harry pulled up with the snitch in his hand, ending the game. Malfoy landed nearby and he snarled at him.
"Saved Weasley's neck, haven't you? Never seen a worse keeper, but then he was born in a bin. Like my lyrics, Potter?" Harry stayed silent, waiting for the right time. He could see teachers walking over followed by Umbridge. "I wanted to write another couple of verses, but I couldn't find anything to rhyme with fat and ugly or useless loser like his parents. Same with the pathetic mudblood pet of yours" Malfoy crowed, his eyes glittering with malice. Harry could feel his blood starting to boil and he turned around. Hermione knew what would happen but had no intention of stopping him.
"She tried to change her looks, but everyone will still remember that she's nothing but a foul creaturkkkk" he suddenly found himself on the ground, Harry's punch putting him there. Harry made a show of punching him a few times, noticing that Fred and George were doing the same.
He suddenly flew back and landed on his hands and knees in a crouched positon. No one really paid any attention to that as they were all looking at Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle who were covered in blood.
Five minutes later, they were in McGonagall's office, and while Fred and George looked somewhat annoyed, probably because they didn't get to finish, Harry looked completely calm.
The same could not be said for Professor McGonagall, who was as red as the Gryffindor colour.
"I have never seen such a disgusting display! Explain!" she practically roared. "He provoked us!" Harry said. "Provoked you? OF COURSE HE DID! HE JUST LOST! Do you have any idea what you've .."
"Hem Hem"
Harry turned to find Umbridge stood in the doorway, a sickening smile on her face. Harry very nearly smiled himself. "Perhaps I can help Professor McGonagall" McGonagall turned around and stared at her "Help? What do you mean by help?" Umbridge stepped in, her smile widening. "Perhaps I could help with a little bit more authority"
McGonagall nearly snarled "You thought wrong" before turning around. "You will all get a month's detention with me! No Weasley, you deserve it! And if you –"
"Hem Hem. They deserve more than detentions Minerva."
McGonagall turned, her jaw so tense it appeared to be made of marble. "It is what I think is appropriate, Delores, as I am their Head of House."
Umbridge just smiled and rooted around in her handbag. "I'm afraid, Minerva, that it is what I think that is appropriate. You see, Cornelius just sent this" she pulled a scroll out of her bag. "Educational decree Number Twenty Five"
"Oh god, not another one!" McGonagall groaned.
"Oh yes. You see, when you complained about the Gryffindor team not being reformed, well I couldn't have that? I am the High Inquisitor, and for you to do that means that you have more authority than me! Therefore, and the Minister agrees, I should have the right to revoke students privileges. Therefore, these three have a life long ban on playing Quidditch." She grinned at them, and while the Twins cried in outrage, Harry was doing his best not to smile. "Oh yes. The rest of the team can play." She then turned and walked out, and they turned back to McGonagall who had collapsed in her chair. She just waved her hand at the door and they left.
As Harry turned the corner, Umbridge stepped out in front of him and it took all his self control not to jump. "Mr Potter. I warned you that you deserved to be punished." She stepped closer "Once I take away all that you enjoy, I'll do my best to make sure that you are expelled and your memory wiped. And if they go too far" she gave off a high-pitched giggle "well, that would be … unfortunate." She turned and walked off and Harry just stood there.
"Did that happen last time?" Hermione asked, removing the disillusionment charm on herself. Harry just shook his head. "She seems more direct than last time." Hermione nodded and they knew they needed to hurry.
Room of Requirement, The Riders of Hogwarts meeting
Harry was used to being cursed at by students. However, this time he knew that he kind of deserved it. After all, he had set Maddie on the members of The Riders.
She had started their training with seeing how they could fight. She gave them a stick and then proceeded to beat the living hell out of them all. The only one who held out slightly was Neville, but when she defeated him he slumped. "I'm useless. I'm rubbish at magic and can't fight. I don't know why I'm bothering to be here."
Maddie came over and crouched next to him. The other students were over the other side of the room with Harry and Hermione. [{Harry, keep them distracted. I need to show Neville something}] Harry didn't question, he just went over to the others and started to show fighting techniques. She grabbed his hand and pulled him up, and Neville marvelled at the strength she had. She took him over to a secluded part of the room. "Neville, I'm going to show you something. I want you to promise not to freak." He nodded and then felt a tingling in his mind, and before he could do anything his vision suddenly disappeared.
He opened his eyes to find himself on a dark field. He sat up and shivered – the area seemed really hostile. "Don't worry – you won't be hurt." He turned to find Maddie stood behind him. He scrambled up "Where are we?"
"You are currently in my mind. I wanted to show you a memory, but I found it would be easier for you to do this than try and use a pensive." Neville nodded; he knew what a pensive was but was amazed at the casual display of power that Maddie had just shown him. She started walking and he followed, noticing various memories along the way. It appeared that he was walking through a battlefield. "You said this is your mind. Why does it look like this?" Maddie laughed. "People aren't going to go looking for memories when they're contained within explosions. We're here"
They were stood by one of the many fires. "Don't ask anything until afterwards – I'll explain then." He nodded and looked at the fire. He was surprised to see himself at Hogwarts – but he appeared to be older. He was covered in blood and was surrounded by Death Eaters, one of whom was Bellatrix.
"Neville Longbottom. You have been a thorn in my loyal Death Eaters sides." His eye's widened at the sight of Voldemort. "I don't want to spill your blood – it's pure and it would be such a waste."
The vision Neville glared up at him and spat blood "I'll never join you. Harry will kick your butt" Voldemort laughed "Crucio" vision Neville screamed and thrashed as the Death Eaters laughed. Voldemort let the spell up after a minute.
"You have been leading a resistance in this castle this year. Harry Potter, the coward he is, ran from me. I will admit – he eludes me, and I cannot sense where he is. He is not in this country though – he has run away, and when I find him, I will kill him just like I did his mudblood mother and blood traitor father."
"Now, what to do with you? Perhaps I could induct you into my ranks." The Death Eaters laughed, and watched as Neville, still shaking, got to his knees. "I'd rather die than join you." As Voldemort started to laugh, Neville launched himself at Voldemort holding onto the sword of Gryffindor. Voldemort jerked back and cast a sickingly looking spell, and Neville slumped to the floor dead.
Neville found himself spat out of the fire and looked at Maddie horrified. "Wha, what was that?" Maddie, for the first time he had seen her, looked ashamed. "That, is two years in the future. Voldemort has control of Hogwarts. Harry and Hermione had gone to find a way to destroy him, and you decided to run a resistance. You were tortured after you had proven to be a greater threat than they realised, and as you saw, you died because you tried to take him out."
Maddie walked over "You say you're not brave Neville, but you looked death in the eye and you laughed. You stood and you tried to take him out, even though you had no chance of living. You are a braver and stronger person than you think you are, and they need you to be that person – Harry and Hermione can't do this alone. They have me, but even then that's not enough. They need their friends with them."
Neville was looking at his feet, and the longer it went the more worried Maddie got. Before she could say anything, he looked up, a fierce look of determination on his face. "Then I'll need to work harder won't I?" Maddie smiled and nodded.
Hagrid's Hut
Harry was sat with Ron and Hermione listening to Hagrid tell his tale about the visit to the Giants. The tale was the same as last time with Hagrid not giving them many details. Through small hints, though, they worked out that they had gone to Austria, based on how long it had taken him to get back. Harry remembered in the back of his mind that Austria had been a more Voldemort friendly country.
However, before they could get any more information out of him, someone knocked on the door and they panicked. Hiding under the cloak, they watched as Umbridge stepped into the hut, a dear look of hatred on her face.
"So" she said "You're Hagrid, are you?" he nodded. "I don' want to be rude, bu' who the hell are you?" She smiled, though it didn't reach her eyes. "I'm High Inquisitor Umbridge. Is there someone else here?" she looked at the broken cup on the floor.
"No, no, Fang 'ere broke the cup. I jus' haven't cleaned it up yet." Hagrid said.
"Hmm." Umbridge said, looking around. "I am here to notify you that, as High Inquisitor, I will be inspecting your class, and if I find you … unsatisfactory … you will be removed. Goodnight."
She walked out. It was a minute before they pulled the cloak off. "Blimey. She's a piece of work, ain't she?" Harry nodded "Watch out for her, Hagrid. She hates anyone and anything not pureblooded, and I don't want to see you injured." Hagrid nodded.
Gringotts, Branch Managers Office
Director Bones was sat in front of Ragnok's desk, waiting for him to look up from his reports. Unlike most of the idiots at the Ministry, or indeed the magical world, that looked down on Goblins, she respected them and their power.
"What can I do for you, Director Bones?" Ragnok eventually asked, looking up from the report. She nodded her head, knowing that the use of Director was out of respect, as the goblins rarely used titles with humans. "I'm currently investigating the accident that this man suffered." She pushed the file across and Ragnok looked at it. He looked back up. "There are some anomalies that don't add up here. Small things, but what interests me is that he has an accident, and that same day the Lestrange Vault is searched. Care to explain why?"
Ragnok sipped his mug of ale. He was worried that this human had discovered as much as she had. "It's standard procedure to conduct audits on Vaults, and the Lestrange vault had not had an audit for ten years. It was merely coincidence that he had an accident on the day. Those buses are dangerous."
Amelia raised an eyebrow – he was responsible for the accident but would never admit it. "Indeed. You know that if the Ministry finds out about this, there'll be a reckoning." Ragnok smiled "Director, we both know the Ministry won't find out about this." She didn't say anything, instead choosing to get up.
As she reached the door, Ragnok shut it quickly. She turned to look at him. "Director, I would advise you to be very careful. Accidents do happen, and with the current situation, it would be unfortunate if you were to suffer an accident."
Her eyebrow raised. "I do hope you're not threatening me." Ragnok shook his head "Understand this – the British government and its police force, along with the entire British Ministry, all believe that this man had an unfortunate accident, and when he dies, his autopsy will show that his organs couldn't support themselves due to the injuries. I don't doubt your efficiency, Director, but it was just pure luck that you had a suspicion, correct?" she nodded.
Ragnok sighed. "I'm only telling you this because these people might want you on their side. If they were to discover that you were an enemy, the Ministry would be looking for a new Director and Head of Auror's before the week is out."
She paled but nodded, understanding the severity of the situation. She realised that she had stepped in something that perhaps she didn't want to have a part of. Ragnok stepped back and she walked out the office, trying to get to the Floo fast. Before she reached the lobby, someone kicked her knee out from under her, and punched the side of her head, knocking her out.
Unknown Location
The woman looked at the report placed in front of her by the man sat opposite. "This is the second sighting?" the man nodded. "Cairo. No contact though." The woman said nothing, frowning as she read through. "First London, then Cairo?" he nodded again.
"Send out a message – inform everyone to keep their eyes open and watch to see if it contacts anyone." She looked out at the river. "I fear what this can means. We need to get on top of this." He nodded and got up, walking out without a backwards glance.
