The Second Shift

Nymphadora Tonks ducked under the pink mannequin wearing flashy dress robes with silver stars in the window of Gladrags Wizardwear. Her disguise as a Hufflepuff student would fool John Dawlish but she wanted to avoid the gaggle of Hogwarts Fifth Years walking from the castle. That crowd was mostly Gryffindors but she spotted a few Puffs, notably Susan Bones and Hannah Abbott. The students made a right at Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop, leaving High Street. Tonks stepped past the window, when to her surprise, Dawlish also turned south and followed the Fifth Years. Tonks expected Dawlish to go north to the Forbidden Forest. He had not been spotted with Macnair the past two weeks but she doubted the dull but capable auror would give up on his mission. Tonks was about to trail the group when a short husky witch with a thick black veil hurried past. She nearly gagged from the foul odor of cigar smoke and liquor and noted the grubby hands peeking out of the plain stained robes. Mundungus Fletcher. What was that smelly sneak doing here? And why was everyone going south?

Hogsmeade was a picturesque little village much loved by the students and teachers for the variety it offered. The cute little thatched shops and cottages, like Zonko's and Honeydukes, were all on High Street with only Madame Puddifoot's Tea Shop on a side street north. The southern part of the village had gone to seed, with dilapidated houses and empty store fronts.

Tonks ducked into an alley on the southern side of High Street. She waited as more students tramped past. Most were fifth years, but there were a few younger and older students, including the tall red headed Weasley twins. Her vigilance was rewarded when she saw several sinister wizards. A sour faced man limped past, hiding a glint of rusty metal in a long bundle in his right hand. Two Ministry representatives were accompanied by a pair of dark haired thin men with empty vacant stares, the tell tale sign of Azkaban. But it was the witch that caught Nymphadora's attention.

Her face was hidden in a dark hood, with only a few ringlets of thick curly black hair visible. She walked with a regal elegance, and the arrogant bearing that Tonks had seen from afar in her aunt Narcissa, and occasionally surfaced in her mum Andromeda. It was the imperious stride of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, and Tonks realized at once that this witch was also her mother's sister. Only one witch, Bellatrix Lestrange, was high in Voldemort's ranks, and she was clearly not in Azkaban any longer.

Tonks shrank back into the alley, and took out her wand. A silver jack rabbit patronus emerged and flew off to Amelia Bones in the Ossuary. "Urgent. Bellatrix Lestrange at Hogsmeade with Dawlish and others. May be stalking Hogwarts students." Tonks rushed after the Death Eaters, praying that her message to the DMLE Head would not be too late.


Ron Weasley grimaced when the severed boar's head on the worn out wooden sign dripped blood on his hastily shined shoes. The old wooden door opened into a small and dirty tap room, with saw dust strewn all over the floor and even on the bottom panes of the opaque and grimy windows. The entire pub smelled strongly of something that might have been goats and the odor and filth explained the lack of clients. A tall and thin wizard with a great deal of long grey hair and beard manned the bar, and bore a noticeable resemblance to the headmaster, besides his plain attire and sour disposition. Besides the milling students, there were only two customers in the Hog's Head - a wizard with bandages wrapped around his mummy like face and an out of breath witch with an absurdly long black veil. Both nursed shot glasses of bootleg firewhiskey.

"Blimey, Hermione. Couldn't you have picked a nicer pub? It is going to hard to impress people in this dump." Ron said loudly. "I need a better venue to lead."

"We are trying to be discrete for the first meeting. We will find a place in the Castle to meet in the future." Hermione answered.

"So you chose a place that no students would ever come for a meeting with 20 plus students, where everyone can see us walking in broad daylight from the main street to a pub wizards only go to at night." Luna Lovegood said calmly.

"I thought it would be easier to keep it a secret if the location was out of the way." Hermione said with a touch of distress.

"Hermione, you may have many talents, but sneakiness is not one." Susan Bones said. The other witches nodded in agreement while Ron ordered a large butterbeer in a foaming mug.

"Ron what are you doing?" Hermione asked, scandalized.

"Well, I will need to speak a lot, so I might as well wet my whistle." Ron took a giant gulp and then spat out the foam over the bar, to the great annoyance of Abeforth. "Ugh, this is full of dust. We should have gone to the Three Broomsticks, instead." The red headed boy whined.

Hermione looked apologetically while the bartender cleaned the mess up with a grimy rag, which only made the ancient bar dirtier. Hermione sighed and waited for the room to fill up. When she saw that Daphne and Tracey had snuck, and a final contingent of Hufflepuff wizards had sat down next to the Ravenclaw witches, she began.

"Umm, hi. Thank you all for coming. You know why the meeting was called. We need a real teacher. One who has experience defending against the Dark Arts." Hermione stammered.

His courage fortified by the entire mug of butterbeer, Ron Weasley jumped into the spotlight, prefect badge pinned to his robe. "Oi, I, Ron Weasley, will teach you all you need to know to defeat the OWLs and your enemies." He ignored the skeptical faces and began to drone on.


Harry Potter snuck around Hogsmeade, his mind flashing back to third year. Then, his top priority had been buying candy from Honeydukes and drinking butterbeer at The Three Broomsticks. The appeal of buying Fizzing Whizbees and Jelly Slugs meant more than the threat of his soul getting sucked out by a dementor. Of course he had his father's Invisibility Cloak, left in the castle due to a tracking charm. Was the charm already there in past years? Had Dumbledore known about his meeting with Sirius Black and only pretended to be surprised? Harry was confused about what Dumbledore knew and when. Harry received the cloak as a Christmas "gift" his first year. Harry wondered if Dumbledore suspected Quirrell and engineered the confrontation.

Harry remembered the secret passage in the Third Year that led to Honeydukes. There was a statue of a grotesque humpbacked one eyed witch, Gunhilda de Gorsemoor, on the third floor of the castle. By tapping the hump and uttering a password, a slide opened, large enough for a small boy. Harry scratched his head. It had taken a full hour for him to walk in the tunnel to the cellar of Honeydukes. It was a brisk twenty minute walk from the castle to the village. The tunnel must have been deeper or curved more than he recalled. Why would anyone carve such a long passage merely to get candy? And this was only one of the seven passages shown on the Marauder's Map. If he had been tracked through the Invisibility Cloak, Dumbledore must have known about the passages and spied on every aspect of his adventures. Harry shook his head. His paranoia may have been increasing but perhaps he was merely waking up. He had no desire to be used again, by witches and wizards who had discarded him when he lost his magic.

Harry checked the Marauder's Map. There were over twenty students in the main room, with a Greengrass and Davis in the corner, and he noticed also an A. Dumbledore, M. Fletcher, and W. Widdershins. He had never seen the Hog's Head before but Hagrid had told him Abeforth Dumbledore owned the seedy pub that Hagrid frequented on nights away from the school. Fletcher had to be Mundungus, who abandoned his post at 4 Privet Drive on the night of the dementor attack. He had no idea who Widdershins was. Harry saw seven dots approaching Hog's Head, led by three Lestranges. Hermione let him borrow The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts when he was recovering from the Third Task. The chapter on the Lestrange family highlighted their cruelty and penchant for torture. The three had committed unspeakable crimes in First Wizard War and Bellatrix was mad as her master, favoring the Cruciatus spell above all.

Harry's anger swelled, and he had a great and terrible desire to crush and kill. How dare these pureblood scum threaten his friends and innocent students. The Ministry claimed that it protected Britain from threats, yet these murderers were walking free in Hosgmeade while his innocent godfather could not even get a trial. As the Lestranges marched into the pub, Harry put away the map and transformed into a giant black unicorn. Harry broke into a run, rage building with every step. He did not see the two sets of alien coal black eyes watching eagerly from the top of a nearby shop, mesmerized at the power and grace of the mighty beast. The Leshay followed effortlessly, jumping from roof to roof, anxious for the violence to come.


"And that's how I saved the castle every year." Ron finished proudly, oblivious to the eye rolls from Hermione and many witches in the crowd. He made a broad Lockhart like gesture to the bushy haired muggleborn. "With a little bit of help of course." Ron added in the magnanimous tone that Dumbledore used at the End of the Year Feast.

"Weasley, didn't you only get an Acceptable in Year 2 and 4 of Defense Against Dark Arts?" Padma Patil asked.

"If Harry killed the basilisk, how come you didn't harvest the corpse? Isn't it worth millions to the goblins?" Cho Chang wondered.

"Can't Harry Potter crush you in everything but wizard chess?" asked the two twins, who clearly doubted their brother's recount of his exploits.

"Oi, I taught Harry everything he knows and he always asks me what to do. I am the brains behind his brawn." He said, ignoring the third member of the Golden Trio.

"What about the graveyard - what happened at the graveyard with Diggory?" an obnoxious Zacharias Smith stood up and yelled.

"What do you mean?" Ron said.

"All Dumbledore said was that Diggory got killed by You-Know-Who. If you are pulling Harry's strings, what exactly happened? How was Diggory murdered?" Zacharias asked.

A flustered Ron stalled for time. "Well, I think - He Who Must Not Be Named….."

"Oh for Merlin's sake. It is only a name. Voldemort! Voldemort ordered his Death Eater to kill Diggory." Hermione said.

A loud cackle filled the room as a crazed witch with lustrous dark hair pointed her wand at Hermione's throat. Several other wizards in Dark Robes with hideous white and silver skull masks also brandished their wands at the defenseless students. One even carried a long rusty axe in his left hand. "Silly girl." Bellatrix Lestrange sniggered. "Voldemort is more than a name. He is our Lord and Master, as you filthy mudbloods will learn."

Four Death Eaters swarmed the crowd, waving their wands with menace and taking hostages. Rodolphus Lestrange grabbed Luna Lovegood, his wand at her neck while Bellatrix threatened Hermione. Abeforth Dumbledore glared but even with his formidable skills as a duelist, he could not hex a Death Eater without hitting a student. Several wizards cowered but Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis readied their wands, hoping for a distraction to attack. Then, a giant black unicorn crashed through the door, the lightning bolt scar clear over the emerald green eyes. Harry Potter had entered the trap.


Bellatrix Lestrange cackled with glee, as Death Eaters and stunned students all turned to the unicorn. "Fool! The Dark Lord will not be defeated by a beast."

From the shadows, John Dawlish and Walden Macnair emerged, throwing the faerie net. In mid-flight, the silver and golden mesh expanded and glowed eerily with arcane malevolent energy. The net enveloped the black unicorn, and the room dropped in temperature as the dark magic sucked light and hope from the entire room. Screaming faces of faerie children materialized, whirling around the outside of the foul artifact, and their howls for help shocked even the most jaded Death Eater. The net bubbled and oozed, as the sinister silver and gold links dragged the unicorn down to his knees.

Bellatrix exulted, the mad witch's arms raised in celebration. "The Dark Lord is triumphant." She fired several red Crucios, laughing as the Unforgivable Curses thudded on the unicorn's skin.

Then the door burst open, and five more people sprinted into the room. Tonks, Moody, Shacklebolt, Vance, the four aurors led by a senior witch with a monocle over her right eye. "Bellatrix Lestrange, drop your wand. You are under arrest." Amelia Bones cried.

"More aurors who want to play. You can't cast a curse because you will hit your precious little babies. I can." Bella cried in a sing song voice. "Avada Kedadra." The green ray spat out of her wand, exploding a bar stool that Amelia levitated in the air. The other Death Eaters joined her, casting deadly curses at the aurors, as they used the bodies of Hogwarts students as cover to strike with impunity. Bones and her crew huddled for cover, near the unicorn, summoning tables and chairs to block the spells.


Harry had never felt so cold and drained of energy. Even the near dementor kiss on the Hogwarts Express and vision of his murdered mum had not left him so bereft of hope. He could see the faces of children, their ears a bit pointed like a cat, crying out in terror and pain. "She killed us to trap you. The Queen will not rest until she has you."

Around him, there were the sounds of battle, of curses and protective spells being thrown. Harry focused on the children. There were three - two girls and a boy with faint gossamer wings of different colors. Harry did not care that they were clearly not human. They were children still, and no child deserved to be sacrificed in a vile plot.

Harry raged with fury, and his magic surged, despite the confines of the net. His muscles rippled with power and his teeth elongated so that the four canines - two on top and two on bottom- jutted out like fangs even in a closed mouth. But it was the head that changed the most. Even as the giant black unicorn grew and grew, the head turned flatter and sleeker. There was no horn but a dark and deadly mane appeared - lion-like but with sharp quills dripping with toxic spine. The beast had a leopard's spotted skin - yellow with black blotches, but the grey mane overwhelmed the color of the body, and the result was a terrifying presence, an avatar of Death stalking on massive padded feet. Harry ripped apart the golden net with his vicious claws.


Amelia Bones stood up, trying to get a better angle to attack Walden Macnair. The maniac was swinging his axe at Abeforth Dumbledore who had managed to stun two Death Eaters. A thundering roar resounded behind her and Amelia turned to the source of the lusty growl. The entire room froze at the sight. The unicorn had disappeared. Behind her, there rose a nundu, far larger than any described in a Care of Magical Creatures class or magizoologist textbook. The creature was at least 14 feet from tip to tip, and the shoulder was higher than even Hagrid. The beast had puffed up its throat, the deadly gray mane billowing out, and she knew the nundu was about to breath out a toxic cloud, dripping with poison and disease. Amelia saw her death approaching and hoped only that the aurors could protect some of the students.

"Harry." Hermione Granger cried out. "Madame Bones is Susan's aunt. She is a friend."

Amelia Bones stared into the beast's emerald eyes and the prominent lightning bolt scar. The nundu snorted and turned its gaze to the young muggleborn. Bellatrix Lestrange had pinned Hermione's arm behind her back, firing hexes behind her human shield.

"Stay back. Or the mudblood suffers." Bellatrix shrieked.

The green eyes burned in anger and the nundu rose up, and then slammed both front paws into the ground, generating a massive shockwave that sent students, aurors, and Death Eaters sprawling to the ground. The wooden boards on the dingy floor shattered, spewing sawdust into the air. In the confusion, Hermione crawled toward the glowing green eyes and the dark watch foolishly pursued. The nundu flicked his right paw, and backhanded Bellatrix into a rickety staircase, her wand flying when her right arm shattered. Bellatrix reached awkwardly with her left hand but before she could touch the portkey, the nundu swatted the staircase, and the steps collapsed, burying the witch in wooden rubble and dust. Daphne and Tracey disarmed two Death Eaters and the aurors, with help from a few other brave witches, stunned the rest.

Amelia cautiously assessed the scene, gripping her wand tightly in her right hand. There was an enormous nundu in the middle of the taproom stalking Bellatrix Lestrange, like a cat playing with a mouse. Even twenty five years later, Amelia could recall the Care of Magical Creatures NEWT. No adult nundu had ever been defeated by less than a hundred wizards working together - and this was a monstrous specimen, many times larger than the leopard or jaguar sized creature described in Newt Scamander's Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

"Harry, are you alright?" Hermione asked as she approached without fear. Amelia blinked as the nundu gazed fondly at the bushy haired muggleborn. Then everything went to hell.


Two arrows of pure light flew through the air into the big cat's side. A tall lithe figure sprang from the sitting room upstairs and halfway in the leap, a shining two handed spear appeared out of thin air. With incredible speed, the albino elf stabbed the nundu several times in the shoulder, and blood dripped from the deep gashes.

"Surrender, and we will bring you to her alive." the spearman cried as the whirling lance blocked the cat's claws. The second attacker apparated onto the tap floor, raining arrows from a horn bow. The nundu ducked and dodged with alacrity but a few bolts still landed.

Amelia wasn't certain what was going on, but she would not see her niece's rescuer slain out of hand. She and the aurors fired multiple hexes at the spearman. The elf contorted, bending and twisting so fast that the willowy body blurred, the rays passing harmlessly into the wall. She had never seen anyone so quick, as the elf pirouetted and dodged the curses with ease.

"You cannot defeat us. We can only be slain when the two worlds connect forever." the elf cried, jabbing again and again at the nundu with the deadly spear. More arrows flew through the air, and at this range, the hunter could hardly miss such a large beast. The hunters spared no attention to witches and wizards, focused only on their prey.

The nundu shuddered in agony, and transformed back to a young man, bleeding from a dozen places, in the shoulders, sides, and chest. But this was not the Harry Potter of Hogwarts. This boy had untidy black hair, startling green eyes, and the famous scar but he was taller, broader, and stronger with rippling muscles and barely suppressed rage. He stared at the two Leshay with cold fierce eyes and a malevolent alarming grin. The two hunters felt a frisson of fear, a feeling only the Queen and the greatest of the tane had ever evoked.

"Submit, mortal. You have no.. " Before Nix could finish his words, Harry rushed forward, rolling on the ground toward the spearman. Nox the archer held up, unable to get a clean shot. Harry rose and transformed to a black unicorn, the ivory horn piercing Nix's right thigh. The unicorn rocked his head rapidly from side to side and the razor sharp point severed both legs, and pale blood splattered on the sawdust laden ground as a shocked Nix screamed. The black unicorn rose, the bloody horn pointed directly at the archer. Nox continued the onslaught of arrows but the predator had already become prey. The unicorn charged, head and body weaving and dodging the darts of light until the beast was nearly on top of the hunter. Harry jumped high in the air and turned back to a boy as he landed behind the Leshay's back. He grabbed the horn bow and twisted the long string around the neck, suffocating Nox. The Leshay jerked violently and attempted to escape but the strong remorseless hands held on, strangling the archer.

"Stop, Harry." Dumbledore cried, shooting a stupefy curse from the Elder Wand. The Headmaster of Hogwarts had arrived in the pub, accompanied by the four Heads of House. The red beam struck, and the slight reprieve allowed the elf to twist from Harry's grasp. Nox fell gasping to the ground, holding his hands to a deep bloody mark where the bowstring had almost severed his throat. "Harry, you cannot turn to the dark side." Dumbledore thundered.

Harry Potter turned to Dumbledore and laughed. It was not the mad cackle of Bellatrix Lestrange but the contempt in his chuckle came through loud and clear. "What do you know about the dark, Dumbledore?"

"My boy, I am certain that we can figure this out." The headmaster kept his wand out. "Nurse Pomfrey can examine you at Hogwarts with the help of the professors."

"No. You threw me out of your school before. I am not your boy, Dumbledore." Harry Potter tossed aside the bow, his full attention on the cluster of teachers and headmaster.

"You must return. I fear that you are being corrupted by the potion, or the Forbidden Forest." Dumbledore insisted.

"Corruption? And what about you - Headmaster. Did you know the Death Eaters planned to attack me? Did your spies alert you of Dawlish and Macnair stalking the castle grounds? Did you realize that they might attack your students to lure me here?" The bitterness in Harry's voice pierced the crowd, as many wondered about the truth of the accusations.

"I am sorry, Harry. You are clearly unhinged. I must insist." Dumbledore said, his voice exuding great sorrow, as he pointed the Elder Wand and readied a spell.

"Albus, don't be a fool." Abeforth cried from behind the wreckage of the bar, bottles of whiskeys broken and leaking onto the torn floor. "I don't need the rest of my pub destroyed."

"Headmaster, do not provoke Mister Potter. He helped defeat the Death Eaters." Amelia Bones yelled.


Harry transformed into an enormous black and yellow nundu, the neck puffed out, poison visible on the spines of his mane. The many wounds suffered against the Leshay had already begun to heal. The nundu slashed his right paw playfully through the ropes of Dumbledore's Incarcerous, and then took a deep breath. Flitwick moved first, desperately casting a Protego Maxima. The other heads of houses, including a McGonagall shocked at meeting a magical animagus, realized their danger and followed with several variants of the Protego. Multiple overlapping shields formed in front of the teachers and Dumbledore summoned a glowing ball of crackling energy, ready to be used for defense or offense. Then the nundu screamed, the howl of sonic energy slamming and obliterating the shield wall. The booming cry shattered windows and exploded mugs and bottles and the students and aurors dove for cover from the shards of glass flying through the air. Those directly in the path of the sonic boom suffered far worse. Blood ran from their burst ear drums and they staggered, dizzy and nauseous, as they wobbled on shaky legs. Only Flitwick, who had escaped the brunt of the blast due to his short height, managed any semblance of a defence. The nundu chuckled and approached, licking his fangs.

"Harry." Hermione cried. She had been behind the nundu and unaffected by the savage roar. "You can't attack the teachers. Please." the witch pleaded, grabbing the beast's front right leg.

Daphne Greengrass stood up, relatively unscathed from the fracas. "Potter, even if the Headmaster knew, the teachers may not. You came to save us - not kill them." Susan, Tracey, and Luna emerged, their open hands showing no intention of attacking the beast.

Madame Bones signaled for their aurors to stand down. Even the famously combative Moody had no desire to engage the nundu. Several pops of portkeys could be heard as the Death Eaters that were conscious fled. Abeforth gingerly walked over to his struggling brother who had sat down hard on the floor.

The fey archer walked over and propped his crippled partner up against a table. The archer summoned the severed legs and the spearman attached the bloody limbs to his stumps. The witches and wizards present looked in shock as the once maimed Leshay rose to his feet, the legs whole. The two albino elves made no effort to pick up their weapons, only turning dead black eyes to the nundu. Nix spoke in an unearthly voice, devoid of emotion.

"The Queen of Air and Darkness will not release you, Harry Potter. No one in a thousand years has escaped her grasp. She will bring the First World back and all who oppose her will be destroyed. Serve as her champion or suffer endless woe."

Harry had turned back to the young man with Hermione beside him. "I am done with following others. I defeated you, so why should I fear her?"

"Then you are a fool. We are nothing compared to the Queen. When she comes, you will fall, and know why darkness will always consume the light. When next we meet, we will unleash the tane. You will see what destruction truly is in the First World. Fare well, Harry Potter." The two leshay faded away, and their blood and weapons vanished as well.


"Harry, are you okay?" Hermione examined her best friend more closely, noting that all the wounds had completely healed on his rugged masculine body.

It was an odd question to ask the boy who had almost obliterated the pub, Amelia thought. Moody had cuffed the two unconscious Death Eaters, Macnair and Dawlish, but not before stunning both again and ordering Tonks and others to cast multiple Incarcerous spells. "Mister Potter, can you tell me what just happened?" Madame Bones asked.

"I really don't know, Mrs. Bones. I came to rescue my friends from Bellatrix." Harry said. "I have to go, Hermione. I don't want to deal with Dumbledore or his servants. I won't be controlled." He gently pushed the bushy haired muggleborn away.

"Potter." Daphne cried. "Who is the Queen? What does she want and what is this First World?"

"I don't know. The Queen made that." Harry pointed at the silver and golden net, now ripped into pieces. "It is darker magic than I have ever encountered, and the souls of faerie children were ripped apart to create it. She must be very powerful, perhaps even more than Voldemort."

"Good Bye, Hermione. Try not to get into too much trouble without me." Harry smirked as he hugged the brown haired girl. Harry stretched his arms out, and motioned for space as he prepared to shift.

"Harry, my boy." Dumbledore croaked from his knees. "You must return. Our world needs you."

Harry snorted. "I renounce you, Dumbledore. I reject your claims on me. Find some other idiot to manipulate."

Harry turned into the great black unicorn. He bowed his head to Madame Bones, and nodded to Hermione and a few other witches of the coven. Luna Lovegood darted forward and on her tippy toes, brushed the unicorn's sleek mane. Harry turned his head for a moment, quirking his left eyebrow at the dreamy Ravenclaw. Then the unicorn sprang high in the air, like a great cat, landing silently near the broken door and galloped away so quickly that it seemed like a dream.


Amelia surveyed the ruined Hog's Head Pub. To her great relief, students were bruised and frightened, but no one had suffered major spell damage. Hermione, Susan, Daphne and Tracey whispered together in a small circle, while Luna Lovegood helped Filius Flitwick levitate the rubble off trapped students. Nurse Pomfrey had come from Hogwarts with several other teachers and they attended to the shell shocked headmaster and professors. Hagrid carried the wounded out, complaining that he had missed the nundu animagus. The DMLE aurors called for more backup. Emergency healers, Unspeakables, and aurors poured into Hogsmeade, followed by an eager Rita Skeeter and her pet photographer, Bozo. Amelia prepared to assign interviews for her aurors to question the dozens of witnesses in the pub. She realized that she also would have to give testimony.

Harry Potter was alive. He was not only the black unicorn who saved Susan and the others on Halloween but also could transform into a nundu. And he was not a regular nundu, deadly enough to kill an entire village. No, Harry was larger and more dangerous. There was a Dark Queen involved, and two insanely fast faerie hunters with strange powers serving the Queen. That revelation made Bellatrix Lestrange's presence seem mundane. How did the mad witch escape Azkaban, and what did it mean for the Dark Lord's other servants?

Amelia sighed. This would mean a great deal of paperwork. She ignored the shouted questions of Rita Skeeter and other journalists. As she turned, she also missed Hermione and the other witches of the coven placing fragments of the golden net into their pockets. Amelia shrugged off a quick scan from Healer Andromeda Tonks before telling her four aurors to find out exactly why these students were at such a shady pub, and how did the Death Eaters know where to attack?

Amelia knew she would have to personally deal with Albus Dumbledore. The Headmaster, Chief Warlock, and Supreme Mugwump would no doubt pretend to have no idea of what happened.

"Boss Lady, I found something." Nymphadora Tonks said, waving a long piece of parchment.

"Now, Nymphadora - Amelia deserves to be called Madame Bones." The healer of St. Mungo's told her excitable daughter. Amelia held back her chuckle at the frown on Tonk's face to her mother's gentle reprimand.

The parchment held the names of many fifth years but on top were initials in bold, D.A. The first name under that title was the barely legible scrawl of Ron Weasley.

"What does D.A. stand for?" the formidable head of the DMLE asked the red headed boy.

"Dumbledore's Army." the red headed wizard blurted out. The groans of his fellow students were not needed to make Ron realize that he had made a grievous error.