LDW - 9
Animals
"They say they don't need money
They're living on nuts and berries
They say animals don't worry
You know animals are hairy?
They think they know what's best
They're making a fool of us
They ought to be more careful
They're setting a bad example
They have untroubled lives
They think everything's nice
They like to laugh at people
They're setting a bad example
(Go ahead) Laugh at me."
LDW-9.1
Friday 29 May 1998
As it turned out, nothing untoward or particularly newsworthy occurred on Thursday, May 28, so Harry assumed that the message from Kingsley Shacklebolt had nothing to do with the date. Harry also had been unable to arrange to speak with the minister directly as he was becoming increasingly busy with meetings.
Harry had managed to take Hermione to Gringotts Wizarding Bank on Thursday and reassured her that financially he was well off, and then he helped her with arranging her travel plans and also with establishing an account with Gringotts that she would also be able access while she was in Australia. Hermione would be travelling by a series of international port-keys, with brief lay overs in various cities, at the magical transportation hubs, often located at major international airports. The several trips would help her more easily adjust to the time zone changes as she moved through the day and eventually arrived in Sydney. She had a room reserved for her at one of the fancier magical hotels there, and a restless sleep potion that was specifically designed to help the person who ingested it adjust quickly to the new time zone.
Hermione arrived at the hotel on what was Saturday evening, but by the time she had finally checked in, she had gone across the multiple time zones, and she appreciated having the potion to take to help her adjust to her new surroundings. As she closed her eyes after taking the potion, her last conscious thoughts were about Harry and hoping that he was doing well with his endeavours to figure out what was really going on in magical Great Britain; however, she was not able to get worried about it as she was soon sleeping restfully, and about ready to embark on her own new adventure — searching for her parents and hoping to undo all the damage she had done.
LDW-9.2
In London, Harry was pacing in the main lounge of Grimmauld Place. Fleur was already feeling well enough that she had left the bedroom she had been placed in and was seated in the large room on a particularly comfortable chair.
"Harry, you must stop this incessant pacing, it is becoming most irritating," stated Fleur with a sigh of frustration.
Harry stopped in his tracks and turned and looked at the French beauty, then he stared at the chair she was sitting in. He didn't recall seeing that chair there in the past, either when he spent time here before Sirius died or even last summer when he was hiding here wth Ron and Hermione.
"Harry, s'il vous plait, stop staring at me like that," stated Fleur, still irritated with the young man in front of her.
Harry shook his head, "Oh, sorry, I wasn't staring at you, Fleur, but the chair. I don't recall that chair being here before."
Fleur was a little startled and looked at the chair and was about to stand up. "What? What is wrong with this chair?"
"Nothing, nothing at all," commented Harry, "its just different or new."
"Perhaps Kreacher upgraded the furniture," suggested Fleur, "he has become quite the attentive house elf."
Harry nodded in agreement. "At least he isn't as crazy as Dobby was," he muttered.
There was a quiet pop when the aged house elf appeared and sneered, "Please kind master, do not compare me to that young fool." Then with the same quiet pop the house elf disappeared again.
"Attentive, yes, quite attentive," stated Harry with a sigh.
"But enough of that," said Fleur, trying to return the conversation to her initial comment. "You must stop this pacing, not only are you going to wear out the rug and your shoes, you're driving me crazy."
"But," began Harry in protest, "I still need to figure out the connection between what happened to Bill and his family before that, and Azkaban."
"How are you so sure that there is a connection?" asked Fleur.
Harry had an expression of surprise in response to her question. "How can I not be? The explanation of what happened at the Burrow makes no logical sense. At times I wonder if witches and wizards ever heard of logic. And then with what happened to you and Bill, well, that was clearly an orchestrated attack, as were the attacks at Azkaban, obviously. But the mystery here is why you and Bill? Why the Weasley family? And what does the number twenty-eight have to do with any of this? And I suppose I shouldn't be worrying you about in all of this, as you'll probably be returning to France shortly."
"About that," said Fleur tentatively, "I may not be returning to France."
"Were you going to head somewhere else?" asked a surprised Harry.
"No, I was hoping to stay here," she said simply.
"Stay here? But you can't do that. It would be too dangerous," argued Harry. "Whoever attacked you and Bill, they are probably still looking for you. You're in danger as long as you stay here."
"But I cannot run away when the villains who murdered my husband are out there, and you know as well as I do that the Aurors don't have the time nor the staff to look into all of this properly," argued Fleur.
Harry rubbed his face with his hand then ran his hand through his hair. "I suppose you might be right," he conceded.
"I am right," insisted the quarter Veela. After a moment's pause, she continued, "If you're going to be looking into what happened to my husband and my in laws, then I will be helping you. And, no, there will be no discussion or argument."
Harry scratched the back of his head, then shrugged his shoulders, "I suppose you do have a point. And I know you are not only a talented witch, but you are quite determined. And I'd much rather have you helping me than competing against me," he added with a smile.
"Besides," continued Fleur, "I owe you, my family owes you."
"What are you talking about?" asked a slightly confused Harry.
"The second task, that is what I'm talking about," stated Fleur.
Harry tilted his head, still a little confused.
"You rescued my sister, or was that so long ago or so unimportant to you that you forgot," snapped Fleur.
"No, no, I didn't forget and no it wasn't unimportant," protested Harry. "I saved Gabrielle because it was the right thing to do, not to make someone owe me any favours. And besides, she wasn't ever in any real danger. At least, that's what everyone said after I retrieved her from the lake."
Fleur shook her head. "It's not that simple, Harry. You didn't know that the hostages were safe. None of us did. The clue stated that what ever was taken from us would never be returned if we didn't recover it within the one hour time limit."
Harry started to argue with her, but Fleur interrupted him. "No, you don't get to argue that point. I saw the look on your face when you came out of the water, and we both know that it was not that simple as you were attacked as you tried to rescue Ronald and Gabrielle. The final task was supposed to be safe, too, but you know better than anyone how that turned out. You, Harry Potter, saved my little sister's life, and I owe you a life debt for her."
Harry had a confused look on his face.
"She was much too young to be forced into a life debt," stated Fleur, "so I swore on oath to take on her life debt. I owe you my life, or whatever you request of me."
Harry shook his head as he tried to understand what this all meant. He then voiced his confusion, "What does that even mean, a life debt?"
"As I just stated," explained Fleur slowly, "I owe you my life. I must do something to protect your life even if it causes me to lose my life, or I must perform some sort of service to you that you demand instead of my doing something to save your life or I die trying."
Harry had a bewildered look on his face. Then he hesitantly asked, "Anything?"
Fleur actually replied with a slight blush, "Yes, anything."
Harry scrunched his face up, "Ooh, that is so wrong. I wouldn't do anything like that to you. Ever."
"I know Harry," acknowledged Fleur. "You are a noble young man, and not some ridiculous little boy. I will always be embarrassed about my words to you that night you found yourself forced to compete in the tournament."
Harry smiled slightly, "That's okay, Fleur. It may have been irritating to me that night, but it really doesn't bother me. Who could have blamed you anyway, you had just been picked to be a champion, something you wanted, something you were excited about, and then everything changed."
Fleur shrugged her shoulders. "Whatever, Harry, but the point is, I will stick by your side to help you through this whole mess. Whatever this mess really is. And you're not getting rid of me."
LDW-9.3
Saturday 30 May 1998
It was a gorgeous spring day in England. The old brick manor house in Osbourne St. Andrew stood outside of the village. Most of the village hardly even knew the manor was there, as it was warded to prevent muggles from taking notice of its presence.
The people in the village were out tending to their gardens on the sunny afternoon. A few people looked up as a large van rolled down the streets through the village, and then it headed north towards the rarely noticed manor house. The van drove past the manor house and turned down an old dirt road, past the Holy Cross Parish Church. The van came to a stop and several men climbed out of the back. They were all dressed in green fatigues, and they were equipped with backpacks and special goggles.
"So, the plan this time is to get through the wards, without dismantling them," stated Barnes. "We will then use this ward stone to set up magical locks on the doors and windows. Starks will scale the outside walls, get onto the roof and place the smoke bombs in each of the chimneys."
The group acknowledged the review of the mission plan with their leader, who then continued, "Mills, you will search the back side of the property, looking for evidence of anyone who might be outside."
Mills then spoke up, "But wouldn't most of the family be outside, it is quite a nice day, and everyone else in the village seemed to be busy in their gardens."
Barnes laughed slightly at the question. "Wizards don't necessarily think that way. A family like the Flints, they would have house elves tending to their gardens for them. Besides, Lord Flint is probably reviewing his latest acquisitions. He has been in the trading business for generations. He considered himself too preoccupied to actually fight in either the first or second wizarding war on behalf of the Death Eaters. His son was supposed to make a respectable name for himself, first through Quidditch and then through politics. Didn't quite have the brains for making much of himself. He was the one that Middleton took out single handedly a couple of weeks ago. Our informant indicated that since his son died, dear old dad has been holed up inside his study. His wife passed on a few years back. There might be house elves or some other servants outside, and it's our job to make sure they don't try to do anything to save Flint."
Scott pulled out a large object from his backpack. Barnes nodded, "Yes, you will toss that up to Starks on the roof, and he will place it into the main chimney. Make it look like some birds built a nest there and eventually the fumes killed the old man."
Scott scratched his head as he considered the plan. "Yeah, I get the whole plan, except for why are we going to such an extreme to make it look like an accident? We did that with the first place we attacked. But there was no subterfuge when we attacked that island."
Barnes sighed and then explained, "As I told you before, we want to shake things up. The wizards' newspaper is already questioning what is going on, particularly after what they now call the Azkaban Massacre. Taking out another family in the same manner might make them actually take action. Mysterious happenings, in combination with the outright attacks we have done and we have planned, that will keep them fearful and unsure of how to respond."
Scott nodded his head slightly from side to side, accepting what he was told. "Now, I'll grab the ward portal, and we'll make our way to the near wall where there is the gate which is where we can set the portal up."
The men made their way to the north wall outside of the house, and using their goggles the men could see that the ward line ended at the wall. Barnes took the small rectangular box, flipped a switch and slight hum could be heard from the object. There came an invisible shield that was emitted from it, although it was clearly seen with their special goggles. Barnes walked slowly towards the gate, with the invisible bubble slowly penetrating the glow of the wards. The wards seemed to be simply pushed back around the bubble and then Barnes reached the gate, opened it and placed the box in the middle of the entryway. The team members then easily walked through into the yard to begin their mission.
Twenty minutes later, they were leaving through the gateway, and Barnes retrieved the small box.
"Do we need to do anything about the ward stone you placed in the yard to keep the doors and windows locked?" asked Scott.
"The special wards on that stone will fade away within two hours," stated Barnes. "I doubt anyone will find him before Monday. The stone should have little to no magic left in it, and by the time anyone even considers investigating the property, it will just be a simple old rock."
The group then returned to their van and drove back to Marlborough from where they had come.
LDW-9.4
January 1998
The two men sat in the pub. Middleton sipped his beer slowly. Barnes was grinning from ear to ear.
Seeing his friend's grin, Middleton asked, "So, I take it that you got approval for your proposal?"
"They were so used to my submitting the various similar proposals in the past that no one bothered to check it for the compulsion charms," replied Barnes with obvious satisfaction. "In fact, we will start training two more teams, so we will have a total of four strike teams with magical leaders."
Middleton raised an eyebrow, "Aren't Smythe and Jonas a little too new at this to start leading a team?"
"Thomas Smythe did quite well for himself at Hogwarts, and he has been working with the division for the past few years," commented Barnes. "William Jonas has a little less experience with the division, but he has good skills with his wand. They'll be starting to train with Team Beta and Team Delta within the next few weeks. Our teams have already been working together for a while, so we may have to work with them as well. Team building exercises, you know."
"But how will we deal with Voldemort and the Death Eaters?"
"You worry too much," stated Barnes. "The best information we have so far is that Potter is still on the run, which means the dark lord and his minions haven't caught him and which also means that the kid has a chance. Maybe not much of one, but they have called him the 'chosen one' in some of the reports. But if there is much more direct attacks against muggles, then we will easily get tasked with using any and all resources to bring them in check."
"That's what this has all been about for you," observed Middleton. "Everything has been leading up to this, this opportunity to fight back."
"MI-5, and now the soon to be established MI-13," proclaimed Barnes, "have given me the opportunity for the revenge that we both want. And MI-5 was happy to recruit a couple of orphans, they do like their agents not having family ties; and they like it when their orphans they recruit have a certain set of skills."
LDW-9.5
Monday 1 June 1998
Team Alpha had a successful mission two days prior and they had received a tip from a witch in Knockturn Alley that indicated that Yaxley was hiding out in one of his family's properties in Wales. The problem they initially had was that Yaxley had no listed property in Wales. Barnes knew that there was no way that they could get the information from the goblins even if Gringotts Wizarding Bank knew the location. But Barnes had some contacts within the Ministry of Magic, people he knew who were half bloods or muggle born who had what was considered minor jobs within the ministry. While many of them had lost their positions during the time of the Muggle Born Registration, the ministry was quick to give people their positions back, that is if they had managed to survive the war.
Barnes went to the Office of Magical Deeds. The young witch who was working the desk there was a muggle born who was several years behind him at Hogwarts, and he knew she had lost several family members during the war. Eliza Littlestone was often considered a quiet but skilled witch. Barnes smiled at her as he walked up to the desk she was seated at.
"Could I see the files for Yaxley?"
Eliza looked at the man who was oddly familiar. "The Aurors were here last week looking at those files," she replied.
"I know, I know, but my department head told me to double check to make sure that nothing was missed, what with the new recruits they have in the DMLE now," stated Barnes with a smile.
Eliza furrowed her brow as she looked at him. "Wait, don't I know you from somewhere?"
Barnes hesitated before he answered, "I do special work for the minister. I meet with him on occasion. And there is some added information we need to look at. You wouldn't want someone as evil as Yaxley to slip through the DMLE's hands, now would you?"
"No of course not," Eliza readily agreed. "He dragged me down in front of Umbridge personally when I was brought before the Muggle Born Registration Committee."
"What a dreadful experience that must have been for you to have to go through," nodded Barnes. "So, about those files," he asked once again.
"Oh, sure, anything to help out the Minister and the DMLE," she agreed readily.
Barnes simply smiled and then she stepped away from the counter and went to retrieve the requested files. A couple of minutes later she returned and handed him a large folder. Barnes made a quick look through the documents, and he readily ignored any properties that were obviously homes. He looked to see if Yaxley had any business interests, and it seemed he owned several business properties, including two in the muggle world. He thought to himself that the DMLE probably won't bother to check out anything in a muggle community, assuming that Yaxley wouldn't head to such a place. And that was exactly why Barnes determined that would be where he would go look first. Particularly when he found that there was a small store located in the small city of St. David's in Pembrokeshire. The fact that it was so small and so remote just called out to Barnes that it must be where Yaxley had gone to hide.
Later that afternoon, Team Alpha had arrived in St. David's and were walking down the main street and found the shop in question, St. David's Food and Wine. The five men entered the shop separately, trying not to appear as though they were arriving together. Barnes was the first one in the shop and quickly made his way around and he was sure that Yaxley was not in the store. However, there was also the apartments above the store which were owned by Yaxley, although the deed that the Ministry of Magic had information on was just the store.
Barnes nodded to Mills who was also making his way around the store. Starks had taken one of the bottles of wine from off of a shelf and brought it to the front where he began asking the woman at the counter for more information on the particular vintage. Seeing that she was distracted, Barnes, Mills and then O'Brien made their way to the back door that they had determined would lead to the entrance to the apartments. Once they had stepped into the hallway, they each donned their magic detecting goggles and were able to scan for any traps or wards. The main stairwell had a detection trap, and they were able to easily dismantle that quite quickly. There was a magic detecting charm at the top of the stairs that also was not a problem for the trio to remove.
Barnes then pulled out his wand, and quickly detected that there were two people in the apartment on the other side of the door. He rubbed his chin as he considered his options and then he spoke quietly to Mills and O'Brien, briefly explaining his plan. Standing outside of the door, Barnes kicked in the door to the apartment and jumped through. Two men were sitting at the far side of the room and moved to draw their wands, however, before they could cast any spells Barnes had taken them both out with an overpowered stunner. Then Mills and O'Brien stepped up and pulled out small guns with silencers, and each shot the two men in the head.
Once Barnes was sure that they had killed the two men, he went over and examined the bodies. One was clearly Yaxley, his straight blonde hair was a giveaway. The other man looked familiar to Barnes, who had reviewed files on the various Death Eaters. Albert Runcorn was the man who had been hiding out with Yaxley.
"Well, that's one of the missing Death Eaters," he stated. Then he turned to the two men with him. "I think we've done enough here, we can make our way out of here. We'll head down stairs, then we will leave separately, and meet up again in London, tomorrow afternoon. The next mission should be for Wednesday morning. You already have the details on that one."
Mills was still holding the store clerk in an animated conversation about the various wines, and then he decided to buy a bottle before leaving. By the time he had completed his purchase, the other three men had already left the store.
Two days later, Herbert Burke was opening up the shop that his uncle and his uncle's best friend had opened up over 100 years prior. Borgin and Burke's was known throughout magical Britain as being the shop that could obtain almost anything, for a price, and the legality of what one was looking for was of little consequence, other than potentially affecting said price. Herbert typically only worked on Wednesdays, leaving the rest of the work hours to Mr. Borgin, who would take Wednesdays to travel in his attempts to obtain rare and unusual and typically, dark items. Herbert spent the rest of the week doing the travelling searching for similar items. Due to this unusual but predictable schedule, Barnes knew that there was one day in the week that he needed to arrange for the planned attack.
Mills and Starks accompanied him to the Leaky Cauldron early that morning prior to the start of the typical business day. As Barnes used his wand to get through the barrier and the other two men simply followed, nothing appeared out of the ordinary. As the shops in Diagon Alley had not yet opened, the marketplace was mostly empty in the predawn period. With the minimal sunlight, the few people heading to their shops to begin their long days were just grey shadows in the early morning mist. This suited Barnes and his team just fine. They slowly made their way towards Diagon Alley, not venturing too far from each other. Mills stopped in front of the window to the left of the entrance to Borgin and Burkes. While he was actively inspecting some old book that was on display in the window, he surreptitiously removed a small sphere from his pocket, pressed a button and then let it drop down his leg, catching it briefly on top of his foot before letting it come to rest in a small crevice below the window which he was inspecting.
A few minutes later Starks was walking past the other window and started to have a coughing fit. He bent over near the window as he spasmed with his breathing difficulty. While doing this he reached into a pocket and pulled out a similar orb to what Mills had used, and he then pressed a button on the device, and during his next coughing spasm, placed it under the edge of the window.
Herbert Burke did not pay any attention to the early morning passersby and he opened his shop on time at precisely 7:00 in the morning. There were certain individuals who preferred to do their business with him prior to starting their usual jobs and before many people would be around the market areas so that few if anyone would ever see them arrive at the shop.
Barnes showed up at just a few minutes after 7, and started to engage Mr. Burke in a discussion regarding dragon scales, particularly dragon scales from very young dragons. Burke laughed slightly. "Such an acquisition should not be hard at all," he stated.
Barnes then made his request even more specific. "But do you have dragon scales from the tail of a young Hungarian Horntail? Particularly one that is less than five years of age?"
Burke leaned back as he considered this request. "I have never heard of any use for such a specific dragon scale. Would you mind telling me what they would be useful for, and why another dragon scale might not work as well?"
Barnes smiled slightly and leaned in close to Burke. "Well, I was studying in the eastern reaches of Canada, under a particularly notorious local wizard, by the name of Trudeau, and well," he then paused and stood up and looked around. He glared at Mills and Starks who were now milling about the store. Then he turned back to Burke and whispered, "I better not say anything, you never know who may be listening in on certain conversations, particularly in this day."
Burke nodded, "You never can be too sure, but I assure you that we have the best protections here in my shop. My uncle always prided himself in making sure the customer was not only satisfied, but their confidence is secure on these premises."
Barnes smiled, "I appreciate that, really I do. Oh, and in addition to looking for dragon scales, I was hoping to sell some other items. I have several acromantula eggs, as well as a magical geode, discovered in the Australian Outback."
Burke raised an eyebrow. "I am sorry, sir, but I am not familiar with those items."
"Would you care to take a look?"
Burke tilted his head slightly to his left. "It may be worth a look."
Barnes then slowly pulled out a fist sized rock and three smaller white orbs from within his robes. "The magical geode and the spider eggs. The geode has magical crystals inside of it."
Burke looked back and forth between the objects. Then he looked up at Barnes, "I am not sure that there is a market for any of these items. But perhaps if you would allow me to investigate this geode a little more closely."
Barnes shrugged, "Sure, I don't see any harm in doing that."
Burke nodded slightly. "Would you mind if I took it into my back room to do some tests on it?"
Barnes rubbed his chin, "I don't know, I guess it may be all right. You won't do anything to harm that thing, will you?"
"Of course not," reassured Burke, who then smiled at Barnes, and once he received a nod of permission, he carefully picked up the geode and stepped behind a curtain into a separate room.
Once Burke's back was turned, Barnes signalled the other two men. They placed objects that looked like the spider eggs in several areas around the room. Then they quickly left the store. Barnes picked up the three spider eggs from the counter, rolled them around in his hands until he found a hidden switch on one, then he rolled them under the curtain to the backroom where Burke had gone. He then slowly turned and made his way out of the store. Once he stepped inside a run down looking potions store he reached into the pocket of his robe and found a small device, and pressed a button.
The resulting explosion from Borgin and Burkes from across the street rattled the shelves in the potions shop and Barnes had to grab onto the counter in front of him to stop himself from falling.
The shop keeper for the potions shop came running out from behind the counter. "I always knew those idiots were dealing with dangerous stuff!"
Barnes straightened himself up and looked out into the street. People were running in different directions and several wizards were casting spells to put the flames out in the rubble of what had recently been an infamous shop on Knockturn Alley.
AN: Sorry about this chapter being so late - I actually thought that I had uploaded it previously...
Yes, Barnes and Middleton are the "villains" in this story...
Yes, the Ministry of Magic will begin acting...but in the timeline of things, we are still just one month removed from the Battle of Hogwarts...
(edited 3/2018)
Lyrics: © 1979, "Animals", Talking Heads, Fear of Music, written by: David Byrne
