Harry Potter and the Shadow Legion

Part 2

Chapter 11

The man looked with a calculating look at Aurora and Gabrielle. Aurora ordered the Black Angels to lower their weapons, which they had immediately aimed at the unknown man, and turned to the man.

"It has been a long time, Vlad."

"Indeed it has Aurora, Gabrielle, you two look well."

"Thank you Vlad, we are well." Gabrielle replied. "Allow me to introduce you to the reason of our unexpected visit to your lands." She ushered the quartet forward until they were standing between her and Aurora and indicating them each in turn she said, "This is our adoptive son, Harry, and his three best friends, which we also consider family, Hermione Granger, Fleur Delacour and Ginny Weasley."

The kids each bowed in greeting and Gabrielle continued, "Kids, meet king Vladislaus the First, ruler of the vampire clans and more commonly known as Count Dracula."

At this Vlad bowed to the others before he said, "Nice to meet you, however the circumstances could have been better." This last was said with a pointed look at Aurora and Gabrielle who acknowledged this fact with a nod.

"You are completely right Vlad," Aurora replied, "but please allow me to explain the circumstances as there was no deliberate breaking of the treaty from our side."

Vlad inclined his head and motioned for Aurora to continue which she promptly did. "The kids had been staying with Ginny's parents for a few weeks when they planned to surprise them and take them to visit one of Ginny's brothers, who works here at the preserve. They were unaware of the circumstances concerning our treaty and as a consequence they cannot be held responsible.

When they went to visit the preserve they were ambushed by Marcus, who as always drew conclusions before knowing the facts, and all they did was defend themselves against an unprovoked attack.

When Marcus was about to decapitate my son, our Black Angels were forced to take action and neutralized most of his party. They were all shot with tranquilizers, so except for Marcus, no one got injured."

Vlad had a small grin on his face and asked with a hint of amusement in his voice, "What happened to Marcus?"

Aurora snapped her fingers and two of the Black Angels dragged Marcus before Vlad. The broken sword was still stuck in his chest but the wound was hardly bleeding, one of the advantages of not having a heart beat.

Vlad made a 'tut tut' sound while he looked down at his second in command. He bent over and pulled the broken sword from Marcus' chest. He tossed the blade to one of his followers before pulling a flask from his belt and emptying the watery contents on Marcus' face.

The wounded vampire woke with a startled sound and groaned softly before Vlad said, "Please stop making a fool of yourself Marcus, that wound should already be nearly healed by now so stop whining."

Marcus immediately opened his eyes when he heard Vlad's voice and quickly kneeled before him while saying, "Forgive me my lord, I tried to uphold the treaty but I failed. They ambushed us and I don't know what happened to the others."

Vlad looked down on Marcus with a look that held the middle between disappointment and disgust as he said, "No Marcus, you did not try to uphold the treaty, you tried to break the treaty."

"M… my… my Lord." Sputtered Marcus.

"That is enough Marcus." Vlad replied coolly. "Did you ask what they were doing here? Did you ask who they were? Did you give them a chance to explain themselves?" Vlad didn't give Marcus any time to respond as he kept going.

"The treaty only says that the Legion cannot send an armed force into our lands with the intent to kill us. They are allowed to visit our lands with peaceful intentions and have every right to defend themselves if they are the victims of an unprovoked attack.

You are lucky that Aurora and Gabrielle have ordered their soldiers to only use tranquilizers, if any of my followers had died under your orders, the punishment would have been… severe."

Marcus swallowed before objecting, "But my Lord, they did send a deliberate attack force into our lands."

"BE SILENT MARCUS." Roared Vlad before continuing on a normal tone. "As I already said, they have a right to defend themselves. And if that includes sending an armed rescue party to save their own people who ended up in our lands by mistake, then they are allowed to do so."

Marcus nodded softly and kept his mouth shut while Vlad continued. "You will wake the others, and take them back to the castle. You will make sure they stay there until I return and we will discuss this later. Now get out of my sight."

Marcus scrambled onto his feet and quickly ran towards the pile of his knocked-out brethren and started waking them up. When they were all awake he quickly led them away and they vanished between the trees.

When they were gone Vlad turned towards his guards and said, "Make sure they get to the castle and that they stay there." The twelve armored vampires left without a word and quickly followed Marcus and the others.

Vlad turned back toward the humans and said to Aurora and Gabrielle, "Now if you could send your followers back to their hotel we can discuss the consequences of this day in private."

Aurora nodded and the Black Angels left without a word led by Ivan and Dan. The Weasley's though didn't go and Arthur stepped forward saying, "I don't mean to be rude or anything, but I think we have a right to know what is going on here."

Gabrielle turned towards him and looked him straight in his eyes. "Do not fight us on this Arthur. It could still provoke a war if you do" Arthur was shocked to hear the voice in his head and before he could respond she continued. "We will explain later. Right now you have to take your family and go back to the hotel. Take Harry and the girls with you."

Arthur swallowed and he felt the hidden undertone of anger in Gabrielle's voice so he decided to do as she said and he quickly led his family back to their hotel. Harry and the girls didn't want to follow him but the looks on Aurora and Gabrielle's faces made them go, though it was reluctantly.

When only Aurora, Gabrielle and Vlad were left on the clearing, Gabrielle cut the branches of off two of the fallen trees and dragged them across from each other. Aurora and Gabrielle sat down on one and Vlad on the other.

When they were all seated Aurora began, "I'm sorry for causing you problems Vlad, we had sent Molly and Arthur a message warning them not to take the kids here but somehow they either didn't get it, or they chose to ignore it, either way we'll get to the bottom of it and the guilty will be punished."

Vlad nodded in acceptance and replied, "It doesn't really matter. The problems were there already, this just made them more apparent."

Aurora and Gabrielle nodded and Gabrielle said, "How is Marcus behaving at court?"

Vlad shook his head and said, "It has only gotten worse over the last century. Unfortunately, I'm amongst only a few of my kind who recognize the importance of the treaty. I know that if it should come to a war, then not only your Legion, but also the muggles have the weapons to destroy us with ease.

Marcus and those like-minded to him are angry that we have to stay in the shadows and only feed as much as we need to survive. I have had to destroy several covens in the last three decades alone, over two-hundred vampires in total, because they ignored the treaty and killed muggles after feeding on them."

Aurora nodded and said, "We know Vlad, we received your reports about the situations. Do you have any idea if Marcus is planning something?"

To the surprise of the two part-dragons, Vlad actually looked worried when Aurora said this and he said, "I don't really know to be honest. About four years ago, one of my veterans sent me a message saying that he saw Marcus talking with a mysterious person in black robes and with a mask."

At this Aurora and Gabrielle snarled and Gabrielle asked, "Did he say what the mask looked like?"

Vlad sadly shook his head and said, "He didn't, because when I expected him to deliver his report in person, he never showed up. His beheaded corpse was found later that day, not two miles from the castle."

"Did Marcus kill him?" asked Gabrielle a little hesitantly.

Vlad shrugged and replied, "Marcus had been in the castle the whole day so I don't see how, but it is possible that the masked individual did it on Marcus' orders. Point is, Marcus has been getting messages lately but he doesn't mention anything about it so I can't call him out on it."

Aurora and Gabrielle nodded in recognition of these words and Aurora asked, "Do you think he is planning a coup?"

Vlad shrugged again and replied, "I have no idea but even if I did, there is nothing I can do about it. He has to many followers amongst my people. If I were to arrest him and charge him with high treason, I would have a civil war on my hands and I do not have the strength, or the numbers to win it this time."

Aurora offered, "If you want we could take him out and no one would know you did it."

"That won't work," Vlad replied, "no matter if I had a flawless alibi, they would still suspect me and there are others at court who are less… tactful then Marcus. If he were to die under suspicious circumstances, I would be blamed and they would revolt against me."

They all sat down in silence for a few minutes until Gabrielle said, "If Marcus would manage to overthrow you, what numbers are we dealing with." She recognized the hesitation on Vlad's face and added, "I know your hesitant about this Vlad, but if we are to prevent massive casualties on both sides, we have to know what we are dealing with. If we don't contain the problem when it arises, the U.N.S.C. will issue an extermination order, and if they do we have no choice but to carry it out."

Vlad nodded in acceptance and said, "I know but still… no you're right. If you have this information, then you'll be able to contain the problem. I do not wish the extermination of my entire race but if keeping the peace means having to sacrifice most of them to save the rest then so be it.

As far as I know there are around three-hundred covens all around the world. Only a handful of those are not under my control but those have hidden so deep that I doubt I could find them anyway. Each coven varies in size between fifteen to over two-hundred. I'd put our total number between eighteen- and twenty-thousand. Of those, three-thousand are loyal to me and are the veterans from the war of 1462 A.D., the others have been added over time.

My veterans know what we will be facing, should we go to war with your Legion, but the others are like Marcus, short-sighted, hot-headed and eager to win glory for themselves. They don't know the true cost of war, or they just don't care about it."

Aurora and Gabrielle nodded in understanding of his words and Gabrielle said, "Did you know that Marcus has his own part in the legends of Transylvania?"

Vlad led out a mirthless laughter and said, "Yes I have heard those, they call him the new Judas. Apparently the remnants of Alexander's army spread the knowledge that Alexander's own son betrayed his father and their allies to join me and lay a trap for your army to walk into."

"Well that part is actually true, he did betray us and join you in preparing an ambush for us."

Vlad grinned at Aurora's words and said, "Aye that part is indeed true. However, I have heard at least a dozen different versions of what happened next. The one most entertaining to me is the one that most resembles the truth.

It says that the leaders of the crusading army turned to the heavens in their desperation to survive my ambush and that God himself changed them in two enormous dragons which drove my army off and won them the day."

It was silent for a few seconds until all three burst out laughing and Gabrielle hiccupped, "Wait they actually believe that, I'm surprised they didn't accuse us of dark magic or devil worshipping."

Vlad gave them a toothy grin and said, "Well those versions also exist, but they are less widely known."

Underneath the trees behind Aurora and Gabrielle they heard a soft 'snap', as if something stepped on a fallen branch and Aurora shook her head in disappointment while Gabrielle said, "You know kids, it's really impolite to disobey your parents and to eavesdrop on a conversation that is clearly not meant for your ears."

Vlad looked at them with a curious look and said, "How did you know they were there, I don't smell them?"

Gabrielle shook her head and said to Vlad, "We sensed them about a minute ago, they didn't hear anything important. I think they were drawn by your laughter about Marcus' place in the legends."

Vlad nodded in understanding and said, "I think that it is their animagus forms that messes up my sense of smell as I cannot smell any humans."

His suspicions were confirmed when the four Fenrirs walked out from under the trees and changed back into four kids with identical guilty expressions on their faces.

"We're sorry mom," they said in unison and Harry added, "We were just curious what you were talking about when you didn't return so we snuck out of the hotel and came back here."

Vlad looked on in amusement while Aurora and Gabrielle shook their heads in an identical move and Gabrielle said. "We are done here anyway so we'll come back with you to the hotel, but know this, you haven't heard the last of this yet."

Harry and the girls all swallowed at this and nodded in silent resignation while Aurora and Gabrielle took their leave from Vlad.

"I'll try to keep you updated about what goes on with Marcus, but my messages might get intercepted so don't be surprised if you don't hear from me."

The two women nodded in return and Gabrielle said softly, so the kids wouldn't hear her, "Be safe Vlad, should it come to open rebellion, and your situation is hopeless, get out of here with the ones you trust and come find us. Every branch of Gringotts can get a hold of us wherever we are, we'll spread the word that they should help you if you come looking for us."

Vlad inclined his head in a sign of goodbye and with a swirl of his cape he changed into a large black bat and flew off between the trees.

Aurora and Gabrielle turned back to the kids with their arms crossed and a stern expression on their faces. Gabrielle was the first to talk and she said, "The next time we see you, the six of us are going to be having a discussion."

The quartet nodded meekly and followed Aurora and Gabrielle back to the hotel.

When they arrived they were awaited by a panicking Molly who screamed as soon as she saw Aurora and Gabrielle, "THE KIDS ARE GONE, THEY SNUCK OUT OF THEIR ROOM."

Aurora and Gabrielle parted so Molly could see the quartet walking behind them and Molly stormed towards them and screamed again, "YOU FOUR ARE IN SO MUCH TROUBLE. JUST YOU WAIT TILL I'M DONE WITH YOU."

Before Molly could reach them, Aurora and Gabrielle closed ranks again and Aurora said with a thundering voice, "WE WILL DEAL WITH THEM LATER, BUT THEY ARE NOT NEARLY IN AS MUCH TROUBLE AS YOU AND ARTHUR ARE."

This effectively shut Molly up and she looked confused between the furious looks on the faces of Aurora and Gabrielle. "Wha… what do you mean?" she asked hesitantly.

"Let's just take this inside shall we." The fake calm tone of Gabrielle made Harry and the girls think back about what Sarah had told them and they decided to sneak off as soon as they could.

When they were back in the hotel they found the other Weasley's, Dan, Ivan and the Black Angels waiting for them in the restaurant. Dan and Ivan needed only one look at the faces of Aurora and Gabrielle to realize the seriousness of the situation and they hurriedly led their team outside to 'go and check the perimeter'.

In the same fake calm tone as before Gabrielle said, "Harry, girls, please get Ginny's brothers and Joanna and go someplace else."

The quartet needed no encouragement and Ginny hissed to her brothers, "Run, now."

Charlie quickly picked up Joanna who was still a bit confused about the whole situation and the group ran out of the restaurant to find Dan and Ivan. They were not far before they could hear it start.

When the kids were all gone Aurora and Gabrielle turned towards Arthur and Molly and Aurora roared to them, "DO YOU REALIZE WHAT YOU HAVE DONE. WHY IN MY FATHER'S NAME HAVE YOU NOT LISTENED TO MY WARNING."

Molly and Arthur were both pale as a corpse and could do nothing but sit and listen as Aurora kept yelling at them.

"IF VLAD HAD BEEN IN A BAD MOOD HE WOULD HAVE BEEN FULLY IN HIS RIGHT TO START A FUCKING WAR, WHICH COULD HAVE COST TENS OF THOUSANDS OF LIVES."

When Aurora stopped yelling Arthur said weakly, "What warning do you mean, we never got a warning from you."

Now it was Aurora and Gabrielle's turn to look pale and Gabrielle said weakly, "What do you mean you never got it? When you sent that letter informing us about the sleeping arrangement at the Burrow, we gave your owl a letter back. That letter described, in detail, everything that could happen if you took the kids to Transylvania."

Molly and Arthur looked at each other and Molly said softly, "It has happened before that Errol, our owl, dumped mail while underway if he thought it was too heavy. You have to understand he is very old so he can't really be held responsible."

Both Aurora and Gabrielle had to open and close their eyes a few times before they had digested what Molly had just said.

"So," began Aurora on a dangerously low tone, "you are saying that that flying feather duster of yours nearly started a war because he thought my letter was too heavy."

Arthur and Molly both nodded and Gabrielle continued speaking, as Aurora seemed to be to angry to continue. "If you know that that owl has a habit of dumping mail, then why on earth are you still using it. I would have thought that you would be able to afford a proper owl now."

Neither Arthur nor Molly had a decent reply on this and Gabrielle continued. "I will send our own owl, Hedwig to you. You can use her until you get a decent owl yourselves."

Aurora nodded in agreement and added in a growl, "And the next time I see that bloody pigeon of yours, I'll wring his neck and feed him to Furya and Argent."

Molly and Arthur swallowed at this, although they had no idea who those were, they could see that Aurora wasn't joking.

With that part of the problem cleared up, Aurora and Gabrielle had calmed down significantly and Gabrielle informed Dan and Ivan to get the others and bring them back inside, they would have a lot of questions.

When Harry and the others had made their way outside they found Dan and Ivan talking softly while the Black Angels had removed their masks and were sitting around several camping tables, talking amongst themselves.

When the group joined them, Dan and Ivan saw from the look on their faces that they were desperate for some answers but Ivan raised his hand to prevent them from asking anything and said, "Hold your questions until Aurora and Gabrielle are done yelling, they will explain everything. They have forbidden us from telling you anything."

The group of Weasleys looked a little confused but Harry and the girls knew that it was no use prying for information, as no one would tell them anything if Aurora and Gabrielle had specifically forbidden them to do so.

They waited in silence for several minutes before Dan and Ivan stood up and Dan said, "Okay the coast is clear we can go back in."

The Weasleys and Joanna all ran back inside but the quartet and Dan and Ivan followed them in a more relaxed pace. The Black Angels stayed outside and locked down the entire building and the surrounding area.

When the group had made their way back into the restaurant, they found Gabrielle sitting at the bar while Aurora stood behind it and was filling two large glasses with Firewhisky. Molly and Arthur sat at one of the tables and looked remarkably subdued, as if they had just been on the receiving end of one of Molly's own rants.

The Weasleys took the chairs around their parents while Harry and the girls sat down at the bar next to Gabrielle and Aurora, who had just given her partner one of the glasses with Firewhisky. Dan and Ivan took up positions on either side of the only door and leaned against the wall in a relaxed posture.

Aurora was the first to speak and said, "Now I assume some of you might have some questions, and I promise we'll answer as much as we can. I do hope you will understand that there are things we cannot talk about. However, before we get to that point…"

In the span of a second both Aurora and Gabrielle pulled out their blowguns, put them to their mouths and shot small darts at Ron, Fred, George and Percy.

The other Weasleys sprung up in anger and Arthur roared, "WHAT IN MERLIN'S NAME DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING."

Aurora looked not the least bit impressed and said calmly, while placing her blowgun back in its holster, "Saving their lives, Arthur. We just tranquilized them and if you'd all sit down I'll explain."

The Weasleys sat down again, though they didn't seem to be anywhere near calm. Harry and the girls had remained seated as they had recognized the tranquillizer darts sticking out of the chests of the four Weasley brothers and they knew that they were unharmed.

When they were all seated again, Gabrielle began her explanation. "Listen, do you have any idea how many Death Eater children there are at Hogwarts? All it takes is one slip-up, from any of them, and they'll paint a life-sized bulls-eye on their own backs.

Over the past few months we have gotten to know the twins and Percy a little and I regret to tell you that we do not think they'll keep our secrets when they are captured, so the least they know the better it is."

Molly tried to interrupt her and defend her sons but Gabrielle held up her hand and continued, "Percy is way too strict with the rules and very ambitious. He'll rat us out voluntarily if he thinks it'll help him get a nice job at the Ministry, and don't give me that look, you know I'm right.

The twins we do trust but their habit of making a joke out of everything might cause an accidental slip-up and put their own lives at risk.

Ron we don't know but it is better for him to start Hogwarts without knowing anything about us as it'll make it safer for him if he can't tell anything about us, if he is pressured by seniors.

The darts we have shot them with will keep them asleep for at least two hours. When they wake up they'll be in their beds and all they'll know is that after you landed, they went to bed to rest for an hour and overslept.

I will place a memory block in their minds and hide everything they have seen this morning. When they leave Hogwarts and prove themselves trustworthy, I'll remove that block and they will remember everything without any damage done to their brains.

If I find out that any of you told them anything about us, or tried to do so, I'll do the same to you. I don't want to scare you but we simply cannot risk it, for both our safety and theirs."

Now that Gabrielle had explained their reasoning Molly and Arthur agreed with their course of action, it would indeed be far safer to keep them in the dark for now.

Bill had more or less expected the move as it was one that was also used by the goblins to keep people from spreading certain information that was deemed as classified.

Charlie and Joanna where still uncertain about everything and Joanna asked hesitantly, "Are you going to do the same to me?"

Gabrielle shook her head, now with a soft smile tugging at her lips and said, "No we will not, you are both adults and not directly linked to us, since you both work here in Transylvania."

Charlie and Joanna both seemed relieved to hear that, but their hearts fell when Gabrielle continued, "However, I'm afraid that for your own safety, we will have to insist that you both move to Britain. Vlad has made it quite clear that he can no longer guarantee the safety of anyone who is even distantly connected to us. He didn't say it out loud, but it is clear that the vampires are on the brink of a civil war, and one that will not end in our favor."

"Wha...What do you mean?" Joanna asked carefully. "How can we be drawn into a vampire civil war, why not just let them fight it out amongst themselves?"

This time it was Aurora who answered and she said, "Have you ever heard of 'The War of 1462'?"

Joanna nodded and replied, "Of course I have. Everyone in my country knows of it. A mysterious plague swept over our land and killed three of every four people. When the plague was over then came the war, which claimed the lives of tens of thousands of the survivors of the plague."

Aurora softly shook her head at this explanation and said, "That is the muggle version, I mean the true version."

Joanna swallowed softly before she answered with a soft voice, "We are forbidden to talk about it. The Transylvanian Ministry of Magic has made it taboo to talk about it."

At this both Aurora and Gabrielle rolled their eyes and Aurora muttered softly, "Well I guess we should have expected that."

"I'm sorry," Joanna replied a bit confused, "I do not know what you mean by that."

Aurora shook her head again and looking Joanna directly into her eyes she said, "We know what really happened during the War of 1462, because we were there. We are the ones who led the allied armies against Vlad's vampire forces."

Joanna went white as a sheet and suddenly something seemed to 'click' in her mind as she stared from the armor of Aurora and Gabrielle, to their masks which hung on their belts, and then to the masks of Dan and Ivan, which were also hanging from the designated hooks on their belts while they were still leaning against the wall next to the door.

"You… you… you…"

That was all Joanna could say before Gabrielle nodded and replied, "Yes, we are the Dark Angels. We are the ones who fought Vlad to a standstill and we are the ones who are responsible for destroying your society, as punishment for their indifference to the suffering of the muggle population."

At that last part all the others looked up and Harry asked, "Ehh what do you mean, destroying their society?"

Aurora turned to Harry and said on a serious tone, "We have told you four much of what we have done, but not everything Harry, not by a long shot. Over the last fourteen-hundred years, we have brought down dozens upon dozens of corrupt governments. The British Ministry alone has had to been 'removed from power' thirteen times.

In this case we had sent the Transylvanian Ministry of Magic a letter warning them that, if they did not put a stop to Vlad's campaign, or at least ask for foreign help and try to minimize muggle casualties, we would come and stop him, after which we would install a new government. They didn't listen and left the muggles to suffer.

That war cost the lives of more than three-hundred-thousand innocent people and we decided that it would be fitting to let the magical community endure what they had condemned the muggles to endure and we set an example for the rest of the world. We exterminated their ministry and destroyed their entire society. What we destroyed in two days, it took them four-hundred years to rebuild to the same level as they had had before the war."

By this point the still conscious Weasley's were all looking white as ghosts and Joanna was trembling with fear in Charlie's arms. Harry and the girls were likewise having a hard time coming to term with this. They had known that Aurora and Gabrielle had done some less than savory things, but they had not expected something of this scale.

"So you could be considered…" Harry was almost afraid to finish that sentence but Aurora did it for him.

"Yes Harry, Gabrielle and I, along with the Legion could be considered amongst, if not the greatest mass murderers in history. The magical world calls us Death's Angels, a title we more than deserve. However, we are far from saints. We're not demons either but we do what we have to in order to do our duty.

We have committed countless acts that would qualify as war crimes and we could reasonably be called terrorists by the magical community. However, we never killed if we could avoid it. We only do what we must to ensure the safety of the muggle world from the dangers of magic."

Gabrielle nodded at this and at seeing the pale faces of the Weasleys and even the hint of disgust in Joanna's case, she added, "We want you to understand that we do not like hurting people, but we often are not left with any other choice.

Every now and then we are forced to remind the magical community that we are more than capable of destroying them if we have to. It is unfortunate that so many had to suffer for the faults of a few but that is often the case in war."

The group nodded softly but didn't reply for a while until Fleur asked a little hesitantly, "How… how did you manage to destroy an entire magical community in such a short time. I thought you just said that most of your army was killed in the war with Vlad.

Gabrielle looked at the kids and replied, "We have always had very good relations with the goblins Fleur. Gringotts seized all the vaults of the Transylvanian government and we led our remaining Legionnaires on a rampage through their ministry building, killing everyone we found. At the same time a force of goblin warriors destroyed all magical communities that we knew of.

We never counted the corpses but we estimate that a full three quarters of the magical population died during those two days."

"So you are responsible for the suffering of my country," Joanna said in an accusing tone.

Neither Aurora nor Gabrielle looked in the least impressed by her accusation and Aurora said, "No we are not. Your government decided to ignore our warning so we had no choice but to act on our threat."

It was Charlie who asked, "But what gives you the right to make such threats in the first place?"

To the surprise of everyone else, it was Bill who answered this question. "They have that right because it is their job to protect the muggle population against any conceivable magical threat. During a job in Istanbul I found scrolls in an ancient tomb, detailing a contract between the then roman emperor, and what they called, the Angels of Death.

The contract spoke of an agreement between these 'Angels' and the Eastern Roman emperor. It said that the 'Angels' would keep the magical population loyal to the emperor, and in return the emperor would pay them an amount of 10,000 pounds of gold and 25,000 pounds of silver once every five years. It was heavily implied that such arrangements existed with other nations at that time."

Aurora and Gabrielle grinned at that and Aurora said with a little longing in her voice, "Yea… those were the good old days. The Legion was feared throughout the magical world and every muggle monarch paid us handsomely to keep their magical population under control. Those days laid the base of the Legion's wealth and enabled us to build the London HQ when we were driven from Avalon."

"That is all very interesting," interrupted Joanna a bit rudely, "but it does not explain why a civil war amongst the vampires would not end in our favor."

Aurora looked at Joanna with raised eyebrows and said, "That plague you were speaking of was actually a cover up to explain the casualties of Vlad's rise to power and the civil war that followed as he tried to gain dominance over all the vampire covens."

Gabrielle nodded and continued, "Indeed and luckily for us, Vlad has realized that another war with either our Legion, or the muggle population would end in the complete destruction of his race. Unfortunately, the one who attacked you, Marcus, is convinced that it is the right of the vampires to rule over both the muggles and the magicals, and that they have the power to do so.

His ambition has caused his followers to multiply and his faction far outnumbers the followers of Vlad. What's more is that we know for a fact that the Death Eaters have been talking with the vampire covens and if they contact Marcus, it is likely that he will attempt a coup and declare war on us the moment Voldemort returns.

Even if that does not happen, it is likely that Marcus will want revenge for what happened today and treaty or not, he'll most likely target you two, as you were there. So for your own safety and that of the baby, we strongly advise you to move back to England. I can talk with Lord MacFusty about employing you at the British preserve, he owes us a few favors so he'll have no choice but to agree."

Charlie and Joanna nodded in acceptance of what Gabrielle had said and Charlie said, "We'll tell our supervisor that we want to return to Britain because of the baby and terminate our contract as soon as possible."

Charlie hugged Joanna tightly when he talked about the baby and she looked at him with nothing but love on her face.

With that matter closed Charlie turned towards Aurora and Gabrielle and asked, "What I don't understand is why you knocked out my brothers, but let those four sit here and listen to everything even though they are younger than Fred, George and Percy."

Aurora looked back with a look of pride on her face and said, "We are telling them this, and a whole lot more which we are not telling you, because they need to know it Charlie. When Voldemort returns, the world will be facing a war the likes of which hasn't been seen since Grindelwald. And when that war begins, these four will stand right next to us. On the front lines of the Legion, facing the hordes of darkness head-on.

We have been training them for months and when the time comes, they'll be ready for war. Their animagus forms are only the first step and we have many more to teach them."

"Wait," interrupted Bill, "Now that you mention their animagus forms, are they registered with the Ministry? Because if not they will be in a whole lot of trouble when the Ministry does find out. And besides that, what kind of creatures are they, as I have never seen wolves the likes of them."

Aurora, Gabrielle and the quartet grinned and Ginny answered, "Our forms are called Fenrirs, Bill, Harry has the shape of Ragnarok, a creature from Norse legends and the three of us have the shapes of Ragnarok's sisters, the Valkyries."

Aurora and Gabrielle nodded at this as the Weasleys were all staring in disbelief. They had heard of the legends around Ragnarok and his sisters but had thought them to be nothing but legends.

"And to answer your other question Bill," Gabrielle spoke again while she handed a small black leather folding badge to each of the four kids besides her. "We received these just this morning. We had to pull some strings but these are your official identification badges. You're to keep them with you at all times and for heaven's sake don't show them to anyone who doesn't have to see them. Also make sure you do not lose them, as the consequences would be… unpleasant."

The kids opened the badges and saw that they contained a card on the left side, with a picture and personal information like, name and date of birth. But also things like, blood group, relationship status and a small black paw in the lower right corner indicating they were registered animagi. Next to relationship status it said that they were all engaged, as that was the case for as far as the rest of the world was concerned.

On the right of the badge was a small, steel emblem that showed the winged skull of the Legion above a small rectangle of the same metal with in black the words, 'Officer in training' above their respective names.

The quartet got identical ear-to-ear grins and said as one, "Cool,"

Aurora and Gabrielle grinned at their reaction and Aurora said, "Yea I know. These are valid in both the magical and muggle world and are only to be shown when you are in serious trouble. We'll also get you some simple I.D. cards to use in the muggle world as those are fairly easy to make using magic. In the magical world you are not required to have any kind of identification with you."

The quartet nodded and put their new badges away while Aurora and Gabrielle turned towards Bill, Charlie and Joanna. Gabrielle was the one who spoke and she said, "We're sorry to ask this of you but we will require a magical oath from each of you so you cannot speak of anything you have witnessed or heard today to others."

The tone on which she said this made it clear that this was not really a question but more an order, so they all complied without objections.

When that was done Harry was the first to speak and asked, "Mom, what exactly are the Black Angels and why aren't they dressed in the normal Legion uniforms?"

At this there came a soft chuckle from the door as both Dan and Ivan had been waiting for that question and couldn't wait to hear Aurora and Gabrielle explain it to the kids.

Both Aurora and Gabrielle got a somewhat wry smile and Aurora said, "After a little incident during the first day of the holiday, Elizabeth decided that we should have our own personal bodyguard. Not to walk behind us all day long, but just to accompany us on missions and to guard our backs in battle. The Black Angels are those bodyguards. And what they are wearing are the prototypes of the new generation of EXO suits.

As you guys know the Mark 1 Centurion, proved to be a failure so I have ordered Boltrock to keep developing them and to create a better version. He has made two, this one, the new Mark 7-Spartan, and a heavier version which is still in development called the Mark 9."

Harry and the girls nodded in understanding and Fleur asked, "What happened to the Mark 8?"

"It blew up," Arthur replied, to the surprise of the others, "Quite literally actually, I believe maintenance still hasn't filled the crater it struck on the testing ground."

"Wait a moment," said Charlie with sudden understanding on his face, "you mean that that new job of yours is with them?"

Arthur nodded and replied, "Yes indeed, I'm working directly with the head of their weapons research division, and am somewhat responsible for creating those armor suits."

Bill, Charlie, Joanna and the quartet were all looking wide-eyed at Arthur and said, "What did you think I was doing there, paperwork?"

This broke them out of their trance and Bill asked curiously, "So how do those suits work?"

Arthur cleared his throat and said, "Mister Rostock, could you join us for a moment."

Ivan nodded and headed over to them where he sat in the chair Arthur indicated for him. The quartet and Bill, Charlie and Joanna gathered around Ivan and Arthur. Arthur began his explanation under their rapt attention. He indicated various parts of the suit Ivan was wearing while explaining what they did.

Aurora, Gabrielle, Dan and Molly stood somewhat to the side, the first three because they already knew how the suits worked and Molly didn't really care that much.

"This suit is the result of a combination of muggle technology, goblin forging and engineering, and magic. It is powered by a small Dragon-stone, a kind of inexhaustible battery. Unlike with the Mark 1, the Mark 7 and Mark 9 are not separate pieces from the Legion masks, but rather they are integrated with the masks' operating system. Each suit is custom fitted to the individual's nerve-system so it flawlessly follows the motions of their muscles.

In simpler terms, you think it, the suit does it. The suits will make you run faster, jump higher, and it enhances the overall strength of the wearer's body. Mister Rostock here is very strong himself but without the added strength of the suit, he would not have been able to break off a sword or slam a vampire fifteen feet backwards with a single hand.

I won't bore you with the specifics of how the suits work, but let me just say that it will allow an unarmed Legionnaire to go toe-to-toe with a werewolf or a vampire and have a good chance of surviving it, if not necessarily winning it.

The Mark 9, which is still in development is meant to serve as a heavy assault suit. This means it is about the size of Hagrid, and carries a built in flame-thrower on the left arm. They are equipped with heavy armor plating and if well armed, won't have a problem with taking on a mountain troll head-on."

The kids were very impressed and turning to Aurora and Gabrielle they said as one, "Mom, can we have one?"

Aurora and Gabrielle shared a single look before they turned back to the kids and replied in unison, "No,"

Author's note:

I hope this chapter answers all question that were raised by the last one.

Allow me to explain a few things to avoid confusion and something else that has been brought to my attention;

Vlad is not exactly an ally of Aurora and Gabrielle, he is merely an acquaintance who shares their interests and so they work together to keep the peace.

Vlad is the only vampire who is able to turn into a bat. This is because he was an animagus before he was turned and he has retained his ability to change into his animagus form, which is a bat.

In contrast to werewolves, who can be both magical and muggle, only magicals can be turned into vampires. If a muggle is infected with vampirism they will die. Furthermore, the magical must willingly and knowingly be infected otherwise they'll go feral and die within days if they aren't put down before that.

The incident Aurora and Gabrielle meant was what happened in the first two chapters of this part. Only the upper command of the Legion, which does include both Dan and Ivan, are aware of the little time-travelling they did.

The muggle world is completely aware of the existence of the Legion, although they know it under the name of the United Nations Special Forces. Their existence has been made public when the Legion got the support of the U.N.S.C, as it would make it easier for commander Anderson and the other Legion recruiters to explain their presence when they were scouting for possible recruits.

In the muggle world, any Legionnaire stands above their normal counterparts in terms of authority. Aurora, Gabrielle and Anderson have the authority to call entire muggle army divisions to arms when the situation calls for it, but no muggle officer, no matter what rank he has, can give orders to a Legionnaire.

I hope this answers all the questions, if not please let me know so I can answer them in the next update.

Till next time

Medieval Maniak.