Chapter 10
Charlie stumbled through the Malfoy Manor fireplace and immediately grabbed the nearest solid surface. He took several deep breaths as he concentrated on keeping the contents of his stomach from making an appearance onto the dark hardwood floor. He felt dizzy, his mind turning around in circles, unwilling to stop, though the rest of him felt numb as though there were a thick, sheer blanket between him and the rest of the world.
"Oh, I thought I heard someone," an unfamiliar voice swept into his consciousness. Charlie looked up to see a tall man with a mop of wavy reddish-brown hair. The man was frowning. "Are you alright?"
Charlie opened his mouth to reassure the stranger he was fine, but nothing came out. He shook his head, unable to lie. "Is Merlin awake?" he croaked instead.
"I don't believe so, but we can wake him if it's important. Come on, let's get you to the dining room." Suddenly, there was a pair of strong arms wrapping around him and holding him up. "You look like you could use a cup of tea – or possibly something stronger, however I haven't a clue where Merlin keeps the spirits."
Charlie barely paid any attention to the journey through the manor. All he knew was that they were walking along carpeted floors and then they were walking through a door and into the manor's family dining room. The table was laid out for breakfast, but to him it all looked like plates full of colourful things that smelled like they should be appetizing. Archie was sitting in one of the chairs, which was turned parallel to the table and frowning down at a queer-looking object on his lap. It looked a bit like a very large book, except there was no paper and he had it open the wrong way. A pained expression crossed his face for a moment as he reached over to grasp the cup sitting on the table within his reach and took a sip – without once looking up from the thing in his lap.
"What are you doing?" Charlie blurted out, unable to help himself.
Archie's eyes glanced up over the rim of his glasses briefly to meet his. "Despairing over the future of the human race."
"Oh." Charlie blinked. "So you're reading the news then?"
"No, marking research papers." He took another sip. "My tutor has sent me a list of the essays he's failed and the ones he's given A's to for me to read over and I have foolishly decided to start my day by reading the failed ones first... Good lord, this student is spectacularly dumb! Arthur living in the fifteenth century?! Best mates with Christopher Columbus as well, no doubt. This person doesn't just deserve to fail, they deserve to be excommunicated from the human race!"
Suddenly, the door behind him burst open. Charlie turned to see a highly annoyed Draco Malfoy standing in the doorway. His hair looked a bit frazzled and his robes slightly rumbled and askew. He was holding a small rectangular object in his hand. There was noise blaring out, in which Charlie could make out an attempt at melody that was being drowned out by a discordant medley of wails and bangs and some form of reverberated buzzing.
"Is Gwaine here?" he growled out.
"Er, no, I'm afraid not," said the tall man who'd helped Charlie get to the dining room.
"It's before noon and the first place you decide to look for Gwaine was here?" said Archie, who'd looked up at the noise.
Draco made a face. "I wasn't thinking," he muttered and made to leave.
"Draco!" Archie called out to him. As Draco turned to him he held out his hand expectantly. When the wizard did nothing but blink at him, Archie huffed. "I'm assuming your purpose is to put an end to that infernal racket that some tone-deaf individual erroneously labelled music?"
That had Malfoy moving and placing the rectangular object in Archie's outstretched hand. Archie took it and began to poke at it with his other hand as the blond looked over his shoulder. Moments later, it went silent.
Archie handed it back to him. "There, now you can sit down and have breakfast and turn Gwaine into a toad at your leisure."
"Thank you," said Draco as he slipped the device into his pocket. It was then that he noticed Charlie and frowned. "Weasley, you look dreadful. Why are you still standing?"
That was an excellent question and Charlie answered it by pulling out a chair and sitting down. A cup of tea was placed in front of him.
"Thank you," he said, looking up to find an unfamiliar woman smiling down at him. He blinked blankly at her and then looked around to the rest of the table, only to realize Archie wasn't the only one sitting at it. "Oh, uh, sorry, didn't notice you all there. Good morning, I'm Charlie Weasley."
"It's quite alright," said one with a kind smile – he had well-tanned skin and short, dark hair. "I'm Lance Knight and that's my wife, Gwen. And this over here is Percival."
"Call me Percy," said the man next to him with a nod. Though he was sitting on the opposite end of the table, Charlie could tell he was a massively-built tower of a man.
"And I'm Leon," said the man, who'd helped him earlier.
"It's nice to meet all of you," said Charlie. He turned to Leon. "And thank you for your help earlier. I wasn't entirely myself..."
"You looked as though you'd seen death."
Charlie froze, the warmth that had begun to seep into his bones by simply being in the presence of people, evaporated. No, he hadn't actually seen death. He'd only heard about it. Behind him, he vaguely heard several female voices calling out a good morning as they entered, but the thick wool was back.
"Weasley?"
Charlie looked into the worried eyes of Draco Malfoy – ha, a Malfoy worried for a Weasley, his mum'd never believe it! But Malfoy was a wizard. He'd gone to Hogwarts. He'd understand.
"Hogsmeade was attacked last night," he finally said quietly. Malfoy's eyes widened and somewhere to his left, Charlie heard a gasp. "Bill flooed me this morning. The survivors said there were skeletons that couldn't be killed and huge monsters that grew out of the ground an-and there were Death Eaters." He took a deep breath. "Hogwarts didn't know anything was wrong until the first survivors managed to make it through the gate. Hagrid found them and told McGonagall, but by the time the professors got there, the attackers were gone."
"How many casualties?"
The question was asked in a scared whisper and Charlie turned to look at the horrified face of Narcissa Malfoy. He swallowed his suddenly too-dry throat. "Wrong question," he whispered.
There was a heavy, oppressive silence.
"How many survivors?" Charlie looked up to see Merlin standing in the door way next to a little girl with wild, reddish-brown curls.
Charlie closed his eyes. "Seventeen."
He heard several intakes of breath. He opened his eyes. Predictably, the two Malfoys were taking the news the hardest, with Narcissa looking like she was barely holding back tears. Merlin's eyes were closed and his expression weary and full of grief. The muggles all looked horrified, but confused.
"I've never 'eard of Hogsmeade, where is it?" said a woman Charlie didn't recognize. She had long, blonde hair pulled back severely out of her face into a ponytail and was wearing a dark red sleeveless top with skin-tight dark blue trousers and black heavy-looking boots. There was a tiger sprawled down one of her arms and a sword with a long, green dragon wound around it down the other.
"It's in Scotland," Archie answered. "Not very big, I believe, but it's the last entirely magical village in Great Britain. Right next to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."
"Oh god, you mean there were children nearby?!" Gwen gasped, eyes wide with horror as her right fist clenched over her heart.
"I take it this was a civilian village?" Leon asked with a severe frown.
"Do they know who it was?" asked Lance.
"I think we know who it was," said Merlin. At his words, they all fell silent, considering. Agreeing.
"Morgana," Lance finally said. Charlie frowned, wondering how they knew this with such certainty.
Merlin nodded. "Yes."
A wide yawn broke the ensuing silence and then Gwaine appeared in the doorway just behind Merlin. He put an arm around Merlin and grinned. "Good morning all! What'd I miss?"
"Morgana just declared war," said Merlin.
"Oh, good, so nothing important then?" The grin disappeared off Gwaine's face. "What's the plan?"
"We go to war," said Lance. Around the room, the muggles – Merlin friends, the Knights of the Round Table – nodded.
Merlin met Charlie's eyes. "I'm assuming the Order of the Phoenix is meeting?"
Charlie nodded. "In two days' time. Aurors have taken over at Hogsmeade and Hogwarts is under lockdown."
Merlin nodded. "I think it's time I met Minister Kingsley Shackelbolt and the Order of the Phoenix."
No one argued against it, which finally thawed some of the ice that had formed around Charlie's heart. He downed the rest of his tea. "I'll be going then. See you in two days!"
As Charlie left to see to the dragonets, he paused at door way for long enough to notice Merlin sit down at the table next to Archie, who'd now closed his strange muggle device containing despair-inducing research papers. The others also sat down around the table, the little girl running to her father's side (he had to be her father, the resemblance was too great for him to be anything else). Gwaine poured himself coffee and then poured some for Emma and the blonde woman.
The mood surrounding the table was solemn, but determined.
Minerva McGonagall stared out the window in her office. For once, even the portraits behind her were silent, caught up in her mood or else lost in their own shock and bewilderment. Albus Dumbledore had never had a window in the office when he'd been headmaster, but the day after Minerva had been inaugurated as Headmistress of Hogwarts, the window had magically appeared.
She liked it: the natural light helped her think. Or at the very least it gave her something less claustrophobic to look at when she wanted to not think at all, which was what she was trying to do now.
It felt like years had passed since Hagrid had woken her at nearly midnight. Long, terrible, blood-soaked years. She'd scarce been able to believe it at first; that anyone would attack Hogsmeade of all relatively unimportant places was simply ludicrous. However, one look at the state of the woman who'd managed to make it to Hogwarts on her broom had Minerva waking the professors and prefects. Leaving the Head Boy and Head girl in charge of the school, she and the professors hurried down the path to the gates from where they could apparate. On the way, they met two more Hogsmeade citizens, both of whom were injured and in shock.
They hadn't yet been calling them survivors.
A small family had managed to stagger to the gates by the time they arrived there and Minerva left Hagrid behind in order to help any others. At the gates, they divided. Madame Hooch and Professor Summers, the current Defence against the Dark Arts professor, both grabbed broomsticks and flew to Hogsmeade, while several others walked in case there were people on route requiring help. The rest of them apparated.
There was no sign of the attackers when they arrived. Though, to call what had been done to Hogsmeade an attack would indicate a battle had taken place, a defence put up with at least some degree of success even if over-powered. This had not been an attack. This had been a slaughter.
Minerva knew she would never forget the stench of burning flesh and hair combined with flowing blood. The people around them had not died of Avada Kadavra. The killing curse would've been a blessing to them. No, by the limbs strewn about and naked body cavities being aired, the citizens of Hogsmeade had been hacked and slashed at and ripped open. Minerva wasn't the only one who'd retched into the nearest corner.
Somehow, she'd gotten through it, managed to ignore the mangled dead human bodies as she and the others searched for survivors. An eternity filled with fire that couldn't be put out and hollow, lifeless stares out of faces frozen into expressions of pain and terror passed and then aurors arrived. She remembered speaking to them, to faces that looked as horrified and disbelieving as she was sure they had when they'd first arrived. Between them, the professors had managed to find another ten survivors in the ruined village. The aurors had taken over, thanking the professors and sending them back to the school, telling them to lock all the doors and seal all the entrances.
Minerva had wandered away in a daze before stopping in front of what used to be the Three Broomsticks. She remembered coming here as a student. There was a booth in the back where she and her friends would sit at every Hogsmeade weekend. Some of those friends had died over the years, some simply lost touch, but that booth had always remained, becoming the territory of a new group of students every year. Now the booth was gone, nothing but a pile of burning ashes somewhere underneath the fallen beams of the pub. Even the sign that had hung above the door was nothing more than a warped scrap of metal.
Minerva fled Hogsmeade, not daring to breathe until she was once again within the walls of the castle surrounded by the comfort of stone walls and the faces of children who hadn't just witnessed what she had. Her hands had still been shaking at breakfast when she'd announced to the student population what had taken place while they were asleep.
A knock on the door broke her out of her reverie. She jumped slightly, but barely blinked. She took a deep breath.
"Come in!" she called out.
The door opened revealing Kingsley Shacklebolt. He nodded grimly at her. "Good afternoon, headmistress."
"Good afternoon, Kingsley," she answered with a raised eyebrow. "I thought no one was allowed in or out of the school until the aurors judged otherwise."
He shrugged. "There are a few advantages to being the Minister of Magic." He closed the door after himself. "How are you coping, Minerva? I've just come from Hogsmeade and, though much of it's been cleared away already, it still looks horrific. I can't imagine what it must've been like directly after the attack."
Minerva sighed. "I don't think there's a word in the English language more adequate than 'horrific' to properly describe it."
He nodded.
"Do the aurors know who's responsible yet?" Albus's portrait asked.
Kinglsey ran a hand over his smooth scalp. "We're – sorry, they're – more or less certain it was the work of the same woman, who attacked Harry in Diagon Alley a month and a half ago. A few Unspeakables apparated in to take a look at it and they've confirmed the type of magic used was similar, especially in terms of those bloody fires."
"And you're certain the Dark Lord has nothing to do with this?" Snape asked with his usual glower.
"I'm not certain of anything! Other than the confirmed presence of Death Eaters, there's nothing to indicate Voldemort had anything to do with this. The attack on Harry had a point to it at least: she got the Elder Wand from him. This, though? There's no strategic value to Hogsmeade except its proximity to Hogwarts and she never touched the castle. Didn't come anywhere near it so far as we can tell."
"Do you know anything about her?" Albus asked once Kingsley had finished.
"Not anything helpful." At Minerva's beckoning, he sat down. "Her name is Rachel Elizabeth Gorlois and she's a half-blood. Her mother was a French witch, who worked for the French Ministry of Magic and her father was a British muggle soldier. The French authorities were helpful enough in sending information over to us, so we know her mother died when Rachel was ten. She was run over by a muggle driver."
"How horrible!" one of the portraits exclaimed.
"Yes, well, it's a bit complicated, that one. According to the reports, the muggle was driving recklessly, however her mother had just quickly popped out from the ministry and hadn't wanted to bother changing into muggle clothes, so she'd cast a simple disillusionment charm on herself."
"In other words, the driver couldn't have seen her regardless of his driving," said Minerva.
Kingsley nodded. "Exactly. Anyway, Rachel then went to Beauxbaton like her mother before her and passed her way through school as a fairly good student with a talent for charms and brighter than average, but not exactly brilliant. Two years ago, just before her graduation, her father was killed in action somewhere in the Middle East, though I think he may have been a peacekeeper by then. The muggle government wasn't quite as co-operative as the French Ministry was. She inherited his house in Shrewsbury, but when aurors went to investigate, there was no one home and no one's been back since either."
"Is there any reason to believe she'd been in contact with You-Know-Who?" asked Phineas Black.
Kingsley shook his head. "Of course it's possible. It wouldn't make any sense for her to have been, but it's always possible."
"No, if Tom had had someone as powerful as her at his disposal, he would have used her," said Albus.
"That's the general consensus. She did, apparently, spend at least part of her summers here in England with her father when he was in the country. Her mother lived in Shrewsbury as well while she was alive and travelled daily to Paris by special portkey."
"It would appear that something is missing in this young lady's history," Snape commented.
"You mean motive? Yes, we've rather noticed that."
"Hm. And what exactly did she do after graduation?"
"That... that we're also not sure of. She was supposed to apprentice with a master amulet designer when she gave notice that, after her father's death, she needed some time to take care of matters in England, which the designer in question gave her. He says he never heard back from her after that. She apparently did take residence in her childhood home in Shrewsbury, but we have no idea what she actually did for those two years until she suddenly showed up in Diagon Alley and attacked Harry."
"Well, it certainly seems like you have your work cut out for you, Kingsley," said Albus.
He snorted. "Not me, the auror department. They're already cross enough at me for not allowing them free access to the Malfoy Manor without the new owner's permission. At least I'm going to make one person happy this week. This attack means I'll have to redirect the Department of Mystery's attention away from that sword in front of Buckingham Palace and concentrate it on figuring out Gorlois' magic. The muggle Prime Minister's been asking I remove them for weeks now. The sword hasn't been harming anything and is apparently good for tourism."
"Sword? What sword?" one of the earlier headmasters asked.
Kingsley stood. "Minerva, I'll let you field this one. I'd better get ready for the press conference I've got in an hour."
Minerva stood as well. "Yes, you'd better. And please do keep me informed."
"I will. And I'll see you at the Order meeting. I'm sure this lockdown will be lifted by then."
"I'll see you there, Kingsley."
Kingsley left and Minerva went back to her window-gazing. After a few moments, a soft cough came from behind her. "Ehem, Minerva, I believe there was a sword you were going to tell us about?"
Minerva rolled her eyes. She knew exactly what Albus was doing – he was hardly being subtle – and for once she didn't exactly care. Distraction from her own thoughts and memories was exactly what she needed right now. She turned to the row of past headmasters.
While they planned, breakfast somehow turned into lunch – the distinction created by the loud 'pop' with which the breakfast spread disappeared and was replaced with a large 'light' lunch spread of sandwiches, quiches, devilled eggs and salads. Leon's daughter gasped loudly at the sight and then declared she thought this was the most wonderful castle ever (Draco had given up attempting to teach her the distinction between a manor and a castle), after which she sat down and began to tell her father excitedly all about the unicorns and the beautiful white birds in the gardens Narcissa had taken her to see.
Narcissa watched her with fond amusement as she sat down next to Draco, who was seated next to Merlin at the head of the table. Draco watched the muggle child with a small frown, as though he wasn't sure whether to be annoyed or perplexed by her interruption. He looked to Narcissa and the frown disappeared.
"Hello, mother, how was your walk in the grounds?"
Narcissa smiled at him. "It was... surprisingly pleasant." She looked at the little girl, who was now telling Gwen all about the pretty unicorns and about the dragons that looked big and scary, but are actually very nice – she didn't notice her father pale at the mention of dragons. "It's been quite a long time since there was a child running around the manor and that little one is just so full of energy. Everything's exciting to her... I don't ever remember any of the mudbloods being like that." Her eyes widened and she glanced to Merlin. "Oh! I'm sorry, I meant muggle-born."
Merlin waved her off. "Don't worry about it on my account. I remember when 'mudblood' was the polite term for someone with at least one muggle parent and there was no half-blood distinction." He looked over to Isabella and smiled. "But it certainly is a wonderful experience introducing a child to magic, isn't it? When they're still young enough to see the wonder in it and too innocent to think of it as power or a means to power."
"And before they've been completely disenchanted by movie special effects," Percival added.
"Bloody hell, yeah," said Dudley. "I remember when Emma and I were attacked in Richmond Park. That smokey skull and snake sign appeared in the sky and everyone just looked up at it, like they were wondering what sort of new lightshow it was. Or if there was a movie being filmed nearby. I mean, yeah, it's magic and all, but wouldn't be crazy to think it was a demonstration of some U of L student's science project."
"Oh," said Draco, sounding stunned. "I always thought muggles were confused by magic, because they're stupid enough to think it doesn't exist."
Archie snorted at this, looking up from what Draco now knew was called a 'laptop'. "It certainly doesn't help that any muggle who accidentally learns of magic has their memories erased by the Ministry of Magic - which is, of course, highly ironic given that the Imperious is considered one of the Unforgivables and yet controlling and modifying a person's memories is no less a form of mind control."
"Remember how I told you that muggle science has progressed far in being able to explain the world and how it operates?" Merlin asked.
Draco nodded. "You also said it wouldn't be too long before they discovered magic for themselves..."
"Yes, because for now there's still a lot they don't understand and muggle scientists know this, which is why they're still searching for answers. The list of what they haven't figured out yet is long and so when something happens that they don't understand, they simply add it to the list as it were. That list is constantly shrinking and growing longer, but one day some scientist will discover a tiny energy particle or a particularly odd genome and they'll study it, analyze it and end up with 'magic' as their only answer."
"You wouldn't even have to wait that long," said Elyan from his seat next to Percival. "All it would take is for one teenager to snap a photo and post it on facebook, where all their hundred and whatever random friends can see it and share it with their hundred and something friends who will share it again and, well, you can see where I'm going with this, right?"
Draco frowned. "Facebook? What in the world is that? Not a book of faces, I'm assuming."
Within seconds of having asked the question, the blond wizard found himself besieged by a crowd of enthusiastically helpful muggles and their cellphones. Merlin leaned over to Archie and whispered something to him. Archie looked up and the two of them talked quietly for a few moments. Then Merlin looked to Nimueh. She looked up and met his eyes. After a while, she nodded and then turned to Dudley.
Archie turned off his laptop and then snapped it shut. "Well, I have a few errands to run, so I'll be off then." He raised an eyebrow at Emma and Dudley. "Are you two coming with me?"
Dudley nodded as Emma finished her latest cup of coffee in one gulp. "Yeah, we're coming."
"Excellent. Draco, why don't you come with us?"
Draco's head snapped up from the mobile screens he was attempting to make sense of. He blinked at Archie. "And why exactly should I come with you?"
"Because the rest of the gentlemen here are likely to spend the rest of the afternoon knocking each other's heads off with sharp pointy objects and I would like to test whether the Windows 8 interface is really as user-friendly as they claim it is. If you can figure it out, anyone can."
Draco scowled at Archie, but was eventually convinced to go change into some muggle clothes and accompany the group heading back to London. Tristan and Isolde joined them, citing a custom job that had to be finished for a client by the next day.
After they'd left, Merlin took the Knights of the Round Table (Gwen having decided to take Isabella up on the girl's offer to show her the unicorns and introduce her to the dragons) back into the ballroom, where the Round Table was set up. Along the side of the room, sat a heavy-looking trunk with the Pendragon crest drawn onto the lid. Merlin ran a hand along it and whispered a spell. The lock popped open and Merlin grasped the lid and lifted it.
"I believe, sir knights," he said with a grin as he stepped away to let them see the chest's contents, "that you will be needing these."
The knights' eyes widened with wonder and delight as they looked inside and spied familiar red material beneath a pile of leather-encased steel.
"Our cloaks and swords," said Leon reverently as he reached inside. He picked one up and felt its weight. He handed it to Elyan. "I believe this one's yours."
Elyan took it and felt it. He pulled it out and nodded. "It is at that, Leon. Good eye."
The rest of the swords were handed out and a cloak given to each knight. They chose a spot to the far left of the gardens for their training, by the old dragon stables, which had been made comfortable for Kilgharrah and Aithusa. Both dragons settled down to watch along with Merlin, Anhora, Narcissa and Isabella. Gwen took the spare sword Merlin had brought for her and joined them.
Diagon Alley felt subdued, quiet. Sombre. Many of the shop windows had hung draps of black in their window displays and there were fewer people about than a sunny and not-too-humid Saturday afternoon would usually entice. And those that had ventured out seemed to be walking about in a daze. Hogsmeade was a fond memory of their school years to many of them, after all.
The Daily Prophet's special edition about the 'Hogsmeade Massacre' had come out at noon. That was two hours ago.
Harry and Ginny walked the streets slowly, their movements sluggish, their hands linked out of a desire for companionship, a solid confirmation that neither one of them was alone. Their planned romantic outing felt hollow, meaningless. They'd considered calling it off altogether, but hadn't known what to do with themselves otherwise. They weren't needed to help with anything (all auror cadets were being kept well away from the scene) and the Order of the Phoenix wasn't meeting until the next day.
And neither one of them had felt like staying inside, surrounded by four walls and nothing to distract them from their thoughts.
"Did you want to sit down and have some tea?" Harry eventually asked, more for suggesting something to do rather than any desire for tea.
"Tea?" Ginny said, her eyes blinking slowly as though trying to remember what that was. "Yes... yes I think tea would be lovely."
And so they ordered themselves a cup of tea and a bumbleberry scone each and sat outside under a brightly-coloured umbrella. Sipping at their tea and nibbling at the scones at least gave them something to occupy themselves with.
"I just don't understand," Ginny finally said after an age of silence had passed between them. "How can anyone do something like that?"
Harry didn't have an answer to that.
"I mean, V-Voldemort was mad," she continued, her eyes remaining locked into the depths of her tea. "But at least we knew why he did what he did. As insane and evil as it was, at least he had a reason."
Harry glared into his own tea. "I can't imagine that any reason would ever be good enough to justify anything she's done," he hissed angrily. "She didn't even go to Hogwarts. What in Merlin's name could she possibly have against the people of Hogsmeade?"
He clenched his fists. He could feel the numbness from his morning slowly melting away as a newly-discovered anger began to burn in his chest. She had attacked him and his friends to get to the Elder Wand. And now she destroyed the village of Hogsmeade... why? To prove that she could? To prove she was worse than Voldemort?
"Oh bloody marvelous," he heard Ginny mutter. He looked up and saw her gazing at the sky forlornly, tears glittering in her eyes. "Now it looks like it's going to rain."
Harry looked up at the sky, which was indeed now covered in light gray clouds. That was quick. "Was it supposed to rain?"
"No, but what exactly about this day has gone the way it was supposed to?" And then Ginny burst into tears. "I'm sorry, Harry, I'm sorry. I was so sad to leave Hogwarts, but it was alright, because one day I'd have children and they'd go to Hogwarts and then I'd listen to their stories about sitting at the Three Broomsticks and it would be like I was there all over again and I could tell them about Madame Rosmerta and ask if she was still there. Only now- now the Three Broomsticks are gone and Honeydukes is gone and we don't even know if any of those people we knew are still alive because they haven't released a list of survivors yet..."
Harry wasn't sure what to do. He reached over and took Ginny's hand in his and squeezed it. She squeezed back as she wiped at her eyes with her other.
That was when the screams began.
Ginny's head shot up, her grief forgotten. Harry froze, head snapping around and eyes widening. One look into each other's eyes was all they needed to know they were in agreement. Leaving their tea unfinished, Harry and Ginny leapt to their feet, brandished their wands and dashed towards the screams. They rounded the corner and skidded to a halt as a mass of robes went flying into the display window of Flourish and Blotts, shattering the glass.
Ginny gasped and immediately ran to assist the wizard. Harry caught a glimpse of a large shard of glass covered in blood poking through the person's dark blue robes, but he left it to Ginny as he ran past them to see what was going on. Several people ran towards him and past him, looking behind them every few steps like a herd of gazelles being chased by a lion. Harry looked past them and froze.
Standing in the middle of the crossroads in front of Gringotts, was the same woman who'd been featuring in his nightmares for over a month. This time her robes were deep burgundy, the hood of her black cloak was pulled back over her face. She laughed as she easily deflected a curse with her wand - the Elder Wand. She raised her other arm and chanted something Harry couldn't hear. Her eyes glowed golden. A family was blown off its feet and into the shadows of Knockturn Alley.
She turned the Elder Wand onto Gringotts and cast a spell. A yellow-blue-ish coloured spell sailed towards the building and then dashed apart against the goblin bank. The woman scowled. Apparently, she wasn't expecting it to do that. Harry raised his own wand.
"Reducto!" Harry cast.
The woman whirled around just in time. "Protego!"
When she saw it was him she smirked and began to walk towards him. "Why Harry, you came back. How sweet." She twirled the Elder Wand. "As you can see, I'm putting your wand to good use."
"Why are you doing this?!"
Her eyes hardened and the hatred in them made something inside Harry shrivel. It was different from the smouldering maliciousness in Voldemort's eyes. Her hatred was fierce and sharp as a flaming knife.
"I will be queen," she said. "It is my birthright... though legends may say otherwise. Emrys defeated me once before, but this time I will be the one to trample on his bloody corpse. And once he is gone, there will be no one more powerful than I."
Emrys. She'd mentioned that name before... Harry needed to remember to ask Hermione about it. Later. Assuming he survived long enough. This woman was obviously insane.
"Then I will not stop until you are dead!" said Harry, the vow coming from his lips before he'd thought about it properly. "I defeated Voldemort and I won't let you take his place."
She smirked. "Oh, but I'm not taking anyone's place, Harry. The place has always been mine. It's simply taken me a while to come claim it."
Just then a small, round green object landed in front of her and burst into a cloud of bright green smoke that continued to steadily expand. Within seconds, the witch was mostly invisible. He could hear her coughing from inside the cloud.
"Stupify!"
Harry looked to where the spell had come from and was relieved to see George running towards him. He lowered his wand slightly, though still kept it pointing towards the cloud.
"Harry, what are you doing here?" he said when he reached him.
"Ginny and I were having tea-"
"Having tea? Bloody hell, you 'ave the worst luck. Have you considered staying at home from now on?"
"It's crossed my mind," Harry muttered. He eyed the cloud wearily. "Do you think the spell actually hit her?"
"No idea, though you'd think she'd be out of the cloud by now if it hadn't..."
A memory flashed across Harry's mind. "Unless she's using the fact that we can't see her to cast something!"
George's eyes widened. They listened. The chanting was barely audible, but it was definitely there. Harry gulped and clenched his hand around his wand.
"Sectumsemptra!" he cast into the cloud. The spell cut through the green smoke, but nothing happened.
Suddenly, a whirlwind ripped out from the centre of the cloud, tearing the smoke apart and scattering it. In the centre of it stood the dark-haired woman, long tresses of hair being whipped around by the wind. Her wand was pointed towards the ground. When she looked up, her eyes were glowing like white-hot embers. She smiled – a malicious smirk that made Harry's blood freeze.
The earth beneath them rumbled. And then it began to rain. Harry and George exchanged looks. That had to be a coincidence, right?
She cocked her head to the side. "Did you really think petty tricks would be enough to defeat me?"
"Was worth a try," George answered with a shrug.
She chuckled. "Indeed. I suppose I should make the difference between us clear then. Bebiede þe arisan ealdu."
"George, Harry, look at the ground!"
Harry didn't look back at Ginny, just did as she said. As the water fell onto the ground, it flowed along the cobblestone road and formed puddles – muddy puddles. The creatures that grew out of them were shorter than Hagrid, but not by much. They were shapeless masses with club-like arms and legs that dripped with mud and stank of humid manure. They may have been made from mud, but when one of them swung at the wooden stall that was in its way, it shattered as though the arm had been made of stone.
"Bloody hell," George breathed.
"Reducto!" Harry cast. The spell hit the creature and some of the mud splattered off only to be replaced by more mud.
"Harry, go, get Ginny to safety!" George suddenly said, shoving him backwards with his non-wand arm.
"Wait, I can't just-"
George grabbed him by the front of his robes and glared into his eyes. "If my little sister gets hurt because you can't help but play the hero, Harry Potter..."
Harry took a sharp breath and nodded. Right, yes, Ginny would never leave him here alone, which meant that as long as he was still here, she was in danger. George let him go as Harry took a step backwards, swung around and dashed back to grab Ginny. One of the mud monsters followed him. The street was empty of people and Harry realized that the ones who hadn't apparated away, were likely hiding in the shops.
Which meant he couldn't do the same, couldn't lead the monsters to them. Up ahead, he could see another mud monster rising out of the ground. He squeezed Ginny's hand and ran faster, leaping over the arm that tried to take a swipe at him as he passed by. His lungs were beginning to seize up and he didn't dare look how Ginny was doing. The Leaky Cauldron was just up ahead, within their vision.
He stopped and ducked, pulling Ginny down with him. He felt the hairs on the back of his head move as something big and fast passed by. Pushing Ginny ahead of him, he leapt forward, keeping his body low to the ground and twisted so that he fell facing whatever had been behind him. The mud monster straightened itself and took a step towards them.
Harry cast a freezing charm and that slowed its movements. He scrambled to his feet and saw Ginny cast a second freezing charm at the monster. Once he was beside her, they ran to the Leaky Cauldron. Apparently, they weren't the only people who'd had the same idea, because the pub was packed, the congestion all facing the fireplace, where the flames burned a near-constant green.
"Come on," said Ginny, grabbing Harry's hand and pulling him past the crowd. "We can apparate from an alley. We need to let dad and Kingsley know what's happening as soon as possible."
They found out too late that there was a reason the wizards inside weren't doing the same. As soon as Harry exited the pub, he tripped over something. He looked down and froze in horror at the brain matter he could see peeking out of the witch's skull. In the distance he could hear muggle sirens.
He looked up and then threw himself to the side, only narrowly avoiding joining the unknown witch with a shattered skull of his own. He heard Ginny cast another freezing charm and then he was scrambling to his feet.
"We're in muggle London!" he hissed at her when he made it to her side. That fact did not stop him from pointing his own wand at the second mud monster.
"In case you haven't noticed, so are they!" said Ginny.
Just then a car came to a screeching halt behind them. Harry and Ginny both jumped and snapped their heads in time to watch a young woman with wavy dark hair and muggle clothes jump out of the driver's seat.
"Quick, get in!" she told them as she opened the passenger-side seat.
Harry and Ginny exchanged bewildered looks.
"Er, that's very kind of you, but-" said Harry. And it was, but she was a muggle.
The woman rolled her eyes. "Unless of course you think you can run faster than my car can drive."
Ginny, meanwhile had noticed the mud monsters were getting closer. "Harry Potter get in the car! We haven't exactly time to be worrying about details!"
Harry relented and put his wand away as he began to climb into the car. As he got in, someone else was just getting out of the other back door and into the front passenger seat, which was open because the man who'd been sitting there had gotten out as well. Harry saw him go up to the driver and kiss her quickly before sliding into her place in the driver's seat. He wondered why they were shuffling around.
Then the woman stuck her head into the back seat. "Oi, you two, how exactly did she create these things?"
That got their attention. "Rainwater and mud," said Ginny sceptically, as though gauging her reaction.
The wavy-haired woman grinned. "Perfect!" She closed the door after them.
"Good luck!" the man now in the driver's seat called out the window before putting the car into reverse to get farther away from one of the advancing mud monsters and then swerving around it as the car sped away.
Harry looked behind them, panicked. "We're just leaving her behind? She can't fight those things!"
"Relax, Harry, Emma knows what she's doing," a familiar voice said from the driver's seat. Harry's head snapped forward, not quite able to place the voice, but knowing he should.
That was when the blond muggle in the passenger seat turned around. "Well, hello, Potter, fancy meeting you at the scene of disaster. It seems you've left your Insane Magic User Repellent at home today."
Harry gaped. "Malfoy?!"
"What the hell are you doing here, Malfoy?" Ginny demanded, drawing her wand at him. "Where in Merlin's name are you taking us?"
The driver snickered. Malfoy rolled his eyes. "And Weaslette, how charming to see you again too," he drawled. "As for where we're taking you... mostly away. Then you can apparate away home from there."
"That the girlfriend?" the driver asked.
Malfoy nodded. "Yes, this is Ginerva Weasley."
"Ouch. Ginerva? Really? Blimey, how much did your parents hate you? Anyway, I'm Dudley, nice to meet you." He did a little backwards wave, not taking his eyes off the road.
Harry gaped again. No wonder the voice sounded familiar. "Dudley?!"
Dudley grinned at him through the rearview mirror. "'llo Harry, good to see you're still alive. I hear it's a bit of an accomplishment."
Harry said something non-committal that he wouldn't remember later and settled back into the seat to stare out the window. He knew the truth now. He'd obviously been knocked unconscious and this was all a dream. There was simply no other explanation. Any moment now, Dumbledore and Voldemort would twirl by dancing the waltz together.
Nimueh watched as Dudley drove away. They'd been on their way from the shops when she'd felt the spike of magic and immediately redirected the car.
She turned and faced the two creatures and smirked. They were conjured from earth and water, destroying them would be simple. She pointed at the sidewalk in front of her. "Forbaerne." A merry fire sparked to life on the damp cement and steadily grew as she fed it magic.
The elemental monsters paused, sensing the fire's presence. Nimueh raised her other hand. "Lyft sy þe in bǽlwylm ac forhienan se wiðere."
Where, until now the rain fell gently, a fierce wind blew along the street, twisting itself around Nimueh like an eager puppy and allowing her to direct it to the fire. It blew through the fire, carrying the flames with it as it split into two whirlwinds that engulfed the conjured monsters and covered them with both elements. The creatures wavered and then collapsed in on themselves into identical piles of mud.
Then, Nimueh turned to look towards the pub she could now see clear as day. She closed her eyes and stretched her magic into the ground, slipping past the barriers keeping part of it separate from the rest, until she found the source of the powerful magic she felt. She raised her hand up towards the sky.
"Eorðe, lyft, fyr, wæter, hiersumaþ me. Fyr hiersumaþ me. Fyr áwédest min gúðflán oþ eorðe beflíegest."
The sky above her darkened and rumbled in response. There was a slight crackle and then a surge as fire answered her call.
In Diagon Alley, George looked up from where he'd been crouched behind a pillar of Gringotts watching the aurors, who'd arrived shortly after Harry and Ginny had ran off, attempting to destroy the mud monsters and subdue the woman who'd created them. It wasn't going well.
He hadn't noticed when the sky darkened. He had, however, heard the first rumblings. The woman orchestrating the attack looked up, apparently surprised by the change in weather. A slight crackle of light danced across a cloud and the woman frowned.
Suddenly, the sky lit up as a single lightening bolt surged directly to the ground. George followed its path down, his eyes widening as it landed directly next to the woman. She shrieked in surprise and fell backwards from the blast. The cobblestones were scorched black where the lightening had landed. She rose to her feet, hair looking slightly frazzled and eyes seething with anger.
"Where are you?" she screamed into the air. "Show yourself, you coward!"
She received no answer. With a cry of frustration, she gripped her wand and apparated away.
Nimueh opened her eyes and pulled back her magic, easing it out of the earth and down from the sky. She turned her head down the street just as two motorcycles rumbled into view. They stopped by her side and Isolde pulled her helmet off.
"Was that you?" she asked, sounding awed as she looked up at the sky.
"The lightening you mean? Yes, that was me. I just hope it did what I needed it to do, because I'm not sure if I'm up for trying it again."
"Well, those mud demon things seem to have all melted, so I'd count that as a success," said Tristan.
Nimueh frowned. "There were more of them?"
"Oh yeah. Just after Dudley texted us, we got a couple more calls about them from some mates."
"Hm, that means Morgana's expanding out into the muggle world as well. I'll have to make sure Draco lets Merlin know about that."
Isolde motioned to the back of her motorcycle with her thumb. "Fancy a lift in the meantime?"
"Would love one."
Nimueh grabbed the offered spare helmet and hopped onto the back of the bike. Isolde revved the motor loudly and then took the lead as they sped off through the mostly-deserted London streets.
