Disclaimer: Don't own, make no money, yadda yadda. Belongs to JK and Christopher.

ONE MORE CHAPTER AFTER THIS BEFORE THEY GO BACK IN THE SEQUAL!

Chapter 24 – How does this keep happening?

Declan cried out as the cold water hit his face. He shook his head and looked up into the bright harsh light that was dangling above him. His right leg was throbbing and he could feel blood caked on his face down the left side. He didn't really remember what happened to begin with, but it quickly came back – the Humvee had exploded. He knew that it was an explosion that had come from outside the Humvee, because if the actual Humvee had exploded, they would all be dead.

The room was dark except for the single light hanging above him. The chair and chains on him were soaked with blood, and there was blood all over the floor and walls. The tray of tools near him were rusty and the room had a musty smell, permeated by blood, sweat and tears. Declan knew that

There were four guards inside, all armed with pistols, but he knew, based off the patches on their arms, that they belonged to al-Eid. He couldn't tell anything about the guards, except that they were strong. As one of them moved, Declan noticed a shimmering around their chest. He didn't react to it, instead filing it away. He continued to look around as he heard movement outside and the door opened.

Four more guards marched in, surrounding the man in the middle. When the door closed, the guards moved to the walls and turned in, while the man walked over. Up close, he was tall, had shaggy black hair and thick glasses. His brown eyes stared out from behind the glass, magnified so that it looked like he had bug eyes. He licked his lips and gave Declan a crooked smile.

"Did you honestly think that your silly plan worked? You Americans. You think you know everything and that you have the right to decide who does what in the world!" He leaned in. "I knew you were coming. My seer saw you and your men, and as such I sent some people to protect the President. So imagine my surprise when I learn that you're coming after me!" He laughed, and some of the guards laughed with him.

"Of course, I couldn't allow that. Thank god for potions. I simply gave one of these sheep a choice – take the potion and blow himself up, or I kill his family. Of course, you know what he chose. It's a shame that he didn't take out any more of your team."

Declan felt a wave of cold flow through him as he wondered how Donovan was doing, or if he was even alive. He had no idea where any of the others were. He kept trying to find a way to escape but he had no idea how to.

"My men will extract all the information we can from you, then your corpse will join all the others. I'll not be taken out by you. It's a good thing I have my man in the USSD, or else you would have caught me years ago." He laughed as he turned. He took a few steps before he stopped and turned. "And who are you?"

The person with the glamour turned towards him, seemingly surprised. Before they could say anything, two other guards smacked him with the butt of their guns, grabbed him and dragged him out. al-Eid walked out and the guards plus the glamoured soldier left. One of the men came over and grabbed a scalpel. He turned and faced Declan with a wide grin on his face. "You'll be singing soon."

Declan raised an eyebrow. "With a scalpel? My baby is more threatening than you are with that." The guy looked confused then grabbed a cleaver. "Boring. You call this torture?" The guy dropped the cleaver and pulled a chainsaw up. "Now we're talking" Declan said, nodding. The guy nodded and turned the chainsaw on, revving it in front of Declan. Before he could do anything, he flew into the side wall as did two of the other guards.

Declan looked up to find Harry crouching in front of him, while Hermione tied up the other men. "How?" he muttered as Harry cut the bonds. Harry waved his hand over Declan's leg, and he hissed as the bone reset. "Did you think we would be so careless with a glamour? Draws attention away from us."

Twelve hours later

"Control this is Phoenix – mission accomplished but we're coming in hot and we need to be ready for immediate dustoff. Copy?" Simone said into the radio. The response however was garbled, and before they could do anything the front of the Humvee exploded.

Harry was thrown into the roof while Hermione put her hands around her head as the Humvee lifted up, flipped and crashed into the ditch at the side. Hermione lowered her hands to find herself upside down. In the distance, she could hear vehicles coming. She pulled a knife out and, with her hand on the steering wheel, cut the seatbelt and twisted so that she was crouched on the roof.

She kicked the door open and pulled the back door open. She pulled Harry out and saw that there was a helicopter coming. She shut the doors and dragged Harry away. Hidden, she disillusioned them and woke Harry up with a groan. "What happened?"

"They got lucky. I don't think al-Eid is dead – these are his men. They might not know we're here." Harry glanced over the hill to the vehicles that were now surrounding the Humvee. "We need to follow them." He turned to see two guards stood nearby. He nudged Hermione and pointed at them. She looked over and nodded.

They crept over and, when they were close enough, grabbed both men and snapped their necks. They threw them into the back of the van and replicated their clothing. They also cast a glamour so that they wouldn't stand out. They joined in as the squad was dragged out and thrown into the back of the vans.

They got back to the van and watched as two others got in with them. [What do we do?] [Blend in. We need to find where they will be held and how to get them out. We'll also need to find the real al-Eid and kill him. Polonius, found anything?]

[# Yep. The vehicles came from a base about ten clicks from where you are. They had left a while ago. The base is three times the size of the compound you attacked and there's four times the number of guards. #]

[*Good news guys – al-Eid just arrived at the base. It seems that he might be here to deal with the squad personally*] Ophelia joined in and told them. [*You got a plan?*]

No one said anything for a bit. [#I have a plan. It'll be risky though#]

Present time

Harry handed Declan his rifle back. "We know where the others are. Donovan is still alive but in a bad condition. They're not going to heal him because they want all of you dead." Declan nodded. "Did they not know about you?" Harry shook his head. They joined Hermione by the door and she opened it slightly. She conjured a mirror and looked around the corner. "Clear. Let's go."

They moved out and down the corridor, opening the cells and rescuing Simone, Kit, Alejandra and Matthew. They moved around the corner and crouched. "This base is five levels. We're basement one at the moment" Hermione said as she conjured a light model of the base. The squad said nothing but studied it intensely.

"Donovan is being held in the infirmary on level two. Most of the guards are on the ground level or outside. al-Eid is currently in his office up on level three. I'm suggesting that we split in two – one group rescues Donovan while the other goes after al-Eid."

Declan nodded. "One, you, Matthew, and I will go after al-Eid. Two, you, Simone, Kit and Alejandra will go and rescue Donovan. You'll also secure transport for us to get out of here. Questions?" everyone shook their head. "Ok. Move. If you don't hear from us in an hour, escape and get to the nearest air base, wherever that is." They moved in two opposite directions.

Harry led the way, having learnt the layout of the base. They didn't have long before someone would go and check the cells and find that they were gone. Harry had cast a glamour on them and so, trying to be nonchalant, managed to get into the lift. Harry pressed the button for the third floor. "The office is at the end of the corridor."

"Remember, he is a sorcerer. While they prefer physical weapons, he is a very powerful magical." Declan said. They didn't need a reminder but it helped. They exited the lift to find a young woman stood there.

No one moved for a second. "I know you're here to kill him." Harry stepped forward. "You're the seer. You didn't tell him everything." She shook her head. "No. This has to happen. This mission has to happen. If I had told him about you, you would all have died. For this planet, I couldn't let that happen." She stepped to the side and held her arm out. They moved forward and got to the door. Harry held his hand up and started counting down. At one, they burst through the door and Declan fired.

al-Eid was surprised, if the look on his face was any indicator, but he threw up a shield of light that caught all the bullets. He pulled his own gun out and fired on them. They dived behind cover and Harry cancelled their disillusionments. Declan broke from cover and fired at al-Eid. When his gun was empty, he conjured a spear of light and threw it. It broke al-Eid's shield and before he could make another, Declan was in front of him.

He ducked Declan's light sword and conjured his own. The two of them started to fight, but it wasn't long before Declan had the sword knocked out his hand. Before he could do anything, a pillar of light slammed into him and he smashed into the wall. He slid down unconscious.

Matthew got up and was hit with the same pillar. al-Eid looked around the room but couldn't see the third soldier. "Where are you, you pathetic American? How the hell did you all escape?" He roared in pain as something punctured his leg. He looked down to find a snake biting his leg. He swung his sword down to kill it, but the snake suddenly pulled his leg and he cut into his leg. The snake let go and flipped back, turning into Harry.

Harry spat out the blood in his mouth. He blocked the pillar that al-Eid sent at him and made a bow. He fired five arrows at al-Eid who twisted and blocked them. He made a whip and sent it at Harry, who caught it around his arm. al-Eid tried to pull him, but Harry had planted himself.

"This is surprising. They actually sent a Phoenix Unit member after me. I should be honoured that I'm worthy of your attention" al-Eid grinned and sent a spear of light. Harry blocked it with his arm and grabbed the whip and twisted. al-Eid grunted as he flew towards Harry who punched him hard. Harry went to move forward and was hit with a wave of light, flying backwards into the wall. He rolled to the side as a spear of light slammed into the wall. As al-Eid ran forward, he threw a spear and Harry conjured a portal that the spear flew into –

-and back out of the own that was behind al-Eid. He flew into the wall as well and tried to get up, instead slumping back down. The spear disappeared.

Harry walked over and crouched next to him, turning him over. al-Eid was sweating heavily, the venom taking its toll on his body as well as the blood loss from the spear. Amazingly, he was still awake. "You beat me. How did my seer not see this?"

"She did. She chose not to tell you." Harry said as he pulled a dagger out. al-Eid nodded, then closed his eyes. "Then it is my time, and I'll meet Allah and my fate." Harry said nothing but plunged the dagger into his heart. al-Eid gave a gasp then slumped back, going limp in Harry's arms.

Harry got up and went over to Declan and woke him up. "Where is he?" Harry pointed over to the body laid by the wall. He nodded and woke Matthew up.

[Hermione, where are you? We got al-Eid so we need to get out of here.] [We're on the roof. We have a helicopter and we'll be able to use it. I disabled their radar so they shouldn't notice. We may also be prepared to leave a distraction that'll stop them from following us.]

Harry walked over and picked the body up. Declan noticed it was very easy for him but said nothing. "We're going for the roof. They have a helicopter for us." They went back to the elevator. The seer was still standing outside. "You did it!" Harry nodded and went to go into the elevator. As they stepped in, he turned around. "Come with us. You won't be safe here."

The seer smiled. "I'm afraid not, Harry Potter. We'll meet again." The door shut on them. Harry just stared at the door of the elevator. "If it helps, I still have no idea who you are." Harry turned and looked at Declan who looked amused but tired. Harry chuckled "You have no idea how happy that makes me."

The elevator door opened and they saw the helicopter already on and Hermione was stood on the pad. They ran over and Harry climbed in, dropping the body and climbed into the front of the helicopter with Hermione. They took off and started to fly away.

"So where's the distraction?" Harry said. Hermione just smiled and pressed a button on a black box. It took a couple of seconds before the base lit up in flames that looked like it came from dragons. Harry laughed and sat back in the seat as they flew towards the airport.

America

They had arrived back a couple of days earlier and had helped the squad heal in the hospital. Donovan was given some time off to heal and recover from nearly dying. They had met up with Maddie who had drawn them into hugs. When Harry had told them what the seer had said, both had decided to file the information away as they couldn't do anything about it.

The man from the USSD entered his apartment and put his mail down. He had panicked when the squad had arrived back from the mission, but they had no idea that he had told al-Eid they were coming. As he walked into the kitchen the light came on and he whirled to find three people in the room – wearing black fatigues with white Phoenixes on their arms. He couldn't see their faces but he knew they were the ones who went on the mission.

"So, you decided to sell out the people in your country. For what, money? Hatred against the man? Because you're just a piece of shit?" the one in the middle said. He sat down slowly. "The government of this country hunted down my family and people for generations. I decided to get my revenge by getting the soldiers killed as they were the ones going and invading and polluting and destroying this world."

The three didn't say anything, and before he could continue a spear flew through his head. He flipped over the back of his chair and landed on the floor. Maddie came over and checked his vitals. Satisfied, she left the information that Harry had picked up in al-Eid's office and left them on the table. When the authorities came, they would find him dead along with the files, which contained a few other traitors in their country.

Rider Island

Harry was packing his room up, placing everything in the trunk he had. They were going to be heading back in time to save their friends and end the threat of Voldemort. He walked out to the main hall and found Hermione and Maddie.

"You guys ready?" They nodded. "We will be travelling from here to Eastern Europe, and flying from there to England." She held up her hand as they went to interrupt "for the ritual to work, we need to be in England. While we're flying, I want you to tell me as much as you can about Voldemort and the Death Eaters, as well as what happened during your six years. I'll also explain the ritual as we go."

Grabbing their items, and after placing the bracelets on and attaching the crystal to Ophelia and Polonius' necks, they climbed on and took off. Following Maddie, they went on a lap around the island before Maddie created a portal, all three flying through.