Chapter 13

Unforgivable

Corinne

Ta mère a eu un accident de voiture. Viens si tu le peux.

Harry turned the letter over to see if he was missing anything but those few words were all that was written on the piece of paper. Not parchment, but paper. Corinne was staring blankly at the envelope that the letter had arrived in. It was simply addressed to 'Corinne Lansquenet, Académie de Magie Beauxbâtons' and it had a Muggle postage stamp on it, on the back was a return address.

Corinne had received the letter from her Headmistress that morning and had waited until they were on top of the wall before opening it. Harry was staring out towards the Quidditch pitch watching several wizards and witches doing what looked like gardening, when Corinne let out a strange noise from the back of her throat. When Harry asked if something was wrong, she merely thrust the letter into his hands.

"Erm… sorry. I know you've been trying to teach me, but I still can't read French..." Harry said, feeling slightly embarrassed. He glanced down at the two sentences again. "Something about… an accident?"

"My mother… has been in a car accident..." Corinne said quietly.

"A car accident?" Harry repeated, looking shocked.

She looked at him with a dazed expression, "Yes… oh… A car is a Muggle inventi-"

"I know what a car is." Harry said hurriedly. "Is she okay?"

"Oh, right… of course." she took the letter back and read through it again. "I don't know, it doesn't say. I just says she's been in an accident and that I should come back if I can..."

"Shouldn't you get going then?" Harry reached for her hand and held it.

"She's probably fine. If it was serious, I think her husband would have mentioned it..." she pulled away from Harry and looked out towards the Quidditch pitch. Harry knew Corinne never had a good relationship with her mother, in some ways it sounded very similar to Harry's own relationship with his aunt. If his uncle had sent him a letter saying Aunt Petunia was in the hospital, not that he ever would, he probably wouldn't give much thought about visiting either.

But she looked conflicted. Her brows were knitted and her lips were showing tiny signs of movement, as if she was whispering to herself. Harry walked to her side and asked quietly, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." she stared at him for a minute, "You think I should go to her..."

"What? No… I mean..." Harry scratched his head. "I don't know. It's really up to you..."

"I suppose it might raise awkward questions if anyone finds out I refused to visit my mother when she was hurt..." Corinne mused quietly.

Harry hadn't even considered that. "How would anyone find out? You and I are the only ones that know, right? And I definitely wouldn't tell anyone."

"Harry." she laughed. "If there is one thing I have learnt this year, it's that secrets have a habit of coming to light."

"I guess you're right..." she probably wasn't thinking of the same thing as Harry, but he couldn't deny the truth in that statement. "So… I guess you're going to go then?"

She stretched her arms in the air then she used her wand to open the trap door. Harry wordlessly followed her down the ladder and stairs, and back onto the school grounds. When they reached the point where they would have to part for Harry to return to the Hogwarts Express, Corinne stopped him. "Not yet. Follow me."

She told him to wait near the Beauxbatons carriages and made her way inside. Fleur Delacour eyed him warily as he leaned against the stables housing the winged horse she would need for the third task. She didn't say anything as she entered holding a bucket of something. He waited a long time, watching students come and go. A few people greeted him, each giving him that knowing look, as they asked him if they should call for Corinne. He told them he was expecting her shortly and sent them on their way.

Harry stared at the firmly shut door for another twenty minutes, when it finally opened again. Harry straightened his back, but let out a little sigh when he saw that it wasn't Corinne. He was leaning his head back and staring at the sky, when a hissed whisper of his name came out of nowhere right into his ear. "Bloody h-!"

"Shhh…"

"What is it?" the doors to the stables slammed open and Delacour stepped out, wielding her wand. She looked around and narrowed her eyes at Harry."

"Er… nothing… just a fly." Harry mumbled as he waved his hand in the air as if warding off the offending insect.

She arched her eyebrow and said stiffly, "There are severe penalties for attempted sabotage on another Champion…"

"Honestly, I wasn't!" Harry's face was heating up. "I'll..I'll just be going now..."

She sniffed disdainfully and wandered back to tend to her horse. Harry stood there as the sound of chuckling broke out next to him, "That one deserves a good kick on her derrière."

"Corinne!" Harry felt flustered, "You scared me! Why are you wearing the cloak?"

"Sorry, I didn't want to be seen leaving. That's why it took so long, I had to wait for someone to leave before I could follow them out." an invisible hand dropped onto Harry's shoulders and gently pushed him into walking.

"Why, what's going on? I though you were going home?" Harry whispered as he walked by a group of students, probably first years seeing how small they were. They were gawking at him and it probably wouldn't be a good idea to be seen talking to himself.

"I showed Madame Maxime the letter and she thinks I'm taking the Portkey, the one we were given during Christmas. But as I've already told you, I don't think it'll be a good idea, in case someone other than my mother is at the house. I doubt the Ministry will care about me enough to check if the Portkey's been activated, I just hid it in my desk." they looked to be heading back towards the concealed door in the wall.

"How are you getting home then? Are you flying?" Harry remembered landing on the wall and having a rather awkward conversation with Corinne after a game of Quidditch.

The hand on Harry's back shook as she stifled a laugh, "Oh dear, no. Even if I was a decent flyer, going from here all the way to France would be… No, I'll be Apparating."

"Apparating?" Harry frowned, "I though you needed a license for that."

"You do… But..." Harry thought Corinne must have shrugged. "I know I can do it. I'll have to split my journey into several parts, can't Apparate there all at once. And once I reach Germany, I might see if I can find a train to take me the rest of the way."

Harry stopped suddenly and Corinne bumped into him, "Is it safe? I heard Apparition can be dangerous. And how will you even get back here? And how are you even going to Disapparate out? The whole school is-"

"Harry. I've already thought of everything, don't worry. I just need your help a bit." she paused for a moment, "If you're willing, that is..."

Corinne hushed him and pushed him through the door and into the dark room. But instead of going up the stairs like they normally do, she took off her cloak and wandered into a shadowy corner. She moved her hands against the walls as if looking for something, "Corinne, what are you looking for?"

"Wait, it's somewhere… here!" she pressed her hands into the wall and it gave way with a click. "Look, remember this spot. It's a secret passageway I found leading out of the school. You'll need to press it on this side to let me back in."

Harry stared at the spot Corinne was touching and memorised it, "But… how am I going to know when to do it?"

"I'll get you a message, an owl if I can manage or maybe even Muggle post. There doesn't seem to be a problem getting them delivered here." Corinne shrugged.

"I don't know… It just seems a lot simpler to take the Portkey." Harry shook his head. "You even have the cloak, they probably wouldn't even see you."

She stared at him for an uncomfortably long time then sighed. "Harry... I'll be honest. I want to get away from all this… magic for a while. After the attack at the broom race..."

"Oh. Right..." the wizarding world was in an uproar after the incident. It was the biggest move by Grindelwald's fanatics since his downfall. The newspapers speculated that is was probably due the European Ministry's harder stance against the Zeugen, ever since Harry started the Auror internship. The population was split between those who thought they weren't doing enough and those who praised the initiative they took, seeing an attack like this as inevitable.

The latest count showed thirty three people had died and several hundreds injured. Thankfully none of the students or Professors suffered anything serious, even Karkaroff, who had been one of the first to be knocked out from the explosion near the ship. Krum probably suffered the most serious injuries. When the Aurors got to him, he was in a fierce duel with two of the Zeugen and was taken to a hospital afterwards. As for the others, their wounds were easily taken of by the Healer stationed at Drumstrang or the professors. Considering the scale of the attack, there was a surprising lack of casualties, but it seemed they weren't out to kill. Most of the spells were loud and flashy, designed to incite fear and panic. A large proportion of the injuries happened during the panicked crowd's mad dash to escape. Even with the students, it seemed like the Zeugen were toying with them, as there was a severe lack of curses that could have easily maimed or killed outright. Nevertheless, after the physical injuries were healed, everyone was still left badly shaken.

"I know I refused when they offered to send us home..." Corinne sighed. "And I don't want to go home. I just want to get on a train, surround myself with Muggles and go a few hours without hearing the words 'King of Crows'."

For each of the students present that day, they were given the choice to return home either for a short time to recuperate or more permanently for the rest of the year. All the Hogwarts students returned home for a week or two, but no one wanted to miss out on seeing the final task of the Tournament or being personally tutored by Professor Riddle. Harry obviously didn't want to return to the Dursleys, so he considered trying to convince the Headmaster to allow him to visit Hogwarts to see his friends, but then he found out Corinne was staying behind and she looked like she could use someone to talk to.

The hardest part was trying to convince Fred and George to let him stay. They were almost hysterical in their efforts to get Harry to come back with them to the Burrow. In the end, even as they clutched a letter from the Headmaster addressed to Mrs. Weasley, they looked like they were about to face an executioner as the Portkey whipped them away.

What Harry got instead was arguably better, when Sirius and Remus came to Durmstrang to stay a few days aboard the Hogwarts Express. There was no pretence for the reason they were there, they were simply there for Harry. They helped Harry deal with what he experienced on that traumatic day.

For the most part, Harry didn't feel that bad, perhaps due to what he had already been through during his earlier years at Hogwarts as well as the Auror training, but there was one thing that he did feel terrible about. Of the four people crushed under the roof he and Hermione had levitated and dropped, one of them had succumbed to their injuries and died in hospital. He managed to drag it out of Sirius and Remus, although they were very reluctant to do so. Even after repeatedly being told that he did nothing wrong, that hesitation might have cost him his own life or one of the other students, he still felt a terrible stain upon his soul. His mind immediately raced back towards the overheard prophecy, wondering if this was a sign for things to come. One thing he promised himself was that he would never tell Hermione and he asked Sirius and Remus to lie to her as well, if she ever asked them.

"If you're sure..." Harry said, shaking himself from his thoughts.

"Yes, I am." then Corinne leaned over and kissed him lightly. She smiled against his lips, "I'm sure."

"Ok..okay..." Harry said throatily as she broke the kiss. "How long do you think you'll be?"

"I told Madame Maxime I'll be back in a few days. I don't expect to stay too long." she started stroking the invisibility cloak she was holding and she pursed her lips. "Harry, will you still be doing those… Auror training things?"

An owl from Engrácia arrived a few hours after the incident at the races. She told him that the next mission, that had originally been scheduled for the weekend, was cancelled. She also mentioned that they were planning something else, but she did not wish to divulge the details through a letter and simply told him to be prepared to leave at a moment's notice. Harry gave a confident nod, "I am. I'm glad I agreed to it, I think going on those missions really came in handy during the attack."

She nodded absently. After taking a deep breath she pushed the cloak out towards him. "Keep it… At least, until I come back."

"I..I can't! It's yours!" Harry shook his head took a step back.

Corinne gave him a half smile, "I think you'll find a much better use for it, especially if you insist on carrying on with this Auror thing. Also, have this as well..."

Harry noticed that underneath her cloak she was wearing Muggle clothing, a simple blouse and jeans. She opened a little bag she had over her shoulders and took something out. Harry took both the cloak and the object into his hands, "A box?"

"Stick it inside your trunk and it will create a little secret compartment where you can store the cloak. It isn't a great idea to advertise the fact you have an invisibility cloak to everyone, so keep it hidden and use it only when you absolutely need to." Corinne stared into his eyes until he nodded.

"Will you be okay without it?" Harry asked worriedly. "It might be easier to Apparate if you have the cloak. You know, avoiding Muggles and stuff?"

She gave a short laugh and produced her wand. She tapped the top of her own head and she slowly started to vanish before his eyes. Her invisible lips met with Harry's once more and she whispered, "Au revoir, Harry Potter."

Harry stood rooted at that spot, listening to her footsteps fade.

Harry felt a light on his eyelids and let out a groan as he turned his head into the pillow. He still felt groggy and tired, like he'd barely been asleep for more than a few hours. There was no way it was morning already. He twisted his head and cracked open his eyes a sliver. In an instant all thoughts of sleep vanished from his mind.

He kicked out and tried to fling the sheets, and what was on top of it, off of himself. Unfortunately the silvery-white, slightly shimmering snake stayed hovering in the air, passing through the sheets like a ghost. Only when he was up against the headboard, using his pillow as a shield, did he finally realise that the snake was actually speaking to him.

"-are awake, can you please come downstairs? I repeat. Harry, if you are awake, could you please make your way downstairs?" Professor Riddle's voice echoed quietly in the room and Harry heard Cedric let out a sleepy snort.

The message repeated itself three more times while Harry crawled out of his bed and hurriedly changed out of his pyjamas. Even though the sudden awakening had him feeling alert, he couldn't stifle a yawn as he reached for his wand. He crept out of the room, not wanting to wake his roommate, and onto the corridor outside. He made his way down the stairs, almost stumbling down the last step and reached the common room, where Professor Riddle was waiting for him. Sirius Black was also there.

"Good evening Harry! Er… or rather, I guess it's good night." Sirius said cheerfully. However, the smile he gave was slightly weaker than usual and Harry finally noticed that the Headmaster was giving the Auror a wary look.

"Sirius, you're back? What's going on?" Harry asked, suddenly feeling alarmed.

"Senhora Engrácia has requested you." Professor Riddle explained. "You may refuse if you're not feeling up to it, but you must decide now."

Harry turned to Sirius with a questioning look. The Auror gave him a sheepish grin, "It's sort of the big one and it's happening right now, there's no real time to explain. It might also be a little more… hands off for you."

"Okay… just…" Harry let out a groan as he rubbed his eyes. He tried to clear his head and take in what was being said. "Is there anything I should know?"

"As I've said, you probably won't be doing much and I doubt there will be any time to teach you anything either." Sirius said. "Honestly, I think they just want to get a few photos of you so they can tell everyone you were there when it went down."

"...But it'll be big and interesting?" Harry finally caught the excited look that the Auror was trying to keep in check.

Sirius shrugged, giving him a wry grin. "Whether you come or not, it'll be front page headlines tomorrow."

Harry slapped his own cheeks several times, "Okay, right. I'm ready to leave."

"Very well. Dibbler, the tea." the house elf popped in front of Harry, holding a tray with a single tea cup. The Headmaster gestured at Harry to take it, "It's a weak tea with a little bit of Invigoration Draught and Wideye potion mixed in."

Harry took a careful sip, before downing the lukewarm drink in one go. He gave a violent shudder at the sensation of a particularly strong mouthwash being poured down his nose. He felt completely awake and slightly jittery, Sirius chuckled, "That should keep you going for a few hours. Ready to leave?"

"Yeah." Harry answered and touched the Portkey that Sirius pulled out of his robes. He was prepared for the jerking sensation this time and managed to not completely collapse onto the floor, which was a good thing, since there were several people waiting on the other side. They were standing between rows of huge shelves reaching the ceiling completely filled with stacks of boxes. A small amount of light streamed into the warehouse from the high windows and a few people were reading scrolls of parchment by their wandlight, but most of them were simply standing in the dark.

"You're finally here, Potter. Black." Moody said gruffly. Harry was slightly taken aback, he didn't think he'd ever seen the man look that excited.

Sirius exchanged a few nods and greetings with the other wizards and witches before turning to Moody. "Have we missed anything?"

"No. Still waiting for the boss to arrive. The others scouting the area haven't returned either." Moody huffed impatiently. He pointed to the corner of the large and dimly lit room they were currently standing in, "Potter, you remember Tonks? She'll bring you up to speed on what's going on."

Tonks was sitting on an uncomfortable looking metallic chair, nodding off slightly. She didn't notice them standing in front of her until Sirius loudly cleared his throat. She shot up and somehow managed to trip over the chair she had just been sitting on and fell into Sirius, "Wh..wha? I'm awake, Moody, I'm awake. Just-"

She covered her yawn but started coughing and sputtering when she saw Sirius' grinning face. "Hello, Nymphadora."

"Do..don't call me that!" she huffed at Sirius and gave Harry a friendly nod, "When did you two get here?"

"Just now." Harry said, "Do you two know each other?"

"We know each other very well..." Sirius wriggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"What? Oh!" Harry went slightly red, "Are you two…?"

Tonks made a face, "Eww! No! Absolutely not! Don't even suggest things like that Sirius!"

Sirius laughed, "What was I suggesting? I do know you well… especially after a certain traumatic experience of having to change the diapers on a screaming two year old…"

"Oh, Merlin… I'm not listening. I am not listening." Tonks looked mortified and her hair slowly turned scarlet.

"What your mother was thinking, leaving me in charge that day… Tonks' mother is my cousin." Sirius explained to the bemused looking Harry. His expression sobered slightly, "Tonks and her mum and dad are the only members of my family I actually like."

Tonks sighed, "Mum keeps telling me to ask you over for tea. I keep telling her we work for different Ministries, but she doesn't listen… Anyway, the mission."

"Right. So, during the big attack a few weeks back, the Aurors managed to capture a few of the Zeugen and they've been pumping them for information until now." Sirius said.

"You've tracked the rest to here?" Harry said, looking around.

"We've tracked them to several places, actually." Tonks said enthusiastically, clearly happy to leave behind the conversation they'd just been having. "We kept watch but haven't made a move yet. In a few minutes, there's going to be about a dozen simultaneous raids all around Europe."

A series of echoing knocks silenced the room instantly. The heavy metal doors at the end of the room slowly slid open and several dark robed figures walked inside, making Harry tense slightly. Sirius gave his shoulder a squeeze and said quietly, "That's probably the Aurors that were scouting ahead. Stay here Harry, Tonks and I will find out what's going on..."

Harry kept his annoyance to himself and nodded. He stood there for a while, but he started to feel slightly silly and out of place amongst the highly trained adults. He wandered to the nearest stack of boxes and produced a light faint enough, so that he was just about able to read the labels. There were lots of numbers, letters and several bar codes identifying the shipment. It seemed it had arrived from England and was on it's way to Germany via… "Rotterdam?"

"That's right Potter. Now smile for the camera." Harry whirled around just to have a flash go off near his face, blinding him momentarily.

"Alastor. Will you take one properly?" an accented voice said crisply.

Moody let out a grunt, but snapped a few more pictures. "That'll do."

Someone let out a long suffering sigh and Harry's vision finally cleared enough to identify the person standing in front of him. Engrácia offered him her hand, "Hello again, Mr. Potter. I apologise for dragging you out here at this hour, but you understand our need for the cover of the night."

"To catch them unawares?" Harry shook her hand.

"Yes, but also because there are less Muggles about at night. We are currently in a very Muggle part of the city." Engrácia explained. "I am told you are aware of what we are here for? Good. Now as you know this a delicate and potentially dangerous operation, so you will not be on the front lines. Two squads of Hit Wizards will go in first, followed by the Aurors. You will be standing back and will not be engage in combat unless you are forced to do so, is that clear?"

"Okay..." Harry said nervously.

"Now, Auror Black and Tonks will be escorting you. Make sure you listen to every word they said and follow their orders to the letter." she said sternly. A low whistle came from her robes and she took out a scroll of parchment. She unrolled it slightly then took out a pocketwatch and stared at each in turn. Engrácia turned and shouted to the room, "Alright, all other teams are ready. Get into position, the operation starts in ten minutes."

She didn't give Harry a second glance and briskly moved towards the door. He followed her and caught up with Sirius and Tonks, who placed him firmly in between them. Outside, Harry caught a slight hint of the ocean in the air and in the distance he saw the blinking lights of a Muggle city. They walked under the moonlight in complete silence, only their footsteps were making the barest amount of noise. They passed several large, nondescript buildings, until they reached one that looked almost identical to the one they had just left. Engrácia silently motioned with her wand and two groups broke apart, heading left and right. Other than Harry and his escorts, it was just Engrácia and two Aurors remaining. She fished out her pocketwatch again and stared at it. She suddenly raised her hand. Five fingers. Four. Three. Two. One.

Two explosions shattered the peace of the night and the terrible sound of fighting filled the air. It was so loud, Harry wondered if the Muggle police would come to investigate. It stretched out for a long time until there was another explosion, this time much closer to them. It had formed a hole in the side of the warehouse they were watching and people starting running out.

"Why in Merlin's name are there Muggles here?" Tonks gasped. From the dim moonlight above them, Harry could make out the Muggle clothing and proper ones too, not like a wizard's idea of Muggle attire, something which he and Hermione had laughed about months ago when she told him what she had seen during the Quidditch World Cup.

Engrácia let out a stream of words in her native Portuguese, swearing most likely if Harry had to guess. "Incapacitate them. We'll modify their memories and deal with them later."

The two Aurors standing behind her moved forwards and the Muggles stopped to stare at them. The two wizards made soothing gestures and one of them was speaking in Dutch to try and explain that they meant no harm. There was a quick movement from one of the Muggles and a green flash soared through the air, hitting the Auror in the chest and he crumpled to the floor.

In that moment of shock the 'Muggles' split away, trying to escape. At least, all but five of them, who produced a wand and charged at them. Sirius shouted at Tonks to stay behind and guard Harry before rushing to meet them. Engrácia, hesitated only a moment, before joining him.

Even against five opponents the two Aurors, and by the looks of her fierce duelling a former Auror, held their own. But there was something different about the ones here dressed in Muggle clothing, compared to those attacking the spectators at the Broom Race. The ones Harry had fought off were a rabble of raucous but uncoordinated thugs, unskilled enough that even students had a chance to take them down. The ones they were facing now seemed highly trained and Sirius, who was currently duelling two of them at the same time, had a look of great concentration that Harry had never seen on the man during any of their 'missions'.

The other Auror, who's name Harry never found out, screamed as he fell onto one knee. It stopped just as quickly, from a curse aimed at the back of his head. The two that had been duelling him were away and joining the fight against Sirius and Engrácia even before the body had collapsed onto the ground. Harry turned to Tonks, who was making a strangled noise from the back of her throat, "We need to help them!"

Harry darted forwards and he heard Tonks swearing behind him, but she didn't try and stop him. Harry ran towards the closest of the three people surrounding Sirius, launching a Stunning Charm on the way. It missed the witch's head by inches and as she whirled around, Harry aimed another curse her way, "Conjuncto exarsum!"

The angry red curse hit the witch in the eyes and she screamed in pain, blindly sending curses in his direction, including a green one that passed by a foot from his head. One of the wizards duelling Sirius looked in his direction and Harry saw his eyes widen in recognition. He shouted something at the screaming witch but she was in too much pain to register anything he was saying. He slashed the air with his wand and the witch gave a horrible shriek while she clutched the bleeding stump that her hand was once attached to. With another muttered incantation she was covered in black flames, then he threw her at Sirius, before making his escape.

Sirius grimaced as he sent jets of water onto her in an attempt to quell the fire, but to little effect and she stopped twitching and screaming long before the flames were gone. Harry and Sirius quickly turned away from the nauseating smell of burning flesh and stepped around two unconscious, or dead, wizards to reach Engrácia, who was healing a nasty looking cut on Tonks' arm. The look of absolute fury receded slightly as she saw Harry, "Mr. Potter, are you injured?"

"I'm fine..." Harry answered breathlessly.

"It was strange. The wizard I was duelling killed one of their own, after Harry- Brilliant aim on that Conjunctivitis Curse by the way- after Harry blinded her." Sirius explained to Engrácia. "It was almost as if they were trying to make sure he wasn't hurt..."

The Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement for the European Ministry frowned, unconsciously rubbing the scar around her throat. She gave Harry an unidentifiable look, "Did they say anything?"

"Something in German, I think. I couldn't understand it, mine's a bit rusty. "Sirius answered.

Engrácia didn't say anything else and they hurried over to the two fallen Aurors, only to find that they were both already dead. They tensed as a witch ran towards them, but lowered their wands when Engrácia identified her as one of the Hit Witches. They spoke quietly then the witch hurried back into the warehouse. "Okay, we have the main area secure. They're starting to search the rest of the building. Mr. Potter, would you like to return to Durmstrang?"

"Um… I wouldn't mind staying..." Harry offered.

Sirius clapped him on his back, "He can hold his own. And I'll make sure to watch his back."

"Very well. Let's head inside." they followed her through the gaping hole in the side of the building. There were more people dressed in Muggle clothing, tightly bound and unconscious. There were a few Aurors or Hit Wizards (or Witches) standing watch over them, while a wizard and a witch were looking after the injured. Unlike the warehouse they had just left, this one was empty of containers. Instead, it was full of tables, chairs and surprisingly a few beds and various knick-knacks, showing signs that it was a place that people had used to live in rather than store goods.

A grim faced wizard hurried over to them, brushing away a trickle of blood from his cheek. He gave Harry an uneasy look before speaking, "Senhora Engrácia, we found something in the next room…"

They followed him through a small door on the other side of the warehouse. Harry noticed a heavy looking padlock on the floor, and thought that whatever was inside must be valuable. It was a smaller side room, about a third of the size of the main warehouse floor, most likely to have been originally used as office space or something like that. The solitary fluorescent light hanging in the middle of the room revealed a much cleaner room compared to the other one. The only objects in this room were three huge wooden crates, similar in size to Harry's own bed, that lined the walls.

There were several Aurors surrounding the closest of the crates, all aiming their wands at it, while Moody stood by the narrow side of the crate and flicked his wand at another heavy padlock. It gave a dull clatter as it dropped to the floor. Then he stepped back and waved his wand slowly and levitated the side of the crate onto the ground quietly. The sour smell hit them all at the same time, sweat and blood. As Moody carefully stepped forwards with his wand lighted, an inhuman sound suddenly screeched out from the crate. Harry couldn't see what was inside from where he was standing, but he caught the look on the Auror's face. Grim determination, followed by confusion, then Moody suddenly paled in horror.

Every single wizard and witch, as one, took a half step forwards, ready to blast whatever came out into smithereens, but Moody quickly waved them down, "Lower your wands. Bloody- And get the damned mediwizard here now!"

As he ducked his head to tentatively step inside, the sound grew louder, shrieking mixed with intermittent sobs. They couldn't hear anything over the noise, until Moody shouted, "No! Stop that! Damn it- Stupefy!"

They all flinched when he sprinted out carrying something small and dirty. It's slightly misshapen face was caked in grime and there was blood on it's head. It seemed to be wearing some sort of raggedy robes and Harry suddenly thought of house elves. Not the ones on the Hogwarts Express, but ones in the appalling stories Hermione had heard where they were severely mistreated. He then immediately dismissed the idea, whatever it was, it was far too big to be a house elf. A goblin maybe?

The witch that had been tending to the wounded in the other room ran forwards with a harried look on her face. She uttered a harsh word from her throat and glared at the Auror, "What have you done Moody?"

"Just a Stunner." he grimaced and pointed at the freshly bleeding wound, "Tried to stop that from happening..."

The witch tutted then began to work her magic, softly speaking a soothing spell as she waved her wand over the wretched creature. Harry glanced at Sirius, who was looking pale and horrified, and whispered, "Sirius, what is it?"

"What?" the Auror looked confused at Harry's question. "What do you… Harry, that's a kid. A human child..."

Harry's eyes widened as he stared intently at the figure on the floor, at the barely rising and falling movements of the chest. Then he finally saw it, underneath all the bruising and the dirt. He couldn't tell it it was a boy or a girl, not from the malnourished form or the hair that looked like it had been crudely shaved with a knife. The slight form couldn't have been more than ten years old, around the height Harry had been the year he first came to Hogwarts, but much skinnier.

"What in Merlin's name were they doing here..." Tonks asked in a shaky whisper.

"I think that's something we'd all like to know." Moody's voice quivered with anger.

Engrácia seemed to stir from her thoughts and quickly began barking orders around the room. "Quickly! Check the other two crates! Riva?"

The witch kneeling on the floor lowered her wand for a moment, "It's bad. She's stable for the moment, but I want to get her to a hospital as soon as possible. I'd prefer to have her flown."

"Alastor, make arrangements for emergency transport." Moody nodded and hurried out of the room. Engrácia turned towards the exit as well, her lips thin with barely contained rage. Sirius gave Harry a questioning look and he nodded in reply, he wanted to follow her. Tonks also stuck with them and they entered the main warehouse just as Engrácia was ordering the other Healer into the room they just left. She rounded on an Auror who was checking something on one of the unconscious Zeugen and asked tersely, "Have you found anything?"

The Auror moved around the side so that they could see the limp man's face. He then used his fingers to lift both the unconscious man's eyelids. The eyes had a slightly glassy look and Harry noticed that the corner of his lips were slightly raised in what looked like a dazed smile, "Imperiused. And a Muggle. Most of the one's we've captured seem to be Muggles."

"What's Imperiused?" Harry asked in a whisper, while also trying to listen to what the Auror was saying.

"It means he's under the Imperius Curse, he's completely under the control of whoever cast the spell." Sirius said darkly, "One of the three Unforgivable Curses."

Before Sirius could say anything further, two Aurors lifted up a pale faced woman and the man that had been speaking to Engrácia woke her with a tap of his wand. Her eyes shot open and it seemed to take her a minute to realise the situation she was in, then she let out a stream of foul language while she tried to struggle against the ropes and the arms that gripped her. Like he had done before, the Auror leaned forwards and forced her left eyelid wide open. Then he aimed his wand directly at her iris and quietly began to mutter a spell. Thin strings of light erupted from the tip of his wand and into her eye, and the witch began to scream. She tried to shake her head but was held in place by one of the Aurors gripping her by the back of her hair.

The Auror frowned and as he lowered his wand and broke the connection. He turned to Engrácia and gave a brief shake of his head before speaking to the witch, who had gone limp in the Aurors' grip. "Who leads here? Which one of you is Wahrzeugen?"

"I have nothing to say..." she gave a shaky laugh that turned into a pained whimper. But she raised her head slightly to glance around the room. She glossed over most of the prone figures, but her eyes widened slightly at one point and she purposefully lowered her head again.

"Not the smartest one, is she?" Sirius snorted as he glanced in the direction she looked at, then he spoke to the questioning Auror, "Mattias, I think she looked over there, at that man in the corner..."

As they started walking, Tonks whispered quietly at Sirius, "Are you sure Harry should see this?"

Sirius gave Harry a considering look. "Maybe you're right..."

"He needs to see it." Moody said bluntly as he limped towards them. "Engrácia, they're on their way. I've also heard back from the other teams. The raids were successful, we managed to capture quite a few of them."

"Anything of interest to report?" she asked.

"Nothing like that." Moody jerked his thumb towards the back room. He them turned to stare at Harry. "But you Potter should stay. He needs to be able to stare them in the eyes, see what kind of evil we're up against."

They all turned to Harry as if expecting him to decide. He cleared his throat nervously and nodded. Engrácia looked uncertain but she eventually consented, "Alright. But be warned, Mr. Potter, it won't be pleasant to watch."

"Get him up." when they reached the corner of the room, Mattias the Auror ordered once more and his two subordinates raised a rather plain looking man, with a small brown beard. "Rennervate!"

The man blinked owlishly before his eyes widened, "Doe me alsjeblieft geen pijn! Jezus Christus! Alsjeblieft!"

The Aurors holding him exchanged an uneasy glance. Even Harry had noticed the mention of 'Jezus Christus', something that was undoubtedly Muggle.

"Dreuzel? Ik denk het niet..." Mattias snorted. He took out another wand from his pocket and tapped it against his chin. "Do we know of any Muggles that carry wands and fight back against Aurors?"

"No." Engrácia said in a cool voice as she fingered the lines on her neck. "Mattias, use the spell."

He gave a firm nod, then he raised his wand at the man's eye. He struggled for a moment, begging in that desperate tone before his face slackened and a little smirk formed on his mouth.

The little tendrils of light connected the wand and the eye and his face twisted into a grimace of pain. Unlike the witch, however, he clenched his teeth and didn't cry out. A shadow passed over his eye, as if a light inside his head was flickering on and off, until it went completely dark, forming what looked like a smooth ebony glaze over the surface. The sweat beading on his brows mixed with the dark ichor that started to emerge from the corners of his eye, and dripped down his cheek.

With a visible effort, he unclenched his jaw and spat at them, "You cannot stop the Krähenkönig. He will return and he will raise wizardkind above all else. You cannot stop us, with your ministries of squabbling politicians. Nor you, Harry Potter, the child saviour of the wizarding world..."

Harry flinched as the one remaining good eye fixed upon the boy's face. Sirius moved slightly in front of Harry, as if to protect him, "I think we did a good job of stopping your plans here today. You and the rest of his followers will be hunted and put down. One. By. One."

The man let out a hysteric laugh until he snapped his mouth shut with an audible crack of his teeth. There was a sound of an eggshell breaking and the black eye started to bulge wildly. His head started to shake, as if wracked with convulsive pain and red mixed with the black as more liquid dripped out of his eye. Mattias the Auror gave a sharp tug with his wand and pulled something out as the man let out a piercing scream.

The black thing splattered on the dusty ground and gave tiny jerky movements. Harry recoiled in disgust, it looked like a featherless hatchling of a bird staring up at them with it's beady little eyes. A heavy clawed prosthetic leg, belonging to Moody, stomped on it, splattering their feet in the black ink-like substance. The Zeugen had gone slack against the Aurors, with one eye closed and the other a gaping bloody hole. He let out a hoarse giggle, "The Crowking sees all… He has witnessed your defiance and when he returns... you will all… die..."

"That, Mr. Potter, is Grindelwald's gift to his most loyal followers." Engrácia said, her words laced with revulsion. "It was one of the reasons he was most successful in his campaign against Europe. We never discovered the actual spell, but he had an ability to share the vision of some of his followers. He could conduct his war across the whole continent without leaving his own little base. Now… it's merely a tool we can use to root out his most depraved followers."

The Aurors let the man drop to the floor, none too gently, and he curled up into a whimpering ball. They moved slightly away from him and towards a group that was leaving the room with the captives. A burly Auror was cradling the girl in his arms and hurriedly moved towards the exit only giving them a brief nod as he passed. The mediwitch was jogging besides him, making sure her patient was being carried properly. She saw their group and after giving one last sharp order to the Auror, headed towards their little group.

"I see you've been busy." she scrunched her face in distaste at the quivering man and the black mess. "We found two more children in the other containers, two boys and much younger. By the looks of it, they haven't been held captive as long as the other one, but they'll still need to be examined at the hospital. They're being brought out now..."

Two more Aurors entered the room carrying the two unconscious boys. As they passed there was a startled gasp from behind Harry. "Wait."

One of the Aurors that had held the Zeugen while the spell was being cast, came forwards and craned his neck over one of the boys. The Healer let out a noise of impatience, "What is it?"

The Auror paled. "I..I know this boy..."

"What do you mean?" Engrácia asked sharply.

"It was… the last case I worked on at Magical Law Enforcement Patrol before I transferred to the Auror division. A kidnapping, this was almost two years ago..." the man said hoarsely.

"This boy isn't a Muggle?" Engrácia asked and the Auror answered negatively. "What about the others?"

The Healer shook her head. "We'll know once we get them to the hospital."

"Blind little Aurors… running around…" the Zeugen on the ground said in a mocking, sing-song whisper, "Make sure to tell mama and papa how well we've looked after their little boy… how we-"

"CRUCIO!" the man convulsed on the ground, screaming louder than Harry thought would be possible in his condition. Sirius, Tonks and Mattias all launched themselves at the Auror who had cast the spell and grappled the wand from his hand.

"STOP! What do you think you're doing!" Engrácia seethed as she rounded on the Auror.

He didn't take his eyes off the twitching man on the floor, he jutted his chin out defiantly, "We have permission to use the Unforgivables against the Krähenkönigs Zeugen."

"Who do you think gave that permission!" she hissed in reply. "To take them down, yes, but never, NEVER, to torture!"

"He deserves worse." the Auror spat then he turned and walked away.

Engrácia watched him leave, then she let out a tired sigh, "Mr. Potter, I think it's time for you to return. Auror Black?"

Sirius nodded, "Come on, Harry. Let's go."

"See you Harry! You did really well today! Even after that witch almost-" Tonks was interrupted when Sirius coughed loudly and gave a small but firm shake of his head.

"...the witch almost what?" Engrácia asked slowly.

Sirius quickly gripped Harry by the arm and led him towards the exit. They managed to hear the start of the horrified and furious exclamation from the Head of Magical Law Enforcement, just before the door shut behind them. Sirius was chuckling slightly, but Harry frowned. "Unforgivables?"

"What? Oh right..." Sirius sobered immediately. He scratched his head then said slowly. "So, Imperius is control. And what you saw there-"

"Crucio?" Harry asked innocently.

Sirius winced as Harry said the incantation. "Yeah. The Cruciatus Curse. Simply put, it causes the most excruciating, mind numbing pain imaginable. They're called the Unforgivable Curses because if you use one against another human being, you'll be calling whatever wizarding prison you're sent to your home for the rest of your natural life."

"You said there were three?" Harry asked.

Sirius clearly looked like he'd hoped Harry had forgotten that little detail. They stood in the cool air as dawn slowly began to break. Two people, with a third much smaller body lying in a stretcher between them, took off on broomsticks and when they reached the height of the rooftops, they tapped their own heads with their wands and vanished from view, the child disappearing soon after. After the long stretch of silence, Sirius finally spoke in the barest of whispers, "Avada Kedavra..."

"Sorry?" Harry shivered, without exactly knowing why.

"Avada Kedavra. The Killing Curse." Sirius looked at Harry with sad eyes. "It's the curse that killed James and Lily... It's the curse that almost killed you..."

A/N PLEASE READ!

WAIT before you send a negative review!

Okay, first of all I know a few of you might be thinking that I've pretty much of glossed over Harry dealing with the attack, but I have written it. Just not here. Okay, so right after I update this story, I'm going to upload a chapter on Phoenix Corrupted Extras, which will be set during this chapter but will be from Remus and Sirius' perspective.

I started writing a bit here, but I ended up not liking it very much and also with the whole 'starting the chapter with a letter thing' I'm doing for the fourth year, I couldn't find a suitable place to put it in. I really enjoyed writing the extra chapter, so I hope you can take the time to go over and read it.

So that's the other thing. This chapter was quite long anyway and then I had to go and do another extra chapter, which I'm uploading at the same time, so I'm out of chapters to post. Again. Sorry... =(

But the fourth year is almost over and I definitely know how I'm planning on ending it, but I'm still not sure if I'll be able to get the next chapter typed and edited before next week. I really want to do it properly, so I'm going to take a week off. Just one week, I promise. But I've sort of given you two chapters, so you can wait a week and read my extra story then if that makes you feel better. =)

Yay, this story has hit 202 followers! And so many people favouriting it as well! A double, no, triple thanks to everyone who left a review!

I'll see all you lovely people in two weeks and I wish you all the best until then!