Hello everyone,
So it was a pretty consistent thing in the reviews that Tonks really isn't a veteran of war because she was so young when the first war concluded, which is a fair point. I just used the wrong word, to be honest. She is a fully trained auror, and a talented one at that, she is a powerful witch, that much I think we can all agree. I was trying to portray that all three of them had 'flipped a switch' in their minds and were now being serious. I then tried to establish their credentials with the veteran comment. My bad, will use a better choice of words next time.
Now with that out of the way. We are still getting a lot of love in the reviews, in the fav/follow category. So I wanted to once again say thank you to everyone.
On to the chapter. As always, there is an authors note at the bottom.
Edit: Rest in peace Kobe Bryant. I saw an interview with him one time and he preached about demanding excellence from yourself. He was a huge inspiration on my life, and one of the reasons that I decided to start writing. His daughter was also on the helicopter and confirmed dead. A sad day in the world, hold on to those you love.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
I am coming.
Fleur's elegant handwriting peaked out from my journal.
Absolutely not. Was the first thing that popped in my head. Who am I to refuse her? Was my mind's own rebuttal.
Can I convince you to stay home? I wrote to her.
Green assaulted my vision as the floo flared up again in front of me. Bill stepped through, he was the second person to arrive after Kingsley. I nodded just as my journal vibrated, alerting me of another message from Fleur.
No. Fleur answered me.
I sat back on the couch and my hands instinctively found my face as I rubbed it, stressed at the new development.
The floo flared up again and I didn't even bother looking up, assuming that it was someone else in the order.
"Not the warm welcome I was expecting."
My head snapped to the speaker and I shot to my feet once I confirmed it was in fact my girlfriend. The next thing I knew, I had her in a crushing embrace. Vanilla. I confirmed with her head in my chest.
"I missed you." I began.
"I missed you too." She mumbled in my chest.
Wait, how did she get here? I thought to myself. The fidelius…
"I thought I said only in an emergency." Bill called out from behind me.
Fleur responded fast, expecting the comment. "This is an emergency." She replied taking her head off my chest.
I sent her a questioning look that she deciphered immediately. "He gave me a note one day and told me that if ever I was in danger because of our relationship, to open it and go to the location. It was a guess that you were here." She answered my unasked question. "A good one."
I couldn't help but cup her cheeks and bring her in for a deep kiss. "I have something to tell you." I told her as we broke apart, thinking about my actions earlier in the night with Umbridge.
Her eyes kept darting from my lips to my eyes. I smiled knowing what was going through her mind. "Why did you do that?" She whispered to me with a seductive look.
"Sorry, love. I couldn't resist." I answered with a smirk.
"What did you need to tell me?" She asked as we broke apart again.
"That will have to wait, we need to go." Kingsley said as he walked past us, the rest of the order right behind him.
I nodded to him and turned back to Fleur. "Are you ready? We're going to war." I asked her truthfully.
She met my gaze without wavering, and my pride swelled. "Your brother needs us, let's go." She answered me.
I nodded to her and saw that everyone was looking at us. In another life, I would have been slightly embarrassed, but now I was focused. There is no room for embarrassment.
"Good." Kingsley began, taking the lead for the operation. "We'll go by floo, soon as you get through, shields up. They could be waiting."
Harry spoke up. "The floo is active this late?" He asked.
Good point, one would think that such an important building would be locked up tighter than a ticks ass. I thought in response to his question.
"For aurors it is." Kingsley explained quickly and left no room for another question. "Don't bother with saying the location newbies, you won't need it. Tonks, with me. Everyone else wait for us to clear it. Regardless, shields up understood?" He barked out the orders.
Everyone murmured an affirmative. I thought about the robes I was wearing and realized that I didn't have any dragonhide or basilisk skin on besides my wand holster. I did have the same pair of robes on that I wore to protect Hagrid the night the aurors came to arrest him,
It would protect my identity, but we're way past that point with Voldemort and his death eaters. I thought to myself. Plus, Kingsley and Tonks would recognize the look and know it was me that interfered with the other night. No, it's best I just leave it, too restrictive anyway.
I took off my outer layer of robes just as Kingsley through powder into the floo. "Ministry of Magic." He enunciated clearly and tapped the fireplace with his wand.
That's how they do it, with wand registration. His superiors will know who lets us in… I realized.
"Where is Dumbledore?" I turned and asked Bill behind me. Kingsley and Tonks stepped through the floo, ignoring my question.
"We don't know." Bill answered me.
"How did you try to contact him? Patronus?" I asked him.
He looked at as if I just discovered gold. "We've been busy lad. He might not answer us anyway." Remus commented beside us.
"Clear!" Kingsley and Tonks called through the floo. "Mad-eye, Sirius, Remus."
I rolled my eyes and looked at them walk through the fire without trying my idea. Fuck this. I thought to myself as I looked at Fleur and brought up the appropriate emotion for my next spell. My wand whipped into my hand.
"Expecto Patronum!" I stated to the world. Blue mist coalesced into a nundu and made a motion of roaring, but it was unheard. It searched the room for an enemy and turned to me when it found none.
"Headmaster, the Order is about to be in a battle at the department of ministries, Harry and I are joining." As soon as I finished, the nundu shot off through the window, the happiness and safe feeling that accompanied it left also.
A hand grabbed mine. "Stop showing off. We're next." Fleur told me as she pulled me forward.
I took a deep breath and released it, focusing myself. "Everyone else, come on." Kingsley called out.
My parents walked through before us, both eerily quiet. They hadn't said much since I told them the news earlier in the night. I couldn't blame them, their son is in the hands of a mad man.
I grabbed Harry and pulled him close to me. "This is it." I told him. He didn't respond, instead he decided to draw his wand in a slow exaggerated motion. I took that time to grab Fleur's hand. Then without a spoken command we crossed the threshold from 12 Grimmauld Place, and stepped into the ministry atrium.
My shield sprang up.
Grunts sounded out around us and Sirius spoke up. "Merlin! Trying to blind us?" He exclaimed as he saw the size of my shield, which was easily five times the size of a normal one.
It was mostly for Fleur. I thought as I let the shield fall.
"Focus up." Kingsley called to the group. "We need to find Percy, and get out. Everything else is low priority."
Mad respect. I thought as I saw Kingsley take control of the Order and lead it. "They'll be in the Hall of Prophecies." I called out.
"Shit." I heard Tonks mutter.
No one questioned where the information came from, because everyone here was informed on what it was that Voldemort really wanted, the prophecy. Where else to find that but the Hall of Prophecies?
"Let's go. Wands out, stay alert."
Then we were moving in a straight shot to the elevators. Time seemed to speed up and slow down at the same time. Every moment was spent hyper-alert while time seemed to fly by as we paced down the atrium.
My magic swept out across the room. Nothing besides us. I observed as my 'homenum revelio' spell revealed nothing.
If the others noticed the magic, they said nothing. I couldn't tell if they looked at me either, because I brought up the rear, and I refused for someone to sneak up on us so my eyes roamed the darkness behind us.
Fleur's hand on my back told me that we made it to the elevators and to stop moving. Another noise behind me let me know that they had pushed the button and were calling the elevator. Two elevators. I recognized.
"Alright, split up between the two. It's level nine." Kingsley called out to our group.
We did as he bid and I noticed that both my parents stuck to the elevator that both Bill and I were on, to watch over their other two children no doubt.
"Level nine." Arthur interrupted the voice asking what floor. The elevator fell silent then as we all thought about the upcoming confrontation.
"I want everyone on this elevator to know that I love them." The words slipped out as I noticed the faces inside. Fleur, Harry, Bill, and both my parents looked back at me.
"Don't worry son. We're all going to make it out of here." My father responded as the elevator started down. "No risks, everyone. Let the seasoned members take the lead, you three support."
Not a chance in hell. Harry and I are two of the best duelists here. I thought to myself but didn't speak up. Harry caught my eye and I could tell he was thinking the same thing.
The floors ticked as we traveled lower and lower. I counted the sounds as I stared at Fleur, wondering why the fuck I let her come with us.
She will see a different side of me today. I thought as the eighth floor rang out. There will be no mercy, not for family.
'Ding'
The doors opened and I was the first out of the elevator, wand in hand. The other group was already out and waiting on us, having already secured the room. I relaxed my arm as Kingsley spoke to the group again.
"Alright, Remus, you're on point. Get us to the Hall of Prophecies, we have no choice but to spring the trap." Kingsley barked out.
Remus moved forward down the chamber that would lead to the entrance room to the Department of Mysteries. We all began moving behind him and the older members of the group moved to the front and the sides protecting the ones behind them, Harry, Fleur, and I.
The chemistry was admirable, but the effects were annoying to the three of us.
We entered into the entrance room of the Department of Mysteries and it was just as the books described. As soon as the door shut behind us, the twelve doors started moving around the room, recognizing that we didn't have access.
After the door settled again, Remus wand was in motion as he cast a variety of spells that I could tell were meant to reveal information to the caster. His head snapped to the side and found the door he was looking for.
"Time chamber, do not touch or cast anything in this room, understood?" Remus called out to us.
At our affirmative, we moved forward to the door and into the time chamber. Once again it was accurate to how the books portrayed it. Clocks of all shapes and sizes were littered across the room. Green lights flittered throughout the room, originating from the furthest wall where a bell jar stood.
Remus wasted no time in ushering us through the room to another door that he opened quickly.
We poured into the Hall of Prophecies and I was immediately in awe of the room. The room had to be thirty to forty feet in height, filled with rows upon rows of shelves filled with glowing orbs.
This many prophecies? I couldn't help but ask myself.
Tonks broke me out of my wonder by pushing past me to join the other aurors in the front.
"Stop." Harry spoke loud enough for everyone to hear and low enough for it not to carry across the room. "Ron and I must spring the trap. They're only expecting us two, once they reveal themselves, then you all can join us."
"Absolutely not." Molly answered him.
"Agreed." Remus chimed in.
"He's right." Kingsley cut in before we could dissolve into arguing amongst ourselves. "We won't be far behind. Everyone know the disillusionment?"
The last question was aimed at Fleur, and everyone knew it. She met his eyes and brought her wand to the top of her head. As soon as it touched her flawless silver hair, she disappeared from view.
Wandless. Atta girl. I thought as she answered everyone's question with style.
"Good. You two get going, we're right behind you. Walk slow so we don't break the charm." Kingsley ordered us.
We obeyed immediately and I sent a quick prayer to whatever entity out there to protect Fleur from harm. I joined Harry as we walked down the Hall to the P's, where his prophecy would sit.
"Are you ready?" Harry asked me.
"Absolutely." I answered him confidently. It was true, there was a cold focus in my gut.
We walked slowly, as we were told. Time once again slowed down, every step, every breath felt like an eternity.
'I'
I sent out another 'homenum revelio' to the room and once again got nothing. Must be out of the range, or behind too many structures.
'L'
Not too long now. I realized as we passed the L's and moved into the M's.
Once again I sent out another 'homenum revelio'. Once again I found no one. I repeated the action once we passed the N's, then the O's, and finally once again once we got to the P's. Each cast was rewarded with nothing.
I had begun to believe that they truly weren't here when we approached the wall that Percy should be suspended in the air before. He wasn't, there was nothing there.
I turned to look at Harry. "You're sure it was real?" I asked him.
He didn't even look back to me, instead his eyes were on the label below a prophecy that swirled faster than the others around it. 'S.P.T. to A.P.W.B.D. Dark Lord and (?) Harry J. Potter' it read.
Harry's arm reached out and snatched the orb from it's spot on the shelf.
"Oh it was real."
I reacted immediately to the new voice and turned around with my wand raised, a spell at the front of my mind. Lucius Malfoy stood before me, his wand not even drawn yet.
"The Dark Lord was wondering how to get you here, Potter. This…" He made a motion with his hand, and Percy floated around a corner and into full view. "...nuisance provided the perfect opportunity."
My eyes locked onto my brother. His eyes were closed, and his head hung limply. His body was positioned in the position of a cross.
"The Dark Lord knows of your fathers love for muggles. He thought young Percy here being in this position quite ...symbolic." Lucius continued.
There were cuts all over my brothers face, and dried blood covered most of its surface. His hands were swollen and missing finger nails. And from under his shirt I could see the burn marks that traveled all across his torso, no doubt.
"You tortured my brother." I stated calmly. A part of my mind wondered why that white hot rage wasn't spreading across my body right now. Instead it was the icy realization that what I was about to do, would not be out of anger, but because I wanted to. "You will die for it."
Lucius paused visibly, not expecting me to say that, no doubt expecting a scared child. He regained his composure and confidence as more bodies appeared out of the shadows behind him and around us.
I looked around and saw the familiar face of Peter Pettigrew amongst the crowd. Amongst those that escaped Azkaban earlier in the year. I remembered and moved to the other faces that I knew also escaped the famous prison.
My eyes landed on a dark haired woman that would have been drop dead gorgeous at one point in her life. Azkaban hadn't been nice to Bellatrix Lestrange.
"You know what we want. Hand the prophecy over, and we'll let you take young Percy here without a fight." Lucius let the words fall out of his mouth, sounding like a true 's psychotic laugh echoed through the room and sounded every bit like the villain she was, it was haunting.
"That doesn't sound like something that Tom would let you do." Harry answered him, his hand gripping the prophecy like his life depended on it. "Are you lying, Lucius?"
Once again, Lucius was taken aback by the two men in front of him. Instead of scared, little boys, he got confident, capable young men. He didn't get a lot of time to contemplate it before Bellatrix interrupted the two.
"Don't you dare say his name!" She shrieked at Harry. "You are not worthy."
"I'm not worthy of saying a fellow half-blood's name?" Harry asked her. "Why would that be?"
Her wand rose and mine did with it, ready to answer her attack with my own. Lucius' hand split the air and interrupted the duel before it could begin.
"Enough, you could damage the orb!" Lucius exclaimed, losing his composure once again. "Don't forget why we're here!"
"Uh oh." I interrupted them before it could go further. "Someone got beat with the crazy stick as a child, didn't she?" I antagonized with a smirk on my face.
That actually made all the wrong people laugh. The Death Eaters and even Bellatrix laughed at my joke, her cackling making the hair on the back of my neck stand.
"Now let's get this straight." I said while taking my time in counting the Death Eaters and marking their locations in my mind. Thirteen. "You will give me my brother. Or I will start killing people, and then I'll take him. How does that sound?"
Lucius' eyes narrowed. "You're in no place to make demands of us, boy. Give us the prophecy before we stop using words, and we start using wands."
I nodded and 'hmmmed' in response. I turned to Harry and gave him a look that we both knew said 'on your mark'.
His head tilted and a smirk split his face.
Our wands rose at the same time that our companions dropped their disillusionment charms. Always hit first.
My first spell hit the ground in front of Harry and I, nothing happened immediately. My second spell fired off just as everyone else did. Voiced rose into the air and shields were conjured to absorb the spell of the attacker. My spell was simple, a summoning charm towards my brother.
As I thought, my spell met resistance. Someone had spells on him to prevent such a thing from happening. I used the experience from my ward breaking lesson to 'grab' onto the magic with my own. His body started moving.
Harry's shield erupted in front of me to absorb a spell from, you guessed it, Bellatrix Lestrange. He immediately sent spells to another target to our left.
Bingo. I thought as she took my bait. I let go of Percy and turned my attention to the witch who cast the wards preventing him from leaving his position in the air.
Three spells leapt from my wand, a piercing charm, a bone breaker, and a severing charm. All of them sent to positions that would mean lethal wounds. Bellatrix's shield absorbed the first two and she batted the third away while moving into her own spell.
"Avada Kedavra!"
Her spell was almost easy to predict. Earth rose up in front of me in accordance with my will, a result from the spell I sent into the ground before the duel started. At the same time, Harry and I stepped out from either sides of the wall and sent spells her way. She didn't even bother throwing up another shield or trying to bat every spell away.
Instead she back behind a pillar. I took that time to break for my brother who was still hanging in the air. Harry continued throwing spells that I didn't recognize by color, but recognized by wand motion and intent. He wasn't playing nice.
All around us, spells were being thrown around by different groups engaging each other. There were three bodies on the ground that I recognized as Death Eaters. Must have gone down in the initial assault. I deduced.
I reached Percy and my hand grabbed his foot. I immediately felt the spells on top of him, holding him suspended in the air.
I ripped them apart.
His eyes flew open when the spells and his body dropped. I moved my head to avoid the kick he sent my way in panic. "Get away!" He screamed as he backed away from me in shock.
Fuck I should have known better. I thought as he took off in the opposite direction of me. In the direction of Bellatrix.
I saw what would happen before anyone acted. Harry approached the pillar in the opposite direction as me, and was pushing Bellatrix out into the open, directly in Percy's path.
She rounded the corner, and her eyes locked onto my brother. I moved to position myself in a way that I could defend him without hurting him. He moved the same direction once he saw Bellatrix.
Her wand whipped up and cut the air in the same pattern that was carved into Harry's scar.
"NO!"
"Avada Kedavra."
A/N: Oh shit. Does everyone understand what just happened?
Sorry this is coming out so late, Like I said at the top, Kobe's death was unexpected and affected me more than I thought it would. I'm normally not the type to be affected by celebrities deaths, but this one just hit different.
Let's talk about what just happened in the reviews!