Chapter 34 – Midnight Raids
The streets of Hogsmeade were illuminated by a few candles and the light of the Moon as the rangers silently teleported into the village. They chose midnight as the best time to put their plan into motion. It was well after curfew up at the school so, in theory, everyone should be safely tucked up in bed. The students had returned to Hogwarts a few days ago, although after looking at the Marauders Map, it didn't seem quite as full as before. Their initial plan had been to locate the descendants of the Lu Caodi family and enquire about the Jade Turtle, however, that plan had to be discarded when Harry noticed they hadn't returned to school. Now their mission was to get some more information about their disappearance and try and locate them before Voldemort did.
Another look at the map showed a few unwelcome additions to the Hogswarts staff. Firstly there were the Carrow twins, two of the nastiest people you were ever likely to come across. Other than Bellatrix, they were possibly the most sadistic of the Death Eaters. Ron even suggested that their sibling relationship was perhaps a little too close. The others had wanted to dismiss this thought, however, knowing what they did about Pureblood families it was probably true.
The other name was someone they thought would never grace the halls of Hogwarts again, Severus Snape. Not only that, he spent most of his time in the Headmaster's office, leading them to believe that he had been named the new Headmaster. Somehow Voldemort's influence over the governors had extended to getting them to name Dumbledore's murderer as his replacement. A small part of them wanted to storm the walls of the castle and overthrow the greasy bat. Sadly they did need to try and keep under the radar for fear of reprisals against the students.
Sticking to the shadows as much as possible, the teens soon arrived at the entrance to Honeydukes. Ginny stretched her fingers and placed her hand over the door handle. A quick blast of sonic energy later, the locking mechanism completely disintegrated and the door swung open. Dean then quickly masked their presence to prevent them from tripping any alarm wards that the owner might have placed over the shop, "Alright that should give us about an hour", the green ranger commented, "unless someone happens to walk past the shop".
"Unlikely at this hour", Harry replied. Fortunately for them, the Death Eaters had yet to set up a presence in the village. They were too busy securing London and the surrounding Wizarding areas. "Ok Cho and I will sneak into the castle and find Neville and Luna", he continued, "if you get any trouble, just buzz us".
"I still don't see why she's going with you", Ginny sighed.
"Because I'm the only one who knows where Ravenclaw Tower is and how to get into it", the pink ranger stated, "don't worry, I'm not going to steal your man away". A few months ago that thought would've crossed the white ranger's mind but after getting to know the older girl, she knew that she didn't pose a threat.
"Don't worry Gin the next dangerous mission we do, you can come with me", Harry smiled.
"And who says romance is dead", Ginny shook her head and gave her boyfriend a kiss for good luck.
Harry and Cho jumped into the basement and began to follow the passageway into the castle. It still amazed the red ranger that no one had discovered this route into the castle or that the owner of Honeydukes hadn't noticed that someone kept raiding his stock. He was sure that Snape would've guessed there was a passageway near that statue inside Hogwarts but once again luck was on their side, "You're quiet tonight Potter", Cho whispered.
"Just thinking how easy this has been so far", he replied, "normally something's gone wrong by now".
"Thanks, now you've surely jinxed us", she sighed, "are we there yet".
The pair paused and Harry used the backlight on his communicator to check their progress. He thought about casting a lumos spell but the brighter light would've attracted too much attention, "I think we're there", he said and pulled out the Map. He activated it and quickly scanned Gryffindor Tower, "Strange, Neville's not inside".
"Luna's not in Ravenclaw Tower either", Cho added, "wait there they are", she pointed at two fast moving dots on the map.
"And look who's chasing them", Harry added and pointed at the Carrow twins.
"Come on they're heading to the Room of Requirement", Cho grabbed his hand and pulled him out the tunnel.
Further into the school, Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood were running for their lives. The pair had been singled out by the new regime before they even reached the school. On the Hogwarts Express, Neville had defied one of the twins by showing his support for Harry. Since then the pair had been subjected to a long list of cruel punishments but they didn't care. They were trying to lead a resurgence of Dumbledore's Army with the few that were still in the school. Sadly the Carrows had gotten wind of this, leading to the latest hunt through the corridors of the school, "Not much further Luna", Neville whizzed.
"I don't think I can make it", the younger girl sighed.
"Yes you can", he replied defiantly, "I'm not leaving you behind". His words would be tested as Luna was hit from behind with a tripping jinx. The Ravenclaw fell to the ground, just about managing to extend her hand out to break her fall. Nevllie stopped immediately and ran back to assist her but that was just the break the Carrow's were looking for.
"Well well well", Amycus sniggered, "looks like we've found a couple of students out after curfew".
"And it's our favourite trouble makers Longbottom and Lovegood", his sister Alecto tapped her wand against her cheek, "now what are we going to do with you two".
Neville stood protectively in front of the younger girl, "Do whatever you want to me, just leave Luna out of this".
Amycus laughed, "This must be that legendary Gryffindor courage in action", he slowly raised his wand, "good thing you're a Pureblood Longbottom, otherwise your life would end right now". The Death Eater appeared to be waiting for Neville to beg but the teen wouldn't give him the satisfaction, "I see we're going to have to curse that defiance out of you boy".
"I'd like to see you try", a voice called out from behind the twins.
The male Carrow turned around and came face to face with Undesirable Number One, "Potter, you're here", he cried with a mixture of surprise and amazement.
"How very observant", Harry rolled his eyes. There was a crunch from beside Amycus and turned around just in turn to see his sister recoil in pain, "I see you've met my associate", the red ranger added. With Amycus distracted, Harry punched him hard in the temple before kicking him in the nose. The man slid across the ground and impacted against the wall, completely unconscious.
Alecto regained her senses just in time to see her brother getting knocked out, "You'll pay for this Potter, can't you even fight like a wizard".
"I can but this way is actually much easier", Harry replied. Alecto's wand began to glow and there was a curse on the tip of her tongue, "Now I've never been too keen to hit a woman", Harry began to back away. Suddenly Cho jumped out of the shadows and grabbed Alecto's arm. He thrust her hand into the woman's elbow, breaking her arm at the joint. There was a loud scream of pain from the woman but that was soon silenced by the pink ranger nearly taking her head off with a vicious spin kick, "My team mate on the other hand has no trouble at all", Harry chuckled and stepped over Alecto's fallen body.
"Harry?" Neville asked in confusion, "Cho?" he was now really confused.
"Good to see you've grown some balls over the summer Longbottom", Cho chuckled and offered her hand to Luna. The younger girl looked reluctant to accept, the pink ranger hadn't been that nice to her in the past. "Luna I'm sorry that I wasn't the nicest of people before but I'm here to help", Luna smiled and grabbed the outstretched hand.
"The Nargles have left your mind", Luna smiled, "the phoenix glows brightly instead".
"That's our Luna", Harry smiled before turning back to Neville, "look Neville, we haven't got much time, we'll talk more instead the Room of Requirement".
The quartet quickly hurried inside where Harry and Cho told them everything. Neville's grandmother had been at the Weasley wedding but they hadn't passed on any information about what happened after Snape showed up. She had been there during the entire battle and had seen the ranger's morph. Luna's dad had escaped with his daughter before the battle really kicked off so they were surprised to learn what Harry and the others had been going through over the last few months. It did though answer a lot of questions, "So that explains why all of you are suddenly so good at muggle fighting", Neville mused outloud.
"Martial arts, yeah we've had an intensive training course courtesy of Cho and a previous ranger team", Harry replied.
"And the guardian spirits that now surround you", Luna gazed at the two rangers, "the red dragon and the phoenix".
"That's an amazing talent you have Luna", Cho began, "I wish I'd paid more attention to you before".
"I think that's all part of her strategy", Harry looked at the younger girl, "if they underestimate you then it makes it easier to defeat someone in a duel situation", there was no verbal response from Luna but the small smile on her lips told the whole story.
"Does this mean you're coming back to school?" Neville asked in hope, "we need someone to lead Dumbledore's Army".
Harry shook his head, "I'm sorry Neville but it's too dangerous for us to return", he then paused for a moment, "and I think that the DA has found its new leader".
"Me?" Neville asked, "but I don't know how to lead anyone".
"Sounds like you've done a good job so far", Cho began, "and you stood up to two Death Eaters who were willing to curse you into oblivion, that takes guts".
"The job's yours if you want it", Harry held out his hand and Neville shook it without hesitation. "Now the real reason we're here is to find out some information about the Greengrass family".
Neville raised an eyebrow, "Daphne and Astoria never came back to school this year, why do you want to know about them?"
"The turtle flows around them", Luna stated to Harry, "not as brightly as the spirits around you but there is something in their blood".
"And that's exactly why we need to find them", Cho replied, "their family holds an ancient Chi power and they could be in danger if Voldemort finds them first".
Neville frowned for a moment, trying to recall an old memory, "I've been to a few events hosted by the Greengrass family, they've got a couple of couple of large properties in the country. Greengrass Manor is in Somerset, just outside the city of Taunton and they've got a smaller mansion in the Cotswolds. If they were going to hide out anywhere then I would guess they will in one of those two locations".
"Thank you Neville", Harry looked at his communicator and placed a call, "Ron, we've got what we need. You can teleport back to base, we've got something to clear up".
"Didn't run as smoothly as you thought", Ron asked.
"Does it ever", Harry chuckled, "we'll see you in about ten minutes", he then looked at the device, "didn't think that would work in here".
"Did you just get a muggle device to work inside Hogwarts", Luna asked, her inner Ravenclaw full of questions.
"That's a story for another time", Harry began, "now perhaps we should get you back to your respective Tower's before the ugly siblings outside wake up". He held out his arm to Neville, "We're going to conduct a little experiment to see if we can teleport within Hogwarts".
"Personally I don't think it'll work", Cho crossed her arms.
"Ye of little faith", Harry grabbed Neville, "don't worry this shouldn't hurt". Neville didn't get a chance to protest as Harry activated the device and they disappeared in a flash of red light.
"Huh well guess I was wrong", Cho took Luna's hand, "now this is a story for the Quibbler right?"
Luna smiled, "I don't think our readers would believe this, plus Daddy's already got his latest feature on the Yeti of Tibet lined up".
The pink ranger chuckled, "Don't ever change Luna", and with that she teleported her over to Ravenclaw Tower.
