My beta-readers, fredfred and InquisitorCOC, deserve a huge thank you. They helped a lot.


Chapter 77: The Test Flight

Black Lake, Scotland, May 10th 2006

Ron kept staring at the remains of the Dementor. Bits and pieces - nothing bigger than a fist - littered the floor. A few were even stuck to the walls. One part slowly peeled off the transparent cell door and fell to the ground. And the cage looked like… well, as if a body had exploded inside it. Which it had.

But there was no blood. Nothing at all like blood, he realised. The cage and walls should've been coated in blood - if, that is, the Dementor had had any blood. There was some liquid spread around, and more on the ground, but that was probably the DMSO cocktail. Although… "Is it just me, or is this the driest blown-up body you've ever seen?" he asked the others through the intercom. If the Dementor's blood was still alive, it might be invisible. Hadn't he read a story about an alien monster which was actually a liquid possessing bodies? Or had that been a monster he made up for a D&D adventure?

"No, it's not just you," Hermione replied. "I don't see any blood-like liquid, either. Though since some of the parts stuck to the walls, there might be some residual liquid present - probably the water that was inside the Dementor."

"Or what's left of it," one of the twins added. "Hard to say if part of it was consumed in the explosion, seeing as there was so much on the ground already."

"You could probably watch the recordings we took, and use them to analyse the amount of water which escaped," Dumbledore cut in. "We should also be able to determine the exact time of death by finding the moment the parts become visible to muggles."

"That's a good idea. Let's look at the recordings!" Hermione said.

Well, Ron would look at the body parts a little longer. A lot longer, he corrected himself - they had to be sure the monster wouldn't resurrect itself by regenerating or something.

And, after all that time spent fighting the creature's aura, it felt good - really good - to see it blown to bits.

He stepped closer to the cell door and crouched down. The chunk of Dementor in front of the cell door looked like… It wasn't flesh or bone or anything like that. Just some… mass. A bit like clay, though it looked a little porous. Then again, that could've been the result of water appearing inside the thing and blowing it up. Perhaps an analysis under a microscope would tell.

Even so, it was clear that Dementors weren't animals. They were more like… constructs. Perhaps some sort of golem. Magically animated. Or… He shuddered. What if they were possessed by a spirit, which had just been set free? No. He reminded himself that Hermione had tested for that before. She had encountered possessed people and things before. Wizards knew about possession and its effects. Dementors weren't possessed… constructs.

Of course, if Dementors were basically animated matter - animated floating statues made out of some magical Play-Doh material - then they might not even be magical creatures. Just a collection of spells. Or spell-like effects.

He laughed. Here he was, a muggle who had read and played too many fantasy games, acting as if he was a wizard researching magic. It was absurd.

Still, he would ask Hermione and the others about it anyway. Perhaps it would give them ideas.


"Matter animated and controlled by a spell?" Hermione blinked. "That's actually… not implausible. It would explain a number of things about their physiology. And there are similar spells. The enchanted suits of armour at Hogwarts. Or the famous golem."

"Or Inferi," wizarding George said. "They would actually fit very well - only instead of going for souls, they go for meat."

"And brains," his brother added.

"However, neither Inferi nor golems act as independently as the Dementors. They rely on orders given to them," Hermione pointed out.

"Orders can be quite complicated," Ron replied.

"Not for essentially brainless bodies," Hermione told him.

"You can say 'constructs'." He grinned at her.

Frowning at him, she said: "I don't think the Dementors would have the autonomy to act as they do if they were mere magically created bodies animated by spells. That would require the processing ability of a portrait."

"But it would be theoretically possible?" Ron challenged.

"Theoretically. But it would also mean that someone had managed to create an almost indestructible animated body. If they could do that, why didn't they expand on it? Containers or armour with that same resistance to almost anything would've been very powerful - especially at the time the Dementors were first discovered."

"Well, Ekrizdis was said to have practised the worst of the Dark Arts on Azkaban, and he's supposed to have lost his mind as a result. Perhaps he created the Dementors, and then was killed by his own creations before he could expand on his discovery?" wizarding George suggested.

"He wouldn't have created so many of them, though," Hermione retorted. "Doing so would have taken a long time - time spent in close proximity to a steadily growing number of Dementors."

"Perhaps he controlled them and kept them at bay, not realising that the effects of their aura grew with every new Dementor until it was too late?" Wizarding Fred shrugged. "I wouldn't dismiss the possibility."

"And perhaps he intended them as a deterrent?" Dumbledore tilted his head. "Anyone killing him would set them loose - out of control, acting on his last orders."

"Then why would they have been stuck on Azkaban?" Hermione countered. "That's not much of a deterrent."

"He might have been working on, or planned to work on, a means to address that before he died or lost the will to research further," the old man replied.

"Or lost his mind," Ron added.

"Well, we would need to research further to discover the answer," Hermione said. "But for that, we'd need another Dementor, which I don't think is feasible. We can, however, proceed with our plan to exterminate them."

Ron nodded. That was their actual goal, after all.


Black Lake, Scotland, May 11th 2006

"We all know the layout of Azkaban," Ron said, pointing at the picture projected on the wall behind him. "That hasn't changed. And, according to our information" - he nodded at his counterpart, who was sitting in the first row - "they've repaired the pier. Further, they expedited the removal of the prison's remaining inmates after the incident that destroyed the pier."

Wizarding Ron snorted. "You mean the incident during which you destroyed the pier."

Ron ignored him. Moody had taught him better than to admit to anything to another cop - no matter the situation.

"We can neither confirm nor deny any involvement of ours in that incident," Dumbledore told him with a smile.

Of course the old spymaster would love being smug about it too much to ignore the opening.

"Yeah, sure," Ron's counterpart said.

Rion cleared his throat. "However, after the incident, the Ministry has increased security on the island."

"On the empty island. Suddenly, they have more guards available when, before, it was always impossible to increase the number of wizarding guards and remove the Dementors." Luna scoffed.

"It's not quite that easy," wizarding Ron defended the Ministry and himself. "We're missing those guards elsewhere. They're just Hit-Wizards, but anyone guarding Azkaban against 'dark wizard intrusions' is one less guard available to protect the Ministry, Hogsmeade or Godric's Hollow." He scowled. "We've been cancelling all vacations, and everyone's doing overtime for now - but we can't keep that up much longer." Shaking his head, he added: "I'm officially on a patrol around Hogsmeade and Hogwarts and the Forbidden Forest - looking for anything or anyone suspicious."

"You being here is technically following your orders," Hermione told him.

"Very technically. Harry's covering for me so no one tries to contact me," her friend replied with a wry grin. "He told the Department that I'm 'going dark' until I'm done and that anyone trying to bother me might endanger me."

Hermione laughed. "They bought it?"

Wizarding Ron shrugged in return. "Enough people survived the war to know how we did things then. They probably think I'm having flashbacks or something…" He trailed off with a grimace. "Uh, sorry."

Ron saw that Hermione had tensed up and wanted to smack his counterpart. On the head. And he wanted to go and hug Hermione.

He did neither. Instead, he cleared his throat again. "In any case, the added security - both on the island and on the ferry - means that the ferry can't be used to sneak on to Azkaban any more."

"That was to be expected. Few such vulnerabilities and weaknesses can be used more than once," Dumbledore added. "However, no place is completely impervious to infiltration. Some might come close, of course."

Ron smiled. "And Azkaban is among those places. Our best bet, actually, would be to wait until the Ministry reduces the number of guards on the island."

"We can't! The longer the Dementors aren't fed, the more dangerous they become!" wizarding Luna blurted out.

"Agreed." Ron nodded at her. "The longer we wait, the greater the danger that there's a fatal incident - or that some or even all of the Dementors manage to leave the island." There were dark wizards, after all, out in the world who might want such monsters for their own nefarious and probably self-destructive purposes. He smiled. "So we'll have to strike while there are still a significant number of guards on the island. Fortunately, we have a plan for that." Had had one ready for a while, actually.

Hermione stood, and he handed her the pointer before taking a step back. "We can't use the ferry. Transferring or duplicating the enchantment on to another vessel isn't feasible. Nor would another ship be a good choice, in any case, since we'll have to break through the island's wards. We would have to keep the ship almost perfectly still so that a Curse-Breaker could work on the protections."

"We've worked in worse conditions," wizarding Bill said. Fleur nodded in agreement.

"But not when dealing with the sorts of wards on that island," Hermione retorted. "So we've found a solution that will allow us to work on breaking through the wards without taking unnecessary risks."

Ron saw her grimace as she pushed a button, and another picture replaced the shot of Azkaban.

Dumbledore chuckled. "Gellert wasn't amused, but I think he actually likes the idea."

Sirius, of course, was whooping with delight. "Yes! I knew it!"

Hermione scowled, but she really should have expected that.

"A flying tank!" Sirius cheered.

"It's not a flying tank!" Hermione spat through clenched teeth. "It's an armoured flying transport based on a wheeled vehicle."

"A light tank."

"It's not a light tank. The Rotluchs is classified as an armoured personnel carrier. And it'll be heavily modified." Hermione wasn't about to give in, as expected.

"APCs don't have a turret with a nine-centimetre main gun," Sirius shot back, still grinning like a loon. "It's a light tank."

"We're only using this version because the Phoenix Gruppe didn't have a spare transport model available," Hermione told him. And, as Ron knew, because she didn't want to duplicate one of the transports since that would put it at risk of being dispelled. "And we'll probably remove the turret anyway."

Sirius gasped. "What? Certainly not! That would reduce the tank's capability! And with magic, there's no need to save space or weight, anyway! In fact, you should replace it with a Leopard's turret!"

Harry raised his hand. "Why exactly are we planning to enchant an armoured vehicle for this?"

"Because a flying tank is…"

"I wasn't asking you, Sirius," Harry cut off his godfather.

Hermione sighed. "Because, given the decaying effect of the Dementor's aura, it's safest to work from a heavily armoured cell. We don't plan to get too close in the first place, of course, but it's better to be safe than sorry - and this was the safest model available."

"Contrary to the widespread propaganda put about by our detractors, the Phoenix Gruppe doesn't actually have stores of tanks and other military weapons. We only produce to order - and, currently, there aren't any orders for main battle tanks," Dumbledore explained. "So we had to make do with a demonstration model, and this was the only one available."

"Fate smiles on us!" Sirius said.

"And removing the weapons and wheels would've been both an unnecessary effort and deprived the vehicle of its ability to blend in - to some degree - among muggles," Ron added. Not to mention that Mr Weasley had experience in enchanting cars, and a wheeled armoured vehicle was a car of some sort. Ron didn't know if the man had experience in enchanting a flying bunker.

And a flying tank was cool, of course. Not that he would tell Hermione that.


The Burrow, Ottery St Catchpole, Devon, Britain, Wizarding World, May 11th 2006

"How delightful! An eight-wheeled muggle car!" Mr Weasley had the same expression Dad had had when he had found that old Jaguar to restore. The 'Rotluchs' easily filled most of the extended shed in which they were standing, dwarfing any car, but that didn't seem to deter the wizard - quite the contrary.

"It's a tank, actually." Sirius butted in before anyone else had a chance to respond.

"It's not a tank. It's an armoured fighting vehicle." Hermione hadn't given up on correcting Sirius.

"Isn't a tank an armoured fighting vehicle?" Mr Weasley asked.

"Yes. But not every armoured fighting vehicle is a tank," Hermione told him.

"But this one is a light tank!" Sirius said. "Just look at the gun on it!"

"Oh, is that functional?"

"Of course!"

"We have to try it out, then!" Mr Weasley beamed. "I've shot shotguns before, and it was great fun!"

Ron cleared his throat. "Shotguns don't compare to tank guns," he said, ignoring the glare Hermione sent at him. "This is much more powerful - and dangerous. And loud."

"Oh! That sounds wonderful!"

"It's also a little hard on the landscape," Hermione told him with a rather forced smile. "Think Blasting Curses. Cast by experts."

"Oh! That would be a little hard on the area, yes. And our neighbours would wonder what was going on." Mr Weasley nodded. "We'll have to test it in the wilderness, then!"

"I concur," Dumbledore said, smiling as well. "It wouldn't do to take an untested vehicle into the field. Although I propose that we use my company's testing area for it."

"Good idea!" Mr Weasley's smile grew even wider. "Perhaps we can compare it to other vehicles? That would provide us with a good baseline."

Ron knew that expression as well. Dad wore it whenever he was about to get his way in a deal.

"I'll see what I can do," Dumbledore said, "though our selection is currently a little limited."

"Ah."

"I knew I should've bought a Scorpion!" Sirius said. "That would be a good tank to measure up to. Proven in combat, too!"

"The Rotluchs has seen action in Afghanistan," Dumbledore pointed out. "The Bundeswehr was quite satisfied with its performance."

"They'd better be satisfied," Ron remarked. "They certainly paid enough for it." Probably too much. At least, the vehicle did what it was supposed to, as far as he knew.

"Can we focus on what sorts of enchantments we need on it before we talk about going out on the shooting range?" Hermione asked, rolling her eyes.

"Certainly!" Mr Weasley replied. "I assume that you want a flying tank that can turn invisible, right?"

Sirius nodded emphatically.

Hermione's nod was barely a twitch of her head.


Mrs Weasley had, of course, insisted on everyone staying for dinner. Usually, Ron would've felt a little guilty for descending on anyone with half a dozen unexpected guests, but with magic allowing Mrs Weasley to duplicate her food, that wasn't an issue.

"And the tank - that's an armoured muggle car for the muggle military, Molly - has eight wheels! Eight! And a turret with a cannon! I wonder if I can enchant some bullets for it."

"Shells, actually. They're called shells," Sirius replied. "And that's a great idea! Can you enchant shells that release a strong acid that melts down enemy tanks?"

"Oh… that depends on what tanks are made of," Mr Wealsey said, nodding. "But it should be possible with a potion… I think. What do you think, Molly?" He beamed at her, then turned to Sirius. "She's a dab hand at potions, you know."

Mrs Weasley smiled, presumably at the compliment, but frowned when she replied: "I'm not familiar with any potion that would melt a car - a tank."

"And I don't think we need such shells, anyway," Hermione said. Her scowl was very pronounced. "We simply need a flying invisible vehicle with adequate protection."

"A flying tank!"

Ron rolled his eyes. Sirius was really overdoing it. Then again, that was typical for the man.

"Of course." Mr Wealsey nodded. "I'm merely thinking about additional options. Cars are sold with options, aren't they?"

"Yes," Sirius said. "I usually take all the options, too!"

"Even the ones no one should take," Ron added. "But this is more like a tuning job, not a sale."

"Tuning? Like a musical instrument?" Mr Weasley asked.

"I think they took the term from there," Ron replied. "But it's car tuning - improving the engine, lowering the centre of gravity, replacing the upholstery with leather…" He shrugged. "But Hermione's correct: We need the vehicle flying and invisible. We're not planning to shoot magical shells at anyone."

"But think of the Dementors being hit by shells containing water!" Sirius chuckled at his own suggestion. "We could blast them all over the place!"

"No, we won't blast them around for our entertainment," Hermione snapped. "We'll do this efficiently and without unnecessary cruelty. We're better than that."

"And we should also know better than to take risks around the Dementors," Ron added.

"There's no risk if we stay above them, out of their range, and shoot them," Sirius retorted.

"We can't know that;" Hermione told him. "We don't know the Dementors' full capabilities. Especially not when they are gathered in large numbers."

"You've had one to experiment on."

"Well, we used water against it, but that didn't do much until we found a way to have the water appear inside its body," Ron explained. "Shooting one with water didn't do anything permanent."

"And we won't fool around on the mission and risk some of them escaping," Hermione added, glaring at the man.

"You better not," Mrs Weasley cut in. "That would be irresponsible!"

Sirius pouted, but Ron didn't miss that Mr Weasley looked a little guilty as well.

Well, best to nip that in the bud. After his time spent helping to experiment on a Dementor, Ron knew perfectly well that you couldn't play around with them.


Unknown Highlands, Scotland, May 12th 2006

Ron stared at the table. Or what remained of it after the demonstration. "That's… impressive," he said. And scary.

"It is, isn't it?" Luna smiled at him. "Just as planned!" She beamed at the box in front of her, from which a few flickering lights could be seen even from where Ron was standing.

"And they're resistant to cold, so the Dementors' aura shouldn't be able to kill them," wizarding Luna added. With a frown, she added: "We weren't able to test that, though. Not before you destroyed your Dementor."

"I'm sorry about that," Hermione said. "We were too eager to test our idea against them."

"And we were surprised by the fact it worked," Ron told them.

Hermione pursed her lips. "The results were within the predicted range."

The Dementor had withstood everything else until then. Ron didn't think that anyone had been certain or even confident that it would work.

"It doesn't matter, anyway," Hermione went on. "In any case, did you manage to control their breeding?"

"We did," Luna replied.

Her counterpart pouted. "Under protest! Limiting the dearies feels wrong. They're so cute!"

Ron would've chosen a few other terms to describe the creatures. Ugly. Revolting. Dangerous. Monstrous.

"If they are caught breeding then the ICW will exterminate them," Hermione said. "It's better to have them die off naturally - of old age - before anyone realises what they are."

"Or have them all drown once they reach the sea," Ron added.

"Still… sex is an important part of life. Can you claim to have lived if you've never had sex?" wizarding Luna asked.

"Yes," Hermione told her with a frown.

Ron refrained from commenting that Luna's question sounded a little 'sex-ist'. "So, what do you call them?" he asked instead.

Wizarding Luna perked up at once. "I wanted to call them 'Lunar Firelice', but Luna said that that would be giving away that we created them. So… we decided to call them 'Firestone Lice'. You know, because they're a cross between Stone Lice and Fire Crabs."

A fitting name, in Ron's opinion. And scary, too.

"You have to be completely sure that they cannot breed outside captivity, though," Hermione stressed. "If they escape into the wild, they'll destroy the natural habitats of many native species. Especially in this world."

Ron nodded. That was a nightmare scenario.

"Oh, don't worry - they'll only breed if they smell the mating pheromones of Fire Crabs," wizarding Luna told them. She sighed and added: "We tried everything else to get them to breed but without success. The poor dears are an evolutionary dead end like this, always depending on us to breed. It's really unnatural."

"But it's a necessity to protect the environment and the countless species that would be endangered - or even more endangered - otherwise," Hermione told them.

"Oh, yes," Ron agreed. This wasn't the time to quote Jurassic Park.

"But they only eat stone and mortar," wizarding Luna retorted. "There are no species in this world that have the same ecological niche."

"If they appear and start eating buildings and bridges, people will try to exterminate them. And they'll use means that will kill many other animals," Ron told her.

The witch pouted. "That's unfair."

"You can't expect people to let an invasive species eat their homes and infrastructure;" Hermione pointed out.

"Or their mountains," Ron added. "Imagine if the Aborigines lost their sacred mountain to the Firestone Lice."

"Or the Muslims the Kaaba. Or Jerusalem's churches and temples and synagogues." Hermione shook her head. "The Firestone Lice are too dangerous to be allowed to breed in the wild."

Luna, fortunately, nodded in agreement. "Yes. We will keep them in a habitat where they can live without being persecuted just for something that wasn't their fault."

Ron suppressed a sigh of relief. One ecological transdimensional catastrophe averted.


Black Lake, Scotland, May 12th 2006

"So, now we just have to wait for Mr Weasley to finish enchanting our Rotluchs," Ron said as he sat down on their bed in his boxers.

"Yes. Which I hope won't take too long." Hermione sighed as she pulled off her sweater. "I would much prefer to do this before the school year ends."

He nodded. "On a Hogsmeade weekend."

"Ideally, yes. The Ministry already keeps a lot of guards in Hogsmeade, but the number spikes every time the students at Hogwarts are allowed to visit the village." She sighed. "It was the same during the war - but we knew not every Auror could be trusted."

"And that means you couldn't trust any Auror," he replied. One bad apple might not spoil the entire basket, but it could easily ruin the basket's reputation. Ron blinked. That metaphor had run away from him.

"Yes." Hermione slipped out of her jeans - which took a little effort, he noticed; they were a little too tight to be comfortable, but they looked great on her - and pointed her wand at herself. A moment later, her ponytail undid itself. And her bra flew into the bathroom, doubtless landing in the laundry basket.

He shook his head. "It's still amazing seeing magic like that."

"Oh?"

"Casual magic. In a way, it's even more impressive than a flying tank."

She frowned - probably at him calling the Rotluchs a tank. Then she smiled. "I used to do this all the time, but my habits changed during my time in this world. It took a while to switch back, so to speak."

He nodded. He could imagine that. "In any case, it's impressive." And he wasn't jealous about such minor spells. Not really.

She slipped into a nightshirt. A silk one, which looked very good on her, too. "A full-blown magical house is much more impressive. Even without a magical servant."

He narrowed his eyes and shook his head. "I don't think so. No computer? No telly? I'll take a modern house with some minor spells, thank you very much." He smiled at her.

To his surprise, she sighed. "Yes, I suppose so. It's really frustrating that modern electronics do not function inside wards."

"Which is weird," he said. "Shouldn't magic itself affect electronics?"

"It actually does. But the effect is barely noticeable even if you're looking for it," she explained as she joined him on the bed.

"And what makes wards so different?"

"I think it's the permanent effect of the protections. The way the spells are anchored to a place must affect electronics." She lay down on her stomach, then rolled on to her side, propping her head up with one hand. "I wish I had the time to research it."

"Perhaps someone will crack it while you work on exploring new universes." He chuckled. "Living without a telly is one thing, but without a computer? Or a cellphone? Even wizards and witches will want one, once they discover the joy of texting."

"I remain sceptical. If you can apparate, a cell phone loses much of its utility," Hermione retorted. "And you could use the Protean Charm to text - although only to a specific item, so it wouldn't allow you to text just anyone."

"You said relatively few wizards apparated," Ron retorted.

He caught her pursing her lips for a moment. "Yes. But my point stands. And it's more likely that someone will figure out a way to make magical cellphones than how to shield them against magic. Just like they adapted the wireless."

"Magical computers?" He blinked. "If they combined that with portraits…"

"It wouldn't be an Artificial Intelligence," she told him.

"You don't know that. And it would look like one - like the A.I. in Andromeda. Or the doctor in Voyager. " He grinned widely.

Hermione shook her head. But she was smiling as well.


Highlands, Scotland, Wizarding World, May 13th 2006

"...and this lever turns the tank invisible and silent when pulled down, and visible when pushed up. Although it won't cancel a Disillusionment Charm cast on the tank," Mr Weasley explained. "This lever here does the same for the flying charms."

The levers were also marked - in English - with 'Stealth Mode' and 'Flight Mode', Ron, standing behind the man and Hermione in the temporarily extended driver's compartment, noticed. Unfortunately, the brass plaques and brass levers Mr Weasley had used really stood out compared to the German plastic tags on the rest of the levers and buttons next to the steering wheel. Well, anyone who knew anything about these tanks - armoured fighting vehicles - would probably think it was a joke. The tank was about as stealthy as a truck. And about as heavy.

"So… let's take it out for a test drive!" Sirius said. If the man tried to sound any more eager, he'd probably be panting.

"We already did a test drive - and a test flight, remember, Sirius?" Mr Weasley said. "I wouldn't hand the tank over without testing my work!"

"Yes, but that was the test drive for the garage. We still need the test drive for the customer," Sirius replied. "That's only proper."

Harry sighed. "Really?"

"Yes, really!" Ginny cut in. "And I want to fly this thing! I didn't skip a tournament by faking a training injury not to get to fly a tank!"

Ron sighed. His little sister had some weird priorities. "Mum won't like it," he told her.

"So?" She grinned at him. "Who's gonna tell her?"

"No one. But do you really think she'll believe your injury story?" Ron snorted. "She knows you could have it magically healed. So she'll suspect it's a cover."

"Oh." Apparently, Ginny hadn't considered that.

"Magical healing should be reserved for emergencies and serious diseases and injuries," Hermione said. "Not for healing a strained muscle."

"You've seen the news?" Ginny smiled.

"No," Hermione told her. "I merely guessed what would be the most believable injury that could be quickly healed without requiring extensive treatment."

Ron suppressed a chuckle at his sister's pout. She was a little too vain.

And stubborn. "Anyway," Ginny said, "we do need to test the tank if only to become familiar with it. We can't afford to make any mistakes when we attack Azkaban, now can we?"

That was a good argument. Not that Ron wanted to let Ginny near the Dementors at all, of course. But he knew that trying to tell her to stay behind would only start an argument they couldn't afford right now. And, as much as he hated it, they didn't exactly have a lot of trusted people they could take with them. Not with most of Hermione's wizarding friends having to stay in Wizarding Britain to be seen by the Ministry. But damn, Ginny better keep that tank high up in the air where she couldn't feel the Dementors' aura!

"Which is why this isn't actually a test flight, but a training flight. Or drive," Hermione told them.

"I would say it's a training flight," Dumbledore said. "Since, you know, we'll actually be flying."

"Semantics!" Sirius scoffed. "Let's take this baby up!"

"Alright. Let me demonstrate how to operate it." Mr Weasley didn't relinquish the seat. Instead, he started the engine. "It works like a normal muggle vehicle on the ground - I didn't change that, though I enchanted the engine so it runs more quietly and doesn't actually need fuel."

"That will save a lot of money," Sirius said. "Not that we couldn't afford it, mind you."

"But it also means that the Rotluchs has an effectively unlimited range," Hermione pointed out.

"We can use it to fly anywhere!" Sirius added. "No more waiting at airports for us!"

"Provided you don't mind a top speed of seventy miles per hour," Hermione said.

"Bah!" Sirius scoffed again. "Just consider it a cruise!" He gestured at the back of the vehicle. "We can certainly travel in style! This tank is bigger inside than Grimmauld Place!"

"Actually, it's smaller," Hermione corrected him. "It has about as much space as the Burrow."

Ron suppressed a sigh and addressed Mr Weasley. "So… how do you steer it in flight?"

"Oh, I enchanted the steering wheel. In flight mode - and only in flight mode - you can pull it back to fly up and push it forward to descend. Like an aeroplane!" The wizard demonstrated it.

Ron stared. The steering column bent. As if it were made of rubber. Well, that would take a little time to get used to.

"Fascinating," Dumbledore commented. "And a little disquieting. Steel shouldn't bend like rubber."

Then they started rolling. "You can fly straight away, but it's smoother if you have a rolling start - like an aeroplane," Mr Weasley said. Then he pulled the invisibility and flight mode levers.

The engine noise - which had not been as loud as Ron had expected - vanished and they were flying - he could see that through the open hatch in the back. "We'll need seatbelts," he said as he had to steady himself when Mr Weasley demonstrated banking.

"There are seatbelts," Hermione pointed out - she had already buckled her own.

"I meant on all the furniture in the cabins," Ron explained.

"Oh. Yes." She winced. "And Sticking Charms, I think."

"The furniture is enchanted against breaking," Mr Weasley said. "And stuck already."

"But we would still be thrown around if there's a storm, wouldn't we?"

"Oh. I didn't think of that."

"Don't worry about it," Hermione told him. "We'll add seatbelts."

"Gellert would insist on them, yes."

"But I promised a flying tank, and that means it's not ready to fly."

"It is ready to fly," she assured him. "You did great work."

"Yes," Sirius chimed in. "Exactly as I dreamed!"

That lifted the wizard's spirits, and he continued explaining how everything worked while they flew around. In their tank.

Ron wondered if it would be abusing the man's enthusiasm if he asked him to enchant the Ford Capri Ron had inherited from his uncle.

"Now we need to test the gun!" Sirius said - for the third time since they had landed five minutes ago. "No tank is deemed ready until the gun works!"

"We're not planning to use the gun," Hermione retorted, also for the third time.

"But we might need it," Sirius told her.

"It should work - we tested it, remember?" Mr Weasley said. "On the island."

"Island?" Ron asked.

"A hidden island near the Isle of Man," the wizard told him. "Perfect to test, ah, dangerous devices."

"Yes, we did - but as I said already: We need to officially test it now as well!" Sirius smiled widely.

"You just want to shoot the gun," Harry told his godfather.

"Of course! How else could I get the practice? You never know when you'll suddenly need a tank cannon."

"I doubt we'll need a cannon on Azkaban - it won't really hurt Dementors," Hermione said. "On the contrary, it might blast them into the sea, keeping them away from our attack."

"And what if we need to blow up a building or wall? From a safe distance?" Sirius shook his head. "Always plan for the worst, I always say."

"You've never said that as far as I can recall," Harry told him.

"Really? I should have. Time to start now, then!"

Ron chuckled at their antics. "Well, I don't think it'll hurt to test the gun - and we really should know what it does and how it works."

"It destroys things," Hermione replied. "We've got spells for that."

"But you might need to get too close to the Dementors for those," Ron pointed out. "And what if there's an enemy immune to most spells?"

"There aren't any dragons left in England - with the exception of the dragons chained underground in Gringotts," Hermione told him. "And the dragon reserves in Wales and the Hebrides are too far away to be a problem."

Sirius chuckled. "Well, that only means there's room for them, so it might attract them. Who wouldn't rather live in Britain than in France, dragon or not?"

"I think we should test fire the gun," Ron repeated himself. He ignored Hermione's scowl. "If only to know how loud it is and what the recoil will do to the tank when it is in the air."

"You just want to fire a tank cannon," Hermione accused him.

"Who wouldn't?" Sirius asked. "Except you, of course."

Ron glanced around. Pretty much everyone looked eager for a test.

Hermione must have noticed it as well since she sighed. "Let's get this over with, then."

"Yes!" Sirius cheered.

"Not here, though," she told them. "We're not going to fire a tank cannon in the Highlands."

"I would suggest the Phoenix Gruppe's artillery testing area," Dumbledore said, "but if there's a closer area where we can test the cannon without having to shuffle schedules and take pains to ensure secrecy, then that would be preferable. A flying vehicle does tend to attract attention, after all."


South of the Isle of Man, Britain, Wizarding World, May 13th 2006

"Fire!"

A moment later, the whole vehicle rocked.

"Yes! Direct hit!"

"I tried to have the spells compensate for the recoil, but that affected the charms that control the tank's flight," Mr Weasley explained. "So… this is the best I can do, I'm afraid - my apologies."

"No, no, it's good," Sirius said. "A tank gun needs to be felt as much as it should be heard."

"Well, I also dampened the sound of the cannon - should I remove those charms?"

"No!" Hermione blurted out. "We don't need to be deafened every time it fires."

"We can wear ear protection for that," Sirius retorted.

"How many rounds are left?" Harry asked.

"As many as we want - Arthur can easily duplicate them!" Sirius replied.

"Good!"

"My turn next!"

Hermione sighed and sat down next to Ron. "I should've expected this. We'll be here for a long time."

"Better cast a Repair Charm on the barrel," he told her.

She chuckled. "I just hope we won't actually need the cannon. Sirius would be insufferable for weeks."

"We shouldn't need it." Ron grinned. "But it's fun to shoot the big gun. At least like this, and not in a battle. It doesn't hurt anyone."

She pressed her lips together.

"And," he continued, "it's a good way to pass the time and keep people occupied - and their minds off the coming mission."

"True. Though I wish they would've picked something a little quieter as a distraction." She smiled ruefully.

He made a vaguely agreeing sound. He cold hardly agree with Hermione too openly when he was looking forward to his own turn at the gun.


"Come on, Hermione! It's fun!" Ron waved at her.

"I'm reading a book!" she snapped.

"You can read your book any time, but you can't fly whenever you want!" he replied as he flew down and stopped, hovering in front of her. "Here, you can fly!"

"I don't want to fly," she said through clenched teeth. She was perfectly fine here, with her book, watching the pitch as a bunch of maniacs risked life and limb flitting around on brooms older than the school brooms. Which she had been glad to leave behind a year ago, along with the flying lessons.

"Why not? It's fun! Everyone's having fun!" Ron gestured at the others - all the Weasley children and, of course, Harry. Who was currently trying to get himself killed by diving straight into the ground!

She gasped, jumping up and sending her book flying. "Harry!"

"Oh, great Wronski Feint!" Ron cheered as their friend narrowly avoided the ground and pulled up again. He turned back to smile at her. "Come on! Let's give it a try! You can use my broom!"

She gaped at him. What was wrong with him?

"Are you a witch or not? Come on!"

Oh, he did not just go there!