2038, 9 August: Bristol, Stoke Gifford
"Barnabas, shut off the lights," I whispered, and the streets went dark a moment later.
Some of the best Aurors the Ministry had to offer were with me. If a dark wizard was inside the house, he'd be in for quite a bit of a surprise.
"Alright, Philip, Stewart. Raise the Charms around the house. Muggles seeing things should be down to a bare minimum or Cabot and his team will have my ass ."
"Right away, Mr Potter," Stewart muttered. The man reminded me of an old friend. Alastor Moody. Determined and experienced, not to mention the magical leg. He joined the ranks of the Auror's a year or two after me, and he was incredibly skilled to this day. I liked him, and could easily call him a friend.
We stepped onto the lawn, while the charms and spells of protection were raised over us.
The House seemed normal from the outside, no lights shone.
"Alright, Victor, Albus and Trevor. You three stay right here. Seamus, Dean and Finnigan, you go around back. Stewart and Philip, keep the charms strong. As for the rest of us, find a window or door. We go in from all directions."
Everyone nodded, signalling they understood their orders. I chose the front door and called over Charlie. Before entering, I waited a bit to make sure everyone was ready.
"Three, Two, one... Bombarda!" I exclaimed, pointing my wand at the doorknob. The entire door flew off its hinges. All around the house I heard wood splintering and glass breaking as the Auror's entered.
Covered by Charlie, I slowly walked forwards, being careful of any traps that I might activate.
Soon enough, I became aware of a ghastly smell. The smell of pure rot. The smell of death...
"That's foreboding," Charlie commented, he too aware of the smell.
"I think it's coming from there," I said, pointing at the nearest door with my wand. A moment later, it was flying off of its hinges as my spell struck it.
Nothing.
"I'd say it's more from inside there," Charlie muttered.
I agreed with him, and slowly we reached the alcove leading to what seemed to be the living room. I was sure the smell was coming from there.
Stepping inside, I only just stopped myself from vomiting. Charlie was less lucky and promptly threw up all over his shoes, some of it still splattering against my trouser leg.
No Horror story could talk about what was inside the room.
Three bodies. A child and two women.
One woman was gutted, her innards decorating the wall and roof. The second, well, had half her face missing. Down to the bone. As if something bestial had gnawed at it for hours.
As for the child... It was best not to look at it for long enough to describe it.
"What the fuck?" Charlie asked, gasping while wiping his mouth.
"This was no simple murder," I said, trying to take deep breaths, but only the smell of death penetrated my nose.
A Second door swung open, and a group of Aurors entered. They too looked sick to the very core, with many of them following Charlie's actions.
"You don't say, sir."
"Go outside, and switch places with Stew. Send him in. I need his help."
He seemed to be happy to leave this place.
Five minutes passed, and Stew appeared next to me.
Few things had ever gotten to him before, but this made even his face pale. I could see he was just as close to being sick as I was.
"You need to help me, Stew," I told him, shaking his shoulder.
"Sure..." He gulped, his eyes darting to me. They were tearing up.
"I have a feeling something much worse than the killing curse was used here."
"It- It looked like Necromancy tae me."
"I see it like that too."
"What could've happened here?"
"Let's see." I stepped forward. My boots stuck to the floor with every step, and each time I lifted them, it sounded like tearing open a cardboard box.
"Appare Vestigium," I muttered, pointing my wand at the gristly scene.
Yellow Mist erupted from the tip and covered invisible traces of magic and items affected by it.
A figure of a man stood outlined on the far side of the room, his face covered in a mask. The Green colour of the killing curse was clearly outlined, but what seemed most important was the third body which was missing now, however it had been affected by a curse of some sort, as the outline was still there.
That body was what had been used for the act of Necromancy.
"So we have an Inferius walkin around, do we?" Stew asked.
"Or something along that line. Yeah."
I looked at him and saw he was shaking badly, something I rarely saw on an Auror, and never before on Stewart.
"What is it, my Friend?"
"I-I just thought 'bout me family."
"You have a wife?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. He hadn't told me about them.
"Nay, Two sisters and a Nephew."
"Oh..." I looked at the mauled corpses, realizing what thoughts had probably gone through his head. "Go outside for some fresh air, I'll follow you a moment later."
"Thank ye." He said, slowly shuffling outside.
I took one last look around the room, before sealing off all entrances to it with spells. It wouldn't do much, but at least I felt like I did something. We'd need a clean-up crew for that, which meant more people having nightmares.
As I walked outside, the Albus, Trevor and Victor walked up to me.
"What happened in there?" Albus asked.
"We need new orders from the Ministry. Albus, tell them that serious dark magic, Necromancy, took place here. We need to Obliviate the muggles that witnessed the event, so bring a few people from the Obliviator Headquarters too."
"Was it really that bad?" Trevor piped in.
"You can say. Let's just say you're happier not seeing the scene." I said, sighing.
"Stewart came out looking like he was covered in chalk," Victor started, "So it must've been-"
"Comfort him a bit, he needs it."
"Stew? He's like the toughest guy in the Auror's Office. What-"
"Please, Just don't ask questions... I don't want to think about it anymore today. Now Albus, please go and-"
Before I could finish, a yell came from inside the house, before an explosion blew half the roof off. Splinters rained down on us like snow.
"WANDS OUT!" I yelled.
Multiple Screams, Red and Green lights and sounds of spells hitting objects came from the area that the explosion had originated from. There was no clear view.
I was just about to run into the house when the entire front side flew off towards us. Only Stewart's quick reflexes saved us from a painful death. With a pop, the entire mass of wood, bricks and concrete turned into bubbles.
The masked man I had seen appear in the room was standing before us. His eyes near-instantaneously fixated upon me.
If the other Auror's hadn't shot spells at him, I would've been his first target, that, I was sure of.
A Barrage of spells flew towards him, but with a curt flick of the wand, a magical shield appeared around him, making all spells ricochet in random directions.
I noticed a small body swinging on his belt as he walked towards me. It was naked but was definitely a man. We had our Inferius.
Two balls of Red flew out of my wand, but they were sent spinning off into the sky by the same shield.
Volley after Volley of Spells flew at the man, who simply continued walking slowly towards us while everything was deflected.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" Someone yelled, but I couldn't pinpoint his voice.
The Green blast of light flew through the air and was blocked by a cinderblock.
In retaliation, the dark wizard fired the same spell back, but this time it hit something. Jacob went down as the green light struck him.
Other than that one shot back, he never took his eyes off of me. This man was baying for my blood.
But he stopped. As if he had a sudden change of mind. Either that, or he had finally noticed he was sorely outnumbered, not like we had caused too much damage to him thus far.
Blue flames appeared around him, spreading towards Victor and Trevor. One of the flames licked the underarm of Trevor, who was too slow to jump back. In the blink of an eye, he was engulfed in blue fire, disintegrating into ash.
"GET BACK!" I yelled.
I saw some of us setting up protective measures against the fire, but it seemed to burn through India's water shield without a problem, causing her to die a horrid death.
"Crucio!" Came the voice of the man, and the torture curse struck Charlie, who was trying hard with Philip to hold the Protective Shield around the house in one piece.
He fell down, crying from the pain.
Angered, Philip turned around to fire a curse at the Dark Wizard. However green light struck his chest before he could even utter the words.
Crumpling in on himself, he died.
The Shield cast around the man was still holding up, though the first signs of panic were starting to become visible on the man's face.
"BOMBARDA MAXIMA" I yelled, and the ball of light sped towards the shield, connecting with it in a spectacular way. The Man was blown off his feet, and his shield was destroyed.
The Blue flames charged towards him as if it was some sort of dog, rushing to defend its master. Engulfing him, the flames kind of shielded him from spells.
"NOW!" I yelled, sending spell after spell into him.
A hand poked through the flames, pointing towards the sky. The Blue Flames followed the direction, heading straight for the shield surrounding us.
"SECURE THE-"
Crashing against the wall, the blue flames burned through it like it was made of paper. Albus had managed to feed a few protective spells into the massive defence spell, but he was thrown back as the flames crashed down to the ground.
I stared at Albus, hoping for some sign of life.
"POTTER!" Finn yelled, throwing himself at me. Whatever had been heading my way, it struck Finn instead. He writhed on the floor for a few seconds, cuts appearing all over his body. Then he was gone.
As for the Dark Wizard, seeing how his last attempt at killing me had also failed, he apparated. Gone as fast as he had arrived.
"He's gone now! Treat the wounded!" I ordered.
A good thirty minutes went by before those that were unharmed could gather around. Albus had been knocked unconscious, but other than that he felt fine. I had sent him back to the Ministry to call for more people. He'd be arriving with backup shortly. Hopefully. There were people that needed some more serious treatment.
"What the fuck happened?" Barnabas asked, sighing.
"We've got a new dark wizard trying to show us how powerful he is. We underestimated him." I said, holding my side. Whatever that dark spell had been, a part of it had still struck my ribcage. It was bandaged, though the bloody clothes would have to wait with changing.
"Well, that underestimation lost us nearly a dozen Auror's. Philip, Trevor, Finn, David, Tom, Chuck, Andy, Jacob, India, Carly. Another Four people got wounded, and probably won't do much until they're better."
"They knew what they were getting into Barnabas. Don't lay into me." I roared, looking at him.
"Hey lads, let's not do this, shall we? We've lost enough today without ye two tearin each other's throats out."
"His fuckery led to the death of Finn. I SAW HIM SAVE HIS ASS. FOR WHAT?"
"I SAID SHUT YER GEGGIE 'FORE I CUT YER BAWS OFF!" Stewart yelled back.
I held up my hands, waiting for both of them to calm down.
"I made a mistake, I cannot deny. I feared for my Son, and if he was alive. Yet you blame me for the death of Finn, who sacrificed himself?"
I looked at Barnabas, who hung his head.
"We all lost friends and family today, but we can't do anything about it right now. There will be time to mourn. Once Albus returns with the backup, I'll contact the Minister Personally, and get everything sorted. I suggest all of you take some time off as soon as possible."
Ten minutes passed, and Albus returned with what seemed like half the Ministry in tow. Aurors, Medical staff, Obliviators and many more I couldn't name.
I said my goodbyes, before apparating away. A moment later I stood in my office. It was one of the few places I could apparate to without having to fill in multiple pages of paperwork. My surroundings were so calm, and such an everyday sight, that for a moment the thought that all of this had just been some messed-up dream went through my head.
Looking at the ash on my hands quickly dispelled that idea. People had died this day.
Shaking my head, I thought about my next course of action. Starting at Hermione's office would be a good start.
Jogging all the way to the Minister's office, I just happened to reach the Secretary as she was packing up for the day.
"Oh, Mr Potter... What Brings you here?" She asked.
"I need to speak to Mrs Granger at once. Is she still here?"
"No... She left a few hours ago. I can leave a message for her if you wish."
"I can't wait that long sadly." I smiled, "Thank you." I said, before jogging back to my office.
Once inside, I waited a bit to calm down. Wouldn't want to splinch myself.
In between breathes, I pictured the rickety house of the Weasleys. That's where Hermione and Ron still lived. They said it was far away from the buzz of the city, which they liked.
Apparating there, I opened my eyes. Nearly the same as I remembered it, though since my teenager years it had grown by a floor or two, and the colours were a bit different. Deatheaters had destroyed it during the Second Wizarding War.
Whether the reason they had given was the real reason they had stayed or not, I was thankful they had. That gave a reason to visit this place, which I'd otherwise not do. This place still held many memories.
I walked to the door and knocked.
Mrs Weasley Opened the door slowly.
"Harry, my dear! What are you doing here at this time of day?" She asked, "And what on earth did you do to be so dirty? Come in!" She grumbled, dusting me off as I stepped inside. She had changed little, except for the grey hairs exchanging the ginger ones. The Death of Arthur had affected her the most out of everyone, but she seemed to have recovered fairly well.
"Thank you, Mrs Weasley. I need to talk with Hermione at once. It's important."
"You kids, always in a hurry. She's upstairs, Ronald and Rose are home too."
I smiled and walked up the stairs. The inside was completely different, though the layout was the same. Well... Except for the fact that there was a whole new wing. I found myself at another door.
Knocking, I waited for a while.
"Yes Mu-" Ron noticed it was me. "Harry! What on earth happened to you?"
"It's a long story. I need to talk with Hermione."
"Of course, come in, we were just having a late-ish dinner."
I stepped inside and took off my coat.
"Uncle Harry!" Rose exclaimed in surprise.
"Harry?" Hermione asked.
"Uhhh..."
"If you want you can join us. I mean if it's okay with you Hermione."
"Of course, but tell me, Harry, why are you covered in ash?"
"I've got to talk about something with you. It's-"
"We can talk about it over dinner." She flicked her wand, and a plate with cutlery was laid out. I sat down, albeit grudgingly.
Hermione gave me a piece of bread and some ham, before sitting down to finish her sandwich.
I couldn't get myself to eat anything. My appetite was gone. I had tried getting rid of the images burned into my head, but only the heat of the battle had managed to distract me. That scene of dark magic would haunt me for the rest of my life.
After I sat there for five minutes without doing or saying anything, Hermione finally realized just how big the problem could be.
"Ron, can you take Rose to the living room? We can finish dinner later." Hermione said.
"Mum, I'm not a kid, I'm Thirty! I see shit every day in Mungo's."
"You want to listen to what an Auror experienced that made him lose his appetite?"
She thought about it for a moment, before getting up, and following Ron.
"So what happened?" She asked once they were out of earshot.
"I don't know if you knew, but I got an assignment shortly after returning from the inspection. Rather a message from an informer. Green lights were seen, and nobody had left the house for days."
"A Deatheater still missing? I thought they had all been imprisoned."
"If only." I muttered, "The Sight I saw was much worse. Black Magic. Necromancy."
She frowned, "That explains why you're like that. How many people did you take with you?"
"Two dozen. I had just finished looking around and was outside, giving orders and whatnot. An Explosion caused the roof to splinter into tiny pieces, and instantly we got ready for anything. A Masked man with a tiny body hanging from his belt ran outside. He was far more powerful than any normal Deatheater. Too many people died in that fight."
"Who could you compare him to?"
"Voldemort."
Her eyes widened, "That's impossible, he died-"
"I know Hermione, I killed him! The Problem is I, for some reason, think that what he showed was not everything he could do. This man is a danger, killing ten of my Auror's and wounding another four severely."
"This isn't good... What can we do?"
"I need your permission to double the Guards at Azkaban and at the Dam, as well as placing more Guards at the Ministry and at Diagon Alley. Furthermore, we need to give out a Worldwide warning to all Wizards. You also need to inform the British Prime Minister as fast as possible. When Voldemort returned, nobody believed he had, thus we were unprepared. We have to take this as seriously as possible."
"Let's go." She nodded, before turning towards the living room, "Ron, Rose. I need to go back to the Ministry for a while. Finish dinner without me, I'll be home soon, I promise."
"Take care, dear!" Ron said.
She grabbed her coat, and I grabbed mine. Then she held my arm, and together we apparated to my office.
"Alright, I'll let you write the papers you deem necessary, while I go upstairs. What's the time?"
"Ten to Twenty-two."
"Okay, I'll bring down the stuff we need."
She strode outside. I grabbed the sheets of paper and enchanted the quills to start writing.
Hermione returned ten minutes later with a box of stamps and other objects.
"They done?" She asked.
"I think." I pointed towards the automated pens, while I was searching for the wanted paper template.
She strode over and started signing the papers. A pop made my head whip to the direction it had come from. A house-elf stood there.
"Thank you, Peepy, for coming so quickly," Hermione said to the house-elf.
"Mrs Granger. What can I help you with?"
"There's an emergency that's recently happened, and we need you to call the other elves here. Together you need to take these various documents to the people they are needed for."
"Of course Minister, at once." The Elf saluted and disapparated.
She finished stamping the papers, and I finally found the template. Quickly filling it out, I finished it just as the elves returned. There were many of them, and one of them looked at me.
"Please, take this to be duplicated. Hermione, how much should the reward be?"
"Ten thousand galleons."
My eyes widened, "That's a fortune-"
"And the Ministry can spare that much. I trust your instincts enough to know that this will be a problem if we don't do anything about it."
"Your choice..." I muttered, writing the amount on, before stamping it with my own stamp, and Hermione handing hers to me to stamp it with that too.
Handing it to the elf, she disappeared with a pop.
Soon all elves were gone, and only me and Hermione stood in the room.
"Alrighty, That's done. I never understood why Magical Law Enforcement couldn't be done by the Head of the Department."
"I asked for it, remember? So I don't do anything stupid, and neither does anyone following in my footsteps. It's enough of a privilege to let me be the Head of the Department as well as the Auror's Office."
She nodded, before looking at me. I could see she hadn't really been following what I had said.
"We need to talk with the Muggle Prime Minister now."
"Now? He's probably asleep, or getting ready to sleep."
"And?"
"I doubt he'll be too pleased if we appear there, while he's in his Jammies."
She rolled her eyes.
"This is more important than his sleeping schedule. Just come here."
She grabbed my arm, as soon as I was close enough, and we were gone. In the blink of an eye, we stood in the lobby of Number Ten, Downing Street. Like the Weasleys place, it was the same as I remembered it from my previous trips here, though there were no childhood memories to be found here.
A man in a dressing gown was brushing his teeth whilst walking upstairs. He had just seen us apparate out of thin air, and was staring at us wide-eyed. The Toothbrush slowly fell out of his mouth.
"Prime Minister Jacobs?"
"Huh?" He asked, still shocked, with toothpaste covering his mouth.
"We need to talk. It's a matter of your safety and that of the country."
"Oh, um... Yeah, come upstairs. We can sit down there."
Hermione walked forward, and I followed.
The Prime Minister was sitting in an armchair, and looking at us when we stepped inside.
As Hermione sat down, he seemed to remember the toothpaste around his mouth, and quickly wiped it away, before smiling.
"Do you still remember me?" Hermione asked.
"Who can forget the person who hand-delivered me the biggest secret in the world?" He smirked.
"Alright..." She crossed her legs, while I stood behind her with my arms crossed, "As of a few hours ago, an event happened that has greatly shocked both me and the other Dark Wizard hunters."
"Dark Wiz- What are you talking about?"
"A Dangerous man is on the loose. He's already killed an entire family of Muggles, as well as ten of my best Aurors, and I doubt he'll be stopping there. We want you to act upon this information, and make him a wanted man." I said.
"Alright, that can be done. What does he look like, or what's his name."
I looked at Hermione, who nodded, before looking back at the President, "Well we know little about him. He wears a black metal mask and a similar cloak."
"... and a black cloak..." He muttered whilst writing it down, "Alright... Anything else?"
"That's all I'm afraid. Be sure to contact us if he is sighted. We'll be looking out for him."
"What about me? Won't I be a target, seeing as how high a position I'm in?"
"That is a concern, yes. Within a day or two, Two Auror's will arrive. They'll be here for your protection. I give you my word that they'll be the best."
"Thank you." He smiled, "But where are my manners? Tea? Maybe some biscuits?"
"No thank you, Mister Jacobs. This meeting hasn't exactly been agreed upon yet, so I want to keep it short and simple till it's been voted for."
"Ah, I understand. Well, though this meeting was quite a surprise, I was happy to see you again, Mrs Granger."
"I can say the same, Prime Minister." She said, standing up. I looked at the floor and saw ashy footprints on the carpet. Easy to clean out, I would say. Still, I felt a bit bad. Grabbing Hermione's arm we apparated away. Standing in front of the Weasley house once more. The entire thing had maybe taken an hour.
Hermione looked at me. "I wasn't expecting my evening to be so hectic."
"You can say that again," I muttered.
"Wanna finish dinner with us, or are you going home?"
"I'd happily stay, but I think Ginny is worried about me. She knows about my mission, and... yeah."
"Alright then, I'll say Goodbye in your name to Ron and Rose."
"Thanks. Take care, Hermione."
"And you Mr Potter, You stay safe." She smiled, hugging me, before she realized I was covered in ash. Walking up to the door, Mrs Weasley opened it and was surprised to see Hermione, who to her knowledge until then, was still upstairs.
With a smile, I disapparated. My Target: Home.
Yet as I walked up to the door, I couldn't help but think what trouble was brewing.
Whatever happened today, and to that Man, I doubted he'd go down quietly if found.
I just hoped the casualties would stay at a minimum.