A/N Hey, I'm back! Sorry for the hiatus, I just needed a break. I've been busy playing basketball and now baseball and I have been writing some original short stories. Just coming back to show you that I'm not dead, and I'll try to post again soon. Maybe if I get enough reviews within a week. Not much action in this one, but it sets up the next. Good Reading, Die MCAS, and Please Review!
"Sean. SEAN! Wake up!"
"Huh, what? I don't want to go to school today mommy."
"Sean, get your ass up right now!"
"If you don't mind, I'm a little hung over. Sean go sleep now." He rolled over, and a frustrated and very angry Hermione finally gave up. After running through the halls naked and scaring poor Professor Flitwick half to death, Sean had puked in the charms room and had fallen asleep in the middle of the library next to Sirius.
"Is he always like that?"
Hermione turned back and retreated to Harry. "No, only when he's with his drinking buddies. I guess that Sirius would kind of constitute one of them."
"You have to admit that it was kind of funny when he pantsed Flitwick."
"As long as nobody knows he's related to me, then it's fine. Who would have thought that Professor Flitwick would wear purple 'Wild thing' boxers?"
"Um, Hermione, that's an image I would not like to remember please."
"Dead sexy."
Harry gave up and ran down the hall.
"Albus, what are we going to do?"
"We must stay calm."
"This is the second attack in two days. We must do something."
"What can we do but wait?" Professor Dumbledore looked at the solemn people gathered around him. "The Staff of Merlin cannot act without being directly attacked or prior knowledge of an encounter. To do so without would be suicide!"
"And how are we supposed to get this knowledge?"
"We have our ways."
"Our ways seem to be woefully inadequate," Remus cut in, looking directly at Snape.
Severus sneered at him. "I assure you our methods function fine. By the way, werewolf, where's your murderer friend?"
"You better watch yourself, Death Eater, because the rest of us are." Remus glared right back at him.
"ENOUGH! We must stop this bickering! If we are to accomplish anything, we must put these petty rivalries behind us and cooperate."
"But what are we to do Albus? This was a strong and powerful wizarding family we're talking about, one that has been established for hundreds of years. They were well protected," Mundungus Fletcher.
"I agree, the Evans' were well protected. But there were only the six of them plus the servants, against a regiment of top death eaters. However, I have good news as well. Our intelligence reports that Voldemort has received a message from the dark wizard Knoll in Switzerland. We presume that this was a challenge or a threat, because Voldemort is rallying his Death Eaters for large-scale action. We believe that this will be aggressive action against Knoll in Switzerland. We know that Voldemort is leaving only a skeleton force of new recruits and reserves. If we can attack this force in conjunction with the aurors of the ministry, we can banish these forces and put up strong wards to keep Voldemort out indefinitely. Now, here is the plan…"
"Who else?"
"We only need one or two more."
"But we could have ten. Now we only have us and Fred and George." Hermione looked at Harry strangely. "Are you sure that you want to go through with this?"
"What? And miss the chance to yet again risk my life for the good of the world and get on the front page of every paper in the world? Of course not!"
"Okay, sorry. What about Alicia Spinnet?"
"Maybe we should go outside Gryffindor. What about Cho Chang?"
"Yeah, and maybe we could have slumber parties and practise putting on our make up too."
"I get the feeling that you dislike her?"
"My god, you are so fricken' intelligent sometimes it amazes me!"
"I know I am. But think about how Cho would look in those new robes they sent us. Oh, yeah baby!"
"Harry, you ever say that again in your entire life and I will kill you. Understood?"
"Yes'm."
"That's better. How about Angelina?"
"All right, all right. That's seven, you, me, Ron, Gred, Forge, Alicia, and Angelina. Is that enough for you, Hermione?"
"I guess I could live with that, for now."
"I live to please your highness."
"What do we do with the extra cloaks and brooms?" Harry motioned over at the box that was filled with long midnight blue cloaks with large hoods and Nimbus 2001 broomsticks. There was also a long parchment about procedure and codes for safehouses and bunkers. The most interesting things were at the bottom of the box; ten dark black masks that melded to you face, revealing none of your features. They stayed on your face indefinitely, and could only be removed by you.
"Just hold on," said a disturbed looking Hermione.
"You know, we could make a donation to the quidditch team. Have you seen the brooms that Fred and George have to ride?"
"We are not going to give vital supplies over to the quidditch team."
"I don't see why not."
"Well I do, so shut up about it."
"Why don't you try and make me?"
"Don't you get started with that. Speaking of Fred and George, I got a rather interesting letter from them asking if there were any laws against selling large explosives in a joke shop. Do you know anything about that?"
"I forget."
"Harry!"
"So we might have been playing with potion ingredients in our free time last year."
"That's not so bad."
"I know! It's not my fault that they were dangerous, stolen, and illegal in most countries."
Hermione shook her head and went back to work.
"Sirius. Sirius. God Dammit, wake up you lazy old bastard!"
"Huh, what?"
"Get up! It's two in the afternoon."
"Oh, shit, I have a killer headache."
"That's because you were dead drunk last night!"
"I feel like I drank turpentine."
"You probably did! You're getting to old to be doing this sort of thing."
"No way! I took that Granger kid out last night."
"What kind of example are you setting for Harry?"
Sirius groaned and rolled over. "You had to bring Harry into this, didn't you."
"Yes I did."
"Well, what do you want me to do about it?"
"For starters, when you're here, no drinking, no swearing, no-"
"Oh, so I don't get to have any fun!"
"Yeah, now you're getting it! Get up and take a shower, we have to meet with Dumbledore in half an hour."
… I agree with your idea that we must join our forces, as the threat of the dark side is now greater than ever. I believe that your group may have a spy in it's midst, because my agents report copies of your orders falling into Voldemort's hands. Karkarov is safely in my possession, and I do not think that Voldemort would bother to look here for him. As for the report on Voldemort attacking Knoll in Switzerland, I believe that it is false. Rather, I believe that they may band together and attack the ministry of Switzerland. Jackland is no fool down there, but he cannot stand against the combined assault of the dark forces. I will be waiting here for your response.
Professor Rostov
Russian School of Magic, Murmansk
Professor Dumbledore put the parchment down on his desk, then raised his head, as there was a knock on the door.
"Come in." In walked Remus and Sirius, both looking a little apprehensive. "Please, sit. Mr. Black, it seems that you had a little fun last night."
"It was an accident, sir."
"But still, those chains were Filch's pride and joy, you didn't have to urinate on them." Sirius looked at him with a blank face. "Oh, well, I suppose that we should get down to business. Voldemort has taken the majority of his Death Eater's with him to Switzerland, leaving this morning. You must infiltrate his headquarters in the Scottish Highlands. I will provide you with maps and a portkey, and then you will leave immediately. I believe that Professor McGonnal will have all the materials. Return here and report on the motive of this move to Switzerland immediately. Good luck." Sirius and Remus got up without a word and filed to the door, being well accustomed to this type of quick briefing for a dangerous mission.
"Now, where was I? Oh, yes…"
"Yo Harry, what up dog?"
Harry looked up at Sean quizzically. Harry was sitting in the Gryffindor common room reading Understanding Potions- the Essential Book for Incredibly Difficult Potions at the insistence of Hermione. "Say what?"
"How are you doing?"
"I'm doing just fine, though I'm not sure about you. Are your eyes supposed to be bloodshot?"
"I'm just a little hung over, that's all."
"Yeah, well if I were you I'd stay the hell away from Hermoine, because she is not happy." Sean gave him an evil grin.
"You just leave midget to me. I think I know how to handle her."
The door at the top of the stairs to the girls' dormitory opened, and Hermione came down to join them.
"You."
"Yes Midget?"
"Why are you still here?"
"Didn't you here the wonderful news? I get to stay here for the rest of the summer or until the 'situation' dies down. To bad I don't know what the situation is, but you get the idea. Sirius said he'd look after me."
"By taking shots with you?"
"I still beat him."
"That's not the way he tells it," cut in Harry.
"He drinks like a Polish lady on Sunday afternoon!"
"Both of you shut up!" Seeing the look on Hermione's face, both Harry and Sean quickly obliged. "You," she pointed at Sean, "Will stay out of my hair and do nothing, absolutely nothing." She turned to Harry. "You will not encourage him, is that understood?"
"Yes'm."
Hermoine turned around and went back up into her dormitory, muttering the whole way about boys and stupidity.
"Cornelius, this is the second attack this week. We must act!"
"We will do nothing of the sort!"
Arthur Weasley, Lugo Bagman, and Vance Bones were once again meeting with Cornelius Fudge in his office.
Vance Bones tried again. "Minister, we have many confirmed reports that Voldemort is moving on the dark wizard Knoll in Switzerland. We have proof that he has returned."
"You have no proof. It is all rumors!"
Arthur Weasley broke in with a deadly calm voice. "Minister Fudge, if your policy of denial continues, I cannot assure you of the loyalty of the ministry much longer."
"Nor can I guarantee the aurors will continue under your guidance."
"This is treason! I will see all three of you again tomorrow, and you attitudes have better changed or I will have you all arrested and thrown in Azkaban! Now get the hell out of my office!"
"No Fudge, it's you that had better change your attitude, or you'll be left with nobody at all." That said, Lugo Bagman led the three officials into his office just down the hall. All three grabbed an old coffee mug, and they were all transported via portkey into Albus Dumbledore's office. Albus was waiting for them in his desk.
"Well, did you convince him?"
All three looked apprehensively at each other, then Arthur Weasley spoke up. "He will not cooperate, we are on our own."
"I swear, I knew the offspring of a llama and a rabbit to be smarted than that ass."
"Easy Lugo. What was that creature, anyway?"
"What ever it was, it was smarter than Fudge, although that really doesn't say much."
Vance Bones cut in. "Anyway, we will give you the complete backing of the aurors in all matters. They are loyal to me, and me only."
"That is good. Here is what we have planned. Voldemort is expected to arrive at noon with an army of three thousand Death Eaters. Knoll has about seven thousand armed wizards, but they are not nearly as high quality as the Death Eaters. The Staff, along with two thousand Swiss hit wizards and, if possible, five hundred of our aurors will move in by portkey and broomstick and take the remaining dark forces at around two in the afternoon. We expect your aurors to be in Bern at ten in the morning to prepare to portkey in. Arthur and Lugo, you will both ride with the Staff. Be at Zurich with broomstick and full uniform tomorrow. Good day."
Harry was lying in bed that night trying to sleep despite Sean's snoring when a bright light suddenly lit up the room. Not knowing what it was, he dug through his trunk until he found the source, the orb that Anton had given him. Whispering the password, the orb died down into a dull glow and the head of Abby became visible.
"Ola, Harry. Do you always sleep in your boxers?" Harry realized that Abby could see him and jumped back into bed. "Pitching a tent now, are we? Come on now, we have a job for you."
"At three in the morning?"
"Its only ten here in Boston, not my fault you live in a screwed up country."
Sean groaned and rolled over. "Well, what do you want?"
"Besides you, I need you to go to Dumbledore in the morning and convince him not to go through with his plan."
"What plan?"
"Jesus Harry, what the hell have you been doing all this time, fantasizing about me? Dumbledore is going to attack two dark armies tomorrow that he thinks will weaken each other first. Our intelligence reports that they are actually entering into an alliance against the ministries of the world. If he goes, then his forces will be destroyed, got it?"
"Kind of."
"That'll have to do, I'm a busy girl. Bye-bye Harry, just don't screw up." With that, the orb faded out and became black again.
Remus and Sirius meanwhile were inside the fortress of Voldemort. They had been wandering around since that afternoon, finding that the maps they had been provided were inaccurate. The building was that of an old stone fortress, but it had been magically enhanced since Voldemort had started residing there.
"Moony, try down this passage, we haven't been down there yet." Sirius transformed into a large black dog then led the way down the dark passage, sniffing as he went. It was so dark that they couldn't see, so they didn't realize that it was another dead end until Sirius went headfirst into the wall. He transformed back into human form to the grin of Remus.
"Nice call, Padfoot."
"Well I don't see you having any bright ideas."
"So your saying that this was a bright idea?"
"No, I…shut up. Let's try back this way." Leading the way, Sirius once again took off down the passage.
Back at Hogwarts, Harry and Sean were woken up at around ten by an excited looking Hermoine.
"What are you two doing, its ten in the morning. Wake up!"
Harry groaned and rolled over. "Huh, what."
"Jeez Harry, looks like you didn't get much sleep last night."
"No, I had to talk to Abby on the orb."
Sean finally showed some signs of life. "What, you mean the hot American last night? I thought that was just a dream."
"Yeah, I have to talk to Dumbledore quick!"
"You're too late Harry. That's why I woke you up, because just a few minutes ago about fifty wizards apparated out from the front lawn, all with broomsticks and in the same robes. Dumbledore must have lifted the wards, because-"
"Shit! He already left! I needed to talk to him." Harry jumped out of bed and threw on some clothes quickly, irregardless of the presence of Hermione. Throwing open the door, he leapt down the stairs two at a time and ran quickly to Dumbledore's office, closely trailed by Hermione. On the way, he recounted the story of what Abby had told him last night. Reaching the door to his office, he banged on the door loudly. Finally, Professor Flitwick came up the stairs.
"What's with all the commotion here?"
"Professor, where is Professor Dumbledore?"
"He had to leave on business, but he'll be back in a few days. Why?"
Harry muttered "nothing", then started slowly down the stairs. "Abby is going to be pissed." Hermione gave him her 'you should have told me sooner' look, then nodded. "Do you think she likes me?"
Hermione couldn't help laughing.
In the highlands, Sirius and Remus were just starting to find their way around. Finally, after many hours of searching, they found a large room with a gigantic round table. Standing around it, some scattered Death Eaters were having conversations. Using a hearing charm, Sirius and Remus were able to hear the discussions.
"Well I went to Durmstrang, much better school…"
"I was one of the first death eaters, I can't believe master didn't leave me in charge…"
"Now, the secret to huckleberries is…"
"Can you believe how stupid that old muggle-loving fool Dumbledore is? He actually believes that master is going to fight with Lord Knoll. It's going to be like, like, taking butterbeer from a Mic."
Sirius and Remus looked at each other, then looked at their watches.
"One o'clock. Were too late…"
Meanwhile, in Switzerland, Albus Dumbledore and the rest of the Staff of Merlin were flying over luscious green valleys and beautiful hills. They were in full dress, all with long black robes that had an orange patch over the left breast. They were flying top of the line military brooms, and all were prepared to fight for their freedom.
"Listen up everyone. We are perfectly on time. After we rise over the next two hills, Swiss hit wizards will appear on our left flank and aurors on are right. We are to lead the charge against the dark forces in the valley below. Let us try to only stun, not kill. Good luck."
That said, Dumbledore led the way slowly over the first hill, then up the second. By the time that they were halfway up the second, vast numbers of wizards wearing white and red robes were appearing on their left and wizards in black robes were appearing on their right. They mounted the crest of the last hill, and prepared to dive into the valley. However, what Dumbledore saw below made him stop in complete surprise. Below them waiting were the combined armies of the Lords Voldemort and Knoll. Still, it didn't look like as many as they had planned on. Suddenly, the rest of the dark forces appeared on the ring of hills to the rear where they had just came. Next to him, Dumbledore heard Arthur Weasley say "Oh, Crap."
