Disclaimer: Eendracht maakt macht.

Raise the Black Flag

Hermione and Luna readied their wands as the boiler opened. Both girls sighed in relief at the face of the foreman.

"You two don't have any scratches or anything do you?"

"We're okay, what happened?"

"Not sure exactly," the foreman admitted. "All I know is that we got word to get you some place safe. Auditor arrived a few minutes ago."

The two girls climbed out of the train and into a crowd of techs, both goblin and human. Each armed with one of the tools of their trade.

"Forgive me for being away, Mistress," Anguish said, taking her place beside the heiress. "The Potter loaned me to Madame Bones for a bit of work."

"That's fine, Anguish," Hermione said. "Do you know what happened?"

"Not enough details to give an accurate report, Mistress, all I know is that the Chief earned another ballad for his saga," the goblin replied proudly, her chin tilting up. The Gringotts auditors would be burning with jealousy at her foresight in joining his war band early.

Which tells me precisely nothing, Hermione reflected to herself.

Hermione's eyes lit up when Hagrid entered the room, finally a source of information that couldn't keep his mouth shut.

"Make way, make way!" the large man bellowed like a fog horn, moving through the crowds to get to the two girls.

"What's going on, Hagrid?" Hermione asked. There was something about the half giant's expression that worried the girl.

"Death Eater attack in Hogsmeade," the half giant replied. He held a large crossbow with the casual air of someone's who's spent countless hours mastering their weapon of choice. "Come on, we gotta get you two back to the castle where it's safe."

"What about Harry?" Hermione demanded, her pulse racing. He had to be alright, Harry wouldn't let a group of masked cowards take him down.

"I'm sure he's alright," Hagrid said, sounding as if he were trying to convince himself, "he knows not to get mixed up in something like that."

The two girls locked eyes and turned deathly pale.

"We're all going along," Sprocket said firmly, hefting his wrench. "No spell shall hit the Mistress or her companion while any of us are alive to step in front of it." The rest of the maintenance staff nodded grimly.

"More the merrier," Hagrid said with false cheer. "Come on."

Tonks and fifty of Harry's best security people surrounded the group as they made the short trip to the castle.

"Stay in the center," Tonks ordered as they entered the great hall. "I want men on every side passage, no one gets close that isn't one of us or vetted!"

IIIIIIIIII

Spikenose did not jump when the creature that called itself a house elf appeared before her. Considering the fact that the only way it could do so was to somehow pass through a dozen layers of wards like they did not exist, her outward calm was a more notable feat than might otherwise be the case.

"Dobby needs goblin help," the 'elf' announced.

"Oh?" the goblin's nose caught the distinct scent of human blood on the other creature. She smiled mentally at that, figuring the fact that the fact that he'd neglected to remove evidence of what he'd done, evidence that he wasn't quite what he presented himself to be was a sign of trust.

"Dobby is able to detect human magic, but is unable to dispel it," he explained. "Dobby does not want to risk piggys getting hurt."

"Do-" she paused to consider how best to approach the matter. Management would be pleased at the opportunity to gather more information on the Potter and the Granger Clan and she personally would like to know more about the the creature she was conversing with. "Do you have time for me to consult my superiors and to find a specialist to accompany us?"

"Dobby is in no hurry. Harry Potter sir is in his normal bed and his Hermy and Loveygood are with Harry Potter sir's Tonks." He hoped anyway. Seconds had a way of turning into minutes which in turn had a way of turning into hours. Come to think of it, maybe he was in a hurry after all.

"Alright," she agreed, making a mental note of the terms the supposed house elf had used. "I will return in a few minutes."

IIIIIIIIII

Mandy's eyebrows rose when one of their security people discretely entered the room. There was something wrong, she could tell by the way the woman walked.

Ron turned to face the woman. "Yes?"

White faced, the woman leaned down to whisper into his ear.

He sprang to his feet. "I need a floo."

"What's up?"

"Off to do something stupid," Ron replied. "Take care of yourself, Mandy." There was a note of finality in his tone, as if he wasn't sure they'd see each other again.

"What happened?" she demanded.

"There was an attack on Hogsmeade, bad one. They drove off the first one and they're expecting the second any second now." He spent a moment looking at her as if trying to memorize every detail of her face. "Have a nice life, yeah?" he finished awkwardly. "I'll be back if I can."

"I'm coming too," Mandy announced. "I want to get a bit of my own back after what the bastards tried in the locker room."

"Hold up a bit," one of the owners ordered.

"I'll quit the team right now if you try to stop me," Mandy threatened.

"Stop you?" the woman laughed. "We're all going. You, me, your teammates, the team healers, the trainers, the security, everyone. Come another attack, we'll all get a bit of our own back. No attack and we'll help with the rescue efforts."

"Oh."

"Hogsmeade is full of fans, we're nothing without them." Leaving aside the publicity they'd get if they survived, it was the right thing to do.

IIIIIIIIII

Dobby popped the goblins back to the Forbidden Forest and waved for them to get to it. He hated to be so abrupt, but he was on a bit of a schedule. If he didn't get done soon, some other elf might try to make Harry Potter sir's lunch. The mere thought of suffering the shame of having another elf make his master's meal nearly made Dobby physically ill. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that.

"What happened here?" one of the curse breakers muttered in shock as the group took in the scene before them.

"Bad wizards got too close to Harry Potter sir's Hermy and Loveygood," the elf explained, bestowing the corpses with a look of deep disapproval. "Darky marks on bad wizards' arms have bad magic and bad wizards' pockets have bad magic. Dobby can't finish butchering bad wizards for the piggys until after bad magic is gone and Dobby can't return Harry Potter sir's Hermy's spikeys till after piggys have been fed." The look of disapproval deepened. "Bad wizards are keeping Dobby from returning Harry Potter sir's Hermy's things and Dobby can't punish them for it." There was an undercurrent of barely repressed rage in the house elf's voice, how dare they make him risk another elf cooking Harry Potter sir's lunch! Dobby's knuckles cracked as his fists tightened.

"Not much more you could do to them," Spikenose agreed, eyes on the remains of the Death Eater hit team, each of which was pinned to a tree by a carriage screw through the throat.

To the house elf's relief, it did not take long for the goblin curse breakers to carry out their task. Looked like he'd have plenty of time to make sure Harry Potter sir got all his favorite dishes. He should have known that the goblins would be their usual efficient selves. Not one wasted movement, he noted in approval, almost house elf like.

"What do you want us to do with their things?"

"Goblins can keep what they want to pay for breaking curses.

"And the rest?"

"Put it in Harry Potter sir's vault," the house elf replied with a disinterested shrug. Dobby was a good elf, he had more important things to worry about than the petty baubles carried by bad wizards, such as what to make Harry Potter sir for desert? A treacle tart perhaps? On the other hand, he'd just gotten a recipe for ischlers, perhaps Harry Potter sir would like to try something new? They looked as if they'd be quite good but what kind of jam to use? Marmalade, Dobby decided after a moment of thought, Harry Potter sir was fond of marmalade and marmalade would go well with the chocolate which increased the chances that Harry Potter sir would like the new desert. He'd make a treacle tart as well as a back up in case, of course. It wouldn't do to leave such things to chance.

IIIIIIIIII

Narcissa went white as the wireless paused for a special news bulletin and gave her a good idea of what her husband had been up to. Children, the bastard she was married to had attempted to murder children. Unlike him, she had a fairly good idea of how the public was likely to react and how bad it would be for anyone connected to the would be perpetrators.

"Skippy?" she surprised herself with how calm she sounded.

"Yes, Mistress Cissy?"

"Can you feel my husband?"

The elf's eyes went glassy. "Skippy can't feel the master."

"Do we currently have any guests in the east wing?" she asked, dreading the answer as it would significantly change what her next move could be.

"No mistress."

Narcissa let out a slow breath of relief. "We're leaving. Gather up everything from my and my son's rooms along with anything valuable in the rest of the house and move it to my vaults at Gringotts. Do not concern yourselves with any dark items."

"Yes, Mistress."

"And, Skippy." Narcissa's order froze the elf. "Get yourself and the others out of here if our guests should return. Do not return to the manor after your task has been completed, we're leaving this place for good."

"Yes, Mistress. Where shall Mistress' good elvies go?"

"Go to Hogwarts and try to blend in until after I call you," Narcissa ordered. "Make sure Draco does not leave the castle, tell him it's an order from me. Use force if you have to, use any means you have to, but Draco is not to leave Hogwarts for any reason." The woman gathered up a handful of floo and tossed it into the fire. "Black Lake Cottage," she called out the name of her first destination. It wouldn't be safe, not so long as her sister lived and served the Dark Lord, but hopefully it would buy her time to consider her next move.

IIIIIIIIII

Luna noted the way her best friend hunched over as they overheard each new scrap of rumor from the younger years milling about the hallways. Harry Potter had dueled a hundred Death Eaters, Hogsmeade was burning, Neville Longbottom had saved them all at the cost of his life, the upper years were all dead, everyone in Hogsmeade was dead, Harry Potter was barely clinging to life, the Dark Lord himself had arrived and Harry Potter had fought him off. Each was worse than the last, each suggested that Harry would be lucky to look as good as Moody if the healers managed a miracle.

"I'm sure he's fine," Luna said soothingly as the two girls walked into the hospital wing, "he is Harry Potter after all. A dozen or so Death Eaters ambushing him on a Hogsmeade weekend shouldn't even merit a two paragraph mention on the fifth page."

The blond was doing all she could to keep her composure and found that trying keep Hermione calm was helping to keep herself calm as well. She'd finally gotten friends, she just couldn't lose one of them.

"How's Harry?" Hermione asked tearfully as they entered the hospital wing. She'd heard a dozen rumors about the boy's condition after his fight as she'd walked to the hospital wing, each one more horrible then the last.

The two girls braced themselves for the worst as the school nurse turned towards them.

"Sleeping," Poppy replied softly. "I would appreciate it if you two would lower your voices." The woman looked exhausted.

"Is he going to make a full recovery?" Hermione blurted. "I realize that confidentiality prevents you from giving any details but please, I . . . we just need to know that he's going to be alright."

"Mr. Potter suffered some minor abrasions, a couple cuts, some bumps and bruises, and I believe that he may have cracked a bone in his wrist." Sixteen bones in the rest of his body, shattered two ribs, had punctured one lung, had the spell residue of at least two hundred curses, had nearly bled out, and had a rather nasty hang nail, but she saw no reason to go into great detail, the boy could tell his friends in the unlikely event that he chose to. The fact that he'd reportedly been ambulatory at the end of the fight was nearly unbelievable considering the long list of injuries he'd arrived with.

"That's all?" Hermione sobbed in relief.

"For the most part," Poppy said gently. "He's going to make a full recovery."

"But . . . but we heard that he was attacked by a dozen Death Eaters?" Luna wondered, having used her standard tactic of reducing the rumored amount by a factor of ten to get something approaching the truth.

"A bakers dozen," Professor Flitwick's inappropriately cheerful voice caused both girls to jump, "at least." And that was without mentioning all the other groups running around town.

"What do you mean at least?" Hermione demanded.

"That's how many were left behind of the group that went after him," the diminutive Charms Professor replied, smiling broadly, still feeling the euphoria of combat. "We're still not sure how many of them escaped."

"But . . . how?"

"They were bunched up when they arrived and Mr. Potter chose not to give them any time to prepare themselves for conflict. By the time they'd regained their wits, he was already among them making their lives very uncomfortable." The half goblin laughed. "Seeing that the Death Eaters were no threat to them, many of the surrounding bystanders amused themselves by taking pot shots at any Death Eater foolish enough to give them a clear target." It was close enough to the truth that he didn't feel too guilty stating it.

"Can we see him?" Luna asked plaintively, surprising everyone with the request. "We promise to be very quiet."

"In a moment," the healer said, her eyes sweeping over the girls' attendants. "I have a bit of work to do before I can allow this many visitors." Best get him cleaned up enough to make it hard to tell that she'd left a few things out when she'd described his injuries.

IIIIIIIIII

Dobby didn't bother to stop working on Harry Potter sir's meal when Hogwarts' senior elves approached. No doubt the poor excuses for elves had come to whine about one thing or another or to accuse him of being a bad elf again.

"Other elves say that Dobby must leave Hoggwarts and never return!" the senior elf pronounced firmly. "Begone, begone, begone!"

"Why would Dobby do that?" the house elf sighed. If it wasn't one thing it was another, sometimes he wished he really were the bad elf the others accused him of being. Course, if he was, none of them would dare bother him for fear of having bad things done to them. He supposed it was proof that the idiots knew that he really was a good elf if nothing else.

"Dobby has raised his hand agains wizards, Dobby has committed an unforgivable act, Dobby is banished."

"Elvies can not commit an unforgivable act if it is for their family," Dobby pointed out reasonably. "Dobby has done nothing wrong."

"Is true," the most ancient of the elves confirmed. "Is why Sneezy pushed bad former Headmaster Dippydot down stairs three times and off the tower once after bad former Headmaster told head girl she had to earn her position with a position of his choice. Students is Hogwarts family and Hogwarts elves are Hogwarts family so students are elves family."

"Students is family so elvies can protect students when they can," the senior elf agreed. "Dobby has no master, Dobby is not a Hogwarts elf, Dobby has no family, so Dobby is banished."

"Dobby has no master?" Now he knew the others' brains were bent. "Since when does Dobby have no master?"

The other elves glanced at each other. "Since Dobby's former master gave him clothes."

"And afterward, Dobby got Harry Potter sir as his master. Dobby made piggy food out of bad wizards that wanted to hurt Harry Potter sir's Hermy and Loveygood and Harry Potter sir's Hermy's things and peoples. Harry Potter sir ordered Dobby to protect his Hermy and his Loveygood and Dobby protected them because Dobby is a good elf and good elvies do as they are told."

"Dobby doesn't call Harry Potter sir master."

"Harry Potter sir doesn't want to be called 'master' so Dobby doesn't say it to Harry Potter sir," the house elf explained. "Is strange, but humans is confusing," Dobby recited the well known house elf's lament.

"Dobby works for pay," the kitchen's senior elf sneered. "So Dobby is a bad elf and so Dobby is banished."

"Dobby works for Professor Dumbydore's pay, not Harry Potter sir's and Dobby puts his pay in Harry Potter sir's vault as a good elf should."

"Elvies is allowed to work for pay if pay goes to elves's master," the senior elf admitted. "Why is Dobby working for Headmaster's pay?"

"Harry Potter sir is a kind and generous master, he doesn't have enough work for Dobby so tells Dobby that he is allowed to get work at Hoggywarts for hisself. Great kind Harry Potter sir makes messes every year for Dobby and other elfies while at Hoggywarts." Dobby let it sink in for a moment before delivering the coup de gras. "Harry Potter sir opened the chamber of the great snake that had not been cleaned for a thousand years so that good house elves could clean it. Dobby has the greatest most generous master of them all."

The other elves went silent, no doubt reflecting on how wrong they were and how fortunate Dobby was to have the greatest, and consequently one of the most confusing, humans as his master.

"Sneezy says Harry Potter sir is a good master to be so kind to his Dobby," the most ancient of the elves pronounced. "Dobby is a good elf." There was a short pause then the ancient elf leaned forward to whisper into Dobby's ear. "Does Dobby think the Great Harry Potter sir would be generous enough to find more work for other elvies?"

"Dobby will ask Harry Potter sir when Harry Potter sir has the time to be asked by Dobby." Dobby nodded in satisfaction, glad the other elves were finally starting to recognize the majestic glory of the great and wondrous Harry Potter sir.

IIIIIIIIII

Amelia was in her office attempting to make a dent in the mountain of paperwork she'd been cursed with when the door opened to admit one of her aides. Her blood went cold at the expression on the man's face.

"Attack on Hogsmeade, Boss."

The woman's heart stopped. "Susan?"

"Confirmed safe along with Hannah. Looks like they wanted to kill as many students as possible and Potter in particular."

"How bad?" she braced herself for the worst.

"Potter's alive, report says that most of the bad guys aren't. Don't have anything definite, still waiting for the quick response to report back with more than just an initial size up."

"Get everyone we've got, tell them we're going to Hogsmeade to help with the clean up," Amelia ordered.

"We'll be ready in four minutes, boss. Healer Rage says she'll have a team from St. Mungos in eight," her Auror reported.

IIIIIIIIII

Hermione recognized six of the twelve people surrounding Harry's bed, they all worked for him. Her eyes narrowed a bit as she tried to figure out who the other half were.

"Healer Chalmers," Luna called out. "Do you remember me?"

"How could I forget the girl who accidentally transfigured her hair into horns and snakes!" the woman laughed. "How are you, Luna."

"You're here to look after Harry?"

"Healer Devon and I." She indicated the man on her left. "Are here to help everyone we can. The attack filled the hospital wing, it filled St. Mungos, it filled the clinic at Hogsmeade, and it filled a couple other places. It's bad, Luna, only consolation we can offer is that it would have been a great deal worse without that young man."

"Can we have a moment with him?" Luna asked. "He's our very good friend and we were very worried about him."

"Take as much time as you need," the healer agreed, motioning for the others to give the two girls a bit of privacy.

"Are you pondering what I'm pondering, Luna?" Hermione whispered.

"I don't know, Hermione," Luna whispered back. "I'm pondering how fun it would be to gently show a few prominent Death Eater families our disapproval of their attempt on Harry's life."

"Gently, you say?" Hermione asked, a smile forming on her face as she contemplated the mayhem to come.

"Regrettably, showing proper disapproval would create an unacceptable hardship for innocent people in the fallout pattern." Luna sighed heavily. "Shame your father wouldn't let us build a fission reactor, plutonium is so difficult to find on the open market."

"Nothing says 'you annoyed me' better then tactical nuclear weapons," Hermione agreed. Operation Glowing Azkaban would have to wait. "Come, Luna, we have work to do."

"We do, Hermione," Luna agreed. The girl bent down to give Harry a soft kiss on the cheek. "Let's get dangerous."

"Let's show them why you never anger an Engineer," Hermione agreed, bending down to kiss Harry's other cheek. "Let's show them why it's better to cut your own throat than to cross a Granger." She nodded to her friend. "Let's show the world why crossing a Lovegood is the worst thing one can do. Let's make an example so terrifying that nothing like this ever happens again."

"Let's," Luna agreed with a wide toothy smile.

AN: Omake Below.

Omake by Ronnie McMains II

"Hagrid, you do realize this is _Harry Potter_ you're talking about? He's managed to find trouble while riding the Express, walking down a corridor, and even just sitting in the Great Hall eating his dinner! Even if he doesn't try to get mixed up in that, _that_ will decide to get mixed up with _him_ !"

Omake by lordveive

Tom Riddle was having a great day. The base was unusually quiet today, so Tom was able to get "Out of Character" for once. Instead of his usual dark robes and hissing slur, he was wearing his rainbow unicorn pattern pajamas and was able to read the newspaper for once.

"Cracking morning, isn't it Nagini?" Tom asked, not bothering with the hissing slur he had to adopt around his followers.

Unfortunately Nagini's mouth was full. Tom watched the snake enjoy the muggle that had been Tom's morning entertainment.

Oh don't give me that tone of look, he may be wearing pajamas but he's still an evil, murdering psychopath who fakes a speech impediment.

Tom's musings were interrupted by a train whistle.

"What the devil?" Tom asked no one in particular. "There aren't any railroads nearby."

The train whistle sounded again, louder and closer this time. Followed by the squealing of brakes.

Tom set down his paper and went to the window. He pulled aside the curtain and peered out.

"What on Earth?" Tom said aloud. There, about 200 yards outside his window was a train comprised of a steam engine and a long line of box cars slowly rolling to a stop.
It was resting on thin air 300 feet off of the ground.

Then all of the doors on the box cars opened.

"Oh hell." Was the last thing Tom said. The last thing through his mind was a 37mm white phosphorus shell fired by a Hotchkiss Revolving Cannon. There were 42 of them on the train, each equipped with a gunnery crew and and a mix of ammunition- high explosive and incendiary for lightly armored targets and tungsten core slugs for harder targets.

No one ever found out what happened to Tom and Nagini, but legend has it that they were a part of the ash that rained down on Little Hangleton that day.

End Omake