&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Mad-Eye Moody clambered up the staircase awkwardly, his peg leg letting him only take one step at a time. Wheezing and puffing, he grasped the handrail and hauled himself up the last step with relief. He could already hear the mumble of voices from behind Maria's door. Opening it wide, he strolled into the meeting. There must have been nearly fifteen people there already, cramped into the apartment, but Moody had no trouble picking out Arthur Weasley's vivid red hair. Moody walked over and collapsed heavily into a sagging couch next to Arthur.
"Those stairs get steeper every time I climb them, I swear." Moody growled, rubbing his leg thoughtfully. "Who's here?"
"Let's see," Arthur said, looking around. "Me, you, Bill...Julius...Li...Arabella...Snape's sitting in the corner scowling, as usual...McGonagall is talking to Maria in the kitchen.
Oh, yes, and a few newbies."
"Newbies?" Moody turned around, trying to spot the new recruits, and Arthur pointed them out.
"Fleur Delacour?" Moody said to no-one in particular, rather impressed. "She'll be good, Beauxbatons Champion and all." Fleur did not seem to share Moody's opinion of her abilities, and was sitting bolt upright, biting her fingernails absently and looking out of large, lustrous, scared eyes.
"Is that William Knight over there by any chance?" Moody asked, suddenly grinning. "Old Barry would be proud, his son being head boy a few years back, and now an auror."
"That's Phillip Baunhauser - he's from Germany.. He's a national Dueling Champ." Arthur pointed out a young, dark-haired figure sitting on another well-worn couch. "Dumbledore has roped a few forigners in, actually. There's also Charmaine Ulliet from South Africa, over there with the brown curls, she's about twenty or so, and I don't know who all the rest are, but they're all good. It seems Dumbledore has pinched the cream of the crop from around the world."
One girl caught Moody's eye. She sat curled up in a creaky green armchair apart from the rest of the nervous group of youngsters. Blonde, lithe and with freckles scattered over cheeks, she would have been rather pretty, Moody admitted, apart from the livid scars scattered across her face, legs and arms. The most impressive of these were a set of parallel claw-marks that started on her forehead and ran down, over the eyebrow, luckily missed gouging the eyeball, and then tore white and shiny down her cheek to the jaw, disfiguring an otherwise pretty face. Her arms and legs, too, were criss-crossed with purple and pink scars.
Moody rubbed his own lacerated skin thoughtfully. At least these newbies had a bit of experience, he thought. This one looked like she'd seen a fair few scrapes.
Turning back to Arthur, he sighed.
"To tell you the truth, Arthur, I'm not going to really enjoy going back to retierment. Hunting down those rabid Death Eaters gets my blood pumping like a teenagers, and I have to admit I have rather enjoyed working with you."
Arthur smiled, looking genuinely suprised at his grizzly partner. "Thanks. A compliment from you is as rare as Flobberworm's teeth."
"And looking at those little recruits bring back so many memories. Perhaps I should have delayed my retierment for another half year or so..." Moody pondered his decision. "Apprentices are so much fun to have. Do you remember your apprenticeship, Arthur?"
This started a long conversation along the lines of 'when I was a boy', and Moody began to wish he had an apprentice of his own.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Calypso decided to gather her nerves and go and talk to the other two girls who seemed near her age, sitting on a thread-bare brown sofa along the wall. She gingerly went over to them and perched on the arm of the couch. Swiveling around, she extended a hand to the closest one, a breathtaking girl with silver-white hair and delicate bones.
"Gudday" Calypso said, with more confidence than she felt. "I'm Calypso Grey. Who are you?"
The blonde girl looked at her out of scared eyes that suddenly filled with warmth at the friendly greeting, and took Calypso's hand.
"Fleur Delacour. I'm very pleezed to meet you." she said politely with a French accent.
"A Frenchie, are you?" Calypso asked, curious.
Fleur nodded, her silken hair shimmering.
"And with an accent like that, you just have to be Australian" said a voice from over Calypso's shoulder. She turned around to look at the speaker.
Studs! was Calypso's first though. Get a load of the Co-workers! Two guys stood behind Calypso, both fit to grace the cover of any girly magazine. The blonde one, who had spoken, reached out a hand and Calypso tried not to oogle.
"Hullo. Are you new as well?" he asked in a british accent. "I'm Will Knight."
"Calypso Grey, and yes, I am an Aussie." Calypso winced as her accent grated on her own ears.
"I am Fleur Delacour, very pleezed to meet you" Fleur repeated, and Will's eyes popped.
"THE Fleur Delacour? Beauxbatons Champion? Oh..." Will seemed lost for words.
The girl sitting on the opposite side of the couch leant over and smiled nervously at the others. "I'm Charmaine. Charmaine Uyllett, from South Africa." she said quietly in the unusual accent South Africans have, a mixture of posh English, Dutch and Australian. Charmaine had a huge mop of deep brown ringlets cascading down her shoulders and large, brown eyes. "I'm apprenticed to Minerva McGonagall." she added shyly. "Do you know who you are paired up with?"
"I'm with an Arthur Wealsey" said the dark-haired youth standing to the side of Will said. "Oh, I'm Phillip Baunhauser, by the way. From Germany." he added, quite unnessecarily, as it was totally apparent from his slight accent.
"I'm with Patrick Ames" Fleur said uncertinaly. "Which one eez he, do any of you know?"
Will looked around the cluttered room. "Not here yet, sorry. He's about fifty, sixty, got glasses and you'll know him by his hair. He's bald on top, with a crown of grey strands he sweeps over the bald patch." Will chucked to himself. "He's a good old bastard, anyhow, Fleur, youre lucky. He's an old friend of my dad's. I'm with Mundungus Fletcher, and he's a laugh and a half."
"Are all of you going to be student teachers as well?" Phillip asked "Will and I are. I'm teaching Transfiguration, and Will's dong Ancient Runes." Calypso was puzzled, but Charmaine and Fleur nodded.
"I'm doing Arithmacy." said Charmaine quietely
"And I'm teaching Defense against the Dark Arts." Fleur said proudly.
"Well, that makes sense, you ARE the Beauxbatons champion." said Phillip. "Calypso...that was your name, wasn't it? What are you teaching?"
"Nothing.' Calypso said brightly. "I honestly have no idea what youre going on about."
"But..." Fleur said, astonished.
"We all asked by Dumbledore to join the Phoenixes a few months ago. We would also be Student Teachers at Hogwarts during term, because most of the Phoenixes are teachers at the school anyway." Phillip said, puzzled. "I just thought, as you come from Australia, and most of us come from overseas..."
"Unfortunatly, no. And I'm not paired up with anyone, either. I'm here for a different reason from you." Calypso replied, feeling incredibly jeleous.
"So what are you here for?" Charmaine asked, curoius
"I'm a Technical Advisor." Calypso said slyly.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
"...and Dmitri is from the Russian Academy of Magic, their top student two years ago. I've paired him up with Arabella Figg, and he'll be assisting Professer Flitwick in Charms." there was a murmur of approval, and then all eyes turned onto Calypso, the last newbie, who was squeezed onto a couch next to Fleur and Will.
Dumbledore paused. "I'd like to introduce you all the Calypso Grey, from Australia. I asked Calypso to join us for a different reason from all the others, actually." Everyone's ears pricked up.
"It seems the fates are favouring us this time around. Calypso turned up uninvited at Remus' house last week and..."
"Impossible!" Frederick Flitwick exclaimed, half jumping out of his plastic deck chair. "I set the Fideus Charm myself! She couldn't have!"
"Normal rules don't apply for Calypso, it seems." Remus said smoothly.
"Anyway," Dumbledore continued, "In the space of a week she's saved half the inhabitants of Peachgrove Village and Mundungus' life." At this there was a great murmur of astonishment and congradulations.
"So, how did you do it?" asked a tall, black haired man with a hooked nose.
Calypso turned to face him, and met cold, suspicious, hard black eyes.
"Do you really want to know?" she asked mildly.
"If I didn't, then why would I ask?" he hissed nastilly.
Calypso gave him a netural look.
"Because, honey, I'm a Seer" she said simply.
Everyone sitting in Maria's apartment froze. And then chaos broke out.
"Oh please, give us break Dumbleore! Have you lost your wits?" was a particually loud cry from Minerva McGonagall over the snorting and other disdainful noise that was rolling over Calypso's head.
"Quiet!" commanded Dumbledore. Everyone shut their mouths abruptly.
"Believe it or not, Calypso IS a Seer, and she's here to help us." he said frostily.
"Really? What proof do you have?" the tall greasy man sneered.
"My own eyes, Severus." Dumbledore said carefully.
No-one said anything more, even though Calypso noted many sideways glances and whispered comments as Dumbledore picked up a clipboard and looked it over.
"Firstly, Sirius and Remus, who were on Paperwork this month will give you a rundown on what everyone's been doing."
The pair stood up and Remus cleared his throuat.
"Well, Sirius has been doing the reports, and I've been trying to crack the codes on the letters we intercept. I haven't had much luck." he admitted ruefully. "Some of the codes are incredibly complex. For example, in one code I could decipher the first line, but none of the rest. Another was just pages of noughts and ones. The ones I did manage to crack kept us one jump ahead of Voldemort, but really, I can't see us cracking the codes Malfoy uses in a hurry. I have those ones here if anyone else wants a shot at them." Remus pointed to a bulky folder at his feet.
Remus sat down and Sirius started talking as Calypso's mind began humming.
"I'll just give you a rundown of the reports." Sirius said. "Firstly, Bill and Julius were stationed at Harry Potter's house. There were four attacks in total, one of them quite a major attempt. Eight Death Eaters were counted, and apparated out before any were captured. One Hit Wizard was slightly injured by a fireblast, though."
Calypso tuned out and looked across the room to Remus as Sirius talked on.
"Remus..." she said quietly.
"Yes? he said, distracted.
"Could you possible hand me that folder?"
McGonagall stared at Calypso evilly. "Would you mind being quiet?" she hissed, but Calypso ignored her and took the folder that Remus handed her.
Not listening to what Sirius was saying in the least, Calypso opened the folder and spread the odd scraps of parchment out on her lap, studying them intensely.
Now you see why you are here? Called a familiar voice through Calypso's head.
Piss off Virginia! Calypso thought back angrily. This is my very first night in my new job, and I don't want to cause any major scenes like before! It's bad enough being a Seer and everyone distrusting me without becoming a Prima Donna Mary Sue! No-one likes them, and I want to make a suscess of this!
Exactly WHO got you this job? Huh? You do what I say! Virginia hisssed back.
About ten miniutes later, Sirius had finished his report, and all present started talking among themselves, apart from Calypso, who poured over her twisted bits of paper.
Dumbledore looked at her oddly.
"Have you found anything?" he asked kindly.
Calypso's head came up frowning with thought. "I think I might have." she said slowly. "Remus..."
Lupin broke off his conversation with Li, and faced Calypso expectantly.
"Yes?"
"Did you manage to crack this one?" Calypso asked, holding a leaf of parchment out.
Remus took it, and after a quick glance, handed it back to Calypso.
"No, that's the one I could only get the first line of." he said
Calypso gave a small smile.
"Did it happen to say, by any chance,
'The Dark Lord Most High, your loyal subjects are now all informed of the port-key for the next meeting place?" The general babble broke down, and Calypso was aware of everyone slowly looking at her.
"How did you know that?" Remus asked breathily.
"But wait, there's more!" Calypso exclaimed theatrically.
"...and I am fixing that matter up with the Magical Transportation Office as we speak. Rest assured, my Lord, as usual there will be no trace. I have a shortlist of possible new recruits into our Eater tribe. All are members of DAYM and have my complete..." she stopped suddenly, aware that no-one in the room was breathing.
"Yes? And?" Sinistra coaxed her.
"That's all I know" Calypso said flatly. "That's where the words turned into code and my dream ended."
"A dream?" Mundungus asked, and Calypso told them the main points of her dream.
"Give me fifteen miniutes and I betcha I can have this code cracked." she said into the suspicious silence. "Anyone got a pen?"
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Ben squeezed his eyes shut tightly as the capsule started dropping at high speed and his stomach lurched uncomfortably. Rattling, shaking and clanging, the capsule sped towards the ground at Diagon Alley. Blood was pulsating behind Ben's eyes, throbbing in his ears, which were completly blocked. He tried to swallow but couldn't, and instead clenched his teeth.
There was a scream, a whine and the harsh, drawn-out sound of metal scraping on metal as the capsule slowed down. Ben felt like his stomach had suddenly exited his body via the top of his head.
Just as he thought he was going to scream or spew (he had just opened his mouth to do one or the other) the capsule hit the ground with an almighty crash that knocked all the wind out of his lungs. If it wasn't for the cramped conditions he was in, he would have colapsed into a heap. Instead, he stayed exactly where he was as the capsule rolled over and over, making the nauseated Ben feel like he was in a washing machiene. Then with a thunk that jarred Ben's whole body, the capusle finally came to rest.
Panting, trying to draw a shuddering breath in the tiny, humid, dark capsule, Ben tried to compse himself into something more substantial then jelly as the taped message from BPKP (always a pleasure, never a chore) thanked him for flying BPKP, hoped he had a nice journey and wished him well in England.
With a pneumatic hiss, Ben was blinded by the light invading the insides of the pitch black capsule.
"How was your trip, mate?" boomed a raucous voice from the light.
Ben just kept his mouth firmly shut as he undid his harness and a huge hand dragged him out of the capsule, up onto his feet. He discovered that his legs would not support him on the hot tarmac, and the only thing keeping him up was Kevin's firm grip on his upper arm.
"You all right there, Ben mate?" Kevin asked, looking at his pasty companion.
Ben very carefully shaped his words.
"I think I'm going to be sick." he said very slowly, and Kevin groaned. With a flick of his wand, a sick-bag attached itself onto Ben's mouth just in the nick of time.
When Ben had finished, Kevin slapped him on the back, causing another convulsion.
"Not a bad effort, Hunter. But still, Mitchell over there beats you by a country mile. He landed twenty minutes ago, and he's still going strong. In fact, I think everyone tasted last night's dinner."
"Roast beef." Ben said sadly.
"Chicken Curry." Kevin said with a straight face. "Burnt on the way down, burnt on the way up. C'mon, you're the last one, let's get moving."
And with that, Kevin half-carried, half dragged Ben through Customs and into England.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"All are members of DAYM and have my complete confidence.' There's a list here." Calypso said.
"Then it says, "The Death Eater Tribe from Australia are saftely hidden, as your commands. They will be attending the meeting, and eagerly await new orders.
Yours faithfully,
Lucius Malfoy.
And that's where it ends." Calypso finished. "Rather boring, sorry."
"What'z DAYM?" Fleur asked, puzzled.
"Dark Arts Youth Movement." replied Amos Diggory with a growl. "Just like the Hitler Youth, if you ask me."
McGonagall waved a hand dismissivly. "It doesn't tell us anything we already didn't know."
There was a murmur of agreement at this from the odd assortment of people squished into Maria's apartment.
Calypso smiled sweetly at them. "But, dears, now that I know this code, I can read anything else they send in this format. And I'm working on the rest, too. Some of them are in muggle code. Like this one," Calypso said, dragging out a sheet of parchment covered in noughts and ones. "Now, I'm not the expert on this, but I think this is all just binary code, used in programming computers. All I'd have to do is feed all this into an old computer and it should spew out a letter."
"Forgive me if I'm wrong, Minerva, but that MAY tell us something we don't already know." Sirius said slyly.
Calypso grinned weakly at him. It was nice to have someone sticking up for you, Calypso thought. Minerva and Snape seemed to have something against her, for some reason. Calypso found this highly depressing.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Once Ben had cleared Customs he felt a little better, but as he picked up his baggage he felt quite sick when he heard things rattle inside it. When he had packed his bag, nothing rattled.
"Oh I can't believe it!" Ben exclaimed.
Kevin leant over. "You didn't pack breakables, did you?"
Ben swore loudly and scowled.
Kevin grabbed his own bag and headed out into the reception to meet the British Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge.
As he approached, he heard loud, Australian-accented voices raised in anger.
Oh dear, Kevin though, coming closer and seeing Wilson, the leader of their group arguing with an important robed figure that he recognized as Fudge. Tapping Holden, the only female member of the team on her shoulder, he asked what was going on.
Alice Holden was white with anger. "He's messed up how many of us are coming. He's only got accommodation for eleven, not twelve, can you believe it? He's the leader of this Magical Community, and he can't even count..."
Eventually, some sort of agreement was reached, and the knot of people moved out of the stuffy building and onto the dark, hot paved street of Diagon Alley.
Ben tugged his case along him - he had bewitched it to become feather-light, and then levitated it so it floated along - and oogled at the buildings, and spotting a party in one. Since he had left Australia at eleven thirty in the morning, he was full of energy, and sneakily considered jumping out his hotel window to join them.
They stopped in front of an archway that led onto what looked like the back of a pub, and were ushered in through the back door.
Ben blinked, his eyes adjusting to the new, dim lighting inside the bar. He had barely time to take in the features of the room before he was herded up a large wooden staircase behind everyone else. A wizened, bald old man in the front of the queue of travel-sick Aurors gave the wizard at the front of the line a small phial, a key and pointed him into a room. They slowly moved forward, each Auror recieving their phial of Dreamless Sleep potion to help combat the 12 hour time difference, and their allocated room. Finally, Kevin, who was standing in front of Ben, disappeared behind a heavy oak door, and Ben turned expectantly to the innkeeper.
"So you've drawn the short straw, have you?" the toothless old man asked Ben with a wry chuckle. Ben had no idea what he was going on about, and told the innkeeper so.
"We've run out of rooms," the innkeeper explained, walking further down the hallway and beckoning for Ben to follow, "so the others charitably volunteered their apprentice to sleep in the attic. You are Ben Hunter, aren't you?"
Suddenly feeling rather depressed, Ben nodded. "Should've known," he said miserably. "All you do as an apprentice is sweep the floors, make cups of coffee and do jobs your superiors don't want to."
This time the innkeeper laughed out loud as he grabbed the wooden knob swinging from the ceiling at the end of the hallway and pulled it down, revealing a flight of dusty steps.
"Your room, sir." he said, still chuckling. Then he was suddenly serious. "I also don't have any Dreamless Sleep potion for you, so you'll just have to try and doze the best you can. My name's Tom, and just give a yell if you have any problems."
"Thanks." Ben said glumly and walked up the stairs, dragging his suitcase behind him.
The staircase behind him closed with a dull thunk that made the dust fly. Ben looked mournfully around. Walking stooped, as the ceiling was sloped, he made his way over to the rickety old iron bed and dumped his case beside it, sending up another cloud of dust and an ear-wrenching screech of metal on metal from the bed.. Ben went to the window and eventually forced it open, the cool outside air breathing new life into the musty, hot, poky little room.
Ben sighed, and started unpacking his suitcase.
********************
Dumbledore turned to Snape. "Tell them." Dumbledore said simply, and Snape nodded.
"Snape's a double agent," Will whispered in Calypso's ear. "He's..."
"Well, out worst fears are confirmed." Snape started, looking around the motley crew assembled int Maria's flat.
"The Australiasian Death Eaters are here, and they plan on some serious action."
A collective moan rose through the Phoenixes.
"Voldemort has some sort of plan for them, that I'm not privy to. The rest of the English Death Eaters have to play second fiddle to this new lot, and I'm happy to say it's hacking Malfoy right off."
Calypso slowly woke up. It was past midnight, and even though all the other new recruits were hanging onto every word spoken, and had offered quite a few themselves, Calypso had been daydreaming for the last few hours, and at times her head had fallen onto Fleur's shoulder. Calypso had only spoken twice, when she was introduced and when she asked about the codes.
She knew she should be riveted by what was said, but she wasn't.
Maria had told her before the meeting started that there were people who would (not just literaly) kill to hear what was being said. Calypso, in reply, had told Maria that meetings were not her 'thing' and not to get embarrassed if she fell asleep. But what was being said now caught her attention smartly.
"Malfoy is smart." Amos Diggory said from a large lazy-boy. "How did he get demoted?"
Snape scowled - a sight Calypso was already used to seeing on the lanky man's face. "I don't know." Snape replied testily. "Voldemort is sick of his Death Eaters failing, and from what I've heard, these Australaisian imports are very good at their job."
"If you call killing innocent wizards a job." Mad Eye Moody growled.
"Not just Wizards." Dumbledore corrected. "These people were more than Death Eaters. They were Terrorists."
"You can't be serious!" Charmaine said suddenly.
"Oh yes he is." Arabella Figg said into the startled faces of half the room. "Those Australasians killed an awful lot of Muggles. They started riots, civil insurrections and coups all through the South Pacific and Indonesia. That's what comes from a former prison colony." she added bitterly at the end.
Julius Mackintosh, a haunted looking man of about 25 spoke confidently into the shocked noise of the room. "The Ministry will have to accept that something is going on now, won't they? He'll have to take it seriously for once, Fudge isn't that stupid to ignore the fact that terrorists have escaped and have turned up on his patch!"
Heads nodded sagely, and murmurs rolled around the room. Calypso sat bolt upright, feeling a strong sense of deja vu. Where had she heard all this before?
"I read somewhere they were responsible for the 1986 Fijian Coup." Will added to Calypso's worries. Suddenly it hit her, where she had heard this conversation before.
"Excuse me..." she said shyly.
No-one paid her any attention.
Calypso looked around, trying to grab attention, but everyone gathered were riveted on the conversation.
"Excuse me." she said a little louder.
Sirius, from the other side of the room and a camping stool, looked at her inquiringly.
Looking at Sirius, Calypso felt immensely grateful. Since he had walked into Maria's apartment, he was a changed man. He was no longer offhand, flamboyant, or troublemaking, but instead serious and alert.
"What's up?" he mouthed across the din to Calypso, who was looking extremely worried.
"Sirius, I think we have a rather serious problem. If I'm right..." Calypso started to say, but an angry voice cut in.
"But you're probably wrong, so go read palms somewhere else and leave us to do some real work!" Minerva McGonagall snapped sharply at Calypso.
Calypso concentrated on breathing, and was aware that her face had gone scarlet with anger. Ignoring Sirius, who was shooting furious looks at McGonagall, she slowly and sedately got to her feet and brushed off her jeans.
"What are you doing?" Will asked her as she walked past.
"Reading palms." Calypso replied, making a zig-zagging beeline around the chairs and sofas in Maria's apartment. Reaching the large ranchslider that opened onto the balcony over Diagon Alley, Calypso concentrated for a moment and listened to the conversation behind her.
"They are nothing we can't handle, really? I mean, they are just Death Eaters with a reputation when you get down to it..."
"No, they are totally different. We need a different approach if we want to stay alive. These lot are bloodthirsty psychos. I've heard they kill just for the fun of it."
Calypso quietly slid the glass door open, so that the sound was masked from the din within. She took a careful step outside and looked up.
There was:
the top of the ranch slider,
the clay gutters,
a hand,
and the deep navy sky with glittering stars.
One of these things aren't like the other one,
One of these things aren't quite the same.
One of these things just don't belong here,
Now it's time to play our game!
It's time to play our game!
Calypso mentally sang the tune from Sesame Street to herself as she gracefully reached up, and suddenly leapt, grasping firmly onto the hand that had lazily fallen over the side of the roof.
Clinging onto the brawny wrist and tucking her knees up, she heard a desperate yell from above as the person lost balance and Calypso use her dead weight to pull him over the side of the roof.
Black robes flew past Calypso's face as the hooded Death Eater fell down next to her, landing with a sickening crash on the solid balcony.
To give the Phoenixes credit, they reacted quickly and intelligently. As soon as they saw a robed figure fall off the roof, they leapt into action. Five ran to the balcony, three dashed into other rooms to try other windows, and the rest thundered down the stairwell, wands in hand.
Calypso leapt to her feet as the burly Death Eater sprawled out on the ground moaned and started to get up. Suddenly a jet of light shot under her arm and hit the Death Eater in the middle of his back. There was a noise from the roof of many feet suddenly moving.
Dumbledore, who had Stupefied the Death Eater, didn't even give Calypso a second glance as he sprinted out the door, his face hard. With a swish of his wand, sparks leapt from its wooden end and he shot up, and disappeared over the edge of the roof.
Phillip was next up, and Calypso could see McGonagall dashing through the open ranch slider. Eyes narrowing, Calypso jumped up onto the railing, and leapt to grab the edge of the gutter. Praying that it wouldn't break, she heaved herself up and over the edge, and rolled onto the roof.
####################
Tiles digging into her arms, Calypso looked around as yells and explosions suddenly started flying through the previously still night air.
The roof was totally uneven. The apartments must have been built independently, for each had their own roof that met at interesting angles to their neighbors. Combined with the numerous chimneys from both the apartments and the shops below, along with weathervanes, lightning rods and other funny things Calypso didn't recognize, it looked remarkably like an obstacle course.
Another jet of colored light flashed past, hitting a weathervane, shattering it into tiny fragments of metal. Calypso used the shrapnel as cover as she leapt to her feet and jumped over the apex of the roof, landing onto her shoulder and rolling down the other side. She stopped when she rolled straight into Remus, who looked grim. Calypso crawled on her elbows over to him, and started to talk over the blasts.
"How many?" she asked quickly.
"Dunno. At least six or so. We outnumber them, but it's harder to take them alive than dead, so they have the advantage."
"But they don't have surprise any more!" Dumbledore said from Calypso's left, and Calypso allowed herself a smile.
Calypso noticed that most of the Phoenixes were also huddled at the roof join she was in, and was strongly reminded of the Trenches of WWI. She looked across to Charmaine, who was two people to Calypso's left. Her lip was quivering, but her eyes were hard and her wand was steadily held in her right hand.
Calypso had a sudden though. "They were spread out." She said to the air.
"What?" Remus asked her, suddenly leaping up to shoot off a random stunner over the horizon of the roof.
"They were spread out all over the roof." Calypso repeated. "Has anyone checked up on all the nooks and crannies behind us? One or two could be..."
The words were only out of her mouth when there was a sudden shriek from further along the row of Phoenixes.
Like an overgrown bat, a hooded figure had leapt out of behind a chimney block and latched onto the nearest leg, which was Fleur's. She kicked out viciously while turning to point her wand at her assailant, but it was too late. Before anyone could react, Fleur and the hooded figure seemed to flinch, and then they were gone.
"PORTKEYS!" Amos Diggory yelled.
"SHIT!" Sirius hissed. "This changes things. They want to take us alive!"
What the hell do you think you are doing up here girly? Are you trying to get yourself killed? Virginia shrieked into her skull. Get down now! You've done what you were supposed to, that was to warn them. Stop playing Superwoman here, you haven't got a wand, you know no spells, and there's nothing you can do apart from hinder the others or become a corpse!
Calypso suddenly made her mind up.
She turned, and started crawling along the line of Phoenixes, keeping low to avoid the curses and hexes that were whooshing dangerously close over her head like a volley of shooting stars.
Good! Virginia sounded relieved. So you finally got yourself some brains and are following my orders now. Thank God for that.
At the end of the roof, Calypso took a deep breath, a firm grip on the guttering, and dropped over the edge, to dangle monkey-like from the edge.
Fingers straining, she closed her eyes and mentally summoned as much magic as she could to float as the gutter was creaking and buckling under her weight.
She opened her eyes, and was delighted to see that she was semi-floating along the roofline. She started to swing along, watching out carefully for any signs of movement.
What the hell are you doing? Virginia's voice crackled to life inside her skull.
Ending all this! Calypso snarled back, sweat trickling down her face. Now shut up! If I loose my concentration I'm going to fall two stories onto cobblestones!
Suddenly, there was a huge earsplitting explosion that rocked the buildings. Heat blasted over the roof, and the scream of tortured metal combined with the scream of a human. Calypso bit her lip, screwed up her eyes and held on as she swung madly around in the shockwave.
Finally under control, Calypso ignored best she could the moans of pain and the yells coming from the rooftop and clambered on, getting the traces of a biting headache from concentrating on her magic so hard.
She swung around the edge of the building, and nearly kicked Severus Snape in the back of the head.
Snape grabbed her ankle and held on tight.
"What are you doing?" he growled, his torso hanging out the bathroom window.
Moonlight and flares from spells lit up his eyes eerily, and Calypso felt her skin prickle.
"Going around the back of the Death Eaters, what does it look like?" she snapped back, trying to kick her ankle free.
Snape hung on tight.
"You foolish little girl," he hissed maliciously. "They have spells up so you can't. Do you think these people are amateurs?"
Calypso felt fury build up inside of her, and tried to restrain it.
"No," she snarled dangerously, eyes flashing.
"I think you lot are."
She angrily kicked Snape's wrist with her other foot, and he let out a yelp, releasing her foot. Before Snape could protest, Calypso monkey-walked forward to face a shimmering opaque screen that stretched across the sky, flickering with tiny multi-colored bolts of lightning that were humming ominously.
Calypso took a deep breath, narrowed her eyes at the spell, and before Snape could let loose a cry of warning, or before a horrified Virginia could stop her, she reached forward and swung through the barrier with a determined growl.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Ben gave a start at the first spell that crashed into a house, and made his rickety old bed moan and shriek in metallic protest.
What the hell? He though.
Sudddenly, an orange comet flashed past the tiny window in his room.
Then an aquamarine one.
Ben leapt up, legs tangled in the sheets. Cursing and falling out of bed and onto the floor with a resounding crash, he hopped over to the window, legs bound hopelessly together with the sheets.
He pressed his nose hard against the glass and peered out.
Furthur down the road on the same side of the curving alley, figures were pouring out of the house that was having the party and onto the roof, to be received with multi-colored hexes and curses. It looked like a sinister version of Guy Fawkes Day.
Windows and doors were thrown open, and angry, complaining faces popped out all down the street. The faces soon popped back in, now looking terrified. Shutters were closed, and glistening protection spells quickly appeared on buildings.
Ben's face dropped as he realized what was going on. Ripping the sheets off his legs, and tearing a large hole in the process, he turned to run down the stairs and regroup with the rest of his team. He had only taken a few steps when he realized the horrible reality.
They had all taken Dreamless Sleep Potion.
SHIT! Ben mouthed silently, and did some fast thinking, while running over to his bedside table for his wand.
Turning to the window, he opened the lock with Alohomora and it swung open as more spells sped past, lighting up the street below.
Ben had one leg on the windowsill, trying unsuccessfully to squeeze out the tiny opening when he realized what he was wearing.
Cursing again, he leapt back inside and groped around on the floor for a pair of shorts. Hopping on one foot, he tried to drag on his shorts while keeping an eye on what was happening outside. Just as he pulled them up, there was a fiery woosh and emerald green jet of light illuminated the whole window and...
The next thing Ben knew he was lying on the floor, all the breath knocked out of his lungs. Wheezing in the smoke, he rolled unsteadily to his feet.
Where his uncomfortable bed had been, there was a wonderful view of the stars.
The spell had smashed a large hole in the roof, obliterating everything in it's path, and severely bruising Ben.
Ben scowled.
Now it was personal.
"Aqueous." Ben snarled, and water hosed out of the end of his wand to put out the small fires that were blazing among the wreckage.
Wand in hand, and now semi-decently attired, he climbed over fallen beams and tiles out onto the roof to join in the fray.
####################
Remus could pinpoint the moment where the battle changed tone. It was about five minutes after Fleur was captured when their opponents lost direction and began to fight as individuals.
Sirius had grinned. "Looks like someone knocked off their leader!" he chuckled evilly.
Within fifteen minutes, the enemy was falling to pieces, starting to panic as one Death Eater after another were Stupefied.
Remus wriggled forward a little more, and aimed carefully.
"Stupefy." he said solemnly, and watched a jet of pink light race directly towards a bulky, hooded figure.
Score! he thought, but in the split seconds before the spell hit the hooded figure, the Death Eater disappeared.
Suddenly, it was all quiet, the only sound the lonely woosh of the breeze running over the rooftops on the cool summer's night.
Remus sat, stunned for a few seconds before the miserable feeling of defeat sank in.
A growl of anger rippled across the roof, and a few figures, covered in soot, blood and other debris stood up.
Arthur marched across to Sirius, his right side covered in purple slime.
"We lost them," he said simply. "They all had Portkeys for the retreat..." he left the statment hanging in the air as the rest of the Phoenixes walked or staggered across.
"We did more than loose them," Dumbeldore said sadly, "we lost Fleur."
Maria looked up from where she was working frantically on Li's torso, which was cut to ribbons.
"Where's Calypso?" she asked, worried.
She wasn't there, but Snape gave Dumbledore a 'I need to speak to you' look.
"I'd say they got her." He said heavily.
"That's two newbies we've lost on their first night." Amos Diggory said, shaking slightly, his beard singed away to almost nothing. "Where are the other ones?"
Philip was uninjured, William had a heavy slash in one leg. Charmaine's eyebrows were singed and her legs grazed and Dmitri had a burnt arm.
"How many Death Eaters did we get?" Flitwick asked.
"Four, Stupefied. All still out cold." Arabella replied, jerking her head in the direction of the now-ruined roof of Diagon Alley.
They all sat down, and waited, wrapped up in their own thoughts, but all feeling that four for two was a bad deal.
In a matter of seconds, a flock of broomsticks appeared, speeding over the rooftops. They spread out, and circled the rooftops. Suddenly, a spotlight lit up the rooftop, blinding all on it.
"Here we go again." muttered Bill Weasly.
"STAND UP! DROP YOUR WANDS AND RAISE YOUR ARMS!" a magically magnified voice boomed down Diagon Alley. Sighing, the Phoenixes did so, apart from Li, who stayed lying where he was and Maria, who kept working.
Seven Hit Wizards in deep navy robes landed, while another seven stayed hovering in mid air, wands at the ready.
A tough-looking man walked up to Dumbledore, who smiled back. The Hit Wizard made a gesture with one arm and another wizard gave him what looked like a pair of opera glasses. The Hit Wizard lifted them up and looked at Dumbledore through them. He then moved on to scrutinize every person on the roof through his opera glasses.
Finally, he lowered them and gave the thumbs-up, having found no Polyjuice drinkers.
The Hit Wizards who were still flying landed and professionally started combing the rooftop for bodies.
The leader of the Hit Wizards walked back up to Dumbledore, this time with a friendly face.
"Sorry we couldn't get here sooner." he said in a broad accent. "There was a diversion over in..."
Dumbledore waved a hand dismissivly.
The Hit Wizard saw the troubled look on Dumbledore's face. "What happened?" he asked.
Dumbeldore sighed. "They were waiting, on the roof. We were having our meeting below. Luckily, we had a tip-off from a new member..."
"Tip-off?" The Hit Wizard looked at Dumbledore excitedly. "Could you introduce us?"
Dumbeldore shook his head. "Sorry, Danny, no can do. They got two of us. She was one."
Danny swore and stamped his foot angrily. "How many did you get?"
"Four..." Dumbledore began, but he was cut off by a yell and a volley of spells from further back on the roof.
"OI!" came a loud, angry voice. "Cut that out for chrissake! I'm on your side you stupid..."
Luckily for Ben, they Stupefied him before he could finish his sentence, for what he was about to say would not have endeared him to the Hit Wizards or Phoenixes.
They dragged his prone figure out, down into better lighting.
"He one of yours?" Danny asked Dumbledore.
"No, he's not from around here. Accent sounded Australian, too. Could be a Death Eater." Dumbeldore said, looking at Ben closely.
"But he's not cloaked or anything." Patrick Ames remarked.
"Hey, I recognise him!" Philip said suddenly. "He got a Death Eater before it jumped me from behind!"
"Well well! You say we should hear his side of the story?" Danny asked, and unstupified Ben.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Ben blinked and opened his eyes.
His head hurt.
There were people staring at him.
He let out a groan and sat up, watching the world swim. The world came right, and he looked up at Dumbledore, and sorted out his thought.
Aware that everyone was watching his every move, wands ready, he slowly stood up and gave his hand to Dumbledore.
"Hello." he said slowly. "You must be Dumbledore. My name is Ben Hunter. I was supposed to meet you tomorrow. I'm one of the Australian Aurors."
Dumbledore, to his credit, wasn't even slightly unraveled at the sight of a brownskinned youth politely introducing himself on a floodlit rooftop which happened to be a battle scene, surrounded by Hit Wizards and wearing only a pair of shorts, the wrong way around. He shook the hand offered.
"I'm VERY pleased to meet you, but where are the others?"
Ben scowled. "They all got Dreamless Sleep Potion. Apparently, the generosity of your Ministry doesn't include getting enough to give to the Apprentice as well, so yours truly gets to sleep in the attic without any Potion. It was hard enough to go to sleep as it was, but when someone carelessly exploded my room, it got even harder. So there I was, full of beans and nowhere to sleep, so I felt obliged to get involved."
"Oh." Dumbledore said. "If we could..." He was cut off by Danny.
"I know this is going to sound rude, but you are going to have to go with the us to the Station so we can take a statement and confirm who you are, sonny." Danny said gruffly. "Sorry Dumbledore, but we need to do it. Can you spare someone for a statement?"
Dumbeldore looked annoyed, but conceded. "Flitwick can give a statement. He'll be over by that melted chimney if you want him. Mr. Hunter," he said, turning to Ben, who was being handcuffed, "Thank you. I'll inform your comrades of where you have gone when they wake up. Hopefully, you'll be back with us soon."
Ben shrugged his shoulders. "Whatever."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The suspects had just left when there was a sudden yell from a Hit Wizard stationed on the left side of the building.
"WHO GOES THERE?" he shouted to the figure walking up the sidestreet far below.
"ME!" Calypso bellowed back.
All of a sudden, Snape pushed past the crowd of interested people straining for a look to see who it was, and leapt (with some magical assistance) down onto the street below. He landed just in front of the tired Calypso.
He looked her dangerously.
She stared him straight in the eye.
A dangerous silence settled.
"I know." he said simply, and Calypso suppressed a shudder of fright.
"So," she said arrogantly, "what are you going to do? She put her ands on her hips and tried to stare him down, but her insides had turned to liquid. "Dob me in?"
There was a pregnant pause.
"No," Snape said eventually. "I've got to get you out of here."
And with that, Snape suddenly grabbed Calypso's wrist and took off at a run down Diagon Alley.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
"What is Snape doing?" McGonagall asked in amazement, as Snape yanked Calypso off her feet, and dragged her down Diagon Alley and out through the back of the Leaky Cauldron.
Dumbledore frowned. "I think he knows something that we don't."
********************
Calypso stumbled down the aisle of the Knight Bus, looking wide-eyed at the brass bedsteads and the figures illuminated in the flickering candlelight. Suddenly, the bus took off with a bang, and Calypso slammed into the spotty teenaged Conductor who was leading the way to a spare bed.
"Ooof! Oh, sorry!" she said as she stepped back.
"That's okay," Stan replied. "Let's see...you'll 'ave to go upstairs, down here is all full up. There's one old lady up there, you won't be bovvered by her."
The staircase Calypso had to climb was so steep and thin it was like a ladder. She finally hauled herself up onto the top floor of the double-decker bus, and collapsed into the nearest bed with a groan. The bus slammed on its brakes, and Calypso's bed skidded forward a bit to smash into the next one.
She lay drunkenly on her bed, thinking morosely about what had just happened.
Snape knew.
Rest assured, he would tell the others.
But the question was, how would they react...
Calypso thought about what Snape had said to her as he pushed her onto the Knight Bus.
"113 Hogsmeade Road. Tell the door that 'All dogs should be shot on sight' and it'll let you in. Shut the door, go into the cellar, stay there and don't drink any of my wines. I mean it, stay there. I'll sort this out and get you later."
But how was he sorting it out...
Calypso felt the need to cry. Too many things had happened in one day.
Eyes welling up with tears, half of self-pity and half of exhaustion, she blinked long blonde lashes to try and stop her eyes misting over, but fat droplets trickled down her cheeks, and she let out a quiet sob.
There was a graunch and moan from the other occupied bed as the old lady got up.
"Now now dear, why are you crying?" she said in a husky voice that had seen too many Rothmans. The old lady toddled over to her bed, and Calypso felt warning bells ring in her tear-fuzzy head.
With a gasp, she realized what was wrong too late.
The old lady had an Australian accent.
Calypso looked up past her tears into the end of a wand.
"Stupefy."
####################
Stan struggled up the stairs with a pot of tea and a toothbrush - the pot of tea for the old lady, and the toothbrush for the girl.
"Oi, here's your tea!" he called as he struggled up the staircase.
There was no reply.
The old lady and girl were gone.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Thanks again to Allylupin, my fantastic Beta-reader!
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