Chapter 10 - The Unexpected Arrival of the Dursleys and the Auror Trial
"As I was saying, we need to go back to the Dursleys and bring them here. No problem with that because I can apparate us all back here but...the problem is if we encounter some death-eaters along the way..." said Harry quietly.
"What about extra protection....invisibility cloak or something?" asked Lee.
"We can use the disillusionment charm for that. It's safer and besides, we left some of our things at the Order's head ---"
"PROFESSOR MCGONAGALL! Potter's missing! Some death-eaters attacked the Dursleys..." said a panicky female voice from behind.
"We were able to fend them off but the woman said Potter left a few days ago..." growled another, unmistakably Moody's.
"Mummy! Mummy! Why did they bring us here? They're not going to kill us, are they?" cried a boy whose voice was muffled.
The three peered from behind to find out who the new arrivals were. Harry saw the Dursleys immediately. His uncle was clearly terrified but tried hard to hide what he thought was indignity on his part while his aunt was undeniably distraught. His cousin was hiding behind his mother's dress, destroying his reputation of being a notorious bully. He recognized Tonks and Moody too who seemed ready to have a heart attack.
"Calm down. Potter's here." said Professor McGonagall calmy, motioning them all to sit down and make themselves comfortable.
'So, she doesn't have any contact from the order too aside from if they come here personally.' noted Harry.
"WHAT?!?" exclaimed Moody, his eyes rotating 360 degrees until he found Harry, Luna and Lee staring cautiously at them.
"But Professor, we guarded him tightly and we are sure he did not leave the house." protested Tonks, feeling bad at their failure.
"I've been telling you that he can apparate but you won't listen." argued Aunt Petunia. "I also taught him how to use wandless magic ..."
"PETUNIA!" screamed Uncle Vernon who seemed to have forgotten his anxiety as he berated his wife for letting the forbidden words escape her lips.
Harry quickly strode to his aunt's side. Luna and Lee came out of the shadows too and discreetly went to join the other DA members to give them some privacy.
"Explain yourself, Potter." said Moody, glaring at him for causing them so much stress.
"I'm sorry Professor Moody, Tonks...I forgot that about the order members watching over the house. You see, after being endlessly frustrated at the lack of news, I started to make good use of my time. I taught myself how to apparate and Aunt Petunia, being one of the victims of a dementors attack before, taught me how to perform wandless magic from memory." said Harry.
Harry quickly told them a heavily edited version of the incidents after he and Luna left Privet Drive to visit Grimmauld Place. His story was greeted with shock, amazement and incredulity from his captive audience. He also shared with them the DA's plan of rescuing the Dursleys but he did not tell them the reason why. Mad-eye Moody shot him a questioning look but did not press on. Harry smiled at him in relief. For some reason, he did not want his uncle and cousin to know about it.
"Excuse me, Mr. Potter but I think your relatives need to rest for now. I'll take them first to their cubicle." interrupted Professor McGonagall.
"No, Minerva, if you don't mind, I wish to stay." said Aunt Petunia, surprising them all but Harry who seemed to know more than he was letting on. Vernon tapped his foot impatiently but left with his son when he realized that his wife was not going to change her mind.
"So, Potter, what's the real plan?" asked Tonks after they left.
"We wanted to bring Aunt Petunia so that she can tell us more about the dementor's attack on a wizard village forty years ago. We wanted to give her and other victims their powers back so that they can help us win this war." said Harry confidently, giving the impression that it was something that had already been thoroughly discussed by the DA members.
Harry was startled when his aunt suddenly hugged him and murmured a soft 'thanks' to him. Tonks and Moody gaped at him in shock but Professor McGonagall just encouraged him to go on. He then continued telling them about the Patronus kiss, Demeter, bringing the other DA members and their plan to train for battle.
"So basically, auror training eh?" questioned Moody, eyeing him intenly.
"Yeah, something to that effect. We cannot go on hiding forever and the Order do not have enough members to protect us all the time. Let's face it. We have to train for war because WE are at war." said Harry, determination etched on his young face.
Moody carefully assessed the young man in front of him and paused for what seemed life eternity before he replied, "Very well, then. If you all can get back here alive and without any major injuries, I will train you myself. But, if you fail, you will forget all about it. Consider this your entry test to auror training."
"We'll help, too." said Tonks, looking at Professor McGonagall for confirmation. She briefly nodded.
"Thank you. Don't worry, we will not fail." said Harry confidently.
"Don't be too sure about anything, Potter." growled Moody. "When is it again?"
"Next Monday."
"Okay, we'll be back that day and make sure you're all in one piece." With that, Professor Moody and Tonks swished their cloaks and disapparated to heaven knows where.
=========================================================
"INCENDIO!" shouted Seamus, sending a chair on fire, surprising even himself at his progress.
"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" screamed Parvati at Lavender who immediately fell after being hit by the body-bind curse.
"Accio wands!" said Lee almost lazily, sending the wands of Colin and Dennis flying to him. He grinned wickedly as he returned their wands.
Colorful sparks flew around hitting and deflecting the walls and dummies strategically placed within the training room. The group started their own training to prepare for the second mission. Harry told them about Moody's challenge and that encouraged them to do their best. Professor McGonagall and Madam Hooch built a solid room within the Room of Requirements (which magically expanded) which served as their training ground. They put a silencing charm on the room so as not to distract the other occupants.
"HYDRO-OXIDUS!" shouted Ron, immediately pinning Hermione on the wall with the strong water cannon charm he conjured. He quickly stopped the spell and rushed to the nearly drowning Hermione.
"Good one, Ron! That was very powerful!" exclaimed Hermione at once, proud at her bestfriends progress. Harry gave him a thumbs up from across the room.
"PROTEGO!" cried Luna as Harry hit her with the cruciatus curse. The effect of the spell was minimized but still made her writhe in pain. The others stopped what they were doing and gaped questioningly at Harry.
"Harry! It's illegal! We should not be doing that!" exclaimed Hermione at once.
"Finite Incantatem!" Luna stood up at once. Harry continued explain, "Yes, I know, but charging from experience, death-eaters prefer using unforgivable curses on their enemies. We need to learn how to counter those curses."
"B-but ---those are illegal." Hermione stated weakly. Ron nudged her lightly, shutting her up.
"Never stopped the death-eaters, did it?" said Harry mildly. "Let's pair up again and practice defending ourselves against those spells, particularly the imperius curse. I'm sure none of us would enjoy being controlled by the enemies. Like this..IMPERIO!" shouted Harry unexpectedly at the unprepared Seamus.
Everyone stared in amazement as they witnessed how Seamus climbed the wall, breakdanced on the floor, declared his undying love for Lavender, and stunned Colin. The others glared at Harry for this.
"Please don't be mad at me." pleaded Harry gently. "It's just to show how the imperius curse works. It controls the mind of the person completely and if ordered, they will not hesitate to hurt even the ones they love most." His friends nodded in understanding. He released Seamus from his control and instructed the others on what to do.
After several days of rigorous training, all became adept at fighting the imperius curse, even young Dennis who seemed so weak at first could totally throw it off. Disillusionment charm was a cinch but apparition was met with some difficulty. But all were able to apparate quite well eventually though not as good as Harry yet who could not only apparate other people with him but also pass anti-apparition barriers. Their shield charm also became stronger. They discovered that if they conjure the spell spell together, it will form a shield strong enough to repel unforgivable curses completely.
The next morning, Ron called for a meeting to discuss their strategies.
"Here is the group list. We separated them according to their relative distance from each other. The house-elves are going to guide us to their location so we don't have to worry about that." said Ron, handing each of them a copy of the grouping. "I trust that any personal differences shall be ignored at this moment. Is there any problem with the grouping?"
Group#1: Harry, Luna, Dennis - Hannah, Katie, Susan, Terry
Group#2: Ron, Lavender, Padma - Angelina, Ernie, Zacharias, Alicia Group#3: Hermione, Parvati, Seamus - Dean, Fred, George, Neville
Group#4: Lee, Colin, Cho - Michael, Anthony, Justin
"The team leaders are Harry, Ron, Hermione and Lee. Are you ok with that?" said Luna. The others nodded in assent.
"Since this room and their location have anti-apparition barriers, we need to go to Hogsmeade first and apparate from there to a point near the safe- houses and bring the other members there before apparating back to Hogsmeade. Okay?" said Ron.
"But how do we go to Hogsmeade?" asked Seamus.
"The same way that the Death-eaters came here, of course." said Lee.
"Wouldn't it be safer if Harry just apparate us to the place?" asked Cho.
"Yes, it would be safer but we wouldn't learn that way. We didn't train like madmen here if we're just going to let Harry do all the work." said Ron heatedly.
"That's good enough. By the way, Cho and I made another batch of fake galleons and put a more advanced protean charm there. If before, it only tells the date and time of the DA meetings now it can inform us if any of our friends are in danger." said Hermione to distract Ron, giving each of them a fake galleon and gave the leaders the coins for the other members.
"If it burns very hot, it means someone's in danger and you only need to look at the galleon to know who's calling for help." added Cho.
"You're really brilliant! Thanks!" exclaimed Ron, forgetting his irritation at Cho as he stared at the golden coin with in his hand with DA etched on its surface.
========================================================
"We're ready." declared Harry during lunch. "Today is Sunday... Tomorrow we must go and bring our comrades-in-wands back. If you have any doubts about this mission, say it now. Otherwise, it will be too late." he paused to see if any of them wore a tiny hint of reservation on their faces but what greeted his eyes were supreme determination and unrivaled courage. The group was almost glowing with it. "All right. We will meet here and leave at exactly 6 am tomorrow. Rest well for now. We will need our strength."
"As I was saying, we need to go back to the Dursleys and bring them here. No problem with that because I can apparate us all back here but...the problem is if we encounter some death-eaters along the way..." said Harry quietly.
"What about extra protection....invisibility cloak or something?" asked Lee.
"We can use the disillusionment charm for that. It's safer and besides, we left some of our things at the Order's head ---"
"PROFESSOR MCGONAGALL! Potter's missing! Some death-eaters attacked the Dursleys..." said a panicky female voice from behind.
"We were able to fend them off but the woman said Potter left a few days ago..." growled another, unmistakably Moody's.
"Mummy! Mummy! Why did they bring us here? They're not going to kill us, are they?" cried a boy whose voice was muffled.
The three peered from behind to find out who the new arrivals were. Harry saw the Dursleys immediately. His uncle was clearly terrified but tried hard to hide what he thought was indignity on his part while his aunt was undeniably distraught. His cousin was hiding behind his mother's dress, destroying his reputation of being a notorious bully. He recognized Tonks and Moody too who seemed ready to have a heart attack.
"Calm down. Potter's here." said Professor McGonagall calmy, motioning them all to sit down and make themselves comfortable.
'So, she doesn't have any contact from the order too aside from if they come here personally.' noted Harry.
"WHAT?!?" exclaimed Moody, his eyes rotating 360 degrees until he found Harry, Luna and Lee staring cautiously at them.
"But Professor, we guarded him tightly and we are sure he did not leave the house." protested Tonks, feeling bad at their failure.
"I've been telling you that he can apparate but you won't listen." argued Aunt Petunia. "I also taught him how to use wandless magic ..."
"PETUNIA!" screamed Uncle Vernon who seemed to have forgotten his anxiety as he berated his wife for letting the forbidden words escape her lips.
Harry quickly strode to his aunt's side. Luna and Lee came out of the shadows too and discreetly went to join the other DA members to give them some privacy.
"Explain yourself, Potter." said Moody, glaring at him for causing them so much stress.
"I'm sorry Professor Moody, Tonks...I forgot that about the order members watching over the house. You see, after being endlessly frustrated at the lack of news, I started to make good use of my time. I taught myself how to apparate and Aunt Petunia, being one of the victims of a dementors attack before, taught me how to perform wandless magic from memory." said Harry.
Harry quickly told them a heavily edited version of the incidents after he and Luna left Privet Drive to visit Grimmauld Place. His story was greeted with shock, amazement and incredulity from his captive audience. He also shared with them the DA's plan of rescuing the Dursleys but he did not tell them the reason why. Mad-eye Moody shot him a questioning look but did not press on. Harry smiled at him in relief. For some reason, he did not want his uncle and cousin to know about it.
"Excuse me, Mr. Potter but I think your relatives need to rest for now. I'll take them first to their cubicle." interrupted Professor McGonagall.
"No, Minerva, if you don't mind, I wish to stay." said Aunt Petunia, surprising them all but Harry who seemed to know more than he was letting on. Vernon tapped his foot impatiently but left with his son when he realized that his wife was not going to change her mind.
"So, Potter, what's the real plan?" asked Tonks after they left.
"We wanted to bring Aunt Petunia so that she can tell us more about the dementor's attack on a wizard village forty years ago. We wanted to give her and other victims their powers back so that they can help us win this war." said Harry confidently, giving the impression that it was something that had already been thoroughly discussed by the DA members.
Harry was startled when his aunt suddenly hugged him and murmured a soft 'thanks' to him. Tonks and Moody gaped at him in shock but Professor McGonagall just encouraged him to go on. He then continued telling them about the Patronus kiss, Demeter, bringing the other DA members and their plan to train for battle.
"So basically, auror training eh?" questioned Moody, eyeing him intenly.
"Yeah, something to that effect. We cannot go on hiding forever and the Order do not have enough members to protect us all the time. Let's face it. We have to train for war because WE are at war." said Harry, determination etched on his young face.
Moody carefully assessed the young man in front of him and paused for what seemed life eternity before he replied, "Very well, then. If you all can get back here alive and without any major injuries, I will train you myself. But, if you fail, you will forget all about it. Consider this your entry test to auror training."
"We'll help, too." said Tonks, looking at Professor McGonagall for confirmation. She briefly nodded.
"Thank you. Don't worry, we will not fail." said Harry confidently.
"Don't be too sure about anything, Potter." growled Moody. "When is it again?"
"Next Monday."
"Okay, we'll be back that day and make sure you're all in one piece." With that, Professor Moody and Tonks swished their cloaks and disapparated to heaven knows where.
=========================================================
"INCENDIO!" shouted Seamus, sending a chair on fire, surprising even himself at his progress.
"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" screamed Parvati at Lavender who immediately fell after being hit by the body-bind curse.
"Accio wands!" said Lee almost lazily, sending the wands of Colin and Dennis flying to him. He grinned wickedly as he returned their wands.
Colorful sparks flew around hitting and deflecting the walls and dummies strategically placed within the training room. The group started their own training to prepare for the second mission. Harry told them about Moody's challenge and that encouraged them to do their best. Professor McGonagall and Madam Hooch built a solid room within the Room of Requirements (which magically expanded) which served as their training ground. They put a silencing charm on the room so as not to distract the other occupants.
"HYDRO-OXIDUS!" shouted Ron, immediately pinning Hermione on the wall with the strong water cannon charm he conjured. He quickly stopped the spell and rushed to the nearly drowning Hermione.
"Good one, Ron! That was very powerful!" exclaimed Hermione at once, proud at her bestfriends progress. Harry gave him a thumbs up from across the room.
"PROTEGO!" cried Luna as Harry hit her with the cruciatus curse. The effect of the spell was minimized but still made her writhe in pain. The others stopped what they were doing and gaped questioningly at Harry.
"Harry! It's illegal! We should not be doing that!" exclaimed Hermione at once.
"Finite Incantatem!" Luna stood up at once. Harry continued explain, "Yes, I know, but charging from experience, death-eaters prefer using unforgivable curses on their enemies. We need to learn how to counter those curses."
"B-but ---those are illegal." Hermione stated weakly. Ron nudged her lightly, shutting her up.
"Never stopped the death-eaters, did it?" said Harry mildly. "Let's pair up again and practice defending ourselves against those spells, particularly the imperius curse. I'm sure none of us would enjoy being controlled by the enemies. Like this..IMPERIO!" shouted Harry unexpectedly at the unprepared Seamus.
Everyone stared in amazement as they witnessed how Seamus climbed the wall, breakdanced on the floor, declared his undying love for Lavender, and stunned Colin. The others glared at Harry for this.
"Please don't be mad at me." pleaded Harry gently. "It's just to show how the imperius curse works. It controls the mind of the person completely and if ordered, they will not hesitate to hurt even the ones they love most." His friends nodded in understanding. He released Seamus from his control and instructed the others on what to do.
After several days of rigorous training, all became adept at fighting the imperius curse, even young Dennis who seemed so weak at first could totally throw it off. Disillusionment charm was a cinch but apparition was met with some difficulty. But all were able to apparate quite well eventually though not as good as Harry yet who could not only apparate other people with him but also pass anti-apparition barriers. Their shield charm also became stronger. They discovered that if they conjure the spell spell together, it will form a shield strong enough to repel unforgivable curses completely.
The next morning, Ron called for a meeting to discuss their strategies.
"Here is the group list. We separated them according to their relative distance from each other. The house-elves are going to guide us to their location so we don't have to worry about that." said Ron, handing each of them a copy of the grouping. "I trust that any personal differences shall be ignored at this moment. Is there any problem with the grouping?"
Group#1: Harry, Luna, Dennis - Hannah, Katie, Susan, Terry
Group#2: Ron, Lavender, Padma - Angelina, Ernie, Zacharias, Alicia Group#3: Hermione, Parvati, Seamus - Dean, Fred, George, Neville
Group#4: Lee, Colin, Cho - Michael, Anthony, Justin
"The team leaders are Harry, Ron, Hermione and Lee. Are you ok with that?" said Luna. The others nodded in assent.
"Since this room and their location have anti-apparition barriers, we need to go to Hogsmeade first and apparate from there to a point near the safe- houses and bring the other members there before apparating back to Hogsmeade. Okay?" said Ron.
"But how do we go to Hogsmeade?" asked Seamus.
"The same way that the Death-eaters came here, of course." said Lee.
"Wouldn't it be safer if Harry just apparate us to the place?" asked Cho.
"Yes, it would be safer but we wouldn't learn that way. We didn't train like madmen here if we're just going to let Harry do all the work." said Ron heatedly.
"That's good enough. By the way, Cho and I made another batch of fake galleons and put a more advanced protean charm there. If before, it only tells the date and time of the DA meetings now it can inform us if any of our friends are in danger." said Hermione to distract Ron, giving each of them a fake galleon and gave the leaders the coins for the other members.
"If it burns very hot, it means someone's in danger and you only need to look at the galleon to know who's calling for help." added Cho.
"You're really brilliant! Thanks!" exclaimed Ron, forgetting his irritation at Cho as he stared at the golden coin with in his hand with DA etched on its surface.
========================================================
"We're ready." declared Harry during lunch. "Today is Sunday... Tomorrow we must go and bring our comrades-in-wands back. If you have any doubts about this mission, say it now. Otherwise, it will be too late." he paused to see if any of them wore a tiny hint of reservation on their faces but what greeted his eyes were supreme determination and unrivaled courage. The group was almost glowing with it. "All right. We will meet here and leave at exactly 6 am tomorrow. Rest well for now. We will need our strength."