Chapter 21: Critique, A Bar Brawl, and a Raid

Author's Note: The following is a list of the names and ranks that the Marauders have assumed as their cover while with Rainbow. When I use these names, it means they are interacting with members of Rainbow other then John and Ding:

Harry Potter – Captain Eric Lansing

Ron Weasley – Lieutenant David Shannon

Hermonie Granger – Lieutenant Samantha Rader

Ginny Weasley – Lieutenant Erica O'Malley

Fred Weasely – Lieutenant Brian O'Connor

George Weasley – Lieutenant Ian McGregor

Neville Longbottom – Lieutenant John Clancy

Note: Remember the Marauders are in disguise, so Fred and George no longer look alike; that's why they have covers with different last names.

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"Good work tonight everyone." Harry said, as the Marauders stripped off their gear. They had just apparated back to their barracks a few moments earlier. "Everybody get some sack time. We'll hold an After Action Review at 1100." The others nodded. Harry walked over to Ginny and pulled her into a hug.

"How are you holding up?" Harry asked.

"Fine." she replied. "It's funny, I thought I'd be more upset the first time I killed."

"Probably hasn't sunk in yet." Harry said. "Besides, it helps that they were nothing but a bunch of mosters."

"Harry, can I stay with you tonight?" Ginny asked. "I don't feel like being alone." Harry smiled.

"Sure, as long as you promise to behave." he teased. She reached out and swatted the back of his head.

"In your dreams, Harry." They turned and walked hand-in-hand to Harry's bunk and climbed. He smiled as she snuggled close to him. After a little while she fell asleep.

As he lay there, trying to fall asleep, Harry couldn't help be beam at how well his team had performed. All of the Marauders had performed well. None had even flinched when the time came to take action. They had taken out a twenty-four Deatheaters in just under 15 minutes, without suffering any injuries. He only wished they could have gotten their sooner. Then maybe more of the Muggles may have survived.

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The next morning Harry and the Marauders gathered in the planning room. John and Ding were also present. Harry had taken the step of ensuring that the mission was recorded for later review and critique. He had invited John and Ding to go over the mission and offer improvements.

They had just finished watching the mission replay. John and Ding looked impressed with the skill that the Marauders had operated.

"Well, you all did very well." John said. "Only one or two things I might suggest, though. First, Harry, that was a bit over dramatic, confronting them in the open like that by yourself, don't you think?" Harry grinned sheepishly.

"Yeah. I probably shouldn't do that too often." he replied.

"Good. Second, I'm a bit curious as to why you didn't use your silenced pistols to take out the initial four." John asked.

"Two reasons, I guess." Harry said. "First, I didn't want to waste the ammo in case there were some surprises waiting." He said. "Second, I didn't want to take the chance that one of them would let out a scream." John nodded in understanding.

"I see. Well, I understand your concern. But it was still a risk." John replied, then his serious expression disappeared and he smiled. "You sure you guys don't want to join Rainbow officially? I could use some more like you." The Marauders broke into smiles.

"Thanks John." Harry said. Ding cleared his throat.

"Well, now that the work is out of the way, its time for some fun. You see Harry, we have a little tradition around here when a team completes its first mission." Ding said, grinning, his tone then turning serious, "Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, Hermione Granger, Ginny Weasley, Fred Weasley, George Weasley, and Neville Longbottom. You are hereby ordered to present yourselves in the officer's club at 1600 hours this evening. The drinks are on you."

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Later that evening the Marauders were gathered in the Officer's Club, along with the rest of Rainbow. John had provided a cover story that the team had been dispatched the night before to handle a hostage situation at a school in Ireland. The Marauders were all dressed in the standard Rainbow uniform, each bearing the name and rank of their assumed identities. They had spent the past hour drinking along with the rest of Rainbow. Several toasts had already been offered to them in recognition of a successful mission.

"Looks like we could use another round." Ding said. "Whose up?"

"I believe it is Lieutenant O'Mally's turn to buy." Sergeant George Murphy, a member of Rainbow's Team 3 said. Ginny grinned.

"Alright. I'll be back." Ginny stood up and walked over to the bar. She spoke to the bartender, ordering drinks for the rest of the Rainbow personnel. As she waited for the bill, she glanced around. The Officer's club was quite large, easily fitting about two hundred people inside. Rainbow had taken over a far corner of the room. There were about sixty of them. The rest of the people in the club were members of the SAS.

"Well, look at what we have here. Never thought I'd see a Rainbow slob that looked this good." A slightly drunken voice said from behind her. "What's your name sweetheart?" Ginny turned to see four SAS lieutenants, all obviously drunk. She eyed them coolly.

"The name is Lieutenant O'Malley." She said. The men snickered.

"Oh, very sorry Lieutenant." The man sneered. "And who did you sleep with to get that? Care to give us a little taste?"

Back at the table Harry glanced around towards the bar. He saw Ginny talking to four SAS troopers. Something about their demeanor bothered Harry.

"Harry. I need some help here. I've got four octopuses that can't seem to take no for an answer." Ginny said through the mind link. Harry signaled to the rest of the Marauders and they got up and headed over to the bar.

"Is there a problem here gentlemen?" Harry inquired coming up behind them. The men turned around and looked Harry over.

"No problem Captain, just engaging the lady in friendly conversation."

"Well, if I'm not mistaken, the lady asked you to leave her alone." Ron said. "So why don't you beat it."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Another said. "We didn't realize she was yours. Tell, me is she any good?" Harry, Ron, Fred and George all began to get angry, their fists clenched at their sides.

"Naw. If she had been any good he would have promoted to a Captain." Another said. "If you're ever in the mood for a real woman, let me know. I'm sure I can convince your mum to give you a turn after I'm done with her."

Before anyone else could react, Harry had lashed out at the man, knocking him to the ground. One of his buddies punched Harry in the stomach, doubling him over. With this all hell broke loose as the Marauders began fighting with the four men. Soon more SAS troopers joined the fray.

Over in the corner John sighed. I'm getting too old for this. He thought before standing up.

"Let's get'em Rainbow!" he called. With that the rest of Rainbow entered the fray.

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Six hours later the members of Rainbow and those SAS present at the fight were all sitting in holding cells on the base brig, mending their wounds.

"Well that was fun." Neville said, sitting on a bunk next to Harry.

"Yeah. Remind me to hop up and down in joy as soon as the room stops spinning." Fred replied from a corner. As damaged as the Marauders and the members of Rainbow were, it was nothing compared to the SAS. Several were currently in sickbay with broken bones.

Several minutes later a guard came over to the holding cells and unlocked the doors.

"You're all free to go. Just make sure nothing like this happens again." He said. As they filed out of the brig, one of the SAS four that had initiated the fight came up to Harry and Ginny.

"Captain Lansing, Lieutenant O'Malley?" he asked hesitantly. Harry turned.

"Yes." He replied coolly.

"Sir, I just wanted to apologize for my behavior. I'm afraid I had a little too much to drink. I know it's no excuse but I'm sorry. Same goes for the remarks I made to you Lieutenant." Harry glanced at Ginny. They both grinned.

"Apology accepted, Lieutenant." Harry said, "No hard feelings?" He held his hand out. The SAS trooper shook it.

"No sir." He said. "I'm sure glad you guys are on our side, cause if this is what you guys do to allies, I don't even want to know what you do to the bad guys."

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The reputation of the Marauders increased ten fold after the brawl in the Officer's Club. Though most of the rest of Rainbow had accepted them already, the incident helped cement their place with Rainbow.

Harry and Ginny were currently working out in the Rainbow gym. Harry had just finished swimming several laps in the pool when he looked up to see Ginny approaching the pool.

God she's beautiful. He thought to himself. A few seconds later she joined him in the pool. She swam over to him.

"Hi there stranger." He said, pulling her to him.

"Hi. Did you miss me?" she asked, smiling.

"Always." He answered, leaning in to kiss her. The stood in the shallow end of the pool, locked in each other's arms, kissing passionately for several minutes.

"Harry." Ginny breathed as they separated. "We'd better stop. I'd hate to think what would happen if Ron came along and caught us like this."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right. Not to mention any of the other members of Rainbow." Harry and Ginny continued to swim for several minutes, each needing the time to cool down.

"I really wish we could get away for a while." Ginny said through the link.

"Yeah, me too." Harry replied. The one downside to this operation was the need to be on alert 24/7. Suddenly Harry's thoughts were interrupted.

"Harry! You'd better get back to the barracks quick. Looks like there is a Deatheater meeting going on in Surrey. And you'll never guess whose there." Ron said through the link.

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A few minutes later the Marauders apparated just outside of the warehouse where the meeting was being held. They slowly made their way to a back entrance moved inside. From behind several large pallets they could see about eight full fledged Deatheaters and what looked like thirty junior Deatheaters. Harry recognized three of the faces as those belonging to Draco Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle.

"Ok. Spread out. Launch a volley of stunning grenades. Remember, we want prisoners, so use deadly force only if it's necessary." Harry said through the link. The others nodded and fanned out. When they were in position Harry gave the signal. Several magical grenades, each containing a stunning spell, as well as a few smoke grenades landed among the gathering and exploded. Most of the junior Deatheaters were knocked unconscious by the blast. The Marauders attacked.

"Stupefy!" Harry shouted, his curse hitting the Deatheater closest to him and flinging him across the room. Around him the rest of the Marauders were taking out the remaining Deatheaters. A blur of movement to his left caught his attention and he ducked out of the way as a killing curse flew by. Cursing, he shot an explosive spell towards the pallet where the curse had come from. The pallet exploded, sending a figure several feet through the air and crashing down on the floor. Harry walked over to the figure, which was now groaning and attempting to stand.

"Hello Draco." Harry said, smiling mischievously as Draco's face drained.

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Draco Malfoy groaned as a bright light was suddenly shown in his face. He tried to bring his hands up to shield his face and found that he couldn't. Then he remembered. The meeting had been broken up by a group of seven masked wizards who proceeded to take out most of those assembled. He had tried to run and hide, but one of the figures had seen him and attacked him. Then he remembered the voice that had spoken to him.

"Potter." he grumbled.

"Thanks my name, Draco. Don't where it out." Harry's voice said. Draco's vision finally cleared and he found himself looking into the face of his arch nemisis. He was in a room, his arms and legs strapped to a chair so that he couldn't move. Looking around he saw the rest of the Marauders standing in the background, along with two men he didn't recognize.

"Where am I? When my father -" he began.

"Your father will do nothing." Harry said, disgust in his voice. "You are currently being held at a secret location that no one, not even Dumbledore knows about. And you will stay here until you tell me everything I want to know."

"Go to hell Potter. I'm not scared of you." Draco replied defiantly. "The Dark Lord will take care of you and your pathetic friends."

SMACK! The sound of Harry's fist impacting on Draco's face reverbarated throughout the room. Draco let out a gasp of pain.

"When are you going to learn, Malfoy." Harry spat. "That Voldemort is nothing more than a worthless wizard with delusions of granduer. How many times has he come after me? And he hasn't suceeded yet. But no matter, I am not going to discuss Voldemort's lack of ability to kill me with you." Harry walked over to the table and picked up a small vial. He then walked back over to Draco and held his hand out so the boy could see the vial, and more importantly, the substance that was in it.

"You do know what this is, right Draco?" Harry said. Draco's eyes widened. "That's right; its Veritiserum. Now, one way or another you are going to tell me everything I want to know."