Torn Away: Scenes From A Memory by Tradiferis
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Everything that you do not recognize is most likely mine, everything that you do recognize isn't mine. Onto the story.
Chapter Ten
The Walls of Jericho
Harry sat in his darkened kitchen at the safe house just staring at the object on the table. It reminded him of something, he just couldn't place what it was at the moment.
'Figures, anytime I need to remember anything pertaining to my life I instantly forget about it,' he thought to himself, looking at the object. Tilting his head to the side he took in its sleek nature, and the vial that it held on it.
"What do you mean to me?" Harry asked the necklace, racking his brain for what it was he remembered this necklace from. Sighing, he leaned back in the chair and wondered what Gwen and Stacy were doing. He hadn't seen his 'sisters' since before they had started at Hogwarts. Reaching into his pocket he took out a 'family' picture that had been taken during that first Christmas vacation at Patrick's. Searching out their childish faces he smiled as he watched the pair jump on his back and the three of them laughed.
Suddenly, a glistening in the picture caught his attention. Waiting for the picture to recycle through again, he watched the twin girls jump on his back, and then saw something glisten from around his neck. It was a vial...a vile attached to a necklace!
Harry quickly put the picture back in his pocket and reached out onto the table to grab the necklace. This was the necklace that Ludwig had given to him!
"Or that I give to myself," Harry mused to himself under his breath. Holding the necklace eyelevel, he stared at the vial that was attached to the end. This was the necklace that had truly allowed him to gain power, knowledge and do things that he would never have had any chance of doing before.
"But what is your secret," Harry asked aloud staring into the vial, whose dark blue color seemed to go on forever. Setting the necklace back down on the table Harry walked across the room, grabbed his satchel, and emptied its contents on the table. Moments later, Harry had found what he was looking for among the many shrunk objects: a miniaturized bowl.
Muttering an enlargement charm while waving his hand over the bowl, he watched it enlarge into his Pensieve. Concentrating on his memories of what happened when he met 'himself' in his pensieve; Harry held his wand up to his forehead and extracted a white strand. Placing it in the bowl, he stirred it around until the memory was playing itself in the bowl.
"Why do I have a bad idea about this?" Harry asked himself as he held the necklace in front of him. Thinking back to a mission he had been on when he had learned a wealth of knowledge about chanters and their backwards talking, he remembered a spell that was used for entwining a memory to an object so that it could be passed down from generation to generation, "I hope this works...Seye Ym Hguorht Ees!"
Instantly, the vial shone with pulsating blue light. Remembering the second part of the spell, Harry once again pushed the foreboding thoughts out of his mind, as he placed the vial in the Pensieve and put the tip of his wand into the bowl as well, "Rehtegot Evil Won!"
All seemed to go right as the bowl and its contents started to glow a bright red color. Suddenly, the color shifted to dark red, and the pulsating got larger and larger. Harry started to feel the energy in the room start to swirl near the pensieve, and found that he couldn't remove the necklace from the bowl.
"Shit," was the last words out of his mouth. The bowl imploded and a bright white light flashing through the room the room were the last things Harry saw before he blacked out.
Harry opened his eyes to a bright white light that was nearly blinding, causing him to squint. Suddenly, the light died down and he could see clearly once again. Taking in his surroundings he saw that he was in a room that was completely white, and seemed to stretch out for miles.
"Where am I?" Harry asked to himself.
"You are nowhere and everywhere at once Harry."
Harry whirled around and pulled his wand at the voice that had come from behind him, only to drop it once he saw who it was.
"No, no, how can you be here?" Harry asked the source of the voice, staring at it in disbelief, "You died in my timeline, and are still alive in this one! It's impossible!"
"One thing I learned after I died Harry James was that nothing is impossible," Hermione Granger told Harry, who had fallen to his knees.
"How?" Harry asked looking upon one of his best friends, who he had not seen in many years. Due to the fact that she was dead.
"That's something that I can't answer, for the ability to understand death does not manifest itself until we ourselves are dead," Hermione answered, walking towards Harry, "But I can say that I was sent here because someone thought that you needed a little bit of help and understanding to guide you in your coming trials. Now stand up, I've never known you to go down on your knees before, and you aren't going to start now Harry Potter."
Harry stood up, looked at Hermione for a moment, before enveloping her in a bone-crushing hug, whispering, "I've missed you so much."
"I know, so have I," was the teary response that he got. After standing hugging each other for a few moments that seemed all to short, Hermione pulled away from Harry and looked him right in the eyes, "I'm sorry to cut this short, but there is much that you need to know."
Harry watched as Hermione walked over to a table that had recently appeared, and picked up an object that was on it. The necklace.
"You were wondering how to work this right?" Hermione asked Harry, with a questioning look.
"Yes, I need that necklace made, it's important to my development into who I am," Harry responded, walking over to where Hermione was.
"And you couldn't work the correct magic?" Hermione asked holding the necklace as if surveying a head of lettuce, "No you wouldn't know, you wouldn't know the magic required, it's much too ancient and forgotten."
Harry watched as Hermione got a smile on her face, "But I do know how to do it. Come here Harry."
Harry obeyed and walked over to Hermione, who slipped the necklace onto Harry, and then held her hand onto Harry's forehead, looking into Harry's eyes.
"You might find this funny, but I've spent much of my infinite time here researching," Hermione said with an embarrassed smile, causing Harry to grin as well. "As you can imagine, there is such a vast amount of knowledge that mere mortals are not allowed to have access to, just for what they would be able to do with them. However, we are here for a reason, so I must surmise that you are to be given a one time pass for access to some of this knowledge."
Hermione smiled at Harry, who smiled back, before Hermione placed two of her forefingers on Harry's temple.
"I want you to concentrate on your training Harry, concentrate really hard," Hermione said in a soft voice, "Try to imagine every detail as vividly as you can."
Harry could barely nod his head before a searing pain ripped through his head, but it was unlike any pain that he felt from his scar. This pain seemed to come from the center of his brain, and it only seemed to be continually growing wider and wider until he felt that his brain was going to go the way of his Pensieve.
"Just a little bit longer Harry," Hermione whispered to Harry in a soothing voice, placing her free hand on his shoulder in a comforting motion. Harry tried to concentrate on her touch, but the pain in his head was threatening to overtake him. Just when he thought it was too much, the pain ceased, and Hermione was talking once again, "I wish you could stay longer, but I'm afraid that our time together has once again come to an end. You must remember Harry, you have what it takes to win, you just need to use it."
"Will I ever see you again?" Harry asked, trying to hold himself together as he watched Hermione start to fade away.
"Someday, dear Harry," Hermione responded, looking up with tears in her eyes, "Don't forget, I am happy here. My purpose is better served were I am, never forget that. I'll see you on that fateful day when you close your eyes for the last time Harry James Potter..."
"Goodbye Hermione," Harry whispered as Hermione faded back into non-existence. Suddenly, Harry's eyelids started to feel really heavy, and he was about to close them when pain surged through his body, and the world turned on end. When it finally stopped turning, he noticed he was on the floor of the safe house with a medi-witch standing above him.
"Herr Waechter! Herr Waechter!" Harry heard the witch yelling down at him. Blinking his eye a few times, and shaking his head he looked down in his hand and the necklace was slightly glowing in it. Blinking his eyes again, he watched as the necklace ceased to glow. Looking back up, he saw that the medi-witch was still yelling at him, "Herr Waechter! Können Sie mich hören?" Mr. Waechter! Mr. Waechter! Mr. Waechter! Can you hear me?
"Yes, yes," Harry responded, shaking his head again, surveying his surroundings. He was very disorientated, his ears were ringing, and he felt as if he had been trampled by a heard of hippogriffs. The room itself looked as if a muggle bomb had detonated in it. The windows were all shattered, and a portion of the wall looking out into the street was missing. He looked back up and noticed another wizard was in front of him.
"Mr. Waechter?" Harry shook his head, "I am Dr. Berringer of the British Magical Ambassador's office. Do you know what happened?"
Harry was interrupted by a familiar voice coming up from behind Berringer, "A muggle bomb was set off by the group our agent was currently investigating."
"And you are?" Berringer asked as he turned around to take in a man wearing purple robes.
The first part of what the purple-robed man said was cut off by the ringing in Harry's ears, but he heard, "Co-Head of the Department of Mysteries. What can you tell me about Agent Waechter?"
"He is suffering from a major concussion, and while I can remove the effects from it, I'm worried that if I do, it will counteract with the healing spells we used on his body," Berringer stated, before adding, "I'm also not to sure he would be able to handle the pain."
Harry blinked his eyes, as Berringer was talking the world kept on going in and out of being blurred. Blinking his eyes again, Harry heard the purple-robed co-Head of the Department of Mysteries talking.
"-will be taking him with me," he was saying, "I will be able to take care of him. Now my assistant will handle any questions that you have. Ludwig?"
Harry looked up, seeing a hand being offered to him, which he took.
"We are going back to the Department. Close you eyes, and imagine yourself in your office. Can you do that for me?"
Harry nodded his head, and closed his eyes. Moments later, he imagined himself in his office, although he found it hard to focus.
"Good, here we go," and with that, Harry felt the effect of Apparition overtake his body. Seconds later, he felt a hand on his forehead, and the co-Head was speaking again, "I am going to perform a spell on you Harry, and I need you to keep your eyes closed. You will feel a sharp pain throughout your body, but if you can fight your way through the pain, the effects of your concussion will be lifted, and then we can deal with your other minor injuries. Ready? Now concentrate on fighting your way through the pain..."
Harry heard what he thought he recognized as a Greek spell, but couldn't think anymore in his already addled mind when he felt his body become enveloped in pain once again. Remembering what the co-Head told him, he concentrated as well as he could, and within seconds he could feel his mind un-clouding, and the pain leaving his body. Opening his eyes, he looked up at the co-Head who was smirking.
"Feeling better? Good, we have an urgent mission for you to go on," he related to Harry, "Sirius Black was uncovered at Hogwarts, and is currently trying to escape on a Hippogriff, but as you can guess even with that wand you gave him, he's not going to be getting far. Since you were the one that made contact with him last time we felt it was only right that you go to him once again. What are you waiting for? Get moving!"
Harry shook his head to get the remaining cobwebs out as the co-Head walked out of his office.
'It must be the end of third year,' Harry thought to himself, pulling a map out of his desk drawer that contained all of Europe. Running his wand over it, he muttered a spell that would locate on the wand's signature that he gave Sirius. He got the man's exact location. Pausing briefly to deposit the necklace in a charmed safe, Harry grabbed a small book that was on his desk, and a cloak out of his office's wardrobe. He Apparated to the location that Sirius was at.
He instantly found himself four feet behind a walking Sirius, who was leading Buckbeak the Hippogriff by the chain on his neck. Muttering a spell under his breath he watched as the great beast slumped over to the ground. Sirius whipped around instantly going to draw the wand, but Harry already had his wand trained at Sirius' head.
"Can you answer me one quick question Mr. Black?" Harry asked Sirius, who looked at him with a defeated look on his face.
"Seeing as how you have me at wand point I think I am inclined to do so."
"Did you really think that a flying hippogriff would go unnoticed?"
"Well, as a matter of fact...yes, I did."
Harry shook his head, as smart as his Godfather was; he had this mighty knack of not thinking all the way through with lot of problems. Case in point being the current one where Harry had to quite literally break five Ministry statues to make sure Sirius wasn't caught by the Aurors and Hit-Wizards looking for him. Taking his head out of his hand, Harry looking back up at Sirius, "I'm doubting that you remember who I am?"
Sirius shook his head, looking at Harry warily.
"Well, gosh darn," Harry said, then shifting his voice down to what it was when he had met Sirius, "I would have enjoyed a simple thank you for the wand."
"How...you're a Metamorphmagus," Sirius said with recognition dawning on his face. Harry smirked slightly.
"Right in one," Harry replied with a small amount of mirth in his voice, before switching to a more serious one, "However, we need to get you out of this country. The Ministry is not going to be fooled by simple misdirection, we need to get you out, and we need to get you out now."
"Where are you suggesting I go?" Sirius asked, raising his eyebrow, "As you know, there aren't many places I can go with my face being as well known as it is, and with the hippogriff to boot."
"Already thinking ahead of you," Harry replied, pulling the small book out of his pocket.
"Low Rent Flats of Europe?" Sirius asked, reading the title a bit incredulously, "How is that going to help?"
"Because it isn't what it seems," Harry responded opening up to the section of the book marked 'Greece', "This is a listing of all the safe houses in Europe, and their current state. We're going to Greece, hope you like the beach."
Grabbing onto Sirius, he swept his wand around while muttering a strong Apparition charm that he had learned in his training to be an Unspeakable. Harry noticed Sirius shudder slightly as the power of the spell swept over their bodies. Imagining the basement of the safe house that he had once used, Harry blinked his eyes and in the next instant found himself, Sirius, and Buckbeak in that very same basement.
"I haven't felt that spell since I was taken to Azkaban," Sirius muttered under his breath, before Harry conjured a chair for him to sit down in.
"Now, you need to make sure you do your best to stay in this safe house as much as possible, until you are contacted by someone from the Department," Harry said, before conjuring himself up a chair. He was starting to feel the effects of the concussion he had come back to him. Turning back to Sirius, he said, "If you must leave the house, use a mild transfiguration charm on yourself. Don't worry about the wand signature being traced, Greece doesn't check."
"Thank you for everything you've done for me," Sirius said, causing Harry's heart to turn.
'You'll never know how much you've done for me,' Harry thought to himself, before standing up. He needed to get himself away from Sirius before he did something overly stupid. Looking at Sirius he said, "I'm sorry, but I have to be going..."
"Don't worry about it," Sirius remarked, reaching out to Harry's hand, and firmly grasping it, surprising Harry a little, "You've done a lot for me. You look like hell to, so go home and fix up those robes."
Harry chuckled looking down at his robes, which were ripped from the explosion at the safe house in Germany. Starting to turn around, he looked back at Sirius one last time before saying, "Before I go, is there any message that you want me to pass onto anyone? Any family members?"
"Yes," Sirius said, "Er...tell Andromeda Tonks and her family that I miss them, especially little Nymphadora."
A look of slight shock flashed over Harry's face, but he quickly reined it in, saying to Sirius, "Very well. Good day."
Making a mock gesture of tipping his hat, Harry turned around, and muttered the same Apparition spell that had brought him to where he was, but thinking of his office this time and the bottle of vodka that should still have been in the bottom drawer of his desk.
-
"I see that you have requested that you be posted near Hogwarts as an oversight for the tentative Tri-Wizard tournament?" asked the co-Head who was wearing bright green robes. Harry, who was standing with his back nearly ramrod straight, nodded his head.
"You just recently ended an assignment that not only kept you on assignment for longer than the six-month maximum, yes?" the other co-Head, questioned, before adding, "You also received massive head trauma, and then immediately helped out with the Sirius Black situation as well, correct?"
Harry again nodded, feeling that his plan to stay close to Hogwarts during his fourth year was starting to slip through his hands.
"Then what the hell are you still doing on active duty?" the bright green robed co-Head asked with an astonished tone in his voice, "Did you fill out the paperwork for a decompression period?"
"No, I didn't feel it was needed," Harry responded, thinking that this would not go over well. He was right, it didn't.
"Well, looks like you are going to be put on a month of decompression," the green robed co-Head said, pulling a paper out of a stack on his desk, filling out a few bits of information on it, signing it, and then passing it to the other co-Head, who also signed it.
"If you even think of coming back here within a month, or doing anything remotely related to anything that has to do with your job, including being within a fifty mile radius of Hogwarts," the second co-Head told Harry, "You will be investigating the fecal matter of flobberworms for the next year, you hear me Agent Waechter?"
Harry noticed the slight smile on his superiors faces, responding, "Of course, sir."
"Good, now go home and report to your girlfriend, help out your parents, get your sisters ready for school," the green robed co-Head told Harry, patting him on the shoulder and leading him out of the office, "Also, tell Patrick on your way out that we have a lead for him on the Stockholm project."
"Yes sir," Harry replied, before walking to his office. He needed to remove a few sensitive materials from it before he left on his mandatory vacation.
'I should have guessed I wasn't going to be allowed to go anywhere near Hogwarts,' Harry thought to himself as he de-spelled his door, and then locked it again magically once he was inside his office, 'I obviously didn't show up anywhere near Hogwarts when I was in my fourth year, so I obviously don't belong there.'
Waving his hand to stun a folder that was about to bite him, he put it into his briefcase and left his office in order to find Patrick.
-
Harry was walking towards the Great Hall after a very restless sleep. Voldemort seemed to be very angry at something and images kept slipping through Harry's mental barriers that he had worked so hard over the summer and during the school year with Professor Dumbledore to strengthen. As he was about to enter he heard someone calling to him from behind.
"HARRY!" came the shouted voice, and as he turned around, Harry was able to see that it was Hermione.
"Hi," Harry said as she came running up holding what looked to be the Daily Prophet.
"HARRY! I've been looking all over for you! Where have you been?" Hermione questioned, quite out of breath.
Harry raised his eyebrow and responded, "Walking down to here? What's the matter?"
Hermione blushed for a second, as it seemed she hadn't thought that Harry would actually be walking down to the Great Hall at this time, "Have you seen today's Prophet?"
"No," Harry responded, keeping his eyebrow raised, "I haven't yet run into you, have I?"
"Oh," Hermione said, before thrusting the paper into Harry's hands, "Read it!"
Harry shook his head, sighing, before looking down at the paper. When he did, the headline caused his other eyebrow to join his raised one:
LESTRANGE FOUND DEAD
Bellatrix Lestrange was found today impaled on a pole and eviscerated of most of her vital organs in front of the entrance of Knock-Turn Alley. It is unknown how one of The Dark Lords most prominent Death Eaters ended up in such a state. The only clues that the Aurors have to work with is the finding of the coordinates of Sirius, the Dog Star, carved onto her forehead by what appeared to be a very precise instrument.
"While the Ministry is happy that Mrs. Lestrange is no longer at large, the Ministry also can not condone the way the she met her ultimate demise," Head Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt told the Daily Prophet, "We are asking all those that may have any information to please come forward."
Bellatrix Lestrange rose to gruesome notoriety for being among those to torture Frank and Alice Longbottom to the point of insanity...
Harry looked up at Hermione with an odd look on his face. He was glad that the scum that was Bellatrix Lestrange was nevermore, but she did seem to have died in a rather violent state. Giving himself pause, he realized that he wouldn't have had it any other way.
"Good," Harry said, adopting a hard expression upon his face. While he could take pause when some people died, when scum like Bellatrix Lestrange took their final gasp, he was beyond caring.
"Harry! But she died-"
"In a way that she richly deserved," Harry cut her off, still not coming to terms with her extreme pacifism, "Now, have you eaten breakfast yet, or did you skip out on that?"
-
Harry could only compare the pandemonium that was occurring in the Department of Mysteries to when Sirius had escaped from Azkaban roughly two year previous. He didn't need to guess what had happened this time. The scar that was on his arm in his natural arm was proof enough. Voldemort was back, and now the Ministry was going to go into overdrive to deny it. He just wondered what the Department was going to do, as he knew that they did not always follow along with what the Ministry held as truth, and at times even misled the Ministry.
Walking into his new office, as he had just been promoted to a Fourth Class Unspeakable, he noticed that a spelled letter was waiting for him on his desk that was from the Department's outside mail service, he spelled his door shut before sitting down and propping his feet up on his desk. Grabbing the letter he saw that it was from Albus Dumbledore:
Dear Mr. Waechter-
As you've no doubt heard, there are rumors going around about a certain person returning. I can assure you, as you likely know yourself, that these rumors are true. I would like to speak to you myself concerning these matters as soon as you get a chance. If you wish to get past the stone goliath, presenting him with Cockroaches will suffice.
- A. Dumbledore
'That's odd,' Harry thought to himself, 'He didn't sign with all the pomp and circumstance that he usually does.'
Looking at his desk, he saw that he had a bevy of paperwork that he could finish later in the day, so he de-spelled his door and went to exit the Department. On his way out he made sure to stop by his Class' secretary, Tiffany Rightwell.
"If anyone comes looking for me tell them I'm out for the morning," Harry told her.
"Any idea on where you're going?" Tiffany asked, not looking up from filing her nails. In the short time that Harry had known the young woman he had come to the conclusion that nothing could faze her.
"If they have to know, tell them I'm at Hogwarts, but only if it's a dire emergency," Harry related, and then before he walked away, "Thanks Tiff."
"Don't call me that," Harry heard her say as he walked away and reached the Apparition point. Seconds later he was in Hogsmeade.
Walking towards the gates of Hogwarts he noticed that the grounds seemed to be in a great disarray. When he arrived at the gates, he saw that Argus Filch was waiting at them.
"Dumbledore told me that he was expecting you," the morose caretaker of Hogwarts told Harry, allowing the gates to open by pressing on a stone in the one of the towers that supported the gates.
"Very well," Harry replied, a little bit uneasy. He never was truly comfortable when he was in the presence of the man.
"I see you've amounted yourself to something, unlike some of the other miscreants that you graduated with," Filch told Harry, with a slight sneer. Harry merely raised an eyebrow.
"Duly noted," Harry replied, praying that the door to the Castle would come quicker.
"Are you still with that tart?" Filch pressed on, only causing Harry's ire to raise even more. Luckily they were now at the doors to the castle.
"Don't you have some magic to not be able to do?" Harry asked the squib with only a hint of malice in his voice. Filch just looked at Harry shocked, before hurrying away looking ashamed. Glad to be rid of the grating man, he walked up to Dumbledore's office, and when he reached the stone gargoyle, he merely said, "Cockroach Clusters."
The gargoyle spun out of his way, and he started to walk up the stairs towards Dumbledore's office. When he reached the top of the stairs he heard the voice of the last man he wanted to hear at this time: Cornelius Fudge.
"I'll have you know Dumbledore this is the last straw! I will not take it from you anymore!" the clueless man was saying. Harry merely sighed to himself; he couldn't believe how inept this man was.
"I told you already Cornelius that we have reached a parting of the ways, and now if you will excuse me I have another meeting that I must be getting to," the calm and slightly forceful voice of Dumbledore said. Harry knocked on the door, and opened it, to the slightly delighted face of Dumbledore, "Ah, Mr. Waechter, so nice to see you again."
Harry saw that the Minister was giving him a slightly calculating look, "Don't you work in the Department of Mysteries?"
"Yes, Minister," Harry said, holding his hand out to Fudge, who not surprisingly didn't take it, "Agent Ludwig Waechter, Unspeakable Fourth Class."
"Er...yes," Fudge said, before walking out of Dumbledore's office, trying his hardest to slam the heavy door behind him. Dumbledore sighed, before waving his wand and having the door calmly and quietly close.
"How are you today, sir?" Harry asked Dumbledore, as he rounded his desk and sat down.
"Slightly tired," Dumbledore replied looking down and sighing for a moment, before looking up and asking, "Lemon drop?"
"No, thank you," Harry replied, wondering why Dumbledore had called him to Hogwarts.
"I'm glad that you decided to come here, I have some sensitive information to go over with you," Dumbledore paused a second, before adding, "Mr. Potter."
Harry smirked slightly, before letting his features change into their natural state, "I can assure you that I remember, in excruciating detail, what that sensitive information is."
"Ah, but not all of it," Dumbledore replied with an air of wisdom, "Thus is the fallacies of time travel."
Harry waited for Dumbledore to get around to his point, he realized as he went on with his life that this was one of the many things that he didn't like about Dumbledore: it usually took him many a moment to arrive to his point. Indeed, he was now just arriving to the reason for calling Harry.
"As you know, the Minister isn't admitting to the return of Voldemort, but as you probably know, I am in the process of acquiring a group of people to oppose Voldemort's forces," Dumbledore related to Harry.
"The Order of the Phoenix," Harry answered back, nodding his head.
"Yes, that's correct," Dumbledore responded, picking up a stone from the desk, "I would like for you to be part of it. We need someone inside the Department of Mysteries, and someone with as much clearance as you do within the Ministry to help us get around some, technicalities...shall we say."
"I would be glad to join," Harry responded, looking into Dumbledore's eyes, "I will give you as much help that I can."
"Thank you, Harry." Dumbledore said to Harry, walking over to him and giving him the stone. "As we can not yet come out into the public eye, we must remain as clandestine as possible. Therefore, whenever you are needed, or I need to be in contact with you, this stone will heat up. When you feel it heat up, think of a Phoenix, and you will be instantly portkeyed to a location that I have keyed into the rock. I will be giving more information to you shortly, but just know that I truly appreciate this help Harry."
"Just about anytime Headmaster," Harry replied, getting up to leave, before being stopped by Dumbledore momentarily.
"How is Ms. Tonks doing, if I may ask?" the Headmaster inquired.
"Good, she became a full fledged Auror earlier in the year. She's mad about me being away so often on assignment though," Harry said with a slight smirk, before making a 'tip of the hat' gesture to Dumbledore, "By your leave, sir."
"Of course, child."
-
"I don't know how to say this, but we've been ordered by the Minister to send you on loan to the Congo, to help with getting the magical community under control," the yellow robed co-Head told Harry with a frown on his face.
"When do I leave?" Harry asked, having a sneaking suspicion for why he was the one that was being sent.
"The portkey is set to leave in an hour. Give all of your case files to Tiffany, we'll find some way for them to be completed," the second co-Head told Harry, also with a frown on his face.
"Yes, gentlemen," Harry responded, flexing and un-flexing his hands besides him, "Anything else I need to know?"
"Don't repeat this to the anyone, but we are working out a deal to get you closer to home," the yellow robbed co-Head said, leaning towards Harry, "We can't afford to have our best agent in the middle of nowhere with these...uncertain...times."
"Of course, gentlemen," Harry responded, with a small smirk.
"Be here at three, your portkey will be ready then, pack light, you can have more sent along later," the second co-Head told Harry, who nodded, and got up to leave the room.
"Before you go," the yellow robed co-Head called after Harry, "You might be interested to find out that Switzerland is holding a nice surprise for you when you get the opportunity to check it."
Harry only nodded his head before he left the office. He had an hour before he was leaving for a time that was unspecified all because of an idiot.
'I doubt they would even consider it treason,' Harry thought darkly, de-spelling his door. Nothing could be left in this office, not with Fudge acting the way he was already.
-
Two weeks later found Harry in a mining shaft covered from head to foot in dirt. Rebels had been hiding in the mines while trying to overthrow the magical government, and as such they were hard to find. Harry was helping fight their guerilla tactics by using some of his own. At the moment, he was blending in with the rebels while trying to find this sect's leader. A single well placed spell and he could expedite being sent home from this place.
Harry's stone that he had received from Professor Dumbledore had heated up once so far, but because of the mission he was on he couldn't respond. He had sent Edgar to Dumbledore with a letter of apology, but had yet to receive any response. Edgar hadn't even returned, although he didn't blame the raven. He felt as if he had entered the Seventh Layer in his current station. He was about to enter a cable shaft to slide down when an Auror of the Congo came running into the tunnel. Shifting his appearance to appear as himself, he waited for the Auror.
"Agent Waechter?" the Auror asked. Harry nodded his head, his face void of expression as he waited for the man to go on, which he did, "My superiors just told me that you are to report to them immediately, you are to be sent out of the Congo by your country."
"Thank you," Harry said with a small smile, walking past the man, and towards the exit of the cave. He was almost to the exit when his foot became lodged on something, and his innate clumsiness (that he had thought he had finally gotten under control) acted up and he ended up face first on the floor of the cave. Cursing silently to himself, and thanking whatever deity was listening for putting a silencing charm on himself, he looked to see what he had tripped over. When he did, he was mesmerized.
'I don't think I've ever seen a diamond that big before,' Harry thought to himself, picking the stone up, and examining it. It was as close to transparent as any diamond he had ever seen, and he knew that he had to have found this stone out of more than just coincidence, looking up into the sky and thinking, 'Are you all trying to tell me something?'
Getting himself up and dusting his robes off as best he could, he continued to walk out of the cave, and when he felt the wards dissipate, he Apparated to the Congo Auror's Headquarters. Walking as quickly as he could, he made his was to Jahre Gudmensen's office, the head Auror for the Magical Congo. Knocking on the man's door and hearing a voice telling him to enter, he walked in.
"You sent for me, sir?" Harry asked the man, who was in his late eighties, and had obviously seen better days.
"Yes, I just received word from your government that you are to leave the country immediately as a more pressing assignment has come up that you are needed for," Gudmensen told Harry, with a tone of voice that clearly dictated that he did not want Harry to leave, "When you have gathered up your belongings, report back here, your portkey will be waiting."
"Yes sir," Harry replied with a stoic expression on his face, although inside he was cheering. He turned and left the office; he was going to do the fastest packing job he had ever done in his life.
-
"As you can see sir, we offer extreme privacy, no one is allowed to even come into the building that isn't a tenant, and you can only gain access to this place as a guest if you have first submitted yourself to a thorough body search," a man was telling Harry, who was dressed as a rich muggle business man.
"How much is the monthly rent, again?" Harry asked, surveying the living area. It wasn't as spacious as his flat in London, but it would serve its purpose.
"360 francs," the man replied, with a slightly haughty look on his face.
"Perfect, where do I sign?" Harry responded, turning around and looking at the man flat in the face.
"Ah, Mr. Elias, you forget that we do not have our tenants do that," was the response that Harry got, "We merely ask for your fingerprint, and your bank account number. I'm assuming that you have a Swiss?"
"You would assume right," Harry replied, slightly altering his fingerprints, he didn't want anything tracing him back to this place of residence.
"Ah, even better, now just come this way and we will set everything up," the man told Harry, leading him out of the flat and towards the buildings office.
Three hours later found Harry sitting down in the living room of his new flat. With the money that the co-Heads of the Department of Mysteries had set up for him in a muggle Swiss bank account, he had been able to purchase a residence that was 'off the grid,' something that was essential in his line of work. As much as 'safe houses' were considered safe, they never truly were because almost every agent knew where they were, and if they ever were forced into having loose lips, it could be potentially fatal to the agent that was actually using the safe house. That's why the Department of Mysteries always gave their best agents the money to set up their own personal 'safe houses.'
Thinking of his current employers, he sighed. Yes, he was taken out of the Congo, but he was told to immediately report to the Swiss Ministry of Magic, as they were having a small crisis with Dark Magic, and had asked the British Ministry if they had any people that were extremely skilled at Dark Magic, and countering it. The co-Heads of the Department of Mysteries had instantly volunteered him, so that he would be closer to England, and would be able to report back easier as he had the ability to Apparate straight from Switzerland if necessary.
Putting his hands in his pockets, he felt the diamond that he had found in the Congo.
'I miss Tonks,' Harry thought to himself. He hadn't seen the love of his life in over a month, and was really starting to miss her. Pulling the stone out of his pocket, he decided that he should see if he could get it set into a ring, 'I am asking her to marry me as soon as I get back to Britain.'
-
"Arthur Weasley was just attacked?" Harry asked the head of Dumbledore, which was currently in the fireplace of temporary residence in the American Wizarding Government's capital of Salem, his third stop on his world tour of spite from Fudge.
"Yes, it is slightly serious, although the doctors at St. Mungo's feel that he should heal nicely," Dumbledore related to him, looking slightly grave, "I am sending Nymphadora to escort young Misters Potter, Weasleys, and young Misses Granger and Weasley to St. Mungo's in the morning. Would you be able to help, I am starting to run short on extra hands?"
Harry sighed, and pinched the bridge of his nose. As much as he would love to come back to England for the holidays, he was to tangled up in work, and couldn't give Fudge the impression that he was aiding Dumbledore, "I'm sorry Albus, but between the treacle and the paper, work is just pressing down on me. Even in this holiday season."
"I understand," Dumbledore responded, looking as if he actually did understand.
"Headmaster? Would you please tell Tonks that I miss her, and that I love her?" Harry asked of his former headmaster. He had not seen Tonks for two months now, only being able to briefly see her when he had been switched from helping the Swiss government to helping the American one on Fudge's orders.
"Of course Ludwig," Dumbledore answered, "Have a good Christmas."
"You to sir," Harry answered, watching Dumbledore's head disappear with a pop. Leaning back into the chair that he was sitting in, Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out a box that he had been keeping in it at all times. Opening it up he saw the diamond he had found in the Congo, set into a ring from his time in Switzerland. He missed Tonks, but he was able to get through his estrangement from her by thoughts of the love they shared, and the hope that one day he would be able to make her his forever...
Three months later Harry was still in America, doing largely 'diplomatic' work for the British Ministry of Magic. He never thought that Fudge was this incompetent, to have one of the best Unspeakables in the business doing work that any politician could do, but he just put it down to the massive ineptness the man possessed. Looking down at his breakfast, he sighed. He longed to go back to England, but was starting to feel as if he never would.
He was about to leave the cafe area of the British Consulate when an aide came running up to his table, speaking in a hurried voice, "Mr. Waechter! Sir! There is a package that just arrived for you!"
"That's nice, where is it?" Harry responded, hoping it wasn't another file of useless reports sent over by Fudges office.
"The mail room sir!" the eager young aide responded. Harry muttered his thanks, and left for the mail room. When he arrived he saw a bunch of the clerks sitting around reading something. Harry coughed to get their attention, and one of the clerks looked up.
"Oh! Er..." the clerk looked at Harry, then down at the object that held all of the other clerk's attention.
"Do you always look at everyone's private mail?" Harry asked, with frown on his face. The clerk, rightfully so, looked abashed picking up what was a newspaper and handing it to Harry. Wondering why someone had sent a newspaper, he looked at it and instantly smiled. It was the Quibbler that held his interview with Rita Skeeter in it. Smiling at the clerk shocked looking clerk, he walked out of the mail room with a slight bounce in his step. He had a feeling that he wouldn't be needed in America for much longer anymore.
He was right. Waking up on a morning late in June to his door being banged on quite loudly, he went over to answer it. When he did, he was surprised to see one of the co-Heads to the Department of Mysteries standing on the other side.
"The Minister is recalling you to England," the man said with a slight smile, before frowning, "He has just admitted that Voldemort is back.
End Chapter
A/n: Concerning Sirius and the wand, I assume that the Ministry was keeping track of all the magical signatures at Hogwarts for the year in the "extreme off chance" that he had procurred a wand. Sirius, probably thinking of this, didn't use the wand. Afterwards in his escape, he probably used it once he got out of Hogwarts grounds so he wouldn't have to worry to much about being caught.
In answer to a certain review about laying off the French: Harry (in this story at least) has been on a few missions to France as he mentioned, and has learned to detest the French through his various missions. Why is this important? You'll see...
Thank you to everyone that has reviewed and for waiting so long for this chapter! If you want updates on the chapters, and also to discuss this story with others, then be sure to check out my Yahoo!Group (link in my profile). Once again, thank you to everyone that REVIEWED! And if you would be so kind, PLEASE REVIEW!
Oh, before I forget, thanks once again to my beta, you're amazing.