Chapter Seventeen
"It's not much, but it's all the intelligence we have at the moment," Mackenzie told them.
They were assembled in the tactical room inside the Auror department. It was an emergency meeting and anyone who had been in the field that could be recalled was there. Despite all his training and experience, Harry couldn't shake the feeling of being a bit intimidated by being surrounded by all the senior Aurors. He had met most of them before, some just in passing, but they all had that hardened look of having seen too much over the course of a lifetime. That look was shared by all present the instant Mackenzie had given her reason for calling them there.
"We don't know their reasoning for taking up shop so close to Azkaban," she continued, "but we do have a theory. Despite how isolated the prison is, because there was such a heavy concentration of Dementors there for decades, no one wanted to live less than thirty miles away from it. We think that the Death Eaters are using the abandoned wizarding village there in hopes of masking their presence because no one wants to go anywhere near there. The village has been abandoned for years, so the forest surrounding it has all but taken it back. Even an Auror passing by for a shift at Azkaban would see no reason to go in there."
"Are we going to stage an attack?" Jameson asked, one of the senior Aurors.
"Before we decide how deal with the situation, we need more information," Mackenzie informed them. "We need to know numbers and what kind of spells or illusionary charms have been set up around the perimeter. I want a four man recon team to handle this – Caven, Johnson, McMillan, and Stevens will go. Remember, this is strictly a recon mission – do not engage the enemy unless you have no other choice. Everyone else you are to continue with your original assignments. I trust I don't have to remind any of you this is a level C classified situation and none of this information is to be revealed to anyone outside this room." Mackenzie turned until her gaze fell on the grizzled-looking man near the front of the assembled group. "Mad-Eye, is there anything else you'd like to add?"
Moody shook his gruff face. It came as a surprise to many that the hardened Auror was staying silent.
"When we have an update on this situation, we'll meet again and decide how to handle it. Dismissed," she finished.
As the group dispersed, Harry saw Moody limping over to where him and Ron were standing.
"Molly, would like it if the two of you showed up for dinner tonight," he said gruffly and walked off.
He did not need to elaborate further. That was one of the many code phrases Moody had thought up for communicating there was an Order meeting when in a public area.
"It better not be another information session like it was here," said Ron with a scowl.
"If Moody was the one who discovered them, you can be sure he knows more than he's letting on. He still doesn't trust the Ministry, even with your father in charge now. Are you okay?" He noticed Ron's face was covered in sweat.
"Yeah, I'm fine," he answered distractedly. "It's just hot in here."
Harry frowned. The temperature of the room was fine, even with all those people in there. "Maybe you should stop by and see that Healer."
"What the hell for?"
"Because you look like hell," Harry snapped back. Come to think of it, Hermione wasn't looking all that great either. On top of that, the both of them had been acting rather strangely the last few days, and Harry was fairly sure he knew the cause of their changed behaviour.
"Look, I get enough of this shit from my mum," he said, staring down Harry. "I don't need to hear it from you too."
"Where do you and Hermione go at night?" He demanded. The two of them would disappear for hours and not return until the early hours of the morning. What was even more of a mystery was how they found the energy to get up and appear well rested for work on only a few hours sleep.
"I already told you it's none of your fucking business," said an angry Ron.
"If you're putting Hermione in danger – "
"Cut the bullshit, Harry. Hermione is a grown woman who can protect herself."
"Protect herself from what?"
"Harry, you haven't seen what she can do. She's bloody amazing – she can take on even me."
"Answer the question, Ron."
"Mackenzie still has me doing all these damn training drills almost every day. The only way I'm not gonna go soft is if I'm out there taking on those bastard Death Eaters."
Harry's eyes widened and then narrowed into dangerous slits at what Ron had just admitted to. "You've been taking her patrolling with you? Are you out of your fucking mind? She has no training or field experience and you're going after Death Eaters? I didn't think even you could be this stupid."
Ron said nothing and began walking away.
"We're not finished." Harry was furious as he went after him. He hadn't taken more than a few steps, when a blur of movement had him face down on the ground, with a boot on his back and stretching one arm behind him. It felt like his arm would pop right out of the socket if it was pulled back much further.
"Don't piss me off, Harry," Ron threatened, pulling his arm just a little tighter. Then he let go and walked away. This time Harry didn't try to stop him.
The meeting at Phoenix Headquarters had the same tense and edgy feel to it as the one that had taken place in the Ministry earlier that day. Moody seemed to be the only one unaffected by it. He reiterated Mackenzie's speech for the most part, stopping to explain the recon team that had been assembled to gather more intelligence and then continuing by giving a full account of what he had witnessed.
"My magical eye caught movement in the trees while I was on my way to relieve the Aurors posted at Azkaban. I was able to move through the overgrowth unnoticed. I found the remains of a wizarding village which had been abandoned since shortly after Azkaban had built. The overgrowth of the forest had reclaimed most of it, but it appeared as though recent magic had been used to cut some of it back – at least enough to make it habitable. I counted six Death Eaters, but there could have been more that just weren't visible from my position."
"So there were no illusion charms of any kind?" Lupin asked.
"Nothing that I could detect," Moody said, frowning deeply. "That doesn't make sense. Even if they were using Azkaban to cloak their whereabouts, all our previous analysis of Death Eater behaviour shows they go to great lengths to remain hidden, no matter how isolated their position may be."
"A trap?" Tonks suggested.
"That seems likely," Moody agreed. "Which is why Mackenzie wants to gather as much information as we can before acting on it.
"There's still more of us than there are of them, why don't we just take them out?" Said Ron.
"Until we know more, Mackenzie was right to proceed with the recon mission. We'd be going in blind otherwise," said Moody
"So we're just going to sit around and do nothing?" Ron said.
Moody gave him a dark look. "Weasley, we never sit around and do nothing. You may not be privileged to every bit of information that goes on in the Auror department, but the Death Eaters are being handled the best way they can. If I'm not mistaken, you still haven't been cleared for active duty. So if anyone is sitting on their arse, it's you."
Harry saw the look in Ron's eyes and thought he might attack Moody right there. He still couldn't wrap his mind around Ron's attack on him in the Auror department. He had been powerless. Ron had him pinned on the ground before he could move a muscle. His strength had almost been inhuman.
"Tonks and I will continue to monitor the situation, along with Mackenzie," Moody continued after a moment. Those words seemed to signal the end of the meeting, and members of the Order began to go their own separate ways. "Weasley, Granger, stay behind a minute," Moody barked. "Potter, you can go," he said, when he saw Harry wasn't moving. His tone left no room for argument.
Harry was the last one out, so Moody pointed his wand at the dining room and kitchen doors so they would shut and then cast a silencing charm around the room. He, Tonks, and Lupin were the only adults left.
"What's going on?" Hermione asked.
"I was just going to ask you two that same question," said Moody, glaring at the two of them. "It seems you've been doing some Order work on your own." He waited for their confession, but the two remained silent. "I guess this explains those few extra Death Eater bodies that have turned up that nobody seems to know about." He walked closer to them, until they could hear the sounds of his angered breathing. "I don't know who the hell you think you are, but that's not the way we handle this war. You don't go ahead and start your own private vendettas. Weasley, I have half a mind to report you. You think your life is hell now, just wait until Mackenzie finds out you're out in the field without being cleared for it. As it is, I think those godforsaken charms are having a serious effect on both your judgments. Until we feel you're no longer under its influence, you are suspended for all Order activities."
"You can't do that!" Ron shouted.
"It's already been done," Moody snapped. "You two can't be trusted. We don't know how you'll react or what you'll do with the information shared here. For the time being, you're a liability."
"I don't belive this," said Hermione, shaking her head.
"Harry should have just kept his fucking mouth shut," Ron muttered.
"This has nothing to do with Harry," Lupin spoke up. "Both of your behaviours have been erratic and unpredictable as of late. We let it go at first because we wanted to think that you were adjusting to the charms, but it hasn't stopped. When was the last time either one of you slept? You can't seem to sit still for more than a few minutes at a time. Tonight you could barely keep it together long enough to listen to Moody. You're running on extremely high dosages of adrenaline and if you're not careful, your bodies will be damaged permanently."
"I would tell you to take the charms off yourself but I think it would be better if a Healer was around when you did it," Tonks said, clearly siding with Moody and Tonks. "We don't know what the effects of taking them off will do to your bodies."
"We still have a week left!" Hermione protested.
"I don't think either one of you can afford to keep that thing on for that long," Lupin said in a stern voice. "Tomorrow, Tonks and myself will accompany you to St. Mungo's and you'll take them off."
Moody released the silencing charm, and Ron and Hermione stalked out of there, both seething with anger.
Harry hadn't waited around after Moody had all but kicked him out of Phoenix Headquarters, not wanting him to hear what they were talking to Ron and Hermione about. Even if Moody hadn't told him to leave, he doubted he would have stuck around. His friends were going to need some time to cool off when Moody was done with them – which was exactly why Lupin's place should have been the last place he went to. He wanted to see Ginny. Their friendship felt rather strained as of late and he wasn't sure why.
When he walked in, he wished he had followed his better judgment and just stayed away from there. Ron was furiously pacing the kitchen and Hermione didn't seem any calmer. When Ron saw Harry he exploded.
"What the fuck is your problem? What kind of shit did you tell Moody about us?"
"I didn't have to tell him anything. He already noticed the way you've been acting and drew his own conclusions."
"But you went to him, didn't you?" Ron persisted.
"I had to," Harry responded. "Have you two noticed the way you've been acting? You're like a couple of addicts with those charms on, and you look like hell." He turned to Hermione, hoping to appeal to her rational and logical side. "You wouldn't be out there taking out your own personal vendetta against Death Eaters – and you certainly wouldn't be encouraging Ron to break the rules as an Auror if you were acting like yourself."
"You may not have noticed, Harry but there's a war going on out there and all we're doing is trying to help any way we can," Hermione responded.
"There may not be a prophecy written about us, but we're not your sidekicks either," said Ron.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"It means," Ron started taking a predatory step towards him, "you're not the only powerful one around here anymore."
He didn't lay a hand on Harry, but his intention rang clear. After the way Ron had so effortlessly pinned him to the floor in the Ministry, Harry wasn't so sure he could take him on and win while he was in this state.
"Let's go," Ron barked at Hermione.
They left and Harry made no attempts to stop them, knowing he would have had little chance of doing so even if he tried.
Harry didn't know how long he sat alone staring at the empty walls of the kitchen, but it was well past dark out now. The screen door squeaking open didn't even startle him.
"Harry?" Ginny said in surprise when she saw him. "Why are you sitting in the dark?"
He wasn't in total darkness, the light over the stove was on, but he didn't feel like arguing that point with her. He took in her appearance in the poor light. "Were you on a date?"
"I went to see Colin. I haven't seen him since…"
"Since Dennis was murdered in Hogsmeade," Harry said, his tone dark. "You didn't answer my question," he said, locking his eyes on her.
"I was hanging out with a friend. Though even if it were a date, I don't know why it would bother you. It's not as if there's anything official between us."
"I didn't hear you complaining about that before, Gin."
She averted her gaze to the floor, saying, "maybe I don't want this anymore."
The shock of her statement showed on Harry's face, before he quickly masked it.
"I thought I could be okay with this," she continued, forcing herself to look at him again, "but I was only fooling myself. I thought it would be enough, but it's not, Harry – at least not for me."
"Well, I'm sorry, Ginny, but I can't give you anything more."
It felt like a slap on the face to hear him say that. He didn't even have the decency to pretend that he cared. "So that's it? You can't even pretend that this is affecting you at all?"
"Look, I can't be the person you want me to be, so it's better this way. I never meant to mislead you into thinking otherwise."
"Don't worry, you didn't," she said, turning on her heel. "I always knew I was nothing more than a convenience."
She stormed out of the kitchen and up the stairs to her room, slamming the door behind her. She didn't care that she was supposed to be acting like this wasn't affecting her. He made her feel stupid and humiliated. She never thought Harry capable of being such a bastard. The worst part was she was partly to blame for all of this. He had been the one to push her away, to tell her to stay away from him. His intentions had always been clear. She was just a silly girl for thinking she could change them.