Chapter 4 2002, Woolworth Building, MACUSA, Auror Headquarters, Chief Williams' Office (Has Harry Mentioned At All How Jeleous He Is Of MACUSAs Budget)
Harry wasn't too sure how to take it all in. Yes there had been a number of attacks on muggles, dozens in the past few months, but only rarely was anyone killed, and only then mostly due to things falling on them, or electrocutions, or things that were not the direct effect of any curses or hexes.
So almost definitely not the Six, even if they wanted to lay low, Harry doubted any Death Eater would be able to restrain themselves from killing even a few muggles. Anyway, what was the point of trying to stay low if they attacked muggles anyway – it made absolutely no sense to Harry – Captain James tried to pass it off as being unable to control themselves, especially as they all spent a not-insignificant time in Azkaban.
'Yes but Azkaban makes you insane, not stupid' It was a lesson that the Ministry didn't learn until it was too late.
'There's a difference Auror Potter?' Colonel Roberts looked confused, Chief Williams and both the Captains were looking at Harry like an unstable potion. He sighed, of course, MACUSA didn't use dementors, or have anything like Azkaban, it wasn't their fault that they didn't know.
'Its...yes. It's complicated, but trust me, the Ministry learnt the hard way that there is a difference, otherwise the whole Second War wouldn't have happened. The Death Eaters are still dangerous and have a solid hatred of muggles, the time in Azkaban will only mean their decisions are more... random, it will be less straightforward to tell their ultimate goal, if there even is one here. But don't assume for a second that they are not incredibly skilled dark wizards and witches, they can and will kill and destroy without a second thought to the effect on muggles or the surrounding area.' Harry paused here, with only a slight adjustment it was almost the exact same introductory speech that every new Auror recruit was given about the Death Eaters, and one of the main reasons that dementors were being phased out. Insanity just made tracking and predicting that much harder, even with divination experts and arithmancers on hand.
'So Auror Potter, is there anything you would be able to tell us about their movements?' Leiutenant Rogers had kept quiet during the main discussion of the confusing trail left by whoever. They decided it was definitely a whoever not a whatever, it wasn't random enough to be put down to escaped creatures, and the lack of severe wide area damage eliminated the more intelligent creatures that would usually be suspected.
'Well the fact that they avoided a significant population centre like Los Angeles, not to mention sticking to smaller cities indicates that whoever it is doesn't feel strong enough to potentially deal with the backlash that would create.' It was an unfortunate consequence, but the sheer size of America meant that a number of 'low priority' cases, where attacks or fatalities were in single digits, or had no immediate magical explanation, simply slipped through the bureaucratic cracks. Sometimes Harry envied the scale of America, other times he was grateful that the Ministry didn't have the same problem.
Nodding from the Captains gave Harry the confidence to carry on his thought process – thinking out loud usually lead to some of his best idea/let others pick through for any faults in reasoning/etc
'If they wanted a statement, an attack on LA, or Chicago, or literally anywhere they have avoided, would be expected. Now, as I said, this may be the insanity of Azkaban creeping in, they may choose attack later, or on a specific date, the dates of their incarcerations are usually popular, or the end of July or October.' Harry grimaced here, it felt too much like flaunting his fame, much like Lochart, but he pressed on 'Err, for obvious reasons. Or they may choose to keep to low level attacks, draw in Auror units one by one for ambushes, to keep our guard lowered or distracted so they can strike somewhere unexpected.' He wished he wasn't speaking from experience there, but the unfortunate consequence of the small size of the wizarding populations compared to muggle ones meant that it was much easier for wizards attack unguarded locations, or 'safe areas' that were not expected to be a target.
'If they want to get us focussed on small towns while they hit the big cities, this definitely looks like a way to do it.' Colonel Roberts spoke up, eyes lighting up at finding a solution. 'Maybe we could fool them instead, rotate a number of Aurors out into the towns, make it look like we're focussed on them but keep the bulk stationed in their districts as normal.' Chief Williams was nodding at this.
'I can get a rota together and make it look random enough that they will fall for it.'
Harry shook his head, causing Jesse to look at him in alarm.
'Sorry Chief Williams, Colonel Roberts. That sounds like a solid idea, but we tried that in Rome and Madrid not too long ago, and it didn't work as expected, we caught some sympathisers and foreign agents, but the Six knew what the plan was.' Harry frowned, another thought occurred to him. 'Maybe it could work here, the American Aurors are much larger than any single European department, and we know the Six aren't nearly as familiar with the US as they are Europe.' It was unfortunate, but there was a reason after all that other magical European nations didn't sent help when the Ministry fell, Voldermort ensured that they were too busy dealing with their own local issues. 'It could work, but we don't want to chance it.' Now was the part he hated, the real reason he suspected the Six surfaced in America after being quiet for a few months. 'One alternative is that they want to specifically draw out individuals, its how they thinned down the ranks during the First and Second wars. They could want Colonel Roberts, or Chief Williams, or.' Harry hesitated here, it felt too much like Gilderoy Lockhart, 'Me.' he finished, thinning his lips and staring resolutely at the map of the USA with pins and string showing attacks and movement patterns. For a second no one spoke, then Colonel Roberts again cleared her throat.
'We could polyjuice-'
'No.' Harry bit out. He would not let polyjuice of him slip out, he knew the damage even one polyjuiced version of himself could do – Madrid was testament to that, their Ministry building had only just been rebuilt – he couldn't bear to think what could happen in somewhere as large as America.
'Sorry.' He added, realising that it was rather abrupt. 'I'm wary of the damage that polyjuied authority figures can do.' He stared directly at Chief Williams. 'Chief Williams, can you honestly say that your department has never had a leak or had a misplaced document or potion or piece of information during your entire tenure here?' Harry knew what the answer would be anyway, it was impossible to claim that there was never a leak in any department, especially the Auror offices, whether it was through blackmail, or bribery or anything else. There were three universal truths in the world, Death, Taxes, and leaks from Auror offices.
'And anyway.' Harry continued without giving Chief Williams a chance to explain. 'I am unfortunately well known enough that the moment someone sees me without my wand or specific robes' He indicated his dragonskin robe, enchanted and customised by Hermione and Ron specifically for him, 'They will know what we're trying to do, and worse, if they do manage to disable whoever is polyjuiced as me, they could get their hands on the potion and wreck havoc.'
'So what do you suggest we do then.' Chief Williams definitely sounded annoyed now.
'I am uncomfortable with polyjuiced versions of myself, but the initial idea had merit, trying to draw their fire by having targets out in the open, but we could give them something more, maybe if we leak our plan to polyjuice certain people but.' - Captain James and Lieutenant Rogers looked like they were about to protest that wasn't this what their Colonel proposed anyway – 'don't have them polyjuiced, maybe they would be targeted by the Six thinking they had polyjuice -' Harry was cut off by the excited voice of Jesse Adams.
'That could definitely work, its the same plan without any of the actual risk of loosing polyjuice, we could.' He turned to the other two captains, with a knowing look, 'also use this as a chance to smoke out any of our own teams for suspected leaks, maybe also have a messanger carrying the Muggle President's timetable to get clearance from another department in Virginia.' pointing to the state with the most recent attacks 'maybe we could catch them while they're still there, I know that Arlington has been receiving a lot more traffic recently, so an apparent visit from the Muggle President wouldn't be unusual, especially with recent events.'
Nods all around, then Chief Williams spoke up.
'Right, but we do need to make sure that we keep up the pretense of investigating the attacks, so while the Captains work out a suitable plan do leak information to their teams.' Clearly he was unhappy that leaks were apparently so common that some of his captains could easily identify 'leaky teams', 'Colonel Roberts and Lieutenant Rogers, you can assemble as many wands as you want to give the appearance that we are investigating the crime scenes.'
It was a good plan, but Harry was feeling more than a bit left out by it.
'Would my own role be following Colonel Roberts' teams then Chief Williams?' He wondered, thinking that if the Six didn't at least see something of Harry Potter, then they may think there was something else being planned, which was exactly what they didn't want to happen.
'Auror Potter, you are the consultant, I don't think it would be appropriate or useful for yourself to be involved in fieldwork at this stage.'
'I can understand your reasoning Chief Williams, but the Six know that in previous consultant roles I have been heavily involved in the fieldwork side of things, breaking that pattern here might tip them off.' He doubted it, but he was not here just to be in another press statement – he was a fully trained Auror for Merlin's sake, this was his job -if they wanted to just get his ideas a Floo call would have been a much easier way to go about it.
'Auror Potter, whilst I can fully sympathise with your position and desire to be involved, I cannot in good conscience let an asset such as yourself be put at risk.'
'With respect Chief Williams, I am a fully trained Auror, and am more likely than anyone to get the attention of the Six or sympathisers, if we want to make sure they stay in Virginia while we set everything up, it would be best if they at least see glimpses of me attending the crime scenes and surrounding area.'
The chief sighed, but Harry could tell that Colonel Roberts thought the same as him, the Captains were staying silent, but then the Lieutenant spoke up.
'I think that's a great idea Sir, knowing that Auror Potter is at least visiting some of the state would keep the Six, or any sympathisers in-state for a much longer time, and maybe even make them more open in some of their attacks.' Harry could have hugged the Lieutenant at that moment, but settled for a nod.
'Very well, but Auror Potter.' The chief fixed him with a look that frankly had nothing on Robards, but Harry looked blank-faced back at him anyway 'only cursory appearances, please keep your involvement to a minimum, attracting you might be exactly what they want.'
