Chapter 16
August 2001
"Crucio!" Harry cast the curse in frustration more than anything else, letting go of it almost immediately. "I've also got dedication you insane bastard," he hissed.
Harry bit out another curse at the man.
"Come on…you've got to break some time," Harry hissed half to himself, half to the man.
"Time is something you said we don't have," said a sardonic voice that rushed in from behind him.
"Your protections in place?" Harry wiped sweat and other things from his brow.
"We're safe for now, but they'll certainly encounter some problems if they push their luck, your girlfriend's definitely trying" she reported.
Looking to Judith she seemed to be carefully, almost calculatingly taking in everything in the room with a cool calm eye. It made him glad she was here.
"She's not my…" Harry trailed off and hissed another curse at the man who was now trying to struggle in his cable ties.
The man was also giggling again.
"We don't have time for this," he said mentally preparing himself for another bout of spell casting, that was the problem with insane people. Interrogation was far more complicated.
"No….you don't Potter…" The man laughed, cackled even. It was annoying.
"Let me try," Judith said, watching the man carefully.
"We need…" Harry was cut off.
"I know what we need," she cut him off with a stare Harry nodded. "Are you going to stay and watch?" She asked.
"I'll need to, whatever you have planned," he paused looking the man in the eye. "I had a lot do and read, during my extra curricular activities, there's quite a wide range of seldom used spells that can keep people conscious beyond the normal cut off," Harry idly commented as the man watching him and drew in another breath of the fetid air, trying to avoid smell it by only breathing through his mouth, he was sure he could taste it.
How in buggeration did I get to this? Harry thought to himself, grabbing what looked like a pepper up potion from a side table and threw it at the man, some of it even went in his mouth, whatever they were going to do Harry didn't want him dying, not until they got the information they needed.
Several months ago… March 2001
"There's this faction, they've been gathering support," Hermione poked at the newspaper cutting taken from the Prophet, it was all about a protectionist faction of the wizarding world.
Supposedly it was gaining some traction, from what Harry had read and heard.
"It's probably because they've got time now that Voldemort's not in their minds any more," Hermione paused with a sigh. "Unfortunately I can't cite this at university."
Harry raised an eyebrow at her. "The wizarding world would surely provide more than a citation," he mused as he leant back.
He'd met Hermione in London earlier in the day to do a walk around and to work out which of the multitude of CCTV cameras that were located on the walk up to, and around where his mail forwarding company's offices were. That was the only way he'd figured that Ginny could have found where he lived.
"It can't have started after my small job for the Ministry?" Harry wondered out loud.
"I honestly can't believe the wizarding world, dumping their rubbish down a hole with radioactive material, alien at that," Hermione shook her head with exasperation.
No one in the café looked up, in fact they practically fitted in with all the posters advertising conspiracy magazines and meetings. Harry noted there was a group meet up in Shoreditch next weekend of one of the many groups. Going to search Coal Hill School for disappearances or some such no doubt.
"Well we both know how influential aliens have been on Earth," Harry commented in a reasonable tone.
Hermione looked at him. "You know Harry, I'm just watching from the sidelines."
"You could be more involved," Harry commented idly, pouring another cup of tea from the large pot that was sitting between them.
Hermione shook her head. "I've got too much work to do at university Harry."
Harry nodded. "I know, I know."
"I thought you were looking into recruitment?" Hermione asked.
"A little bit hard," he rolled his eyes exaggeratedly and waved open handedly "'Hi I'm Harry I run an organisation I blackmailed the wizarding government into creating, we solve exotic problems, inter, extra and juxta- terrestrial.'"
"You're not going to use that line are you?" Hermione frowned in inquiry.
"Why?" Harry mused.
"Sounds a bit like a comic book," she sniffed.
He wasn't going to ask how she knew about comic books, so he changed the subject instead. "How's Ron?"
Hermione tensed. "Fine," there was a long pause of uncomfortable silence. "The last time I saw him."
Harry raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything.
Hermione looked away from him, and took Harry's fork from his currently untouched piece of cake and began helping herself.
Harry smiled and leaned back.
"Don't you grin at me Harry Potter," she pointed at him with the fork.
"We can talk about something else if you like," Harry continued to grin. "Please help yourself to my cake."
Hermione glared at him. She ate one small forkful of the cake before glaring at him again.
"Ron and I had a disagreement," she said after several minutes looking into her tea. It was full, so there was no chance of a prophecy being made.
"A disagreement?" Harry repeated.
"You know that Viktor and I correspond?" She asked looking to him.
"Yes, so does Ron I thought," Harry said slowly, taking the second fork a waitress had surreptitiously placed beside him, smiling gently at him as he nodded a thank you.
"Well for a research assignment I wanted to do a long study of foreign language texts, and you know Viktor," Hermione smiled. "He offered to let me stay with him."
"Let me guess Ron got somewhat distressed and had a 'crisis'," Harry made air quotes with his hands.
"Only if we were in Jane Austen-land Harry," she snorted. "This is good cake."
Harry merely nodded. "So he got a little bit angry then?"
"He drew his wand on me, started raving about how he was working away in the shop, how there were 'plenty of top girls' who 'wanted him'," Hermione continued, mimicking Harry's air quotes motion.
"I thought you liked his fierce loyalty and dedication?" Harry mused.
"I thought you liked Ginny's dedication?" She countered with a smirk.
"Yes but she's a raving lunatic who's stalking me. A little bit different," Harry added.
"Semantics," she said dismissively. "He was waving his wand around, he managed to fire off some spell, desiccated one of my cushions in my campus room."
Harry was shocked for a moment. "Oh…what did you do?"
"Stunned him and got a couple of the WW club to help me throw him off campus," Hermione explained simply.
"WW?" Asked Harry.
"Wizard and Witch club, they're a small support group for wizards and witches on campus, they provide easy access to Wolfsbane and other things for people who're studying there," she explained.
"Fascinating I didn't know there was such a thing." He was amazed to find out.
"Neither did I. But good to know, and it's the only place that access on campus to the floo network, for a price," Hermione continued.
"A price?" Harry asked curiously.
"Supposedly the Ministry charges a huge monthly fee to keep it operational," she explained shaking her head. "Something about proximity to muggles or something."
"Interesting to know. Don't suppose anyone can walk in though?" Harry pondered, Hermione shook her head.
"Members only," she said simply.
"So you threw him out, literally?" Asked Harry.
"Literally. I couldn't very well levitate him out of the campus," Hermione snorted a cynical breath of amusement.
"There's always the fireman's lift," Harry's suggestion was met with a glare.
"Despite all our 'exercises' during our time at Hogwarts Harry, I wouldn't say I'm weak, but neither is Ron light." Hermione sipped her tea alluding to all their running from danger and random acts of utter panic.
"You're still willing to forgive him?" Harry queried. "I'm not sure I could say the same of her."
"Oh?" Hermione queried.
"I try to avoid saying her name when I can. You're happy to say Ron's name," Harry explained.
"Worried you're going to set off a Ginny beacon? I know she's somewhat powerful but I very much doubt she would cast a taboo curse, or know how to," Hermione said, watching Harry.
"I know. Maybe I'm just pissed off that she's stalking me, and supposedly putting it out in certain circles that I'm a bit insane," he exhaled.
"For believing in aliens?" Harry nodded a shrug of indifference to Hermione's question.
"As for Ron, some time apart might do us some good…and could you talk to him?" Harry opened up his mouth. "While you're in London?"
"Fine. Only if he's in the shop," Harry smiled. "Where all the 'hot ladies' are."
Hermione's look could have frozen mercury.
"Or alternatively where all the 'hot guys' are checking him out?" Harry asked with a smile. Hermione shook her head. "Where Ron is moping about being caught off guard and thrown off campus?" He finally tried.
"Better Harry."
He grinned at her.
April 2001
Harry hefted the 'gun' around to fire at another of the little blighters.
Pest control, that was what he was up to. If you could call extra-terrestrial cybernetic things pests.
He'd worked out they must have been left by the Cybermen, during either their 1970s invasion or when they'd come in the 1980s.
Now supposedly there was a little…whatever you called a group of breeding Cybermats making noise around the Ministry's foundations, down in the sewers, which were not empty and were not dry.
Harry wondered if he'd single handedly invented the 'glitter gun' however many years too early. But it wasn't anything so camp sounding. The ammunition he and Ioan had made with gold dust and a binding agent that would allow them to be fired from a paintball gun.
Ioan had done most of that (boring) work, but he'd been insistent that he didn't want to go near the Ministry 'or he might have an attack of Guy Fawkes'.
His past ostracisation by the Ministry and still burned within him.
So whilst he was shooting several shots into what looked like the nest that he got somewhat of a shock when someone said his name, considering he was standing thigh high in waste water (and whatever else besides) in the gloom, surrounded by dead Cybermats.
"What the fu…" He started as he looked around. He didn't have his wand quick and easy to hand, he'd only been expecting to deal with Cybermats today, so it was tucked close to him in an inner pocket.
"Harry Potter?" Enquired the voice curiously.
He swore as he turned around, pointing the gun at the voice and body attached to it, he could always just shoot the voice and person attached with the paintballs.
The enquiring voice and person attached was leaning against the bottom of a ladder that led from presumably the surface to this section of sewer, that wasn't the way he'd come in, he'd been following the Cybermats.
"I could have shot you," he said not lowering the paintball gun "what're you doing here?" He demanded.
"Looking for you and your organisation," she answered mysteriously.
"No organisation down here just that sewer water," Harry gestured around with his gun.
"And the Cybermats," she pointed out.
"How…" Harry started.
"You were chatting with your friend at a gig I was at, The Sugar Quills," she paused and gave him a look. "We've also met before," she explained casually.
Harry didn't bother countering her, he had been at that gig and had been discussing coming down here with Ioan, he was sure they had cast some silencing charms, but it had been a pretty open gig, despite the subject matter with a lot of peripherally related people adjacent to magic present.
The woman, whom he couldn't really pick her age, probably around Ioan's age, or older or maybe even younger. She was definitely older than him. He looked around at her, trying to make out details. He could just make out blonde or maybe grey hair it looked tightly platted or maybe in dreadlocks down to hip level. Grabbing the torch that was on his chest he pointed it in her direction to try and make out more details from the gloom.
"I have met you before," he muttered to himself as he tried to remember where.
"At a bonfire, with a Chronovore," she smiled, seemingly answering his inferred question. "Or rather I met you, it was something of a dazing experience all round wouldn't you say?"
"What the buggeration?" He muttered to himself and the water.
"I'll talk later, one's trying to swim away," she gestured down in front of Harry. Harry cursed firing at it as it bobbed around on the water, blue sparks flowing around it as it did so. When he looked up the odd lady had disappeared.
Maybe he was hallucinating? He thought to himself.
-/
"You still smell," Akilina wrinkled her nose at him as she sipped her drink. She'd joined Ioan on this 'assignment' since it was in London. 'Wanted to see what your secret organisation gets up to' she'd commented, and then she'd smelt him.
"Only the most luxurious locations for LPI," Harry said with a laugh. He'd changed and cast a variety of cleansing spells over himself in the pub's bathroom, and changed. While Ioan had filled him in on the straggler Cybermats that had tried to escape up to the surface. "Ioan would too if he'd not opted out," he nodded over to the single other member of the League of Paranormal Investigations.
"You need backup," Ioan countered in a very reasonable tone. "Someone to deal with the dirtier jobs."
Harry opened his mouth to say something when someone greeted him beside him.
"Hello Mr Potter," he turned to look beside quickly to look at her, almost spilling his drink in the process.
"Hello mystery woman," he said and looked to Ioan and Akilina and judging by their looks they could both see the woman as well, apparently she wasn't a sewer-induced hallucination.
-/
He'd elected to take the interview outside, it wasn't so much a beer garden as couple of plastic chairs that the kitchen staff used to take a break at.
Sitting down he hummed the melody of a band that Ioan had persuaded him to see, a wizarding rock band, supposedly they wrote songs inspired by their time at Hogwarts. It was something of an odd concept, especially considering some of their song titles, but it was better than having books written about you he supposed. At least none were about him, even if they sometimes featured events from his time at the school.
"Why'd you come looking for me?" Harry asked as she sat down opposite him. Now in the overcast light he realised she was older than him and Ioan, but he wasn't sure by how much. She wasn't drastically old.
"You seemed to handle yourself well at the bonfire," she offered.
"Freeing a Chronovore apparently," he paused watching her. "Weren't you topless at the time?"
"Wasn't everyone?" She countered with a smile.
"Are you part of their group?" He asked.
She shook her head. "Just passing through, they're friends, they've helped me here and there, rough times and strong times. Their interests and mine occasionally overlap."
"That'd include time travel?" Harry wondered.
She nodded. "You're aware of the Doctor," it was framed as a statement rather than a question.
Harry nodded. "And the Cybermats?" He enquired, she'd known what they were.
"Their name came up after I encountered the Doctor," she looked to him.
"How'd that happen?" He wondered.
"In the 80s, that business with Concorde," she answered far too quickly.
Harry didn't push further, that incident was apparently a huge blackhole of money, questions and a lot of other stuff for C19 and British Airways. "What makes you good for my-"
"League?" She interrupted.
Harry smiled at her. "Yes."
"Well…I know about it," she started, explaining in very vague terms that she'd done some work for the government in the past, 'secret stuff' for them, 'secret and very boring stuff really , that lasted through the '70s. "Went off tried to discover myself in the early 90s, didn't go amazingly well, then all that stuff with Xznaal in the late '90s reignited something in me."
She finished by saying she'd been wandering around, though didn't say where, trying her hand at various things.
"What about magic?" Harry asked as she finished talking, curious what, if anything she might know. Given that Ioan (and Akilina) had been at the bonfire…it stood to reason she'd know something of magic. His league was meant to be the intersection of aliens and magic, and the bits that got squashed out the sides.
"What you phallocentric people get up with one another is your own business. The amount of penis shaped things in that world is laughable," she smirked.
Harry stared at her and raised an enquiring eyebrow.
"If Quidditch isn't about one-up-man-ship and groping phallus shaped objects then what is it about?" She challenged.
"Grabbing a small hard to find flying ball," Harry answered instantly.
"Never tried to find the g-spot have you?" She laughed.
Harry was quite speechless. But there was something about her, maybe it was the serendipity of their meeting around a Chronovore's release. Or maybe it was the iciness behind her eyes as she spoke that gave him chills. But there was something, very capable to her that he couldn't put his finger on.
-/
"Meet the newest member of LPI," Harry said as he returned to his seat at the table.
"Ioan this is Judith," Harry introduced.
"Another of you phallus waving stick men?" She greeted brightly.
"He was thrown out of the club for believing in aliens, so we're not going to be playing wave the penis at each other just yet," Harry commented off handedly.
May 2001
Harry picked up the Prophet as he walked through the alleyway paying the merchant and ignoring the sideways looks he was getting.
It had taken him a while but he'd got the CCTV video along with the satellite imagery and other things. Disappointingly there wasn't something like an ASBO-equivalent in the wizarding world.
He flipped through the paper looking for evidence of the 'group for the protection of wizard interests' which seemed to be, according to Hermione a conservative group. Despite saying she couldn't cite stuff about them she'd continued to follow them. 'Not as bad as Voldemort, but they've got some strong beliefs about the preservation of culture and belief' she'd summarised for him. No blood status / purity had been part their language, so there were small mercies he supposed.
As he walked along Diagon Alley he couldn't help but notice, and then try to ignore the people looking at him. Folding the paper in half he stuffed it into his bag and pushed open the door to Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.
Suddenly it was silent.
"You can almost hear a pin drop," he mused looking around before people pretended to return to what they were doing.
"Harry," he felt a clap on his back and tensed before he saw George.
"George," Harry greeted with a vague smile.
"Why don't you come into my office?" George gestured behind the counter.
"You mean the store room?" Harry looked around at the people who were gradually going back to whatever they were doing.
"Exactly," he said a fixed smile on his face as he ushered him into the office/store room.
"Either you've been injected botox or your sister's been speaking about me again," Harry said throwing himself down into the offered chair, watching George scratch his ear as he joined him. "Ron still not around?" Harry asked, the last time on Hermione's request he'd stopped in Ron hadn't been around and now…
"He's just stepped out to pick up a fresh supply of live Billywigs," George paused. "Though he got the message about Hermione."
"Got the message though they're still not on speaking terms. He's angry that Hermione's still seeing Krum," George sighed.
Harry shrugged. "Supposedly it's a nice mansion with a lot of history. It's part of her university research."
"Nothing to do with the 'hunky' Quidditch player?" George asked, tapping his wand at a kettle and siphoning water into a teapot.
"'Hunky?'" Harry asked curiously.
George held up his hands. "Angelina's words not mine Harry."
"You don't have a secret lusting for Bulgarian Quidditch players then?" Harry teased.
George laughed, really laughed. It was good to see him really laugh. "No Harry," he said shaking his head after getting his breath back. "Though you should see Ron when I suggested his obsession with Krum was something…you know…" George raised his eyebrow as Harry suggestively.
This time Harry couldn't help but laugh.
"So you came for a reason Harry, not just to freak out my customers," George queried after they'd both settled down with a mug of tea each in their hands.
"What was that about?" Harry asked.
George leaned back. "There's a rumour going around you like to spend time in crop circles. That's the polite rumour. I personally think a bit of eccentricity is good Harry," he paused. "You've got to do something while you're avoiding the press and your fans."
"I've got fans?" Harry asked.
George nodded.
"Still?!" Harry exclaimed.
"I'm working on a set of goggles. 'The HP-glasses.' Makes everyone you see have green eyes…" George trailed off when he caught Harry looking at him. "Prototype only," he added quickly.
"Percentage of their sales?" Harry asked jokingly.
"You're a silent partner, we'll" he paused, scratching his ear again. "I'll never forget that Harry."
"I don't want…need to be a partner in this George. You knew that when I gave you and Fred that money," he said seriously.
"And you know Weasleys don't sit back and just accept things Harry," George countered seriously, meeting his gaze. Harry met and held George's determined gaze. They held their stares for at least 5 minutes.
"You're not going to give up are you?" Harry said still staring at him.
"Nope," he shook his head as he smiled.
"George I…" The door suddenly opened and Angelina poked her head in. "Oh…Hi Harry. George I just wanted to grab some more snackboxes." George motioned with his wand and a box slowly levitated into her hands. "Should I ask what you two are doing?"
"Probably not," Harry said blinking several times. "Fine. I won't argue with you." Harry put down his mug he'd been gripping throughout their staring competition.
"I'll leave you two to…your seductive staring competition," Angelina teased and shut the door.
Harry leaned to grab his bag. "I came about your sister."
"My sister," George repeated with a sigh. "You couldn't go and see mum and dad about this, or her?"
Harry shook his head.
"Fine. What's she done?" George asked in a tone of resignation.
"You sound like she's been doing something lately?" Harry asked, concerned, more for the anguish that it was causing George than anything.
"Aside from spreading rumours about you?" George asked.
Harry shrugged. "Aside from that."
"She's in with those 'wizard interest groups'," he explained.
"These guys aren't into the whole 'pure-blood are they'?" Harry asked George who shook his head.
"Not sure what they're up to," George admitted.
"Probably plotting our downfall," Harry said morosely.
"Well? Don't leave me in suspense, what's my sister done to the great Harry Potter?"
-/
Harry gathered the sheath of papers and spread it out for George.
"Oh. Dragon shit." George picked up the images, wobbling them. "Muggle?"
"Yep," was all Harry said as he let George look through them. "I'm coming to you first. I need you to tell her to stop, I don't want to go higher but I will." George looked up at him meeting his stare. "I'll take this all the way if I have to. But I don't want to do that, can you please impress upon her," he paused looking through the images pulling out the one from the CCTV footage. "The Ministry more than frowns on impersonating Ministry officials, I made preliminary investigations on how she was able to get the information, we're talking criminal actions George."
George dropped the pages. "You'd better not tell Ron about this, you know how he gets," he said heavily, scratching his ear again. Harry reached across the table, grabbing his arm, George looked at him and then to his arm.
"I didn't want to burden you with this, but I'm worried that if she can rationalise this..." Harry trailed off.
"She's not dangerous Harry, she's my sister," George said in a level tone.
"Hmm," Harry said noncommittally.
"What else are you up to Harry?" Asked George.
"I like my privacy and I don't want her looking over my shoulder every step of the way. It might get dangerous," Harry said seriously.
"More dangerous than Hogwarts Harry? More dangerous than giant snakes, Voldemort and Umbridge?" George countered.
"The universe is full of terrors we must face, evil that is fought, enemies to fight," Harry mused, in part to himself.
"Or it could be a game?" George offered trying to lighten the mood.
"And your sister may think she's still in Hogwarts impersonating Ministry officials, but we're far from the school yard now, and the universe is a far more diverse place than she thinks," Harry countered.
"Aren't you going to ask me what I think?" George asked curiously.
"No," Harry shook his head. "The 21st century is when everything starts to go awry and it's changing fast."
George studied Harry for a moment and nodded. "I'll tell her Harry. Just don't go to the Ministry."
"I won't, not about her anyway." Harry stood up. "I'll leave you the photos."
"Harry." Harry paused by the door looking back at George. "Would you come…I mean would you like to come for dinner some time this week, with Angelina and I, I mean?" George asked, starting to scratch his ear but stopped when Harry looked back and smiled.
"Sure." He looked out from the door at the full shop. "Okay if I apparate from here, I don't want to startle your customers again."
"Startle away Harry, we'll charge everyone a fee for being in the presence of the 'great Harry Potter, saviour of the wizarding world, triumph of the light'."
"Man who will kick you if you don't shut it," Harry continued as he opened the door, George chuckling behind him.
June 2001
"Charming places you bring me Harry," Judith commented.
They were quite literally sitting on a river of shit; actually overflow water and shit. It'd been a particularly wet week.
"You didn't need to come Judith," Harry said, dipping the oar into the water again pushing them forward, their small inflatable yellow dingy was slowly making its way through London's underground water systems.
"Yes I did," she countered "you said 'Judith you can come along, enjoy the fun of being a pariah'," she said in a relatively good impression of him.
Harry paused and looked at her. "I said that? All I said was there wasn't a manual for LPI, we're still working it all out."
"I may have embellished a little," she admitted with a half shrug of her shoulders and started roving the torch around the walls. "That way" she gestured with it as they approached a Y junction.
Harry stared for a moment at the intersection trying to fit it back into his mental map of the system and nodded, mostly to himself. "Fine."
They were entering this way as it was very discreet and the Cybermats had eaten a rather sizeable hole into the Ministry that had yet to be repaired.
He'd received a letter from the Ministry requesting he attend, although this clandestine letter had more of a tone of urgency than the last they'd sent. All without any of the attributes of urgent wizarding letters; howlers, ink soaked paper or whatever else might indicate urgency, blood splatter no doubt.
"Why am I paddling if you know where you're going?" Harry asked after a moment of silence.
"I don't know where I'm going, only where I've been," she replied cryptically. Harry decided not to argue the logic of it. Then she added. "Here," she gestured with the torch.
"Here specifically or here as in this is where the opening is?" Harry asked.
"What do you think, you're the one who knows what he's doing," she countered his questioning.
"Most of the time," he replied. "And to answer your question, it's a little further," Harry said taking another lungful of air, careful not to sniff the air.
-/
The hole wasn't there, or rather it didn't appear to be there, unless you knew where to look.
The notice-me-not charm seemed to have only taken around some sections of the area, for a fleeting moment he wondered if he'd got all the Cybermats, but he shrugged it off, if they were all gone good, if not he'd probably be called back and he could waggle one of them in front of some Ministry officials' face.
Or not.
"Here," Harry pointed.
"A wall?" Judith asked.
"Look closer, what do you see?" Harry asked to Judith as he removed his wand.
"You getting your penis substitute out?" She asked.
"Concentrate," Harry said watching her as he used the oar to keep them steady.
Judith looked from him to the wall, cool eyes watching the wall as she narrowed them.
"A wall with, something, something…" Then realisation dawned on her. "It doesn't want me to look at it, it's a something wall, something that doesn't want to be seen, but the wall around it, is just a wall," Harry smiled. "I could get the same affect chatting to some philosophy students about the nature of reality and I wouldn't be down a sewer to do it."
Harry tapped the wall and the non-wall disappeared. "You wouldn't have the wondrous opportunity to step into the world of bureaucracy and pig-headed disbelief in aliens if you hadn't come down a sewer with me."
"A chat up line if ever I heard one Harry," she said as she stepped up from the dingy in through the hole.
Harry joined her a moment later in a mildewed corridor which had a smell of mould, shit, and dead rodents.
"Where've you been?" She asked looking around her.
"Tying the dingy up, we wouldn't want to swim out," he explained.
"Front door no good?" She asked shining the torch around.
"The whole point is not to use the front door," he explained.
"But they give out badges!" She grinned at him. "How do you know whoever it is will be here."
"Hopefully they're already here," Harry said looking around.
"Very good Potter," said the same waste control witch, she'd also sent a letter to him to deal with the Cybermats that were outside. He now just thought of her as his contact in the Ministry. As she stepped out of the gloom he realised she had someone with her.
"Minister," Harry greeted in a neutral tone to hide his surprise that he'd come down here to meet him, especially after their last meeting had involved some vague threats.
"Potter," the Minister sounded very much like he didn't want to be meeting him. He looked to Judith for a moment.
"This is an associate of mine." Harry didn't so much as explain or introduce.
"A muggle? You're indulging in their delusions also?" He asked.
"Muggle?" Judith looked to Harry before nodded. "Oh muggle, right. Muggle power! Rock on."
Harry blinked both the Minister and the witch whose name he didn't know had quickly turned their backs on him and Judith.
Harry made a noise that he hoped sounded vaguely worried and indifferent but probably sounded more like "Uh…"
"Stop. Making. That. Sign," the Minister bit out in sharp words, his voice bouncing around the damp space.
Harry turned slowly to look at Judith. She had her middle and ring fingers down, holding them with her thumb.
Whenever he'd been to see bands with Ioan he'd seen people making the gesture.
"Umm…" He tried again. "Why?"
"That is the sign of the devil, it will raise The Destroyer, bring forth Azal, raise Abaddon, give corporeal form to Hastur the Unspeakable and allow Yog-Sothoth free rein on Earth," Shacklebolt intoned, still with his back to them.
"Huh," Judith said dropping her arm. "Not just penis obsessed."
"No. Though unlikely. Azal's pretty dead, The Destroyer also dead, Hastur's probably not going to pop up any time soon, it had its big appearance in the 40s, I think Abaddon's under the Cardiff rift somewhere…" Harry listed counting off on his fingers. "have I missed anything?"
"Yog-Sothoth," Judith replied.
"Dunno. I'm sure I've heard the name before. Probably dead as well or long gone."
"Potter how can you know these dark forces are dead?" Shaklebolt turned around to question him.
"Met the man who killed them, though technically Azal was killed by a woman. If we're done with whatever just happened, if I might ask, what do you want?"
Then the Minister seemed to try and shoot Judith with a spell.
"A privacy charm Potter," he shook his head. "This is Ministry business."
"And this is my League Minister," Harry angrily countered.
"Merely a privacy screen, once you're returned to your dingy she won't remember much," the unnamed witch explained gently.
"Then you'll have to explain I guess," Harry eyed them both. "I'll be telling her everything regardless Minister, and this will not be happening again," he paused and looked up at the older man. "Because this is my League and she is part of it aliens, magic and muggle and everything in between," he said, trying to sound as threatening and mature as he could as he stared down the older man who'd once fought with him against Voldemort's forces.
Kingsley looked between Harry and where Judith stood seemingly some sort of advanced befuddlement.
"I understand, I apologise Potter. This situation is something I wished we could avoid," he finished.
-/ - \\-
He'd side-along apparated her back to his house after they'd left the confines of the area around the Ministry.
The befuddlement had worn off, and although Judith hadn't seemed to want to admit anything was amiss he'd made them some tea while she browsed his bookshelves and he looked over the photos again.
They'd been shocking when the Minister had mostly just presented them to him like some sort of disturbing gift, along with the information and the vague threat from the organisation that it referred to.
Their clandestine meeting in the bowels of the Ministry making sense.
"You ready to talk, or do I need to read more of Hamlet's The Shoreditch Incident?" Judith asked critically as she sat down next to him, thumping the book down in front of her.
"That's a first edition," he commented idly, he'd got it by mail order from The Pyramid in Little Caldwell.
"Lieutenant Macbeth got a second print run?" She wondered incredulously.
"Not sure, I've never met him to ask," Harry mused and looked to her. "I am sorry, you know I didn't expect them to do that."
Judith shook her head and looked at him seriously. "I've been through much worse things than that Harry," she looked at him holding his gaze. "Next time I'll be ready to kick them hard, no one expects a kick to a sensitive area when they're grabbing their-"
Harry laughed cutting her off. "I understand."
Harry pushed over the photos and accompanying letter. "I didn't get much more than this, I felt like they wanted to push it all off to me, and make me," he paused "well us, deal with it. Now that they're paying for my league."
"That's what the government likes to do Harry, if they've got somewhere to push things off to they well," she said as she took the book of photos.
The pictures showed a menagerie of magical animals including a unicorn, griffin, hippogriff, mooncalf and a few other creatures, additionally two figures, presumably a witch and wizard.
They were all dead as the wizarding photos showed the blood oozing out of their wounds and the occasional movement some of them would make in the various photos.
There was an accompanying letter;
Muggle weapons did this.
We have eyes everywhere, your sneakascopes can't see.
We seek to protect our world from all external threats.
The muggle world has succeeded where we have failed, now we must use their arms against them, lest they use them against us.
Delusion and madness are the muggle's afflictions.
We can and will stop all deviants within and without.
"Poetic isn't it?" Harry said pulling out another sheet of paper.
"Only if you subscribe to the utter barking racial purity newsletter and picnic hamper," she said putting down the letter. "What's that?"
"My contact-"
"Your unnamed lady friend?" Judith interjected.
"The witch who now has someone to contact to deal with the weird stuff the Ministry doesn't want to touch," Harry added "She wrote this up, a bit of a briefing on the people in the photo, a pair of wizards-" he was cut off again.
"Shouldn't that be witch and wizard?" She queried. "By your parlance?"
Harry sighed. "The witch and wizard that can be seen in the photo didn't have any direct connection to non-wizarding world people-"
"'Muggles'?" Judith queried.
"Yes, but they had supported a motion within the Ministry to de-regulate some texts concerning astrological production," he paused to look through the parchment.
"Aliens?" Judith wondered.
Harry shook his head. "Not even that, just seemingly the acknowledgment that the stars have had a lot of action, the inference is aliens probably. Seems like it was enough that they supported the acknowledgement that there might be something outside wizarding control."
"Can't have people challenging the status quo Harry," Judith tutted.
"That's what all the delusion, mad and deviant stuff is about," Harry mused.
"Full blown conspiracy then?" Judith wondered. "What do they even want? I hope you asked that while I was under their enchantment."
"I did threaten the Minister after he charmed you," Harry added in a softer tone.
Judith smiled briefly at him. "It's nice you'd do that Harry. That we had to meet down there out of the way must mean they're worried about internal corruption," she continued thinking to herself.
"Corruption isn't the problem, there's plenty of that, but this is extremist corruption," Harry passed her the parchment.
"They want me, well us to investigate this. He, the Minister doesn't want the Department of Magical Law Enforcement getting into this in case they're compromised. Plus the mention of 'deviants' has got them jumpy," Harry said making air quotes.
"So this is the investigations side?" Judith wondered.
"What we're paid for."
Early July 2001
Harry opened the back of the Land Rover Defender, his new vehicle he'd purchased to go everywhere that he needed to carry things, or drive places that didn't have optimal ground clearance that a sports car required. Plus owing to all his new defence clearances, official secrets act and all that stuff with the British government he even got the defence discount on it, which was nice.
"What are we looking for?" Ioan asked as he took the offered torch Harry had removed from a bag of stuff in the back of the vehicle.
"A killer, or probably nothing," Harry replied vaguely.
"Or something dangerous. This has Scooby-Doo all over it," Judith commented.
"I was thinking Agatha Christie," Harry commented.
"I thought more Midsommer Murders," Ioan added looking around them.
"Going by the photos we'll probably end up with Halloween," Judith said brightly.
"Marvellous," Harry muttered. "I think I'm glad I haven't seen that movie."
"That's what you get for a secularised education in a magical school cut off from society in the mountains," Judith commented.
"I've also experienced enough of the blood, torture and mental anguish first hand," Harry countered as they walked away from the Defender.
"Yet here we are," Judith said as she pushed the door to the unassuming country house open with her foot.
This was the house of the witch and wizard, Harry knew their names, through LPI's investigations and further letters to the Ministry which had felt like interrogating a Dementor they'd uncovered some information. Enough that they'd found the house, and in turn the names of the couple who'd been married for a very long time, and…it had been quite a sad read that ended in their deaths here and now. He didn't really want to think about that.
'Just focus on the investigation' Judith had said. She'd quickly become part of LPI, the backup Ioan had said he needed.
-/
There wasn't much inside; that the front door had been unlocked a testament to this. The house had been ransacked, whether it was by the group they were investigating or local opportunists he wasn't sure.
But what they had found was disturbing in a new, different way.
Flyers had been strewn about and stuck with spells to the fine wood panelled walls.
Many for 'wizarding interest groups', including one with the face of his ex-girlfriend on it.
"This is totally screwed up," Ioan gestured at the flyer "'Protecting interests against delusion and deviancy' I got all of that when I started making noise about this," he scowled and looked to Harry who nodded in agreement. "This is insidious 'interventions, interceptions and durance'," he continued to quote.
"What does durance mean?" Harry asked as he looked around the room.
"Imprisonment I think, old meaning though. Some girlfriend you've got," Judith commented as she moved around the room carefully.
"Ex," Harry said as he started to collect the flyers. "And quite…"
"Mad?" Ioan offered.
"Well, not on Voldemort's level," Harry mused. "Not yet at least."
"You think there might be something in their flyers?" Ioan asked looking to the pile of flyers Harry was collecting.
Harry nodded. "I doubt we'd be able to trace anything that went on here, we know that they were taken from here and then…" he trailed off.
"Killed elsewhere," Judith offered.
Harry nodded. "Yeah, we'll need to find someone closer to one of these groups, one of them that's properly associated with the ones who offed them. We need some proper information from a first hand source."
-/
Mid July 2001
It had been relatively easy to sort through the various flyers that professed the most extreme ideologies. Unsurprisingly for him at least the one with Ginny's face on them were the most extreme in their statements.
Unfortunately walking into a meeting they held in various smaller wizarding halls and gathering places around the country wasn't going to be simple. Harry knew he was too well known and Ioan, while not as notorious as he had become was still 'known' to witches and wizards as having been pushed out of wizarding society. Especially as Ginny seemed to have become obsessed at this point, she was probably devouring any information on people who might have professed even a slight belief in aliens and the like.
Their decided upon tactic had come from Judith. Kidnapping and induced hallucinatory interrogation wasn't exactly subtle, but she'd assured him there wouldn't be any lasting complications.
'At some point we can have a long chat about information extraction,' she'd said to him.
'And how you came to learn it?' Harry had asked when she'd suggested it.
Judith had smiled and shaken her head 'Gotta keep some secrets from you Harry.'
Now they were around the corner from one of the wizarding meeting halls, which looked from the outside to be a rotting wreck, but within looked like a rather boring scout hall when he and Ioan had checked it and the area out the previous week.
"They're all leaving now," Ioan said beside him looking through some omnioculars.
They knew their target was one of the organisers, and she left after everyone else, and they had to walk away.
There seemed to be some sort of ancient wards or something preventing apparition until they were a quarter of a mile down the road, and there wasn't any floo within the hall. There wasn't even water connected, or he and Ioan hadn't found any when they'd let themselves in for a look around.
"The door's being closed and locked, she's coming down the path," Ioan said.
Harry pushed the talk button on the radio. "She's coming now Judith."
"Understood, be ready," was all she said.
Ioan got out of the front seat and into the back of the van where he could open the doors from the inside.
Harry started the engine on the Transit.
"Now," hissed Judith's voice.
Harry slid the Transit into gear and put his foot down tearing around the corner as the woman was still walking along.
As she turned at the sound of the Transit Judith approached and slid a needle into her neck, faster than it would have taken to properly stun her, and apparently would give them enough time to take her somewhere they could have proper anti-apparition wards in place.
The back doors thundered open and Judith brought the witch into the van with a fireman's lift.
Ioan slammed the back doors closed.
"Off you go," Judith called as she laid their target down.
-/
They were in an old government safe house according to Judith.
Harry had checked when she'd given him the address in preparation for all of this, now using all the contacts LPI had as a proper intelligence organisation within…well off to the side of the government.
And it was true, it had been decommissioned a decade or two ago, but it still had all the facilities to record and interrogation.
They would need to get something soon, the Ministry was starting to get worried.
He'd been summoned again to the Ministry while they'd been investigating the groups' flyers.
Some sort of weapon had been detonated in a magical reserve. Whatever substance had been left the Ministry's potion masters couldn't identify without more information, and the Ministry at this point didn't want to give more information.
He had to get it. And the Ministry wanted it sooner rather than later before anything else got exploded or any more pictures turned up.
That was why, as the guy in charge of the League of Paranormal Investigations he'd gone ahead with this plan.
The Minister had told him that the Ministry was not going to storm or otherwise confront groups like Ginny's and those associated with her until there was 'immutable proof'.
Because at the moment all they were doing, on the surface at least was handing out flyers, and of course vilifying him.
Neither of which warranted the Department of Magical Law Enforcement getting involved, nor the Ministry officially.
The groups didn't seem to be the murdering types of people, all of those groups they'd observed seemed like slightly extreme social groups.
Likewise Harry wasn't sure about Ginny and her group they didn't seem like the murdering people to prove a point type, although Ginny did have a darkness about her, ever since her contact with Riddle. That danger was something that tantalised him on occasion when they'd been dating, that dangerous edge had been exciting.
-/
Judith was finishing strapping the witch down.
He'd already secured her wand in a wand storage box he'd procured from Diagon Alley that meant it couldn't be "accidentally summoned" just in case they'd missing something.
Harry looked at the assorted phials that Judith had assembled. "You know what you're doing?" He asked mostly wanting reassurance.
"You said we needed results, that explosives have been involved and we have worked out this witch has something to do with them," she calmly explained as she put strapped a sphygmomanometer onto the witch's arm.
"As long as we're not just wilfully-" Harry began.
Judith cut him off and fixed him with a look. "I have done this before Harry."
"As long as we'll get something useful," Harry continued.
"I'll make sure we get something useful, of course," she reassured.
"Without any lasting damage," he continued with a slight tone of warning.
"Of course," she smiled dangerously, and then looked up to the observation room on the second floor above them "Ioan, turn on the lights."
Harry squinted, the lights were almost too bright; blotting out most features he could see around him and even Judith was difficult to make out.
Harry nodded and stepped away to the observation room, it wouldn't be too good if they went through all this and then the witch recognised him.
-/
Upstairs Ioan was stood looking down at what Judith was doing with an expression of displeased indifference.
"Problems?" Harry murmured to him as he came to stand beside him.
Ioan breathed in with a sniff but didn't say anything.
"Is it the kidnapping and what Judith's going to do down there?" Harry wondered.
Ioan made an indifferent noise and turned to make sure the cameras and sound were both recording.
"I know we have a time limit here, that it's only going to escalate," Ioan started.
"Especially if they have no ethical qualms with magical animals or people's deaths, where they go from there is only upwards, and dangerous," Harry mused.
"I know we need answers," Ioan turned to him "Just wish we could have done more investigating."
"Hopefully there'll be more rubbish tip problem solving in the future and less needing to resort to more extreme methods," Harry offered lightly. "You were right about needing backup, Judith is certainly…"
"Capable?" Ioan wondered.
"Yes, this is a more extended illustration of her capabilities perhaps?" Harry wondered as Judith was preparing something.
"You could be in there mesmerising the witch," Ioan mused.
"I could, but we're trying to prevent them turning even more against the wizarding world and us, I could make her forget, but some people can overcome it, especially if they're dedicated," Harry paused. "And these people certainly are."
Judith turned looking up to them and nodded.
Harry nodded back even though she probably couldn't see them. "Hopefully we get something swiftly."
August 2001
Harry changed gear again as they continued up the rough track that led to the house.
Judith sat next to him studying the readout from the energy detector, not Sarah Jane Smith's though. After the wizarding waste dump incident while she praised him for being honest how he'd used it, and returning it clean and in working condition she'd said he couldn't be borrowing her stuff. 'We've each got our own lives in this world Harry', she'd been clear about that, he had his organisation and she had her life. They were friends not colleagues.
Which had at least led to Sarah telling her annoying metal dog to give him some plans from to create his own energy detector. It was far heavier and bulkier than Sarah's. Harry suspected K9 did it deliberately just to annoy him, he was determined to resolve and improve the design, when there wasn't an ongoing crisis.
"Keep on going." Judith muttered, looking from it to what he and Ioan had created and Judith called a 'magic fallout detector'.
It was a large flask that contained some of the things used to create a sneakascope along with a potion Ioan had consulted out of an old textbook, the contents of the flask would react when they passed into an area that had been used to test weapons like the one they were looking for. Ioan had a similar one with him investigating another property that their investigations suggested may also be involved. But it was in an industrial estate, so they doubted it would be as dangerous as this off the beaten path house.
The muggles must be taught that magic enhances all, we will triumph
Their sustained delusions must be cleansed in the fire of a dragon's roar
We will prevail, for all magic.
It had been an ominous letter that had been sent to the Ministry. They'd also revealed that there had been several thefts of dragons from high profile dragon sanctuaries.
It had been somewhat annoying that Judith's 'questioning' had pointed to several high profile, utterly mad, but obscenely rich people who had been funnelling in galleons into these groups.
"I wonder if low range would've been better," Harry mused as they were jolted again. "Living this far off the beaten track, definitely someone who's not used to getting visitors."
"Says someone who lives almost as far south as you can go on the mainland. With your sports cars and alien equipment," Judith challenged with a quick smile in his direction.
"I run an organisation, a League investigating that sort of stuff Judith, I don't go around blowing up stuff," Harry countered.
"Not indiscriminately at least," she offered helpfully.
"Precisely. Well are we getting close or should I turn around," he paused.
"No…I think we're getting somewhere," she paused as something stirred in the flask.
And then someone started shooting spells at them.
Harry planted pushed his foot down and changed down a gear and cringed, the paint work and the Defender itself was tough and unfortunately so were the spells that people were currently flinging at them. Fortunately they seemed to be terrible shots.
"Grab the shotgun," Harry shouted over the din of spell fire.
"Ammo?" She asked.
"Rubber buckshot, behind you," Harry said in a raised voice as returned his focus to driving.
"How courteous of you," she rolled her eyes "they are shooting at us."
"And they might not be the real enemy," he said as Judith wound down the window.
That was one of the things they had managed to confirm, although they hadn't been able to convince any of the groups that they were probably all being pulled together by a larger group for nefarious ends.
Harry had even tried, to convince Ginny, he'd even used her name and been relatively pleasant, despite the stalking and threats and everything she'd made. She had been less than receptive to his theories concerning all of this. She'd also tried to stun him, then she'd tried a couple more choice spells at him. Then one of her friends had (from within an invisibility cloak) thrown some sort of viscous potion on him. He'd spent a long time under a hazardous materials shower while Ioan, with Akilina's help got the substance off of him.
Another spell hit the rear of the Defender shattering the back window. Harry sighed to himself, obviously he'd be using his insurance a little sooner than he thought. Then he felt something shoot into the cabin and there was a flapping or black flesh around them.
"What the f-" Judith's voice was lost to the bats. "are these?"
"I wouldn't worry too much, it's just a bat bogey hex," Harry said almost too casually as they reached the peak of the hill and the energy detector started to make annoying noises.
Harry grabbed the second shotgun, sliinging it over his back and stepped out. Thankfully there were no people near the house, they were still clambouring up from where ever they had been shooting the spells from.
"Go, I'll mark out a perimeter," she said as she grabbed something from the back of the Defender.
-/
It didn't take long to find the man in charge's lab. All roads lead to Rome they say and all cables in a lunatic's house lead naturally to the ballroom.
"I knew you'd come," he said brightly.
Harry almost groaned, both at the smell, the sight and the first sentence the mad man spoke as he walked in.
"Oh goody. Stupefy," Harry said with a wide gesture, the force of the spell throwing the man into a collection of equipment.
They hadn't known a lot about this bloke even as they'd found the house, only that he was a wizard, probably with some muggle relatives, and that he'd worked in the muggle world possibly in a veterinarian capacity. Nothing that really suggested anything extremist in his ideologies.
Harry tapped his wand against the man, waking him up, roughly. He needed answers, soon.
While the letter had been somewhat vague, the Ministry's seers had not, mostly it had been a wail or a scream. Not that the Ministry or he himself put a lot of stock in them. But as Ioan, Judith and Hermione had pointed out to him, technically he knew the future, so why not others? The difference was his source was slightly more credible.
Something large and probably catastrophic was looming on the horizon, though whether it was an immediate threat or the various aliens that were just around the corner that was another question entirely.
He'd already tried legilimency on the man, and there was enough, a small bit of an idea, enough to tease him about what the man really knew.
Something dangerous and grand, at least the man thought so.
"The great Harry Potter. An honour. Your lady friend speaks very eloquently about you," the man grinned manically at him.
"Where is it?" Harry asked, that was definiately within the man's mind a bit IT that he'd set in motion.
"My finest creation. You like my experiments, you a believer in aliens I'm sure would," he babbled to himself.
Harry noted the man had an accent, but it seemed like a mishmash of about five different ones.
"What sort of 'creation'?" Harry asked casually as he looked around the room, the stench was something rotting in the corner, something the general size of a small dragon that was hooked up to…something that was making its chest rise and fall, though its organs were exposed and pulsating.
Harry hoped the mad man didn't catch him looking, but as he looked back to the man who was already struggling against the cable ties he had a twinkle of insanity in his eye.
"I see you appreciate what muggle science can do to allow the extraction of such a valuable element," he commented with a crazed tone.
"What would that be?" Harry wondered.
"But not the only one. See," he nodded on the other side of the room something caught Harry's breath, the unmistakable half spheres of a Dalek's casing.
Then he blurted out. "You really are mad," it was probably something he shouldn't have said.
But the man laughed nonetheless.
"Those followers thought I a genius, if only they knew I was using the things they thought not to exist," he laughed, it actually was more of a cackle to himself.
Totally and utterly barking. Harry thought to himself looking around the room, searching for something big and dangerous, or just dangerous.
Looking around Harry realised he'd missed a map stuck to one of the dirty, blood flecked walls, catching a whiff of something chemical, potion laced and particuarly foreign.
It gave him a momentary flash of memory, back to being hit in the face with a gravestone when he'd battled Voldemort and his followers. That weird mix of sulphur, ammonia and some other unidentifiable smells.
Harry shook his head and tried to refocus on the map, it was a map England.
"You appreciate what I am working towards Harry Potter? You understand the workings of power, you have fought it and you understand the power of muggles and aliens," the man continued his ramblings.
"Really," Harry muttered looking at the map, the insane man didn't seem to be struggling against the cable ties anymore, more revelling in chatting.
Harry looked at his watch, that was something the seers had been relatively sure about, even though he didn't like to put his life in their hands. The Doctor had in a roundabout way said that if there was a large enough disturbance, big enough to punch backwards through the vortex receptive individuals might pick up on such thing.
Hence seers, and time sensitives and other people being able to foresee a possible future.
They were working towards an estimated time of whatever it was that was going to arrive, that was why he said they should split up, even though he'd have preferred all three of them work together.
Harry looked to the map again, trying to force or trick himself into picking out of his brief Legilimency encounter within the man's mind something on the map that made sense.
Said man was laughing, or chuckling.
Out of spite Harry hurled a Cruciatus curse at the man, and held it, he felt the sustained use of the spell tug at him briefly giving him that surge that he'd felt, what seemed like ages ago, using it on Lestrange.
Though now instead of the rush it was more a desperate annoyance filled lurch.
The man slumped down, breathing heavily.
"Stronger…" The man swallowed. "Stronger than I thought."
Harry slid his wand into a secure pocket and tilted the man's head back. "What are you hiding? 6 people are dead."
"That you and the Ministry know of. Your lady friend and her associates have proved very useful, even if they are ignorant," he chuckled to himself.
Harry stared into his eyes.
"Tell me. You will tell me!… Legilimens." He whispered as he stared, whispering barely audible words to the man as he convulsed under his grip.
This time it was just images, ideas. Why the man couldn't just tell him, be even slightly submissive…it would make things far easier.
That was the problem with mad people.
Harry stepped back, he felt sweat itching down his front and back. Nothing, just ideas, images, plus fawning attention from Ginny and her lackeys. The man was doing that just to annoy him. He was annoyed that it annoyed him as much as it did.
Though he forced himself not to think about that, he needed to focus on the 'event' that was approaching.
"It's a bomb," he whispered after collecting himself.
The man giggled. "You see. Muggles only understand large statements. They'll realise not to mistake us or the non-terrestrials."
"Tell me where!" He almost roared, if what he knew so far was any indication this wasn't going to be a little pop.
"I have something your lady friend has also," the man smiled.
"Utter barking insanity?" Harry asked flippantly.
"Dedication," he beamed an insane smile at him.
"Crucio!" It was again in frustration that he used the curse, letting go of it almost immediately. "I've also got dedication you insane bastard," he hissed.
Harry bit out another curse at the man.
"Come on…you've got to break some time," Harry hissed half to himself, half to the man.
"Time is something you said we don't have," said a sardonic voice that rushed in from behind him.
"Your protections in place?" Harry wiped sweat and other things from his brow.
"We're safe for now, but they'll certainly encounter some problems if they push their luck, your girlfriend's definitely trying" she reported.
Looking to Judith she seemed to be carefully, almost calculatingly taking in everything in the room with a cool calm eye. It made him glad she was here.
"She's not my…" Harry trailed off and hissed another curse at the man who was now trying to struggle in his cable ties.
The man was also giggling again.
"We don't have time for this," he said mentally preparing himself for another bout of spell casting, that was the problem with insane people. Interrogation was far more complicated.
"No….you don't Potter…" The man laughed, cackled even. It was annoying.
"Let me try," Judith said, watching the man carefully.
"We need…" Harry was cut off.
"I know what we need," she cut him off with a stare Harry nodded. "Are you going to stay and watch?" She asked.
"I'll need to, whatever you have planned," he paused looking the man in the eye. "I had a lot do and read, during my extra curricular activities, there's quite a wide range of seldom used spells that can keep people conscious beyond the normal cut off," Harry idly commented as the man watching him and drew in another breath of the fetid air, trying to avoid smell it by only breathing through his mouth, he was sure he could taste it.
How in buggeration did I get to this? Harry thought to himself, grabbing what looked like a pepper up potion from a side table and threw it at the man, some of it even went in his mouth, whatever they were going to do Harry didn't want him dying, not until they got the information they needed.
There were noises of explosions; dull small thuds going off outside. Harry tried to ignore it as Judith gather up some equipment.
"Fortunate you've got these," she said casually as she wheeled a trolley over, Harry was relatively sure they were shock paddles. "And that you've embraced muggle power so readily," she stared at him coolly in the eye and ripped open his shirt. "Clear," she said as though she was discussing the weather and twisted the controls on the defibrillator unit.
The man went rigid and Harry swore he saw sparks flying around the room.
"Interesting," was all Judith said. "How long is it until brain death occurs?" She asked him or maybe herself.
"I said we needed him alive," Harry said unable to form a tone for how he was feeling at the moment.
"No you said we needed the information. I think it's three minutes. Clear," she said shocking the body and then searched around on the table she'd wheeled over and grabbed a syringe.
Then the man screamed, a guttural, yell of pain and emotion.
Then Judith whispered something into his ear and then she placed the paddles to his chest again.
-/
Harry'd pretty much lost count of what drugs Judith had pumped into the man's system, and now he was crouched next to the man, listening to him talk in a semi-lucid state.
"…Dragon blood has 12 uses….you know…you know...Dumbledore…Potter…not talked about…one of the uses…not known…energy enhancement…had to get a dragon to experiment on…" Then he lapsed into more mumbling. Harry massaged the brim of his nose and then regretted it immediately and wiped his fingers on his grubby pants. "Do it," he muttered to Judith who syringe in hand pumped whatever concoction which she'd muttered to him would probably kill him, as if stopping his heart half a dozen times was going to lengthen his life.
-/
The man was making a snoring noise where they'd left him. Now the map made sense, and what they would need to look for.
Unfortunately they'd need to escape via the same means as they arrived, there were very strong anti-apparition wards in place and no floo, not that they could afford to search the house for.
-/
"Ready?" Harry asked as he scooped up the shotgun as he levelled his wand at the door.
"Yeah," she said pumping the shotgun. "Where are we heading?"
"Far enough away from the anti-apparition wards," he nodded towards the doors to the outside. "Unfortunately they are sensible out there, they've probably extended them, then we need to sort out the dragon."
"And then save the world?" Judith asked with some relish and a grin.
Harry blasted the doors with a spell sending shrapnel flying out hitting several people.
He swung the shotgun around, he'd selected these to use because they were less lethal, and could cover a few people if used with the right shot. It was simpler than casting spells, even wordlessly.
Although at the moment he only cared about getitng out and dealing with the next huge problem that was currently a large flying bomb.
As he shot and ran, he was beside the Defender, thankful he'd parked close, although it now looked like it had been used for more target practice.
Starting it he cursed as people seemed to start forming up and casting large scale transfiguration around them degrading the track they'd taken.
"You got a plan Harry?" Judith asked as she shot indiscriminately out the window.
"Get far enough away that I can apparate us?" He offered as he swerved around a large plinth that had just been conjured in front of them, shouted by one of the people outside. Harry fancied he could hear Ginny's screech in amongst the voices.
"Just drive stick-boy and let me concentrate," Judith said.
Harry floored it, cringing slightly as the quarter front panel of the Defender collided with something on the side of the vehicle and resisted the urge to look at his watch.
Their 'interrogation' had taken a lot longer than he would have liked. They'd got what they wanted, information and location broadly, as long as they could do something with it.
He spared a look to Judith who seemed in some sort of trance, she had her hands apart as though she had a globe between them.
Then there was a rumble and a swirl of colour and light around them and a sensation of falling and then they seemed to fall onto the driveway outside his house.
Beneath them the Defender's suspension creaked.
"What the crukking hell was that?" Harry looked over to Judith.
She was slumped over and covered in sweat. "Transmigration without a time corridor, very dangerous, sliding through the ethereal plane," she muttered as she passed out.
Feeling for her pulse it was steady, giving her a brief look he nodded. He, well they didn't have time to waste as he jumped out of the Defender and ran towards the stables where he had a bunch of new equipment, some he'd gotten off of the government as a 'just in case' sort of situation, along with a new broom and basic radio equipment.
-/
Harry kicked off from the ground as he strapped his Quidditch goggles onto his head and dug around in the bag he'd grabbed, the radio sitting uncomfortably strapped to his ear.
"Eagle, Eagle, Eagle. This is Raven Leader. Lima Papa India. Authorisation code Charlie Hotel One Six." Harry breathed a slight breath out, even despite the static in his ear, the radio was tuned to a very specific radio frequency and he hoped they were scrambling fighters as he spoke.
He just hoped he located what they would need to fire at soon, and firing on it and stopping it would save everyone.
Otherwise they could probably kiss London, Greater London and probably England goodbye.
He grappled with one hand for a shielded GPS unit he'd stuffed into the satchel that the radio and other useful things was in and checked his position and hoped insane man's dying words were correct. It was possible that he had lied out of spite, but something about not just what Judith had done but the what she had whispered to the man when she thought he wasn't looking, it made him relatively sure he wasn't.
He was on the correct bearing, but…nothing yet.
"Raven Leader, this is Eagle Leader, received Lima Papa India. Authorisation code received and accepted. Nature?"
"Stand by Eagle Leader," Harry said very quickly as a bloody great huge mother of a beast practically dropped out of the clouds on top of him. Harry gripped his broom pulling back on it cutting his forward motion to nothing and began reversing, something that would have made some of the hardest Quidditch players loose their lunch.
He let out a few choice words as he tried to regain control and perspective.
The reports had got it well wrong. The beast was huge. A dragon, a Hungarian Horntail, he was relatively sure.
But it was bloated and…dripping. Harry pushed his broom forward once again, battling against the beat of the dragon's wings. He cringed, he could see the suture marks, the stitches holding it in.
He pulled back again and hit the radio button.
"Eagle Leader, coordinates are…" Harry said as he grabbed at the GPS and read out the coordinates, while with the other hand fumbling around in the satchel, gripping the broom tightly with his thighs.
All that Quidditch practice that he thought he'd never use again was coming into its own.
Although a little more than a game was resting on the outcome of this current situation, and if he plummeted to his death there'd certainly be no one to cackle at their plan having succeeded. At least he had small mercies.
There was a pause of static. "Scrambling fighters. Target?" Said the very cool voice, professional, military, unquestioning.
Harry, very happy that he had taken the time to memorise how to call in military support.
Though at this moment he doubted they would be able to see the target, the dragon had to be not visible to radar, otherwise by now there would be something.
He hoped the laser designator he'd brought with him worked. 'Dragons give off a negligible amount of heat, that is despite their biological functions with regards to fire breathing ability', Hermione's voice swum away as quickly as it had dropped into his consciousness.
He was really starting to wish he'd read Dumbledore's dissertation on the 12 uses of dragon blood that was in Hermione's possession.
"Eagle Leader. Target is on the move. Target is…" Harry stopped, trying to think of a way of putting it. "Target is not visible, I am currently following Target, painting Target."
"Confirmed Raven Leader."
Harry quickly added. "Target does not give off heat signature…I do though," he said quickly.
There was a slight chuckle. "We won't hit you Raven Leader. Eagles 1 minute inbound."
That minute stretched as time and uncertainty do.
Harry took the time as he held the laser designator in front of him to run over what would happen if they didn't stop the dragon, or more to the point what was planned.
-/
An energy enhancer, that was the gist of it.
One of the uses of dragon blood was to enhance energy, multiply it, given the right stimulus.
A Dalek had a powerful enough power supply for it to take out an aircraft carrier, if channelled correctly he remembered the Doctor explaining idly to him.
In a run away reaction it produced a solid bang, according to Ace he recalled.
But if what he'd surmised and found out from 'the insane man' it was sitting within the dragon, and now was building towards an explosion which would be magnified through the dragon's blood.
'And burn…more powerful than any muggle weapon ever devised.'
He heard the fighters before he saw them, not that he could turn around to see them with the laser designator sitting cradled in front of him.
The first missiles slammed into the dragon causing it to roar and thrash…and of course turn around to look at him, as if he didn't have enough troubles.
"Holy shit! Eagle One to Raven Leader respond?"
"This is Raven Leader. Please tell me you can see the dra…the Target?" Harry asked as calmly as he could as he held onto the laser designator with one hand and pulled of an almost barrel role over the dragon's tail.
"Confirmed, lit up what the hell is it?"
"Destroy the Target!" He all but snarled as he dropped the designator. He guessed the British government wouldn't be too happy he'd be requesting another. They hadn't been happy about giving him that one.
"It needs to be out of the air!" He shouted again, though he wasn't sure if he was shouting to himself or the fighters.
Harry twisted up, corkscrew like away from the dragon firing off a range of damaging spells at the dragon, hoping that something might get it as he attempted to miss getting garrotted by fighters that appeared to have come from all directions.
"Navy is re-positioning, we have target captured, stand by Raven Leader," said the cool military voice in his ear.
Then as he watched several missiles flew out from behind him slamming into the dragon and exploding, exposing flesh.
"Continue firing!" Harry shouted, he guessed he could see the device exposed within the dragon, but with the aircraft around him not just firing missiles but spewing cannon fire, their projectiles hitting the exposed flesh of the dragon making it start to fall, the fighters continued swarming around it as it fell it seemed to rip itself into pieces.
Then it exploded and everything went a little bit white.
-/ - \\-
A/N:
Major edit and rewrite done March 2021.
(Chapter originally written in 2009)
The original version of this chapter had author notes that said I'd gone through about three different versions of this chapter, and still wasn't entirely happy with it.
Now in March 2021 I've gone through, rewritten a lot of it, restructured parts of it to properly do what it needs to do.
Introduce LPI as a current organisation, give it some mundane stuff to do, some interesting stuff to do and introduce Judith.
The chapter still suffers a little bit because of how I introduced Judith, and how I eventually ended up developing her character, there's still a little bit of a mismatch there.
But I've rounded off the edges with this rewrite.
The flashback / present layout was something I was doing a lot of when I was first writing this story, and while it is present in this chapter I've made it a bit more linear so it's "August 2001" as the present and then back a few months to 'how we got here'.
There were other issues that if anyone read the original and then came back for this would realise. Now having done an edit I realise I was just rushing too much to get the stuff on the page and not enough time spent establishing the setting and scene. Not enough time spent establishing why the characters are there, and where they are.
At this point Ron was a character I had some trouble writing with the right tone so he's present, but not actually present in person.
Coming up next will feature the Doctor, Hermione and Harry…and probably unicorns. It will also be set partially in San Francisco.
Thanks for reading.
