THE NEW ORDER
By
Padfootjr24
Chapter Eighteen: Flying Ferret
Once they left the safety of the tunnel under Hunnydukes Harry sent Bill ahead to warn the others about the change of plans so that Professor Flitwick would never see any of them with their hoods down. Both Tonks and Blaise were very surprised to see the excitable charms master with them but everyone else seemed to accept his participation with very few arguments. They had decided that since there were quite a few of them they would use separate portkeys that would take them to the general location of the Parkinson home in small groups instead of one large group that would draw a lot of unwanted attention
With a deep breath Harry reached out a finger and placed it on the thick sheet of parchment that Snape had used to create the portkey and the others followed his example. Almost instantly he felt the familiar tug behind his navel as the portkey was activated. He clamped his eyes closed as he felt a nonexistent wind blow into him with a savage force and his ears nearly pop as they were filled with a sound similar to that of rushing water. After what felt like a life time, but had actually been less than a measly twenty seconds, his feet slammed into the ground but he was unable to keep his balance and he to begin the all too familiar task of dusting himself off after he had stood back up. Harry growled quietly to himself as even Professor Flitwick and Dobby seemed to find his 'graceful' landing amusing.
"Yeah, laugh it up why don't you." Harry snapped irritably. "Is that it?" He asked Snape while pointing towards a home off in the distance that was partially concealed by trees. Snape was forced to design the portkey to bring them no closer than three hundred yards or risk disturbing the wards.
"Yes, it is." The man replied simply without betraying a hint of emotion.
"Alright, let's get ready." Harry announced before turning to Dobby and dropping to one knee so that they were at eye level. "Dobby, how many people can you transport along with you at one time and still remain silent?"
"Takes much energy to pop silently, Harry Potter sir. Will only be able to take two or three at a time." The house elf replied nervously. None of them could blame him for his reluctance really but without him that simply would not be able to proceed any further than they already have. While not on par with the wards surrounding Hogwarts they were still impressive nonetheless.
It would take a good deal of concentration on Dobby's part to eliminate the normally loud crack that accompanied the house elves version of apperation. In the end it was decided that Harry and Tonks would be the first to enter the area with their invisibility cloaks so that they could neutralize any guards that may be stationed outside. Bill, Flitwick and Susan would follow a few minutes later and begin working on the wards, however they would leave the anti-apperation and anti-portkey wards in place to prevent any Death Eaters from escaping using that method. The muggle repellant wards would also remain in tact to avoid the unneeded distraction of being interrupted by the muggle authorities because someone reported suspicious activity. Susan would be there as a lookout for them incase anyone was to see them since the wards would need their undivided attention. The rest would be brought directly into the house, in Draco's general location, in small groups of twos and threes. With a small amount of hesitation Dobby snapped his fingers and with almost perfect silence he, along with Harry and Tonks vanished.
Harry was quick to decide that he didn't like traveling by house elf any more than he did using portkeys. In fact he hated it even more. While a portkey merely made you feel as if you were being pulled along at an incredible speed, this made him feel as if he were being forcefully sucked through a straw, being pushed through a space that was far to small for a house elf much less a human. Dobby had dropped them off behind some bushes along the side of the house before disappearing once again. Shaking off the dizziness that was a result of his blood rushing to his head he looked around at his surroundings and gasped in shock and horror.
"What is it?" Tonks asked in confusion as she looked around to try to find what he could have seen to merit that reaction.
"It's damn near an exact replica of the Dursley's, larger of course bit similar just the same." He answered with a shudder as if that explained everything. Looking around once again Tonks could clearly see the similarities and she suddenly felt a chill go up her spine. Everything in the yard and garden was perfectly manicured with a few odds and ends lying about for a bit of an artistic touch. Taking a peek around the corner they both shuddered when they found even more similarities in the overall construction of the house its self. Though it was about forty percent larger than the Dursley's home they were both sure that Harry's relatives could probably wander into this house and find their way around quite easily. Such anal retentive attention to detail should be outlawed completely.
"My god, have these people, or your relatives for that matter, ever had an original creative thought in their lives?" Tonks asked with a look of disgust as she tore her eyes away from that incredibly boring sight. Tonks, being the way she was, certainly had little interest in what most people would consider normal. Though she did of course find it terribly ironic that for people who hated muggles so much they still clearly had the same tastes in architecture and landscaping. "Alright, I'll go around to the back, you go around to the front." She said quietly as she draped her invisibility cloak over herself. Harry merely nodded in response before doing the same and moving out of the bushes to look for any guards that may be around.
As he moved around to the front of the house Harry quickly peered into each window so that he could get a sense of how many people may be inside and who they were. In fact he was peering into the window of what appeared to be the dining room when a Death Eater nearly walked right into him. Harry had to take a few quick steps backwards to avoid the collision but a look around the area revealed no others so he jabbed the man in the back with his wand before he hit him with a stunning spell at point blank rage to reduce the chances of a bright flash as the cures left his wand. Luckily with so little warning the man was unable to make even the slightest noise before Harry caught the unconscious figure and dragged him back to the bushes to hide him for the time being.
Not surprisingly, he didn't come across anyone else until he reached the front door where three men were standing in their Death Eater robes but no masks. Looking closely at the three Harry could not recall ever seeing them before. All three appeared to be very relaxed and were simply standing around talking to each other as if they believed that it was impossible for anything to go wrong on this particular date. Well if they truly felt this way then they were very wrong indeed.
Moving slowly and carefully to avoid making any sound, Harry crept silently over towards the small group with a wand in each hand as he held his cloak tightly closed as if he were afraid a strong breeze might come along and reveal his position. Within seconds he was a mere ten feet away and prepared to shrug off his cloak and send curses from both his wands. The only problem with this plan was that with only him present with the three Death Eaters it could give at least one of them time to shout out for help. Thinking it over for a moment he came to the conclusion that he didn't really have much of a choice but decided against abandoning the use of his cloak and planned to keep the attack up unseen. Adjusting his body slightly so that he could aim decently without his wand arm being exposed, he took a deep breath and whispered out the incantation for the same dark arts stunning spell he had used on Kingsley Shacklebolt in the Great Hall of Hogwarts.
Surprisingly though his first curse was not the only one that was fired. At almost the same instant another curse was fired from a short distance to fell the Death Eater farthest from Harry. Taking advantage of this timely arrival Harry cast another spell at the sole remaining dark wizard before he could utter a sound. Unfortunately for this man he was hit with two curses instead of one like his comrades. Having no doubt who cast those other spells Harry removed his cloak and an instant later Tonks did the same with a wide grin on her face.
"I stunned mine first!" She commented with a bright smile as she pulled one of the unconscious Death Eaters off to the side before draping her invisibility cloak over the prone man's body to hide him from view. Harry had done the same with the other two but stopped short when he heard his friend's claim.
"Like hell you did, besides, my curse hit that one first." Harry replied as he pointed to the man they had both hit before spreading out his cloak so that it would cover both men. Tonks was about to argue his claim when the sounds of fighting reached their ears. The two shot wide eyed looks at each other before muttering the same word, 'shit', and burst through the front door. Almost as soon as they entered the house they were throwing curses at a couple of Death Eaters who were clearly trying to get away. Luckily the two had been so surprised by their sudden entrance that they were unable to return fire and had thus gone down fairly quickly. Not bothering to spare the two men a second glance they quickly stepped over them and went off in search of the rest of their group.
Harry was relieved beyond belief when he discovered that though from the outside the house resembled his childhood home the inside was a completely different matter. On the outside it looked much like a good many of the houses you would find in a muggle neighborhood owned by a fairly 'normal' and well off family. The architecture was fairly modern and the landscape surrounding the house was well cared for with almost surgical precision. However that is where the similarities end. The inside clearly showed that this was more than likely a false impression designed to keep the muggles living in the area from suspecting anything unusual about the neighbors. Despite the modern crisp clean atmosphere outside the inhabitants had apparently not yet made the leap out of the dark ages.
Like the Black home at number 12 Grimmauld Place the Parkinson's home was nearly dark with dim lighting and there was black soot on the walls and ceilings as a result of the gas burning laps that were either hung up on the walls or placed on tables. Another similarity was that like the Blacks they apparently had an affinity for bazaar, not to mention disgusting décor. Apparently Sirius' family wasn't the only one out there that took pleasure in executing their house elves and mounting their heads on the wall. Harry thought for a moment and wondered why he saw nothing but a normal looking home when he looked through the window before he realized that they must be charmed to show only what the inhabitants would want someone walking by to see so he decided that he should start using the functions of his magical eye more freely to avoid walking into anything unexpected in the future.
Keeping his eyes firmly pointed ahead of him, he and Tonks made their way from room to room but had thus far encountered absolutely no resistance but the sounds of battle seemed to echo all around them and as a result were unable to pinpoint it's location. After checking the kitchen they doubled back towards the front of the house and placed silencing charms on their feet before barreling up the stairs two or three at a time. When they reached the top of the staircase their questions were answered as they stared at the backs of the at least twelve Death Eaters while another seven appeared to be unconscious. At the other end of the hallway Snape and the others were returning fire while they took cover in various doorways. The Death Eaters had the numbers in their favor but the hallway seemed to take that advantage away from them since it was to narrow for them to simply overwhelm their enemy with their numbers.
The Raiders were returning as many curses as they received but, like their opponents, they were unable to get any real momentum going in their favor. Seeing that they would be stuck there all night if things didn't change Harry and Tonks slowly moved back to the stairwell to lay down over the top few steps for cover before directing their wands back around the corner and releasing a barrage of curses at the Death Eater's unprotected backs. At first they didn't seem to realize that someone had managed to sneak up from behind and were concentrating on Snape but as a few of their number were cut down a number of them spun around to face this new threat. That shift of focus and momentary lack of discipline was all that Snape and the others needed to capitalize on the situation. Almost immediately after their attention shifted towards Harry and Tonks he barked out a single command and everyone literally leapt out from behind their cover and charged down the short distance between them and their enemies.
All ready shaken up over the sudden appearance of Harry Potter and with half of their strength concentrated in the opposite direction the Death Eaters didn't have a prayer of getting off more that a spell or two much less stopping them. Those who turned to meet Harry and Tonks stood there stupidly as their comrades were cut down behind them but they didn't seem to care very much how that part of the fight was going and as a result they met the same fate as a few others since they were unprepared for the numerous spells that hit them from behind.
After all of the wands had been pick up off the floor Harry stood back up and but had to move quickly to steady Tonks who was about to fall back down the stairs when she literally jumped to her feet in excitement. After she regained her balance she glared at Harry who was doing a horrible job at containing his amusement over her near disaster. Try as she might, Tonks simply couldn't hold that glare in place when looking at Harry. Most people she would have hexed for laughing at her clumsiness without thinking twice. She figured that the reason this was different was because Harry never mocked her or humiliated her for her less than graceful nature which was a quality missing in most of the people she knew. Hell, even Dumbledore poked fun at her sometimes.
"How did you manage to get pinned down over there?"
"We were brought directly into the room the little shit was staying in, that's how. He was able to let out a very high pitched scream before we were able to stun him." Dung answered with a growl. Apparently when they requested that Dobby bring them in as close to Draco as possible they didn't actually intend for him to bring them directly to him. After a quick head count Harry was relieved that no one had been seriously injured. There were a few that sustained injuries that should be looked at as soon as possible but nothing that would linger for more than a few days.
"Alright let's gather everything up and get the hell out of here." Tonks said with a look of disgust as she looked about at her gloomy surroundings. Not surprisingly there were no objections. After ducking back into the doorway that had concealed him during the fight Snape emerged back into the hall with Draco's prone body floating along behind him. Following his example everyone else withdrew their wands yet again and with a simple swish and flick they began walking out of the house with their fallen opponents trailing behind them. While the others waited for Bill and Flitwick to finish their work Harry and Snape walked through the house once more to be sure that they didn't miss anyone and they soon realized that they had. Hiding underneath the bed in the master bedroom was none other than the pug-faced queen bitch of Slytherin, Pansy Parkinson. It took them some time to get her out from under there but in the end Harry's patience was running thin and he simply hit her with the Petrificus Totalus charm before reaching under the bed and dragging her out by her ankle, and not a second to soon since immediately afterwards both Snape and Harry felt it as the air around them seemed to be charged with static for a few seconds before a noise that sounded like distant thunder sounded and almost as suddenly as it had started the charged air around them quieted. That could mean only one thing. The wards had been brought down.
Suddenly getting an idea Harry sent Snape on ahead with Pansy while he stayed behind to do a little 'cleaning up.'
MMM
"Are you sure this is the right place?" Lily asked for what had to be the twentieth time since they arrived only five minutes earlier.
"Yes, I'm sure. That's their house right back over there." James answered with a sigh. He was really beginning to get annoyed with answering the same questions over and over again. His wife opened her mouth to ask yet another question, more than likely another she had asked several times before already, when she sudden cut herself off when a fairly large group suddenly appeared not but fifty feet away from where they were concealed in the brush. Unfortunately, for them anyway, they couldn't hear what was being said but considering what they had heard from Harry when he was at Hogwarts just thirty minutes before and what they were planning to do it shouldn't take the greatest imagination in the world to think of the general idea. Suddenly James had to reach out to grab his wife's arm as she began to stand up, an action that was sure to reveal their position.
"What are you doing?" He asked in a harsh whisper.
"I'm going to see if I can help. If I help Flitwick and that other man we could have those wards down in a matter of minutes. Two charms masters are certainly better than one." Lily answered while looking at her husband as if he were an idiot.
"Are you insane? Harry ejected you from his mind rather forcefully not even half an hour ago and now you plan to simply charge in there and interfere with him again?" Both parents were greatly surprised by Harry's sudden strength in Occlumency since Dumbledore had told them that his natural shields were never established due to Voldemort's killing curse and his acquired ability of Parseltongue. Obviously he neglected to tell them that his hereditary gift in that field was unlocked while he was being held by the Death Eaters.
"He didn't eject me from his mind." She said in a quiet voice as a pained look flashed across her face. "He bombarded me with images of his childhood with my sister and her husband." She informed him as she wiped away the tears that were welling up in her eyes. James looked at her with a pained expression for a moment before his attention was pulled back to the Raiders when Harry and Tonks disappeared with Dobby. "Where did you get those?" Lily asked when he pulled out a pair of Omninoculars from his robe pocket.
"Borrowed them from Jacob." He answered simply as he looked through them in the hopes that he would be able to see what was going on. Lily wisely chose not to ask whether or not their son knew that he had 'borrowed' them. Much to his disappointment, the moment he located Harry he had thrown a very familiar invisibility cloak over himself. James grunted in annoyance but kept looking anyway. After a few minutes a Death Eater came into view but was quickly put down. He grinned his approval at stunning the man from point blank range but unfortunately, for them anyway, they were in a position that did not offer a good vantage point towards the front of the house so with the exception of Professor Flitwick and an unknown casting charm after charm they didn't get to see very much over the next half hour or so until the Raiders began to escort many captured Death Eaters out onto the grounds.
"Well this is…" James was suddenly cut off from expressing his displeasure of the situation when a sudden roll of thunder echoed throughout the area. He was clearly hoping to see a lot more action. He looked up to the sky but was a little confused since it seemed to be a perfectly clear night.
"It wasn't thunder you fool, the wards just fell." Lily informed him while shaking her head. James just gave her a sheepish smile and shrugged his shoulders. Now that the wards were no longer a problem the two elder Potters used the tree line as cover and approached the house at a steady pace. In no time at all they were crouched down about twenty yards from where the Death Eaters were being held just as Snape approached with the body of a young girl floating along beside him. They sat there in silence unaware that a third individual was hiding not far away.
"That was some excellent charms work Mr. Weasley. I'm glad to see that your lack of field work for Gringotts has not diminished it." They heard Flitwick say to the hooded man that had worked with him on the wards. Everyone seemed to stop what they were doing and looked at the little man for a moment. Probably all thinking the same thing. 'How the hell did he know?' After a few moments of stunned silence the man reached up and lowered his hood. He enjoyed the man's company and respected him to much to try to deceive him.
"I knew it!" He said happily as he clapped his hands together.
"How?" It sounded like a weak minded way to form a question but at the moment that was the only word he could think of. If possible Flitwick's smile became even larger.
"Mr. Weasley you are the finest charms student I have ever had the pleasure of teaching, even surpassing the likes of Hestia Jones and Lily Potter. I would recognize you wand work thirty years from now." Bill and Flitwick talk quietly for a few more minutes before the Hogwarts professor informed him that he didn't need to worry about him mentioning his involvement with the Raiders. Bill had no doubt that he could trust the man and wished him a good evening before he left the cover of the anti-apperation wards to apperate back to Hogsmeade.
"Where's Potter?" They heard Dung ask in his usual gruff and slightly slurred speech as he looked around and couldn't find the young man.
"Haven't a clue. The longer I'm around the boy the more I become convinced that he is mentally unstable and the less his actions make any sense. He merely said that he was going to clean up a bit." Snape growled in annoyance. Lily was preparing to restrain James as she usually had to do after Snape made some kind of comment about their family but she was surprised to see that he wasn't even paying attention. Instead he was staring intently back towards the house with a mixture of shock and amusement battling for dominance on his face. Confused, Lily tried to follow his line of sight to see what he found so interesting and she quickly let out a surprised gasp. Luckily her gasp went unnoticed since it occurred about the same time that Snape and the others also noticed what was going on.
Apparently Harry's thoughts on 'cleaning up' were actually quite different from you standard definition. It started out relatively small in a few rooms on the upper floor but by the time Harry ran out the front door with a lit torch in his hand a few masses of flames were billowing out of several shattered windows and massive pillars of inky black smoke were rising into the night's sky.
Harry for his part was sweating profusely due to the heat and had a few smudges of soot on his face and hands. Turning back to the house, Harry pulled his arm back and threw the torch in to the air where it landed on the roof. After watching the flames dance in the darkness for a few moments Harry made his way back to the others, all of whom were looking at the burning house with a smirk.
"What are we going to do with her?" Tonks asked as she jabbed her wand in Pansy's direction. Her tone of voice showed everyone present, James and Lily included, that she had no love for any of the Parkinsons, no matter what age.
"Well she doesn't have the Dark Mark and any information that she may have we could get from either of her parents or any of these other Death Eaters for that matter. Just leave her here. She would only be taking up room." Snape answered after thinking it over for a for a moment before he pulled a bag out of his pocket and proceeded to fit each Death Eater with one of their special portkeys that would take them through the Fedelius Charm over Potter manor and directly into the holding cells in the cellar. A few people headed back before the others to make sure that there was enough room for every man or woman they had captured. The wizards that had been captured in Diagon Alley had already been questioned so they would simply send them off to the Ministry for Madam Bones and Geoffrey Stevens to worry about. Bill was just about to place one on Draco when Snape suddenly stopped him.
"WE will take care of him ourselves." Was all the man said when Bill asked him why he wasn't being brought back to be questioned like everyone else. Bill tried to get answers out of Harry, Tonks and Blaise as well but had come up empty each time. Harry just told him to ask Dung when he got back to the manor. He nodded and activated the last set of portkeys and vanished seconds later while hoping that none of them would do anything that they would severely regret later.
With a wave of his wand, Snape returned Draco back to the land of the living and sneered down at the younger man as he lay on the hard earth. He seemed dazed for a moment before he took in his surroundings and realized his situation. He tried to scramble to his feet but just as he was preparing to run Tonks and Snape held onto him from both sides.
"Now now, Draco, we won't have any of that. You wouldn't want to leave before the fun starts would you?" Harry chuckled to himself. The only thing that shocked Lily and James more than the fact that it appeared that their son was about to murder the boy was the fact that Snape of all people looked genuinely amused.
"What are you going to do?" The pale faced boy asked in a very shaky voice.
"Well it seems that my assessment of you was actually correct." Harry exclaimed in mock surprise. "When your opponent isn't chained to a wall you go all to pieces without your trusty Cruciatus curse. But to satisfy you curiosity I will tell you what we plan to do with you. As the four of us were chained in that god forsaken basement I made myself a promise. I swore that I would kill any man or woman that has had the audacity to place me or any of my friends under the Cruciatus Curse. After that little fight with the Unspeakables there are now only five left. Voldemort, Lestrange, that coward Adam McNair, you and your father. We plan on cutting that number by one tonight so we are simply going to take you out and simply drop you off a cliff." Harry finished happily. If possible Draco seemed to lose even more blood from his face but Harry didn't have time to ponder this sense Pansy finally managed to break free of the binding spell Harry had placed on her and she began running out towards the road. She didn't make it very far before Harry hit her directly in the back with that trusty Dark Arts stunning spell that he had used with great effectiveness against Kingsley. He turned away from her and was about to put his wand away yet again when he saw a brief shimmer among the trees
Both Lily and James were confused as to what spell Harry had used but decided to dwell on that another time. At the moment they had more pressing matters to think about. After tearing their eyes away from the crumpled form of the teenage girl and looked back at Harry only to find that he seemed to be watching them like some predator would eye its prey. For nearly two minutes straight Harry stared intently at the two without blinking once and to say that they were starting to feel intimidated would have been an understatement. When they first noticed Harry watching them Lily's breath caught in her throat and she had yet to take another breath. While James was able to keep most of his bodily functions performing normally he was still sweating profusely and his mouth had gone completely dry. Finally Harry broke eye contact and rejoined the others just as Snape was casting the anti-apperation jinx on Malfoy before they each took hold of the same length of rope and disappeared.
"You don't think Harry will actually kill him do you?" Lily asked quietly. James' first instinct was to say no in the hopes that it would calm his wife but he couldn't bring himself to say it. In all honesty he felt that Harry was completely serious and the looks of hatred on the other's faces made their intentions perfectly clear.
"We should track that portkey fast and go get Albus." It wasn't exactly the reassuring response that Lily was looking for but it would do for the moment. Harry was hardly recognizable from the young man she had envisioned him to be at that age and she was honest enough with herself to admit that her 'abandonment' was certainly a major factor in that difference. She was almost certain that he would never look upon her as his mother but that wasn't going to stop her from trying and it would be pretty hard to mend any rift if he was locked away in Azkaban for killing that boy in a fit of anger.
MMM
"Damn, that's a long drop!" Harry shouted over the roar of the surf as it smashed into the side of the white cliffs below. He shivered slightly at the thought of such a fall before turning around to face Draco who was being held at wand point by Tonks. So far both Snape and Blaise seemed content to merely stand off to the side and observe though it was quite obvious that both were enjoying the fear that Malfoy could no longer keep hidden.
"So Malfoy, this is how your life is going to end. Not exactly the glorious death you envisioned is it? Or did you actually believe you would survive to see old age?" Harry asked with a smirk that was not unlike the one Malfoy used to direct at him.
"What do you want?" Draco asked desperately and Tonks began laughing when she looked down and noticed that the arrogant ass was standing in a puddle that was not there a moment ago.
"Sorry Malfoy, but you don't have anything to offer us. Any information you might have I'm certain Parkinson or at least half a dozen of our other prisoners have it as well so you have nothing to bargain with. We brought you out here for one reason and that is to find out if ferrets know how to fly. I'm sure we could find the answer in a book but experimentation is so much more fun, wouldn't you agree?" Tonks responded excitedly as she pushed Draco forward until he was close enough to see the jagged rocks far below.
"EXPELLIARMUS!" A familiar and powerful voice suddenly bellowed and Harry watched as his phoenix feather wand went sailing over the cliff to land in the frigid water below. Still watching long after his wand was out of sight Harry slowly turned his head to gaze into the eyes of Albus Dumbledore. He never once broke eye contact but he could clearly see Kingsley, Moody and two hooded figures standing at his side. It didn't take a genius to figure out who the last two were.
"Albus, Moody, pleasant evening for a walk, don't you think?" Harry commented in a surprisingly casual voice as he took a view steps away from the edge and Malfoy while his hand hovered over his second wand that was tucked into his belt. Dumbledore looked about ready to reply when his eyes suddenly went wide. For a fraction of a second Harry was confused until he heard a short scuffle behind him. He spun around just in time to see Malfoy use the distraction of Dumbledore's arrive to knock Tonks aside while grabbing her wand.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" The boy roared as he leveled his stolen wand at Harry's chest. The problem with the killing curse is that it is a relatively slow moving curse, giving you time to dodge it if you are in any condition to do so. Because of this fact in a dueling situation the only logical uses for the curse is to try to catch you opponent of guard, as Tonks did with Stevens, or to launch several of them in succession in a decent sized pattern to give the other person nowhere to go without being hit. Draco obviously didn't know this since he lowered his wand slightly and his eyes went wide as he watched the curse fly towards Harry with a look of anticipation on his face. It must have come as a great shock to him when Harry merely sidestepped the curse before drawing his Basilisk fang wand and slamming a powerful banishing charm directly into his chest sending the pale faced git flying backwards along the same path Harry's first wand traveled just moments before.
Not even waiting to see if his curse had hit its mark, Harry rushed towards the cliff's edge the moment the spell left his wand. Within a span of only a few seconds he reached his destination and slid to his knees as he reached out to grab Tonks who was holding onto the edge with both her arms and one leg as the majority of her body weight was trying to pull her over. Snape and Blaise reached them just seconds later to help him pull her onto firmer ground as she clutched her arms around Harry's neck with wide eyes as her breathing came in short quick gasps. Tonks, while incredibly strong willed and brave was by no means a great fan of heights. Tonks was quickly able to get herself under control again and released her grip on Harry in favor of moving farther away from the edge of the cliff. Only then did Harry's attention turn back to his five uninvited guests, all of them seemed to be quite shocked at what had just happened. The look in his eyes and his fluid movement as he stood back up had even Moody slightly intimidated.
"What the hell did you think you were doing?" He hissed out coldly as Snape came up to stand at his side while Blaise made sure Tonks was alright. Kingsley looked tongue tied at the moment and Moody looked to be just watching curiously to see where this conversation was going to go. Dumbledore however was a surprise. His eyes never left the spot that Malfoy had previously occupied but he was trying his best to answer, floundering over his words as he went along.
"I, I couldn't let you kill him." He answered weakly after a trying for a few moments to get the words out.
"THANKS TO YOUR INTERFERENCE I WAS FORCED TO DO EXACTLY THAT! AND YOU NEARLY GOT TONKS KILLED IN THE PROCESS!" Harry roared at the man in rage. The sheer volume of his voice and the anger in it finally drew Dumbledore's eyes to him. "But, to put your worries at ease," He continued calmly but with a great deal of sarcasm. "We did not come out here to kill Malfoy. We were merely going to tie a rope around his ankles and hang him over the edge and wait for Lucius to show up to rescue him."
"What?" Albus asked sharply. "I was told you planned to throw him off this cliff." He said in confusion. Harry looked at the hooded forms of his 'parents' before looking back to the headmaster.
"Despite what many people in the Order still believe, we will not kill someone in cold blood." Snape spoke up. "What we said was merely for the benifit of that stupid bitch, Millicent Bullstrode, who was hiding only ten yards away from your two spies there. She would certainly tell someone what had happened and they would tell Lucius. Though he has no love for Draco, he is still his only son and heir, and he would have been honor bound to at least look for him. And believe it or not, Death Eaters are capable of tracking portkeys as well." He answered with a sneer. He was almost as annoyed at Dumbledore's interference as Harry was.
"In fact," Harry continued for him. "One of our white masked friends arrived underneath an invisibility cloak just moments before you did. It may or may not have been Lucius but if not it was certainly someone close to him but because of your 'timely' arrival and Draco's resulting death he had no reason to stay and left before his body even hit the water."
"Harry," Albus began with a sigh. "We must all work together if we have a chance at defeating Voldemort and his Death Eaters."
"Yes, we should work together. The only problem with that is that we are the only ones doing anything productive. I find it laughable that we actually had to kidnap the head of the Department of Mysteries to get the Ministry going in the right direction. Today they finally got going and used the information we supplied them and even now the Aurors and Unspeakables are out there in force making arrests. But what have you done?
You had the right idea at the beginning of the summer when you decided to change the tactics the Order used but you kept delaying making your first move. Now that we are doing what most of the Order were nervous about trying you seem to be content with playing a waiting game while we do the work. The fact is that the Order hasn't done a damn thing in months and the only information you have provided has been worthless. I'm going to say this only once, do not interfere with us again. The rest of the world is finally starting to move Albus so I suggest you get off your ass or you're going to be left behind. You can start by fishing Malfoy's body out of the water." Harry finished hotly before turning around and walking back over to Blaise and Tonks. "And find my wand while you're at it." He added over his shoulder.
MMM
"God, I wish I could have seen Albus' face when you said that." Dung roared with laughter when Tonks finished telling him what had happened as they were relaxing in the sitting room. For the most part everyone else was either in bed by the time they got back or out getting drunk since they haven't had very much time to themselves lately and didn't know when they would get any more. Only Bill, Dung, Susan and John remained. Thinking of what everyone else was doing at that particular time gave Harry an idea. An idea that was made all the better by the thought of sitting through Sirius' will reading the following day.
"Anyone care for a drink?" He asked as he stood up and walked over to the cabinet. Everyone looked at Harry in surprise, well except for Dung who got a huge grin on his face.
"I've never turned down a drink in my life." He said as he hoped out of his chair.
"I'm sure you haven't." Harry replied dryly. The enormous stress they had been under lately probably had a hand in everyone's acceptance except for Susan and Blaise who chose to go seek their amusements else where. "Actually I'm surprised that this stuff hasn't been touched yet considering the type of people we have here."
"It's probably because of your threat to basically kill anyone who stole anything in the house." Tonks said with a raised eyebrow. Harry looked at Dung who nodded in confirmation before his eyes went wide.
"Jesus Christ, I only meant that in general." He said in surprise.
"Either way it was very convincing. For the first two weeks or so everyone pretty much walked on tiptoes around here and avoided doing anything that someone would normally need their host's permission for, like invading your liquor cabinet. After that they calmed down a bit and stayed out of things because they got to know you and you earned their respect." Dung explained before Harry handed him a full bottle of firewhiskey. "Ah, thank you my friend."
"Keep it if you want, disgusting stuff that is."
"When have you ever had firewhiskey? You don't exactly seem the type" John asked as he joined Dung at his bottle.
"Weasley twins." Harry answered simply as if that explained everything, and apparently it did as everyone seemed to understand and Tonks and Bill laughed. "I prefer to be able to taste what I'm drinking instead of clutching at my throat as if it were being incinerated. Ah, here we are." He said happily as he found a rather ancient bottle of scotch.
"Potter, do you know how much that bottle is worth?" Snape asked with wide eyes as he read the label.
"Who cares how much it's worth, it's scotch, it's meant for drinking not collecting dust."
MMM
Several hours later Susan, who had gone to bed previously, and Blaise, who was reading in the library, were pulled out of their respective nocturnal activities by the noise drifting up from downstairs. The two met on their way down the hall and descended the stairs to find out what the hell was going on. The disturbance had Blaise quite upset and she was ready to give everyone involved a piece of her mind but when the two young women approached the sitting room they could only look on in undisguised shock.
The drinking that had begun shortly after their return was obviously a bit more extensive than they thought it would be and when other members of the Raiders returned from their own nightly pursuits they had joined in and an impromptu party had apparently been started. The two girls just stared open mouthed at the room full of their drunk 'colleagues' as they laughed and took turns singing the most tasteless songs they had ever heard. The more obscene and graphic the song the louder everyone laughed. Of the many different scenes from around the room two stood out in Blaise's mind the most.
Her father, the 'evil potions master', was standing with Bill and a few others laughing and carrying on like they were all the best of friends. He never behaves in a friendly manner when around so many people, he did have a reputation to uphold after all.
The other was on the other side of the room where Tonks was sitting in Harry's lap. She had her arms around his neck and was laughing hysterically at the lewd song he was currently singing. This was a shock for several reasons. The first was the fact that he was actually singing which was almost as surprising as her father's behavior but also the nature of the song since he had always come across as the type that would not approve of such things. But above all was his flirtatious behavior. She never believed that Harry was gay or anything but he never seemed to take much interest in any type of 'companionship'. She knew that he was with Cho Chang the year before but she had always had the impression that he was never really thrilled about the fact. Despite herself, Blaise couldn't help but feel a slight pang of jealousy towards the young metamorphmagus and her current 'activities' with Harry. Those thoughts however were quickly driven from her mind as her father, Severus Snape, of all people began singing the next song. A tune he entitled, 'my pecker just won't stand up anymore.' With her face flaming red from embarrassment she grabbed her Hufflepuff companion by the arm and quickly fled the area.
TBC