AN: As I was editing this chapter, FFN has saw fit to block the black boxes I use for my redacted DoM documents, resulting in suffering. This suffering has thus been extended to all of you as we witness my sad substitutions. It also results in confusion as my previous chapters still display the redacted boxes. If any of you knows how to end my suffering, do let me know.

Chapter 45 - Another Side

Harry sat down on a materialised bench in the Room of Requirement, taking a drink of water to quench his thirst. Ever since a certain toad had deemed fit to ban him from Quidditch, Harry decided to utilise his free time training. It was a case especially true on Quidditch practice evenings, he had grown too used to spending frequent evenings physically exerting himself and thus the drastic shift of spending said evenings in the common room with Hermione was not preferable.

In his defence, he was technically revising his DADA practicals. Hermione had not been too amused when he said that.

He took a look at his watch and gave an involuntary jump of surprise, it was already past curfew. Sighing as he glanced at the ruined target dummies, he grabbed his cloak and the Marauder's Map. Thank Merlin he had the foresight to bring them with him, getting caught by Mr Filch or Umbridge would have gotten him neck deep into trouble. Keeping track of the patrolling prefects and professors, Harry hastily made his way to the Gryffindor common room, his invisibility cloak hiding his presence.

Until a particular dot on the Marauder's Map caught his eye. Anya.

One word, floating along a moving dot. Harry frowned, it was not Anne Potter or even Anya Seryy, just Anya. Professor Lupin's old words surfaced: the Marauder's Map never lies. Shaking his head at the oddity of it, Harry made a mental note to ask Lupin or Sirius about the finer details of the map's mechanics. The fact that the Marauder's Map chose to display Anya over Anne Potter felt like a blow to his gut.

His curiosity was piqued and Harry realised that this was a rare chance he could finally figure out his sister. Pausing in his step, Harry's mind waged an internal war, he had heard more than once that he should just keep out from Anne's secrets. However, memories of her complete exhaustion and concealed pain worried him immensely, he had no idea what Anne was doing. He doubted he could bear the agony if one of Anne's mysterious jaunts ended up in her not coming back.

Taking a deep breath, he made his choice, turning away from the direction of the Gryffindor tower and moving to intercept his sister. Nearly running into Peeves halfway in his interception, Harry finally caught up to his sister. He was at one of the courtyards near an exit to the school grounds, but no one was in sight. Checking the map, Anne was just leaving the exit. Harry looked up, there was nothing but thin air. The only conclusion he could come up with was a Disillusionment Charm.

Keeping a close eye on the map, Harry walked quietly, making sure his dot on the map was on the same path as his sister. They approached the Whomping Willow and Harry noticed the results of an unseen force launching a twig at the secret knot. The tree turned still and Harry watched the dot on the map go beneath the Whomping Willow and along the secret passage to the Shrieking Shack. Steeling himself, he followed after her. The trip through the passage was quiet and Harry took every care to ensure so, his years of sneaking around Hogwarts paying off.

As he entered the Shrieking Shack, he looked around, knowing full well the map would be useless now. Looking out the window, he gave a sigh of relief, Anne had dropped the Disillusionment Charm. She took out a peculiar-looking pocket watch and looked at it before her face twisted in annoyance, shoving it back into her jacket.

Harry's jaw dropped as Anne drew her and changed her appearance - now looking ten years older with a bland, forgettable face. She began walking down the path to Hogsmeade, Harry tailed her from a distance. She stuck out her wand arm and a familiar purple bus popped in front of her. Harry cursed and broke into a dash, managing to hop on before the doors were closed and a dreaded bang flung him onto the floor of the bus.

Grateful for the din of drunken wizards who seemed to occupy the bus, Harry scrambled between two bedsteads and made himself as comfortable as possible, keeping an eye on the doors. Soon, the bus stopped and Harry saw his sister - still disguised - exit the door. Harry discreetly hopped out after her and he felt his stomach sinking as he saw the numerous Muggles walking around, Anne blending into the crowd.

He looked around and saw himself in Muggle London. Reality set in and Harry realised if he lost Anne in the crowd, he was essentially screwed. With nothing but a wand, a cloak and an enchanted map of Hogwarts, Harry felt quite exposed. Casting spells would bring the Ministry onto him and being caught this far away from Hogwarts for underage magic was practically a death sentence with how the Ministry was treating him.

Shaking himself out of his thoughts, Harry weaved through the crowd, at times flattening himself against the wall to avoid colliding a Muggle. From hopping over the ticket barrier in an Underground Station, slipping into the last train of the night to entering a dimly lit Muggle cafe, Harry kept an increasingly nervous eye on Anne.

When she snuck out the back door, Harry found her at an alleyway, leaning against the wall. She looked at him and Harry gave an involuntary flinch but seconds passed and Harry realised her gaze went straight through him. Harry began moving to position himself in another spot when Anne's gaze immediately dipped down. Following her action, Harry felt his heart freeze when he saw the ripples in the puddle he stepped on.

The wand came out faster than he could imagine and the loud bang threw him off his feet. Sharp pain poured into every inch of his body as he screamed. Harry struggled to move, around him conjured dogs began approaching.

"Wait! Wait! Anne, it's me!" Harry yelled, hoping that she recognised his voice. Harry's mind was spinning, how was she able to perform magic in Muggle London? Surely Ministry personnel would be arriving on the scene.

She paused at his declaration and the dogs stopped.

"Petrificus Totalus," said Anya, pointing her wand at him.

Harry felt himself seize up and his cloak was pulled off him. Anya was now standing over him and her eyes were severe, an edge that Harry had never seen. Her gaze shifted to the cloak in her hands, slightly curious. She looked back at him and it was because of the Full Body Bind that he did not recoil.

"What was the first meal I've ever treated you to?" Anya asked, partially lifting the spell for him to speak.

"Fish and chips," Harry wheezed.

Anya lifted the rest of the spell, dispelling the dogs into nothingness before proceeding to undo the damage she had done with her initial spell. Harry stifled his scream as he felt his insides burning.

"What spell was that?" Harry winced, watching Anya trace her wand around his entire body. "I couldn't move without hurting like shit."

"Stone Lion's Roar," Anya replied coolly. "Fractures the bones of everyone in its general direction... Done, get up."

Harry's face burned with embarrassment as she watched him crawl up from the ground.

"Where'd you get this," Anya lifted his cloak.

"It was dad's," Harry mumbled.

"Strange," Anya raised an eyebrow. "What's this cloak's medium?"

"Medium?"

"Disillusionment Charm, Demiguise hair, so on and so forth. This one?" Anya lifted the cloak in question.

"I don't know."

Anya threw the cloak back into Harry's hands and the two stood there, an uncomfortable tension in the air.

"Look Anne… I'm sorry," Harry said ruefully.

Anya's face was blank and that scared him. Harry wished he knew what was going on in her mind, it would be easier if she was blatantly angry with him. She took out the strange pocket watch he had seen earlier and looked at it before a grimace graced her face.

"Had to be a night when there's active portkey surveillance," Anya muttered, cursing under her breath. "Put on that cloak, follow me."

Harry followed her instructions obediently, trailing behind her as she led her to a row of apartment buildings. They went up the steps when Anya held out a hand, he took it and felt the heavy pressure of wards as she guided him through an invisible threshold. Opening the door to an apartment, Anya shoved him through before closing the door behind her.

"Who's this?"

The unfamiliar voice had a tinge of Russian accent and Harry turned to see a brown-haired teenager, slightly older than himself. Behind him stood a wiry Asian in the middle of shoving various grey blocks into a backpack. Both of them were dressed identically, grey jackets and cargo pants with vests Harry had seen being worn in the Muggle military.

"A stray," his sister answered, her disguise finally dispelled. "I'll need you to apparate him to Hogsmeade, wipe this entire night and ensure he makes his way back to Hogwarts."

Harry stiffened as he heard the implied Memory Charm to be cast on him, turning to stare at Anya.

"Your brother?" the brown-haired teen mused. "That's perfect, actually."

"What do you mean?" Anya asked, her voice dangerously soft.

"It means we're saved from using ten kilos of explosives, allowing us to retain the element of stealth," the brown-haired teen grinned.

"We have Snyde's hair and Polyjuice Potion," the Asian remarked in agreement, though slightly exasperated at Dimitri's latest idea. "But that wouldn't help if we're repelled by the wards. Using a Muggle as a mole is pointless and getting a random wizard that's able to enter and good enough to actually bring the wards down from inside is not worth the trouble. Using him is possible, but still… are you sure, Dimitri?"

"Well, Anya refused to tag her partner from Hogwarts for this," the brown-haired teen, Dimitri, retorted. "And this right here is a viable alternative. The other alternative is us taking on at least fifteen enemies of unknown capabilities with them knowing we're coming."

"We've been through this," Anya folded her arms. "None of the galleon tracking has ever ended with us encountering any hostile Spooks. If there are no Spooks or Aurors, fifteen is within our capabilities. Besides, he doesn't know a thing about breaking wards."

Harry gaped at the exchange, trying to process the sudden influx of information pounding against his head. He had realised that Anne went missing in Hogwarts, and looking back at the many days where she had become elusive in Hogwarts, he now suspected it happened more frequently than he originally thought. Combined with the times he had seen her with a Muggle firearm, how the two strangers across from him were dressed and his suspicions about the events surrounding Voldemort's resurrection, Harry did not like the gut feeling telling him what his sister had gotten herself dragged into.

One thing he could infer from deconstructing the conversation was that Anne and her two… accomplices? They were about to enter a fight outnumbered five to one in disadvantageous circumstances, unless he did something about it. He had seen how much of a battered condition she was weeks ago, he would do anything in his capability to help.

"He doesn't necessarily need to know how to break wards," Dimitri countered, pulling out a flask from the bag the Asian was packing. "In case you've forgotten, you don't need much expertise on the finer aspects of ward breaking if you can get close to the ward's runestone."

"I can help," said Harry, suddenly earning the gaze of everyone in the room.

"No, you can't and you won't," Anya shook her head before giving Dimitri a glare. "Dimitri, keep in mind, he'll be alone with a decent chance of stumbling into a fight, we would be throwing him to the sharks without even profiting. If you're not going to apparate then he might as well stay put here until we come back. Stupefy."

Harry reacted on instinct, drawing his wand and changing his stance. The tip of his wand met the bolt of red and Harry cast his spell.

"Expelliarmus."

The jets of red clashed and ricocheted, Anya's spell darted past his shoulders and his spell found its mark. Anya's wand was wrenched from her hand, the impact of his spell nearly knocking her off balance.

As Harry caught her wand, a laughter rang across the room. He turned to see Dimitri with his hand over his mouth, doing a poor job in stifling his laughs, the Asian had his wand aimed at him, the tip of the wand glowing blue. Turning back to Anya, he could sense the hint of surprise in her eye.

"You're right," Dimitri grinned. "There are no Spooks, so he'll do just fine, seeing as he managed to disarm you."

"Such an arse," Anya sighed.

"He cast his spell as both an offence and defence. Accurate enough to aim his spell at yours, smart enough to know a spell ricochet will divert it and another level of accurate to compensate for the ricochet to hit you with his spell. All this was on instinct. I'd say he'll work fine as a mole, he even volunteered."

Anya seemed to relent, merely giving another sigh before heading to one of the bedrooms. The door closed and Harry found him in the company of the two strangers.

"So…" Harry began cautiously, leaving his word hanging in the air for the other two to continue.

"I'm Dimitri, that's Jen, you're Potter," Dimitri pointed at each individual brusquely before leading Harry over to a table. "And you're going to need this."

The teen passed the flask he had shown Anya moments ago to Harry who accepted it, staring at the murky brown substance within the flask.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" Harry asked.

"Relax, we'll guide you," Dimitri said nonchalantly. "Take these."

A small radio set connected to a headset found its way into Harry's hands, he flipped the device to the back as noticed the lack of batteries. Wizarding radio, though it was the first time he had seen one so compact, most wizarding radios were large and bulky.

"Firstly, do you know how wards work?" Dimitri asked, sitting atop the table.

Harry shook his head, a question rising to his head.

"If I can pass through the wards, why can't you guys?"

"You don't need to know," Dimitri smiled. "You agreed to help for an agenda I don't want to know, but you are still a convenient means to a desirable end."

Right then, Harry knew he was a stranger. Despite Dimitri vouching for him against Anne, there was an unspoken yet unsurmountable gap between him and the people in the room. The smiles on the Russian teen seemed more emotionless than the Asian who was not smiling, he spoke freely but there was an edge to the voice.

"All you need to know is that most permanent wards are anchored by runes and most people use runestones to do so." Dimitri pointed at the flask in Harry's hand. "That is a unique potion, it does nothing but absorb, conduct and release magical energy as it pleases. All we'll need you to do is pour this over the runestone and pump some magic into the whole thing."

"That simple?" Harry asked skeptically.

"Familiar with Muggles?"

"Yeah."

"Know what a short circuit is?"

"Yeah."

"That's basically what you're doing… sort of… listen, I'm not going to explain alterations in arithmetic sequencing due to magical flux disruption, that's Jen's job. Speaking of Jen."

Harry jerked back as a vest was unceremoniously thrown onto the table, it looked similar to ones the two wore, albeit bereft of additional pouches and accessories. The Asian, Jen, looked at him anticipatingly, gesturing at the vest.

"Dug these out, put them on as insurance," Jen explained blandly. "Take this as well, in case you need them."

Flinching in surprise, Harry stared at the pistol - fitting snugly in a holster - in disbelief.

"I don't know how to use it," Harry stammered.

"I know, it's a backup in case you lose your wand or something," Jen replied. "It's already loaded, cocked and safety off, just pull the trigger. Dim, this is yours."

A rifle was thrown into the hands of Dimitri and Harry looked around, feeling slightly lost at the rapidly escalating scene. The sound of an opening door caught his attention and Harry had to prevent his jaw from dropping as his sister stepped out, clothed in the same manner as the other teens with a stocky carbine slung across her back and a scoped rifle in her arms..

"You do know you're supposed to put those on if you're insistent on coming along," Anya raised an eyebrow questioningly. "Also, who's doing the Redaction Charm?"

XXXXX

Harry adjusted his vest for the umpteenth time, trying to find a comfortable positive which seemed so elusive. He lay prone in the grass, grimacing at the moisture from the damp soil which seemed to be seeping into his clothes. The other three beside him gave no indication of being uncomfortable, focusing on surveying their surroundings and the warehouse compound in the distance.

Anya had her rifle propped on a bipod, looking through the scope in silence. She could not look anymore different from the Slytherin fifth-year in Hogwarts robes, her very aura felt colder. Ever since knowing her in his fourth year and especially over the summer, Harry knew Anne had many secrets, enigmatic had been one of the apt descriptions his fellow Gryffindors had given her.

This. This was a mind-numbing secret. One which he had voluntarily gotten himself sucked into. He did not mind, he promised himself he would look after Anne but it was undeniable that there was something fundamentally wrong about it.

However, it made sense in a twisted way, a centrepiece to all the mysterious facets of Anne. Why she was able to help injure Voldemort back in the graveyard. Why she even had Muggle firearms with her during the summer. Why she had been so hard to find lately. Everything about her made so much more sense.

It explained why, without her glamours, she had so many scars on her.

A coldness gripped his gut. How long had Anne been living like this?

"Fuck's sake, listen up will you?"

The voice tore Harry out from his reverie and his head snapped to face a disgruntled Dimitri.

"Sorry, I'm listening."

"You've got your radio switched on? Good, since you have zero clue regarding your objective, I'll be relaying instructions through that. Now take this."

A vial of purple liquid found itself in Harry's hands, he recognised the muddy consistency as Polyjuice Potion, the different colour meant that a hair had already been introduced to the potion.

"Drink that, walk straight up the main gate and say you're on confidential business," Dimitri pointed at the entrance of the compound where Harry could see two wizards acting as sentries. Dimitri pulled out a nondescript wizarding robe and threw it to Harry. "Put on this robe and hide your headset, your clothing will be a giveaway. Once you're through, put your headset back on and radio me."

"Can't I just sneak in with my invisibility cloak?" Harry asked.

"Your what?"

"Harry, save that for later," said Anya. "The wards will still detect if someone enters, sneaking in with your cloak will raise suspicion. Impersonation via Polyjuice wouldn't cause a headcount discrepancy. You can put on your cloak once you get past the wards."

Harry nodded, drinking down the odd tasting potion.

"What if I get caught?"

"We'll cross that bridge if we ever get there," Dimitri replied. "Go."

Harry grimaced at the statement before making his way to the entrance of the compound. The sentries, upon seeing him in the form of a middle-aged man, greeted him with respectful nods.

"We rarely see you come by at night, sir," said one of the sentries.

"Confidential business," Harry grunted. The sentries gave a look of understanding and opened the gates, allowing him passage. Finding an isolated corner in the compound, Harry pulled out his cloak and flung it over himself before placing the headset on his head.

"This is Harry, I'm inside."

"Good," buzzed the reply. "Now you'll need to find the runestones."

"Runestones? I thought I only needed to find one," Harry sputtered.

"Don't panic, it's still one runestone that you have to find. We've scouted this place, their configuration utilises multiple runestones and… I'm not wasting my time explaining, head to the eastern side of the compound."

Dimitri began giving him detailed instructions, telling him the route to take and the steps required to find the most easily accessible runestone. The runestone he ended up with was buried under the floorboards of a wooden shed, requiring several charms to access it. He took a deep breath before casting the charms needed to access the runestone, almost expecting Ministry wizards to appear. When none came he released his breath in relief. Although it was silently sitting inside one of his pockets, Harry felt the stone disc Dimitri had given him working wonders. A method to mask his underage magic from the eyes of the Ministry, yet another of Anne's mysteries revealed.

Before him laid a white slab of limestone, circles of runes intersecting one another. Fishing out the flask Dimitri had given him, Harry emptied the contents on the stone before jabbing his wand and channeling raw magic. It felt draining, but with all the self-imposed training he had lately endured, Harry knew he had enough magic in him.

Feeling slightly stupid, Harry stood there for several minutes, feeling the rhythmic pulse of his flowing magic. A knock on the shed grabbed his attention, he turned to see Anya standing by the doorway, her scoped rifle now slung over her back in favour of the carbine in her hands.

"You guys got through?" Harry asked.

"Yes, now take off your cloak and follow," Anya replied. "It's harder to keep track of you if you're invisible."

Harry nodded, trailing behind Anya as she regrouped with her two accomplices. They moved as a group and Harry could easily notice the sense of calm in them, a stark contrast to his own pounding heart. He could tell they were in their element, they kept an eye on all directions, watching each other's backs with a silence that spoke volumes of familiarity.

Harry felt out of place. How long had they been doing this?

"Door. Front. Closed." Dimitri. "Anya."

"Door's clear."

Dimitri flicked his wand and the door swung open, lifting the pistol in his off-hand to an alert. Anya stacked behind Dimitri, her carbine raised and peeking beside his shoulder. Jen stood at the rear of the group with his wand at the ready. Harry found himself sandwiched as he gripped his wand firmly, sticking close to his sister in this foreign environment.

"Anne-"

Anya cut him off immediately with a soft shush and Harry clamped his mouth shut, feeling out of place once more.

"Sounds. Front."

"Eyes on magical signatures coming from around the corner."

A wizard in drab robes turned around the corner, the dragonhide vest marking him as a security personnel. Harry glanced at Dimitri, anticipating a Stunning Spell and aiming his own wand as well in the event Dimitri missed.

Instead, Anya reacted first, firing two rounds into the wizard, one in the chest and the other in the head. Harry was still looking at Dimitri when she had fired, the two silent thumps catching him by surprise. The bullets tore into the wizard's body and out into the wall behind, rending flesh out the back of the body and leaving two gaping holes in the wall.

Harry recoiled at the display, frozen in shock as the lifeless body toppled onto the floor.

"Down. Move on," Anya said crisply without missing a beat.

"Rounds went right through," Dimitri noted. "They aren't wearing Spook armour."

"Doesn't matter," said Anya. "That was a Russian wizard, as were the few we saw along the way. We already checked with Aleks, any Russian doing clandestine works who isn't on his whitelist is a kill on sight, especially after Edinburgh."

They continued stalking down the hallway, stepping past the dead wizard.

"Anne, you killed him," Harry whispered, his mind fumbling.

"Yes, I did," Anya replied shortly. "Keep quiet unless it's important."

Important. Important? Taking a life was important.

However, Anne seemed immune to the inner turmoil broiling inside Harry, neither did the other two. Here, he was the odd one out for being horrified at the cold-blooded murder. Unintentionally meeting the glazed eyes of the body, Harry shuddered, memories of Cedric rising into the forefront of his mind.

"Doors. Left. Open."

"That should be the main office," Jen murmured.

"Give me line of sight," Anya ordered.

Dimitri complied, conjuring a small floating mirror.

"Mostly workers, several combatants," Anya reported. "One at ten o'clock. One eleven o'clock. Two at two o'clock. Jen."

"Give me a moment," the Asian muttered, pulling up the rifle slung to his side, holding his wand with the handgrip. "Set. Potter, step back."

Harry obliged, shuffling out of the way as Jen moved flush with Anya. He stared wide-eyed as the three tensed like a coiled viper.

Then, they struck.

They moved silently and swiftly, turning around the corner, Harry following them. Dimitri went first, maintaining a wide Shield Charm and emptying his pistol at the target in the centre. Anya and Jen entered, the former on a beeline to the right of the room while the latter pivoted sharply to the left. Soft thumps came from the carbine and rifle as the two fired with unnerving precision.

Thump. Thump. Anya fired first, two rounds landing squarely in the chest of a wizard who went crashing against a table.

Thump. Thump. One fell to Jen's rifle.

Thump. Thump. Anya switched targets as she advanced, another two rounds toppling the wizard who had been conversing with a now-dead body.

Anya and Jen fanned out in synchrony, scanning the corners for any additional foes.

It was almost mechanical with the way they operated. It felt so rehearsed, so clockwork. The security wizards Anya had marked out fell within seconds. Blood had stained the walls before anyone had realised the gravity of the situation.

The first worker snapped from his daze and his mouth opened to give a loud scream. No sound came from him, Dimitri had silenced everyone with a swift charm.

"Everyone line up against that wall," Dimitri barked tersely, summoning the workers' wands before they could react. "Face the wall and hands up high on the wall."

Harry watched as the ten-odd workers scrambled to comply, terror etched on their faces.

"The one with the highest authority, turn around and face us."

A balding wizard squeaked in fright and turned around, shaking from head to toe. Dimitri moved forward, holstering his pistol and grabbing the wizard roughly before backhanding him across the face. As the wizard groaned silently, Dimitri cupped his face and aimed his wand before the wizard could react.

"Legilimens."

The wizard twisted and turned frantically, trying to free himself from Dimitri's grip. The attempt was futile and Dimitri eventually released him, shoving him onto the floor.

"Got anything?" Jen asked.

"As much as I could," Dimitri grunted. "Someone is definitely using this place as a front and as Aleks has ordered, complete neutralisation."

The wizard was thrown back in line and Anya drew her wand, slashing it in a wide arc.

"Diffindo."

Harry froze as Anya's curse connected against the necks of the workers. They collapsed onto the floor like marionettes with their strings severed, blood splattering the walls. She went over to the bodies, wand raised as she began to vanish the blood away. Dimitri moved to the largest of the office tables and began rifling through the drawers. Jen stood in a corner of the room, his watchful eyes on alert at the slightest disturbance.

No words could describe how wrong it was that the atmosphere was uncannily calm, that everyone but himself treated it like it was normal.

It took Anya being halfway through transfiguring the bodies into guinea pigs that Harry could finally move from the spot he was rooted. One foot moved gingerly, followed by another as Harry moved towards his sister.

"Why?" Harry croaked.

"Why what?" Anya replied.

"You didn't have to kill them."

"But I did," Anya shrugged.

"Why did you kill them?"

"Orders."

"You would just take another life because someone else gave the word?" Harry exclaimed incredulously.

Anya paused, turning to face him. The stony, dead eyes which stared at him. The weapons slungs over her. The dead bodies lying at her feet. It painted a harsh image.

"Yes, over and over again," Anya said evenly.

Harry stopped in his tracks, he could feel the glances of Dimitri and Jen on him. He could tell, the other two were just like Anya, their lives worlds apart from his. It was as though something had snatched the breath from his lungs, leaving his chest freezing. The facts had been laid out, plain and simple.

Anne was a killer.

"Anya, finishing cleaning up," said Dimitri, breaking the brief silence. "I've got some ledgers and letters I'll need your help with."

Anya nodded, resuming her transfiguration of the corpses before making her way over to Dimitri. No blood, no bodies, as though there had never been a massacre.

Harry, unsure of a course of action, opted to follow her numbly. The brown-haired teen had occupied an office chair, flipping through the pages in the ledger as he handed a stack of letters to Anya.

"Those letters are requests from special customers," Dimitri grunted.

She nodded in understanding and began shuffling through the letters, occasionally taking out the parchment within.

"Similarity," Dimitri remarked, suddenly jabbing a finger at an entry on the ledger. "This one, that's the same name we got off the raid on Kent. Nemo, cover name. The exact number of galleons he paid Snyde? It's the exact surge in profits your Greengrass friend noticed, which is why Snyde fell on her list of suspected businesses. This Nemo might be the person where all the gold from Black Mark Shipments goes. The goods this mystery man had requested and paid for is in warehouse two, crates number 507 to 511. Anya, any letters from him?"

"Yes," Anya replied, pulling out a folded piece of parchment from a letter.

She stared at the contents, her gaze so intense Harry thought he saw a hint of blood pooling at the bottom of her eye.

"Nemo's a Pureblood, the rich ones too," said Anya.

"Of course he's rich," Dimitri rolled his eyes. "Someone has been using the Black Mark as a cover to fill his pockets to buy various goods from top notch Defence businesses, of course he'll skim some of the gold."

"No, he was rich before this," Anya shook her head. "I know fancy British Purebloods, I've had a year to observe them. The poshest ones insist on all the simplest things being posh as well. This includes parchment, the students from rich, posh British Purebloods use fancy parchment. Even their parents use the same too if the owl letters during breakfast are anything to go by."

"And this is the same fancy parchment?"

"It looks different, it feels different."

She held the parchment under Dimitri's nose.

"It even smells different."

"Yes, so it's a British Pureblood," Dimitri pushed the parchment away. "You're still following that hunch of yours, it's going to cause tunnel vision."

"Jen?" Anya turned to the Asian.

"Your theory is sound," Jen shrugged. "But any theory from a competent operative is going to be sound, regardless of it being right or wrong. As for the parchment itself, I'll admit it's concrete evidence. Might be a clever misdirection, I doubt old man Grey even thinks about using high quality parchment just to deceive someone, and he looks at paper and parchment half the time."

"It adds up," Anya countered. "Did you bring it?"

Jen nodded, removing his backpack and throwing it to Anya. Anya opened it and dug out a folder, laying it beside the parchment.

"No way," Dimitri groaned.

"If this Nemo is sloppy enough to use the parchment in his home, he's sloppy enough to leave fingerprints."

Anya waved her wand and the parchment was showered with golden dust, settling to form handprints and fingerprints. She opened the folder and pulled out a piece of paper filled with fingerprints and names.

"What is that?" Harry asked, eyes wide in shock.

"Fingerprints of Wizengamot members," Anya answered shortly.

"How did you get that?"

Anya responded with an unamused arch of an eyebrow before returning to comparing fingerprints.

"You owe me, Dimitri," Anya grinned. "My hunch is spot on."

"Could be a frame job," Dimitri frowned.

She pointed at a name above a set of fingerprints. Harry over to see the name and promptly gasped. Lucius Malfoy.

"Like I said, it adds up, you don't even have to tell me who sent Malfoy the galleons."

"You win, I'll say what's in your head," Dimitri conceded before tilting his head and speaking in a mocking voice. "Alright Dimitri, what did you and Jen discover last year back in Russia? A White shipment for dark ritual ingredients bound for the British Head of International Magical Cooperation. Under what circumstance was he in last year? Imperiused by a person who assisted in the resurrection of the British dark lord. Which means the Whites had helped the British dark lord then, and it's not a stretch to say they're still helping. Who does Malfoy work for? The British dark lord. So would send gold to Malfoy to buy equipment knowing it would fall in the British dark lord's hands? The Whites."

"Was that supposed to be an impression of me?" Anya snorted. "You're losing it."

"No," Jen shook his head. "That sounds like you when you were ten and Aleks-"

"Lies and slander," Anya cut him off. "Our job here is mostly done, grab all this intel and let's just go and see what Malfoy bought with all those galleons."

Harry followed the group through the compound, his mind spinning at the surge of information. Several others fell dead on the floor as they moved, Harry could hardly keep up mentally. It was too much, the cold-bloodedness ingrained in their sharp and calm movements, the way they could easily exchange quips despite their situation, the fact that this was Anne's life. The hole simply deepened as Lucius Malfoy, and potentially Voldemort, was involved in all this.

As they entered the warehouse and a spell from Dimitri pulled open one of the crates meant for Malfoy, Harry could only stare wide eyed. Dragonhide equipment, from boots to vest, dyed in matte black. He knew dragonhide equipment was rare and expensive, there weren't enough dragons in the world to supply everyone. Lessons from Professor Binns have frequently lauded dragonhide armour as being a cornerstone in seeing through the Auror Corps' victories over goblins rebellions and dark wizards.

Taking in the neatly folded dragonhide equipment, the sheer quantity packed into the crate, Harry knew. You could supply an army with this. Malfoy could supply an army with this. Voldemort could supply an army with this.

Dimitri waved his wand and the other crates opened. Harry could see various vials of substances and rune-covered objects. Not as bad as dragonhide equipment, but still hardly reassuring.

"Are these crates the only shipment Nemo, or Lucius Malfoy, is supposed to receive?" Anya asked.

"No, there's more," Dimitri shook his head. "Assuming Nemo is even Lucius Malfoy, he already bought and received two other orders based on the ledger."

More? Harry remembered the words of Sirius and Lupin back in Grimmauld Place before school had started. Voldemort wanted to build back his army, looking at the sight before him and the words Dimitri had said, Voldemort could well be on his way in achieving that goal.

"How much galleons would all that cost?" Anya asked.

"If all those Black Mark shipments were meant for Malfoy," Jen replied. "Galleons alone, I would guess only half is spent on items from Snyde. Add on the potions, poisons and whatever other items, I would say the Whites invested a lot into this British dark lord."

Black Mark shipment? Harry froze remembering the countless articles he had seen on the Daily Prophet regarding the criminal syndicate from Russia. He pieced together Jen and Dimitri's words, all those raids and interceptions made by British and Russian Aurors had been meant to support Voldemort. The Aurors had been successful, their operations highly publicised by the Daily Prophet, but who knew how many had slipped through the net.

He had to bring this information to someone. Harry racked his brain, thinking of a solution. Umbridge was watching the owls, but he needed to get a letter to Sirius, the Order needed to know the Black Mark had been helping Voldemort. He did not feel like bringing this to Professor Dumbledore, but maybe there was someone else in Hogwarts. Names like Professor McGonagall and Snape came to mind.

"A knut for your thoughts?" Anya asked softly, her first personal interaction with him thus far.

"No… it's just… Sirius needs to know about this," Harry gestured at the crates.

"Why?" Anya stared at him curiously.

"Why?! He's in the fight against Voldemort," Harry exclaimed. "There's a… a group of people committed to fighting against Voldemort, they'll need this information."

"For what?"

"So they could stop Voldemort from getting his hands on this," Harry jabbed a finger at the crates in frustration. Was Anne not understanding the gravity of this situation?

"How?" Anya raised an eyebrow.

"Well…" Harry stumbled. How was he supposed to know how the Order of the Phoenix operated?

"They would-"

"Be here way too late, whoever it is Sirius is with," Anya interrupted matter-of-factly. "In case you haven't noticed, we came here for a reason. You are right here."

She swept her arm across the warehouse.

"Harry, you are in a better position to act than Sirius or whoever else in your fight against Voldemort. Voldemort must not get his hands on this? Well the solution is quite simple, destroy it right here, right now, with your own wand. I see potions and warding equipment, nothing a heavy dose of fire couldn't destroy."

Harry looked at the contents of the crate once more. He had volunteered to join the Order of the Phoenix back in Grimmauld Place, but he was turned down. He wanted to fight Voldemort, to do something against the Death Eaters and here it was. In the middle of the night and a trail of bodies behind, he could contribute.

"Dragonhide armour resists most spells." Harry muttered, lifting his wand.

"Not all, I'll deal with that one," Anya replied, turning to Jen and Dimitri who had been checking the other crates bound for various customers. "What are the other crates?"

"Nothing important," Dimitri answered. "Mainly illicit substances. This is likely Snyde's place to conduct all the illegal deals in his business."

Anya nodded, lifting her wand as well.

A jet of fire lunged out from Anya's wand, slamming against the crate and the eerily dark fire gnawed into the dragonhide ravenously. The spell had looked familiar and as the fire slowly morphed into shapes of ferocious animals, Harry realised where he had seen that spell. It was the colossal snake-like fire Voldemort had unleashed on him back in the graveyard.

"Anne, isn't that dark magic?" Harry grimaced.

"Yes."

"It's dark magic, it's…"

"I don't see your point," Anya responded curtly. "It got rid of the dragonhide gear meant for Malfoy."

Harry did not know how to respond to that, not with so many lines being blurred before his mind. He only watched in silence as his sister eradicated the crate before recalling the flames she had conjured, the fiery animals hissing in protest as they were pulled back into the wand. Taking a deep breath he cast his own spell.

"Incendio."

He had long gone past needing to aim the spell. The fires bent and moved to the slightest nudge of his will, coiling around the crates containing the more destructible items before engulfing them in deep orange flames.

Soon, nothing was left but soot and cinders.

"Burn this warehouse while you're at it," Anya muttered. "Having only the items meant for Malfoy destroyed raises suspicion."

Harry nodded solemnly, a twist of his wand had the fires lance out into the walls and ceiling. Another twist of his wand and the nature of the fire changed, clinging onto the surface like putty as the fire spread.

"Nicely done, Potter," Dimitri whistled. "I doubt even Jen could manipulate fire that well. Jen, Anya, let's move."

They snuck out of the compound, the fire having spread to neighbouring buildings, thus attracting the attention of the patrolling and working wizards. Returning to the open November air, Harry could feel the cold air biting onto his skin.

However, it paled in comparison to the frigid bite in his heart as he watched his sister.

XXXXX

"Harry, mate, wake up."

Harry groaned, tossing and turning. The soft blow of an incoming pillow hit the back of his head.

"Alright. Alright. I'm up," Harry grumbled, sitting up and rubbing his eyes groggily.

Looking around, he saw the familiar four-poster bed he was lying on the familiar red-head who was Ron.

"Finally, you're awake," Ron grinned. "Way past time you are. Come on, breakfast's waiting and even Hermione's waiting. We've got Herbology for the first period and it takes time to get to the greenhouses."

"Yeah, getting up," Harry replied.

Ron gave him a thumbs up and left the dorms. Harry pulled himself out of bed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. Why was it so confusing?

He couldn't remember every detail of last night, it made so little sense. He could recall the 'what's of last night, stalking through… buildings, but the 'who's, 'why's, 'where's, 'when's and 'hows's, they were simply fragments. More memories came up and Harry's face paled, three people who he followed, the cold killing of the wizards who crossed their path. He could not remember who they were or how they killed him, the images of their faces and actions replaced by shards of broken glass.

He remembered some things vividly though, some details had been obscured by broken glass but he remembered. He had snuck through a well-guarded place. The Black Mark had been supplying Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Lucius Malfoy had used their gold to equip the Death Eaters. He had burned most of the items Malfoy had paid for.

But there was someone else, someone else who burned the crate full of dragonhide equipment, someone he had been following.

Yes, over and over again.

Harry remembered his sister was a cold-blooded killer.

CLASSIFIED 05M/06R

This document can only be read by personnel with Level 05M or 06R clearance or above. Personnel without proper authorisation caught possessing or viewing this document or a copy of this document will face an Azkaban sentence of at least 30 years in addition to a Memory Charm being performed.

MINISTRY OF MAGIC

DEPARTMENT OF MYSTERIES

RESEARCH DOCUMENT E5M432F

PROJECT OLD PARCHMENT: EXPERIMENTATION ON PARTIAL MEMORY CHARMS

DATE: IIIIIIIIII 1902

DOCUMENT BY: 06A IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

CONTENT

ABSTRACT - 1

PROJECT SUMMARY - 2

PRIMARY WORKINGS - 4

APPLICATION OF THEORY - 51

RESULTS AND CONCLUSION - 89

ANNEX A - 111

ANNEX B - 145

ANNEX C - 176

ANNEX D - 200

Page 1 of 215

ABSTRACT

The Memory Charm has been an important spell for many personnel within the Ministry of Magic in order to both maintain the Statute of Secrecy and remove sensitive information from the minds of liabilities. As such, it sees extensive usage in the Obliviator Headquarters, the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and the Department of Mysteries.

However, the Department of Mysteries is unique in its practice of performing the Memory Charm internally - where the charm is performed on a fellow Unspeakable - due to the Unspeakable's nature of being exposed to incidents or information of too highly sensitive nature. While this practice ensures the security of sensitive information, there have always been multiple shortfalls, initially noticed by Field Unspeakables.

In missions undertaken by Field Unspeakables, it is standard procedure to perform the Memory Charm on Field Unspeakables whose clearance levels are too low to retain the information of the mission should the mission end up containing highly sensitive information. While the security of the information is maintained, it results in Field Unspeakables losing any field experience gained from that particular mission as any field lessons learned would be removed from their mind. This, combined with the recorded side effects of extensive usage of the Memory Charm and its liability to be broken under torture results in the current procedures being suboptimal.

As such, Project Old Parchment aims to develop a new memory modification spell or improve the existing Memory Charm in order to fix the shortfalls experienced by the Department of Mysteries. This document serves as a record to the process and results of Project Old Parchment. As of the date this document has been recorded, Project Old Parchment has been concluded by 03M Vergilius IIIIIIII as a success. Declaration as a success had been approved by 08M IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII.

Page 110 of 215

Additionally, due to the difference in the key arithmetic spell sequence of eta compared to the other tested charms such as epsilon and zeta, there is a lack of detrimental side effects from extensive and intensive usage unlike the Memory Charm.

Secondly, eta is also rated the highest in terms of the spell's effectiveness and efficiency. The spell pathway of "shattering and shuffling" target memories in eta compared to the conventional "masking" of target memories seen in other tested charms as well as the Memory Charm can be concluded to have the best effectiveness. As observed from the tests (Refer to Annex B for further details), while intensive torture and Legilimency is able to "tear away" the "mask" of all other tested charms, it is observed to be highly improbable that a Legilimens could stably maintain Legilimency long enough to "piece back" the "shattered" memories of a being subjected to test spell eta. Taking into account Omega Working 23, an adult by the age of 21 (the average age of 01 Unspeakables) would have more than sufficient memories in his mind to arithmetically ensure an undecipherable "shuffling", a "shuffling" which can be noted to increase in complexity as the adult gains more memories throughout his years.

Lastly, eta also fulfilled the main intended role of retaining a subject's experience gained while maintaining the security of sensitive information. As seen in experimentation EX22 (Refer to Annex B for further details), subjects who underwent training course IIIIIIII before being subjected to test spell eta (with the caster's intention of removing the details of the training course) were able to recall and correctly apply the lessons learnt while being unable to remember any details of training course IIIIIIII (length of course, location of course, etc.).

Due to the high effectiveness of test spell eta, 08M IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII has requested for test spell eta to be taught and used by Field Unspeakables. The request was approved by Chief Field Unspeakable 09F IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII and is currently in the process of being applied to Level 5 IR Disruption Tactics with test spell eta given the name Redaction Charm.

Additionally, 08M Winston Blight has requested for the promotion of 03M IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII to the rank of 05M. As of the date this document is recorded, the request is still pending.

AN: When I first thought of this fic, it all started off with this chapter. I must say, it turned out slightly different as it started with no plot connection, a factor that understandably changed as the fic developed plot. There was a vibe I was trying to capture and it ended with... more than 7k words, yeesh, that's one and a half of my average chapter. I'll have to revisit this in the future, maybe.

My headcanon is that Marauder's Map will display a name that inherently has more value.

For example, Peter Pettigrew is a decades old name existing from birth, Wormtail is just a nickname and Scabbers is just a several years old name the Weasleys gave which merely acted as an alias. Hence, the map will obviously show Peter Pettigrew.

Anya is a name the character identifies herself with ever since she developed cognisance as a toddler and is the name nearly everyone who knows her identifies with, for all of them: who the heck is Anne Potter? Anne Potter is a name which though born with, only held significant value for a year for a handful of people. The map would have shown her as Anne Potter when she was living with the Potters but by now, Anya overrides the birth name. In the eyes of the universe, Anya would hold more weight than Anne, when the shift in weight occurs is up for debate.

Tom Riddle/Voldemort would most likely be Tom Riddle. Unlike Anya/Anne, he knew he was born Tom Riddle and even though he took the name Voldemort and likely identified himself as Voldemort, a part of him always knew he was the Wool's Orphanage boy named Tom.

jadevoid: Glad you enjoyed and that the augmented SAS is working as intended