The Ghosts of the Past

Harry was not in a good mood these past few weeks. Ron was still ignoring him and Harry's patience had officially run out last week. Hermione was now effectively a pseudo messenger for the pair and at this point Harry could barely stand to look at Ron. Harry had tried and tried to talk to him and each time the cold look in Ron's eyes made his blood boil. By the end of each exchange Harry's temper always boiled over and things ended up worse than if he just kept his mouth shut. When he grumbled to Luna about it afterwards, she always chided him and his temper. Harry knew he shouldn't lose his temper but he just couldn't help it.

The thing was it wasn't just Ron, the Slytherin's had made these badges that said Potter stinks and he got called names in almost every corridor. The Hufflepuffs were surprisingly cordial with him, Cedric must have been very persuasive. He even caught sight of Cedric ripping a Potter stinks badge off the front of a first year Hufflepuff. But it wasn't the Slytherins that bothered Harry the most, it was the Ravenclaws. It was common knowledge in the school that he was good with magic, he knew many spells that were above his year. The Ravenclaws thought he had used his father's gauntlet to hoodwink the goblet, this combined with the rumor among the school that he was some kind of genius gave them enough "proof" to assume he cheated his way in. This led to Luna receiving copious amounts of teasing from the Ravenclaws, whom most believed she was only with Harry because of his fame. Some even whispered that Luna had been dosing him with love potions. This has culminated into Luna having her things stolen, most commonly her shoes and homework.

Last week after Harry saw Luna walking in the hallways without her shoes, he decided enough was enough. He went to Mcgonagall and Flitwick to bring up the issue, Professor Flitwick said he would look into it but Harry wasn't going to just sit there and hope problems would resolve themselves. With the winter snows coming soon, he wasn't taking any chances so Harry asked Luna to pick out some shoes on the Twilfitt and Tatting's catalogue that she liked and he bought her a few pairs. Harry, who was a firm believer in the old adage that failing to prepare was preparing to fail, decided to put some defensive charms on Luna's new shoes with some help from Hermione of course. The charm they chose was an anti-theft charm which allowed another spell to be triggered when someone tries to steal the item. The pair looked through the possible options and Harry found himself gravitating towards the more nasty ones while Hermione was more inclined to the simple jinxes that didn't do anything major. Hermione ended up chastising him for being over protective and Harry agreed grudgingly to go with a simple shock jinx. Thinking back Harry remembered the quiet seething anger he felt at the thought of Luna having to go through winter without shoes and how he wanted to teach those who would try a lesson they would never forget. It was anger and vindictiveness, something that he knew lived inside him, the last year was a grim reminder for him.

Harry had learned the Reductor Curse, he picked it up in his third year when he thought Sirius was the one that betrayed his parents. The last year was a dark place for Harry, it was the first time he had truly felt hate. He thought he hated the Dursleys but what he felt last year… that was something else entirely. It was white searing hate, the kind of righteous fire that possessed the men of antiquity to seek out their foes not to defeat but to destroy. Thinking back on that time when rage possessed his mind, the time where when he first saw Sirius he had fired his curse with such hatred it had blasted half the room apart. Luckily in his rage he was rash and he missed. Later when he found out what he had nearly done, he felt such shame and fear. He had nearly killed in cold blood, such was the power of rage, granting great power at the cost of reason. Idly, he remembered the first lines of the reading assignment he got in Muggle Studies in his third year, the Iliad or as Professor Burbage calls it a touchstone of the western tradition.

Sing, goddess, of the anger of Achilles, son of Peleus,

Accursed, murderous, cruel and doomed

Accursed Achilles who brought countless pains upon the Achaeans,

Hurled to the house of Hades many strong souls of heroes,

Served them up as carrion for the dogs and all the birds

The poem spoke of a man who was consumed by rage and vanity, a man who was loyal to the last. A man who in his rage and his loyalty sought vengeance and was in turn doomed. So it was a troubled mind that Harry sat in his Muggle Studies class lost in thought.

"Harry, pay attention." Hermione hissed from his left.

"Right sorry." Harry muttered in reply. The first task was coming soon and the stress was starting to get to him. With the dread of the first task, Ron ignoring him and worrying about Luna, Harry was frankly stressed out.

"Now that all of you have a basic understanding of Section 10 and their jurisdiction on the magical world. We will now move on to the first ever Section 10 intervention within the magical world. Now can anyone tell me about Operation Giantsbane?" Professor Burbage asked.

As usual Hermione's hand shot up in an instant, Professor Burbage then went through the usual ritual of having a look around the class to see if anyone else wanted to try. Then Susan Bones raised her hand tentatively.

"Yes Ms Bones. I am sure your mother told you much about it, she helped coordinate it after all." Professor Burbage said. The rest of the class turned to face her, it was common knowledge that Susan's mother was Amelia Bones, the head of Magical Law Enforcement.

"Mum wouldn't tell me too much she did tell me about Operation Grim Dawn." Susan replied meekly.

"Ah yes, Operation Grim Dawn is the larger operation that included Operations Giantsbane and Nightsbane. So tell the class Mrs Bones what you know about Giantsbane." Professor Burbage said.

"It was the killing of giants." Susan replied.

"Yes, in simple terms that is correct. 5 points to Hufflepuff. Now do you know the core directives?" Professor Burbage asked.

"No my mum never told me much about it, said it was a grisly affair and not fit for children." Susan replied.

"Well she is right about it being a grisly affair, it wasn't just the killing of giants, it was the culling of them. There are barely any giants left in Europe, pockets of them are reported to exist in Siberia and the mountain ranges of northern Europe. It is the official stance of the Council of United Magical Nations that the Giants are only a few generations away from extinction all across the globe. This operation comes in the wake of You Know Who's downfall of which he managed to turn many dark creatures to his side. The most numerous of whom were the Giants and Dementors. So the Operations Giantsbane and Nightsbane were endeavouring to cull them to negligible numbers. Now can anyone tell what is the most significant aspect of Operation Giantsbane?" Professor Burbage asked. As expected when one gets into the meat of the details and the nuanced facts there was only one student that would know.

"Yes Granger." Professor Burbage asked after a period of silence.

"It introduced Nullfite weapons that were viewed at the time to be extremely cruel. The outcry was taken up by most of the magical world in spite of how dangerous the giants were." Hermione said.

"And the weapons were?" Professor Burbage asked softly.

"Nullfite Harpoons which were fired from launchers that were mounted on muggle armored vehicles and…" Hermione faltered halfway, her face going a bit green.

"I see you have read about this subject extensively." Professor Burbage said after a few seconds of silence from Hermione.

"The second weapon used was Nullfite Gas." Professor Burbage said as she went over to her desk and picked up a small jar that contained a grey powder.

"This is Nullfite Powder, when dissolved into a liquid and aerosolized it creates a grey gas that is toxic to magical organisms. It is a poison gas plain and simple, an indiscriminate chemical weapon. The plan was to pressure all the giants into one place. When sentient creatures are pressured with extermination it is often that they will attempt to group together for safety. Section 10 and the Aurors office chased the giants into one single location on the british isles, the mountain of Ben Navis in Scotland. When they were sure the mountain held the majority of the giants they surrounded the mountain and dropped Nullfite gas onto the giants who were hiding in a ravine. Just like that in three hours the vast majority of the giants in Britain died. Nullfite Gas plays on a rather unpleasant attribute of Nullfite. All materials with the exception of Nullfite have some magic within them, this magical potential is measured using the Mana Coefficient. The lowest have Mana Coefficients of about 1 to 5 with the higher materials like wand cores having mana coefficients in the thousands. Nullfite however, has what is known as a Mana Void Coefficient, it is the only material known to us that has no magic within it whatsoever. This creates extremely strange and dangerous properties for the material. More will be explored on this in future classes but for now just know this. When Nullfite gas contacts the flesh of magical creatures the particles are absorbed by the victim's body and the Nullfite shreds the binding of the magic and flesh, causing the flesh to rot and liquefy. On contact with the skin it causes corrosion of the flesh, when inhaled it destroys the air passages and the lungs." Professor Burbage explained as she took out a set of photos to the gasps of every student in the class.

The photos showed a small giant chained to a steel wall. It's skin was horribly burnt and covered with black necrotic flesh with gaping wounds that weeped pus. It was a horrific sight and many of the faces of the girls in the class turned green.

"Does anyone know who this is?" Professor Burbage asked. No one raised their hands, their bodies frozen in horror.

"Granger?" Professor Burbage asked.

Hermione flinched when her name was mentioned, Harry suspected she knew but he doubted she wanted to share this part of her knowledge. Hermione was smart and she devoured books like Ron devours eggs at breakfast. She was however, kind and empathetic at heart and often she ends up regretting where her thirst for knowledge leads. Afterall sometimes ignorance truly is bliss. Hermione tearfully shook her head and looked away.

"Very well, this is Grawp the lone survivor of the initial attack. Well calling him a survivor is not strictly true, he succumbed to Nullfite poisoning a few weeks after the attack. The reason he survived was because his mother had pressed Grawp beneath her and shielded him from most of the gas. His mother, identified as the giantess Fridwulfa, had in a surprising show of intelligence covered Grawp's face with her tunic in the hopes of saving him. Grawp was kept alive for as long as possible for study on the effects of Nullfite poisoning. I am sure you have seen this picture before." Professor Burbage said as she took out an old daily prophet clipping.

The photo showed Section 10 dragging Grawp out from under the corpse of Fridwulfa by tying a chain around his chest and pulling him out with a muggle armoured vehicle. The photos below showed scenes of ravine littered with giant corpses. The faces of the giants contorted in grisly shapes of agony and fear. Some had clearly tried to crawl out, others curled up on the ground and some fell where they stood. Judging by the scene on display, the end was not quick for most of the giants.

"This set of photographs released by the international newspapers are what saved the remaining giants. The public outcry was unprecedented, with Section 10 underestimating the empathy of the magical population. Operation Giantsbane was canceled after a few months, but that was after most of the giants have been exterminated all across the globe. There are some critics who have said that Section 10 attempted to have their cake and eat it to. Section 10 only cancelled the operation after most of its objectives were completed, this is perceived by some for Section 10 to reap the public relations benefit of cancelling the operation without losing anything tangible. The official story was that they were deliberating with the other nations since this was an international operation. Naturally reaching an international consensus is difficult and takes some time, although it seems it was just long enough to push the giants to the point of no return. This incident was one of the few times Headmaster Albus Dumbledore truly butted heads with Section 10 on an issue. With our headmaster describing the events as cruel and inhumane. So for your essay this weekend, you will be required to address this ethical dilemma. There is no right answer, there are only well substantiated and unsubstantiated answers, if you put forward a compelling argument you will do well. Now please take a copy of the worksheet from my desk before you leave class." Professor Burbage said as she stood up.

Harry still feeling that chill at the base of his spine from those photos walked over and picked up a copy of their homework. He looked down at the parchment and saw the question written in neat rows thanks to a printing press.

Muggle Studies Homework Assignment 7

Operation Giantsbane of 1982 highlights an ethical question that has shaped all future ethical discourse within the magical and muggle communities. You are tasked with writing an essay that is at least five pages long on your personal opinion on the ethical implication, precedents and effects of the incident. You are also required to include a concluding statement on your stance on whether this act is considered ethical. To aid in your discussion further information has been enclosed below and for further guidance you are suggested to tackle this question through the perspective of the Letter versus the Spirit as discussed in chapter three of the textbook. You are encouraged to access library resources to further back up your arguments. If external materials are used you are required to do the relevant citations in the NEWT style, your citations are not included in the minimum page limit.

Below is an excerpt of the transcript of the London Ethics Conference of 1983 after the end of the Operation Giantsbane

Albus Dumbledore: This incident highlights a significant issue on the disconnect of what is perceived to be humane and civilised between the magical and muggle communities. I can say through the lens of a magical individual what has been done to the giants is cruel and incurs unnecessary suffering to the victims, and is by extension unacceptable.

Brigadier General Lee: Headmaster Dumbledore, the approval of this operation was penned by the various nation's magical leadership, your signature was penned on it as well. I myself consulted you for your opinion on the matter. It was agreed internationally that this operation is an acceptable course of action.

Albus Dumbledore: I was under the assumption that Operation Giantsbane would be done in a civilised and merciful way, to alleviate a threat to global peace. I was also under the impression that Operation Giantsbane would be conducted in line with the laws of both the muggle and magical communities. Nullfite gas is considered a chemical weapon and is banned by your laws yet it was used on the giants.

Brigadier General Lee: The laws that cover the rules of war are under the Luxembourg Convention. It's relevant clauses only cover actions in times of war which this was not. There was no declaration of war as the giants do not have a government or any similar body. This operation is done on the assumption that it was categorised as the removal of hazardous animals. You cannot declare war on animals Headmaster Dumbledore, not counting Australia's Emu war which doesn't qualify based on modern standards. In addition the Sentient Being Rights Act also prohibits the use of chemical weapons against sentient creatures. The giants after our assessment do not qualify as sentient creatures. Rat poison is also technically a chemical weapon but is used all the time. Thus no law has been broken, all the actions carried out are in full accordance to the law.

Albus Dumbledore: The fact that they were not considered sentient creatures was not brought up during the discussions. I know several giants that qualify as sentient creatures. I feel along with many of my compatriots that this was intentionally omitted to us. Many of us agreed on the grounds that this operation would be conducted as a necessary act and would be executed in a civilised manner.

Brigadier General Lee: Then I apologise for the misunderstanding, as to why we did not bring up the matter, we assumed the categorisation of their sentience was obvious. Our laws forbid us from carrying out extermination operations on sentient creatures, that would be a considered legally a genocide. As to your point on having association with individuals within the giant population that qualify as sentient creatures. Some giants may qualify but the classification of races within our framework does not account for individuals, only entire species or societies. Our assessment deemed the giants as whole did not qualify.

Albus Dumbledore: Section 10 knew of my associations with some of the giants including the late Fridwulfa. I was told not to warn them of the coming attack in the interests of operational secrecy. If I had known what was to happen I would never have agreed to keep my silence. I assumed that the operation would have been merciful and the civilised giants would have had the chance to be reasoned with. That was the promise given to me by Section 10 yet you dropped Nullfite gas on them.

Brigadier General Lee: Again I apologise for the misunderstanding, I would like to clarify that we did send a message to giants in Ben Navis with an offer for them to surrender. None accepted however, including the Giantess Fridwulfa. The decision to use Nullfite gas was also not made lightly, our scouts reported that the giants were holed up in a defensible position that prevented the use of armoured vehicles. In addition the ravine that they were hiding in would trap the gas and minimise environmental damage, thus making the decision of its use to be a pragmatic consideration not a moral one. If we had not used it we would have to use soldiers which included some of your ministry's Aurors to mount an assault on the giants position, which would have incurred significant casualties to our side based on tactical assessments. Our decision was based on the grounds that we chose to prioritise the lives of our own soldiers over a group that barely scratches the qualification of sentience, over a group that has been sentenced to extermination by an impartial international authority overseen by both magical and non-magical governing bodies.

Albus Dumbldore: Is not the fact that the giants chose such a defensive position proof they possess some sense of organisation and civility?

Brigadier General Lee: If taken out of context of the situation then yes arguably so. However, they did have any personal on watch nor were there any signs of fortifications. The ravine was also one of the more easily accessible locations for gathering individuals. It is likely that the decision to gather in the ravine was merely due to ease of access and convenience. There is insufficient evidence that the choice of the location is based on premeditated tactical decision making.

Albus Dumbledore: I wish to put forward the motion to this conference that the assessments of war, ethics and it's relevant laws be placed under review. It is plainly apparent that this issue is born of our differing opinion on what is ethical. We cannot allow something like this to happen again.

Brigadier General Lee: Section 10 has no objections to the motion, we accept. Once again we at Section 10 formally apologise for the distress we have caused our allies in the magical community. Section 10 will cooperate fully with the United Council of Magical Nations to ensure all parties are clear on the laws and perceptions of both sides.

Conclusions from the conference:

Section 10 were cleared of all allegations

The giants remained categorised as a Non-sentient species

Nullfite gas was banned from all use

A formal apology was penned by Section 10 to the magical community and the giants

The Ben Nevis Agreement was enacted six months after the conference, creating universal ethics laws that both magical and non magical individuals must abide by.

Additional Notes:

This incident is one of the few recorded occurrences of the Purity League being in support of Albus Dumbledore.

Global public opinion was split on ethical discourses, 38% viewing it as ethical, 40% viewing it as unethical and 22% being undecided.

The British Auror office was later stated to be in support of the use of the Nullfite gas saying it no doubt saved the lives of Aurors based on their own tactical assessments.

The overall perception of the international governments was one of support while the organisations such as educational and medical institutions were against the use of Nullfite gas.

Harry looked up from the sheet of paper as he entered the great hall for lunch. Muggle Studies was getting heavier and heavier with each subsequent year both in terms of the amount of content covered and the content itself.

Muggle Studies was one of the so called "Killer Three" subjects. The other two are Fundamentals of Magitech and Muggle Defense Principles. These three were all much more difficult than the other subjects by a significant margin. The difficulty of Muggle Studies was due to the sheer amount of content covered in the subject with the final NEWT exam being a four hour paper. Fundamentals of Magitech was in most student's opinion the hardest of the three as it's theory was extremely difficult and esoteric. In addition it had an extremely high passing mark of 80% with each subsequent grade going up in subsequent five percents. So for an Outstanding it required a grade of 95% on both the theory and practical exams. As for Muggle Defence Principles… well most students just ended up dropping the subject; it had an abysmal NEWTs acquisition average of two students a year out of the cohort.

Naturally Hermione was taking both Fundamentals of Magitech and Muggle Studies, along with eight other subjects. Making her the student with the most subjects in the fourth year… and the fifth year... and the sixth year. Apparently she wanted to take Ancient Runes as well but Professor Mcgonagall shot her down saying Fundamentals of Magitech had the workload of two subjects and as bright as she was there were unfortunately only so many hours in a day.

Honestly… Harry agreed, he had seen Hermione's Magitech homework, it was ridiculously complicated and difficult. A single calculation error causes the entire mana system to fail which could end with just a simple short circuit or in extreme cases an explosion. On the plus side, Hermione was getting really good at Potions thanks to the practice she was getting Magitech. In Potions the most precise unit of measurement was in drops of reagents but Magitech measured fluids in as small units as Centi Liters. To put that into perspective one drop of liquid in Potions is estimated to be around 5 Centi Liters, this made Magitech measurements five times as precise as Potions. Harry once saw a mana capacitor that Hermione was working on short circuit when her conduction fluid input was off by 3 Centi Liters. Since Magitech was so precise and its margin of error so low, it made the precision required in Potions to be child's play to Hermione. If he was to be honest, he had never seen Hermione more focused when she had a piece of Magitech in front of her. She even tied up her bushy hair to minimise distractions and prevent it from blocking her vision. Hermione told him thus far they were just studying the methods of diagnostics for the components of Magitech Artifacts, which was supposed to be the easiest part. She even asked Ron if Mr Weasley would be willing to give her a few consultation sessions over the coming holidays. To which Ron looked at her in concern as she was starting to look more and more like some mad scientist with each subsequent failure on the mana capacitor.

Well, judging by last year and the whole time turner debacle, Harry had a feeling Hermione was biting off more than she could chew. Afterall, if someone took Fundamentals of Magitech they were permitted to take one less subject and Hermione ended up taking two more than what was required. Well that was her business not his. He had enough on his plate as it is with the first task coming up and him having no idea on what was to come. Well he had been preparing but honestly he was worried.

So with a sigh Harry took a seat at the dining table, he helped himself to some of the mince pie and peered down at the small stack of parchements in his bag. How anyone could prepare for something like the first task along with all the homework is beyond him. As he grimaced at the thought he felt a pair of soft hands cover his eyes.

"Guess who?" a dreamy voice said from behind.

"The fairest flower in Hogwarts." Harry replied, to a giggle from behind him.

The hands pulled away and he saw Luna move in a plant a quick kiss on his cheek. Harry laughed and pulled her to sit beside him.

"So what do you want to do today?" Harry asked.

"Oh a walk would be nice. It's not too cold yet. But finish your lunch first." Luna replied with another dreamy smile.

"Sure love." Harry replied to a blush from Luna.

After their meal the pair walked hand in hand to their usual spot by the lake. Harry sat down and the pair paused to look over the calm lake.

"The lake is going to freeze soon." Luna said.

"Yeah…" Harry replied as he pulled Luna closer.

"We should go ice skating when it freezes." Luna said.

"I don't really know how to skate." Harry replied bashfully.

"You've never skated?" Luna asked, surprised.

"Well there are no lakes near Privet Drive." Harry replied with a laugh.

"Then I'll teach you, I would always skate during winter when I was a girl. There's this lake near my home that is perfect for skating. I love it when I skate under the full moon, the whole world is bathed in silver and the ice sparkles like gemstones. It's amazing, we should go someday during Christmas perhaps." Luna said, her silver eyes shining like the moon.

"Yeah that sounds great, I hope you don't mind picking me up off the ice." Harry joked.

"The learning is the most fun part! When you finally get the good glide across the ice, you feel weightless… it's magical." Luna said.

Harry smiled as he leaned forward and gave Luna a kiss on the forehead. Luna blushed as she looked up surprised at the sudden show of affection.

"You're cute when you get excited." Harry said with a laugh as Luna turned scarlet. The pair paused and just looked at each other lost in each other's gaze.

Their little moment was interrupted by the sound of heavy footfalls. Harry looked up to see Hagrid truding towards them.

"Hi Harry, hope I'm not intruding, I wanted to find you in the great hall but Hermiones said you would be here." Hagrid said.

"No it's fine what do you need?" Harry asked, curious. It must be urgent there were alot of opportunities to meet him, if it wasn't urgent Hagrid could have just waited until he bumped into him.

"I know it's sudden but meet me at my cabin tonight around midnight. I got something to show you. Oh yes also bring your invisibility cloak." Hagrid said gleefully.

"Sure…" Harry replied, usually when Hagrid gets excited it involves some creature that is very large and very dangerous.

"Alright don't want to bother you further enjoy yourselves." Hagrid said with a smile and a cheery wave before walking away.

"After midnight? Isn't that dangerous?" Luna asked, her face twisting in worry.

"Don't worry Hagrid wouldn't intentionally put me in danger." Harry replied trying to soothe Luna. That was technically not a lie because Hagrid had put him in less than optimal situations before but it was never intentional.

"Intentionally?" Luna asked, catching on in a heartbeat. Harry groaned internally, he loved the way Luna understood him without needing words to be said but… that understanding could be troublesome.

"Well…" Harry stammered, he really didn't want to lie to Luna but sometimes he felt she was just a bit too sharp.

"Harry…" Luna said sternly.

"Ok look, the past times were accidents, don't worry." Harry replied as he squeezed Luna's hand reassuringly.

"And how do I know there won't be an accident this time?" Luna pressed, narrowing her eyes.

"Well… to be fair the whole idea of accidents are things you don't expect, so technically accidents could happen anywhere and at any time." Harry replied.

"I'm coming with you." Luna said sternly.

"What? No!" Harry blustered.

"So it is going to be dangerous." Luna replied.

"No! I… I don't know but…" Harry sputtered.

"I'm coming with you, maybe that way you'll think twice about doing something stupid." Luna replied, a stern scowl on her face.

"I…" Harry began.

"Meet me outside Ravenclaw tower a quarter to midnight." Luna said, cutting him off.

"But…" Harry started.

"No buts Harry Potter." Luna said.

"Luna…" Harry pleaded.

"You listen to me Harry Potter, you aren't alone in the world you know. There are people that need you... I need you." Luna snapped angry tears forming in her eyes. This silenced Harry as he saw the determined look in her eyes.

"Luna, I… " Harry started softly, but he was cut off when Luna wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into a kiss.

Harry froze as he felt the fierce kiss from Luna, usually their kisses were soft and timid but this one was hot and passionate with a touch of desperation. Harry felt Luna press herself against him and he felt her nibble on the bottom of his lip. Harry feeling this surrendered and closed his eyes, Luna parted her lips and Harry did the same. Then the kiss deepened and Harry felt Luna cling almost desperately onto him as if he would disappear at a moment's notice.

This act more than anything told him all he needed to know about what Luna was feeling. For two whole years she was alone in this school, no friends, her own roommates stealing her belongings, getting bullied and looked down upon. Now she not only had a friend but a boyfriend and Harry knew Luna really cared from the way she clung to him. Harry knew not how she truly felt, for Merlin's sake he didn't even know how he truly felt, but in the back of his mind Harry felt that he loved this peculiar silver blonde girl. So when they finally parted for breath, Harry looked into her misty silver eyes and he gently cupped her cheek.

"I love you…" Harry muttered softly. Luna's eyes widened and the tears held in her eyes came flowing down her cheeks. She let out a weak laugh as she wiped the tears from her face. Harry reached up and gently wiped her tears.

"I love you Luna Lovegood." Harry said again gently.

"I love you too…" Luna croaked out her voice hoarse as she covered his hand that was on her cheek with her own.

Harry pulled her in and their lips met again, this time the kiss was slow and Harry felt Luna seemingly melt into his arms. Her hands clung weakly onto the front of his robes and her head arched back as he deepened the kiss. When they separated Luna leaned her head into his chest and the pair embraced as they leaned against the tree.

"I'll never leave you, I'll always be here for you." Harry said as he stroked her hair.

"Always?" Luna asked weakly.

"Always." Harry said as he pulled Luna a little closer, he felt her heart pounding in her chest as she squeezed closer to him.

"Promise?" Luna said her voice was small and shaky.

"Promise." Harry said as he planted a soft kiss on her head.

The pair spent the rest of lunch break in each other's arms not saying a word, content to feel each other's heart beat. Slowly little by little Luna's heart calmed and so did Harry's until the two of them felt their hearts beating in perfect harmony. When the break ended Harry almost wanted to skip class, but Luna disentangled herself and said they should go. So with a smile he stood up and helped her to her feet. The pair walked back to class hand in hand squeezing each other's hand just a little tighter than when they first came here.

Later that night Harry and Luna headed down to Hagrid's hut huddled under the invisibility cloak. When they arrived at the Hagrid's front door, they were met with Hagird who was wearing the ugliest suit Harry had ever seen. His hair was combed and was lathered in some strange pomade. He also smelled weird, he smelled like a forest, not in the fragrance of fresh pine trees kind of smell, more of an earthy and musky smell. It didn't smell bad, but it didn't smell good either.

"Hi Hagrid." Harry said from under his cloak.

"Alright great you're here, stay under your cloak." Hagrid said hurriedly.

It was then that Harry noticed Hagrid suddenly look out into the distance behind him. He turned and saw Madame Maxine walking towards Hagrid's hut. Hagrid got this faraway look in his eyes and began to walk forward forcing Harry and Luna to duck off to the side. Luna let out a squeak as they nearly fell over but if Hagrid heard her he gave no sign.

"Good evening Monsieur Hagrid." Madam Maxine said airily.

"Bonjour Madame." Hagrid said with a smile.

"You said there was something you wished to show me?" Madame Maxine asked.

"Yes, you are going to love this." Hagrid said eagerly as they turned and began walking towards the forbidden forest.

Harry felt Luna's gaze on his face and he turned to see her looking apprehensively at him.

"It'll be fine." Harry whispered with a reassuring smile as he planted a quick kiss on her cheek. Luna nodded as the pair followed after Hagrid.

As they followed them into the forest they started to hear roars and Harry could see an orange glow appearing in bursts in the distance. When they got closer Harry froze when he saw what was making those roars.

"No…" Luna said in horror as the pair put two and two together. Harry was going to have to fight a dragon for the first task.

"Dragons… your kidding me?" Harry grimaced as he clenched his fists. He felt Luna's grip on his arm tighten like a vice, he turned and saw her face was so pale she looked like a corpse.

"Hagrid, eh? I thought you were coming alone." a man said as he approached. Thought it was dark Harry could make out the red hair, freckles and a strong resemblance to Mr Weasley.

"Hi Charlie, so these are the dragons." Hagrid said cheerfully.

"They are magnificent…" Madame Maxine said as she looked at the four fire breathing monsters.

"I didn't know you were bringing her. Won't that be a problem?" Charlie Weasely said, raising an eyebrow.

"It's fine, she promised she won't say a thing." Hagrid said, waving Charlie's remark away as he gazed at the Dragons.

"If you say so." Charlie replied with a scowl.

"Can we get a closer look?" Madame Maxine asked.

"That would not be a good idea, the dragons can spit fire up to 10 metres away, the Hungarian Horntail over there can shoot up to twenty. I don't envy whoever gets that one, bigger, older, tougher and more vicious than the other three by a wide margin." Charlie replied with a grimace.

"What breeds you got there, Charlie?" Hagrid asked.

"The green one is the Common Welsh Green, the blue small one is a Swedish Short Snout and the red slim one is the Chinese Fireball. They are all nesting mothers, that was the request from the ministry. That restricted our choices somewhat, the biggest one, the Hungarian Horntail wouldn't be our first choice. The other three are class 2 dragons but the Hungarian Horntail is class 3 dragon, still don't feel comfortable putting a student against a class 3 dragon." Charlie said with another grimace.

"Have you ever seen a class 5 dragon?" Hagrid asked eagerly.

"Yeah, trust me Hagrid when you see one of those you won't be smiling. Those old stories of how their wings drown towns in shadow are not much of an exaggeration. The one I saw, a Ryujin Thundercloud in Japan. It was the matriarch of the brood on Mount Fuji, 60 meter wingspan as big as those large muggle planes, it's talons were as big as I am. Easily five times bigger than the Horntail here." Charlies said with a sigh as he jammed his thumb over his shoulder at the roaring Dragon.

"It's no good, stunners on three." one of the wizards shouted as the Horntail shot a jet of flame that narrowly missed one of the wizards struggling with the chains tied to the Horntail.

In a flash of red sparks the Horntail let out one final roar as it reared up on its hind legs and collapsed.

"Ok… hopefully it'll be calmer when it wakes up…" Charlies said as he gazed at the still form of the dragon.

"Then we should be able to approach it, yes?" Madame Maxine asked.

"Erm… well you see, there is another issue…" Charlie said hurriedly.

"What's wrong Charlie, you're acting strange." Hagrid said furrowing his brow.

"Well… ok look you know how Harry isn't supposed to compete right?" Charlie said.

"How could I forget?" Madame Maxine said icily.

"Section 10 had concerns for his safety seeing as he's so young and they were concerned that our safety precautions were not sufficient. So they sent some… experts with a contingency plan." Charlie said uncomfortably.

"Experts?" Hagrid asked.

"Contingency plan?" Madam Maxine asked.

"Look please trust me you need to go, you don't want to meet them, trust me." Charlie half pleaded.

It was then did Harry hear a loud trundling and he looked over to see an armored vehicle trundle into view. Harry looked closely and realised what it was, on the top of the armoured chassis was an open top turret. Where the main gun usually was, there instead was placed a harpoon launcher. The launcher was armed with a black harpoon with a cruel curved blade that was about thrifty centimeters long.

"Nullfite harpoons…" Hagrid said, ashen faced.

Harry felt his blood run cold as he gazed at that weapon, it's most famous use was during the culling of the giants. It was a powerful and cruel weapon designed for one thing, killing large magical creatures.

"Look I just found out today, I thought they were going to use shock collars or something, I never thought they would actually bring something like this." Charlie said hastily.

"Ah Mr Weasley, I was not aware we would be having guests." a Section 10 soldier said as he approached the group.

Harry watched as Charlie closed his eyes and grit his teeth at the sound of that voice. He took a deep breath and turned around to face the soldier.

"Lieutenant Bailey." Charlie said as he turned around to face the soldier.

As he approached Harry saw he was dressed very differently from the other Section 10 soldiers he has seen so far. He wore a large brown trench coat that was open revealing a vest filled with numerous grenades and gun magazines. His uniform also had elbow and knee guards, on his head was a strange helmet with a raised visor. The past Section 10 soldiers he had seen were all dressed in clean, well ironed uniforms, this one was much more rugged and far less glamorous. Harry also noticed that he had multiple patches stitched onto his trench coat.

"Ah you must be Madame Maxine and Mister Rubeus. I am Lieutenant Bailey, Section 10, 1st company 202nd Magical Beast Combat Battalion." Lieutenant Bailey said with a crisp salute.

"Why do you have Nullfite Harpoons?" Madam Maxine asked icily, her tone dripping with venom.

"A safety precaution, we at Section 10 take the safety of minors very seriously. In the event our colleagues are unable to contain the beasts in a timely manner and the students are put at risk, we will use… a more permanent solution." Lieutenant Bailey said nonchalantly ignoring Madame Maxine's obvious hostility.

"You can't just kill them!" Hagrid roared.

"We won't unless as a last resort, don't worry my men and I are very well versed in the use of weaponry such as this." Lieutenant Bailey said as he gestured to the harpoon launcher that was now pointed at one of the roaring dragons.

"Afterall we had a lot of practice a few years ago on our way to Ben Navis." Lieutenant Bailey said off handedly.

Harry saw Hagrid and Madame Maxine flinch at those words. Ben Navis the mountain tomb of the giants… Operation Giantsbane, these were the men that carried out the culling of the giants… It was then that Harry noticed one of the patches stitched on his uniform was a white skull with a gaping mouth which was inhaling grey smoke and whose eyes cried tears of blood. Below the symbol was four letters "OP GB".

"Yes we are the so called Giant Slayers, we have been quite bored recently. Being posted in the Chernobyl exclusion zone culling mutated magical beasts just isn't the same. Prey needs to be a certain size before it gets interesting, don't you agree?" Lieutenant Bailey said with a cruel smile.

Hagrid and Madame Maxine didn't reply, Harry could sense Hagrid was frankly afraid and Madame Maxine was almost bursting with fury.

"Now that I think about it, you aren't supposed to know about the dragons, are you Madam Maxine? The rules clearly state the champions aren't allowed to know about the first task." Lieutenant Bailey asked calmly.

"And what are you implying?" Madam Maxine growled.

"Nothing, I have heard of an interesting hidden tradition of this tournament of yours. I wonder if you are going to follow through with it? Then again, if mister Hagrid is here…" Lieutenant Bailey said as he tapped the side of his helmet and the visor dropped down forming a full face mask. The mask's eyes glowed blue as he looked around and his gaze locked right onto Harry and Luna. The pair froze when they realised they were spotted. Lieutenant Bailey then calmly raised his visor again.

"Well I suppose it doesn't matter, the current situation serves our purposes just fine. Enjoy your evening Mister Hagrid, Madame Maxine." Lieutenant Bailey said with a nod.

"Your purposes?" Madame Maxine asked hotly.

"You see, Madame, my superiors have a vested interest in keeping Mister Potter fully functional. My unit would never have been sent here if Potter was not competing. My commanders couldn't care less if all three of the other champions lost their heads. So you telling your champions doesn't matter to me as long as Potter is informed as well. Which I am sure he will be." Lieutenant Bailey replied calmly.

"How dare you!" Madame Maxine shouted as she drew her wand.

"I would suggest against any rash actions, the headmistress of the illustrious institution of Beauxbatons attacking an officer of Section 10 would be quite the scandal. Especially if she was found potentially cheating on this historic event. Wouldn't you agree?" Lieutenant Bailey said with a smile. Madam Maxine's hand trembled as her hand slowly lowered.

"That's better after all we humans have to be civil, yes? It's been a pleasure to speak to you, have a good night." Lieutenant Bailey said with one last nod as he turned back towards the dragons.

The group stood in silence as they stood stunned.

"Hagrid… I'm sorry I only got word they would be here today. I had no idea…" Charlies said softly.

"It's ok Charlie I should be getting back." Hagrid replied shakily. Hagrid turned and began walking back leaving Madame Maxine standing there alone. As Charlie started to apologise to her as well Harry decided it was time for him to make his exit.

Harry could feel Luna clutching his arm in a vice like grip, he turned to see her wide eyed in shock still staring at the dragons. Harry made to follow Hagrid but he found Luna rooted to the spot.

"Come on let's go." Harry said gently as he tugged Luna lightly snapping her out of her daze. Luna turned and looked at him, her eyes still wide. Harry pulled her into a hug and squeezed her tight.

"It's going to be ok." Harry soothed as he felt Luna give a few nods as she buried her face into his chest.

Harry led Luna back towards the castle but as he walked past Hagird's cabin he could hear the faint sound of crying and Fang whining. Harry paused at the door and wondered for a moment what was going on. Is that Hagrid crying? Was he that bothered by the dragons? Or what Lieutenant Bailey said?

"What the hell?" Harry muttered confused as he gazed at the wooden door.

"Hagird's probably half giant…" Luna muttered quietly from the side.

"What?" Harry sputtered.

"Magical folk don't get so large normally…" Luna replied.

"Maybe he drank a potion or something?" Harry asked, his mind still reeling.

"Giants have larger hands, feet and noses relative to their bodies along with comparatively smaller eyes." Luna replied.

Harry paused as he taught about it, Hagrid did have really large hands relative to his body. He remembers comparing Hagrid's hands to dustbin lids. His nose was also large and he also had small beady eyes. Luna was right… no wonder he was so spooked to see those section 10 soldiers. Hagrid loves magical creatures and in his book dragons must be one of the top few on his list. To find out they were in danger of getting shot by the very same weapons that were used against his mother's line must have been hard.

Harry feeling the squeeze of sympathy on his heart reached out and made to knock on Hagrid's door. Right before he did so he paused, what was he going to say? He just learned about the Giant's massacre this morning, he hasn't even started on the essay. He knew nothing about it…

"Just listen to him." Luna said softly from the side.

"What?" Harry asked.

"Sometimes all people need is someone showing that they care." Luna replied softly.

Harry paused as he looked at Luna, it still amazes him how she seems able to read his mind at times. She was right of course, Harry knew he always over thinks, trying to find the right solution in some complicated logical fashion. When in truth the answer was often so much simpler.

"Thanks, love." Harry said with a smile which Luna returned.

Harry rapped on the door and he heard Fang whine before scratching on the door. Harry waited for a moment but there was no response.

"Hagrid." Harry said through the door, he didn't dare shout as he was technically not supposed to be here. However, again there was no response.

"Hagrid. Open the door." Harry said again this time a bit louder as he took furtive glances around him. Still nothing, now Harry was getting a little annoyed.

"Hagrid. Open the door, don't make me shout at one o'clock in the morning. I am willing to do a week of detentions for this. I swear to god." Harry said a bit louder as he hissed his threat across the door.

This got him some movement as he heard the heavy footfalls in the cabin. Then at last the door opened to reveal a puffy eyed Hagrid. Harry ripped off his cloak to reveal Luna and himself. He saw Hagrid's eyes widen in surprise briefly as he saw Luna before returning back to it's squinted miserable state.

"May we come in?" Harry asked politely.

"Might as well, don't want you two to catch a cold." Hagird said dejectedly.

Harry shuffled in with Luna in tow as they took a seat at the table. It was then that Harry noticed a bottle of Firewhisky on the table. The cork was still in and the glass next to it was dry.

"What's wrong Hagrid?" Harry asked.

"It's nothing, just me being stupid." Hagrid replied.

"Well I'm about to go and fight a dragon so I suppose you're in good company." Harry said.

"Yeah I suppose…" Hagrid replied with a small laugh.

"You want a drink?" Harry asked, looking at the bottle of Firewhisky.

"Nah, I'm just being stupid, what with seeing those… people I just thought…" Hagrid muttered in reply.

"Then perhaps some tea, it is getting cold. The snows should come soon, a few more weeks at most." Harry said as he stood up and went to make some tea. Luna stood up as well and started to help Harry boil the kettle. Soon there were three cups of tea on the table and Harry pushed one in front of Hagrid.

"Thanks…" Hagrid muttered as he took the cup and took a sip.

"What's wrong Hagrid?" Harry asked again.

"It's nothing… no I shouldn't say that. Me pa would be ashamed of me, it's me Ma Harry… she was on Ben Navis when… it happened." Hagrid replied with a sniff.

"I'm sorry." Harry replied, dodging the implication of Hagrid's giant heritage.

"Me brother too, he survived at first when they dropped that horrible gas on them. Those people took him to one of their facilities and… they ran experiments on him…" Hagrid said hoarsely.

"Your brother… wait, your brother is Grawp?" Harry asked, his eyes widening.

"Yeah, I didn't even know about him until the papers started coming in. Dumbledore was furious, I've never seen him so angry. A great man he is, he took the issue straight to the European Union. He even managed to get that damned gas banned. Those damned monsters in Section 10 don't hold anything sacred. They treat lives as if it's something to be used and thrown out. They don't care who they hurt, who they kill to get what they want. They're only slightly better than death eaters if you ask me. The only difference is they try to play along with the rest of us. They play within our rules but they destroy anything that doesn't sit right with them." Hagrid said bitterly.

"I'm sorry about your brother Hagrid, I just learned about Ben Navis this morning in Muggle Studies. I don't know what to think about all that." Harry said with a shake of his head.

"You did?" Hagrid asked, looking up.

"Yeah we're supposed to write an essay on whether we view the Ben Navis incident as ethical or unethical." Harry replied wearily as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"How can anyone say that was ethical?" Hagrid thundered in outrage.

"Apparently public opinion was split on that, there was never a consensus on whether it was ethical or not. Guess that's why we have to write an essay on it. It's mostly an academic paper, we're only in our fourth year and we are not in any position to debate this topic properly." Harry replied with a shrug.

"So what do you think?" Hagrid asked, Harry looked up and caught Hagrid's eye. There was an almost desperate gleam in his eye.

"I don't like it, the gas is an indiscriminate weapon, I can never condone killing groups indiscriminately unless they are some dark creatures like Dementors or something. The way they treated Grawp later seemed wrong as well, it doesn't look like they had any care for his well being; they were using him for their own studies. It was barbaric and ironically an uncivilized action against a group they deemed uncivilised. Pot calling kettle black if you ask me." Harry replied sincerely, to a gentle smile appearing on Hagrid's face.

"You're a good lad Harry…" Hagrid said with a sniff.

"I don't think not condoning a genocide makes one a good person." Harry replied.

"Aye but that's all the more tragic isn't it? When something like this is even up for debate, the world can be a dark place Harry… Lily and James were good and kind and... You Know Who killed them…" Hagrid said with a sniff.

"Voldemort." Harry replied to a flinch from Hagrid.

"Don't say that name." Hagrid trembled.

"If you fear the name how can you hope to fight the real thing?" Harry replied, to a silent Hagrid.

"Yer a brave lad Harry, I wish we didn't have to leave you with those horrible muggles, I wish Lily and James were still here to take care of you." Hagrid replied, his voice filled with sorrow.

"Yeah we wish a lot of things turned out differently, but we don't get to pick our cards, we just play our hand the best we can. Right?" Harry replied with as strong a smile as he could manage.

"Aye, your right, we do the best we can." Hagrid said as he smiled.

"Sure you don't want that drink?" Harry joked as he looked at the bottle.

"Hahaha, nah if I resorted to drink me Pa would roll over in his grave." Hagrid said as he stood up and put the bottle and the glass away. Harry noticed he was standing a lot taller now, as compared to when he opened the door.

"Well it's not all bad, we lose things but we find other things along the way too…" Harry said as he took off his glove and revealed his heavily scarred right arm. As he did so he saw Luna reach out and grasped his right hand.

"Right Luna?" Harry said with a warm smile.

"Right." Luna replied with a giggle.

"Not a bad hand don't you think?" Harry said with a smile.

"Aye not bad at all." Hagrid replied with a chuckle.

Not bad at all…

Author's notes:

Hey guys, hope you liked this chapter, hope this wasn't too dark but I felt it was important to show what kind of organisation Section 10 is. They are a bloodied sword as much as they are a shield. So here is the first big deviation from canon as Grawp was effectively killed off before Harry even started going to Hogwarts.

Anyway hope you enjoyed it and see you guys in the next chapter. Leave a review if you liked it, I always enjoy hearing from my readers.