As he entered the temporary Headquarters of the Aurors, Harry immediately noted how tense the atmosphere was. "Marvolo!" Abraxas called out to him and he moved towards the blond. The hard expression on his cousin's face wasn't a good sign and a frown settled on his forehead as he reached him. "There's been a third attack." Green eyes widened in shock. "This time at the Waterloo station directed at the muggles." The frown deepened.
"They're involving the muggles already?" The Auror had concluded days ago that they would involve them eventually, but had hoped it wouldn't be for the near future. Malfoy nodded with a grim face.
"Our Lord's finishing up interrogating the posing gardener of the Fawleys." He signalled behind him with his head towards the lift.
"You've caught him already? Wasn't he in hiding?" Abraxas smirked at his question.
"No, to keep his cover going he had to accept the magical track device the firm offers for privacy protection."
"He hadn't removed it yet?"
"It isn't that easy to remove," the blond shook his head, "and he was prepared to kill himself with poison when he was apprehended." Harry frowned at that.
"Meaning the organization's prepared to dispose itself of its members," he stated and a grim look appeared on Malfoy's face.
"Yes, it seems death is preferred over capture or simply trying to escape."
"Did the prisoner reveal the organization's plans?"
"Not that, but he was more than glad to reveal its intent." That got the Auror's attention. "Azac is going to succeed where Grindelwald failed! They're going to overthrow us and turn the muggles into the minority slaves they are! Exact words," the blond added for effect and Harry simply shook his head.
'Always the same story,' he sighed and his eyes zoomed in on the Minister when he stepped out of the lift. Without seeming to notice them the Dark Lord moved towards them, only acknowledging them at the last minute.
"The prisoner has been transferred to the new interrogation team," he wearily stated and his right hand man nodded in understanding, while the youngster frowned. He still didn't like what the new interrogation team stood for. It got them to close to the Dark side. "Martin will assign you to your assignments," Tom finally addressed Harry and the Auror nodded in understanding. It hurt a little to be addressed so dismissive, but he could comprehend that the politician was tired and trying to keep the situation professional. "Abraxas," the Minister turned to the blond again, "get some sleep. I expect you back by two o'clock." Malfoy nodded before facing his cousin again.
"Thank you for staying with Lysandra and Lucius," he said to Harry surprise before walking to the exit. As the youngster moved his eyes back to the Dark Lord, he found him simply staring at him in a daze.
"You look tired," he confessed and got a small smile for his worries.
"I'll get some sleep in between," Tom promised and grabbed the Auror's hand. He squeezed it gently before releasing it again and stepped away from him. Harry watched him go with a heavy heart before moving towards his team leader who was talking to his grandfather. Doyle looked just as tired as Tom but also seemed relieved to see them.
"As I was telling Harold," Martin informed Harry as he joined them, "you two will be taking over my position when I'm not around." Green eyes widened at the responsibilities they were giving. "You are the only ones I trust enough to make the right decisions, but of course inform me or the appropriate authorities if something big happens."
'Meaning Zanal or Tom,' the youngster translated. Next fifteen minutes Doyle told them about every Aurors' position and the situation at the moment before also going home. The two Potters divided the jobs amongst them, Harold would stay in the Headquarters while Harry would move around the Ministry to meet with the other departments. If something couldn't be decided between the two of them they would contact Martin or Tom. With these rules set in place they split up and Harry already knew the first department he would pay a visit too. The new interrogation team were going to get the chance to prove their worth.
-THTH-
Seemingly calm Harry walked through the Ministry towards the Department of Interrogation and with every step his curiosity grew. As he reached the dungeon being used by the new team, his hand automatically rose to knock before the wood of the door was even in reach. His skin rasped over the cracks in the wood and immediately transparent eyes appeared a little above his eyelevel.
"Marvolo Remus, acting Head Auror," he stated his temporary elevated rank and the eyes disappeared before the door opened. "Has the prisoner released anything?" the Auror questioned as he entered the room and immediately his eyes fell on Miss Black. 'Naturally,' he scuffed as the woman turned around to the newcomer.
"Mr Remus." She took a step towards him. "You've taken over for Head Auror Doyle," it was a statement, not a question but the youngster nodded either way.
"Has the prisoner released anything?" he asked again and the woman gave a positive answer to his surprise.
"Only a couple of minutes ago, he informed us that there will be a fourth attack," Elladora answered while gesturing him to follow her. She walked to the adjunct room and opened the door, signalling for him to enter first. Harry eyed her for a moment but her expression didn't reveal anything and stepped inside. Immediately the smell of urine assaulted his nose and it took him a moment to realize blood was the other dominant odour in the room. Holding his breath he took another step inside the dark room, waiting for the lights to jump on. Miss Black entered behind him and lightened a couple of flying oil lamps to his surprise. The idea that he was standing in a dungeon of the Middle Age entered his mind as he stared at the damp stone walls and he immediately corrected himself.
'It would be torches!' Green eyes moved from the walls to the centre of the room where a man hung in midair with a bucket of water floating above him, releasing drop by drop on the same spot on his head. The dead eyes staring at him made a shiver run op his spine. 'They've broken him,' Harry recognized the look all too well and slowly took in the state of the man. 'They must have just cleaned him up,' his mind supplied as the little of clothing the prisoner was still wearing, was drenched in blood while his skin only showed healing scares.
"You've gotten time to recover," Elladora raised her voice to the prisoner, whose eyes slowly moved to her. With a wave of her wand, Black removed the bucket from above his head.
'Was that supposed to be an act of kindness?' the youngster wondered as he glanced at her with a frown.
"Tell us now where the next attack is going to take place!" she demanded and the man painfully swallowed. With a sigh Elladora suddenly walked to the side of the room and returned with a glass of water. With disbelieve the Auror watched her help the prisoner drink small sips.
'What kind of technique is this? Reward the prisoner for betraying his organization?' Harry had trouble believing what he was seeing, but somehow it set him at ease. 'Don't be fooled, Harry! They're still torturing people!' his rational mind supplied but his heart wanted to believe that it took them back in the direction of the Light side, even a little bit.
"Every train station…" the prisoner's whispering voice pulled him from his inner dilemma and he looked shocked at Elladora. Her face looked blank but her eyes had widened a little.
"How?" the youngster stepped closer to the man in the centre of the room and the dead eyes swiftly turned to him with fright. "How are they distributing the weapons?" Harry questioned as the dead eyes glanced at Miss Black before a tongue lapped at the lips underneath them.
"Muggle drivers…" he mumbled and the Auror straightened himself, not having noticed he had started leaning forward in what must have been an intimidating stance for the prisoner.
"Of course…" A light bulb went off in his head and he rapidly turned around before striding out of the dungeon. Elladora was quick to follow him and he waited for her to close the door behind her before revealing his thoughts. "Muggles' transportations are perfect for this kind of crime. We barely check them as they're inferiors to ours and take too much time – increasing the chance of capture – and the muggles wouldn't recognize a magical device if it stares them in the face!" The green eyes of Miss Black widened once more and reluctantly she nodded her agreement. "Find out which transportations they are using and what the weapons actually looks like. They must have cloaked them," Harry ordered and the torture expert seemed glad to be able to follow orders.
"Will do, Sir," she added the last with hesitation, but didn't take it back and turned around before disappearing into the dungeon again. The youngster decided not to mind it and rapidly made his way back to the Headquarters of the Aurors.
-THTH-
Harold's face turned into a grimace as he listened to his grandson's findings. "There are so many way of transportations. It's impossible to search them all if the weapons are cloaked."
"We could get the muggles to help us," Harry suggested and his grandfather nodded.
"Yes, they can slow down the culprits until we find out what we are looking for, but the chance they'll get past them is still big." The youngster could see the other's mind racing. "Go to the Minister and have him start the procedure," the oldest Potter decided. "Getting the muggle forces to work with us won't be that easy." His hand rose to ruffle in his hair. "I'll go see if our scientists have something that could help," he suggested and Harry nodded.
"All right," and both moved to the lift while announcing their destinations at their colleagues. The Department of Science was only two levels higher than their temporarily Headquarters and Harold gave his grandson a last look and nod before stepping out of the lift. The youngster watched him go as the doors closed and pushed the button for Tom's office. The lift seemed to take longer than normal and the Auror was getting irritated. Once it hit the requested level it slowly opened and Harry stormed out when the opening was big enough. Ms Grelyon looked up in surprise as he practically ran towards her.
"Is Tom in?" She simply nodded, not saying anything to stop him when he moved to the door. As on cue it opened and the Dark Lord gave him a surprised look that quickly changed into a worried one. "We've found out Azac next plan!" the youngster immediately explained his appearance and the Minister quickly ushered him inside. Only when Tom laid a bundle of papers on his desk, Harry figured he had interrupted the other's work. 'This is important!' he told himself not to feel guilty. "The next attack will be at all the muggle train stations!" Brown eyes widened. "We need time as we don't know with which transportation they will transport it, so we figured we could get the muggles to slow them down," the Auror quickly explained as Tom frowned at the news.
"The weapons could look like anything..." Harry waved his hand in front of the other to stop him.
"Yes, Harold and I already discussed that and don't our scientists have some sort of device that muggles can handle?" The Dark Lord gave him a conflicted look.
"There's a procedure being set up for working with muggles, but it has not been tested yet." Harry's green eyes sparkled.
"Thus this is the perfect time to test it out." Clearly the politician was in doubt.
"If this project fails it will be hard to start up again. It's very important and cannot go wrong!" the Minister clearly stated and Harry felt his hope die down.
"Just how far are they?" he questioned and Tom walked to the cabinet behind him. Using his wand he called for the project's file and lifted it out of the upper drawer. Opening it he scanned the first page before addressing the other again.
"They want to start testing with the muggle police force as tests with squibs where positive."
"They tested it with squibs?" the Auror just had to ask.
"Naturally, they are the link between magical and none magical people," the Dark Lord explained.
"If it works on squibs, shouldn't it also work on muggles?" The youngster silently hoped that he didn't sound stupid.
"Not necessarily, squibs do have the spark for magic, but for some unknown reason it's dormant - this is confidential information of course, we don't want to start an uproar," the Minister quickly added and the Auror nodded in understanding. It seemed he wasn't asking such dumb questions.
"Does that mean that muggleborns have a squib as ancestor?"
"It is believed by some, but as squibs used to be completely erased from family registers, it's hard to proof," Tom sighed and the other bit his lower lip.
"So back to our topic: there's a chance that magical tracking devices used by muggles without squib blood is impossible?" The Dark Lord nodded. "Can't we somehow make it a... small scale testing that doesn't have to come out?" The Dark Lord gave him an intrigued look.
"We could pair up a wizard or witch with a muggle and have some of them test it," Tom suggested and it was clear he had thought about this before. "And for the rest we use the Aurors' procedure."
"Muggles will find it weird if we start waving around with wands," Harry helpfully added and the other grimaced.
"Glamour won't work," the Minister mumbled.
'The wand would flash back to its original shape during the use of a spell,' the Auror remembered from one of his textbooks. 'There must be a solution for this in de future! I can't imagine otherwise.' "What about sticking it in something?" the youngster suddenly asked as thinking about the future made him remember Lucius' wand.
"That could work. There probably still be a flash of light, but it could work," Tom agreed before swiftly walking to the door. "I'll start the procedure." The door got opened and a signal got given to Miss Grelyon. "And contact your Head Auror," the Minister quickly added before rapidly re-taking his steps and grabbed the papers he had been holding before from his desk. Ms Grelyon patiently waited for him by the door and accepted the papers when the politician reached her. "We're starting the muggle aids procedure," the Dark Lord informed her and her eyes widened in surprise. A serious and enthusiastic expression appeared on her face before she nodded and returned to her desk.
"Harold's speaking with the scientists as we speak," Harry remembered and the Minister nodded.
"All right, I'll join him in a moment to explain the plan. You go back to the Headquarters and start moving the Aurors in the field to the train stations as much as you can without notice." The Auror gave a short agreeing answer and moved away from the Dark Lord, back towards the lift.
-THTH-
"Harold!" Tom called as he entered the domain of the scientists and his old school rival turned to him, away from the Head Scientist he was talking too.
"You've heard from Marvolo?" Potter asked and the Minister nodded.
"Yes, and we've come up with a plan," the Dark Lord addressed both the Auror and scientist. Quickly he informed them and with a couple of pointers from the researcher the plan was doable.
"We'll start working on the disguises immediately and have as many of the tests devices ready as we can," the Head Scientist promised and swiftly moved to his team. The politician nodded at his back before turning to the Auror.
"You should go and help Marvolo with positioning the Aurors," he ordered and Harold gave him a look before complying. With the Auror gone Tom moved deeper into the Department of Science towards the lab and let his mind wander over his to-do list. 'Can't continue without Prince's answer, Cornelius has been informed and-" his train of thoughts stopped as he eyed the newest member of the R&D team.
"My Lord!" Alistair happily greeted and the Dark Lord raised an eyebrow. The man might have become a friend of Harry's, but he was never going to like someone who tried to come between them.
"Alistair." He wasn't going to be unfriendly as he might need the Stromay's vote in the future. His boy had practically forced him to accept his love rival in the group. The politician couldn't deny that the man brought opportunities to Seize that no one else could provide and it would be unprofessional to keep him out because of personal reasons. And as Alistair had shown an interest in science, Tom had seemed it fit to add him to the R&D team. It helped to always have someone to defend his ideas when he couldn't attend himself. Honestly, Ignatius had given him the idea when he had been talking to Harry on one of his visits from France. Apparently Parkinson's father-in-law had had some problems with a couple of wizards stationed on a site in China and when things were at their worst had sent his nephew. It wasn't known the newbie was the boss' nephew and got accepted in the group almost immediately. After a couple of months the nephew started putting doubts in the workers' minds and got the main initiator fired. It was a brilliant strategy the Dark Lord more than gladly introduced to his own environment. Strategic every department was getting a member of Seize added to their midst.
"Are you feeling at home already?" Tom questioned and Stromay answered positively. "That's good to hear, if you would excuse me." With a cold smile on his lips the politician turned away, but Alistair stopped him.
"The devices won't work." That got Tom's attention and he gave the other a look to continue. A smirk played on Stromay's lips and he signalled for the Minister to follow him. Alistair led him to a small empty office with three desks and rolled open a large paper that was stashed in a tube. "There's a magical energy source necessary for the device to work," the scientist simply pointed to the start of the equations beside the schematics on the paper. "Energy can't be created out of nothing as we all know." The Dark Lord's face darkened as he nodded.
"Why didn't your Head inform me?" he questioned with a dangerous hint in his voice.
"He's a pureblood known to hate muggles and..." Alistair hesitated and brown eyes demanded him to continue. "There are rumours he sided with Grindelwald during the war. I don't know if it's true, they're just rumours," Stromay quickly defended himself. Tom knew that the Head Scientist found muggles inferior creatures, but was known not to bother himself with them.
"What for energy source do the devices need?"
"Something magical, it could be a magical object or a person or a person's secretions like blood or such." The Minister nodded in understanding and immediately decided that the Head of the R&D team would be the volunteer.
"Get everything ready, I'll be back," the Dark Lord stated and took hold of the plan. "I'm taking this with me," it wasn't a question, but he did wait for a nod of approval. Assured the scientists didn't need the large plan Tom rolled it up again and strode away with it as he put it back in the tube. Only seeing two other scientists at work, he walked through the department to the lift. Entering, he pushed the button for the Department of Interrogation and saw the Head Scientist appear in his view before the door closed. Once at the requested level, his feet carried him to the right dungeon and his hand rose to knock on the wooden door. Transparent eyes appeared and immediately disappeared when the Minister got recognized. The door opened and he strode inside past the wizard towards Elladora.
"My Lord," Miss Black sounded surprised to see him.
"I heard that the prisoner is talking."
"Yes, but magical barriers in his mind are keeping us from the details we need to know," the woman said with a grimace and Tom pointed to the cell.
"May I?"
"With my pleasure," Elladora smiled and stepped to the door. Opening it, she showed a bloody mess of a person.
"Did… anyone see him like this?" 'Did Harry!' was the real question.
"No, he gets a make-over when someone visits," Miss Black assured him and the Dark Lord nodded.
"Then let's start!" He stepped inside and pulled his wand as the door closed behind him.
-THTH-
Trying to wipe blood of his sleeve, Tom evilly smiled at his victim. 'One more push and I'm through." His wand rose again and the prisoner immediately started begging his Mistress for help.
"It will be over soon," Elladora cooed. "It's all the fault of Azac for experimenting with your brain." The prisoner agreed before coughing up blood again. The Dark Lord bumped against the barrier in his victim's mind and kept prodding until he found the weak spot. Every barrier had one, you just needed to know how to find it. Suddenly the obstruction was gone and he seemed to fall into a tube of memories.
"How's Azac going to attack the muggle train stations!" he demanded and one of the memories surfaced. He found himself in a small meeting area, but sadly enough couldn't clearly see the faces of the others present.
"Our part are the trains," he heard someone say as his attention moved to a board containing a map of London. Every station was signalled but only two had small trains sticking to them. "It will happen at four-thirty," the voice continued and everyone nodded before the memory faded. Carefully, Tom retreated out of the prisoner's mind and blinked at Miss Black who was leaning awfully close over him.
"You're nose's bleeding," she explained without retreating and the napkin in her hand got the Minister attention before his brown orbs moved up at her face again. Meeting her green eyes, he could see the concern in them and immediately Harry sprung to mind. He couldn't deny just how alike those two sometimes looked. His fingers started rising as blood dripped on his upper lip and he licked it up on reflex, still staring in those eyes. Responding to the movement the green eyes darkened with lust and Tom shot out of his thoughts. Those weren't Harry's eyes any longer; the lust didn't contain the depth of want and love his boy's green eyes always radiated. Slowly his fingers continued their way upwards – he hadn't even noticed they had stopped - and squeezed his nose wings together while his other hand accepted the napkin, still hanging midair.
"They split up the information. Two stations will be attack by train at four-thirty," he said while looking away from Miss Black. He knew she was attracted to him and with her looking like his boy, he couldn't deny the feeling was mutual. He respected her as a person and friend, but never was he crossing that line.
"During rush-hour," the woman had recovered herself and started closing the prisoner's wounds.
"Yes, making we still have five and a half hour to figure out the other transportations," he calculated as his brown eyes watched the woman help the prisoner drink some water. The man couldn't have looked more grateful than he did now. "I'm going to the Headquarters of the Aurors," he announced and Elladora glanced at him with a nod before continuing her cooing.
-THTH-
Tom got directed to a small office when he asked for the Head Auror and found his boy together with Harold inside as he entered. Only when the door closed behind him did he see Zanal hiding behind it. The alleged deceased Head Auror greeted him and walked closer to his subordinates, who were standing around a desk in the centre of the room. Brown eyes followed the movement and automatically found Harry as his eyes reached the desk. Green eyes zoom in on his sleeve and a frown settled above them as they noted the blood. 'Should have cleaned up before coming here!' the Dark Lord berated himself, but what's done, is done and decided to ignore it with the hope the youngster didn't ask after it. "The prisoner has revealed that two stations will be hit by train," he announced and the green eyes shot up to meet his.
"And the others," Harold asked.
"He didn't know. Their leaders are smart, the subordinates only know their own part."
"Then it's almost impossible to figure out their plan," Cornelius mumbled.
"Does the Department of Science have some sort of device the muggles can use?" Harry changed the subject.
"Yes, but it has come to my attention that they might not work without magical energy. I've got the equations with me," the Minister raised the tube he was carrying and let the paper slid out before rolled it open on the desk. "This equation has energy that seems to come out of nowhere," he pointed to the start of the equations. "I'd like the Crouch family to check it quickly."
"Sebastian's family?" his boy naturally questioned.
"Yes, they owe us," the politician nodded.
"I'll take it to them," Harold volunteered and Tom nodded while rolling the scroll back up before handing it over. The older Potter immediately set off to work and disappeared from the room.
"What if the devices do need a source?" Zanal asked as he seemed to be debating with himself.
"Then we use one," Tom gave him a look that told him not to worry about that.
"It would still have a time frame, won't it?" his boy reasoned and he nodded.
"Yes, but we know the time of the attack: half past four p.m.," the politician revealed the next piece of information he had.
"So, we have a time, targets and devices with which we can track the weapons. It seems like we can stop this disaster from ever happening," Cornelius summed and you could feel the spirits being raised a little.
"Yeah, this could work," the youngster agreed.
"All right, next course of action would be to figure out the other transportations - we can't dismiss the trains - and set up our muggle force," Zanal decided and Tom agreed with a nod.
"Miss Grelyon's already working on that. Have most of the Aurors been repositioned?" he turned to his boy.
"Yes, most have and the others are on standby," Harry answered with a nod.
"Okay, then once Harold returns we can begin."
R&R