"My Lord?" Elladora interrupted the Dark Lord from casting another curse at the prisoner hanging in front of him. Annoyed he turned around and brown eyes warned her it better be important. "Mr Lemauris has arrived." The eyes softened. It was important. Without another word his feet carried him away from the prisoner into the adjacent room. Nodding at the interrogator guarding the door, he pushed open the door to enter the corridor and caught sight of the blood that had completely drenched his sleeve. At the memory of disappointing green eyes, he rapidly removed all evidence of his activities with a quick spell before making his way up to his office. With his charming smile in place he greeted the scientist who was younger than he expected.
"I heard I could help," the man immediately went to the point and Tom knew they would get along.
"I'm certain you've heard of the war we're raging against the Azac group." Lemauris nodded.
"They seemed to want to destroy any opposition to their cause." The politician agreed with a nod. "Although I have to admit that I don't really understand their cause." The Dark Lord simply blinked at the man's confusion. "At first they seemed to want to set up an illegal traffic to sell their weapon, but then they start attacking our community and next the muggles." Brown eyes asked the scientist to continue. "It seems everything is part of a bigger picture."
"Which would be?" The Minister asked, but Lemauris didn't have the answer.
"Maybe the attacks are a way to promote their weapons?" Tom suggested, eager to find out the scientist thinking pattern.
"A buyer would see the shortcomings," Lemauris shook his head. "Which you know or I wouldn't be here," the man retorted with a smirk and the politician gave him an approving smirk of his own.
"Our scientists will be honoured to meet you," the Minister decided that the man had passed the interview.
-THTH-
As Harry walked into the Department of Science he could sense the difference in atmosphere. He was aware of the new help that had arrived and attributed it to his presence.
"Marvolo!" Alistair was the first one to see him and urged the Auror closer. "We're making a lot of progress with Mr Lemauris' help," Stromay smiled as he patted the hunched over man beside him on the back. The man glanced sideways at the touch before his eyes moved over the newcomer to end back at the table in front of him. "When we know how the weapon works, we can create a counter weapon. Preferably a spell that sabotages the mechanism," Alistair explained to his best and a smile pulled at Harry's lips.
"A multiple of Protegos won't be enough, will they?" the youngster joked a little and got a radiating smile for his effort.
"Only if you can surround the weapon," Stromay chuckled and Lemauris glanced at them again while frowning a little.
"I should let you guys continue," the Auror quickly suggested as their guest didn't seem to like the interruption.
"I'll keep you in the loop," Alistair assured him before his attention drifted back to the hunched over man beside him.
-THTH-
Harold glanced backwards as his grandson entered the Headquarters and signalled for his attention. Fearing something bad had happened in his absence, Harry rapidly walked towards him and stopped beside him. "Marvolo, you've got an urgent Floo from Madam Prince." Surprise was the first emotion the youngster felt, but it got swiftly replaced by a bad feeling settling in his stomach. He nodded at his teammate and entered the office they had claimed for the Head Auror. Naturally an office with a fireplace. His feet carried him to the flames and he urgently started a Floo call.
"Marvolo," a voice sounded from the fire.
"Madam Prince," the youngster greeted the old woman politely.
"I'm sorry for the interruption at this awful time, but I fear I don't have much time left." A tired sigh followed the statement.
"Don't say that-" The old woman waved away the protest.
"It's kind of you to say that," she smiled before a serious expression took hold of her face again. "Eileen's pregnant." The reason for her call surfaced. "As you can certainly guess I want to be certain my family will be taking care of." A small smile pulled at Harry's lips.
"You know you can count on us." The old woman's eyes got a sharp glint.
"So you'll be my great-grandchild's godfathers?" The smile grew.
"I've been waiting for that question." Madam Prince smiled at that before a sudden coughing fit hit her. It took a couple of minutes before she got herself under control again. The Auror wanted to ask her if she was all right, but swallowed the words back down as she wouldn't appreciate them. "You want us to take an Unbreakable Vow?" he asked instead and a loud laughter came from the flames with a short cough ending it.
"The suggestion means a lot, but a written contract will be enough."
"You do know that's being a godfather is an honour, don't you?" the youngster had to ask and a smirk appeared on the face in the fire.
"That proves you grew up amongst muggles. It's just another way to bind families and..." Harry blinked at the hesitation. "If Eileen could choose she wouldn't make you godfathers," she confessed and the Auror could see a hint of fear in her eyes.
"You're scared she'll estrange from the magical world." Madam Prince nodded, glad she hadn't had to say it. "Don't worry, you have my word we will make certain that your grandson becomes a great wizard," the youngster promised and the old woman gave a reserved smile. "I'll get you that contract," Harry gave in. He wasn't going to let Eileen keep him away from Severius.
"Thank you," Madam Prince said relieved before a playful smile appeared on her face. "How did you know it's a boy?" The Auror nervously chuckled as reaction.
"Just a lucky guess."
-THTH-
"Everything all right?" Harold asked as his grandson entered the public hall again and Harry pulled a conflicted face.
"Her health is rapidly declining and she's convinced she doesn't have long anymore." The older Potter gave the other a sympathetic look.
"Sadly that's life." The youngster simply nodded as reaction.
"Did the interrogation team find out anything?"
"Yes." Harold seemed to cheer up a little, "they figured out the area where Azac enters the muggle world."
"Has a team been send?" Harry asked eagerly and the other held out a small paper.
"I'm just seeing who's most qualified."
"Thierry's team's good," the youngster suggested.
-THTH-
Striding through the corridor, Tom felt himself getting excited. A thrill seemed to hang in the air and get thicker with every step he took. As he entered the temporarily Headquarters of the Aurors he knew that was the source. The Aurors were clearly in the middle of an operation as they were moving at a high speed around their stations.
"I didn't expect you until we found something." Harold showed up beside him and he gave the man a glance.
"I like being kept in the loop," the Dark Lord charmingly smiled at him and the Auror gifted him with a small smile of his own.
"Signs of activity!" suddenly got their attention and they turned to look at the glass orb. As on cue the Aurors on the scene disappeared from view and not much later two men Apparated in. Tom almost couldn't believe that one of them was Dern.
"Stay with them!" he heard his boy's voice from by the orb. "One Auror is to stay behind to guard the area while waiting on back up!" Harry ordered before turning towards them. Green eyes widened in surprise at the presence of the Minister.
"Fredericus' team?" Harold questioned as his grandson stepped closer to them while nodding. An unspoken conversation seemed to pass between the two Potters before the oldest quietly excused himself.
"I've got a call from Madam Prince," Harry turned his attention to the Dark Lord, who gave him a surprised look back. "She wants a contract that ensures that Eileen will make us godfathers."
'Which can only mean Madam Prince's health is declining rapidly. A pity.' "I'll have Ms Grelyon draw one up." His boy nodded before the youngster's attention got pulled back to his colleagues. As the Auror moved back towards the orb, a sudden burst of magic came from the politician's wand. Ms Grelyon was calling for him to his wonder. Without interrupting the Aurors he stalked back towards the lift with his office as destination.
-THTH-
Ms Grelyon handed out to him the horn of a muggle telephone when he stepped out of the lift. "It's Dern," she urgently said and brown eyebrows rose before his hand pressed the horn against his ear.
"Dern?"
"Minister! Thank Merlin, I've reached you! Listen closely, I don't have a lot of time! They've upgraded their weapon and it can take out people in a small radius of five feet and they want to test it at the Hogwarts train station! Oh, I've got to go!" and the line was dead. With his mind going at a hundred miles Tom turned back to his secretary and looked at the calendar on her desk. In one week school was starting again.
"They're going after the Hogwarts Express." Miss Grelyon's eyes widened at those words. "Warn the muggles!" the Minister ordered while giving the horn of the phone back. The old woman nodded and moved back to her desk. The Dark Lord instead turned around and got back in the lift.
-THTH-
"You're back fast," Harry said surprised as Tom stopped in front of him after entering in a hurry.
"Dern called me," the Dark Lord said and the Auror's eyes widened.
"He contacted you?! How?"
"The muggle telephone in my office."
"You've got a muggle phone in your office?"
Brown eyes met the green confused ones with a hint of disbelieve.
"How do you think we contacted the muggles before?"
"Magic," the youngster answered without hesitation.
"Naturally, we enchanted the device to work without wires."
'Wireless…?' Harry's mind supplied. "Okay, back to Dern," he said while shaking his head.
"Azac's next target is the Hogwarts Express," the Dark Lord revealed and the Auror blinked before freaking out.
"They're going after children next?!" The politician simply nodded.
"Children?" Harold asked as he joined them.
"Azac's attacking the Hogwarts Express," Tom repeated and the older Potter had the same reaction as his grandson.
"They're going after our children?!" the Auror shook his head in disbelieve. "We've got to stop them!" he continued in a mumble before taking a deep breath and put up his work face again. "We've traced Dern and his companion to a warehouse," Harold revealed.
"We believe it might be one of their production plants," Harry added and the Dark Lord pulled an intrigued expression.
"Finding out their production process would be to our advantage."
"We're about to send in our teams," Harold said with a glance at his grandson, who nodded.
"Mr Lemauris should be present." The youngster frowned at the Minister's words. "In case they destroy the evidence," Tom explained.
"He can also point out the important parts he needs to study." Harold added.
"As long as he doesn't interfere with our operation," Harry gave in.
"He's professional enough," Tom assured him and got a disbelieving look back from the youngster.
"How can you be certain? You've only met him a couple of hours ago."
"Don't be jealous, Marvolo," his grandfather chuckled with a pat to his colleague's back.
"I'm not jealous! I'm just worried," Harry defended himself and got a teasing look from the other Auror.
"I'll get Lemauris," the politician smirked and got a playful glare from the youngster before turning away.
"Stop undressing him with your eyes!" the older Potter continued his teasing and the glare moved from the retreating back of the Dark Lord to the Auror.
Suddenly Harry smirked. "I don't need to imagine that." His grandfather simply rolled his eyes as reply and green eyes glanced back to the Minister. Amused brown eyes met his before the lift door became an impenetrable obstacle.
"I suggest that you join our teams," Harold suddenly turned all serious again and his grandson blinked at him in surprise. "The capture of Azac's members is important, just as the process."
"All right," the youngster understood. Knowing which of the two objectives got the upper hand at a certain moment would be easier to determine if he was present.
"I'll inform the teams; you prepare," Harold decided and the other was quick to agree.
-THTH-
"Remember the objectives! Capture and retrieval!" Harry stated once more at the six wizards and three witches in front of him. "Thierry's team will move in from the passage on the east, Fredericus' from the roof and Elisabeth's will go through the front door. I'll be right behind you, Elisabeth and keep sending our observations back to HQ until the gathering of information is over," the last he said while looking at the other woman in Elisabeth's team, who was going to replace him. The nine nodded in understanding and split up. Setting up the spell to transmit multiple pictures at the same time, the youngster enchanted a pen into the magical beacon. It would make the other's magical signals almost undetectable. Getting the signal that all teams were at their positions, he quickly moved to join the front team and launched the attack. First part was to sneak in undetected and gather as much information as they could. The pen in his pocket started heating up as sign at least one team had found what they were looking for.
'Headquarters will be pleased!' Harry moved a little backwards to make exposer because of the beacon minimal. The little enchanted earpiece in his ear started vibrating and asked for more detailed information on some parts. 'Lemauris must have found what he wanted.' He passed on the instructions to the other Aurors and allowed them to move closer to their targets with the warning of not getting caught. From the corner of his eyes he noted movement from the direction of the front door and recognized the witch from Elisabeth's team.
"We're done. Let's switch," she whispered and the youngster nodded. He handed her the earpiece and pen before sneaking in the direction where she came from.
'My turn!' Elisabeth's back came into view at the same time as an alarm started blaring. 'Damn it!' He cursed as the witch and wizard in front of him started shooting spells from their wands. Crawling to the side he assessed the situation and decided they hadn't noticed him. 'I need to stop them from destroying the evidence!' Sneaking a peek around the corner his eyes fell on a raised office on the opposite part of the warehouse. 'That must be the control room.' Making certain he wasn't seen, he ran to nearby wooden boxes and hid behind them.
"The east!" he heard one of Azac's men yell and cursed in silence.
'Thierry's group's also been found!' A red beam suddenly hit the window beside him and his hands flew around his head in an attempt to protect it as his body leaned to the opposite side. Glass fell around him and he waited for a second beam, but nothing came. 'It must have been a stray,' he figured and glanced at the glass. His eyes widened as he saw his reflection in one of them and the control room in another. Unconsciously he moved closer to the mirror image and pulled back when a red haze flashed in the raised office.
'They're destroying it!' his heart skipped a beat and he knew he didn't have the time to sneak to the control room. Taking a deep breath he rapidly took in the path that led to his goal and waited until the enemy closest to him had just started casting a spell. As the first words left the man's lips, the Auror jumped up from his hiding place and run over his envisioned path. From the corner of his eyes he noted the man had seen him and he quickly casted a bad aimed Petrificus Totalus in his direction. The Azac's wizard immediately retaliated with a death curse, which Harry skilfully avoided.
Stopping behind a fallen desk he took a moment to catch his breath before sneaking a peek at his attacker. A green beam almost hit him in the face and he quickly retreated. His breathing quickened; he didn't have time to waste. Suddenly a pencil case beside him levitated before falling down again. Green eyes widened and the grip on the youngster's wand tightened before lessening it again as he found Elisabeth hiding behind a pillar and shelf a little further from him. She signalled from him to the control room before her hand pointed from herself to his attacker.
'She'll take care of him!' Harry understood and nodded before getting ready to run. He made a false move, pretending to run from his protection to attract the villain's attention and next a cry of pain told him Elisabeth had hit him. Immediately his feet pushed against the floor and as fast as he could he moved to the raised office. The metal stairs got closer and suddenly a man appeared on top. At the same time they raised their wands and the Auror aimed to stun him but the beam moved over the enemies' head as the man fell down unconscious. Glancing upwards, a wizard of Fredericus' team moved his wand from the stairs to his surroundings.
'Back up, perfect!' Harry grinned and moved up the stairs, shooting one spell after another at the door opening as he was certain there were more Azac's members still inside. The fact that nobody attacked him back made him suspicious and with a swift movement he hid under a window against the wall beside the door. The smell of burning plastic and metal filled his nostrils and he glanced around the corner. He could see old computers almost completely melted and felt like he's been kicked in the guts. 'We've failed…' A miserable feeling took hold of him and bumped the back of his head against the wall behind him. 'No, we still can capture some!' he encouraged himself and glanced back into the room.
He noted a man hiding behind what was left of one of the punch card readers and raised his wand, but before he could say one word someone suddenly jumped him. Together they fell against the railing of the stairs and green eyes widened when he recognized Dern. The squib used that short moment of surprise to suddenly push the Auror from the stairs with such a hold on the youngster's wanded hand, he also fell down. Harry's head hit the ground hard as Benjamin landed on top of him. Opening his eyes, the youngster found the world moving in an unsteady manner and noted two wobbly men run from the stairs past them.
"Come on!" One of them yelled at Dern, who glanced at them. The Auror tried to get a steady grip on his wand but Benjamin pushed it from his hand and replacing it by a cold cylinder.
"I'm sorry!" the squib whispered before getting up and running after his mates. Forgetting about his wand, Harry tightened his grip on the cylinder and closed his eyes to stop the dizziness.
"Auror Remus, are you all right?" Fredericus suddenly stood beside him and the youngster opened his eyes as his colleague pushed a cloth to the side of his head. "We need to get you out of here!" Fredericus continued and green eyes narrowed at him.
'Why?' he wondered while trying to get up but another rush of dizziness made him almost hit his head again if it wasn't for the other Auror. The cloth moved to the back of his head and Harry groaned as his head started to pound.
"We've secured the area," Elisabeth suddenly joined them and Fredericus signalled her to help him. Together they got their team leader on his feet again.
"What's the situation?" Harry questioned as they made certain he sat steady on a step of the stairs.
"We've captured three men."
"Dern?" The woman shook her head.
"He got away with his two companions." The youngster sighed. He didn't know to be happy the squib's cover wasn't blown or fear the danger he still was in.
"And the information?"
"They destroyed everything," Fredericus said with a look up the stairs. Harry dropped his head in disappointment and eyed his hands. The cylinder hidden in his fist was his only hope, but he couldn't risk showing it while still in enemies' territory.
"Transport the prisoners-" from the corner of his eyes he noted another Auror joining him with blood running dawn his arm, "and the wounded to HQ. A follow up team will be send," he ordered and the other Aurors were quick to comply.
-THTH-
Tom's heart thumped as his feet carried him through the hospital corridor and only slowed down a little when he saw his boy.
"I'm fine," Harry was saying while trying to push away the witch banding his head.
"Let her do her job," the Minister sternly stated and green eyes turned to him.
"I'm fine! Thierry's team needs all the help they can get!"
"They aren't in any life threating danger," the Dark Lord assured the youngster and with a huff the Auror let the witch do her job.
"That arm couldn't be healed," Harry referred to one of the wizards on Thierry's team.
"No, they had to amputate it, but he'll make it. Just like the others!" Tom stated and green eyes glanced at him. Fear could be seen in those eyes. "They knew what they were getting in too. It's the risk of the job," the politician stated as the witch released his boy's head and walked away from them with a short nod at the Minister. "It can also happen to you," the Dark Lord mumbled as he stepped closer to the other and raised his hand before slowly caressing the youngster's cheek. Harry leaned into his touch with a sigh.
"I know… but it doesn't make it easier," the Auror sighed before suddenly briskly turning towards the other. Tom simply blinked at him as his boy gave him a serious look and pulled him in a fierce kiss. Brown eyes widened for a moment before closing and enjoying the sensation. His eyelids wanted to rise the moment he felt something press against the back of his neck, but he kept them lowered. The hand holding the object shifted from his neck to his shoulder, moving teasingly over his arm until it reached his hand and pressed the item in his palm. Closing his fingers over it, the youngster's hand and lips released him.
"We should enjoy the moment then," Harry smiled and Tom let the object slide into his pocket.
"Naturally," the Minister said with another peck to the other's lips before straightening his act again. "I need to go check on the others." The Auror nodded in understanding. "You should rest." The look he received told him his boy clearly didn't like being cooped up in this room. With his eyes he send the youngster a last warning gaze – knowing it probably was futile – before turning away from him.
-THTH-
As Tom stepped towards Miss Grelyon's desk, his hand rose from his pocket and for the first time looked at what Harry had given him. A frown settled on his face as he looked at the cylinder form and felt a breeze as his secretary walked past. Ms Grelyon stopped as she saw him looking at the object in his hand and her eyes widened in surprise.
"A magnetic drum memory?" she stated in a question and brown eyes turned to her.
"You know what this is?" The greyish woman blinked at him and turned her body towards him while pressing the files in her arms against her chest.
"The muggles use it to memories their punch cards," she explained and the Minister suddenly understood.
"We're going to need such a data-processing machine," he stated while eyeing the object with newfound interest. His secretary nodded in understanding before turning away from him and walking towards her desk.
'Harry's going to need to explain how he got this,' the Dark Lord thought with a smirk as he moved to his office.
R&R