Title: Code of the Griffin
Author: Knife Hand
Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated
Spoilers: Nothing Specific, general for first few books.
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I do not own Hermione, or Luna, or Ginny, or Cho, or... I would buy them all but I am broke.
Summary: From a war ravaged future, someone is sent back in time to change the course of the war.
"Targets spotted. Seven hundred meters and closing." Luna's calm, almost ethereal voice came over the radio.
Hermione checked the disposition of her force. She was concealed behind a large tree, with Neville a few meters off to her left, George was the same distance to her right with Harry and then Cedric spaced on the other side of George. All of them were concealed from the oncoming Death Eaters.
"Confirmed. Team one in position. Team two, sitrep." She said into her throat mike.
"Team two in position. Will move to objective on your signal." Fred replied.
"Confirmed. Spotter, we will go on your mark." She ordered, giving her P90 one last check.
"Rodger." Luna replied.
Luna Lovegood, lay on the ground, the muzzle of her sniper rifle poking through a hole in the log in front of her. She forced her breathing to be slow and even.
The barrel swung slowly as she surveyed the approaching Death Eaters. She knew what they were, and she knew what they meant to do, but this was still hard. She was about to take a life, about to choose who was to die. Suddenly she stopped, and back tracked two Death Eaters. The scar, the eyes. She knew that face, but where?
Then it came, the persistent memory. The face out the window. Running down the hall. Her mother's face. The explosion. The pain of hitting the wall.
Luna's features hardened, morphing into a mask that no one, with one exception, would have ever believed possible on the carefree girl. That man killed her mother, he must die.
Exhale, pause, squeeze. The man fell. BANG.
A Death Eater fell as Luna's shot rang out. Hermione immediately stepped out from behind her tree and her first two bursts cut down two Death Eaters. A half second after Hermione moved, so did the others. George's opening shots turned the top half of another Death Eater into minced meat with the flechette rounds. Two more Death Eaters also took non fatal rounds, before four of them managed to get shield spells up.
"Concentrate fire." Hermione ordered.
Hermione and Neville began pouring all their fire into one of the end shields while George, Harry and Cedric did the same on the other side of the line. One of the Death Eaters behind a shield not under fire began to cast a spell. The Death Eater who was maintaining the shield momentarily dropped it to allow the spell out. Just as the offensive spell was cast, the Death Eater fell, shot through the heart by Luna, causing the spell to go awry.
Suddenly one of the shields failed and three Death Eaters were cut down. The remaining Death Eaters were shaken that these strange muggle weapons could defeat their shields, they began to fall back, still maintaining their shields behind them as they ran.
"Team Two, They are coming. Team one, Cover." Hermione ordered, taking cover behind a tree.
Fred, Ron and Susan were waiting as the routing Death Eaters. Fred had set up his SAW and Ron and Susan were stationed a few feet to either side of him. As the ten remaining Death Eaters emerged from the trees, still shielding their backs from the main force.
Fred, Ron and Susan all waited until the Death Eaters were close, then they opened fire with full force. The heavy staccato of the SAW was mixed with the higher pitched bursts of the MP10's. The final ten Death Eaters did the Dance Macabre, their bodies jerking under the hail of bullets.
"Check them. I'll cover." Fred said.
Susan and Ron moved through the bodies of the Death Eaters, making sure that they were dead. A three round burst rang out and Ron looked over at Susan, who shrugged.
"He was going to die anyway." She said.
"Got a live one." Harry said.
Hermione came and checked the downed Death Eater. He was unconscious, one of the ones who had been injured in the initial attack.
"What's the call, boss?" George asked.
There was a groan from another person. Hermione went over, drawing the Sword of Gryffindor. This Death Eater had been shot in the hip and the gut, the gut wound was bleeding black blood.
"Why did you attack?" Hermione asked.
"Filthy mudblood." The Death Eater spat.
"Look, you got hit in the liver. You will be dead in ten minutes. There is no point in not telling me why." She replied.
He spit in her face. A rustling in the bushes caused six guns to raised on the bushes. Fred, Ron and Susan emerged from the bushes.
"Bloody Hell, you three, we could have shot you. Next time let us know you are coming." Hermione yelled.
"Sorry." The three newcomers said, looking chastised.
"Alright. Check ammo and get ready to move out. Fred, Cedric, pick him up, we'll take him back for questioning." Hermione ordered, indicating to the unconscious Death Eater.
"And him?" Harry asked, nodding to the still groaning man on the ground.
"Leave him. Like I said, he will be dead before we get back to the Castle."
The great doors of the main entrance opened for the returning Order members to reveal a collection of teachers. The Headmaster lead stood in the middle with the four housemasters flanking him.
"Miss Granger. You will explain what is going on and why we were locked inside the castle." Dumbledore demanded.
"Fred, George, Cedric, Harry. Take our 'guest' to the infirmary. Only let madam Pomfrey get him stable. And make sure they take out the bullets first." Hermione ordered. "The rest of you dismissed."
"Miss Granger. I asked you a question." Dumbledore said.
"One, you did not ask her a question." Harry said, having stopped following the others to the infirmary or their dorms. "Secondly, the proper way to address her is Lady Granger, Lady Gryffindor or Your Majesty. Thirdly, she looks about three seconds from ripping your head off and spitting down you're throat. My advice, ask politely or run."
Hermione gave a nod of the head and Harry left her alone with the Professors. She glared in the eyes of both Dumbledore and Snape.
"Professors McGonagall, Flitwick and Sprout. Please let your houses know that any undue badgering of my comrades as to the events of the night will not be tolerated, by myself or them. Ronald, Fred and George Weasley, Cedric Diggory, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood and Susan Bones are all considered to be retainers and under the protection of both House Potter and House Gryffindor."
The heads of house were socked but the three professors nodded slowly.
"And what did happen, Lady Granger, so that we may know what to look for." Professor McGonagall asked.
"We killed nineteen Death Eaters and captured one for interrogation and execution." Hermione said, starting to walk off.
As she approached the stairs she stopped turned and rose her P90, switching it between Dumbledore and Snape.
"I don't know which one of you did it, but either of you try to invade my mind, or any of my comrades and you will envy the Death Eater we captured. The only reason I don't kill you now is I don't want to have to interview for new professors mid way through the school year. It would disrupt the other student's education."
Hermione stalked off towards the Infirmary, to check on the prisoner, muttering to herself in a tone that made Professors Flitwick and Sprout glad they could not hear. All the teachers were glaring daggers at Professor Snape who, after a minute, swept off towards his quarters.
Michelle Waters sat in the Ravenclaw Common room when the portal opened. At first she did not recognise the figure that entered. Michelle was a half blood and her father, her Muggle parent, was in the Army, so she recognised the dappled green uniform as BDU's and the green and black battle paint obscuring the female figures face and darkening her hair. The Sniper's Ghillie cloak, with it's hood lowered, made it look as if she was carrying shrubbery on her back, and her rifle, slung over her right shoulder had a scope and its own Ghillie covering.
"Who are you." One of the prefects answered, moving towards the figure with Cho Chang, one of the "Princesses" of the house, in tow.
Having practiced with her own father, Michelle looked past the war paint and saw who it was.
"Luna?" she said.
Luna and Michelle shared a dorm room together.
"Lovegood?" the prefect asked. "What were you doing? The Headmaster told us all to return to our dorms when that Granger girl caused the ruckus at Dinner."
Luna put her right hand on the pistol that was holstered at her hip and lowered her left to her side. For a second this confused Michelle, then she remembered that Luna was ambidextrous. Watching Luna's left hand she saw the blonde's wand slip out of her sleave and into her hand. Michelle's mother, a left handed Witch, pulled the same trick.
"I was following orders." Luna said, trying to go to her room, but being blocked by the Prefect and Cho.
"Who's orders supersede the Headmasters?" Cho asked, sneering at the younger girl, who calmly drew the pistol from the holster and held it by her side.
Both Cho and the prefect were ignorant of what this action meant.
"The Grand Marshall." Luna replied.
Before anyone could say anything else, the portal again opened and Professor Flitwick entered.
"What is going on here?" he asked, seeing the two girls confronting Luna. "Miss Lovegood, off to bed if you please. Your CO's orders."
The professor was not completely ignorant of Muggle Military terminology. Luna nodded, holstered the pistol and left the common room.
"Well? I'm waiting."
"Miss Chang and Prefect Walters were about three seconds from being shot after they started interrogating Luna." Michelle said, causing the Prefect and Cho to redden in anger.
"Lovegood was out after curfew and refused to answer a Prefect." Walters said.
"She did tell you, you just could not understand the answers." Michelle retorted.
"Enough." Professor Flitwick replied. "From this point on there is to be no more questioning of Miss Lovegood's activities, interference with her movements or bullying, which includes hiding her plain clothes, Miss Chang. Anyone who interferes with Miss Lovegood or any of her non Ravenclaw associates will be severely punished. Unfortunately the punishment will not be handed out by a Professor, nor will it consist of loss of house points or Detention. I dare say it will be something much less enjoyable and possibly permanent."
In the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor common rooms a similar speech was being given by the Head of House, but without the incident that proceeded it. There was no incident in the Hufflepuff common room because their innate loyalty meant that Susan Bones' appearance in military gear only warranted curiosity. In Gryffindor it was because they were used to the crazy antics of the Golden Trio, even before two of them became Ruling Lord and Lady, so Neville and Ron showing up in BDU's with an Assault Rifle and a Submachine gun was almost par for the course.
In the infirmary, Madam Pomfrey gritted her teeth as she went about trying to treat her new patient. Hermione watched her going about her work, not letting her perform any treatment that was not to immediately stabilise the patient and bring consciousness in the wounded man. George and Harry stood near the end of the bed, off to the sides with their weapons trained on the unconscious man, while Fred and Cedric were at parade rest watching the door to make sure no one came too close.
Poppy sighed. It was going to be a long night.
TBC…