(Hello everyone I'm back! Wow I can't believe it's been almost 3 years since I updated this story. Anyway if anybody is still reading it or not I'll be doing my best to finish it cuz once again the creative juices are flowing. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and even if you don't please review it)
Out Of The Frying Pand And Into The Fire
Harry left Arthur Weasley's Office and set off to find an Owl with which he could notify Dumbledore of Percy's testimony. Gone were the days of old when the Order of The Phoenix had used the two way mirrors that they used to communicate with each other. The scraping of that method occurred after a mission had gone slightly south and it had been discovered that the mirrors had been compromised. Hermione being the clever witch that she was in the process of creating a new way for them to communicate but it was still in the works so until then the order was forced to communicate via owl.
Having sent his message Harry headed off to find Taj and give him Percy's report, the slightly edited version of it anyway. He wasn't sure whether or not to let Taj know about the possible telepathic link yet, so until he heard from Dumbledore he decided to keep that bit of information to himself. Harry's reason for not telling Taj wasn't that he was un-trustworthy, quite the opposite if there was one person who could be trusted it was Taj, the problem lay in that if Taj new then the Ministry of Magic would know, and having the ministry know was as good as walking up to Voldemort, smacking him across the face and saying by the way I know your secret way of communicating.
Harry entered Taj's office causing the Department head to look up.
"Well Potter?" he asked "You have good news for me I hope?"
Harry shifted on the spot he knew how bad Taj's day had been and knew full well that Percy's testimony or lack there of wasn't going to help. Letting a long sigh out Harry proceeded to tell Taj how the questioning went.
"Perfect! Just perfect, no, you know its just down right splendid" Taj groaned with what almost seemed like a hint of laughter in his voice which gave the impression that Taj was either losing his mind or on the verge of a nervous breakdown. "We have a witness, just one bloody witness..." at this point Taj had risen out of the seat behind his desk and began to pace back and forth finally stopping to face Harry his voice almost at the point of cracking it seemed as its pitch rose from the stress "One Merlin loving witness who as it turn out didn't really witness a single thing of importance, not one single thing!" Harry watched with slightly horrified amusement as Taj who seemed to have finally reached his boiling point looked up into the heavens and let out a roar of frustration, all the while clenching his fists as if menacing the gods until he finally collapsed defeated and worn out back into his chair. Harry wasn't sure whether he should say something or not during the silence that followed (he wasn't at this point sure if he hadn't gone deaf from the roar)
"Ummm..." he tried. Taj let out a long tired sigh the looked up at Harry.
"I'm sorry you had to witness that Potter but as you can imagine I'm sure, this morning has well been a tad..." he paused here as if looking for the correct word.
"Stressful?" Harry offered.
"Try traumatic" Taj commented. "Anyway Potter I wanted to thank you for all your help." He paused once more sighed again then continued "Look Harry, I truly appreciate you coming in to help, it being your vacation time and all, and trust me I feel like a right arse asking you to do more today when I should be sending you home seeing as how you're way over your permitted overtime hours..." but here Harry cut him off.
"Just spit it out, what is it?" he had been expecting this.
"I need you and Dora Tonks to go and back up Longbottom, and Finnigan." Taj explained. "A wizard in Manchester, making some fishy sounding claims. The only reason I'm sending you two as back up is that I have a funny feeling that I just can't shake.
"Very well..." said Harry'
"Tonks has the exact coordinates of where you'll be aparating too, she's waiting for you in the atrium" Taj Informed him. "Like I said before it should be nothing but just in case it isn't..."
"Got it" Harry answered nodding to Taj as he stepped out of the office.
Mixed emotions were tearing Harry's insides up the whole way up to the atrium. On the one hand he was glad to be back at work because work meant that he could take his mind off Voldemort, on the other hand he had wanted to return home to Godric's Hollow as soon as possible in order to help Cho move in and get settled.
When he reached his destination, Harry instantly picked Tonks out of the massive crowd of wizards that were gathered in the Atrium going about there business. This feat in itself wasn't hard since as always Tonks had chosen the most outrageous hair color and style she could think of which on this day consisted of a bright electric blue which was spiked up into a five pointed Mohawk.
"Morning Tonks" Harry greeted as he reached her. "How's life treating you this morning?"
"Harry Potter!" Tonks cried out with a big smile on her face. "What in the world are you doing back at work so soon?" she asked "As I calculated you still have another" but here she was cut off as she tripped on a dust bin. Harry couldn't help but grin as Tonks stood up dusting herself off muttering about "bloody thing came out of nowhere"
"Are you alright Dora?" Harry asked. She nodded brushing off her robs one more time inspecting them for dust.
"My take off was a bit sloppy but I'd give my landing a 10 for style wouldn't you?" She quipped back smiling.
"Yes I must say that was definitely a stunning display of acrobatics that you just gave us" Harry commented grinning.
"Anyway as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted..." with this Tonks shot the dusts bin a venomous glance "I was under the impression that you weren't due back for another 3 weeks Harry, What gives?"
"I wasn't..." Harry sighed "... but there was a matter that required my presence this morning."
"Harry what you're doing isn't healthy" Tonks scolded "I swear you must be the first person since Moody to run over the legal amount of overtime hours, keep this up and you'll burn yourself out.
"I'm well aware of this Tonks but Percy Weasley refused to speak with anybody else which stands to reason since the majority of the Order members that are in the department were on running separate missions for the Order, and as we also know there are a good many aurors in the Ministry's service who don't really serve the Ministry, so long story short it was left up to me. Believe me Tonks I'd much rather be Helping Cho get settled in at Godrics Hollow but it doesn't look like that's going to happen now." Harry groaned.
"Oh my how could I forget that was happening?" Tonks apologised "how is Cho liking the house anyway?" she inquired.
"I couldn't tell you" Harry replied bitterly. "She had only just walked into the door when I received my orders to report to auror headquarters."
"So what was up with old Percy anyways?" Tonks asked him. Harry related the entire tale to Tonks who intently listened. When he was finished she said nothing only nodding her head as if in deep thought. "Well he certainly was very lucky wasn't he?" she concluded. "Anyway shall we be off Mister Potter?" Harry rolled his eyes at the use of "Mister Potter" with a simple nod, they disaparated from the Atrium.
They arrived in Manchester at the designated address, outside a small steel mill that appeared to have been closed down for ages. Instantly a strange feeling came over Harry, the streets were desolate and eerily quiet.
The two of them proceeded to the door of the mill attracted by the sound of the steel chain clanking against the door, Harry glanced down at the old padlock which was completely rusted from what he was sure must have been years of expose to the elements. He reached down absentmindedly flicking the lock with the tips of his fingers, as he did so the two aurors jumped back from the door startled as the lock began to hum and glow a bright shade of green then suddenly as if it were alive, the chain began uncoiling itself from the handles of the door like a snake from a tree branch. The two aurors warily took another few steps back from the door not sure what to expect as the chain continued to unwind it self all the while glowing in that same shade of green.
"Are you getting that uneasy feeling too?" Tonks ventured, Harry was about to answer when suddenly the doors burst open snapping the chain which was still not fully un-wound to bits. The two aurors fell back both covering their faces as the bits of chain flew by them like shrapnel from a grenade. Ears still ringing from the explosion Harry desperately did his best to gather his surroundings in the midst of the pandemonium that was now taking place in the center of the once deadly quiet street. On one side of the street Deatheaters who had obviously been the ones who blasted open the doors had set up behind any bit of cover they could find all the while sending a flurry of spells flying at the Ministry officials. On the other side, Seamus and Neville who it seemed must have been perusing the Deatheaters from inside the mill had also taken up stations on their side of the street and were in turn sending volleys of spells back at their adversaries. Wand in hand Harry just barely dodged a spell from one of the dark wizards on the opposing side of the street as he made his way over to where his companions were.
Seamus and Neville greeted their two colleagues with what could only be described as undying gratitude, at a glace it was evident that both of them were severely battle worn, and their energy was fading.
"THANK THE HEAVENS YOU TWO SHOWED UP!" Neville called out to Harry over the noise as they took cover behind two telephone poles, spells whizzing by. "I DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH LONGER WE COULD HAVE KEPT THIS UP!"
"NO WORRIES MATE!" Harry called back. "WE'VE BEEN IN TIGHTER CORNERS THAN THIS BEFORE AFTER ALL!"
Neville grinned and nodded "ON THREE?" he called out to Harry.
"ON THREE!" Harry answered
"THREE!!!" the two friends yelled spinning out from behind their respective hiding spots each firing spells at whoever they could spot. Harry took out one Deatheater with a well placed stunner that struck his adversary square in the face, while Neville caught two more with an exploding hex that sent the two Deatheaters flying through the air. A shower of curses and hexes rained down on the two young men forcing them back behind their telephone poles.
"THAT'S TWO TO ONE FOR ME POTTER!" Neville taunted Harry "ALL THAT VACATION TIME HAS MADE YOU SOFT I THINK!"
"DON'T BET ON IT!" Harry yelled back "ITS STILL EARLY IN THE GAME AFTER ALL!" with that Harry wheeled around firing a blasting hex that sent 4 Deatheaters spiralling through the air. "HA! THAT'S FIVE TO TWO IN MY FAVOR LONGBOTTOM. TOP THAT!"
"IF YOU TWO WOULDN'T MIND PUTTING THE GAME OF BLAST A DEATHEATER ON HOLD FOR JUST A MOMENT WE COULD USE A HAND HERE!" Seamus' voice called out, No sooner had he said this a hex hit the wall behind him dislodging a piece of masonry which stuck him in the back of the head rendering him unconscious.
"NO!!" Neville cried out forgetting himself he rushed over to where his partner was as if forgetting that they were in the middle of a battle. A slashing curse grazed his leg causing him to cry out in pain as he hit the floor, his leg unable to support his weight. Harry was about run to his two fallen comrade's aid when two canisters landed between himself and them, each leaking a white coloured smoke that enveloped the street. He remembered having seen something similar in a muggle film that he had once snuck a peak at when his aunt and uncle didn't know he was watching, the guards in a prison had tossed similar looking devices to control an unruly group of prisoners,. By the time the realization of what the devices were came to him it was already too late. The smoke burned Harry's lungs and caused his eyes to water uncontrollably as he breathed it in.
"BUBBLEHEAD CHARM HARRY!" Tonks' voice called out to him. He quickly followed the instructions and instantly inhaled a relieving breath of fresh air after a bit of blinking his eyes stopped watering. "VIENTOS!" Tonks called out and a gust of wind blew from the tip of her wand clearing the smoke from the street. Looking around Harry couldn't help but let a frustrated cry escape from inside of him. In the confusion of the smoke all the Deatheaters had escaped taking their wounded with them which meant that there were no prisoners to question.
"Harry I need help here!" Tonks called out to him her voice snapping him back to the moment at hand he rushed over to where Tonks was looking over their two downed comrades. It instantly became clear that Neville was in desperate need of medical attention. The slashing hex had pierced hit upper thigh and he was rapidly loosing blood.
"Alright Harry" Tonks said taking control of the situation "These two need immediate attention" Harry caught a glimpse of Neville and his stomach turned Neville had gone completely pale from the loss of blood. "Harry!" Tonks called out again brining him back out of his own head. "Come on, you grab Seamus I'll take Neville, Lets get them To St. Mungo's before their situations get even worse.
"Right!" Harry answered, he went over to Seamus lifted him over his shoulder, and with one last look over at Tonks, he apparated the two of them out of the street.
As they arrived at the wizard hospital, Tonks called out for aid and the Medi wizards instantly came over and rushed the two injured aurors off to emergency rooms. Tonks looked over at him.
"Are you alright?" she asked.
"I'm fine" he replied "A few scratches here and there but nothing serious, and yourself?"
"I'm alright, rolled my ankle when we arrived but I'll live" Tonks replied.
"One of us should contact Ginny and Lavender, and let them know that Seamus and Neville are here" he paused for a second "Especially Ginny, I think she'd probably have us skinned alive if we were to leave her in the dark about what has happened." Tonks half shuddered and grinned, the Weasley temper was renowned for being especially vicious.
"I'll got notify them Harry" Tonks told him "As for you, I want you to go home and help Cho get settled into her new home. Seriously Harry" Tonks scolded him "Like I told you before, the only auror I know who takes less vacation time than you would be Moody and we both know you don't want to end up paranoid like him, seeing dark wizards everywhere you go." Harry gave her a grateful smile.
"Thank you Tonks, let me know when those two are in stable enough conditions for visitors."
"I'll be sure to let you know, have a good night."
"You too" Harry replied and with that He apparated back to Godric's Hollow.
When Harry arrived home the whole house was dark except for a light coming from the master bedroom, as everyone had gone to bed after a long day of moving furniture. He quietly went upstairs making as little noise as he could on the stairs. When he reached the room he saw that Cho had fallen asleep with the light on a book lay open on her lap with the cover facing up. Harry couldn't help but smile, even all these years after school Ravenclaws never stopped being Ravenclaws, and books were to a Ravenclaw like tea was to the British Empire. He quietly went over and closed the book, marking her page (He knew from previous experience that not marking her page was listed right up there with infidelity on Cho's list of unforgivable crimes) tucked her in, blew out the light, changed into his pyjamas and slid into be next to her. Almost as if she could sense his presence in her sleep she turned over and snuggled into his side resting her head on his shoulder and wrapping her arm over his chest. He grinned as he in turn wrapped his arms around her and fell into the deepest and most peaceful sleep he'd had in a long time.
They awoke the next morning in the same fashion that they had fallen asleep. Cho cradled in Harry's arms, as she awoke Cho looked up at Harry, her eyes fluttering as they grew accustomed to the sunlight that was currently filling their bedroom and flashed him a smile so infectious that Harry soon found it on his face also.
"What time did you get home last night sweetheart?" Cho questioned
"Quite late actually" Harry answered, "How did the move go? Were there any problems? I'm so sorry I wasn't here to help you." But here put a hand over his mouth silencing the river of self conscious babble.
"Shhhhhh" she scolded smiling all the while, she had always found his self conscious mannerism adorable, even though the Harry of today was much more assertive and confident now, once in a while when he would get flustered, or feel self conscious, she could still see that young adolescent school boy who approached her in the corridors of Hogwarts in order to ask her if she would accompany him to the Yule Ball. "The move went fine Harry, although there were a few tense moments when the time came to unpack, but that was all due to various female opinions on Feng Shui."
"I'm guessing that the parties involved included; yourself, Molly Weasley, Ginny Weasley and a certain Mrs. Granger Weasley?" Harry inquired. When Cho nodded he shuddered, he could only imagine how close Godric's Hollow must have come to experiencing another incident as four irate women squared off the men present searching for cover, each of them praying to Merlin that he survive the ordeal unscathed, or worse yet having his opinion asked of them which would mean being drawn into the center of the maelstrom. "Well I'm assuming since the house is still standing that you four came to an agreement?"
"Yes we did" Cho beamed in her head replaying the whole ordeal, and how she had come out on top in the end. You could say what you wanted about the Gryffindor courage, but when it came to rational and logic there was nobody who could best a Ravenclaw, although Hermione had come very close to winning the argument, in the end she had come out on top and in a sense she had claimed and defended what was now to be hers and Harry's home. At this moment Harry snapped her out of her trip down memory lane by asking her a question. "Sorry dear what was that? I was a little distracted"
"I asked you if Ginny was still here." Harry repeated "Neville had a bit of an accident yesterday and he is currently at St. Mungo's, I was going to let her know last night but since I arrived at such a late hour I figured that it was best to let her know in the morning, since the hospital staff wouldn't have let her see him anyway, Weasley temper or not."
"Oh dear is everything alright? What happened?" Cho's expression had instantly changed from one of peace to one of concern.
"They'll both be fine..." Harry assured her. "I'm not at liberty to tell you any details of what occurred, in truth all I can really tell you is that they were injured while they were carrying out Ministry business." He continued apologetically.
"Gotcha!" Cho winked at him in a mischievous manner.
The two of them proceeded to get up and head down the kitchen where a few of the movers were already having breakfast.
"Made yourselves right at home haven't you, you bunch of squatters!?" Harry called out in a scolding yet tongue in cheek fashion.
Ron looked up at him, bacon in his mouth still half chewed "Look here Potter, after you skipped out on all the grunt work yesterday, this coalition of unpaid movers feels we're at least entitled to a little sustenance" he answered in a very matter a fact tone. Hermione and Mrs. Weasley both gave simultaneous huffs in disgust.
"Ronald Weasley I've told you a million times to chew your food before speaking. Your father and I raised you better than that for the love of Merlin!" The Weasley matriarch scolded. Ron was about to answer but now it was Hermione's turn to have a go.
"Seriously Ronald in all the years that I've know you, thirteen years counting from the time we started at Hogwarts till now your table manners have not improved one bit. The manner in which you eat your food is downright unpleasant"
Harry couldn't help but grin as his best friend sighed in defeat under the ire of the two disgruntled females dropping his eyes back to his eggs muttering something about being crucified and burnt.
"Harry dear are you and Cho hungry?" Mrs Weasly asked "there is freshly brewed coffee on the table, and I'll have more eggs and pancakes and bacon ready in a couple minutes."
"Thank you Mrs Weasley" Harry answered with a nod as he and Cho took a seat at the table. "Maybe if we locked here and only let her out at meal times we could eat like this every morning" Harry whispered impishly in Cho's ear.
"Yes it would be nice wouldn't it? Cho grinned at him.
"Only we'd probably have an army of redheads beating the door down once they'd figured out that we had their care giver" Harry sighed with a disappointed look on his face.
"What are you two plotting over there?"Mr. Weasley questioned with a nervous tone.
"Nothing" the two of them answered simultaneously instantly straightening up. They looked at each other and burst into laughter as the rest of the table looked on in bewilderment.
They were half way through breakfast when Ginny came downstairs rubbing her eyes. "Will Neville be down soon Ginny?" Mrs Weasley asked. Harry's stomach went cold as Ginny gave Molly Weasley a confused look answering.
"Neville didn't come home last night. Harry shifted as it seemed that his chair had suddenly lost all comfort, as everyone in the kitchen shifted their gaze at him questioningly.
"Neville and Seamus are at St. Mungo's" Harry said again shifting uncomfortably, it truly felt as though the cushion on his seat and transfigured itself into a chair with needles. The two of them were injured last night during an investigation, they encountered a group of Deatheaters and..."
Ginny cut him off "WHY IN THE WORLD DIDN'T YOU LET ME KNOW LAST NIGHT HARRY JAMES POTTER!?" The entire kitchen seemed to shake under the force of the youngest Weasley's tirade.
Harry looked back up at her knowing full well that even though there was sense in his argument it wasn't going to matter much to her at the moment in her state of rage. "I didn't tell you because the healers told us last night that it would be morning before they could give us any information as to their status, so you didn't stay up all night pacing around a waiting room worrying over something, the outcome of which you have no control over. Now, when you go see Neville today he won't be worried about your welfare at a time when he should be worrying about getting better. Right now Tonks is down there, she promised to send word via Floo as soon as there is any news" He answered surprising even himself at how cool and collected he sounded.
Ginny continued her tirade for a little while longer as she stormed back upstairs the thought of breakfast completely forgotten.
"You're right, that army of redheads would probably destroy this place worse than You Know Who if we kidnapped their matriarch, leave it in shambles and kill us both" Cho whispered slyly in Harry's ear. Harry grinned.
"I'd fight a million ill-tempered redheaded Weasley armies before rather than let them touch a hair on your head." Harry answered kissing her on the forehead.
"Why Mr. Potter I had no idea that you had such a silver tongue in your possession" Cho quipped as she turned a bright shade of pink. Harry grinned even more broadly as he pulled her into a hug. He had truly meant every word of what he'd just said, he would die before he would ever let harm come her way.
An hour later after breakfast had been cleared up and everyone was showered and dressed, they set off for St. Mungo's.
*****
So there you are, another chapter finally up. A little more action to keep you entertained in this chapter, and again I apologise to all of you that were reading this story that it took so long to update I hope you like this chapter. Please read and review
Much love;
El Permanente.
