Blink
Story Description: Voldemort is dead, the Death Eaters disbanded. Harry struck the final blow, but it was his friends that helped him. Harry disappears, Hermione and Ron are stunned. Ron moves on, but Hermione can't shake the fact that there seems to be something wrong. They are both good aurors and soon they are assigned to a case that is connected to a secret group and someone who is determined to dominate the world, just like Voldemort. This new enemy is good, very good. So good in fact, that Harry left because of him. But the golden boy will return, when the world needs him the most...
STANDARD DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Harry Potter story, JK Rowling does. I am merely another author who wishes to write a story based on her stories. I own my made-up characters, places, descriptions, spells, items, and anything else you don't recognize from the original books. The characters in this story are fictional and are used fictitiously by the auther (moi).
Chasing a Shadow
Safehouse
Ministry of Magic, London
Six years and three months since the day Harry left...
7:30am
The Ministry was silent and only a few people were working at this hour. The regular work schedule started at eight in the morning and only those who were really into their jobs came earlier than that. The Ministry was renovated and was far better than before.
The walls were repaired and they had changed the layout of some levels, which made it easier to defend. A new level was built for a new upcoming Ministry agency. Only a few people knew about it because it was supposed to be kept a secret from everyone else, no one was supposed to know.
Hermione was one of the ones who knew, and she was also one of the people who was into her work. She had been there since about seven-fifteen in the morning.
She rubbed her eyes a bit as she sipped a coffee she had gotten from the Starbucks a block away. She loved Starbucks and got coffee there every day. It was like a heavenly drink and it helped to keep her awake during the early morning hours.
She shared the office with Ron, since they were partners, and worked with him on every case. Though she did a lot more work than he did, he was still very helpful and was usually the one to go chasing after the criminals and dueling with them. That didn't mean she didn't have her fair share of fighting.
Her side of the office was immaculately clean. According to Ron, it was too clean. She looked over at Ron's side of the office and shook her head, it was far messier than hers.
Stacks of papers were pushed off to one side of his desk, folders were strewn about across the desk and his mug of pencils, pens, quills, and whatnot had been tipped over and had spilled its contents across the desk. Thankfully, his quill ink wasn't kept there and the folders remained clean.
Two of the drawers of his desk were slightly open and there were more papers and other things there. Hermione wouldn't be surprised if some creature was already breeding somewhere in Ron's part of the room.
He had a file cabinet which was magically enchanced to be two times more spacious inside. Still, even with all that space, he couldn't keep it organized. A few files were in the wrong places and there were some files that were just stuffed into the cabinet, which made it look really messy.
She sighed, he would probably beg her to help him clean up soon. The Auror Inspector was coming the following week and he wouldn't want to get busted down or written up for being disorganized and irresponsible.
Her own desk was neat and everything was orderly. Her coffee cup rested in the middle of the desk, next tothe file of the latest case they had busted. She also had her own mug of pens, pencils, and quills which was neatly arranged and was placed next to two photoframes. She looked at the photographs and smiled.
The first one was of Harry, her, and Ron in the Gryffindor common room. The photo-clones of her, Ron, and Harry were waving back at her and smiling back too. Harry ruffled Ron's hair and got a light punch in return as her photo-clone laughed and waved at her again.
The second photo was that of all the members of the former Dumbledore's Army. They were all smiling and waving as well. She sighed, a few of the ones in the photo were dead, and they didn't know it.
Whenever she looked at the photos, everyone was always happy, and she always wondered why it couldn't be like that in real life.
She flicked her wrist and her wand instantly appeared in her hand. A benefit of being an Auror is that you get all the latest magic gadgets and accessories, and she had gotten a pretty good wand holster which was strapped to her wrist.
She moved it over the file and made a little movement, and soon the file closed and, as if a stamp had landed on it, there was perfect red lettering that read: "CASE SOLVED".
She returned her wand with another flick and opened the file cabinet to place the case file inside. That was when the door opened and her faithful partner strode into the room quite sleepily, a Starbucks cup in his hand. Probably a Capuccino or something.
She smiled and greeted him. "Yeah, good morning to you too..." he replied not too enthusiastically.
He slumped down onto his chair and placed his stuff on the floor, except for his coffee of course, which he put on his overflowing desk. He shoved some files around and actually made a pile of them. This opened up some space for his briefcase and his coffee.
He took a sip and licked his lips, nothing beats good coffee in the morning. He closed his eyes and leaned back on his chair, making it recline.
It was shaping up to be another regular work day for them.
Vienna, Austria
Dubrovnik restuarant
12:24pm
Dubrovnikwas located just opposite Vienna's central Stadtpark and just down the road from Austria's national mint,it is one of Vienna's oldestand most highly regarded Croatian restaurants.
The restaurant was very large and comfortable, the tables were far enough apart that it didn't feel like you were being packed in like a sardine. The ceiling was high and made the restaurant look even bigger and the service and food was excellent. With more than two million inhabitants of the bustling city, it was no wonder the restaurant was packed. It was just a matter of luck that the alcove was open, even luckier was the fact that it was in the farthest corner of the restaurant and it made it easier to talk without fear of someone overhearing them.
Fritz Engelbert sat in a leather alcove in a corner of the restaurant. He sat there, waiting, his hands together and his elbows propped up on the table. A waiter arrived and set down a beer.Fritz thanked him and when the waiter asked if he was ready to order, he told him to come back when his friend arrived. They would order together.
The waiter left and Fritz was left all alone again, his muscles ached slightly from the run he took early that morning. It was about a five mile run, nothing too serious. He had shaved his head, which made him look very formidable. He stood at about six foot five and weighed, the last time he had checked, a decent two-hundred and twenty-eight pounds, most of it muscle.
He had black hair, which, if it was long enough to be seen, didn't really mark him instantly as a German, though he was one. Many people had often misjudged what his nationality was, but he didn't really mind. After all, the blood in that part of Europe was pretty mixed and there was a lot of German blood running in the other countries surrounding it. Especially here in Austria.
He waited, his large frame still in the alcove. He sipped some of his beer. He looked at his watch, twelve fourty. He was late.
As if reading his thoughts, a man came in, the one he had been waiting for. At least he hadn't backed out of the deal.
The man was short, a mere five feet four inches, and when he took of his pretty expensive looking hat, he was getting bald, with gray and white hair mixed at the sides and back of his head. He wore an expensive suit with a nice blue tie that made him look like who he was, a rich man. Two men came in after him, both wore sunglasses and didn't take them off, even in the comfortably lit restaurant.
Fritzhad checked them out, and they appeared to be former KGB agents. Russians, how he hated them. They had come to his fatherland and destroyed and killed many! He smiled though, they were not going to be a problem later on. After all, he could take them out quite easily. These 'bodyguards' of his were fat and had lost much of their former strength.
They were not to be taken lightly though, they still had good instincts and were still quite smart. Such is the training of the KGB.
The short man scanned the restaurant and spotted Fritz. He immediately walked over and smiled in greeting. Fritz nodded.
The two ex-KGB agents split up. One stayed near the front door and Fritz guessed that there were others at the back. This man spent thousands if not millionsof Euros on security, and he was also in constant fear of death. He loved life, and spending money to preserve it didn't bother him the slightest.
He sat down across from Fritz as the other ex-KGB man stood a few feet away, his sunglasses covering his eyes. Fritz knew that he was being checked out from the corner of his eye, he felt the man's eyes on him even from behind the sunglasses.
The short man didn't even look at the menu as the waiter came to take their orders.
"The fish is good, here. I recommend it," he said in fluent German, his voice surprisingly low for such a small frame.
Fritz shook his head, "I am allergic to most seafood."
"Ah, a pity. Well, what would you like then? I shall pay..." he replied, thinking that Fritz thought that he was going to pay the bill. It was expensive here after all.
"I shall just have some more beer, if you don't mind."
"Very well."
The waiter wrote down the man's orders and left for the kitchens. Fritz looked at the old man that set across from him. There were a few crease lines on his face, which showed that he was spending a lot of money on making himself look younger than he really was. After all, you don't really look that good at sixty unless you are rich enough to make yourself look that good.
He had dark green eyes that seemed black in the relative darkness of the restaurant. From the file he had on him, Fritz knew the man was dying, and that was why he had contacted Fritz' master. They had made a deal, and so he was to discuss it with the man.
They sat in silence, each sizing the other up. When the food came, they finally broke the silence.
"You know why I have come. My master told me the details and I am here now to represent him," Fritz began.
The old man smiled and nodded as he swallowed some of the fish and vegetables. Straight to business these men. No time for a little chat.
"You know the details? Yes?" he asked Fritz, drinking some water.
Fritz nodded. The old man was contracted by his master to use his vast funds to do certain things. Buy weapons, men, materials, and other things. He wondered what his master needed use of them for, but it was better not to question.
"Good, that saves some breath from explaining. He motioned to the bodyguard that stood just a few feet away, and that was when Fritz noticed he had a suitcase handcuffed to his wrist. It was hidded very carefully, but he had spotted the brief exposure of the metal as the bodyguard turned and walked towards them.
He placed the briefcase on the table and took the handcuffs off. He gave it to Fritz, who accepted it and placed it beside him.
"That, is a small part of what I am capable of doing for your master. Tell him that there will be more once he starts to give me some of the things I have asked for in exchange," he informed Fritz, who nodded.
That would mean another trip back here to the old man, another few nights in Austria. That would be good, a little rest for him was always good, for his master was always moving him around, always sending him to do things.
Well, he would get his reward soon enough, if he got this deal through, he was going to be in the inner circle of his master and he would soon be given even greater responsibilites. He was looking forward to that.
They talked a few more times about the deal, but it was evident that the bald man was reluctant to give information out, even in such a public and inconspicuous place. After all, there were many listening devices that could hone in on their location and voiceprints and the old man didn't want to risk that. He was, after all, a lover of life. His life, to be exact.
Fritz stood, briefcase in hand, and shook hands with the old man. It was all an act though, they had to make it look legitimate and so they planned on making it look like a business deal. Well, it was kind of a business deal of sorts.
He left the restaurant, passing by ex-KGB number two in the process and making the Russian turn and look at him. Evidently, they knew he was German, and they shared the same feelings that he harbored for them. How he hated Russians.
Ministry of Magic, London
1:46pm
Hermione sat at her desk as she skimmed through the Daily Prophet. Nothing interesting was on the news. She always looked through it, just in case there was an article about Harry...or someone that looked like him anyway. Hermione still hadn't given up hope on finding him. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had not helped at all, they said they were sworn to secrecy, a wizard's oath even!
Whatever it was, requiring those with knowledge to have a wizard's oath to keep it secret meant it was really important. Maybe Voldemort wasn't dead?
No, that wasn't possible. She had seen the old fart die herself. She looked up as Ron came in again, a smile on his face. He must have seen her questioning look because he spoke, "I just asked Emily Aldridge out and she said yes!"
"Oh," Hermione said, slightly surprised.
Emily Aldridge was about a year older than both of them. She was a little taller than Hermione and, she had to admit, was very attractive. She had flowing brown hair and bright steel-gray eyes that made her a force of a woman. She was somewhat of a snob and used her looks to get what she wanted. Hermione understood her, but that didn't mean she had to like her.
"Oh? OH? It's more than oh. It's something like...OH YEAH!" he exclaimed, positively excited. He smiled and sat down, picked up his quill, and began to write up some paperwork.
Hermione shook her head and smiled at the enthusiasm of her friend, he was, after all, a guy, and so he was entitled to acting like that.
At about two o'clock, someone knocked on the door. "Come in!" Ron said, beating Hermione to it.
The door opened and in came one of the rareblack Aurors in the Ministry, Shaklebolt Kingsley. Hermione heard that, overseas, there werea lot more black wizards in the employ of foreign governments, but for some reason the Ministry of Magic, under that git of a man, Cornelius Fudge, had selected only a few to join the Ministry in official work.
Maybe another organization was in order to help them, but then again, it wasn't an affair she would like to meddle in. She had heard that they were going to start rallying and protesting that problem to the magical community. It was going to be hard though, they were a minority in Britain, accounting for onlytwo percentof the population.
"Kingsley! What are you doing here?" Hermione asked, as Ron smiled and shook hands with the senior Auror.
"Why, can't I visit some of my good friends in their office?" he asked in return.
Hermione shook her head as he smiled, "Well, I was just informed that I was to bring you to guard duty out near Colchester. We have a safehouse there and every Auror rotates to take a one week shift. It just so happens you were chosen."
"That sounds...exciting," Hermione said, though she was clearly not excited.
Ron didn't seem all too hot about it either.
"Don't you worry. I'll be there and I'll try to make it fun for you two. One week will pass by soon enough and you will probably forget about it happening."
"I hope so.." Ron groaned. He hated guard duty, they had both heard about the random assigning, but they never thought they would be picked.
"You are to report to my office at seventeen hundred hours. Understood?" he said, seriously this time.
"Yes, sir," they both replied.
Kingsley turned and left the office, closing the door behind him quietly. Ron looked at Hermione with a pained expression and she understood what he felt, she didn't like it either. Well, they didn't have a choice in the matter, so they had to get ready. They both got their stuff together and left for their respective homes.
Ministry of Magic, London
5:00pm - Auror Detective Kingsley's Office
"Reporting as ordered, sir," Hermione announced curtly as they entered the room. They dropped their duffel bags on the floor and stood, waiting to be acknowledged.
"Alrighty then, ready to go? Good! We leave, now," he said and stood. He also had a duffel bag with him and he picked it up from behind his desk and moved around it. He walked past them and out of the office. They followed soon enough.
He was talking as they walked through the halls of the Ministry. "Apparating to the safehouse is out of the question. Powerful anti-apparition wards have been erected and if you even tried to get in, you would fry. Also, if you somehow broke through, more than ten Aurors will be on your neck with orders tofight firstand ask questions later. We will be portkeying to a set area of the grounds where there is a hole for Ministry portkeys."
Hermione and Ron nodded, he seemed to make it sound so exciting, but they both knew it wasn't going to be a heart-pumping experience. They looked at each other and shook their heads as they trailed behind the tall black Auror.
"You will always have your wands at the ready, you will always be alert, there is no slacking during guard duty. If I catch you sleeping, you will be punished accoridngly," he continued. Ron looked at Hermione with a frown, that was going to be a problem for him. If the job was so boring, how could he not fall asleep?
"There will be seven other Aurors at the site, you will get to know them well enough that in an event of a battle, you will be able to fight and coordinate well. There is always someone in the safehouse that we are protecting, whether it be an informer or a double-agent or any other person who the Ministry deems valuable enough to defend."
They finally stopped and found themselves in front of a large door with a sign next to it. It read Portroom #13.
They stepped into the room and found an old toothbrush that lay on a small round stone table in the middle of the room. Four Aurors stood guard in each corner of the room and one of them raised her hand in greeting.
She was a Junior-Grade Auror, according to Kingsley, who smiled as she got closer. She was fairly tall, no taller than Ginny in fact. She had long black hair and she seemed to be either Japanese or Korean, Hermione wasn't sure.
"The portkey is ready, Detective. You are cleared to go in two minutes," she informed him.
"Thank you, Alicia," the low voice of Kingsley replied. He stepped over to the toothbrush and beckoned for them to stand next to it as well.
They waited a little before Alicia gave the thumbs up.
"All right, touch the toothbrush and get ready," Kingsley spoke.
They touched the portkey and suddenly the room began to spin and they seemed to lift into the air. In a matter of minutes, they landed on the ground, a little too hard for their tastes, but on their feet nonetheless.
They stood and brushed off some of the dirt that had gotten on their robes and looked at each other as the foul smell of rotting flesh and smoke filled their lungs. Wands were whipped out as they rounded the bend and found the safehouse in flames. Three figures were lying on their backs at the gate of the safehouse, they were dead. The gate itself was blown inward, the hinges broken off.
Kingsley cursed, and ran towards the safehouse, wand at the ready. Hermione and Ron took a moment to take in the situation before following in the man's footsteps.
Inside the compound, fighting could be heard from the burning building. It was a three story house that was fairly large. Another Auror lay a mere two feet from the front door, dead. His wand was nowhere to be found, but there were scorch marks everywhere and a few patches of grass were burned too, meaning he had fought whoever had attacked them.
Kingsley burst inside the flaming building and began to cast anti-fire charms and water spells. Hermione and Ron followed suit, taking spells out from what they remembered of the Firefighting Spells chapter of the Auror handbook.
After the flames in the room were extinguished, Kingsley ran upstairs and ordered Ron and Hermione to check the backyard. Reluctantly, they left the senior Auror alone upstairs, where it seemed like there was fighting going on.
Ron checked every room on the first floor as Hermione walked towards the back. She opened the backdoor and looked out. Patches of grass were missing from the backyard and a few tree limbs were broken. There was a huge gaping hole in the side of the building and Ron was looking out from there. He gave the all-clear and they ran back inside and up the stairs.
The fighting was heavier now and more distinct. They could hear Kingsley shouting and other voices from upstairs. The third floor. They ran up and Hermione reached it first. She ducked just as a spell rebounded off of the wall a few feet away and headed towards her. It hit the stair railing and showered them all with splinters. She hissed as a few of the splinters embedded themselves on her skin and she waved her wand to take them out.
Ron was already heading towards the fighting, but something told Hermione to wait by the stairs, and so she waited. The wall to her left, the opposite way of where Ron was heading, exploded outward. When the smoke and dust cleared, there was a hole in the wall, where one man came out. He was dressed in all black tights and a black ski mask. He had two wands in his hand and, upon seeing Hermione, began tobombard her with spells.
She barely managed to dodge some of them and conjure a shield at the same time. She tried to return fire, but the man had two wands for crying out loud! Spell after spell, there was no let up in his barrage.
A purple light flashed and the black figure was thrown through the railing, which broke, and down three flights of stairs. He crashed onto the first floor with a sickening crack that made Hermione shiver. It felt like a warzone.
Another black-clad figure emerged, but it was fighting with someone else from across the hole and hadn't seen Hermione.
She quickly sent two stunning spells at it but the figure ducked and returned fire, making Hermione sidestep and lose her balance. She almost fell down the stairs but a hand grabbed her wrist and steadied her.
"Easy there, Hermione. You're going to hurt yourself if you fall down those stairs," Shaklebolt Kingsley said as he attacked the figure with a couple of his own spells.
A scream resounded from the hole as two more black-clad figures jumped out of it and returned fire through the hole. One of them saw Kingsley and the figure fighting and began to send a spell at Kingsley, but Hermione beat him to it and sent him flying back.
He hit the wall hard and barely managed to stay standing as he reeled from the hit. A stunning spell sent in his direction missed as a hastily conjured barrier absorbed the hit. He rolled to his right and fired off two spells at Hermione, which barely missed.
She returned fire and began to incorporate some of her arsenal of spells. The man was fighting well and would have overcome her if she weren't an Auror and the smartest witch of her age to boot. Which meant, that he was losing.
He dodged a spell that was sent at him and managed to block two more spells. A tripping spell made him land on his feet and it was just pure luck that he tripped and fell behind a chair as the chair exploded into hundreds of splinters. He cried out in pain and Hermione quickly stunned him. He fell silent and she smiled triumphantly.
Suddenly, a force hit her hard in the back and sent her flying to the wall. She hit her head on a lamp mounted on the wall and she instantly saw stars. Her vision was blurry as she conjured a shield.
The smell of smoke started to fill her lungs as she found herself thrown through a door and into a room that was still burning. The flames were just a few feet away and were inching towards her steadily. She tried to stand and raise her shield again, but her left shoulder and her left leg suddenly exploded with pain.
She fell to the ground and saw that her shoulder and leg were bleeding profusely. A huge gash on her shoulder and a pretty deep cut on her leg, she tried to get up and roll out of the line of fire, but another spell made her entire body feel as if a million thick needles were being pushed through her skin at the same time. Crutacious curse, she thought, before she blacked out...
Author's Notes: Review please. Thanks!