The Potters and The Court Of The Dreamwalker

by scotty90

Tragedy strikes the Potter household as a new threat rises against the Wizarding World. Whether they want to or not; whether they know it or not; Harry, James and Albus Potter each find themselves caught in their own personal war against the oncoming darkness.

5. Chapter 5: The Cliffcoat Incident

A/N: Just to avoid any possible confusion, this chapter starts before the end of chapter 4.

We good? Okay, let's do this.

XXXXXXXX

Harry and Ron strode purposefully down the dark passageway. They were kitted in the dark, official robes of Aurors. Their faces were grim. Behind them, over two dozen figures wearing identical robes marched in a brisk pace. Some wore protective masks. Some wore bright blue stripes around their arms. Some wore red stripes instead. Some wore green. Some of them gripped sleek, black brooms in firm grips. None of them spoke. None of them looked anywhere but ahead.

These were not the Aurors who fought in the time of Lord Voldemort, and this was not the same Auror Division. Back when Harry was in Hogwarts Aurors were respected as the elite of Magical Law Enforcement, and rightly so. But even as Harry had moved up through the ranks towards the position of Head Auror he had strived to move the department towards a less elite and more streamlined division. Aurors were the best of the best, there was no denying that, but they had always been a division aimed at taking down Dark Wizards on an individual or small number basis. They worked in small groups, or alone. Harry had seen first hand how they had fared when faced with the threat of Lord Voldemort, and the truth of the matter was that elite though they may have been the Auror Division had been pitifully overwhelmed.

Now that Harry was Head Auror, the Auror Division was almost unrecognisable from how they had been when he first entered the Ministry. The standards were still ridiculously high with an eighty five percent dropout rate for applicants, but now they had the numbers. And they worked with the coordination and efficiency of a top of the line Ministry Branch. This made them extremely dangerous for any Dark Wizard who made the mistake of being caught operating on British soil. When they reached their destination they would be met by other contingents operating from around the country. Harry had objected to the commitment of so many, but his authority only went so high, even regarding his own division.

Still, if the information that had been rocketing around the Ministry cortex was true they would get a chance to show this Lord Noctis just what a mistake it was to take up where Riddle had left off.

The passageway they walked through was dark, with single lights burning pale in the gloom every ten metres. The cold bricks around them echoed with the sounds of their footsteps. Up ahead the way split into two different directions. At the intersection a small, grim looking man clutched a clipboard. Behind him a four-man Auror squad stood motionless. Harry did not break stride as he took the tunnel on the left and the group felt into step alongside him.

"Prewley," Harry said by way of greeting, "What have we got?"

Prewley was a short, balding man in his late forties. All the time he spent in the Drop tunnels had made his skin pale and waxy. He was a dour man, and not one to waste time. He held up his clipboard to read as he walked beside Harry. Above it a ball of light the size of a marble floated lazily, giving him light to read by.

"Approximately ten minutes ago the Communication Overwatch received reports of two people in the seaside town of Cliffcoat letting off what the local muggles thought were fireworks. One of them covered in a robe and hood and the other…" he paused as he read, "…was apparently a muggle man known to the locals as Joseph Platt. It was this man who identified himself as Lord Noctis. He made some kind of declaration that the town should be evacuated. Of course the muggles just thought he was a nutter, but when a muggle Auror –"

"Policeman," Harry corrected. He had dealt with Scotland Yard on several occasions.

"Right, when he tried to remove them from the area, apparently he …" he frowned at the page as if someone had used it to blow their nose, "…vanished in a flash of blue light."

"Hm."

"Yeah… So naturally there was a panic, real mess. Police were called, which is going to be a real bitch to clean up with the Muggle Liaison Offices. And people started fleeing the area. Now they had no idea that we've been monitoring muggle communications, but when we picked up traffic on the name…well…"

"That's when we were called in," Harry finished.

"Right."

"So what do we know about the area?"

"As of now, nothing. For all we know it's a small town on the coast of the Irish Sea. Out of the way of anywhere. Small population. Nothing remarkable."

"And what's to say this isn't just some wizard nut job?" Ron asked, "We've got almost the entire division congregating on a town on the arse end of nowhere based on some pretty shaky information."

Harry agreed with Ron on that. As soon as the report of a man calling himself Lord Noctis had come down the line, the Minister himself had ordered the entire Auror division to action. Harry had objected to the heavy handed decision but the whole Ministry was frightened, and demanded that the full force of the Auror Office be employed.

It seemed that politicians were jumpy and panicky when frightened. Who knew?

"Not a whole lot, really," Prewley said, frowning at Ron, "But the fact that a known muggle is the one who is calling himself Lord Noctis suggests possession, which fits the little information we have on our Undesirable Number One."

"Perhaps," Harry mused, "But it's the second figure that worries me. Another possession implies that Noctis is keeping himself out of harms way for the attack. We don't know the extent of his abilities while controlling another body, but if past experience is any indicator I would think that Noctis is leaving the heavy lifting up to our mystery man."

"Bloody hell," Ron muttered, "He's got followers already."

"Not followers."

"Hm?"

"No, it's too soon for that. If this is Noctis then this likely another attack, his first since he chose to reveal himself three days ago. There is no way he would leave something like this to a recruit. Not alone."

"If he is alone," Prewley sniffed.

Harry nodded, "Possible. But I'm working with the facts I have in front of me. Right now, our reports say two."

"So what is he then?" Ron asked.

Harry frowned thoughtfully at the floor, "A disciple."

Ron looked incredulous. "What?"

"Dark Lord's amass followers. It's inevitable. Witches and wizards are drawn to the power and prestige that a powerful dark wizard can offer. If Noctis is the one behind this then whoever this hooded figure is, they've been with Noctis for longer than three days. Possibly even since the beginning, when this tosser decided to start calling himself by a new name."

Ron's eyebrows a fraction, "Then that would mean…"

"That's right; whoever this hooded bloke is they might know who Noctis is. Who he really is. If we can capture them then…" He rubbed his hands together as he trailed off. They would be a step closer to stopping the new Dark Lord before he got started. They would be a step closer to finding a way to help Albus.

"You sound happy about this whole thing."

Harry looked to the side and saw that Ron was give him a measuring look.

"I don't know," he sighed, "With the past few days…" He lowered his voice so only Ron could hear, "The last few weeks, being what they have… I feel like I've been on the back foot, just waiting and reacting. I mean, what with the fallout from Noctis's appearance at the Ministry we've been working like mad to piece the department back together, and the whole time I was just waiting."

"How d'you mean?"

"I figure that whoever this Lord Noctis bloke really is, he's got a plan. And what we saw in the Atrium was just the beginning. So far we've got bugger all to work with, so I've been waiting for his next move, his next push. And I've got to admit, Ron, it's been getting to me." They continued walking at a steady pace, both their boots and those of the Aurors behind them making a gentle tap tap that echoed through the wide tunnel. "I'm sick of waiting," he said, "For the last few days I've almost wished that something would happen, because then I'd know what to do. Does that make any sense?"

Ron gave a shrug, "I couldn't tell you mate. These aren't exactly normal times. The way I figure it, we've got a job to do." Up ahead a wide metal door peered out of the gloom. "I just want to get it done, so I can go home to my family at the end of the day and know that the world's a little bit safer. You've always been the one who carried this stuff home with you."

"Fair enough, I guess." Ron could turn it off, Harry knew. But he hadn't taken a direct blow. He hadn't had to see his family suffer for his choices. He had managed to keep his job and his family life firmly separated since that incident with the Syrian hit-wizard. Harry couldn't fault his oldest friend for it; he just wished it could be that simple for him.

They approached the end of the tunnel and the cold, imposing door jutting out at its end. Flanked by two impassive guards, it looked like the entrance to a bomb shelter. Harry strode up to it a pressed his wand against the dark metal surface. For a moment they stood in silence, waiting, and then there was a resounding clunk on the other side as heavy bolts slid into place and the door clanked open. Inside was a large circular room, just as dark as the tunnel except for the waning purple light emanating from the middle. In the dead centre of the room a single torch burned, the flame flickering purple. Spreading out from it was a dizzyingly complex array of runes and symbols wide enough to park three buses.

"Alright people you know the drill," he called over his shoulder as the Aurors filed into the Drop Room, "I want this done by the numbers, we'll be meeting with the rest of the regional departments at the site. He checked his watch, "Liddling and her Wings will have a site secured for us by now so until you receive your orders I want a perimeter established and everything accounted for."

They followed his orders without comment, several dozen hard faced men and women getting into position within the wide circle of arcane symbols. Harry and Ron took their positions in the centre and Harry placed his hand over the purple flame which licked up and around his hand. It felt warm and tingled unpleasantly, but didn't burn. Harry turned to Prewley who was standing outside the circle and weaving his wand in a complicated pattern.

"Are we set?"

Prewley glanced up, his face scrunched up in concentration. "Just a second. This Cliffcoat place is a little out of the way."

Harry nodded and left him to finish his calculations. They were a wonderful invention, the Drop Rooms. Only finished two years prior, it had taken a collaboration of people from both inside and outside of Britain to complete. Over fifty specialists from dozens of different departments worked on it. Even Hermione had been called in towards the end to oversee some of the finishing touches. There were about a dozen of them all over the country, and they allowed for the deployment of large numbers with relative ease. They even worked seamlessly with Ministry Anti-Appartition fields, letting the Aurors in while sealing of the exits of anyone caught in the field. If only –

"We're ready!" Prewley called.

"Okay," Harry said, jutting out of his reverie, "Let's do this clean people. We don't know what's waiting for us out there, so I don't want any heroics."

He saw the Aurors bristle and steady themselves. They were ready.

"Explicandum!" he yelled, gripping the flames and giving them a mighty pull. It felt like he was yanking a heavy chord.

And the floor disappeared beneath them, leaving them falling into the nothingness below.

XXXXX

The wind was picking up, threatening to become a full storm. Cold rain pecked at his face like thousands of tiny angry birds. He did not mind; he barely felt it.

He barely noticed much of what was around him. The sound of waves crashing against the rocks below was muted and dull. The chill of the air was a faraway disturbance. The rustle of grass a whisper.

The figure at his side shifted restlessly underneath their hooded cloak, the air whipping it back and forth violently. Excited, or nervous? He didn't bother himself with wondering. It made little difference. His mind was elsewhere.

Already the little black birds had arrived. The scouting parties, the wayclearers. They did not concern him. He was waiting for something else.

Someone else.

He reached out, feeling. It wouldn't be long now, if he had calculated correctly. If he had the right idea of the man.

There! There it was. He felt it, saw it, tasted it. The hot purple blaze, flaring invisible at the edge of the town. They had picked the obvious spot. They were nothing if not predictable. He allowed himself a smile.

The muscles felt strange as they pulled back. Unfamiliar, foreign.

He was here. It was time to begin.

XXXXX

Harry felt his feet hit dirt, but before he could get a sense of balance on the seemingly sliding floor his knees buckled beneath him.

He dropped a half step before he felt an arm grip him firmly at the elbow and hold him up steady. His training kicked in and his wand was up in the next heartbeat, scanning about him in a wide arc along with the rest of the rapidly expanding circle of Aurors as they moved away from the Drop in well honed synchronisation. The figures partially obscured under the sheet of freezing rain.

Ron released his grip on Harry's elbow as he regained his bearings. It was shameful really. Muggleborn or not, he was Head Auror and he still couldn't manage to keep his feet on the drop site. It didn't matter that he had an excellent sense of balance, or that he had made ran countless Drops on his own time trying to get it down; he just couldn't manage to stick the landings. And that wasn't even getting started on Flooing.

"Cheers," he muttered, taking in his surroundings. They had landed next to a house overlooking what Harry assumed was Cliffcoat. The weather out here was worse than in London. The rain was pouring down viciously and a strong wind tugged and pushed at them. Raising his hand to shield his glasses so he could get a quick look of the town, he saw that it was small and simple looking, the rest of the houses low built and sturdy looking against the weather. Past them Harry could make out the ocean, though most of his view was obstructed by the house. For all intents and purposes it looked like a regular town, no plumes of smoke or burning buildings. Could this all be a waste of time?

Looking up at the house they landed at Harry could see several divisions of Aurors from other parts of the country had already arrived, and were vigilantly waiting outside the building and peering about themselves.

"C'mon, they'll be waiting for us," Harry said, and he and Ron made their way lurching through the gale and shouldered into the front door.

Inside, the house looked comfortable and well lived in. A muggle residence, obviously. It had evidently been cleared out in a hurry, as a steaming mug of tea was still sitting on the kitchen table. It was standard procedure in large scale operations that required a base of operations within Muggle residential areas. This house was a good choice of HQ, far enough outside the town to keep away from any immediate danger, close enough to command from. The view over the town was a bonus.

"This is supposed to be summer weather?" he said as he charmed the water off his glasses. Behind him Ron shut the door, which let the roaring wind die down to a low moan.

"You know what they say about British summer." Ron said as he ruffled the water out of his red hair.

"Yeah," Harry grumbled, nodding to a couple of Aurors standing guard as he climbed the simple wooden staircase to where the HQ would have been set up, "It's the best day of the year."

At the top of the stairs was what appeared to be another living room, though all of the furniture had been swept to the walls to allow room for the people inside. In the north wall was a wide set of double windows, through which the town would be visible. Bustling about were a number of assistants and runners, carrying notes and orders back and forth and Apparating in and out the room. In the corners two impassive Aurors stood watch, and in the centre were the regional Heads, gathered about and waiting for him. They looked up as he climbed onto the landing.

"Are we all here?" he asked.

"Just waiting for Lewis," said the youngest looking one. Kingsway, an excitable young man with a beater's build, closely shaved crew cut and honest face.

"Okay, has there been any sign of the two men from the report?"

A fierce looking, grey haired witch with a claw shaped scar spreading up from her neck stepped forward. Liddling. She didn't look happy, but then again she never did.

"My men caught sight of two figures who matched the description in the report when they performed the preliminary sweep of the town. It seemed they were watching from a vantage point on one of the cliffs, but they vanished before my men could get any closer."

"Any verification it was Noctis?"

She frowned like Harry's question was a personal insult, "With the distance, not to mention this damnable weather, its impossible to say for certain."

"Okay," Harry said, rubbing his hands together and trying to keep the eagerness out of his voice, "Well we'll set up on the assumption that it was, for now. Now we just have to wait for Lewis before we can-"

"No you don't," called a voice from the bottom of the stairs. A thin, pasty man staggered up to the top, "No you don't," he repeated breathlessly, leaning on his knees for support, "Phew, some weather eh?"

"Just in time Lewis," Harry said. The lanky looking man smiled politely and leant heavily against the table, showing a balding head of thin black hairs. Harry strode across the room and opened the windows. Time to start the briefing, "So we're all here. Let's see what we're dealing wi-"

He stopped, the words dying in his throat.

He looked out over the small town. Rain lashed down over the rooftops, buffeted by the roaring wind and largely obscuring the view of the ocean behind, which broiled furiously in the turbulent weather. A vast, grey ocean under a dismal sky, dark and colourless like the town itself. It was a quiet, unremarkable, little seaside town, probably with a population of a thousand at the most. On either side of it, sheer cliffs of dark rock rose up blocking any sight of the surrounding landscape with cold, unfriendly looking cliff faces. Anyone else would question why anyone would choose to attack such an isolated and seemingly insignificant place.

But not Harry.

Because leering up from the back of his mind was a dark realisation, a recognition he had never expected to feel. He recognised this place.

He had been here before.

Not the town, but… the ocean. He recognised it well. Cold, grey, lashed with howling wind and rain while the dark cliffs loomed overhead, unforgiving and uncaring.

Yes, he had visited this wretched looking place years before. And he had visited it again countless times, in his nightmares. The crushing cold. The still, echoing darkness. The clawing hands, dragging him down to sleep forever. The whispered voice, begging Harry to kill him, to end his misery. The voice of Albus Dumbledore.

This was the town where Tom had hidden one of his horcruxes. Somewhere in those cliffs was a cave. A cave that Harry had very nearly died in. Where Dumbledore had spent his last, terrible moments in a failed mission to weaken the Dark Lord before returning to Hogwarts to face his death. Harry had searched for years to find this place without success. It seemed that Tom had burned up his trail too well, and whatever clues Dumbledore had dug up had been lost to the years when he was killed.

The recognition sent a cold chill up Harry's spine, because he knew what why they were here now. He knew what the attack was.

There was a reason why Harry had been looking for this place for so long. A reason why he sometimes woke up shaking in the middle of the night.

Out across the rain soaked streets, the waves pounded the shore. Here and there, dotted among the roaring waves, he could see them. They were just hazy pinpricks through the rain, but he could see them. Already, they were starting to show their heads. Dark figures walking out of the dark water. Slowly, inevitably. First the head, then the shoulders and the body, making their way up the shore. More and more with each passing moment. Blackening the coast with their dark silhouettes, shambling steadily up the wet sand and towards the houses of the town. A score. An army.

Harry could hear the disbelief in the rest of the command staff's voices as they looked out and saw the same thing he did.

Harry had no idea how, but Lord Noctis had found Riddle's cave.

And he had unleashed the Inferi inside.

"Kingsway!" he barked, making the young Auror behind him jump to attention, "I want five block and barrier squads along the water front right away! Put down ground-shifters to slow down their progress and put your best men on fire spells. Conflagrations, Inflamaraes.. hell, Fiendfyre if any of them can work it! Take a back up team to help you clear the way. Your line will have the best chance to hit them hard before they reach the houses."

"R-right!" the man spluttered, looking nervous. He glanced out across the town, looking towards the ocean. There were more of them out of the sea now. A black tide of the dead steadily making their way toward the town. From this distance it was impossible to hear the screams, but there was no doubt that the muggles in the seaside houses were in a panic. Kingsway paused nervously, hesitating. He had just been promoted, owing to the recent turnovers in the Ministry. A bright young lad - idealistic and eager to prove himself.

But it looked like he hadn't been expecting this for his first major assignment. The rest of the command staff didn't look too happy either at that. Inferi were terrible creatures, dead bodies reanimated and set to dark purpose. They scared the hell out of most witches and wizards, and that was in small numbers. No one had ever seen them en mass like this before; no wonder they looked anxious. And this was just the tip of the iceberg. Harry himself had to squash a wave of panic that was threatening to rise from his gut. He remembered the clawing, dead hands pulling him down into the darkness; the cold water rushing into his mouth on that terrible night when Dumbledore had lost his life. He repressed a shudder and worked his face into a scowl, smothering his fear in anger.

This would not do.

Harry reached out and grabbed a fistful of Kingsway's robes, yanking him forward with a yelp so that they were almost touching noses. The rest of the staff jumped with surprise, tearing their eyes away from the ocean. "You are the first line of defence," Harry snarled, "You have the ground advantage and you have the strike time. You hit them with fire before they reach the town and you keep out of their way while you're doing it."

The Auror blinked at him with wide eyes, momentarily stunned.

"LIGHT UP THE OCEAN, KINGSWAY!" Harry roared, "I want that coastline to burn! Torch anything that sticks its head out the water! I want you to consider every Inferi that makes it onto dry land a PERSONAL BLOODY FAILURE!"

"Right!" Kingsway shouted fierily as Harry let go of his robes. He straightened himself up and nodded to Harry before striding purposefully down the steps, barking orders to his own subordinates.

Harry turned to look at the rest of the staff, who were now standing to attention. To the side Harry could see Ron covering up a grin with his hand. They looked purposeful, eager. They looked ready.

Much better.

"Lewis!" Harry snapped, earning a hearty 'Yes sir!' from the lanky, sick looking Auror. "I want you to take four teams into the town. You will be taking any muggles still in the town out of the combat zone. Start from the waterfront and work your way back. Use the delta Portkeys to take them out and leave a team to watch over them once you have them in the safe zone."

The other man paused, "Right, sir! Um, just how much of the –"

"The whole sodding town is the combat zone!" Harry shouted, "Split into teams of two and move fast! Tell them there's been a bomb threat and the whole area needs to be evacuated, now! Do whatever you need to do, but you Get. Them. Out. Of. The. Town!"

"Yes sir, right away!" Lewis shouted and stormed off.

Okay, that was some time bought.

"Liddling."

"Sir." The elderly witched stepped forward, the ever present scowl on her scarred face. In her right hand she gripped a sleek black broomstick.

"Take half the Wings and use them to support Kingsway on the front line. He won't be able to hold the Inferi back forever, and when that happens I want you to take anyone incapable of getting themselves out of harms way to support the Aurors in the town; the same goes for anyone caught injured or incapacitated out there. I want the rest of them positioned over the town in a Class Four Onyx grid. Get them spread out wide and keeping watch over our positions. You're out eye in the sky - I'm not convinced this is going to be as straightforward as it seems and I need you to look out for any nasty surprises that might get thrown our way."

Liddling nodded in silence, and for a moment Harry half expected her to give a complaint or correction of some kind. The two of them had had several disagreements throughout the years. She had been in the Auror division long before Harry had arrived, and didn't hesitate to let him know when she thought there was a better course of action to take.

But to Harry's relief she took the orders without hesitation and marched out the room. While the headstrong old woman might occasionally have issues with Harry's command, she knew better than to question them at a time like this.

Apart from the statuesque Aurors assigned to watch over the HQ and the support staff who shuffled their documents nervously as they waited for instruction, there were two people left.

"Finch-Fletchley," Harry said, making the pudgy faced man next to Ron stand to attention.

"Sir."

"You and Weasely will take the rest of the men and head into the town. With their numbers it's only a matter of time until the Inferi break through. That means the majority of the fighting is going to be an urban combat situation."

"Yes sir."

"Keep the men in their squads of four and keep them moving. They're suited for this kind of fight but I don't want them to get bogged down. Use the terrain and don't let yourselves get surrounded. And watch out for any surprises."

"Keep moving; don't get caught out; look out for surprises. Got it." Finch- Fletchley nodded in acknowledgement, all business.

It was funny; Harry's old schoolmate looked remarkably different from the impressionable boy that had been convinced Harry was a dark wizard in their second year. After the Battle of Hogwarts he had joined the Auror Office. It seemed that he had been a changed man by what he had been through – which was not an uncommon thing for Harry's old schoolmates who had been there in the final days of Riddle's reign. Whatever disagreements they may have had in the past, Harry knew he was reliable.

"Then get it done!"

"Sir!"

He strode down the stairs and outside, barking orders at the Aurors waiting and forming them into squads. Ron made to follow him out but stopped at the top of the stairway.

"No sign of Noctis. Or the hooded figure," he said.

"No," Harry said, "It's likely they're hiding out for the time being. They know that if we saw them they would be our first point of attack."

"So we've probably got at least two dark wizards of unknown ability in that town, along with who knows what else."

Harry got the gist of what he was saying. This operation was shaky at best. They were under prepared and working with unknown factors.

"That's about right," he said. He glanced back over the town. "Stay safe Ron."

Ron looked back at him, his face taking on the same surly expression he had whenever they were about to go into combat. "You know me mate, all safety first."

Harry let out a humourless note of laughter, "I'm serious, don't take any risks out there."

"Got it. Boss," he cracked a grin, headed down the stairs and was gone.

That left Harry alone with the guards and the aides of his HQ. He let out a sigh and ran his hands through his hair. He didn't like this.

How had Lord Noctis found Riddle's cave, when Harry had searched for years and failed? How had he known about it in the first place, or managed to get the Inferi out for that matter? Harry had an uneasy feeling that didn't have anything to do with the army of the dead making their way out of the crashing waves. This whole affair seemed… off. It seemed too straightforward - a mass attack of Inferi. After the subterfuge at the Ministry it just didn't seem like Noctis's style.

He placed his hands on the window sill and leaned heavily against the frame, peering out over the town. The rain was coming down heavily now, the roaring wind lashing it against the houses. The day's light was dimming as well, making it hard to see clearly as Harry watched the Aurors moving into position. Black dots moving amongst the houses, flying over the rooftops in tight formation despite the weather, forming up lines between the first houses on the seafront and the horrors rising from the water. The ocean churned violently, sending massive waves crashing down on the beach, where more and more dark figures could be seen moving slowly up the sand while the townsfolk ran back through the streets in terror.

Somewhere out there, he was watching. Harry could feel it. Somewhere in that little town Noctis and his hooded servant were waiting. For what, Harry could only guess, though he knew it was nothing good.

Even so, he couldn't help but feel a faint glimmer of excitement - of eagerness. He was out there somewhere, and Harry would find him. He had made it personal when he had called Harry out, back in the Atrium; when he had mocked Harry's inability to protect his family. He had made it personal before that, back before any of this had started, when he had done whatever he had done to Albus.

He thought about Albus. His shy and quiet son, always looking to prove himself, to show that he could reach some impossible standard he had set for himself. How he was now laying in his bed, his pale face lifelessly frozen as he lay dead to the world. Unmoving, unresponsive. A vegetable at the age of fifteen.

Lord Noctis had made it personal when he had attacked Harry's family. And Harry was going to make damn sure he paid the price for that mistake.

He was out there somewhere. And Harry would find him.

XXXXX

Albus Potter was speechless.

The boat rocked unsteadily as the cold water lapped against the side. Inky black in the night and cool in the still air. The sky around them was pitch black and cloudless. Hundreds of stars shone overhead, tiny pinpricks of light in the darkness stretching away to infinity. But Albus paid them no mind. His eyes were caught up in the spectacle slowly rising up towards him.

Hogwarts.

Hundreds, maybe thousands of windows shone with warm light, dotted around the twisting turrets and looming battlements, sending out brilliant golden swathes into the darkness. Towering walls stretched up impossibly high, each of them studded with arches and alcoves beyond counting. Walkways linked them to each other and to proud towers jutting firmly out of the tangle, stabbing out at the night sky. A beautiful, sprawling maze, a wondrous miniature city.

A sight he had dreamed of his whole life, and now that he saw it it took his breath away.

He was finally here. After hearing about it for so long. His father, Teddy, his brother, they had all told him about this place. A school that felt like home, a marvellous and insane place where the witches and wizards of Britain for hundreds of years had come to learn magic. For so long he had heard their stories and their descriptions and now that he was here he found they had all sadly failed to capture the giddy, childlike magic of the place. This was where Albus was going to go for the next seven years, and it was an adventure that he couldn't wait to start.

"Quite a sight 'innit?" boomed the voice of the towering figure at the back of Albus' boat.

He turned around, sending ripples in the water around him as the boat rocked further, to see Hagrid grinning at him.

"What?" he asked stupidly, momentarily off balance.

"Don' sweat it Al," the half giant chuckled, "It happ'ns to a lot of firs' years when they see the castle for the firs' time." He looked pointedly around and Albus followed his gaze. All around them, the boat of the other first years drifted through the still water. Looking at the faces of the other kids he could see many of their expressions were lit up in wonder just like his must have been. He couldn't help but grin widely, though he probably looked like a maniac. These were the people he would be spending the next seven years with, and it looked like they could appreciate the wonder of the castle as much as he could. It was a nice feeling, after the uncomfortable train ride cramped in James' overcrowded compartment with older kids he didn't really know. Now he was another face in the crowd. Identical, anonymous, just another excited first year seeing Hogwarts for the first time.

As he peered out over the boats, he caught sight of a girl with ghostly pale blonde hair the next boat over who had noticed him. Though it was hard to make out in the darkness, the close distance meant Albus could see her head was turned towards him with a curious expression on her face. He snapped his head back to face ahead of him, feeling his cheeks heat up with embarrassment. He must have looked like a complete weirdo, grinning about at the boats around him.

"Ahh, never gets old, it does." Hagrid sighed contently, "I can still 'member my firs' time boating 'cross. Had to have me own boat an' all, even at that age." He chuckled to himself at that, his black eyes glinting happily. Albus, meanwhile, had settled back to gazing up at the warm golden lights as the castle sailed slowly closer, resolving to not come across as a creep on his first day. "Course," Hagrid mused, "Still managed t' tip the boat over anyhow. Boats we 'ad then were flimsy as anythin'. Was helped back into me boat by the gian' squid itself."

"Giant squid?" Albus gulped. Was he being serious? No one in his family had ever mentioned that.

"Oh yes," Hagrid said, "Beautiful creature. Real friendly. We migh' even get the chance to see it t'night if we're lucky."

Albus nodded mutely, though in all honesty the idea of a giant squid swimming in the water beneath them was more than a little frightening. He had known Hagrid for years, and he knew the man's idea of 'friendly' usually coincided with other people's idea of 'terrifying' or 'bloodthirsty and murderous'. He leaned slightly over the edge, peering down at the pitch black water.

"An' I remember your father's firs' day as well," Hagrid continued, oblivious, "Now that was an event and a 'alf. 'Arry Potter at Hogwarts. Don't reckon I've seen a sortin' people were more excited for."

The sorting. Albus had completely forgotten. A fresh wave of nerves hit him as he fretted for the thousandth time over where he would be put. He tried to remember what his father had told him on the platform.

It didn't matter what house he went to, despite James' teasing. Being sorted into Slytherin house didn't have to be a bad thing.

Of course every child in wizarding Britain knew about the four houses of Hogwarts, but Albus had never really given much thought to where he would end up before he received his Hogwarts letter. These last few weeks however, with the arrival of his letter and James's incessant teasing, he had stayed up late worrying about where he would be sorted. Where he had always assumed that being sorted into Gryffindor was a given, he now obsessed over where he would be suited.

He was smart (well, at least his parents seemed to think so, and their bias was questionable) – Ravenclaw. He was quick thinking and tended to think about himself before others (though he didn't consider it to a selfish degree, but his bias was definitely questionable) – Slytherin. And Merlin knew he was hard working - which covered Hufflepuff - what with his constant efforts to match the standards of a popular and successful brother and a father whose job likely had him performing unimaginable feats of bravery and heroism on a weekly basis.

If there was one trait Albus could never attribute to himself, it was bravery.

"Rem'mber it like it was yest'rday," Hagrid rumbled on in his deep voice, "Longest sorting anyone'd seen since…" he frowned in thought, "Well, longest in a while that's fer sure. Everyone wonderin' 'where's 'Arry Potter gone t'be sorted?'" He looked down at Albus, smiling fondly, "Course, there's no doubt where you'll be sorted, eh Al?" he chuckled again at that, his wide hairy face beaming merrily.

"Right," Albus chuckled, though he felt like anything but laughing.

That was the problem, everyone knew exactly where Albus would be sorted.

Everyone but Albus.

Albus was so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he was startled when the boat bumped against the hard stone. Looking up he saw that the boats had floated into some kind of dock cut out of the cave stone under the castle. All around him other boats had come to a stop and other first years were climbing out, chattering to each other excitedly.

Albus bid his goodbye to Hagrid as he clambered unsteadily out the boat. The massive man waved him off cheerfully and wished him luck at the sorting, leaving Albus to scramble up onto the dock.

"Hi."

Albus looked up. It was her, the girl from the boat. She stood there looking at him with a satisfied smile like she had just won something. Though what exactly Albus had no idea.

From this distance he could see that she was quite pretty, and suddenly Albus felt very self conscious. He stood frozen on the spot in front of her, the two of them standing there as other first years were getting off the boats and heading up the wide staircase at the end of the room. He had no idea what to say.

"Uh, hi," he said, wanting to say something, anything to avoid the rapidly approaching awkward silence.

"You're the boy that was looking at everyone," she said definitively, though her voice was low and hard to hear over the din of the other children milling around them.

"Um… yeah. Sorry." God, he sounded like an idiot.

The silence returned as she continued to look at him as though she were measuring him.

"What were you so happy for?" she asked, as though it were an innocent question for all Albus was having trouble coming up with an answer.

"Uh, I dunno," he said sheepishly. How was he supposed to say this without sounding like a moron? "I guess… I was just excited about," he glanced around them, taking in the cavernous dock and the still water beyond that reflected the cosy, inviting lights overhead. "Well… everything."

As he spoke her smirk broke out into a full-on grin that lit up her attractive face from ear to ear. All of a sudden she leaned forward conspiratorially, the awkwardness and the distance between them both vanishing in a blink.

"I know right?" she asked excitedly, her words coming out in a jumble. "I mean, the whole invisible platform thing and the colourful train and the owls and the weird people and the weird candy and did you see the hopping chocolate frogs? I only got my letter a couple of weeks ago and now…" she took a breath as she struggled to find her next words, "Its all so unreal, you know?"

Albus was stunned. Both by the inhuman speed the girl had spoken with and by the strange turn his already strange encounter had taken. He grasped for something to say.

"Yeah, I know… I just found out there's a giant squid living in the lake."

The words seemed to have a funny effect on the girl, as a myriad of expressions crossed her face. First her eyebrows widened in shock and excitement, before creasing into a suspicious frown as she wondered if he was teasing her. After a moment of examination, where Albus' impassive face seemed to have passed her approval, she once again opened up into a beam of high spirited excitement. She began to pace towards the door, looking around at the docks again as if seeing everything for the first time with a bewildered Albus at her side.

"This. Place. Is. Awesome!" she cried happily.

They reached the steps and began climbing up after the other first years, who were reaching the landing at the top and already turning the corner. All the while the bizarre young girl hardly stopped talking, buzzing from step to step with infectious enthusiasm as she rattled off about how excited she was.

"I mean the train ride was crazy some kid got into an argument with another kid and zapped his face and all these bats started flying out of his nose. And some old lady was selling all this magical candy and I didn't know what to try so I just bought some chocolate but it escaped out the window. But the rest of the people in my carriage were all older than me so no one really wanted to talk to me and the girls on the boat didn't seem that friendly and now I've met you and you seem nice and whatdoyouthinkofthecastlesofar?"

Albus blinked dumbly as she looked at him. Her words had come out in a frantic mess and for the life of him he could not work out what she had just asked.

"Umm, excuse me?"

"Oh, sorry," she said, her tone changing, "I um… I ramble when I'm nervous." She stopped on the step suddenly, making Albus falter as he nearly walked past her. He turned back to see her looking up at him.

She suddenly looked radically different, more a shy little girl than a motor mouthed nutter. Nervous, she had said. Albus found it hard to believe that pretty girls could even get nervous.

She shot a hand out, "I'm Amy. Amy Adler."

As she looked at him expectantly Albus couldn't help but feel his heart sink. He had been enjoying listening to the strange cheerful girl. It was nice to meet someone had no idea who he was. Who didn't treat him specially or like a character out of a history book. But he couldn't have expected it to last forever.

"Albus Potter," he mumbled as he shook her hand.

Here it comes…

"Nice to meet you. So do you think you're gonna join the duelling club? I'm not sure cos I don't really have a good idea of what spells we'll be able to do yet. I mean I don't like the idea of trying to fight someone who can make you explode with a word, but I guess…"

She had begun to walk back up the stairs and turned around when she noticed Albus wasn't following her, "What?"

Albus looked up at her, speechless. It might have seemed arrogant on his part but Albus had yet to meet someone who didn't immediately respond a certain way when he told them his name. It was either a 'the Albus Potter, son of…' or a 'wow you look nothing like I expected you to…' or the much hated 'hey can you introduce me to your father…'. This was completely unexpected. And now Albus was painfully aware that he was looking like an idiot again.

"Um, nothing," he spluttered, following her up, "It's just that it's called Dumbledore's Army. And it's not really a duelling club it's more a volunteer student association," he waved his hand as he fumbled for words, "you know, where students learn to protect themselves and other people."

She nodded thoughtfully at that, seemingly ignoring his brief moment of confoundment, "Oh I had no idea. I just heard someone talking about it on the train." She peered over at him, "How do you know that?"

"Well, my brother's a member, and I was planning to join when I can. He told me I've got a knack for spellwork and…" Though it should have been obvious from the start, it was only then that it hit him. "Wait a minute, you're a Muggleborn?!"

Again they stopped on the staircase as she turned towards him. "Yeah," she said, grinning proudly, "I just found out I was a witch a couple weeks ago. Why?"

"No it's just…" She was looking at him curiously now, "I've never met a Muggleborn my age before."

"Really?" she asked, as if such a thing was inconceivable, "How?"

"Well, I mean… I've met muggles of course. But, I've... well, think about it. A Muggleborn kid's only going to find out about magic when they get to your age, so I've never had the chance to meet one until now.

"Oh," she said, "I guess that makes sense. So is this a big deal for you or something?" Her tone was playful as she began climbing the steps again.

Albus struggled to hide his grin. She had no idea of the magical world. No idea who he was. To her he was just another kid.

"No. Not a big deal at all."

They continued chatting happily as they ascended the stairs, Amy twittering on excitedly about her new experiences in the magical world while Albus explained the ins and outs of things he had always taken for common knowledge. As they climbed Albus found it easier to talk to her; and more and more he felt surprisingly comfortable with this easy going stranger.

He had always been considered a quiet boy by his family and those he was close to, which was more or less the same group. His family's celebrity status coupled with his unshiftable aversion to strangers and spotlight meant that Albus had never made many friends growing up. Sure he knew other kids his own age. In the tight knit social networks his family seemed to operate in it was impossible not to. But Albus had never really, truly had someone his own age he could call a friend. This girl Amy was different. As they continued to talk he found that he wasn't feeling nervous or self conscious around her. Whether it was due to the new environment and their shared excitement for it, the fact that she knew nothing of wizarding life and of him or the simple fact that her unrelenting exuberance for everything under the sun made shyness impossible, he couldn't say.

Talking to her was so easy it was almost frightening, almost like she was another member of his family. He wondered, with a trace of anxiety, whether she felt an inkling of the same thing. They seemed to be getting on great. They laughed and shared jokes. She even made a jab at his messy hair, and without thinking he found himself responding with a retort about her own that made her guffaw loudly into her palm. Was this what his life at Hogwarts was going to be like?

They reached the massive double doors at the top of the stairs, but there was no sign of the rest of the first years.

"Dammit, where is everyone?" he asked.

Amy opened the door a sliver to peak through, "Oooh, everyone's inside already, I think we took too long getting up here."

Oh no, that was just what he needed - to turn up to the sorting late and make a big deal of things.

"C'mon," Amy whispered, "No one will notice if we just slip in."

She opened the door before he could voice any objection, leaving Albus to grudgingly follow behind.

If it weren't for the multitude of heads that had turned their way, Albus was sure he would have been awe struck by the grandness of the Great Hall. As it was, he felt nothing but uncomfortable under the gazes of half the hall as they slinked over to join the back of the amassed first years in the middle of the hall. They were gathered in front of what looked like a mouldy old hat. He saw Rose poking her head out the huddle, her stern face speaking clearly. What took you so long?

And there it was, without fail. The whispers.

"Who's the late kid?"

"Is that him?"

"…looks skinnier than I thought he would."

"Albus Potter…"

"…Potter…"

"James told me…"

"…turning up late to make an entrance. Just what…"

The students at the tables were keeping their voices low so that Albus was only able to hear vague muttering, no one looking to disturb the Headmaster's speech. And for good reason as he looked like a man who did not take interruption lightly. He was a tall, broad shouldered and humourless looking man, with short cropped black hair and a thick moustache. He looked more like a military general from one of Teddy's war movies than a headmaster.

"And furthermore," he droned, "The restricted section in the library has a number of new security measures put in place to stem the increase in unwanted snooping. If I find that Madam Pomfrey has had to treat any students glowing yellow and talking backwards then severe punishments will…"

Scurrying forward, Albus and Amy reached the rest of the crowded first years, all huddled together and waiting nervously to be sorted. Amy looked back at him once they were safe in the company of the others. Undoubtedly, she had heard the whispers just as he had. Her expression was hard to read. What was it in her gaze; suspicion, betrayal, or just Albus' own paranoia?

"What, are you famous or something?" she whispered lowly.

Goddammit… Well it was good while it lasted.

"Ahh, not exactly," he whispered back, feeling his cheeks going red, "It's more like my family is famous. My father… well, he kinda saved the country a while back…"

"Oh," was all she said. Again she fell back into silence, and Albus' paranoia and his discomfort of the situation caused his poor mind to race with what she might be thinking. Was she upset that he tried to hide it from her? Was she already writing him off that someone who couldn't be trusted? Was she now thinking how she could use him? Maybe, just maybe, was she perhaps just a little bit impressed…?

Albus Potter. Albus bloody Potter. Potter Potter Potter. Hogwarts was supposed to be a fresh start, something of his own. Where had this feeling of guilt come from?

"I didn't want to say anything," he blurted out, "I didn't want to make a big deal out of it."

I didn't want you to look at me differently. I wanted you to think I was ordinary.

Impossibly, Amy gave a shrug.

"It's cool," she whispered conspiratorially, "My uncle was on a car insurance advert. I know how it is." Again she smiled, not noticing Albus' bewildered face.

And just like that, they were past it.

"Wait... You - What?"

"ABINOAM, REGINALD!"

Any floundering Albus might have been lost in was lost in the excited buzz of the hall as a chubby, freckled boy nervously stepped out of the crowd.

The sorting had begun.

XXXXX

Later that night, Albus would lie awake in bed staring up at the canopy, having just introduced himself to a half asleep boy getting into the bed across from his, who had muttered "Cool" without looking up, before murmuring "Keegan" sleepily from behind his curtain. Before long his snores would be joined by the rest of the room, leaving Albus the only one awake.

He would lie awake and he would think about where he had gone wrong in his sorting.

His fears had come true. The Sorting Hat had told him he was best suited for Slytherin after all, but he had chosen Gryffindor all the same. He had told himself it didn't matter where he went. His father had told him the same thing. He knew Slytherin was where he belonged, but he couldn't do it in the end.

Where did it all go wrong?

After a few uncomfortable minutes of internal debate, he would let himself lie back and fall into an uneasy sleep, having decided that it was the moment everyone had started murmuring his name as he entered the hall that had sealed his fate. Albus Potter, the son of Harry Potter, a Gryffindor for sure. No room for doubt. No chance of a different fate. No chance for a different choice. Expectation, alienation, all the stuff that weighed on him day in, day out.

What Albus Potter did not take into account that night, in all his worry and disappointment, was how crestfallen he had felt when miss Adler, Amy had hopped up grinning from the stool, the Gryffindor table cheering her over, and beamed happily at him as she passed. How troubled and deflated he felt, watching her walk across to that table. And knowing then that even though they could probably still remain friends. And that a few minutes of walking up some stairs really wasn't long enough to get to know someone that well, the dungeons of Slytherin would just be too far away from the high tower of the Gryffindors.

Much too far away.

XXXXX

"Report!"

The Wing zipped through the open window and hopped off his broom, wobbling unsteadily for a moment, "It's becoming a mess out there sir," he said shakily.

That was an understatement.

Harry looked out at the gradually devolving scene stretched out before him. He ignored the frantic sounds of scrambling men and woman behind him. Runners and assistants stumbled back and forth relaying messages and orders, trying to impose some semblance of order to the madness below.

The scene below looked drastically different from an hour ago. Teams of Aurors could be seen running through the streets, dogged from multiple sides at once and fighting fiercely to keep the distance between themselves and the Inferi that poured over the crumbling buildings. The light from dozens of different spells lit up the town in a psychedelic display of dazzling light, sending echoes of colour out into the dark clouds and thick rain. Here and there, houses toppled apart from unseen forces, spilling brick and stone out onto the streets as dim figures darted back and forth from building to building. High above, Wings rained down spells and swept down in spectacular dives to pull stranded Aurors off the streets, all while struggling to maintain some measure of formation. Off by the houses closest to the sea a fire was spreading across a cluster of buildings where an Auror had been over zealous or just panicked.

Or overrun.

All the reports he had received so far had told him the same thing, the Inferi were overrunning the town. But that wasn't the main problem. No, teams had been disappearing, leaving gaps in formation where Inferi spilled through. As if organising a mission on this scale wasn't enough of a logistical nightmare.

And what was worse, no one had been able to give him a good explanation why. The few times another team had been able to investigate they had found either bodies torn apart by Inferi or no bodies at all. But that was all wrong. These men were professionals, elite. It would have taken more than Inferi to bring down a squad before they could signal for help.

Something was wrong out there. Very wrong.

"I can see that it's a mess," he growled to the Auror, "What's happening down there?"

"Well… it's hard to say sir, the chatter we've been picked up is… a bit muddled."

Harry's patience had dried up ten minutes ago. "Spit it out man, what's down there besides Inferi?"

The Auror swallowed, "Wells that's just it sir, as far as we can tell… Well, everything is down there."

Harry's brain took a moment to dismiss the young man as an idiot, before his mouth managed to catch up to the absurdity of what he just heard. "What?"

Again the Auror looked back over the town. There was a panicked look in his eye that Harry didn't like the look of; like the look of a man who was wondering what the penalty for running would be. "Well sir, we've had numerous reports of dark creatures from different teams. But the reports keep changing. We've had sightings of Werewolves, Acromantulas, Cockatrices, Wanderbans…" his throat wobbled, "Even Lethifolds… But as far as we can tell all the reports couldn't be verified, it's like the creatures just disappear before we can get to them, leaving only… the bodies…"

"Maybe they're apparitions. Illusions. Tricks designed to distract the men from the Inferi. That seems like the thing Noctis would do if he wanted to compromise our teams."

"Sorry sir," the Auror said with a shake of his head, "But these weren't apparitions. Wounds were given and accounted for. I- I saw a man go down to a Baba Yaga myself. Saw it with my own eyes… just… plucked him right out of the air."

"Dammit," Harry muttered. This wasn't something you could plan for. All Harry could do was come up with a new course of action, and fast. If they were able to harm and kill then they couldn't be some kind of illusion. Couldn't be boggarts either, not with this many people in one place. No, this was worse than he had thought.

And once again he felt it, tugging at the edges of his gut. That impulse to dive in, to take the fight head on, get into the thick of it. He got it from time to time, on ops that required him to stay out the fighting and lead from behind, the need to get in and get his hands dirty. He hated having to sit at the back, where it was safe, and watch and give orders when down in the chaos below good men were fighting for their lives. He only had to -

No. He was here to do a job, and Harry would be damned if he was going to screw it up just because he got itchy.

"Send out a retreat order," he said to the staff gathered behind him, "Order out manoeuvres to get them far back enough that they can regroup at the edge of town. And make sure nobody rushes it, I don't want anyone caught out and left behind." The muggles had been evacuated; there was no longer a need to hold ground. Now was the time to fall back to a workable distance and reassess the situation in the town.

"What shall I tell Captain Liddling?" The Auror asked, "Do you want the Wings to…" He stopped mid sentence, pointing to one of the houses at the edge of the town, "Is that Captain Finch-Fletchley?"

Harry turned to where the man was pointing, squinting his eyes. He saw a man running from the houses back up the hill where the HQ sat. It was hard to see clearly through the rain, but he did look an awful lot like Justin.

"What the hell?"

He tapped his wand to his glasses and the Ominum enhancement kicked in, letting him see Justin up close. With this view Harry could clearly see his face, and he saw it was white with terror, his eyes bulging out the sockets as he raced up the hill. He seemed to be panting something under his breath. Though he couldn't be sure Harry thought it looked like he was gasping "No, no, no, no" over and over as he ran.

"Merlin's beard..." The Auror breathed.

"What?" Harry asked, tapping his glasses again to dispel the charm. Then he heard one of the assistants scream.

And he saw it.

Crashing through the house after Captain Finch-Fletchley was a monstrous snake, racing after him at an impossible speed.

No. Not just a snake. It was too big.

A basilisk.

"You've got to be kidding," Harry groaned, averting his gaze. "Don't look directly at it!" he shouted, already seeing Headquarters staff that were too slow dropping on the spot.

Stepping up to the window, Harry started tracing his wand through the air as fast as he dared. His heart was racing. He had to stop it before it reached the house, or at least slow it down. A Protego Obscura should work against something that size while letting Justin through if he calibrated it just right. But one wrong move and the whole thing could blow up in his face.

He hissed the incantation under his breath, keeping the figures of Justin and the basilisk in his peripherals. They were getting close. Just a few seconds more…

Harry's attention was stolen by another figure, halfway up the hill. One he hadn't seen before. Black hooded, cloak flapping in the gale, face obscured, raising his wand. Pointing it…

Pointing it at Harry.

Oh, this day was not going his way at all.

He barely managed to throw himself back in time as the world exploded in a blast of orange light. The blast threw him against the opposite wall. His back slammed against the plaster like he had been hit by a bus, driving all the air out his lungs as he heard the back of his head crack against the wall…

And he was back in the Potter house. Ginny was already up, making breakfast for the kids. He was in bed, wrapped in the comfort and warmth of the blankets. His head felt fuzzy. He knew he should get up, Lily had been pestering him to teach her to ride a broomstick. But he couldn't move he was so tired. So very tired. He tried to move, but the covers were too heavy. Too heavy and too warm.

The bed fell away to darkness, leaving Harry falling softly, like a feather. He let himself drift, aware of nothing but his own fall. Nothing mattered. He could lie still and fall forever. Falling and falling and falling and…

Darkness. Dizziness. Where was he?

Somebody was screaming. What was happening? Where was that ringing coming from? And why did his head hurt so much?

He was lying on a hard wooden floor. Everything hurt. Had he been hit by a car - again? What was going on?

He opened his eyes a sliver, sending a lance of pain through his frontal lobe. The room was swimming, but he could make out the debris that littered it. Squinting up as the smoking outline of a man stumbled past him he saw a massive crumbling hole on the other side of the room where a wall should have been. Through it he could make out an ocean, stormy and grim looking. That's right. He was in Cliffcoat. There had been... some kind of attack. It was all muddled. A Snake… A hooded figure…

He leapt to his feet, lurching sideways and nearly falling over. He held out his hand against the wall to steady himself, his hand fumbling for his wand before he realised it wasn't in his pocket. He glanced around the room for it. It looked like a bomb had gone off. Half the wall was gone and the rest was a burning, crumbling mess. Several bodies lay motionless here and there. Dirt specked faces staring up at nothing. Among them, Harry could see some people stirring on the floor.

He looked down at himself, checking to see if he was hurt. Everything was sore, his eyebrow was bleeding, and his robes were charred black, but as far as he could tell everything was where it should be. A weak moan floated up from the floor next to him, and he looked down to see the Wing who had given him the report roll onto his side. He was burnt all over, his face and chest blackened and foul smelling.

"Shit," Harry muttered as knelt down to check on the man, but there was nothing he could do for him right now. He didn't have a wand, and someone had just attacked them. Right now he was defenceless. And where was the basilisk? It should have been tearing into the house already.

A loud crack caused Harry's head to snap up.

Standing silhouetted in the hole where the wall was supposed to be was the cloaked and hooded figure he had seen down on the hill. The wind whipped the edges of his cloak back and forth, but his face remained. He didn't look very big, now that Harry could see him up close, but that didn't mean he wasn't dangerous. As discreetly as possible, Harry patted the pockets of the groaning Wing for a wand. Dammit. Nothing. But the figure still didn't move to attack. He just stood there motionless, watching him…

"Who are you?" Harry asked. He had to stall for time as he traced the floor around him with his hands.

No answer.

"What are you here for?"

Nothing.

Ok, how about something a little simpler?

"How did you get past the anti-apparition wards? You snuck right up on us."

Silence.

"… And what happened to the bloody snake?"

It might have been his imagination, but Harry thought he saw a smile inside the darkness of that hood. Then as if in answer the figure raised his wand. Harry leapt aside with a grunt, getting a smouldering dresser between himself and his attacker. But no curse came.

He glanced out from beside it. What was this guy playing at?

"Oh, bloody hell…"

The man had not fired off a curse. No, that would have been too simple. Standing in front of the hooded figure were six hunched over corpses; foul smelling and dripping wet. Their dead eyes turned towards him. Inferi.

So it seemed Harry was being given a chance. Or maybe he was just being toyed with. How had they just appeared out of nowhere? Either way there wasn't much time for him to think, as the closest one leapt at him with a howl. Without thinking Harry punched it in the face, dropping it to the floor. This wasn't the first time in his career he had had to get up close, and his training gave him a distinct advantage over a shambling corpse.

Still, he limbs were screaming in protest. His head was fuzzy and he was pretty sure he had pulled a muscle in his back. One Inferi would have been a hassle. Six?

He roared violently as he charged into the next one, catching it just under the jaw with his shoulder and lifting it off its feet. They both crashed into the one behind it and toppled to the floor. Harry rolled as he fell and came to his feet in a crouch. He made to lunge at the next Inferi but before he could another tackled him to the ground. He thrashed about on the dusty wooden floor like a madman, kicking and snarling at the Inferi that tore savagely at him, trying to keep the other two from getting a good grip on him. He grabbed the side of a mouldy face in a fierce grip and smashed it into the floor. There was a wet crack of breaking wood, but before he could move another Inferi leant down to grab a fistful of his robes, its face torn in a snarl. He kicked out its knee and sent it toppling onto its side. Lashing out with his elbow he caught the other one in the rib as it hunched down to tear at him.

No time for technique. Not now. No fancy moves, just brute violence would work here. He felt a hot slick of pain across his back as the Inferi tore at him. Shredding through cloth and skin. He spun around and caught it in the temple with his fist. It dropped, but the others were already back up and lunging at him. He staggered backwards, trying to keep his footing amongst the bodies scattered across the floor. The closest Inferi leapt for his throat and he fell back and kicked it over him as he rolled across the floor. He was back on his feet again and fell back across the room, trying to keep from getting cornered.

Twice more he was tackled to the ground, and both times he was sure that was the end of it. But somehow he tore free each time, breaking dead bones and tearing rotting flesh with an animalistic snarl. He managed to kick two down the stairs, but that only bought him a few moments brief respite before they scrambled back up. He even drove the head of one straight into the corner of the dresser he had hidden behind, but it didn't matter. No matter what he did, they wouldn't stay down. He wouldn't be able to keep this up for much longer. Fighting Inferi by hand was almost suicide, they would just keep coming. He only needed to find a –

There! Sticking out the wrist holster of one of the bodies was a wand. Just what he needed. He dived out the way just as the next two Inferi grabbed for him. His side went numb as he landed hard, but there was no time for complaints. He felt thin wood between his fingers.

He whipped himself round and came up face to face with a howling Inferi not three feet away. Its mouth was torn open in an unearthly shriek. With a thought the creature's head burst apart as a bolt of fire leapt from the wand and sent it flying back across the room.

Much better.

He blasted back the next one as it dived for him, sending it falling to the floor as a smouldering heap. He allowed himself to gain his bearings. The cloaked figure hadn't moved from the open wall. He remained stood in place, watching. Harry whipped the wand at the next Inferi, sending it flying back against the wall next to the other three. He couldn't be reckless with fire spells here. Not with so many wounded lying around the room.

Time to get involved, coward.

"Typhonus Descanta!" he said, sweeping his wand towards the hooded figure. The four remaining Inferi were all yanked off their feet as if pulled by invisible chords and flew towards the gap in the wall. With impressive speed, the stranger swiped his wand and vanished in a flash of blue light. Harry had expected that though, and as the Inferi were thrown from the house and scattered along the hill he was already turning around, looking for –

"Stupefy!" he shouted, and the hooded figure vanished again with another swish of his wand. Harry spun around again. There, in the corner, wand already raised. No time for words. Harry's next stunner was wordless. It shot out and exploded against the wall. The figure dodged it, but barely. Another stunner, ducked by an inch. Another swish. Another crack of blue light. Merlin, he was fast.

He kept the dance up for a while. How long for was impossible to say. Time seemed to slow as Harry brought his wand to bear again and again, not giving the figure time to respond. The sharp crack of his movements echoed around the room. Crack.

Crack.

Crack.

"Obtustupefy!" A shower of red bolts erupted from Harry's wand and swept wide over the far corner of the room, where his foe was just appearing in another blue flash. If it was possible for a shrouded hood to look shocked, then that's what Harry saw as the figure turned to see the wave of red rushing towards him.

Got you.

The corner of the room exploded in red light. But Harry kept his wand trained on the spot. No surprises this time.

Sure enough the figure was still on his feet. Head bowed to the floor, free hand raised with the gloved palm facing outwards. Just like Noctis had been at the Ministry building. A Protego. Wandless magic.

"Impressive," Harry admitted, "Stupefy!"

The stunner rocked against the shield, driving the figure to one knee. The faint circle of the shield spell visibly buckled, but still held. Not as strong as Noctis's had been.

"Stupefy!"

The figure swayed back and dropped to both knees, panting ragged breaths beneath the hood. The shield frayed at the seams.

"Stupefy!"

The man was thrown backwards as the shield crumpled. He slid across the floor before hitting the frozen body of a dead assistant. Time to finish this.

"Stupef -"

A swish of the wand. So fast.

There was another crack behind Harry. Before he could react he was struck by what felt like a bludger and carried across the room. He hit the top of the staircase and tumbled down in a shower of broken wood. Something gripped him fiercely from behind. Pain racked his body. His mind went cloudy for a second time as his head struck the floor. Whatever it was it had him in a death grip, and a strong one too.

Whatever it-

Oh no. Oh God no.

He already knew exactly what it was.

He felt cold.

He felt a cold he hadn't felt in years. Deep down in his bones.

Faintly, as though from a great distance, Harry could hear a woman screaming.

XXXXX

"Captain Weasely sir!"

"What!" Ron snapped at the grim faced Wing that had just flown down. He was in a rotten mood. He was covered in cuts from head to foot, he and his squad had barely escaped a couple of vicious Acromantulas by collapsing the house they were all in. He had a concussion from the collapse, he had Inferi swarming from every direction, he was soaked through to the bone and to top it off he had just stubbed his big toe on somebody's crushed BMW.

"Sir, the HQ!"

"What about it?" he growled, shooting a jet of fire into a cluster of Inferi that were swarming out of a nearby alleyway. All about them men where fighting tooth and nail in the streets, taking and losing ground to the foul creatures with each passing minute.

"Just look sir!"

He wheeled around, his face going red with anger, "Goddamit mate can't you see I'm a little… Oh… Oh shit."

Up on the hill overlooking the town, the tall, proud house they had taken over for the Headquarters had been gutted. The wall that faced the village was all but gone. The roof looked like it had been torn apart by an angry giant. Parts of the wall that were still standing were smouldering in the pouring rain, sending out plumes of smoke into the dark grey sky. The blaze of the flames struck out an angry orange against the sky. All in all it looked like someone had set off a bomb next to it.

"Harry," he breathed.

XXXXX

The dementor held him fast against the cold stone floor, but for all the strength in his limbs it might as well have been pinning him down with one hand. The wand he had picked up was gone. The horrible, creeping cold of the thing seeped through his body and drained him of strength. His head was ringing again from the fall down the stairs.

But even so he could hear her. It had been so long he had almost forgotten.

"No! Not Harry! Please, not Harry!"

His mother, begging Voldemort not to kill him. The night his parents died. It had been years since he had heard it, a demon from his past he thought he had long since vanquished, but it came back now with a vengeance. It ripped at his guts, leaving him feeling empty and sick. It was partly because it had been so long since he had heard it, but Harry suspected it was mostly because there was another voice as well. A new voice he had not been expecting to hear.

"Oh no no… Oh God please no! Not Albus! Oh please not my son!"

It was Ginny. The night they had found Albus in the Great Hall. She had apparated into St. Mungo's and had rushed into the room they were keeping him. She had taken one looked at his lifeless body and crumbled in Harry's arms, begging something – anything - from everyone and no one. Another mother, begging for the life of her son. Begging without the hope of an answer. Had so little changed? Had he done so little to make a better life for his children, to spare them from what he went through?

And they were not alone. There were other voices too. Memories played back through his mind like a Pensieve. He was living them out once again. Deaths and mistakes, friends and family. A lifetime of pain and suffering coming back to wash over him, building and building until he was drowning.

The dementor gripped his shoulder and slammed him against the floor, but he barely felt it. Unusual, he thought absently, for a dementor to be so violent. They weren't usually such brutal creatures. They viewed people as food, not as playthings to be savaged. Something was off here.

But it didn't matter. He wouldn't last much longer anyway. The dementor bent down low, its foul faceless head coming closer and closer to Harry. He turned away from it, facing out the partially destroyed wall and out over the town. He could see several columns of smoke rising from the houses. The rain continued to lash down. Cold. Uncaring. Any second now it would come. The Dementor's Kiss.

Something still niggled at him, in the farthest back of his mind, but he still couldn't place it. Ron was still out there, he thought over the screams and the wailing and the cold whispers that were so much worse than both. Harry wondered if he was doing any better. Poor guy, out there with Acromantulas and all. Rotten luck.

Rotten luck for them both really.

Still niggling.

And his Aurors. He hoped they managed to make it through this. Such a shame he had to leave them like this. Who would have thought it? Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived, dead in the first attack of a new war. After everything he had gone through to win the first one.

He couldn't put his finger on it. What was it that was bothering him?

And Justin, that poor bastard. What had happened to him? Last he saw he was being chased by that basilisk. What happened to the two of them actually? It's not easy to lose track of a snake that big. Awful way to go though. Especially for Justin too, given what he went through at Hogwarts…

Still niggling.

Something was off.

Something was very off.

What was it?

The dementor came closer. He could smell the foul breath of the thing. Feel the clammy cold of its hand as it gripped his face. His head swam with images and voices. Soon it would end, and he wouldn't have to hear them, see them any more. God he hated dementors though. Why, of all the things Harry had to get killed off by, it had to be the one thing that he…

That he…

There it was. How had he not seen it before?

Potter you idiot.

The empty, horrible face of the dementor was barely an inch away. Harry reached for a wand, but it was no use. There was nothing within reach. Nothing but bodies. Maybe they had wands, but he couldn't reach them.

"Are you a wizard or not?"

Bloody hell he was on a roll today. Harry scrunched up his face with effort as he stretch out a desperate hand, thinking with all he had left on one little word.

Accio. Accio.

Accio.

He felt the soft wood of a wand slide into his hand. He brought it round so it was pointing under the chest of the dementor. He didn't have enough left in him for an Expecto Patronum, not by a long shot. But he didn't need to. He only needed one simple charm…

An unseen wind blew up from beneath the two of them, lifting the dementor up onto its scabbed feet. At once Harry felt the dread cold lifting off him, and he scrambled back, gasping for air. In the centre of the room, the dementor was struggling to get its bearings. Harry shuffled backwards, feeling warmer with every inch until his back thumped against the wall. The impossible wind continued to blow, making the dementor sway back and forth and sending its cloak flying this way and that. Then all at once the wind shifted. A fierce upwards draft blew up from beneath the creature, lifting its cloaks and revealing bright red, heart-chequered underwear.

"Heh," Harry coughed as the dementor tried to flap down its cloak. He lifted himself onto one knee with a sore chuckle coming from deep inside his ragged throat. God, he was sore all over.

The dementor was now trying to hold down its cloak but was doing a startling impression of Marylyn Monroe in the process. Harry's chuckle fell away to a low laugh, he couldn't help himself. It built inside his chest as he picked himself up onto his feet. Building and building into full throated laughter, until he was cackling away like an idiot at the struggling dementor in front of him.

He waved his wand and the wind died away, leaving the bewildered dementor looking up at him.

"Riddikulus. Asshole."

And with a last stab of his wand the boggart exploded into a hundred wisps of smoke.

XXXXX

Harry and Ron looked out at the street as Aurors bustled past. A medic was feeding Harry potions as he sat on the crumbled wall that remained of a house. People called out orders and names, checked things off lists, tidied away the mess that the day had been. Here and there, the burning remains of Inferi were being put out a piled into massive black crates. For examination or disposal, Harry wasn't too sure, and right now he was having a hard time working up the energy to care.

"Boggarts eh?"

"Boggarts."

Every inch of him hurt, from his toes to the ends of his hair. Ron didn't look a whole lot better. His robes were torn and frayed, and the side of his face was caked in dried blood. Harry didn't want to know what he looked like.

"But I thought boggarts had trouble dealing with large groups." Ron said, "I mean, these things were taking on entire squads and they managed to keep it together enough that we had no idea they weren't the real thing."

"My God Ron," Harry said flatly, "You actually learned something in all our time at Hogwarts."

"Yeah well," Ron picked up a pebble and absently tossed it away, "I just wish I had learned to wear a helmet. I swear, this headache is killing me."

"Take an explosion in the face, then get knocked down some stairs and get back to me mate."

"A house," Ron said indignantly, "An entire sodding house. That tops a little tumble down some steps any day. Have you ever had a house fall on you before?"

"Anyway," Harry pressed on, "These boggarts were clearly different somehow. And I mean not just their ability to work against multiple targets but their ferocity as well. These things actively sought people out in open areas and attacked to kill. That's not something they've ever been known to do before. Not to mention the fact that they seemed to be coordinated..."

"Yeah I know. What a nightmare to add on top of a bloody army of Inferi. It's a good thing you figured it out when you did. Without your update I don't know if we would've been able to hold out."

"Well once you take away the big scary monsters all you're really left with are an uncoordinated mass of angry corpses."

"Right, 'cos there's nothing scary about that at all," Ron rolled his eyes. "Still though, I'm sure glad that's done with. No sign of our two friends then?"

"None. By the time I got back upstairs the hooded figure had vanished."

"That's been bothering me as well actually. How did this guy get into the HQ unseen? You said they seemed to apparate around the room as you were fighting. How'd they pull that off?"

Harry knocked back the last bottle of potion with a grimace. Damn thing tasted like feet. He waved the medic off with his thanks before turning back to Ron, a dour look on his face.

"Portkeys."

"Portkeys?"

"Portkeys."

Ron didn't look convinced. "But that's impossible, the anti-apparition wards we set up also disable out any Portkeys within the boundaries for as long as the spell is active."

But Harry had seen it with his own eyes. He had played back his memory of that fight a dozen times in the last hour, hoping for some clue as to the identity of his mystery attacker. He hadn't noticed at the time, but looking back he was sure he saw something darting at the hooded man each time he swiped his wand. That flash of blue. There was nothing else it could have been. Portkeys, he would have bet his wand on it. As for Ron's objection…

"Unless whoever this guy is was able to create them after the wards are in place."

That did nothing to ease his old friend's scepticism. If anything, Ron looked more confused.

"But you said that they used them…"

"Over a dozen times that I saw"

"But that's impossible. Portkeys take time to create, and each have to be tailored to a specific location. And to set up multiple landing sites within a single room… That you're fighting in… That's ridiculous."

"Well, it looks like whoever our mystery man was they managed to work it out."

Ron gave him a long look, and Harry returned it. He knew what he saw. And Ron knew he wasn't an idiot. After a moment, Ron just breathed out heavily.

"That's some impressive work to pull on the fly."

"Yes it is." That wasn't all that was bothering him, "But that's not what's worrying me about this guy."

"It's not? It's worrying me."

Harry frowned off at nothing, "He didn't move to attack me himself. Not once he was inside the house." Harry was thinking of the first spell, the one that had so disastrously disrupted his Protego Obscura. It was just a way in, not an attack, something to put Harry and the HQ down so they could get closer. "He just set the Inferi on me. There was a half dozen times he could have cursed me while he was at it. I didn't even have a wand until the end. And even then he just avoided my spells until he had no choice but to use the boggart." He sighed heavily. He was tired. All he wanted was a long bath and to crawl into bed with Ginny. "I have no idea what to make of it Ron."

Ron ruffled the rainwater out of his bright red hair again. At least the rain was starting to let off. "Ugh, this day's getting worse and worse."

"Yes it is." Harry paused for a moment, "And another thing I don't get is why Noctis came here at all. Coming for the Inferi I can make heads and tails of. But the way he did it is what's getting me. I mean, he even announced himself to whole bloody town."

They sat in silence as Harry thought it over, but no answers were forthcoming. All around them Aurors and clean up crews were sweeping the streets; clearing away debris, putting out fires and tending the wounded.

"He wanted us to be here." Harry said suddenly.

A distraction? Had Harry just been lured out here with almost the entire Auror Division so that Noctis could put plans in motion while they were away. It was a chilling thought, and one that seemed more likely the more he thought about it. Could they have been so blind? So blind and so heavy handed. Could Noctis have known the Minister would be so shaken by the thought of a new Dark Lord that he would bring the entire might of the Ministry to bear the second he popped his head out? Had he planned for it? Was that the reason for such a dramatic reveal on the steps of the Ministry itself?

Harry called for Kingsway, who was down the street in the middle of a roundabout, directing cleaning crews. He barely heard Ron asking him what he was doing.

It seemed like the logical deduction, but even so there was something else. Harry couldn't shake the lingering cold sensation of the dementor bearing down on him. His worst memories playing themselves over and over in his mind. The screams of his parents in their last moments; Harry's own voice bellowing in denial as Sirius fell through the veil; the scene underneath the Necromancer's shack in Orkney, the sight of the stolen girls and the foul tools that still woke Harry up some nights; the pained whimpering of Nighbly as Harry lied to him, telling him he would make it out alive and knowing he wouldn't; Ginny's heartbreaking wailing after seeing Albus' lifeless form…

The hooded figure, watching him from the ruin in the wall. Not attacking, not directly. Just watching. Harry couldn't shake the awful feeling that Noctis had arranged this whole thing just as a test for him, to see what he was capable of.

Or to see what he was most afraid of.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts. It wouldn't do any good to obsess over what he didn't know for sure. It was best to play it safe.

"Get in touch with Navidson" he said to Kingsway as the man jogged up, "I want a thorough sweep organised of the entire Ministry building, and the same thing done with any sites with a Griffon class importance ranking or higher. Look out for anything that seems out of place or wasn't there the first time. I want any thefts in the last two hours to be reported to a superior, no matter how small. Someone needs to review any staff changes that occurred during the same time period as well. And get someone to compile a list of the all reported criminal activity in the last three hours. If this was a distraction to get us out of the city I want to know what we missed."

Beside him Ron had his face in his hands, groaning as Kingsway ran off.

"You just had to say it didn't you?" he said, throwing up his hands. He goggled his eyes and adopted a high pitch voice, "'I almost wish something would happen…'" He looked at Harry and shook his head, "Honestly Harry…"

It couldn't be denied. Harry had gotten his wish; Lord Noctis had made his move, and Harry didn't feel any better at all. They had won the day, but Harry just couldn't shake the horrible feeling they had played right into Lord Noctis's hands.

XXXXXXXXXX

Now this took me way longer to get done that the others, even with the size taken into account. I blame it on a number of problems I've had this last month, but you're not here to listen to me whine. So we'll move on.

Even so I think I'm getting more of a hang of this whole writing thing, things just seem to be running better. Though I'll leave that for you to decide…

Be gentle.

Thanks for reading.