(A/N All Harry Potter characters belong to JKR I'm just having fun with them)

Chapter 10

'Pack Mule', Harry decided. That was what his role was. He carried a huge pack that couldn't be magically lightened, and was to stay at the back beside Barns. Bill would lead, with Owen doing his job of being his Shield. He would keep Bill covered in case he set off any wards as he took them down. The hike to the site in the early morning rain was rough. It was muddy, slick, and they all had packs that were heavy, just not as heavy as Harry's; who had the pre-carved runes in case Bill needed some to create a by-pass, or to set up protections for them. With the way the hike was going, it was no surprise to Harry when another Acromantula jumped out of the woods at the party. It never even hit the ground, before a rainbow of color slammed into it, sending it back into the jungle. It was a display of the nerves everyone felt, that other than a chuckle from Barns, no one even commented.

Harry got his first look at the newly revealed Temple. It stood tall with a stone wall surrounding it. The back door was simply an arch in the wall that surrounded the Temple. The Temple itself was an imposing structure, made of grey stone that had green moss growing up its sides. There were three floors, each one smaller than the one below it, and a flat top with an alter on top of it, visible from all sides. The arch in the outer wall was lit up with runes, and magic energy of blues, grey, and white, crisscrossed the opening. Bill was studying the runic schemes with Owen beside him at the ready, all the laid back demeanor he typically wore gone; lost to a firm, business-like pose. Barns was watching the jungle for more spiders or other nasties, idly spinning his wand. Harry was looking all around; the air surrounding the Temple was glowing with magical energy. A yellow field was held back by a purple glow, strands of white and grey moving around the Temple as if searching the air space, but staying high; not meeting the top of the outer wall which had just a few pale blue traces on it.

"Bill, what about not going through the door? We could go over the wall, couldn't we?" Harry asked. Bill never even turned to answer, but his voice carried.

"No, they are tied together. See the light blue lines? Those are proximity sensors. Trip them, and we trigger a trap. Seems like it involves water and lightning, maybe some air, but I can't be too sure. Without a test that is." Bill looked to Owen, who nodded and transfigured a rock laying nearby into a dog, and cast a compulsion charm on it. It was an ugly little Pug, and on Owens's command it walked through the arch. The wall blew a high pressure mist of air and water, swirling inside in all directions. A series of lightning bolts struck down, causing everything wet to feel a jolt, one bolt was a direct hit on the pug. Harry reeled back, blinking and seeing spots and bright white blotches across his vision from the brilliant flash. Bits of Pug rained down, turning to pebbles as it fell, the smell of brimstone hung heavy in the air.

"Woo, that's what I'm talking about!" exclaimed Barnes. "This is more like it, now, how do we get past that?" He was rubbing his hands together gleefully, looking childish in his excitement.

Owen and Bill were unfazed, but had a grudging respect that was beginning to develop. They had seen similar things before, on different sites.

"Well, the good news is, that this ward is a stand alone scheme, meaning it has its own charging rune. The bad news is, that the charging and control runes are on the inside, and out of reach. It looks as if we'll have to drain it faster than it can recharge." Bill said this with a smile. Harry looked around wondering why Bill was smiling.

"What's with that smile…? Bill?" Harry asked recognizing the manic look on Bills face, it was a little like Oliver Wood talking about Quidditch.

"Simple," Bill responded, "this will be fun! We need to overload it by sending things through, lots and lots of things."

Owen nodded with a grimace, and conjured four sets of goggles and ear muffs. Harry placed them on, a slight bewildered look showing on his face. The jungle supplied the material, as log after log was levitated into the lightning storm, creating a smoldering pile of wood chips. To Harry it was fun, but to Barns it was like an amusement park, he whooped and hollered, making almost as much noise as the explosions.

Swish and flick, then duck; repeat process. It was nearly an hour later when the logs flew through to no effect. Another Pug was promptly sent in, and it ran around and jumped in the air to no effect, all the while wiggling its whole back end in happiness. Bill went in, with Owen already casting a shield around him. It wasn't needed, and within a few moments of being out of sight, he had disabled the charging rune, leaving all the other runes as nothing more than carvings with no energy to power them.

"Stand by here, and let me copy this down for my own collection." Bill had an evil grin as he pulled a small black book from his robes. After finishing up, he cast a spell that ground off the remaining runes, this was so it couldn't be activated again, as well as to hide what it was, as it was now his ward. Part of the Cursebreakers Code, Bill told them, was any beaten ward is part of the plunder. Harry tossed the muffs and goggles aside, and followed Barns into the grounds, wading through a pile of wood chips. The smoke burned in his nose. They headed down a path that led toward a small recessed door in the temple. It looked like a gardener's entry. The walkway up to it was made of stones set close together; tall weeds grew in between them. Harry stepped forward with his wand out, and the ribbon cutter hex almost cast, when Bill grabbed his arm, hard.

"Harry!" His voice was sharp, "no casting unless I say to cast, you don't know what could be triggered." Harry looked startled, but nodded, eyes turning down.

"Sorry I just…"

"I know, it's what you have been doing for me, but around active wards follow my lead, and keep an eye out, so you can save my arse if I miss something, alright?" A slight grin took the bite out of his words.

"Definitely, sorry." Harry kept his wand out, but fell back to walk by Barns, who laughed at Harry and slapped him on the back.

Bill was advancing slowly, looking, alert eyes moving back and forth.

It was a small, almost unnoticeable brown line of energy running between the weeds. Harry spotted it just after Bill stopped the group and pointed.

"Trip wire type; trigger there, brown, means its nature based. Send in the Pug, Owen." Harry watched morbidly, as a flick of Owen's wand brought the Pug from earlier, and it happily bounded to its death. This time it was vines that shot out of the ground, lashing about; similar to the Whomping Willow at Hogwarts. It seemed the Pug was too small to be caught, the brave little dog escaped, only to have its transfiguration expire, causing it to return to a rock. Bill started sending Ribbon Cutters to hack the vines down; they dissolved as they were cut into dirt. Owen pushed Harry forward.

"Now is the time lad, mow it down!"

Harry moved forward, went down to a knee beside Bill, and fired off with his Cutter as well, the grey band flashing through roots. It was no time before all that was left, was dirt covered stumps wiggling uselessly. A few minutes more, and Bill had traced down the scheme for this as well, destroying it after copying it down.

"I'll call that one, The Whomping Wigglers," Bill stated with a smile.

"What did you name the other?" Barns asked, unable to help himself.

"Lightning Fury," Bill deadpanned. He continued, "that was a continuous ward, this one a one-time use." He looked at Harry as he said this. "What do you think so far?"

Harry smiled at Bill, noticing this was where that Weasley competitiveness came out in Bill. The Twins had Jokes, Ron had chess, Percy his grades, and Charlie dragons, but Bill took the cake with Curse-Breaking.

"Slightly crazy, but I wouldn't miss it for a thing," Harry replied. Thinking maybe he might be crazy too, because this was fun.

Belle looked up alarmed; they were almost to the Front Entrance, when a flash of bright light from the other side of the Temple startled her. This was followed by a pause, then a continuous roar and light show. Lone Feather changed and took flight, and made a quick circle around the wards before reporting back, saying they were battering the gate with trees.

"Not the most subtle approach, but it works," Annalisa commented, as she analyzed the energy surrounding the large, stone ramp that led to the front entrance. She cast a detection charm, only to have it fizzle out and fade away.

"Magical dampening field," Ian noted. He grinned, "that's an easy one."

He levitated rocks up, and Xo banished them into the door, the momentum carrying it after the magic fell, a great crash destroyed the closed door, scattering crushed rock and splintered wood. The results were an open pathway inside. It was simple, a slight let down, and almost too easy.

It was Remus who received Harry's reply, and it took most, if not all his considerable willpower, to not just open it now. In the end, he decided to wait for Sirius to finish his run. The sun was setting, creating a red and gold sky. The full moon was three weeks away, he had no worries, and it had been a long time since he had been so relaxed.

Sweat dripped down Sirius's face, as he pushed his body to perform. The Rejuvenate Potion was helping a great deal in building him back up, but he was still not as fast and fit as he once was. He had come a long way from the ragged excuse of a wizard he was. The Black Plantation House was not far away now; he could see Remus dozing on the porch, past the remains of once cultivated sugarcane fields. Panting, he peeled of his sweat soaked shirt, and tossed the wet rag at his sleeping friend, who casually leaned aside, proving he was not as asleep as he thought.

"Ah, ah, be nice Padfoot; or I won't share Harry's reply." Remus waved the envelope in the air.

"What's it say then?"

"Don't know, I was waiting for a mangy cur before I read it."

Sirius opened it and quickly read the contents, his face unreadable, which surprised Remus. No smile can't be good. He took the letter out of Sirius's hand after he had finished, reading it quickly.

"He never gets a break, does he Moony?"

"No, but he has some good friends, hopefully they make up the difference. I know it did for me."

"Do you know this Bill?"

"Never met him, heard stories from Arthur, he sounds like a good sort."

"Let's write him back, it kind of scares me Moony."

"Oh, and what's that?"

"That Harry will replace me," he said quietly, turning and facing the sea. "If I can't be there for him." Remus nodded his understanding, his friend had so much taken from him, and to lose this would hurt him badly. Even he had had the time, to mentor and teach Harry.

"Then what we need to do is catch a rat. There are traces and clues we could follow, from rumors we've heard. A missing witch from the ministry, a break in at the Auror lockup, and you know what was stolen: it was HIS wand." Remus stood up determined, "I'll go start to list out what we know."

Sirius stood leaning on the weathered porch rail; the sun's last light was shining a glowing golden, his long hair blowing slightly in the breeze, as he stared into the distance out across the sea, his gaze focused on storm clouds, far away on the horizon.

Cornelius Fudge was a happy, happy man. The World Cup was pouring money into the economy, the Tri-Wizard Tournament plans were well under way, and a healthy pay check coming from Lucius if he got the Wizengamont to enact the Heirs Test at Hogwarts this year, to all Fourth year and above. Not a challenging task with Dumbledore out of the country, and in effect, out of his hair for awhile longer. He wondered though, why was Lucius so motivated to enact the Heirs Test when he already had an Heir-Apparent for his own house? Filling seats of the Wizengamont was a noble cause; adding and reviving members of dormant families could make more opposition as well as add allies. Out of the hereditary 22 High Seats of the founding families in the Wizengamont, only 10 had sitting members: the rest were either too young, had died off, or been killed in the war. It was an old law, but it was created for just such circumstances. It would affect many young wizards and witches, but 5,000 Galleons in his vault was enough to make him turn a blind eye. He would find out Lucius's plan in time. His receptionist brought him a glass of firewhisky, bending low as she handed it to him. He smiled, yes all in all, it was good to be Cornelius.

Harry stood behind Barns as they made it to the recessed back door. Harry could see no magical energy at all. Bill studied the door, and cast several spells designed to react to magical energy, yet nothing had any effect.

"I see no protections active, and none of my spells pick up anything." Bill said, his brow wrinkled in confusion.

"Then what do we do?" Barns asked, a little impatient.

"Only one thing we can do, open the door." Bill raised his wand, as Owen conjured a large shield of steel, levitating it between Bill and the door.

"Alohomora," the spell unlocked the door, and a quick charm sent it swinging open. Bill peered cautiously around the shield, seeing a dusty storeroom full of what had once been food stuffs.

"Wow, that was anti-climactic," Barns drawled.

"It's different; I can't say I have seen an unprotected entry to a warded site before." Bill's tone was worried, as he lit his wand and advanced into the building. Harry was the last in, and couldn't help but feel that something was a little off.