Midway thru their portkey travel, Harry felt the wards around Hogwarts divert them. Knowing something was wrong; Harry used his own magic and redirected the portkey to Phoenix Nest. Unfortunately, the magic Harry used caused the entire group to fall down hard when they landed.
Harry jumped to his feet as Charlie and Percy came out of the Command Center to see what the trouble was.
"Report" Harry said, in an all business sort of voice. Remus and the others quickly got to their feet and followed Harry into the Command Center.
Percy responded in his prim and proper voice. "The dark mark has been seen over Ottery St. Catchpole, Hogsmeade, and London, Buckingham Palace to be exact. Albus, Minerva, and Filius are en route to Buckingham Palace along with a battalion of Goblin Elite Soldiers. Moody, Ted Tonks, Frank, Alice, and a few others are on their way to Ottery St. Catchpole and Hagrid, George and Fred are on their way into Hogsmeade. Albus placed Hogwarts in lockdown as a safety precaution."
Harry began to bark out orders to everyone "Hestia, I need Mackrack on the line as soon as possible. Remus, Dora, Bill, Fleur, portkey to Hogsmeade and aid Mischief, Trouble, and Hagrid; once you are done, head towards Ottery St. Catchpole. Neville, I want you and Luna to head to Ottery St. Catchpole and help out there. Ginny, Hermione, Ron, and I will head to Buckingham Palace and check out what is going on there. Everyone gear up and head out in five minutes."
"Harry, I have Mackrack on the line for you." Hestia said.
Harry walked into a small chamber designed for private conversations and saw a one quarter scale image of Mackrack waiting for him. "Mackrack, how many more troops do you have available to deploy?"
"We have two battalions at Buckingham Palace, two more here in the bank plus our human security force in Diagon Alley; we have a battalion at the ministry, St. Mungo's Hogsmeade, plus our team out at Azkaban. Why is there somewhere else that needs protection?" The goblin asked.
"No, just checking. I am on my way to Buckingham Palace right now."
"Contact me if you need anything."
"Of course Mackrack; I'll talk to you soon."
Harry exited the communication chamber as Ginny and the others were returning from grabbing their gears. Harry, with a wave of his hand, flamed his battle robes and sword onto himself. After checking to see that everyone was ready, Harry and Ginny grabbed Ron and Hermione and flamed them to the Queen's Throne Room at Buckingham Palace.
As soon as they arrived, Harry and Ron both took in the situation; Queen Elizabeth, Prince Phillip, Prince Charles, Princess Diana, Prince William, and Prince Henry were all huddled in a corner with a number of the MRG standing guard over them. Between the guards and the rest of the room stood a solid wall of magic with Dumbledore's and McGonagall's magical signature all over it.
"Albus, what the hell is going on?" Harry stated, taking stock of the situation.
"The dark mark was shining above Buckingham Palace; two of Captain Jennings men went out to investigate the mark. Upon returning they informed us that they killed two wizards wearing Death Eater robes and were carrying the dark mark. It did look like they were young and inexperienced. When they returned, they wards around the Palace informed us that there was a problem.
"As per protocol, the royal family was brought here and was protected. You showed up moments after we sealed the room. According to the wards, there has been no other activity."
"They were testing our responses Albus. I sent Remus, Dora, Bill, and Fleur to aid in Hogsmeade and Neville and Luna to Ottery St. Catchpole to assist. If I am right, this was just a test to see how our response time is. Tom would know that I know that I am the Lord Protector and charged with protecting the queen.
"Ottery St. Catchpole is of course the home of the Burrow and also the Lovegood home. Longbottom Manor, which is on the other side of Devon, is still close by as well. Then there is Hogsmeade; I should not have to explain why that location would be important.
"I believe that if we were to contact the others, we would hear similar circumstances as we have here. In fact…" Harry tapped his phoenix pendant "Bishop, Phoenix Sight; this is Phoenix One with Phoenix Two, Phoenix Alpha, Phoenix Beta, Athena, and Knight. Please respond."
A moment later, the room could hear Alastor Moody's voice. "Phoenix One, this is Bishop. We are in Ottery St. Catchpole, all is here currently quiet. We have six Death Eaters in custody, one dead and one dark mark in the air, which has been replaced by Phoenix Pride."
Remus' voice was heard next. "Phoenix One, Bishop, this is Phoenix Sight in Hogsmeade. We have one Dark Mark in the air over the Hogshead. Goat has minor injuries but did manage to take down three Death Eaters before Gentle, Mischief, and Mayhem showed up and dropped 4 others. We have secured Hogsmeade, no other Death Eaters present."
"Understood gentlemen, I believe that these acts were designed to test our defenses. Send all captured Death Eaters to the holding cells. Contact Phoenix Chronicle; let her know we are bringing home some guests. Bishop, what spell did Phoenix Pride use?"
Suddenly Neville's voice was heard of the pendant's link. "Phoenix One, this is Phoenix Pride. Athena, Eagle, and I have found a spell that will conjure a burning phoenix, eliminating the Dark Mark. The incantation is 'Lux lucis Vestigium de Phoenix.' It will not burn human skin or that of any animal. It will however transfigure the dark mark in the sky into a burning phoenix."
"Thank you everyone. Finish up your reports and enjoy your day. OOTPEC Meeting tonight seven o'clock in the Conference Room." With that, Harry closed the communication channel and turned to face the queen.
"Your majesty, it seems that Lord Voldemort's forces are testing our defenses and responses. There is very little chance that Death Eaters could ever penetrate the Wards here. Just to be sure, I am going to have one of my people come and check out the wards."
Harry turned to his wife. "Dear, can you please locate Bill and Fleur and bring them here. I want them to check out the wards around the palace."
"Of course dear, I'll be back shortly." Ginny turned to the queen, "Your majesty."
Harry turned back to Albus. "So what else did we miss while we were gone?"
"I believe it might be easier if I showed you Harry. You are an accomplished Legilimens correct? All you have to do look into my eyes, I will handle the rest."
Harry complied as images poured into Harry's head. Meetings with Mackrack and Griphook regarding funding for the school, Reading pages of reports from Order Members, dealing with issues with the Wizengamot, and finally Albus proposing to Minerva. The last image brought a smile to Harry's face.
"Thank you Albus and congratulations on your up coming marriage." Harry was going to continue when Ginny arrived Bill & Fleur. "Ah, your majesty, may I present Mr. William Arthur Weasley, Heir Apparent of the House of Weasley, Director of the Office of Physical & Property Security for the Order of the Phoenix, Senior Curse Breaker for Gringotts Wizarding Bank and my brother-in-law.
"Next to him is the beautiful, smart, and funny, Mrs. Fleur Weasley, TriWizard Tournament Champion from Beauxbatons School of Magic in France, member of the Order of the Phoenix and most importantly William's wife.
"Bill, Fleur, may present Her Royal Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain." Bill and Fleur both bowed deeply to the queen.
"Mr. & Mrs. Weasley, please rise. Any member of the Lord Protector's family is a member of mine."
"Thank you your majesty. If I may ask…why are we here?" Bill asked the room at large.
Harry answered the red head's question "Bill, I want you and Fleur to inspect the wards around Buckingham Palace. When I first met the queen, Ginny and I released enough power to recharge and somehow change the warding around the palace."
"Do you know why originally designed the wards? It usually helps to know whose work we are dealing with." replied Fleur.
At this point Captain Jennings, who had been standing out of the way, spoke up. "The wards around Buckingham Palace were created by the Magical Royal Guard and Gringotts' best wardmasters including Snaphook and Sabertooth over seven hundred years ago."
"These were designed by Snaphook? Well they must be pretty complex then." Bill thought for a moment before speaking again "Captain, who knows the most about the wards?"
"Second Lieutenant Crosby, sir. His ancestor used his blood to finish sealing of the wards. He has all the information you should need. I will have one of my men escort you to meet with him." With a snap of his fingers, one of the Captain's men approached and escorted Bill and Fleur out of the throne room.
After they left, Harry turned to the queen. "Your majesty, I need to check in with the Minister of Magic and let her know I have returned. William and Fleur will be working for a few hours on checking out the wards. I would be honored to meet with you in a few days to discuss the wards and other matters."
"Of course Harry. We'll meet at Windsor Castle and do lunch. Please see bring you wife and her eldest brother and his wife. I am interested to see the condition of the wards at Windsor."
With a nod, Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Albus, and Minerva all gathered around Harry who created a portkey for a return trip to Phoenix Nest.
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At six fifty that evening, Harry and Ginny Potter apparated into Phoenix Nest's arrival chamber. Like always, there were two goblin guards flanking the door that led to the inner sanctum of the order.
After nodding their head to the guards, Harry and Ginny proceeded to the Command Center where Hestia would be giving out orders and processing data. When they arrived, Harry saw Bill and Alastor discussing something over one of the maps of France.
"…I'm telling you Moody, there is something dark going on there. I placed the wards around Château Delacour myself and they are detecting dark activity within 100 miles. The only other place I can think of is the Estate of Nicholas & Perenelle Flamel. Since their death, the estate has been in a state of lockdown."
"…And I'm telling you that the damn French can handle it! It's just some punk kids playing with some Peruvian Darkness Powder around an abandoned estate!"
"Actually gentlemen, it may be something worse. Bring the files to the conference room; we'll discuss the findings there." Harry said, ending the argument with his tone.
Harry then summoned one of Nest's house elves. "Please inform Dobby and Kreacher that I need to speak to them in my office before the Executive Committee Meeting."
"Of course Lord Phoenix sir." And the elf was gone.
"Harry, go ahead and do whatever you needed to do. I want to check out a few things before the meeting."
"Thanks love." Harry kissed his wife's check before flaming to his office.
Ten minutes later, Harry was engrossed in the reports from Viktor Krum and Oliver Wood when Dobby and Kreacher both appeared in his office.
"Dobby and Kreacher reporting as ordered Harry Potter sir." Dobby said, bouncing up and down as always.
"Thank you both for coming, please sit down. Have the two of you been able to inspect all of our properties and holdings?"
Dobby spoke first "Harry Potter sir, I is contacted all of your Gryffindor/Potter Elves. All of your properties are doing well and are well maintained. The head elves from each location wish to know when their Master and Mistress will be coming to visit."
"Master Harry sir, I too have been in contact with a number of your elves, all from the Black Family Holdings. So far, all but two of the locations have house elves. One is the 'Shrieking Shack' in Hogsmeade, the other be Black Castle in Blackmoor. When yous became Lord Black, they killed themselves rather than serves you.
"I have asked Master Griphook sir to send some of his goblins to destroy any dark artifacts they can find and also to reward the holdings. I is also wanting to ask your permission to send two elves to Black Castle to prepare it for future use."
"Excellent work, both of you. Kreacher, Black Castle is going to be transformed into the new permanent home for Werewolves. From what I know about the Castle, it sits on 300 acres in the middle of a huge wooded area. Please inform Griphook that I wish to ward the entire property and offer as a sanctuary for werewolves."
"Of course Master Harry, it is an honor to serve you. I is also contacted the elves on Azkaban Island. There is a fairly large community of elves that live on the backside of the island. They are mainly disgraced elves who have been released from service because of age. Dobby and Winky spent time there after they were freed.
"Besides the colony, there are thirty five elves that work for the prison and another twenty that work at Castle Azkaban. We elves are not affected by the evil, foul, dementors that live on the island. The castle itself is located next to the elf community on the backside of the island. There is no dementor influence on that side of the island sir."
Dobby jumped back into the discussion. "The Hogwarts Elves are doing very well Harry Potter sir. With her heart healthy again, Hogwarts is giving we elves plenty to do. With the additional task of cleaning out the royal suite for you and Lady Ginny Potter, they say they is not happier in a very long time."
"Thank you both. I am glad to see everything is going well with Hogwarts and Azkaban. What news from the Ministry Elves and what about the Flamel Estates?"
"Kreacher knows that the Ministry Elves are being treated much better than ever. Minister Madam Bones has proclaimed that anyone person caught hurting or mistreating an elf, will be punished most severely. Their magic is also returning since they now have a master to serve instead of stewards."
"The Flamel Estate in France is in a state of lockdown. None of the wards will allow anyone within the Estate. The elves within are not responding to any summons. We is thinking that they are in deep sleep." Dobby answered.
"Why would they be in deep sleep Dobby? And do you have any idea why I know nothing this Estate?" Harry answered. Unlike his other families, the Flamel Family Signet Ring did not give him any information on the Flamel Estate in France. He had knowledge about all of the other Flamel Family Holdings, so why not this one?
"Begging your pardon Harry Potter sir, but if Mr. Flamel sealed his estate home when he died, then the house elves would go to sleep until their master returned. The entire estate would be under a series of preservation charms. Mr. Goblin Griphook can be more helpful." Dobby said.
"Thank you Dobby and you too Kreacher. Now I have another mission for one of you; because of the requirements, I would suggest that Dobby goes and Kreacher remains here."
"Kreacher will remain here, Master Harry. Dobby may go, as long as Dobby returns. Winky is not liking when Dobby is away from home. Kreacher does not want to deal with mad Winky." Kreacher said.
Harry chuckled for a moment before addressing Dobby. "Dobby, as one of my Senior Elves, you should have the authority to enter Flamel Estate in my name. Talk to the elves and find out everything you can. According to Bishop, there has been an unusual amount of dark magic in the vicinity of Château Delacour which is within 100 miles of the Flamel Estate. I want you to find out what you can and return as soon as possible."
"Of course Harry Potter sir, I will leave right now." With a snap of his finger, Dobby was gone.
"Master Harry, Kreacher thinks that Dobby has too much energy for his own good."
Harry couldn't help but laugh at his short friend. "I agree, come on Kreacher we have a meeting to get to."
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The dicto-quill in the corner began to write as Harry spoke. "I hereby call this meeting of the Order of the Phoenix Executive Committee to order.
"All committee members are present. Members at large present: Madam Fleur Weasley, Kreacher, Winky, Griphook of the Goblin Nation, and Mackrack, Chairman of the Board of Gringotts Wizarding Bank and Leader of the Goblin Nation."
Once the opening business was finished, Harry continued, "First, thank you for coming tonight. It has been a long time since we were all together. Thanks to Albus, I have been brought up to speed on all of the reports and happenings while I was away. Is there anything else that needs to be reported?"
Albus stood from his chair and moved to the communication device that had been installed in the room. "Phoenix Nest to Oliver Wood, respond please."
A moment later, an image of Oliver Wood and Viktor Krum appeared. "Phoenix Nest, please stand by while we secure the room." Everyone in the room could hear privacy and sealing charms being caste on the other end of the line.
After a few minutes, both men returned to communication device. "Phoenix Nest, we are secured here." Oliver said as he reached out of sight for a moment, returning into view holding a butterbeer.
"Gentlemen, the OOTPEC is convened assembled here, please give us a detailed report." Albus said to the two men.
Oliver and Viktor looked at each other before Oliver spoke. "Of course sir. We arrived here with our team 10 days ago and began our search. Three days into our assignment, one of our agents, Silvertooth, who is an expert in tracking and reconnaissance, picked up the trail of Bellatrix Lestrange."
At this point, Viktor took over "We followed the trail for hours until it suddenly disappeared in a heavily wooded area. After many hours, we discovered a crack in the protective charms and wards and entered the area."
"The area that is hidden is not under any sort of Fidelius Charm that we are aware of, but there are notice me not charms, muggle repellant charms, and a number of dark wards that we can not identify. A few of our agents are still trying to process everything we found." Oliver stated.
"Oliver, Viktor, can you show us the magical signatures of the charms and wards, we may be able to help you on this end." Ginny asked.
Oliver nodded "Of course. We can transmit that information at the end of our report. We found some items that will scare the shit out of you; I know it did for me. We were able to place a number of our own wards and charms, including a variation of the goblin fidelius, around the crack in the wards. We were also able to stabilize the crack to allow us entrance and exit.
"The crack is on the far side of area hidden from the compound. There are no standard patrols on the outer edge of the wards; however patrols do begin around the outer edge of the compound itself."
"I took to the using an invisibility cloak, the compound is built around a rather large hill. The hill was not natural, but rather man-made. By the looks of the vegetation around the hill and the compound, I would say that the compound was built at least eighty years ago." Viktor said.
"That would be about right for Gellert's rise to power. Many of the storehouses we raided were built around the same time period. I would assume that this one was his first. Viktor, when you were up in the air, did you see the size of the hill and the compound?"
"I did Headmaster. The compound is laid out in a pentagram pattern with the hill in the middle. Across the widest point, I would say that compound is three kilometers across. The visible portion of the hill is one kilometer across and approximately four hundred meters tall." Viktor said.
"We penetrated the compound eight days ago. There seem to be approximately eighty dart arts supporters within the compound. Not all of them are death eaters and many of them are from wealthy families across the globe. We will transmit their images with the records of the magical signatures.
"The patrols and guards seem to be recent graduates from Durmstrang and other schools of Eastern Europe, Africa, and the Americas. The compound itself seems to be deserted except for five of the central buildings on the south side where the main entrance to the hill is. One of the buildings is a dormitory for the younger recruits; another building is their training area. The only other building that we could gain access to is a temple. There is a huge statue of Morgan le Fey and of Salazar Slytherin in there."
"The Order of the Dark Mages" Albus whispered.
"Excuse me?" Harry asked, looking at his mentor.
Startled, Harry replied, "I am sorry Harry, I was thinking out loud. Viktor, Oliver, were the statues made of black onyx with emerald eyes and gold runes over the statues chests?"
Oliver and Viktor both nodded.
"Damn you Gellert! Damn you!" The headmaster said as he slammed his fist onto the table. "The Dark Order of Mages was created by Morgana Le Fey shortly before Arthur fell in battle. The order was Morgan's premier fighting unit and was fanatically loyal to Le Fey. When she was killed, the order went underground.
"It was rumored, and proven wrong thanks to Harry, that Salazar Slytherin was a member and leader of the Order and fought Godric Gryffindor using the knowledge possessed by the Order of the Mages."
"When I put on the Slytherin Signet Ring, I learned Slytherin's eldest son named Salazar after his father, went dark and evil. That is the bloodline that Tom Riddle is descended from, while I am descended from his squib daughter. The younger Salazar went on and created a cult of followers, or so I was led to believe, that carried out acts of terrorism against muggles and muggleborns." Harry said in a quiet voice.
Everyone was quiet before Harry nodded towards the images of Oliver and Viktor to continue. Oliver picked up the report. "There is also another building that seems to be used as some sort of animal house, filled with snakes and other dark creatures. Every few hours, someone would enter the animal house carrying a potion, stay for a bout ten minutes before turning around and leaving. They are giving the animals some potion, but so far we have no idea what it is."
Viktor continued the report "The last building is another dormitory style building where the elder dark arts practitioners were staying. The only one we are not sure is staying there is Bellatrix. At night she retreats to storehouse, we know this for a fact because we hear her screaming in pleasure for most of the night.
"Four days ago, we made our way into the hill itself. It is how we thought, the entire inside is filled with many different things, all centered on the dark arts. We have found scrolls, potion materials, weapons, armor, gold, silver, and a lot of things none of us know about. There were two things that scared the hell out of; the first was that Voldemort is possessing not just snakes, but also some sort of a dark doppelganger. We bitched many times about not being able to use magic, but Bellatrix was always nearby to torture and kill whoever he wanted.
"We also found some sort of dark obelisk in the center of the hill. At night, after Bellatrix was asleep, Voldemort's doppelganger would, for lack of a better term, die and a dark specter would emerge and lay itself next to the obelisk. The next morning the specter would rise from its place at the base of the obelisk, move around the chamber the obelisk was in for while, and then move back to the obelisk for an hour or so, then settle into another doppelganger."
Oliver added something else interesting "Here is something else that is interesting, at night, the specter seemed to be almost gray in color, but in the mornings it was black, blacker than the night. If I were to hazard a guess, I would say that obelisk thing is somehow responsible for Voldemort's power. We also found and liberated some journals that had drawings of the obelisk in them. We think they are the journals on its construction."
Harry smiled the first smile he had since the beginning of this report. Excellent work guys, I want you to leave a couple of recording devices and return home. Use your emergency portkeys; I want you home as quick as you can. Don't worry about the magical signatures now."
"We'll see you in few hours boss." Oliver said cheekily before his and Viktor's images faded out into nothingness.
"Well, we now know where Grindelwald's last storehouse is. Albus I want you too—"
Suddenly, Dobby appeared on the table, bleeding profusely and barely conscious. Harry reached for Dobby and scooped him into his arms.
"Harry Potter sir, Death Eaters are after the Nicholas Flamel's Famous Philosopher's Stone." Dobby gasped before falling unconscious.
"Master Harry must place Dobby back on table for Kreacher to help him." Kreacher ordered. The elderly elf had climbed up onto the table and was removing his butler's jacket as he spoke.
Harry did as he was told as Kreacher and Winky removed Dobby's jacket and shirt. Kreacher then placed his hands on Dobby's chest and began to chant in an unknown tongue. Winky too began to chant and place her hands on Dobby's chest.
As Winky began the chant again, her eyes went wide, "KREACHER!! YOUS MUST NOT BEING THAT!! YOUS IS TOO—"
Winky and everyone else in the room was pushed back from the table as a protective shield dome encased the entire table. Kreacher turned to his master and mistress and smiled.
"Kreacher must save Dobby. Dobby must live to tell Dobby and Winky's children about the brave Harry Potter and his mate. Kreacher is honored to serve the Ancient and Most Nobles Houses of Black and Potter."
Kreacher turned back to Dobby and continued to chant louder and louder. Winky tried to breech the barrier, but was being held back by Molly and Hermione, afraid that she would hurt herself or her baby that she carried.
Harry, Bill, Albus, Ginny, Moody, McGonagall, Mackrack, Griphook, Fleur, and Remus were trying to penetrate the shield that Kreacher had created around him and Dobby. Tonks quickly told Hestia to send some agents to the Flamel Estate and then turned to look at the scene.
Finally shield dropped and Harry rushed to Kreacher and Dobby. Kreacher was lying over Dobby's chest, not moving. Harry quickly grabbed Kreacher pulled him into his arms as Albus and Ginny checked on Dobby.
"Master Harry. Kreacher has one request."
"Whatever you want Kreacher. You're going to be ok, I promise."
"Master Harry, you should never lie. Kreacher is going to die, Kreacher knows this. Kreacher wants to be buried in the ground like the Potter House Elves."
"I promise Kreacher, you have my word."
With a smile on his face, Kreacher closed his eyes and took his last breath.
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Lux lucis Vestigium de Phoenix = Light Mark of the Phoenix