Still not mine...
Chapter 10...
"Five minutes Boss." Came over my headset. I double clicked my mike to acknowledge the co-pilots voice. I opened my eyes, stood up from my seat and stretched as much as the cramped interior of the chopper allowed. My spine gave off a satisfying couple of pops and I groaned in bliss at the release of tension in my back.
I may be twenty five again, but I sometimes feel closer to sixty.
I cautiously moved my way forward to stand between the pilots and I look out through the windscreen at the ocean below us. I could see the coastline of Wales approaching in the distance.
I turned back towards the rear of the Black Hawk and made sure that the team was awake and ready to disembark. I looked at the Potters and saw that they were still as wide awake now as they had been since we got them out of Azkaban.
The side doors are opened and the cool early morning air enters the once warm and drowsy cockpit with a vengeance. I turn my head to the left door gunner who was grinning at me and shot him the bird, causing him to outright laugh.
I take a seat on the deck and dangle my legs out the door as the ocean rushes past getting closer as we descend towards the Manor. The water gives way to sand, then grass and then concrete as the pilots flare the nose to slow us down.
I can see a welcoming committee outside the hangar doors that seems to consist of my entire command, all of the Potter elves and of course, the almost glowing red hair of the smallest Potter waiting for to see her parents for the first time in ten years.
The wheels gently touched down and the two gunners are out straight away to chock the main gear as the pilots let the engines cool prior to shutting them down.
I slide out onto the concrete of the apron and turn to help Lord and Lady Potter from the aircraft. As they are stepping out they are swamped by the medical team and two elves that are waving their strange version of a wand over their master and mistress.
Noting that someone is missing, I turn towards the hangar and I instantly spotted the tiny ten year old looking shyly at the concrete in front of her. What I could see of her face was almost as red as her hair. I walk over to her ignoring the Potters – Imogen was my principal, not them – who were getting laid onto stretchers and hustled towards the sick bay.
I stop just in front of Imogen and crouch down in front of her. "What wrong Little One?" I ask her gently.
She just shrugs her shoulders and makes a noncommittal noise in her throat.
I mentally shake my head and reach out my gloved hand to gently raise her head up so I can look into her eyes.
"It me Immie, what's wrong?"
"What if they don't want me?" she whispered, neon green eyes filled with such fear that I immediately pulled the terrified girl into my arms and held her close as she burst into sobs that wracked her whole body. "They told me that no-one would ever want me."
I stood up and slowly rocked her backwards and forwards as softly humming to her as behind me the noise of the black hawks engines died as the pilots shut down the engines. I ignored the team moving past me as I tried to comfort the girl in my arms.
"Imogen, they are fucking assholes who do not deserve to live." I told her
Whoops. I hope she didn't hear that.
I pull her back a bit so I can look into her eyes, and I notice a little smile now amongst the tears. Bugger, she did hear me. "New rule Little One, whatever They told you, I want you to believe the opposite." She rested her forehead against mine.
"Really?" she asked me in a little voice.
"Really, really." I answered. "Look at what you just told me." She looked at me with confusion on her face. "You just said that they told you that no one wanted you." I paused to make sure she understood. "If no one wanted you Immie, then why did I come and get you and bring you home?" I asked her as gently as I could.
Her eyes widen in recognition and she bursts into happy tears this time and then tries to break my neck she is squeezing me so hard. She finally realised that for the first time she can remember, there is someone there for her.
"Ok Little One, do you want to go and meet your mum and dad?" I ask her and she sniffles and nods to me. "Why don't we go via a bathroom and you can wash your face." I suggest as I shift her to my right hip and start to walk towards the admin building.
I thought she would get down and walk herself, but she surprised me by putting her head down on my shoulder and tightening her grip around my neck.
"Thanks Alex." She whispered in my ear and I turned my head and smiled at her. She sniffed and suddenly got a funny look on her face.
"What?" I ask
She giggles and squirms to be let down, shaking her head.
"What?" I ask again as I put her down.
She giggles again and takes a few quick steps away from me. "You stink." She yells out and then turns and runs through the doors laughing.
I stop dumbfounded and then I look down at my combat gear. I was covered in dirt, slime, soot and dried sweat and blood from the inevitable bumps and scratches you always pick up in a combat operation. I inhale through my nose and notice that maybe I do smell a bit ripe.
"Keep running Imogen." I yell out as I follow her through the doors of the admin building. I spot her about fifteen feet in front of me. "I am going to open the biggest can of whoop ass on you when I get my hands on your skinny butt."
"Have to catch me first old man." She yells over her shoulder as she giggles and runs through a door.
I quickly close the distance and open the door that she slammed closed as she went through it, noticing that it is the ladies toilets. I open the door and walk in.
"Alex, this is the girls toilets, you can't be in here." She shrieks at me.
"Oh yes I can Miss Potter." I reply. "You are forgetting one important fact." I made sure that I was as unthreatening as possible as I walked towards her. I didn't want a Dursley flash back.
"Oh yeah what's that old man?" she giggled again and backed towards the sink.
I smiled at her. "This is My base. I can go wherever I want." I finished with the stereo typical evil laugh as I rubbed my hands together. "Also, you just ran into a room with only one way in or out."
"Shit." She said when she realised what she had done. Then she blushed almost the same colour as her hair when she realised what she had said.
I just raised an eyebrow at her cursing. "Give up?" I asked with a smile and she nods at me, then squeals as I grab her and start tickling her ribs.
"You cheater!" she yells between squeals and laughter. "And you still stink." I let her go with a smile on my face, glad that I had managed to make her smile again.
"I'll wait outside Little One." I tell her. "Wash your face and then I'll take you to see your mum and dad ok?"
"Ok." She nods and I leave the room as she turns to the sink and starts running the tap.
Five minutes later I am walking along the main passage way that leads towards the sick bay in the administration block. Imogen has a death grip on my hand as she walks beside me. We get to the door and I do not give her time to back out. I just push the door open and lead her inside the room.
There are twenty beds lined up against the walls with ten on each side. In between each bed is a large window that either looks towards the ocean or the forest that borders one side of the property. There is a cluster of medical staff standing at the foot of a pair of beds while two elves run their strange tree root type foci over the adult Potters.
I also notice that there is a portrait that was currently occupied by Charlus and Dorea in between the two beds.
As we walk in, Lily – who is closest to the door, turns her head to look in our direction. She gasps and as quickly as she can sits up and holds out her arms towards us.
"Immie?" she softly calls out. And tears start streaming down her cheeks.
"Mummy." Imogen whispers, then pulls her had free and races towards her mother. Quickly closing the distance she launches herself into her mother's arms sobbing her heart out as she experiences the first hug from her mother in ten years.
I look over at Lord Potter and he is quickly getting out of his bed to join his wife and daughter in a family hug. They are totally oblivious to our presence. I snap my fingers and several of the staff look towards me. I pat myself on the head signalling for them to join me and with a last look to the Potters, I leave the room with the rest of them following me.
When we are all out in the corridor I turn to Lieutenant Commander Johnston who is our doctor. "Doc, give em some space." I said to him. "They haven't seen each other in ten years." I turn to head towards the ready room. "Give me a holler if they want to speak to me."
"Yes Boss." Answered the Doctor before he turned and gave his staff their instructions before they returned to their office.
I entered the ready room to find that I was the last one in there and the rest of the team were already cleaning their weapons and other equipment. I put my weapons onto one of the tables and went to my ready locker and pulled out a cleaning kit that I would need. I returned to my table and proceeded to strip and clean my weapons and tactical gear.
While I doing this, the rest of the team were conducting their own informal debrief as they worked. This had become a sort of tradition between the six of us and helped us to focus our minds for the formal debrief that would be taking place as soon as we had cleaned up.
There was a pop beside me and Zoe appeared with a tray of sandwiches and another of soft drinks floating beside her.
"Master Alex, I is thinking that you and yours peoples would be hungry." She piped in her high pitched voice.
"You are the best Zoe, thanks." I replied to her. She blushed under my thanks and floated the food to an empty table in the corner. The rest of the team thanked the elf before she popped out. I headed over to the table and grabbed a can of coke and a chicken sandwich off the platters taking them back to my table to continue cleaning and reassembling my gear.
"What happens now Boss?" Mitch asked me in his thick Texan accent. "We rescued the Potters, we can't go home as no one in this dimension knows us. So what are the sixty of us going to do?"
The other four members of my team all stopped what they were doing and looked at me expectantly.
"The Potters own the Four Seasons hotel chain," I paused as there was a gasp from Keila. I smiled at her. "I had the same reaction." I looked at my team. "As soon as the Potters are healthy enough, we are going to be taking them to their resort on Bora Bora." Now there were quite a few smiles around the table.
"There is an old law the Dumbles put in place that says that all magical children that were born in the UK have to attend Hogwarts, or their parents face jail time and loss of half their fortunes." I paused as several of the team made sounds of disbelief.
When they had silenced themselves I continued. "There is a loop hole that allows a twelve month delay in the child attending the school, so we now have thirteen and a half months to get Imogen better."
I pause and take a breath before continuing. "I plan on taking her to the island for that time so that she can recover without having to look over her shoulder and just enjoy being a ten year old girl."
"We are the ones looking Boss?" Tom asked me and I nodded an affirmative.
"I had basically planned this before I knew that her parents or you lot would be joining me so I am going to have to change things around a bit." I admitted. "The six of us will remain with the Potters. I will have to think about the rest of the Squadron. Maybe the elves can help there."
I pause and notice that Tim and Andrea are taking notes. I nod my thanks to them. I start to pace as I continue to think out loud while the others finish cleaning their kit and just sit and listen. They know me well enough to know that I will want their opinions once I have finished brain storming.
"I will keep the ops, admin and medical teams as well as a small security team here at the manor, but I am thinking about having the others act as a type of snatch and grab team." I pause and take a mouthful of my drink.
"We need to find out what is different in this dimension from the books. We need intel on Dumbles and his associates." I look around and everyone now is taking notes.
"Boss?" Corporal Luke Byers our resident Canadian and the youngest member of our team interrupts. I look at him and gesture for him to continue. "Let's be honest, the security team are almost as good as we are when it comes to it."
"We have used them several times to bulk our numbers up on bigger missions and also to replace individuals on this team when one of us was injured." He looked around at all of us and then continued expanding on his idea.
"Why not make them into three additional teams. According to the books, Fudge is as corrupt as they come. When Lord and Lady Potter are up to it, get them to invite him over and explain to him what happened to them in broad terms. Don't mention Dumbles name, get them to say that they never saw their captors or even the location."
He paused and I realised that he was still formulating his idea. After a minute of silence he looked up and continued. "They were rescued by the Potter House elves and they have hired hit wizards that work in the muggle world to protect themselves from their captors who are still at large and unknown. It would be prudent for the Minister of Magic to have the same type of protection." He trailed off and looked at me.
"Don't stop now Luke." I told him. "I will be honest with you. I have no fucking idea what I am going to do with everyone once we fuck off to the island for a year."
I didn't worry about swearing in front of the girls. For one, they had heard it and worse from me before, and two, they both swore worse than I did.
"If he accepts, which he probably will, if the Potters offer to pay for them as a 'donation to ensure the security of Wizarding Britain'." He made the trusty air quotes and several of us grinned at him. "We rotate the teams, use one as a backup, and between them, they will be able to find out just about everything that is currently happening in the Wizarding world at this time."
"Fuck yeah." Andrea breaths. "Boss this is great. And because we are not really wizards even though we have some magical abilities, we can sware magical oaths not to divulge anything we hear and we can't be penalised for it, so they can return at the end of their on week and give the info gathered to the intel group who can collate everything and then we can decide where to go from there..."
She broke off as there was a shimmer in the air and the three Fates appeared in front of us. As one we all stood up and bowed to the immortals.
"Andrea and Luke are correct AJ." Clotho tells me. "This way you will be able to gather the information that you require but are unable to ask for from us."
I give both of them a thumbs up and Lachesis continues. "We will place a compulsion onto the Minister to agree with Lord Potters suggestion which will allow your men and women easier access to the ministry."
"Mam, what about Umbridge?" Mitch asked. "According to the books, she is an evil bitch who has the ear of the Minister. If anything, she will make it almost impossible for us to integrate."
I have an idea about that, so I look into Clotho's eyes and allow her to pull it straight out of my mind.
"Yes you may Alex." She said to the room. "Her Thread is unimportant in the larger scheme of this dimension."
I bow my head to her. "It will be done My Lady." I say to her.
"You must find out all you can about Dumbledore." Atopos broke her silence. "He has the power to destroy all you are trying to achieve here. Be wary of him, his Thread cannot be cut until the appropriate time."
The three Fates join hands. "Be well." Clotho said to us as they vanished.
The others look at each other. "Wow, that was intense." Keila said in astonishment. "Did you feel the power coming off them? It was way higher than when we were in limbo with them."
The others nodded in agreement. I look at my team XO and he nods. "I'll take care of it tonight Boss." He turns to Tom. "You up for some spotting?" he asks the Corporal from Liverpool.
"Yes sir." Was the enthusiastic answer.
"Jason." I call out and the little elf appears in front of.
"Yes Master Alex?" he enquired. I gesture towards Staff Sergeant Mitchell and Jason turns his gaze towards him.
"Jason can you find out where Deloris Umbridge lives and then take Tom and I there tonight and then bring us home after we take care of some things with her?" he asks the little elf who nods enthusiastically.
"Jason cans Master Tim." He started bouncing on his toes. "Master Tim is you going to be shooting hers?"
Tim and I share a look and I just shrug my shoulders at him. He turns back to Jason.
"That's the plan." He replied to the elf. "Why? Is this a problem?"
"Oh no Master Tim." Jason's ears droop with the thought that he has said something wrong. "Just she is ones who has being trying to gets elves instead of punished gets them killeds." He broke off with a shudder. "Jason be very happy that he cans help get rid of evil lady. I go and find her nows." Before we could say anything, he had disappeared with a pop.
The six of us look at each other and burst out in laughter at the enthusiastic elf. I stood up and put away my cleaning products, reload my guns and put the pistols back into their holsters and the Styer back into its gun case on the wall along with my helmet and NVG's.
There was a knock on the door and it opened to reveal a Captain and a Sergeant from the operations and intel section, as well as the flight crew from the helo.
"Are you read for the debrief Boss?" the Captain asked. I wave them in and the team resumes their seats and we begin the tedious but necessary review of everything we did from the time we took off until the time we landed.
###
Just as we were wrapping up our debriefing the door opened and Imogen entered the room. She looked around and when she spotted me, she walked over and climbed onto my lap. I ignored the sniggers coming from the peanut gallery and turned my attention to the Potter Heir.
"What up Little One?" I ask her as she snuggles down in my arms.
"Mummy and Daddy want to see all of you to say thank you for rescuing them." She sits up and then hops of my lap and walks to the front of the room and then turns to face everyone. "I I I." She stutters, blushes and then looks at her feet. I want to go and help her but I realise that this is something that she has to do for herself.
She takes a deep breath and then lifts her face to look at all of us once again. "I would like to say thank you to all of you for bringing my mum and dad home to me." She finished her little speech, squeaked and then bolted out of the room.
To everyone's credit we waited until the door had fully closed before we laughed at her exit.
Thank god the door was sound proofed.
Ten minutes later we had finished the debrief and everyone got up and left the room heading towards the sick bay. When we entered the room I noticed that Imogen was perched on her Mums bed with Lily's arm wrapped around her.
When she saw us enter Imogen jumped off the bed and ran over to me. She grabbed my hand and dragged me over to the space between her parents bed. Charlus smirks at me from his portrait and Dorea smacks him on the back of the head.
"Mummy and Daddy, I would like you to meet Commander Alex Jacobs and his team." She paused and took a breath. "Alex, this is my mum and dad Lord James and Lady Lily Potter."
I come to attention and bow to the Potters. "Lord and Lady Potter" I say to them. "Allow me to introduce my team to you. I went around and introduced everyone to James and Lily. Once they had thanked us several times, the team made excuses and left the sick bay. I was about to leave as well when Lord Potter asked me to stay behind.
Cody popped in with a tea service and a can of coke for me. I thanked the little elf and she smiled at me and popped out again. I grabbed a chair from between another pair of beds and sat down in between the adult Potters.
"Commander." James started. And I held up a hand.
"Its Alex or AJ My Lord." I told him and he nodded in understanding.
"Alex." He started again. "Thank you again for getting us out of their and more importantly, Imogen has told us a little of what she went through with my Sister in law and her husband." The last title was hissed and I was not surprised at the venom and hatred that dripped of it as well. "She has also informed us of how you and your men came to be in this dimension and why" He paused and I nodded at him.
"There is nothing I can say, do or pay that will allow me to express how grateful we are that you got our daughter out of there." There were tears in both of the adult's eyes by the time that Lord Potter had finished.
I was not going to just wave their thanks off as that would come across as rude. "Lord and Lady Potter, it was my pleasure to be able to help Imogen and her parents out." I decided that I may as well fill them in on my plans for the next year or so especially considering that they were to play a rather large part of those plans to save this dimension.
"Alex, after what you and you people have done for my family, there is no Lord and Lady Potter." Lily spoke up for the first time reaching out to put a hand on my shoulder. "You of all people have earned the right to call us Lily and James." She smiled at me and I could easily see the beauty that Imogen was going to be in a few years.
Thank god I carry guns.
I agree with them and I take a mouthful of my drink before I launch into what my team and I had planned for them.
###
Two hours later just as I had finished laying it all out for both the living and the painted Potters, who had been listening avidly, there were several pops and Cody as well as Ziggy, Tiggy, Diggy and Zoe popped into the sick bay.
"Lord and Lady Potter, we have bought your lunches." Cody piped in her high pitched voice.
Lunch? I think to myself looking at my watch. Sure enough it was 1300. Fuck me I thought it was at least almost 1700. Fucking long ass days.
"Thank you Cody." Lily said turning to the other elves. "It is good to see you all again. As soon as we are out of here, we will call all of you for a meeting to reavow the family bonding with each of you ok?"
The five elves were practically vibrating with excitement. As one they bowed and popped out to no doubt spread the word to the other elves.
While we were eating, both Lord Potters asked clarifying questions about my plan for their family. I told them that at the end of the day, my job was to protect Imogen and anything else was just a bonus.
That got me a smile and a kiss on the cheek from the littlest Potter and smiles from the four adult Potters.
"Alex, I only have one thing that I would change to the plan." James said to me after he had sat back and thought about what had been suggested.
"Instead of the Minister coming here to the Manor as I do not want anyone to know our location, I would propose that we go to the ministry." He paused and I nodded for him to continue. "If we go there, everyone will know that we are alive. This means that Dumbles will not be able to obliviate this information from everyone. There would be too many witnesses. We would take Imogen with us for the same reason."
I nod my head. This makes sense. Hide in plain sight. The fact that they do not tell anyone that Dumbles was their captor, will give the old man pause and make him wonder why they have not dropped the hammer on him. The fact that the Potters are also out and about will limit any action that he may try against them. And if it doesn't, well that is why my team will be with them every time they step out into public.
This bought me to the first of several questions that I wanted to ask them. Namely, why did Dumbles imprison them and keep them alive? Why were they not affected by the Dementors?
James shared a sad smile with his wife and the two of them went on to explain that Dumbles had heard a prophesy that said that Imogen would be the one to defeat the Dark Lord.
(AN – no I'm not going to repeat it, we all know what it is.)
He was worried that the prophesy would be about him rather than Voldemort so he decided to take James and Lily out of the picture. He decided to keep them alive as he needed access to the potions and spell crafting that the adult Potters were renowned for.
He used Imogen's life to ensure that they co-operated with him and he had planned when Imogen was older, if she ever tried to turn against him, he would do the reverse to her. Use her parents to ensure she complied with his desires. He also wanted the Potter fortune as Charlus had explained to me.
When I asked why he needed Lily to brew the potions when he had Snape, they both burst into laughter. When they had both calmed down, Lily explained to me that Snape was one of the worst potioneer's in Britain. The three reasons that Dumbles kept him at Hogwarts was to spy on Voldemort, limit the number of Aurors and Healers and to keep his favourite bed warmer out of prison because he used to be a Death Eater.
My surprise must have shown because Lily elaborated. "Oh yes." She said with a giggle. "Severus has only an ability to cast half a dozen dark curses including the unforgivables. That is the extent of his magical powers. He became Dumbles bed warmer in his second year. That is the main reason that he keeps him around and out of prison for the crimes he committed as a Death Eater."
After they had gotten their laughter under control, they went on the explain that Dumbles kept the Dementors away from the lower levels of the prison as he did not want them to affect the Potters. He was the only one to know that they were in Azkaban and their food and drinks appeared in their cell at the appropriate times every day.
The Doctor came in then and insisted that I leave the Potters to get their rest. I nodded and held out my hand to Imogen, who after kissing and hugging her parents came over and took my hand.
"Doc, how long until they are ready to travel?" I asked before we left.
He thought about if for a few seconds. "Two days." He replied. There is really nothing wrong with them, just exhaustion and a slight imbalance in their vitamin D levels from a lack of sunlight for a decade. Give me two days and then you can take them to their island." He finished a bit wistfully.
"Don't worry Doc." I said clapping him on the shoulder. "They will need checkups at least once a week or so." I ignore the beaming smile on his face as I lead Imogen out of the sickbay.
Just before we leave the admin building, I stick my head into Mercury and tell them that I want an all hands meeting in the auditorium straight after PT at 0900 tomorrow morning. I grab the set of keys that were thrown at me by one of the staff as we leave the opps room and I lead Imogen to the Hummer that is parked just outside the main doors.
Imogen's eyes almost pop out of her head when she sees the fifty cal on the roll bar. "Is this yours Alex?" she asks me.
I smile at her and puff my chest out. "Of course it is Miss Potter." I tell her pompously. "I am the boss. Of course I have my own car."
She giggles at me and I decide that instead of going straight back to the manor, I would go for a cruise around the perimeter to check out the roads that the elves had built for me. I also decided that I wanted to check out the private beach that was on the property as well.
Thanks for reading...