Still not mine...

Chapter 12...

October 31st 1991 (Bora Bora)

I leant against the rail and gazed over the water. The only light was coming from a quarter moon that cast its illumination over the bay and cast long shadows from the palm trees that surrounded the resort. Mount Otemanu was a dark lump that reached skyward almost two and a half thousand feet above where I was standing.

The sky was beginning to lighten fractionally and I looked at my watch. It was just after 0430.

What was I doing up at that horrible friggin time?

Well the answer is simple. I have forgotten something important.

It has been bugging the fuck out of me for the last three days. It's nothing to do with the Potters directly, but it is important none the less.

A soft Hoot was heard and I turned my head towards the snowy owl that was just landing beside me on the hand rail.

"Hi Hedwig." I greeted my principal's familiar. I put my hand forward and scratched the beautiful owl between her eyes. Her massive yellow eyes closed instantly and I felt her lean into my finger. After a minute or so I moved my attention to just behind her ear and the pressure on my hand increased as she leant even further into my scratching figures.

I smiled down at the blissed out owl.

Hedwig had been a prompted gift from her parents to Imogen on our last trip to Diagon Alley before we bailed out to come here. I say prompted because as we were walking past the Magical Menagerie, Staff Sergeant Mitchell who was Lord Potters lead body guard, practically dragged him into the shop.

I was about to question him when I spotted a beautiful snowy owl sitting in a cage that was hanging in the window.

Ten minutes later, the snowy owl was no longer in a cage in a shop window, she was sitting regally on Lord Potters shoulder as Tim and his Principal walked out the door.

Tim grinned apologetically at the rest of us when they rejoined the group. "Sorry Boss, but I saw Hedwig in the window, and I realised that with us not being here for the next year or so, someone else might have bought her."

I nodded at him and waved off his apology as we continued on our way up the alley. When we got back to Potter Manor, you can imagine the noise that Imogen made when she was presented with the first gift she remembered from her parents. It could have been a rock, the fact that it was from her dad made it all the more special. Since then, Hedwig was my Principals constant companion.

I was bought out of my memory by the sound of small bare feet on timber. I didn't bother to turn around to address my Principal.

"Shouldn't you be asleep little one?" I asked quietly. Hedwig snapped her head around and with a happy sounding hoot, glided over to land on the outstretched arm of her mistress.

Imogen came over and wrapped one arm around me. "I had to go to the toilet and then I saw that Hedwig wasn't on her perch, so I came to look for her." She told me with a jaw cracking yawn. She smiled sheepishly at me. "Now I'm going back to bed."

I bent down and gave her a kiss on the top of her head. "Good night Immy." I said to her. An indignant hoot got my attention.

I looked towards where Hedwig had now moved herself up onto Imogen's left shoulder. I smiled at the owl. "Good night Hed." I said and gently gave the owl a kiss on her head. The snowy owl gave a rumbling sound in her chest that sounded like a purr and she puffed herself up looking rather proud of herself.

Imogen giggled and she turned and headed back towards her room. "Night Aj." I smiled at her retreating form and took a pull at my tea.

Tonight is Halloween and instead of it being a grim reminder of the years that the Potters had lost, they are turning it around into a celebration of being together once again. It's not going to be a big celebration, just a quiet dinner between the three Potters in the resorts top restaurant.

I sighed and took another mouthful or my tea and closed my eyes. Whatever I have forgotten is really starting to bug the fuck out of me. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow.

Tomorrow was my day off. Once a month, I took a full day to just sleep in, and do absolutely nothing. The night before my day off was the only time that I had anything to drink and I usually limited that to one or two.

In my line of work, if the shit hits the fan, you do not have time to be pissed.

You may laugh and question why I needed any time off considering that I had been living in paradise for the last three months, but give me a break. I am still the boss of sixty people that are now spread out in three locations and separated by an eleven hour time difference.

I also have to look after the Spawn of the Devil – who also goes by the name of Imogen Potter.

When she isn't driving me bat shit insane with worry.

Whilst still painfully shy around anyone that isn't her parents, myself or her other Body Guard, Corporal Ben-Asher. She has discovered a love – bordering on obsession – of the outdoors.

Yes, I know what you are thinking. With the life she led prior to my intervention, it is no wonder she has discovered how awesome freedom actually is and how much we can take it for granted.

But before you have a shot at me, let me tell you about some of the shit she has pulled...

For the first two weeks or so after we arrived she stuck to both her parents and myself like a leech. One day, I woke up as per normal at 0530 to find that Imogen had not snuck into my bed during the night – her visits were getting further and further apart and my kidneys appreciated the break.

I went down to the dock to go for an early morning swim, and was about to pull my goggles on when I glanced into the water and saw Imogen's body floating limply on the surface. Her night dress and hair were ballooning around her body and moving gently in the current.

I yelled and jumped off the ten foot high dock and straight into the water that was only waist deep on me. The loud snap and screaming pain that shot through my left leg were momentarily suppressed by the adrenalin that was flowing through my system. I grabbed Imogen's shoulder and flipped her face up, her neon green eyes staring at me in shock through her face mask as she spluttered water and spat out the pony bottle she was breathing through.

"Alex what's wrong?" she asked me.

I started at her in disbelief. She was alive. My heart rate slowed down and I became aware of three things.

One, my leg and hip really fucking hurt.

Secondly, early morning light made the blood entering the water from the compound fracture of my tibia look alot darker that it actually was.

Thirdly, my leg and hip really fucking hurt.

I heard shouting behind me and I looked to see Lord and Lady Potter as well as Cody and the rest of my team – with weapons drawn - thundering along the dock towards us.

My leg gave a spasm and sent pain shooting up my thigh. My body decided at that moment that it had had enough and I let go of Imogen and fell over backwards into the water with a curse. I felt myself being lifted out of the water and I was gently deposited on the dock where Zoe took one look at my leg, snapped her fingers and with a sound like nails down a black board, my tibia grated its way back into my leg.

Mother fucker that hurt.

I shot Imogen a look that dared to her to make a crack about adding to the swear jar. The friggin thing already had close to a thousand pounds in it.

I groaned with the pain shooting through my body as the little elf healed me. Just after she had finished, Gordy popped in and handed me a vile filled with a potion that on a colour chart would be classed as baby shit brown.

I raised a suspicious eyebrow at him. "It's a pain relieving potion Master Alex." He said in response to my non verbal question. "It is smelling bad and tasting worsetest, but it wills make you feel better."

I took the proffered vile and tried to not taste it as it slid down my throat with the same consistency of cold snot.

It was fucking horrible.

I gagged and handed the empty vile back to Gordy. He then handed me a familiar container. I smiled at him and poured the Listerine into my mouth. After gargling for a few minutes I turned away from everyone and spat the mouth wash onto the sand.

"Alex, what happened?" Asked a worried Lily Potter. I turned and gave her daughter a stink eye before I gave her my full attention.

"I came out to have a swim this morning and I glace into the water and I see Imogen floating face down and not moving." I held a hand up to stop any interruption. "I panicked and jumped off the dock and into the water without checking how deep it was."

The stink eye was now turned towards the rest of my team who were sporting grins and looking anywhere but at me. There would be pain and suffering in their future if they outright laughed. But I knew this would be going into the Stiff Shit book that my Squadron kept.

I suppose I had better explain.

The Stiff Shit book is a holdover from my days in the SAS but is relevant in all arms of the Australian Defence Force. Basically it is just a book that has all of the fuck ups that happen in a unit a written down in. At the end of the year – usually the Christmas party – whoever has their name in the book has to put some money over the bar.

I knew this little incident was going to cost me in December...

Lord Potter turns to his daughter and being mindful that she is still skittish he squats down to eye level with Imogen and asks why she was in the water so early in the morning.

Imogen turned a red to match her hair and put her head down so that her hair covered her face.

This was the scared now eleven year olds version of body armour. "I couldn't sleep." She whispered to her dad. "I wanted to practice my floating and while I was walking down to the water, I thought about how much better it would be if I was floating on my tummy because then I could watch the fish."

When we first came here, Imogen had been struck speechless at the colour of the water. Lady Potter had discretely informed me that her sister and brother in law had never taught her to swim – of course they fucking hadn't. Frigging assholes.

So we have been teaching the Potter heir how to swim.

She took a breath and glanced at me before continuing. "I took Alex's pony bottle and a mask and came down here to practice and watch the fish." She turned back towards me. "I'm sorry Aj." She started to sob and I held out my arms to her. I was practically crash tacked when she flew into my arms. "I promise I won't do it again." She said to me.

"It's ok Little one." I said as I held her tightly. "I don't mind if you want to go for a swim. Just in future can you please wake me up and tell me?" I put one of my fingers under her chin and forced her to look at me. "I don't care what time it is. Even if it's my day off. If you want to go swimming or climbing or out in the boat, just tell me. Ok?"

She nodded her head and I bent forward and gave her a kiss on her forehead. "Now I think you had better go and have some breakfast with your mum and dad don't you think?" I asked her and she nodded and stood and then headed to her parents.

The Potters smiled their thanks at me and Lord Potter mouthed that he would catch up with later on that morning. I nodded at him and watched as they walked back towards the owner's suites discretely trailed by two of my team.

"You ok Boss?" Asked Sergeant Andrea Smith who was out team medic.

I nodded at her and smiled. "Yeah Doc. Just my pride."

Corporal Byers chortled at me. "Boss that was an awesome fuck up." He paused to get his laughter under control. He opened his mouth to continue but I beat him to it.

"Fuck off Byers. I've seen you do dumb shit before." I retorted and he then broke into another round of laughter.

"Yeah but your our fearless leader. You aren't supposed to make mistakes." This comment cracked up the other three members of the peanut gallery. "This is so going in the book."

"Piss off you lot. Go and have your breakfast." I grumbled, and still grinning at my misfortune the four of them followed the Potters towards the dining room. I turned towards my little elf who was quietly standing beside me. "Am I ok to get up now Zoe?" I asked her from my still seated position on the dock. She nodded at me.

"Master Alex musts be taking it easy for today and tomorrows." She ordered in her high pitched voice.

I smiled at her and with the little elf's assistance, dragged myself gingerly to my feet. I gently put weight on my now healed leg and apart from a minor twinge, the leg was fine.

Thank god. I've busted my tib and fib before during a parachute landing and I was out of action for two friggin months. I didn't want to go though that shit again.

I grimaced at that particular memory. I coped shit of my team – and the relief rotation – for weeks after that. Occasionally the fuckers will drag it out when they have nothing else to pull the mickey out of me for.

Assholes...

What the fuck have I forgotten?

Ok, this shit is really bugging the crap out of me now. I push myself off the railing and storm into the room that my team have taken over as a ready room. The room had been used as a formal dining room for when the owners wished to have a dinner party. Lord Potter had had no problems with ceding the room to my team when I first requested its use the day we got here.

With a little Elvin help, the room now held ten desks all with a computer terminal that was hooked into both the Squadron network back in Holyhead and the upgraded security system that had been installed here on the island. Beside each desk is a locker and with an empty table beside it. The locker houses our tactical gear. I flop down at my desk and pull my Little Green Brain out of the top draw and flip it to the first page and I start going through it line by line looking for what I had forgotten.

Fifteen minutes later I had gotten to the last page of things that I needed to do and I still had no fucking idea. I KNOW it's important. I wait for a break in the radio chatter from the rest of the Squadron scattered all over the UK and now Bora Bora, which is playing through the ear piece of my satellite radio.

For the sake of convenience, we are all hooked into the same radio channel. We use different ones for specific tasks, but for general chatter between the teams, we stick to the same one.

Once the conversation between the Head Maintainer and Zero Zero had a pause, I hit the transmit button and spoke into my throat mic.

"Mercury, One Six." I called for the Operations centre back at Holy Head

"One Six, Mercury, what are you doing up Boss? Its not even 0500 on your side of the planet." Came the voice of the controller.

"Couldn't sleep so I thought I'd do the morning check in." I reply. There is no point worrying the opps crew back in Holyhead about what was bugging me. Sure as shit, I would remember what it was eventually. For now, it would just drive me up the friggin wall.

"All quiet Boss." Came the reply. "Tomorrow is Team Two and Three's hand over day. Double Zero is about to land, it just failed its MTF, and you will get an email about that once the maintainers have unfucked it."

I shook my head in annoyance. I really need to speak to General Emerson about getting our hands on another two Black Hawks. Well at least one. We need a back up. Back in our home dimension, while we were in Afghanistan, if Zero Zero went tits up, we could pinch one from the other units that were based at the airfield. Here, we were totally dependent on what we bought with us.

Oh yeah, MTF is an acronym for Maintenance Test Flight. It's done whenever the maintainers have to repair or replace a component that is critical to flight that the aircrew have fucked up or fucked with, or sometimes both.

If she has failed the MTF, then the chopper is grounded until the defect is fixed.

I hit the transmit button again. "Josh, set up a phone conference with General Emerson for me in the next day or so. I need to see if he can send us another two Hawks."

"Roger Boss." Came the reply. "Are we going to ask for flight crews or just the airframes?"

"Just the aircraft." I reply. "We need a backup so that shit like this doesn't ground us."

"I'll get on it Boss." Josh replied. "Apart from that, everything else here is shiny."

"Roger" I reply, "I'll check in later today. One Six out"

I push my swivel chair back and stand up and stretch. "What the fuck is it?" I say out loud. Feeling edgy, I decide to go for the ten minute walk over to the main resort kitchen to see if I can scam a bacon and egg roll of the night chef there.

I enter the kitchen and the night chef is only too happy to make me some breakfast. I also grab a refill for my mug and start the return journey to the owner's residence. I detour down to the ocean side of the island and watch the sun just start to peak above the horizon. I relax on the beach for an hour or so and glance at my watch and realise that it is 0640 on All Hallows Eve.

All Hallows Eve.

Halloween.

Oh fuck.

The year that the Potter Heir was supposed to enter Hogwarts.

Double fuck.

The year that an innocent twelve year old girl is balling her eyes out in a bathroom because of the dickhead Weasley boy and a fucking Troll comes calling.

"Fuck me." I yell as I start sprinting towards the owner's villa two hundred yards away. I now know what I forgotten.

While I am running I do a quick calculation in my head Bora Bora is eleven hours behind the UK. From memory of the 'Potter Verse' that my teams had collated, dinner at Hogwarts was between 1730 and 1830 local.

If I remember the movie, Quirrell makes his move at about the half way mark through the feast. So I had at most twenty minutes to get my ass kitted up and into a castle that I had never been inside before.

I burst into the ready room to find that my team are already at their desks having a brew before going over the plans for the day. My entrance shocks them into silence.

I race over to my locker and start pulling out my tactical gear and stripping off my clothes as I explain the situation to them. "Guys, I fucked up. It's Halloween and Granger is about to become Troll food."

"Andrea, your coming with me." I say and the Doc races over to her own locker and starts stripping down to her underwear while the other team members start to assist us to get ready.

While I am getting changed I call for Zoe, Cody and Gordy. The three elves pop into the room and immediately sense the tense atmosphere. "What is wrongs Master Alex?" Cody asks me in her high pitched Elvin voice.

I don't even pause as I am tucking my shirt in and begin strapping my thigh holsters on. "Guys I need your help. I am going to need two of you to transport myself and Andrea to Holyhead. It's an emergency guys. I know what this will do to you. But I wouldn't ask if I didn't need your help."

Zoe looks at me. "I am your elf Master Alex. If yous needs Zoe's help. Zoe wills helps you." I smile and gently touch my number one elf on her head in gratitude.

"Gordy wills take Mistress Doc." At that the male elf goes over and patiently waits for Andrea to finish getting ready.

I feel like a complete asshole. Elves can pop all over the place. The only problem is distance. The further they go, the more magic it uses and the longer it takes for them to recover. As the crow flies the distance between Bora Bora and Potter Manor in Holyhead is almost fifteen thousand four hundred kilometres.

When we originally came here, we flew commercial. For the elves to pop us that distance, it is going to take them almost a week to recover their magical reserves.

If they were going solo it would drain them, but they would be ok the next day after about eight hours rest. Dragging two people along for the ride on the other hand, wiped out their magical reserves and over this distance, the trip will take about a minute.

I explained the situation to Zoe and Gordy as we finished getting ready. They both just nodded solemnly and held their hands out for us to take. I turned to Staff Sergeant Mitchell, who was my Team XO. "Your team boss as of now Tim. Radio Mercury and tell them that we are inbound hot and that I will need another two elves as well as the Medical elves to be ready to assist Zoe and Gordy as soon as we land. Also tell Lord Potter what is going on."

I pause and clip my Steyr onto my body armour.

"I'm not sure if Miss Granger will be coming with us on the return, but I will make the offer. She may need medical assistance so tell the Doc to spin up the sickbay." He nods and I turn to Andrea. "Rolling gear only Doc." I tell her and she nods and clips her helmet on.

"Ready to roll Boss." I nod my head and turn to Zoe and take her offered hand. I look over at Andrea and see that she is holding onto Gordy.

"Ok Guys, to the apparition point in Mercury please." I say to the elves, and with a snap of the fingers we disappear from Bora Bora.

One very fucking long minute later we appear in the opps room at Holy head. As soon as my vision clears, I turn and grab Zoe who has wilted beside me. "Thank you Zoe." I say to her as a pair of elves rush to my side and levitate the exhausted elf out of my arms. "You are the best elf a person could ask for." I bend down and give her a gentle kiss on her forehead. "Rest now Zoe, I'll come and visit you as soon as I get back."

Zoe blushes and I smirk as both she and Gordy are taken out of the room and to the sick bay.

I turn towards the main computer screen as Lieutenant Josh Bennet who is the afternoon opps officer comes over. "Hi Boss, Andrea." He doesn't waste any time, and clicks a button on his remote control. A high definition map of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry pops up on to the screen.

"As near as we can tell if the Troll incident will actually happen." He pauses as with a shimmer of displaced air, Clotho appears beside us. We turn as one and bow to the Leader of the Fates. "My Lady." Josh says to her.

Clotho acknowledges our marks of respect and turns to me. "You must make haste Alex. The Troll incident as your people are calling it does indeed take place. If you and Andrea do not intervene, Ms Granger will be killed and her parents will have their memories of their only child erased."

Josh mumbles something about "fucking ignorant snobs" before resuming his brief. "As far as we can tell, this is the bathroom that you are shooting for." He clicks the remote and a red line leads from the cellar of Honey Dukes and up to the girl's bathroom on the second floor.

He turns to one of the operators. "Send this to their Gadgets." He tells the Sergeant and he nods and with a few clicks of his mouse, the map information is sent to the heads up display that is in our visors.

Thank god the Fates let us keep our toys.

And no before you ask. The reason why we didn't use our HUD's during our run on Azkaban is that they can't be used with NVG's. The last I heard before I was landed in this dimension was that they were almost ready to be field tested, but now we will have to wait for another twenty or so years.

"Boss the password for the passageway guardian is Dessendium. Also, the books and the movies are rather vague on how long it takes for the kids to battle the troll and the teachers to turn up." he pauses and consults his notes on a tablet. "Our best guess is that you have between five and seven minutes from contact to exfil."

Clotho interrupts. "Josh is correct Alex." she says to us. "Hogwarts herself will not impede your progress or report on your activities whilst within Her wards. Also, you do not have to worry about discharging your weapons. She will also instruct her elves to ensure that any evidence of your operation in the castle is erased also" She paused and looked at me and I got the impression that she was waiting for me to connect the dots.

Suddenly they did connect. "Fuck, out brass from Azkaban."

Beside me Andrea curses. "Fuck how dumb are we Boss?"

Thank god that was a rhetorical question. I nod my head in agreement. With Fudge now being guarded by Team Two and Three and them obviously carrying fire arms, it would not have taken long for some First Gen or Half Blood in the Auror office to make the connection. Especially when you consider how much ammo we used during the raid on the island prison.

I shake off the distraction and turn back to Clotho. "Thank you My Lady." I say with a bow and I get the impression that she is smirking at me as she starts to disappear.

"Make haste Hairetzio, the time draws nigh."

I turn to Josh. "Have a full medical team ready just in case Ms Granger is injured."

"Medical are standing by Boss." He turned and gestured towards two elves that were standing near the door proudly displaying the Potter crest on their uniforms. The little beings quickly walked over at Josh's summons. "Boss, Andrea. This is John and Paul. They are your transport to Honey Dukes and back."

I turn to the two elves. "Thanks for your help guys." I look at Andrea. "We need to roll now."

"Good luck Boss." Josh says. "Tac is channel 4." I nod and change the frequency on my radio and I do a radio check with both Andrea and Mercury. Once that was done I grab Paul's hand I tell them to take us to the Honey Dukes cellar.

With a pop we instantly appear in the basement of the sweet shop. I thank the elves for their assistance and tell them that we will call for them if we need them for the return trip. They both nod and then quietly pop out again.

Now before you ask why we didn't just send the elves into get Hermione, let me explain how House Elves work.

If they are not bonded to a family, they slowly lose their magic and die. Elves are a parasitic race. They rely on the symbiotic magic of the wizard, witch or family that they are bonded too. The stronger the person or family they are bonded too, the stronger the elf.

With me so far?

Good.

In families that have elves on staff or places like Hogwarts or the Ministry of Magic – St Mungos and the Wizangamot officers are slightly different and ill explain that shortly. Elves that are not bonded to that location or family arrive to deliver a message, the wards that usually surround these places only allow the elf to enter a certain area or room – like the entry foyer of Potter Manor.

Once the 'foreign' elf has landed, an elf that belongs to that place appears and takes either the message or the elf to the person that they had been ordered / asked to find.

The Wizangamot offices have an elf assigned to each office, that elf is loyal to the office, not the person holding that office and as such they are not often used except for the most basic of duties.

St Mungos on the other hand, has a floor specifically set aside for a House elf to bring their wounded Master or Mistress. There are trauma healers assigned to this floor 24/7.

Ok so now you know why we had to do this the old fashioned way.

I turn to Andrea. "Let's get this done Doc." She nods at me and flicks on the barrel mounted torch on her M4. She pans it around until we find the not so well hidden trap door that leads to Hogwarts.

As I bend down to swing it open, I notice that it is relatively free of dust and that the stock for the shop is locked in metal cages. I'm guessing that this passageway is not that secret after all. After I open the door, we see that there is a ladder leading down approximately ten feet to a concrete floor.

We pass a look between us and with Andrea covering me, I descend the ladder.

Once I am down I switch on my own torch also activate the heads up display on my visor and pan my Styer around the alcove that I am standing in. Seeing nothing I nod up to Andrea and she follows me down the ladder, closing the trap door on her way down.

While she is descending the ladder, I check my watch and shake my head as I realise it is still set to Island time. Doing the conversion in my head I realise that it is just after 1800 local and we don't have alot of time left to get this job done.

Once Andrea was down the ladder I turn to her. "We are going to have to hump it Doc, we have about 10 minutes or so." She nods and I hit the switch on my throat mic that makes the microphone hot.

Basically everything I say from now until I turn this feature off will be transmitted to anyone who is listening on this channel.

And if I know my boys and girls, they will all be listening in.

"Mercury, One Six. Status is green beginning infil."

"Roger Six." Came Josh's voice. "LSR and cams are nominal."

I glance to Andrea and she nods to me. I turn towards the tunnel and following the red holographic image on my visor and with my rifle up to my shoulder, I begin a steady run towards the castle.

The pace I set is one that we can all pretty much continue all day. Within about five minutes I see the end of the passageway approaching and as I come up to it I stop and curse as I realise that we have no way to know if anyone is on the other side.

Fuck it, we don't have an option. I switch off my torch and let my rifle hang on its harness and with Andrea covering me, I whisper the password. As the door slowly opens up I hold my left hand out thinking about stunning anyone that I come across. My hand glows red as my magic responds to my will.

I quickly check the passageway as we exit and notice that it is empty. "Clear." I whisper to Andrea and she quickly follows me out of the passageway, whispering the password as she does to close the door behind her.

I turn in the direction indicated on my HUD and follow the red arrow towards the end of the passageway and the stairs. As we pass, I notice that all of the portraits are frozen in their frames. I wonder about this for a second until I remember Clotho's words that the castle herself will protect us.

Clearly the castle was taking measures into her own hands to ensure that we were not bothered. This made our passage through the castle alot quicker. As we got closer to the main staircase we heard the sounds of hundreds of voices and feet as the students were led from the Great Hall back to their dormitories.

Before we hit the main staircase, the HUD ordered us to turn left and proceed down a long corridor. We hit it on the fly and hustled down it. After about fifty meters we heard a muffled roar and a tiny scream coming from further down the hallway. Now we really picked up the pace. We were running at almost a dead sprint with our rifles pulled hard into our shoulders.

A section of the wall thirty or so meters down on the right hand side started to flash red and I realised that this was Hogwarts telling us where the problem was. I reached up and shoved my visor out of the way. I hated going into close combat with it down. It plays hell with your peripheral vision.

I then flicked off the safety on the Styer and sent a hand signal to Doc. She took two steps to my right and we stopped at the door. Me on the left and Doc on the right. As we got ready to breach, I took a few deep breaths to get my heart slowed down a bit and gagged at the horrific smell.

Fuck me, Trolls stink.

I shook my head to clear that errant thought and started to breathe through my mouth. That was almost as bad, I could now taste Troll.

"Mercury, at objective, beginning breach." I transmitted to the operations room over the radio. Two clicks of Josh's mic answered me.

I looked at Andrea and she smirked at me and rolled her eyes. I gave her the hand signal that I was about to breech and she nodded and put one finger in left ear and dropped her right ear onto her shoulder, then closed her eyes.

I pulled the pin on the flash bang, counted to two and then ripped the door open and tossed the flash bang in and waited for it to go off with all the subtly of a pissed off elephant, then we entered what was left of the bathroom. I checked left saw that it was clear and then checked centre.

Fuck.

The troll was about twelve feet high and as wide across the shoulders as a cow was long. It carried the biggest fucking club you have ever seen and it was wearing a loin cloth and no other clothing. There was limited intelligence in the black eyes that stare at me, however there is madness looking back at me. I see something else in those eyes as well.

A need to kill.

This should be interesting.

Past the troll and in the furthest corner of the room, I catch a glimpse of a dazed and scared girl with massively bushy hair that was half buried in the remains of the toilet stalls.

"Doc Hotel one o'clock" I shout and she slaps me on the shoulder in acknowledgment.

"Spotted Six, moving left, cover fire." she shouted.

"Covering." I called I snap the Styer up. I aim for right between the eyes and loose a three round burst from my rifle. The troll stumbles back a few steps and ends up against the wall. He brings a hand up to the bridge of his nose, then looks dumbly at his hand when it comes away with no blood on it.

I really notice this fact.

The troll then focuses its attention on me again and then it growls.

Fuck.

I start firing bursts of fire at various parts of its body hoping to at least do some damage to it from no more than twenty feet away. I need to give Doc time to evac the Hotel – hostage – from the back of the room.

My fire was doing nothing.

Fucking pissy little 5.56mm bullets. Wish we had kept the 7.62 calibre. If you were hit with one of those, they really fucked you up.

"Doc evac now." I yell to her.

"I need twenty seconds Alex."

I glance over and see Andrea working furiously applying a field dressing to and injury on Grangers torso.

"We don't have twenty fucking seconds Doc, my rounds are doing nothing. I'm going to have to try plan B, we need to move now." My rifle clicks empty and I drop to one knee. "Loading." I scream.

Andrea snaps her rifle up and starts firing controlled bursts at the troll. "Covering." She yells. The fire coming from the side confused the troll and gave me the time needed to change my mags.

"Coming up Doc, hustle." I call as I re-commence firing at the troll. The change of direction again manages to confuse the troll, but I can see it starting to move its club and I know we don't have long until it starts swinging that massive fucking tree around.

"Moving." Andrea called and I took a microsecond to glance at her to ensure that she wasn't about to run right in front of me. I take a step towards the troll to ensure that she had a clear run to the door. She had Granger on her left shoulder and she was holding her M4 like a pistol and was still firing at the troll.

As she ran behind me, I picked up my rate of fire and started moving backwards towards the door.

Although the rounds were not actually penetrating the thick hide of the troll, the kinetic energy was enough to slow it down and that was all we needed.

"Clear Boss, fucking move." I heard over my headset.

"Roger, plan B." I called to her.

"What the fuck is plan B?" she yelled at me.

I don't answer, but unhook a purple banded grenade from my webbing and hold it over my head so Doc can see it."

"Clear Boss, toast it."

I watch the troll start to bring it club up off the floor. I pull the pin and wait. It opens its mouth to take a breath and I pitch the napalm grenade straight into its mouth.

As soon as I see the grenade fly true, I turn and bolt out of the door, diving to my right as soon as I am through the opening. I heard the troll choke as it inhales the grenade, but that was soon lost in a massive explosion and a gout of flame that roared out through the still open door way and smacked into the opposite wall.

I breathe a sigh of relief. I also decide then and there, that I hate trolls.

I also start to wonder how the hell we haven't attracted any attention yet.

"Fuck me, Boss DUCK." Andrea screamed and I was aware of her M4 firing just over my head on full auto.

I don't even hesitate or stop to question, I drop and roll to my right and not a second too soon as a wooden club whistles inches above where my head just was and imbeds itself into the wall. I continue the roll, flipping over four times to clear the immediate area and to ensure that I am out of Andrea's line of fire.

Once I am clear, I spring to my feet and turn around, brining my Styer up and taking aim at a second even fucking bigger troll that is starting to advance on us after pulling its club out of the stone wall.

Stupid fucking Rowling's, how can you fuck up the difference between one troll and two?

I turn to Doc, "Full evac now. Don't wait. GO." I ordered her and she adjusts Granger on her shoulder into a full fireman's carry and bolts down the passageway.

I turn my attention to the troll, reload my rifle and start firing at it to give the Doc time to get away. While I'm shooting at the troll, I pull a fragmentation grenade off my webbing. I follow the same procedure I wait for it to take a breath and then toss the grenade into its mouth.

I don't wait around to see the results of the explosion, I get the fuck out of there. I quickly call an apology to Lady Hogwarts for causing her any damage and that I would stop and talk to her properly next year when I returned with my Principle.

A suit of armour bowed to me as I sprint past. Obviously the lady received my message.

I quickly catch up with the Doc just as she opens the passageway back to Hogsmeade. We transfer the still dazed twelve year old from Andrea's shoulder to mine and we start jogging back towards Honey Dukes.

"Mercury, One Two. Evacing now. Status us green plus one. Have Medical standing by, we are coming in hot." Andrea calls over the radio.

"Roger One Two, Medical standing by." Josh's voice echoes in our ears

After another five minutes or so, we make out way into the cellar and after replacing the trap door, Doc calls for the elves and we vanish with a pop.

Thanks for reading…