Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling.

Chapter 16: The Raid

Pontaeron was a small and scattered village. Harry waited in a stand of trees at the village's north edge, watching Terry's team anxiously. Ron's team was some distance away, hidden by the same wards that hid the camp. The two teams worked silently by the moonlight, not daring to do anything that might call attention to themselves as they worked to dismantle the wards. Harry glanced up at the moon and guessed that the time was about two hours past midnight.

Terry stood suddenly and motioned to his team before rushing to Harry's side. "We've finished," he breathed almost silently. "We're ready to move in."

"Good. Tell the others to rest a moment while we wait for Ron's team. I want you to move together."

"Yes, sir." Terry returned to his group and Harry continued to wait.

About ten minutes passed before anything else happened. Abruptly, the air before Harry shimmered and where a moment before, he had seen hazy mountains, suddenly a high wooden fence shimmered into view. He turned to Terry. "Move, now."

Terry nodded his understanding and led the group toward the nearest gate. A moment later, he saw sparks and flashes of light beyond the fence. He fervently hoped the children had enough sense to flee or seek cover; he wanted all of them brought to St Mungo's unharmed. He watched silently, frustrated that both Ron and Ginny, with no little help from the Minister, had forbidden him to enter the camp. He had no doubt that Ron's team had gotten inside shortly after Terry's.

Dark red flames shot up beyond the fence and Harry guessed one of the buildings had caught fire. Moments later, the flames spread to the fence, or perhaps a new fire had started. The smoke drifted toward Harry, obscuring his view and irritating his nose, and the sound of the fire overwhelmed the shouts and curses.

He heard a crash from the direction of the fence, then nothing for over a minute. He heard the running footsteps the same time he saw the sillhouettes moving toward him and he raised his wand and shrank back against a tree. As they approached, he realized they were children, stumbling and coughing from the smoke. He ran toward the nearest one and knelt over her.

The girl shrank away in fear, but was coughing too badly to do much more. He handed her a small doll from his stash of portkeys. "Here, take this."

"Don't, Lisa," a boy said and Harry looked up at him.

"I want to help you," he said quietly. "Lisa is hurt and needs a healer. The doll will take her to St Mungo's. Take hold of it with her, and you other three. You can go together."

"No," the boy started, but Lisa interrupted him.

"He's right, Brian. I feel too sick. Come with me." After a bit of persuasion, all except Brian grabbed the portkey. At Harry's command, Lisa said, "Hippogriff," and the four children disappeared.

He turned to Brian. "Where are the others?"

"Fighting."

"Why aren't you with them?"

"Michael told us to run away, like bloody cowards."

Harry started. "Michael? Blond boy?"

"Yeah. He said if we ran, we'd stay safe."

"Where is he now?"

"Dunno. Went to find a wand." Harry nodded distractedly.

He took a quill from his stash. "Here," he said. The boy took it reluctantly. "Now say, 'Parchment'." Brian looked between him and the quill several times before obeying.

The moment the boy disappeared, Harry headed toward the camp. As he had suspected, he found three more children collapsed from the heat and smoke. He sent them all to St Mungo's as well. At the fence, he nearly stumbled over an older boy who was covered in burns and barely alive. Without thinking, he grabbed the boy's arm and disapparated.

St Mungo's reception area appeared and the hard floor jarred Harry, who was glad he had been crouched over before casting the spell. Two healers rushed toward him and immediately began casting spells. When he tried to stand, one healer put a hand on his shoulder. "Rest a moment, Mr Potter," she said kindly.

"I h-have to g-go. The others-" He coughed on nearly every word.

"Nonsense. You look a sight and I am not letting you out of here without proper treatment. Did you even use an air filter charm?"

Harry coughed more violently. Ginny would be furious at his carelessness, he knew. Reluctantly, he followed her and the witch who had taken charge of the boy. They took a lift to the children's health floor, where the other witch took the boy to a far room. Cho saw them arrive and cut Harry off before he could follow.

"Harry, what happened?"

"How many?" Harry rasped in response.

Cho cast spells on him as she thought. At last, she said, "Fourteen."

"Scorpius?" The abrupt lack of pain in his throat surprised him.

She shook her head. "According to one of the older girls, he went to find a wand. She thought he planned to take advantage if the chaos to kill someone named Arnold."

"Oh, God. Do you know who else is missing?"

"Two other boys and a girl, all believed to be fifteen or older. The girl may have been sleeping with Arnold. I don't know about the boys."

"They probably joined the fighting. I have to go." Harry rushed back to the reception area and disapparated as soon as he stepped through the door. He landed in a patch of smoke and immediately cast the terribly uncomfortable air filter charm.

Once inside the camp, Harry found one of Ron's men first. The man reported, "The buildings are empty and the old man's been taken to Cardiff. We think all of the children are out except a couple boys, who are fighting alongside Arnold and the woman."

"There are still four children missing," Harry said, "including Scorpius and one girl. Was there a girl sleeping with Arnold?"

"The other team stormed that building, sir."

Harry thanked the man before continuing the search. He found Terry and two of his team members next. "Any luck?"

Terry shrugged. "Most of the kids are gone. One girl found a wand and disapparated. She was seventeen, maybe eighteen, and almost naked. I saw Scorpius briefly, but he disappeared when the fires started. I suspect he's lying low somewhere. We've salvaged what we could from the buildings, but a lot of the notebooks have burned."

"Captures?"

"Just the old man. Ron's fighting the woman and Arnold's got three aurors on him last I checked."

Harry nodded and headed in the direction of the fighting. He had jst reached it when he heard a voice shout, "Avada kedavra!" He cast a wide shield charm without thinking, not knowing where the curse was coming from, and saw it rebound and hit the fence. From that, he guessed that it had come from the far side of one of the buildings and had been aimed at or near Arnold and Ron. He ran toward the building.

As Harry rounded the corner, he saw a blond head disappear into the building. "Scorpius," he called. When there was no answer, he entered the building and shouted, "Michael, I have a message from Albus!" The boy froze at the far end of the corridor, but did not turn around. He held the same wand that Harry had seen in Roland's memory.

Harry approached slowly. "Albus asked me to tell you to read your coin. Do you have it with you?" Scorpius did not seem to hear him. "I'm Albus' father. He said he would write on the coin that I was coming to help you. Did he do that?"

Scorpius turned abruptly and raised the wand he held. "I don't need your help," he snarled.

"You want to kill Arnold," Harry said calmly, keeping his own wand lowered. "I understand that, but Albus does not want you to kill." Scorpius' left hand was clenched tightly and Harry looked at it pointedly. "Ask him, Scor- Michael. He will tell you that he does not want you to kill Arnold. He knows the horrible things that Arnold said about him, but they don't matter to him. He just wants you to be safe."

Scorpius' eyes flicked briefly to his hand. When he looked up, Harry noted gladly that the hatred had started to subside and uncertainty was taking its place. "How do you know about the coin?"

"Albus told me. He had to in order to help you. Ask him."

Scorpius finally unclenched his hand to reveal the coin. He touched his wand to it and lifted it to his eyes to read. He stared at the words for a long time and Harry wondered what Albus was telling him. He looked up at Harry, confusion evident. "What's your favorite flavor Bertie Botts bean?"

Harry smiled. That was the code question. "Chocolate truffle."

Scorpius nodded once. "He says I should trust you, but only if you give me the card."

"The one with the peacocks," Harry said as he pulled it from his robe. "It will take you to St Mungo's. Just say the name of the person you made it for."

Scorpius took it and said clearly, "Albus Severus Potter."

As he disappeared, Harry finally allowed himself to relax for a moment before returning to the battle outside. He was pleasantly surprised to find that the remaining fighters had been subdued and were on their way to Cardiff. Ron clapped him on the back. "All right, Harry?"

"Yeah, fifteen children accounted for, plus the two boys fighting you."

"One still missing?"

"A girl. Terry saw her disapparate. The camp's empty."

"Thank Merlin. Let's get out of here."

"You go on. Tell your team to head home. I'm going to St Mungo's for a bit."

"You need to sleep, Harry. Go tomorrow instead. Come on, I'll escort you home." Harry reluctantly accepted Ron's offer. Albus and Lily tackled him as soon as they saw him. He barely had time to assure Albus that Scorpius was okay before Ginny dragged him to the bathroom for a quick shower before hustling him off to bed.

~O~

20 September 2018

You're safe! I'm so glad, Scorpius. I was really scared, then when dad didn't come home until almost dawn, I got scared for him too. But he's okay and you're recovering at St Mungo's and I really hope to see you soon. I owled your dad today and asked him to bring you your journal the first time he sees you. He said he will. Then we can write proper letters to each other.

I'm really tired after being up all night. I love you, Scorpius.

Good night, Albus

Author's Note: Please review. Am I leaving out any important warnings? Rating was raised to T as requested.