Title: The Innocence Of Guilt
Author: ENSIGN
Chapter 04 – Give Me The Chocolate And No One Gets Hurt
Ministry Of Magic – Level Nine: Department Of Mysteries
Probably for the first time since he began his career, Harry was seated at his desk in the Unspeakable Offices and actually using it.
He had accompanied Mary to the Ministry early in the morning. They had simply hung about in the dueling room awaiting the arrival of the mail bird. It wasn't until after one in the afternoon that it arrived.
Mary had set off for her briefing, whereas Harry as her supervising Officer had been sent a folder after she had entered the briefing room. The folder he received was an exact copy of what she too would receive for the mission. He just didn't have the benefit of another Unspeakable reading it out to him in a briefing.
A fact in which he was glad for, Harry rather much preferred Nicholas style of mission delivery than the Briefing Officer's monotonic drawl. Those guys seriously needed to brighten up. It was like they expected none of them to come back alive.
Harry sighed.
Since it was an evaluation test, Mary would not be receiving the aid of a Tactical Analyst, She would have to plan out everything from the information given to her.
Harry made sure to ward his desk with an Obscuring Charm to prevent any stray eyes from peeking at his work. That was one of the things he could never understand. How could the other Unspeakables work with sensitive pieces of work in such an open and insecure environment? Imagine what would happen if someone opened a classified folder without activating his Obscuring Charm. Then again the others probably left their charms switched on permanently.
Satisfied that his charms were intact, Harry opened the folder and began to read.
Mission Type: Target Extraction
Harry snorted at the irony of it all. There were numerous other types of mission choices. There was Target Assassination, Target Escort, Target Extraction, Target Protection, Search And Destroy, Hold And Secure, Infiltration and Observation. Out of all these she managed to receive the same one as he did.
Someone was definitely setting this up, and there was only one person capable of doing so. The old man was probably doing this to see if she too would do as well as him.
Location: Number 22 Strathconnan Street, London.
Note: Dwelling is Magical in nature, thus Anti Muggle Wards already exist. Location is within a civilian area, minimize as much collateral as possible.
Harry smiled. The old man definitely had some hand in arranging this. He must have assumed that as Harry's protégé, Mary would have picked up on his rather destructive tendencies. She didn't, but it was worth a few laughs thinking the old man was worried.
Time Of Deployment: 2300
The darkness would provide her excellent cover for infiltrating undetected. Of course Harry himself preferred the unorthodox method of strolling through the back door unannounced. Honestly, who barricaded a front door with so many wards but not fully secure the back. He would never understand the weird working of a criminal's mind.
If you were going to barricade the front, might as well do so for the back. It wasn't like you really needed a physical escape route as a Wizard. Just terminate your anti transportation wards and instant exit point. This was of course assuming your enemy didn't have their own wards up. In that case it would be better to remain behind a big strong barricade anyway.
Primary Objective: Extraction of indicated target.
'Hence the mission being 'Target Extraction'.' Harry thought.
Secondary Objective (s): Evade detection, apprehension of suspects, capture and secure location before requesting backup.
Apprehending suspects was one of Harry's specialties. He had always preferred to bring in his victims alive. Them being unharmed and in one piece was another matter entirely. To date he had yet to off someone in a direct sense. Avoiding detection was not his forte, unless of course it meant not being reportedly seen at the scene.
Target Description: One black metallic suitcase containing a single Welsh Green Dragon egg.
'Look at what we have here.' Harry was impressed. Where in the world had they found a Dragon's egg, or better yet, how did they get it in? Those bloody things were Class A magical restricted products.
Oh wait, he knew how. They probably did it through the Muggle way. No Wizard would check and Muggles couldn't really tell the difference between a painted ostrich egg and a Dragon's one.
Hostile Units Present: Four identified individuals present, further occupants at location are to be deemed hostile.
Well of course they're gonna be hostile. No one in the right mind would come quietly when they were found with a Class A Non Tradable object. They would probably fight their way out or run like the wind.
Spell Restrictions: Use of lethal spells restricted.
Mary was not going to like that. Unlike him, she was rather fond of those nasty dangerous spells. Harry favored spells that more or less hindered an opponent. It had probably something to do with him not knowing many lethal ones. Besides, the restriction on lethal spells probably meant the hostiles were Aurors or Unspeakables.
This was a training mission after all.
She did lack his unique sense of creative techniques though.
Harry turned the page to see what else came in the folder. Attached were the building's general layout, Apparation coordinates and profiles of the four individuals involved.
Harry ignored them, he didn't know any of them by name or face.
'Probably Aurors sent to guard a Dragon egg.' He thought.
He shook the folder just in case. A small wooden cube fell out onto the desk.
Harry inspected it and found a carving on all six sides.
2245
It was probably a Portkey and the numbers its activation time.
Looking at his watch and seeing that it was nearly time to leave, Harry decided to hold on to the cube while he continued to look over the building plans.
XXXXX
Location Unknown – Classified
Harry cursed vehemently as he rubbed his stinging forehead. His Portkey had chosen to whisk him away at the most inappropriate moment.
Well, not really. Harry had been expecting the blasted transportation device to activate. He'd just forgotten about it, Mary's mission folder was a bit more interesting that simply sitting around waiting for the thing to go off.
It had of course activated whilst he was nicely seated. Now, while generally landing on your bum after a Portkey trip of sit and spin wasn't very enjoyable, Harry had the forethought of layering multiple Cushioning Charms upon his cloak. He hadn't however expected his head to come into contact with his knees on landing.
This of course had the effect of stunning the room into silence. The two other occupants were staring at the hooded Unspeakable rubbing his forehead and cursing his arse off.
One of them finally developed a sense to aid his downed comrade.
"You alright?" The first man asked.
Harry had immediately ceased his case of verbal diarrhoea as soon as he had felt a presence nearby. Still holding his frontal lobe he gave the guy a menacing look.
It took him a few seconds for him to remember that it was a futile gesture as no one could really see his face.
Looking around he discovered that he had ported into a small room, the only people present were him and two others. It was completely windowless and at one end were numerous viewing globes which projected multiple holographic images.
The other man who seemed to be analyzing him had simply stayed seated before he continued to monitor the images.
"What do you think?" Harry snapped. "I simply love bashing my head upon my knees as a sign of masochistic pleasure." Apparently the idiot was waiting for an answer.
"Suit yourself." The man backed off, his gaze still focused on Harry.
The-Boy-Who-Lived-To-Become-An-Unspeakable grumbled as he pulled himself up with the help of a nearby chair.
"So you're the infamous Griffin." The second guy spoke clearly as he still continued to look at the projections.
"That's an interesting badge you have there Operative." The first man commented taking in Harry's rather unique badge which simply read.
Griffin
James Pathertrory
"I was led to believe that all Unspeakables were to have their identification and rank displayed on their person at all time while they are on duty." The man continued as Harry could feel his gaze move from the darkness shrouding his face to his chest.
"Let's just assume that the old man Dragon has developed a weak spot for me and allows it."
"So it would seem." The second man commented offhandedly.
Realizing that he had in fact not really identified who he was conversing with, he looked at their badges.
Griffin 01
Clearance Level Eight
Raven 01
Clearance Level Eight
'Ho boy…' Harry thought. This just keeps getting better and better. The old codger must have been expecting his apprentice to pull some weird shit tonight and had arranged an audience with the two heads of departments.
It wasn't that Harry had any doubts that Mary would succeed. He fully expected her to pass with her eyes closed. It was the fact that Old St. Nick had yet to turn up and had decided to leave him at the mercy of two very high ranking people.
And everyone knew what Harry's idea of authority was.
"Wow, department heads, all this for little ole me and my apprentice." Harry said looking at their badges. "Cool." The last part came off extremely sarcastic, which worked well for him.
The second man, who Harry had identified as Raven, simply snorted getting the humor in his comment.
Griffin seemed to be at a loss at Harry's complete lack of respect for rank, which was a good thing for Harry. The boy turned Unspeakable had discovered that there were very few things in life that he truly did enjoy, it just so happened to be that one of them was throwing people off their game and confusing them so badly that it hurt. It was his only regret that he was not the one that excelled in this field the most. Apparently the Lovegoods were the number one voted members of the Weird Wizarding Family Vote this year for the tenth year running.
"So what's happened so far?" Harry had simply breezed by the stunned man and moved to inspect the projections. The views supplied showed the interior and exterior of a small suburban house with one or two guards moving around it patrolling.
Harry was slightly impressed that the Unspeakables had managed to bug the house so badly and still the Aurors present were none the wiser. Then again it was a Ministry sanctioned safe house and they could have no doubt have done it before the Aurors were deployed.
"Nothing much, your apprentice seems to have ported in a few minutes ago and has been surveying the targeted property for the last few minutes." The man supplied.
His words were proven right as Harry could easily see Mary taking a leisurely stroll down the sidewalk and straight past the house. A few seconds later she completely vanished from the screen into thin air.
"Were you aware that your apprentice had an invisibility cloak?" Raven sounded slightly surprised.
"No." Harry carefully answered. "I didn't think to enquire so she didn't tell."
"Hmm… tracking her now would be a bit more difficult."
"Pay close attention to the guard, she just might try something with one of them." Griffin said. "There second monitor. The bush moved." The man pointed out.
Harry was impressed. The man surely had an eye for detail. He had expected that it would have been Raven who would notice it as things like this was up his department.
Harry resumed staring and could barely pick out the faint footstep of the woman as she stayed near the rear garden of the house through the neighbor's garden. She had positioned herself within the cover of the bushes if the movement was anything he could go by.
Harry held his breath as a patrol guard came into view.
He needn't have worried. The poor bugger didn't even know what hit him till he was out cold and lying on the ground belly up. Mary, it would seem, was rather vicious with the rock she had no doubt liberated from part of the house exterior décor.
"What sort of wards are on the outer perimeter?" Harry asked strangely curious, as it wasn't listed what defenses were present in the folder. Mary would definitely know, as she would have cast a Diagnostic Charm before proceeding into the perimeter.
"A simply Muggle Repelling Ward, Sound and Privacy Wards as well as a Magical Detection Ward that sets off an alarm should anyone begin to use magic outside the house. There's also a Perimeter Ward that would sound should more than four people be within the house's compound." Raven supplied and chuckled as he and everyone else saw Mary dragging the unconscious man into the bushes.
'Guess she didn't trip the Ward.' Harry assumed. It was smart of her to get one of the patrol guards and replace him with herself. The alarm would never sound as she hardly used magic and didn't really enter within the house's boundaries. The girl had simply reached over and clonked a man over the head from the safety of the neighbor's house.
"Clever girl." Raven commented.
Harry stared at the man. 'Damn, he's talkative tonight.'
The man seemed to completely ignore him only responding when asked a question or to supply a bit of praise once in a while. Other than that he stuck mostly to two word answers.
Griffin too had gone silent as he professionally evaluated the scene.
Harry sighed, it wouldn't kill these men to loosen up a bit. Then again it wasn't like he was one to initiate a conversation. He usually ended them with his snide remarks.
He watched in amusement as an invisible body pushed aside the bush and moved across the lawn. He would have to remind the girl later that despite her invisibility, she still left footprints in the slightly long grass.
"That is new." He overheard the man know only as Griffin 01 comment.
"What's new?" Harry decided to humor him.
"It would seem that your apprentice has a different way of handling things. Most of our new Operatives sent on this type of mission would have had a try with their feeble Ward breaking skills. Some succeed and most fail."
"Let me guess." Harry rolled his eyes. "Once they failed the alarms would sound and from there on it would be a four on one battle in which our guys usually win due to their superior training."
The man could only give him a smile. "Right in one. She's probably the first person who's done it without even an attempt at the Wards.
Harry chuckled as he saw Mary appear out of thin air as she pocketed her invisibility cloak and begun waving her wand at the door.
"Shit." Harry turned to the second person, Raven who still had his eyes glued to the image.
"Indeed old friend, indeed." Griffin muttered.
Harry could hazard a guess as to what might have caused that remark. He smiled. His apprentice had managed to hoodwink two of their department's most effective Wards.
Mary, who was now shooting a few spells at the door, was seemingly unconcerned with the lack of an alarm going off. If would seem there was a loophole to the Ward. That particular piece of magic only surrounded the outside of the house. Seeing as Mary was standing on the first two steps, she was considered a part of the house and not outside it.
"What spell have they placed on the door?" Harry asked a bit smugly after his apprentice's performance.
"Strengthening, alarm, tamper proof and six different locking and identity recognizing spells." Griffin muttered engrossed in his task of viewing.
Harry snorted.
Both Mary and he knew the best way to get by that particular combination of spells.
XXXXX
Location Unknown – Ministry Safe House
"Hmm…" Mary hummed as she twirled her wand once again shooting off another diagnostic spell.
Now what would her mentor do with this. The door was layered with so many protection charms that it would take her the whole night to disable. She had remembered him specifically telling her what to do when caught with this sort of problem. The problem was she had forgotten.
The only thing she seemed to remember was the use of some kind of bird bar on the window.
Anyhow she decided to do it her way.
Casting a perimeter based silencing spell around her she took aim at the door.
XXXXX
Location Unknown – Ministry Safe House – On The Other Side Of The Door
Auror Malcolm was sick and tired of his job already. The poor guy had been assigned to guarding a briefcase and patrolling a house. He desperately longed for some action since his graduation from the Auror Corps a few weeks ago.
How he wished someone would attack the house so he could display his dueling skills.
Funnily enough he did get his wish when he heard in a clear voice someone saying the incantation to a spell.
"Infligo."
Malcolm didn't really get a chance to prove himself as the door he was standing against blew apart, sending him careening face first into the wall opposite him.
The last thing he heard before passing out was a distorted feminine voice.
"Woops, my bad."
XXXXX
Ministry Of Magic – Level Nine: Department Of Mysteries
"Ha!" Harry shouted in triumph. "Pay up."
Both men looked slightly irritated but handed him a small stack of gold coins.
Harry himself had expected Mary to use his technique of utilizing a crowbar in the window, but this seems to cater to her needs for destruction. That and it had the advantage of knocking out another of the Aurors who stood behind the door.
"Some would consider your apprentices method of ward dispelling, cheating you know." Griffin said.
Harry smiled. "Regardless of what you consider cheating, she did bring down the ward on the door without raising an alarm."
The man responded by pointing to a small crystal ball beside the viewing spheres. The thing was glowing and pulsating red.
"Hmm… so she did set off the alarm. Meh, they aren't on alert." Harry looked to the other holographic projections and saw that the other two guards were moving about their normal routes seemingly unawares of the loud blaring that must be going off.
"It would seem that your apprentices silencing charm to cover up the door's explosion has a side effect of covering up the alarms." Raven said jotting a note down in his notebook.
Harry was about to reply with something sarcastic when they were interrupted by the appearance of the Dragon who was expected, yet strangely late.
This caused Harry a slight bit of concern. While Nicholas was somewhat lenient when it came to the running of his department, one thing he particularly insisted on was punctuality, especially his own.
Harry himself had made it a small target to never turn up at the specified time so as to annoy the old man. This however was not normal, Nicholas had always said that if he were late, either he'd be dead or an extreme emergency had turned up.
Seeing as the man was alive, if not slightly pale, Harry logically assumed that he was in fact alive and some shit was going to hit the fan.
Harry himself had always associated a person's emotions or mood by their expressions. He had so far classified four different degrees of paleness.
There was drunken pale which he had easily associated having seen many of his house mates plastered on Fred and George's contraband Firewhiskey.
Then there was paling due to blood loss, sickness or dying, which Harry had the unfortunate opportunity to witness.
There was also what he categorized as 'Poncy Pale', which was the skin tone that both Malfoy and Snape went by.
Finally there was worried pale, which the old man was so nicely demonstrating. He had of course seen this look many a time on Ron's face when asked about his homework by his other friend.
"Harry!" Nicholas barked.
'Make that very worried.' Harry noted, if the old man had allowed his name to slip, he must be seriously distracted.
"Obliviate." Harry waved his wand, getting the drop on the two department heads and wiping the last three seconds of their time together.
Nicholas paid no attention to Harry's used of the Memory Charm and pressed onwards.
"Our safe houses have been all compromised by the capture of one of our members. Get them out of there or provide backup. We'll get there as soon as we can." The Head Unspeakable tossed Harry a Portkey which activated on contact.
XXXXX
Location Unknown – Ministry Safe House
Mary was just about to get the drop on her Auror target when a loud whoosh of a Portkey startled her. Reacting on instinct, she fired off the first spell that came to her mind at the newcomer.
The Auror, already on his guard for the whole night followed in a similar fashion.
Harry immediately redirected both the spells each with a separate wand. He then struck both his wands together, the two pieces of connecting wood let off a tremendous bright flash of light and sound. Harry then proceeded to disarm both the Auror and his apprentice.
"Desist immediately!" He ignored the two wands flying past his head. "The exercise is over!"
"Wah?" Was the intellectual response from both the Auror and Unspeakable.
Harry was prevented from further explanation when the door to the living room blew apart and bolts of light surged in.
Two jets of light narrowly missed him and a third grazed his cheek. It was the fourth that caught him full on in the chest. Loosing his footing and crashing into a couch was the perfect response when hit with an overcharged Disarming Charm.
The entire couch tipped over and dumped Harry onto the floor. For a brief moment he wondered who the wise idiot was that would use a Disarming Charm during an assault. Honestly they were trying to kill here, not capture. There must be a couple of green cadets within this particular group of Death Dodos.
Less than a few seconds later he was joined by Mary and the Auror diving behind the couch with him.
Having lost his wands in the initial blast he grabbed the one Mary was holding and threw a Strengthening Charm on the couch. He after all didn't expect a mere couch to withstand a full battery of spells without assistance.
"What the hell is going on?"
Harry gave the Auror a look that clearly said he wasn't there when god handed out the brains.
"Let's see. Men in dark cloaks and white masks attacking, I wonder what?" He snapped sarcastically.
"Less talk and more curse." Mary snapped as she snatched back her wand and fired a Reducto curse out the window.
A small explosion and shouting could be heard from outside.
"I don't have a wand." The Auror screamed, clearly the man was going hysterical.
'Oh sure, tell the world why don't you.' Harry mentally sneered. "Spare wand." He tapped Mary on her shoulder. A blue beam of light hit the wall above them and covered them in small bits of plaster.
"This is my spare. You disarmed us remember?" Mary hissed back.
Again Harry cursed his bad luck when it came to Portkey travel. He was definitely in a pickle this time. They were pinned down with only one wand up against Merlin knew how many Death Eaters.
"WE'RE GONNA DIE!!! I DON'T WANT TO DIE!!!" Harry was starting to get irritated with the idiot Auror's screaming.
"Diffindo!" He blasted the ground near the Auror after grabbing Mary's wand hand. The girl looked slightly irritated at her spell casting being interrupted.
Thankfully the man shut up.
"You keep shouting and the next one will be to your fun bags." Harry snapped peering over the overturned couch. A spell flew over his head causing him to duck.
"What's your escape plan?" He questioned the Auror.
"My Portkey doesn't work and I can't Apparate." The man said once again getting worked up.
'Perfect.' It was so like the Ministry to bungle this up. The house was a safe house for crying out loud and all they had to offer on the grand total of escape routes were Portkey and Apparation.
At least that explains why the old man wasn't here yet. The poor bastards were probably running in from outside the wards. Somehow imagining the old codger running full sprint down a road with a couple of Aurors on his tail was just not possible.
"Hello! Less talk and more help here!" Mary screamed at him.
"Fine!" Harry snapped. "Accio!" Harry waved his bare hands over the couch. A small explosion sounded outside the door.
Both Mary and the Auror looked at him in surprise.
"And that people is my grand total of Wandless Magic." Harry commented.
"But it didn't even do what you said?" The Auror pointed out the obvious.
"No shit." Harry deadpanned. "But it does blow things up. Accio!" Harry concentrated on the mailbox he had seen outside briefly and was rewarded with a small bang.
"What in the Devil are those explosions?" Harry heard someone shout out from the outside. The comment somehow elevated his mood. The Death Idiots outside were mostly green cadets, if an exploding mailbox and garbage bin unnerved them so.
"Where are your friends?" Harry turned to the Auror who was looking uneasily at Mary cursing out the door.
"That would be my bad. I took down Twiddle Dee and Twiddle Dum out back. No idea about the other guy though." Mary answered
As soon as that comment left her lips, a Ministry Auror ran down the stairs only to catch a green jet of light squared in the chest.
"Never mind." Harry rolled his eyes. "Oh for God's sake summon our wands Mary." Harry smacked the girl upside on her head.
"ACCIO WANDS!!!" Harry watched as pieces of slim polished wood flew out the door.
"Fuck." Mary screamed in annoyance and she massaged the back of her head.
"Never mind." Harry deadpanned and started thinking of something he could use on the fly.
"AAAHHH!!!" The Ministry idiot chose the perfect time to loose it again.
Harry rewarded the idiot with an elbow to his head before Mary could stun him.
"Thank god, he was irritating." Mary commented.
"Too true." Harry agreed. "Cover the door, they're moving in."
Mary nodded and began to dish out a flurry of simple but irritating spells. This had the desired effect of pushing the Death Eaters back out onto the street.
Harry at that moment suddenly had the most ridiculous idea. It was so stupid it just had to work.
"Mary, give me your wand." Obediently she handed it over.
"Sonorus." He muttered casting the Voice Amplification Charm on himself. "WE SURRENDER!!! WE SURRENDER!!!"
Mary could only look at him in complete surprise.
"What the hell are you doing James?" She snapped pulling him down.
Harry only responded with a smirk. "Solving the problem my dear."
Surprisingly his method worked and all spell casting had ceased.
"STEP OUT OF THE HOUSE WITH YOUR WANDS WHERE I CAN SEE THEM!!!" A magnified voice called out.
"Well, you heard the man Miss Sue. Care to join me?" Harry stood and extended a hand.
"You'd better know what you're doing James." She replied hotly.
Both Unspeakables proceeded to walk out of the house. Harry with Mary's wand clutched in his right hand above his head.
They had barely reached the side walk when one of the Death Eaters spoke up.
"Look it what we have here. Two Unspeakables, what a pleasant surprise. Incarceri…" Before the fool had time to use the Binding Spell there was a loud bang and a flash of light.
"Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded Witch or Wizard. Just stick out your wand hand, step on board and we can take you anywhere you want to go. My name is Stan Shunpike, and I'll be your conductor this eve…"
Harry noted with great amusement that the conductor of the Knight Bus had yet again stopped at exactly the same spot in his speech as the last time he had met him.
"Good sweet Merlin! What happened here?" The confused man looked as he witness two persons in blue cloaks go around stunning and binding a group of black cloaked persons lying on the ground in various states of injury.
"I remembered that there were eight Mary." Harry said ignoring the confused and questioning eyes of Stan the conductor. "Where are the other two?"
"I think they are under the bus." Harry raised an eyebrow as she crotched to get a better look. "Yup." Was her satisfied answer.
"I still don't believe that worked." She said disbelievingly checking which of them were still alive.
"Can someone please tell me that in Merlin's name is going on here?" Stan asked again a bit more clearly.
Harry looked to the triple story purple bus. Stan himself was standing by the door a confused look of fear and curiosity in him. Some of the passengers were staring out of their windows to get a look.
"Nothing much, just a small Death Eater attack, everything is in order now. Please stay inside of the bus for your own safety. Members of Law Enforcement will be arriving shortly to take your accounts down." Harry said clearly as Mary snorted in the background.
Various pops signaled the arrival of a group of five Unspeakables. All had their wands drawn and posed in action for a battle. Four were facing in one direction while the fifth was protected in the middle.
"James." The man in the middle called out breaking formation.
Harry failed to recognize the voice due to the standard voice distortion charm but caught a good look at the badge.
Dragon
Level Nine Clearance
"You took your time old man."
"We had to run in from the edge of town, the Death Eaters had Wards of their own up. We Apparated as soon as we felt them go down." The man looked out of breath now that Harry got a better look at his posture.
It wasn't surprising, a man of Nicholas's advance edge running all the way from the edge of town was an amazing feat.
"We have four downed Aurors, three wounded and one dead. Eight Death Dodos, three dead, four critically wounded and one badly scarred up. You'll find the Aurors within the house compound, two in the living room and two more out back." Harry gave his report.
"You certainly did a number on them, What's with the Knight Bus?"
"It ran over them Sir." Harry deadpanned.
Nicholas and a few of the other Unspeakables did a double take at what he said.
"Pardon me. It did what?" Nicholas said disbelievingly.
"It ran them over when I summoned it. If you look under the bus, you'll find the other two dead dodos." The last part was meant for the Unspeakables who seemed to have a bit of trouble locating the missing two Death Eaters.
"Very well." Nicholas sighed. "You're dismissed, I expect a full report on what happened here tonight from both you and Mary. Another thing."
Harry paused.
"Due to the capture of one of our Operatives I would wish you not return to your current safe house should it be compromised. We are still investigating which ones have been discovered and which ones haven't. Your private one should suffice for now. Meet me in my office at two tomorrow." With that Harry was dismissed as the Dragon went to oversee the rest of the processing.
"Remind me to note that in my weirdest ways to die book." Mary spoke as she approached him from behind.
"Dually noted." Harry said picking a rock up from the ground and turning it into a Portkey.
XXXXX
London – Number 12 Grimmauld Place – Kitchen
"I hereby called this meeting of the Order Of The Phoenix to order." Dumbledore spoke in his old attention demanding voice.
Most of the newest member looked at the wizened Wizard in something akin to awe. Others who had been in his service had noticed the man seemed to lack his usual look of cheerfulness. Ever since Harry Potter had died in Azkaban the man hadn't quite been the same.
To most people it seemed that Dumbledore had replaced his favorite pupil with another. Indeed the man seemed to be paying much more attention of Neville Longbottom going so far as to impart on him the same training regiment as he once did Potter.
However to those that knew him, it was just Dumbledore's way of showing that he'd moved on. He training someone else meant that the old Mage had finally gotten over the death of his one time favorite pupil.
"Do anyone of you have anything important to report before we move on to the usual matters." Dumbledore announced.
"Headmaster, the Dark Lord has been successful in capturing one of the Unspeakables from the Department Of Mysteries and has been able to extract some valuable information from him." Severus Snape supplied ignoring the gasps around him at this bit of information.
"What sort of information my boy?" Dumbledore stared at him over his half moon glasses.
Snape sneered at the form of affection that the Headmaster always insisted on using. "The Unspeakable was one of sufficient rank within the department. The Dark Lord has so far been able to garner the location of a number of Ministry safe houses."
"And why was this information not brought to our attention sooner Snape?" Mad Eye interrogated, both his eyes now focused on the Death Eater spy.
"Please refrain for interrogating my Potions Master, Alastor. We are all on the same side here and I am sure that Severus has a good reason as to why he was unable to convey his message to us." Dumbledore laid a hand on his friend's shoulder.
Snape continued to glare at the badly scarred man as he gave his reply. "I was unaware of this bit of information until he called a surprise meeting and informed us that we were going to attack a number of targets." There was no mistaking who the 'He', Severus was referring to in his answer.
"Do you know how many targets there were?"
"There were twelve teams sent out in total so I would assume that there were only twelve locations that the Dark Lord was aware off at the moment. I have picked up some rumors that he had been unable to extract further information from Unspeakable for the man had committed suicide by snapping his own neck." Snape said with a bit of respect in his voice.
The others at the table winced at the lengths that the Unspeakables were willing to go to retain their information.
"This is a big blow to the Ministry. The loss of so many of their safe houses would hinder the efforts of the Unspeakables in this war. How many of them were sheltering occupants, did you find out Severus?" Dumbledore said slouching slightly.
"I am not sure Headmaster. The house my team was sent to attack was not occupied, we simply set fire to the dwelling and left. Two of the other teams had been successful in killing and destroying their safe houses and occupants from what I can assume from their constant bragging. I know of two others that received the Dark Lord's displeasure for letting their target's escape. Another two teams failed one of them returning with three badly wounded members and another didn't return at all. The rest I am unsure off."
"Do you have any idea as to what occurred to those that failed to return?" Mr. Weasley surprisingly asked that question.
"The three that made it back were sprouting on about reinforcements in blue cloaks showing up and completely destroying their team members. The Dark Lord was most displeased with them and let's just assume that they wouldn't be participating in anymore raids again." Snape smirked as the memory of what Voldemort had done.
For the first time since that evening Dumbledore smiled a genuine smile. "People, it would seem that the Unspeakables are playing a bigger part in this war now that the Ministry has acknowledged Voldemort's return."
"Erm… Forgive me Albus, but what about the rumors of this James Pathertrory character that we have been hearing about?" Hestia Jones voiced her opinion.
"Indeed. Although the individual know as Mr. Pathertrory has been wreaking havoc to those sympathetic to the Death Eater's cause, he has only been doing so in countries outside the British Ministry's jurisdiction. Other than his actions we have yet to see any other Unspeakables take an active role in this war." Albus gave his reasons.
"Besides, we don't even know if the man is one of our one from our British Unspeakables, for all we know he could be from some other country's Ministry." Moody's voice came out more of a growl causing some of the newer members to jerk away from him.
"What about the rumors that he's working with the British Ministry?" A voice called out.
"They are just that, rumors. There has yet to be solid proof that he is indeed working with our government, and I doubt that there would ever be if what I know about the Unspeakables are true." Moody said, his eye returning to revolving in seemingly random directions.
"Enough about that." Dumbledore interrupted as he began to move the discussions off to other topics.
XXXXX
Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft And Wizardry – Room Of Requirement
"So what do you hear?" A voice whispered.
"Shhh." A second voice silenced her. "I'm trying to listen."
"We really should thank the twins for giving us these new long ranged extendable ears." Another voice commented.
"Silencio." The silencing spell nicely killed the whispering.
"Thanks Luna."
"You're welcome Ronald." Was the dreamy reply.
It was a while before Ron pulled the earpiece out of his own ear and canceled the Silencing Charm on both Hermione and his sister.
"So what happened?" Was the immediate question from the two inquisitive girls.
"Nothing much." Ron said scratching the back of his neck. "Just some stuff about Death Eaters attacking the Ministry safe houses, some of them succeeded, others failed. They did go on a bit about that James Pathertrory we've been hearing about and a bit more on how to destabilize the Death Eaters source of income.
"Not much!" Hermione practically shrieked. "Do you have any idea what Ministry safe houses hold Ron?"
"No not really." The boy blushed at his ignorance.
Funnily before Hermione could impart her knowledge, it was Neville that answered. "Ministry safe houses are mainly used as hideaways for people under protection for various reasons or for housing important Diplomats. The ones employed by Unspeakables are usually used a housing for their Undercover Operatives or field agents. They sometime contain valuable items not to mention a considerable amount of emergency cash."
The other four occupants of the room looked to Neville like he had grown another head.
"How in the world did you know that mate?" Ron asked seemingly surprised at Neville unique knowledge.
"My parents were Aurors." Neville answered and left it at that. The other knowing that it was a slightly sore topic for the boy decided to leave it at that.
"Now other than the meeting that we were eavesdropping on why did you call us here Hermione, and don't say you didn't, I can see you're practically bouncing to tell us." Ginny said.
"Oh yes! I almost forgot. I think I know where Harry is." The girl practically gushed.
The males backed away at her sudden enthusiasm.
"Haven't you noticed that the appearance of James Pathertrory started happening around two months after Harry's supposed death?" The others nodded. Like Lupin they had been informed of Harry's supposedly deceased status by Ron and Hermione.
"Please tell me you don't mean to imply that the Unspeakable known as James Pathertrory and Harry Potter are both the same person. It just doesn't seem possible Hermione." Ron countered. "I mean Harry's good and all but he's not that good. Besides why would Harry work for the Ministry? He practically hates them."
Hermione huffed. "Don't you know anything Ron. The Department Of Mysteries has always worked independently with the Ministry having not much say in its involvement in other people's business."
"True, but we all know Harry hates authority and would never work for a superior. Especially since Uber-Bitch." Ron reasoned.
The rest nodded at his reasoning apart from Hermione.
"Look Hermione it could be Harry or it could just be another loose cannon of an Unspeakable that's holding a grudge against You-Know-Who for something he did." Ginny reasoned.
"I agree." Neville nodded. "The chances of James Pathertrory being Harry is just too unlikely. If I were Harry I would lay low and try not to bring attention to myself."
Unfortunately for the group of friends they couldn't be more wrong, because no matter what they knew about their close friend, he had indeed changed a lot within the span of half a year since his godfather died. Keeping mostly to himself they could only base his actions on that of his previous personality.
XXXXX
Location Unknown – Harry's Personal Safe House
"You know something? I reckon you may be right about this Portkey thing. You sure you don't have some sort of family curse?" Mary said as she shoved a box out of the way as she moved to pull her superior up.
"Pretty sure I don't but one can never be so sure." Harry tossed the small rag that had landed on his head to the corner of the cluttered room.
"What the hell?" Mary looked around the cluttered room and out the small barred window overlooking the street. "Are we where I think we are?"
Cardboard boxes, broken items and all round useless junk lay strewn, stacked and dumped into the small room.
"Yes Mary, where do you think we are?" Harry kicked the small table lamp over. The desk appliance had narrowly missed his groin upon their Porting in.
"This is Harry Potter's house." She glared at him.
"How'd you… Never mind, I don't want to know how you know." Harry proceeded to move some boxes out of the way. If Mary knew about this being his house it would mean that even the Ministry had been spying on him and not just the Unspeakables, the Death Idiots and Dumbledore's Order Of The Fried Turkey. He sure was popular.
"What are we doing in this house? There are Wards present that could probably fry us for intruding." She hissed, waving her hand around the room.
"This room, my dear Miss Sue happened to be the only safe house that I am sure isn't compromised at the moment. Besides the Wards would only fry us if we mean the late Mr. Potter any harm or carry one of Voldemort's Dark Marks. Seeing as he's dead we can't wish him any more harm that he already has." Harry lied.
"Wouldn't the Wards fall upon his death though?"
"Nope, that's the beauty of it all. The Blood Wards will remain strong as ever for the next half a year or so, but we would be long gone by then."
"I find that hard to believe, how the boy would have been safe here. He could have been easily lured out of the house and away from the Wards. Besides, have you any idea of just how morally wrong this is?"
Harry ignored her as he continued to shift the boxes away from the small bookshelf propped up by the door.
Irritated at being ignored, the girl swatted his shoulder with a rolled up newspaper she had obtained from one of the many lying around the room.
Instantly she found herself staring down the shaft of a wand.
"I'd advice you not to touch me Mary, I'm a bit twitchy at the moment." The wand was slowly lowered.
Judging from the tone of her mentor's voice, Mary wisely stayed quiet.
"This safe house was suggested by me after the passing of the late Mr. Potter. Of all the places in England besides Gringotts and Hogwarts, this house is the most heavily warded."
Mary seemed reluctant to say something but Harry stopping what he was doing and twitching his head indicated he wanted her to go on.
"If it's warded with more than the Blood Wards how are we here?"
"I have a talent for finding loopholes. Besides, this isn't immoral at all. A heavily warded location such as this would be wasted if no one put it to good use." He sort of told a lie since he was technically Harry Potter and thus could allow anyone he choose to enter without being, as Mary so eloquently put it, 'fried'.
"There." Harry muttered finally having moved enough stuff out of the way that he could slide the shelf a foot away from the wall.
Mary, curious, craned her neck as far as possible and looked at what was so interesting with a bare wall behind a bookshelf. She was indeed surprised to see a small doorknob and a door hidden behind the shelf.
"Wah?"
Harry remembering that she was a Muggleborn girl and not one who grew up with Wizards explained. "It's a Wizarding room. Basically a small flat in the form of a simple door. Very much like the Wizarding version of their tents. Easily purchased in Diagon Alley, all you have to do is prop it against a wall and presto, instant new room.
He squeezed between the shelf and the wall, twisted the doorknob and push forwards. It was probably fortunate of him that he made sure the door opened inwards and not out. Before when he had set it up the room was missing its current presence of junk items.
Mary soon followed after him and entered the room looking around curiously.
Having only been expanded from one inch of its original space the room was taxed to its limit of four by six meters. It was very simple and apparently wasn't furnished for comfort. It had two beds side by side, each with its own bedside table, a small desk and storage cabinet and a dinky little washroom.
Mary stared at the furniture or lack there of in the room.
Harry seeing her rolled his eyes. "What were you expecting? A hotel room? This was a temporary safe house I set up in the case of an emergency. Besides we're only going to be here until that old coot has cleared up the mess our department is in. Now, the toilet is that way, and… and that's about it. Don't leave the room, there's a few ration packs in the cabinet over there as well as some other stuff. Whatever you don't know, don't touch. Goodnight."
With that Harry threw himself onto one of the beds and proceeded to layer Wards upon it before finally sleeping.
Mary just shook her head and headed for the washroom. She still had to get that irritating smell of grass out of her cloak.
XXXXX
Ministry Of Magic – Level Nine: Department Of Mysteries – Head Unspeakable Office
"So what now?" Harry asked as his partner stood by looking uneasily at him and the Head of the Department. It had been three long days since the whole safe house debacle. Twenty of their safe houses had been compromised by the loss of one of their agents. It wasn't a total loss however, only twelve had been attacked and the others discontinued in their use. Nicholas was not taking any chances and had moved the people staying in them to new or currently uncompromised ones.
Harry's own safe house that he occupied was not one of those that the Unspeakable captured knew about and he was to continue using it. A fact in which he was glad for. Sleeping so close to another person after all this time was quite unnerving for Harry, especially when that person sharing the room was a girl.
Speaking about Mary, Harry snuck a glance at his apprentice who was currently alternating her look between himself and Nicholas. She would probably never get over his lack of respect to higher authority. Himself on the other hand, she had no reservations on insulting him whenever she felt it was necessary.
"I am assigning you two to some deserved R&R."
"With all due respect Sir, have you lost your marbles? There are Death Eaters still out there and not to mention the big bad Dark Lord as well. Besides, didn't I just get my R&R with my lovely partner here?" Harry asked disbelievingly as he pointed at Mary.
"No I have not in any way lost my marbles as you haven't seen fit to utilize your "Squirrel Move" on me yet."
"The word being yet, old man."
"How's this then as a compromise." The man left it hanging
Harry waited tapping his foot on the floor. "Oh bloody hell, out with it." His partner snorted.
"I think you in particular would enjoy this James."
"Really, in what way?"
"I want you to give two of our new recruits from the Auror Department a breaking in, on flight maneuvers. Get them, shall we say, "Exposed" to the kind of things they might feel in an aerial fire fight situation."
Harry's eyes lit up.
"Are you able to perform extreme high speed maneuvers on a broom Mary?" Harry turned around.
"I'm not sure about the extreme part Sir, but I am well versed on broom aerial combat."
"Good." Harry grinned. "I get the most stuck up FNG."
Nicholas chuckled. "The two of them will be riding with each of you at a classified location. Three other teams will be in the Tactical Operations area, you'll find them there with a Portkey."
Harry rubbed his hands in glee. It had been a while since he got on a broom. "Come Mary." He practically dragged the girl out.
Nicholas smiled and shook his head. The other teams wouldn't know what hit them.
XXXXX
Ministry Of Magic – Level Nine: Department Of Mysteries
Harry had left the office in an extremely bouncy mood. There was nothing he loved more than the thrill of flying at breakneck speeds. Having a passenger that would be screaming was an added benefit.
"James, would you please slow down." His partner complained.
"No time Mary…" He suddenly halted causing her to crash into him.
"Wait. Do you have a broom?" He looked at the girl who was now sitting on the floor giving him a poisonous look.
"Yeah, a Nimbus Two Thousand And One." She accepted the hand he had offered.
Harry stroked his chin with one hand as he pulled her up. He was doing a few high level visualizations in his head.
"Can you ride a Firebolt?" He asked after a few moments of thought.
"You have an extra Firebolt? Why?"
"Because it's still the fastest and best broom on the market and I always buy in pairs in case I ever need a replacement." He continued walking. "So can you ride one?"
"I have practiced briefly on one when I was back in the Auror academy. They had one there so that we could get used to flying on all the broom models."
"Excellent." Harry stopped again, sending her back to the ground. "Are you alright Miss Sue? You seem to be overly clumsy today."
Her response was to give him the finger.
He saluted in kind. Harry pulled a small miniature chest from his robes and enlarged it. Opening it he pulled out two small wand length broom sticks. He returned the chest and enlarged the two Firebolts.
"Here." He tossed one to the Unspeakable who admired it gently.
Harry had seen to replacing his old Firebolt almost immediately after he found out that his old one was still resting in Dumbledore's office. He probably should have made it known in his will that it was meant to have gone to Ron. No point having it lay up in that office collecting dust.
'Oh well. Nothing I can do about it now.'
XXXXX
Ministry Of Magic – Level Nine: Department Of Mysteries – Tactical Operations
Harry slid into the briefing room which was filled with exactly fifteen Unspeakables including his partner and himself.
The place was just like every other briefing room in the world. Rows of lecture chairs with their own small tables were in the middle, a small podium and blackboard faced them.
The Unspeakables were currently standing around the edges or sitting upon the desktop chatting with one another. Seeing the friendly batter between them, made Harry wish that he had an actual team.
'Oh well, it's probably easier if I'm alone.' His status wasn't what one would consider normal even among the Unspeakables.
Despite the Sticking Charm that ensured it would never fall off. Harry checked to see if his identification was still hanging there.
Whereas everyone's badge read the identity number and rank like Mary Sue's that read.
Griffin 08
Level Three Clearance
His simply printed.
Griffin
James Pathertrory
Mary's rank had been increased to that of rank three on completion of Harry's training. Nicholas had done so saying. "Someone who can put up with your attitude for that long and still not apply for a transfer deserves a promotion."
Harry snorted at the reasoning. He still needed to take her for a new grading test to improve her rank. She would probably make it to level four easily. He had been on the receiving end of some of her newer tricks.
Situation analysis time, fifteen people in the room, nine of the Griffin Operatives, two were the FNG's, two were him and Mary. That left the last two standing at the front of the room to be the Field Surveillance, Phoenix Division and Analysis And Tactical Specialist, Serpent Division.
"So who're the FNG's?" Harry called out.
The men looked at him clueless.
Uneducated idiots.
"Erm… What's that?" Someone looking very unsure of himself answered.
'Found one.' Harry smirked and made sure to let his partner have that one.
"It means 'Fucking New Guy' green cadets." Harry answered.
'Bingo. Found the other one.' All the others laughed except two guys, one of them whom body posture said he was irritated at the name.
Now while Harry had the ability to see through their shroud of darkness and other various glamour charms, he always valued his privacy and had thus never ever pried into the identities of his coworkers. Such things just weren't done, unless he had good reason to.
"All right settle down you lot and get to your places men." One of two men spoke.
The noise level dropped and all were soon seated.
"Today." The man paced before the room and Harry could easily make out the badge hanging on his breast.
Serpent 23
Level Six Clearance
The other.
Phoenix 12
Level Five Clearance
"We are going to be doing some aerial combat in a randomly selected landscape. This will consist of four teams, Griffin Squad one, five, nine and James Pathertrory with his partner. This mock battle will be a complete free for all with each of your teams against each other." The man continued.
"It also seems we have some guests with us today. A couple of new guys who will be strapped in with James' team." He turned to look at the two new guys.
"You two will not be involved in this exercise, your only objective is to observe while your partners do the rest. A sort of experience gaining exercise."
"Now." He spun around. "The overall objective of this mission is to take out the opposing squad. The team remaining wins. Easy enough?"
"Why are we doing this Sir?" The second new guy stuck his hand up.
"Because the Dragon seems to think that you boys could learn a thing or two about the way us Unspeakables fly and that some of the older recruits have been going stale."
The guy snorted as if the man's words were completely useless. "I've been flying for years, Sir."
"Then we'll see how you put up with Mr. Pathertrory. I'm sure you'll be able to offer him some sound advice."
Harry nodded slowly as both men looked at him. The others chuckled, they all knew about his rather reckless flying and famous dueling tactics already.
"Good, now Phoenix Twelve here will take over." The man stalked off to a corner of the room.
"Alright." He pulled out his wand and used it like a pointer. "This here red spot is going to be the starting location. You'll all start out there at the same time and will each be sent in different directions. After a duration of ten minutes the drill will begin. This." He pointed at a circular ring enveloping most of the map. "Will be the boundary. Anyone moving outside it will receive a warning. If you choose to disobey, the suits that you'll be wearing will provide you with a nasty surprise."
Everyone nodded.
"Now from this map here you'll see a small forest up North, a lake down to the South, the West side is pretty mountainous and hilly, whereas the center regions and East are flat plains. This location will allow those of you who wish to, the chance to fly in all different terrain types. Weather patterns during the day there would be mostly sunny with a slight bit of cloud cover. Also please limit yourselves to a height of four hundred meters. We don't want any pancake people in our departments after this exercise. Magical protection is good, but not that good."
"You'll now head to the back of the room where a number of boiler suits are present. These suits are to be worn at all times. They are for your protection as they have various charms placed upon them to prevent serious flight damage from occurring." The other took over.
"Erm… Just what kind of damage are we talking about, Sir?" Mary's soon to be passenger asked.
"The kind of damage one gets from hitting a tree at two hundred miles an hour." Harry spoke calmly seeing the man's hand start to shake.
'An Unspeakable in the Griffin Division with a fear of flying? This is new.'
Soon everyone was all suited up and everyone grabbed a hold of the Portkey which was in the form of a small piece of rope.
XXXXX
Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft And Wizardry – Headmaster's Office
"Headmaster, I demand some form of retribution against those two." Snape seemed almost purple in the face.
"Calm yourself dear boy, you have no evidence that either of them were responsible for your current plight. Innocent until proven guilty." The man said, eyes twinkling at overdrive.
Snape for a moment seriously considered hexing the old man.
"What more evidence do you need Albus. The day the Weasley twins visit the Hogwarts is the day where every single toilet in the school vanishes without a trace." Snape snarled.
"The Castle has been known to perform certain acts of magic on its own in the past, Severus. Why should now be any different?" Dumbledore said gently.
"Because." Snape spat venomously. "Every other student except the Slytherin fourth year and above and myself can seem to locate them without much trouble."
Dumbledore's lips twitched upwards but he kept his look of seriousness apart from his eyes which were definitely laughing. "A most spectacular use of Charms, especially utilizing that of the Fidelius Charm. I suppose it might be a case of missunderstanding Severus, give it a few days and problem might solve itself. Your students still have access to the toilets in the Slytherin Common Room don't they?"
"Yes, they do." Having had enough of the old man's twinkling, the Potion's Master excused himself.
As soon as the man had left, Dumbledore threw back his head in laughter. Who would have though of using the Fidelius to erase and hide the location of every public toilet in Hogwarts?
Author's Note:
Firstly I apologize for this extremely late update. I'll try to update the next chapter a lot faster than this one was. Thank you to all the reviewers who have posted.
On another note, does anyone out there read any other Harry/Unspeakable stories out there apart from mine, The Summer Of Change, Scenes From A Distant Memory and Way Of The Warlock? If you have please tell me in a review reply or email me. Thanks.
ENSIGN
Nunquam Lamiae Morde "Me Ictus"