An: *Insert huffy disclaimer here*
An2: Finally got through my feeling of impending doom related to this story.
-:-
Chapter Five: Witch Hunters
"Welcome to Poland."
With that statement the enormous man took a step back and gestured widely to several seats.
"Sit, you came expecting enemies, obviously that is not the case. We have much to discuss before tomorrow."
Wasn't that the truth of it? Harry still wasn't entirely wound down from the battle they'd just been in and his wand hand was twitching, he was pretty certain he could force his way past this enigmatic pair if he had to, but he wasn't certain. Best not to find out perhaps.
However he did shake his head, a grimace of distaste on his lips.
"I don't know if you noticed Victor, but two of us are injured. I've got a shattered ankle and…"
he shot a half glance at Hermione.
"My associate has fractured ribs."
He turned back to the pair.
"We need medical attention."
The big man smiled grimly and gestured to the open doorway, presumably leading to another room in the battered suite.
"Mr Potter, you and Miss Granger will find first aid supplies in that room, painkillers and the like. You can magically heal yourselfs later. You've been given a pass for casting magic in the city for the next twenty four hours. The rest of your stay in Warsaw will be dependent on your meeting with the Dowódca, regardless you have amnesty unless you commit a hostile act. Use it wisely to heal yourself and your partner."
A little put off by the knowledge the larger man had and the startling news, he glanced meaningfully at the girls and the five of them made their way into the other room. Sure enough there were a medley of medical first aid supplies but in all honesty they'd already done what they could with magic, this was mostly an excuse to regroup and discuss. Harry had a feeling the giant in the other room had already figured that out, but he was being magnanimous in allowing them a chance to talk.
"Harry, what the hell is going on?"
The hoarsely whispered shout was very typical of Tracey, for a Slytherin she had no patience at all.
"I don't know Tracey, things are pretty screwed up right now. Honestly at the moment I think we should be asking who the hell was shooting at us on the road in Austria. They knew who we were, where we would be, and when we would be there. If they had chosen a better piece of road we'd be dead, plain as day. As it is I have no idea how you managed to get down the slope to us Tracey."
She snorted
"Luck."
The three of them, Tracey Hermione and Harry, sat there pondering their next move as Susan and Fleur bustled about, casting spells and administering painkillers. Susan flicked her wand, translocating his boot and sock to the floor next to them. His foot immediately flopped limply to the side without support and he hissed in discomfort. She winced and flicked her gaze towards Hermione.
"What did you cast?"
His partner shot him an apologetic look before answering.
"Just a bone shoring charm and a tendon relaxer to make sure it didn't cramp. We didn't have time for anything more intrusive."
Susan nodded and looked up at him grimly
"This is gonna hurt a bit, I've got to repair the bones all at the same time or they'll get misaligned and you'll walk with a limp for the rest of your life. I can't numb it or your nerves might get crushed."
She conjured a wooden bit for him to bite down on and silenced the room. Then abruptly and quite without warning she shot a spell at his foot that made him feel like the entire area was replaced with molten rock. He barely had time to clamp down on the mental link between Hermione and himself before he threw his head back from the pain of it.
He clenched down hard on the bit and a groan bubbled up from his throat at the raw agony of it. The ordeal lasted perhaps five seconds, and then it was all over. He was left panting, foot now trying to cramp, despite Hermione's spell, from the extreme tension his entire leg had undergone. He wiggled the foot and, despite the pain, realized that it was now working fine. Susan growled in annoyance before freezing his entire lower leg with yet another spell, before replacing his boot and sock.
"Don't move it for at least the rest of the day."
She shot him a last withering glance before moving off to the side to organize what they'd brought with them from the wreckage of the car. Hermione's treatment had apparently been a lot easier, fractured ribs were a simple fix, if prickly, and she was already up and walking.
Her gentle touch on his arm and imploring expression reminded him that he still had their link closed to her. Cautiously he opened it and then relaxed as her warm presence swept through him, mindless of the associated pain.
Soft solicitous thoughts rushed over to him and he did his best to reassure her. He'd be fine, he'd dealt with worse. His back regularly gave him worse pain than this.
"Right back to the present people. There's a sniper who looks like she knows what she's doing and an enormous armoured gunman out there. Apparently they're friends, but really, can we trust them?"
Harry snorted at Susan's verbiage
"Trust them? Not hardly, we can trust the amnesty though, that means a lot in these circles. We need to be a bit circumspect though, these two clearly know about magic, and are sanctioned by the government here. We can talk to them openly about it. But not anyone else from the Witch Hunters till we've got more information. FIrst thing's first we need to know if Moody's still kicking."
Hermione nodded, a thoughtful expression falling over her features.
"They're paramilitary, probably originally mercenaries. They, especially the big one, have Witch Hunter markings on their clothing and their weapons are military grade, not black market. They're muggles, or at least Victor is. The shorter one, the woman, is something else entirely, she's not a witch that's for sure."
Harry and Fleur both shot her a curious look, Susan and Tracey seemed too fixated on cataloguing their equipment to pay attention. Hermione looked exasperated.
"She doesn't have an aura, that clearly was not apparition but it was also clearly magic. There's something going on there but it's definitely not down to the standard witchcraft and wizardry. Honestly it's the bigger one that worries me. I tried to check him for an aura but his entire body is like a magical void. It's like he doesn't even exist, or at least any magic I send towards him as a probe just disappears. I don't think even you could kill him with magic Harry, he'd just absorb it all."
That troubled Harry, more than he liked to admit. The giant was fast, well armoured and magically immune? He privately lamented the fact that they looked to be on opposite sides of the conflict. Or at the very least different ones.
"So we just follow along with this for now then. They were clearly expecting us, and they aren't hostile. Which makes me think that they know exactly what's going on in Britain and they captured Mad-eye to set up a parley. They either have something to offer in terms of intelligence or manpower. They wouldn't bother going to all this trouble otherwise."
He swung his paralysed leg absently as he thought about their next course of action.
"What did we get from the car girls?"
Tracey made a humming sound, a happy hum.
"Basically everything. I lost a couple of rounds to the water but apart from that it's all there."
He hummed as well, they had options, but not many.
"What do you reckon our chances are of taking those two out and getting out of here?"
Susan made a 'so/so' gesture.
"If we hit the big one through the door with Tracey's rifle I say we have better than even odds. But honestly I doubt we get out of the city alive, we can't apparate far enough to get free of the mire we're in and as soon as the fighting starts the Witch Hunters will use everything they have to take us down.
Nevermind the fact that if they see this coming, which I think they do, then if one of them even grazes us with one of those guns then we're going to lose someone. Straight up."
Harry nodded, he'd figured most of that out already but it was good to hear Susan's take on things. He raised his head and looked everyone in the eye for a moment, they trusted him.
"We'll go along with it then, have this meeting they've been setting up for Merlin knows how long, get Mad-eye, and get the hell out of here."
-:-
They'd been gone far too long already, Victor knew that they needed to give the five teens time to sort this out in their heads, but Lucrezia and he were banking entirely on the fact that they wouldn't just kill them both. He glanced down at his hands to see them trembling on the arms of his chair. Closing his eyes for a moment he took a deep breath and let it out, relaxing as best he could.
A soft hand closed around his and he looked up to see Lucrezia's uncharacteristically warm gaze meeting his own.
"We're going to be fine Victor. They're smart, they know that if they make a pass at us then they'll never get off the continent alive. They care about each other just as much as I care about you. They won't risk it."
He smiled wanly at her and squeezed her hand gently, enjoying the moment. The catch on the door clicked giving him just enough time to stand and pull his shotgun across his body into a ready grip. No sense in being careless about the whole thing, reassurance or not.
They came back out into the room looking distinctly more polished. The boy, man, had a sharper air about him now. Like previously he had just been acknowledging Victor, and was now actually assessing him as a threat. The girl, Granger, was at his weaker side with a nasty looking pistol unholstered in her hand. It wasn't raised though, so she was probably just being ready, like Victor was.
The oldest of the bunch, the creature, looked determined and dangerous. Victor knew that in close quarters she would always be the one he had to take out first. Her unnatural nature gave her strength, speed and power that even he couldn't absorb. If he didn't eliminate her quickly she'd gut him, and then there'd be nothing between her and Lucrezia. The other two girls, the sniper pair. Were unarmed but their body language both projected confidence and a certain 'don't fuck with me' attitude that Victor could respect.
Only when Potter had sat down did he notice, far too late, the thin stick of wood pointing directly at Lucrezia held in the man's hand. The eyes that he previously appraised as 'sharp' now read as positively 'deadly'
"I think we understand each other Victor. This woman means the world to you. These girls mean a great deal to me. How's about we all disarm so we can get through this with a minimum of stress?"
The thudding heartbeat in Victor's chest reached a fever pitch. He understood the warnings they'd been given now. The little information he'd been given about Potter suggested a singular ability to protect those he cared about, and to escape from deadly situations in one piece, he didn't want to fuck with this man. Carefully, and with a minimum of fuss, he pulled the shotgun's strap over his head and laid the weapon on the ground at his feet. Lucrezia's smg joined it a moment later. Then, after a tense moment, the handgun and wand vanished. Disappeared to some unseen holsters.
The tension almost visibly eased from the room as the seven occupants sat back in their chairs, relieved of the immediate threat of violence.
"Is Alastor Moody alive?"
The blunt question was unsurprising; Potter's patience had obviously worn thin between the attack and this clandestine meeting. Victor decided not to bait the lion.
"He's alive, safe even. Our employer questioned him, and he is imprisoned, but comfortably enough. His capture was a ploy to get you into Warsaw to talk without having to contact you through tainted channels that could undermine our efforts. Ultimately our employer wants all six of you to head back to Britain in two days. We've already scheduled a flight for you."
He unsnapped a pocket on the front of his body armour and pulled out a sextet of plane tickets.
"These are for you, a show of good faith, so to speak."
Victor's fingers tensed ever so briefly as Potter shifted forwards. The man moved like a snake, all sinuous, swift movements and easy grace. It was hard not to react instinctively.
He took the tickets and Victor sat back and resisted the urge to look at his hand, to check to make sure it was still there. He felt like Potter, or one of those girls, could take it off without warning. There was a certain caged energy about them that was putting him on edge more than he could say.
"Thankyou."
It struck the tall man very abruptly that nothing Potter did allowed a clear line of sight from himself to Granger. She was clearly the weakest point in this link and if there was a confrontation she'd be the one he had to capture, or this whole city would burn.
"We want this to go as peacefully as possible Mr Potter."
"Lord Potter."
Victor raised an eyebrow at the haughty expression on the young brunette's face.
"You'll address Lord Potter by his proper title or not at all."
"Tracey"
The soft spoken word was a command, a gentle command but a command nonetheless. With a touch of chastisement the elegant young woman retreated back to a reclined position in her chair. Obviously annoyed.
That steely gaze didn't let up though.
"Lord Potter then, regardless we don't want a confrontation. As you so succinctly put it we've both got people we care about here. A kerfuffle could cause unwanted injury or death on either side of this very precarious coin."
He grimaced internally, what a roundabout way of saying what everyone present already knew; If a fight started, everyone was going to die.
-:-
Tracey sat back in her chair sullenly, Harry's chastisement had felt like a slap. Very rarely did he reprimand her at all, especially not in public. But she also knew that she'd overstepped slightly, her upbringing and respect for him had made her entirely too indignant about the perceived breach of etiquette. This was a dangerous situation and he really didn't need her antagonizing the threats.
"Lord Potter, do you know what a Heretic is?"
It was the first time she could remember the woman speaking, Tracey was certain she'd heard the sniper speak at least once before, just before they arrived here. But she was still so hopped up on adrenaline that the encounter was blurred in her memory. The woman's voice was light and silky, but hard edged, like a dagger's blade slickened with oil.
And as for the tone… Tracey could practically hear the capital on that word. She knew what, generally, a heretic was, but not this, capitalized, variant.
"No, I'm afraid I don't."
Curious, normally Harry would correct people when they called him by his title. He hated it, which was yet another reason she should have shut her gob. But he was tolerating it here, to put them off balance, or as a subtle nod to her, an amelioration of his reprimand? She wasn't sure, but she'd take the second option, just because it made her buzz a little inside. She loved that feeling.
"Heretics, Lord Potter, are muggles or squibs who, via the help of a witch or wizard, steal the magical core of another witch or wizard through ritual. It doesn't give them typical magical prowess, or the ability to use a wand, but it does imprint them with magical talents, usually relating to the talents of the witch or wizard whose core was taken. Victor and I are both involuntary Heretics."
Tracey felt bile rise in her throat, the dark magic involved in such a ritual must be profound. Then it struck her, they had stolen the cores of at least two other magicals. Only Hermione's firm grip on her upper arm stopped her leaping to her feet in outrage.
"Involuntary?"
Harry's soft question made her shiver. That was the kind of voice she rarely heard from him, the voice he'd used after Daphne died to swear to her that their friend would be avenged.
"Yes, involuntary. The wizards who killed our parents forced their cores into us as a form of torture. We were both squibs you see."
The room fell silent, this certainly explained the strange magical talents the two had. Tracey couldn't help but ask.
"Why are you telling us this?"
The dark haired woman smiled thinly.
"You came here spoiling for a fight, preparing yourselves to go to battle to rescue your ally. You know little of us and I hope that by giving you some information we can bring the course of our encounter more firmly onto peaceful ground. Besides, such information is rare in Britain where the knowledge of such things is suppressed by the Ministry."
She examined her nails and Tracey could practically feel the disdain rolling off her in a barely concealed cloud. She'd have been a good Slytherin.
"Your country is somewhat backwards, but there's no reason you have to remain ignorant."
Speaking of antagonizing the threats in the room…
"Lu"
The single syllable was spoken by Victor in much the same way Harry had reprimanded her before. But the woman across from Tracey didn't back down, at least not at first. She bristled at the giant and looked ready for a row before looking into his eyes. Abruptly she shut her mouth tight and sat back, looking warily at Fleur of all people.
Harry sighed roughly and gestured to the bedroom.
"There's not enough room in there for all of us tonight. If you want us to meet your boss tomorrow we're going to need somewhere to sleep tonight. Somewhere we can put some minor wards around so that we don't have to be up all night watching our backs."
The enormous man reached into another pouch in his ridiculous armoured vest and withdrew a hotel key.
"Two bedrooms, two beds in each. Double up if you need to. Anywhere larger would be conspicuous. We have the magical side of this city on lockdown but muggle crime is still very real and dangerous. Stay quiet please, cast your wards. We'll be in here tonight, you're just down the hall."
He paused and Tracey could practically feel the iron jaws of a condition snapping down around them.
"We've been very generous with you so far, especially considering the circumstances, and we've shown a lot of faith. We'd like you to make a similar gesture, and leave your ballistic weapons here tonight. You'll have your wards, but the two of us will have no such guarantee that we will be safe tonight, this will be a step in that direction."
Tracey frowned, knowing full well that Harry would accept this deal, she didn't want to leave her baby in the hands of these people.
"Of course. You have been very generous. We'd be happy to make such a concession. What time shall we meet you here tomorrow?"
Merlin but he was hot when he spoke with class.
"Ten hundred hours should be fine. See you tomorrow."
"Indeed, let's disarm and head out girls."
-:-
The rooms they'd been… assigned, were spartan but serviceable. Clearly they'd be roughing it for the next couple of days, relatively speaking.
Harry sat heavily at one of the rickety chairs in their room and groaned as his ankle throbbed in protest. Bones they could heal easily enough but tendons and muscles were a much longer recovery without professional medical help. Hermione's hand came down lightly on the back of his neck, massaging the muscles there with a gentle but firm touch.
"Are you okay sweetheart?"
He reached up to take her hand in his and looked up at her with a warm smile. Tracey was off to one side changing shamelessly into a nightie.
"I will be, let's get these wards up shall we?"
She hummed in agreement and helped him to his feet. A moment later he let his magic infuse his vision. Normally when he did this lines of magical power would fade into sight, the after images of spells and the magical signatures of already existing wards. Now? There was nothing, he actually checked to make sure he'd cast the mage vision properly before he realized that the entire country was probably like this, no magic, no wizards and witches, nothing. The thought made him shiver at the holocaust that must have escaped the history books.
Ward casting had two specific branches of it's art. One the one hand you could cast single spell general wards that covered a set area. They were crude and obvious to a talented viewer, but effective against most else. Thier biggest weakness was that their area of effect was fixed, you couldn't alter it. As a result they were useful for quick outdoors jobs, but were terrible for warding specific rooms inside a building, or just buildings in general, or anything smaller than a building for that matter.
The second branch was more delicate, and required more patience and time, but was far more effective. It involved casting hundreds of tiny spells, each one meant to detect or repel a host of different possibilities. Depending on the weave of these spells you could include or exclude individuals from their protection. He and Hermione would merge together and wield their power as a single entity to create a cocoon of spells around the suite.
He felt power suffuse him and groaned at the feeling, Hermione's magical strength washed over him like a soothing tide. They were both incredibly strong magically speaking, but when they fused their magic in such a way an almost intoxicating feeling of power suffused him. If he was a lesser man, or perhaps less anchored by such a strong woman, he'd be strongly tempted to let that power consume him, to unleash it in unspeakable ways.
Fortunately that wasn't the case. He stretched out with one arms and began to draw symbols in the air in front of him. As he completed each one it flashed briefly before fading and a streak of magic appeared in the air and snapped to the walls of the room, anchoring itself firmly. It took nearly half an hour but eventually the room was encased in a web of carefully woven threads of magic.
As they separated into distinct entities again he felt a wave of confusion from Hermione, as if she was missing time. Concerned he touched her mind with his and felt the confusion intensify.
"Hermione, what's wrong?"
She looked at him with worried eyes
"I'm losing myself in you Harry. We're… when we merge, like that… I vanished."
Fear gripped him a moment and he thought back at the events from the past hour and had a startling realization, it wasn't them, we, us. It was him. She had vanished into his personality. Feeling a bit faint he sat back heavily on the chair, despite the returning ache from his ankle, and stared at his soulmate.
"We can't do that, ever again."
She rolled her eyes at him, exasperated even through their collective fear.
"Obviously something has changed, once we figure out what it is we can correct it. We should ask Umbridge when we get back to Wales."
Still worried about the turn of events he reached for her and she readily sat in his lap and curled up in his arms, trembling faintly. Clearly despite her bravado she was scared.
"I love you."
"I love you too sweetheart."
"Are you two okay over there?"
Sitting on her bed under the covers, and completely forgotten till now by the two shellshocked teens, was Tracey, who was looking as scared as they felt.
Hermione was nearly in tears as she trembled against his shoulder so Harry answered for them both, Tracey was more than just a friend, she was family, she deserved the truth.
"We've just had rather a large fright. When Hermione and I… blend our personalities. Usually we become a collective, someone new made from both of us. But just now… Hermione disappeared. She… Vanished, in the bond. She's got half an hour of missing time from just now."
Tracey's expression went from scared to confused and then back to scared.
"What does that even mean… Has that ever happened before? Are you okay Hermione?"
Harry stroked the back of Hermione's head as she nuzzled deeper into his embrace.
"We're obviously both pretty shook up right now, honestly neither of us know what it means and… no, it's never happened before. We're hoping Umbridge might be able to help."
Tracey nodded slowly, obviously still worried.
"Maybe… Damn… this is really the worst timing."
Harry groaned, of course, the mission. The one time they needed to have nothing going wrong… He felt a flash of something dark run through him.
"Hermione… Umbridge is a heretic."
"What?"
"Umbridge… she takes the souls of magical beings. Boosts herself with their power. It's dark magic. God how couldn't we see that before, and she wants to do that to us, give us the power she's been accumulating."
"Fuck."
He didn't hear Hermione swear often, but when she did, it was for a good reason. They shared an uncomfortable silence for a moment before Harry tugged her up and over to the bed.
"No point stressing over things we can't change. Get ready for bed, I'll check on Fleur and Susan then join you. We need sleep."
-:-
Susan tossed in her bed a bit, it was hard and small and she missed her bunk at the barracks in Wales. She'd grown used to sleeping alongside Tracey and Daphne over the last year, with Daphne gone something always seemed to be missing, wrong. Now with Tracey bunking in the same room as the Potters she couldn't catch a wink of sleep at all. There had been a subtle cue from Harry that Susan had nearly missed. He hadn't wanted Fleur sleeping in the same room as them, maybe those wounds would never heal.
She sat up and stared blankly into the darkness, they'd closed the curtains on the surprisingly active nightlife of Warsaw and as a result the room was pitch black. Susan closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around her knees, just sitting there, fighting back the waves of loneliness.
Neville…
Harry…
Why couldn't she be like normal girls and just love one boy? Why couldn't Neville see that she would never cheat on him? Why did they both have to be so sweet?
Hot tears tracked scalding trails down her cheeks as her magic synergised with her mood. Swiping them away she scowled; her whole life was so screwed up right now. She was only sixteen but already a soldier, a sniper, she'd killed people. She loved two different boys… men, who both held very strong opinions and values. One of them even already had his soulmate. It would be so much easier if she could just not love Harry, but he was what all of her life revolved around.
Her position in the Regiment, her relationships, her schooling. All of it was either on hold or in action because of him. Growling in frustration she flopped back against the pillows and settled in for a good sulk.
-:-
The morning dawned with a surprisingly harsh glare, the clouds had disappeared and the sun shone sharply through the thin windows. Harry had just opened the curtains and winced at the abrupt change in light.
The city itself was already bustling, no city in the modern age truly slept and already there were hundreds of cars on the narrow roads and even more push-bikes. He quietly wondered if any Witch hunters were driving around.
"Harry? We're ready to go."
The five of them were all dressed in their regimental uniforms and had their wands strapped to their forearms in militaristic holsters. The holsters could hold both a wand and a pistol in folded space. Flicking the wrist and the user's magic at the same time would bring the desired weapon to hand.
Harry's breastplate felt comfortable and homey in such a hostile environment. Especially after being in a firefight yesterday, unprotected by the magical armour. He did feel a little naked without the weight of his rifle but that would change soon.
He flicked his neck from side to side, working out a crick. Hermione came up to his side and put a hand on his shoulder in a gentle fashion. Over their link, he felt her concern, smiling he reassured he as best he could.
"It's not my back, we dealt with that well enough in the en suite. I'm just tense."
She nodded then grimaced.
"Hopefully this doesn't go sideways today. Merlin, I'm so nervous, look."
He looked down and, sure enough, Hermione's hands were trembling. Concerned immediately he turned and collected them both in his, gazing at her with worry in his eyes.
"You going to be okay?"
She gave a little laugh, it was slightly shrill.
"We're about to walk into a meeting with the most successful anti-magical muggle organization the world has ever seen. I don't know if any of us are going to be okay."
He wrapped his arms around her and they both took comfort from the contact.
"We should go"
Neither of them needed to say more. Their bond made up for that, even in it's restricted state. But they both wished they had more time.
-:-
That morning, when her two roommates had thought she was sleeping, Tracey had witnessed something that made her heart ache. It wasn't sexual, though she honestly wished that it had been, seeing Harry so fragile and broken wasn't something she thought she could bear repeating.
His face had been locked in a rictus of agony, arms and legs straining and taut. Hermione had needed to levitate him into the ensuite bathroom. What she did to help him after that Tracey could only guess at, but it was obvious that Harry struggled with an infirmity that none of them had ever guessed at before. It was reminiscent of the time he had been paralyzed by Ginny Weasley; he was helpless and in pain. Abruptly she understood what Hermione had told her once, that Harry was the strongest person she had ever known. Tracey doubted that anything she would ever experience would be that taxing, not only on her body, but her mind. For someone as independent as Harry, needing Hermione's help for such basic locomotion must be the greatest hardship for him.
It tempered her own feelings for him. She knew now that if anything happened to Hermione… more that if Harry survived after something happened to Hermione, he would need her help. He would need the help of someone he could trust unconditionally.
Harry wasn't the only one dealing with stress and trauma. Susan, who was walking beside her, was red around the eyes and had clearly been crying. Tracey sympathised; the battle of emotion Susan was waging with herself was a brutal one. The young Slytherin had deliberately avoided interacting with other boys specifically so that she couldn't ever end up in the same situation. She loved Harry, whether he loved her back or not it was enough; she wasn't a particularly sexual creature, she didn't feel that she had… 'needs' she was content to simply watch and support, and be supported.
Harry was the best friend she could ask for; he understood her, he cared for her, he protected her. He gave her purpose and picked her up when she fell. He could be distant though, he rarely opened up to her, and of course he had Hermione for his emotional needs. It was not perfect, but she was content.
Fleur walked between the two pairs. She was arguably the strongest combatant of the five in a close quarters situation. It was better that she be able to react to any threat, be it ahead of them or behind. Tracey still didn't trust the nosferatu; she was hiding something from them all. Even after all that had happened she was still secretive and reclusive. She barely talked, she watched, listened, thought. But didn't speak. It was more than a little unnerving.
She'd interacted with Fleur Delacour before the betrayal and the French Veela had been gregarious, cheerful, exuberant. And had only become a similarly closed in, reserved woman when she was battling with the bond that existed between herself and Harry. Did that still exist? Did it still torment her? Or was her reticence a product of her existence after her… rebirth?
So many questions, no answers. The biggest question was why she was even there with them. Harry had brought her along on the flimsiest of reasons, either he knew something and wasn't telling; admittedly not a rarity, or there was something emotional going on.
Either way Tracey was going to keep a close eye on the blond.
-:-
When Victor opened the door it was to five stern faced teens wearing magical body armour. Potter had his wand out and was spinning it around his fingers absentmindedly, the German-born mercenary knew that Potter was still deadly even with his weapon in such a casual position. Not to him perhaps, he wasn't threatened by magic, but the teen could still murder his partner, or blow the entire building to shreds. Falling masonry would kill Victor as quick as any other man.
"You're on time."
The question was a stall, giving him a minute to collect his thoughts.
"Should we have been fashionably late? I don't have the patience for it honestly. Give us our arms and take us to this meeting your boss organized."
Victor nodded once before calling to his partner.
"Lu, get these kids their guns for me."
The soft snort he heard from behind him almost made him smile, almost. Lucrezia had looked over the weapons last night and found them to be a fascinating mixture of magic and analogue technology.
She deposited the bag of weapons on the ground next to him and before he could even reach for it it was gone. Looking up, startled, he saw that the weapons were already being passed to their owners. Potter flicked his wrist and the wand disappeared, a second flick and the overlarge pistol did as well. There was something going on there but Victor hadn't the mind for it, a hidden holster maybe, it was irrelevant. The five killers were armed again.
"Shall we be off?"
Victor had been a merc for a long time, he'd done some pretty reprehensible things, but he'd never developed the look this teenager had.
"Sure. Let's go."
-:-
The trip to the meeting place was a short one, the Witch Hunters had provided the two mercenaries with a slate coloured open topped jeep for transport and it growled like a caged beast on the narrow roads of the Polish capital. They'd clearly organized the hotel in advance to move the teens to and it was close to the Witch Hunter's Headquarters. The compound was ringed with concrete walls topped with barbed wire and armed guards at the gates. Infantry Fighting Vehicles and jeeps sat in ordered lines while sizable units of men and women moved about in military formations. The Polish Government clearly gave the organization free reign to continue its mandate, perhaps even support.
The colossal man parked the jeep in the open as they were waved through the gates and passed off the keys to a uniformed man who drove it deep into the motor pool. They were getting wary looks from many of the men and women who were moving about the compound but it was clear that if they started anything a hail of bullets would hit them from all sides. Suddenly Hermione wished they'd brought the Tyranny with them.
They were bracketed by a unit of Hunters as they traversed the yard, despite the fact that they were clearly outnumbered the Witch Hunters were taking no chances with them. The heavily armed group headed towards the central structure of the compound and soon enough they were delving down into a sub-basement level. It set Hermione's teeth on edge, being below ground in a semi-hostile environment like this. But they had little choice.
One of their escorts pushed a heavy door open and they filed inside to see two men sitting at a table eating breakfast. One of them was young, clean shaven and suited in muggle fashion. The other was Alastor Moody.
Harry's amused chuckle from beside her made her relax a little, clearly the two men had reached some kind of accord. And the peace they had been promised as at least temporarily binding.
"You old reprobate, we spend three days trekking across Europe to rescue you and here we find you eating German sausage and Swiss cheese!"
The grizzled ex-auror grunted and rose from his chair to stump over to the group. He grabbed Harry's hand and Hermione smiled at the camaraderie between them. They'd grown close last summer during Harry's training.
"Potter, took you bloody long enough. This prig hasn't let me seen daylight yet."
Well that was interesting, clearly he was still a prisoner, but one that was given a certain amount of comfort. They were being cautious, but friendly… ish.
"Who's your friend?"
At this the younger man rose from the table, patting his mouth with a napkin. He looked to be about thirty, but it was hard to tell with the bald pate and scarred countenance. When he spoke it was with a heavy accent that mangled the English he spoke horribly.
"My name is Bertrand Collier. I am the Dowódca of this organization, the commander. You five are guests here, under amnesty, under my amnesty. I organised this meeting because you need our help."
Hermione felt a surge of annoyance from Harry, like he was insulted by the implication that he needed the help of this man. Thankfully it was his independence and not his pride that was acting up.
"What help do we need from you? You're muggles, we can't participate in cooperative efforts against magical targets without breaking our own laws."
The man shrugged as he folded the napkin carefully and placed it on the table with a deliberate movement.
"Our efforts do not have to appear cooperative. Victor; map, please."
The large man retrieved a folded map from one of his many tactical pouches and quickly spread it on a bare part of the table. It was a map of Europe. Collier bent over the map for a moment, moving his hands in quick smooth movements, when he moved away nearly two dozen small pins were skewering specific locations. Most were placed on population centers in Britain, but several were in France, Liechtenstein and Germany.
"Not all efforts on a cooperative war effort have to be cooperative. Each of these pins represents a Walpurgis asset. Either Knights of Walpurgis, a demon pack, a Veela battalion, or a Mercenary unit. We know where they are, and when they're going to move to Britain. You've got nearly two thousand individuals arrayed against you. But with our resources we can thin that number by nearly half via the elimination of Walpurgis assets in mainland Europe."
The offer was a potent one, if they were as outnumbered as this man suggested then reducing those numbers by half would be a tremendous aid to freeing Britain from the Valmortis. There had to be a price though, apparently Harry agreed.
"What do you want in return?"
The Dowódca folded his hands across his stomach and gave a small shrug.
"The Knights Walpurgis represent a significant threat to non-magical lives in Britain. Our mandate is to protect non-magicals from any magical threat that might present itself. Your organization is the only one currently combatting this threat aside from our own. It makes strategic sense for us to work in… parallel."
"You didn't answer the question."
Collier gave a sly smile, the first sign of any real emotion Hermione had seen from the man
"No, I guess I didn't."
She could feel Harry's annoyance building and laid a hand on the crook of his arm where it was twitching in a manner that suggested he was resisting the urge to pull a weapon. She shot him an imploring gaze before answering in his stead.
"Until recently we saw your organization as a threat Mr Collier. For a start you've given us no proof that your intelligence is solid, you've asked for nothing in return, and you've not offered to aid us in Britain. For all we know there could be no additional assets and you're simply making a bluff here to avoid an international incident."
The smile disappeared and the scarred man's cheeks reddened. If Hermione didn't know better she'd say he was angry. But the response was controlled, an act.
"You overstep your bounds heretic, we are offering you aid and you are throwing it in our face!"
She raised an eyebrow at him.
"What do you want Collier? We can leave now if that suits you. But we'll be taking Alastor with us and you can guarantee that the next time we meet it'll be on hostile terms. Or you could tell us what you want and get this bullshit posturing out of the way."
The false anger left his face and he went blank again, what looked like a neutral state to him.
"Well played Miss Granger. What we want is simple, you are going to hand Mr Krum over to us at the end of the war for interrogation. There are elements of his organization that are hidden from us and we want to root them out once and for all."
Hermione resisted the impulse to frown. He was asking them to commit a war crime, giving the leader of a hostile organization over to a third party for the implied purpose of violent interrogation.
"And what if he dies in the fighting? I can't control whether he lives through this or not."
She thanked Harry silently for his question, if gave her more time to think.
"He'll survive, we have reliable intelligence that suggests he's got somewhere to go to ground. He's not a field commander like Tom Riddle was, he'll let his forces die for him."
Harry frowned and Hermione knew exactly why, that sort of thing was a shaky bet.
"We need to talk to our people about this, this is something serious you're asking for."
"Come now Mr Potter, one life against five hundred? We can deal with half of your problem, and one more life. Basically for no cost to yourself."
Harry growled in the back of his throat. It was a deep, rich sound that normally made Hermione tingle in her core. Today it was a threat.
"You want us to commit a war crime and you call that no cost?"
"Basically no cost Mr Potter. All you have to do is allow my agent to capture him."
"What makes you think it'll be that simple?"
"You'll make it that simple Mr Potter."
-:-
Tracey could smell a rat, there was something else going on here. The man had caved far too easily to Hermione's prodding and he was being far too accommodating. She'd be happy to make that trade, hell she'd volunteer if it meant the number of their opponents would be cut by half.
But there was something else here. Something both Harry and Collier knew that no one was talking about. Hermione made a small gasp in front of her and Tracey fought the urge to sigh. Okay, something Hermione, Harry and Collier knew.
"This offer is limited Mr Potter, our agents are in position to act but the window will close tomorrow morning. You have until tonight to agree."
The growl sounded again and Tracey shivered, no matter what tone Harry used with that growl it still sent shocks through her. Sometimes she was truly very jealous of Hermione.
"I don't need all day, I'm going to make the same decision either way. Take your window of opportunity. We're heading home. Alastor, are you good to travel?"
The older man nodded briskly and stumped to the door.
"I'll be glad to see daylight again lad. Meet you up there."
"Before you go Mr Potter. There's one more thing I'd like to offer you."
Tracey watched curiously, they'd already been given a major boon. Anything more would be a statement, of what she wasn't sure, but a statement to be sure.
"We cannot send our rank and file with you to Britain, because they are as you pointed out non-magical. But we can send two assets with you."
"For fucks sake."
The big man's voice next to her was totally unexpected and Tracey stared at him a moment.
"We'd just gotten free of these five kids and you want us to go into war with them?"
"Yes Mr Velstaldt. You and your partner are, as of now, attached to Mr Potter's para-military unit on an indefinite basis as a gesture of goodwill."
She turned back to Harry just in time to see him smirk. Oh who was she kidding, of course she was a sexual creature. That smirk should be illegal.
"Thank you Mr Collier. We'll take our leave."
As they turned to leave Harry said one last line of dialogue.
"We'll meet you two at the airport in three hours Mr Velstaldt. See to your affairs. I'll be paying your way for you, so just bring your luggage. Good day Mr Collier, it was good to meet you."
Tracey had to hold in a snigger at the look on the giant's face. This was going to be so much fun.
-:-
As Harry crested the stairs leading to the sub-basement level of the compound he felt a deep sense of unease. This was so quick, easy. Their opponents were going to lose personnel, they had additional support in the form of two elite mercenaries. Moreover they were being asked for comparatively little. Either there was a hidden cost that they hadn't spotted or Valmortis was a far greater threat to this organization than they were letting on.
Alastor was standing off to the side of the structure, looking up into the vaguely cloudy sky. He flagged the older man down as he exited the building.
"Mad-eye, you alright?"
The old scot chuckled and waved his hand.
"Nothing serious. They had me hang for a few hours as an attempted intimidation but Collier in there realized I wasn't going to give him anything significant. When I figured that they weren't trying to get you lot killed I told him point blank that there was no point to all the cloak and dagger. After that we talked a bit and I've been spending my time fairly comfortably. Good to see sky again though."
Harry dipped his head, hiding a grin. Only Alastor could be captured by a hostile intelligence agency and end up their 'guest'.
"I imagine it is Alastor. Look, we're going to have company back to Britain. They've sent those two mercs back with us because they're squibs. Either way we need to talk about something now before they catch up."
The four girls spread out around them and created a barrier of distance.
"Who's the agent you were following Mad-eye? We've got a leak and we have no idea who it is."
Moody grimaced
"I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself. They have a metamorph. It's not Tonks, but someone pretending to be her. Dunno where the fuck Nymphadora is but the leak has been there since last summer."
Behind him he heard Hermione growl
"Are you saying a metamorph from a foreign intelligence agency has access to my parent's house?"
Alastor nodded grimly
"Aye lass I am. It's one of the reasons we made sure your parents were moved to Potter Manor with you two. They're safer there."
Harry would have said more but the two mercenaries exited the building behind them. He turned to them and offered a hand.
"We're going to be working together soon. We need to foster some kind of trust. I'm Harry Potter, though I figure you already knew that, my partner, Hermione Granger, that's Tracey Davis and Susan Bones, and of course you're aware of Fleur and her situation. I hope we can all work together without the kind of restrained aggression that has typified our encounters so far."
Victor seemed to pause a moment before reaching for his hand and shaking it with a firm, but not crushing, grip. A moment later Lucrezia brushed past him and looked Harry in the eye, she was half a foot shorter than him but she managed it somehow.
"If Victor dies because of you I'll kill you myself."
He couldn't help but smile at that rather typical threat.
"Understood."
She stuck her hand out and shook his with a quick motion.
"Lucrezia Acossi, and this lump is Victor Vestaldt. We'll see you at the airport in three hours yes?"
"Yes"
"Then arrivederci for now."
She brushed past him as well and headed towards the exit of the compound.
"Lu hates it here, she's really very happy to be leaving. It'll be good to see Britain again, it's been a long time since I was there."
Victor's deep voice caught Harry by surprise, it was strangely friendly.
"Look, I only care about keeping her safe and happy. We're locked into contract with these fuckers because they helped us find the necromancer that killed both our families. When the five of you turned up and slaughtered an entire hit squad sent to kill you it set me on edge, I was worried you'd kill her. Now that you're not a threat I can relax around you, hell maybe we can even get along."
Harry eyed the taller man with vague mistrust, the one-eighty turnaround was a little disconcerting, but he was nothing if not adaptable.
"Sure, go look after your partner, we'll see you at the airport."
Victor flicked him a casual salute before stomping off. The immense man couldn't help but make noise with all the armour and equipment he carted around with him.
"That was… strange."
Hermione took his arm and steered him towards the exit.
"Very, why did we need to be here for three hours?"
He grinned and turned to his lover.
"You'd never forgive me if we didn't get something from the capital of Poland as a souvenir."
"It's whatever that souvenir is that worries me."
"Don't be worried Hermione, it's nothing extravagant."
"Sure."
-:-
"Nothing extravagant? This is what you call nothing extravagant?"
Hermione looked at her partner in exasperation before turning back to the beautiful amber necklace that was draped over the stand on the counter of the jewellery store they had travelled to. Harry had sent Mad-eye to organise their flights, he and the girls didn't know a shred of Polish, while he and the girls went shopping. Exquisite jewellery wasn't the only thing on his mind though. He wanted to get a lay of the land if they ever had to come back.
Poland was excellently placed as a springboard into both Russia and Germany, and France for that matter. If they ever had to take offensive action against those countries as a result of the war against Valmortis then perhaps the Witch Hunters' home city could be their point of attack. Moreover however if they ever had to come back as an offensive action against the Witch Hunters he wanted a better idea of where their compound was situated within the city.
Currently however Hermione was dealing with the fact that her bond-mate had bought her the most expensive piece of jewellery she had ever seen up close and personal.
"Sure, I mean extravagant would be a car or something right?"
"Harry you could buy a car with the money this cost you."
He looked chagrined and hurt and suddenly she felt terrible. Here he was trying to do something sweet for her and she was just bitching about the money. She touched the necklace carefully and smiled at him.
"It's beautiful Harry I love it."
He looked down and she felt a hint of deception from him, nudging it made him grin and look at her.
"I can't get anything past you. This is something of a self serving gift. I can replace the chain with a custom one I'll transfigure for you that will have protective spells engraved into it."
She sighed under her breath and kissed his cheek.
"Thankyou sweetheart. C'mon, let's get this boxed and head out. I know there's more you want to do in the city before we leave."
She glanced at the three girls cooing over a row of earrings and frowned. She really didn't want them to go home empty handed. Quietly she went up on tiptoes and whispered in Harry's ear.
"Get them an early Yule present love. They'll adore you for it."
He turned to her and whispered back with a frown.
"They already adore me, do we really want to encourage that?"
She rolled her eyes
"Get them the earrings Harry. Go, I'll wait here."
She shook her head at him as he limped over to the girls and reflected on how far he had come from the bewildered boy who she had met in the train five years ago. She frowned though at the pain he was in. The tendons in his ankle had been more severely injured then they thought. He really shouldn't be walking around but they didn't have a whole lot of choice. When they got home to the manor, with it's infuriatingly sized furniture, she'd make him rest until he could walk without a limp again.
His back had been particularly bad this morning. The cold here was pervasive and harsh, he'd not only been paralyzed but his muscles had tensed to a rigour that had caused him considerable pain. She hated to see him in so much pain but, again, there was little to be done about it. The sooner they got home the better.
Annoyingly high pitched sounds from the Susan reached Hermione's ears and she couldn't help but grin. She had Harry, he was hers, so she didn't mind him keeping those two… three, happy. They were an important part of their family and Hermione had a feeling they'd be around for a long time. Smiling still she moved over and wrapped an arm around Harry's waist.
"We good to go here? We should keep moving."
-:-
The airport, Warsaw Chopin was much the same as any other international airport. Steel, glass, ticket booths everywhere. Mad-eye met them by the entrance where the taxi dropped them off and handed them each their tickets.
"I've bought tickets for our new friends as well. We're leaving from gate three in two hours. There's a cafe nearby where we can wait for the other two."
Harry nodded and followed Alastor to the cafe where he pulled out a chair for Hermione and stood at her shoulder, looking around at everyone who passed by. They might be under amnesty from the Witch Hunters but as Victor mentioned the previous night, non-magical crime was still a very real threat.
Hermione was having none of his watchdog routine however and pulled out a chair beside her, looking at it pointedly.
"Sit down Harry, your ankle will only get worse if you stay on it."
Grumbling somewhat he sat and resisted the urge to glare at the waitress who had just arrived to take their order and was giggling behind her notepad. Moody rattled off a string of Polish and the girl darted off without another word, must be a busy shift.
They all sat in relative quiet while they waited for their order, just as the waitress was coming back with six cups of coffee all hell broke loose.
A spray of bullets traced it's way up the wall next to them and, amongst the screams of other travellers, they threw themselves to the ground and Harry kicked the table onto it's side, wincing at the pain shooting up his leg. Their rifles were in their shielded travelling cases and Susan was already scrabbling at the lock to the larger one. Another spray of bullets sparked off the tiles around them, throwing up chips of dust.
"I'm fucking sick of being shot at, I was sick of it in Austria and I'm sick of it now. Tracey have you got your rifle sorted out yet?"
Sitting with her back to another overturned table was Tracey who had somehow managed to get all the components of her rifle into her outfit and was piecing it together. Harry suspected expanded pockets.
"Nearly, I've only got one magazine though and this an awful position to fight from."
Harry made a decision then, the only one he could in this situation.
"Sidearms out then, we'll see if these things are any good."
Moody grunted from beside him.
"Three shooters, one with an automatic weapon, the other two have handguns."
"That eye of yours is dead useful Mad-eye, have you got any other tricks on hand?"
He grunted again
"Nothing that wouldn't break the statute of secrecy. One's left, behind a pillar, he's got the smg. The other two are advancing from store to store. They were waiting for us, I saw one of them earlier in the main concourse."
Harry waggled his neck from side to side, trying to dispel that annoying crick that never seemed to go away.
"Right, Hermione you and I will hit the two, Tracey you try and pick off the one. Fleur, Susan, Mad-eye, get ready to exfil… Ready?"
"Ready"
The chorus of voices that met him was reassuring. These were people, with the exception of Fleur, who he'd trained with for just such a situation. He took a deep breath and, just as he was about to pop out to fire he heard a much deeper bark of automatic fire and the visceral boom of a shotgun.
"Alastor?"
"Those mercs have arrived. They're hitting them from the other side, go now!"
Harry and Hermione popped up and fired at the same time, the shots weren't accurate but they distracted the beleaguered attackers enough that Tracey got a clean shot into what Harry could only assume was the leader. The man crumpled to the ground with a hole through his chest.
The tiny Acossi girl darted forwards and rolled behind a table before popping up and firing a quick burst into the back of one of the other two and Victor cleaned up the last one with a series of shots that blasted away the panelling protecting the last gunman. Blood splattered against the back wall of the store he had sheltered in and a body slumped to the ground.
The two mercenaries moved with some swiftness and met the teens halfway.
"Non-magical gunmen hired by a Knight of Walpurgis originating from Liechtenstein, the same group that attacked you on the road. We need to get you out of Poland and I can't make another hop so soon, or with so many people. We need to go by road, now."
Harry took one look around the blitzed concourse before nodding.
"Fine, let's go."
-:-
An3: A bit earlier this time… I think.
An4: Review responses
Friar14: I think that this was probably the most motivational review I've ever received. Thank You for that. It made all the difference in whether this chapter was finished or not. As you can see I have decided to continue, as is, mostly because I was inspired to do so. We'll see how long that lasts.
Zookster: Thank you for your review, I'm glad to hear you stuck with this despite the enormous writing gaps. I'm hoping my burst of inspiration will bring a greater amount of productivity to the work.
Tellur: There's the justification for the Lichtenstein chapter ;) Chekhov's gun in effect here. I tend to make sure that if I mention something in a chapter it ends up being relevant eventually. Thanks for your review.
Pairingmatters: Thanks for your review, I think I answered it via PM already but if I didn't feel free to poke me and get a response.
TheProphetBVB: The reference to his age in Deceit was A: From the perspective of someone who didn't have all the information (If I remember correctly), and B: I always reserve the right to edit parts of my characters as I develop them. In this case it was predetermined but it might not always be. I've got a list of things to go back and edit but this isn't on the list. As to your actual question? Very old, very fucking old. Thanks for your review
Toraach: Another review that I'm sure I replied to in PM, but for anyone else who was curious the Anti Tank mine wasn't there by accident. It was put there by the ambushers.
Keitapurple69: Thanks for your review, as you can see, I do intend to write more.
Guest: Glad to hear you're so invested, thanks for your review. I am infact intending to continue it.
VioletBuckBeak: Sirius is/should be legally innocent. If somehow I never actually put that into the story please poke me about it, something that definitely needs to be edited in. You raise a lot of interesting points, all things that will have to be covered soon. Thanks for your reviews.
Okay folks that's it for another chapter. Tune in next time for Chapter Six: Hitmen. Wherein events back in Britain begin to shift apace and the teens with their new allies exfiltrate from Poland.
As always thanks for Reading and other Shenanigans. See you next time!
LGreymark