"I think that's everything," Alexandra said, shutting her trunk. "Books, clothes, wand…"
She turned over to Alanna who was folding her own clothes into her trunk. Alexandra frowned; Alanna always stayed at the castle for the holidays, except for the one time she stayed with Alexandra. Her parents still hadn't gotten used to the idea of having a witch for a daughter.
"You're going home?" Alexandra asked skeptically.
"Yes," Alanna nodded. "My mum has to fly to France to help my grandmother move to the new house, and she needs all the help she can get with watching my younger sisters, so she's asked me to come home for the break."
"Oh," Alexandra nodded. "That's nice."
"Well, she didn't so much as ask me to come home as she did order me," Alanna shrugged. "But that's fine. It gets a little lonely here when everyone is gone."
Alexandra gave her a light smile.
"Anyway," Alanna said, stuffing some socks in her trunk. "Since there's nothing much to do at home, hopefully I'll at least be able to get a jump start on Professor Flitwik's essay and read ahead for Defense Against the Dark Arts. Are you and your dad doing anything for the break?"
"Nah, he'll have work," Alexandra said. "The most we'll do is drive into to town to the cinema or something like that."
"That's more than what I'll be doing," Alanna said. "And don't you and your dad always go over to Harry Potter's house with all of Fred's cousins?"
"Oh, yeah," Alexandra nodded, fidgeting with the hem of her sleeve as she remembered what she was going to have to do at the Potter's residence.
"It's a shame I don't live anywhere near you," Alanna said. "We could visit each other, and I wouldn't be stuck with all my sisters and you wouldn't have to be in your house by yourself."
"Yeah, it's too bad," Alexandra said.
"Ah, well," Alanna sighed, closing her trunk. "We'll see each other in two weeks. What time is it? Victoire said to be in the carriages by half past ten."
"It's a little after ten now," Alexandra answered, looking at her watch. "Come on, let's find Fred and head down."
….
"Our main issue at hand now is still Azkaban," Harry said to the group of Aurors. "Claridina has been getting past the dementors to reach her followers and wipe out their memories so we can't question them."
"Why doesn't she free them?" asked an Auror standing near Harry.
"There of no use to her anymore," Harry replied. "She's only concerned about whether or not they give up any of her information."
"But if we take out the dementors, than what's going to guard Azkaban?" asked another Auror. "And what would we do with all the dementors?"
"Kingsley and I have been working on that," Harry said. "And we've finally found a solution. We're going to keep the dementors at Azkaban, but we'll be adding another source of protection to insure that Claridina doesn't get in again."
"Dragons are one of the few creatures that can withstand the dementors effects," Ron said, standing up next to Harry. "By the end of today, no less than three dragons are going to be placed at Azkaban. They've been trained to attack any individual who tries to get near the prison."
"The other issue is with her son," Harry said. "As Teddy Lupin has found out, he is a descendent of both Voldemort and Slytherin. Now, we can't assume that simply because of his blood that he's going to follow in their footsteps, but from the lengths she went to make sure that her son was an heir of two such Dark wizards, it's a safe bet to say that Claridina invests a lot in him. Now we know a lot of you will be at Platform 9 ¾ today to pick up your kids from the break, so we'll need some others to blend in there at watch for the boy and trail him; Gunthar, Motts and Carnige, those will be you three."
The Aurors nodded.
"Right, you're all dismissed," Harry said.
"Charlie said he should have the dragons ready to be transported by four," Ron told Harry.
"Great, I'll alert the Department for the Control and Regulation of Magical Creatures," Harry nodded. "They're going to have a hell of a time getting those things across the ocean, but I-"
"Ron, Harry," Hermione gasped, running into the room. "There's been some sort of attack in Dover!"
"But that's a mainly muggle city," Harry frowned.
"I know," Hermione said tearfully. "It-It was at a playground just across the street from a primary school."
"Bloody Hell," Ron breathed. "How-how many-"
"None," Hermione said quickly. "But that's only because some of your Aurors you have patrolling the country happened to be at a diner just down the street. There were some injuries, though. A little girl's been rushed to St. Mungo's, and a bunch of toddlers were hit by debris…Kingsley thinks it was supposed to be much worse than that, though. He's over there right now, told you two to get over as soon as possible."
"Was Claridina spotted?" Harry asked.
"I'm-I'm not sure," Hermione said. "You'll have to ask one of your Aurors that were there."
"I'll do that," Harry nodded.
"I have to go get a team of Obliviators together," Hermione said. "I'll be over with you guys just as soon as I can."
"Got it," Ron nodded.
"She's moving pretty quickly with her attacks," Harry muttered as Hermione hurried away. "Hogsmeade and a muggle playground in under a year? This isn't looking good."
"At least there were no casualties this time," Ron reminded him. "Be thankful for that."
"We got lucky," Harry mumbled. "This was supposed to be big, Ron, I know it. She was caught off guard this time, but she won't let it happen again."
"Was this the plan Malfoy heard her talking about?" Ron asked.
"No," Harry said slowly. "Her plan, whatever it is, is something she's plotting with precision. She wouldn't have done it with three Aurors standing by. No…this was big, I'll give her that, but it isn't what she's been planning."