Ginny's Wrath
Erik met up with Harry and Ginny in the library. He was investigating a lead they had on Dumbledore's meddling. "So what exactly happened at the end of your first year?"
Ginny felt her husband's uneasiness so she hugged him to give him her support. Harry began to explain about Quirrell and the philosopher's stone. He continued with the traps he and his friends bypassed to get through and how he fought Voldemort at the end. Erik's eyes narrowed through the story and his sight got darker.
"It's interesting that you claim to have had the stone here." he said. "What do you mean?" Ginny asked. "Because it's obvious that Dumbledore either lied or didn't know about the switch. The real stone has been in a secret and highly secured Cobra facility since a few decades. Only the Flamels and the Chief know about the exact location. And the Flamels themselves have been in a research station since ten years."
He began to revise the traps and with shock they recognized that they were exactly or the group.
"It's obvious that you are close friends with Hagrid. Fluffy wouldn't pose a large threat to you. Devilsnare, Neville's area of expertise. The keys are a piece of cake for a seeker. Ron would win the chess match for you and Hermione solved Snape's riddle. The Troll wouldn't be much of a threat for you four. It has all been a set up." Harry was deep in thought. Ginny caught his line of thought and asked: "What about the chamber?" "He knew it existed but not how to get through. However, getting Lockhart was his idea. If even the great Dumbledore is getting fooled by that fraud, than I don't know if he is fit to lead."
Draco was nice to them. His place as the head bully had been taken by Theodore Nott. He and Pansy were on a new high of arrogance as their fathers made it into Voldemort's inner circle. The Death Eater-Slytherins like Flint, Crabbe, Goyle and Bulstrode joined in. Most had the blood purity in mind, but others wanted to be able to have fun and not be punished.
Erik shook his head after he caught a few of them trying to attack muggleborn students. Dumbledore's punishment for them was only points docked and detention. No expulsion or wands snapped for it. But the soldier had other problems to take care of. Catherine had called in to tell him that the fleet has been dispatched to the waters around Azkaban. The Dementors seemed to riot, but nothing was sure as the prison was engulfed in thick fog and connections had been cut.
The H-Class battleships were gigantic pieces of engineering art. The original German design had a few flaws that were corrected with modern technology and weaponry, but the Montana Class topped this. The battlegroup surrounded the fog, weapons ready to engage. The Red Montana shielded the British Isles while the Nordrhein-Westfalen blocked the direct route towards the continent. The smaller destroyers and cruisers scattered around the prison. The main guns were trained on the fog. An AWACS-plane was above the structure, scanning for activity. "If we can confirm that we have only prisoners in that building, bring it down." Catherine ordered. She cursed the man who decided that death eaters should get another chance to turn to the light. Dumbledore might mean well, but he was a fool. Having never fought in a war himself he couldn't understand that people simply didn't learn and had to be taken out the hard way.
This night Erik was up with the students taking the Astronomy O.W.L. He used this to check the night vision on his sniper rifle. Aiming down towards the lawn he zoomed in on Hagrid's hut. He could see the windows as clear as in broad day light. What he saw next blew everything he had seen in cowardice completely. Umbridge, escorted by an Auror team moved in with wands drawn. In his time as a cop Erik had seen enough to know that this won't be pretty. He cursed the fact that he only had no mag in his rifle. He reached down to open the cache and get the only mag he had: EMP-Ammunition. Weak enough to stun, but still strong enough to knock somebody down for hours.
Ginny looked in surprise when red stunners began to fly around Hagrid's hut. She heard a loud shout. "HOW DARE YOU!" McGonagall ran down the way from the castle. Without warning five stunners were sent her way. It seemed like she glowed before she collapsed. Erik was on the radio immediately while he rested his rifle on the tower and began to fire green-blue bolts down onto the grounds. Harry watched as Ginny trembled. He put a hand on her shoulder to keep her calm. ~Let Erik handle this.~
"Hagrid, run for it. Head north, Sirius will meet you there!" the soldier said into his wrist com-link.
Beneath them Madame Pomfrey came out running and checked on Professor McGonagall. Despite the event the O.W.L. was completed. Harry and Ginny sat in the common room with Ron and Hermione, waiting for Erik who promised to explain the situation to them. Around midnight the Lieutenant finally arrived. He propped himself on a free couch and placed his helmet on the table.
"Professor McGonagall is in a critical condition. Madame Pomfrey got her to St. Mungo. A medical squad is also on its way. I don't know what Umbridge wanted to do. Perhaps she tried to make this sneaky to avoid a commotion like with Trelawney. I would appreciate it, of you would keep quiet about me shooting from the tower. Relay it to the others. From now on the only people who can act against her without repercussion from the ministry are Madame Pomfrey and myself. The other professors would risk probation."
The four students looked at each other. ~Umbridge has a large prank coming her way.~ Ginny thought grimly. Harry agreed. When they got back into the dorms. The two began plotting. Some ideas contained harmless, annoying pranks, others borderlined with murder and torture.
Cho tried different advances on Harry. Letters, revealing clothes and even love potions. However, he ignored the first two while Ginny kept him from drinking the potions. She was annoyed by the Ravenclaw, but managed her temper. Two days later a letter from Sirius arrived. He told them that Hagrid was safe with him in "The Nest" and that the thing that they feared would happen had happened.
The two immediately knew that Voldemort had the real prophecy. However, they were not as concerned about it as Dumbledore was. The prophecy didn't contain anything Tom didn't know. A complete waste of resources. Far out in the north sea Death Eaters tried to break their inmates free. The dementors joined the Dark Lord and began to disperse, only to be intercepted by laser bolts and rocktes.
Catherine watched the horde being cut down by the CIWS systems. The wizarding world was too medieval. Even when flying in their smokes the Radar could intercept them. While they had the advantage of magic, the UST had the advantage of magic AND technology. Voldemort shouted in rage when the raid failed, having only his most trusted and capable followers survivors of the onslaught. The Lestranges and the Malfoys were his strongest supporters. But what Tom didn't know was that Lucius was losing support of his family.
Erik got the call from his Chief shortly after the latest prank on Umbridge, which included turning her into a toad every time she tried to issue detention or dock points.
Shortly after this a Stealth Hawk flew through the area of Wiltshire. A small strike team would get in and retrieve Subject Alpha. Optional termination of any Death Eaters, but the survival of Subject Alpha took priority. The helicopter hovered at the base of the hill where the compound was located. They rappelled down and made their way over to the entrance. Intel suggested to check the Master Bedroom first as most enemies would probably be in the dining area. The officer contacted the helicopter crew. "We're going in. Keep an eye on enemy movement." To the human eye the manor was invisible courtesy of a few wards. However the soldiers switched to radar and sensors. They felt a pull on their mind but the mission came first so they dismissed the feeling. "They didn't even think about using the Fidelius charm." Kelly commented as they crossed the lawn. In the Stealth Hawk McCord readied a rocket launcher. "As they said. Blood-Purists. They still live like in the medieval times. Morgan and Kelly kept close to the walls as they ran below the windows. "Stop!" McCord radioed. Just in time the two dove behind a bush to prevent detection by a death eater opening the windows. Kelly kept her rifle trained on the man while Morgan kept his Mk46 close to his chest. He checked the mag before hefting it again. They waited two awful minutes until the window finally closed again. The two reached the tower sticking out of the center wall opposite the entrance. "Master Bedroom is top window. Entering second phase." Kelly and Morgan deployed their ascension cables and began scaling the tower. Silently Kelly used an unlocking charm to enter the room. Morgan secured the door, placing C4 while his partner got close to the bed. In a swift motion she grabbed the person and held her hand across the mouth. "Quiet. We're getting you out of here. Anything important you want to take?" The person nodded. She waved her wand towards a large wardrobe and shrunk it down. Placing it in her pocket she nodded. "That's all." Glass shattered as McCord broke through the skylight. The soldiers hooked Subject Alpha up before attaching themselves to it. The winch pulled them up to the side of the helicopter. McCord aimed his rocket launcher and fired it. "I heard that it's custom to leave a house gift with you British?" he grinned. The explosion shook the manor. The tower began to collapse, taking down the whole front with it. A cry of rage was heard, but the helicopter had already disappeared in the night.
Back at Hogwarts, Umbridge was annoyed. Somehow a curse was on her. Students got ill as soon as she entered the class room. Detentions hadn't worked and now, where she turned into a toad each time she gave detention, she had to allow the students to leave her lessons. A desperate letter to Fudge hadn't helped. The minister told her to get the Potter boy and his group quiet. First she had to break him. From what she saw he was rather close to the Weasley Girl. In Umbridge's head ideas began to connect as she looked over the students who were rather not fond of this bond. Exactly two people were on top of that list: Cho Chang, who wanted Harry Potter for herself and Ronald Weasley, who wanted his sister away from his friend. Both would not need persuasion to do her dirty work. She folded a note into a paper plane and charmed it. The paper split up and flew through the castle. The destinations were a few Slytherins and a caretaker.
The next morning, the Gryffindor part of TMR (The Marauders Reloaded) sat together at the table. The year was getting into the last phase: the O.W.L exams. Harry and Ginny couldn't help but grin as they did actual magic during the DADA exams. Madame Marchbanks was enlightened to see two corporeal patroni flying through the great hall. While it could be considered cheating, Harry and Ginny worked together. Her perfect recall paired with his natural talent with magic was a powerful combination, especially with their shared mind. The satisfaction to see Umbridge's scowl was priceless. After handing in their papers they left hand in hand... two hours into the five hours exam.
Erik was already waiting at the Room of Requirement. "I need to talk with you. Now."
As they entered, the young couple took in the office as Erik sat down in front of a set of screens monitoring various members of the Order. "We have a problem and it's Dumbledore."
Harry scowled. Since he found out that Dumbledore meddled with his life a lot, he had stopped looking up to the self-proclaimed leader of the light. Especially since he learned about the last war and was taught in modern warfare by Erik and Catherine, he believed Dumbledore to be wrong about him.
The only fight Dumbledore really fought himself was against Grindelwald during the second world war, but this fight was a duel in a secluded space. Albus Dumbledore had never been at the frontline of a war. His rules of engagement included stunning and capture, trying to let the enemy see the light. The main load rested on the shoulders of the Order members, untrained people who were not experienced with taking lives if necessary. Only a handful of people had real military combat training. Moody was a royal guard back then and Kingsley part of the SAS. Sirius and Lupin had just received their training from in a Cobra facility, but these four were about it. Tonks had already signed up for a training after Siruis' recommendations, but she also was too young to have fought the last war. Most of the members were regular people working in jobs not related to combat.
Harry looked at the latest Intel grimly. Dumbledore always defended, reacting to attacks. He believed himself to be successful as the raids decreased, but both Harry and Ginny knew that it was the 13th Platoon who carried the main load in this. Raid parties were intercepted and eliminated as soon as Intel got out. It also has been one of Cobra's fleet to stop the break-out from Azkaban. Death Eaters escaped, but the dementors were wiped out completely. Also Azkaban itself was reduced to a pile of concrete on the bottom of the sea when it was clear that the guards hadn't survived. Out of one-thousand-five-hundred-twenty-six prisoners only twenty made it out alive.
"So what did he do this time?" Harry asked. Against common knowledge he was a real strategist and genius. Erik opened a file. "Latest Intel. Or for us it's already past but future at the same time."
He explained the prophecy thing. Like the last time, Ginny had flamed into the Department of Mysteries and replaced it. This time Dumbledore increased security. He had Order members watching the Department at all times. "He still believes that the prophecy will be fulfilled." Harry groaned as he heard of the foolish plans. He was a person, not a weapon. "Anything we can do?" he asked hopefully. "Apart from staying away, no matter what I don't see any possibility."
But even this resolve went down the gutter when the same evening Harry and Ginny sat down at the table in the great hall. Ron again was trying to get Harry's attention about quidditch, however since all teams boycotted the cup, the topic was over quickly. Ginny sniffed in the air, noticing a strange smell from Harry's goblet. She shrugged it off and turned her attention back to her own cup of blood. She felt strange. As if a part of her was suddenly asleep. Guessing that even she was reaching her limit for the day she decided to head back to her room early. Harry downed his pumpkin juice in one go. He felt strange, as if something was clicking inside his mind. How could he have been so blind? The Bond was something set up by Dumbledore. It was no secret that the Weasleys were his most loyal supporters. He had fallen for the next manipulation. His eyes met those of another girl across the hall. She had tried to show him the truth, but he had been too enchanted to listen to her. As she stood up and left, he followed. In a dark corner on the third floor she pressed him against the wall. "Harry. I have so longed to do this." Harry felt dumb. He didn't know how to react. "M...me...Me, too." he stuttered. Their lips closed in on each other. "SO THAT''S WHAT YOU DO?!" Ginny stood at the far end of the corridor. In an instant she was in front of them. Her hair burned furiously and the flames were also surrounding their hands. Cho backed away from her, but Harry didn't move. A dumb look came on his face as he suddenly realized. "Ginny..." he couldn't finish. Ginny hugged him deeply, her burning hands on his back. Harry cried in pain as the fire consumed him. "If I can't have you, no one can!" she cried as the flames covered him completely. Cho fell on her behind, skidding back, crying bloody murder as she saw Harry burn. Ginny released the hug and the flames died down. Cho had enough time to see the pile of ashes before she was slammed into the next wall, cracks forming behind her. She stared in horror as she was mesmerized by Ginny's fangs and the red glow in her eyes. "NEVER CROSS ME AGAIN!" she hissed before disappearing in flames. Cho collapsed on her knees, no power to keep herself up anymore. She had lost him. This time forever. She wiped the tears out of her eyes. She would get her revenge. The bitch had just murdered someone on front of her. The Ravenclaw prefect headed for Umbridge's office. She would revenge Harry. The one that was rightful hers.