Hey everyone! So, it's been an embarrassingly long time since I've updated this story. A lot of rather big things have happened this year which haven't exactly been conducive to getting my head into a productive writing space. If you're subscribed to me you probably noticed the big bang story I posted two weeks ago or so (it's a Doctor Who/Avengers crossover for anyone who's interested), which I'd signed up to do before I realized how crazy my summer was going to get... and then decided to not drop out of, thinking that having a deadline would force me to get into a writing headspace. And it worked. Sort of. Anyway, after months and months of waiting, here finally is the next chapter.

Thank you so much for the comments and kudos. I've obviously fallen a bit behind in responding and while there are a few I will be responding to, know that I've read and appreciated each one (well, most of them, lol).

Chapter 6

Somewhere in the distance a foghorn sounded, its deep, melancholy tone muffled by fog thickened with magic. Moisture hung in the air beneath pregnant grey clouds in an almost-drizzle that sat heavily in their lungs and further blanketed the dockyards in a thin mist that blurred shapes and hid shadows.

Harry cursed as he squinted and tried to make out shapes in the distance – or at the very least, across the street. For the first time he could remember, he wished he hadn't had his eyesight magically repaired so he could use cast a sight-enhancing charm to see better in the fog. The few charms that wouldn't clash with the magic used in his eyes wouldn't be of any help to him right now.

There was a muffled pop to his right and he tensed, relaxing slightly when he confirmed it was their team leader apparating back from reconnaissance.

Moments later, Mateius Langer cast a short-range voice carrying charm and then Harry could hear him whispering in his ear: "All right, everyone, looks like the Death Eaters are targeting several Muggle ships that had been off-loading cargo at the pier as well as the Port of London Authority Building itself. That equals a lot of people working in the area, so be careful of fleeing Muggles. Knock them out so we can obliviate them later, but make sure you don't mistake them for Death Eaters."

"They'll be the ones not wearing long black robes and white masks, yeah?" Dean asked.

"Yes," Langer answered stiffly after a pause, having still not quite gotten used to Dean's attempts at being a comedian. The rest of them had learned to just ignore him a long time ago. "Auror Lehane's team are casting anti-apparition wards and then they'll attack the Death Eaters by the ships. Auror Dawlish's team is heading into the building and both teams will be herding Death Eaters south-east towards us. Our job is to pick off anyone who comes our way, Muggle or Death Eater."

Harry felt a flash of irritation that they were essentially stuck on clean-up duty, but pushed it aside in favour of getting the job done. There was no point in arguing it now anyway, since it was Dawlish who was in charge of coordinating the attack.

"Right, so, we're going to split up," Langer continued. He took a deep breath as his eyes scanned them all. "Greene, you and Thomas take high ground and monitor the wards. If the anti-apparation wards fall, let us know immediately. Potter, Weasley and Patil, position to cover the left flank by the townhouses. Longbottom and Lloyd, you're with me on the right flank at the parking lot. No one gets past us, got it?"

They all nodded.

"Then let's get into position. The other two teams will be starting their attack in approximately two minutes."

Harry saw Dean and Joanne immediately turn to each other while he turned to Ron and Padma and nodded at them to follow him.

The Port of London Authority Building stood on a corner where the street turned at a very sharp angle, leaving a fairly large open space directly in front of the building. As he and his group hid in the shadows of the townhouses across the street, he had to admit it was the perfect spot for an ambush. Death Eaters fleeing the buildings wouldn't see them immediately and had nowhere to take cover behind once they were outside since the area was a no-parking zone.

For a long time, nothing happened.

Then the front door flew open so suddenly that the splash of light was instantly visible even through the thick, soupy fog. Harry saw two dark shapes rush out. He leaned forward onto the balls of his feet.

"We've got two heading in our direction," he said softly, knowing Ron and Padma would hear him.

"Muggle or Death Eater?" Ron asked.

Harry frowned as he tried to make the shapes out more clearly. They were running full-tilt, arms flailing, one of them with an awkward sort of gait a person used when they were putting most of their weight on the balls of their feet. Like a woman running in high-heeled shoes.

"Muggles," he answered decisively.

They let them come a bit closer before knocking them out. As Padma levitated them out of the way, Harry and Ron settled back in to watch the doors, which had closed shut on their own. No sooner had Padma returned to their side, a bright explosion of bluish light illuminated the sky behind the Port Authority Building, cutting so easily through the fog that it had to have been blinding up close.

As though part of the spell had been broken, the unnatural stillness that had accompanied the thick, heavy fog vanished and suddenly Harry could hear the distant sounds of screams and shouts coming from the pier behind the Authority Building.

One of second-story windows shattered in an outward explosion of glass. Harry jumped at the sound, his eyes immediately looking up to try and see what was going on. The lights were still on in the building, but the fog obscured his view beyond that. When nothing fell out of the window, Harry turned his attention back to the ground-level entrances.

Then there came a moment of renewed stillness, as though the world around him was taking a deep breath. Harry braced himself.

Moments later, the main doors exploded outwards with a force that sent them flying across the street towards them.

Harry's wand shot out. "Confringo!" he cast and the doors blew apart in mid-air into thousands of splinters.

Now he could hear screams from inside the building as well. The small explosion had cut a path through the fog, thinning it just enough for him to see a lone figure desperately crawling through the front entrance, its suit torn and dirty – though he couldn't tell from this distance, Harry imagined it was blood. The figure screamed with terror moments later, as some invisible force picked it up and tossed it aside like a rag doll.

Harry cursed under his breath, but had no time to consider whether or not the Muggle was still alive as four Death Eaters rushed out of the building. The last one ducked just as a spell came flying out from inside, taking cover before casting a spell back. That left three heading in their direction.

Beside him, Harry felt Ron tense and he glanced over in time to meet his friend's eyes. On Ron's other side, Padma looked determinedly straight ahead, her wand held ready at her side. When Harry looked back towards the building the Death Eaters were half-way across the street. The fog that had been partially blown away by the exploding door was slowly creeping back, once again refilling the scant patches of visibility. There was movement at the far right side of the building, but whoever they were, they continued to head directly towards Neville's group.

The Death Eaters heading their way crossed the street.

"Right, here they are," Harry whispered.

"On three?" Ron whispered back.

Harry flashed him a quick grin. "Nah, no point," he said and then darted out from his hiding spot. "Expelliarmus!" he cast at the nearest Death Eater. The Death Eater obviously hadn't seen him coming and seconds later, his wand smoothly sailed into Harry's outstretched hand. Harry resisted the urge to smirk. "Stupefy!"

As his opponent fell to the ground, he heard Ron and Padma to his right casting their own spells. Ron's opponent had managed to defend himself with a decent Protego, but Ron quickly followed up his original spell with a second in the same moment as the Death Eater began casting. Padma's was still giving her trouble, his footwork an odd sort of dancing Harry had never seen before, which made his movements difficult to follow.

Harry crouched down and kept as still as possible, hoping the Death Eater's vision was just as compromised as theirs. Slowly, he raised his wand and waited until the Death Eater had come just a bit closer... then he aimed at the Death Eater's hand. "Diffindo!"

The Death Eater screamed in pain. Which was exactly what Padma needed to knock him unconscious.

She then flashed Harry a smile. "Thanks, Potter! That wandwork was weird, wasn't it?"

"So was his footwork," Harry added. He frowned. "I wonder if that means they've started recruiting from outside Europe?"

"Brilliant," said Ron with a snort. "That's all we bloody need."

Their speculations ended when a terrified group of Muggles came running out of the Port Authority Building, followed closely by three more Death Eaters.

Harry cursed. "Padma, you get the Muggles," he said. "Ron and I will deal with the Death Eaters."

And then he was off, Ron on his heels, weaving against the flow of the small crowd. One of the Death Eaters separated from the others and headed towards the parking lot. That left only two for him and Ron. Which was perfect.

These two Death Eaters saw them coming and so didn't go down as easily as Harry and Ron's first opponents. As Harry deflected what looked like a modified blinding charm, he noticed Ron just barely managing to dodge a sickly green Killing Curse. He took a deep breath as he realized he couldn't afford to let this go into a long wizard's duel. Especially not with his visibility compromised; there was simply too much risk of someone sneaking up on them.

Harry cast a rather clumsily-broadcast Confringo even as he reached for his cloak's clasp with his other hand. The Death Eater easily blocked it. Harry feigned left, moving his wand backwards so that the tip touched his cloak.

"Levioso," he whispered in the same breath as he snapped his cloak clasp open. Then he ducked and spun to the right.

A Killing Curse hit his levitating, billowing cloak.

Harry cast a binding spell at the Death Eater, aiming directly at his unprotected side. The Death Eater had barely begun to turn around to face him once more when the spell hit him. He froze instantly and then toppled to the ground.

Harry smirked as he mentally thanked Severus Snape for being the inspiration for that particular move. The fog was the perfect place for it too. Glancing towards Ron, he saw his friend had it well in hand. But they needed this over quickly and so Harry raised his wand to cast a trip jinx at Ron's opponent, knowing his friend would take advantage of the opening it gave him. He'd only begun to cast the jinx when Ron suddenly threw himself to the ground and rolled to the side. The Death Eater obviously wasn't prepared for the sudden move and Ron's spell from the new vantage point hit him dead-on.

Harry retrieved his cloak and ran over to him. "Nice move," he said as Ron was getting to his feet.

"Thanks, mate," he said.

They looked behind them, where Padma had easily handled the Muggles by casting a mass Confundus Charm and then taking advantage of their confusion to herd them to the side. She glanced up at Harry and Ron and signaled to them that she was okay.

Harry and Ron nodded back to her and then turned their attention once again to the building.

"How many of them do you suppose there are?" Ron asked.

"No idea, but there can't be too many more," Harry answered. "This doesn't exactly look like a big enough target even for as many as we've already seen."

Ron was thoughtfully silent for a few moments. "Depends on what their objective is," he said. "Don't a lot of ships come through to the Port of London? And this is the Authority Building, so I'd say that would 'ave to mean it's in charge of the port and keeping track of all those ships... And their cargo too, I guess."

"I suppose..." said Harry.

They fell silent and dropped down to one knee when they noticed more movement by the main entrance. Suddenly a dark figure flew out of the upper story window.

"Confringo!" Harry cried, aiming at the Death Eater's broom. The Death Eater easily evaded and picked up speed.

Harry reached into his pocket and then, with a practiced flick of his wrist, unshrunk his own broom and mounted it. Not daring to take his eyes off the Death Eater, lest he lose him in the fog, Harry leaned forward on his broom and followed.

He vaguely thought he heard someone calling after him, but didn't allow himself to be distracted.

The Death Eater kept just above the rooftops, swerving to the side only to avoid a spell from Harry. Harry cursed under his breath as the unseating spell missed. He flew higher, which put him outside of where the Death Eater expected him to be when he turned around on his broom to return fire. The spell intended for Harry sailed harmlessly beneath him and to the left of where Ron was following.

Harry aimed at the Death Eater's back. "Sectumsempra!"

The Death Eater managed to swerve to the side just in time to avoid the curse, but not entirely. The broom wobbled in mid-air as a sizable chunk of bristles were partially cut off and then scattered by the wind. To most wizards, this would be incredibly detrimental. However, it was just Harry's luck that this particular Death Eater was not only a decent flyer, but quite possibly a professional quidditch player as well as it took him mere moments to adjust to the change in bristles on his broom.

Those mere moments were, thankfully, just enough time for Harry and Ron to close the Death Eater's lead significantly.

Glancing down, he met Ron's eyes and nodded to him. Ron already had his wand out and nodded back. A thrill ran through Harry as something that hadn't quite been sitting right for a while finally slid back into place. He and Ron didn't need to talk about their plans, they just knew where they each needed to be. It felt so simple, so natural.

He looked away from Ron and leaned forward on his broom. They were far enough away from the dockyards that the fog was little more than a slight mist. Which meant Harry no longer needed to move quite so carefully. He willed his broom faster and it shot ahead. Behind him, he heard Ron cast a Petrificus Totalus, which the Death Eater managed to avoid with quite an impressive barrel roll – if Harry was honest, he wasn't sure he'd be able to pull the move off so smoothly with a compromised broom.

Impressive flying or not, when Harry banked sharply down, the Death Eater wasn't ready for him. This time, the Petrificus Totalus hit dead-center, making the wizard freeze instantly and sending him hurtling towards the ground. Leaving Ron to catch the broom, Harry dived, the wind pushing his hair back as he picked up speed. He passed the falling wizard and pulled his broom up sharply with one hand while casting a binding spell combined with a levitation charm with the other.

The Death Eater's descent came to an abrupt halt less than two metres from the ground.

Taking a deep breath, Harry flew upwards again, dragging the immobilized man behind him. As he'd expected, Ron had caught the stray broom and was waiting for him higher up.

"I see your seeker skills 'aven't gotten too rusty," said Ron as soon as Harry was within hearing distance.

Harry snorted. "You say that like I haven't been playing quidditch with you and your family for years now."

Ron shrugged. "Pretty sure we don't ever play that aggressively. I mean, not anymore."

The 'not since Fred died' remained unspoken.

Their flight back to the Port of London Authority Building took them longer than their chase had, since they couldn't fly as quickly thanks to their incapacitated prisoner. When they arrived back, the battle was clearly over: the magically-enhanced fog had thinned drastically and the area was full of medics, and the witches and wizards of the Clean-up Crew.

Harry landed and dismounted before shrinking his broom and stowing it back inside his pocket. Death Eater floating behind them, he and Ron made their way through the chaotic mess of people.

"Auror Potter!"

Harry stopped and turned to see Senior Auror Dawlish making his way towards them. Though not ever a man prone to needless jocularity, right now he looked especially grave.

"I'll take your prisoner from you," he continued as he came closer. "Add him to the rest of the ones we're sending by portkey." He paused. "And I imagine you'll be wanting to check on your teammate."

"Did someone get hurt?" Harry asked, alarmed.

Dawlish frowned. "Got hit by a double-dose of Bone-breaking Curse and Crutiatus from what I heard."

Harry and Ron exchanged horrified looks. They handed their charge over to the Senior Auror and then immediately hurried to the cluster of medics leaning over a prone figure on the sidewalk. Suddenly one of the medics moved to the side.

Harry came to an abrupt halt, his eyes widening with horror as he stared at the unconscious face.

It was Padma.

"Aurors Patil, Evans and Starr will be fine," were the first words Head Auror Bryant spoke as she entered the room. As an opening line it was quite effective and when she sat down at the head of the crowded conference table, it was to a silent room. She looked over the three auror teams. "Owls have already been sent to their families informing them. Starr is in a magically-induced coma, but should be able to take visitors in a few hours. Patil and Evans can both take visitors immediately, though Evans will most likely be released later this afternoon so long as the flesh-knitting spell goes smoothly."

She took a deep breath and turned to the auror sitting to her right. "Senior Auror Dawlish, report. What the hell happened out there?"

The senior auror's report was succinct and to-the-point, almost emotionless except for the flash of anger in his eyes and the clench of his fist as he described how two Death Eaters had ganged up on Auror Starr, incapacitating him first before casting a spell that proceeded to slowly strip the flesh from his legs until it exposed the bones. It was barely a stumble in his re-telling of their arrival at the Port of London Authority Building, his assessment of the situation and their preparations to counter-attack. He described entering the building and finding a surprisingly large Death Eater force inside, though he couldn't figure out what, exactly, they'd been doing other than terrorizing the Muggles inside.

He mentioned coming up against several Death Eaters who used unusual wand techniques and gave him more trouble than he'd anticipated when it came to clearing out the building. Two Death Eaters had gotten away from a backroom using a portkey that appeared to have been waiting for them there.

After Dawlish, Lehane took over and described their offensive by the ships which had been moored at the piers attached to the building. Like Dawlish, she also didn't know what about the ships had made them a target, however the Death Eaters had been prepared to engage them, right down to having created a series of booby-traps. Mostly, they'd been simple charms that created localized explosions of light, but Auror Evans had accidentally hit one that been placed next to the refueling station, which had resulted in a much less localized explosion and left him and the Death Eater he'd been fighting quite badly injured.

Finally, the Head Auror turned to Langer. The young man took a deep breath before beginning his report, trying to remain calm and professional the way the two older, more experienced aurors before him had, but his voice shook slightly with nerves. He hesitated for a moment when he reached the end of the fight, his eyes sliding across the table for a moment to glance at Harry and Ron, before he took another deep breath and continued. The silence around the table took on a new weight when he said he'd gone to check on the rest of the team after being given the all-clear and finding Harry Potter and Ron Weasley nowhere to be found and Padma Patil unconscious beside an injured Dean Thomas.

Bryant frowned and nodded. For a moment the room sat in silence. When she finally spoke, her voice was carefully neutral. "So, it seems this attack is meant to look like a randomly-chosen target, and yet the Death Eaters were surprisingly well-prepared and certainly more organized than anything we've seen in a while."

"But what would the purpose of attacking this target be?" a female auror on Dawlish's team asked with a confused frown.

"Oh, I'm not completely dismissing the possibility that it was random," Bryant answered with a shrug. "We've been hearing whispers for a while that the Death Eaters are gathering under a new leader. This could've very well simply been practice, or perhaps even a demonstration of the effectiveness of their leadership style. However, that does not mean we should ignore the fact that the Port of London Authority Building is an important Muggle target. Hundreds of ships sail through the Port of London every day and quite a bit of the city's commerce depends on those ships delivering goods and supplies. The Authority is in charge of regulating the traffic going through the port. Unlike last time, there is simply no way for us to spin this as anything other than an attack. Now, Londoners are a hardy sort, but an attack like this still has an impact in the minds of ordinary citizens. You all should understand the power of fear."

"You're oddly well-informed for someone whose lived in France for most of her life," Senior Auror Lehane pointed out with an amused smile.

Bryant raised an eyebrow at her. "My grandfather was a weekend sailor," she said after a pause. "It's been years since I've sailed on the Thames, but I doubt much has changed in that time."

"I think it's gotten cleaner," Dean Thomas offered.

The corners of her lips quirked. "Yes, there is that. It's certainly nice to know I might not need to get an injection the next time I fall in accidentally."

"Did that happen often?" one of the other aurors on Dawlish's team asked.

"Only the one time. Thankfully." Then she grew more serious. "Dawlish, Lehane, do either of you or your teams have anything to add?"

They didn't.

"Very well, then you and your teams are dismissed. I'd like your written reports on my desk by tomorrow morning. And do try not to all visit your injured comrades at once, I'd rather like it if we were to continue to enjoy a positive relationship with the staff at St. Mungos."

She waited until the two teams had cleared the room before she turned to the third team. The youngest auror team in the Auror Division's history all stared back at her with bated breath, waiting for her to address the elephant in the room. Except for Auror Thomas, who kept shooting angry looks at Auror Potter while cradling his left arm.

She decided to begin there. "Auror Thomas, how is your arm?" she asked. "The staff at St Mungos informed me you refused immediate treatment."

Thomas turned to her and blinked in surprise. "Uh, it's fine," he winced. "I mean, it's broken, but they gave me a numbing potion so it doesn't hurt much unless I bump into something or try to use it. I'll be going back for Skelegrow later. The medics agreed I could come to the debriefing and write up my report before taking it. So I can concentrate better while I'm doing it."

"If you need helping getting to St Mungos, let reception know and they'll get you a portkey."

"Thank you, sir. I might just need that."

"Having done the same thing myself many times in the past, I can more or less guarantee you will, Auror Thomas. Now why don't you tell me what happened to get you injured. According to your team leader's report, he'd assigned you to take the high ground."

Thomas scowled. "He did. And Joanne–er, Auror Greene and I found ourselves a good position on top of a small building with a flat roof where we could monitor the area. Greene cast the ward monitoring charms, because she's better at that sort of thing than I am and I unshrunk my broom and settled in to watch. We saw a lot of Death Eaters come out of the building and a bunch of Muggles, most of them immediately crossed the street and headed south-west to Potter, Weasley and Patil's position, but they looked like they were handling it. Then, suddenly, this Death Eater flies out of one of the upper story windows. I got on my broom and went to follow when Potter cuts in front of me, already in pursuit. I called to him, but he either didn't hear me or just plain ignored me. When I realized Weasley was following behind him, I looked back to the ground where I saw three Death Eaters come out of the building and head towards Patil. So, I changed direction and flew down to help her. I dove at one of the Death Eaters and Patil took him out while he was distracted, but then the other two ganged up on her. I saw her get hit with their spells and go down screaming, but only recognized the Crutiatus. So, I aimed and took out the one casting it first. The other guy then turned to me. Turned out the other guy was casting the Bone Breaking curse, which I managed to avoid taking from the front, but it still caught my arm. I felt my arm snap and, well, it hurt. A lot. My wand fell out of my hand and I was losing control of my broom so I just sort of aimed myself at the Death Eater and picked up speed."

He paused. "The next thing I knew there were medi-wizards hovering over me."

"I commend you for your quick thinking, Auror Thomas, and for adapting to the situation you were given as best you could," said the Head Auror after a slight pause. She smirked. "Crashing into that Death Eater was particularly inspired. Incidentally, you broke his back."

Thomas managed a small grin. "Sweet."

"Indeed." The humour left her face and she turned her attention to the other side of the table. "Now, Aurors Potter and Weasley, tell me, why did you abandon your position?"

The two young men exchanged nervous looks – Angelique was relieved to see that they understood that they'd made a mistake – before Harry Potter turned to her with determined eyes. "We'd gotten all the Death Eaters coming out of the building and then suddenly one flew out of a broken window on a broom, so I took out my broom and chased after him."

The Head Auror frowned at him. "And how exactly did you determine that there were no more Death Eaters in the building?"

He blinked. "Er, well there weren't anymore coming out."

"Did you know how many had been inside in the first place?"

"No."

"Then, Junior Auror Potter, unless you have X-ray vision, I fail to see how you could've known for certain there weren't any more Death Eaters inside."

Harry Potter took a deep breath. "I suppose I couldn't," he said quietly.

She nodded. "Junior Auror Weasley, your friend took off after the Death Eater and you immediately followed. Why?"

Ron Weasley was much less adept at hiding his emotions than his friend and so her nervousness was written all over his face. "Er, I thought 'e might need backup."

"And you didn't think that your other teammate, the one fighting at ground level on the front lines wouldn't need backup?"

At the mention of Padma Patil, Weasley paled. "She seemed to be doing alright."

"You thought she would be 'alright' without backup against however many Death Eaters were still inside the building?"

"Um, yes?"

The Head Auror took a deep breath. "Both of you acted rashly and with a disregard for your teammates that, quite frankly, worries me."

"But we got the Death Eater!" Potter protested.

"And that would've been worth Auror Patil's life?"

The conference room was silent for a long moment before the Head Auror continued.

"You are a strong dueler, Auror Potter, which is no doubt why Senior Auror Langer had you fighting at ground level. Now, you also demonstrate intuitive flying skills, however Auror Thomas' long-distance spell-casting is far superior to yours and Auror Greene far outshines everyone on your team in ward detection and manipulation, which is why those two were assigned the high ground. That's what makes up a team: a group of people with a variety of strengths and weaknesses working together in tandem."

She paused and then waited until Harry Potter met her eyes. "However, without trust that group of people is still just a gathering of individuals. Auror Potter, Auror Weasley, by abandoning your position to pursue the Death Eater on broomstick, you not only showed Auror Thomas here that you didn't trust him to do his job, but you also showed your team that they couldn't trust you to be where they expected you to be doing yours."

Ignoring Potter's outraged expression, she looked around to the rest of the table. She was met with wide eyes and several pale faces.

"I'll be honest, when I first took the position of Head Auror and saw that my predecessor had put together a team comprised entirely of rookies, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. However, between your individual records and your team's records, I made the decision to leave things as they were because I could tell you all had the potential to become a credit to the Auror Division with some experience and the proper guidance." She paused. "I see now that I have done all of you an injustice by keeping things at the status quo. You are neither being challenged enough by remaining with your peers, nor are you receiving the guidance you need to learn and grow as aurors. And so I have come to the decision to dissolve this team. Your new assignments will be ready for you when you return from vacation."

The team looked stunned. A part of her felt like shaking them and demanding to know how they hadn't seen this coming. No doubt she'd be seeing at least a few of them before the end of the week in her office. She turned to their team leader.

"Senior Auror Langer, I'd like to meet with you in my office tomorrow morning. Let's say nine-thirty?"

The young man looked devastated, but he held his head high as he nodded. "Yes, Head Auror."

"Good, then you are all dismissed."

Harry strode down the narrow, winding hallway, fists clenched as flames of anger burned in his mind.

The Head Auror's office was located at the very back of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, directly between the two divisions, however for some reason wasn't accessible from the front desk. Instead one had to pass through most of either department if they wanted to speak to the Head Auror. As he hurried down the hallway, he only vaguely took note of the familiar doors to storage facilities, training rooms and team offices he was passing. In his early days as an apprentice auror he'd often wondered about the bizarre layout, but right now it barely registered.

Right now the winding hallway only served to give his thoughts more time to stew.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he could hear a small, reasonable voice trying to tell him that maybe the Head Auror had a point: he and Ron had left their positions and Padma had been hurt as a direct result. It sounded a bit like Neville, the only one of their team who'd been willing to say it out loud. Even Dean Thomas, as pissed as he was with Harry, had thought breaking up the team was going too far. They'd trained and fought together long before they'd become aurors, faced Death Eaters and Voldemort, in some cases been tortured even. To no longer be a team was simply unthinkable.

"This is your fault, Potter," Dean had told him with clenched teeth and furious eyes. "Sort it out."

And suddenly Harry had felt like he was a student at Hogwarts again, being blamed for illegally sneaking his name into the Goblet of Fire because he wanted attention. He ground his teeth against each other and screaming that it wasn't fair. He hadn't wanted to be singled out and given all the attention then and he didn't really want it now beyond recognition for what he'd actually accomplished.

He hadn't quite figured out what he was going to say to the Head Auror to make her change her mind when he found himself finally rounding the corner to her office. Just in time to see another wizard step inside. Harry slowed his steps and then stopped out of sight of the office, not willing to have this confrontation in front of a stranger no matter how angry he was.

"This report just came in from our liaison at the Met," he heard the unknown man say – his voice had a high pitched nasally quality to it that instantly grated on Harry's nerves. "That would be the London Metropolitan Police O–"

"–I am well aware of what the Met is," Bryant interrupted him. "My father worked there for over twenty-four years."

"Er, yes, of course." There was a moment of awkward silence during which Harry couldn't help feeling amused at the knowledge that it wasn't just him and his team the Head Auror was abrupt and impatient with. Then he heard the sounds of a scroll changing hands. "In any case, apparently the Met received a request for information, with an attached note from the Ministry of Defense that they please comply with the request as quickly as possible."

"Damn, I was afraid of this," Harry just barely heard Bryant say. There was another pause and her next words were louder. "The Office of Homeworld Security? Bloody American arrogance. And just to make matters worse, the name on this report is one I've never heard of. Does Colonel Samantha Carter ring any bells to you?"

"No, Head Auror, I'm afraid I've never heard the name before. I double-checked the reports from the attack on Trafalgar Square and none of them mentioned her."

Harry's eyes widened and his blood ran cold.

"That means she's the investigating officer. I wouldn't have expected such a high-ranking officer to be investigating something like this, which means the individuals involved were even more important than we've been assuming... or else I know even less about the structure of the American military than I thought I did."

"Was there something you would like the Ministry of Muggle Affairs to do?"

"No, Mister Aubrey, thank you. This is something I'll have to bring to the attention of Minister Shaklebolt and the two of us together will have to decide how to proceed from here."

Harry took a deep breath and pushed himself away from the wall he'd found himself leaning against. The dismissal in the Head Auror's voice was clear, which meant it was his turn. Which, given what he'd just overheard, was something he was suddenly looking forward to even less.

The official from the Ministry of Muggle Affairs apparently didn't get the hint.

"It's a shame really, that this situation was able to arise thanks to the incompetence of certain aurors," the man said, derision clear in his tone.

Harry glared in the direction of the room.

"None of my aurors are incompetent," said Bryant, the frost-bitten edge to her voice surprising Harry. It was a tone he couldn't remember ever hearing from her before.

Somehow, the idiot in her office managed to miss it. Instead, he laughed. "Of course, they're not. And you've made amazing progress getting the Auror Division back up to standard, but this instance is clearly an example of how certain individuals should not be allowed to rest on their laurels and arrogantly assume they are better than the rest of us."

"I will repeat myself only once, Mister Aubrey," said the Head Auror's, her voice even colder than before – so cold it cut through Harry's rapidly re-emerging anger. "None of my aurors are incompetent. Some are merely less-experienced than others, a matter not helped by the accelerated training they received fresh from both their schooling and the war."

"B-but I heard you'd taken Harry Potter's team to task over their handling of the attack in Trafalgar Square," the man stuttered out, apparently finally cluing into Bryant's displeasure.

"First of all, Mister Aubrey," Bryant began in a dangerously soft voice that reminded Harry of Professor Snape. "Auror Potter is on Senior Auror Langer's team. Secondly, I shall have to remember to tell Arthur Weasley to assign you more work as you clearly don't have enough to do if you've managed to find the time to gossip."

Harry held his breath as Bryant paused once more for emphasis.

"And thirdly," she continued, "Senior Auror Langer's team all followed procedure to the letter. An experienced auror would know to pay more attention to Muggle soldiers, particularly high-ranking ones, and even then it would take an experienced auror with knowledge of Muggle firearms and police procedures to know to do anything at all about the bullets and their casings. At this moment, I can think of only about half a dozen aurors in my division from whom I'd expect this knowledge and experience.

Did I come down hard on them for their oversight? Of course I did. My job is to train them into the best aurors they can be, not to coddle them. And, Mister Aubrey, you can be sure that every single one of those young aurors have the potential to be good aurors. Some, like Auror Potter, even have the potential to become truly exceptional aurors. My job is to make sure they learn the proper skills to stay alive long enough to reach said potential."

For a long moment, the only sound Harry heard was the thundering of his own heart as he stood rooted to the spot, staring straight ahead at the oddly-coloured peach wall in front of him. He was distantly aware that the conversation in the office hadn't entirely finished, but other than recognizing the irritating voice of the now-much more nervous and embarrassed wizard from the Ministry of Muggle Affairs, he couldn't make out the words.

Rapidly-approaching footsteps finally roused him from his daze. He turned just in time to blink in surprise as Arthur Weasley came rushing from around the corner. Ron's dad paused for a moment when he saw Harry.

"Oh, hello, Harry," he said, sounding surprise. He glanced towards the Head Auror's office. "Were you waiting to see Angelique, I mean Head Auror Bryant?"

"Er, yes, sort of," said Harry, floundering as tried to organize his thoughts once more. "I'm not sure I – I mean, it's not important. Um. Were you here to see her?"

Harry mentally kicked himself for the question. The only thing of note this far down the corridor was the Head Auror's office. Naturally that meant Mr Weasly was here to see her.

"Yes, we're working on a sort of project together and I think I've just found something that could help move things along."

"Oh, that's great. I'll just, um, come back later then." Harry paused, wracking his brain for an excuse to leave. "I'm meeting Ginny, Ron and Hermione at the pub later."

Arthur Weasley smiled at him. "That sounds nice. You have a good time then, Harry."

Harry smiled back, though he wasn't sure how successful his attempt at a smile was. "Thanks. I'll see you at Friday dinner."

"Yes, excellent! Friday, then."

With that, Mr Weasley hurried along to the Head Auror's office and Harry escaped in the other direction, wishing he could out-run the new thoughts in his head.

Boisterous laughter and loud voices attempted to drown out the music in the pub. Normally, Harry enjoyed the atmosphere, loved the lively, happy crowd, the smell of ale, whiskey and pumpkin mead mixed with whatever food the kitchen was featuring that day. Today it was some sort of stew. He couldn't even be bothered trying to guess what sort as it was taking all his efforts to concentrate on whatever Ginny was saying.

It was something about quidditch, something he normally would've been immediately invested in.

Normally. When his head wasn't spinning scenarios in his mind, each one worse than the first. All because of him. Hearing the Head Auror defend him against another ministry official almost made it worse. Because he'd been stupid. Dear Merlin, he could clearly picture Professor Snape in his mind, sneering down at him and telling him what a foolish, arrogant child he was, how he'd let defeating Voldemort get to his hea–

"Harry!"

Harry blinked. And then winced at Ginny's glare. Apparently he'd spaced out again. "Sorry, Ginny," he said. "I'm afraid I'm not going to be very good company tonight."

The glare softened. "Is everything alright?" Ginny asked.

He paused, not entirely sure he wanted to talk about it, but also not willing to lie to his girlfriend. "Not really, no," he said, trying to sound as neutral as possible and wishing Ron and Hermione would just hurry up and get here so he didn't have to come up with an excuse not to talk about it.

A few moments passed in silence. "I can listen if you want to talk about it," said Ginny as quietly as she could and still be heard over the noisy pub.

"Thanks, Ginny," he said with a smile. "I'd really rather not though. Maybe later?"

Disappointment flashed across Ginny's face, but she quickly pushed it aside and smiled back. "I'm here whenever you're ready," she said.

Harry felt his own smile widen in relief. "So, I'm on holidays for the next two weeks," he said instead. "I was hoping that we could, maybe, go somewhere together, just the two of us."

Ginny's eyebrow rose pointedly, but allowed the obvious change of topic to go otherwise unmentioned. "Did you have anything in mind?" she asked instead.

Harry bit his lip. "I was thinking Paris?" he said. "I mean, it's rather cliché, I know, but I've never been outside England and while I know you've been to France to visit Fleur's family–"

"–Paris sounds wonderful!" Ginny exclaimed, her eyes glowing with excitement. "I couldn't care less how cliché it is. Everyone should go to Paris at least once!"

A large grin spread across Harry's face. "Good. I'm glad you like the idea. Honestly, it was either that or throwing the names of major cities into a hat and pick one at random."

Ginny laughed. "Maybe next time we can do that. Could be fun, actually."

Harry considered it. "Yeah, I suppose so."

Suddenly, Ginny straightened as her eyes focused on something behind him. "Oh, it's Ron and Hermione," she said as she waved at them.

"Finally." Harry turned in his seat to greet his friends. "What took you so long?"

"'Mione's supervisor is evil," said Ron with disgust as he sat down.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "She's not exactly evil per say."

"You said she was best friends with Umbridge!"

Harry's eyes widened. "What?" he exclaimed. "How is she even still working at the Ministry?"

Hermione sighed as she took off her coat and hung it on one of the hooks next to their booth. "According to Ron's dad, she didn't actively do anything to help with Umbridge's anti-Muggleborn campaign and just being friends with someone isn't a crime. Still, I must admit, now that I know what I've done to earn her hatred I do feel slightly better, since I was actually involved in the incident."

Harry nodded. He could understand that and smiled at his friend as she sat down beside him, leaving Ron to sit next to his sister, his shoulders slumped and lips pursed together unhappily.

But then Hermione was turning to him. "Oh, Harry, here I am talking about my supervisor's stupid pettiness when you're dealing with something far worse," she exclaimed, before throwing her arms around him. "Ron told me all about it! I can't believe they're breaking up your team."

Blinking in surprise, Harry put an arm around her. "Er, thanks, Hermione," he said, vaguely aware of how Ginny's eyes had widened at her words. "It might not be as bad as all that..."

He trailed off, not entirely sure what to say to her. Truthfully, he'd completely forgotten about it.

Ron snorted. "Not as bad as all that?" he said, sounding entirely too bitter about the situation. "Bryant wants to split us up. After all we've been through with Voldemort and fighting for our lives, for the Wizarding World, she thinks we're not good enough."

"No," said Harry quietly, hardly believing he was even saying this. "She thinks we're too inexperienced as aurors."

He felt Hermione freeze in his arms and then she pulled back, looking at him with narrowed eyes. "Something else happened," she said. It wasn't a question. "Ron said you were just as furious as he was, more even. And you've hated Bryant since the moment she took office."

Harry swallowed around the lump in his throat, wishing he could make himself wandlessly disappear so he wouldn't have to say the words out loud. Knowing he'd mindlessly given into everyone else's assumptions and expectations was bad enough, but saying it out loud...

He took a deep breath. "I went to talk to Bryant afterwards, wanted to see if I could change her mind," he finally began.

He was a Gryffindor, he reminded himself: Gryffindors were brave. And what was more courageous than to admit to one's shame?

"What did she say?" Ron asked, his voice dull.

"I-I never actually went into her office," he admitted. "She was with someone. An official from Muggle Affairs. There was a report from the liaison at the MET."

He looked up and finally met Ron's eyes. "We screwed up," he said softly. "They'd received a request from the Prime Minister's Office on behalf of the US Ministry of Homeworld Security for all their files and reports about the 'accident' at Trafalgar Square. Apparently, they've found a reason to believe there's something wrong with the official story."

Harry watched as understanding dawned in Ron's eyes.

"Bloody 'ell," said his friend. "This is the attack in Trafalgar Square we're talking about, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"And you think it was your fault?" Hermione asked carefully.

He snorted. "Remember how stupid I thought it was that Bryant was so hung up on the bloody bullets?" Harry asked. She and Ginny nodded. "Well, according to what I overheard, there was a very specific request by a Colonel Carter about any bullets or shell casings found at the scene."

Beside him, Hermione gasped.

Harry looked at her with a frown. "Hermione?"

"That can't be a coincidence," Hermione whispered, her eyes wide.

"What can't be a coincidence?" he asked, confused by her reaction. It seemed a bit too dramatic.

She turned to him with an almost frantic look in her eyes. "Carter," she said. "You're sure that was the name? As in Sam Carter? Slim, with short blonde hair?"

"Uh... I doubt the report gave a physical description and the official only called her Colonel..."

"Hermione, does the name sound familiar to you?" Ginny asked.

"Maybe... yes, I mean it's too much to be just a coincidence." Hermione hesitated for a few moments. Harry could see the light in her eyes that meant she'd discovered something big and was trying to decide whether or to tell. Finally, her desire to tell them won out. "Alright, so I been going over old field auror reports and organizing them. Most of them had never been properly filed and certainly never followed up on because, well, with the war on there were more important things to deal with. But as I was going through them I noticed a pattern."

"Hang on," Ron suddenly interrupted her. "Before you start, I think we need ale for this."

Without another word, he stood and went over to the bar. The pub was fairly full, so it took him more than a few minutes to come back, a tray with four glasses and a picture of amber-coloured liquid floating behind him. Harry had to admit, it was much easier to feign relaxation with a glass of ale in his hand.

Hermione then told them what she'd discovered, how she'd tied it to the Trafalgar Square attack and even written it up into a report. Which her supervisor had promptly dismissed as something that wasn't her job and thus something she'd had no business pursuing.

"That's when I went to your dad, Ron," she said, looking to Ron. "He said he'd take a look at it and pass it on to the appropriate department. I haven't heard anything since about it..."

Ron nodded. "If dad said he'd take care of it, then he will."

"Unless something else comes up," Harry pointed out with a frown. "I ran into him in the hall on my way back from Bryant's office. He was on his way to see her, said he's working on something with her."

Ron and Ginny both looked surprised at that.

"He is?" Ginny asked. "I 'aven't heard him mention anything. You'd think working with the Head Auror personally would be something that would come up at some point."

"Unless it's top secret?" Hermione suggested.

"In Muggle Affairs?"

Harry shrugged. "He didn't say what it was, but he did look like he was in a hurry."

They sat in thoughtful silence for a few moments, drinking their ale.

"So, what now?" Ron finally asked.

Harry looked to his friend and considered the question. Then he looked to Hermione. "Do you think you can get your hand on the report from the MET liaison?"

Hermione immediately perked up. "I can certainly try. I should have the authority to view it, unless they're trying to hide the request, but that would be against policy."

Harry nodded absently. "And we all have two weeks of vacation coming up." He looked to Ron and grinned. "Fancy a trip to America?"

"Don't get ahead of yourself, Harry," Hermione interjected. "The United States is a large place. First of all, we have to figure out where the obliviated soldiers are stationed."

"And we will," said Harry.

"Then we break into their base, renew the Memory Charms, and get rid of whatever evidence they have," Ron added with an excited grin. "Easy."

"That depends on where they're stationed," said Hermione. "And what, exactly, this evidence is."

"We managed to break into the Ministry of Magic, Gringotts and Hogwarts when it was in the hands of Death Eaters," Harry pointed out. "Muggles don't use wards and won't be expecting magic. As long as we're not careless, this should be relatively simple."

Hermione still looked dubious. "That's all well and good, but I still think we should try and go through official channels first before we go breaking into places in another country."

Harry and Ron exchanged looks and shrugged. "Fair enough. We can't go anywhere until at least next week anyway. Let's see what the report tells us, and what Mister Weasley comes up with first."

"Yes, let's."

Ginny shook her head in amusement. "You three are either completely mad or utterly brilliant."

Harry grinned. "Can't we be a bit of both?"

They all laughed as they refilled their glasses.