The Leader

Chapter 56

Any and all caution the group had was thrown in the air when the heard an agonizing scream coming from a nearby building. "Easy," Harry warned them, his arm up, cautioning them against moving. They stilled immediately, of course, part habit, and part of the fact they always watched Harry for cues on how to proceed. "Judging by the way the scream sounded, they were definitely indoors, there are only two buildings and both are abandoned buildings a mile away."

"They're using silencing charms," Ashley muttered to herself, irritated that it took her that long to get why she was having trouble hearing properly.

"I'm fifty percent sure that was Tonks," Severus commented, actually worried about her despite himself. They heard faint arguing, or rather yelling, they sounded bordering on sick and desperate. "And that is Shacklebolt," he added with conviction, his stomach lurching at the thought of what could cause someone as composed as the Auror to sound so terrorized. He could say with certainty that the person most like him in the Order was Shacklebolt. He never let his emotions get out of hand, he was always calm and collected, even while fighting Death Eaters or cleaning up after one of their raids. He had never seen him become emotional, not once. Even Dumbledore was incapable of that.

The aroma of blood hit them fully in the face, it was a significant amount, they were perhaps too late already.

"Howard, Jessie, Robert, and Ashley take the back," Harry commanded, "The rest of you, come with me," and with that the group of eight split into two groups of four and made their way swiftly towards the scent of blood their speed coming in handy enabling them to run the mile towards the buildings within seconds - some admittedly faster than others.

Takumi, Severus, Wyatt, and Harry ran towards the main entrance, able to hear everything that was going on inside easier the closer they got to the building itself. While the silencing charms worked well against wizards and witches, they didn't work fully against magical creatures. It had definitely prevented them from being heard before now due to distance.

The screaming and yelling almost burst their eardrums as Wyatt kicked open the door, smashing could be heard from the back, presumably where his people were using windows to enter through. Wyatt didn't wait for Harry to enter the building, wanting to ensure that his leader would be safe, willing to give his life to keep him alive to finish off their main mission. Which was to create equality in the magical world.

Wyatt immediately engaged one of the wizards in a duel, Harry immediately knew that this man was a hit wizard, the spells he was using were ones they learned during training. The urge to protect Wyatt was strong, even though he knew the half-vampire could protect himself. He should know he had been the one to train most of them. He also knew Wyatt would sulk for weeks if he stepped in without cause. Added to the fact it would demean his position in the group, Wyatt was trusted more than many others, had proven himself extremely loyal.

He could hear fighting going on in the back, two of the wizards must have run upon the first sound of breaking glass. Ducking to avoid the spell he could hear whizzing past, as the duel between the Hit Wizard and Wyatt heated up dangerously.

Harry made his way over to Tonks, wincing at the sight of her, she was in very bad shape, Kingsley he observed had been either knocked unconscious or was stunned. He dismissed him immediately since he wasn't his primary concern right now, no Tonks was. She'd been hit with a severing curse, her lower leg was cut off, from the knee down. "Morabor," Harry murmured under his breath, slowing down the blood flow, as he worked to deduce whether the leg could be reattached. It depended greatly on which severing curse had been used.

Severus was beside him in moments, grasping the belt Rachel handed him, he wrapped it around the stump, helping even further to stem the flow of blood. He'd barely tied the buckle on when he was digging into his cloak for potions, forcing blood replenishers down her unresponsive throat. Wiping the drying blood and sweat he accumulated from Tonks' body on his trousers without thought.

"Don't give her more than two," Rachel cautioned, "Her height and weight aren't appropriate for three," kneeling down beside them for the moment.

Howard, Robert, and Ashley were standing guard preventing any stray spells from hitting them. Wyatt apologizing since they were his spells, while the Hit Wizard's spells either hit Wyatt or the doorway behind them.

Howard suddenly grunted as a blasting curse hit him, caught off guard and sent to his knees, Rachel scrambled around Tonks to see how he was. Immediately using the healing spells she'd been taught by Darius to heal the wound, he would need to feed, she observed as she relaxed as the wound slowly began to heal. "It will be delicate for a while," she told him, as she murmured "Ferula," and bandaged it, "I'll apply it again once its cleaned and your t-shirt is removed."

Robert was giving a running commentary on what was happening. One of the wizards were dead, one was incapacitated. There was only one wizard left standing, but everyone in the room clearly knew that - they could hear and feel it thank you very much.

"Finish it, Wyatt," Harry stated sharply, now he was definitely just showing off and he didn't find that acceptable. He could do what he liked, all the showing off he wanted to do, while mock dueling at the warehouse, but not here, all it took was one little mistake and he could be severely hurt or killed.

Wyatt did just that, ending the duel by running towards his opponent and shoving him bodily into the wall - hard. The Hit Wizard didn't even manage to get a grunt in before he slid down the wall, out for the count, his wand broken into little pieces. Putting three binding charms on him to prevent escape. Grabbing him he dragged him out of the abandoned building.

Two others went with him and were keeping an eye on the entire area including outside to ensure they weren't ambushed. They found themselves lucky as Howard cast a spell that stank to high heavens.

Howard glanced over at Shacklebolt, noticing the bump on the side of his head, it was nothing too dangerous, "Boni odoris!" flicking his wand in the direction of his face, the stringent odour of ammonia and other smells pervaded the air, directed straight at Shacklebolt, causing the wizard to begin to stir his nose screwed up in repugnance. The vampires held their breaths so they didn't need to smell the overwhelming scents. It screwed with their noses, they wouldn't be able to smell much of anything until it cleared away.

"The severing charm it was 'Perrumpo' there's no chance of it being successfully reattached," Harry stated as if he wasn't discussing a life-changing thing for the female Auror. "Confervo!"

Severus winced feeling sympathy for Tonks, it was little wonder she was unconscious, that spell was particularly vicious. It not only severed the limb, prevented it from being reattached and to make matters worse, it clotted the blood a little, preventing immediate death due to blood loss, causing more pain. A niggling piece of information caused his back to straighten, "Benjy Fenwick suffered the same fate," Severus told them.

"Did you just say, Benjy Fenwick?" Wyatt came into the main room, an intense look on his face.

"Yes, why?" Severus questioned, noticing that everyone was glancing Wyatt's way.

"His name…it's on one of the files out there," Wyatt informed them.

"He was an original member of Dumbledore's Order who died," Harry explained, he knew everything about Dumbledore, his Order, Voldemort and the Death Eaters that were known to any extent anyway. "He was quite gruesomely cut up and pieces of him were discarded all over the place, they never found his entire body. In fact, they only ever found a severed leg in two places and an arm minus its hand." this seems to be the work of Voldemort after all.

"Why? What are they up to? Who cares about a dead Order member?" Howard frowned, unable to see the bigger picture. Whether the Hit Wizard group had the folders or the Aurors. He deduced due to the fact the Aurors were last seen, in the file room that it was most likely them.

"It's the reason these idiots were caught," Harry couldn't contain his sneer of derision. "How exactly did they pass the entrance exam let alone become fully fledged Aurors?"

"Waa…" was the first noise from the more awake and alert Auror, "Tonks!" he cried out, lurching up, clutching his ribs out as he moaned in agony. He had at least three broken ribs for sure after the wizard had brutally stomped on his chest in retaliation for the fact he'd punched him in the face, without a wand it was all he could do. He felt as though his entire chest was caught aflame.

"Easy, calm down," Howard moved over to the Auror keeping him firmly planted on his ass where he currently sat, although he was half leaning against the bars of a cell. "She's going to live," he couldn't very well in all good conscience say she was fine since she was far from okay.

Shacklebolt stared at Tonks severed leg, horrified, "What happened?" he croaked, before his eyes desperately gazed at Tonk's face, deflating when he saw her totally oblivious of the world. At least she was unconscious, he thought to himself, she wasn't in any pain, and by the looks of it, Potter had managed to save her life at least.

"Excellent question," Harry stated giving Shacklebolt a blank look as he stared the wizard down.

Shacklebolt seemed to sway, his gaze becoming distant, an inaudible groan leaving his lips as he pitched forward unable to take his own weight.

"Dehydration," Rachel explained after doing a basic diagnostic spell on the now unconscious Auror. "Probably starving too, added to four of his ribs being broken, he can't breathe properly."

"If this is bigger than just the three of them…taking those two to St. Mungo's will mean they'll be killed," Severus commented, "And whoever else gets in their way." including innocent patients and healers.

"I agree," Harry stated, turning his attention away from Rachel and Shacklebolt. Glancing down at Tonks, he sighed, she needed care that he just wasn't capable of providing, he wasn't sure Darius had dealt with anything like this. While he was a healer, it was self-taught, he was a werewolf, and they were discriminated against. In other words St. Mungo's would rather go under than trust a werewolf - heaven forbids- to heal and mend those who come to them injured and in pain.

"I'll leave now and inform Darius and have the room set up," Rachel informed them, she was the one learning from him, she'd always enjoyed helping people but nobody would give her the time of day. She'd saved up for years to do the courses at St. Mungo's only to be soundly rejected. When Darius found out and offered to train her she'd been ecstatic, it was slow going of course since they weren't a hospital and not a lot of injuries passed through. She remained where she was, waiting for the affirmative from her leader before acting.

"Good go, tell him everything if he needs help tell him to contact Poppy," Harry replied his tone grim. He swiftly created a stretcher for Tonks to lay on as a pop surrounded the area.

"I've added a few spells if anyone comes along," Jessie informed them with vindictive glee in her voice. "Do you want to set up a surveillance tape?"

"Should we bring this?" Ashley gestured towards the severed leg with a slight grimace that told everyone she wasn't very comfortable with the thought of picking it up.

"Go ahead," Harry smirked, the so-called surveillance tape was a crystal that recorded 'Taped' everything it saw, relaying to the other crystal that it was attached to. It was something that Jessie had created actually, they hadn't had a chance to use it yet. He had planned on circulating them to keep an eye on any enemies. Especially as they got close to the end game, particularly those within the Ministry, such as Fudge and the Auror department. "Make sure you get a good angle on the door."

"And no, leave it there, we can't let them be seen until this is all over now." Harry retorted his tone filled with fire and determination. If the Aurors even searched here they would find it and both would probably be presumed dead. It was for the best where they were concerned unless they wanted to be hunted down until they were actually killed.

Severus stood up and followed her, "Is that what I think it is?" what the name implies were certainly understood.

"Depends on what you think it is," Jessie teased, flipping her long brown hair out of her way, already regretting not tying it up before she left. Ignoring her annoyance, for now, she produced the red crystal from her pocket, eyeing everywhere, moving around looking for the perfect place to put it.

Severus just grunted, Jessie was a very flirtatious person, but she hadn't been forced to endure the wide world and what people thought and said about her in ways that much of the others had. Jessie had been turned by her mate, who protected her with ferocious dedication that one didn't see much of these days. She might be flirtatious and a tease, but you could tell she was doing it all in good fun. It was more obvious when you saw Jessie and Andy together, it was quite something to see, they orbited each other, after being away from one another and returning, they were drawn like moths to a flame. They had only attention for each other.

It was the same for Severus and Harry, not that either noticed, they were never away from each other often enough to feel a pull to a great extent.

Jessie smiled, her teasing manner fading as she watched the crystal disappear into the wall as if it were made with nothing more than putty. "There was a meeting, Andy commented on a few things that had gone on, I wasn't there for it that day, I was…scouting a local coven that was causing trouble," she told him after thinking for a few moments. "When I found myself bored I began to…drabble with ways to make something magically equivalent to a surveillance device. Took me six months to get it right, I had a group of our people looking for them too, just to test it, four times they were found before I got it right, and I was able to conceal them from anyone." pride burst forth on her face and in her tone.

"Putting them inside the walls where magic had already been cast…nobody thinks to look for anything like that there." she finished smugly.

"Do you use a spell to recall what it's recorded?" Severus was fascinated, to say the least, unable to help himself by casting magic just to see if it was true. Nothing appeared. If he hadn't just watched it become one with the wall he would have found himself unable to believe it. "How is the range?" the urge to spew out more questions was so strong.

"Yes, but it's on the brother crystal, see here," Jessie pulled it out, tapping it with her wand, and an image of both of them appeared like a hologram.

"The lightning is impressive, I didn't expect to be able to see the images on it so clearly," Severus admitted in admiration. "Especially with the building being so dark," they could see just fine, but they were built that way, the spell was too apparently, but he hadn't expected it. "The range is about what…twenty feet?" most of his questions were being answered by the show and tell.

Jessie nodded, "Before I could only get it to about five feet if I was lucky in my first few attempts." watching as everyone left, the sounds of Apparation happening twice simultaneously, on the recording device and the room.

"Have you created anything else?" Severus inquired, watching the video on the second crystal disappeared with a tap of her wand, she slid it back into her robe pocket.

"Do you have one of the cooling racks for Potions?" Jessie asked, giving the room one last look over before nodding to herself. "Ready to head back? We have to Apparate from here, hide your magical signature, trust me you don't want to try and leave through the door it is quite a nasty surprise."

Severus nodded his understanding and both of them were gone leaving the building behind. Leaving behind pools of blood and of course, Tonks severed leg.

They reappeared at the warehouse, a few feet from each other, "You created the cooling racks?"

"Yeah, Harry bought them from me," Jessie revealed.

"They are not for sale by the general populace, why?" Severus was deeply curious about this woman, he was constantly learning new things from everyone in the group. He really should stop being surprised, Harry's group were mostly all made up of very dedicated and smart people.

A laugh behind him caused Severus to twitch slightly, glancing over his shoulder, arching an eyebrow at Andy. The petite black haired vampire looked genuinely amused despite his derisive chortling. "She's too vindictive for that, aren't you?" he commented, unable to help himself as he linked his fingers through Jessie's glad she was back, he always worried about her when she was away. Although technically they hadn't been due back for at least three more hours.

Understanding dawned on Severus immediately, of course, "I see," his lips twitched in amusement, he too would have probably done the same thing. "I get it."

"You do?" Jessie blurted out in surprise.

"Severus has created quite a few spells over the years, he doesn't just dabble in potions," Harry's comment came from inside the warehouse, showing he had been listening to everyone and everything. "He is a Prince after all." and the Princes were renowned for their spell crafting abilities.

"How is she?" Severus asked, torn between continuing his discussion with Jessie and Andy or going to see Harry and Tonks.

"She will be asleep for the next twenty-four hours," Darius explained, the clinking of vials could be heard. "She needs the rest while her body heals as best as it will, the pain would be too much for anyone to cope with…she doesn't need to be going into shock with both pain and the knowledge of her lost limb."

"We're hoping Shacklebolt will be healed before she wakes, having someone she knows here will help her…" Rachel explained. Everyone there knew she probably didn't even realize her limb was gone, all she would have registered was the pain. When she woke it would become quite obvious, they already had many calming draughts - strongest ones they had - at the bedside table.

"Most definitely, she's so clumsy on most days with both her legs, I dread telling her the news," Poppy's tone was filled with sympathy, a direct contrast from Rachel and Darius.

"So, you've created spells, huh, you'll have to let me see them in action," Jessie teased, eyes twinkling brightly in mirth. "I suspect most of them aren't fit for the general population."

Andy laughed, his shoulders shaking, "Most of ours aren't," he choked out.

"Come to the dueling contest we are having tomorrow," Jessie told him, "It starts at eleven am,"

"Where are they?" Harry questioned, there was no need to ask 'who' he was referring to.

Severus nodded, "I will," he decided, he kind of liked the sound of it.

"Brilliant!" Jessie exclaimed, "Let's go!" she chirped to Andy, dragging him away with a waggle of her eyebrows. She knew Severus was going to go with Harry and see the 'interrogation' play out. She had no interest in that, she'd hear all about it within an hour or so. "Talk to you tomorrow," she called to Severus over her shoulder, unsurprised to see that he was already making his way towards Harry and the main part of their warehouse where Tonks and Shacklebolt had been carted off to in order to be healed.

I know, I know there's no battle but come on, how difficult would it be to take 8 vampires to get three wizards under control? I will tell you this though, the final battle will definitely be worth the wait! :D also worthy of the name 'Battle' I think I'll update Haunted Jaded Eyes next everyone seems to think its a cliffhanger...dont know why ;) lol so they both survived but Tonks will be forever changed by it...just what information will Harry get from the Hit Wizard? will he have to resort to torture due to the fact the guy is immune to Veritaserum? Or will Harry create another just for him? :) R&, please