Encroachment

Once inside, he breathed a deep breath and fell into a chair. Harry and Lyra sat at the table and waited for him to recover.

"Sorry, it's been a hectic day," Brandt told them. "Though I have a bit of good news for Lyra. We think your father is dead."

"What?" Harry exclaimed in shock as Lyra was speechless.

Brandt pulled out a newspaper and laid it on the table. The picture on the cover showed a large house or a small castle engulfed in flames.

There was a story below.

Black - Malfoy Blood Feud Over?

Ever since the annulment of Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa Black's marriage last summer, rumors have abounded that a blood feud would be declared. Many Black assets were seized in the aftermath of the split, including elves, property, and valuables. It certainly didn't impoverish the Malfoys by any means, but it was still a substantial blow.

At the beginning of this summer, Lord Arcturus Black registered an official blood feud with the DMLE as a way to keep law enforcement from interfering with any hostile action he made or was made against him. The declared reason was that Lucius Malfoy had attempted to murder two family members.

With such a declaration of war, we didn't need to wait long to see what would come out of it, and last night Lord Black, alone and without any of his retainers, paid a visit to Malfoy Manor.

We can only view the aftermath of the confrontation, and the Aurors have reported a substantial amount of residue from Dark Magic at the scene but no way of telling who used it. This is especially troubling as the evidence showed magical signatures of both The Killing Curse and The Cruciatus Curse.

In response to a polite request from the investigating Aurors, Lord Black told them, "No, you may not examine my wand. Though I'll let you all know that I am much more creative in the curses I use than just using unforgivables. Those are for amateurs and people asking for a one-way ticket to Azkaban. Death can be given through a thousand other means, and torture should be more creative than a single spell that does it all for you. Now, I'm about eighty percent sure that Malfoy is dead, as I managed to take a souvenir that he will have difficulty living without. Even if he did survive, it's back to Azkaban for him, as I'm sure, at the very least, he's violating his house arrest right now."

Lord Black released his statement while not appearing to be injured in any way, though the Auror report mentioned a significant amount of blood at the scene. Healers were skeptical someone could have lived after that such an injury.

When Lyra finished reading, she risked a small smile and seemed to relax slightly.

Harry asked, "What about Draco?"

"He was with his mother at the time; she returned to the country the day before," Brandt replied. He then reached into his coat and pulled out a large vial of blood. "We have tried to scry for his location with his blood to check if he is alive and turned up nothing. However, scrying can be blocked, so his death isn't certain. You mentioned that you could use the blood to make more pain amulets after Lord Black's confrontation with Lord Nott?"

Lyra stared at her father's blood, then replied, "It won't hurt him as much without Uncle Arcturus helping us make it. Right, Harry? We've always used the same tool that inflicted the pain to make the amulets. I'm not sure it would be the same without it."

Brandt shook his head and put the vial back into his coat, "Then we won't do it. We aren't messing with blood magic unless you're certain it will work properly."

"Does that mean Tonks and Alastor won't be with us anymore?" Lyra asked with a bit of sadness.

"That's up to Minister Fudge, as he gave the order, but it seems likely with Lord Black's declaration of your father's likely demise." Seeing Lyra's crestfallen expression, he added, "However, she is your cousin. She's family, and you don't need an excuse to spend time with her."

That brightened the mood for both of them.

"Now, we've got to fix your schedule for the rest of the summer. The last few weeks are going to be packed. We will spend two days on that island I told you about with the Vulkatross, then another four days at the Dragon reserve with Tristan and his friend Charlie. Then we have a few days back in London for school shopping, and your friend Blaise's mother is getting married, and we have been invited to the wedding. I have appointments for both of you in London to have new clothes made for the wedding, and we will visit with Tonks's friend Ricky. I helped him open a store to do what he does on a much larger scale, and Lyra has an appointment again before the wedding. After the wedding, Harry has a meeting with Minister Fudge at Lady Abbot's tea shop, and then you're off to school."

Brandt took a deep breath as if he had said all that in one go. Then he handed them two letters each. The first was stiff and colored like swirling white and blue marble. They opened them to find the wedding invitations. The subsequent letters had the Hogwarts seal on them and were opened to find three folded pieces of parchment.

The first of the three letters read:

Congratulations on finishing your first year at Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry! We look forward to seeing you in the fall when you begin your second year, which we are sure will be filled with as much magic and adventure as the first.

The Hogwarts Express will depart on September 1st at 11:00 am on Platform 9 and ¾ at Kings Cross Station in London, England. Please arrive before then as the train will depart on time.

Taking leave from previous years, Hogsmeade visits will now be for any student that has reached the age of thirteen instead of being in their third year. Your age should show your maturity instead of your class level. Any activity outside the school grounds, unsupervised by Hogwarts faculty, requires authorization from the parents or guardians of the student. A permission slip is enclosed for all students who are or will be thirteen in the coming year.

You will also find a sheet containing your final grades for last year's classes. Celebrate your achievements with your loved ones.

Please find your book lists for fall classes below:

History of Magic

-Schools of Sorcery - Global Edition by Various Authors

-History of the World Part 2 by Torquemada M. Elvin

-Statute of Secrecy - Full Text

-International Confederation of Wizards - Charter & Amendments

-When Muggles Attack by Mikhail Mazis

Transfiguration/Charms

-The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2 by Miranda Goshawk

Defense Against the Dark Arts

-The Essential Defense Against the Dark Arts by Arsenius Jigger

-Protections of Magic and Earth by Othello Vadott

Other

-A Practical Approach to Strength Training by Mattias Brzycki

Sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

The following two parchments contained the permission slips for Harry and Lyra and their grades for the previous year. They had received Outstandings across the board except for History, where Harry received a Poor, while Lyra had gotten Acceptable.

"How did you get better than me in History?" he asked his sister.

Lyra thought for a moment before replying with a shrug, "Hermione helped me."

"She helped me too…" Harry trailed off.

Brandt looked through their letters, "Looks like there will be a lot of History work next year. I wasn't aware they had found a replacement for that ghost that somehow got killed. However, with all these texts, it looks like someone has assigned reading material."

"It's not fair that Harry gets to go to Hogsmeade before me," Lyra complained. "I have to wait till my birthday in April."

"You'll still get to go for your knife training," Brandt told her. "If you want, we can swing through some shops while we're there."

Lyra grumbled, "I still can't go with anyone else…"

"Who should I get to sign it?" Harry asked. "You're kind of our guardian, but we didn't have anyone before last year. Should we get Charlie to do it?"

Brandt smiled, "Sure, get him to give a handprint. I'll ensure it gets approved if they give you any problems at school, I'll ensure it gets approved."

Lyra was busy re-reading her letter and commented, "It says here that next year will be filled with as much magic and adventure as the first year. I could do with a little bit less."

Brandt and Harry nodded in agreement.

The Bloodhounds worked over the next day to get settled in, but Harry and Lyra didn't want to give a tour until the monsoon had passed. One empty cabin was dedicated to them, and they started unloading their belongings. When Nenita Estrada, Nestor's girlfriend, showed up, she jumped at the opportunity to embed herself with a group of Bloodhounds, especially one as diverse as this one. Nestor's friend in Naval Law Enforcement was a bit skittish around them.

He kept a significant distance between himself and the wolves and an even larger one between himself and the Veela, Madeline. She started to treat it like a game, trying to get close to him when he wasn't looking, only for him to realize where she was and have him run away somewhere else. Cesario repeatedly apologized to Harry and Lyra that he hadn't yet been able to start the investigation. He ran into everything from denying international authorization forms because of a lack of recognition of the island to just having meetings canceled or reassigned to department heads who had retired or died years ago.

Oddly enough, Brandt seemed unconcerned and asked Harry and Lyra to give permission for his people to build the port by the garbage beach during this school year for his people to dock the Naval Law Enforcement Ship. The look on Brandt's face said he was planning something but couldn't say more, so after a bit of reluctance and some coaching from Brandt, Harry and Lyra told him that it was a gesture of good faith that they would not hinder the Bloodhounds in their work to uncover the truth.

The mysterious wizard with them seemed to flit here and there, talking with Than and Thao a great deal and examining soil and plant samples near the beach. Something about the man was tickling Harry's brain, but he continued to dismiss the feeling as unimportant. The mermen weren't seen much except in the evening when they would show up on the dock to deliver reports to Lennix.

The Dwarves had disappeared moments after the introductions were done. They had brought a large chest with them that was apparently a gift for The Giver and being used to gain an audience with him like he was some kind of royalty. They had also pretty much adopted the Mongolian Dwarf into their crew which seemed to give him a considerable boost of self-esteem. They had given him clothes and some crystals that had some significance to all of them. Both Harry and Lyra would try to get some explanations after the monsoon.

Harry and Lyra had been preparing for the coming rain with their family. All of the hidden were gathering food, but due to the advancements they had already put into the village, they didn't have to do much. Much of the work was trying to fortify the nest for Flare, Ivy, and their children. Kailee ended up doing a lot of work by literally raising the nest on a stalk of earth twenty feet into the air as Harry and Lyra transfigured bamboo into metal to reinforce the sides. The whole nest now looked like an obscure mushroom with vertical stripes on the long stalk made of silver. They could run ropes from the nest directly into the trees from that height.

The morning of the monsoon, even before the sun had risen, they could see the darkness on the horizon of the massive clouds that would be on top of them by midday. Harry and Lyra always enjoyed the part of gathering up the strange lemur that would ward off the rain, but in recent years, they had left the task to the youngest of the Hidden, who were big enough to capture it. Newt Scamander had called it a Kolago and had said he would try to make it to the island to see how this creature, which he didn't think was magical, would ward off the rains. They hadn't heard from him at all so far this summer, though, with the year ending the way it had, it wasn't surprising.

The whole tribe of Hidden came out to watch as the younger members competed to try to be the ones to catch the wily flying lemur. It took nearly an hour before it was pinned down and contained gently in banana leaves by two of the older children in the hunting party. Charlie gave them mashed-up custard apples and a handful of flobberworms as a reward, taking the lemur simultaneously.

The entire tribe ventured down to the beach, except for a few mothers who still had hairless children who clung to them. The Giver, along with the Dwarves, came out as well. Harry and Lyra immediately noticed a difference in The Giver's staff. It now had little baubles made of metal and crystals hanging from the antlers. However, the most significant change was now a mask of some sort made of a white material that looked like the face of the Lampong with small gems in it, placed on the front.

The large group watched with interest as Charlie held the wrapped-up lemur up in the air towards the approaching storm, squeezing it a bit until it chirped and squealed. As soon as it made its noise, the entire tribe, including Harry and Lyra, screamed and called out as well. They moved down the beach a bit and repeated the squeeze and call, with many of the others joining in on yelling out along with the tribe. Brandt was walking along with a blue recording orb hovering next to him and taking pictures as well. By the fourth stop, everyone was calling out along with the tribe. They walked up and down the beach twice before returning to the starting point, where Charlie provided food and drinks to the still-bound lemur before releasing it back into the trees.

Once that blessing had been finished, Harry and Lyra ran off with the tribe to ensure they were all secured in their trees to wait out the steady rain that was approaching.

During the second day of the heavy rain, Harry and Lyra were huddled up in one of the trees eating snacks and watching as the younger Hidden jumped out into the downpour and back to dry off. Harry remembered his first monsoon, where they were all huddled up in one canopy for warmth as rain dripped through the leaves in the poorly constructed shelters of mud and leaves.

Now they had proper roofs made from discarded plastic sheeting, making sure no water leaked in. With stockpiles of food and an arid environment, the tribe was spread out to as many trees as they usually lived. Despite leading his own village, Mango and his tribe had returned to this one for the monsoon two years in a row now. Despite their independence, it was nice for the whole family to be together for this big event.

Charlie occasionally leaped out of the tree and grabbed onto the large, seeing staff where his eyes would glow for a moment before jumping back in. Each time he came back, he would sign [Crocodiles], then give a strange look and make some noises to Whispers, who would look to Harry and Lyra and repeat the message in English.

Crocodiles were nothing new. Every year, one or two of the giant saltwater beasts would come onto the flooded island looking for food. The Hidden would just stay in their trees and occasionally throw rocks or fruit at them from the safety of their higher ground. Something about the situation now was different… but what?

When the first crocodile came into the village, it was greeted the same way as usual. The younger Hidden threw rocks at it that they had gathered in the weeks prior while it looked around for its attacker. Then a second came into the clearing… and a third… and a fourth.

Suddenly Harry felt a pang of panic in his mind. It took him a moment to realize it was coming from the bond he shared with Flare.

"Something is wrong," he told Lyra. "I need to go to Flare's nest. Stay here, be ready to fight."

She readied her staff and wand as Harry mounted his broom and took off into the rain. It was a short flight to Flare's nest, but when he arrived, he didn't know what he was looking at. At the base of the tower that had been built for the nest, another two crocodiles were swimming around the bottom. However, what was on top was what drew Harry's attention.

There was some sort of creature with the body of a crocodile but with longer arms and legs that had some kind of fleshy membrane between them, similar to the Kolago flying lemur. The head was almost like a crocodile, except the mouth was a lot shorter and had a long tongue that was sticking down into the nest from above.

Whatever it was, Flare was inside the nest with his family, and Harry could feel he was afraid and was engaged in attacking from inside. After staring at this monstrosity for a few seconds, Harry readied his staff and flew straight for it.

The antler pierced its side and knocked it down to the ground as it gave off a terrible-sounding scream. As soon as it hit the water, it seemed to shift into a crocodile completely and dove under the surface, only to pop out a second later at a terrifying speed, screaming the whole time. As soon as it was airborne, the body shifted back into the creature Harry had seen before, caught the wind in its skin flaps, and flew towards Harry.

Startled, he dropped his staff but avoided the flying creature and spun to face it, controlling the broom with his knees while pulling his wand from the holster and shooting bolts of magic towards the beast, knocking it into a tree where it grabbed onto the branches and lept towards him again. While it was in mid-flight, Harry cast two cutting jinxes toward its skin flaps that supported its flight. One of them tore slightly, and it fell back into the water below.

Focusing his willpower, the staff jumped out of the water and back into his hands as he holstered his wand. As he watched the surface, he saw a slight disturbance just before the creature launched itself back out. Aiming his staff, he flew his broom straight at it and pierced it straight through the neck with the antler. There was a gurgling noise as it tried to scream but couldn't before it fell back into the water.

He had no idea what had just happened and looked at the two other crocodiles floating at the bottom of the nest. Not wanting to take any chances, Harry powered up a focused magical blast at the head of each one from his staff and killed them both. As soon as he had done so, he heard the hideous screams of another creature closer to the beach. Turning his broom, he shot off in that direction.

Almost to the beach, he arrived at a raised patch of land where Lennix and Ivan were fighting two of the creatures. Lennix had a wand and was firing red and purple spells at the flying creature as it soared around them, while Ivan was holding the other in a body lock facing away from him. It was slightly bigger than him and was trying to kick off the ground to knock them both over while its long tongue was flailing around. It was long enough to reach behind its own head and whip at Ivan's face, with everything it touched sizzling like it was coated with acid. Half of the giant werewolf's face had melted off as he tried to rip the limbs from the reptilian creature.

Seeing that Ivan needed more help, Harry shot towards him and brained the creature with the antler on his staff, knocking it out. As it was no longer struggling, Ivan howled and ripped the creature in half, from shoulder to waist, throwing the pieces into the water. Harry landed on the patch of dry land and joined Lennix in firing spells at the other flying around them. As it dodged one of Harry's spells, one of the werewolf's purple spells sunk into its body, followed by what seemed like numerous organs ruptured and exploded from inside as it fell into the water.

"What the fuck are these things?" Ivan yelled as he pulled what was probably a claw out of his side.

Harry had a quick flashback to the previous year and remembered one of the creatures that Newt Scamander had been looking for.

"They're Balbal," Harry said with raised eyebrows. "I think they are, at least. Any crocodiles here could be them; they can shift between forms."

There were several other screams he could hear from places nearby belonging to the creatures, so he took off without further explanation and headed for Lyra. The smell of burned flesh reached him before he arrived, and he barely saw one of the creatures burning before it turned to ash, like a giant scaly moth that had gotten too close to a campfire as it plummeted into the water. Lyra was standing on the edge of the canopy where they had been holed up for the monsoon with her hair ablaze, and staff and wand pointed at him approaching.

"They're everywhere!" Harry exclaimed. "Kill any crocodile you see. Guard the tribe here. I'm going to check on the others." He waited for a nod from his sister before flying off towards the beach.

He arrived in a warzone. All the wizards were standing across the beach, firing spells at dozens of the creatures and even more crocodiles pouring out of the ocean. Tonks had grown to be about ten feet tall, though she was quite skinny. She was using her height to call out when a crocodile started to shift into a Balbal. Nestor had his people working together to animate the sand on the beach into walls and various creatures to attack them as he dealt more lethal blows. Moody was just unleashing torrents of powerful magic, every spell causing death.

In the water, Harry could see the water was stained red as a merman occasionally jumped out of the water with a large trident, stabbing it into one of the submerged creatures. Over the water was a woman with the face of a bird and wings sprouting from her back. She was shrieking as balls of fire were conjured in her hands and thrown at the creatures below her. The water did not extinguish the flames as they continued to burn on the water's surface. Just as one of the strange creatures started getting past the wizards towards the end of the beach, the mysterious wizard appeared in a puff of gray smoke and stabbed it through the chest with a curved sword before disappearing again in the same way.

Harry joined the wizards, not wasting time with words, and started firing off large pulses of magic with his staff that didn't do much damage but gave the others much-needed distance with less worry that they were about to be overrun. As more started coming out of the water, the dark shadows of The Giver erupted from the forest, turning into tentacles and spearing three crocodiles and a Balbal before tossing them and repeating the motions. After another few minutes of this, there was silence.

Harry looked around, "Where's Brandt?" he asked, not seeing the Steward.

"He went looking for Lyra when a large group of them broke our line," Moody replied wearily.

Tonks called out, "Search parties! Nestor! Take your people and search the east side of the island and the garbage beach for more of them. They seemed to be coming ashore here, but you never know. Tristan, take Madeline and head that way," she pointed inland toward the Hoohoo volcano. "Moody, you take that guy and go to the West side and Mango's village." She gestured towards where the mysterious wizard was catching his breath. "I'm going with Harry to find Brandt and check on Lyra."

With all their assignments, Tonks pulled out a broom and took off with Harry toward the village. When they got halfway there, a purple and yellow-tinged spell splashed against a trunk next to them which caused the entire tree to rot and collapse. Arriving into a clearing where the Hidden planted their berry bushes, Brandt was standing on the surface of waist-deep water, with his boots glowing at the base. He had a sickly yellow and silver spell being held on one of the creatures flying above him as it screamed and convulsed in pain.

After two more seconds of holding the spell, he let the creature fall into the water and called out, "Avada Kedavra!"

A bolt of pale green light hit the creature, and all twitching stopped instantly. Brandt was surrounded by corpses of nearly thirty crocodiles and creatures, though it was impossible to tell how many belonged to which species due to the carnage.

He saw Tonks and Harry and turned, showing one of his sleeves had been ripped off and his skin slightly melted on that arm. Looking right at Tonks, he said, "Remember, they weren't people."

"That's the last thing I care about right now," Tonks yelled at him. "Is Lyra ok?" she asked with urgency.

"She and Whispers were fighting them just a minute ago. They're doing just fine." He focused for a second, looking to the side, "She's still alright. Any idea what the hell just happened?"

"I think they were Balbal," Harry informed him. "Newt had gone looking for one over the winter break, but he didn't find it."

"What are they?" Tonks asked.

Remembering Newt's mini-lecture on them, Harry recounted as much as he could, "They can turn from crocodiles into those things. From what he said, they mostly eat corpses and can fly. They live with other crocodiles and make them more aggressive."

Lyra flew in on her broom, apparently having heard what Harry said, "That wasn't 'more aggressive.' That was something else."

"Agreed," Brandt told her.

"We need to finish the sweep," Tonks ordered them. "Brandt, take Lyra and patrol the village. I'll go with Harry."

"I need to check on Flare," Harry told her. "His nest was attacked."

When they arrived back at the elevated nest, Harry looked into the top as he heard what could only be described as a snake crying. He peeked into the top to see Ivy curled up around what looked like small melted snakes.

Harry saw Flare to the side, corralling the rest of the hatchlings away from their mother, and asked his familiar,

§How many?§

The sadness filled Flare's voice as he spoke over his mate's shrieks,

§Seventeen survived. Nine perished. I tried to attack the monster's tongue, but it hurt me to try.§

Harry looked closer at his companion and saw numerous burns along his head, and one fang had fallen out."

Harry tried to reassure them,

§They are all dead. The ones that fly had nearly a hundred killed, the ones that swim - much, much more.§

Harry could feel that Flare desired vengeance of his own and that his words had only let him know the danger had passed. Nothing would change that some of his children were still dead. So he left the nest and flew back to where Tonks was hovering.

"Nine of the magical cobras are dead," he told her. "I think the named one, First, was among them."

It was clear that Tonks couldn't comprehend the feelings that the snakes or even Harry had regarding the deaths of the hatchlings, but she stayed silent in sympathy all the same.

In the pouring rain, it took nearly two days for them to gather the corpses and pieces of the creatures and crocodiles from across the island and the waters around the beach and gather them together. The final count of the beasts ended up being ninety-three, and another seven hundred and forty-one saltwater crocodiles of at least two different species.

At the end of the second day, when the bodies were piled up on the beach, the rain picked that moment to let up, and a portkey arrived, bringing Newton and Porpentina Scamander along with the animal bazaar owner they had met over the winter break, Kadin Manalo. Kadin stared at the pile of corpses and let loose a stream of curses in another language that lasted for nearly two minutes before he took a large breath, fell backward onto the sand, and said one final curse.

"Ditto," Newt said, as his wife just let out a whistle. "This was definitely not a natural phenomenon. Balbal don't migrate across oceans, nor do saltwater crocodiles travel in such large numbers."

Kadin started poking through the bodies of the creatures and pulled one to the side, taking out a large machete and slicing it across the stomach. He took his wand and cast a charm on his hands, causing them to glow a light shade of blue, then started digging through the creature's insides, pulling out organs and setting them to the side on the beach.

"Mr. Scamander, take a look at this," he motioned him over. "Balbal digestion starts at the mouth as they liquify their prey, and they eat whole corpses in one sitting. These creatures all look very thin, and the organs are all slightly shriveled. There is no food in their stomach, and I believe they may have been starved purposely. What do you think?"

Newt cast the same spell on his own hands and pulled out the intestines of this creature. It was nearly twenty-five feet long, and he pulled it all through a closed fist with nothing coming out the other end except for blood and bits of water.

"Definitely starved. Someone must have just released this mess of creatures close enough to the island that this would have been the only place they could go for food. That would also be why the Balbal, and by extension, the crocodiles, were so overly aggressive."

"I'm interested in changing topics a bit," Brandt said. "We could be sitting on a fortune just decaying while we wait. Crocodile skin sells for quite a bit in muggle or magical markets, and it's slightly resistant to magic. Plus, I know of a few parts that are used in potions. I will put all of these under preservation if no one minds, and we can start working on how to divide up the haul." He turned to Kadin, "Do you know what Balbal can be used for? I'd like as much skin as possible for an experiment."

"No clue," Kadin shrugged. "I've never seen one alive before; I just studied them in school. I can bring in a team to handle the harvesting for… ten percent of the profits?"

"Eight might be better," Brandt countered. "Maybe we can check with Nestor's grandmother to see what she thinks?"

Kadin's face blanched, "Let's call it seven to be safe." Then with an agreeable nod from Brandt, he pulled out a portkey and vanished with a snap.

"My grandmother is a scary woman," Nestor chuckled.

"I'll be sure to buy her something nice for the use of her name in the negotiations," Brandt told him.

Ivan and the mysterious wizard exited one of the huts at that moment. That guy had been working on the burn on Ivan's face and had managed to get it healed to the point that it just looked like a scar along his jawline.

He pointed to Brandt, "Want me to work on your arm?"

Brandt nodded, then told them, "You're all going to get a bit of a bonus for this, both from the money earned from the parts and a little extra from the hazard pay section of your contract."

"I'll take it," he said with a smile. "Let's get you fixed up now."