Chapter 9: The Quidditch International Friendly (Part B-Plans fall apart)

Date: 16th May 2010

Time: 1pm, Malfoy Manor

Hermione gathered all people in the living room including the new arrivals Harry, Athena, Aurey and Teddy. She gave the detailed latest updates since they last met.

"Well, we all know where we stand now. Luna has already informed Celia and Dudley. Do you need to say anything or we can now proceed to the venue?"

3 hands went up in the air.

Aurey was first, "I love you, Mom. Any person in your situation was bound to be scared. 10% risk is too high a stake when nuclear devices are involved. You make every crisis an opportunity and face every challenge bravely. You inspire me, Mom."

Harry was next, "Hermione, we all know you are intelligent and brave, but today you are entering unchartered territory. Today, while we implement the first phase, we realize that you are deliberately breaking rules while all your life, you have followed them like religion. Why this change, Hermione?"

"We change as circumstances change. Despite my insistence on rules, I did follow you and Ron on all missions and broke all the rules. When the purpose is right, the means hardly matter, do they?"

Athena spoke, "You sound ominously like Tom. Lucas would have a field day with you, should he get access to you."

Hermione smiled, "Perhaps that is the reason Tom wanted to protect me so that I do not walk his path. Let's move on now. I want a vacuum chamber audience with Aurey, Pansy, Athena and my core group (Harry, Draco, Ron, Fred and George), following which we shall directly proceed to the venue."

After 15 minutes of intense discussion, all of them proceeded to the venue, located on the moor near Bipsham in Western English Coast. Ginny and Teddy joined their teammates while the rest of the Order made their way to an ultra-luxury secure box. The carnival atmosphere made all of them deliriously happy. Children played with the fair's stuffed toys and entered competitions with prizes being renowned Quidditch figurines. Food stalls were wafting the smells of Hot Dogs, Ham and other English barbeque delicacies. Ice cream sellers were having a field day with customers of all ages and profiles thronging their cubicles. Hermione wanted to enjoy this carnival atmosphere forever but on the advice of Malcom, she proceeded to the box with the rest of the order. She merely glanced at Pansy and she left the box with Aurey.

The stadium with a capacity of 45000 people was filled to the brim and there was a thunderous roar of approval as the Slovenia contingent arrived. Hermione welcomed her Slovenian counterpart with orchids and both jointly lit the flame to open the completion. The announcer was a Quidditch veteran and he clearly summarized the rules of the game. This might be billed as a friendly but the emotions were running rather high. Tornadoes were the reigning champions but on declining form. Their club supporters supported Slovenia Dark Bears. The visiting team also had 100% national support. The rest of the people vociferously supported the Harpies. It was one of the rare few female centric teams including players, coach and support staff and aside from Teddy, the only other male staff was a former Auror veteran, who culled out their physical training schedule.

Needless to say, Harry, Draco, Ron and nearly every other male member were completely engrossed in the game as the hooter blew off. Hermione was however concerned with other pressing issues. Malcom told her to act normal to prevent suspicion and that she did. She tried to focus on the game and was soon equally engrossed. It was clear even with her limited knowledge of the sport that this was an even affair with emotions right on edge. Dark Bears had legendary beaters who tried to distract the Harpies Seeker. Their own seeker was a sorry person compared to the other seeker. Both teams had inspired goalies. Harpies had excellent chasers and they were edging ahead 60-20 when 2 bludgers connected with the Harpies seeker on the back of her head just as she was trying to grab the golden snitch. The stadium exploded with curses and even Slovenia supporters curled their lips in disgust. They did not need such dirty tactics to prove their superiority. The Harpies healer quickly remedied the seeker on an emergency advice sent by Hermione who knew a lot about healing head injuries. The emotions were running rather high and Harpies were given a penalty, which they converted to make it 100-20. In the second quarter, the game began to turn around as the beaters successfully focused on distracting the Harpies seeker. The original chasers were substituted and the new ones were much better at maneuvering and reading the game. After an hour, the score stood at 220-200 in favor of Harpies. Ginny and Teddy aside, she supported Harpies as the sole English representative and desperately willed her team to improve.

Aurey was watching the game from a secure VVIP box along with other children even as he was enjoying an ice-cream. Pansy winked at Aurey, cast a spell and left the room, leaving Aurey alone with other children. Less than 10 minutes later, he heard a silky smooth voice in his head.

"Good afternoon, Aurelian."

Aurey panicked, "Who is this?"

"That is not important, Aurelian. The important thing is for you to know that you are now under my power and for the safety of all your loved ones, you do exactly as you are told."

Aurey gulped, "You must be Lucas. Mom warned me about you but I never thought I would actually interact with you. You are just a big bluffer. Mom is protected by Z* officers and the rest of us by Z officers and all of them are still around me. You are a sneaky person and can't expose yourself openly. In all events, we are perfectly safe."

Lucas laughed, "You are an intelligent boy, Aurelian. Too bad, we could not finish you off that night and demoralize your folks forever. You have no idea of my intelligence however. The bomb is in a secure location. It is powerful enough to permanently destroy West England. You and others are merely triggers. The trigger is your force field and you know the fact that you are already exposed, else I would never been able to gain access to your brain with your elite security around."

Aurey tried another tactic, "It is obvious that you do not wish to kill me. If that is what you wanted, Teddy's simple spell would not have been sufficient to ward off advanced force magic. You want to use me as a punching bag to hurt my loved ones and make them surrender to your demands. In that case, your timing is terrible. We are already in the lead and the game will be over soon. Once the general public leaves, Mom and rest of my folks have ample ammunition in the reservoir to get me out and squash you. They are selfless and the only factor tying them down is mass Wizard and Muggle casualties from any weapon you might possess."

"I admire your bravery, Aurey but your game is up. The game is in my control. You know the Quidditch new rules well enough. No game is over till the snitch is found or after 5 hours, the aggregate lead is 100. The chasers in the Slovenia team are my agents and they will keep stretching the game for 7 more hours, ample time for me to carry out my plans. The snitch is a rouge ball, also under my command and neither seeker can find it. Already the press is billing it as the most interesting match of the century and all folks will stay glued for 3 days if they can, 7 hours is just a blink for them."

Aurey looked at the score, 340-340 tie for both teams. Had he not known better, he would have enjoyed this classic game. Every other person in the stadium was gasping and draining out their emotions. Now he knew he was in trouble.

Aurey asked, "How did you get access to me? What do you want me to do?"

Lucas said, "How I gained access to you is none of your concern. As regards what I want you to do, I want you to thought message your folks and call in your Mom, core group, Athena and Pansy. Since you do not know how to send a thought message, I will help you. Explain them that you and 7 others in this venue are triggers with their force fields. All of these people must come here and talk to me immediately. All security protecting them are completely ineffective. However, they may not listen to our conversation."

Aurey nodded and with the help of Lucas, sent out the following thought message on the wall opposite Hermione: I am under Lucas's control, Mom. I and 7 others are the triggers via our force fields. It is a remote location bomb capable of destroying entire Western England. He wants You, Your core group, Athena and Pansy to join me here at the VVIP children lounge and talk to him immediately.

Panic gripped the VVIP box as this message flashed. Malcom suggested that this message was a hoax but Hermione disagreed. The language was definitely Aurey's. The Slovenia Minister offered help: Tell us what you want us to do, all of our resources are at your command. Hermione thanked the veteran leader but assured him that they had the situation under control. All he had to do was take care of the paparazzi for the next hour to explain mass disappearance in a classic Quidditch contest. She did not want to create a mass hysteria.

He winked, "The press is my forte. All of you, just go and let me handle these hounds."

Hermione embraced the leader and went her way, followed by her core group, Athena and Pansy.

Hermione spoke as she was about to enter the children box's snack room where Aurey was located, "I do not know Lucas's power but at this point of time with 500000 lives at stake, I am not going to experiment. Let us go there on his terms and discuss things as best we can." Everyone agreed. She specifically told her security ring to vacuum proof further interaction till her next notice. Once that spell was activated, they entered.

Aurey was comfortable atop a plush velvet chair facing an East facing wall and with the sun setting in the West, the wall was brightly lit from incoming bright rays. Protruding imperceptibly from this bright mass was a shadowy hazy structure that was a face made out of gaseous material. 8 other similar chairs were conjured for the visitors.

The face looked at Hermione, "So Hermione, we finally meet. My favorite protégée thought about you before Harry killed him. I am Lucas or rather this is my voice."

Harry snapped at Lucas, "Get your facts right, Lucas. Voldemort killed himself from a rebounded killing spell. I did not cast that on him."

Lucas laughed, "Sorry Harry that was my mistake. Now you all must be wondering why I summoned you here. At this juncture, it is merely a display of my utter power over you. Hermione, your only raw nerve in your otherwise intelligent and kind existence is your children. Even I am not heartless enough to bait Erwina. Aurey's vulnerability has already ruffled your feathers once. I want you all to drop this covert game to capture me. If you play dirty, I can be much dirtier. If we are at war, let us play the gentlemen way. We challenge you and vice versa. I don't need the how, why, what or where. All I need is when. We will also openly share important dates on our end."

Athena asked, "Why should we believe anything you say? What is our gain?"

Lucas gave a low growl, "Athena, I am not playing a waiting game here. At this time, the biggest benefit is 500000 lives are spared that includes you, Hermione and all her loved ones."

Ron equally growled, "Do not be fooled with his smooth talking, Mione. You-know-who learned his manipulation trick from this master, so he is surely manipulating you."

Hermione shook her head, "We are in no position to play power games when so many lives are at stake. We are under his power now so we have no choice but to believe him."

Athena spoke, "Your primary foe is me. Without my involvement, these folks would have carried on with their daily lives. Pull me in to your force field and let things be over once and for all."

Athena stepped forward toward the spectral face much to the protest of others. Lucas stopped her with a cruel laughter. "I can't believe you, Athena. You are still in the mood for games. I know that with your expertise in force fields you will gain control over mine and try to enslave me in an open combat. I am no fool."

Athena smiled, "I admit that this thought did cross my mind initially, but I will never willingly risk so many lives. I am sure that the triggers have backup mechanisms that are independent of you. I can easily take care of myself and you know why. No one else shares my gift though and I am not a selfish person to endanger their lives. We are in war and we have lost a small battle but we must keep our generals alive. At this point, we do accept defeat and accept your terms. It suits both parties."

Lucas smiled, "Do others also agree?"

There were several loud murmurs before Hermione spoke for the group, "Yes we do."

"OK, here are the terms. Stop using covert intelligence. Your source now wishes for death but I am not in a merciful mood for traitors. On our side, we will also avoid dirty tactics and challenge you to an open combat. 42 days from today, we are planning a major coup, try to stop us. Now we need one date from you."

Hermione spoke, "180 days from today, at the Quidditch World Cup Final, we will render you permanently spineless and publicly display victory of good over evil. It will act as a deterrent for other budding Lucas's."

"Good enough, Hermione. I am now deactivating the bomb and each of you, except Aurey will have the 8 inactive triggers in your hand in 10 seconds."

Spot on 10 seconds, 8 triggers landed in the palms of the 8 members. Lucas smiled, "You are a talented group-Harry, Hermione, impetuous Ron, calm and composed Draco, Pansy's brilliant research, Fred and George's bravery and all led by the brilliant Athena. It is my pleasure to fairly battle against you. You are my most worthy group of enemies in 170 years. Pansy will tell you what happened then."

Lucas gave a bow, "Au Revoir, comrades."

Hermione smiled, "Goodbye Lucas, we will meet soon, fair and square. I am sad that you have handed me my first defeat in life but as they say, war is a series of battles and we will have our day."

Her shoulders slumped as she told her group, "Let us rejoin the match. Lucas, please take away your power and let the genuinely meritorious team win."

Lucas smiled and cast a spell. "I have now replaced the rouge snitch with the real snitch. Enjoy this lovely day. Goodbye and good luck."

The match was genuinely a classic. Slovenia Bears got the snitch after Bludgers deflected the snitch from the Harpies Seeker's palms. Even so, the scores were ties at 700 each. The resulting sudden death goal was won by Harpies despite a brilliant 5 continuous saves from point blank range by the Dark Bears keeper. Ultimately they could not handle Teddy's ferocious in swinger that he sent their way after he became a flying goalkeeper. The entire stadium was in ruptures and that was a sweetener for Hermione and friends after their experience earlier. Slovenia minister congratulated Hermione for fantastic hosting and said he held the fort well, taunting Hermione and her group for being unable to see their club side face defeat and disappearing from the box for 25 minutes.

Hermione and group quickly made their way back to the Manor because there was much to discuss.