Disclaimer:

I solemnly swear that the literature and works of the Harry Potter Verse belong to JK Rowling, Bloomberg and Warner Bros. The only thing I own are the one-shot ideas that popped into my head and whatever OCs I would create for them. This is a work of pure fiction made solely for fun, constructive reviews will be welcomed, flames will be ignored. Any references to characters in real-life or fiction are purely coincidental. If I could make money out of my ideas, it would be nice...

Mischief Managed Damn It!

Title: Liberty of Resistance (Working Title)

Posted Date: June 17 2024

Tags: Timeline in the 2000s, Defence Association Study Group, Bad Dumbledore, Useless Hogwarts Staff, Interference Order of Phoenix, New Guards vs Old Guards

Pairings (Known): Ron x Hermione, Neville x Hannah

Possible Challenges: Technomancy, Bad Lupin, Restored Frank and Alice Longbottom, Interference Diggory, Military Tactics / Equipment

Tags not to be used: Bad Sirius, Harry returning to Dursleys

It was the start of the summer holidays for the year 2005, and people were uneasy for many reasons that came about the previous school year of Hogwarts.

2004 was a turbulent year that saw the revival of a tournament meant for adult age students, set after the previous summer that had the Dark Mark appear at the Quidditch World Cup that caused much unrest among the populace.

It was a year that had an underage student forced into the tournament, his innocence thankfully vindicated by a magical oath and a Veritaserum testimony with an Auror the day later to prove it against the wishes of Albus Dumbledore. A fact that was noted in the Daily Prophet and made people question why the man did not want the boy to prove his innocence or why he was intent on getting him in, with insinuations that he wished to have said boy harmed.

It was a year of near-death experiences as the champions had to face off against nesting dragons, save hostages from the creatures in the lake, and go through a maze filled with monsters, and then ended with the death of one their own, and the other hustled away from the masses without anyone able to talk to him despite his clear injuries and reluctance to be moved away from the Aurors by the headmaster.

No one knew what was going on, and the different stories being told were not helpful. Some of which were extremely antagonistic towards one of the participants.

Hermione Granger was going to get the full story her way after two days of not getting straight answers from the adults from her magical life.

"Are you sure you want us to come along with you?" Dan Granger asked as he watched his daughter coming back into the meeting room where he was seated for the past few minutes after taking what had to be the craziest roller coaster ride in his life. Next to him, his wife Emma was breathing heavily into a paper bag to control her gag reflex. The two had gone with Hermione to Gringotts to get some details about something while checking on her bank vault, which involved taking an old school coal cart to do said roller coaster ride. The sight of the gold put into perspective the world they were in, but they were going to sit the next ride out if they visited Gringotts in the future.

"Yes, dad. This will only take a few minutes, and I think it is best that you are with me before some people come to our house." Hermione answered while checking the bag she was given.

"Honey, you really need to tell us what is going on." Emma Granger had the tone that all children would instinctively crumble to and give in to the urge of spilling their guts to have the punishment lessened, the effect slightly lessened with her green complexion and her diving back into the paper bag. Hermione however was too wired up on the situation and merely gave a twitch before focusing on what was to come.

"It is better to show you. That way we can answer everything at once." Hermione noted the goblin coming up to them and straightened herself before bowing her head respectfully. The goblin looked at her somewhat approvingly before speaking.

"Our client has arrived and will be entering the room shortly." The goblin spoke to let them know. "Coincidentally, your arrival was being monitored by some people and they are currently being detained by the guards as we speak." That got Hermione and her parents to look at him with wide eyes.

"Someone was spying on our daughter?" The tone from Dan Granger was one many would be wary of to avoid the fatherly temper aimed at them.

"Indeed. A couple of whom your daughter might be aware of." The goblin nodded. "Their names are Dedalus Diggle and Benjamin Fawley." Hermione frowned as she muttered those names before nodding.

"Diggle is the personal friend of Dumbledore, and Fawley… I think he was a sixth year student in Hogwarts when I started. Hufflepuff if I remember correctly." The goblin nodded at that.

"Correct. But time is money, and I am not getting paid to give out small talk." Hermione nodded and pulled out a pouch to pull out a Galleon to hand to the goblin.

"Thank you for your time." The goblin nodded and left the room, leaving her with her parents for the time being. The girl sighed shortly after while taking a seat. "This is going to take a while."

"More than enough time to start talking." Emma was well enough to walk up to her and looked sternly at her with hands on her hips. Hermione however shook her head.

"I will prefer doing this at the same time once."

Hermione paused as the doors opened to reveal two young men that were brought in by another goblin and looked at her and her parents. She got up and to her parents' confusion brought out her wand to aim at the young men who were supposed to be her friends. The two raised their arms slowly to show they were unarmed, before they pulled off the amulets hanging from the necks. To the surprise of the adult Grangers, their appearances appeared to shimmer before they changed to reveal a young man with red hair and another with black hair, ones they were more familiar with since they had met them at King's Cross Station in her second year.

"What were we doing that led us to see what was on the third floor corridor in the first year and what did I say afterwards?" Hermione narrowed her eyes on them.

"Ron and I were going to the trophy room at midnight for the supposed challenge given by Malfoy only to be tricked and nearly got into trouble with Filch since we were gullible idiots. You were there to try and stop us from losing any points for Gryffindor, while Neville was stuck outside because he had forgotten the password." The dark haired boy answered with a smile. "Behind the door that you casted the first year Door Unlocking Charm, we saw the three headed dog that Hagrid affectionately calls Fluffy. After running away for our lives, you told us that you were going to bed before we got more hair-brained ideas to get us killed."

"Or worse, expelled." The red-head replied with a chuckle. "Way to get your priorities in order." Hermione huffed but stowed away her wand.

"I was 12. Get over it." The two young men snorted before the black-haired teen looked at the adults. "These are my parents. You have met them before, Harry."

"Mister Granger, Madam Granger." The now named Harry shook their hands, with the red head introducing himself to them as Ronald Weasley. "I understand you have a few questions for what is going on?"

"That is putting it lightly, son." Dan raised an eyebrow.

"Well, I hope you are willing to wait a few more minutes, because we really need to move out of the bank before our tails come along." Ron spoke while Harry checked his watch. "We were allowed to go through the Thief's Downfall and put back our disguises, but that means someone will try to come here or go to Privet Drive since the spells would end here. I definitely need to get moving before mom finds out I am gone."

"So are we going there?" Hermione asked as Harry moved to the door.

"We are, everyone else will gather there as well once we get inside." Ron turned to face the door which Harry opened to reveal a goblin with a box in his hands.

"Good afternoon, Mister Potter. Your Portkey is ready for your departure." The goblin presented the box to Harry who looked at the contents with a hum.

"My thanks to you, TeethSayer." Harry pulled out the coin pouch and gave a Galleon to the goblin. "I understand there are some difficult people outside?"

"Indeed, Mister Potter. There are wizards who are being more idiotic than usual and are insisting that you are here." The goblin rolled his eyes before looking at him. "But then you won't be in the bank for long, so I can honestly say that you are not here once I go to meet them." Harry gave a light nod and a smile at that.

"Thank you for your news. May your enemies tremble by the sight of your axe." Harry then turned to the rest. "Okay guys, we should get going before the order tries something."

"Mum, Dad, please grab hold of this, and whatever you do, don't let go." Hermione held out the ring before pausing. "You might want to close your eyes right before we move and only open when I say so." Her parents barely had time to answer when they felt their hands get stuck to the ring and seconds later an odd pulling sensation around their navels had them wanting to hurl as they were bombarded by the sights of their surroundings being blended into some messed up scene of colours and their stomachs pulling off aerobatics inside their bodies. They quickly shut their eyes only to stumble when their feet hit the ground, causing them to drop to the ground hard. "Sorry!"

"See, Ron. I am not the only one that gets the hate-on by magical transport." Harry was heard speaking, followed by a snort.

"Everyone gets that on the first round, you just suck at any transport that is not a broomstick, Harry." The response and their girl's laughter was what prompted the muggle parents to open their eyes slowly while groaning from the trip. A hand was offered in front of Dan who gripped a little tighter than he would probably need, before another pair of hands helped to lift him from behind into a sitting position. Blinking a few times, he saw his wife getting helped up by Hermione and having her back lightly rubbed to ease the possible nausea he too was experiencing.

"Easy does it, Mister Granger." Harry spoke with a smile. "May I say that you at least have a better reaction to Portkey travel than me?"

"With how I am feeling, I am not sure if that is correct." Dan groaned as he took deep breaths to control his stomach.

"Trust us, you have a stronger stomach than us for the first portkey trip." The red-head replied as the two helped Dan on his feet. Now that he was on solid footing, Dan noted their new location and felt his nausea replaced with slight wonder. They were certainly not in London anymore, rather now they appeared to have landed on an island that spanned a few miles in either direction with trees growing on a gentle hill behind them and what had to be the most gorgeous looking cove that had a wide beach covered in white sand with gentle slopes at the sides and the ocean water being very calm in the place.

Instant teleportation.

A much more impressive display of magic than turning a table into a pig, that much was certain.

"Okay, let's do one more check." Harry pulled out a stone and pressed the etched symbol on it, making the stone glow a light green before they too glowed green. "Right, we are all clean. We should get moving."

"So it is done? Are we finally able to move into the hideout?" Hermione asked with notable excitement.

"Yeah, it was finally completed 3 months before school ended. Riptuck managed to get the place built to code and stabilised, with the existing bunker connected to it if we need it. The reason he did not say earlier was because of the ward requirements." Harry answered while moving to the treeline with the others following suit with the adults looking around with slight wonderment. "He also commented on how the curse breakers were challenged by the list of requirements you have provided for them. You should have seen the look of the lead curse breakers when they were asking for clarification." Ron chuckled at the expression on Hermione's face.

"It was totally valid!" Hermione whined at that, and her parents could not help their marvel and amusement at their daughter acting like a child with the two men. They arrived at a small waterfall that drained into a basin with several rivers branching off from it, and Harry did not stop walking along a path that was hard to see all the way to a cluster of rocks near where the water was crashing into the basin. To the adult's eyes, Harry stepped around and vanished. His head popped out with a raised eyebrow.

"You guys coming?" That got the others moving again with Dan now watching how it was done. He got his answer at the cleverly hidden gap that would be unnoticeable from other angles unless one was right in front of it, and even then it was a question of the lighting. He would have honestly thought of it being part of the rock. He took his time to walk down, not that it was hard since there were stone steps for him and Emma to walk down.

"Why aren't we given portkeys to go straight into the hideout?" Hermione asked while Ron helped to check behind them.

"It is because of your list of requirements that the warders wanted to make sure no one tried to create an unauthorised portkey to get in. As the first ones to enter, we need to set the guest list if you would." Harry answered as they reached what looked to be a hidden cave that was big enough for their group to move about with the sounds of the waterfall somewhere behind them. From what Dan could tell, they were behind the curtain of water as he could feel some of the water spray and could see a lake a few feet away having been formed from years of water being gathered there from the spray and the small streams coming through. There was light shining from several small holes above them, the largest source casting its brilliance over a rock formation that appeared too uniform to be natural. For one, it was roughly up to his chest height and reminded him of a book stand with the flat surface big enough for an old tome. And the second was its placement before the large pond like it was meant to mean something. Dan was feeling like he was a little boy going on an adventure and reminded of the novel that was published recently by Dan Brown. He could hear Emma saying the exact same thing out loud as she followed closely behind.

It was here that Harry and Ron stepped forward with their wands out and inserted them into holes that were evidently there.

"What was the sequence again?" Harry muttered before nodding. Two flashes appeared from his wand, followed by three from Ron's of differing brightness. A couple of rounds later and the two boys looked at each other. "On three."

"Going on two." Ron spoke with a grin.

"One." The two boys gripped their wands tightly.

"Two." They twisted their wrists in a manner similar to opening a lock with a key. And just like that, the sounds of something grinding sounded before the pond seemed to split down the middle with the rock bed moving about to form steps. All it was missing was some music and some fedora hats to replicate some scene from Indiana Jones, Dan idly thought.

"Watch your step, people." The boys lead the way with the adults following and Hermione coming from behind. They got to the bottom and briefly watched the steps move and the walls going up before they could hear the water rushing back to fill it up. They continued on with fire torches being lit up as they moved, the rocks slowly and steadily giving way to perfectly formed bricks. After going through another door, they found themselves in a room that reminded the adults of those castle trips they took with Hermione.

"Right then, we need to get the book for the names and we are good to go." Harry spoke as he walked only to be interrupted by Dan.

"Look, Harry? Can we have some answers now?" The old man was patient but his time in the military had him analysing everything going on, and it was warring against the part that was a father that was telling him that his baby girl was in danger somehow.

"How about we show you instead?" Harry nodded while Ron held a book open with a quill in hand. They watched as the teens wrote their names in first, each wincing from something while writing for some reason. The book then glowed briefly before they looked at each other and nodded. Harry then turned to the adults. "Follow me, I will show you everything." Dan and Emma had to give each other a shrug for the situation but decided to follow.

Thankfully, they only needed to walk a bit more before Harry found a big empty room that had a few symbols on the walls and held what appeared to be a very fancy looking bird bowl in Dan's opinion, filled with some cloudy liquid that was swirling about even though there was no wind in the room. He turned to Hermione with a tilt of the head. "Fancy showing your parents Hogwarts?" She smiled while walking over to the bird bowl, placing her wand to her head and pulled it away slowly to show a silvery thread connecting the two until she gave a tug to have it separated from her forehead. She deposited it into the bird bowl and pressed a symbol by the side, making the water and the symbols on the wall glow before the adults had to close their eyes from the glare. When they opened them after a while, Emma let out a gasp as they looked upon the castle that had the windows light up in the evening twilight while they were standing in a boat moving towards it. She then turned and cooed at the younger Hermione in the boat, making the actual one blush while the men smiled at that.

It took a few hours to show everything from Hermione's point of view, from her sorting to school life to the adventures she had since entering the school. Dan demonstrated the vocabulary of a military serviceman as he watched the kids having to deal with a Troll and the traps, while Emma screamed at her introduction to a dementor leaning over Harry as it removed its hood to reveal the face of something that had to belong to the darkest pits of nightmares, and then the dragon that made Harry looked like a toothpick trying to hunt him on his broomstick. When it came to the end of the tournament, the parents watched Harry brought back with a cup in one hand and the body of another young man held on with the other, and then moved away from the others by the Aurors.

When the memories finally ended, that was when the parents realised they were no longer alone. Around them in the room were young children to young adults to older folks having their own reactions to the memories, a good number of the older adults looking at the trio with wide eyes.

"Not quite how I wanted you guys to start the trip down memory lane, but this is but a taste of what has been going on in Hogwarts." Harry addressed the room as a whole. "In the time I have been at Hogwarts, there would be some sort of yearly event that I would get dragged in, and the last one was perhaps the worst to date. Your children and siblings have seen what has gone on there, both from my memories and their experience. We can view my past memories later, but right now, the more important memory is this." Harry did the same thing and soon all were seeing him go through the same maze seen from Hermione's memory, but in first person view. Then it showed how he and Cedric were sent to a graveyard that had others tensing at the moment with the parents not knowing why. They would understand why when they watched Cedric Diggory getting killed by a very much alive Peter Pettigrew and then forced Harry into a resurrection ritual that saw one of Britain's most feared Dark Lords in history.

By the end of it all, Harry raised and spoke out "The memories that we have shown are not altered in any manner. We are not obliviated and are not under the influence of mind altering potions or behaviour potions. I swear that the memory is the truth and have not left anything out in it. Thus I swear, thus mote it be." A flash surrounded his body before he did something with his wand to conjure up what appeared to be a stag made out of light to move about the room. Many of the younger children cheered at the sight while the adults murmured at the sight. Emma and Dan were certainly impressed with the woman actually raising her hand to it as it drew closer and marvelling at the solid feeling like she was actually petting an actual animal. The ghostly stag gave a look around before it disappeared into mist.

"I understand you have questions for me, and doubts about me." Harry looked to the audience before him. "Your children, siblings or companions have likely told you some of the things that had gone on in Hogwarts, some possibly more so to be allowed here. I and a few others will try to answer your questions, and if need be, will show you more memories."

"Is it true then?" One of the adults, a father of an upcoming third year Hufflepuff student, stepped forward. "That was actually You-Know-Who?" The few adults from the magical side shivered at that question while the other adults were getting filled in on who that was by their children.

"Yes." Harry nodded with a firm nod. "I know you have doubts, and I will do what I can to answer them."

"Wait a minute, Mister Potter." Dan had to interrupt at this point. "What exactly is going on?" He then turned to Hermione with a stern eye. "We have been patient long enough, but those memories are definitely we need answers about, young lady." Other parents in the room nodded while glaring at their children or wards.

"Allow me." Harry stepped forward to gain their attention. "Each of us have experienced lacklustre education at Hogwarts that is impeding us from the outside world, so we banded together to prepare ourselves. But what you saw in both of our memories? That is something that we have been preparing since our first year due to the decisions by people in high places who want to play god in their offices." He paused to look about the room. "I will not sugarcoat this, and your children know this." Dan could not help the shiver as he looked the boy in the eye, and saw something that he once saw from his officer while serving in the army.

"We are in the middle of a three way fight between people who have been in power for so long and would not hesitate to get people hurt in their struggles. They will not care for blood status or wealth, they just want the pie that is Britain for themselves. Our loved ones will be in danger of all of this, and that is something we cannot allow to happen." Harry took a breath before speaking the words that resonated with them all.

"And as of two days ago, we are now at war."

Author's Notes:

This is effectively a different version of a previous idea "Hogwarts Modern Warfare", focusing more on magic. This is also indirectly inspired by another story called "Amicus Protectio Fortis" that sadly has been dead for a few years. Essentially, Harry end the gang start up the DA in their first year, and later the young adults and children had about enough of the adults screwing them over with the effects of the past war and decide to take charge to save their livelihood.

I am just getting this out of my head.