I certainly have no rights to Harry Potter, but this won't stop me writing this story. However, you probably already know this. As it is my specialty, and as in my other big stories, this shows how things go if something went different right at the beginning. Please note that I'm not a fan of bashing and also don't expect the two main pairings to differ from canon. However, the path to them certainly will be quite different. I also want to try and subvert certain plots and things that became common in the fandom over the years.
Please note that due to the constant technical troubles of the site, the story is now also being published at AO3. The story will update every second Saturday until the story is done.
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Chapter 80: The Fires Grow Hotter
"So this is the French countryside..." Bill then took another look. "And to be honest it doesn't look much different from the English countryside."
"Oh, of course it doesn't ," Fleur said playfully with a giggle. "After all we are just across the Channel, not on the Moon."
"Good thing we don't have the wedding on the Moon..." Ron whispered to Hermione while they were watching the banter of the couple from a respectful distance. "After looking at the photos, it's not the best place for a festive atmosphere."
Hermione could only shake her head at Ron's antics. "I know we are all still adjusting in our own ways, but please don't offend Fleur's parents."
"Nah, no way I would do so anyway. I would never offend people who are letting us stay in such an awesome place," Ron placated her, waving at the big house.
"Though, having a wedding on the Moon would have held a novelty factor. The pictures alone..." Luna thought aloud.
Harry gave Luna an amused look. "Luna, have you been reading science fiction books? While I'm sure your father would love to have those pictures, traveling to the Moon is beyond magic."
"It was fascinating to read how technology was used to reach it. Daddy would have loved to print those pictures. Sadly, none of his readers would have believed it." Luna understood the irony of that statement.
"Something sounding too fantastic to them, even though it is the truth." Harry knew Luna understood the deeper implications of that.
It now was August 3rd, three days having passed since the moment when the trace had been forcefully cut from Ginny and Luna. The wedding of Bill and Fleur would happen at the 5th, and they had arrived early for that, so preparations could be done in peace. Since as agreed upon the wedding for security reasons would take place in France, it meant a breather for the guests from Britain after all the recent events in their lives.
After all, the normal drama surrounding a wedding was absolutely harmless compared to what was going on in Magical Britain at the moment. They had all arrived at the country home of the Delacours a mere ten minutes ago via special portkeys and were still taking in their surroundings.
"So, this is the house you grew up in..." Charlie commented, taking in everything. "Strange, I took you more for being a city girl."
"Charlie, girls like to keep some secrets..." Margaret reminded her husband before again tending to little Elsa, who hadn't liked the portkey travel that much and was very vocal about it.
Fleur however shook her head. "I don't mind. Of course I spent a lot of time in Paris, also due to Papa's line of work. Ahh, this house will always be home."
"Oh dear, and you are sure you can take in even more guests?" Molly sounded a bit worried that space could become a premium.
"Oh, a number. Though, of course most of them will only arrive on the actual day of the wedding," M. Delacour explained after having stood back up until now, looking very proud of the house. "We've been working very hard to ensure nothing will go wrong."
"Then he shouldn't have allowed Aunt Muriel to attend..." Ginny snarked from some distance. "Even though she'll only be present during the wedding day, I bet she'll offend at least a dozen people."
"Setting your goals low, sister-dear?" Fred wondered, giving Ginny a knowing look. "Remember the sheer abundance of targets she'll have, not to speak where the wedding is going take place. God only knows how many people she will offend before the day is over."
That also was a fact. While Charlie and Margaret had managed to not have Muriel at their own wedding - though Margaret's terrible parents had more than made up for that - Bill and Fleur were stuck with her presence. Most of the family honestly didn't want her to attend, but there was little choice in the matter. Even Molly admitted that Muriel had the ability to offend anyone in the worst ways possible.
George meanwhile scratched the bandages still covering the remnants of his ear. "Good thing those will only come off after the wedding. No need to steal the show from Bill and Fleur..."
George's sense of humor is steering more into the macabre ever since his injury, Ginny thought, feeling that the loss of his ear was getting more to her brother than he wanted to admit.
"Fleur! Fleur!" That was Fleur's little sister Gabrielle, who was making a beeline for Fleur, who stumbled when the younger girl hugged her forcefully. "Fleur! Pourquoi ne m'as-tu pas dit tout de suite que tu étais là?" [Fleur! Why haven't you told me right away that you are here?]
"Impatient, n'est-ce pas? Je ne suis là que depuis quelques minutes," [Impatient, aren't you? I've only been here for mere minutes] Fleur told her no longer that small sister. "Tu as beaucoup grandi depuis la dernière fois que je t'ai vu." [You've grown a lot since the last time I've seen you.]
"Oh, j'ai grandi à plus d'un titre... Regardez ça!" [Oh, I've grown in more way than one... Watch this!] Gabrielle then walked to Harry and...
Harry for his part all of a sudden felt lightheaded, then shook his head to try and get the fuzzy feeling out. After some seconds he did feel better, but was taken aback by Ginny looking like she wanted nothing more than to slap Gabrielle hard, giving the girl very angry looks.
"GABRIELLE!" That actually was Mme. Delacour storming to her younger daughter, looking mortified. "J'ai dit que faire cela intentionnellement n'était pas faisable!" [I told you that doing that intentionally is not to be done!] She then looked to Harry. "I'm sorry. Ever since her allure came in, she has been experimenting with it. I've forbidden her to ever intentionally use it on someone without consent, but it seems I was not clear enough..."
They watched her lead Gabrielle away - very likely towards a very severe scolding. Fleur for her part looked very embarrassed. "Oh no... Please tell me it was not too bad."
Harry for his part looked more confused than anything. "To be honest, that felt more like my head was stuffed with cotton before it went away entirely. I honestly don't understand... Ginny looking ready to slap her was the more natural reaction."
"To be honest, it wasn't." Now that it was over, Ginny looked unsettled. "As soon as she was doing that, it felt like every of my nerves was on fire, screaming at me to punish the intruder. Damn, it made me up and ready to hurt her. What was that?"
Fleur looked utterly confused by that reaction. "I can't explain this..."
Harry and Ginny walked a bit away, before they could talk openly in whisper. "Harry, there are not that many things that protect from a Veela. You think the bond...?"
"Looks like it." Harry then gave Ginny a closer look. "That also would explain why you looked ready to explode on her. Though it more feels like a new development... as if the bond is very invested in protecting our relationship."
Ginny blushed at the implications. "I could have lived without a relationship guardian..."
Watching the whole thing from a respectful distance, Neville scratched his head. "Any idea what this now was all about?"
Luna, who had taken in the whole thing with risen interest, looked fascinated. "Harry never before showed immunity to a Veela's allure. Fascinating. However, I most certainly will not allow that little girl to blast you with it for a test."
"Uhm, thank you?" Neville at times still was surprised by his girlfriend's blunt words.
"I mean it." To underscore that only SHE had the right to do certain things with him, she quickly led him behind a corner, where she then demonstrated said fact by practical demonstration. When both of them again emerged from behind the corner, they both looked much more relaxed.
...August 5th, day of the wedding...
(Note that all French spoken in this part is translated. If French people are among themselves, they speak French, but for the sake of the reader, and the author, it's all translated to English.)
The day of the wedding had arrived.
It was a good thing that the Delacour home came with such a big garden, since the sheer number of guests was impressive. There of course were all the guests from Magical Britain, but the Delacours also were quite important people in the French magical community. All of the guests right at the moment were mingling in the garden, talking while they were waiting for the signal they they have to walk to their assigned seats for the ceremony.
The selection of guests was quite colorful, though nothing could top Hagrid and Madame Maxime - literally. Those in the know knew for damn sure that those two after the wedding would be off to an evening of their own. An adult evening that is. Some hoped Madame Maxime would not forget to be safe, since otherwise she would run the risk of having to explain a pregnancy to board of Beauxbatons.
Up in her room, Fleur was checking one more time if she had put on her dress correctly while her friend Sabrina was being busy with her hair. "Fleur, why are you so nervous? It's not like he'll not be there when you arrive," Sabrina asked her friend, honestly wondering where that was coming from.
"I can't help it. This was all a year in the making and it's all going too well..." Fleur then grimaced. "I feel nervous enough to have sudden badder pressure."
"Don't you dare, Fleur!" Sabrina warned her friend. "It was hard enough for us getting you into that dress, so no chance you can sit on a toilet on a whim! If you really can't hold it, you have to squat on a chamber pot."
Fleur grimaced at the mere idea. "All of a sudden my bladder feels rather empty."
"There's a reason you were forbidden from drinking anything and me sending you to the bathroom before we put that dress on you," Sabrina reminded her friend. "Just relax and let us take care of everything. This day is for you after all."
Right then a giggle entered the room. "Oh boy, big sister is acting really silly."
"Gabrielle..." Fleur sighed, seeing the way her little sister was dressed up for bridesmaid duty. "What are you doing here?"
"Maman told me to tell you to not dare to come out of this room until she says so and Papa is waiting for you," Gabrielle told her sister, then took a look at the dress. "It looks awesome, but considering you can't go to the bathroom..."
"Do you have anything constructive to add?" Sabrina was used to Gabrielle's lack of a verbal filter. "If no, then better wait with the other girls, or there will be hell to pay."
"Do I have to?" Now the girl looked a bit afraid. "Ginny is still giving me those looks."
Fleur snorted, causing Sabrina to tell her to keep still. "Little wonder that she's still angry over what you tried with Harry. Though she also doesn't like overly frilly dresses, so there's another reason she's a bit grumpy."
"Lucky me..." Gabrielle grumbled while leaving the room.
"All done..." Sabrina said, picking up something from the table. "Now only this thing remains. I wonder why that old hag is insisting on you using it... Though what I have seen of her is highly unpleasant."
Fleur knew Sabrina was talking about Muriel and the tiara she was expected to wear for her wedding. "She is insisting and it's not worth the energy arguing with her. Remember how she arrived first thing in the morning and ever since then it's terrible?"
Sabrina did remember all too well. "Oh, I remember her telling me to the face that I'm plain-looking, even though my boyfriend stood right next to me. And then her reaction when she learned that Luka doesn't have one ounce of magic in himself. She however didn't expect him to throw her nasty words back into her face. That's one of things I love so much in him."
Talking shit about someone they didn't like - in this case Muriel - helped a lot to finally relax Fleur.
Meanwhile in the garden, the wedding guests were talking while waiting.
While everything was peaceful, Hermione had spotted something that could lead to a serious scene. After excusing herself for a moment and leaving Ron to a relaxing conversation with Viktor Krum, she quickly walked over to the Lovegoods. "Excuse me, Mr. Lovegood, but are you wearing the symbol of the Deathy Hallows in that pendant?"
"Oh, sharp eyes you have there and indeed, the Hallows are something that I researched a lot. Fascinating topic it is..." Xenophilus clearly held fond memories of his research while holding onto the pendant.
Hermione looked to his wife, but Pandora also seemed oblivious. "Haven't you noticed some people give you strange looks?" Hermione asked, trying to be tactful.
Xenophilius thought about it. "Now that you mention it..."
Hermione realized this moment that she needed to be blunt. "All right, to make a long story short, on the continent the tale of the Deathly Hallows is next to unknown and the symbol is almost exclusively associated with Grindelwald and all the atrocities he committed."
"Xeno..." Now, this caused Pandora's attention. "Does that mean...?"
"Yes, it would be seen the same as if you were proudly showing off a Dark Mark. Also, many countries have forbidden the sign outright, including France, so you could get into legal trouble," Hermione warned Xenophilius.
Xenophilius for his part couldn't take off the pendant fast enough, stuffing it into his pocket. "I honestly had not known. I knew Grindelwald used it, but not how negatively it's still seen outside of Britain. What a shame to see a sign from such a good tale being perverted like that..."
Just in time. Disaster averted, Hermione thought when seeing Ron and Krum walk over to them. Considering his history, Krum would have exploded at the sight of the symbol.
Meanwhile, Neville whistled.
"Wow, is she for real?" Neville wondered aloud, watching the old woman leave to annoy someone else.
"That's Muriel for you," George said, touching the bandages over his ear injury. "At least this injury has one good point. Turning my left side to her, I can't hear her through the bandages. Good thing Angelina volunteered to keep the shop open. I highly doubt she would have taken lightly to being called a 'dark-skinned harridan'."
"After how protective she has become of you after your injury? Muriel would have been busy with finding her own scattered toes," Fred added, knowing of Angelina's reaction to George's injury.
"That was interesting to watch," Luna admitted with utmost fascination. "That woman is equally offensive to anyone she meets. An interesting character trait. Unpleasant, but interesting."
"If you say so..." Neville at times still was baffled by some of Luna's reactions.
"Is it any wonder she is an old spinster? I don't want to imagine the kind of man who would find her attractive," George said, remembering that even their mother, who held the most on Muriel, had her patience tested at times.
Somewhere else, Harry was having an interesting conversation.
"So, instead of going into some magical trade as your parents expected, you instead found a business partner and together you are publishing a comic book?" Harry asked Fleur's friend Marc.
"Yep, and he's fully non-magical. Right now we are keeping it purely professional, so the topic of magic has not come up," Marc said. "Working in Paris is not cheap, but with our comic strip being published in three different newspapers, it's no longer a problem."
"I'm actually reading said strip. Really funny and suspenseful, but I still wonder how you got permission to use the likeness of so many of your former classmates in it? Sabrina won't tell me," wondered Luka, the boyfriend of Sabrina who was part of the conversation.
"Because all of them are on the hero side. That's why you gave your OK, after all, to be included in the story," Marc reminded Luka.
"Actually kind of funny that you write a comic strip about magical warriors. That is kind of meta," Harry mused, finding the whole idea hilarious. "Though, why ladybugs of all things for the main character?"
Marc looked a little evasive, but Luka knew the story through his girlfriend. "He got inspired by that one girl in his former class who not only was really friendly, but also has a real love for ladybugs. She felt really flattered when he'd approached her with the idea."
Harry now remembered something from the Yule Ball. "Ah, now I remember. A ladybug-patterned dress is not something you forget. Uhm... but wouldn't the whole thing get you in trouble with the Statute of Secrecy?"
Marc snorted. "The authorities told me to go right ahead. After all, there are so many comics about magic out there, no one would blink an eye at it. No chance that will reveal anything at all."
Now that I think about it, that makes a lot of sense, Harry thought, wondering if there were more cases like that.
Despite the otherwise relaxed atmosphere however, some adults were having a serious conversation.
Sirius and Frank were meeting with some French officials who also were guests. While they would not misuse the thing for anything official, they nonetheless were eager to exchange information in order to get a better picture of the whole situation. What Sirius and Frank were learning was quite interesting, indeed.
"And that is how the French magical public thinks about what is going on in Magical Britain right now?" Frank asked to make sure.
"Oui, pretty much," the woman told them. "The public is honestly wondering how absolutely incompetent your Ministry has to be to mess it up that badly. After all, a terrorist group should not bring a government to its knees. There already is fear of that madness spilling over onto the continent, and no one wants that."
"Meaning the other countries are losing patience," Sirius concluded after reading between the lines.
"Very much so," a male official confirmed. "The other magical nations in Europe are already gearing up for the moment your Ministry messes up completely. There is no interest in having a rogue state at our doorstep, meaning as soon as that happens, there will be an intervention. A remarkable change from the earlier apathy, I have to admit."
So much for Voldemort thinking that he can just take over the nation. The world has changed more than he wants to admit, Frank thought.
-ding ding ding ding ding- The bell made everyone go silent and realize that they had to go to their seats, since the ceremony would start soon. After everyone had found their seats, everyone listened to the greeting from Mme. Delacour before then waiting.
"Man, look at Bill," Ron remarked when putting his attention to his oldest brother, who waiting at the altar together with Charlie, while Arthur and Molly stood next to them. "You would think he should know that there is no way Fleur would get cold feet now."
Hermione however decided to give Ron something to think about. "Really, then put yourself into Bill's position and tell me how you would feel if it's you waiting there?"
"Hey, I... but..." Ron started to stutter and blush when his imagination told him that he would be waiting for Hermione, and the idea at the same time made him feel warm and nervous. "OK... I understand what you mean."
Hermione had to admit, that imagining herself as the bide caused interesting feelings to emerge. Yes, she very much was not a traditional girl, but that didn't mean she wouldn't crave certain things that were seen as typically female interests. It after all never was about her denying her femininity, just that she did not want to be typecast.
Good thing Lavender Brown isn't seeing me right now. She would get the last laugh at seeing me getting excited when imagining myself as being a bride, Hermione thought, while still daydreaming about walking towards the altar.
"Good thing the younger children are being entertained somewhere else on the property," Maragret remarked to her husband, feeling that Elsa was in capable hands.
A number of the French guests did have young children, thus it was organized that those would have something for themselves on the other side of the property with a number of adults taking care of them. Thus, everyone knew that Elsa, Selene, Teddy and Jonathan would be taken care of.
"Either they wouldn't understand all of this at all, or they would be bored. Better give them something entertaining so they'll have a good time," Charlie agreed, speaking from experience after having been bored to tears as guest at a wedding at age six.
The music then started, meaning it was showtime.
Fleur then appeared and everyone ohhed and ahhed when seeing what a wonderful-looking bride she was. Her dress and how her hair was made most certainly made her look like a princess to be married straight out of a storybook. The tiara she was wearing was underscoring that impression. Her father was escorting her as per custom and then there also were the bridesmaids...
Harry's eyes widened when seeing what Ginny was wearing as one of the bridesmaids, and what had been done with her hair. "Wow... Though Ginny is not as enthusiastic about wearing that."
"Oh yes, I bet getting her into such a frilly dress and doing that with her hair must have taken a major bribe," Ron said, really hoping someone was making photos of this. "I wonder what the hell Mum offered for her to accept?"
"Oh, I know but I won't tell you." Harry added the second part quickly when seeing the looks he was getting. "Sorry, but Ginny threatened dire consequences, should I talk."
Now, that sounded like Ginny.
Ginny for her part felt that while this most certainly was exciting, what she was wearing was too much and her tomboyish side was very much offended. She had nothing against wearing feminine things, mind you, but there were certain lines she drew and especially when it was not her choice. However, she then also remembered the bribe her mother had offered to her so that she would go through this without complaint.
Mum must have been quite desperate to bribe me... but then again, she does know my sensibilities, Ginny thought, remembering how in her youngest years she'd even had problems with skirts (though logically not anymore). Though, looking at Fleur, I could imagine myself in her place.
Ginny knew however, that she should save the daydreaming for later, since right now she had a job to do. Oh, she also couldn't wait for Harry's reaction to her current outfit once she was close to him after the ceremony. Since she was wearing it anyway, she would milk it for all what's worth.
Bill meanwhile just was awed when seeing Fleur. "Oh man... If I weren't sure I'm immune to her allure..."
"Now, son, you know how I felt when your mother walked to the altar," Arthur told his oldest son. "And don't think you aren't quite the catch. Just look at the number of envious Veela being present."
Bill knew his father was correct, that there were a dozen Veela present as guests, and even the older ones envied Fleur for finding true love and such a handsome one at that. "True, their bad luck... But let's get ready, they are almost here."
The ceremony then commenced, and, to everyone's relief, there were no hiccups or blunders of any kind, meaning that rehearsing the whole thing had paid off.
It was a beautiful wedding and something good in a serious dark time.
...a scrap yard at the outskirts of London, August 10th...
Diane is going to kill me once she hears of this... Sirius thought while climbing over the board fence.
It had all started when someone working in the Ministry got into contact with him. While at first he had thought it was just for some official stuff, color him impressed when over the fireplace the man had admitted to working for the Death Eaters. That alone had made alarm bells ring, but then the man had admitted getting cold feet with recent events.
Sirius right away knew his kind. Hanger-ons and desk criminals who go into the whole thing thinking it will be smooth sailing, only to later realize that the whole thing is a lot nastier than anticipated. Of course, they only realize this after having committed their share of crimes, thus trapping them in a Catch-22.
It seemed at least this guy felt being imprisoned was still better than ending up dead, though he was paranoid and didn't want to step through the fireplace - though that instantly would have gotten him to safety - instead insisting on a personal meeting at a lonely place during the night. Of course Sirius was mistrustful and had reported the incident, but after some back and forth the fact stood that the man would bail should anyone else but Sirius approach him on his own.
Thus why he now was here on the outskirts of London, climbing over the fence of a scrap yard. He honestly doubted that the decision to not let someone shadow him was a smart one.
Having checked out the area first, he had seen nothing suspicious. Moody might be paranoid, but he's correct to always be careful. Still feels wrong to be on my own.
Making his way through the many old or wrecked cars, the dark wrecks creating a rather unsettling atmosphere, he approached the middle of the big scrap yard, where the man said he would be waiting. However, when emerging from behind some cars, he stopped when seeing someone lie motionless on the ground.
"Shit..." Running to the body, he realized it was the defector, and he was very dead with no sign of violence, apart from the look of horror on his face. "The Killing Curse! That means..."
Sirius tried to leave right away, but... -plop- -plop- -BOF!- His attempt at apparition failed, instead giving him a gut punch that made him fall to his knees. "An interdiction field..."
He should have known, since over a small area like this scrap yard, even a rather mediocre wizard could create one, if knowing what exactly to do. That it wasn't used more often was due to the fact that many had no idea how to create one, since that knowledge was being kept out of general circulation. He now had to expect the worst.
-krrrk- -crac- That sound made Sirius look to his left and he was confronted with the red light from fire. "Fire... They are setting the whole place ablaze!"
Indeed, fire was spreading along the fence and onto the nearby wrecks. To Sirius' horror however, he also spotted creatures seemingly made of living fire that eagerly were spreading the blaze. "Fiendfyre...!"
He knew right away he was in trouble, since while he knew the spell to destroy them ,there were too many of them. Fiendfyre also was a nasty spell, since those things only would vanish for real if either the spell was turned off, or the wand was destroyed utterly (which actually took a while in Fiendfyre itself). He knew he was in mortal danger.
"I need to get out of here!" Sirius made a run for the fence, but it was too late when he saw it being set fully ablaze and the fire was spreading, threatening to engulf the entire scrap yard. "Too late, I... Shit!"
-woooosh- Sirius was about to be attacked by one of the living flames, but he managed to blast it with the counter-spell. "This is hell... How do I get out of here?!" He looked around frantically, until he spotted something. "I have to risk it."
Making haste he ran towards the big tow truck he had spotted, reasoning that that it was massive enough to force iis way out of this inferno. He had just reached it when another flame attacked him and he barely managed to to blast it in time. "Let's hope this also works with car doors... Alohomora!"
-click- "It did work..." Sirius wasted no time to yank open the door and jump into the truck, before slamming the door shut. He for a second wondered if the locking charm would work on the ignition lock, but then on a hunch checked the sun shield on the ceiling and the keys fell out. "And I thought that only works in movies..."
He hastily put the key in, seeing that the fire was coming dangerously close. "If the damn thing doesn't..." -gigigigigi- -VROM- The engine did start up. "Yes! Now let's get out of here..."
Meanwhile, outside of the scrap yard...
"Idiot! Idiot!" Goyle cursed his partner when seeing the unending stream of fire erupting from the wand. "Didn't you listen to Carrow when he said how to turn it off?!"
"I... I honestly was distracted," Crabbe said lamely while having no idea how to stop the flames.
Both of them just by chance had managed to listen in to that traitor making a call to no one less than Sirius Black. The man after all shouldn't have used a fireplace in a Death Eater building, which had been very dumb of him. While seasoned Death Eaters would have brought the matter to their superiors, Crabbe and Goyle instead were eager to move up the ranks fast, and killing not only a traitor but Sirius Black himself looked like the way to them.
Both of them had gone through half a year of training, but to their disappointment they were only given grunt work and had realized fast that they were at the lower end of the totem pole. Despite being really dumb, both of them still were burning for more, especially to rub it under Draco's nose after all the years of him treating them like crap in school. They had jumped at getting the chance for their big break and jealously told no one else of this.
They had ambushed the man at the meeting point and killed him quickly. However, knowing they had no chance in a duel against Black, Crabbe instead got the idea to burn him alive with Fiendfyre. Only... Crabbe had honestly not paid attention at how to turn the spell off again, which now was becoming a serious problem.
"Distracted?" Goyle snorted.
Crabbe looked helplessly to his wand. "Look, I simply can't turn it off!"
"Fuck... Then get rid of the damn wand, before it burns us alive!" Goyle cursed loudly.
"Good idea!" Not wanting to hold it any longer, Crabbe threw it over the fence into the middle of the inferno. "Uhm, let's better gain some distance."
While the floor on their side was mostly concrete, there was no need to take a risk. They had almost retreated to the streetlights almost thirty meters away from the fence, when suddenly... -Boooowwaaaaap- "What the...?" Goyle started to wonder when hearing that sound coming from the inferno.
-CRAAASHHHHHH- All of a sudden a big tow truck that partially was on fire smashed through the burning fence like a force of nature, flames and debris falling everywhere. -screeetchhh- The tires made a terrible sound when the truck did break, changing its heading so it directly faced them, its blazing headlights illuminating them.
"Aaaahhhhrgh!" Crabbe screamed in terror when the truck suddenly drove with high speed towards them while Goyle tried to make a run for it, in his panic not even thinking about using magic.
Crabbe was smashed hard against the front bumper, being flung away like a ragdoll. Goyle didn't fare much better, since the truck quickly reached him and knocked him to the ground before the massive tires, which held the huge weight of the tow truck, ran over him, squishing him like a bug.
After that was done, Sirius stopped the truck and jumped out, quickly dousing the flames on the truck and making sure he was far enough away from the inferno. He had recognized two Death Eaters right after breaking through the fence, and knowing they could still attack them, had decided to use his ride as a weapon.
Looking over to the burning inferno, there suddenly was a loud -blom- followed by a flash of light and then the living flames vanished, though the raging inferno they had caused of course remained. "They must have thrown the wand into the fire..." Sirius realized.
Walking with his wand drawn to the two bodies, he saw right away they were very dead and not a pretty sight at all. The masks were gone, so he could see the faces and he froze for a moment. "Wait, aren't those...?" He had not exactly met them in person, but he'd seen their pictures often enough.
"Crabbe and Goyle Jr. Just as old as Harry but using Fiendfyre. God, this war is getting really sick..." First looking at the corpses and then to the raging fire, Sirius saw that he needed to do something. "I better call MI-X and the fire brigade."
Seeing a phone inside the tow truck, Sirius knew he needed help for this mess he was in.
o
"Sirius!" He had no time to react when Diane tackled him as soon as he had entered the safe house, worry written all over her face.
It had been a really exhausting two hours in which MI-X had been busy with taking away the corpses of Crabbe and Goyle before the fire brigade would arrive and then try to find a cover story for the incident - especially after the burnt corpse of the informant had been found. Thankfully, it all in the end had worked out, but he had gotten an earful for the dumb decision and he knew the Order also would hear for not insisting on hidden backup. Stupid rookie mistakes, indeed.
"Damn, when I heard what happened..." She again gave him no chance to reply when smashing her lips onto his, capturing him in a very needy kiss.
"Diane, I had not planned on that happening," Sirius tried to explain once he could.
"I know, but they also told me you had been dumb; you and the Order. No backup in case it's a trap?" Diane looked a bit disappointed with him. "The Chief Inspector would not have let you hear the end of it."
Sirius knew that his wife was correct. It was times like these when he also was reminded that his normal life was on hold until all of this was over. "It was stupid of me and it endangered me. I understand why you are not impressed with me."
"Yes, but I'm much more relieved that you have returned to me in good health." That said, Diane pulled him towards their bedroom door. "Sirius, I really need you close to me. Closer than close."
He understood that as well. After that scare she not only wanted him close, but more than that. Making love after such an experience might look a bit strange to an outside observer, but for them it was to re-affirm how much they love each other and that they both were safe and in good health. Thankfully, a quick spell made sure that their bedroom was enchanted that no noise could get out when the door was closed.
Steve and Kathleen slept in peace, undisturbed by the loud noise and cries of lust their parents made while re-affirming how much they love each other. Sirius and Diane were so eager for it, they simply didn't even think about using protection.
...August 18th...
The full moon was partially obscured by hazy clouds, but its reflected light still was bright in the sky. Compared to big cities, and no comparison to a never sleeping metropolis like London, the mid-sized city which was illuminated by the light of the Moon was quite the sleepy place. No one was on the streets and the only light coming from the city itself was from the streetlights.
However, the peace of this city was about to be disturbed.
All right, another murder that's supposed to be as public as possible. Voldemort could at least be more creative about those, Greyback thought while leading the strike team towards their target. Even though we're trying to spice it up, he still treats us like glorified executioners.
Granted, the use of the Wolfsbane potion made them highly effective shock troops during the full moon, but always doing the same thing not only was getting increasingly boring, it also showed how little Voldemort thought of them. Not that any of them had any illusions, knowing perfectly well how things truly were. Greyback however was no idiot and doing his own observations had seen something promising.
As smart as Voldemort thinks he is, he clearly didn't think through how much it would take to make a gutted Ministry useful again. Good luck then. As soon as you are bogged down with that, we are out, Greyback thought.
Finally, they were nearing their target and the werewolves stopped on the flat roof of a supermarket. There, on the other side of the street, was the dwelling of the wizard they were told to eliminate. The house was completely unremarkable and was not even protected by enchantments. It seemed the man was betting on his anonymity to protect him. Sadly for him, Voldemort, angered by a number of articles written by the man which ripped into the Death Eater cause, had found out where he lived anyway.
The house was dark, meaning its occupant had to be sleeping. Greyback couldn't help but to chuckle. Too bad for him, since it means we have the time to get quite creative.
"Grouf! Grouf!" one of his pack members warned him, pointing to the far side of the roof.
Greyback turned and then saw another group of werewolves standing there. One look was enough to see that they were complete strangers, but with how human their behavior was, there was no doubt they were full with Wolfsbane as well. Greyback however froze when he saw the leader of the group, then used his nose to try and confirm what he was seeing. The scent was quickly telling the story.
HE! What is he doing here?! Greyback felt his destroyed eye going through a spike of pain and he growled in anger. Fuck the target, this is more important!
Despite them having the numerical disadvantage, Greyback gave a hand sign that was clear and they attacked the other werewolves straight away.
Remus meanwhile felt he had to be half insane to accept this job.
MI-X had approached him and outright asked if he would agree to be part of an operation which would attempt to capture or kill Greyback - something which logically would take place during the full moon and thus with him being transformed. Remus had been reluctant to agree and even tried to back out by hoping that his wife would veto the idea.
Cue his surprise when Dora had scolded him to not use her to chicken out. She explained that she of course feared for him if he went to confront that monster, but letting Greyback roam free would only get all of them in danger once Greyback decided to hunt them down and get revenge by proxy. That realization had given Remus the push to agree.
MI-X had learned from previous incidents with Greyback and now on all three nights were utilizing all possible resources - something not possible if not for having access to the means of the government - to tensely be on the lookout for any werewolf activity on those nights. Tonight this had paid off and they had been deployed quickly while the reinforcements would arrive soon.
Of course that now meant having to stall a furious Greyback.
While they had numbers over Greyback's group, that was more than made up by how Greyback was trying to attack him like a rabid animal intent on ripping him apart. It seemed that Greyback wanted nothing more than to see him dead and screw anything else. It seemed that over the past three years Greyback's hatred of him had grown under the surface and now was exploding.
SHIT! Remus had no illusions and knew that his previous victory was more a fluke than anything, since Greyback was a far better fighter.
It already was a massive and chaotic brawl on the rooftop but Greyback was hell-bent on cutting him open with his claws, meaning Remus had to concentrate more on evading attacks than anything else. However, he already had expected that to happen, considering that it was him who had blinded Greyback on his left eye.
"Grrrahahrgh!" Greyback growled and barked, having incredible tunnel vision.
How much luck did I have last time? Remus wondered while barely avoiding his leg being ripped open. His wolf form was tough and could endure a lot of damage, but it didn't negate the pain, not the fact, that the injuries would carry over to his human form. There was no chance he could counter-attack under such circumstances.
"RAAAHHHRGH!"
That was the scream of one of Greyback's pack when several spells at the same time downed him. That ripped Greyback out of his rage when he saw other people move in on them. Remus didn't waste a moment to attack Greyback while he was distracted, causing him a serious injury on the chest. "Auuuuooogh!"
I'll gut you for that, but... Greyback was no idiot, he saw that the tide was really turning against them. Deciding he had to cut his losses or get caught, he let out a loud bark and then ran before jumping to the next rooftop. Some of his group followed, while others were overwhelmed and couldn't.
"Follow him! Don't let him get away!" One of the reinforcements called.
That was easier said than done however, since Greyback and his free followers were trying to get as fast away as they could. The chase went over numerous rooftops until they dropped down into an alleyway. When they reached said alleyway, there was no sign of them anywhere, which was especially strange since it was a dead end.
Remus then understood. A portkey...
On the other side meanwhile, Greyback was back in the staging area, having had the presence of mind to reach the portkey which had deposited them into that small city in the first place. He was trying to ignore the pain coming from his chest while counting the troops. He came up five short, which angered him to no end,
There however was something else he then also realized. Shit, the top boss is sure to hear of that one and I can imagine what he'll do.
Greyback honestly was no looking forward to having to explain that to Voldemort and now only wanted to hurt Remus all the more for it.
o
Even with the Wolfsbane potion, Remus still felt like crap after each transformation. Granted, compared to his condition after transforming back from before her got the potion it now was downright mild, but that still didn't mean he had to like it. It also helped that the wolf had become less problematic - perhaps having a mate and a kid helped to quell its unruliness.
He wanted nothing more than to go home and be with his family, but there was something he had to do first. After a very strong coffee to get himself awake enough, he walked down the corridor of the MI-X facility to his destination: the cells holding the five werewolves they had captured.
"Have they made any trouble?" he asked the guard.
"Well, ever since dawn there was lots of screaming. The usual threats, you know, coupled with claims that we'll all come to regret this and that history will see them as heroes." The guard shook his head. "Right now they also for some reason are refusing to get dressed."
Remus had a good idea what that was about, though he thought of it as utterly dumb. "So they would rather stay cold... Can I go in?"
"Sure, but the doors stay locked. If you really feel the need to talk to them, use the hatches in the doors, but the secondary fence in the hatch stays locked," the guard explained while unlocking the door into the cell tract.
"Injustice!" "We'll win and then you'll see!" "Open that door and I'll rip you into pieces! All of you!"
Those were the screams Remus was greeted with after entering the cell tract. It looked like the door was soundproof. The patrolling guards were trying hard to stay professional, but their annoyance was quite obvious to him. He even heard some of them mention that Karkaroff was easy to handle compared to those tossers.
Looking through the hatches in the doors, he saw the same picture of the prisoners being naked and screaming out their anger while the prison clothes laid on the floor, the bundle not even opened. He even spotted some self-inflicted cuts - most likely to then claim mistreatment. He stopped when looking into the final cell, recognizing the raging naked woman as one of Greyback's original pack members.
"Scream as much as you want, it won't change the facts," Remus told her calmly.
She turned to the door and Remus was thankful her was not fazed by her full frontal nudity. "You! You traitor! You gave up on our kind and comitted race betrayal with that shapechanging hussy!"
Remus held down his anger at the insult towards Dora. "Do you even care?"
The was utter silence following that short statement, the other prisoners having fallen silent after hearing that. The woman also looked confused. "How can you say that?! We are at the forefront of the battle to give our race the needed respect!"
"You don't believe that yourself." Remus was still not raising his voice, which only made his statement more powerful. "In all those years, Greyback did nothing to improve the lives of werewolves. Instead, he made their lives worse with his savagery and is even proud of it. He after all admitted that before court and you were there to hear it. None of you cared about the plight of werewolves. To you it just was about reveling in savagery and feeling that consequences no longer apply to you."
Silence was the only answer. "Your silence is answer enough to me." Remus was about to leave, but had to add something. "Ah yes, and stop with that race thing. Just because you got infected with lycantrophy doesn't mean you stop being human. That would be like someone with a severe chronic illness suddenly claiming they are no longer human."
The silence while he left was deafening. It was very telling that they had no retort to his words.
I really need Dora and Teddy now. This has taken more out of me than I want to admit. The next few days are for family only, Remus decided. He honestly had earned that.
...the next day, the Burrow...
The sky was a bit overcast, but no rain would be forthcoming. For the group of teenagers it was nice enough that they could find some refuge in a secluded part of the garden which still was located inside of the wards. There, no one would disturb them.
Truth to be told, concerning the living arrangements it felt a bit like school to them, so the transition had been easy enough. The girls had all bunked in Ginny's room, while the boys had made themselves home in Ron's room. While much tighter with less space, it felt so much like the dorms that no friction had occurred. By silent agreement the rooms also were taboo zones for any kind of 'adult' activities. Of course due to been cooped up in the house, they couldn't do more than cuddling and kissing anyway, much to their frustration.
Of course they also used lots of time on secluded parts of the property to talk about their plans.
Right now however something else was important. Hermione had just returned from visiting her parents and while she was good at hiding it, they noticed she must have gone through something highly emotional. Thus why they had retreated to this far-away corner with some big bushes hiding them from view.
"Don't hold it in. Let it out..." Ron told her carefully while holing her close.
Hermione knew better than to keep it down, these days being wiser about her own emotions. "I... I told my parents what we are... planning to do. I refused to leave them in the dark."
Granted they all felt crappy to leave their parents in the dark, but each of their situations was different. Ron and Ginny knew they had to keep silent until the day of announcement, since otherwise their mother would try to sabotage their plans. Neville's parents were at time too concerned about him and he felt he had to present them with done facts. Luna knew her parents loved her a bit too much and she thus she had to be decisive when the time would come. Harry was a special case, considering all the additional baggage, he would rather keep silent until the reveal.
"They... won't say anything, but... Oh God it was difficult for me..." Hermione didn't bother to hold back some tears. "It was one thing to tell them I volunteered to protect Harry, but to actually drop out of school to fight in a war..."
"They were scared for you, weren't they?" Ginny asked carefully.
"Yes... and it showed how much they love me," Hermione sniffed. "They tried... they tried so hard to understand why we would do that. Why I would do that."
Ron knew her motivations all too well. "You told them...?"
"I did." Hermione looked pained. "It poured out of me that according to Voldemort, people like me are little more than a servant-class, if not to be murdered outright. I sobbed that it not only was for me, but for countless people, for children... Then I looked to my brother and they finally understood. The realization has hit very close for them... And then they hugged me close."
"You are so brave..." Ron said gently while Hermione started to hiccup.
"You are very fortunate to have parents who love you so much," Luna said while Ron hugged Hermione. "I know my parents love me, but I could not find the courage to tell them like you did."
Harry for his part looked a little conflicted. "I think Uncle Tom and Aunt Verni have a really good idea what I'm planning to do, but they haven't told anyone else. I... I think they trust me that I will make the right decision. I hate having to keep it secret from Uncle Sirius."
Ginny held Harry's hand when seeing that he was becoming upset. "Understandable. He did so much for you and it must feel a bit like you are backstabbing him. But you said yourself that this is for the best."
Harry leaned a bit closer to Ginny. "Doesn't mean it isn't difficult, however."
"Honestly, I hope they won't be too difficult about it. I would feel like crap fighting my parents over it." Neville looked a bit unsure about that. "Don't get me wrong, I'll still go through with it. Thank all what's holy I don't have to directly confront Gran."
Even Luna looked a tiny bit nervous. "Augusta Longbottom is more like a force of nature." While Neville's grandmother had said nothing against her, she knew the woman was coming from a different time and thus had certain reservations about someone like her being in a relationship with Neville.
"That strong of an impression?" Harry wondered.
Luna looked a bit uncomfortable. "I do not fit into her traditional category of suitable wife for her grandson."
For a bit no one said anything to allow the tension to bleed off.
Then, after having blown her nose into a tissue, a now calmer Hermione spoke up. "This must be how being an adult feels. We have to make our own decisions and all the responsibility is on us. If it goes wrong, we have no one to blame but ourselves."
"No one said becoming an adult is easy..." Neville thought aloud.
"I'm not looking forward how Mum will react." Ron could imagine it all too well. "Dad... he'll come around if we give him a good argument, but Mum has become increasingly jumpy the more of her children are taking part in this war. It has only gotten worse after what happened to George."
"Wouldn't I know it. With the trace broken, Mum has become twitchy at the mere idea that her only daughter could follow the example set by her brothers." Ginny then looked distinctly uncomfortable. "She's trying to protect an innocence that's long gone. Our innocence was lost when we were confronted with Voldemort way back in our first year."
Luna looked to her oldest friend. "She does it because she cares. However, her care is... misguided."
Harry then sighed. "Honestly, this is all rather depressing. You think we should distract ourselves a bit?"
"Mate, I think a senseless but entertaining waste of time is just what we need." Ron seemed glad that there was an out to the currently heavy atmosphere.
They all were quickly in agreement about that. Just because they were adults didn't mean they couldn't do things just for the fun of it - especially if it helped to improve their mood.
...Black mansion in Essex, August 23rd...
The atmosphere inside the Black mansion in Essex was tense. That was due to what the Six had just announced to the inner circle of the Order as well as the parents who were being present for it. Interestingly, Dumbledore was not being present, instead McGonagall had come in his stead. Perhaps he didn't want to impose his presence onto them after what happened at the end of the school year?
However, while his absence did help a bit, what just had been revealed to everyone present still had impacted like a cluster bomb, leaving all of the gathered adults speechless.
Finally, McGonagall found her voice. "Please repeat what you have just said, so we are sure we haven't misheard."
"Gladly. We together have decided to not return for our final year at Hogwarts," Harry repeated patiently, knowing these news had come out of nowhere to everyone involved.
"Why?" That single word from her conveyed many emotions.
Luna stepped forward. "To put it frankly, Professor, our continued presence at Hogwarts now would be highly illogical. Why first train us to be to be fully capable of pulling our own weight, only to then fearfully lock us away at Hogwarts in the futile hope the war is over before we have to take up arms? A hope which is also illogical, I have to add, since we already had to take up arms multiple times."
"It's not that. Hogwarts is far safer..." Alice tried to protests, but fell silent when the girl, who she hoped would be her future daughter-in-law, gave her a piercing look.
"That Hogwarts is safe is a platitude. In each year, there was danger within the school. In our first year, the faculty thought it smart to hide the Philosopher's Stone in the school, resulting in Voldemort sneaking in and him almost murdering us. In second year, there was the whole affair with the Chamber of Secrets, which I don't have to explain further. In third year, we were under the constant threat of Fenrir Greyback. In fourth year Igor Karkaroff was actively trying to murder Harry. In fifth year the school was outright turned into a fascist concentration camp. And in sixth year, the school did not remove a known danger, resulting in the disaster at the end of the school year. Thus the argument that Hogwarts is a safe place is simply false."
The way that Luna had coldly stated those facts made it quite difficult to put forward any further arguments that they staying at Hogwarts was the safer option.
"Still, we can't allow you participate in a war..." That was Molly starting, but she was interrupted by Ron.
"We already are active participants in this war; have been for years. Also, if I remember correctly, four of us already are legally adults and Luna and me are no longer under the trace, which I feel means we are emancipated," Ginny reminded her mother.
"Thus don't even try to force Ginny to do as you say by pulling the age card. Try to do it anyway and she simply won't listen to you," Ron told his mother firmly. Ginny for her part crossed her arms, daring her mother to try it.
Neville then said his piece. "Don't think we are say these things lightly, and we most certainly are not doing it out of anger at you. We were forced to grow up much faster than others and we are ready to take more responsibility."
"From where is that coming from? You wouldn't make such a decision out of nowhere. Was it what happened with Hogmeade?" Sirius looked rather calm, as if he had already expected something like that to happen.
"Frankly, all what happened opened our eyes. It wasn't the burning of Hogmeade that caused it, but it firmly solidified our decision," Harry said, remembering his thoughts about it all too well. "To be honest, what the six of us were doing with staying at school makes no sense at all. As Luna put it, the school is in no way safer than not being in it. School is nothing we can't catch up with once all of this is over, but but right now instead of making a difference, we are sitting on our arses, doing completely irrelevant stuff."
"He he he, good! You have it in you, indeed!"
All eyes turned to Moody, who looked very pleased. McGonagall for her part looked unpleasantly surprised by his reaction. "Alastor, what in all names do you find praiseworthy in this?"
Moody's magical eye gave her a hard stare, bur he still looked pleased. "I'm impressed, because these teenagers have their priorities straight. Right now they are wasting their time in school, instead of making a difference. And it's indeed not like they will be any safer at school, Hogsmeade showed that all too well."
Molly Weasley meanwhile was a bit desperate for a way to turn things around, looked to Hermione. "Hermione, what would your parents think of you quitting school to throw yourself into an armed conflict?"
However, that did not get the reaction she had hoped for. "Actually, I know exactly what they have said. I talked extensively with them about the matter and while they of course are scared for my safety, they do understand that I'm not much safer at school. They asked me if that honestly if that is what I want and I told them I have to do this since for me especially a dark future means being a slave in the best case, but more likely being murdered because to the Death Eaters I'm sub-human. They then understood and, while still afraid for me, accept why I'm doing this."
"And don't even try to invoke that 18 is considered legally being an adult outside of magic circles. We dare you to try and move the goalposts like that and see how we take that," Ron added, putting his arm around Hermione's waist as a sign of support.
The adults knew this was putting them into a rather unfortunate position.
"Can you give us a moment? That's something we need to discuss first," Sirius said, clearly a tactic to stall for some more time.
Harry nodded, knowing that their families would need to be contacted as well. "Sure. We'll be waiting outside."
The door closed behind them and not a sound was heard. The Six quickly retreated to the veranda of the house, the warm sunlight of the summer helping them to relax after this standoff. This honestly had went better than imagined, since they had thought it would involve a lot more screaming.
"Boy, that was intense..." Neville said while he deflated. "Luna, you were awesome in there. You didn't give them an inch and spelled it out for them with real confidence!"
"Oh, thank you." A small giggle escaped her. "Though to be honest, I'm just really good at not showing how I truly feel. Underneath that I was uneasy about confronting them."
"You think they will simply tell us they know better anyway and try to wipe it aside?" Ron wondered, knowing that his mother tended to make short-sighted decisions when being afraid.
"Let them try!" Ginny said, waving around her small fist, before she leaned against Harry. "I hated doing that, but doing nothing would have meant wasting our time for schoolwork which we always can do later."
Hermione meanwhile looked aimlessly into the countryside. "I know they will contact my parents over this, but I also know where they stand on this. I was telling the truth, they can't expect support from them for changing our minds."
Harry for his part held Ginny close. "Let's see what happens next..."
Over an hour passed, with them not hearing anything - which probably was more due to magic cutting off all sound than it being a civilized discussion. Finally, Sirius appeared on the veranda. "Tempers have calmed down, you can come back in now."
"Was it that bad?" Harry hated putting Sirius into such a position.
"Things had become really loud and tempers had flared quite hot. Damn, I never thought I would see Arthur silence Molly with such a look..." Sirius then collected himself, while leading them back inside. "You put us into quite a fix, you know?"
"We know, but we won't take any of it back," Hermione said, sounding quite determined. "After all, the world is doomed once there are too few good people wanting to make a difference."
"Don't get me wrong, I'm actually impressed how you all stood your ground. Despite being concerned for your safety, I know why you are doing this. Since I entered the war effort right after graduating Hogwarts, I have no right to criticize you."
"Eh, and what is the verdict?" Ginny asked.
"We know we can't stop you - at least not without a hell of a lot of bad blood. A compromise has been found, so please hear them out," Sirius told them, looking a bit tired from al the arguing behind closed doors.
Once they were inside, McGonagall wasted no time. "The six of you put us into a very unfortunate position. On one hand, your desire to contribute to the war effort was made clear and the argument was made that your help indeed would be valuable. But beside the fact that two of you technically are still minors, the main problem lies with you, Mr. Potter."
"No, let me guess..." Harry said with a sigh, knowing what this was about. "As soon as Voldemort knows I'm not at Hogwarts, he'll hunt me down, right?"
"You know you are one of his primary targets, so that shouldn't come as any surprise to you," Frank reminded him. "We argued back and forth a lot and tempers flared a lot... We know, should we deny you, you simply wouldn't listen, so in the end we did find a compromise to offer to you."
"Since we know we can't stop you, we offer to you that you can contribute to the war effort... but from a more controlled environment. You will be sent out and you will do other tasks for the Order... though you will still be inside Hogwarts." McGonagall then held up her hand when seeing their expressions. "This is not meant to shackle you. It's to bring more structure into what you are about to do anyway."
The Six needed a moment to confer with each other, their whispers unheard while they were putting their heads together. The body language spoke of some strong emotions.
Finally, they faced the Order again and Ron took the word. "You know that should we accept those arrangements, we'll only the absolute minimum of schoolwork and otherwise concentrate on what we feel is truly important."
"Which is a shame, since it won't reflect on your true skills." McGonagall saw Hermione look pained, since schoolwork had been so important to her for so long. "Sadly, we are under no illusion about your true priorities and we accept them."
"And you won't suddenly change your mind as soon as we are in the school?" Harry didn't want to sound accusatory, but it had to be asked.
"And risk you leaving the school right away?" Arthur glanced to his wife, who looked unhappy with those results. "We do honor our agreements."
The Six looked at each other again and some silent communication was exchanged between them. They didn't look particularly happy, but the offer was more than they had expected. They honestly had expected to have to outright refuse to return to school.
Finally, a consensus seemed to have been reached and Harry nodded. "All right then. We do accept those conditions."
...two days later, English countryside...
"Crap, we are too late!" a witch cursed when seeing what was in front of them. "Shacklebolt, now what?"
Said Shacklebolt, a tall black man with a bald head and a single gold hoop in one ear, also felt like cursing but knew he had to take command and save as much as he could of this clusterfuck. After all, they had acted on information that a giant had been sighted in this remote area - though he knew in these times remote meant little in the non-magical world.
They had arrived, only to be confronted with the fact that it was not one but two giants. Even worse, those two giants were already being busy with attacking a small settlement, having worked themselves into quite the bloodlust. Buildings shattered under their strikes and they were laughing in a sickening way while murdering the panicked inhabitants who were trying to flee.
Shacklebolt knew that if they didn't do something, this would be a complete bloodbath.
I had a feeling this day would take a nasty turn... Shacklebolt thought.
"We go in and save those who are still alive," Shacklebolt told them with his deep voice. "Adult giants are tough, so concentrated fire and destructive spells. Brute force - we can't allow ourselves to hold back."
They knew the giants would notice them first - after all they were moving recon towers - and thus had to be ready for a sudden attack.
While they moved towards the rampaging giants, Shacklebolt again thought about how as a member of the Order of the Phoenix, he was accomplishing way more than in his day job as an Auror. Even before Fudge, the Auror department had been somewhat short-staffed, but Fudge and his horrific corruption, not to mention the Death Eater influence, had bled them almost completely dry.
Shacklebolt had seen that early and in his wish to make a difference had come into contact with the Order of the Phoenix several weeks after the huge mess that was the finale of the Quidditch World Cup. Of course, wanting to make a difference became way more when Voldemort returned and the Ministry went into a destructive denial mode. Now the mess was complete and even the top brass of the Ministry had admitted that the Ministry would not be for much longer.
The thought was disturbing for Shacklebolt, but he pushed that aside for the moment, since things were about to get nasty.
"Raaaawwwrr! Goupka! Goupka!" one giant roared, and the other one stopped what she was doing, looking to where her partner was pointing to.
"Get ready! Things are going nasty!" Shacklebolt called when seeing both giants advance towards them.
What followed was brutal.
They knew that holding back in any way would not only be dumb, but downright lethal, thus their wands spat all kind of highly destructive spells. Giants were know to have a significant resistance to magic attacks, but with attacks in such quantities that was not much of a factor. The attacks ripped into the giants, causing blood and flesh to fly.
"RAAAOOOOUUUGH!" If anything, that enraged them only more.
"Shit!" For their mass and size, giants could be damn fast and they had to scatter, otherwise risking to be flattened.
"Don't let up!" Shacklebolt called, then saw what was about to happen. "Crap. Bombarda!" On instinct he sent a high-powered explosion charm directly into the face of the female giant who was about to grab him.
"YOOOUUUURGHHH!" the giantess screamed when the explosion managed to blast apart one of her eyes in a bloody mess. Half blind and next to insane with pain, she was flailing around trying to hit anything.
My situation has not improved much, Schacklebolt thought, trying to get some distance.
-BLAAAOOOOM- Kingsley was saved from potentially lethal harm when multiple explosion spells hit the giantess at the same time, blowing away half of her neck. Unable to live like that, she toppled over and -brrrooommmm- impacted hard onto the ground.
"Ouuurrgh! Blaoguu!" The other giant, also sporting many injuries, foamed with anger at the death of his partner, however, someone else appeared, before something more could happen.
"Damnit, this is not going according to plan!" the new man cursed, having appeared from behind some ruins.
Shacklebolt knew who that was; after all, the man was on the wanted list and had infiltrated the Ministry for years. "Walden McNair!"
"You excuse me that I won't stay, but this is getting too hot for my taste!" He then touched something and not only did he vanish, but the still living giant and the corpse of the dead one as well.
"Portkey... split over multiple objects and chained together. The giants must have had their parts on their person," one witch from their group realized after some moments. She then looked around. "The first time we managed to confront giants, and we are too late to prevent this..."
Shacklebolt knew what she was talking about when seeing the injured and traumatized survivors slowly emerge from the ruins. However, before anything could be done for them... -ui ui ui ui ui ui ui ui- "The Muggle authorities... We have to leave and I sincerely doubt they'll believe the survivors about the giants."
They quickly apparated away, knowing the authorities would take care of the survivors. However, it was not the regular authorities that were arriving, but MI-X, having also gotten the information, though coming a little too late for the action.
They knew right away that their priority would have to be the survivors. Those poor people were not only injured and traumatized on top of having lost others from their lives today, but also under normal circumstances no one would believe them. Not only would it be important to help them, but to also actually believe them and carefully explain to them why they couldn't say what had really happened for the time being.
The leader of the rescue efforts sighed when looking around. Considering this, it's only a matter of time, before all those horrible attacks blow open the secret. Bizarre that we actually have to protect it...
...Death Eater dungeon, August 28th...
"You two are rather disappointing. You've talked big but now I can see that you are soft. I have my work cut out for me..." Bellatrix said while forcing Draco and Pansy to follow her down to the level where the dungeon cells were located.
Draco and Pansy said nothing while following her.
Both of them by now no longer held any illusions about Voldemort's cause. If anything, instead of molding them into obedient drones, Bellatrix' brutal and barbaric 'teaching methods' only made them realize what fools they had been. Everything they had believed in had crumbled to dust, only leaving behind a nightmare. Instead of the right cause they had only found madness.
Just two weeks ago news had come in that Crabbe and Goyle had bitten the dust. Draco and Pansy had never been close to them - had simply written them of as dim-witted morons of no worth - but it still was something different when hearing that someone you had been around for years was dead. It was chilling how little reaction the news created, apart from some actually saying they were happy the morons were dead.
It was telling that for all their talk of superiority, Voldemort's side were either acting like cold bastards or like complete animals.
Worse was, they only had each other. There was no one they could expect help from. Pansy's parents were constant sucking up to Voldemort and/or his inner circle, being all too eager to even sacrifice their own daughter to advance further. Draco's mother meanwhile showed signs of wanting to help her son, but did nothing, clearly being too afraid to do anything. Both of them were utterly alone.
"Don't dawdle!" Bellatrix shouted, forcing Draco and Pansy to walk faster.
They then had reached the cell in question. "I've kept this one for you especially."
They already had an idea what Bellatrix was about to force them to witness. At least she was not yet forcing them to participate. Not only because she was deeming them too soft to yet go through with it, but also because the woman was egoistical and wanted to keep her 'fun' for herself as long as possible.
The inside of the cell was little more than a dirty hole and the prisoner was chained to the wall. "What the...?" Pansy had recognized the prisoner. Despite the teenage girl wearing tattered rags and being covered in bruises and cuts, she did recognize her as a Hogwarts students from two years below them.
"Ahh, I see you realized who she is. This little mudblood here got withdrawn from Hogwarts, but that helped her little when she ran into one of our new recruits who recognized her. A nice coincidence giving me a wonderful training dummy." It was frightening how happy Bellatrix sounded when explaining that.
The girl's eyes meanwhile were wide with terror. "Arbgll- Ahrgl-agl-"
"Why isn't she saying anything?" If anything, these stammered sounds were some of the most disturbing things Draco had ever heard.
"Ah yes, her pleas were most annoying, so I cut out her tongue and then made sure she wouldn't bleed out from that," Bellatrix explained as if talking about the most natural thing in the world.
I know she's insane, but this just hammered it home even more! Pansy honestly wanted nothing more than to run to the hills, but knew she couldn't.
What then followed could not be described in all details; to keep their sanity they had filtered out most of it.
She had forced them to watch while she was slowly torturing the girl to death, telling them to do a service with a smile. What they could not forget was, when Bellatrix decided to use her trusty knife and they had barely stopped themselves from vomiting when Bellatrix used said knife to cut off one finger after the other.
She was about to cut the next finger off, when a grunt entered the cell. "What is it?! I made it clear to not be disturbed during lessons!" she hissed, sounding very annoyed.
"I beg your pardon, but the Dark Lord demands your presence." The man looked a bit pale, but it was not clear if that was due to Voldemort or Bellatrix.
"Why didn't you say so right away?" She then looked to the teenagers. "Looks like we have to cut the lesson short. The teaching material is spent anyway..." Pulling out her wand, she blasted the already half-dead girl with the Killing Curse.
Draco and Pansy said nothing. They made their way back to Draco's home and then into the garden behind the house, turning paler with each moment. It was only when they couldn't be seen from the windows that they let out faint cries of utter terror before vomiting violently onto the grass.
They had no one but each other in this ongoing nightmare. And the worst thing about all of this was, that they had chosen all of this in their arrogant ignorance and now there was no way out.
to be continued...
Next Episode:
"Poison in the System"
Notes:
Here the notes.
I felt before things get more and more serious, we do need something good first, which is the wedding of Bill and Fleur. I only realized later that the whole "wedding on the Moon" joke could be a hint at Sailor Moon.
Yeah,. it will be a while before Gabrielle gets off Ginny's shit list for that little stunt of hers. I also had fun portaying Fleur as a nervous bride while mixing in things from canon (though thankfully, this time Xenophilius doesn't offend Krum). I couldn't help but to continue the Ladybug joke here as well.
I have to admit that the scene of the scrap yard was havily inspired by a scene in the Clifton comic 7 Days to Die. Of course Grabbe and Goyle massively fuck up with Friendfyre, only this time that has deadly consequences for both of them (and not by fire).
Yeah, Diane and Sitrius have not gotten any quieter over the years when making love, though they now at least are smart enough to take precautions.
Greyback again. While we see more of his thoughts, we finally are shown that MI-X is now working hard to finally minimize his threat or capture him entirely. Didn't work now, but it's a big warning shot. I also added the scene with Remusd without having planned for it. However, he's correct, isn't he?
The big issue of this chapter of course is the fact, that the Six feel they can use their time better than fruitlessly sit at school. What do you think of all of it?
Yeah, readers told me about Shacklebolt and I honestly had forgotten about him. Thankfully, that allowed me to give him several scenes i nthis year, and we see him here for real the first time.
Finally, Bellatrix. Her methods, if anything, only repulse Draco and Pansy. That's what happens when one psychopath thinks that everyone else is a psychopath as well.