Chapter 13: Homonum revelio

James had known that his son would be upset with him for showing up unannounced for his school trip. However, what he had not expected was for William to walk into the room and not even say a word. The cold, dismissive glance that he received from his son was enough to catch the auror completely off guard. He fully understood that William had been eager to go on the trip, but he had hoped that his presence wouldn't annoy the boy too badly…clearly, he had been wrong.

"Told you he wouldn't be happy with you."

"Shut it, Sirius," James growled under his breath, watching as his son hurried across the room to join his friends.

He could sense that next to him Sirius was glaring hard at him for his ride comment, but he didn't care. Padfoot should've already known that early mornings made him grumpy and irritable. What he needed was a large cup of coffee and some beans on toast, not Sirius's annoying voice in his ear.

From the group of students in front of him, James could see several sets of watchful eyes gazing at the group of ministry aurors who had assembled in the already cramped room. Most didn't seem bothered by the site and Ronald Weasley was even in the corner yawning, his red hair looking a right mess. James couldn't help but snort at the sight. It reminded him so much of Sirius when they had been in school.

"Alright, is everyone here?" Charity Burbage's shrill voice cut through the quiet room like a sharp knife.

Merlin's beard that lady is loud, James thought, stifling the urge to cover his ears.

"All here and accounted for," Remus answered from his place by the door.

"Good, good," Charity was looking rather flustered and anxious as she looked around at her students who had all gathered, "And does everyone have their wands and emergency portkeys?"

There was a muttering of confirmation from the group. Several of the younger ones even pulled out the required items to show as proof. Meanwhile, William just stood next to Ginny and Ron, leaning against the wall, a miserable look on his face. James felt his heart sink at the sight. All he was trying to do was protect his son…was that truly such an awful thing to do?

"And everyone remembers what to do in the event of…of anything going wrong? You all remember the signal to activate your portkeys?"

Another murmur of confirmation rippled through the group of teens. William whispered something under his breath that made Ginny chuckle and look over at him. James frowned and quickly straightened up. It felt uncomfortably similar to the bullying he had experienced in his younger years.

"You're not letting them get under your skin, are you?"

James sent a sharp look at Sirius but managed to hold back the harsh retort that had come to mind. He didn't want William to catch him bickering with another auror while on the job. He could only imagine what Lily would say about that. James quickly turned his attention back to the Muggle Studies Professor as she continued,

"And I am sure that you are all already aware of the presence of ministry aurors on this trip. Be sure to treat them with respect and do everything that they tell you to do."

Several older students shot the group of aurors nasty looks at this comment.

Probably Slytherin, James thought offhandedly, Too bad they aren't dressed in their school uniforms so I could prove my theory correct.

In fact, James had been rather upset when, in the briefing last night, Dawlish had instructed all of the aurors to wear their normal work robes. He had been assuming that they would have had to also follow the assigned dress code for the trip and had even been eager to get to try on some muggle clothes. But Dawlish had made it clear that their presence was to remain undetected by the muggles so any disguises were unnecessary.

If the muggles weren't going to be seeing them, then there wasn't any need to put on any uncomfortable clothes…at least, that was what the rationale was. In reality, James thought that it was a rather stupid notion. The entire reason that such a large group of ministry aurors had been assigned to this excursion was to prevent any death eater attacks on the children. He wasn't sure how their staying hidden would help to deter any such ambush, but he had to do what he was told…after all he was here for work, not as a worrying parent. Or at least, that was what he would tell William when he finally had a chance to talk to the fourteen-year-old.

"Alright, then I think that it is safe to say that we are all ready to go," Charity's voice still held an edge of nervousness, "You can all take our your portkeys and activate them when you feel ready. We'll regroup at the planned arrival site, right at the village edge."

There was a rustle of fabric as the students pulled out the small metal disks that they had each been given the night before. James watched as his son reached into his sweatshirt pocket when Dawlish stepped in front of the group of aurors. This blocked James's view as he heard the students activating their portkeys and vanished with a series of small cracks.

"Are you all ready, gentlemen?" John asked, his own portkey already in his hand, "The first group is already at the arrival location and has scouted out the village and surrounding areas. There's no sign of any trouble as of yet."

James nodded, taking in the information.

"I trust that you all remember your assigned duties and position from the briefing last night?"

There was a murmur of verification from the five men. Dawlish nodded his head sharply, looking satisfied.

"Alright, then let's get to work. And remember, if you see anything suspicious or sense that anything is wrong, activate your alarm so we can get the children out of there. I am not taking any chances, especially not when there are kids involved."

James grunted in agreement. As upset as William might be, he was grateful that he was getting to be present for the excursion. He didn't trust anyone else to protect his son. He'd made that mistake with Harry and he wasn't going to make the same one with William. He would die before letting anyone lay a hand on the teen.

James looked over at Sirius who was already pulling out his own portkey. Both friends looked at each other for a moment before each activated the disks in their hands, vanishing from the Hogwarts grounds.

Kingsley sat in the large armchair that he had transfigured for himself out of the small wooden one he'd been given. The bones and tendons in his legs were still tender from having to be regrown by the healers at St. Mungo's. Ever since then he'd found it tiresome to stand for long periods of time. The healers had assured him that this fatigue would fade in the next couple of weeks, but until then, he had been put on temporary leave from his more 'active' duties at the Auror Department. John Dawlish had taken over leading the patrols for the time being.

However, it turned out that 'being on leave' meant that he, instead, had to attend copious amounts of meetings at the ministry and with Dumbledore. The news about an heir to You-know-who had caused a much bigger stir than he had anticipated. It seemed like every newspaper and magazine was talking about this mysterious boy. Rumors were spreading like dragonpox and everyone seemed to have an idea about who the dark lord had made a child with. But for the most part, Kingsley ignored it all. He was far too busy trying to manage the fallout inside of the ministry.

The news of a powerful teen heir to You-know-who had caused the start of the biggest manhunt in Britain's history since Grindelwald. Since the dark lord himself was proving to be too far out of reach, the thought was that his son might be an easier target…and possibly even a suitable lure to get the dark lord out of hiding and into ministry custody.

For his part, Kingsley thought that this idea was completely rubbish. Now that the news of an heir had reached all levels of the ministry, he figured that You-know-who would most likely elect to keep his son close to home for the time being. Or, at least, until the manhunt had cooled down a bit more. And, so far his theory had been correct as there had been no sightings of the dark servant since the attack earlier that week. Since then, there hadn't been any more Death Eater raids. It was as if the dark lord had pulled back all of his forces suddenly and were waiting for something.

Possibly for their lord's heir to recover? Kingsley thought as he pulled out his Griffis map from his robes. The boy will have a bad case of magical exhaustion and will most likely need several weeks to fully recover his strength.

The auror reached down and massaged a muscle in his calf that was cramping painfully. He couldn't help but feel bad for the teen. Being an heir to such an evil man couldn't be easy. Kingsley also had little doubt that You-know-who would not be dealing with the boy too kindly since the news of his heritage had caught international attention in just the span of a few days.

The bastard is probably out there somewhere hiding in his hole, pissed that we found out about the kid.

The sound of the door to Dumbledore's office opening brought Kingsley back to the present. He glanced over and nodded a greeting to Severus who had just walked in. The ex-death eater looked more pale and sickly than usual.

"They've gone. Activated the portkeys just after I left."

"Then we can do nothing but wait and see if Tom decides to make a move."

Kingsley jumped slightly at the sound of Dumbledore's deep voice. He had forgotten the man was still in the room with them.

"You think he'll care about some group of students going on a school trip?" Kingsley still felt skeptical about the whole thing, despite the information in the letter Alice had received.

"It is my hope that he won't pay them any mind, but I'm not yet fully convinced that he won't pass up on the opportunity to make headlines again."

"He is currently in the headline. He is always in the headlines."

Dumbledore sighed heavily, "Indeed, but I would imagine that he will want to try and draw everyone's attention away from his son. He succeeded in keeping the child a secret for over a decade and I can't imagine that he's happy about all of the sudden attention on the subject."

"But if we choose to believe the letter that Alice Longbottom received then the dark servant himself will be arriving in Dufftown any minute now."

"Or the dark lord will call off the attack," Severus had decided to join in on the conversation, "That letter was sent before the heir revealed himself, and if what you say is true, Kingsley, then the boy won't be in any shape to join in on another raid anytime soon."

There was a flash of green in the fireplace behind where Kingsley sat and a second later a familiar gruff voice called out,

"Greetings all. I hear that the party's about to begin."

"Alastor," Dumbledore motioned for the man to sit, "I am glad you could join us on your day off."

Kingsley glanced over as the one-eyed man came to sit down in the chair across from him. He tried his best to smile politely at the auror. He still didn't understand why Dumbledore had wanted to invite Moody to join in their little 'party' as the man had called it. He'd thought that they were here only to keep an extra eye on the students, but it seemed like it was now turning into something of an unofficial order meeting.

"So what's the latest news, Shacklebolt?" Moody flopped down into the chair next to Kingsley with a loud grunt, completely ignoring Severus who still stood quietly by the door, "Any sightings of the bastard's little imp of a son yet?"

"Moody, I would greatly appreciate it if you would use more suitable language," Kingsley sighed already annoyed by the auror's presence, "But no, there has been nothing to report…as of yet."

The man grumbled something that sounded like a swear word, which Kingsley chose to ignore. He, instead, turned his attention back to activating his Griffis map. He carefully pulled out his wand and cast his non-verbal initiation spell. The small silver disk flashed gold before a map of Dufftown sprang to life across the wide expanse of Dumbledore's desk. The first dots to appear were those of the aurors. About twenty or so were positioned in various places, in and around the village. The next thing that materlialised was the group of seventeen purple dots indicating the pupils and their teachers. From the looks of it, everything was going to plan and the group had begun to make their way into the muggle village. Kingsley let himself relax slightly when no black dots appeared anywhere on the map.

The students were safe…for now, at least.

Moody was leaning forward trying to get a better look at the map, evaluating the location of each of the aurors, and grumbling about how he should've been assigned to go. Dumbledore seemed happy with the fact that his students weren't, for the moment, in any kind of danger and leaned back in his chair saying,

"I hope that Tom has realised that it would be foolish to try and go about with his original plan of attack. I am certain that someone will have alerted him of the extra precautions that we have taken to ensure the children's safety."

"It's not the children he wants."

Kingsley and Moody both turned abruptly at this comment to look at Severus. The potion master had moved to stand closer to the bunch so he could see the full expanse of the map. His black eyes had a strange look in them as he watched the group of purple dots move further into the village.

"What do ya mean he doesn't want the kids?" Moody looked incredulous, "Of course, he would want the kids. It'd be the best way for him to strike fear into the hearts of everyone in the wizarding world. Besides, for all he knows, they are just a bunch of muggle-loving half-bloods. He'd want to get rid of them in a heartbeat."

"And that's not what he wants," Severus repeated.

Moody leaned back into his seat and crossed his arms, "Alright, then why don't you tell us what he does want? You would be the one to know, wouldn't you."

Kingsley shot the auror an angry look, trying to get the man to shut up. He wanted Severus to keep talking while the Fidelius Charm still let him.

"He wants the Ministry," the potion master said slowly and carefully, clearly trying to see where the boundaries of the secrecy charm lay, "A group of schoolchildren out for the day in a muggle village isn't going to be high on his list. Not at the moment, anyway."

"Then why were you so nervous and adamant about not letting the excursion go on in the order meeting earlier this week?"

"Let me finish," Severus spat back, clearly irritated at being continually interrupted, "The schoolchildren are not going to be high on his list, but the aurors and the teachers who went along will be. The dark lord doesn't want to kill defenseless kids. He will want a challenge and you have brought together a group of ministry aurors in mass an-."

"Who will stop any attack or raid that the son-of-a-bitch has planned before it has a chance to even start," Moody interrupted the former death eater again, "I fail to see the point that you are trying to make, Severus. No matter what You-know-who does, we'll be ready for him or him young shit of a son."

Severus's eyes were burning with anger now, "And you were also ready on Monday night when the death eaters attacked Little Winging, but look at how that turned out. It landed five aurors in St. Mungo and another two in coffins. You have no idea what the dark lord is capable of, Moody. None of you do."

"Is that supposed to scare me? A little threat of dark magic isn't going to make me wet my trousers, Snivelous."

"Alastor!" Kingsley barked, trying to silence the auror before he made the situation any worse than it already was.

"Well, it should," Severus growled taking a step closer to Moody, his hands tightening into fists at his side, "You have no idea what goes on in that place. The potions they create. The spells that they cast. You don't know what true fear is."

"And I won't know anytime soon," Moody had risen to his feet by now, ignoring Kingsley's attempts to get him to stay seated, "Unlike you, I don't let fear get into my head and mess with my convictions. Your time with You-know-who has clearly done a number on you and everyone can see it. You can't even talk about a fucking child without your throat closing up on you out of fear," Moody was now standing directly in front of the potion master, "And I don't think that you were ever under the Fidelius Charm when it came to that boy. I think that you chose not to tell us out of fear."

Kingsley had pulled out his wand at this point, ready to force the auror back into his chair should the situation continue to worsen. He opened his mouth to yell at the two men to back down when he noticed Dumbledore shake his head at him. Dumbfounded, Kingsley furrowed his brows and slowly lowered his wand. The headmaster clearly knew something that he didn't. Either that or he was waiting to see what Severus would do now.

"You knew about that boy all along!" Moody all but screamed into Severus's face, "That child is the reason that Fr-"

With a sudden flick of his hand, Severus sent Moody hurdling back into his chair. The auror hit the hard wooden chair with a groan but somehow managed not to fall to the floor. Meanwhile, Severus looked every inch as imposing as the dark lord himself as his black robes billowed out behind him as he strode over to where Moody sat panting. The potion master leaned over the auror and hissed in his face,

"That is not a child. That is a dark wizard who is far more powerful than you could ever imagine. You-know-who loves that boy and he will see that he is equally as respected, if not even more so. You had better pray that you do not ever have to face that so-called child in combat, Moody because I can assure you that Harry doesn't miss twice."

James could just see the flash of his son's blue sweatshirt as the teen ducked into the muggle apothecary. This was next on the list of places that Trinity had selected to show her students. So far everything was on schedule. The light tinkle of the bell rang out across the quiet street. It reached the auror's ears from his current location in the alley behind the library. The village was, thankfully, a sleepy place and few muggles seemed to be about on this particular Friday. Besides, any that happened to walk past his current location were sent wandering away with a quick Confundus charm.

So far the excursion had been rather quiet and, well, boring. The Hogwarts students seemed to be enjoying themselves as their professors led them around the tiny village, showing them all about the muggle way of life. Even William seemed to have forgotten about his father's appearance earlier and had been talking lively with Ginny and Ron throughout the entire time.

The letter from the auror meeting and Kingsley's encounter with the dark servant just a few days before had made James increasingly paranoid about what could happen. But so far his fears seemed to have been completely unfounded. Maybe You-know-who had called off whatever raid he had been planning in the wake of his heir being exposed to the wizarding world. Maybe the author of the note had just been telling a lie after all.

James grinned as the image of the dark wizard scolding a young boy popped into his mind. He shook his head and snorted. He couldn't imagine what horrible life that teenager had had to lead. Being the son and heir to such an evil wizard had surely messed the child up somehow. That, he was certain of.

THUNK.

James's head whipped around at the loud noise that had originated from around behind him. The auror already had a spell on his lips as he turned to see…

Nothing.

The narrow cobblestone street was empty. There was no one there. No death eater poised to attack. No bumbling muggle digging through the rubbish. Hell, not even a cat.

Odd, the auror thought to himself and turned back around to resume his watch. His overactive imagination had him jumping at every little sound that he heard.

Relax, you old man, he chided himself, you're too paranoid for your own good. It was probably just your mind trying to scare you. You've been listening too much to Mad-Eye's conspirac-

THUNK!

This time the noise was much louder. James whirled around, this time sure of an attack, but there was still nothing to be seen. His mind was now screaming warnings at him. Run. Fight. Attack. Alert the others.

"Shut up," James growled at himself.

He took a deep breath and carefully began to walk down the alleyway. A few large rubbish bins blocked his view off to one side. Surly, whatever had made that noise was hidden behind the metal containers. A bird, perhaps? A dry leaf cracked underfoot making James jump in surprise.

This is stupid, he thought, his heart hammering wildly in his chest, you're a fucking wizard, James, and here you are crawling around in an alleyway with rubbish bins scared out of your mind. You have a wand, you fucking idiot, so why don't you use it?

James raised his wand, feeling suddenly foolish that he had not done this sooner. He pointed the sturdy mahogany stick toward the rubbish bins and said quietly,

"Homonum revelio!"

What looked to be a faint white mist rushed out of his wand and James' held his breath waiting to see what would happen next. He had one hand already on his portkey, ready to alert the other aurors at a second's notice. But after a long second, nothing happened. The spell faded into nothingness.

See, no one's there.

James let out a shaky breath that he had been unknowingly holding and chuckled softly to himself. He had almost summoned the entire calvary and ruined his son's trip over nothing. But as the auror turned to walk back to his post at the corner of the street something round and shiny caught his eye. It was sitting next to the stone wall of the library next to the bins. At first, he thought it was a piece of trash, but there was something odd about its perfectly cylindrical shape.

He walked over to the object and knelt down to examine it more closely. The ball was small, no larger than a knut, and had no identifiable markings on it.

It must have fallen out of a bag of rubbish, James thought, Probably just some kind of odd muggle contraption. Maybe even a children's toy.

The auror got to his feet and kicked the ball away from him. It rolled down the cobblestone street until it got stuck in the deep rut between two stones. James resisted the urge to go and kick it again and instead turned his back on the object and walked back up the alleyway. The students would be getting ready to leave the apothecary by now and would soon be heading for the library. He needed to make sure that he was well out of view by that time. He didn't want his presence to ruin his son's day any more than he already had.

But just as James reached the end of the short alleyway there was a defining explosion from somewhere behind him. Before he had any chance to react, a tidal wave of scalding hot air and rocks slammed into his back. With a cry of shock and pain, James felt himself be flung across the street where he crashed into a parked car. The glass in the window shattered as his shoulder slammed into it, sending sharp bits cutting away at his robes and biting into his skin before he dropped to the ground. Before James could even comprehend what had happened another deafening explosion sounded from somewhere close by. A split second later, chunks of rock and dirt began to rain down on him. His ears still ringing from the noise, James could do nothing but try and cover his head from the falling debris. Vaguely, he realised that the alarm on his hip had begun to go off, the vibrating metal sending waves of pain up through his bruised ribs.

They were under attack. The Death Eaters had finally arrived.