CHAPTER THREE
One Night in Paris
Instead of catching their Portkey back home, Harry and his friends decided to take a later one set for tomorrow morning.
They agreed to hang around for a while as they were caught up in the celebratory fervour. As they had no tents to return to, they retreated to the sandy beach and constructed a bonfire from magic for both warmth and illumination as they partied late into the night.
From where he was sitting, Harry could see most of this party quite clearly. The older Marauders and the Ravenclaw girls were dancing around the fire to the music that one of the invited strangers had brought along. Terry was crouched on the other side of the bonfire with Fred and George and they seemed to be sketching some sort of plan in the sand. Harry decided he didn't want to know what they were working on. Nearby, Anthony was sitting on the sand, side by side with Luna, and he was listening raptly as she spoke.
Some of the others were keeping occupied with more amorous matters. Marcus and Richard were huddled together underneath a blanket and Michael was still flirting with Megan, but she seemed far less bothered about it now. When he saw her laugh and touch Michael's hand, Harry thought his friend might have a chance.
However, he couldn't help but notice how awkward Susan looked sitting on Megan's other side. While she was friendly with most people here, she probably didn't feel comfortable enough just going over to them, so she stuck with Megan even if she was forced to listen to her brother try and be smooth.
Feeling bad, Harry was about to call out to her when he noticed a brown-haired boy he'd never seen before walking over. Worried about what Susan was going to do to the poor sod, he was about to get up and intervene before Lisa stopped him.
"Where are you going?" She asked. The two of them had been cuddling near the bonfire, just chatting, until he'd tried to leave.
"I should probably-" Harry stopped when he realised the stranger had already started speaking to Susan. He only understood what was happening when the boy gave Susan an awkward grin.
Harry chuckled to himself. He imagined what Susan's reaction would be if she found out he never even considered that a possibility. He thought the stranger was about to give her grief over her dad, and she would retaliate with violence. It had happened a few times before.
"What's so funny?" Lisa asked curiously.
"Susan," Harry snickered. "She has no idea what to do." It was true. She was eyeing the brown-haired boy warily, as though he'd just dropped in from outer space.
Lisa's eyes followed his. She made a face when they landed on Susan. "Why'd you have to invite her?"
Harry wanted to point out that she'd invited Padma along- who he'd always found annoying- but didn't want to start a fight. "She's my friend," he shrugged. He leaned over and gave her a sudden, fervid kiss. "But my mind is on other matters right now." Lisa's mouth stretched into a devious little smile. Before she could say a word, he warned her, "One word about legs and I'm walking."
Lisa pouted dramatically. "And I wore shorts just for you."
Harry snorted. "Not your brightest idea, was it? It's freezing." That was why they were so close to the fire. Also, Lisa had "borrowed" his jacket earlier in the day and he didn't know how to get it back.
"It's probably colder down by the water," Lisa pointed out. "But I want to go anyway."
"Yeah?" They had noticed other couples- Callum and Sally, Lee and Maria- head out into the darkness for privacy. They laughed about it then, but now she was suggesting they do the same. Harry felt himself growing warm and it had nothing to do with the fire. "Isn't it a little too cold for that?"
"I'll figure out a way to keep you warm," she said suggestively.
Even though it was all he wanted, he couldn't stop running his stupid mouth. "By giving me my jacket back?" He wanted to slap himself.
Instead of being put off, Lisa just snorted. She stood up and offered a hand, helping him to his feet. "Don't worry. I'll be nice and share." She smiled at him over her shoulder and started to lead him away. "We can use it as a blanket."
That sounded promising. The last couple of weeks had been exciting, and no matter how often they were together, he couldn't stop thinking about what they got up to during quiet moments alone. He was beginning to believe that it was among the few things he would never get bored of as the novelty just wasn't wearing off.
Unfortunately, their night was cut short by an explosion in the distance. A moment later, it was followed by the sound of terrified screams.
Harry reacted instinctively, tearing his hand out of Lisa's and drawing his wand from its holster as the words of Alexandra Solace rang in his ears.
We wear these badges to protect people. There's no other reason for all of this. If we do anything that gets in the way of that- if even a single person is harmed after we've arrived on the scene- then we've failed. Remember that.
I'm here, Harry promised her silently as he darted around the bonfire to where the explosion originated from. No one else will get hurt.
"Squad Solace! With me!" He barked as he ran past his squadmates. The other Aurors in their group were already running, but he saw the other Second Year Cadets hesitating, unsure if they were allowed to act without Felicia's presence. Harry's order snapped them out of it, and they ran alongside him to the scene.
Somewhere in the back of his mind, Harry was pleased that they were managing to keep pace with their more experienced comrades. However, while they had been trained to work alongside other squads in case of an emergency, he didn't want to threaten their already established dynamics. As such, when Tonks and Richard went left and Eliza and Cedric darted off to the right, Harry led his squad straight ahead, leaving Marcus to look out for those that remained on the beach.
The four boys came up over the dune that led into the campsite, their Shield Charms already raised, and saw what had caused the explosion.
Five masked Death Eaters were stalking the edges of the campsite. They had blown up a group of tents that still had people inside. While the civilians were fleeing, some were slowed down by their injuries or that of their loved ones. The Death Eaters didn't care. They continued to toss spells in every direction, laughing and jeering as they did so.
Harry's most immediate thought was that their choice of target didn't make any sense. They would be unable to discern a sympathiser from an enemy with this kind of attack. However, as he could already hear the sounds of more screaming people in the distance, he knew he couldn't waste any time trying to figure out the Death Eaters' end goal.
"Michael, protect the civilians as they flee," Harry snapped out, immediately taking charge as Felicia wasn't here to do so. "Terry, guide them to safety and heal the worst of them when you're at a distance." He turned to Anthony then. "I'll go into the centre of them and get their attention. I need you to hang back and disillusion yourself so you can take them unawares when they focus on me."
Anthony nodded. "Sounds good." Terry and Michael both nodded as well, silently agreeing to his plan. Without another word, they split up and got to work.
Enriching his body with Mana, Harry jumped as high as he could. The dune's greater height meant that he had ample time to aim his wand at the Death Eaters as flipped over their heads. Talpa! Expulso!
While two of his targets caught sight of the incoming Expulsion Curse by its blue glow, they couldn't react quickly enough to stop it. The Curse skimmed past them and hit the ground at their feet. The following concussive blast was powerful enough to scatter the Death Eaters from their tight-knit formation and throw them violently in every direction. Disillusioned, Harry touched down in a three-point landing at the epicentre of the chaos he had caused.
Whipping his wand in a lasso motion over his head, Harry cast, "Prolourum!" Golden fire erupted from the ground and spread out over the now dazed and rising Death Eaters. Harry almost expected that to be the end of it. The Phoenix-Flame Charm should have debilitated them by drowning them in their guilt long enough for him and Anthony to capture them all.
However, he had underestimated the callousness and cruelty of the average Death Eater.
While one was immediately downed by the golden fire, two more seemed to shake it off with ease, displaying some skill with Occlumency. But the last two weren't affected in the slightest.
Harry froze. He couldn't imagine, couldn't even comprehend, how someone in their position could exist without a trace of guilt or remorse about the things they had done. He would have paid the price for it then and there if Anthony hadn't made his move.
A spear of fire erupted through the chest of the nearest Death Eater, sending him crumbling to his knees. His three remaining comrades quickly turned to fire back at his attacker, but Anthony was too far from away from the light of the battle to be seen. Before they could even think to try and locate him with a revealing spell, Harry darted forward and- taking advantage of his disillusioned state- began weaving his way through the group as he attacked them, sewing doubt and discord amongst them.
Working together, it only took two minutes for Harry and Anthony to down the last three Death Eaters. That was when another realisation appeared in his head.
"A little help over here!" Terry called from a distance, and Michael hurried towards him to assist. Harry frowned, torn between helping his friends here and investigating the true purpose behind this attack.
"Go," Anthony said suddenly, as though reading his thoughts. "I'll watch over them." Harry smiled and nodded. He knew that Anthony must have had the same realisation he just did:
Death Eaters always have a target. The randomness of this attack is just a distraction.
Harry moved around the campsite as quickly as he could to observe all the different skirmishes going on, but he saw nothing different from the Death Eaters he and Anthony had fought. All they were doing was causing as much chaos as possible, not killing, torturing or kidnapping specific individuals as they had done during the Sixth Great Wizarding War.
His jaw clenched as he ran past several groups of attackers. He wanted to fight them and help the fleeing civilians, but he knew he could do more good if he ended the purpose of this attack entirely. In the meantime, he mollified himself by acknowledging all the Aurors that were already combating them. Uniformed Aurors were exchanging spells with the Death Eaters, but there must also be off-duty Aurors like himself that were helping out too.
Wait, Harry realised. They're on duty!
He changed directions immediately and ran as quickly as he could towards the arena at the centre of the campsite. While the Custodians were here to enforce law and order amongst the one hundred thousand spectators, the Aurors were only present to guard the Magister and his family. However, considering they were ones specifically trained to fight Dark Wizards, Lord Akingbade had most likely dispatched the uniformed Aurors to protect his people.
Leaving both him and his family wide open for attack.
Logically, he knew that Babajide Akingbade was one of the most powerful sorcerers in the world. There was nothing he could do for the Magister that he would be unable to do for himself, but Harry was an Auror and defending the Head of State was part of his job.
When he got close to the arena, he saw a wall of black fire surrounding it. It was meant to keep people out, but Harry pointed his wand at it anyway. "Finite Finis!" Had he tried this even a year ago, he would have failed miserably. But after extreme training with both Solace sisters and Moody, as well as Nicolas' lessons on increased discipline over his Mana Reserves, the cursed fire was entirely extinguished after only a brief battle of wills.
Struggling to not let that one minor victory go to his head, Harry made sure to vanish both his scent and sounds of body movement to go along with his still-functioning Disillusionment Charm. He chose to repress his Mana next even though it was as uncomfortable as holding his breath for long periods. He knew he was right to be cautious when he saw the arena doors had been blown off their hinges.
Harry carefully expanded his senses with a single thin burst of Mana, allowing it to sweep over the surrounding area for both unseen traps and protections. Relieved that there was nothing more than a Sound-Dampening Barrier, he charged into the arena at full speed and the sounds of a furious battle immediately hit him when he did so.
Whoever is attacking is powerful enough to make the Magister work for it, Harry suddenly realised. He swallowed, wishing he were close enough to Brightstone House to call Nicolas for backup. That thought made him shake his head. I'm an Auror. I am the backup.
Finally reaching the stands, he looked down into the duelling arena itself and saw Akingbade didn't need his help at all. In fact, he looked like he was enjoying himself.
With the bodies of a dozen masked Death Eaters littered around his feet, Akingbade twirled his ivory half-moon staff with the speed and dexterity of a much younger man. He was smiling as he corralled the two identical men further away from the stairs and closer to the arena wall. As Harry watched through wide eyes, the Magister suddenly turned on the spot and disapparated, treating the arena's Anti-Apparition Barrier as a mere suggestion rather than a hard fact, and he reappeared behind the attackers.
One of the identical men must have sensed his point of reappearance. He whirled on the spot and raised a shield in time to block Akingbade's Inextinguishable Fire while his twin shot back at him with an armoured tiger, coated in electricity.
Anyone else would've died by now, but Harry would expect nothing less from Ayaan and Yuvan Bhagat, two more of Voldemort's Acolytes.
The fight between those three was the flashiest duel in the arena, but not the only duel. In the stands, Harry could see a dozen adult witches and wizards- the sons, daughters and grandchildren of Lord Babajide- combating Death Eaters to prevent them from gaining access to the grand apartments upstairs.
Harry couldn't understand what the Death Eaters hoped to gain with such a straightforward attack. They should have known that the Akingbade family would have killed them to the last man, so what-?
Again, he put himself in the shoes of his enemies and found an answer that he didn't like. Hoping that he was wrong, Harry turned around and ran back outside, knowing that he needed to be away from the arena's layers of protective magic if he wanted to test his theory. The moment he was outside, he released a second burst of Mana, sweeping the area in all directions.
Where are you? He wondered. Where would you stage an attack-? There! He sensed movement not on the same level with him or tunnelling underneath as he had expected, but from above. It was a small team of five that was flying up on broomsticks to gain access to the Magister's apartments.
Wishing he'd purchased a broomstick of his own, Harry didn't bother conjuring or transfiguring his usual flying carpet. The superior manoeuvrability of even a substandard broomstick would leave him exposed. As such, he left to run around the arena until he found himself underneath the invisible team of flyers.
Hoping he wasn't attacking a fellow Auror that had been sent to extract the Magister's family, Harry silently cast, Brachiabindo! on the lowest flier. The invisible cords wrapped around their stationary broom and brought them down to earth fast. They would have yelled out for their comrades' attention if Harry hadn't cast a Silencing Charm on them.
Removing their Disillusionment Charm, Harry was almost glad to see the broken sorcerer's Death Eater uniform as he would have been in a lot of trouble if he actually did attack one of his own. UP! The still invisible broomstick obeyed his silent command, leaping into his hand. He mounted it and kicked off.
Realising the others were each removing the protections of a different window at the very top floor of the arena, Harry figured the one he'd attacked must have been the lookout, though he'd done a poor job of it. Knowing that they were each within the other's line of sight, he accepted that he couldn't attack one without attracting all their attention.
Flying right past them, Harry climbed higher than even the roof of the arena (which he also swept for intruders but came up empty). He only stopped when he was sure that he could take them all out at once. Pointing his wand down at the Death Eaters below, Harry cast, "Silano!" Borne from what little moisture the desert air had, a massive wave of water appeared beneath Harry and above the heads of the Death Eaters.
Harry didn't know if they saw the attack coming, but he did sense how they were all forced off their brooms. They slammed into the ground over a hundred feet below.
Expecting that to be the end of it, Harry drifted back down to earth. He paused only to remove his Disillusionment Charm so he could give a reassuring smile and wave to the group of small children who had run up to the window on his way past. The younger two were crying but the eldest- a boy who couldn't have been older than ten or eleven- held them in his arms and gaped at Harry.
"Are you alright?" He asked them. The window was cracked, so they should be able to hear him. He had launched his attack in the nick of time.
"Y-yeah," the oldest boy replied. His hands were shaking.
"You did a good job keeping the little ones safe," Harry said gently as he worked his wand over the windows. He thought that would be reassuring or even comforting, so he was shocked when the boy started to cry along with the younger children. "What's your name?" He asked quickly, hoping to distract him from his tears.
The boy spoke in stuttered breaths, the way all little kids did when they cried. "A-Adetope."
"Adetope," he repeated. The seriousness in his voice made the boy open his eyes. "Do you know who I am?"
He swallowed. "You're Harry Potter."
As he finished layering protective magic on the windows, Harry smiled as confidently as he could. "If you know that, then you also know I never lose." It was a wild boast, something no adult would believe, but Adetope was a kid. His fear fell away and he looked at Harry in awe.
Of course- as though some divine power sought to punish him for his cocksure bragging- that was the moment the enemy decided to counterattack. While the lookout had gone down quite easily when Harry forced him to land, the others had the presence of mind to soften their landing.
As such, he was attacked from below with an intense firestorm that hid razor-sharp cords within.
For the first time in a long time, Harry couldn't see a way out. He had practised different spell combinations, both alone and under the watchful eye of his many mentors, but there was no time to cast the two spells that could save him now. If he cast one or the other then one of the attacks would get through. That wasn't even mentioning the other two Death Eaters who he sensed planning an attack of their own.
It was an excellent combination attack. It made use of their superior numbers, and it would have worked if it wasn't for a timely rescue.
"Aequor Tutela!"
A giant wall of ice sprang into existence beneath Harry, blocking both the fire and the cords from reaching him. Releasing the breath he'd been holding, Harry flew around the now-falling, melting remains of ice to land. Before he could even acknowledge his rescuer, they snapped at him.
"Get lost, Potter," Ekon Adebayo said irritably. "You're in my way."
Harry swallowed his thanks and chose to glare at Ekon instead. However, before he could turn back and face the Death Eaters, he noticed an incoming projectile hurtling for the other boy's back. Protego! A spear- transfigured from the fallen ice- had been banished to take Ekon out from behind, but it shattered on Harry's shield.
"I sensed that incoming," Ekon said, though he hadn't moved an inch.
Harry smirked. "Sure, you did."
This time they both turned to face the Death Eaters fully, already raising defences for the attacks they could feel incoming. Even though they didn't like each other, they were both still Auror Cadets and would work together in a crisis.
However, before either of them could launch a counterattack, they heard manic laughter in the distance. At the same time, earthen hands erupted from the ground underneath the Death Eaters and yanked them down until they were buried neck-deep in the desert sand.
Harry and Ekon didn't allow the opportunity to slip from their grasp, hitting the now-restrained Death Eaters with Stunning Spells before they could figure out a way to escape. The moment they were done, Andrei Molotov skidded to a halt beside them with wide eyes and an ear-splitting grin.
"All too easy," he chuckled. "Is that the last of them?" Unlike Ekon who had deliberately spoken in English to make his annoyance known, Andrei spoke in rapid Russian, as though the idea of miscommunication hadn't even crossed his mind.
"No," Harry replied in Russian. "There are more inside attacking the Magister and his family." He was wary of providing this information, as Andrei seemed to be having far too much fun considering how dire the situation was.
Ekon seemed to agree as he turned to Andrei angrily. "We aren't here for your fun, Molotov." He seemed to loom over the boy even though they were about the same height. "Besides, that was my win."
Andrei blinked. "I'm sorry, do I know you?" He asked innocently before a look of realisation came across his face. "Oh wait, you're that loser who couldn't crack the Top 8. Adebayo, right?" Even though he'd gotten his name right, Ekon looked as though he might spit fire at being called a loser.
"You won the Doubles Championship," Ekon hissed. "Any imbecile could rely on another for help. A true warrior stands alone." For the first time, Andrei lost the look of amusement and replaced it with anger.
Harry always thought that he was too competitive, but these two took the cake.
"Listen!" He snapped, realising that someone was going to have to take command. "The Magister is fighting two Acolytes inside- the Bhagat twins- and his family is fighting more Death Eaters. We have to help them." He ran for the arena entrance, hoping the other two would see reason and follow.
He smothered a smile when he heard their footsteps hurrying after him.
In the few minutes it took for Harry to stop the attack from outside, several Aurors had reached the same conclusion he had and returned to aid the Akingbade family. However, twice as many Death Eaters had fled to the arena to aid or seek protection from the Bhagats. Meanwhile, the Acolytes were kept busy by Lord Akingbade, and it was only their flawless teamwork that kept them alive.
In the few seconds it took for Harry to run down the stands to the railing, Akingbade summoned enormous thunderclouds over the duelling pit. One twin began to counter the ensuing bolts of lightning while the other did his utmost to shield them from Magister's attacks.
But all of that was just a distraction.
With his movements obscured by the vines that suddenly attacked the twins from below, Akingbade raised his staff and the raindrops froze in mid-air. There was one brief moment of stillness in the arena, as all eyes turned to the Magister's confident grin. Then he lowered his staff and the raindrops ignited.
The thunderclouds hadn't been pouring rainwater at all. It had been pouring down the clear and scentless Erumpent Potion.
The duelling pit flashed and was overtaken by a colossal explosion that threatened to turn even the Aurors to ash, but even that was within the Magister's realm of forethought. A Barrier snapped into place around the duelling pit so only the Death Eaters who had jumped in to help their Generals were incinerated.
He protected us while keeping the Acolytes on the backfoot at the same time. Harry's eyes watched raptly as spellfire continued to flash through the thinning smoke, revealing that Akingbade and the Bhagats were still alive and fighting, but all the other Death Eaters had been turned to ash. The Magister's might hadn't been exaggerated. His strength might even rival Nicolas'.
Shaking himself out of his stupor, he turned to the other two. "The Magister doesn't need our help," Harry said, before gesturing to the stands around them where the fighting had only gotten worse. "But they do." He took a couple of steps, automatically expecting the other two to follow. He paused when they didn't.
"Stop giving me orders." Ekon glared at him. That was better than Andrei, who had already vaulted over the railing with another manic laugh.
Scowling as the other two hurried to join the Magister in battle, Harry turned and hurried up the stairs to the higher levels. He stunned two Death Eaters in the back to save the Auror they were ganging up on, and then conjured a flock of crows to cover another's escape before taking his place.
He and the Death Eater stood on the same level, fighting between a row of seats. He flicked his wand at a chair before parrying a Knee-Reversal Hex back at his opponent. As the Death Eater shielded himself- already moving to dodge Harry's follow up- he failed to see the chair rip itself off the floor. It rammed into the Death Eater's side and he toppled over into the row below.
"Fulgari!" Bindings made of sizzling electricity wrapped around the Death Eater's limbs before he could get up. He cried out in agony but Harry was already turning away.
Wishing he had his utility belt, Harry paused only to conjure a shield around himself before kneeling beside a man he vaguely recognised as one of Lord Akingbade's grandsons, and proceeded to heal the deep gash on his shoulder. He recognised the Disarming Curse when he saw it. Perhaps it had been poorly cast or weakly defended against, but the man's wand arm was still attached to his shoulder by a few ligaments. While he wasn't anywhere near the level of Healer that Terry was, he was able to heal and reattach muscle and bone.
Still, it was touch and go for a while there. The man had lost a lot of blood and Harry lacked the Blood-Replenishing Potion he normally would've carried with him on duty. Finally, when he was both stable and disillusioned, Harry tried to climb to his feet to find someone else to help, only to be stopped by a firm hand on his shoulder.
"Well done, Harry." Lord Akingbade said, his deep voice rumbling with sincerity. "You have my thanks, and if he were conscious, my grandson's as well."
Harry blinked up at him, confused. He turned back to the rest of the arena and found that the fight had ended without him even realising it. He swallowed. That's why a field medic always needs someone watching their back, he could almost hear Alexandra's voice, scolding.
"Did you capture them? The Bhagat twins?" He felt a rising excitement at the thought. It would be another considerable blow to Voldemort and his forces after the loss of Dolohov in February.
His stomach dropped when the Magister shook his head. "No," he grumbled as he conjured a stretcher for his grandson. He crafted a Portkey with just a wave of his staff, presumably sending him away for a professional Healer to look at. "It seems there are some Cadets even more reckless than you and your squad." He gestured to the arena floor where Ekon and Andrei were both being reprimanded by Liang, the Captain of the First Citadel and the Magister's Honor Guard.
"They got in your way, didn't they?" Harry guessed, trying not to feel too smug. He must not have done a good job of it, as Akingbade glanced down at him with a raised eyebrow. "What? I told them you didn't need our help."
"Great Sage!" Akingbade shook his head. "I don't know what to do if you're the voice of reason."
"I'm not that bad!" Harry protested but that only made Akingbade laugh.
The night was a bit of a blur from there. His belly had already been full of Mooncalf burgers and pineapple soda before the battle had even begun, so he practically sleepwalked his way through the clean-up. Once the Healers had been Portkeyed in and the captured Death Eaters had been Portkeyed out, Harry began to feel a little useless, so he made to return to the beach where he hoped his friends remained safe and sound.
However, he was brought to a stop when he exited the arena. Andrei and Ekon were outside the destroyed doors arguing about their contributions to the fight.
"If you hadn't used that fire spear-" Ekon was saying.
"Why attack them with warthogs?" Andrei snapped back. "What was that supposed to do?"
"Distract them!" Ekon groaned as though it were obvious. "If they cut any of them open, they would have released poisonous gas in their faces!"
Andrei snorted. "And then what? You'd have killed me and Lord Akingbade." He shook his head. "You have no idea how to duel with a partner."
"Neither of you do." Harry was more surprised than anyone when he realised it was he who had spoken. "You're both useless."
They both rounded on him. "What did you say?" Andrei demanded dangerously. Now that the fight was over, his previous jovial air was nowhere to be found.
"You heard me," Harry responded coldly. "The Bhagat twins got away because you two idiots overestimated yourselves and the Magister had to protect you."
"I can protect myself!" Andrei snapped.
"Maybe if your brother was with you." Harry shrugged. "If you had just come with me like I'd told you to, you might have done something useful."
Ekon narrowed his eyes. "You only captured two Death Eaters on your own."
"Three," he corrected. Harry wasn't aware that they had been keeping tabs on him, but he didn't let that falter him in the slightest. "And I was busy healing someone," he rolled his eyes at them. "You know, saving lives. Like we've been trained to do?"
Andrei tutted. "Excuses, excuses."
It was Harry's turn to narrow his eyes. He didn't know when this little argument had become two-on-one, but that wasn't enough to deter him from taking a threatening step forward. However, before he could say another word, a tall, athletic girl and a nervous-looking boy walked up to them and stood on either side of Ekon.
"Is there a problem here?" The girl asked in Luganda, the official language of Uagadou. She glanced warily at Harry and Andrei.
Ekon snorted without humour, not taking his eyes off Harry. "Nah, just some brat that doesn't know his place."
Harry's hackles raised, but before he could snap back with something as equally as rude, a hand clamped down on his arm. Turning, he saw that Eliza had arrived, dirty but uninjured from the battle. Her eyes were fixed coldly on Ekon. "Watch yourself," she said darkly, as Cedric came up on Harry's other side, as though to stop him from attacking. "This brat is my teammate. Whatever this is can be settled at the Tournament."
"Tournament? You mean-?" Ekon's eyes widened and for just a moment he seemed to re-evaluate everything he knew about Harry. But before he could say anything, they were joined by two others.
"Andrei?" An unfamiliar voice called. "You're not causing trouble, are you?"
"No!" Andrei called back quickly. He glanced nervously at the boy who had sidled up to their group, the other Molotov twin following him dutifully. Harry thought the Molotovs were weedy, but this new boy was little more than skin and bone. When coupled with his straw-like hair and dark baggy clothes, he looked like a human scarecrow.
"No?" The scarecrow allowed his eyes to trace over their strange group and the confrontational energy they were exuding. Strangely, he seemed amused rather than angry or intimidated. "That's good to hear, but you're going to have to say goodbye to your little friends now. It's time to go."
With the relieved air of a child who had wormed his way out of trouble, Andrei turned back to the group with a friendly smile. "Bye, guys!" He waved to them as he hurried away like they were all chums. "See you at the Tournament!"
The ridiculousness of his departure deflated the combative air. With one last half-hearted glare between Harry and Ekon, the Hogwarts and Uagadou teams took their leave as well.
"Is everyone okay?" Harry asked. He could think of no other reason why Cedric (but especially Eliza) would come to look for him.
"Everyone's fine," Cedric was quick to reassure him. "But you practically disappeared, so Richard ordered us to go and look for you."
"We knew you'd find your way into the thick of it all," Eliza said with no small amount of jealousy. "But we didn't think you'd be butting heads with the two favourite teams to win the Triwizard."
Harry shrugged. "We fought together against the Death Eaters." It felt like an exaggeration compared to what had actually happened, but he had no other way to explain it without going into detail. "But we disagreed on each other's methods." He hurried along before either of them could question him on that. "One thing I can't figure out is why they would attack the Magister's family in the first place."
"Isn't it obvious?" Eliza groused. "They want to ruin his image. If he can't even protect his family, how is he supposed to protect everyone else?"
"But that's too much!" Harry protested. Even though Lord Akingbade was a distant figure in his life, he had still been his father's master. That made him a very important person in Harry's mind. "No one is infallible."
"Which is why he needs us," Cedric reminded him. "His Aurors. We're here to lighten his burden."
That was a good thing. However, as they passed lines of uninjured but devasted-looking civilians queuing up for their Portkeys, Harry feared Voldemort had gotten what he wanted out of this anyway.
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While many of their group were Auror Cadets- and therefore legally able to make decisions for themselves without parental input- most of them were not. As such, the parents and guardians made their displeasure known when they arrived at their Portkey's destination: an abandoned farm in Somerset.
Lisa's parents in particular were not happy, especially after Harry had taken their daughter to Australia last year without their knowledge. They had only acquiesced this time after he'd assured them that adults would be accompanying them and that nothing dangerous was going to happen. He had failed to mention that those adults weren't parents or guardians but friends, and terrible influences besides.
Judging by the way her mother dragged her off by the arm before apparating, and her father's lingering glare, Harry doubted he was going to be seeing much of Lisa for what little remained of their summer.
His guardians were a lot more understanding about the whole thing. "Excellent use of Mage Sight," Nicolas said when Harry told him how he'd ambushed the flying group of Death Eaters. "Your skills are coming along nicely."
Remus glanced at Nicolas incredulously but let the comment pass. "I'm not jumping for joy at the idea of you throwing yourself into the thick of things every time you leave the house, but it's to be expected," he sighed. "You are an Auror Cadet."
Maia hummed. "I was a Cadet too, but I don't remember getting into so much action at his age." Harry wanted to point out that the Sixth Great Wizarding War hadn't even kicked off when she was fourteen but refrained. He just knew she would take it as a crack about her age, so he kept his mouth shut.
The only person who was more pleased with his actions than Nicolas was Felicia, but that was mostly for the Distinguished Service Medal he received from the Magister the following Monday. "It was sent directly to me to give to you," she told him lowly as she pinned the medal to his surcoat and all the Aurors in the bullpen clapped.
"I don't get it," Michael said later in their cubicle once everyone returned to work. "There were loads of Aurors there, so why's Harry the only one getting a medal out of it?" Harry had been wondering much the same, but it was a little disheartening to have one of his friends point it out.
Felicia examined the short note that came with the medal. "For making all the right decisions," she read aloud, before glancing up at Harry. "Want to fill me in?" He did so, walking her through what he'd inferred from his observations, as well as his actions. When he was done, Felicia nodded approvingly. "Lord Akingbade is right, you did make all the right calls. More importantly, you know for sure that there are innocent people alive out there because of you."
Terry chuckled. "If I saw the Magister fighting two Acolytes, I'd have kept my distance as well. Can I have a medal too?"
Felicia rolled her eyes. "Don't get too comfortable," she warned them, ignoring Terry entirely. "We've got a Portkey to catch in an hour."
Anthony, who was already looking drained at the idea of another summer's day wasted going over the same handful of clues, perked up. "Portkey? Are we going somewhere far off then?"
"We're going to Paris." Even though they had just gotten back from their "holiday" the day before, the boys all let out noises of excitement. "For work," Felicia stressed. "Considering how geographically random the attacks have been in Britain, I realised it might not be limited to our country."
Harry's eyes widened. The case was even more important now that it was international. "And you found the killer in Paris?"
Felicia shook her head. "I put out a worldwide bulletin for any kills that matched the crime scenes we've been working on. While I got a lot of cold cases in return, Paris is the most recent."
"How recent?" Michael asked warily.
Felicia smiled. "Recent as in last night."
With their Portkey leaving so soon, Harry had just enough time to take his medal home, "suffer" through his godparents' congratulations and pretend to be embarrassed when Nicolas put it up on the mantlepiece. He met up with the rest of his squad in front of the Citadel gates. From their teasing smirks, he gathered that his goodbyes took the longest.
"That's not fair." He pointed at Anthony and Terry. "You two live here and your parents are busy working." He gestured to Felicia. "I don't even know who you have to say goodbye to, and you-" Michael cut him off.
"Amelia couldn't care less, and Susan couldn't kick me out of the house fast enough," he grumbled. "I flirted with Megan one time."
"One time that stretched out over an entire day," Anthony corrected. "It was sickening to watch."
"Hands on the Portkey," Felicia interrupted before a red-faced Michael could snap back. They all did so, with Harry stepping in between Anthony and Michael so the two wouldn't elbow each other and mess up their journey. "We're going in three, two, one-" Felicia's countdown was lost in the wind. They were yanked off their feet by invisible hooks behind their navels and sucked into the tiny space the Portkey just opened up.
A few moments later, they touched down outside of the Paris Citadel. They were met by an older witch with steel-grey hair who introduced herself as Lieutenant Laurent. She offered to escort them directly to the crime scene. "It's finally empty after last night," she explained after they had apparated across town. "So no one will mind if your team pokes around a bit."
Felicia gave her thanks, but Harry was slightly annoyed. Not because of the case or the assistance the Paris Citadel was providing, but because he'd hoped for a chance to explore a city he'd never been to before. Still, he managed to rein in his childish impulse when they stepped into the nightclub and saw a starkly familiar crime scene.
"Well, at least we know we're on the right track," Anthony muttered as he eyed the walls. Felicia nodded before glancing back at Terry to make sure he wasn't going to be sick this time. But he must have mentally prepared himself beforehand as he looked startlingly professional tracing his wand over the walls.
"The remains are human," he said lowly, "and from twelve victims?"
Lieutenant Laurent nodded darkly. "No witnesses, obviously, but from what we gathered, the killer was indiscriminate in their attack."
"How did you come to that conclusion?" Harry asked distantly. After getting surprised by them last time, most of his attention was now spent checking the light fixtures for dangly bits.
"We've been able to identify several of the victims already from their wand licences," she explained. "Their backgrounds all varied wildly, from schooling to blood status and even wealth."
Michael looked dubious from his position by the door. "This place looks expensive. I doubt anyone coming here hasn't got money to burn."
Laurent shrugged. "Some of the victims were employees, security mostly, but they didn't have a lot to their name." She turned back to Felicia. "Anything you can find, we'll appreciate."
Harry turned to Felicia. "I know the… method of attack-" was the best way to describe the evisceration of the dozen corpses around them- "is similar to what happened in London, but is it enough to assume it's the same killer?"
Their Captain shrugged. "No, but you have to admit, the timing alone makes it suspicious." She frowned then. "Though I don't like the idea of one killer being capable of all the reports I've gotten from around the world."
"We already knew it was a long shot, didn't we?" Anthony asked. "I mean, otherwise someone else would have put the pieces together before you did and dealt with it."
Felicia nodded. "If this is the same attacker, we can rule out any kind of Dark Beast. There's no way they can cross the channel on their own."
"Yeah, on their own," Michael repeated. "What if a Dark Witch or a Wizard is just controlling it and letting it off its leash to do their dirty work?"
"Don't get ahead of yourself," Felicia said sternly. "There are plenty of Beings capable of passing for humans."
Harry swallowed. His only experiences with Beings were the Vampires he'd met in New York. He didn't relish the idea of having to fight one. Their human-level intelligence and emotions, coupled with the gifts their abilities gave them, made them all too intimidating to fight.
He shook himself out of that train of thought. "Right now, it doesn't matter if it's a Being or a Dark Witch or Wizard. Either way, they'll need a place to stay right? To blend in?"
"This is the work of an animal," Lieutenant Laurent said. "Do you believe a person could be capable of all of this?" That one question let the Cadet Squad know that the Paris Citadel hadn't investigated the possibility.
"Do you know anyone who could provide a safe house at the drop of a hat?" Anthony asked.
Laurent took their idea and ran with it. After a brief meeting with one of her confidential informants, she came back with the name Alain Desjardins and the address of his ex-girlfriend, Michèle. Desjardins received a letter from her, telling him of the doubts she had about her fiancé and the feelings she still had for him.
Imagine his surprise when he came over that night to find six Aurors waiting for him in her living room.
Desjardins swore when he saw them, and almost dropped the bottle of Elvish wine he was carrying. "I haven't even done anything!"
"Seriously?" Terry snorted. "I can smell the Heartbreak Teardrops from here. What? I can!" He added when Felicia glared at him. "He was obviously going to use it on Michèle!"
They heard a squeak come from the bedroom. Clearly, Michèle wasn't happy to hear that.
"Terry, please shut up," Felicia hissed. She had already warned them to let Lieutenant Laurent take the lead as this was her town. But their French counterpart seemed to care little for this polite gesture as she capitalised on Terry's observation.
"Using or possession?" Laurent wondered aloud, but a flick of her wand summoned a half-empty flask of the potent potion. It was enough to make a Veela seem repulsive. "Oh, that's not a good look for you. The Custodians might even-"
"What do you want?" Desjardins asked sourly. "You want me to flip on someone?" Harry raised his eyebrows. Laurent had given them Desjardins' file to read before they had even asked Michèle to send the fake letter. Judging from the crimes he was suspected of, he hadn't expected the stringy man to be so quick to crack. He only understood why when he added, "Just don't tell Michèle. I think I still have a chance."
For a long moment, they all stared at him in silence. Of course, Terry was the one to break it. "Wow, you're dumb."
"Terry!" Felicia snapped.
Later, as they left the building, Michael sighed wistfully. "It's quite sweet how even losers like him can find love."
"I'm not sure if I would call that love," Harry pointed out.
"Okay," Michael rolled his eyes. "But I'm just saying it gives me hope, you know?"
"Hope for what?" Anthony asked, exasperated. "You've been into Megan for two days."
Harry grabbed Michael's arm before he could reply. Their squad had already embarrassed themselves enough in front of Laurent. "We'll just go form a perimeter around the safe house," he said, before turning on the spot and apparating them both away.
"Why would you let him get away with that?" Michael demanded when they reappeared miles away from the city centre, two streets away from the safe house. "He's been on my back all day-"
"Because you made a fool out of yourself on Saturday, trying to use Megan to get over Padma," Harry said bluntly. "He's annoyed with you- Susan's annoyed with you- because Megan's a friend. Don't mess her about." Even though he liked Megan, he would choose Michael over her in a heartbeat even if he was in the wrong. But that still didn't mean he wouldn't give his friend grief over the matter.
Night had fallen while they were waiting for Desjardins to arrive but Michael's face was so flushed it seemed to glow under the streetlights. "That's not- I wasn't-" he paused. "I just wanted Padma to feel bad about dumping me," he admitted finally. "I want to move on and be happy and make her feel bad about losing me. Does that make me petty?"
"Yes," Harry said bluntly. He patted Michael on the shoulder, feeling rather useless as he had no advice to impart. "But if it makes you feel any better, I never liked Padma anyway."
"I know that." Michael snorted. "Everyone knows that. You haven't exactly kept it a secret, have you?"
"She's so annoying." He let out a frustrated sigh. "Come on, we better get into position before Captain Solace reprimands us."
A few minutes later, Harry was perched on the edge of a roof across the street from the safe house. He wore his Invisibility Cloak, watching as Felicia and Laurent entered the block of flats and disappeared from his line of sight. In one hand, he held his wand, ready to apparate to the roof across the street at a moment's notice. In the other, he held the communication mirror; he and the other Cadets waited for a report on their findings.
It didn't take long for Harry to relax. There was only so long you could remain on edge without anywhere to direct that energy. His mind began to wander as he overlooked the city from this great height and decided that Paris wasn't as pretty as movies made it out to be. To be fair, neither were London and New York, but he'd still gotten the chance to explore them and found things that he liked about them. He wanted to do the same here.
Instead, he was here, perched on the edge of a rubbish-strewn roof, overlooking a dilapidated street and listening to the distant thumps of music coming from a street party a few blocks away.
The sudden vibration from his left hand helped him withdraw from his sour thoughts. "It's all clear," Felicia sighed, sounding almost disappointed. "There's nothing to identify our killer with. Either Desjardins lied to us or they left on their own."
Laurent's voice came from out of sight. "Or they could have nothing to do with this." She reasoned.
Felicia ignored her. "Harry, get the others and meet me inside." She closed her mirror before he could reply. He could hardly blame her; they had wasted an entire day on this.
Harry was about to apparate into the alley below to gather his friends when he spotted movement at the corner of the street. A woman was walking towards the safehouse carrying two bags of groceries. Although her clothes were nondescript, there was nothing she could do to hide her unearthly beauty. As he watched, she stopped walking, lifted her nose in the air and took a deliberate sniff. Then her head snapped directly towards his position despite his Cloak and Ouroboros.
Vampire.
The woman dropped her groceries and ran back around the corner. Harry gave chase, cursing himself for not removing his scent even after learning a Being with heightened senses might be the killer. He ran across the roof and snatched up an old newspaper before apparating to the roof on the next street over.
He spotted her. She was already at the end of this street. He pushed himself to run faster than ever before, even though he knew he was risking injury by flooding his limbs with too much Mana.
Even with Apparition and the Body Enhancing Technique on his side, he knew he didn't stand a chance of keeping up with her in the open. He apparated once more before he lost her at the street party, as he wouldn't be able to identify her quickly enough in the crowd before she disappeared. Just before she reached the revellers, he pointed his wand down at the crumbled newspaper.
Diffindo. Avenseguim. Depulso. Epoximise.
It was an unusual combination of spells, one that he was unused to, but he thought he pulled it off nicely. He skidded to a stop when he saw the few shreds of newspaper fuse themselves to the bottom of her shoes. He reached for his mirror.
"Where are you?" Felicia asked, glancing at the different scenery behind him. "Did you get lost?" She snorted at her own joke.
"Our killer made me." Felicia's response was loud enough for Harry to regret telling her so bluntly. A minute later, his entire squad and Lieutenant Laurent apparated onto the roof and hurried towards him, demanding answers.
Laurent wasn't happy. "If you knew she was a Vampire, why didn't you use a Verdimillious Charm to locate her?"
"There are a few hundred Muggles down there." Harry pointed out her. "Odds are at least one of them can see through the Veil. Besides, she would have noticed green sparks trailing after her. What if she had taken a hostage?" Laurent looked as though she was about to argue his point, but Felicia interrupted her.
"You made the right call," she said firmly. Her earlier desire to have Laurent take the lead in her city was over now that she was being critical of her Cadets. "But how do we track her now?"
Harry smothered a smile, but he felt distinctly pleased by the expectation in her voice. Felicia already knew that Harry would have a plan. "We can track her with this." He raised the hand that was holding a bell jar that contained a folded newspaper in the shape of an arrow. "I put a tracking spell on some shreds of paper and fused it to the bottom of her shoes. As long as she doesn't change into another pair, we can find her wherever she goes."
Felicia nodded. "Good thinking." Harry was unable to stop his smile the second time.
They followed the Vampire for much of the night, apparating across roofs and working their way through crowds all over the city, but always keeping their distance. Felicia had decided to bring her in at sunrise, both to make the capture easier on them and to find out if she had any accomplices. However, as the sky began to brighten, it became increasingly clear that the Vampire was on her own. Not only was she searching for a nondescript building in which she could hide away, but she looked at every passing Muggle as though they were possible meals.
Vampires who were part of Covens knew better.
As Harry and the other Cadets moved invisibly amongst the early morning pedestrians, confounding them to walk away as quickly as they could, Felicia and Laurent moved in to capture the Vampire. She must have fed recently, as she had the strength to break free of the initial bindings through strength alone. But when Felicia conjured a ring of fire around her and threatened to burn her to a crisp, she settled down.
"You'll be coming with us to London," Felicia was saying as Harry and the others neared. "We have some questions for you to answer."
The Vampire's eyes narrowed. "So, I'm not being charged with anything then?" She had been addressed in French, but she answered in accented English, which gave her nationality away.
Felicia cocked her head to the side. "No. Not unless you have something you want to admit." When the Vampire remained silent, she asked, "What's your name? You can tell me," she added when the Vampire failed to answer. "Or we could keep referring to you as the Vampire."
The Vampire looked as though she would have rather kept her mouth shut, but as the sun's first rays hit the building across the street, she hissed, "Bethany! My name's Bethany! Now get me inside!" Felicia smiled to herself as she levitated the bound Vampire into the cafe down the road that was just opening up for breakfast.
"Nice," Terry smiled. "We literally caught the killer before breakfast."
Michael rolled his eyes. "I think that phrase only counts if we didn't spend a whole night chasing her across the city."
"The man has a point though," Anthony reasoned. "Now that we've got her, it won't be long before we find out exactly what her endgame was."
Except they didn't. Bethany the Vampire refused to speak to any of them once they returned to the London Citadel. By the end of the week, the Commander grew frustrated with their lack of answers and handed off the case to the Interrogation subset of the Covert Intelligence Division.
Which was just a nice way of saying they were finally off the case.
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Harry hadn't been on the Hogwarts Express since he was a Second Year, and he hadn't travelled to school on it since his first. The only reason he was heading for the platform now was because of Susan. She had convinced Michael that he was missing out by heading straight to school every year, and the other boys had been roped in along with him.
Honestly, Harry just felt annoyed that they had cut into his sleeping hours.
Remus had looked pleased when Harry had turned in early last night, telling him that he would regret not enjoying the typical Hogwarts experience when he had the chance, but Maia had been confused. "Does anyone even ride the train to school?" She asked. "We never did."
Harry shrugged. "A lot of people just show up and hang around the castle until the feast starts. Only the more sociable people want to be stuck on a train for eight hours."
Maia looked more onboard when she heard that. "That's good. You can stand to be a little more sociable."
Harry had rolled his eyes at her. "I have too many friends as it is."
Now, as he walked across King's Cross station- pushing a trolley that only had three working wheels- Harry was grumbling under his breath to himself. "Can't even use magic to fix this damn wheel…have to set a good example…don't get paid enough for this…" He ignored the invisible Custodians who watched him pass through the barrier and flicked his wand at the annoying wheel the second he stepped onto Platform Nine and Three Quarters.
Breathing a sigh of relief at being able to use magic freely again (as even the three-minute walk through the station weighed on him) he turned to face the train (red and gold due to Gryffindor's victory last year) and groaned at the veritable sea of First Years skittering about the platform.
"Look at all of this," Terry said as he sidled up to him. "We're never going to get good seats in the common room again."
Harry doubted that. Older students had the first pick of everything, but he understood the feeling. He knew that there had been a baby boom after the war, but he hadn't expected it to have such an impact on the Hogwarts' student roster. Their school was meant for only the best but there were almost twice as many new students than there had been in his first year.
Anthony seemed to read his mind. "If this is how bad it is here, imagine how crowded it must be at Rosewood's or Wendell's?" Harry, never a fan of large groups, shuddered at the thought.
Michael called out to them over the deluge of prepubescent voices. "Over here!" His head was hanging out of a compartment window, and he looked rather desperate to have them join him.
Anthony was the tallest, so he led the way through the crowd. He pushed past the tiny First Years and their emotional parents, leaving Harry and Terry to walk in the path he created for them. When they finally stored their trunks away and found Michael's compartment, they quickly saw why he was so distressed. He was sitting with Susan and Megan.
After their night in Paris, Michael had gone to Megan and asked her out sincerely. Harry wasn't sure what had been said, but considering they weren't together, it couldn't have been good. Sitting with her now and pretending everything was okay must have been incredibly awkward for him. Harry wondered if that was the real reason Susan had been so adamant about riding the train this year. When he sat next to her, he caught her eye and she smirked deviously at him.
"You're evil, Bones," Harry muttered lowly so only she could hear.
Her smirk only grew. "I have to entertain myself somehow."
He couldn't help but return her smile and pretended to be ignorant of the awkward tension in the compartment. For a few minutes, he kept a conversation going with Anthony and Terry (who both seemed to have cottoned on), but he quickly started to feel bad for the quietly mortified Michael. When the train started to depart from the platform, he turned to Megan and asked, "How was your summer?" He ignored Susan's betrayed look.
"You already know," Megan rolled her eyes at him. "I must have seen you at least twice a week. But yeah, it was good. Hestia and Septima ended up taking me to Spain after all. She's not that bad," she added when Harry wrinkled his nose.
"If you say so," Harry said doubtfully. He made a mental note to never complain about Professor Vector whenever Megan was around.
"You went with your sister and her girlfriend on their holiday?" Anthony chuckled.
His tone made Megan defensive. "Yeah. Why?"
Anthony snickered. "I'm sure it was fine, but if I was taking a girl to Spain, I wouldn't want to take Terry along as a third wheel."
"You and Luna are going to Spain?" Terry asked innocently, timing it perfectly for when said girl opened the compartment door.
"We are?" She smiled happily before bounding down to sit beside Anthony, who replied in a weak voice.
"If you want."
Luna beamed. "Oh, that sounds lovely! We can observe the migration of the Heliopaths." She wrapped her arms around one of Anthony's own.
"Sure, whatever you want," Anthony said confusedly. It was clear he was unsure how he found himself planning a holiday with his sort of girlfriend.
"My father is going to have so much fun!" Luna cheered.
"Wait, what?" Now Anthony looked really confused about how her dad got invited along.
As Luna tried to explain that this was part of their "whatever you want" deal, Susan turned to Harry. "Did Terry just set them up?" She whispered.
Harry shrugged, unsure. "I want to say that it was unintentional, but he's a bit of a mad genius, so it could go either way."
Megan turned her eyes away from the Goldstein-Lovegood affair and returned Harry's question. "So, what about your summer? Susan said you guys caught a Vampire last week?"
Harry nodded. "She's a suspected serial killer, but all we know about her is the first name she gave us: Bethany." Megan and Susan stiffened, as though he'd uttered a vile curse. "What is it?" He asked warily.
"What does she look like?" Megan asked, much too casually.
Susan clamped down on his arm, but Harry didn't see the harm and answered anyway. "Tall, dark complexion, short hair, beautiful even aside from the way all Vampires are-" he abruptly stopped speaking when he noticed Megan's hands were shaking. Everyone's eyes were wide, even the perpetually unaffected Luna.
"I need to see her," Megan said quietly.
Susan shook her head. "You don't even know if it's her."
"I just need to know for sure."
Michael waved his hands in the air, clearly trying to catch up. "Wait, wait, wait…her name is Bethany?"
"You already knew her name-?" Harry started to say before Susan cut him off.
"What did you expect?" She demanded.
Michael shrugged helplessly. "I don't know. Something more intimidating I guess."
"Right," Susan said bitingly. "Like Elissa Corner is such a menacing name."
Harry ignored the siblings' growing argument and turned directly to Megan. "Seriously, what am I missing here?"
Megan's expression had become vacant, as though she'd receded into the recesses of her mind, but she had enough awareness to hear and respond to his question. The answer was just about the last thing he had expected to hear.
"I think she's my mum."