FicWad

For disclaimer see first chapter’s notes.

‘’ Equals thoughts and mind speak.

“” Equals Speech and quotations.

Warning: Major and minor character deaths from this chapter on.

Thanks to my Proof reader:Tumshie




Chapter Five





Draco Malfoy was getting worried; He was given the task to kill Albus Dumbledore a task he felt was beyond him. He had discovered the broken vanishing cabinet in Hogwarts and decided to carry a piece with him to find its twin, as he thought having a swift way to secretly leave the school would help him in getting out with no one knowing. However, he still needed to finish the repairs, he was pleased to have eventually found it's twin and after bartering with the fool he handed over some forged Galleons. The cabinet was packed up and shrunk to fit in a pocket; he just had to put it in his pocket after paying for it. He had just finished the transaction when he saw a flash of light out side the shop, he reached out for his purchase and made to grab for it. The shockwave upset everything on the counter causing the shrunken cabinet to fall on to the shop floor. His bent over form was blasted into another vanishing cabinet and the slam of the cabinet’s doors echoed loudly in the confined space. He heard another bang then nothing, after an hour he tried to open the door but nothing happened. He had been banging for attention for six hours and still nothing, he had also tried Apparation, which he had illegally learnt, his Father had obtained a forged licence for him to use as he said it was a very useful skill to have. He had created this plan and was hopeful it would work, as he did not want to consider the consequences of failure. He drifted off to sleep exhausted at his futile attempts of escape from the cabinet.


Hugh gratefully accepted the mug of coffee from the Healer. The sun was rising, it had been a long night battling the inferno, and it was a very stubborn fire that refused to go out. Normally when wizards tackled fires they went out like a Muggle electrical light, it was the reason that there was no Wizard Fire Brigade in existence. Hugh was relived that the fire had not reached St. Mungo's. He was also relieved to see his staff safe, helping out just like him. He was dismayed to find his present to his first-born tattered and torn on the floor, from all of last night’s foot traffic. He thought he would need to get a replacement teddy bear. Another Healer came over and asked him to follow, as the Healer would bring him to his Wife and Daughter. He gladly followed the Healer to his family.


Albus Dumbledore called the meeting to order it was nine o’clock in the morning following the explosion that wiped out the shopping district of magical London. Due to security concerns following the damage to the painting in number twelve, the meeting was now held in an expanded Shrieking Shack. It was a temporary solution and Mad-eye was looking after storage of the Orders equipment until a suitable replacement for Grimmauld Place could be found. Albus frowned, as it was the second meeting in a row that Minerva had missed, however she was not the only one missing from the meeting. He had called all the members of the Order. Shack, Tonks, and Arthur Weasley were busy working at the Ministry. As the Ministry had called in all staff to work on the clean up and to start the massive Obliviation operation to keep the Muggles unaware of the magic world.


Snape was expected to be late, as he had reported that Voldemort had recalled all his followers for a massive meeting earlier this morning. Also missing were the guard detail that was stationed at Privet Drive in case Harry showed up again. Before the meeting, Albus had checked up on one of his devices that showed the state of the wards surrounding number four, they revealed that the wards had gone down. He Apparated to the house to find the whole area destroyed by fire. He had found Fletcher's corpse among the debris and after exploring more of the area he found the body of Mrs. Figg along with her dead cats. From checking the area and noticing bits of a plane everywhere, he decided it must have been a Muggle accident.


Molly reported her sons’ miraculous escape from the explosion and their belief that it came from within Diagon Alley, therefore ruling out a Muggle bomb. The wards over the area protected the buildings during the Blitz from dropping bombs so the people around the table were confident that it was not a Muggle attack. The members of the Order had no idea at causality figures for the blast. Reports also came in that St. Mungo's had narrowly escaped being damaged by the resultant fire that followed the explosion. Various members reported that there were no warnings for the explosion.


Just as Albus considered finishing the meeting a haggard Severus Snape entered to report on his earlier meeting with the Death Eaters. From Serverus’ report the Order learnt one important fact that Voldemort did not order the attack or sanction any of his followers. Severus had actually stated that Voldemort was very angry at the attack, as he wanted to rule the Wizarding World and not destroy it. He told his followers that his tools were terror and intimidation and the attack on Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley was counter-productive, as it would likely rally the Witches and Wizards after the horrific blast. Severus also reported that many of Voldemort’s lesser minions had died while gathering supplies for their up coming missions. Albus found this knowledge unsettling as both the attack and the damaged portrait indicated a new player in the conflict. After ending the meeting, Albus returned to his office to ponder these new developments and how they affected his plans to beat Voldemort.


Albus left the office after hours pondering of these new developments to follow up on a hunch of his about how Tom Marvolo Riddle became immortal as Lord Voldemort. He believed that Tom had created Horcruxes, one of which he believed was left in the Gaunt family home in Little Hangleton. He Apparated just outside the town with a small pop. His finely tuned magical senses from his advancing years helped him to navigate around the house looking for the soul fragment. He had meant to come sooner but unforeseen circumstances such as the weather and potions problems had delayed him by about three weeks. This potions puzzle was most distracting and it was not good to know that Tom was not behind these two new developments. He furtively searched all day for the Horcrux but did not find it only a few useless knick-knacks such as a small tarnished gold box, nothing of significance. In dismay he returned to Hogwarts to see if any of his repaired magical tools could divine Harry’s whereabouts.


Hermione slowly awoke to the light streaming in through the window. She glanced at the old fashioned bronze wind up alarm clock to check the time and was shocked to find it was half ten. In a panic at having missed their scheduled appointment with Harry’s Solicitor, she struggled to try and get up but found herself pinned to the bed by Harry spooning in behind her. Reluctantly she awoke Harry so that she could get up and relieve her painfully full bladder. Harry was still groggy from yesterday's adventure and rolled over to sleep. Hermione sighed in annoyance at Harry’s antics and went to the kitchen to get some coffee so that it would help her wake up. The couple had found that one downside of sharing their mind and magic was that if one of them was very tired, they both were. This was the reason that Hermione had slept in even after going to bed early last night at about half ten.


She was surprised to see her parents still at home and not at work. Jane said that none of the electrical appliances were working for some reason and also the two cars would not start. Frank said the strange thing was that the whole neighbourhood was affected. Frank said that their neighbour Tom Collins from two doors down was called in last night to help out after a large explosion in London yesterday evening. The rumour on the grapevine of the neighbourhood was of a nuclear bomb going off and destroying most of London. Another was that the Americans had attacked in annoyance at the current government’s practices, clearly barking. After hearing all the different and clashing rumours Frank was at a loss at what to believe any more.


Hermione swiftly got dressed after a small breakfast of coffee and toast, and left for the Solicitor's office to apologise. She knew that Harry would most likely be out for most of the day from magical exhaustion. Harry had been a lot more careful, hoping to avoid a repeat of his nightmare of Hermione being tortured and killed, however it had delayed him in his search, meaning that his search had taken much longer than anticipated. Hermione decided to Sphere to a short distance away from the Leaky Cauldron and appeared into what felt like hell. The ground was hot under foot and smoke swirled all around in the sunshine casting the surrounding area into areas of bright light and dense darkness.


She gasped in shock as she surveyed the immense damage, she realised she could see right through the demolished pub and the magical street beyond. The only structure still standing was the charred black bank. It stood as a lonely edifice among the rubble. Hermione realised that she was not alone as there were many witches and wizards poring over the rubble like ants, looking for any survivors. Hermione approached a Wizard in shabby robes to ask what had happened. She was surprised to come face to face with a sickly Professor Lupin. Hermione’s refined senses could tell that the Professor was in a very bad way. She could tell that his condition was getting worse; his curse of the wolf was slowly killing him. His hair was almost greyish white and thinning out. His eyes were sunk in his gaunt face and he looked haunted with much pain. She could tell that he was not eating and looked like the walking dead.


A young good-looking Witch surprised Remus by tapping him on his shoulder. He thought he recognised her scent and was shocked to discover he recognized her as Hermione Granger, one of Harry’s friends, she was asking him what had happened. He almost didn’t recognise her at all, for a woman stood before him, not a teenage girl. He explained all that he and the Order knew about the large explosion and how they were looking for Harry. She responded by saying she had received a letter from a Solicitor about Sirius' last Will and Testament, and did not know what to do. Remus said he was aware that one of the Solicitors called Wallace had survived and had helped out last night. Hermione responded that he was the one she was due to meet but did not look likely to happen now. Remus was surprised when Hermione removed a small folding mirror from her pocket, and handed it to him. He took it when she explained it was for him to keep in touch with her.


He had the feeling from her scent that she knew where Harry was. As he could detect faint traces of Harry in her unusual scent. He decided to keep this knowledge to himself for now and returned to his task in helping with the clean up operation as his gut feeling told him that Harry was safe and well. When he turned to ask Hermione another question that was nagging him he found that she was gone as if into thin air. He frowned as he did not hear the telltale pop of Apparation. Shaking his head he went back to work and was surprised to find a small wicker basket of food at his feet. He opened the basket and was pleasantly surprised to find that the food left behind was carefully chosen for his particular diet. He wondered how Hermione knew to leave the food. He was not feeling well after the last dose of Wolfsbane had badly reacted with him. He found that it was hard to keep anything down and Poppy had said that she could do nothing as Potions were failing all over the place. Remus hurried home to eat, as he suddenly felt ravenous. After eating the food in the basket he enjoyed his first peaceful night's sleep since his last transformation on a happy stomach.


Harry awoke feeling refreshed after his time in bed. He had reluctantly let go of Hermione earlier so that she could start her day. After a shower he went downstairs to prepare lunch as he had gathered, from his connection to Hermione, it was almost two in the afternoon. He already knew about Hermione’s little adventure as she had relayed it to him when he woke up. He already knew that things were happening differently than in the last two novels. He could tell Hermione was worried about something, she had already sent Hedwig to the Solicitor about the missed appointment, and about how to contact them about rescheduling.


Harry’s first task in preparing lunch was to repair the damaged electrical appliances so that he could cook. Hermione already explained that it was her belief that the explosion was magical, as she had felt buffeted by all the excess magical energy from all the destroyed wards around the Magical shopping area. Hermione was stuck in the study after deciding to research some problem she had just come across and said she would share the problem with him later, after a little more research.


Harry found that just like at Hogwarts, he had to coax his studious wife out of the Granger study and to join the rest of the family at the dinner table for a late lunch. Conversation around the table consisted of the attack on London, and what the Solicitor wanted with Harry. After dinner Hermione retreated to the study to continue her research and Harry decided to join her to review the files that the Ministry had on him. Hedwig returned from delivering the letter with a response from the Solicitor.




Dear Hermione,


Thank you for your concern over my well being. I am currently at St. Mungo's with Helen, my wife, and Clare, my newborn daughter. In your husband's case, he was fortunate that I had taken the file with me, as my original intention was to review the file before the meeting scheduled for this morning. Due to the fact I no longer have a business premises to conduct the meeting, could I please conduct the meeting at your current location. I am currently staying in my wife’s hospital room awaiting your instruction. Give my regards to Harry. I am afraid it would be best to speak in person about the issue with the name Potter-Black, as it is relevant to Lord Black’s wishes.


Yours sincerely,


Hugh Wallace

Wizarding Solicitor


Hermione showed the letter to Harry after reading it. Harry swiftly drafted a letter saying that Hugh could be picked up just outside St. Mungo's tomorrow morning at nine. The couple received a response saying that was fine and that he would be wearing a pink tie and grey robes stood on the steps of St. Mungo's awaiting the pick up.


Hermione spent the rest of the day poring over the files that Harry had retrieved from the Ministry as she had hit a brick wall in her other research. She was startled to discover that the Magical world had Lords as the Heads of families. For example, Lucius Malfoy was Head of his family and a Lord. From her understanding, Harry was one too. However she had learnt that it was the old way for governing the Magical world, and the Ministry was installed to replace the old ways even though the old ways were not struck off the books. She discovered that most, if not all, the Purebloods owed fealty and Vaults rights to the Lord Black, she shuddered at the thought of someone like Draco, the nearest male blood relative taking up as Head of the family.


She sighed, as the magical world was still very much a boys own club when it came to matters such as this. She had originally wanted to research a way to help Professor Lupin with his problem, but got distracted on all the files on known Death Eaters after hitting a brick wall, maybe Harry could raid the Ministry archives for information on Werewolves. She was surprised at how most of the people contained in the files were all interrelated even to families such as the Bones or Longbottoms. It was only after going through the files that she realised that the Pureblood community was so small with less than fifty individual Pureblood families all interrelated. She smirked as she thought that might explain the two mutes following Malfoy around like automatons. Harry had to nag her to come to bed by sending her sexy images of him pleasuring her all night. She gave in as she could not concentrate any long with all these sexy images floating around her head. The clock showed the time as half past two in the morning.


Hugh Wallace stood at the entrance to St. Mungo's waiting to meet his client, hoping that by trying to keep his appointments it would help him overcome the shock at how close he came to losing his life. Hugh was pulled from his thoughts when he felt a magical construct snap around him and then dissolve almost as fast. He was shocked to find that he was no longer on the street but in a beautifully furnished sitting room of an obviously Muggle home. He studied his captor and was surprised to be looking at an athletic Muggle, as he felt no magic coming from the individual in front of him. He had shaggy, unruly, black hair and piercing green eyes. He wore a faded grey T-shirt with a yellow print on it of a silhouetted head, shot through with the bullet just after passing through the head. He was also wearing a shabby pair of navy jeans and appeared to be barefoot. A woman barrelled into the room giving out about how he was not dressed enough to meet his Solicitor. The woman was in complete contrast to the young man, wearing a smart summer trouser suit in a light grey colour with a black blouse. Hugh was taken back at the contrast in dress sense between the couple.


The smartly dressed woman turned to him and said. “Oh, sorry, didn’t see you there. I am Hermione, and this is Harry Potter.” As she gestured to the youth in the strange T-shirt. It appeared he had only gotten out of the shower, as his hair was shiny and still damp.


The man Harry smiled sheepish and trust out his hand in greeting. Hugh was stunned as the couple could not be magical, as they did not feel magical.


Hugh stated “This must be a mistake I have to meet a wizard named Harry Potter”


Hugh took a pace back and brandished his wand hoping to stun the two Muggles and make his escape.


The man chuckled at Hugh’s actions and calmly moved his outstretched hand and pushed up the hair covering his forehead revealing the famous scar. Hugh studied the face and scar. ‘The scar is in the right place and the expected shape. His eyes are green but he is not wearing glasses.’


“How do I know you are really Harry Potter?”


“You are the one that asked to talk to us about Sirius.” Responded the man and suddenly he was in possession of Hugh’s brandished wand, leaving Hugh with an outstretched hand holding nothing. Hugh gasped in shock, as he had never had his wand removed from his grip like that as the man claiming to be Harry never moved.


“Why did you take my wand? More to the point, how?”


“No one threatens my wife and you looked likely to do something with your wand and we don’t want to receive a letter from the Ministry about under-age magic.”


“Please prove who you are so we can get started.” Sighed Hugh, as he was severely unbalanced after all that has happened over the last thirty-six hours.


An older woman came in with a tray of tea and biscuits she looked like an older sister of the woman in the business suit who had introduced herself as Hermione. Hermione produced all the letters from Hugh and stated that Harry had an operation on his eyes and no longer needed glasses. Hugh sat mulling over the evidence in front of him and realised that they had to be who he was looking for and one security check would be a drop of Potter blood on the blood locks on some of the documents he had with him, which he could not open. He removed a file from his satchel and passed it over to Harry to open and explained it needed a drop of blood for the magical imprint. Hugh gasped in shock when Harry seemed to pass his hand over the document and a pinkish white glow passed from his hand to the document. The parchment scroll unrolled and Harry began to read.



11th May 1996

Dear Harry,


If you’re reading this it means I kicked the bucket and for that I am terribly sorry. Ever since I escaped from prison I have written these terrible letters updating them monthly. I just hope that I died with a smile on my face and took one of those bastards with me. I hope you’ll forgive me as I have adopted you into the family, which means you’re a Black now, my Heir for what it’s worth. I have learnt that the family fortune is gone all that is left is the old place and all of it’s contents.


I have had a lot of time to think stuck here as I write this letter. Yesterday I found my old Marauders journal. My does it remind me of happier times. I want you to continue the good work of the Marauders while stuck in school. It’ll be a good distraction from my death and the war. But most of all, I want you to seize the day, live, and above all smile once in a while. You’ll find my old journal behind the painting of the nude woman in the third bedroom on the left on the second floor. Give the map’s password to the lovely lass and she will hand over the goods.


Find love, find a woman and settle down, by the way don’t miss what’s right under your nose. Look out for red sirens and old coots and squish the toad woman. Our furry friend is trustworthy, ginger mummy bear is overbearing and liable to do anything, so watch out. The carrot-topped twins are rivals in your designated task so make your godfather proud.


This is not goodbye. But good luck, beat snake lips and have lots of pups.


Sirius.


Hermione gently took the piece of parchment and pulled the quietly weeping Harry into an embrace. Harry had thought that he had gotten over the death of Sirius, but the letter brought it all back, another person out of his life forever. Hermione frowned at the riddles contained in the letter but decided to puzzle them out later.


Hugh gave the couple a few minutes for Harry to compose himself before he detailed the contents of Sirius’ will. Hermione was given access rights to the vast Black library. Harry inherited the empty Black money vault along with another vault containing dark objects and other heirlooms the Blacks had accumulated over the years. Hugh explained that most of the money in the Black vault was used to purchase a Firebolt a few years ago. Hugh also said that there was a property in London that was the Black family home. Two other properties existed, one in the South of France in unknown condition and a small hunting lodge in the Scottish Highlands, in a poor state of repair.


Hugh then produced the second Will. It was the joint Will of Lily and James Potter. The Potters being aware they were going to die, had saved up their money to create the Trust Fund Harry was entitled to. They also left him their house in Godric’s Hollow, unfortunately, Hugh explained the house was badly damaged and never repaired and served as a memorial to Harry’s parents. Also listed in the Will were the people Harry would stay with when they died. The list was thus:

In the event of our death Harry is to be left with one of the following:

Sirius Black

Remus Lupin

Peter Pettigrew

Longbottom Family

Bones Family

Bauer Family

Minerva McGonagall

O’Neill Family


And under no circumstances is Harry to be put in the care of Vernon Dursley.


Harry scanned the list wondering who the O’Neill’s and Bauer’s were and wondered why the Weasleys were not on the list.


“Who are the O’Neill’s and Bauer’s, as I have never heard of them?”


“The O’Neill’s were friends of your parents and moved to the States about fifteen years ago as far as I know. I don’t know about the Bauer’s as I have never heard of them.”


“Your letter listed three Wills?”


“Yes the third is the Gryffindor Will, which entitles you to a seat on the Board of Governors for Hogwarts, unfortunately the vault of Godric Gryffindor is mostly empty and no one knows where any of his historic possessions are. So the only things left are honorifics such as Lord Gryffindor, unfortunately the position has no power now only as an honorary title.”


“What like a Muggle Knighthood?” asked Hermione.


“Yes that's right the Heads of families are called Lords just like a Knight is called Sir. It has no power as such except as head of a family.”


“Oh, okay.”


“In the old times before the Wizengamot and the Ministry, the Heads of families, the Lords were in charge and ran things.”


“So as you have taken the role of my Solicitor in the reading of the Wills, does that mean that you work for me now and keep my secrets?”


“Yes, yes it does.”


“Good, how did you know about my marriage to Hermione?”


“I am your family's Solicitor and as such have access to a book that records such matters. It indicated to me that you have come of age and are wed to Hermione.”


“Does anyone else know about the marriage, and is it legal?”


“Only my staff who are very discrete and will keep it to themselves, and yes, in magical law it is legal as it is recorded as a full magical ceremony. I can go through why it is legal if you like?”


“Maybe later. If I tell you some thing in confidence, will you keep it secret?”


“Yes I will. I take client confidentiality very seriously.”


“Okay, have you time to work through some files with Hermione?”


“Well, at the moment I have only one client due to the fact the files for my other clients were destroyed, so I guess I could help.”


“Good, follow Hermione into the study and I’ll go and prepare lunch.”


Hugh followed Hermione to the study and gasped as he saw all the Ministry files in stacks on the floor of the room.


“Where did they all come from?” He noticed the stamp of the Ministry on the cover of the files and turned to Hermione and asked, “How did you get them?”


“You do not want to know, believe me.”


Hugh nodded wondering how the pair had broken into the Ministry of Magic undetected. The two of them got down to work, it was obvious why he was shown the files as the couple had a lot of intelligent questions about the files the Ministry had on it’s citizens.


George and Fred Weasley sat in their bedroom in the Burrow contemplating their next move. Their shop in Diagon Alley was totally destroyed. They had very little gold in the bank only one hundred and eight Galleons, not enough to restart the business. They needed a place to research the problem affecting most of their products. Once it was solved, they would need a place to manufacture new stock. There was the added problem of their worried mother not letting them out of her sight.


“Well what do we do eh?”


“Don’t know, do you think little Harrykins will fund us again?”


“Maybe, Maybe not. Harry is missing . . . ”


“ . . . Presumed kidnapped by the Order. They won’t let us join . . .”


“ . . . We’re too young, and Mum is blocking us from joining . . .”


“DINNER!!” Came booming from the kitchen ending the twins brainstorming session. They reluctantly left their old bedroom and went downstairs for dinner.


Ron Weasley sat worried in his room reading the Quidditch ’95-’96 review of the season just past. Dumbledore had said that Harry and Hermione would be spending the summer here, but now Harry was missing and the twins had said they overheard that his house at Privet Drive had been destroyed. Hermione had not responded to the letters he had sent. He was at a Healer's appointment at St. Mungo's the day after the explosion and had seen the chaos at the hospital. There were periods he had no memory of at all after he had accidentally summoned that brain. The Healers were worried about something but would not share it with him he did not like that. He wondered where Harry was, what he was up to, was he all right? These questions and more ran through his thoughts about his bespectacled friend. He also wondered about the lack of letters from Hermione, as in previous years she would send loads of letters maybe she was following Dumbledore’s orders about keeping communication to a minimum this summer. He was pulled from his brooding by a shout for dinner by his mother, he slowly left his bedroom and went to join the family for dinner.


Hugh was pulled from his review about the file the Ministry had on the Lestrange family stretching back over two hundred years, by a ginger blur that landed on the parchment Hermione was reading. Hermione was sitting across from him diligently reviewing the large number of files stopping once in awhile to ask about a legal detail contained in the complicated jargon laden document.


“Crookshanks!!!” Exclaimed a startled Hermione at having her familiar land on the document she was trying to understand.


“Oh, did you miss me? Oh, I’m so sorry I almost forgot about you, where were you?” Babbled an excited Hermione as she got reacquainted with her familiar, with all that was going on she was shamed to admit that she had forgotten about her familiar Crookshanks the cat.


‘Yes, I did miss you, it was only seven risings of the sun since I last saw you.’ Thought Crookshanks, the cat started to purr as her mistress patted him and scratched behind his ears.


Hugh observed as Hermione greeted the cat and he was not surprised to see that it was a Knezele half-breed. He wondered at why she had stopped petting her familiar and her slack mouth. She appeared to be stunned for some reason. He shook his head and returned to the files and ignored the drama playing out at the other end of the table.


Hermione looked stunned at her familiar, she knew she could read minds after learning the skill with Harry, but being able to talk to her familiar was shocking.


‘Why did you stop?’ Groused Crookshanks as he pushed his head up into her still hand.


“Did you talk?” Asked Hermione.


“No.” Said Hugh looking up from his review about a Ministry file on the Malfoys and how the file was supposedly buried.


Hermione however did not hear him as she was staring at her familiar in puzzlement.


‘Pet me, pet me, pet me.’ The mantra repeated as Crookshanks tried to get Hermione to continue to massage his head.


Hugh looked up again from his files as he sensed another person enter the room. He was still surprised that Harry Potter did not need glasses. Hugh felt that he was holding on to his sanity by a thread. First the explosion, then his daughter’s birth, he hoped working through the day would help but he was swiftly learning that working for the Potter-Blacks was bad for ones health, as they were both barking mad. It appeared that Hermione thought she could understand her damn cat, Kneazele, whatever. He sighed and left the room trying to find a soothing mug of coffee.


Harry looked at Crookshanks and was surprised that he could hear the mantra coming from the cat's mind. He felt that he had a bond with Hedwig but had never been conscious of it till now. Hermione’s surprise at this new-found gift had drawn him to the room. He could tell by the way her mind sped up that she was studying all the implications from her new understandings of Crookshanks. While in the other reality, Hermione had spent some free time helping out in an animal shelter for domestic cats and dogs, but the animals never communicated verbally like Crookshanks was doing now. Harry was pulled from his musing from the running commentary coming from the feline.


‘Yes, oh that feels good.’ Purred the contented cat as Hermione absent-mindedly petted him as she worried through this new quirk in her and Harry’s developing skill sets.


‘Oh look it’s white wings, hello!’


Hedwig hooted a greeting as she swooped over to Harry’s shoulder. Harry ruffled her breast feathers in greeting. Harry looked into Hedwig’s eyes hoping he could understand her like the couple could understand Crookshanks. Hedwig’s head swivelled to stare at the busy Hugh at the study table and turned back to Harry with a questioning gaze. Harry chuckled at Hedwig’s antics and softly explained to the intelligent bird all about the solicitor. Hermione smiled at Harry’s antics as Crookshanks fell asleep on her lap.


Mark Fouler sat in front of his workstation trying to create a connection with a top secret American spy satellite in orbit over the Baltic region. His superior Mr. X had ordered him to acquire its services in retaliation for the London Explosion. Mark knew why he was given the task as he had entered the research and development arm of MI6 after being arrested for hacking into CIA computers. British Intelligence had staged his death after his arrest and the Americans attempts at deportation. It took him about six months to adapt to his new life working for the government instead of against the establishment. Mark was pulled from his thoughts as his screen flashed up a new window showing he now had control of the American's newest and most powerful spy satellite in existence. As per his instructions from Mr. X he transferred control to Mr. D whom was working in another building.


After completing his job his extension rang, an electronically disguised voice started to speak. “Good work, Fouler, you’re now on paid leave, take a month, visit Australia, understood.”


“Yes sir.” Mark silently left his desk wondering what Mr. D was going to use the spy bird for.


The Ministry clerical officer shook his head in dismay as he reviewed the next O.W.L. results to by posted out to students. After the total annihilation of Diagon Alley the Ministry was in total chaos, the end result being the delay in posting out the results of both the O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s. What drew the clerk's attention was the fact that every result he readied for posting showed that all the student had failed the Potion’s exam. No one had brewed a successful potion in exam conditions. The clerk decided that he had enough to bring it to Griselda Marchbanks attention.


Severus was in foul mood he had to babysit the incompetent Wormtail as Voldemort had ordered the snivelling rat to stay with him. To make matters worse, Narcissa had sent an owl saying that Draco was missing. Seemingly his godson was at Diagon Alley when the shopping district was wiped out by unknown means. It appeared that the Weasleys were not the only family to own a family clock. The annoying windbag used it to smother her children, no wonder the two youngest Weasley spawn had problems. Narcissa had said that the clock showed that Draco had survived the trip to the Alley but was now missing as his hand on the Malfoy clock was spinning aimlessly.

Due to the fact he was sharing space with the little rodent Severus found he needed one reason not to end the cretin’s life every time he woke up. Severus felt that he was responsible for Lily’s death, beside the fact that he had relayed what he knew of the prophesy to Voldemort all those years ago. What was annoying about Potter’s spawn was that he looked like Potter but was more like Lily than he wanted to admit and he shared his mother’s eyes.


Severus felt the compulsion from his promise to carry out Draco’s designated mission. 'Maybe I should tell the old coot about certain plans in motion.'


To make matters worse all his research on various potions was worthless as in the last six months all of his experiments and regular potions were failing. At first he thought it was due to stress from having to suffer Longbottom’s incompetence in class. But he had taught the fool for the last five years and only over the last six months had it became apparent that the potions were failing. He was pulled from his thoughts as his latest attempt to brew blood-replenishing potion ate through the bottom of another cauldron. In frustration he blasted the disaster across the room narrowly missing the sleeping Wormtail. Severus cursed as he hoped he would hit the excuse of a wizard with the flying cauldron. Wormtail awoke at the loud clatter the cauldron made hitting the wall above where he slept. The pitiful rat scowled at Severus before scurrying away from the debris of the ruined cauldron.


Severus sighed and with a slash of his wand the room was magically cleaned and repaired. ‘At least the pathetic fool is out of sight for now.’ Severus thought.


An owl swooped in through a magical window dropped a scroll on to the workbench and flew off again. Severus frowned at this action and slowly panned his wand down the scroll divining any hidden traps cast upon the innocent looking scroll. After being satisfied there was just a simple confidentiality charm cast on it, indicating that it had come from the Ministry. Curious as to what the Ministry wanted of Severus, he slowly unrolled the scroll and began to read.


In the inky blackness of space the most sophisticated satellite ever launched in to space fired up its thrusters to change its orbit around the world. The States had secretly sent up the satellite in three stages over many months. Once finished the satellite was almost as big as the old sky-lab experiment of the seventies. The orbiting satellite was painted black to blend into the void, and was listed as a simple spy satellite owned by the Air Force. However the satellite was armed with twelve anti-ballistic missiles, six forty mega-tonne nuclear missiles and the worlds most advanced ground penetrating radar and camera system. The operator on terra firma only wanted access to the camera and radar.


Mr. D’s hands flew expertly over the computer keys as he ordered full scans of England in his quest to locate the terrorists behind the blast that almost returned England back to the stone age and almost crashed the world economy. The satellite was making its fourth pass as the images were beamed down to his work station. He cursed as he realised that only half of the photos from the first pass were sent down. They only showed the bottom half of the British Isles and parts of Northern France. He tried to re-establish contact with the satellite but found that he could not. Cursing he brought what he had to the other members of the twenty-six person committee.


Sergeant Siller’s eyes widened, as he realised he no longer had control of Blue Bird One. Blue Bird One was a two hundred million dollar spy and weapons platform tasked with protecting US skies it was commissioned in the late eighties but the last components were only installed last month. It appeared that someone had hacked control of the satellite. He phoned his superior, General West about the breach in security as the automated systems sounded an alarm in the control room. Sergeant Siller sat in tense silence as he watched the instructions the satellite was being sent by an unknown operator. He contacted General West as he realised the weapons and spy platform was being aimed at the British Isles with the satellite's orbit flying just west of Moscow. After the incident in London the General was taking no chances and relayed orders from the White House to destroy the renegade satellite.


Sergeant Siller sighed in relief when he discovered that he had access to the back up controls for Blue Bird One. He inputted the self-destruct code and pressed enter. Today was not a good day for Sergeant Siller. High above, the satellite's computer received the destruct code and fired up its thrusters. The satellite rotated about its axis and aimed its missiles out into space. When the computer was satisfied that the missiles were pointing away from Earth it fired all of its weapons out into space. After the twelve anti-ballistic missiles had travelled two hundred miles they exploded. The six nukes travelled almost a million miles before self-destructing safely in the void of space. Once the on board computer was satisfied it ignited the onboard demolition pack rendering the most expensive and advanced satellite ever launched worthless space junk.


Mr. D entered the darkened conference room in trepidation after partially completing his task. The room was a large rectangle, with two hanging down lighters lighting the oval conference table shrouding the twenty-five seated around the table in darkness. Between the two down lighters hung a video projector hooked up to the computer network streaming images from the partially downloaded images from Blue Bird One. The room was filled with a low buzz of sound of the various members quietly discussing the latest happenings. Silence fell as Mr. D. approached the table and began to relay his findings. He explained that the Americans had developed spy technology that could see through magical wards. He was appointed this task from Mr. X due to the fact his son was a wizard. From determining the epicentre of the explosion it was decided that the attack was against the magicals.


However, the people in the room felt that a weighted response was required after the very high financial cost and the high death toll incurred in this war between wizards had eventually passed over in to the normal world. Mr. D outlined a large manor house with at least fifty confirmed magical signatures hidden behind a level five ward. Mr. C stated that the SAS under going training from Captain Pennysworth were ready for any upcoming spill over from over eager wizards carrying out attacks on helpless normals. Mr. X put a motion before the board to attack the manor and any persons found on the premises. It narrowly passed, fourteen agreeing to the attack and twelve against. Mr. O was the most vocal opponent saying that they did not have enough intelligence to determine the person or group responsible for the blast in London. After green lighting the mission Mr C. was sent to brief Captain Pennysworth and his men about their upcoming raid, with the orders shoot to kill and with explicit instructions their was to be no survivors as the committee did not want any reprisal attacks.


Percy Weasley sighed in relief as he sunk into his office chair. It was a trying couple of days after the attack on Diagon Alley. He had just returned from helping to restore the various wards surrounding the devastated shopping district of Diagon and Knockturn Alleys and the surrounding lanes. It had taken four days of wizards working shifts in rotation to restore the wards. He pulled his wand and made a cup of tea, which he fortified, with a small dose of Firewhisky from a hip-flask he kept in his pocket. It was late in the evening and he was not looking forward to working his second shift. All surviving staff were on double shift duty due to the fact the over a third of the staff in the Ministry were missing.


He looked up when he heard a knock on his door. He was not surprised to see his Father still at work even though it was pushing eight in the evening. Arthur said hello in greeting and slumped in to a conjured sofa. Percy wordlessly prepared a second cup of tea identical to his own. Arthur gratefully accepted the beverage and the pair began to discus the fact that a lot of high-ranking Ministry workers were missing for over three months and the fact that Fudge and now Scrimgeour were hiding the fact from the general public. Arthur was pulled from his discussion with his son, when a purple ball of fire flashed past and impacted Percy on the shoulder. Percy winced in agony as the spell ate through his clothes and started to affect his right lung, making it very difficult to breathe. Due to the lack of oxygen reaching his brain Percy slumped forward on to his desk.


The assailant cursed that he missed before firing the same curse again into Percy’s office. Arthur slashed his wand at the office door, forcing it to slam shut. The spell hit the glass in the upper part of the door spraying glass all over the interior of the small office. Arthur fired a simple Stupefy in retaliation. The assailant cursed at the return fire coming through the damaged door. Arthur turned to check on his injured son all the while keeping an eye on the door. Arthur’s eyes widened in shock as he saw a fiery pack of wolves came roaring in through the doorway. He grabbed his son’s hand and went to Apparate out of danger, as he knew of no spell to stop Fiendfyre. He was puzzled when he realised that he could not Apparate. Then it slowly dawned on him the building was heavily warded against Apparation. The fire suppression charms went off dousing the office in water but it had no effect on the fire. The fire blocked the doorway he knew he was trapped. Thinking quickly he took off his outer robes and cast all the flame retardant spells and charms he knew on it. The he cast an enlarging charm to make the cloak bigger. He picked up Percy and slung him over his shoulder and slung the cloak over the pair of them. Hoping to Merlin this worked he ran to the door through the inferno. Sweat poured of him in floods but his charms held, he was nearly through the doorway when a piece of the ceiling fell and knocked him out.


Claxons blared throughout the Ministry indicating a fire. As Wizards and Witches rushed to stop the fire no one noticed a dark shadow slink by to freedom. The first Witch on the scene gasped when she realised it was an inferno caused by Fiendfyre. As indicated by the fiery forms of the pack of wolves stuffed into the corridor. The fire suppression charms were failing and it would not be long before the fire spread to other sections of the Ministry. Fortunately over a hundred Witches and Wizards had responded and after about three hours they managed to successfully extinguish the inferno. The Auror’s immediately started an investigation to determine the cause of the Fiendfyre fuelled inferno. They traced the fire back to Percy Weasley’s office and found a form on the threshold of the office. One of the Auror’s gasped as she pulled off the smouldering robe to find two bodies underneath. Auror Tonks panned her wand down the two bodies casting medical detection spells. She sighed with relief when Percy gasped in agony as he came round. Tonks screamed for a Healer knowing that with the problem with potions that it was unlikely that Percy would recover. The Healer arrived after a five-minute delay and began to treat the injured Percy.


The diagnostic spell indicated that Arthur had cast a bubble head charm on Percy, that combined with the charmed robes had saved Percy’s life. Unfortunately It seemed that Arthur did not mange the charm on himself and had died from asphyxiation. The Aurors determined that neither Weasley was responsible for the inferno as both wands Priori Incantatum did not show any fire related spell at all, which indicated that the investigation was no longer about the cause of fire, but now a murder investigation. Death Eater involvement was suspected but not confirmed, as it did not follow the expected modus operandi of “He Who Must Not Be Named’s” group as their was no floating dark mark.


Albus Dumbledore arrived into a subdued atmosphere in the Burrow. He had been made aware of the news from Mad-eye. He was informed that Tonks had already broken the bad news with Molly even though it was unnecessary as Arthur’s hand had fallen off the Family clock and Percy’s hand was pointing at Mortal Peril. Albus rubbed his forehead to relieve his swiftly approaching headache from this new complication in his fight against Tom and his followers. Albus sighed as the Aurors had no suspects, and with the Ministry severely depleted it could have been anyone. Albus feared his plans were not going to work as so much had changed in such a short time span.


It had all started with failing potions and it now seemed that unless a miracle happened, it would appear that Percy would die slowly from his damaged lung as the normal treatment involved a course of potions to heal the injury. Albus was pulled from his thoughts by Ginny offering him a cup of tea, it seemed in this time of mourning Ginny had taken over Molly's role of looking after everybody. Albus learnt from Ginny that Charlie was travelling home from Romania and was expected sometime tomorrow. Bill was stuck working in the bank as the goblins were struggling to repair the damaged building in Diagon Alley. Ron, it seemed was spending the night in St. Mungo's for observation, for what the Healers would not say. The normally perpetual cheerful twins were sombrely trying to console their distraught mother. Arthur was laid in a coffin to rest in the sitting room with Molly weeping uncontrollably with the twins helplessly trying to console her. Albus paid his respects and retreated to Hogwarts hoping to rescue his ruined plans.


It was two days after Remus had bumped into Hermione among the debris of Diagon Alley. He had puzzled over the fact that Hermione also smelled like Harry. The Marauder in him decided to keep it to himself for now. He knew that Dumbledore was concerned about Harry's disappearance from Privet Drive but after thinking back over his encounter with Hermione, his gut was telling him that Harry was fine. His gut had told him it was not a good idea to change secret keeper all those years ago, but now he was going to trust his gut, that Harry was fine. The food provided by Hermione was delicious and lasted for almost two days. The respite from pain brought from the food that Hermione had provided had faded; leaving nothing but intense stomach pains. They were much worse than the aches and pains of before. Remus had struggled to eat some thing about half an hour ago, but it would not stay down. Remus was too tired and bone weary to move, he was nauseous from the sensation of the world spinning as he slipped in to fitful slumber.


Hermione looked up from the files at Hugh’s entrance in to the Granger study. Hugh relayed his success at finding a house in Hogsmeade, and that he managed to move his family and their meagre possessions as their house was destroyed. Hugh's house had been on a lane off of Diagon Alley and was destroyed in the same explosion that levelled the area. The house Hugh found was only a rental property, but it was still a place to lay their heads. A loud wailing coming from Hermione’s room interrupted Hugh’s retelling of his day of settling his family in Hogsmeade. It then dawned on her that it was an emergency call from a communication mirror she had created for a project for Tom’s crafts class.


“Remus!” She exclaimed before vanishing in to a sphere of light.


Hermione appeared in a small bedroom, with a rickety bed. A very sickly Remus lay upon it looking nearly Dumbledore's age. Hermione let her magic flow as per her medical training from the other reality and tried to determine what was wrong with her former Professor. It was very difficult due to all the ambient magic causing interference that meant that there was little she could do. Just as she finished her scan a second sphere of energy deposited her husband into to the small room.


This caused the room to feel like a sardine tin, as the room was not designed to hold more than one person at a time. After relaying her findings or lack off, she stood pondering their options to help Remus. A stray thought entered her head about the time that Jim had shown the couple a clean room that scientists used to study diseases in clean laboratory conditions. She let her mind wander with that thought while thinking it would be great to have a room with no ambient magic to interfere with Remus' diagnosis. Hermione asked Harry to look after Remus while she sphered the Potter book of magic to study wards hoping to use the knowledge to create a magical clean room.


Hugh slowly approached the restored visage of Gringotts bank in trepidation as he was carrying out his client’s wishes. He approached the Goblin teller and requested to see the accounts manager for all the old Pureblood families. Harry had instructed him to do this as he was occupied trying to help Hermione in their attempt to heal Remus. They were attempting to remove Riddle's finances by claiming fealty over the accounts linked to the Black family. Hugh had brought with him a letter of envoy and the Potter vault key. He was directed to the manager’s office, where he was introduced to the Goblin behind the large ornate desk with a name plaque that read “Deputy Manager” as Goblins went he was viscous looking and introduced himself as Grack. Hugh handed over the letter and stated his business on behalf of his client Lord Potter-Black.


The original Lord Black who set up the fealty arrangements was a canny wizard all those generations ago. It was at a time when the wizards were in trouble financially and Lord Black was a very wealthy man. He gave out money in grants, not loans with the only stipulation that in the future he may claim fealty on not only the monies owed but also all the money lodged in to the family vault. He was also astute enough to make sure that the Goblins were present for the signing of the document so that any future Black would always be able to clam fealty rights at a later date ensuring that the Black's always stayed rich even if some offspring were to squander the wealth. Over the following generations anyone marrying into the family also had to sign a contract with a hidden clause giving the Lord Black full access to the new person's family vault. No wonder the Blacks were considered a dark family.


Grack perused the supplied documents, which proved that Harry Potter was now Lord Black and had granted power of attorney to his solicitor, Hugh Wallace. Grack sighed in annoyance at this power play between the wizards as he realised that Lord Potter-Black's finances were going from just being able to attend school with some spare Galleons to someone that owned over three quarters of all the gold belonging to wizards stored in Gringotts. He was annoyed that Lord Potter-Black's instructions ordered that all the affected vaults were to be empted immediately into new ones under the name Daniel Radcliff with the keys of the vaults handed over to Hugh. And that meant that to facilitate the movement of so much gold that the bank would be forced to close for a couple of days. It was discovered that the relocated contents of the affected gold meant the creation of over two hundred of the massive class “F” vaults all under the supplied name. Grack was pleased that the goblins were earning a five percent handling charge on such a large amount of gold.


‘Stupid wizards and their ways always turned up unexpected ways to earn more gold,’ he thought in glee as he saw his personal stash increase a million fold, his share as the goblin in charge of the transfer.



Captain Robert Pennysworth stood in front of the assembled men pleased at their progress in training. He just hoped it was enough as he was given the task to brief them on an assignment against at least fifty wizards in Stevenage. He told his superior that the men would be ready for the assault in forty-eight hours. The men were familiar with wards as a ruined wizard's house was found during the air raids in the late part of 1941. It had been used ever since in the training of spies and soldiers, as those in the know did not trust wizards or their so-called government.


Severus had not responded immediately to the Ministry summons to explain the dramatic failing grades of all his students. Instead he had searched for his godson Draco, which proved to be a futile task as there was no trace of the boy. It was galling to a Master of such skill in potions to find all his latest efforts fail so spectacularly. He decided to ignore the summons for as long as possible as he tried to determine if an outside source was the cause of his failure in brewing working potions. He had told no one of his oath to aid Draco in his quest to kill Albus; he was just relieved that the Dark Lord's orders had such a generous time limit in which to complete the assigned task. It meant he did not have to worry about it just yet. Wormtail was summoned yesterday and had not returned which meant that he was probably off doing the Dark Lord's bidding, at least it got the former Marauder out of his sight for a while.


Frank Granger was startled out of his wits as his daughter materialised in front of him as he did paperwork in his office before seeing another client’s teeth. “You scared me half to death.”


Hermione apologised profusely but asked him to come with her, as her former Professor was deathly ill. It was explained to him that Hermione believed that the failed potions Remus had taken had poisoned him. She hoped to clean the failed potions out of his system and thought that the best way to feed him was with intravenous drips as he drank lots of water to clean him out. She also explained that Harry was with Remus performing nursing duties while also warding the room for his planned treatment. After listening to Hermione, Frank called his receptionist and cancelled the rest of his afternoon appointments. Frank found the experience of magical transportation unnerving as Hermione sphered them to the local hospital to borrow supplies. The whole process from popping over to the hospital and travelling on to Remus' location just took ten minutes. Frank looked around after arriving in a small kitchen area. It was cramped but clean he also noticed that the air seemed to be different than anywhere he had ever been. Hermione explained her theory about scientific clean rooms and her hopes to use a magical version. Frank asked why they were not moving Remus, to which she replied that their was nowhere else to take him.


Frank left the kitchen area and moved to the bedroom in the small single bedroom flat. As he passed through the doorway he felt static electricity pass through his body. In the room he noticed that there was a noticeable lack of something, what he could not say. The patient, Remus, looked sickly and pale with sunken skin and sallow complexion. His hair was limp and lifeless it appeared that Remus was on deaths door. Frank set up an intravenous drip after conducting his exam. He was shocked to discover the man he tended was supposed to be in his forties and not as his appearance suggested late nineties.


Six hours later, Frank returned to the bedroom to check on Remus' condition. Both Harry and Hermione were tending to the stricken Professor, in addition to the glucose drip they supplied the dozing patient with water in an effort to clean out his system. Harry did not enjoy the task of cleaning the conjured bedpans. At Frank's return it was decided to once again try to determine what was wrong with Remus. Hermione tried her magical scan again and was pleased that it was successful. It appeared that some thing was affecting potions in general because the Potions course Hermione should have been on was ineffective and Remus' dose of Wolfsbane was now apparently slowly killing him. From her scan, Hermione determined that most of the cells in Remus' body were badly damaged. Fortunately it was treatable with the skill sets Hermione and Harry learnt in the other reality, it would just take time and from Harry's reckoning it could take as long as six weeks. The couple informed Frank that they would stay with Remus and tend to him for as long as it took, and that Hugh was going to be dealing with a banking problem that might help in the fight against Riddle.


Arthur Appleton screamed in frustration as he hurled the failed potion at the wall, as he once again botched a step in trying to brew an intelligence potion. The shelves lining the left hand wall contained many successful potions, although of a poor quality, they worked as Arthur was working through his stocks of pepper up potions. A new complication was the fact that the potion bomb was far more powerful than expected. Arthur had expected to be able to rent a space in Diagon Alley and sell his potions, once he put the Apothecary out of business. Arthur had sighed in frustration when he realised that the explosion was much more devastating, he vaguely remembered a lesson from an old instructor warning about handling old potions with care as they became more potent with age. The oldest potion that the old Potions Master knew of was only seven years old, much younger than the age he suspected the potions were that made up the Potion bomb. He thought that the Potions were at least thirty years old at a minimum and probably more likely forty-five, fifty years old. No wonder the explosion was so large, and it also explained why the ritual would not of affected the old potions as the spell only effected potions brewed after the date of the ritual, New Year, about six months ago. He learnt in the aftermath of the explosion that his ritual actually worked and he was now the only person that could make Potions in the whole of the British Isles. He just hoped that the intelligence potion improved his skill in the art of making Potions. Sighing he started again on his fourteenth attempt to make the difficult to brew potion.


The street formerly known as Privet Drive was now a crash investigation site. Firemen and other rescue workers were diligently sifting through the wreckage of the downed airliner looking for the remains of those who went down with the stricken airplane. Equipment and personnel were slow in getting to the various crash sites as noting electrical worked in the greater London area. Among the workers a lone middle-aged woman of strict demeanour stood out in old-fashioned clothes. Strangely no one bothered the Lady, or attempted to interfere in her business.


Minerva McGonagall hoped that Harry was not at his Aunt’s house when the Muggle plane had crashed. From what she had gathered the street was evacuated and the only deaths occurred among the workers repairing the street and those poor souls on board the plane. After searching Privet Drive and its environs, McGonagall sighed and proceeded to the hotels where the evacuees were staying for she hoped to talk to the Dursleys about Harry’s disappearance and to see if they knew of any of Harry’s movements over the summer holiday. She was also surprised that Hermione and Harry married so young and had not decided how to handle it yet she wanted to know how it had happened before making a decision. She wondered how the Grangers would handle the news that their daughter was married at the age of sixteen.


The old World War two era troop transport wound its way along the farm path through the driving rain. The old wipers struggled to keep the windscreen clear enough to see. The SAS operative squinted in the darkness as he slowly approached the drop off point for the snipers and scouts. It was a blustery night, perfect for an operation like this. An airdrop was ruled out, as it would have been noticed as no planes were flying over Britain at all, in fear of a repeat of last week. On that day last week it was literally raining planes resulting in the loss of more than a hundred thousand people from falling planes alone. As a result the island of England, Scotland and Wales was a no fly zone even military aircraft were grounded. The old truck briefly stopped, giving the men in the back a chance to disembark before it moved off on it’s journey back to base.


The being known as Lord Voldemort or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named sat on his throne wondering why his plan was failing. His operatives had failed in infiltrating the Ministry due to failing Polyjuice potions. Due to this setback his followers were forced to kill their captives about a quarter of the Ministry had gone missing due to this action. Imperius was out due to the fact that it was standard practice to screen for it after it was discovered by the Aurors that a Death Eater impersonated one of their own and spent a year at Hogwarts. At least Dolohov had managed to complete his task and kill Weasley Senior and might even succeed in killing one of the offspring with the same attack as reports indicated the offspring was in critical care with a good chance of dieing.


As he expected after the attack on the Alley security at the Ministry had vastly improved. Due to this set back his plans were almost two years behind schedule. New problems arose due to the damn Goblins shutting the bank saying that the vaults were unsafe and would open shortly, even though the bank opened its doors briefly Thursday Morning. This exasperated the problem with deficient funds for bribery and the like. Lestrange was supposed to go and withdraw some gold but was unable to visit the family vault in the narrow window the bank was open. It was surprising how much gold it took to fund an operation like this. Voldemort was pulled from his musing as some nameless follower brought more bad news. For his trouble he received a five-minute spell under the Cruciatus Curse, before limping out of the room. Deciding he could do no more today Voldemort decided to retire for the night, as a storm raged outside the stately Manor he was using as his current base of operations.


The advanced scout and sniper units took up position around the manor house. The wards around the house were designed to gently convince Muggles to look away on the basis that Muggles in general behave like sheep, i.e. they generally don't believe in magic so can easily ignore the signs, and the wards boosted this effect. However if a Muggle knows and accepts that magic is real, the wards then prove to be useless. Voldemort and his followers did not add more wards to the manor as the new wards would of being detected by the Ministry. And given the fact that Voldemort had no insiders left in the Ministry it was decided to leave well enough alone. This fact helped the snipers to establish the best positions to provide cover for the attacking party. And due to the fact they accepted that magic was real, they could clearly see the large manor house and were relieved that the infrared and thermal imaging equipment shipped in from Europe was far enough away to not be affected by the magic surrounding the Manor. Using the time from set-up till the time of the attack they located and made note of any and all wizards outside and along the perimeter of the manor. And settled in for the main attack later that night.


The convoy slowly wound its way down B roads to the target. The convoy consisted of lead and tail Land Rovers 110’s in military specification and three old world war two era troop transport trucks. As it was a covert operation local police were not informed of the military presence and the decision to use back roads was taken, which meant that the journey from base of operations to the target took about an hour longer than if the main roads were used instead. Luckily for the strike force a freak storm raged through the previous day meaning an unnaturally early dusk for July of half six in the evening. This was caused by the thick heavy thunderclouds. About five miles from the target the convoy broke formation and made five separate approaches to the target, with the aim to surround the target.


Lord Voldemort awoke to a loud boom, as an explosion shattered the magically reinforced glass of his room. Wind whipped the driven rain into the dark bedroom, a long hexagonal tube clattered to the bedroom floor. Voldemort squinted in the darkness to see what it was before the room lit up like day and a loud screech filled the room. Voldemort’s eyes were playing the image of the bright room like a still image and his ears rang but he sensed that a man had entered the room, ‘Who dares to disturb my sleep, in my quarters?’ Voldemort’s snake like hearing heard the silent bullets pass by his ear and pepper the wall over his shoulder. He roared and blindly cast the green of the killing curse. He heard the man curse as he struggled with his weapon, Voldemort advanced on the man in a rage of fury as it dawned on him that the attacker was not a Wizard but possibly a Muggle. The first casualty on the attacking side caused the explosion that awoke the slumbering Dark Lord. A wizard had hurled the killing curse at a SAS operative wearing a battle vest containing twelve grenades. The magic caused the explosives to detonate killing those unlucky to be near him.


Robertson hurled the flash-bang in through the shattered window and waited for it to go off. He leapt through the window after the flash of light and loud bang hopefully distracting the room’s occupants. He swiftly got to his feet and stopped in shock at the thing standing in the middle of the room, for it could not be a man surely? It was humanoid with snake like slits above its mouth and red slits for eyes. He came out of his stupor and fired, cursing as he narrowly missed. The being returned fire with a green flash, after his training he knew the best course of action was to avoid getting hit so he dived out of the way. He was dismayed that the spell had clipped his primary weapon rendering it useless. He could tell his advantage over it had gone. He pulled his sidearm to fire when he saw a second flash of green. The magic of the curse reacted with the grenade's fuses, starting the explosive reaction on the four explosive devices attached to Robertson’s battle vest.


Meanwhile in another part of the house some teams had made it inside to the darkened interior. Blair was cursing the fact that his night vision goggles had failed and he was struggling to navigate in the dark rooms. He had already killed two wizards, but the last wizard got a lucky strike on the experimental E.M.P. proof equipment. He decided to stick close to the windows to make an easy escape if necessary. He was confused when he saw the pale light of a small moon inside the next room.


He slowly crossed the threshold. He heard heavy breathing of a beast or animal it could have been a large dog like an Alsatian. He paned the gun around and saw nothing. Disregarding standing orders he turned on the chemical light attached to the gun. The squad was out fitted with chemical based lights, as they knew that basic electrical devices would not work. The men were supposed to operate in two man teams due to the lack of radio communication; Blair’s team-mate Wilkins was dead. A shape leapt at him, he reacted and pulled the trigger. The shape was sprayed with bullets but still it came. The gun clicked empty, Blair tried to reload. The beast was upon him forcing him onto his back on the floor, a forearm swiped down the attached claw ripped through the battle vest and bone of his ribcage, exposing his organs to the air. The beast’s jaws locked on to his neck and ripped exposing his windpipe to the rancid hot breath of the beast. Blair reached for his knife attached to his boot. Air whistled through his mauled neck as his body struggled to feed air to his damaged lungs, using the last of his energy Blair raised his weak arm with the knife and plunged it into the beast’s belly and pulled up spilling the beast’s intestines on to the ground.


The pale light of the moon went out. Blair’s shocked eyes saw a bloodied nude man stood before him in the place of the beast with his knife stuck in the man’s belly his entrails hanging out of his body. The man punched Blair’s exposed heart, which was still struggling to pump life-giving blood to his battered body. The heart exploded under the iron like fist showering the nude man in blood. Blair’s mind knew it was all over his heart had stopped he could no longer feel pain; just before his hearing failed he heard and felt a massive explosion from the room beside him. The explosion blew out the wall raining debris on two the two men, one dead the other severely injured.


Voldemort's dark senses screamed at him to do something but it was to late. Hastily he raised a shield and managed to deflect the blast from the explosion, the falling ceiling struck him on his shoulder. In a rage he blasted the debris off of himself and stalked out of the room. Voldemort swore, ‘how was this location found?’


“Where are the look outs?” His rant was cut short by the sound of another explosion in the old manor.


The explosion seemed to rip the house in half, exposing the interior to the raging storm outside. Voldemort started barking orders at his terrified minions. A fleeing Death Eater’s head exploded showering Voldemort in brain and blood, a beat later a clap of thunder was heard. The sound of fighting was heard throughout the building. Voldemort slowly approached the ensuing main battle and was stunned when he realised that his minions were fighting against Muggles and not the Ministry, he let his rage fester before he indiscriminately fired one spell after another bathing the area in a sickly green glow uncaring if he hit ally or enemy.


The Sniper team watched in dismay at the carnage in the manor house. From their position they could see that the Wizards were gaining the upper hand and tried to warn their comrades but it was no good as the magical interference had fried the radios. The Snipers spotter pointed out another target among the chaos of the battle occurring eight hundred metres away. The target had no nose; red slits for eyes and seemed quite mad. The sniper took aim and wondered why his spotter had stopped talking mid sentence when his electronic scope went dead. He looked up in time to see the flash of green light. High above in the storm the alumni of Hogwarts Slytherin Quidditch team members of old were raining death from above. This new tactic turned the tide in the favour of the wizards; one Death Eater spotted a Muggle truck attempting to flee and gave chase drawing the other broom rider’s attention to the fleeing truck. The airborne contingent of wizards slaughtered the soldiers in the sniper nests.


Spotting another truck in the gloom of the night one wizard on a broom stopped and hurled a curse causing the truck to explode into a fireball. The solders on the ground fired wildly into the sky, as they could not see their attacker, as the black robes the Death Eater’s wore blended into the dark nights sky. The night was lit up from the explosion of the tail Land Rover and the sickly green of the killing curse. The fleeing soldiers were easy pickings for the airborne wizards. In the chaos of battle one truck managed to escape with wizards in pursuit.


Price cursed as he wrestled with the steering wheel; out of thirty-two men in his squad only eight were left. To make matters worse he was racing along this country lane with wizards on brooms in pursuit. The old trucks tyres squealed as the truck roared around another sharp bend in the road. Price screamed to Samson to get on the mounted fifty cal. and to return fire. The canvas roof covering the back of the truck was aflame from spell fire, the men were struggling to extinguish the burning canvas. One of the few remaining S.A.S. men was firing from behind the tailgate and managing to kill two of the pursuers. The tailgate suddenly dissolved dumping the solider out on to the road giving an easy target for a low flying wizard. In frustration the men cut the burning canvas free sending the burning cloth tumbling down the road snaring the low flying wizard.


The roar of the heavy gun could be heard over the struggling engine as Price tried to outrun the brooms. Samson on the machine gun was wasting a lot of ammunition as he killed five of the broom-based pests. Bringing the number of chasers down to seven. A lucky shot from a broom burst one of the truck's tyres causing the speeding lorry to start to swerve and sway across the road and throw up sparks from the damaged rim scraping along the tarmac. A car burst out of a siding bathing the dark stormy sky in a blue strobe as a traffic car gave chase of the out of control truck as it swerved across the width of the road. One of the chasing wizards hurled Fiendfyre at the cars roof causing the car to explode into a fireball. The wizard pumped his fist in triumph before Samson managed to clip the distracted wizard. The injured Wizard tried to flee via apparition and Splinched himself, the half left behind was riddled with bullets.


Samson’s eyes widened as he saw a wizard flying without the aid of a broom swooped down out of the stormy sky and was followed by nine more broom based Wizards all in hot pursuit. He lined up the large mounted gun and opened fire. The flying wizard ripped a tree from the road verge and used it to block the heavy calibre weapon. The wizard then hurled the tree forward at the fleeing truck; the tree clipped the back of the truck causing it to go into a drift as it slew around a bend in the road. Another solider took the opportunity to fire an RPG at a group of broom-based wizards and shouted in glee when the explosion took out four of the pursuers. A stray spell clipped him causing boils and sores to sprout all over his body, in agony he fell over the side and struck a tree trunk snapping his neck. The poor unfortunate solider enjoyed brief relief from the agony before blood loss killed his brain at the side of the road in the rain.


It dawned on Samson that it was just Price and himself left in the truck. He groaned when the machine gun clicked empty after spending all the ammunition. He was lucky it was raining as it had kept the barrel cool enough for continuous firing. He swiftly made his way to the bed to retrieve another weapon with some ammunition, green spells flew over head, he smelled burning rubber and metal as the damaged wheel hub dragged along the road causing sparks to start a fire underneath the ageing truck from all the oily gunk stuck to the ageing chassis. He spotted a box of grenades and made to reach for them. A stray spell struck them before a bump caused them to spill out the back of the fleeing Truck.


The bouncing, rolling, grenades exploded killing all of the chasing wizards bar the one without a broom. Voldemort gestured and murmured a curse at the hillside that ran alongside the road causing a landslide of mud and trees to batter the fleeing vehicle, it was a testament to the driver’s skill that the battered truck kept going and made it trough the dire situation with the landslide. The truck was now heading towards a bridge over the river with Voldemort in pursuit. Samson had found an MP5 and was firing from the cabin of the truck as it offered some protection from spell fire. His eyes widened when he realised it was futile, as the bullets did not seem to affect the flying pest at all. Voldemort slashed his wand at the roadway in front of the fleeing truck, Price swerved to avoid the deep hole spilling Samson from the cabin, a flash of green and a clap of thunder and Samson knew no more. More blue strobes brightened the gloomy sky as Police and ambulances raced to protect and tend to the innocent. Voldemort slowed and with a complex motion cast a spell in Parseltongue at the bridge causing it to dissolve into nothing, depositing two police cars and seven Ambulances in to the river. Price managed to jump before the truck became airborne after launching from a slight incline before the bridge started proper. The truck was on fire underneath and the heavy front end hit the water first before flipping over. With a crack Voldemort left believing he had left no survivors.


In the ditch along the road, Price groaned in agony as he slowly checked his surroundings, he had to report to base as the mission had gone down the toilet, and he did not know if anyone else survived. The old truck had performed well in combat as the thick body had protected the ancient electrical system and engine from all the magic flying around. Unknown to Price that the truck had been charmed magic proof by a sympathetic wizard during World War two in thanks to the driver for saving his life, as he knew the Germans had some Wizards fighting on their side and were rendering Allie equipment useless. Price slowly climbed out of the ditch and made his way down the road back the way he came. He collapsed in front of a panda car of the Metropolitan Police about a hundred yards from where he fell into the ditch. The Police driver got out and cautiously approached the unconscious SAS operative, and made note of the grenades still attached to his vest and the gun strapped to his leg and his dark coloured fatigues. His partner got out and proceeded to administer first aid to the injured man while the Police driver tried to contact control but the radios were not working.


Voldemort returned to the ruined Manor and ordered his surviving followers to gather all the remaining supplies and then proceed to Malfoy’s Manor, as it was obvious that this one was compromised and no longer safe. Out of all the followers stationed at the manor there was only about eleven followers left with a further six that would need medical attention. Voldemort sighed as he slowly peeled off the Basilisk armour off of his body, for it was ruined from those damn Muggle weapons. Basilisk armour was incredibly rare but he had managed to acquire a complete set when he met Quirrell and tried to acquire the Philosopher’s Stone. After the debacle in the Ministry he had decided to don the set of armour. The armour had deflected a lot of the bullets and explosions but the shear amount of punishment had badly damaged the precious armour and he did not want to wear the damaged armour until he had managed to repair or replace it.


In the Emergency Response Unit reports were coming in about a chase between an old truck and men on brooms. Daniel Watson sighed it wasn’t aliens but it was close enough, he filled out the paperwork for a transfer and went back to finishing his shift. Reports also said that a bridge had fell into the river, and a highly armed individual was found near the area and rushed to hospital with life threatening injuries. Once he comes around hopefully we’ll get some answers he thought. Luckily someone else was responsible for overseeing the clean up and rebuilding work. Maybe they wouldn’t miss him if he took his wife on holidays; damn there are no flights out of the country he thought in dismay. A padded cell looked good right about now as he drowned his sorrows in a mug of spiked coffee.


The storm broke to reveal a beautiful sunny morning giving no hint at the terrible last few hours before daybreak. In a cramped flat a weary Lycan slumbered peacefully as strong painkillers numbed the pain as two more worked furiously in tandem to repair the damaged cells caused by the non-functioning Wolfsbane potion. It was a slow tiring process to remove the damaged cells in Remus’ body. Harry and Hermione had worked all through the night and were nearly finished with the first phase; it would take just a couple more hours. Unfortunately it was impossible to remove the taint of the wolf, but with a little training, it was hoped that Remus might master the wolf like an Animagus and not be tied down by the phases of the moon.


Frank was in the small kitchen pacing back and forth after Hugh had dropped him off. He found that he preferred Harry and Hermione’s way to travel than this thing called Apparation. He had stuck his head in to the bedroom to check progress and saw the determined expression on his daughter's face. He could not see Harry’s exhausted face as he had his back to Frank. Frank raced to the room when he heard a clatter and saw Harry passed out on the floor, an empty bedpan upended on the floor by Harry’s head. Hermione was slumped, lightly snoring in the only chair in the room. Grumbling about the headstrong women in his life, Frank picked up his daughter and brought her out to the travel bed set up in the cramped kitchen. Harry had removed the table and had intended to catch forty winks but his determined wife had collared him into immediately tending to Remus. Once Frank had his daughter on the bed he went back and picked up Harry into a fireman’s carry and was surprised at his light frame. Jane had shared a small amount of information on his son in-law and his life with his so called family. He was grudgingly coming to like the boy; he gently deposited Harry beside his daughter hoping to not wake her.


He was confident that they were too tired to engage in activates he would rather not think his daughter was doing. Once happy at putting the pair to bed he went to Remus’ room and took up the vigil at his bedside hopping that they had done enough so that Remus could make a full recovery. Frank was concerned that Harry had overextended him self and would suffer a repeat performance with that nightmare due to exhaustion. Through the bedroom curtains the sun shone on a bright morning.


A\N: Please review.