Categories > Books > Harry Potter > The Untitled Story - Year 5
The Holidays
0 reviewsHarry starts his 5th year - AU, eventual H/Hr. MildlyPowerful!Harry, Smart!Harry, TakesInitiative!Harry. See chapter one for more detailed summary.
1Exciting
Chapter Nine – The Holidays
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Wednesday, 27 December 1995
Kitchen
#12 Grimmauld Place
04:30
Sirius sat at the table along with a large number of Order members, listening to Dumbledore’s “test” for the ADA, which had been introduced to them the day before at the order meeting.
“So, let me get this straight. You plan to have us dress up as death eaters, and ‘attack’ the house, working up from here, and see what Harry and his friends do? I know Harry said ‘mostly fair’, but I think only about 6 of the ADA can get through the Fidelius. I’d call this “mostly unfair” myself.”
“As I already explained, death eaters rarely are expected and never fight fair.” replied Dumbledore.
“Well, let’s get this show on the road, then. Don’t be surprised to have your arse handed to you on a platter, though.”
As the ‘death eaters’ started ‘attacking’ downstairs, Harry woke up. Waking Ron, he warded the door, and called Hermione using the plate.
As Hermione answered his call, they all heard a fresh wave of sounds from downstairs.
“Call Team 2 and have them here and ready in 3 minutes, geared up. I’ll do the same with Team 3.” said Harry, now completely awake. As he roused the members of Team 3, the sounds of spells came nearer. Slipping into his CUs, he joined Ron, already in his, at the door. As members of a groggy Team 3 showed up after being popped in by the team leader, they quickly woke up at the sounds of fighting.
“Where are we, and what’s happening?” asked the team leader.
“We are apparently under attack. Where is not important. Use only non lethal spells, as this had better be the so-called “test” Dumbledore prepared for us… If this is a real attack, I’m going to rip Dumbledore a new one when we get finished with this.”
Hermione’s voice came from his plate.
“Team 2 is ready in my room, Harry.”
“Good. You and your teams clear this floor working up. We’ll clear working down. Move out in 15 seconds.”
Fifteen seconds later, 15 people emptied into the hall on two floors. Seeing nobody on his level, Harry started giving his orders.
“Okay. I’m shielding. You three, clear the rooms we pass while the rest of us secure the hall in front of you.”
As they moved downstairs, they came across a number of ‘death eaters’ apparently trying to force their way into the kitchen.
“Flash-bangs!” said Harry, pulling one from his belt, and the rest of the ADA members followed suit. As they were lobbed into the crowd, they all turned away as they went off. Immediately, they began stunning and binding. As the flash-bang’s effects wore off, the remaining ‘death eaters’ began putting up resistance. As spells splashed over the shield in front of them, Harry contacted Hermione.
“Hermione, how is the top half?”
“We’ve found no intruders up here, and we just finished sweeping.”
“Good. We found a group of ‘death eaters’ trying to enter the kitchen, and took out about two thirds of them with flash bangs.”
“On three, Ron and you shield!” Harry said to a member of team 3. “One! Two! Three!”
As their shields came up, Harry’s went down and he sent a pulse of force at the attackers, winding them long enough to take them out. As they finished binding the ‘attackers’, Hermione’s group came in from upstairs.
“Hermione, you and your team guard this lot. We’re checking the Kitchen.”
Finding the door to the kitchen warded and locked, he turned to his group.
“Okay, getting in this way will be too time consuming. Everyone grab hold of me. I’m popping us into a storage room off the kitchen.”
Appearing in the storage room, they vanished the door and rushed into the room, to find Dumbledore and Moody sitting at the table. Not taking any chances, Harry summoned their wands before they could react.
“I assume that this was the ‘test’ you cooked up, Professor?”
“Indeed. I think you performed excellently. Alastor here says you even swept the upstairs just in case.”
Harry was wearing an annoyed expression. “Dumbledore, be glad I suspected that this was the ‘test’, as otherwise, you’d have a large percentage of the Order in St. Mungo’s right now recovering from various wounds. We train to use spells other than stunners, Professor. And our ‘flash bangs’ would have been replaced with grenades infinitely more disabling.”
“Yes, Sirius did mention this might happen. If I might have my wand back, I’ll remove the wards and we can check on the ‘attackers’?”
Giving Dumbledore back his wand, they moved out of the kitchen. They found Hermione and company guarding the ‘prisoners’.
“Well, lets wake them up, shall we? Don’t let your guard down, though.” said Harry, before waking up a few of them at a time. After they had all returned to the kitchen, they began discussing the ‘test’.
“Well, was that proof enough for you, Professor? We handled 3 to 1 odds without issue and without any injuries. I think we should discuss this tomorr–” started Harry before being interrupted by his plate vibrating. Looking at it, he scowled. “Great. Teams 2 and 3, are you still combat capable?” receiving nods and sounds of assent, he continued. “Good. Follow me up to my room for some more potent hardware. It seems snake-face has made a move on one of our number. Hermione, stay here and prepare to receive wounded.” As they swept from the room, Moody chuckled.
“What’s funny, Mad-Eye?” asked Sirius, looking anything but amused.
“We just put them through their paces, and they aren’t even tired.” said Moody, “and they’re already off to the real thing. I personally find their response time from sleep to fighting incredible.” He added as his magic eye looked up.
Dumbledore sighed. “It seems that not informing them about the attack on the Gibbons had no effect, as they seem to have been informed as soon at it started.”
Sirius looked at Dumbledore like he was mad. “You knew about an attack on a family and you didn’t do anything?”
Dumbledore looked tired. “Sirius, we couldn’t act on it because it might have revealed Severus’ position as a spy.”
"What good is knowing about it then?" countered Sirius.
Dumbledore turned to Moody and those next to him, and continued, “Why don’t we see if they need any assistance, since there is no longer a risk to showing up.”
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Wednesday, 27 December 1995
Gibbons Residence
Southern England
04:50
Team 2, led by Harry, appeared inside the house, the sounds of shouting coming from two directions. Taking stock of the situation, he led his team towards the sounds of a shotgun being fired. Peering around a corner, he stunned a death eater trying to get a shot at a man who Harry assumed was the father of Ben Gibbons. The man was doing a rather good job of holding off the death eaters, evidenced by the two bodies on the floor.
“Cease Fire! We’re Friendly!” shouted Harry, before stepping around the corner.
“You two, see what the situation here is and make sure that stunned one stays out. The rest of us will sweep the rest of the house.” ordered Harry, taking the rest of his team towards the remaining shouting.
As he walked down a hall, he heard the shouting stop, to be replaced by some colourful language. As he approached the door farthest down the hall, from which the shouting was coming from, he vanished the door before stepping into the room and stunning the death eater he saw. Ducking a green jet of light from his right, he fired a stunner towards the source, a thud informing him it found its mark. Looking around, and finding no more threats, he gave the all clear.
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Wednesday, 27 December 1995
Gibbons Residence
Southern England
04:50
Team 3, led by Ron, appeared outside the house. Giving the order to surround the house and make sure nothing ran away, he sent up the ADA’s mark. When the shouts ceased inside the house, he checked the state of his team, who had apparently stunned a death eater trying to retreat beyond the Anti-Apparition wards after Team 2 had appeared in the house.
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Wednesday, 27 December 1995
Gibbons Residence
Southern England
04:57
With a soft pop, a team of Aurors apparated outside the Gibbons residence and were greeted by the business ends of 3 wands, which were lowered seconds later.
“Ah! You finally made it then. We were wondering when you’d show up.” said Ron, before motioning them to follow. “We’ve got the death eaters over here, waiting for you to take them.”
When the group reached the four bound death eaters and two dead ones, the Aurors looked surprised.
“What happened to him?” asked one of the Aurors, pointing to one of the deceased.
“They attacked the family of a Muggle-born. The father apparently took out those two with a shotgun after they cornered him behind a counter. Team 2 took out the third before he got shot.” explained Ron.
At the confused looks he got at the reference to Team 2, he explained.
“Ben Gibbons is a member of the ADA, or Advanced Defence Association. He called for assistance when he was attacked, and two teams responded.” said Ron, pointing at the symbol floating in the sky. “Don’t worry, we made it invisible to Muggles.”
Ron pulled out his plate.
“Harry, you may be needed out here to answer some questions. The Aurors showed up, fashionably late as usual.”
“Copy that. I’ll be right out. We found the wife in a closet, scared, but otherwise unhurt.”
“What can I do for you?” asked Harry, appearing next to Ron.
The Aurors looked at Harry, and then the realisation of who they were speaking to clicked.
“You’re Harry Potter!”
“Yes. At least, I was last time I checked.”
“You responded to this attack and ended it before we got here?”
“We’d been doing mop up for about 5 minutes before you arrived. We can take you around and show you what happened, if you’d like.”
“I suppose that’d be a good idea.” said the Auror in charge of the group, not wanting to think about the paperwork this was going to call for.
As the Aurors were led through the house, Harry gave a running explanation.
“We arrived here, in the living room, at 04:50. We received word about the attack 2 minutes prior. We made our way to the kitchen, here, following the sounds of a gun being fired. We found the husband in here behind the counter ducking spells from a death eater, who we stunned. He had already dispatched two before we arrived. We assume he led them in here away from his wife. We checked him for injuries and treated him for minor cuts and scrapes. We then moved back to the hall and followed the sounds of shouting to the door on the end, which I vanished. I moved into the room and stunned the death eater stand there, and had to duck a killing curse from one in that corner. We then set to work treating Ben Gibbons, who was pretty cut up. He did a good job on the death eater attacking him, though. Apparently he hit him in the groin with that alarm clock, because the shouting stopped and was replaced by some of the most colourful language, and I found him clutching himself when I came in. When the husband asked about his wife, we started looking for her, and found her right before Ron called me outside. They have all been taken to a safe location until this is cleaned up, at a minimum. We can provide pensive memories if you want.”
The Aurors looked at each other, surprise evident on their faces.
“Who trained you to fight?”
“We train ourselves.” said Harry, before walking off to see what another ADA member needed.
“I suspect there will be an inordinate amount of paperwork for this.” Said an Auror.
“Never mind that! Two minute response time? At this hour? Sweet Merlin!”
“Let’s get those memories and let the Oblivators know its safe for them to get to work.”
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Wednesday, 27 December 1995
Gibbons Residence
Southern England
04:56
Dumbledore, Moody, and company appeared near the Gibbon’s residence. Looking at the situation, lit up softly from the mark floating in the sky, they saw an ADA member levitating two dead bodies out the door toward a group of bound and stunned death eaters. Just then, they saw a team of Aurors arrive. As they were led around the side of the house, Moody started chuckling again.
“Well, Dumbledore, are you convinced yet?”
Wednesday, 27 December 1995
Department of Magical Law Enforcement
Ministry of Magic
10:00
Amelia Bones sat in her office. She had read the reports of the attack on a family in southern England that night, and was surprised. Instead of Aurors arriving to find the dark mark floating above the house, they found an unfamiliar mark there, and the situation under control. As she read on, she became more and more surprised.
Pulling out a pensive, she added Harry’s memory first.
“Well, let’s see what happened.” She said to herself, before tapping the pensive with her wand, starting a projection above it.
When she had finished viewing the two memories, she was slightly awed that a group of fifth years were capable of this. Hell, her Aurors had a hard time performing anywhere near that level of precision and efficiency. She’d have to talk to them soon.
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Wednesday, 27 December 1995
Kitchen
#12 Grimmauld Place
11:30
After a slight lie-in, Harry, Ron, and Hermione went downstairs to the kitchen. There they found many of the Order who had been there during the night, as well as the Gibbons seated around the table. The discussion began in earnest, and was going fine until Mrs. Weasley joined in.
“You could have all been killed!”
“Yes, we know that, Mrs. Weasley. On that note, I could step outside and be hit by a bus, but you don’t see me staying inside all the time do you?” said Harry. “However, we weren’t killed, we weren’t even injured.”
“You’re too young to be fighting in this!”
“That may be so, but we are certainly old enough to die in it. I don’t see you doing much to prevent attacks, let alone fight back. And don’t start spouting on about the Aurors. They arrived so late it was disgusting. If we hadn’t been there, the Gibbons would be dead.”
“He has a good point, Molly. You saw how they handled the attack in the memory. I’ve never seen Aurors act that collected and efficient. If anyone is capable of fighting, it’s them.” said Arthur Weasley.
Mrs. Weasley was interrupted by an owl flying in through a window before she could start her next argument. As Harry took the letter and read it, he frowned.
“It looks to be time for Show and Tell at the Ministry. Madam Bones wants to talk to those of us in the ADA involved in last night’s little fracas as soon as possible.”
As Harry, Ron, and Hermione left, they plated those who had been involved and met them in the main hall.
“Perhaps we should wear the CUs. I imagine those will make quite the impression when we get to the Ministry.” suggested Harry.
Seven minutes later, the fifteen uniformed individuals appeared next to the telephone booth entrance to the Ministry. Harry chuckled as he dialled M-A-G-I-C on the phone, answered the questions, and took the badges. Making their way to the security desk, they were asked to surrender their wands, which they didn’t have, and were sent on their way, earning many odd looks from the people they passed.
Fifteen minutes later, the group was seated in the office of Amelia Bones. Madam Bones decided to get some of her burning questions out of the way.
“I watched your memories in a pensive. That was quite an impressive display of magic. How did none of you receive warnings for underage magic use?”
“The ministry only tracks magic done with a wand, correct?” prompted Harry.
“Yes, only magic done with a wand can be traced, but we can detect large usages of magic. That’s how we responded to that attack, as it was unusual.”
“Therefore…?” urged Harry helpfully.
“You mean you did all that without a wand? How? Hogwarts doesn’t teach wandless magic.”
“Hogwarts doesn’t teach it, but I’ve been able to do wandless magic since I was eight. I just took my accidental magic to the next step: controlling it.”
After blinking a few times, Madam Bones continued.
“How did you learn to apparate so early? Apparition isn’t taught until 6th year.”
“Well, I’ve been able to do what I did there since I was eight. However, we’ve discovered that it isn’t apparition, nor is it elf-popping. We’ve been trying to figure out what it is, since only certain people seem to be able to do it, and there doesn’t seem to be any pattern to who.” supplied Harry
“I take it you have some method of contacting each other in case of attack, since the group of you seems unlikely to be staying at the same place over the holidays.”
“Are you familiar with Muggle two-way radios, Madam Bones?” asked Hermione, who received a nod. She pulled out her plate. “These act like those, only these use magic. We also use these to call for assistance in case of attack.”
“How did you manage to respond to the attack in…”, said Madam Bones, shuffling through the reports on her desk, “two minutes? That seems quite fast to go from sleeping to fighting.”
Harry waved up several privacy wards up and took out his plate. He sat tapping it for a few moments, then waited, then tapped it a few times and put it away.
“Dumbledore says I can tell you. When we got the call for help, we had just finished a little ‘test’ that Dumbledore cooked up to see if we were in fact capable of fighting. For some reason, he had decided to spring the ‘test’ on us at 4:30 in the morning without telling us, so we ended up calling in two teams for assistance, not knowing if it was real or not. We had just handed him his bum on a silver platter and started discussing it when we got the message. All we had to do was grab a few grenades and move out. If we hadn’t been already prepared, it probably would have taken us about two and a half to three minutes to respond at best.”
“Grenades?”
“A Muggle explosive device. We’ve come up with magical versions.”
“Who trained you? Even our elite Aurors are lucky to perform as well as you did on a good day.”
“We trained ourselves. We took some of the tactics used by the Muggle armies, and applied them to us. Hermione, could you modify that non-disclosure agreement so it will allow Susan to answer any non-critical questions her aunt might have?”
“I’ll do it when we get back.”
“I take it Susan is in your group?”
“Yes.”
“What caused you to train yourselves like this? Most people your age are too worried about who to date or how they will do on OWLs.”
“Well, Voldemort returning was the main reason. He seems to have an unhealthy obsession with trying to kill me, and isn’t above using my friends to get to me. The Ministry saddling us with Umbridge was the next. If left up to her, every fifth and seventh year not getting private tutoring would fail the OWL or NEWT.” said Harry, looking disgusted when he mentioned Umbridge.
“What makes you say that?”
“Well, a number of things. First, we aren’t learning to use spells. Second, we aren’t allowed to get help to learn them. Third, we aren’t allowed to practise the spells.” said Hermione, ticking them off on her fingers.
“She’s not allowing the practical portion of the class?! Is she… Yes, she is. I believe I’ll be having some choice words with the minister.” said Madam Bones, looking irritated. “This is not the time to eliminate anyone wishing to become an Auror.”
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Wednesday, 27 December 1995
Riddle Manor
Little Hangleton
12:00
Voldemort was sitting in the room waiting for someone to report. Finally, someone entered the room, looking distinctly nervous.
“Well? Was the attack a success?”
“No, my lord. All 6 who were sent on the mission were killed or taken into ministry custody.”
Of all the answers, that was not the one he’d been expecting.
“WHAT?! HOW?”
“There are rumours going around that a group known as the ADA arrived mere minutes into the attack and eliminated any death eater there. A mark was floating above the house that nobody recognised. A lightning bolt splitting a skull, below an eagle on the left and a lion on the right. The family that was attacked has vanished.”
“POTTER!”
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Thursday, 28 December 1995
Kitchen
#12 Grimmauld Place
08:10
Hermione opened the Daily Prophet and spread it out on the table.
“Looks like the ministry has finally come forward about the attack, or someone leaked it.”
Death Eater Attack Thwarted
Attack on family of Hogwarts student foiled
By Salli Enstoness
The Ministry has confirmed that there was an attack on the family of Hogwarts student Ben Gibbons yesterday in the early hours of the morning. Reports of the incident by responding Aurors indicated that by the time they arrived, the situation had been dealt with and clean up was under way. Aurors were shown to a number of captured death eaters upon arrival by none other than Hogwarts student Ronald Weasley, who then handed them off to Harry Potter, who took them through the house explaining what had happened. Both were wearing what appeared to be Muggle combat fatigues, as were all non-Aurors at the scene. All were said to have had the same mark on the left sleeve. The mark, shown at left, was also in the air above the house.
Amelia Bones, head of the Auror Department of the DMLE cited the quick response of a group known only as the ADA as the reason the attack was ended in a timely manner without any casualties besides two death eaters. The family members had already been treated for minor injuries and been taken to a safe location when Aurors arrived.
Minister Fudge, seemingly confused about the whole situation, praised the Aurors for their timely arrival and their unwavering courage. Minister Fudge also publicly thanked Lucius Malfoy for a large re-election campaign donation.
For a list of death eaters involved in yesterday’s attack, and more details, see page 5.
“Fudge just doesn’t want to admit that his ministry is slipping. Poor fool.” said Harry.
“I just hope that’s the last attack for a while. I warned the others that were listed in that article about Hogsmead about the increased danger. I also told teams 1 and 4 to keep their CUs handy.” said Ron.
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Wednesday, 27 December 1995
Kitchen
#12 Grimmauld Place
04:30
Sirius sat at the table along with a large number of Order members, listening to Dumbledore’s “test” for the ADA, which had been introduced to them the day before at the order meeting.
“So, let me get this straight. You plan to have us dress up as death eaters, and ‘attack’ the house, working up from here, and see what Harry and his friends do? I know Harry said ‘mostly fair’, but I think only about 6 of the ADA can get through the Fidelius. I’d call this “mostly unfair” myself.”
“As I already explained, death eaters rarely are expected and never fight fair.” replied Dumbledore.
“Well, let’s get this show on the road, then. Don’t be surprised to have your arse handed to you on a platter, though.”
As the ‘death eaters’ started ‘attacking’ downstairs, Harry woke up. Waking Ron, he warded the door, and called Hermione using the plate.
As Hermione answered his call, they all heard a fresh wave of sounds from downstairs.
“Call Team 2 and have them here and ready in 3 minutes, geared up. I’ll do the same with Team 3.” said Harry, now completely awake. As he roused the members of Team 3, the sounds of spells came nearer. Slipping into his CUs, he joined Ron, already in his, at the door. As members of a groggy Team 3 showed up after being popped in by the team leader, they quickly woke up at the sounds of fighting.
“Where are we, and what’s happening?” asked the team leader.
“We are apparently under attack. Where is not important. Use only non lethal spells, as this had better be the so-called “test” Dumbledore prepared for us… If this is a real attack, I’m going to rip Dumbledore a new one when we get finished with this.”
Hermione’s voice came from his plate.
“Team 2 is ready in my room, Harry.”
“Good. You and your teams clear this floor working up. We’ll clear working down. Move out in 15 seconds.”
Fifteen seconds later, 15 people emptied into the hall on two floors. Seeing nobody on his level, Harry started giving his orders.
“Okay. I’m shielding. You three, clear the rooms we pass while the rest of us secure the hall in front of you.”
As they moved downstairs, they came across a number of ‘death eaters’ apparently trying to force their way into the kitchen.
“Flash-bangs!” said Harry, pulling one from his belt, and the rest of the ADA members followed suit. As they were lobbed into the crowd, they all turned away as they went off. Immediately, they began stunning and binding. As the flash-bang’s effects wore off, the remaining ‘death eaters’ began putting up resistance. As spells splashed over the shield in front of them, Harry contacted Hermione.
“Hermione, how is the top half?”
“We’ve found no intruders up here, and we just finished sweeping.”
“Good. We found a group of ‘death eaters’ trying to enter the kitchen, and took out about two thirds of them with flash bangs.”
“On three, Ron and you shield!” Harry said to a member of team 3. “One! Two! Three!”
As their shields came up, Harry’s went down and he sent a pulse of force at the attackers, winding them long enough to take them out. As they finished binding the ‘attackers’, Hermione’s group came in from upstairs.
“Hermione, you and your team guard this lot. We’re checking the Kitchen.”
Finding the door to the kitchen warded and locked, he turned to his group.
“Okay, getting in this way will be too time consuming. Everyone grab hold of me. I’m popping us into a storage room off the kitchen.”
Appearing in the storage room, they vanished the door and rushed into the room, to find Dumbledore and Moody sitting at the table. Not taking any chances, Harry summoned their wands before they could react.
“I assume that this was the ‘test’ you cooked up, Professor?”
“Indeed. I think you performed excellently. Alastor here says you even swept the upstairs just in case.”
Harry was wearing an annoyed expression. “Dumbledore, be glad I suspected that this was the ‘test’, as otherwise, you’d have a large percentage of the Order in St. Mungo’s right now recovering from various wounds. We train to use spells other than stunners, Professor. And our ‘flash bangs’ would have been replaced with grenades infinitely more disabling.”
“Yes, Sirius did mention this might happen. If I might have my wand back, I’ll remove the wards and we can check on the ‘attackers’?”
Giving Dumbledore back his wand, they moved out of the kitchen. They found Hermione and company guarding the ‘prisoners’.
“Well, lets wake them up, shall we? Don’t let your guard down, though.” said Harry, before waking up a few of them at a time. After they had all returned to the kitchen, they began discussing the ‘test’.
“Well, was that proof enough for you, Professor? We handled 3 to 1 odds without issue and without any injuries. I think we should discuss this tomorr–” started Harry before being interrupted by his plate vibrating. Looking at it, he scowled. “Great. Teams 2 and 3, are you still combat capable?” receiving nods and sounds of assent, he continued. “Good. Follow me up to my room for some more potent hardware. It seems snake-face has made a move on one of our number. Hermione, stay here and prepare to receive wounded.” As they swept from the room, Moody chuckled.
“What’s funny, Mad-Eye?” asked Sirius, looking anything but amused.
“We just put them through their paces, and they aren’t even tired.” said Moody, “and they’re already off to the real thing. I personally find their response time from sleep to fighting incredible.” He added as his magic eye looked up.
Dumbledore sighed. “It seems that not informing them about the attack on the Gibbons had no effect, as they seem to have been informed as soon at it started.”
Sirius looked at Dumbledore like he was mad. “You knew about an attack on a family and you didn’t do anything?”
Dumbledore looked tired. “Sirius, we couldn’t act on it because it might have revealed Severus’ position as a spy.”
"What good is knowing about it then?" countered Sirius.
Dumbledore turned to Moody and those next to him, and continued, “Why don’t we see if they need any assistance, since there is no longer a risk to showing up.”
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Wednesday, 27 December 1995
Gibbons Residence
Southern England
04:50
Team 2, led by Harry, appeared inside the house, the sounds of shouting coming from two directions. Taking stock of the situation, he led his team towards the sounds of a shotgun being fired. Peering around a corner, he stunned a death eater trying to get a shot at a man who Harry assumed was the father of Ben Gibbons. The man was doing a rather good job of holding off the death eaters, evidenced by the two bodies on the floor.
“Cease Fire! We’re Friendly!” shouted Harry, before stepping around the corner.
“You two, see what the situation here is and make sure that stunned one stays out. The rest of us will sweep the rest of the house.” ordered Harry, taking the rest of his team towards the remaining shouting.
As he walked down a hall, he heard the shouting stop, to be replaced by some colourful language. As he approached the door farthest down the hall, from which the shouting was coming from, he vanished the door before stepping into the room and stunning the death eater he saw. Ducking a green jet of light from his right, he fired a stunner towards the source, a thud informing him it found its mark. Looking around, and finding no more threats, he gave the all clear.
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Wednesday, 27 December 1995
Gibbons Residence
Southern England
04:50
Team 3, led by Ron, appeared outside the house. Giving the order to surround the house and make sure nothing ran away, he sent up the ADA’s mark. When the shouts ceased inside the house, he checked the state of his team, who had apparently stunned a death eater trying to retreat beyond the Anti-Apparition wards after Team 2 had appeared in the house.
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Wednesday, 27 December 1995
Gibbons Residence
Southern England
04:57
With a soft pop, a team of Aurors apparated outside the Gibbons residence and were greeted by the business ends of 3 wands, which were lowered seconds later.
“Ah! You finally made it then. We were wondering when you’d show up.” said Ron, before motioning them to follow. “We’ve got the death eaters over here, waiting for you to take them.”
When the group reached the four bound death eaters and two dead ones, the Aurors looked surprised.
“What happened to him?” asked one of the Aurors, pointing to one of the deceased.
“They attacked the family of a Muggle-born. The father apparently took out those two with a shotgun after they cornered him behind a counter. Team 2 took out the third before he got shot.” explained Ron.
At the confused looks he got at the reference to Team 2, he explained.
“Ben Gibbons is a member of the ADA, or Advanced Defence Association. He called for assistance when he was attacked, and two teams responded.” said Ron, pointing at the symbol floating in the sky. “Don’t worry, we made it invisible to Muggles.”
Ron pulled out his plate.
“Harry, you may be needed out here to answer some questions. The Aurors showed up, fashionably late as usual.”
“Copy that. I’ll be right out. We found the wife in a closet, scared, but otherwise unhurt.”
“What can I do for you?” asked Harry, appearing next to Ron.
The Aurors looked at Harry, and then the realisation of who they were speaking to clicked.
“You’re Harry Potter!”
“Yes. At least, I was last time I checked.”
“You responded to this attack and ended it before we got here?”
“We’d been doing mop up for about 5 minutes before you arrived. We can take you around and show you what happened, if you’d like.”
“I suppose that’d be a good idea.” said the Auror in charge of the group, not wanting to think about the paperwork this was going to call for.
As the Aurors were led through the house, Harry gave a running explanation.
“We arrived here, in the living room, at 04:50. We received word about the attack 2 minutes prior. We made our way to the kitchen, here, following the sounds of a gun being fired. We found the husband in here behind the counter ducking spells from a death eater, who we stunned. He had already dispatched two before we arrived. We assume he led them in here away from his wife. We checked him for injuries and treated him for minor cuts and scrapes. We then moved back to the hall and followed the sounds of shouting to the door on the end, which I vanished. I moved into the room and stunned the death eater stand there, and had to duck a killing curse from one in that corner. We then set to work treating Ben Gibbons, who was pretty cut up. He did a good job on the death eater attacking him, though. Apparently he hit him in the groin with that alarm clock, because the shouting stopped and was replaced by some of the most colourful language, and I found him clutching himself when I came in. When the husband asked about his wife, we started looking for her, and found her right before Ron called me outside. They have all been taken to a safe location until this is cleaned up, at a minimum. We can provide pensive memories if you want.”
The Aurors looked at each other, surprise evident on their faces.
“Who trained you to fight?”
“We train ourselves.” said Harry, before walking off to see what another ADA member needed.
“I suspect there will be an inordinate amount of paperwork for this.” Said an Auror.
“Never mind that! Two minute response time? At this hour? Sweet Merlin!”
“Let’s get those memories and let the Oblivators know its safe for them to get to work.”
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Wednesday, 27 December 1995
Gibbons Residence
Southern England
04:56
Dumbledore, Moody, and company appeared near the Gibbon’s residence. Looking at the situation, lit up softly from the mark floating in the sky, they saw an ADA member levitating two dead bodies out the door toward a group of bound and stunned death eaters. Just then, they saw a team of Aurors arrive. As they were led around the side of the house, Moody started chuckling again.
“Well, Dumbledore, are you convinced yet?”
Wednesday, 27 December 1995
Department of Magical Law Enforcement
Ministry of Magic
10:00
Amelia Bones sat in her office. She had read the reports of the attack on a family in southern England that night, and was surprised. Instead of Aurors arriving to find the dark mark floating above the house, they found an unfamiliar mark there, and the situation under control. As she read on, she became more and more surprised.
Pulling out a pensive, she added Harry’s memory first.
“Well, let’s see what happened.” She said to herself, before tapping the pensive with her wand, starting a projection above it.
When she had finished viewing the two memories, she was slightly awed that a group of fifth years were capable of this. Hell, her Aurors had a hard time performing anywhere near that level of precision and efficiency. She’d have to talk to them soon.
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Wednesday, 27 December 1995
Kitchen
#12 Grimmauld Place
11:30
After a slight lie-in, Harry, Ron, and Hermione went downstairs to the kitchen. There they found many of the Order who had been there during the night, as well as the Gibbons seated around the table. The discussion began in earnest, and was going fine until Mrs. Weasley joined in.
“You could have all been killed!”
“Yes, we know that, Mrs. Weasley. On that note, I could step outside and be hit by a bus, but you don’t see me staying inside all the time do you?” said Harry. “However, we weren’t killed, we weren’t even injured.”
“You’re too young to be fighting in this!”
“That may be so, but we are certainly old enough to die in it. I don’t see you doing much to prevent attacks, let alone fight back. And don’t start spouting on about the Aurors. They arrived so late it was disgusting. If we hadn’t been there, the Gibbons would be dead.”
“He has a good point, Molly. You saw how they handled the attack in the memory. I’ve never seen Aurors act that collected and efficient. If anyone is capable of fighting, it’s them.” said Arthur Weasley.
Mrs. Weasley was interrupted by an owl flying in through a window before she could start her next argument. As Harry took the letter and read it, he frowned.
“It looks to be time for Show and Tell at the Ministry. Madam Bones wants to talk to those of us in the ADA involved in last night’s little fracas as soon as possible.”
As Harry, Ron, and Hermione left, they plated those who had been involved and met them in the main hall.
“Perhaps we should wear the CUs. I imagine those will make quite the impression when we get to the Ministry.” suggested Harry.
Seven minutes later, the fifteen uniformed individuals appeared next to the telephone booth entrance to the Ministry. Harry chuckled as he dialled M-A-G-I-C on the phone, answered the questions, and took the badges. Making their way to the security desk, they were asked to surrender their wands, which they didn’t have, and were sent on their way, earning many odd looks from the people they passed.
Fifteen minutes later, the group was seated in the office of Amelia Bones. Madam Bones decided to get some of her burning questions out of the way.
“I watched your memories in a pensive. That was quite an impressive display of magic. How did none of you receive warnings for underage magic use?”
“The ministry only tracks magic done with a wand, correct?” prompted Harry.
“Yes, only magic done with a wand can be traced, but we can detect large usages of magic. That’s how we responded to that attack, as it was unusual.”
“Therefore…?” urged Harry helpfully.
“You mean you did all that without a wand? How? Hogwarts doesn’t teach wandless magic.”
“Hogwarts doesn’t teach it, but I’ve been able to do wandless magic since I was eight. I just took my accidental magic to the next step: controlling it.”
After blinking a few times, Madam Bones continued.
“How did you learn to apparate so early? Apparition isn’t taught until 6th year.”
“Well, I’ve been able to do what I did there since I was eight. However, we’ve discovered that it isn’t apparition, nor is it elf-popping. We’ve been trying to figure out what it is, since only certain people seem to be able to do it, and there doesn’t seem to be any pattern to who.” supplied Harry
“I take it you have some method of contacting each other in case of attack, since the group of you seems unlikely to be staying at the same place over the holidays.”
“Are you familiar with Muggle two-way radios, Madam Bones?” asked Hermione, who received a nod. She pulled out her plate. “These act like those, only these use magic. We also use these to call for assistance in case of attack.”
“How did you manage to respond to the attack in…”, said Madam Bones, shuffling through the reports on her desk, “two minutes? That seems quite fast to go from sleeping to fighting.”
Harry waved up several privacy wards up and took out his plate. He sat tapping it for a few moments, then waited, then tapped it a few times and put it away.
“Dumbledore says I can tell you. When we got the call for help, we had just finished a little ‘test’ that Dumbledore cooked up to see if we were in fact capable of fighting. For some reason, he had decided to spring the ‘test’ on us at 4:30 in the morning without telling us, so we ended up calling in two teams for assistance, not knowing if it was real or not. We had just handed him his bum on a silver platter and started discussing it when we got the message. All we had to do was grab a few grenades and move out. If we hadn’t been already prepared, it probably would have taken us about two and a half to three minutes to respond at best.”
“Grenades?”
“A Muggle explosive device. We’ve come up with magical versions.”
“Who trained you? Even our elite Aurors are lucky to perform as well as you did on a good day.”
“We trained ourselves. We took some of the tactics used by the Muggle armies, and applied them to us. Hermione, could you modify that non-disclosure agreement so it will allow Susan to answer any non-critical questions her aunt might have?”
“I’ll do it when we get back.”
“I take it Susan is in your group?”
“Yes.”
“What caused you to train yourselves like this? Most people your age are too worried about who to date or how they will do on OWLs.”
“Well, Voldemort returning was the main reason. He seems to have an unhealthy obsession with trying to kill me, and isn’t above using my friends to get to me. The Ministry saddling us with Umbridge was the next. If left up to her, every fifth and seventh year not getting private tutoring would fail the OWL or NEWT.” said Harry, looking disgusted when he mentioned Umbridge.
“What makes you say that?”
“Well, a number of things. First, we aren’t learning to use spells. Second, we aren’t allowed to get help to learn them. Third, we aren’t allowed to practise the spells.” said Hermione, ticking them off on her fingers.
“She’s not allowing the practical portion of the class?! Is she… Yes, she is. I believe I’ll be having some choice words with the minister.” said Madam Bones, looking irritated. “This is not the time to eliminate anyone wishing to become an Auror.”
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Wednesday, 27 December 1995
Riddle Manor
Little Hangleton
12:00
Voldemort was sitting in the room waiting for someone to report. Finally, someone entered the room, looking distinctly nervous.
“Well? Was the attack a success?”
“No, my lord. All 6 who were sent on the mission were killed or taken into ministry custody.”
Of all the answers, that was not the one he’d been expecting.
“WHAT?! HOW?”
“There are rumours going around that a group known as the ADA arrived mere minutes into the attack and eliminated any death eater there. A mark was floating above the house that nobody recognised. A lightning bolt splitting a skull, below an eagle on the left and a lion on the right. The family that was attacked has vanished.”
“POTTER!”
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Thursday, 28 December 1995
Kitchen
#12 Grimmauld Place
08:10
Hermione opened the Daily Prophet and spread it out on the table.
“Looks like the ministry has finally come forward about the attack, or someone leaked it.”
Death Eater Attack Thwarted
Attack on family of Hogwarts student foiled
By Salli Enstoness
The Ministry has confirmed that there was an attack on the family of Hogwarts student Ben Gibbons yesterday in the early hours of the morning. Reports of the incident by responding Aurors indicated that by the time they arrived, the situation had been dealt with and clean up was under way. Aurors were shown to a number of captured death eaters upon arrival by none other than Hogwarts student Ronald Weasley, who then handed them off to Harry Potter, who took them through the house explaining what had happened. Both were wearing what appeared to be Muggle combat fatigues, as were all non-Aurors at the scene. All were said to have had the same mark on the left sleeve. The mark, shown at left, was also in the air above the house.
Amelia Bones, head of the Auror Department of the DMLE cited the quick response of a group known only as the ADA as the reason the attack was ended in a timely manner without any casualties besides two death eaters. The family members had already been treated for minor injuries and been taken to a safe location when Aurors arrived.
Minister Fudge, seemingly confused about the whole situation, praised the Aurors for their timely arrival and their unwavering courage. Minister Fudge also publicly thanked Lucius Malfoy for a large re-election campaign donation.
For a list of death eaters involved in yesterday’s attack, and more details, see page 5.
“Fudge just doesn’t want to admit that his ministry is slipping. Poor fool.” said Harry.
“I just hope that’s the last attack for a while. I warned the others that were listed in that article about Hogsmead about the increased danger. I also told teams 1 and 4 to keep their CUs handy.” said Ron.
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