Categories > Books > Harry Potter > Harry Potter and the Endwar Project
I don't own Harry Potter.
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Chapter 6 - Firestarter
Albus Dumbledore was beginning to feel the effects of a headache come on to him. Earlier that day, his various connections had informed him that Severus Snape had been arrested in Italy. He could not have his primary spy incarcerated in another country, so he had made a call to the Italian head of Magical Law Enforcement to exonerate Snape and release him back to England.
It was not going well.
"Please, Signor Marchelli, this must be some mistake," Dumbledore pleaded. "I ask you to release him into my supervision."
"I'm afraid I can't do that, Mister Dumbledore," Marchelli replied. "Mister Snape was found unconscious without his wand or relevant papers, as well as baring the mark of a known terrorist organization."
"I already explained the Dark Mark, Signor, Severus is a--" Dumbledore began, before Marchelli cut him off.
"Is a spy, yes, yes, so you've said," the Italian mad said. "And it will be brought to light during the court hearing. However, it still does not explain his presence here, or his lack of appropriate paperwork."
"Perhaps he had been mugged?" Dumbledore suggested; he honestly doubted that Snape could be taken down by muggers, but it was still a possibility, and would hopefully convince the uncooperative man before him to surrender.
"Perhaps," Marchelli agreed. "However, at this point it is merely speculation; he has refused to offer a pensieve memory, as well as a legilimency probe and an interview under veritaserum. Considering his refusal to cooperate, as well as a lack of evidence suggesting otherwise, we have to assume that he has entered the country illegally."
"And what happens if I'm right?" Dumbledore asked.
"If you are right, and Mister Snape has been mugged, then we will return him to England with our apologies," Marchelli said. "However, if it turns out that he is here illegally, then he will be a guest of Italy's penitentiary system for the next fifteen months. And if you try to interfere with our investigation, Mister Dumbledore, then you will be arrested for obstruction of justice," the Italian added. "Good day, Mister Dumbledore," he said before terminating the Floo connection. With a heavy sigh, Dumbledore leaned back into his chair and rubbed his forehead; his day was not going well, and he had a feeling that in the future, things would only get worse.
------
"So, what are we looking for?" Christine asked as she and Harry drove back to Malfoy Manor.
"It's a black leather-bound diary, about yea by yea by yea," Harry said, displaying the rough measurements of the diary horcrux's dimensions. "It's got the name T. M. Riddle on the front. It's probably hidden in a safe somewhere, which is why I brought these," he continued, holding up two complicated-looking goggles, seemingly suited more for observing microscopic life than searching for hidden safes.
"And what about those?" she asked, pointing her thumb to the two jugs of petroleum sloshing around in the back seat.
"That's a surprise," Harry said, a mischievous grin on his face. Unsure of what Harry meant by "surprise", Christine simply looked forward and drove back to where they were the night before. Taking out his pocket omninoculars again, Harry scanned the house. "Okay, it seems that there's only the house elf in the main dining room, so we take it out first, and then we begin our search." After exiting the car, Harry rolled down the backseat window before the walked over to Malfoy Manor.
Sneaking up to the front door, Harry removed his glasses and put on the goggles, inspecting the runes and ward work surrounding the lock.
"Okay, it seems like there's an alarm set to go off if someone tries to unlock the door with magic without disabling it first," he said, pulling out his unlocking tool. "Luckily, I have this." Placing the tip over the keyhole, Harry pushed down on the plunger and twisted until the door unlocked with a click. Casting silencing charms on their feet, they slowly entered the house and snuck around until they saw the house elf, meticulously cleaning various surfaces. Taking aim, Harry fired a silent stunner, incapacitating the house elf. After binding it, Harry grabbed a piece of cutlery and turned it into a portkey before placing it on the elf. "That should get it out of the way," Harry said as the small creature disappeared. "Alright, let's split up and meet back here," he said. "If you find any incriminating papers lying around, take those as well." With their objectives set, Harry left for Lucius Malfoy's office.
Flipping though the various files, Harry eventually found a stack of signed, unwritten checks. Shaking his head in disbelief, Harry shoved the notes into his pocket and continued perusing through the papers. After digging up a few papers containing Malfoy's Gringotts account numbers, Harry began to inspect the room for any hidden caches. He spotted one underneath the desk, and removed the concealment charms from it. Unlocking the safe, he levitated the contents out. Inside were more folders with financial information, as well as photos of a much younger Cornelius Fudge in a rather compromising position.
"Ugh, I did not need to see that," Harry groaned as he stuffed the pictures into a random folder. Not finding the diary here, Harry shrunk the illicit information to fit into his pocket and vacated the office to search elsewhere. Entering the manor's library, he raised his wand and said, "Accio horcrux," disappointed when nothing happened. "Oh well, it was worth a shot," he said. With another flick of his wand, all the books that were not black drifted off the shelves and floated in the air. After shaking them to make sure that the diary was not hiding within the pages of any of them, Harry flung the books into a haphazard pile in a corner of the room. Repeating the action with the remaining books, Harry growled in frustration when he still could not find the diary. Donning his goggles, he could find no hidden safes within the library, and so he moved on to other parts of the manor.
Half an hour had passed before Harry and Christine met at their rendezvous point.
"Did you find anything?" Harry asked.
"I found a couple of safes that I couldn't open," his partner said, patting her pocket. "I'll have the ward breakers crack them back at HQ. How about you?" she asked.
"I found some financial and blackmail info, but not the horcrux," Harry admitted. "Hopefully, it'll be in one of the safes that you found."
"So what do we do now?" Christine asked. Harry walked to a nearby window, raised it and pointed his wand out.
"Accio petrol," he chanted. For a few seconds, nothing happened.
"Aren't we a little far away to be using that spell?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No, no, just give it a second," Harry insisted, staring out the window. A few seconds later, the two petroleum jugs flew into Harry, knocking the wind out of his chest and knocking him back. "That came in harder than I expected," he gasped, handing Christine one of the containers. "Splash it around, try to cover as much as you can," he said, unscrewing the cap and pouring the fuel around the room.
"What are you doing?" she asked, still holding her tank of fuel.
"Covering our tracks," Harry said. "If this place burns down, then no one will notice that anything is missing. And if nothing else, it'll be a blow to Malfoy's bank account to have to rebuild this place."
"But won't the fire-suppressant charms prevent this?" she asked.
"They prevent magical fires," he clarified. "Hopefully, they won't affect good ol' fashioned petrol and matches. And if they do, there's always fiendfyre." Christine considered it for a moment before shrugging and copying Harry's actions, spreading the petroleum throughout the room. Once that and the adjacent room were liberally splashed with the flammable liquid, Harry took a matchbox out of his pocket and lit a single match. "You might want to step back," he warned his partner, who followed his advice. Harry tossed the burning match into the petroleum-soaked room and watched as the single flame blossomed outward into a room-consuming blaze. Stepping back and covering his face with his sleeve to block the fumes, Harry turned to his partner and said, "We should probably get out of here."
"Agreed," she said before they Disapparated back at the position of the car. They watched for a few seconds as the fire began to consume the rest of the house before they climbed back into the car and drove off, Malfoy Manor billowing plumes of black smoke behind them.
------
"So you say you want what's inside these safes?" the Department of Mysteries ward breaker asked.
"Yes," Harry said. The ward breaker inspected the two containers for a few seconds before he spoke again.
"They're tricky, but doable," he said. "I can have them open sometime tomorrow."
"That'd be great, thanks," Christine said.
"Just doin' my job," the ward breaker said modestly. Bidding the man goodbye, Harry and Christine walked out of the room.
"So, in one day, we committed kidnapping, trafficking, burglary and arson, not bad for a day's work, eh?" Harry asked.
"It's not bad," Christine said, shrugging. "What's next on the agenda?"
"Home, I need a shower," he said. She hummed in agreement, and once they had entered a Disapparation point, they returned to their flat, where Harry grabbed a spare set of clothes and jumped into the shower. Fifteen minutes later, Harry was lying on the couch while Christine bathed. Hopefully, all this work will yield something worthwhile, he thought, like a horcrux. As he began to doze off, he idly wondered what tomorrow's headline would say.
------
The next day, Harry and Christine returned to the ward breaker to check on his progress.
"Alright, I cracked them open for you," the man said when they arrived. "And I found some pretty nasty stuff in here. I mean, books on dark arts, cursed jewelry, whatever the hell that is," he said, pointing to a shriveled object that looked like it used to be alive, "but the worst thing of all was this," he continued, pointing to a small, plain black diary. "I don't know what it is, but it's emitting the darkest magic I've ever seen, I mean, it almost seems unnatural."
"You've done good work," Harry said, picking up the diary with a pair of forceps and dropping it into a bag, "send the rest of these to the proper analysis and disposal teams."
"You got it," the ward breaker said as the two Unspeakables left. While they were waiting for the room to stop spinning, Christine looked down at the bag in Harry's hand.
"So that's a horcrux," she said, more as a statement than a question.
"Yep," Harry confirmed.
"How did you know that Malfoy would have it?" she asked. As the spinning doors began to slow down, Harry turned and gave her a meaningful look.
"A hunch," he said as the room stopped, and he entered the room he desired, which contained several scientists inspecting various artifacts.
"Can I help you?" the man closest to the door asked, not looking up from his work.
"I need to use the D.A.D.," Harry said, causing the scientist to look up in surprise.
"Big Daddy?" he asked incredulously. "You must have some pretty nasty shit in your hand to need that."
"The worst," Harry said. Without another word, the scientist waved his wand at the far wall in the room, which began to slide open like the entrance to Diagon Alley, eventually revealing a large windowless furnace, three-foot-long forceps hanging from its side. The door was emblazoned with glowing red letters:
DANGEROUS ARTIFACT DISPOSAL. WARNING: FIENDFYRE! USE EXTREME CAUTION!
Harry walked over to the furnace and grabbed the forceps, wincing at the heat radiating from the furnace's core. Taking several steps back, Harry set the bag containing the horcrux down on the floor and used the forceps to open the furnace hatch, revealing the fiendfyre blazing within. Grabbing the bag with the forceps, Harry carefully lowered the horcrux into the furnace and closed the hatch, the flames already attacking the dark artifact. Hanging the forceps back on its hook, the wall closed itself, concealing the furnace from the world until the next time it was needed.
Dusting his hands, Harry exited the room to find Hawthorne there waiting, newspaper in hand.
"Ahh, just the man I wanted to see," he said. "I'd like to have a word with you in my office," he continued. Understanding that it was not a request, Harry followed his superior into his office, where several privacy charms were erected and a copy of the Daily Prophet was slammed onto the desk, the words MALFOY HOME DESTROYED IN BLAZE printed on the front cover. "Tell me, Potter," Hawthorne said, steepling his fingers, "is this your idea of 'subtle?'"
"What do you mean?" Harry asked, feigning innocence.
"You're a man from the future claiming to be on a mission to stop Voldemort," Hawthorne said, "and now, one of his inner circle's home is burned to the ground; don't think I didn't make the connection."
"So?" Harry asked, shrugging, "no one else can do the same. You are the only one who knows who I am, what I am, and why I'm here. And besides, I didn't leave any evidence, did I?"
"No," Hawthorne ground out his answer. "Did you at least find anything useful from this little...fiasco of yours?"
"Yeah, I got rid of one horcrux," Harry said. "I've still got five left, though." Hawthorne sighed tiredly.
"If you had gotten caught, then it wouldn't have just meant trouble with you, but me as well," the Unspeakable leader said. "I don't want to be kept out of the loop like this again."
"Yes sir," Harry said, "I promise that whenever I do something that could be misconstrued as a felony while in pursuit of my mission, I'll let you know first." After several moments, Hawthorne nodded in acceptance.
"That'll be all, Potter. Dismissed," he said as he grabbed his newspaper to read. Harry left the office to find Christine waiting for him.
"What was that about?" she asked.
"Just a little discussion about yesterday," he said, "nothing to worry about."
"I wasn't worried," she said. "So, where are we going next?" As they walked out, Harry pondered his answer.
"I hear Ottery St. Catchpole is nice this time of year," he eventually responded.
"And by that, you mean...?" she prompted.
"I mean that there may be another Death Eater there," he clarified.
"Another 'hunch?'" she asked, surrounding the word "hunch" with finger quotes.
"Yep," he said, "now let's go; we've got a lot of ground to cover."
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And that's chapter six. Hope you enjoyed it, and don't forget to review.
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Chapter 6 - Firestarter
Albus Dumbledore was beginning to feel the effects of a headache come on to him. Earlier that day, his various connections had informed him that Severus Snape had been arrested in Italy. He could not have his primary spy incarcerated in another country, so he had made a call to the Italian head of Magical Law Enforcement to exonerate Snape and release him back to England.
It was not going well.
"Please, Signor Marchelli, this must be some mistake," Dumbledore pleaded. "I ask you to release him into my supervision."
"I'm afraid I can't do that, Mister Dumbledore," Marchelli replied. "Mister Snape was found unconscious without his wand or relevant papers, as well as baring the mark of a known terrorist organization."
"I already explained the Dark Mark, Signor, Severus is a--" Dumbledore began, before Marchelli cut him off.
"Is a spy, yes, yes, so you've said," the Italian mad said. "And it will be brought to light during the court hearing. However, it still does not explain his presence here, or his lack of appropriate paperwork."
"Perhaps he had been mugged?" Dumbledore suggested; he honestly doubted that Snape could be taken down by muggers, but it was still a possibility, and would hopefully convince the uncooperative man before him to surrender.
"Perhaps," Marchelli agreed. "However, at this point it is merely speculation; he has refused to offer a pensieve memory, as well as a legilimency probe and an interview under veritaserum. Considering his refusal to cooperate, as well as a lack of evidence suggesting otherwise, we have to assume that he has entered the country illegally."
"And what happens if I'm right?" Dumbledore asked.
"If you are right, and Mister Snape has been mugged, then we will return him to England with our apologies," Marchelli said. "However, if it turns out that he is here illegally, then he will be a guest of Italy's penitentiary system for the next fifteen months. And if you try to interfere with our investigation, Mister Dumbledore, then you will be arrested for obstruction of justice," the Italian added. "Good day, Mister Dumbledore," he said before terminating the Floo connection. With a heavy sigh, Dumbledore leaned back into his chair and rubbed his forehead; his day was not going well, and he had a feeling that in the future, things would only get worse.
------
"So, what are we looking for?" Christine asked as she and Harry drove back to Malfoy Manor.
"It's a black leather-bound diary, about yea by yea by yea," Harry said, displaying the rough measurements of the diary horcrux's dimensions. "It's got the name T. M. Riddle on the front. It's probably hidden in a safe somewhere, which is why I brought these," he continued, holding up two complicated-looking goggles, seemingly suited more for observing microscopic life than searching for hidden safes.
"And what about those?" she asked, pointing her thumb to the two jugs of petroleum sloshing around in the back seat.
"That's a surprise," Harry said, a mischievous grin on his face. Unsure of what Harry meant by "surprise", Christine simply looked forward and drove back to where they were the night before. Taking out his pocket omninoculars again, Harry scanned the house. "Okay, it seems that there's only the house elf in the main dining room, so we take it out first, and then we begin our search." After exiting the car, Harry rolled down the backseat window before the walked over to Malfoy Manor.
Sneaking up to the front door, Harry removed his glasses and put on the goggles, inspecting the runes and ward work surrounding the lock.
"Okay, it seems like there's an alarm set to go off if someone tries to unlock the door with magic without disabling it first," he said, pulling out his unlocking tool. "Luckily, I have this." Placing the tip over the keyhole, Harry pushed down on the plunger and twisted until the door unlocked with a click. Casting silencing charms on their feet, they slowly entered the house and snuck around until they saw the house elf, meticulously cleaning various surfaces. Taking aim, Harry fired a silent stunner, incapacitating the house elf. After binding it, Harry grabbed a piece of cutlery and turned it into a portkey before placing it on the elf. "That should get it out of the way," Harry said as the small creature disappeared. "Alright, let's split up and meet back here," he said. "If you find any incriminating papers lying around, take those as well." With their objectives set, Harry left for Lucius Malfoy's office.
Flipping though the various files, Harry eventually found a stack of signed, unwritten checks. Shaking his head in disbelief, Harry shoved the notes into his pocket and continued perusing through the papers. After digging up a few papers containing Malfoy's Gringotts account numbers, Harry began to inspect the room for any hidden caches. He spotted one underneath the desk, and removed the concealment charms from it. Unlocking the safe, he levitated the contents out. Inside were more folders with financial information, as well as photos of a much younger Cornelius Fudge in a rather compromising position.
"Ugh, I did not need to see that," Harry groaned as he stuffed the pictures into a random folder. Not finding the diary here, Harry shrunk the illicit information to fit into his pocket and vacated the office to search elsewhere. Entering the manor's library, he raised his wand and said, "Accio horcrux," disappointed when nothing happened. "Oh well, it was worth a shot," he said. With another flick of his wand, all the books that were not black drifted off the shelves and floated in the air. After shaking them to make sure that the diary was not hiding within the pages of any of them, Harry flung the books into a haphazard pile in a corner of the room. Repeating the action with the remaining books, Harry growled in frustration when he still could not find the diary. Donning his goggles, he could find no hidden safes within the library, and so he moved on to other parts of the manor.
Half an hour had passed before Harry and Christine met at their rendezvous point.
"Did you find anything?" Harry asked.
"I found a couple of safes that I couldn't open," his partner said, patting her pocket. "I'll have the ward breakers crack them back at HQ. How about you?" she asked.
"I found some financial and blackmail info, but not the horcrux," Harry admitted. "Hopefully, it'll be in one of the safes that you found."
"So what do we do now?" Christine asked. Harry walked to a nearby window, raised it and pointed his wand out.
"Accio petrol," he chanted. For a few seconds, nothing happened.
"Aren't we a little far away to be using that spell?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No, no, just give it a second," Harry insisted, staring out the window. A few seconds later, the two petroleum jugs flew into Harry, knocking the wind out of his chest and knocking him back. "That came in harder than I expected," he gasped, handing Christine one of the containers. "Splash it around, try to cover as much as you can," he said, unscrewing the cap and pouring the fuel around the room.
"What are you doing?" she asked, still holding her tank of fuel.
"Covering our tracks," Harry said. "If this place burns down, then no one will notice that anything is missing. And if nothing else, it'll be a blow to Malfoy's bank account to have to rebuild this place."
"But won't the fire-suppressant charms prevent this?" she asked.
"They prevent magical fires," he clarified. "Hopefully, they won't affect good ol' fashioned petrol and matches. And if they do, there's always fiendfyre." Christine considered it for a moment before shrugging and copying Harry's actions, spreading the petroleum throughout the room. Once that and the adjacent room were liberally splashed with the flammable liquid, Harry took a matchbox out of his pocket and lit a single match. "You might want to step back," he warned his partner, who followed his advice. Harry tossed the burning match into the petroleum-soaked room and watched as the single flame blossomed outward into a room-consuming blaze. Stepping back and covering his face with his sleeve to block the fumes, Harry turned to his partner and said, "We should probably get out of here."
"Agreed," she said before they Disapparated back at the position of the car. They watched for a few seconds as the fire began to consume the rest of the house before they climbed back into the car and drove off, Malfoy Manor billowing plumes of black smoke behind them.
------
"So you say you want what's inside these safes?" the Department of Mysteries ward breaker asked.
"Yes," Harry said. The ward breaker inspected the two containers for a few seconds before he spoke again.
"They're tricky, but doable," he said. "I can have them open sometime tomorrow."
"That'd be great, thanks," Christine said.
"Just doin' my job," the ward breaker said modestly. Bidding the man goodbye, Harry and Christine walked out of the room.
"So, in one day, we committed kidnapping, trafficking, burglary and arson, not bad for a day's work, eh?" Harry asked.
"It's not bad," Christine said, shrugging. "What's next on the agenda?"
"Home, I need a shower," he said. She hummed in agreement, and once they had entered a Disapparation point, they returned to their flat, where Harry grabbed a spare set of clothes and jumped into the shower. Fifteen minutes later, Harry was lying on the couch while Christine bathed. Hopefully, all this work will yield something worthwhile, he thought, like a horcrux. As he began to doze off, he idly wondered what tomorrow's headline would say.
------
The next day, Harry and Christine returned to the ward breaker to check on his progress.
"Alright, I cracked them open for you," the man said when they arrived. "And I found some pretty nasty stuff in here. I mean, books on dark arts, cursed jewelry, whatever the hell that is," he said, pointing to a shriveled object that looked like it used to be alive, "but the worst thing of all was this," he continued, pointing to a small, plain black diary. "I don't know what it is, but it's emitting the darkest magic I've ever seen, I mean, it almost seems unnatural."
"You've done good work," Harry said, picking up the diary with a pair of forceps and dropping it into a bag, "send the rest of these to the proper analysis and disposal teams."
"You got it," the ward breaker said as the two Unspeakables left. While they were waiting for the room to stop spinning, Christine looked down at the bag in Harry's hand.
"So that's a horcrux," she said, more as a statement than a question.
"Yep," Harry confirmed.
"How did you know that Malfoy would have it?" she asked. As the spinning doors began to slow down, Harry turned and gave her a meaningful look.
"A hunch," he said as the room stopped, and he entered the room he desired, which contained several scientists inspecting various artifacts.
"Can I help you?" the man closest to the door asked, not looking up from his work.
"I need to use the D.A.D.," Harry said, causing the scientist to look up in surprise.
"Big Daddy?" he asked incredulously. "You must have some pretty nasty shit in your hand to need that."
"The worst," Harry said. Without another word, the scientist waved his wand at the far wall in the room, which began to slide open like the entrance to Diagon Alley, eventually revealing a large windowless furnace, three-foot-long forceps hanging from its side. The door was emblazoned with glowing red letters:
DANGEROUS ARTIFACT DISPOSAL. WARNING: FIENDFYRE! USE EXTREME CAUTION!
Harry walked over to the furnace and grabbed the forceps, wincing at the heat radiating from the furnace's core. Taking several steps back, Harry set the bag containing the horcrux down on the floor and used the forceps to open the furnace hatch, revealing the fiendfyre blazing within. Grabbing the bag with the forceps, Harry carefully lowered the horcrux into the furnace and closed the hatch, the flames already attacking the dark artifact. Hanging the forceps back on its hook, the wall closed itself, concealing the furnace from the world until the next time it was needed.
Dusting his hands, Harry exited the room to find Hawthorne there waiting, newspaper in hand.
"Ahh, just the man I wanted to see," he said. "I'd like to have a word with you in my office," he continued. Understanding that it was not a request, Harry followed his superior into his office, where several privacy charms were erected and a copy of the Daily Prophet was slammed onto the desk, the words MALFOY HOME DESTROYED IN BLAZE printed on the front cover. "Tell me, Potter," Hawthorne said, steepling his fingers, "is this your idea of 'subtle?'"
"What do you mean?" Harry asked, feigning innocence.
"You're a man from the future claiming to be on a mission to stop Voldemort," Hawthorne said, "and now, one of his inner circle's home is burned to the ground; don't think I didn't make the connection."
"So?" Harry asked, shrugging, "no one else can do the same. You are the only one who knows who I am, what I am, and why I'm here. And besides, I didn't leave any evidence, did I?"
"No," Hawthorne ground out his answer. "Did you at least find anything useful from this little...fiasco of yours?"
"Yeah, I got rid of one horcrux," Harry said. "I've still got five left, though." Hawthorne sighed tiredly.
"If you had gotten caught, then it wouldn't have just meant trouble with you, but me as well," the Unspeakable leader said. "I don't want to be kept out of the loop like this again."
"Yes sir," Harry said, "I promise that whenever I do something that could be misconstrued as a felony while in pursuit of my mission, I'll let you know first." After several moments, Hawthorne nodded in acceptance.
"That'll be all, Potter. Dismissed," he said as he grabbed his newspaper to read. Harry left the office to find Christine waiting for him.
"What was that about?" she asked.
"Just a little discussion about yesterday," he said, "nothing to worry about."
"I wasn't worried," she said. "So, where are we going next?" As they walked out, Harry pondered his answer.
"I hear Ottery St. Catchpole is nice this time of year," he eventually responded.
"And by that, you mean...?" she prompted.
"I mean that there may be another Death Eater there," he clarified.
"Another 'hunch?'" she asked, surrounding the word "hunch" with finger quotes.
"Yep," he said, "now let's go; we've got a lot of ground to cover."
----
And that's chapter six. Hope you enjoyed it, and don't forget to review.
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