FicWad

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the HP characters
A/N: The beginning of this chapter is a bit graphic so you are warned. We worked hard on this scene, tried very hard not to go over the top, and made sure that the character's desperation and horror felt real.

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Maria Parti did not know what was happening. She was paralyzed; she could not move a finger. She felt something wet at the base of her head like a light pulling, as if something was sucking the inside of her body ... her being. As the pulling became stronger, she realized that she was leaving her body. She turned her head wildly from side to side and to her right she saw her own body convulsing above her bed. To her left she gazed upon a creature so unbelievably evil, ugly and vicious. She could never remember feeling such raw terror before and she did the only thing she could think of; scream. No matter how much she tried no sound came from her lips.

Maria was pulled towards an enormous mouth with a double row of yellow teeth. She could feel herself sliding along a slimy split tongue and then into a huge, dark opening where everything became black, and a blissful nothingness embraced her.

Maria's limp body fell with a dull thud onto the ground. One of the demons walked over to her body and ripped it apart. The other demons came over and greedily feasted on the desecrated remains of Maria.

The village of St. Puerto Del Castro in Spain was peacefully asleep. It was still a few hours before the little village would begin to stir and bustle with its town folk out for their morning strolls and Sunday service. Little did this quiet village know that by 10am evil was about to strike. When all was said and done 290 people were ripped into pieces. No one was spared; not even the many farm animals that helped to sustain the village.

The first person to reach the village was Eduardo Castro, the local police officer from the next town. Every Sunday he would go to the local church for service and then have brunch with the priest and his childhood friends. When he reached the steps of the church, he knew that something was not right. He realized how quiet the town was and found it strange that he had not seen anyone on the streets. Normally the baker's wife could be heard singing arias as she placed the freshly baked breads on the window to cool, he could hear the children playing on the football field and hear their mothers warning them not to get dirty.

Fear began to overtake him when he realized that not a single animal could be seen or heard. There were no birds to flying, no dogs running around: nothing. This nothingness and the eerie quietness was enough to make him withdraw his gun and walk cautiously towards the church door. What would he find behind the doors: perhaps Basque terrorists? Maybe, but that would not explain the lack of any sound. The police officer approached the doors of the church and opened them slowly, telling himself that his training had made him ready for everything.

As Officer Castro looked through the open doors, he was immediately greeted by the smell of death. The scene in front of him confused him. It took him a few minutes before he could even bring himself to walk in and take a good look around. He could not understand what he was seeing. Bits and pieces of things unknown were lying throughout the church. As he walked further into the church he began to realize that these 'bits and pieces' were actually pieces of body parts that seemed to have been shredded. He did not know how, who or what could do this.

Officer Castro exited through the back of the church and the scene there was worse than what he found in the church. Not all his years of training could prepare him for this. His mind could not register the pieces of flesh and bones swimming in pools of blood. He had experienced war before but war was never as gruesome as this. He began to shake and walk backwards, away from this madness. For a moment, he lost his footing and when he looked down to sees what was in his way the scream that he had been trying to contain began to rise along with the bile in his stomach. There by his feet was half the head of Padre Francisco. Only one eye was left but the horror that the Padre witnessed was still etched in that eye.

The officer was completely overcome with fear and shock. He began to scream, cry, and run but everywhere that he went he was met with a scene worse than the one before. It could be said that madness took control of Officer Castro but that was not the case. Officer Castro did not know what could be so evil to cause such devastation but he knew that it was something that he did not want to face. There would be nowhere to hide, no place would be safe. He could just stay there and wait for whatever killed this village to come and finish him too. He was not a coward. He would not allow whatever evil this was to hear him scream in fear and desperation. With determination, Officer Castro lifted his gun.

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At Sunday, 9am, a lone figure was running up the hills surrounding the village of Ottery St. Catchpole, Devon, England. He paused on one of the hills, looking down to a strange building with the name The Burrow. No matter how many times he saw The Burrow he was always amazed at this lopsided house with the five chimneys sticking out at odd angles.

The lone figure jogged to the quaint house and opened the door that led into the kitchen. "Harry, good that you are back, Ginny is waiting for you", Mrs. Weasley exclaimed. She walked over to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Harry blushed and went over to the table, where his girlfriend was sitting, looking at him with a wide smile on her face. He kissed her cheek and sat down next to her. "Breakfast! I am so hungry I can eat a horse."

Mrs. Weasley brought a pile of pancakes and placed them in front of the two youngsters. "Eat as much as you like, you two." She wanted to turn back to the stove but something caught her eye. She turned back to Ginny and looked sharply to her hand ... there was a ring! Mrs. Weasley looked at the happy couple and the radiating Ginny, her only daughter.

She pointed her finger to Ginny's hand. "What is that?"

Ginny immediately understood and answered as quickly as possible. "Mum, this is a promise ring. Harry gave it to me yesterday evening; that was his second gift to me."

Mrs. Weasley expression was unreadable as she looked at the ring. She took her wand and waved over the ring, mumbling something the young couple could not hear then the ring became invisible. "I think that we should just keep this under wraps until you get a chance to speak with your fathers and your brothers. You know that they will over react if they see this ring. Well not so much Arthur because he loves you like a son Harry, but definitely those six over protective sons of mine."

Ginny nodded in understanding ... Harry looked with wide eyes at Mrs. Weasley. "Don't worry dear, I will not tell them a word." She padded him on his head. "You eat and everything will be alright."

"Mum, we spoke to Professor McGonagall yesterday, and she offered the both of us a job. Do you know something about that offer?"

"No dear, I did not speak to Professor McGonagall before your party."

Harry finally spoke up, "We found out that the twins and Percy accepted a job at Hogwarts, but why did you not tell us about that?"

"Well, Professor McGonagall asked us not to tell you anything, because she wanted to surprise you on your birthday herself. What positions did she offered you?"

"She offered Harry the position of Professor in Wandless and Wordless Magic and she offered me the position of Consultant for the D.A."

Mrs. Weasley looked surprised at Ginny and Harry. "She offered you those positions? What did you say?"

"We told her that we would think about it, and speak to you first", Ginny answered. Harry looked at Ginny, but said nothing.

Mrs. Weasley smiled. "I assume that the two of you want to accept these positions?"

Harry hesitated for a moment, "Yes, we would truly like to work in Hogwarts but that would mean that we would have to move up our plans. We did want to sit for our N.E.W.T's after Christmas but if we want to take these positions we will have to sit for them before term starts."

"Mum, do you think that daddy can set things up at the ministry for us?"

Molly stared at her daughter and Harry and was amazed at the changes that were happening to them. In her opinion, these changes were happening too quickly but she knew that she could not stop it. "I don't think that Arthur would have any problems in arranging things with the ministry. If you are absolutely certain that you are ready to take your N.E.W.T's and work at Hogwarts I'll speak with him about it."

Ginny smiled and nodded at Molly. Harry followed suit but still had this nagging uneasy feeling about it.

At that moment, a very sleepy Ron stumbled down the stairs, went to the table, and took the chair next to Harry. He took a plate and began to whistle while piling his food on it.

Harry and Ginny looked at Ron. "Why, you are in a good mood this morning, Ron?"

Ron opened his mouth "I love Luna!" he squealed. His eyes went wide and put his hand in front of his mouth. "Bloody hell", he said while his face became red as a tomato. "I said it again." He took one pancake; stiffed it in his mouth, stood up quickly and ran back upstairs to his room.

"I believe that was the result of a Weasley's Love Spray", Ginny said with a straight face. Harry stopped eating and looked at Ginny. "How do you know that, Gin?"

"I know all the products the twins have invented, Harry"

Mrs. Weasley smiled. "It started yesterday, before you two were finished with your talk with Professor McGonagall. You needed to hear Luna; she was even worse then Ron."

Harry suddenly thought about yesterday morning. "Do you know who pulled that prank on the twins and the rest of the guests' yesterday morning?"

"Yes I do" Mrs. Weasley said. "The twins, but something went wrong while setting up their prank, and it triggered it immediately instead of when they timed it to go off, so they were the first ones to hang upside down. And it serves them right too." Molly began to turn all shades of red as the infamous Weasley temper began to show itself.

Harry looked confused. "What I don't understand is why everyone else walked in such obvious prank. Didn't they see the twin hanging upside down?"

"Well from the outside the approaching people could not see anything; the prank was only visible from inside the house. Not even Mad-eye could see that anything was amiss. Humph, I won't say it in front of those two, but that part was pretty ingenious", a slight smile began to form on Molly's face before she cleared her throat and looked stern again.

Harry started to laugh. "Serves them right those two, trapped in their own prank."

"Yeah, and what about Moody; he really lost it there for a moment, "Ginny said with a smile. "And to think that we will have Moody and the twins with us at Hogwarts!" She was laughing with Harry.

"So, I take it you have decided to go to Hogwarts?" Mrs. Weasley asked the couple.

"Yes mum, we really would like to go to Hogwarts as teachers and I think it will be so great, and almost all our family is already there. Not to mention that fact that I will be teaching Ron and Hermione!"

"Well, then I have an extra announcement for the both of you. Charlie got also an offer to take over the job from Hagrid. Hagrid quit his job at Hogwarts a week ago and he is now in France with Madame Maxine."

Harry froze. "He ... he is ... he's gone?"

Ginny looked at Harry with concern. "Harry, he loves Madame Maxine. You can't deny him that."

Harry nodded slowly, looking straight in Ginny's eyes. "I understand," he whispered. "I hope he will be happy. I just didn't get to say good-bye. He was the first friend I ever had."

Mrs. Weasley wanted to change subject fast. "I think that I like the idea that almost everyone of my children is at Hogwarts, and Harry will never allow anything to happen to anyone of you, am I right?"

Harry looked from Ginny to Mrs. Weasley and back to Ginny. "I am going to upgrade the defenses at Hogwarts, and when I'm done not even a rat will pass unnoticed. "

"Are you going to add new wards to the castle, Harry?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"Yeah, but not only that. All wards of the castle are pointing outward, and they are only passive in nature. That is what I am going to change. I am going to erect new wards around the castle, but also inside as well. Many detection wards, with control rooms and many active wards, which will be able to attack when triggered or activated! Mad-eye will love the wards and the control rooms I am going to build."

He turned to Mrs. Weasley. "I am going to make sure that everyone is as safe as possible in Hogwarts, but for that to happen, I need to go to Hogwarts tomorrow to install them. Is it possible that you and Ginny can help me tomorrow?"

Mrs. Weasley was surprised. "Of cause we come with you to help. But how can we help, because I don't know anything about wards and shielding."

Harry looked totally focused now. "You remember that Dumbledore installed the blood wards outside Privet Drive?"

"Yes, I remember"

"Well, I want to install similar wards around Hogwarts, but they will be based on parent-child relationship. Those blood wards are extremely powerful and almost impossible to breach ... I mean with brute force they are impossible to breach ... but there are other ways to go around them. If that should ever happen, I have other wards ready then."

"There is also the problem of too many people inside Hogwarts, and not knowing if they are on the side of light or not. If anything bad should happen, the wards inside the castle will be able to protect the students."

"Does that mean you need to have our blood?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

Harry looked uncomfortable but determined to Mrs. Weasley. "Yes, I will need blood from you and from Ginny."

"That is no problem, Harry. I would gladly give you my blood if it will protect of all my children."

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Monday morning at Hogwarts castle during the summer holidays means only one thing: it was quiet. Harry and Professor McGonagall were standing in front of the castle. "What are you going to do, Harry?"

Harry looked to the castle. "I am going to break down all the wards and replace them with new ones. That means that the castle will not have any wards for a short time. I think this will take a few hours before I am finished. When the wards are gone, I will install new wards, layer after layer until I am finished. Then I am going to ask Mrs. Weasley, you and Ginny to give me some blood for the blood wards."

"When I am finished with the outside wards, I will start to build a control room inside the castle, where it will be possible to monitor and even control the wards, all of them. Then I am going to work my way throughout the castle and install all kind of wards, like detection, repelling, shield and attacking wards."

"Attacking wards, Harry?"

"Yes Professor, attacking wards. You can differentiate between passive and active wards. Passive wards are exactly that, passive. The will form a blockade against something and that is that."

"An active ward also forms a blockade against something, but they are also able to attack the source. The attack mostly means that it will send the same magical energy back to the attacker, but I also will install a new form of active wards, which are lethal. Those wards are extremely dangerous, and are not automatic ... I mean those wards must be activated by us."

"And how do you know so much about wards, Harry?" Professor McGonagall asked.

Harry looked sternly to the professor. "Professor McGonagall, what do you think? Being the heir of Gryffindor and after living a life span of 10 years in my initiation dream I have learned many things. One of the many things I learned was the different types of wards that exist."

"If you will excuse me professor, I want to start removing the existing wards now, but for this, everyone needs to stay in the castle. There will be magic radiating from every direction one I start and I want all of you to be safe. You can look from the windows of your office."

"Of course, Harry." Professor McGonagall, Molly and Ginny proceeded to go inside.

Harry walked slowly backwards, still looking at the castle. He realized how big the castle was, when he tried to look up to the astronomy tower, and could hardly see the roof. He realized that Potter castle was even bigger then Hogwarts and felt amazed. He, as the heir of Gryffindor, had the full ability to do what he wanted to do with the castle, and he could clearly feel the wards covering it. They felt similar to the auras that surround a person, and could almost touch them in his mind. Those wards were still very large and powerful, ancient as well.

He stopped and lifted both hands up into the air with had his wand in his right hand. He concentrated on the first ward, a thick, blue-ish ward, which became visible in front of his eyes. The ward covered the castle and radiated in a blue hue, placing the castle in a violet color all over. Somewhere he could see the violet and red flashes of energy rolling over the surface of the ward. He concentrated on the ward and wanted to dissolve the ward after ten minutes of intense concentration, the ward started to change slowly. The color became paler and the flashes of energy increased, but the colors were changing, they turned from dark red to brown. The ward collapsed with a white flash and loud thunder and the ancient magic passed over the grounds in waves. That was the first ward down from the 25 existing wards.

Harry continued to work on the next ward, which came thundering down after five minutes in a rainbow of colors covering the castle and its environment. He worked intently for about two hours, and then he reached the last ward. Harry felt that the last ward had a specific signature associated with it, and he guessed that this ward had been constructed by Godric Gryffindor himself.

The last ward was huge. He made the ward visible and a bright white color surrounded the castle. Many flashes of red and yellow could be seen traveling throughout the ward. Harry guessed that the ward was damaged during the time of its existence, about thousand years. "Amazing" he said, and concentrated himself to bring the ward down. After ten minutes the ward started to give signs that it was about to burst, and Harry started to increase the distance between him and the castle. The last ward collapsed in a very impressive spray of flashes, color beams, and thunder.

Harry went inside the castle and met with Professor McGonagall, Ginny, and Mrs. Weasley. He sat down on one of the tables in the great hall and asked for something to eat and drink to replenish his strength. While he ate, he explained to everyone that he needed several hours to construct the wards, and then he needed to have some of their blood. All women present agreed and he quickly went back to his work.

Harry knew that installing new wards could be done in two ways. One way was simply erect a ward covering the castle, and the other was to build anchor points surrounding it. Harry wanted to have both of them, because he wanted to design the wards to survive a very long time, maybe even a thousand years like the original ones.

Harry walked around the castle and started to build anchor points. Each anchor point consisted out of a small platform inserted in the ground. In the middle of the platform, Harry conjured a small crystal, which was embedded into the anchor points.

When he was finished building the anchor points, he started to connect the platforms with each other. The connection points were very visible like red wirers, connecting one anchor point with its two neighbors, and he continued to do so until all anchor points were connected.

Harry pointed his wand towards the closest anchor point and concentrated on the creation of the first ward. A white beam of intense light came out of his wand, which hit the anchor point. Immediately the anchor point burst into flames that quickly traveled over to the remaining anchor points until the entire castle was surrounded by flames.

The flames slowly started to change in color. The fire started to become much more intense and more concentrated and the red flames changed to pure white. It was so intense that it was almost impossible to look into the fire; the intensity of it surrounding Hogwarts was like the intensity of the sun. Suddenly flames dimmed and disappeared leaving a dim white, semi-transparent glimmering ward surrounding the castle. Harry waved his wand towards the ward in general, and the ward became invisible. Harry repeated the same process two more times, but the colors of the wards were blue and red, until he was satisfied.

Now active wards would need to be installed and that would require more work. Harry was tired but determined and he went inside and asked for some more food and water to replenish his physical energy. He felt like he was running consecutive marathons but he knew that he had to complete his work.

Everyone looked at him with concern. Professor McGonagall finally spoke up. "Harry, perhaps you should rest and finish this at a later time."

Harry slowly stood up and looked at her fiercely. "Professor, this needs to be completed. I don't know how or what but there is some sort of energy force in the air that is telling me that this task needs to be completed as soon as possible."

All three women looked at Harry and then at each other. "Harry, you don't think that Voldemort has returned, do you?" Molly whispered.

Harry paused and thought. He didn't know how to explain to them what he was feeling. "Mrs. Weasley, I don't think that Voldemort has returned and honestly I don't think he ever will. I do not know what it is that I'm sensing. All I know is that there is a strong magical energy in the air and it is telling me to finish quickly. For a while now I have sensed that something evil is coming and whatever it is will be a great force to reckon with. Voldemort will be nothing compared to what is coming."

Ginny walked over to Harry and lovingly placed her hand on his face. Harry closed his eyes and he leaned in to her hand and quickly began to relax. "Love, we know that this task must be completed and we also know that you are a powerful wizard. What you have done today has taken many wizards years to accomplish. You have a task to finish and you won't be able to do that if you do not rest and replenish your magical energy. I'm sure that Professor McGonagall could provide you a room for you to rest in and I will stay with you until you wake up." Ginny looked at the professor and then at her mother and both of them nodded in agreement.

Harry could feel his magical energy already being restored by the love pouring into him through Ginny's hand. "All right love. How can I resist knowing that when I wake up the first thing I'll see is my beautiful Ginny?" Ginny took him by the hand and lead him towards the Gryffindor dorms. The other two women left standing there looked at this young couple with fierce pride and determination to help them stand up to whatever it was that was coming their way.

A/N: Well we hope you like this chapter. Please review and let us know what you think.

A/N: I like to thank my better part (Carolyn) of the fantastic work she is doing. Without her, this story would never be like it is now. Thank you Carolyn.

Willem & Carolyn