Unofficial Portkey Archive

Muggle Summer

Disclaimer: Not my characters, no money being made, etc., etc.

Chapter 62: Garden Party

Wednesday, July 11, 9:30am
Official Gobstones Club, Level Seven, Ministry of Magic

Neville Longbottom was "working" at his desk and worrying about his girlfriend when a certain blonde-haired mailroom clerk arrived to hand deliver an All-Ministry memo.

"Hey, Luna, what do you have there?" he asked.

"A memo announcing that an intern up on Level One is a wanted criminal," the witch replied. "Thought I better deliver your copy by hand."

"What? Why?"

Luna smiled serenely. "So you would stop worrying, of course. By the way, I just heard that your Crumple-Horned Hufflepuff was just spotted at Hogwarts."

"My Crumple-Horned Hufflepuff?" he asked. Neville's eyes went wide when he realized what Luna's coded message meant. "Oh…thank Merlin…and thanks for letting me know."

"No problem, Neville."

The Longbottom scion opened his desk drawer and retrieved a Skiving Snackbox. Upon opening the container he carefully selected an individual confection.

"Excuse me, Luna, but I have a sudden need to vomit on my boss's desk."

The Ravenclaw smiled and nodded her head. "Will I see anything colorful if I tag along?"

Neville frowned. "Not particularly….just some partially-digested porridge."

"Darn," Luna replied. "Oh well, say hi to your girlfriend for me then."

Neville smiled. "Aren't you skiving off as well?"

Luna shook her head as she absently-mindedly opened the Velcro'ed flap on the front of her robes and scratched her bared midriff. "The Art Club needs Ron as a anchor within the Ministry, and I need Ron as an ant inspector within my pants."

The young Gryffindor blushed, wondering just how well his candy's magically-induced nausea would work in conjunction with Luna-induced racy thoughts.

oo00OO00oo

Portkey Control Office, Department of Transportation, Ministry of Magic

Percy Weasley stepped off the lift with a scowl on his face. Lacking a worldwide directory of Charms Masters, he had needed to barter away a "favor to be named later" to a DoM researcher in exchange for the name of a Dutch mage with the skills necessary to implement Project Arcanum.

A magical door chime sounded as he entered the office and brushed by the receptionist.

"I need a portkey to Amsterdam, straight away," he called out to the first wizard he saw.

The older balding man squinted at Percy and sighed.

"You have the proper parchment forms completed, Director Weasley?"

"Of course I do," Percy huffed, as he threw a scroll onto the wizard's desk.

The portkey maker looked the authorization form over, noting that Percy had not only signed it, but gotten the Minister of Magic's countersignature as well.

"Amsterdam, you said?" he asked.

"Yes, yes…it's clearly laid out for you right there on the parchment."

The wizard snorted. "You do know that the Dutch have banned all direct in-bound portkeys originating from Britain, right?"

"No, when did they do that?"

"Two days after we banned in-bound portkeys from the Netherlands," snarked the wizard.

"So how am I supposed to get there?" asked Percy. "It is, after all, critical Ministry business."

"I'm sure it is," replied the portkey maker dryly. "As I see it, you've got two options….use muggle transportation, or make a connecting trip to one of the portkey terminals that still accept in-bounds from Britain."

"Well, that's an easy choice…I'll just make the connecting portkey flight," replied Percy. "It would take forever to get to Holland by muggle car."

The portkey maker was almost certain that Percy thought it possible for cars to traverse the Channel without a ferry, but rather than give him grief over it, decided to cover his posterior.

"I wouldn't be too sure that muggle methods would be slower," the wizard offered.

"How could they not be?" Percy demanded. "What are my terminal options?"

"Oslo or Albania."

"That's it?"

"No, but those are the only two places where it'd theoretically be possible to get same day connecting portkeys fashioned."

"Can't you just make me the two portkeys?"

"Of course I can't," the wizard replied with a huff. "We're only licensed to make international portkeys that originate within Britain."

"Fine," Percy replied. "Just give me a portkey to Dyrrheim Station, then."

"Are you certain, Assistant Director?"

"Yes, I don't have any more time to waste."

"As you wish, sir," the wizard replied. "But I really think you should consider muggle…."

"Can you make me a portkey to Oslo or not?"

"Harrumph!" the wizard huffed indignantly. He reached into his desk drawer for a length of rope, concentrated for a few moments, then cast a Portus spell that created a brief bluish glow around the rope.

"Here you go," the portkey maker said as he handed Percy the portkey. "Have a nice trip."

The Director of Knowns snatched the bit of rope from the man's hand and turned on his heel, whining about how much time it had taken to get a simple portkey made.

"What a git," muttered the portkey maker to himself. "He deservers whatever awaits him in Oslo."

oo00OO00oo

Longbottom Manor, Oxfordshire

Neville fingers were working his mobile just as soon as he tumbled out of the floo connection.

"Come on…come on, Susan…pick up…"

"Neville?"

"Susan? Thank goodness you're safe….you are safe, right?"

"I'm fine Nev…everything went more or less to plan."

"So where are you now?"

"McGonagall made me a portkey to Edinburgh," the witch-in-waiting replied. "Where are you?"

"Back home…just long enough to find a ride up there."

A different voice called out Neville's name. Having heard the chime that announced an imminent resident floo arrival, his grandmother had joined him in the entryway.

"Neville?" she asked, "Why are you home?"

"Just a minute, Grandmum," he replied, placing the telephone against his ear. "Susan, I have to go…talk to you in a bit, okay?"

"Can't understand why a floo connection isn't good enough for your wooing efforts, young man," Augusta stated, adding, "So what are you doing here in the middle of the day?"

"Sorry, Grandmum, just one more call…promise," Neville replied, as he pressed a different speed dial number.

"Harry?…this is Neville."

"Hey, Neville, how are you doing?"

"Much better after talking with Susan."

"So you're out of the Ministry?"

"Yeah…just got to the Manor."

"What flavor this time?"

"Puking Pastille," Neville replied. "So, Harry, as long as I'm available…"

"There's a helicopter ready and waiting for you next door."

"Thanks, Harry," said Neville. "Be there as soon as I can."

"I'm sure you will," Harry said with a chuckle.

As he pocketed his mobile, Neville noticed that his grandmother wasn't very happy with what she had heard.

"What are you scheming, Neville?" she demanded.

"Can't tell you,…you know that, Grandmum," he replied. "Enough to say that Harry Potter needs my help."

Mrs. Longbottom shook her head and sighed. Having reached the age of majority there was little she could do to tie down her grandson, and she was not-so-secretly thrilled that he was following in his parent's footsteps as a fighter for the Light. But that didn't mean that she wasn't worried about losing him like she had her Frank.

"When do you think you'll be back?" she asked.

"Should be tonight," Neville replied. "I'll owl if it's any different."

"You take care of yourself," his grandmother replied, as she pulled him into a hug.

"I will," he replied. Having grown tall enough to look over his grandmother's shoulders when embracing her, he snuck a peek at his wristwatch while he hugged.

"I have to change," he said. "My ride is waiting for me."

"Flying aboard one of those muggle contraptions again, I suppose?"

Neville smiled. "Wouldn't do to have my floo travel traced if I'm supposed to be home in bed, right?"

He ran upstairs to his bedroom, thankful that he was a wizard…without magic, there was no way he could have changed into his TPOMS fatigues so quickly.

Dressed to kill, from his maroon beret down to his polished black leather boots, Neville grabbed his charm-protected never-full rucksack. After making certain that his unconventional (for a wizard) weaponry was all there, he pulled out a single-seated racing broomstick, closed the bag up, and raced downstairs and out the front door of the manor (making sure that he gave his grandmother a kiss on the way out.). Within seconds, Neville was racing west towards the manor's wards.

oo00OO00oo

That Longbottom Manor shared a property line with an Royal Air Force base was more than simple coincidence.

As the Royal Historian had explained to Harry and Hermione earlier that week, the Duchy of Cornwall was formed in the Fourteenth Century by separating out all of the English royal lands that were magical in nature. While the removal of these properties from muggle eyes and tax rolls helped preserve the wizarding world's secrets, this royal protection came at a price. When a wizarding family accepted the Duchy's protection, they retained control over most of their property…but a negotiated portion of their lands were handed over in more than name only, for use as the Duke of Cornwall saw fit.

For centuries, the Duchy saw fit to work the lands ceded by the Longbottom family with agricultural leases to muggle farmers. But when the Royal Air Force began to build airbases in the 1930's in advance of World War II, the Duchy donated land to the cause, and RAF Benson was constructed next door to Longbottom Manor.

This proximity was put to good use sixty years later when the Clan Air Force became more than a one-time gathering in the defense of Little Wizarding. Neville's estate gave the Phoenix Teams a place to train where flying broomstick formations wouldn't be noticed (by either muggles or the MoM). RAF Benson, in turn, provided a home base for those Phoenix Team muggles who weren't Art Clubbers. The few miles distance between the airfield's housing complex and the Manor was an easy commute for the muggle commandos, who typically jogged from one place to the other wearing goggles that cancelled out the repelling wards.

Of course, the TPOMS squadron had faster ways to traverse that distance when necessary. It took Neville about a minute to weave through the trees that stood on the western part of the Manor and to reach the wardline. He pulled up at the end of the forested area, dismounted, and walked straight through the barbed-wire fence (or more precisely, through the illusion that had been set up similar to the barrier at King's Cross). Neville's Phoenix Team partner was waiting for him on the other side.

"Morning, Lieutenant," the muggle said with a grin, as his partner climbed into the passenger seat of the jeep.

"Morning, Andy," Neville replied. "Surprised to see you ready to go so soon."

"It's the Major's doing," the muggle replied, as he turned the vehicle around and sped back towards the tarmac. "Once your little witch turned up in Edinbugh, he reckoned that you'd be wanting to head that way soon enough, and passed word along."

"He knows me too well," said Neville.

"No, he just cares about his troops," Andy said, as he pulled up short of a helicopter that was fueled up and ready to go. "Wish there were more of his kind in the officer corps."

Neville nodded as he pulled his flight helmet out of his bag, opened the vehicle door, and followed his partner in a crouched dash against a rotor-generated wash of air.

oo00OO00oo

Dyrrheim Station, Oslo, Norway

Assistant Minister Weasley was rather excited about his trip to the Norseland, despite the hassles involved with getting the international portkey fashioned. He had visited Oslo once before, for an international conference on uniform cauldron thickness standards, but that was as Barty Crouch's assistant. This time he was traveling alone, as the Minister's personal representative, on a mission vital to the Ministry's very existence. That he had been given this responsibility became more of an honor each time that Percy thought about it.

Percy's pride and determination were immediately put to the test when he stepped out of the portkey's array of colors and onto solid ground. Rather than arrive at the main international portkey platform that Hermione had used the previous night, the former Head Boy was shunted to a secured area that looked more like a jail cell than an arrival area.

The frown on Percy's face had only halfway formed when a full-body bind froze it in place. Unable to voice his indignation with unmoving lips, it was only through his darkened eyes that his anger could be displayed as two huge hobgoblins walked through the shimmering wards that spanned across the cell entrance. Each held the sharp tips of their halberds underneath his chin. Following behind the hobgoblins was a stern looking heavy-set witch, dressed in the uniform robes of an immigration and control officer.

"Passport, please?" she asked using the Queen's English.

Percy, of course, was in no condition to satisfy the request.

The witch's eyes twinkled and her lips pursed into a tight-lipped grin.

"It seems like our visitor needs some assistance …do find his travel papers for me, won't you, boys?"

The hobgoblins howled and nodded vigorously as they rough handled Percy and stripped him down to his tighty whities.

Percy's Ministry of Magic-issued diplomatic passport was discovered within the never-full money belt that he had been wearing underneath his robes, along with a little more than twenty thousand galleons of Ministry funds (to be used to secure the services of the targeted Dutch mage). The passport, money belt and Percy's wand were handed to the witch, who furrowed her eyebrows as she inspected the passport.

"I'll be back shortly," she said, more for the hobgoblin's benefit than Percy's.

Once the witch left the room Percy considered his limited options. Apparition was a wandless, silent spell that he could cast despite the full-body bind, and he was within range of the Scottish coastline. But he would lose not only his wand, but the twenty thousand galleons as well, and that wasn't a viable option (even if there weren't anti-apparition wards in place, which there were). So the Assistant Director decided it best to wait for this mess to be sorted out properly.

Ten minutes after she left the holding cell, the Norse official returned to the cell with her wand in one hand and a fist-sized rock in the other.

"I'm about to partially remove the full-body bind, so that you can answer a few questions," she said. Tossing the rock up in her hand, she added, "Choose your responses wisely, or I'll let the hobgoblins stuff this return-trip portkey into the body cavity of their choice."

Percy's eyes dilated at the thought, and tried (but failed) to nod in understanding, as the immigration official's spell only allowed his jaw, tongue and lips to move. The first words out of his lips, however, didn't help his situation much.

"I am Percy Weasley, a Senior Cabinet Member of the British Minister of Magic who is traveling under a diplomatic passport. Your treatment of me is abominable, completely unacceptable, and worthy of a strongest possible protest filed with the ICW."

The witch's eyes narrowed. "Your claim of identity will only bear out once there's time for any Polyjuice potion you may have taken to wear off. As for your reception…if you are, in fact, Percy Weasley, and currently in charge of the British Department of Transportation, you'll surely realize that it is no different than how all Norseland witches and wizards have been received into your country for the past two years."

"I assure you that I am Senior Undersecretary Percy Weasley, and that we treat foreign diplomats far better than you are presently treating me."

The official snorted. "We've got pensieved memories that show otherwise, so by all means, file that protest with the Supreme Mugwump…I'll bet that the new one won't be nearly as sympathetic to your cause as the old one was."

Percy scowled, but knew that his situation was dire enough to justify an alternative approach.

"Madame, I am on a mission that is vital to Britain's ability to preserve the wizarding world's secrets. Surely you don't want to hinder my government's ability to comply with ICW statutes?"

"You're having problems keeping our world's secrets?" asked the witch. "Even more reason why your threats to protest to the ICW are toothless. What exactly is your mission?"

"I am not at liberty to say," Percy replied, looking nervously towards the hobgoblins.

The witch followed Percy's eyes and smiled.

"Boys, give us a few minutes, will you?"

The hobgoblins cackled as they nodded their heads vigorously.

Percy winced as the head shaking caused the halberds to jiggle just enough to draw blood underneath his chin.

Once the witch and Percy were alone in the cell, she asked, "What is your purpose to travel?"

"I just told you that I am not at liberty to say, nor am I obligated to do so."

The witch sighed. "What are your plans within the Norseland?"

"I plan on staying only long enough to secure an international portkey to Amsterdam."

"Why not travel direct?" the witch asked with a smirk.

"I'm sure you know why," Percy responded.

The immigration official gave Percy a calculating look.

"I have a strong sense that it will take a week or three for your application for an international portkey to be processed. During that time you'll remain here in this holding cell as a potential terrorist threat."

"A week or three?" Percy asked. "That's outrag….I mean, I really don't have that much time."

"Yes, that's what you said."

Percy tried to slump his shoulders, and had to settle for a sigh. He knew what was going to be necessary.

"Isn't there some way," he asked, "for the process to be…expedited?"

The witch smiled at Percy.

"I may be in a position to help you," she replied. "Of course, there would be certain fees charged to expedite your transit."

"What kind of fees?" Percy asked.

The witch smiled as she fingered Percy's money belt. "Nothing that you can't afford, given the undeclared funds that you tried to smuggle into our country."

"Undeclared?" asked Percy, "You didn't give me any opportunity to declare how much money I was bringing into the country."

"That's your story," the witch replied with a nod. "You would be within your rights to submit a complaint to my supervisor, and to get a hearing before our Wizengamot on the matter…their next scheduled meeting is in September."

Percy scowled, knowing that his negotiating position was weak.

"So…what will it take to get a portkey to Amsterdam today?"

"Hmmm…..a ten-percent penalty on undeclared funds is about right."

"That's more than two thousand galleons?"

"Yes, I think that's correct," the witch replied with a grin. "Don't worry…with that charmed money belt you won't even feel the loss in weight."

"Fine," said Percy, seeing no choice but to give into the bribe.

"Excellent," the official said.

Percy almost cried as the witch cast a transfer spell that sent more than two thousand gold coins flying up out of his money belt and into a charmed never-full pocket on her robes. Once the arc of gold ended, the witch gave the wizard a smile as she buttoned the pocket shut and pointed her wand towards his briefs.

"Portus," she intoned, causing Percy's underwear to glow bright blue.

"What did you do?" he asked.

"Gave you what you wanted," the corrupt official replied. "Your shorts are now a time-activated one-way portkey to Amsterdam."

"My shorts?"

"Yes," said the witch, as she fully released the body-bind on Percy and tossed his passport, money belt and wand down towards his feet. "You've got five minutes to get to the International Portkey Departure Area, or else your undies will leave without you."

"Five minutes?" Percy cried out. "How long will it take to get there?"

The witch laughed as she took down the ward guarding the cell entrance. "A minute and a half if you run, but that's just to the immigration desk. Once there, you'll have to present your passport and portkey to the officials at the gate.."

"Present them my underwear?" cried Percy.

The witch nodded. "Hope for your sake that there isn't too much of a queue…and hope for their sake that your shorts are relatively clean."

Realizing that he'd already lost twenty seconds time and guessing that the witch was just evil enough to have done what she claimed, a nearly naked British Undersecretary quickly gathered his possessions into his arms and ran barefoot out of the cell and across the busy station.

oo00OO00oo

37 Royal Park Terrace, Edinburgh

A smartly-dressed thirty-something mother scolded her three young children to stop short of the street curb as an armored Land Rover passed by. The soldier riding shotgun in the front seat looked out his window at waved at the family.

"Let's all be friendly to the brave army man, children," the mother said quietly, as she smiled at the soldier.

The two boys and one girl nodded heads and returned the hand wave as the army jeep passed by.

"Now hold hands while we cross the street, children," the mother said.

"Yes, mum," the three replied in unison.

As they made their way across the crosswalk, one of the boys watched the Land Rover turn the corner and exclaimed, "Merlin, that was close!"

"Charles!" the mother hissed. "Muggles don't start sentences with the name Merlin! Now let's go…we've got but a few minutes remaining."

"Yes, mum," the boy replied.

The four covered the last two hundred meters of their walk as fast as the children's little legs could take them, and walked up the front steps of a lavish red-bricked row house that backed-up to Holyrood Park. The mother fished her housekeys out of her purse, opened the door, and urged the children to quickly enter the building.

After closing the door behind her, the young woman cuffed the ears of little Charles and hurled out a string of curse words that would have made a Royal Marine blush.

"Oh, lay off, you ugly cow!" the boy sneered.

"Idiots…the lot of them," the woman fumed, as the three made their way to the telly. She walked through the foyer to the kitchen area that sat at the back of the house. A man dressed in black robes was there, looking out a kitchen window with a pair of high-powered omnioculars.

"Have a nice walk, dear?" he asked.

"No, dear" replied the young mother, "those three almost got us…."

Rodolphus Lestrange turned away from the window and watched as a reverse transformation kicked in and the muggle woman morphed mid-sentence.

"You were saying, Rookwood?"

The former Unspeakable shuttered, glad to be back within a male body. "It went fine until your idiots almost got run over by an army vehicle."

"But you were nice enough to return them to me safe and sound, yes? I do hope it was worth using up the last of our polyjuice potion."

Rockwood nodded. "It was. The entire route was crawling with muggle police and army."

"And did you show them where they need to apparate?"

"Yes, as well as the guard post they'll need to take out." Rookwood paused, then added, "Those three can apparate, right?"

Lestrange snorted. "You let me be the one to worry about my men…your job is done here."

The former Unspeakable shook his head. "Not until you brief your group…who knows what kind of stupid questions they might ask about the muggles.

Bellatrix's husband scowled. He didn't like having Rookwood around messing with the operation that was on his head, and couldn't wait to get rid of him.

"Fine, then, let's get it over with," he said. He called out for everyone to gather in the sitting room. Lestrange then opened the basement door and called down to the guard who was minding the shackled homeowner and the real mother and children that had just been doppelgangered.

"Wilson, get your arse up here," he called out. "You can play with that bint later."

The Death Eaterguard reluctantly walked up the stairs and joined the seventeen other Death Eaters who had been cramped into this row house for the past day and a half.

"Right then," said Lestrange, as he rolled out a parchment that contained a hand-drawn map. "Time to fill you in on our plans for the day."

"Our objective is quite simple…kill the muggle queen and as many of her party guests as we can."

Rookwood thought that there should have been a surprised gasp from the audience at this announcement, then decided that the group was too ignorant as a whole to know that that meant.

Lestrange held up the morning newspaper that had been delivered to their door and pointed to a front page picture of the taken during the Order of the Thistle ceremony.

"This is the Queen," he stated, pointing to her picture. "This afternoon, she's going to have a little party, and has invited thousands of muggles to join her for tea and scones just down the street."

The Death Eater pointed towards the map and identified the Palace, its grounds, and the surrounding area.

"We'll be splitting into three groups, all dressed up like Ministry Aurors," he stated. "I'll take six of you and portkey straight into the tented area. We'll find the Queen, kill her, then start creating chaos…we'll get the muggle crowd good and panicked, and they'll go screaming for the exits….and that's where the rest of you fit in."

Rodolphus turned towards Terrance Hicks, an up-and-coming Death Eater.

"Hicks!"

"Yes, sir?"

"You'll be in charge of six others in the second group," he stated. Pointing towards the line of trees that bordered the eastern edge of the party area, he added, "You'll wait until I send up a stream of red sparks into the sky, then direct-line apparate to these trees and massacre the muggles as they try to escape towards the open lawn."

"Where will we be to see your signal?"

"In the kitchen, fool," replied Lestrange. "Why do you think I've been spending all of this time looking out the back window with my omnioculars? You can see the tree line from here."

"Right," Terrance replied. "So what if something happens and you don't give us the signal?"

Lestrange paused, then said, "In that very unlikely event, wait five minutes, then apparate to the tree line and start hurling hexes…our Master wanted massive numbers of dead…one dead Queen is just the pudding."

"Hex until when?"

"Until there aren't any more muggles to kill, idiot," Lestrange replied. "That, or green sparks…that'll be the signal to use the portkeys that we handed out this morning. Oh, and you lot will be wearing our concealment cloaks…try not to soil the insides."

"No worries there, sir," Hicks replied bravely.

"Right," Rodolphus replied skeptically. He then pointed to the main entrance to the Garden Party along the southern margin.

"The other escape route the muggles will try to use is the front entrance to the grounds. The last three will ambush this area…they just come back from a little tour, and now know where they need to go and what they need to do…right?"

The three Death Eaters who had been forced to impersonate muggle toddlers all nodded.

"So…any questions?"

"Yes…what about the muggle guards and their weapons?"

Rodolphus scowled. "You afraid of a muggle or something?"

"No, but…."

"Look, the muggle guards will have their fire sticks, but they won't fire into a crowd of muggles and they can't fire at something they can't see. Stay hidden and you'll be fine."

There were a few muttered comments, but until one of the wizards asked, "So why are we going to wear Auror robes instead of our normal get-up?"

Rodolphus stared at the questioner. "Because I say so isn't good enough for you?" He raised his wand and had a curse on his lips before remembering he needed to limit magic use before the attack.

"The purpose of wearing Auror Robes is to confuse the enemy."

"The Ministry Aurors will be there?"

"No, idiot, but the Potter boy probably will be there," Lestrange replied. "He'll think twice before ordering the muggle soldiers to mess with Aurors, and once we start killing them he'll think that it's the Ministry that's attacked, instead of us."

"But won't we cast the Dark Mark?"

"No, we won't cast the Dark Mark," Rodolphus mimicked with a sneer. "Any other stupid questions?"

When met with silence, Lestrange nodded. "First wave will leave just as soon as we hear Big Ben chime two…and we won't be coming back here, so if you need to play with our muggle hosts, do it now."

Rodolphus shook his head as a line quickly formed down the basement stairs. He had nothing against debauchery, and recognized it as a necessary component of his carrot-and-stick leadership style, but wished sometimes that his men would be more interested in evil activity performed on a grander scale. He looked up at Rookwood and asked, "Don't you have somewhere else to be?"

Rookwood shook his head dismissively. "Good luck, Lestrange….I think that you'll need it."

The former Unspeakable then removed a portkey from his pocket and activated it.

oo00OO00oo

MLE Director's Office, Ministry of Magic

A little more than two hours after Susan Bones escaped from her Ministry internship, Head Auror Gawain Robards was called into his boss's office to provide an update on his investigation. The MLE Director chose not to offer Robards a seat during their meeting...after the painful negotiations conducted on behalf of his subordinate, Oswald wasn't very happy the Head Auror.

"Robards," he said, "I've just spent the past hour and a half trying to get you the Magical Surveillance Office records that you've requested."

"How did it go, sir?"

"Better than I expected, actually," the Director replied. "It will be an independent review of spell use over the past few months."

"Independent of the Auror Department?"

Oswald nodded. "And that was only after I leaned on my nephew Rufus and offered a wizard's oath that none of my people would be provided direct access to the parchments."

"So when do we get the results?" Robards asked excitedly. "And what kind of results can we get?"

The Director rolled his eyes as he stood away from his desk.

"Follow me, young man," he said, leading the Head Auror out of the door.

Oswald walked down the length of cubicles to a hard-walled office that had stood empty since its last occupant had revealed himself as one of Voldemort's Ministry spies. Pulling out his wand, he touched its tip against the door handle. The restrictive wards recognized the authorized wand signature, and allowed the door to swing open.

"Don't lean into the doorway," the MLE Director warned. "That ward line will give a nasty shock to anyone not authorized entry.

The Head Auror nodded as he took note of both the magically expanded walls and the mountains of parchment scrolls piled high behind a row of small desks. Sitting behind these desks were a half-dozen Ministry house elves, each reviewing a scroll that provided the "what," "where," and "when" of every magical spell detected by the Ministry over the past two months.

"They dumped everything on us, didn't they…tried to bury us in data?" the Head Auror asked.

"It looks that way," Oswald replied. "And these six house elves are all I could get assigned to the task of finding portkey makers in amongst the food warming charms and hair grooming spells."

"Can we narrow the search down to certain weeks, or certain regions of the country?" asked the Head Auror.

Oswald shook his head. "I don't think so…the scrolls were dumped helter-skelter, and have been charmed to be spell resistant."

"So we can't use indexing and data gathering spells?"

Agreeing with a head nod, Oswald said, "A fine example of how to comply with Minister Scrimgeour's direct orders without making our task any easier."

Robards snorted. "So have the house elves found anything yet?"

The MLE Director looked expectantly at one of the house elves, who looked up and said, "No Portus spells yet, Mister Head Auror, Sir."

"How many scrolls have you reviewed so far?" Gawain asked.

"Twenty-nine, Sir."

"And do we know how many total scrolls there are?"

"Two hundred sixty-three thousand and forty six, Mister Head Auror, Sir."

Robards swore under his breath.

"You'll be getting interim reports on the research results," the MLE Director stated.

"Directly, or after they've been filtered through the Minister's office?"

"Does it matter if you still get the data you need to complete your investigation?" Oswald asked.

The Head Auror thought for a moment, then shook his head. "Not so long as I can get some assurances that none of the relevant data will be edited out for….political purposes."

The MLE Director nodded in understanding as he shut the. "I'll make sure that your concerns reach my nephew's ears, Mr. Robards…now, you do have other things to do while you wait for the results, yes?"

"Yes, sir," the Head Auror replied. "Thank you for your help, sir."

"You're welcome, young man," Oswald replied, pleased that he had once again been able to defuse a politically challenging situation.

The Head Auror considered his next steps as he watched the satisfied wizard walk back towards his office.

Once Oswald turned the corner and disappeared, Robards developed a sudden urge to get an update on the Dementors situation from that week's Acting Director of Magical Beasts and Beings.

And if, during the course of that conversation with Lisa Turpin, the Head Auror were to share a memory or two, and lament about being that close to full access to MSO archives, well…one was allowed to commiserate with colleagues, right?

oo00OO00oo

11:15am, Palace at Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh

As Neville's helicopter approached Holyrood he was provided an excellent overview of the defensive positions established in advance of the Garden Party. The party tents were pitched on the grounds immediately south of the Palace, with SO14 Royal Protection Group Units stationed at the Palace entrance (along side a British Army tank), the separate street entrance to the party, and up on the Palace rooftop. Regular army positions were established all along the perimeter of the Palace grounds, and were also dug into the high ground of Salisbury Craggs and Arthur's Seat to the South. The local constabulary formed the outermost defensive shell, and were deployed on checkpoints along the city streets that approached the Palace from the West. During the Party, these police would shut down all vehicular and pedestrian traffic within one-quarter mile of the event.

A temporary heliport had been established on the far end of the Parade Grounds (a wide expanse of lush green lawn behind the Palace), and it was here that Neville and his muggle Phoenix Team partner were dropped off. The Gryffindor was pleased to discover that both Harry and Susan were waiting for their arrival with a Land Rover and driver. After a smart salute to Harry and a hug for Susan, Neville took aim at the bright red kilts that both his girlfriend and Harry were wearing.

"Should I be worrying over the fact that you two are color coordinated, Major?" he teased.

"I've got one with your name on it, if you want, Lieutenant," Harry replied with a smirk.

"Thanks but no thanks, Harry," said Neville, as they all piled into the vehicle. "So how did you manage to get away from the Palace…would have thought you'd be far too busy right now to take the time."

"Time to brief the troops," Harry replied. "This was on the way, and I figured you'd appreciate the company during a ride up to your posting."

Neville grinned as Susan squeezed his hand and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"We're already deployed, then?" asked Andy.

Harry nodded. "It'll take a few minutes to get there, given the terrain." He then turned towards his friends and added, "A few minutes, at least, for you two to catch up."

Neville took the hint, and spent the balance of the trip up Whinny Hill chatting with his girlfriend.

oo00OO00oo

When the jeep reached the top of the hill, Harry and Andy piled out, giving Neville and Susan enough privacy for a good-bye kiss before she made the return trip with the driver to the Palace. It took a few minutes to pick their way down the steep north-facing slope to where Lee Jordan's muggle partner had set up a sentry.

"Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?" Stout Downey demanded.

Harry smiled and turned to Neville.

"You've got honors here, Lieutenant."

"Do I have to sing it?"

"You bet your arse you do!" replied Stout with a grin.

Nevil sighed, then sang out the correct answer in a childish falsetto.

"Sponge Bob, Squarepants!"

As the muggle Phoenix Team member saluted and allowed them to pass Neville asked, "What happened to all of the Monty Python challenges? I liked those a lot better than these Yank muggle cartoon references."

Harry laughed. "These are a lot safer, Nev….there's always the chance that a Death Eater would actually know the airspeed velocity of an unladed swallow."

"I suppose," Neville groused, as they reached the rest of the squadron.

The magical paratroop squadron had deployed to Whinny Hill, which looked down upon St. Margaret's Loch and the Parade Grounds immediately behind the Palace. There were better views of the Garden Party tents, and shorter sniping distances from the Army's positions, but the TPOMS position provided cover for their brooms, and the best spot to deal with any magical party crashers that tried to drop in.

Neville and Andy's arrival made for five complete Phoenix Teams…an all-Gryffindor line-up of pilots that included Katie, Alicia, Lee Jordan and Seamus. Harry's arrival gave Fred Weasley and anchor point, and he badge-jumped to the TPOMS position from Diagon Alley so that there'd be at least one Art Club badge on the hill. Fred left his brother behind as an anchor point for Diagon in case of an attack there. As for the others

…Ron was at the Ministry, Dean Thomas was at Windsor (as an enrolled Summer Institute student who was also helping his Phoenix Team partner Emily Granger with security), and Roger Granger was on guard duty at Charing Cross. In a pinch, though, all but Dean could be summoned in a near-instant through their badges.

"Right," said Harry, once they arrived. "So, the new arrivals should talk with the others after the briefing…they can fill you in on what happened this morning when I tested the ward shunt."

"Still think you should have gone all out and taken the dive, Sir," quipped New Six.

"Yes, well, the water isn't that warm, and a seventy foot drop into the lake is still a seventy foot drop," Harry replied.

The Gryffindor pilots all nodded. The anti-apparition and anti-portkey wards that enveloped the Palace and its immediate surroundings included a shunt that would cause any would-be intruders to materialize over the loch, some 500 yards southeast of the Palace.

"So, just to be clear," Harry added. "Wands and stunners only if the wards trip and uninvited guests show up over the water, unless you're ordered otherwise."

"Aww…can't the gunnies pick off the bad wizard birdies as well, sir?" asked New Six.

Harry shook his head. "Not unless ordered to do so, sergeant…. we can't discount the possibility that some idiots at the Ministry might try to crash the party."

"Yes, sir," the soldier said.

"And take care of your aim…we will have wands on the ground down there."

Alicia Spinnet led the other squadron members in a good laugh. "No chance of mistaking you for a Death Eater in that outfit, Major Potter."

Harry scowled at Alicia for a second, then joined in on the laughter. She and Katie had transfigured the squadron's camouflage outfits to match the colors of the weathered rocks that surrounded him. The Queen's Wizard's crimson and gold tartan kilt stood in stark (and literal) contrast.

"I'm sorry," Alicia said, "You look very handsome in that skirt."

"Would look better flying overhead on a broom, though," Katie added. "We'd get to see whether Harry was going traditional, or not."

"Now Lieutenants," said New Six with mock seriousness. "Within the British Army it is considered bad form to cause your commanding officer to blush."

"But on the Gryffindor Quidditch team it was par for the course," Harry replied with a grin. He then added, "Just be sure to switch over to tartan if you go airborne."

Harry then looked around and then asked, "Are you set for lunch?"

Sergeant Beemer nodded. "We can wait until after the party is over, sir."

"Nonsense," Harry replied. "You've got some time now...Dobby?"

Harry's ADC popped up a few feet away from them, wearing a pair of omnioculars around his neck and full elf-sized kilt that matched Harry's tartan.

With an exaggerated salute, the house-elf announced, "ADC Dobby is here, Major Harry Potter, sir."

Major Potter returned the salute. "Everything set at the gate, Dobby?"

"Yes sir, Major Harry Potter, sir!" Dobby replied. "Dobby has the perfect place to check for Dark Marks."

"Great," Harry replied. "I'll swing by later…but in the meantime, would you please bring the squadron some of those box lunches that are set out under the tent?"

When his ADC's eyes bulged out a bit, and he bit his lip, Harry knew that something was up. "What's wrong, Dobby?" he asked.

"Sorry, Major Harry Potter, sir, but…but does Major Potter sir know what is in those white boxes?"

"Erm, not really," Harry replied. "Please tell me."

"Yes, Major Potter, sir…those boxes be containing white bread and cucumber sandwiches." Dobby then leaned even closer to Harry and loudly whispered, "Dobby does not want to say bad things about Major Potter's Queen's muggle cooks, but they forgot to put the crust on the bread!"

"Hmmm," said Harry, "Not very filling, I agree…then Private Dobby, will you see to it that my squadron is fed a proper lunch?"

The ADC jumped up and down as he nodded, giving the pom-pom on his knit cap quite a workout. "Yes, sir, Major Harry Potter, sir."

"Oh, and bring an extra box, for me, will you?" asked Harry. "I'd take a ploughman's lunch over cucumber sandwiches any day of the week."

oo00OO00oo

The TPOMS squadron was halfway through their lunch when Alica's Phoenix Team partner thought to ask about something about Harry's ADC.

"Major Potter?"

"Yes, Coley?"

"What kind of binoculars did your aide-de-camp have around his neck?"

"Magical ones," Harry replied. "They're called omnioculars."

"And the marks that he'll be looking for, they're tattoos on the left forearm, right?"

When Harry nodded, the sergeant added, "So those omni-whatevers give you x-ray vision?"

"That's right," replied Harry. "They're specially modified…normal omnioculars don't allow you to see through clothing."

"Hold on, Harry," said Fred. "So Dobby is going to be able to see every guest like they were walking around starkers?"

"More or less," the Queen's Wizard replied.

"Harry!" Katie exclaimed. "You can't be serious!"

"I'm deadly serious when it comes to the Queen's protection…I'll not have marked Death Eaters crashing the party if I can help it."

Shaking her head, Alicia said, "So it was considered too invasive to have guests scanned by soldiers using thermal imagers, but it's not too invasive to have Dobby getting a naked eyeful?"

Harry sighed. "That's exactly why Dobby's the right man, erm….right house-elf for the job….do you think he'll care about seeing 8,000 naked human bodies?"

"No, but…"

"He's a house-elf, Alicia…he won't make a big deal of it."

"But that doesn't mean…."

"Look," Harry said with a bit of exasperation. "Would you get all hot and bothered if you were asked to look at 8,000 naked house elf bodies? Could you even tell the difference between the males and females?"

"Erm, probably not…"

"How about 8,000 nude goblins?"

"Now, that's downright unsettling."

Harry grinned. "I'm sure that they'd think the same were the roles reversed."

After a pause, Neville asked, "But what about the playback feature?"

Furrowing his eyebrows, Harry said, "Oh, yeah…didn't think of that."

"Sure you didn't," New Six said with a grin. "So by the end of the day, you'll have naked pictures of everyone with an invite….got a guest list handy?"

"Dare I ask why you ask?"

"Well," the muggle warrior replied, "I'm wondering whether it'd be worth my time to volunteer to review the tape afterwards…just in case the little guy missed something."

"Oh, you are a perv, aren't you New Six?" stated Katie.

Harry chuckled. "Not that you'd have any interest in monitoring Full Monty's, eh Katie?"

"Harry!"

"You did know that Sean Connery is on the guest list, right?"

Alicia laughed. "The old James Bond bloke? What's he…a hundred and two?"

"Watch it, erm…Lieutenant," said Sergeant Colbert. "There's only one Bond…all the others that came afterwards are pale imitations."

"Nothing pale about that new one in the chair scene, except maybe his hair color," quipped Katie. "So is he coming, Harry?"

"Who?"

"Daniel Craig," said "Blade"Easton.

Harry frowned. "Don't think so…he's English. But Obi-Wan will be there."

"Ooooh, baby!" said Katie. "I'll volunteer to examine his light saber for dark marks!"

"Star Wars fan, Katie?" asked Harry.

"Of course," she replied. "Just because I'm a witch doesn't mean I've stopped going to the muggle cinema."

"Thought Sir Alec was dead?" said New Six, shaking his head in disgust.

"The younger Obi-Wan," Harry replied. "Ewan McGregor."

New Six rolled his eyes. "You kids…turning your backs on the great actors of the day."

"Great in your day, maybe," Alicia replied. "And shouldn't it be 'You higher-ranking kids'?"

"Ma'am, yes, Ma'am," the muggle replied with a rakish salute.

"She does have a point, though," said Blade.

"How's that?"

"Well, if you got some x-ray glasses on your hands, who'd you rather ogle…Princess Leia or Padme?"

"But….in that slave outfit, with the ear-muff hair…Princess Leia was hot!" protested New Six.

"Yeah, she was hot…twenty-five years ago," Blade noted. "But we're talking today…a fifty-year old Carrie Fisher or a twenty-something Natalie Portman?"

"Hmmmmm…"

"Well, don't get your hopes up," said Harry, as he reviewed the short-list of VIPs that were to be admitted to the Queen's private tent. "Neither of them got an invitation that I can see."

Katie made a reach for the list. "Oooh, can I see that, Harry?"

The Queen's Wizard smiled as he snatched it away from Katie's grasp. "Need to know, Lieutenant Bell," he said with a grin.

"Yes, Sir."

Harry's badge flashed with a call from Hermione that kept him from sinking any further down into flirty trouble with his troops.

"We just deplaned, Harry," she stated.

"Great…our cars are waiting for you?"

"Right in front of us," Hermione replied. "Got a few minutes to ride in with us?"

Harry looked at his troops and smiled. "Let me know when you've reached the shed."

After deactivating the badge, he said, "I'm heading out…I'm going to do my best not to do any magic, just so my muggle comm. gear keeps working. But if all hell does break loose, well, that's why Fred is here. I want him to be the squadron's comm. specialist…with his Art Club badge, he'll be able to contact me and the others even if magic fries all of the electronics."

"Right," Fred replied. "So they answer to me, then?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "No Fred, they'll talk to you if their comm. gear fails."

The Queen's Wizard's badge then lit up with word that it was safe for him to badge-jump.

"Stay safe, you guys."

"Sir, Yes Sir!" replied the Phoenix Teamers.

oo00OO00oo

Harry badge-jumped to Hermione's anchored position within an airport shed. Not wishing to keep their guests waiting, they kept the welcome snog modest, and were soon on their way with the ICW delegation towards the Palace.

The short trip gave both Harry and the group of foreign magicals scarce time to size each other up, but first impressions were positive all around. Along the route, Harry pointed out the different layers of security that were in place, along with the location of Gilmerton Close and the MI-5 ¾ observation post that sat opposite.

Once the group arrived at the Palace, Harry passed out lanyards and security credentials to the guest witch and wizards, then led them straight to the State Apartments, where the Queen was preparing for the Party. She seemed genuinely pleased to meet the foreign witch and wizards, and to have the opportunity to personally thank both the Emperor's Wizard and King's Wizard for responding to her request for aid. The Queen wasn't startled at all by the imposing presence of the Maori sorcerer, and greeted him with a few words in his native language. This struck Harry as odd, until Hermione reminded him that his boss was still the Queen of New Zealand and its Head of State.

When the group of foreign magicals accepted the Queen's invitation to stay for the Party, she called on one of her muggle retainers to provide them with appropriate "Potter Plaid." Neither the Emperor's Wizard nor the Maori sorcerer were all that interested in changing out of their native garb, and expressed those sentiments once their audience with the Queen had ended. Harry was sympathetic.

"Look," he said, "I'm not thrilled with wearing this costume either, but it's a security issue…I'll be more than happy to take you up to the roof and point out for you all of the snipers who have standing orders to shoot anyone wielding a wand that's not wearing our tartan."

The Emperor's Wizard smiled. "So it's the use of a wand that is objectionable, rather than using magic itself?"

Harry nodded. "We want to make it as easy as possible to identify the magicals on our side."

"But what if my Maori friend and I don't use wands?"

Harry pursed his lips, and turned to Hermione.

"Sounds like a viable exception to me," she replied.

"Excellent," replied the Emperor's Wizard.

"So if I learn how to do wandless magic, I can get out of wearing kilts?" asked Harry.

Hermione smiled. "Did you really need that kind of incentive?"

Harry shrugged his shoulders. "No, but every little bit helps."

oo00OO00oo

While the King's Wizard, the Swedish witch, and Bengali wizard were being kitted out in tartan, Harry briefed the ICW on the Order of Arthur, and Hermione badge-jumped to the Round Tower to retrieve copies of the Official Secrets Act and the Treaty of Carlisle. She considered these documents to be a good place to start if the ICW had questions about how Harry and Hermione had handled the wizarding world's secrecy statutes.

When Hermione returned to Scotland there was still a bit of time before the gates opened for the invited Garden Party guests. The group therefore decided to split up. The King's Witch and Bengali wizard were given use of a meeting room to begin their document review, Hermione took Thorson on an inspection of her wards, and the Queen's Wizard led the other the Japanese and Maori wizards to the Palace's rooftop for a bird's eye view of the grounds and their established defenses.

Harry's tour started with the muggle sniper and SO14 observation posts established along the roofline. Matsuhisa and Rongo both raised an eyebrow at the level of interaction between the Queen's Wizard and the muggle security men, but held off asking questions until the three were standing apart from the muggles.

"Are all of these muggles card-carriers, Sir Harry?" Matsuhisa asked.

"Please, it's Harry," the Queen's Wizard asked. "And the only one that's aware of the wizarding world, as far as I know, is that spotter over there with the thermal imaging equipment attached to his helmet."

"But they were all addressing you as the Queen's Wizard?"

"Yes they were," Harry explained. "But they think that means that I'm a muggle magician, rather than an actual wizard."

"Why, then, did they act so deferential?"

"Because it's….well, it's rather complicated," Harry replied. "The muggles that are part of the Royal Protection Unit have all been think that I am an undercover MI-5 agent, posing as the Queen's Wizard."

"So you're pretending to be a muggle secret agent who is posing as a muggle magician?"

Harry replied, "No, I really am a MI-5 agent…at least on paper. Haven't gone through their secret spy school or anything, but the position is the only way a scrawny teenager like me can get any respect from this crowd."

"And why, exactly, do you need their respect, if I might ask?"

Harry paused, then replied, "Because I'm in charge of the protection of the Queen against magical attack, and since we can't expect the Ministry of Magic to come to our aid, I can't do that job without the help of muggles."

"So…I'm sorry Harry, but I am just trying to understand," the Japanese wizard said. "You are using muggles to fight against magical threats that they know nothing about?"

"Not quite," Harry replied. "I'm using muggles to help fight against magical threats that they've been told are muggle threats."

"But how?"

Harry began to explain about thermal imaging equipment, electronic sensors, and the muggle terrorist threats within Britain that existed independent of Voldemort, when he felt a tug on his kilt.

"Excuse me for a moment," Harry said, as he took a piece of parchment from an invisible hand. "Thank you, Private."

"Yes, Sir, Major Harry Potter, Sir!" whispered the invisible house elf before disappearing.

The Queen's Wizard opened up the parchment and learned, via a chain that included the Head Auror, Lisa Turpin and Luna's knickers, that a half-dozen house elves within the MLE now had access to the records of the Magical Surveillance Office within the Ministry. Thinking it best not to discuss the message with his guests at that time, Harry decided to raise the issue with Hermione after the Party and pocketed the memo.

"Are we keeping you from something, Harry?" asked the Emperor's Wizard.

"No, no…just a message delivered by my Aide-de-Camp."

While Matsuhisa's magic had enabled him to detect the Dobby's presence, he chose not to ask why a house-elf was working for Harry as a military aide.

"So," the Emperor's Wizard said, as he turned back to a view of the tents below, "you really expect to fit thousands of muggles within that small area without magic?"

Harry smiled. "Well, to be honest, there will be a few witches and wizards within that number, but yes, that's the general idea. They won't be down there all at once, though…we convinced the Queen to open up portions of the Palace that aren't normally available to the general public. We've also had a military band set up within the Palace courtyard…between that and the tours, we hope to have a fair number of guests protected by the Palace walls at any point in time."

Matsuhisa frowned as he looked down at the Palace's stone walls. "Do you expect the structure to protect them from magical attacks?"

"No…more like I hope that they'll be protected from being seen and targeted using magical attacks," Harry replied. "And if there there are party crashers, and magic starts flying about, there will be that many less people in need of a potential memory charm."

The Emperor's Wizard nodded, impressed with Harry's planning. "The tents are within Ambassador Granger's wards, aren't they?"

"Yes," Harry replied. "So that should keep the bad guys from popping directly into the crowds…but that said, we don't have any "Lines of Death" set up to keep a Death Eater from apparating just outside of the ward line and either casting spells through the wards, or walking through them and getting to the crowd that way."

The Japanese and Maori wizards considered Harry's words as he pointed out the perimeter of the wards. There were already foot patrols in place along these boundaries, involving both thermal imagery device-wearing army troops and police K-9 patrols.

The Emperor's Wizard then asked, "Is there anything we can do to help, Harry?"

The Queen's Wizard thought for a moment, then nodded. "If any of you would be willing to mingle down there during the Party, we could always use a few more defensive shields in case of an attack. Other than that……"

Harry looked up at the sky and frowned. The afternoon rain showers that the muggle meteorologists had predicted hadn't materialized yet, and he had thought that a good downpour might keep the guest numbers down, or at least more inclined to take cover under the tents or inside the Palace.

"Either of you two happen to know a good rain charm?" he asked.

The Shinto shaman looked over at the Maori sorcerer and they both smiled.

"Rongo should be able to help you there, Harry," Matsuhisa replied.

oo00OO00oo

A dispirited cheer rose from the long queue of guests when the wrought-iron gates to the Palace grounds swung open at precisely one o'clock that afternoon. A heavy rainstorm had come almost out of nowhere to soak the crowd as they huddled beneath umbrellas. No one in line picked up on the fact that the most intense rainfall came from a low-hanging black cloud that (unlike all of the other clouds) inexplicably stayed firmly in place over their heads.

The rain had caused only a few of the guests to abandon the line…if the threat of terrorist attack wasn't enough to frighten them away from the event, then a little inclement weather certainly couldn't. Those that did pass through the gates, however, found that the rain decided to follow them, and (exactly as Harry had hoped) did make it a point to cram into the tents, and to linger during the Palace tours.

The Palace staff positioned at the head of the line was protected by their own small white tent, under which each guest was required to produce their official invitation and picture identification card. Once past that checkpoint, the guests were escorted past the watchful eyes of the Royal Protection Unit, as well as a small, waist-high metal box and a heavy black curtain. Behind the curtain stood MI- 5 ¾ agent Helen Wall, brought in for the day to hold the same dowsing rod that had been used to locate Hufflepuff's Cup within the muggle landfill. Within the metal box that was warded with a weak notice-me-not charm stood Dobby, who was getting an eyeful of human flesh as he held the special omnioculars to his eyes.

These magical sensors provided overlapping coverage…the omnioculars were great for spotting certain tattoos, but couldn't be set to detect magical objects at the same time. In turn, the dowsing rod that Steve's mum held was great at catching magical objects blindly from beneath the curtain.

There were more than a few people with magical objects on their person that gave Agent Wall's dowsing rod a sharp jerk as they passed by the curtain. Whenever this happened, Helen gave a signal to a card-carrying colleague, who isolated the targeted guest from the others and politely escorted them to a separate, closed wall tent for a little chat with the Headmistress of Hogwarts, who greeted those who were recognized as Hogwarts alumni and quizzed the rest.

Remus Lupin was stationed within this separate tent to cover Minerva's back, and provided Harry an anchor point when the Queen's Wizard badge-jumped to the gate just a few minutes before the Queen officially arrived at the Party. He appeared within a small curtain-walled changing room.

"Bit of a tight fit, isn't it?" asked Harry.

The lycanthrope shrugged his shoulders as he led his former student out into the tent proper. "It's beyond prying eyes."

Harry nodded as he looked around. They were standing at the back of the tent, about twenty feet behind Headmistress McGonagall, who was seated at a table in front of the tent entrance. She was presently explaining to a witch and wizard who were on the guest list why they needed to either change into Potter Plaid or check their wands at the gate for the duration of the Party.

"So, have there been any muggles here yet?"

"Yes, one," Remus replied. "A muggle man came through wearing a charmed signet ring that he didn't know was magical."

"What kind of magic?"

Remus smiled. "Fertility and sex selection charms…poor man probably hasn't a clue why all of his children are boys and why condoms break every time he tries to use one."

"The kind of ring a wizard Head of House wears to ensure an heir, then?"

"Minerva thinks so," Lupin replied.

"So what was the muggle doing with that ring, and why would it work on him?"

"We think he's part of a clan whose magical line died out a few centuries back," explained Remus. "And the man was probably born with just enough magical core to unknowingly charge the ring."

"Sort of a muggle-born squib?"

Lupin thought for a moment. "Something like that."

"So what did you do?" asked Harry.

"We let him pass," replied Remus. "The ring was relatively benign…at least to us…and not really a security threat."

As Harry and Remus were talking, a mousy-looking middle-aged witch emerged from a changing room wearing horned-rimmed glasses and a Potter Plaid ankle-length skirt and shawl. The scowl on her face disappeared just as soon as she spotted Harry wearing the same tartan.

"Oh, my word, it's Harry Potter!" she exclaimed, as she walked towards him.

"Erm…yes?" asked Harry.

"How exciting," the witch exclaimed. "I thought that this was just a rude prank, but to see the Boy-Who-Lived in the same plaid….is it really the Potter Clan tartan?"

Harry sighed…fan girls were bad enough, but fan spinsters?. "Yes, it is…Ms…?"

"Litella," the witch replied. "Emily Litella."

"So what brings you to the Garden Party, Mrs. Litella?"

The witch grabbed Harry's arm. "It's Miss, but you can call me Emily."

Harry nodded. "I apologize for the necessary change in wardrobe, Miss…erm, Emily, but we must not have recognized your name on the guest list as someone who was magical."

"I'm not surprised, Harry….oh, I'm sorry, is it okay for me to call you Harry?"

Sporting a tight-lipped grin, Harry nodded.

"Well, you see, Harry," the witch continued, "I was raised in London as a half-blood, but Papa was French, and simply insisted that I attend Beauxbaton instead of Hogwarts."

"How interesting," Harry responded politely. "And now, you've become involved in the muggle world?"

"Oh, yes," the witch replied. "As a child I became enthralled with muggle literature…loved it so much that after Beauxbatons I received a muggle University degree in English at Aberdeen, then became a writer of children's stories."

"I see…and it's your work as a Scottish author of muggle children's books that brought you here?"

"Why I imagine that it is," the witch replied. "This is my third invitation, but the first, of course, with you as Queen's Wizard. I was so excited, but also a little afraid given the attacks, so I brought my wand along, just in case."

Harry followed the witch's hand as she pointed towards her hair, which was rolled up in a tight bun and pinned in place with a wand. Realizing that it was almost time for the Queen and Prince to appear, he then said. "Well, it was very interesting to meet you, Miss Litella, and I appreciate your cooperation with our security."

The witch's cheeks flushed. "Thank you, Harry. Would you….could I get your autograph?"

Remus was failing miserably in his attempt to contain his giggles. Harry did his best to ignore his former DADA Professor and remember that this sort of thing was now part of his job as Queen's Wizard. He pulled a ball-point pen out from the inside pocket of his Argyle suit jacket and signed the witch's invitation. But then the witch opened her purse and pulled out a black Sharpie marker and asked, "And the shawl, as well?"

Harry grimaced, but took the marker from her and reached towards the loose end of the garment.

"Oh, Harry….if you don't mind….could you sign where all of my friends could see?" the witch asked.

"And where would that be?"

The witch smiled as she pointed to the patch of tartan that covered her chest. "Front and center, if I could be so bold?"

Remus had to turn his back and cast a silencing spell on himself. Figuring it was the only way to get rid of the spinster, Harry took a deep breath, lightly grabbed the length of shawl that draped across the witch's breasts and held it taut, so that the pen could mark the wool cloth without pressing down against the witch's bits.

"There you go," said Harry, noticing that Miss Litella had closed her eyes and held her breath in anticipation of physical contact.

The woman opened her eyes, looked down at her shawl, and sighed. It wasn't exactly what she wanted, but it would do.

"Thank you, Harry," the witch said, much too breathlessly for his liking. Too flustered to ask for her marker back, the woman turned and walked out of the tent with a Cheshire Cat-sized grin on her face.

Remus Lupin wordlessly cancelled the self-applied silencing charm and asked, "Oh, Harry, will you autograph my kilt too?"

Harry switched the grip on the marker to something more like a knife grip and gave his friend and mentor a murderous look. Acting as if the Headmistress (who was within earshot) could still give him detention for foul language, Harry bit his tongue, and promised that he'd be more than willing to give Remus his autograph "at a later time and place of my choosing."

As the Queen's Wizard stepped back inside a changing room to badge-jump back to the Palace, Remus wondered whether he had just asked to be pranked in a very big way.

oo00OO00oo

At precisely 1:30 pm, a military band played "God Save the Queen" and the monarch and her consort stepped out of a side door along the south wall of the Palace. More than a few guests noticed that the heavy rains stopped just as soon as the Queen appeared and considered it a fortuitous coincidence. The Queen's Wizard, who stepped out right behind the Queen, knew better.

The Royal Company of Archers, acting as the Queen's ceremonial bodyguard whist at the Palace, formed two separate corridors in front of the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh by linking arms and long bows together. These corridors formed a "meet and greet" line for each of the Royals, so that they could say a few words to a very small number of preselected invited guests.

The corridors formed separate circuitous routes around the tented area, ending up at the small enclosure known as the Queen's Tent, where the Royals would spend almost all of their time during the event with the First Minister, the First 007, and forty or fifty other VIP's. Harry and the Japanese wizard followed behind the Queen at a polite distance, while Hermione and the Norwegian wizard did the same within the Duke's route. Despite the different routes, and the seemingly variable amounts of time spent by the Queen talking with her selected subjects, both she and the Duke arrived at the Queen's Tent at precisely the same time. Once inside, Harry made note of this synchronization, to which the Queen simply replied, "Years of practice, Lord Gryffindor."

Rongo, the rugby shirt-wearing sorcerer, watched this process from the roofline. Once the Royals were safely under roof, he got back in touch with the clouds, and encouraged them to give the Palace grounds a good soaking that forced almost all of the guests to run for cover.

While the Queen and Duke made the rounds inside the tent, the Japanese wizard pulled Harry aside and pointed to the tent walls.

"This material is canvas, isn't it?"

"I think so," Harry replied.

"Has it been charmed?"

The Queen's Wizard nodded. "Beefed up shields and fire suppression charms."

"Good," Matsuhisa replied. "I was going to offer to work with the material myself, but it's always more difficult for me to commune with dead plant matter."

Harry nodded. "I'm sorry, but I don't know much about your style of magic…it sounds a bit like what our druids used to use."

The Japanese wizard nodded. "Very much so, Harry…both Rongo and I work with the elements as well as the spirits within plants and animals."

Harry might have been as enthusiastically interested in learning more as Hermione would have been, but did wonder if there was something there that might constitute "The power the Dark Lord knows not." But that conversation was for another, less stressful time, and Harry excused himself to scan the crowd of VIPs and do a radio check with his forces, both muggle and magical.

oo00OO00oo

Rodolphus and his crew were huddled around the radio within the kitchen of their uninvited guest house, when the top of the hour was reached and the BBC announced the time with the toll of Big Ben's bells. "That's it, then," he said firmly. "The attack is on."

Turning to his troops, he promised to kill anyone who didn't follow their orders, grabbed hold of a small wooden hoop along with the six in the primary attack team, and activated the portkey.

oo00OO00oo

Hermione and Harry were within the Queen's Tent, engaged in a rather playful conversation with Prince Harry and his girlfriend Penelope (who had traveled up for the party) when two loud gonging noises sounded, one after the other.

"Bollocks!" Harry quietly swore, as he drew his wand from his jacket sleeve.

"I'll check the wards," Hermione announced. Harry nodded as she crouched down to lower her visibility as she popped away. He then looked for the Queen. She was hard to find, given that Secret Agent Steve and five other burly security men had drawn their guns out and surrounded the monarch and her four witches-in-waiting, who had woven their strongest shield spells together into a protective shell that enveloped the Queen.

This sudden reaction to the loud noise created panic within the rest of the tent. Steve tried to calm them down when he loudly announced that there had been a possible breach in security, and that given recent events they were being overprotective of the Queen and other members of the Royal Family. He then asked everyone to stay put, and wait to be escorted out of the tent.

As Steve was making his announcement, Harry calmly hit the "all call" button on his badge, put his hand up to his muggle earpiece and barked out, "All right people, what have we got?"

"Harry, this is TPOMS," Fred replied over his badge. "We've got…five…make that six splash-downs, I repeat, six splash-downs…I think that one more disappeared on the way down…and they're wearing Auror robes."

"Auror robes?" asked Harry. "Merlin…are they all stunned, then?"

"I think that we got them all but the one who disappeared mid-air," the former Gryffindor replied.

"Roger that," said Harry. "Wally?"

"Yes Harry…confirm seven arrivals and six splash-downs from CCTV."

"Local radar?"

"Checking….air space is clear, Major."

"Hermione?"

"Looks like they all used a single portkey…shields are holding and not under present attack."

"What about inside the ward line?"

"Give me a second," Hermione said. "I'll go to the roof and see."

"There nothing except a lot of nervous guests," Wally chimed in, based on the video coverage.

"Get them under cover," Harry yelled. "Either to the Palace or inside the tents!"

"The Royal Archers have already reformed ranks and cordoned off the evac route," Wally reported.

"What about the Queen, Harry?" asked Hermione.

The Queen's Wizard looked over at Steve. Without spell fire, and with the Auror Robes, this could be a false alarm.

"We need a positive identification on the party crashers," Harry decided. He then called Ron on his Art Club Badge.

"Hey Ron, we just had a half-dozen wizards bounce against the Holyrood wards dressed in Auror robes," he said. "Can you run up to the MLE and ask Robards if he sent them?"

"You got it, Harry."

Not wishing to wait very long for an answer, Harry then got another bright idea.

"Dobby?" he asked.

His aide-de-camp immediately arrived at his side.

"Yes, Major Harry Potter, sir?"

"There are some wizards floating in the lake. I need you to take the omnioculars and see if you can tell if they're Death Eaters in disguise."

The house-elf's eyes went wide at the thought of the responsibility that he'd just been given. He was so excited that he forgot to salute as he disappeared with a pop.

Harry quickly spread the word that the kilt-wearing house elf that just popped over to the loch was friendly. He theny looked up, heard some of the shocked comments from the Queen's guests, and realized that he had just jumped all over the magical secrecy laws.

It was a quickly passing thought, all things considered.

Ten seconds later, a dripping-wet house elf popped back inside the tent.

"They all be having the bad mark on their left arms, Major Harry Potter, sir," he replied.

Harry swore, then conveyed the message using both his badge and muggle communication gear.

"We're evacuating the Queen's tent now," he announced.

"Roger that," said Wally.

"Remus, Tonks…get to the front gate with McGonagall," Harry ordered. "Everyone else…watch for others that may have arrived outside the ward lines."

"You got it, Harry," replied Remus over his Art Club badge.

"Fred!"

"Yes, Harry?"

"Pass word along to the TPOMS gunnies that they're authorized to shoot anything in that lake that does anything more than float."

"Copy that, Major."

Harry looked around the tent, and almost cursed at the fact that the magically strengthened tent walls kept him from surveying the scene.

"Hermione, are you on the roof yet?" he asked.

"Just," she replied over the badge.

"I can't tell what's going on so long as I've got the Queen's back…need you to be our eyes and ears."

"Understood, Harry," she replied. "The Royal Archers are moving people into the Palace's through the back door."

"How long do you think it'll take to clear the grounds?"

"I'd say five minutes, not counting anyone presently under a tent, unless some curses start to light fires under their bums."

"Well let's hope it doesn't come to that," Harry replied.

oo00OO00oo

As the evacuation got underway outside of the tents, Harry and volunteer witches and wizards who had been posted in the other tents initiated the evacuation process there. Harry turned towards a long buffet table and pushed it back with a mild banishing charm. Tea cups and saucers crashed to the ground as a large, goblin-excavated sloped tunnel was revealed. When a second spell magically pushed another nearby table backwards, a stack of carpets came into view. Harry grabbed the carpet at the top of the stack, and threw it down on the lip of the opening,

The Queen's Wizard was about to call for Steve when Prince Harry got in his face.

"What can I do to help?" asked the Prince.

"Are you armed?" Harry asked.

Prince Harry nodded, and opened his jacket to reveal a full shoulder holster.

"Great," Harry replied. He then motioned towards the carpet and added, "Climb aboard, Cornet Windsor, you've got the point."

The young prince nodded. "C'mon, Penelope," he said, as he dragged her towards the open hole. He sat down on the carpet, leaned back, and said, "On you go."

"How?"

Harry didn't give the Prince time to explain, choosing instead to pick the young muggle woman up and dump her into her boyfriend's arms.

"Mind your head," he ordered, as he pointed his wand at the couple and magically nudged them. Given the mirror-smooth polished surface of the goblin-excavated tube and the liberal use of lubricating charms, the mild banishment charm was enough to send Prince Harry and his girlfriend flying down the hole and out of view.

"Where…where did they go?" asked the Emperor's Wizard, who was now by Harry's side.

"Down a slide and into an old air raid shelter underneath the Palace," Harry replied, as he grabbed another carpet and threw it down onto the edge of the hole.

"Steve!" he yelled.

"I'm there, Harry," the MI-5 ¾ agent replied. The tight circle of guards surrounding the Queen opened up as Agent Wall dashed towards Harry and dove head first onto the waiting carpet. His inertia was enough to power the carpet ride without magical aid.

"We've got rug duty," two of the other guards said, as they took up Harry's position next to the pile. A few moments later Steve called up using his badge.

"Shelter is secured and the landing zone cleared," he said.

"Right then," said Harry. He turned towards the witches-in-waiting. "Hannah, you're up."

The Hufflepuff nodded as she ran over and dropped down on the carpet in a prone position. Padma Patil was right behind her, replacing Harry as the magical mobilizer. Her banishment spell caused Hannah to scream as she rocketed out of sight.

"Calm down, Padma," Harry said, as he shot a spell down the hole that slowed down Hannah's speed. "We don't have crash helmets to dish out."

"Sorry, Harry," she replied, trying to center herself with a deep breath.

By this point the next carpet was already ready to go, and with three armed guards securing the landing zone it was time for the Queen to evacuate.

"Your Majesty?" Harry called out.

The monarch nodded as she strode over to the hole and allowed the two muggle guards to help her sit down onto the carpet. She leaned back, then turned and looked up towards her Wizard who was squatting down by her side. Despite the tense situation, she gave Harry a smile.

"Lord Gryffidor," she said with a wink. "We are pleased to note your adherence to Regimental standards."

"Erm…what?" he asked, crouching down to her side.

The Queen chuckled to herself and shook her head. "God bless and protect you, Sir Harry."

The Queen's Wizard nodded, and sent the Queen on her way down the chute. It wasn't until later that he realized that by squatting down next to her, he had provided an upskirt view underneath his kilt.

oo00OO00oo

Terrance Hicks had assigned one of his crew to call out the time as he kept Lestrange's omnioculars to his eyes and waited for Rodolphus's signal.

"Four minutes," the wizard called out.

"Damn," Hicks swore. "Looks like the boss has buggered things up…second and third groups, prepare to jump."

"You sure?" asked the timekeeper.

"Of course I am," Terrance replied. "Unless you want to be the one to explain to our Lord why we ran away without trying to kill a few muggles."

"There's always the five downstairs," somebody suggested.

Hicks scowled at the coward. "Everyone apparates to their assigned positions at five minutes or I'll come after you myself, got it?"

"Yes, sir," the Death Eaters replied.

"Make ready, then."

The others followed Hicks's lead as he checked his gear. He had few more toys than the average Death Eater…a spare wand, a shield amulet, foe glass, and a length of charmed climing rope (all graduation gifts from proud parents when he took the Dark Mark). The young Death Eater smiled as he folded up the omnioculars and placed them in a robe pocket…if Lestrange had fallen they would make a fine addition to his kit.

Pulling the hood of his concealment cloak over his head, Hicks drew his wand and started to focus on his destination…last thing he wanted to do was splinch. When the timekeeper called out five minutes time since the first group left, Terrance and the other nine wizards disappeared from the kitchen.

oo00OO00oo

Hicks's group apparated in a spread-out line parallel to the trees. His arrival point was the furthest north (and closest to the Palace). As soon as they hit their arrival points each crouched down into a ball, hoping to maximize their level of concealment as they assessed the scene presented to them.

Instead of the chaos and panic that Lestrange had promised, Hicks spied almost completed, calm and orderly evacuation of muggles out of exposed positions and into the stone-walled building. With no sign of the first team of Death Eaters, it was supposed to be up to Terrance to decide whether or not to open fire on the crowd. But a muggle K-9 unit patrolling the ward line down from his position caught scent of one of his wizards, and started to bark aggressively. The nearest Death Eater got spooked and fired a silencing spell at the dog.

That his canine partner's bark had been quieted even as he was straining against the leash was all that the muggle needed to call in the contact as he unleashed his partner. The dog closed the few meters' distance between himself and his target and leapt into the air.

A Reducto spell hit the German Shepherd, leaving little more than bits of bone and fur. A second curse felled the dog's partner just as the Death Eater was spotted by soldiers using thermal imagery equipment, and struck down by muggle snipers using electronic sighting scopes.

The combination of dog barks, Death Eater's death cries, and gunfire was enough for Terrance to realize that his cover was blown. Looking for any available protection, he was bright enough to cast his eyes upwards. As another of his men fell to gunfire, Hicks quickly pulled his rope from his belt and tossed it up towards an overhanging tree branch. The rope animated and wrapped itself securely around the branch, then pulled the young Death Eater up into the foliage.

As a third not-quite-concealed-enough Death Eater fell to sniper fire, Hicks climbed further up into the tree. That he himself wasn't hit by a high caliber head shot was due lucky coincidence…he disappeared into the branches and foliage at roughly the same time that the three surviving members of his team activated their emergency portkeys and bugged-out. The muggle spotters who were tracking the group assumed that Hicks had also retreated, and the fog of battle conspired to keep the former Slytherin safe for the moment.

When the young Death Eater found a tree branch that overlooked the Garden Party grounds he was dismayed to see just how few muggles there were left to shoot at. His clearest shot was at a half-dozen Royal Archers, who were holding the evacuation route open next to the Queen's Tent (not that the Death Eater recognized it as such).

With no better target available, and a strong desire to prove himself worthy of stepping into Rodolphus's potentially vacant shoes, Hicks let loose an Incendio spell.

oo00OO00oo

Inside the tent, Harry heard a loud "whoosh" as a fireball smashed against the eastern exterior wall. He could feel the heat on the side of his face as he turned and took note that the fire-suppression charms had worked.

"Queen's Tent under attack from the East," Harry yelled into his microphone.

"Copy that, Harry," replied Hermione from the roof. "I think that the spell originated from the trees, where those other tangos popped up, but I can't see for sure."

"Great…tree-climbing Death Eaters," said Harry. Wondering if the leaf canopy could mask body heat, he asked if anyone visuals on the spell source. Nobody responded with a positive spot. Not that that kept the Royal Archers from returning fire as they covered their dead and wounded. Four men demonstrated that their longbows were more than just window-dressing as they notched arrows aimed in the general direction of the attack.

Within the tree, Hicks scrambled to cast a protective shield to stop the projectiles. He had been smart enough to use a defensive spell developed in direct response to the use of muggle longbows in the Middle Ages. The Death Eater was amazed at just how accurate these muggles were, despite the visual cover, and was forced to maintain his shields under the onslaught. As he looked for an opening to switch over to offensive magic, he pulled his emergency portkey out just in case.

Meanwhile, Harry turned back towards the huddled mass of V.I.P.'s. He had planned on moving most of them above ground, using the Royal Archers route, but that option was now cut off. Figuring that the crowd stack up in the shelter as easily as within the tent, he called out, "Everyone queue up on me…we've got an escape route here."

As the muggles complied with the Queen's Wizard's orders, he asked, "What's going on with our tree climber?"

"The Archers are firing into the tree with bow and arrow," Hermione replied. She cast a detection spell, then added, "Looks like it's one wizard, presently using a projectile shield."

"Can't we get something a little more powerful heading his way?" asked Harry.

"To much of a chance of collateral damage without a firm visual," Wally replied. "And it looks like we've got a developing situation at the front entrance."

"Oh, Merlin," Harry replied.

There was a light tap on his shoulder. "Perhaps I can help?"

Harry turned to the Japanese Emperor's Wizard and thought. As much as he wanted to jump out of the tent and attack the Death Eater positions, he had to guard the tunnel's surface opening from attack (as it led directly to the Queen's present position).

"If you're willing, that'd be great," Harry replied. "Just remember…no invisibility or concealment spells….the snipers are keyed into that sort of thing."

The Emperor's Wizard smiled. "I may not have to leave the tent."

Harry squinted at the Japanese priest, wondering how he would pull that trick off. He then focused his attention back onto the tunnel mouth, where a Baroness was trying to maintain her modesty as she sat down on a carpet.

"Oh Merlin," he yelled. "You didn't see the Queen grabbing hold of her hemline, did you? Move it!"

oo00OO00oo

While Harry was herding gentry, the Emperor's Wizard was looking for a patch of bare ground. Seeing nothing but plush red carpet inside the tent walls, he ran to an edge and pulled back the rug to reveal a section of yellowed (but still living) lawn. Placing both hands on the bared ground, he concentrated on all of the living things below. Ignoring the nematodes and insects, Matsuhisa pushed his senses farther out, until they met tree roots. Quickly calling out to the spirits within the trees through their roots, he asked for aid in dealing with the evil perched within the tree branches.

He got a favorable responses from the tree spirits, especially when Matsuhisa promised to stop the arrows from flying after the threat was neutralized.

A thick branch next to Terrance Hick's hidden perch suddenly animated, sweeping sideways and striking the wizard in the back of the head. The Death Eater lost the grip on both wand and portkey as he tried to hang on to a branch, but fell towards the ground anyway. Not content to strike once, the tree's lower branches came to life and caught the wizard in their grip. The tree spirit then asked the Japanese wizard what he wished to do with the captured evil doer. Matsuhisa thanked the tree spirit and asked the spirit to reach its own judgment.

The Japanese wizard pulled back from his connection with the tree spirit before learning of the Death Eater's fate. Hermione, however, was able to watch with morbid fascination as the tree limbs folded back on themselves and crushed the doomed Death Eater in a lethally smothering hug.

"I think that tree just ate the Death Eater," she reported to Harry.

"Well I hope it chews its food," he thought to himself.

oo00OO00oo

By this point in the attack all of the sloping tunnel slides that connected the large white tents to the bomb shelter underneath the Palace were seeing heavy use. Harry had gotten the idea of escape chutes from the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets, right down to the use of sliding carpets. The initial stacks of pre-positioned carpets within each tent were quickly exhausted. With no time to get carpets back up the tunnels for reuse, Potter Plaid-wearing witches and wizards within each tent were transfiguring table linens into rugs. With all of the panic and confusion within each of the tents, none of the muggle guests noticed the difference.

oo00OO00oo

The "developing situation" that Wally had reported involved the remaining three Death Eaters in Rodolphus's crew, who had decided that Hicks's spell fire was their signal to let loose. They did a direct line-of-sight apparition from a hiding place underneath the Craggs to a sandbagged British Army machine gun emplacement directly across from the south entrance to the grounds. The four regular army soldiers who were stationed there didn't know what hit them as they fell to severing curses and bone-crushing hexes aimed at their necks and heads respectively. With all of the activity on the other side of the fence, nobody noticed as the Death Eaters transfigured their robes into rough approximations of muggle army uniforms and took the places of the fallen muggle soldiers. From their new vantage points they were but twenty meters away from the tent that stood at the gated entrance to the Garden Party.

Despite orders to wait until their surprise attack could cause the most damage, one of the Death Eaters got nervous and fired at two muggles who had run out of the entrance despite warnings from the palace security agents to stay inside the fenceline. While the Death Eater's flame spell turned the couple into burning lumps of flesh, it also revealed their location. Remus and Minerva McGongall, who had moved from their initial postings to a defensive position within the tented entrance, saw the spell and fired off curses at the Death Eater position. They were forced to shield, and the magical battle in this part of the site was now on.

MI-5 ¾ agent Helen Wall had also been at the front gates, and used her muggle comm. gear to call in for magical reinforcements. Within moments, the ICW witch and wizards had made their way towards this entrance (excepting Rongo), and were standing shoulder to shoulder with Minerva and Remus as they erected defensive shields in front of the gates.

The three Death Eaters were casting wide-area effect spells, hoping for multiple casualties with single casts. But once they discovered that this muggle gathering was actually being defended by more than one witch or wizard, they switched over to point curses that stood a better chance at breeching the magical shields.

At the first sight of a sickly green Avada Kedavra spell, the defending witches and wizards dove for cover, and yelled for everyone else to do the same. The King's Wizard and Swedish Witch then began conjuring granite slabs, while McGonagall reached the same endpoint by transfiguring tables and chairs into stone.

Steve's mum had the presence of mind to act as a forward observer and call in the location of the Death Eater's position. There was some confusion when it was realized that the spot was supposed to be a British Army position, but after a call to Remus confirmed Helen Wall's report, the order was given out for the Army to retake its lost ground.

The Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank that was parked in front of the main Palace gates responded to the order, and fired up its 12-cylinder, 1,200hp engine. By the time the tank had pivoted and started south down Queen's Drive, the coordinates of the Death Eater's position had been downloaded into the digital firing control computer that targeted its 120mm rifled main gun. With an armor-piercing projectile preloaded, all the muggle gunner needed to do was wait a few seconds until the tank could cover the distance between Palace and point of fire.

oo00OO00oo

As the tank lumbered down the street it approached a natural history museum whose striking profile was dominated by a football-pitch sized oblong white tent roof. Clinging to the top of one of the huge poles that supported this structure was a concealed Death Eater who had been instructed to observe, rather than fight.

Voldemort's orders for Augustus Rookwood were tested as he spied the muggle tank approaching the Death Eater's position. He suspected it very capable of blowing this last group of Death Eaters to pieces, and had a clear shot at the tank…but that shot would likely reveal his position, and what he had seen and needed to report to his lord was far more important than the lives of three Death Eaters.

He held his wand and watched as the tank recoiled from the blast of its main gun and the last attackers were all killed within a blast of fire and smoke.

Rookwood held his breath, not in hope of survivors, but to avoid breathing in the thick black smoke that rose from the blast zone. This smoke provided him cover, but also kept him from gathering any more information from the field of battle…not that there was any more battle to see. Deciding it time to make his escape, the former Unspeakable drew the portkey to Salisbury from his pocket and thought about taking a parting shot.

The Dark Lord had told him to not to be involved in the attack…but what if there was a target of opportunity destroyed just before he portkeyed to safety?

Hoping to add a little more to the positive side of the ledger when he made his report to Voldemort, Rookwood turned to the north and raised his wand against the building that was supposed to be the new shining symbol of muggle Scotland. It only took a short series of blasting and incendiary spells to set the unwarded Parliament building into flames.

Rookwood activated the portkey and disappeared from the rooftop before anyone realized where the spell fire had come from.

oo00OO00oo

With the last of the Queen's Tent occupants evacuated and the tunnel sealed, Harry Potter had left the protective cover and was tending to injured Archers when word came from Wally that the Scottish Parliament building was on fire. He got confirmation from Steve that the Queen was safe, and from Hermione that there was no immediate battles being fought. So, as soon muggle medics arrived to take Harry's place he decided to see for himself and badge-jump to the rooftop.

By the time he got there, Rongo had made arrangements for a cloud to move over the Parliament building and release a smothering deluge of rainwater

"Wow," said Harry. "It's wonderful to see you take that kind of initiative."

The heavily tattooed sorcerer turned to Harry and smiled.

Thinking of possibilities, and the fact that the fire had only lasted a few minutes, he asked, "Is there any chance you could arrange for a thick fog cloud to envelop that building?"

When the Maori turned to Harry and silently arched an eyebrow, the Queen's Wizard decided to elaborate.

"If there's fog too thick to see through, we could go in and magically repair the building and the muggles would be none the wiser."

The sorcerer tilted his head in thought, then nodded his head and smiled. Raising his hands towards the rain cloud, he then silently asked it to extend down towards the ground.

Harry and Hermione watched with fascination as the cloud complied.

"Thanks, that'll be a great help," said Harry.

The Queen's Wizard then turned his attention to the south, and to the field of battle below. He winced at the sight of bodies being covered in sheets by Palace security as medical personnel evacuated the wounded, and his grief was only partially countered by calls to Steve and the other Art Clubbers to gain assurances that the Royal Family and all of his witches and wizards had escaped harm.

As that call took place, Harry spied Army lorries as they rumbled up the road that ran in between the Parade Grounds and the lake. Once the lorries parked next to the Loch Margaret, Remus, Tonks, and a large group of masked muggle troopers spilled out and made their way to the shoreline. Under the cover of the TPOMS squadron from above, and from a perimeter of SAS sentinels on the ground, the two Art Clubbers cast another series of stunning spells on the six Death Eaters who were presently floating in the water. No account was made for the fact that three of these six bodies had been floating face down.

Gaffes were used to fish the bodies out of the water. Regardless of whether the Death Eaters were alive or dead, Remus and Tonks Accio'd clothes, wands and anything else the Death Eaters had been carrying until they were stark naked. The troopers then threw the bodies into the back of the lorries and climbed in themselves. The vehicles barreled down towards the helipad, where they threw the marked Death Eaters into a cargo helicopter that immediately lifted away from the Palace grounds.

Harry ordered the Phoenix Teams to evacuate their positions and return to the Palace…while there was always the chance that somebody else would bounce against the wards, there was a chance that the stunning spells that they had used in that area would attract the Ministry's attention.

Worrying that there could be Obliviator squads stupid enough to try and apparate within the Palace grounds, Harry got on his badge and had Ron give the Head Auror's office a set of apparition coordinates within a Palace outbuilding located beyond Hermione's wards. The Ministry personnel who were stupid enough to recklessly leap onto the scene found themselves surrounded by a group of heavily armed MI-5 ¾ c-mugs, alongside the five international witches and wizards. This mixed escort guided the Ministry people at gun and wand point across the street to help undertake repair work within the fogbank.

The Obliviators were taken aback by the fact that the ICW Delegation was working in conjunction with Harry and the muggles, and made sure to report that fact when they later returned to the Ministry.

Perhaps to no one's surprise, the Minister of Magic's office considered this information far more worrisome than the fact that there had been another massive Death Eater attack that day.