Author Note:- This is not a precedent, subsequent chapters are going to be annoyingly slow as my muses wander off as they are distracted by pretty lights. Usually the Bug Zapper, the smell of fried muses is a bit like marshmallows. Disclaimer is on chapter 1, thanks go to my betas JediYoda, LegalAlien and Sweet_Mione
Harry idly wondered how much the shattered vase on the floor had cost Ginny's aunt as the redhead stomped around screaming and stepping on the shards. He was glad she was wearing slippers else she would have already torn her feet to shreds. He leaned into the chair and was reading some paperwork, occasionally lifting his wand to catch flying objects and levitate them to a safer location. He let some things break because Ginny's rage wasn't satisfied until a few things broke with a loud noise.
He had come home after work and told Ginny about the code orange mission. He knew telling her before then was a bad idea as she was working until the evening and would be good for the patients if she went into a trademarked fury in the wards. Luckily the rage wasn't directed at him so all he had to do was catch the items that couldn't be repaired when she threw them at the walls.
He had one ear on her screams so he could reply whenever she threw a question at him and to her constant annoyance he never missed one. "Yes dear" "I know dear" "I agree, Shacklebolt is a slave driving flobberworm" "No, you can't have a pet Boggart"
She threw the last one in to test him.
Harry was thinking about lunchtime. He had gone to the cafeteria to join Ron and let him know about the mission. The bulky redhead was at a table with Neville, Derrick and Lucy. He nodded to the others as Ron cruised his way through his overloaded tray.
"You guys hear bout Causwell yet?" Neville asked, Derrick and Lucy shook their heads, "Someone brought him in last night, rumor has it that he was using unforgivables"
Harry smirked as he sat and Ron started choking on his mouthful of pie.
"Really? That's great!" Lucy smiled, her dark brown hair tied back, she was a few years younger than Harry, just finished training. She was working with Neville and his partner Derrick at the moment. Just tagging along for a bit of work experience, Neville had told Harry she was a natural and was going to be a great auror one day.
"Who got him?" Derrick's slow voice questioned, he was quite a big guy, still smaller than Ron but intimidating certainly. He was shaved bald and had a lot of tattoos which were mostly covered by his clothes at the moment. He had strength and quite a turn of speed once he got started. Though he had been around longer he didn't have the natural talent of Neville who had improved vastly ever since the DA training with Harry back in the fifth year.
"Harry did." Ron grinned, his mouth empty at last, "Went off last night to get him by himself."
"Harry? You shouldn't be doing that, not safe by yourself" Derrick commented.
"Derrick, this is Harry Potter, Dark wizard catcher extraordinaire. Come on Harry, how many were there? Outnumbered ten to one?" Ron grinned.
"Whoa, before the rumors start," Harry scowled at Ron, "It was just four, Causwell, two grunts and a lowlife thief. I don't want to walk past the water cooler this afternoon and hear how Harry single handedly took down thirty Death Eaters and a Swedish Shortsnout."
"Nah, everyone knows it's always a Hungarian Horntail." Neville added with a smirk.
"Haha, very funny, least when I get plastered on firewhisky shots I can still pick a decent tattoo mister mermaid." Harry retorted with a grin.
The reference was to a few years ago when after a particularly good bust Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville and a few other Aurors from the raid went out to celebrate. After the fifteen rounds of shots and all the beer someone had suggested magical tattoos to commemorate the night. By that time only about seven of the starting twelve were still able to stand.
They had staggered over to the nearest late night tattoo shop and each bought one. Harry had gotten a Hungarian Horntail which crawled over his back and blew fire at anyone who looked at it. This joined the Hippogriff on his right arm and the three headed Hellhound on his chest. The hellhound was a tribute to Hagrid who had died to save Harry before the fall of Voldemort. A year later they were also joined by a Basilik on his lower back, that one to commemorate the 5th aniversary. He also had gotten a pygmy puff on his butt after loosing a bet to Ginny, but to his relief the snake had eaten it a few days later.
Harry, though annoyed by the tingling caused by the random bursts of flames, felt he did quite well compared to the others. Neville had woken the next morning to find a mermaid flapping on his chest and Ron was forced to confront his fear of spiders when he found an Acromantula crawling over his back. No-one could remember if Hermione had gone under the needle, let alone what it could have been. Harry suspected she had memory charmed them but could never prove it because the blanks in his memory could quite easily have been caused by the fourth Tequila shot.
Ron, Derrick and Neville all chuckled leaving Lucy a bit confused, Neville promised to fill her in later.
"Got a tip off last night when I went to meet an informant, had to act instantly, went after Huntly and he led me to Causwell. Bit of quick spell work took out Huntly and the two toughs, Crabbe included," Neville and Ron chuckled at that, "Causwell threw a crucio at me, blocked it with a crate and threw the shards at him, got lucky and one piece nicked his ear."
"Ah, went into one of his loony stages then?" Ron queried.
"Completely barmy, started throwing all sorts of curses at me, I think he tried Riddikulus at one stage," Harry shook his head "Just waited for the Avada and stunned him, got his wand, sealed it up, conviction. Done and dusted."
"Survived another killing curse? Why do you wonder why there are so many rumors about you?" Neville asked.
"Didn't survive, stunned him before he got it off" Harry replied.
"So it wasn't the last spell cast?" Lucy asked.
"Shit!" Harry cursed as he was caught off guard for a moment as he quickly went through his memory, "No, he never got the spell off, it won't be the last cast will it? Yeesh, well at least Malfoy's lawyers are going to have trouble. Definitely fired off a few Imperius and Cruciatus curses and was going to cast the Avada Kedavra."
"Was going to doesn't get a conviction, I'm glad he didn't cast it because you might not be sitting here, but you know they'll try and get him a weak sentence." Lucy spoke with a quiet tone, afraid of gaining Harry's ire, "All you have now is a memory, unless the last spell cast was unforgivable you'll have trouble with it. Especially since it's possible you might be out on assignment when the court case goes through."
Harry let out a stream of curses as his anger swelled up, if he had just waited a few moments longer to stun. He could have dodged the killing curse no problem. On a nearby table a glass shattered and Ron grabbed Harry's shoulder, bringing him to the present. He looked around as most of the cafeteria was staring at him. On the opposite side of the table Lucy was white as a sheet and looking terrified.
"Ah … sorry guys, lost control for a second, sorry for interrupting your lunch." Harry cringed and then spotted Lucy's reaction, "Sorry Luce, didn't mean to scare ya, not angry with you, just with my own stupidity, damn, I'm going to go burn a few practice dummies. Ron you want to come with?"
"Yeah mate, be right there, just got a bit to finish" Ron replied, not wanting to leave any food on his plate. Harry chuckled and apologized one last time before heading out, feeling a few eyes watching him carefully.
"That was scary!" Lucy commented under her breath once Harry left, "Thought he was going to kill me with his glare!"
"Don't believe the hype Luce" Neville commented, "Harry is a force to be reckoned with, if you are against him, but for us he's harmless as a fly. He's a great guy and soft as a teddy bear when you get to know him, he just has a small issue with anger."
"Yeah, if he's pissed you might get hit by shrapnel when something nearby blows up. But he'll never hurt you on purpose if you don't deserve it." Ron added as Derrick rubbed her shoulder, "Course, if you work with him often, it doesn't hurt to be prepared"
All three guys pulled the neckline of their robes to show their Dragon hide armor beneath and chuckled together. Lucy looked a little more relaxed now and set about finishing her lunch.
After lunch Ron had headed up to meet Harry in one of the training rooms, ditching his office robe for more maneuverability. Logging into training with the witch at the desk he went to one of the simulators where Harry was practicing. They had adapted the muggle simulators to convert dummies and illusions into realistic scenarios for spell fights and hand to hand combat.
Ron watched through the one way, spell proof wall as Harry was shooting down snitch like targets. He was missing about one in four which Ron found startling. The targets though small and fast moving weren't all that exceptional until Ron noticed Harry was using his left hand.
"Come on superstar, thought you wanted to do something together," Ron called through the wall to which Harry chuckled.
"Wasn't sure how many helpings you were having before coming up, thought I'd get in a bit of offhand practice." Harry grinned and flicked his wand, the illusion shifting to a dark alley, "You coming in then?"
Ron pulled on a hooded cloak and drew his wand before stepping into the dark alley with Harry who had pulled his hood up over his face.
"What's this one? Two man raid or some stealth mission to see how long I last?" Ron grinned as he pulled over his hood.
"Nah, six man training raid, midnight dealing in a warehouse, the one Shacklebolt had you running for the new recruits. Remember me watching you last week when the whole team was dropped without taking a single prisoner. You told me afterwards we could have done it in our sleep." Harry grinned under the hood, "Time to prove it King Weasley."
"I'll get you for this Potter, I suppose we've got a review panel?" Ron asked as they moved slowly through the alleyway, being as quiet as mice.
"Got one of the trainers to watch and give us a pensieve vial afterwards, reckon you could use it next week when you're on training duties again, show them how it's done eh? This is the one" Harry whispered as they arrived at a door, "What do you reckon? Stealth or Force?"
"This scenario has eight Death Eaters, would be daft to use Force immediately" Ron whispered, pointing his wand at the door. "Alohomora"
"Eight? That's easy, I've set it to random between ten and fifteen" Harry grinned and cast the Anti-Apparation ward on the building, closing the door then whispering "Colloportus" to seal the door with a squelching sound while Ron was whispering "mental, bloody mental".
They snuck together through the stacks of crates, moving towards whispering sounds, finding seven death eaters around a desk with maps. They were talking about a raid on Hogsmeade during the next Hogwart's trip. Harry did always admire the accuracy of the simulations. He tugged at Ron's shoulder and pointed at a metal stairwell leading to the next floor, it was quite high up and consisted of bridges to overlook the factory floor. Harry had already seen three Death Eaters patrolling around, that left a possible five unaccounted for, which he suspected were patrolling around the stacks.
"Tactical analysis mate?" Harry grinned.
"We got ten of maybe fifteen accounted for, reckon the others are around us in the stacks. Ones above us have a distinct advantage. Reckon you should bewitch the crates on the other side of the tables to act like Bludgers, ten or more of them, two of us, low odds of us being targets to start with. Once they start I'll head up and start dealing with any upstairs and then start raining down spells, you take the seven down here and find our missing foes."
"Sounds good, knew Kingsley had you teaching tactics and strategy for a reason beyond your unbeaten Wizard Chess record." Harry grinned, "ready?"
With a nod from Ron he started his silent spells, turning the stacks of boxes and crates along with the shelving and pallets into Bludger like weapons. Like the Quidditch versions the 'Bludgers' would fly around lightning quick and target themselves at random 'players', in this case, anyone in the warehouse. With their hoods up at a quick glance Harry and Ron could pass for Death Eaters themselves so even if they hadn't be distracted by the sudden attack they wouldn't have fired upon Ron as he ran for the stairs.
To get off on a good start Ron tripped on a pallet halfway to the stairs and was saved by a quick Banishing charm from Harry as a shelf tried to crush him. Spells were flying around the warehouse as giant wooden pallets crashed through the tables trying to flatten the cloaked figures. Harry started firing stunning spells at the boxes as he silently bewitched more and more to take to the air. Occasionally a stunning spell would hit a Death Eater, but with all the chaos it was an honest mistake, really. Harry was amused that one of the dummies had taken out one of his fellows in a similar move.
Up on the next floor Ron had used full body binds to take down two of the Death Eaters but had been spotted and was now dueling with the last. A few of the Death Eaters on the floor were also sending up spells against Ron. Thus far five Death Eaters were down and two more had emerged from the stacks as Harry thought. A well placed banishing charm sent some metal shelving to scythe through the lower legs of a large metal shelf holding crates. With an ominous creak it toppled over, crushing three Death eaters who weren't quick enough to move. Up above Ron had used the distraction to Stupify his enemy and was throwing down hexes as he dodged the spells coming up. Nine down, three or more left casting.
Now the problems started. Realising that the only one moving on the bridges was Ron the Death Eaters started firing up Avada Kedavra's and Reductors to blow apart the bridges, ignoring their own fallen comrades still up there. The bludgers were ceased when a quick witted Death Eater yelled out "Finite Incantatem" and to Ron's dismay this also released one of the body binded foes. The other wasn't liable to be getting up anytime soon as a reductor had removed the section of bridge he was laying on. His body was now on the ground floor broken in many places.
Ron ran over a bridge, throwing down stunners at the Death Eater's still standing. One of them fired a strong redactor at the end of the bridge, snapping it from the support and with a creak the bridge started to fall. Harry saw the Death Eater still up top move to the spot where the bridge had been removed and aim at Ron who was now hanging to the railing as it hit the ground with a bang.
"Accio Death Eater!" he yelled, tugging strongly on the puppet, enough to unbalance him and pull him off the overview to fall to his death. However this move had alerted the puppets around him to his side. He dived sideways behind a toppled table as a shower of spells were cast.
"Four stunned, three crushed, two falling deaths, three standing, three unknown" Harry counted in his mind, he rolled sideways as half the table was hit by a redactor and he cast a glance at the fallen bridge. Ron had made way to his feet on the sharp incline and hurled himself over the broken railing to land on two Death Eaters hiding nearby. Grabbing their robes, pulling them to their feet and smashing them together he took another two out of the game. Quick reflexes saved him next as he had to dive as the other Death eater threw a killing curse at him. Harry quickly stood and brought him down with a stunner.
Both wizards looked around wands drawn, two silently cast shields went up as they scanned the destroyed warehouse in case any more Death eaters were present.
"Looks like we had twelve," Harry commented, keeping his guard up but moving to take the wands from the fallen and binding them in magical chains, "Seven arrests and five deaths, pretty good I reckon."
With a flick of his wand the warehouse faded to leave them in a bare room with twelve dummies lying to one side. Ron clapped Harry on the back and they both grinned as they left the room.
"Thanks for the saves, good thing that wasn't real or I'd owe you another two and I've still got forty seven to pay back." Ron grinned.
"Forty eight you mean?" Harry queried.
"Nah, that incident with the dementor doesn't count, my patronus would have made it to save my ass," Ron chuckled.
"Suppose so, so how are things with you and Luna, after this orange thing you two should come over. I'm planning some time off afterwards, need to make it up to Ginny. Shacklebolt owes me like half a year from all my overtime and untaken holiday." Harry chuckled and looked over his shoulder to see Ron's wand pointed at him, "hmm?"
"How many times did you have to polish Riddle's trophy in the second year of Hogwarts?" Ron asked critically.
"Hmm?" Harry raised a brow at his best friend, "You had to polish it about fifty times after you spewed slug slime all over it."
"Just checking you weren't a polyjuice, never thought I'd live to see the day Harry Potter would take time off by choice," Ron laughed, "I was beginning to think you and Ginny would be married in the cafeteria during lunchtime."
"Nah, my office, enough stacks of paperwork to provide seats for everyone who wants to come," Harry and Ron laughed hard at that comment.
"What's so funny?" Hermione asked as she walked over to the pair, toweling herself down.
For her training she had opted for the hand to hand training incase she needed an edge on the mission. She felt her spell work was up to the challenge but could use a bit more in other areas. Thus she walked over to the boys wearing a skintight black leotard with her bushy hair held back into a rather odd looking pony tail. She was breathing heavily and sweating quite a bit.
"Just checking I've got the real Harry here, checked him out for polyjuice and about to take him to the medical center to check for Imperius and head injuries." Ron joked, earning a punch in the arm.
"Hey Mione, you send your owl yet?" Harry asked, still playfully scowling at Ron.
"Yes, Viktor hasn't replied yet, he'll be disappointed if we can't make it to the world cup, but he'll understand I expect." Hermione replied.
"Vicky got us tickets to the world cup? What do you mean we can't make it, I'm not off on some life or death mission!" Ron whined. Hermione responded by grabbing his wrist, ducking under his arm and twisting, flipping Ron over to land on the hard floor.
"Don't call him Vicky," Hermione ignored Ron for the moment and looked at Harry, "Simon says you two were on form in there, he just went to pensieve his memory for Ron's next class."
"Hear that down there Ron?" Harry asked the dazed redhead, "How you can be smart enough to be teaching the recruits strategy and tactics and still walk right into these situations is beyond me mate," looking up at Hermione, "Want to show us what you've got on the mat? I'll volunteer Ron here to help you demonstrate?"
"No thanks, I've had enough of Ron's inexperienced handling to last a lifetime and I'm not giving you a free chance to gawk at me," she grinned at the pair playfully.
"Never heard you complaining at the time" Ron groaned.
"Of course you didn't, I had no experience to compare it to. At least you've improved, at least according to Luna you have." Hermione looked down at him, "How is Luna by the way? I haven't seen her in ages."
"She's good, she misses you both but she's been keeping herself entertained trying to figure out which flavor crisps are the most appealing to Nargles."
Luna was still the same as ever, seeming as if she was only partly in the same world as the rest of them. She was a nice girl though and she suited Ron perfectly. Certainly much better than Hermione, they had lasted about a month before breaking up. Ironically they started getting along much better after the breakup, much to the relief of Harry. It was one less distraction in the hunt for Horcruxes.
"I'll have to meet up with her for lunch after the mission, don't want to say before in case we're called early. Speaking of which, did you tell Ginny yet?" Hermione asked Harry.
"Not yet, I know it is a code orange mission, but she'll flip. I didn't want to do that during her lunch break, just in case she didn't calm down before it was over. I'll tell her tonight." Harry replied evenly.
"Better you than me mate, I'm not sure I want to be in Britain when you break the news to her, hope Grimmauld survives the explosion." Ron chuckled.
"In any case I have some paperwork to finish then I've got a meeting with Siccaby to get some advice on my role for the mission." Hermione smiled at them both and slipped off, stepping on Ron as she headed for the showers.
"Oof!" grumbled Ron, "You're putting on weight Hermy!" Ron called after her, earning a middle finger from her as Harry pulled him to his feet.
"She's got a good idea though, I'm going to try and sort out some of my paperwork before I vanish for a week and my office is overrun by the stuff." Harry clasped hands with Ron and set off for his office, his mind on how to deal with Ginny later.
Through his thoughts Harry had been listening to Ginny as well, so he was alert enough to catch the next question.
"Who else is on the mission, you're not doing it alone are you?" she inquired.
"No, Kingsley doesn't trust me solo, no-one does despite my record," Harry sighed, "He's letting Mione have her first undercover run, reckons she'll be able to keep me under control."
"Hermione?" Ginny stopped pacing and looked over at him, "Well, at least she'll look after you."
"But why does it have to be you? Everyone knows you're the best raider in the ministry, you're better in the ministry ready to go save the world at a moments notice. Not that I like you constantly putting your life on the line, but it seems a bit strange to put the best field worker out of action … what aren't you telling me about the mission Harry?" Ginny asked, locking her eyes on him with a critical expression.
"Code Orange dear, I can't give you details," Harry replied.
"Rubbish! You've never been one to follow the rules to the letter, why are you on this mission?" she asked again.
"Because of who we suspect our target is working with," Harry replied, giving Ginny a look that said, "I'm not going to say who, because you know who, and that's why it's me not someone else"
"Oh Merlin be damned, you're kidding me! Kingsley is sending you and Hermione into a bloody hornet's nest by yourselves!?!" Ginny's voice grew sharper, "OH NO CHANCE IN HELL ARE YOU GOING AFTER THE WHOLE BLOODY LOT OF THEM BY YOURSELVES!!!"
"Ginny, calm down dear," Harry sighed.
"DON'T YOU 'CALM DOWN DEAR' ME HARRY JAMES POTTER! YOU'RE GOING AFTER BELLATRIX AND THE MOST VICIOUS DEATH EATERS BY YOURSELF!" Ginny fumed.
"Not by myself, I'll have Mione and half the Auror division a call away." He stated.
"I KNOW YOU HARRY. YOU'LL RUN OFF BY YOURSELF TO PROTECT THEM. NO HARRY, NOT THIS TIME, I'M NOT LETTING YOU GO!"
"I can't refuse this mission." Harry replied firmly.
"You can! You just won't! I'm calling dad." Ginny spun and headed for the fireplace.
"Whoa dear," Harry grabbed her wrist and stopped her, "I promise I'll be careful, I won't try and take the lot by myself, I'm impatient, not stupid. Hell we're not even sure our target is with them, that's why we're following him." Harry explained quickly while she tried to pull away, "We're to find out who he's with and what they're planning then call in backup."
That comment was true enough to slip past Ginny. She started calming down and turned to scowl at Harry.
"You promise not to do everything by yourself?" she asked.
"I promise." replied Harry.
"You promise to call for backup at the first sign of trouble, not after the battle like usual?"
"I promise."
"And you promise to come home the moment you can else face a lifetime of bat bogey hexes?"
"I promise, I've also got an approved stamp on a holiday request form for two weeks the moment I file the paperwork from this mission. Don't know when that will be so I can't book anything in advance. But I'll be here when you leave for work and here when you get home and here when you go to sleep for two weeks." Harry smiled.
"Good! You need the rest," Ginny sighed, "I'm sorry, I just have a bad feeling about this mission."
"You have a bad feeling? I'm the one who has to do it," he grinned, "I'll be extra careful."
"I'll let St. Mungo's know I'll be needing a week off soon, I'm sure I've got enough holiday saved to ask for that. We should get away somewhere, just us two, you know since Voldemort's downfall we have never spent a whole week alone? There's always been something come up for you or for me or we went with Ron and Luna or Hermione and Viktor. A break for just us would be nice I think."
"I agree." Harry smiled, "Second week will be just us, give a weeks notice for your holiday and maybe I can use the Harry Potter card to book us into somewhere nice with a weeks notice as well. Maybe we can do lunch with some of the old crew in the first week, haven't seen Luna, Viktor or anyone from Hogwart's in months."
"I hope the mission doesn't take too long then, you're getting me all excited" Ginny giggled.
Harry smiled and gave her a tight hug, the distraction had worked like he hoped. Ginny's wrath was on par with her mothers and could last hours. As the twins had revealed during their stay at Grimmauld Place before his fifth year the best method was to head her off before she got going.
"Mission doesn't start till Thursday officially, that's when we know where he'll be, but if he's spotted before then I'll have to go. It's unlikely as he's been lying very low for the last seven years." Harry commented, "Means we've only got tonight and tomorrow."
"Only two nights? Took me ages to get you home before I fell asleep and now I only get two evenings from you?" Ginny whined.
"Yeah," Harry smiled and kissed her on the cheek, glad he had defused her anger and gotten her mind off the mission, "Better not waste them whining right?"