Author Note:- I'm posting this a lil early so I might have to repost corrections later, but there shouldn't be anything major. In return for the shortness of the last chapter this one is a little longer than usual. I'm up to 23,000 hits (prolly half mine) and 121 reviews (replied to all), thank you for reading and reviewing, enjoy 8)
Harry went back down the stairs and returned to his seat, Hermione was sitting quietly sipping her drink. He glanced to his watch and she shook her head.
"I slipped to the bathroom when you did, I thought why make two trips?" she whispered.
Harry nodded and slipped the special glasses back on, finding Bellatrix still missing from the table. Rodolphus and Yaxley appeared to be deep in conversation when Harry realised he hadn't put his earpiece back in. Fumbling back in his pocket he slid the small pink device back into his ear.
"Risk to you Antony, you can come and go as you please. The headquarters are under a Fidelius charm so you won't be in danger and if you apparate straight in and out no-one will even know you are present but us and whoever you pick to aid you." Rodolphus said.
"The deal sounds appealing Rodolphus, this I have already admitted, however I was curious if you were planning to compensate me for my time. Or perhaps the result is the reward itself. With the ministry's primary members all squibs then new leadership is in order. New Leadership often brings change. Is Lucius involved in this scheme, he seems likely to benefit from a shake up in leadership." Yaxley inquired.
"Bellatrix refuses to associate with him; he works for money and power. I see no problem with this, however he like you, thinks the Dark Lord gone, and unlike you, is no longer loyal to the true cause, thus he is an enemy to Bella." Rodolphus explained, "From what my sources tell me he is liable to make great profit from the plan; however he has no involvement in it, nor any awareness."
"There may be a time when she has to, without proper fore planning removing the leadership of the country will leave it in chaos for only so long, if anyone is prepared to take advantage it will be Lucius." Yaxley commented, "Speaking of proper planning, it seems a bit risky for you to attend this meeting in person."
"I thought so as well, however Bellatrix wasn't coping well with being cooped up in the hideout. We have been trying to keep activity to a minimum. But she keeps kidnapping muggles for fun; she argues that the Dark Lord wouldn't want us hiding away."
"This potion requires many ingredients we don't have, but will do soon." Rodolphus grinned maliciously, "We have acquired the location of most of the ingredients, and hopefully you have or know how to find the rest."
"I possess very little outside the standard supplies, and nothing illegal. They have nothing on me and I intend to keep it that way. The dementors may no longer haunt Azkaban but I have no longing to spend the rest of my days there."
"Fair enough, apart from this meeting there will be no evidence you are working with us as I mentioned before. We are certain that no-one followed us here, so anyone who finds out must have followed you. You know of the silencing spells around this booth, they could stand five feet away and hear nothing."
Harry and Hermione shared a small grin, they hadn't been aware of the silencing spell so it was very convenient that they had set up the ears before leaving. Hermione nudged Harry's leg as she spotted Bellatrix returning to the table. The nudge was unnecessary, Harry had already seen her through the eyes. Harry waited until she was walking past and set his foot casually out.
She caught on his foot and fell to the floor hard, Harry put on his emotionless mask as he grinned inside. He stood and helped her get to her feet, ignoring the stream of curses she was spurting.
"I'm most sorry, are you alright?" he inquired, keeping his accent strong.
"I'm fine no thanks to you, next time keep your oversized feet to yourself or I'll curse you into oblivion." She scowled and for a moment they made eye contact.
Antony and Rodolphus had stood and were watching the exchange, the latter's eyes started darting around to see if they had been recognised by anyone else. They were pretty much ignored by the patrons who had their own secrets to hide.
"Ah, I thought it was you," Harry commented and gave her an evil grin, "Great fan of your work, keep it up."
The grin came easy as he imagined ripping off her limbs slowly and throwing them through the veil. His rage pounding through his veins but he kept control, Hermione's eyes watching him carefully, her hand wrapped around her wand under the table. Bellatrix gave him critical glance then smiled.
"You're the one I passed in the corridor," she reached over and ran a finger down his cheek, "I like
you, you look calm but I can see an evil rage within. Be here, this time, Saturday." She cast a glance at Hermione
and then added coldly, "She may come if she wishes."
Harry nodded and she spun and turned back to the table, joining Yaxley and her husband. Harry returned to his seat and picked up his glass to take a drink, his fist clenched too tight and it shattered. He blinked and the anger started to drain from his hand as he looked at the blood forming in the cuts.
Hermione sighs and reaches her wand over to mend the wounds on his hand, her eyes showing the worry within. The amount they had to deal with was growing rapidly and the night wasn't over yet.
"What was that about Bella?" Rodolphus inquired as she sat.
"Nothing, just tripped over the oaf's foot. I let him know that should it happen again I'd erase his family and friends." She smiled cruelly.
"Low profile, the chances of finding an honest upstanding citizen in here are low I realise but our goal will be ruined if Antony is seen with us." Rodolphus hissed, "Need I remind you how few potion masters we have left available to us, Snape in jail, Slughorn in Hogwarts, Brewers dead and McCann missing, presumed dead."
"Well if you are worried perhaps we should leave? I believe our work is done here, Antony knows where to find us and he knows our offer." Bellatrix sneered at her husband.
"Not quite, Antony wishes to discuss how we are to compensate him for his time." Rodolphus commented.
"Compensate?" she asked coldly, "Compensate him for what? Working for our master's cause?"
"The Yaxley's are an old pure blood family Bella my dear. However we are not rich, we don't have the fortunes of the Lestrange's or the Black's to live upon thanks to some rather unwise choices in recent history." Antony commented, sipping at his drink.
"We don't have the Black inheritance, Sirius was the primary heir and he left everything to the Potter boy in his will." Rodolphus explained quietly as Bellatrix fumed.
"That is unfortunate, but still does not change the matter, we have always had to work our money, the Dark Lord knew this and I was paid for my services. No doubt by Malfoy or another of his sources of money. If you require this potions master's help, then you need to pay." Antony met Bellatrix's furious gaze, "I usually charge two hundreds a day, but for a good cause, one hundred will be sufficient. I have an account the money can be transferred to."
Bellatrix opened her mouth to speak but Rodolphus placed his hand on her forearm and silenced her then nodded to Antony. Yaxley took a Gringott's slip from his pocket and slid it to Rodolphus.
"You will be paid after the work at intervals of your choosing." Rodolphus stated.
"Acceptable, with this agreed I shall depart. A pleasure to see you both again and I shall be in contact as soon as possible." Antony stood and shook Rodolphus's hand then kissed the back of Bellatrix's before leaving.
"Do we trust him?" Bellatrix asked plainly.
"Of course not, but he won't turn us in to the ministry even if he was able. Now let us return home, if we are now to co-ordinate two attacks tomorrow we should plan more." Rodolphus said, leaving some money for the drinks.
Harry and Hermione watch the pair leave. Hermione summoned back their remote ears and the hidden eyes when no-one was watching.
"Looks like we should go back and get the mirrors active, Shacklebolt won't be at the office now will he?" Hermione mused.
"He'll be there; if he isn't sitting at his desk waiting for us to report in whatever calamity we've caused then you can have my Firebolt." Harry commented dryly as he left a few coins for the drink, "We'd better get back to the Cauldron."
They left and walked the short distance back to the Leaky Cauldron. Harry took a moment to order a flaming fire whiskey while Hermione went straight up. Blowing out the flames he downed the shot and nodded to Tom before heading upstairs.
When he reached the room Hermione was already sitting on the bed chatting into her silver mirror.
"Harry's here now Sir," she said into the mirror, turning it to face Harry for a moment. Harry saw Kingsley's face in the mirror and nodded. Then he coughed and a burst of flame shot from his mouth.
"Sorry sir, set a meeting for this morning just in case," he coughed again and a burst of dark smoke came out with it, "Mione told you who we just ran into?"
"Yes, I am sorry to see our suspicions confirmed and glad that you were able to control yourself. She hasn't had time to tell me what happened in the meeting." Shacklebolt's deep voice replied.
"Nothing much, just a plot to turn the top of the ministry into Squibs with a potion they've discovered and want Yaxley to make. Oh and to get the supplies they are going to raid a top secret Auror warehouse and for a distraction Bella and Rodolphus are going to attack St. Mungo's some time tomorrow." Harry commented, dropping onto the bed and holding his chest. "Why did you have to pick flaming fire whiskey?"
"Attack on St. Mungo's tomorrow? You are sure? Which warehouse?" Kingsley questioned quickly.
"The Little Thirkleby site sir, we don't know how they found it." Hermione replied, "Bellatrix said she'd attack St. Mungo's to distract Harry because Ginny is working there."
"So call Ron in nice and early, tell him to get a team to Little Thirkleby to handle the Death Eaters and I'll head to St Mungo's with Hermione to handle Bellatrix and Rodolphus." Harry commented from behind Hermione.
"We can't let you go Harry; you can't risk your cover." Kingsley replied.
"Okay, first this is a free shot at Bellatrix. Second this is Ginny she's threatening, my fiancée if you recall. Third I'm the best Auror you got, I'm here because if things go sour you want an Auror able to stand up to Bella and the death eaters. If you think I'm going to sit here and twiddle my thumbs while she tries to massacre a bunch of innocents to lure me out you're going to have to arrest me." Harry replied angrily, sitting up and scowling at the mirror. His menacing aura was slightly ruined by Harry coughing up another fireball.
"I didn't think you'd listen, but might have been worth a shot." Kingsley sighed, "Take out the emergency portkeys. Tomorrow morning use the one to the ministry and afterwards use the one back to the room. Perhaps having Harry Potter seen around will help the illusion."
"Certainly more than having him suspiciously absent, Sir." Hermione added.
"I'm also going to have Neville's team ready to help you; I trust one of you will remember to trigger your mirror to call for help once Bella arrives." Kingsley told them, "We'll let the head doctors have advanced warning but we'll insist they continue as normal to not arouse suspicion there. You can go in to visit Ginny, I authorize you to let her know the situation since she'll cause mayhem if she doesn't know why you're off mission."
"Knowing Ginny she'll cause mayhem when I arrive, before I get chance to tell her." Harry sighed, "Oh, something else sir."
"There's more?" Kingsley asked
"Afraid so, should Bellatrix escape the raid tomorrow, I have a meeting with her on Saturday at eight in the Picked Troll."
"Care to repeat that?"
"I tripped her when she returned from the bathroom. She apparently liked the look of me and told me to meet her back there at the same time on Saturday." Harry repeated.
"I don't know if that is good or bad news," Kingsley replied, "Why were they meeting Yaxley again, you mentioned something about the ministry and squibs."
"They've got some of Voldemort's notes, Sir." Hermione answered, "Some of them include a potion to increase magic ten fold, however if brewed very slightly wrong the result is a potion to null the power of any drink, permanently."
"If brewed more than a little wrong it is poison, that's why they needed a potions master." She added.
"They wanted Snape, but he is unavailable." Harry commented.
"They're brewing in a facility hidden by a Fidelius Charm. Harry has seen a note written by the secret keeper but that will make it hard to raid. Unless we can find the secret keeper or get him to write another note." Hermione said, "They plan to poison the drinks at the Ministries Winter Ball, take out the entire ministry in one swoop and take control in the resulting chaos."
"We knew they were up to something, but this is completely unexpected." Shacklebolt commented.
"They've been keeping quiet so they could raid for the supplies they need in the next few months. Hoping we'd become complacent in the quiet. But at the same time they are planning diversions to completely throw us off." Harry commented.
"Let us worry about the raids first. I'll send owls to Ron and Neville so they can prepare ready for the morning. I expect contact at eight tomorrow for quick briefing before you head to St. Mungo's. I don't suppose Bellatrix was kind enough to mention what time they would be raiding?"
"No, but they seemed to be focusing on Ginny so as to get my attention, she's working nine till five tomorrow. We'll arrive before she gets there and wait, I suppose."
"Unfortunately it looks like we can't do anything else. When they arrive, call for Neville and they can warn Ron that we can expect trouble at the warehouse soon." Kingsley ordered, they both nodded in understanding.
"We'll talk more after tomorrow and see if we can get some form of plan for Saturday and beyond." Shacklebolt said, "For now, get some rest, you'll need it."
With that Kingsley's face faded from the mirror and it returned to their reflections. Harry collapses back onto the bed and coughs, one last puff of black smoke shooting from his mouth.
"Ugh, I hate flaming fire whiskey." He groaned.
"So what do we do?" Hermione asked.
"This time we go with orders." He replied
"Really? You don't usually go with them."
"They don't usually co-align with what I'm planning to do anyways."
"Oh."
"Though I probably wouldn't want Neville, Derrick and Lucy present they might be useful. I'll be occupied with Bellatrix and you with Rodolphus, if they bring anymore it will make things trickier. That and I'd want Ron to have as much notice as possible since I can't be there as well." Harry sighed, "Suppose we had better get some rest, going to be a hard day tomorrow probably."
Harry sighed and walked over to the couch as Hermione grabbed her bag and went into the bathroom. Once she was out of view he pulled off his robe and then his shirt and jeans. Stripping out of his skin tight protective suit he pulled back on a pair of boxer shorts so he wasn't naked. He sat on the couch and pulled a cover over himself. Only a few moments later he had drifted off into sleep.
He was woken what felt like a minute later by Hermione shaking him hard. Blinking rapidly he looked around and then at Hermione. She was standing next to the couch wearing a long blue nightshirt and what looked like nothing else. The polyjuice had worn off and she was back to her bushy haired self. He grabbed the quilt and shuffled back slightly.
"Mione?" he blinked again and grabbed his glasses, "What's wrong?"
"You were screaming." Hermione replied, "It woke me up."
"Oh, I'm sorry, bad dreams." Harry explained.
"Nightmare? Do you have them often?" Hermione asked.
"A fair few, maybe four or five times?" Harry replied.
"Five times a year? A month?"
"A week," Harry shrugs, "I suppose it's a fair trade for everything I've been able to do."
"A week?! Harry that's awful!"
"A small price to pay to ensure the rest of the world sleeps soundly," Harry sighed, "I had enough racked up before I brought down Voldemort to have nightmares for the rest of my life. At least I get a wide selection these days. It's like the movie channels, a new nightmare every week with all the old favourites played intermittently."
"Harry, I'm so sorry"
"Not your fault silly." Harry chuckled, "What time is it?"
"Oh, about five am, its early still." Hermione looked over at the clock.
"Sorry Mione, not used to sleeping around others I guess, should have warned you I'm not very quiet." Harry couldn't help but peek at Hermione as she sat on the end of the couch. Her gaze was over at the clock and he took note of how the light blue shirt showed off her body and his gaze noted her nipples poking through the shirt.
"Wandering eyes again Harry?" he hears suddenly looking up to find Hermione looking at him.
"Was just wondering what dream of yours I interrupted" he quickly replied.
"Harry!" She rolled her eyes and blushed slightly, "How do you do that? I catch you doing something naughty and you still somehow make me feel like I've done something wrong."
"Just talented I guess," Harry chuckles, "Well we aren't going to get much more sleep, should probably get up and get ready."
"Well I'm not moving until you close your eyes mister, I don't trust you." Hermione huffs and covers her chest with her crossed arms.
Harry chuckles and holds up his hands in surrender, then covers his eyes with them. She gets up and walks over to the bathroom. Harry quickly opens his fingers and looks over the back of the couch, watching her ass as she walks away. She vanishes into the bathroom and locks the door. Harry sighed and drops his head back against the armrest.
He throws off the cover and stands, grumbling as his boxer shorts try to fall to the floor. The clothing which fit when he was Paul's size was now considerably looser now he returned to normal. The only thing preventing his shorts from hitting the floor was his raging erection from his peep show a moment ago. Having only brought Paul sized clothing he pulled on the protective suit again and then a robe.
"Argh! Bad Harry! Mione is your best friend and you're engaged to Ginny. Need to forget about her and get your head in the game. She's dating Viktor, you lost your chance at the Yule Ball years ago." Harry took in a deep breath and sighed again.
"Did you say something Harry?" Hermione called from the bathroom.
"Nah, just going insane and chatting with myself." He replied.
"Going insane? I thought you did that years ago."
"Nah, you've been against Rita's propaganda for too long to pull that one off,"
"Fair enough," Hermione came back out in her skin tight protective suit, "I guess we'll have to gear up properly back at headquarters, do you want to freshen up? I'll order up some breakfast."
"Is that safe?" he asked.
"I'll use one of my polyjuice vials and if you're in the shower you won't have to worry about being seen."
"Alright, sounds good." He stood and walked awkwardly to the bathroom, trying to discreetly hide his crotch from Hermione. He slipped inside and closed the door with a sigh of relief, stripping out of his robe and armour and hopping in the shower. He washed up and got dressed again, checking with Hermione it was okay to come out.
They ate quickly in silence while Hermione waited for the juice to wear off so she could get ready. This vial was very unstable and wore off soon after the hour. By seven they were both ready to head out and they took out their emergency portkeys to the Ministry and back to the room. With some thought they both also opened their watches and placed the small blue stones on the floor and put the do not disturb sign on the door.
"Ready?" Harry asked, with a nod from Hermione they counted, "One, two, three."
With the familiar feeling of a hook just behind the navel he jerked forwards and landed in the Auror Department. They grabbed their things from the lockers and got kitted up, dragon hide suits beneath their auror robes. Harry also checked his robes still held the usual tricks from Fred and George. Unjinxed Decoy Detonators and Darkness Powder the most favoured.
As he stepped from the changing room Kingsley Shacklebolt walked in with Neville and Ron in tow. Harry nodded and tagged hands with the latter two. Shortly after Hermione came out of the changing room and Derrick arrived with Lucy. A few other Aurors also arrived, Harry assumed they were team leaders for Ron's defences.
"Okay, we haven't got much time and since most people are here already we'll begin, Harry you have Hermione, Neville's Team and Bryan's team on call." Kingsley nodded at the short blonde wizard who was standing near the back of the room, "Ron, for the defence of Little Thirkleby site you have your team and Tactical Squad B, led by Sid here." The other wizard was nodded at, this one dark skinned and bald like Kingsley.
"You'll also have Tactical Squads D and E on standby, neither Drew nor Russell are here right at the moment, but I'll make sure they're ready to apparate in to your location at the call."
"Harry, want to explain your tactics to your members first?" Kingsley waved his wand and a table appeared with detailed maps of St Mungo's Hospital.
"Okay, I'm going to be with Ginny in the emergency ward on the ground floor in case they try to sneak in and focus on her. I'm hoping they'll come in the front entrance so I want Derrick and Hermione in the entrance lobby. Neville can be on the fourth floor visiting his parent's and Lucy in the cafeteria on the fifth in case they come in somewhere else." Harry explained.
"Bryan, how many are on your team?" he asked.
"We're like Neville, there is me and my partner Jacob and our apprentice Jason." He explained.
"Okay, you and Jason on the third floor and Jacob to the second, preferably I want Lucy and Bryan's team all casual dress. The rest of us will be recognised anyway so Auror uniforms anyway. Mirrors silent, the first sign of trouble contact me and inform me what floor. I'll let Hermione know who will be with Derrick, she'll contact Neville who in turn warns Lucy, Derrick warns Bryan in turn Jacob and Jason. Obviously skip whoever reports the trouble and if Hermione or Derrick report I'll contact Bryan who warns Jacob who warns Neville." Harry took a deep breath, "I know it's complicated but we don't want to tip off anyone by constantly being in contact."
"We are expecting Bellatrix and Rodolphus, however I suspect they'll bring a lot more and we'll have the worst of the lot. If you have no other choice termination is authorized for any target, these are proper death eaters, expect illegal curses as first choice so block with objects rather than shields. Understood?"
Everyone nodded and Harry stepped back from the table as Ron stepped up, with a flick of Shacklebolt's wand the maps changed to those of the Little Thirkleby area and the warehouse site. Ron's tactics weren't of much use to Harry so he didn't pay close attention as he went over team placement and strategies.
Eventually everything was settled and the teams got ready. Harry and Hermione setting off for St Mungo's first. She's stop at reception and wait and he'd head in to find Ginny and let her know. Shacklebolt should be talking to the head of the hospital and letting him know what was going to happen. Neville would arrive at about ten to see his parents, Derrick would wait with Hermione. Bryan's team and Lucy were just going to pop in between nine and eleven and hang around their locations.
Harry arrived in the reception area of the hospital and nodded to the welcome witch who offered a rare smile in return. He went straight through to the emergency section and found the current head, asking if Ginny was free. He was told she was in one of the treatment rooms and he went to wait outside. He didn't have to wait long and she stepped outside with the other healers shortly after he sat down.
"Ginny?" he called; she turned around and smiled then ran and jumped into his arms.
"Harry! Is the mission over already? Why weren't you home last night then?" she asked quickly.
"It's not over yet, it's why I'm here, can we talk in one of the offices?" he asked.
"Sure," she takes him into one of the offices and he silences the room, "What's wrong?"
"This doesn't leave the room, I'm not supposed to tell you, but I know you'll cause havoc if I don't, so here it is. Bellatrix is planning to raid here sometime today; she's doing it to get you, so as to distract me from another raid. We've got that raid covered and I'm here to protect you and everyone else."
"Bellatrix and the Death Eaters are coming here? Today?!" Ginny whispered.
"That's what we believe, Shacklebolt is informing the person in charge and they'll decide who needs to know, so keep this information to yourself please?"
Ginny nods slowly and they leave, Harry hovering around just chatting with staff and Ginny, waiting for the call. Rumours spread around the hospital as to why there's so many Aurors present but nothing too serious is expected. Harry's engagement to Ginny is well known in the hospital, as is the knowledge that Neville's parents are here long term. Speculation that the Auror division is goofing off during their work hours is the most popular rumour.
Harry ignored the hushed words he overheard passing through the hospital, keeping his mind on the problem at hand. He watched people brought in with serious injuries, offering his help on some cases. He was watching Ginny set some broken bones on a man injured in a broomstick accident when he got a strange feeling. He drew out the mirror and was already running for the reception area when Hermione's face appeared in the mirror.
"Harry! They're here!" Hermione's face quickly vanished again.
"Bryan!" Harry called into the mirror, bursting through doors as he rushed to the entrance as fast as he could, as soon as his face appeared he spoke quickly, "Trouble in reception."
He cancelled the mirror and put it back in his pocket, drawing his wand and bursting into the reception area, devastation already present. Spells were flying from a group of masked death eaters on one side and Hermione and Derrick behind the welcome desk. Harry aimed his wand and send a stunner at the group, it bounced off a shield and he dived aside, dodging his own spell and a pair of Cruciatus curses that followed it.
"It's Potter!" he heard them yell.
"Come to play little boy?" he heard Bellatrix call and he felt his blood boil with anger, "It's been a while, you still sore about my dear cousin?"
"Bella, you're leaving here in cuffs or in a body bag, pick now, that goes for the rest of you too." He yells loudly, distracting them long enough for Hermione and Derrick to send over a few more spells, each bouncing off shields ineffectively.
Bryan and Jacob came through the doors and sent more spells after the Death Eaters, Jacob joining the other two behind the reception desk while Bryan dived to join Harry.
"How many we got?" he asked in a hiss.
"I saw around eight, including Bellatrix." Harry replied.
"These desks won't hold if they keep hitting them with unforgivables." Bryan muttered.
Harry slid to the edge of the desk and aimed his wand at the chairs scattered around the reception floor, floating them into the air and sending about a dozen hurtling at the Death Eaters. A few were blocked but it gave them an opening and all four Aurors sent Stunning spells into the crowd. Harry waited a moment longer before ducking.
"Three down, six still standing."
"More even numbers then," Bryan replied as the end of their desk exploded, "Argh!"
"What?" Harry pulled Bryan over and saw the shards of wood sticking in his left arm, "Get to the emergency ward, least we're already at the hospital, I'll lay down some cover fire."
Harry stood and threw a few stunners, levitating some of the shards of wood and more chairs and threw them into the pack. This had less effect than last time as the Death Eaters were prepared and had shields ready for the chairs. The shards still had effect as he saw one slip through the shield and straight into the throat of one masked figure. He dodged a few beams of green light and then ducked behind the desk again. He checked and saw that Bryan had made it to safety. Glancing over at the other desk he saw the others sending a volley of spells.
He watched, almost in slow motion as they ducked back down, but Jacob was moving too slow, he got caught by an Avada Kedavra and fell down, his dead eyes staring at Harry. Neville arrived a few moments later with Lucy and Jason, they ducked down with Hermione and Derrick and the two recruits froze as they saw what had happened to Jacob.
Harry took a glance and saw the Death Eaters spreading out and moving closer. Aiming carefully he cast an accio spell on one of the furthest chairs, summoning it from behind the Death Eater and tripping him to the ground.
Harry drew a deep breath, two Death Eaters were dead, the one he just tripped looked unconscious, they had woken two of the ones who had fallen earlier thought they looked groggy. That left six still and they had four Aurors still alive and two frozen recruits. He hoped Ron's battle was faring better.