A/N: Everything you recognize belongs to JK Rowling. Would I be writing this otherwise?
Thanks for the reviews. You guys rock. I wanted to dedicate this chapter to LianLeviathan who `gave a kind of strangled yelp when I reached the end of this chapter and co-workers were asking if I was ok' for reading this at work and not getting in trouble. Thanks!
I had to laugh at one of the reviews. Someone asked (quite sarcastically, of course) what the costumes looked like for the "Wonder Witches", and would they have a secret cave to meet and "primp" each other up before going out to fight crime. That was hilarious, so thanks for the laughs!! But, no, (sorry to disappoint) there are no Wonder Witches; and I'll leave the cave to Batman and Robin. (Maybe I'll save the name and write some sort of Saturday Night Live type of parody!) Oh, and it also mentions that men can also be strong and why were they sitting at the bar? TEAM work pretty much works that way, and not everyone can be doing something useful at the same time. Not sure if Rudolph would have fallen for the boys dancing close together (OMG, now that image in forever printed on my mind, and to quote Phoebe from "Friends" `Oh, my eyes, my eyes')
So, without further ado, here's chapter 8, and the Wonder Wizards, ahem, I mean the DA gentlemen will see more action in this one.
The Rescue
Harry felt the Snitch charm on his neck warm up. He touched it with his fingers and lowered his head to his chest. "Phillip, the girls have managed to put Rudolph down. We're moving in. Give us another half-hour and we'll figure a way to let you in through the back. Be ready with your men to move."
Ron noticed he was speaking quietly. "Is it done?"
"Yes, he's down. Let's move."
He nodded and they got up from the bar. Neville and Dean would follow in a few minutes so it wouldn't look suspicious. There were also a couple of Special Forces officers in the club. Harry nodded lightly at them as they passed them by.
Everything was in motion now, and he was hoping to get to George in the next hour or so. He wanted nothing more than to rescue him and take Hermione back home. There was so much he wanted to do to her body she wouldn't be able to get up for days! The thought of having her in his arms again made his blood pressure go up. George's kidnapping had sure cut short his weekend plans and he was ready to make someone pay for it. How dare they interrupt something he had wanted for so long?
"You okay, mate?" Ron asked worriedly when he saw the strange look on his friends face.
"Sorry. My mind was elsewhere for a moment. Everything's fine."
Ron nodded as they reached the stairs. They saw Neville and Dean heading their way. The two officers weren't far behind. When the group was together, Harry looked around them to make sure they weren't being watched.
"I'm going to go up first. Give me just one minute and then follow me. I'm going to stun the guards and then I'll need help moving them into the office."
The rest of the group nodded, and although the officers weren't really sure Harry could take out the huge guards on his own, they didn't voice a protest. Phillip had told them these guys were some sort of special force that dealt a lot different than theirs and not to be surprised by what they saw tonight. They had even signed a contract stating that if they talked about what they saw, they would lose their jobs and licenses. They were both married with kids and were in no hurry to mess up their careers by talking too much.
Harry walked up the stairs and noticed the two guards leaning against the balcony rail, looking down at the mass of moving bodies below. Harry approached quietly and was close to them before they noticed.
"Hey, this part of the club is off limits, so get lost, punk," the bigger one said rudely.
"I'm sorry, but I was told the bathroom was up here," Harry said innocently.
"They told you wrong. It's downstairs, towards the back of the club," the other guard said in a polite voice, looking sideways at his partner.
"Okay. Sorry to disturb you mates! I'll be on my way." Harry said and turned to leave. Then he turned back around and smiled at them. "Before I go though, I'd like to get my girlfriend out of that office there," he said pointing at the door behind them.
Both guards were now standing up and walking towards him. "I said to get lost," the bigger one said flexing his hands.
"Fine, then, have it your way." He lifted his hand and waved it at him. He fell to the ground immediately.
"What the fuck did you just do?" asked the other one looking at his partner laying on the floor and starting to back away.
"The same thing I'm going to do to you if you don't start talking right away. Seems like your boss had one of my very good friends kidnapped, and another beat up. I didn't appreciate that much. Now you're going to tell me where he is or I'm going to hurt you," Harry said as he moved closer to the man.
"And he's not alone," Harry heard Ron say behind him.
The guard looked behind Harry and gulped when he saw the rest of them. He pulled a gun out of a holster inside his jacked but before he could do something with it, Ron lifted his wand and the gun snapped out of the guy's hand. Ron then made the gun turn around in the air and point directly at the guards head. His eyes widened in fear and he fell to his knees, shaking all over.
"I'll tell you all you need to know, but don't kill me please," he begged.
Ron made the gun move his way and handed it to one of the officers with them. "Here, you can have this as evidence."
Harry was smiling at the look on their faces. "Phillip did tell you we work differently, didn't he?"
They nodded. "Yeah, he just didn't explain exactly what that meant."
"We're wizards, and we work with wands and magic. We don't hurt anyone unless we really have to. We've been part of the DA, or special force as Phillip said, since we were fifteen," Harry explained proudly. Merlin, but he had missed the excitement of the hunt! How was he going to go back to playing quidditch after this? he wondered for a moment.
"You have two choices," Ron said to them. "You can keep what you see tonight a secret, or we can modify your memory and you won't remember a thing. You choose."
"Relax, buddy, we have no intention of losing our jobs over this. I don't care how you do it as long as we can get Jones in jail for good."
"Wise choice," Neville told them as he moved towards Harry. "Let's get these goons inside and get George. I'd like to enjoy the rest of the weekend if you don't mind!"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Have you heard anything more," Fred asked Parvati as he tried to sit up. Seamus got up from his chair and helped him.
"Not yet, Fred. The last thing we heard was that they knew who was behind this and were going to some club."
"Looks like your employee Robert Bondelli was involved in this also," Seamus told him.
"That little rat's arse," Fred said angrily. "I knew he was trouble. I kept telling George we needed to get rid of him. He was acting strange the past couple of days and it made me uneasy."
"From what Harry explained, he must have drugged you and George in order to put you down like that."
"I'm going to kick his arse! How dare he!"
"Now, calm down, Fred. They have everything under control over there. Bondelli's in custody already and he's cooperating with authorities. It won't be long before they find George." Parvati waved her wand and a tray with tea and biscuits appeared on a small table by the bed.
"I want to go help," Fred said suddenly.
"You're too weak," Parvati said as she handed him a cup of tea.
"She's right, mate, you have to rest. Besides, they're also working with the muggle Special Forces."
"I feel better," Fred insisted and tried to get up. His head started spinning immediately. Parvati grabbed the cup from his hand before he spilled the hot liquid on himself and Seamus helped him settled back down on the bed.
"See?" she said politely.
"Fred, can you still communicate with George mentally?" Seamus asked. "Maybe if you can reach him, and reassure him help is on the way, he'll feel a bit better and so will you."
"That's a great idea, Fred. Maybe you can ask him to give you a description of his surroundings and how many people are with him. That way the others will be prepared," Parvati suggested.
"You're right! Why didn't I think of that before," Fred said excitedly as he closed his eyes and focused all of his energy into making contact with his brother.
"Fred?" came the weak response.
"Of course, you git! Who else would be able to poke around in that big head of yours?" he asked smiling and heard George chuckle.
"Where are you?" George asked worriedly a moment later.
"In Harry's and Hermione's cottage with Parvati and Seamus. I'm fine, don't worry about me. It's you we're worried about. Harry and the DA are on this, bro, and they're going to find you soon," Fred said reassuringly.
"I'm glad to hear that. It's cold in here and I don't have a jacket. And my head feels like it's going to explode."
"Where are you?"
"Not sure, Fred. Some sort of lab. I guess they think I'm going to make the drugs into candy here, but they have another thing coming."
"Are you hurt?"
"Oh, you mean besides the black eyes, the cut lip, and the aches and pains all over?"
"Damn that Robert Bondelli. I'm really going to kick his sorry arse for doing this."
"He's in on this? Why, that little weasel! How do you know?"
Fred filled him in as much as he could. "Are there a lot of people with you?"
"Quite a few, but most are wearing white robes, so I'm assuming they work here. But there's also some guys walking in and out of the building and they are armed."
"Can you tell how many? I want to let Harry know."
"At least six, but there could be more."
"Are you free or do they have you tied down?"
"I'm inside some sort of room, but they took my wand. You know I've never quite gotten good at wandless magic."
"That's okay. You know Harry and Hermione are the only ones that are really good at it. Oh, by the way, they finally got together this weekend! Figures this would happen and interrupt their weekend away," Fred said and laughed.
"Oh, fuck, Harry is going to be hurting someone bad! The poor chap has been pinning after her for years and I'm sure he was tired of the many cold showers he took. Oh, yeah, these guys are going down!" George said laughing as well.
"As much as I'm enjoying this chat, I have to get in touch with Harry, George. As soon as I know more, I'll contact you again. Keep safe, okay? I love you, bro," Fred finished with sentiment.
"I love you too, you big baboon! I'll see you soon,"
Fred wiped a small tear that escaped the corner of his eye and Seamus and Parvati pretended not to notice.
"How is he?" she asked when she was sure Fred had composed himself.
"He's cold, but seems to be doing okay." Fred filled him in on the rest.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Hermione heard the door opening and looked up from her position behind the desk, where she was going through some files. They had found a safe hidden under some lose planks on the floor and had opened it to reveal the evidence they needed against Jones.
Harry walked in and smiled sweetly at her. He came over to her side of the desk and pulled her up. Without giving her time to speak, and not caring that their friends were there, he kissed her passionately. It was the whistles and catcalls that finally made him pull away. He smiled when he noticed she was slightly dazed.
"Missed you," he said simply.
"Mmm, I think I'm going to go away a bit more often if that's the reaction it has on you," she said finally in control of herself.
"Oh, no, you won't. When this is over, I'm not letting you out of my sight for months!"
Ron cleared his throat. "If the lovebirds are done, can we get on with this?"
Harry smiled at her before turning around. He noticed that the girls had tied Rudolph to a chair and he was still out. Ginny and Luna were going over some papers on the couch and Lavender was searching through a file cabinet in one corner.
"Did you find what Phillip needs?"
"Yes! The evidence was hidden on a safe under the floorboards. That's why they didn't find it before. But everything is here and there's no way he'll get away with it now," Hermione told him proudly.
"I'm going to get Phillip in here and let his guys handle this part. We need to get George."
"You're right. Here, hand him this as well," Hermione said handing him some folded papers.
"What it is, love?"
"The papers he will need to conduct a legal search of the premises. I figured if he didn't have that, Jones would get out on a mere technicality and we can't let that happen," she explained.
"You really are a genius, Mione." He said looking at her proudly.
"So I've been told all my life!" she joked.
"And a comedian to boot!" Ron said smiling at her. She winked at him and went back to the files.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Harry handed the papers to Phillip at the back door and he looked surprised. "When did you find time to get a judge to sign these at this hour?"
"I didn't. Hermione pulled them out of thin air," he said and smiled at the man.
"Is it legal? Will it hold up in court?"
"Hermione never does anything unless it's perfect. If she says it will work, it will. She's just good like that. Remember she was brought up as a muggle and she know how the system works on both ends."
"I can't believe this! You have no idea what this means, mate."
"We're going to leave all of this in your capable hands, Phillip. We're going with one of the guards to where they have George. Once we get him out, you can raid that place as well."
"Sounds like a plan." He turned around and gave his officers instructions. Then they followed Harry back into the club.
They attracted a lot of attention as they walked in. When a couple of bouncers approached them flexing their muscles, Phillip wiped out his batch and they stopped. They knew better at that point. While some officers started working on getting the people out and the staff into one place for questioning, Harry and Phillip walked up the stairs.
By then, the other guard had been moved inside and was leaning against a wall, his hands tied behind his back. His face still registered surprise. Rudolph Jones was just beginning to stir. When he opened his eyes, he started cursing and asking questions at once. He was beyond mad.
Ron walked up to him and slapped him with the back of his hand a couple of times. "Shut it, you fuck. Tell me where my brother is?"
"Go to hell," Jones said furiously.
Ron took a deep breath and started to turn around. Before Jones could react, Ron turned right back around and punched him so hard that the chair toppled backwards. Dean and Neville put the chair back up and Neville slapped the back of Jones's head hard. Jones was bleeding profusely from his nose.
"You broke my nose, you arse," he screamed.
Ron got close enough that their noses were almost touching. "Listen to me, Jones. I'm going to break every bone in your body if you don't tell me where George is."
"I'm not telling you shit."
Ron grabbed him by his hair and pulled his head back, feeling satisfaction when Jones gasped in pain. "Hermione, give him the serum before I kill him," Ron said calmly.
She walked over to him with a small bottle in her hand. Ron forced Jones mouth open as Hermione opened the bottle. She poured a bit of the liquid into Jones's mouth and Ron closed it before he had a chance to spit it out. Within seconds his demeanor changed.
"Now, you fuck, tell me what you did with George."
Phillip was amazed at how quickly Jones started to tell them everything.
"Here," Hermione said as she handed him a tape recorder she had transformed from one of the radios. "You need all the evidence you can get. And for the record, we saw him attack first and that's how he ended with a bloody nose. The last thing you need is a charge of police brutality on your hands."
"You guys are nothing short of amazing. I'm going to forever be in your debt."
"Someday you might have to help us out with something, so don't worry about it."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
While they interrogated Jones, Parvati made contact with them. Fred told them about his conversation with George.
"We're heading their way now. We just got the address out of Jones. Make sure to let George know it won't be long now," Harry told him.
"Thanks mate. You have no idea how much I appreciate this,"
"You would do the same for me," Harry said and disconnected the call.
Harry walked over to the guard that had cooperated with them so far. "I want you to take all of us to this lab where they're keeping our friend."
He nodded and looked around in apprehension.
"You saw what happened to Jones, so I hope you're smarter and cooperate," Luna told him sweetly. "When my boyfriend gets mad, there's no telling what he'll do. It's the red hair and his mother's blood. Quite a combination if you ask me!" she finished giggling.
They all smiled at her as they gathered their things and started walking out of the office.
"I think we should change before heading out," Hermione said as they descended the stairs.
"Why?" Harry asked giving her body a slow once-over. "I think you look fantastic."
"Be that as it may, these are hardly the clothes to do a rescue in. Charlie's Angels we're not."
"Who are they?" Ginny asked coming behind her. "I've never heard of them before."
"Oh, sorry. It's a muggle show that was later made into two movies. I'll have to show you sometime."
"Sounds good. But she's right, Harry. We can't very well go on a rescue mission wearing mini-dresses and high heels."
"Fine, go in the van and change quickly before we go. But you only have five minutes."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
They came out of the van later, and Harry had to look at them in amazement. They still made a striking group dressed in skintight jeans and t-shirts. Their wands were strapped at their thighs and their hair had been pulled back into ponytails. Hermione was wrong, he though, Charlie's Angels had nothing on them!
"We're ready," she said looking at the guard. "Let's go."
"We can take the limo on the back. No one would suspect if we arrive that way. I'll tell them we're bringing you over to help the other bloke."
"See how easy this can be?" Dean told him. "The more you cooperate, the easier things will be for you down the road. I'll make sure to tell my cousin if you do as we say."
"Look, I have a wife and she's due with our first child any time now. I had no idea what I was getting into. I've only work for Jones a couple of weeks and things didn't seem right, but I needed the money," he explained as he hung his head in shame.
"What's her name?" Lavender asked him as they settled inside the limo.
"Rose," he said and his expression changed. He was a man in love.
"And yours?"
"My name is Mathew."
"Well, Mathew, if you help us get George out unhurt, I promise you personally that your name will be cleared and we'll even help you find a job," Harry promised.
Mathew smiled at him gratefully and nodded.
Since it was a bit crowded inside of the limousine, Harry pulled Hermione onto his lap. Ron did the same with Luna, and Neville with Ginny. Dean's cheeks turned a bright shade of pink as he was about to get in and the guys smiled knowingly at him. He seemed to have it bad for Lavender. When she saw his hesitation, she motioned him over.
"Here, I'll scoot over and make room for you."
He did as she asked, but it was still a tight fit since Mathew took up a lot of the seat. After that, they were on their way.
Hermione burrowed closer to Harry and kissed his cheek. "When this is over, I'm going to take a week off work so we can go on holiday together. The coast of France is beginning to sound delightful," she whispered in his ear. "I can't wait to have you all to myself again, Mr. Potter. Oh, the things I plan to do to you," she purred as her tongue darted out and licked his ear seductively. He swallowed hard and pulled back slightly.
"Stop that, you witch, or the others are going to notice the effect you have on me," he whispered back.
"Mmm, is that so?" she asked as she licked his earlobe again.
"Yes," he mumbled desperately.
The others had noticed and started laughing. He blushed furiously and as gently as he could, he pulled her back and away from him. She had the nerve to laugh as she settled back against his chest. Ginny and her exchanged a knowing grin.
Hermione decided to behave the rest of the way. About twenty minutes later, the limo stopped in front of what appeared to be an old warehouse.
"Let me get out first and talk to the guards. I would suggest you put your wands away where they can't be seen or they'll suspect something is wrong," Mathew told them as he opened the door. "And don't worry with another warning; I know what's at stake here."
Harry nodded at him and he got out. When he did, Hermione waved her hand around and all of their holsters became invisible. Not five minutes later, Mathew was back as promised.
"I told them I was giving you a tour of the place at Rudolph's command. They didn't question me. But we have to move quickly. One of them is bound to call the club to confirm and when they find out I lied, all hell's going to come down on us."
"Oh, no worries then," Ron said nonchalantly. "Mathew, we already went to hell, conquered it, and came back wearing the t-shirt. This is going to be a piece of cake, mate" he said smiling as they all got out of the limo.
"Why don't I even want to ask?" Mathew said wincing.
"Believe me, you don't want to know," Neville said as he walked passed him and slapped him lightly on the back.
They all started walking over to the building, and Harry noticed the guards moved a bit closer and watched their every move. Mathew reached the door and a burly guard that was standing in front of it moved to the side, but he also kept a watchful eye on them.
"Thanks, Bart," Mathew said to the man as they moved in.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Hermione had to admit that she was impressed. What appeared from the outside as a shabby, decrepit building was in reality a state of the art lab. There were as good as twenty people wearing white robes and working at several stainless steel tables. There were armed guards at all of the doors. So far she had counted eight, plus the six that were outside.
She was already making calculations as they walked further in. She noticed the chemists were working on several different pills. Her anger began to rise as the implications of what she saw became clear. These people were getting rich out of hundreds of innocent lives that got hooked on the pills and saw no end to their addictions.
"How are we going to stun them all at once without hurting the people in white robes?" Harry asked her softly.
"We'll each have to stun one. And we have to do it at the same time and no one can miss."
"You don't ask for much, eh, Mione," Ron whispered.
"There's no other way. If we don't take them out all at once, they're bound to shot at us and believe me, you don't want that. Spells and bullets have very different effects on people. And they have machine guns, which are even more dangerous."
"Mathew, is there an office where we can meet for about two minutes?" Harry asked looking around. The guards inside seemed to be getting a bit restless and the chemists were looking scared.
"There's a conference room through that door on the left. We can go in there, but remember our time limits."
They walked in and stayed close together. Hermione looked at them expectantly and took a deep breath.
"We have to do this together at once and failure is not an option. When we go back out there, we're going to walk around the tables and position ourselves as close to the guards as possible. If we don't stun them all at once, people can die."
She hated to be the one pointing that out, especially when they had all confronted death so many times before, but there was no other choice. They all looked a bit anxious and that was to be expected since they were out of their element.
"I'm going to yell `get down' after I make eye contact with all of you. Before that, make sure to tell as many people as you can to obey when I say that. At that point, you have to stun the guard closest to you," Harry said and they all nodded.
"Mathew, why don't you stay here and out of harms way?" Neville suggested and he was more than happy to oblige.
"Once we have the guards down, we'll have a few minutes to get to George and we have no idea where he can be," Harry continued. "Neville and Dean, as soon as the stunning is done, make sure to watch all the doors so the guards outside can't come in for a while. If they try, drop them like the rest."
Hermione handed Mathew a radio. "Call Phillip and tell him how to get here with lots of reinforcements as soon as possible. He's going to need them. Tell him everything we've seen so far and about the guards outside."
"Okay, I'll call him right now," he said as he sat down and tried to make contact.
"Let's go then," Harry said and they all nodded.
Right before he walked out the door, he turned to face Hermione. "I love you, Mione."
"I love you, too, Harry," she said back and smiled at him. He could have melted had there not been another pressing matter at hand.
Luna slapped the back of Ron's head when he made a gagging motion. Harry smiled his thanks at her.
He opened the door, and as casually as they could they started spreading around, all wandering around the different tables as if interested in the work that was being done. Hermione went as far as asking a few questions. They did this for a good ten minutes before Harry decided it was time.
Harry kept an eye out and when he noticed that everyone was in a good enough position, he started making eye contact with his friends. He left Hermione for last and when he looked at her, she winked reassuringly at him. He moved his hand to his thigh and grabbed his wand.
"Get down!" he screamed and as the chemists dropped to the floor as he had asked, he heard the chorus of spells as he stunned the guard that was closest to him. He hadn't counted on the guards also getting down, but from what he could see, they had gotten them all.
Dean and Neville then moved close to the front door and were prepared to stun anyone that came in. The chemists were all cowering between the tables and some of them were even crying.
"Get all of these people in the conference room," Hermione told Luna and Lavender. "Ginny, let's go get your brother."
"We'll take this side of the building," Harry said to Ron and the four of them started opening all the doors.
They reached the last door at the same time and Ginny tried to open it. It was locked, but Harry said a quick spell and unlocked it. She pushed the door in and on the other side was a smiling George.
"Oi! About time you lot got here! What were you waiting for, Christmas?"
-->