"So, let me get this straight." Sirius frowned. "You want Moony and me to infiltrate St Mungo's, extract young Longbottom's parents and bring them here so that Jor-El can try to heal them?"
Harry nodded and Sirius' stoic demeanor was replaced with a grin.
"I think we can do that, although we may need a little help."
At Harry's quizzical expression, Remus sighed. "It's best that you don't ask, pup. What you don't know, you can't be made to reveal."
Harry nodded in understanding. "Got it. You have the comm-watches?"
Both Sirius and Remus slid their left sleeves up slightly to reveal the devices in question and Harry noted with some humor that Sirius had set his to digital while Remus had the classic analogue.
"You head back to Hogwarts." Sirius added, ruffling Harry's hair. "We'll get the Longbottoms out and let Jor-El work his stuff on them. "Off you go."
"Remember, low profile." Harry shot back at him as he left and Sirius chuckled.
"It's fine. Jor-El? We may need to borrow a shuttle for this."
"Shuttle?" Remus asked in confusion. "What's a shuttle? Sirius, what are you planning?"
.
"The Dark Lord wants the Longbottoms for a ritual and to prove to the public that it's really him, since no-one else would be so bold." Nott stated to the four other Wizards in his study. "We are going to get them for him. Gregor, you'll need to take down the Portkey ward."
"Not a problem." The swarthy wizard replied without looking up from the pages that he was perusing. "With these plans, I can shut them down and then reactivate them after without anyone knowing that anything has happened."
"Kayden, you have the portkeys?"
Kayden held up a pair of necklaces and Nott gave an approving nod.
"Grabthar, Lindstrom, we need an accident in Diagon to cause a rush to provide cover for Kayden. It needs to look like an actual accident."
"We got this." The skinny wizard stated while his taller, bulkier companion nodded. "The Apothecary will provide what we need, the owner's not known for keeping things clean, so we can easily set something up."
"Good." Nott said approvingly. "Gregor, how long will you need for the wards?"
"With the Schema, about twenty minutes." Gregor replied, still perusing the documents.
"You'll have thirty, just to be on the safe side." Nott decided. "Lindstrom, how long will it take you to set up your thing?"
"Less than ten minutes." The skinny wizard replied. "Fifteen at the outside. Of course, it'll take at least another ten minutes for the emergency services to get into gear… unless someone is ready to alert them… that'll take it down to five minutes."
"It'll take me at least five minutes, probably ten or so to get to the Longbottoms." Kayden added.
"That's twenty-five minutes… Lindstrom, you'll start setting up your event ten minutes after Gregor starts. Kayden, go in with the rush and get to the Longbottoms. By the time you arrive, the ward should be down, so just Portkey them out and scarper."
Nott paused and looked round. "The Dark Lord will be quite angry if we fail, gentlemen. Let's not fail."
He looked round at them and gave a sharp nod.
"Diagon will be busiest just after noon. Therefore, that is when the operation will start. Any questions? No? Good."
.
"…and since St Mungo's is generally busiest around lunchtime, that's when we'll go." Sirius said. "Levicorpus will allow us to get them onto the roof, where the shuttle will pick us up and fly us to the Pottery. The fake bodies Jor-El's made will be used to cover for our actions."
Remus nodded, looking at the two marbles that were the transfigured lifelike dummies that they were going to replace the Longbottoms with.
"It's a good plan, but what's a shuttle?"
"You'll see." Sirius grinned. "It's cool."
"Won't the muggles see it?"
"Nope." Sirius' grin was wider. "It's invisible!"
"Really?"
Sirius nodded and Remus sighed.
"Alright. Any idea how we'll get through, though?"
"Well, you could always take a broomstick to the roof and I'll head in, telling them I need to talk to my Healer about my nutrition potions." Sirius shrugged, then he held up a pile of silvery fabric. "And recognize this?"
"James' cloak!" Remus gasped.
"Yep, Prongslet loaned it to me for this."
"If this shuttle thing really exists and can do as you say, this might work." Remus mused, then he chuckled. "You coming up with a plan that can work. How… unexpected."
"Oy!"
"But I think it would be better to avid complication, so we'll go in together..."
.
.
"Anything else we need, love?" Arthur Weasley asked and Molly looked at the list in her hand.
"Well, we could do with a fresh batch of Pepper-Up Potion since we're almost out, so I think the Apothecary to pick up a few of the ingredients would be a good idea."
Arthur nodded in agreement. "Which ones?"
"Well, the Mandrakes in the small greenhouse aren't mature enough yet, so a few leaves and some Bicorn Horn would be good… only a few leaves, I'll make a bigger batch once the Mandrakes are fully grown. By then, Poppy will be wanting some, so that'll be a few extra knuts for us."
The duo started to make their way towards the Apothecary.
"I hope that Ginny's doing alright." Molly fretted as they made their way down the crowded street. "And that Ron's keeping up with his coursewo-"
Molly's comment was cut off as the Apothecary suddenly exploded, sending splinters of wood and shards of glass scything through the lunchtime crowd. Molly instantly dropped her bags and her wand seemed to materialize in her hand.
"Arthur! Call St Mungo's!" She snapped as she raced forwards, her wand already glowing as she prepared a healing spell. Several of the other witches and wizards who hadn't been caught in the explosion were also moving to help, but most were just staring or running away screaming. Arthur didn't pause, but instead turned and sprinted down the Alley, a look of determination on his face as he headed for the Leaky Cauldron and the Floo contained therein. Shoving his way through, he grabbed at the bowl of Floo powder.
"St Mungo's!" He shouted, diving through as soon as the flames changed color.
.
"Good work." Lindstrom smirked as he and his larger friend watched the chaos from the shelter of a small alleyway. "Who knew that powdered fairy wings and Horklump juice would create such a fantastic display."
Grabthar simply grunted in agreement.
"And with the delay caused by the Horklump juice having to soak the powdered wings first… no-one will connect us with that."
Another grunt, this one a bit more complex, was the reply to Lindstrom's comment and the smaller wizard nodded.
"You're right. The longer we remain, the less likely we are to remain unsuspected. Come, my good fellow, let us depart back to the Manor to celebrate the successful completion of our part of the plan."
Grabthar shook his head and made a groaning sound.
"Well… you could be right. Let's go."
The duo vanished down the alley, leaving only the echoes of the screams of the wounded and dying in their wake.
.
Sirius and Remus emerged from the Floo and walked across the entrance foyer with the strides of those who knew exactly what they were doing and were fully authorized to do it. No-one even gave them a second look as they walked to the lift, where the lift-wizard looked at them.
"Fourth floor, please." Sirius stated and the wizard nodded as he pulled on a lever.
"Right you are, gentlemen." He said and Remus blinked at the sight of Arthur Weasley almost erupting from the Floo and running straight to the Reception Desk as the lift doors closed, blocking his view.
"I wonder what Arthur's doing here?" He mused to himself as the lift started to rise.
.
Clad not in wizarding robes but a long duster, jeans and a shirt, Kayden checked his pocket watch again. Looking round at the milling crowds of Muggles that he was using as cover (and whom he couldn't wait to start hunting under the leadership of Lord Voldemort… those disgusting parodies of Wizardkind had no right to live), he started to drift towards the concealed entrance to St Mungo's, the ironically named false store Purge and Dowse. Pausing in the entryway, he looked at the mannikin standing just the other side of the glass.
"Visiting a friend."
The mannikin nodded and Kayden stepped through the no-longer-solid door. On the other side was the Reception area, already bursting into life as the Healers reacted to the shouting of a red-headed man by grabbing bags being thrown to them by the Welcome Witch and racing for the Floo.
Edging round the frantic crowds, Kayden made his way to the stairs and slipped through the swinging doors. Pacing himself, he jogged up the deserted flights, quickly reaching the fourth floor in no more than two-dozen steps thanks to the Hogwarts-inspired spells that permeated the stairwell.
Sidling through the door, he looked round, then he felt the slight shiver that marked the deactivation of the Portkey Ward.
"Well done, Gregor." He smirked, then he ducked back into the stairwell as the lift chimed.
.
"Fourth floor, gentlemen." The aged lift-wizard said as the doors opened.
"Thank you." Remus said politely as he and Sirius exited. "Okay, you distract the Healer if he's around, I'll move them to the fire escape and put the decoys in place."
Sirius nodded as he opened the door, then he paused, a huge grin on his face.
"Mirrie?"
The female Healer turned and beamed at Sirius.
"Siri! I heard that you'd been found innocent!"
Sirius bounded over and hugged the shorter witch. "It's been too long! how are you? Are you still single? Did you ever get the hang of plant identification? Can I take you out for dinner… and maybe breakfast?"
"Still the horn-dog, I see." Mirian giggled from Sirius' arms. "My shift ends in a few hours, so dinner would be nice and yes, I'm still single."
"Not found anyone who could measure up to me?" Sirius preened as Remus took advantage of the distraction to pull the curtains shielding the last two beds from view. "Well, perhaps I can demonstrate what I've learned since Hogwarts."
Mirian blushed and stepped back to give Sirius a small shoulder-shove. "You have a one-track mind. Don't you ever stop joking around?"
"What do you mean?" Black asked, a hurt expression on his face. "I'm always Sirius!"
Mirian shook her head as she laughed.
.
Remus paid no attention to his friend's flirting with one of his former girlfriends as he quickly levitated Frank and Alice Longbottom onto the chairs beside their beds, then placed the marbles in their places, cancelling the transfigurations on them in order to revert them into the apparently-living decoys. The texture of light changed and Remus looked up, seeing a hatch open up in mid-air centimeters away from the window. Taking it as his cue, he opened the window in preparation for transferring Frank and Alice into the waiting invisible shuttle outside.
.
Kayden peeped through the slightly-ajar door and his lip curled as he saw Sirius Black talking to the Healer. Palming his wand, he took several deep breaths, then he flung the door open.
"Depulso! Bombarda!"
The first spell caught the duo by surprise, flinging them backwards and causing his second spell to just miss them, travelling the length of the ward and impacting on the back wall. The Healer impacted against one of the beds and lay still but Black rolled to his feet, his wand already in his hand while a second man appeared from where the Longbottoms were being kept.
"Confundo! Bombarda! Expelliarmus!" Kayden launched the spells as rapidly as he could, jumping sideways to throw off the return fire, then a white flash lit the room and both men fell.
"Looks like we arrived just in time." Lindstrom said as he stepped into the room. "Use the Portkeys while I obliviate the last few minutes from these two, then we can get out of here."
Kayden nodded gratefully and pulled the necklaces out of his pocket as he ran towards the beds where his two targets lay. It was merely the work of a moment before the necklaces were in place and Kayden spoke the activation phrase.
"Trueborn victory."
The pair of insensate magicals seemed to turn and shrink in an eye-twisting blur and Kayden nodded.
"Done!"
"As are we." Lindsorm stated. "Come, let us depart, lest they awaken before we can make our escape."
Lying behind one of the beds, Remus watched them depart, grateful for the spell-resistance that being a werewolf granted.