Peverell Beach House, Cornwall, 9/5/1992, 15:59
Harry was down at the beach with the twins enjoying a quiet Saturday. He was currently sitting on a lounger while they played in the waves enjoying the last days of warm days of summer.
The first few days of term had gone rather smoothly, in his opinion. The Weasley twins seemed to have calmed and were not causing trouble in his lessons and he had taken on three N.E.W.T students which was an improvement from the previous year.
Harry had an interesting morning, he had gotten a letter from his account manager. Long-Blade was informing him that Gringotts had sold off all of his shares in Nimbus brooms as he had instructed them to do a decade ago. He had made a pretty handsome profit because of a bit of foreknowledge. Come December, the bottom was going to drop out of Nimbus brooms when the Firebolt made its debut.
He had honestly forgotten about making the investment but he certainly was pleased with the outcome. It would easily fund any additions Bella made to her own business without dipping into their vault. They may be moderately wealthy but that didn't mean that Harry wasn't conscious of his spending.
Tonight he and Bellatrix planned to go looking around Leeds to see if the ministry had succeeded in purging the city of vampires. Harry very much doubted that they had gotten rid of them all but wanted to have a look anyway.
"Daddy, are you asleep?" Carina's voice cut into his thoughts.
"Of course not Princess," Harry said as he gazed over at his children who were both sipping frosted glasses of lemonade.
"Iggy says he saw a giant squid," Carina said as she sat crosslegged on the towel that was spread out under a large umbrella not far from Harry's lounger.
"I said that I thought I saw a squid," Iggy hastily corrected his sister as he sat down beside her.
"Giant squids like deep water so I doubt there would be one this close to shore, son," Harry pointed out as he sat up and threw his legs off of his lounger before reaching down into the pail full of drinks buried in ice.
"There is one at Hogwarts," Iggy argued.
"That squid is magical," Harry pointed out as he vanished the top off a butterbeer and took a deep fortifying drink.
"Do students swim in the lake at Hogwarts?" Carina asked curiously.
"In the last weeks of the term they sometimes take a dip in the lake," Harry said as he spotted his wife crossing the beach with her sisters walking on either side of her.
"Looks like Mum's back from Aunt Cissa's," Iggy said.
"Indeed," Harry smiled as he and Bella made eye contact from across the beach.
"She brought Aunt Cissa with her, I wonder if this is about Iggy's ballet lessons," Carina smirked.
"That was supposed to be a secret, Princess," Harry said when he saw the annoyed look on Iggy's face.
"Please tell me you're joking, Dad," Iggy said giving Harry a pleading look.
"I'm joking son," Harry said with no real sincerity in his voice.
Before Iggy could say anything else the sisters Black joined them.
"What mischief are you three up to?" Bella asked as she conjured herself a lounger beside Harry's.
"Watching over our disruptive children, of course," Harry beamed.
"We haven't been disruptive," Iggy protested.
You make us sound like a couple of hooligans, Daddy," Carina admonished.
"That's an apt description," Bella smirked
"So how are you two this afternoon?" Harry asked as he glanced over at his sister-in-laws who were both sitting on their own conjured loungers.
"Quite well we just finished up refurnishing your manor," Narcissa said as she helped herself to one of the butterbeers.
"And reset the enchantments in the kitchen and pantries," Andi added as she transfigured her robes into a one-piece swimsuit.
"I also contacted the goblins about transporting my workshop to Leeds," Bellatrix beamed as she turned her robes into a bikini.
"Excellent, that means I can go and set up one of the greenhouses for the snakes pretty soon," Harry said as he offered Bella and Andromeda each a butterbeer.
"Cissa is trying to talk me into building an aviary," Bella giggled.
"The snakes would love that," Harry smirked.
"Which is why I never let you bring those serpents anywhere near my birds," Narcissa said primly.
"Citrine is too small to hunt birds, Aunt Cissa," Carina protested as she stroked the tiny snake's head.
"No, she isn't, Princess. As soon as she develops her state Cotrine can take birds right out of the sky," Harry corrected.
"And when does a basilisk develop its stare?" Andromeda asked warily.
"On a bred basilisk, three years give or take. On a natural-born basilisk it is unknown," Harry admitted.
"And which kind is Citrine?" Andromeda asked.
"She is a natural-born basilisk, her mother was Salazar Slytherin's familiar," Harry said noticing her daughter was listening intently.
"So you have no idea when she will develop her death stare?" Bella asked sharply.
"No but basilisks only use it when they are hunting or feel threatened," Harry assured her.
"You mean they can control it?" Narcissa asked in surprise.
"Of course, they are actually quite gentle creatures," Harry said as Athena slithered out from under his chair.
§You are always talking about the noisy hatchling§, Athena hissed in a petulant tone as she slithered up his chair.
§We were talking about her death stare§, Harry chuckled as he strokes Athena's head.
§If only Athena had a death stare, I would visit the red twins who turned me pink§, Athena crooned as she luxuriated under Harry's attention.
§You are quite deadly enough as you are§, Harry pointed out noticing his wife was giving him a questioning look.
"Athena wishes that she had a death stare," Harry said with an exasperated shake of his head.
"I'm glad she doesn't or Nymphadora would have been killed on that first trip to Black Island," Andromeda muttered.
"Not to mention Sirius though that wouldn't be much of a loss," Narcissa muttered just loud enough for Harry to hear her.
§I would be the queen of all serpents if I had a death stare§, Athena said wistfully as she began to fall into a restful sleep soaking up the sun's rays and Harry's attention.
"So how much green and silver is the manor decorated in?" Harry asked as he looked over at his wife.
"Very little," Bella assured him.
"Just the drawing room, the ballroom, the entrance hall, the dining rooms and most of the guest bedrooms," Narcissa assured him with a teasing smile.
"Well as long as you didn't go overboard?" Harry snorted.
"We didn't. I think we decorated your manor quite tastefully," Andromeda cut in.
Harry watched the twins make a hasty retreat for the waves as the conversation shifted to interior decoration, not that he could blame them.
"I'm confident it will look quite nice," Harry said smiling at his sister-in-law.
"So how are things at Hogwarts?" Narcissa asked with interest.
"Minus the excitement over Alice Longbottom taking the defence post, everything has been pretty calm," Harry shrugged.
"Good. Bella tells me that you two are going out to Leeds tonight," Narcissa said giving him a questioning look.
"We thought we would see if the ministry overlooked any vampires in the city," Harry shrugged.
"And you're leaving the kids with us?" Andromeda asked sounding amused.
"If you wouldn't mind," Harry beamed.
"You certainly dumped Nymphadora on us enough," Bella added.
"She liked spending time with her uncle," Andi defended.
"When she wasn't flying my broom through the house, she was usually well-behaved," Harry said fairly.
"I guess I can watch the twins tonight," Andi said with a put-upon sigh.
"I think I should be consulted before you accept, you are staying at Malfoy Manor, Andi," Narcissa pointed out.
"I thought you loved children, Cissa?" Bella asked innocently.
"I do but I still like to be asked," Narcissa shrugged.
"Oh quit being difficult, sister," Bella sighed dramatically.
"Will you watch the children tonight, Cissa?" Harry asked politely hoping to avoid an argument starting between the two sisters.
"Of course, Harry. All you had to do was ask," Narcissa answered shooting Harry a winning smile.
"Even as old as you are, you can still be a real brat sometimes," Andi sighed as she looked over at Narcissa.
"How dare you use the 'O' word in reference to me," Narcissa exclaimed as she narrowed her eyes at Andi.
"Notice she didn't dispute being called a brat," Bella giggled.
The rest of the afternoon was spent by the beach just enjoying the fine weather. Dinner was served at the picnic tables they usually used for get-togethers.
Around Sunset Andi and Narcissa left and took the twins and Citrine with them. The children as always were excited on the rare occasion they spent the night with their aunts as Cissa tended to spoil them a bit.
As soon as the twins had stepped through the floo Harry and Bella made their way up to the master bedroom to prepare for their hunting trip.
Harry had requisitioned a couple of the garlic gas grenades from Sirius just in case they did stumble onto a vampire den but he was hoping that he wouldn't need them.
Leeds, England, 9/5/1992, 22:39
Harry and Bellatrix walked down the pavement next to a busy city street keeping their eyes open for any activities that would hint at vampires in the area.
So far they hadn't seen any of the signs associated with vampires living nearby. According to his readings, vampires preferred living in areas of large cities that had tall towers or large buildings to the east and west to block out sunrise and sunset extending the length of time they could roam about.
If this particular location did not yield results, he would begin searching abandoned buildings for signs of vampire habitation. There were also rumoured to be tunnels under the city square from an old subway project that was abandoned at the onset of the second world war which would be a prime spot for vampires to congregate.
"I don't see anything," Bellatrix said sounding almost disappointed.
"Me neither, maybe the ministry actually did clear the area," Harry said reasonably.
"That would very much surprise me," Bella snorted as they came to a dead end in the alley they had been walking down.
"It may be a good idea to cancel the spell, they may come to us," Harry suggested.
They were both using a spell that silenced the sound of their heartbeat making it more difficult for vampires to detect their presence.
"No. If Bella sees a vampire it will be as the hunter, not as prey," Bella said flatly.
"Alright, let's take a look around that old mill by the river," Harry suggested.
"Okay, but if we find any vampires, they're mine," Bella said matter-of-factly.
"Of course, Dear," Harry smiled as he offered her his arm.
An hour later they stepped out of the old Hunslet Mill feeling disappointed at their lack of progress. They had searched the massive mill though Harry wasn't all that surprised that they had found signs of vampires here. The factory had rows of windows on every floor that would no doubt let in large amounts of sunlight during the daytime.
"I am getting tired," Bellatrix sighed as they crossed the large lawn heading towards the river.
"So am I," Harry admitted as he came to a stop at the riverbank.
"We may have to call it a night," Harry suggested.
"I still want to search City Square for the entrance to those tunnels you told me about," Bellatrix said giving him a pointed look.
"Okay but let's make it quick, it's almost two o 'clock," Harry said after checking his watch.
"Bella will be quick," his wife assured him.
"Excellent," Harry beamed as he offered her his arm for a second time that evening.
Harry and Bella made their way through the dark and dusty tunnels under the city of Leeds.
Finding the entrance to the abandoned tunnels wasn't all that difficult. There was a small set of metal doors set into an old retaining wall near an old post office that led into a crawlspace-like tunnel. The tiny tunnel which Harry assumed was an air shaft led downward at a steep angle. After crawling on their hands and knees for fifty feet or so the tunnel merged into a tunnel big enough for two trains to run through. The tunnel they were in was about ten feet off of the floor of the main tunnel and Harry had been forced to conjure a rope for them to climb down.
After they were both on the main tunnel floor Harry cast an overpowered lumos maxima and looked around at the massive brick-lined tunnel in amazement.
"I'll be damned, there actually is a tunnel down here," Harry muttered as he held up his wand to cast his wand light a bit further trying to avoid the abundance of spiderwebs hanging from the tunnel ceiling.
"There is more than just these tunnels, that looks like a station," Bella mused.
Harry turned in the direction she indicated and spotted a boarding platform though it looked like it had never been fully constructed. Harry could see the rotting framework of old wood bracings on the walls and ceiling. It looked as if they had only finished pouring the concrete for the walls and ceiling when they abandoned the construction project.
Harry made his way to the platform noticing quite a few footprints on the dusty tunnel floor, many of them looking to belong to a child.
"I think this may be it," Harry muttered so Bella could barely hear him.
"I agree, these tracks are fresh," Bella said as she scanned the room they were in for any signs of movement.
Harry studied the footprints and saw that they were leading to a stairwell that went up towards the street above them.
Harry and Bella made their way to the stairwell and slowly began to climb upward noting the walls and ceiling of the stairwell were tiled and that there was even a handrail set into the wall making Harry think the floor above was probably in a completed state.
A horrid smell began to permeate the air the further up the stairs they climbed, it was the unmistakable smell of decomposition... the smell of death
"There is something dead here," Bella whispered as they stepped into the upper floor and looked around an abandoned train station.
The place was cavernous easily big as the great hall of Hogwarts. The floor was tiled in a black and white checkerboard pattern and there were quite a few benches and a counter to buy tickets. The room was illuminated ve hundreds of candles casting it in an eerie flickering glow, more concerning were the dozen or more human silhouettes in the candlelight that got larger as the figures moved towards the new arrivals.
"There is about to be something dead in here," a male voice drawled from the shadows to their left.
Harry turned to see a boy dressed in filthy jeans and a torn blood-stained pullover step into the glow of his wand light.
"I didn't order delivery but it is nice when dinner delivers itself," a girl's voice giggled from their right.
Harry watched a dozen more people seem to materialize out of the shadows all of them looking to be in their mid to late teens.
"Well Luv, I promised you a romantic evening," Harry said as he squeezed the spoon of the gas grenade with his left hand and he pulled the pin out of the canister with his right.
"I know, now Bella gets to play with vampires," Bella said giddily.
"You know what we are?" the boy who had first spoken to them demanded his face showing uncertainty.
"Of course, we know what you are," Harry chuckled as he tossed the grenade into the spacious room.
Harry heard the grenade make a metallic 'clinking' sound as it rolled across the tile floor. The grenade came to a stop seconds before a 'hissing' sound like a pinhole in a tire was heard as the room began to rapidly fill with a thick semi-opaque green mist that positively reeked of garlic. The smell was so overpowering it masked the scent of decomposing bodies and made Harry's eyes water and his nose start to run.
Harry could hear panicked gasping as the group of vampires began to violently react to the toxic vapours filling their lungs. Harry watched as they began to collapse to their knees or otherwise just fall to the floor their bodies going into convulsions as their faces began to swell.
"Well those things are certainly effective," Harry muttered as he approached one of the downed vampires and pointed his wand at the boy's chest.
Harry regretted what he was about to do but he knew there was no choice, after a certain point, the vampire infection could not be reversed and the vampires here were all well past that point.
With a flick of his wand, a spike made of holly materialized in front of him and embedded itself in the vampire's chest and piercing through its heart. The vampire let out a piteous scream before it went silent and then seemed to crumble before his eyes reminding Harry of how Quirrell turned to ash in his first year.
Harry heard a feminine shriek and turned in time to see Bella dispatch the girl who had taunted them earlier.
Harry moved on to another vampire, this one a girl that looked to be fifteen maybe younger. Harry brought his wand up ignoring the look of terror in her eyes as he cast the stake spell again, turning her to ash with a high-pitched agonized scream.
Between himself and Bellatrix, they made short work of the vampires who were barely conscious of what was going on around them due to the garlic extract. Harry deeply regretted having to put them down, the fact that these vampires were once children made the task quite unsettling for him. After staking the last boy who couldn't have been older than thirteen, Harry turned to see his wife standing over a pile of ash looking quite disconcerted herself.
"This was not the evening that I had in mind," Bella sighed as Harry Harry came over to stand beside her.
"Same. I kind of wish I had just called this in and let the ministry deal with it," Harry said as he put his arm around his wife.
"The last one couldn't have been much older than the twins," Bella whispered in a hollow voice.
"It had to be done," Harry said though he didn't have any conviction in his voice.
"I know but they were children," Bella said sounding very shaken.
"Come on, let's check this place over and go home," Harry said not wanting to stay here any longer than they had to.
It didn't take very long to search the place, there was a pile of badly decomposed bodies in one corner of the room which accounted for the stench. Harry assumed they were muggles whose bodies rejected or could not handle the vampire virus. In a small room that looked like it was intended to be a maintenance room, there was a line of crudely made boxes that looked vaguely like coffins. The floor of the room was covered in dirt and it reeked of mould and the sweet smell of rot.
One by one he and Bellatrix opened the makeshift coffins finding them containing pillows and blankets but thankfully they were all unoccupied.
After checking the rest of the underground station all they were able to locate was a very nice movie theatre that looked to have been set up decades ago. Harry pushed his curiosity about this to the back of his mind as he found a door that led to another set of stairs. Following the stairs upwards, they soon came to an unlocked steel door and slipped into a basement boiler room of a very large building.
Twenty minutes later Harry and Bellatrix stepped out of the Queen's hotel and into the late-night air.
They had accomplished what they had set out to do but it was nowhere near as exciting as either of them had hoped it would be.
"Take me home, I need a bath," Bellatrix said as they walked towards the shadows of the hotel.
"So do I. I can still smell that bloody garlic," Harry muttered as they both stepped into the shadows.
"You can share my bath if you like," Bella said as she offered him her hand.
"Alright," Harry smiled as he took her hand in his and then turned on the spot.
The two of them disappeared with a barely audible 'pop' leaving a strong scent of garlic hanging on the breeze where they had just stood.
Ministry Atrium, London, 9/6/1992, 16:55
Amelia Black stood with the three teams of aurors who would be running security during the prisoner transfer. Kingsley's team would actually be taking custody of Merula Snyde but the other two teams would ensure his team could remove the prisoner in the event in the event that death eaters tried to rescue their comrade.
Personally, she detested these transfers because no matter how much they prepared, there was always the chance a prisoner could escape custody with outside interference.
In a perfect world, she would send Kingsley's team to the Bulgarian ministry to transport Snyde straight to the holding facility but the Bulgarians were not that accommodating. The Bulgarians were quite unwilling to hand the girl over to the British, let alone go out of their way to make things any easier for the British aurors.
A flash of blue light at the other end of the atrium pulled her from her thoughts as the transport team from Bulgaria's portkey arrived.
Amelia watched as a dozen aurors in vibrant blue robes appeared escorting the dark-haired girl dressed in striped prison robes. As soon as the party arrived, the Bulgarianaurors began marching their prisoner towards the awaiting group near the Fountain of Magical Brethren.
The security teams maintained a circle around the fountain while Amelia waited with Shack's team so that she could sign the forms needed to officially take custody of the prisoner.
The procession of Bulgarian aurors came to a stop and a large male auror stepped forward with a clipboard tucked under his arm.
"Lady Black?" The man asked in strongly accented English.
"I am Lady Black," Amelia said stepping forward.
As she crossed the ten feet to where the Bulgarian formation was standing she was very aware that her own aurors had their wands trained on the visitors.
"I am Auror Antinov, I need you to sign that you have taken custody of the prisoner," the Bulgarian auror said offering her the clipboard.
Amelia took the clipboard as Kingsley's team moved forward to take the prisoner. She had just begun to sign her name on the dotted line when a flash of purple light caught her attention and she cast a shield charm on reflex. Amelia brought her shield up in time but the spell still tore through it like tissue paper and struck her square in the chest.
Amelia felt indescribable pain in her chest where the spell struck as she was flung through the air. She landed with a wet splash in the fountain as flashes of light filled the atrium interspersed with the sounds of screams and explosions.
Amelia crawled out of the fountain sputtering as she tried desperately to draw breath but only managed to cough up sticky blood that coated her chin and her vision started to go black around the edges.
As she collapsed onto the atrium floor she caught bits and pieces of the battle going on around her. Four of the Bulgarian aurors were fighting against her own. As she watched in disbelief, she saw Antonov cast a killing curse that just barely missed Kingsley. The last thing she processed before she lost consciousness was Antonov taking the prisoner and disappearing in a flash of blue light.
Ministry, Atrium, 9/6/1992, 18:47
Sirius stepped out of the fireplace into the atrium and walked into the middle of complete chaos. He was supposed to lead a team into Ilverness to search for vampire dens and was just heading to meet with the rest of his team.
Sirius was taken aback at the sight before him though it was pretty obvious a pitched battle had taken place here. There were quite a few bodies in red and green robes sprawled on the floor near the fountain and there were large blackened craters in the hardwood floor showing the concrete underneath.
Before he could process what it was he was seeing, Kingsley Shacklebolt approached him looking badly bruised like he had just come out of a fight.
"Shack, what the hell is going on here?" Sirius asked as he saw a processing team levitating three bodies covered in white sheets towards the outgoing floos.
"The transfer this evening was attacked," Kingsley said giving Sirius a meaningful look.
"How bad was it?" Sirius asked looking around the atrium trying to find his wife anywhere.
"Never mind that now," Kingsley said looking troubled.
"What do you mean never mind that?" Sirius demanded getting a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.
"Sirius, Amelia was... was cursed," Kingsley said giving his friend an apologetic look.
"Cursed," Sirius said in a voice barely above a whisper.
"She managed to get a shield up which probably saved her life but the brunt of the curse passed through her shield," Shack explained.
"How the hell was she attacked?! This was supposed to be a secured area!" Sirius exclaimed angrily.
"We believe they infiltrated the Bulgarian aurors with... with polyjuice. They waited to strike until the transfer was taking place," Kingsley said.
"Buggering hell, is Amelia going to be alright?" Sirius exclaimed feeling his anger at the ministry's incompetence and worry for his wife competing for dominance.
"I don't know. She was transported to St Mungo's twenty minutes ago," Kingsley answered.
"Right, I am going to the hospital," Sirius said feeling the worry for his wife trump all other thoughts in his mind.
"Go ahead, I'll let Robards know," Kingsley assured him.
"Thanks, Shack," Sirius nodded before he turned on his heel and marched over to one of the outgoing fireplaces.
Kingsley watched his friend disappear into the fireplace and hoped to god that Amelia pulled through.
This whole evening had been a bloody disaster! Even after the assassination of Minister Longbottom, the unspeakables still hadn't found a way to detect the two most effective methods of infiltrating the ministry!
There had been talk of using the Thief's Downfall that Gringotts employed to protect the deeper vaults in the bank but the Goblins were not cooperating in sharing the secret of how to enchant the water. The goblins had argued that allowing the use of the Thief's Downfall at the ministry increased the risk of wizards figuring out a way to bypass their security.
The unspeakables had a way to remove polyjuice but no way to detect it. The same went for the imperius curse though that was even trickier to defend against than polyjuice.
Tonight the death eaters had played their hand very well and had caught them with their pants down. From the interviews they had conducted with the Bulgarian aurors that had survived the battle, they had learned that this team was one of the best in the Bulgarian ministry. Somehow five death eaters had managed to get into that team and portkey with them to the British ministry. They had waited until all eyes were focused on Amelia and the prisoner before the man impersonating the lead auror had struck and then all hell had broken loose.
The actual fight had taken less than thirty seconds but in that time seven aurors had been killed and two of those killed were part of his team! That wasn't even factoring in the fact that the head of the DMLE was gravely injured and there was a good chance she might not make it through the night.
He would have to talk to the higher-ups, something had to be done about this glaring weakness in ministry security!
As Kingsley saw the new acting head of the DMLE approach, Kingsley readied himself to give his report about what happened.
'I hope Bones pulls through,' Kingsley thought to himself for what felt like the hundredth time that night as Gawain Robards came to stand in front of him.
"Alright Shacklebolt, what the fuck happened here?!" Robards demanded in a tone reminiscent of Alastor Moody.
"We were just making the prisoner transfer when the Bulgarian auror cursed Lady Black. Other Bulgarian aurors began attacking their comrades before they began firing on the perimeter teams. They all clustered around the prisoner and activated a portkey," Kingsley said explaining what had happened as concisely as possible.
"Who were they?" Robarda demanded.
"Not a clue, the Bulgarians are investigating this on their end but they haven't got back to us yet," Kingsley answered.
"What does your gut tell you?" Robards asked seeming to calm a bit.
"I think they killed those Bulgarian aurors and then impersonated them," Kingsley said putting voice to what he'd been thinking since the attack.
"If that's the case, why didn't they just take her in Bulgaria?" Robards pressed.
"To get around the travel ban. They basically circumvented it by using the Bulgarians' portkey to get them in Britain," Kingsley elaborated.
"That was a ballsy move, taking her the way they did," Robards muttered.
"They were pros sir, they worked together like an auror strike team," Kingsley added.
"Well somebody really fucked up tonight. How is Bones, have you heard anything?" Robards questioned.
"No, Lord Black just went to St Mungo's. I doubt he will be able to lead his team tonight anyway," Kingsley said.
"I didn't figure he would be. Have the teams set up a guard rotation for her, we can't rule out that this was an assassination attempt," Robards ordered.
"I already have Proudfoot and Williams on it," Kingsley assured him.
"Good, get this place cleaned up," Robards said before he stalked off to see what the processing team had learned.
As Kingsley began to gather the remaining members of his team he couldn't help but wonder if Dumbledore had been informed of this new development yet.