Chapter 720 Apr 2024
-oOo-
August 20, 1996Rotherham, England
Susan was seething. It had been three days since they had found out about Tom Riddle's secret. The fear of the name had turned into a cold fury now that she knew. Even more infuriating was the fact Aunt Tabitha and Uncle Grover wanted her to keep it a secret for now.
Didn't they understand what this meant?
What could this do for the wanker's support?
When she had sat under the sorting hat, it had waffled for just a moment between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor. She didn't think she was brave enough and really just wanted to make more friends. She had lived a relatively sheltered life, only knowing Daphne, Astoria, Neville and a few others. When Hannah and her had met, it was an instant friendship that she was missing dearly right now, especially since she was in hiding.
But the hat had seen the spark in her to be a Gryffindor. It was that spark that had her disobeying her aunt and uncle. For once, she didn't care to be the dutiful heiress, the loyal friend or to think things through. A burning sense of revenge and need for justice had taken hold.
With a huff, she sat at the dining room table for dinner. Astoria gave her a sympathetic look as Aunt Tabitha eyed her. Uncle Grover was pouring over some parchments. "Grover, it's dinner time."
"Yes, dear," he said and put the papers on a side table behind him.
Susan sat tall, ready for one of the house elves to serve them. It was one of the few things that her aunt and uncle used the little people for. When none came out of the kitchen, she looked up to her aunt.
"Why aren't we eating?" Astoria questioned.
"Your father and I have something to tell you, but first, I would like to know why one of you went to the edge of the wards with one of our owls. Didn't I strictly instruct you to not leave the house grounds or to contact anyone?" Aunt Tabitha said, her eyes narrowing in on Susan.
She returned her aunt's stare. "I told you I would not let this go," she said rather defiantly. Very few had seen this side to her.
Her aunt closed her eyes. Uncle Grover stiffened. "What did you do, Susan?" he demanded.
"I am not going to just sit here and not tell people about Tom Riddle," she told him.
He scrunched his face. Aunt Tabitha opened her blue eyes. "Susan, what did you do?"
"I sent an owl to Neville and his gran," she replied.
His uncle let out a long breath. "Well, that is not as bad as I feared."
"No, it is worse," her aunt stated.
"We were going to tell them anyways," Uncle Grover said.
Astoria gave her an appreciative look. 'Do you like Neville?' she mouthed.
Susan felt a slight fluttering in her gut, but she didn't know if it was the grief, her bubbling anger or the attraction she had started to feel towards the Gryffindor boy over the last year. He had started to lose his baby fat and had grown rather tall…
"I don't think you understand, Grover. Augusta Longbottom is a Gryffindor through-and-through. Her family, the Croakers, are deep into the Unspeakable ranks and her cousin, Alastor Moody, has as big of a grudge against the Dark Lord and his followers as the Longbottoms and Croakers. If you wanted this secret to break out in as public a way as possible, you can be assured that Augusta will, while her family and Moody start to take matters into their own hands," Aunt Tabitha said.
Susan let a small smile come to her face.
Astoria regarded her for a moment as her parents started to argue the point. She was a Slytherin. She was cunning and sly when needed. She had ambitions, though she hadn't known what it really was until lately as she thought increasingly about Daphne and everything she had taught Astoria over the last year. Astoria hadn't been the heiress, but now that would be, she found she wanted it and wanted to change things. She was also realizing that there were gaps in her education. She had been taught about all the great houses in their society, but she had never cared much for politics. Astoria had talked to Susan about all this in the last few weeks, so Susan just returned a small smile.
Like Daphne, Susan had grown up knowing she would the heiress of her house. Business, politics, family connections and all the trappings of that title had been drilled into her since she was young. Aunt Ami had not been negligent in her responsibilities. Not to mention she had learned much just by watching her auntie. Susan would use all those lessons to honour and get revenge for her auntie.
"You knew this, didn't you?" Astoria asked in a whisper.
Susan smirked. "I am hoping that is the reaction."
"I know you are," Aunt Tabitha interrupted them. "What is done is done. I only hope this does not come back to harm us."
Susan stuck her chin up. "I won't let them get away with killing Aunt Ami or almost raping me."
Astoria sucked in a sharp breath. She hadn't told her cousin everything that had happened that night. It was only her elf that had saved her.
Her uncle looked upset, while her aunt just sighed. "Of course not. You are a Bones. We don't cow to anyone, but there are ways to do things that could have caused far more damage than this overall. Grover, you will have to call the alliance together tomorrow. I don't know how fast Augusta will move on this."
"Should we not talk to her tonight?" her uncle asked.
Her aunt slightly shook her head. "It will do no good. The last time I talked to her, she was still incensed at the Ministry for trying to hide the breakout at Azkaban. Not to mention that Bellatrix and the other Lestranges are still alive. No. When she gets this information, she will be on the warpath."
Her uncle sighed. "Then I don't think we can hold off on you and the girls."
"I agree," her aunt said.
"Hold off on what?" Astoria questioned.
"Tomorrow morning, you, Susan and your mother will be going to France. You will be enrolled in Beauxbatons…" her uncle informed them.
Susan shot up. "You can't do that! I need to stay and fight. I must go to Hogwarts! What about my friends? What about everyone here?" she demanded.
"Susan, can you honestly tell me that you can stand up to a fully trained wizard? You do remember what happened that night?" her aunt questioned.
Susan felt the face drain of colour. She may have brought it up herself in her anger, but she hadn't really thought of everything. "I was attacked by three wizards!" she said in a cold rage. She had fended off two singly but had fallen swiftly when it had been three.
"And that is why you need more training. I know Ami took down six before she was killed. She held off several others to let you get away until You-Know-Who showed, Susan. You are good for your age, but you are not yet formidable. In a few years, you will be. I will not hold you back if this is the path you want, but I will not send you off like a lamb to slaughter," her aunt said with some steel to her voice.
Susan defiantly looked at her aunt. She ruthlessly pushed the tears down that threatened to come out. After a moment, she gave a stiff nod. Astoria looked to relax some. "I will do what I must though."
"Let your uncle and I help. There are things you do not yet understand. I understand why you did what you did. I probably would have done the same at your age," Aunt Tabitha confessed before them all. Susan's brow rose. "You forget that your father was my brother. He and Ami made sure I could defend myself. Times were very dangerous, and our family was squarely in the targets of the Death Eaters and You-Know-Who."
"I am only going to call in Riddle for now on," Susan told her aunt.
Aunt Tabitha inclined her head. "Very well. Riddle targeted our family. Before I was betrothed to Grover, I was attacked. It was three. I was able to escape but only with the help of others. A few years later, just after Daphne was born, I was caught in a fight in Diagon Alley. By then, I was able to fight off five to save your cousin and a few others. When you can prove to me you can do that, then I will have no qualms about you joining this fight."
Susan looked into her aunt's ice blue eyes. There was a fierceness there that she had never seen in her aunt before. It had always been there with Aunt Ami, but never Aunt Tabitha.
"Will you train me to do the same?" Astoria requested.
"Yes," Aunt Tabitha said as Uncle Grover said, "Absolutely not."
Aunt Tabitha turned to glare at her husband. He held his head up, being the Lord of the manor. Aunt Tabitha cold said, "Astoria will learn to defend herself. Do you honestly think this will only be contained to Britain? When we leave, you know that we will be safer, but not immune to the danger, or others. I have allowed you to dictate this aspect of my heritage because I didn't want my daughters to know the realities we did growing up. I was lax in believing the tough times were over. Not anymore."
She had a new found respect for her aunt as Uncle Grover let out a long sigh. "You are still leaving with the girls tomorrow to go to one of the places we discussed."
"Agreed," Aunt Tabitha said, her icy demeanour falling. She looked back to Susan. "Susan, I must stress this must remain a secret. There are forces out there that want you and our family." She indicated everyone in the room. "You can not tell anyone we are leaving or where we are going. If you wish to tell Scion Longbottom or anyone else," she said, giving Susan a look that had her flush some, "then you may do so after school starts, but you must not tell him where you are. Do you understand?"
After a moment, she nodded. "Yes, Aunt Tabitha."
Her aunt turned to look at Astoria. "Astoria, this is the same restrictions for you. Do you understand?"
"Yes, mother," Astoria said with more reticence.
"After dinner, make sure the trunks I had you pack are ready. We will be making our way to Falmouth and take a boat over so the ministry cannot track us," her aunt told them.
"I will make sure that Eric gets you an escort. His family will be going too. I need him and you to complete the registration in France and him to see the goblins," her father said.
With that, they started to discuss the move and food came out of the kitchen. She looked to smile at Dobbin, the last elf of her house and the one that had saved her. "Thank you, Dobbin," she said gratefully. The younger elf looked up to her with a smile and nod of his head.
-oOo-
August 24, 1996Wiltshire, England
Unlike most of his followers assumed, Voldemort was not a stupid man when it came to managing his organization. He found it a little more difficult to hold his temper since coming back and had found things in a much worse state than he had anticipated, but a few incompetence's, like Lucius, had left things primed for an easy takeover without much blood shed to the base he needed.
That didn't mean that he was ready to act, as much as he wanted too. He figured perhaps only ten percent of the ministry was firmly in his pocket, with many more sympathetic to him. He had been overjoyed at the initial news that Potter had scampered, especially after Amelia Bones death at his own hand, but that had emboldened some. Most notably, those families that had claimed neutrality in the last war.
Though certain members of his faithful, like Lucius and Robert Parkinson, had worked hard to better themselves and advance his plans, even if unknowingly, a much larger portion of his true believers had either gone to jail, gone to ground or let their families stagnate, or even revert. This left him in a quandary. With Lucius and Robert being his deepest pockets, he barely had the funds to grow his base the way he needed. He could easily call up enough mercenaries to take over the ministry, but he knew he would not be able to control or maintain it without enough blood shed that would hobble the government he needed to eventually take over the entire wizarding world.
In short, he needed more funds, and more families on his side.
Losing the Bones girl, the Greengrasses, the Browns and now the Changs were putting large holes into his plans. The Carrows had suffered for letting Bones escape. How Potter had outplayed him on the Greengrasses was a mystery.
POTTER! He thought bitterly.
He thought when Bellatrix told him she had killed Black that Lucius would gain that fortune. That was a bitter blow to understand that Potter now possessed it, and if the goblins were right, had scampered with it.
Finding Potter was now becoming even more imperative than before.
As far as he knew, Lucius was the closest to capturing the boy and the chit, but he didn't know where the man was and he hadn't answered the last two summons, meaning he was either being ignored or was beyond the range of the mark, which should be able to reach several hundred miles.
As he thought about it, he turned his attention back to the finances he had and whether now was the opportune time to strike or not. As much as he didn't fear anything, there was a gnawing doubt that if he moved before he was truly ready, then his opposition would be able to put a far worse resistance than he was anticipating. It was important for the coop to be swift and complete. Then he had to purge the unworthy before turning his attention to the continent.
If Potter had just died like he was supposed to the night of his resurrection, things would be much better. Scrimgeour had mobilized the houses of the light and neutrals, and he had lost a few key members in the ministry because of it. Now the man was talking about the prophesy being false.
He didn't think it was, otherwise, Dumbledore wouldn't have put such stock in it. But if the prophesy wasn't important, what would that mean? Would that mean he was unbeatable? Or was Potter not the Chosen One? Or perhaps Halloween on nineteen-eighty-one had not been the boy at all. Lily Potter had been reputed as a genius, and Severus had said she was as good at runes as she was potions. Was it possible she had found a way to protect the boy and Potter wasn't special at all?
His red eyes burned as he thought of the possibilities.
If Potter wasn't the key to his defeat, then moving on the Ministry early wouldn't matter.
This indecision was something that had not plagued him since his first years at Hogwarts when he was first figuring out what magic was and how to use it to reach his goals.
He really needed to know what the prophesy said. The only two ways he knew how to do that was to get Potter or Dumbledore. He knew that Dumbledore would be an impossible task unless he did it himself. Potter was the easier option, but the boy was nowhere to be found.
Pondering this, his thoughts turned once more to Lucius. The man needed to pay for his failures.
And evil grin came over his face as he thought of this.
Nagini slithered over to him from the fireplace. She hissed, What vexes you so, my human?
He gave a dark chuckle. He hissed and spat back; I plan on how to get the answers I need while deciding when the time is right to strike.
You always strike when not expected, unless you are cornered, she replied.
Voldemort remembered when he had first met Nagini. At the time she was still a stunning woman, but the malediction was almost at the point of subsuming her, and she was only a woman a day or two each month before becoming a snake again. She had become the only thing in the world he came to care for other than himself.
He chuckled at her simple take on life now. I will, dear one. The time is near, but not yet.
I can track the one you want, she offered.
He petted her head when it raised up. You are better here. I do not know where the boy is. If he is that far afield, we would lose our connection.
Nagini hissed in annoyance. He knew she needed the connection. If she only knew why she might not like it so much.
If he is missing for another month or so, we may need to go searching ourselves. It is of importance to know what the boy knows, he said. He knew Potter knew the full prophesy from his spy. He just wished his spy knew it.
Perhaps he could find it out still? He knew of another person that knew of the prophesy besides Potter.
"Everard!" he snapped out.
The doors to his throne room opened a moment later. A young man came in and dropped to the floor. "My Lord?"
He smiled at the young man. It was a smile that would make anyone shiver. "Please tell the lady of the house that I require her and her son's presence. You have five minutes to retrieve them."
"Yes, my lord," Everard said. He got up and hurried out of the room.
"We will give Draco an impossible task while his mother and father get one of their own. If they succeed, they may yet survive to see the new world," he said to Nagini and the room at large.
-oOo-
Translated in the following publications:
Der Nationale Deutsche Ausrufer (The National German Crier - Germany)
L'actualité du Monde (The News of the World - France)
I Periodici dei Maghi (The Wizards Periodicals – Italy)
Dagens Nyheter (The News of the Day - Norway)
Witch Weekly – Continental Issue
August 25, 1996WHO IS TOM RIDDLE?
As was recently reported in many papers that the murderer of the Triwizard Champion Cedric Diggory, 17, was recently revealed to be one Peter Pettigrew, 37. The man is accused of belonging to a British terrorist group known as the Death Eaters, to have killed several muggles, Cedric Diggory, led to the death of several others and to have framed the recently deceased Sirius Black. Many may be wondering why this is significant to the question: Who is Tom Marvolo Riddle?
Well, the links will astound all our readers as we explain that Peter Pettigrew, a man thought to be dead, would be key in the new rise of a Dark Lord thought to be destroyed almost fourteen years before. Evidence suggests that Pettigrew has recently joined the ranks of those known as Necromancers and is rumoured to have resurrected a man that is as feared as Grindelwald.
Who is this man?
The same man that Harry Potter appears to be running from. We all know the story of Harry Potter, especially the recent search for him and his betrothed, but most would be surprised that the man he is running from, often known as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, You-Know-Who, or if you are brave enough, Lord Voldemort, is not who most think him to be.
For those that might be more astute, you may have already pondered the anagram. For those that have not, then ponder this. Can you rearrange the letters of Tom Marvolo Riddle into another saying? Yes? No?
If not, then I will make it easy. Tom Marvolo Riddle is I am Lord Voldemort.
As explosive this is, even more explosive is the origin of the Riddle family and the man's middle name, Marvolo. For those that might follow the old pureblood lines of Europe, you are probably scratching your head as there has never been a pureblood family with the last name Riddle. A curious fact as it is known the man and his followers have been some of the leading people in the resurgence in the beliefs of blood in the last few decades. A fact we will get back to in a moment.
The name Marvolo has a far more significant meaning. It is the first name of Voldemort's grandfather, one Marvolo Gaunt. Gaunt is a well-known name among the old pureblood families, especially as it links back to one of the strongest wizards remembered across the continent, Salazar Slytherin, one of the famed founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
This reporter can confirm that these statements are true. A Muggle birth certificate listing a Merope Gaunt and Thomas Riddle III has been located in London. Merope Gaunt is the daughter of Marvolo Gaunt…
-oOo-
August 25, 1996Off the coast of Africa…
They had been at sea the better part of five days now. The captain had stopped in Senegal, but only long enough to unload and load some cargo. Daphne and Harry had stayed below deck in the musty smelling head. It wasn't the best, but they hadn't been found.
Today they were on the deck. The way the schooner was moving made being below decks extremely uncomfortable. Unlike the ferry they had taken, the smaller wooden schooner bucked and dipped in ways that Harry didn't knew a boat could. Captain Bachir had told them to stay out of the way of the crew, so they were leaning against the railing on the windward side, which the crew had told them was the side the wind was coming from, as the schooner heeled over and rolled up and down the large waves of the ocean. The eight men that were on the boat were busy either holding onto the windward railing like them or seeing to what needed to be done on the ship.
The captain and a woman with a scarred neck were at the wheel. The woman was chanting as she held a rod that was about two and a half feet long. It was made of a dark wood. Along its length it was adorned with runes. A half dozen of them were glowing blue as the woman chanted.
Daphne was holding onto him. They had found she didn't handle the heaving ship well. When Harry had mentioned that the captain had told them they were on a fast schedule as they had some cargo that was time sensitive to deliver. She held his hand tighter as a groan passed through the ship. The woman stopped her chanting and the schooner heeled over a little more as the wind picked up.
The woman grabbed a rope to steady herself.
"Have you ever seen anything like that?" Harry said loudly to Daphne to be heard over the wind and sounds of the schooner.
She shook her head. "I've heard that old mages could control the elements, but nothing like this," she said back just as loudly.
One of the other crewmen came over and helped the woman below deck to one of the two cabins on the schooner. One was for the captain, the other for the woman. Harry wanted to talk with her, but so far, she had avoided them.
"Do you think she learned that at Uagadou?" Harry asked her.
Daphne looked to swallow hard as the ship did a sudden plunge down a large wave. Harry held her tight so she wouldn't slip down the deck. After a few, she responded. "Probably. I think I need to get off this ship," she told him.
Harry knew she needed to, but the captain said they wouldn't make port again for a few days. As concerned he was for Daphne, he wanted to find out how the woman controlled the wind, and possible other weather or elements.
-oOo-
August 26, 1996Forests of Nigeria
The little half-elf thing had been able to pick up a whiff of the teens' magic and they were moving further and further away from Europe. Lucius had never been this far from Britain and didn't like the area. The few cities were odd. The magic of the area made his skin crawl every time they came close to a settlement. The desert had given way to plains of grass dotted with trees and now this dense forest with buckets of rain at times. He also hated to be on a broom for this long. His bottom was developing sores, even with the cushioning charms.
"Where are we going?" Lucius asked as the rain splashed off the rain shield he had cast over his head.
"Looks like towards the coast. I originally thought they were flying, but they are moving too slow for that. They must be on the ocean," the little man said.
Lucius snarled. "Are you telling me we could have avoided this trek across the wilderness?"
"Divining rods are not always that accurate and the signal is very weak. They are still some distance off, and if we had taken a ship, we would have been behind them. Given another day or two, we should finally be able to get a stronger read on them and then get ahead of them," the little man told him.
"Then let's apparate and get there quicker," Lucius ordered.
"Have you been to any of the towns or settlements this way?" the man asked.
Lucius's lip curled up. He knew it was impossible to apparate without being able to see where he was going or having already been there. The dense trees would only allow them to apparate a few hundred yards each time. Doing the number of apparitions they would need to do would tire them quickly. He would prefer a portkey, which you could use a map to set its destination, but none of them knew how to make one.
The rain was starting to let up. The werewolf was sniffing the air. "Bergan, I smell it again. Someone is following us."
Lucius rolled his eyes. The werewolf had been saying that for two days now, but every time they tried to find someone, no one was there. The half-elf looked back to the other bounty hunter. A frown was marring his face. He took out a short wand. Lucius's nose was twitching.
"No one is there," Lucius told them. He had used detection spells the last few times and didn't see the need this time. Besides, who would follow them like this?
The little man frowned. "There is something… up there," he said, pointing upwards. He looked up into the grey sky and didn't see anything. Just to get moving again, he took his wand out of his cane and pointed towards the sky. "Homenum Revelio!"
He had done this more than a dozen times in the last few days. There hadn't been any sign of anything. This time, his eyes widen when his spell pinged something. He jabbed his wand a few times, sending a barrage of piercing hexes before he called out, "Avada Kedavra!"
An invisible figure shifted, then the charm faded, as a man with a weathered leather cloak suddenly came into view. The grizzled man rained down a cascade of blasting hexes into the branches of the canopy around them. They had been forced to fly close to the ground for the divining rod to work. Lucius put up a shield. The little man next to him cast a few nasty looking hexes before everything stopped. He caught sight of the hated ex-Auror as the man flew away. There was another disturbance in the air not far behind him.
Lucius snarled. If Moody was chasing Potter, then they needed to find the boy. He also knew he had to get back. Trying to beat Moody was going to be hard. Trying to consider what to do, the werewolf said, "Was that Moody?"
"What would he be doing down here?" the half-elf enquired.
"He's Dumbledore's man. I need to get back to Britain. Keep tracking those kids and bring them too me. I still need them alive and in good condition," he told them.
The werewolf growled. "If that is Moody, there is no way I will be able to take him outside of a full moon."
"Good thing there's one in two days, you mangy mutt," Lucius snapped. "Just take care of this and find Potter and Greengrass."
"We need more funds," the half-elf said.
If Lucius didn't need them, he would kill them now. Instead, he took out a coin pouch. "Five-hundred galleons. No more until you catch them." He slammed his wand back into the cane, then twisted a silver band below the wolf head of his wand. The pull of a hook just behind his navel had him speeding back towards England. As he travelled, he was trying to figure out a unique way to get Greengrass's wealth.
Perhaps a raid was called for?
If he could get the man's younger daughter or wife, he could force him to sign a betrothal and their entire estate away to his son, and in turn, him.
-oOo-
August 28, 1996Off the coast of Africa
The seas were rougher today. A grey sky dominated the world and the ocean looked as stormy. Bands of rain surrounded the schooner. Instead of calling more wind, the weathermancer, as one of the crew had called the woman by the name Marandi, was chanting to keep the storms calm around the ship.
Harry could feel the magic she was exuding and was amazed at the prolonged use of her skills, though she was looking tired. Not far away, the coast of Africa could be seen. One of the crewmen came up next to Harry. Daphne was below him in the hammock feeling extremely sick to her stomach today.
Harry motioned to the land. "Are we heading in?"
"Accra, Ghana," the man said, the translation medallion still working perfectly. "We will make port in a few hours. Have something to pick up."
Harry nodded.
As he looked out over the stormy ocean, something caught his eye. If he had been a seeker, he might not have noticed, but there was an odd distortion that looked be avoiding a rain burst and having issues holding steady in a breeze. As Harry focused on the spot, he noticed two such distortions.
A sinking feeling ripped through Harry as he looked at the distortions.
"Oh, shite," he muttered, knowing they had been found and knowing only crazy people would dare to follow them out here. Turning to the man next to him, he asked, "How far away is the shore?"
The man looked at him oddly, then back out. "Maybe twenty kilometres?"
"And where are we putting in?"
The man held his hand up to his eyes to shield them from the water droplets falling. "About fifteen kilometres or so up the coast there," he said, pointing towards a patch of heavy rain.
Harry took it in. He could make out the coastline, but no real details on it yet. They were just about on the edge of apparition range to do this over water. Once they were on land, they could easily cover a hundred and fifty miles or so on each jump. His mind made up, he worked his way towards the closed hatch to get below deck. The boat rolled and Harry slammed hard into the mast. Luckily his shoulder was healed now, even if he did still have angry looking pink and purple scars.
Hissing at the jolt of pain, he managed to stumble to the hatch as the boat rolled on another wave and then get below deck just as a wave broke over the prow. Water chased him in. Harry brushed it off as he made it over to the hammock that a rather green looking Daphne was in. He figured they maybe had five or ten minutes before the bounty hunters were onto them again. He stumbled into the hammock.
"Come on, luv, we have to get up," he told her. Harry needed to see the shoreline for them to apparate. He would have to guide her. She was in no state to apparate on her own.
"What are you doing? Where are we going?" she asked him. The ship gave a sudden shiver and jarred hard into a wave. Harry grabbed the hammock and managed to keep them up.
"We have company. It's time to go," he told her.
She looked about ready to be sick. "Just get me off this thing," she said weakly.
Harry managed to make it back onto the deck. The captain was talking with one of his crew. Not wanting to cheat the man, Harry stuck a small pouch to the mast with a sticking charm. It was about three times what they had agreed too, but if those bounty hunters reached here, the man might need it.
One of the crew men yelled to Harry and Daphne as he was looking towards the land. It was closer, but not much. The ship was running parallel to the coast of Africa now. Finding what looked like a small hill overlooking the ocean, he twisted.
The ship gave a lurch as he twisted. It felt like the ground had dropped out from under them just as they were squeezed through the nothing between spaces, and then came out. Daphne gave out a little scream as they dropped. It was only a foot or two, but it was enough to knock them both to the ground into the wet grass with wind and heavy droplets whipping onto the shore. A clap of thunder sounded nearby.
Harry looked up. They had made it, but they were perilously close to the edge of a cliff. Daphne rolled over and emptied what little she still had in her stomach. He moved to her, realizing the pain in his ankle was probably a sprain. He made sure she was alright before sitting down. She put her head in his lap. "Are we on solid land again?"
"We are, Daph. We can't stay here for long," he told her, taking his rucksack out of his pocket. After enlarging it, he took out a pepper-up and stomach settling potion.
"Good, but it still feels like we are rocking about," she told him.
"Here, take these. We need to keep moving for a little bit," he told her. It took a little coaxing, but within a few minutes, she looked more alert, even though she was now very pale instead of sickly green.
"Why did we leave the boat? Where are we?" she asked him. The storm up the coast was moving out.
"I think we are in Ghana. Accra is in that direction. That's where the schooner was heading. We had to leave because I spotted two people under disillusionment charms. If they are tracking us, we don't have long to get out of here," he told her.
"Harry, how are they still finding us?" she asked, the worry coming through.
"I don't know. Are you good enough to get up?"
She looked at him from his lap. "We need to find out how they are finding us." Looking out to the ocean, the schooner could be seen by its grey triangular sails at the top of its masts over the waves. It was far enough out it was hard to see.
"You aren't in any shape to fight," Harry told her. He was thinking of how close it had come to losing her last time. If she hadn't gotten that fire spell on that vampire, she would have died.
"We can't keep running." Looking around, she said, "We can setup a trap. I know a few rune sequences that would incapacitate someone, as long as we can get them onto the ground."
Harry looked at her worriedly, then back out to the ocean. After a moment, he said, "We maybe have ten minutes, more if it's a slow way for them to track us."
Daphne nodded. Even though she was still very pale, she took her own rucksack out and dug out her rune carving kit and a handful of sandstone blanks. Harry got up. he figured whoever was following them would detect the magic, so he was putting up the few wards they knew about, hoping it would mask what Daphne was doing.
He walked out a good ten yards. "Homenum Revelio Maxum. Salvia Hexa. Animaga Revelio Maxum." They were two simple detection wards for any being or Animagus, he would never let anyone like Peter sneak up on them again, and an anti-hex ward that should be powerful enough to stop any low or mid power hex, including hexes like the stunning curse. They had avoided doing any magic like this since leaving Britain, fearing they would be tracked. Now it was a matter of survival and trying to break whatever was being used to track them.
After his second circuit, he pointed his wand up and started to cast above them. The wards would only work a few meters above the ground, but by trying to anchor them up, he was hoping to extend that. By the time he did three more circuits, he was feeling the draw on his magic. He had poured as much as he dared into the wards, knowing he might soon need to be on the offensive.
When he turned back to Daphne, she had her wand out and was chanting over the six rune lines in the ground. When she stopped, she swayed a little, even though she was sitting. Harry moved to her side. "Are you alright?"
"I don't like traveling by water anymore," she told him.
Harry frowned, unsure where they would go from here. Having looked at the two guidebooks they had been able to find for this far south, he knew that flying and ocean travel were the only reliable Muggle means. They may have to chance a portkey, but that would be a last resort. Perhaps they needed to go somewhere else besides Africa?
He didn't have long to think before he snapped his head up as his wards pulled on his magic. About twenty meters up, there was the outline of two people on brooms. Harry's wand snapped up and he shot out a few stunners. They splashed off a protego shield, but his spells were strong enough to shatter it on the third hit and the two people had to scatter. It did cause them to drop their disillusionment charms.
"Bloody fuck," Harry muttered, recognizing the man with the peg leg right away.
Daphne's wand was now up. Harry was tracking the ex-Auror as she tracked a woman with blonde hair. Harry knew he had seen her around headquarters last year, but her name was alluding him right now. A rumble of thunder was an ominous warning that a new storm was approaching them.
The ex-Auror was smiling as he shouted down, "Potter, I've haven't had this much fun in years. That's a merry chase you led us on."
"We aren't going back, Moody! Tell Dumbledore to go shag a hippogriff or something," Harry yelled back.
The man looked like he was laughing, but it was drowned out in another roll of thunder. Daphne turned as the woman drifted off to their side.
"Those are some nifty wards. Where did you find the minor hex absorbing ward?" Moody asked. Harry didn't miss the man's wand was trained on Daphne. Harry wasn't going to let them get her, suspecting they were going to knock her out or grab her to make Harry go with them.
"In a book," Harry called back.
"Harry, they need to touch the ground within about five meters of us," Daphne whispered.
"Working on it," he whispered back.
Moody was grinning like mad. "It ain't safe to be out here, lad. You and your lass are all the talk of the town back home. I even hear there are others looking for you."
"Yeah, we met some about a week back. If you want to talk, you should come down here," Harry called back.
The man's electric blue eye stopped spinning and concentrated on them. Harry wasn't sure if they had been made out or not. Moody looked like he was sniffing. "I bet you would like me to, but I think I'll stay here. Hestia will throw down a portkey and then we will get you and your lass back to Hogwarts."
He saw lightning streak across the sky. "We aren't going anywhere," Harry shouted back over a long roll of loud thunder.
"Afraid you don't have a choice, lad. Either you come willingly, or not. I would prefer the challenge," Moody said, his grin becoming more a determined set to his chin.
Harry shot the man a two-finger salute. He caught the edge of a red spell streaming towards Daphne. The stunner let him know they only wanted to capture them.
Daphne moved just a foot over, her wand shooting out bludgeoning hexes instead of the more innocuous stunner that Hestia… Hestia Jones came to him… had thrown at her. Harry had no issues using damaging or harmful spells to incapacitate someone. Daphne and him had agreed they would even kill someone, but that was only if they were trying to kill them. The stunning spell from Jones hit the wards and was channelled into the ground. It looked like red lightning as it danced over the wards. Daphne's spell went straight through the wards toward the woman.
Harry moved to shield Daphne from Moody before twirling his wand and jabbing it towards Moody. The man's ropes shot through the ward, to bounce off the half-solid Protego Duo Harry had cast. In the meantime, huge clumps of grass and dirt shot out at Moody. The man went to dodge until Harry incanted, "Serpapafors!"
The man's eye widened as a dozen, three-foot long serpents with wings suddenly materialized. As though realizing the kids wouldn't come easily, Moody growled. Daphne was not holding back as Hestia tried to get through the wards, but most of her spells were being redirected down into the ground.
Attack!
Harry ordered the flying snakes. The amaru, a species of magical snakes from South America, took off in a swarm. They weren't the most deadly of snakes, but a few bites would take anyone down. Moody swore and started to cast fire and other spells at them. The rain was starting to come down, so the fire wasn't as effective. Harry turned quickly. His wand snapped like he was using a whip. A thick rope shot out of his wand. Instead of just letting it fly, he held the spell.
Hestia was shielding and trying to get Daphne. She didn't realize Harry had turned to her until the rope wrapped around her leg. Harry pulled on in it hard as she cast a cutting curse at it. He was able to get enough of a pull to unbalance her. The woman screamed, then dissaparated as she started to fall.
Harry turned back to Moody in time to see him transfiguring a golem out of the hillside. He was pointing his wand at Harry, then turned back to the flying snakes. Five of them were still trying to catch Moody as he dodged and alternated casting spells at the wards and the snakes.
The golem was a good ten feet tall, made of stone, grass and dirt, and had a mangled face, very reminiscent of its creator. "Oh, shite," Harry muttered as it started to lumber towards them.
Harry pulled up his wand. A large wall of dirt, a good twelve or so feet tall and feet thick, formed in a half circle around them. Pushing out his wand as it was flat against his other hand, he commanded, "Pilaturres!"
Three feet long iron spears formed on the outside of the wall. Daphne let out a little scream. He turned to see Hestia inside the wards. She looked rather upset and was casting some bludgeoners and other more questionable hexes that would definitely hurt but wouldn't kill them. Daphne swiped her wand up. "Protegoflexa!" she screamed.
The woman dodged a reflected hex then stepped in just a little close. Harry felt it when she hit the edge of the rune field. The power draw on them was noticeable. She must have had something that was blocking the stunning effect. It lasted a few seconds before the woman dropped.
Daphne dropped to her knee, panting at the sudden draw on her magic.
A section of the dirt wall formed a crack. Harry didn't have time to see if she was good. Scanning around, he caught Moody emulating the last of the amaru transfigurations as the rain picked up. The man turned towards them. Harry levelled his wand at the spot where the golem was trying to break through. "BOMBARDA MAXIMA!"
The wall exploded outwards. Dirt, spikes, rocks and bits of the golem sped through the air. Moody cast a solid looking shield that made a gonging sound when the golems' head struck it. Harry was already whipping his wand. Moody was far away, but if he could bind him with ropes, they might make it.
The man was fast though. He stopped the ropes before they hit him. A white spell leapt from the man's wand. Harry threw up a shield, unsure if his simple wards would stop this. A flash of lighting blinded the world, then the spell caused the wards to flare, making everything white for a moment. Harry blinked frantically, as spots swum across his vision.
"Wingardium Leviosa," Daphne suddenly called out.
"Bloody girl!" Moody suddenly cried out a lot closer than Harry expected him to be. His vision cleared enough to see a body falling a few feet before him. The draw on their magic to power the runes brought Harry to his knees. It took a moment for him to clear the spots enough to see through the pouring rain and flashes of lightening. Moody was in the mud just a few feet before him. His broom had come down and impaled in the wet ground only a foot from the man's head. The man's electric blue eye was still spinning madly, but it was obvious he was stunned.
"Daphne!" he exclaimed, suddenly realizing what had happened.
Turning, he found her passed out in the mud. Hestia was a few feet away. "Enervate," he incanted. He was feeling a little too drained to focus on non-verbal casting. Daphne's eyes fluttered. It was obvious that they had rolled up into her head. It took a moment for her to wake. He was kneeling over her, keeping the rain from her face. There was the momentary panic of the adrenaline. He had to pin her wrist to the ground as she looked to be swinging her wand up to him.
"It's just me!" Harry called out over the rain.
"Harry!" she cried out. She struggled and he let her go to find her arms wrapping around his neck. He pulled her to him and they sat there, holding each other, until she jumped at a sharp crack that came almost as soon as the world flashed white.
"We need to get out of here," he told her.
"We need to find what they were using," Daphne reminded him. Harry nodded. He wanted to cast a weather repelling charm but was feeling too tired after that battle. Daphne was just barely able to stand. It took them almost fifteen minutes of searching both Hestia and Moody with spells and hands to find a small glass vial that was shaped in a small arrow. The dark red centre had him thinking it was blood in the glass and when Daphne held it by the silver chain attached to it, it pointed straight to Harry.
Harry's face clouded. "A blood tracker! That bloody fecking, white bearded arse…"
Daphne put her wand to it. "Confringo!"
The devise shattered into a fine dust. The blood in it made a fine mist that was quickly swallowed in the rain.
He was still swearing at Dumbledore, who could have been the only one to make something like that, when she put a hand on his arm. "We should go" she told him.
Harry nodded. Standing, he helped her to her feet before looking around. "The city was in that direction."
"We can't just leave them here. I know they were trying to take us back, but they weren't trying to kill us," she said.
Harry felt a rage go through him for a second before he looked down at them. "They both have portkeys. Any clue how to activate them?"
Daphne looked down. "Where? I didn't detect them."
"I used parseltongue. Moody has one on his eye, Hestia on her necklace," Harry said.
Looking at them, she leaned down to Moody. As though considering it for a moment, she tapped her wand to the wildly spinning eye. Moody disappeared. "Just channel a little magic into it," Daphne said.
"How did you figure that?"
She shrugged her shoulders. "Thought I would be a little Gryffindor today."
Harry grinned. She went over to Hestia and did the same. By the time they were done, the torrential rainfall had moved west, leaving them in only a light drizzle. Even in the warm tropical heat, Daphne was starting to shiver as they were both sodden to the bone. He pulled her in close. She hugged him tight.
Harry had to ask the one provocative question he had before they started to move towards the city they could see in the distance. "Wingardium Leviosa?"
Daphne grinned into his chest. "I tried summoning his peg leg and then his jacket. He must have anti-summoning charms on them. I remembered the troll story, so thought I could do it on his leg."
Harry laughed then kissed the top of her wet head. "I love you," he said.
"I hope so. I don't do this just for anyone, you know," she said. Harry looked to a point a mile or so away, then twisted. Enough magic had been done already that if someone found it, they would be able to follow them for a bit anyways. Once they made the outskirts of the city, they would find what they could for Muggle transport.
-oOo-
Next time on Dear Order: The teens escape their chasers. Moody meets Captain America. Albus and Voldemort start to realize they have made mistakes…