Chapter 406 Sounding The Sirens

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Somewhere in the Auror Office, a Junior Auror fiddled with the dry quill in his hand.

Nights at the Auror Office were usually hectic with drunk idiots going around shooting magic in front of Muggles. But not for Andreson. He was appointed his shift in the back offices, alone in a cabin behind a desk, surrounded by shelves and cabinets full of paperwork. He heaved a long sigh of boredom, blankly staring at his table with nothing to do.

His duty was to man an emergency line open only to family members of Aurors, Hit Wizards, Obliviators, and other at-risk professions inside the DMLE. It was an essential job as being a part of DMLE came with an added risk of making enemies who would sometimes target family members, and thus the department as a whole needed to be on-point, ready to jump to their help and resolve the threat as soon as possible before it could do any damage. However, manning the emergency line was the most boring part of the process— he didn’t get to go out on the field and was stuck behind a desk where the only choice of excitement was when an emergency message would be called and he would get to issue a red alert— alas, those moments were far in between.

It being a night shift didn’t help. The temptation to set his head down on the table and close his eyes to take a small nap was strong— but something punishable by the internal rules of the office.

*Ting!*

Andreson’s body froze as though hit by a body bind. He removed his eyes from the quill in his hand and looked up to the MagiFax sitting in the corner of the room. The machine was used for making copies of documents rather than for its primary purpose, so when he heard it make a sound, Andreson couldn’t believe his ears. He stared at it, waiting for proof that it wasn’t his imagination birthed by boredom but what he thought it was.

*Ting!*

There it was. Andreson’s eyes widened as he stood up from his chair, sending it falling to the ground. He didn’t care. The Junior Auror of the night shift ran to the machine and all but ripped the paper out of the tray. His eyes bulged out as he read the words and straightened up. He took backward steps towards the door— and bolted out of the room, leaving the door swinging.

“Ma’am!” he yelled and barged into his manager’s office.

Stephanie Izard, Senior Auror, looked up and glared at him. “Do I need to teach you discipline, Anderson? I would gladly send you back to the academy to be graded. If you score anything less than an A-grade, don’t even think of coming back.”

Anderson ignored the severe words that promised permission and continued spouting, “Ma’am, something just came from the family emergency line!”

Izard sat straighter. She asked, “Who is it?”

“Lily Potter!”

“Potter? Isn’t she at—”

“Death Eaters have taken the entire village of Hogsmeade hostage! They have cast a ward over both Hogsmeade and Hogwarts and are planning to break into the Hogwarts!”

“What?!” Izard stood up from her chair.

“He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is there, ma’am. Sh-She, the rest of the Hogwarts professors, and Dumbledore saw him with their own eyes!”

“WHAT?!”

“And they have disabled the Floo system as well! Ma’am, it’s an entire mess, and-and—” he thrust the letter into Izard’s hand “— please read it on your own.”

Izard blankly stared at the paper in her hand. The moment the page left his hand, Andreson paced around the room.

“Call everyone,” said Izard.

'',

“Everyone. . . who?”

“Call Robards, all the Captains, the Seniors— call the Hit Wizards— call Scrimgeour, call Bones— call. . . everyone.” she looked at Andreson. “This needs all hands on board.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Andreson turned to leave the office and follow the commands, but when he opened the door, he was met with a figure standing in front of the door. He gasped, “Senior Auror Potter!”

James entered the office and spoke straight to Izard, “Have you called everyone?”

Izard raised the page in her hand. “Got your wife’s alert just now; Andreson was about to go— don’t stare at Andreson go— I presume she contacted you first?” she asked James.

James nodded.

“Who did you call?” she asked.

“No one. I knew you would be doing it,” James sighed and pulled a seat in front of the table to sit down, but the moment his behind touched the cushion, he stood up and began pacing the room.

“How’re you feeling?” asked Izard, studying James.

“How do you think I’m feeling?” snapped James. “My wife and children are trapped inside with a monster who wants nothing more than to kill them. How do you think that makes me feel, huh?”

“They’re safe,” she assured, not minding the harsh words, “they have Dumbledore with them, and the Hogwarts defenses stand strong between You-Know-Who and everyone inside.” James’ face remained sour; the words didn’t help. “What we need to think right now is how to help the people trapped in Hogsmeade— because they neither have the Hogwarts defenses separating them from You-Know-Who.”

James groaned. He stopped, and his face contorted as he clenched his fists. There was a few seconds of struggle on his face before all of it was released with a deep breath. “You are right,” he said calmly, albeit with a frown. “Hogsmeade needs are help. There’s no telling what that evil maniac will do with those poor people. What should be our first plan of action?”

“Scouting,” said Izard as both of them sat down. “We need to get eyes on the situation. Send a reconnaissance to get the lay of the land from the outside while we establish contact with Hogwarts to get a view from the inside.”

“Lily and I use a charmed pair of mirrors which can show one mirror what the other mirrorface is seeing. I’m sure someone can hop on a broom with the mirror, and we can get a birds-eye look of the situation. Even just simple communication can be more fluid using them.”

“Excellent, that’s great. What’s next. . . they jammed the Floos; we need to find who did it and get them working again.”

“Randolph Westen,” James spoke after a beat, “the Head of the Floor Authority. Let’s call him in— we will need his help to figure out this situation. And we need to gather the people who are in there right now.”

Izard immediately got up and walked out to return after a couple of minutes. “I have sent a team; they’ll keep anyone from leaving. . . . Let’s talk about the ward— You-Know-Who’s ward— as long as that’s up, we can’t do anything. If we can get the Floos running, we can get inside without breaking the ward.”

“If— is the word. I doubt the Dark Lord didn’t think of the literal dozens of Floo in the village.”

“Doesn’t mean we can’t try. We will dig through the ground by hand if that’s what it takes to get inside.”

“I’m the last person you need to tell that,” James said with a sharp glint in his eyes. “I will do anything to get to my family. . . anything.”

“Yeah. . . that doesn’t raise any alarms in my mind,” Izard commented. James gave her a look, but she raised a brow in response, telling him that she meant every word she said.

The door opened up, and Andreson peaked inside the office. “Head Auror has arrived with some of the Captains. He’s asking for both of you to join him.”

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“We have lost an entire village— Hogsmeade, the only all-wizard village— to Death Eaters,” Robards spoke to the people in front of his entire team of Captain, Senior Aurors, and Hit Wizard upper hierarchy. They were sitting in the biggest Auditorium in the DMLE with Robards up on the stage. “They have taken an entire village of people hostage,” he repeated. “Do you know what that means? They can do whatever the heck they want.”

There was not a single positive face in the entire Auditorium. Everyone understood what the term hostage meant and what an entire village full of them represented.

“We are royally fucked here,” he spat. He rubbed his face and pointed up, “Scrimgeour and Bones are up in her office, thinking of how to handle this from a media reputation standpoint— and believe me, if we don’t do something about this, whatever they do will be for nothing. The people will come out on the streets, sparking rallies and riots, demanding answers for why we haven’t made this problem go away. This thing can go derail the entire country. We have hundreds of children trapped inside that castle— people will have our heads on fucking spikes if something happens to them. SHIT! Those inbred ingrates, I want to wring their necks.”

It was a shock to everyone. They had never heard Robards swear in public or even in private conversations, much less this kind of outburst. To see him spouting swear in every other sentence was surreal and so out of character that it deepened the severity of the situation in their minds.

“Where are we right now?” he asked.

Izard rose up from her chair. She explained how the Floo was disabled in Hogsmeade and Hogwarts. “I have detained the Floo Network Authority employees for the time being and have sent a team to the Head’s house. . . . We have contact inside Hogwarts; we need a setup a reconnaissance team and send them to the ground zero. I propose the team be combatively advanced with Hit Wizards involved, so in case we find Death Eaters outside, we can successfully capture them for information.”

'',

“Kingsley,” called Robards to the black Captain Auror, “prepare a team with Hit Wizards,” he looked to the Head of Hit Wizards, who nodded and appointed someone from his own ranks. “Izard, get involved in this— great work on the Floo Network Authority.”

“Yes, sir!” Izard returned resolutely before leaving the room along with Kingsley and two Hit Wizards.

“Sir, I would like to volunteer,” James got up and announced in front of the entire crowd.

“Sit down,” Robards gestured to James.

“But, sir—”

“I won’t say it again, Potter; sit down,” the way he spoke and looked at James made it clear that it was an order from Head Auror to a Senior Auror.

James dumped into his chair; his face wasn’t a pretty sight to behold. Sirius sitting beside him patted his shoulder.

Robards continued, “I want the locations of every person on our Death Eater and affiliate list,” which was an internal DMLE list of known Death Eaters, possible Death Eaters, suspected Death Eaters, and people associated with Death Eaters. “If you can’t find them or have any solid information about their whereabouts, I’ll get you a warrant in their names. You have my authorization to bump their status to confirmed Death Eaters and treat them as so— any sign of resistance, you know what to do.”

“I need people working on the ward,” continued Robards. “Carrott— I need you to make three teams for it— get any expert you can get your hands on; if they refuse to participate, drag them here. I want to know everything there’s to know about that damned ward.”

“Should I involve Unspeakables?” asked Captain Auror Carrott. The Department of Mysteries was the premier research organization in the country, working on things beyond bleeding edge and state-of-the-art.

Robards thought for a second before saying, “I will talk with Scrimgeour and Bones.” He gave Carrott a look, “Get results,” which meant that he didn’t want the Unspeakables involved.

“Understood,” Carrott gathered a couple of Senior Aurors as he left.

“Potter,” called Robards, and James shot up from his chair, “I want you to be in charge of the communication—”

The Auditorium door swung open, causing everyone’s eyes to go to it.

“Junoir Auror Andreson,” Robards identified the sudden and abrupt intruder. “This isn’t a place you’re permitted to enter. This sort of behavior can get you suspended.”

“Yes, sir, I know, sir,” Andreson gulped, “but we have a problem you and everyone here need to know about.”

“What problem?” Robards’ forehead creased.

“I-It’s the Invisible Vigilante.”

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Robards Gawain – Head Auror – If only I could. . . I could’ve rained the village with Killing Curses.

James Potter – Senior Auror – All his chain of thoughts, no matter what, only lead to one place.

Stephanie Izard – Senior Auror – Part of the first team to go down to ground zero.

Andreson – Junior Auror – I like the boring office with paperwork better.

FictionOnlyReader – Author – Oooh, yeah! Let’s get the final arc rolling.

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The link is in the synopsis!