Nineteen-year-old Harry James Potter groaned tiredly as he scrubbed a hand over his face.
"C'mon people, lets move it." He said, pulling on his discarded scarlet Auror coat and slicking back his unruly hair.
"Are you serious, mate? At this hour?" Finnegan Artegan, one of the Aurors on his team, complained.
"Yeah, I'm not joking, our orders came straight from Minister Shacklebolt himself, lets go." He responded, not waiting to see if any of them actually followed him.
They would follow. While it wasn't official, it was an unspoken rule that they would follow Harry's lead.
"You heard the man, chop-chop." Joanna Keane drawled, rolling her eyes before falling into step behind him.
The rest of their small squad quickly geared up despite their grumbling and soon, the whole team was at the scene. An old decrepit-looking warehouse stood tall in what looked like an abandoned unloading dock.
"What are the orders anyway?" Finn asked, cocking his head to the side.
Harry spared him a glance and motioned for him to follow as he did a perimeter search. He saw Bellamy and Misborn search the other end out of the corner of his eye and turned back to Finn.
"We're here to escort a crate of special cargo back to the Department of Mysteries. I don't know what's inside and I wasn't told, so I'm assuming it's above our paygrade." Harry said.
"Unspeakables." Finn guessed with a grimace.
High-ranking Aurors like themselves had clearance for almost everything, the only exception being Unspeakable business.
"You could try asking that friend of yours." Joanna interjected suddenly, making the duo jump.
"I wouldn't go so far as to call myself and Unspeakable Malfoy 'friends' but I'll see what I can do." Harry responded after getting his heart back under control.
"Or, here's an idea, why don't we just leave it alone? Like you said, Harry, its above our paygrades." Finn said, shrugging slightly.
"Where's the fun in that?" Joanna grinned, nudging Finn with her shoulder.
"We're Aurors, Jo, its not supposed to be fun." He replied, shaking his head.
Harry ignored the squabbling pair in favor of watching a truck in the distance steadily making its way towards the warehouse.
"We've set up the perimeter, sir." Andrea Misborn reported, with Collin Bellamy at her heels.
"Good job, now keep an eye on that truck while Keane and I clear the warehouse." Harry said.
"Yes sir." Collin nodded while Joanna finally looked up from her 'discussion' with Finn and shot him a grin.
"Finn, can you set up the anti-muggle charms? Take Auror Misborn with you."
"Sure thing, Harry." Finn shrugged amicably and tilted his head to Andrea.
Finn and Joanna had been with Harry since his trainee days which wasn't actually that long ago. Sometimes, it was funny how old he felt despite the fact he only became an adult two years ago. Misborn and Bellamy were recent graduates, and they were on the team to gain experience. Whether they chose to leave after their probationary year or not was entirely up to them.
Joanna flicked her sandalwood wand at the doors of the warehouse and muttered a quick 'Alohomora', causing the locking mechanism to release. Another quick flick and the doors blew open with an ominous creak which Harry quickly silenced with his own wand.
"Thanks." Joanna said.
"No problem, cover me." Harry nodded to her and tilted his head at the warehouse.
The air was stale and musty and Harry could vaguely make out the outline of various stacks of boxes piled around the corners and covered by some kind of tarp. It was awfully dark and all his instincts were screaming at him to run away. Harry scanned the place for dark magic and didn't know what to think when it came back clear.
"This place gives me the creeps, Harry." Joanna muttered in the dark, a shiver running up her spine.
"I'm right there with you, Jo." He agreed, tightening his hold on his wand.
Raising it up, he whispered 'Lumos' and held it aloft, casting a soft glow around the space.
"You see anything?" He asked without glancing back at his companion.
"No, nothing. Lumos." Joanna responded before she too lit her wand.
"We'll start with the edges then, and work our way back to the middle. Its better to be safe than sorry." Harry said.
"Alright, we'll split." Joanna agreed.
"You take this end and I'll take that one." Harry said.
Joanna nodded once firmly and they set off, carefully scanning the seemingly empty warehouse. Harry carefully shed some light behind one of the towering stacks and scanned for any sign of trouble.
"Clear!" Joanna called out from her end several minutes later.
"Clear!" Harry echoed after eyeing the place suspiciously for the last time.
Just to be safe, Harry set up a few anti-apparition wards around the perimeter he'd established and delayed their activation by thirty minutes. He checked his wrist watch and slipped his wand back into his wrist holster before joining Joanna at the entrance.
"Alright, we're all set. Lets get back to the others." Harry said with a sharp nod.
From their position, Harry could see that the truck had finally reached its destination. He could feel the anti-muggle charms in place, along with notice-me-not and silencing spells for good measure. While the words exchanged were unintelligible, Harry could see Finn talking with one of the drivers. They crossed the distance quickly and joined the rest of the team.
"Fancy costumes, eh? It ain't even Halloween yet. What're ye supposed to be?" The slightly balding one asked Finn.
"They're muggles." Collin whispered to Harry by way of explanation, as Finn quite calmly lied through his teeth.
"Merlin's Beard, exactly what we needed. How'd they get through the anti-muggle wards anyway?" Joanna asked, tilting her head at the muggles.
Harry shot a wandless detection spell at the muggles and then the truck and smiled slightly.
"It’s the truck, it's spelled." He explained.
At this point, the two muggles, with the assistance of Finn and Andrea, had brought down a wooden crate the size of a small car and were now grinning at each other.
"Muggles that work for the Ministry?" Joanna asked incredulously.
"No way, their just making the delivery." Collin disagreed, shaking his head.
"Why muggles then? Why not use the wizarding postal service, or literally anything else?" Joanna argued.
"They must have their reasons, which they will hopefully explain to us once we get back." Harry cut in, tired with their bickering.
It was giving him flashbacks to Ron and Hermione during their sixth year. What a hellish year that'd been. He might even go so far as to say the worst year.
"But-" Joanna began,
"We're not paid to ask the questions here, lets just do our jobs." Finn interjected in a bored tone.
Joanna shot him a glare but quietened reluctantly.
"-just to be clear, you want us to leave you here. With that ginormous crate. In the middle of nowhere." The taller of the two drivers asked carefully, as though he was addressing a child.
"Yes." Finn answered with a patient smile.
"You're sure?" The balding on asked.
"We're sure." Harry nodded sharply, trying to tamp down on his amusement at the muggles' clear bafflement.
"Alright then, we'll be off…" The taller one trailed off anxiously, exchanging a glance with his shorter partner, who shrugged.
They both slowly retreated into their vehicle, throwing back questioning glances at Finn, who still had a breezy smile on his face. Exchanging one last look, the duo started up their truck and took off.
"Alright, now what?" Joanna turned and addressed Harry after watching the truck disappear.
"Now, we take this into the warehouse and send it to the Ministry." Harry responded.
His team shot him dubious looks but Harry just smiled airily.
"I'll explain in more detail once we get this inside." He said.
"Alright, you're the boss." Joanna shrugged and flicked her wand out of its holster, watching her teammates do the same.
They cast a simple levitation charm on the crate and carried it up to the warehouse entrance. Once they had safely deposited the box inside, Harry flicked his wand at the door and spelled it shut.
"Now it's your turn, Harry. How do we get this thing out of here?" Joanna asked, eyeing the space carefully, as though a magic portal would spring into existence at any second.
"Its quite simple actually. Some Unspeakables have created a runic portal that will directly transport the crate to the Department of Mysteries. We just have to draw it around the box." Harry informed them cheerily.
"That’s it? And we couldn’t have just used a normal bloody spell why exactly?" Joanna asked, annoyance seeping into her tone.
The others all had disgruntled expressions on their faces as they glared at him.
"Hey, don't shoot the messenger. I'm just telling you what they told me. Apparently, the runic portal is supposed to be more 'secure', as in, the chances of this crate being snatched up by someone else mid-transit are practically non-existent." Harry explained, holding out his hands placatingly.
Joanna huffed but said no more while Collin looked speculative.
"Can we go through them as well?" He asked curiously.
"No, they've specifically warned us to stay clear of the portal when it activates. We should maintain a clear distance and they don't know what'll happen if a living person goes through." Harry hurriedly responded, giving Collin a look.
"How does it work?" Andrea asked, just as curious as her partner.
"Well, they didn't tell me everything, but I do know that it works kind of like a black hole. It has a very strong pull and it can only stay open for maybe thirty seconds at a time, then it collapses in on itself and the portal shuts." Harry said.
"That's not very ideal, is it?" Finn asked.
"It's a work in progress." Harry shrugged in response.
"Then is it safe for the crate?" Joanna asked dubiously, raising an eyebrow.
"Not even remotely my problem. As long as we stay back, we should be fine." Harry grinned.
Joanna snorted at that and the others sported smiles of their own.
"C'mon, lets do this. I'd like to be home at a reasonable time for once." Harry said.
"And do what? Have dinner with your imaginary girlfriend?" Joanna snarked.
"Hey! I'll have you know Keane, I've got a very attentive house elf and he gets lonely!" Harry said, trying and failing to look affronted.
"Who, Kreacher?" Joanna asked incredulously, her brows almost touching her hairline.
"Didn't he try to kill you once?" Finn asked absently, walking a circle around the crate.
"What-? No, he tried to kill my godfather, but that's a different story. We're getting off track." Harry shook his head.
Collin and Andrea watched on with wide eyes, unsure on what to do. Harry stifled a snicker at their expressions, the pair hadn't been on the team long enough to get used to the dynamics between them all. They were also insanely big on following proper codes of conduct so Harry had long since given up on getting either of them to use his name.
Harry pulled out a piece of parchment from the depths of his scarlet coat and smoothed it out. An odd circle of runes was scrawled out in gold ink and he didn't even bother to try and decipher it. These were advanced runes and even if he'd taken Ancient Runes at Hogwarts, he sincerely doubted being able to understand even a fraction of what was written down on the page.
He tapped his wand against the parchment and held his breath as the golden ink began to lift off the sheet. He heard the gasps of awe and surprise from his team but kept his focus on the floating runic circle.
Everyone waited with bated breath and Harry expertly floated the ink circle above the crate. He gave his wand a firm flick and grinned roguishly when the circle started to expand. As soon as it was big enough, Harry abruptly made a sweeping motion with his wand, causing the circle to drop down.
One quick drying charm later, the runic portal had been applied. Now, it was time for the activation.
"Alright team, everyone step back." Harry instructed them.
Finn grabbed Joanna around the wrist and tugged her back a few paces while Collin and Andrea moved back of their own accord. After making sure everyone was a safe distance away, Harry raised his wand to activate the portal when he felt an odd tingling at the back of his neck.
A small frown graced his lips, Mad-eye's voice whispered across his mind so clearly, Harry half expected him to come running out from behind him, yelling 'Constant Vigilance!'.
Day dream or not, the practice had saved his life more times than he could count. He lowered his arm and looked around.
"Sir? Are you alright?" Collin called out, eyeing him worriedly.
"Something's off…" Harry trailed off in response, looking at his surroundings with a new sense of urgency.
The rest of them didn't even bother questioning him, they drew their wands and formed a tight formation around him. The atmosphere grew heavy and everyone tensed, waiting for an attack.
Harry's suspicions bore fruit when loud cracks were heard, a telltale sign of apparition and the team was suddenly surrounded on all sides by black-hooded and white-masked wizards. Death Eaters.
A silent standoff ensued and neither party knew what to do. Remnants of the Death Eaters had banded together to do what? Harry didn't know. All he knew was that they weren't supposed to be his problem anymore.
The spell was broken when a Death Eater hurled a curse at them. Harry's wand snapped up and the curse bounced harmlessly off of his shield. All hell broke loose.
"Hold them back! We have to get this crate out of here!" Harry yelled, shooting a stun at the Death Eater closest to him.
"Activate the portal, Harry! We've got this!" Joanna called back, lips peeled back in a snarl as a killing curse flew past her ear.
Harry didn't respond, a quick glance at his watch told him they had three more minutes before the anti-apparition wards kicked into place. The murky outlines of a plan was beginning to form at the back of his mind and he whipped around to stare at the door.
"What are you doing, sir!?" Andrea yelled at him.
"I have a plan!" Harry yelled back.
Finn suddenly appeared beside him.
"We're listening." He said, his flippant expression gone, replaced by the serious and collected mask that made him one of the best.
"I have anti-apparition wards set to activate in two minutes. I'm going to clear a path for you and I want you to run as fast as you can out of the warehouse and I need you to seal all possible escape routes for the Death Eaters. Once you do that, I should be able to open the portal and apparate out before the wards activate." Harry explained as fast as he could.
Finn listened intently and nodded.
"I'll handle the others, do what you need to do." He said.
Harry nodded and watched as he disappeared back into the fray. Feeling an odd heat at his back, he turned around just in time to side-step out of the way of a jet of green light.
"You know, I've survived that twice now, I really don't want to tempt fate and attempt a third." He said to no one in particular and flicked his wand up.
"Reducto!" He said.
The Death Eater hastily threw up a shield which shattered when his spell hit. With a small frown, Harry returned to tossing stun spells around and shielding his teammates whenever he could, all while looking for an opening. The opportunity presented itself a few seconds later and he aimed his wand at the weak spot of the Death Eater's formation.
"Bombarda! Expelliarmus!" He cried out in rapid succession, clearing a path for his team as the figures he'd targeted scrambled to get away.
"GO!" He called, shooting stun spells at stragglers and keeping the path clear.
Finn didn't hesitate. He grabbed Joanna with one hand and Andrea with the other and lunged for the exit, Collin hot on his heels. Harry didn't release his breath until his whole team had made it outside and the doors closed firmly. He glanced at his watch again and startled when he realized he only had seconds to act. There were too many Death Eaters to take on by himself so he only had one option.
He flicked his wand at the golden runic circle on the ground and activated it. The runes glowed a pale blue and he could feel the pull of the portal forming. Without wasting anymore time, he yanked on his magic and prepared to apparate out of there. Several things went wrong.
He felt the snap of the anti-apparition wards flaring to life. Four of the Death Eaters shot spells at him. In slow motion, Harry watched as two of the spells collided. Instead of cancelling each other out, the spells did something he had never seen before. Once of the ricocheted off the other and headed straight for him. The spell hit him square in the chest and sent him crashing into the wooden crate behind him.
The wood splintered without resistance and Harry winced as they imbedded themselves into his exposed skin. His coat protected him from the worst of it but his arms were now littered with a collection of small cuts, all bleeding sluggishly.
'Oh goodie. More scars.' Harry thought flatly before the crate started to tremble.
Harry's eyes flew open and his hands shot out to steady himself. A cold sort of detachedness settled in his soul as he stared out at the Death Eaters who'd all backed up. The runes were glowing so brightly that most of them had to shield their eyes.
'Well, at least they'll be caught.' Harry thought to himself before shrugging. "And who knows, with my luck? I might just get out of this alive."
The last thing Harry saw through the unbearable brightness was the pile of glittering gold… things, littered around the inside of the crate before it all went dark…
The doors of the warehouse burst open just as the portal collapsed in on itself, and the area was suddenly stormed by heavily armed Aurors and a handful of Unspeakables.
"HARRY!" Joanna screamed as she and Finn dashed towards the now closed portal.
Collin and Andrea stood aside in a daze, watching Finn struggle to hold his teammate back as she writhed furiously in his arms, kicking and spitting.
"Where's Potter? A tall, lean and masked Unspeakable demanded.
"We don't know." Collin responded, still in shock.
One of the Death Eaters tied up behind them laughed,
"He went in through that blue thing with the crate." He cackled.
The Unspeakable whipped around so fast the Death Eater actually stopped.
"What did you say?" He hissed.
When no response was forthcoming, the Unspeakable stalked up to the Death Eater and grabbed him by the collar, giving him a good shake.
"He was on the crate when it fell!" The Death Eater spat, looking terrified as his pupils darted from face to face.
Andrea gasped while Collin paled rapidly.
"YOU!" Joanna suddenly roared, her face red with fury as she walked up to the Unspeakable holding the Death Eater, who was dropped immediately.
"Open the Portal!" She growled once she was close enough, jerking her finger at the charred patch the portal had left behind.
"No." The Unspeakable responded quietly, "I'm afraid I can't do that."
"It wasn't a request. Open the portal." She repeated, flicking out her wand.
"Are you mad!? I can't open the portal, its not meant for human transportation. Now that Auror Potter is in there, the exit to that portal can open anywhere. If I open it, it could have disastrous consequences. I'm sorry for your loss Auror Keane, but I cannot under, any circumstances, open that portal for you." The Unspeakable snapped.
"Then why did you give it to us!? You can't even control it!" Joanna screamed, warning sparks firing from her wand.
"It was it was the safest option! Do you know how much damage that crate could do if it got into the wrong hands!?" The Unspeakable yelled right back.
"What was in the crate?" Came a quiet voice.
"Excuse me?" The Unspeakable said indignantly.
"What. Was. In. The. Crate?" Finn repeated softly, his eyes shining dangerously.
"What's so important in that crate that you'd willingly sacrifice the life of your best Auror, not just that, the life of the man that saved wizarding world from Voldemort!" He growled, fists shaking with fury.
The Unspeakable sagged and sighed deeply. Every eye in the room was watching them, there was no movement as everyone waited with bated breath for the Unspeakable to make the next move. Joanna stood with her chest heaving, Finn held his ground and glared unflinchingly into the eyes of the Unspeakable while Andrea and Collin watched on, shell shocked.
It was not the Unspeakable that answered however, or even an Auror. It was the same Death Eater who'd previously been grabbed.
"Didn't you know?" He started curiously, oblivious to the glares his fellow Death Eaters were shooting him.
"Know what?" Joanna spat.
"The crate. It was full of time turners."
***