Chapter 27
Ron and Hermione beat them to the coffee shop that time. Harry and Blaise ordered their coffee and then made their way over. Blaise shook each of their hands and introduced himself.
"I'm Blaise Zabini, it's nice to meet you," he said confidently. Harry was beyond attracted to the quiet confidence that he carried in every situation and often wished that he could use it in his own life.
"Hi, I'm Hermione Granger," she said kindly.
"Ron Weasley," Ron said. Harry hoped that Ron's strong dislike for anyone Slytherin had dissipated over time. They all took their seats.
"So Blaise, what do you do?" Hermione asked politely.
"I run the potions shop just off of Diagon with Theodore Nott," Blaise answered, "And you both work in the Ministry?"
"Yes we do, I'm in the main office and Ron is an auror. I've heard of your shop actually, it's very reputable," Hermione said.
"Thank you, we wanted to make one that wasn't as sketchy as the Knockturn alley options, but also had some better quality than the mass produced potions shops on Diagon," Blaise said. Harry shifted as Hermione nodded and then turned to him.
"So Harry, we've done a lot of thinking about everything you said last time," Hermione said, and Harry listened patiently, "What you said explains a lot of our questions and makes a lot of sense. It's hard for us to wrap our heads around what Dumbledore did, but if it's true, then we completely understand you needing to go away and not come back to Hogwarts. We just wish you would have told us when it happened. It's hard to know all of this happened and you couldn't trust us with it."
Harry nodded, "I regret not sending letters. At first I couldn't, when I was still with him, he completely cut off my access to everyone else. And then for a long time with Nick it wasn't safe to try to communicate with anyone because we were worried that Dumbledore or the Death Eaters would find us. I had also not wanted to send everything in a letter and had assumed that I would see you eventually to tell you. Then a lot of time passed... more time than I had thought. I should've sent something sooner. Especially after I came back."
Hermione nodded, "I'm glad you recognize that."
"To be fair though, neither of you reached out once he came back either," Blaise pointed out. Harry was grateful for the defense, but he was worried about how his friends would take it. He knew Blaise was more than a little frustrated with his friends for not being there for him when he needed it, which Harry didn't quite understand, as he had been the one to cut them off. Hermione inclined her head slightly.
"That's true, we probably should have. We didn't know what had happened, or how bad of mental state you were in. We just assumed you were fine, but didn't want to see us," Hermione said. Ron stayed quiet. Harry desperately wanted him to say something but knew he couldn't force it.
"It's okay," Harry said, "It was a long time ago, and I don't think any of us really knew what to do."
"Harry-" Hermione started.
Suddenly, something on Ron's wrist started beeping and flashing. Harry flinched hard. Ron slapped a hand over his wrist to hide the flashing and mute the sound from the muggles around them.
"There's an attack," Ron said, jumping up quickly, "In Diagon."
Hermione jumped up as well, and Blaise and Harry did the same. Ron looked at Harry, "I know the auror office reached out to you for a meeting, are you thinking you want to help?"
"Yes," Harry said. Knowing that there were people in danger at that very moment made his decision clear.
"Well, now would be a good time to start," Ron said, striding out of the coffee shop. Harry kept up with him.
"Tell me what you need," Harry said, "I'll do it."
Ron looked at him, "Follow me."
The four of them made their way to the Leaky Cauldron. They weren't far, and they were almost running, so they made it there in a few short minutes. They quickly hurried inside and through the entrance to the Alley. The sight was something to behold. There were people running towards them, seeking escape. People were screaming, though there wasn't an obvious enemy yet.
"Probably should find out what they're running from," Ron decided.
"That would be a good place to start," Harry nodded, "Then what?"
"Just like the old days," Ron said, looking over at him with a small smile, "No plan, just diving into action."
"That tends to be how it goes with us doesn't it?" Harry smiled back despite the tense situation.
"Be careful!" Hermione said from behind them.
"Mione, stay back here and help people find their way out," Ron commanded, "And contact the Minister."
"Already on it, be safe," she said as she stopped running with them. Harry wanted to tell Blaise to do the same. He knew he was a competent wizard, but he was worried anyway about his safety.
They heard a large bang from ahead of them and they sped up their steps. Soon, the problem was evident. The shops next to the Weasley's store, a quill shop, and a pet shop, were on fire. There were Death Eaters flying on brooms, obviously trying to curse the joke shop. Their hexes were bouncing off due to the wards, but they were landing on all of the unwarded shops in the vicinity. There seemed to be a little over 10 to 15 of them.
Fred and George Weasley were firing back curses from the second story window. They were yelling and holding their own, but they were severely outnumbered.
There were animals running and flying everywhere as well. The owner of the shop was yelling for them all to come back to him, but they were terrified and were scattering. Harry cast a quick, wide net compulsion over the area that would only work on those with less than a human intelligence to go to the owner. He also cast a shield spell for him. Soon enough, almost all of the animals were migrating over to him, and the scene became a lot easier to focus on.
As he had done that, Ron had formed a perimeter, blocking any civilians from getting into the area, and protecting the North half of the alley from the Death Eaters.
"What do we do?" Harry asked. He didn't know any of the auror protocols. He didn't know what was allowed or what they wanted. Should he be trying to capture? Avoid injury? Or were these men supposed to be killed? Harry wasn't going to kill anyone if he could avoid it.
"We subdue, and then try to capture. We try to avoid killing at all costs," Ron instructed and then dug in his pockets, "If you get one down, lock this around their wrists and click the button. It will transport them to the Ministry."
He gave a handful to both Harry and Blaise before taking off running towards the fight. Harry shoved them in his pockets quickly.
Harry made to follow Ron but he was stopped by Blaise's hand on his arm.
"Harry, I know you're more than capable, but be careful, okay? Don't take any big risks," Blaise told him worriedly.
"You too, be safe," Harry nodded. Then the pair ran together to the fight.
Harry saw a Death Eater taking shots at Ron as he defended his brothers. It seemed that Ron was the first auror on the scene. Harry threw up a shield to cover Ron's back and then focused his magic into pulling the Death Eater down off of his broom.
The shocked Death Eater tumbled to the ground before finding his feet. Harry shot a stunner at him, but he ducked. He began shooting curses at Harry. Harry recognized the red and green bolts of light all too well and he quickly decided that he wasn't going to play nice.
Harry summoned a nearby bench from the side of the alley and it swept the Death Eater off of his feet and landed him neatly in front of Harry who simply punched him once. The man went out like a light. Harry tied one of his portkeys to the man's wrist, activated it, and turned around, looking for his next target.
He saw more Death Eaters now, and he wasn't sure where they were coming from. He saw Blaise and Ron both engaged in an intense duel with their own opponents. Harry also saw some more aurors finally pouring onto the scene.
Harry watched one Death Eater land and head towards another shop like he was going to light it on fire. Harry put out a hand and lit a fire directly in front of him, and then encircled him with the flame. He shot a stunner at the surprised man, and it luckily hit. Harry quickly tagged him with another portkey.
There was a sudden blast behind him, and Harry turned quickly to watch both Blaise and Ron fly backwards into the store wall behind them. They crashed through and rubble came falling down on them before Harry could do anything to stop it. Harry's heart jumped into his throat. His vision went red with rage at the Death Eaters who had caused the explosion. Harry sprang into action. He stopped using his wand, and purely used wandless, wordless magic to take down the Death Eaters. He slammed one into a wall, and pinned him up by his throat, only just remembering to give him the slightest amount of room to breathe. If he found out that Blaise or Ron had died though, he was going to revoke it.
From there, he lost track of how many Death Eaters he took down. He whirled and whipped his magic around as fast as he could. He couldn't quite reach everyone he took down with portkeys because he would be intercepted by another. He was also starting to see recognition of who he was on the aurors faces and in the way the Death Eaters were trying to stay out of his way. His magic was working with him, almost giddy for the challenge. It was easy, and if Harry hadn't been so stressed about Blaise and Ron, he almost would have said it was fun.
Soon, there were only a few remaining standing. The outnumbered Death Eaters turned and ran, and before Harry could snag them, they apparated away. Harry turned around, eyes blazing, to make sure that the scene was clear. Aurors stood and looked at him in shock, awe, and fear. Harry felt like he heard a camera snapping a picture, but he didn't care. He ran to the rubble where Ron and Blaise had last been seen. The hole in the wall was dark and at first Harry was worried that nothing was moving.
He heard Ron's voice, "Come on Blaise, stand up or Harry's going to kill me."
"I'm trying Weasley, you try to walk with a stick in your leg," he heard Blaise growl back.
"Blaise?" Harry yelled into the hole in the wall. His eyes adjusted and he could see two figures struggling to crawl out of the rubble. Harry cast a large lumos and sent it up to hover on the ceiling. "Ron?"
"I'm in here," Blaise called back, "We're alright, just a little banged up."
Harry breathed out a sigh of intense relief. He crawled up through the rubble to help Ron escort Blaise out. Once they were back in the alley, he helped Blaise to sit down and examined his leg.
"I can heal this," Harry said. Blaise had a piece of wood sticking in his upper thigh, but it wasn't deep and it wasn't hitting any major arteries from what Harry could tell.
"Please do," Blaise said tightly. His face was slightly pale, but he was holding himself together.
"This is going to hurt," Harry said apologetically before quickly and cleanly pulling out the wooden board. Blaise yelled out and Harry felt the rage return to him. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
He put his hand down and focused on mending the leg beneath him the way Nick had taught him to. He and Nick had only worked on surface level healing, but Harry had found a great liking to it. He had found that he could heal most other people by just concentrating enough. He could not do the same for himself, and he could not do deep injuries, or complex ones that he couldn't see. It did take an immense amount of energy out of him, but there wasn't anything he wouldn't do for Blaise.
"Wow," Blaise breathed, "It's like brand new."
Harry nodded and sat back, head spinning a bit. He blinked dazedly.
"You alright?" Blaise asked in concern, reaching out to steady Harry's shoulder as his upper body swayed.
"Yeah," Harry closed his eyes, "I get a bit dizzy when I do that."
He opened his eyes to see an auror approaching them.
"Hello Kingsley," Ron greeted, "I secured the scene when I got here, but then I was blasted into a wall and missed all of the rest."
"I got here shortly after you did, I think, I saw the blast," the tall man said, then he looked at Harry, "And I saw you single-handedly dismantle the entire attack."
"Oh, erm, yeah," Harry said, still feeling a little off-kilter as he stood up. He helped Blaise up, but he wondered if Blaise was actually the one steadying him because he felt so light-headed.
"Kingsley Shacklebolt, head auror," the man greeted and stuck out a hand. Harry shook it.
"Harry Potter."
"How did you know about the attack?" Kingsley asked.
"He was with me, and my wife." Ron explained, "My alert went off."
"I see," Kingsley said before he turned to survey the scene behind him, "Well, we've got it under control here. I know you have a meeting with the Minister tomorrow, but the whole team will have been summoned with the news of the attack, would you be able to come with me to give a debriefing and have that discussion now?"
Harry nodded tiredly, "I suppose there's no use putting it off."
"Alright, Weasley, can you see that his friend makes it home safely?" Kingsley ordered, "Then you're in charge of making sure this scene gets handled correctly. We're going to need to investigate this."
"Blaise stays with me," Harry said. He still felt on edge about Blaise's safety. He couldn't get the image of him getting blasted through a wall out of his head. Kingsley nodded his acceptance. Harry felt an immense amount of respect coming from the other man. Kingsley got out a portkey and held it out for the three of them. Harry and Blaise reached out, and they were teleported to the atrium of the Ministry. Harry shook his head to get his bearings. His stomach churned a bit at the memories from the last time he was here. The award ceremonies had been full of stress and trauma for Harry. He had felt so unsafe and so alone even while the whole world had been praising him.
"Follow me," Kingsley said. Blaise and Harry walked through the Ministry, and Harry didn't miss how many stares he was getting. He tried to ignore them.
They got in the lift and Harry leaned back against the wall to close his eyes. His head was still spinning and he needed to find a moment to center his magic. He had really stretched it and it was fine, but he did need to calm down.
"Could we get him water or something and a chance to sit down first?" Blaise asked Kingsley. Harry felt him take his hand and he squeezed it gratefully.
"Of course, we'll stop in my office first and you can take as long as you need, that was quite the feat of magic and I can imagine you're quite tired," he said.
Harry opened his eyes, "I'm alright, I'm just not used to using that much anymore. I'll just need a few minutes to cool it down."
Kingsley nodded and showed them to his office after the lift door opened. Blaise and Harry both took seats in the chairs in front of his desk. He got them a pitcher of water and some cups as well a small trey of sandwiches before leaving them with their privacy. Harry got down on the floor once he left.
"Harry?" Blaise asked.
"I need to go into my magic and calm it down, it still thinks we're going to need to fight," Harry said. He crossed his legs, "It should only take me a few minutes but just give me a shake if it's more than ten."
Blaise nodded and Harry closed his eyes. He easily found his magic and soothed it. He thanked it, and then was rewarded with the familiar tickle. He promised rest later and assured relative safety for the time being.
He opened his eyes once he felt calm.
"That was very interesting to watch," Blaise commented, munching on a sandwich. Harry grabbed one himself and a glass of water before sitting back up in the chair.
"How so?" Harry asked. He had never had anyone watch him since Nick taught him how to do it.
"You looked so serene, and I feel like I could almost see the magic gathering around you," Blaise said, "Your hair was moving like there was wind, but there wasn't."
"Interesting," Harry commented before he took a bite of the sandwich.
"You feel better now though?" Blaise checked.
"Yes, a lot better, still tired, but that's okay," Harry said, "You? You didn't hurt anything else, did you?"
"I honestly feel perfectly fine, your healing was great," Blaise said, "And no, I think I might just be sore tomorrow. I think Ron hit the wall first, so he took the brunt of it."
"Okay, maybe I should have tried to heal him too," Harry worried.
"I think he's alright, and he'll get checked out by professionals too, its auror protocol," Blaise assured him.
"Good," Harry nodded. He finished his sandwich and his glass of water.
"You didn't need to heal me, I didn't realize it made you so tired," Blaise said. Harry could tell he felt guilty for it.
"No, it was fine, I was just tired already. Healing something like that normally would've been fine. I'm going to start practicing again to get my stamina up," Harry said, "Healing is exhausting when it's a large injury, but it's okay."
Blaise still didn't look like he liked the situation, but he accepted it. Harry smiled slightly.
He yawned, "Well I suppose we should go get this thing finished."
Blaise nodded and they both stood and exited the office. There was a witch waiting politely outside for them.
"Are you ready Mr. Potter?" she asked Harry. He nodded. "Right this way then, they're all in a conference room just down the hall."
Harry followed her, and Blaise followed him. She opened the door to a room full of more people than Harry expected. There were two seats left open for him and Blaise. Harry first spotted the Minister, to whom he nodded, and then a bunch of people that he didn't recognize. He did notice Draco Malfoy and Neville’s grandmother as a part of the representatives from the Wizengamot. Hermione was also there, sitting with the Minister, taking notes.
He saw Kingsley and then his eyes traveled over to someone who made his blood run cold. He stopped in his tracks as all of his previous calmness fled from him. He felt his back meet Blaise's chest as he took a step back. His magic lashed out dangerously around the room, and he was vaguely aware of several people flinching. His ears roared as his emerald eyes met the icy blue eyes hidden behind half-moon glasses.
"Harry, my boy, I’m so glad you could join us," Dumbledore said.