No One Came
They have to reach it in time.
They have to.
Blood thundered through her ears and a choked sob almost left her lips but she held it in. She quickly raised her wand and concentrated.
Hermione apparates to Hogsmeade with a loud pop and her legs almost gave out in relief at the sight of the looming castle, but managed to hold on as several more pops sound around her.
"Let's go!" She orders, waving her hand to the others. She tries not to think of the cooling bodies left on the Ministry halls. Her friends and colleagues, gone in a matter of minutes. She doesn't know how they did it, but the army of Deatheaters somehow managed to pass through the wards at the Ministry.
Hermione took stock of her surroundings, eyes alert and wand ready. A loud pop sounded and her wand twitched, a spell halfway on her lips before she recognized the famous red hair.
"It's done!" Ron gasps out.
Hermione nodded, relieved that their emergency signal has gone out. They had contingency plans for just about everything, with the Wizarding World as it was, they had no choice.
In just a few short minutes several pops could be heard along with some portkeys as masses of muggleborns, half-bloods and even some purebloods started to appear with their families in the large clearing left and right.
Various witches and wizards have come seeking refuge in the safest place in England, Hogwarts.
They are the ones who live in homes with next to no wards or protection, and those who aren't confident that their ancestral manors could handle the forces of the Dark Lord. They knew they would be attacked for their blood and their beliefs, most especially now that the Ministry is down and the Aurors are in short supply.
Unless you came from a long line of purebloods, or a wizard who's beliefs aligned with the Dark Lord. You are a target.
"Hurry!" Hermione shouts to the masses, waving her wand and lighting the way to Hogwarts. She signals the DA to encircle and guard the fleeing crowd. More defenders show up to help as the Order finally appears.
Hermione is looking around, alert and attentive. Paying very close attention to all incoming pops of apparition, looking for any signs of Deatheaters appearing.
They had set up this emergency situation with Dumbledore and Hogwarts a couple months ago when the looming threat of war was fast approaching. The deal was for Hogwarts to accept the refuge of witches, wizards and their families once the Ministry of Magic goes down. She doesn't know how much the deal has been spread, nor does she know if it has already caught the attention of the Dark Lord.
She anxiously led the last of the stragglers on the path when several pops of apparition suddenly sounded. When Hermione saw the first white mask appear she immediately sent a string of jinxes and curses. Moving quickly as she saw the clearing fill with colorful lights and spells.
She aimed a spell on the earth near the biggest crowd of Deatheaters. "Run!" She shouted as the ground exploded outwards, creating a thick wall of earth, temporarily blocking the way for the Deatheaters.
They were already rather close to the Hogwarts wards and the DA ran as swiftly as they could while weaving in and out of the way from spells. The Order, being more older and experienced, have let them escape the onslaught first and helped them flee by causing a distraction.
She shot a few more spells towards the Deatheaters when she heard a muffled cry up ahead. Her eyes widened when she caught sight of Luna Lovegood on the ground, writhing in pain just from the edge of the wards. Hermione looked back towards the Deatheaters and found one sending a glowing green spell heading straight towards the fallen woman.
Thinking quickly she sent a low powered 'bombarda' near Luna's feet. The spell reached her just in time as the force propelled her through the wards. The green curse fizzled away as it hit the empty ground. Hermione mentally sent Luna a silent apology when the fall caused the already injured woman to shriek in pain.
A feeling of an overwhelming magical power shooting straight towards her had Hermione almost flying towards the wards. She dived the last few steps and landed with a grunt on the other side. The curses following behind her landed harmlessly against the wards.
With the last of her energy she aimed a spell near the foot of the wards and a wall of earth sprung from the ground to shield her and the survivors. More as a precaution for spells that manage to pass through even the strongest wards in Britain.
She slowly stood, gasping for breath and saw Madame Pomphrey and a few senior students surround the writhing Luna Lovegood, forcing down potions and casting diagnostic charms.
Hermione started breathing faster as the situation finally caught up to her. She let out a broken cry and sobbed, falling to her knees while warming up the master coin in her pocket. She let out a choked gasp when she only saw forty-two responses.
Eight DA members lost their lives today. Turning her head towards the darkened sky she hopelessly thought, what are they going to do now.
The room was silent, broken only by occasional taps and clicks. Advanced facial recognition software doing most of the work for Merlin.
His eyes danced across the multitude of screens, each flashing through the streets of London.
Merlin tries not to think too much of the missing candidate, focusing only on trying to find his current whereabouts. He blames himself for getting too attached, it caused emotions to interfere with his work, and he won't be having that.
Merlin leans back, taking a sip of his coffee. His hand falling to his knee, his fingers tracing the fake synthetic skin underneath his trousers. The lack of sensation sending a small shock through his body, reminding him once again that he is no longer whole or complete. That while he had entertained the thought of a partner in life, that option is no longer viable.
He closed his eyes, erasing the sad thought and went back to his work with renewed vigor. Work never fails to distract him.
BANG
Papers flew and the windows rattled as Harry appeared in his apartment. He gagged and almost hurled as he fell down to his knees from the feeling of being sucked through a narrow tube. Apparition sucks.
After composing himself he did a thorough check of his body for any missing parts before closing his eyes in relief. He escaped from the villain and managed to successfully apparate for the first time without splinching himself. He deserves a medal. But the villain is still out there, and they've managed to capture David and Titus as well. Harry needs to inform Kingsman, although they probably already know the three have had been kidnapped, but they don't know that Harry has managed to escape.
Looking around Harry found his room to be undisturbed. Everything was still where he'd left it, but with an added layer of dust from the months he's been gone. Harry sent a silent approving nod to Jason for not going inside his bedroom while he was away.
Checking the time on his wall-clock, he found out it was only two-o'clock in the morning. Jason must still be asleep. Harry decides not to disturb him and took some spare money from under his bed before quickly tip-toeing out of the apartment.
Standing outside his apartment at two in the morning he took a deep breath of cold London air. It's great to see that nothing has changed in the months he was gone.
It took him awhile to hail a cab, but soon he was heading back to the Kingsman tailor shop.
"Merlin."
"Mmmm."
"Merlin." Roxy repeats.
"Mmmm."
"Merlin."
"What? Roxy, can't you see I'm busy looking for our missing candidate?" Merlin said while still typing on his keyboard.
"Dagonet just called from the tailor shop, says Harry came knocking." At Merlin's stunned face she added, "Eggsy's already left for the shop."
Merlin cursed and quickly turned back to his computer, a few simple clicks and he has the feed of the shop up on the large screen.
He sat back in his seat, mouth open. Harry really is in the shop. The figure was walking back and forth, worrying the carpet with his pacing while still wearing his club outfit.
He opens up another screen and connects to Galahad. "Eggsy, take him in for investigation. We have a lot of questions for our dear candidate." He says through a mic, watching through Eggsy's glasses as his shuttle rapidly approached the tailor shop.
"What do you mean exactly by 'take him in'?" Eggsy asked tersely.
"Just as I said, take him in, by force if necessary." He sounds firm as he orders Eggsy but inside, he wavers.
"I heard our wayward candidate has been found, in our shop no less and by his own free will." A bemused voice chimed behind him. Merlin merely grunted in response as he continued to watch the screens. Arthur stood beside him and Roxy on the other, both looked over to the screens showing the shop in different angles as the figure continued pacing back and forth.
"Gary!" Harry stopped pacing and exclaimed at the sight of Eggsy. The two men heard his voice sound over the microphones.
"Gary?" Eggsy pulled a face and was about to protest when Merlin hissed. "Not now Galahad." Roxy's faint chuckle could be heard.
"Harry. Where have you been?" Eggsy asked instead.
"The others and I got kidnapped! Some weirdo kept asking about Kingsman and some bloke called Eggsy. Gary, we need to go and save them." Harry ran a shaky hand through his hair as he explained.
Merlin and Arthur shared a look. It seems that Harry still doesn't know the train was a test and that Kingsman has seen his disappearing trick.
"Harry. I, am Eggsy, that's my name."
"I thought Gary was your name?"
"Galahad." Merlin hissed again and Eggsy somehow manages to contain his eye-roll. "It is, but Eggsy is what everyone calls me."
"Take him to the safe room." Arthur ordered.
"Let's go inside, explain from there."
Eggsy said, shooting one of the cameras a look before ushering the confused Harry to the meeting room. He pressed a small hidden panel at the back of the room and a door appeared. The safe room was installed after the whole missile debacle. It is now a requirement for all Kingsman houses and buildings to ensure that the incident won't repeat itself.
It is also the only place Arthur could think of at the moment, considering the young man can just teleport wherever he wants, no cell or interrogation room would be able to hold him. Best to go about this nicely.
Eggsy enters the safe room, it was decorated nicely in expensive furniture and liquor lined walls. Hidden from sight are hundreds of MREs and barrels of water, on the off chance an agent or more has to stay in the safe room for many days or weeks.
If ever a zombie apocalypse happens, Eggsy briefly thought, Kingsman would probably survive.
He ushered Harry to a seat and started browsing the selection of liquors. Harry saw what he was doing and started to complain, "We don't have time for this! That creep has David and Titus for hours now, who knows what he's done to them!"
"Harry."
Harry visibly recoiled at Merlin's voice sounding from an unseen speaker. "Harry, the train was a test." Eggsy grabbed a random brandy off a shelf and poured two glasses.
Harry stiffened and his eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?" His voice a near whisper.
"The train test, a classic Kingsman loyalty test. Supposed to weed out the weak willed and cowardly candidates." Eggsy explained as he sat down opposite of Harry.
"By running them over by a train?" Harry sharply said, his eyes switching between Eggsy and the glass of brandy on the table.
"No, a mechanism is in place to drop the candidates just as the train approaches. Your teammates are fine and have successfully passed the test." Merlin then decided to turn the safe room television on and showed Titus doing his turn of the train test. Harry's face slowly turned pale as he realized what Merlin was hinting at.
"So you know." Harry whispered and could almost feel Eggsy's serious gaze cut through him.
"Yes, we saw everything." Eggsy said softly. "Now we're giving you a chance to explain."
Harry was silent, his face still pale and Eggsy could see the fear in his eyes slowly being replaced with confusion.
Harry's head snapped up in alarm. "Wait, you've known for hours now. Right?"
"Yes." Eggsy replied slowly.
"And no one came?"
"What?"
"No one came?!" Harry shouted as he stood up in alarm. Eggsy tensed and his hand automatically reaching for his gun at the sudden movement.
"Explain yourself." Arthur barked through the speakers.
"They should've been alerted. They should've been here hours ago." Harry ran a shaky hand through his hair.
"Harry." Merlin said sharply and Harry took a deep breath.
"If they hadn't arrived by now, that means something is wrong."
"Wot the fuck are you talkin' bout?"
Harry paused and slowly said. "I should be able to tell you." He looked straight at Eggsy for a few seconds before sitting back down to the sofa. "Since you already know, have already seen."
Merlin and Arthur exchange serious looks before focusing back on the young man.
Harry stared at his untouched glass of brandy and murmured. "When a witch or wizard does magic in front of muggles. The ministry would be alerted and Obliviators would be sent to erase the muggles' memories."
Eggsy just looked confused. "You wot mate? Try speakin' in English please bruv."
"Erase memories?" Arthur asked with alarm.
Harry looked sheepish. "Sorry, I suck at this explaining thing. Let me try again. I, am a wizard, and I am a part of the magical community. To be specific, a wizarding citizen of England. We are found all over the world and there are enclaves in just about every major city around the globe.
"You lost me at the wizard bit." Eggsy said.
"Let me show you." Harry look around for a moment and decided on the glass of brandy. He concentrated for a few seconds then waved his hand. His magic reaching out and the glass slowly morphed into the shape of a bird. Modelled after Fawkes the glass pheonix trilled and flew about the room.
Harry has been going on for five years purely by wandless magic and he is not about to use his wand in front of these spies. Let them think he doesn't need a wand to do magic. Harry could hear sharp inhales of breath from the speaker as the glass turned pheonix started to fly around the room.
"Explain everything. Now." Merlin ordered.
"Well I--"
"Right from the beginning." Arthur interrupted.
"From the beginning?" Harry asked with a funny look on his face.
"Aye." Merlin ordered, his accent thicker than normal.
"Well, it all started on exactly from the beginning. Magic was born alongside Life itself. Before even men walked the Earth, magic was already present. Magic is everywhere, it is in the air, the water, the earth, in every living being. Humans managed to harness it after pro-creating with pure magical creatures. Nagas, Veelas, Goblins, Giants, Elves and more..." Harry droned on about the history of magic and the creation of the first magical government.
"... There is currently a Dark Lord in England, a terrorist, out to take over the enclaves in England. He mysteriously disappeared two decades ago, but rose in power again approximately five years ago. I ran away from that world when I found out, I didn't want to get involved, and to be pushed into doing something I didn't want to. So I left."
The room was silent once he finished his tale. Harry omitted many things just now, such as the wizarding world hailing him as a hero, being the boy-who-lived, and his involvement with the Dark Lord issue. The silence stretched on for a couple of minutes and Eggsy poured himself another glass of brandy.
The speaker crackled and Arthur's voice passed through. "Harry, we could not tell if anything that you've told us is real or not, and we can't confirm it until we see them. However, we would like you to explain what this is." The television turned on again and showed the footage from the restaurant incident.
Harry paled at the sight and whispered. "Dementors."
Eggsy's head whipped over to him in surprise. "You know what that is?"
"I do." Harry gulped a little before speaking. "That is a Dementor. Dementors are among the foulest creatures that walk this earth. They infest the darkest, filthiest places, they glory in decay and despair, they drain peace, hope, and happiness out of the air around them... Get too near a Dementor and every good feeling, every happy memory will be sucked out of you." He recited the passage he'd read about the dark creatures.
"What it is doing there in the video is what we call, the Dementor's Kiss. It is sucking the soul out of its victim, in the wizarding world we would use it as a death sentence to criminals."
"So you know how to kill them?" Eggsy asked.
Harry shook his head in response. "The Dementors can't be killed, we don't know how to kill them yet. But the ministry must have managed to struck a deal with them somehow. They're normally confined in Azkaban as prison guards." Harry saw Eggsy's raised eyebrow and answered the silent question. "Azkaban is a Wizarding Prison located on an unplottable island. They're not supposed to be out in public. Hell, they're not supposed to even leave the island unless sanctioned by the ministry..." Harry could practically feel the gears falling into place as dread began creeping into him.
His thoughts were interrupted by Merlin's voice. "Are they supposed to be invisible?"
"Only to muggles, those with magic could see them. I could try to describe them if you'd like."
At Eggsy's nod he explained. "They look like... like flying skeletons covered in dirty grey cloth. The only part of their face I have seen is their mouths. It looks like a gaping hole, perpetually open. And they can fly, I have never seen their feet before." He added the last bit as an afterthought.
"They have been attacking civilians in increasing number these past couple of months starting from the last year." Arthur said.
"That is... very bad news." Harry felt himself slowly flood with guilt.
Eggsy groaned and palmed his face, "Why? Well, obviously it is bad, but please explain."
"The Dementors, coupled with the fact that no obliviators came to wipe your memories can only mean a few things." Harry paused and gave a grave look towards Eggsy.
"The Ministry is in pure disorder, Dementors have been given a better deal by the Dark Lord or the Dark Lord has won the war and has taken over the Ministry of Magic"