g

FanFiction

Just In

Community

Forum

Altered Destinies by DobbyElfLord

Books » Harry Potter Rated: T, English, Supernatural & Suspense, Harry P., Tom R. Jr., Words: 289k+, Favs: 8k+, Follows: 3k+, Published: Sep 16, 2006 Updated: Sep 1, 2007 3,864Chapter 8: The Mission

Chapter 8 – The Mission

The old farm truck left the smell of exhaust in its wake. Three dirty farm hands perched in the back as the truck bounced its way down the farm lane. The winding road had been in place for centuries. Farm carts probably cut down this same path in the time of Caesar. The three farmhands did not look around as the truck made its way through the ancient forest that surrounded it. The huge, old trees cut out much of the light anyway.

The truck approached an unseen boundary. A truck bearing the markings of the Wehrmacht sat along the side of the lane. Three young men in SS uniforms stood bored along side the truck. One waved the farm truck to a stop as it approached. The other two never moved from their positions.

The farmer driving the truck called out as the truck rolled to a stop. "Guten Morgen, Rottenfuhrer!"

"Guten Morgen, Herr Adler. New crew of workers? They don't look too good." the corporal observed.

"Ya, best I could find. An idiot, a cripple and a Jew. No one else is available. All of the fine German stock has gone into service to the Fatherland. I must make do with what is left over."

The SS corporal laughed and walked to the back of the truck. He glanced at the only worker in the back who seemed to have any intelligence in his eyes. He sneered as his eyes noticed a yellow Star of David sewn onto his jacket. The corporal looked at the two remaining workers. The first was a dirty man with an obviously clubbed foot, an obvious weakness in his blood. The final man's eyes contained no hint of curiosity or intelligence. His sloping brow gave him the face of a Neanderthal. Only his obvious size indicated why even a desperate farmer would accept the man.

"You 'men' listen up." The word men was sneered to indicate the SS man's true feeling. "You are entering a secured area. You will not leave your camp at night. During the day, you will leave only to work the fields. Anyone found out of the permitted areas or at night will be shot.

With a final snort of disgust, the corporal waved the truck on. Draco Malfoy would have been proud of the sneer the SS thug bestowed on his "lesser". The farmer merely waved a combination thanks and good-bye as he drove off.

The truck continued for another five minutes before turning in a small encampment with a barn and farming equipment. Two men exited the barn as the truck pulled to a stop.

The farmer climbed out of the truck an approached the other two men. After a quiet discussion the three men walked to the back of the truck.

One of the newcomers spoke. "You three are here to work. We will work you hard. You will sleep in the barn in the hayloft. Lunch will be provided. You three will take turns cooking for us. Understand?"

The three men in the truck nodded, although the one man may have been nodding just because the others did.

"I am Herr Yoder." Pointing at the other newcomer, he added, "This is Herr Klink. You will listen to us and do what ever we tell you. Otherwise we will kick you out at night and let the SS have you." Yoder nodded to himself. "Now empty this truck and stack the supplies in the barn."

The three men moved to comply. The Jewish man moved quickly to efficiently complete the task. The clubfoot moved with a surprising dexterity moving the supplies. The idiot needed to be prompted for each step. Only the fact he lifted twice the load of the other two men kept him from being turned out of the camp immediately.

Once emptied, Herr Adler climbed back into the truck and drove out of the camp.

The farmers sent the Jewish man and the idiot into a field and told to collect up the rocks that came up over the winter. They told the clubfoot to sharpen the blades of the plows. Then they walked back into the barn to continue their own tasks.

The man with the star on his chest attempted to make conversation with his coworker in the field. The simple man nodded vaguely to questions. The Jewish man introduced himself as Jonathan Fielman. When asked, the simple man answered with a grunt, "Goyle". Eventually the two men fell into a quiet pattern of work and conversation ceased.

As the sun rose higher in the sun and their muscles started to wear, they stopped for a light lunch. The Jewish man had to keep reminding his slower coworker to drink occasionally.

Late in the day, Herr Klink waved them back to camp. Jonathan pulled Goyle by the arm back to the barn. "Come, my friend. It is time to eat." Goyle merely nodded and smiled slightly.

A thick cloud cover rolled into the area during the evening. After finishing a relatively skimpy meal, the five men in the camp found places to sleep. Yoder and Klink slept in a small shack next to the main barn. The others found places in the stale hay in the barn. Before long, everyone in the camp was asleep.

As he felt the Polyjuice Potion wear off, James Evans awoke in the almost pitch black barn. James quietly made his way through the barn and out of the door. The sound of various night creatures told James no one else wandered the camp in the night. In seconds, James walked out of the camp and into the darkened tree line.

As he walked into the forest, James thanked the long gone creator of the wizard potions he had been drinking all day. The improved Polyjuice potion was definitely a big help. However, the magical equivalent of a Muggle sports drinking enabled "Goyle" to continue working long after his own body felt too tired to move.

Out of sight of the camp, James pulled out his shrunken trunk and spoke the command word to resize it. Moving quickly, James used his wand to remove all of the dirt and oder accumulated during the day's work. Then he donned his battle robes and stuck his wand into his wrist holster. The trunk want back into a pocket.

Joining the work crew was a stroke of luck. It allowed James an excuse to be in the area during the day without arousing any suspicion. Posing as an idiot wearing the form of the (future?) Slytherin student struck James as funny. Too bad no one else got the joke.

Magically prepared for his reconnaissance mission, James concentrated for a moment. In an instant, he was gone. A large grey wolf stood in his place. The wolf set off in an easy lope through the forest. Where his human eyes perceived darkness, the wolf saw clearly.

The wolf set off at an easy lope through the medieval forest. The ancient trees blocked the light from the quarter moon hanging low in the sky. The wolf's nose told James that no humans or other large predators were in the area. After a day playing the role of Goyle, the wolf's lope felt refreshing.

Harry learned to be an Animagus during the summer after Professor Dumbledore's death. Harry, Hermione and Ron stayed with the Dursleys while waiting on Harry's 17th birthday. (The Dursleys were not happy, but Ron and Hermione could use magic so they kept their objections to themselves.) Professor McGonagall arrived one day unannounced and offered to teach them. Ron never gained the ability. Hermione became a bushy, brown housecat. (Ron made a cheeky comment about the form made sense because Hermione always tried to act like McGonagall anyway.) Harry's transformation came very easy, but its results shocked the Professor and her protégé.

James the wolf ran through the forest in the cool spring night air. During his time in the field, James thought about his rough map of the area and decided where the farm would roughly be located. He estimated the farm and the concentration camp were about 2 km apart. A short and easy run for a wolf.

James felt himself enter under the umbrella of anti-Appartition and Portkey wards. The camp could not be far ahead. He slowed his run into a cautious walk. One of his concerns on the mission was the existence of anti-Animagus wards. Some unobtrusive research in the DoM library indicated those wards did not yet exist. However, just because the British Ministry did not have them did not mean the German Ministry did not also.

James came to the edge of a clearing and heard the sounds of men up ahead. He laid down on his belly. He crawled out slowly so his head was out of the bushes at the clearing edge.

The camp looked very primitive to James's eyes. A double wall of barbed wire lined the camp. 2-meter wide dogs run lay between the two lines of barbed wire. James could smell the dog smell mixed in the stench rising from the camp. Wooden guard towers stood at the four corners of the camp. Searchlights constantly swept the area both inside and outside the camp. The former munitions factory dominated the camp. The rundown building seemed to house the majority of the prisoners. The removed widow glass replaced with boards. The roof looked to be in poor repair with obvious holes.

James realized he had approached the back of the camp. James pulled back into the forest and circled the camp. Approaching from the other side, James saw barracks and huts for the guards and camp administrators. Another building had a sign announcing it as the camp office. These buildings looked in much better repair. In fact, they looked luxurious for a military organization.

Beyond the guard camp, James spotted the gate into the prisoner's area. It was set up with an inner and an outer gate. Machine gun emplacements stood outside the exterior gate on either side. An additional guard tower oversaw the area. James bet that guard would be equipped with heavy weapons also.

James remembered watching a couple old reruns of the comedy, Hogan's Heroes before attending Hogwarts. The camp from the show bore little resemblance to what he now saw. This was not a Prisoner of War camp. These people had no international treaty ensuring a basic care standard. These were German citizens. The infamous ovens and gas showers would not yet in existence. It would be a couple of years before Hitler's "Final Solution" would go into effect.

James felt a wave of disgust pass through him. The similarities between Hitler's views on "the lesser races" and Voldemort's on "mudbloods" were simply too obvious. The odd thing was Grindelwald did not seem to truly share those views. He wanted unrestrained power and access to forbidden magic. The Dark Lord's support of Hitler's actions were a means to an ends for him, rather then a goal itself. James wondered idly if growing up during WWII made the young Voldemort identify with Hitler's goals. Which would have been odd considering Hitler was pure Muggle.

Unseen by the large number of guards, the wolf crept into their camp. The barracks stood up off the ground, allowing the wolf a crawlspace. The shadow moved stealthily through the camp listening to the conversations of the guards. James estimated the time to be near 3am. Although most of the guards seemed to be in bed, James was surprised at the level of activity that continued through the night.

On the east end of camp, next to the office building and the camp gate, James received his first nasty surprise. A small hut sat by itself with no obvious purpose. James approached it for cover and felt himself pass through some Muggle-repulsion and Notice-Me-Not charms. The charms were not long-term wards, but rather temporary spells. Standing next to the hut, James's wolf hearing could hear the sounds of a brutal interrogation occurring inside.

A woman's voice screamed out in pain accompanied by the brutal laughing of at least three men. James recognized the woman's voice as Charlie. James felt his inner-Gryffindor demanding he act to rescue his fellow team member. He ruthlessly suppressed that impulse. Any premature action now would also risk the primary mission of rescuing the Auror team. James did not like to leave a team member as a captive but forced himself to remain still.

Once his impulse was set aside, James moved carefully around the hut. He smelled at least four men inside the hut with Charlie. Could the fourth man be another Dark Army wizard or could it be Alex?

Based on the size of the hut and the number of wizards inside the hut, James guessed the interior of the hut was magically expanded to a much larger size. This made it difficult for James to get an idea of what the team would expect on entering the hut. Although only four wizards were here now, a Floo connection could mean that a large number of wizards could appear at anytime.

James moved quietly out of the camp. He thought of using his bushy tail to wipe away as many of his paw prints as possible. Unfortunately, the wet ground prevented that from being an easy task. He also figured it would appear suspicious if wolf tracks were found and some of them were wiped away. James made sure to leave a number of tracks near the rubbish pile. Hopefully the tracks would be attributed to a scavenger and forgotten.

The wolf moved back into the forest without any alarm being raised. Once away from the camp, James moved away from the camp until he reached a stream. He crossed into the stream and followed it down a bit. James hoped that if the guards attempted to track the wolf, the stream would end their hunt.

James changed back into his human form standing in the stream. The sudden loss of the wolf's senses came as a shock. Once he became an Animagus, James realized that some of the wolf's attributes seemed to remain with him. The wolf's sense of smell coupled with its strength and stamina remained after he changed back, abet in a greatly reduced level.

The problem with the wolf is it would not allow him to explore the prisoners' camp. The barbed wire would be bad enough, but the dogs would react immediately when they caught his scent. No, the wolf would not do for this at all.

When Harry worked on his Animagus training, Professor McGonagall used a combination of a potion and self-hypnotism to help the three identify their animals. Ron simply fell asleep and saw nothing. Hermione saw her cat form. Harry was the surprise. When he emerged from his session, he told them he saw two forms. The professor encouraged him to choose one form. Hermione backed her up, telling Harry that dual forms were impossible.

Harry believed Hermione and the professor. However, Hermione's know-it all attitude struck a sore spot. Harry worked on his second form at night after Ron and Hermione was asleep. Everyone knew that Harry had trouble sleeping so neither Hermione or McGonagall questioned it. Ron knew, but he covered for Harry. After Harry demonstrated his first form, Ron and Harry enjoyed the looks on the ladies' faces when he changed into his second form.

Remus thought it was wonderful when he learned of Harry's ability. It was then he gave Harry his Marauder name, The Count. Moony laughed himself breathless when Harry started doing impressions of Snape with a cape.

Ron's cheeky comment was, "This explains how a bloke with poor eyesight can beat everyone else to the Snitch!"

In a flicker, the medium sized, black haired wizard was gone. In a squeak and flutter, the black form of a bat flew off into the night.

The bat fluttered through the canopy of trees. James's natural radar allowed him to avoid the various branches. Flying as a bat was almost as much fun as broom flying. The form was much slower but it was so maneuverable. James's only problem with it was the diet. His form could not resist snacking on the various flying insects that crossed his path. The proteins were great especially after the meager offerings at the farm; however, the idea turned his stomach whenever he reverted to human form.

James the bat flew over the fence unnoticed. His natural radar provided him with an accurate mental image of the camp. He avoided the search beams sweeping the camp as he moved towards the prisoners' barracks.

James flew to a roof overhang and landed hanging upside down. (This was actually the hardest of the bat's behavior to get used to for James.) Once he had tucked in, James started listening to the conversations around him. Most of the prisoners around him slept huddled against the chilly night air. The guards spoke in muffled tones as they walked their posts.

No hint was sounded from inside to former munitions factory. James started flying from building to building around the camp. For two hours, James searched the camp for any sign of the Auror team with no luck. James did not even feel a hint of magic within the camp.

James started to get nervous. Could the DoM's intelligence be faulty? It was possible that the team was housed in another location. James did not want to think about the possibility they were already dead. Mad-Eye survived this war in Harry's time. Could James's arrival have altered history aside from Tommy?

Realizing nothing more would come from flying about the camp, James flew in a hole in the roof of the former munitions factory. James fluttered into a secluded corner and resumed his human form. Being able to fly was great, but James realized that the prisoners would see a "flying mouse" as a potential meal. The irony of defeating Voldemort only to die as a prisoner's dinner would not be funny.

James pulled on his invisibility cloak and cast a silencing charm on his feet. Passing down the hallways, James truly realized the misery the Nazi government forced these men to live in. They lived in conditions that made the Dursley's cupboard seem a five-star hotel. The stench and despair of this place made James sick.

Working methodically from the top floor to the basement, James searched every corner of the prisoner barracks. Guards patrolled at odd intervals but they noticed nothing. None of them seemed magical or escorted dogs. (James bet the dogs refused to set foot in here. Even his reduced wolf sense of smell was whining like a Malfoy.) James simply stepped aside to allow them to pass.

Finally, James found his objective in the basement. Locked behind a thick steel door were eleven of the twelve Aurors. All of them but two slept. From the stance of the two awake Aurors, they were standing a rotating guard.

Without dropping the cloak, James whispered, "Hello, mates. Enjoying your vacation?"

The two awake Aurors jerked up in surprise at whispered comment in English. One of them edged near the door, "Who are you?"

A dozen cheeky answers sprang to James's lips. He settled on an honest answer, "Ministry team sent to look in on you blokes. Why aren't there twelve of you?"

"The damn Gerries killed Hollings. Spell damage joined two of his fingers together. Said he was an obvious defect so they killed him with a Muggle gun," the Auror answered angrily. "Can you let us out?"

"Not yet. The rest of the team is not in place. If I let you out now, you would all fight valiantly and die that way," James replied.

Now the second Auror joined in. "Better that then to simply rot here! Better a clean death then this!"

In a dry tone, James observed, "Ah, the Gryffindor in the bunch." Seeing the Auror starting to get worked up, James added, "I believe the Ministry would prefer you alive and back in England."

The first Auror smiled slightly as James's comment. "My friend is not taking offence at having Gryffindor's honor tarnished. He was in Slytherin."

James snorted and replied, "That's okay. The hat wanted to put me in Slytherin but I talked it into putting me in Gryffindor."

Now both Aurors snorted quietly.

The second one asked, "How will we know when you return?"

"The password is "Phoenix". Take these." James passed a small bundle through the doors bars."

"What are these?"

"Generic wands. Won't work as well as you own, but they should get the job done. Hide them until the time comes. For Merlin's sake, don't use them until then. If a Dark Army wizard catches a whiff of magic we are all in a lot of trouble."

The Aurors both nodded their agreement. One answered, "We won't let the others know about them. That should cut down on the temptation."

James gave an approving nod and said his goodbyes. He slipped quietly back upstairs to a good exit point. James did not honestly think the Dark Army would pick up the magic from the Aurors' generic wands. Nothing happened from his own use of a Silencing charm. However, the risk was too great if they attempted to stage a breakout of their own. Sure, they could get out of the camp, but where would they go from there?

James exited the same way he entered, as a bat. A quick flight and James was amongst the trees. James flew towards the farm in exhaustion. It was now almost 5:30. The farmers would be waking up soon. James had worked all day on the farm and only napped before leaving on his mission. James needed to get back to Munich and make contact with Bill and Don. They needed the information from James to plan their rescue of the remaining Aurors and Charlie.

The trip back to the farm was anticlimactic. The bat made good time on its flight through the forest. James just had time to return to the barn and change back into his Goyle disguise. A Pepper-up potion helped take care of the lack of sleep. Then it was time to start the day's labors on the farm.

After dinner, James collapsed in a hay bale and fell immediately asleep. The potion almost lasted until the end of the working day. The last hour had been brutal. James planned to make the trip to Munich after the rest of the workers fell asleep again. In the mean time, a good six hours of sleep would work its own magic.

James stepped quietly into the small inn and passed the innkeeper unseen. Bill and Don entered the inn a earlier in the evening after a night in the beer hall appearing to drink. Tonight was the second night since James's reconnaissance of the prison camp. Last night was spent on a fruitless search of the town for the two Unspeakables.

James stepped up to their room door and knocked softly. Don answered the door with a sleepy but friendly expression on his face. His expression did not change on recognizing James except his eyes looked slightly relieved.

"Hans! You made it!" Don wrapped James in a hug and pulled him into the room. "We thought we missed you!" The last comment was made as the door shut behind them.

The closing door revealed Bill behind the door with a drawn wand. Bill quickly cast a modified silencing charm. "Anyone listening will only think they hear a casual conversation. Kind of a aural notice-me-not charm."

James noticed Bill's wand was still pointed at him. A glance out of his eye told him Don's was out also. James carefully moved his hands out to show they were clear.

"Where is the rest of the team?" Bill growled.

"I believe Alex and Charlie were picked up crossing the border. Grindelwald's men followed them here and attacked them in their hotel room. Fred went in to check on them and got caught in a trap. I know Fred is dead."

Bill and Don's faces went white at this news. "Why weren't you caught in the trap?" Don asked in a low, dangerous voice.

"Fred told me to stay in the room and keep an eye out. The first sign of trouble was the spell lights in the window. Most of them were Killing Curse green."

The two Unspeakables looked crushed. James could sympathize. A good team became family in the most important sense of the word. This team was definitely on of the best. James knew exactly what they were feeling right now.

"I think Charlie is still alive. At least as of two nights ago."

At the look of hope in their eyes, James explained to the two men about his investigation of the concentration camp. He quickly explained the camp layout, the unusual hut, and where the Aurors were kept.

"I did provide them with the wands we brought along. They could escape on their own now but need a way to get out of the area. The wards extend of about 500 meters around the camp. I don't think most of them could run that far."

Bill rubbed his jaw as he considered. "Don can make a Portkey to a safe house outside Paris. How strong are the wards?"

"Strong enough," James answered. "They haven't been there more then five years, but someone poured a lot of power into them. Crashing them would take time and be very obvious."

The next two hours were spent discussing various ideas and approaches to the problem. All three men were starting to get tired and frustrated.

Rubbing his eyes, James asked, "Don, could you get into the cell where the Aurors are being held undetected?"

Don nodded, "That shouldn't be a problem. It might take me a spot of time. But I can't get them out with me."

Bill asked, "What about if we stun them and place a shrinking spell on them? You could carry them out the same way you came in."

Don nodded slowly, considering the idea. "That could work. They would be useless in a fight until I could get to a safe place to reverse the spells though."

James shook his head. "Once you are out of the camp, I want you to keep going until you can activate the Portkey. Wake them up in Paris."

Bill did not comment but looked at James with an odd expression on his face. Then he asked, "What are we going to do then?"

James carefully kept his face expressionless. "You and I are going to get Charlie back if she is still alive. Her body if she isn't. I'd like to get Alex and Fred if possible also."

"The Ministry would not approve that mission change. We are not allowed to do that," Bill insisted.

"Whoops. I guess I missed that memo. You can go with Don."

Bill smiled now like a predator. "I misjudged you. I thought you were a pretty boy. Your eyes changed there. The bureaucrats can whine about it later. We are getting our people out."

Herr Adler's truck pulled into the farmyard early the next morning. Three more workers huddled miserably in the back. Two wore the Star of David emblem and the third wore a pink square. The workers were pulled out of the truck and subjected to the same welcome as "Goyle's" group. Then they were sent off to different menial tasks.

James was stolidly working in a distant field removing rocks when the truck arrived. He noticed Bill wearing a Star being assigned to work another part of the field on the same task. Neither wizard acknowledged the other. They simply acted their roles and worked the field.

At the lunch break, an army staff car pulled into the yard. Three enlisted solders and an SS officer got out of the car. Herr Yoder welcomed the officer. James was near by when they arrived. He noticed Herr Yoder acted much like Umbridge when talking to the officer.

"Obersturbannfuhrer Eichoff, it is a pleasure to have you visit us again! What may I do for you today?"

The officer continued to survey with a look of disgust on his face. Without looking at the cringing farmer in front of him, he said, "We have moved to a higher state of alert. Foreign enemies of the Fatherland were captured in Munich. The commandant assigned me the task of ensuring the camp's security."

Yoder affected a concerned expression. "The Fatherland's enemies would surely fear to come near this place! They would have to be insane to come here."

Now the Obersturbannfuhrer looked at the man, "If they were sane they would join our Cause, rather then resist our destiny."

James noted with a shiver that the officer's eyes had the same glint of fanaticism that Lucius Malfoy's acquired talking about the Pureblood's cause.

The solders used the time of the conversation to search the barn, the shack, and the surrounding forest. The efficiently covered a lot of ground and expertly examined everything. If something illegal was hidden on the farm, their search would have found it.

It slightly pained James to realize these were in fact good solders serving their country. None of them had the fanaticism their officer displayed. They wore serious expressions as they completed their task but no sense of maliciousness or cruelty came from them. James knew that would change for these young men in the time ahead. Eventually the camp guards would form the basis of the SS's feared and elite military units, the Wafen SS.

The Obersturbannfuhrer told Yoder to gather all of the workers together for an inspection. James gazed vacantly at the officer as he stood with the others for the inspection. (Actually, James thought he still showed more intelligence then the real Goyle!) Bill and Don lined up together but away from James. The Jewish man who arrived with James stood next to them. The clubfooted man stood between them and James. The newcomer with a pink square stood next to James.

The officer paced up and down the line of workers. He skipped the homosexual and stared at James's vacant expression. He proceeded to glare at all of the workers as if he could decide from that who might be an "enemy of the Fatherland". Finally, he turned from them with disgust on his face a marched back to his car. The solders followed him and in moments, the car drove off without another word being said.

Night fell on the farm as the workers bedded down in the barn. James drew his wand and cast a sleeping charm on all of the Muggles. The three Unspeakables quietly started to walk through the forest towards the camp.

Just inside the forest, James turned to Bill and whispered, "Let me go ahead to look for any guards." At Bill's nod, James moved ahead at a quicker pace.

Once out of sight, James changed into his wolf form. James did not want the Unspeakables to know about his Animagus abilities. James had decided to keep as many of his skills and knowledge secret. The fact his power roughly equaled Dumbledore would not be revealed to anyone.

Like the previous trip, no hint of guards were found prior to reaching the boundary of the wards. As he neared the camp he crossed the scent paths of several patrols. At least two of the patrols had guard dogs with them. James wondered about the change. Did they find the wolf tracks or was it the result of the increased alert the officer mentioned?

James hid behind a bush and waited for the other two wizards to catch up with him. James had changed shape occasionally to leave trail markings magically on various trees. The markings were noticeable only via a DoM vision charm, similar to Muggle infrared goggles of a later time.

After waiting for fifteen minutes, James heard Bill and Don approaching. He changed back into human form before they appeared. Using only hand signals, James pointed out the former munitions factory to Don. The smaller Unspeakable nodded with a smile.

Don crept towards the edge of the forest. A twenty-five meter area of open ground separated the forest from the first fence. Just before reaching the clearing, Don seemed to disappear.

"Let's go," Bill whispered into James's ear.

James set off behind Bill and decided he wasn't the only one hiding magical abilities in this group.

Thirty minutes later, James and Bill reached the edge of the guards' camp. James estimated it was close to 2:00. Not much activity was going on in the camp except for the armed roving patrols. They were two man teams. When James noticed they often looked under the barracks with their Muggle electric torches, he snorted softly. Looks like someone did notice the wolf tracks.

"What has them so jumpy?" Bill whispered.

James just shrugged. "Not important. There are too many patrols to sneak in. Transfigure your robes to look like a uniform. Safer then trying to Disillusion ourselves."

Two minutes later a pair of Oberscharfuhrers walked boldly into the camp. There stride indicated a purpose. The patrolling guards never looked twice at the two solders. Escaping prisoners would not be walking into the camp and they would not be wearing perfect uniforms.

James and Bill approached the hut. James casually crossed his arms and drew his wand. Voldemort's wand remained hidden up his other sleeve.

Reaching the hut, Bill wordlessly cast a diagnostic charm on the door looking for any magical alarms or traps. The door was locked but a midlevel opening spell was sufficient to deal with it.

Following Bill into the hut, James's intuition was sending furious warning messages. He felt danger. The war with Voldemort and six years at Hogwarts had honed his danger sense to a fine edge. Something was wrong here.

As James suspected, the hut was much larger inside then the exterior would allow. The room they entered matched the simple exterior of the hut. It seemed to be a combination office and conference room. A large wooden table dominated the room. The table was obviously conjured. It was too fancy to be placed in such a simple room. A roll top desk sat in one corner. James could smell multiple wizards and blood in the room. The blood smell was very strong.

Bill moved over to one of the open doors. His hand signal indicated it contained the fireplace for a Floo connection. The next door had a small barred window. Bill peaked in.

Bill threw himself back as a red Stunner flew out of the window. The Unspeakable crashed to the floor and immediately started rolling towards the closest wall. The door opened and James heard the door behind him magically lock. Four Dark Army wizards stepped into the room. Three of the wizards were cloaked. Masking spells hid their faces. The fourth had his hood down and his face revealed. He looked like a recuiting poster for the Nazi party.

The blond haired and blue-eyed wizard sneered at Bill. "You are the best the British can send? The last of your pitiful Unspeakables. Such a disappointment. You never even noticed our alarm wards as you entered the camp."

James allowed his "uniform" to change back into his battle robes. "You knew we were coming and you only brought four of you? Now I am insulted."

The Dark Army wizard fired a Reducto curse that James easily dodged. "What, no banter? No comments that I would rue the day I came here? I am so disappointed. Guess you haven't seen enough Muggle films."

"Shut up you fool! You will talk soon enough!"

"That will do!" With the final comment, James shifted into full battle mode. The chatter was not as pointless as it appeared. James wandlessly cast a powerful shield spell around himself. It also allowed Bill sometime to recover from his impact on the floor when he dodged the Stunner.

Bill cast a Cutting curse at his nearest opponent as James banished the table at the Dark wizards. The lead wizard smashed the table with a concussive force that exploded the table into fragments. Many of those fragments hit James's shield. Many of the splinters were almost a meter long and as sharp as a rapier.

James fired a series of Stunners and Reductos before the table fragments even settled to the ground. The explosion of the table caused a cloud of sawdust to hang in the air. The cloud prevented James and the Dark wizards from clearly seeing one another. James fired blindly into the general area of the Dark wizards.

James moved along the outside wall away from the door. He saw a series of spells impacting in the general area of the door. It was definitely not a safe place to be.

The dust cloud was settling. James could see Bill held up by a cloaked wizard. The wizard held a wand to Bill's throat. Two other cloaked wizards stood behind him. The original blond wizard was dead on the floor.

"Drop your wand." The wizard demanded.

"Does that ever really work?" James asked in a curious voice. "I've heard it at least six times before. I've never listened."

"You will do as I demand…"

"Or you will kill my friend. I get it. You really are clichéd. Do you Dark wizards get a handbook? I keep asking for the Light wizard guide but they won't share it with me. Do you know why?"

"Drop your wand now."

James ignored the demand. "The reason no one will share it with me is I am more Gray."

With that comment, James produced his second wand. With a hiss of Parceltongue, James sent a pair of serpents shooting across the floor. The snakes attempted to strike at the wizards. Their thick battle robes prevented any direct strikes. However the nature of robes means they are vulnerable by something striking from underneath.

While the two trailing wizards were distracted, James fired an illusionary Fireball at Bill and the wizard holding them. The illusion provided the feeling of burning heat. A borderline Dark spell, it mixed a pain spell into the illusion. The target would feel the fireball hit them and see their skin burn. Once the illusion was dispelled the pain would disappear and no damage would have occurred.

James was surprised when the fireball missed its intended target. The fireball glanced past Bill and the wizard holding him to strike one of the other wizards paying attention to the summoned snake. The wizard howled in agony that was silenced then the snake was able to reach an unprotected place. The wizard dropped to the floor as convulsions set in.

Both snakes were then killed by a Cutting curse cast by the second Dark wizard.

The Dark wizard holding Bill whispered a spell and dropped the Unspeakable to the ground. "That was a nasty one. You belong on our side."

"I serve the Light, never the Dark."

The two Dark wizards launched a volley of hexes and curses at James. Most he dodged but several Cutting curses and Reductos managed glancing blows. One Dark curse caused an acid-like burn on the top of his right hand and singed the sleeve of his battle robe.

James raised both of his wands and issued a blast of pure, raw magical energy. The blast slammed the two wizards against the wall harder then a giant's club. They slumped to the ground into lifeless lumps.

James quickly checked on Bill to find it was too late. Whatever spell the Dark wizard fired into his ear caused him to die instantly. It did not look like an AK. James transfigured the body into a matchbox and placed it into his pocket.

James banished the bodies of his deceased opponents after collecting their wands. A few short minutes later the table was back in place and all signs of the battle were gone. James mumbled a few short words of thanks to Dobby for the cleaning spells.

Looking into the room the Dark wizards had waited in, James found the huddled form of Charlie. She wore the remains of what looked like a hospital gown. Bruises and cuts covered her body. She moaned pitifully when James touched her shoulder. She did not respond at all to James's questions.

The sight broke James heart. In her place, he saw Luna as he, Neville, and Ron found her after storming Malfoy Manor. Neville almost used the Killing curse on Narcissa Malfoy on the spot. James cast a Sleeping spell on her and transfigured her into a small doll. It would be best if she were unaware until they reached safety.

James slipped out of the hut and into the night air. The Muggle guards were unaware of the battle recently fought in their midst. James walked calmly through the camp until he reached an outlying building. Then he changed into his wolf form and made his way outside the Portkey wards.

James quietly entered the house. The DoM kept the team's survivors late into the night. They did not care it had been three weeks since James was last home. They wanted everything explained in detail a dozen times.

The DoM leaders were happy to have the successful rescue of the eleven surviving Aurors. They particularly appreciated the fact none of the Unspeakables were revealed to their ministry counterparts in doing so. Recovering Charlie also made them happy. James suspected she came from a leading pureblood family. She did remind him of some of the Slytherin princesses from his Hogwarts days.

The loss of Alex, Bill and Fred bothered the ministry officials. It was the largest team loss in recent history. Not since the Goblin Rebellion of 1546 had been matched. By the time Don and James were released, James was getting ready to hex them all.

Snuffles lay curled around Tommy as James stepped in the door. The now huge dog looked up at James with an odd expression on his face. It seemed to say, 'About time.'

Tommy stirred at dog's movement and sat up rubbing his eyes. "Uncle Jimmy?"

"Tommy, what are you doing sleeping here?" James whispered.

"I knew you were coming home tonight. I had bad dreams all week. I was scared for you."

James hugged the boy and said, "Everything is okay now. Why don't you get into your bed and we'll talk in the morning?"

"Okay. I am really glad your home. We missed you."

"I missed you too."

James watched Tommy and Snuffles wander off to bed. Could Tommy have felt James's experiences in Germany? At one point Harry might have called giving Voldemort nightmares poetic justice, but James did not want to be doing the same to Tommy.

A soft voice interrupted James's thoughts. "We really did miss you."

James turned to see his wife smiling in the door. He stepped into her arms with a kiss and then simply held her. "I missed you more then I can say. I missed my family."

Sarah chuckled, "It is so nice to have you home. Tommy's dreams scared me. I told him you would be safe and come home."

James nuzzled her neck lightly, "I have every reason in the world to come home safely to you."

Sarah took James's hand and guided it onto her abdomen. She whispered into his ear, "Let me give you one more."

A/N: German Ranks used in this chapter:

Commandant – commander of a base or installation

Obersturbannfuhrer – SS Lieutenant Colonel

Oberscharfuhrers – SS staff sergeant

Rottenfuhrer – SS corporal

A/N: Congratulations to Sweet-Single for the first successful guess on why Tommy was happy. Congratulations to Qualerie for correctly commenting that Dracula had two animal forms, the bat and the wolf.

Page 17 of 17

« First « Prev Ch 8 of 39 Next »

Review

Jump:Chapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4Chapter 5Chapter 6Chapter 7Chapter 8Chapter 9Chapter 10Chapter 11Chapter 12Chapter 13Chapter 14Chapter 15Chapter 16Chapter 17Chapter 18Chapter 19Chapter 20Chapter 21Chapter 22Chapter 23Chapter 24Chapter 25Chapter 26Chapter 27Chapter 28Chapter 29Chapter 30Chapter 31Chapter 32Chapter 33Chapter 34Chapter 35Chapter 36Chapter 37Chapter 38Chapter 39