Harry Potter and the Sins of the Founders

Harry Potter and the Sins of the Founders: Part I [FictionAlley Edit]

Chapter Three v2 -- "The Quick and the Dead"

"Hail, hail, infantry,

Queen of battles, follow me;

It's an Auror's duty-bond for me

Well, nothing in this life is free . . ."

-- from an Auror Candidate's running cadence, c. 1940.

In the modern day United Kingdom, Auror Basic School is three years long. It encompasses one of the most difficult professional curricula in the world, and has a failure rate of just over fifty percent. A candidate is required to possess a minimum of five N.E.W.T.s, with a grade of 'Exceeds Expectations,' or higher. A N.E.W.T. in Defense Against the Dark Arts is obviously required, but in order to be competitive, the candidate should also possess N.E.W.T. grades of 'Outstanding' or 'Exceeds Expectations' in Charms, Transfiguration, and Potions.

During Basic School, the candidate not only hones her skill in the use of magic during battle, but also in the subjects such as 'Squad Tactics,' 'Concealment and Disguise,' and 'Stealth and Tracking.' Daily physical training is also an integral part of Auror training. Aurors are primarily magical combatants, of course, but they are also given basic instruction in hand-to-hand combat, Muggle warfare, and are required to pass a standardized test on relevant wizarding laws at some point before leaving the Basic School.

In the event that an Auror is assigned a mission that is anticipated to involve international travel, she is given a short briefing on the customs and etiquette of the countries in question. Alternatively, the Auror can elect to receive regular instruction on these matters at any point during her career, which will give her priority when such missions are available.

Aurors that have lived long lives will claim that the most invaluable lesson that is taught by the Basic School is for the candidate to trust her instincts.

This is probably what saved the life of Nymphadora Tonks and her charges on the warm evening of 12 July 1996.

Less than two weeks prior, through a gross display of carelessness and negligence, the June 30th issue of the Daily Prophet had released the names of the students involved in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries earlier that month. In the first war against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, the newspaper had done a similar disservice to the magical community, failing to censor the names of individuals involved in the resistance. When the war ended, the editor of the paper was accused of endangering the lives of many witches and wizards.

However, he was acquitted on the grounds that there was very little evidence against the Prophet, especially since far more attacks had been conducted by the Death Eaters than simply on those whose names had appeared in the paper.

The Longbottoms had taken the publicity in stride. They had been targets of the Death Eaters since the first war, especially due to the fact that Frank and Alice Longbottom were widely considered to be two of the best Aurors in the country, not to mention the most popular. Within hours of the paper delivery on June 30th, the family rallied behind the son of Frank and Alice -- Neville Longbottom -- after he was named as one of the participants in the battle.

In the following days, most of the Longbottom family had returned to reside in the Longbottom family estate just outside of Sunderland. Though Frank and Alice Longbottom had been in St. Mungo's since driven insane by their torture at the hands of Death Eaters, their reputation preceded their family, and only a suicidal Death Eater would dare to come near the estate.

Luna Lovegood had also been named as one of the students present during the battle. She and her father Xenophilius Lovegood lived alone a short distance north of the village of Ottery St. Catchpole in a dwelling known as 'the Rook.'

However, when members of the Order of the Phoenix visited the Rook, they did not find any trace of the Lovegoods. Their disappearance was the cause for a good amount of anxiety until Ron and Ginny Weasley recalled their conversation at the end of last term at Hogwarts, in which Luna mentioned vacationing in Sweden with her father to search for Crumple-Horned Snorkacks.

Ron and Ginny had also been mentioned in the article, and were holed up in the Burrow while it was being transformed into the new headquarters for the Order. The Burrow was now unplottable, and the subject of a Fidelius Charm, once again with Albus Dumbledore as Secret Keeper. The building itself was now so thickly layered with curse-wards that it would have put the Prime Minister's office to shame.

The fireplace at the Burrow had been disconnected from the Floo Network, which made travel difficult. Lord Voldemort's forces were sure to be monitoring the activities on the Floo Network, and an inordinate amount of travel to and from the Burrow would undoubtedly attract unwanted attention. However, even if the Order wanted to use the Floo Network from the Burrow, there was no guarantee that it would function properly any longer.

Fred and George Weasley had dropped out of Hogwarts the previous year, and purchased office and living space on Diagon Alley. The apartment above their new joke shop also functioned as a private laboratory, where new Weasley Wizard Wheezes were presumably concocted daily. Unfortunately for Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, their sons had also been attempting to develop a form of secure floo powder, to directly connect the fireplace in their apartment to that of the Burrow.

It had worked, mostly. The twins were able to make the trip from Number Ninety-Three, Diagon Alley to the Burrow without being detected by the Floo Network Headquarters (which Tonks was monitoring at the time). However, the powder had had the most unfortunate side effect of destroying the fireplace, scattering bricks and soot into the otherwise well-kept living room of the Burrow.

After fleeing their mother's wrath, Fred and George returned to their apartment to discover that their fireplace had suffered the same fate. Both fireplaces had since been repaired, but the status and fidelity of their connections to the Floo Network remained unknown, and the Burrow's was completely disconnected the next day.

Harry Potter had been mentioned in the article, but he would have obviously been a target of the Death Eaters whether or not his name appeared in the paper. For the first few weeks of the summer, he remained in his aunt's house, where he was safe from Voldemort due to the Blood Magic that had transferred the protection of his mother's love to her next of kin. Subsequently, he was transferred to the Burrow by Dumbledore himself shortly before midnight on July 12th.

The last student mentioned in the article was a Muggle-born witch, and that was a problem.

Drs. David and Linda Granger were Muggle dentists, who had been practicing in Brighton since the 1970s. They were a well-to-do couple, and lived in a large home near Hove Park. When their daughter Hermione Granger appeared in the June 30th issue of the Daily Prophet, they had only a vague idea of its implications. Even though their daughter exasperatedly tried to convince them to take a nice, long vacation in another country, they did not heed her warnings. It was not until the arrival of Dumbledore on their doorstep that they finally seemed to grasp the concept that their daughter had been in a battle, in which she could easily have lost her life.

Hermione's parents wordlessly sat through Dumbledore's extensive recanting of the first war against Lord Voldemort. Over the years, they had been given a rough introduction into the wizarding world, courtesy Hermione's studies. However, when the Headmaster spoke of the war, he did so with such emotion and attention to detail that Hermione interrupted several times with her own questions, wanting to make the most of the Headmaster's visit.

David and Linda had always been proud parents. Even while Hermione was still in primary school, they had known that she was several steps ahead of her peers. During the long summers, she would gladly plow through the shelves of books in her parents' collection, only venturing outside at her mother's behest -- and even then, her parents usually found her buried in literature in the oddest of places. It wasn't that they didn't want her to spend her time reading; it was just tiring to coax her out of the boughs of a nearby oak tree in time for dinner.

Even though they were frightened out of their wits for their daughter, Dumbledore's stories of the wars of wizards put the Battle for the Department of Mysteries into perspective. So, they could not help but feel at least some sense of pride as they listened while Hermione took her turn to speak to them for the first time about her role in the fight.

Initially, they were dumbstruck. Their Hermione, the sweet little girl that they had raised on books and warm summer evenings, fighting some of the most advanced practitioners of the Dark Arts? Incapacitating two fully grown and trained Death Eaters, and silencing a third, with only a long bruise across her chest as evidence of the struggle?

They were somewhat placated when Dumbledore reminded them that not only was Hermione the cleverest witch in her year, but that she would also become a legal adult in the wizarding world in the coming September.

It was well into the night when Drs. Granger and Granger finally consented to the security measures upon which Dumbledore and Hermione insisted.

The evening when Dumbledore called upon Harry at Number Four, Privet Drive was the same evening that Hermione was to leave her parents' house for the Burrow. Transportation, however, was somewhat problematic.

Hermione could not yet Apparate, and neither Tonks nor Charlie Weasley -- her guard for that night -- had mastered Side-Along Apparition. Floo powder was out of the question, and since the Burrow was now unplottable, the Knight Bus would be unable to locate it, besides the fact that it was not the safest way to travel if you were wanted by dark wizards.

So that was why Charlie was busy strapping Hermione's trunk to a Ministry-owned Nimbus Two Thousand One broomstick in the middle of Hove Park. With their ranks stretched thin, Tonks was the only Auror whose ongoing assignment was to assist the Headmaster of Hogwarts.

Though the Ministry was still largely unaware of the Order's existence, Dumbledore and Scrimgeour had managed repair the previously near-hostile relations between the Ministry and Hogwarts into some working order. Scrimgeour was loathe to give up his best Auror, when she could be doing something productive for him; but Dumbledore successfully reassured the new Minister that Tonks would be only serving him to her fullest capacity. Since Scrimgeour understood that the support of the Headmaster of Hogwarts was crucial during times of war, Tonks was walking behind and to the right of Hermione and her parents as they strode into the park towards Charlie's stocky form.

With a nod from Tonks, Charlie gave Hermione a wink, threw Alastor Moody's spare Invisibility Cloak over his head, and took off ahead of them with her belongings.

The reason Scrimgeour considered Tonks to be his best Auror was most definitely not because she was very good at espionage. As she had told Harry just a year before, she was dreadfully clumsy, and almost failed her Stealth and Tracking course during Basic School. She was redeemed by her ability to change her appearance at will as a Metamorphmagus, earning top marks in Concealment and Disguise.

She might not have been the best spy, but there was something to be said for her skills as a warrior.

Hermione had turned to bid her parents goodbye when her hair suddenly stood on end.

"GET DOWN!" barked Tonks from behind them.

Without thinking, Hermione threw herself onto her parents, knocking them over, as a Stunning Spell flew over their heads. A bright light descended down on them, as Tonks sent up a magical flare to illuminate the immediate area.

She rolled over, shouting at her parents to stay down. Drawing her wand, she stood in a defensive stance over them, looking quickly around.

Two Death Eaters had emerged from behind trees on either side of their party. From the slight shimmer around their bodies, it was apparent that they had also been Disillusioned. One was tall and menacing, while the other was distinctly burly. Both were clad in black robes, and wearing masks.

Seeing Tonks already charging towards the tall Death Eater, Hermione jumped between her parents and his partner. Spells and curses were running through her head, moments during the D.A. training sessions with Harry, the battle at the ministry barely a month ago --

The Death Eater stopped and surveyed her for a moment, before dropping mockingly into the bow that traditionally signaled the beginning of a wizards' duel.

"Reducto!" shouted Hermione, flinging her first curse before he returned upright, but he deflected it quickly and waved a finger at her.

Tonks had begun to move the moment she felt a prickling disturbance nearby -- to an Auror, the telltale sign of a wand releasing the energy of a spell. While shouting for the Grangers to cover themselves, she sent up the Order's Flare, a spell that she had invented for the Order's use by modifying the existing Auror's Flare. As she charged forward, she wordlessly sent a Severing Charm at the tall Death Eater's wand hand. He dodged it, but she heard a grunt as the tail end of the spell caught his thigh.

Her advance was temporarily slowed by the Death Eater's Impediment jinx rebounding off of her Shield Charm. Raising her wand, Tonks sent forward a Full Body-Bind which was blocked with a wave of the Death Eater's wand, and a sharp iron-on-iron grating noise sounded as the spell was parried. Recovering to an upright stance, the Death Eater sent a Stunning Spell at her chest, but Tonks was no longer there.

She was diving at his feet, shouting, "Silencio! Incarcerous!" The Death Eater felt his voice leave his mouth, and thick ropes quickly wrapped his body, starting with his feet and quickly over his mouth and eyes. "Petrificus totalus!" caused his limbs to snap together, and the ropes continued wrapping around him.

Then, arriving at his feet, Tonks used a Banishing Charm to send him flying for twenty meters -- straight up into the air.

Pivoting on the grass, she sprung back onto her feet and began racing towards Hermione and the second Death Eater before the first one had hit the ground behind her with the crack of a spine breaking and a sound very much like meat hitting wood.

Hermione was doing a fairly decent job of keeping the remaining Death Eater away from her parents. He failed to block the full force of one of her Reductor Curses, and his mask flew away, revealing him to be Antonin Dolohov. During the battle at the Ministry, Dolohov had been the Death Eater to finally incapacitate Hermione, even after she silenced him. Now, the young witch was fighting back with a vengeance, her bushy hair flying as she dodged and weaved. Dolohov's robes were tattered by many near misses.

Unfortunately, Dolohov was the more experienced duelist, and Hermione was beginning to suffer from several small injuries. She had only barely dodged a Severing Charm that would have taken off her head, and she hadn't had time to recast her Shield Charm after a Stunning Spell shattered it

By the time Tonks began running towards them, Dolohov had missed Hermione's robes with a Flagrante Curse, but somehow hit her wand instead. It grew red hot, and Hermione dropped it with a yelp of pain.

Dolohov spotted Tonks running towards him, and sensing that she was without a Shield Charm at the moment, whipped his wand at her and shouted, "Expelliarmus!"

To his great pleasure, Tonks' wand flew out of her hand.

He turned back to Hermione. She was still standing between him and her parents. How silly -- she was the one he'd set out to kill in the first place. They would make an example of her, to any who dared to stand in the way of the Dark Lord. He had to admit, it was a shame, really. He knew she was a Mudblood, but still. The righteous anger in her eyes as she stood, glaring at him while bathing in the light of the Auror's Flare, made her beautiful. He would grant her a beautiful death. And then, by the time the Auror's backup arrived, he would be gone with her body.

Dolohov raised his wand into the high ready position, and then began his incantation.

"Avada Ked--"

Well that was odd. Usually, he didn't stop saying those words once he'd started. Maybe something was wrong with his mouth. There was a strange feeling of something cold, hard, and definitely metal. No, now there was something warm, watery, and iron-tasting.

Dolohov looked down at the rather long knife that had somehow found its way through the middle of his tongue, and was now embedded in the roof of his mouth. He could have sworn that the Auror had been --

The Auror in question was currently flying through the air after her knife, annoyed that she'd missed her target. Her foot connected with the Death Eater's chest, and he was knocked over backwards into the grass. Recovering, she pounced on him again, retrieved the combat knife from his mouth, and plunged it into his throat.

There were several sharp cracks, and several figures appeared around the circumference of the Flare's light. Looking around, Hermione recognized Filius Flitwick, Alastor Moody, and Kingsley Shacklebolt. She retrieved her wand with her unburned hand, stowed it in her robes, and then helped her parents to their feet.

"Mum, Dad, are you --"

"We're fine, honey," her mother said hurriedly. "Let me see you -- oh dear, your hand!"

Hermione looked at her hand. Her palm and forefinger had suffered from minor burns, but it was otherwise intact. She was bleeding from several places, but as far as she could tell, she was not grievously injured.

"Hermione, are you okay?"

She nodded, and her father pulled her into his arms.

"Come, dear, we need to get you looked at properly," said her mother, anxiously, and she began sliding off Hermione's robes.

There was a sharp crack, and Hermione looked over to see that Kingsley had Disapparated. Moody was still speaking with Tonks, but Flitwick, the Charms professor at Hogwarts, was walking towards them.

"Miss Granger!" he squeaked, pulling up alongside her. "Are you badly injured?"

"No, Professor," she replied. Hermione noticed that her voice was weak, and her knees had begun trembling. She cleared her throat as her mother managed to pull off her robe.

"Mum, Dad, this is Professor Flitwick -- he teaches Charms at s--sc--school." She choked at the end of the sentence, and her knees gave way from under her. Her parents shouted in surprise and bent down to her, arranging her into a seated position.

"Suffering from a mild case of the Shakes," growled Moody, as he and Tonks made their way towards them. "Happens after combat." He took out his hip flask and unscrewed the cap, pouring some of its contents into a glass that Flitwick obligingly conjured.

"Drink this, lass," and Moody gently placed it in her hands. Hermione obliged. It tasted strongly of whiskey, complete with the fumes -- but she could tell that there was also some magical content. Hermione felt a warm sensation in her chest, which slowly spread to her extremities. When it reached her knees, they stopped trembling.

"Hold still, Miss Granger," said Flitwick, steadying his wand. "I may not be a healer, but bandages, I can do."

As Flitwick's conjured bandages wrapped themselves to her wounds, she felt a soothing sensation emanating from the surfaces touching her skin. When he began dressing her wand hand, the pain from the burn receded in favor of the wonderful, cooling balm.

"These dressings," he said, wrapping them around her wrist as he spoke, "will last at least until you arrive at your destination. I give them roughly two hours -- you'll do well to have your wounds looked at by a proper healer."

"Thanks, Professor," she breathed when he was done.

"Not a problem, Miss Granger. I couldn't very well leave you bleeding." He looked around and then winked conspiratorially. "And I have it on good authority that you will be receiving an 'Outstanding' Charms O.W.L. this coming Monday."

Hermione smiled weakly.

"Granger," barked Moody, causing all three Grangers to jump in surprise, and then look up at him. "Shacklebolt's just gone to intercept the idiots at the Improper Use of Magic Office. If they still show up this week to confiscate your wand, you have my express permission to hex them into oblivion."

Hermione was about to ask Moody how he could possibly give her permission to do such a thing, when she realized that he was smiling broadly at her, which was very, very frightening. Since he was missing half his nose and his magical eye was whirring from side to side in its socket, Moody looked like he'd jumped straight out of a Muggle horror film.

"Some fine spellwork there, Granger; Tonks was telling me about it," he said approvingly. Apparently, he growled even when he was happy. "Took on Dolohov all by yourself, did you? I reckon he gave me the most trouble when I took him in the last time."

Hermione looked over his shoulder at Tonks, who seemed rather downhearted. Her hair had been a deep orange earlier that night, but it was now sinking to a dark brown, almost black. Her robe was torn in several places, and it was missing half of its right sleeve. The front had come undone, and her leather-and-dragonhide waistcoat was splattered with blood.

"Tonks, are you hurt?"

Tonks gave her a rueful smile.

"No, Hermione. I just wish I'd gotten to him faster. Look at you!" Tonks seemed like she was about to lose her composure, but bent down and swept Hermione into a hug instead.

"It's okay, Tonks," said Hermione reassuringly, patting her back.

Flitwick left shortly, citing business at Gringotts on behalf of the Order. By the time Hermione had opened her mouth to remind him that Gringotts wasn't open this late, the diminutive professor had Disapparated.

Moody elected to accompany Tonks and Hermione on their flight to the Burrow. He Disapparated away as well, to fetch a spare broomstick. Tonks left Hermione with her parents to search for her wand.

"Mum, it's fine, Professor Flitwick is an expert at Charms," she admonished, as her mother insisted on inspecting the bandages herself. "Honestly, look, promise me you'll both take care of yourselves. Stay in the house when you can. The wards that Dumbledore and I put up -- they're really very powerful."

Her parents, who up to that point had looked and sounded like complete nervous wrecks, suddenly exchanged glances with each other and burst out in laughter. Hermione looked at them, positively annoyed.

"What's so funny?" she hissed, upset.

Her father put his hands on her shoulders.

"Hermione, we're the parents who're letting their daughter go off to fight some overpowered evil monster bent on ruling the world. And you're telling us to be careful?"

"No, Hermione, dear," her mother joined in. "You have to promise us that you'll take care of yourself."

"I will, Mum," Hermione smiled, seeing the irony in the situation.

"Promise us you'll write more this year," pressed her father. "We hardly heard from you at all, and then you come back and tell us there's a war being put on."

"I will."

"And," her father looked around and whispered, his hands still on her shoulders, "Hermione, that was really amazing."

She blushed.

"It wasn't, Dad, really. If Tonks hadn't --"

"If you hadn't," corrected her mother, "I'm guessing we wouldn't be standing here now."

"Yeah, well . . . "

"What was that one that you used to take off his mask? He looked right angry when you did that."

"That was a Reductor Curse, Dad."

"Reductor, huh?" Her father gave a low whistle. In spite of the situation, Hermione beamed sheepishly.

A sharp crack announced Moody's return.

"Granger and Granger," he growled, limping over to them. Hermione fought with all her might to suppress a laugh that would not have been unwarranted -- the ex-Auror looked ridiculous. In one hand, he was holding a broomstick out to the side, while the other hand grasped his walking stick. His prosthetic leg made him waddle slightly, and when he walked, he inadvertently made a sort of awkward flailing motion with the arm that held the broomstick.

"I'll be escortin' you back to your house. Tonks" -- she had returned with her wand and two broomsticks -- "and Miss Granger here will take off ahead of me. I'll sweep around to the south" -- he made another awkward flailing motion with his arm in the direction of the coast -- "and catch up with you later."

Hermione's parents looked absolutely terrified at the prospect of being 'escorted' back to their house by a man with a flailing broomstick, half a nose, a whirling eye, and a prosthetic leg, but they stood up anyway to thank Tonks for saving them and their daughter. Tonks, whose hair had begun to change to the purple that she usually wore, wished them to keep themselves safe.

They turned to bid their daughter goodbye, and each took Hermione in their arms.

"We love you, dear," said her mother.

"And we're proud of you too," her father finished.

"Thanks, I love you too, Mum, Dad."

And they were off, Moody leading the way out of the park, looking for all the world like a drunk sailor who fancied that the broomstick he carried was a flagon of ale.

Before he had left, Shacklebolt had asked Tonks to help him Vanish the bodies of the Death Eaters towards the Ministry in London, in the same manner that Dumbledore had managed to Vanish all of Harry's belongings all the way from Surrey to Ottery St. Catchpole on his own. It had taken a lot of power, and Tonks wearily pointed her wand at the Order's Flare (which had begun to sputter and grow dim), and it winked out.

Falling on her rump beside Hermione on the ground, Tonks helped her put her robes back on.

"Hermione, do you mind if we rest for a minute? I need to catch my breath."

Hermione shook her head, and then realized that Tonks might not able to see it in the dark.

"No, it's okay," she said. She'd been dreading this part all along, and now that the excitement and adrenaline of the fight were wearing away, she looked at the brooms resting across Tonks' lap with an expression of extreme apprehension.

Despite the dim light, Tonks guessed her thoughts correctly and patted her on the back.

"Don't like flying?"

"Well . . ." began Hermione. It wasn't that she hated flying, or anything. As long as it was, say, ten feet off the ground, and at twenty miles per hour. Or in an airplane. Then, it wasn't so bad.

"It's just that . . . whenever I think of flying, I think of Quidditch. And whenever I think of Quidditch, I think of Harry --" She made a diving motion with her hand.

Tonks saw it and laughed.

"Don't worry, we won't be doing any of those stunts," she reassured.

Hermione smiled gratefully.

"How long is the flight?"

"Well," said Tonks, examining the brooms, "these beauties are Nimbus Two Thousand Ones, so the top speed is about, oh, one hundred forty?"

"Miles per hour?" squeaked Hermione, her eyes widening. One hundred twenty too fast.

"Yeah, so I'd put the flight at about an hour, if we go a tad slower than that," finished Tonks, grinning. "What's the matter? You take on one of You-Know-Who's best duelists, but you can't get on a broomstick?"

Hermione punched her on the shoulder.

Several minutes later, they took off into the night sky. Hermione drew her cloak tighter about her as they ascended away from the ground-warmed air.

It wasn't so bad, as long as she didn't look down. She kept her eyes on Tonks, who flew slightly in front of her and to the left. Tonks took pity on Hermione's wrecked nerves, and for the first few minutes, they flew at half speed so that she could adjust to the sensation. When she finally worked up the nerve to glance downwards, Hermione could see that they were keeping to the coastline, so as not to get lost.

Moody caught up with them as they were passing between Selsey and the Isle of Wight, and they pushed forward towards Ottery St. Catchpole at top speed.

D U M B L E D O R E' S P L A N

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