Will You Ever Return to Me?

Chapter 21.

Golden Gate Bridge.

Megan laughed merrily. "New Year's is always fun," she told Harry.

"Megan?" he asked, worried. "Are you sure you haven't had too much to drink?" After seeing Megan kiss three complete strangers, two of them women, he decided that either she started drinking tonight before they got to the restaurant, or her tolerance for alcohol was practically nonexistent. At least the kisses were on the cheek. Harry hadn't drunk anything--in his memories, alcohol was associated with Sirius cooped up in Grimmauld place and his own life after Ginny's marriage, not... parties. Megan, apparently, thought being somewhat tipsy made the celebration more fun.

"Nah." She shrugged. "It's not like I need to perform complicated spells now." She kissed him fully.

"Oh yeah?" Harry asked. "What if you try to Apparate and splinch yourself?"

"It happens," Megan said. "Every New Year's, the Emergency Magical Medical Agency reports an increase in those incidents."

"Wouldn't it be embarrassing to become one of those statistics?"

"I don't worry about it." She leaned in to whisper in his ear, "I've got my completely sober and reliable method of transportation right here."

"Is that what I am?" he asked. "A method of transportation?"

She laughed again. "You're a lot more than that. I love you, you know."

"I love you," Harry said, and kissed her.

"One minute, Harry," she whispered.

"Megan..." He leaned in for another kiss.

She laughed again. "Can't you wait a bit? I don't mind, but I want to see the fireworks go off, and you're blocking my view."

Harry smiled. "Sure. You know, I never managed to follow that tradition."

"What, kissing at New Year's?"

He nodded. "First I was too young, and then, I never was with anyone on New Year's."

"First time for everything, Harry." She then kissed him just as the fireworks over the bay started going off. "Happy New Year!"

He kissed her back. They were far from the only couple doing that. Harry pulled out to watch the pyrotechnic display, still hugging Megan. "It's beautiful. You're beautiful, too," he said.

Megan chuckled. "Yeah, I know. I've watched it every year since I was six, and still..."

He kissed her again. When he pulled out, Megan looked at him curiously. "Satisfied, Harry?"

"Not quite."

She frowned. "What do you mean--"

"I love you, Megan. And I plan on loving you for a long, long time." He dropped to his knee and pulled out the ring. "Megan Eleanor Shelley, will you marry me?"

For a few moments, Megan stood stiff as a statue. Then--

"Oh, God! Yes! Yes, I will!" she shouted, practically jumping at him.

"Hey, at least let me put it on," he said, taking her hand and slipping the ring onto her finger. He then began to kiss her...

Something caught his eye, and he pulled back. "Harry?" Megan asked.

He looked around. A number of people were pulling out their wands. Harry couldn't believe how many wizards were around... and how well they disguised themselves. He suddenly felt the urge to do something like that himself... yeah... pull out the wand and hex some Muggle...

"Congratulations!" someone who watched the proposal yelled at them. Harry could barely acknowledge it as he watched the events unfold.

"What the fuck?" another voice shouted.

Harry turned. A large truck going down the bridge towards San Francisco skidded and stopped across the road, blocking traffic. At the same time, a bus traveling in the opposite direction did the same, leaving only one free lane. Cars began to pile up...

"Whoa..." Megan whispered. "What are the odds--?"

Once is accident, Harry remembered. Twice is coincidence...

A van crashed into the stopped bus and haled in the remaining free lane. The bridge was completely blocked.

Three times is enemy action. "Megan, we'd better--"

"Get them!" a voice shouted. "Get the Muggles!" A set of red sparks flew up into the air. And then, Harry's ears ran with a horrible sound as all the windows in the stopped cars shattered at once. Harry's hand was nicked with a fragment. He was lucky. "My eye!" someone yelled.

Harry drew his wand, but before he could do anything, an enormous man lifted him off the ground. "You ain't doing nothing fancy to me, pal." The man dropped him and gave him a kick in the chest. Harry collapsed.

XXX

Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco, California.

If there are wizards here, they're as good as we are at disguising themselves, Hermione thought. It was almost midnight, and there was still no sign that anything untoward was going on.

According to the intercepted information, the major riot would take place here, coupled with a smaller preliminary event on the Golden Gate Bridge. Joseph Stone was there now. The rest of the team... the rest of the team was stuck in a crows on Pier 39. Well, at least I'll get to watch the fireworks, she thought. Though I could have done that in Vegas.

"Looks quiet," she commented.

"It looked quiet on 9/11, too," Colonel Hemmings grumbled.

"Now there's an encouraging thought," Padma said as she approached them. "I checked the wards. You can Apparate in but not out."

"Did they do the same at Golden Gate?" Captain Sherman asked.

"No," Hermione said. "Wards are expensive, and since this would be the major--"

"Sounds like magical bureaucracy is no different from ours." Sherman grinned at her. "When you can either spend a couple of bucks to prevent a disaster, or a couple of million to deal with it afterwards, they always choose the latter."

"You know, Cap--"

"John," Captain Sherman said quietly. "We don't want anyone to know."

"John, I wish I could disagree with you. But that's exactly how the British Ministry had operated during the war. I once thought it might be different in the States."

"We only split off two hundred years ago," Hemmings said. "Not enough time to make a difference."

Hermione never learned whether that was meant to be a joke. Fireworks started going off, and everyone looked at the sky. "Happy New Year!" Padma shouted over the cheers.

"Thanks. I wish Ron was--"

"Something wrong?" Padma asked.

"I thought--never mind." I thought I saw Ginny. That's not possible... is it?

"Well, something's definitely happening there," Hemmings said. She pointed across the bay and said, "Look!" at the same time as several other people.

There were far more lights than there should have been coming off the Golden Gate Bridge, and some of them were too high and moved too fast to be cars of any sort. "I hope Stone's okay," Hermione said.

"Yeah, me too," Hemmings replied. "I told him he should have someone go with him... we might need to help--"

"We can't," Padma interrupted. "Wards, remember?"

"Oh, yeah..."

Crack!

At first, Hermione thought it was just another explosion of fireworks. Then she realized that the sound was too quiet and the lights too near for that. Those were wand sparks.

"It's--"

"Avada Kedavra!" someone yelled.

XXX

"Stupefy!" Megan yelled. The man fell. Harry stood up, shaking. "Thanks. He thought I was--"

"Yeah, it's a mess. Stupefy! I think--"

"Stupefy!" Harry shouted as another person tried to attack them.

"What?" he asked, trying to cover Megan's back. By now, images of dragons, snakes, and monsters Harry had never seen flew through the air, periodically swooping down and causing people to panic. Fires burned where they shouldn't have, and new ones appeared constantly. One nearly singed Harry and Megan before they jumped out of the way.

Harry saw several wizarding duels taking place. "What--"

"I think there were some undercover Aurors from the MLEA here," Megan said. "They're trying to contain--"

Megan's voice was cut off. Harry turned and saw here hanging upside down by her foot. "Thanks for teaching me that spell, Harry," Ginny said. And then, she waved her wand, moved the helplessly hovering Megan over the bridge railing... and dropped her.

Harry rushed to get her back. "Expelli--" Ginny began.

"Protego!" Harry shouted, blocking Ginny's spell. "Stu--"

The spell died in his mouth. Harry didn't know how it was possible, but he absolutely heard the splash at the bottom. Megan was gone.

Ginny Disapparated before he could finish the incantation.

Harry leaned over the railing, looking at the spot where Megan had died. For a moment, he had the urge to follow her, end it all... He started climbing.

"Enjoying the view, Mr. Potter?"

Harry turned and saw Alan Hund standing ten feet away from him, completely calm amidst the chaos that engulfed the bridge.

Something in Harry snapped, and his wand almost aimed itself at Hund. "Avada Kedavra!" he yelled.

Hund Disapparated, and the green bolt set a car on fire. "Now, Mr. Potter--" Hund said from behind him.

"Avada Kedavra!" Harry yelled again. Hund dodged, and the spell tore one of the vertical cables of the bridge.

"If you keep this up, you'll hit someone innocent, Mr. Potter," Hund told him.

"As if you care! What-- Avada Kedavra!" Harry shouted. He had hoped to distract Hund with the reply. No such luck. The man Disapparated out of the spell's way again.

"In case you didn't know, that curse is as illegal in America as it is in Britain," Hund said. "What--"

"Avada Kedavra!" This attack had no more success than the previous ones. Harry turned to find him again.

"As I was saying, what happened to your respect for the law, Mr. Potter? Although, technically, you haven't broken any laws yet."

"Ava-- What?" Harry was too shocked to by what he just heard to finish.

"You have to hit me to actually break the law," Hund explained. "You--"

"Crucio!" Harry shouted. This time, Hund took out his wand and turned the curse away.

"Now you have broken the law, Mr. Potter."

"What did she do to you?!" Harry screamed. "Why did you-- Avada Kedavra!"

Hund Disapparated out of the way again. "To me? Nothing. Mrs. Malfoy, on the other hand..."

"Are you saying you didn't approve of--?"

"I didn't order Mrs. Malfoy to kill her. She acted on her own initiative."

"Avada Kedavra!"

Having avoided the spell yet again, Hund looked around. "I'd love to continue," he said, "but I think we've overstayed our welcome here." He vanished, and this time, did not reappear.

Wizards were Apparating in amongst the rioters and firing Stunners. Harry realized they were Aurors from the MLEA. He tried to Apparate, and couldn't. They must have set up wards, he realized. One way wards, for keeping people in. Hund probably used a Portkey.

"Protego!" Harry blocked a Stunner sent at him. The Auror--a woman--sent another one, which he avoided. "Dick, Jon!" she shouted before Harry sent a barrage of spells at her, finally hitting her in the stomach with his own Stunner.

Two men, wands raised, attacked him. Harry kept blocking their spells, but then, he saw three more Aurors approaching. They were going to try to surround him.

He knew he couldn't afford to be taken by the MLEA. They wouldn't buy "James Evans," and chances were, he'd be back in Azkaban before the week was over. And he had to kill Hund first.

Harry fired a spell and released a cloud of thick smoke from his wand. Using that as cover, he climbed onto the bridge railing and jumped off, transforming into a black hawk. He flapped his wings and began to rise.

Turning, he flew over the five Aurors who stood, confused, around the place where he'd been, and then glided towards the city.

The only reason he was able to see where he was going was that, as a hawk, he couldn't cry. I don't even have a body to bury, he thought. You should never have gotten involved with me, Megan. I love you...

XXX

By the time Hermione had turned, the person who attacked was gone. And the riot had started. Hermione ducked as an image of a dragon swooped down on the crowd, spewing flame. Fires started in its wake. Good timing, Hermione suddenly thought.

"He got Larry!" Sergeant Bloomberg shouted.

"What?" Hermione rushed over. Sergeant Earhart lay on the ground, eyes open, and unmistakably dead. Hermione shuddered.

"Get them!"

"Protego!" Hermione yelled instinctively. She then recoiled at the force of spells impacting on her shield. Fires were popping up all around her, and she already had trouble breathing from smoke.

"Come on!" she shouted at Bloomberg, motioning at the rest of their group, some fifty feet away, also trying to protect themselves from magical bombardment.

"We can't leave--"

"Oh, for heaven's sake!" Hermione shouted, exasperated. "Levicorpus!" Earhart's body rose. "Run! I'll cover you!"

Hermione released a stream of thick smoke from her wand, blocking the view of the enemies. Under this cover, she and Sergeant Earhart ran up to Padma and the others. Hermione immediately joined her magical shield to Padma's. "Thanks," the other witch said. "I don't think I can--"

Something flew past her and the attacking wizards stumbled. One of them had a knife lodged in his shoulder. "Now!" Captain Sherman ordered, and Hermione realized it was him who threw that knife.

All three Delta Force soldiers--and Hemmings, as well--took out their submachine guns and opened fire. The attackers dropped.

"That'll--" Bloomberg began, but then stopped, as the wizards threw up shields and bullets stopped in mid-air. "Oh, shi--"

"Protego!" Padma and Hermione shouted, but not before an attacker lifted his wand and yelled, "Expelliarmus!" Hemmings' submachine gun was ripped out of her hands and flew away.

"Sorry about that!" Hermione shouted. Fortunately, the three men were still armed, and still shooting.

Hemming grunted, took out her pistol, and fired. Hermione thought she'd seen the person who took away her gun fall. She was too busy to be sure, though.

"What the--"

Something that looked like an anvil flew through the air at them. The anvil hit Sergeant Bloomberg and hurled him along. Before Bloomberg could even yell, he was over the railing and, along with the anvil, dropped into the bay.

Splash! Captain Sherman started turning, but Padma was way ahead of him as she leaped up onto the railing, jumped off it, cast the Bubble-head Charm on herself in mid-air, and vanished underwater.

Hermione put as much strength into her Shield Charm as she could. She now had to do the work of two people... against who only knew how many wizards. And if that wasn't enough...

"We're not exactly covered in ammunition here," Captain Sherman said.

"Where's the MLEA?!" Hemmings demanded, as if Hermione was personally responsible for them.

Hermione didn't respond. She fired what seemed like more spells than she ever had in her life, and none of them appeared to do much good.

"We've got to get away," Sherman said.

"How? That crowd is in our way!" Hemmings pointed at the attackers.

Hermione got an idea. "So we escape by water," she said. "Where's the nearest boat?"

"At the side dock--"

Hermione raised her wand and several pier boards popped themselves off their support and stood up between them and the attackers. The ends of the boards lit themselves on fire. "Well, run!" Hermione shouted, seeing wizards were already dismantling the barrier.

Considering that Sherman and Anderson carried Earhart's body, they ran very fast, and quickly piled into the small motorboat. "Now, let's hotwire--"

"No need." Hermione waved her wand, and the motor started. "And no time," she added, as the wizards appeared on the dock.

"Well, you're good for something," Anderson said. Sherman prepared to drive the boat away.

Hermione threw up a shield. "Get us out of here!"

Sherman nodded, and started the propeller. They sped off.

Anderson took several shots at the attackers. Hermione didn't know if he hit anyone. And to her own surprise, she realized she didn't care.