Time Keeps on Slipping - Chapter 17

Dominque cuddled up next to Harry on the plush love seat. They were both dressed, and the compartment had been aired out. It was only an hour into the trip, so Harry didn't mind that had fallen asleep with her head on his shoulder. The quiet gave him plenty of time to think. Fleur probably wouldn't kill him. Instead, she would tease him for the rest of his life. It was Hermione who would kill him if she heard about it. He had learned the hard way that hiding things from her was a bad idea. It was always so much worse when she found out on her own. He had promised to write. This was the perfect tidbit of information to slip in between updates on his classes.

The sound of a doorbell brought him out of his thoughts.

He looked over to the door to see the window portion fade away. Roxie and Rose stood outside. Harry looked at the Veela snugged against his side. Either Dominque was a really good actress, or she was still asleep. He gently shifted the girl over to lean against the seat rather than his shoulder. Harry stepped away once he was sure that she wasn't going to fall.

"Hey." Harry kept his voice low. "What's up?"

"Hi?" Roxie raised her eyebrows.

The confused look on her face vanished once she saw Domique asleep. She bumped Rose with her elbow and pointed at their cousin.

"Can we come in?" Rose asked.

"Sure." He stepped back to let them in.

"She didn't waste any time." Roxie teased.

"Did she tell you about the Mating Bite?" Rose asked.

Harry nodded.

"Did she tell you it only works if she's already reached her mating age?" Rose asked again.

"No." Harry chuckled.

"Fleur or Vic would have probably told you eventually." Rose rolled her eyes. "Not that I think it matters."

"Why do you say that?" Harry asked.

"Harry." Rose smiled at him. "You're Prince Charming and Merlin in one amazing package."

"I don't think I'm close to Merlin." Harry blushed. "Or Prince Charming for that matter."

"You don't know how powerful you are?" Roxie asked.

Harry shook his head. Roxie and Rose shared a look.

"You practically have a cloud of magic around you." Rose explained.

Harry raised his eyebrows in doubt.

"When did they invent the Capacity Spell?" Roxie asked.

"I don't think so." Harry shook his head.

"Right." Rose said slowly. "It wasn't invented until after the war."

"Let me guess." Harry gave a small smile. "It measures magical power?"

"Got it in one." Roxie nodded.

"Do I cast it, or do you?" Harry asked.

"You do." Roxie answered. "The incantation is Facultas with half-circle arc clockwise."

Harry did the spell as suggested. A string of numbers appeared in the air above his wand.

392.08

The two witches stared at him in awe.

"I'm guessing that's good?" Harry chuckled.

"Fuck yeah, it's good." Roxie gasped. "Dumbledore was marked at 400 and the closest after that was Amelia Bones at 320.1."

Harry stared at the two witches for a long silent moment. Any further conversation died as the train began to slow. It had hardly been an hour since the trip had started, there as no way they were at Hogsmeade already. Harry's wand was in his hand before he knew it. The two witches saw this and drew their own wands. Dominique woke up as the train came to a stop.

"Wha…" Her voice was drowsy and completely without an accent.

She saw the trio in the room with their wands drawn. The Veela stumbled to her feet and took her wand out as well. Harry thought it was a little funny that the three of them had wrist holsters. They weren't as unprepared to face the unknown as he and his friends had been. It was yet to be seen if they were truly prepared for actual danger.

Careful footsteps came down the passage toward the suite. It didn't escape his notice that no compartments had been opened yet. He had a feeling that they were coming straight to his. Harry shifted one of the nearby chairs to rest before the door. The trio of witches spread out, getting behind cover, and securing a line of sight.

Someone knocked on the door in a set pattern. There was a pause, then another pattern. The trio of witches relaxed. Harry raised his eyebrows as he looked at them.

"That's our escort." Rose explained as she moved the chair out of the way. "Give me a moment."

She walked over to the door and knocked back in a different pattern. A single knock was the reply. Rose tapped the doorframe to turn the door transparent to function as a secure window for communication. Two Aurors flanked the others.

"170 to 160." The Auror said.

Rose nodded and opened the door.

"What's going on?" Rose asked.

"We're taking you to a secure location." The Auror said. "You'll be taken to Hogwarts afterwards."

Harry holstered his wand a moment after the others. The Auror in the lead held out a long, blue ribbon that had to be a port key. He was hesitant but followed their lead. The annoying sensation of travel via port key ended much smoother than usual.

The group found themselves in what looked to be a bunker of some sort. It was a room with bare concrete walls carved with runic arrays. More importantly, the entire Weasley family appeared to be present. Hermione sat in a luxurious leather chair staring blankly off into nothing. Now that they were in a secure location Tonks was among the Aurors on guard.

"Mom." Rose hurried over to her. "What's wrong?" She paused and scanned the faces around the room. "Where's dad?"

At that, the rest of the group took another look at those assembled. It became evidently clear that the family was missing two members. Though Harry wasn't sure if Bill counted as missing. That was until he saw Fleur and Vic. The duo stood together holding hands.

"Maman?" Dominique spoke softly as she approached Fleur.

Fleur's face played through a series of confused emotions. She held her arms open for her daughter. Dominique rushed forward and wrapped the older Veela in a hug. Louis stiffly walked over to join them. Vic stood nearby, glaring hard at the door.

Harry walked over to Hermione. He crouched down to look her in the eyes. She pulled Rose into a tight hug and motioned Hugo to join them. The wizard was over in a blink.

"Two hours ago, Gringotts reported that the Curse Breakers from Egypt hadn't reported in." Tonks spoke up. "When we sent an Auror to investigate we found all five teams had been killed. It was identified as a modified version of a curse found in the more dangerous tombs."

"But Papa was in the Carpathian Mountains." Louis spoke up.

"He transferred to Egypt last month." Vic shook her head. "He said the curses there didn't pose enough of a challenge."

"Bill Weasley was found among the dead." Tonks continued; her voice was forced into a steady, professional tone. "Any hope of recovering the bodies was foiled by the curse. They turned to ash when they were touched."

"Why are we here?" Rose asked. "I mean, Uncle Bill was… Uncle Bill, but we pull us here too?"

"Shortly after a similar attack was carried out at a publicized event." Tonks continued. "It appears that the responsible party wanted to take the credit. There weren't any viable pictures, but the dicto-quills of nearby reporters captured the entire exchange. A witch going by the name Neferteri has claimed she was behind the attack. We're operating under the assumption that she is using a false name, but we're prepared to handle an undead if needed."

"Publicized event?" Roxie asked. "The only thing happening today was the British Quidditch Assembly."

Tonks nodded.

"But… dad was there." Hugo said after a moment.

"The same curse was used." Tonks continued. "There were no survivors."

Harry felt a lump form in his throat. Ron was gone. This wasn't how things were supposed to go. The war was over, everyone was safe. He took Hermione's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. She looked up at him, her eyes still a little unfocused.

"Harry?" She whispered. "What are you doing here?" She seemed to wake-up for the first time since their arrival. "Kids. Oh, my darlings."

Hermione pulled the two into a tight hug. Harry didn't want to leave her alone. Ron had been his first friend; they had been side-by-side for years. Sure, they had their rough patches, but Ron stood by him more often than not. For him it had been a couple of weeks since they had rushed into the Ministry to face down Death Eaters together. He could feel tears stinging his eyes. The familiar transfiguration from sorrow to anger sparked the fight inside of him. He had hoped against hope that things would be different with Voldemort and his minions gone.

"Do you know anything other than her name?" Harry asked Tonks.

"She's claiming to be from Egypt, and this is revenge for the years of desecrating the tombs of her people." Tonks replied. "She hasn't made any demands. We're on alert for any further attacks. Gringotts has been informed as well. They aren't happy with her either and have sent a team of their own investigators to assist."

"Willingly?" Harry asked.

Tonks nodded. "There's more."

Harry waited.

"The goblins were able to identify the curse." Tonks said once everyone was paying attention. "It absorbs the magic from any living thing in the area, aside from the caster."

"It steals their magic?" Harry asked.

"It's meant to target thieves." Tonks sighed. "There's a second stage to the curse. It uses the stolen magic to fuel an explosion of pure magic that triggers the next time it encounters a living being."

"So, this Neferteri is walking around with a magically charged bomb?" Harry asked.

Tonks nodded.

"Fuck." Harry muttered.

~§~

A floating crystal the size of human head wasn't something that people at Kings Cross usually saw. Children running toward brick walls, a lot of owls, and many strangely dressed people were the standard strangeness this time of the year. This was something else.

Even stranger, there appeared to be something inside of the crystal. Some sort of swirling storm cloud which multicolored lightning. People gathered around it, sure that it was some sort of performance art or prank. Those that tried to record it with their cell phones found that the cameras only captured static. Any attempts at video came away with swathes of pixelized screen tears.

The crystal began to blink as the lightning inside started to flash brighter. Those interested gathered closer, certain that whatever was happening was about to reach its climax. Sure, it was probably some publicity stunt for the next big tech thing, but it was still pretty cool.

No one was prepared when the crystal exploded. Arcs of multicolored lightning traveled through the gathered crowd. Those it touched were reduced to withered husks. Their bodies collapsed into piles of ash without muscles and bones to hold them upright. It cut a perfect, fifty-foot circle of the dead out of those on the platform.

Chaos erupted a moment later. The explosion had been silent, lasted maybe a couple of seconds, and the crystal was still floating in the same spot. Aurors appeared a moment later, but it was already too late. Their call for Obliviation Squads was interrupted by the arrival of something much worse.

Creatures with too-long arms, horns, and wings made of what looked to be mud or coal climbed out of the ground beneath the tracks. When the fully emerged they only stood around four feet tall. The creatures let out ear-splitting screeches and attacked. Their wings shouldn't have been function, but magical creatures didn't have to follow the rules of science. Each flap sent globs of hot mud and goo sailing through the air. Those unfortunate people who were close to their arrival found that the goop was hot enough to burn their skin and wouldn't come off easily. Wiping it away only spread it along their skin and melted any fabric it came into contact with.

"Mephits!" One of the Aurors called out.

Another wave of chaos followed. Those that did stop to notice the woman calmly strolling over to the floating crystal didn't live long enough to tell anyone.