Fredcat (panthera_uncia) wrote in regulation, @ 2008-07-27 03:29:00 |
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Entry tags: | ben dunstan, charlie weasley, finn mcgill, fred holden, graham pritchard, harry potter, new moon rising |
Who: Charlie Weasley, Harry Potter, Ben Dunstan, Finn McGill, Fred Holden, Graham Pritchard, Armour Golem Things, Faceless Nameless Unspeakables and bombs.
What: This is a Rescue Mission
Where: Air ducts, the Department of Mysteries, the Streets of London
When: Late night. Saturday 26th July into early morning Sunday 27th July.
Rating: PG-13 (it's Mission:Impossible)
Status: Closed;Complete
Charlie had gotten them into the old Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures office at the end of the day on the pretext of needing some old files to look up some information regarding the doppelganger case. Harry was permitted in with him, Finn, and Ben because he was party to the case, and mostly on Charlie's say-so. It was useful, that Head of Department club, and Charlie had stopped worrying about using it to get people to defer to him.
It was now the middle of the night, and they were standing in the file room, eyeing the ducts. "What do you think?" Charlie said to no one in particular. "Everybody can squeeze in there?"
Because he could not smoke in the Ministry of Magic, Harry was chewing a toothpick into oblivion. He glanced back over his shoulder at the door to the main corridor, a little edgy about the looks some of the Ministry employees had given him. No articles had run on his return to life, evidently, and though he'd kept his sweatshirt hood up, he thought of pointing out to Charlie that he probably should have arranged for a glamour of some sort. However, there was no point now in crying over spilt milk. "Two at a time if we're lucky," Harry said. "The thing was a dragon when it got up in there- You've got the map, but maybe I should go first."
Finn eyed the ducts. "I can boost you up first, then," she said to Harry. "Who's in after that? I think Charlie or I should have the rear, at least until we all get into the ducts." It made sense - Charlie was the figure of 'we have a right to be here' and she was the strongest.
"You next, Finn, then Ben, and I'll take rear." Charlie didn't like it, but it made sense for him to be last. "Finn, you're our guide once we get down there, so you need to be near the front."
Harry approached Finn and offered his hand, then set his other on the top of a filing cabinet. "Would you mind a leg up?" He asked this almost meekly. The woman reminded him of a girl who'd knocked out one of his teeth after he'd beaten her at a scratch Quidditch game the previous year. She'd looked as tough, too.
"Aye, that makes sense, boss." Finn just grinned at Harry and laced her fingers together. "Promise I won't drop you. I'll be fine for getting up and in myself, I think."
"I can boost Ben. Assuming you haven't gained that much weight since the last time we did something like this." Charlie put a friendly elbow into Ben's side.
"Right, here we go," Harry muttered and put his right foot in Finn's hands. A moment later he was scrabbling for the vent, wrenching it away from the ceiling and setting it on the filing cabinet. He crawled into the duct. "Oh fuck." He said after a moment, his voice echoing around the metallic tunnel. A moment later, a beam of light lit the duct above them. "Okay."
Once she was sure that Harry was in enough that she could squeeze in after him, Finn jumped. She got a good hold on the edge of the duct's opening and hauled herself up. That might not have been the best approach as the entry was a little awkward and wriggly, but it had worked. It wasn't so bad once she was in the duct, though. Roomier than she'd expected.
Charlie boosted Ben up. There was a great deal of grumbling about "jam" and bad habits while this was going on, but once they had Ben in the ducts with Finn and Harry, Charlie pulled himself up. Then Charlie made a pass with his wand and murmured a few words to affix the vent back in place, at least temporarily. Harry and Ben might well recognise the wand he was using: he'd used it during the war for certain work that he couldn't afford to be caught doing. If Finn was observant, she certainly could tell that it wasn't the wand Charlie normally used.
"Right, lead on," Charlie said, his voice echoing oddly in the duct.
Truthfully, Harry wasn't looking at the wand. He had his own raised over his head as he squinted down the shaft in the dim light. Then he cast a silencing charm and began crawling up the length of it. At each vent he paused and looked into the offices beneath, going on if they were empty. "Finn," he called back in a semi-whisper, "How close would you have to be to pick up Fred's scent if she's in an open cell?"
Finn sniffed and thought for a moment. "If she's somewhere that's got a vent linking to here...should pick it out pretty fast. Never actually measured, but wolves can catch a whiff about a hundred yards away or so. So hopefully I'll pick it up soon." She really hoped so. And she hoped they'd find Fred alive.
Charlie and Ben followed along dutifully, Charlie keeping an eye and an ear to the rear in case anyone decided it was time to inspect the ducts.
The duct opened in a hole where he remembered it. They were somewhere within the walls of the Ministry, surrounded by rock and dirt rather than offices. "We've got to drop down here, then we're on the level..." Harry threw another silencing charm into the black pit, pointed his lit wand in, and then dropped down feet first. There was a soft thump below, and he called, "Okay, I think we're above the spinning room...it's got a load of doors in it, but that's not where we want."
Finn dropped down after Harry, careful not to land too close to him. She sniffed slightly, then shrugged. "Aye. No traces yet, either."
Ben dropped down third. Charlie was last, silent and careful not to land on top of any of his squad. He'd always been very no-nonsense and quiet on missions for the Order, and he found himself reverting to that instead of treating this like a Regulator mission. "Which direction from here, Harry?"
Hesitating, Harry pointed to his left, pressing his back against the side of the tunnel so he could turn and look back at them. The morgue's that way. The Veil's in that direction, too, so I reckon that's not where we want to go... Frowning, Harry pointed up the tunnel immediately ahead of them and then started off in that direction. The tunnel smelled faintly chemical, as if one of the laboratories also vented into the shaft.
Finn followed Harry, sniffing carefully. After a few more steps, she paused. "Got something...keep going ahead. I think that's the right way. Or close."
"Finn, you take point. I'm right behind you, Ben behind me as backup, and Harry, you've got rear for this bit." Charlie moved forward to take a position behind Finn. "Careful. Keep an ear out for guards."
As Charlie pushed past him, Harry stopped. "Wait. Wait, there's something odd." A bubble up ahead, like a thin, translucent film that stretched from the floor of the shaft to the ceiling. "What... the hell is that? I've never seen that before," Harry said edgily.
Finn froze again just in front of the bubble thing. She looked it up and down. "The scent's that way. If it's like a tripwire...we have to trip it anyway." She glanced at the others. "Best get ready before we set it off."
"Least we know we're not going in the wrong direction," Harry said, gripping his wand and following Charlie.
A crease appeared between his brows as Ben stared at the tripwire, and he tilted his head to the side slightly as he stared at it. The more he concentrated on it, the easier it looked until there was an almost mocking smile on his face. "Aye. This is crap." He sounded delighted as he said it, too, bending over and placing a small device, akin to one of the old Egyptian trick mirrors with a crap load of hexes on it, on either end of the tripwire. He was forced to use magic to levitate one up, but other than that Ben was careful to use as little magic as was possible.
"Be grand now."
Once Ben had diverted the tripwire spell, Charlie gestured him back and gestured to Finn to take point again. He was convinced that this had been too easy, but Harry had gotten in with a bunch of kids when he was still in school. Maybe Mysteries had never bothered to upgrade their security.
Finn was a little amazed at the lack of security herself. But if it meant get Fred out sooner, she wasn't going to complain. Mysteries' stupidity was useful to them. The scent was getting stronger now, but it wasn't much of a relief. Fred wasn't well, she could tell that. She growled softly. Someone would pay for this.
The duct was silent except for the sound of their shuffling and breathing, but the hairs on the back of Harry's neck were standing on end. There was a noise from somewhere without that sounded like a pipe settling, but he wasn't sure. He sped up, nearly colliding with the person ahead of him. He'd lost track of who was following who. "Sorry," he muttered. The noise was getting louder, but there weren't any vents in this stretch of tube.
"What the hell is that?" Charlie asked Finn. She was the one with the best hearing of the lot of them. She could tell if anyone could.
Before she could answer, something sliced down between them. Only Charlie's reflexes--not as good as Finn's, but excellent for a human--kept him from losing part of his nose, his fingers, and his wand. As it was, he was sure he'd lost a few stray hairs. "Fucking A!"
Finn did not like that sound. At all. And she liked finding out what was making it even less. She growled and grabbed at the shaft of one of the things and pulled hard, snapping it. Axes. How...medieval. She grunted. "I hope there aren't more of those..."
"Yeah, me ei-" Another erupted from the floor of the vent between his knees and Harry shoved forward toward the first newly formed hole in the vent. Something huge lumbered beneath them and another above them, rattling the ceiling of the shaft as the floor bowed upward. Harry dove forward, as best he was able in the cramped space, to avoid being pinned to the roof of the duct. "Something's fucking down there! Reducto," he shouted at the next axe that came up through the floor which responded by disintegrating into a cloud of dust.
Charlie grabbed the handle of the axe that had sliced through the vent near him and jerked. The axe jerked back and whoever, or whatever, was holding it was a lot stronger than Charlie. Charlie stuck the business end of his wand into the hole in the vent that the axe had come through. "Confringo!" he said, and there was an explosion below them. Then he was moving forward, practically shoving Finn ahead of him, as the spot where he'd been took another axe blow.
"Missed," Charlie said, rather unnecessarily.
Finn growled as Charlie pushed her forward. This was a bit like one of those Indiana Jones movies. She liked those, but she didn't really want to live in one. But she couldn't really do anything helpful other than take axes away from whatever had them if she got the chance.
The axes were slowly chopping the vent to bits. Harry was on the level with Ben and Charlie, but the vent behind him began to curve downward. He braced himself against the walls of the vent to prevent himself from sliding down, but he felt someone else pressing against his back. A helmet appeared in the hole that was now facing the floor beneath them, the metal grating reminding him of the suits at Hogwarts. "GET UP THE SHAFT," he roared, struggling to push all four of them up the rapidly falling air duct and obviously failing. The animated knight was pulling the ventilation system out of the ceiling.
The helmet was a much easier target for Charlie than something he couldn't see clearly for fear of getting his head chopped off. "Confringo!" This time the blasting curse landed true and there was a deafening explosion. The helmet retreated, at least momentarily. Charlie, quick to recover because it was, after all, his favourite curse, started pushing Finn in the right direction again and moving on himself. "Everyone all right?" he called over the ringing in all of their ears. He hoped the answer was yes,and that he'd bought them enough time to get away from the animated suit.
"Other than my ringing ears, I'm fine," Finn said. "We're getting closer, too..." The scent was definitely closer now.
"Think the soles of my shoes melted," Harry muttered. "OI, I don't have cleats on my hands, could you lot move on? Not a lot of traction here." He pulled his wand hand away from the wall, pointing at the opening where the suit of armour had disappeared. Something was still moving above them.
"Working on it," Charlie said.
Finn moved as quickly as she could. The duct, however, began to feel a little off. "Something's wrong..." Very wrong. The duct seem to drop a little, and then a little more. "...damn it..."
The rest of them scrambled after her, then all of the sudden the supports gave way. The metal tubing hit the floor with a crash that made Harry's teeth rattle. For lack of a better solution, Harry raised his wand and blew the wall of the duct apart, giving them a window into the room. Crawling out, Harry stood and observed the bottom half of the suit that Charlie had blown apart as it continued to walk around a room he didn't recognize, but there was one door out of it. Can't go wrong there.
Charlie landed hard and came to his feet quickly once he was out of the duct. "Ow." He trained his wand on the armoured pelvis and legs, but it didn't seem to sense them or move toward them. He twitched his wand toward the exit, letting Finn take point again, and held the door against the armour until Ben and Harry were out.
Sniffing the air, Finn made her way toward an...odd looking enclosure at the back of the room. When she saw what the enclosure held, it was all she could do to keep from howling. "Found her!" She ran toward the glass and pressed her face against it. "Damn them...they'll pay for this. God damn them all..." She turned to look at the others. "One of you get me in there," she growled. The wolf shone out in her eyes and she didn't doubt that if they'd found one of Fred's captors in the room as well that she'd have ripped the person's throat out.Finn punched the wall impatiently as Ben set to work. It hurt to see Fred looking like that, Hurt more than she could bear, almost, but she couldn't look away. She wouldn't look away. There would be blood spilled for this. This wasn't like the battle all those years ago where it would have been her against an army if she'd tried to avenge Marjory, as misguided as that would have been, in a way. This time there were no armies, only individuals. Individuals she could memorize the scent of. She growled low in her throat and began pacing as she waited for Ben to get the damn cage open.
Harry jogged to Charlie's position as something collided with the door from the other side. With a sickened look at the cell that was also partly fearful of Finn's expression, he said quietly, "Go. Get over there, I've got the door."
"Ben, get that down," Charlie said, moving into position where he could support either Finn or Harry as needed. He wasn't looking at Fred.
Fred was awake and had noticed the movement in the room, it was hard to miss with the crash landing, but she hadn't moved. Movement wasn't worth expending the energy. Aside from the container of mostly laced meat her visitor from a few days ago had left there hadn't been a lot going on in the feeding department. The loss of weight was obvious looking at her and it had happened much more quickly than it ought to have if she'd been human. Fred's obstinacy had kept the jumpsuit as nothing more than a balled up mass of cloth used as a pillow. She was curled into a ball, naked, shivering visibly and staring at them with tired eyes. Cavalry came, she thought and wondered if she'd missed something contaminated. Was she asleep or was she hallucinating? She picked her head up, staring at only Finn of them all. Finn she knew the best and she'd know if she was real or a figment of her imagination induced by a drug, right?
"On it," Ben muttered the moment that Charlie spoke and he bent, pulling stuff from his pockets. He worked quickly and deftly, his wand in hand as he enlarged a few things. He barely look at Fred as he worked; he couldn't. He'd glanced at her out of the corner of his eye a few times, a smile appearing on his face when he'd realised that she wasn't dead--that had been the most important thing, after all--but once that had confirmed he tucked his head down, attaching two small devices to a corner of the glass wall.
If Finn was in Fred's head then she certainly wouldn't have to wait. Actually, if she was going to imagine a rescue attempt there would be at least one of her family present. Slowly she uncurled and crawled over to a wall which she then used to stand despite her body's protests. She was weak and she'd been trying to break the walls again earlier in the day. Fred's head tilted, peering curiously at Finn. There wasn't anything human in her eyes, just cat that was wild and caged. She was weak physically, she was not broken. "You came for me," she finally managed to whisper, eyes fixed on her wolf though she wasn't just talking about her. She shuffled back into her cell further, away from her rescue party and whatever Ben was setting up.
Finn stopped pacing and pressed a hand against the glass. "Of course I came...took awhile, aye, but I came." She dropped her voice to a low, growly whisper. "You've got our two-legged petting friend to thank for that." She didn't want to take the slightest risk of anyone finding out about whatever it was Ky could do with nightmares. Wouldn't do, after he'd been so helpful. "Gonna get you home, feed you. Nate's there, too." She butted her head gently against the glass as if she'd rub it against Fred's cheek if she could.
Charlie was trying not to listen in on what was obviously an intimate conversation, but the fact that the wall wasn't down was beginning to worry him. Blasting that suit of armour and the collapse of the duct into the chamber had to have set off some alarms. They didn't have that long before somebody showed up. Fred was obviously in no condition to run--he'd end up carrying her, or Finn, who was stronger, but not quite as hefty as he was. Good thing Fred was tiny. He resisted an urge to tell Ben to hurry it up, which wouldn't relieve his anxiety and would only distract Ben, and worked on planning an exit route from wherever they were in Mysteries. There was no going back the way they'd come in.
Ben pressed the small devices firmly into the corners of the glass again and frowned at them. They'd been made with the intention of going off the moment they'd been pressed firmly, but he supposed that was one thing to go back to the drawing board on. Still frowning, he stepped back and motioned for everybody else to do the same, his wand in hand. Aiming his wand at the charges, he muttered under his breath for a second and the next one of them detonated, the glass shaking. The wall splintered and then disappeared, the charge small enough that there was no loud noise; he hoped none of the glass travelled that far either, but he'd thrown a ward up beforehand anyway.
Something beat on the opposite side of the closed door, and Harry continually reinforced the magical wards holding the door in place, preventing it from splintering under the repeated impacts. He could see, however, that whatever material it was made of bow out towards him, pressing against the boundary of his shield charm. There were more of the suits out there, but he thought he heard the sound of a voice directing them outside. Curling his lips back, he called in warning, "We've got company, the kind with a brain." He'd give his wards about twenty minutes against purely mechanical creatures, but if there were multiple wizards with intent out there, that time would reduce drastically.
Charlie threw up warding to reinforce the door as well. "Ben, we're going to need another exit." With him, Harry could hold the door a bit longer, but the team needed both of them for whatever they were going to have to do to get out of there. It had been too easy. This was going to be the interesting part.
Fred's legs had given out when the wall shattered, the shaking of the floor rending what grip she had on her balance useless thanks to her captors and their ideas about feeding. Once the wall was down, however, Finn was next to her. At this point she could smell the wolf better than feel her coming near, her senses dulled from her lack of proper nutrition. That scent was comforting, though. It smelled like home and when she was picked up Fred's arms wrapped around Finn's shoulders and clung with all the strength she had. Her face was buried in Finn's neck while the werewolf carried her effortlessly. Fred was a tiny thing, tinier than usual, and it made carrying her less awkward than it might have been for the other woman.
The wall opposite was the obvious way to go if they were looking for another exit, but Ben took a second to work out that it was enforced, to the point where he doubted that it would be easy to blow an exit through without more than a few people noticing and attention drawn was not something any of them wanted, he suspected. Instead, Ben spun on his heel and chose the one closest, not really bothering with a silent charge now. They had Fred, and all they needed now was to get out--besides he reckoned he'd already used the ones that were actually silent.
The charge detonated a moment after he tossed it, the wall crumbling and groaning as it crashed to the ground. The hole it made was still small, but large enough for all of them to be able to fit through comfortably enough, he reasoned. And the noise had been minimal, which was a something.
His hand still in his bag, Ben pulled out a small spherical object, which was almost completely clear, and his wrist snapped as he threw it towards the other end of the room, where the files appeared to be. All records there would be wiped within two minutes, the flames that the device would give off fast acting and magical. "We should probably leave now, unless we want to be barbecued, aye?" he murmured.
Harry backed away quickly from the door he and Charlie held closed with spells, pressing his back against the wall beside the hole. "Get Fred out first and fucking run, then someone with a wand. Charlie, we go last?" he looked to the redhead for confirmation: Charlie was running this show. The door's top hinge wrenched away from the wall and the suit of armour just beyond it began pulling and twisting at the door itself. Faces were visible on the other side through the flame and smoke in the study chamber. The Unspeakables were almost through.
"I'm last. Go go go--" Charlie wasn't even looking as he gestured them out the hole.
With a sudden slam, the door crashed against the floor, rattling it beneath the bodies that were flooding through and over it. Graham led the charge, his wand crackling as he held the spell, ready to throw it, before he realized who he was casting at. Regulators. He jerked backwards, gesturing his men to hold for a moment as he stared, open-jawed, at faces he recognized. There would be consequences. Whatever happened.
Fred and Finn didn't even have enough time to pick up the scents of the Unspeakables charging into the room. Fred kept her face firmly buried in Finn's neck to distract herself as the growling started in her own chest. The sound was contagious, not even half a second later Finn was growling as well, but they were also both through the hole in the wall, out of the room and into the next. Finn tensed as she waited for the others to join them while she mentally prepared to stash Fred and fight if necessary.
Once they started climbing through the hole, Harry didn't wait to start casting. Stunning and disarming spells flew from the tip of his wand and the Unspeakables returned in kind. In a minute, the room was thick with flying spells that lit the billowing smoke, now curling to the ceiling. Something hot flashed by his face, whipping his head painfully to one side. He ducked, rolling to his left and didn't dare to waste spellcasting breath to locate Charlie. Another hex from his wand and a body fell across the floor a few feet ahead of him.
Charlie really hadn't intended to go wand-to-wand with Pritchard, but if that was where it had to go, Charlie was up for it. He threw up a shield on top of the one Fred and George had enchanted into his dragonskin jacket years ago, then fired back, hard. With his free hand, he located some of the fireworks he'd put in his pocket for moments like this, but didn't throw them yet. The room was thick with smoke and spellfire and cries and the occasional thump of bodies. Something metal clanked nearby and Charlie blew it up with another blasting curse, deafening everyone in the room again.
A moment later he realized he might be the last one standing. His shield spell was in tatters but he wasn't hurt. He did a quick incantation to clear smoke around him and caught one last Unspeakable with a Stunning Spell. The man dropped like a sack of potatoes, and Charlie glanced around to make sure he was the last one up. He didn't quite toss a stunner at Harry; he wasn't overwound enough to accidentally hit one of his friends. Quite.
"I think we have to wipe them," he said to Harry.
"It's that one I'm concerned about," Harry said, wiping his face with his sleeve as he got to his feet and crouched beside the woman who fell before him. His sleeve came away red, but he hadn't noticed- it wasn't his blood. Harry opened her eyes with his fingers, quickly examining her pupils before he Obliviated her. Standing, Harry's face was a mask and he moved expressionlessly from one downed Unspeakable to another, casting a Memory Charm each time he paused.
Finally, he stood over Graham. The flames weren't giving him much time, and he knew that this was the one who'd seen the most of them, the one who gave orders like he had some rank behind him. He didn't want to try the charm while he was unconscious. "Ennervate," he muttered, tossing his head to flick the sweat and ash out of his eyes. Harry pinned him down roughly, and put his wand between his eyes, pressing the tip to the skin. As Pritchard's eyes widened with realization, Harry spoke the incantation. Graham's eyes slid out of focus and Harry stunned him again, aware of the possible damage to the mind beyond the memory for such a rapid follow spell, but there was no time.
There was an unnatural glint in Harry's eye as he stood and gestured to Charlie. Harry headed for the hole, his mouth twisted in a hard grimace.
Charlie knelt by the wounded woman and did a quick spell to staunch her bleeding. This isn't war, he reminded himself. He heard Harry's second stunning spell and grimaced himself. As he moved to follow Harry through the hole in the wall, Charlie considered whether there was time for a quick wipe of the room. He decided there wasn't and moved on.
Catching up with the rest, he asked in a low voice, "How do we get out? We can't go out the air ducts again. I'm thinking up the elevator shaft."
"They've got a nifty fucking thing called a door," Fred offered as she peered at Charlie. She'd just barely raised her head from where it'd been buried a moment ago. "They know you're here, might as well go out the front door at this point. Elevator shafts are just going to slow you down, trap you and I'm already useless on my own. I can't climb up a bloody shaft. Finn can track their scents out the way the Unspeakables came." She was easily a lot more short and irritable than she usually was. Fred would worry about apologising for that later.
"That's brill and all, but we're nine fucking levels beneath the ground," Harry said, marking it as small consolation that Fred was well enough to speak. "Unless the Ministry's got stairs, that's our only option. There's not a chance we're Flooing back up to the Atrium." Looking around as he listened for pursuants, Harry asked, "Maybe they have broomstick reserves to get up the shafts. Accio broomsticks." There wasn't any harm in experimenting.
Charlie was pleasantly surprised when several broomsticks came flying toward Harry. He reached out to snag one, Seeker's reflexes still good after all the years off the pitch, and turned to Finn. "You ride with Harry, and I'll take Fred," he told her, reaching out for the emaciated werecat.
Doing exactly what Fred had said she could, Finn followed the scent trail the Unspeakables had left behind and tracked them out of the department. In the spinning room Fred noted that Finn followed the scent through the door at two o'clock from where they stood. That seemed important somehow. Finn was reluctant to let go of Fred, but once they were out of the department proper she did. Fred, however, was more reluctant to let go of the wolf. It wasn't that she didn't trust Charlie, but Finn was home and that scent was comforting after all the nightmares she'd been having of being trapped in the water again. "I can't hold onto you Charlie. I'm a few days off from dying of starvation, I don't have the strength," she admitted quietly. Illustrating what she said vividly, her hold on Finn broke and she ended up in Charlie's arms instead of Finn's anyway.
During this exchange, Harry went to the lift, his own broomstick hovering in the air where he'd left it, and pressed the button. A moment later, the gate slid open and he hit the button for the tenth level. That would give them a clear shot straight up the shaft. Once the lift was on its way again, he returned and mounted his broomstick, allowing Finn to mount behind.
Charlie took a second to slip off his jacket and wrap Fred in it. It would protect her against the wind in the shaft, and he knew it smelled like him, and probably like Mircea as well after all these years. "C'mon, Fred, I've got you. It's not the first time I've played combat ambulance." He tucked Fred onto the broom in front of him as he mounted, one arm around her and one hand on the stick to guide it. "All right, you've got lead, Harry. I'm second with Fred, and Ben, you've got rear guard. And my permission to drop something nasty and explosive on anybody who chases us."
He didn't need telling twice. Harry lifted off with some care, aware that he had a new rider at his back, and skilfully headed for the lift gates. With a slashing motion with his wand, he forced them open- they'd blasted through enough walls and ducts and things- and said, "Hang on, we're going to incline, lean forward and follow my lead. Tell me if y'feel like you're slipping." With that, Harry pulled the front end of the broom upward and took off up the shaft, not testing the speed of the broomstick for Finn's sake.
Fred did not like this plan in a big way. On the bright side they were going straight up and she was in front of Chatrlie so the odds of her falling off weren't big, she'd just fall back into him. Of course, there was the problem of where to put her hands. She wasn't sure if she could put them on the broom's handle without affecting Charlie's flying. The jacket he'd put on her was so big she'd disappeared in it and her hands couldn't come out the ends of the sleeves without a lot of wiggling anyway so she didn't bother. Instead Fred nestled down into Charlie's jacket enough that she was only visible from the eyes up. She breathed in his scent deeply to ground herself again and an arm wrapped around the one he had around her so her hand, still in the sleeve, was holding onto his elbow. Her grip wasn't particularly strong.
Charlie followed Harry and Finn upward, careful with the unfamiliar broomstick because of Fred. He could see Harry in front of him and hear Ben behind, and the noise of the elevator door closing behind them. There were ancient emergency lights in the edges of the shaft and it glowed with an eerie cold light. "Got you, Kitten," Charlie said, keeping his tone even, as they flew upwards. It was mostly for her to hear his tone, not because he had anything to say.
The air was chilled and metallic on Harry's face but warmed as they rose, smelling not of machine oil, but of charm residue. It had taken years for Harry to realize what Dumbledore had sensed all those years ago in the cave, prodding at the walls that appeared at the time to Harry nothing more than the wet rock wall of a cliff side.
It was a short trip, and Harry pried the doors to the top level apart magically, shooting through the main corridor of the Ministry into the Atrium. He skidded to a stop by the fountain where they were surrounded by the empty fireplace queues. Harry did not dismount. Once Ben and Charlie were up out of the shaft, Harry spoke and his voice echoed emptily in the massive chamber. "I'm going to get the car and bring it round. How do you want to do this? I think it's a bad idea to go out in Muggle London on these things." He pointed to the broomstick.
"No, it's not," Charlie agreed. "Can't take the Floo either. It's monitored." He made a reflexive nasty face at the thought of the Floo. "We take the telephone booth. Leave the brooms here. Finn, you take Fred; I have a trick for this last. May not work perfectly but it's better than nothing."
"Great, it's like musical Fred," the blonde whispered flatly. Not that she was complaining about not having to crawl around the Ministry, but being shuffled between people was kind of annoying. Finn dutifully dismounted from the back of Harry's broom with a quiet, "Aye, boss." She took Fred from Charlie's broom and the smaller woman was curled up against the wolf with her face buried in Finn's neck once more. Couldn't they just go home now?
With Fred safely in Finn's arms again, Charlie moved to the Welcome Witch's desk and took out the four badges: his, Harry's, Ben's, and Finn's. He reached behind the raised part to the actual working area and did something. Then he dropped the badges into the slot, and then did something else. "All right, move out." He gestured to Harry to go first, then Finn, then Ben, and took up the rear. Once they were in the elevator, Charlie made a pass of his wand and said a word as the door closed.
"Trick of Dad's. Always want to make sure your hours are clocked properly," Charlie explained to the rest of the group.
Charlie's explanation stayed somewhere on the surface of Harry's thrumming brain. The quiet of the elevator wasn't at all comforting, and Harry's fingers twitched on the keys in his pockets as he stared at the doors of the elevator, a sharp thrill running along his spine as the door opened. "Wait around the corner for me- I don't think we should carry her three blocks down the street." Harry waited for an affirmative to leave the phone and take off down the street at a dead run.
Once they were out in the open, out of the phone booth elevator and in air that didn't smell stale, Fred starting purring very quietly. Even if she wanted to curb the instinct she couldn't have at the moment. Her mind couldn't focus well enough to pull that off. Finn was learning to differentiate between the various kinds of purring that went on in a house full of cats and Fred's indicated relief. She watched Harry leave, eyes fixed over Finn's shoulder. She didn't say anything because what did you say when four people had just broken into the department of mysteries to blow up part of the glass box you'd been kept in for who knows how many days and break you out? There weren't actually words for that. There was probably a lack of proper greeting cards as well.
Charlie hustled the little group down the block a ways away from the phone booth, but still close enough that Harry could see them. "Ben, think of an excuse why we'd be standing here with a starved naked girl if the Muggle police come along. I don't fancy going to jail."
Ben shrugged and stared over at Charlie with wide eyes. What did the other man think he was? A bloody genius. "I think we should tell them we're P.I.M.P.s," he said flatly. "Or that we're filming a music video for that white dude with the bandana who raps about closets or summat. Charlie, I don't think there's anything we could tell them. Fredly's good with the excuses, in't she?"
"Maybe I just really like being naked," Fred suggested lazily. "It's not like you all see me at home ever." Technically it wasn't even a lie. Except for the bit where she wasn't actually at home. Fred was willing to ignore that fact for the moment. "Reformed working girl who backslid?" She shoved a hopeful note, or a close approximation to one anyway, into the question.
Finn rolled her eyes at Ben's suggestion. At this point, if they ran into anyone who tried to stop them, she'd settle for knocking them out and moving along. Not like anyone would be able to find them later, anyway.
Down the street, Harry unlocked the door of the modified Volvo. Though it wasn't a beater car by any stretch, Harry had let the body rust a little where it wouldn't matter in order that it appeared a shittier car than it was. The lock was somewhat pointless, as the driver's side window was down and Mircea was sitting in the driver's seat, his paws on the wheel when Harry had jogged toward the car. "'Ey, pup, I need that seat. Move your furry butt over, will you?" Harry did manage a strained grin for the dog and opened the door, sliding in as Mircea moved into the backseat. He jostled the key into the ignition and then started up the street, watching the Ministry building for any sign of more Unspeakables as he pulled up. "Alright," he stuck his head out the window. "Either she or Mircea's in the back. The guns should have window access- anyone with wands by a window."
"Ben in front, Finn in back with me and Fred. I can shoot over Mircea's head. He knows how to duck when Daddy's shooting things. Don't you?" Charlie asked the dog.
Mircea barked once at him by way of response.
Finn got into the car behind the passenger's seat. If Harry's hands were going to mostly be on the wheel then they needed Charlie behind him in the backseat. It was a little harder getting in with a girl attached to you, but she managed it just fine. Fred curled up in Finn's lap like she always did and her eyes fixed out the back window on the sky, just to have something to watch that wasn't inside. God, she so badly didn't want to be contained again and a car was small. Her anxiety spiked and it was obvious to everyone in the car with the nose to notice.
Once everyone was in the car, Harry shifted gears and started along the road heading east toward the river, merging into the traffic that was steady even at this hour. Harry was glancing so frequently into the rearview mirror that he might've had a nervous twitch. Tentatively, he switched on the radio with the volume way down, almost willing to relax. It was a trip-hop station, and what they played now was barely elevator music.
Harry made a manoeuvre to get past the stoplight to turn left before the light turned red but a taxi cut him off and took it before the Volvo made it. He was taking it easy. "Fred," he asked softly, feeling around on the console between the passenger and driver seat. "Fred, you want some water?"
The word "water" made Fred's anxiety jump higher and she shrunk down in Finn's lap. The older woman calmly replied with, "No water." Belated she added a "Thanks."
With his foot on the break, Harry took his other hand off the wheel and reached in his jacket for another toothpick. When he looked up again in the rearview mirror he suddenly jumped forward in his seat, craning his neck to peer into the mirror, then looked over his shoulder between Charlie and Mircea through the back window. "Oh, fuck." The Muggles in the other cars hadn't noticed, but what looked like two mirages had just swept into the air behind them. "Sorry," he said to the car at large, "We've got to fucking go." Harry took his foot off the break and pulled a hard left into traffic, causing cars around him to swerve to avoid a collision. "Brooms, Disillusionment charms out the back."
Charlie let out a stream of obscenities in Romanian and stuck his head and arm out the window to blast at the mirages. He recognised them too, or at least the shimmers, from the bad old days. His arm and head went out the window and he took a glancing shot at one of the broom-riding Unspeakables. The spell missed, and there was return fire from the broom. "They're serious about this, Harry."
Mircea was growling now. If they had to stop, nobody in the car doubted that the dog would be out and the Unspeakables would have a canine out for blood in their midst.
"So are we," Harry replied through gritted teeth. He took his hand off the wheel and hit the automatic window button. The remaining windows in the car began rolling down, except the back passenger side- Harry didn't want the dog jumping out the window. "This road's a straight shot up the river. I can take it for a couple miles so you can get some shots in, but that means we're a clear shot for them, too. I think we need to lose 'em."
"Ben, make sure Fred doesn't have a tracking charm on her." Charlie's voice had gone combat calm again. It would do no good to shake loose of the Unspeakables if they could simply locate Fred with a spell or device.
Fred had tensed after she managed to get into the smallest ball possible and currently had a death grip on Finn, something she hadn't been aware she was entirely capable of. Ben had to half crawl into the back to get Fred to notice his scent long enough for her to calm down and uncurl so he could manage to sweep her for tracking devices of all sorts. His wand had passed over the suddenly terrified cat four times when he finally declared that she was clean.
The mirages kept swerving in the air as they bore down on them. Harry tried to catch a glimpse of the broomstick model- any information that could help- but then he began searching the traffic ahead for a gap. Shifting gears suddenly, he hit the gas and the little Volvo shot between the cars, veering right and tearing down the centre of the road. The broomriders would have to readjust to catch up and hopefully, this would mean their casting abilities were impaired. He'd never have been able to pull a wand taking the Firebolt at its top speed. The car accelerated, pushing and breaking 180 km/hr and still climbing.
Charlie, on the other hand, was not driving or flying, although he was having to keep Mircea's head down and out of the line of fire. The car's speed and particularly its acceleration, was hampering his aim, but he was able to get a few Blasting Curses off in the direction of the broomriders. There was a loud explosion behind the car and he called out, "Got one!"
Finn growled softly and held Fred as close as she could. She really did not being stuck in the middle of a car chase. She wasn't really terribly fond of cars - she liked her bike better, but she had to admit that in situations such as this, a car was a superior mode of transportation. She nuzzled Fred, hoping to reassure the cat that she wouldn't let anything happen to her, no matter how this chase went.
Reminding herself that she wasn't the only lycanthrope in the car and she was still Finn's alpha, no matter how submissive she tended to look in their dynamic, Fred reached up and pet Finn. She even nuzzled into her neck, forcing herself to purr quietly to put the wolf at ease. Even though the mention of water was horrifying her at this point she didn't need people worrying about her now that they were out. Her free hand pointed at a spot out the back window as her finger followed a spot that seemed like nothing remarkable at all. "That one shimmers less."
They were coming up on the Battersea Bridge and the curve in the road forced Harry to slow. Thankfully, the Muggles were responding to the explosions Charlie had been shooting out the back and cars immediately ahead of them stopped, but they were coming up on a curve and an intersection. Harry glanced in the rearview again and caught a glint of metal off the tip of the broomshaft. "Are they riding the latest Comet?" he asked Charlie, with an urgency that indicated this was not an irrelevant question. Past the bridge was an overpass and Harry was suddenly thinking very hard about the broom's brake and turnabout capabilities.
"Like the ones we just borrowed from 'em?" Charlie yelled back. "Think so, from the acceleration. Can't be positive, since I can't see 'em." His voice was barely audible over the traffic noise, even at full volume.
The purring did manage to get Finn to relax a little. She stroked Fred's back, half to reassure the cat and half to reassure herself that, yes, they'd actually got her out of that damned cage. Suppressing another growl at that thought, Finn turned slightly to glance over her shoulder at the people chasing them. And to give them a two-fingered salute.
Fred sighed. "Does no one see that one but me?" Her finger was still following it. She assumed it was just like the others, only with a better disillusionment spell on him. She grumbled mostly to herself but anyone in the back could have heard her when she said, "Why can't you all just see like cats for once?" Her senses may have been dulled from her current state, but Fred still had better night vision than anyone else in the car.
"Hey, Jam? If I direct you can you hit something for me?" She waited until he agreed, though he sounded like he thought she was maybe insane. She took to describing the location and height of the hidden flyer in as minute detail as she could manage. Fred spoke so quickly that Ben didn't even know what she said about half the time but the other half was good enough that it didn't matter anyway.
After four rapid fire attempts that followed her instructions he hit a few buildings and a light pole. Then, on his fifth attempt a well-concealed person was finally blasted off their broom, easily indicated by nothing visible having taken the damage. If they weren't moving to fast the crash as the body collided with a nearby vehicle could have been heard. Fred smiled contentedly and patted Ben on the head once it was back in the car, "Thanks, Jam."
Harry watched the suddenly vacated broomstick go spinning off into the river. "Good one, cat lady," he shouted back with elation. "And... Jam."
There were at least two more broomsticks behind them, flying low over the tops of delivery trucks and cabs. Perhaps this would work to their advantage. They passed the on ramp to the bridge, cutting off cars making their turns into Battersea and Harry had to swerve sharply to avoid plastering them against a creaking Daimler. The road forked and Harry, very illegally, took the left toward the overpass. Traffic was thin, the road led into Chelsea. The overpass hung low over the road and if they were lucky... Harry saw one broomstick pull up to fly over it, and the other swept downward, trying to follow them beneath the overpass, a mistake. The broomstick swerved trying to avoid a collision and failed. That's why we fly the Firebolt series. Harry hit the brake hard and spun the wheel, the back tires of the car swinging around and burning rubber in a dangerous change of lanes. A truck coming under stopped hard just behind their back bumper. Harry shifted again and shot out of the tunnel, back the way they'd come, wondering how long it would take the other flyer to realize they hadn't come out the other side.
Charlie whooped with glee as the first flier splattered himself against the overpass. He'd regret that later, but he was all adrenaline and excitement right now. He managed to pull his arm and wand in just as Harry started to spin the car, squashing everyone in the back seat with centrifugal force at and knocking bodies and limbs and heads together. Mircea yelped in pain as someone landed on some part of him, and Charlie winced as if it had been him. As they came out of the tunnel into the night again, Charlie turned to watch out the back, ready to blast the last flyer in case the Unspeakable figured out the trick Harry had pulled on them.
Finn held on tight to Fred as the car swerved. She heard Mircea yelp after she felt herself land on something. "Sorry, boy," she murmured, reaching out to pet him as soon as the car was back to driving straight again. Taking a deep breath, she pushed some of her hair out of her face and then stroked some away from Fred's. "Gonna feed you proper once we get you home, kitten."
"We can't go to Stapleford Abbotts, though. If they know what they're chasing they'll know where I live. Trent and Ford can handle anyone who shows up, but they'll leave it be faster if I'm not there. And I can't be there until that place is warded to high hell, which it's not right now." She sighed, not having considered that until now. She wanted to go home. That was pretty much all she wanted, period, but she couldn't have Unspeakables showing up where she was. It was one thing to defend yourself, it was another to worry about her being nearby and having to be protected in addition to defending yourself. "I've gotta get somewhere they won't look for me." She could think of somewhere but she didn't think Charlie would like it. After all, he'd think she was just hanging out with muggles and what protection was that?
Harry took a right off the road and headed into South Kensington, then took the car onto a side street and went two streets over before heading west again- the broom wasn't in sight. He thought of offering Fred the flat he'd cleaned out with Charlie, but he didn't realize the suggestion stayed in his head only as he concentrated on the road.
"Where?" Charlie asked. "Grimmauld's right out. They'll know to look there."
"Mm. Point." Couldn't have Mysteries on their home turf. Finn glanced at Charlie, then back at Fred, her eyes echoing Charlie's question.
"Berkshire. Between Padworth Common and Mortimer there's woods. A lot of woods. That's where my parents live, in The Pines. If any of the muggle inclined have a mobile I can get my dad to meet us where Camp Road and Padworth Road meet. They don't live far from there but it's hard to find the path to drive up to the house. Once the rest of my family knows I'm with my parents they'll all show up. I'm safer with them than with anyone else and my mum and dad can take care of me better than my brothers could anyway." She was just waiting for the veto to come which would force her to trust everyone in the car a lot more than she was hoping to ever have to. When it came down to it, though, they were probably the best three humans to trust with the information of all the humans in the world.
Charlie shook his head. "I dunno, Fred." He glanced over at Finn. She was probably in the best position to make this decision. He'd defer to her judgement.
"We go to Berkshire." There was no doubt in Finn's mind that it was the best decision. That was Fred's turf; she'd know. And she was glad that Charlie hadn't decided to outright veto the suggestion. Fred got to keep some of her secrets, some very important ones at that, that way. "Anyone got a mobile?"
Glancing over his shoulder at Fred, Harry said, "Just tell me where I'm going." He glanced at the gas tank, which affirmed this statement. He ended with a sharp nod and turned his eyes back to the rearview mirror, rummaging in one hand with his pocket. He reached over the seat with it, cell in hand. "It might be dead. Give it a look-see."
Fred reached for the phone first, "Thanks, love." As she checked the battery her eyes glanced up at Charlie. "You didn't actually think she'd contradict me, did you?" There was nothing in her voice that suggested an insult to Finn, but the fact of the matter was Finn had become their family, part of their pack and Fred was her alpha. She couldn't contradict Fred any more easily than Trent or Ford could. She smiled when the mobile had enough charge to make the call. Dialling quickly, the phone went to her ear and she heard a very confused Maryanne Holden answer the phone, wary of the hour. "Hey, mum, it's Fred. Yes. I'm okay. Sort of. Friends. They helped. Nate's home? My home?" She cringed. "Yeah, call them and tell them I'm coming to you. Yeah. It's kind of bad. Still in London, I think." She hadn't been paying close enough attention to be sure. "Have dad meet us at Camp and Padworth. No, they don't know. Just Finn, she's with us. I'll tell them if I have to and not before, okay? Alright. Yeah. The mobile's beeping at me, it's going to die. See you. Love you. Bye." Fred ended the call and stretched forward to hand the phone to Ben since Harry was driving, falling against the back of his seat in the process. A moment later she was giving Harry directions to Padworth. She'd worry about the specifics from there when they got closer.
Charlie watched Ben take the mobile and leaned back against the seat, head tilted against the headrest and just breathed. He hadn't thought Finn would contradict Fred, but her gaze and body language had indicated enough confidence in Fred's choice that he hadn't felt the need to contradict her. "Merlin," he muttered. "I'm glad this is almost over." He buried his fingers in Mircea's fur and let Harry drive. "Ben, Finn, keep an eye out for brooms. I think Harry shook them but let's not take any chances."
It wasn't even near almost over. Not for Fred. The others didn't need to know that. She had a long memory and she held grudges when she wanted to. No, this wasn't over until every single person who cut her open or tortured her was dead. She'd wait years if she had to, but their blood would be spilt.
Finn nodded. She wouldn't do much good as anything but a spotter, of course, but that was still useful. She said a silent prayer that they'd have no interruptions for the rest of the ride. They'd had enough to deal with already, and Fred had far too much to deal with lately. But at least she was out of that cage. And away from those bastards at the Department of Mysteries.
Ben glanced over his shoulder and into the back of the car, where Fred and Finn were sitting, and a crease appeared between his eyebrows as he stared at Fred. At least she's out of there, he told himself, and turned back in his seat, glancing out the window again and keeping his eyes peeled for brooms, even as he felt himself relax slightly, glad that was over. He reckoned, though, that such a story was something he could relate to grandchildren for excitement factor in the future, though.