Aurors: The Fist of Mars

The Hogsmeade Weekend

Wednesday night Harry and Savage sent owls off to warn every single witch and wizard on the wolf list to be on the lookout. They spent Thursday and Friday meeting with those on the list to collect threats. Every single person on the list who was still alive had gotten one. The penmanship matched. The wording was identical. Fleur was beside herself with worry about Bill. Harry thought of the bodies they had already found, and he had nightmares about walking in on Mrs. Weasley's boggart, seeing her paralyzed with fear as it cycled through the bodies of her dead children. She had already lost Fred.

Lavender's account gave no details about her attacker except for a vague idea that it was probably a man. Harry wished that he could reach out to Protego and promise immunity if the vigilante could give them more information. He worried. He worried about Teddy Lupin. Would this wolf hunter go after the child of a werewolf too? As far as they knew, Teddy didn't even have the symptoms of a half-bitten, but his parentage was known. Harry being his godfather exposed the baby boy with color-changing hair to gossip and media.

When Saturday came, Harry was exhausted. He and Ron arrived in Hogsmeade early and had a hearty breakfast cooked by Aberforth Dumbledore at the Hog's Head. They ate mountains of eggs and sausages and muffins and fruit. By the time the girls made it into town, Harry was considering unbuttoning his jeans below his robes; he was stuffed.

They waited just within the gates to Hogsmeade. Harry spotted Ginny's red hair first, but he heard Hermione directing the third-years before any other voices carried. She was Head Girl, after all. Harry wondered if someone in Ginny's year felt like they'd unfairly lost that position to an interloper.

Ginny, wearing blue jeans a green and gold sweater that looked half knee-length robe and half hooded sweatshirt, broke from the crowd and ran to hug and kiss Harry. The other students whispered and pointed. He had gone to school with all of them, but they acted like they had never seen him before, standing on tip toe and craning their necks to get a look at him.

When Harry untangled himself from Ginny's arms (though he was in no hurry), Hermione was standing next to them, holding Ron's hand. "When Ron didn't reply to my letter, I thought you might not come."

Ron rubbed the back of his neck and blushed. "Sorry. I forgot after I got called away in the middle of writing it."

"Hello, Harry," a high, dreamy voice said. Harry looked behind Ginny and was surprised to see Luna standing there. He didn't know why he wasn't expecting her. She was in Ginny's year.

"Luna," Harry said with a grin. "How are you doing?"

"Good. Quite good. I've been busy writing a paper on the use of Thestrals as symbols of death in art."

"Really?" Harry asked, pushing his glasses up his nose. "For Care of Magical Creatures or History of Magic?"

"Hmm?" Luna asked.

"What called you away from my letter?" Hermione asked.

Harry wasn't sure how much he should say, so he tugged Ginny's hand and lead the group down a less crowded street. They could hit up Honeydukes after the rush was over. "Uh, there was an attack in London. Actually, a crossover of both our cases. Someone is attacking werewolves and half-bittens, and Protego saved someone from him."

Luna clapped and bounced on her feet. "Protego! He's so dreamy."

Ron crinkled his nose. "How can you tell. He wears a mask."

"Luna's smitten," Ginny said with a teasing smile. "She has her schoolbooks covered in the Daily Prophet pages about him."

"He's a hero! And he doesn't do it with the ministry watching him. He's rogue. Like you, Harry," Luna said, looking off at the clouds as if expecting Protego to appear there.