taking control

Chapter 4: Losing Touch

He crept through the foyer, careful to avoid stepping on the broken glass or shattered remnants of what was likely once a vase. He rushed into the room with spells flying towards the black-robed figures. Distracted as they were in their torture, none of them even noticed his spells before they hit their mark. They fell in pairs, Stunned, and Harry removed his Disillusionment Charm as he surveyed the scene.

The two adults stood over their sobbing child with dazed expressions. Harry gasped when he took in the sight of the kid. He was covered in blood, and, from their unnatural angles, Harry presumed that both his arms were broken. When he saw the blood staining the parents' hands, Harry had a pretty good idea of just what had occurred here.

Stepping forward, Harry stated, "We need to get him to the hospital."

The two adults startled and looked at Harry. Slowly their gazes shifted to their son. Harry could see the moment realization dawned. First the father and then the mother blanched at the state of their child, and Harry could see in their eyes that they remembered exactly how he had been maimed.

"I'm going to transport you to St. Mungo's, a wizarding hospital," Harry informed them, grabbing a blood-stained pillow and whispering, "Portus." It glowed blue for a moment before returning to normal. "What happened here was not your fault," he told the parents, knowing his words must sound even hollower to their ears than they did to his. "Grab hold of this, and crouch down to press it to your son's chest."

The parents dazedly obeyed, and, as soon as they were in position, Harry waved a hand and said, "Activate." The three disappeared in a swirl of colour, and Harry glanced briefly at the downed Death Eaters, summoning their wands and snapping all four with a quick Cutting Curse. He threw down the remnants in disgust and bound the cloaked wizards in ropes before Disapparating for the next home.

OoOoO

"Out of the ten Muggle families, five were attacked. Two of the families were deceased before any help could arrive. Two families are currently in St. Mungo's: one with severe injuries to the incoming child, who is expected to make a full recovery and one with two adults and three children recovering from exposure to the Cruciatus Curse. The father of the final family was killed during the attack, but the rest of the family was mostly unharmed."

Minerva kept a tight rein on her emotions as Kingsley delivered the report. She felt responsible for the casualties as she had personally visited all of these families. Regardless of the attacks against current students, she had not considered the danger facing the incoming first years, particularly the Muggle-borns. She should have seen it coming; after all, she was forced to submit a list of all new Muggle families introduced to the Wizarding World to the Ministry. It was necessary so that the Ministry had a record of every magical person in the country. No doubt some agent of You-Know-Who's had just waltzed in and made a copy of the list.

Her complacency had cost nine people their lives today, and many others were currently recovering from the injuries sustained in the attacks.

After Kingsley returned to his seat, she swept her severe gaze across the table. "What measures are being taken to prevent any future attacks on these families?" she asked the now silent Order.

Nymphadora openly scowled while Kingsley shifted in his chair and cleared his throat, saying, "The Ministry has provided the families with pamphlets..."

"What are we doing," Minerva interrupted, "to prevent future attacks?" She directed a hard stare at Albus as she finished her query.

"We lack the manpower to adequately monitor their homes," Albus stated wearily. "You'll recall how much difficulty we faced arranging guards for just Harry's home in years past. However," he added as Minerva opened her mouth to retort, "Bill, Alastor, and I will be paying visits to each property to add some minor wards to alert us to any future attacks."