Chapter 21: Norway
Ron, Kingsley and Harry apparated back to the headquarters at the ministry where they met with Seamus and the gruff head auror from earlier, Sandy Maccabie.
"I've sent three teams on ahead," Sandy explained, "One to Oslo, to speak to the Norwegian Ministry, one to Bergen where we have contacts, and the last one has gone to the wizard who spotted them who is in Goteburg in Sweden at the moment."
"And where are we going?" Asked Harry, impatient to be off.
"I will be joining you to Trollesund in the north of Norway," said the rough old man who reminded Harry very much of old Mad Eye in appearance, "That's where the Lestrange brothers were spotted and it is where we will pick up the trail; our Norwegian contact says they are still in the area. We'll probably be waiting around for a while for further info to be gathered so be prepared for a long wait."
Ron nodded and turned to Kingsley, "Are you sure the Ministry can cope without you?"
"Yes," said Kingsley, "I've issued a notice to the Daily Prophet that I am in poor health and that for the next few weeks Arthur will be my stand-in. It seemed right to keep this out of the press as long as possible, both for the mission's success and to prevent your families being hassled too much."
"Thanks," said Harry gratefully before turning to the old auror, "I may not be trained but I am sure as hell that I can be useful here."
"Good then," said Sandy, "Just keep your magic under control; I don't want you killing anyone unless absolutely necessary."
Harry raised his eyebrows but said nothing as Seamus coughed and said, "Kit room?"
"Certainly!" Replied Sandy jovially and led them into a large adjoining room filled with supplies.
Ron took Harry to the side and pulled a small package from his cloak, "I didn't think you'd want to go back to the house so I took the invisibility cloak when we were over there."
Harry smiled and thanked Ron before turning to the rows upon rows of kit that they might need for any expedition.
"It's very cold up there so make sure you take warm clothing," ordered the auror, "We'll need two tents, ropes, food," he continued as Ron, Harry, Seamus and Kingsley pulled items from shelves, including dozens of bags of shrunken food, "Cooking stoves, deception cloaks, darkness powder, dark magic detectors, decent boots, polyjuice potion, basic healing supplies, muggle bandages, muggle money, muggle identity documents..." the list went on and on and contained such odd items as muggle portable telephones, which would be useful as owls would take too long, and long johns as it would be so cold.
Finally they had a sizeable pile heaped in the middle of the floor and they pulled rucksacks and sleeping bags from hooks on the ceiling. On the outside they looked like regular British army issue rucksacks but their interiors were vast and they could fit everything into two of them easily, but split them into five anyway to ease the weight.
"Right," said Maccabie, "Let me make a few calls to check on the other teams and see what we know already," He pulled a large plastic brick like thing from this pocket and began to tap large numbered buttons, "Useful invention these," he sighed as he lifted the thing to his ear, "Muggles have had telephones for years now but these mobile ones are very recent and terribly useful."
They all looked on as the boss made a few calls, not as intrigued by the phone as they might have been; after all Kingsley, Seamus and Ron were working in the ministry and Harry had been flitting in and out of the muggle world for his whole life.
Sandy returned to the group after several moments, "Right," he said sternly, "We've had two sightings reported to our contact in Trollesund and it looks like Rodolphus is still there. Our man out there is a Norwegian playing the part of a Voldemort sympathiser -"
"Wait," Harry interrupted, "How long has this bloke been out there?"
"Several months," replied the old man warily.
"So you knew they were out there!" He cried furiously, "You knew they were there, hell, you had one of your own in there with them and NOTHING was done... no one stopped Rabastan from walking into my home and attempting to kill my family!"
Sandy sighed and rubbed his brow, "No," he said calmly. "We weren't in contact with him until late last night when we discovered it was Rabastan. We put the pieces together from what we were told and went immediately to the Norwegian ministry. They're not closely allied with us and had not shared information on the Death Eaters simply because they hoped to get hold of them for themselves and use them as bargaining chips."
"What made them change their mind?" Asked Harry.
"Several things," said Sandy, "Firstly, you. They are as indebted to you as anyone - Voldemort sought not only to enslave Britain, but the whole world and they know they owe you a great debt. Secondly, the British ministry is a lot more powerful - part of the reason that they'd hoped to get hold of a couple of death eaters - and they knew it would do them no favours to hold back this sort of information under the circumstances. So we have only been linked to the Norwegian contact for under 24 hours."
Harry had calmed down but still looked riled - he couldn't believe that petty politics had helped lend a hand in the disaster that had been the previous day or so. He turned away from the group for a moment and clenched his fists against his head before turning back, "Sorry. D'you want to continue?"
Sandy nodded gruffly but Harry could detect a hint of sympathy in the man's countenance, "Well, anyway, the bloke's been bringing them food and information and they've been pulling him into the circle as it were. What we know is that they are moving around almost every day and that there were three death eaters together until two days ago when one, presumably Rabastan, left. Since then there has been a steady stream of new arrivals and now it's safe to say that all fifteen that are unaccounted for are now sitting in a cave somewhere in Norway."
"So we have a shot at getting all of them in one go?" Asked Kingsley.
"I'd say so," replied Sandy slowly, "Our problem is that we need to act quickly. If they are all congregating then they must be planning something and whatever it is, it isn't good. We need to be ready to fight this out and take them in the next 24 hours, this is crucial. I doubt they are planning an attack immediately but we must act while our knowledge is still fresh."
Harry nodded grimly and asked, "What kind of protection is being provided at the Burrow? That's where Gin and James and all of the Weasleys are."
"Well, at present there's a detail of five aurors on the perimeter. This will be increased to twenty aurors with back up from another twenty ministry employees from other departments. They are stationed at the boundary of the property but four aurors are to be inside with the family at all times. The floo network has been shut off and we have the strongest possible wards up and we're in the process of creating a fidelius. No risks are being taken Harry, rest assured," he explained grimly before turning to Ron, "All of your siblings and their partners and children are being brought to the Burrow, as will Miss Granger's parents. This is all happening as we speak."
"Blimey," said Ron, "Mum's bound to be going mental."
"Well if everything goes to plan you will all be back home and the security measures pulled back in the next 48 hours," he said with a hopeful smile. Harry realised that, despite his gruff manner, he actually quite liked the old auror. Sandy Maccabie was a fearful presence but also appeared to be a strong and kindly leader and incredibly diligent in carrying out all aspects of his duties. He had the impression that the remarks he had received earlier in the day had been meant to test his nerve rather than actually to be unkind.
"So we're leaving now?" Asked Seamus.
"Yes," said Sandy, "We'll take a portkey to a safehouse in Trollesund. It's a shack but it's a good place to meet the Norwegian and hopefully get some kip later tonight."
With this he removed a pair of muggle binoculars from his coat and performed a quick spell, turning them into a portkey. They all placed a finger on the faintly glowing binoculars and felt the tug in their stomach as they went spinning off to the frozen north of Norway.
They arrived in a drafty old fisherman's shack that smelled of a combination of salt, seaweed and cod. Harry shivered slightly as he looked around at the rotting wooden walls and old fishing gear hanging sadly from the ceiling.
"Right, let's get to work," said Sandy and the four trained aurors immediately started securing the perimeter. As Harry looked on Ron and Seamus pulled various dark magic detectors from bags and began moving systematically around the hut while Sandy and Kingsley performed countless complex charms to place wards around the area.
Harry felt a little useless but contented himself with pulling out the stove and boiling water for hot tea, essential in such a cold climate. After several minutes the security measures were complete and Sandy walked over to take a steaming mug from Harry, "Thanks, old man," he said jovially, "That'll make the place secure - only aurors and our Norwegian fellow will be able to get in now and we ought to be invisible to prying eyes."
Seamus was shivering as he grasped a mug of tea and held it close to his face to enjoy the warmth, "Bloody hell, never thought I'd be sitting in a shack in the north of Norway in winter."
Ron grinned and slapped him on the back, nearly spilling the tea on Seamus' face, "Cheer up, mate," he laughed, "There's warm clothes in the bags and we're bound to see some action," Ron caught Harry's eye and the smile faded from his face, "Oh, Harry, mate, sorry. I didn't mean anything."
"I know," said Harry shortly, "I just thought you'd seen enough of war to know that it's not that glamourous."
Ron sighed and sat down next to his best mate and said quietly, "I do know that but as an auror it's a lot of sitting around, now we have the chance to get this sorted once and for all. We want this finished."
Harry grunted and leant against Ron's shoulder slightly, exhaustion from the last two days catching up with him, "I can't fix this anymore," he sighed eventually, rubbing his eyes wearily.
"No," said Ron, "You can't, but you can sure as hell make sure that this never happens again."
"If I hadn't left my wand on the counter..."
"If you hadn't then they would have found another moment, you can't be on your guard all the time... especially in times like this when we all thought we were safe," said Ron gently, "Ginny knows that too, Harry, she's going to be alright, you just need to concentrate on getting back to her now."
"Thanks, mate," said Harry softly.
Sandy cleared his throat and said, "The Norwegian won't be here for another two hours. Kingsley and I will take the first watch - we have some things to discuss anyway - you three try and catch some kip while you can. We'll wake you when this bloke arrives."
"Cheers," said Harry gratefully, finding himself liking the old auror more and more, as he pulled a mat and sleeping bag from one of the rucksacks and laying it as close to the heat of the stove as possible and grumbling to Ron, "Why are we using this muggle stuff when we could have a comfortable wizard tent?"
Ron laughed slightly, "We try and rely on magic as little as possible. Toughens you up. Plus, those tents give off a shed load of magical energy and if someone were to really look they'd find us pretty quickly."
Harry did not look appeased and mumbled under his breath so only he and Ron could hear, "We did fine when we were fighting Tom and that was a hell of a lot more dangerous than 15 poxy runaway death eaters."
Ron smiled and merely said, "Go to sleep, Harry, you sure as hell need it."
Harry fell into a fitful and miserable sleep, he shivered constantly and in moments where he actually fell into dreams his head filled with terrifying images of Ginny and James and a newborn baby alone on an icy plateau as dementors and warped death eaters on brooms circled overhead. No matter how hard he tried he could not make his voice carry over the freezing wind, warning them, as he watched helplessly as the baby slid away from Ginny.
He awoke with a start as Kingsley shook him awake, "You were shouting Harry," he said softly, "Tonight I'm giving you dreamless sleep potion."
Harry went red and muttered thanks to the Minister, "Where is this bloke, then?" He asked, looking around at the others who all looked a little uncomfortable at having heard his desperate screams.
Sandy turned from where he was gazing out of a window, "He's coming now," he said quietly, "I can see him coming up the rocks now. Time to get into action now I think."
Harry stood up quickly and felt dizzy but managed to disguise it, "What d'you need done?"
The old auror looked him over appraisingly, trying to gauge how fit Harry really was to be working but the adamant look on his face let Sandy know that he would not be taking no for an answer.
"Harry, you and Seamus go with Kingsley to make sure he hasn't been followed. Ron, I'm going to need you to cover me from the roof as I go down to meet him. If any of you see anything suspicious, send blue sparks up. I need to be sure we can trust him and there's always the risk that they're keeping an eye on him. Worse comes to worst we apparate away to safety but make sure you send sparks first."
Ten minutes later Harry, Seamus and Kingsley returned shivering to the frozen shack having checked the area whilst Sandy and Ron had brought the Norwegian contact into the little house. Harry looked at him coldly but couldn't help but be impressed by his appearance; he was well over six foot tall with straggly dirty blonde hair hanging almost to his shoulders, he had masses of facial hair and he had the build of Viktor Krum.
The man nodded at the three new arrivals and held his hand out to shake theirs, "My name is Andreas Petterson," he said gruffly with a barely audible accent, his eyes sparkling, "It will be an honour to help you."
Harry almost laughed as he thought of how much he could have helped had petty politics been put aside, but he merely coughed and replied politely, "Harry Potter."
"Ah, you are the great Harry Potter that we hear so much about," replied the man, who appeared to be in his late twenties but whose face was so obscured by his beard he could have been younger or much older, "I was very sorry to hear of the incident yesterday. Had I had any inkling that something was being planned I may have been able to prevent them or warn you but... unfortunately I have only been permitted to the inner circle since Rabastan left."
Harry nodded but said nothing as he stared at the floor with a pained expression on his face.
"Tea, anyone?" Asked Seamus nervously, swinging a boiling kettle in their direction.
"Good idea, m'lad," said Sandy, "We ought to get down to business."
They all sat on the floor, wrapped in blankets and clutching steaming mugs of tea as Andreas updated them on his part in the goings on of the group, "I stumbled across two Death Eaters nearly two months ago. They were hiding in a cave and looked a little worse for wear so I fed them and gave them clothes. It was quite obvious they were on the run and it didn't take much research to realise who exactly they were. Of course, the first thing I did was contact the Norwegian ministry who I expected to send some sort of team to deal with them but... for some reason I was told to follow them and keep up to date with where they were and what they were planning. I now realise that this was politically motivated, alas, I cannot change these things. So I started tracking them; being useful to them, bringing food and supplies when they were needed and trying to catch muffled talks but they were very good at avoiding speaking when I was there.
"What I did learn was that they are in contact with other death eaters and, as they decided to act against the British, their orders come directly from a woman in Bergen. The last few days more and more death eaters have been arriving but they seem to be quite unfocused at the moment; I get the impression that they are waiting for orders from the woman in Bergen and I have heard mutterings that she will be arriving tonight."
"So you think this woman is the ring leader?" Asked Kingsley earnestly.
"I am certain of it," replied the man hastily, "They have no sense of direction without her. They rely on her owls to give them purpose. I do not know her name... but I am almost sure she is British."
"I wonder who that could be," said Ron, gazing intently at the flames licking at the bottom of a pot of soup.
Harry noticed Kingsley and Sandy share a dark look and thought he heard the Minister say, "I could probably guess," but he didn't push the matter; it didn't really matter to him who she was as long as she was caught and sent away for a long time.
"Are they well armed?" Asked Seamus, "Prepared to fight?"
"They weren't but... in the last few days they seem to be pulling themselves together," sighed Andreas, rubbing his hand across his forehead, the strain of months of lies and watching his back evident in his mannerisms, "But none of them are strong really, some are ill and they certainly have not been eating well."
"So if we assume there will be sixteen of them max, and, once everyone arrives, there'll be twenty-nine aurors, that'll give us an advantage in numbers," said Kingsely.
Andreas grunted and furrowed his brow, "Yes... but you can also assume that there will be at least five others with them. Some supporters from elsewhere in Europe have arrived this morning... I cannot tell you whether there will be anymore."
"Bloody hell," said Ron, "They're planning a full scale attack aren't they?"
"It looks that way," said the Norwegian, "But you certainly have the advantage of surprise... they don't realise that they've been spotted or are being watched. Time is on your side, if you get them now, tear the heart out of their organisation they will never get off the ground. I must urge you to attack as soon as possible to gain the greatest advantage."
Kingsley and Sandy looked thoughtful as Harry asked, "What are they fighting for?"
"I don't think they really know... they are desperate and you can certainly see why," said Andreas, "They're living like animals, they have no hope now - well they didn't until this woman started her plotting but now I hear mutterings of taking over the Ministry, of cleansing wizarding blood, creating a great wizarding empire ruled by the pure bloods with muggles as the lowliest of servants."
"Idiots!" Exclaimed Seamus, "Didn't they see this failing with Voldemort in charge - he had thousands at his command and they have just a handful."
"Well, I am quite certain most of them are out of their minds... they just want revenge, hence going after Harry's family, but I think they see that Voldemort was only ever seeking his own personal goals and that is why they failed before," said Andreas.
They all sat in silence for several more moments, before Kingsley and Sandy walked into a corner for a quick discussion. When they returned Sandy looked at them all, "Tonight. We go tonight."
Harry had not been prepared for this; he was going into battle far sooner than he had expected, in a matter of hours he would once again be fighting for his life and everything he loved. Well at least if all went well he would be back with Ginny and James in a matter of days, hours even, rather than the weeks they had all predicted it would be.
Kingsley said to Andreas, "We need you to go on ahead and ensure that everyone is there, we want them all in one go, drawing this out will only complicate it. But first I need you to draw me a diagram and explain precisely everything you know of their location."
"I'm calling the other groups back now," said Sandy grimly, gripping Harry's shoulder for a moment.
"Kingsley?" Asked Harry, "Is there any way I can write a short note to Ginny?"
"Yes," said the Minister, "We can get it to her using a portkey."
Harry pulled a quill and a piece of parchment from one of the bags, noticing that Ron and Seamus were doing the same thing, and began to write.
Gin,
It's all happening very fast. We're fighting tonight, in a few hours. Hopefully I'll be home with you really soon. I wish there had been another way, Gin, and I know you think there was... but you know me, I could never have sat at home knowing you were in danger. I will never regret this decision because I'm protecting you and James. I hope you're feeling okay, that you aren't in pain and that you can sleep (I can't); me leaving couldn't have come at a worse time, I realise that, but know that when I come home it's for good and that we can deal with all of this together.
What I really need to say is that I love you forever and if by any chance I don't come home (I swear I will) then I'll be on the other side waiting for you, for eternity if I have to, and I'll want to see you happy and living your life. Don't dwell on it because it will take the world blowing apart to stop me from coming home to you and our son.
I don't think this will give you peace of mind and I'm sorry about that but I think it would be worse if I sent nothing at all.
Give our boy a kiss and tell him daddy loves him and will see him soon.
You already have everything I can give but I'll tell you again; I love you for eternity, Gin. Remember the necklace when you need me.
Love,
Your Harry
Harry sighed as he folded the parchment and scribbled Ginny's name on the front. He saw that Ron was doing the same thing on a note to Hermione and another one to his mum and dad. He smiled as he saw Parvati's name on Seamus' parchment; they had a famously rocky on-again/off-again relationship and Seamus laughed softly, "All this has made me realise a few very important things, and the first is that me and Parvati are meant to be and I need to stop screwing her around."
Ron snorted, "You big sop, stop it," and slapped him on the back.
"Oh, you can hardly talk Ron," said Harry with a smug smile before turning to hand his letter to Kingsley.
"I'll send them all to the Burrow," he said, "Molly'll get this one to Parvati."
"Thanks," said Seamus as Kingsley tapped the letters with his wand and sent them off the kitchen at the Burrow.
All of a sudden there was a loud clatter above them and everyone leapt up, pulling out their wands in unison.
"Who's there?" Called Sandy.
"Your team from Bergen," replied an out of breath voice.
"Prove it," he said.
"We are aurors from the British Ministry of Magic," said the same voice, "I am Gilbert Prayfoot, Deputy Head Auror, aged fifty-five, married to Eliza, father of Carl, Fergus, Alexander, Gideon, John, Liam, Markus, Charles, Robert, Andrew, Malcolm, Scott and Mara. Do you need to know the names of all of my grandchildren?"
Sandy snorted and sounded amused as he said, "Well, only the true Gilbert Prayfoot could remember all of those names! Can you vouch for your team?"
"Certainly," said Gilbert.
"Very well," said Sandy before turning to the others, "Lower your wands."
They watched as eight aurors descended a shaky ladder from the small attic area of the hut and Harry sidled up to Ron and muttered, "Bloody hell, that bloke has more kids than your mum and dad!"
"Yeah, he's famous for it," chuckled Ron, "They had a run of triplets, four sets of them and all boys until the girl was born. She was in Charlie's year. Four of the boys died in the war and the rest are all aurors, apart from one who runs a muggle dress shop in Diagon Alley. Mara's an unspeakable. All of them are prodigiously good wizards."
"What a legend," smiled Harry, "James' birth was traumatic enough for us, we want more but thirteen might be pushing it a bit," his eyes clouded over a bit, "We were going to take a few years before we had another... but I would have been so pleased had the baby..."
Ron didn't say anything but gripped Harry's shoulder tightly before embracing him toughly so Harry was facing away from the group. Ron wanted to give him a minute to let his tears fall away from the gaping mouths of the other aurors. Everyone politely turned away and arranged food and drink for the arriving aurors and then were temporarily distracted by the arrival of the other two groups. Harry wiped his hand angrily across his face and turned back to see the hut was overcrowded with twenty-four new arrivals, seven of whom shared such a resemblance with their father and each other that he knew they must be the Prayfoot boys.
Sandy cleared his throat and said, "Right, welcome everyone, we're waiting for a few more people who I've called over from London but now you can brief me on what you've found out."
Gilbert Prayfoot stepped forward and said, "We've just come from Bergen and from what the Norwegian ministry was able to tell us it was possible to track down the woman who has supposedly been running this whole operation. We followed her until she apparated; probably to here."
"Who was it?" Asked Kingsley urgently.
Prayfoot looked directly at Harry and said, "Well, the thing is... it's Dolores Umbridge."
A/N Okay, okay, I know what you're all going to say (well those of you who remember chapter 2), she's supposed to be in Azkaban! But just wait for the next chapter and all will be explained....