The Skitterleap
Desperate Glory, Chapter IV

Grindlewald's influence during World War One came to an abrupt halt when Albus Dumbledore, Grindlewald's childhood friend, interceded; ambushing, besting and embarrassing the Austrian wizard in 1918. Grindlewald had expected the support of Dumbledore, or at very least his non-involvement, having left Britain alone and his betrayal infuriated Grindlewald like nothing else in his life ever had.

Grindlewald fled Europe and disappeared amongst the chaos, his followers likewise dispersed and although they chided Dumbledore for sparing him, the people of Western Europe assumed that Grindlewald was finished. Likewise, Dumbledore assumed his old friend would think better of returning and settled into life as headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

However, once again, wizards removed themselves from the machinations of muggles, once again they showed their conceit, considering the affairs of the non-magical people below them and in September 1930, Hitler, an Austrian, and the Nazi Party won 107 seats in the Reichstag, making them the second largest party in Germany. Needless to say, Grindlewald kept a hand in muggle politics and as Hitler was appointed as Chancellor of Germany, Grindlewald returned to Europe and revealed the existence of the wizarding world to him.

Hitler, like all men driven by power, was tempted by Grindlewald's whispers of power beyond anything he could comprehend and granted Grindlewald German citizenship and a small position in government in exchange for his loyalty. Bound by their own laws and statures, the International Confederation of Wizards were unable to directly involve themselves in the politics of muggles and so were unable to legally apprehend Grindlewald. Whilst the representatives from the France and the Low Countries attempted to push through hasty legislation that would revoke these rights for wizards, Germany seized territory in Austria and began to mobilize troops on the border with Czechoslovakia.

Once again unable to find isolation from muggle politics, the British Minister for Magic urged the British Prime Minister to act against the growing threat of both Hitler and Grindlewald, once again the communication and understanding between muggle and magical worlds was exceedingly poor and Chamberlain was never made to understand the threat that Grindlewald posed to both worlds. Simultaneously, on the 22 of September 1938, Chamberlain approached Hitler with talks of peace and the combined British and French Ministries of Magic gave Grindlewald an ultimatum; step down or risk facing a united front of the two ministries.

They were ignored; on the first of September 1939 Hitler and Grindlewald invaded Poland and Grindlewald changed the world forever.

The German muggle blitzkrieg attack succeeded in ways far surpassing the original plan, the alliance with the USSR proving to be integral. Grindlewald's magical assault on the Polish ministry had proved far less effective, the Magical Minister of Poland ordering his aurors to fight a guerrilla war not just against Grindlewald's dark wizards but also against the muggle soldiers of Germany.

With Hitler's growing impatience for success, Grindlewald resorted to a tactic both he and the Polish Ministry had considered an impossibility. On the twenty second of November, Grindlewald in a feat of incredible magical ability destroyed Warsaw with a single spell.

Whilst it is tempting to imagine this feat as a huge explosion, a vast eruption of fire that destroyed everything in its path, the truth of the matter is that in the matter of a single moment, the entire city disappeared, taking with it everyone living within it.

Faced with devastation on this scale, the Polish aurors and what remained of the Ministry had no choice but to surrender. Grindlewald had completed what Andro Milisovic had started in 1916 and irrevocably merged the muggle and wizarding worlds.

"Alright Leutnant, lower your weapons," said a calm, familiar voice from my right. A quick flicker of my eyes in the direction revealed Diggory stood where he'd presumably been hiding beside the door, a pistol aimed at my head. On my other side, Thalburg picked himself up from the floor where he'd been bowled over by the door during my aggressive entry. I didn't move an inch, my snub nose pistol still staring down the barrel of Boone's shotgun.

"Put them down, sir," said Thalburg, shouldering what appeared to be a submachine gun. I didn't even want to consider the mess that would make if he opened fire, so very slowly I placed the pistol and baton on the ground in front of me and nudged them across the floor with my foot. Thalburg rose and maintaining control of his shotgun with one hand swept the weapons away with his feet. Then he grabbed me by the collar and threw me roughly into the chair he'd just vacated.

"Where's your wand?" demanded Diggory, stepping forward. I leant forward to expose the holster on my back and Diggory drew it gingerly. There was a certain faux-pas in handling another wizard's wand outside of combat. "You got another? Ankle holster?" he asked gruffly and I shook my head. He seemed satisfied with that and turned his back on me to lock the door.

"How did you find me so quickly?" I asked, out of curiosity more than anything. I didn't see how I was going to get out of this one. Halverson gave me a long calculating look before replying.

"Krum told us you'd be here," he said and I nodded in understanding. Krum had truly played his cards well. It was strange, but in the face of almost certain death, or in the case that they turned me over to the Gestapo, torture, insanity and then death, I was exceptionally calm. I suppose it was the fact that I had no options, but something about the situation seemed to cool all of the fears that I'd had just moments ago.

"And how much is he paying you to betray the Empire? Thirteen sickles perhaps?" I asked a slight grin on my face as I baited them. It was not anger I saw in their expressions however, but rather a blank bafflement. "What, you can't possibly think that what you're doing isn't traitorous?"

"It is not we who are the traitors, Leutnant," said Halverson, after a long pause and I snorted.

"Krum has played you, if that's what you think," I said, my lips curving into a smile, despite myself.

"You betrayed our mission to the Russians, thanks to you they were waiting for us, we were ambushed and slaughtered! You murdered Ledorf!" shouted Cedric, his eyes blazing angrily, the barrel of his gun now pointed at my face. His finger squeezed the trigger slightly and he said coldly "I think we should just shoot this piece of shit right now guys." I stared at the gun for a moment, weighing my options before continuing in a cool collected voice, looking Diggory straight in the eyes.

"Just think for a moment Cedric, two weeks ago we were all in other units, nobody had any idea we'd all be placed together, nobody except Krum. Who knew we were going to try and assassinate Fadei Chernenko but Krum?" I paused for a moment and took in the expressions of the men around me; Krum certainly hadn't told them this. "Where did you think we had gone?"

"Krum told us that he'd sent you to recon the area, when you didn't come back he said it was possible that you were hiding from patrols and we should go look for you," replied Boone, a frown on his face.

"A marksman and an officer sent to recon an attack, who was the scout of the unit, Thalburg?" I asked, feeling slightly superior and trying not to allow it to inflect my voice. The Dane's face morphed from one of grim determination to one of surprise. I nodded and looked back to Diggory, whose gun hand was wavering slightly before me. My words were certainly having an effect; he wasn't as resolute any more. "Who do you think gave me the order to murder Ledorf? Who put Ledorf and Fabrizi in the same unit? Why do you think I was sent to murder Chernenko the day before he and my father convened to talk peace? Who is more likely to feel sympathy with the Russian cause, a Bulgarian or an Englishman? These aren't coincidences; Krum has played all of us."

I took a moment to take a breath and steady myself, either they'd believe me and let me go, or I'd have to give one last gallant attempt at defending myself before I was emphatically murdered by three very angry elite commandos. Cedric stared at me for a long time and then nodded, swallowed and lowered the gun.

We emptied my previously hidden apartment of everything useful, Krum had done an incredible job researching me and so it was now useless as a hiding place. I noted the fresh sheets and the rose petals spread across the double bed with a strange sadness in my chest, the idea that Fleur had spent some of those early morning hours preparing the following night for us made me feel heartsick. After a brief glance under the covers to ensure there wasn't anything hidden there, I left the petals on the bed and the candles still burning, somehow it would have to suffice as my tribute to her until I was no longer a wanted man.

Placed upon the desk was a map and schedule; Fleur had planned my trip to Libya, arranging my travel by untraceable methods, in case I was still on the run. I couldn't even remember telling her about my need to get there, but it touched me anyway. I took them with me; I had no idea if my plan to clear my name would get my anywhere so I might still need to run afterwards.

We retrieved the last of my belongings and the three of them departed downstairs, saying they'd already got transportation organized for me. I waited around a moment, wanting to write a small note to Fleur, though I wasn't sure why. I knew that if she was still alive, she'd have found some way of contacting me by now, or she'd have come here by now. In the end, it consisted of just two lines.

Have moved on, don't attempt to follow or contact, thank you for everything.

All my love.

I kept it as brief and vague as possible, allowing Fleur plausible deniability, should she ever receive it or if it were intercepted. I hoped that such a precaution was necessary. I shut the door behind me with a sigh and moved down the stairs, carefully avoiding the candles as I descended. Somehow I felt like I was walking away from a huge part of my life, as though leaving would close the door on everything that Fleur and I had shared.

I stepped out into the courtyard and looked around, the other three stood, each holding a rucksack, their weapons and other items filched from my apartment were hidden inside, in an attempt not to attract attention. Diggory handed me my own bag, which I shouldered, my wand which I re-holstered and then he held out a thin silver chain.

"Portkey," he said and we all held onto it by a finger. Three seconds later we were dragged away the world around us becoming a blur as it whizzed past and the only thing in my mind was 'What on earth must Luc think of all this?'.

We arrived in what appeared to be a warehouse; all corrugated iron, wooden crates and poor illumination. Immediately I noticed another figure, stood slightly in the shadows and I instinctively had my wand in my hand two seconds later, however a warm, familiar voice addressed me and I instantly relaxed.

"Whoa, calm down there Harry," said Paddy gently, stepping forward out of the shadow. I was dismayed to find that he'd lost and ear and gained a huge scar down one temple. He was smiling easily though and his presence comforted me. "I assume, as you're not hog-tied and you've got your wand to hand that I was correct in assuming your innocence?"

"I'm glad to hear someone had faith in me," I laughed and looked around. "Where are we?"

"Never you mind," said Diggory in a warning tone and pointed to a spindly looking steel chair. "Sit," he ordered and beckoned the others away. I decided there was little point in provoking them so I did as I was bade, dropping my bag to the side of the chair and replacing my wand in my back holster at the same time.

I half-heartedly attempted to listen in whilst they whispered to each other about me, but I felt slightly too exhausted at this point to really care. I'd had only a few hours sleep at Fleur's in perhaps 48 hours and although I was conditioned to remain awake for much longer periods of time, I'd also been shot, stabbed and blown up during the course of the last two days, which does tend to take a little out of you.

I couldn't determine at what point I fell asleep, but the next thing I was aware of was being shook awake by Paddy, my back aching in protest at having been confined to such a position. Paddy grinned down at me and crouched down next to me and I took the proffered cup of coffee off him.

"Bet you're regretting your little kip now, Leutnant," he said a wry expression on his face.

"Fuck me," I said and stretched the tightness out of my back.

"Ah, we'll have none of that now, sir," replied Paddy in mock contrite and clapped me on the back before rising and walking away. "Drink your coffee, Leutnant," he called back.

Resigned to being in considerable discomfort for some time, I took a big gulp of the murky brown liquid that Paddy called coffee and grimaced in distaste.

I followed him between stacks of boxes and ended up in a small pre-fabricated office that someone appeared to have just stuck in the middle of the warehouse. It couldn't have look more out of place if someone had painted it lime green.

Inside Diggory, Boone and Thalburg were sat, on chairs similar to the one I'd just napped on, around a large table of similar appearance. They all wore identically grave expressions. Paddy and I joined them at the table and I gazed around.

"So let’s say we believe you, Potter," said Cedric, appearing to have forgone the formalities at last. "Where do we go from here?"

"I want to take Krum, alive, and use him to clear me and my father's names. I want to get to the bottom of this, I want to know why this all happened," I replied, my expression intentionally grim, the others around the table bristled.

"Why don't we just take this information to the Gestapo?" asked Thalburg, looking around for support, Boone nodded in agreement. "Or better still, Lord Riddle, he'll know what to do."

This suddenly reminded me of my expected appearance in Libya to meet Riddle but I shook my head. "Riddle already knows," I said. "Or at least he knows of some of it, he was the one who got me out of Riga. Which either means there's not enough evidence to move on Krum, or he's waiting for Krum to incriminate who ever he's working for."

"Or it means that this comes from those more powerful than Riddle," remarked Paddy, trying to sound nonchalant and failing. I swallowed, not having considered this.

"Who actually has more political clout than Riddle?" asked Boone, suddenly looking terrified.

"The Emperor, of course," I said, thinking hard. "Perhaps a few of the Lord's Circle working together might be enough to dissuade Riddle from asking too many questions."

"And you want to go up against one of those two possibilities?" asked Cedric, looking at me as though I'd grown an extra head.

"I do," I replied succinctly and then realizing he expected more of an answer, I shrugged and continued. "Perhaps I'll get lucky, perhaps they won't be expecting a junior officer to strike back against them, especially since they think they've got me on the run."

Paddy drained his coffee cup, as though looking for some Dutch courage, indeed, there did seem to be a fairly strong smell of liquor stemming from somewhere in the room. "Well, if they won't be expecting a Leutnant to challenge them, they're certainly not going to be expecting a grunt. I'm in."

"And me," agreed Cedric, his expression not lightening in the slightest. "I'd be embarrassed to call myself English if I didn't stand by you."

"Well if you're going to bring race into it," said Thalburg casually. "I'm a Viking by blood and we never back down from a fight."

Thalburg snorted and slammed his fist down on the table. "Well anything the Dane can do, I can do better. I'm in too."

I looked around the table at the four serious faces staring back at me and gave a half smile.

"Krum attacked me through my family, the people I care about. I suggest we do the same to him."

"But who knows who Krum cares about?" asked Boone and I smiled in response, a plan already stretching out before me.

"I know at least one person," I replied, very glad to have some comrades at my back again. Riddle's meeting would have to wait, this was personal. "There's a Skitterleap attendant that I met with Krum, they seemed very close."

"Okay, that simplifies things," said Cedric. "Where is this woman?"

"Leipzig," I replied, knowing the reaction I was going to get. Boone spat a mouthful of coffee onto the table. "Look, I know that the Dementors are going to make things a little tricky for us-"

"A little tricky?!" interrupted Diggory, his eyes bulging slightly.

"But," I continued, with a glare. "My plan is foolproof; we'll not get within twenty feet of a Dementor."

"That's what you say," remarked Boone, looking glum.

"Well lets at least hear him out, what’s the plan Leutnant?" said Paddy, diplomatically.

"Well, things become exceedingly simple when you consider she's working in the most vulnerable part of Leipzig; the Skitterleap chamber. We simply storm the closest chamber, lock it down, get a Skitterdisc to the Leipzig terminal, grab her and take a Skitterdisc back. Job done."

I sat back in my chair, a smug look on my face and surveyed the people around me. Boone and Thalburg seemed to be giving it a lot of thought, Diggory nodded once and continued frowning and Paddy clapped his hands together enthusiastically.

"Right, well that's that then, lets steal this bitch," he declared happily. "Who wants to get drunk?"

Everyone declined immediately and we left Paddy to get on with it. As we left the little office, I turned to Cedric. "When and where were you supposed to meet Krum after apprehending me?"

"Prague, day after next."

"Means we'll have to go after a Skitterleap Chamber tomorrow. Where are we, where is the nearest one?"

"We're a little out of Toulon; we'd probably have to take the one in Madrid."

"Toulon? Oh Diggory I could kiss you, you've just solved so many problems. We don't even have to take a Skitterleap chamber; all we've got to do is find someone who can enchant Skitterdiscs."

"Why's that?"

"I know an abandoned Skitterchamber in the area. Hasn't been used in decades."

"Really? Now that's a stroke of luck. I'll send Thalburg off to do some research, see if he can't find us an enchanter to kidnap."

I nodded and followed him out of the warehouse, it was blisteringly hot outside and I found myself having to cover my eyes to avoid them bleaching. Diggory summed up my own feelings by turning to me and saying, "You'd never guess its winter, would you?"

"No," I replied and now my eyes had adjusted to the light I stared out at the vineyards and olive orchards that swept out as far as I could see. "I love this part of Europe more than any other."

"More than England?"

"I said Europe, Diggory."

As it turned out, my night's sleep was not any more comfortable than my nap in the chair was, Diggory set me up a camp bed that was three inches shorter than I was and incessantly itchy, but I'd slept on worse and I still managed to feel refreshed when I woke up.

We breakfasted on stale, burnt toast, but I barely registered that I was even eating, for some reason I was excitable all morning and anxious to be doing something, a feeling I didn't even get before the attack on Aluksne.

When Thalburg returned I barely let him through the door before I began to interrogate him, my barked questions making him raise an eyebrow, but he refused to answer any questions until he'd eaten and everyone was assembled, so I went off to find Diggory who'd left earlier in the morning with the intention of finding something more palatable to eat than stale French stick.

I found him in a nearby vineyard, helping himself to as many grapes as he was collecting.

"Taste fucking awful these," he announced as I approached.

"Stop eating them then. They're not grown to be eaten."

"Wine grapes? Well at least they're not German."

I laughed and nodded in agreement, it was common knowledge amongst the French and English soldiers stationed in Germany that their wine tasted like vinegar. I sometimes wondered if it was wine they held in reservation of our patronage.

We returned to the warehouse with armfuls of olives and grapes. Inside the office we found Thalburg with his feet up, eyes closed. We dropped the food before him and sat down in our seats expectantly.

After a moment, Thalburg dropped his feet to the floor, opened his eyes and picked up an olive. He flicked it into his mouth and fixed us with a stony stare. "Well, Leutnant, the good news is that I've found you an enchanter."

"And the bad news?" asked Diggory.

"He's in Milan, which means we're going to have to be snappy if we're going to pull this off in time," replied Thalburg, flicking another olive into his mouth.

Diggory and I retraced my steps to the hidden Skitterchamber use in the vineyard whilst Paddy, Thalburg and Boone portkeyed to Milan in search of our enchanter.

Luckily Diggory knew a little bit about tracking and was able to distinguish at least a few of my footprints from the dust because otherwise it would have been almost impossible to find the invisible door amongst all these vines.

A quick flick of his wand sent trails of golden smoke across the ground, forming into unmistakable footsteps upon the ground. We followed them through the rows until they disappeared into thin air. Diggory looked at the ground puzzled and then back to me.

"This is the Skitterchamber?"

I smirked slightly and raised my wand. Diggory made a move to stop me and made an incoherent noise but it was too late, the curse struck the invisible iron door with a ringing noise that echoed through the entire vineyard. Diggory gaped in surprise.

I pulled the door open, there was a similar shower of rust that had poured from it the first time I opened the door. Diggory stepped inside and looked around and I followed him.

"Think I'm okay to give us some illumination?" I asked, unable to prevent the scathing tone from creeping into my voice.

"Can't see it doing much harm now," admitted Diggory after a moment and a couple of complex movements of my wand sent a hundred balls of blue light floating into the air where they attached themselves to the ceiling, dousing the room in an eerie cyan glow.

Diggory walked around the room, giving it a once over with his wand, cleaning up the inches of dust that accumulate once a magically powerful location falls into disuse.

With the room cleaned up, it was now just a matter of waiting for the others to return with the enchanter. Diggory and I left the equipment we'd brought with us in a corner and returned to the road where we'd arranged to meet the others and lead them to the chamber.

We sat on the wall and waited for a long time, the sun glaring down on us and as the protection spells I’d cast on myself began to fail, burning my skin. Just as it was becoming so late in the day that I was sure that we weren't going to get enough time to pull off the plan, our three comrades appeared in the road, a forth, smaller and older man was held in a headlock by Paddy.

"Much trouble?" I called out from the top of the wall, they spun to face me, wands drawn and I raised my hands in mock surrender. Paddy lowered his wand and shook his head.

"None at all, don't think anyone even noticed we were there."

"Well we'd better hurry or we're going to miss Krum's bird." said Diggory and dropped over the other side of the wall. Paddy heaved the enchanter up toward me, the diminutive wizard kicking and fighting the entire way. I pushed him carelessly to the dust below as way of vengeance. Paddy gave me a reproachful look

We then dragged him through the vineyard and we were just about to turn into the correct row when all hell broke loose.

Two crimson spells zipped out of the surrounding foliage, one missing me by inches and the other crashing powerfully into Boone's face, dropping him where he stood. I realized instantly that we'd been baited into a trap and we were surrounded, the rows of vines and the darkness working against us. Our single file formation formed a protective circle around the fallen Norwegian and Paddy pushed the enchanter into the centre of the formation where he fell in the dirt.

We raised our shields as the next barrage of curses came inward and then, seeing the volley deflected we sprung forward into a counter attack. It was a bitter mistake; it was exactly what they'd expected us to do. A second volley of curses followed immediately from the vines around us, disguising the positions of our attackers. These curses were far more lethal than the stunners that they'd been using previously and it was only quick reactions that saved our lives.

I blocked two curses heading in my direction and winced as a third cut through my shirt and into my side. Before me, three or four masked and robed wizards burst through the rows of vines. I intercepted them, killing one instantly with a well timed killing curse that blew him from his feet and back through the vines. A second whipped a cutting curse toward my neck, allowing me to spin low under the curse and his arm, delivering the same Foe Hammer I'd seen Riddle use, to the face of the man behind him.

I rounded on my final opponent just as he raised his wand in an over armed curse I didn't recognise. I brought both of my own arms up, crossing them at the wrist and caught his wand arm at the elbow, twisting it down to the ground.

His Fastening Fire curse erupted from the tip of his wand and bounced off the ground, setting some of the vines alight. I pushed my left hand through his guard and buried the tips of my fingers into his unprotected throat, making him fall to his knees choking. I dispatched him with a killing curse and fell back into my position in the formation.

Boone seemed to have regained his feet and was helping Thalburg fight a further four wizards, but was clutching his throat with one hand, which was gushing with blood. The pale look in his face told me he wouldn't last much longer.

Another two wizards appeared out of the vines toward me and I shook the sweat out of my eyes. Things were looking very bad indeed. The wizard on my left opened with a whipping motion that hurled a sizzling bolt of lightning at me, I stepped toward it, conjuring a cloud of dust and erecting an Ancile Shield immediately behind it.

The shield caught the spell and maintained it, allowing me to flick it back at the caster; the dust was merely a diversionary tactic. I fell to my knees to avoid the second curse aimed at me and turned it into a combat roll that took me closer to my opponents.

I rose to one knee and stuck out at the nearest enemy with my baton sword; it caught him just beneath the knee and severed through muscle and tendon. The leg gave way beneath him and he fell screaming to the floor. I brought the sword around from the strike and then up and over my head where it took the brunt of a curse from the remaining wizard and was knocked out of my hand, cutting my cheek as it spun away from me.

I rose with a double handed block that deflected a banishing curse away from my face and followed up with a nameless downswung curse that tore through his hasty shield and sent him and his right arm in different directions. It took two further curses to put both wizards down for good and spending a moment to retrieve my sword, I returned to my comrades in time to watch Boone die.

I watched as the already flagging Norwegian, soaked in his own blood, leapt Thalburg's collapsed form, a curse blazing from his wand and fell straight into a killing curse. He sprawled to the ground, rolling once in the dirt and was completely still.

Diggory and I reached the Norwegian at the same time, our dual curses striking the remaining wizard with our own curses and killing him where he stood. We turned to see Paddy dragging the enchanter away from several more advancing wizards, his wand outstretched in the other hand, holding up a remarkably solid shield. Diggory moved to swarm forward but I held out an arm to restrain him.

"Get Thalburg inside the chamber!" I roared over the commotion of burning vines and spell fire. Diggory nodded and began to drag the Dane in the direction of the chamber whilst I darted forward to counter attack the remaining wizards. As I attacked my wand hand took a life of its own, striking out and shielding equally in a retina scorching display of wandlight and spellfire.

I knew I couldn't keep up this volume of curses for long and that sooner or later I'd make a mistake so I advanced, my wand still spitting curses until I was close enough to strike out with my sword and then did something that was very stupid.

With a roar, I leapt forward, striking out at my nearest foes with both my sword and my wand. I felt my sword dig into a body and so I gave it a hard push and released it, allowing it to fall with the wizard I'd just killed. My curse struck a shield, so I dropped and turned, my wand whipping out and around me.

I've always seemed to have an affinity for manipulating fire and as I twisted my wand, the fire that had spread across the vineyard whipped into the air and plunged through the back of one of my foes, immolating him instantly. I spun the fire around me in a circle, scattering the wizards I'd just charged.

The remaining wizards paused a moment, looking around the stunningly illuminated field at the devastation. They'd lost at least a score wizards to our one. As one, they came to the same conclusion I'd made, that we were a better trained and magically superior force, with less than a split second's hesitation; they broke rank and fled into the vines.

I waited for a moment and then allowed the fire around me to wane and die; I collapsed heavily into the dirt, perhaps five paces from Boone's corpse and stared into his dead eyes for a long moment before crawling over and closing his eyes.

I returned to the Skitterchamber and Diggory threw the door open for me. I stumbled inside and leant heavily against the door, closing it solidly behind me. After a couple of moments, I turned and with the tip of my wand, traced the edge of the door, melting the metal of the door to the metal of the doorframe and sealing it shut.

I walked over to the enchanter who sat against the far wall, looking absolutely terrified. I lifted my wand.

"You're going to produce two Skitterdiscs for every person in this room."

"Going where?" he asked shakily.

"One to Paris. One to Prague. Then you're going to make a final portkey to Leipzig. Understand me?"

He nodded his acknowledgement and I pointed to a workstation.

"Get to it then."

I turned back to the other three, Paddy was trying to dispel whatever curse had been used on Thalburg and Diggory was looking on with a weary expression. I cleared my throat.

"We can't use this as a base of operations as we'd planned. They'll attack again soon. So what we're going to do is capture the chamber in Paris for a while, lock it down and work from there. Diggory, think you could do a slightly better job of protecting the door?"

He nodded and moved over to it, tossing spell after spell against the door, I hoped it would be enough to keep a second attack busy whilst we escaped. Paddy brought Thalburg around at almost exactly the same moment that Diggory decided he'd put enough enchantments on the door.

I retrieved some bottles of water from our bags of equipment and tossed one to Paddy who in turn handed it to Thalburg, I opened one myself and after drinking half of it, used the rest to wash the soot and sweat from my hands and face.

We waited for fifteen minutes, partly for the Enchanter to finish the discs and partly for a counter attack that never came. The enchanter came over, still looking terrified and placed three stacked trays before me. Each of the trays had Skitterdiscs on it, each labelled with their destination. I aimed my wand casually at him and said "You're going where ever we're going. I hope you've done them correctly.

He stammered assurances but his expression told me that he'd not tried to play us. I lowered my wand.

"Ready to go?" I asked and received half-hearted nods in return. I guessed it was the best I was going to get at this stage.

I handed out the Paris discs and pushed the ones marked Prague into a bag that I handed to Paddy. I saved one of each for myself as well as the one heading to Leipzig. The enchanter showed us how to active them and I took a moment for a last minute word to Diggory.

"If I’m not in Paris in half an hour, kill the enchanter and fuck off," I warned and he nodded. The enchanter clearly overheard, because all the colour paled from his face.

I stepped onto the grille and activated my Skitterdisc to Leipzig.

I felt far more confident passing through the void this time, feeling content to ignore the angry creatures that chased me and instead focus on the task before me.

I felt the Skitterleap begin to eject me from its grasp and I focused on finding my balance. I stepped forward as I rematerialized, falling perfectly into step. I found myself in the same Skitterchamber I'd left Leipzig from.

"For God's sake!" came a voice from the other side of the room, I looked over and saw the same bushy-haired operator crossing the room toward me. "You're not supposed to be here for another-" She stopped as she recognised me and her mouth fell open slightly. "Leutnant Potter?" she asked in confusion.

A second later I had my wand in my hand, a stunning spell soaring toward her. She made a panicked dodge, which resulted in her tripping over her own feet and crashing to the ground, her wand flying out of her hand and rolling away.

"H-h-hold on!" she stammered reaching for her wand; I stepped over and put my foot down on her wrist. She screamed in pain and I stunned her from point blank range.

I'd just finished transfiguring her into a fountain pen when a soldier burst through the door, a rifle clutched in his hands.

"Oi!" he cried, seeing me, "You're not supposed to be here!"

I stared at his gun warily, the last thing I wanted to do was be shot. Again. At the same time I saw him move to aim at me; I lashed out with a killing curse and stepped to one side. He was so pre-occupied with avoiding my curse that he didn't even bother to return fire, I stunned him too.

I lifted up the pen-girl and placed her in my pocket. I took hold of the Paris portkey and stepped back onto the grille, the kidnapping had gone so much better than I had feared to hope.

I had to admit that I was slightly curious the effects of the Skitterleap on a transfigured passenger. It was well enough known that two people couldn't take the same Skitterdisc; the will was too divided and it generally ended with both people trying to occupy the same space at the same time. As an intimate transfigured object though, the girl shouldn't have any will at all and so I should be safe enough transporting her.

Either way I was about to be right or dead.

The journey itself was just like all of the other leaps that I'd taken before and I stepped out of the other end as casually as I had done in Leipzig.

A curse immediately struck me in the left arm, turning it into a useless writhing bloated mass of flesh. I ducked a second curse and tried to get a grasp of the situation.

I'd found myself at the centre of a huge circular room with a high dome ceiling, the circular grille I stood on was surrounded by high columns that partially enclosed it. The rest of the room was filled with marble seats that circled around the chamber and stepped away, like those of a sporting arena.

It appeared that Paddy, Diggory and Thalburg were fighting a detachment of the Parisian guard, gun and spell fire mixed intermittently. They were pinned down behind what appeared to be a large stone speaker's podium half way up the seating on one side of the room.

I stepped into the cover of a column as another bullet ricochet off the ground perilously close to me. A curse crashed noisily against my cover, throwing a cloud of dust into the air around me.

I stepped out as one of the Parisian guard rushed forward to attack my position, his bayonet gleaming as curses flew over head. I struck him in the chest with a Foe Hammer that lifted him from the ground; his momentum took him a few more meters forward before he collapsed heavily to the ground.

I stepped back into cover and looked back up toward the speaker's podium and held my remaining Skitterdisc in the air, I hoped they understood the meaning and activated it.

The now familiar mist roared past my ears once more, but there were no sign of the ethereal creatures that normally pursued me. I was puzzled for a moment by this until a sharp pain erupted at the base of my spine.

I'd once been held under the cruciatus curse for ten seconds by a slightly unhinged drill instructor but it was nothing to the pain that now flooded through my body. For a few moments I was conscious of nothing other than incredible pain and then as it became more tolerable I realised why, my control over the Skitterleap had begun to fade, I could feel the strain of my joints as my body attempted to be in both Paris and Prague and every location in between.

Agonisingly slowly, I felt the very cells of my body separate and watched as my entire body became a blur, like coloured smoke was clinging to my skin. As the very forces that held my body together began to deteriorate, the pain ebbed away; my nerves were no longer able to transmit the messages to my brain. My brain itself felt sluggish and useless. Slowly my lungs began to stop functioning and my entire body became inert.

Then suddenly, as though none of it had ever happened, I was thrown to a beautifully hard floor where I collapsed and began to greedily suck in lungful of cold, delicious air. I lay my head on the cold marble floor, never before so happy to be laying on something so uncomfortable.

The sounds of Paddy, Thalburg and Diggory arriving around me made me sit up. They all stared at me with wide, staring eyes. I stared back.

"Why are you all looking at me like that?" I asked. Thalburg choked and Diggory shook his head in amazement.

"You just disappeared from the Paris Skitterchamber," said Paddy, finally, still staring at me as if I were the second coming of Merlin. "And then bits of you reappeared."

"Bits of me?" I asked, astounded.

"Like a blur that resembled you. As though you were a coloured ghost. We all assumed-"

I nodded, rose and looked myself over. Everything seemed to be where it belonged. I took the pen-girl out of my pocket and placed her upon the floor. A quick flick of my wand reverted her to her regular form. She sat up and glared at me.

"You're an idiot!" she announced, her eyes glaring. "Did you even stop for a moment to consider the implications of combining an inanimate human transfiguration with a multiple location, static transportation of multiple coherent sentiences?"

"Yes," I replied curtly, to shut her up. She floundered for a moment and I took the liberty of silencing her. She threw a wordless tantrum on the floor and I shook my head in disgust. "Paddy, would you do the honours?"

The Irish wizard stepped forward and raised his wand.

"Imperio!" he incanted and a glassy expression faded across her face. I looked around for a moment and a thought struck me, I turned to Diggory.

"Where's the enchanter?"

"Dead," replied Diggory and shrugged. "When we took the Parisian Skitterleap there was a guard in the room, he took a shot at us that killed the enchanter and brought an entire platoon running."

We made a brief check of our equipment. A great deal of it had been lost in the confusion of Paris, but there was enough for the four of us to work with. I sombrely adopted Boone's pump action shotgun and swung it over my back, as well as two side arms. I hoped I'd not have to use them, the past few days had certainly not endeared me any more to muggle weaponry.

We made our way cautiously out of the building, but didn't encounter anyone on the way out. We made our way through the back streets of Prague; trying to avoid places we felt there'd be a large law enforcement presence.

Krum had arranged to meet Diggory and the others in the Vrtbovka Zahrada; something I'd only ever heard of and had never visited. It was early morning by the time we reached the lesser district of Prague, but Cedric assured me they were expected early, we decided to act as soon as possible to reduce the chance of Krum hearing about our exploits.

We entered the garden via a non-descript wooden gate that I'd have probably never noticed otherwise and looked out at the view before me with amazement. The garden was comprised of three terraces, which sloped away out of view and which surrounded the lower, centre area of the garden.

The garden was decorated by incredibly ornate beds of flowers, perfectly cut popular trees and some of the finest statues of figures from Greek Mythology that have ever existed.

What really caught my attention though were the scores of women, scantily clad in white habutai and draped in stoles of white silk that meandered around the garden in twos and threes. I recognised them for what they were immediately.

I clouted Thalburg on the back of the head and gave him a glare. "Put your eyes back in your head and show some respect, these are the Sisters," I snapped. He nodded meekly.

Paddy removed the curse from the girl we'd brought with us and she glared around at us angrily but wisely kept her mouth closed. Diggory indicated toward the area of garden that was hidden from view below the terraces.

"Krum will be down there," he said and I nodded. The girl spoke up finally.

"This is about Krum is it? What the hell is going on?"

"You'd be well advised to keep your mouth shut," I said harshly, but she ignored me.

"Look, you really don't want to do this, I'm not who you think I-"

"I'm sure you're very nice, but I feel the same way about croissants, I'm still going to kill you if you don't shut up."

I pushed her in front of me and levelled Boone's shotgun against her back. I indicated for Diggory to circle around the centre area of the garden to the left and for Thalburg and Paddy to go right. They did it without question.

I marched the girl forward to the railing of the first terrace, we attracted some attention from the Sisters around us, but they did nothing other than point, stare and whisper.

As we reached the railing, I could see Krum lying at the centre of the garden, several of the Sisters sat around him and they appeared to be deep in conversation. I pushed the girl to her knees and aimed the shotgun in the air.

I fired it once, to attract Krum's attention and then put it to the back of Hermione's head. The Sisters around us fled in terror, their shrieks renting the morning air. The shot had the desired effect; Krum leapt to his feet and looked straight at us, his eyes wide with surprise. His wand found its way to his hand but I pumped the shotgun and steadied it.

"Good morning sunshine," I said loudly, a manic smile on my face.

"Hermione?" he asked curiously.

"So that's her name," I said. "I've been trying to remember it. Put the wand down Krum or I blow Hermione's pretty little brains out."

"You won’t kill her," said Krum placidly. I raised an eyebrow.

"I killed Ledorf."

"So you did," replied Krum and then raised his wand and aimed a killing curse, not at me but at the witch I held in front of me, I twisted away in order to shield her from it and pulled her to the ground. She screamed blue murder at me as I fell on top of her. I dragged her clear of the garden below and looked at her.

"You must be a shit girlfriend," I remarked off-handedly. She glowered at me.

"That's what I was trying to tell you, I'm not his girlfriend, I'm a spy."

I looked at her for a moment and then laughed derisively.

"You're not a spy, you're a fucking idiot," I said and leapt forward again to fight Krum.

The Bulgarian wizard had fled the scene, running up to the second level of terrace behind him. I knew there wasn't an exit on that side of the garden, but if I knew Krum and by this point I was pretty sure I didn't, he'd head for the back wall and leap over it, dragging the fight to the castle steps before using superior numbers to defeat me.

I gave chase, taking the shortest possible route open to me, dropping down to the lower terrace and then leaping to one of the statues of the lower garden. Using the heads of these great Grecian deities as stepping stones I was able to cross the lower garden in a fraction of the time it would have taken me otherwise.

I'd almost caught up with Krum by the time he'd reached the top of the terrace wall. I slowed slightly, to shoulder the shotgun and fired at him. A cloud of dust and fragments of stone fell from the wall six inches to the left of him. A second shot caught the top of the wall on his right as he levered himself over the top.

With a sigh I threw the gun to one side and leapt up the wall after him. I climbed it much quicker than he did, having fewer years under my belt since the rigorous academy training course and I clambered to my feet just in time to see Paddy and Thalburg leap forward, wands outstretched in an attempt to slow him.

Krum barely broke step, taking Paddy to the floor with a well-aimed blow from his forearm and Thalburg with a banishing curse which blew the Dane into the marble wall behind him.

It did however give me just long enough to catch up with him.

I tackled Krum with my shoulder, my feet leaving the ground for a moment before I struck and we both crashed to the ground. I drew my wand at the same time he cursed me at point blank range and I deflected it with practiced ease. We rose and I stepped forward to intercept him with a curse that he blocked.

Using my momentum against me, he seized my arm and pulled sharply, reeling me past him and straight into the stone railing that prevented people from falling over the edge of the terrace. My wand clattered from my hand and fell over the edge.

I tried to draw a pistol, but Krum was on me before I could get a shot away, twisting my arm down and away. We both ducked as Thalburg's curse flew over head and Krum twisted the gun in his direction and shot him twice.

The Dane floundered for a moment and then collapsed.

With an incredible flash of anger I shoved backward hard against the weight of Krum on my back, twisting as I pushed and carrying both of us over the railing and crashing to the terrace below. We both spent a few seconds gathering our bearings by the end of which Diggory was upon Krum. The two of them exchanged curses with a ferocity that scared me for a moment.

Slowly, feeling every wound I'd suffered in the last few days, I picked myself up. Unable to locate either my wand or gun, I lumbered in the direction of the two duellers. Krum flicked around, his wand flashing out like a sabre and forcing Diggory to take a step backwards, the Bulgarian stepped forward and struck him in the face with a curse that looked like an explosion of purple stars, Diggory collapsed to the ground.

Krum turned to face me and I struck him with a double handed blow to the face which I could have sworn lifted him off his feet. He fell into a roll and came face to face with Paddy who knocked him onto the flat of his back with a curse that sounded like a canon. Paddy cursed him again, forcing the Bulgarian to roll away from the Irishman, his face now obscured by blood.

As he rose, he leapt into the offensive against Paddy, his wand slashing out three times, seeking a gap in the defences of his opponent, but Paddy turned him away each time, finally ending up close enough to deliver a solid head butt to the Hauptmann's face.

I saw Krum's plan a split second before he pulled it off. I opened my mouth to yell a warning as I watched Krum shield his curse behind his falling body but it became nothing but a strangled cry. Paddy turned to look at me at just the right time. The curse that otherwise would have immolated him merely caught him across the right leg and arm. He fell to the floor, trying to roll the fire off his body.

I charged forward again, completely weaponless at the rising Krum. He turned a moment before I threw my entire body weight into his chest, knocking both of us to the floor and snapping his wand underneath our combined weights. I raised my hand to hit him in the face, but he lashed out with his foot, forcing me away.

I landed on Diggory's wand and quickly scooped it up. Krum seized me from behind and I pushed myself upward quickly, catching him under the jaw with my head and knocking him backward. I rose and turned, trying to grasp the wand in a manner with which I could actually fight with it. I saw Krum with my side arm at the last possible moment and struck out with my elbow, striking him firmly in the face.

He fell backward against the railings and tried to steady the weapon, I threw myself against him and we both crashed through the masonry and down to the inner garden below. Krum landed a few feet away from me and rose much faster than I could manage. He raised the gun and fired the remaining ten shots in the magazine point blank at me.

Each bullet hit my shield like a thunderclap and Krum could do nothing but stare in shock. I'd raised my wand at the same time he'd levelled the gun and my shield had formed as he pulled the trigger. The feat bordered on the impossible, but then nobody ever accused me of being slow with a wand.

We stared at each other, unable to move for a moment due to equal shock. Then Krum broke the moment and I blew him across the garden, the curse dropping him against a stone bench so hard that he snapped the marble in two.

I staggered to my feet again, my body aching and exhausted but my blood high with the thrill of victory. I limped over and held him at wand point; blood was seeping into my eyes from a scalp wound I'd suffered at some point during the fight. I wiped it away and stared down at Krum, who appeared to be unconscious.

"Enervate," I incanted and his eyes snapped open. "Who are you working for?" I demanded, he stared listlessly back at me for a while before his mouth broke into a smile. I tried a different question.

"You warned the Russians about Chernenko's assassination?"

"Yes. But you were supposed to kill him."

"Why?"

"Because it was demanded of me."

"And you set me up to make sure even if we did fail that he would blame my father?"

"Yes."

"And you made sure once you knew I'd survived that people thought I was the spy?"

"Yes."

"Who ordered you to?"

"You've no idea who you're playing with Potter."

"Just fucking tell me who else is in on it."

"You're out of your league."

"Tell me what I want to fucking know, you coward!"

I pointed my wand in his face and stared into his eyes. Krum laughed in my face.

"It is better to be a live coward than a dead hero."

I raised the wand in my hand and smiled back, my eyes hard.

"Yeah and it's better to be a dead hero than a dead coward."

His face paled for a second.

"Wait," he said, his eyes wide, but I was beyond words and reason, beyond contempt for the wreck of a man before me.

"Avada Kedavra!"

The girl I'd kidnapped before arrived a minute later. I was kneeling over Krum's corpse. I remember looking up at her, not really comprehending who she was. Diggory later assumed that I was suffering from a concussion; I think I was just exhausted beyond reason.

She grabbed me by the shoulders and hauled me to my feet. I came with her loosely and she tried to shake some sense into me.

"You've got to come with me," she hissed, her eyes wide.

"I need my wand, Fleur," I said sleepily.

"I’m Hermione and it's in your hand," she snapped impatiently.

"This isn't mine."

She let go of me briefly and snatched the wand out of my hand.

"Accio wands!"

She held some in front of my face.

"Which one?"

I took mine and the one that looked like Thalburg's.

"Are they-?" I trailed off, unable to complete the question, she interpreted.

"The blonde one is dead; the one called Diggory took the other one to the Order's safe house in Prague."

"Okay, keep those two wands safe then," I pleaded and she nodded.

"Now, you've got to come with me, before the guard show up," she urged and I nodded and followed.

She guided me through backstreets and across deserted plazas. Up tight stairways and under low bridges and eventually shoved me through a small wooden door. I found myself in a small courtyard with no visible exit. She forced something into my hand and bade me to read it.

'The entrance to the Prague safe house is at 14 Biskupsky Dvur.'

A door appeared before me in the wall and at this point, I was too shell-shocked to even question it, so I opened the door and stepped in.