Sunday, July 6th, 2014. 4:20 AM.

  The Forbidden Forest, Hogwarts, Scottish Highlands, Great Britain.

  "Any minute, now," Harry said. He spoke normally, since the Command Staff of the Headquarters Group were still inside the bespelled circle. In addition, Hagrid was carrying the Gubraithian Fire on Mad-Eye's wooden leg, which reinforced the magic shielding them. They were just about six feet out from the inner line of trees and shrubs surrounding the grove. From here, through the SpectreSpecs, they could see the glow of magic better, with an occasional light source showing through the gaps in the foliage.

  Luna was peering through one of the gaps, using her By-The-Gods SpectreScope, (Patent apparently Pending). She said, "I've had nothing but melanistic Nifflers crossing my line of sight. That's not to say there aren't any other creatures or people out there."

  She lowered her spyglass and sighed. "There might be hundreds of them out there. I don't know how we're going to break this to Grandpa Newt."

  Harry thought that was a curious thing to say, but decided it was not the time to ask. Instead, he said, "Everyone ready to deploy their lanterns?"

  Everyone but Hagrid confirmed. Hagrid was going to remain unseen inside the circle with the Fire, after they moved into the clearing proper. If circumstances required Hagrid or the Fire, Harry or Hagrid would drop the enchantments to reveal them.

  Harry turned back to the clearing. "Any bloody minute, now, Ron," he muttered to himself'.

  CRACK!

  The sound came from across the clearing to the right. Then,

  CRACK! CRACK!

  One came from directly behind the squad Harry had attached the Command Staff to, then another across the clearing to the left. Harry grinned. Good thinking! Ron had apparated behind each squad in turn, to ensure everybody got the Go Signal.

  Cerberus Langarm bellowed, "Lanterns up!" Then, as the Magic lanterns were activating and rising, "Move out!"

  The assault team responded, "Moving out!" The perimeter team and Langarm stood firm.

  Through the SpectreSpecs, Harry saw multiple glowing shapes appear to left and right, all headed into the clearing. He was already moving himself, with Rolf, Luna, Hermione and Hannah all glowing along beside him. Hagrid was to hang back just long enough to let them get out of the way, then follow, still under cover of the spells.

  As they burst through the undergrowth, the clearing opened in front of him. The ground was almost covered with, (yes, Luna), hundreds of Nifflers, all frozen in shock. Also present were about a dozen human-sized figures, in full robes with cowls shadowing their faces. They were scattered across the space, each surrounded by a cluster of Nifflers.

  Harry quickly raised his wand to his throat, and cast Sonorous. His voice blared out like a bullhorn.

  "AURORS! YOU ARE UNDER ARREST! DROP YOUR WANDS AND RAISE..."

  That was as far as he got before the spells started flying.

  ***

  "Flipendo!" "Stupefy!" "Protego!" "Accio!" "Incarcerous!" "Petrificus!" "Depulso!" "Petrificus Totalus!" "Continentiam!" "Immobulus!" "Protego Maximus!" "Expelliarmus!"

  "Keep your spells low!" Harry said, Sonorous still making it into a bellow. "Watch out for friendly fire!"

  As if in example, a Stupefy whizzed past his ear from behind, close enough to set it tingling. Harry whirled, goggling at a teen-age girl in Gryffindor Quidditch robes.

  "Oops!" she said. A grown witch hurried up.

  "Nienna, I told you to stay with me!" She turned to Harry. "Sorry. Won't happen again." She cast an angry look at the girl. "And you want to be a Ministry Duellist!"

  "DEMELZA!" The two witches' hair blew back. Harry grimaced, and Silently cast Quietus on himself. "Sorry. Demelza, what is going on?"

  Demelza gave him a puzzled look. "Bring Your Daughter To Work Day. Did you forget?"

  "That's tomorrow!"

  "Today is tomorrow, Harry."

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  "I..., never mind. No time." Harry remembered something. "Can she fly as well as you?"

  "That she can!" Demelza beamed proudly, and her daughter blushed.

  "Summon your brooms and take High Cover positions. Pull out four more good flyers to help you. Look for exfiltrators, flank attacks, and anomalies. Use Nienna to coordinate with Weasley and myself. Go!"

  Harry mentally kicked himself. How had he forgotten about air cover?

  ***

  The, yes, battlefield was a mess. The Auror contingent and the unknowns had immediately gone to ground behind spell walls. The trained Aurors had quickly followed up by combining Defodio and Duro to dig trenches and throw up enchanted rock walls.

  Harry was horrified by the way the ground in the clearing was torn up, Then he realized that most of the destruction had been done before they arrived. He knew Nifflers could do some major damage if let run riot, but, bloody hell. The clearing looked like it had been shelled.

  The unknowns had set up much more amateurish defenses around a... a...

  "Luna! Over here!" Luna appeared at his side in the trench where he had taken cover. She and Rolf had been levitating stricken Nifflers out of the danger area. Rolf finally had to stop, when the number of magically-corraled Nifflers had needed his full attention to keep under control.

  Harry pointed. "Luna, is that what I think it is?"

  Luna swiped at her fine blonde hair, to get it out of the way of her eyes and her Specs. She peered across the clearing, and started cursing in a language that, (fortunately, he thought), Harry could not understand.

  "Luna?"

  She cursed to a gradual halt, then sighed. "Harry, I would say that is the biggest Niffler Cage I have ever seen." Her face darkened. "But it's not. And this is still not the time or place to talk about it. Harry, at the very least, we have to capture that cage."

  Harry hesitated, but he trusted Luna, just as he trusted everyone that had stood beside him when he faced Riddle. He looked over the... (What the heck? Who had the control to enchant a rock wall into...) merlons on the parapet. (Oh. Of course. Hermione.).

  The jinxes and curses were still flying, and the magic shields kept being destroyed and re-conjured. Most of the Nifflers had, quite literally, gone to ground, digging themselves out of danger. The few left in sight were either stunned, frozen, tied up in ropes, or, apparently, curious beyond any sense of self preservation. Those fuzzy idiots were sitting up on their haunches, peering around like spectators at a Quidditch match.

  A flash of motion off to his left caught Harry's eye. He looked that way, recognized what was happening, and smiled a little.

  Nienna Robins was flying around the periphery of the clearing, at a speed that would have been dangerous even on a Quidditch pitch. Anyone going that fast for more than a second would have run off the field and out of play, if not crash head first into the stands. Added to that, Nienna was flying low, taking advantage of the shelter provided by the fortifications they had set up.

  And, by low, he meant low. She never rose above head height on an average person, avoiding obstacles with the elan and verve of a top flight Chaser. Since the obstacles mostly consisted of people, many of whom were moving around at top speed themselves, it was impressive. Demelza is rightly proud of this one, Harry thought. Harry was also proud of his Auror team, none of whom even blinked as the racing girl passed within inches of them.

  Nienna spotted Harry, turning toward him. About twenty meters off, she put her feet down, and let the broom fly off on its own. She skidded through the forest duff, as if she were surfing without a board or ocean , throwing up a bow wave of twigs, leaves, and dirt. Her broom curved off on its own, still avoiding collisions.

  The teen was going to slide right past him. Harry stuck out a crooked arm, and Nienna hooked it with her own. One tight spin in place, with her feet flying out, and Harry set her on the ground, ruffled and wind-blown. Her broom came up behind her, and settled at the perfect height and angle for remounting.

  Nienna came to attention, looking like she was thinking about saluting, or something equally silly.

  "Report!" Harry said.

  Sir! Mum..., I mean Auror Robins has found an anomaly near the edge of the clearing, over where the trees are thinnest. She suspects it has something to do with the unknown entity you mentioned in the briefing. She requests your presence, if possible."

  "Very well, Auxiliary Auror Robins. Be with you in a moment. Stand easy."

  That was a useless command. Flushed with excitement and pride, Nienna was standing anything but easy. Harry passed word for Hermione and Hagrid, then summoned his broom from the Ready Area. It was set up on the ridge where he and Hagrid had first observed the site.

  During the short wait, he looked back to Nienna and her broom, both quivering slightly. "Good flying," Harry said. "Comet 520?"

  "Yes, sir!" she squeaked out, then blurted, "She's the fastest broom on our team!"

  "I heard that Comet had made some major improvements in the 520's. Weasley still swears by his old 290, but that's more of a Keeper model."

  Hermione hurried up, and Harry spoke to her. "I'm going to investigate something Demelza has found. See if you can get me any intel on who or what we're facing, without risking yourself if possible."

  To Hagrid, (who he only knew was present by the way people kept disappearing into and emerging from the spell circle around him), he said "Hagrid, I'm following Robins here to something Demelza has found. Robins here says it is where the trees are thinnest. You know the place?" Nienna helpfully pointed.

  "Too bleedin' right I do! Tha' was where ye came from when ye..., when I thought ye..." Hagrid sounded muffled and weirdly toned from where he was projecting out of the circle. Harry didn't think the catch in the voice had anything to do with that, though.

  "Get yourself around there as quickly as you can, without exposing yourself if possible. I want the Flame available if necessary."

  Just then Harry's Firebolt braked to a halt beside him, also poised perfectly for mounting. Nienna gave a little jump. The broom had appeared like it was Conjured, not Summoned.

  Harry's Firebolt was the top of the line broom available in the world today. His original Firebolt had been destroyed, but Harry had not sentimentally replaced it with an exact duplicate. That would be more of a 'Ron' thing. Harry bought the best, and traded up as significant improvements were made. He also played on the Auror's In-House Quidditch team, but had no desire to be Captain.

  "Mount up, Robins!" Harry said. "Let's see if a Young Chaser can teach an Old Seeker any new tricks!"

  Her smile could have lit up a stadium.

  .