AN: Set during DH.


“Thank you and tune in same time tomorrow for the next broadcast of Potterwatch.” Dirk tapped his wand on the wireless, silencing the static that had replaced the broadcast.

“I’m not sure what is worse, no news or bad news.” Dean said from where he lay on a bedroll laid out by a riverbank in the Cotswolds.

“You’d rather hear the news of your friends dying?” Gornuk sneered.

Dean didn’t even look over, used to the perpetually unpleasant Goblins, if Dirk hadn’t insisted on staying together, he would have been happy to strike out on their own.

“It’s been months now” Ted Tonks said from his bedroll, looking up at a cloudless sky awash with stars “At least bad news means something is happening, people are resisting, He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named is not having it all his way”. Next to him was Penelope Clearwater looking pail and drawn, her forehead dotted with sweat on the cool night, her chest shuddered with a suppressed cough.

Gornuk muttered something in Gobbledygook to Griphook which made him sneer, Dirk looking between the Goblins and Wizards sighed before laying down himself.

~~~~~~~~~~~

“We have to do something!” Dean yelled over the wind that was ripping through their camp. He was rubbing Penny’s back as she hacked up globs of yellow phlegm. Dirk was crouched over them, their makeshift camp in the lee of an old rotting barn, he could see flecks of blood in the phlegm Penny was splitting out. Sharing a look with Ted across the heads of the two teenagers Dirk gestured with his eyes for Ted to step aside.


The Goblins had ripped up an entire portion of turf, roots and all and propped it up on a piece of broken door frame, their small frames tucked in snug inside a makeshift shelter, a small green mound almost indistinguishable from the old farmland gone to seed.


“What do you think of my plan now?” Ted all but yelled, the wind ripping his words away as soon as he spoke them. With the snatchers abound they couldn’t risk even the meanest of spells to help their plight.


“No better than I did even before she got sick” Dirk said looking morose.


“Griphook seemed to be onboard, they could do with the supplies as much as we do, and I bet more than a little of their share will find its way into the black market, you might not like it, but that’s the only way some people can get supplies now” Ted insisted gripping Dirk’s shoulder and holding his gaze.


During a lull in the wind when Penny’s racking cough could be heard clearly Dirk shoulders slumped “I’ll speak with Gornak and Griphook”



In the ally behind St Mungo’s the group of outlaws were quickly stepping into disguises, the ally was close enough to the epicentre of magic that they could freely use magic with out setting off any detection nets.


Penny and Dirk both took a long draw from a flask. Gornak had acquired a weak sample of The Draught of the Living Dead. The poorly brewed potion would supress their vital signs enough to pass for stunned or petrified.


The Goblins put on a full-length coat, the jackets looked to be made or turfs, brown and yellows mixed throughout, like a hay field drying out in a hot summer. As they pulled the coats closed around them their forms seemed to shift, the colour of the jackets shifting to match the brown brick of the building behind them and the washed-out grey of the concrete ally.


Ted and Dean had changed into standard wizard robes before downing another potion Gornuk had acquired. A joke potion designed by the Weasley twins, it made everyone who looked at you, see you as someone different, everyone saw a face of someone they felt they knew but couldn’t remember. Made so people could play indignant that they had been forgotten, it lasted hardly an hour but was the best they could do in leu of Polyjuice potion.


Waving their wands over Penny and Dirk, Dean and Ted floated the two of them down the ally, the two camouflaged goblins crouching under the floating wizards. Their jackets and the shifting shadow and scenery making them all but invisible.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Picked these two up from a muggle hospital” Ted said as he passed by reception, he and Dean floating the two drugged outlaws behind them “Been there a few days apparently, couldn’t wake them up or work out what was wrong with them”. His breath came slightly frosted, a pair of Dementor guards had been stationed by the doors, but the potion had weakened the two patients life signs enough to mingle with the goblins under them, the Dementors hooded gaze following them for a moment before returning to looking into nothing. Another scruffy looking Witch was sitting in the lobby, looking more dirty then sick, Ted was sure she was a snatcher on the look out for outlaws.


The Witch on reception nodded, briefly looking at the floating pair before looking back at Ted and Dean, not sure where she knew them from. “Level 3 for spell reversal” she said gesturing to down the hallway towards to lifts.


Nodding at the Witch the group made their way to the lifts, the first part of the plan working well. The Snatcher and Dementors had paid them no further notice.


As they waited for the lift the large fireplace burst into life, expelling a half dozen wizards and witches, one poor fool was literally floating in three separate parts, blood dripping out at a constant rate but not hitting the floor. Another was horribly burned and being supported by a young Witch half his size, while two others kept up a constant string of spellwork trying to knit the floating man back together.


The group, moving as one barrelled towards the lifts and into them just as the doors were opening, a good looking middle aged witch paused briefly in her spell work to glance at the group waiting by the lifts, taking in the two unconscious forms and the two wizards floating them with an well trained eye she snapped at Dean and grabbed him by the shoulder pulling him into the lift “He can handle those two on his own, we’ll need you to prep ward C, run and get Franklin.” the doors shut off all sound as they closed, Dean sharing a wide eyed look of panic with Ted.



The Lift dinged for level 3 and the three visible and two mostly invisible outlaws entered the spell reversal ward of St Mungo’s. As Ted had known it would be, a dark wood sign with silver lettering declared “Potion room”. Pausing for just a moment he could see a subtle blurring, like heat rising off a stove top as the Goblins slipped away and towards the potion storeroom to begin their plunder.


With the new ministry severely controlling all potion and potions ingredients, along with the supply and production of the ingredients, all “Undesirables” had found themselves lacking vital medicines and potions to aid in the resistance. The Blackmarket was hot with supplies for those with the money to spend, but even top dollar often only got you substandard ingredients, often grown in less than suitable conditions and picked to soon. Only the week before one of the primary sources of ingredients had been raided, the concentration of magical ingredients too much to hide from the all-seeing eyes of the ministry.


Ted moved deeper into the Ward, finding an empty room to deposit the two spellbound outlaws in. Now all he could do is wait, and hope Dean managed to get out with out setting off alarms.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was almost a quarter of an hour before Dean had a chance to slip out, it had been a whirl wind of healers, potions, screaming and putrid smells. He was covered in blood; his heart was pounding, and he felt like he needed to throw up. He collapsed into a near by chair thinking he was about to faint as the adrenalin left his body.


He was just about to stand up and try to find Ted when the Medi-Witch who had first grabbed him came out, she too was covered in blood and gore, how that wizard was still alive Dean had no idea.


“What was that then?” She said looking down at Dean, “I thought I recognised you from the intern pool but no…” She looked closely at him and suddenly Dean felt a shiver start at the top of his head and run down his body, she had seen through the imposter potion.


Panicking Dean rushed to his feet, this time using his height and strength he clamped a hand over her mouth and dragged her into the room across from them, which was mercifully empty.


“Shhh, don’t move and everything is going to be okay” Dean said, his voice unsteady. The medi-witch said nothing, but Dean felt something press up under his ribs. Her wand was drawn and warm where it was pressing into him. His mind whirling it only took him a moment to admit defeat and fall back, his legs bumping up against the gurney in the room.


“What are you doing here?” She medi-which said in a steady voice, her wand held steady at Dean.


Deans mind was racing, thinking how to get out, how Penny needed the medication they had come for. How if any of them were caught, they would surely be killed by the Ministry.


“I’m a Muggleborn” Dean said finally “My friend is sick and she needs medicine, a couple of Goblins said they could get us what we need if we helped them break in” If he could throw the Goblins under the bus, he might be able to get Ted and the others and slip out, they all had a price on their head, but most Witches and Wizards weren’t fond of Goblins.


“You all outlaws? You and the others you were with?” She asked.


“Just me and the Goblins, the others are just helping us out, selling the potions we don’t use”


“If the others aren’t outlaws why don’t they just come in asking for help?” She asked shrewdly.


The silence dragged on as Dean fumbled for an answer, a cold sweat breaking out across his body.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ted had his wand drawn as he stood on the inside of the door of his room as it creaked open. Through the crack by the hinges he could make out Dean as he stuck his head in.


“Finally,” Dean said as he stepped into the room. He jumped a bit seeing Ted behind the door with his wand drawn and the slumped form of a balding old wizard in the corner. Looking from the prone wizard to Ted, Dean raised a questioning eyebrow.


“He came in to check on those two” Ted said gesturing at Penny and Dirk “But he detected the potion right away, went to call for help as apparently they have to report certain potion types right away.”


“Don’t worry about it, I got everything we need. Give me hand with Dirk and Penny” Dean said handing Ted a small vial with a clear, colourless liquid in it.


“Where’d you get that?” Ted asked as he held it up tot the light briefly before uncorking it and placing it to Dirk’s mouth, mirroring Deans actions with Penny.


“There was another store room on level 5, I raided it for our supplies.” Dean said helping Penny sit up, her racking cough starting instantly. As soon as she was sitting he pulled out another larger vial, this full of a thick yellow potion, not giving Penny time to ask questions he put it to her lips tipping it into her mouth as he cradled her head with his other hand. The racking cough instantly subsided after the first swallow and Penny seemed to take a breath that restored the colour to her face and the life to her eyes.


“Wow” She said quietly placing a hand to her chest as she took another experimental breath.


“There is no time, we have to go.” Dean said gesturing to the door “If we take the staircase we can get down to the lobby, we’ll have to shield off the Dementors and snatcher in the Lobby before we can make it into muggle London and the Portkey”


Dirk was up on his feet standing next to Ted “That wasn’t the plan, where’s Gornak and Griphook?”


“We got split up, I had to raid another supply store, we don’t have time, they can make their own way out!” Dean insisted taking Penny’s arm and pulling her along with him, she had been so out of it the last days she had only vaguely been aware of this plan she found herself in the middle of.


“They should just be down this corridor in the storeroom, we can get them on the way out” Dirk insisted, glancing around quickly before opening the door and stepping out.


Ted was out after Dirk before Dean could stop them, he hesitated for just a moment before stepping out after them still holding onto Penny’s arm.


Just as he was stepping into the corridor, Ted back peddled into him, stepping on his foot, and shoving him and Penny back. “Malfoy” Dirk whispered pulling the door almost entirely closed, leaving only a sliver open to look through.


Through the gap Dirk could see Malfoy and an older witch, bound in ropes on the floor before them was Gornuk and Griphook. Malfoy seemed bored while the older which was smiling with glee, Dirk couldn’t make out what they were saying, but the ding of the opening lift rang clear down the hall.


“Balls, Balls!” Dirk said pulling the door closed but holding onto the handle. “Someone must have caught Gornuk and Griphook and called it in.”


“How many?” Ted asked.


“I just saw the two of them, but we know there is at least one more in the lobby, and the Dementors.” Dirk said looking the other three over.


“We can’t help them now. Lets just wait for them to leave and sneak out as planned.” Dean said showing the parcel of supplies he had plundered.


“No, we came in together we leave together.” Dirk declared.


“Penny needs rest, the potion needs time to work fully, and we don’t know who else is there, lets just lay low and slip out.” Dean insisted stepping closer to Dirk, he was almost half a foot taller than the others.


“No, it's all or none.” Dirk countered “We don’t have time to argue.”

~~~~~~~~~

Lucius and Belinda were just passing the reception desk, the bound goblins dragging across the floor behind them as the door to the stairs burst open, one flying off its hinges fully, the other cracking the wall behind it.


Dirk and Ted flew at the two Death Eaters, Belinda falling before she knew what was happening, Lucius only managing to block the first salvo before himself dropping to the flurry of spells.


Between the charging wizards a bright cloud flew past them at the Dementors forcing them back, Dean bellowing the Patronus charm with his wand raised, the other pulling Penny along with him.


Ted rounded on the snatcher they had seen in the lobby on the way in, binding her to her chair before she had even dropped her magazine.


Dirk bodily lifting the Goblins up joined Ted and Dean as they crashed through the entry into Muggle London. Crossing the street Ted snacked up a ratty old news paper that had been jammed under a trash bin. Pressing it to Dirk’s shoulder as Dean and Penny grabbed on, he spoke “Tartan” just as several cracks of incoming apparitions sounded.

~~~~~~~~~

The group crashed to the ground by a riverbed, the late afternoon sun dimmed by the low grey cloud. Dirk holding the two Goblins crashed into Ted sending them all into the slow flowing river.


With out magic it took awhile to unbind the Goblins and dry out; they would have to wait for the stunning to wear off naturally rather than risk trying to reverse it.


As the group set camp nearby, no one in the mood to carry the Goblins far, Dirk caught Dean as he heading to relieve himself behind a tree.


“Ted seems to think you must have drunk some luck potion, raiding a storeroom after being pulled into that trauma room case.” Dirk said softly, standing between Dean and the camp.


“Would have been luckier if we hadn’t of almost been caught, I reckon.” Dean said looking past Dirk to their camp.


“Well lucky we all made it in the end. All of us, we’re all in this together after all.” Dirk said moving to catch Deans eye.


Dean looked down, the quarter moon only giving enough light to wash the grass a silvery grey. “Yeah, got what we needed and got out, and Penny’s getting better already, think we can make a drop for the extra supplier tomorrow?”


“Perhaps.” Dirk said softly after a pause. He stepped towards Dean, in the dim light Dean thought Dirk almost looked sad. “We’ll see how every is in the morning. I’ll take the night watch”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

1070 words

 

Spoiler

"Pale" and drawn, not "pail."

First scene could use an editing pass - feels like an early draft - but it does a damn good job of setting the scene. I know the timeline and can place us in canon, and that means that I know the background too. The interpersonal relationships are succinctly summarized here as well. Well done.

If you choose to edit/repost this I'd consider revising some of your verb choices into more active ones - but take this with a grain of salt.

This scene feels a little disjointed - like, what plan? I get that it's a plan to go get supplies, but I'm not sure why it needs to be casually discussed during a storm like this. Maybe if you had something whip around and injure someone it would make more sense for Ted to bring it up again? Isn't he a doctor/mediwizard anyway? Or is that fanon? I can't remember.

Yeah, definitely a few awkward sentences and spellings in here. Early draft?

I like this potion idea, though part of me wants to argue that since it's not changing your body but others perception of your body it should be a spell that affects them (instead of a potion that affects you) but that's pretty minor.

The idea of magic that makes you look familiar but only to the point they feel they know you and can't place you is brilliant. Well done.

The parts involving the plan and its execution (stealing supplies? Dean was hurt? Or just covered in blood?) weren't super clear to me. But Dean's response of throwing the Goblins under the bus, but his made-up story having holes in it, felt realistic and solid.

..."Balls, balls!" though? Dean is 16-17 here, yeah? And not American. I'd go with "Shit" or "Fuck" or at least "Bollocks!"

I didn't get much buildup of suspense before or during the fight involving Lucius. I get the feeling that's supposed to be sudden and action packed and suspenseful but the emotional aspect of the scene didn't do it for me.

As for prompt usage... this isn't 'good' prompt usage, in my opinion, but it's not blatantly ignoring it either. Instead of an 'adventure at Hogwarts' we got an adventure from one of Harry's Hogwarts classmates. So it didn't involve Harry, but also didn't involve Hogwarts. But the MC is of Hogwarts age and in Harry's class, so it counts enough to avoid any issues with me. But makes me a bit less inclined to give it points.