2/23/04:  Well, here it is, the final installment.  Hope you enjoy!

22. Malvagita

"Say again?" Harry asked, hoping he had misunderstood.

"Dr. Granger's gone.  She's not in the van."

"What?!  Dr. Granger!  Come in, ya daft girl!"  Silence.

"Hermione!  I know you can hear me!" Harry said.

"Er, hi everyone," Hermione said tentatively over the channel.

"Where the hell are you?"

"Um…out?"

"Out?  What the hell does that mean?"

"It means not in."

"Don't be coy with me Granger!  Where are you?"

Harry heard her sigh over the channel.  "I'm heading for Omega group."

"What?" Harry asked incredulously.  "Samson ordered you to join a support force?"

"Well…not exactly."

"Then what is it…exactly?"

"I…I saw something related to the special evidence near where Omega group was before."

Harry knew he wouldn't be able to get a straight answer from her this way, especially if it involved MSARS.  "Stay where you are, I'm coming to you.  Is it clear to your left or right?"

"What?  Harry, you can't-"

"Is it clear to your left or right?" Harry repeated angrily.

"My right."

"Stay put."  Harry dropped his hand from his earpiece, but Robert grabbed his arm before he could move.

"What about your team?"

Harry scoffed.  "What about them?  They don't need me to help them sit on their arses."

"Goddamit Potter, you just can't leave without telling anyone.  You have a responsibility!" Robert said.

"Bloody hell!" He glared at Robert briefly.  "Fine, you're right, as usual," Harry groused before spinning on his heels to find Davis.  He found Davis talking to Hufflepuff Six.

"Agent Davis," Harry said, interrupting his conversation.

Davis turned to look at him, clearly irritated at being interrupted.  "Potter, can it wait?"

"Sorry, no.  Requesting permission to detach myself from Gryffindor team and link up with HQ team."

"Huh?"

"I want to leave and join the HQ team."

"What?  Why?"

"One of our Aurors has gone missing.  I intend to look for her."  Harry left out the fact that he could find her in seconds, but he knew Davis would have a hard time denying him permission if he thought that Hermione was missing.

"All right Potter.  Go find your missing Auror and get back here as soon as you can."

"Yes sir," Harry said, and then disapparated.

*********************************

There were two primary methods of apparition, line-of-sight and by memory.  Line-of-sight was exactly that: you see where you want to go, and pop, there you are.  It was the easiest form of apparition (taking the least amount of concentration and energy), but it was generally limited to short trips (what you can see).  Memory apparition was much more difficult and took more magical energy to complete.  First, a wizard or witch would picture either a person, place, or object in their mind.  Assuming their picture was accurate enough, pop, there you are again.  This form of apparition required a very thorough knowledge of the place where you wanted to be, and after their first night together in America, Harry felt that he had a very thorough knowledge of Hermione.

Though there were wards barring apparition in the compound, Harry was fairly confident he could apparate through almost any ward; after all, he had been known to apparate around Hogwarts (though not by anyone with authority).  He hadn't dared try and test his belief before the operation began, for fear of alerting Malvagita that his wards had been broken, but now that the operation was in full swing, Harry felt no such reservations.  With a soft pop, Harry disappeared from the courtyard and found himself in a hallway, Hermione on his left looking slightly flustered and embarrassed.

"Hi," she said nervously.

Harry glowered at her.  "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Listen Harry," she said anxiously.  "I was watching the Omega group through the viewing crystals and I saw what looked like the entrance to a laboratory.  The position matched with the aerial pictures of where we think the lab's located.

Harry sighed.  "What did you see?"

"There was a door that looked like it was marked as a decontamination area."

"This couldn't wait until the fighting was over before you investigated?"

Hermione shook her head.  "There's too much fighting going on!  Spells are being flung about haphazardly.  I couldn't take the risk that something critical would be damaged, or that Malvagita would protect the lab or destroy material while we were still fighting through."

Harry shook his head.  "That's all well and good Hermione, but it's too risky-"

"Please Harry!" Hermione said with a hint of desperation in her voice.  "This is worth the risk; it's too important!  Lives are at stake!"

"Yeah, your life!" Harry retorted.

Hermione paused a beat.  "Not if you come with me.  You can protect me while I investigate."

"I don't-"

"Please Harry?"  Hermione resorted to one of her pouty looks, and Harry found his resolve slipping away.

"Fine, but I'm in charge; you have to listen to everything I say, all right?"

"Agreed," Hermione said happily.

Harry shook his head as he followed Hermione across the open grounds, telling himself that he was agreeing to go along with her to save lives, and not because he couldn't say no when she gave him that look.  Soon enough the sound of spells being flung about could be heard, and Harry grabbed her by the arm and halted her progress.  "Stay behind me," he whispered.  She nodded and let him pass, following closely behind.  Whereas Epsilon had pushed through to the North Courtyard, Omega had been repelled backwards to the grounds, fighting in open air.  Peeking from behind a vacant building, Harry could see that various agents had taken shelter behind the few buildings that dotted the grounds, while others fought from hastily dug holes.  The dark wizards were arrayed outside the entrance to the East Courtyard, preventing the Agents from advancing.

"It's through there," Hermione whispered behind him, pointing at the East Courtyard.

"Through the courtyard?  And how do you expect to get past all the defenders?"

Hermione shrugged helplessly.  He turned back to the fighting and tried to devise a plan.  Though he was powerful, he couldn't simply fight his way into the courtyard.  Aware that time was a factor, Harry could only think of one option.  "All right," he said, turning back to Hermione.  "We'll have to apparate behind them."

She looked at him in surprise.  "Apparate?  But the wards…you may be able to apparate through them, but I can't!"

"I'll have to take you with me."

"But…they'll see us immediately once we apparate into the entranceway," Hermione protested.

"Then we'll have to apparate behind them, into a secluded part of the courtyard."

"A secluded part of the courtyard?  You've never been in the courtyard, how can you find a secluded part of it?"

"Well, I've seen the East Courtyard from the intelligence pictures, and I've been in the North Courtyard, which is supposed to be designed the same.  We'll have to take our chances."

"But-"

"Hermione, this was your idea in the first place!  Unless you have a better idea…" Hermione thought for a moment, but was ultimately silent.  "Right then."  Harry grabbed Hermione around the waist and pulled her tight.  He grinned when he saw her curious look.  "If I'm going to apparate the two of us, you need to be as close to me as possible."

Hermione gave him a wry smile.  "Oh, is that so?  I don't remember that the last time you apparated us."

"That was different.  This requires more touching; in fact, our lives depend on us being as close to each other as possible."

Hermione sighed dramatically.  "Well then, if our lives depend on it, I guess I don't have much a choice, do I?" she said, before wrapping her arms tightly around him.  After grinning stupidly for a moment, Harry focused himself on the task at hand, focusing his magic and visualizing what he imagined the East Courtyard would look like.  Harry was using line-of-sight to determine the general area, and memory (or imagination) to pinpoint the location.  Taking a deep breath, Harry closed his eyes and apparated.

Harry opened his eyes to see that they were in another location, Hermione firmly held in his arms.  Before he examine his surroundings further, Hermione gasped loudly.  Reacting instinctively, Harry fell to the ground, pulling Hermione on top of him as a spell flew through the air above him.  Wand in hand, Harry stunned the wizard who had attacked him, and jumped to his feet, looking for more threats.  He recoiled as another spell hit the ground a few feet from him, and Harry whirled to face another wizard, bring him down with another stunner.  After he was certain that no other wizards had noticed them, he gently helped Hermione to her feet.

"Oh, I'm so sorry Harry," Hermione said, obviously distressed.

"Hm?  Sorry about what?"

"Sorry that I'm so useless, that I couldn't help you just now!"

Harry gave her a reassuing smile.  "It's okay-"

"No, it's not okay.  I used to be…better at stuff like this."

"It's like riding a bike; it'll all come back to you," Harry grinned.

"I hope so.  It's been so long since the last time that my life's been in danger, which also happened to be with you, if I recall correctly," she added with a small smile.

Harry smiled back, happy that Hermione was no longer depressed.  After all, it was likely that he'd need her spells if they were going to succeed.  Hugging the walls of the courtyard, they slipped through the unguarded entrance (the dark wizards focusing all of their efforts on the Agents outside) and into the inner compound.

"Where's the door you saw?" Harry asked quietly.

"Up ahead and to the right…or maybe to the left…no, definitely to the right…I think."  Harry gave her a look.   "What?  It was all very fast – lots of running and flashes of magic and such."

Harry declined to respond and continued down the hallway.  A few seconds later they found the door that Hermione had seen.  "Why wouldn't they put the lab nearer to the center of the compound, where it's more secure?" he wondered aloud.

Hermione shrugged.  "Probably in case something went wrong, all the important people inside would be safe.  Besides, they probably never thought we'd ever get this far."

Harry nodded and started to push the door open when Hermione stopped him.  "Are your bio charms working?"

Harry looked at her in confusion until he realized what she meant.  They had told Samson that Malvagita was working with biological weapons, which prompted the Commander to order that all Agents and Aurors were to affix biohazard charms on their armor.  Harry checked to make sure the charms were undamaged and then nodded his head.  Hermione nodded back, and then Harry slowly pushed open the door.

A spell stuck just inches from Harry's face, and Harry fell backwards, the door slamming shut.  "Stay down," he told Hermione, and then cast a shield spell as he opened the door and rolled to the side.  Two spells smashed into the door behind him as Harry regained his feet, his wand already sending his own stunners at the two wizards apparently guarding the room.  One wizard went down, the other had managed to cast his own shield spell, sending the red streak back at Harry.  With the tip of his wand, Harry 'caught' his reflected spell, where it gathered into a bright red ball of magic.  With a flick of his wrist, Harry threw the spell back at the guard again, who was too surprised to defend himself.  A quick check of the room revealed no other guards, and Harry fetched Hermione.

The room that they were in appeared to be a preparation room – a few protective amulets and suits (cheaper than amulets) hung along one wall, and a large window on the opposite wall revealed a large, empty laboratory with a large, clear vertical tube in the middle of the room, going from ceiling to floor.  Harry quickly examined the unconscious guards and saw that they both carried the communication orbs that the Americans favored, as opposed to the Auror mobiles that he was accustomed too.  "We have to hurry, Hermione.  They might've had time to call for help."

Hermione nodded and quickly examined the room.  After a few moments, he gave her a questioning look.  She shook her head quickly, and then nodded towards the other room.  Harry nodded his understanding and walked towards the door connecting the two rooms.  Carefully, he pushed the door open and entered the laboratory, Hermione behind him.

As soon as Harry ascertained that the room was safe, Hermione sprang into action.  She walked quickly to the tube and examined what lay within while Harry prowled the edges of the laboratory, checking for danger.  Hermione called his name, and when he looked over at her, she had a wide smile on her face.

"It's here Harry!  Everything we need to find a cure!"

Harry nodded.  "Then don't just stand there, get to work," Harry said quickly, tempering it with a small smile.

"Oh…right!" Hermione said, focusing herself on the task at hand.  Harry walked over to her and kept one eye on her and the other on the door to the other room.  Hermione worked quickly, deftly manipulating the tube controls to take apart a box that lay within the tube.  Harry's curiosity grew as he watched her, trying to figure out exactly what she was doing.

Suddenly, Harry felt the hairs on the back of neck rise, and he grabbed Hermione and pulled her aside to the ground, ignoring her cry of surprise.  Just in time too, as a spell flashed through the air behind them, smashing into the back wall.  Harry stood quickly and trained his wand at the source of the attack, quickly surveyed the dark-robed wizard who had somehow entered the laboratory without Harry noticing.  Harry could sense the power emanating from the man.  "Malvagita, I presume?"

The wizard nodded.  "In the flesh.  Now, be so good as to back away from the tube," he said, gesturing with his wand.  By this time Hermione had gotten to her feet, staring at Malvagita anxiously.

When Harry failed to move, Malvagita sneered, "So be it."  With a flick of his wand, an unmistakable green light shot from his wand at Harry.  All too accustomed to the killing curse, Harry quickly conjured a squashy armchair in the air in front of him, which intercepted the killing curse and burst into flames, disintegrating before his eyes.  Without waiting for the remains of the armchair to hit the ground, Harry sent his own spell at Malvagita.  Barely reacting in time, Malvagita cast his own shielding spell.  But he apparently underestimated the power of Harry's stunner, and the red light broke through Malvagita's shield and slammed into his shoulder, dropping him to one knee but failing to knock him out.  Harry couldn't take advantage of this strike, as he noticed a large number of wizards pouring into the outer room through the window.  Taking aim at the door, Harry cast the most powerful locking spell he knew.  Harry quickly turned to Hermione.  "Get what you need and let's get the hell out of here!  I'll cover you."  Hermione nodded and went back to the tube controls, working with a heightened sense of urgency.

In the meantime, Malvagita had recovered from Harry's spell and stood calmly, facing him.  "Very impressive, very impressive indeed.  But clearly, you do not realize whom you're facing.  This is your last chance to surrender, and I promise I'll kill you quickly."

Harry laughed, knowing that it would irritate the other wizard.  "Surrender?  To you, a Voldemort-pretender?  I think not."

Harry was right; Malvagita bristled with anger.  "Insolent fool!  My power rivals the great Lord Voldemort!"

Harry scoffed.  "I fought against Lord Voldemort, I knew Lord Voldemort, Lord Voldemort was an enemy of mine.  Malvagita, you are no Lord Voldemort!"

Malvagita roared in anger and sent killing curse at Harry, which was again intercepted by a squashy armchair.  Harry fired back another stunner, which was dodged.  Malvagita cast another spell, but this time at Hermione.

Harry leapt in front of Hermione and cast a shielding spell.  The force of Malvagita's spell was so strong that it pushed Harry back, his boots sliding on the floor, but it did not penetrate Harry's shield.  Hermione looked back at him quickly then returned to her work.

Malvagita sent several spells in succession at Harry, each time stymied by a shield or counter-curse.  Harry realized that Malvagita didn't dare send a killing curse at Hermione, for fear of missing and destroying the tube.  Stunners, which only affected people and not objects, were all he could use.  He also quickly saw that though Malvagita was a powerful sorcerer, in terms of magical might, Harry was superior. (A/N: okay, positions may be confusing: Harry and Hermione were in front of the tube when Malvagita entered.  Harry grabbed Hermione and pulled her to the side.  While Harry and Malvagita dueled, Hermione ran back to the tube.  When Malvagita shot at Hermione, Harry stood between them, so Malvagita can't send killing curses at Harry for fear of missing and hitting the tube.)

Malvgatia seemed to realize this as well, and he shot another spell, but this time at the door, blasting it open.  Harry's eyes widened, but Malvagita's spells returned to attack him, preventing Harry from stopping Malvagita's followers from entering the room.  

"No killing curses!  Stunners only!" Malvagita screamed as his followers began firing at Harry, who soon found himself being attacked from all directions by multiple wands.  Without any alternatives, Harry cast and maintained a shielding spell.

"Hermione!  We have to get out of here!  How much longer?" he yelled over the sounds of the spells and incantations, focusing all his power on maintaining the shield that enveloped the two.

"Just a few more seconds!"

"We don't have a few more seconds!"

An eternity passed by as Harry felt his shield weakening.  "Ready!" she yelled.

"Get down in a crouch!" he yelled back.  After giving her a second to do so, he released his shield spell and ducked down, covering Hermione with his body and wrapping his arms around her as spells crashed into the tube above them.  With a soft pop, the two disappeared.

*********************************

A/N: I was going to have the Epilogue separate, but it was too short for its own chapter.  So, here it is.  By the way, in case anyone caught it, I "borrowed" a quote from 1998 Vice Presidential Debate for a little attempted humor.

Epilogue

Only one thought kept Harry conscious once he apparated: Hermione's safety.  Harry knew that simply apparating back to the grounds was no guarentee of safety; for all he knew, Malvagita's DAPs could have retaken the entire compound.  No, the best chance for safety lay back at the C&C van, back behind their own lines.  A jump like that, through a anti-apparition ward, with another person, and his magic already taxed by maintaining his shield spell, took everything Harry had left.  After apparating, Harry peeked open his eyes at the witch he held within a tight embrace.

"Are you okay Hermione?"

"I…I think so," he heard, and then as relief washed over his body, he fainted away.

*********************************

Though his eyes felt like lead weights, Harry opened his eyes, groaning at the pounding he felt at his temples.

"Harry?"

Harry looked over in the direction of the sound.  He smiled.  "Hermione."  She looked tired and a little frazzled, but otherwise unharmed.

"How do you feel?"

Harry considered that for a moment.  "Headache.  Tired.  But otherwise all right.  How about you?"

Hermione cocked her head to one side.  "Headache.  Tired.  But otherwise all right."

Harry smiled.  "What happened?"

"You collapsed after apparating us away.  You've been asleep for about twenty minutes now."

"Did you get what you needed from the lab?"

Hermione nodded, a smile finally appearing on her face.  "Mission accomplished," she said.

"What about Malvagita?"

Hermione shrugged.  "I'm not sure…I haven't heard anything since we got back."  Harry reached for his earpiece, but realized he wasn't wearing it.  "Here," said Hermione, handing him the device.

Harry looked at the earpiece.  "Thanks, but I think I'm too knackered for that right now.  I can't do anything about it anyways."  Harry stifled a yawn.  "How're the other Aurors?"

Hermione put the earpiece in her own ear and mouthed a few words.  She listened for a few seconds.  "Everyone's fine.  Robert has a slight leg wound, but otherwise everyone's fine.  Harry, I have just one question."

"Hm?"

"When Malvagita sent the killing curse at us…why did you conjure a squashy armchair, of all things?"

Harry chuckled.  "It's the largest object that I could conjure quickly.  I know it wasn't very manly, but it worked."

Hermione smiled.  "Yes, it did.  Now, go back to sleep Harry."

Harry thought about protesting, but in the end decided to take Hermione's advice.

*********************************

The debriefing session was far more interesting then the briefing sessions.  Harry sat comfortably in the theatre-like room listening to Perkins and Samson review the operation, while Hermione was off in some laboratory somewhere.   The Director of the BMI had ensured that Hermione would have access to the most advanced medical laboratory that America had to offer; as such, she had taken an enchanted car (as the MSARS spores she collected were to delicate for floo or portkey) to the east coast somewhere.  Harry would be joining her soon, once his role here was completed.

Though they had suffered many casualties, the majority occurring at the onset of the raid, the operation was considered a resounding success.  There were only two Agent fatalities, and dozens of DAPs were apprehended, along with the main objective, Malvagita himself.  His apparition wards turned to be his downfall, as he couldn't escape the same way Harry had.  Follow-on investigators collected evidence and Dark Arts materials that would put many, if not all, of DAPs in prison.  In fact, there was enough evidence about Malvagita's worldwide operations to keep many different law enforcement wizards and witches from many different countries busy for a long time.  There was a very festive atmosphere in the Chicago BMI office that night, and Perkins was actually seen to be smiling.

For Harry's particular mission, well, success was still to be determined; Hermione was still working on finding a cure.  In the end, Harry spent another day in Chicago, going over after-action reports and saying good-bye to the Agents he had met.  At the floo'port, the Aurors parted ways, with everyone else returning home and Harry off to meet with Hermione.

*********************************

"Harry?"

Harry looked up from the book he was reading to look at Hermione.  The excitement was evident in her voice.  "What?"

Hermione's face broke into a dazzling smile.  "I've done it," she said simply.

Harry's eyebrows rose in surprise.  "You did it?"

Hermione nodded, beaming.  "I did it!"

"You did it!" Harry cried aloud, his own smile reflecting hers.  He jumped to his feet and grabbed Hermione into a fierce hug, spinning her through the air.

Hermione laughed delightedly.  "Put me down Harry!" she said between her laughs.

Harry stopped spinning her, but he kept her aloft.  "I knew you could do it," he said softly, and then kissed her. 

Once they had parted for air, Hermione said again, "Put me down Harry.  I still have a lot of work left."

"You do?" Harry said, surprised and disappointed, as he lowered her to the ground.  "How much longer?"

"Just a few more hours.  You can go back to the hotel if you want."

Harry shook his head and walked back to his perch, picking his book up again.  "No, it's okay.  I'll wait.   I'd wait for you forever."

Hermione looked at him and rolled her eyes.  "That was cheesy, but I love you."

"Love you too."

A/N: I hope you all enjoyed this, my third story.  For those following my writing, hopefully I've demonstrated some improvement over the course of the stories, especially from the first few chapters of New Identity. 

Okay, I know this was sort of a short, crappy ending.  But the rest is pretty boring: Hermione isolates the cure, and everyone's happy.  The end.  So, the big question: will there be a sequel?  Eh, who knows?  I doubt it, unless I can think of a suitable plot.

Thanks to everyone for reading and reviewing.  I love you all – in a strictly platonic way, of course ;)  I hate to thank only certain reviewers, since it might make it sound like I didn't appreciate everyone's reviews, but some deserve special mention for reviewing many, many, many times:

Special thanks to Facade1, ears 91, sethro72, kraeg001, Rocky235, and, bucking the trend, Risty and HeeroTomoe, who somehow managed to make the list despite not having numbers in their user Ids ;)

Thanks also to my multiple reviewers who managed to make it at least to December (the others probably aren't reading this anymore): Akuma-sama, Calen, Maxx77, szelij, onkel, Ides of March, Alatoic01, Alex20, Honey Bee 80, ChickFlick004, fopalup1, and jouve25.  And to I won't tell, who came late but left some really nice reviews!

I'll look for you at my next story.  'Til then, cheers!