Chaos

It was a warm, sunny day in London. The shoppers and commuters hurried about their business as usual. They had places to go or things to do. Families were out enjoying the nice weather in the park, eating ice creams or lounging on picnic blankets. To all these people it would seem just another ordinary day. Unfortunately, this day would be anything but ordinary.

"Oh, do you feel that?" A young woman and her friend were having lunch outside of their favorite restaurant when the air turned icy. "It's so strange. The temperature must've dropped about fifty degrees."

"I didn't even think to bring my coat." The other girl signaled the waiter. "Excuse me, can we be moved inside?"

Unbeknownst to the muggles, the source of the sudden chill was flying directly overhead. About a dozen dementors were being escorted by three aurors on brooms.

Outside of the secret entrance to the Ministry of Magic, Auror Reese stood tall and smug, accompanied by a short, stocky wizard.

"Why can't you just kill her and be done with it?" the wizard asked in a raspy voice. He flinched as Auror Reese glared at him.

"I owe you no explanation. But if you must know, Abhorace, I gave my word to my dear sister that I would not harm Diana directly or kill her. I didn't say anything about having someone else do it for me, or something else."

The dementors and the aurors descended in front of Reese and Abhorace. The three aurors dismounted from their brooms and approached the two.

"I don't know how you convinced all of them to guard that woman," said one of the aurors, "but why so many for one witch?"

"It's just a precaution," Reese answered simply. "After all, Diana may be as powerful as I am."

He raised an arm at the wizards, and they were hit with a crackling orange light.

"Ahhhh!" their screams echoed all around as their charred corpses fell to the ground.

"You know what to do," he said to the dementors, turning to the old broken down telephone booth. He pointed a hand at it and with a loud crash, the booth was thrown out of the way and the ground crumbled. Rock and cement broke apart and caved in, leaving a large gap. Screams could be heard from beneath.

"Do your worst."

The dementors swooped down through the gap, much to the horror of the wizards inside.

Reese turned to the wizard, "Summon our people here. Tell them to create enough chaos to show the wizarding authorities what we're capable of."

"Is that such a good idea?" the question was answered with a sharp backhand across the face that sent the wizard to the ground.

"Do not question me!" His eyes seemed to burn with rage for a moment, before he calmed and smiled. "With Diana out of the way, who will there be to stop me?"

=w=

Diana sat alone in her cell in mournful silence. A man was dead, murdered by Ares so that he wouldn't divulge the god's plans. She was accused of killing him and these wizards were determined to punish someone for the crime.

Now she was here, stripped of her tools and utterly alone. She couldn't put Harry at risk just so that she could escape to fight Ares. The league probably didn't even know she was missing yet. Even then it could still take them weeks to find her. By then it may be too late.

As Diana wallowed in her own thoughts, the lock of the door clicked. Diana looked up when the door opened. The defiant look on her face melted away to be replaced with one of confusion.

"You…" she said, her eyes widening.

"You'll need these," said the woman, tossing Diana her bracelets and lasso. "The wizarding world needs you now. There isn't time to waste."

=w=

"You okay, Harry? You seem awfully quiet." Dennis said from the passenger seat.

"What?" Harry said, absentmindedly. "Oh, I'm fine, I've just got a lot on my mind."

He smiled reassuringly at the teenager. Dennis nodded and looked back out the window.

"I can't wait to see your house. I bet it's brilliant, and huge, with an indoor pool and a full sized quidditch pitch."

"Don't get ahead of yourself there, mate. I'm not that rich." Harry chuckled.

"I still don't see why we couldn't apparate there. I've been dying to try it ever since I started at Hogwarts."

Harry shook his head, "Warden's orders, your mum doesn't want you apparating yet. You think I want her slamming my head on a chopping block?"

Dennis laughed. "At least with apparition you don't have to worry about traffic jams or head-on collisions."

Harry shrugged his shoulders. He still preferred flying, but he had gotten used to apparating. While not at all enjoyable, it was useful when he was in a hurry or he just wanted to be somewhere. Driving was definitely not at the top of his list for a quick trip.

"Just try and enjoy the scenery." Dennis rolled his eyes.

Just then, as he was about to drive through a green traffic light, a large grey owl flew straight at the window. Harry slammed on the brakes, screeching to a halt and startling the nearby pedestrians. He and Dennis jerked forward, Harry hitting his head on the steering wheel and breaking his glasses. He heard the screeching of tires behind him and horns honking.

"Bloody Hell!" Harry exclaimed. "Don't tell your mum I said that. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, my shoulder's just sore from the seatbelt." Dennis rubbed his shoulder, looking slightly shaken.

Harry was about to get out and check on the bird, or strangle it he hadn't decided which, when a beige sedan zoomed past. The tire burned and screeched before the car swerved and turned over. The sound of metal crushing and glass breaking was deafening. The owl on his windshield stood up and shook out its wings before taking flight again.

"Bloody Hell!" Harry stared at Dennis through his shattered lenses. "Don't tell mum I said that."

They began to hear angry yells from the drivers behind them as well as the worried cries of help from the people surrounding the damaged vehicle. Then he heard screams coming from up the street in the direction the driver came from. Then he saw an all too familiar green flash in the distance.

"We're near the Ministry," Harry stated, realizing the trouble.

"What does that mean?" asked Dennis, suddenly scared.

Harry turned to look at the boy, "I need you to stay here in the car. If anything happens to me, get out and run." Dennis tried to interrupt here, but Harry kept talking. "Get your wand. If anyone attacks you, throw every spell you know at them."

"But what about the Statute of Secrecy?"

"Sod the Statute of Secrecy! When it comes to your safety, nothing else matters."

Harry jumped out of the driver's side door and turned back, "Promise to stay here."

Dennis nodded, pulling out his wand with shaky fingers. Harry nodded in return and turned to go help the people in the wrecked car, but he turned back around.

"One more thing," he took off his broken glasses and handed them to Dennis, "Hold onto these for me, would you? I'd fix them but they'll just get broken again."

Dennis clutched the glasses in his hand as Harry ran off toward the damage. While he was running toward the car, Harry glanced down the road and couldn't believe the sight that met his eyes.