Imprisoned in the Past

Peverell Beach House, Cornwall, 6/1/1984, 13:39

Harry was out on the beach pushing the double stroller with the twins seated letting them get some sea air. Harry couldn't have picked a worse time to return to Britain.

The ministry had announced this morning that the retrials for the death eaters that were sentenced under Bartemius Crouch would begin next week and Harry was obligated to sit through every trial, meaning he would most likely have to postpone his trip to Africa for a few weeks. Sanjay didn't seem to mind and had already made his way out to the first part of the trip to collect boomslang skin.

Bellatrix was ecstatic that the timing of the trials would most likely keep him in the U.K for the rest of the month depending on how fast they could try all the people eligible for a retrial.

Harry had mixed feelings about the trials, to be honest. On the one hand, he hoped the death eaters stayed imprisoned and suffered under the companionship of the dementors until Voldemort's inevitable return to power. But on the other hand, if they were released it would make taking them out so much easier.

Harry knew that there was a very good chance that most of them would be convicted a second time. Mulciber in particular was convicted of thirty-seven counts of rape by means of the imperious curse. Worse still was Antonin Dolohov who was believed to be the Balkan Butcher before he was recruited to put his talents to use for Voldemort's cause.

Those two, in particular, scared most of wizard society and were the main reason the ministry had been postponing the retrials for over a year now.

Harry was just hoping the trials went by fairly quickly otherwise he would miss out on the Africa harvest entirely.

In other news, Amelia was due any day now and Sirius was a ball of Nerves. She had been on desk duty since the first of January but had officially taken her maternity leave starting today, if Harry remembered correctly

"Da, birdie," Iggy said pointing his little finger at a bunch of seagulls fighting over something that washed up on the beach.

"That's a whole bunch of birdies, son," Harry chuckled.

The kids had started to say small words recently and to be honest it awed him to hear them stumbling to speak.

"Birdie," Carina chirped beside her brother as the seagulls started squabbling.

"Noisy birdies," Harry agreed as he made his way back to the house.

Pretty soon he wouldn't need the stroller, the kids were already starting to walk a few steps on their own.

Harry stepped onto the deck, a twin in each arm to find Bella and Andromeda chatting at the outdoor table, sipping tea.

"Good, you're back," Bella said when she spotted them.

"I took them down to see the waves," Harry smiled as he set the twins into the playpen.

"I figured, have you had breakfast yet?" Bella asked as the Twins started playing with their stuffed dragons.

"No, I fed them and figured I would let you sleep so I took them for a stroll," Harry admitted as he took a seat beside his wife before turning to his sister-in-law, "good morning Andi."

"Good morning, Harry. I was sorry to hear your trip was cancelled," Andi said gently.

"Postponed, I am hoping to get a little time in Africa before we have to go to the preserves in Greece," Harry corrected as a plate of food appeared on the table in front of him.

"I'm sure you will, most of the re-trials are just a formality. I doubt most of them will be found anything other than guilty," Andromeda assured him.

"I wish I had wiped the whole floor out when we escaped," Harry lamented aloud as he tucked into his breakfast.

"You took out Rookwood and the LeStrange brothers," Andi said reasonably.

"But I left Dolohov," Harry grumbled.

"We were a bit pressed for time," Bellatrix pointed out.

"True and with any luck he will stay where he is," Harry said optimistically.

"I very much doubt he will be cleared of anything," Andromeda assured him.

"I hope you're right," Harry sighed as breakfast appeared on the table courtesy of Jangles.

Azkaban Prisoner Transport Docks, Wick, Scotland, 6/18/1984, 23:19

Antonin Dolohov was being escorted between three aurors as they led him from the portkey arrival point to the boat moored at the end of the dock, that would take him back to his cell on Azkaban Island. The cowardly fools had ruled him guilty of all charges that he was originally convicted for, not that he was surprised. Truthfully, the crimes he was tried for were just the tip of the iceberg.

Still, he was pleased to be away from the influence of the dementors for a few days and had gladly consented to be transported to the ministry holding cell while he was retried before the Wizengamot.

"Move it," the guard behind him grunted jabbing his wand painfully into the prisoner's back.

"What's your hurry, Malcolm?" The guard to Dolohov"s right asked.

"I want to get this over with," Malcolm grunted as a flash of green light illuminated the night.

The guard on Antonin's left collapsed, The other two guards had barely registered what happened before another flash of green light struck the guard on the right of Dolohov, dropping him as well.

"Clear," Malcolm Pritchard Sr called out unconcerned about his two dead coworkers before tapping the shackles binding Dolohov's hands so they fell noisily to the ground.

A figure in black robes approached them from the guard house in the distance, and Antonin recognised him immediately.

"Thomas Avery, long time no see," Antonin chuckled as he leaned down and pried the wand out of one of the fallen guards' hands.

"Would you two hurry up before back up arrives," Pritchard cut in impatiently.

"Quite right, Auror Pritchard, we need to be off," Avery said before walking over to Dolohov who had unlocked his leg shackles and was searching the dead aurors for anything of use.

"You have to curse me, just make it look convincing," Pritchard said looking at Avery expectantly.

"Avada kedavra," Avery grinned maliciously as the auror's eyes widened in realisation a second before the spell impacted his chest.

"Is that convincing enough, Malcolm?" Avery asked the dead body of the former auror laying.

"I found it pretty convincing," Dolohov chuckled darkly.

"He was right though, backup will arrive momentarily," Avery said as he looked at his old comrade.

"I'm ready when you are, Thomas," Dolohov grunted as he finished prying the evidence bag containing his wand out of Pritchard's pocket.

"Good, this portkey will take you to an old friend of ours," Avery said throwing Dolohov a familiar silver dagger.

"Alright," Dolohov said gripping his favourite dagger affectionately.

"Don't kill him, Antonin, he still has his uses," Avery warned.

"Who is it you're sending me to?" Antonin demanded.

"Igor, he owes me a big favour," Avery answered as the portkey activated.

Before Dolohov could say anything else, the portkey activated pulling him thousands of miles away from the British Isles.

Peverell Beach House, Cornwall, 6/16/1984, 13:39

Harry reread the headline of the paper feeling his stomach twist in worry for the hundredth time since receiving the paper this morning. As if it wasn't bad enough that Cromwell, Travers and Gibbon were found innocent during their trials by using the imperius defence, now Dolohov was on the loose again!

According to the article, the aurors transporting him to Azkaban were attacked as well as the two men who ran the dock, five aurors were killed to free this monster.

Harry was planning on leaving for Africa in a few days but now he wasn't sure he felt comfortable leaving Bellatrix and the children alone with Dolohov on the loose.

This was on top of the news that he had received yesterday. According to Narcissa, Cassie had finally succeeded in getting Grindelwald transferred to the British ministry. The transport would be carried out on the twenty-ninth of June and Harry was already planning on nipping that problem in the bud.

He would shut down Grindlewald before Cassie could learn what she wanted though the tricky part will be carrying it out where cassie wouldn't know he was involved.

These kinds of assassinations were his bread and butter and were exactly what he was trained for. He knew security would be very tight, Grindlewald was the most dangerous prisoner the ICW had in custody and they would be on a hair trigger during the transport. So the best plan he had was to employ a method no wizard would even consider, something they wouldn't even know was possible.

"You look stressed?" Bellatrix commented as she stepped onto the deck.

"Someone broke Dolohov out last night," Harry said gesturing to the discarded paper.

"I can't say that surprises me," Bella shrugged as she took a seat beside him on the couch.

"I am thinking of cancelling my trip to Africa," Harry admitted.

"Because of Dolohov?" Bella snorted sounding amused.

"Yeah, he might have a reason to want to hurt you," Harry pointed out.

"I doubt it, if I know him he's already halfway to the Balkans by now and I am pretty low on his enemies list," Bellatrix assured him.

"I figured you would be all for me blowing off this trip to stay with you and the children," Harry said glancing over at his wife.

"Not if you think you have to stay to protect me, it's kind of insulting," Bella shrugged as Harry draped his arm over her shoulder.

"You're not invincible," Harry argued.

"Bella can handle Dolohov, he never was a match for me," Bella assured him.

"I hope we never have to find out," Harry sighed knowing he wouldn't get anywhere by pressing the point.

"Same, now have you figured out how you're going to handle Grindlewald?" Bellatrix asked a gleam of excitement in her eye.

"I think so, I need to make a trip into muggle London though," Harry answered.

Before Bellatrix could comment the sound of crying was carried out to them from the sitting room where the twins were asleep in their playpen.

"Sounds like nap time is over," Harry smiled as he got up to get the twins.

Harry and Bella began getting the twins out of the playpen and checking their nappies before they got them situated in their highchairs for a quick snack.

Harry figured after they had eaten he would take them down to the beach and let them play on their toy broomsticks.

"I think I might take the kids down to the beach," Harry said casually.

"Alright but if they get hurt on those broomsticks I'll be the one doing the spanking," Bellatrix warned.

"They'll be fine the broomsticks only let them drag their toes in the sand," Harry assured her.

"Well be careful," Bella said looking from Carina to Ignotus who both nodded their little heads almost as if they understood what Bella was saying

"I will be watching them like a hawk," Harry soothed.

"As long as I don't find you napping in a lounge chair like when you took Andi's spawn to the beach," Bella said though she sounded amused.

"I would never," Harry defended.

"Of course, you won't or there will not be any Harry Bella playtime tonight," Bella threatened.

'I definitely won't be taking a nap,' Harry assured her causing his wife to smile triumphantly at him.

Southern Sudan, Africa, 6/22/1984, 13:38

Harry was finally free to return to work hunting serpents and harvesting venom. The snake he was after now was one of the most aggressive mundane snakes there was.

Usually, snakes were content to be left alone and fled unless they had no other choice, this snake was an exception to that rule. The black mamba or dendroaspis polylepis had been known to chase people who entered their territory and their bite was very potent. The black mamba was also one of the top ten deadliest non-magical snakes and responsible for many deaths in Africa.

Sanjay had already filled his quota on boomslang skin last week so now they were focusing on collecting venom samples from certain species, mainly the black mamba and the gaboon viper.

The gaboon vipers were not very plentiful in this area as they were currently in the open savanna. However the black mambas were quite common here though they were very difficult to speak to at the moment. Their mating season was nearing its end and they were all the more aggressive because of that.

Harry found a familiar track in the loose dirt made by a slender snake, a fast-moving slender snake.

The trick he had found to these is to catch them when they were sunning themselves in the morning. For some reason, they seemed more reasonable when he approached them and was able to negotiate with them easier.

Over the last week, he had gotten familiar with this species of mamba and Harry would admit they made the crotchety Mojave rattlesnakes seem friendly in comparison.

Harry followed the tracks to a large termite mound in the middle of the open grasslands where he saw the snake he was tracking draped over a rock. Unfortunately not far from this mound was a rather large herd of elephants who had noticed his presence if the warning trumpet from the large bull was any indication.

This was one thing that made Africa unique from the other places he had collected venom, he was far from the top of the food chain here. Most of the larger predators slept during the day but could still be seen on occasion so he had to be mindful of his surroundings. Even the herd animals here were dangerous, particularly elephants and cape Buffalo who would attack if they felt threatened particularly if they had their young with them.

Harry crouched down trying his best not to seem threatening to the five-ton pachyderm.

§The big ones will not come near me, speaker§, the snake hissed slithering over to Harry and causing the elephants to wander further away from the termite mound as even elephants avoid this species of snake.

§I can't blame them, your bite is very potent§, Harry complimented.

The grey snake lifted its head to look Harry in the eye, Harry idly noticing its head bore a certain resemblance to a coffin. Its round black eyes were focused on him and Harry could make out its white underbelly as it lifted its head higher so it was at eye level. This snake looked to be about eight feet long but the species had been known to reach as long as fourteen feet in length.

§So what are you doing here, speaker?§, The snake asked looking him in the eye.

§I have come to ask you for some venom§, Harry answered preparing himself for a difficult negotiation.

§I will let you have some venom if you protect my nest with your magic§, the shake answered at once.

§You have a deal§, Harry answered at once

Harry began the process of extracting venom marvelling at the inside of the snake's mouth which was coal black and the reason the snake was called the black mamba. The venom extraction was over in less than a minute and he had the venom packed away in his carry case.

§Is your nest inside the termite mound?§ Harry asked after he had cleaned and stowed his collection equipment.

§Yes, I have a fresh clutch of eggs that will soon hatch§, The snake hissed sounding pleased with herself.

§Then let's make sure nothing can harm your hatchlings§, Harry smiled as he gently tapped the shake with his wand before placing wards over her nest to keep anything but her from entering her nest.

§It is done, only you can enter your nest and all two legs will be repelled from coming near this mound§, Harry told the snake after the wards were completed.

§Thank you, speaker, I am grateful for this§, The serpent hissed before slithering off of the mound and into the long grass towards a herd of antelope.

Harry stood there for a moment watching the antelope, it wasn't hard to figure out when they noticed the snake because the herd scattered in all directions to avoid her. This female had yielded seventy-five milligrams of venom which was respectable for a black mamba considering two drops could kill a human that was a lot of venom.

'That went smoother than I thought,' Harry thought to himself as he began making his way across the grasslands in search of the next snake of the day, sweat already running down his forehead from the heat.

Ministry of Magic Atrium, London,  6/28/1984, 23:57

Harry watched from his position in an office on level seven overlooking the atrium. He had decided the best way to deal with Grindlewald was to do it from a distance. He had arrived in the ministry ten minutes ago from Africa via a special portkey.

Two weeks ago he had altered his appearance and discreetly placed a confundus charm on the woman at the International portkey office. He had convinced her to create this portkey for him that would take him directly into the ministry at fifteen to midnight on the twenty-eighth of June. It would also take him back to Sudan when he said the activation word after the job was complete. He felt bad about obliviating her afterwards but it was for her safety as much as his and completely covered his tracks.

After a lot of thought, Harry had found the perfect solution to take care of Grindlewald, he would become a sniper.

Harry had acquired an AR-5 survival rifle from a gunshop in London via another confundus charm and a large amount of cash (this particular rifle was rather rare). He had taken the rifle and had a gunsmith fit it with a 3x9 power scope and had the man boresight it to be accurate at three hundred yards which was about the length of the atrium.

Usually, this type of rifle broke down into three pieces and fit in the stock, so Harry had altered the compartment that was meant to cradle the receiver with an expansion charm so the gun could easily be disassembled and stored with the scope still attached.

Right now Harry was assembling the rifle, first, he slid the receiver into the stock and tightened down the stock bolt and then attached the barrel and tightened the barrel nut down. Taking the loaded magazine, Harry slid it into the mag well and cycled the bolt chambering the 22 Hornet round into the chamber.

The ICW escort party would arrive one minute after midnight and walk Gellert Grindlewald through the atrium to transfer him to the ministry of magic aurors for processing. Harry had borrowed an office in the department of sports and games which had a perfect vantage point of the atrium, he was laying prone on the desk, the stock to his shoulder, his eye looking through the scope and the barrel propped on a stack of books as he waited for his target to arrive.

The window Harry was aiming through was directly above and to the right of the guard desk and it wasn't really meant to be used as a window in the conventional sense. This window was like others in the ministry, it imitated what was happening outside utilizing a simple illusion charm to boost worker morale.

Harry had disabled the illusion when he arrived, vanished the glass and then put a silencing charm over the room to prevent the shot from being heard which should give him a bit more time to escape.

Checking his watch, Harry saw he had thirty seconds before the portkey from Austria arrived and preemptively took the rifle off safety. He would only have one shot at this, about fifteen seconds after he took the shot he had to be gone before the ministry triggered the lockdown wards.

Harry moved the rifle around until he saw the gathering of aurors waiting for the ICW to arrive in the middle of the atrium and then moved the rifle so that he was looking at the visitor's entrance phone booth through the scope, increasing the scope's magnification accordingly.

Harry hoped this worked as well as he planned and that he was successful in preventing Cassie from getting what she wanted from Grindlewald. The thought of the problems Cassiopeia Black in possession of an artefact that could basically control the government sent a chill down his spine.

A flash of blue light caught his attention, it came from a little to the right of his current point of aim. Adjusting his position and magnification accordingly, Harry was looking at the ICW party who had just arrived by portkey at the far end of the atrium.

Harry focused the scope on the eight men and women in navy-blue battle robes with their wands directed at a tall and very thin old man. They were walking in formation, with two men walking backwards in front of Grindelwald, two in the back and two on each side moving very slowly towards the group of British aurors in the centre of the atrium.

Focusing on his target, Harry saw that Grindlewald was almost bald and appeared to be toothless from the look of it. The elderly dark lord had piercing blue eyes that were scanning the room in interest. Harry thought he looked genuinely pleased to be here though after being locked in a cell for forty years any change of scenery would be cause for celebration.

Harry felt a tinge of regret about what he was about to do as the old man really did look harmless. He quickly forced it down, the old man may be harmless now but he was responsible for the deaths of millions and could cause all sorts of problems if Cassie's interrogation was successful.

The old man was wearing heavy shackles on his legs and wrist, he shuffled along with the group of ICW aurors. Harry calmly took aim between the two ICW aurors aiming in at a spot in between Gellert's blue eyes and followed his progress as the old man was led across the atrium. Harry had to force himself to be patient, mentally telling himself to wait for just the right moment as one mistake would ruin everything.

Harry waited until the formation came to a stop and slowly began to squeeze the trigger holding the crosshairs on a point on Grindelwald's forehead about a half inch above the centre point between his eyes.

Harry jumped slightly when the rifle discharged watching through the scope as Grindlewald dropped to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

"Escape," Harry whispered while maintaining his hold on the rifle that doubled as his escape portkey.

Harry watched the aurors scrambling around as he felt the familiar hook behind his navel before he vanished in a flash of blue light.

Ministry of Magic Atrium, London, 6/29/1984, 00:16

Alastor was baffled by what happened, one minute they were about to affect the transfer of one of the worst dark lords in history and the next second said dark lord dropped dead with a tiny little hole in his forehead. Even the ICW representatives were at a loss for how this had happened.

"Head Auror Moody, explain what the hell happened!" Rufus Scrimgeour demanded angrily as more and more people flooded the atrium to process the scene.

"Bugger if I know, there wasn't a spell fired in here, Grindlewald just dropped dead right before we were to take custody of him," Moody said looking completely at a loss.

"No shit, I want to know what killed him," Rufus sighed looking ready to pull his hair out.

"One of the ICW goons thought she saw a flash of light from up there," Moody said pointing to the ceiling of the atrium over the guard station.

"And?" Rufus asked.

"We checked the offices and didn't find anyone just traces of an international portkey and a strange smell in the room, smells like someone lit a firework," Alastor said looking confused.

"International portkey?" Rufus asked testily as if this should be an obvious clue.

"Yeah, but the thing is, that is the office of the head of sports and games. There are three different International portkey signatures in the office. Manis goes to all sorts of meetings with his counterparts and takes portkeys right from his office. So we're having to run down all three signatures to find out which one if any is from the assassin. We very well could be chasing are dicks on this as I don't even know for sure if this was an assassination," Moody explained looking frustrated.

"Minister Black is going to be furious," Rufus groaned.

"I think we're about to find that out," Alastor muttered as he saw the minister stalking toward them.

"Fuck!" Rufus muttered as the irate woman approached while Moody made a strategic retreat.

'Glad I'm not him right about now,' Moody thought as he made his way to his office to inform Albus of this new development.

Southern Sudan, Africa, 6/29/1984, 6:39

Harry woke to the sound of his alarm going off. He wasn't even tired from last night's activities, he had left last night at ten o'clock here and returned by ten after eleven, he doubted even Sanjay had known he had travelled to London and back. Harry only wished he could read the Daily Prophet this morning because it was guaranteed to be a good one.

The sun was just rising as he stepped out of his tent to find Sanjay already awake preparing their breakfast a pot of porridge judging by the smell.

"Morning mate," Harry grinned as he took a seat at the table and poured himself a mug of steaming hot coffee from the percolator.

"It is, I think it's going to be a hot one today," Sanjay said as he refilled his own mug.

"So how many vials do we need to fill our quota of mamba venom?" Harry asked curiously as he scooped some porridge into his bowl.

"Thirty-six which shouldn't take very long with how many of them are out and about," Sanjay assured him.

"And gaboon viper?" Harry asked knowing they were way behind on those collections.

"One hundred and thirty-two but we will be going somewhere where those are more plentiful soon enough," Sanjay assured him.

"Excellent, these lions scare the hell out of me," Harry admitted.

"They make me nervous too," Sanjay agreed as he fixed himself some porridge.

"So how is Athena?" Sanjay asked after a few moments of eating in comfortable silence.

"Guarding her egg, she has moved her nest to the jungle room I made her but she won't let anyone near her egg," Harry chuckled.

"They're very protective of their egg clutches in the wild," Sanjay explained not seeming surprised.

"I am just worried about having another snake slithering about the house," Harry sighed.

"Oh I wouldn't worry about that, there must be a reason she laid an egg," Sanjay said wisely.

"What do you mean?" Harry questioned.

"She is a familiar, she will not have a normal snakelet, it will be a familiar searching for its bondmate. If she has lain an egg she must sense a parselmouth in need of a familiar," Sanjay explained.

"Oh," Harry said having an idea of what Sanjay meant.

This could either mean Carina who Athena was already close to or it could mean Harry's younger self though that didn't seem right somehow.

"I suppose it could be my daughter," Harry said thoughtfully.

"Only time will tell my boy," Sanjay said looking amused.

'I do kind of hope it is my younger self, if just to mess with Sirius," Harry thought as he finished his breakfast and prepared to go collect some venom.

Peverell Beach House, Cornwall, 6/30/1984, 7:39

Harry got up to the sound of laughter coming from the nursery and guessed that the twins were awake. Harry hadn't heard anything about the assassination of Grindlewald as he had gotten home rather late last night so he was anxious to get the paper this morning.

Peeking into the room, he saw Iggy and Carina chattering to each other from their separate cribs.

"Good morning, you two," Harry grinned catching both of their attention.

"Da'!"

"Dada!"

They both squealed excitedly as they noticed him standing in the doorway.

Harry hadn't seen them in a week but he could swear they grew. Carina's hair was starting to get long and fell in thick curls down her back. Ignotus' hair was like his, a complete mess though his son was growing taller than Carina and Harry knew he would grow to be a tall man one day.

"Come on let's get you two ready," Harry smiled as they both bounced in excitement.

Harry gently scooped them up and checked their nappies having to change them both before carrying them to the kitchen so they could have some breakfast.

It didn't take long before the kids were eating messily in their highchairs and Harry was tucking into a ham and mushroom omelette as he unfurled the paper that was waiting for him by his seat at the table. Harry couldn't help but grin when he read the headline.

Mysterious Assassin Kills Gellert Grindelwald inside the Ministry of Magic!

Minister Black Under Investigation by International Confederation of Wizards!

Aurors Say Grindelwald was Killed With Muggle Weapon

'That worked out better than I thought it would,' Harry thought as he perused the articles, unable to keep the smile off of his face the more he read.