When the Roses Bloom Again by TheBlack'sResurgence

Chapter 25

I'll Be Home for Christmas

It was snowing in Austria, adding to the already festive feeling in the air. Christmas was only a few days away after all, but the excitement that could be felt had little to do with the impending holidays.

No. One needed to only frequent a muggle bar or coffee shop to hear the not so hidden whispers of the fever that had gripped the nation.

According to most, and to the apparent joy of many, the Germans were coming.

When that would be, Harry didn't know, but his interest was not in the movement of the little Austrian that had somehow ascended to the very heights of German politics.

His attention was solely on Bregenz where he had been sent by Federov only a few days prior.

Flashback

Pierre Laurent had been a difficult man to capture, his proclivity towards violence and surrounding himself with equally violent men having made him an unattractive target for most Hit-Wizards.

As a native Parisian, he knew the streets well enough to know where the aurors would patrol, where he could flee if needed, which wasn't often. The French aurors were fearful of Laurent and were certainly not inclined to even try to apprehend him.

According to his file, he and his associates were responsible for the murder of eight aurors and three Hit-Wizards already who had made an attempt at bringing him in.

What was immediately clear was that these people had been foolish in their approach by openly challenging the man.

They lacked the needed cunning, something that Harry had come to appreciate in recent months, and something that had become an invaluable asset.

Instead of confronting Laurent in such a brash manner, he had the watched the comings and goings of the Frenchman and his cronies and learned that they had grown arrogant in their ways.

They had become used to the fleeing aurors and brash methods that other Hit-Wizards employed, and as such, they were not prepared for the ambush Harry had sprung on them.

With only some clever transfigurations and charms work in a place they passed through daily, he managed to apprehend all but one of the men who had made a rather poor showing at confronting Harry when he'd appeared to take Laurent in.

With a well-placed severing curse and a little parselmagic, the man had run for all he was worth, his wand hand cleaved in two and a rather persistent python attempting to throttle the life out of him.

Harry let him go.

By this point, quite the crowd had gathered, and Harry had left Laurent's men bound in thick chains where the aurors would easily find them and apparated away with his target who could only spit obscenities, his own bindings holding firm under the strain of his protests.

"Oh, shut up," Harry huffed, hitting the man with a silencing charm.

Laurent continued to mouth his vile insults. Not that Harry could really understand French, he had merely grown tired of listening to his voice.