Harry Potter and the Winters After the War

Chapter 54 - The Dawlish Dilemma and the A.M.A.S.S.

            Out of long-standing habit Harry arrived early in the Auror department the morning after Release Day, taking a last minute look over his Auror squad assignments before the morning meeting, which was scheduled to begin promptly at eight. Slowly cubes around him filled, Wendy came by to persuade him to go with her to get coffee, and by the time they got back, the meeting was ready to begin.

            Harry and Wendy, being the last to file into the room, were also the last to sit down. Wendy took a seat in the back while Harry, notes in hand, took a seat up front. The meeting was crowded with every Auror in the department present including, Harry was quick to notice, Dawlish. He nodded at the man he’d hardly seen during his time at the ministry and quickly began the meeting, laying out his plan. Robards let him, never interrupting to object or correct him, which Harry knew meant two things. First he was finally being given the chance to prove himself, and second, if he failed he would take the blame and the fall for these decisions alone. Robards had backed him in front of Kingsley, but in front of the rest of the department Harry was on his own. This mission had become as much about politics and his future within the department as it was about bringing the Death Eaters down.

            When the meeting broke, assignments were handed out and Harry went about answering questions before meeting with his own team. He arrived to find Wendy, Smith, Ron, Justin, and Dean standing around his cube.

            “Don’t just stand there you lot, come on. Small conference room in five minutes,” he told them.

            Wendy and Smith shared a look of understanding, Justin and Dean looked confused, but Ron followed Harry without question, anxious to find out what he hand in mind. Other than being given their squad assignments, this one team had not been handed a pre-defined mission.

“So what are we doing Harry?” Wendy asked before the rest could even sit down.

“We’re bringing Dean and Justin up to speed and then we’re setting out.”

“Where?” Smith asked.

“We’re following up on where we left off in December,” Harry explained.

Justin and Dean looked at each other.

“What who was doing in December Harry?” Dean asked.

“Welcome to my special task force Dean, you too Justin. I chose you two specifically to join us because you are muggle born and this squad works with muggles and muggle data on a regular basis. We have three sites to investigate and take action on. The first is Death Eater beach. Wendy, Ron and I flew a mission last December where we located and tagged the beach and all who were on it with a muggle forensics tag. That tag will be wearing off shortly, so the first order of business which we’ll actually carry out this evening, is to re-mark it. Other than that, we’re keeping all teams away from that area, at least for the moment. We don’t want anyone tipping them off that we know what they’re about.

“Second we’re going to the Isle of Mann. We need to investigate the face of that cliff where the dragons disappeared,” Harry went on.

“Dragons? Seriously Harry, you’re chasing dragons?” Dean asked.

“Sure Dean we’re chasing Dragons,” Harry said with a smirk, emphasizing the word ‘we’re’. “You expected this to be exciting, didn’t you?” Harry could hear Wendy chuckling in the background.

“Well sure but, dragons? Is that really a job for the Auror department?” Dean queried.

“It is when they’re being used as beasts of burden by the Death Eaters,” Harry said, and he launched into a brief history of the case to date bringing the new Auror trainees up to speed. “The rest you can learn on the way. Our first stop is the Isle of Mann. Once there, I suggest we break into teams. Edward, Justin, and Dean go to the airport and try to figure out what the hell Dawlish has been doing for the past year. Ron, Wendy and I are going to survey the Island, try to see if we can locate those spots for the muggle digs. We’ll come up with a place and time to meet once we get there to debrief and catch a meal mid-day. Then, if we have the time, we’ll check them out. Late this afternoon, when we have the shadows to help protect us, we take another look at that bluff, see if we can detect whatever wards are in place and make sure that when we get back, we can locate both the cove and any dig sites we locate on a map. We’ll catch Death Eater beach on our way back. Any questions?”