Chapter Text
Prologue
It was a day like any other. Harry stood up, got ready for work, had a quick breakfast at the bakery in Diagon Alley, Flooed into the Ministry, and walked through the halls down to the Department of Mysteries.
He discarded his robes, sat down at his desk, and got to work.
Nothing out of the ordinary.
Except for the unusual buzzing outside his door. He hadn't noticed at first.
People, far more people than usual, passed by his door. Sometimes alone, sometimes in small groups, keeping their voices low as they hurried through the department.
Deciding that whatever it was, it wasn't his problem until told otherwise, Harry ignored them in favour of his newest project.
Finding a better, more secure way of storing prophecies took all his energy and most of his will to live. Getting the Ministry to change something that had always been a certain way was not an easy task.
When lunch time rolled up, Harry stretched before he slowly made his way to the canteen.
With Ron and Hermione visiting the Grangers in Australia once again, having lunch was a rather boring affair.
Harry sat on his regular spot, and for the first time that day, paid attention to the people surrounding him.
Most of them stuck together in small groups, eating, chatting, laughing, nothing out of the usual.
But a few higher ranked officials looked off. They tried their best to hide it, doing their usual business, but Harry was no fool.
He had spent too many years around people hiding things from him.
Something was off.
It seemed like his department was mostly absent from lunch today, but the few that were sitting around looked just as worried as the officials.
Furrowing his brows, Harry bit into his sandwich. If Hermione would be here, Harry would know what was up already. She was always the first to know everything; it hadn't changed since they left Hogwarts. The only difference nowadays was that she knew everything because she was the highest ranking in their small group of friends.
Knowing he had to figure this out on his own, Harry finished his lunch and went back to his office.
Smiling to himself, he unlocked the top drawer on his desk and pulled out the Invisibility Cloak.
Something had gone horribly wrong. Somewhere along his plan had gone south. Shit had hit the fan, and Harry had no idea how, exactly, it had happened.
He never went into a location without watching it for a few days, taking notes, looking for alternative ways out, guessing how many would be there, if he could do it all at once or needed a distraction outside. And only once he knew everything about a place and its surroundings would he go in to clear the building.
He had done the same this time.
On his way to loot an old fast food place, hoping for canned goods, a first aid kit, anything useful, Harry had spotted a building with an underground car park. The windows looked intact, everything was closed shut, and the telltale red X was sprayed onto each entrance. Something the government had made the official sign for an infested and lost place as everything started to get out of control.
Regular people stayed as far away as possible from those cursed places. Nothing was worth enough to go into them, not knowing what was waiting for you on the other side of the sealed entrance.
Harry on the other hand had advantages others hadn't. He had used his Firebolt to fly around the house, look into every window and find the safest way in. That way he could also make a rough list of targets and get an idea of what was waiting for him inside besides following his newest profession.
He had monitored the building for four days. Nothing had looked out of the ordinary, or like it'd be too much or too difficult.
So he had absolutely no clue what he had done wrong this time as he sat panting in a storage room, bleeding from multiple wounds that the debris of his own blasting curses had caused. He was trying his best to hold the door shut against the bodies crashing against it from the outside.
Harry felt the energy drain from his body, felt his muscles go weak, daring to give in with every new crash against the door. Maybe he had gotten too used to it and wasn't careful enough anymore. At some point everything always went wrong for everyone. Harry had found a few people over the last few months, but none of them made it. Not even with his protection. The only thing they did was bring him into even more trouble as he risked his own life to save theirs.
At some point he had stopped tagging along with others. It wasn't worth it.
But now, Harry wished for nothing more than a distraction from someone waiting outside. His only other chance was Apparating somewhere, but that came with another set of risks, and he wouldn't take that chance until it was nearly too late. His last way out.
Harry packed his bag in a hurry. He took everything from his desk he thought was possibly worth saving. He shoved it into the black gaping hole of his expanded bag and went to the next drawer to do the same.
Technically, Harry shouldn't know what was going on, but he had found out rather easily and knew that he wouldn't come back to work another day longer.
Once everything was secured and packed away, Harry sat down, scribbled everything he knew onto a parchment and made his best effort to slowly walk to the Ministry's Owlery without drawing too many puzzled looks. The information was confidential, but Harry had to try and get the news to Ron and Hermione before it was too late to save them.
"Unspeakable Potter, what a pleasant surprise to see you! What can I do for you? Let me warn you, all my owls meant for postal services around London are gone."
"That won't matter." Harry tried to smile at the Owl Wrangler whose name had slipped his mind. "Ron and Hermione are on holiday in Australia. I'd like your fastest international owl, please."
"I see, exciting news? People seem to have much of that today."
"I'm probably getting engaged," Harry said, "and they should know first. So if we could keep this on the low? I'd pay extra."
"Oh! I see, I see!" The Wrangler's eyes lit up. "My lips are sealed, no worries! Nobody will know you even were here. I have just the right owl for you, give me a minute and I'll fetch her for you!"
Harry watched him bustle away, drumming his fingers impatiently on the front desk until he returned. Once the owl sat in front of him, Harry tied the letter to its leg and told her the address of Hermione's parents. "Do you mind if I cast a Notice-Me-Not on her? I don't want the press to catch this letter. I'd be devastated."
"Of course, go ahead. It'll wear off before she's back, I believe?"
"Of course." Harry nodded. Even if it didn't, the guy probably wouldn't be here to notice. And the owl wouldn't mind, it'd up her chances in hunting and might just save her life if it got only half as bad as the slowly incoming information revealed to him.
Casting the Notice-Me-Not on the owl, Harry bribed her with a snack. He hoped she might remember him, and came to find him with the letter once she returned, instead of dropping it off here at the Ministry.
Shoving a few Galleons towards the Wrangler, Harry turned to leave the Owlery. Only one more stop before he could go home.
The world was swimming in front of Harry's eyes. An hour ago he had finally located his wand in the dark, tiny room and managed to seal the door shut against the brute force running up against it from the other side. But that was only a temporary solution.
Harry had no food, and only a half-empty bottle of water. Add all this to the general bad state of health he currently suffered, and things didn't look so great anymore.
Staring at the shaking door, Harry got angry. There were way more of the Infected than he had ever seen before. It must be one of the first houses they had shut down, right back at the beginning.
In the beginning people had tried to lock the Infected into a few places so they could control the damage and not lose so many properties. That was when the government was still trying to stop the virus from spreading.
Harry huffed out a dry laugh as he thought back to what they had done for the sake of saving lives and the economy. It had been a nice try at best. Everyone with only half a brain left soon knew there wouldn't be much they could do, except trying to prevent mass hysteria. Which failed spectacularly not long after they gave up hoarding the Infected in houses, and in this particular case, underground car parks.
Leaning back against the wall, Harry closed his eyes. His time was running out, but he'd still need to wait a bit longer. Apparating should be the last way out, his last chance to get away.
The world had gone haywire, and the Ministry and British government had fallen. In a last desperate attempt they had forcefully shut down any means of travelling.
Apparating wasn't as easy anymore. Harry often landed at a random place and not where he had intended to be. His last try had ended in him Splinching himself, and that was when he had decided to give it up for good.
Harry wasn't exactly keen on a repeat.
Reaching for his last bit of energy, Harry started to heal the worst of his wounds. It might give him a little bit more time.
Harry had gone directly to Kingsley to resign, not willing to fuck around with his boss. Kingsley had taken the news with a nod, wishing him good luck.
That was the last time Harry had seen him in person.
After leaving the Ministry, Harry didn't return to Grimmauld instantly. He went to get groceries first, the basics and any food he could keep under a stasis charm. The Muggles soon would have no need for it anymore. Lettuce and meat wouldn't last long without the help of magic. Next on his list was the apothecary at Diagon Alley to restock the basic potions and the ingredients for those that he could brew himself.
And then Harry went home to wait, listening to the news on TV and wireless every hour for the first leaks of what was happening, wondering if the Muggles or wizards would first air it. He couldn't do much till then except write letters and send them out to his friends, hoping that they'll take precautions.
Harry felt guilty about leaving the Ministry in a rush. But he also knew they'd send him to the front lines, and he had risked his life too often for all of them before and given up too many years of his life. This was bigger than horcrux hunting, bigger than defeating dragons and trolls, and even bigger than the Battle of Hogwarts. There the casualties were limited to one space and one place. Harry told himself over and over again that this was nothing he could handle alone, and if he had stayed, they'd have sent him to fight. He knew full well he would be one of the first ones to die.
Harry hadn't fought all his life to die for something that was entirely out of his league.
So he spent the days drinking, waiting for news, for his friends to answer, and secretly starting to ward the houses of his neighbours, then the next street, and the street after, trying his best to keep everyone safe as best as he could with the limited information he had.
It took three days before the first hints were on the news, and a week before he spotted the first Infected on his own street. A month until there was no chance of stopping the panic, and six weeks until the government and Ministry fell. Then the TV stopped airing anything but a standby with the message ‘Stay safe’, and the world as he'd known it ended forever.
Ten weeks later he got an answer from Hermione. "It spread. There's no way back. We love you, Harry. Take care."