Enter the Dragon (Harry Potter/Shadowrun)

[Littlenous]

Am I the only one who wonders about perfect TIMING of "cleaner's" actions? I mean, it wasn't "head bumps" I expected originally, but rather perfect "synchronization" with law enforcement. He knew about their activity, and done his deed with intent to leave them "some scraps" (auction house+wounded kidnapper)... Could Bones STILL have some "informants" in her team? Or, we can hope that they were "cleaned" by Kingsley?

 

[SoCar37]

Dunkelzhan, brilliant author that you are, I pray you have plotted out beyond this. For I have no clue how this does not end in tragedy and tears. Now that the Ministry knows about Harry's condition, I give the Wizengamot 48 hours to decide he is a dangerous dark creature and ineligible to have a wand or any assets. Forfeited to the Minister of Magic and his Undersecretary most likely. Hermione will have plenty of time to brood her way into hatred of Harry, and she's just being patronized by the Aurors that her folks aren't going to be permanent roommates of the Longbottoms. Malfoy wins.

The glass isn't just half empty, the rest is basilisk venom with iocane powder.

 

[The Unicorn]

Now that the Ministry knows about Harry's condition,

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The ministry does not know about Harry. Amelia and her co-conspirators know about Harry, those are two very different things, especially now that Amelia finally decided to start fighting (as demonstrated by having all the known informants/corrupt scum in her forces murdered.

You seem to have missed the massive differences between this setting and canon.

 

[128Hunter]

To be fair it isn't that the ministry knows Harry is oddly metallic but that some people that Bones absolutely trusts are aware... and appropriately hesitant of doing the wrong thing to tick him off and set him on Them rather than remain a decent citizen.

 

[Cheetored20]

Dunkelzhan, brilliant author that you are, I pray you have plotted out beyond this. For I have no clue how this does not end in tragedy and tears. Now that the Ministry knows about Harry's condition, I give the Wizengamot 48 hours to decide he is a dangerous dark creature and ineligible to have a wand or any assets. Forfeited to the Minister of Magic and his Undersecretary most likely. Hermione will have plenty of time to brood her way into hatred of Harry, and she's just being patronized by the Aurors that her folks aren't going to be permanent roommates of the Longbottoms. Malfoy wins.

The glass isn't just half empty, the rest is basilisk venom with iocane powder.

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That's assuming that the information has to get out.

 

[SoCar37]

To The Unicorn, 128 Hunter, and Cheetored20: Some (more than one) person in the Ministry now knows. Three can keep a secret if two are dead. Our author has made clear that the setting Ministry actually IS at least as corrupt as canon if not more so. The information WILL get out, probably at the worst possible time.

 

[Dunkelzahn]

The question is, where is that portkey now?

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On the matter of the portkey, it's currently in Hermione's laundry (assuming she changed clothes before bed) still pinned to the inside of her shirt collar. At some point she's going to put that shirt back on and notice it, and then she's really going to want to smack herself for forgetting in the heat of the moment.

Also a note on the portkey: had she used it, it would have taken her to a Gringott's portkey receiving area, not to Harry.

Spoiler: From 4.10.1

"The emergency portkeys for your young ladies were easy enough to arrange," the rotund goblin reached into a coat pocket and withdrew a brown envelope. Handing it to his young partner, he continued, "Two small pins. Say the activation word written on the note within, and they will trigger, attempting to transport the wearer to Gringotts' portkey reception area. Please inform the wearers that due to their small size, the pins will not carry more than one charge, and that anyone arriving via such a portkey will be forcibly detained by Gringotts' security forces until both their identity and mental state can be verified. It is company policy."

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That's a nice hard dose of reality.

A good chapter and it makes me want to erite a short story about an angry dragon burninating a criminal stronghold.

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Feel free to write one if you want. Omake are welcome if you decide to post it here.

Am I the only one who wonders about perfect TIMING of "cleaner's" actions? I mean, it wasn't "head bumps" I expected originally, but rather perfect "synchronization" with law enforcement. He knew about their activity, and done his deed with intent to leave them "some scraps" (auction house+wounded kidnapper)... Could Bones STILL have some "informants" in her team? Or, we can hope that they were "cleaned" by Kingsley?

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Just to note, while the timing might seem suspicious, it's less that they were coordinated and more that they are independent events with the same trigger. The DMLE went into action when they detected Hermione's kidnapping, because she had been kidnapped and they're the DMLE. Narcissa specifically arranged for her cleaner to liquidate Lucius' assets as soon as he verified that Hermione had been delivered to the auction house. Narcissa wanted her revenge, so she made sure the kidnapping went through but couldn't be traced back to them. The cleaner's actions would have happened whether or not there was an auror response.

Spoiler: Original Foreshadowing of this in 4.7.4

"My husband has made a mess," Narcissa explained to her favorite cleaner, handing him a small slip of parchment. "See that it is cleaned up properly."

The man took the slip and read it carefully before nodding in understanding.

"When?" he asked laconically.

"At the appropriate time," she replied cryptically, smiling a cruel sort of smile.

The man's brow furrowed in momentary confusion before it relaxed as he caught her meaning.

"Understood, ma'am."

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Dunkelzhan, brilliant author that you are, I pray you have plotted out beyond this. For I have no clue how this does not end in tragedy and tears. Now that the Ministry knows about Harry's condition, I give the Wizengamot 48 hours to decide he is a dangerous dark creature and ineligible to have a wand or any assets. Forfeited to the Minister of Magic and his Undersecretary most likely. Hermione will have plenty of time to brood her way into hatred of Harry, and she's just being patronized by the Aurors that her folks aren't going to be permanent roommates of the Longbottoms. Malfoy wins.

The glass isn't just half empty, the rest is basilisk venom with iocane powder.

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Relax, it'll be okay.

 

[Cheetored20]

To The Unicorn, 128 Hunter, and Cheetored20: Some (more than one) person in the Ministry now knows. Three can keep a secret if two are dead. Our author has made clear that the setting Ministry actually IS at least as corrupt as canon if not more so. The information WILL get out, probably at the worst possible time.

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Yes but it doesn't have to happen RIGHT AWAY which is what was originally implied. I love the politics of the setting, so if this makes an excuse to get Harry more active it could go well.

 

[pjung]

also between Harry's sheer power, ties with Gringotts and growing economic clout as well as the protection of Dumbledore the ministry might think twice about picking a fight with him
and the longer it goes without his secret getting out the more power he will develop, both magical and economic
EDIT: Remember Dumbledores threat to the Malfoys? I am sure that they do
the Ministry might end up winning that fight but they would not live to see it. and they know that

 

[Nioz]

the Ministry might end up winning that fight but they would not live to see it. and they know that

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I... I have a tremenduously hard time seeing the ministry actually winning that fight in any fashion that doesn't cause Harry and Dumedlre to just pull out all the freaking stops. And the events following that... those would be pretty much foregone conclusions.

 

[The Unicorn]

To The Unicorn, 128 Hunter, and Cheetored20: Some (more than one) person in the Ministry now knows.

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By that logic they've known for years. A LOT more than 3 people have known about Harry's activities for years and managed to keep them secret, Amelia Bones is about as likely to reveal anything to the Slavers as the Goblins are.

Our author has made clear that the setting Ministry actually IS at least as corrupt as canon if not more so.

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Oh the ministry is a lot worse than canon, that's the point. It's well past the point you can call it corruption, if the bad guys found out about Harry they wouldn't care about him being a dragon other than the fact that makes him more powerful than his position already makes him, so that's not actually dangerous for them to find out, except that it gives them warning. If they find out Harry is working to free the slaves they'd do their best to kill him for that with no pretense of why they're doing that.

However we know Bones and her group are quite capable of keeping stuff secret from the slavers for years, for proof, they're still alive. They are now starting to actively fight the slavers which will make keeping things secret from them easier.

 

[Cheetored20]

By that logic they've known for years. A LOT more than 3 people have known about Harry's activities for years and managed to keep them secret, Amelia Bones is about as likely to reveal anything to the Slavers as the Goblins are.

Oh the ministry is a lot worse than canon, that's the point. It's well past the point you can call it corruption, if the bad guys found out about Harry they wouldn't care about him being a dragon other than the fact that makes him more powerful than his position already makes him, so that's not actually dangerous for them to find out, except that it gives them warning. If they find out Harry is working to free the slaves they'd do their best to kill him for that with no pretense of why they're doing that.

However we know Bones and her group are quite capable of keeping stuff secret from the slavers for years, for proof, they're still alive. They are now starting to actively fight the slavers which will make keeping things secret from them easier.

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I want them to try to kill Harry without knowing what they are getting into .

 

[SoCar37]

Oh, I wouldn't expect the Ministry to win, but I would expect they might try. Also, who in the Ministry knew about his dragon-ness? Gringotts? Absolutely. Hogwarts Staff? Sure. All the Ministry knew up to this point was that Harry had a centaur mount.

 

[Erik Phantom]

Well, Wizarding Britain is lucky she didn't remember to use the portkey. A hysterical damsel landing in Harry's lap would have surely provoked his best Trogdor impression.

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Arriving at 25000ft travelling at mach 0.8. would torus the airplane . If she survived that the angry dragon OF DOOM transformation would confetti everyone on the plane. Then VERY ANGRY DRAGON roasts London under a "reign of fire"

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The emergency portkeys were set to Gringotts (a goblin explained in the last few chapters, warning Harry that any unexpected/unscheduled arrivals would be immediately and forcefully detained by Security, and that use of the emergency portkeys would be such. So it would still get them safe (though would suffer probable rough handling by the goblin security), just not to Harry.

Edit: Nevermind, just saw that Dunkelzahn already beat me to it above.

 

[The Unicorn]

Also, who in the Ministry knew about his dragon-ness?

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At a minimum? Dumbledore. He's just as much a member of the Ministry and Amelia Bones.

 

[Jordisk]

It has been a while since I was in the mood to read this story, so I had to start over from where I last remembered. It is just as good as always, and I look forward to more.

My big questions:

1. What is our favorite immortal elf clown going to do once he has caught up to the professors and Harry. He apparently knows about the stone circles, hence him showing up at Stonehenge after it was drained, but I don't know if he is aware of the Fifth World magic users.
2. Did Harry draining Stonehenge increase the background magic like the uncontrolled reactions did? We know the data has been gathered, that was the whole point of Dumbledore meeting with Flamel's latest apprentice.
3. Speaking of Flamel's apprentice, is that a Shadowrun character, an OC, or possibly Sakura Matou? Because the description sounded like a version of Sakura Matou, though we have no indication of any Nasuverse crossover elements before now so I doubt it is an intentional inspiration for the character.

I have not figured out how to quote messages while editing

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You have to quote the message so it goes to the standard reply box, then copy+paste the quote into whatever you are editing.

Nah, more likely that was the clean up team that Malfoy's wife send.

Su Li doesn't have either the clout nor the connections for that kind of play or to make it happen that fast.

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I will agree with this. The "non-descript" man was obvious Narcissa's favorite cleaner, as she said in an earlier chapter, and is probably one of the slaves himself given how he was described.

Dunkelzhan, brilliant author that you are, I pray you have plotted out beyond this. For I have no clue how this does not end in tragedy and tears. Now that the Ministry knows about Harry's condition, I give the Wizengamot 48 hours to decide he is a dangerous dark creature and ineligible to have a wand or any assets. Forfeited to the Minister of Magic and his Undersecretary most likely. Hermione will have plenty of time to brood her way into hatred of Harry, and she's just being patronized by the Aurors that her folks aren't going to be permanent roommates of the Longbottoms. Malfoy wins.

The glass isn't just half empty, the rest is basilisk venom with iocane powder.

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"The Ministry" doesn't know. The high-level, off-the-books, anti-corruption Auror taskforce, or at least a subset of such, knows in addition to the staff of Hogwarts, the damsels, and the Dursleys. It is certainly not on record anywhere except possibly Poppy's private records, and given who knows so far, it isn't going to be. Just because the government is corrupt to the point that the uncorrupt are viewed with suspicion if not killed off, there are still those that fight the good fight.

 

[Knightowl]

Remember this is Shadowrun starter mode. The formation of the MegaCorp SSP.

 

[Cheetored20]

Remember this is Shadowrun starter mode. The formation of the MegaCorp SSP.

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What's that, never touched shadow run before.

 

[Mashadarof402]

What's that, never touched shadow run before.

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Cyberpunk corporate dystopia with magic, dragons, elves, orcs and an incoming spirit versions of the tyrannids.

 

[Cheetored20]

Cyberpunk corporate dystopia with magic, dragons, elves, orcs and an incoming spirit versions of the tyrannids.

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Sorry was specifically asking about the megacorp.

 

[Knightowl]

Sorry was specifically asking about the megacorp.

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In a future blerp the Orginal Writer of this Story idea had Slackhammer, Snape an Potter starting to form at first a Think Tank Corporation that by the Time Lofwyr take over Saeder-Krupp became a AA Corp that focus on ThinkTanks and Transportation.

He never said who was the First S in the Corps name.

 

[Skjadir]

In a future blerp the Orginal Writer of this Story idea had Slackhammer, Snape an Potter starting to form at first a Think Tank Corporation that by the Time Lofwyr take over Saeder-Krupp became a AA Corp that focus on ThinkTanks and Transportation.

He never said who was the First S in the Corps name.

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Considering how things go here I doubt that is going to happen like that.
We already have Harry starting a corporation on his own (more or less) and actively investing the money he gets from different patents.

From the looks of the megacorp will likely start as a mix of think tank,logistics/transport corp, maybe construction and from there expand likely into heavy industry and semiconductor/superconductor manufacture.
Side things will likely be stakes in military complex/weapons manufacture.

 

[SoCar37]

At a minimum? Dumbledore. He's just as much a member of the Ministry and Amelia Bones.

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That's really not the same. He's an office holder who knows better than to bring it up. He is not a half-dozen members of the DLME who only need one too many firewiskeys in the Leaky to spill the beans. "Oh Merlin, you won't believe what I found out! Shhh!"

 

[The Unicorn]

That's really not the same. He's an office holder who knows better than to bring it up. He is not a half-dozen members of the DLME who only need one too many firewiskeys in the Leaky to spill the beans. "Oh Merlin, you won't believe what I found out! Shhh!"

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Yes it is, he is actually more a member of the ministry than the Aurors actively fighting the slavers.
If any of the people in the Anti-Ministry force led by Amelia bones was going to spill their secrets that easily they'd be dead. Additionally, they're no in the habit of sharing drinks with slavers or people likely to talk to slavers, unless the later are spies/traitors, and those have just been dealt with (at least in the short term).

 

[pjung]

yeah, the inner circle of the Aurors seem to be involved with what would be classified as treason by the Ministry, if they were the type to leak secrets they would be dead.
EDIT: Or worse, which is a real option with how much Mind Magic is thrown around

 

[Mashadarof402]

That's really not the same. He's an office holder who knows better than to bring it up. He is not a half-dozen members of the DLME who only need one too many firewiskeys in the Leaky to spill the beans. "Oh Merlin, you won't believe what I found out! Shhh!"

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Except that this inner circle is also bound by the fact that they were involved in the extrajudicial killing their own of corrupt members.

If they can't hold their secrets, they're literally dead.

 

[Dromuthra]

First, thanks for the excellent chapter! Next, once Hermione starts working through things, she's probably gonna start blaming/hating herself for insisting that she would be fine and for not listening to every single source of advice that told her this was a bad idea. Which is going to be absolutely great for her mental health. Hopefully someone will arrange for some mental health counseling for her; she's gonna need it considering that her coping mechanisms in the books weren't terribly healthy, being denial, repression, and obsession.

 

[RedX]

Next, once Hermione starts working through things, she's probably gonna start blaming/hating herself for insisting that she would be fine and for not listening to every single source of advice that told her this was a bad idea.

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In her defense- and this should become a major point in her recovery and the after-action of the situation - that "every single source" you mention consisted of one emotionally immature thirteen-year-old and one seventeen-year-old, neither of which could be bothered to so much as pick up a phone or write a letter to her parents over the situation.

Whereas the list of people whose response was essentially "there's no major risk, you run along now" consisted of every single adult Hermione knows, without exception, to include highly-placed academic officials and the single most politically influential individual in the country- the latter of which was aware of a specific threat, but said nothing to warn anyone about it. Even the super-paranoid Snape, notable as a direct mentor figure, was certain that she would be protected by her signing on under Harry's feudal protection.

Well, she wasn't. She poked her nose out of a security buffer and was instantly snatched by people who couldn't have been stopped by any level of political intimidation or social overhead, because they didn't even know it existed. The only reason she's not a brain-wiped zombie on another continent right now is because an, apparently entirely unrelated and unconnected, group of people got lucky and saved her.

None of this in any way puts any blame on Hermione whatsoever. She was only wrong because the vast, vast majority of people she trusted- had to trust- screwed up by the numbers. Modest blame on Harry and Abigail for not thinking of the parents Granger as... well, people. Heavier blame on the teachers, for blithely assuming everything would be fine, despite hints (to include a long history of previous abductions, and Harry's celebrity status) that no it wouldn't. Even deeper blame on Dumbledore for knowing there was a threat out there, and informing nobody of it.

I just hope that the people in the story, from Hermione on up, realize this.

 

[Girador]

Hmmm, from what I recall Professor Snape advised her that this was a horrendously bad idea.

 

[The Unicorn]

Hmmm, from what I recall Professor Snape advised her that this was a horrendously bad idea.

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Yup, and I don't think anyone else advised her it was a good idea, they simply didn't grab her and tell her what a horrible idea it was, mostly because they didn't know what was going on.