A Gazelle helicopter was flying over the sleeping England. The pilot was a member of the British army but the man on the co-pilot seat was father Matteo Cafasso. His eyes were closed and he was gently stroking his temple.
"About three degrees to the left." said Matteo and the pilot corrected the course.
"And their distance?" asked paladin Marco Rua who was sitting in the back with another priest and paladin.
"About sixty kilometres."
The other priest's eyes widened. Cafasso's ability to sense the dementors from such a distance could mean only one thing and so he asked, "Is there many of them?"
"Yes, it's a big group. We are lucky to be able to give them such a huge blow on our first strike."
"Lucky?" asked the other paladin. "Shouldn't we call the others?"
Marco chuckled and responded, "I guess you never saw Cafasso in action. Don't worry."
About five minutes later, Matteo said, "I think they are headed south-east."
Marco checked a map and then agitatedly said, "Their target is this village. We need to intercept them before they reach it!"
Pilot changed the course again and called the Lynx helicopter that was following them.
As they flew further, their assumption was proven true. They landed on a field which was positioned in the expected route of the dementors. The Lynx landed shortly after them and a small squad of Italian soldiers disembarked from it. Most of them were armed with flame-throwers.
"They are coming." stated Matteo after a while.
The soldiers took their positions on sides. Matteo, Marco and the other priest went fore while the other paladin remained with the soldiers.
Soon, the chilly night air grew even colder. The three men in front stood still. One of the soldiers shivered. The other paladin laid his hand on his shoulder and encouraged him, "Be strong, God is with us."
Then they came - a group of sinister hooded figures. The dementors stopped for a moment and then continued to glide toward what they supposed to be their appetizer.
The two priests and the paladin waited to the last moment. When the dementors were mere metres away from them, they raised their crosses and cried. Three cones of light appeared, Matteo's one was noticeably bigger then the others.
The dementors hit by the light started to burn. Those in front were destroyed almost instantly. The soldiers felt better suddenly and charged. Some of them seemed to know where the dementors were, others had to be directed by the paladin who was with them. Flame poured out from the flamethrowers and the yet undestroyed dementors found their demise in it. The screeching of the burning abominations was everywhere.
Finally it was over and darkness and silence filled the field again. The priests and paladins remained on guard, Matteo was searching for any other targets (but the residual energy of the dementors interfered). Some soldiers took IR and NV goggles and looked around.
Nott and several other Death Eaters apparated on the edge of the field. They were supposed to attack the village with the dementors and clean the site afterwards. They came to investigate what kept them.
They detected the people on the field and the burned remains of the dementors. It didn't even cross their minds that the muggles destroyed them and so they carelessly approached them.
Matteo and others found out about the new arrivals shortly after they apparated. The priest turned towards them while each paladin took a group of soldiers and moved to flank the enemy.
Nott met the priests, the other Death Eaters remained behind him. They knew about the hidden muggles but they were ignoring them in their arrogance.
"Good evening son. I see that my brother and me aren't the only ones who enjoy a nice refreshing stroll in night." said Matteo to Nott.
The Death Eater pursed his lips in anger. Then he snarled, "Shut your filthy mouth you vermin and tell me what happened here if you want to die quickly."
He said that only to bring the information he wanted to the front of Matteo's mind. Then he tried to read it. To his surprise, he found out that the priest's mind was extraordinarily disciplined and organized. He wasn't able to get inside.
"Now, that's not a proper way to talk to a servant of God." said Matteo with a smile.
The whole situation started to stink to Nott. He decided to quickly capture one of the priests and then kill everybody else in the area. He drew his wand and shouted, "Avada Kedavra!"
Matteo didn't even bother to reach for his cross. He just blinked and cast one of the first and most simple "spells" he had been taught.
The killing curse hit a shield and harmlessly dissipated. The shield was completely unaffected by the curse. Nott stared in disbelief, he never saw anything like that to happen.
After the shock passed, all the wizards started to bath both priests in a barrage of spells. The priests just stood there. It was clearly visible that they were not strained or anything. Their shields obviously weren't stopping the spells by their superior energy. Instead, it seemed that they were exploiting the very nature of the wizarding spells to stop them - in a way that only priests with their peculiar art were able to.
While the wizards were focused on the priests, the paladins and the soldiers charged. The wizards suddenly found themselves in a crossfire. One of them cried, "Shields!" and those who weren't shot yet, erected special kinetic protections around them. One of them, a rookie apparently, cast only a simple Protego. Before his comrades could warn him, a soldier started to shoot at him from his rifle. The shield held three bullets but the fourth went through and hit his shoulder.
While the other priest was defending himself, Matteo stepped back and dispelled the protective magic that the wizards weaved around themselves. The bullets had their way clear again and it soon became obvious that the wizards had lost. Nott wanted to apparate away but Matteo hit him with a rather complicated spell that anchored him. Matteo then drew his sidearm and told Nott, "I think it would be wise if you dropped your wand and surrendered, son."
The area was cleared of any evidence afterwards. Injured wizards were tended to and then loaded in a helicopter that arrived. The whole company then left and the field was silent once again.
All three helicopters landed on a grassy grounds that belonged to the military base where the priests and paladins stayed. Soon, a Jeep arrived and Rattazzi and lieutenant Armo Marino (the leader of the platoon) got out of it and walked towards the helicopters.
"Matteo, nothing is really enough for you, is it?" called Rattazzi. "You were supposed to stop the dementors and now I hear that you actually engaged wizards."
"They were with the dementors." replied Matteo and frowned.
"Well, you did a good job. A total victory and no losses on our side. Congratulations."
Rattazzi then walked to the prisoners and gazed at each of them. His hate was obvious from his face.
"Who is you leader?" he asked.
Nott knew that there was no reason to conceal his status (since Matteo already knew the answer) and snarled, "You are going to pay for this. The Dark Lord will make you wish you were never born!"
Rattazzi drew his sidearm and aimed at him. Lieutenant Marino caught his arm and said, "No. As a leader, he has the most information."
Rattazzi lowered the gun, leaned towards Marino and whispered, "Drug them, interrogate them and then execute them all. Their leader first. You know that we can't hold them for too long."
Lieutenant just nodded and issued orders.
"Do you have any idea where did they go?" asked Kingsley.
"No." answered Ron.
Hermione continued, "We were waiting for them in front of the village, prepared to defend it. When they weren't coming, we went to search for them - we thought that they just steered to another target. However, the dementors were gone. It was as if they disappeared."
"Have you noticed anything unusual?" asked Kingsley another question.
"Well, the whole thing stank and we didn't want to hang out there for too long. So no, we haven't seen anything strange, we left as soon as possible." replied Ron.
"What if they were attacked by other wizards?" pondered Hermione.
"A such big group of dementors? A few rebellious wizards wouldn't be able to tackle them. If there was anybody out there capable of such a feat, we would know about them." replied Kingsley. "Anyway, we have bigger problems to worry about. Go and have some rest now. And tell Harry about this if you meet him."
Ron and Hermione went to another part of the cave they were hiding in. It was morning and the community was waking up. They met Ginny, who was returning from her morning hygiene.
"Hey sis!" called Ron, attempting to sound jovially.
Ginny was rather sombre. She just replied, "Huh?"
"Have you seen Harry? We have some news for him." asked Hermione.
"He's probably still in his room." mumbled Ginny. Hermione and Ron nodded and went there, Ginny followed.
Harry's "room" was a small space surrounded by thin plywood.
"Harry? Can we go in?" called Hermione. There was an unintelligible grunt from the inside. Hermione and others stepped inside. It was dark inside and the air was musty. A small camp bunk and Harry's trunk were the only pieces of furniture in there.
"I said leave me alone." said Harry. He was still lying on his bunk and showed no notion of getting up.
"Harry, something's up. Kingsley thought that you should know." told him Hermione.
Harry growled but then he sat up and lit a candle. Ron and Hermione repeated what they told Kingsley.
"So, what do you think?" asked Hermione when they finished.
"Well, it's obvious that Tom has other enemies then us now. That is, unless those dementors suddenly decided that they don't want to hurt people anymore."
"Yes, but who are those other people? Some local vigilantes?" asked Ron.
"Don't be ridiculous!" snapped Harry. "British wizards are scared shitless for their pathetic lives. I find it hard to believe that there would suddenly grow a new group of rebels in such an environment. No, everybody who is against the current regime is here with us."
Hermione was silent and Ron just remarked, "Yeah, that's what Kingsley said."
Ginny then pondered, "And what if they are from abroad? What if for example the French sent somebody?"
Hermione cleared her throat and said, "Well, I think that that's as much as improbable. Other European wizards have enough trouble fighting the Death Eater agents in their own countries. And wizards overseas have their own problems."
"Anyway, we should keep our eyes open and contact those people if possible." stated Harry and got up from his bed.
Two cardinals walked in a silent corridor in the Apostolic Library.
"I say we should continue in the same way. I don't like Gruber's plans." said the first cardinal.
"Please, see the reason. We can't tolerate those spawns of devil any longer." opposed the second one.
"Do you even listen to what he says? Do you listen to what you say? Your words reek of racism. Try to switch the word wizard for black or Jew and you will sound like certain somebody."
The second cardinal rubbed the bridge of his nose. Then he opened a door and the first cardinal went in.
"I really regret that you see things this way." said the second cardinal, closed the door and walked away. Inside, the first cardinal bewilderedly stared at the closed door. Then he heard a cough behind him and turned around to face his assassin.
Marco was again in a helicopter. Three soldiers were with him.
"Fly low and stop to hover behind the edge of the wood, it will give us some cover." said Marco to the pilot.
They received a message from the local police that they received a strange call from a villa behind the village. Rattazzi's people ordered the cops to stay back and sent the closest operative to investigate.
When the helicopter slowed down, Marco and the soldiers rappelled from the helicopter. Then they ran through the wood and two minutes later, they reached the villa. Marco shielded the group from the detection spells and called the HQ.
"What's on infra?" he asked.
"Four heat sources. I think it's the hostiles."
Marco and his companions got to the back door. Before they entered, Marco warned them, "Remember, I can't anchor then like Cafasso can. If we screw up, they'll escape."
They proceeded with their guns with silencers aimed. Soon enough, they found a body of a boy. He was killed by a knife.
Then they heard a sound of a breaking china from the next room and then footsteps. They all took cover. A young Death Eater entered and before he could react, Marco silenced him by a head-shot. Then they were contacted by the HQ again. They were told that the other three sources were probably above them and that one of them was cooling down.
Marco and the others went upstairs. There were two more wizards and a man hanging from a beam. They turned around and wanted to leave but Marco attacked and shot the wizard in front. He fell in the arms of the other wizard. Marco and the soldiers continued to shoot but all the bullets were stopped by the dead body. That gave the remaining wizard enough time to come out of the surprise and shoot a killing curse. Marco blocked it and rushed toward the Death Eater. He tackled him down and forcefully gripped his hand with the wand and twisted it. When the wizard was disarmed, Marco took his head in both hands and banged it on the floor. Then he raised his fist and punched him in his face a few times.
"Sir, I think he had enough. We would like to question him." said one of the soldiers.
"I know, I know. Just want to be sure that he's drowsy enough to be unable to try anything." replied Marco.
Two hours later, Marco met Matteo at the HQ.
"I heard you had another action today." said Matteo.
"Yeah. They took control of a guy and made him kill his whole family. Then they hanged him and made it look like a suicide." replied Marco.
Matteo patted Marco's back and remarked, "Horrible."
"And do you know what the guy we interrogated said? That it was their duty to disinfest this world from our filth. He said that they were actually bothered by that since we are so disgusting but that they had to do it. Which is quite fortunate if you ask me. This way they are at least quick and clean. I'm afraid that if they actually enjoyed it, the fate of that family would be much worse."
Matteo stared at his friend and then said, "Just don't let all of this to absorb you. If you let hate to control you, you will loose your powers."
Marco swallowed the remark he wanted to make. How could Matteo remain so calm in face to all of what was happening?
Matteo's and Marco's next two weeks followed the same pattern. First platoons from British army were dedicated for the cause and the Italians started to prepare them for action.
They had several more hits on wizards and continued to hunt dementors, who were detectable by Matteo. They were split and each of the priests and paladins worked alone (only with a squad of soldiers) to be able to cover a larger area.
Both Matteo and Marco were constantly busy. So busy, that they had no time left to ponder Rattazzi's (and his superiors') plans.
In a large, sparsely lit room, a group of Death Eaters was sitting around a table.
"It's not possible! That Kingsley's and Potter's pathetic group of rebels is incapable of such a thing. They simply don't have enough resources to pull something like that," stated one of them forcefully.
"And what if all those missing dementors just left?" proposed another.
"Don't be ridiculous. Why would they..." opposed yet another and then fell silent. "They wouldn't leave just like that, would they?"
Everybody was silent. They were waiting if they leader wanted to say something.
Their leader Voldemort was sitting on a big, heavy chair at the head of the table. He was pondering all the information he received.
Then he said, "I find it hard to believe that they would leave in such a large quantities and before the feeding, not after. As for the missing wizards, those who were with dementors might have been killed by them. And those who weren't - well, one could say that Kingsley and his people got them."
The Death Eaters watched their leader, barely breathing.
"But something isn't right here," continued Voldemort. "Something isn't right and we have to find out what. We shall prepare a trap..."
The vote concluded and the scrutineers started to count the ballots. One of them read each ballot aloud. The name Gruber was heard frequently.
Some of the cardinals were feeling uneasy since there were a few of them missing or dead. However, nobody said anything.
When everything was counted and checked, the result was announced to the cardinals. None of them were surprised.
Soon, a white smoke was rising for the people in St Peter's Square to see and the Cardinal Dean asked the pope-elect the usual question. Gruber gave the usual affirmative answer and his papacy began.