I thought this was an important two-part question that was asked, so I'm going to copy and paste it here if anyone wants to read it: it is in regards to why Malfoy and the other Death Eaters are still in the Death Eater ranks instead of out of harm's way/in Azkaban. You can also find this at the bottom of my profile in the Q&A section for The Dark Revival.
Q: Vance McGill: Can you explain why Lucius Malfoy is back amongst the Death Eaters? His fear of Voldemort, and what would happen to his family because of the Dark Arts drove him away. With a new Dark Lord, I can't exactly see him getting into the mix, since it would risk death or imprisonment for life. And some of these big named Death Eaters from the book... yeah, most of them were either killed or captured during or right after the Battle of Hogwarts. So either there was an enormous break-out, which would have the wizarding world on high guard, especially during the wedding in the first chapter or... well, some of canon is ignored.
A: Glad you brought this up; I thought people would point it out. I'll put this question and its answer in the next chapter, too, because I think it's important. I have answers to both of your concerns. First, regarding Lucius Malfoy, he really isn't a good guy deep down. This is the guy who, in the Hall of Prophecy in the fifth book, was telling everyone to kill Harry's friends as long as they got the prophecy. He wanted to return to the Death Eater front, but he was afraid for his family. But not from Auror retribution: from Voldemort. Now that Voldemort's gone, he's not afraid to kill Muggles like he still wants to do, because Voldemort isn't threatening his son. But he is still concerned for his family when things get tough... he stopped coming to the Death Eater gatherings when the Aurors started picking up the pace. But I will be focusing Chapter 4 on the Malfoys, actually, so you'll see these thoughts in action. Secondly, about the Death Eaters during the Battle of Hogwarts-you see them overpowered, or Stunned or what have you, but you never actually see them taken into custody. It's very possible that after Voldemort fell, the Death Eaters revived their friends and fled. If someone is dead, I won't bring them back, but otherwise, if we didn't explicitly see them taken into custody, they're going to appear in this book, mostly because I didn't want to introduce a whole giant group of original characters for the Death Eaters, having already started doing that for the Aurors. Plus its added vengeance you want to see happen to them, because you already know they're killers. So maybe it's unlikely that everyone escaped, but it's possible. After all, it's only the people who were named. There were hundreds of people in Voldemort's army who were probably captured, but the important ones (the named ones) would certainly be rescued by the other Death Eaters with higher priority when they were fleeing. I try to stick as close to canon and its likely consequences as possible; going with this version, even if it's a little less likely, makes for a better story overall.
Hope that cleared some things up for others, too.
Here's Chapter Three.
chapter three
sledgehammer
friday, july 16, 2004
"GODDAMNIT, POTTER, YOU AND YOUR EXPELLIARMUS!"
Megara Roy, Harry's mentor, was headed his way, shaking her head in frustration. Harry had just finished another training session by Disarming both of the Death Eater mannequins. She hated it when he used the Disarming Charm.
"I'm not going to kill anyone," said Harry resolutely, as always.
"I know you're not going to kill anyone," said Roy, shaking her head. She ran her fingers through her short, gray hair; she was barely out of her forties, but she had already grayed, likely due to her tough experiences in the Auror Office. Her severe face had wrinkled too early but her eyes had never lost their fire.
"But…" began Harry, sighing.
"But you've got to start Stunning, at least!" groaned Roy. "Your enemies may have stowed another wand in their robes in case you Disarmed them—they may have the capability to hit you with wandless energy, which can be very dangerous for select individuals trained in wandless magic—"
"Wandless magic is so incredibly rare," retorted Harry, "and if they have another wand, it's not going to be as effective as the one that chose them. And just as soon as they could procure another wand, another Death Eater could revive them from the Stun."
It was the argument they had every time Harry used Expelliarmus, and no one would win the argument.
"Regardless, Potter, I want to see you Stun," said Roy. "Because when the situation demands it, you're really going to need to use it."
"Meg, I need to get back to the reports," groaned Harry. "We've captured a large number of Death Eaters, and not only do I have to check out the reports on the captures, but I also need to put together the cases for when we send them to court—"
Roy whipped out her wand, and a large sledgehammer appeared in her left hand, which she wielded as easily as she would a broomstick. She waved it threateningly.
Harry turned back to the training center. When Roy got out her sledgehammer, nobody argued anymore. His arse was still sore from the first time she'd procured the hammer in front of him… he'd assumed she was bluffing about using it.
Roy restarted the training exercise. Three Death Eater mannequins popped up, in full garb and with faces painted on their smooth heads. They were too lifelike; Harry always felt bad about inflicting pain, even though the mannequins were designed not to feel pain. They were called "Likelifes," and they acted like real people—dodging curses, using tables as shields, grabbing fake Muggles and holding wands to their throats. The task was to rescue the Muggle mannequins, and if the observer (Roy) felt that Harry's performance wouldn't have held up against a real Death Eater, he was required to restart. He went through this training weekly, even during times of relative peace.
Harry Stunned one Death Eater Likelife and cast a Full Body-Bind upon another with relative ease. The third grabbed a Muggle Likelife and held a pointed stick to its throat. Harry tensed for a moment and cast the Disarming Charm at the Death Eater; the stick flew away and then he Stunned the Likelife.
"POTTER—"
"I Stunned it!" protested Harry as Roy advanced on him angrily with the sledgehammer. "I Stunned it afterwards! But Disarming is a quicker spell than the Stunner jet, so I did that one first!"
"Yes, but Potter, you leave a prime opportunity open for the Death Eater to snap that Muggle's neck with his hands, even if he doesn't have a wand!" raved Roy. Veins were bulging in her forehead. "You're too soft! The Death Eaters will take any opportunity you give them to cause any damage they can. Don't give them those opportunities! You don't want to kill but you give them a chance to do it? It makes you just as much of a murderer!"
"What do you propose I do in the situation I just encountered?"
"Think! Think for longer before deciding that your signature spell is the only option! Just because it is your signature spell does not mean that you're required to use it weekly! Watch—"
Roy revived the Death Eater Likelife, which sprang up and held another pointed stick to the Muggle's throat. She flicked her wand, and the Muggle sprang into the air, hoisted by its leg; she then Stunned the confused Death Eater.
"Levicorpus, Potter—get that Muggle out of danger and then you've got a free shot," she sighed. "You may be my superior, but I am your mentor and I've been here longer than you. Do it again and do it right."
"Again—? Meg, I've got work to do!"
"Then you'd better do it right this time!"
"I, for one," said Ron, strolling over casually, "think it's perfect that the main figurehead of the Auror Office is known for his reluctance to kill."
Roy rolled her eyes.
"Don't you think it gives the Auror Office a much better reputation?" asked Ron.
"Not if a slip-up costs us lives," said Roy. "Potter, you really need to know how to handle a situation where Disarming won't do the job. Please get it right next time. Go do your reports for now."
Harry turned away and marched to his office.
Ron followed, jogging to keep up with Harry's fast walk. "You know she just wants the best out of you."
"I know, I know," said Harry. "But it just eats at me. I saved Peter Pettigrew's life and Voldemort returns—but as a result, eventually, Voldemort was defeated for good. Will everything turn out that way in the end… or will there be some lives I just can't afford to spare?"
"I guess that's one of those unanswerable questions."
"I'll get Research and Development on answering that for me."
"Say again?" asked Braden Sage, strolling in. Sage was the head of Research and Development for the Auror Office.
"Hey, Sage," said Harry. "I don't actually have a job for R I was joking."
"Oh, good," said Sage. "Because we're swamped, you know, with this office Quidditch tournament that we're hosting because we're not actually doing anything."
"Well," chuckled Harry, "when you finished the HERMAN four times faster than we expected, that left you all with a lot of free time."
"Wait, the HERMAN is finished?" asked Ron excitedly. "That's awesome! That's… what's the HERMAN?"
"The High-capacity Emergency Relocating Method for Auror Necessity," explained Sage. "It's going to be our alternative to the Portkey. You know how a Portkey can only transport a number of people equal to the number of people who have cast the spell on the object in the first place?"
"Yes," said Ron, "and it's so tricky and the consequences for getting it wrong are so dangerous that very few people are given the authority to be able to make one… and if you don't have the authority, you can't even physically attempt to cast the spell. The Portkey won't work and the DMT will be carting you off to Azkaban instantly."
"That's right," said Sage. "When there's trouble afoot, we used to have to order fifty Portkey-makers to come down to the Auror Office so we can transport fifty Aurors away. But now, we can use HERMAN to get everyone there instantly, and all they have to do is touch each other."
"Kinky," said Ron.
Sage rolled his eyes. "Where's Jojo? He's on my team and our Quidditch match starts in ten."
"Not sure," said Harry. Looking down the hall, he saw Trixie Fado-Bitsis, a short, plump, rosy-cheeked woman with absurdly long eyelashes. She was the woman who oversaw most logistical procedures in the Auror Department, such as pay, vacation time, sick leave, and where to find anyone you asked. She accomplished the last responsibility by checking an enchanted roster that reminded Harry a bit of the Marauder's Map—he wondered if his father's friends, as members of the Order of the Phoenix, had helped develop it, but apparently that was confidential.
"Trixie, where's Jojo Monroe right now?" he called to her.
Trixie checked the Auror roster. "Sick leave," she called back.
Harry was startled. "Jojo is never sick," he said, confused.
Trixie checked again. "Whoops—that was Mipsem. Sorry. Jojo Monroe is… down in R&D."
"Thank you, Trixie," said Harry.
She batted her eyelashes flirtatiously.
"Whoops, that probably means he's looking for me, too," laughed Sage. "Ta-ta, Harry. Good luck with all of the court cases coming up."
"Thanks," said Harry as Sage rushed off.
"HERMAN sounds really convenient," said Ron. "And how is the Swaplication project going along?"
"Also finished," said Harry. "Finished three years ago, actually."
"Ah," said Ron. "I'm a bit slow on the uptake."
"Just a bit."
"What's Swaplication again?"
Harry laughed and shook his head. "Ron—"
"EMERGENCY," blared a voice throughout the Auror Office. "EMERGENCY. MUGGLES IN IMMEDIATE DANGER. EMERGENCY."
Harry snapped into action. "Time to test out the HERMAN, I think," he said. "Expecto Patronum."
He sent out his silver stag Patronus. It sailed off in search of Monique Lumein, the Head Potioneer of the Auror Office. In addition to her duties as Potioneer, Lumein made announcements and declared states of emergency. Harry's Patronus found her quickly, and after delivering the message, Lumein's voice returned to the loudspeaker to state, "ALL AURORS IN SECTS A AND B, REPORT TO THE AURORS' ATRIUM."
Harry and Ron reached the Atrium first, and then a dozen Aurors poured in behind him.
"HERMAN, here!" he announced.
A pair of white-and-red shoes with little wings flew into the atrium just over everyone's heads. The laces were tied together, and the wings fluttered so fast it was difficult to see them.
"Everyone, this is HERMAN," said Harry. "This is our new method of transportation. We were going to have a briefing on its operation fairly soon, but as you can see, an emergency has risen, so you're just going to have to trust me. Everyone put a hand on the shoulder of a person closer to me than you are. Don't waste any time; we've got an emergency with Muggles in immediate danger."
After every Auror was connected, with the two closest people putting their hands on Harry's shoulders, Harry reached up.
"Hold on, everyone," he said, and he grasped the shoelace bow.
It felt just like traveling by a Portkey, but with less sense of actual direction. Sage was giving HERMAN directions as they traveled for efficiency. Soon they landed in a dark side street of a city, and most of the Aurors managed to stay on their feet.
Harry looked up, and his knees weakened.
Lumein hadn't been kidding about Muggles being in immediate danger.
Before them, about fifty yards away, there were five people, four adults and one child, bound and gagged, standing up straight in the middle of a courtyard. Harry assumed these were the Muggles. But the odd thing was that they were dressed like wizards, with robes and pointed hats. And hovering fifty feet above their heads was a boulder the size of a small house.
Harry motioned for everyone to start moving. He took out his wand and grimaced as he walked forward tentatively. Any moment, whoever was hovering that boulder could release it… but it seemed like they were waiting for something. Perhaps waiting for an Auror appearance?
As they approached the boulder, Harry's stomach sank further and further. The Muggles weren't just dressed like wizards—they were dressed like very specific wizards. One of them was wearing a red wig; the woman standing beside him had bushy brown hair. The other woman was wearing a longer red wig, and beside her was a man with scraggly black hair, given glasses and with a large scar in the shape of a lightning bolt cut into his forehead. It was clearly supposed to be Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione. The little boy standing beside "Harry" looked to be only several months old, but had been forced to his tiny feet. He had been given the same glasses and lightning bolt scar; was this supposed to be James?
"Good evening, Aurors!" called a lively voice from somewhere in the sky.
The Aurors readied their wands, looking for the source. Then a man stood up on top of the hovering boulder.
He had straight brown hair and a darker, sicklier shade of skin than most. He was wearing a black robe, and was holding a Death Eater mask limply at his side. He was not holding a wand. Which meant… someone else was probably levitating the boulder, so there were probably other Death Eaters nearby.
"Don't bother looking for my friends," said the man on the rock. "I haven't got any yet. I'm trying to meet new people, but it's hard when you're usually killing them."
Harry tensed and got ready to strike. There was no wand to Disarm—he was going to have to Stun. But how would he rescue the Muggles this time? Would Roy know what to do?
Silently, the other Aurors set an Anti-Disapparition Jinx upon the area. Harry cleared his throat and prepared to address the man.
"Who are you?" he said loudly; they needed to keep up the conversation while a plan was devised for the rescue.
"My name is Gallen Ingot. How do you do, Auror Potter?"
"What are you doing?" said Harry.
"Standing on a rock," replied Ingot. "Oh, and killing people. That's become so commonplace I barely remember to mention it anymore."
Crystella Walker lashed out her wand, but nothing happened.
"You can't budge them," said Ingot. "Sorry to disappoint, but I'm far more powerful than all of you combined. All this power… it's a burden, you know. With this kind of power, you're really required to take over as much of the world as you can, or you're really a waste of magic."
"Let these people go, or face the consequences," demanded Harry. "We're not going to ask again."
"What are you going to do, Harry Potter?" asked Ingot. "Disarm me?"
Harry twitched angrily.
"Well, I'm afraid you'll literally have to relieve me of my arms to Disarm me, as I haven't got a wand on me right now. But that's okay. I don't need one."
"You expect us to believe you're floating that thing bare-handed?" asked Harry. "Where are the other Death Eaters?"
"Snug in their beds, dreaming of sugar-plums," mused Ingot. "I'm here as a messenger. You won't like my message, and I encourage you to kill the messenger in this case, because I'm excited to see your attempts."
"And what message would that be?"
"It goes something like this," said Ingot. He cleared his throat. "Hi, there, I'm Gallen Ingot and I'm going to kill all of you. Here is a demonstration. Sorry that our first meeting was so short, but believe me, we'll be seeing a lot of each other soon. Love, me."
Here is a demonstration?
"NO!" shouted Harry, as Ingot back-flipped off of the rock, dove straight down through the ground, and disappeared. The rock above the Muggles began to drop; they screamed through their gags and tried to jump free.
"WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA!" bellowed the fourteen Aurors at once, but the rock didn't even slow down slightly; it came down with the force of a sledgehammer.
The half-squish-half-crunch that followed was sickening. Harry threw his hands in front of his face as blood splattered all over the robes of the horrified Aurors.
Next chapter: "Whose Blood Is This?" Harry makes a visit to an old enemy, Draco Malfoy, and tries to convince him to assist the Aurors in finding Ingot.