A/N: See the awesome manip sandra-sempra made on my Tumblr page crochetawayhpff! Also, drop a line and tell me your thoughts!
"GET RID OF THEM!" Sirius Black roared as he pointed his crystal wand, Destiny at the Quibbler in James Potter's hands.
"Woah, Sirius, calm down, mate," James placated as he lowered the paper.
He knew it was risky showing Sirius the paper, but he had to know, they had to strategize to fix this. He'd listened to Sirius a week ago when he had decided Dumbledore and the rest of the hidden half-bloods had to go. And look where that got them. Dumbledore was exceedingly popular, and their puppet minister, Cornelius Fudge, was facing a barrage from the wizarding public.
"I don't give a fuck, James. Get rid of every fucking Lovegood on this goddamned planet!" Sirius tucked away his wand, and brushed his hair from his face, calming slightly.
James incinerated the copy of the Quibbler he was holding. It had a front page article regarding the magical power of half-bloods, and how it was often much, much more powerful than a purebloods magic. Hogwash, in James opinion, but people were unsettled since the raid on Diagon Alley a few weeks ago. Banishment of Dumbledore and the others were supposed to have helped calm fears. But it hadn't.
"Alright, Sirius. Consider it done," James nodded to his friend and swept from the manor.
Sirius hated his family and had moved in with James when they were sixteen. Since James' own parents had passed away, it was just the two of them in Potter Manor. James would need a few reinforcements so he Apparated to Malfoy Manor to see if Lucius or Draco was interested in helping. They could generally be counted on for most unsavory tasks like this, they seemed to relish in it as much as James did.
Lucius was uninterested, but Draco wasn't. He bounced on his feet as James walked through the plan. Which wasn't even much of a plan, go to Xenophilius Lovegood's house, kick him and his daughter out. Set fire to the house. And that was it. That was all James had, but it would be enough. It should be enough.
James and Draco Apparated to Dover, near to wear the Lovegood's lived. James found himself on a rolling hill with a tower house in the distance, no doubt the Lovegood's. A quick Disillusionment charm over both he and Draco took care of the surprise part of the surprise attack.
James flung open the door and he and Draco rushed inside. The bottom floor of the house was filled with a huge printing press that was madly flipping out pages.
"Bombarda!" James shouted, blowing the press up and grinning as the papers inside spun and swirled in the air around them.
"Hey! Who's there?!" Xenophilius asked. He was on the stairs and rapidly descending. James removed his charm, but Draco kept his.
"Time to go, Xeno," James said as he pointed his wand at the man.
"Go? I won't go. I live here! You go!" Xenophilius shouted.
A second set of steps was heard and James caught sight of the daughter, Luna.
"Not anymore you don't. You have five seconds to gather your crap and get out," James said as he aimed a Confringo hex at a window. The glass shattered and he smirked at the sound.
Draco, meanwhile, had snuck up behind the girl, and had his wand to her throat, ending his own Disillusionment charm.
"Bitch gets it if you don't get a move on," Draco growled from behind Xenophilius.
"Luna! Oh, not my daughter," Xenophilius cried out.
He made to move forward, but Draco dragged Luna further upstairs, his wand digging into her neck.
"Go, Daddy," Luna whispered.
Xenophilius looked up at the pair, then back at James, whose wand was trained on him once more. Slowly, Xenophilius began descending the stairs.
"Accio wand!" James shouted and grasped Xenophilius' wand as it flew toward him. "Let's go, old man."
Xenophilius moved faster and Draco dragged Luna back down the stairs. James snagged the wand in her hand as well as they passed him.
"Incendio," James hissed, pointing his wand at the floors above him. They caught fire quickly. He backed toward the door and let one more Incendio charm lose on the floor at his feet, before running down the stairs to Draco and the Lovegood's. He smirked as he watched the tower become engulfed in flames.
"Oh, gods," Xenophilius breathed, watching his house burn with wide eyes.
"Let this be a lesson, Lovegood. Go join your friends in the Under, you aren't welcome in the Upper any longer," James smirked at the pair. He and Draco Apparated away, taking the Lovegoods' wands with them.
James left Draco back at Malfoy Manor before he made his pitstop to Diagon Alley. He had taken to stopping by once a day, paranoid that the Under would conduct another raid. And wanting to be present if they did.
He couldn't believe his luck when standing in the side alley he had Apparated in, Severus Snape of all people Apparated right in front of him, holding Dumbledore's body.
"Oi! What'd you do to him?" James asked angrily, looking at Dumbledore. He knew it wouldn't be completely safe to kick anyone out of the Upper, but he hadn't actually thought that anyone would die.
"Fuck," Snape breathed and dropped Dumbledore as he fumbled for his wand.
James already had his wand in his hand though, and so was much quicker, "Incarcerous!"
Ropes flew from James' wand and wrapped themselves around Snape, trussing him up like a pig. James grinned when he fell over, hard.
"Well, well, Snivellus. What are you doing so far from home? Sirius is going to be quite pleased to see you."
Snape glared at him from his position on the cobblestones of the alley. James laughed. His day was getting better and better. He thought for a moment about what to do about Dumbledore. He couldn't leave the body here for anybody to stumble over. Nor did he really want to take it with him. He needed to foist it off on someone else, really. But who?
He grinned, Draco Malfoy was so eager to please and help James and Sirius. He grabbed both Snape and Dumbledore and Apparated to Malfoy Manor.
A house-elf greeted him with a squawk at seeing a bound man and a dead man show up.
"Fetch, Draco," James ordered.
"What the fuck is this?" Draco asked when he walked into the Apparating lobby and found a dead Dumbledore waiting for him.
"Get rid of it," James said, he prepared to go.
"What? How?"
"I don't fucking care. I don't have time to deal with it. Just do it," James snapped and narrowed his eyes at the younger man.
"Oh, alright," Draco grumbled.
James nodded, grasped Snape once more and popped away, this time to his own Manor.
"Sirius!" James called as soon as he arrived. He levitated Snape through the hallway toward the main staircase.
"Is that?" Sirius asked from the second floor.
James grinned up at him, "Come see for yourself."
Sirius bounded down the stairs like a puppy and positively smirked when he saw Snape. Snape glared even harder and James and Sirius laughed.
"I can't fucking believe it. How'd you get yourself caught and trussed up like a roast, Snivellus?" Sirius sneered.
"Eh, it was luck mostly. He Apparated right in front of me in a side alley off Diagon," James explained.
"Very lucky," Sirius grinned, pointing his crystal wand at Snape. "Let's take him down to the dungeon."
"I'm telling you, it will work," Sirius said. "I've done all the research —"
Lucius snorted. James glared at the other man.
"I am perfectly capable of research, cousin," Sirius snapped.
"Of course, you are," Lucius replied. But even to James, it sounded slimy and sarcastic. Normally he and Sirius wouldn't even bother with a slimy Slytherin snake like Lucius Malfoy. But he had almost as much influence in the shadow council as James and Sirius did combined. They needed him if their plan was going to be fruitful.
"Take me through it once more," Kingsley Shacklebolt asked. Another member of the shadow council.
"Lure all of the Under up here in a war, a final battle. Get them in one spot. I have a spell, it's easy, any drop of Muggle blood and 'poof' you are gone. Evaporated," Sirius said. "It only works with Destiny, Gift of the Founders." He held his crystal wand aloft.
"What if one of us has Muggle blood?" Darius Greengrass whispered to Walden Macnair.
"Don't worry, Greengrass," Sirius smirked. "We checked everyone's lineages registered with the Ministry. As long as none of your ancestors lied to the Ministry, you'll be fine."
"Seems incredibly dangerous," Thorfinn Rowle commented. "How do we even know it works?"
"We've got a half-blood in custody," James offered thinking of Snape.
"He's the lure," Sirius responded. "He's important to the precious 'Under' and that's who we'll use to lure them up here. The spell will work, I promise."
"I still don't like it," Rowle muttered.
"You don't have to, Rowle. Just be prepared to help fight," Lucius stated with a calculating gleam in his eye.
"Tell me about her," Sirius growled with his crystal wand pointed at Snape.
Snape was looking worse for wear by this point, his nose was broken and bloody, both eyes were blackened and through his tattered robes, his torso was mottled with bruises. James rolled his eyes at Sirius, this was the third time Sirius was down in the dungeons questioning Snape on the girl. The Mudblood from Diagon Alley. James was not that curious about the girl, and he couldn't really understand why Sirius was. A piece of trim was a piece of trim, but since that day, Sirius had been almost obsessed with her. James was much more interested in the boy. Harry Snape. Snivellus' son? But then, why did he look so much like James? James was sure that the reason was that Harry was actually his son. Which would mean that Lily Snape's pregnancy hadn't failed as it was intended to do.
"Fuck you," Snape said, spitting blood into Sirius' face.
"We aren't going to kill you, you know?" Sirius said conversationally, switching tactics.
Snape shrugged.
"We're going to keep you around, torture you some more, ask about the girl. Then when your precious 'Under' come to save you, which they will, we're going to kill them all," Sirius grinned cruelly.
"They're better fighters than you could ever be," Snape groaned as Sirius kicked him in the ribs.
"Oh, we won't be fighting. Not much anyway. See this?" Sirius held his wand aloft for Snape to get a good look at. "This is Destiny. And she's got this fun little spell that will rid the world of any witch or wizard with even a drop of Muggle blood in them."
Snape's eyes widened slightly, before drooping once more. James was sick of looking at him. He wanted to get this over with. He wanted to see his son, and if possible, save him from Sirius' little spell.
"Are we ready to set the trap yet?" James asked boredly from the doorway.
Sirius whipped around like he'd forgotten James was even there.
"Not yet," Sirius said and kicked Snape once more. "Snivellus hasn't told me what I want to know about the Mudblood bitch."
"Fine," James sighed. "I'm going to go meet with the council. I'm sick of looking at him and his dirty blood."
James left Sirius alone, he knew Sirius wouldn't kill Snape. Snape was the bait and Sirius was dead keen on using his nifty Muggle blood spell thing. James sighed, he didn't even know what the spell was called. Sirius was being quite secretive about it.
"... they're tearing up the Alley!" Macnair shouted, waving his arms.
James had just entered the council chambers at the Ministry to find almost the entire council in session.
"Who is?" James asked as he took his seat.
"The Weasleys," Rowle spat. "They're protesting the removal of the Lovegoods. They got the Boneses and a few other families in a right uproar."
"Fuck," James breathed.
The Weasleys were a very popular family, for all that they were as poor as church mice. The joke shop alone was invaluable to the amount of revenue added due to sales tax.
"They have to go," Sirius panted, standing in the doorway of the council.
James frowned at him, there was blood on the hem of his robe. James cast a discreet Scourgify, but it didn't help much, the obvious blood stain just turned into a less obvious stain. At least it wasn't easily identifiable as blood anymore.
"Wait a moment, Black," Malfoy drawled. "We can't just kick out all of the families who disagree with our tactics."
"Yes, we can. They are Muggle-lovers, blood traitors. They don't deserve to be a part of our world," Sirius stated, taking his seat at the table.
"What about Ginny?" James asked Sirius quietly.
James was in betrothal negotiations with Arthur Weasley for the hand of his daughter. For all that she was twenty years his junior, James had a thing for redheads. And even Sirius had to admit the girl was gorgeous.
"Fine, the Weasley twins then. I assume they are the ones causing most of the trouble in the Alley?"
Macnair nodded.
"Who else? Bones you said?"
"Amelia Bones and her brother Edgar have been making noise at the Ministry," Greengrass stated.
"They go to," Sirius replied.
"Are you sure that's wise, cousin?" Malfoy asked.
"Yes," Sirius snapped and narrowed his eyes. "Get it done, James."
"Consider it done," James replied. "I'll have Draco help again."
"Good," Sirius stood and left the chambers, his hand clutched tightly around his crystal wand. James watched him go, he didn't know what his plan was going to be, but at least he'd been able to save Ginny. Now, to figure out how to save his son.