"Damn it," the relatively new Minister of Magic cursed as the wards pulsed, "bloody bastard has finally taken the gloves off. Nothing for it then - Operation Dagon!"
With that, the few Aurors who were standing about looking terrified suddenly lurched into action. They may have been under attack by one of the most powerful Dark Lords in modern history, but they had orders and people to protect.
Around the Ministry, a siren wailed. People who had frozen in place when the tell-tale feeling of collapsing wards had made itself known suddenly started to scramble towards floo fireplaces. Others activated emergency portkeys that had been issued in advance. A minority, all volunteers, opened special expanded cabinets and pulled out the equipment they would need for a last stand.
50 seconds after the Minister had launched Operation Dagon, all non-combatants had left the Ministry and those that remained were fully prepared to make the Death Eaters pay for every room in blood.
Voldemort's confident smirk evaporated as the first signs of resistance appeared in the form of cutting charms decapitating his vanguard. Cursing, he lead the counter-attack with a large blasting curse that sent body parts flying across the main entrance hall. He was forced to find cover as the Ministry defenders rapidly picked up their game and sent a barrage of offensive hexes towards the Death Eater force.
"Find cover and kill them!" Voldemort screamed, as a reductor curse narrowly missed his head.
Scrimgeour's already grim expression turned a touch darker as the sounds of combat reached him. A veteran Auror himself, a large part of him wanted to go out and join his loyal troops in the battle. Unfortunately, he was the Minister and the Minister had more important things to do in an event like this.
"...I repeat, this is the Minister of Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour. I hereby declare a Code Sea Lion. Please verify immediately."
"This is Major Hewitt of the Prime Minister's signals office. I confirm Code Sea Lion. All communications channels between Her Majesty's Government and the British Ministry of Magic will be sealed until Code Sea Lion has been rescinded according to the Merlin Protocols."
"Copy that. Goodbye." With that the Minister shut down the floo connection to Number 10. The muggles know what is going on, at least. Now to contact the ICW and as many of our putative allies as I can reach...
Voldemort was extremely annoyed. Scrimgeour's purges had cost him the sympathisers in the Ministry that would have allowed this assault to have been over already. As a result they were forced to fight for the Ministry practically room by room. This was not only time consuming, but also costly - he'd lost a good 14% of his effective forces already.
Now he'd discovered that there were a large number of non-Aurors who were joining the fight against his Death Eaters. And unlike the Aurors that had been in the first line of defence, these wizards and witches were using muggle weapons to supplement their lack of experience with offensive magic.
Normally he would have scoffed at the idea of muggle weapons being of any threat to a wizard, but the first hand grenade going off in an office filled with Death Eaters had been a serious wake-up call. His loyal followers were finding out the hard way that semi-automatic shotguns and submachineguns were more than lethal enough in enclosed area where aiming wasn't strictly necessary.
Fortunately he had some extra allies along who were not entirely reliant on shield charms that proved to be ineffective against high velocity lead.
"Send the trolls forward! Let them take out the scum, and then kill any survivors!"
Scrimgeour turned away from the floo, ignoring the clang of the metal grate that slammed across it. He was now stuck in this office, unless he wanted to leave the Ministry by the front door...which, of course, meant getting past Voldemort.
That isn't part of the plan, naturally. Rufus thought to himself grimly. I wish I had a better plan, one that involved an escape route, but decades of corruption by the likes of Fudge means that the Death Eaters know the pre-established escape plans better than I do. No sense crying over spilt milk, though, I knew that this might be on the cards one day.
Scrimgeour strode over to his desk and destroyed the documents scattered on it. Pausing to check some of his personal equipment, he looked at the now cold floo.
At least part of this plan worked. The actions of those out there fighting the Death Eaters bought me enough time to get the warnings out. Magical Britain will be sealed off until we can confirm that the Death Eaters are not a risk. Which reminds me...
He opened a safe in the corner of his office and regarded the contents. Pulling out a sealed envelope, he calmly torched the rest of the contents. Applying a muggle stamp to the envelope, he ruefully examined the name written on it.
We may not have had the best working relationship, but he's the best chance we have now. Good luck, Harry, I hope this helps...
One flick of his wand later, and the stamp-turned-portkey had sent the envelope away to the only person who would ever stand a chance of bringing magical Britain out of its self-imposed isolation.
Voldemort's annoyance had blossomed into full-blown rage. He'd run out of trolls now; the defenders had discovered that even troll-hide is of little use against the shrapnel from hand grenades. His vampiric allies had also taken significant losses, to the point where only fear of Voldemort was keeping them in the fight.
Damn Scrimgeour! He will pay for the life of every one of my followers who has died here!
Behind him, his loyal followers trailed along in the wake of their lord. All of them hoping that the inevitable explosion of rage would not be directed at them.
Harry Potter blinked as an envelope suddenly appeared in front of him. What the heck is this?
Opening it revealed a large bundle of documents that seemed to be far too large to have fitted inside the envelope. Attached to the bundle was a letter addressed to Harry.
"Harry, if you are receiving this then the Ministry has fallen to the forces of the Dark Lord. As Minister of Magic I have invoked Code Sea Lion, which has resulted in magical Britain being cut off from the rest of the world. All of the other Ministries of Magic have now erected wards that will prevent all forms of magical transport out of the British Isles. The only way to reverse this is to exercise the Merlin Protocols, which I have sent to you with this letter. Do not do this until the threat of the Dark Lord and his followers has been ended.
I have also included all of Dumbledore's private files that I confiscated following his death. I hope that they will aid you, I know that nobody here has been able to divine anything useful from them.
We at the Ministry will do our utmost to make the Dark Lord pay for this building with the lives of his followers. We will not get out of this alive, as the attached battle plans will show you. Finish the job for us, Harry, and make the bastards pay.
Rufus Scrimgeour, Minister of Magic."
It was over. Voldemort strode into the Minister's office with a triumphant look on his face. Before him was the Minister himself, bloody and beaten, held in place by Crabbe and Goyle.
"So, Minister, we finally meet. I was going to offer you the opportunity to continue as Minister under my new administration, but after the pointless resistance you ordered I am more inclined to find somebody else for the role. Unless you would care to beg for your life...?" The Dark Lord said menacingly.
"Go fuck yourself, Riddle." Rufus said, glad that he had that one small piece of information about the Dark Lord from Dumbledore's notes. "Britons never, never, never will be slaves." He finished by spitting in the face of the Dark Lord.
Voldemort's rage reached new heights. "CRUCIO!"
Scrimgeour screamed as the cruciatus curse destroyed his nervous system. As the curse ended, he was left panting on the floor. Just a little more, you bastard, just a little more...
"Now you see what resistance brings you...pain. And now death. AVADA KEDAVRA!"
Scrimgeour's last conscious act before the green curse hit was to smile triumphantly. Thanks, Tom, time for the finale.
As the curse hit, monitors on Scrimgeour's body detected that his heartbeat had stopped. This triggered a small rune cluster that had been surgically implanted in the small of his back. This cluster sent a signal to minor ward schemes around the Ministry building.
5 seconds after the Minister of Magic had died, canisters of VX gas exploded through-out the Ministry building. Other charms automatically engaged, sealing the building hermetically to prevent any of the lethal chemical from escaping into the outside world.
Voldemort saw the gas start to spread, and realised the potential danger. "EVACUATE!" He screamed as he activated an emergency portkey that had enough power to punch its way through the Ministry wards. His inner circle reacted in time and escaped with their lord using the same escape route, but those who could not hear that last, desperate order were not so lucky.
Harry sat down in front of a hastily gathered group of the Order of the Phoenix.
"What's going on, Harry?" Hermione asked. Her friend looked like Death warmed over.
"I received a message from Scrimgeour. The Ministry has fallen. His last act was to flood the entire building with nerve gas and seal it up in an attempt to take Voldemort with him. I doubt that he managed to kill the arsehole, but the Ministry is now gone."
Hermione paled. Those with little knowledge of the muggle world looked puzzled. "What is nerve gas?" Asked Daedalus Diggle.
Author's notes: Dagon refers to the Temple of Dagon, notable for the demolition job that Samson carried out.
"Sea Lion" was the code name for the planned German invasion of Britain in 1940.
VX gas is...well, Google it. Very nasty stuff, just 10mg is enough to kill a human.
