Chapter 17

Thus began a pattern and a slow build up to action against Voldemort. For the next six months the three conducted counter raids on Voldemort's death eaters. The death eaters knew that they did not have a free license to murder and cause mayhem like before. Voldemort was incensed beyond measure because over that time he had lost over eighty death eaters. They did not know what group or country had began attacking them. Most assumed that the American CIA were behind the operations.

Harry had received word on Friday that Tuesday night they planned an attack in the middle of London as an ambush for the Preservation society. With only four days to the attack, Voldemort had stationed men outside and inside of the building to ensure the preservation society had no chance to scout the building.

Voldemort had laid his plan well and when Harry arrived he had barely disillusioned himself before a death eater came around to check the noise. When he saw nothing he stayed within the area and Harry had to move quietly away from him.

Harry was able to reconnoiter the building and realized that this was not a fight they could win without more troops. When Harry flashed back and told Susan and Hermione the bad news it was Hermione that perked up immediately.

"Harry this is the perfect situation to use that little secret project we have worked on. The muggle Weapons we stole from the US Military can be used with no risk to us."

Hermione smiled as she pulled a remote detonator from her laboratory bench. "We can watch from nearly 200 meters away."

Susan looked aghast "We are going to blow up a building in the middle of downtown London?"

Harry was grinning "Yes we are and your Aunt can place wards up two blocks on each side to keep muggles away. This is an opportunity to get 30 to 40 lower level bad guys. By ambushing the ambushers and it makes us more dangerous in their eyes."

Hermione continued "They will have their people on the outside ready to come in when we arrive. We just make a lot of noise bringing our little weapon in and then flash away quickly and then wait until all of them are in and then BOOM!" Hermione smiled.

Susan seemed concerned still "We blow up a whole building?"

Harry placed his hand on her shoulder "Would you rather I let them go so they could hurt Hannah or your other friends at school?'

Susan's shoulders slumped "No, of course not but this is big and no matter what they will be after us from this point on." She added.

Hermione grinned at her "Susan they are not actively searching for us but we are and have always been on the top of Voldemort's hit list. There is not much we can do about that. Besides if this works, along with the eighty or so he has already lost we are whittling away the number of people who can look for us."

The three gave the plan lots of preparation to pull it off. At the appropriate time, they flashed with the bomb to the center of the warehouse. The commotion from the apparition noise that Hermione created with a spell caused a blizzard of activity from the death eaters. They attempted to bring down an anti apparition ward. The ward only trapped the death eaters because Harry could flash all three through the ward. It was five minutes before the count of Death eaters reached fifty.

Hermione waited for the count of ten after the last Death eater entered. Unknown to them most of the fifty circled around the unknown box that appeared in the warehouse. Only the death eaters on the inside that guarded the warehouse knew it was a new box and were afraid to warn the others.

Hermione squeezed the trigger and two seconds later a blinding flash then a boom sounded shaking them off their feet. The entire building collapsed on top of itself. Harry, Hermione, and Susan looked over at the top of the roof to see the whole structure coming down.

Susan replied to them "Jesus Christ that was the American 1,000 lb bunker buster?"

Hermione responded with a lot of awe in her voice "Yea, I didn't think it would be that bad as it is supposed to be dropped from the air and then penetrate solid concrete before detonating. I figured the blast was the least damaging." Hermione shrugged her shoulders "I might have been wrong about that."

Harry looked at her and laughed "You can be wrong like that all the time. I can live with that." The three then flashed back to Japan for a relaxing bath.

Voldemort had been waiting for news of their ambush. The first indication that something went terribly wrong is when Lucius apparated in the room with his wand hand and right foot missing at the ankle. A second later, Bellatrix apparated head first into the stone wall at a very high velocity. She was missing the whole right side of her body and her neck was broken from the sudden impact. She was dead before she hit the floor.

Voldemort only had one other death eater able to report. His ear drums had been busted and he could only report by yelling at Voldemort because he couldn't hear himself talk. Voldemort stopped Lucius's bleeding on his stumps and then gave the potions to stabilize him. When he tried to cast spells to replace the wand hand and his foot, both spells failed. The damage to his mangled arm and leg was too great. It would be three days before Lucius would awaken.

Voldemort had lost all fifty men on this effort and Lucius would probably never recover to lead other death eaters. Voldemort sat on his throne until two hours later when three death eaters, who were stationed on the outer defensive ring, appeared before him.

Voldemort was astonished to hear that a great noise was heard before a mighty concussion wave felt and then the whole building disintegrated before them. They had stayed two more hours to pull any survivors out if they could. They found no one alive.

The only member to survive just happened to be in the rest room when the blast went off but he had lost his ear drums. He still was not giving a complete picture of what had happened. Voldemort was very concerned as to how this could happen.

On Monday night Amelia had one of the younger Death eaters on the outer ring of their defense line arrested to cover their tracks and to provide an alibi as to how anyone could know about the attack prior. It was brilliant as word got back to Voldemort as to how his plan had backfired. What really placed him off of his track was that it had been reported that the Department of Mysteries had used some muggle weapon to cause the buildings collapse. Voldemort was angry and concerned that the muggles were so powerful.

Within five minutes after the blast Amelia was on the scene with a team of unspeakables. They were there to investigate the type of magic used to bring an entire building down. Amelia smiled as they repeatedly tried to find the spell that was used but could only trace some apparition and nothing else. The aurors found no one alive and many mangled bodies were completely un-recognizable.

Amelia looked on the devastation with awe, pride, and horror. As she was standing there Albus Dumbledore walked up and looked over the damage. He bent down and picked up some magical business cards that had the Magical Preservation Society printed on them. Albus handed it to Amelia and looked around.

Albus quietly scanned the rubble "There is not a magical signature to this mess. I cannot tell what magic did this."

Amelia looked at him "My aurors are investigating that too. We have only found twelve bodies so far and all were death eaters. I had a report yesterday that a major attack with approximately fifty death eaters was to take place in London."

Albus "Who reported that?"

Amelia looked at him "Reports to Auror are strictly that Auror business. I allow you to stay as a common courtesy but that does not mean I will tell you everything since you are one of the worst at telling people what they need to know. How does it feel to be kept in the dark?"

Albus looked at her "I have been reporting what I know since last summer."

Amelia looked at him "Albus Dumbledore you have only told me enough to keep your oath at bay and absolutely nothing more and I know it. You volunteer nothing."

Albus looked shocked "You know of my oath?"

Amelia stood right in front of him and smiled "Harry told me all about it the day after he did it to you." Amelia turned to look at the building "Who do you think caused all this devastation? That boy you helped to abuse has killed over one hundred death eaters just in this country alone and another 14 in another country."

Albus just looked at her in stunned silence "How can you condone these barbarous acts?"

Amelia looked extremely angry by Albus's tone and jumped in Albus's face "In August I got to see a muggle family that had been visited by some death eaters. The picture that still sticks in my mind is a five year old boy who they left a dagger in the middle of his chest." Amelia took a sharp breath "Why? because he had no magic and was just an animal to them. What they did is heinous and your excusing it is unforgivable."

"The people who did this have made the death eaters cease all their muggle hunting as a sport because they are afraid. They have to wonder if they will live if they go. That saves lives Albus. What has your little bird club done? Squat Albus, they have done squat. They have not stopped one death eater."

Amelia stepped back from him "That boy you helped abuse is not even in this country and he provided me the information that bagged another forty to fifty death eaters tonight. I still don't even know what your greater good does to help anyone? It seems to me it is a twisted way to blame the victims for being victims and forgiving those who have no remorse."

Amelia walked away "Albus go away and get your head out of your arse. Harry Potter is and always will be twice the leader of the light as you will ever be. Good night."

Albus stood looking down into the rubble and saw a hand with a wand sticking up. He picked up the wand and found the hand was attached minus the arm to go with it. He thought it a shame that magical blood was wasted, snuffed out before their potential had been reached. War always did that and it always killed the young.

Amelia's words had stuck in his mind. What had he done to stop the killings and the murders, to forgive them? It was somehow brought to his attention when he imagined in his mind this wand was a student in his castle, had he already forgiven this wand and its' owner numerous times? How many times had he been forgiven? Albus looked around as he dropped the wand and its' hand back to the rubble and thought perhaps he had forgiven once too often to lead them to their final death here.

CHAPTER 18

Harry wrote an article about the incident in London. In it he mentioned the specific death eater that was captured and how the information was interrogated from him under veratim serum.

Voldemort read the report with great interest of how he had been defeated at his own game. He had been betrayed within his ranks by his own men. He would bring his soldiers to heel in the coming days. It was apparent that he had been too lenient, too soft on them. He would make them realize why all should fear his wrath from betrayal.

Voldemort was extremely curious as to what muggle weapon had caused that much devastation. It could not be possible that a muggle device could do this to Magicals. He decided that it was a hoax designed to lead him astray from finding the new form of magic they were using that he could not train his men to block. Yes he told himself it was a red herring to waste his limited resources on a ghost weapon.

Harry meanwhile received a missive from Amelia that Albus Dumbledore was in the hospital and that his body was being attacked by some sort of dark magic. He asked in desperation to see Harry as he had information that must be passed on or else Voldemort could never be defeated. Harry upon reading the letter rolled his eyes.

When Harry received confirmation from Amelia that it was true he became much more sedate in his point of did not have a lot of trust in Albus Dumbledore. Harry decided to flash over and observe Albus in his room.

Albus on the third day began to doubt that Harry would come. Albus at first could not understand this as it was very valuable information about Voldemort. As he reflected more from Harry's point of view, Harry not coming made so much more sense. It was then that he realized that he had made grave mistakes in his analysis of what was best for Harry. The first thought was it was not his right to even decided anything about Harry at all.

Albus was laying there musing over what he needed to do to request Harry's presence when he felt a wave of magic wash over him. He was not positive but he was sure that it was Harry who had arrived. Albus looked over at the corner where he saw a faint outline of someone standing under an invisibility cloak.

Albus spoke when the nurse left after fussing over him and checking his chart "I realized just this morning that I should not have had any expectation that you would come. I am extremely glad you did. I was not happy that you let Voldemort know about the rest of the prophesy."

Harry flipped his cloak off and looked at Albus "The point of all of that was to tell you I was in control not you. I knew as soon as I heard the prophesy what it meant but when I thought about it, most of what it said was something I was already dealing with as I was always attacked. The prophesy knowledge didn't change that. I was already a thorn in Voldemort's side and my defiance showed how weak he was and he was going to come after me anyway."

Albus looked at him "I do believe your reasoning was sound." Albus looked down "Harry I owe you an apology. I did not do right by you and you have such a heavy burden on your shoulders."

Harry stopped him "As a letter from my parent's points out, no I don't. I am not responsible for how Voldemort came to power, there are many, many adults that are and as far as my parents were concerned it should be they who fix this. They can't rely on me to do it for them."

Albus frowned "If that were only true Harry. You are the chosen one and you have the task of getting rid of him."

Harry chuckled at the old man "According to you and every one that believes there is only one way to answer it. I have a different point of view." Harry hesitated for a second "Hermione pointed this out to me. Voldemort may not even be the prophesied Dark Lord that is mentioned. If he had not attacked my parents, then this prophesy may not have happened for many years. The trouble is that through the ages, everybody thinks that these will happen during their time on earth."

Harry continued "Perhaps if a certain Headmaster had not let a young death eater overhear only half of the prophesy to ensure action, then Voldemort may have chosen not to attack. But that didn't happen that way and I received a scar on my forehead. Is it a mark or just a scar? I chose to believe differently."

Albus showed shock on his face as Harry revealed knowledge of Albus's complicity in his parent's death and that Snape had revealed this to Voldemort. It unsettled him but he continued "Harry things are too far down the path for you to honestly believe that."

Harry just shook his head "If you are to believe I am the marked one then the prophesy only states I have the power to vanquish him, not that I am the only one to vanquish him as you believe. Perhaps my power is in the ability to destroy some things that anchor him to this realm and this allows another to rid the world of him."

Albus's eyes opened in surprise as Harry continued "You think everything in a prophesy has a direct meaning or choose to believe it is that way. I believe differently and along with the one I destroyed in second year, the one you just destroyed, and another I destroyed last summer at Sirius's home. I am well on the way to giving someone the ability to vanquish him because I will vanquish his foundation."

Albus said with anguish "Surely you can't believe that. I have studied this for years…"

Harry interrupt him "I have studied it for two and I have done more towards your goal in two years than you have done in twenty. I know where a fourth, fifth, and a sixth are."

Albus sat up when Harry tapped his scar for the sixth one. "How is it you know so much and have found so many?"

Harry focused his eyes "Unlike you I have spoken to people who have far more knowledge than I. Do you think it coincidence that the last Lestrange's were killed in the same incident? The British Preservation Society just became the legal owners of their vault by conquest and it had a very dark object in there. By tomorrow it will be gone. Harry added "That is you one and me three and I know of two more which leaves one to find."

Albus laid back down "You have a good idea of where it is?"

Harry nodded back to him. "The next to last one," Harry pointed to his scar "It has been gone for three years now, without a person's death being involved, specifically mine if you had your way. It was never required according to the goblins."

Albus nodded "I have been schooled today in a most profound way it seems. I am sure that your parent's, if I make it to them, will have many things to say to me."

Harry placed his cloak over his shoulders and looked at the older man "The real you does not elicit fond memories for many. Good bye Albus." Harry flashed away and left Albus to his many hectic thoughts and feelings of guilt. In the week he had been here he did not have any visitors save for the hospital staff.

Harry flashed into Minerva's office as she had taken over as headmistress in Albus's absence. She was startled to see him and jumped up "Mr. Potter what do I owe this pleasure?"

Minerva stood up and hugged him "Harry are you safe?"

Harry grinned at her "Both Mrs. Potters would not allow it otherwise."

Minerva smiled "So the three of you made it official, I am glad to hear that but sorry that I missed the ceremony."

Harry smiled "I must get back as I have more training tonight. I shall see you soon, if everything works out right." Minerva hugged him again and then when she released him she sat back down with small tears in her eyes.