Chapter Twenty—The Plan Revealed

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Minerva sat in her usual place near the head of the table. Today, Hermione sat next to her and Severus sat behind her, leaning his back against the wall.

"Does it hurt, Severus?" Minerva asked.

The man rolled up his sleeve. The bandages were still white at the moment. "Of course."

"Poppy and Filius will likely want to take a look at it."

Harry and Ron sat with Remus and Bill and discussed Operation Chess Match in hushed voices. Ron had chosen the name and Hermione had allowed it because she thought it was rather clever.

Tonks sat near her boyfriend Remus and talked with her fellow Aurors Kingsley and Mad-Eye.

The twins and Mr. Weasley discussed the profits the joke shop was turning. Mrs. Weasley and Fleur talked about visiting France once the war was over.

Ginny had already excused herself, claiming that she had homework to do. Funny, the girl had been doing homework for the last three Order meetings and never seemed to finish.

A purple mass of robes entered the room. Headmaster Dumbledore had started using a walking stick. It looked like Lucius Malfoy's cane except it was two feet longer and was topped by a polished piece of red wood carved into the shape of a balled up phoenix.

Despite being hindered by a walking stick, Dumbledore quickly made his way to the head of the table.

He looked to his right. "I see you're feeling better, Severus," he said.

There was no malice but neither was there a sparkle in the man's eye.

"Yes," Snape answered quietly.

"Have you heard the news?" Dumbledore asked as he took his seat.

The dark man raised an eyebrow.

"Your bounty. Sixty thousand galleons to the man or woman who brings you to Tom for crimes of treachery."

Snape's face didn't change. "I did not know that."

"Thankfully you'll be returning to Hogwarts soon, where you're safe."

The headmaster's words stung deeply. He was useless and couldn't protect himself now that he was no longer a Death Eater.

"Headmaster," Harry piped up. "Have you thought of a way to kill Tom Riddle?"

Albus peered at his protégé curiously if not a bit skeptically. "Not in any ways that are sure to be successful."

Harry pulled a piece of paper from underneath the table. "I have a suggestion."

Kingsley looked at the Boy Who Lived with incredulous interest. Tonks smiled since Harry and Remus had already explained the plan to her.

Harry pointed his phoenix-feather wand at the paper. It expanded to reveal a sketched map of Hogwarts and its grounds.

"After I destroy all the horcruxes, I'll need to find a way to get to Riddle and kill him," Harry said. "To do that, we want to lure him to Hogwarts. That way he'll be on our turf."

Minerva bristled. "You want to lure that madman to a school full of children?"

"The children will be gone," Remus said. "We'll make sure of it."

"Step two is to weaken all the protective wards on Hogwarts so that the Death Eaters think they're breaking them on their own," Hermione explained. "Then once they're all on the grounds, we re-instate the Anti-Apparation wards so that they can't escape. We'll lock down the grounds—no one gets in and no one gets out once the battle begins."

"We'll have to make sure that Riddle is on the grounds, of course," Ron added.

"What if Harry's killed in the battle before he can get to Riddle?" Arthur asked.

"I will be deep within the school." Harry hung his head in shame. "Basically hiding. Until he comes in to get me or all the other Death Eaters are defeated, I will wait for the perfect chance to kill Riddle."

"We will also keep the anti-electricity wards and the Wingding Ward down so that all our Muggle weapons and devices will work," Ron said.

"Muggle devices?" Molly blustered.

"Muggle devices?" Arthur's face lit up.

"Yes," Hermione said with a victorious smirk. "Tom Riddle and his noble wizards will never expect Muggle weapons to be used against them. We'll charm the bullets and cannon balls to cut through shield charms and coat the arrows in debilitating potions. To communicate quickly we'll use walkie-talkies."

Fred and George exchanged excited looks. "Walkie-talkies?"

Dumbledore turned to Hermione. "You started with step two."

"Step one is simply setting up the school and training the Order members and DA members to fight. We'll organize people in to separate groups."

Harry flipped the paper over. On the top of the page glittered the words "Operation Chess Match." The back held a list of weapons and positions. Under the Plant Division "Pomona Sprout?" and "Neville Longbottom?" were already written.

Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Luna Lovegood? were written under the words "Generals." Severus Snape and Hermione Granger were written under "Wards". Minerva McGonagall and Filius Flitwick each had question marks beside their names.

Aerial Brigade: Ginny Weasley? Rolanda Hooch? and Fleur Weasley?

Order Brigade: Mad-Eye Moody? (Order members)

DA Brigade: Bill Weasley (adult Dumbledore's Army members)

Creature Brigade: Charlie Weasley? Rubeus Hagrid?

Auror Brigade: Kingsley Shacklebolt? (Auror Order members)

Communications/Surveillance: Sybil Trelawney? (weaker DA members needed?)

Cannons: Arthur Weasley? Molly Weasley?

Rifles/Arrows: Fred Weasley? George Weasley?

Medic: Poppy Pomfrey? (help?)

Harry's Guard: Remus Lupin; Nymphadora Tonks; Albus Dumbledore?

Dumbledore stroked his beard. Arthur and Molly whispered rapidly to one another.

Mad-Eye thumped the table. "I love it! We're going on the defense! Remove that question mark, Potter, I'm in!"

Harry tapped his wand to the map and Mad-Eye Moody officially became the leader of the Order Brigade in Operation Chess Match.

Kingsley, ever calm and thorough, asked, "What does Brigade mean in this instance?"

"You will be on the grounds fighting Death Eaters, leading any of the Aurors you bring into the Order," Ron said.

Molly couldn't hold in her outburst any longer. "Why is Ginny's name on there?"

"She's a tough fighter, Mum. And she's going to be one of the leaders of the DA with us—and she's a brilliant flyer."

"This position is not a direct fighting position," Harry offered. "She, Fleur, and Madam Hooch will fly over the battle, reporting what they see, and picking up the wounded to take to the infirmary."

Bill clutched his wife's hand. "What do you say love? Sound like a plan you'd be interested in?"

Fleur flipped her glorious long hair behind her. "Only if you buy me a new broom."

The twins laughed. "Ronniekins, we don't know how to use guns-."

"But we'll play with 'em anyway!"

"Brilliant." Ron grinned as he removed the question marks.

Minerva turned to look at Severus. "You agree with this plan?"

He nodded. "At present, it's the only plan we have."

Minerva turned to the leader of the Order. "Albus?"

The old man rolled his walking stick between his crispy black hands. "How would we get Riddle onto Hogwarts grounds?" he asked at length.

The Trio exchanged looks. "We're hoping that when he realizes that Harry has destroyed the horcruxes he comes to Hogwarts after him," Hermione said.

"Remus, Nymphadora, Bill," the headmaster started, "Severus…you four are behind this plan?"

Tonks said, "Hermione is the one who thought it up and Harry and Ron helped. They approached Snape, Bill, and Remus first and Remus told me later."

"We support it one hundred percent," Remus finished.

The elderly headmaster looked every Order member in the eyes. "What do you think, Kingsley?"

The Auror removed his hat and rubbed his shiny bald head. "A few more details would have to be hammered out—a list of all the wizards fighting for our side…"

"Molly? Arthur?"

The Weasleys conversed silently with their eyes. "I'm not comfortable with Ginny being involved…" Molly started.

"But she's been involved with Dumbledore's Army for two years anyway," Arthur continued.

"Come on, Dad," Fred encouraged. "Bill's on-board and you know how smart Bill is."

Mr. Weasley nodded to Albus and clenched Molly's hand. "The Weasley's are in."

Albus looked to his deputy headmistress. "Minerva? What do you think?"

Professor McGonagall looked at Hermione then to Severus. "I'm assuming that we will solidify the plan throughout the school year," she huffed. "I fully endorse this 'Operation Chess Match'."

"Ron picked the name," Harry whispered to Remus.

"If we are all agreed?" Albus asked to the table. Everyone nodded. "Alright. You will need to ask Pomona, Poppy, Hagrid, and Charles during the term."

Dumbledore then turned to his Potions professor. "You will be in charge of monitoring the student progress of this project," he said. What he didn't say was, because you're no longer useful as a spy.

Severus thought his stomach had turned into a block of lead. He nodded once.

"I will help him," Minerva chirped.

Albus nodded sagely. "Dear Miss Granger, Mr. Weasley, and Harry are of course in charge of the project as well," he said amicably, extending his arms to the teens. "The Order gives you its full support to plan this attack and give assignments. Do not hesitate to call upon me at any time. Keep me updated Severus," he said, no longer a twinkle in his eye. He seemed to be cold—disappointed.

Dumbledore was the only one to leave. Everyone else eagerly discussed the Operation and tried to get more information out of the Golden Trio. Molly called for Ginny and served dinner. She placed a cup of tea for Severus next to Minerva's plate and smiled at him.

Severus nodded weakly at the squat woman. He felt sick to his stomach. He was a failure.

Ron and Harry ate with the usual grace that growing boys display at the dinner table (none) while going over plans and lists and diagrams with Mad-Eye and Kingsley. Hermione nibbled at her sandwich from time to time as she created a list of current DA members.

Severus needed to throw himself into this job. He could not fail Dumbledore again. The man had given him a second chance and had trusted him to spy on the Dark Lord. Now he was useless.