Disclaimer: Only the storyline is mine. Everything else belongs most probably to J.K. Rowling.
Warnings: Mild sexual scene (nothing graphic…more sensual than explicit…not sure that actually cleared anything up for you) sweatdrop
Chapter Twenty-One: Sudden Death
Harry was in Dumbledore's office, again, telling him the proceedings of the previous night's vision. He was still rather shaken -- Bellatrix had a huge army already, and it was only a matter of time before she started moving. Harry knew full well that last night's crowd was nowhere near all her Skullbearers, and he was worried about where they'd strike first, or if there would be any warning.
Harry had sent out owls that morning, telling the Shadowen to keep their eyes and ears open and to alert him if there was any indication that an attack was about to take place. After talking with Harry, the Headmaster had sent out some members of the Order, giving them similar instructions and deploying some of them to various people's homes, ensuring that they would have help should they be attacked.
Harry's stomach had been in knots all day, and he didn't know why. He felt that something bad was about to happen, and his instincts usually weren't wrong. Unfortunately, last night's vision had given him no information on intended targets, and the Shadowen had not been able to send him any concrete information, although he acted on what reasonable intelligence he had received from them, deploying some Shadowen to all likely targets.
He was just getting ready to leave when Dumbledore turned to face the door to his office, looking expectant. With a call of, "Come in," the door opened and an anxious Lucius Malfoy strode into the room, turning to face Harry.
Not bothering with the niceties, the elder Malfoy started in on the bad news. "The Skullbearers are on the move. They are portkeying or disapparating, several dozen at a time, each group heading in a different direction. It appears that our Christmas gift from the Dark Lady is a wide-scale attack that ensures that the entire Wizarding World knows of her existence."
Harry's eyes widened and rage boiled inside of him, but he clamped his lips over the invectives he wished to spew forth and demanded, "Where are they headed?" Perhaps if he knew that much, he could head off some of the Skullbearers and contain the damage that would occur that night.
Lucius shook his head, admitting, "We were unable to track their movements. We have no idea where they're headed, or why." This time Harry did curse, long and loud.
After he had managed to regain some semblance of normalcy and his breathing had calmed, he turned to Dumbledore. "Headmaster, sir, could you please see what you can find out? I'll be trying to find out what's going on as well, and perhaps with the both of us working, we'll be able to stop the attack before it gets completely out of hand." Turning to Lucius, he asked the other man to return to the Ministry and warn them of the attacks, using whatever means were necessary to get them to mobilize the Auror divisions.
After Lucius had left for the Ministry, Harry went to walk out the door. Before he made it, he felt a strong hand on his shoulder. Turning around, he looked up into the face of the wise Headmaster, who said simply, "Let's do our best, shall we?" Harry nodded in agreement and Dumbledore's hand fell away as the old man turned back to his desk, intent on contacting the Order members that weren't yet positioned and could still be moved.
Harry returned quickly to the dungeons, calling his bonded to him as he went. By the time he reached his chambers, Severus was waiting anxiously for him. Sirius and Remus were on their way. He knew that Draco and the twins would know shortly, when Dumbledore contacted the Weasleys to warn them and ask for their help.
Severus opened his mouth, probably to comment on Harry's leaving before he awoke that morning, but Harry just shook his head, giving his mate a look that clearly said, "Later." Nodding in concession, Severus closed his mouth and they waited for Sirius and Remus to show up.
Once they were there, Harry left the rooms and the others followed. He was heading back up to the Headmaster's office to get instructions. Dumbledore was better at this than he was, and he needed the old wizard's expertise and guidance for the upcoming battle. Harry explained to the others what Lucius had just reported, and they made it to the Headmaster's office in record time.
Not bothering to knock, Harry entered, and the older men followed him, faces set in grim determination. Dumbledore turned to them and smiled in greeting, but the familiar twinkle was missing from his eyes, leaving a hard gaze in its place that made them shiver. Dumbledore was a wizard to fear when he was angry.
Quickly, Dumbledore asked Harry, "Do you need your other bonded?" Harry understood the concern, and was grateful for it.
He shook his head. "I don't really need any of them nearby to function, but I know that they are important in this fight. We can be separated if it proves necessary." Dumbledore nodded, then turned to the other men. He sent Severus to the Ministry to help Lucius in convincing the Ministry that a new Dark Lady had risen and needed to be stopped before she gained overwhelming power. Arthur Weasley was Minister, so he already knew, but too many officials would doubt, and they'd need all the help they could get.
He sent Remus and Sirius to help guard Hogsmeade. Diagon Alley had enough wizards and witches in it that they should be able to hold their own for a short while with enough warning. Turning to Harry, he opened his mouth and was about to give him his orders when the young wizard froze, his eyes glazing over. Dumbledore waited anxiously for him to pull out of his daze.
When Harry turned to face him, his face was pale and he whispered, "They're dead. The Dursleys, I mean. They killed them." Dumbledore's eyes widened and he started planning immediately. He felt no regret for the Dursleys' deaths, but he knew now what they were doing. The Skullbearers were attacking all the muggle families that had a witch or wizard living there. What better way to strip the wizarding world of its half-bloods and muggleborn children than to take away all their support?
Striding over to the fireplace, he threw in floo powder and contacted Arthur, warning him about what was happening and ordering him to send Severus to warn the others from the Order, and then to warn the towns that were most likely to be attacked.
Having reached the same conclusion as the Headmaster, Harry was already moving, contacting his Shadowen. He summoned them to right outside the anti-apparition wards around Hogwarts and ran down to meet them. Once there, he sent them in various directions, sending them to guard the houses of the muggleborns. He didn't have many Shadowen, as there weren't many ex-Death Eaters who were willing to be bound to him. Most of them had either gone to Bellatrix, or else had chosen to remain out of the fight, taking neither side.
Cursing, Harry shifted into Amarth and bolted back up to the Headmaster's office, seeing if Dumbledore had anything in particular for him to do. As soon as he entered, Albus Dumbledore took one look at him and asked him to do the last thing he had ever expected to hear from the man. "Harry, Amarth, I need you to summon forth the snakes and send them to the various houses. You can use your familiar to contact other snakes, right? I need them to bite any of the Skullbearers they can reach. We need to contain this, and fast, and there are very few wizards who would expect an attack from the ground."
Amarth nodded in surprise and raced back down the corridors, meeting no one and making it to his rooms in no time. Quickly, he shifted back into Harry and called for Salazar. When the small cobra slithered up to him, he hissed, Pleasssse, Sssalazar, I need your help. People are under attack by the bad men, and I need you to contact your brethren and ask them to attack the evil wizards, the ones that bear sskullsss on their flessh."
Salazar just bobbed his head up and down in acknowledgment, then stilled as he contacted the snakes -- particularly the poisonous ones -- that were anywhere near a muggleborn witch or wizard. His job completed, Salazar pulled out of the trance and looked up at Harry, hissing softly, Many of them sssay that they are too late and cannot help the man-children, but they will sssstrike thosssse bad men who remain. Harry nodded sadly -- he had known that it would probably be too late for some people, but he was hoping that maybe, just maybe, it wasn't.
Debating quickly, Harry snatched up Salazar and fled the castle, disapparating once he reached the end of the wards. He reappeared right next to Severus, who he had located through the Mark. Severus didn't bother greeting him, but tore a piece of parchment in half and handed it to him. Glancing at it, Harry realized that it consisted of the names of people and towns that had yet to be contacted.
With a quick nod to his mate, Harry disapparated once more, moving at a rapid-fire pace to warn as many people as he could as quickly and efficiently as possible. Occasionally, he'd be too late, and a town or home would be destroyed, or be in the process of being attacked. Whenever Harry came across the former scenario, he'd apparate out immediately, knowing that he was of no use in that town. For the latter, he'd loan his own magic just long enough to give them a fighting chance before apparating out to warn the other homes still on his list, and those who were warned ahead of time often held out long enough for help to arrive, or else evacuated before the attacks occurred.
The serpents had done their jobs, and dozens of Skullbearers were apprehended that night, poisoned by swift, venomous fangs. This would make the Ministry's job much easier, since they now had proof that Skullbearers existed, and it was only a matter of time before they could convince the Wizarding World that these witches and wizards had a leader who wished to become the next Dark Ruler of Britain.
Harry knew that he was running himself ragged, using up all his energy to fight and apparate from town to town, but he kept moving, knowing that lives depended on his actions. Every time he ended up involved in a battle with the Skullbearers, he took several of their attacks and converted them into energy to keep him conscious and moving.
Harry was cursing when the fighting finally died down and he was able to return to Hogwarts. Dammit! He should have known. Bellatrix had been so quiet lately, and he had just seen how large her army was. Of course she'd attack. And she'd do it when everybody was home, spread out all over Britain rather than gathered in Hogwarts, where some of the best protections in history existed. What better way to ensure that you wiped out hundreds of people in one fell swoop than to get them while they were weak and unsuspecting?
Harry knew that they had made a huge mistake in not informing the Wizarding World of the newly risen Dark Lady, but they had really thought they could handle her before she gained too much power, if only they could locate her. Now it was too late, and they'd have to try and salvage what they could.
Trudging into Hogwarts, Harry couldn't help but feel that something was terribly wrong, but he brushed it aside. People had died that day, in the hundreds. Entire villages had been wiped out, everybody in it either dead or taken prisoner. Of course something was wrong.
Shivering, Harry climbed up the stairs to the Headmaster's office and was invited in before he raised his hand to knock. Slipping inside, his own mournful eyes met those of the Headmaster, and he realized that the wizard was looking his age, the twinkle gone and his body slumped down behind his desk. He had been busy organizing, and had been fighting whenever he got the chance. He was exhausted.
Harry sat down in the chair in front of his desk when the Headmaster indicated that he should do so with a weary wave of his hand. After a few tense seconds of silence, Dumbledore sighed and spoke, "We lost four members of the Order -- no one you know intimately," he assured Harry, causing him to release a breath he didn't know he was holding. "We lost over thirty students and their families in today's raids, and the entire Wizarding World has been thrown into a panic. We still have a few people straggling in."
Harry nodded. He could feel that neither Remus nor Sirius had returned yet, but they were safe. He could sense it through the bond. "What are we doing with the people who have had their homes and towns destroyed in tonight's attacks?" he asked curiously.
Dumbledore replied quietly, "They have been temporarily moved into Hogsmeade until we can find or build homes for them. Those who received only minor injuries are here in the Hospital Wing, and all the other injured people were sent to St. Mungo's for treatment."
Harry nodded again, then excused himself. He wanted to check on the others, make certain that they were all safe and uninjured. Moving down towards the dungeons, he met the entire Weasley family, bar the twins, all of them uninjured. When he inquired, Harry was told that the two Weasleys were with Draco at the moment down in his quarters. Harry smiled in thanks before moving further down the corridor.
He checked in on his bond-brother and Draco's lovers before continuing on his way to Severus. Slipping inside, he was relieved to see the older man there waiting for him, unharmed and anxious. Harry smiled and embraced the other man, burying his face against his mate's throat and just letting the older man's scent soothe him and reassure him that they were both all right.
Severus sighed above him, and Harry could hear the weariness and pain in the small sound. He knew that this mass attack had brought memories crashing forward in his mind, memories of Dark Revels and ambushes on the innocent, where the Death Eaters had tortured and killed any that stood in their path.
Tilting his head up, Harry caught Severus' lips with his own, pressing against his lover in a show of comfort. Severus relaxed and responded, accepting Harry's offer. Slowly, Harry moved them towards the bedroom. He knew that they both needed to forget, if only for a little while.
Slowly, carefully, they undressed each other, never completely losing contact. Harry pressed Severus gently back towards the bed, until his mate's knees hit the side and he lay down, Harry crawling on top of him to cover him with his warmth. Harry's vibrant lavender eyes held Severus' own onyx ones as he caressed the pale flesh beneath him, bending down for another soft kiss.
This night was more about comfort than passion, and the two bodies intertwined in a soothing dance, pale skin almost ethereal in the moonlight. Lips traveled languidly over bared flesh, and hands soothed small hurts, tracing old wounds and healing them. Sweat-slicked skin slid together, comforting and offering hope. When their bodies finally joined, the ties that bound the two lovers together flared open, and pleasure was taken and received, given and cherished.
Comforted, if only slightly, the two men cuddled close, taking solace in the other's presence. In tomorrow's harsh light, they'd have to face the consequences of their actions -- or failure to act -- and try to prevent any more deaths from occurring. For tonight, though, they could rest, content in the living, breathing presence of their soulmate.