Author's Note: I posted this story a few years ago under my old pen name, but later deleted it. Now I'm posting it again.
"This isn't what I had in mind when I suggested we go on our honeymoon," Voldemort pointed out to Dora as they sunned themselves on a warm Mediterranean beach.
After the school year ended the newlyweds had decided to take a trip to the Greek island of Aesalon. Named after the first known Animagus, the island was Unplottable and had been a favorite vacation spot for wizards since the time of the Roman Empire. With its clear blue water and lack of muggles it seemed an ideal place to take their long-delayed honeymoon now that Dora had earned a week off from her Auror training.
At least that was the idea until Harry told them he wanted to come along, and that he wanted to invite Angelina too. Voldemort thought that was a terrible idea, and Angelina's parents agreed with him. Their daughter wasn't going on an unchaperoned vacation with a bunch of teenagers. Faced with these objections, Harry unilaterally invited his girlfriend's two best mates Alicia Spinnet and Katie Bell to act as chaperons. They in turned wanted their boyfriends to come along to avoid any awkwardness.
With the addition of Fred and George—who were still very interested in witches by the way—came Ron and Ginny who both refused to be left behind at the Burrow. Since Ginny needed an adult guardian and an age-appropriate friend, Bill Weasley and Luna joined the Harry's mass expedition. Rounding out the disaster were Neville and his parents, but Voldemort wasn't sure if the Longbottoms were part of their group or just on a parallel course. Either way it was a good thing that he had stolen the Philosopher's Stone, because this vacation cost a boatload of galleons.
"It could be worse," Dora said between sips of her Firewhiskey Sour. "Harry could have invited Charlie."
"I should just kill your ex-boyfriend, and be done with it."
"Vito, all we ever did was snog a few times. I don't see why you hate him so much."
"He asked you to change your perfect body. He deserves to die."
"Some blokes like large breasts," Dora pointed out.
"His mother has large breasts." Voldemort deadpanned. "This whole conversation is making me nauseous."
"I'm not jealous of Luna," his wife said with a small pout. "People tell me things. I know for a fact that she always sits next to you in the Great Hall."
Rather than respond to that accusation Voldemort just looked Dora up and down. She was wearing a simple white bikini, but every wizard on the beach would be thinking of her the next time he wanked. Then he looked over at Luna, who was searching for seashells while wearing a sundress made out of seaweed. Old and smelly seaweed.
"OK, maybe I am being paranoid, but in my defense I do spend a lot of time around Mad-Eye. Harry looks like he's having fun."
Muggles weren't allowed on the island of Aesalon, but their new ideas were. As a result wizards had adopted the sport of windsurfing, and they improved on it by developed a charm that provided the sail with a constant supply of wind. Harry and the Gryffindor Chasers had taken to the sport like ducks to water, and they had to moving at over fifty kilometers per hour out there on the waves. Meanwhile Neville and his parents were building a sandcastle, but that wasn't nearly as pathetic as it sounds. The sandcastle was over three meters tall, and held an vast army of tiny knights in armor. It was currently being attacked by a horde of tiny transfigured dragons.
The five Weasley siblings were sitting by themselves some distance down the beach. Voldemort knew that the only reason they came along on this trip was because their father had just been released from custody after serving six months for the murder of Severus Snape. He found it very irritating that his first honeymoon had been ruined so that Arthur and Molly Weasley could have their second honeymoon. Perhaps the old witch would get pregnant again.
Bill had his arm around Ginny while he talked to his brothers. The curse-breaker had been working at Gringotts for past six months while he lived at the Burrow, but now that Arthur was home he was taking a job at Hogwarts teaching Transfiguration. Voldemort suspected that Bill was only doing this so he could remain close to his baby sister. Teaching was nowhere near as lucrative as plundering old tombs for the Goblins.
The Longbottoms were also taking jobs at Hogwarts this year. As soon as Horace Slughorn had been promoted to the position of Headmaster he fired Trelawney, Pince, and Hagrid. All of them were quickly replaced by former members of the Slug Club, but that still left the new Headmaster without a DADA professor. In desperation he offered the job to Frank and Alice Longbottom, who would be teaching the class together this year.
Voldemort found it amusing that after all this time people still believed he had cursed the DADA position. All he really did was write a letter to each of the new professors, asking them over for a spot of tea at the end of the school year. A few words from the Dark Lord was more than enough to send them all running, and he never once used his wand.
"Vito," Dora hissed as she drew her wand from the holster strapped to her left calf.
Voldemort also sensed the powerful burst of magic, but he knew what had caused it. "Relax. It's just the Portkey I gave your parents before we left home."
Dora had been nervous about leaving her parents behind, so Voldemort gave them a Portkey which would bring them here to Aesalon in case of an emergency. A minute later he saw his in-laws coming towards the beach. Andromeda was crying, and that meant this wasn't a false alarm.
"Mother, what's wrong? What happened?" Dora asked as the large group of vacationers rushed to greet the two elder Tonks.
"Everything," Andromeda said as she hugged her daughter. "Cissy is dead, and Bella has escaped Azkaban."
"Bellatrix Lestrange has escaped?" a horrified Alice asked.
"Yes. She and ten of the worst Death Eaters are now on the loose, and doing Merlin knows what."
"I wouldn't be surprised if they had killed a few muggles by now, just for old times' sake," Ted muttered darkly.
"What happened to Narcissa?" Frank asked.
"The official story is that she died of Scrofungulus, but I don't believe that for a second. Lucius needs a new heir, which means he needs a young and fertile wife. Preferable one who isn't cheating on him. The bastard wouldn't even let me see my sister's body before he had her cremated," Andromeda hissed.
Voldemort was barely paying attention. After all these years of waiting, Bellatrix was finally outside the walls of Azkaban were he could reach her. It would be a simply matter to convince her to retrieve the Hufflepuff Cup Horcrux from the Lestrange Vault. All he had to do was was make contact with her. But where was she now? And how had she escaped in the first place?
Voldemort had given an endless amount of thought to the question of Azkaban. He knew that Sirius Black had escaped only because he was an Animagus, but his Bella lacked that skill. He figured that it would take at least a dozen strong wizards to break any prisoner out of that hellhole, which was why he hadn't made the attempt.
Then it came to him. A breakout from Azkaban could be done if it was an inside job, and who had more access to the Aurors stationed on the island than the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot? Lucius had even murdered his own wife to divert attention away from himself. Voldemort found himself impressed with his former Death Eater. Malfoy needed foot soldiers to terrorize his enemies, and using the Azkaban escapees would allow him to deny involvement with their crimes.
"Mother, you are not returning to the United Kingdom," Dora said. "Not with your sister on the loose."
"Nymphadora, leaving our home in London is not an option for us," Andromeda replied.
"Yes, it is. I know you were offered a job with the Smithsonian Institute in the United States. Dad hates his new conductor, and he has always wanted to try teaching. It would be easy for him to find a job in Washington DC. You have always told me that your sister was insane before she went to Azkaban, and she will only be worse after being subjected to the Dementors."
"Mother, please listen to her." Voldemort loved calling Andromeda mother because it always made her so angry. "We would be glad to help you with any moving expenses."
"Do you really think she would come after us?" Ted asked.
"Yes, I do," Alice replied. "We should all return home immediately. As soon as Bellatrix has a wand in her hand, she will be out looking for revenge against the members of the Order of the Phoenix."
"Bill, how are the wards around the Burrow?" Frank asked.
"I've been working on them for the past six months, but your right. We should be getting back."
But they were already too late. By the time that they finally arrived at the Burrow later that day it was engulfed in flames. Arthur and Molly were hanging from a nearby apple tree, and they had obviously been tortured before they were killed. But the most infuriated thing for Voldemort was the fact that his Dark Mark was floating high in the sky. Lucius had dared to use the Morsmordre for his own purposes.
"We should cut them down," Bill said in a detached voice.
Voldemort shared a look with Dora. It would be better if the words came from her. "Bill, I so sorry. But you know there might be traps set all around the Burrow, and we don't have time to deal with them. The most important thing we can do now is to get the kids to safety."
The new Weasley patriarch wanted to lash out at Dora, but her words made too much sense. "Where do you think we should go? Hogwarts maybe?"
"We won't know if Hogwarts is safe until we gather more information. Vito and I have access to a safe house that the Ministry of Magic doesn't know about."
"You think that this was the work of the Ministry of Magic?" Frank asked as he scanned the area for any remaining Death Eaters.
"What about my father?" Luna suddenly screamed, and it was all the more jarring since the tiny witch never raised her voice.
They didn't have time for any of this, so Voldemort Apparited directly into the Lovegood's home, smashing right through their defensive wards as only a wizard of his skill and power could. Fortunately Xenophilius was not dead. He was just sitting on the loo reading the latest issue of the Quibbler. The two of them quickly returned to the burning Burrow.
"Luna," Xenophilius cried when he saw his daughter. "What in the name of Merlin is going on?"
"We will explain later. Right now I want everyone read this," Dora told everyone as Voldemort made a number of Portkeys. The note in her hand read: the Finch-Fletchley home is located at Number Two, Kensington Palace Gardens.
"You two have a safe house located under a Fidelius Charm?" Alice asked in disbelief.
"Vito, there did you learn to make a Portkey?" Frank demanded.
"What about Grans?" Neville asked as Ginny and Ron began to cry in earnest.
"Silence!" Voldemort roared. "Unless you all want to be caught in the open and cut down by the Death Eaters, I suggest we take these Portkeys. But if you would rather stay here and die, then be my guest."
Everyone decided to take his offer. When they reached Justin's home in London Voldemort wasn't surprised to find Hermione and her parents waiting for them. Scattered about the posh mansion were dozens of muggleborns and their families, all of whom were members of the A-Level Club.
"Harry, you are alright," Hermione cried. "The wards around our house were attacked, so we came here just like Vito told us to."
"If you don't mind Sir, could you please give us an update on the situation?" Voldemort asked when he saw Justin's father Sebastian Finch-Fletchley enter the room.
"The situation is a disaster, and that is the god-awful truth. All of the homes we had warded were hit, but luckily for us each of the attacking groups was small in size. They tried to trap our people, but your special Portkeys worked perfectly and all the families arrived here safely."
"Vito, what kind of special Portkeys have you been making, and where the bloody hell are we?" Frank demanded.
"Hold your tongue wizard," Sebastian snarled. He might have been a muggle, but Justin's father was wealthy and powerful. He was use to giving orders, not taking them. "Vito Potter's foresight has saved dozens of lives tonight, including those of my own family. He doesn't own you a damn thing. Do you understand me?"
"I don't know who you think you are..."
Frank stopped talking when Alice grabbed his arm, and gestured to the group of wizards that had had suddenly surrounded them. They were dressed like muggle soldiers, and they were carrying muggle firearms as well. But it was their wands that got everyone's attention.
"I sorry to interrupt this little pissing contest, but we have to see if Amelia Bones is still alive," Dora said. "She is our best hope if we want to know what's really going on inside of the Ministry of Magic. We should also check-up on Mad-Eye. He has a lot of contacts among the Aurors, both active and retired."
"Those are excellent ideas," Voldemort said. "Sebastian, how many people can you spare? It will only take us about half an hour to see if Director Bones and Auror Moody are still alive."
"I can loan you about twenty as long as you don't get them killed," the muggle replied. "I have a nasty feeling that we're going to need all hands on deck until this mess is over."
"I'm coming with you," Bill offered.
Dora slapped him in the face. "Don't be an arse. You have a family to look after now, and you can't do that if you're dead."
Vito, Dora, and twenty members of the Plebeian Security Company took several Portkeys to a spot just a block from Amelia Bones' London apartment. For the past two years Justin's owl Bianca had been carrying letters between Vito Potter and Sebastian Finch-Fletchley. Voldemort had used this correspondence to educate Justin's father about the many injustices and dangers of the magical world. The man had been horrified by the knowledge of what awaited his only son in the magical world.
But rather than sit back and do nothing, Sebastian spent the next eighteen months preparing for the war Vito Potter warned him was coming. He paid the Goblins to install wards around the houses of Justin's muggleborn friends, and he also created the Plebeian Security Company. All of the wizards and witches Sebastian hired for this new company were muggleborns who had left the magical world in disgust, but their lack of education doom them to menial jobs. Now they were being offered very high salaries... and a chance for revenge against the pureblood patricians. The recruits had spent the last year being training for magical combat by mercenary wizards hired from South Africa. Voldemort hoped this training would be enough to keep them alive, because Lucius probably had them out-numbered by a wide margin.
Amelia's apartment was empty, and there was no signs of a struggle. "She must be with Susan's parents tonight," Dora reasoned. Their squad vanished as soon as Voldemort had created another set of Portkeys.
"Can you feel all that magic?" Voldemort asked when the reached the edge of the Cornish estate were Susan Bones lived.
"Yes, I do," Dora whispered. "That means Amelia and the others are still alive."
Voldemort turned to face the wizards from Plebeian Security Company. "We are going to try to save this family, but I'm not interested in taking any Death Eater prisoners tonight."
"Good," their leader answered. "Because we don't believe in using Stunners on the bastards either."
Malfoy had sent his best to deal with Amelia, but that wasn't really saying much. The Death Eaters were mostly lowlifes who relied on terror and numbers rather than skill, and the powerful witch they had come to kill was more than holding her own against them. Voldemort couldn't really blame Lucius' planning—back during the war he never saw his minions as anything other than cannon fodder either.
While the new Death Eaters continued their attack, the muggleborns silently move in from behind. Voldemort studied their performance closely. Rather than simply rush the enemy as most wizards tend to do, they moved as a cohesive unit. They sought-out cover, and made sure that they were aware of their comrades' positions at all times. Rather than join the fight, Voldemort and Dora simply watched as their new allies cut the dozen Death Eaters to pieces.
"Auror Potter, is that you?" Amelia asked when the brief fight was all over. "What are you doing here?"
"She was saving your life," Voldemort replied. "Do you have any more foolish questions?"