Chapter 25

Harry's eyes widened as he recognized the patronus of Severus Snape. Susan looked puzzled, but the green eyed boy quickly stood, bringing the two of them to their feet, "It seems that our romantic evening has just been spoiled. It seems I have an errand to run."

Susan sharply spoke, "Jean Delacour is my Auntie's counterpart in the French foreign ministry, but he is supposed to be leading the dark faction in France. Why would you or Professor Snape care about what happens to him or his family?"

Harry sighed lightly, "Listen Susan, the Delacour's and my family have been connected since I was a very young boy. Gabrielle and Fleur have been my friends since I could cast my first few spells. If they are in trouble I have to help them."

Harry grabbed a hold of the girl lightly, "Hold your breath."

Before Susan could protest Harry apparated the girl right back to the secret passageway in Hogsmeade. He quickly rushed towards the entrance only allowing Susan to keep up so he could take her back to his dormitory. Susan tried to keep up voicing concerns, but Harry could hardly hear her, all he could think about was the blonde veela that had been captured by the lights forces. As they made it to the Hufflepuff dormitories Susan stepped directly in front of Harry not allowing him room to backup or move forward, "Harry Riddle! Explain what exactly is going on?"

Harry ran a hand through his hair with a clear stressful thought on his mind, "I have to go help my friends."

Susan shook her head, "I have seen that you can clearly apparate Harry, and while that is impressive and all, I don't see how one wizard is going to go across the continent to save a girl who is probably being held hostage by the French Ministry."

"Hostage?" Harry inquired.

Susan threw her hands exasperatedly in the air, "Yes Harry, hostage. They will probably make demands, so that way the dark faction in France will stand down or see one of their own executed. However they know that since Monsieur Delacour is dead it won't stand, which will then force them into slavery or death."

"So you think they are still at the ministry?"

Susan shook her head, "The Ministry in France is probably a war zone right now. This is a coupe that has been in the works for months. Auntie has told me all about the French civil war that was on the verge of eruption. It seems their first act was to assassinate the French head of the DMLE. A good plan I might add."

Harry growled, "Then I will do what I have to do. Even if that means storming the French Ministry of magic."

"And how exactly are you going to do this?" Susan asked with clear frustration.

Harry smiled, "One of those secrets that I will have to get around to telling you one of these days. But Sue, right now I really have to go. I promise I will make it up to you."

The red haired girl simply stared at her friend with her arms crossed and her eyes narrowed. Harry then gave her his best puppy dog look, making the girl roll her eyes, "You better get back here quickly Riddle. If your gone for to long people will begin to ask questions. Including myself."

Harry simply nodded however kissing the girl on the top of the head, and bolting down the hallway. In a matter of moments he was in the dungeons standing in front of Augustus, Regulus, and Severus, "Someone tell me the plan?"

Snape growled, "Its about time you got here. We were starting to wonder where you had even gone off to."

Regulus however grinned, "From his disheveled look I am guessing he either just came from the broom closets or better."

Harry glared at his Godfather, "Actually try the Shrinking shack, but never mind that. Someone tell me how we are going to get Gabrielle away from the French.

The others all exchanged cheap sinister smiles, while Harry growled, "Someone tell me what the fuck all of you are smiling about, or I swear on my father's name someone is going to die."

Augustus finally spat, "Quick harassing the boy, Regulus tell him the plan."

The scion of the Black family smiled, "We are going to perform a rather elaborate plan. We have twenty four hours tops before someone realizes that you are gone, probably not even that much as Dumbles is going to come looking for you immediately upon hearing the news, which we believe he has yet to receive. This is where your good friend Rabastan comes in."

"Rabastan? What does he have to do with this?"

As if one cue a young familiar man busted through the dungeons doors, "Evening lads, is the plan ready to be set in motion?"

Snape grimaced, "The youngest Lestrange is going to being inducing Polyjuice potion. He is powerful enough to make sure the magical signature will not be to shockingly different, and we believe he will be able to fool the headmaster for a short period of time, while you, go accompany Rodolphus and Bella, to the French Ministry, a long with your father."

"My father is coming with me?"

Augustus to point there, "While these two are perfectly keen to the dramatics...here is the plan. You, a long with Bellatrix, Rodolphus and your father, will go to the French Ministry with the Godfather papers. You didn't know this, but legally your father is the Godfather of Gabrielle Delacour. They made this only a few months ago in case something were to go down in the Ministry. However, magic does not recognize this...for lack of a better words cheat code."

Harry shook his head, "I don't understand."

Rabastan laughed, "Come on my prince. Gabrielle's uncle is her biological Godfather, but when the Delacours decided to change it, magic would not recognize it, but the law will. When you and the Dark Lord along with two of his most powerful followers enter the French Ministry and demand the release of Gabrielle Delacour into your custody, it will most likely not go over very smoothly."

"Then why even try?" Harry asked.

The youngest Lestrange grinned, "Do you truly think my brother and sister want things to go smoothly?"

Harry finally took a light smile, now seeing where this plan was heading, "Brilliant! So I am going to apparate to Gaunt Manor, then take a portkey to the French Ministry?"

Snape shook his head, "Precisely."

Harry took a deep breath, "How long do we have?"

Regulus looked over to the potion stocks, "We believe you have one day, to rescue your damsel in distress, and the Delacour matriarch. At which point we will run out of Polyjuice potion and you will be exposed."

Harry nodded, "Then I suppose I best be leaving."

The death eaters all nodded as Harry disillusioned himself and darted out of the castle as fast as possible. When he crossed the ward lines he immediately popped out of existence.

Arriving at Gaunt Manor, it was surprisingly empty. Harry was kind of surprised by this, but then he figured that most may not know of the fighting that has begun in the French Ministry. The son of the Dark Lord realized that the battle was already lost in France, but that didn't mean the lives of his friends had been lost. He had already lost one friend this over the past few months, he would not lose another so easily.

As he walked through the halls of the manor he assumed that was why his father was so willing to help. Of course if we rescued the Matriarch to the Delacour family they would be able to access the wealth of one of the French's most powerful families, but the green eyed boy held faith that his father would help him save his friends regardless of the stakes.

When he made it to the office of his father he abruptly pushed the doors open to see his father discussing something of obvious serious intent with his the Lestrange family. Upon arrival Harry crossed his arms behind his back and gave a short bow, "I departed Hogwarts as soon as I heard the news father. The plan you and Severus have put together is that of a master piece."

The Dark Lord grunted, "We had hoped that Jean would be captured and not killed, but he had placed caution into such possibilities. The wealth of his family now goes to Fleur, who is upstairs with Ms. Beaucart, and Gabrielle, due the pureblood traditions."

Harry nodded, "So our primary objective is to rescue Gabrielle then. Since Fleur is already here, then I believe we should only rescue Ms. Delacour if it is essentially possible."

Bellatrix rolled her wand in her hand, "We believe Ms. Delacour did not make it past the first thirty minutes of the outbreak, but we won't be sure until we arrive at the Ministry. Rodolphus and I will be standing closely to you two, however the formation will be the two of you in front, with us covering your backs."

Rodolphus nodded, "If it comes down to a firefight I have a feeling there will be a lot of dead French scum by the end of the night."

The Dark Lord stood abruptly, "The civil war in France has already begun. We cannot rely on them to come to our aid in the fight, in fact we may be facing serious trouble if the light in that country can finish it quickly. They would be able to cut off any of our allies from reaching us directly, leaving us isolated to fight Dumbledore."

Harry shrugged, "Regardless father I don't believe the light in England could withstand our might. We must however take this one step at a time. We must secure the Delacour wealth in order to keep it out of the Lights hands. If they get their hands on even half that money we could be facing serious repercussions."

Lord Voldemort strode over to his heir, "You are right of course Harry, before we leave, which will be in the next five minutes as I prepare for battle, you need to go speak with Fleur, make sure she is comfortable. She will have a short story to tell you, then we will be off. However it is important that you speak to her first. Be swift my son, we need to be leaving soon if we are to save the bloodline of the Delacour family."

Harry bowed then turned his back on his father heading towards his room at a quick paste. When he called out the parseltongue password the bookshelf shifted allowing him instant access into his common room where Fleur was crying into Aimee's shoulder. When he walked in however the girl enveloped in him in a huge hug, "Harry!"

The young man soothingly embraced the girl rubbing light circles on her back for a moment, "Fleur, I don't have much time, you need to tell me how your sister was captured, we are going to rescue her, now."

Fleur let out a relieved sob, "Harry, it was so horrible. We were home for the weekend, as our parents remove us every year on the day of love, but this time it was different. Our father had been very paranoid, and when the bell rang downstairs they came in so fast. They struck our house elf with the killing curse, they broke our wards in seconds. Before I knew it my father was dead. Aimee was with me when I pulled the dice out, Harry I didn't even think about Gabrielle, I knew she had her own dice, so I hoped she would get momma and herself out. We waited, and we waited, but she never came. God, she never took the dice out of her pocket, I don't know how it all happened."

Harry suddenly realized what had happened. Anti- portkey spells had been placed up right after Fleur had left. Very few wizards were capable of such a task. Anti apparation was fairly easy, and as long as you didn't have an existing portkey there is no easy way out. But the fact that Gabrielle had a portkey before the spells were put up tells quite a tale. There is powerful light wizard at large in France. However that certainly didn't sound like a coup the light faction would pull. Using killing curses to start a fight? Harry put on his best confident smile, "We are going to get your sister back Fleur. Then we will take you back to Beauxbatons."

Fleur nodded her head shakily as Harry gave a nod to Aimee who came and took the teary eyed witch off of his shoulder. The Dark Prince immediately spun on his heel and left the dreary room and made his way to the front of the manor, where his father and his most faithful servants stood at his side. The Dark Lord stared off into the distance, "Did you come to the same conclusion that I have?"

Harry tried to see what his father was staring at, but he had little success, "A very powerful wizard must have placed Anti portkey wards up after Fleur left. Gabrielle likely went to rescue her mother, then got caught up in the process of things, by the time she got to Madame Delacour it was to late."

The Dark Lord nodded, "We may have a good fight on our hands."

Bellatrix looked like she might have a fit or an orgasm whatever came first, but Harry and Rodolphus kept themselves composed. Lord Lestrange spoke, "We will kill any that stands in our way my lord."

Harry cracked his knuckles drawing his wand, "I have to agree with him there father."

The Dark Lord merely nodded holding out a chalice, "Everyone take hold, the international portkey will take us to our destination at my command."

The four powerful beings quickly gripped the chalice and whisked off towards the French Ministry.

- (A/N) Obviously most of these people would speak French, but for the sake of the story we are going to make it where they do not. I know that may be unrealistic, but honestly I don't care. -

Upon arrival it was clear the place was in a disarray. Blood stained the wall, but it was clear the fighting was over, as there were no bodies in site. The team of four foreign wizards made their way through the wreckage to a front desk that had gaping holes in the sides. The French auror quickly drew his wand pointing it at them, "Identify yourselves!"

The Dark Lord took a graceful step, "My name is Tom Marvolo Riddle, I am here to claim one of your prisoners, as she is my god daughter. I have all the paperwork here, all I need from you good man is to turn her over into my custody."

As Rodolphus placed the paperwork on the table the auror pointed his wand at the oldest Lestrange, "And who are you?"

Harry quickly spat, "If you value your life Monsieur, I suggest you keep your eyes on Mr. Riddle, the other two deities in my party are not of your concern. Unless you wish us to introduce you?"

The threatening tone in Harry's voice said it all. The auror clearly considered blasting Harry, but then he caught site of the things that were on the Lestranges hips...death eater masks. The man paled quickly speaking in a rapid motion, "I cannot authorize such a thing. But Monsieur Dumas will be able to assist you, just give me a moment to contact him."

The Dark Lord merely sat there with a winning smile as the French buffoon made the call to his superiors. After a short few moments the man seemed to flip through a few pages that Rodolphus handed him then spoke clearly, "Gabrielle Delacour."

Harry noticed the tension weaving through the man's body. To the inexperienced eye it would have been nothing, but in the eyes of four witches and wizards who had killed many times before, you could see the gears turning in the man's mine. Whatever his orders were they weren't to cooperate with us. Before anything could be said Harry flicked his wand out at top speed firing three rapid fire blasting hexes sending the aurors behind the counter crushing into the wall. Bellatrix cackled, "Save us some little Riddle. We must all get some of the fun here tonight. As our master has been cutting back on the raids."

The Dark Lord gave his follower an amused smile, "Kill at your leisure Bella, we must act quickly if we are to get to the girl."

Rodolphus immediately hopped the counter and observed a map at lightning speed. He then hopped back over kissing his wife on the cheek as she begun flinging killing curses towards on coming wizards. Lestrange tapped Harry on the back as he darted by indicating that Harry needed to stick tight to him as they darted towards the atrium. Covering his back with nothing but green sickly shades of light was Bellatrix and his father, while Rodolphus led Harry towards the prison block. It took a matter of minutes, and several dead bodies before they made it to the East Wing of the ministry. Harry couldn't believe the amount of destruction the building had suffered, but it was of no matter as he pursued his mentor in search of his oldest girl friend.

When they reached the prison blocks he could feel the aura of his youngest friend. However his father yelled out, "Harry! Go get Gabrielle, the numbers are getting high around here, we must be leaving."

Not needing to be told twice Harry sprinted into the prison cell alone. As soon as he entered he had to dodged a sickly shade of orange light, returning back with an immediate, "SECTUMSEMPRA!"

Following the scream of his voice, a female voice carried throughout the cells, "Harry James! Down here, hurry!"

Harry ran past the man he had struck down to find the young veela lightly clothed and sobbing painfully. Behind her was the body of a women that Harry instantly recognized. A fire burned in his gut as he realized the women, the Delacour Matriarch had likely died for nothing. Not being able to focus on these thoughts though he opened the prison doors and wrapped his friend up in a tight hug whispering, "Merlin I thought I lost you! Come on we need to get out of here. My father and some friends are holding them off up top."

Gabrielle shook her head quickly clearly unable to stand, "You have to break the handcuffs first, they are tied to my magical core, if I leave this prison block with this thing it will kill me instantly."

Harry shook his head at his ability to overlook things and broke the cuffs wandlessly. When he did this Gabrielle surged forward planting a kiss on his lips. Begrudgingly Harry broke it slipping out his death eater mask, "We have to move."

Harry then swiftly pushed the girl towards direction of the firefight. Upon arrival Harry dodged a killing curse that was aimed at Bellatrix. The odds were about 10 against 3, so as Harry pushed Gabrielle down evening the odds quickly the four wizards decimated the numbers.

Suddenly a loud voice rang through the halls, "Everyone! Hold your fire."

The wizards who were all getting ready to blast each other to pieces easily did so as the voice clearly wanted to halt the blood shed. The Dark Lord was no fool, the odds that one of his own could be struck by a stray killing curse were increasing as the numbers continued to stack up. So he kept his wits up and listened to the voice of reason. A lone man stepped into the middle of the battlefield, "Take your prisoner and leave. I recognize you are in the legal right of doing so, but please, there is no reason for further bloodshed."

Bellatrix growled, "Why should we listen to you, you filthy blood traitor?"

The Dark Lord merely waved the women's complaints aside, as both father and son stared at a man with a blinding magical aura, "Who are you?"

At the Dark Lords question the man grinned, "My name is Alexander Dumas, I am the new French head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Making me the highest man in our government. Enough blood has been spilt here today. No amount of money is worth twenty of my men."

Harry spoke sharply, "Very admirable of a man who just executed a line of purebloods."

Dumas took a glare to the green eyed young man, "A radical line of purebloods. I recognize that the man named Thomas Riddle holds a claim to this girl, and I only pray that she escapes the battlements of France. I have already secured half of the Delacour fortune with her magical signature which we drew from the handcuffs."

Harry growled stepping forward, but his father placed a hand on him, "Don't start a fight we can't finish. I know you feel as I do. Some battles are best fought on a different field."

Dumas bowed, "Wise words, young Lord."

Harry glared at the man as he motioned for his young veela friend to stand beside him. The Dark Lord and his two most trusted followers stood in a triangle like defense preparing to strike if necessary, but as they backed up into the lobby they knew they had made it to freedom. Suddenly Dumas appeared again before they could exit, "I know of your plan, young Lord. Keep them out of France if you wish for them to succeed in your own country."

As men poured into the lobby the Dark Lord snarled, "We will meet again one day, I am sure of it."

Dumas merely grinned, "You best hope not!"

The Dark Lord growled letting his wand drop into his hands, but then fifty wands were trained on the group. The Dark Lord spoke sharply in snake language, "Killing curse Harry!"

Harry flicked his wand on command, "AVADA KEDAVRA!"

With that the Dark Lord followed it up, but the French head was to fast, soon hundreds of spells were reigning down on the group, but the retreat was fast enough to make it outside of the wards, and apparate away.

(A/N) Pretty exiting chapter! This will not be the end of the battle for the French Ministry. Give it about two chapters. Now the review number has been disgustingly low, so here is my ultimatum. This story is simply not growing, in fact its retracting, so after chapter 30, i will stop posting on this story unless that changes. I am writing two other stories which i hope will be more successful, but the truth is this story takes a lot of thought and effort, and the results are simply to little. If i get a change in reviews then i will happily continue this story, as it is my favorite to write, but i will drop it if i don't get more feedback on the story. So please, even if your going to insult me, leave it in a review so i know more than 15 people are reading the story. Thanks and i hope to hear from you all soon!