CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
THE BATTLE FOR THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC
O
"Confirmed it for certain," said Desulgon triumphantly, after reappearing with a crack in Durmstrang's High Hall, where most of their forces were gathered to eat with the disconcerted Durmstrang students. "Wilcox no longer has the power of the Superstorm. Unfortunately, there are still two of him left, but he can't clone himself for some time longer while his Catalyst recharges."
"There's still two of him?" asked Jonah, blanching. "What happened to Exo? Didn't you send him to your moon base to take out one of the clones?"
"He's all right," said Desulgon. "He blew the base, but Wilcox escaped. But my dog teleported him to my secondary lunar base, which I created as a back-up."
"Dude," said Riley, shaking his head. "It was weird enough that you lived on the moon, let alone that you had two houses there and a dog that can teleport between them…"
"So Wilcox still has two clones," sighed Albus. "Perfect."
"But without his Superstorm, at least we are on somewhat even turf again," said Janelle. "Is my sister done yet?"
Desulgon sighed; he was trying to get used to the fact that he was now the person everyone went to when they had any questions about anything: "Are they planning on storming Durmstrang?" "Do they know we're here?" "How big is their army?" "Can you look in on my parents and see if they're okay?" "What's Wilcox doing right now?"
Desulgon closed his eyes to respond to Janelle's question. "Yes, she was able to recruit a good number at Beauxbatons. They're taking the chariots here and they won't be long."
"Good," said Janelle, and she set off towards the stairs so she could watch for her sister from a higher floor.
Albus looked over at Desulgon. "Hey," he said. "Can I talk to you for a moment? Internally?"
Desulgon nodded. What's on your mind?
I was wondering about you, thought Albus. How you couldn't cast a Patronus… I was worried what that implied.
Oh, I know the problem. It's what I should have known to expect, honestly.
What's the problem?
I don't have a true soul, thought Desulgon. I'm not truly alive. There's no way to replicate that. Without a soul, I can't cast a Patronus. Or even any Devoctrices anymore, for that matter.
What? Then how did you cast the Barricant Devoctrix here?
I borrowed Magnus Vintervolff's arms. Don't worry—it was consensual. But no, I'm not truly myself. Don't know if I ever will be; I don't think there's a cure for not having a soul.
But then why are you not… an empty shell, if you don't have a soul? Isn't that what happens when people lose their souls, like to a Dementor?
I replicated a soul in this body, but it's definitively an artificial one. Good questions, though.
Albus sighed. This doesn't concern you at all? Being technically soulless?
Hey, my actual mind has already boarded a train to the afterlife, thought Desulgon. I just figure he might smile a little more from up there if his last creation can help end the war. And I seem to have wised up from my miserable experience on Earth before—I made this brain much more prone to happiness and other positive emotions. Now, maybe I'll seek out a way to restore my soul after the war—maybe I'll just shut down to save myself the existential crisis. I don't know yet, but I also don't have to worry about it yet, until after the war is over. And you shouldn't either.
Sorry. I just…
I know. You care very much. And that's not a bad thing, necessarily. Just keep your focus where it needs to be. Which you've done an excellent job of so far, by the way. You've amassed quite the impressive force.
I think it was mostly other people pulling the strings again, admitted Albus. We wouldn't have gotten anywhere near this far without you… there's the stupid Propheteers… and the phoenixes were summoned because of Cordot's Kill Switch…
You think they would come just for a device activating? No, I'm quite certain it was because they also sensed the noble intentions of the person who activated it. And the stupid Propheteers are on your tail because you've made yourself so special that you've wormed your way into multiple prophecies. Then there's the police force of the Hourglass Empire, whose chief you successfully guilted into coming to our aid. She wouldn't have helped otherwise.
I suppose you're right.
I AM right, thought Desulgon. I'm always right. Even when I'm soulless. Why do you think everyone's asking me to tell them who's picking their nose across the sea? And you doubt I know the obvious evidence of how effective a leader you've been for us?
Albus smiled. Thank you.
They probably know now that we're planning to launch an attack on the Ministry, thought Desulgon. Do you have a plan yet?
The advice is appreciated, thought Albus. The family and I decided that we'll be briefing everyone tonight on the plan of attack, and striking tomorrow morning. Shouldn't you have known that already?
I did, thought Desulgon, grinning. I just assumed it was more polite to ask.
O
The sun began to rise slowly above the sea overlooked by Durmstrang castle. It reflected asymmetrically off the tossing waves in the restless sea.
The phoenix army descended in front of them, tails wafting beautifully in the breeze, and the people standing on the shore made their final preparations—downing Acropotentia potions, unsheathing one or two wands, stretching their wand arms, casting defensive enchantments in anticipation of heavy fire.
"On three, the first wave, and the second wave should be ready to grab the phoenixes as soon as they drop off the first wave and reappear here," said Albus. "Ready? One… Two…" He swallowed a lump in his throat in the small space of time he had between the last couple of numbers. "Three!"
The first wave vanished in front of him, and Albus hated that he wasn't a part of it but was also very much aware that he would be relentlessly targeted if he had been a part of the first wave. The people in the second wave stepped forward waiting nervously but with determination. Teachers, students, parents, Propheteers, from Hogwarts, from Beauxbatons, from Durmstrang, all united against the threat of Wilcox. So many pieces had come together at the end, with the phoenixes, the Propheteers, the police force, and Desulgon… any of those groups would have made this so much more difficult and risky if they were missing from the equation. Something told him that fate, or Cordot, or someone, wasn't done pulling the strings just yet… but at least it wasn't the Marionette's Medicine pulling the strings.
The phoenixes reappeared seconds later to fetch the next wave of fighters. The third wave stepped forward when the second vanished, and with the way people were waiting in rows, Albus was reminded strongly of the lines for the Adelina Nelson Day carnival rides. He knew, but suppressed the knowledge, that his brain was just grasping at this point to think about things that didn't involve murder. The third wave of fighters Disapparated with the phoenixes, with a hundred or more of them having already been carried into the Ministry. Harry and the rest of Albus's family were bringing up the rear, and—
Albus stiffened as he caught a very particular scent.
It wasn't the kind of scent he would pick up from his nose.
Desulgon had been masking this Scent with his overwhelming smell of the Devoctrices, but now that he was gone, Albus's attention was refocused to the next most powerful object he could sense… what was Albus smelling here? Was there something at Durmstrang…? He tried to figure out the direction it was coming from, as the lines kept moving. His family stepped forward, and he noticed it move with them—
He glanced over at his father. The smell was coming from him.
There was only one Devoctrix he knew his father to carry.
Albus ran over to his father and stepped directly in front of him. "Dad," he whispered, eyes wide. "You didn't… Did you bring…"
Harry blinked. "What?"
"Did you bring the Elder Wand?" asked Albus quietly so that no one else could hear.
Harry grabbed the sleeve of Albus's robe and dragged him off to the side. He looked Albus in the eye. "Albus… how did you know that?"
"I smelled it," said Albus. "Dad, these are the Devoctrices—they aren't exactly subtle. If I can catch the Scent of the Elder Wand, so can Wilcox!"
"You didn't sense it until now," said Harry, but he was half talking to himself. "It will be a distracting scenario—with Desulgon and the Propheteers and the guardians of the Catalyst there, and with the Department of Mysteries below, those will conceal whatever smell you're talking about, those are much stronger…" He growled under his breath. "Albus… I am going into battle right now with everyone I love… and I have to do whatever I can to protect them. And if I lose the Elder Wand—worse things have happened. The worst that Wilcox does is irrelevant to wands anyway."
"I understand," said Albus. "Just know that Wilcox is going to try and snatch that from you in any way possible, except by directly confronting you. He's not going to try to duel you outright if he knows you have the Elder Wand."
"I know," said Harry. "But the reason I didn't tell anyone else is because I don't want anyone thinking it, if he picks up on their thoughts. I want it to take him by surprise. I'll use my normal wand all the way—and if I have an opportunity to use the Elder Wand on him, I'll take it out and catch him by surprise. Otherwise… we'll try to do it the old-fashioned way. But the important thing is, whichever way it unfolds… we'll win."
"Boys!" shouted Ginny. "We're the last wave! The phoenixes have been waiting on us; come on!"
"You be careful, too," said Harry, giving Albus the same look that Albus had just given his father. "The same warning you gave me also goes for you."
And they grabbed the phoenixes next.
They landed in an utter whirlwind; there were hundreds of Ministry officials fighting back, and there were hundreds of their army fighting through. Albus's forces could not tell who was Imperiused, who was under MM, and who was clean, and the MM-indicating gas would be able to tell if someone was under MM but not who, so they would have still been in the dark anyway. The only recourse was to test everyone. Thankfully, the antidote to MM didn't just snap the hold of that potion—it also freed minds from the Imperius Curse.
Albus watched their plans work beautifully in action just the way he'd hoped they would work when they set out. Widespread use of the Vitiation Charm once again stopped any chance of reviving anyone from the Stuns. Their invading army was greatly outnumbering the Ministry officials who were on this floor, so they were quickly Stunning every official in the room. When the Stunning was over on the entry-level floor, several designated "curers" with the MM antidote would cast bubbles the potions down everyone's mouths; but since they also didn't know who was simply working for Wilcox of their own accord, the phoenixes would teleport the fallen Ministry officials to Durmstrang, where a few of the underage Durmstrang students had stayed to revive and re-Stun them, which prevented them from becoming revived if the person who Stunned them was killed. The conveyor belt formula moved along swiftly through the first two floors, and then the siege met the full force of the Ministry.
Aurors and lawyers, Obliviators and Unspeakables rushed to the third floor to meet the Potter-Weasley army and defend the Ministry. They weren't just muscles, either, they were working strategies to counter the invading army. Desulgon was striking down everyone he faced one by one, at a much faster rate than anyone else, so they sent half a dozen of the best Aurors to meet him specifically, and many of the other Aurors targeted the weaker fighters in their group to try and reduce their enemy's morale and weaken their numbers quicker. Albus cast some defensive charms to protect them—among others, one that absorbed the power of missed spells and converted them into a shield that slowed the jets of spells headed in their direction. He saw that Jonah was able to duck a Killing Curse that might otherwise have struck him, and Jonah nodded to him in thanks.
Lily was casting out Diwand spells like a practiced routine, a roaring Frostflame fire chasing down their enemies and consuming the furniture and structures that they were hiding behind. She flicked her wand to knock open a nearby door, and cast a spell that curved sharply to the right into the room and exploded; there was a shout and a wizard came running out, but Lily's Stunner struck him in the thigh and he fell to the floor.
James threw a water balloon onto the stairs of the fourth floor, setting off one of the Wetless Waves that he'd invented during his fourth year—a gigantic wave roared from the balloon and crashed down the stairs, sending anyone who was running up the stairs tumbling back down them. His tongue was slightly protruding from his mouth in concentration as he jabbed his wand at an Auror who'd come too close, and the top shelf of a set of filing cabinets next to the Auror popped open, crashing into the side of his head and sending him toppling right onto the Stunner that James cast beside him next.
Victoire and Teddy were back-to-back, covering each other's weaknesses and amplifying each other's strengths. Each held a second wand and were using it to channel magic into the back of the other's first wand, strengthening their strikes such that their Stunner spells flew further and were harder to Dissipate; one Obliviator who obviously wasn't used to dueling tried to counter with a Stunner of his own, but Victoire's sliced straight through his spell like a Severing Charm through parchment and impaled him in the stomach, whereupon he keeled forward until his face was horizontal to the floor and the two met in a crunch.
Dominique was catching spells with her wand and throwing them back like she was playing tennis. She whirled like a dancer but struck like a masterful archer. She ducked out of the way as a Killing Curse soared by that she could not catch, but even as she contorted her body to avoid it she stuck out her wand to grab hold of a Body-Bind that sailed by and fling it back at the person who'd cast the Killing Curse; he only barely Dissipated it but was then immediately struck down by two stunners from Dominique's brother and his boyfriend.
Louis and Gil were timing almost all of their strikes with precision so that every spell they used was fired out at exactly the same time, making it extremely difficult for each of their targets to defend against both jets every time. They also seemed to be very in tune with how the Aurors dueled, having been a part of the Auror Office until recently, and never even looked close to being struck.
Molly Weasley didn't need any specific strategy—she was overpowering everyone she fought, lining them up and knocking them down like she was just in a practice session. She might have been able to take out the whole Ministry, if they were coming at her one at a time; they began to learn she was a greater threat, and three Aurors came out to meet her. Lucy joined forces with her, standing behind Molly and adding a defensive perimeter to Molly's position to assist her in the unfair fight; Lucy, Albus knew, was better with defensive spells, and she proved it. In just a few seconds, even the Killing Curses they sent were nullified to the point that Lucy could throw a trash can lid in front of them and they barely dented the lid. Meanwhile, now uninhibited by their pitiful assaults, Molly's offensive spellwork launched into full stride; she knocked the three Aurors down like dominos by a mere minute later.
Albus had never seen Freddie duel, and it didn't seem to be his area of comfort, but he was thoroughly enjoying his job as curer. "You're welcome!" he shouted to a witch he slipped the cure to, and he called over a phoenix to take them away so that they wouldn't be revived and reused by the other side. "You're welcome!" he shouted to the next wizard. A woman descended upon Freddie with three quick flashes of spells, and he tried to parry them but gave a yelp and was knocked to the ground, motionless—then, as the woman ran by him to fight the next person in line, Freddie calmly stood up behind her, having faked his incapacitation, and Stunned her in the back. He ran by her to get to a safer area, and enchanted another bubble of the MM cure to squeeze between her lips. "You're welcome!"
Roxanne led a unit up in the air on brooms; her boyfriend Frankie was in front, with several chairs and tables orbiting him. Albus wasn't sure what to make of this, until he saw a green jet of a spell fly in their direction, and Frankie intercepted it with a chair, which blasted into many pieces. Frankie caught all of the pieces out of the air and repaired them into the same chair, to intercept the next spell. Roxanne every so often would sense a momentary break in the spells that were aimed upwards at them, and she sailed out overhead, casting Stunners directly downwards that were very difficult to defend, before zigzagging back to her position. She dodged the spells as easily as she dodged Bludgers.
Rose had never been the calmest person in the face of tribulation, but you never would have known it looking at her now. Her face was serene, her arm steady, her power and precision overwhelming. She might even have defeated Lucas in the tournament, dueling this way. She cast a Disarming Charm that she arced like a curveball, that slapped a wand right out of the hands of an Auror; Aidan was dueling next to her, and with a slash and a yank from Aidan's wand, the Auror was pulled by her neck past their front lines and into the center of their forces, where she was stunned by half a dozen different fighters. Freddie trotted over and slipped her the MM cure. "You're welcome!"
And Hugo—he looked like a different person entirely. He was a natural, firing off Stunners in every forward direction at a rate Albus had never even fathomed. When the situation called for it, he altered his strategy, and with blasts of brilliant ice-based magical combinations, he was freezing opponents' arms to their chests and feet to the floor and relieving them of their wands like it was his job, despite that he was barely sixteen years old and that he was fighting against people whose job was to do this sort of thing.
"Holy SHIT!" cried James, and he narrowly parried a Dark curse headed in his direction. "That wasn't—DAD! Situation's changed!"
"Explain swiftly!" yelled Harry back to James.
"It's Barry—and his family!"
"What?!" yelled Frankie, who was not just Roxanne's boyfriend but also Barry Dunbar's brother. James Stunned Barry safely and chivvied him backwards for Freddie and the other Curers, but he was still fighting the rest of Barry's family.
"They weren't Imperiused two days ago," said James. "I was still corresponding with him up until then. And they definitely don't work at the Ministry!"
"Plainclothes civilians everywhere!" cried Uncle Percy. "Harry, these aren't Ministry workers!"
In the thick of the fight, Albus had barely even noticed that many of the people coming at them now were in regular clothing, in Muggle shirt and pants or robes that witches and wizards normally wore when relaxing at home. Nor had he noticed that they had not descended to the next floor in a very long time; the fighters just kept coming.
"My God," whispered Harry. "It's everyone Wilcox has ever Imperiused or cast the Marionette's Medicine on. He's throwing everything at us."
"But Dad, Barry was not Imperiused, even on Monday," protested James.
"I think that can only mean one thing," said Uncle Ron, awkwardly ducking a Stunner spell but firing back a direct hit in return. "Wilcox is Apparating all around the country, Imperiusing everyone he can and teleporting them here, adding more fighters to his ranks exactly as fast as we knock them down!"
"He knows this is our last stand, that we've gathered nearly everyone that we could," said Aunt Hermione. "And we're losing people—slowly, but most surely, we are losing people. He's going to keep Imperiusing more wizards and sending them to fight us until our forces trickle down to nothing!"
"I'll try to stop him!" cried Desulgon, and he vanished without need of a phoenix.
"Don't cure anyone in plainclothes—they're only Imperiused, and we don't have enough cure for everyone Imperiused!" called Ginny loudly for everyone in their ranks to hear. "We'll have to save the cure for the Ministry workers and other important people. Just Stun them. Someone should head back to Durmstrang with a phoenix to give them the update—the people who come by may still be Imperiused, so don't let your guard down! We can't let one subdued fighter escape Durmstrang, or they could revive everyone and we'd have to start all over again!"
"DAD!" yelled Lily. "SITUATION CHANGING AGAIN!"
Wilcox had apparently moved on to a different country—a great number of African witches and wizards were now pouring from the stairwell. Shortly after that was a wave of Asian men and women, and then Hispanic fighters—Wilcox was moving around the world at random to throw off Desulgon, Imperiusing literally any wizards he could find and throwing them at the Potter-Weasley army. How could they defeat this army without having to fight every single wizard in the world?
Alec's voice rang out by Albus's ear. "Desulgon and I made a secret weapon!" he shouted. "He told me to keep it a secret so we could take the enemy by surprise, and only to use it when the situation got really serious—I'd say it just did, what do you think?"
"Go for it!" urged Albus.
Alec opened up his pack, and out soared ten brown, slender, winged sticklike objects—bowtruckles? No, they were—winged wands, wands detached from an owner which were flying around the room on their own.
Alec leveled his wand as Albus kept himself in the fight but kept a curious eye on Alec. "Stupefy!" yelled Alec.
Ten additional bangs and flashes: Alec's old idea of Quantum Qualicy—cloning a wand so that one wand would perform a spell whenever the original did—was in full force here as he and Desulgon had apparently used Desulgon's Catalyst to create ten copies of Alec's wand, which fired Stunners into the crowd of Imperiused fighters, all at the same time. The wands were flying about the stadium; with minds of their own, they were targeting the enemy combatants and neutralizing with extreme prejudice. And they were damn near impossible to see from above, with their slim bodies and clear wings, and even more impossible for the fighters to hit.
A broom clattered beside Albus, and as if distantly, he saw its prior occupant hit the ground beside the broom, bleeding out of where she used to have an arm; Albus recalled the severity of their situation, and he set himself back into dueling his hardest.
Aidan rushed towards Albus, pointing back. "Albus, Wilcox is here!" he said as he pointed back. "I just saw him—"
Albus's mouth dried up instantly "Where—?" Albus looked around, and tapped into the auras of the surrounding fighters, reading around for Wilcox—
And he noticed a particularly dark aura in the room, but it was coming from right next to him—
Stupefy! he thought, and whirled around to jam his wand under Aidan's throat.
Aidan threw his head backwards, out of the way of the spell, and vanished into thin air—it had been Wilcox, trying to get close enough to Albus to end him without need of a duel.
Albus raised his wand. "Invocto Patronum!" he announced, making use of Adelina Nelson's new Patronus incantation, and a dazzlingly bright coyote burst into the scene, running to the front lines and growling menacingly at their foes. "It's me—I think that was one of the Wilcoxes! Spread the word, he's trying to impersonate!"
"Harry!" yelled Ginny. "Albus says Wilcox is trying to impersonate people, be wary!"
"Albus is over here!" shouted Harry back, and then he internalized what Ginny had said.
Harry was abruptly launched straight up into the air, and then thrown backwards through an open door, which slammed and sealed; but Wilcox had carefully removed something from Harry's robes beforehand.
Wilcox held the Elder Wand high, laughing triumphantly.
