34. Mortal Enemy
It was a dangerous mission. They knew that very well. Unfortunately, they had not much to prepare against. They were practically flying blind here. The place was under the Fidelius, unplottable, and no doubt heavily guarded. The only way to get in was either getting the Secret Keeper to disclose the secret, or by side-along apparation. Most likely Voldemort himself was the Secret Keeper, so capturing the Secret Keeper was out of the question. That left side-along apparation as the only choice left.
The trouble with that was the fact that Rabastan Lestrange seldom left the Headquarters. Most of the time the Tracer spell Susan put on him pointed to a much generalized area. At first they thought Susan had messed up the spell somehow, since the spell was supposed to pinpoint the location of the one being traced, but later they understood that the Fidelius Charm was actually blocking the spell partially.
It would've been easier if they could barge in with a full force of Aurors and combat specialist Unspeakables and take down Riddle for good, but Harry confessed that Voldemort outclassed him by a large margin. They didn't have a plan to negate this advantage and hence had to wait until they could think of a strategy where Harry wasn't going one-on-one with Voldemort in a duel. He might have survived him quite a few times, but his luck could only carry him on so far. That, and Voldemort underestimating him the last time they met. He was sure Voldemort wouldn't be as stupid to do the same mistake again seeing that Harry had burnt his wand to ashes the last time they met. One simply doesn't become the most feared wizard in a century without considerable brains to go with power and cruelty.
So for now, they had to sneak in and kill the snake and escape. Andromeda and Sirius researched about horcruxes and found that if someone makes more than seven horcruxes, his soul will kind of 'explode'. It was like a balloon. Blow too much air in it, and BAM!
Which, fortunately, would save Harry all the pain of thinking up a good plan to get rid of Voldemort. So they wouldn't have to worry if Riddle became aware of their horcrux-hunting as long they were back home safely.
After several long and tiring arguments and debates, it was decided that Andromeda and Harry would go to this mission. Andromeda, because she had an extensive knowledge about Dark Arts and wards. Harry, because he was the only one from them who has faced Voldemort and was more likely to win in a fight than the others. To general surprise, it was Andromeda who supported Harry's inclusion. Later, Harry went to her room to ask her about it.
"Come in, Harry."
He sat down beside her, absently noting that there was still a second pillow on the bed that belonged to Ted.
"Why did you want me to come with you?" he asked quietly. She smiled at him.
"Because I want the best to watch my back once we are there."
He grinned at her flattering answer, but wasn't convinced.
"No seriously."
"I am serious." She replied with a little chuckle, glad that Sirius wasn't here. "If I am being honest, you are better than Sirius and Nymphadora when it comes to wand work, maybe even better than me."
He nodded, but then he remembered something.
"But when I went after Lestrange you said that you'd rather I stayed safe. Don't get me wrong, I'm very glad that you are taking me, but what changed your mind?"
Instead of answering, Andromeda looked out of the window. The neighbourhood was quiet, peaceful. She took a deep breath and Harry noticed that her eyes contained more moisture than they had a few seconds back.
"I thought about what you said to me that day and I realized that you are right. I wish I could hide you away from all these, maybe take you and flee to France or some other country where no one will be after your life. But I have learnt that the more we stall, more people will lose their lives, their families and... loved ones. I know you have to do it and all I can do is making sure you come out as victorious with minimum loss on our side."
He understood her point and squeezed her hand in reply.
So the wait began.
They took turns to check on Rabastan's location regularly. Andromeda packed a bag with some 'tools' they would be using, ready to leave at moments' notice. Harry's sleep became lighter as his body was always tensed, anticipating to get a safe location and then target the younger Lestrange.
Dumbledore visited Harry while they were waiting. He was, of course, unaware of their horcrux hunt and no one saw any plausible reason to burden him with that knowledge. He inquired about Harry's Occlumency lessons and was quite happy to see that Andromeda did her job perfectly as even he could not break through Harry's defences after trying different methods for ten minutes. Despite the headache, Harry was glad for it. If one of the best Legilimens of the time could not bring down his barrier in ten minutes, it was probably safe to assume that the other wouldn't have it much easy, either.
The much awaited 'call' came a week before the start of school. It was getting dark when Sirius checked and found that Rabastan was now at the outskirts of Richmond. They were preparing to leave when Tonks yanked Harry to her room and before he could express his surprise, she pulled his head towards her and kissed him deeply. Without protesting, he returned the favour.
Not after too long, she broke off. Closing her eyes, she leaned her head on his forehead.
"Promise me you and mum would come back safely." She whispered.
"Promise." He whispered back. She smiled weakly and hugged him tightly. Then she let go of him and nodded towards the door. If Andromeda or Sirius noticed Harry's absence for the few moments, they pretended not to.
"Let's do it." Harry said, looking at Andromeda, who nodded. Sirius came forward and pulled both of them to an embrace.
"Be safe." Was all he said.
"Good luck." Tonks whispered. Mother and daughter looked at each other and without actually speaking they agreed that they would see each other in a while.
Then Andromeda turned towards Harry, and with a final nod, they clutched each others' hands and disapparated.
...
"Wards?"
"Negative." She answered after a few moments.
Making a mental note to ask her how she detected wards later, he nodded and reapplied the silencing charms on his feet again and she did the same. It wouldn't do to screw up the mission because their silencing spells wore off their feet.
Rabastan Lestrange was talking with a mousy man. It was more intimidating than talking, though. From what could be heard, the Death Eater was demanding more 'supplies' from the mousy man, who was mumbling about 'suffering losses'.
Under the Cloak, Andromeda and Harry looked at each other and with a nod Harry pulled out a little stone from his pocket and handed it to Andromeda. Carefully she tapped her wand on the stone and it glowed as red for a moment.
When it appeared that Rabastan was finished with his work, they went closer and put their wands back to their pockets and held their breath.
This was the most difficult and uncertain part of the whole mission. Even if the timing went wrong by less than a second, this whole thing could screw up.
Harry hooked one arm with Andromeda and got ready. Andromeda was clutching the little stone tightly, waiting to pounce. They had chosen their spots very carefully. Harry had the best reflexes while Andromeda was the one who could handle all kinds of magical travel most gracefully.
With a deep breath, Harry inched his palm forward so the material of his Invisibility Cloak was centimetres away from Lestrange's arm. Taking a quick glance at the partially exposed Dark Mark, he waited for the right moment, looking at his face with immense concentration.
Rabastan's head tilted up a bit, and his body became a little tensed. Just as they practised a million times with Sirius. This was when he was concentrating on the location. Then his body crouched inwards, indicating that he was preparing for the sudden turning. Andromeda held her fist close to the Death Eater, and prepared herself too.
Just as Rabastan twisted, Harry managed to grab his arm and as soon as they landed, Andromeda slapped the little stone on the Death Eater's body, who dropped on the floor at once. Quickly Harry pulled out his wand and looked around.
The room was empty, but the loud 'CRACK!' caused by the apparation was bound to get some attention if they were in the right place. Quickly Harry passed another little stone to Andromeda and she tapped her wand on it within a second.
To their relief, a hooded figure came to inquire. Unfortunately for the figure, as soon as he stepped in the room, Andromeda threw the stone at him and the figure dropped just like Rabastan did a moment ago.
"I like these." Harry whispered and Andromeda winked at him. The stone was a creation of Andromeda, nicknamed 'Stonner'. It was like a solid Stupefy spell. All you had to do was tap your wand on it and then throw it at the target. It was almost invisible, silent and looked like a harmless pebble. Most importantly, it didn't throw back the target and make loud noises like the spell did. In close encounter, this was literally a jewel.
"We are in the right place. This is Yaxley, a suspected Death Eater." Andromeda commented once she took his wand, snapped it in half, bound him and hit him with a proper Stunner. While the Stonner pebbles were silent, the effects wore off after fifteen minutes. A powerful spell could, however, knock someone out for over three hours.
Doing the same to Rabastan, Harry asked, "What are we doing with them?"
"Take a chunk of his hair." She pointed at Yaxley, rummaging at her compressed bag. He did as told and waited for her to find the correct vial. Moments later, she pulled out a vial of muddy liquid and Harry dropped the chunk of hair in it and it turned a dark grey colour.
"Go on and take it." She encouraged him and wrinkling his nose, he gulped down half the vial. The Polyjuice Potion was flawless, and seconds later Yaxley replaced Harry. His clothes had a self-expanding charm on them so they grew as his height and bulk increased.
"Blimey, he's disgusting." He said sourly.
"Go to the next room and see if it is clear." Andromeda reminded him and he walked out of the room.
She looked back at the original Yaxley. From her sources (mainly Death Eaters about to die), she knew that Yaxley was one of the Death Eaters who participated in the Ministry raid. She didn't know if he was the one who killed Ted, but why take a chance? Making sure that Harry wasn't in sight, she murmured the two words, hatred flowing in her senses.
"Avada Kedavra."
She saw the stiff body going totally limp and looked away quickly. She didn't have a problem using the last Unforgivable, but she was not a monster. She didn't enjoy the death of her victims like Death Eaters did.
After a minute and half, Harry returned.
"Clear. Did you cast any spells? I might have seen a light or something."
"I don't know, could be a trick of the light." She pointed at the chandelier above and Harry shrugged.
"Maybe. Let's go, c'mon."
The next room, as Harry promised, was empty. There was another hooded figure in the corridor beyond it. Before Andromeda could cast any spell, Harry quickly spoke up.
"Have you seen the snake?"
The figure, who appeared to be a burly middle aged man, grunted.
"Might've seen it upstairs. Why?"
"Eh, I'd like to kill it. Scares me shitless, that thing." He faked a light shiver. The figure nodded.
"Aye. Tell me if you ever decide to."
No sooner than he turned away from Harry, a quick full body-bind from Harry dropped him to the floor, but Andromeda, who was used to casting a cushioning charm, thanks to her daughter's clumsiness, prevented any loud sounds.
"Thanks." Harry whispered to the invisible Andromeda.
"Welcome. Keep going."
He stunned the man, wiped his memory, bound him and snapped his wand.
Andromeda had expected Voldemort's headquarters to contain more wards and protection against intruders. It seemed that Voldemort was arrogant enough to think that his Death Eaters would never bring anyone here, intentionally or not. Well, it was all his loss.
As they passed two more corridors, they faced two more guards and they were stunned and bound like the others too. At last they reached a hall beyond which there was an elegant staircase leading up to the next floor.
Unfortunately, there were seven hooded figures patrolling the hall.
"What was the noise?" one of them asked Harry, taking him as Yaxley the Death Eater.
"Nothing." He replied shortly. He had to go upstairs quickly. Not that he didn't want to take down the Death Eaters, but the more time he wasted here, chances of their success would decrease. That was a risk he was unwilling-
"There's someone here!" suddenly one of the guards shouted as Harry stepped in the hallway. Others quickly pulled out their wands and scanned the hall for any intruder.
Harry was pretty sure that Andromeda was still outside the hall, so it meant he must have tripped some ward. Thinking quickly, he decided to distract them from Andromeda's direction.
"I think I heard something over there!" he shouted at the others, pointing away from Andromeda's probable location and everyone immediately started throwing stunners at that direction.
Andromeda took the advantage and started stunning the guards herself. Within five seconds, all the guards were lying on the ground.
"Ha! You got only three." Harry said.
"Oh please, did you even pull out your wand?" she poked Harry in the ribs. Rolling his eyes, he asked the important question.
"Did I walk into a ward?"
"Maybe." She replied. "I would guess that it was a ward to detect anyone without the Dark Mark."
"But this Yaxley dude had the Mark." He rolled up his sleeve to prove his point.
"Yes, but you didn't. It's the magic of a person that really counts, not their appearance. Yaxley's wand wouldn't suit you even if you are using his body." She explained him. Understanding, he nodded and gestured her to lead the way. It was a bit awkward, seeing that she was still under the Invisibility Cloak and he couldn't see her.
No sooner than they reached the upper landing, a voice called out at them.
"Yaxley! I've been looking for you."
The speaker was quickly approaching them and Harry noted that he moved like a bull.
"Really? What can I do for you?" Harry replied coolly and the man slowed down, with a frown on his face. Seemed like that wasn't the right thing to say.
"You do remember that the Dark Lord will be here within an hour don't you?" the man asked dubiously.
"Of course I do." He replied smoothly, inwardly dancing in joy at the knowledge that Voldemort wasn't here.
"Then shouldn't we finish our task right away?"
"Yes of course, I must have forgotten." He tried to cover up, but evidently, it wasn't working well.
"Forgotten? How can you forget something like this? Do you even remember what you have to do?" he asked with suspicion and Harry noticed his hand slowly drifting towards his pocket.
"Ah, screw that."
He fired a stunner, but his opponent wasn't incompetent like the guards downstairs. A shield was erected just in time and a Killing Curse was thrown at him the next second, quickly dodging it, Harry sent a barrage of curses at his opponent and though the man seemed a good dueller, he knew he wouldn't last long against Harry's raw power. But before Harry could bring down his shields, Andromeda decided to make it short and hit the man with a stunner from behind.
"Thanks." Said Harry. "A little more of that duel and the whole place would've been alerted."
"Yes. Now stay here and watch my back and I'll go forward and see if anyone is on guard. We better avoid pleasant chats with unpleasant Death Eaters right now. I think that is Rookwood. Tie him up, will you?" she said, referring to the fallen Death Eater.
"Sure. Go ahead."
As her footsteps died away, he looked at the man on his feet. Rookwood was the murderer of Susan's parents. He knew the pain of living without parents and this man brought the same fate for Susan and Sam.
"Avada Kedavra."
The green light struck the man silently, wiping away his soul from his body, and Harry felt a tiny bit of regret. He should've suffered before death.
A minute later, Andromeda's footstep could be heard again. She was not using the silencing charm on her feet in front of Harry as he needed to know her approximate position.
"Clear?" he asked.
"Yeah. Two guards are taken care of. Ready to go?"
"No."
A surprised Andromeda was about to say something but Harry hushed her.
"Get ready, it's coming." He warned and Andromeda removed the cloak. Being invisible won't help now.
"C'mon Nagini." He muttered. He could sense the snake approaching very fast. He signalled Andromeda to get ready and stay in position.
Soon, a slithering noise could be heard and within moments, the snake was in front of them.
"You are massssstersssss enemy... Musssssst kill..." hissed the snake in parseltongue and reared to strike.
"Stop. We are here to help you." Harry hissed back and the snake paused, sparing a glance at Andromeda. Slowly, Harry moved around it, so that the snake, who was following his every movement, had its tail at Andromeda now.
"Don't need... any help..." it said.
"Too bad then."
As fast as lightning, he put down his wand on the floor and Andromeda followed immediately. The snake sensed foul play and struck.
Unfortunately, it met an invisible barrier. Worse still, it sensed that the barrier was something more than just a barrier. Looking around, it noticed four glowing stones on the ground surrounding it.
Harry breathed a sigh of relief. The method they were using to terminate Nagini was very old and dark. While moving around it, Harry had dropped two little stones with silencing charms on them, and while the snake's back was turned, Andromeda dropped the other two, creating a square. Around the middle age, this was known as the 'Square of Justice'. Four pre-charged rune stones were positioned in a square. At least two powerful wizards were needed to activate the stones. When activated, the stones created a ward that siphoned magic off anything inside the square.
When pureblood supremacy was at its highest, muggleborns were captured and released inside the Square of Justice. Theoretically, it was supposed to take away their magic and leave them as muggles. However, a wizard or witch's body and magic were so much intermixed that it usually ended up physically disabling the subject, and sometimes even paralyse the whole body of the subject permanently. Not that the 'Judges' minded it that much.
When the ritual became very popular, a few purebloods lost their own magic attempting it because they weren't powerful enough to carry it out properly. Finally, a few rebel muggleborns captured a bunch of bigoted purebloods and stripped them of their magic. In the court, they simply said that it was an accident and therefore, unintentional. The court was, of course, sceptical and the victims all explained what exactly what happened. However, the muggleborns' lawyer reminded the judges that the law clearly stated that if the statement of a wizard and any other species were contradictory in a case, the wizard's words should be considered more accurate. Since the victims couldn't be considered wizards due to their lack of magic, their statements held little value. Against their wishes, the Wizengamot announced the muggleborns free of all charges. The next day, those muggleborns fled the country, their lawyer was killed, and the Square of Justice was declared as an illegal object and possession of it would result in no less than three months in Azkaban.
The Black family, however, cared little about laws. Their family vault had one set and Andromeda had retrieved it for the mission, learned how to use it, and now she watched as the snake thrashed inside the little square and felt a little pity for it. The magic of a snake was nowhere as powerful as a wizard. It was likely to die within a few minutes.
Harry tried to block out the inhuman sound Nagini was making. Not for the first time, he cursed his ability to speak parseltongue. He decided never to be near a dying snake again if he could help it.
It was five whole minutes before the stones stopped glowing, indicating that the horcrux was destroyed. Nagini was lying straight as a rod, stiff.
"I guess we can say that our mission in successful." Andromeda said with a tired smile and Harry smiled at her and nodded.
Yes, the mission was successful. His mortal enemy was, once again, truly mortal.
A/N: reviews are welcome.