The blade sliced clean through the ancient diadem, and Harry's ears were assaulted once again by the anguished scream that was indicative of a dying Horcrux.
"It's done," he said with a nod, sheathing the sword and leaving the Room of Requirement, heading for his next destination.
"It is time, then?" Severus Snape asked, as Harry walked into his office, dragging along a familiar-looking trunk behind him. "What are you doing with Moody's trunk?"
"Hiding you," Harry said, taking the Auror's keyring and unlocking the seventh lock, opening the empy compartment with a ladder leading down. "No sense in taking pointless chances and leaving you out in the open where any lucky Death Eater could wander by and hit you with a Killing Curse when I still haven't made up my mind on what to do with you, after all. So you'll go down in here, drink your Draught, and I'll get you out when it's done."
"If you insist," Snape said, taking a phial containing an ink-black potion from a rack on the wall and walking over to the trunk, climbing down the ladder to the bottom. "Good luck, Potter," Snape said, lying down on the floor of the trunk and downing the potion.
"Good luck, Professor," Harry said, shutting the trunk and placing it in an out-of-the-way corner of the man's office.
"So we can get the suits of armour to defend the secret passageways," Harry said. He, Moody, Kingsley, King, the other company leaders and Professor Dumbledore were gathered around a table on which was spread out the Marauder's Map. Harry was indicating his plans for the defence of Hogwarts from Voldemort's forces. "We're not sure if any Death Eaters remain in the castle to carry out Nott's mission, so I want two Auror squads on the seventh floor, down the two access corridors to the Room of Requirement, just in case they've gotten that Vanishing Cabinet working."
The Aurors nodded.
"What do we know about the composition of Voldemort's forces?" Harry asked.
"All our available information suggests he's got about 6 giants, 12 or so trolls, the remnants of Greyback's werewolf pack, numbering at best 20 werewolves, a few foreign Vampires, plus 100 or so Dementors and 29 confirmed Death Eaters that he's called to his base full-time. Counting sympathisers and sleepers that we don't know about, he might have up to 100 dark wizards he can call on domestically, and any number of foreigners," Moody said. "The numbers on the creatures he's got on hand are estimates from the DRCMC, which means they Apparated in, looked around for five seconds, Apparated away and guessed how many weren't there that should have been."
"Apart from the Dementors, which we do have good counts of," Kingsley said. "Speaking of, how are we supposed to fight them off? If they have a deal with Riddle that gives them carte blanche to treat his enemies as an all-you-can-eat buffet, the Patronus will only do so much to repel them, and there's no way we can keep casting Patronuses and fight off the rest of them at the same time."
"Good point," Harry said, surprisingly cheerful at being asked this question, which vexed everyone else in the room. "We know Dementors hate the happy thoughts that are contained within Patronuses, and while we could have 100 of the Aurors casting them to ward off the Dementors, I'd prefer a more...fun approach."
"Fun?" King asked, deadpan.
"Yup," Harry said. He pulled out his wand and flicked it at the corner of the room, lifting a spell to reveal a contraption that was distinctly Muggle in origin.
"What the hell is that?" Auror Schmidt asked.
"Flamethrower," Harry said. "Does exactly what it says on the tin, more or less. Like a very high-powered Incendio."
"Where did you get that?" Dumbledore asked.
"Her Majesty's Government," Harry said. "They nicked a bunch of them off the IRA during a raid, and don't really have a use for them, so I asked nicely and they handed them over."
"And what do you want us to do with them?" King asked.
"Implement my strategy against the Dementors," Harry said, flatly.
"Which is?"
"Kill it with fire!" Harry exclaimed. "Think about it. In addition to making you miserable, what's one effect of a Dementor?"
"Cold," Tonks supplied. Harry nodded.
"Exactly. And what's the best way to combat cold?"
"Heat," Moody grunted.
"Exactly! So, last question, what's a really good heat source?"
"Fire," Dumbledore admitted. "But how can that possibly work, Harry? The Dementors are not believed to be affected by anything other than the Patronus."
"Well, has anybody ever been dumb enough to even think about lighting one on fire?" Harry asked. "It'll work. At worst, it'll burn their cloaks off and they'll turn tail and run from embarrassment of being naked in public." That last comment brought a chuckle from all involved.
"But who's going to operate them? And how many are there?" Kingsley asked.
"I've got a couple dozen," Harry said. "How many Aurors do we have with some experience in the Muggle world?"
"More than a couple dozen," Moody said. "You want them?"
"Yeah. It's mostly just point and pull the trigger, but why waste time having to explain it?" Harry asked. "And once the Dementors have been driven off or killed or whatever, we can use what fuel is left in them against the other creatures."
"And if the fuel in them runs out first?"
"Incendio," Harry said, simply. The rest of the room remained silent for a few moments, contemplating Harry's strategy before simply nodding in acceptance.
"Now, the Giants," Harry said. "What's the best way to take them down?"
"That'll be difficult," Kingsley admitted. "I think you have some first-hand knowledge of how magic-resistant Giant hide is. It's like trying to stun a boulder."
"OK, yeah," Harry said. "Who's got an idea?"
"Well, it would take about 300 stunners to put down just one Giant, and the effect wouldn't last long," Moody said. "On the other hand, if we kill them or greivously wound them, we risk seriously pissing the lot of them – even the ones that aren't fighting for Riddle – off, and putting them on the warpath."
"Hm," Harry said. "How about we just get rid of them?"
"What do you mean?" Kingsley asked.
"Send them home," Harry said. "Well, the giants, at least. I don't give a toss about the trolls."
"Portkey?" Dumbledore asked, mostly rhetorically. He took on a contemplative look. "The most difficult part would be in getting the magic to envelop the giant and transport it away. It could not be done with a conventional item like a coin or an old boot, because they simply can't hold enough magic to envelop a giant and whisk it away. It would need to be something that could completely encircle the giant."
"Like a long rope?" Harry suggested.
"Yes, that may well work," Dumbledore said. "If you managed to wrap it around the giant like a belt, and had a powerful enough sorcerer put the magic into the Portkey, it should work."
"We'll do that, then," Harry said. "Probably should make ten, just to be on the safe side." Dumbledore nodded, looking resigned and weary.
"Alright, trolls we can take out with concentrated spell-fire. They don't have anything close to the magic-resistance of giants. He probably expects us to do as we're going to, which is hole up inside the castle and force him to come to us. So he'll have the trolls and the giants come in first to make an entrance by bashing down the doors or knocking holes in the wall, whichever is most convinient for him."
"But do you think he's going to just walk up the main path?" Gawain Robards asked.
"No, of course not," Harry said. "But the majority of his forces will. He'll send a few marauding squads via the viaduct bridge and across the Lake, but they won't amount to much. Auror squads, and my Knights, at each of those entry points should be able to handle them, because they won't be able to bring along giants or trolls, especially along the viaduct."
"And since the rear of the school is up against a solid cliff, there's not much he can do in the way of access that way, so the front is going to have to be the main attack point," King concluded. "Makes enough sense. So we concentrate our forces so that they can cover the front with spells."
"A company's worth, at least. Our reserves will be in the Great Hall," Harry said.
"Very well," King said. "Back to the giants, milord. How are we going to get the Portkeys onto them?"
"Disillusioned fliers," Harry suggested. "Cast a sticking charm to the Portkeys, so they'll stick to the giant while it's wrapped around them, get it around and activate it."
"That's pretty risky," Tonks cautioned.
"Well the alternative is leaving Aurors on brooms out there trying to coordinate their wrap-around and tie a knot while Death Eaters try to kill them," Moody replied. "Or trying to find a way to enchant the ropes to do it all themselves."
"Alright then," Tonks conceded. "They could probably do with a distraction, though."
"If I know Riddle, he'll be sending the Dementors as his vanguard. Watching those fuckers get lit up should provide plenty of distraction," Harry said with a grin. "Now, is there anything else?"
The rest of the group shook their heads 'no'. They wanted the plan to be simple, which would allow them to be flexible in the defence of Hogwarts.
"Alright then. I've got a letter to write," Harry said, turning on his heel and walking out of the room.
The next morning, an owl delivered a copy of the Daily Prophet to the house of "Harold Metis".
POTTER CHALLENGES TOM RIDDLE
In a letter to this publication received last night, Special Deputy Minister for Magic for Security Lord Sir Harry James Potter challenged noted, feared and wanted terrorist Tom Riddle, aka Lord Voldemort to a "final reckoning."
"Last night I destroyed the last of his Horcruxes," Potter announced in the letter. "I'd like to get this over with for good, so I, as well as the rest of magical Britain, can get on with our lives without this evil man and the idiots who follow him among us, threatening us, our Government, our way of life and all we hold dear."
A Horcrux, for our readers who are not depraved Dark sociopaths, is a Dark object that tethers its creator's soul to this plane of existence, and can only be created by pre-meditated, cold-blooded murder. Potter's implication that Tom Riddle had more than one such object, just goes to show the danger posed by this man.
Potter went on to directly challenge the Dark Lord, using the Language of the Old Ways.
"I, Harry James, Lord of the Ancient and Noble House of Potter, Lord of the Ancient and Noble House of Black, do hereby challenge Thomas Marvolo, Bastard of the Degenerate and Disgraced House of Gaunt, to a Duel to the Death at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," he said.
Potter's ambition of eradicating the threat of Riddle and the Death Eaters was made clear in the next paragraph.
"I call on him to bring his Marked slaves, and every creature that has sworn loyalty to him, along with him. The people of magical Britain deserve no less than the complete and total eradication of this threat.
"Aside from that, he'll need every idiot who serves him and more to get to me. After all, I am in Hogwarts, the best defended building in this country. Myself, and the rest of the castle's defenders, are more than capable of dealing with one terrorist, no matter how magically powerful he believes himself to be," Potter announced.
"Also, I have a few things to say to Tommy directly. I have taken care of Theodore Nott and Severus Snape, and stopped all your plots within this castle. Your attempts to penetrate Hogwarts' wards and assassinate her Headmaster have been foiled. You are going down, Tom, and your 'army' will go with you. I have just one last thing to say. Come at me, Tom!"
For the full text of Lord Potter's letter, see Page 2
For a history of Potter's actions against Riddle, see page 3
For a biography of Riddle, see page 4
The subject of the challenge was incensed. Potter's challenge, using the Old Terms, in public, could not be refused without him losing all his support amongst the Purebloods he sought to rule. No, he would have to go. He would have to fight Potter, again.
The news about his Horcruxes disturbed him greatly. He knew, of course, that Potter and the old man had been systematically destroying them over the last year. How they'd found them was beyond him; he was sure he'd hidden them very well. The loss of the diary was thanks to Lucius' idiocy and incompetence, Spirits damn the man. From there, he could only hypothesise that Dumbledore had sussed out the nature of the diary and done some of his trademark snooping around, which subsequently revealed the numbers, objects, and locations of his soul pieces. From there, he'd decided the prophecy meant Potter had to destroy the lot of them, and had started dragging the boy across the country to do so. Snape must have told, but Potter had killed him anyway; no more than the traitorous man deserved, but it had cost him dearly.
Not for the first time, the "man" formerly known as Tom Riddle wondered if he had been wise to attack young Harry Potter that Halloween night, especially without the full prophecy. In 1981, he had been within a few operations of completing his coup against the Ministry. The Light was reeling as his forces killed blood-traitor family after blood-traitor family, mudbloods were fleeing the wizarding world in droves, and nobody trusted anybody else. Yet despite the efforts of all his agents within the Ministry, even in the Department of Mysteries, he had not been able to obtain a copy of the full Prophecy.
Despite having split his soul into seven pieces, Voldemort was not a fool. He had been Sorted into Slytherin, after all. Potter had hundreds of Aurors at his disposal, on top of all the unknown defences of Hogwarts. He had 50 Dark wizards, a few giants, a few trolls, and the Dementors. Potter had the decided schematic advantage, though the Dementors might manage to steal a few souls, it would hardly make a difference.
And now the Prophecy was coming true. Potter had issued him a challenge for a Duel to the Death, which would, if Voldemort looked at the results of all their past confrontations honestly, end with him "vanquished" again, this time for good. Would it have still done so had he left Potter alone? Would the Longbottom brat have been a better choice to kill? Or would it not have mattered which child he chose?
"My Lord?" A Death Eater asked tentatively, walking into his throne room at the head of a column of 12 of her fellows.
"What is it?" he snapped. Even in this reflective mood, he couldn't allow his subordinates to do anything but fear him.
"Are we going to answer Potter?" she asked.
"Of course," Voldemort said. "We will all go and answer that jumped-up half-blood's insolent challenge, and crush him."
"A-all of us, milord?" Peter Pettigrew, the worthless rat, stammered, clearly terrified of going within 100 miles of Potter.
"Yes, Wormtail, all of us." Voldemort's voice was silky smooth and quite amused, in a cathartic way. "If Potter wants a final battle, we shall oblige him."
"But, milord, wouldn't it be wise for some of us to remain, just in case?" a new recruit asked. Voldemort drew his wand and swiftly put the man under the Cruciatus Curse for thirty seconds.
"Final battle means final, you insolent twat," he snapped. "Even if you stay behind and the main force is defeated, Potter and his merry band of ponces will hunt you down like a wounded fox and lop your head off in the night."
The Death Eater didn't answer, still whimpering as he was from his exposure to the torture curse.
"Now, gather all our forces and prepare to leave for Scotland," Voldemort said. "I will devise our attack plan while you do so."
Bowing, despite their obvious reservations, the Death Eaters left the throne room.
Meanwhile, at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the last of the departing students was filing through the Entrance Hall. While most of the students had been accepting of the need to depart before Voldemort arrived, more than a few of the Slytherins had had to be forcibly removed, for various reasons.
Draco Black was one of them.
"Harry, I want to stay," he was protesting, for the thirteenth time since said Harry had shown up to drag him and his trunk from his dormitory.
"No," Harry said, for the thirteenth time. "Absolutely not."
"I've got those shield things, I know combat spells, I'm nearly 17, what more do you want!" Draco exclaimed.
"I promised your mother I'd send you home," Harry said. "I don't doubt that you'd be of great help, but you're not a Knight, Auror, or a teacher, and so you have to go home. Besides, if by some miracle Tommy gets me, you're the last male Black left alive, so you have to keep the Family alive."
Draco fumed until Harry finally got him loaded into a carriage with a group of Hufflepuff third years; the last carriage to leave. The thestrals trotted off as soon as Harry shut and locked the door, and soon caught up with the trail of other carriages streaming towards Hogsmeade Station, where the Hogwarts Express waited to take them all to London. With luck, they would be well clear of the area before Voldemort showed up.
A few minutes later, the last carriage passed through the gates of Hogwarts, which were shut, and would remain shut until the train was half an hour out. At that point, they would be re-opened to give Voldemort a clear advance without him having to think it necessary to breach the ancient wards protecting the school.
As the ancient bells of the Hogwarts clock tower chimed 5 o'clock, the quiet that had permeated the valley that afternoon was sundered by multiple Apparition cracks. Voldemort, 50 Death Eaters and their allies, 13 human-form werewolves, 16 trolls, 5 giants and 100 Dementors arrived a quarter-mile from the gates of Hogwarts.
"Form up!" Voldemort ordered. As a group, the Dementors swarmed to the head of the small column. The Giants followed them, then the trolls, werewolves and wizards last. Voldemort would lead from the rear, and would be the absolute last of his army to start fighting.
A cold breeze accompanied the Dementors, and despite the shivers, Voldemort was grinning as he ordered his forces forward.
Atop the clock tower, Harry Potter's scarlet cape fluttered behind him in the wind. He could see the mass of wizards and creatures that had just arrived, and he could feel the sudden chill that accompanied the Dementors.
"Are the fire teams ready?" he asked Kingsley, who pointed out two groups of Muggleborn Aurors atop the two towers flanking the Entrance Hall, each gripping their flamethrowers anxiously.
"And we've got people ready to cast Patronuses to herd them into the kill zones?"
"Yes, milord," Kingsley said. Harry smiled, putting on his helm.
"Let's get ready to rumble."
A/N: This whole setup reminds me of ch. 19, which is the last time we saw a pre-battle setup. Except this one is for all the Tostitos. A bunch of short scenes that feels disjointed, but flows together alright and stitches together a bunch of different (important) plot points and advance the story along.
Also, as I was writing this chapter, particularly the Voldemort and Death Eater bits, I realised I'd completely forgotten to put Wormtail in here. So I've done so, and he'll get his next chapter. I can't believe none of you caught that before now and called me out on that!
The thing about Voldy's Daily Prophet subscription name was me playing around with anagrams.
The job hunt continues. I had an interview last week, which involved me in a car for seven hours and a two hour interrogation. They said they're looking to make a hire that will start in early July, so I hope to hear one way or the other soon.
Barring me actually getting the job and having to move, the Final Battle (I still haven't decided if I want to do one or two parts), will come up Thursday, 30 June 2011.
Until then,
Phoenix II