35
On the Offensive
Pops echoed all along the street as around three dozen wizards and witches apparated in front of the Parkinson house. Immediately, they all scanned the area for dangers as they surrounded Pansy and her mother while they escorted them to the front door. Only Harry remained behind at the edge of the yard looking directly at a house on the other side of the street slightly down from where they were.
"I can't thank you all enough," Mrs. Parkinson said as she paused in the doorway to her house. "Pansy and I certainly didn't expect such an escort home."
"Well, Neville was planning on bringing you back himself," Ginny explained, "but we couldn't let him take the risks alone. The D.A. takes care of it's own. Neville reminded me of that recently."
"So what is Potter doing?" Pansy asked as she noticed Harry standing alone. "Isn't he tempting fate standing out in the open like that?"
"He said there were death eaters watching your house from across the street," Neville replied. "He's going to send them a message of some kind."
"Besides," Hermione added, "they seem to be under orders not to attack Harry."
"Don't worry though," Ron supplied. "There are eyes within this group keeping an eye on Harry just in case."
"As soon as you're inside," Neville began, "Harry will deliver his message."
"Are you coming in, Neville?" Pansy asked.
"I have some things to take care of," Neville responded looking directly into her eyes. "I can come back later to check on you if you want."
"You'll always be welcome in our house, Neville," Mrs. Parkinson said with a smile.
Pansy surprised them all as she stepped forward and placed a gentle kiss on Neville's cheek, and she said, "Thank you. Thank you for everything."
With a slight reddening of her cheeks, but with a smile on her face, Pansy stepped back and slowly closed the door behind her.
Avery and Rookwood looked on as Harry stood in the yard across the street seeming to look right at them.
"If I didn't know better I would swear he could see us," Avery said.
"Don't be ridiculous," Rookwood sneered. "I put the spell on myself. We could sit here and watch all day and he would never see anything but a blank window. Relax."
"Spell or no spell," Avery said, "somehow he knows we're here."
Just then, the door to the house closed, and Harry pulled his wand and began moving the tip of it across a piece of parchment. The next thing the two death eaters knew, the parchment had flown to hover directly in front of their window as it grew and a message appeared written on it.
"Let notice be given that the Parkinson home is now under the protection of Harry Potter," Avery read. "Further attacks or surveillance will be dealt with swiftly and completely. You have one half hour to abandon your position."
Immediately, the parchment reduced to its original size and flew back into Harry's hand. After it did, he and the entire D.A. escort disapparated.
"Like I said," Avery pointed out, "he knows we're here."
"Go and tell Bellatrix about this," Rookwood said as he continued to look out the window at the house. "I'll stay here and keep watch until the Dark Lord orders us to leave."
Avery disapparated without further discussion, leaving Rookwood to ponder just how Potter had penetrated his concealment spell. No more than five minutes later, Avery returned with Bellatrix, Malfoy, Dolohov, and Nott. What they found was Rookwood missing from his post, and a note propped on the windowsill.
Nott walked over and picked up the note and read, "A man alone is easy prey. The rest of you won't stand any more chance than Rookwood did. The clock is ticking. Harry."
"I say we let him come and try to take us," Dolohov seethed.
"As confidant as I am that we could easily defeat whatever force he could bring against us," Lucius commented, "the Dark Lord has not cleared us to engage in that type of battle with the boy-who-must-not-be-named."
"It doesn't matter," Bellatrix said. "This position has been compromised. It will be abandoned anyway. We have to report the situation back to our master."
Meanwhile, at the Ministry, Kingsley was saying, "… shouldn't be taking such risks, Harry."
"Believe me," Harry said as he held up a hand, "I've heard all of those arguments before. They didn't do any good then, and they won't do any good now. I am who I am."
"Still," Scrimgeour said, "you could have just as easily passed the information about the death eaters location to us."
"True," Harry agreed, "but I had to send a message to Voldemort. I'm sure he's thought that the pain he caused me by attacking Ginny may have broken my spirit. I had to make sure he understood that I was still in this fight to win. Bringing Rookwood to you gives us another opportunity to find out who the leak inside the Ministry is."
"I wasn't aware you were researching that as well," Scrimgeour said studying Harry.
"Ginny and the rest of the D.A. are monitoring the situation as we speak," Harry said, making Kingsley and the Minister take notice.
"I don't suppose you can tell us exactly what that means," Kingsley observed.
"Not until I can be sure there are no spies to leak the information back to Voldemort," Harry said. "If they observe any strange behavior from anyone, Ginny will bring it to me. Then I'll pass it on to you. Assuming, of course, that one of you isn't the leak. Don't worry though. I don't think either of you are."
"Well I just hope they aren't walking around within the Ministry in places they shouldn't trying to spy on anyone," Scrimgeour warned. "I won't be responsible for their safety if you've sent them on such a foolish errand."
"Don't worry," Harry assured him. "They're all quite safe."
"All right then," Scrimgeour said in frustration. "How long do we have to wait before you get any news one way or another?"
"That all depends on the leak," Harry said. "If he's anxious to get the information to Voldemort quickly it will make him easier to catch. My guess is…"
"Minister," Percy said as he knocked and stuck his head just inside the office. "My sister is on her way up here with a message for Harry that she wouldn't leave at the desk. I just thought you should know."
Scrimgeour looked with surprise to Harry and then to Kingsley before looking back to Percy and saying, "Bring her in as soon as she arrives, Mr. Weasley."
"It would appear the informant was very anxious," Kingsley observed. "Rookwood wouldn't have even been fully processed yet. The list of people who would even know he was here at the Ministry is still a short one."
"Let's not get our hopes up too high," Scrimgeour said. "It may not be anything that will lead us to the real informant."
The door to the office opened and Ginny walked in with purpose straight to Harry. She handed him a handwritten note. As he read the note, Harry had to admit that it was not a possibility he had considered.
"Are you sure?" Harry asked Ginny.
"We confirmed it after he left," Ginny replied. "He went straight to Voldemort."
Harry turned and handed the note to a very anxious looking Scrimgeour.
"This is impossible," Scrimgeour said as he read the note. "How could you possibly have confirmed this?"
"Voldemort isn't the only one with eyes in places no one suspects," Harry said cryptically. "If we hurry, we could be waiting for him when he gets back."
"By all means," Scrimgeour said as he drew his wand and led the way to the door.
Minutes later, they were all standing in a short hallway just outside of the main office of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. There was no need for them to walk inside. The person they were waiting for would likely return any minute. While they waited, Harry read the engraved plaque under the blank canvas, and he couldn't believe it had never occurred to Kingsley or Scrimgeour who the leak might be.
Suddenly, an older man with a cool air of distinction about him popped into the blank picture frame and halted with a momentary look of shock. No doubt he was surprised to find the wands of the Minister and the Chief Auror trained on his portrait.
"Is there a problem, Minister?" Sebastian asked as he composed himself and sat down in the portraits lone chair.
"I'm afraid so," Scrimgeour said with a menacing tone. "It has been brought to our attention that the traitor we have been looking for sits in your portrait."
"That is preposterous," Sebastian charged. "That can have no truth in it since only I sit in my portrait."
"We've all just witnessed that you don't always sit in it," Kingsley pointed out. "You do leave it occasionally."
"Well of course I do," Sebastian confirmed. "I visit with some of the others in portraits through out the Ministry."
"Are you saying that is where you were just now?" Scrimgeour asked.
"Certainly," Sebastian replied. "Where else would I have gone."
"Perhaps you went to tell Voldemort that Rookwood was captured," Harry said as he spoke up for the first time.
"Do you know who I am boy?" Sebastian stood up in an aggressive posture. "I was the first Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. The Dark Lord and his followers are criminals. Any thought that I would be in league with them is outrageous."
"I know who you were," Harry continued. "I can read the plaque easily enough. I also know who you are. Sebastian Lastrange. You are the Great-Great-Great Grandfather of a couple of current death eaters."
"I never made any secret of that," Sebastian said. "I have no control over what my descendants do."
"But you do make a choice about aiding their activities," Kingsley commented. "It would be a simple enough matter to check with the portraits you claim to have just visited. If you'll just tell us which one you spoke with we could verify your story."
"I'm afraid that will be impossible," Sebastian replied. "I had in mind to visit someone in an office upstairs, but he was napping when I got there. I saw this and returned to my own portrait right away. There are others who could tell you they saw me as I passed through their frames to get there."
"All carefully orchestrated no doubt," Harry charged.
"If you insist," Sebastian said as he turned a sour look on Harry. "Since you seem to be so sure of your own half-blood intellect, go ahead and spin your tale of my supposed nefarious activities."
Harry smiled as he said, "According to my sources, you left the Ministry to meet with Voldemort."
"And just how am I supposed to accomplish such a thing?" Sebastian asked in a condescending manner. "If you were half as smart as you think you are you would know that I can't leave the Ministry."
"You could if there were another portrait of you that was currently uninhabited," Kingsley said.
"I believe there was one that you visited when this portrait was first hung here," Scrimgeour said.
"That was many years ago," Sebastian replied. "You know very well that the other portrait frame no longer exists. My ancestral home was destroyed during the last goblin rebellion."
"So it appeared," Scrimgeour conceded. "Castle Lastrange was reduced to ruins that can still be seen today. Your descendants put a magical protection on the property so no one could ever disturb the debris."
"Surely you are not suggesting that my frame still exists buried somewhere in those ruins," Sebastian laughed. "I suppose you believe that the Dark Lord is holding court in the open air while he consults with me in a tattered old frame."
"Actually," Harry said, "I know for a fact that the castle still exists. I also know that you went there tonight to a frame that is undoubtedly very well cared for."
"You're mad," Sebastian charged.
"You got there just as Voldemort got the report about what happened at the house," Harry said as they all watched Sebastian's eyes widen considerably. "He was so angry that he punished them all. Bellatrix. Dolohov. Malfoy. Nott. Avery."
"How could you know?" Sebastian asked before he could stop himself. "I mean, how could you think…"
"There is no need for you to say more," Scrimgeour said as his wand was held a bit tighter. "If you have another portrait to run to this would be an opportune time for you to do so."
"You can tell Voldemort that there is no longer any place he can hide from me," Harry said just before Sebastian ran out of his portrait.
Scrimgeour and Kingsley both fired off spells that hit the portrait and caused the canvas to smolder and the frame to crack. Seconds later, with the destruction of the frame complete, they lowered their wands.
"I hope it wasn't a mistake to listen to you, Mr. Potter," Scrimgeour said. "We could have easily cast spells to keep him in that frame."
"Better to be rid of him I would think," Harry said. "Were you planning to send him to Azkaban in that frame? Anyhow, now that you've destroyed this frame he won't have one to return to. That means he had to retreat to his frame at the Lastrange castle. Believe me, Voldemort will not be happy when he finds out his spy was discovered. If Sebastian had time to think about it he would have realized that he actually would have been safer locked in his portrait here."
"Why did you tell him to pass on that the Dark Lord couldn't hide from you?" Kingsley asked.
"The muggles call it psychological warfare," Harry replied with a smile. "I want him to think that he's weakening, and that I'm getting stronger. Once he finds out how much I knew about his meeting with his death eaters, he'll start to wonder if there is a traitor among them. He'll start to think twice before taking any of them into his confidence."
"A very risky maneuver, Mr. Potter," Scrimgeour observed as he put his wand away. "If he thinks you have a spy supplying you with information he will almost surely mount a direct attack on you in an attempt to keep his secrets from your ears. We shall have to organize auror protection for you until you return to Hogwarts."
"Don't bother," Harry said. "I'll be spending the reminder of the break at my house. I'll be quite safe there. I should think you would put what resources you have available to surround the supposed ruins of Castle Lastrange and try to find a way past whatever protection they put on it."
"That will be done within the hour," Kingsley assured them. "Still, I think you should think twice before you take Ginny back to your house no matter how well defended you think it may be."
"She won't be there," Harry replied. "I sent her to the Burrow as soon as we left the Minister's office. Only Hermione and Ron will be staying with me at my house."
"I wouldn't call that adequate protection," Scrimgeour said shaking his head. "Like it or not we're going to assign a couple of aurors to watch your house for trouble."
"If you insist," Harry conceded. "Just make sure they stay under cover. I don't want them to scare off any death eaters."
Kingsley and Scrimgeour looked at one another as if seeking confirmation that they had actually heard Harry correctly. Harry grinned, and he took the opportunity while he was not being watched to disapparate.
"How can this be?" Voldemort screamed in frustration. "First Rookwood and now this?"
"Perhaps he is mistaken, my Lord," Bellatrix suggested until Voldemort shot her an icy look that silenced her immediately.
"Would you have me believe that Harry guessed about everything he told my spy?" Voldemort asked daring her to respond. "He knew death eaters were watching the Parkinson house. He knows that we are hiding here in this castle that no one even suspected still existed. He pinpointed the most hidden spy ever conceived of with ease. He accurately described the meeting here earlier that he could not have known about. Unless…"
Voldemort fell silent as the possibility began to take root in his mind. Bellatrix took a deep breath as he turned away from her. His silence stretched on for several tense seconds.
Finally, Bellatrix pleaded softly, "Please, my Lord, allow me to rid you of this boy who dares to challenge your greatness. I would not fail you, my Lord."
"Perhaps I have been too soft with him," Voldemort admitted still not looking at her. "I want him brought to me. I will kill him here in this room to remind my death eaters what happens to those who work against Lord Voldemort."
"I'll see to it personally, my Lord," Bellatrix proclaimed happily.
"No," Voldemort said as he turned to look at her disappointed expression. "Send for Macnair and Yaxley."
"But…," Bellatrix complained just before intense pain shot through her insides.
"Never… question… my… orders… again," Voldemort seethed as the pain Bellatrix felt magnified with each word.
"I live to serve you, my Lord," Bellatrix screamed as her body convulsed and the pain suddenly left her body.
"Now do as you have been told," Voldemort said as he drew his wand and blasted the portrait of Sebastian into little pieces.
Harry could have apparated directly into his house, but doing so would have made his last message of the day harder to deliver. Instead, Harry apparated onto the sidewalk in front of his house. Pulling a piece of parchment from his pocket and writing on it with his wand, Harry folded it and sent it sailing directly through the mail slot of the house down the street. Having done so, Harry walked into his house and shut the door behind him.
Millicent walked to the note lying on the floor below the mail slot and picked it up as she asked, "So, are you still so sure he has no idea we're watching his house?"
"He could have bewitched the letter to seek out the nearest death eater to deliver it to," Flint grumbled.
"I don't think that theory will work now," Millicent said as she read the note to herself.
"What does it say?" Flint asked impatiently.
"It says we had better straighten the place up," Millicent replied as she handed the letter to him. "More death eaters should be expected shortly."
"Impossible," Flint declared as he read the letter for himself.
"We seem to be saying that a lot about him lately," Millicent observed.
"You had better put an end to your admiration of him," Flint warned. "If there really are more death eaters coming then maybe you'll finally have a chance to kill him. That is, if you can beat me to it."
"Keep dreaming, Marcus," Millicent laughed as she walked back to the window. "If more death eaters are really coming it will be ones far more experienced at dueling than either of us. We'll just be covering the rear."
"That's why you'll never go anyplace in the ranks of the death eaters, Millie," Flint said. "You'll always be at the bottom because you won't even think of taking a chance that may come your way. Not me though. I'll find a way to make it to the front line in this battle. Someday, I'll be the one sitting by the side of the Dark Lord."
"Well you can discuss it with Bellatrix when she gets here," Millicent said as she scanned the street for any sign of an auror trap. "If it really is to be a battle, it will surely be Bellatrix and Lucius that lead it."
Minutes later, Millicent and Flint looked around expectantly as they heard several pops announcing the new arrivals. Much to their surprise, Bellatrix and Lucius were not among the death eaters.
"We were beginning to wonder if you would really come," Flint said as he stood from his spot at the window.
"What are you talking about?" Macnair asked as he stepped closer. "Why would you be expecting anyone?"
Millicent stepped forward and handed Macnair the letter from Harry. His forehead wrinkled as he read the note and saw the name signed at the bottom.
"Either the Dark Lord was right," Macnair began, "or the-boy-who-must-not-be-named has a seer working for him."
"What's happened?" Millicent asked. "Are we being pulled off of this position?"
"In a manner of speaking," Yaxley responded. "We came to capture the boy and take him to our master. After we do, there will no longer be any need to watch his house."
"I'm ready," Flint said as he took a step closer and looked at Macnair, Yaxley, Jugson and the other four expressionless faces he did not recognize.
"I hope so," Macnair said seriously. "I hope you haven't stopped training during your time here with this soft assignment. We have no way to know what we might be facing inside the house. The last thing we need is for a couple of death eater want-to-bees to get any of us killed. We had planned on taking him by surprise, but it would seem that he knows we're coming after him. He's had plenty of time to lay traps for us. Now listen while I tell you exactly how we're going to attack."
Harry closed his front door and spotted Hermione and Ron peeking around the corner with their wands drawn. He wondered if it had been a good idea to tell them that death eaters would likely strike very soon.
"Did Ginny get the map?" Harry asked.
"She got it," Hermione replied as she and Ron lowered their wands, "just like you said."
"She took it back to the Burrow with her," Ron added. "She wasn't very happy about having to leave here though."
"I know," Harry admitted. "I had to send the map with someone I could trust though. Besides, I have no doubt that she is monitoring the situation within and around my house as we speak. She'll know the death eaters are coming before we do."
"I realize that it won't do any good to ask this," Hermione said, "but wouldn't it be a better idea if the rest of us were watching it all happen on the map as well?"
"You and Ron are free to leave here now if you want to," Harry said. "I'm going to stay."
"We aren't going to let you stay by yourself, mate," Ron said. "You may need our help."
"I doubt I'll have to do anything," Harry said. "The house was built to protect me. Fred and George saw to that. I just want to stay so I can see it in action."
Hermione opened her mouth as if she were about to voice an argument, but realized it was a useless waste of breath. Ron fell into silence as well as they waited for something to happen.
The first death eater to infiltrate Harry's house entered through an upstairs window into Harry's bedroom. He scanned the room quickly to assure himself that no one was waiting to attack him before he walked quickly for the door. What he had failed to notice was the bludger that tore itself loose from a trunk in the corner. After a severe blow to the back of the head, the death eater fell face down unconscious. The bludger backed off slightly as it stood guard, waiting for the death eater to make another move.
Two more death eaters entered another room upstairs only to find that the floor under their feet seemed to turn to liquid as they walked. Unable to find a solid surface to stand on, they sank quickly into the floor. Struggling to swim upwards through the liquid, they finally came to a stop as the floor hardened again, trapping their hands above them as the remainder of their bodies hung helplessly from the first floor sitting room ceiling.
"I guess it's started then," Harry said calmly as he Hermione and Ron watched the two death eaters struggling to free themselves.
There was a loud thud form the kitchen as a frying pan connected with something solid. Harry's front door flew open, and Macnair placed a foot inside of the house. Immediately, the floorboards sprang up and pulled him to the floor as they wrapped tightly around him. Yaxley, seeing what happened to Macnair, transformed into a column of black smoke as he flew over the bewitched floor. He had just caught sight of Harry and his friends sitting in the sitting room when a powerful force began to pull him toward one of the walls. Not being able to resist the pull, he looked over at the wall in time to see a blank black canvas hanging there. The next thing he knew, he had been transformed back to his solid body. The next thing he became aware of was looking out at the room from inside the frame. He was watching as Jugson entered through the floo network. Jugson had just leaned his head out of the fireplace when the opening closed around him like a great mouth, pinning him to the floor.
"Wicked," Ron said as he looked on in surprise.
"I wonder how many more we can expect," Hermione commented as she looked again at the angry death eaters hanging by their wrists from the ceiling.
"I would say that depends on how fast the aurors Scrimgeour had watching the house react," Harry said as he walked over and stared at Yaxley pounding with his fists trying to break out of the canvas as he hurled insults at Harry.
Seconds later, Kingsley and a host of other aurors ran in through the door with their wands drawn ready to strike at the death eaters. Kingsley surveyed the scene quickly as he made a hand motion and the aurors with him split up into two groups. Three stayed on the lower floor with Kingsley as they made their way deeper into the house. The remaining five ran up the stairs to search for unseen death eaters.
"Are the three of you all right? Kingsley asked as he looked again at the five death eaters struggling to free themselves around him.
"Never better," Harry replied as one of the aurors kicked Jugson's wand further out of reach from his hand. "You'll find at least one more in the kitchen. I don't know how many might be upstairs."
"We tried to get here sooner," Kingsley assured them. "We tried to apparate in, but we couldn't get any closer than the front walk."
"As soon as the first death eater entered the house they activated the houses defense mode," Harry explained. "It won't let anyone apparate in, and no one with the dark mark can get out unless I release them."
"Still, they could have gotten to you before the house sprang any traps," Kingsley said. "They could have at least gotten a shot or two off."
"Not with their wands they couldn't," Harry said with a smile. "The house cancels out all magic performed by anyone besides me. Their wands would have been useless."
"Does that mean that even my wand…" Kingsley began.
"Won't work until I tell the house to return to a safe mode," Harry confirmed.
Within minutes, Kingsley and the aurors apparated out of the house with the stunned bodies of the seven death eaters captured inside as well as the two younger death eaters they had apprehended outside before they had even come inside. The portrait trap that refused to release Yaxley, even after Harry had returned the house to its normal state, amused all of the aurors. Yaxley, needless to say, was not so amused.
"Are you three all right?" McGonagall asked as she appeared in the doorway of Harry's house after the last auror walked out.
"Amazingly enough," Ron said, "we are."
"We were never in any danger," Hermione said, although she had not been as confident about that before.
"Still," McGonagall said, "it might be a good idea to stay elsewhere for the rest of the day."
"I couldn't agree with you more," Harry said, although she could tell there was something mischievous in the way he said it.
McGonagall studied Harry for several seconds before she asked, "Was Severus here during the attack?"
"No," Harry replied. "I sent him to the old headquarters for the day. He'll be back here tomorrow."
"So you knew the death eaters would attack you here today?" McGonagall asked.
"I suspected it," Harry said. "If it wasn't today, it would have been tomorrow or the next day after that."
"It just means Voldemort is growing more impatient," Hermione said.
"And more dangerous," Ron observed.
"He'll fall back long enough to regroup and consider his options," Harry said. "After that, he'll strike again."
"Hopefully you will all be safely back at Hogwarts before that happens," McGonagall commented.
"Either way," Harry said, "we have to be ready."