Note: This chapter was partly influenced by the story "The Dark Wars: Empire's Plight" by Marquis Black.
Chapter Thirty Seven- Help From Across The Sea
When Harry awoke just after 10:30 the morning after the assault on Astoria, he found himself alone in bed as expected. He knew Daphne would've woken up as early as possible to be there for her sister as soon as the sun was up. He heaved himself out of bed and prepared for the day.
He was getting ready to head out to visit Astoria when Dobby popped in.
"Master Harry Potter sir. I is being told by Headmaster Whiskers that you is being needed in his office right away."
"Thank you Dobby. Please inform Daphne where I'm going to be and that I will join her as soon as possible." Harry said to his faithful elf who bowed low before popping away to carry out his orders.
Harry reached the gargoyle outside of Dumbledore's office minutes later. He was about to give the password when the stone guardian swiveled to the side and allowed him entrance. Quickly climbing the stairs, he knocked to alert Dumbledore of his presence.
"Enter" came the reply.
Harry opened the door and stepped into the headmaster's ornate office. Upon entering, he saw the headmaster behind his desk, as well as Sirius, Mr. Weasley, and Minister Bones. He then noticed two new unknown men in blue uniforms standing off to the side.
Upon closer inspection, Harry noticed that both men wore dark blue frock coats with red sashes around their waists and black belts over those that each held sabers and what looked like holsters for revolvers. He noticed one man holding an adorned black felt hat with a light blue hat cord and the left brim pinned up by a brass eagle. He also saw a large black feather plume on the opposite side of the eagle pin as well as what appeared to be a twisted brass bugle on the front. The other man held a crushed blue kepi with what looked like a sprig of boxwood tucked into the side of the black leather band across the front.
"Ah, Harry. Punctual as usual." said Dumbledore jovially. "I would like you to meet our guests from across the Atlantic."
"This is Brigadier General Joseph Solomon Meredith" he said as he indicated the man with the black felt hat "and Brigadier General Patrick Thomas Meagher. Gentlemen, his is Lord Harry James Potter." he finished as he indicated the second man with the crushed kepi.
The man with the black hat stepped forward and held out his hand for Harry who shook it firmly. The man had dark brown hair and was tall and imposing, but had a gentleness to his hard brown eyes. He had a thick mustache, but was otherwise clean shaven.
"It's a pleasure to actually meet you Lord Potter. We in the United States know of your first defeat of Voldemort. As such, the military holds you in high regards. I command the Iron Brigade in our magical armed forces and I look forward to fighting along side you."
Harry didn't really know what to say to that, so he went with the first thing that came to mind.
"Thank you. I look forward to seeing you all in action."
Even if he really didn't as he knew it would mean many deaths for the Americans.
General Meredith stepped back and allowed the second General stepped forward and also shook Harry's hand. The man was stocker than Meredith, but still rather tall. He had dark hair and a full mustache as well, but his eyes reminded Harry of Hagrid's.
"General Meagher of the Irish Brigade. My boys and I look forward to working with you Lord Potter." he said with a kind smile which caused his eyes to squint.
Harry was surprised when the general spoke in an accent that sounded like a watered down Irish brogue. He replied the same way he had with Meredith.
"I apologize for the absence of our Division Commander, Major General Hancock and the commander of the third brigade, Brigadier General Caldwell, but they are over seeing our force's deployment and logistics. Also, with all of us here, the division would have had to stop, and we are trying to keep our men marching north with all possible speed. But this is only a briefing so their presence isn't necessary."
Soon all present took their seats in a semi-circle in front of Dumbledore's desk and they began the briefing of their units and their government's position on the situation.
General Meagher spoke first. "Our government has gathered intelligence that the self styled "Lord Voldemort" has been recruiting across Europe and even as far east as Siberia. While our Muggle forces have weapons capabilities far beyond the magical world, they are hampered by international laws and the sovereignty of nations and thus cannot carry out aerial bombing campaigns on another nation without the expressed permission of said nation's government, or a declaration of war."
Meagher paused to take a drink of coffee that had been served by the Hogwarts elves before he continued.
"We are aware of the effective surgical strikes against Death Eater holdings here in Great Britain, but it was carried out by your own forces on your own lands with the help of the French. Both governments are also restricted to operations in their own lands and cannot legally carry out attacks on Death Eaters or their recruits in other countries without creating a serious international incident."
General Meredith continued from there.
"Voldemort has unfortunately began using more active anti-muggle countermeasures, and seeing as your nation has only one active magical battalion made up of two companies from the 2nd (Queen's Royal) Regiment of Foot under her direct control, we were asked by Her Royal Highness for assistance in this crisis. Our Muggle President ordered the Magical Military to deploy our two elite brigades, a third brigade of regulars and three regiments of heavy artillery to Scotland."
Having several questions for the Americans Harry spoke up for the first time.
"What kind of weapons will your forces be using?" he asked.
"Due to the nature of enhancing weapons with magic, our magical military as with the rest of the world, use muzzle loading single shot weapons." At Harry's confused look General Meredith continued his explanation.
"Enhancing projectile weapons became problematic with the advent of single shot breech loaders that used cartridges. With each shot, magical residue builds up on the barrels of our weapons. To much build up causes misfires and jamming. It's a problem we've been working on since weapons began firing faster.
They simply fire to quickly to allow the magic to dissipate before firing the next round. An AR-15 jams within seconds, as do all other automatic weapons. It's much like an un-enhanced barrel getting to hot after sustained fire. They simply stop working, and our troops would be defenseless. We've been working on it for decades."
"It is a problem even I have worked on as an advisor and researcher in the past Harry." Dumbledore said.
"Aye," Meagher spoke up, "It's a matter of compromise me lad. Magical armies world wide have been thus far trapped in the 1860s because of it. We've traded rate of fire for destructive power.
General Meredith's brigade, as well as most of our army, is armed with the Model 1863 Springfield rifle, while my boys carry the 1842 smoothbore. The rifles have an effective range of 1,000 yards, while our smoothbores have a magically enhanced accurate range of 250 yards, but we fire a buck and ball combination. We can take out two or three men at that range with the shot's spread, as the rifle can typically down only a single man at a time. It proved devastating at close range during our Civil War."
"When you have upwards of ten thousand men firing musket balls charmed to either explode inside the body, or punch through ranks three men deep reliably, the compromises don't seem to great. Also our three regiments of heavy artillery combined have nine batteries of six guns a piece totaling fifty-four guns in all. They're an even mix of the 12 pound "Napoleons" and 3inch Ordnance Rifles."
"I'm surprised the Irish would consent to fighting to defend British soil." said Sirius. "With all the animosity between the Irish and Great Britain, I would've expected your men to refuse."
"We have our reasons Lord Black." said Meagher with a forced smile. "Other than that, we were ordered to deploy."
The atmosphere in the room seemed to become suffocating in an instant. All present suspected one of their reasons for being there was the chance to kill Brits. Dark Brits, but Britons none the less. The other was that it was also the chance to see combat. The brigades had been sitting idle for years by this point, and the men were anxious for some action.
Most of them had already seen combat when Dark Witches rampaged through central Mexico in the previous decade. The wide spread destruction in Mexico City was blamed on a massive earthquake in the Muggle World. While they were half right, no on outside the Mexican Federal Government and the United States Government knew that the dark witches used ancient and dangerous rituals to cause the ground to buckle and give way.
The attack had thrown the Mexican Magical Government into disarray. It was clear then that the dark forces were too large for their under-funded military to handle alone, so they called the United States' magical forces for help. Even with the very bloody conflict over, there were still occasional reports of "Witches flying without brooms" being seen by Muggles.
General Meredith cleared his throat before breaking the uncomfortable silence that had descended on the office.
"Yes well. We have brought an expeditionary force fifteen infantry regiments in total. Five regiments of six hundred men a piece in three brigades totaling nine thousand men in all. My brigade consists of the 2nd, 6th, and 7th Wisconsin; the 19th Indiana and 24th Michigan Infantry Regiments.
All these units were deactivated in the Muggle world and transferred to the Magical Military after the Civil War. Meagher's brigade consists of the 63rd, 69th, and 88th New York; the 28th Massachusetts and the 116th Pennsylvania. The 69th New York is interesting as it's the only unit in the world to have active battalions in both the Muggle and Magical Worlds. All five regiments are easily identifiable on the battle field by their emerald green regimental colors.
General Caldwell's brigade consists of the; 5th New Hampshire, the 81st, and 148th Pennsylvania, the 61st and 67th New York. Most of Caldwell's men are fresh out of training and inexperienced so they will be held in reserve. Scouting will is assigned to the two-hundred and fifty men of the 1st Texas, Cavalry Regiment and thus will not be engaging in combat. Supporting us will be the 1st and 3rd New York Heavy Artillery regiments.
The vast majority of our magical military is made up of what you would call Muggle-born, witches and wizards. Our actual combat units are entirely male though. Not a woman's place to die for the mistakes of foolish men and their foolish ideas I say."
"Are all these men really needed gentlemen?" Madam Bones asked. "Surely we don't need such a large force to handle Voldemort and his forces.."
"Madam," Meagher began, his voice sharp as a straight razor. "I have no idea what your intelligence gathering has told you, but ours has confirmed that the terrorist Voldemort has raised a mercenary force of no less than twelve thousand, and judging by how he conducted himself in the last war, you can be sure he will bring an army of countless inferi and imperioused with him. Our military even considered reactivating and magically refitting the 48 gun frigate U.S.S. Constellation to provide additional heavy fire support from the Black Lake."
"Indeed Minister," said Dumbledore. "The American Government has also been kind enough to loan us their best Arithmancers and Warders to erect anti-apparition wards within the school walls themselves so that the enemy cannot appear behind their lines if and when the school's primary wards fail. I will however, make every effort to reinforce the wards to buy more time."
"Aye," said Meagher in a fiercely determined voice. "If those bastards want in, they'll have to fight through us. We'll give 'em hell with hot lead and the cold bayonet."
"It's still disappointing that we can't use automatic weapons." Harry said quietly.
"Oh we can use them." Said Meredith, "But they will be hampered by not being able to deal magical damage. The Mini Guns cannot be used as they are run electrically, and the standard small arms can be rendered ineffective by casting kinetic energy shields. Each type of shield can only do one or the other. Blocking magical energies, or blocking kinetic energy, but not both. That is where the magically enhanced rounds come in quite handy as they can punch through either."
Harry got a brief image of a photon torpedo in his mind's eye, slipping through an Imperial Star Destroyer's deflectors as they are largely ineffective against kinetic energy. (I.E. Asteroids and puny fighters flying through them to destroy sensors and deflector shields). An Imperial Star Destroyer's gunners were also shit and couldn't hit the broad side of a planet with their wimpy lasers.
He knew all this because Astoria had gone on a long rant about Star Trek's technological superiority over Star Wars according to practically every physicist and scientist in the Muggle world. She still thought Lightsabers were cool as hell though, but his brain had gone quite numb with all her techno-babble.
Shaking himself from that train of thought, he remembered he still had a duty to get to Astoria as soon as possible. He hoped this meeting would wrap up soon. Bringing his attention back to the conversation he realized he'd missed something when he heard them discussing where Voldemort got the funds for an army. Sirius provided insight.
"My cousin Narcissa came to me this morning seeking refuge. With the deaths of both Lucius and Draco she is in control of what is left of House Malfoy. Apparently, Draco whom had inherited full control, allowed Moldyshorts full access to the Malfoy fortune once he had been branded with the Dark Mark.
While the stupid boy was here at school, the Dark Lord drained the Malfoy coffers to build his army, leaving them virtually penniless. All Narcissa has left is her dowry that had been moved to a separate vault once Lucius was imprisoned."
"What were these Malfoys worth before Voldemort bled them dry?" Meagher asked.
"The Malfoy estate was once worth forty million galleons, with another ten million in investments." Sirius paused as he leaned back in his seat. "That is all gone now. All that's left are a few heirlooms and the manor house."
"What did you do about Mrs. Malfoy?" Harry asked with an edge in his voice.
"I officially dissolved her marriage and returned her to her place in the House of Black. The Malfoy line officially no longer exists." Sirius answered.
"How do you know she won't betray us?" Harry said, voice rising slightly.
"She has taken the Black Family Unbreakable Vow to never betray our cause." said Sirius. "As her head of house, she could never kill me without losing her own life slowly and painfully."
"But Bellatrix.." Harry began only to be cut off by his godfather.
"..was only aiming to wound. She would have been unable to kill me. Had I fallen through the veil it would have not taken her life, as she intended to disable me. My injuries, hurt as they may have, were not life threatening." Sirius explained.
Harry was about to say something else until Sirius cut him off again as he knew what his godson was thinking.
"She has also not taken the Dark Mark." the mangy old mutt said. "I made sure of it. Had she, I would have cast her out of the family and left her to fend for herself." he finished in a firm voice that brought the matter to a close.
"Well, I believe we have covered all the important information in this briefing. I think it's time to call the meeting to an end as I'm sure we are all very busy with preparations." Dumbledore said with a smile while rising to his feet. The others gathered all did the same. "I thank you all for coming. Generals, Minister, Director, we shall be in contact."
After a round of good byes, Harry began walking our of the office, his mood somber at the though of the lives that will be lost, for the Americans intended to stand and fight face to face. As he walked over the threshold of the office door he heard Sirius ask Minister Bones if she had any plans for lunch. Harry shook his head with an amused smirk on his face as he walked down the stairs and out to the corridor, bound for the Hospital Wing to see his sister in law.
He wondered how the magical world had become so disconnected from the muggle world when it came to the governing bodies. Ultimately the Queen should have had sole dominion over the Magical World, as the Monarchy's authority there had been unchallenged in the Magna Carta.
Surely they would have maintained a sizable magical military? More than a two company battalion anyway. That is only two-hundred riflemen. By what was implied, the Americans maintain at least two "Corps" or magical troops with three more held in inactive reserve.
"Hermione would have an orgasm if she had a chance to study all of this." he thought to himself with a laugh.
His mood turned somber as he entered the infirmary. He walked slowly over to Astoria's bed and sat next to Daphne in one of the empty chairs. Astoria was currently dozing lightly. Daphne whispered that Dennis had just been there but had gone to grab a quick lunch and then come right back.
Harry smiled when she told him that Dennis had already been waiting outside the infirmary's doors by the time she'd gotten there. She asked if his meeting with Dumbledore had gone alright. She was surprised to learn what the meeting was about, but was glad that they were getting help.
"Hey Harry." came Astoria's quiet voice.
Harry looked over to see her eyes looking at him sleepily.
"Hey Tori." he said with a smile. "Your boyfriend went to go stuff his face real quick, but he'll be back in a flash."
"Shut up." she mumbled, burying her face in the pillow.
"Hey, at least he doesn't eat like Ron." Harry said with a laugh.
"Oh dear God. Thank the heavens for that. I wouldn't be able to eat with out feeling sick if I had to watch that." Tori said practically groaning.
She went quiet and her face went stony when she thought about what she'd heard when they thought she was sleeping.
"So the Malfoy family is no more?" she asked in a flat tone of voice.
"Gone for good. The last of their crap will no doubt be destroyed by the end of this war. Turned to ashes and scattered to the wind." he replied.
"Good." Astoria said in a soft whisper. Tears began leaking from her eyes as her face scrunched up in sorrow. Daphne was next to her in an instant, cradling her in a comforting embrace. Harry reached out and held her hand as she sobbed, further purging herself of the sorrow, revulsion and self loathing.
"We're all here for you Tori. We're your family, and you'll never be alone." Harry whispered to her as Madam Pomfrey came out of her office with a calming draught.
"Miss Greengrass," the nurse began. "you've refused the draughts thus far, but I think it would be wise of you to take it now. It will help you sort through your emotions without breaking down. Believe me, I know." she finished, sadness lacing her tone.
Mobius flamed onto the foot of her bed at that moment and trilled something to Astoria. Reluctantly, she took the vial from Madam Pomfrey and downed it's contents. She felt a sense of peace spread through her. Her tears slowed, as she sniffled a few times.
After Poppy had gone back into her office, Daphne and Astoria began to talk about what had happened. Harry had politely excused himself, as he knew this had to be only between them. He ran into Dennis right outside the doors and told him what was going on, and that they would need some time alone to talk about things.
Harry asked the younger Gryffindor to join him on a stroll around the lake with him to have a talk. They walked in silence until they reached the shore of the lake. The air was crisp and cool around them as it was already the beginning of November.
"The girl in there is not the same Tori we all know and love." Harry finally spoke in a soft voice. "I can already see it. She will always be Astoria, but she won't be the same for a while, if ever. You've got a great girl there Dennis. I would hate for you to muck it up and hurt her You make her cry, I'll make you cry. Remember this."
"O-of course." Dennis stammered as Harry walked a few steps in front of the younger boy, keeping his back to the third year while he gazed out over the lake.
"What do you feel for her?" Harry asked with out turning around.
"I care for her deeply. She the first thing..." Dennis was cut off by Harry
"…you think about when you wake up, and the last thing before you fall asleep." Harry stated more than asked.
"Y-yes." Dennis replied while cursing his cracking voice.
"Well," Harry paused. "I for one am happy for you Dennis. Maybe there's hope for you yet. I know some may say you're too young to know what love is or what it could be, but I was little older than you when I realized I loved Daphne."
Harry finally turned around to meet Dennis' eyes.
"I hope it works out for you two. If anything, since she's been seeing you, she's been even brighter." Harry said with a small smile. "Just be there for her. For whatever she needs, for as long as you can. But don't push her to talk about anything. She will come to you when she's ready."
Dennis looked down with a pensive yet sad look on his face. After a few moments he looked up and met Harry's eyes and nodded his understanding of what Harry was telling him.
"Good. Now, I think the girls may need more time so I'm going to grab a quick bite. You can join me if you want to chat some more, though I know you already ate." Harry said in a slightly brighter tone.
Dennis smiled a bit before saying, "I'd like that Harry."
The two Gryffindors walked side by side as allies and possible future brothers. Dennis couldn't remember a time in his life he walked so tall. Tall being relative, as he was only thirteen years old and 5'5".
However, being treated as an equal by the guy he's looked up to the most since his brother Colin went on and on about said guy made Dennis feel like he was important. Like he actually mattered. Little did he know just how much he mattered to a certain dark haired sister in law of his hero.
Atop Cnoc nam Broighleag, over looking Loch Glashan . November 1st 5:34pm.
A dark haired, fair skinned young man dressed in blue winter frock coat brings his horse to a stop at the top of a hill over looking a Loch. He pulled out his binoculars (or spy glasses) and gazes down at the column of troops about a mile away, marching swiftly north along the edge of the lock, under heavy notice-me-not charms and various other Muggle repelling techniques. Well, moving as swiftly as possible on the winding back roads. They couldn't very well travel on the main arteries or traffic could they?
The young man was a Texas native. His name was John Edward O'Riley; a second lieutenant in the 1st Texas Cavalry of the magical armed forces of the United States. It's not a well known fact, but the 1st Texas Cavalry was a unit that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
Turning to his left, he could see a Castle was just visible over the tree tops in the distance at the edge of another loch. He examined his maps and found it was Minard Castle. He turned back to the column when he heard the faint sounds of the regimental bands for the lead brigade (The Iron Brigade) playing what he thought was the "Old 1812".
"Good." he thought. "A nice quick paced lively tune to keep the boys moving quickly."
Taking one last look before stowing his spy glasses away, he turned his horse north eastward and to continue scouting ahead for possible threats. He knew the column would have to march into the night to reach a suitable location to camp. Their division commander opted to march toward the Castle of Hogwarts and set up camp approximately a mile from the school to keep out of sight of any possible Death Eater recon.
Also, mass portkeying registers massive amounts of energy. There wouldn't be any doubt what a surge that large could mean, and any Ministry infitrators could get the message back to Voldemort. So they came ashore from their ships and barges ten miles Noth-Northeast of Campbeltown and had been on the march for two days.
O'Riley knew that the situation was serious, and they were in for one hell of a fight if both the Irish Brigade and Iron Brigade had been transferred into the same division. They were the two best units! That along with fifty four cannons. That was packing firepower in a single Magical American Division not seen since the Spanish-American War.
Looking down at his map, he spotted what looked to be a promising encampment sight. Getting his bearings straight, he pointed his steed in the right direction. He needed to make sure it was suitable for the column to rest for the night, and defend it easily should they come under attack. Task in mind, he set off at a steady gallop. He hoped he survived the coming battle.
X x x x x x x x
A/N: There. Like I said, this chapter was inspired by The Dark Wars : Empire's Plight. For those who aren't familiar with field artillery of the American Civil War, look it up, and rent the movies "Glory"(1989) Gettysburg(1994) and Gods and Generals (2004 [but skip forward to the battle scenes. The movie is boring as hell with all it's damn soliloquies .])
The Canister shot was particularly deadly at close range (to the face). Imagine a coffee can sized shotgun shell filled with one inch steel balls fired out of a cannon at either point blank range or up to and over 200 hundred yards. Brutal. Would love to see Death Deaters (and their hired army) go down as brutally as possible. That's why I chose this path. Also, using air strikes at such close range is a bad idea. It's danger close and would probably kill some of Hogwarts' defenders.
As for the song the column is marching to, youtube and search "Coming of the Old 1812"
Also, the names for the American commanders very strongly implies them to be descendants of the old commanders of said brigades during the Civil War.
Anyway. Read and Review. I will try to move this story along faster in the next chapters, but it isn't easy. Hope I can get this writers block resolved soon :-/
Live Long and Prosper- Edward
P.S. To you "22" you can eat my ass.