Shortly before his thirteenth birthday, Harry Potter found himself sitting at the back of a classroom at RMA Sandhurst, listening in on one of Colonel Ramsay's lectures. The Colonel had planned to take Harry on a tour of the Academy that afternoon, an offer to which Harry could not say no.
It was trivial for him to get from Privet Drive to the nearest train station. Less than an hour later, Harry was showing his visitor's pass at the main gate. The guard gave him a funny look, but allowed him in.
Ramsay was beginning his lesson when Harry found his classroom. None of the twenty cadets in attendance noticed the boy take a seat against the back wall.
"Defensive tactics," began Colonel Ramsay, "are never sufficient to win an engagement. But neglecting them can easily be the critical factor in losing the battle - and, likely, your command as well." Ramsay, as was his habit, walked across the front of the room as he spoke. He needed no notes for this lecture, as it was one of the most basic he taught. "So, give me the main purposes of defensive operations."
After a moment, cadets began raising their hands, and Ramsay called on each by name.
"Area denial, sir?" said one cadet, his voice uncertain.
Ramsay glanced at Harry before responding. "Are you asking me, or telling me, Mister Robinson?"
"Telling you, sir."
"Good," replied the Colonel. "Denying the opposition access to a vital area, or holding decisive terrain, are both worth fighting a defensive action."
A woman near the front spoke up, then. "Responding to a surprise attack, sir."
Ramsay nodded. "This is why you stand watches, set static defenses around your position, and so on. The quicker you can respond to a surprise attack, the better your unit's response will be. Another?"
"Maneuvering the enemy?" suggested another cadet.
"Close enough," answered Ramsay. "If you can channel the attacking force into a particular location where they are more vulnerable, you can prepare a counterattack, or set the table for another unit to counterattack. Get the enemy to chase you right into your own reinforcements, and the situation turns rather quickly."
The cadets were scribbling their notes as quickly as they could. Ramsay frowned as he watched, seeing that no one else had a suggestion.
"No one?" Ramsay asked the room. He had a predatory smile as he looked at the back of the classroom. "What about you, Harry?"
Harry groaned as the cadets turned in their seats, looking curiously at the young boy sitting amongst their number. Ramsay was still grinning at him, inviting him to answer. Taking a deep breath, Harry steeled himself and spoke.
"Thinning the enemy's forces to prepare a counterattack, sir." Harry answered, in a voice that had much more confidence than he felt just then.
"Exactly right," said Ramsay. "The enemy has you where they want you, they are in no hurry to crush you. So take the time they give you, send out sorties, precision strikes. Catch out that patrol that strays too close to your line. Invite your snipers to indulge themselves. Slip behind their lines and sabotage their supplies, damage their effectiveness in any way you can."
Ramsay continued pacing as he spoke. "All four of these doctrines are handled in different ways, and are always subject to the needs of the mission. But each is intended to allow you to shift from defense to offence. As I said at the beginning, defensive tactics will not win any battles. But if you learn them, and use them at every opportunity, I guarantee that your offensive will be that much more effective, because you'll have already done half the work before taking the initiative."
Half the cadets were still staring at the kid who knew more about this than they did. Ramsay noticed the looks, and brought an edge to his voice.
"Well? Why aren't you writing this down?" The remaining cadets spun around and got back to writing. Ramsay glanced back at Harry and gave him an amused shrug, causing Harry to chuckle.
oOoOoOoOo
The pop of a house elf shook Harry Potter from his thoughts. Looking up from his seat, he saw Dobby reappear in Amelia's study, alongside Dixie - another Potter elf. Both wore fatigues in dark green, boots and all. Dobby was carrying a satchel, while Dixie had a folder of what looked like paperwork.
Standing, Harry looked at Madam Bones, who was sitting on the couch talking with Susan. "Madam Bones, how long will the wards hold?"
Amelia looked up at Harry, and did not see her niece's boyfriend. Instead, she saw a wizard preparing to go into battle - his expression was hard, and brooked no nonsense. His wand was out, as if a threat would burst through the door at any moment.
Merlin, she thought. "You plan to fight them," she said. It was not a question.
He nodded. "Dobby can signal Neville, who can summon help. If we can hold long enough, they will approach the Death Eaters from behind and force them to retreat. Failing that, we can escape out the back on brooms or on foot. Once we clear the anti-portkey wards, I can get all four of us to Potter Manor."
"We need to summon Aurors," Amelia said. Harry looked over at Ramsay, who gave the dead Auror Patterson head a nudge with his foot.
"You have been compromised at a very high level, Amelia," Ramsay said, as gently as he could. "Say we get a signal to the Auror office, who is to say that they don't ignore the summons? Or worse," he continued, hooking a thumb at the window - and the still glowing dark mark floating over the woods. "What if they let their mates know?"
Amelia scowled, but could not argue with their logic. Then she looked at Harry, who was beginning to spread out some of the papers from Dixie on Amelia's desk. Their eyes met, and Amelia gave him a long, appraising look.
After a moment, she nodded. "I'm trusting you with our lives, Mister Potter."
Harry returned the nod. "Yes, ma'am." He looked down at Dobby, who had waited quietly throughout their discussion. "Give her the coins, Dobby."
"Yessir," replied the elf. With a snap, a stack of coins appeared on the table in front of Amelia and Susan.
Picking one up, Susan saw that it was American - silver like a sickle, but much larger. It was marked as a dollar, with an Eagle landing on a rock on one side. "What's this?" she asked, holding up the coin.
"The moon landing," Harry replied, without looking up.
"What?" Susan asked, incredulous.
Harry looked up at her and smiled, despite himself. "Long story. For now, leave it. We use these coins because large nonmagical coins are easier to work with for what we want to do." Then, Harry turned to Madam Bones. "Amelia, can you turn those coins into portkeys to different locations within your wards?"
Amelia nodded, confused. "I could, but why?"
Before Harry could reply, Dobby was setting potions on the small table. Each was a bright yellow in color, and had a thin wax seal at the top rather than a secure stopper. Susan noticed that there was no air in the phials - the liquid was right against the wax.
Harry held up one of the potions. "When I signal, each coin takes one of those bottles to a spot thirty feet in the air, and then the bottle begins to fall. That pushes the liquid against the seal, which is deliberately thin. The seal breaks, and when the potion meets oxygen, it burns."
Susan looked closely at one of the potions. "What does it burn?"
Harry shrugged. "That high up, nothing. But it's brighter than a Lumos Maxima, and completely blinding if you're not expecting it."
Amelia nodded, understanding what he wanted. "Fine, but where do you want them?"
Harry waved her over to her desk. "Not sure yet," he said as she approached. When she got close, she saw a large sheet of muggle paper with a black and white picture. The image was of a forested area, completely unremarkable.
"What's this?" she asked.
"That, Madam Bones, is Bones Manor as seen from space." Harry shared a glance with Colonel Ramsay, who was speaking quietly with Dobby.
"But it's just trees," Susan remarked as she walked up.
"Of course," Harry agreed. "You have muggle repelling wards up, and those work across the entire surface of the wards - including above. So a camera floating above the sky, looking down, sees exactly what a muggle standing outside would see." He gestured at the woods on the paper. "Nothing."
"Cut to the chase, Harry," Ramsay warned. He was now standing at the window, trying to get a look at their attackers.
"Right," said Harry, chastened. "See, even with the wards blocking the picture, we can still use this as a map. What do you think that is?" Harry pointed at a small stone at the edge of the map, and heard a gasp from Amelia.
"The anchor stone." she said, almost in a whisper. It was the small wardstone that controlled how wide the ward's radius could be. By design, it would have to be outside the wards to function, since it set the upper limit for the main wardstones inside the manor.
"Right," agreed Harry. "Dixie?" The second elf produced another sheet of muggle paper - this time, with the outline of Bones Manor inked into the image.
"This is… how?" Susan looked from the map to Harry, confusion on her features.
Harry looked over at Madam Bones, who was studying the map. She had had an emotional day dealing with his mother, and then had had an enjoyable evening drinking with the Colonel. She was not at the top of her game, and the stress on the wards had her even further out of sorts - as did the murder attempt from one of her most trusted aurors.
Harry found that he was happy to explain all of this to the two women - because doing so kept their minds off the two dozen death eaters gathered north of the manor, working on breaking the wards. Fergus, another of the Potter elves, had gotten a quick count and given it to Dobby, before proceeding with his part of the plan.
"Dixie used the anchor stone as a guide, and made a map of your home." Harry said, with a shrug. It was a bit of a faux pas, making a map of someone else's home - but it had been good practice for Dixie, and it turned out to be useful after all.
"Of course she did," Susan said quietly, as she too studied the map.
Harry began pointing to the area between the northern woods and the manor. "Fergus says they're all there, so we set up a few distractions in the woods on either side of their location. When the wards come down, they'll come in toward the manor, and that's when the potions will start up. They'll be disoriented, they'll be confused, and then they'll come under spellfire."
"From who, exactly?" Amelia asked, her eyes never leaving the map.
"Training dummies," Harry said. "Here, and here." He drew lines in the woods that flanked the easiest path for the death eaters to take as they approach the manor. "Nothing worse than a stunner or two, but some of those stunners will be green - so they will think that someone's trying to use the killing curse. And enough stunners at once can still be fatal."
"But it's not actually the killing curse," replied Susan.
"Doesn't matter," answered Harry. "If I think someone's using the killing curse on me, I'm going to go after them. And every minute they're searching the woods is a minute they're not storming the manor." Before he could continue, a third elf popped into the room. Ignoring everyone else, the elf marked six red dots on the map, and popped away without saying a word.
Ramsay looked at the updated map, and sighed. "Escape's out, they have six more waiting for us to make a break for it."
"Six is better than twenty, right?" asked Susan, worry creeping into her voice.
"Normally," said Harry, who was looking at the map himself. "But when the other twenty can apparate over at will, it's no good. The lookouts signal, and we're surrounded."
Amelia sighed again. "So we fight."
"There's three of us," said Susan. Harry glanced at the Colonel, who nodded in response to the unasked question.
"Dobby!" With a pop, the elf arrived and looked at Harry, who gestured to the Colonel. "Please retrieve our gear, Dobby." With a salute, the elf popped away.
"Ten minutes on the wards, Harry," said Amelia, a look of worry on her face. She was surprised the death eaters were not making a more concerted effort to breach the manor's protections, until she realized that they underestimated her. Perhaps they thought that their inside man had been successful?
Harry looked at his watch, rotating the dial to mark the time. "Alright, in five minutes I want you to drop the wards on your own."
"What? Why?"
"Because if you drop the wards, they retain their charge - and you can go to the wardstone and funnel that residual charge into dropping the anti-portkey wards while I keep them busy. If the wards fall because they get broken, it will take a while for them to recharge." Harry looked at Amelia. "That last bit of magic is more useful to us than those five minutes."
Amelia nodded at the unconventional strategy - when he explained it that way, it made sense. Their total resources were the remaining magic of the wards, plus whatever Harry and Ramsay had their elves setting up. Every bit helped.
Dobby returned then, carrying two large green duffel bags. Ramsay took one, and moved to the side. Susan watched as Harry pulled out his longcoat and a webbed belt with several pouches. She walked over to help him get ready.
"I can fight, Harry," she said quietly.
Harry's expression was unreadable. "No one knows that better than I, Sue." He took one of her hands in his own, and met her eyes. "But if you're out there, in this mess, I won't be able to do what I need to do without worrying. I need you to stay here, help the Colonel and your aunt."
"Hermione and Ginny and Luna get to fight with you," Susan replied, a little hurt creeping into her voice.
Harry snorted at that. "Yeah, well I'm not falling for any of them, am I?"
Susan's eyes grew wide at the admission, and Harry's followed shortly, once he realized what he'd said. Then she was in his arms.
"Be safe," she said urgently. Harry replied by kissing her forehead.
"You know me," he replied.
She chuckled sadly at that. "Yeah, I do." Then she looked up, into his eyes. "So be safe."
Another kiss followed. "Yes, My Lady." Harry whispered.
oOoOoOoOo
A metallic click drew their eyes across the room. Colonel Ramsay had put on a black vest, and was holstering a sidearm.
Susan looked confused. "Is that muggle armor?" she asked.
"Kevlar," Harry replied. "With steel woven into the fabric. It won't stop anything really nasty, but it should defend against cutting or piercing hexes, as well as debris."
"Mark," Amelia began, wanting to ask what he planned.
"I'm not going anywhere," Ramsay answered the unasked question.
"You're a muggle," Amelia continued.
"Last I checked," Ramsay agreed.
"If a muggle kills purebloods with a firearm… Mark, they'll kill you."
"I'm already under attack just by being here, Amelia," he answered evenly. "They aren't going to spare me if I hold fire, are they?" He met her eyes, and did his best to be reassuring. "I'll be here for the duration."
"Besides," said Harry, as he finished getting his own gear in order. "His bullets are conjured, so after an hour it'll look like piercing hexes. He'll be fine once this is over." The unspoken if we survive did not go unnoticed by anyone.
Amelia saw Harry glance at his watch, and then take a deep breath. "It's time." He took out what looked like a keychain and set it on the desk. Stepping closer, Amelia could see coins of all different sizes, each one with a hole drilled through its center. There were more than thirty, all of them secured to a metal ring. Harry cast a quick silencio on the coins, before placing them on his belt.
She did not notice the similar set of coins on Ramsay's belt.
Ramsay placed a hand on her shoulder, causing Amelia to look up at the tall man. He smiled at her, doing his best to be reassuring. "We'll be fine," he said.
Amelia nodded, not knowing what else to do. "I don't like this, any of it."
The Colonel's expression turned serious, and he inclined his head towards the desk, where Harry was marking locations on the map. "Neither does he."
Harry nodded to the adults, and then gave Susan another kiss. Without words, without a command, Dobby appeared. Placing his hand on Harry's belt, the pair popped away silently.
"And that's fortunate for Harry," Ramsay continued in a quiet voice. "Because he is exceptionally skilled at this." He did not have to tell Amelia what this he meant, for she had seen the aftermath of the Ministry. She knew what was coming for the death eaters.
oOoOoOoOo
Marcus Flint watched as three death eaters poured magic into the nearest wardstone. A cursebreaker might have had the wards down by now, but none had been sent on this mission.
It was one woman, and maybe her blood traitor of a niece. There was no reason to send the inner circle.
There might not even be the need for a battle, if their inside man had been successful. Flint was shocked at how easy it had been to insert a death eater into the protection detail for the DMLE Director. If the same squad protected the Minister, then perhaps the war would already be over - but such was not the case.
The Bones woman would have to do for tonight.
The death eaters were waiting at the edge of the woods north of the manor. They would need to pass through a hundred meters of trees before arriving at the front gate. Another hundred meters would take them to the courtyard, and then the home itself. The goal was to find the Bones women and kill them.
When the aurors finally arrived, they would find their director's head on a spike in front of a burning manor.
Yaxley was in charge, as the only senior death eater present. The Dark Lord had said that it was a simple enough mission that even he could accomplish it. Flint had shared glances with several of his yearmates at that - and at the fact that Yaxley did not recognize the insult for what it was.
A shimmering in the air caught the attention of the group. "The wards are down!" one of the impromptu cursebreakers shouted.
"That was quick," remarked Flint.
Yaxley shrugged. "Who cares? Let's get this done." With that, he shot a spell toward the manor. The other death eaters, wands out, moved forward at his signal.
Immediately, they came under spellfire from the left and right. Red stunners were mixed with the occasional green of the killing curse, and as one the death eaters fell to the ground and took cover.
"What the fuck?!" snarled Yaxley. "How the hell did they get backup?"
"No idea," said Flint.
One of the newest recruits, a kid named Theo, stood up to move back toward the rear, and got struck by a red curse. To his surprise, nothing happened. Theo Nott stood there, dumbly, looking around. Then the kid broke out in a grin.
"It's fake! That was just a stinging hex!" He laughed at the death eaters still prone on the ground. "It's a trick, we can-"
Flint's eyes snapped back to the sixth year when his laughing cries cut off suddenly. Theo's words had died in his throat, mainly because his throat had been blasted open by a cutting curse. His hands went to his neck, hoping to stop the bleeding, but the damage was done. Flint watched as Theo Nott, a death eater for just three days, fell backwards - drowning in his own blood.
"Hominem Revelio." A nearby death eater cast the revealing charm, hoping to get an idea of how many stood against them. To his surprise, the charm revealed no one other than the death eaters. The man seemed to panic at that, and looked at Yaxley. "Can you block a revealing charm?" he asked, fear creeping into his voice.
"How the fuck should I know?" growled Yaxley. "How many are there?"
The death eater shook his head. "None."
"Bullshite." said another death eater.
The first man shrugged. "The spell says that we're the only ones out here."
"How many in the manor?" asked Yaxley.
"We're too far," was the reply.
"Fine," Yaxley replied with a snarl. "Then let's get moving."
oOoOoOoOo
Harry watched from underneath his invisibility cloak as the death eaters began to move forward. They kept themselves low, and the dummy spells flew over their heads.
He wanted them to move forward - Dobby and Fergus had prepared a nice surprise for them, and it would be a shame if they missed it. But, that didn't mean he wanted them to move too fast. Reaching down, Harry lifted the ring of coins to his mouth and whispered.
"Papa Tango."
oOoOoOoOo
Amelia Bones was in a small room off of her study, working with the manor's ward stone, when she heard Harry's voice. Looking back into her office, she saw two coins on Ramsay's belt glowing. One glowed and said "Papa," while another said "Tango." Amelia realized that each coin conveyed one word, and as a set they could pass along any message without having to deal with transfiguration or the like.
Susan had showed her the DA coins from last term, and she liked the idea. Auror badges operated on similar principles. This concept seemed far more versatile.
"Can you help me, Susan?" Ramsay asked, as he rummaged through his bag.
"Yes," she said, walking over from her place near the doorway. When she came near, Ramsay handed her what looked like a telescope - except instead of the brass finish she was accustomed to, it had a dull black metal look, and was completely non-reflective.
"Look through this, and find one of the death eaters," Ramsay said. He indicated a small button on top of the device. "Then push that."
Susan considered the device. "That's it?"
A nod. "That's it. Harry will take care of the rest."
"What does it do?" she asked.
Ramsay smiled grimly, as if at a joke only he knew. "It paints the target."
Susan wasn't sure what to say to that, so she said nothing. Looking through the scope, she saw several death eaters inching forward. One of them caught her eye, a seventh year slytherin who had given her a bad time in Hogsmeade. Her friends had gotten him to back off, but she shuddered to think what might have happened if she had been alone.
Carefully, she focused the scope on Terrence Higgs and hit the switch. A small red dot appeared on his robes, but he did not notice.
The effect, however, was unmistakable. Within seconds of the dot appearing, all of the spells that had been passing harmlessly over the heads of the death eaters stopped. Then, as if on cue, every single one struck Higgs. The combination of stinging hexes, stunners, and other similar spells left Higgs on the ground, convulsing.
oOoOoOoOo
Even with their advance halted, the death eaters were near the first portkey target. Again, Harry lifted the coins and whispered.
oOoOoOoOo
"Lima One" said Ramsay's set of coins. The Colonel looked back at the table, where the potions had been paired with their own coins. Each silver dollar had been made into a portkey by Madam Bones, with a list of different activation phrases for each.
From his place near the doorway, Ramsay shouted the first of those phrases. "Alpha!"
The first potion disappeared as the portkey took effect.
"Susan," he said, "You'll want to close your eyes for a moment."
oOoOoOoOo
Flint was still staring at the still body of Higgs, not sure what to do. The fact that he was looking away from the manor probably saved his life, for at that moment a massive burst of light blinded most of the death eaters.
The flash had been up in the air, making a spell unlikely. Beyond that, Flint had no idea what had happened. All he knew was that he saw the bright light reflected off the trees behind him, as if it had been bright daylight for a moment. Then he heard the shouts of pain from the death eaters, as they covered their eyes.
All of that noise made it simple for their attacker to find targets. The light was still fading when Flint saw another death eater take a cutting curse to the neck. His corpse fell to the ground, his head rolling away. Two more death eaters had fallen as well, their cries stilled by brutal curses to the head.
"We're being hunted," he said, to no one in particular.
"What the fuck," another death eater began. Flint looked over and saw a red point of light on his cloak. Again, the spellfire stopped for a moment. Again, the targeted death eater was struck by a number of spells at once.
Flint was close enough to check on him, and found the death eater stunned. Higgs had been hit by a higher number of stunners, which proved fatal. Here, a pair of trees had shielded this death eater from a number of curses.
Lucky him.
There was another flash, and the majority of the death eaters were blinded again. When Flint was able to open his eyes, he saw that two more death eaters had been killed. One had taken a piercing hex to the forehead, and the man next to him had been decapitated.
"Keep moving!" shouted Yaxley, struggling to regain control of the situation.
"Fuck this," said one of the new recruits, before bolting away from the manor. Flint, being near the back of the group after checking on Higgs, managed to trip the retreating wizard. A stunner followed, leaving the coward out of the fight - for now. Flint knew that Yaxley - or perhaps even the Dark Lord - would deal with him after the battle.
oOoOoOoOo
Harry saw the first six death eaters clear the trees. The training dummies were still peppering the group with spells, but these death eaters had been better at dodging than their comrades. They figured - correctly - that their best chance of survival involved getting to the manor as quickly as possible, and were moving forward rapidly as a result.
Unfortunately, they did not account for Dobby and Fergus.
There was not a tripwire across the entire clearing. Instead, the wires had been specially conjured using a trick that Luna had devised. The first few death eaters to pass did so without trouble. Once they were in the kill zone, however, the next death eater would find a solid wire barring their path.
What wizard would notice a muggle trap like that?
From his place at the edge of the trees, Harry saw the tripwire pop into place, and saw the death eater step into it. Knowing what was to come, Harry ducked down and covered his ears.
oOoOoOoOo
Flint was watching the first six death eaters make their approach to the manor when the group was obscured by a blasting hex of some sort. The explosion of dirt and debris was accompanied by a rumbling boom that knocked the remaining death eaters off of their feet. He had not seen the spell that caused the explosion, but he could see the result.
To his horror, the dirt that was raining down on them was mixed with bits of gore. Of the six death eaters, nothing remained.
"Merlin," breathed Flint. Yaxley, standing nearby, was struck dumb by the sight.
Then a slight movement caught Flint's attention. Turning to his left, he saw the edge of the treeline - and a clump of bloodied dirt that had landed in mid air.
Someone's there! Raising his wand, Flint let loose with a stunner.
oOoOoOoOo
Harry felt the debris land on his head, and cursed his luck. The invisibility cloak was well nigh impervious to all forms of detection - but it was a physical barrier. A clump of dirt landing on it would be quite visible.
Hearing the shout behind him, Harry fell to the deck and rolled to the side, taking cover behind a tree. Peeking out, he saw Marcus Flint advancing on him. The other death eaters were still regrouping, Harry saw, so perhaps this was still salvageable.
"Lima Three" he said, as he rolled to dodge another curse, this time a bludgeoning curse aimed at his legs. If he had judged correctly, the third potion would explode just behind him… now!
The flash of light did its work, and Flint reached up to cover his eyes. The inevitable reflex left him open to attack, and Harry sent a diffindo his way.
The curse should have been fatal, but Flint shifted to the side at the last moment. Instead of bisecting him at the waist, it merely removed his left forearm. The remaining three inches of the dark mark burned, crawling up the arm as if for safety.
Flint, rapidly losing blood, triggered his emergency portkey, and disappeared.
oOoOoOoOo
"Rookwood!"
Ambrose looked up from his desk at Pansy's shout. It was late, and she was still recovering - which made it odd that she was still awake.
Rushing downstairs, Ambrose found his houseguest in her pajamas, waving her wand over an unconscious Marcus Flint. The injured man was still wearing his black robe and mask, both of which were covered in dirt and debris.
His left arm was missing just below the elbow. The bleeding had been staunched already, thanks to Pansy's quick work, but the pool of blood on the floor told Ambrose that it had been a narrow thing.
"What the hell happened?" Ambrose said to himself.
oOoOoOoOo
Yaxley had seen Flint engage with someone near the edge of the trees, and moved to follow. The blast of light stopped his progress, however, and when he opened his eyes he saw Flint escape. The left arm, still laying there in the dirt, told him exactly why the boy had fled, though Yaxley suspected the injury would be fatal.
Flint's attacker was on the move, retreating back toward the manor. He still wore an invisibility cloak, though it was filthy enough to be useless. But the sight gave Yaxley pause - who among their enemies had an invisibility cloak?
Certainly not the Bones women.
"Shit," he said to no one. "It's Potter!"
"Potter did this?" exclaimed one of the newer death eaters. "Fuck!" Before Yaxley could stop him, the rookie was stabbing his dark mark with his wand.
Yaxley pulled the death eater's wand hand away from the mark with a crushing grip, but it was too late. "What have you done?" hissed Yaxley angrily.
The young death eater looked up, surprised at the reaction. "Potter's here, the Dark Lord can come and end everything tonight!"
"Yes, the Dark Lord will come, and find half his force laying bleeding or dead." Yaxley stepped closer to the death eater. "The Dark Lord does not reward failure."
"No, Yaxley, I do not." All eyes turned to see the black-cloaked form of Lord Voldemort.
oOoOoOoOo
Madam Bones had taken over the Lord's Study when she became the Regent Bones. The study faced the front courtyard of the manor, allowing Lord Bones to see visitors as they approach the main entrance. The only way in or out - apart from the windows - was a long hallway that bisected the uppermost floor of the manor.
The Colonel was in that hallway, moving old desks and cabinets into some sort of cover, when he heard Amelia's shout from the study.
"They're in the house!" Her voice carried worry and anger in equal measure, and an urgency that saw Mark Ramsay turning and running back to the study.
"Did they get past Harry?" he asked as he entered.
"No." Susan did not look up from her place near the window as she spoke. Ramsay saw that she was tagging another of the death eaters with the laser, while using the scope to watch the battle.
"Then it's the six in back?" Ramsay asked.
"The back door was destroyed," Amelia's voice confirmed. She was still in the back room, working with the wardstone.
Ramsay nodded, his mind working through the scenario as rapidly as it could. Then he was moving back to the hallway. "Susan, you're with me."
Susan put the scope down, but did not move to follow. "I can't leave my Aunt," she said angrily.
"I know," he replied, keeping his voice as even as he could. "But if they get this far, they can simply blast the ward room, and they win. Our only chance is to give her time to work."
Susan cast a quick glance toward the door to the back room, and considered asking her aunt what to do. But then she thought about Harry outside, and what he was doing to the death eaters. She thought about the lessons she had had with the DA, and later with just Harry.
And she knew, with certainty, that Colonel Ramsay was not going to be able to stand against six wizards, no matter how good his muggle tricks were. He needed a wand at his side. Her aunt needed them both to give her the time she needed.
"Alright," she said, turning to the Colonel. "What do we do?"
Ramsay looked at the teenager, as if reappraising her. "We're making a kill zone, Susan," he said, watching her closely. "Anyone who enters that hallway is a target."
Susan nodded. "They're going to kill my family, Colonel," she said, with determination. "Or worse."
"I'm not going to let that happen." Ramsay said.
"I know," she replied. Her eyes met his, and he heard the steel in her voice. "Neither am I."
oOoOoOoOo
Striking from stealth, servicing targets who did not know he was even there, had allowed Harry Potter to take down a dozen death eaters - permanently. Several others had escaped, and two more had attempted to flee before being stunned by their own comrades.
To hell with a fair fight, he had said earlier. Their leader tried to kill me as a toddler. Susan had had no answer to that.
But without that stealth, standing as one wizard versus the remaining half dozen was not good tactics. He was confident in his skills and his training - otherwise he wouldn't be out here. But he wasn't suicidal. So he withdrew as quickly as he could back to Bones Manor.
He had almost made it to the front doors when he heard the metallic clang of locks closing. The shimmer of magic across the door told him that someone had used a locking charm.
"So eager to run away, Mister Potter?" The high voice behind him could only belong to one wizard. Turning, Harry looked at the Dark Lord as he walked calmly across the courtyard.
Pulling off the invisibility cloak, Harry stashed it in its pouch on his belt. His wand remained in his hand, but at his side. As before, every minute he spent letting the Dark Lord monologue was another minute that Amelia had to break the anti-portkey wards and escape.
Looking down, Harry saw blood on Voldemort's bare feet. Unable to resist, he looked at the approaching figure and grinned.
"I think you stepped in one of your mates, Tom." He said, inclining his head toward Voldemort's feet.
Voldemort replied with a sinister grin of his own. "I have so looked forward to killing you, Potter." He tilted his head, his red eyes gleaming in the darkness. "And now I get to do it twice."
"Maybe, maybe not," answered Harry, with as much nonchalance as he could muster.
"They discarded you for your brother, Potter," Voldemort said with a sneer. "And still you fight for them? I knew you were a fool, but that surprises even me."
He did not expect the chuckle that was Harry's reply. "Did you not read the notices, Heir Gaunt? Did you not even take a basic interest in an Ancient and Most Noble House declaring a blood feud on you?" Off the growing anger on Voldemort's face, Harry pressed on. "Where in those notices did I say that I fought for anyone but myself?"
"I have no need to listen to the babbling of a child lord." Voldemort said, dismissively.
"Then you're a fool, Tom Riddle." Harry said, coldly. "You enslaved how many dozens of purebloods to your service?" Harry gestured toward the battlefield. "Do they realize yet that you signed their death warrant?"
"What of you, Potter?" Voldemort spat. "You've hidden behind Dumbledore for years. You can do nothing unless you're behind his robes."
"Dumbledore is many things, Tom." Harry agreed, noticing how the use of the Dark Lord's birth name infuriated him once again. He knew this was a risk, but he had no other option. "But do you know the most important thing about Dumble Dumble Dumbledore, with his fancy hat and Lima Four?"
"What?" Voldemort asked, angrily, ignoring Harry's nonsensical words.
Harry gave the Dark Lord his best grin. "He's not here."
oOoOoOoOo
"Lima Four" said the coins at Ramsay's belt.
"Shit," said Ramsay. "Delta!" he shouted as loud as he could, hoping that his voice reached the study.
Susan heard the sound of the portkey, and nodded to the Colonel, who relaxed a bit. He toppled another cabinet, giving Susan the signal to cast impervious charms on it. This was the third piece of cover they had ready, and each would allow them to fight back when the death eaters came - Ramsay with his pistol and Susan with shields and other jinxes.
"They're upstairs!" came a shout from the entrance hall. The death eaters had heard his signal.
"Here they come," muttered Ramsay. By long habit, he drew his weapon and readied himself.
oOoOoOoOo
Voldemort was completely unprepared for the blast of light, and shielded his eyes much as his death eaters had done. The potion exploded above and behind Harry, as that potion had been intended to cover his retreat. Unimpeded, he sent two cutting curses at the Dark Lord.
Even blinded, Voldemort was a master duelist. His wordless shield easily blocked the two curses he hadn't even seen. Then he returned fire with three reductos of his own - one at the spot where Harry's voice had been, and two more on either side. Even without seeing his target, he was trying to catch his dodge.
A shield of Harry's own parried the middle curse, and Harry reminded himself not to underestimate the wizard in front of him.
More curses were exchanged, the banter having ended. Harry focused on quick spells, never casting something complex when a simple spell would do the job. This also helped him cast more rapidly, which worked to keep Voldemort on the defensive as he moved and shielded. Voldemort, for his part, seemed to be casting darker and darker curses at Harry as his frustration mounted. Shielding against such curses took much more energy than usual, which is why they were so dangerous, as they could easily break a shield if one wasn't careful.
Despite himself, Voldemort found himself impressed - the boy was doing much better than he had expected. Of course, that was the idea - for while he was occupied out here, his remaining death eaters would be completing their mission inside the manor. He had, after all, promised Nagini a feast, and the Bones witch and her niece would do nicely.
The Dark Lord sneered again, as he sidestepped another curse. What would young Harry's reaction be when he realized that he had won the battle but lost the war?
oOoOoOoOo
Susan finished with the aguamenti charm just as footsteps began thumping up the staircase. The rug at the end of the hallway was saturated with water, and she hoped that it would allow her to replicate a trick Harry had pulled at DA.
After all, few wizards wore shoes with rubber soles. Fewer still would notice the small bottles of red potion sitting along the wall.
The first pair of death eaters came around the corner, and grinned as they saw their prey. Susan erected a shield as their curses flew, allowing Ramsay to brace himself against an old bookcase and take careful aim downrange.
"Oh, the muggle's gonna fight us? What's he gonna do, you think?" cackled one death eater. Ramsay said nothing, but did adjust his aim to the right.
"Dunno, mate," said the other. "But I know what the girl's gonna do."
Susan must have shown her disgust at the pair, for they laughed at her and stepped forward.
A loud bang came from Ramsay's pistol, accompanied by a brief flame. The only sound that followed was the tinkling noise of a small casing striking the bookcase, and then the wet thud of the first death eater falling to the ground.
When the second death eater looked at his comrade, he saw that the man's head was a ruined mess of blood and gore. He turned back to the muggle, raising his wand, but it was too late.
Again, Ramsay took aim, and again his pistol barked out its report. Three shots in rapid succession struck the death eater, two in the chest and one in the head. Any one of them would have been fatal. He joined his comrade on the ground.
"Sloppy," muttered Ramsay. Susan looked at him, shock still etched onto her face. Seeing her expression, the Colonel shrugged. "You always aim for the biggest target. I should have gotten the first one in the chest."
"Why didn't you?" Susan asked.
Another shrug. "I guess he just made me mad."
The next two death eaters, seeing the corpses, were far more cautious. Without a word, they began peppering the defenders with spellfire. Susan's shield held, but it took more of her effort to keep it up. In turn, Ramsay learned that a protego shield would only deflect a bullet, rather than stopping it. Each shot he fired that struck the shield ended up in the walls.
As the death eaters advanced, Ramsay heard the squishing sound their boots made in the wet carpet. He glanced over at Susan, who nodded, before taking aim at the small potion sitting against the wall. With one shot, the red liquid burst out, throwing sparks of electricity as it splashed. Where it struck the rug, jolts of lightning shot out and struck anything they could.
The corpses, being dead, were unaffected. The death eaters, on the other hand, immediately fell to the ground. Without their shields, they were unable to prevent the Colonel from attacking, and they soon joined their mates.
The final two death eaters saw the bodies, and decided to allow the Dark Lord's familiar to take the lead. Nagini, impatient for her meal, slithered right past the bodies and directly toward the muggle and the child.
Ramsay, who was reloading, looked up at Susan's shouted curse. Seeing the monstrous snake charging right for their position, the Colonel did the only thing he could - he grabbed Susan and threw her to the ground.
Before she could object, the bookcase they had been hiding behind exploded, showering them with splinters of wood. Nagini, not one for subtlety, had blown right through the barrier. Now she was between them and the study, coiled and ready to strike.
Unfortunately for the Dark Lord's familiar, snakes cannot cast shields. Ramsay took careful aim at her head, and unloaded five shots.
Nagini had turned to regard the muggle in his odd clothing, and did not recognize the piece of black metal in the man's hand. It would be a fatal mistake, as a moment later her head was destroyed by gunfire.
Ramsay was unprepared for a black cloud to rise out of the ruined corpse. The spirit form of what had to be the Dark Lord screamed incoherently at them, before vanishing.
"Holy shit," was Ramsay's only reply.
Susan, who had turned back toward the remaining death eaters, said nothing. After a moment, she heard the thumping of footsteps going back down the stairs, and sighed. "They ran," she said.
"For now," he replied.
oOoOoOoOo
Voldemort raised a shield just in time to deflect the knife that the Potter boy had thrown his way. It proved unnecessary, however, as the knife missed him by a wide margin.
Shaking his head disapprovingly, Voldemort looked at the tiring boy in front of him. "You're getting sloppy, Mister Potter."
Harry shrugged at that, catching his breath. He also pulled his wand to his chest, as if yanking on a rope. Voldemort did not notice the odd motion, nor did he notice the knife he had dismissed as it paused in mid-air and flew back towards its owner.
He did see the boy take several steps to his right.
"Sometimes, Tom, the simple tricks are the best ones." Harry replied.
It was at that moment that Voldemort cried out. The returning knife had stabbed him in the back, just below his left shoulder.
Voldemort turned his wand on Harry, the killing curse on his lips. Before he could cast, however, he heard spellfire behind him.
"That will be the aurors, I'd guess," Harry said. "You've failed."
Voldemort ignored the pain in his shoulder as he gave Harry another sneer. "Are you so certain, Mister Potter?" He laughed as Harry's face fell. "You should have done a better job of protecting the Bones woman, boy." With that, he apparated away.
Yaxley managed to escape as well, but the rest of the death eaters were stunned by the attackers. As the newcomers cleared the trees, they saw Harry running toward the manor.
"What the hell is he doing here?" spat James Potter. He looked over to Dumbledore, and saw that the Headmaster didn't know either.
"He was here with Susan," said Sirius Black.
"What, does Amelia's niece go in for murderers, now?" asked Dedalus Diggle. "Look at the bodies, Albus."
"I see, Dedalus," said Dumbledore.
A blast drew their attention to the manor, where Harry had completely destroyed the doors rather than attempt to unlock them. Without pausing, the boy rushed inside, presumably to check on the Bones family.
"This," said Albus Dumbledore, "could be a problem."
A/N: Keeping track of all the moving parts in a large battle - even where one side basically has a single fighter - is always a challenge. I am hopeful that I pulled it off here.
The coins used for portkeys are American silver dollars, with President Eisenhower on one side and the Apollo 11 mission patch (with an eagle landing on the moon) on the other. I assume that galleons might be resistant to charms such as portkeys and such, and used muggle coins to dodge that issue. Hermione's DA coins are specifically false galleons, as I recall, but here Harry wanted larger coins that covered most of the potion bottle's opening. And these particular silver dollars are bloody massive, so.
Colonel Ramsay's sidearm is a Sig Sauer P226, favored by (among others) the British Army and SAS. It's not strictly relevant, as such, but if it helps visualize the scene, there are videos on youtube depicting this exact pistol being fired and serviced and whatnot. It is consistent with a British military sidearm in mid 1996, which was my goal.
Pansy has been recovering from her injuries at Rookwood's house, and both have been quiet for a few chapters now. Writing scene-focused chapters, rather than "This all happened in one day" chapters, means that I don't get to check in with everyone - but they'll show up next chapter. As will the Potters and the Order, who clearly have thoughts.
Feedback, as always, is welcome.