Content Warning: Character Death
Chapter 45: Turning the Tide
October 5th, 1996
"Dobby," said Hermione, "The answer to getting inside Malfoy Manor is Dobby."
Harry and Hermione were in their room, both laying on Harry's bed. They had been napping on a Saturday afternoon, but Hermione's interjection had put an end to that.
"I won't put Dobby in danger," insisted Harry, "Malfoy Manor is crawling with Death Eaters."
"According to Snape, they have a group there ready to reply to attacks on other Death Eater properties at all times," said Hermione, "So we need to lure them out. We attack the homes of other Death Eaters. We don't have to do any damage, just lure everyone out. Dobby can then sneak in invisibly, copy everything, and get out."
"Copy everything?" asked Harry.
"House elves can make magical copies of documents instantaneously," said Hermione, "It is one of their many powers that they developed to help us. Or possibly were forced to develop. I'm not actually sure which, to be honest."
"I don't know," said Harry, "I don't want to put Dobby in even that amount of danger."
"Harry," said Hermione, "Dobby is the one elf we know of that is resistant to the magic which forces elves to be completely subservient to wizards. I say it's his choice to make."
Harry nodded sadly. "You're right, of course. I just don't like the idea of putting him in danger. But it is his decision, not mine."
Hermione hugged Harry, putting her head on his chest. "How did I get so lucky?"
"You made a very ill-advised request of a hat," said Harry.
"Oops," said Hermione with a tiny grin, "You know, I'm turning 17 this week."
"I haven't forgotten," said Harry.
"From here on out, I'm free. No one can tell me what to do," said Hermione, "I'm just… glad. I'm glad that I am going to be here with you. We're going to change everything together. I know we will."
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Halloween was the day they decided to move. Dobby had agreed to help immediately, so they began planning. Getting the mercenaries into the UK for the first time had to be done carefully. If word got out, the Death Eaters might increase security. That couldn't be allowed. As things were, the combined fortunes of the Death Eaters could probably outspend Harry and his faction, so they had to be careful to not cause the Death Eaters to start throwing money around yet. Still, Harry detested the wait.
Harry's classes were going well. Charms was fun, as always. Defense was less so, even though Harry did well in the subject. Snape was a rough teacher there, as he had been at Potions. Arithmancy and Runes had both gotten much harder (well as hard as they could get for someone who had essentially already taken the class), but Harry didn't complain, as his study sessions for those classes meant spending lots of time with Hermione. Herbology he still studied with Justin, though Ginny had started intruding in those sessions as well. Harry grinned at that thought. That was a huge change, and for the better. Justin really was smitten with Ginny.
Privately, Ginny had told Harry that she wanted to take her relationship with Justin public. So far they had been playing it cool where people could see them. They'd been doubly secretive since Molly had become Potions teacher.
Molly had become a fairly good potions instructor. Harry had noticed that some aspects of the N.E.W.T. course were a little challenging for Molly to teach, but she had put a strong effort into doing it, and if she made mistakes, she owned up to them. Harry supposed she'd never really trained for this, so he considered her largely a success.
Quidditch practice was good. There was some tension on the Slytherin team as Harry and Ginny didn't really trust Nott. Blaise, on the other hand, seemed to get along with him fine still, and Tracey wasn't going to let anything stand in the way of her winning against Gryffindor.
The last thing that was concerning Harry was Daphne. She seemed oddly preoccupied with Ron Weasley. She'd dumped him over the summer and completely ignored him for months. But now that she was back at school she seemed to be trying to pay attention to him again. Harry guessed she'd dumped him as a ploy to get him interested in her again, it was the overcalculated sort of thing Daphne might do. Unfortunately, it was exactly the sort of thing that wouldn't work with Ron. He tended to hold grudges. He had rather firmly rebuffed all of Daphne's renewed advances.
Harry had been in contact with Sirius, and things were going well. Most of the mercenaries were in the UK by now, and Krum was saying that they had drawn up a plan to attack various Death Eater holdings. It should be ready well before Halloween. Bill and Fleur were doing well, having managed to remove most of the curses off of the Lestrange vault. However there was one last curse on the contents in the vault that was causing them trouble.
The plan was so close to coming to fruition. Harry knew that the Death Eaters would respond. They'd tried to assassinate Amelia Bones in September. They'd failed badly, largely due to the security precautions that had been put into place months earlier. They were stretched thin. Everything would depend on Halloween.
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October 31st, 1996
Sirius led the way through the bushes. He was leading one of four teams of mercenaries. Krum was leading the second, Gustav was leading the third, and Remus was leading the fourth. Sirius wasn't exactly impressed by this plan, but he supposed that Harry had his reasons for wanting to infiltrate Malfoy Manor. Sirius didn't know who Harry had doing the infiltration, but he suspected it might be a student. Harry didn't want to say for security reasons. Whoever it was, it was Sirius's job to give him a clear path.
He was outside the home of the Crabbe family. Known Death Eaters. Harry wasn't sure if the son had joined them, but they had just enough wealth to be useful to the Death Eaters, but not enough to be a powerful family in and of themselves. There was a reason that Vincent Crabbe had always followed Malfoy at Hogwarts.
Sirius began casting spells, setting fire to trees and bushes on the periphery of the property. Some of the mercenaries began casting spells at objects. The goal here wasn't to hurt anyone, it was to draw out the defenders at Malfoy Manor.
Sure enough, soon Sirius heard the pops of wizards apparating in. That was the signal to begin the withdrawal. Harry didn't want anyone hurt tonight if it could be helped. Sirius just hoped he could give Harry's man enough time.
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Dobby apparated into the house. It was strange being back here. Dobby shuddered as he realized where he was. He'd hated the Malfoys and was glad to be free of them. Yet going back and spying on them did feel a bit wrong. But they did deserve it, so Dobby quietly made himself invisible.
He'd entered the house beneath the kitchens, in the wine cellar and soon was standing outside Narcissa's study. As predicted, there were few guards around. Narcissa walked by the door once, inspecting the spells that held the door locked. As soon as she was gone, Dobby made his move.
Sure enough, the spells on the door were the Malfoy family security spells. Designed to send out an alarm if dispelled incorrectly. Dobby knew what to do though, he'd once been told those spells, and house elves never forgot things like that.
The spells came down quietly, and Dobby entered the study. It wasn't hard to find the ledgers and documents that Dobby was looking for. With a wave of his hand, Dobby created copies of everything in the room. The copies were sent to specially prepared books back at Hogwarts. It was a simple matter for a house elf.
Dobby left the study. He put the security spells back up, then hid as he heard footsteps. It was Narcissa again. She was apparently worried about the security of the study with so many people called away. Dobby made his way to the escape tunnel. Once in there, he would be able to apparate away safely. Dobby had completed his task, and Harry Potter would be very pleased.
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November 1st, 1996
It was more than they could have ever hoped for.
"Harry," said Daphne, "We have more than a list of Death Eater resources and holdings here. We have proof, real proof, that multiple Gringotts bank accounts were used to supply the Death Eaters. This is huge!"
"What do you mean?" asked Harry. The entire Army was gathered in the Room of Requirement, looking over the books Dobby had copied for them.
"What she means, is that with this information, we could get the DMLE to freeze most of these Gringotts accounts," said Susan, "This is really big. We could cripple the Death Eaters in one fell swoop."
"I doubt this accounts for all Death Eater resources," said Daphne, "I'm pretty sure that most of these families have emergency funds stashed away in places. But that doesn't matter. We can do way more damage with this information that we thought we were going to be able to."
"We should get Blaise in on this," said Tracey, "his friends might want to move on the Death Eaters at the same time we do."
"If we can get the DMLE, our mercenaries, and the Blaise's Irish friends to launch a simultaneous attack on the Death Eater finances…" said Ron.
"This could be close to a death blow for Voldemort's whole organization," said Ginny.
"I think they will prove more durable than that," considered Hermione, "But they will be in a very bad place."
"Cedric and Percy will be able to help coordinate this," said Harry, "They can tell us when the Ministry moves on this, letting us launch our attacks at the same time."
"We need every bit of information we can get out of these books, as soon as possible," said Hermione.
Everyone immediately got back to work.
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November 4th, 1996
Cedric Diggory was ready for whatever was coming. He was determined to help take down Voldemort, and this would be the kick off of a whole new phase in their attack.
"Uh, Madame Bones," said Cedric, poking his head into her office, "There is something you need to see here."
"Cedric!" said Amelia's secretary, "you don't just barge into the office of the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement!"
"You do when someone drops this on you!" insisted Cedric. With a single flip of his wand, a small package in his hand became a large box.
"What is this?" asked Amelia.
"Someone just left this on my desk," explained Cedric, not bothering to mention that he was the one who put it there, "It appears to be a record of a number of money transfers from various Gringotts accounts. But here is the kicker. The transfers are all going to a single account. I think that there is enough information here to prove that this account is the primary Gringotts account for the Death Eaters. If not, then a very cursory investigation should confirm it. This is a complete record of the Death Eater money laundering apparatus."
"Merlin," said the secretary.
"Why did they give it to you?" asked Amelia.
"I guess I'm low profile, but it's pretty well known in most circles that I'm a friend of Harry Potter's," said Cedric, "I'm the perfect person to give this too if you don't want too much attention being drawn to it."
Amelia nodded. She had to be thinking that that was a perfectly logical explanation of all this.
"You were absolutely right to bring this directly to me," said Amelia, "And until I say otherwise no one other than the three of us will know anything about this. You any good at accounting, Diggory?"
Cedric shrugged, "I was pretty good in Arithmancy. I was good enough to get the basic idea when this was dropped on my desk I guess."
"That may not be good enough," said Amelia.
"Will you inform the Minister?" asked Amelia's secretary.
"I suppose I have to," said Amelia.
"Percy Weasley!" said Cedric, "He's got some accountancy training. Once you bring Fudge in…"
"Yes, Percy would do well," said Amelia, "We need to keep this out of the DMLE rumour pool if possible. And he is definitely not known to gossip. He has a bit of a reputation as being tight-lipped and difficult to get anything out of actually. Unless he's trying to manipulate you at least. Probably why Fudge has taken such a shine to him."
"Who do you think gave this to us?" asked Cedric.
"My guess is the Triumvirate," said Amelia, "The Order of the Phoenix would just have given this to me openly."
"Whoever it was, I'm glad they're on our side," said Cedric.
"Indeed," said Amelia, "I'd like to meet them, if I could. But what's the chance of that? I need to talk to Fudge."
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November 9th, 1996
Harry had to admit, he'd been slacking off in his preparations to play Quidditch. It wasn't that he didn't like the sport anymore, but he did have much larger concerns. Still, Tracey had been on him the whole year last year, and so he'd finally taken the time to do some serious practice. Harry hoped it would pay off.
Ron's team was only a shadow of the Gryffindor team of years past. He still had Katie Bell, but Alicia Spinnet and Angelina Johnson were gone, as were the twins. The only truly exceptional player Ron had managed to recruit was Demelza Robins. Dean and Dennis Creevey were the beaters, and they were good enough, but they wouldn't be able to take down Blaise and Nott.
But Harry had underestimated the tensions on the Slytherin team. Ginny wasn't talking to Nott, which was annoying, but understandable. Astoria was still a little under the weather, she had had a rough summer, and while being at Hogwarts had brought her most of the way back, she still wasn't 100 percent back.
As such, the Slytherin team was heading into the match divided, but the Gryffindors weren't. And that was what ultimately proved the difference. The Slytherins did run up the score on the Gryffindors, but in the end, none of it mattered. All the Slytherins were too distracted by their own problems to concentrate on the match. Which was why when Colin saw the snitch, Harry was nowhere near by. Gryffindor won the match 190 to 110.
Tracey flew over and gave Ron a congratulatory handshake.
"Good game Weasley," said Tracey, "Your team was really on point today."
"Ah, we still need some practice," said Ron, "You'd have beaten us if your players hadn't been distracted."
"Thanks Ron," said Tracey, "Still, keep winning like this, and I'm going to think you're actually a decent Quidditch captain."
Ron grinned at her. He knew Tracey well enough that he knew that was about as good a compliment that she would give a Gryffindor Quidditch player.
Back in the Slytherin locker room on the other hand…
"That was pathetic," roared Tracey, "All of you need to deal with your issues and get your heads back in the game!"
XXXXX
November 11th, 1996
"Amelia will be making her move on the 20th of November," read Harry, before putting down the letter he had received from Cedric, "That's when we'll move."
"There's a lot of targets to hit," noted Hermione.
"It's going to take about a week to hit them all," said Ginny.
"I've instructed the mercenaries to hit high priority targets first," said Harry, "On the last couple of days, the Death Eaters will be on high alert, so we need to make sure we're just mopping up at that point. While we will permit the mercenaries to defend themselves, their goal is not to kill anyone, but to do as much damage as possible."
"What is going to happen to all these magical creatures?" asked Luna, "Surely you aren't going to just kill them?"
"No, we won't," said Harry, "But we will sell them out of the country at rock bottom prices. Honestly, the magical livestock targets are lucrative, but they are only a fraction of Death Eater wealth, so we are pushing those missions to the fourth or fifth day. The schedule is still in flux."
"This is a big bold move," said Daphne, 'And You-Know-Who will respond."
"But if we are successful, he'll be hampered for years," said Harry, "It's time to inflict a decisive blow against Riddle. It's time to turn the tide."
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November 18th, 1996
After some negotiation with Gustav, the mercenaries decided to start their attacks on the 18th. Blaise confirmed that the Irish would move on the same day. Harry wished he was able to lead these attacks, but he couldn't. He had to trust his people.
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Sirius and Krum led four mercenaries across the fields near York. This was the site of the Malfoy family's warehouses. They'd been stockpiling resources here for one and a half years now. All sorts of things were stored here. Wool from magical sheep, which couldn't be sheared again this year, wood from magical trees, which by magical law was limited in the amount that could be harvested each year, and even a large stash of expensive potions ingredients. It was a huge haul, and destroying it would mean that the Malfoy family had no immediate way to generate cash. And considering that they were about to lose all their cash, that would devastate them.
The attack was quick and simple. Over the course of five minutes they set dozens of fires in the warehouse. No one would be able to tell where the fires started. But there was enough flammable material in the warehouse that this would probably not attract a lot of attention. Within minutes, the whole structure was in flames, and Sirius and Krum were leading their group to a second target.
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November 19th, 1996
"Ten attacks in one night!" said Fudge, "The Death Eaters are getting bold."
Percy tried not to roll his eyes. For a man who could be so devious, Fudge could be surprisingly naive.
"Minister Fudge," said Amelia, "All the properties attacked last night were Death Eater holdings, we're fairly sure of it. This is likely the Army of the Triumvirate again. We already suspected that the Army had an inside line into Death Eater finances, this would seem to confirm it."
"The question is, do we do anything about this?" asked Percy, "I mean, the Army is doing us a service, but can we allow this sort of property destruction to go on?"
"If we didn't have those ledgers they gave us, I'd say we had to hunt them down for this," said Amelia, "But if they did provide them, then they know as well as we do that these are not innocent people they are destroying the property of. As long as no one is hurt, I am willing to only do cursory investigations."
"The Malfoys don't want us doing an investigation," said Percy.
"Makes sense," said Amelia, "They were probably doing illegal things there."
Fudge nodded. "Good. Whoever this Triumvirate is, they are helping us."
Percy nodded. "My guess is that this is not a coincidence, them going after the Death Eaters the very week we planned to."
Amelia nodded. "They have planned this very well. If all goes well the Death Eaters will be in full collapse by Christmas."
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November 20th, 1996
Narcissa was in full on panic mode after the second night of attacks. The next day, she went to speak with the Dark Lord. He was being attended by Rookwood.
"This is a full and coordinated attack on all of our holdings," she said, "We need to fortify what areas we can immediately, because we have no idea how much of our economic base they have knowledge of. So far most of the things that have been hit are fairly well known, but the warehouse my husband set up was, while not a secret, relatively obscure."
The Dark Lord nodded. "We need to narrow down the likely places that will be attacked," he said.
"I will work on that," said Narcissa, "but at this point it will only be a guess. More attacks will give us more information."
"We need to get Madame Zabini in on this as well," said Rookwood.
"I'm under attack as well," said Clarise, who stormed into the room, "Sorry about the delay in notifying you, but I initially thought it was just the ordinary attacks between the Irish and my people. But it got worse last night. I lost ten loyal people in the last two days, and two major money making enterprises have been shut down completely."
Before Narcissa could say anything, an owl flew into the room. It had a letter from Gringotts with it. And suddenly Narcissa's stomach lurched, as she knew what was in that letter.
Narcissa grabbed the letter and opened it immediately. She read the letter twice to make sure she was reading it right.
"Narcissa, we are in the middle of an emergency," sneered Rookwood, "You can read your mail later."
"Sorry my Lord, but this is in fact related to what we were discussing," insisted Narcissa, "My main account at Gringotts has been frozen. This is not just a series of attacks. This is the beginning of a series of attacks on the part of all of our enemies. The Triumvirate, the Irish, the Ministry, they're all doing everything they can to shut us down! We need to get every single Death Eater and person who has contributed to us into hiding immediately. Arrests will be coming soon. Very soon. Once that is done we need to secure every site that is making us money, because we're about to lose everything we've saved up."
Another owl flew into the room. It had another letter from Gringotts. Narcissa grabbed the letter and read it.
"That was the main account we've been using for Death Eater funds!" said Narcissa almost breathlessly, "We're broke!"
The Dark Lord's face was murderous. "You heard the woman! We're under attack. Do as she says before our entire movement falls apart!"
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Amelia Bones looked at the list of arrests. Some small fries like Runcorn had been caught, and the Selwyns had gone down, but unfortunately she didn't have enough to go on to get Malfoy or Nott. Nott had been a big disappointment, he'd managed to hide his involvement just well enough that his accounts had managed to remain untouched. The Malfoy accounts had gone down, but there hadn't been any activity from them since Lucius's death, and all the payments to the Death Eater fund had been personally authorized by him. So Narcissa would be fined, but a large chunk of her fortune would be returned.
All in all, things were going well, but not as well as Amelia had initially hoped they would. Too many Death Eaters had gone to ground. Clarise Zabini was nowhere to be found, and the Parkinsons had likewise disappeared. Amelia wasn't sure what to do about the Crabbe and Goyle accounts, both of those accounts were technically in the hands of two students. Crabbe was out of the country at Durmstrang, and Goyle was at Hogwarts and not of age. But they had been definitely paying into the Death Eater fund.
Fudge was trying to push Theodore Nott off the Wizengamot, but that would be a tough sell, even now. Still, the Death Eater faction on the Wizengamot was at historic lows. The Malfoy seat was already gone, the Wizengamot deciding to terminate the seat rather than allow it to go to a son of a Death Eater.
For a third night, the attacks had come. The attacks this night had been especially devastating, as many of the Death Eaters were going into hiding. It would be worse tomorrow when their hired security realized they wouldn't be paid anymore.
The entire situation was completely crazy, Amelia had to admit. She needed to get in contact with the Triumvirate, to try and coordinate with them. She suspected Cedric knew how to contact them, but she also suspected he wouldn't just introduce her because she asked. Though maybe it would be that simple.
She could hope.
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November 24th, 1996
Harry called off the attacks after the sixth night.
The fourth night had been devastating for the Death Eaters. With all of them in hiding, and with none of the security that normally protected the various herds of magical creatures, Harry's mercenaries were able to steal huge numbers of the animals. They had buyers in foreign markets already lined up, and the creatures were moved out of Harry's control almost as soon as they entered it. It was a good plan. Night 5 was even more lucrative, as the mercenaries managed to capture several major stockpiles of magical components.
By night 6, the Death Eaters had devised a rudimentary defense plan for their holdings. It wasn't much, but it meant that many of the places the mercenaries attacked were defended. The mercenaries retreated when they encountered resistance, as they had been whole thing was well executed.
But with resistance becoming more common, Harry decided to quit while he was ahead. They'd delivered a crippling blow to the Death Eaters, one they wouldn't soon recover from. Now he had to prepare for the inevitable reprisal. Riddle had taken a huge number of knocks in the last few months, and hadn't launched a major reply, aside from his aborted attempt to kill Amelia Bones. Harry braced himself, not knowing what was coming, but knowing it was likely to be bad.
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November 27th,1996
In a strange way, things had been quieter the last few days at Malfoy Manor. The other Death Eaters had gone into hiding, including the Dark Lord himself. Narcissa herself had been spared that purely by luck; Lucius had paid his contribution for a whole year in advance. She'd managed to hide all of the ledgers and books that had all the financial information when the Ministry had come calling. Narcissa wondered why she even bothered keeping them. They were basically useless now. Almost everything in them was gone.
But as she finally had the chance to inventory losses vs. what they had in the books, she noticed something bad. Something very bad. Every single loss was in the books and ledgers. All of them. It was almost as if someone had used her ledgers as a guide to dismantling Death Eater finances. And very soon she understood that indeed, that had been what had happened. Someone had access to her books!
She wasn't looking forward to telling the Dark Lord that, though it wasn't entirely her fault. She just had to hope that he was in a good mood when she told him.
She made her way to the Dining Room, and saw that there were a larger than normal number of people there. Parkinson was there, along with Clarise, Rookwood and Snape. The Carrows had shown up, though Narcissa didn't know why they had bothered. They didn't have any money to give to the Death Eaters, and they weren't in anyone's target sights right now. Nott arrived last of all. He was fortunate, he still had his accounts.
"Let us begin," said the Dark Lord.
Rookwood stood up. "The attacks seem to have stopped, so it looks like they ran out of targets that they knew about," he said, his face grim, "But the damage is done. Our finances are in complete disarray."
"I am beginning to suspect that the attacks on our homes on Halloween were some sort of rehearsal for this attack," argued Nott.
"They weren't," said Narcissa absently. Everyone looked at her.
"You have some insight?' asked the Dark Lord.
Narcissa nodded, "As the only person on our side to see everything that we had in terms of resources, I can see the patterns of what they hit and what they didn't hit. And they hit everything we had. We've lost something like 85% of our total resources, and that is not counting the fine they will hit my accounts within the next few days. They could take as much as half of my money and that would increase it to near 90%. 90% of what we had on the books. That is not a coincidence."
"What are you saying?" asked Rookwood.
"What I'm saying is that they had access to my books and ledgers," said Narcissa, "Which puts those Halloween attacks in a whole other light. Because pretty much the entire force we assigned to security here was called out that night to deal with other things. We were open, yet no one set off the alarm on my office door. I lock it with a spell that only my family knows. So they knew the spell. And they were able to copy the books and ledgers quickly, because I kept a close eye on the door to my study that night, knowing we were vulnerable."
"Go on…" said the Dark Lord dangerously.
"A house elf," said Narcissa, "A house elf could apparate into this house without permission, as house elves are not affected by anti-apparition wards. A house elf could copy the books quickly, as that is part of the magic that allows them to help wizards. And one particular house elf used to be a part of the Malfoy household, and knew our locking spell in order to make Lucius's life easier: Dobby."
"Of course," said Snape, "Dobby worked at Hogwarts for a time, but he no longer does. He was recently hired by Harry Potter."
"The attacks on Halloween were deliberately launched to allow this Dobby to sneak in here and steal our financial records," said Rookwood.
"Narcissa," said the Dark Lord, "I am glad that you discovered this. I am even more glad that you did not try to cover it up. I would have hated to have to have killed you."
"Why didn't Lucius have the elf killed when he fired it?" asked Alecto Carrow.
"Because, Harry Potter and Bryant Greengrass were right there when it happened," said Narcissa, "Lucius was tricked into freeing Dobby."
"The incompetence of the Malfoy family has cost me dearly," said the Dark Lord, "Crucio!"
Narcissa suddenly felt pain the likes of which she had never felt before. It seemed to go on and on. Narcissa fell to the floor, writhing in agony. Finally, it stopped. Narcissa got up on one knee and faced the Dark Lord.
"My apologies, My Lord," said Narcissa.
"Accepted," said the Dark Lord, "your willingness to submit to well earned punishment has earned you my respect, Narcissa. I recognize that the main fault here lay with Lucius, and that you would not have made the mistakes he did. Still, you must do better from here on out. Otherwise, well, we don't want to think about otherwise, do we Narcissa?"
"Of course not My Lord," said a trembling Narcissa.
"Very well," said the Dark Lord, "You may rise."
Narcissa stumbled to her feet taking her place next to Clarise.
"We will need to start rebuilding," said the Dark Lord.
"The Parkinson family still has most of its resources," said Parkinson, "They only caught one small account of ours, and they weren't able to link it to us. We still have some money, all of which is at the disposal of your armies my Lord."
"Very good," said the Dark Lord.
"My forces are still largely untouched," said Clarise, "While there were a number of attacks this week on my people, they were largely in Wales, the place where my resources are the most limited. While I have lost almost all of my people and holdings in Wales, it was an insignificant part of my enterprise. It will take time for me to build up a reserve of cash again, as my accounts were frozen, but I will recover."
"My emergency funds have not been touched either," said Narcissa, forcing herself to speak, "One way or another, I will be able to begin rebuilding."
"As will I," said Nott.
"We need cash," said Snape, "and we need it now."
"What about the Lestrange wealth," said Rookwood, "It wasn't the biggest, but we don't know where it went. Bellatrix didn't have a will."
"Perhaps we can figure that out," said Nott, "I have an idea…"
Narcissa's stomach sank. This was not good.
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The mood in the Army of the Triumvirate was practically euphoric. In a single week, they had dealt the most serious blows they had ever struck to the Death Eaters. Everything seemed to be going well.
Harry wasn't satisfied though. He ordered everyone to keep an eye on anyone associated with the Death Eaters, Malfoy and Nott especially.
Nott set up a meeting of course. Harry was sitting in the library when Nott sat down next to him.
"Well, you did well with what little I gave you," said Nott.
"Thanks," said Harry, "I'm delighted that you approve."
"I'm surprised that Ginny isn't here," said Nott.
"She doesn't want much to do with you right now," said Harry, "and I don't blame her."
"I'm not trying to woo her," said Nott.
"That doesn't matter," said Harry, "What matters is that you've really creeped her out. That isn't easy to do Nott."
Nott hung his head. "I didn't mean to."
Harry rolled his eyes. Didn't he get it? "Listen, you need to treat Ginny as if she's just some girl you don't know, because this whole idea that Ginny is some pure angel that you can never live up to? That's very stalkerish, Theodore. And if Ginny starts to think you're stalking her… well it wouldn't be good."
Harry stood up, and turned back to Nott. "If you still want to help, come to me or Hermione, but leave Ginny alone. In fact, leave her alone all together unless we're at Quidditch practice."
"Are you her brother?" demanded Nott.
"No," said Harry, "I am her best friend though. And I will not have you making her life miserable. Period."
And Harry walked out. He hated using Nott, but he didn't have a lot of choice. He needed a line into the Death Eaters, and Nott was the closest thing he had.
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November 30th, 1996
"My parents already like you," said Tonks, adjusting the tie on Remus Lupin's rather battered suit.
"That was before they knew we were sleeping together," said Remus.
"If we do this right, they won't know we are sleeping together," said Tonks, "unless a certain someone spills the beans."
Remus and Tonks were getting ready to visit her parents. They planned on telling them that the two of them were officially a couple. Personally, Tonks thought that her parents already knew, but that wasn't really the source of Remus's tension. He was afraid to be public, afraid of what it would mean for her reputation. Tonks herself didn't care in the slightest.
They had apparated to a nearby field. They could have apparated closer to the house or even into it, but Tonks had this image of Remus being welcomed into their home by the front door, coming out of the cold into a warm home, so she had insisted.
As they reached the boundaries of the Tonks home, they saw a crowd of people approaching. A large group, almost ten people. Remus didn't pay them any mind, but Tonks's auror training suddenly kicked in.
"Hey, wotcha doing out here?" she asked.
"It's the Tonks girl!" said one of the men. Suddenly Tonks realized that all the men were wearing robes. Which meant...
"GET DOWN!" she screamed as she pulled Remus to the ground behind her parent's fence. Just in time to avoid a whole volley of deadly curses.
Tonks had her wand out and sent out a spell, she didn't even really remember what it was. But it hit someone. Remus also had his wand out and was casting spells.
For a moment, the combined skill of Tonks and Remus was holding them back. None of their enemies were particularly skilled. They were just petty thugs. But eventually a spell got through. Remus fell back, clutching his arm, or what was left of it. Tonks sent a reply but she barely was missed by another cutting curse.
"MUM! DAD! RUN AND GET HELP!" she screamed, knowing they would be able to hear her.
Suddenly, one of the attackers sent a blasting curse at her, and another cast one moments after. She shielded the first, but the second got through.
And after that, neither Tonks or Remus felt anything.
Author's Note:
First, I am so sorry about Remus and Tonks! Originally I had planned to kill Andromeda, but it just didn't have the impact that was needed. In the end, this made more sense to drive Harry where he needs to go, though he isn't at the breaking point yet. What makes it kind of ironic is that I legitimately hate Remus and Tonks' deaths in canon. Still, these are the sorts of decision you have to make if you are going to write fanfiction.
Second, some people misinterpreted the end of the last chapter. They seemed to think it was about Harry not killing Voldemort or taking on a Martyr complex or something. But that isn't what it is about at all. Harry isn't commenting on how he is going to continue to fight the war so much as he is commenting on how he wants to live his life in general, and he is very much keeping what they did to the Death Eaters at the Ministry in mind. As far as Voldemort goes... well let's just say Harry doesn't intend to take any chances with Voldemort and leave it at that.
Next Time: Harry tries to save Andromeda, Ginny makes a big mistake, and the gang helps Luna crash a party.