AN: Ayyy... time to reply

RedShirt: Thanks for the reviews, both for the compliments and constructive criticism. Getting her OWLs was more so the opening to the story rather than the main plot when I first conceptualised the story. My thing with Harry and Anya stemmed from when her identity was revealed and she gave him the chance to interact. Since then and over the summer, Harry grew on her, which led to her choices, I plan to have it be noticed by others along with future impact. Looking back, having her enter Triwizard - among many things - is indeed a clown car decision on my part, but I'll take ownership and embrace it, learning from mistakes.

Also, straight up laughed at your chapter 33 review.

Chapter 40 - Who Dares Wins Part 1

The skies were dark, masking the movement of wizards in the tundra. Vergilius shivered slightly at the cold, recasting his warming charms. He grabbed the omnioculars in his hand and looked across the body of water in front of him. While the other major actors of the Pervoro were handling matters in mainland Russia, he and a few other wizards were up north in the Yuzhny Island. There laid the Russian equivalent of Azkaban, which now held a number of wizards and witches who were in the Russian Ministry just days ago. Thankfully, it was guarded by only wizards, Dementors were unique to Britain and Vergilius reckoned he was the only one around capable of casting a Patronus Charm.

When wizarding riots broke out in several major cities and wizarding communities, the Pervoro chose that moment to surface, denouncing The Seven which had run Wizarding Russia for ages and proclaiming a new wizarding era. A huge crack severed the wizarding community in two as opinions became polarised, equal numbers of wizards and witches flocked under each opposing banner.

A great deal were unsatisfied with the current wizarding aristocracy but felt that a radical change was more scary, choosing to stick with the familiar. Just as many were inspired by the new change that the Pervoro proclaimed. The rapid reformation and expansion of magical innovation and standards, a change in system that would remove stagnation. Such ideals attracted the young and ambitious, the Squibs who received no rights and the people too frustrated with the current system. Numerous ministry workers found themselves imprisoned in The Seven's bid to hold onto power, hence Vergilius' presence. Besides, he wanted to try out several of his new designs.

"Four hundred metres," said Vergilius. "Two men in the sentry tower."

The men beside him took aim with their Mosin-Nagant rifles - standard issue in the Muggle Russian army - a simple scope attached to them. The runes he had carved on them silenced the rifles, pushed the bullets to higher velocities and brought the weapon to a greater accuracy. It was the first field testing, if the results were satisfactory, Vergilius would push for select trusted Hit Wizards under them to be armed with these new weapons.

"Fire," Vergilius ordered.

Soft thumps filled the air as Vergilius watched the guards fall. He had three guns pointed at each guard, the wizards working with him were a mixed bag of Squibs and Hit Wizards. Some know how to handle their wand but all were unfamiliar with operating firearms, the one week crash course Vergilius gave them was nowhere enough for Vergilius' standards, he would not guarantee a hundred percent success with each shot. In fact, the Muggle soldiers he had met in the trenches of France seemed to be miles better.

The thought gave him an idea.

XXXXX

There were several highways entering Scotland, all of which would be highly contested. Anya knew the National Ward Grid made matters easier, there were only so many Spooks operating in Britain, less ground to cover was better. The act of crossing borders took mere minutes as Anya had done so herself, the opponent could possibly do the same despite being weighed down by twenty SAS members.

Due to this, the initial instruction for Anya, Jen and Dimitri was to layer their allocated section of the Scottish border with as many AMT wards as possible. This forced any intruders to move without Apparition or Portkey for a kilometre before crossing into Scotland, denying their opponent a quick breakthrough via mass portkeys or Side-Along-Apparition. Then again, Anya highly doubted the effectiveness when doing either with twenty Muggles weighing the intruders down.

A breakthrough was nonetheless expected from such a situation, but the wards would buy enough time to make any breakthrough trackable. Nathaniel gave the instruction for them to equip themselves for quick interception instead of defence for a reason. Surprisingly, no authorities from Wizarding Britain came to accost them. Anya supposed if Nathaniel and Grey could get the British National Ward Grid to enter a lockdown to improve their situation, getting the DMLE to turn a blind eye was a small feat.

At the moment, Anya was perched on a Nimbus 2000, two hundred feet in the air with concealment spells masking her presence. From her vantage point, the fields lay open before her with a lone highway cutting through the open, leading into Scotland. The chatter in her headset was incessant, it had been years since such a large scale operation took place. Information was constantly broadcast in the wide-range radio, all in codes for confidentiality. Some of the codes were above her level of clearance, holding little to no meaning for her and clearly reserved for the likes of Nathaniel and Aleks. Other codes held false information to mask the authentic ones, in the event hostile Spooks got into their broadcast channel.

Memorising hundreds of codes which change for every different mission was nigh impossible. This was another reason every Spook had a small circle of runes carved into the back of their skull. Aside from enhancing Occlumency and protecting one's mind from outside tempering - a feature which helped Anya when the false Moody wiped her memory last year - it also allowed for temporary storage of information.

"Asphodel. Belladonna. Poppy. Riposte. Checkered flag."

"Belladonna, that's our sector," Dimitri commented over their own radio channel.

"Yes Dim, I think we know that quite well," said Jen. "Anya, anything?"

Anya gazed into the distance, increasing the sensitivity of her right eye. Slowly, she caught sight of a small thread of magic dancing in the air. She made the move to bring up her omnioculars but before she did, more threads flickered into existence.

"Multiple magic signatures," Anya reported. "Three clicks, give or take."

She stopped bothering with the omnioculars as the threads grew more and more, whipping around the air distractingly. The magic she saw gave no information, it did not indicate whether it was concealment spells or some ward. Instead, it was a glowing distraction to mask any spells the enemy would actually use. It overloaded any magical sensory equipment with a flood of readings and it certainly irritated her eye from seeing anything useful. Essentially, it was a screen the enemy used to hide their movement.

One would take that as a clue that the enemy was about to make their move. However, in the time Anya had been a Spook, she knew the myriad of ways Spooks used such screening. Placing multiple screens across different areas - which the enemy was doing if the radio reports were any indication - would create doubts as to where a real move would be made. The screens themselves could be a way to draw attention whilst the enemy made their real move somewhere else. It could also be a way to test their response, thus gathering information about their tactics and strategies. A simple set of runes or spells repeatedly cast in a haphazard manner, yet its effectiveness and utility was anything but simple.

"Enemy screen," Anya muttered. "Just as the radio reported. Can't see anything pass that."

Neither Jen nor Dimitri replied, it was just a tense silence as each of them waited for the enemy to make their move. More information crackled in Anya's headset, reporting a small exchange of siege spells and sniper fire taking place in the Kielder Forest, miles away from their sector.

A slight contrast of grey against the bright afternoon sky caught Anya's attention. Her right eye barely registered the blur before it burst into thick cords of purple, blanketing the entire area.

"Wide area magic just cast over our location."

No sooner had Anya finished her words, her broom shuddered violently before failing. She gasped slightly at the sudden plunge before looking around for the source. She spotted the magic originating from a pulsating ball of purple lines, coiled around the source. It was a runestone, falling from the sky.

Anya averted her attention away from the runestone and focused on stopping her free fall. Ignoring the rushing air that whipped up her hair, Anya drew out her wand.

"Arresto Momentum."

The spell slowed Anya down to a soft tumble onto the ground. Stowing her omnioculars and crouching low, Anya watched as clouds of dark blue smoke peppered the air above them in rumbling thumps. The smoke spread fast, cascading down towards the ground in seconds. Anya could see that the smoke was tempered with magic but she could not see any spells deploying the smoke. If she had to guess, the enemy had their own mortars positioned somewhere as means of deploying both the runestone and smoke.

"Gas masks!" Anya heard Jen's sharp order over the headset but she was already halfway done with attaching her gas mask. "Performing flammability test on smoke."

To her left, far across the road, Anya saw a jet of scorching white flame enter the smoke. Though nothing happened, it was still a necessary precaution, it was safer for the smoke to burst into flames while it was still above them rather than on them. The dark blue smoke might have been a form of smokescreen or a fuel for a fiery explosion, no one was taking any chances. It was not the first time Anya had seen chemical and incendiary weapons incorporated into smokescreens. Within moments, the smoke rushed past Anya and into the surrounding area, smothering the place. Broomsticks disabled and a smokescreen covering the area, the enemy had made their move.

Grabbing the Dragunov rifle slung over her shoulder, Anya strained her right eye. She could hear Jen reporting their situation on the radio, she filtered out the voice as white noise and focused. Ignoring the stinging irritation of seeing past the magic-filled smoke, Anya aimed at the road. With magical transportations out of the picture, the road was the most likely path the enemy would take. The thick smoke obscured normal sight from anything beyond several feet but Anya could still see through parts of the magic-ridden smoke, the slight blue threads of protection magic - which Anya could assume was attached to a vehicle - growing in proximity proved her guess right.

"Multiple magic signatures, moving down the road, just exited their screen," said Anya. "Engaging."

"Roger," Jen replied. "Dim-"

"Got it, let's go."

Flicking off the safety switch of her rifle, Anya took a calm deep and aligned the crosshairs to the threads of blue, familiar white lines dancing around her periphery. The lines drew taut and she pulled the trigger, the magic imbued into her bullet allowed her to see the path of her shot despite the smoke, presenting itself as a line of red travelling through the smoke. The red met with a web of blue and Anya cursed under her breath as the red ricocheted, the web of blue wobbling against the impact but nonetheless holding firm. It took very powerful spells or vast amounts of preparation to block her bullets.

"Jen, Dimitri, target has wards stronger than my bullets," Anya said into the radio. "Adapt accordingly."

"I'd say we've already adapted," Dimitri replied with a hint of confidence. "Change your ammunition to white phosphorus."

"And if the SAS are in the vehicles?" Anya asked, Dimitri's instructions sounded like a recipe for collateral damage.

"Nathaniel said securing them alive was a best case scenario," said Dimitri bluntly. "Let's be real, the first people to exit a vehicle are not often the hostages. So I'd wager any possible SAS wouldn't suffer."

"Are you sure about that?" Jen asked dryly.

"Honestly, we only need one alive," said Dimitri, Anya could easily imagine the shrug he was doing as he spoke. "Odds of all of them dying aren't exactly high."

Anya repositioned herself, facing where Dimitri and Jen would be based on the strands of magic which were popping up all over the road. Removing the magazine on her rifle, she ejected the remaining round in the chamber of the rifle, inserting the standard round back into the magazine. She stowed it in the pouches of her ballistic vest before loading another magazine with white and red markings. The runic markings around the bullets in the magazine were different from the standard rounds.

"Ammunition changed to white phosphorus," said Anya, lifting her rifle and taking aim. "Order of engagement?"

"Fire on my command," said Dimitri. "Target the lead element. Jen and I will be casting high powered Disillusionment Charms on ourselves for you to identify us, we'll be near the enemy for vision purposes so don't commit friendly fire. Truly, fuck all this smoke."

"You're planning on being near white phosphorus?" Anya muttered in resigned disbelief, taking note of the two coils of translucent cords which sprouted out.

"We'll be near to more than just white phosphorus, don't worry," Dimitri replied, the sound of Jen's strangled laughter in the background.

Anya kept her crosshairs lined on the lead magical signature, watching as they sped down the thick smoke, garbled webs of sky blue moving at high speed. She peeled her eyes off for a slight moment to gauge her target's distance from Dimitri and Jen's trap, only several hundred metres left. The lead magical signature entered a stretch where strings of brown and yellow sprouted from the ground, waving gently like dried grass. Once the last magical signature of the enemy entered the stretch, the strings began fluttering wildly and Dimitri gave the cue.

"One round. Fire."

XXXXX

Jen watched as Dimitri took one last drag of his cigarette before stubbing it against his boot. Smoking had been a long time habit of the brown-haired Russian, always claiming that it dealt with the stress. Jen had doubts about the effectiveness of smoking, but he was in no position to judge. Nonetheless, he could wholeheartedly agree on the stress part. Their whole lives were stressful, insanity would have long taken hold had they not found their own avenues of escape.

Muttering a healing spell and vanishing his blood, Jen turned his eyes on the road just in front of them. Smoke blocked most of their vision, but the faint glow from oncoming headlights was still visible, just barely. He nudged an invisible Dimitri who was beside him and raised his wand, muttering an incantation. Dimitri received the cue and pressed on the button of his radio.

"One round. Fire."

The tip of his wand glowed orange as Jen activated the mass of charms he and Dimitri had cast over the stretch of road which lay before them. Their plan followed a simple principle: if you could not magick a moving object to stop due to its immunity to spells, you magick everything around it. A second grey van rushed past them, the leading van having done so just before Dimitri gave Anya the instruction.

Suddenly, a bright flash engulfed the side of the lead van and glowing white fragments flew everywhere, white smoke trailing behind the fragments. The fragments burst into flames as white smoke mixed into the already present dark blue smoke. White phosphorus was nasty business, it was toxic, it easily burnt through flesh and bone and it aggressively spluttered and stuck everywhere. Naturally, Spooks magically enhanced its lethality and included it in their vast arsenal, the bullet Anya had just fired being a prime example. The bullet was filled with white phosphorus, bearing runes different from the usual bullets. A small exploding rune and an overcharged rune which replicated an Engorgement Charm increased the effects of a negligible amount of white phosphorus from threatening to destructive.

The wards on the lead van took the blow of the white phosphorus, leaving the van unscathed. However, having the white phosphorus actually hit the van was never Jen and Dimitri's plan. A loud whirring noise which began to emanate from the tires of all the vans, on the other hand, was part of their plan. The charms they had cast finally took effect, the tires of the van sunk into the road - now runny and vicious from the charms. In addition to using charms to alter the road's solidity and viscosity, they altered its flammability, its already flammable - albeit weakly so - components such as tar making it a relatively easy feat.

The burning white phosphorus which contacted the road led to the second principle of their plan, a shield cannot stop what was already within. Flames ripped through the entire stretch of road, the wards on the van doing very little to stop the road under them from igniting. Very soon, the vans were turned into ovens.

"Hit. Good effect, enemies should be coming out of their vehicles," Dimitri spoke into the radio. "If they're not going to, Jen and I will force them. Shoot any that exits."

"Too good of an effect," Jen remarked, waving his wand as he attempted to crack the wards surrounding the vans, swiftly deciphering the nature of the enemy wards.

Twisting his wrists and muttering out incantations, Jen slowly got a feel of the wards. Cheap, sturdy but held together loosely, likely the result of shoddy and hasty runes. Good enough to stop magically enhanced bullets but not a ward breaker. He seized the wards with his spell and a downward stroke of his wand unraveled the wards.

Anya clearly saw his handiwork through the smoke as the moment the driver's door of the second van opened, white phosphorus erupted within the van. A cry of agony rose into the air as Jen watched a burning mass tumble out the door, writhing on the burning road. Spook gear could resist a standard Incendio spell, but white phosphorus reached a higher temperature than the spell, five thousand Fahrenheit was nothing to scoff at.

The front passenger door opened and another figure rolled out onto the ground, his legs on fire and the silhouette of an assault rifle still in his arms as he crawled pathetically. Jen holstered his wand and raised his Kalashnikov, taking aim and emptying two rounds into the crawling body's head. Turning to the disillusioned Dimitri, Jen gave his partner a swift tap on the back.

"Take point, we'll start from the front vehicle," said Jen. "Crow will cover us."

The two of them made their way to the lead vehicle, the sound of gun fire coming from the rear vans as the enemy tried to suppress Anya. The distraction that Anya's presence provided was welcome as Jen and Dimitri moved, Jen highly doubted the enemy would find her. A crack rang out and a bright flash of igniting white phosphorus flared up towards the rear of the column of vans, another unfortunate soul that Anya had snuffed out.

As Dimitri walked with a pistol and wand raised, a Shield Charm preemptively cast, Jen stacked behind the Russian youth with his Kalashnikov on high alert and his eyes on a swivel, occasionally checking the sensory equipment strapped around his wrists. It was a tactic similar to Muggle military and law enforcement employing ballistic shields, Jen sometimes wondered who came up with it first.

Extinguishing a path on the burning road and keeping an eye out for any errant white phosphorus, they approached the first vehicle. A spell from Dimitri opened the doors, the occupants were in a daze and seemed shocked by their presence, their rifles laying beside them. Jen reacted instantly and placed two bullets into each of the occupants. Peeking into the back of the van, they found the van empty. No blindfolded British. No suspicious items.

"This convoy's starting to look like a false alarm," Jen muttered, taking note of another flash of igniting white phosphorus down the road.

"Pizdets. Figures," Dimitri grumbled. "Made their entrance convincing with good CIRCE screens and smoke. Check the bodies you shot, they can waste smoke and mirrors but they wouldn't waste Spooks on a decoy."

Jen doubled back, levitating out one of the bodies. He took a quick glance before cursing under his breath.

"Decoys?" Dimitri asked, keeping a lookout. "They didn't seem too professional."

"They aren't even in Spook equipment, their rifles are plain Muggle, no enhancements," said Jen. "I doubt they're even wizards, could have been Imperiused Muggles for all we know."

"Credit to them," said Dimitri. "An Imperius Curse could make anyone with a gun threatening. Check the other vans too, just in case."

They moved on, the occupants of the second van already dead and burning, the van was devoid of any captured SAS. The third and last van turned up the same, it was clear this was a decoy. As the gunfire and spells disappeared, so did the tension in the air. All that was left was the cackling of fire as Jen and Dimitri lowered their weapons.

"Belladonna. Autumn breeze," Jen reported into the wide-range radio.

"Such a shit show," Dimitri groaned, cracking his neck.

"That's what you say half the time," Jen replied but silently agreed.

Just hours ago they were taking a relatively peaceful hike in the Welsh mountains. Now, there were all in gas masks and surrounded in smoke, watching white phosphorus burn humans alive.

"Kind of like old times, eh?" Dimitri shrugged, casting a Bubble-Head Charm and removing his gas mask.

"What do you mean by old times? I doubt two or three years is enough to make something an old time," Jen snorted, watching as Dimitri placed a cigarette between his lips.

Dimitri gave a humourless chuckle as he snapped his fingers, lighting the cigarette.

"Fuck those times," Jen sighed.

"I'll second that statement," Dimitri nodded solemnly. "Wish Kiel and Tanya were here too."

"Now you know it's fucked up if smoke and fire causes us to think of them," Jen remarked blandly.

"True," Dimitri grunted.

The two of them took a look at their surroundings, listening as more information filtered in from the wide-range radio. Similar attempts were being made around the border, some already reported encountering decoys just like they did, some had yet to report.

"I'd say we get set on clearing this mess up, wouldn't want any Muggles to see this," said Jen, slinging his rifle over his shoulder and drawing his wand. "Odds are we might need to relocate if the enemy gets through the border."

XXXXX

From Battlemages to Hit Wizards: A History of Wizarding Warfare. Vergilius closed the book, placing it atop a text of books bearing similar titles. Leaning back on his chair, he grabbed a cup of tea and took an idle sip, the gears in his mind spinning.

Wizarding conflicts were a rare occurrence. Occasionally, there would be a lone dark wizard sprouting up now and then but mass warfare involving wizards was not common. There were not enough wizards and witches around the world to afford it nor were there enough reasons to do so. This led to stagnation, as Vergilius had observed in his travels, the art of wizarding war was too outdated.

Conventionally, wizarding wars and battles were slow and static in nature. Duels could end in seconds, a result typical with disparate skills between each side. However, with equal skills on each side, a longer duel was to be expected. Place two grandmaster duelists on opposing ends and duels could last beyond an hour. With most spells fizzling out beyond two hundred metres and effective aim limited to an average of fifty metres, that left the area of an engagement to just that: fifty metres.

On a strategic level, the nature of slow and static was magnified. Due to Portkeys and Apparition, there was no concept of gaining ground and drawing front lines. Wizarding wars were centered around strongholds, strategic locations heavily defended by wards. Vergilius could list off a few British examples from the top of his head: Hogwarts, Azkaban, the Ministry of Magic Headquarters and Tintagel Castle. They provided a safe place for Hit Wizards and Aurors to rest and recover. They could act as hubs for logistics since most supplies could be magically transported from strongholds to strongholds without fear of interception. Most importantly, they usually held the crucial rune stones integral to a National Ward Grid - or Provincial Ward Grid if one was looking further back in history before nation states became a concept.

National Ward Grids were the first layer of magical defence, it was also the strongest and most far-reaching defence. It denied opponents magical entry into the country and blocked spells cast from opponent borders, a defending wizarding country could theoretically hold off an invasion at just the border. Furthermore, the sensory abilities provided and the capability to direct magical energy from ley lines to strengthen friendly spells gave huge advantages to those controlling the National Ward Grid. Additionally, securing a stronghold provided the disadvantaged attackers relief from the Ward Grid, and if said stronghold contained a rune stone, allowed the possibility of securing the boons of the Ward Grid for themselves.

With wizarding wars centered around strongholds, it became predictable as to how the war was fought. A book Vergilius had read titled Waging Wizarding War summarised it succinctly, the author split the war into two main actions, minor and major.

Minor actions were skirmishes throughout a contested region, it was how most wizarding wars started, with each side testing the abilities of the other side. These skirmishes would last the war, each side trying to eliminate as many opposing wizards and their supplies in quick ambushes while minimising their own losses.

Major actions were the instances when the attacking force assaulted or laid siege to a stronghold, pooling together large portions of war resources to make the move. These were the decisions which made or broke a side's capacity to win the war, Vergilius had read on an instance when one major action decided the outcome of the war. In 1768, the Chinese wizarding marshall Sima Qin insisted on wearing his opponent's forces down for four years before launching a swift assault, capturing a key stronghold and the dark wizard Hei Xin within a day.

Naturally, with the circumstances of strongholds and a National Ward Grid, the attackers were typically in a disadvantage. Magical assaults and sieges were too slow and costly, prone to counterattack from defenders. Siege spells being the only effective way to break a stronghold aside from having insiders, required competent wizards and numerous magical equipment and reagents, normally the best in the attacking force. Coupled with the long casting and channeling times of siege spells, this left an attacking force with weaker wizards while the stronger wizards focused on siege spells, thus giving the window for the defenders to counterattack.

If Vergilius sought to rewrite the wizarding art of war, he knew he had to do away with the slow nature of seizing strongholds and slow build ups required to enact a major action. In fact, the idea of relying on strongholds had to be left behind. The cogs in Vergilius' mind turned industriously as he grabbed a quill, dipping it into an inkpot. Grabbing a roll of parchment, he began writing. Stopping briefly to assess the title, he nodded in satisfaction before continuing.

Treatise on Twentieth Century Magical Warfare: Revolutionising the Wizarding Art of War

XXXXX

"Shit, this doesn't look good," Auror Nymphadora Tonks muttered, looking at an enchanted map of Britain. "I bet Scrimgeour is kicking up a fuss."

Although the National Ward Grid was maintained by the Department of Mysteries, several other departments in the Ministry had varying access and control over it for work-related purposes. The DMLE was one of the other departments, mainly used by the Improper Use of Magic Office to detect underage magic emitted by rambunctious youths. The Auror Office had not had major use of it since the height of Voldemort's power. The enlarged map of Britain which took up an entire wall of the Auror Operations Centre she was staring at was enchanted to display any Auror-worthy incidents detected by the National Ward Grid.

"Not much Scrimgeour could do," Auror Captain Kingsley Shacklebolt grunted. "Madam Bones specifically ordered the DMLE to stay out of it."

"Stay out of it?" Tonk squawked in disbelief, gesturing at the map. "Are you seeing this, Kingsley? What the hell!?"

Listening to the more seasoned Aurors, Tonks had been curious as to how the map looked during the height of Voldemort's power. Now that her curiosity was somewhat satisfied, she was happier off never seeing the map in such a state. From how the map looked, several Senior Aurors were talking about how Harry Potter's claims might have been true since the map - in the eyes of the Senior Aurors - looked like it was back in the 70s. Flashing lights lit up all around the border of Scotland, the lights themselves throwing mixed messages. One moment, it was signalling presence of dark magic and in another moment, it showed nothing for several seconds before warnings of unusually high magical concentration showed up.

"Didn't Bones give the order for the National Ward Grid lockdown?" Tonks asked. "I was tracking breaches from the Northern Irish Ward Grid earlier today. Now she suddenly tells everyone to stop? She definitely knows something."

"Did you manage to find who it was?" Kingsley took his eyes off the map.

"Wouldn't be here if I did," Tonks sighed. "Whoever it was knew how to evade detection, the trail turned cold at Oxford, I just submitted my report to Thicknesse and he let me go. Apparently he's compiling all incidents of the breaches today, there were many incidents too, cause he's working his arse off in his office. Somebody messed up the Floo and owls, civilian complaints over the lockdown got sent to him as well. Glad I left before another Howler burst up."

"This is worrying, I would have suspected Death Eater movement," said Kingsley. "But Madam Bones said this will be handled by the Russians, so it's more likely to be a Black Mark threat. Death Eaters like Malfoy wouldn't really need to illegally cross a National Ward Grid. However, this is still too suspicious."

The names reached Tonks' ear and she immediately recalled a memory from Grimmauld Place the previous week. The new information Snape provided had sent a ripple of shock among the Order. It was not unexpected, not surprising but everyone hoped that Voldemort would not make such a move.

"Fuck, Kingsley," Tonks snapped her head to face her senior. "Black Mark. The previous Order meeting, Snape said You-Know-Who had made connections with the Black Mark."

"Good point," Kingsley rubbed his chin. "We'll have to look into this. Our hands are tied though, we can't just disobey a direct order and investigate the Scottish border. Last thing we need is to be caught by the Russian Aurors and for them to lodge a complaint."

The door of the Auror Operations Centre opened and an Auror poked his head inside, looking around the room before finally seeing Tonks.

"Tonks, report to Prep Room Five," he called out. "Lieutenant Hill's calling for us."

"What happened?" Tonks asked.

"Two Obliviators apparated to the Scottish border preemptively, haven't reported back since," the Auror replied. "Scrimgeour's authorising a search and rescue, our section is up."

"Well, it looks like my hands aren't tied," Tonks grinned. "See you later, Kingsley."

AN: Looking into the wizarding wars in canon, the two in Britain but not the one with Grindelwald since I never watched those, the way the wars were fought is too unlike the conventional Muggles warfare we know. So that second Vergilius part was my way of rationalising it. Comparing with canon, the Death Eater raids would be the minor actions, sapping away Ministry strength by picking off Aurors and overextending Oblivator resources when Muggle were killed. Seizing the Ministry and the Battle of Hogwarts would be the major actions, huge decisive turning points in the war.