AN: Alright the glitches are getting frustrating, in other news we're getting pretty close to the end now.
AN2: This chapter starts the buildup to the end.
Disclaimer: See Chapter One.
Camp Mad-Eye, Scotland, 4/20/1998, 17:30
Harry was sitting by himself in mess tent two eating his dinner, he had no reason to return to Grimmauld place now that Susan was in France, the last few days he had been training with the order and he was able to get a proper workout in the mornings again.
The surviving members of the D.A were quite surprised to see him working out with them the past few mornings but went about their business as usual, he hadn't known what to say to them.
Harry had been getting reports from Moody that Susan and Fleur would be going before the French parliament on the twenty-fourth to make their case for aid, Harry was really starting to miss her and it had only been a few days since he left her at Delacour chateau.
The chatter from Hogwarts was coming in nightly from their spies eavesdropping around the school, the D.M.L.E had been just as confused about what happened to the team that Harry and Bill fought outside the port of Dover as the muggles, which suited Harry just fine.
The whole camp was on edge the closer they got to May, Moody was running the order through drills eight hours a day now, Harry had been assigned to help with the team that would attack the men camped on the lawns of Hogwarts, so he was training with them and learning how they would operate when they attacked in about two weeks time.
Moody had been thrilled when Harry and Bill returned and reported Avery's death, which had freed up three more people to assist the outside force.
Harry quietly ate his dinner after a day of training pretty hard, something he hadn't done since last November and his muscles were letting him know that his, arms, legs, and chest were aching just sitting here.
Harry's introspection was interrupted by someone plopping into a chair across from him, he looked up to be met with the nervous gaze of Neville Longbottom.
"Can we talk Harry?" Neville asked uncertainly.
"Yeah, what's up Neville?" Harry asked.
"I wanted to clear the air between us, I fucked up running off like that, Look I'm sorry I was acting so crazy after the attack on the clubhouse, I know she betrayed us, but I loved her and I couldn't let you kill her." Neville said seriously.
Harry had months to think about this and he honestly couldn't say if he were in Neville's place he would have acted any differently. Love makes people do some fucked up things, he had gotten over his anger towards Neville a long time ago, they were friends and Harry didn't have enough of them to hold a grudge about this.
"I get it mate, if that had been Susan I probably would have acted the same way. I can't say I liked Hannah, but she didn't deserve to die like she did, I'm sorry for your loss." Harry said genuinely.
"Bellatrix tortured her really badly before she killed her, the bitch made Hannah beg for death, I heard it all from my cell. I would have given anything to take her place" Neville confided tears running down his face.
"You killed Bellatrix though, she can never hurt anyone ever again." Harry said softly.
"Didn't help much, it didn't make the hurt go away, Hannah's still dead." Neville said sadly.
"I know, killing Nott didn't change anything for me either." Harry admitted quietly remembering the night Nott had murdered Tracy Davis.
"I heard a rumor that you took out a whole team of death eaters in your animagus form, a house cat or something." Neville said with a wet chuckle bringing Harry back to the present.
"My form is a leopard you twat." Harry said, getting the point that Neville wanted a change of subject, not that he could really blame him for that.
"A leopard is still a cat you pussy." Neville said with a smirk.
"Prat, what's Moody had you doing? I haven't seen you in training with the rest of us." Harry asked.
"I am part of the inside team, we train separately." Neville answered finally picking up his fork and taking a bite of the chicken pie in front of him.
"Keep your head on a swivel in the school, that part of the mission is the one I worry about the most." Harry warned.
"Yeah, Moody said about the same thing, he also said the inner circle death eaters are the most dangerous of the lot and to not underestimate them." Neville said after he swallowed his food.
"Yeah, I pity whichever team has to take out Alecto Carrow, he controls the school wards, and his office is a fucking fortress, so they will have to wait out in the open hallway." Harry said.
"True, but we should have the element of surprise, he won't see it coming." Neville reasoned out.
"He's one sadistic bastard though, Moody briefed us on all the inner circle death eaters and their M.O's the other night and he's one sick puppy. Just take him down hard and make sure he stays down." Harry advised
before taking a swig of his juice.
"Oh, we plan on it. I take it you're on the outside team then?" Neville said.
"Sort of, I am part of 'Team Feed the Spiders'. I will be portkeying the bodies the offensive team leaves behind to 'Spider Team'." Harry said with a grin.
"Wouldn't it be better to stun them then? I'm sure the spiders would appreciate that, you know fresh meat and all that? " Neville asked with a grin.
"They should still be warm when the spiders get to them, I don't want to take the risk that they are wearing armor or wake up too early." Harry said seriously.
"Gotcha, so have you heard from Susan since you got back?" Neville asked curiously.
"No, Moody has ordered a communication blackout, for the time being. He believes there is another mole in the French ministry, he has a closed line of communication with the head of the French D.M.L.E. and keeps us informed, but any other communication isn't advisable" Harry explained.
The thought of another spy so close to his wife scared the hell out of him, Susan could very easily be in danger by someone hidden in the Delacour's guard detail, the French parliament, or even the receptionist at the front desk and there was no way Harry could protect her from here.
She was already a target for the fact she was Amelia Bones' niece, if they knew she was Harry Potter's wife, she would be in a lot more danger than she already was. In the end, he just had to trust she could handle herself and try and win this war so she could come back to him.
"She'll be fine mate." Neville said cutting into Harry's thoughts.
"I know, she's one of the best fighters in the D.A or what's left of it anyway." Harry said sadly, it always hurt thinking about the D.A and how many of them were no longer here.
"I know, I used to train with her, she has a nasty bludgeoner hex." Neville answered with a grin.
"Yeah so did I before Andy took over my training. She does pack quite a punch with that one." Harry agreed.
"Alright mate, I'm beat." Harry said getting up from the table.
"It's because you've been lazing around your London townhouse for the last four months." Neville said with a grin.
Harry's first response was to ask whose fault that was but in the interest of burying the hatchet, he settled for. "Don't I know it mate, goodnight."
Harry then headed back to his personal tent to get some sleep before he had to do it all over again tomorrow.
/A/D/W/F/
Hogwarts Founders Suite, Scotland, 4/22/1998, 23:11
Voldemort sat in his quarters thinking about the past few weeks, he felt that negotiations with Ragnok were finally starting to bear fruit. They were still haggling over the details but he felt confident he would have the bank open by mid-May if they continued as they were going.
The students would be sent home the day after tomorrow and he had plans to strengthen the wards while they were out of the school, there were still weaknesses in the ward scheme he would like to fix.
That's where the good news ended, unfortunately, his spy in the French ministry had informed him that it was very likely that the French ministry would be sending a hundred and twenty Aurors to assist the order by the first of the month. This was very unwelcome news as the French Aurors were trained far more rigorously than their British counterparts, and were far more formidable than most of his forces.
One of his spies had already been captured over a week ago, luckily neither of his people knew the identity of the other, so Rosier's interrogation under veritaserum didn't compromise Mr. DuPont's ability to keep informed on the happenings inside the French ministry.
He would have to set up an ambush wherever the French Aurors would arrive at, otherwise, this would set his plans back dramatically.
He was still smarting over the loss of Alexander Avery's team, Yaxley had received an urgent floo call from his spy in the French ministry informing him that Potter had just boarded the ferry leaving Calais.
Avery had taken some of the more promising members of the camp and young Mr. Warrington to cut his teeth in battle for the first time. They left at about half-past four to set up the ambush, they should have easily overpowered Potter and whoever was with him with those numbers.
Sadly, they were never heard from again. A little after five o'clock the ministry picked up a large amount of magic on a street near the Dover ferry terminals, Yaxley had them hold off investigating until Avery reported in.
After enough time had elapsed Yaxley and a team of Aurors went to the location about two hours after the disturbance registered on the ministries detection equipment, what they found was muggle emergency services everywhere.
Yaxley had talked to the man from Scotland Yard and learned that Avery's team wasn't just killed, they were ripped apart by some type of animal. Yaxley relayed that the men looked like they had been mauled by a werewolf.
There was no doubt it was Potter in his animagus form, but the dark lord was baffled as to how a leopard could take down eleven men armed with wands in broad daylight.
With all these constant problems Voldemort was wondering if they would ever be able to make any inroads into France, the French purebloods were all for their government being overthrown but had no interest in doing it themselves.
If he could just get Britain running smoothly he had no doubt he could rally support in France, and incite a coup of the French ministry.
But first, he needed to get his own house in order and to do that the order had to be eliminated.
/A/D/W/F/
French Ministry of Magic, Paris, France, 4/24/1998, 16:14
Susan was really nervous as she and Fleur followed Sabastian Delacour through the French ministry towards the hall of Parliament. They were surrounded by the five French Aurors on the Delacour's guard detail, she was keeping a close eye on them after what happened when they first arrived in France.
Susan was a ball of nerves today hundreds of lives depended on her ability to convince the French Parliament to send them aid so they could take back their country from Voldemort and his death eaters.
Monsieur Delacour had made them stay with him in his office on the third floor since a little after one o'clock, he was head of the magical foreign relations office, so he was definitely the right person to bring this issue before the Parliament.
They had just arrived in the hall of Parliament, Susan took the time to look around while walking into this massive chamber, on one side there was a large gallery where the public could watch the proceedings, and on the other side was a raised seating around a hundred people all wearing blue robes, the seats were arranged in five rows all looking down onto the gallery and the lectern which in the center of the room, the whole place seemed to be made from Italian marble and the seating in the gallery was no different there was a ampitheater style seating made of the same marble the rest of the room was comprised of.
Sabastian led them to the front row of the gallery and they all sat and waited for their case to be called forward.
They sat there for at least half an hour before a man in the center of the front row of raised seating area banged a gavel and spoke. "We now call Sabastian Delacour who wishes to bring an issue before this body, monsieur Delacour the floor is yours."
Sabastian stood up from his seat and calmly walked to the lectern, he took a second to straighten his tie and then spoke.
"Men and women of this esteemed body, I come before you with grievous news, the nation of Magical Britain has been taken over by a faction of criminals led by a madman.
They have completely taken over the British ministry and are terrorizing their own citizens, many have gone into hiding to escape persecution from their own government. The same government that rounded up hundreds of muggle-borns and threw them in prison for nothing more than the way they were born.
I know of at least one young girl who was handed over to the British ministry by the I.C.W on the fifteenth of December only for her severed head to be sent to Harry Potter on Christmas day to send him a message.
If I believed these monsters would stay within the borders of the U.K I would not have come before you today. I fear this madman who calls himself Lord Voldemort will set his sights on our country within the year, the only thing keeping him at bay for the moment is Harry Potter and the resistance, I ask that we give him aid, I ask that we deal with this problem while it's still contained on the other side of the channel, but most importantly I ask that you bring the might of our country down on this usurper before he crosses the channel and spreads his influence through our ministry and this country falls just as Magical Britain did.
We have already discovered one spy within our government, there are undoubtedly more hidden amongst us, I beg you please do not ignore my warning, send our brothers in Magical Britain our aid, send them French fighters to wipe out this scourge before it grows and consumes all of magical Europe just as Grindelwald once did."
Sebastian finished his speech and received loud applause from the people in the gallery, and grim and worried looks from the members of Parliament.
"Why are you so sure this Voldemort wants to take over our country?" A man in the middle of the third row asked worriedly.
"He would not have started planting his men in our ministry if he did not, the British ministry fell the same way, not from direct attack, but from traitors within their ministry." Sabastian answered.
"How do you know what's going on in Magical Britain they have banned international press since mid-November." An ancient-looking wizard on the front row asked.
"Because my daughter was in Britain until a little over a week ago, she has been fighting this war since the day those monsters crashed her wedding and murdered her brother in law, my family was at the wedding when the attack began, the resistance evacuated us but Fleur refused to leave her husband, she chose to stay and fight." Sabastian said, there was no mistaking the pride in his voice at this statement.
"How many Aurors are you asking for?" A gruff voice asked from the front row.
"Six score, I am assured that will be more than enough men to turn the tide of the war." Sabastian answered.
"That's not an unreasonable number, how large are the enemy forces?" The same man asked.
"They number around five hundred, though I am told they are mostly foreign mercenaries brought in from the Balkans.
There are about a hundred Aurors in the British ministry but they usually do not interfere with conflicts between Voldemort and the resistance." Sabastian said as he read from a notecard he pulled from his breast pocket.
"So the resistance plans to take the ministry back by force?" A blond member in the back row asked.
"Unfortunately, I am not allowed to disclose any details of the resistance's operations." Sabastian answered.
"So you can tell us nothing yet you wish to send French Aurors possibly to their death." The same man asked in a hostile tone.
"Senator DuPont, the details of their operations are kept secret, otherwise the mission would be compromised if there is another mole within our government and it got back to this self-proclaimed Lord Voldemort." Sabastian answered calmly.
"Very well, thank you Monsieur Delacour, do you have others that will bear witness to the conditions you have spoken of in Britain?" The man in the center of the front row asked.
"Oui, my daughter Fleur Delacour and her friend Susan Amelia Bones." Sabastian answered.
Susan was grateful for the translation charm Fleur had cast on her before they left monsieur Delacour's office otherwise she would have been lost during Sabastian's speech, and the questioning after which was all in French.
This whole situation was unreal, after Sabastian was dismissed, the Senators left the hall to deliberate amongst themselves in their private chamber.
When the senators returned half an hour later, and the session resumed, Fleur was called forth to answer questions before the assembly.
Susan could see how difficult it was for her when they asked her to recount the November attack where she and Fleur were both mortally wounded in the battle.
Fleur told them how she had lost her baby due to being cursed in the fight, and how Harry Potter had saved them with help from his house-elf.
She then went on to tell them of all the horrors that happened that night how the death eaters sent in Fenrir Greyback and his pack of werewolves, and when they had fought off the wolves, how they were then swarmed by hundreds of death eaters.
She recounted what she knew about the ones who had to fight their way out of there and how many of her friends had died in the attack, by the end of her questioning Fleur was in tears.
The assembly rather insensitively in Susan's opinion were overjoyed to hear of Fenrir Greyback's death at the hands of Harry Potter and told Fleur they had no more questions for her.
When Fleur returned to her seat Susan pulled her into a hug and Fleur sobbed into her shoulder, while Susan held her.
Susan's questioning went in a similar fashion except she had a lot more to tell starting with the summer of 96' when her aunt was murdered and she recounted everything since then: the murder of her parents, the murder of Tracy Davis at Hogwarts, the attack at the Weasley's wedding, the attack at the Malfoy property in France, the attack at Hunslet Mill and the incident this Christmas when the death eaters sent Harry a wrapped Christmas present with her best friends head inside it, by the time she was finished being questioned she too was in tears and cried into Fleur's shoulder as her friend comforted her.
The assembly took another break to deliberate and Susan took the time to compose herself, the assembly reconvened within ten minutes and the speaker of the house, (the man in the middle of the front row) rose from his chair and cleared his throat before speaking in a carrying voice that carried easily around the chamber.
"After careful deliberation, the assembly has decided to grant the resistance aid in their time of need, monsieur Delacour you well meet with Director Lavigne and sort out the details."
The gallery burst into applause and Sabastian nodded to the speaker giving his affirmation.
Soon the three of them exited the chamber and were met by their Auror guard and were escorted through the ministry and towards the fireplaces so they could floo back to Delacour chateau.
Susan smiled widely while waiting in line to go through the floo.
Today had been a very long day but they had accomplished what they had set out to do, now they were one step closer to winning the war and she was one step closer to going home and seeing her husband again.
A/D/W/F/
Camp Mad-Eye, Scotland, 4/28/1998, 17:02
Finally, training was done for the day, Moody had pushed them through the gauntlet and Harry hurt everywhere.
They had woken up at five this morning and went through their normal P.T like normal, Moody then had them running continuous battle simulation drills through the entire day with no breaks of any kind.
Moody had simply until they were done with P.T before speaking to the entire group.
'We will be going into a very real battle in the next few days, so today you're going to learn to fight hungry, today you're going to learn to fight tired, and today you're going to learn to fight thirsty.
You will be running large-scale combat drills and real-life battle simulations with the inside teams, you will be fighting one another for the rest of the day, tomorrow you get the day off but today your asses are mine!
There will be no breaks, no meals, and absolutely no bitching!"
And that one-eyed bastard wasn't kidding, he pushed them harder than ever, one side would be the death eaters, and whenever a resistance team member fell he was handed death eater robes and made to keep fighting against the resistance side, making the fight even more difficult.
Harry was eating his steak and kidney pie like a 'starving vagrant' as Andromeda would say, he had already drunk half the pitcher of juice and eaten two plates of food. Harry finished his third plate of food when a familiar (and after today) unwelcome voice cut into his meal.
"Potter quit imitating a Weasley and get your ass to the main house." Moody demanded before stomping off.
'I am really starting to hate that man.' Harry thought as he pushed himself to his feet and began hobbling towards the main house. Nevile met him about halfway there walking in a similar manner as Harry was.
"What do you reckon he wants now?" Neville asked.
"I don't know but if it's anything physical I'll either keel over or spew my guts out." Harry answered tiredly.
"Same here mate, I just want to get to bed and sleep until noon." Neville responded.
"I second that idea, I could sleep for a week." Harry agreed as they arrived at the house and pushed the door open.
"I swear it's the same people every time I come in here." Harry said in an exasperated tone as he plopped in a chair followed by Neville.
There were four people already seated: Kingsley Shacklebolt, Bill Weasley, Sturgis Podmore, and Alastor Moody.
"I'm starting to think you don't like my company, Potter." Bill said dramatically.
"Alright enough of the nattering, your wives succeeded in getting the French to send us the Aurors, now we have to cover their landing." Moody said getting straight to business.
"Where and when?" Harry asked bluntly.
"They're coming in four groups to four different locations. Potter your team will cover the men arriving in Calais by ferry, Weasley your team will be in Devon they will arrive by portkey, Longbottom your team will be at Kings-Cross and surprise they're arriving by train, and Podmore will take a team and cover the fourth group which will be arriving by portkey in Cornwall. As for the date, we're cutting it awfully fine but they will be arriving around midday on the thirtieth." Moody finished.
"How many men on each team?" Neville asked as Moody slid the coordinates of the portkey landings to Bill and Sturgis.
"Ten-man teams the rest of our personnel are being moved to the chamber tomorrow, you will be portkeying the Aurors to the cave entrance of the chamber and covering them if any enemy forces are lying in wait." Moody answered.
"Is there a high probability of that?" Bill asked.
"For you and Podmore, no. Either Potter or Longbottom's teams will very likely encounter hostile forces.
There is almost certainly a spy still embedded in the French ministry, the head of the French D.M.L.E confided a different location to each of his chief suspects, he told Senator DuPont the entire team would arrive by Ferry and he told Mr. Monet they would all be arriving by train, they want to use this as a way to flush out their mole." Moody explained saying the last part with a grimace.
"Alright I fine with that, anything else?" Harry asked.
"No, just be ready, you four and your teams will not be going to the chamber tomorrow, you will stay here until the thirtieth and head there afterwards." Moody explained before dismissing them.
'Well, it looks like I have one more task.' Harry thought as he made his way to his tent for a well-deserved rest.
/A/D/W/F/
Hogwarts Founders suite, Scotland,4/29/1998
This was welcome news, he now had a target and a date of arrival, now he just had to set up a proper ambush for the French Aurors.
They had less than twenty-four hours to prepare the area but this was the best shot they had of taking out the enemy's reinforcements.
Unfortunately, he had another commitment that afternoon with Ragnok so he would have to delegate the attack to one of his servants, there was a good chance the teams would take heavy losses so he would have to put someone in charge that he could afford to lose as it was almost guaranteed to be a blood bath on both sides.
After a few minutes of contemplation, he made a choice, the team would be instructed to aim for the men in blue robes, the mission wasn't very complicated, he would travel there personally and set up the necessary wards. Then he would have Crabbe and Goyle lead the team, all they had to do was lie in wait for the ferry to arrive. If all went to plan the order and the French Aurors would be caught completely by surprise.
A/D/W/F/
Ten miles from the Port of Dover, England, 4/30/1998, 16:45
The team was set up around the port, they had arrived three hours before the French were due to arrive. Harry had picked up multiple wards in place over the street and the docks, this made it pretty obvious that there would be a welcoming committee by the time the French got here.
Harry had pressed his wand to the coin Moody had given him yesterday signaling that this was the location that was compromised.
Harry had snuck on an outgoing ferry under his invisibility cloak and made the trip to Calais, he had then boarded the ferry he saw all the blue-robed Aurors getting on and leaned against the railing until he could no longer see the French coastline, taking a breath he removed his cloak and announced his presence with a wave of hos wand, he had just cast a privacy charm but it had the desired effect as thirty wands were now pointed in his direction, nodding in approval Harry stowed his wand back in his holster and spoke loudly so he could be heard over the wind.
"Good afternoon, I am Harry James Potter and I am in charge of the team that will be covering your entry into Britain and seeing that you are safely moved to the primary location this afternoon." Harry began and a hand was raised and Harry nodded for the man to ask his question.
"Where is ze primary location?" The man asked.
"For your safety as well as the safety of the others I cannot disclose that information at this time, Master Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt will brief your team upon arrival.
Now, we have a big problem. The L.Z is compromised and we would be walking into an ambush as soon as we get off of this boat, so the original plan has been scrapped.
I have brought your portkeys with me and as soon as we get about a mile off of the British coast I am going to send you to the primary location." Harry explained.
"So we will avoid the ambush altogether, why not turn it on zem?" A tall dark-haired auror asked.
"Oh I plan on it, but my orders are to get your entire team to the primary location safely, your head of the D.M.L.E used this situation to flush out a traitor in the French government, Senator DuPont should already be in custody at this very minute." Harry answered.
"But what if we want to fight?" The man asked.
"You have a fight waiting for you soon enough this one is mine." Harry said with a grin, he then pulled out three ten foot stretches of rope and ordered. "Everyone grab ahold of the rope, ten men on each rope!"
Harry watched as they all grabbed a rope and Harry walked by each group of ten touching his wand to their rope one by one and saying the activation phrase, "Viva la Resistance."
When all three ropes vanished only two people were left standing in this section of the ferry, Harry and the Auror who wished to fight, he apparently released the portkey before it was activated.
"What's your name Auror?" Harry asked exasperated.
The Auror looked to be in his early twenties with dark hair and blue eyes, Harry was wondering why this man was so eager to go through the meatgrinder the death eaters had set up, there was no doubt this was going to be messy.
"Antoine Bones at your service monsieur." The man said with a bow.
"Fucking lovely, if I get you killed my wife will murder me." Harry said tiredly.
"You are married to my cousin zen, she said her last name was Bones when she spoke in Parliament the other day?" Antoine asked.
"Yes we are married, It was safer for her to not be connected to me in such a public forum." Harry admitted.
"Congratulations, she is my fourth cousin, I knew her aunt Amelia very well she iz the reason I joined the auror corp." Antoine admitted.
"Susan doesn't have much family left anymore, so don't get yourself killed. Now if you're coming with me get rid of that blue robe and when the fighting starts cast to kill, they brought enough men to take down a hundred and twenty French Aurors so don't even think about casting stunners." Harry said taking another portkey out of his pocket and touching his D.A galleon with his wand.
"Oui, I volunteered to be sent, I will not give any quarter." Antoine answered after he took off his blue Auror robes.
He shrunk them and placed them in his pocket, revealing dragonhide armor underneath.
"Grab ahold Auror Bones, we're about to get the party started." Harry instructed.
Nodding Antoine grabbed ahold of the short stretch of rope and Harry activated it with the phrase, "Turnabout is fair play."
Harry felt the portkey pull him through the vortex and onto stage two.
/A/D/W/F/
Two miles Inland From Port Dover, England, 4/29/1998,15:03
Harry arrived a few blocks inland from where Harry suspected the ambush point was at, Harry started leading them towards the direction of the port.
"Put a disillusionment charm on yourself and stay close to me." Harry ordered.
Antoine gave Harry a nod in return and cast the spell over himself, they both continued in the direction of the port, The trip was quiet after about ten minutes of walking Harry felt the wards the death eaters had erected, the were very thorough this time, there were ant-transportation, muggle repelling and even an anti-animagus ward.
Harry pulled his D.A coin out of his pocket and sent another message to Ron who was running the rest of the team near the port, telling Ron that he had crossed into the warded area and to have his team ready to go.
They walked for a few more minutes before Harry saw the shimmering outline of a large group hiding under disillusionment charms, they were standing on either side of the street not far from where the last confrontation took place, They could see the port pretty well from here and Harry could just make out the ferry he had just portkeyed from docking in terminal two.
"Harry pulled on his invisibility cloak and whispered. " Bones take the left side cast three area effect spells and apparate down by the port entrance, I'll be right behind you." Harry ordered.
It was a little-known fact with the exception of Hogwarts, Gringotts, and the ministry that you could apparate while inside anti-apparition wards, you just couldn't apparate past the ward line, most people just assumed you couldn't apparate at all under transportation wards and never tried.
"Okay, when?" Bones asked.
In response Harry cast a gout of hell flame into the group of men on the right side of the street, he heard a powerful explosion curse detonate to his left so he figured Bones had started firing as well.
Harry followed up with an overpowered ribbon cutter curse and finished with an 'expluso maximus'. Harry spun on the spot not even looking at the destruction those three spells had caused, he appeared behind Ron and his team, a half a second later another pop was heard and Antoine appeared beside him, they were both faced with ten wands raised in their direction and Harry dropped his cloak and grinned at Ron.
"Bloody hell mate, was that you making all that racket, and who's he?" Ron demanded.
"Yeah that was me, and this is Auror Bones of the French ministry, are the party favors ready?" Harry asked.
"Yep, George should be setting them off-
'BOOOOM!'
-Now." Ron finished lamely.
"Right then, let's go mop up the survivors, anyone we kill today we won't have to fight tomorrow," Harry said with an air of finality.
"Right you heard the man lets move." Ron ordered his team.
When Harry sent the signal through the order coin he wasn't just letting them know who the traitor in the French ministry was he was also sending for George Weasley to set up magical bombs inside the warded area, they seven devices made to look like common muggle items placed in the most likely ambush point on 'Cambridge road'. Each item was filled with twelve ounces of erumpent extract and detonated be a protean charm.
George was a joke store inventor but when he put his mind to it he was easily able to make some very nasty 'fireworks'. When the team entered this small little road that connected the two main roads they were met with utter devastation, charred bodies lay all over the street there were craters from Harry and Bone"s earlier attacks and much larger craters randomly spread down the street, the fronts of buildings were completely destroyed and Harry was very thankful that muggle repelling wards had been placed over the area as there was a lot of collateral damage.
Harry's observations were interrupted by spell fire coming their way, the man who had been walking in front of Harry was struck by a cutting curse in the chest and collapsed to the ground.
"Pair off and advance, let's kill these bastards!" Ron ordered and paired off with Penelope Clearwater.
Harry paired with Antoine and they slowly moved down the street one shielding, the other casting just like in training.
Harry was the one casting while Antoine shielded incoming spells. The dozen or so death eaters started dropping like flies, they were completely at a loss of how to combat this style of fighting.
The last death eater fell to Penelope's piercing hex smashing through his head and the teams went and verified they were all down.
The team then spread out and walked through the fallen death eaters lying on the street and killed any that had survived the blast, there was no quarter given this day.
Harry came upon a large man that looked very familiar to him, it was Gregory Goyle sr. if he wasn't mistaken. Goyle had a silver arm similar to Wormtail's magical hand, the man was barely alive and looked at him with pure hatred, most of his body was covered in his own blood and he didn't have a wand.
It seemed like a piece of rebar from one of the buildings nearby had been blasted into Goyle's chest. Harry raised his wand and cast a piercing hex right through Gregory Goyle sr.'s forehead and watched on dispassionately as the spell exploded out the back of his skull and colored the pavement under his head a dark red.
"Clear", Harry heard a voice call out followed by ten others.
"Alright let's get out of here." Harry called out to the men.
"Right, everyone grab hold." Ron said, holding out a ten-foot section of rope and waited until everyone placed their hand on it, the man who took the cutting curse had to lean on his friend and hold the rope.
"Victory" Ron shouted and the whole team was portkeyed away to the primary base.
/A/D/W/F/
Hogwarts Founders Suite, Scotland, 4/30/1998, 0:53
Voldemort had heard no word from Yaxley or the team set up to intercept the French Aurors arriving at the Port of Dover, He knew with almost certainty that the mission had failed.
DuPont believed the resistance was preparing to hit the ministry and that made a lot of sense, but Voldemort did not think that would be their target. No, the resistance was definitely planning something big. The only other target that they could reach was Gringotts bank, attacking the bank would be ridiculously foolish, but if Potter was desperate enough he might consider doing it to keep the bank locked down. His musings were interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Enter." Voldemort called.
The door opened to reveal a very nervous Corban Yaxley who quickly entered the room and prostrated himself before his lord and master.
"Ah Corban, tell me what news do you have for me?" Voldemort asked.
"The team in Dover was slaughtered, we found one survivor Victor Crabbe, he was blown through a building and is currently in critical condition in St. Mungos, my lord." Yaxley answered.
"Anything else?" Voldemort asked testily.
"Yes, Senator DuPont was arrested on charges of treason, they will most likely give him a trial and send him through the guillotine as they did with Auror Rosier, my lord." Yaxley said nervously.
"Very well, I want you to call in every auror under your command, the ministry is at a high risk of attack." Voldemort ordered.
"Yes my lord." Yaxley answered.
"I also want to speak with Victor the second he wakes, do you have any clues as to what happened in Dover?" Voldemort asked.
"There were signs of an attack from behind and evidence found at the scene leads us to believe a bomb of some form was detonated near our troops, my lord." Yaxley answered.
"So they knew we would be there?" Voldemort asked the pieces coming together in his head.
"Definitely my lord." Yaxley answered confidently.
"It seems Senator DuPont was given faulty information, our people being there confirmed he was the traitor." Voldemort mused out loud.
"Very well Corban now we just need to discuss why I was stuck in talks with the goblins all day." Voldemort said silkily.
"My lord I'm -
" CRUCIO!" Voldemort roared.
Even with all of these hardships, it was the little things like this that got him through the day Voldemort thought to himself as his servant spasmed under the effects of the cruciatus.