13-Payback
(28/11/97)
"Do you think she means it?" Harry asked.
Hermione sighed. "This sounds sincere, and the facts that we know either agree with her letter or don't disagree with it. We could also ask Andy, you know, but we shall need her to take an unbreakable vow first."
"As an emergency, I could always wear a dark toupee, wear ugly glasses and draw my scar with makeup," he chuckled.
Hermione didn't find it amusing. "Well, that's certainly a possibility. Harry Potter living at Potter Manor is hardly a surprise. Peter Gordon living here is."
"So, what would you suggest?" he asked.
Hermione sighed. "You already decided to help her, and if it goes as expected, this may also help us a lot, so – what do you expect me to say?"
This didn't really need any answer. Harry thought a bit more. "I'll tell her to be ready for Kreacher in the morning. I'll send Dobby to make sure there's no ambush there. Kreacher can change the wards at Grimmauld Place to allow her in, if necessary." He lifted his head and smiled. "Just your presence near me helps me think more clearly."
She smiled back. "Alright. Now, write that note and give the instructions so we can go get showered and go to bed." Harry already knew what would happen in bed or in the shower.
\/\/\/
The next morning, Dobby arrived in their bedroom even before they were ready. "Miss Cissy is at Grimmauld Place and is very happy to stay there. She requested a personal meeting with Lord Black as soon as it is convenient."
"Couldn't you wait with this until we're decent?" Hermione complained, not quite seriously. She just didn't like to be interrupted while enjoying Harry.
"That may take more than half a day, based on experience," Dobby answered cheekily. Harry felt glad that the little house-elf felt free enough to talk that way.
Dobby then turned serious. "There's something else you need to know. Nagini is awake. We expect her to leave the house during the next few hours. If Master needs to give some new orders, this should be the right time."
"I'm sure you're enjoying interrupting us…" Hermione pouted.
"Oh, no, Mistress. Dobby enjoys watching when there's nothing urgent to deliver."
Hermione wasn't sure if she liked this answer better. Was a voyeuristic house-elf any better than a cock-blocking one? She wasn't sure.
They still managed to shower and get dressed with no unnecessary delays. By the time they reached the breakfast table, their leading house-elves were already there, ready to report.
"We've seen some new prisoners brought to Malfoy Manor during the night. They were not yet brought into the dungeons. We're ready to rescue them as soon as they're left alone.
"Nagini is waking and seems ready to go out hunting.
"Some say that the Dark Lord will come back tomorrow.
"The giants got enough of the ants. They're leaving back to their homes."
The last news was met with some cheering. Nobody wanted to have to fight the giants. The odds weren't very favourable.
"Do we need to wait for the prisoners to be put in the dungeons? Couldn't we just… I'm not sure… stun and disarm those around them?" It was clear to Harry what the prisoners were facing even if nobody said it.
"Elves should never disarm their masters," Twinkle said, as if reciting a law-book.
"Those are not your masters, we are. If we allow you to disarm them or stun them, you should do it, I think." Hermione also said it like reciting a book.
Twinkle mulled it in his mind for a little longer. "Yes, I think you're right, Mistress."
Harry took the control of the meeting back. "So, how many are there in that room that we need to disable?"
"About ten, but they keep changing," Dobby said.
Harry thought of it. "So, we first need to lock and hide the doors. Then we need at least ten house-elves, all invisible, to stun the Death Eaters and disarm them. I don't mind if you cause them damage. If they're torturing others, they don't deserve to live and breaking their arms and legs would be just unfortunate consequences. I won't even mind if they break their necks while falling."
The house-elves considered the instructions to be very clear. The dark forces would suffer some losses soon. Twinkle set the tasks and went to collect the team.
"Looks like we can't resume our fun now," Hermione pouted. "Well, we'll look for some different fun. We need to get ready to shoot Nagini today. We'd better be ready with camouflage clothing and everything else ready."
They went to their room and changed, then checked their bags to make sure everything was ready: rifles, scope, sandbags, mattress, and of course – ammunition. They then went to exercise their magic some more.
Half an hour later, Dobby called them to meet their new guests. There were three women and one man – all quite young. Harry gasped when he recognized one of the young women – that was Luna Lovegood. Her school robes were in tatters, exposing her blouse and skirt, and those were also badly ripped. Judging by the blood on her thighs, he was sure that she had been raped. The other two young women seemed to wear muggle clothing and didn't seem much older. He had no reason to believe that they hadn't suffered similarly. All three were in a state of shock and Andy was working on them, along with Balmy and Winky.
The young man was unmistakeably a wizard. He didn't seem physically hurt, but his tremors were a good indication of his exposure to Cruciatus. The empty vial in his hand indicated that he was already being treated, only the potion had not had time to work yet.
"What happened?" he asked the young man.
"The Carrows took me out of the common room after curfew and had me wait in a locked room while they brought her," he pointed at Luna, "and then two weres and two wizards came and took us with a portkey. They already had these other two with them."
"Did you see what happened before you were brought here?" Harry asked.
"All the Death Eaters and the weres suddenly fell and then some house-elves appeared and said they were taking us to safety. That's all."
It was clear that the boy was barely able to talk and was also reluctant to tell of the time between being taken and being rescued. Harry patted his shoulder lightly and left him alone.
Andy lifted her eyes to him. "We need some more rooms to make a hospital wing. I can't run from room to room all over the place."
Harry nodded. He found it difficult to talk when seeing these girls in their present condition. He just left the room, followed by Hermione.
"Dobby, can you give me a detailed report of the rescue?" he asked after closing the door behind him.
Dobby was proud to tell. "Twinkle had the door closed and made unnoticeable before we did anything else. Then we each went to a different Death Eater and at a sign from Twinkle, we stunned them all. We then took all their wands, portkeys and any other useful item before accidentally breaking their necks. Miss Bella was there and had a silver knife. We used it to remind the weres that they weren't invincible. Just before leaving, Dobby freed the great crystal chandelier and it dropped over them, with some silver decorations finding their ways to the werewolves. Dobby then made the candles flare and set the whole room on fire. Dobby thinks nobody will be able to come in until the door burns, By then, nobody in that room will be alive."
"Please make sure to write down all the names of the ones you could identify. Ask the other house-elves for names they may have also identified," Harry instructed.
"You've all done very well. It's a pity we didn't manage to do it earlier." Harry then turned to Hermione. "I think we need to practice our night shooting at Hogwarts. Don't you agree, dear?"
"Yes, two Carrow targets, and possibly some more. You still have your map, don't you?"
"Of course. Time to put it to good use."
Once they activated the map, it looked like the Carrows were moving almost constantly. Harry had a feeling that whenever they stopped near a student, it turned very painful for the students. Some were then taken to the infirmary. That only made it clearer to him that the mission should not be delayed.
They continued watching the map throughout the day. Soon after dinner time at Hogwarts, most of the students were in their common rooms or the dorms. A few upper-class Slytherins moved around in groups of three, but eventually returned to their common room, finding nothing to do.
They then saw the Carrows heading out.
Dobby took them immediately. The Hogwarts wards were no obstacle for him and he positioned the teens inside the school grounds, quite close to the gate.
When running, one can cover the distance from the gate to the doors in two or three minutes. For people who are walking leisurely, it takes more than ten minutes from the main doors to the gate. The Carrows were in no hurry. They just intended to spend the evening at a pub. They felt like they owned the school and all around it. They didn't expect any trouble.
The teens had time enough to get properly set. The night was clear but moonless. Lying on the ground, they were practically invisible to anyone farther than a pace or two. From their positions on the ground, the teens saw the two Death Eaters as two silhouettes against the brighter sky. They had enough time to let the targets come into the best shooting range. They then pressed the triggers together. The targets fell, each sporting a nice hole in the forehead.
Before the noise of the shooting could be heard at the castle, had they not used some charms to muffle the rifles, the snipers had their equipment packed and shrunk. Dobby vanished the bullets and removed the left sleeves of the bodies and then popped away with his masters. The whole operation took about five minutes total.
The adrenaline rush due to the successful mission prevented the couple from going to bed immediately. It was just as well, though. They barely had time for a cup of tea after returning when another house-elf popped in: "Nagini left the house!"
Twinkle also heard it. Before his masters had time to react, he had an idea. "I prepared two small vials of potions that explode when they come in contact with each other. I also saved the carcass of a ferret that was uncovered by the wards. If we stuff the ferret with the two, thin-walled vials and entice Nagini to eat it…."
That was a really good idea. Somebody would still need to bring the ferret close enough to the snake, which was dangerous, but much less dangerous than trying to stab it, as Dobby had initially suggested.
"Who will give this snack to the snake?" Harry asked.
"I had several volunteers, and Dobby won. He intends to levitate it close to the ground, like the ferret was still alive. He can do it while staying far enough not to be in danger."
Harry remembered the enchanted bludgers of his second year. Dobby was certainly capable of the task. "Alright. Proceed."
Dobby was glad to take the bomb-ferret and pop away.
For Harry, this was a very hard time. He considered Dobby a member of the family and didn't want any harm to find him, yet Dobby was on a dangerous mission. Waiting was killing him.
Hermione tried to distract him by talking about something else. "After tonight, we can act more offensively. We should seek the Dark Lord and kill him. While it's important to remove his supporters, they're less dangerous without a leader."
"Not necessarily. You know that Neville's parents were attacked a few days after Halloween, when their leader was already gone," Harry retorted.
"True, but they didn't really know. This time, we need to make it known, so they won't have any motivation to fight on."
"Well, it's too late to think of that. I feel like this day was at least double length."
"Then we need double the bedtime activity for it," she teased him.
It took more than half an hour for an ecstatic Dobby to return. He was so enticed that he danced all around the room and jumped several times. It took almost as long as the mission for Dobby to calm down enough to be able to speak. "Dobby saw snakey search, but there was nothing to find. Snakey has already chased everything away. So she went farther, and Dobby levitated ferret in short bursts in her direction. Snakey saw ferret and attacked, biting deep into its body, quickly breaking both vials. She only had time enough to bring the ferret fully in her mouth and then it exploded! It was like fireworks, only nicer. Dobby then found the skull in many small pieces and no darkness at all!"
Harry thought it was time to celebrate the destruction of the last Horcrux with a cup of hot cocoa drink. Luckily, the house-elves liked that drink too and had no unwelcome side effects from it.
The couple continued the celebration in bed a short while later. They really had a reason to celebrate: their mortal enemy was now mortal, just like anybody else, and Hogwarts was temporarily, at least, safer for the students.