"So where exactly have you been since you disappeared?" Harry asked as he and Moody set about making number twelve habitable agin.

"All over the place. I fell off the broom and took the only way out. Splinched myself something awful when I dissapparated at terminal velocity. Turns out you can travel farther that way. Most of me ended up in Cairo. Lost my other leg for a while before I tracked it down in Barcelona. Had a bit of explaining to do when I was asking around for severed body parts in a language I clearly had no business speaking. My wand ended up somewhere else entirely, so it was short jumps only on the way home. My eye fell out too, but I hear you found that one for me."

"I did. Umbridge had it."

"Well I hope you washed her filth off of it afterwards. Where is it now?"

"Uh... buried it, actually." Harry replied after a moment. "It was all we had left of you."

"Figures," Moody muttered grumpily. "After piecing myself together again, I made my way back on foot. I had no wand so making a portkey was out and muggles pissed themselves when they saw me. Entirely unhelpful."

"You were gone for a year!"

Moody glared at him with his one good eye. "Listen lad, there was half a chance everyone died that night, and I'm more easily recognized by dark wizards abroad than even you. I had to keep a low profile, and a one legged man isn't moving quick anyway. If I could have been here to help, there's no way I wouldn't have been. Understand?"

Harry believed him. With what he knew of the grizzled auror, he never backed down from a fight, even if it cost him dearly. The evidence was written on his face.

"I understand. Cairo though? Why was that on your mind?"

"We had a lead on Voldemort's resurrection, courtesy of Bill Weasley. Soul vessels from the library of Anubis, according to the locals. He came across the lore while on assignment for Gringotts."

"Horcruxes."

Moody's one good eye fixed on Harry with nearly the same effect as his magical one had.

"Ay, lad. Taken care of it this time I suppose?"

"They're gone. He's not coming back this time."

"They?"

Harry nodded grimly. Each shard of Voldemort's twisted soul had cost good people their lives. He had witnessed second hand the carnage at the bank when the madman realized his secret was no longer safe. Bile rose in his throat as he remembered the hatred and fear he had felt through his connection. No goblin present was spared, and it was partially his fault. The plan had accounted for stealth and subterfuge, not an enraged dragon. Hardly something that could be covered up.

"Seven. The Diary from the Chamber of Secrets my second year was the first. Dumbledore discovered what it was and started tracking them down with me before he died. While you were making your way home, Hermione, Ron and I finished off four more. cleverly protected, but not actually as hard to find as they should have been for the immortal soul shards of a megalomaniac."

"And the last two?"

"Neville got one at Hogwarts. The snake, Nagini, with Gryffindor's Sword. Snakes must have nightmares of that thing."

Mad-eye waited.

"Voldemort destroyed the other himself." Harry broke the silence before allowing it to reclaim the space.

This time, Moody didn't press him.

"Alright, lad. Here's the plan."

For several hours, the Ministry of Magic was pandemonium as the nation was put back on a war footing. Aurors who had gratefully retired after the death of Voldemort were summoned in by the Minister himself and begged to resume patrols while the remaining active duty officers took charge of the Potter Abduction. Or at least that was the plan they came up with after hours of endless "How could this have happened?"

Teams were being assigned just as a siren wailed and a silver owl appeared before the Minister. "Bodies in the atrium. All are marked."

"What the fuck is going on?!" Shacklebolt shouted to no one in particular as he stormed out of the Auror Headquarters with the entire force scurrying to catch up. All things said it was an impressive — if undignified — show of strength.

"So... those Death Eaters weren't unconscious were they?"

"Depends how you define unconscious."

Harry elected to ignore that. "So where did you send them?"

"I had them dropped off at the Ministry. Nice little note on the big one to let them know you were alive."

"I'm going to take a wild guess here and assume it wasn't written on parchment."

The grunt he received as a reply left much up to interpretation.

"Minister, you need to see this." One of the veteran aurors, Ed Golden, called. He was clutching a sheet of parchment in his hand. It read simply "To the Minister of Magic."

To his credit, Kingsley took the note without hesitation. He knew Ed from their many years in the department and trusted that he would have already scanned the note for curses and poisons. Not that whoever did this was likely to attempt such a thing anyway. Generally speaking, the people most likely to kill a half dozen Death Eaters and send their bodies as trophies were not the type to assassinate the man responsible for the most Death Eater takedowns since the legendary Alastor Moody.

The moment the parchment met his skin, the text changed. "These men failed. The next group might not. Harry Potter is safe. You have my vow." Naturally, there was no signature.