Over the next week or so, attacks were reported daily. Both on muggles and on witches and wizards. Lockhart announced that muggle towns and villages would be randomly patrolled by members of the Magical Law Enforcement Patrol who would look for suspicious activity and report it to the Aurors who would then dispatch a quick-response squad to investigate.
With his lessons and gradually increasing workload, Dudley felt detached from the Wizarding War as it slowly started to heat up. He only saw it via the front pages of the Daily Prophet which was full of headlines such as
"Two Muggles Murdered!"
"Aurors Halt Death Eater Attack!"
"Death Eaters to Target Gringotts? Dolohov Seen Scouting Goblin Bank"
"Lockhart to Ask for Assistance from French Ministry"
"Wizarding Family Tortured: Lestranges Blamed"
It got to the point where Dudley stopped fully reading the articles. He glanced at the headlines, saw it was doom and gloom and then turned to other matters. From what he could tell though, the war as at a bit of a stalemate. Voldemort's supporters carried out an attack—the Aurora responded, rinse and repeat.
Dudley's next few classes with Snape went as well as the first. After covering the formation of the Death Eaters, Professor Snape was now teaching him about the First Wizarding War. One major difference had been Snape's use of dark creatures.
"He recruited an army of dark creatures—giants, werewolves, inferi, dementors, vampires. They all flocked to his side. You see, while the Dark Lord hates half-breeds he sees their uses, and it is no surprise that they flock to him. Werewolves, giants and vampires have been persecuted and mistreated by wizards for years—they think they will be better under the Dark Lord. Dementors join because the Dark Lord will let them feast how they want."
"Why doesn't he use them now?" Dudley asked.
Snape stared at him for a few seconds. "He tried with the werewolves, but the Ministry stopped him." He said, simply. "Greyback will be trying to gather a new pack. As for the giants, he will be trying to recruit them."
"Vampires, sir?" Dudley asked.
Snape shrugged. "Who knows—there are many organized vampire groups. None has declared themselves openly for the Dark Lord."
"And the Dementors?"
"Professor," Snape said, but didn't sound as angry as he usually did.
"Sorry, the Dementors professor?" asked Dudley.
"He tried to utilize the Dementors to attack the Hogwarts Express—now, Professor Dumbledore believes he is holding them off, waiting for the right moment to use them."
Dudley nodded. "How about other magical creatures … erm, like, centaurs and goblins?"
"The Dark Lord is ignoring them for now," said Snape. "It is Professor Dumbledore's belief that he doesn't want to push them into siding with the Ministry."
Outside of class, Angelina was drilling them hard during quidditch practice and, according to Ron, Cho was doing the same. He lamented, bitterly, that he hadn't been seeing her much this year between his quidditch practice and Cho running her own sessions.
"She seems pleased though," he had said to Dudley. "I reckon she's put together a good team, or she'd be miserable."
The first quidditch match of the season would take place the week before the first Hogsmeade Weekends and the whole school was excited to see things kick off. Gryffindor were the favorites again, but the Slytherin captain, Warrington, was heard bragging about the team he had assembled this year. Dudley, Ron and Dean had all heard that Crabbe and Goyle had been selected as beaters. Dudley had his doubts that either boy would be a good flyer, but there was no doubt they were strong. He suspected they could do some serious damage with the bludger.
Two weeks before the first Hogsmeade meeting, during Defence Against the Dark Arts, Tonks made an announcement.
"Wotcher, class," she said, giving her usual greeting. "We're going to get started on defensive magic and countercurses now," she announced. "But first—I want to go over the security situation for the Hogsmeade Weekend." She sounded more serious than Dudley had heard her.
"First of all, there is a team of Aurors stationed at Hogsmeade at all times. Minister Lockhart is reinforcing them with another few teams. You may not see them, but they will be there."
"Is Dumbledore expecting an attack, Tonks?" Seamus said, raising his hand.
"No, but there is no harm in being prepared is there?" she said. "Now, who are the classes prefects?"
Hermione, now looking very important, raised her hand, as did Dean.
Tonks nodded, approvingly. "You will be patrolling the village, too," she said. Dean and Hermione exchanged glances.
"You are NOT to engage any threats. Youa re to supervise the evacuation of all students back to Hogwarts in case of an attack. Headboy Warrington will go over further details at a meeting," she said.
Dean and Hermione nodded.
"Now," she clapped her hands together and grinned, back to her usual fun self. "Let's get started with protego. I figured we'd make a game of it—I'm going to try and break your protego with a selection of minor jinxes. Whoever does the best, gets a slab of Honeydukes chocolate."
Dudley smiled. He was quite good at protego, so he thought he had a strong chance of winning.
"Let's have a quick practice first …"
After spending 15 minutes practicing, it was time for Tonks's challenge. Parvati went up first, her weak protego was easily shattered by a well-aimed jelly-legs jinx.
"I'll lift the charm after class," Tonks said with a wink. "Didn't I mention that little punishment?"
The class laughed. Parvati looked annoyed as she slumped in a chair, her legs useless.
Seamus went next and did a little better. He successfully deflected the jelly-legs spell but Tonks got through it with the twitchy-ears hex.
The class laughed as Seamus trudged to his seat, his hands covering his ears which were twitching like a rabbits.
Dean was next. He blocked the jelly-legs spell, blocked the ear-twitching hex, blocked the hair-loss hex but was finally overcome by Tonks insect hex which caused a pair of black feelers to sprout from his head.
He went back to his chair, using one of his feelers to tickle Ron's cheek as he passed. One, looking grossed out, slapped it away.
"Dursley," Tonks announced.
Dudley stepped forward. He had used protego a lot in the past. This should be easy. "Protego!" he shouted, blocking the jelly-legs curse. He also blocked the next four. "Pretty good," said Tonks, approvingly. "You have quite good reflexes, and your protego spells has a lot of … nasus engorgio!"
The hex caught Dudley by surprise and he dropped his wand as his nose grew to the size of a banana.
"Don't drop your guard," said Tonks, grinning.
Dudley felt annoyed. That had been a dirty trick, attacking him mid sentence. It was the sort of thing Moody would have done to test them. But then, she had apparently been trained by Moody. He wouldn't drop his guard around her again.
MINISTRY OFFICIAL MURDERED!
In shocking scenes, residents of Diagon Alley woke to open their shops yesterday only to find the mutilated corpse of the Head of Detention and Punishment displayed in the center of the popular shopping district. Archibald Amanuensis, the owner of Amanuensis Quills was the one to find the Ministry officials body and immediately notified the Aurors. In a statement to the Daily Prophet, Mr. Amanuensis described the scene. "It was horrible—she was just strung up in the middle of the street for all to see."
An Auror spokesperson confirmed that Madame Umbridge had been brutally tortured before her murder. "We found evidence that she had been subjected to the cruciatus curse, cutting charms, freezing charms and fire charms prior to her death," said an unnamed source.
Madame Umbridge was a leading figure of the Lockhart government, heading up the new Department for Punishment and Detention. She was the mastermind behind the new containment plan for Death Eaters.
Questions are currently being asked at the failings of the Aurors assigned to Diagon Alley. How can a team of Death Eaters enter the magical street and display the mutilated corpse of a Ministry employee without any of the Aurors on duty realizing?
Minister Lockhart issued a brief statement, saying that the Aurors were investigating all leads and would work tirelessly to bring the perpetrators to justice.
"It's horrible," Hermione said, in shock.
"I never liked that old bag … but tortured for hours," Dean said, softly.
"And displayed like that in Diagon Alley! What are the Aurors playing at?" Ron said, loudly.
"I wonder if You-Know-Who has an agent within the Aurors?" Hermione theorized quietly.
They all exchanged glances. That would certainly be bad news for the wizarding world if the Aurors had been compromised. They were on the frontlines of the fight against Voldemort.
Voldemort
"Excellent work, Bellatrix, Antonin," Voldemort said. "And … congratulations must also go to Severus, who discovered the way to Dolores Umbridge." Voldemort declined his head in acknowledgement.
His three Death Eaters bowed.
"Now, we have the information needed to rescue our comrades," Voldemort said. "Gilderoy Lockhart made a mistake when he through our families in jail. They may not all have been Death Eaters, but once we break them free—they will flock to our side."
"Soon the Ministry will fall!" Bellatrix giggled.
"Severus, have you prepared an antidote to the Draught of Peace?"
"It is almost ready, my lord," Severus said, bowing.
"Very well, remain here and finish up. Bellatrix, Antonin—take who you require and go and rescue our allies. Let us swell Lord Voldemort's ranks once more!"
Severus Snape
Severus Snape was deeply troubled when he returned to his potions station. Something had gone wrong. Voldemort was intended to capture Dolores Umbridge, yes—that had been Dumbledore's plan. Have her memories removed, offer her to the Death Eaters—that was, Snape would prove his loyalty to Voldemort, Umbridge would be removed from Lockhart's ear and the location of the Ministry's secret containment facility would remain intact.
But they had found it. Bellatrix and Dolohov had tortured Umbridge and she had revealed its location. They wouldn't have been able to break the memory charms. Both were powerful magic users, but they lacked the skills, knowledge or subtlety needed to break a good memory charm, and Dumbledore was adamant that memory charms were a specialty of Lockhart's.
No, the problem had to lie with Lockhart himself. Somehow, he had messed up. He had either forgotten all about modifying Umbridge's memory or modified the wrong part of the memory. Either way, Voldemort knew where the captured Death Eaters were being held and was now sending a team to break them out.
Even worse, he had been ordered to brew the potion to restore them. He couldn't leave his post—it would blow his cover. Nor did he have a magical mirror or enchanted parchment—they would be suspicious if caught, and Dumbledore insisted the priority was for Snape to be by Voldemort's side.
Nobody was around, he waved his wand and cast the patronus spell. A doe appeared. Quickly, Snape recorded a message for Dumbledore. It would be slower than using the floo network, but at least Dumbledore would know. Perhaps he could act.
The Death Eaters
"The defenses are down," said Abaddon Nott. He had been working for half an hour to bring down the defensive spells surrounding the secret Ministry facility. It was located in Wales, in a nondescript warehouse in a nondescript town.
"About time," Bellatrix said, impatiently. She was glancing around, almost eagerly, as if expecting and hoping to be attacked by Aurors at any moment.
Dolohov, the third member of their team was calm and collected, keeping an eye out for trouble. Also with them were Rowle, Maximillion Mulciber and Abaddon's son, Theo.
"Wait!" Nott put out a hand to stop Bellatrix from going inside. She was an idiot—always rash and headstrong. She had already forgotten her orders, the crazy cow.
He cast a detection spell, just in case. But nobody was inside.
"Grab a prisoner, apparate back to Grimmauld Place and get back here. We need them out before the Death Eaters showed up," he said to Rowle and Mulciber.
Those three had the duty of getting the prisoners out of there while Dolohov, Theodore Nott and Bellatrix stayed outside to take care of any Aurors who might show up.
Nott led the way inside, casting lumos. The warehouse was full of muggle military-style cots, a number of which were occupied. Each of the occupants looked merely as if they were asleep, but Nott knew this was a sleep that they would never wake up from.
Narcissa Malfoy was there, looking quite pretty with her blonde hair falling about her face. Lucius was a lucky git, having a wife like that, Nott thought enviously.
Next to her was his father, Cantankerous Nott—the old bastard. Abaddon had never liked him He had been an awful father who had beat him regularly. Abaddon had been quite glad when the old tosser became infirm and senile. He had been disappointed at his arrest, only because it meant Cantankerous would no longer spend his days wetting himself and trying to eat tissue paper instead of a sandwich.
"Take these two, first," Nott ordered Rowle and Mulciber.
There was a crack as the two did as asked.
Nott walked further inside. On the next two cots lay Crabbe and Goyle. Both were idiots, but had their uses. They would likely be punished for getting captured by Alastor would go next.
A minute later. Maximillion Mulciber reappeared. "Take Crabbe." Nott ordered.
Then, Rowle reappeared. He took Goyle.
They worked methodically through the facility. Narcissa Malfoy, Cantankerous Nott, Hugo Crabbe, Frank Goyle were rescued.
Next was Rookwood. An intelligent man. Abaddon Nott quite liked his company, they shared a mutual interest in wizarding genealogy.
Then, Miles and Clayton Selwyn—Miles came from a respectable pureblood family, he was a powerful wizard. Abaddon didn't know Clayton well, but he was born a Carrow and worked as a dealer in wizarding antiques from abroad. He might have knowledge that would be useful.
"Her next," Nott ordered. Pointing at Barbara Nott—his father's latest wife. He had never met her before, but didn't envy the woman having to care for Cantankerous in his senility. He looked around, strange—Rabastan Lestrange wasn't here. He had gone missing during the failed attack on the Hogwarts Express. Did the Order of the Phoenix have him? That would be reported to the Dark Lord.
Next, were the werewolves—ghastly creatures, but Voldemort wanted them. If it was up to Nott, he would kill them while they slept, but, he supposed, if Voldemort wanted them, they must serve some purpose.
They had just apparated the first four werewolves when their came a crack from outside.
"The Order's here!" Dolohov shouted.
Abaddon rushed to the entrance of the warehouse. Sure enough, his Death Eaters—Bellatrix, Dolohov, Theo were firing spells at a group of figures down the street.
He recognized one as Bill Weasley, one as Arthur Weasley, one as the Ex-Auror Alastor Moody and … his blood froze. Dumbledore was there, casting a shimmering shield to protect his forces.
"Go! Now!" Abaddon ordered.
"Why? We can fight!" Bellatrix snarled, firing a killing curse at Bill Weasley who ducked it.
"We have orders—go!' Nott snarled back.
Bellatrix didn't argue, though she looked angry. She didn't dare disobey an order which came from Lord Voldemort himself.
One by one, the Death Eaters apparated. Confident that everyone was gone, Abaddon turned on the spot and he too apparated to safety.
Dumbledore
Dumbledore surveyed the scene. The Death Eaters were gone, but the damage had been done. Severus' warning had come too late, and his second agent hadn't been present when the breakout was ordered. He felt furious at Lockhart. The idiotic man had messed up, that was clear. The only way that the Death Eaters would know this facility's location was if Lockhart messed up his side of the plan. He must have forgotten all about casting the memory charm on Umbridge. Now, Voldemort had added a number of new Death Eaters to his ranks.