A Time for Strength
A/N: Well here we go, the sequel to 'A Time for War' is officially beginning. I'd like to thank those of you who said they were looking forward to the sequel and a special thank you to those who gave some pretty good constructive criticism.
One of the main criticisms people were making was that the story was difficult to follow because of the lack of line breaks. Unfortunately somewhere in the upload process my line breaks were deleted and I just didn't realise. In the sequel, I hope to rectify that by using time stamps to indicate who's POV it is and what day/time things are happening. This also helps me follow what's happening and what's important to each character. The second main criticism was that the story felt rushed and, looking back on it, I agree. I believe this was a consequence of not having a real plan for where the story would go and my writing was based on random thoughts which were then piled together to have a chronological order. For this story I have made myself a comprehensive chapter summary so that I can ensure an adequately spaced and paced story.
The format of the timestamps is as follows
Date
Time
Location
POV
As for the structure, I'll be posting the story in increments to receive feedback as I go. The current plan is two chapters a week but that may change depending on my time/motivation to write. As I said in the first one though, this will definitely end and there is a final instalment coming after it so stay tuned for that.
Anyway with that out of the way, thanks again for all the support and I hope you enjoy 'A Time for Strength'
Chapter One: Setting the Tone
July 7th, 1996
5:03pm
Godric's Hollow
Voldemort
Godric's Hollow, a small village in West Country England. The home of the Potter's, Dumbledore's and the legendary Bathilda Bagshot. Not to mention the site of the most bizarre occurrence of magic in the twentieth century. None of that mattered today though, for Lord Voldemort had set his sights on the little village and not many survived such a notion
He, with thirty mercenaries and ten death eaters, were on the outskirts of the town waiting for everyone to return home and settle in for the night. The Dark Lord had no rules of engagement for tonight, no boundaries or compunctions. Harry Potter had ruined his return by exposing him before he was ready, to rectify that he was going to show the world just what his return meant. Turning to his loyal followers, Voldemort's lips curled into a grotesque smile of anticipation.
"Begin."
July 7th, 1996
4:43pm
Black Chateau
Harry
Harry Potter sat at the head of the long meeting table in the west wing of the Chateau, joined by his advisors for an update on the aftermath of the ministry attack. Ironically, many of the people he had saved from Azkaban were now rotting there once more. This setback didn't deter the Dark Lord from continuing his terror campaign, the very topic of which they were currently discussing.
"The rumours are true, both Amelia Bones and Emmeline Vance have been killed. Bones in her home and Vance on her way to work. There is no doubt that Death Eaters are responsible and possibly even Voldemort himself in Bones' case," Moody reported
Harry's brow furrowed, "why would he bother to kill Madame Bones himself?"
"The answer is two fold, Amelia was a powerful auror and the most likely candidate for minister." Damien replied.
Sirius hummed his agreement and supplied, "I remember her briefly from my auror days. If she was anything as intense as she was then, then it's reasonable to suspect Voldemort wouldn't want her in control of the ministry."
"So who will be the minister now then?" Harry asked.
"Rufus Scrimengour probably, he is the Head of the Auror office and a well respected man," Damien answered.
Moody continued by saying, "well respected indeed, I've worked closely with him before. He's a cunning man and loyal to the ministry and magical Britain. Damned fool would go down with the ship before jumping overboard to save himself."
"Should we reach out to him?" Harry wondered out loud.
"The idea has merit, the ministry has access to information which would be invaluable to our eff—" Damien began saying before an owl burst through the doors and dropped a letter in front of him. Almost immediately many of the table's occupants were up with their wands out at the letter. Damien swished his wand around several times, checking the letter for tampering as he usually does but found no evidence of foul play.
"Ministry seal," Daphne pointed out.
Damien cautiously cracked the seal and skimmed over the letter's contents. After a moment the man cracked a smile and barked a laugh. "It seems the old geezer is ahead of us," he said, passing the letter up to Harry.
Harry held the letter up and laughed seeing what Damien meant. Addressing the group Harry held up the letter and spoke, "a letter from Rufus Scrimengour, it says;
To Harry J. Potter, Heir to the house of Black,
I write to you in high spirits and unwavering resolve. I first wish to thank you and Heir Greengrass for the defiance and exposing of Voldemort, the wizarding world is once again in your debt. I understand that you lost a friend in the fight and for that I can only offer an apology that the administration before me could not provide the protection that all our citizens deserve.
With the Dark Lord's return and my elevation to Minster, my primary goal is to forge and maintain a ministry that has the people's trust and best interests at heart. To that effect, I would implore you to use some of that accumulated fame to fill people's hearts with hope. A couple appearances in the ministry at my side could go a long way to show the people that the ministry is on top of things.
Please write back to 'Ministry P.O. Box #001'
Regards,
Rufus Scrimengour, Minister for Magic"
"Spoken like a true politician," Daphne said.
Damien replied to his daughter, "indeed. It seems he has been elevated without a vote in the Wizengamot. Not unheard of but very rare."
"He seems to only want a poster boy, someone to boost his popularity," Remus surmised.
Harry's mouth curled in disgust, passing the letter on to Moody he said, "I'm no one's publicity stunt. This minister seems to be far from the man you described."
Moody, who had finished the letter and passed it to Remus, agreed. "Aye, I don't know what's gotten into the old lion. Maybe he's feeling the pressure of the office."
"He does bring up a good point though," Daphne said. Everyone looked at her quizzically before she continued, "we need to start making more public appearances if we want people to trust us as much as the ministry and Dumbledore."
"You two are the talk of the town nowadays," Sirius agreed referring to Harry and Daphne. "I'm sure Damien could organise a press conference after any major events so that you two can present our side of things."
Damien nodded his approval, "that's certainly doable. I can hardly go anywhere without being accosted by adoring fans of Daphne and of course your legend has only grown Harry."
'Great, more fame. As if I was just starving for some in the first place. I'm sure Daphne is thrilled, is she smirking triumphantly? Of course she is,' Harry thought. "Alright let's put Scrimengour on hold for now, he doesn't seem like the kind of guy I want to associate with but as you said Mad-eye he might just be feeling the pressure. We'll discuss the nature of our public appearances next meeting which is in a fortnight, if you can't make it please—"
He was cut off by a patronus message flying through a window and stopping before Harry. From the ethereal mist came Tonks' panicked voice which shouted "Godric's Hollow!" Springing into action Harry started giving orders. "Remus take Daphne, Sirius you've got me, Moody alert the order and then follow behind and Damien make sure that St Mungo's knows they're going to have patients, blood replenishers and skele-gro need to be at the ready."
Moody and Damien disapparated immediately whereas Remus and Sirius had to go around the table to make contact with Harry and Daphne. Once they were ready the pairs disappeared with a small pop into unknown danger.
July 7th, 1996
5:42pm
Godric's Hollow
Harry
The quartet appeared in the middle of a street and were instantly assaulted by the sound of pained screams. The sky above them was dark with clouds and smoke merging to block out the setting sun. An orange haze being their only source of light besides the street lights that were still on. All four of them were back to back in a circle taking in their surroundings as best they can. The street they were on split off into two directions and much of the roads were covered in smoke.
"Fire," Remus said simply, grabbing everyone's attention.
Sirius grunted and replied, "good one Sherlock."
Before Remus could bicker back, Harry spoke up with the plan. "Alright we split into two groups and each take a street. We don't know if the death eaters are here still so be ready. Our highest priority is to save the people who can be saved." Turning to Sirius and Remus he continued, "you two are going to be doing a lot of apparating tonight so save your energy for that. Daphne and I will do the spell casting so that you can pace yourselves. Remember if you see Voldemort, do not engage without getting word to me."
With nods all round Harry and Remus cut left whilst Sirius and Daphne went right. Walking down the road Harry saw burnt and broken houses one after the other. There were no sounds coming from these houses, much of the screams were further up the road, however the dead bodies littering the front lawns were enough to distract Harry for a moment.
"A common tactic for the Dark Lord, flush out the prey and slaughter them as they flee their home," Remus noted mournfully.
Harry turned from the scene and purposefully walked further down the road. Now the houses he passed were still on fire and he fired off aguamenti's quickly to quell the fires but he didn't linger. Hearing laughter ahead, Harry and Remus picked up the pace. They approached a particularly large cloud of smoke and ash which significantly hindered their ability to see, however they could still hear laughter which was now accompanied by pained screams. Sharing a look with Remus, they silently swept away the smoke cloud and were met with the sight of a middle aged man and woman on their knees and a child thrashing about on the floor. Standing over them were four men in dark blue robes, taunting the presumed couple and taking turns torturing the child.
'Lowlife scum, how would you like a taste of your own medicine,' Harry thought before summoning black flames at the tip of his wand and directing them directly into the face of the man torturing the boy.
The man went down screaming, clutching his face as the black tendrils worked into his head and liquified his brain. The three others turned to Harry who glared at them, containing his rage for the fight. Remus transfigured some rubble on the side of the road into leg restraints. The more observant of the three managed to avoid being trapped by hurling himself to the side; however the other two were not quick enough and suffered the same fate as the first man, their bodies bending at odd angles as they fell because of the debris-leg-cuffs.
The final scumbag once again proved his intelligence and apparate away. The enchantment holding back the parents from their son fell and they crawled to him, holding him in their arms. The woman grabbed the wand of the child torturer and tested it with a lumos. Remus crouched down with them and held a quiet exchange before he stood up again
"They're going to St Mungo's by themselves," Remus explained.
Harry nodded, "let's go then."
The pair went around a bend and came to a burning house with a girl and a man standing out front waving their arms around violently. The girl, in her late teens it looked like, pushed away from the man and made for the burning building swiftly. Before the two could stop her, she had sprinted into the house without hesitation. Harry stopped beside the man and addressed him.
"What is she doing? Is she trying to get herself killed?"
The man looked stunned for a moment, recognising that Harry Potter was standing next to him. Seeing Harry's impatient stare he replied, "our house elf, Zilly, was meant to get my little boy out. As you can see he's not here and my only child left has run into a blazing inferno."
Harry sighed and asked Remus, "you got him?" Receiving a nod, Harry cast a bubble head charm on himself and swiftly entered the house. Hearing cries of pain up the stairs he rushed up them skipping two steps at a time and followed the cries to what used to be a baby's bedroom. Nearly the whole thing was covered in smoke and it looked like the entire roof had collapsed. On the bright side, he had discovered the girl's whereabouts, she was knelt in the middle, trying to lift a burning beam of wood off of some rubble.
He marched into the room and put a hand on her shoulder, "we have to get you out of here, this whole house could collapse at any moment." As if on cue, he heard a snap and boom of something in the house breaking. However the girl shook her head and continued to try and lift the beam, Harry noticed that her hands were severely burnt already and she was doing needless damage to herself. He tried again to convince her, "listen I know you don't want to leave your brother but if you stay here you'll die."
The girl looked at him for a moment and then vehemently shook her head 'no' before pointing down at the rubble. Following her gaze he realised that she wasn't trying to lift a beam from rubble but off of a house elf, a house elf shielding a small child. Pulling the girl back, Harry levitated the beam off of the house elf and held it there for the girl to grab them. Once she had them secure, he blasted a hole in the wall and looked outside. Past the smoke, he could see the street and Remus' tall figure next to the stout father.
Transfiguring a shoddy ramp from rubble, Harry cautiously descended the creaking and crackling building with the three beings in his care. "Remus!" he called, "they both need St Mungo's." Wasting no time, Remus stepped forward and said a warning before disapparating away. The father had no time to give his thanks as Remus returned and sent him to St Mungo's too. Without a word the two continued into the town, hoping that there were more people to save. In the end they made it to the town centre without seeing or hearing another person, magical or otherwise. They did, however, come up on a large obelisk which looked out of place in such an old village. Upon closer inspection Harry could make out a slight shimmer around the edges which piqued his curiosity.
'There's more to this pillar than meets the eye. Why cast an illusion in a predominantly magical town?' Harry thought. His musings were answered when they crossed a threshold and the obelisk transformed into a statue of two figures sitting on a bench, a baby in their arms.
"It's your parents, the ministry built it after the… incident," Remus explained.
Harry stepped forward and reached out, before he could touch the statue a masculine scream reverberated throughout the village. Following the sound Harry thought, 'the dead will have to wait, the living still need help.'
He and Remus didn't need to run far as they found the source of the scream outside a church. Daphne and Sirius were duelling two mercenaries and had incapacitated one that was the source of the scream with, what looked like, a powerful cutting curse to the belly. If the mercenaries were faring badly before, the introduction of Harry and Remus flanking them meant they would need more than a miracle to survive. The duo managed to subdue both of the remaining mercenaries with ease and the quartet came together to regroup.
"How are you guys doing? Have you been able to save anyone?" Sirius asked.
"Two families. Haven't seen anyone else besides these manky arse-lickers," Harry replied, kicking one of the downed mercenaries in the ribs.
Remus' disapproving stare at Harry turned into one of concern in Sirius' direction asking, "has anyone seen you?"
"I hope not, the reason we came back this way was because aurors have finally arrived. We were going to come find you when these three jumped us," Sirius replied agitatedly.
"If the aurors are here then our job is done right?" Daphne asked the group.
"Yes." Harry answered before continuing, "we should get Sirius out of here and prepare for tomorrow."
"What's tomorrow?" Remus asked.
"You'll see."