Chapter Twenty Three: The Extermination of Phillip Mahood

"Harry, you know that I respect your judgment," Charlie said as Harry led he and Bill into his den. They had all three just returned from the Ministry, and Charlie was still upset. "But I'm telling you now, you'd better have a damned good reason for telling me to stay here and taking that git Snape with you."

Harry smiled, "That 'git' has more experience in outwitting Dark Wizards than the three of us put together.

The three men sat, Harry in his leather wingback facing Charlie on the sofa, and Bill in the other armchair.

"Well?" Bill said. "What do you have for us, Harry?"

Harry took a deep breath, then looked each of his brothers-in-law in the eye in turn.

Bill Weasley was forty five years old. His early years as a curse-breaker had added depth to his generally easy-going manner. He was as dependable as anyone Harry had ever known.

At forty-three, Charlie, with his auror experience and frequent run-ins with creatures far more powerful than your average wizard, was the more aggressive and more protective of the two.

"Charlie, the reason I wanted you to stay is that I need to know that I can leave without worrying about Ginny and the girls... or the baby. I can't fight if I'm concerned about what will happen to them... and Molly and Arthur... if I fall."

"Harry..."

"Charlie, despite what I said earlier, I don't know how powerful he is. Right now, I have no idea."

Bill and Charlie glanced at each other, then back to Harry.

"I need you to stay here, Charlie, and look after my family if I don't come back."

"Harry, you know that we would..."

"Bill, I know that Ginny and the girls would be taken care of, but Ginny listens to Charlie. He's the only one she will listen to at times," Harry turned back to the younger of the two. "I can do my job far more effectively if I know that you're here looking out for them. If you're here for her. Please?"

Charlie nodded, "Of course, Harry."

"Harry," Bill shifted in his seat. "You know that we Weasley's stick together..."

"I have no doubt of it, Bill. And I know that you'll be there for Ginny too, if things go to hell."

"Of course I will."

"But I have something else I need from you, and I'm not certain it's going to leave you a whole lot of spare time."

Bill raised an eyebrow questioningly, "What?"

"I'd like you to accept the role of Deputy Minister."

For once in his life, Harry witnessed two Weasleys speechless at the same time. Charlie recovered first.

"Excellent choice, Mr Potter," he said quietly, smiling.

"I don't know what to say," Bill replied weakly. "Harry, are you sure?"

"Without question," Harry confirmed. "Bill, you're always the voice of reason, even when we're all haring off on tangents. Besides, you're a curse breaker. As Minister, I'll probably need to call on those talents from time to time. Not everyone will agree with my policies, I'm sure."

Bill smiled. Charlie laughed outright.

"Do you accept?" Harry asked.

"I assumed that Ron..."

"Ron is always at my side. He's my best friend, but he's not politician material. He and I have discussed that, and he wholeheartedly agrees with me."

"You talked to him about him taking the post?" Charlie asked.

"No," Harry leaned back in his chair. "I talked to him about why I wouldn't be offering it to him. He seemed surprised that I might have considered it. He is in total agreement with my choice. Bill?"

"I..." Bill took a deep breath. "I'd be honored, Harry. Thank you."

"No thanks necessary, "Harry said, standing and moving towards his desk. He rifled through some papers there and came up with a red folder and a quill. "Charlie, could you call Hermione in here?"

Charlie looked at him questioningly.

"We need a witness to this whose last name isn't Weasley," Harry explained.

Ten minutes later, the appointment was signed by Harry, Bill, Charlie and Hermione, and was official. Should anything happen to Harry Potter during his term of office as Minister of Magic, Bill Weasley would stand as Minister in his stead.


"You can't go!" Ron said, sounding like a little boy begging for a new toy.

"Give me one good reason why not," Hermione said, pulling on a form fitting black knit sweater over the charmed body-suit. Ginny had provided it earlier, telling her it would give a bit of protection against curses that hit her torso, but warning her that it wouldn't block the unforgivables.

"Because..." Ron swallowed. "Because I love you."

"I love you, too, Ron," she sat down on the edge of the bed and pulled on her heavy-soled boots. "But that's not stopping you from going."

"But..."

"Look," she stood, looking at him where he stood in the doorway of her room. "Harry needs us, Ron."

"But..."

"But, what?"

"Last time..."

Hermione stilled, suddenly feeling very, very cold. "Is that what this is about, Ron? The final battle? What I did? Is the real problem that you don't trust me to stand next to you?"

Ron looked shocked, "Of course not!"

"Then what?"

"I was going to say that last time, you damned near died! That I lost you for seventeen years and I can't do that again!"

Hermione stared at him for a moment, then took a deep breath.

"Then you know why I can't stay here and watch you go, Ron. I lost those years, too, and I refuse to lose one more minute with you. If one of us falls, then at least we'll have been together to the very end."

Ron thought for a moment, his eyes never leaving hers.

"Mione," he said thickly. "What will I do if something happens to you?"

"You'll go on, you'll live, you'll be there for the others. Just as I will if something happens to you. You'll be different for having known me, but not less than you are right now. Just as I would be."

Ron ran a hand through his Weasley-red hair. "Why does it have to be so confusing? So hard?"

Hermione smiled, "We weren't born for boring lives, Ron. We were born into these lives. The day that the three of us met, stuff shifted around, fates were cast. For you and I, the fact remains that our fate, our destiny, is linked to Harry's. We enjoy his friendship, we love him like a brother, and all that that gives us. But in return, our lives will never be 'normal'."

"So, where do we go from here, then?" Ron asked absently.

"Well, as I remember it," Hermione moved towards him. "You're on his left, and I'm on his right, and we walk in together, our wands at the ready to face whatever is waiting for us."

Ron smiled, his smile turning slowly into a grin. "All for one and one for all?"

Hermione laughed up at him, "Forever."

With a nod, he held out his hand to her. Taking it firmly, she allowed him to lead her from the room.

Time to go hunting.


Harry and Ginny were in his office. He held her tightly, not really wanting to let go, but knowing he had to.

"I love you," he said into her strawberry-scented hair.

"I know," she said, a slight hitch in her voice the only indication that she wasn't entirely okay with the situation. "Please be careful."

"As careful as I can be," he promised. "Tell my girls..."

Her brown eyes searched his green ones at his hesitation. She smiled, understanding.

"I will," she said simply. "Every day."

As they exited the den, they found the others waiting in the hall. Neville, his childhood puppy fat turned to hard muscle over years of physical conditioning, stood quietly at the foot of the stairs, his body clothed in black jeans and sweater, his cloak pushed behind him out of his way. He stared silently at the floor.

Luna was dressed similarly. Dark clothing to hide them against the night, her bright hair knotted at the back of her head and covered with a black knit scullcap.

Ron and Hermione were coming down the stairs, holding hands. Ron looked resigned, Hermione looked determined. Harry didn't want to know what had put those looks on their faces, but he imagined the conversation had been colorful.

Snape stood, his long black robes billowing around him. He stared blankly at a small painting on the wall, obviously lost in his own thoughts.

And there were two others dressed in black. Kingsley Shacklebolt and Nymphadora Tonks stood together near the door, obviously prepared to go with them.

"Shack? Tonks?" Harry stopped, looking at them. "What are you doing here?"

"Come on, Harry." Kingsley said. "Six of you and only two of you are trained aurors?"

"Three," Hermione said indignantly.

"Forgive me, Miss Granger, but given your... sabbatical... from the magical world, you'll forgive me for not counting you." Kingsley turned back to look at Harry steadily. "You need us, Harry."

"How the hell did you even find out...?" Harry was severely pissed off. Someone had talked, someone he trusted...

"I told them," Snape spoke suddenly.

"You?" Harry turned on him.

"Yes, me. You can deal with me later, Minister. Right now, I believe we have an Order mission to complete."

Harry's eyes narrowed, "We will talk later, Sev."

"Let us hope so, Harry." Snape nodded.

"I want each of you to wear one of these," Ginny stepped forward, picking up a small bag that was sitting on the floor next to the staircase. Out of it, she took a handful of wristbands that looked suspiciously like watches. "Should you be... injured... in danger of death, these will pull you back here."

"How the hell...?" Ron began, accepting one of the devices from his sister.

"They monitor your life signs. If you go into distress, they activate. You'll be transported directly to a room upstairs where we'll be waiting. Mum's got it set up with everything we'll need to help. If necessary, one of us will be able to apparate you to the hospital, if you should... need to be taken there."

"Thanks, Ginny," Luna smiled as she helped Neville put his on.

"Please, be careful," Ginny spoke to them all, but her eyes were locked with Harry's.

"We will," he said, pulling her close and kissing her one last time. He placed his hand on her belly, low, and pressed gently while looking down into her tear-filled eyes. "You take care."

She nodded, then stepped away, to be pulled close between Charlie and Amelia. Molly and Arthur, Bill and Janie were also there, watching the group prepare.

Harry locked eyes with Charlie for a moment. His eyes were bleak, questioning. Charlie nodded, once, tightening his arm around Ginny. Harry breathed in and nodded in response, turning away.

So it was a party of eight, rather than six, that left Potter Manor that night, wands at the ready.


They apparated into a small treed area close to where they knew Mahood was staying. Harry had had the area under surveillance for a couple of days. All evidence pointed to Ledwin Murray being correct in his assertion that this was where the Dark Lord had taken up residence to be on hand for the upcoming activities in England.

"Ow..." came a whispered curse. "Bloody hell!"

"Ron?" Harry's voice was barely heard.

"Goddammit! Bloody rabbits..."

A snicker was heard. Harry thought it might be Tonks.

"Status?" Harry said quietly. Each of the party members sounded off. Everyone was accounted for.

"Ron?"

"I'm fine, Harry. Apparated with one foot in a bloody rabbit hole."

"You're okay?"

"Yes."

"Good then, let's go, and keep it silent."

At the edge of the trees, Harry held up one hand to signal a stop. Instantly, every member of the party froze. In the distance, in the darkness, Harry could see the dark outline of a house.

"Sev?"

He heard Snape murmuring under his breath. The outline of the house flashed pale blue for an instant.

"Warded," Snape spoke low. "But..."

"What?"

"Very weakly."

"Anything else?" Harry asked suspiciously.

"I can't tell," Snape admitted. "But it seems rather convenient that they're using such juvenile wards. Any decent fourth year student would be able to break through these."

"Then there is something else," Harry said. "Dammit, I'm going to draw and quarter Murray when I get hold of him."

"Harry?" Neville's whispered voice came hesitantly.

"Nev?"

"There's... do you smell that?"

Harry sniffed, "It smells like... road tar?"

"Yes," Neville whispered. "I think it's Malocia viticalis..."

"What in the hell is that?" Ron hissed, obviously impatient to get moving.

"It's a plant," Neville said. "Very small, grows to about four inches high..."

"Neville, get to the point," Luna said kindly.

"Well, it's highly toxic, and it's not native to Britain."

"So?"

"So, for the scent to be this obvious, there has to be a lot of it around... and it's not a native plant, so it's been planted intentionally..."

"How toxic, Nev?" Harry asked, fearing the answer.

"If it touches exposed skin, any exposed skin," Neville whispered. "Two minutes."

"Fuck!" Harry muttered. "What's it look like?"

"Four inches high, elongated, silver-green leaf... spreading... kind of looks like moss, but thicker and... deeper."

"Is there anyone here with exposed skin below the waist?" Harry asked. Luckily, everyone had dressed in pants tucked into heavy boots under their robes, all wore gloves and long sleeved sweaters, and no one had any exposed skin below their necks.

"Not a bad defense," Harry muttered angrily. "Watch for trip wires. If you do feel yourself going down, brace with your hands and keep your face high."

As their eyes had adjusted to the dark, they had begun to be able to pick out details around them. Harry had intentionally chosen a moonless night, all the better to conceal them, but it had the downside of there being no discernible light for them to see by.

"And Neville?"

"Yes, Harry?"

"Good job, mate."

There was no response. Harry knew Neville, and knew full well that the other man didn't accept praise well. He didn't press it.

"Okay, forward."

The five wizards and three witches moved forward as one.


Hermione walked with Harry to her left and Luna to her right. They had maintained a ten foot spread, and no talking was possible, but she could feel the others in the darkness around her.

The wristband Ginny had given her itched, but she didn't dare touch it. With her luck, she'd end up transporting herself back to the Manor without meaning to.

That would freak Ron out.

Ron. What on earth had he been thinking, telling her he didn't want her to come along? Stupid man. Like she'd be anywhere but beside him through something like this.

She felt a shiver of apprehension. She was on edge, adrenaline coursing through her blood-stream. She wanted to be anywhere but here, but she knew that this was what she had been born for. So long as the magical world faced war, she and Ron and Harry would stand, should to shoulder, against it.

And Ron loved her...

She suddenly felt very, very cold. "Harry?"

"I feel it," he whispered back. "Dementors."

"Where?" Ron hissed.

"They must be inside," Snape said.

In that instant, the world exploded. The dark, cold shapes of Dementors appeared seemingly from nowhere. There were at least a dozen, but Hermione thought, in the darkness, there must be many, many more.

As one, it seemed, Patronus exploded from wand ends. An eagle, an owl, a weasel, a stag, a bear, a wolverine, a python, and a cougar. All charged into the darkness, the shrieks heard heightening as the group formed, almost without thought, into a large circle, each with their back to the group, facing out.

A few of the Dementors survived the initial onslaught of familiars, but they didn't survive the second. After less than three minutes, they were gone.

But now the group had larger problems...

The screams of the Dementors and the yelling of incantations had drawn attention from the house.

"We're too damned exposed!" Ron yelled.

As they scrambled for the cover of the few trees and bushes, forms erupted from the house. More and more came. Dozens.

"How many of the bloody bastards are there in there?" Ron asked. Harry, crouched behind a boulder to Ron's right, grinned.

"How many Death Eaters does it take to change a lightbulb?" he chuckled.

"Harry, you've lost it."

"Not yet, my friend. Ready?"

"Never," Ron muttered, standing and shooting curses at anything that moved while Harry to his right, did the same.

Kingsley and Tonks, teaming the way Harry and Ron had, managed to take out at least two dozen before, with a shocked cry, Tonks fell to her knees before suddenly disappearing.

"Dammit!" Kingsley screamed, standing and shooting off curse after curse.

"Well, now we know how that works," Ron yelled.

Hermione, in shock from watching Tonks disappear, followed Kingsley's lead and let instinct take over. Soon, she was dropping as many of the Death Eaters as Harry.

Neville and Luna, fighting as a team back to back, were suddenly enveloped in a yellow light. As their bodies went limp, they both disappeared. Hermione swallowed, glanced over at Harry and Ron, and kept fighting.

Kingsley was the next to fall. Red light from three different directions hit him square in the chest simultaneously. His face went slack, he gave a strange gurgling cry, but before he fell to the ground, his body disappeared.

Now Harry stood, Ron to his left, Hermione and Snape to his right. Without pausing, he let fly several debilitating curses into the darkness. Three separate cries broke the strange quiet of the moor. Three had found their targets.

The silence broke through their adrenaline-induced high... each of them realizing that no more dark wizards stood around them.

"Mr Potter..." a voice came through the darkness as a form emerged. "How nice of you to finally show up."

"Mahood," Snape spat.

"Ah, yes," the dark man looked over. "Severus Snape. I never thought I'd have the pleasure..."

Snape raised his wand, but was too late. Mahood muttered the incantation before any of them could move.

"...of being the one to kill you," he finished. Hermione was dully aware of Snape disappearing from her side as he fell.

"Now, Mr Potter..." he stepped forward. "We have, I believe, unfinished business."

"Oh, yes. We do," Harry gritted between clenched teeth.

"I was undecided as to how I would handle this," Mahood spoke lightly. "I thought, will I kill him first, and make his loyal friends watch? Or will I kill them, and let him know that their deaths could have been avoided, if only..."

"Expell...." Hermione screamed, but never finished. The green glow from Mahood's wand enveloped her, and she fell.

Ron screamed, rushing the figure in his rage. He didn't go three steps before he, too, disappeared in green light.

"Well," Mahood smiled coldly. "Your friends appear to have decided for me, Mr Potter."

Harry intentionally left his wand down at his side, but under his breath he murmured an incantation. A very old, very powerful incantation.

"So, Mr Potter, tell me, have you decided?"

Harry continued to mutter.

"Mr Potter?" The older man stepped forward, wondering why Harry Potter was not responding.

"... leviticus manum..." Harry continued to mutter.

Phillip Mahood's eyes went wide. "But you're... that's... avada kedavra!"

"...avada manum!" Harry screamed the last, a fraction of a second before the green light from Mahood's wand hit him in the chest.

And Harry Potter fell into the welcoming blackness.


Ah, my readers. I know, you're probably all cursing me plenty right now. But you know it had to come.

Kristen: Smuttiness? Hmmm...

James Milamber: What can I say? You're a great writer, my friend. Bring on the next chapter, and when Mind Mage is complete we'll have an intervention for you to get you off the sugar and coffee... Jonas can lead us.

Shotgunn: What are you saying? They kicked butt against West Brom yesterday...and Manchester... well, what exactly was that with Bolton, a game? Please. Liverpool rules.

Merlindamage: Death and dismemberment... you people! All I'll say is that the prophecy is open to interpretation.

GiGiFanfic: I keep telling him, but his muses tell me he's hanging around and not even TRYING to get another chapter out... ;- Thanks for all your support, you've been GREAT!

Cecikun: I think we all change between 15 and 35. Harry is a compilation of the person I think he's going to become, and the person I'd like him to be. Like Dumbledore, he plays roles sometimes to achieve the effect he's looking for. I'm glad you're enjoying it.

Azntgr01: I haven't decided which yet... I think I'll let my muses guide me.... NOOOOOOO!

Larna Mandrea: I love Harry. He's so easy to write. Oh, and... ice mice rule!!!

CQ