Chapter 16: Regrouping and Secret Plans

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Several days had passed since the election of Dumbledore to the position of Minister of Magic. Because of his injuries, the Ministry had also elected a Deputy Minister of Magic, naming Arthur Weasley to the post. This of course meant a rather large increase in salary for the Weasley family. Harry was very happy for them. If anybody deserved a break, it was the Weasley's.

Among their first acts as the new leaders of the Ministry, Dumbledore and Mr. Weasley had issued a declaration of war against Voldemort and his forces. However, because of the losses suffered by the Order during the battles for the Ministry and for Azkaban, as well as the Ministry losses incurred since Voldemort's return, there was little that could be done at the moment.

A rapid recruiting and training program was of course immediately launched, and wizards and witches flocked by the hundreds to volunteer. Most of these volunteers were sincere, however, some were really Deatheaters, assigned by Voldemort to infiltrate and spy. Several were caught, but there were undoubtedly more. For this reason, elaborate security measures and background checks were instituted.

Despite the enthusiasm of the volunteers, the fact remained that it would take time to train them to the point that they would be of any use against Voldemort. Therefore the Ministry and the Order were now forced to take a defensive stand.

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"This sucks." Harry said, frustrated.

The rest of the Marauders nodded in agreement. In the weeks after the battle of Azkaban, the Marauders had increased their training regime to a furious pace. All wanted to prove to the Order that they were ready to take a more active role in the war. Harry was still the strongest and most powerful of the group, but the rest of the Marauders were not far behind. All had now mastered wandless magic, and had rapidly blown through their classes and the training courses the Order set up. By their own admission, the Order realized that these youngsters were making astonishing progress. They had even admitted that by Christmas the group would probably have learned everything necessary to take their N.E.W.T.S. All of this would normally have been good news to the Marauders.

However, despite their progress, despite what they had done at the Ministry and at Azkaban, the Order refused to use the Marauders in the war.

"Why the hell are they so damned skittish about using us?" Ron asked. "We're better trained and more powerful than half the Aurors in the Ministry!"

"I don't know, but frankly, I'm getting tired of this." Harry replied.

"What can we do?" Hermione asked. "You heard Dumbledore, if we do anything without their permission we will be kicked out of the Order and probably Hogwarts."

"Hermione, for crying out loud. We're going to satisfy our N.E.W.T.S. in three weeks! We don't need to be in Hogwarts!" Ginny said, exasperated.

"Yeah." Neville agreed.

"But what about the Order?" Hermione asked.

"What about it? They want to fight this as a defensive war. Most of them don't seem to get the idea that the best defense is a good offense." Fred said. "Except Moody. He gets it."

"Yeah, but he's got too much respect for Dumbledore and our dad to say anything." George agreed.

Hermione sighed. They were right. She too was tired of everyone treating them like children. The truth was in the last few months the Marauders had developed into wizards more powerful than most of the Order. They had even killed that night at the Ministry; maybe not intentionally, but they had. What's more, they had all been dealing with danger since they first arrived at Hogwarts. It seemed that no matter what they did or accomplished, however, it would not be good enough to convince the rest.

"So what do we do?" Hermione finally asked, breaking the silence.

"I'll tell you what we're going to do. We'll play their little game until we've completed our N.E.W.T.S." Harry said, a air of determination emenating from him, "Then we take matters into our own hands. I have no intention of sitting around while everyone else fights. And I am definitely not going back to the Dursley's next summer. We won't go after Voldemort. Not yet. First we need to take out his support system, his followers. So we're going to wage a guerilla war. We find a secure base of operations, one that nobody, not even the Order can find. We start setting up a network, a way to get information on Voldemort, the Ministry, and the Order. Then we hit Voldemort's troops when the least expect it."

The rest of the Marauders stared at him. They had never heard Harry speak with such determination before.

"You mean leave Hogwart's voluntarily. Won't everyone be upset? What do we tell our families?" Neville asked. The Marauders looked at one another, thinking. Finally Hermione spoke.

"There might be a way we can arrange to stay in communication with a few select people without it being traced, but I'll have to do some more research to be sure." She said.

"Well, that would solve one problem. But how are we going to live? And more importantly, where are we going to live?" Ron asked.

"As far as the how part, I don't think that is going to be a problem." Harry answered slowly. The others turned to him. "You are all aware that my parents left me an inheritance when they died. I'm afraid I've never really told you how extensive it is." He paused. "All told, I have about 500000 Galleons (that's 2.5 million pounds sterling or 3.6 million US dollars folks) in my accounts. That doesn't include the stocks in Wizarding and Muggle business that they had acquired."

Ginny looked at him in shock. They had known that Harry's parents had left him a decent inheritance, but they never knew it was so large.

"I'm pretty sure my parents would have wanted me to use it to do good. And I can't think of anything better than using it to get rid of Voldemort and take care of my family." Harry finished, grinning slightly.

Tears began forming in the eyes of the Marauders. What he said was true. They had all come to view each other as family, and were perhaps closer to each other than they were to their biological families. They would do anything for each other.

"Ok." Fred said after a moment. "But we're not going to just rely on you. George and I have been selling our gags to some different joke shops around Britain and we've managed to save up a small sum as well. Not as large as your savings, mind you, but still somewhat large. All and all I'd say we've made about 25000 Galleons (that's about 125000 pounds sterling or 183000 US dollars)."

"What!" Ron exclaimed. "You never told us."

"We were going to tell everyone at Christmas time." George said. "We wanted to make some more before we told Mom."

"Okay. So that solves the money issue." Hermione said. "But we still have to figure out where we're going to operate from. It will have to double as our quarters too. The more places we need to protect and hide from everyone, the more likely it will be that we'll be found."

"Perhaps I can be of assistance." A voice they knew all to well called from behind the group.