Chapter 1
-----June 9, 1997----
It was a bright, sunny morning when Lucius Malfoy felt the Dark Mark burning on his arm, as did all the other Death Eaters. Surprised by the unexpected call, he apparated to the current location of his master, a single, unmarked grave somewhere in the countryside. The other remaining Death Eaters arrived at the same time, and they gathered around their Master. Lucius looked around him; most of them were there. A few were noticeably absent, after being discovered as spies for Dumbledore or otherwise disloyal. What remained of Voldemort's corporeal form was buried here, under this unmarked gravestone.
Floating above the gravestone was the transparent white apparition of Lord Voldemort, who had been killed by Harry Potter just a month ago, with assistance from the traitor to the Dark Lord, Severus Snape. As soon as all the Death Eaters were done apparating in, Voldemort addressed his followers:
"The prophecy has been fulfilled by my death, and the forces of good are finally complacent. It is time to begin preparing for our final victory. We must be patient, and careful. We will not win by gradual attrition and individual acts of valor, as my untimely demise has demonstrated. Instead, we must gain the upper hand in numbers, because even if each of us may be superior to an Auror in single combat, there are several Aurors for each one of us. We must recruit armies of the pure-blooded to crush our enemies in a conflict of massive scale. The task of each of you will be to find sympathetic wizards, creatures, anyone who can help—even your House Elves. Gather the recruits and train them in the Dark Arts. Above all, avoid discovery. When the time is right, I will tell you where to assemble for battle.
"Dismissed!"
The Death Eaters were all visibly confused, but none dared to disobey their Master, even when he was dead. "Yes, master!" chorused all the Death Eaters in unison. Then, some quiet murmurs in the audience of "House Elves?"
"Yes, that is what I said," Voldemort said, "Don't look down on your House Elves just because they're scrawny. In numbers, they can make a difference to our cause. It would do us much good to earn their loyalty. They are content to serve, and there is no need at all to kick them around. If you politely ask them, rather than rudely ordering, you will find them more enthusiastic."
"Yes, master!" chanted the Death Eaters. Cracking noises filled the atmosphere as the Death Eaters disapparated.
-----------------------Three Years Later----------------------
-----September 11, 2000----
On the prairie north of Voldemort's grave, some thirty thousand new Death Eaters, equipped with wands, short swords, animals of various kinds, and the standard uniform (a black wizard robe emblazoned with a silver-colored Dark Mark) were forming up for their first battle. Voldemort looked over his new army, seeming very pleased.
He had good reason to be; it was indeed a splendid military force. A dozen large serpents, kept under control by several Parseltongue-speaking Death Eaters, lay coiled idly around the field. On the east flank of the army, four hundred Dementors stood in a phalanx formation. The west flank was held by Voldemort's newly invented cavalry—two thousand of the most athletic Death Eaters, riding centaurs and winged horses, armed with wand-tipped spears, suitable for casting spells or physically impaling flesh. In the center, Voldemort placed his dragons and hippogriffs, controlled either by Legilimency or by Imperius Curses. Those Death Eaters who were neither skilled at Legilimency, nor physically fit and used to handling animals, nor with any special abilities, were stuck as infantry, standing on either side of the dragons and hippogriffs. Armed with a wand in one hand and a sword in the other, they were the most formidable of wizard warriors yet conceived in the imagination of the wizarding world. In the rear, over two thousand House Elves, servants of noble families like the Malfoys, were shackled to carts hauling 200-pound boulders. Thrown by the strong hand of a dragon, these would be highly effective artillery, no worse than any Muggle trebuchet or catapult. To the left of the House Elves, two hundred and sixty-five acromantulas, recruited out of the Forbidden Forest, stood still on their many legs. On the right were three hundred mountain trolls, all armed with massive sticks and clubs; they had been difficult to find and control, but it was worth the effort.
It was the biggest concentration of military power ever to exist in the history of the wizarding world. The army's size was nearly a quarter of the entire wizarding population of the United Kingdom; many houses in Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and northern England were empty, with so many wizards and witches having been conscripted to the Dark Lord's service. Food and supplies sufficient to maintain so many people was very expensive indeed, and the salary demanded by the human troops added to the cost; most of Voldemort's few original followers were completely bankrupt. Paying thirty thousand individuals 45 Galleons per month in addition to weapons, uniforms, and nourishment was a heavy drain on the accumulated wealth of the noble Death Eater families.
At the gravestone, Voldemort was lecturing some of his more senior Death Eaters about the planned campaign they were to travel.
"We are now here," Voldemort pointed on the map, "The intended campaign will go like this. Today, we will move south to capture Hogwarts Castle. We'll leave a thousand men to garrison Hogwarts, then take the rest to Hogsmeade so that the word gets out about our attacks."
His subordinates stared blankly at him, not daring to ask why Voldemort wanted the rest of the Wizarding World to know about his return.
Voldemort, seeing their expressions, realized that he had impressed a bit too much fear upon his subordinates. It was just as well anyway; Voldemort preferred that fear of himself to persist, which made it much easier to control his followers. Of course, he was still proficient in Legilimency (and any magic that didn't require a wand) if he needed to coerce them, but that would be a lot of effort for him.
"We want the Ministry of Magic to learn of our presence before we actually capture it," Voldemort explained. "In order to not be completely idle, we'll take Hogsmeade before we march on the Ministry. They will probably surrender; in which case we will treat the people mercifully and invite them to join our forces. As we approach London, I'll send word to our supporters in the Ministry, and as we've arranged, they will reply with an offer to negotiate. The eventual deal is that they'll agree to accept the 'protection' of Lord Voldemort's army and we will then become the official military of the Ministry. The Aurors will be ordered to join us, and we'll kill any of them who refuse. Once we rule Britain, we can begin conquering other countries.
"Keep in mind that on our way to London, we will probably take many cities without a fight; be merciful to the inhabitants; do not allow the Dementors, trolls, and acromantulas to get out of hand! If we encounter resistance, then and only then will we use the cruelty for which we are widely known.
"That's all. Return to your divisions; we march for Hogwarts in fifteen minutes."
Lucius rolled the map up and put it back in his robe. All the senior Death Eaters bowed and apparated back to the particular troops whose command they had been assigned.
Fifteen minutes later, the Death Eaters, Dementors, acromantulas, House Elves, trolls, serpents, dragons, and hippogriffs were advancing in an unbroken line as far as the eye could see. School was in session at Hogwarts; it was not long before students and teachers alike noticed the line of people, with large green Dark Marks floating in the air, approaching the school.
An owl flew through an open window at the Ministry of Magic, throwing a rolled parchment on the office desk of the Minister of Magic, Amelia Bones. The owl perched on the windowsill while Amelia took up the paper and read it:
Please gather all the Aurors and send them to Hogwarts as quickly as possible. We are being approached by over twenty thousand Death Eaters. Make special provisions to fend off the dragons, hippogriffs, serpents, mountain trolls, and acromantulas which are being controlled by the Death Eaters. –Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster