1st November
It was a perfect night for an attack. The darkness was absolute with even the sliver of moon obscured by clouds. It was also raining. Not hard, but enough to drown out the popping sounds of wizards' apparating beside the darkened castle.
Harry was glad for the extra cover, not that the weather would help much in preventing their detection by magical means, but he felt anything tipping in their balance was a good thing for this raid.
He looked up at the dark bulk of the Scottish castle above them. It looked cold and forbidding. It seemed a fitting place for a meeting of murderous Death Eaters, he thought grimly.
"Harry!" He turned at Ginny's whispered shout.
There were seven of them in the team and they had apparated as close to the gates as possible, without setting off the castle's outer wards.
Besides himself and Ginny, there was also Hermione, Seamus, Angelina, Tonks and Kingsley Shacklebolt.
"Alright everyone," Hermione whispered, as they all huddled together "We think there is a small group of Death Eater leaders gathered here at Lucius Malfoy's instigation. Our intelligence has it that Malfoy is planning a major attack and is hoping to reveal his plans to his followers tonight. If we can apprehend these Death Eaters then we will have a major insight into their operations and possibly smash the Death Eater ring in Britain for good." Hermione paused to look at everyone in turn. "So I want them to be captured alive if at all possible."
As the Head of the Tactical Coordination Division in the Department of Aurors, Hermione was responsible for organising tonight's raid, and she eyed each of her team to make sure they were ready.
Her team returned her scrutiny solemnly. This raid was to be conducted on highly powerful Death Eaters and the consequences of failure were dire. Each member of the team knew they could be facing Death or worse, but they were all veterans of the War, and none of them faltered in their resolve.
There was another faint 'pop' from behind them and they turned as one, wands pointed at the newcomer. To Harry's surprise, Cho Chang emerged from the darkness, her dark hair plastered to her face from the rain.
He realized he hadn't seen her this close since their days at Hogwarts, despite her being also employed at the Ministry of Magic. He wasn't sure what status she had though, but he had the suspicion that she was an Unspeakable.
Cho approached the group, ignoring the wands directed at her, and not even sparing Harry a glance.
"He says they're all there and that you have five minutes to get inside before the wards become reactivated. They're in the library which is situated around the back of the castle, ground level, it has only one entrance." She reported.
He? Harry hadn't known they had a spy working inside, but he wasn't complaining if having a person undercover meant they could maintain their element of surprise until the last possible moment. Idly he wondered who it was. Surely Malfoy didn't trust Snape enough to allow him into his core? He had heard that while Snape was still a double agent for the Ministry, Lucius didn't have as much trust in him as Voldemort had. Consequently he hadn't been in any position to learn any really useful information.
"Did he say how many of them there are?" Hermione asked Cho quickly.
"He said he only had a glimpse so he doesn't know the exact number. But he thinks around five." Cho replied.
Hermione nodded and turned to her team. "All right. I want everyone to split up and converge upon the castle in small teams so as to not alert anyone. Angelina and Kingsley, you go around the castle and approach from the back. Seamus and Tonks, I want you to go from the North side. And Harry and Ginny, I want you to go in from the South side. Stun anyone you meet but do it quietly alright? We don't want to alert the Death Eaters to our presence unless we absolutely have to."
Everyone nodded. "What about you Hermione?" Harry asked her, concerned. Involuntarily his eyes strayed to her gloved hand, hidden under her robes. She had lost that hand in one of the many battles during the War and which now acted as a constant reminder why she was a more valuable agent off the field than on it.
She gave him a small smile. "I'll be waiting here with the Portkey and in case something goes wrong and we need back up. Cho will stay with me." She gave Cho a look who nodded, her face inscrutable.
Harry still felt uneasy but he nodded anyway. Hermione was still one of his best friends and he hated leaving her in potential danger.
There was a faint buzzing that they all felt. A moment later, Harry realized that the wards had been disabled. They now had clear access to the castle.
"Ok, everyone go quickly!" Hermione whispered in an urgent voice.
Wordlessly Seamus and Tonks disapparated, followed quickly by Angelina and Kingsley. Harry gave Ginny's hand a squeeze. She smiled back at him determinedly and they disapparated.
A moment later, they appeared in a little herb garden to the side of the castle. Leading the way, Harry made his way along the stony path up to the glass doors. He looked through; everything appeared to be dark and quiet. Ginny leaned around his shoulder; he could feel the warmth of her breath on his cheek.
"It doesn't look like anyone's in there. Let's go before the wards become reactivated." He whispered to her. She nodded. He muttered 'Alohomora' and the doors opened with a faint click.
They slipped inside. Ginny did a few quick detection spells and then mouthed "All clear." They hurried through several rooms. All deserted. Harry led the way hoping he was going in the right direction.
They met Seamus and Tonks in a hallway. Tonks also mouthed "All clear." They were soon joined by Angelina and Kinglsley who had gone the long way around.
They could hear voices coming from down the hall and they approached cautiously, wands ready. Harry was closest to the door and he signaled the others to wait as he pushed his ear against the door to listen. It seemed there was some sort of argument happening.
"…I'm just saying Lucius, you haven't shown us any proof that this key even exists and if you want us to continue to follow your lead, you'll have to give us some." A deep voice intoned.
"Gentlemen, I assure you that this key exists and I intend to get it." Harry heard Lucius Malfoy's drawl.
"How?" Another voice demanded. "You don't even know where this key is, let alone how to get it!"
"My dear Nott, I hope you are not doubting my abilities?" Malfoy's voice again, this time decidedly colder.
"Of course not Lucius," Nott's voice again, a degree of awkwardness in his words "It's just like Avery said, we need a bit more proof that this plan of yours will actually work if we want to keep what support we have. Already some of my men have expressed their doubts and I fear if they're not as committed to the cause then they will begin defecting to the other side."
"Then tell them if they defect then they will feel the full wrath of the Dark Lord when he rises again, for no one betrays the Dark Lord and escapes." A woman's voice this time. Harry's eyes widened as he recognized the person speaking. It was Bellatrix Lestrange, the woman who had tortured the Longbottoms into insanity and killed Sirius. He tightened his grip on his wand.
"Quite right my dear." Lucius' voice again "As for how to find the key I already-"
CRASH.
Harry whirled around to see Tonks wrestling with a large plant with silver tentacle like vines intent on trapping her.
Cursing, Harry yelled "NOW!" and dived through the door, rolling as he hit the floor. It was lucky he had dived as he felt the flash of blue light of a curse fly over him. He quickly scrambled to his feet casting two curses in quick succession before he'd even straightened properly.
There were seven of them.
Angelina had been stunned by the curse meant for him and she lay on the ground near the door. Seamus and Ginny had both apparated into the room, and were exchanging hexes with Nott, and Crabbe and Goyle Senior. Shacklebolt was engaged in a duel with Avery, leaving Harry with Lestrange, Malfoy and Pettigrew.
"Well well, how nice of you to drop in Mr. Potter." Malfoy drawled. He raised his wand but Harry dove behind a leather armchair and once again felt a curse fly over his head. A moment later he popped up and sent another two hexes over before ducking down again. He was rewarded with a grunt from Pettigrew.
A moment later, Tonks appeared next to him behind the chair. "H-Harry, I'm so sorry! The plant, it was a Devil's Snare!" She panted.
"It doesn't matter!" he shouted. Hexes were flying thick and fast. Tonks nodded and they both stood up at the same time, firing hexes and cursing as fast as they could while trying to dodge spells.
There were more 'popping' sounds and Harry inwardly groaned to see three more Death Eaters appear in the room. He cursed the inside agent for giving them a wrong estimate of numbers. They were now outnumbered two to one.
Then he realized who the newcomers were. It was Draco Malfoy, and Crabbe and Goyle Junior. They looked confused at the battle in progress. Without hesitation Harry sent a Bat Bogey hex at Draco who ducked, and hit Crabbe Jnr in the face instead. Harry caught a glimpse of Draco's unnaturally white face mottle in anger before he had to duck again to avoid another curse.
All of a sudden, Harry felt Ginny's white-hot rage sear through him followed by her shriek on the other side of the room an instant later. Glancing wildly around the room, Harry saw that she was standing protectively over Seamus' body throwing curse after curse at Nott, eyes blazing. Crabbe and Goyle Senior had both been incapacitated.
"Ginny!" Harry yelled, desperately trying to get around the room to reach her.
He saw that Shacklebolt was still engaged in the duel with Avery. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Angelina weakly fumbling at something in her robes. Pettigrew was moaning against a wall from Harry's curse and Tonks was trying to fend off both Malfoy and Lestrange.
Cursing again, Harry abandoned trying to reach Ginny.
Pointing his wand at Lestrange he shouted "Stupefy!" She deflected his curse with ease and turned to him, black eyes glittering.
"Potter." She purred. "How I've waited for a chance to finish the job I started last time."
Harry knew she was referring to the time he had faced her in the Ministry of Magic when he was still in his fifth year. The night that she had murdered Sirius. Anger surged through him again, this time his own.
"You will pay for spilling Sirius' blood!" He spat at her. She laughed, humourless and with an edge of insanity to it.
"I don't think so!" She hissed back at him.
They both cast spells at the same time.
"Avada-"
"Expelliarmus!"
Both of them missed, but only because Lestrange had been knocked over by a stray curse that Tonks was shooting at Malfoy. Harry moved to curse Lestrange again, but wasn't quick enough as with one last glare, Lestrange disapparated clutching her arm.
"Shit!" He swore. Furious at losing Lestrange, Harry momentarily let his guard down.
"Tre Dekavra!"
The curse hit him from behind.
Whirling he turned to see Pettigrew grinning maniacally, wand falling from his limp hand as blood soaked his robes.
Everything seemed to be leached of colour all of a sudden and Harry could feel a dense greyness closing over him.
"Harry!" He heard Ginny call. He couldn't decide whether he was hearing her voice in his head or not. He tried to call back to her but he found he didn't have the energy all of a sudden.
Someone pushed him down. He saw a flash of blond hair and a brilliant searing green light that went on and on.
"Wha-"
He found he couldn't struggle against the darkness anymore.