Chapter Twenty Six: The Best Defense
March 22nd
7:23am
Hogwarts, Scotland
Harry
Darkness engulfed him faster than he had expected, where it took him several tries to enter his magical core's chamber months ago, the first try did it these days. The familiar thrumming of the core reached his senses before anything else, then, the light of his magic leaving then returning to it. Today's session was purposeful though, a theory was to be tested and although proof of the theory had eluded him, he hoped today would be different.
This theory proposed a connection, a magical connection, to the horcrux inside of him. Therefore, he felt there would be some evidence of the connection with his magical core. He was certain the spirit that attacked him on Halloween was the horcrux given more life, that should mean he would find it hidden away somewhere in this chamber.
Harry strolled towards his core, tenderly running his hand along the pathways transmitting what made him special. He craned his neck upwards, inspecting the thousands of tendrils spiking outwards and thought, 'I can see how this experience could be deeply spiritual for someone. I hardly think there are more personal wonders in the world.'
A simple thought to begin floating lifted him off the ground and made him ascend at a leisurely pace. He dodged pulsing tendrils as he rose, sparing them each a glance before moving on. It didn't help that he wasn't exactly certain what he was looking for, he was certain he'd be able to spot the corruption if he saw it though.
'You'd think after a month I'd have found something by now,' he frustratedly figured as he continued to climb the chamber. 'The spirit seemed all too happy to attack me on Halloween, perhaps it's too cowardly to show itself without its annual power boost.'
His consciousness felt the temperature drop, or more accurately, the sensation of a shiver going down your spine. The hand he had left on one of the tendrils of his magic could not be pulled free as he tried to go higher to get a better view. He looked down and saw the same formless dark cloud, although only a small part of it, had snaked around his hand, holding him in place. It began to snake up his arm just as another part of it practically punched him in the chest. The force of the blow sent him spirally, weightlessly backwards towards his core, at the speed he was going he was going to hit the core directly. The consequences unknown, he balled up, trying to protect his more vital body parts and waited for the impact.
It never came. He was so close to the core that the thrumming of his magic was deafening when he felt a hand on his shoulder. The weird feeling of experiencing the sensation of someone there but not seeing them thrust him back into the real world where Daphne was crouched in front of him having succeeded in breaking his meditative trance.
"You alright?" she asked, "it looked like you were in pain."
Harry accepted the hand she offered to pull him to his feet. Madam Pomfrey had rid him of the cane three days ago but he was still unsteady on his knees, laying in bed for a month will do that to you.
"No more than expected," Harry replied, disguising his trauma with an attempt at humour. It didn't get past her, she'd seen what the damned shade could do on Halloween and every time he connected with his core it was a risk.
"No more meditations without me present," she ordered. He allowed himself a moment to take her in; black jeans and thermal vest and her hair in a tight bun. As much as he wanted to say something about her looks, their relationship seemed to still be on hold and in a moment of rare keen insight, he had realised something.
"Where's the fight?" he asked. Daphne seemed impressed enough that he caught on so quickly and merely indicated that he follow her. Whether he felt like he could fight or not was of no concern, what had to be done had to be done and by Merlin was he going to make sure of it.
March 22nd
7:43am
Ministry of Magic, London
Harry
"Vampires," Harry heard immediately as he stepped into the briefing room of the auror headquarters. The room was packed with men and women in deep red robes, most of not all of them wore serious looks on their faces. "The Dark Lord has been making small enquiries with this particular coven for months now. Today, he is sending a proper emissary to discuss terms with them."
Harry watched Rufus walk over to a board of parchment on the wall. On the parchment was a map, a forest of the excess of tree icons were anything to go by, with several clearing and a cave towards the middle.
The minister pointed a finger at a clearing and continued, "we have intel suggesting that three death eaters will meet with three vampires in this clearing in fifteen minutes. It is in our best interest that this coalition is ancient history before it has a chance to begin. Kingsley will be running point but each squad will have a senior auror leading theme when the battle begins. No rules of engagement, is that clear?"
Grim nods went all around the room as many of them of the same mind; the only good vampire is a dead one. Whilst Harry would be more inclined to disagree, treating with Voldemort made them enemies.
"Good," Scrimengour said as he saw his auror's determination. This was also when he had noticed Harry and Daphne's presence as he caught Harry's eye. "Go, prepare with your squads, orders are on the operations board."
The aurors dispersed to gear up properly and await deployment. As they filed out of the room, some of them gave the pair of them nods of respect or appraising looks. Of course, the opposite was the same, men and women he didn't know sneered at them as they walked past. Moody and Tonks didn't stop to chat but they did give a knowing look and Tonks went so far as to wink which Harry found amusing.
"Did you catch all that?" Scrimengour asked from the front of the room.
Harry and Daphne walked further into the room and Harry replied, "vampire and death eaters, shoot to kill."
Scrimengour rested his palms on the little podium at the front of the room for presenting and confessed, "I won't sugar-coat this, by breaking this up with force, we could be driving the vampires into Voldemort's arms."
Daphne leaned on a desk and suggested, "why not make it look like a death eater attack then? Disguise your aurors as death eaters and have them ambush the vampires. Then, the vampires will surely not assist Voldemort and they could even offer us their numbers."
It was a good suggestion, deception to the highest degree but certainly doable. "Were it so easy," Scrimengour replied. "What you suggest goes against the laws of warfare decided upon by the I.C.W."
"And the Mungo's Massacre wasn't against them?" Harry asked incredulously.
"If Voldemort was the established ministry, we'd be sanctioned back into the Stone Age. No food, no trade, no migration and no contact. Essentially, they'd place a bubble over us and let us kill ourselves. As it stands, Voldemort is still simply a terrorist in the eyes of the international community, to some degree he's allowed to break the rules in their minds," Scrimengour explained bitterly.
"Okay then, so on to fight a lose lose battle?" Harry prompted with a similar tone.
'What a waste of time, he could've made our job harder without us.'
"So it seems," Scrimengour replied. "You two will be with me again, we shouldn't be needed but as you have no doubt come to understand, things do not go to plan in battle."
'That's putting it lightly,' Harry remarked internally, Ron's accusatory gaze flashing in his mind momentarily forcing him to squash the rage that swelled up.
A hand took his own and his view was dominated by Daphne's face, a calming effect if there ever was one. "Are you up for this?" she whispered, "you told me even the thought of violence will set it off."
Harry wasn't sure himself, but if Scrimengour was right, he shouldn't have to fight anyway. "I honestly don't know. If it comes to violence, I'll just focus on protecting you, no aggression." Harry sighed and tagged on earnestly, "if you believe I'm no longer me, get me out of there, no matter what I say or do."
Daphne searched his eyes for uncertainty before letting go of his hand and nodding. He followed her out to the deployment zone, a large room with a circular rope in the centre. A portkey, for the twenty odd aurors on assignment together today. The room was already full of the aurors and the minister who were waiting on Harry and Daphne to arrive before they picked up the rope.
"Good luck my friends," the minister bid as he picked up the rope last, "and good hunting." The large room was left completely empty as a good chunk of the auror force and the leaders of magical Britain disappeared.
March 22nd
7:58am
Derwing Woods, Smarden
Harry
The large group landed on the outskirts of a forest at the beginning of a dirt track. The fog of the morning still hadn't risen, creating a low visibility environment for this operation. Harry gave Daphne a look of uncertainty, this wasn't a great start.
"Derwing forest," Scrimengour commented, mistaking the reason for Harry's apprehension. "For centuries the muggles thought it was haunted, even guessed vampires as the culprits… perhaps they're more observant than we realise."
"I doubt the ones who found out knew for very long," Harry remarked.
Scrimengour gave him only a sideways glance before barking orders. "You know your positions! Spread out and wait for Kingsley's signal!" The aurors waded into the forest in a loose semicircle, the fog swallowing them from Harry's view in mere moments.
Scimengour walked over to Harry and Daphne with his auror escort, Dawlish, who had his wand in an active 'point me' spell. "Come," Scrimengour beckoned, "we are to follow behind Kingsley's team."
Dawlish led on, only a minute after the auror force, as the rest of their party made their own entry into the fog. The sounds of the forest were of no help in navigation, the air was still and only the sounds of the dirt beneath their feet proved that life was present.
They walked for only a few moments until Dawlish told them to stop and pointed in front of them. Harry could just make out the figures of four humanoids crouching in behind a fallen tree trunk. Dawlish led them to the right and the four of them crouched low next to Kingsley's team. Where they had ended up was a small rise that looked over the large clearing from the briefing.
The death eaters were already there, three men in black cloaks standing in the centre of the clearing looking around nervously. Harry was proud of himself for keeping his cool when confronted with the fanatic followers of his prophesied enemy and was surprisingly content with allowing others to have the chance to take them down.
'I can barely bloody see the bastards though,' Harry thought before raising his wand to his eyes and hissed, 'sedisebris.'
He watched the yellow outline of the leader, a portly man, step forward away from their position. Movement from the other side of the clearing, another rise, caught his attention. The outline of this being was humanoid as well, but it was an even darker blue than its surroundings.
'A vampire then,' he surmised, 'being an undead creature, I guess that makes sense.'
"Prince Llewellyn, my Lord sends his regards and thanks you for leaving the safety of your home to meet us," the lead death eater started, already kissing the royal vampire's arse.
"This is our home, wizard," the Prince retorted harshly. His voice carried unnaturally across the air and felt like a sharp stab in Harry's ears when it reached him. "Just because your kind has driven us from it does not mean we have forgotten where we came from, we vampires… have long memories."
The lead man put his hands behind his back and it was at this moment Harry had to do a double take. One of the hands was dark blue, cold, like the vampires. There were fingers though, the whole hand was there which served to baffle him further.
"That is true," the enigma continued, "but it can easily be returned to you. Swear your allegiance to our Lord and you will be gifted back the entire forest and the surrounding lands to hunt the muggle infestation."
"A generous gift," another voice spoke, deeper than the other two but had the same effect as the Prince's. Harry flicked his eyes back to where the Prince was and saw another figure walk up next to him, then another and another. Some fifteen figures now surrounded the Prince, and Harry found his earlier apprehension return. "A generous gift indeed, but can it be trusted?"
"Are you calling our Lord a liar?" one of the men behind the leader shouted.
A low hiss rose into the air and Harry saw some of the aurors to the right of him shift uncomfortably. They were in enemy territory now, and not the kind of enemy who would leave you alive to question you.
"What is your Lord to a Prince? A King?" the stronger voice spoke again.
"Munson, peace," the Prince commanded. The figure to the Prince's right took a step back and lowered his head. "You promise much," Llewellyn said, addressing the death eaters again, "and yet you break the conditions of our meeting."
The two death eaters behind the leader looked at each other confusedly as the lead man spoke, "we have come with a three-man envoy, as agreed, and arrived early. I fail to see how we broke faith with the Derwing Clan."
Harry heard Kingsley pass a message down the line to prepare themselves and Harry felt that was a good call. 'Tensions are rising, if we want any of these death eaters for our cells, or dead, then we're going to have to act soon.'
"Three-man envoy? Then tell me Mr Pettigrew, why do I smell the stench of wizard magic in the air, more than three of you could be producing," the Prince asked viciously.
'Pettigrew? For fuck's sake, the one time I can't tear him apart. It's probably a good thing, taking him alive could prove very useful.' Harry turned to Daphne to see if she was thinking what he was but all he saw was her looking at him in concern. "Don't worry, as much as I hate the rat, I've got it under control," he whispered, "try and take him alive."
She nodded and turned back to the clearing where the death eaters had pulled their wands and taken a defensive stance. "I assure you Prince Llewellyn, we have come alone," Pettigrew tried again. The air was still, no side moved, no side made a sound, until the Prince of the Derwing Clan raised his arm and pointed it at Pettigrew.
"That one lives. The rest… feast my friends."
Pettigrew twisted and disappeared on the spot, just as a dozen men in dark brown robes apparated into the clearing. Kingsley's blasting curse at the new arrivals signalled the aurors to join the fight as the men and women around Harry stood and began firing curses at the vampires and the death eaters' allies.
Three vampires went down, Harry saw, and one of them was the Prince. A scream of defiance rose form the other side of the clearing, and figures lept from trees, rocks, from behind tall grass and over shrubbery into both the death eaters and the ministry contingent.
A pale yellow curse made itself known by narrowly missing an auror in front of Harry which he barely redirected into a tree behind him, the tree dissolving before his very eyes. Despite the near miss, Harry was thankful for it, for it allowed him to see another half dozen Vampires rushing the auror position from behind.
"Daphne!" he shouted needlessly as she was right next to him. She turned around and saw the approaching enemies, eyes widening at the pure reckless abandon in their sunken eyes. They looked positively feral which made them that much more dangerous.
Daphne stepped forward purposefully, slashed and flicked her wand quickly and watched in appreciation as her magic obeyed her commands. The branches of trees around the advancing vampires shot out violently, impaling three of the six opponents and killing them instantly.
Harry itched to join the fight and help her but when she felled another one with a well placed cutting curse his nagging need to be involved lessened slightly. Even then, he tapped his finger against the holly wand in his hand impatiently as he turned around to see the situation in the clearing.
Only four mercenaries remained as they had to fight on two fronts with a height disadvantage. The four that still stood seemed extremely competent though, working well in a defensive formation, deflecting and outright blocking most attacks. Even the vampires found it too difficult to break their formation so instead had turned their attention to the aurors on the rise. Vampires were assaulting the auror force on either side and Harry thought he saw a flash of red robes lying on the floor to his far right.
"Cretin," he heard Daphne say and he turned to see her decapitate the last vampire that had flanked them. With the final one dead, she returned to the firing line and assisted the others in trying to wear down the mercenaries.
A scream of pain to his right brought the deterioration of the right squads to his attention. They too had been flanked by vampires but in a force much stronger than a half dozen. Twenty of the dark creatures were getting much too close to the centre as another auror fell to the Derwing clan.
Close to his left an auror flew through the air and landed with a meaty thud against a tree just behind them. 'Dammit, Dawlish must've gotten caught by a counterattack.' With that thought, Harry checked the mercenaries again and saw they were trying to advance through the wedge they had created in Dawlish's place. With much of the right squads focusing on keeping the vampires at bay it was only Kingsley's and one other's trying to penetrate the mercenary survivor's defences.
"Potter, stop dicking around! Get in here!" he heard from the minister who was joining the effort to pin down the men. Harry ignored him for the most part, trying to weigh up the consequences of such an action.
'I could maybe keep it under control enough to turn the tide and have Daphne discretely stun me… but then I couldn't defend myself if someone breaks through the line. Maybe we sound the retreat, there's not much to be gained from—"
Harry's thoughts were interrupted by a loud screech in the fog behind them. He whipped around and saw the silhouettes of vampires, three, five, ten, more than he could swiftly count. The reinforcements of Derwing forest were mounting a counter offensive the likes of which the aurors were not prepared to repel. As a final reassurance, Harry turned to Daphne and caught her eyes. They told him all he needed to know, she would keep horcrux Harry in check, no matter what.
He steeled himself for the briefest of moments, not for the fight with the vampires but the one inside and allowed the side of himself that he'd been suppressing for months to rise once more. Then, his wand flowed, weaving stones into wooden stakes and propelling them at the oncoming force, ending the centuries long lives of four vampires.
The hatred for the creatures he slew grew as he drew his knife and stabbed upwards into the mouth and brain of one that came too close. Absentmindedly noting that the blood like liquid oozing from the being's mouth was freezing to touch on his fingers.
He wrenched the blade free and whipped his wand across his body, an arc of bright orange flame simultaneously knocking back and setting alight three vampires to his right. They screamed in that same ear piercing voice as the Prince's and Munson's.
But Harry paid it no mind as two more leapt at him from the mist. Their flight time was unnatural and horribly telegraphed. He used this to his advantage by rolling forward and past the trajectory of the creatures. As he got back to his feet he turned and used the same trick as Daphne had before, transfiguring branches by elongating them to impale the foolish vampires.
He turned his attention to the remaining vampires, seven stood in a semi circle around him, each of them questioning if their pseudo immortality was any better than their peers that laid dead around Harry. The fighting sounded fierce behind him, but Harry fixed his gaze on each of his remaining attackers.
One of them, a burly looking vampire despite the gaunt facial features, looked entranced in a blood thirsty rage. He huffed and puffed, pinning Harry with a menacing stare.
"Munson," one of the more nervous vampires whisper-shouted, "we should withdraw and protect the King."
"No," Harry interjected, taking his eyes off of Munson to address the group, "you who would make allies of rapists and murderers, you don't get to live. I will not let you leave."
March 22nd
8:23am
Derwing Forest, Smarden
Daphne
"… I will not let you leave."
Hearing that behind her filled her with confidence. If Harry had that well in hand then all that was left was to fix the shambles of an ambush. A glance to the right saw the nearly endless wave of vampires rushing the auror, Proudfoot's, squad. Already the senior auror had lost two of his squad members and the two left had to link up with Moody's squad.
Moody was coordinating attacks well, keeping the assault ongoing but the vampires kept exerting pressure on the aurors simply through sheer numbers and speed. They dodged spells like nothing she'd ever seen before so Moody had adapted and started using area of effect spells and the environment to trip them up.
The mercenaries in the centre presented the larger threat though. Small in number they were but their lethality was much higher than the vampires. Already senior auror Dawlish was down as well as two of Kingsley's squad, only Tonks remained on the leader of the assault's team. Next to them, senior auror Robards had managed to maintain his whole squad in the fight, having not been attacked by vampires and effectively repelling any counter attacks from the reinforcements in the clearing.
Removing the mercenaries from the picture was much easier said than done. The men worked seamlessly as a defensive unit, only dropping shields when swiftly launching a counterattack. So far, the frontal assault had proved ineffective, and she couldn't make out any hints of the men tiring behind their strong shields.
"King, it's no use! The buggers won't give! We need to get men around them," she heard from a frustrated Tonks beside her.
"If we split up and get attacked like the right flank, we'll be overrun in seconds. The anti-apparition wards would keep us just as trapped as those men down there," Shacklebolt replied in a tired voice. The big man was sweating profusely having had to put in more work for his squad and keep the wards up.
'Anti-apparition wards… damned double edge swords.' Tonks' idea had merit, if you can't go through it then go around it but there was always a third option.
"Drop the wards," she told Kingsley.
"Are you mad?" Kingsley asked incredulously, "If I drop them for even a second and they could escape! We'd have nothing to show for our fallen comrades."
"All you'll have is fallen comrades if you don't drop them," Daphne retorted hotly. Pointing to the mercenaries she continued, "if they break through our line before we break their defences, then the whole right flank could be caught between them and the vampires."
Kingsley glanced at the slowly advancing shield wall and back at the right flank that was being pushed back more by the minute. "I'll drop them," he agreed hesitantly, "but I'm going to begin casting it again the second I do. You'll have fifteen seconds to do whatever it is you're thinking."
"Good, I'll tell you when," Daphne intoned seriously. "Tonks, I'll need you to watch me and prepare to cast arresto momentum, got it?" The dreary haired metamorphmagus nodded and returned to firing on the shield wall whilst Daphne prepared.
'This isn't one of my most Slytherin plans, reckless one might say, but one can never accuse me of not being resourceful,' she mused internally whilst directing her wand to a tree behind the mercenaries and closed her eyes. Her wand twisted and she pulled her arm back towards herself. The tree bent, as if it was made of rubber not wood, whereby the tip of the tree hung about six metres over the mercenary remnants.
"Now!" she called out, not giving the mercenaries a moment to react to her battlefield manipulations. Daphne focused on the oddly shaped tree and twisted on the spot, reappearing at the apex of the curved trunk, directly above the mercenaries.
She had to balance herself before she could even think about offensive spells, her left foot slipping off of the narrow peak. Her small gasp of surprise was enough to notify her adversaries below, who, to their credit, immediately trained their wands upwards. Trusting in Tonks' spell work, Daphne did, in turn, point her wand downwards and fired off three blasting curses as they sent two cutting curses upwards.
Her spells rang true, breaking the mercenary block and sowing discord in their ranks. However, the cutting curse, whilst missing her, still cut through the tree branch and sent her plummeting to the forest floor. Six metres, four metres, two metres, her body fell, then an invisible force caught her roughly but somehow comfortably at the same time then unceremoniously dropped her the final small distance to the floor safely.
The dust was clearing as Daphne rose from the dirt. She watched one of the men disapparate just before she felt the wards return. That was fine, she still had three left to incapacitate and that she did. The remaining three were in various states of injury and she found them all on the floor unconscious or in serious pain. One had lost half of his wand hand and another's shoulder was seared badly.
"You all good?" Tonks shouted down into the clearing.
Daphne looked up and found she couldn't even see the rise with all of the dust and fog. "They're down, go help Moody!"
An unintelligible affirmative from Tonks had Daphne confirming the incapacitation of the mercenaries by tying them up and the absence of escape by attempting to summon their portkeys and burning their wands.
'No portkeys means these fools were underestimating the strength of vampires and the possibility of a trap. Not very tactically sound mister… Giant's Fist.' Her inspections of their garbs and insignia made the credibility she lent the minister's future intel rise.
Her investigations were halted when a body came flying into the clearing and landed about five metres to her left. At first she feared Harry had let some through and she was going to find another auror dead but the body wasn't dressed like an auror and the fangs it bared as it sat up in pain had her raising her wand immediately.
There was no need though, the vampire was thrown back to the floor by a hard invisible force, roots bursting from the ground to pin it down. The creature snarled and broke free from one of them only for more to take the broken restraint's place.
She turned around as she heard a loud crunch of sticks and leaves behind her to see Harry had dropped into the clearing. He was enraged, which did not bode well for the vampire, an angry bleeding cut down his face pointed to the reason for such a mood. He stalked towards his opponent, completely ignoring her as he walked past, and banished the vampire into the dirt a final time.
"Do you regret throwing in your lot with your cowardly Prince?" Harry asked in a voice not his own.
"My only regret," the vampire bit out as Harry dug his boot into the struggling arm below him, "is not aiming an inch or two lower and ripping your filthy neck apart."
'No fear in the face of death, such devotion is rare,' Daphne thought before turning her attention back to Harry. He didn't look happy with his opponent's defiance; a snarl had risen in his throat as his lips curled in disgust.
What he did next had her turning away and covering her eyes, a lumos maxima from Harry's wand made looking at him impossible. In the absence of the sun, Harry had decided to burn the vampire with the next best thing. To make things worse, the horrific screams of the vampire below him served to fuel the haunted stories of the forest as the sound carried for kilometres. The scream felt like her ears were being stabbed repeatedly and she had a suspicion that her eardrums were burst by the tortured wails.
Only when she had decided to put a stop to it did she realise she had fallen to her knees. She rose to her feet with her hands covering her ears and her eyes practically welded shut and put one foot in front of the other to where she remembered the two were.
With each step the screeching turned hollower and coarser as the vampire's vocal chords protested the effort. The bright orange she could see from behind her eyelids grew in intensity as she got closer too. The journey was only a handful of steps but felt like she was climbing a steep mountain.
"Your new lord will accept your fealty now, swear yourself… to me," she heard Harry say somewhere to her close left. 'New lord? That doesn't sound like Harry at all. Neither does cruelty for cruelty's sake. This isn't Harry anymore,' she deduced.
She stepped wide to her left and took a peek in front of her. She was now behind Harry and his body created a barrier from the light. The vampire's legs were thrashing below him, and she had no desire to see the state of the dark creature's face.
'Sorry Harry but you asked for this,' she thought as she levelled her wand at his back and cast a stupefy. Harry fell in a slump beside the vampire and both the light and the screams stopped in an instant. She rushed forward in case the vampire had the strength to retaliate but that would never be the case for this one in particular.
The right side of his face, chest and arm were burnt beyond recognition. Her surprise at the effectiveness of Harry's light spell was turned into pity when she saw the pleading look the vampire's remaining eye was giving her. Prolonging the creature's pain was not necessary so she decapitated it swiftly before turning her attention to Harry.
She found herself treating him the same as the mercenaries, removing his wand and portkey home from his possessions and stunning him again for precaution. Discreetly of course, the light show was already something she was racking her brain to find an explanation for.
Speaking of, "Greengrass!" she heard from behind. She turned and saw the minister enter the clearing with Kingsley and Moody. Moody seemed to have more scars to add to the collection on his arms and the minister's mane of hair was wilder than ever. "Are the prisoners secure?"
"They're all yours, minister," Daphne spoke with a tone of respect. Trying to get out of there with Harry as quickly as possible.
"I'll get the lads to sing," Moody volunteered, with a sly nod to Daphne as he made for the three men lying in the dirt behind her.
"What happened to him?" Scrimengeour asked, nodding to the stunned Harry.
"The fight with that one took a lot out of him, most of his spells were not having an effect," she lied, "the light spell was stupidly overpowered but was the only thing to put the thing down." Scrimengour didn't smell the lie,
"Overpowered or not it sent the horde running and your help with the mercenaries was superb," he complimented. Daphne liked the recognition and smiled politely. Scrimengour walked forward and shook her hand, "we'll handle the clean-up, you get yourselves patched up."
"Thank you minister," she replied and turned around. She had to get Harry back, both to the chateau and inside his own mind.
March 24th
9:23pm
Hogwarts, Scotland
Daphne
The door for the room of requirement slammed open, Harry Potter emerged from the dark Hogwarts halls. An entire day of meditation in a place he wouldn't divulge had seemingly returned him to his original state, to Harry. The scar that ran down his eyebrow and cheek was still bright red and angry, a vicious reminder of the vampire Munson's ferocity.
"Send word to your father," Harry said with an air of resolve.
'He's made his mind up about something and the decision he came to wasn't one he liked,' she tho8ght, recognising the way he spoke. "And what shall this message entail?"
"An invitation to all our allies. I'm holding a meeting with everyone, it's time we got organised and determined a real purpose, one they can rally behind should I… well you know."
It was a good idea, bringing everyone together and giving them clear instructions on how to help fight back. Of course, she didn't appreciate the failed tag on at the end but planning for every eventuality was important. With an acquired quill and parchment in front of them, they drafted an invitation to a quasi-legal meeting for the good of their world.
A/N: Bloody hell this took ages to finish. I got to the end of Harry's decent and couldn't for the life of me find the motivation to finish the chapter. We got there in the end though, 5750 words for your entertainment and my fulfilment.
This chapter snuck up on me, I thought that it came a little bit later on but now that we're here it fits nicely. The core scene's main purpose was to establish the shade as the dark lord's spirit and it being somewhat sentient. It can, to a degree, understand the world around it and now, through Harry, influence it.
We've got the minister calling on Harry at what some would say unlucky and others lucky (namely Harry) time. It was fun to play around with the vampires and breathe life into such minor characters. The Prince, a staunch being with a great connection to his ancestral lands, lands that have been ripped from them by wizards. Munson, the faithful bodyguard, ready to defend his royal family to the death. The Prince will make a return, Munson wont though (obviously).
Harry taking more of a backseat felt odd to the right at first. Usually one to take the fight to his enemies, it felt weird to have him be a useless bystander, an observer of the conflict. But, Daphne being there made it easier I feel, if he's got a solid reason, like keeping a grip on the horcrux, entrusting Daphne with his life did seem natural for Harry. Once I thought of it like that, it all flowed out.
Of course, that trust became obsolete when the vampires attacked in force. Making the enemies in that clearing competent and overwhelming i think rose the stake quite well - which you guys will be the judge of. Lots of nameless auror deaths, lots of mercenary deaths and certainly lots of vampire deaths. All of these losses are important in establishing other character's motives but may feel a bit empty now.
The three-way free for all was also an interesting thing to bring to life. No side helping the other but rather everyone trying to win against the other two for their own reasons. The vampires want the treacherous wizards dead, the mercenaries just want to cover their own escape and the ministry want to capture the mercenaries. Each side complicates matters for the others which I thought was cool
Harry's decision definitely took some convincing. To weigh the lives of the people there and the people a second Voldemort would kill took some time but when the inevitable came what more could you do? You'll have noticed that i power up Harry when he's losing his grip on the horcrux, all will be explained in due time but for now just enjoy OP merciless Harry against nameless victims.
Next chapter we've got a summit, lots of peeps lots of words, strap yourself in for a relatively calmer chapter
Hope you all enjoyed :)
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