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An Old and New World
by Lens of Sanity
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Chapter Nineteen: The City of the Dead
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A tired group approached the final ward, the one preventing any who did not hold Voldemort's Dark Mark from crossing, and the last defence before entering the City of the Dead's outskirts. "Let's backtrack half a mile and set up camp," Harry declared. "It'll be best to do this after a bit of rest anyway."
Surprisingly an over one-hundred decibel rendition of shred metal, numerous large explosions, and the enormous conclave of magical energy undoubtedly released during the battle, did not negate the fact that this was a stealthy, infiltration mission.
No doubt there were magicals both sensitive enough and near enough to have felt something had happened, however Albus' first job once Harry had joined battle with the creature, had been to set up beefy silencing wardlines with Hermione. Not to keep noise out, but to prevent it from escaping.
Nevertheless it was really only a matter of time before the Death Eater's—or whoever they did send—pinned down the location. Luckily not long after the Jabberwock died, it sort of melted down, becoming part of the mossy ground. If you knew what you were looking at, you would be able to recognise the small hillock as the corpse of a monster, but simply passing over the site would probably not be enough for identification.
For the time being their enemies should simply assume that whatever happened had been unsuccessful, and that the Jabberwock was still alive wandering around somewhere. So now the seven were setting up a small encampment, beneath powerfully cast temporary wards, obfuscation, and anti-scrying.
"I accidently brought only four sleeping bags so some of us are going to have to share," commented Harry, his voice surprised. "I say let the old man and the filthy dog keep their own. Sadly Tam, that means you're going to have to share with Hermione."
Turning to Fleur with an innocent expression on his face, he saw her glaring at him for some reason. The French woman lifted her wand to the side, and simply conjured a spare sleeping bag. Lifting an eyebrow pointedly at him, Harry tried to play if off as not having thought of that. Which was ridiculous in the extreme seeing as Padfoot was in the process of setting up the beer tent.
Truly, honest to the gods, and by the names of Meave, Merlin, and Morgana, camping was made a totally different experience by magic. The vast majority of Muggles on camping trips did not have access to a beer tent, as far as Harry understood things, having never in fact experienced it himself.
It did not take very long at all before everyone was nice and relaxed around the enormous bonfire, listening to a mellow but singularly complex piece of music let loose from Luna's fingertips. All counterpointed melodies and abstract scale selection. Listening made Harry wish he knew more about music in general, for no other reason than to appreciate what he was listening to, but could not really hear.
Taking a reinforced bag from one of the supply boxes, Harry removed a small selection of simple bread products. They had been purchased from a particular bakery in the castle-town of Carcassonne in the south of France a few days before, and kept fresh using a Keeping. Negligently tossing them to his platinum companion Harry went back over by Sirius, and to under appreciating the music.
He didn't bother to look back for Fleur's reaction.
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In Tonks' opinion her Aunt Bellatrix was nothing if not a terrible actress. Given that she was an astute observer of human mannerisms—due to the desire to get the most from her innate skills as a metamorphmagus—this might not be saying much. Yet when she thought her aunt was terrible actress, Tonks was still quite confident that it wasn't her practiced eye alone which was making her think this.
She'd never seen Professor Dumbledore carry himself with that kind of predatory laze. A slouching menace which screamed to pray, that the relaxed nature of its carriage was brought from certain knowledge, nothing could be in the vicinity which could possibly do it harm.
Don't get her wrong, Headmaster Dumbledore could command an air of danger when in the heat of battle, but it was nothing at all like watching her aunt wearing his form. That was it! It was as though he wanted to be attacked—was begging for it even—so his superiority could be displayed to anyone foolish enough to offer him challenge.
Or in this case her, because it was really Bellatrix Black under polyjuice, and not Albus Dumbledore.
Aunt Bellatrix was a terrible actress.
Tonks would have been infinitely more believable had she been allowed to play his part.
Tonks sighed audibly. Unfortunately, as skilled with a wand as she was, Tonks was only a year out of the Auror Academy. Anyone attacking "Albus Dumbledore" would doubtlessly go all out from the first spell, or try to catch him unawares. In those circumstances, Tonks would have to admit she'd die very quickly, whereas the woman who her mother had told such terrifying tales, would not.
She was walking down the street with Bellatrix frickin' Lestrange!
That fact still shocked her when it shot through her mind. This was the woman she used to have nightmares about, the monster under the bed which would come out and gobble up little girls who were bad and didn't eat their vegetables. It was all the kid's doing of course. The Boy‑Who‑Lived, what an arrogant prick he'd turned out to be, once she'd received the dubious "honour" of meeting him.
When they'd met he'd flatly refused to call her anything but her loathed first name. In fact it was worse than that. It was more like he was affronted someone like her would have the audacity to demand such consideration, as if a small child had insisted he call them "Sir" rather than their name.
Things had come to a head when she'd overheard that comment about her being a one-woman Polyjuice Brothel, and someone's sternum may have needed to be Vanished and re-grown. But the upshot was that the Boy‑Who‑Lived had eventually started treating her like a real person. Well Harry had at any rate, he seemed to hate Boy‑Who‑Lived more than the Death Eaters.
He was alright actually. He'd gotten her a massive pay-grade increase totally out of nowhere. Tonks would never have seen that one coming in a million years, the kid barely even knew her, and yet when he forced the Ministry to give in to his demands, she was one of the few he'd thought to get something for. And yeah, her new apartment; it rocked!
Pure and simple.
Passing a small group on Hogsmeade's main street Tonks came to a sudden realisation; in Harry's world you were either a real person, and he could torture you right up to your breaking point before he did something annoyingly thoughtful and endearing. Or you were not a real person, and didn't really count as having thoughts or feelings of your own.
Tonks eyes widened.
She was on the inside!
Bloody hell. Harry talked to Albus Dumbledore like an equal, to Minister Scrimgeour like he were a stray dog, and to the Dark Lord as if he were nothing more than a minor irritation. That realisation was important, it had to be. Frickin' hell, rumour had it that Harry'd cut off Scrimgeour's hand, then ransomed it back to him!
Seeing the poorly hidden group spring their quote, unquote "Ambush" Tonks let fly her opening volley of jinxes, side by side with Bellatrix Lestrange.
When exactly had her life turned so strange?
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Fleur can be so much fun.
Harry graced the world with a secret smile as the group was getting ready to set off.
Fleur and he had talked a little but nothing really happened. There had been this one moment where he'd leaned in as if to kiss her, Fleur frozen in vacillation and looking like a dear in headlights. Only, instead of doing so he'd softly whispered "Goodnight" right next to her ear, a soft claiming of her scent... then disengaged back to his tent.
Harry had noticed her glowing softly out the corner of his eye. She'd probably spent the six hours of resting time beating herself up about that. Fleur could be so much fun, and understanding what a glowing Veela was feeling made her situation all the more amusing.
It was a little after four in the morning, and walking back through the dense forest Harry cheerfully rounded on Luna "What happened to her?"
"Oh for heaven's sake Harry, I am not a hack Seer you know. My purpose is not to read your tealeaves and tell you your future," she complained in annoyance. "That future does not, and will never exist, in any form. So what on earth could it possibly matter?"
"Come on," the raven haired boy chided as the two loose groups headed for the final ward. "I'm curious. I bet she went down taking out a hundred Death Eater's in a blaze of awesomest glory or something. A big finish like in a story!"
"You'd lose that bet." Luna muttered. Noting that Harry probably wasn't going to let this drop she sighed. "We believed she had been killed when the French Ministry capitulated to Voldemort, but she hadn't. Fleur reappeared a year and a half later married to the Earl of the North, which was the title given to the de facto ruler of the Northern Prefecture."
Harry frowned but waved her to go on.
"The United Kingdom, France, Germany and so on, were all reorganised into the Northern territory. That was the region with the greatest prestige, due to it being the place in which the City of the Dead is located, and where the Dark Lord spends most of his time. What I am saying is that your darling Fleur Delacour was married to one of the most powerful men in the world."
"Who?" Harry asked with a sinking feeling he wasn't going to like this.
"Oh have a friggin' guess why don't you?" Luna demanded in annoyance. Seeing her friend just looking back at her dumbly, the two approached the boundary and drank their Essence of Snape potion, so she finished. "Who do you think Countess Malfoy was married to you idiot!"
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Hitting a masked Death Eater with a Cut & Crush Auror special, Tonks managed to spin back and get a full view of Dumbeletrix taking down four enemies at once. It was August twenty‑second, and information about the Dark Lord's movements indicated he would be well out of the country, attempting to make inroads with a Death Eater from the old days named Karkaroff. The man seemed to have a foothold at Durmstrang, and was bartering it in exchange for not getting horribly murdered for tossing a bunch of his associates to the wolves.
The world knew Harry was alive again thanks to his showing up at the Summer Wizengamot meeting and acting surprised when people claimed they'd been to his funeral. However this appeared not to have altered Voldemort's plans for Europe, so they were using this morning as a distraction.
With the real Dumbledore accompanying Harry on whatever secret mission they were undertaking, the decision had been made to leak this early morning trip to the Death Eaters, so that their numbers would be lessened wherever the other mission was taking place.
Tonks was betting on it being the City of the Dead, just like pretty much anybody with a brain, but she could be wrong. Malfoy Manor was a big target after all, even if there was still no actionable evidence the Malfoys had joined the Dark Lord.
The downside of the plan was that it was being leaked through Snape, and the man's cover might be blown if the Dark Lord concluded it was a misdirection the Potions Master should have seen through. By risking Snape's position amongst the Death Eaters in this way, meant whatever the distraction was for, had to be important.
Incanting a Hit-Wizard grade lightning hex nicknamed The Shocker, Tonks attempted to fight the grin which always tried to make itself known whenever she used that spell. Tonks loved the shocker after all. It took off the silver mask being worn by one of the new recruits, and Tonks noticed with surprise that she knew the young woman. She'd been a Ravenclaw in the year above her, and had definitely joined up with those "Emilie" people.
The implication of course being that "the Lockheart Legion" was nothing but a recruitment organisation for the Death Eaters, as the Order had suspected.
Pushing the realisation aside the metamorphmagus took in that Aunt Bellatrix's polyjuice potion was wearing off, and she was trading shots with a mountain of a man holding a broadsword in his off-hand. She linked up with Mad-Eye and three other members of Team Tiger, and then set about dealing with the weaker members and stragglers.
A reversed ambush truly did put the initiative on those being attacked, given that so few members of the Order had been taken out of the fight. Bill Weasley had taken a Dark Stunner and would be out for a while, but the man would be fine. The rest were finishing up a prisoner binding process, and Tonks moved back over to the single battle which was still going strong.
Bellatrix was taunting what could only be one of those "Founder" guys, using a baby voice of all things. Damn it was creepy hearing her talk about how she was going to eat the man's children when using that tone. She seemed to perhaps be a little outmatched by the man, however once he noticed reinforcements were on their way and that strong Escape Wards were in place, he shot out a series of bright flashes and thick smoke.
Then presumably ran off, grabbed a broom, or turned invisible.
Either way, the battle had been an outstanding success.
Good luck Team Bunny Rabbit, it was up to you guys now!
...on reflection the Order really needed to institute a rule preventing Harry from naming things.
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The Necropolis was Voldemort's main seat of power. An imposing tower of forty‑nine levels, with increasing security designations every seven levels, and a final seven each being defended as closely as the all the other levels combined. According to Luna, nobody had ever successfully gotten as far as their group had this morning, so no hostile force had ever so much as attempted to infiltrate the fortress.
And it got worse.
Only the top—arguably least defended—floor was above ground. It was like an anti-tower, and upon seeing it Luna had instantly concluded that Helga had come up with that idea. Who in the hell built an underground tower fortress? This was not a good sign. Petunia Dursley would be in the most defended cell, on the most defended floor. The vessel of Lily Potter's sacrifice would seem too valuable to the Dark Lord to be hidden anywhere else. As it was that he did not know that the Blood Protection Guardian which offed Quirinus Quirrell in 1992, had died three years prior while Harry was kicking back in Azkaban.
"Wait!" Harry mutely shouted, his position crouched inside the decadently constructed alleyway. "We're acting like idiots!"
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, allowing her Disillusionment Charm dissolve. The others, especially Albus looked intrigued at his statement.
"Come on!" Harry spat. "We have to infiltrate a high tower, battle our way through the best of Voldemort's security. Search the entire fortress until we find the deepest, most secure cell. Extricate the prisoner, and then escape the alerted city somehow."
"Well yeah," Luna commented, like this was no big deal. "We already knew this was impossible remember?"
Everyone pretty much nodded at this.
"But you told me that Helga probably designed it, and she always does the sensible thing." Luna waved for him to continue. "Which means that the "prisoner" we would eventually rescue, wouldn't really be Aunt Petunia at all. It would be a simulacrum which looks like her!"
Luna blinked, and everyone else shifted uncomfortably.
"Bloody hell, you're right." Sirius voiced it. "So then, where the hell is Petunia?"
They forlornly shuffled for a while, each lost in thought. Albus and Hermione seemed to come to the same conclusion at the exactly the same time. "She's still in this city somewhere, but housed in a building protected by the Fidelius Charm."
Flopping to the ground, back supported against the marble wall, Harry closed his eyes and began rubbing his temples. "How long until Tonks, Bella, and the rest of Tiger Team walk into the ambush?"
Hermione cast a Tempus and informed him it was around an hour away, right as Tam returned from her little jaunt about town.
"There is an ice-cream parlour in this city..." Tam voiced, shaking her head in amazement. "We may be an evil organisation, but we won't say no to a tutti‑frutti with sprinkles!" she intoned majestically, and Hermione almost ruptured something preventing herself from laughing aloud.
"Stop with 'ze jokes!" Fleur commanded in horror. "If 'zis mission is impossible, 'zen we should withdraw while we can."
"You can't give up just because something is impossible Fleur," Harry admonished. "In fact, if it wasn't impossible, I don't think I'd be interested in doing it at all!"
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"Okay, so we have an hour to crack the Fidelius," concluded Harry. "What do we know about that charm?"
"It will conceal one secret inside a Secret Keepers very soul." Luna replied, not in the least bit phased by the declaration that Harry was going to pull this off somehow. "And the secret cannot be obtained forcibly in any way, even Legilimency and the Imperius Curse will fail. The secret must be willing shared."
"Fine. And we don't know who the Secret Keeper is, what else?"
"If one does not know the secret, they could be staring directly at the hidden location and not be capable of discovering it," said Dumbledore.
"When the Secret Keeper dies, all those who knew the secret become Secret Keepers themselves," Hermione added, at Harry's gesture to continue.
"People who do not know the secret, can still know that something is hidden, be aware of the name of the place and even talk about it. However they will still not be able to find it," said Tam, having researched this particular charm quite thoroughly. A few strange looks had her expound on the claim. "Advanced methods of scrying, or something like setting off a Taboo will allow one to narrow down the location of a covered building, only they still will not be capable of finding it."
"Can 'ze Secret Keeper be obliviated of the knowledge?" Fleur asked, getting into it. Smart chicks were so hot! thought Harry, for a moment distracted. "It sounds like Soul Magic to me, so I would doubt it."
"No they cannot be obliviated." confirmed Dumbledore.
"What happens if someone is physically brought through the charm's protection, without knowing the secret?" asked Harry.
"Ghosting," Tam said "That is called Ghosting. Once the person leaves they forget where they had been, if not what they had done once inside."
"Why don't we do that?" Sirius asked, having had the wherewithal to erect some Privacy Charms during the increasingly loud conversation.
"Yeah," Harry liked it, "we would get stung by the other wardings around the building, but who the hell cares. Wands-a-Blazin' sounds good to me at this point."
"What are you saying Harry?" his very bushy haired friend asked. "We go around grabbing Death Eaters and hope one of them happens to be going where we want them to be going?"
"We pair off," Harry decided, "slap an Imperius on the highest ranking Death Eater you can find, and command them to go through the nearest Fidelius protected building he or she knows."
"Harry, I can't do an Imperius Curse," protested Hermione.
"Yeah, I hate to use it for anything outside of sex, but what are you gonna do?" he admitted. "This is gonna be fast and nasty."
The group took a few moments to think through the plan. They would have about forty minutes to capture a useful Death Eater before Tiger Team created the distraction. Maybe half an hour to search whatever location they find. Then it would be recover the prisoner and run like hell.
He thought over the safest teams, and who was capable of the Imperius. Harry hated that curse, it was the only Unforgivable which he thought was actually dangerous. Stealing someone's will, it was a sickening idea. It was one thing to play with it with someone like Tracy, who was so unbelievably submissive and got really turned on by the whole thing. But using it in this way, even on a known enemy it was appalling, and probably went a ways in explaining why he was so bad at casting it.
Harry made his decision. Fleur, Luna, and Sirius would be the trio. He'd pair Hermione with Dumbledore because she needed the most protection, that left him and his "brother," good times.
"Okay, let's rock and roll."
They all vanished from sight, and scattered to the winds of fair fortune.
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Erection pressed up against his companion's firm well sculpted ass, the two were concealed beneath Harry's invisibility cloak, scoping out likely targets.
"For Merlin's sake Harry, there is seriously something very wrong with you!"
"It's hardly my fault," he protested. "I have a thing for redheads, and you smell really, really good."
Tam let out a muted grunt of annoyance. "You know I'm a guy right? Surely that means something to you."
"Well yeah," he agreed, "it does in a logical way, but come on. You've got the body of a fucking pornstar, what do you expect?"
"Gah! You have Luna polyjuice into me sometimes, don't you!" Harry didn't bother to deny it and she just left it alone. "There's a good one, she's finished ordering those other two around so she's probably Inner Circle."
"What makes you think it's a she?" Harry asked, looking over. "Nevermind, I can tell from her walk."
"Imperio!" whispered Tam.
The bickering duo were led down the wide pedestrianised thoroughfare, toward an easily forgettable side-street. Grabbing onto the female Death Eater as they approached what was presumably their destination, the two were physically brought through the Fidelius Charm.
Instantly the other wards on the building began flaring to life, Harry and Tam were forced to batter down a couple of the outer wards, and the Invisibility Cloak took a hit. Surprisingly it wasn't damaged in the slightest, and after a few drawn out moments of furious casting they found themselves in a well put together little hallway. Alarm spells blaring at high volume would have been distracting enough, but coming down the solid wooden staircase was a striking woman wearing a solid gold tiara.
"Good morning Rowena," Harry greeted politely, stepping over the AKed female Death Eater. "Sorry to drop in unannounced, but we just couldn't resist stopping by."
Rowena didn't reply with any witty banter unfortunately. She did however, fall on the two invaders like an iron clad avalanche. Hammerstrokes of power flew from her wandtip, with single use runes being activated at odd angles, causing the two to scatter in an uncoordinated way.
Okay, this is a bloody mismatch if I've ever seen one.
Harry opened up his Crash & Bash spell-string at the same time as the redhead. Identically paired curses, impacting at precisely the same time, from brother wands; they had noticed the slight boost this gave them back when they were in the Room of Requirement, during the 'never to be spoken of' events which hadn't transpired.
Doubled down Ossum spells cracked the woman's Mage Shield; the pair of Bone Breakers managing to finally get through the woman's defences. Twofold casting seemed to be making up for the otherwise blatant mismatch.
After a long time, and a few deep gashes suffered by both, Harry and Tam had managed to subdue their opponent. A Killing Curse striking directly to her chest. Unfortunately, right as the host body died, the diadem once enchanted by Rowena Ravenclaw vanished in what was almost certainly a portkey variant, cheating them from a lasting victory.
"Bollocks!" Harry and Tam exploded together.
They made their way through the rest of the building, taking down a number of other Death Eaters with well drilled ease. After a time Harry's voice attracted his companion's attention, "We have some time yet, right?"
"A few moments, why?"
"Storeroom," Harry informed laconically. "Up for some plundering? I think that's a Pensieve."
Bursting into the surprisingly well furnished room—a breezy ten minutes later—Tam and Harry took in the target of their entire attack on Voldemort's main base.
"H-Harry?" Petunia Dursley asked astounded. "Y-you came to rescue me?"
Turning to Tam he asked under his breath, "Will she survive removal of the Blood Guardian? I never asked."
"Well I did, idiot!" the redhead responded at a whisper. "And she might."
"Yeah," Harry confidently declared, Lockheart smiling at his aunt. "We are here to rescue you. Why not. Let's go with that."
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Petunia was frightened, she would readily admit that fact. She had been ever since those witches and wizards had burned down her home, killed her family, and later captured her when she was out grocery shopping. They had seemed to be under the impression that her blood was powerful and dangerous, which for all she knew of magic could be the truth.
Petunia's treatment hadn't been too bad over the last few months. Her captors seemed to think she was on par with a farm animal as far as intelligence or consideration went; she'd been given food and a place to sleep, but otherwise was ignored as being beneath them. The time spent alone had concocted horrific scenarios, which luckily hadn't come to pass, so she considered herself surprisingly fortunate... under the circumstances.
Now the boy—and what was presumably his girlfriend—had come to rescue her. Why the boy had come for her when she had been so horrible to him was a mystery, but as it was she found herself being directed out of her prison and into open sunshine for the first time in months. Thoughts of what he'd left in her jail cell long forgotten.
Was that Albus Dumbledore? Petunia gaped, recognising the man from the two times she'd met him.
He, a teenage brunette girl, and a red avian creature were tackling five times their number. And seemed to be winning, or at least holding steady. Petunia came up to them and then another group of three—led by that awful Sirius Black—came sprinting up from out of an alley.
"Bloody fucking Helga got away from me AGAIN!" a young blonde woman exploded furiously.
Everybody appeared to be looking to the boy for direction. Including Albus Dumbledore, she noted with abhorrence.
"We need to get out of here now!" howled Sirius Black.
The boy—Harry—laughed. "Stick to the Code."
"What?" that brunette girl shouted.
The blonde woman smiled along with Harry. "Rule One: Pillage, then Burn."
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Harry had directed a defensive ring to surround Luna and his aunt. A wide variety of curses were being thrown at the group, but fast hands and faster minds were keeping everyone safe. It took a little under two minutes for his friend to retrieve her Chocobo, Fleur's Cerberus, and Sirius' motorbike from the magically enlarge satchel in which they were being housed. With the animals held in a magically induced sleep.
Awake and back under their compulsion charms, the mounts were once again ready for service. Tam and Hermione barely squeezed onto the bike with Sirius. Albus shuffled close to Luna on her Chocobo, with Fleur and Harry getting embarrassingly intimate, while Petunia tagged along on the back of the three headed dog.
Chimeras, Dragons, and Phoenixes leapt from the Elder Wand at Harry's left, all golden and yellow, tinged slightly with blue ribbons running through. From his right, Yew and Phoenix Feather unleashed a mass of serpentine creatures in all manner of reds, wreathed in a coppery hue.
The twin masses of Fiendfyre took up sentry, a big, bold dome of destruction circling the three noble steeds. Motorbike, Chocobo, and Cerberus took off in the direction of the Holy Forest, the edge of the wards, and freedom. Malevolent creatures of fire and destruction, galloping around and above, acting as their protection.
A bounding run, a Fire-Friend Potion, and a Bubble-Head Charm. Two hours later a whispered "Caerbannog" to the wrist, found the group safe aboard Harry's floating home.
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They got up to the flight deck and the wide area window, offering a spectacular view of the Cursed City from which they had barely escaped. From the barrel Harry poured himself an ice cold pint of his favourite larger, waving as he did so for everyone present to do the same.
"Take one," he ordered, seeing a few were about to protest.
"Harry, we made it," breathed Hermione, pointing over at one of the people in the room. "We actually pulled it off. Look your aunt is right there!"
"Get a drink, and come stand over here," Harry repeated. "You too Aunt Petunia. Come over here it's not over."
Noting Harry's unusually grave appearance the group did as he asked. Eventually eight people were standing side by side, staring over at the magical forest, and the unseen city Voldemort had created with his own hand.
Something on Harry beeped, and he spoke in a tone none of them had ever before heard him use.
"Ladies and gentlemen raise a glass, witness humanity's greatest contribution to the absurd."
Then there was a mushroom cloud.