Chapter 30: The Raid and Aftermath

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Amelia and her group were waiting for the Death Eaters. They had no clue as to how they were going to come to the island. There were anti-apparation and anti-portkey wards, but that never stopped the bastards before. In the last war they blew through those like they were cotton candy. Amelia was sure they had an Unspeakable working with them. She always forgot to ask Tom who his Death Eaters were. A mistake on her part, but to be fair, she thought she knew them all.

Suddenly there were pillars of black smoke all along the coastline. They materialized into people. The Death Eaters had arrived.

"Don't fire until they get closer," she warned her Aurors as she glanced at Lupin, who was quivering with anticipation.

"Greyback is mine," he growled, his wolf side close to the surface. His eyes were amber, and his teeth were sharp. His hair looked thicker too.

"If you mess this up because you couldn't control your wild side, I will see you behind bars," she threatened him. She placed a hand on his arm to bring him back to her attention.

His face whipped around, and those amber eyes pierced hers. "I know what to do," he said, his voice like gravel. He moved away from her and snuck to the end of the room, where there was a large window. It would let him slip out and attack at his leisure.

She hoped he would wait until they started taking down the non-werewolves. "Moody, go keep him out of trouble," she said to the retired Auror.

"Ay, lass," the one-legged man said, trying to sneak to the window too. He wasn't as successful as the werewolf, but he made it there without drawing the attention of the Death Eaters. The howling of the wind was covering their talking and movement.

Greyback stopped moving and sniffed the wind. He turned his head left and right and continued sniffing. His eyes glowed yellow and his lips curled into a snarl. He moved forward to the doors. They were around three meters from the door when Bones yelled, "Now!"

The spells flew and many Death Eaters fell, but more than a few had shields up before the first one hit.

Greyback was moving off to the side. He was going to where he smelled his cub. There was going to be a reckoning. He didn't go far when he was hit by the man he was going to go see. Remus' hands were extended with claws in full. He swiped at the man's face and the blow was powerful enough to make Greyback's head jerk back.

"Well, well, well, the cub has some balls after all," the older werewolf said as he dabbed at the cuts on his face. "You want to dance, pup? Let's dance," he said as he extended his hands that ended in claws as well.

"You're going to die today," Remus said, his breath heavy with excitement. He was looking forward to tearing this man apart. Limb by limb. There was just something primal about it.

Then he smelled the other wolves coming to join the fight.

"Stop," Greyback said, lifting his right hand, making the others stop. "This is a fight for dominance. There will be no interference," he added. "Get the cops," he ordered, pointing to where the wizards were still fighting.

"But, boss," one said, wanting to stay and watch.

"You heard me, we have a job to do. Besides, I think we've been set up. One of these men told the cops we'd be here," he said, looking at the fighting Death Eaters, thinking one of them was a spy. "Or it was Snape," he added as an afterthought.

Remus, tired of his yammering, rushed forward and wrapped his arms around his middle and tackled him to the ground. Once he was there, he tried his best to pin him there, but Greyback was a better fighter than him, so he wound up on the bottom defending himself.

However, there was one thing that he had over Greyback. He was a fully trained wizard. He used some of his limited wandless magic to block and retaliate. Stinging spells and shields. He was soon on the offensive. Greyback was not happy with this turn of events. Remus got up and got some distance between them and both of them got their wands out.

It turned into a battle of magic with a lot of transfiguration and throwing things at each other. Greyback liked the Unforgivables, and Remus liked to spear things at his enemy. Blocking these things was something both were good at.

Remus started walking until he had Greyback cornered with his back against a wall. He then moved in close and started making a cage around the man. Greyback did his best to break the bars as they came up, but they were stronger than him. Remus was faster with magic than he was, and Greyback was getting madder and madder. Finally, Remus was right in front of the man, who was tired from using so much magic.

They started fighting in that mostly complete cage. Remus made sure he stayed at the opening. There was a lot of biting and scratching. Both were bleeding from various parts of their bodies. Soon enough, Greyback was on the ground, bleeding and exhausted.

"When did you get so strong?" he asked the younger man.

"I was always strong, I just stopped running from it," Remus said, taking a spear he had conjured and driving it into Greyback's heart. There was a small whimper as the older werewolf died.

Remus stood there panting for a minute. He could hear the fighting still going on behind him. His and Greyback's fight had taken about seven to ten minutes. He knew that he needed to keep a look out for Dumbledore.

So, he trussed up the body of the once notorious werewolf. He would leave it here for Bones. He didn't want to take the chance that someone would turn it into an Inferi. Leaving it tied up would prevent it from being used as such. He moved to where the ferry would land if it was used.

It was out of the way of the fighting, and he was sure that this is where Moody would come when he was free. Sure enough, Moody was there not a few minutes later. "How is it going?" Remus asked the older man.

"We're winning," Mad-eye said, looking back at where they were mostly done with the fighting.

"Any Auror deaths?" Remus asked, not wanting the answer.

"One so far," Moody said, his voice gruff. "It was a good thing I had your back. A few of the Death Eaters thought to interfere with your fight. I got them though," he told the werewolf.

"Thanks for that," Remus told him, putting a hand on the man's shoulder and nodding his thanks. He owed the man his life. He had been so focused on his fight, he never thought to look out for the Death Eaters.

"Bones put up a stronger ward to prevent them from porting out," Moody said, watching some try to do just that. "She says that there's got to be an Unspeakable with them," he added as he turned to the water. "Here comes Albus," he said, watching the ferry come into view.

The boat pulled into the dock and people started pouring off it with their wands drawn. It looked like they were shaking. With excitement or fear, Remus didn't know. There weren't many, only about ten or twelve.

"What are you lot doing here?" Moody asked, his tone almost bordering on amusement. These were the weakest of the Order. Mostly housewives and office workers. Molly was there, but Arthur wasn't. He did wonder how she got away from her husband.

"Ah, Alastor, we heard that Voldemort was going to try and release his followers today," Albus said, looking to where Bones was finishing off the last of the Death Eaters. "I see you have it in hand," he said, there was a sense of sadness in his voice.

"I don't know how many times you have to be told but You-Know-Who is not back," Alastor stated, throwing up his hands in exasperation. "Those men were acting on their own accord," he said, pointing to where the last of the Death Eaters were being rounded up.

"Why did you have to kill them?" Dumbledore asked, seeing there were many on the ground with sheets on them. Only about five of the party of twenty-five lived.

"What part of Death Eaters did you not understand?" Remus asked, tilting his head like Albus was a simple man.

"You know Aurors only kill if they have no other choice," Alastor said, his tone biting. "Those men came at them with deadly force, and it was returned in kind. Are you saying they should have just laid down and died?"

"I know that you have ways to capture them without resorting to deadly force," Albus said, his voice chastising.

"Right time, right place," was all Alastor said on that. He then turned to see Bones making her way towards them with about ten Aurors.

"Albus Dumbledore, you are under arrest," she said as she came up to them.

"Fawkes," the old man called, only to be surprised when the bird flamed in and looked around and flamed out. "What?" he said, looking confused as to what just happened.

"Looks like you will be facing a court of law this time," Amelia said, slapping the cuffs on him. "Arrest these others for trespassing on government property. They have no business being here," she said to the other Aurors.

"Yes, ma'am," they said, and went around arresting the other Order members.

"Now see here," Albus said, like they were personally affronting him.

"You can't do this," Molly protested, struggling to prevent them from cuffing her. The Auror that was arresting her hit her with a silencing charm.

"You have no reason to be here, and neither do they. None of you are Aurors," Bones said, turning them all around and pushing them back onto the ferry. The rest of the Aurors were coming with the live Death Eaters.

Amelia sighed. It was going to be a long ride back. She was exhausted and not in the mood to have a battle of wits with Albus bloody Dumbledore. So, she shot a silencing charm at him. At least she still had his wand. She did wonder how he thought he was going to fight. She patted him down and found another wand on him. She took it too.

"Search them for portkeys," she ordered, and did just that with Albus. She took anything that wasn't part of his body off of him, bar his robes. Her Aurors doing the same with all the other prisoners.

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"Calm down, everyone," Tom said from his Minister's Seat. He let off some bangs with his wand. "Everything is under control," he said when the noise level was at a normal volume.

"How do you know this?" Stimpson asked, looking at the new minister. He knew something was up today. Too many people were missing for it not to be. But what did the new minister have to do with it?

"You will notice that Madam Bones is not here?" Tom said, pointing to the empty seat. When the man nodded, he added, "She is taking care of Azkaban with the rest of the Aurors as we speak."

"Yes, but how do you know this?" the Chief Warlock asked again.

"I was the one that told her about the raid," the minister said with complete honesty.

"And how did you know?" came the question from the Wizengamot galley.

"I heard about it," a form of the truth was given.

"From whom?"

"Does it matter?" Sirius asked, getting up to be heard. "The matter is under control. That is all that matters," he said, then tried that sentence over in his head to make sure it was correct.

"Is there any other business that needs to be discussed?" Stimpson asked, looking around the room to see if there was. There wasn't. "Then I call this assembly adjourned." He banged his gavel and stood. This one was just too weird for words.

They moved to a meeting room off the Wizengamot Court Room. It was where they would mingle with everyone and discuss the day's happenings. Many people converged on Tom to get his attention. They all wanted to tell him about their ideas on how the ministry should be run, or to be part of his cabinet. He shook hands and rubbed elbows with them until his temper started to flare. Then he released a bit of his aura and they all wisely found someone else to bother.

Sirius, who thought it was funny as hell, came up when they had left and asked, "Are you sure this is what you want?" His voice had a chuckle in it that grated Tom's nerves.

"It is to keep Harry safe," he said, reining his aura back in, but keeping his red-ringed eyes alert for any hanger's-on. "I wonder how the raid went," he said, looking for Harry in the crowd.

"I don't know, I'm sure," Sirius said, he too looking for the teen. He spotted the messy hair before Tom did and waved Harry towards them. It was still crowded in the room, what with everyone wanting to meet the new minister. "You know you're going to have to meet the muggle minister," he said, like that might be a hardship for the man.

"I'm looking forward to it," Tom said in all honesty. He wanted to throw some ideas at the man on how to avoid the cameras that Harry told him were being mounted on the street corners. It was all in the planning stage now, but it might become a reality in the future. If that happened, then the wizarding world was in perilous danger of being found out.

"There you guys are," Harry said when he came up to them. "I got caught up by some fans. I could have used some help," he said, giving them a glare like it was their fault.

"You poor little tyke," Sirius said, ruffling his hair.

"Leave off, will you," Harry said, batting his hands away. "Well, Marvolo, are you happy now?" he asked, looking at the smug face.

"Delirious," Tom said in a dry voice. His face was blank, but his eyes were dancing.

It was then that Amelia Bones walked through the doors with Mad-eye Moody and Remus Lupin. They looked like they had been in a fight, more so Remus. The crowd parted before them, and they made their way to Tom's group. "It's done," Bones said to Tom.

"On my part too," he replied with a nod of his head, pointing to his new adornment on his robes.

"Congratulations," she said, not sure having a Dark Lord as minister was a good thing or not.

"Casualties?" he asked, looking to Moody.

"One Auror down, and there are five Death Eaters waiting for trial," the one-eyed man stated, both his good and magical eye focused on him.

"That is sad to hear," Tom said, like it was terrible for the loss of life, not that five made it. "I will have to recluse myself from their trials," he added, giving Bones a knowing look.

"Yes, of course," she said, thinking that they would out the man before they ever got to prison. That would be bad. It would be one thing that they would say he was back, backing Dumbledore, but to point out that the new minister was him. Well, that would lead to problems. She wondered if there was a way to question them without bringing up Tom.

"I have something that needs to be attended. I will return shortly," Tom said, thinking it was time to take care of the Malfoys. He looked to Sirius, "If you will join me," he said.

"Sure," Sirius said, warily. He had no idea what they were doing. "Where are we going?" he asked once they cleared the room.

"You are going to be a bonder for me. We're going to get vows from the Malfoys. Give them enough to live off of and send them to France," Tom said, thinking that it was better than killing them. Well, Harry would think so. If it were up to him, they would all be dead.

"I can do that," Sirius said, moving to the floo with him. They flooed to the Malfoy Manor and were met by Narcissa. She did not look happy, but she did brighten when she saw Sirius.

"My lords," she said to both of them and nodded her head to each. Confusion hit her face when she noted that they were familiar with one another.

"Call your brat, Narcissa. Then join us," Tom ordered, going to the receiving room.

"Yes, my lord," she said through gritted teeth to his retreating back. Then she flounced out of the room. She really wished that this would all be over soon.

Narcissa and Draco came into the room to find Sirius and Tom taking tea. "Come and sit," Tom ordered, pointing to two empty chairs. They both gingerly perched on said chairs and looked at Tom with trepidation.

"I am giving you a choice, you can take a vow to never reveal that I was here, and move to France, or I can obliviate you of the last few weeks," Tom said, sipping his tea like he was offering them something nice and not sinister.

"I don't understand, my lord," Draco said, looking to his mother.

"I was just elected Minister," Tom said as if that was explanation enough, and to Narcissa it was.

"I will take the vow," she said, then turned to her son. "You will too," she told him. There was no room for argument in her tone.

"Very well," Tom said, writing out what they were to say on a parchment. It was simple enough. They were not to tell anyone what he looked like, who he was, and that he stayed with them for the last few weeks. Sirius was the bonder.

"I will have a half a million galleons put in your account. Don't ask for anymore. If you want more, get a job," Sirius said, looking at them with a firm look.

"A half a million? That is hardly enough to start over with," Narcissa said in a pleading tone.

"There is a manor in Paris that you will go to. That will half your burden," the dogman said unyielding. "Like I said, get a job if you want more. You can take what you own from here, the furniture and décor. Sell what you can," he added, looking around at all the posh decorations noting that some would sell for a pretty knut.

"As you say," Narcissa said, her shoulders slumped. She knew that was the best she was going to get. She nodded to her son, and they left the room to pack up. They didn't have any house elves, so they would have to do it themselves.

"I'll have a portkey ready within the hour," Sirius told her before she left the room.

She just nodded and left the two men to talk.

"It is more than they deserve," Tom said, watching the two Malfoys leave.

"Draco will go to Beauxbatons. I am sure that he will do well there. They will not put up with his stuck-up attitude long. He will not be king of the hill there," Sirius said, taking a pastry from the tray and nibbling on it. It was tasty.

"Well, let's get to Gringotts and get that portkey for her and then back to the ministry," Tom said, putting his cup down and standing. They did just that and soon were in Tom's new office. The paperwork that was left over from Fudge was a mess. There was no rhyme or reason to it.

"This is going to take days to straighten out," Tom said, putting a file in a pile that was slatted for important things. It was the largest pile of unattended files. Fudge did as little work as possible.

"Months," Sirius disagreed, putting a file in the garbage pile.

"I don't even know how to classify this one," Bones said, holding up a file on a man who had tried to bribe Fudge to open a shop, but didn't have the right amount of money.

"Start a new pile," Tom suggested, pointing to a blank spot on the desk. "We'll call it, unclassified," he said, putting a file there.

"Where did Harry, Moody and Remus go off to?" Sirius asked, looking through another file.

"Home," Tom said, disappointed that he didn't get to see more of the boy that day. He had only had a few hours of the teen's time.

"Do you want to join us for dinner?" Sirius asked, thinking it was time to invite the man into his home. Now that the Death Eaters were all dead or in jail.

"You would let me into your home?" Tom asked, flabbergasted. He thought it would take more time.

"I only kept you out because of your followers," Sirius explained. "You can come now," he added, ignoring Bones' glare. She obviously didn't agree with this move.

"Perhaps another time," Tom said, looking at Amelia's face. "When things have settled down. However, we can meet for dinner with everyone at a restaurant," he suggested. "The Leaky Cauldron is one that everyone knows and can agree with," he said, thinking that no one could protest to that one.

"I'll bring everyone at the house," Sirius said, thinking it was about time Hermione met Tom as Marvolo and could talk to him about what he stood for. They did have a lot in common. Then again when she found out that the headmaster was arrested today, she might lose what little control she had on her wits. "I'll even call Moody and ask him," he added as an afterthought.

"Agreed," Tom said, not minding everyone coming as long as Harry was there.

"I will come as well," Bones said, putting a folder down. "I'll bring Susan. She needs to meet more people," she added, thinking that her niece would benefit in meeting Harry Potter outside the school.

"Fine by me," Sirius said, looking to Tom.

"I am okay with this as well," Tom said, nodding his head.

"It's agreed then. Say around eight?" Amelia said, standing and giving the piles of folders a hateful glare.

"Eight," the two men agreed.

It should be an eventful dinner.