Chapter Twenty-Nine: Battle for Hogwarts and the Ministry

June 18th, 1996

It was just past dusk when Harry Potter and the Knight's Echo Squad received the news. The battles occurring around the world were not a large-scale attack by a single Voldemort and a single split army. But were actually attacks led by almost a hundred different Voldemorts and dozens of massive armies. Harry had taken the news surprisingly well. The plan was still the same. Destroy the armies and kill all of the Voldmorts on the planet. It would just be a lot harder now. Harry stood within the Entrance Courtyard, firing curses left and right at the massive Death Eater army funneling through the reconstructed Viaduct. They needed to end this now and ensure Hogwarts was secure. They were needed elsewhere.

"Sir! We just received word that Yankee Squad is down. The northwest sector is compromised," Knight Reyes spoke, his plasma rifle beginning to burn up with how many shots he was firing in a single second.

"Ok! I'm going to have to end this here and now," Harry spoke. He hadn't ever tried this before, and he was sure that something would definitely go wrong. But they couldn't stay in Hogwarts. Not for longer than necessary. "Form up around me!" Harry shouted. They did, surrounding him in a semicircle. He was protected behind them, giving him enough time to make this work. Having never cast the curse before, Harry raised his staff into the air and shouted. "PROTEGO DIABOLICA!" A line of black flames shot into the air, soaring high above them all. He didn't let it rise long, and when it reached the height of the Astronomy Tower he brought his staff back down. The line of flames slammed into the ground, spreading out in a circle around them.

The Knights stopped firing, watching in amazement as the black flames soared over the Viaduct, passing through every enemy while turning them to nothing but ash. Eventually, all that remained were Voldemort and his small group of forces far away. Waters spoke over the comms. "Sir, whatever the hell you just did, it worked. All enemies have been neutralized on the northeast and northwest sectors," Voldemort seemed to be seething in anger. But he wasn't so angry as to make an irrational decision. In the distance, they watched as he disapparated, leaving his forces behind. The Death Eaters and house-elves followed suit, but the creatures that couldn't disapparate were quickly neutralized by Waters, who returned down to the Entrance Courtyard.

"Why couldn't you have started off with that?" Proctor asked, motioning to the staff.

"It's dangerous. It goes off of intent and whether or not you mean me or my allies harm. That and it has a tendency to turn things that aren't alive into ash. I didn't want to bring the whole castle down. But we're needed elsewhere," Harry explained. "You have new orders, Echo-Squad. You're to accompany my allies and I to the Ministry Building. It's been compromised and needs to be cleared. Romeo, Oscar, and Bravo Squads will be joining us. Alongside the Marines' Kilo Company. This is a full assault, so you'll need to be one-hundred percent when we get there. That means you take a piss, run a lap, get a snack, or get medical attention right now. Understood, Echo-Squad?"

"Yes sir!" The squad exclaimed, making their way into the Fireship. Harry turned to Dumbledore and McGonagall. "The Marines here will stay behind to make sure the castle is safe from any future attack. But I would advise upgrading the wards as much as possible, even if it drains you. All of our resources are being spread throughout the planet, and sooner or later the Marines here will be called away,"

McGonagall smiled, nodding. "We understand, Harry. Thank you,"

"It's my pleasure," Harry replied, before turning to enter the Fireship. Eleven and Alyssa joined him inside. Eventually, Romeo made their way through the castle and entered as well. As soon as they were all buckled in, Harry piloted the Fireship out of the courtyard and flew his way out of the self-repairing wards around the school. "FTL Drive in five, four, three, two, one. Now!" He activated the FTL Drive, setting his coordinates for the Ministry of Magic building. The Fireship began to spin around in place, continuing to pick up speed until they disappeared in a flash of blue light. They reappeared just over London, hovering several meters above the Ministry Building, which had caught fire and was now covered in smoke.

"The entire building is compromised. Knight Squads November and India are down. And we lost contact with the Marines' Uniform Company fifteen minutes ago. So it's going to be up to us until Oscar and Bravo Squads and Kilo Company join us," Harry explained. Alyssa joined him in the cockpit, taking the copilot seat as Harry switched over control. She took over and Harry got up to enter the cargo hold. "Ok, Knights. The Minister is holed up in the courtrooms with his staff and what's left of the Aurors in the building. Voldemort and his people have complete control of the building. So our mission is simple. Infiltrate the premises, eliminate Voldemort and his forces, and rescue the Minister. Once we've extracted him from the building, we'll report to M.E Headquarters. Everyone understand?"

"Yes sir,"

"Good. Recharge your weapon and let's rollout," Harry ordered. The Knights nodded, placing their weapons in the weapon slots along the wall as they began to charge. When they were done, Harry opened the back ramp and stepped down. The wind was in his face, and he peered down. There was a massive hole in the center of the building, and he could see the Atrium through the smoke. He turned back to the Knights. "The Atrium is exposed, so you have a straight shot down to Basement Level 8. The courtrooms are on Level 10 and are accessible only through the elevators and staircases. For safety reasons, you'll be taking the stairs,"

"We? What about you, sir?" Knight Reyes asked.

"Voldemort was last seen in the Minister's Office on Basement Level 1. You guys will drop down to the bottom while I go pay Tom a visit," Harry replied. The Knights nodded, getting to their feet as they lined up on the ramp. "Romeo Squad, you'll secure the Atrium while Echo breaches the staircase. When I'm done with Voldemort, I'll rendezvous with you guys back on the Fireship. Oh, and here. Take this," Harry pulled a small pencil out of his pocket and handed it to Reyes, who examined it in confusion. "It's an emergency portkey. When you have the Minister, tell it to 'Activate' and it will bring you back to the Fireship,"

"Understood, sir," Reyes spoke, nodding in understanding as he stored the pencil in the pouch on his shoulder.

"Ready Knights?"

"Yes sir!"

"Let's go!" Harry shouted, jumping out of the Fireship. He straightened out flying straight through the hole at high speeds. Harry spun around, firing a thin cord from his wrist up towards the ceiling. The sharp piece of metal at the end slammed into the ceiling, and the line went rigid. Harry was yanked into the air, flying past the Knights that were dropping down. He disconnected the cord at the last second, soaring through the air before he crashed through the window leading into the Minister's Office. Harry flew over the Ministers desk, hitting the ground in a roll that pushed him to his feet, his staff extended towards the man behind said desk. They were alone in the room. Something Harry found odd.

"Harry...Potter," Voldemort pulled off his hood. And instead of the pale white head, red eyes, and no nose Harry was expecting, he was met with Tom Riddle. The same Tom Riddle he had seen in Bob Ogden's memory. He looked older, but he looked as if he had never made a Horcrux at all. And when Harry closed his eyes to examine his Aiúa, Tom's was purple. Not black. He hadn't made a Horcrux. "The Harry Potter of my universe was murdered at three months old in a very unfortunate car accident. When I found out I was devastated. Not because I liked the boy, but because he had died before I got my hands on him. And then he came and told me of THE Harry Potter. The one that had escaped. The one that had done the impossible. And he told me I could help kill you,"

"He...my Voldemort," Harry was putting it together now. "You're not all the same Voldemorts split into different bodies. You're different Voldemort's from different universes,"

"My, you're very smart, aren't you?" Tom asked, grinning madly. And then his grin turned into a scowl. "You may have defeated our far weaker counterpart on this Earth. And you may have defeated that sorry excuse for a shadow caster. But you cannot defeat us, Harry Potter. No matter how many 'Knights' you create. Or how many Marines volunteer. Because while you have the resources of one Earth, we have the resources of hundreds. So no matter how many of our forces you kill or capture, twice as many will take its place,"

"Hydra," Harry whispered.

"We are Hydra, Harry Potter. And we will kill you. And when we are done, we will take all of the technological advancements you have created and implement them into our forces. And then we'll continue our voyage through the Multiverse, conquering planet after planet under His rule," Tom explained. "So keep fighting. Keep planning. Keep trying. Because we will continue to come. And each invasion force will be twice as large as the next with even more power. And if somehow you manage to eliminate us all. You will not survive Him. He is as strong as a million Dumbledores. A million Voldemorts. A million yous. This is why he is the Supreme Lord Voldemort. He rules all, and soon he will rule you!"

Harry let out a roar of anger, jumping clear over the desk as he tackled Tom to the ground. He couldn't get into his mind. "Where is he?!" Harry shouted, gripping Tom by the throat.

"He will find you, Harry Potter! And when he does, you will RUN, because he will win! Just like he always does!" Tom exclaimed. "Three hundred and sixty-one! That's how many Harry Potter's he's killed! You'll be the three hundred and sixty-second!"

"Yes...but you won't live to see it," Harry gripped the man's throat tighter, producing a loud SNAP! as the man's spine snapped. Harry got to his feet, breathing heavily. This was so much bigger than he had thought. Hundreds of Voldemorts under the leadership of his own. Millions of Death Eaters from different Earths. All of them coming here. The world would be there's eventually. He ran a hand through his hair and fell into the Minister's seat. Harry needed to think. He needed to talk to Hermione and Daphne. But they had been evacuated to the M.E Headquarters. He would have to wait to see them. "What to do...what to do..." He mused, trying his best to remain calm. Everything he had accomplished was going to be for nothing. The world would be overrun.

"Lord Potter. The Minister and his staff are safe aboard the Fireships. Oscar and Bravo squads brought along their Fireships, and are helping us load the survivors and Aurors. What's the situation with Voldemort?" Knight Reyes questioned.

"Get everyone out as soon as you can and report back to H.Q. I need to be somewhere,"

"Sir?"

"You heard me, Knight. Report to H.Q as soon as the Minister, the Aurors, and survivors are secure,"

Silence. "Understood sir,"

Harry tapped into his secure network with IAF Command and spoke. "IAF Command. This is Lord Potter. Do you copy?"

"We copy, Lord Potter. Over,"

"This situation is bigger than we thought, Command. You need to pull all of our people out of the field and have everyone meet up at H.Q,"

"Everyone, sir? The Death Eaters have control of the Woolworth Building and Azkaban. We only just managed to get the President of MACUSA out in time,"

"Good. The Death Eaters can have those buildings. Get everyone off the field and have them report to H.Q. I'll debrief you in a minute," Harry opened the small patch on his belt and pulled out a small jewel. He tapped it three times and disappeared in a swirl of grey, reappearing within the Command Room within Marauder Enterprises Tower. The three higher-ups within the three branches of the IAF were standing around the central HoloTank, all appearing very worried. There was Fleet Admiral Graham Hudson of the Navy, General of the Air Force Emelio O'Quinn, and General of the Corps Ryan Shields. They all turned to Harry upon his arrival, immediately asking questions that had to be quieted with the raise of his hand. "The situation is much worse than I thought,"

"How worse?" Shields asked.

"Losing Earth worse," Harry replied. The three men were silent. "The ninety-seven Voldemorts we detected aren't the same Voldemort split into a hundred people. They're different Voldemort's from different universes. And all of these Voldemort's and those Earth's have their own mass armies of Death Eaters. All led by the Voldemort of my home universe," More stunned silence. "This isn't just an invasion. This is a universal takeover. The Voldemort who invaded the Ministry told me they've already killed three hundred and ninety-one Harry Potter's. That's four hundred universes they've already visited,"

"How...is that even possible? You've only been gone from that world for sixteen years. That's not enough time to visit and take over four hundred universes," O'Quinn refuted.

"Time works differently in other universes. And I have no idea how time works in the greater Multiverse. But the point is, this is a losing war from the start. If we throw all of our resources at the first invasion wave, the second invasion will wipe us all out. We need to regroup. And most importantly...we need to evacuate the planet,"

"Evacuate the planet? To where?" Hudson asked.

"Anywhere other than here. The planet isn't safe anymore. Death Eaters are crossing over every minute and more people are dying. If we don't evacuate now, the death rate will continue to climb,"

"It's already at seventeen million," O'Quinn stated.

"And it will grow much higher soon," Harry replied.

"So we evacuate the planet," Shields spoke. "It's the only thing to do. We evacuate the planet and try to find a way to stop them from taking over the entire universe,"

Hudson scoffed. "How do we evacuate an entire planet"

"Protocol F-392," Harry answered simply. They all stared at him.

O'Quinn had wide eyes. "You want to bring the Formics here? In the middle of all of this?"

The IAF Command, Minister of Magic, Prime Minister, and the two Presidents of America were the only people - besides everyone from the Party - who knew about the Formics' existence. Harry sighed, swiping at the display as he pulled up the highly classified and secure document labeled 'Protocol F-392'. He tapped on it and passed the security of the file through fingerprint, retinal, facial, and vocal recognition. When it was open, Harry spoke. "The Hive Queen pilots thousands of massive fleets full of ships capable of carrying thousands of people. And since we've been communicating, she too now has FLT capabilities. She can get to Earth in seconds with a fleet massive enough to carry half of humanity from Earth,"

"But there's the most important question. Where do we send them?" O'Quinn asked.

"We have nowhere to take them. So they stay on the Formic ships until Earth is safe to reinhabit. The solar outposts on Luna, Venus, and Mercury aren't large enough to hold civilians. So we ask the Hive Queen to build more ships and help us with this war. She can make Formic soldiers very quickly. If we're lucky, we can have a fully operational fighting force in a month or so," Harry explained.

"Right. So the plan is to introduce aliens to the world, evacuate the entire planet, win the war with the help of these aliens, and then what? How do we explain that we've known about and have been communicating with aliens for almost a decade?"

"We do what we always do. Tell the truth. Tell them that until recently, the Hive Queen had no way of reaching us and could only do so now. We tell them that we didn't want to cause a panic and that the Formics are peaceful. After the evacuations, they'll see that we're right," Harry replied. The three IAF Command members all seemed to agree. So Harry opened the channel linked to the United Nations and ICW. He spoke clearly through the mic. "This Lord Potter of the IAF. Regarding the invasions occurring around the world, I am afraid that the situation is much worse. Voldemort isn't alone. He brought with him a hundred Voldemorts from different universes. And with them, they brought their own massive armies. We're not dealing with one single invasion force. We're dealing with hundreds. The IAF has decided that planetary evacuation is the only answer. We are launching Protocol F-392. Prepare your people for evacuation. Lord Potter out,"

"You really think this is a good idea," O'Quiin commented.

"It's my only idea," Harry replied.


July 15th, 1996

Over the next four weeks, Formic ships arrived within the Sol System, landing in cities within the U.N and ICW. The evacuation had been carefully planned and went off without a hitch. Politicians, doctors, veterans, women, and children were evacuated first. And when more Formic ships were built, those who had been left behind were evacuated. The population of Earth went from 7 billion to 1 billion. And those billion were being pulled into eastern Asia as far away from the invasion fleets as possible. Voldemort had occupied Canada, Mexico, most of South America, the entirety of Europe, and several countries in the middle east. This left America sandwiched in the middle, trying its best to fight from the north, south, and east.

Hermione and Daphne had been relocated to the outpost on Venus, while Harry's closest friends from Hawkins were relocated to Luna. With the Ministry of Magic, MACUSA, and hundreds of other U.N and ICW governments compromised, they had all taken residence within Washington D.C, where the Marauder Enterprises Tower was located. Given that no country had borders anymore, most of the countries within the United Nations and ICW folded under the IFA, giving up their assets to the international government. This was very good, seeing as it gave the International Armed Forces more Marines, massive surviving armies, massive naval fleets, and a large air force. This was a good development.

Harry stayed behind on Earth, trying his best to discover a way to stop Voldemort and his invasion forces. Eleven had stayed behind with him, as had Alyssa. She opted to act as his personal bodyguard, something he thought was quite nice despite being absolutely unnecessary. The world had shifted drastically in the span of a month, and Harry was forced to acknowledge that this was once again his fault. The Watcher had warned him that Voldemort had grown in power. Harry should have continued in his search for a way to return home. Perhaps he could have put a stop to Voldemort before he became a Multiverse-conquering psychopath.

It wasn't until he was speaking with the IAF Command team that he thought of a plan. "What if we reverse engineer the Planetary Defense Rings?" He asked. The Command Team, Alyssa, and Eleven all turned to him. The same question was on their expressions. "The shields in the P. absorb the kinetic energy of any object that hits it, and can even redistribute that energy in shockwaves. What if we reverse it? Fire a nuke on the shield again, but instead of firing the energy outward -"

"Shoot it into the planet. Everywhere at the same time," Eleven concluded.

"That would kill everyone," O'Quinn spoke.

"Not necessarily," Alyssa spoke. "While the rings function off of plasma power, they also function off of magic. It stands to reason that their functions can be manipulated by magic as well. If Harry can...convince the energy to only kill Voldemort and his forces then we can wipe the invasion forces out in one go,"

"Convince...plasma energy," Harry took a deep breath. Even he thought that was a bit of a stretch. But then he turned to Eleven, a bright smile on his face. "Not me," He spoke. Everyone turned to Eleven.

"Me?" She asked, confused.

"You've been able to manipulate matter since birth. You learned to transfigure things through telekinesis when you were thirteen. If anyone can bend the will of natural materials, it's you," Harry explained.

"You don't even have to create or direct the plasma. All you have to do is make sure it only kills the invasion forces and their things. We don't want to wipe humanity off of the planet," said Alyssa.

"Right," Eleven added, still not convinced.

Harry took her hand, squeezing it lightly. "We closed the Gate together. And we found the Ring together. And we can defeat the invasion forces together too," Eleven smiled, squeezing his hand in return.

After a moment of silence, she nodded. "I can do it,"

"This is insane," O'Quinn commented.

"I usually am," Harry replied before Alyssa could. She frowned, glaring at him as he smiled. Despite the situation, it was good to smile. They separated, and Harry returned to his room to think. The entire world was falling into chaos, and their only solution was to potentially destroy the planet. But if it put a stop to Voldemort and his forces, then Harry could always find a way to rebuild the world. Or maybe he could do something better...he had a plan. It was a very dumb one that probably wouldn't work, but it was worth a shot and it would definitely assist Eleven in her attempt to control the plasma pulse. The best thing that could come out of it was 100% success. The worst thing? Global destruction. Oh well. You only live once.