Chapter 5
Harry was unsurprised to find that Madelyn and Rebecca Black were friendly, confident, and loved to play pranks. He was however surprised to find both sisters immediately grab onto him and basically force him and Ginny to sit with them the whole night, and chat with them. They wanted to meet their 'cousin' from another universe and treated him like family immediately. That was something that made Harry smile and endeared him to the two girls.
Harry would have thought they were closer in age, not three years apart because they were, with Gabrielle, nearly inseparable. They were fun to be around though, and it made Harry wish for what might have been back home if Voldemort had never affected his family.
It ended up being a very fun night though. Harry enjoyed getting to know Sirius's kids and he enjoyed getting to know Marlene better, finding out that she'd been his godmother. He and Ginny had a talk with Remus. While they knew he wasn't their Remus, they wanted him to know how much the Remus of their world lived and what he could have if he'd just give it a go. He wasn't sure it would lead to anything, but he felt better for trying.
When it ended, Harry, Ginny, Jason, Alicia, and the Potters went back to the Potter cottage. James and Lily joined the four travelers in Jason and Alicia's bunker, enjoying the little common room, and having some conversation before they all turned in.
The next morning, Lily and James guided Harry and Ginny to a spot out in the middle of nowhere where they waited. They didn't have to wait long before the sound of apparation signaled the arrival of Severus Snape.
Harry didn't know what to expect knowing Snape's history back home, but he surely didn't expect Lily to walk up and hug Severus like her long lost brother, nor Severus to hug her back in the same manner, and he definitely didn't expect James to walk up and also exchange a friendly one armed hug with Snape. Harry's face must have showed the surprise because Lily gave him a weird look.
Snape finally noticed Harry and Ginny, and his face went from friendly to a stony mask.
"Albus filled me in about you," Snape said slowly, "but forgive me if I stay a little hesitant."
Harry smiled. "I wouldn't expect you to warm up to us immediately. The Severus from our world certainly would be wary long after he had reason to stop being so. It's how he stayed alive so long.
Snape nodded, looking a little curious, but true to how Harry knew the man, he didn't ask but stayed to task.
"I will admit I was impressed with the attack on Diagon Alley, though it might have been a little reckless with how hurt it's claimed the two participants were at the end. The Dark Lord was infuriated that they got away, and without anyone knowing how or even knowing who. He's ordered forces to patrol the alley more often, and security trolls are being placed all along it."
"Our friends will appreciate the compliment, but as for it being risky . . . " Harry shrugged. "They pulled their punches. It would have been a different story if they wanted to reveal their true power, and they weren't really hurt all that badly."
Snape's eyes widened and he nodded thoughtfully.
"I have some of the information that you requested," he said after a moment, pulling out several large stacks of folders from his robes. "A rather interesting large amount of information you wanted."
"I hope it wasn't too arduous a task for you to gather," Harry said with a wry grin, "though I suspect with your skills, you had no real problems."
Snape's expression grew a little smug. "A fair amount of what you requested like locations of Death Eater homes and staging grounds or types of creatures present in country were things I knew off the top of my head. It was only things like specific numbers of forces or exact locations of where certain targets are or which exact locations are still free that I actually had to find out, though none of that was terribly hard to obtain, especially not from someone of my standing in the Dark Lord's forces."
"Good, there's a couple more things," Harry said. "Do you know of any impending times when You-Know-Who is going to leave the country for any extended time and if not, do you know what we could do to get him to leave the country for a bit?"
Snape frowned. "I know of no plans in the immediate future for the Dark Lord to leave the country. He rarely joins in battles anymore, with his armies being so large. The only thing I can think of that might cause him to join a battle would be several immediate losses that possibly result in entire countries being retaken from him."
Harry nodded. "That's what I figured. How often do reports or messages come in from captured countries?"
"Once a week or so, usually on Monday morning. Why do you need the Dark Lord out of the country?" Snape asked.
"We don't necessarily need him out of country," Harry said hesitantly. "It would just be easier. Arguably, we could guide you to picking up what we need from inside the castle and you could time it out to a time when he's out of the castle. Honestly, if you could possibly arrange the death of Nagini, you could forsake your job as a spy if you could get the item we need and kill the snake."
"Killing Nagini wouldn't be too hard," Snape said just as hesitantly. "The Dark Lord rarely takes his pet with him when he goes anywhere. The snake just wanders the castle, so I probably could kill the snake, get what you need me to get and leave, but it'd have to be timed correctly, and you would lose me as a spy."
"If you can accomplish that, we wouldn't really need you as a spy," Ginny said, joining the conversation, causing Snape to look at her with interest.
"While knowing where You-Know-Who would be after we take those items could be useful, it's not necessary," Ginny said.
"We'll talk it out with our companions and come up with a plan," Harry said, looking pensive. "Gin's right, but that would still be ways away and it would have to be timed perfectly. We'll get back to you when we've made a decision. Send us a message anytime you know You-Know-Who is going to be somewhere outside of the castle even if he's just going to the Ministry or Diagon Alley or something. Otherwise, for now, continue with what you've been doing and stay safe."
Snape nodded curiously and gave his farewells to James and Lily before apparating away.
Lily and James looked at the spot where Snape left for a moment before turning back to Harry and Ginny.
"Did you get everything you needed?" Lily asked.
"I think so," Harry answered with a thoughtful expression. "At least we got enough to formulate several different plans of actions, especially with Alicia and Jason's input. Now, let's get back to your cottage so we can start going over the intel and creating a plan for tonight."
"You want to do something tonight?" James asked in surprise.
Harry nodded. "We don't want to rest unless absolutely necessary. We'll take as much time as it takes to plan things, but otherwise we want to up the tempo at which this war commences. It'll put the Death Eaters on their toes and hopefully inspire other resistances to start attacking in earnest themselves."
"Well, then," James said finally. "Let's get back to the cottage."
They all apparated away back to the Potter cottage.
Harry and Ginny took all of Snape's documents and walked to the Witcher tent with James and Lily following them curiously. They walked through the common area and entered the tent to find that Jason and Alicia had been busy turning the living area into a little command center that had a giant map of Britain, as well as maps of already known key sites like Hogwarts, Diagon Alley, Azkaban, Hogsmeade, the Ministry, and even St. Mungo's, which included the numbers set to guard those locations. They also had a list and conjured pictures of the different horcruxes with details on the locations or suspected locations and known or suspected defenses. Finally, they had a board that had a giant map of the world and white boards formatted for Snape's information on numbers and locations of different forces or dark creatures to be filled in.
Harry had to admit he was impressed with the thought/foreknowledge that this type of preparation took, and it really showed what his friends had learned in their various experiences while traveling the world. Ginny, James, and Lily were also looking impressed.
"You guys have been busy," Ginny said looking around. "This is a far cry from our own war against You-Know-Who."
"Well, we've learned a lot more about combat and war since then," Alicia said, grabbing the sheets from Harry and already starting to transfer information to their relevant areas on the board, "or I should say we've learned about how professional armies, like the muggles have, conduct warfare. That war in Congo taught us a lot, and there was that group of smugglers in India that gave us some experience in this sort of thing."
Jason grabbed some more sheets of paper and started helping Alicia to get all the relevant information onto their boards, and then he started copying all the sheets of paper, putting one set of copies into a muggle binder that he had. Harry, Ginny, James, and Lily decided that they might as well help, and after seeing how Jace and Alicia were doing it, started helping to transfer the rest of the information they'd gotten from Snape onto their boards. It took a while since there was a vast amount of information but between the six of them, and Jason and Alicia's prep, they got it done in a fairly quick amount of time, considering.
"Alright," Jason said with a sigh. "The map now reflects all the different sites in the UK that Death Eaters and dark creatures gather at or are staged or trained, all important sites like Hogwarts and the Ministry, horcrux sites, and a great many prominent and mid-level Death Eater's homes."
"We also know the exact numbers of You-Know-Who's dark creatures as well as locations for most of them, the Death Eaters being the exception with how frequently they move around and how little control is exercised over them, though we have solid estimations," Alicia added.
"Lastly, we even have a general idea of what You-Know-Who controls in this world and where his forces are and where his greatest resistances are," James said, looking at the world map which was dauntingly filled with a great many enemy forces.
"Sev really came through," Lily said, also staring at the mountain of information that was now represented on their boards.
"That he did," Harry said. "This makes planning for tonight easy."
"I don't know about that," Jason said with a sigh, "but it's a lot more manageable to rapidly make these plans for the Order."
"Lily or James." Alicia said, causing the pair to look up at her. "Can you two make a board that represents friendly forces or safe houses? You gave us a rough estimate at the meetings, but it will really help us for these missions to know exactly what we have to work with."
The two older Potters nodded and set to work.
"You two go recon as many of the dementor sites as you can, just like we did back in our own war," Jason said, looking Harry and Ginny. "I want to update this intel as much as we can."
Harry and Ginny nodded and quickly walked out, getting concerned glances from James and Lily, but no words.
"Alright, love," Jason said, looking at his wife with a grim smile. "Let's get to work."
**HP**
They were gathered in Grimmauld Place one again, but it was clear to Harry that nearly every member of the Order was now present.
Harry walked up to Albus, who nearly everyone in the room was looking to for guidance or in confusion at having the whole Order called forth.
"Albus," Harry greeted, causing the older man to give Harry a friendly nod as a greeting. "I need you to divide the Order into eight teams. We're going to be conducting raids on Death Eater homes in order to cause chaos and hurt You-Know-Who's forces but also to give us a cover for destroying the diary."
Dumbledore's eyes widened. "I see. You want to destroy every place we attack tonight so that destroying the diary will just be seen as accidental collateral damage. Tom will be angry for losing a horcrux, but he won't be on the lookout for people knowing about his secret."
"Correct," Harry said nodding with a smile. "Especially since we're leaving his other horcruxes alone for the time being, so that if he does go and check on them, he'll find them perfectly safe. We'll also do raids on other homes when we can as well as on many other different sites, which will further drive in the theory to him that it was just extremely bad luck his diary was destroyed."
Dumbledore nodded. "A brilliant plan."
"Give the credit to Jace and Alicia," Harry said, glancing back at where his friends were. "For the teams, try to split them fairly evenly, but you can have less wands on certain teams. Mine and Ginny's team and Jace and Alicia's teams for instance. I'd assume the same could be said for your own team. You know your people better than I do, so I'll let you make those decisions. Only requirements are making sure they have at least one person who can help the team take down the wards around a home and making sure there's at least one person per team capable of using fiendfyre."
Dumbledore nodded gravely. "Which homes are we targeting then? Besides the Malfoy's that is," Dumbledore asked.
"The plan is for each team to hit two homes, a couple of which we know will be empty thanks to Severus's intelligence," Harry briefed. "We want to hit the Rosiers, the Parkinsons, the Malfoys, the Lestranges, the Fudges, the Thicknesses, the Yaxleys, the Notts, the Clearwaters, the Smiths, the Hawkworths, the Carrows, and the Macmillans. We're also going to hit doubles for five of those families, so that hopefully they one think that we are just striking randomly for most our targets but do have it out specifically for those five targets, which will be the Lestranges, the Malfoys, the Fudges, the Hawkworths, and the MacmIllans. We've picked out two other properties that belong to each family and burning them down should help add to the confusion."
Dumbledore sighed wearily. "I don't like it, but I can see why it needs to be done. Do you want me to brief the Order?"
Harry nodded grimly. "It'll be better coming from you." Harry handed Dumbledore a paper listing all the assignments with directions of where to apparate to.
Dumbledore nodded and went to the center of the room.
Harry went back to his friends and wife and waited while Dumbledore explained the plan, which gained some shocked looks from some faces and eager, approving looks from others. Harry could tell some people just weren't really prepared for all out warfare, while others might be a little too vengeful or full of bloodlust.
Harry refocused on Dumbledore as he finished.
"Now, report to your team leaders, and may good fortune shine on you this night," Dumbledore said gravely.
Harry was surprised when Katie Bell, Oliver Wood, and Mary McDonald came over to them, with one other man Harry didn't recognize. Katie and Oliver were giving Harry skeptical looks, obviously doubting Harry's ability to lead or be capable in battle. It was quite the change from the fun and friendly Oliver and Katie Harry knew from back home. It was sad seeing such jaded looks on his normally friendly friend's faces.
"Mary here says you're dependable and powerful," Oliver said without preamble, "and Albus put you in charge, so I'll follow you, but I'll be watching you as well. I don't know you, so I don't trust you. Don't take it personally."
Katie and the unknown man nodded in agreement to Oliver's words.
"I understand," Harry told them. "Just watch my back tonight, and I'll watch yours and everything should be just fine. Now, we're hitting two places tonight: a home owned by the Lestranges and Malfoy manor. The Lestrange home should be empty, but just be prepared, however Malfoy Manor will be occupied so everyone needs to keep on their toes. My wife," he motioned to Ginny, "and I will deal with the wards. One of you needs to make sure anti-apparation and anti-portkey wards go up and shut down the Floo as well. We don't want anyone escaping."
The four people nodded grimly.
"You can take down those wards?" the unknown man asked skeptically. "They'll be extremely powerful."
"We'll take care of them in record time," Ginny said with determination. "Mine and Harry's job is the wards, and then you'll stop mobility. Afterwards, Harry's job is to confirm if an item is in the manor before burning it to the ground, while the rest of us deal with any Death Eaters that might be present. Harry will certainly help, but his focus is confirming the item which will take him into a hidden basement section where he won't be able to assist us from. We know that Malfoy Manor has three Death Eater guards to deal with and Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy are expected to be at home, plus five house elves though I doubt we'll have to fight them since neither Narcissa or Lucius will likely think to order their elves to fight for them. Draco is supposed to be abroad currently but be wary just in case he came home for a surprise visit or for some other reason."
The four Order members nodded their understanding, determined glints in their eyes.
"What are all your names?" Harry asked, choosing to not recognize Katie and Oliver. "Other than Mary, you're all unfamiliar to me" . . . which was true from a certain point of view.
"David," the unknown man answered.
"Katie," Katie greeted at the same time Oliver said, "Oliver."
"Alright, nice to meet you all, now, let's go," Harry said, ready to get this over with, and the six of them moved through the crowd to the apparation point and apparated away.
They first appeared on the outskirts of an informal summer home that belonged to the Lestrange family. Harry couldn't Sense anyone inside, but wards could be dampening his senses. The wards on the house were not severe, being that it wasn't a home that was constantly being lived in and strong wards like those kept on the manors were expensive to install and upkeep.
Harry and Ginny got to work disabling the intruder alarm and then the rest of the wards, doing it at a fairly quick pace that got a slightly impressed look from David. They brought them down and then their small team proceeded through the breach. Once through the wards, Harry could Sense that nobody was in the home currently, so he nodded at Ginny and they both lit up the home with fiendfyre.
The home was consumed quickly in the extremely destructive cursed fire. Harry and Ginny controlled the fire skillfully making sure that after the home was consumed, that the fire was put out, lest it burn out of control. The other four Order members just watched impassively, before Harry nodded and they all proceeded out of the wards and apparated again.
Harry appeared outside Malfoy Manor. He still had bad memories of this place, but he'd been here a couple times since the end of the war, generally checking on Draco and Narcissa who had to have periodic inspections for dark arts items as part of their agreements to avoiding jail time.
The four Order members fanned out slightly but didn't move forward as Ginny gave them the signal to hold tight. He and Ginny both started doing the complex motions with their wands that fully revealed the wards around the property. They were just out of range of detection, just as Harry planned. Ginny started slowly, but surely working to untangle the intruder alarm from the rest of the wards so it could be deactivated. It was grueling work, but if she pulled this off without tripping the wards, Harry and Ginny could get cruder and basically use force to blast down the wards without necessarily alerting the occupants in the manor.
While Ginny was dealing with the Intruder alarm, Harry was busy separating the rest of the wards so that they weren't tightly woven . . . at least in this section of the wards. If he could do that, breaking through would be easy. This was something they hadn't tried back during their own war, being not sure if they were capable at the time especially while Harry was a wanted man number one on Voldemort's hit list, but they'd had a bit of practice at this sort of thing in the aftermath of the war, breaching this exact pureblood estate in fact.
He noticed David watching him and Ginny work, his expression slowly moving from slightly impressed to flat out impressed as they progressed. He obviously knew a bit about wards and breaking them down or so Harry thought. After twenty minutes, Ginny finally managed to bring the intruder alarm down without triggering anything, and Harry had eroded the strength of the primary magical protections enough that he and Ginny simply blasted through the remaining wards easily. David and Mary quickly put up anti-apparation and anti-portkey wards as they all rushed through the breach. Harry being in the lead decided not to rely on his teammates and cast at the chimney the anti-floo curse, sealing off the house, as far as Harry was concerned.
He knew from Snape's reports the Malfoy's had three wizard guards who were low level Death Eaters as well as five house elves. It was Ginny and the other's jobs to take care of the Death Eaters while he went and found the secret room that the Malfoy's hid their dark arts items in, at least the room they'd used back in Harry's world. He suspected they still used it, but now it was for their extremely valuable items instead of just their dark items.
Harry, Ginny, and the four Order members quickly reached the front door. Harry couldn't Sense any movement from the inside, but that didn't mean there wasn't any. Harry tried to unlock the front door, but it was apparent that the door was enchanted to require an actual key, or perhaps be a blood relative.
So much for a silent entry.
Harry blasted the door down and the six of them breached the house, moving as quick as they could, fanning out. Harry could Sense movement now, two coming from the east part of the house, one from the west, and two from the upper floors.
"I'll take the upstairs," Ginny said to the group, and started moving to the grand stairs that the Malfoy Manor sported in the Entrance Hall.
"David, Katie, take the right passage," Harry ordered," Oliver, Mary, you take the left."
The mentioned people headed towards their respective destinations as ordered as Harry proceeded through the central door, through which hallway Harry knew lead to the Drawing Room. He quickly moved down the hallway to the third door on the left where he entered the Drawing Room. He hit the floor with a reductor curse, and to his relief it revealed a passageway in the floor with stairs, that led into a dark crevice.
Harry smiled, thankful that so many things were the same from his world, and he quickly moved down the passage. He Sensed a couple traps that he quickly disarmed. He passed all the Malfoy's treasured items, looking for a little black book, not seeing it, but he could Sense that there was another hidden chamber just beyond the back of this giant alcove. He blasted the wall apart, revealing several more things which included a couple pieces of jewelry, a sinister looking sword, and a couple books that Harry suspected had taught the Malfoy family for generations, and set in the center, the prize of the secret vault, was Tom Riddle's diary. It looked exactly as Harry remembered it from all those years ago in the Chamber of Secrets.
Feeling a grin pop onto his face, he quickly pocketed all of the Malfoy's dark arts books, before he hit the diary with fiendfyre, relishing in the scream that occurred as the diary burned. His mission complete, he let the fire burn as he rushed back out into the Drawing Room, prepared to help his comrades and wife.
He was confident in Ginny's abilities to hold her own. Lucius was an excellent duelist and Narcissa was fairly talented, but neither could hold up against Ginny . . . not anymore, but he wasn't sure how his comrades would hold up.
He Sensed where he could feel Mary, and he quickly Shadow Traveled to her destination, melting out of darkness behind the two Order members who were exchanging spellfire with one Death Eater who was barely hanging on. Harry wasted no time and launched two explosion curses which blanketed the area around the Death Eater launching him back into a wall, where he collapsed to the ground. Not taking any chances, Harry put a piercing curse into the man's heart, ending any chance of the man to recuperate.
Harry gave a grim nod to Mary and Oliver who were staring at him in surprise before he melted back into Shadow, appearing right behind David and Katie who had already brought down one of the two Death Eaters they had to deal with and were just finishing off the last one. Seeing they didn't need any help, Harry Shadow Traveled once more to his wife's side, wandlessly blocking a heart explosion curse that was launched at him as he materialized.
Gin capitalized on the Malfoy's surprise at his arrival and their failed attempt to curse him, by hitting Lucius's wand arm with a cutting curse, severing it at the elbow. He screamed in pain, and dropped to a knee, causing Narcissa to gasp and yell, "LUCIUS!"
Her break in concentration cost her as Harry hit her with a heart explosion curse, and she died, dropping with a loud thud at Lucius's side. Harry didn't like killing her, she'd even been quite friendly since the end of the war, rekindling her familial ties with Andromeda, but this wasn't the same woman.
"NO!" Lucius cried out through his pain.
It was his last word as Ginny hit Lucius with a piercing curse to the skull and he dropped next to his wife, dead. Harry grimly nodded at his wife and Shadow Traveled back to Mary and Oliver, knowing Ginny would go to Katie and David.
"The mission's done. My fiendfyre will be spreading quickly, so we need to leave now. Grab onto my arm."
They did as he ordered and he Shadow Traveled out of the Malfoy Manor onto the field, where they could see Malfoy Manor starting to crumble in flames as the cursed fire spread indiscriminately, the hell beasts of the fire consuming all it touched. Only moments later, Ginny appeared with David and Katie.
They watched the building burn, and after it had been completely consumed, Harry and Ginny went through the arduous task of containing and eradicating the cursed fire, which was a much harder feat after it burned down such a large building and had run free for as long as it did.
When it was done, they quickly apparated back to Headquarters to report the success of their two missions and hear the results of everyone else's.
Harry and Ginny secluded themselves from their teammates and the rest of the Order who had already made it back, just wanting to spend some time with each other after the battle. It hadn't been hard, but Harry and Ginny had their own scars from their war with Voldemort, and neither liked being back in the position where they needed to kill in order to have any chance of winning the war. As an Auror, Harry hadn't killed anyone yet, and he didn't intend to as long as he could, and as long as his skill would allow. In fact, these were the first people he'd killed since Voldemort.
Harry conjured a loveseat, and he and Ginny sat in it, and Ginny curled into Harry's side, and they both sighed in relief.
"I can't believe we're back in this situation again," Ginny said softly.
"I know," Harry responded finally. "As much as I sympathize with these people and what they're going through, I still struggle to not resent them. We were done with this mess, and we were finally stable and happy."
Ginny sighed. "Well, at least we got a couple years of happiness if we don't make it out of here. That's more than some get, and more than I thought we were going to get at times."
Harry shot her a sharp look. "We're getting out of here, Gin. Don't even think otherwise. You, Jason, and Alicia are here because of me, and there's no way in hell you're dying here, and since none of you will let me die, then we'll just all have to survive."
Ginny grinned at him. "Well aren't you all motivational and positive today." She leaned in and gave him a soft kiss. "Thanks for the supportive words, love."
Harry and Ginny just watched as other teams started returning until finally Jason and Alicia came in, looking weary. Their two friends immediately looked at them and walked over to them, Jason conjuring a large comfy chair in front of Harry and Ginny that he and Alicia settled in, both sighing in relief.
"I killed Rabastan," Alicia said after a moment.
"That's good," Harry said, feeling old. "Any of the other Lestranges there?"
"I think it was Rabastan's wife in this world," Jason said tiredly, "but no Bellatrix or Rudolphus. They had a couple Death Eater acolytes staying with them, but no other major players. His wife couldn't have been much older than us," Jason said, looking troubled, and Harry understood what he was getting at. Lestrange probably had been given a young bride due to his status.
"We killed Lucius and Narcissa," Ginny said.
"Good," Jason said grimly. "With those two gone, the Ministry will be in disarray here since he was the Minister."
"I wonder who will secede him," Harry said thoughtfully.
Jason, Ginny, and Alicia shrugged.
"Who cares," Alicia said bitterly. "Whoever it is will only be another Lucius but probably less powerful. We'll just have to kill whoever it is when we've got the chance."
Jason gave Alicia a concerned look and pulled her even closer. Albus walked over to them, and Harry and Jason both shot Albus glares, bitterness in them from the hardships of being forced into a war and having to watch their wives handle the burden once again.
Albus shot them apologetic looks. "It seems the operation was a success. Perseus Parkinson, Pius and Thelma Thicknesse, Rufus and Marianne Fudge, the youngest generation of Clearwater's whose name I believe was Penelope, one of the younger Smith's named Zacharias, and the youngest Macmillan whose name was Ernie were all killed. All either high ranking Ministry employees who support Tom, or members of the Death Eaters. I understand that Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy were killed as were Rabastan and Mirian Lestrange. Rabastan, Mirian, Lucius, and Narcissa were all high-ranking Death Eaters in Tom's inner circle, and Lucius was obviously the Minister. Their deaths –"
"We understand, Albus," Jason cut across sharply. "We planned the raids for a reason obviously. You don't need to try and butter us up so that we stay with the program. We know what we have to do, but don't expect us to like it."
Albus nodded, looking a little abashed.
"Tomorrow, you're in charge of making sure every member of the Order with a Patronus is capable of doing the Destruction Patronus," Harry said forcefully. "We'll fill you in on the plans the following night, when you will gather the whole Order again. Any questions?"
Albus nodded, understanding Harry's demanding tone. "I don't get to know anything beforehand?" Albus asked. "The members should know what their getting into ahead of time."
"Sorry, Albus, but we don't trust that there isn't possibly a spy in your midst," Ginny said, trying to sound a little warmer than Jason and Harry had been. "We want to keep the plans close to our chests as long as we can when we can."
Albus nodded a little stiffly, looking not happy to have his Order questioned on faithfulness. He then left them without a word.
"He can grumble all he wants, but we've been here before," Jason said with a frown.
"As much as many of these people are familiar faces, they're different people. Zacharias, Penelope, and Ernie are prime examples of that, not including Katie and Oliver," Harry agreed. "We can't just assume they're trustworthy because they were trustworthy in our world."
"I really wish we had Artemis here," Jason moaned. "We could accomplish more if we could travel by phoenix flame."
"I miss Artemis too," Alicia said, rubbing Jason's arm comfortingly. "She's extremely useful as an asset, but much more than that, she's our friend and companion who's saved our lives so many times."
Harry looked at his friends. "Let's get back to your tent and start planning for tomorrow's missions."
Jason, Alicia, and Ginny nodded somberly, and they all got out of their cozy positions and banished the conjured furniture. Their movements drew the attention of most of the Order, but they ignored them and simply left Grimmauld Place, not stopping to talk with anyone.
They appeared back outside the Potter cottage and proceeded to walk down into the bunker and into the tent, to where the war room had been set up. Jason walked up to the boards and peered at all the intel they'd gathered thoughtfully.
"Tomorrow, the four of us will go wipe out the vampires," Jason said to the group. "There's only twenty of them in this country or at least twenty working for Voldemort in this country, and we should be able to handle it alone, especially if we hit them during the day. Tomorrow night, the Order will make sure all its capable members learn the Destruction Patronus, so that the following day we can wipe out most of the Dementors outside of Azkaban."
"That'll be good, but it won't be long before they start recalling forces back from other places to try and keep hold of Britain," Ginny said with a frown.
Alicia nodded. "That's when we'll go and try and help out a couple different countries and hopefully find a way to get the word out to the world that resistance is possible. We obviously can't retake this world by ourselves, but if we can change how people view this war, then hopefully they can start to retake this world by themselves."
"I've noticed from Severus's reports that a large portion of South America has remained free because they've formed an alliance among the countries that stayed free, helping each other," Jason said. "If we can take some of the pressure off of them, perhaps they'll be able to start making a push to reclaim other South American countries, and perhaps some of the more active resistances in North America, Asia, Africa, and Europe will start making pushes as well. Similar to the muggle world wars, Tom doesn't have enough Death Eaters to actually conquer the world. He has a very large army numbering close to five million, but he's only really succeeding because the vast majority of this world just isn't sticking up to him or are even actively helping him to avoid any misfortune happening to them. When you remove the portion of Death Eaters he keeps in every place he's conquered to retain control, his army that is trying to conquer the still free areas isn't nearly as big as it needs to be when the free areas magical people are all banding together to resist. It's why he hasn't been able to conquer all of South America. They're actively resisting him and apparently extremely vicious to traitors before they execute them."
"I see," Harry said, nodding in approval. "You just want to weaken Tom's forces enough that the resistances of this world can start making their own headway, hopefully empowering the rest of the world to start rising up. If things go as we hope, it'll eventually reach the point where Tom won't be able to bring his forces back."
"Exactly," Alicia said, smiling slightly. "There's a good chance that following some major losses, Tom's forces will start running or leaving his service as well. It's not like there can be that many vampires in Tom's service compared to the amount in the world and they generally hate serving wizards. Worldwide, he's got nearly a thousand vampires, but compared to the probable amount actually around, that's got to be a fractional amount. I'd assume they're doing it partially to avoid being hunted like the werewolves but also because they're getting victims out of it, however, if we start wiping many of them out, they may decide it's not worth staying in Tom's service if they're being killed quicker than they can turn people into vampires."
Harry and Ginny nodded.
"So which countries do you wish to try and assist, when we get to that point?" Ginny asked curiously.
"That'll depend on whether or not Izzy and the others manage to get to us by then or ever," Jason said, rubbing the back of his neck. "If we had phoenix travel, I'd have us hit quite a few different places, especially since some of these small island nations or smaller population countries only have a couple Death Eaters stationed there, but if we're travelling by portkey, apparation, brooms, or muggle methods, then we'll have to shorten the list of places we hit. We can probably try to give Lily and the others a list of places that we'd like to hit to try and help them out a bit."
Harry and Ginny nodded with a sigh. No matter which way you looked at it, they still had a long way to go before this would be over and they could go home.
"Screw it," Jason said with a disgusted look at their boards. "We can think about this tomorrow. Let's go find a bar and relax tonight. Gods know we've earned it."
Alicia, Ginny, and Harry chuckled.
"That sounds grand," Ginny said with a wide grin, Harry and Alicia nodding eagerly in agreement.
**HP**
Jason, Ginny, Harry, and Alicia appeared back in front of Potter Cottage, laughing loudly.
"Ha, I can't believe we actually made it back here," Harry said, slurring his words. "You're far too sloshed to have apparated us, Jace."
"ME!" Jason said incredulously, loudly, laughing. "I haven't seen you this drunk since mine and Licia's wedding."
"Gods, your so loud when your drunk," Ginny complained, rubbing her eyes, before she glared at Jason. "You're the one who got him hammered at YOUR wedding and I'm the one who had to deal with it!"
Alicia and Jason burst out laughing.
"Oh, that was priceless," Alicia said, wiping tears from her eyes. "My favorite was when he started talking about how much he loved you and every part of you. You had to shut him up before your father and brothers realized how intimate you'd been."
"That was NOT funny!" Ginny exclaimed, glaring. "It's not like me shutting him up didn't let everyone know how far we'd gone. I got a wonderful talk from my mother the next morning, a talk I did NOT need to have twice!"
Jason and Alicia both collapsed on the ground, grasping onto each other after stumbling from laughing.
"You're just mad you didn't get any that night," Alicia said crudely, chuckling.
"Please, not getting any was the least of my problems that night," Ginny scolded. "Not like either of you are ones to talk. You both were very far gone at our wedding, and I seem to remember Kingsley having to apologize to the Taiwan Ministry after you went on a bender, and cursed every chair at their Ministry so that when someone sat down they were glued to the seat and you then you flooded the place with confetti and paint! From what I understand, it took them five hours to figure out a counter to your spells."
Jason and Alicia started laughing again.
"Oh, King was so mad at us," Jason said, wiping his eyes. "I wanted to feel bad, but their Minister was such a money-grubbing suck up. He reminded me of Fudge and was demanding we do all this stuff as if we were his inferiors and he only hired us to do us a favor and not because his government was incapable of dealing with their Dark Lord. The prick even hit on Alicia!"
"Like that jerk had a snowball's chance in hell even if I wasn't married," Alicia muttered, still giggly. "Besides dear, he didn't hit on me, he propositioned me which was much more insulting." She then turned back to Ginny, "You can point out the times we went too far, but I remember the night after your first game with the harpies."
Ginny gaped and then she started laughing. "Guess I had that one coming."
"Yeah, Ron still won't drink with you because of what you did to him that night," Jason said with a laugh.
"Well, the prat had it coming!" Ginny protested, giggling. "He was trying to stop Harry and I from going back to OUR apartment!"
They all broke down laughing again, all on the ground now after stumbling.
"There was also that time the night you got engaged," Jason said, looking at Harry and Ginny with a grin, and both got wide grins, while Alicia giggled.
"Sirius was proud," Harry said. "Remus and Tonks too!"
"Well, of course they were," Jason said. "You charmed it to rain in the Daily Prophet. The newspapers were ruined, the building flooded, and Rita Skeeter spent two hours transfigured as a trash can, and then she couldn't write anything for five days since you cursed her to be unable to hold or dictate to a quill."
"Well, that's what they get for writing those nasty rumors and stories about us," Ginny said, grinning evilly. "I had zero regrets."
"I don't know about zero regrets," Alicia said with a sly grin. "I think you regret what your mother walked in on you two doing that night in the Weasley broom shed."
Harry and Ginny blushed deeply, and Jason chortled.
"Oh, I though she was going to have a heart attack," he said with a laugh.
"You two do not get to talk about us being walked in on!" Ginny said shrilly. "You have had that happen just as many times as we have, if not more!"
"What the hell is going on out here!" came an angry voice.
They all jumped to their feet sloppily stumbling, turning to see an irate Lily Potter, and a very amused Sirius Black, James Potter, Remus Lupin, and Dora Tonks.
"Hey mum," Harry said with a laugh, causing James, Sirius, Remus and Lily to blink in surprise for a second before Lily's anger came back in full force. It was the first time he'd called her that.
"HARRY JAMES POTTER! What do you think you're doing coming back here so drunk you can't even stand? We've been worried sick about where you all were since NONE of you thought to leave a bloody note because that would be SO hard to do," Lily scolded angrily.
"We were just blowing off steam," Ginny protested in a small voice, looking like a scolded child.
"Don't get me started with you, young lady," Lily retorted. "I would think my daughter in law would have the sense to not allow her and her friends to apparate while completely intoxicated. For such an accomplished group, you are acting like a bunch of irresponsible teens!"
Jason, Harry, Alicia, and Ginny looked at each before laughing, collapsing to floor again causing Lily's eyes to widen, before her scowl became more pronounced, looking very McGonagallish. James, Sirius's, Dora's, and Remus's grins widened, as James shook his head in mock sadness.
"We are only twenty-one years old," Harry pointed out with a stupid grin on his face, sitting on the ground. "Aren't we supposed to be doing dumb things?"
"JUST BECAUESE A STEREOTYPE EXISTS DOES NOT MEAN YOU HAVE TO FOLLOW IT!" Lily yelled, looking beside herself.
"Jeez, alright mum," Harry muttered, looking like he'd realized he'd gone too far. "We're sorry and we'll leave a message next time."
Lily sighed and took a deep breath. "That's all I'm asking, and next time, you'll send a message asking to be picked up rather than risk apparating while intoxicated. Am I understood?" She asked, with a piercing glare as she leveled a finger at the young adults.
"Yes mum," Harry and Ginny both slurred out as Alicia and Jason said, "Yes Mrs. Potter."
Lily's scowl faded and she shook her head turning on them and walking quickly towards the house.
James, Sirius, Remus, and Dora grinned at them.
"If you think Lils is done making your lives hard for this night, then you're in for a nasty surprise tomorrow," James said with a wide smile, before he turned away, chuckling.
Sirius, Remus, and Dora shot them all wicked grins before following James and Lily.
"Well, if we're getting punished tomorrow," Jason slurred, "we might as well continue our fun tonight!"
"Damn straight!" Alicia said, struggling to her feet. She helped Jason to his feet, and then together, still chuckling, they drunkenly walked towards their tent. "Spare room's all yours if you need it!" Alicia called back at them. "Don't forget the silencing charm!"
Harry and Ginny glanced at each other laughing as they both struggled to their feet, helping each other up.
"Hypocritical of them to give us that advice," Ginny giggled. "Especially after that weekend in France."
"Eh, it's just good advice," Harry said, smiling at his wife, and wrapping his arms around her as they trailed after their friends