CHAPTER 44 – Wall of faith

Chandra and Liliana arrived to the castle to see students and order members standing watch on the battlements, while more members and aurors stood in apparently random points along the perimeter casting long strings of multicoloured spells at the sky. The various streams all joined together into a large shimmering dome, probably some kind of defensive ward that was slowly inching its way downward, covering the whole castle grounds.

"Too few..." muttered the redhead from atop her spitfire, her gaze moving from one indistinct figure to the next.

"You've never got enough soldiers in war," commented the necromancer sitting behind her, likely quoting some dominarian warlord "That said, I hope we've got more hidden inside. They can barely man the walls."

The pyromancer nodded in agreement, then guided her summon to swoop under the shimmering dome and land near the main entrance. No need to possibly damage the budding wards.

Nobody was really startled by their arrival: the sentinels had likely seen the spitfire from far away –it was a bird made of flames, after all– while the casters were too busy to divert their attention. Still, someone must have informed those inside the school, because the doors opened as soon as the planeswalkers landed and Dumbledore stepped outside to meet them. The man was still suffering from the injuries he had received during the confrontation with the haunted armour, as evident from the staff he was leaning on to walk, but he was also obviously too stubborn to stay put in such dire circumstances.

"Miss Nalaar, Miss Vess, I'm glad to see you both doing well," he said as he got close enough, his voice audibly strained "Pardon the directness but time is short. Did you get the last... Anchor? It's why you went to Gringotts, no?"

Despite the aforementioned need for shortness, he had still checked if anyone was listening in and opted for a less obvious term.

"Melted down into slag," said Chandra nodding her head "With that we got all of them."

"Assuming Voldemort didn't create any more of those things..." quipped Liliana shrugging "Doubtful all things considered, but with madmen you never know."

Dumbledore heaved a deep sigh, evidently relieved by the news. Yet, it was soon replaced by lines of worry: in spite of their recent victories Voldemort was still alive and had most of the nation in a stranglehold. The final confrontation was coming, whether they were ready for it or not. That knowledge was what burdened the old man, Chandra was sure of that even without asking.

"So, what's the plan now?" she queried instead.

"Now we raise our walls and wards, so that when the blow comes we will be ready," he explained gesturing towards the large oaken doors "Let us meet with Amelia: she's acting as Minister in interim and directing the defenders."

They went inside as soon as Chandra dismissed the spitfire. The corridors weren't exactly patrolled, more like they crossed ways with a number of students milling about. It was still ok since there was no present threat, but it did paint a grim image if that was the extent of their forces. Voldemort might have lost some of his Death Eaters in the ministry, but he was liable to swiftly rebuild his forces and launch an attack; if enough people rose to his call –willingly or not– the castle would fall without doubt.

The redhead decided to voice her worries to madam Bones and Dumbledore, maybe they had a solution she wasn't privy to. Worst case scenario, she and Liliana could bolster their numbers with some summons. Given enough time they might even be able to get Jace to send someone to help, if he wasn't too busy trying to crack Bolas' masterplan or foiling it.

They also had to do something about the morale: a number of the students they had passed were visibly scared, which was perfectly comprehensible but hardly ideal. Teenagers were already terrible soldiers –the pyromancer herself was a prime example of that, and she was perfectly aware of that– and were even worse if they were too busy jumping at shadows to rest when they could. Probably better to point that out to Bones and Dumbledore too, just in case they were too used in dealing with adults and soldiers to see the problem.

The trio soon reached the command centre, that is to say the small room to the side of the Great Hall where she had been told about the tournament over a year prior. The furniture had been pushed against the walls along everything else save for a large desk and two simple but functional chairs, which were occupied by madam Bones and a tall man with long chestnut hair going grey. He must have been someone important in the ministry, but Chandra had no idea of who he could have been since he didn't wear the red robes of the aurors nor any other insignias.

"Ah, Miss Nalaar Miss Vess, I hope your excursion to Gringotts proved fruitful," said the monocle-wearing woman upon spotting them "Maybe one of you will prove less cagey than Dumbledore about the subject."

"Wait, she doesn't know?" asked Chandra turning towards the ex-headmaster with a surprised look "I though you would have told the head of the lawmages at least!"

"I had to keep the knowledge on a need to know basis to prevent the information from leaking," explained the old man in a tone that was both pained and resolute "Alas, now that we have confirmation that everything went well there's no need to share that particular information anymore."

"We went and destroyed the last of Voldemort's soul anchors so that once killed he won't come back ever again," cut in Liliana draping herself on the sole couch, not far from the fireplace "You will probably have to deal with the goblins after the dark lord wannabe has been dealt with."

"Miss Vess!" protested Dumbledore frowning in obvious disapproval.

"What? If he's not a complete moron he'll soon realize what has happened without having to eavesdrop on this particular conversation: we did raze the bank after all, kind of hard not to notice..." she justified shrugging "And there's no drawbacks in telling our own allies now."

Foreseeably, both revelations turned the convention into a hornet nest. Chandra watched on the proceedings with an exasperated air before deciding that if she was the only one that could defuse the situation then things were far beyond any diplomatic skills she might possess and as such she might as well do nothing at all.

Voldemort surveyed the devastation of what he had always thought to be an absolutely secure hiding spot for one of his precious horcrux. What he saw were scorchmarks where fires had long since extinguished, burned corpses of his inferi army, and general widespread destruction of the secret sea cave. Really, the fact that his blood ward had been melted through should have been clue enough that his hideaway had been found, and with it Slytherin's medallion.

Just like his family ring and Hufflepuff's cup.

He had yet to check on the armour –for some reason he hadn't been able to use Gryffindor's sword as an horcrux, but the goblin silver armour had been a nice fallback– but he had little doubt he would find it similarly destroyed.

That left only Ravenclaw's diadem and his diary. Considering that the jewel was in Hogwarts, it was safe to consider it gone too. Lucius had better have kept his last horcrux safe.

What really galled him was how had Nalaar –for who else could have caused this kind of damage? It had her signature all over it– discovered his secret and found that many of his Horcrux in that short amount of time? Even taking into account the help she had certainly received from Dumbledore and her companions, in little more than a year the young woman had essentially destroyed the work of a lifetime... It was more than just inconceivable, it was mind boggling!

Well, whatever, the girl was already on his hit list due to the prophecy, it wasn't like he could kill her twice. The planned attack on Hogwarts would solve all his problems in one swoop.

But maybe he should reconsider his next moves in light of those new developments? Maybe he should recreate his horcrux? Was it even possible?

He dearly wished Nagini had survived meeting the pyromancer in the department of mysteries, she would have made an excellent fallback horcrux. Too bad he hadn't thought of that sooner.

First things first: checking the old Wool Orphanage and forcing Lucius to cough up his diary. Those were his priorities now. He could plan the next step once he had at least one of his horcrux safely in his hands.

With a last weary look, he apparated away from the secret sea cave.