CHAPTER 130: Alley

Diagon Alley was the true heart of Magical Britain. If you strike at the Ministry, the people route around it. If you strike at Gringotts, the people trade in I.O.U.s of gold not really in their vaults anymore until they win through again and the goblins make good on every last Knut. If you strike at Godric's hollow the people flee and establish new houses. If, horror of horrors, you strike at Hogwarts and make it stick, the heart and soul of Hogwarts is in the professors and a hovel of a building will be made good enough. But if you strike at Diagon Alley you get the real economy of the people and what it means to be a witch or a wizard. For no man is an island and the power to be what they are is only in their trade.

The Dark Lord had struck at Diagon Alley and made it his, and after the Ministry nobody had opposed him. The nation was in the palm of his hand. But this day, General Chaos saw fit to challenge the Dark Lord himself for the first time of his own choosing.

The division of labor was a simple one. The professional Aurors would guard the people safely in Azkaban; while the members of the ex-Order of the Phoenix and any other volunteers would mount an attack on Diagon Alley and try to bring Lord Voldermort down upon them. The counterattack at Hogwarts had cost him too many of his new recruits. There was real hope this attack would be more than a match for all of the remaining death eaters.

So it was that Harry Potter, Alastor Moody, Emmiline Vance, Bahry One-Hand, Hermoine Granger, the Lord and Lady Greengrass, Minerva McGonagall, Theodore Nott, and Nevelle Longbottom who gathered to strike a blow at the Dark Lord. They were soon joined by sixteen British soldiers and two boxes of additional arms brought in by Michael Evans-Verres' phoenix.

Harry's briefing was simple. "The town is not completely evacuated. The enemy is wearing face-concealing masks; but there are two MVPs who have no masks. Bellatrix Black is tall thin mad woman of terrible power, and the Dark Lord himself has a tall body, greenish skin, and glowing red eyes. Don't bother with fancy spells; bring down enemy shields quickly and let the soldiers finish off the targets. If anybody says Az-Reth fire a rocket launcher at him immediately." It is Fiendfyre. If he manages to finish casting the spell you're as good as dead. Hermoine Granger picked up a rocket launcher in her left hand. To the soldiers amazement, a rocket launcher was to her a one-handed weapon. Then phoenix fire picked them up and set them in Diagon Alley, conveniently behind the guard post the death eaters had set up.

The two death eaters in the impromptu guard post behind the leaky cauldrin were caught by surprise and picked off immediately. The noise brought more out of the buildings. Two more were picked off from a distance before they even knew what was happening, and two more didn't have enough time to finish casting protego maximus. Yet now the death eaters had shields up and the distance was still considerable.

Now there were six of them advancing in the street under the cover of interlocked shields. Theodore Nott let lose a breaking drill hex at long range, but there wasn't enough power behind it to bring down their shields. It was too far to hear what they were saying clearly, but when the center death eater was tracing a rune, it was obvious to Harry what was happening. "Fiendfyre! Rocket launchers!" Hermoine got hers off first. It impacted upon the first shield and detonated. There was a tremendous din and the shields seem to give off blue-white sparks, and a brilliant yellow fire took on the firm of a bird and flew at them. A rocket struck it and was no more, while several more went past it at the death eaters. Nobody panicked. There was not enough time to panic. Even as they saw this happen they caught fire and saw they were looking at the wall at the far end of Diagon Alley. "Turn around."

There were death eaters in the road. Some were standing up. Some were on the ground. They did not yet know the enemy was behind them. Their shields wouldn't have cared, but only one death eater still had shields up. In a few seconds, he was the only death eater still on his feet. The remaining death eater did the only sensible thing. He apparated out. The fiendfyre was out of control now, but it was going the wrong way.r With its caster eliminated, it wouldn't last long, but it lasted long enough to burn through the guardpost and punch a hole through the wall separating Diagon Alley from London. There would be firetrucks on the other side in a few minutes.

Harry Potter knew battle, but was inexperienced in war. Alastor Moody took command. "Minerva. Take two soldiers and enter into Ollivander's and take the death eater you will find within dead or alive. Emmiline. Bahry. There are two death eaters in the book store opposite. Take two more soldiers with you and take them. The rest of you, with me. There's a number of them in Gringotts.

It would seem to someone watching that Mad-Eye Moody nearly walked into a stunner. Unfortunately, Lord Greengrass wasn't on his toes and got hit by it after it whizzed passed Moody. Hermoine had learned her lesson well and one innervate later he was back on his feet. The death eater had more than he could handle. Another death eater tried to get at them by surprise but made the mistake of firing a stunner at Michael Evans-Verres and wasn't quick enough to dodge the return nor change his shield harmonics to block his own stunner in time. All the battle-hardened death eaters had been defeated already. These were just more recruits.

The final count was eleven death eaters dead and eight captured on one side to no casualties on the other side.

There was a reason the Wizarding Wars had reduced to dueling most of the time. If ever armies would take to the field Fiendfyre becomes worth it and the battles devastating on both sides and what few soldiers left (assuming there are any) end up dueling anyway. The Dark Lord had began constructing armies again in the latter days when few could cast Fiendfyre, but he had taught it to many of his soldiers, thus making it likely Fiendfyre battles would reoccur and force switching back. That's the thing about war. Strategies aren't stable.

The death eater that ran away had apparated away once out of sight. He went to the Dark Lord. It was too far for one apparation, so it took him an hour. The Dark Lord would have no part of this battle.

"My Lord, they have taken Diagon Alley. All of my battle-hardened brothers were struck down in seconds. They have some blasting weapon that's faster than Fiendfyre and anybody that tries to fight without a shield they kill in two seconds at some ridiculous range. They have a phoenix and will use it in combat but by the time we knew it was there it was too late to ward against phoenix. What are we to do?"

"Why is it you live when the others are dead?"

"When the interlocked shields collapsed from the initial blast, my piece of it reformed around me. I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only one with a piece of shield but there were quite a few more blasts, leaving me alone with a shield when they got behind us. I didn't see the hex that got my brothers still on their feet. I just saw them fall."

It took Alastor Moody the better part of an hour to pry the location of Lord Voldermort from one of the death eaters, but he got it.

"Gentlemen, the Dark Lord has taken up residence in the great hall of Hogwarts and will not leave the protection of the Hogwarts wards. It is time to strike while the iron is hot. I will rejoin us promptly in two minutes having canceled out his ability to attack through time."