Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the plot and anything you don't recognise.
The Light at the End of the Tunnel.
Chapter fifteen: The Raid.
Harry stared and the map in front of him. He frowned slightly and marked another X on it. Frowning more deeply he erased it and moved it about a centimetre to the left. He marked a few more X's on the parchment and rolled it up. He would come back to it. There were several flaws that needed sorting, not to mention the matter of command but apart from that it was going fine.
He tied the red ribbon around the parchment and placed it on the floor next to him. He leant back in the chair and closed his eyes. In all honesty he hated planning things. It never felt right. He preferred to be straight in there and working it out as it went along, planning left too much room for doubt in Harry's mind.
He sat there letting his mind wander over the plan unconsciously. He had decided to stick with his original idea, an assault squad and a fire squad. With careful planning, skill and a bit of luck it should work very successfully. The map had been given to him by Dumbledore so he could mark positions and directions of attack on it. The raid was small but hugely important and Harry felt under a lot of pressure to get everything perfect.
The pressure was starting to show and Harry felt his eyelids begin to droop. He shook himself awake but did not have the energy to pick up the map again. Instead he just sat there. He was about to fall asleep when he felt someone put their hands on his shoulders and begin to massage them. He looked over his shoulder and saw Hermione standing there.
"God, your shoulders are tense." Harry nodded and waved a hand towards the map.
"I know, this raid, so much pressure involved." Hermione made a sympathetic noise. Harry began to relax under the massage. Hermione grinned.
"You like?"
"You're good at it." Hermione laughed.
"Hidden talent. Ron likes it a lot." Harry opened his eyes and looked over his shoulder at her.
"Yeah, I bet he does. Not just on his shoulders either." He teased. Hermione leant forwards and placed her mouth next to his ear.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" She asked coyly.
Harry shuddered. "Not really. That is my best mate we're talking about." She poked her tongue out at him.
"Hasn't Cho ever given you, you know, a 'wandering massage'?" Harry shrugged.
"Once or twice. We don't make a habit of it though; we're not a couple of sex-starved nymphomaniacs."
"And me and Ron are?"
"You certainly not sex-starved, that's for sure." Hermione's mouth dropped and she looked at him in disbelief.
"Harry!" She was blushing, "I'll have you know that Ron and I haven't once had sex." Harry rolled his eyes.
"Sure…"
"We haven't!" Harry laughed.
"Ok, so what happens after prefect rounds?"
"We come straight back!"
"An hour after they finish?" Hermione blushed even more. She knew she was beaten.
"Ok, sometimes we make trips to the broom cupboards, but we have never had sex, things have gotten…hot, but we have never had sex." Harry looked faintly scared.
"Easy, Hermione, we're bordering on too much detail."
"Hey, you started it."
"Maybe, but I didn't want a detailed description." They relaxed in each others company. Harry was enjoying the massage intensely and was beginning to fall asleep. He was just about asleep when he snapped his eyelids open.
"Whoa, nearly fell asleep there. You're too good at the massaging thing, Hermione. Anyway, I need to get on with this planning."
"I'll leave you then."
"Yeah. See you later." She turned and walked back up into the girls' dormitory. Shaking his head and taking a deep drink from the goblet of water next to him, he reached down and picked up the map. He placed it on the table and unrolled it.
He studied it carefully. It showed a two story house and the area surrounding it. It was almost too small to be called a map. On the north side of the map there was a hill and it was there that Harry placed his fire squad. The area to the east, west and south was completely flat with no trees or cover. That was unfortunate but, as Harry reasoned to himself, you couldn't have everything. Placing the assault squad was easy enough, it was the firing squad that was giving him difficulty.
Like the area surrounding it, the hill had no cover. That was very unfortunate, it gave the firing squad nothing to hide behind. The real problem was placing them close enough together so that they didn't become disorientated by the darkness and mistake their allies for enemies and placing them far enough apart so that it would not be obvious where the spells were coming from and they would not be so great a target. He frowned and moved one of the X's a half centimetre to the right and one of them a centimetre forward. He looked at it critically. He decided that it was about as good as he could get it.
He proceeded to right notes on the parchment such 'F.S fire for 1 minute before assault' and 'A.S from west wait thirty seconds after rest before attacking." Having scribbled a few informative notes down Harry rolled the map and retied it, then turned to the matter of command.
Although Samia was the more experienced, Harry was almost inclined to give command of the assault squad to Ron. He would feel happier in the final battle with an experienced leader next to him. Although Ron had been involved in the previous two battles he had never been in direct command. This meant that he wasn't as experienced as Harry was. However, the raid was too important to have an inexperienced leader in charge. It would have to go to Samia.
With that decided Harry allowed himself to relax a bit. Ron and Hermione both needed more experience as leaders so he decided to organise a few exercises between them and the Guardians and within the DA itself.
He heard someone coming down the stairs and he swivelled his head around.
"Hey, Ron."
"Alright, Harry."
"Yeah just been planning the raid." Ron looked mildly interested.
"Oh yeah?"
"Listen, I've given command of the assault squad to Samia. The bottom line, mate, is that you're just not experienced enough for a raid of this importance. Sorry." Ron looked faintly disappointed but shrugged anyway.
"No problem. It was expected."
"Thanks. I'll get some exercises organised and you can get experience from them. I'll have a word with Dumbledore about more raids. They help. It'll piss Voldemort off no end if we keep niggling at him. Eventually he'll get so annoyed he'll slip up."
"Fair enough." He indicated the map, "Can I have a look?"
"Not yet, mate, at the briefing tomorrow." Ron shrugged. They fell silent for a minute.
"Doesn't it ever bother you, all the fights and battles? Why should we go through it at only sixteen? It's not fair. Why can't we just have normal lives, worrying about girls and clothes and work, rather then planning raids and fighting and worrying about your family's safety?" Ron asked mournfully. Harry knew that he wasn't complaining and moaning about it, more speculating.
"Of course it bothers me. I'm the one that has to save the world, but we can't help it. We just have to live it. We can't wander up to Voldemort and say 'Hey do you mind stopping trying to take over the world, I would like a normal life' can you. We just got to live through the bad bits and enjoy the normal bits. At least, when this is all over we will be able to live our lives like we should and enjoy them." Neither of them voiced the thought that was running through both of their heads. Both of them new that the chances of them getting through this war, especially Harry, were slim.
An awkward silence ensued. They both looked down at the ground.
"Anyway…" said Ron quietly.
"Yeah… so… I'll tell you all about it tomorrow. A word of advice, mate, even though you aren't in the most dangerous part of it, don't do anything…hot-headed." Ron grinned.
"You mean down right bloody crazy?" Harry laughed.
"Yeah…that."
"Would I ever be so stupid?"
"You've been known for it in the past."
"Ah touché." Ron yawned. "Anyway, if I'm going to be saving the world tomorrow I'm going to need to get some sleep. You coming up?" Harry shook his head.
"Ten minutes." Ron shrugged.
"Whatever." He turned and left the common room. Harry leant back in the chair again. He tried to relax and forget about everything for a while but no matter what he thought about, his mind always seemed to drift back to the raid. He hated feeling out of control. He wanted to be there leading them, knowing what was happening and knowing he could do something about it. Instead, he would be pacing Gryffindor tower waiting for them to return.
He knew that he could quite easily go along if he wanted to but he also knew that it wouldn't help. Having just recovered from an insanity caused by over exposure to the Dark Arts, it would be stupid to expose himself to them again so soon.
He sighed and stood up. He would just have to wait. With that unwelcome thought in his mind, he turned and walked up the stairs to the boys' dormitory.
Harry woke up the next morning with the familiar feeling of nausea in his stomach, though not quite as intense as normal. He turned his head and glanced over at Ron, who, he concluded, looked decidedly worse.
"Nervous?" He asked, Ron looked over at him.
"Bloody terrified, mate."
"Could be worse." Ron laughed emptily.
"How?"
"You could be leading the assault squad. Then you'd be right in the thick of things." Ron shrugged.
"Suppose." They lay there in silence for a few minutes.
"Right. Get up." Said Harry, pulling the covers off himself and getting out of bed. Ron pulled the covers up over his head.
"I think I'll pass and sleep in." Harry grabbed his covers and tugged them off.
"I don't think so, mate, if you're going to be leading men then you, especially you of all people, need a full stomach. So come on." Ron groaned and got out of bed slowly.
"Do I have to?"
"Yes." Ron shook his head and began to get dressed. Five minutes later they were dressed and walking down to the common room. They saw Hermione and Ginny waiting for them.
"Hey." Hermione greeted them, moving to give Ron a kiss.
"Morning, Hermione." Harry said giving her a kiss on the cheek.
"Hey, Harry." She smiled at him and returned the kiss before turning back to speak Ron.
"Hi, Harry."
"Hey, Ginny." He gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Shall we go then?"
"Yeah, come on." Said Ron. Hermione linked her arm through his and Ginny did likewise to Harry. They walked out of the common room together. Ginny stood on tiptoes to ask Harry a question.
"What's wrong with Ron?" She whispered in his ear. Harry shook his head.
"Can't tell you. Sorry." Ginny shrugged.
"Which means there's going to be a fight." Harry grinned.
"Too smart for my own good." He teased. She poked her tongue out at him.
"And you know it." Harry laughed at that. They walked into the Great Hall together. Harry sat down next to Ron and tipped a pile of bacon and sausages onto Ron's plate. Ron looked up looking very sick at the thought of eating them. Harry nodded and added some bacon and toast to his own plate. Resigning himself to his fate Ron began to work his way through the sausages and bacon.
The day passed quickly enough for Harry, although Ron seemed to have a permanent green pallor. He had managed to get hold of Samia after lunch and give her the time and place of the briefing. At ten to seven Harry, Ron and Hermione headed down to the room of requirement. Harry walked past the door three times, concentrating on what was inside it. When it appeared he opened it and stepped inside. Inside were eighteen of the Guardians and Samia. They were seated around a large table and at the front was a screen for writing on.
"God, this room's a bloody wonder." Harry muttered to Ron as they walked in. Ron nodded in agreement. When they saw him the Guardians got to their feet and saluted. Harry saluted back awkwardly and waved them down again, he was still getting used to that. He walked to the front and stood next to the board.
"Right. I hate doing briefings so I'll keep this short and to the point. First. We are raiding a Death Eater safe house on the outskirts of Hogsmeade." Harry took a clean copy of the map, enlarged it and pinned it onto the board. "This safe house is where the Death Eaters are monitoring Dumbledore's activities in Hogwarts from. It needs to be raided and taken out so that is what we are going to do." Harry took the map down and pinned up the one he had written on and pinned it up. Then he went through the plan with them.
"Right. Back up plans." He handed a necklace to Ron and Samia. "If anything goes wrong grab that necklace, it will alert me and I will send reinforcements. Namely Hermione and an extra eight Guardians. If you can hold on and keep fighting then do so. It is imperative that we take out the target one hundred percent. If you can't then retreat to here," Harry indicated another X, about seven hundred metres away from the safe house, "in these woods and await reinforcements. Then decide whether you go back in or pull back. Any questions?" There were none. Harry looked around.
"It is imperative that you hit this target fast and efficiently. Keep a cool head, following everything according to plan and everything will run like clockwork. The target must be destroyed. Do you understand?" There were nods of consent. "Ron, you and your men must lay down serious fire for the minute before the assault teams go on. I don't care what spells you use, anything that will scare and confuse the hell out of them." Ron nodded, Harry turned to Samia, "The assault must be perfectly timed. Completely silent until you get to the building, then all of you get in at the same time, make a lot of noise to confuse but keep calm and cool. Move methodically from room to room, kill everyone inside. In and out in under two minutes. Understand?" Samia nodded. Harry looked down at his watch.
"Right. Dumbledore's men will be placing anti-Apparition and anti-portkey charms around the area." Harry duplicated the maps and handed one copy to Ron and one copy to Samia. "Ok. Good luck. Hit them hard and fast and you will be fine. See you when you get back." They turned and left, shouting encouragement to each other. Harry watched them go and returned salutes. Ron paused briefly to clasp his hand.
"Later, mate."
"Yeah. See you when you get back." They grinned weakly at each other before Ron turned and was gone. When they were all gone, Harry turned to Hermione, the only one left with him. She put her arms around him.
"They'll be fine." Harry nodded weakly. He'd set his plan and mobilised his men. Now he had to wait. All he could do was wait.
And hope.
A/N Ok, I have finally got a chapter up after so long. I know it is a day late and I apologise. My teachers have been giving us so much work, and straight after our mock GCSE's aswell! I swear they are all sadists…
Anyway, I apologise for the long wait and the poor quality chapter. It is only a filler, you will see why at the end of the next chapter. Just bear with me.
I would like to thank everyone who offered me encouragement and support for my mock GCSE's. It meant a lot and meant that it was one burden off my mind during the exams. So thank you. Fortunately, my results were very impressive and encouraging, especially at this stage.
Well done to everyone who got the "eye for an eye" quote. Special mention to:
Aizan19
Mirai Diavolo
Dude
Dark phoenix Mortal
Anonymousy
Hockeyman
Extra special mention to: Fred2928 for his excellent explanation of it, despite that not being what I asked for!
Thanks to everyone who reviewed.
El Permenente – Thanks for the review. Glad you liked that chapter. It will not be a major "storm" so to speak. I enjoyed writing something more light-hearted.
Aizan19 - Thanks for the review. I tried to make them look cute together and I'm glad that came across. The relationship is stiff but it was being so formal because they were dealing with business and political games, something not to be taken lightly. The formality was not due to a stiff relationship but due to them playing political games. Thanks for wishing me luck!
Dragonic - Thanks for the review. Glad you like the fic. There will be no major fight scene for this; the next big one is the final battle. Sorry!
FSI - Thanks for the review.
Mirai Diavolo - Thanks for the review. Thanks, hope your mid terms went well.
Hoshi Hikari - Thanks for the review.
Dragon Sword Master - Thanks for the review. More romance next chapter. Thanks for wishing me luck.
The Enchantresses - Thanks for the review.
Moodyboy66 - Thanks for the review. I enjoyed writing some light-heartedness for once.
Dude - Thanks for the review. They were both from Ghandi. It was one quote.
Colm - Thanks for the review. Yes, he believes him now.
Fred2928 - Thanks for the review. Wonderful explanation, mate. I just asked to see who knew that it was Ghandi who said it though!
Dark Phoenix Mortal - Thanks for the review. I enjoyed writing Ron get wiped by Harry. Don't you just love Google!
Anonymousy - Thanks for the review.
Joe Daspartan - Thanks for the review. That's cool, Logical Raven is a very talented author.
Marie Williams - Thanks for the review. Glad you like it that much, it really does make me feel good!
DarkMiko13 - Thanks for the review. You'll just have to wait and see…
Mrridler - Thanks for the review. Not a flame at all, my friend, one of the more useful reviews. It allows me to see where I'm going wrong and correct it. Although I have to disagree with you on one point, I have been told I use too many twists… I do like darker fics actually, although they are not my favourites, they really do have to be exceptional before I will enjoy them.
Hockeyman - Thanks for the review. I suppose my spelling has been getting worse because I have been typing faster. I'm glad you've liked the story from the beginning, it is a shame it's coming to an end!
The Phoenix King - Thanks for the review. I'll give you a hint, Voldemort's move is coming very soon. Glad you've liked the H/C. My practice exams went very well thank you.
Keep reading and reviewing 'cos I'll keep writing.
Fireboy