"Thanks for coming here today Hermione," Harry said as he sat down for tea and biscuits with his second oldest friend and her beloved elf. "I have a feeling that this meeting will be unpleasant for all of us."
"Think nothing of it. Ginny and the surviving Weasleys are important to me as well," the Winter Knight told him. "Beside Kreacher and I wanted to see the fortifications you constructed for the Legion of Light, so we could compare them to our own. You and Ivy have done some amazing work here, especially considering that we are in the middle of the Sahara Desert, hundreds of kilometers from any major cities."
"Kincaid swears that construction work is an excellent form of training for the legionnaires," Harry joked. "So the dark elves now have a fortress in Nevernever?"
"My people have agreed to fight beside the Sidhe of Winter in the coming war, and as a result Queen Maeve gifted us with a mountain range on the edge of her territory," Lord Kreacher explained. "We are now in the process of building the fortified city of Gygax beneath its highest and most majestic peak."
"The dark elf architecture is highly functional yet beautiful at the same time," Hermione added. "I can understand now why the Founders of Hogwarts enslaved Kreacher's ancestors. Those four reprehensible barbarians never could have built the castle themselves."
"Maybe you should write a new edition of Hogwarts: A History so that everyone will know the truth about what happened," Harry innocently suggested.
"I already have a full outline prepared, and the manuscript should be done in less than a year," Hermione assured him as her brown eyes began to glow with a disturbing light.
One of legionnaires knocked on the door before entering the General's office. "Sir, the chartered aeroplane has arrived from France. Your three guests brought the prisoner with them, and per your instructions I placed the man in one of the newly warded prison cells on the far-side of the cave complex."
"Well done. I will oversee his interrogation personally after this meeting in over. You many send in my guests now."
A few moments later Ginny, her bother Bill, and his wife Fleur entered the office. All three were having very different reactions to the current crisis. Ginny had clearly been crying recently, but Harry couldn't blame her for that. The agents of the Black Council had somehow managed to divert several gas mains beneath the streets of London directly into the British Ministry of Magic. A few wizards had noticed the smell and escaped, but the majority of the employees were still there when several remote-controlled bombs exploded. Molly had been visiting Arthur and Percy that day, and all three were among those burnt alive when the Ministry was temporarily converted into the world's largest gas-fired oven.
Bill was torn between comforting his little sister and keeping his enraged wife from cursing someone. Fleur's father had also been killed yesterday when over a hundred man-shaped creatures wearing grey suits and fedoras overran the French Ministry of Magic in Paris. Luckily one of the Aurors on duty had stunned the man controlling the inhuman "things" before they could massacre all the employees.
Ginny ran over to Hermione, and started crying again as they hugged. "I can't believe my parents and Percy are gone!"
"Fleur and Bill, you both have my deepest condolences," Harry told them. "Please sit down. Is there anything I can get for you?"
"Yes, you will allow me to kill that filthy English bastard who murdered my father," Fleur snarled.
"The bloke is a nutter," Bill added. "He keeps saying that he hasn't broken any of the "Laws of Magic"—whatever they are—and that we had better let him go. Do you have any idea what is going on about? Is any of this madness connected to the vampires who kidnapped Ron, George, and Charlie?"
"In a roundabout kind of way. These attacks are part of a war that has been going on for some time in the larger supernatural world," Harry explained. "That is why the ICW created the Legion of Light in the first place, so that we could defend ourselves from these types of outside threats."
"Well, I must say that so far you have failed to perform your duties!" Fleur hissed. "The magical governments in Asia were hit even harder than the ones in Europe, while the United States also suffered terrible losses. And to top it all off the ICW itself was destroyed while you sat here and did nothing!"
The attack on the International Confederation of Wizards had been simple, yet brutally effective. An unknown group of muggle mercenaries just stole six M109 howitzers from the Swiss Army, and drove them up to the alpine valley were the ICW was located. Once the wards were breached by a true wizard of the Black Council, the mercenaries had no problem shelling the ancient structure until nothing was left but rubble. Harry had personally scouted the area last night, and all he had found was the corpses of dead wizards and witches. The same true wizard who destroyed the wards must have also blocked floo system and their ability to apparate, which is what happened at the French Ministry as well.
"I only have four hundred legionnaires," Harry told the Veela. "And they are being trained to fight, not stand on guard duty."
"You had four hundred legionnaires," Fleur pointed out with some relish. "Now that the ICW has been destroyed, your legal authority over this so-called Legion has been destroyed right along with it."
"Don't be ridiculous. I assumed the position of Supreme Mugwump this morning, and new Ambassadors from several countries have already arrived here in Chad. The ICW will be up-and-running again by the end of the week, and if anyone is foolish enough to attack my Camp they will be in for a series of unpleasant surprises," Harry told them.
"So you are now both the Supreme Mugwump and the leader of our military forces?" an anxious Bill asked. "That is a lot of political power concentrated in the hands of one wizard who hasn't even turned twenty yet."
"Remind me again: what exactly were you doing during the war against Voldemort?" Harry asked coldly. "Oh that's right, you were living at your lovely seaside cottage with your lovely Veela wife, while I was out trying to kill an insane Dark Lord. Hell, even Kreacher and the elves made more of a contribution to the Battle of Hogwarts than you or the Order of the Phoenix did."
"Very true, and we were only fighting with a small fraction of our magical strength at the time," the dark elf remarked.
"Dumbledore's leadership during the last war was criminally negligent," Hermione added. "He simply dumped the responsibility for defeating Voldemort on the shoulders of an inexperienced wizard whom he had barely trained at all."
"The enemy we are facing now is infinitely more dangerous, and if you expect me to defeat them by myself again you're delusional," Harry stated. "I was legally given command of the Legion, and I was legally chosen as the Supreme Mugwump. You can tell your friends back in France and Britain that if any bloody politician attempts to strip me of those positions I will respond with deadly force."
"So you now consider yourself the dictator of the magical world?" a furious Fleur asked.
Harry smiled as he thought back to Ivy's words all those months ago. "Not of the entire magical world, just our special corner of it. This war will require a strong leader, and for better or worse I'm now that leader."
"You are less than twenty-four hours from your first major battle. You don't have much time to waste on this piece of excrement," Ivy said as she studied their unconscious prisoner. "So I think you should open the interrogation with a lengthy Cruciatus Curse."
"Those are words I never thought I would hear from my wife," Harry muttered. "Maybe we should just try talking to him first?"
"Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you."
"Ennervate!"
"Where the hell am I?" the heavy-set man asked with a thick cockney accent. "And who the hell are you two?"
"You can't be serious. If this wanker is from the East End of London I will change Teddy's dirty nappies for a month without using any magic," an annoyed Harry said to his wife.
Ivy smiled. "Ernest Armand Tinwhistle was born in Cornwall to Sir Philip Tinwhistle and his wife Georgiana. The Tinwhistle Family made their fortune several generations ago in the textile industry, but they have managed to hang on to over ten thousand acres along the southern coast despite the Inheritance Tax. Ernest here attended Dragon, Eton, and finally the London School of Economics before discovering his unique magical talents. He acts as a freelance mercenary by summoning creatures from Nevernever, and then binding them to his will. Hence the stupid nickname "Binder" which he prefers to go by."
"That is a rather impressive amount of intelligence you have on little old me," Binder replied, this time with a crisp BBC accent. "And this prison cell: I have never seen such a perfect circle before. You two must be Wardens of the White Council."
"Wrong," Harry said impatiently tapped the Elder Wand against his thigh. "Tell us the name of the person who hired you to hit that building in Paris."
"I didn't catch his name, or I would gladly give it to you. The bastard neglected to tell me that the building was full of your type of wizards," Binder replied as he pointed towards the Elder Wand. "Those sticks of yours aren't very powerful, but there had to be at least two-hundred wizards fighting back when my boys in grey finally made it inside."
"My wife thinks we should just torture you, so unless you give us something a bit more substantial in the next ten seconds that is exactly what's going to happen to you."
"He was tall and swarthy," Binder added quickly.
"Swarthy as in Turkish?" Ivy asked.
"Yes, he could very well have been a Turk. The man was also well-educated—he talked like a bloody Oxbridge Don."
"It was that Denarian, Thorned Namshiel," Ivy said. "He was also spotted in New Delhi and Beijing during the past week, so he must have been the one masterminding all the attacks."
"Damn, we already suspected that Namshiel was a card-carrying member of the Black Council," Harry pointed out. "Ernie here doesn't know anything of real value. He's just a stupid patsy like the others ones we caught."
"Now wait a minute. I have plenty of valuable information I would be more than happy to share with you in exchange for my freedom from this place," a desperate Binder told them. "By the way, where exactly are we? That ginger lad knocked me out before we got on the jet."
"No loose ends," Ivy whispered as she turned to leave.
Harry quickly stunned his fellow Englishman, and then shouted in Parseltongue: "Tommy Junior, I have something fresh for you to eat today!"
A minute later a huge serpent emerged from a hole in the in the rear of the prison cave. When the Legion began carving out these tunnels in the mountain, Ivy had offered some unusual suggestions. A first Harry had objected to using a live basilisk as a security measure, but the more he thought about the idea, the more he came to like it. Tommy Junior was especially useful when he wanted to quietly dispose of any unwanted prisoners. It was also more humane that handing the poor sod over to an enraged Veela.
"General, this intelligence on the vampires is very thorough," one of the centurions remarked as they went over the operational plans one last time. "Perhaps it's a bit too thorough. We might be looking at a double-agent who is setting a trap for us."
As Harry looked over that various maps and diagrams floating in the air he had to agree with the witch: this intelligence was too good to be true. Lara Raith had supplied them with an excessive amount of information about House Skavis and House Malvora. The manipulative vampire expected Harry and his fellow wizards to destroy her White Court rivals once and for all. If her plan worked only House Raith would remain standing, and she would be able to openly claim her title as Queen.
"You are correct. This was all supplied by a vampire within the White Court itself. However I have been able to independently confirm the authenticity of the intelligence from several other sources, none of whom were vampires," Harry explained.
To begin with Ivy had thoroughly examined everything Lara had provided for them, and she verified that none of it was bogus. General Potter hadn't stopped there though. Both he and Kincaid had gone on several scouting trips to Las Vegas and Cape Town. The targets in the two cities perfectly matched what they were expecting to see.
"I would also remind you all that I will personally be leading both missions tonight. My own neck is on the line, so if this is a trap set by the vampires you can be sure I won't hesitate before ordering a full retreat," Harry added to much laughter.
A short time later nearly four hundred wizards and witches gathered in a large cavern at the center of the mountain. Ivy had chosen this spot as the safest place to crossover into Nevernever. Each of the centurions had been carefully taught how to use the special rune-covered daggers which allowed them to open a portal to the parallel dimension.
Once the legionnaires passed through this portal they quickly mounted their brooms. Using the Ways of Nevernever allowed a person to traveling across the globe in just an hour or two, but flying a hundred meters off the ground on a new Firebolt made the trip that much quicker and safer.
"Follow my lead closely!" Harry shouted. Ivy had made him memorized the travel route since getting lost in vastness of Nevernever meant certain death, even for a wizard. "And remember: if you see something move, just kill it!"
Twenty minutes later they crossed back over to an abandoned parking garage in Las Vegas. The vampires of House Skavis fed off the human emotion of despair, and the casinos of Sin City were basically factories which produced an endless supply of suicidal gamblers for them to feast upon. The centurions had ordered their cohorts to put on their Invisibility Cloaks, so Harry ended up addressing a seemingly empty garage.
"Remember these things are monsters that will eat you alive if you give them the opportunity. They deserve no mercy, and they will get none from us!"
If wasn't as if the House Skavis was undefended. In fact the opposite was true. Their mansion had every security device you could think of: motion-detectors, infrared cameras, touch-sensitive floors, and of course heavily armed guards patrolling the grounds with vicious attack dogs. None of that matter to wizards and witches who could instantaneously travel from one point on Earth to another. The legionnaires apparated directly to pre-assigned objectives in the large mansion and started to fatally curse everything in sight. Since the vampires couldn't see who or what was killing them, it ended up being a rather one-sided affair.
Ten minutes later the Legion retreated to the parking garage before entering Nevernever again. The battle had been close to flawless, and there were less than a dozen wounded in total. Each individual wizard and witch had been given a supply of healing potions, and each cohort had its own trained healer. Because of these precautions none of the wounded ended-up as fatalities.
"Alright people. We did very well back there, so we are going to hit Cape Town tonight," General Potter announced. "The less time the vampires have to prepare, the better things will be for us."
House Malvora gave them much more of a fight. Harry had hoped that facing Dementors would have prepared his forces for the vampire's ability to induce fear in their victims, but even with their training several dozen of the tired legionnaires began to panic. Their well-planned attack quickly degenerated into a series of ugly skirmishes inside the halls of the vast South African estate. In some cases the vampires they were fighting against were hundreds of years old, and their experience allowed them to take down a number of wizards before they were finally killed themselves.
"How bad is it?" the young General asked one of his much-older centurions as the fighting finally came to an end. Hitting two separate targets in one night had been a stupid mistake on his part.
"We lost around forty, and over twenty have been seriously wounded. Another fifty or so have minor wounds, but can still make the trip back to the Camp without any help."
"Unroll the magic carpets, and make sure no one is left behind in this cesspool," Harry ordered. "Once the wounded and dead are secured to the carpets, this place gets burned to the ground just like the mansion back in Las Vegas."
As Lara Raith sat in the library of the Raith Family's Miami home she couldn't believe the good news that was coming in from her agents around the world. In a matter of hours both House Skavis and House Malvora has been reduced to nothing more than ashes. After two hundred years of standing in shadow of her abusive father, she had finally won the crown in her own right.
"Hello Lara."
Without thinking the vampire leapt at the intruder with superhuman speed, but she suddenly hit a massive wall of pure energy which knocked her unconscious. When Lara finally came to an hour later she found herself secured to a chair with some type of strange rope she could not break, not even with her superhuman strength. The Archive was sitting on top of a nearby table, causally dangling her Mary Jane shoes back and forth.
"Let's try that again. Hello Lara."
"Do you expect me to be civil with you after your foolish ritual destroyed my family's Chateau outside of Chicago?"
Ivy rolled her eyes. "Fine, be that way. Do you have any last words before I send you on your merry way to Hell?"
"You can't kill me. We had a deal," a stunned Lara said.
"No, I let you believe we had a deal, and you were stupid enough to trust me. I guess all those years of thinking that human beings were nothing more than "kine" blinded you to the fact that we are the dominate species on this planet, and that we always will be."
"Where is my father?"
"Dead," Ivy replied. "Killing him was a bit tricky though, since he is immune to most forms of magic. The idiot actually tried to pull his lame Marquis de Sade routine on me, so I ripped a steel safe out of the wall and slammed the thing into his smug face a dozen times. His legs were still twitching uncontrollably when I left his bedroom."
"My sisters and cousins?"
"All dead. I should really thank you for kidnapping Ronald Weasley. It's rare that I have an opportunity to stretch my magical muscles in a fight like this."
"And little Thomas?" a trembling Lara asked.
Ivy frowned. "He and his girlfriend were gone before I could reached them, but he didn't leave of his own free will. Of that I am certain."
The demon inside of Lara finally overcame her emotional shock. "You may think you have won, but..."
"I take it you are referring to the safe houses you created for the other vampires? I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but Queen Maeve allowed me to borrow the Winter Knight and her army of dark elves. They made sure that today truly marked The Fall of the House of Raith by eliminating every last member of your sick family, even the ones you had hidden around the world. Making an enemy of the Sidhe of Winter all those years ago was an incredible stupid thing to do... your majesty," Ivy said with a mocking smile.
"If Thomas is alive then he will avenge the murder of his family," Lara snarled. "And between him and that oaf Harry Dresden, I believe he has the resources needed to kill you!"
"If I'm right about who abducted your brother—and I'm rarely if ever wrong about such things—than revenge is no longer an option for your brother Thomas," Ivy explained. Then with a casual wave of her hand she annihilated the last Queen of the White Court Vampires.