Warning: The Following Chapter features gore and violence. Viewer Discretion is highly advised.

A/N: I do not own any canon characters or locations of the Harry Potter Universe.

July 31, 1996

Ottery St. Catchpole, Devon, England

01:26:24 AM UTC

A thunderstorm was approaching the village, where most of the residents were now asleep. At an old looking house, on the outskirts of the village, one Blonde-haired teenage girl currently was talking with a red-haired boy in his room, both having a terrible suspicion that no one will get any sleep tonight. Luna Lovegood was now a frequent visitor to the Burrow, trying to build up a relationship with the youngest son of the Weasley Clan. Tonight was not one of those times, as both had their wands out in case of an attack. Luna could feel it in the air, a sense that Death Eaters were coming, and yet she could also feel that there were also forces at work to stop that danger from harming innocents. She was right.

Colonel Daniel Greengrass was currently sitting in the living room of the village's small inn, coordinating with Commandant Jacques Dubois of the French Magical Army over this latest mission in England. The current military operation was a collaborative effort between the Canadian Special Magical Service and the French 7th Magical Infantry Parachute Regiment (7e RPIMa), both Special Forces units comprised of squibs and muggle-born wizards dedicated to covert operations against Dark Magicals in order to preserve the security of their respective nations. Magical France, which was relatively modernized compared to the rest of magical Europe, was fully aware of the threat posed by Tom Marvolo Riddle, AKA Lord Voldemort, courtesy of Henri Delacour, the father of Fleur Delacour, who had believed Harry Potter's position that the Dark Wizard was back.

Two weeks ago, the French Magical Government captured and interrogated what turned to be a Death Eater recruiter operating in Northern France. The interrogation revealed that Riddle was planning to eliminate possible opponents to Fudge (and Lucius Malfoy)'s control over the Ministry of Magic, with Amelia Bones at the top of the list. Thus, the Canadian SMS had stationed two patrols of operators at the Bones residence, with Colonel Greengrass making a visit to the head of the DMLE, informing Amelia and her niece of the possible attempt on their lives.

Five days ago, a dozen of the Death Eaters decided to strike, but were caught flatfooted by the Canadians, with all but one of the tangos quickly dispatched; the terrorists were largely new recruits led by Goyle Senior, who was stunned and captured by the soldiers. Only one soldier was serious injured: Trooper Kyle Walker was still in recovery after a stray diffindo curse caught his left leg, which had to be replaced with a prosthetic.

After injecting military-grade Veritiserum into Goyle's veins, they extracted intelligence that Riddle was planning to make a larger raid on Ottery St. Catchpole, as a way of demoralizing Dumbledore's faction and to demoralize Harry Potter. Voldemort apparently was furious that the boy escaped Britain and the ambush he laid out. He now wanted to get back at the boy who had stopped him so many times and his group of friends. Thus, the SMS now were spread amongst the buildings in the village and several houses on the outskirts of town.

Being forced to command his troops from a safe distance always made the veteran officer unhappy, feeling obligated to fight alongside his men. During the first Riddle Crisis, he led a number of non-existent raids against Tom Riddle and his followers, helping to kill a number of the terrorists and assisting in the evacuation of a number of families that were targeted by Riddle. Of course, officially, that never happened, as no one wasn't to deal with a Diplomatic SNAFU with the ever ignorant British Ministry of Magic. The Colonel was working on his magically hardened laptop, recently developed made by those ingenious folks at NAITM, the North American Institute of Techno-Magery. On it was a map of the village and surround area, with the locations of 32 Canadian and French troops displayed as an overlay. He was also operating his handheld radio as he sent encrypted transmissions to the men, who were waiting in pairs, disillusioned or under ghillie suits.

The troops had placed a series of 12 slate wardstones around the area, carved with runes for anti-apparition wards and more spectacularly, a unique set of wards designed to weaken unforgivable curses within the vicinity of the wardstone network. While the killing curse was still lethal, it was even slower than before. The cruciatus curse was significantly weakened, though still extremely painful, and the imperius curse was easier to resist inside the wards.

The Canadians were armed with a variety of firearms along with their wands. All of their rifles, shotguns, and submachine guns were enhanced variants of weapons currently being used by the Canadian Forces, mainly MP5A3M submachine guns and C7M assault rifles. The French were still well behind their North American Counterparts, and were forced to make do with older post WWII firearms; they were mostly armed with MAT-49 submachine guns and a pair of MAS 49 semi-automatic rifles.

Throughout the area, there were three sniper teams, two Canadian, the other French. One Canadian team was located in the village, while the other was currently positioned amongst the forests near the Burrow. The French team, armed with an FR F1 sniper rifle, was currently positioned at a barn near the Diggorys residence, hidden from the owners of the farm.

Suddenly at 02:17:16 AM, the monitoring spells cast on the wardstones alerted Colonel Greengrass that multiple apparitions had been attempted in the area. The wards were only able to force the intruders to apparate around 500 meters outside of the warded areas. He went onto the radio, knowing too well that the stuck up Death Eaters have no way of picking up radio transmissions.

"Sunray Major to all units, stand to. I say again, stand to. Tangos are inbound."

Throughout the village, French and Canadian operators went on alert, checking their various firearms and reporting in to their commanders.

At the church tower, the Canadian sniper team was already scanning for enemy tangos looking for trouble. They were armed with a massive McMillan Tac-50 sniper rifle, which fired the humongous .50 BMG round. Many years later, two non-magical Canadian Army snipers named Aaron Perry and Rob Furlong broke then re-broke the record for the longest recorded (non-magical) sniper kill in Afghanistan, both using the TacMillan Tac-50 rifle. The spotter picked out two cloaked figures at the top of a ridge approaching the house known from reports as "the Rookery," home to the publisher of "the Quibbler" magazine.

The spotter, Trooper Matthew "Stony" Rockingham called out the wind direction and the range of 519 meters to the sniper, Sergeant Benjamin "Big Ben" Harrison who adjusted his scope and focused onto the two figures. A flash of lightning lit up the area, and the spotter saw that the two men had white masks over their faces. Sergeant Harrison took a deep breath, holding it as he aimed at the lead tango. Releasing his breath half way, he fired, the rifle charmed to suppress most of the noise created by the shot.

The lead Death Eater, a young 20-something year old from Albania, was eagerly heading towards the target the Dark Lord gave him and his older partner to scout. The older Death Eater, Gibbons, felt nervous about the situation, feeling that something wasn't right about tonight. The Dark Lord had been furious over the Debacle in the Department of Mysteries, with his anger only tempered when Fudge decided to cover up the entire incident, pardoning Lucius Malfoy despite his involvement. Bellatrix Lestrange, who had been briefly incarcerated in the Ministry, had been broken out by Augustus Rookwood and a sleeper agent of the Dark Lord in the Auror Corp, only to experience first-hand the wrath of her master, still furious over her mistakes during the assault on the Ministry. Now, with Bellatrix recovering from cruciatus curse exposure, her husband Rodolphus Lestrange led tonight's raid, cowed to obey after looking at his tortured wife, who was still considered a top member of the Dark Lord's Inner Circle.

The two Death Eaters had an unwelcome surprise as they found themselves quite a distance away from their original target, the Burrow, home of the Weasley Clan. Anti-apparition wards, the correctly guessed. Fortunately, it seemed, they appeared close to their other objective, the Rookery, home to the only dissenting news magazine in Magical Britain. As the younger death eater turned towards Gibbons to speak, his head suddenly disintegrated and the body dropped to the ground; the remains of the man's skull and other parts scattered around the ground and on Gibbons' cloak.

Gibbons was too stunned to react before he heard a faint pop then felt the impact of something to his torso. This time, the sniper, a bit impatient, fired a bit too low, striking the man in the spleen, causing him to screamed into the night, awaking the sole occupant of the Rookery.

At that point, two soldiers that had been stationed near the Lovegoods' home knocked on the door, which was soon by a shocked Xenophilius Lovegood. He stared wide-eyed at the men, who were in their black kit and gas masks, looking very menacing.

"What's going on? Wh...Who are you?" He asked, noticing that the men had guns.

The older soldier, who spoke English, politely ordered, "Please be quiet. We are here to help. Let us come in, and we'll explain."

"Very well." Lovegood replied, scared out of his wits by the screaming then these men with guns, Frenchmen with guns.

The men discreetly looked through of the window curtains, releasing a breath as no one appeared yet.

"Monsieur, we are safe for now. Listen very carefully: Death Eaters are coming to this home and the others in the village. Is there anyone else living with you?" he asked.

"My daughter's not here...she's at the Burrow!" he cried out, only to be reminded to keep quiet as the older man took out the radio and called in. "Commandant, c'est Porthos. Nous avons trouvé un mâle civil à la maison. Autre résident, sa fille, est à la Burrow. Ennemis sont entrants."

"Compris, évacuer le bâtiment. Out."

'Porthos' turned towards Xenophilius who was breaking down.

"Please! Save my Luna!" he pleaded.

"More Death Eaters are coming," 'Porthos' warned sternly, taking out a small length of rope that glowed a faint blue. "This is a portkey to a safe zone. Please go; the rest of us will make sure your daughter is safe."

Xenophilius reluctantly grabbed the odd plastic object and soon felt the pull of the portkey before finding himself in the middle of some large room. The rocking motion told him he was at sea and he realized that there were various uniformed men and women surrounding him, armed with those guns, along with another man whose stature and disposition told the Wizard that he was an officer. The man looked at him for signs of deception before smiling and taking out his hand.

"Welcome aboard HMCS Silvermoon..."

At the Burrow, Luna and Ron heard the distant screaming and gunshots from her home, alerting them that the threat was real. Currently, Ron's parents, Ginny, Percy, and Bill were asleep at the Weasley home, with the rest of the family, sans the Twins in Canada, coming home for family dinner on Saturday.

Eight cloaked figures found themselves around 600 meters away from the Burrow, well off from their planned apparition point just next to the hovel. Of course, they were now the target of the other Canadian sniper team, armed with a C3A1M Sniper rifle, along with one pair of Canadian troops near the Weasley's Quidditch Pitch and two more troopers hiding in Molly Weasley's overgrown garden. The sniper took out one of the terrorists, only to be spotted (the reflection of the rifle scope gave them away) by the leader, Rodolphus Lestrange who began to fire wildly towards the forest. The sniper team portkeyed out just before a killing curse and reductos struck their position. As remaining seven advanced on to the Burrow, Ron and Luna watched as gunfire erupted from the pitch towards the group, forcing the Death Eaters to scatter, firing curses wildly into the air.

Everyone was now awake; especially after a stray bombarda curse struck Mr. Weasley's shed, blowing it up to bits. The lights came on as footsteps and the panicked voices of Ron' family were heard. Ron's door opened and the family's matron looked inside. Molly was surprised by the presence of Luna in Ron's bedroom, but had more important things to worry about; both were fully clothed and in fact looked more prepared than everyone else in the house, wands in their hands, and both looking determined to stop the death eaters.

"Ronald Weasley... never mind, we need to get down to the living room, dears."

Luna looked at Ron, who nodded.

"Let's go."

Everyone was confused as the sounds of gunfire erupted outside. Tracer rounds lit up the stormy skies as the rain fell over the region. It was like a warzone as the mud and grime contributed to the doom and gloom as additional death eaters apparated outside Ottery, still affected by the wards, and move in packs towards the Village proper.

Almost immediately, another death eater lost their heads to a .50 BMG. Others soon had to deal with hails of bullets from the soldiers defending the village. Many Village residents hunkered down, hoping they won't be killed tonight.

High above, a bizarre machine was observing the action below using an infrared camera. It had two coaxial rotors coming out of a bulbous hourglass shaped body, which was all made of aluminum and composites. The Canadair CL-227M Magic Sentinel was feeding information to Colonel Greengrass, who saw the black and white camera feed on his laptop screen. The wards caused some interference with lines of infrared radiation emanating from the magical field. Even so, the Colonel could pick out white figures wearing cloaks firing bright bolts of light from what had to be wands, trying to retaliate against the hidden soldiers.

Down below, the Death Eaters were now fighting a losing battle, especially as they lacked night vision equipment, while the Canadian troops had state-of-the-art night vision goggles, allowing them to see in the dark, though the lightning did interfere with their vision. At the Burrow, the men nearest to the Burrow went up to the door and knocked. They were unsurprised to see several red-headed men, two red-haired women, and a blonde teenage girl tightly holding their wands, eying suspiciously at the gun-wielding men. Like the French soldiers at the Rookery, they were donned in black uniforms and vests, along with intimidating gasmasks and military helmets.

"Who the hell are you?" The older woman demanded.

"There is no time, Ma'am," began one of the men, a lieutenant of the Canadian SMS, "Ottery St. Catchpole is under attack by Death Eaters. You are a prime target and need to leave NOW!"

"What right do you have..." Molly began before one of the men wandlessly silenced her in the middle of her tirade. The Lieutenant looked at Luna after receiving a call on his radio.

"Miss," he asked, "Are you Luna Lovegood?"

"Yes, Mister Soldier," Luna replied. "...you sound Canadian. Do you know if Harry Potter is okay?"

The Lieutenant chuckled a bit. He knew that his commanding officer was hosting Harry Potter, Sirius Black, and four other British teenage Magicals at his residence.

"Miss... I haven't met them, but I'm sure they are doing fine."

He went back to business and motioned for his partner to pull out a long rope portkey. "This portkey will take you to safety. We don't know how many more are coming, so go now."

Arthur Weasley quickly placed his wife and his own hands on to the glowing rope along with the rest of the Weasleys and Luna. Soon the popped away, leaving the two troops to report back to command.

"Sunray Major, this is Alpha-Six. The Weasley family and one Luna Lovegood have been evacuated safety."

"Understood; Good work Lieutenant. Continue with the mission. Out..."

The two French soldiers at the Rookery watched as four more men approached the Lovegoods home, stunned by the bodies of their fallen comrades. The never noticed the two claymore mines that detonated in front of them. After waiting another 30 minutes, they exited the house and portkeyed to the rendezvous point.

At the Diggorys, four more Death Eaters approached, only to receive an unwelcome surprise as four soldiers opened up on the raiding party, and the manor lit up, indicating that the Diggorys heard the commotion outside. One of the Canadians had an M203 underbarrel grenade launcher and fired a grenade near the enemy. Fragments pierced their cloaks and bodies, with all of the death eaters falling in agony. Two of the less injured criminals were stunned then tied up with plasticuffs that portkeyed them to a safehouse for further questioning. The soldiers went to the Diggory's front door, where a shocked Amos Diggory could only nod as the men passed a small length of rope to him and his wife. They soon found themselves in the company of the Weasleys and Lovegoods aboard what turned out to be a Canadian warship operating off the coast of England.

By 4:00 AM, the siege was over, with the Canadians picking up any surviving Death Eaters and Apparating away once the wards were deactivated. In the morning, the villagers left their homes to find four dozen bodies of Death Eaters strewn around and at the abandoned homes of the Lovegoods, Diggorys, and Weasleys. Only one soldier was killed, a French trooper who was hit by an unlucky killing curse by Rodolphus Lestrange. The high-ranking Death Eater had abandoned the assault on the Burrow to lead the forces attacking the village proper, managing to also injure a number of troopers and destroying one of the houses there. He was finally downed by the church sniper, with a massive hole left in his torso by the lethal round.

The failed raid would undoubtedly lead to Tom Riddle going on a rampage at his lair, and a few of his followers would bear the brunt of his rage.