Author Note: The Penultimate chapter shall arrive in the next update. This shall have the final battle, the aftermath and the homecoming. So Stay tuned to this same Potter Channel, next Potter time!
…...
The picnic was a great hit. Xeno and Heather had worked on the meal making a light yet diverse spread of foods. Robert worked with Pandora to serve the food while Sirius did his best to enjoy as much of it as he possibly could.
Arthur sat chatting with Ginny and Hannah, trying to get to know them. Trying to make up for lost time with Ginny as much as he could.
Lily walked over to Sirius who had gone to stand looking into the ruined Burrow. "Siri? You okay?"
Sirius turned to smile broadly at Lily, "Yeah just thinking. Seeing Arthur and Ginny and the kids just got me thinking."
Lily looked bemused, "That was always a dangerous thing when you and the boys got to thinking."
Sirius sighed as the smile faded, "Yeah. Those were good times."
"Well once we get rid of him you can go back to having good times Siri." Lily said gently.
"Hey. Uh. You know with Dromie gone, and Cissa is probably going to be gone after this I don't exactly have any family left."
"And?" Lily asked raising her eyebrow.
"Well I could come back to America with you. I've got nothing to hold me here." He suggested hopefully.
"Well you are still scruffy looking, and not entirely housebroken so I'd have to consider it." She said dryly.
He grinned, "That's not a no."
"Its not a yes either." She countered.
Harry was watching his mother and Sirius talk with a flat expression. Luna looked over and shrugged, "They're both adults Harry."
"Don't mean I like it. Its unseemly with dad only in the ground a few weeks." He grumbled.
"All they are doing is talking Harry." Luna quietly pointed out.
"Yeah and you know what talking leads to." Harry petulantly growled.
"Being friends?" Luna sarcastically asked.
Harry looked at her exasperatedly before going back to stabbing his food.
"You really don't like him." Luna stated.
Harry tried to think of how to say what he was feeling but just shook his head, "I dunno. He works for them, he might be a double agent and he might just be playing games. He was supposed to be dad's best friend but I just. I don't know Luna."
Luna sighed, "There are a great many things we have to accept on faith alone. Faith that it will turn out right. This is gonna have to be one of them."
Harry nodded. Then froze as he saw movement by the gate. "Hey who invited them?"
Luna looked up as did Hermione who had been talking to Heather and Xeno about the Dirigible Plum pie that Xeno had made. They saw a small group of people approaching carefully.
The leader was a reedy looking tall man wearing simple clothes, on his left was a dusky skinned beauty who had a twin sister on her left. On his right was a young man that was tall, lanky but with a muscular definition that was obvious through his tight T-shirt.
Sirius must have noticed the newcomers because he stared for a moment then marched towards the tall brown haired man.
"YOU!" He called out when he was only a few feet away.
The brown haired man saw him and pulled his lips back in a feral grin, "You scruffy looking scoundrel."
The two men stood only a few inches from each other while both groups watched warily except for Lily who walked firmly towards the men.
Lily shook her head as she approached them,, "Remus just kiss the man hello and get it over with!"
"Hey you were the one that dragged all of us to that movie." Remus laughed before giving Lily a tight hug then clasping hands with Sirius before pulling him in for a one armed hug.
Harry relaxed as the name Remus clicked in his mind as the fourth member of his father's circle of friends. The Marauders. His hand
"How and WHY are you here?" Lily asked once they had broken from Remus' hug.
"The pack and I were looking for a place to hide out. We had heard about the place getting burned so didn't think it would be so populated." he explained as they walked towards the party.
"Why are you on the run? I thought the Ministry was falling." Lily asked.
"It is, the ICW got a bit confused and attacked us in the middle of a fight with Fenrir's former pack and went after all lycans. So we decided to lay low until everything sorted itself out." Remus said, "I was glad to hear that you took care of Fenrir. The only thing I regret was not being the one to eat his heart. But I got his beta. That bitch went down hard." He growled ferally.
Sirius nodded in a nervous titter, "Good to know, so who's the rest of your crew?"
"Ah this is she who is my wife, Parvati. Her sister Padma and her husband Justin Finch-Fletchly. Formerly of Yorkshire but now a member of the Wyld." Remus proudly introduced his packmates who nodded or smiled at the others.
"Harry. This is one of your father's friends." Lily said gesturing for him to come over.
Remus looked at Harry before clapping him on the shoulder, "He's grown up so much like James. But with your eyes Lily."
"I know. People tell me that all the time." Harry said tensing under the grip.
Remus let go, "Sorry. I suppose you've not had very many good experiences with my kind."
"Not really." Harry said.
"Well then I would hope we can put your fears at ease, not all of us are bloodthirsty savage animals." Remus said smoothly.
"Come on, I'll introduce you around." Sirius said tugging on his old friend's arm.
…...
By the time the picnic was over, around midnight, Ginny and Arthur were happily talking while Ginny had crawled into Arthur's lap and held onto him,curling up like a large cat with her head against his chest. Hannah did not blame Arthur for what happened to her and agreed Ron's child, Arthur's grandson would be blameless. So his family seemed to be rebuilding.
When Remus found out Arthur was the Minister for magic he became quite interested and started discussing how Lycans could be integrated into society and other changes until both Parvati and Padma growled at him. Arthur agreed to meet with him though to officially discus things to everyone's happiness.
Harry and Remus spoke a few times. Remus finding Harry's love life quite interesting and was happy for him, if he could make it work. Hermione was a bit concerned about the age gap between Remus and Parvati until it was explained she was a lycan mated to Remus for life. That they had bonded as part of the ritual to help gain control of the curse of Werewolfism. This resulted in Parvati, Padma, Luna, Lavender and Hermione sitting in a circle discussing the differences from being born Lycan and being cursed to be a werewolf.
Harry sat next to his mother listening to the adult talk and reminisce about the old days in the first war and their time at Hogwarts. He had heard many of the stories from the point of view of his mother but to hear Sirius and Remus talk about his father's exploits before he got mature enough to attract Lily's attention were new and interesting.
"We should return to your residence sir." Fleur finally said around one in the morning.
"Oh yes. Uhm. Can we bring Ginny and Hannah with us?" he asked earnestly. Causing Hannah to smile nervously.
"Well we would have to make some arrangements. Right now the camp is not exactly prepared for families. Perhaps in a few days." Fleur said after thinking for a moment.
"Alright then. Would you like that Hannah?"
"I. I suppose so sir." Hannah said uncertainly.
"I would understand if you don't." Arthur offered her.
"I'll think about it sir." Hannah said.
"We'll take good care of them until things get sorted out." Lily said with a smile.
"I have every faith in you." Arthur said as he gently woke Ginny up. She protested slightly before finally sitting up blearily rubbing her eyes.
"Is it time to play the game orderly Jacob?" She asked in a confused voice.
Arthur looked pained for a moemnt as they had explained what happened to her, "No sweetie. You don't have to play that game again."
Ginny seemed to recognize her father as she smiled, "Okay Daddy. I didn't like it much when Jacob played it with me. He liked to make it hurt."
"Well Jacob won't play that game with anyone else dearie." Fleur said with a very cold smile.
Ginny nodded, "Okay."
"Well I have to go back to where I'm staying sweetie but I can't take you right now. So you'll have to stay with your friends for a bit longer."
Ginny looked at the ruins of the house, "But our home is broken."
"I know. We're going to build a new one. With a new family and everything."
Ginny frowned as she hugged Arthur, "I don't want a new family I want our family."
Arthur took a deep breath, "Well mumsie and Ronald and Percy went away. They won't be coming back again."
Ginny worked her lips before looking at Fleur, is she going to be my new mumsie? She's pretty."
Fleur raised her eyebrow as Arthur tried to figure out what to say. She smiled though saying, "We'll see how things go. Maybe for right now you just call me Auntie Fleur."
Ginny reached out to hug the blonde saying, "Okay Antifleur" trying to understand the french accent.
"Good night little one." Fleur said giving her a kiss on the cheek before Arthur handed her off to Pandora who bade them farewell as well.
"You seem like you'd be good with Children." Arthur said as they walked to the apparate point after bidding everyone farewell.
"Thank you. Let me tell you about my little sister." Fleur said with a smile as they vanished into the night.
Lily turned to Sirius after Harry and the other girls moved to follow the Lovegood adults down the trail into the woods. "So what are you going to do now?"
"I guess go back to my house and hide out, not much else to do." Sirius grinned in what he thought was seductively charming. "Unless you have some other ideas."
"It wasn't cute then. It isn't cute now." Lily flatly said then turned to leave. She paused by Remus.
"Perhaps you could take the mutt under your wing and teach him a thing or two?" she suggested.
"I'm sorry but there is only so much I can do. I'm not a miracle worker." Remus laughed as he gave Lily a gentle hug then watched her go into the night.
Sirius sighed as he stood there watching her go.
"You've still got a lot to learn about women Siri." Remus gently said coming to stand by his old friend.
Sirius grinned, "Lily is not a woman Remmie. She is a goddess among mortals."
Remus shook his head, "Good luck with that."
Sirius snorted, "Oh. Hush. You going to be around tomorrow?"
"We are. Unless we are needed to help in the fight." Remus stated after getting a few nods of agreement from his pack.
"Well things are gearing up for a big push soon. I'll bring over a bottle of Brivari and we can talk. I found some of the 49 my dad had put aside for my wedding." Sirius grinned wiggling his eyebrows.
"Its been some time since I had any of the 49. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow." Remus said shaking Sirius' hand before the dark haired scoundrel apparated out.
…...
August 15th 1996, 0900 hours. The Rookery.
Harry was cleaning and working on the flintlock he had found. It did not have any obstructions in the barrel and the flint looked as good as new. He recognized that the metal work was inlaid with silver and the runes glowed along the blued steel barrel. He found some gunpowder and loaded it with a small ball he transfigured from a fork.
Pointing it at a tree he pulled the trigger causing a huge cloud of smoke and fire to issue from the end of the muzzle as the tree had a large chunk taken out of it.
Grinning Harry cleaned the pistol as everyone came running out of the house.
"What the hell was that?" Luna shouted at him as she was the first one to him.
"Something I found up in that junk room in the castle." He replied holding the pistol up.
"Let me see that." Lily demanded.
Handing it over carefully he said, "It doesn't seem like its harmful. Just maybe enhancing the blast."
"I would suggest you reconsider that assessment." Hermione said pointing at the tree Harry had shot.
Everyone turned to see that the leaves were rapidly turning brown and falling off of the tree. Soon it looked like a dead and gray wood that broke and fell as they watched.
Harry stood open mouthed then gave a sudden "WHOA! That was awesome!"
"Harry do you realize how powerful this gun is?" Pandora asked quietly.
"Yeah. One shot one kill in a convenient carry size."
"The crystal is also about ready to shatter. I estimate you'll only get one more shot out of it." Xeno said. "Its not flint. I think its a dragon's tear crystal."
Hermione blinked as her mouth fell open, "Dragon's tear? That's really rare."
"What is a Dragon's tear crystal?" Harry asked. "I've never heard of it."
"Its a stone that was secreted by the Venerian Blue. A French dragon that was native to the Andorra region of the Pyrenees. They were considered one of the most beautiful of all dragons. They cried tears of pure crystal known as Dragon Amber." Hermione rattled off quickly.
"Alright thank you Miriam Webster. Now tell me why's it so rare?" Harry smirked.
"Because the last Venerian Blue was hunted to death almost 500 years ago." Hermione sadly said.
"Oh why would they do that?" Ginny asked, "They should have let pretty things live."
Luna frowned, "Cause its a dragon that ate things they didn't want eaten I bet."
Everyone looked at Hermione expectantly, "Uh. I'm not entirely certain why they were hunted."
"So if this crystal shatters finding a replacement is going to be impossible."
"Or incredibly close to it." Luna declared.
"Well that explains the french lettering on the barrel." Pandora pointed out.
"What does it say?" Hermione asked quickly interested.
"L'assurance de la mort." Pandora read aloud.
"The Assurance of Death" Harry nodded, "Well that sounds like a good backup for my meeting with big, bad, and ugly."
"You will only get one shot with it." Xeno reminded him.
"One shot is all I'll need." Harry confidently declared as he carefully took the pistol back.
…...
August 15th 1996. 1700hrs. ICW Unified Command Base Alpha.
Brigadier Miles Hamilton, Muggle extraordinaire, Liaison between the Ministry of Defense and the Home office for Civil Emergencies, had been brought to Buckingham Palace to receive a briefing that he had to be personally cleared by the Queen herself to receive. He had met with a very strange man named Shacklebolt who had examined him and declared him to be a safe muggle.
After that meeting he had been taken to another room where he met with a man named Welles who told him about a war that was going on within his own country and how the explosion in London had been the result of this war.
To say that Miles was incredulous would have been an understatement until Mr Welles made the table turn into a zebra and gallop around the room before settling back into dormant furniture. At that point the brigadier was wondering if the boys had slipped some sort of mind drug into his coffee. He was taken to Larkhill to see the magical prison camp, then to meet with the leaders of the magical combat forces. All so that the Home Office would be ready to respond should this magical war, or some magical creatures get out of their containment process. A not entirely impossible contingency since the bad guys in this war seemed to not to want to play nice and surrender quietly.
Now Miles was standing in a room with a six person team of MACUSA soldiers. A rather motley looking crew but then special forces generally did not pass inspection. They were waiting for the civillian special team members to arrive to begin the mission briefing for the final push that would at the enemy headquarters once some strange device they called the anchor had been neutralized.
A small group of civilians soon arrived causing Miles to shake his head then look twice at them. A tall athletic woman with auburn hair walked beside a young teen man who had the exact same eyes she did. His gold rimmed glasses reflecting the morning light. A pair of teen girls walked on either side of him while a tall black haired man wearing a Sex Pistols T-shirt under a denim jacket strode on her other side. The brigadier mentally shrugged because why not. Magic was real so why not just use civillians in war. Maybe they had some sort of special magical skill. He reminded himself that he was going to retire when all of this was over so it did not matter and to stop over thinking it. This was all just a bad dream that would go away when he retired.
"Ah Mrs Parker, everyone. How are you this morning." Mr Welles smoothly asked shaking hands.
"Ready to do what we have to Mr Welles, then go home." Lily said to murmurs of agreement from the others. Harry looking around at the rifles and equipment with an avid interest merely nodded.
"Alright then. Although I do not see Mr and Mrs Lovegood."
"They are trying to process the memories Dumbledore left behind so we can find the anchor."
"Ah very good then. Colonel Henderson will want to proceed with the briefing of the plans for the final strike. We'll of course leave the acquisition of the anchor to your team." Welles said as they walked into he briefing room.
On a heavy table in the middle of the room were two large rucksacks. One of the rucksacks seemed to have swallowed a basketball on top of a trashcan. A pair of neatly uniformed men stood beside the table.
"Mrs Parker." Colonel Henderson said as she came over.
"Colonel."
"Allow me to introduced the Special Demolitions officers Major Deakens and Captain Hale."
"Ma'am" the two officers said simultaneously.
"Whoa. Do they always come in stereo or can you buy them in a single pack." Sirius quipped grinning.
None of the military personnel at the table reacted other than to look blankly at him before turning back to the two specialists.
"Good morning ma'am. As I understand it you and your people will be placing a number of hardened anchors into a location that will need to be destroyed."
"Yes." Lily replied looking around the room.
"Do not worry. All of the people in this room have been cleared for this sensitive information." General Lebeau said quickly.
"Okay. We have three of the four remaining soul anchors in our possession. They can only be destroyed by extreme means, fiend fyre, basilisk venom or similar means. The fourth and final one will be retrieved as soon as we know where it is." Lily explained. "So whenever you get that saddam thing here we can get them destroyed, if it works."
Major Deakens cleared his throat, "Ma'am. Before I begin you have to understand this is a top secret device that you and your family have been granted an exception to be briefed on."
Lily nodded, "I understand just get on with it." She said with a casual wave.
Major Deakens looked perturbed slightly by her dismissiveness then seemed to adopt a lecture pose. "This is the EM-50 Special Atomic Demolition Munition with Magical Enhancement and Containment on the table in front of you. The warhead is a highly modified variant of the W54 atomic implosion warhead. It has a magically boosted yield of 1,500 tons of TNT equivalent that is constrained within a magical containment field with an operational radius of 600 yards."
He had touched the rucksack that looked like it had swallowed a basketball on top of a trashcan. He then pointed at the other rucksack.
"This is the remote detonation and control system. The warhead has a local timer that can detonate the device should it be required, however the individual initiating the timer would have to immediately apparate or portkey away. The maximum the timer can be set for is 60 seconds. Until it counts down to 10 seconds it may be countermanded, once the timer reaches 10 seconds no force on the planet will prevent the detonation."
Harry looked closely at the devices as did hermione.
"And you're sure this thing will destroy the anchors?" Lily demanded.
"Ma'am. At the heart of this explosion the temperature is greater than the surface of the Sun. Anything within the blast field will be vaporized, then the vapors will be vaporized."
Sirius whistled lowly, "Okay. So be someplace else when this goes off."
"Exactly sir." Major Deakens proudly said.
Lily snorted, "And you've used one of these before."
The military men suddenly shifted uncomfortably as they considered her question.
"Well gentlemen?" She repeated.
"We have field tested them at the Nevada Proving Ground and they have passed with full colors." Captain hale said finding his voice.
"Great. So all we have to do is find the last Anchor."
"Which we have!" Xeno proudly declared striding into the room with two Mps trying to restrain him.
"Sorry sir. He managed to slip past us." The Lieutenant said.
"Release him. He's with the Parker party." The CO ordered.
"Yes sir." The Lieutenant obeyed looking like he would have rather applied some boot polish to Xeno's smug grin. Once the Mps had left Xeno bushed himself off and casually strode to the table.
"Ahh you're going to be using the EM-50. Nice. Did you ever get that pressure wave leak with the containment field fixed?" Xeno asked casually fingering the large rucksack with the warhead in it.
Major Deakens looked like he was going to go get the MP and take Xeno behind the chemical shed for a brief moment before demanding tersely, "How do you know about that?"
Xeno smiled beatifically while pushing his rose colored sun glasses to his wild white haired forehead, "Its a hobby of mine to know things."
"Consider him cleared." Colonel Henderson ordered after a moment.
Major Deakens looked like he would rather swallow a cowpie but complied, "Very well sir. Yes this has the Mark IV containment field generator with enhanced dampening compensators."
"Oh that's the one that is supposed to shunt any blast effects that attempt to penetrate the field into a quantum pocket of subspace until they dissipate." Xeno replied nodding, "Won't work. Best you'll get is a reduction in the blast over pressure, although the ionizing radiation will be able to be shunted quite well."
Major Deakens began to turn a very interesting puce color while Captain hale asked, "Sir are you perchance a Thaumic-nuclear engineer?"
"Oh goodness me no. I'm a hippie. I read about it on a website." He said smiling before whistling the first few notes of three blind mice.
Major Deakens twitched for a moment before calming down. "I would be very pleased to know what that website was sir."
"We can deal with that later. Now Mr Lovegood, I take it by your rushed arrival you have figured out the location?" Mr Welles calmly asked over Major Deakens comment.
"Yes. Do you have a map of the manor and surrounding region?"
"Yes its based off of a recon overflight from earlier today." General Lebeau said leading them to another table in the command center.
"Ah yes. This copse of woods just west of the manor house contains the humble abode of the Gaunt family. We finally determined the location of the house literally only minutes ago."
"And this is relevant how?"
"The last Anchor is located in a ring. His grandfather's signet ring. Located in his Grandfather's house. His maternal grandfather who was the last heir to the Most Ancient and Noble house of Gaunt. Descended from Slytherin himself." Xeno sarcastically rattled off the honorifics.
"Great now that we know where that is, let's go get it." Harry declared eagerly.
"Hold on there Harry. This shack is right in his own back garden. If too many people go tromping through there he'll know something is up. As of this afternoon's meeting he doesn't suspect we have his anchors." Sirius said, "But if you go straight for that place even he'll figure it out."
"As much as it pains me to agree he has a point." Xeno said.
"And so what would you suggest?" Colonel Henderson inquired politely.
"Well since he has turned the muggle villagers into inferi, has drawn all of his troops back to the vilalge and its surroundings, brought what trolls didn't get turned into tofu in Scotland as well as many of his fanatical followers as possible up there, including his Shadow guard, we coordinate things." Sirius said.
"You go after the last anchor while we play cannon fodder?" Colonel Henderson sarcastically asked.
"Well if you're volunteering" Sirius suggested.
"Actually that is not a bad idea." Mr Welles said looking at the map. "Harry could slip into the manor using the chaos once we receive word that the anchors are together and ready to be destroyed."
"Too bad the manor house is too far from the graveyard to be in the same blast." Henderson said looking at the map.
"Why don't you guys bring a second one of those things?" Sirius asked.
"Because these are still Thaumic-nuclear weapons. Do you realize how many treaties we had to bend just to get authorization to use one of them?" Henderson scowled, "Believe me I'd love to drop a nuke on this place from orbit and go home for lunch. Only it wasn't my decision."
Mr Welles looked at Henderson with a smug indifference. "That is an argument for another day gentlemen, ladies. However the decision has been made and the plans have to be carried out based on that decision."
Lebeau nodded, "So one team goes after the anchor located at the house in the woods, the main force attacks the defenders at a point to the east of the Manor house to draw them away while Harry and a small defense team approaches from the south, while a ruse comes in from the north."
"Sirius and I will go after the ring." Lily declared.
"MOM!" Harry shouted defiantly.
"Harry James. You will not speak to me that way. I was fighting this war long before you were born."
"Yeah but take Uncle Xeno instead." Harry countered.
"I think he doesn't trust you." Henderson said sotto voice to Sirius.
"Yeah. We have a complicated relationship right now." Sirius said shaking his head.
"Harry. I havae made my decision now respect it." Lily ordered.
Harry took a deep breath and looked like he was going to continue to argue for a moment before he backed down, "Yes mother."
She put her hands on his shoulders and leaned her forehead against his, "I'll be fine. You may not trust Sirius but believe it or not I do. Besides Xeno will have to help with the ruse to the north."
"I guess." Harry surrendered, "Just be careful."
"You be careful. Now let's make the plans we have to so we can go home and get back to a normal life."
Harry smiled wanly, "Okay mom. I'd like that."
The family disagreement over they turned to the planning table and got to work.
…...
August 15th 1996 2000hrs Riddle Manor
Draco entered his father's office after knocking. He had waited until his father was alone as he was going to do the deed tonight. He had to.
Draco learned that his mother had been left behind during the general retreat, abandoned by this selfish person to save his own skin. Draco only hoped that she was able to escape rather than be captured. He stared at the person who sired him and tried to feel something other than nausea and disgust.
"Yes Draco? What is it? I have a meeting with party general Weasley in a few minutes."
"What happened to Nott?" Draco frowned moving closer.
"He served the party." Malfoy the elder said, "Now. What do you want Draco?"
Draco screwed up his resolve and drew the knife, it was an envenomed blade and should kill his father within seconds. "I want you to die!" He snarled as he thrust forward with the blade.
Lucius had not risen to the position he held by being complacent or weak. He reacted swiftly using one hand to brush Draco's knife arm away from its path as he leapt forward over his desk.
Draco spun to stab his father only for his arm to be grasped firmly by Lucius. At the same time his father's other hand closed around his throat, choking him.
"You worthless little bastard. Did you think I would be such an easy target that your childish attempt to assassinate me would actually succeed?"
Draco tried to sneer, tried to snarl something back but the world was starting to go gray as the air left his lungs.
"You are not the first to have tried to take my life. I am blessed to serve an immortal GOD!" Lucius twisted his hand causing Draco to drop the knife. He threw Draco against the wall of the office causing him to strike his head hard enough to make him see stars.
Picking the knife up Lucius looked at it in bemusement, "Ah at least you were smart enough to use an envenomed blade."
"Only the best for a Malfoy." Draco hissed.
Lucius nodded as he casually flicked the knife into Draco's shoulder. "Yes. Which means your time as a Malfoy is ended."
Draco felt the venom begin to course through his veins, the burning sensation as it surged along like a molten iron river. He barely heard the knock at the door, through fading vision he saw Percy Weasley enter.
"Lucius? What happened?" Percy inquired after a small gasp of surprise.
"Draco had a crisis of faith. I was educating him on what it means to serve a God." Lucius declared fanatically.
"He's a devil. You sould your soul to help sustain him!" Draco managed to gasp out.
"Soul? Sustain him? Explain Lucius!" Percy demanded.
"I am his living anchor. The one whose life is freely given to grant him mortal form for his immortal empire. We shall prevail!" Lucius' features twisted in a fanatical rage, "No one shall interfere, not even you Draco. I shall ascend with him and rule over the Earth, no matter what!"
Draco saw an expression cross Percy's face that he couldn't believe. It looked like Percy was disgusted and furious at Lucius. A split second later Draco watched as Percy's right arm melted and shifted into a long bony spike. A spike that was plunged through Lucius' heart until a foot of it protruded on the other side.
"Ascend this asshole!" Percy said before his features melted into an athletic bright cherry red haired female. The spike melted and withdrew quickly as the girl stepped backwards holding Lucius' heart in her hand.
He staggered sideways against his desk, his hand rising to the bleeding hole in his chest. Looking down in confusion at the blood on his fingers he slid to his knees before saying quietly, "But I was loyal."
Draco started laughing before the poison reached his heart causing him to gasp loudly in pain as the muscle seized and tore itself apart. The blood flow stopping his brain began to slow and fade as he died. He had no last words, no snarky comment on his lips just a laughing grimace.
Nymphadora Tonks looked from one Malfoy to the other before she heard the keening wail coming from the throne room. Realizing that the Dark Lord was the source of that sound she shifted into Draco and used her wand to quickly banish his body into oblivion.
"Help! Someone has killed father!" She shouted in Draco's voice.
The dark lord strode into the office looking very disturbed. His skin was a pale ashen grayish green with a dark ichor pouring form the corner of his mouth. "Draco. What happened here?"
"Percy. I saw Percy Weasley come out of father's office then he ran. He must have killed father." Tonks quickly spoke.
Voldemort stared into Tonk's eyes deeply for a long minute while Shadow Guards and others gathered in the corridor, "Yes. It is very unfortunate. Your father was a loyal friend of mine. Yaxley."
"Yes my Lord?"
"Take young master Malfoy someplace safe until we manage to capture the traitor Weasley." Voldemort smoothly commanded.
"Yes my Lord." Yaxley said as he saluted.
Tonks had little option but to go with Yaxley as they moved through the corridors of the Manor.
"Unfortunate about yer dad isn't it?"
"Yes very." Tonks agreed trying to sound emotional. She had never spoken to Draco since she had begun to impersonate Percy so had to improvise.
"Well no surprise. Weasley had been acting odd ever since the attack on him and his wife." Yaxley said agreeably.
"Perhaps he was imperioused or turned." Tonks suggested.
"Or someone with some very special abilities began to impersonate him." Yaxley said as they stepped outside.
"Where are we going?" Tonks asked angrily, trying to sound like a miniature Lucius.
"Oh to the Shadow guard office. That way you can be safe." Yaxley said as they walked towards one of the stone outbuildings that had been converted into a jail, torture chamber and office.
"Sorry, I don't think I should." Tonks said with a slight quaver.
"Oh I think you should Miss Tonks. You see I've known you were Weasley since the hospital. Percy was never as polite or merciful as you've been."
Tonks shifted back to her true form with a sneer, "Well I didn't exactly have a lot of time to become a master spy."
Yaxley looked her up and down, "You know I could use someone like you on the Internal Security forces."
"In a dying empire? You're still thinking there is anything worth securing?" she demanded incredulously.
Yaxley pulled a cigar out of his pocket and slowly lit it with a match. "I have faith in our Dark Lord. He says we shall prevail, we shall prevail."
Looking around Tonks tried to see who else was watching, she knew she was not alone with Yaxley otherwise he would not be acting so casual with her. "You're bating me. Hoping I'll make a try for you so you can cut me down without fear."
Yaxley laughed around the cigar, "I do not need an excuse to kill you missy."
"Then what's with all of this posturing and everything. You didn't seriously think I would switch sides?" She laughed nervously, "I didn't think even you'd be that stupid."
Yaxley seemed to consider her for a long moment, "I was going to give you a chance at mercy. An opportunity to avoid ending your days a slobbering vegetable. I'm sure your pretty little girlfriend would so love to wipe your ass everyday. Her name is Bailey wasn't it?"
Tonks glared at the man. He was standing there with one hand in the pocket of his rumpled tan trench coat while the other held his fat stinking cigar. She couldn't see anyone else close enough to stop her and she was less than ten feet from the man. There should be no way he could draw a wand quickly enough to stop her. She shifted both arms into long bone spikes and lunged at him.
She heard the loud explosion after she felt her arm be torn off of her body. She was spun sideways as she was thrown to the ground. Concentrating she was able to stop the bleeding but heard Yaxley's footsteps on the gravel as he shifted his position relative to her.
"Did you know that silent, wandless casting is a very rare and highly demanding skill? Only some of the most powerful and trained wizards can achieve it." he sneered from several feet to her side.
Tonks rolled onto her good side hoping he would come close enough she could do something.
"Everyone in his Lordship's Inner Circle is capable of that, otherwise we were not allowed to be in his inner circle. He does not like weakness." Yaxley sneered before Tonks felt the bones in her legs get ripped through her flesh to clatter onto the gravel several feet away. She managed to close the wounds that had been torn in her legs but was unable to do anything else.
"Oh and I studied metamorphmagi. If I take body parts away you cannot regrow them. Interesting isn't it? You can be disassembled, one bone at a time and all of your powers will be unable to do anything about it." Yaxley sounded like he was discussing baking a cake.
"Stop. Toying around, you bastard. Just kill me already." Tonks demanded in a halting gasping voice.
Yaxley took a long drag on his cigar before flicking the end of it onto Tonk's back. She barely managed to roll over to get it off of her before she wound up glaring at him.
"I suppose I do owe you a bit of gratitude for removing Malfoy from my way. Now I can ascend to the right hand of God myself." Yaxley said reverently. He looked up and snapped his fingers.
Tonks heard more footsteps approaching. Yaxley commanded, "Get a basket and put this, creature in it. Try not to let it die as it might prove useful."
Tonks did not hear much as she started feeling the blackness swallow her.
…...
August 15th 1996 2100hrs The Rookery.
Harry was laying with Hermione and Luna in his dugout. Two of the three were sound asleep in post coital bliss. Hermione laid cuddled on Harry's other side trying to maintain the floating joy she had felt joining with him, giving her body and soul to him fully, but the fear and nervousness for the next day shot dark shivers through her soul.
She knew Harry and Luna were both confident they would win as Luna's visions had not shown him dying. That the image of the three of them in bed together, a real bed not a sleeping bag in a collection of sticks dug into the ground, had not occurred yet. Hermione's confidence in divination was not strong enough to bet her life on,her love of these two had grown so strong though that she would follow them to the ends of the Earth and beyond.
She felt someone's hand stroking her hair causing her to look up and see Luna's bright sky blue eyes looking at her across Harry's bare chest. The smile Luna held promised that everything would be alright, that there was nothing to worry about as long as they had their love. Hermione took a deep breath and smiled back, reaching across Harry to intertwine her fingers with the slender ones of Luna. Harry slept on, the sleep of the just.
Review Responses
Wandamarie: You're welcome and I hope to.
Time Keeper: Why yes, yes she was. A movie we used to watch with the kids when they were little long before I discovered there was actually a book for it.
Dennisud: Well I'm sure you'll be shivering with antici-
Darkravie: Thank you. Hope you enjoyed this.
Manwe Illuvitarian: Thank you. That is high praise to be compared with the MCU. Yes the final battle is coming in the next chapter. Stay tuned.
KGFinkel: Yep the plane that was built around a gun. For those times when a target absolutely positively has to be removed from the grid or your money back.
Blood enraged: Yep. A world that only exists when I close my eyes anymore. Glad you enjoyed the trip back.