AN: You lads and lasses are lucky I'm in such a good mood today; the original plan was to keep you all in suspense about Harry's master plan for another few days, but I'm feeling charitable, since it's my roommate's birthday.

So, without further ado, I give you Chapter 24: Era's Bloody End, AKA "Harry's Master Plan". Enjoy Harry's divulging!

- MB

The Death Eaters had arrived in the Imperial Square fully expecting that they would be shot at and butchered on sight. Even so, they had also expected that a few would survive the initial onslaught and would then storm the Imperial Palace and murder the filthy Muggle Queen where she stood.

Thus, they were very, very confused when absolutely nothing happened when they finished Portkeying into the Square.

Rodolphus Lestrange looked around him frantically, as if looking for the enemy, even as the rest of the Death Eaters started shouting amongst themselves in a strange sort of panic. It was strange because nothing had happened, and that made the situation feel all the more eerie, as the Square, where the Imperial forces had made their final, victorious stand against the Death Eater army, was entirely absent of any sort of tell-tale signs of violence.

"Rodolphus!" shouted Lucius Malfoy. "What's going on?"

'How the hell should I know?' thought Rodolphus. He had never seen such a thing in his life, which made the seasoned veteran all the more wary. "It must be a trap! Everyone stay back to back and shields up!" he shouted.

Somewhat motivated by their own fear, the Death Eaters quickly made to follow Rodolphus' instructions, clustering against each other until the force was just one big blob, lacking in any discipline or order.

"What on earth is going on?" demanded Avery, who was sporting quick the ugly gash along his jaw—courtesy of Admiral Malan's sword in Egypt. "Where are the enemy? For that matter, where, in the name of Merlin's balls is Karkaroff?"

"Bloody traitor ditched us!" yelled one of the Death Eaters.

"Bah," spat Rodolphus. "Karkaroff always was a coward. Nevermind him. He told us that this would be the best place to storm the palace. That's enough," he stated arbitrarily.

"But I see no enemies, brother," noted Rabastan, training his wand in front of him. "In fact, this entire city looks like it hasn't even been lived in."

"I hate to say it, but the boy's right," agreed Rookwood, who was a few years older than Rabastan. Still, the jibe made the younger man bristle in indignation. "Nothing as far as the eye can see."

"Then it's an illusion," concluded Rabastan, gritting his teeth from snapping at Rookwood. "We're being played with."

"Bah!" cried McNair derisively. "How could those pansy Muggles even know we were coming?"

"Nott underestimated them too, McNair," Lucius reminded his colleague with a sneer. "So did Jugson. Neither are with us right now."

McNair returned the sneer full power. "Fine! Cower if you like!" he shot back in derision. "I'll be claiming the whore's head for myself!"

With that bravado said, McNair charged the Palace entrance, his comrades shouting for him to wait. Unfortunately, the man was too deeply entrenched in his own bloodlust, and several of the other equally wild Death Eaters made to join him.

None even made it to the dais of the entrance.

Just as the crowd of Death Eaters were about to keep shouting for McNair to come back once again, the man in question and all of those who had followed him were sent flying back past the crowd, landing roughly into the cobbled ground several metres behind the group of Death Eaters.

"What on earth?" asked Rodolphus as he turned his head to look at his fallen comrades.

"Brother! Look!"

Rodolphus turned back once again to look at his brother, who seemed stiff and in shock by something he'd seen. Following his brother's gaze, Rodolphus turned to look at the Palace front, only to see a young, redheaded woman standing in front of the palace. Wearing a very form-fitting dress, she had one arm extended to her right, some sort of energy crackling at her fingertips. It wasn't a stretch to conclude that she had been the one to send McNair flying back. But that wasn't what concerned Rodolphus.

No, what concerned him was that she had appeared out of nowhere.

"Aww….lookie the wittle girlie!" cooed Bellatrix Lestrange mockingly, her bravado instantly returning to her once her enemy had apparently shown up. "Thinks she can take on all of us, does she?"

The redhead said nothing. Instead, her eyes were half-opened, looking at the group with a calm serenity that made those like Bellatrix feel their blood boil. To them, it felt like the woman was underestimating them.

"Won't talk, eh?" noted Bellatrix, before an insane smile slipped onto her face. "Then I'll make you scream!"

With a bold cry, she launched herself towards the woman, about five Death Eaters right behind her. Rodolphus shouted for her to wait, but Bellatrix paid her husband no heed, instead relishing the opportunity to satisfy her bloodlust.

She was within striking distance of the woman, wand poised to curse the impertinent defender, when she noticed the woman looking up at her, the same serene look fixed on her face. A single word passed through the woman's lips, and that was all Bellatrix heard before she lost track of events around her.

"Weak."

Before the Death Eaters' eyes, Bellatrix was blown away by…something. None of them were quite sure what it was that had launched Bellatrix and her men flying back towards them helplessly. Then again, most had turned to look at Bellatrix's flying body, and so missed the horrified looks on Rodolphus, Avery, and Lucius' faces.

"T-That's impossible…" stuttered Rodolphus.

The redheaded woman was simply standing on the dais of the Palace entrance, one arm outstretched to her right, her hand clenched into a fist. That was when it clicked in the trio's minds. She hadn't used a spell. She hadn't even used a weapon. She had, quite literally, simply swatted away Bellatrix.

Some of the Death Eaters lost their nerve at seeing both McNair and Bellatrix so easily taken down and broke ranks, running away from the Palace. Rodolphus was quick to pick up on this, however, and turned to look at the retreating backs of his men with fury.

"Stand where you are!" he shouted in rage. "We didn't come all the way out here just to be beaten by some girl!"

"'Some girl'?"

Rodolphus barely had the chance to register that the woman, who had been standing a good dozen metres away, was now just in front of him, dwarfed in size by his own stature. She was, to his horror, looking right up at him.

"I don't think you're in any position to pass judgment, Lestrange," she said, before Rodolphus felt the wind get knocked out of him as he was launched right into the cluster of Death Eaters.

"Lestrange!" shouted Avery as he saw his comrade get roughly launched at his own men. Lucius and Rabastan echoed similar cries.

Only Rookwood tried to maintain his calm, pointing his wand at the woman quickly. "Crucio!" he hissed, launching the infamous torture curse at the woman.

With speed that left Rookwood floored, the woman disappeared from the spell's trajectory at the last second, reappearing in front of him in mid-air, already mid-spin into a roundhouse kick. The older man barely had a chance to exclaim his surprise before the woman's foot slammed into his jaw, sending him spinning into the ground. For all intents and purposes, Rookwood was out of the picture.

"One down," spoke the woman, before disappearing into thin air. She left behind a scene of utter chaos as the Death Eaters just realized that one of their commanders had been beaten to a pulp.

"Rookwood's down!" shouted Avery as he knelt by his comrade's limp body. "Not dead, but out cold!"

"Enervate him, then!" snapped Lucius as he tried to maintain order.

Avery tried so, but found he couldn't. "It's not working!"

Lucius glared at Avery and, thinking it simple incompetence on the man's part, snapped his wand towards Rookwood and sent his own Enervate spell at the man. To his surprise, nothing happened. "What the?"

"Satisfied I'm not incompetent, Malfoy?" sneered Avery. That Lucius had merely dismissed his spellwork as dubious had made the respected aristocrat bristle.

Lucius barely gave Avery a glance. "Something's definitely wrong," he concluded. "It's like he was hit by an Enervate-immune stunning spell."

Rabastan, busy trying to keep order, and somewhat torn about his brother's potential injuries, chanced a glance at Lucius. "There's got to be, what? Five of those in all existence?" he asked dubiously. "Who on earth would even know about them besides us? They're dark spells, those are!"

Avery rolled his eyes. "Thank you for that brilliantly useless drivel, Lestrange," he snarled. "If you're not going to help us, then keep the men in line!"

Rabastan completely broke his attention away from the panicking Death Eaters and instead favoured glaring openly at Avery. "Well excuse me fo—"

Before the man had a chance to finish his undoubtedly witty remark against his comrade, he felt his leg shatter in at least three different places and screamed for all he was worth in pain. The sudden, piercing scream caused the Death Eaters to stop panicking for a moment and focus on the new enemy at hand.

Standing a ways away from the group and posturing arrogantly was a humbly dressed man whose two hands seemed a mixture between human and wolf-like claws. A wicked grin was spread across the man's face as he regarding his screaming victim.

"I don't think you boys have the luxury of lowering your guard!" he taunted, before disappearing again. The Death Eaters lost all track of him again.

"That was Lupin!" hissed Lucius. "What the hell's going on?!" he raged.

"I would think that's quite obvious, Lucius," said a cocky voice behind him. Lucius turned his head slightly to see Remus Lupin crouching behind him, a glowing fist ready to be launched.

"I'm kicking your arse!"

Lucius' world went black as the fist connected with the small of his back, smack dab in the middle of his spine. The pain had been so instantly devastating that his mind had shut down and his eyes rolled up as he passed into unconsciousness. With a grin, Remus then disappeared into thin air.

Now the Death Eaters were in total chaos. Besides Avery, all the other leaders of the incursion were out cold or injured.

"Shit!" swore Avery as he kept looking around him in panic. Between two people, the entire leadership of the Death Eaters group had been disabled. What the hell was going on?

"Potter!" he screamed furiously. "I know you're out here somewhere!"

When no answer came, Avery purpled up in fury. "Come out and face us like a man, coward!"

Finally, something happened. To Avery's horrified surprise, Harry Potter strode out from seemingly nowhere towards them. It was as if he had phased into existence. His very walk put Avery on edge, too. He had his hands in his pockets, shoulders thrown back confidently, and he seemed to be regarding the panicking Death Eaters with barely concealed amusement.

"Calling me names, Avery?" asked Harry condescendingly. "How childish."

Avery snarled. "I'm going to kill you, Potter!" he screamed. He was even more infuriated when all Harry did was smile with toleration.

"Don't use such strong words, Avery," he advised, before his entire countenance turned mockingly dark. "It only makes your weakness that much more obvious."

Avery screamed incoherently as he flung a Killing Curse at Harry, who easily sidestepped it. Five more such curses were quickly cast, but all of them Harry evaded with obvious ease.

"I'm disappointed, Avery," called out Harry. "I would have thought the Death Eaters had improved over the years—expanded their repertoire and tactics a bit."

Avery snarled. "I don't see you doing any better than at the beginning of the war!" he raged. "All you did was get lucky!" He threw another curse, just as easily dodged by Harry.

Harry quirked an eyebrow. "Really? Is that what you think?" he asked in amusement, sidestepping another curse. "Did it perhaps not occur to you, Avery, that you've been manipulated all these years?"

Something in Harry's smile as he'd said those words had made Avery freeze. A cold chill went down the Death Eater's spine as he contemplated what he remembered about the war. Certainly, after having secured victory after victory, something had started to go wrong, and nothing after that seemed to go right.

What was it?

"Shall I tell you?" asked Harry, surprising Avery as he appeared right in front of his face. Avery made to punch at Harry, but already the younger man had disappeared and reappeared a fair distance away.

"What are you trying to say, Potter?" asked Avery cautiously. "That you've always been one step ahead of us? That you've known our plans before even we did?" Avery snorted derisively. "Absurd. Our Strategist got you good twice. You're full of shite, Potter."

Harry's smile didn't leave. "I assume you refer to the coup and Panama?" he asked rhetorically, despite knowing he was right on target. Avery sneered in response, and Harry took that for a positive. "It's true that the coup caught me off-guard," he admitted. "But did it never strike you as odd that the Queen of the newly reformed British Empire was traveling around the world with such a pathetic escort?"

Avery froze once again. It was true—he had harboured some confusion over that fact when Rodolphus had emptily boasted about the failed raid at a Council meeting. It had seemed too easy to him, too simple. He had fought Imperials for years, and knew that they weren't that careless with their generals, so why did their most important VIP tour the world with not even a single Airship escorting her? It had made no sense, but Avery had pushed it out of his mind at the time. Now, he was reminded of it full-force.

"Decoy?" he mumbled absently, trying to reason what had happened. In front of him, following him in his circling moves, Harry merely smiled in toleration.

"Please," scoffed Harry. "Why would I travel with a decoy and present them to the Emperor of Japan, or the Confederate Parliament?" he asked. "That would have been a huge insult. I assure you, she was the real deal."

Avery narrowed his eyes. "Then what was that all about?"

Harry grinned ferociously. "Think about it, Avery. What did we gain from Rodolphus' absurd raid?"

Avery thought that one through. He hated to admit it, but Potter was bringing to light many answers to discrepancies he had noticed over the course of the war. Things that made no sense suddenly began to make sense. And he wasn't liking the answers one bit.

"Allies," Harry stated simply, deciding to help Avery along as one would a slow child. "And resolve."

Avery nearly stumbled over himself. Was he hearing correctly? Had Potter just admitted that the reason the raid had occurred at all was because Potter himself had wanted to put the Confederacy into a position where it would ally itself with the Empire? And what did he mean by resolve?

"What do you mean by resolve?" asked Avery, enunciating his last thought.

Harry smiled. "Panama changed our Queen," he explained. "Before that, she was a scared child, traumatized by her experiences at the hands of Jugson. Panama shod her of that." Harry laughed now, even as he calmly paced in circles with Avery, who had his wand trained on him. "I really should thank Rodolphus, too. Everything went so well that he singlehandedly forged a Queen of steel from a child of scraps."

Avery was floored by what he was hearing. Potter had deliberately allowed a raid to occur on a neutral power in order to secure an ally. More than that, he had confessed to letting the Empire's monarch be attacked in order to steel her for her job. In essence, he had made the Death Eaters do his dirty work for him!

"Stunned?" asked Harry with a grin. "I haven't even begun to tell you how played you've been."

Despite his mounting rage, Avery felt his curiosity get the better of him. "What do you mean?" It was a strange feeling, this oddly civil conversation they were having. Well, it's not like his men were doing any better—they were still running around like confused, scared chickens.

"Tell me, hasn't the Council seemed a bit…erratic to you lately?" asked Harry with a knowing smile.

Avery stopped moving entirely this time. No. It wasn't possible. What Potter was suggesting was simply not possible. They would have noticed. They would have seen through any erratic behaviour.

"You don't seem to believe me, Avery," noted Harry, having himself stopped as well. "But didn't it seem odd to you that the infamous Council of Death, supposedly a far more even-tempered organization than Voldemort himself, ordered this suicide raid mere hours after the bulk of your forces were destroyed at this very location?" he pointed out gleefully. "Or that the main attack was done with such sketchy information?"

Harry laughed openly now, garnering the attention of the panicking Death Eaters as well as Avery. "You had nothing! You had a location, at best! You found our outposts when you invaded, and then by sheer luck!" he told them in between fits of laughter. It was such a maddening, cruel sound that it made the Death Eaters shiver. Not since the Dark Lord had they felt such terror. "Where was the planning of the Council? Where was the logistical preparations you took to take Egypt away from us? Or Canada? Or the Isles?"

Harry grinned evilly at Avery's mounting horror. "I'll tell you where it was…" he said slyly, before he jerked forward, eyes maddeningly wide and a malicious grin in place. "It was dead and buried!" Avery's eyes bulged at the revelation, and he felt his jaw drop as he realized the full impact of what Harry was saying. "Dead! Replaced by men under my command!" continued Harry in triumphant glee. "Right after Panama, we found the Council and butchered them! Replaced them with fakes! And you never noticed!"

Avery was desperate to deny the assertions made by Potter, but he quickly found himself reasoning that everything he'd just said was entirely plausible. The Council had never shown themselves personally to the top ranks of the Death Eaters, or the lower ranks for that matter. All conversation had taken place by proxy—and everyone had reasoned that this was the safest method to protect their lives from assassination.

"Where…?"

Harry grinned at Avery's incomplete question. "In the mountains of Wales," he answered knowingly. "No one you knew, I'm sure. They were just ambitious Death Eaters who took advantage of the power vacuum."

Avery could feel his spirit being destroyed. Everything for the past few years had been a total failure, and that was because of the man before him. The people he'd followed had been nameless and faceless to him, and yet they had provided guidance when the Dark Lord was obviously not going to come back. Now, they were dead, the fleet was obliterated, and they were on the run globally. Avery just wanted to collapse onto the ground and give up.

Harry grinned. He knew he was so close to achieving his goal. Putting his hand on his sword hilt, he slowly drew the magnificent silver blade until it was held up horizontally in front of him. "Shall I tell you a last secret, Avery?" he asked.

"What else could you possibly tell me, Potter?" asked Avery, defeatism obvious in his voice. "What else could you possibly rob us of?"

Harry quirked an eyebrow. "Are you not curious how my people have singlehandedly taken out so many of your own?"

Avery's eyes snapped up to look at Potter, and he had to admit that what Potter was offering was incredibly alluring. Information on how he'd beaten the top echelons of the Death Eaters. He knew the information had little worth for a dead man, but if he was going to die, he didn't want to die wondering. "How?" he asked finally.

Harry smiled. "Do you know how our kind uses magic? Where the power comes from?" he asked.

Avery scoffed. "Everyone knows that. Our blood," he sneered, despite his predicament.

Harry laughed. "Ironically enough, that is so," he agreed. "But it's much more complicated than just being an issue of blood purity. Rather, it has to do with microscopic organisms that serve rather like a lightning rod in a thunderstorm," he explained. "With me so far?"

Avery nodded slowly. He had a small grasp of basic science, partially due to the fact that he had once felt curious about Muggle science when the war had begun. He had quickly given up, though, but not before learning the basics of biology.

Harry grinned. "Good, good. These organisms have no name within the old Magical World," he continued, noticing he had gained the rapt attention of the mass of Death Eaters as well. "But Bill Weasley, the man who first discovered them, calls them Magic Receptors, or MR."

Avery frowned. He had no idea where Potter was going with this; who cared about how wizards were able to do magic?

"These Receptors, however, have a maximum capacity of usage, much like anything else," continued Harry, who was well aware that Avery was losing his patience. "Meaning that if you overuse them, you experience Magical Exhaustion, which is a documented state in the old Magical World."

Avery stayed silent now, trying to figure out where Potter was going with this. Thus undeterred, Harry ploughed on. He seemed like he was thoroughly enjoying himself with the situation. "Is there no way to increase that limit, however?" he asked. "Is there no way to breach that barrier?"

'Of course not!' wanted to scream Avery. 'Everyone knows there's a limit to one's powers!'

Harry's expression made Avery doubt this, however. The patient, tolerant smile had turned dark and evil. "There is."

Avery was shell-shocked by what Potter had just said. A way to force open the limits of one's magical ability? Was Potter mad? Such a thing was impossible!

Harry raised one finger on his free hand, the other still holding up his sword horizontally. "But there is only one way," he continued, unfazed by Avery's horrified look. "And that is to acquire a CO.R.E."

Avery frowned, despite himself. "A core?"

Harry nodded. "Conduit for Restructured Energy, known as CO.R.E.," he elaborated. "A biomechanical, cell-like organism that is implanted into our bodies via diffusion."

Avery frowned again. "I…I don't understand," he admitted shamefully.

Harry grinned. "Instead of having those lightning rods in our blood, we now have them throughout every inch of our bodies."

The implications of such a statement were not lost on Avery, and that made the normally composed aristocrat to take a shocked step back. His men, unfortunately, could not comprehend the sheer heresy that Potter had just confessed to performing.

"Th-that's impossible!" he refused to believe such a thing could happen.

Harry grinned; he knew Avery would react this way. Despite being a Death Eater, Harry knew that Avery was also the most adaptable of the bunch, willing to take on technology to serve his needs if necessary. As such, he would have far better comprehension of the subject at hand than any other of the upper echelon Death Eaters.

"Of course," continued Harry, "because of the sheer magnitude of organisms acquired into our bodies, these organisms had the unforeseen consequence of forming a separate sentience. In other words, our CO.R.E.'s are, in a sense of the word, alive."

Avery, despite his disgust at what Potter had done, felt nonetheless curious about this revelation. What point was there in him knowing this? Who cared if the process created a live entity? It was all heresy to him.

"So?" vocalized Avery, his disgust apparent.

Harry smiled indulgently. "You don't get it, do you?" he asked rhetorically. "The fact that the organisms create a sentient life form means that not everyone can be infused with this new power. Only a very small percentage can, actually," he explained. Avery didn't know why that made him feel a little better, but it did. "Furthermore, for those it does take to, the consciousness of our CO.R.E.'s takes the form of a tool of our choosing--most of us choosing a weapon of some kind. However, for those of us that it does take to, it brings an increase in power equalling five to ten times the maximum potential limit of the user's magic."

An incredulous whimper wanted to leave Avery's mouth at that point. Five to ten times?! Such an increase would make them the most powerful beings on the planet! Then again, recalling how quickly his colleagues had been decimated, it was not such a stretch of the imagination.

"And so…" Harry continued, though taking on an air of finality as he lay his free hand flat against the point of the blade where it met the hilt, "…we are forced to acquire our CO.R.E.'s submission before we can use it, and must order it into activation."

"Thus," Harry's tone softened now, lowering itself to barely a whisper, and yet Avery heard every word. He watched as Harry slid his hand right across the blade and off it in one, smooth action, all the while saying,

"Shatter, Durendal."

Glass breaking.

That was the only way Avery could describe the sound that he heard the moment the last word had passed through Potter's mouth. All around him, it was as if the very fabric of reality had shattered like glass and was falling apart, revealing another world behind it.

Even as Potter remained constant in Avery's field of vision, the surroundings did not. Where they had seen an abandoned, but otherwise undamaged city, they now saw the expected signs of combat. He could still see the smoke pillar from where the Death Eater dragons had caused havoc. He could still see the blood spatters on the cobblestones at his feet. Bodies littered the ground, and for some reason, this death-filled reality made Avery feel better. It made sense.

What's more, the opposition they had expected when they had Portkeyed in was exactly where they expected them to be. Around them. Surrounding them.

Barricaded along the edges of the entire Imperial Square, the Imperial forces had their guns trained on them, ready to fire. Wizards as well were part of the barricade, and Avery could tell that there was no way they could escape. The wards he felt click into being the moment the illusion had been shattered were so strong and so complete that merely attempting Apparation or Portkeying would merely serve to give them all massive migraines.

Potter, for his part, was still wielding that sword of his, though it seemed to Avery that the blade had changed. As Potter brought it down diagonally in a slow, practiced move, Avery confirmed his suspicion. Where it had once been a simple, straight blade, it was now curved at the end, and intricate designs had been carved along the blade. Furthermore, the blade itself seemed serrated, which Avery knew could make any wound it caused fatal, if not just painful.

"My sword, Durendal," Harry introduced to Avery. "Not the original Durendal, of course—that one's lost to the ages. Nonetheless, my CO.R.E took a liking to the name, and chose it for itself," explained Harry. "As you can no doubt tell, my energy has been amplified several times over," he continued nonchalantly, as if lecturing students. "However, what I failed to mention was that each CO.R.E. also has the odd trait that each has a different, unique ability that best suits the wielder."

Harry smiled. "As you could no doubt tell, mine is the power of 'total illusion.'" Harry told Avery. "I can make the victim believe anything I want them to," he explained calmly.

"Such as?" sneered Avery, though he already had a good guess.

Harry's smile did not falter. "That a besieged city was intact and empty," he suggested, referring to the Death Eater's previous predicament. "That people are appearing and disappearing after knocking your men out," again, what had happened before. Harry's smile became dark again. "That my allies are really your allies."

Avery, not for the first time, and he suspected not the last, froze up. What did that mean? Which of their allies had been betraying them? How long had the Death Eaters known and done nothing because of Potter's illusion?

Seeing that Avery was so desperate to know, Harry smiled and snapped his fingers. Almost instantly, a hole was made in the barricade behind him as the people let someone through. Avery looked like he torn between wanting to cry or rage as he saw the identity of the turncoat.

"I believe you're familiar with Fleet Admiral Clarke of the United States Navy and Air Fleet, correct?" asked Harry tauntingly. "The good Admiral has been a valuable ally of the Empire since right after Salt Lake City. A more valuable informant, I couldn't find."

"You flatter me, Field Marshal," intoned the man in question as he came to stand by Harry's side. Disgust was obvious in his gaze as he looked at Avery. "I merely did what my conscience demanded. I couldn't bear to allow my country to fall deeper into this…disgusting partnership with these animals."

"Well said, Admiral, well said," lauded Harry with a grin. Avery knew this entire conversation was designed to rile him up, but he just couldn't get the hatred up to curse them, or even to move. His spirit had just been totally shattered. Everything had gone so wrong. Everything they had tried to achieve was in ruins.

This was their victory.

Harry nodded to Clarke, and the man bowed shortly to Harry before making his way back to the barricade. Once the man was safely back amongst his men, Harry turned to face Avery. "Goodbye, Avery. Your cause, our enemies…everything ends today."

With that, Harry turned and walked into the barricade, even as Avery sank to his knees, defeated. The Death Eaters, realizing that they were about to die, began to panic once again, throwing random spells around in the hopes of getting free, but all were blocked by either the barricades, or the shields the Imperial wizards brought up.

As Harry walked away, he could heard the commands being shouted along the barricade, and smiled.

"Ready!"

Harry turned his mind to his next, final step. Only one enemy remained.

"Aim!"

The Death Eaters were throwing themselves on the ground, now, begging for their lives. The Imperials took no note of them.

Harry, for his part, kept his mind on his last enemy as he walked through the massive doors to the palace, which were promptly shut behind him.

"FIRE!"

Even as the rolling thunder of the barricade's almost simultaneous fire ended the life of the Death Eater movement, only one name stayed at the forefront of Harry's worries.

One last battlefield, one last step, one last enemy.

Hogwarts.

Siege.

Voldemort.

Post-AN: For the record, yes, Admiral Clarke is the man who led the US fleet against Hawke and Harry at Salt Lake City. Thus, in a way, he's the man responsible for Hawke's death. Harry, however, is a pragmatist, and time has served to help him recover from the emotional wound of seeing his friend die.