Title: The Innocence Of Guilt
Author: ENSIGN
Chapter 07 – Stake Out? But It Was Only A House, Sir
Ministry Of Magic – Level Nine: Department Of Mysteries – Harry's Office
"God damn it Potter." Nicholas yelled as he barged into Harry's office.
The only reason the old codger hadn't been cursed to high heaven was because Harry was expecting him.
Oddly enough Harry who could never be found in his office was in it. Nicholas had no doubt been able to locate him easily through some unknown means.
"You can just go around doing what you did this afternoon. Do you have any idea what you just did?" The man yelled.
Harry frowned. "Seeing as I was the one who did it, yes. I think I do know what I did."
Nicholas looked pissed. "Don't give me your cheek. Have you any idea what the consequences of your actions were?"
"The removal of an incompetent Minister Of Magic?" Harry answered blankly as he continued writing.
"You deliberately sentenced the Minister to a fate worse than death." Harry looked about to reply but Nicholas cut him off. "Don't give me the 'I only did what he was asking' thing as I know damn well that you planned this out."
Mary who had decided to grace the two men with her presence simply shrugged and leaned against the wall, happy to get out of the oncoming firestorm of words.
Harry opened his mouth but was once again cut off. "Endangering Ministry personnel without good reason is prohibited and dealt with harshly in this department."
Deciding that he definitely needed to get a word in, Harry simply fired off a Silencing Charm. Nicholas of course expertly blocked it, but another came from behind him and caught him unawares.
Turning in surprise the old man caught Mary re-holstering her wand. He yet again was unprepared for Harry's Disarming Charm to cause his wand to go flying into Mary's awaiting hands.
"Good catch." Harry commented, turning to Nicholas. "Now are you going to sit down so that we can discuss my actions earlier today or are we going to have to settle for a duel?"
Nicholas removed a second wand from within his robes, canceled the charm and summoned his first wand.
"Speak." He demanded as Harry conjured up a tea set and extra chair for his partner.
"Firstly the Minister is safe and sound at an undisclosed location." Harry poured the tea into the richly decorated cups. "Lumps?"
"Two with milk." Mary reached for the offered cup.
"You mean he's alive?" Nicholas's eyes narrowed in thought.
"What do you take me for? I only wanted to get rid of the idiot, not kill him." Harry said annoyed.
"So that's why I thought the Portkey was dodgy."
"Correct, as you said earlier." Conjuring up a plate of biscuits he offered them to his partner. "The Portkey that I handed to the Minister was activated with only the activation phrase and not the two required taps of the wand. The original Portkey in question is right here." He revealed from within his robes a familiar looking medallion.
"So what did the Minister get?"
"You mean ex-Minister? He got a personal creation of mine straight to a secured safe house where he has probably been disarmed and will be kept there under house arrest for an unknown amount of time."
"You mean until the war is over." Mary questioned.
Harry shrugged.
Nicholas sighed and slumped in his chair. "Honestly, one of these days either you or my wife are going to give me a heart attack, so now what?"
Harry rubbed his chin in thought. "If my memory serves me right, in the case of a Minister Of Magic being eliminated, the head of the DMLE is immediately elected as the interim Minister Of Magic. Given the current state of the Wizarding world I give them till tomorrow before they realize that particular rule and instate Amelia Bones."
"That would mean the Ministry would be without a leader for a complete day." Nicholas was already thinking.
Harry looked at his watch. "Not really an entire day just around nineteen hours till eight tomorrow morning."
"You have something planned don't you." Mary reached across the table and plucked one of the sheets of parchment that Harry was filling out before. Her eyes scanned the document before widening. "Malfoy Manor? You're planning to assault Malfoy Manor?"
"Correct my dear Watson." Was the enthusiastic reply.
The girl looked confused for a second before seeing the relation and rolled her eyes.
"Interesting." Was the only comment that came from Nicholas as he began looking over the work. "I believe it would be in our best interest to take advantage of the chaos that you just caused to hold a surprised raid on that place." He looked up. "Do you have the plans already?"
"Most of it. I pieced together a general layout of the house based on past information by Phoenix Division members. I'll probably have to hand these to those at Serpent Division to get it checked out. They are after all the analytical and tactical people."
"Excellent, with the general layout and most of the work already done by you we can get this operation going by midnight tonight."
"I suggest carrying it out at three in the morning as it's the time most watchmen start getting sleepy."
Nicholas nodded as the group stood and made to exit the office.
"You never do things by half James." The old man commented jokingly.
"Of course not, why settle for a win when you can thoroughly destroy and humiliate your opponent?"
Mary has no idea what he was referring to but got the general idea. Overkill was not generally a bad thing.
XXXXX
Little Hangleton – Riddle Mansion – Death Eater Headquarters
"My Lord the Minister has gone missing. The entire Ministry's in an uproar." A random Death Eater interrupted Voldemort's musing.
Setting aside the tome he was reading the Dark Lord considered whether the interrupting deserved a punishment but decided on something else instead.
"Details? Alecto."
"My Lord." The Death Eater bowed. "The details are sketchy due to all the rumors and chaos caused at the Ministry. However one thing is for certain, the Minister is missing, presumed indefinitely. Almost all Magical Law Enforcement Officers have been recalled for a mass search throughout the whole of the British Isles."
"Any information on who performed the kidnapping?" Voldemort's crimson eyes bored into the man's.
"Not sure my Lord, however the main rumor is that the kidnapping was done by our side my Lord."
"Interesting." Voldemort seemed to consider something before moving towards the still bowed man.
"My Lord?" The man questioned fearfully as the Dark Lord himself approached him.
"Your arm, Alecto." The man demanded. "This event deserves a celebration." Lord Voldemort finished with a savage grin.
XXXXX
Ministry Of Magic – Level Nine: Department Of Mysteries – Tactical Operations
"Alright, listen up men…" A clearing of the throat by Mary interrupted him. "And women."
Harry rolled his eyes at his partner's smug look.
"Tonight's operation will be considered standard black ops. mission. Therefore there will be no presence of Aurors. The Department Of Mysteries will be the only ones raiding the target location tonight. All Ministry Aurors found on the scene without prior notice are to be considered hostile and taken down with non-fatal means. Anyone else is to be dealt with using extreme prejudice, provided they shoot first. Death Eaters are not included as they are to be treated with extreme force. Anyone wearing black cloaks and white masks are to be immediately incapacitated without any warning. I don't care if a pet Puffskin is dressed as one I want it taken down with no chance of it getting back up again within the next twenty four hours."
Seeing the uneasy looks he decided to elaborate a bit.
"This does not mean kill all Death Eaters, the Department would love to get our hands on as many live enemy personnel as possible."
Harry paused to allow a few Unspeakables to hand out orders and instructions.
"As you can see, due to the large scale of this operation, we will be employing the services of every single division within this department. This includes fifteen teams of Operatives from Griffin Division, five personnel from Counter Intelligence, Raven Division, five teams from R&D, Unicorn Division, five teams from Field Surveillance, Phoenix Division and finally nine members of our Analysis and Tactical Division, Serpent Division. All other members of the Unspeakables are being briefed as we speak and believe me when I say this would probably be the largest divisional joint operation within this department this century. We are employing the use of eighty nine Witches and Wizards in this raid."
"As per the intelligence obtained from the Phoenix Division's scouts, we have pieced together the general layout of the target location, Malfoy Manor. Therefore we shall be infiltrating via ten entry points. Each team has been given an individual section to sweep and clear. Our main objective is to hold and secure the location for the other Divisions to insert and conduct their missions."
Harry pointed to a raised hand. "What are the counter measures in the case of a team being downed?"
"Since the initial entry of the Manor will be done stealthily we do not expect any problem till the insertion of the house itself. From there teams who have secured their locations will be directed by members of Serpent Division, who will be supervision the operation to assist any pinned or downed assault members. On another note my partner and I will also be participating in the main assault and thus we would be the main force of backup should any of you run into heavy resistance."
"I would also like to remind you that the entire Manor has been warded against Portkey and Apparation and thus evacuation will be made difficult, this also means that the enemy will know that once we have secured the main Portkey room that there would be no escape and would thus be fighting with everything that they have. Expect heavy resistance from that point onwards."
Harry paused to take a drink from his flask.
"Now, standard assault gear which includes medical potions, viewing globes and communicators will be issued. We predict the entire operation that will commence at 0300 hours will be over within an hour. Should the Death Eaters manage to contact the outside world despite the severing of the Floo lines and Aurors are called in assuming an attack against the home of an upstanding citizen by cloaked Death Eaters." Harry said the last part sarcastically. The irony was that he fully expected Death Eaters to call in Aurors to combat his Unspeakables who would probably be mistaken as Death Eaters themselves.
"Should the Aurors be contacted, Raven Division personnel in the Ministry will run interference to buy us some time. Worse situation, we will have to hold the line while the other members evacuate. On a side note Cloaking and Disillusionment Charms are to remain active when engaging opponents to prevent the Department Of Mysteries from being tied with this event."
Here another Unspeakable took over. "Evacuation will be held at location Seta where a team of Unicorn Division will be punching a hole in the wards."
"What about enemy reinforcement?" Another Unspeakable questioned.
"Intel states that the main entry point will be at the main Entrance Hall where it will be up to teams five and six to incapacitate the room to prevent further entry. Entry times and movement will be coordinated by Serpent Division."
Nodding to his partner Harry gave one last comment. "I suggest you all rest up, for this operation will take most of your strength."
With that he left the briefing room, his partner following closely.
"Just who was that guy?" One of the Operatives asked after seeing his unique badge.
"No idea, haven't seen him around at all." Another said.
"That would be the infamous James Pathertrory." Another supplied. "He hardly uses the facilities here but can be seen moving around once in a while. Rumor has it that he's been seen moving around in the other Ministries within Europe as well as causing setbacks for any dark Wizard activity within the Continent."
Those that knew shrugged and those that didn't goggled at the now legendary figure that was just briefing them.
"Funny we haven't heard anything about his partner though." Someone added.
"You don't suppose she's available do you?"
XXXXX
Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft And Wizardry – Headmaster's Office
"Headmaster! Headmaster!" Arthur Weasley practically flew in through the door.
Dumbledore widened his eyes slightly at the normally composed man in such a state.
"Dumbledore, the Ministry…"
"Calm down Arthur, panicking will only serve to further complicate matters, have a seat." Withdrawing his wand, the Headmaster of Hogwarts threw a Calming Charm on the frantic man as well as conjured him a comfortable armchair. "Now Arthur what seems to be the problem?"
"The Ministry is in an uproar Albus. The Minister's been captured by You-Know-Who."
Immediately the old man was at his feet and his head within his fire place.
In no more then in five minutes the entire order was assembled at Grimmauld Place. The main topic of discussion, 'Just how did the Minister get spirited away?'.
XXXXX
Location Unknown – Unspeakable Safe House – Harry's Office
Harry was interrupted from his reading by a knock on the door.
"Enter." He made his mark and placed the book on his desk.
Presumably Mary stuck only her head in. "James?"
"Come in Mary. Drink?" He offered waving at the liquor cabinet.
"I'll pass." She raised an eyebrow. "Drinking before a mission?"
Harry ignored the taunt. "Time."
"Quarter to three."
"Excellent." Harry rose and moved towards the girl. "Your armor?"
"Never left home without it." The girl chirped.
Harry moved towards a wall where he started tapping in a random pattern. "Excited?"
"Of course. I keep thinking I'll screw up."
"You won't, you'll be with me." The wall popped open to reveal a hidden cabinet.
Curious Mary tip toed and easily looked over James's shorter shoulders. The cabinet was filled with hundred of miniature glass globes each with a different color. For a moment she was reminded of the Hall Of Prophecies.
"These are some of my own creations." He threw a small pouch at her.
Opening it she counted two red globes and three blue ones. She looked at him in askance.
He didn't bother to turn around and continued to ponder which ones he would take. "In there you'll find three blue and two red orbs. Simply tap them with your wand once and throw them at the enemy."
"What are they?"
"Simple glass balls filled with air. And a time delayed Strengthening Charm. Tapping them with your wand will cause the charm to fail in five seconds, so please don't hang on to them for too long. Actually the slightest jolt of direct magic would cause them to go off. There's a lot of air in them and I rather not be around when they went off. The red ones contain shrapnel." Harry took four red and two blue orbs.
"So it's pull the pin and throw the other thing then." The girl said jokingly.
"Somehow I believe the Purebloods might throw the pin instead." Harry muttered seriously.
Mary snorted.
"Anyhow times a wasting, come Mary." He grabbed her shoulder and before she could protest, Portkeyed them to their destination.
XXXXX
Location Unknown – Unspeakable Safe House – Operations Room
With a lurch Harry stumbled slightly while he firmly held on to his partner who would have lost her balance had he not been holding on.
"Warn me next time."
"Apologies." Mary glared at him as he didn't sound too concerned.
"Status?" Harry immediate asked one of the members of Serpent Division who was monitoring everything via holographic projections much like in Mary's initial test.
Mary looked around to find herself in a dimly lit room with ten other personnel. She recognized Nicholas further down the room giving orders to the field Operatives via a small mirror.
All in all, they were in a windowless room that was dimly lit to allow the holographic projections to appear visible. It was mostly longer than it was wide to compensate for the number of viewing globes that were arranged on one side.
"All personnel are in position, Griffin Division teams one to fifteen are all in position and the rest are ready to deploy when the target is secured."
"Good." Harry stated as he watched the view on one of the globes through a small pin attached to the Unspeakable's cloak.
"Coming just to claim the credit I see." The rich voice of his boss called out.
"Just making sure you haven't screwed things over that's all. Where are the Division Heads? I assumed an operation of such magnitude would require their involvement." Harry stated as he noticed there was neither hide nor hair of any Division Heads at the earlier briefing.
"They have other duties, mainly holding the fort should old Tommy boy decide to come out and play." The alchemist handed Harry two small bags.
He accepted one of them and tossed the other to his partner. She looked at them in askance.
"Field pack, medical kit as well as viewing pins and communicators." Was the explanation from Harry as he pulled out an ear plug and stuck it in his left ear. He then pinned two pins onto his cloak.
"Testing, testing, this is Griffin reporting, come in HQ do you read me over."
"We do Griffin, we read you loud and clear."
"Do you have visual?"
"No joy, Griffin try tapping the pin."
Harry did just that and given a confirmation. He turned to Mary who had also completed setting up her equipment.
"Ready?"
"Whenever you are, James."
"Be careful you two. I'll be in contact." Nicholas said patting both their shoulders.
"Not joining us old man?"
"With you on the job? I wouldn't even be needed. Might as well stay here and enjoy the show."
Harry chuckled as he caught sight of the Portkey Flamel tossed towards him. Sidestepping he banished it at his partner who vanished with a squeak.
"Now that wasn't nice James." Nicholas said reprovingly.
"And neither is tossing Portkeys at unawares subordinates." Nicholas never heard the rest of the sentence as Harry was hit squarely in the head by a second Portkey.
XXXXX
Malfoy Manor – Outside The Gates – South East
Temporarily assigned Griffin Team Three were waiting just outside the fence of Malfoy Manor when they were warned via their earplugs that they had an incoming friendly.
The three member team was treated to the appearance of a woman appearing before them swearing enough to make Voldemort blush.
This was of course followed by another man who was also swearing, appearing beside her.
"Commander?" The team leader asked unsurely as he recognized Harry's unique badge.
"Mother… bloody… rip testicles…" The men winced at the word the both of them were muttering at each other beneath their breaths.
"Er… Commandant, Griffin Team Three reporting." The leader once again tried.
"Yes, yes, yes." Harry held up a hand to stall Mary's further complaints.
"Will you be joining us Sir?"
"Up till we get to the main Manor, from there my partner and I will separate with your team and freelance." Harry informed the woman.
"All teams, operation is gold. I repeat, operation is gold." The distorted voice of Nicholas Flamel announced over the communication devices.
"Well what are you waiting for? Ladies first." Harry offered.
Team Three which was surprisingly an all women team picked up a pair of bolt cutters and proceeded to easily sever the bars on the fence.
XXXXX
Malfoy Manor – Outside The Gates – North West
"Why can't we just vanish the bars again." An Unspeakable complained to his team leader.
The man sighed. "Didn't you read the notes Mel? The fence is layered with alarm wards that respond to any form of magic being used against them. This however does not include Muggle security systems so bolt cutters it is."
After thirty seconds of cutting a gap wide enough for a two humans to enter was made. Activating their cloak's Disillusionment Charms and casting a localized Silencing Charm the group of three made their way across the Malfoy's immense lawn.
XXXXX
Malfoy Manor – Gardens – South East
"Halt." Harry whispered despite the Silencing Charm, he wasn't taking any chances. "Death Eater Guard at two o'clock."
"Suggestions?" Mary offered.
"No magic." Harry reminded.
"I vote Pathertrory James." One of the members of Team Three suggested.
"Seconded."
"Thirded."
"Fourthed."
Harry looked betrayed at his partner. "Those aren't even words." He hissed. She stuck a disillusioned tongue at him which he easily saw but couldn't return.
Grumbling he moved towards the lone Death Eater who was now standing by a rose bush.
'Bloody rich wankers and their rose bushes. Why can't they plant something nice like a simple cherry tree.' At least this time he didn't have to dive into it.
Sneaking up to the man was the easy part. The Death Muncher was practically asleep on his feet if the yawning was anything to go by.
Tapping the man on the shoulder Harry got ready. The now surprised man turned around. Harry proceeded to ram his palm upwards into the man's chin. An uppercut into his solar plexus followed and a final straight sucker punch into his face finished the right, left, right combination.
Harry winced as he felt the face mask give way beneath his fist.
Examining that the man was indeed out Harry withdrew a small syringe. Turning his victim over, he mercilessly plunged the needle into the man's posterior. Pushing the plunger all the way and tossing the now empty syringe aside, he withdrew a time delayed Portkey and shoved it into the man's robes. He then lifted the man on his shoulders and promptly dumped him into the rose bush.
By this time the four girls had made it towards his location.
"What did you give him?" One of the asked.
"Since no magic is to be used, less we trigger the alarms I simply gave him a shot of Drought Of Living Death. A time delayed Portkey will ensure he ends up in one of our department's holding rooms."
"We have holding rooms?" Mary asked in confusion.
"They are hidden in the department, wouldn't do for anyone to break in and free our prisoners now would it?" The group leader explained.
"Come one, let's get moving." Harry started moving towards the main Manor, his disillusioned form easily followed by the girls.
Elsewhere all around the Manor, Death Eater patrols were falling like flies in a bug zapper. Caught completely surprised, they were taken down via non-magical means. An electric stun gun, a club to the head or simply a knife in the back, by all means the Unspeakables were very creative in their methods.
XXXXX
Ministry Of Magic – Level One: Ministry Atrium
The night watchman John Sterling patrolled the dimly brightly lit atrium of the Ministry Of Magic. Despite the chaos caused by the Minister's disappearance earlier that morning, by nightfall the entire Ministry was silent as a grave. The Ministry workers, more interested in their own business and leisure had immediately left the building for their homes when clock struck six.
'Maybe not as silent as a grave' John thought as one of the fireplaces that lined the atrium lit up in green flames.
He paid it no attention as only registered Ministry workers could enter via the Atrium's Floo network and there was always the occasional dedicated worker.
However as per his normal friendly attitude he got ready to at least give a simple hello to the late night visitor.
Imagine his surprise when an imposing figure draped in a black cloak walked out from the flames, wand drawn. The first thing he noticed was the glowing red eyes staring out from within the darkness of the hood.
To his credit, John didn't freeze like many others would when face with the deadliest Dark Lord of the century, instead he sucked in his deepest breath and made to shout.
His drawn in breath was instead released as a dying gasp as the green light of the Killing Curse washed over him.
Lord Voldemort calmly lowered his wand.
"Can't have you giving up the surprise now can we." He spoke to the now cooling corpse.
Unfortunately for him a dedicated Ministry Official who was about to leave for the night witnessed the murder. Rushing back into his office the man pulled the emergency switch in one of the walls.
Lord Voldemort's growl of annoyance mostly came out as a hiss as the atrium immediately lit up and alarms began blaring.
Behind him the rest of the twenty something fireplaces lit up in green flames as Death Eaters began pouring out from the Floo network.
XXXXX
Location Unknown – Unspeakable Safe House – Operations Room
"Team one, location secured." The scrambled distorted voice announced over the com link in the darkened safe house.
"Team four, position and held."
"Team five, ready and waiting."
"Team nine, awaiting orders."
"Team six, in position."
"Team two, location held."
"Team seven, we're in position."
"Team one, ready."
"Team…" Nicholas chose to ignore the rest of the announcements from the fifteen, three man teams sent in initially. He was only awaiting one particular signal. Surprisingly it was the last one to signal in.
"Team three, and freelance backup one and two awaiting orders, did you miss me?" Harry's uniquely distorted voice announced.
Nicholas smirked. It was just like the brat to wait and announce himself last, just for the suspense value.
"Dragon, Sir. All fifteen Operative squads are in position and are awaiting the assault order." The coordinator turned to inform his superior.
"Inform freelance backup one the situation is go. Launch the signal and begin assault." The man calmly ordered.
"Freelance backup one your orders are to initiate assault signal. I repeat, initial assault signal."
"Finally, I get to indulge in some wonton destruction at the old man's order." The enthusiastic voice came over the com link.
"See that you don't over do it, Operative Griffin, I want that house somewhat intact at the end of this mission." Nicholas had grabbed the microphone.
He could practically see the smirk on the other speaker's face.
"Why hello old man. Nice to see I still warrant a direct supervision from the head honcho himself." Everywhere else the other Operatives were wondering who would show such little respect to their Head Of Department.
"Just do it. You're wasting time as it is." Nicholas tiredly asked. "Please." He added as an afterthought.
XXXXX
Malfoy Manor – Outside The East Wing
Harry turned to the collection of four girls. "Hey ladies, want to see something really neat?"
Mary looked interested, while the others tilted their heads slightly in confusion.
From within his robes came a collection red and blue orbs held securely together with duct tape.
Mary stared at the small bundle of at least 17 glass globes. How he manage to hide the thing in his robes without the use of a Shrinking Charm was slightly discerning.
"Planning on a future career in demolitions?"
The only man in their party smiled. "You could say so."
"How are those orbs gonna help us take out the main Portkey room? Last I checked teams five and six were to secure that room first before anything else commenced." The team leader inquired.
"That is correct love. However the mission parameters never said anything about clearing the room." Harry pulled out a very familiar medallion.
His partner stared at the gold object. "Poor bastards."
"Indeed." Harry tapped the Portkey twice placed both orbs and medallion on the grass. "Ready ladies?" Without waiting for confirmation he tapped one of the glass orbs before speaking out clearly. "Blood Purity."
XXXXX
Malfoy Manor – Portkey Room
Like every other night in the life of the Malfoy Manor Portkey Room Guard, Jake Hamminton was bored.
Day after day, night after night. His main job was simply to sit and guard the Portkey entrance to Malfoy Manor. Not that it was very important at all. Only those given a Portkey by the Malfoy's current head could enter and surprisingly the only ones with one were Death Eaters themselves. Ironic as it, was the Malfoys being the richest Pureblooded family in Europe, were rather reserved at holding their lavishly extravagant parties in the Manor itself and instead preferred to use one of their other mansions for the task.
Then again Jake wasn't too surprised, what with all the illegal activity going on in the Manor itself it wouldn't be good should a guest accidentally walked in on one of the rooms containing some rather questionable items.
"You know what? Wizard's chess really does get rather stale after playing it more than three times every night for the last two months." One of the other Death Eaters commented as he watched his opponent's knight bash his queen into submission before dragging her off the board by her hair.
"We could always play exploding snap." His opponent suggested.
Jake snorted. The last idiot that had played the game was punished severely when the card's small explosive bang was mistaken for an assault.
"Gob stones?"
"Too much of a mess. Stupid goop doesn't clean out with magic."
Out of options due to the Wizarding World's rather meager amount of games the collective groups sighed.
"Monopoly?" The other three members glared at the suggestion of a Muggle game. "Yeah, bad idea."
Once again, they collectively sighed.
A bell chimed sounded and all four men immediately stood at attention, their games banished to places unknown. The ring was the indication of an incoming Portkey. The last group of Death Eater guards had promptly disappeared when Voldemort had been the one arriving and caught them relaxing.
Instead of a hooded figure of a fellow comrade or the imposing visage of the Dark Lord himself, the four member team was rather surprised when a small blue and red package appeared on the polished marbled floor.
"Huh?" Was the only reply the man manage to get out before everything went white.
The intensely compressed air blasted outwards as the Strengthening Charms on its container failed.
The initial blast catapulted the four men into the walls as well as throwing the rest of the deadly globes around the room.
Strengthening Charm or not, glass was a very fragile substance and an explosion of that strength had caused a crack. This was immediately exploited by the high pressure causing the entire container to fail.
The second orb went off, spraying the room with deadly shrapnel and setting off a chain reaction the followed with many more lethal explosions.
XXXXX
Malfoy Manor – Outside The East Wing
All four girls jumped slightly as the shockwave of sound tore through the air.
"He he… boom." Harry chuckled insanely.
"Showtime ladies." Mary commanded. Standing up she pointed her wand at the nearest window and fired off her strongest blasting curse.
The blast ripped a hole in the wall and threw up a cloud of dust. Smaller explosions followed the initial one as the other four members fired spells into the cloud in precaution that some Death Eater might have survived the initial attack.
Harry smiled as he moved towards the opening, both wands drawn he immediately activated his glasses mage sight as well as reinforcing his rather shoddy Occlumency barriers.
In the distance he could hear similar explosions going off as the other fourteen teams began their assault.
XXXXX
Malfoy Manor – East Wing
The Death Eater had no idea what was happening. One moment he was trying his hardest to stay awake as he and his partner patrolled the East Wing, the next he was trying to figure what the hell had just happened.
The initial explosion had shaken the entire Manor causing him to stumble into a suit of finely crafted armor. If it wasn't for the explosion, his partner would have cursed him as the large polearm had narrowly missed him.
"What the hell was that?" He questioned.
The answer never came as many other detonations followed announcing the presence of unwanted guests.
One again the both of them felt the ground shake as another detonation went off near to their location.
The drawing room.
They both looked at each other before running in the direction. Due to his younger years of playing Quidditch he manage to stay in front.
It probably wasn't a good idea. As soon as he turned his latest corner the Death Eater immediately felt the air leave his lungs and a sharp stinging sensation in his lower abdominal region.
He barely had time to analyze the situation before he caught sight of a fist and his vision went black.
XXXXX
Malfoy Manor – East Wing
Harry had just finished off the man with a devastating right hook when he jerked his head back to avoid the brown streak of light.
Glancing once around the corner he spotted who he no doubt guessed was the unconscious man's partner.
His opponent had ducked into a corner and was now throwing a barrage of non stop curses to prevent him even remotely sticking his head out.
"Pinned?" The cheerful voice of his assistant greeted him.
"Where were you when I was assaulting that last group of idiots down the corridor?" He questioned her lateness.
"Command called in, squad eight required assistance, seems they ran into a large group of Death Eaters."
Harry nodded and placed a finger on the ear plug he had. "Command, have there been any attempt at reinforcements by our targets?"
"Negative freelance one, no reported enemy reinforcements. Our Operatives managed to erect an anti Portkey ward at the entry point, they are attempting to punch through the existing wards as we speak."
Harry didn't bother to reply as his mind was already on other things, mainly the Death Eater who still hadn't let up on his barrage.
"Remember my bouncing spell?" Harry suggested.
Mary understood and immediately threw up a shield around the both of them.
Taking aim, he whispered a short incantation and waved his wand at the opposite wall. It glowed briefly to show the completion.
"Stupefy En Multiplicus." The red ball of power flew from his wand before bursting into a multitude of stunners that fanned out in every direction.
Due to the unique shielding charm on the opposite wall. Most of the spells were redirected at an angle straight at the Death Eater.
Immediately the barrage stopped.
"Tag them Miss Sue. I'll go on ahead." Harry left his partner to stun and pin Portkeys to their attires.
XXXXX
Ministry Of Magic – Level One: Ministry Atrium
The green jet of light flew across the Ministry Atrium and struck a distracted Auror in the arm.
Voldemort didn't spare the falling Auror a second glance as he trained his wand at a new target. Slashing his wand in an arc he easily blew out the supports for one of the many columns surrounding the Atrium. Aurors scrambled in order to evade the falling debris as his Death Eaters picked them off.
"Avada Kedavra!" The green light caught an unaware Auror on the shoulder as he dodged another oncoming curse. The man went limp, his momentum from dodging carrying him across the marble floor of the Ministry's Atrium. The body leaving a small path of clean floor in its slide across the dueling ground.
A flame curse followed the jet of green light. Engulfed in flames, a woman Auror, screamed in pain as she roasted alive within the raging inferno. Nearby teammates sprayed jets of water attempting to extinguish the magical fire. In doing so they were only distracted from their opponents and laid to waste as targets under a barrage of curses.
More magical fires sprung up as the Death Eaters switched to raze tactics. The water spewing out from the demolished fountain once again drenched the floor. Muttering a welding charm the Dark Lord sealed the hole and stemmed the flow of water.
Due to the confusion caused by the lack of a Minister earlier in the day the Auror's numbers were severely tinned as most were nowhere near the Ministry on search missions.
As such they were being pushed back and into the inner departments. Trapped between his Death Eaters, flames and Portkey and Anti Apparation wards the Minister and its Auror forces would take months to recover.
Suddenly, Voldemort's good mood was cut short when a barrage of curses flew from a side entrance. Unlike most spells from the earlier defenders, the latest barrage was filled lethal ones and caught unawares, Voldemort scowled as he witnessed a whole platoon of his men go down.
Turning to meet the uninvited visitors he growled at the give away blue cloaks.
"Avada Kedavra!" The Unspeakable dodged the spell only for it to continue on and hit one of the others.
Suddenly as a collective group every single Unspeakable wand was trained on the Dark Lord.
"Fire!" A voice commanded from the back of the group.
Eyes widening, The Dark Wizard threw up his strongest shield charm and rose his left hand, silver shield defending. Predictably it shattered under the enormous onslaught of magic and the Voldemort felt himself thrown harshly back into the fire place from which he came.
Feeling absolutely no pain whatsoever from the earlier spells or his crash into the wall, the Dark Lord scowled as he watched his men get pushed back by the reinforcing Unspeakable as well as the old fool's Order Of The Phoenix who had arrive via the Floo and were not forcing his troops into a two front battle.
"Retreat." He ordered before realizing his slight error. Instantly he felt himself spinning as he was no doubt being Flooed to a location know simply as 'Retreat'.
XXXXX
Malfoy Manor – East Wing
Harry moved down the corridor swiftly, constantly throwing around detection spells. It wouldn't be productive if he were to be caught by a booby trap laid out by a paranoid Death Eater.
"Status old man?"
"The operation is proceeding as expected. We have encountered a much heavier amount of resistance than what we predicted. It seems that there are more personnel at your location than we were led to believe."
"Any teams requiring assistance? I'm on my way to location 12, the main entrance."
"Not at the moment, I just dispatched Mary to assist team eleven as they were encountering heavy resistance who were held up in the main library."
"I take it she cleared them out?"
"From what I saw on the viewing globe she tossed an object that easily wiped out a small part of the library, along with a considerable amount of books. One of your toys I assume." Nicholas stated.
"My version of a Muggle grenade." Harry supplied. "Besides, the books were probably of no importance. Purebloods tend to keep their valuables in a hidden private collection."
Harry would have said more but a voice of one of the other members in the coordination team interrupted him.
"Freelance one please report to location 12. Team fifteen and fourteen are encountering heavy enemy resistance and is having problems taking the main entrance. Caution is advised, two members are reported downed and it appears the enemy is holding their stand in the main office."
"Thought they would, the office is the most heavily warded room in the mansion."
Harry sped up at a run as he ignored the detection spells completely now. The up coming passage way had already been cleared by another group as they had gone through earlier.
XXXXX
Malfoy Manor – East Wing
Mary raced through the corridor of Malfoy Manor without paying much caution to her surroundings as the area had already been secured previously.
'Just where the hell am I now?'
She would never understand what it was with rich people and their large mazy overcomplicated houses. A nice three story mansion was probably enough.
She had just passed by a side corridor when an arm snagged her collar.
Eyes bugging as her throat bore her full forwards momentum she would have fallen on her back as her legs gave out still moving forwards.
Would have, if that person hadn't let go allowing her to stumble forwards choking.
"Fancy seeing you here, my dear."
She turned an irritated glare at the person who no doubt had no reservations on performing such an act during a mission no less.
"You could have killed me." She accused.
Harry snorted. "Stop being so overdramatic." He waved her off. "Seeing as you're here as well I take it you also got the call."
"Yeah." The girl answered catching her breath.
Harry was about to answer when he saw his partner's eye widened in fear.
"JAMES!!" The panicked girl lunged at him.
Not expecting such an attack, Harry felt the wind leave his lungs as over forty five kilograms of weight shoulder tackled him into a door.
Understandably when faced with a total weight of over a hundred kilograms, the door gave way and the two Unspeakables tumbled into the room.
"Backup, we need backup, over. Freelance one and two pinned by surprise enemy ambush." Mary shouted into her communication device as she threw a few explosive curses out the door.
"Get away from the wall." Harry having just recovered snarled as he dragged his partner further into the room.
True to his advice, a segment of the wall blew inwards as the Death Eaters took it upon themselves to demolish as much of their target as possible.
"How goes you on grenades?" Harry prodded the woman.
"I'm out, used the last one in the library, you?"
"One shrapnel." Harry produced the globe as he flung it at Wizard who had decided to enter the room back out into his team mates.
"Where is our backup?" Mary yelled as more spells flew into the room raining plaster around them.
"Deflect the explosive curses and dodge the rest." Harry advised as he conjured up a strong white shield charm.
"You'll have to hold out a bit longer, our teams are on their way." Harry heard from his earpiece.
"Damn," He cursed. "Just where did these guys come from anyway?"
Apparently someone on the monitoring team got his question. "The Death Eaters managed to push us back in the main hall and a small group broke off. I believe you found them."
Harry would have commented had the wall separating them and the enemy not have blown inwards under a hail of fire. He grunted as his Mithril vest took the impact off a large piece of wall that connected with his chest. However he was still bowled over from the concussive wave that followed.
Mary on the other hand was blown back into the wall only to face an onslaught of curses that followed as the Dark Wizards advanced.
To Harry it happed too fast, one moment Mary was standing, left arms hugging her chest as she moved about cursing, and the next the unmistakable green flash of light plowing through her shield charm and striking her chest.
Whether it was the force of the spell or her trying to dodge backwards Harry would not know as he watched the surprised look on his partner's face beneath her concealment charms as she flew into a cabinet smashing it to pieces.
"Mary." He whispered still in pain. His mind replaying her face, the look of surprise as the spell impacted on her chest.
For that short moment of horror, Harry saw red.
Power like none he had felt for a long time surged through his body in his rage. Even when he had watched Sirius fall had he not felt it. The feeling of pure energy, energy he had felt back in his third year of Hogwarts.
"Explodra." The spell was whispered but the force of the magic channeled through his arm left it in pain and his wand blew out of his hands with the recoil.
Too surprised to dodge, the Death Eaters hurriedly erected shields in panic. Their eyes mimicked Harry's partner as the powerful red bolt cleaved through their barrier before detonating.
Harry turned his head from the carnage.
As the moans of the injured filled his ears a sudden sick feeling filled him. The power he had felt before was leaving him, replaced with a feeling of wrongness.
His eyes widened as he realized what he had just done. For the first time he had consciously killed an opponent. He took in rapid breaths. It wouldn't do to panic. His main focus was to be on the fight. It wasn't over yet as he spied five men climbing to their feet.
"Occido." Two quick Bludgeoning Curses took two of them out before he had to sway to the side as a flame cutter curse ripped open a gash in his shoulder.
Returning fire with two powerful banishing charms Harry sent the men into the wall and into unconsciousness.
"Expelliarmus." The spell caused a loss of motor control as Harry's wand flew from his fingers.
Ducking beneath a second spell, he snarled as a quick flick of the wrist sent a dagger into the man's forearm.
Rushing in at his now disarmed and final opponent, Harry delivered a devastating punch to the man's face. A knee to the solar plexus followed and a double hammer strike to the back sent the man into the ground.
"You bastards!" He raged at the Death Eater as he delivered a kick to the man's ribs turning him onto his back.
"You killed her." Harry once again saw red as he mounted the man and delivered punch after punch at the man's face mask.
He knew not how long had passed but as he delivered yet another blow to the man's pulp of a face. He saw the bone white mask lying on the floor having been split during the brutal assault.
Harry gritted his teeth in anger. That mask symbolized the one person he truly hated, letting his anger build up he reared back for the final killing blow.
Screaming in rage, pain, and sadness he plunged his arm forwards only to have it intercepted.
"Enough!" The voice was firm and the grip unyielding.
"Let me go!" He shouted the man was still breathing. He had to kill him. He had to put Mary's murderer to peace.
"I'm not letting you go until you get a hold of yourself. You're an Operative now get a grip." The voice hissed as it pulled him away from the downed man.
Defeated, Harry allowed himself to be pulled away as two medics rushed towards the man inspecting him.
He turned his eyes towards the man still gripping his forearm. He stared into familiar blue eyes that he had seen for the last few months.
"James?" Nicholas asked with some trepidation.
He did not answer, his head bowed.
"James? Are you all right?" Nicholas suddenly regretted that question.
"No." Harry sniffed, face still hooded covered. "Do I look bloody alright?" He chuckled somewhat weekly.
"No." The tall man quietly agreed as he took a seat on the ground.
"I wanted to kill him. I needed to kill him. Why'd you stop me?" The Boy-Who-Lived muttered breathing heavily.
"Because, you would have regretted it."
"He killed her, killed Mary." Harry once again choked as an image to Mary's surprised face filled his mind.
"Oh my god!" The medic's voice caught their attention. "Get over here now! I need an immediate evac! Now! She's still alive."
Harry's eyes widened in shock. Mary was alive. He knew not how but the Medic had claimed it so.
Shaking he stood with Flamel's help before rushing towards the limp form of his partner.
"She's alive but her pulse is faint. There's residue of a partial Killing Curse on her upper thorax. It damn well nearly stopped her heart. We need to get her medical attention ASAP." The Medic informed his associate.
"I'm going with you." Harry informed the Medic who looked about to protest. A gesture from Nicholas however immediately shut him up.
"Here grab hold." The white clothed man held out a simple white amulet. As his partner dual Apparated away with Mary's body
With sharp tug at the navel Harry was whisked away.
Author's
Note:
Here you are people. The much awaited update of IOG. Yeah I am sorry for the shoddy update times and I really hope I do indeed find time to write.
Once again I apologize for my crappy time management with my honor's project and job. However this update would probably not have been made possible if a particular reviewer hadn't emailed me making sent a reply with a promise to update by a certain deadline. Lol.
Anyhow I wish you a happy whatever festival is going on and good night. It's bloody 3am here and I really need to catch my sleep.
G'nite.
ENSIGN
Nunquam
Lamiae Morde "Me Ictus"
These are the wands that Harry owns
Holly Wood – Phoenix Feather – Eleven Inches
Crafted By Ollivander
Unicorn Ivory – Unicorn Hair And Blood – Thirteen Inches
Crafted By Gregorovich
Oak In Pheonix Tears – Phoenix Feather – Eleven Point Five Inch
Crafted By Unicorn Division
Yew In Basilisk Venom – Basilisk Eyestalk – Eleven Point Five Inch
Crafted By Unicorn Division
Basilisk Fang – Basilisk Venom And Blood – Twelve Inches
Crafted By Ollivander
Basilisk Fang – Basilisk Venom And Blood – Twelve Inches
Crafted By Ollivander