Chapter 06- Cry Havoc! and let slip the dogs of war
A/N: Okay, I plan for there to be around two more chapters for this story. And as soon as I post the last chapter, I'll post the first three chapters of part two. As for who created the Weyland Industries/Corp, I'm not going to include a lot from the film Prometheus. I may include some small details but nothing major. The reason is that I started this story long before Prometheus came out and I would have to go back and change a lot to make it fit. So, Charles Weyland created the company.
-000-
Hogsmeade
Turning to Ron, Hermione said. "We need to get back to the castle. Start gathering up the other students."
Arrogantly walking towards the Death Eaters, he said, "We can stop them. Just because Harry isn't here, doesn't mean we can't handle ourselves."
"Ron, now isn't the time to be an idiot," she snapped. "There are too many of them. Our only chance is making it to the castle."
Before she could say anymore, she was interrupted by Susan Bones running up. "Professor Flitwick just sent a message. We need to stay in the village because of Death Eaters heading to the castle."
"Castle," Hermione asked in confusion. "The Death Eaters are here in the village."
"They are attacking both places," Ron said, unnecessarily.
"No, one is a diversion," Hermione said after thinking about it for a few seconds. "They wouldn't split their forces."
"What do we do the," Susan said, nervously grabbing ahold of Neville's arm. "I tried to floo my aunt, but every floo in the village has stopped working."
Looking around, Hermione said, "Susan, you and Neville grab as many students as you can on the that side of the village and take them to the shrieking shack. "Ron and I will run through this side of the village and meet you there."
Before she could get too far, a red curse struck her leg. Crying out in pain, she managed to turn over as Ron picked up her. "Some type of pain curse," she said, gasping as spasms of pain hit her.
"Just hold on," Ron said, carrying her. "We're not far from the forest."
He didn't receive an answer as she had passed out from the pain.
-000-
Crawling to Lord Voldemort, Wormtail said, "My Lord, the students are fleeing the village. Should we give chase?"
Looking down at one of his most cowardly followers, he said, "No, we will ignore them for now. They will either serve us or die when we take the castle."
Acknowledging his lords order, Wormtail backed away as fast as he could. He had learned the less he was around his master, the less chance he had of being tortured when things went wrong.
"And one more thing, Wormtail," Voldemort said. "I want you to infiltrate the castle while the battle is taking place."
Bowing once more, he ran from his lords presence.
-000-
The small party running to head of the Death Eaters approaching the castle all had different thoughts running through their heads as they made their way to what most of them saw as their death.
The Auors were all wondering if their colleagues would make in time to save them. They knew they were outnumbered but when Dumbledore said fight, they fought.
Snape was cursing the very existence of the Potter line. He just knew that somehow he was behind it.
Oddly enough, Dumbledore was thinking about refilling his lemon drops when this was over with.
Turning to Snape, Dumbledore said, "We try to take as many alive as possible. This will be our chance to redeem them."
Sneering at how soft Dumbledore was, he asked, "And what if the Golden Boy shows up? He has been attacking the Dark Lord's forces relentlessly."
"Try to take him alive, we can't lose him to the dark."
"Of course," Snape said, muttering darkly about how unfair life was when a Potter was around. "You want to save your precious weapon.
-000-
"You ready Potter,' Tracey asked, smiling as she looked at the unprotected backs of the Death Eaters. She would do anything to survive this war, even follow Potter into battle. She shook her head as she thought about how much like those rash Gryffindors she was turning into.
"I was ready an hour ago," he said, barely moving a muscle. It was a stark contrast to how he looked this morning. He had been prowling around like a caged tiger hungry for it's next meal. Battle seemed to calm him down and it seemed like was getting better as the days went by. Whatever had happened to change him, had made him a predator.
When she first met him when he attacked the manor, he actually scared her with how he was acting. It was like he was on the hunt. He had become an apex predator among sheep. He assured her that the changes would calm down as time went by but he still refused to tell her what caused them.
"You take the left," he said, looking at the Death Eaters. "And I'll take the right side. Don't bother getting into prolonged fights with them. I want blasting curses thrown at their feet while still in groups. We will cause as much chaos as we can while they are still grouped up. Once they are panicking, start picking them off."
-000-
As Dumbledore and his party approached the Death Eaters, he couldn't help but feel something was off. To start with, he couldn't count anymore than the thirty in the approaching group. He knew that Tom would not sacrifice thirty on a hopeless attempt. He would attack the castle with all of his forces and he would lead it himself. That last part was the most worrying. He didn't see Tom among the Death Eaters.
"Something isn't right here," he said.
"I concur," Snape agreed. He had infiltrated them long enough to know they wouldn't attack with so few. "Maybe we should fall back to the castle. This is a trap."
"It's Dumbledore," one of the Death Eaters cried out. "Fall back."
"They're retreating," the lead Auror said, speeding up. "We might be able to capture a few."
"Wait," Dumbledore said, trying to stop the Aurors from running after the Death Eaters. "Look, there's something going on in the village."
Dumbledore's statement was accented by several large explosions and screams coming from the village.
"It wasn't a trap," Snape said, realizing what the Death Eaters plan had been all along. "It was a diversion to keep us from the village until they could establish positions to defend from."
"That must be where Tom is," Dumbledore said. "And that is where we shall head now."
"There isn't enough of us to handle thirty of them, let alone however many they have to take the village," and Auror argued. "And we don't have enough to handle He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."
"Leave him to me," Dumbledore said, confidently. He was sure that he could drive Tom away. "You handle the Death Eaters."
-000-
"My Lord, the attack is going according to plan," a Death Eater reported. "Half of the villagers fled into the forest but we managed to capture the rest. The only Aurors that have shown up were they five that the Ministry left for emergency calls. They are now following Malfoy and Lestrange back to the village."
"Of course it is going according to the plan," Voldemort said. "Did you doubt me?"
"No, my Lord," he stuttered out fast. "I never doubted your plan."
"See that you don't," Voldemort said, idly twirling his wand. "Keep me..."
Voldemort was interrupted by several large explosions and screams coming from the other side of the village. "What is going on over there," he demanded. "I gave no orders to destroy the town. We are to take it quietly."
"I don't know, my Lord," he staid, paling. "I'll find out."
Snarling at the thought that his plan was already coming apart, Voldemort said, "No, you will join eastern lines. I'll see for myself what is happening over there."
Quickly bowing to his master, the Death Eater ran towards the eastern line, sure that facing Dumbledore and his group would be safer then investigating what was disturbing the Dark Lords plans."
-000-
"He's coming," Harry said, peering around the side of what was left of a building. He quickly cast a cutting curse at a Death Eater who poked his head up over a window.
They had caught the initial group of Death Eaters by surprise and managed to wound most of them while killing several others before they managed to make it to cover. After that, she began to aim for individual Death Eaters, hoping to catch them when they leaned from behind their cover. The ward stones were doing their jobs for now, keeping them from escaping.
"Confringo," Tracey said, blasting another hole into a building that several Death Eaters had taken cover in.
"I think it's about time we got ready to leave," he said. "Destroy as many of the outlying buildings as possible. There are still too many of his supporters here. Once the Ministry and Order launches a counter attack, we will move in and finish it."
"When do you think that they will attack," Tracey asked. "When will this be over?"
Smiling, he asked, "Getting tired of the fighting already?"
Knowing that he was just trying to annoy her, she shot back, "Just of that hair of yours. It defies all rules of magic. But seriously, a girl does have priorities other then fighting."
Laughing, he said, "I'd give it less then a week before they attack. This will finish off Voldemort but we'll still have to worry about the Ministry and Order. They won't be destroyed in the final battle. Weakened, but not destroyed."
"The ward stones have fallen," Tracey said as she felt the wards that had prevented everyone from using magical transportation in the village.
"They lasted longer then I expected," he said. "It's time to leave now."
Walking away from the approaching Dark Lord, he said, "Let's leave a little present for him before we leave. Let's see how much he likes putting this out." Right before he grabbed the portkey that Tracey held, he cast Fiendfyre at several houses.
-000-
Voldemort stopped his approach through what had been a war-zone where one should not have been. All around him he saw dead. Dead Death Eaters. He saw more hiding in crumbling houses, peaking out as they looked for their attackers.
Potter was here he thought. He knew that Potter had somehow gotten loose of Dumbledore's leash and struck out on his own. What he didn't know was how he was attacking this way. He had even seen memories of one attack. Potter was struck by a curse that should have had him out for days, but he was spotted the next night attacking another one of his raids. While he had moved slowly, he was still fighting better then he should have.
Just as he was about to demand his Death Eaters come out and join his new arrivals in holding the town, a giant fire consumed a house. What was more horrifying to him was that the fire took the shape of a dragon.
"Fiendfyre," he whispered. While he could control it and eventually put it out, he would need to devote all of his attention to it. Turning to his Death Eaters, he ordered them to watch his back while he went to work at trying to take control of the fire before it consumed the entire town. He needed the town for his next step.
As he battled the living fire, he had one thought going through his head. Potter would die for this.
-000-
As Snape battle several Death Eaters, he couldn't help but think how pitiful they were. As much as he hated to admit it, there were students who could outfight them. But still, they were outnumbered and would need to regroup. Two of the Aurors had already been killed, while another had been wounded.
"Albus," he shouted. "We need to fall back to the castle. There are too many here."
Nodding in agreement, he cast a rather taxing spell that created a small barrier of earth between them so they could escape.
-000-
Hogwarts
On their way back to the castle, Dumbledore and his group were joined by the students and refugees who had fled through the forest. Quite a few of the students and refugees were wounded and needed the support of their friends.
Just as they arrived back at the castle, the front doors opened and out poured dozens of Aurors led by Madame Bones.
Seeing how the Aurors who fought beside Dumbledore looked, she demanded to know what had happened.
Dumbledore knew that his day was only going to get worse.
"Albus, why are my Aurors bleeding," she demanded. "And where are Robbins and Clark?"
"I'm afraid they didn't make it," Dumbledore said. "They were killed by Death Eaters in the village. We thought that they were going to attack the castle and headed out to meet them before they could reach it. They fell back to the village slowly, keeping us occupied so we wouldn't know their true purpose until it was too late."
"And what was their true purpose," she asked.
"They intended to take the village. By making us think they were attacking the castle, they kept us from responding to the village until they had taken hostages," he said, shaking his head. He had fallen for their deception when he should have known that something was up before even leaving the castle.
-000-
Undisclosed Location
"So Potter, why didn't we just attack the Dark Lord when he was attempting to put the fire out," Tracey asked as they settled in their hideout.
Shaking his head, he was still confused at how she could be so smart and at the same time, be blind. "We need the tactical advantage that the ministry and order will bring. The forces of the Dark Lord will be occupied, allowing me to kill him. Attacking him won't be like catching the Death Eaters by surprise. He is always expecting an attack on his person."
Which was true. From the observations he had made when Voldemort made an appearance on the battlefield, he had more protections around him that any surprise attack would be thwarted before you could say Merlin. It would take a direct attack by the ministry and order to divert those protections so he could attack Voldemort.
"You?" she asked. "And what will I be doing during this? I'll not be staying here. "
"No," he agreed. "You won't be staying here. You will be infiltrating the school for me. There are several things I need from there and you can get them while Dumbledore and the professors are busy."
-000-
Weyland Industries
Basement Room
"Sir, Mister Weyland has placed the Potter Files in our hands," an aide said. "He said that he wants us to handle any new developments in that department."
"Excellent," the man said. "My father, while ambitious, is wasting the company resources in his attempts to discover something that he won't even share with me. By the way, why exactly is he passing this to us. I thought he wanted to handle this himself."
"He has diverted his attention to something in Antarctica," the aide responded.
"Can we find out what exactly has him interested? It would be nice to know what I'm taking over one day."
"Our teams can't find much of anything. He is playing things close to his chest," the aide said. "Though, we were able to find several small things. We found something mentioning a government organization called OWLF. Then two locations came up, Guatemala and Los Angeles. Trent is still looking into it."
"Until we uncover more, we'll focus on Potter. I want to know the second he finishes this Voldemort. When the war is over, we can move forward with our plan to take the British magic users as our stepping stone to the future."
-000-
End Chapter 05
-000-