I will be unable to post at my regular time, thus, I am posting now. Enjoy having two new chapters in four days.
October 15th, 2001
Great Hall, Hogwarts School
"I, Nathaniel Charlus Potter, do hereby reactivate the Chimera project, from now until our mission is done." A flash of light signalled the new ward stone coming to life for the first time, secrecy spells binding all those present in the room. Anything said here could not be spoken outside its walls.
"Our first order of business is to draft a plan for protecting Hogwarts. This attack implies that Voldemort is going to move on Hogwarts soon, and I don't trust the Order with this task. As sad as it is, we are the most qualified people to oppose Voldemort."
"The first thing we need to do is secure the approaches. Hogwarts' wards are by far the strongest magical force in Britain. Any attacker would try to bypass them first, if They're smart, and Voldemort has Pettigrew, who helped make the Marauders Map. If we leave the passages open for him…"
"Anything else we do won't matter. Okay, Fred, do you have anything that might work to seal them off?"
"One already is. If we place a chaos bomb at the midway point between the entrances and the wardline, we can eliminate the entire first wave easily, and will collapse the entrance. From there, simple repeater traps drawn on the walls will suffice to kill anything that gets through until we shut them off or they burn out. Another possibility is we do a controlled rockfall spell and meld the stones. This will destroy the passageways, but has the added benefit of making Voldemort doubt Pettigrew intel."
"Alright, I will suggest those at the next Order meeting. I know that the statues lining the halls can be animated in the event of an emergency," Nathan suggested.
"Yes, that will make securing the entrance hall much easier. We'll need to organize a watch on the towers, so once the wards fall, an attack by air is harder to pull off."
"I'll draft a plan, figure out who goes where," Ron said.
"I'll head recruitment," Daphne offered.
"Do it. Alright, everyone. Get to it. We might not have much time."
- o -
November 13th, 2002
Daphne's Office, Hogwarts School
Daphne choked back a sob as yet another file failed to yield any hints, even a whisper, about Harry. It had been so long since she had spoken to him. Was he even the same person anymore?
Ever since that cold November night in 1994, she had wallowed in guilt. It only got worse when Harry was accused of murder and treason, and his subsequent disappearance rubbed salt into the still-fresh wound. If she had tried, truly pushed herself to make things right between them, would he have left?
But she hadn't apologized. Everything she had done that had chipped away at Harry's trust in her, each little snip at their bond of friendship and affection and the beginnings of love, had piled up until she, in a fit of stupid, petty, misplaced jealousy, pushed him over the edge.
In the months that followed, she kept losing her nerve just before she approached him, afraid of his response. What had her actions cost her? What if, when they found him, Harry wanted nothing to do with her? But she had to at least try. Who knows what failure would cost her this time? She couldn't take that risk. Even if she lost him in the romantic sense, she could at least try to be his friend. She didn't think she could bear losing him entirely.
Stirring out of her thoughts, she idly turned to a new page. She quickly skimmed over it. An artifact being moved from Nevada to Colorado Springs for safekeeping… four new soldiers transferred to Blue Book… a satellite malfunction tricking NASA into thinking a large asteroid was incoming… wait. Blue Book?
Daphne quickly read through her short page of notes, and her breath caught in her throat. Harry was in Colorado. Maybe she would actually get a chance to apologize for her stupidity.
- o -
Nathan's Journal, December 1st, 2001
Magical England is no longer its own nation. Voldemort, yesterday evening, brought the Ministry building in London to its knees and replaced it with his own government. Fortunately, Order spies in the Ministry of Magic were able to disconnect England from Scotland and Ireland, and Voldemort's government is less able to operate. However, it will not be long before they, too, fall.
Daphne reported that she has a lead on Harry's location. I hate to bring my brother into this, but the majority of the Order believes he can stop Voldemort, and, I have feared for some time now that… they may be right.
- o -
Nathan's Journal, January 2nd, 2002
My worst fears were realized this morning. Scotland and Ireland's magical governments have been overthrown by glorified terrorists and their sycophants. Hogwarts Valley is all that now stands between Voldemort and total domination of Europe.
- o -
March 8th, 2002
Daphne hastily stuffed the relevant files into her robe pocket as she rushed towards the Great Hall. She still had five minutes until the Chimera war council began, and she had to report this.
Finally, she burst into the Great Hall, breath coming out in wheezes. She caught her breath, and hurriedly said, "Harry is an officer in the United States Air Force, stationed in Colorado."
- o -
Nathan's Journal, March 22nd, 2002
I knew it would not last long. Voldemort's armies are at the edge of the wardline. Hogsmeade is already captured, and the first bomb Fred set in the passages detonated minutes before I started writing this. Ron is organizing the defensive watch at this moment. Hogwarts is under siege.
- o -
March 28th, 2002
Brasov, Romania
Viktor Krum looked up from his work as their leader stood.
"We depart for England in one hour. Pack your bags."
For the past several years since his homeland had fallen to Voldemort's relentless assault, he had been a member of the Resistance. He had trained many of his comrades-in-arms himself in the ways of battle, and when the former leader of the Order of the Phoenix passed through Germany looking for refugees, he had immediately offered to pledge his wand to the rescue effort.
After the last country left to take refugees closed their borders, officially because of difficulty integrating them into their country, the mission had changed to one of war. They had crafted a name for themselves in Eastern Europe, starting with Albania, where they had struck at Voldemort's political arm. Each puppet governor dead reduced Voldemort's ability to control the people left in his territories, and the Resistance's fighters took out any Death Eaters who tried to attack the muggle world.
Now, their leader, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, was marching them to England, where the Dark Lord himself was overseeing the siege of Hogwarts Castle. Soon, his reign of terror would come to an end.
- o -
April 1st, 2002
Great Hall, Hogwarts School
The Order of the Phoenix gathered at the tables. Nathan stood, and proclaimed, "I declare this meeting of the Order of the Phoenix to be in session." The wardstone, concealed on the lectern, pulsed briefly, and the secrecy wards snapped into place.
"Severus, please make your report." Had one told Nathan a scant year ago that he would willingly call Professor Snape by his first name, or given the man a modicum of respect without coercion, he would have laughed in their face. But having gotten to know the man outside of a school setting, and without the weight of an old grudge, they actually got along rather well. He listened attentively as the 'Dungeon Bat' as he had called his old potions professor while still in school began to speak.
"The Dark Lord has somehow gained access to the secrets of goblin curse-breakers. In a matter of days, he will begin to break the wards with their 'thimble-sacks.'"
The members of Chimera paled at this declaration. If Voldemort but made a big enough bomb…
"Fortunately, he seems insistent on taking the castle intact. He is assembling his forces into three groups, each planning to attack by a different venue. The first will storm the gate. The others, he will not reveal. I… I believe he suspects there is a spy in his midst."
"Alright. Thank you again for getting this information to us. Ron, what other avenues might be pursued?"
"The most obvious choice is the Chamber of Secrets, but you took care of that years ago… Air is a good possibility, so I strongly recommend we give the tower watch goggles to see through invisibility charms and cloaks.
"Another option is through the secret passages we didn't destroy. If he advances through those, he will lose most of that group, but sufficient numbers will overwhelm the defenses there.
"The only other thing I can think of is over the lake, but that seems unlikely."
"Have a fraction of the statues guard the port anyways, and tell the tower watch that any boats they see are to be destroyed immediately," Nathan said.
James Potter called out, "This is only temporary! How do we kill the bastard?"
"As far as we know, no-one can. During the assault on Germany, Voldemort was hit with no fewer than ten Killing Curses in the same battle, and continued strong. Whatever he did when he was reborn must have included some kind of shield to stop magical and physical attacks from harming him.
"The Prophecy hints that Harry may hold some way to end his reign, but even if he does, Harry is not here, and we don't know where to find him.
"That's… not entirely true," Daphne proclaimed. The hall went deathly silent.