Chapter 46 (Parvati Interlude)
Early on the morning first of March, Hogwarts awoke with anticipation, anxiety, and fear. The unnamed and unknown terror who had killed Umbridge, Alecto Carrow, and a dozen Slytherin third years claimed he would return on the first of March if Voldemort did not leave Britain.
Well, Voldemort hadn't left.
The position of headmaster was filled now by a hard and brutal man imported from Serbia named Luka Mijatović. A real sick bastard, a veteran of the Balkan genocides.
When asked by the Daily Prophet about the killings at Hogwarts, and whether he would change any school policies in response to them, he spoke plainly.
"In the face of terror we always stand up. We do not negotiate with terrorists. That is all."
And so, on the first of March, the terror came back with a vengeance.
Parvati had succeeded in playing the past few months very skillfully. She had attended all her classes and managed to do fairly well in all of them. At night and during break time, she would sneak out and work on her campaign of terror against the Death Eaters.
She had deliberately reduced the severity of the attacks in the last months in order to give the notion that she was giving up or losing.
Naturally, that was just a ploy.
Classes went as usual on March 1st. No incidents happened all day.
Luka sat smugly in the principal's office late in the evening and debriefed his minions.
"This 'terror' was all talk, like I said back then. Killing Umbridge? Not difficult. Killing Alecto Carrow? Easy. Terror takes skill. This man lacks that skill." he gloated to the Death Eaters gathered in front of him. They had been sent to provide extra security in case an attack did occur.
"A true terrorist," he continued, "Would be able to kill all of us here in this room right now."
He paused, faking an expectant look. The Death Eaters apprehensively looked around the room, and one stared intently out the window at the grounds.
"Look! We're all fine!" joked Luka.
He sat down and dropped the false amusement.
"So calm down. Grow some balls."
High on a mountain overlooking the castle, Parvati adjusted some knobs on a large heavy-duty tripod.
Mounted on the tripod was a large tube about a meter long. Attached to the tube was a scope.
She put her eye to the scope and stared for a long while.
"From India with love..." she whispered, and pulled the trigger on the RPO-A Shmel thermobaric rocket launcher.
"Unless something happens in the next minute, which is impossible, we're fine. It will no longer be March 1st. So stop whining. You're supposed to be hardened criminals steeped in the evil of the worst Dark Wizard in history. Instead you're bitching around like a bunch of French schoolgirls!"
Luka was not happy with the morale of the Death Eaters.
Admittedly, Luka had not been a Death Eater out in the field. Those poor bastards had suffered dozens of casualties from explosions, sniper bullets, and stabbings.
"See? The suns rising. It's March 2nd already!" said Luka, like an idiot.
"Sir?" mumbled one of the Death Eaters.
"What?"
"It's still 11:59 PM. That's not the-"
The rocket bored a circular hole through the window- it was going to fast to shatter the glass in the traditional sense. When the rocket reached the center of the room, a small explosive charge at the center of the rocket detonated, sending a cloud of a ethylene oxide into the room and into the open mouths, nostrils, and ears of the occupants of the room. The fuel mixed with the oxygen in the room, allowing it to ignite in a second explosion that created a massive pressure wave followed by the temporary creation of a vacuum, which ruptured the lungs of the occupants. When the pressure wave reached the hard stone walls of the room, it reflected back inwards, causing yet more damage. The ethylene oxide/oxygen mixture continued to burn, sticking to skin, eyes, and lungs.
All of this occurred within 40 milliseconds.
In layman's terms, the people within that room just got really fucking dead.
"They all died for freedom
They all died for hate
In guns we trust
For the power of our country
In guns we trust
For the honour of our country
We die for freedom
We kill for peace!"
Such was written on the wall the next morning for all to see.
Author's Note:
Just so I don't forget that this is actually a fanfiction, I thought I'd bring it back to Hogwarts, at least for a little bit.