Chapter 62 - The Trial
All too soon, Wednesday arrived. Theodore Nott had been kept under constant watch in the DMLE holding cells since his arrest. He had refused Veritaserum in the investigation and the Aurors had been forced to wait until his father arrived since he was still underage. To his dismay, his father had authorised the use of the truth drug, at least partly to punish him he feared seeing the man's angry glare directed at his only son. By the time he had calmed down, it was too late to rescind the permission and Theodore was spilling his secrets.
Yes, he had drawn and cast a spell. No, he hadn't cared about who else got hurt when he attacked Potter. No, he didn't care that some Mudbloods and mongrels in Hufflepuff could have been hit. The little shits deserved it for not being Sorted into Slytherin like proper wizards were. His only regret was that he didn't get to see Potter's blood spilled on the Great Hall's floor. No, he hadn't considered the possibility of failure. Yes, his class standing was terrible but that was because they were obviously cheating. As soon as he found out how they did it, he would copy and improve upon it, of course.
His father had asked questions of his own, getting disgusted by how lazy his son had proven himself to be. It hadn't taken long to discover that the students who outperformed his son had earned their better marks. They were spending longer on their spellwork and studying together to improve their understanding of the material than his supposedly talented son. This was just the same as Hufflepuffs did back in his day and the Slytherins had copied in order to keep up. Somehow that practice had fallen into disuse since his son had dismissed it as useless.
Since that interrogation, he had had only one more visit from his father to tell him that despite Theodore's incompetence, he was still doing his best to have the charges dismissed entirely in order to protect the family's good name.
When Aurors took him from the holding cell to courtroom ten, he knew his father's efforts had failed. In front of him was what looked like the entire membership of the Wizengamot along with representatives from the press and a packed gallery.
Minister Bones was sitting on the interrogators' panel, along with Albus Dumbledore and Elphias Doge, and of them all, only that Muggle-loving fool Dumbledore looked at him with any warmth. Theodore knew he was in dire straits when he had to depend on the former Headmaster.
"This trial, taking place on the tenth of January regarding the attempted murder of a wizard in good standing this Monday, the first of January, by Theodore Rigel Nott, address withheld. Interrogators: Amelia Susan Bones, Minister for Magic, Elphias Doge, Senior Member of the Wizengamot, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Member of the Wizengamot. Court Scribe-"
Theodore tuned out the droning voice and focused on the faces of the wizards and witches watching him. He was drawn from his examination by the banging of the gavel. The court heard his plea of Not Guilty, delivered in the strong, cultured voice his father's tutors had drilled into him.
He could see it was not enough. Despite the early hour, every member had turned up for the trial, something he knew was bad news for his prospects. Normally, barely a third of the members would even bother getting out of bed before noon on Wednesdays, preferring instead their comfortable beds. Obviously, his father had failed with his move to push for this time and stack the jury in favour of those he could influence.
Not only that, they were uncomfortably alert for his father's tricks. All too soon, the Veritaserum interrogation was entered into evidence and read aloud for the benefit of the audience. Particularly damning were his admissions that he would do it again if he had the chance and that he expected to be rewarded for taking down the Boy-Who-Lived, though none of the interrogators asked exactly who he meant.
Not in open court.
After that, the mood of the court became ugly. For the first time, Theodore was grateful for Madam Bones' professionalism. She kept the Aurors doing their jobs, protecting him from their wrath. When his father spoke on his behalf, he could feel the effort to save him failing.
Less than an hour after he had entered the court, Theodore Nott was convicted by his own confession of guilt They hadn't even needed to call a witness beyond that blasted Potter.
"Theodore Nott, it is the verdict of the Wizengamot that you are guilty of the attempted murder of Harry James Potter. As you have not completed your OWLs, the law provides for us to treat you as a minor but in light of your testimony, I am inclined against such an action. You show awareness that your actions were illegal and condemned by society but chose to set your own desire for status and revenge above that of the life of another. We will retire while we consider your punishment."
The three interrogators stood and retired to their chamber. Albus was all for letting the boy off with a warning at first.
"Have you lost your mind, Albus?" Amelia interrupted him.
"Not at all, Amelia." Dumbledore replied warmly, eyes twinkling.
"Then perhaps you could explain why you think that to be a good idea when all the evidence points to his guilt including his own confession under Veritaserum. The young wizard is clearly guilty and knew what he was doing was wrong."
"I am sure he can be led back to the Light if we reach out to him rather than punish him." The reply came calmly.
"Dragon dung. It is impossible to lead him 'back' to the Light when he has never been in the Light. A champion of the Light would be concerned with the threat to the Light posed by letting a would-be murderer out into society so that he could try again. Or did you forget that his target was Harry Potter? We all know you have an interest in the young man's future but he would have no future at all if he were killed by Nott!"
"Amelia, please."
"Oh I am sure Elphias here has seen the signs too, Albus, and if you can't trust your old friend with that, whom can you trust? The other problem with your explanation is that it is not our job to reach out to him. Our job is to consider the merits of the case and the good of society. He has earned serious time in Azkaban for his actions and his attitude shows he is unsafe to have around."
"I am sure once he is among his classmates-"
"That is only going to happen if they are expelled as well."
"What?" he was genuinely startled.
"You cannot expect the other students to put up with a convicted criminal in their ranks!" Amelia broke off, considering. "No, perhaps you can indeed. Nevertheless, Headmistress McGonagall has already pushed through the forms to expel him and the Board has agreed. It's an open and shut case, Albus. No Imperius defence. Plenty of witnesses. No remorse. Willingness to repeat the crime. At a minimum his wand will be snapped and he will be exiled from Britain. Perhaps another country would be willing to give him a chance but I will not allow murderers to run free on British streets."
Elphias put a hand on Albus' arm. "Perhaps she is right, old friend."
"I am right and if you fight me on this, you will lose. Is it worth fighting me to keep a Dark-loving wizard free to kill? Is it worth knowing that you will bear some responsibility for his victims, have the same blood on your hands?"
Albus paled and sighed. "No, no it is not. Still, he is only a boy. I will vote for the minimum term in Azkaban. The place is less unpleasant, I am told, since the Dementors left it and I am still hopeful that this leniency may make an impression on his mind."
Elphias nodded firmly.
"And since young Harry's mother was Muggleborn, the minimum penalty for the crime under the law is two years-"
"You are mistaken, Albus, if you think you can pull that one." Amelia interrupted coldly. "The law states 'a witch or wizard in good standing' but it does not state anything regarding the purity of blood. As the hero of our world for his actions in taking down a Dark Lord, Mr Potter was proclaimed a wizard in good standing in the weeks following that Halloween. Even if he were not, he could challenge any sitting member that would deny him to an honour duel for the insult. Nott himself is the son of one Death Eater and was on course to join him in his crimes so I cannot agree that Mr Nott is a wizard in good standing. That puts the minimum sentence at ten years, not two."
"Now, Amelia, while I will grant that young Harry is indeed a wizard in good standing, you cannot challenge Mr Nott's status like that. He was cleared of wrongdoing and so must be treated the same as any other wizard without a prior record."
Amelia was a picture of reluctance but after a tense minute she agreed. "Very well. Five years, then, and not a day less!"
"Agreed."
"Agreed."
"Good. Let us get out there and finish this unpleasant business."
The two men let Amelia go first, though whether that was out of a sense of chivalry or due to her office, not even they could say. While they took their seats, Nott stayed standing.
"It is the judgement of this court that you are to be sentenced to Azkaban for a period of no less than five years for your attempted murder of a fellow wizard in good standing. Aurors! Take this criminal away. Case dismissed."
There were murmurs throughout the courtroom but Nott found he could no longer care. A brief struggle with his captors and they Stunned him. He next awoke on the infamous island, locked in his cell. His father had questioned the sentence and was reminded that the intended victim was Harry Potter. If he made an appeal against the sentence, the only way it could go was up.
Nott the elder was incensed but knew better than to draw his wand in public on the Minister, however much the bitch had earned a good Cruciatus. Instead, he returned to his master, reporting on events. Voldemort was as angry as he at the reminder that the law considered Harry Potter a Pureblood for his part in the Dark Lord's defeat.
The mood within Slytherin House was tense as could be expected but the tension didn't spill over into violence. Professor Slughorn's brutally honest predictions of what would happen to the guilty kept them in line until they calmed down enough to see the truth for themselves.
Hogwarts was manifestly not the same school as it had been before the arrival of the Potter boy and however much the bigots among them hated it, they knew now that they could not afford to attack him. Even Malfoy acknowledged that much after the second letter from his father ordering him in no uncertain terms to keep his head down or draw the Dark Lord's wrath.
For the rest of the school, things soon returned to normal, or as normal as things got at Hogwarts, and the sound of cheers and laughter broke out when the Weasley twins' latest prank backfired, seeing them turned into giant canaries instead of the Slytherin twelve-year olds they had intended. Daphne kissed Harry's cheek when it happened.
"What was that for?" he asked, smiling.
"Oh, no reason, Harry." Daphne laughed, eyes flicking to the Weasley twins and back to her man. "No reason at all."
"You're welcome, Daphne. I know you and the others could use a laugh."
"And since you let us warn the girls, they now trust us more." Tracey hugged her man from the other side. "They will tell the others in our House, of course, making us more useful friends and allies."
"No, just letting them know about it." Sophie corrected, smiling.
"Alright, enough of that." Cho told them. "The rest of us want our turn, you know."
All too soon, for some, and late for the rest, it was time for the match between the Lions and the Ravens.
Cho faced off against Weasley, thanking Merlin that that Romilda had finally got through to the ginger that bad breath was a bad idea. He was so close to her, she could kiss him, or headbutt him, and frankly the latter was more appealing. Improved he may be, but he was still something of a bigot and very much an idiot, traits his sister Ginny worked long and hard to remove.
The whistle blew and both Seekers were off like a shot into the air while the rest of their teams followed a little slower. Gryffindor got the Quaffle and Bludgers first, the damned Weasley twins passing up harassing her with it in favour of going after her sister Jewel Lisa Turpin, new Chaser for the Ravens. They were disappointed when she effortlessly dodged their first attempt, confident that they could get revenge for her victories in the snowball fighting.
Instead, she seemed to have eyes in the back of her head, melding well into the team after their practice. Her inclusion came as a surprise to the Gryffindors who had been expecting instead a Fourth Year wizard to be the replacement for the graduated Chaser. The switch was something that had been suggested by Hannah Abbott, showing both the Ravenclaws and the other Hufflepuffs that cunning was far from limited to the Snakes.
While Angelina Johnson had protested the switch on game day, she was overruled by a disappointed McGonagall. "None of you bothered to check the roster ahead of time. Lisa Turpin was registered on the day after the last match and that never changed."
Cho dived upon seeing the Bludger again going after Lisa, making the somewhat aware projectile change course slightly in confusion over who to go after, ending up smacking into Alicia Spinnet who had been following the Ravenclaw Chaser too closely for her own good. Lisa passed the Quaffle to her teammate who scored past a suddenly scared McLaggen.
Both sides drew deeper into their skills after that but Ravenclaw preserved their early lead that had sprung from the Gryffindors' overconfidence. Ron Weasley decided that chasing Cho might be easy on the eyes but it would do him no good to do that and lose out on the Snitch. He broke off and started taking a figure-eight pattern over the pitch, overcorrecting on the last turn in a deliberate ploy to always take a slightly different route and get fresh sections to view.
Cho continued to run interference for the Chasers while Ron devoted himself to the search, allowing the Ravens to pick up a bigger lead. As the game dragged on, the Ravenclaw lead only continued to grow, reaching a hundred and fifty points as the Weasley twins discovered to their horror that the new Chaser knew their every play as well as they did, making her all but immune to their antics and revitalising the line-up.
Angelina called a timeout at that point, exhorting the Gryffindor Seeker to find the Snitch or die trying in an eerie echo of the previous captain. She needn't have worried as Ron Weasley was entirely devoted to the task. He knew he could beat another Seeker, he had beaten Malfoy often enough, so he knew he could do this too.
The Ravenclaws mostly just rested, exchanging smiles and congratulations on securing at least a draw even if "The damned human vacuum cleaner got the Snitch" before they extended their lead any further.
With the break over, the teams sped back to their positions, the Ravens showing that they had used the time more effectively by scoring twice in a row, then after Katie scored a goal, taking another two goals, narrowly missing a third due to Ron Weasley getting a lucky break, catching the Snitch which was hovering right by his dorm-mate Dean Thomas' nose. Ron drove his broom as hard as he ever had, right for the Snitch, his vision narrowing in his haste, right hand streaking out and snatching it, holding it aloft for all to see - right as he ploughed into Dean's chest.
The Gryffindors roared their approval of his gutsy catch, the Ravenclaws roared their approval of the win, and the rest cheered for a good, hard game. Madam Pomfrey made her way down to the crashed redhead, a few spells assuring her neither were in any immediate danger and conjuring a tarpaulin to carry both injured students behind her to the Hospital Wing. Ron was released in time for the party that evening celebrating his catch, since they couldn't celebrate the result, but Dean was kept overnight and in the morning he 'sneakily' tripped up his mate as they were walking to breakfast. "Next time, be more careful," was all he said.
Mr Nott, Lord Nott to those who knew their breeding, was kneeling before the Dark Lord. He had been seething for days ever since that bitch Bones sent his only son to Azkaban. He would not ask his master to free the boy. Asking a Dark Lord for a favour was always a bad idea. Bad enough if he refused you and punished you for it. Worse for you if he granted it and held it over your head forever.
His temper had been strained further by the fools who had flocked to his master in recent months. They knew nothing of what he had gone through and failed to treat him with the respect and deference to which he was entitled.
Things came to a head when one of the young fools, barely out of Hogwarts and straining to know which end of his wand was which, had sneered at him for what happened to his idiotic son. Nott had drawn and fired the spell, a blindness curse, before either of them knew what he was doing. Luckily while the curse was rather Dark, there were counters to it. Nott didn't want to know what would happen to him if he had deprived the Dark Lord of a follower!
Voldemort watched his first servant, his Legilimency picking up on these memories, spying on the man's private thoughts. It pleased him that Nott was afraid of upsetting him, aware that he had gone too far. It meant that punishment was already done without ruining the value of his favoured servant. He also understood the way that the frustration and rage were building up in the man and knew he had a choice before him. He could do nothing and have a mess on his hands or he could take steps to deal with the problem before it got to that stage.
"Nott," he hissed, "you have served me faithfully in recent months." Nott held back a flinch at the reminder that like the rest he hadn't searched for the Dark Lord before his return. Voldemort smiled cruelly at that spike of fear. "Now, I have a new task for you. You are to test my newest followers by leading them to a village in Yorkshire. There, you will put every filthy Muggle to death. You may take five more experienced fighters with you as you lead a score of the recruits and blood them in my service.
"You may have a week to plan the attack but it must be done without anyone able to provide a report as to who did it. No Dark Mark is to be raised this time. No trace left to identify you. Beyond that, impress me with your creativity."
"Yes, my Lord!"
Nott took his dismissal and rose, head bowed and backing away from the Dark Lord, only turning once he was out of the master's chamber and gathering a few of his friends, people who had held their tongues in his presence over his son, and then swooped upon the barracks set up on the Malfoy grounds, ordering the first twenty recruits he saw to come with him.
He would not let his Lord down!
It only took him an hour to pick out his target and have a team scout it, confirming that there was no major change from their information. Twenty minutes after that, he was dressing the lines of Death Eaters before him, exhorting them to be ruthless and efficient, letting not a single one of the animals escape their wrath.
Nott had decided that rather than arriving wands blazing, and risking the idiots shooting him by mistake, to take the village on foot. Arriving after sunset half a mile south of Acklam in north Yorkshire, he directed his force to split up into groups of five, one experienced Death Eater and four recruits, as planned, and casting Disillusionment Charms on themselves before moving off to surround the village. After fifteen minutes, the lone witch in the group with him stumbled on a stick as the made their approach. Nott cuffed her and left it at that. Time enough to yell at her back at headquarters.
Five minutes later, and three minutes after the plan had called for it, the other groups signalled that they were in position. Nott raised his wand and cast a Bombarda at the nearest lit window, his own signal to start the attack.
Nott's blood sang as the night lit up with hexes and curses, death and destruction visited upon the Muggles that dared to breathe the same air as him. Their invisibility spells had fallen with the first attack but that was part of the plan, needed to make sure that they didn't injure each other in the chaos.
This was when Nott felt the most alive and he could see the other older Death Eaters felt the same as they cast curse after curse, laying waste to the small village quickly. The recruits' spells often went wide, something that made Nott feel superior as each of his spells went precisely where he meant it, destroying windows, blasting down doors, herding the animals to the village green.
When all his forces had arrived, Nott conjured a platform and levitated the first victim onto the stage, an elderly Muggle, face old and wrinkled and his hair almost gone. A cutting curse to the leg had him fall before his betters, and an entrail expelling curse showed his audience what he thought of them.
One by one, sometimes in pairs, they tortured and killed the animals, leaving only a handful of terrified girls. Stunning spells took care of their pitiful resistance and after clearing away the evidence, Nott Disapparated away with his spoils of war, the girl starting to scream as she felt the magical travel, just as the other older Death Eaters did the same. The recruits were last to be allowed to leave, and all that was left was the sound of fires burning the remains of what had once been a nice if sleepy little village.
Nott reported to the Dark Lord in a much better state of mind. Voldemort was pleased.
Down in London, Jennifer was nervous.
This wasn't the first time, of course. She had felt nerves each and every time before she went out onto the catwalk to show off some stranger's apparel. No, this was different because it was going to be Harry's work she was modelling for some high profile names in the industry. She had no idea how they all chose to view her show but was sure that something was going on behind the scenes and...
She took two deep breaths, feeling them restore her calm, and checked herself in the mirror. Perfect.
Her cue sounded and she strode out in character, strutting her stuff and in the corners of her eyes she could see them eating it up. The whispers and low voices were all buzzing about her and what she was wearing and Jennifer could hardly wait to get back to Harry to celebrate. For now, she needed to get changed for the next set and she gave Fleur a quick smile before the Veela went out on stage, Allure under strict control and her other skills put to the test instead.
It turned out to be a smashing success.
Afterwards, Jennifer hunted down her man, eager to relieve the tensions and with her desires sated for the moment, asked the question that had been on her mind all month.
"Harry, just what is going on? I have never heard of a first fashion show being attended this well! And they all were really pleased with what they say when half of them make it a point to hate whatever the other half love!"
Harry kissed her slowly then smiled, "I know what you mean, Jennifer. All I can say is that my parents are great ninja. Part of that means to get their targets into position without them noticing. I know they have used a whisper campaign, planting rumours in 'reliable' sources by letting their targets overhear 'juicy gossip' about the up and coming Foxy Lady label."
Jennifer nodded. "I can see that working to get them here, but how on Earth did they get them to agree?"
"I haven't asked. But," he added quickly, seeing her impatience, "if I had to guess, they appealed to their pride and vanity. If you asked those big names about it, they would say that our label was their 'discovery' and they are pleased that their judgement is being well received by their peers for once."
"And since none of them are likely to unbend enough to ask the others, they won't discover the truth."
"Oh, by now I am sure none of them could uncover what really happened, and even if they did they could never admit that they were outplayed by total rookies to their scene. It has to have been their own idea."
"This is what they did with us and the other girls, isn't it?" Jennifer asked, worried.
"A little, and only in the beginning to let you get what you already wanted. They didn't plant the idea of loving me in anyone's head, if that's what you were asking, and they didn't need to do a thing to make me love you. That was all natural, my beautiful lady." Harry replied, caressing her cheek as he looked in her eyes.
"You're sure?"
"I swear."
That was enough for Jennifer, that and his caresses reassuring her that she was truly loved. She fell back into his arms, making love to her thoughtful man.
In the wake of the Acklam attack, there had been no claims of responsibility, no demands, no warnings. What there had been was a handheld camera that had recorded a handful of spells, and the investigating unit quickly disappeared the evidence, forwarding it up the chain until the Prime Minister was in another meeting with the Minister for Magic.
"Right. Tell me you know who did this." Major ordered.
"Investigations are underway. Between Apparation and Portkeys, these criminals can get anywhere in Great Britain before we know they've left so intercepting their attacks on randomly chosen targets is not going to happen. There are more targets than I have people and a single Auror would do little other than increasing the number of casualties. I am telling you this outright so you can understand that I cannot promise to make sure this does not happen again."
Major glared but grudgingly nodded.
"That said, I know in broad strokes who did this but I cannot prove which individuals were along on this raid, which means I cannot bring the truly guilty to justice, and I won't be able to unless they have made elementary mistakes. Worse, many of my people, especially those in the legislature, will not care about your losses. They hate the idea of any cooperation between our governments and view it as at best a necessary evil. Expanding our cooperation in order to prosecute the guilty will never happen, officially."
"And unofficially?"
"Unofficially, I am prepared to accept help in order to bring these people in and show them just why they should obey the law. I cannot take the gloves off, not yet with so many of my people apathetic, but I can make life harder for the group behind this. If I get solid evidence, they are going to pay, but I will not go on a witch hunt."
Major again nodded. "I can respect that, Minister Bones. For now, the media are reporting the incident as a terror attack by religious extremists."
Amelia snorted. "That's close enough to the truth, really, closer than the papers usually get, too. For many of the Death Eaters, they view it as their sacred duty, or privilege, to oppose you. Naturally, their actions are only for the good of our world and not to satisfy their own twisted desires."
Her sarcasm was biting and Prime Minister Major saw a little of the hatred she held for the bastards. It soothed a bit of his own anger at the wizards and witches of Great Britain to know that he was far from alone in this.
"However much they may scoff at the notion, murder of your people is still a crime under our law and I have in my power the authority to push a lot harder to bring them down. I intend to do just that, Mr Major."
"Good. I have to say, you are the first Minister for Magic in decades that anyone in my position has been able to respect or trust. I could wish for better circumstances, however. If I did not believe that you would carry through on this, I would have had no choice but to send in my own people, and neither of us would have liked where that would lead."
"No, not at all. And however much it pains me to admit, I can see where you would have been right to pursue it. These animals are a threat to all of us and it disgusts me that my own people refuse to see that."
"There we can agree. And you aren't the only one struggling with fools who don't see what they're doing," he added, thinking of one or two dozen people he could cheerfully strangle when they were being particularly obtuse.
Little of any substance was said after that and Amelia returned to her office, shutting the door and enjoying an all too brief massage from Harry before getting on with her day. True to her word as always, the Minister paid a visit to the DMLE. There she expressed her desire to see the bastards caught and, failing that, to pressure the usual suspects. Obviously, she was hoping they might make a mistake that would let her bring the full weight of the Ministry upon them.
The Daily Prophet ran articles in the following days about the attack, including Madam Bones' comments that the criminals risked the exposure of their world to the Muggles at large with these criminals as the only example of what wizards and witches were like. This had mixed results. While no one liked the thought of being mistaken for something they were not, it still fell far short of the decision to improve themselves that she had hoped.
Still, at least the message was out there that there was a point of no return, even if the idiots of her world failed to appreciate how weak they were.
Lord Voldemort was in a pensive mood.
He found himself in a very strange position. He had nearly all the Dark-leaning adult wizards and witches in his camp now, either directly or by their family members, making him far stronger than the last time with hundreds of marked Death Eaters.
On the other hand, the Ministry was opposing him more effectively, and the general populace were not the fearful sheep they had been the last time around. Madam Bones was even more effective than he had expected in wrecking his plans as Minister, vindicating his decision to go after her personally but making his failure even more frustrating. The witch also made public appearances but never without security to watch out for another assassination attempt. Unless he was prepared for another full assault, and the publicity that would result, he would have to live with her as Minister for now.
"My Lord."
Voldemort looked up to see the carefully controlled mask that was his spy on the old fool. "Yes, Severus?"
"My Lord, I had a thought that might be of some service in your cause. The Ministry grows more tenacious in hunting down your servants within its ranks and the Aurors are a thorn in your side. Should we perhaps look to neutralise the Aurors?"
"A worthy thought, Severus. How would you go about doing such a thing?" Voldemort's voice was calm, confident, a signal to Snape to tread even more carefully.
"My Lord, I would not claim to do such a thing as well as you. My thought was to set a lure for the Aurors, to entrap them and subdue them. From that point, my Lord could recruit any worthy wizards in their ranks from a position of strength while the rest could be disposed of forthwith or used in some way to advance your cause."
"Would you, indeed?"
"My Lord, without the Aurors the Ministry will surrender easier to your majestic self and control of the Ministry means the common witch and wizard will have no choice but to follow where you lead."
Severus was aware that the Mudbloods and riffraff in the so-called Potter Alliance were unlikely to go down without a fight but what could they do?
That Friday night, as the crowd were leaving the Hog's Head Inn, a handful of Death Eaters Apparated in, intent on spreading mischief and fear but not death and destruction. Those pleasures would have to wait until Lord Voldemort gave permission.
So instead of opening with the Killing Curse or the Cruciatus, they started with Incendio to the roof of the much-cleaned Inn, having to cast it a few times to overcome the weak flame-freezing ward on the building. Once the fires caught alight, they were free to start using the Mudbloods that had taken over the place as their own for target practice with low-powered cutting and piercing hexes and other nasty jinxes.
Soon, the fire was doing its job sewing panic among the inebriated patrons. The Death Eaters were nervous, not that they would admit it, because they were the bait to lure a response from the Ministry. The plan, such as it was, was to present a small threat to get one or two Aurors out into the open, away from their defences and unprepared for a real fight. Then, the Death Eaters would kill or cripple the Aurors and leave before any more could be sent. They would score a victory at little risk to themselves. If the DMLE sent along three or four Aurors, the six lying in wait would add their weight to the battle or cover the retreat if necessary.
What they didn't count on, couldn't, was that the patrons that night included a number of employees of the Lily Potter Foundation, including a single four man team of Darwin's Lifeguards as the combat arm were known within the organisation. While the rest of the crowd tried drunkenly to flee, they reacted according to their training, falling into the patterns that been drilled into them by the Clan.
One on point, two behind and slightly to each side, one at the rear in the classic diamond, wands sliding out of holsters into hands and they were ready to fight, or at least that was the intention. Surprised and outnumbered, as well as slightly drunk themselves, they would have that training put to the test.
The Death Eaters were too busy casting Stinging Hexes and the like to notice immediately, giving the Lifeguards the precious seconds they needed to sober up enough to cast their spells. The wizard on point concentrated as much as he could, casting the most powerful shield he could and hunkering down. He then Transfigured the cobblestones into larger rocks, building up a small wall to provide cover where there was none before. He planned on splitting his efforts between the two types of cover while his teammates devoted themselves to offensive actions.
The one at the rear was focussing heavily on his spell, trying to force his magic into the right shape, before unleashing the Explosion Hex in a bright beam that struck the path in front of the group of Death Eaters twenty yards away. "Fuck. Missed." Rather than say anything further, he remembered his lessons and prepared another spell while the dust from the first one cleared, showing the Death Eaters much worse for wear. Of the five they had faced a second before, one was on the ground and bleeding freely from a head wound, a lucky strike from one of the cobblestones bringing him down before he knew he was under attack.
The remaining four were not that stupid, breaking off their taunting of the Mudbloods to snap shields into place. They were just in time since the second spell crashed heavily into the one closest to the pub, forcing him back a step and cracking his shield. A quick recast and it looked good as new but the follow up spells ignored it and him, hitting the shields of his fellows.
These spells were a mixture of Banishing Hexes and Bludgeoning spells, legal to cast and enough to down an opponent without being considered 'Dark' or immediately lethal unless one were unlucky. This was soon tested. The Death Eaters, having trained on immobile targets, had no real idea of what to do when their targets decided to shoot back. Standing around, letting your enemy have easy shots, was not a winning tactic but it was the best they could manage under fire.
By contrast, the Lifeguards had been trained to move and fight under fire. As soon as the bystanders were safely out of the way, they had abandoned their initial position for a backup. The first was already showing the effects of the Death Eaters' attacks as they fell back around the side of the Inn to use the building as cover. The whole team had used the brief lull in the attack to scout out their next fallback position, then opened fire with more Banishing Hexes, using the cobblestones as ready ammunition.
That was when the second group of Death Eaters, led by an angry MacNair, came out of hiding. They had watched in disbelief as a group of Mudbloods and Blood Traitors defied the will of their Lord and the natural order of things by attacking Death Eaters! The filth were supposed to flee before the wrath of their betters but they had already downed two of the Purebloods.
Yelling obscenities, MacNair broke from cover, the tip of his wand glowing before he let fly with a Killing Curse. He had recognised one of the Mudbloods and that was whom he targeted in his rage.
The man he had targeted knew from his lessons that the sickly green curse was very bad news if it hit him, but then he never intended to let any curse hit him or his team and he knew just what he had to do. His next spell levitated a chunk of frozen dirt into the path of the attack, its momentum carrying the chunks forward after the Killing Curse exploded it, and showering the intervening yards with small pieces of mud.
Behind him, his teammate took exception to having one of their own threatened and opened up with his own attack, a bone breaking curse that narrowly missed MacNair due to a last second dodge but it squarely hit a witch behind him, making her cry out in agony as her arm broke so forcefully, there was white showing through her black robes.
Three down, eight to go, but they were still outnumbered two to one. The battle quickly devolved into a stalemate when the Death Eaters got up their own shields. Strengthened by desperation, they used more of their casters' power but held against the surprisingly strong spells from the Lifeguards. Their own hate-fuelled attacks splashed harmlessly against the defences of the Mudbloods, much to their dismay.
The Lifeguards were still mostly operating on instinct, guided by their training, as the last of the alcohol was burned from their brains by the rush of combat. Now, pinned down by twice their number and sober enough to feel fear clearly, they again fell on their training, using the emotion to quicken their reflexes but not to overcome their reason.
"We need a plan!" The same wizard called who had opened the fighting.
"This is a fine time to think of that!" his mate rejoined.
"Well, we can't use some of the spells here, not when we don't know the rest of the buildings are clear. The Captain would ream us all new ones then chew us up into tiny little pieces if we got some kid killed in the fighting."
All four shuddered for a second picturing the reactions from Anko and the others if that happened. They would rather face Voldemort naked than anger the Clan like that.
"Alright, so we can't bring the village down on these bastards, and we would get in serious trouble if we went straight to lethal force even if they are already using it against us, the bigoted pricks."
"Who, the Death Eaters or the Wizengamot?"
"Yes."
"Heh. Ok, so we need to get rid of them in a way that doesn't end up with us in prison."
"That's about the size of it."
"In that case..." The first speaker gave a very evil grin. His teammates covered him as he concentrated again on Transfiguration, this time turning some of the debris into badgers and commanding them to attack the first group of Death Eaters who were down to three effectives and distracted by the efforts of his mates. "Badger pride," he muttered under his breath, watching with satisfaction as they mauled the trio still standing, then turned back to the others, casting an overpowered Aguamenti to douse the remainder in a torrent of cold water, adding a Glacis spell to freeze it a second later.
MacNair was busy fighting through his chattering teeth to utter the counter to the spell when his eyes widened in alarm. Their shield was down! It had failed due to the distraction of its casters and at the worst possible time as he saw all four of their enemies cast ridiculously strong Incendio spells their way that would burn them to a crisp when they hit. In fear, he bit out "Purebloods supreme!" and felt the tug behind his navel that proved the return Portkeys were functioning correctly. In a swirl of colour, his entire force was gone.
The Lifeguards were shocked.
Oh, they knew they had been training hard for this, and they accepted when they signed on that they would be asked to defend their friends and family from idiots just like Death Eaters. However, none of them really expected it to happen, not deep down in their bones. It was always other people who got attacked, other people who fought off the Dark. Other people were heroes.
Another reason for their shock was just how well they had done. Ambushed by two numerically superior forces of the feared Death Eaters, they would be doing well enough just to survive and yet they had driven off the attackers. The more you sweat, the less you bleed. That's what they had heard every time any of them complained about the rigours of their training by the Clan. At first, naturally, they had scoffed at the notion that anyone without magic could train them, but the proof was all around them now.
"Oh shit!" one guy said. The others turned to look at him. "You know the arrogant bastards are going to make this our fault if they can. Well, look around us. They wouldn't have to try hard at all to make this look like a group of wizards run amok."
"Of course not, those Death Eaters did run amok."
"Yeah, but we'll get the blame, you know how the Wizengamot is, the corrupt pricks who run the place would be only too happy to have an excuse to send us to Azkaban. And if we head home, they'll still come after us because we can be identified but the bad guys can't."
"So what do you suggest we do?" The same voice asked acerbically.
"For a start, we can't leave. If we run, they'll chase us. Basic cop psychology, that. Also, we need to clean the place up a bit. The less it looks like a warzone, the less they'll have to blame us for."
The others nodded, glad their companion was more sober than they were.
"And if we're here fixing up the damage, then if we're lucky, the Aurors will think we're not part of the problem. Plus, it might deal with the bloody rumours that get around."
There were grumbles about that. "Bloody sheep, that's what they are. 'Boy-Who-Lived!' Hah! At least that Harry's a decent sort."
"You're just saying that cos he beat Squad 1 at the last sparring match."
"Hey, anyone who takes them down a peg or two is alright in my books," he grinned. "Besides, you know as well as me that he doesn't want that fame. And he's always willing to pitch in and lend a hand. Now, why aren't you lot cleaning?"
They set to work with the same smooth teamwork they brought to all their work, the benefit of years of working and training together, and soon had the pathways and buildings looking new, which seemed a bit odd among the old and dirty surroundings, so they started cleaning up them, too.
They were still at it twenty minutes later when a pair of Aurors in their robes arrived with subdued 'pops' of Apparition. Biting down comments like "When seconds count, the Aurors are an hour away," they gave a nod, continuing to fix, repair, rebuild and clean up the area. It was far from perfect, that would take actual effort from builders and warders and they were neither, but it certainly looked impressive.
"Alright, what's going on here? We had an anonymous tip that was called in just two minutes ago about a bunch of drunks making a nuisance of themselves."
"Making a nuisance? They were attacking us and the pub behind you half an hour ago! You mean to tell me that that idiot behind the bar didn't even mention that his place was attacked by a dozen crooks?! Lazy bugger..."
"What are you talking about?" Savage was annoyed. Her nice, quiet Friday night shift was shattered by the man's words. "For that matter, what do you know about it?"
"We were right here, sitting in the pub and enjoying a quiet one when five masked wizards turned up outside, casting Fire curses on the roof and causing people to rush about and panic. Well, we weren't going to stand for the pub to be burnt down while we're in it, so we went outside to dissuade them. They didn't take kindly to us interrupting their fun, scaring and hurting people, so they attacked us."
"Just when we were getting to persuading the gentlemen that they had best push on, a bunch of their friends stuck their nose in, attacking us from the side. We fell back around the corner and just did what came naturally, me doing the shielding while me mates encouraged them to keep their heads down. Of course, the badgers I made helped to keep them from thinking about attacking us with more Dark curses," the second one grinned as he continued the story.
"And after that, well, I made sure to cool them down with a Freezing spell, but I guess I overdid it, so we decided to help them out by sending Flame spells at them. Naturally, we wanted to make sure they were nice and toasty so I guess our spells were just that bit more powerful than they were expecting." A shrug. "They decided not to stick around after that."
Savage glared at the idiots in front of her. "Do you honestly expect me to swallow that story?"
"Hey, it's true! Well, most of it. I'd be happy to tell you more after you tell me why it took over half an hour for the law to arrive, and just what we should have done in the meantime."
She glared again. "We don't answer to you."
"No, but you do answer to Madam Bones, and we answer to Mister Potter. Last I heard, they're on good terms, and I doubt either of them would be happy that people were under attack and the Aurors weren't even going to turn up if it wasn't for a suspicious tip."
"Yes, it sounds like whoever gave the tip wanted to get us into trouble."
Savage was silent for a few seconds then nodded. "I can see how that would work. Still, what did you mean that you answer to the Boy-Who-Lived?"
"We didn't say that. We answer to Mister Potter, owner of the Lily Potter Foundation. They employed us when no one else gave a damn about us."
"Look, Aurors, we can respect your job. It's tough and thankless, protecting those idiots from themselves. All we're asking is that you don't treat us like the bad guys. I think we would all prefer just to have a quiet night."
Savage agreed with that last, but she had her duty. "I'm going to have to ask you all to come in with me to provide statements."
They nodded, resigned to their fate, and allowed Auror Savage and her silent partner to take them into the DMLE, taking their statements and acknowledging that if they were called up they would face Veritaserum as part of their testimony as involved parties. Whatever their own feelings on the whole ordeal, their instructions from the LPF were clear: Try to keep the Aurors friendly.
They now had their own first-hand experience that the Death Eaters were moving in the shadows. It was time for the soldiers to let their captain hear their reports in person.
The Death Eaters had returned hours ago, but still there was no peace in Malfoy Manor.
MacNair was brutal in his accusations of the intelligence failure that had led his raiding party into a Ministry ambush.
"Obviously they were a crack team. No Aurors fight like that! It was like they were one wizard with four bodies!"
Only the timely arrival of the Dark Lord himself prevented an open assault on the Death Eaters responsible for keeping an eye on the Ministry now that MacNair was no longer one of them. Lord Voldemort curtly dismissed the others in the room, leaving only MacNair and himself.
"Report."
"My Lord, we did as you bid us. We used weak spells to draw out a Ministry response and at first, everything was glorious. The filth that frequent the pub were fleeing like rats as the place caught fire. Then out of nowhere, this team ambushed us. They didn't even bother to shield most of the time, dancing out of the way of our spells. We managed to hold them off for a while despite our disadvantage before they forced us to leave. We saw no sign of any Aurors called in at all. If the cut-out did his job like he was paid, it suggests that the DMLE left the job to their special team."
MacNair's tone indicated he doubted the cut-out had bothered, however. Fenrir Greyback had suggested that the petty little thief Mundungus Fletcher would be willing to call in the tip for them to bait the trap. When a disguised Death Eater had paid him a visit, the wizard was pathetically grateful for the chance to earn some coin for his next drinks. A handful of galleons had changed hands and the Death Eater was off home to get clean. Just being around 'Dung' made him feel dirty.
When a Death Eater paid him a visit the next day, Dung insisted that he had indeed made the Floo call as directed and offered to swear an Oath to the effect. All Voldemort and Lucius could conclude was that the Ministry had got lucky, already having people on the scene.
Their next attempt at a lure failed, coming in just after the report of a near-riot in Diagon Alley as Gilderoy Lockhart showed his face, even daring to try to pick up a pink-haired girl as she was browsing in Flourish and Blotts bookstore. When she told him to go away, Lockhart failed to heed the rejection quickly enough.
Her angry shout to "Get your hands off me!" drew the attention of nearby shoppers, prompting the escalation and the call to send all available Aurors to control the crowd. In the face of that threat of violence, an anonymous tip to foil a suspected thief lurking near the Parkinson home (but not on their property) was unimportant.
Lord Voldemort decided that what he really needed to do was launch an attack. Any attack, however, would have to be worthwhile which meant that picking a Mudblood at random would not do. No, what he was after was someone with a high enough profile to cause the Ministry to send people, but not someone who would already be defended.
He also wanted a target that would harm Dumbledore's reputation.
Thank you for reading. Feedback is appreciated and if you have any questions, please ensure PM's are enabled. Thanks as always to my beta's for their hard work.