Chapter 77 - There All the Honour Lies
After the utter failure of their little stratagem, many Death Eaters considered the Carrow pair lucky to have died in the attack on their home. Certainly the Dark Lord was taking out his anger on the living ones in their stead for even the slightest of faults.
The public knowledge of his return had created a certain atmosphere of fear and even some distrust among the older wizards who remembered the times before Voldemort had gone after the Potter family. However, they were almost alone in that distrust of everyone.
There was the Lily Potter Foundation and the Potter Alliance on one side, Voldemort and Lucius Malfoy on another, Dumbledore and his Order of the Phoenix making a triangle, with the fence sitters in the middle. Combined, they had managed to polarise the British Wizarding 'World' to a frightening degree. By now, somewhere around half of the people had chosen a side. Though the smallest of the major groups, Dumbledore's Order got a disproportionate amount of Voldemort's attention.
Dumbledore's pet Elphias Doge had bleated in the Wizengamot about how everyone should listen to Dumbledore and return to the Light during one of the recent sessions. Despite the setbacks the former Headmaster of Hogwarts had suffered, most still paid lip service to the idea that Voldemort feared only him.
As such, Voldemort was looking to make the Order suffer for their support of the old meddler. After the loss of dozens of Death Eaters, public confidence was up and he needed to change that.
His spy, Severus Snape, had brought back information that was very welcome. The location and defences of new members of the Order of the Phoenix. Severus was dismayed that the Weasley twins, who had been residing in the Order safehouse and training facility alongside a few other new recruits, would miss all the fun he had long planned for them.
Although they were only new members, the pair had already shown themselves to be inventive and vicious, both traits that Voldemort preferred to see only in his most loyal minions. The idea that someone else would benefit from their inventions was intolerable!
After the recent difficulties, the Dark Lord suspected a spy in their ranks was reporting to the Ministry or that damned Foundation. In response, he went for overwhelming force and rapid action. Less than fifteen minutes after a minion confirmed the information, the Dark Lord had gathered together a hundred Death Eaters. He explained they were going to strike a blow against the Blood Traitors and to follow him.
In a hidden home in Oxfordshire, Auror trainee and Order recruit Ewing Murphy and retired Auror Alastor Moody were shocked when the wards reported they were under attack and falling fast. A messenger spell let Albus Dumbledore know of the assault, but he was stuck behind the new Potter Alliance wards protecting the Weasley home down in Devon. Though he got out of his chair straight away, getting out of the warded area took precious time.
The pair of defenders were stuck. Neither Apparating nor Portkeys would help them as the Death Eaters had erected their own, temporary barriers to magical travel and the place had never been hooked up to the Floo network. They had heard of the Muggle things some wizards were using to stay in contact but there was no chance that they could use them. Even if they could afford these mobile phones, no one else in the Order of the Phoenix had them which made calling for help impossible. In a way, it was just as well they never thought of calling the Aurors using them. The missed opportunity would only have depressed them.
As the Death Eaters were tearing down the safe house's wards, which were the products of over a dozen wizards and witches empowering them including Dumbledore himself, the pair prepared their defences. Whatever one might say about the Auror's failures in the previous war, Madame Bones had done a lot to fix the problems she had found including returning their esprit de corps. In spite of their imminent deaths, they were determined to go down fighting. Looking out at the array of spells cast against them only spurred them to work faster, setting up triggers for Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder and other such traps, using a variety of tactics the old veteran knew to surprise, slow and demoralize their killers.
All too soon, the wards fell.
Half a dozen Blasting Hexes sent foot-long splinters of the door scything inwards, wrecking everything in the front hall. Just as the Death Eaters charged forth, the pair unleashed everything they could on the attackers.
The Dark Mark was raised over the ruins of what had once been a nice cottage. Now, smouldering wreckage lay in its place. Fifteen Death Eaters had been taken down by the pair of wizards, though two of the injured would survive. Probably. For all his derision heaped on the paranoid wizard, Alastor Moody was no slouch.
The defenders, however, were most definitely, and most gruesomely dead. Upon seeing who was defending the place and the way they had fought off his forces, Voldemort's Death Eaters had been all too eager to confirm their deaths. The Dark Lord was sure he had counted three Killing Curses and a Cruciatus being cast on the messily dead former Auror. It was inefficient, wasteful, glorious.
Detailing some of the newer recruits to dealing with the remains of their deceased fellows, as well as cleaning up any evidence that would identify the individuals today, the Dark Lord returned to Malfoy Manor to celebrate. Upon his return, he quickly waved at the minion who had been standing ready to head to the Ministry and the Daily Prophet to plant the appropriate rumours.
Juicy news like the murders of a new and former Auror, along with the presence of the Dark Mark, could never be entirely suppressed. The Potter Alliance, owners of the Daily Prophet, were smart enough not to even try. Instead, they told the Chief Editor to report it accurately and portray it as the vile crime it was, as something to be outraged about rather than scared.
"I already knew that, sir." He snorted. "Even Skeeter has worked out what she needs to do these days. She's still an excellent mudslinger but she has been learning about being more selective in her choice of targets. I suspect the excellent warding on her new home helps to remind her where her loyalties should lie."
David Greengrass nodded. "Naturally. Such a high profile reporter needs somewhere she can trust her safety more than most people when she's fearlessly investigating things." He was proud of himself that he got all that out with a straight face.
"Hmm, perhaps we could run an advertisement campaign for the Alliance warders?"
Greengrass smirked back at him. "I see you're still fishing for more money. However, the idea isn't a bad one and it is your job. I'll set up a meeting with them soon. You can negotiate with them then."
The reaction within the Ministry was ugly. Suspected Dark supporters had already been involved in three altercations by lunchtime.
Raised voices and shoving, accusations of using Dark Magic and being Muggle lovers were flung around like confetti. DMLE personnel reluctantly intervened. Though not all of them liked Moody and few of them knew Murphy well, none of them would condone the attacks on Aurors. Their tempers were already stretched by the news and having to protect people they would rather lock up never sat well with them.
Over the next week, the Potter Alliance faction stepped up efforts to convince the Wizengamot to pass measures against Death Eaters. Amelia was getting a lot of mail from angry witches and wizards demanding she take action. Most wanted her to stop the Death Eaters. A few, which were sent off for analysis, demanded she step down and let someone else take over, someone with more respect for so-called traditional prerogatives. Death Eater supporters aside, Amelia agreed wholeheartedly with the desires expressed in the letters and she was finding it harder to resist the calls.
As May opened, Amelia addressed the Wizengamot.
"Wizards and witches of the Wizengamot, I stand here to call upon you to pass the motion in support of declaring a state of emergency in Wizarding Britain. The terrorists are killing our citizens yet this august body has blocked measures to expand recruitment. They are terrorizing our people yet warrants to investigate are refused or delayed to uselessness. It must end here and now. The people of Great Britain need and deserve better than this!"
At the conclusion of her short but impassioned speech, the Chief Warlock called for a vote. Amelia was the first to raise her wand in a vote for the affirmative. Her few strong allies in the place, all of them known as neutrals, followed right after her. Shortly, one by one, more of the neutrals followed and a few of Dumbledore's faction, the self-declared 'Light' wizards joined them.
It wasn't enough. Maybe if she had lowered herself, bribed the corrupt members to see things her way, the resolution would have passed but she could never do that. Not at the cost of her self-respect. 'In the end, it comes to this.'
"And so in the matter of the declaration of a state of emergency, the Wizengamot rejects the petition." The Chief Warlock declared pompously.
Amelia stood up again. "In that case, Chief Warlock, I have something more to say. Aurors!"
At her signal, dozens of Aurors stepped forward from where they had been lining the walls of the chamber, breaking the Disillusionment Charm that had hidden them from view. In defiance of all custom, they were all armed and had their wands out, already pointed at the assembled Wizengamot.
"Members of the Wizengamot, the records clearly show a majority of you have betrayed your duties to the nation. As such, those of you who voted to reject the state of emergency are now charged with treason! You will be taken into custody and questioned under Veritaserum. Your testimony will be published in the papers for all to see and your trials will be conducted with due regard for the best interests of Great Britain."
While a number of the wizards and witches wanted to go for their wands, they saw all too clearly the eagerness on the Aurors' faces for an excuse, any excuse, to attack them. Amelia had worked with her Director of the DMLE to shuffle duty rosters for this moment, ensuring that all of the Aurors present would be people who supported her or at the least knew exactly who had been making their jobs harder.
Albus Dumbledore rose to his feet, gathering the attention of almost everyone present. "Amelia -" He interrupted himself seeing her frosty glare. "Minister Bones, by what authority do you claim the power to charge various members of this body?"
"By the authority of the state of emergency I declared before coming to the meeting today! The powers of the Minister are expanded during such times including the power to arrest and charge anyone. "
"What? How dare you!" Various wizards sputtered their outrage.
When the noise died sufficiently, Albus lectured the Minister. "By custom and tradition, Ministers are obliged to get the support of the Wizengamot for any such declaration." It was a way to spread the blame as much as anything else, since they were usually incredibly unpopular measures.
"And by law, the Minister has the authority to declare it on his or her own authority. That has never been changed in the centuries since the creation of the Wizengamot or the Ministry. If you had emulated our non-magical neighbours and seen fit to place rational limits on the Minister's power, I could never have done what I did today. By the authority granted me in a state of emergency, I declare the Wizengamot dissolved until such time as it may be safely reinstated. Aurors, you have your orders."
The red robed wizards moved forward as a group, making all of three paces before one of the accused traitors broke under the pressure. He tried to grab his wand, only to fall before he touched it as a veritable wave of Stunning Hexes felled him and two thirds of the other accused. The remainder had ducked or dodged behind cover, only to fall to the second wave of spells.
In less than an hour, the politics of Wizarding Britain were altered forever.
Amelia was in her office half an hour later, having finished thanking her allies in the now defunct parliament for their help and reassuring them that she would end the state of emergency as soon as she could. Privately, she wondered if that would be before Christmas at the rate crises had happened. Another part of her wondered if the Wizengamot should be restored at all. By current rules, the replacement members would be chosen by the ones who remained, hardly a sensible arrangement. It would be easy to argue that everyone would be better off without them.
Over half of the Wizengamot was now locked up in the Ministry cells, stripped of their clothes and all magical items. They had been given prisoner outfits, robes charmed to stick to the person until a counter-spell was used, and left unconscious for now. Questioning them would have to wait until the situation settled down. That was a state of affairs that Amelia didn't expect to see any time soon, truthfully.
Unfortunately, Albus Dumbledore had fled before she could ask him to come see her. He and a couple of his closest allies in his faction had abstained from the vote, killing the resolution, but not named as traitors. She was sure that the old meddler was horrified by what she had done but that was okay.
So was she.
As promised, the testimonies were published, not only in the Daily Prophet and the Quibbler, an 'alternative' source of news, but even in magazines like Witch Weekly which carried them as the hot news story of the decade.
The unrepentant wizards who had chosen to line their pockets ahead of allowing more Aurors to protect the average citizen were bad enough but the Dark faction were worse. Under questioning, they had admitted to supporting the aims of the Dark Lord, even if they weren't prepared to perform the torture and killings themselves. It was only the Aurors standing between them and an angry public that saved their lives in the aftermath following the dissolution of the Wizarding parliament. This was an irony that wasn't lost on the prisoners.
Dumbledore had spoken out against the Minister and the Ministry, protesting their draconian measures that would prevent the return of prominent wizards and witches to the Light. Amelia's reaction when she read that at the Kitsune Compound was heartfelt, colourful and utterly unprintable.
In the shadows, Voldemort was already drawing up plans to go after more Ministry targets. One thing slowing him down was that anyone in the Potter Alliance could be expected to have wards stronger than Hogwarts protecting their homes and places of business. That surely must extend to their people in the Ministry, few though they might have been, and investigation was a chancy venture. He needed time and was worried he might not have enough before his enemies got their house in order and came after him.
Soon, however, Hogwarts had a distraction from the political turmoil. It was time for Quidditch once again.
Ravenclaw and Slytherin had been looking forward to their match. For the Ravens, it would be a chance to release stress and prove they were a strong contender for the Quidditch Cup. For the Snakes, it was an opportunity to save face after a number of disappointing or humiliating matches in recent years.
Though McGonagall was sure she would eventually have to answer to the Board of Governors' more conservative members for it, the Headmistress had preemptively banned a number of students from attending the match. These students were either troublemakers following in the footsteps of the Weasley twins, though thankfully without their talents, or known to be sympathetic to the Death Eaters. Either way, she wouldn't risk the safety of innocent students for their sake. It was simply too easy with magic for them to cause mayhem and havoc.
As Hooch blew the whistle, Cho raced off into the sky. She left the ground behind and with it her worries about what would happen next. With the wind in her hair she felt like calling out her joy to the heavens but instead she leveled off two hundred feet in the air and started hunting for the Snitch. Up here, there were no war councils or arguments about legality that seemed to fill Ravenclaw Tower since the Minister had declared war on the Death Eaters.
In the stands, Harry and the other Jewels watched with pleasure as Cho relaxed for the first time in public in over a week. The results of the game seemed less important than ever before, though he wouldn't deny that he'd like to see his Asian lover win.
Although the Slytherin team played their best, a surprisingly clean game that still managed to put off their opponents because of that, they were outmatched and they knew it. Even Astoria's fine play as a Chaser couldn't save them. When Cho darted off and caught the Snitch, many of the Snakes watching felt a bit of relief that it was over and that the result had been closer than they had feared.
That evening, the Ravens shared their rights to a victory party with the other Houses, including any Slytherins who could be trusted not to disrupt the event. Headmistress McGonagall looked like the cat who got the cream as she went to bed that night. Her students were safe and their morale was holding up well. Now, she just had the new NEWTs to get through but she was optimistic that they would pass this test, too. Certainly one particular Ravenclaw was on track to smash records. She smiled proudly and fell asleep. There would be time enough in the morning for more serious matters.
The stress of the now open civil war built upon itself. For the students at Hogwarts, this manifested itself in a number of ways. Despite the increased staff and Prefect patrols that Minerva quickly ordered, there had been an increase in inter-House incidents, from glaring and harsh words up to brief exchanges of spells. The latter were quickly quelled each time by members of the Potter Alliance stepping in to separate the combatants. They 'just happened' to be present far more often than chance could explain, something that made the non-members in Ravenclaw openly curious but it was effective in keeping a lid on things.
Naturally, keeping a lid on a high-pressure situation wasn't something that could last forever. To help alleviate the pressures internal and external, some students turned to Potions for aid. Madam Pomfrey kept an eye on these students, taking a far more active stance on student health ever since the young Mr Potter had opened her eyes to her failings. Though she would never admit it to the boy himself, she now knew she had been wrong to help as she had in the Triwizard Tournament. Now, she was more worried about making sure no students got psychologically or magically dependent upon the potions they were using to control their emotions. At least the number of injured students was down.
For most students, however, there was little time to get anxious about the reports in the papers about Auror raids on suspected Death Eater supporters or Dark Wizard hunts or emptied hideouts. Between the increased homework load that the teachers were dumping upon them, even more than usual with exams so close, and their own games and hobbies and the nightly movies in the Great Hall, they were far too busy with their own lives.
A few student relationships were cracking under the pressure. Ron Weasley found himself reverting to more juvenile behaviour, yelling at his girlfriend when she surprised him by putting her hand on his shoulder. He quickly shut up at the hurt look on her face and banged his head into the dinner table before apologising to her, desperately ignoring the sniggers from Dean and Seamus up the table. Over at the Hufflepuff table, Justin and Megan held hands and wore strained expressions after another fight.
And lastly, Harry and the Jewels spent even more time together, in the East Hall, in the girls' dorms and in the Room of Requirements, keeping themselves sane by force of will and lots of mutual pampering.
All too soon, Cho was pulling away from Quidditch, studying desperately for her NEWTs. Despite her ranking first in her year, she wanted to prove to herself and her family that joining the Jewels hadn't harmed her mind, even if her family had long supported her choice. The Flying Foxes of Gryffindor spent more time studying with her, since she was clearly the best in their year, and with Harry. Though they were still on probation, the Jewels were fondest of Katie. She had taken to curling up on a couch in the Room of Requirement each night, falling asleep with her head on Harry's lap as he would just stroke her hair, whatever she needed. Despite her own worries over the harder exams, she had still taken time to help any of the others with Quidditch practice, acting as a sounding board or just listening whenever anyone wanted to talk.
Alicia and Angelina were trying to fit in but failing to match their friend. For Alicia, the whole situation felt weird. Oh, she loved the massages she got as a reward for helping the others, and Merlin was the boy a good kisser, but she got nervous when some of the Jewels looked at her like they wanted to kiss her too! Angelina had no problem with the visible attraction from the other girls. However, she had yet to find herself overly welcome.
She had never been known for her tact and confronted Hermione, Susan, and Daphne. Their response was remarkably frank.
"Every one of us know that you like Harry. We also know you like a lot of other boys. We made a choice that we would only be with Harry even if he's with us and many others. You are the only one that rejects this. That's why we aren't going out of our way to make you feel welcome."
Angelina sputtered in indignation. "What do you mean?! Just because I want to try other guys you girls are being bitches to me? Get off your bloody high horses. If Harry can sleep with 30 damn women, then I can sleep with 30 damn men and none of you can say a damn thing about it!"
Daphne nodded. "Sure, you can sleep with as many men and women as you want. We aren't saying you can't. What we are saying is you can't have Harry as one of many men."
The older girl raised her hand to slap Daphne for her insolence. As Angelina brought her hand forward, she found herself staring at the ceiling with the Hufflepuff redhead over her. Before she could process how she ended up on her back, Susan leaned over in her face.
Few had ever seen an angry look on Susan's face. Angelina was now one of those few. "You wanted to be one of us but you don't want to follow our rules. Get over yourself. Grow up, or get out."
"Enough, Susan." Hermione pulled Susan back and nudged Daphne off. "Look, you're obviously looking for fun. We all can understand that but that isn't what being with Harry is. We love Harry. We will likely be with him for the rest of our lives. Things can change, yes, but we're treating our relationship with him as if it will last. You need to decide if you're ready for that kind of commitment. We know most girls don't feel this way for another few years at the least but we do.
"Take your time, give it some thought, and let us know what you decide. I hope you make the decision that makes you happiest."
Outside the artificially calm environment of the school, witches and wizards up and down Great Britain were struggling to keep up with all the changes. As soon as the obstructionist Wizengamot members had been removed to the holding cells, the remainder had signed off quickly on the state of emergency in the face of continued DMLE support. Further they had passed a resolution recognizing that the government was facing a civil war, the same resolution that Amelia had failed twice before to convince them to pass. Though it was completely unofficial given that Amelia has dissolved the body, it was nice to have that added air of legitimacy.
The state of emergency enabled the Ministry's Aurors to go after Death Eaters with lethal force. Also, it authorized the DMLE to use Veritaserum on suspects without waiting for the Wizengamot to authorize it and, most important of all, to accept civilian volunteers as temporary DMLE auxiliaries.
At a stroke, this allowed Amelia to combine the Aurors and the Lifeguards into a unified command that in practice was commanded by Captain Anderson as the leader of the larger and more battle-ready force. Instead of trying to use the Aurors as the Ministry's army, something they most certainly were not, the Aurors were now freed to go investigating leads on Death Eaters. The Lifeguards took over guarding Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade and the Ministry.
The next day, they were put to the test. Death Eaters in full regalia came streaming in through the Floos in the Ministry Atrium. The first group of five made it two paces before they were taken down by Lifeguards using Body Flicker and the blunt end of their kunai to knock out the invaders before being taken away. The next group didn't even get that far. There was no third group. One of Voldemort's spies had managed to send a frantic message to him to abort that prong of the attack. Unfortunately for their cause, doing so led directly to him joining the marked wizards in the cells and awaiting his own interrogation.
The attack on Diagon Alley was called off after the fiasco at the Ministry put the defenders on the alert but Hogsmeade was considered too far away for them to help and they should outnumber the damned Lifeguards five to one.
It wasn't a Hogsmeade weekend so there were no students in the village. As a result, when the Death Eaters turned up, the Lifeguards hustled the locals inside and locked them up for their own safety. A team of Lifeguards had moved to flank the Death Eaters, despite being outnumbered, and let fly with Water and Earth jutsu to knock out the attackers. They still remembered the rebels sending in mind-controlled wizards as a distraction and knew they wouldn't forgive themselves if they killed an innocent by mistake. That was why their first offensive was intended to be less than lethal. Still, broken bones could be mended and were a better way to take someone out of the fight than a Stunner that could be immediately cancelled.
When the Death Eaters replied with distinctive green curses and shouting out the Killing Curse, they knew they could respond in kind. Their rules of engagement allowed them to use just about anything short of the Unforgivables and even then they could if the other side used them first. Not that the Lifeguards would use that curse normally. It took a lot of power and they had plenty of other lethal options that were more power efficient. Besides, none of them wanted to cast it if they had a choice.
The team outside the village started using the Inner Decapitation technique on the Death Eaters on the fringe of the group, which buried them up to their necks in the ground. The anti-Apparation and anti-Portkey wards both sides were setting up took care of the rest, trapping them there for the rest of the fight. They only managed to hit seven Death Eaters with this method before they were driven off by the thirty remaining.
The two teams in the village made good use of the time their fellows had bought them by creating a number of rough fences. Too high to jump over, each one had rows of six inch barbed spikes sticking out towards the murderers and they were made of hard steel, not flammable wood. About the only practical way for the Death Eaters to get past them was to reverse the Transfiguration and there was a reason Dark wizards didn't use it in battle. The state of mind needed for successful Transfiguration was incompatible with the one needed for casting offensive magic, especially most Dark curses.
The makeshift obstacle bought more time. In absence of clear directions, about half of the Death Eaters fired curses at the fence that stood in their way while the other half stopped in their tracks, trying to remember how to undo someone else's creation. All too soon the trap was sprung. One of the former group managed to hit the fence with a Blasting Curse, shattering a section of it and sending steel spikes flying back at the Death Eaters.
A number fell, screaming in agony, and one or two went silent and still, having their magical shields fail them under the powerful onslaught. By that point, the Death Eaters had bunched up making them a perfect target for a volley of Blasting Curses from the Lifeguards. While most were aimed at the group, enough hit the ground around them to keep them pinned down. The same Transfiguration specialist altered and animated the rubble into terriers, sending them forward to bite the Death Eaters and keep them off guard.
Rather than stay to fight, however, the leader of the detachment worked to cancel their own anti-Portkey spells as well as the Lifeguard's one. Touching his wand to the ornate goblet his Master had provided, the Death Eater activated all of their Portkeys at once. The power of the combined push punched a hole in the anti-Portkey ward and they were gone, taking their dead and injured with them.
"This is unacceptable!" Amelia looked at the speaker. Andrea Sutton was one of the Muggleborns who had risen fast in the Lily Potter Foundation and Amelia found herself agreeing with her.
"We need to do something. They keep escaping leaving us to clean up their mess!"
"And what would you suggest we do?" Amelia asked, trying and failing to keep all her frustration out of her voice.
"We need to attack, take the fight to them!" Andrea replied hotly.
"We're trying that already." Naruto said firmly, looking the woman in the eye. "Our Lifeguards have conducted over a dozen raids already. We have confiscated gold, jewellery and other forms of portable wealth, enough potions to stock an apothecary for a year and a variety of supplies. Eight Death Eaters have been captured or killed so far."
"But you haven't killed all the Death Eaters!"
Amelia honestly wasn't surprised by how bloodthirsty the witch was. In the last war, she had lost her home and job to the bastards along with one hand, and since then no one had given her a chance. Not until the Foundation, that was, who had found her eking out a living repairing small items and selling things at craft stalls. They had taken her in and restored her lost hand. In turn, she had given her loyalty to them and Harry Potter, seeing him as the reason for their intervention.
"They know we're coming for them. They have prepared their ways out, even as they tell themselves and each other they'll never use them, and duck away before we can take them down." Naruto growled.
"Naruto, it's obvious we have to change tactics then. If we can't get them to stay when they're on the defensive, how about we find a target they won't let slip away?"
"What did you have in mind, Madam Minister?"
"There are only a few really valuable targets for the Death Eaters. They can occupy Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade for a little while but they can't hold them and they know it. They could take the Ministry but it is only a symbol, these days, rather than the true prize. No, the only targets that matter to them are Hogwarts and Potterville."
Naruto narrowed his eyes. "You're suggesting we allow them to find Potterville?"
"It's better than letting them prepare an attack on Hogwarts. Sure, it's a castle with strong wards but it's also a school with hundreds of potential hostages for them to use against us. In addition, it hasn't been set up for defence in centuries."
"Whereas Potterville was designed from the start to fight off Death Eaters and also keep its people alive." Naruto nodded slowly. "However, we would need to make a number of changes if we're going to invite them in for a party. We will also have to tell all the residents."
"I highly doubt they would go along with a plan that would risk their lives, their homes and their children, however." Sirius was unwontedly serious as he spoke up. "Just getting people to evacuate is nearly impossible even in the face of storms or those forest fires the Americans have. A danger short of that simply won't work."
Naruto nodded again. "Thank you, Sirius. Every so often, I forget we aren't in my world. There, the villagers would be ordered to evacuate and would leave without much fuss. Though I suppose the legion of ruthless killers giving the orders would have something to do with that attitude."
"So what else can we do?"
"We could move Potterville, all of it, and set up a decoy in its place." Naruto's suggestion had some appeal to Sirius but this time it was Amelia who dashed it.
"We would still face the same problems of resistance to the idea. Pushing it through would cause almost as much damage to the Alliance as the original plan. However, creating a decoy elsewhere of Potterville and 'accidentally' letting it slip as the location could work. As long as you're willing to throw enough clones at this to pose as the inhabitants, the deception can be made every bit as real as needed."
"How about leaking the locations of our other facilities first?"
"We can try one or the other. If we leak too much, we risk them detecting the trap and have to spread our forces to cover too many places." Naruto counselled. There were mutters and comments from around the room as people talked with their neighbours. Eventually, they were silenced as a bushy haired woman stood up.
"No. We'll have to go with a decoy Potterville. They won't go after the facilities with the same passion as going after people's homes." Liz Granger spoke up, her voice cold. "They will go after our homes because they 'know' we can't guard everyone and that it's safe. After all, it's only Mudbloods and Blood Traitors. And if they send enough, they'll surely be able to overwhelm whatever defenders we can spare for the town with so many guarding the Ministry and the other public places they've been attacking."
"Or at least, so they'll think." Naruto nodded. "Does anyone have anything to add? Are there any objections to this plan?"
A minute later, it was clear that no one did. Naruto and his Angels, on the one hand, and Amelia on the other, called on their experience with warfare, both as practised in the Elemental Nations and the rather amateurish version in the Wizarding World. Together the Potter Alliance hammered out the beginnings of a plan.
As of the start of May, roughly half of the three thousand magical members of the Potter Alliance in Britain, including the employees of the Foundation, had received bloodline transfers. While few of these wizards and witches had chosen to get more advanced training, all of them with chakra had passed basic training in escape and evasion, and hand to hand combat. In practice, this meant they knew the Replacement, Illusion Clone, Disguise and Body Flicker techniques and could escape from the ropes conjured by the Incarcerous spell, and hopefully knock out their attacker as they fled.
Though the Alliance had extended recruitment into other countries, the British didn't want to rely on their aid in an internal matter, not when they were already dominant. Besides, it would have severely cut back their penetration into those other societies. They had finally cracked the American wall, finding that they had gone off on their own tangents. Fearful European rumours of American technomancy had been just that, however. Though they did reject the Pureblood nonsense, they had their own divisive issues.
After France, the Alliance had made the best progress with Australia and New Zealand. Neither nation had a prominent population of Purebloods as the British colonies had had nothing to attract the sedentary wizards all the way from Europe. Only the desperate had gone. The native magical peoples had suffered the same fate, in the main, as their cousins, leaving the two nations with societies very much in flux. As such, they were fertile ground for the Alliance's message of modernization and reunification.
Padma and Parvati had been excited all day, nor were they alone in that. With all the tension they had all felt lately, Harry and his Jewels all needed this time out for themselves, and that Saturday each Jewel set a clone aside for just spending time with Harry. While each Jewel was spending it in a way she liked best, Harry had offered to take the pair on a double date. The twins weren't too sure about it until he said he would do his best to please them. They agreed, knowing he always did and that so far he did a pretty great job. They could always change their minds later.
They didn't know any more than that as Harry wanted to build the anticipation. All they knew was that Harry had said he was going to surprise the twins that evening and that he hoped they would dress up for the occasion. He wasn't worried about that but he did know that his ladies appreciated the warning.
At six o'clock, a car arrived for the twins and their date. The girls insisted he sit between them in the back seat, chatting with him about anything other than the war as their driver, Yugito, took them north onto the A-road into London. Just before eight, they pulled up outside a French restaurant.
Padma and Parvati were glad they had dressed to impress as they walked in with Harry and his clone. He had quickly matched Padma's blue and Parvati's red themes for the evening.
"Table for Potter." He clearly told the attendant. His self-confidence and his clothes ensured there were no embarrassing scenes and they were quietly taken to their table.
"Right this way. Would mesdames and messieurs care for an aperitif?"
After ordering a round of Perrier, they looked over their menus while chatting more. Parvati was switching between flirting and a more serious discussion, for her, about fashion. Padma, however, was discussing her own pet interest. Ever since she had started at Hogwarts, her two passions had been arithmancy and astronomy. Of the two, astronomy had taken over as the Ravenclaw twin got hooked on imagery from Hubble. That had led to her wondering what exactly was going on inside all of those stars, something that interested her twin little who preferred for a time using them to predict the future.
Parvati's interest in divination had faded after discovering the prophecy, which had ruled Harry's early life, was little more than a guess. Even the clearest were impossible to prove as predictions since they were shared with the people mentioned which meant their actions were guided by knowledge of the prophecy. Instead, she dived headlong into fashion, finding it fascinating and rewarding, now monetarily as well as something to share with her beau.
Over dessert, tarte tatin for Harry and crepes Suzette for his clone while the girls enjoyed profiteroles, Parvati flirted more blatantly with him, licking her spoon provocatively and smiling at his momentarily stunned reaction. After calling for the cheque, Harry took the arm of Parvati and Padma sneaked her hand around his clone's and they walked to a nearby cinema. Despite the expense, he had arranged for one theatre to be booked out for just the four of them and they settled in to watch an old romance that was the favourite of both twins.
Harry and his clones had the pair between them, occupying the central seats and shielding them from casual view when the usher came in to offer them refreshments. That was a good thing, too, as Parvati proved once more why she had been Sorted into Gryffindor. Her bold actions at the restaurant were eclipsed as she snuck her hand down Harry's pants during the movie.
Padma was well aware of her twin's actions but too happy to care. She was leaning into her Harry's side, head on his shoulder as he had his left arm wrapped around her. Sappy movies were a bit of a guilty pleasure for her and she loved that Harry had done all this for her.
When the movie ended, and they had made themselves presentable once more, they stepped out into the cool night air and down an alley. Out of sight, the girls Apparated themselves back 'home' to the Kitsune Compound while Harry and his clone followed in a yellow flash.
Though it was after midnight, none of them felt like sleeping. Harry had long since got used to only sleeping a couple of hours a night, using the toxin removal technique and some light healing to reduce his body's need for it. The Jewels had also taken advantage of it, with some like Hermione using it practically every night while others like Amelia used it only when she had to. The sheer luxury of getting to sleep in after years of overwork thanks to shadow clones taking care of her was something she would not give up without a fight.
Tonight, all of them used it, the girls kissing and caressing him as he walked backwards with them to their rooms. Once inside, Harry and Parvati stopped just beyond the door, Harry kicking it closed as he kissed her for all she was worth. Unlike some other times, Parvati was already hot for him, nearly tearing at her clothes in her haste before kneeling in front of him. One look and Harry knew she was leaving the choice in his hands tonight. Whatever they did together, he would be in control. It was something she saved for special occasions, while she really enjoyed their normal play, she loved letting him surprise her. Harry didn't disappoint her.
In her own room, Padma looked longingly at the silk ties by her bed then shook her head. 'No. Tonight, I want to be just us. No distractions.' She added her own privacy techniques around the room and pulled Harry with her to her bed. She sat him down, looking at him playfully as she undressed him slowly, caressing and kissing him as she did so. When she finished, Harry pushed her onto her back and returned the favour, naturally leading her into more pleasure and looking up into her eyes as she rode him. Her breasts bounced as she rocked faster, their hands joined as she used it for more leverage, the speed carrying her through her first orgasm and well on the way to her next. Before she went to sleep, Harry made sure she was thoroughly satisfied, and so was he. They fell asleep holding each other and smiling.
Truthfully, working out the plan took longer than setting up Amelia's decoy village. In under an hour, once the location was agreed, the buildings had taken shape. An hour after that, the place was finished and ready for the clones to take up residence. The houses were built in the style that had been used for centuries in the Wizarding World to indicate working class homes, complete with the touches of poor repair and dirt in odd corners that the Death Eaters would unconsciously expect. The wards were present but underpowered for the time being, something the clones were busy fixing through the abundant use of lightning techniques to be converted by the power wards.
There was a separate set of wardstones present in a wide ring around the entire village. A notification ward and some deliberately weak anti-transport wards had been set into them. The plan was that once the Death Eaters attacked, waves of clones surrounding the fake town would rush inwards, trapping the enemy. As they advanced, they would dump a lot of their own chakra into lightning techniques to supercharge the protections.
As the saying goes, however, no battle plan survives contact with the enemy.
Although their agents had let slip clues to the location of their fake little town in front of known Dark supporters and suspected Death Eaters, there hadn't been any discussion of it in Malfoy Manor. At least, there hadn't been any in range of their transmitters. It took sending in a Lifeguard, in disguise and acting drunk, who 'accidentally' dropped his wallet with directions to the fake town for the information to reach its target.
Two hours later, they overheard a Death Eater run into Voldemort's throne room.
"My Lord!"
Riddle's hiss as he replied was cold enough to send shivers down the spines of many of his hidden listeners. "Yes?"
"My Lord!" The wizard was nearly out of breath but forced through it. "I have the answer! I know where the Mudbloods have gone!"
"Where!"
"Here, my Lord!" He handed over the bit of parchment and the wallet it came from to his Master.
Voldemort hastily read through the note then glared at his minion. "Look in my eyes!" As soon as his servant did, Voldemort drove a probe into the other wizard's mind, searching for the encounter.
Voldemort saw as the wizard had come across the wallet lying in the gutter of Knockturn Alley. He saw himself in the minion's body pick it up and felt the other man's glee as he found within it forty two Galleons which made their way quickly to the wizard's own purse, before he took himself off to a restaurant to celebrate his find with a fine meal. And then he saw the wizard finally go through the rest of the wallet, finding the parchment and realizing what it meant before heading to Malfoy Manor with only a few of the usual security precautions followed. Rooting deeper, he saw that no one had followed the younger man, which was definitely a good thing for his continued survival.
Voldemort sat back. "You have done very well. You may go." The self-appointed lord closed his eyes in pleasure, ignoring the scurrying of his minion making haste to get a Headache Relief Potion after Voldemort's brutal but efficient trampling through his memories. 'Yes, you have done very well indeed.'
It was like kicking over an ant nest. That was the best way Harry had found to describe the effect on the Death Eaters of finding out after years of searching where the Muggleborns had gone. There was an atmosphere of fear and excitement that came through the bugs they had on the Death Eaters as they prepared for a major attack.
This time around, there were to be no signs at all that the Potter Alliance knew of the attack. Both sides had been learning each other's moves with the Death Eaters learning faster since they had so much further to go. The Death Eaters had tried leaking the idea of them mounting an operation on the Ministry and the Lifeguards dutifully took the bait, mounting more guards on the place and 'hidden' guards outside. Supposedly, they would be in the wrong place at the wrong time when the Death Eaters attacked their homes and families.
Malfoy Manor suddenly gained more obscuring wards to guard against magical spying, not that it had lacked those before, and generally the Dark was becoming more competent about fighting the war they had started.
In the fake Potterville, the Clan had come through in spades. There were clones that looked like every one of the 'missing' Muggleborns and others who had flocked to the Lily Potter Foundation. They came in a variety of clothes, walks and all the little details needed to make their act convincing, as well as talking in character.
The wards had been tested already, too. The Lifeguards had run a drill, trying to attack the place, standing in for the Death Eaters, and the wards had been tweaked slightly in light of the experience. Now, all they had to do was wait.
By the end of the third day after their misinformation reached the Dark Lord, their patience had paid off. All signs pointed towards an attack at midnight. Between the economic attacks cutting into his funds and the pressure of the raids on the Death Eaters, Voldemort had been prevented from launching any attacks on regular British people as he shored up his own position.
That made both the Prime Minister and the Metropolitan Police happy. After untold hours in meetings and negotiations with their magical counterparts, and in test operations on the ground, they could honestly say that cooperation between the magical and regular British governments was higher than it had been since the Statute of Secrecy was enacted. As such, they were willing to agree to certain quiet concessions that would have been out of the question only a handful of years before.
Some of the fruits of that quiet cooperation were present tonight. For the first time, the defenders had some assault rifles on standby, in case the planned overwhelming force wasn't as overwhelming as they hoped.
Harry and the Jewels were only able to watch via cameras installed in and around the fake town as the hours ticked down to the attack. As much as he wanted to be there, to help out, this was again not his fight. Besides, revealing his own abilities with clones was unnecessary to the outcome of the battle. Each of his mothers could drop in far more clones than the hundred or so Harry could now create, not to mention the thousands of Naruto clones, and every single one was both more skilled and far more experienced than him.
The one time he had tried going to the others in the Potter Alliance for support, it was even worse. Daphne's father had called him into his study.
"Son, what is this foolishness I hear about you wanting to fight?" David Greengrass addressed the young man who he already regarded as part of the family, even if a wedding was still over a year away.
"I've been trained. I know how to do it and I have already had to kill."
"Of course, but how is that relevant? You are normally smarter than this."
Harry sighed. "I know. I want to help. I want to prove myself... And I want to hurt the bastards that went after my friends."
David nodded. "Of course. You're as human as anyone else, Harry, but you also know why you shouldn't be there, even as clones."
"I know. If I go there in person, I'm risking myself, and the Alliance, on some idiot getting lucky. Sure, they wouldn't survive the attack but resurrecting me is something no one wants to have to risk, what with the unknowns of the prophecy and whatever my mother did to protect me."
"And?" David prompted his future son-in-law, knowing Harry was holding back something.
"And I also risk splitting the attention of the others between doing their jobs and protecting me. Sending in more clones would only exacerbate the problem of distracting the troops who are supposed to be there. They need to be there, I don't, so I have to stay behind."
"Very good. It's not even going to be the final battle, or the biggest one, if the future is anything like our plans. No point showing our cards to the enemy if we don't have to. You don't have to prove anything to the Alliance, Harry. We all respect you already."
"Thank you, sir." Harry added quickly seeing the expression on the older man's face at the slip. He had excused himself, heading to his Jewels where Athena had taken one hand and Luna the other, pulling him to a couch where they cuddled into his sides, giving him their loving support.
Now, as the final minutes ticked by, Harry was again sitting with the ladies he loved. They were piled on a massive rug, watching a big TV screen split into views from multiple angles of the fake little town. It was agreed beforehand that the footage they would see would be edited. Nothing too gory or graphic would be shown where innocent girls could see and there was a thirty second delay built into the coverage to facilitate that.
To his mild surprise, Harry found that he was okay with that. He had discussed his talk with Daphne's father with the Jewels and they had been adamant and unified in their opposition to Harry risking himself in this battle.
A camera in the bottom right of the giant screen lit up as the light effects of a number of Portkeys drowned out the view of the outskirts of the little town. In less than a minute from first to last and in seventeen ranks of twenty-nine, the Death Eaters had arrived.
They were commanded by six of Voldemort's inner circle, all answering to Voldemort as the Arithmantically symbolic seventh. Naturally, all of them were considered high value targets by the defenders.
In addition, the Lifeguards and the Clan had studied the voices, mannerisms and tactics of all the people they suspected of being the most important Death Eaters. While an attempt would be made to capture the enemy for interrogations and possible trials, they had no desire to see any of these murderers get away to try again. If it came to it, killing Death Eaters was perfectly acceptable in this battle.
The defenders raised an alarm as part of their cover. What looked like civilians, men, women and small children, boiled out of their 'homes' in apparent panic. The hardest part of the plan, in some ways, was making sure the Death Eaters swallowed the bait fully.
In a rare display of trust, the Clan had chosen for Captain Anderson to be the one to choose when to spring the trap and send in their own clones to begin the ambush. As Harry watched the Death Eaters marching in unison towards the town, showing off their drill, he wondered if the Alliance truly knew how big a step it was for the Clan to follow someone else's lead. He also wondered when this infernal waiting would be over.
"Are we sure there's nothing wrong with the signal?" Sandra complained. "Surely this is taking too long!"
"Look at your watch, Sandra." Amelia told the younger woman with a calm she didn't quite feel.
"What? But it can't be. It feels like an hour since they arrived, not two minutes!"
Amelia chuckled and hugged the other. "It's always this way. Time seems to go slow, then pass in a flash. It's worse when you're on the ground doing it, let me tell you."
Harry nodded. "She's got that right, Sandra. But you're not alone in feeling that it's dragging out. I have that same feeling. I think we all do."
The rest of the Jewels added their agreement. "Thanks for saying what I was thinking first, Sandra." Hannah added.
The group fell silent again as the range narrowed further between the Death Eaters and apparently thin, ragged line of defenders. Two hundred metres. One hundred. Fifty.
"Come on. What are you waiting for?" Ginny complained then blushed as she realized she'd spoken aloud.
Though it wasn't visible on the cameras, Anderson's signal to the clones passed as the Death Eaters reached the thirty metre mark. The reaction most certainly was visible as the 'children' stopped running around in a panic, ducking to the dirt along with their 'helpless' parents. Outside the town, the first wave of clones let loose a veritable wall of lightning from behind the Death Eater force.
Some turned in panic only to sneer when the town wards protected them. That reaction turned to fear for a few of them when they realized what that meant. Not only had they been expected but the defenders' wards would be supercharged by the 'attack'. One or two panicked and tried to use their emergency Portkey only to see them melt in the backlash. They were suddenly glad they hadn't tried to Apparate and met the same fate.
These rearguard Death Eaters were quickly replaced by robe-wearing clones using the Replacement Jutsu to take their places with the displaced wizards and witches knocked out and buried up to their necks in the ground.
The Death Eaters at the front knew none of this. In the chaos of a battle at night, it would take more than that to get through to them past the hundreds of fellow fighters at their back. The flash did provoke them to start attacking, however, and they reacted just as soldiers are supposed to. They charged.
Unfortunately for them, this was exactly what the defenders wanted and they fell back in good order, giving ground with all apparent reluctance in an effort to encourage the attackers to continue. Each of the clones had a stick in hand, exactly as if they were wizards and witches themselves, and they were using jutsu after jutsu ranging from Fireballs and the badly translated Phoenix Flower to Wind techniques like Breakthrough that would act like powerful Banishing Charms. While generally cheap on chakra, they were also fairly powerful compared to the combat spells widely known in the Wizarding World. The Death Eaters put up their own magical shields, surprised not that the attacks demolished their shields each time but that the shields managed to stop the attacks so well.
Soon, the defenders had 'lost' a good hundred clones on their retreat to the centre of the town and around the town hall at the centre. The Death Eaters' main body had pressed on, surrounding them, and they could taste victory was in their grasp when the Lifeguards and the other clones closed the other jaw of the trap upon them. The Death Eaters at the back, spell-fodder used to beef up their numbers and the only ones who could have given a warning, were already replaced. The Inner Circle commander of the rearguard had likewise been taken down before he could get word out to his Lord and Master, and Voldemort himself was having fun casting Dark curses at anyone who got in his way.
Suddenly, the defenders who had seemed somewhat powerful but inaccurate in their efforts, and clearly only desperate civilians around a small number of trained fighters, gave up their ruse. The Death Eaters were now deep within the defenders' wards against Apparation and Portkeys, unable to use either of these instant escape methods, and they were like a child's sandcastle before a tidal wave as clone after clone used a Replacement technique to swap places with a Death Eater before retreating with a Body Flicker. The targeted Death Eater would, where possible, be knocked out, tied up and buried. A minority, however managed to make their capture harder, firing off various Dark curses and dispelling a bunch of clones before they were put down. Though the clones tried to restrict themselves to non-lethal methods, they did end up killing some Death Eaters rather than let them curse their magical allies. As rank after rank of Death Eaters were grabbed this way, Voldemort ordered the rest to fire off a volley of spells at the defenders before they turned to escape the trap. The spells were all stopped by clones that darted in and let them hit, dispelling rather than letting them do whatever they were meant to to the Lifeguards. Through the clearing chakra smoke, the Lifeguards laid down their own return fire, a wave of Stunners that thinned the Death Eaters further. When the wave of red cleared, clones resumed their efforts to capture or kill the Death Eaters, aware they were now on the clock. As soon as the Death Eaters cleared the wards, they would Apparate away and escape, able to kill and torture others. They couldn't let that happen.
Voldemort looked over his shoulder, noticing that his minions were still falling and took out a shrunken, invisible broom from one of his pockets. Unaided flight was one of the dreams of the Wizarding World and even Voldemort had found his magic unequal to the task of both keeping him aloft and letting him move around freely. Instead, he had cheated by enchanting a regular broom with an old invisibility charm and used that to amplify his aura of power. He used it now, hopping on it with surprising agility and calling on his personal bodyguards to mount up and surround him as he left the scene. Of the seven who managed to get airborne before he left the scene, three were pulled off their brooms with wires and a fourth took a fireball to the back, incinerating him instantly in a chaotic inferno. The other three moved their brooms at their top speed, only slightly behind their leader who had already done the same.
With the retreat of their Master, the hope went out of the remaining Death Eaters. Many of them turned around, wanting to kill some of the Mudbloods before they were killed in turn. The change took a couple of Lifeguards by surprise who got showered with debris from ill-aimed Killing Curses just as the last of the terrorists were knocked out.
The battle was finally over.
That didn't mean that the night was over for the defenders, of course. There were nearly five hundred Death Eaters dead or captured to deal with and the remnants of some very Dark spells affecting the landscape. Thankfully, cleaning up magical battles was something that the LPF had a lot of experience in handling for the Ministry and they performed it efficiently by the specialists they employed. As for the Death Eaters, there were surprisingly few deaths among them during the battle and the clones made sure none escaped their fates after it.
With the Death Eaters gone and the spell damage fixed or removed, all that was left was the destruction of the fake town. All, that is, except for the consequences elsewhere.
The Daily Prophet had been primed and ready to put out a special edition. As soon as they got the owl from their owners, the Chief himself made the final corrections to the lead article on the battle and sent it off to the printers.
DEATH EATERS DEFEATED! LIFEGUARDS WIN THE DAY!
These and similar head lines were plastered over the front page. Included were rushed magical photos of the battle, taken remotely from different angles, including the Death Eaters firing on little children, the Lifeguards firing back that volley of Stunners and finally a parade of unconscious Death Eaters levitated away.
The whole article was carefully calculated to praise the Lifeguards with prominent mention of the Lily Potter Foundation cleaning up the site of the short and one-sided battle. And, naturally, all of it was made possible by their very own Harry Potter.
The Minister was quoted as saying that she was happy with the outcome, mainly that the Death Eaters had been utterly defeated without any innocents coming to harm. She also expressed her own displeasure that the traitors in the Wizengamot had made her job of defending the wizards and witches of Great Britain so difficult. This was in contrast to her appreciation that the Lifeguards had acquitted themselves splendidly in the face of an attack on their very homes in the dead of night.
The articles explained that though their patron was at school, studying for his exams as he was supposed to rather than getting involved in battles, he had given the paper a quote. "I am proud of the Lifeguards and the way they have taken to their training and role to protect the people of the Foundation and of the Potter Alliance."
Voldemort was furious, naturally.
It was obvious now that they had somehow baited him into attacking their pathetic town. Examining closer, he couldn't find anything out of place within his copied memory of his minion finding the wallet. It had been his own decision to attack at a time of his choosing, his choice who to take with him, but it all came back to that lucky find. His eyes narrowed as he wondered just how much luck was really involved, and whose it was.
However, even the Dark Lord had to recognize reality before he could impose his will upon it. And the reality of the situation was that this was, bar none, the single worst defeat his forces had ever suffered. Kidnapping and torturing a few Muggles wouldn't fix the problem, nor even make a dent in the bad morale of his forces.
He needed a major victory, and there was only one institution in their world that fit the bill. Despite its importance, this place had never had powerful wards as even the Dark Lords that arose fairly regularly were reluctant to risk doing too much damage to it. By now, however, Voldemort no longer cared about the traditional limits to the depredations of the Dark. Sending spies was easy enough, and he disguised his true intent even from his minions by sending some to other targets, but it was with hidden satisfaction that he got the reports he wanted.
St Mungo's was vulnerable.
Thank you for reading and for your feedback. Thanks also to my wonderful betas, Cloud Zen and Daisy Duck!