When Harry landed, he quickly hid under his cloak. The rest of his team stood close to each other, wanding at the ready, waiting for the signal that came seconds later.
"Voldemort followers, attention! You are surrounded! You have one chance to give up! We are already destroying your wards. You have until we take them out to surrender! Take your wands, raise your hands above your head, and come outside!"
They hoped that some of the Death Eaters would surrender, but unfortunately, none did. A few snatchers tried to escape but were captured without any losses. This meant that the remaining Death Eaters decided to fight.
It only took a few minutes to destroy the wards surrounding the property, leaving the enemies with no time to prepare any defense. Harry immediately headed towards the building where the muggle-borns were held captive. He approached the main door quietly, under a silencing charm, and went inside.
The whole structure was charmed with expansion charms that made it bigger on the inside than the outside. Harry saw many identical entrances on the right wall that had no doors. A quick peek inside the first one showed him that those rooms were mass bedrooms where all the prisoners had slept. As he anticipated, they were all empty, as the captors had hidden them somewhere in case of a losing battle.
The rest of this floor contained a kitchen, a small bathroom, and a few cupboards, so Harry knew he needed to go upstairs. As he climbed the stairs, he heard shouting people. He followed the sound and found himself in front of the open doors to the ballroom. All the prisoners were held behind a barrier. Harry counted the Death Eaters and contacted his team, knowing Neville was waiting for information.
"Nev, u there?"
"Yes. How is it inside?"
"Ground floor clean. 1 floor, ballroom. All muggleborns and Death Eaters."
"How many Death Eaters?"
"Seven. Mulciber is one."
"We're going inside."
"The first door is charmed, they will know."
"OK."
Harry knew that the second they heard his team, the Death Eaters would close the ballroom and try to negotiate. Nonetheless, he decided to stay inside because the advantage of his presence was too big to ignore. A minute later, an alarm rang close to him.
"They're inside!" shouted one of the snatchers.
"Close the door and wait. We will negotiate," replied Mulciber.
A short moment later, he heard Kingsley's voice behind the door.
"You are surrounded! Open the door and surrender your wands!"
"Oh, we will not do that. Neither will we be arrested," replied Mulciber. "You see, we have several mudbloods here. If you want them alive, you will let us leave free. Otherwise, you will get them back, but in parts. You have five minutes to decide. If not, then we will send you the first body. So pick smart!" he said maliciously.
"What are we doing?" Harry sent a message
"We wait for more. If we attack the door, they will counter and kill us."
"How many of you are there?"
"Six."
Harry thought for a second and got a crazy idea.
"I will open the door."
"WHAT? DON'T!"
"I will blast the doors, you run in. They will be surprised, and we can take them down."
"They will attack you first."
"I will manage."
There was a moment of silence from his teammates, and meanwhile, Mulciber was getting impatient.
"One minute left, Shacklebolt! Make a choice!" he shouted.
Harry knew that they were out of time and had to do something.
"I will do it. Are you ready?" He sent through a coin
"Yeah. King will shout, wait five seconds, then blast the door. Good luck."
Harry took a deep breath, knowing he would be the first target of their attack. He focused completely and then heard the Minister's voice.
"You made a mistake, Mulciber!" King shouted, giving Harry the signal.
Harry took off his cloak and shouted, "BOMBARDA MAXIMA!" The doors exploded, and the snatchers aimed their wands at Harry. Because they had not expected him inside, he had a second to cast one more spell.
"BOMBARDA MAXIMA!" he cast again, this time aiming at the wall behind the snatchers. His spell hit its target and blasted a wall behind them, taking out three of the snatchers. Unfortunately for him, the rest of the Death Eaters had already aimed at him and cast their spells.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" "CONFRINGO!" "DIFFINDO!" "DEFODIO!"
He managed to dodge the Killing Curse, but the rest of the spells hit him, either directly or with shrapnel.
"He fell to the floor, screaming in pain. Meanwhile, his team quickly stunned the death eaters and took their wands. They ran to Harry to check him out.
"HARRY! Do you hear us?" Neville asked frantically.
"Damn, it hurts!" he replied with a big grimace on his face.
At the same time, Bill dispelled the barrier that stood around the prisoners and started talking to them.
"Are any of you injured? Are all of the prisoners here?" he asked.
"Yeah, they rounded all of us here when they heard you the first time. And we were not hurt in this fight," replied one of them. "But all of us have some broken bones or other injuries from our stay here."
"Alright, we are taking you all to St. Mungo's. Neville, send a message to Robards that we have taken control here. Bill, you will take Harry to Mungo's as he is most injured. Proudfoot, Williamson, check on prisoners and send them to the hospital as well. Those in the worst condition are going first. Me and Adam will stand on guard in case some of the DE from the main house will try to run here," Kingsley ordered.
Bill came to Harry, who was conscious but in pain. He grabbed his uninjured hand and used a portkey. The second they landed, he started shouting.
"I need a healer here, now!"
Mere seconds later, two healers ran towards them. Bill recognized one of them and gave him a quick summary as he knew that the healer was aware of their fight.
"Listen up. We had managed to free all the prisoners, so in the next few minutes, they will all be portkeyed here. None of them is seriously wounded, but there are a few dozen of them, so you will need to prepare. Also, I think that at any moment, those who were hurt in the fight for the main house will arrive as well."
The healer only nodded at him and started barking orders.
"Quicksand, Davies - take Potter to Trauma Room 1. Don't take too much space there, we need to save the room. Zeller - contact any healer that works here, we will need them. Peeks, prepare the potions: Blood Replenishers, Skele-Gro, Pain Killers, Burn Salve, Calming, and Sleeping Draughts. Every room is to be fully stocked. GO!" he shouted and his workers rushed to work.
Harry was rushed into the room and stripped of his clothes so the healers could check him out. Casting diagnostic spells as well as visually assessing his condition allowed them to find out the full extent of his wounds. Luckily, there was nothing lethal. His right arm was not damaged, his legs had first-degree burns, but his left arm took the biggest damage. He had a hole through his forearm, a very deep cut on his biceps, two badly broken bones, and second-degree burns.
"Okay, we will start with his arm. Quicksand, prepare Blood Replenisher, Essence of Dittany, Skele-gro, Burn Salve, and painkillers," Healer Davis ordered while she started to heal his arm. She started by giving him painkillers and blood replenishers, then vanished bones as they were too broken to mend them. After that, she used the essence of dittany to seal his cut and hole in his arm to stop the bleeding. In the end, she could take care of his burns. Thanks to painkillers, Harry was not in agony and was able to speak with the healer.
"So, Lord Potter, how did you end up so wounded?"
Harry then told her the story of their action and how they managed to defeat the snatchers. The healers that had been treating him were astonished hearing his tale.
"You are an incredible wizard. Most of the wizards would have run away, screaming like little girls. Our country owes you a debt," Healer Quicksand commented.
"You can repay that debt by allowing me to leave the hospital today," he joked.
"Tomorrow morning, Lord Potter, I want to keep you here for a night just in case. But don't be too happy, even if you leave tomorrow, you will need to take things easy for a few days as your left arm will require treatment for a few more days. So, no more fights and heroic actions for a week. Will you be able to do that?" the healer replied, amused by his desire to leave the hospital so fast.
"I will do my best but no promises," Harry replied.
During their conversation, the healers completed his treatment and decided to transport him to his room for a night. He ate supper in silence, thinking about the last few hours. His thoughts were stopped by his visitors. Auror Robarts, Kingsley, Bill, and Neville had come to visit him.
"Hi, guys. How did everything end? Did you catch them all? Is everyone alright?" Harry questioned them.
"Slowly, Harry," Kingsley laughed a bit at him. "Yes, we got them all, and it looks like we did not lose anyone on our side. You and Auror Savage were the ones with the most injuries, but the healers told us a minute ago that he would survive. So, we can conclude that our operation was a very big success," the Minister replied, but his tone changed a bit.
"Now, Harry, I know that you are tired, but can you tell us what happened inside?"
"I managed to go inside without any problem as the doors were still open. I made a quick check on the first floor, but after finding no one, I went upstairs. When I was still on the ground floor, I passed the snatcher who went to close the door. I knew that the moment you would enter, they would barricade themselves, so I went." "I knew that once you entered the room, they would barricade themselves, so I went inside the ballroom and stayed close to them. Yes, it was risky, but I understood that my being inside would give us a huge advantage. Then, after I broke the doors, I knew I only had a few seconds before they cast at me, so I decided to cast a wide-area spell to take out as many as I could. And well, you know the rest," he elaborated.
"You did well, Potter. If you had stayed outside the room, you all would have had to wait 15 minutes for support. Those minutes could have ended up costing the lives of prisoners," said Robarts.
"Thank you. So, what's next, guys?" Harry asked.
"Tomorrow, after breakfast, we will all meet at the ministry to summarize the whole operation. Then, Kingsley and I will give a press conference. In the evening, we will start questioning them if there is something more that we need to know. Meanwhile, Weasley and the rest of the cursebreakers have a long night ahead of them as we need them to ward the ministry. We have reached maximum capacity in our holding cells, and we need help to keep them all locked up."
"That sounds like a good plan," Harry replied.
"Maybe for you," Bill pouted. "You don't have to work a night shift to come back home in the morning, only to be taken into a three-hour-long questioning by Mom."
"If you want, I can go to the Burrow with you after the meeting. That will take the burden of interrogation off you," laughed Harry.
"I'll take you up on your offer. I'll be here after breakfast, and we'll go together to the ministry."
"Sounds great," Harry replied. They spoke for a few minutes, then left as they wanted to rest for a bit. Harry thought of going to sleep himself but then Healer Quicksand came to check on him.
"Okay, Lord Potter, looks like the potions are working the way they are supposed to."
"Glad to hear that. I want to leave tomorrow morning."
"If everything goes smoothly, then you will leave," the Healer said. She stood up and began to leave the room but then remembered to give him some news.
"Oh, I almost forgot to tell you, you'll have a roommate for the night."
"No problem, who did I get?"
"The only thing I know is that it will be one of the muggle-borns who we plan for him to stay only for one night. Sorry, but I don't have more details."
"No problem, thanks for letting me know and for your care."
"You're welcome," she replied and left the room.
Harry decided to wait and see who would join him in the room. To his delight, he recognized the man almost instantly.
"TED TONKS?"
"Hello, Harry. Good to see you," the older man replied weakly.
"I'm very glad to see you too."
"I was wondering if you have any information about Dora, Andi, and Remus?" he asked, his voice full of hope that he would be reunited with his family.
"I spoke with Andi and Dora this morning. Andromeda survived the war without any damage. As for Dora, well, I'll be honest. For about 16 hours after the battle, we thought she was dead. Only when Aurors examined her did they realize she was still alive. Healers managed to save her life, but she has a long road ahead of her to get back to full health. Unfortunately, Remus died during the battle."
Ted was terrified when he heard about his daughter's condition, but very happy that she was alive. He was sad when he heard that his son-in-law was dead, as he liked him very much.
"I'm so sorry, Harry. I know you and Remus were close."
"Thank you. I'll understand if you don't want to talk about it, but can you tell me what was going on in the camp?"
Ted sighed heavily but replied.
"Honestly, it's hard to describe. They were beating us, starving, humiliating, and many more. But for some reason, they wanted to keep us alive." He sighed again but continued."But for some reason, we knew that we couldn't give up. That someone will defeat him." He concluded
"I'm so sorry it happened to you," Harry said, but then he realized that he had a way to cheer up his older roommate.
"You know what? There's one more thing you should know."
"What is it?"
"I forgot to tell you that there's one more person who will be very happy that you survived, even though you have no idea that he exists."
"Who are you talking about?"
"A certain gentleman called Edward Lupin."
Ted looked confused at first, but then he connected some dots in his head and, with a voice full of hope, he asked, "Are you trying to tell me that Dora has a son?"
"Congratulations, grandfather."
Ted burst into tears and hugged Harry with all the strength he had.
"Dear Lord, thank you. I was almost sure that I would die there, and now not only am I out of there, but I have a grandson..." He cried even more. It took him a few minutes to compose himself, but when he did, he bombarded Harry with questions. "Had you seen him? Is he healthy? Who does he resemble the most?"
Harry couldn't resist laughing at Ted's excitement but decided to satisfy his curiosity instead of teasing him. He knew that after all the horrors Ted went through, a conversation like this would be perfect for him.
"I did meet him, and I have the great honor of being his godfather. He is a healthy baby boy and did not inherit lycanthropy from Remus. As for his appearance, it's hard to say as he keeps changing every few minutes," he explained.
"He's a Metamorph like Dora? How wonderful!" He then started to imagine all the things he would do with his grandson in the future, and these thoughts brought a big grin to his face. Harry decided to let him stay in this fantasy world and went to sleep.