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By the time five of the six had fallen, the sixth having had just enough time to dodge away from the curse and turn towards the trio that emerged from the woods to fight them, the tide had already turned. There were only seven of Grindelwald's goons left in the fight, and the odds had now very quickly turned against them as the Auror force that had previously been encircled, burst free of their wooden cover, their spells constantly alight and voices filled with fury as they fought their would-be captors.
Harry, thankfully enough, managed to spot McMacson in the madness. He was very thankful that the older man was still alive and well even if half of his group was now strewn about on the ground, cold and hollow thanks to those that would see the world in a similar state.
Boom. An explosion barely missed Harry, instead hitting the ground a few feet before him and sending him flying in the process. Immediately, his two friends were beside him, Reinhard dragging him behind a quickly-transfigured cover whilst Aster covered them. The battle was even, at the moment, for it seemed McMacson was just as wounded and exhausted as Harry had been prior to his friends finding him — even now he was still exhausted, but his injuries proved inconsequential in comparison to the state of the five Aurors that had emerged; all of them very badly wounded and one of them falling under a barrage of spellfire.
This isn't our victory yet, not until the lot of them are dead and we can get that fresh relief force sent here.
Harry struggled to his feet when he felt a sudden sense of wetness on his left leg, one that made him look down to see blood flowing in a small stream from a nasty-looking cut. It could be dealt with later when his friends and the other Aurors were safe, and as such, he forced himself back into the fight once more.
"We shouldn't push," Aster called to him as the four remaining Aurors led by McMacson made their way over to the trio that had come to rescue them, the fight now a seven versus seven with the advantage to neither side. "They're fresher than we are, we have to make sure our defence is good."
He was right, Harry knew that, and so he went about making the cover stronger and larger for the increased number of people that would be hiding behind it. Eventually, it would break apart should they truly want it to, but for the time being, the seven attackers were happy to reorganise themselves just as the Aurors were doing. The lull in the battle proved useful to both sides, each of them only trading sporadic spellfire as they readied themselves for the next round of fighting.
It came not more than a minute or so later, the seven followers of Grindelwald all but sprinting forward, towards the position of the Aurors — they had to know the Government forces were weak and heavily wounded, exhausted and without supplies to fix their sorry states. Harry would have done the same, and he knew for a fact that Aster would have too.
He moved to his left, breaking away from the cover and he managed to catch one of the attackers by surprise as the barrage hit their dirt, stone and wooden fortifications. The shield charms cast by the ablest of the Aurors, Aster and Reinhard included, kept a great deal of the damage from striking, but even then, they could only do so much against the darker, more violent curses as they burst the shields or through them all together to strike at the hardcover, sending chunks of debris zooming through the air to strike into the Aurors or themselves.
Harry let out an angry noise, primal-sounding and vicious as he fired three curses, all of which with killing capabilities, and one of their numbers struck true. He watched with a sick fascination as the nearest man, the one that he had hit, fell to the ground whilst clutching at his throat; a painful death, a slow death, one that any follower of Grindelwald deserved.
He would have watched it longer had a hand not pulled him back, two of them to be precise — Aster was pulling him into cover, away from a curse, but the boy had been too slow.
Not for Harry, no, Harry was safe, but Aster had risked his own safety whilst ensuring Harry had his; the curse struck the boy, his eyes looking into Harry's, and then Aster was on the ground.
Harry blinked, not believing his eyes as he looked at his friend. Aster wasn't blinking or moving, blood was trickling from the left corner of his mouth and his hand that had been holding onto his wand went slack, allowing the aforementioned item to fall onto the cold ground of the meadow.
He shook his head, his eyebrows furrowed. No, he thought. Aster can't be gone, not after everything we've been through. That's not how this ends, it's not how it's supposed to end.
There was a sudden roar of anger and anguish from his side; Reinhard. The large boy was looking at Aster with grief-filled eyes, his chest rising and falling incredibly fast, and then he burst free from cover with two Aurors right behind him. The rest of them, McMacson included, went up and over or around the cover, Harry went with them.
In response, Grindelwald's followers faltered at the charge and that was all the surprise the Aurors needed. They fell into the former dark lord's followers with a fury, slicing them apart, blowing them up, killing them in any which way. Harry handled two of the nearest, one with a killing curse and one with a curse that saw their joints cease in their working, ensuring the person fell to the ground. As soon as they did, Harry hit them with a curse that would fill their lungs with sand.
When he looked around after having handled his enemies, he saw that the battle was over quickly and decisively. It had taken a very dangerous push, one that started because of Aster's fall, but it had succeeded in ensuring that they survived, that they could continue to hold out until the reinforcements arrived, and that was especially important if the rest of them were to make it.
Now, there was something that Harry needed to do. He had to go back as Reinhard was already doing to check on their fallen friend; if Aster were dead, there would be no stopping the rampage that Reinhard and Harry would go on together. All of Grindelwald's followers, all of them to a man or a woman, would be dealt with. Friends the likes of the new trio were incredibly hard to come by and any who dared harm one of them better hope that they can defeat all three, otherwise, there would be nothing they could do.
"How's he looking, mate?" Harry asked as soon as he was by Reinhard's side, the larger boy had crouched down to shake their friend who, even now, was sprawled out on the ground.
Reinhard looked confused with his browns knitted together and then he huffed, letting go of Aster, the smaller boy immediately falling back to the ground where he had been before the larger boy tried hoisting him up for signs of life. "I don't think he's breathing," Reinhard said, but he looked unsure and pointed at Harry. "You're better with this type of magic than me — you check. Quickly! We don't know what we need to do."
Harry went about doing as his friend said, his wand pointed at Aster's figure as he ran his first diagnostic spell on the boy. It wasn't very reassuring. Aster's body didn't react, the spell seemed to think that he was gone, dead, but Harry knew better than to stop at one spell and he knew even better not to relay that information to Reinhard in case the magic used to incapacitate their friend was more advanced than he had thought.
The second spell revealed that Aster's heart was still pumping blood and that his brain was still functional, the next few determined that his organs were, by and large, fully functional. There seemed to be some minor damage to a few of them from an explosion, but that was beyond Harry's capabilities. Their friend would need a full healer rather than a bloke like him, especially if pieces of debris were lodged inside of his body. It was better to leave them for somebody who knew how to safely take them out.
As Harry began going through spell after spell, it finally struck him. There was a spell that he remembered having once gone over with Elaine, Emiline and Daphne during one of their 'study' sessions. It wasn't particularly dark in and of itself but the usage of it was often associated with those who were sadistic. You see, the spell would make it seem as if you were dead; it would mask your breathing, lower your, ah, what was the Muggle term… oh, blood pressure, and finally, make you altogether unresponsive to most of the typical spells a healer would cast.
It wouldn't kill you, it would only make it seem as if you were dead and whilst one could argue that isn't incredibly useful, it had its purpose. The casting of it was incredibly easy, from a one-syllable incantation to a tiny flick of the wrist with a semi-circle, most Hogwarts students would be able to cast the spell if they so chose to. As for how it could be sadistic, the answer was simple.
People, often those who fought for the wrong side of history, would use it on those who didn't. At the end of the battle, when the bodies from each side were being taken away, those who had been hit would be burned or buried as tradition dictated. In a way, you were killing your own friends, family, troops, allies or whatever else they might be to you.
"I can get him back on his feet, but those splinters in his side and the blood he's lost from them… it would be better if we left him out like he is. I'll tell whoever treats him and whoever we meet that are meant to come to us what he's been struck with so they know, but I think I'd do more damage than anything else," Harry raised a hand placatingly to Reinhard before the larger boy could say anything and then he made to speak, but somebody else did before he could.
"Peverell is right," McMacson said, the man clutching his right side with one blood-covered hand while he limped forward, supported by a cane in his right. "A lot of us aren't particularly good when it comes down to medical magic. Anything we do, it could kill our friends and that's something you'll never get out of your mind. Believe me. The best we can do is withdraw, all of us, and accept that this battle isn't the victory we had hoped for."
Tough luck with that, Have of our Aurors would rather die after all that's happened today.
"We can call in the remaining commonwealth Aurors for help and send back our wounded. It ends today, it has to," Harry said with a shake of his head at the Director's words.
"If we push any further, any harder, than we already have, it's very likely that when we make up in the morning — if we're given one — there'll be no more Auror Department left. This force isn't the fifty or seventy-five we thought would be here, it's more than likely everybody they hav- had, left. Our Aurors are new, Harry, we can't expect them to go toe to toe with some of the most dangerous wizards and witches of our time," McMacson pointed at some of the younger, wounded, but still alive Aurors that were around them as if to emphasize his point.
He wasn't wrong, not completely, but that still didn't mean that Harry liked leaving the field after so much loss. If they were close to breaking, very close to breaking, then the remnants of Grindelwald had to be too. Their forces weren't very equal in terms of numbers, the Aurors had recruited massively, but the skill meant that it balanced itself out in a horrible way for those new Aurors. But, as Harry had said, that didn't include the remaining Commonwealth or American Auror forces, as they were battle-hardened and could very likely aid this time if called upon.
It wasn't fair to expect them to fight again, not after years of war, but they were sorely needed and if they were resting on their island, they should certainly help to keep it safe. It was the least they could do and Harry would have done it for them. He would have used his Aurors to help their countries should it be requested.
"Let me lead one more push," Harry tried with a pleading look shot to McMacson. "I'll call in the commonwealth Aurors, the Americans, everybody that I can. We'll take this second house, completely clear those tunnels and end the battle that's still raging on. If we retreat now after losing dozens, maybe a hundred of our Aurors and it's known to the public, they could very well become unhappy with us. Especially the ones who lend us their husbands or wives, daughters or sons and what have you only for them to die over a rundown Muggle home."
Harry observed a switch in McMacson's demeanour at those words and internally, he nearly celebrated. Truthfully, Harry didn't doubt there'd be very many people unhappy about hearing their Aurors had lost what would very likely be a battle of survival for the remnants of Grindelwald. Those who lost family or friends would be even angrier if it were all for nought and there was even the chance that some would rise up and help replenish the ranks of Grindelwald if that was 'how the war was going'. There were far too many people who wished to be on the winning side instead of the morally right side; Muggle or Magical, that would never change.
"Do you really think it'll make a difference? Truly?" McMacson asked Harry with one hand on his hip and the other pulling at his hair.
"It could," was Harry's simple reply before he added more to it. "Going all in is the last play we have left and when we make it back, the very next play will be dobbing in whoever said only fifty or seventy-five of the fuckers being here. They were wrong and we've lost a lot of good people because of it."
As McMacson was about to give his reply, a hustle from the bushes whence Harry had come with his two friends drew the remaining Aurors attention. They all aimed their wands and shifted to better positions by the time the first person broke through, but when they did, there was a collective sigh. It wasn't one of Grindelwald's cronies, but an Auror, one that was familiar to a great many of those who had worked in the office for over a week. Merlin, even a day or two and you should recognise the only man who wore a leather jacket in the department.
"Miss me, ladies?" Asked the Head Auror, Urban Maxis, as he made his way over to McMacson and Harry with a great big smirk on his face.
"Oh, definitely," McMacson said with a huff before he crossed his arms. "I don't suppose you remember how I told you to stay at the department, yeah? You were meant to keep the peace and quiet while we were gone, but I guess that didn't hold up all that well, now did it?"
"I was relieved of my duties by a short, pale girl with dark hair and an order from the acting Minister's advisor," Urban responded with a shrug as he completed his move over to Harry and McMacson. "She said she knew what was happening, that I needed to get here on the orders of the Minister with whatever forces we had left and that they'd send more soon. Apparently, this was their plan all along. They leaked information one way or another that we'd attack, the enemy concentrated their forces here and then the Ministry called in outside help to hit them just as hard as they planned on hitting us."
"Bait," Harry said as his mind went to Elaine.
That was why she didn't want me to go here. If I didn't, Aster and Reinhard wouldn't have either, but even then, she could have said something…
"Was it the Minister's plan, or one of his advisors?" Harry asked, shaking his head and getting over the word that the other two men had nodded at.
"The Minister from what I gather. Nobody but officials outside of our Ministry knew about it until the fighting had already started — he did a good job covering it all up. He's a snake. I never thought that I would say it, but I miss the old Minister. At least he didn't use us like sacrificial pawns," Urban finished with a huff and finally called out the rest of his force; there were two dozen Aurors, fresh and young, and most definitely ready for a good scrap.
Harry, McMacson, Reinhard and the other Aurors that had survived looked as if they had already gone through their 'good' scrap. Those that were incapacitated, they looked even worse than those that were standing of their own power, and yet, Harry wasn't ready to call it quits for the day. There was more work that needed to be done and if anybody was going to do it, it was him.
Urban could oversee the main battle and McMacson could head home for some rest.
"We sho—"
"Ma—"
At the same time, Harry and Urban had made to speak with the latter signalling for Harry to go first, before he could do the same to Urban. Harry nodded once as a show of thanks to the other man and after he gathered McMacson's attention, he spoke. "McMacson, I hope you don't mind me saying this, but you should return with the wounded and a small escort of those new arrivals. Our hurt people would take seeing you as a good bit of a morale boost, I'd say."
Urban immediately nodded at his friend. "Best get going, Mac. We both know I don't give a rat's arse if you're my boss, I'll still stun you and force you back to the department with how shite you currently look, and the last thing we need is some new tosser getting put in charge of the department. Oh, right, yes, I'm sure the wounded would take seeing you as a good sign."
"You two won't relent on this, will you?" McMacson asked only to get a shake of the head from each of them in response.
"We can handle it. You've held off a massive group of them and somebody skilled should escort them back, to safety, in case they get ambushed. You'll have to coordinate those outside Aurors coming to us too and since you're the big boss, that's your job," Harry patted McMacson on the shoulder and nodded towards the wounded, half of whom were laying on the ground with blood apparent via their clothes.
McMacson took one long, lingering look at those aforementioned people before he nodded his head, a disgruntled look on his face. "Fine, gits. I'll see them out and get the help to come, but you can be damn sure I'll make my way back," McMacson began ordering the wounded levitated out and he took five of the twenty new arrivals for an escort; he turned to the two other men when that was all happening. "Don't do anything stupid, yeah, you two? We've only just got into a good way and I'll be damned if either of you bollocks it up."
Urban snorted. "I'll handle the main bit and Peverell here will go back to tunnel hunting. I've already put together a small team for him — do me a favour too, send my kids home. They've been good, helping me with some of the paperwork, but I don't want them in the office after or during this. It would be bad for them."
"You don't even have to ask, mate," McMacson responded as he grasped the other man's hand and shook it. "I'll see to it that they're all fine, and you, Peverell, you're one of the few good ones we've got around at the Ministry. If you die, there'll be hell to pay for the entirety of our country… keep that in mind before you try and do anything stupid like I usually do."
Harry snorted and shook McMacson's hand. "I'll make sure I'm not too stupid, now go on, see to it that everything's fine back home and get those new players involved. I'm sure we'll be needing them before too much longer."
I'm certain of it if this is going to be the real final fight. That house right ahead of us too, I'm sure that'll be just as important. There's been too much fighting, too stiff resistance for anything else.
With McMacson leaving, Harry turned back to Urban and the fifteen Aurors he had with him as well as Reinhard, who had elected to stay, intent on spilling blood to avenge their friend; Harry tried not to think about Aster in the event that the smaller boy… if something happened to him. It was too difficult a thought for him to process at the present time and one that would see him too rattled.
"Good?" Harry asked his friend quietly and away from the others.
"Good," Reinhard affirmed with a roll of his neck. "More like I'm ready to kill all of these wankstains. They deserve everything they've got coming to them, Pev. All of it. You know that too, don't you?"
Harry nodded his head. He wouldn't verbally admit that he was intent on getting a few more kills, something about saying that aloud didn't feel too right, especially with a weird urging in the back of his mind. Instead, he focused on the building before him and the new group of Aurors alongside him. They would very likely be the last 'new' group he saw for the day and everything would have to end well for the lot of them, or else it would mean something terrible had happened.
Can't think like that, not right now.
He made his way over to Urban and nodded around at the various youthful Aurors. "We all ready to move in and take that last building, Maxis?"
Urban raised his eyebrows at the use of his last name, then he spat out some gum and nodded, popping a new piece in. "Good to go, as the saying says — let's go kick some continental ass, Peverell."
Harry nodded and then they moved closer to the building, encircling it loosely so that they could first observe it before they went crashing right on through. Over aggressiveness had already cost them once today, possibly twice… it couldn't happen a third time. No, instead, they would observe the building and the surrounding area, and once they'd done so, they would formulate some sort of attack plan. Even then, it would still likely get messy and result in a few wounds at the least and if they were lucky.
Merlin did Harry hope they would be lucky. There was already far too much loss for one day.
"There's the boy from the left side, he's the final one," Urban said as a younger man, possibly even just eighteen years old, joined the group of Harry, Urban, Reinhard and one other man who himself was a survivor of the previous Battle of Hogwarts; Auror Sergeant Rush. "That should complete our picture of the place's perimeter."
Harry nodded a few times. That was some good news so long as there weren't a few dozen windows on that side too. These Muggle homes loved their natural light and while it was beautiful — nature, that was — it could be a hassle when you were trying to attack a place as large as the one before them. The Muggle 'home' was more like a mansion, it just wasn't easily visible through the dense trees and hedges.
Now, well, Harry figured this was the main base instead of the other. There could very well be a hundred or whatever they had left in reserve right before them, but that would beg the question; why hadn't they sent those reserves out to fight the Aurors on their front door if they were inside?
But, on the other hand, why were Grindelwald's followers out here defending the building if it wasn't important?
It didn't make sense, but those questions would be solved before too much longer. They had to be, no matter the cost.
"Alright," Urban said, briefing Harry at the same time he went over the specific details with the others that were present and that had taken first-hand looks at the property. "Here's what we've got — the build is a three-story mansion, it has a few balconies out in the back, all of them offer some good height to fire down at us if they know we're here. Window-wise, we're looking at maybe one hundred across the entire building, possibly one-hundred and fifty. Again, if they know we're here, they could really do us in. That's not good. I'd say, our best bet is to hit fast, get to the top and go in through the balconies. They probably won't expect that and if we can catch them by surprise, it'll make dealing with them a lot easier. It helps that we could hold the staircases if the need arises, meaning we could bottleneck them if they have more people present than we think they do."
"Do we know where those staircases are? Are there any windows that tell us how many there are?" Harry asked, not disagreeing with Urban's plan thus far.
The man looked at the other three and then at his little drawing of the property in the dirt. It was very rudimentary and the bugs were still getting at them with an annoying ferocity, but after a few seconds of remembrance and an impatient huff from the Head Auror, the other three marked the locations where they thought they were with boxes.
"It looks like we've got three staircases, I'd bet the middle of the three is larger than the others. We could put three, three and eleven on each of those staircases, with the two teams of three obviously working on those smaller staircases to conserve our forces," Urban said, looking at Harry for his opinion.
He gave it readily. "Four, four and nine. We'll put a senior person like you, me or Rush with those teams. I wouldn't want the groups getting overrun or without somebody with experience alongside them."
"Alright," Urban said with a grunt. "We'll hold for five or so minutes if we don't have any contact on the top floor, then we'll push down, just to make sure there aren't any patrols. If we end up having to fight on that top floor, we'll have to move as quickly as we can to those three staircases before we'll up to our knees in Grindelwald's rejects."
"Prisoners," Harry said, drawing the eyes of all that were present.
"Pev?" Reinhard asked, his brows angrily laced together as he looked at his friend.
Harry shook his head. "I don't mean taking them as prisoners, not unless they're already disarmed and dealt with — meet deadly force with deadlier force. All of them would do the same," he pointed at the basement, or at the centre of the building, with the tip of his wand. "Keep a careful eye all around, but especially in those two areas. If they have any captives as those other tunnels did, they'll be somewhere towards the centre or in the basement… in fact, I reckon they might have this place hollowed out with dozens of tunnels too. It could be a nightmare to go through if that's the case."
"You lot heard him. Don't go throwing around spells that could cause the place to collapse or for any of our people who may or may not be here. The last thing we need is to kill the people we're meant to protect," Urban looked at the older man like himself with his eyes narrowed, a warning look was very clearly given; if Harry remembered right, Urban himself was a huge fan of explosive spells and as such, Harry figured that look was meant to cut off any remarks.
It was a very Ron-like attitude, one that had Harry missing his old Weasley friend… Marcus and Veronica would have to hear from him soon when all of this madness was finally over. Sarah too, the girl hadn't spoken with him as much as she used to in quite some time and her company was sorely missed. Corene too, even if they had spent a bit of time recently together. It just wasn't like it had been in Hogwarts before the siege, he doubted it ever would be again.
"Peverell?" Urban's voice asked, shaking him from his thinking. "Is there anything else you'd like to add, or are we ready to begin?"
Harry shook his head. "I've got nothing to add, let's get this over with so we can rescue those that need us and get home — be safe, guys. Remember, like McMacson enjoys saying, don't do anything stupid."
There was a chorus of snickers as the men broke apart to go to their positions while Harry stayed with his main body, the group slowly and quietly making their way to the back of the building before they would climb up the rear of the home. Harry hoped Mortem would see his friends and fellow Aurors through this fight. If he were to accomplish everything that she wanted him to, everything that she wouldn't speak about, then she very well owed him that, now didn't she?
Harry had transfigured the side of the building — once he made sure there weren't any wards on the building — so that a ladder wide enough for three people to climb at once, shoulder to shoulder, was present. It was sturdy and saw his group as well as the other groups that he aided up the side of the building with a degree of ease and pace they thought wasn't possible.
It certainly made the initial part of the plan come together very quickly, which hopefully meant the rest of the plan would be just as fast. Now, obviously, he knew that wouldn't be the case, but when he made it over with Reinhard and another Auror, they didn't see a room filled with wards, potions or hostile Grindelwald followers.
Quite simply, it was empty. There was a bed that had clearly been slept in, clothes that were meant for a lady sprawled on the floor and a bathroom that rivalled his own in size, but all of those rooms and places to hide in were empty. That didn't sit too right with him, the lack of wards or cursed items, at least ones that weren't easily detectable only made him feel worse, more nervous, really.
Reinhard tapped him on the shoulder and motioned to his wand, then he pointed at the next group of Aurors that were climbing up behind them. Harry didn't understand what his friend meant until he started counting them, and then it struck Harry; Reinhard couldn't use the spell for one reason or another, but Harry knew it.
He cast the Homenum Revelio charm silently — thank you, Elaine — and like that, he knew how many people were inside. It wasn't nearly as bad as he had thought, but the number of people was still high and growing on account of the Aurors. Altogether, there were nearly sixty or so people in the building. They were outnumbered, he and his Auror force, but there was no telling how many of those people were wounded, sick or civilian captives; there were many people missing that had been kidnapped by Grindelwald's Goons, after all.
"What do we have?" Reinhard whispered, the large boy hovering at his shoulder after Harry had cast the spell, clearly waiting with a certain level of eagerness for the answer. It made sense, Reinhard likely wanted to know how many people he could reserve for himself.
"Sixty altogether, give or take a few based on our guys climbing up," Harry shook his head when Reinhard made to speak. "There's no telling who's who. Half of them could be captives and the others just a bunch of their wounded, or all sixty could be his followers and they're all just waiting to welcome us. I can't tell."
Reinhard huffed and looked back at the balcony where the last few of Harry's group were popping up. When the signal was sent, the signal being a mundane wave of the hands across the three balconies, the groups would burst out into the hallway and race to their staircases. Once there, one person from the two flank groups and two from the centre would peak into the various rooms to ensure they were empty. It already seemed like this top floor wasn't used and there weren't any wards, none at all.
Merlin, that still didn't sit right with Harry. Why would you have a place as secure and done-up as this one if you didn't ward it? These people weren't idiots, he didn't like them, but he did respect their capabilities. He would be an idiot if he didn't.
"There's the signal — go!" Reinhard said, bolting past Harry as he all but ran through the door and into the hallway; there was nothing, the door didn't even make noise thanks to the fast act of an Auror with a cushioning charm. "Empty," Reinhard reported.
That didn't stop them as Harry, Reinhard and two Aurors raced towards the far left staircase, intent on taking it before anybody could come up.
Harry, Reinhard and their two fellow Aurors that were moving alongside them made it to their assigned staircase or thereabouts without any sign of those within the building. As Harry had thought before, it was eery, but it was fortunate too. If there truly were no wards or traps, the latter of which he was more nervous about on account of the lack of the former, then this would go much easier than any of them had planned.
"All's quiet, sir," One of the two Aurors said to Harry after the young man had peaked his head into the staircase, confirming there were no traps nor people on the other side in one of the more dangerous ways of doing so.
"Good," Harry said with a nod and thumbs up to the young bloke before he turned to Reinhard. "You and these two will hold here come hell or high water, yeah?"
Reinhard grinned and struck his own chest with a closed fist. "Nothing will make it past me, Pev, not even Grindelwald himself if you hadn't have offed him."
Harry laughed and patted the large boy on the back before he turned himself around, his mind set on clearing the doors that were nearest to him. He did so quickly and carefully, ensuring that none of them had been trapped but not doing so to such a degree that he cast spell after spell on the doors; he had hit his energy reserve after so many fights and each spell that he cast only seemed to heighten the impending exhaustion. He had to conserve as much as he could lest the fight that he knew was coming comes at a time whence he can barely stand, let alone fight.
As for those rooms, of which there were ten and two, Harry cleared all of them and all were devoid of life. Five of their numbers were bedrooms, all of them majestic and expensive-looking for a place that was meant to be 'recently' restored. Two of them were nurseries, of which both were left rotten and overrun with dust, mould and insects. Had he not opened the doors, the seal that had been placed around them would have likely held for years longer. Three more were bathrooms, all of which were in a very good state of being thanks to countless repairs done by the most skilled of the remnants who had taken over the building — it was easy to tell based on the perfection of the repairs. The final two were more different than he had thought they would be; a potion-brewing room and a storage facility on the highest floor. The former was nearly empty save for empty vials and large cauldrons, the latter room was filled with boxes that contained all sorts of foodstuffs. It was likely that those foodstuffs had been stolen across the many raids these remnants had taken part in.
When that final room was cleared and Harry had returned to the staircase alongside Reinhard and his two fellow companion Aurors, he immediately sought out a status report.
"Nothing," Reinhard said back to him with an annoyed shake of his head as he folded his arms. "Not one peep. Those other teams seem just as bored as we are — it's nearly been those five minutes too, so it's about time we head down to the next floor, yeah?"
Harry nodded once and cast a glance down the hall shortly thereafter, observing the rest of the Auror force he had taken with him. Sure enough, as Reinhard said, the majority of them looked bored out of their minds and at the same time, somehow, anxious-looking. It was an odd mixture and one that Harry hadn't thought was all that possible up until that moment.
There was a wave from the centre where Urban was, one that quickly caught his attention and one that made him nod in response to the older man's signal. It was time, the older man agreed, time for them to race down the stairs and onto the second of the three above-ground floors. If that too was empty and void of life or signs thereof, they would continue at a quicker pace, and if it wasn't, then the remainder of their plan would likely go up in flames.
Everybody knew that no plan truly survived when confronted with your enemy and with how bloodthirsty some of Harry's boys were, it would be a miracle if any of Grindelwald's Goons survived for the sake of questioning. They only needed one from this building if he was honest, but two or three couldn't hurt based on the manner of questioning they used… nobody wanted their only prisoner to be tough-acting, that would only result in slower information-gathering and a rougher time for the unlucky witch or wizard.
"Go!" Harry whisper-yelled when he saw Urban give the same signal after a countdown with his hands. "Take the second door, Reinhard you're up-front, clear any traps."
All of that was said whilst on the move and all of it happened exactly as Harry had wanted. There were no traps that activated, no enemies that jumped out at them and finally, when they burst through the door, no hostiles waiting in the hallway for them. Nearly three minutes later and after a very quick scan of the floor, again, there were no enemies present and still the same number of people — more really — in the building.
They were starting to run out of places to hide with only the first floor and the basement left. Soon enough there would be a fight, there had to be, and Harry was adamant that he would take the lead for the next push down if there truly had to be one. Already today there had been too much blood spilt and if he could stop that, he would gladly do so.
Ready. Harry signalled to Urban with a nod of his head and a gesture from his hand. It's time to get this show on the road and get these people back home, where they belong.
In the next few seconds, Harry burst through the door with his three companions hot on his feet. He raced down the staircase, descending it with his wand out and murder on his mind, and when he burst through the door that took him to the first floor, he was confronted with two figures standing in the centre of the hallway. Both looked very surprised to see him from their positions near a door, and before either could go for their wands, Harry fired a pair of stunning spells at them, followed up by two killing curses should they side-step or stop his stunner.
Neither did. They had been too shocked by his presence and as a result, the pair of them lay on the ground unconscious. Reinhard didn't stop at the contact and instead, barreled right past Harry and into the room that the two had been standing 'guard' outside of. He kicked the door in, the thing flying free of its hinges and as soon as he stepped inside, he fired off a whole barrage of spells. The other two Aurors took positions on either side of the hall, ensuring the larger man wouldn't be snuck up on and Harry, seeing that, took the door that was opposite of the one that Reinhard had kicked in, seeing as the larger boy had very easily handled the threat within the room he'd chosen to attack.
Harry's room was empty, he noticed when he kicked it in. It was a loo, one that was as fresh as the ones above and recently used based on the bucket of water beside the tub. When he stepped back out, his eyes going up and down the hall, he saw the other groups of Aurors were also clearing their rooms, spells being flung all about. None of them fell, however, at least none that he had seen, and that left him feeling especially proud of them all.
He nodded at Reinhard when the boy came huffing out of his room. "On my arse, mate," he said to him, nodding towards a door to their left that seemed to lead into a very large room based on the next door being near the end of the hall.
Reinhard responded with a nod and regripping of his wand so tightly that his knuckles were white from the action. Clearly, the boy was still intent on violence and whilst normally that would be vaguely concerning, that was exactly the sort of thing Harry was hoping for. Reinhard was dangerous even when he seemed docile, but get him mad one way or another, he would smash you into the ground. Even some of the older lads from Hogwarts had learned that so Harry was told.
He and Reinhard shifted to the door that Harry had chosen, their two Aurors shifting with them for cover whilst the other two teams continued their work, still firing a myriad of spells as they moved about to clear the first floor. "Good?" Harry whispered on the left side of the door, his eyes on Reinhard who had taken up the right side.
One nod was Harry's response from the larger boy and seeing that Harry nodded back and moved to the front of the door before he blasted the thing from its hinges and charged in with a shield charm cast before him. It was a good thing he'd done that too, else the half-dozen or so spells that slammed into his shield would have left him immobile or cut to pieces — none of those that were cast were shield-breakers or truly vile, which was lucky for him. If they had been, his shield, as powerful as it was, wouldn't have helped him any.
Reinhard fired off a series of spells from behind him, using Harry's shield as cover as he fired at the three small figures with their wands raised. Surprisingly enough, none of his curses were all that violent or dark in nature either. That was something that surprised Harry, at least until he took in the three figures that had launched spells at him.
All three of them were young, younger than even Harry and Reinhard. He reckoned they couldn't be more than sixteen years old at the oldest, and more likely than not, they were even younger. It made sense when all three of them fell from Reinhard's opening volley, bound together with rope and stunned to boot. One of them, possibly the oldest, had avoided the stunner but the robe had still got him.
"Look like third years or fourth years, don't they?" Reinhard asked, unimpressed for one reason or another.
"Yeah," Harry answered with a shake of his head at the three pyjama-wearing figures, their cloaks having fallen off or been displaced from the bondage. "They're probably the kids of his followers, that or they're volunteers that didn't really know what they were signing up for… I'll have to see what McMacson wants to do with them. I don't think he'll have them thrown in Azkaban."
"Baby Azkaban, maybe. Elaine will have to make it," Reinhard said off-handedly and with a shrug before he called in one of the two lower-ranking Aurors they had taken with them. "You, mate. You're going to bring those other two in here and throw them down with the kids — if any try to escape, do whatever you have to, yeah?"
The young man responded with a salute. "Yes, Sergeant!"
When the young bloke was going about that work, Reinhard cast a quick glance and a wink at Harry. "Sergeant," he said with a laugh and nudge into Harry's side. "I think I could get used to this, you know. I can see why you agreed to the Deputy Directorship if you have a few hundred of that sort answering you with whatever you want."
Harry rolled his eyes at his friend and made to speak before another Auror not in his little four-man team was at the door. When he saw that new presence, instead of speaking to Reinhard, he motioned for the young man to enter and then he spoke. "What do you have?"
"Head Auror Maxis would like me to tell you that all of the first floor's rooms are now clear, your side included, sir," the young man said. "He's ready at the entrance of the basement — right! He also said to tell you that they've killed ten and captured eight… eleven with these three included, sir."
Harry was surprised that they had captured so many and his face must have shown it based on the pleased look the Auror before him adopted. Still, there were another twenty-five or thirty left, meaning the basement was the answer.
"Any prisoners rescued?" Harry asked as he motioned for the new arrival and Reinhard to exit the room with him following after them until they were in the hallway and moving towards the aforementioned basement door.
"No sir," the young man said with a shake of his head. "We hav—"
There was a loud explosion, an incredibly loud explosion, and it came from the centre of the building where Urban had been with the bulk of the Auror forces. Harry was blown back, Reinhard was beside him and the other two Aurors near them were very close, all of them struggling to breathe from the force of the blast.
His ears were ringing, his vision was blurry, but he swore… he swore that where the explosion had taken place, there was a figure standing there that shouldn't be; Grindelwald.