Chapter 23: Strategy for Box Retrieval

Date: Thursday, 11th November 2010

Time: 12 am, Malfoy Manor Dining Hall

Hermione smiled as she looked up at the group, "Are every person here clear on their roles?"

Fred nodded, "We are all clear. I will summarize now. So far, their key weapon has been surprise. This time, we will return the favor. Mom (Molly) would be in charge of retrieving the box and taking the portkey back immediately through a secure channel created by Veena, Athena and Neville. Veena and Neville have trained her since this morning and she is ready. Veena and Neville will work on deactivating the Nuke. The core group, the highest profile group, will offer Mom protection against their cream. Others in the Magical realm will face their normal opponents and use just Defensive Spells. We will not hurt anybody and Nathan must remain alive in all circumstances. We expect to face 12-15 cream wizards and 50-60 ordinary wizards in addition to brainwashed muggles with their weapons numbering not more than 400. Athena will cover all of us with 4 layers of force fields. Athena, what is our current protection level?"

Athena looked up, "My field protects against 99.3% of known spells and 99.97% of Muggle Weapons."

Ron was surprised, "I always thought we were 100% safe."

Athena was irritable, "No mission is 100% safe. I could feed you feel good stories but that would be a disservice before a major operation. Here is how the protection works. Every time a spell is uttered by a wizard or witch, it is recorded in the International Data Bank for Spells and for every new spells uttered, special people like Lucas and Me research in labs to augment our field's protective capability. There is always a time lag between spell utterance and our solution ranging from 2-3 hours to 2-3 weeks. We may be gifted with special powers but our work is never as easy as it looks. Years of our life are spent behind labs before we get to enjoy our immortal life. Yet, the solution is 4 layers of force. If One layer is compromised, you guys are talented enough to hold off the opposition for 10 minutes, the time it takes to put in a replacing force field or to escape from the scene, should the enemy appear much more powerful than us. As for Muggles, we scour scores of research journals every week and come up with the solutions. We also meet as a group and exchange solutions. We are immortal but we never have it easy, Ron."

Hermione agreed, "I came to know the finer details of her work life just now but I always knew that they had the powers and the gift, not because of their brilliant past but their sheer determination and love of knowledge to protect Muggles and Wizard Humanity as well as the larger biodiversity despite overwhelming work load. My immense respect for you and Lucas has only gone up now."

Athena nodded, "Thank You, Hermione. I never like to brag but at times, it is nice to hear someone praise your work!"

Hermione continued, "On the subject of Athena, 4 force field layers would make it extremely hot and humid and even in winter, New Delhi is hotter than London, so we need to wear summer Muggle clothing. Celia, your mission is to read out the health parameters to Narcissa. That is however, second priority to the baby. The moment you feel tired, you will rest. Patrick, I leave you in charge of safety, comfort and welfare of the people who remain here: Erwina, Celia, Dudley, Narcissa, Natalie and the Y & Z guards. You also ought to have emergency backup should Celia need medical assistance and you take her to Wellington Hospital, London via slow Apparating. Kreachera and Pernie will also assist you and follow your lead. Natalie, I have a favor to ask of you. I know and trust you enough that you want us alive, despite being your opposite. Kindly collaborate with Narcissa and decide the borderline danger of heat and humidity within Athena's fields and do thought level communication with Athena. If it goes beyond danger level, Athena might have to remove a field layer or even 2 layers voluntarily. That of course, will leave us more vulnerable.

Natalie, if we are to bring Nathan back alive, we need to make it look as if he is our prisoner, to make sure he is not branded as a traitor in your group. We will make a portkey and you decide the location to which he will transfer after we momentarily stun him. You program the portkey and don't tell us the location, else we might be tempted to use that to our advantage."

Natalie smiled, "Wow Hermione! Your commitment to principles is admirable, especially in your dealing with opponents. My mind tells me to join your group but my heart still beats for Mother Nature. Athena, Veena, Luna and you, all do your bits to protect and enhance Nature but with the world in its current condition, bits are not sufficient. It asks for the involvement of the Dark Side: Nathan, Wolff and myself. Our dark methods against humanity will slow down the 6th Mass Extinction.

As for the current situation, I will take the lead on the health aspects and will communicate with Athena. I will also take care of Celia, with my knowledge of Muggle Medicine to augment her own. I would give clear instructions to Patrick, should any medical situation come up here. Before anything else, I will secretly program the portkey. All I can tell you is Thank You, Hermione. Thank You for caring about me so much. You will not injure him but he can injure you. Nathan will not kill you but he can definitely injure you. In my hard ball negotiation to give Clue B12, I could not get from him a promise of not to injure you or your core group because that is his focus, he being among the cream of the combat from the Dark Side."

Hermione smiled, "We can't go in a war with all stakes in our favor. The very fact that he will not aim killing spells at us, is a relief, despite Athena's protection. Dudley, you are to use all your Muggle influence to clear as many muggles from that area as is feasible."

Dudley interjected, "I am sorry for interrupting Hermione, but I have a doubt. If I keep away Muggles from that area, will the Dark side not suspect that something is up?"

Hermione nodded, "That is the precise point. We need to let them know that something suspicious is up and they will be uncertain and insecure. If we just land up there and shock them, they might use the darkest defensive and offensive spells that might affect the surrounding atmosphere and we don't want to take a chance with nukes around. We will face their cautious attack rather than their desperate spells to save their skins. Force field or lack of it, we know millions of Muggle lives are a stake in New Delhi. We can't play around with them. Draco, please clear it up with the New Delhi ministry of magic on the time of our arrival: 6am GMT or 1130 am IST. We will be transparent on our purpose of visit there. The Dark Members must have gone to India as civilians or they may be the Indian Wing of the Dark Side. Either way, they could successfully install a Hydrogen Bomb. Without that around, our work could have been much easier. Draco, can you get New Delhi clearance by 1 am today?"

"Hermione, I will get it in next 15 minutes. Just give the total number of us going on the Mission."

Hermione nodded, "Sure Draco: Our core group and myself (6 people), Ginny, Pansy, Penelope, Percy, Luna, Neville, Athena, Veena, Dean, Bill, Fleur, Charlie, Molly, Arthur, Dean, Cho-Chang, Parvati, Padma, Lavender, Seamus, Katie, Zabini, Angelina, Alicia, Dennis and Oliver Wood (with his Nimbus 9000-only 2 pieces exist in this world). Apart from 32 here, we also have Adena, so a total of 33 visitors from our side."

Draco smiled, "I will work on the permissions immediately."

With Draco gone, Hermione continued, "Harry and Ron, you will initially ensure that our passage from Nehru Place to Lotus Temple, a distance of 3KM is safe and unobserved by the Muggles. We will enter from the south temple gate, rather than the open for public East Gate. Once we take up combat positions, you will be part of the core inner line protecting Molly. Fred and George, you are in charge of Muggle repulsion and memory modification, if needed. This is a humongous task in itself with probably 70,000 Muggles in that short route. You also form the inner lineup, as you already know. We will enter the temple grounds by 0645 GMT. Our aim is to be back here in this manor by 1100 GMT. Once, we are successful and Molly will Apparate away with the Yellow Box, we will go back the same way as we came and Harry, Ron, Fred and George will reprise the roles during our return passage. IF, they are too powerful and we need to retreat or Athena commands us to do that, we need to seal the yellow box with powerful spells so that THEY can't use the box ever. Veena tutored Molly to cast such spells and only she can reverse it. Adena, you take your combat place with the inner line. All of us will use defensive spells only except the stunning spell on Nathan. Draco (he was back in the room) and Ron, you have to enter the opposing territory and collect Nathan's unconscious form. Athena's field will extend boundaries just for those few minutes. Are all of you clear?"

Every person nodded.

Hermione then faced Patrick, "Patrick, I know I leaving you with a tremendous responsibility and workload. However, I can tell you that we will be back here within 6 hours in all circumstances, positive or otherwise."

"Hermione Ma'am, elves like me, live for this responsibility and workload. I accept it with great honor. I am crystal clear on what I must do and when. I thank you deeply."

Hermione planted a gentle kiss on his forehead, saying, "I love you, Patrick and I trust you with my life. My house and my baby is your responsibility now."

Patrick wailed, "Thank You Ma'am! If you offered me a thousand kingdoms, they would be but a grain of sand in value to the diamond ring you just offered with your gesture and words. I empathize what Veena feels when she idolizes you because I do exactly the same."

Hermione again embraced Patrick, "OK, off you go to sleep. You have a long taxing day tomorrow. We leave at 0555 GMT. Harry & Ron, we coordinate with Fred and George and form the front pack. Arthur and Ginny take on identical role for the back pack. We assemble on the grounds there at 0615 GMT to proceed towards the South Gate of the temple in full view of the villagers in the outskirts. We don't Apparate directly to the venue because of the Nuke Risk. Draco has confirmed that even other wizards are not allowed to Apparate there. Our landing spot in New Delhi is their famous sweets restaurant at Nehru Place that has a huge turnout every day. So to summarize, we leave home at 0555, reach New Delhi by 0615 and reach temple ground by walking there by 0645 GMT."

Every person came together in a group hug and Hermione shouted a rallying call, "Hail the Light!"

Assuming muggle clothes, the motley group Apparated to New Delhi precisely at 0555 AM GMT next morning. A long morning of exciting adventures awaited them.

A/N: I meant Strategy but could not edit the Label