CH21: Ill Tidings
October 16th
6:53am
Black Chateau, Isle of Man
Harry
Harry looked at himself in the bathroom mirror with a dull expression. The bags under his eyes were a testimony to his restless nights. 'Cold, dead eyes,' he looked at his own and scoffed, 'I have become my own waking nightmare.'
Not only did Harry notice the reflection of the dead in himself, he also discovered his carelessness had spread to his jawline. Uneven patches of stubble had erected at random, adding to his less than presentable look. Below the sink, Harry searched the cupboards for a razor and shaving cream. Just as he thought, he'd found them neglected at the back of the cupboard, behind the sink pipes and out of sight.
The cream was cold on his skin but the metal was colder. The blades glided across his skin smoothly bringing a soothing sensation to his troubled mind. Harry closed his eyes involuntarily and hissed as he accidentally nicked his neck. He tenderly put a hand to the affected area and drew it back to find only a small amount of blood on the tip of a finger.
'Sloppy,' he chided himself as he washed off the razor and his face and neck. Going to check his progress he looked in the mirror once more. "Bloody merlin!" he breathed, stepping away from the counter.
In the mirror he did not see himself but Remus. Not as he tried to remember him though, the kind hearted professor who'd take a chance on anyone. No, this Remus had a gaping gash through three quarters of his neck. His skin was an ashen grey and his hair was almost entirely white.
Harry stepped forward in the morbid fascination, reaching his hand up to his neck where his cut was. The Remus-reflection followed Harry's movements, bringing its own hand up to its injury, its scaly finger probing the torn flesh.
Harry glared at the manifestation of his guilt. 'You're not real,' he thought as he closed his eyes, 'you're dead.' When he opened his eyes the Remus-reflection was gone but a thin trail of blood had run its course down Harry's neck.
Harry brought his free hand up to his neck and thought 'episkey.' However, when he brought it down, the cut was ever present, bleeding what looked to be heavier now. 'Work dammit,' he frustratedly heeded his magic, trying again.
"Agh," he uttered, snapping a hand to his neck as the wound opened wider. Harry threw an angry hand out and called out to the elder wand, feeling it slap in his hand only moments after. One wordless 'episkey,' later and he was no longer bleeding.
He placed the razor down and dried his face hastily. 'You will be sated, don't you worry,' Harry mentally addressed the wand, hungry to offer more lives to death. He stomped his way out of the bathroom and made for the wardrobe but was stopped in his tracks by an unamused voice.
"Going somewhere?" Daphne asked
"Patrol," he replied shortly, moving to find his boots.
"Not today, I've had your shift assigned to another." He heard Daphne shift in bed as he let out an annoyed huff. "Come sit with me."
Framed not as a question but a demand, he ignored it and instead leaned against the bathroom door frame. Daphne noted his refusal but seemed unbothered by it.
"You've been busy."
"Is that disapproval?"
"Susan Bones and her uncle are dead." Harry gave her a side eye, unsure whether or not she had said it just to provoke a reaction, but her serious stare proved that not to be the case. "The estate was razed, we recovered what was left of the Bones line… it wasn't a lot. I'm going to the ministry today to find out how they thwarted the protective enchantments."
Susan Bones, who had contacted them to be of service, knowing intimately the price of defiance. Susan Bones who had bravely joined his illicit class despite her aunt having a vulnerable position in ministry. Susan Bones… who died, bringing an end to her family name, leaving behind only memory.
He dared to look at Daphne who, unusually, hadn't bothered masking her emotions. Disappointment, pity… guilt marred her . "I know," she said cautiously, "I know you see things– people, that you've lost."
Harry sighed heavily as he slid down the door frame between the bathroom and the bedroom. Daphne pulled herself from out of the covers, walked around the bed and sat at the end of it, directly opposite him.
"All I feel, all I have felt, since Hermione's death is numb." Harry stared past her with unseeing eyes, as he continued. "I thought I'd worked through it, but seeing Remus like that… It made it so much worse."
"I understand," Daphne replied sympathetically, "but you haven't addressed what I said."
'Don't miss a thing, do you?' Harry turned his head to the side, refusing to meet her eye. "I do see them, all of them."
"Do they say anything?" Harry could hear how delicately Daphne was treating him in her voice.
'I'm not crazy,' he thought with a small amount of indignation. "Sometimes, usually they just stare, judging me… blaming me."
"I'm sorry," she turned her head away in shame. "It's my fault that Hermione and Remus are gone. My inaction allowed dissent to breed."
Harry shook his head instantly, refusing Daphne's confession. "You were right to try and interrogate the known traitors, just as you were right to place guards on the greenhouses," he countered. "If I hadn't hesitated, they would be alive. I am to blame."
"Perhaps," Daphne hesitated, scooting closer to reach for his hand, "perhaps then it is a shared burden."
"I would not share this pain with you," Harry quickly refuted, 'not even a fraction of it.'
"What if you don't get to decide?"
Harry finally found the courage to meet her gaze, if only surprised at how vulnerable she was being with him. He could see it, true pain and guilt penetrating the surface of her eyes.
"Then I'm sorry." Harry pushed himself up the door frame and offered his hand to help her up. Daphne took it and pulled herself up with him as leverage. Harry pulled her into a hug, nestling his face in her shoulder. It was a tactile comfort, not enough to dispel his mental calamities but he did feel the tension that had wound him so tight, loosened if only a little.
"I understand Hermione and Remus left a large hole behind and the vengeance required to fill it… Diggle's ilk wasn't enough." Daphne pushed him away gently so that she could properly look at him. "But don't forget who you are."
Harry managed to generate a small fake smile as he leaned back in.
'I don't know who I am anymore.'
October 16th
4:21pm
Ministry of Magic
Daphne
From the haunting halls of Grimmauld Place, Daphne watched the green flames of the floo roar to life around her. The fading tapestry and upholstered furniture disappeared as the world became a whirlwind of colours whilst she moved through the floo system.
Golden gates receded from the black brick fireplace as Daphne was deposited in the floo hall at the Ministry of Magic. Immediately she felt the air thicken with the hot air of thousands of people in an underground city.
'This place is due an upgrade.' The fireplace hall wasn't packed, but there were still over a hundred witches and wizards coming and going. The high vaulted ceiling wasn't enough to clear the oppressive blanket of fear suffocating the ministry workers who had stayed after the takeover.
"Oi mister! Where do you fink you're going?" Further along in the crowd a man in a thick brown coat who seemed to have been heading home for the day had his path blocked by two rough looking individuals.
'Werewolves… '
The man's wand was in his hand but it was clear he had no intention of using it. Shaking, he stammered out; "I-I'm just going home."
"No you aint," the werewolf swatted the wand out of the cowering man's hand and stepped close into his personal space. "We got a few questions about your potion imports., specifically some of your past muggle associates."
The two feral wizards grabbed the wizard by his arms and began dragging him off. The man tried breaking free from his captors but it was useless.
"No please!" he cried out, his voice laced with desperation, "I haven't done anything wrong! Someone help me please!"
The man's cries for help went wholly ignored by his peers. Some people didn't even look up from the floor and went their business like nothing was happening. Eventually, the wizard being carried away stopped kicking and screaming, resigning himself to his fate. Daphne lost him in the crowd then, as if he'd been consumed by his countrymen's indifference.
'Nothing to be done,' she thought bitterly. Her mission wasn't to save a single man there was more at stake than one life. 'Tonks would not be ready for this,' she assured herself. Despite the auror's many attempts to change her mind, Daphne had taken a stand.
Flashback
"Tonks, no."
Sat in the drawing room upstairs, Daphne did her best to mask her exasperation. Tonks had spent the last ten minutes trying her best to convince Daphne to send her to the ministry instead.
"I'm fine," the whispered nature of the words did little to convince Daphne. "I need to be."
She didn't look even close to fine, pale, dishevelled and malnourished; she looked the part of an inferius. "You're allowed to grieve," Daphne earnestly said, "encouraged even."
"I am grieving," Tonks looked lost, tears twinkling in her eyes thanks to the light of the fire, "I think I always will be." The tears began to flow freely as she held her stomach. Daphne hadn't noticed it then, but without hesitation she had stood up and embraced the crying auror. Tonks came seeking a distraction and instead found comfort in an unlikely place.
End of Flashback
Daphne slipped past a passing squad of mercenaries as she reached the tyrannical monument in the centre of the atrium. The way to the department of law enforcement hadn't changed in the slightest and so seeing the travesty in the heart of magical Britain was an unfortunate necessity.
Soon after she arrived at the elevators and found them packed to the brim. There was a huge congestion as night shift workers arrived to clock in and day shift workers were leaving. With only ten elevators to choose from, and many of them going to specific floors, it was a traffic problem of epic proportions.
"Araniti," she whispered under the cloak. It was a risky thing, self transfiguration, but now, under the camouflage of a carefully applied disillusionment charm, Daphne could stick to any surface she'd like. With the cloak pocketed in Hermione's old moleskine pouch, Daphne rushed onto the elevator she had ridden before the second it opened. The elevator shook as Daphne ran at the back wall full tilt only to kick off of it and reach up with her hands, sticking to the ceiling by her finger tips.
The elevator began to pile up with witches and wizards as Daphne swung her legs up to be flush with the ceiling. Her core burned as she held herself there, the carriage rattling constantly as it descended the first two floors.
'Regrettable,' she euphemistically thought as she began cramping due to the sudden stop of the elevator on the seventh floor. Gravity never felt more effective than when the elevator remained still for the witches and wizards disembarking on floor five.
Soon enough she was ascending again, and the carriage was significantly emptier with only two men remaining heading to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
"You got Yaxley?" one of them asked with a hint of sympathy.
"Aye," the other huffed. "Bastard won't get off my back about the trace. Irreparable I tell him, thick idiot doesn't understand."
"Don't let him hear you say that."
"Pfft," the second one scoffed. "Bloke's only in one day a week, the least he could do is show up if he's gonna be a pain."
"Hmm," the first hummed humorously, "ain't that right."
The elevator once again came to an abrupt stop as they reached the sixth floor. The brass door slid open, followed by the caged exterior to reveal a middle-aged blonde in formal plum wizengamot robes. The stately man, who had his back to the elevator, turned and looked at the occupants in surprise then frustration.
"Corbray," the man addressed the second man, "I was about to come and find you, why are you late?"
Gone was the bravado that the man had speaking about Yaxley behind his back. "The elevators Mr Yaxley, they were—"
"Never mind that. You," Yaxley said pointing to the first man, "out. I need to speak with Corbray alone."
The first man left without issue, either too scared to confront Yaxley's rudeness or unbothered by it. As Yaxley was stepping into the carriage, Daphne carefully lowered herself into the elevator with them, only finally touching the ground the same instant Yaxley's foot landed on the elevator.
'Merlin that was tough,' Daphne thought, rubbing her stomach soothingly. She deftly avoided Yaxley and Corbray's shimmying and found herself in the back left corner of the elevator with a large gap between her and the two death eaters.
"I'm sorry for the pressure I put on you about the trace," Yaxley began, sounding sincere. "That came from much higher up than me."
Corbray cringed a little as he swallowed his pride and accepted the apology. "Nothing to be sorry for, I understand."
"You do, that's good." Yaxley's eyes ran over Corbray as if studying him as he nodded himself. "There is to be a meeting of the lords, I am being given a special assignment, one that will end this war for good."
'What?' Daphne thanked her gods for the luck bestowed upon her, what had started as a simple information gathering mission had become, possibly much more than that.
"That business with the trace, it won't matter anymore but it has told me a lot about you." Yaxley reached out a hand from his flowing robes and placed it on Corbray's shoulder in respect. "I'm promoting you Corbray, you will be the Interim Head of the Magical Law Enforcement whilst my focus is elsewhere."
"Thank you, sir," Corbray breathlessly muttered. Clearly the promotion had come as a complete shock to the up and coming Death Eater.
"You've proven yourself capable of taking orders, even when those orders are asking you to do the impossible." Yaxley took his hand off of Corbray's shoulder and leisurely circled the elevator. His eyes rested on the corner Daphne had secluded herself, pausing before pressing on. "Fortunately, your first orders are simple."
"What would our Lord have me do?"
"Prepare the men, it won't be long till the net finds it and when it does, we're going to need everyone." Yaxley shared a cruel smile with Corbray as the elevator doors snapped open. Daphne had been so immersed in the conversation she hadn't even felt the elevator come to a stop. Yaxley stepped off the elevator into the dark underbelly of the Ministry of Magic. The senior Death Eater turned back to look at Corbray as the caged exterior rolled closed, dividing the conversation. "Do not disappoint me Corbray, what has been given can be just as easily taken."
The elevator doors closed, and the carriage lurched upwards. Corbray let out a long heavy breath as if he had been holding it for some time. Daphne was still stuck on the conversation though.
'What is this 'net' he spoke of,' unease crept in as she continued asking herself, 'and how will it end the war?'
October 17th
1:29pm
The Burrow, Devonshire
Daphne
"Take cover!"
The shout was preceded by a loud 'boom' and the creaking complaints of wood as it twisted and splintered.
"Ginny!" Arthur called out, rushing into the crumbling home without hesitation. Molly attempted to follow her husband but was stopped by Bill. The entrance to the burrow collapsed in flames, leaving Arthur and Ginny to fend for themselves.
'We're fracturing,' Daphne frustratedly observed, deflecting a blood boiling curse into the ground, 'where are our reinforcements?'
Ten minutes earlier
At one twenty-one in the afternoon, Bill Weasley had burst into the chateau and proclaimed the Burrow was being attacked. It had taken them three minutes to mobilise herself, Harry, Bill and Fleur with Tonks going to prepare auror reinforcements.
Immediately when she arrived inside the wards, Daphne could see how indefensible the shamble house was. Hills surrounded the house north, west and south and to the east four metre tall reeds would cover an enemy's approach up to the house.
She'd said as much as the small defence group was joined by Arthur and Molly Weasley, directing the parents to watch the reeds for any flanking foes. Arrayed on the hills surrounding the house were easily half a hundred witches and wizards, each of them waiting patiently in the afternoon sun.
'The wards will hold until reinforcements arrive,' she had thought confidently. Daphne had seen Bill's mastery first hand, if there was any place, he'd do his best work it'd be at the Burrow. 'Not even Voldemort could take down the protections before this place is flooded with loyalists.'
Hubris, she had come to understand, was a fool's errand. No later than when she solidified her certainty did blue lines begin to appear on the ward's perimeter. At first it was only two or three, but they splintered like cracks in stone. One glance at Bill's face was all she needed to know this wasn't part of the protections he'd placed and so her wand arm brought her wand in front of her.
The cracks in the ward continued until they reached their apex and the shimmering barrier simply failed, collapsing to the ground like broken glass. Daphne kept her eyes on the death eaters on the hill who waited only a moment before beginning their slow descent.
Harry, who had been just behind her, stalked forward, wand and knife in hand. 'Reckless,' she thought fondly. "Stay here, see if you can't rig some temporary wards. We'll hold them off until reinforcements arrive."
Bill, who was exceptionally composed given the situation, just started casting. Fleur stepped in front of him, her wand at the ready.
Daphne turned back to where Harry was only to find him at the base of the hill with all forty of the Death Eaters around him in a wide arc.
"Come on then!" Harry defiantly cried out, "who among you is brave enough?"
'An illusion… where are you, Harry?' Daphne scanned the field looking for any shimmer in the air or footprints in the grass but came up short. The hair on her body stood up as the area was bathed in white light. When she directed her attention to the light she saw five death eaters on the floor, whisks of smoke rolling off their bodies. A further three were jerking on the floor, screaming in agony as their nearby comrades provided aid. 'Not an illusion, you damned fool.'
What she had thought was clever bluff was simply Harry being too angry to die. Even now, outnumbered one to forty, he was pressing the attack.
Daphne raced up the hill to catch up watching as Harry dispatched four more with what looked to be random erratic casting, but she knew better. The moment one went to cast something he'd swiftly lash out to catch them off guard and even with two dozen bearing down on him it was working.
His ruthless efficiency faltered just moments before Daphne reached him as he stepped into a bone breaking curse to slash a witch's belly with his flaming blade. The dagger dropped to the ground as he went on the defensive, the elder wand twirling in wide circular arcs with a sparkling gold shield intercepted spell after spell. He was being surrounded though, Daphne could see a wizard flanking Harry's left and taking aim at his unprotected side.
'Mutatus liquim,' she thought, envisioning her goal in her mind. Beneath the attacker's feet, the dirt transformed into muddy water, knee deep. It hadn't incapacitated him; however, it did throw his aim off. The man's lacero, which had been aimed for Harry's head, went low and hit his calf instead. Harry dropped to his knee and his shield flickered under the barrage of spells, but Daphne had caught up.
Daphne slid on the wet grass to reach him a fraction faster and raised both her wand and hand in front of them thinking 'praedivin.' She felt the tug on her magic as the spell began. A deep blue scaled wall closed in around her and Harry like a coiling snake, providing protection and a brief respite.
'That will hold long enough.' She lowered her hands and turned to her lover who was still kneeling in the dirt.
"Focus," she barked at him, not bothering to hide her frustration, "you're going to get killed fighting like that." Daphne moved towards him and started healing his shoulder as best she could. Harry winced as she magically set the bone in place. "We need to retreat to the house, Ginerva is still inside."
"I won't wait for them to get close; I'm pressing the attack"
'Merlin damn this war,' she thought frustratedly. "Then at least wait for me, we are more effective together."
Harry's deadpan stare travelled past her and so she turned to see breaches in her scaled wall. 'There's no way they breached the wall so quickly, or at all for that matter.'
"He's here," Harry remarked simply which made everything make more sense.
'Could this be what Yaxley spoke of?' Daphne's contemplations were sidelined as she returned to the present. She turned to Harry and began to say; "Togeth—"
Harry was already off, using one of the breaches to escape the wall and fighting his way up hill. Daphne followed him and made note of a dozen death eaters making their way towards the house on their right flank. Arthur and Molly had moved to help Fleur protect their son but three against twelve was a tall order.
'Dammit Harry.'
"Take cover!"
The shout was preceded by a loud 'boom' and the creaking complaints of wood as it twisted and splintered.
"Ginny!" Arthur called out, rushing into the crumbling home without hesitation. Molly attempted to follow her husband but was stopped by Bill. The entrance to the burrow collapsed in flames, leaving Arthur and Ginny to fend for themselves.
'We're fracturing,' Daphne frustratedly observed, deflecting a blood boiling curse into the ground, 'where are our reinforcements?' Daphne cast another glance at Harry to see him doing a rear chokehold on a man as he slowly advanced on three more death eaters. 'You blind fool.'
Daphne made her choice, turning back towards the house and breaking into a full sprint. Bill and Fleur were the only two left outside to fight, Molly was beside herself, yelling into the crumbling house. Ten death eaters remained, each of them spreading out to establish a crossfire on the defenders.
Daphne closed the distance in a matter of seconds and wasted no time posturing as Harry had. A bone shattering hex, a much darker version of the bone breaking curse, escaped her wand and connected with the middle one's skull, showering those closest to him in brain matter and skull fragments.
'Here I stand, keep looking at me.' Four of the death eaters were already engaged in duels with Fleur and Bill who were holding their own but gaining no ground. The other five had revenge on their minds having been closest to the man Daphne had felled and angry enough to forget her reputation.
Killing curses, three of them sailed towards her straight from the start. The house let out a long groan as she deftly dodged the first two with a twirl and the final by merely leaning to the side. Daphne had expected a small lull in the fighting for her to counterattack but the death eaters didn't waste their numerical advantage. Whilst the final two cast crucio and avada kedavra at her, the others sought to trap her with incarcerous and petrificus totalus.
Daphne reacted accordingly, sidestepping to the right and shielding with a simple protego. Daphne knew that she had to get on the attack lest she eventually be overwhelmed and, as she shielded an entrails expelling curse, she devised her counterattack.
All around them were planks of wood, piles of stone and roof tiles, a graveyard for the Burrow and she used it to her advantage. Every time she moved; she levitated another piece of debris slightly off the ground. It was taking much of her concentration and so she misstepped one of her dodges and suffered a hail of splinters to her back.
The injury slowed her down, but she was ready. Sensing weakness the Death Eaters upped their intensity, all five of them casted killing curses at their wounded opponent. Daphne slashed her wand across her body and watched the wall of green light clash against her 'Burrow barricade.'
The chunks of wood, rock and tile melded together into a single protective sheet held against the unforgivables and Daphne allowed herself a satisfied smile. 'Finally,' she thought as she stood a title straighter despite the pain.
"Blast it!"
The Death Eater's shout was redundant as Daphne was already dismantling the wall with her mind. Only one of the blasting hexes hit, but with each piece now separate and spaced out, Daphne only lost half a dozen projectiles. Each of the other curses sailed harmlessly through the gaps, to the evident shock of the men.
Daphne dug deep, listened for the rolling waves that she knew were what made her singular among all others, felt the tide of her magic rise and rise until she finally pushed. The deadly debris flew outward seeking its targets. Two of the men reacted with shields but it was hasty, uncertain magic, no match for her own.
All at once, the debris collided with the five men, sending them into the ground hard. With concussions, lacerations and blunt force trauma, the men struggled in their attempts to regain their footing. Daphne ended her control over the debris and watched as much of it fell to the dirt thanks to gravity.
Five stunners left her wand in quick succession and Daphne breathed a sigh of relief as she caught her breath. She cast her eyes to Bill and Fleur and was happy to see Molly had joined the fight, helping them defeat the four that had been attacking them.
"Thank you," Bill said to her sincerely. Daphne could see in his eyes that he knew she had chosen to save them over fighting with Harry, a decision that came easier than expected.
'Harry,' she realised worriedly. Taking off without a word to Bill, Daphne sprinted back up the hill. Stoically ignoring the pain, her pace quickened as she saw flashes of light over the peak of the rise.
Ten death eaters still remained and Harry was wading his way through them to reach Voldemort who watched on with a curious expression, stroking his pet snake as though he were some type of philosopher.
"Tom!" Harry yelled as he kicked man in the privates then buried his blade in the man's skull as he bent over in pain. "Face me, Tom!" Despite Harry's proficient positioning and counterattacking, he was once more being encircled due to his tunnel vision.
'No wards!' She realised and apparated towards the fighting. She appeared five paces behind Harry, instantly recognising a threat to his left flank. Daphne allowed momentum to win the day, running directly at the death eater taking aim at Harry's back and tackling him to the ground.
The man struggled but whilst he wasn't prepared to be thrown to the ground, she was. Her wand was jabbed into his side as she thought, 'lacero.' The man's pained scream went straight into her ear causing her to roll away, agitating her porcupine-d back.
"Tom! Get down here!"
Daphne looked up from her place in the grass to see Harry angrily start throwing spells at Voldemort in between fighting the last few Death Eaters. Each one either missed or was lazily deflected by the Dark Lord who still watched on in a curious fashion. That changed as one of Harry's poorly aimed spells connected with Nagini, bouncing off at an awkward angle and ripping up part of the hillside.
Voldemort's curiosity turned to rage as hissed what Daphne could only imagine as a curse word before disappearing with his snake. The remaining Death Eaters, seeing their Lord abandon them apparated out too, leaving only the bodies of their fallen friends behind.
Daphne laid face down in the grass and caught her breath, feeling her adrenaline fade as the pain mounted.
"Damn coward," she heard Harry mutter followed by periodic single spell casting.
Daphne looked over to see him going to all the fallen death eaters and making sure they were down… permanently.
She groaned as she pulled herself up from the dirt and began the amble back towards the Burrow. As she reached the top of the hill, she could finally take in all the damage. Next to nothing was left, the wooden upper floors had been completely obliterated by fire and explosive spells, the stone foundation was crumbling and only small parts of it remained intact. The garden patch outside what used to be the kitchen was now simply a pile of ash and smouldering wood that had collapsed on it during the fight. The Burrow was gone, but what remained mattered more.
Arthur Weasley, covered in soot and sporting burns on his arms and face was alive, as well as a shaken but thankful Ginerva who offered Daphne a smile from the bottom of the hill. Casting one look back at Harry's dirty work, Daphne descended the hill on the Burrow side and rejoined her companions, eager to rest and heal.
'Today we rest,' she allowed herself before casting a look at the crumbled home and thinking, 'but tomorrow we get to the bottom of this.'
Author's Notes
Hi all, I couldn't resist! I'm frankly way too excited not to share this story, especially with all the engagement I've been getting.
Now I know a lot of you want more Harry and Daphne time and here it is. It may not be as comforting as you'd like but it at least confirms that there's no hard feelings between the two. They simply thought they were blaming each other when, in reality, they blamed themselves. Harry and Daphne's journey in this book is all about rediscovering who they are after the horcrux mess and Harry's capture. Harry specifically needs to figure out his grief and moral motivations. Daphne needs to trust herself more after making some dire mistakes, as she sees them.
Daphne's infiltration was just a fun way of exploring the bureaucracy of Voldemort's ministry and introducing the 'net.'
The attack on the Burrow changed significantly from the planning phase. I initially had Molly die and Arthur permanently injured but the story is dark enough as it is. I instead focused on our two main characters, hoping to illustrate how they've grown and regressed in the way that they fight. We see Harry being aggressive to the point of carelessness as he pursues 'vengeance' against Voldemort's forces. Daphne is then torn between the person she cares about most (selfish) and people she barely knows (selfless). There's also the underlying factor that she doesn't want to be responsible for any more deaths, especially people that Harry cares about.
Harry screaming at Voldemort is inspired by Jaimie Lannister screaming at Robb Stark in the battle of the whispering wood. Jaimie knew his forces had been defeated and so he made a last desperate attempt to kill Robb and end the war. This entailed pushing up hill, killing several of Robb's battle guard all the while screaming Robb's name. He inevitably failed and was captured but still a cool scene.
I hope you all enjoyed and Happy New Year!