Author's Note: I am not J.K Rowlings so cut me some slack
"My Lord" Snape and Bellatrix said, bowing to Lord Voldermort as he appeared before them. Voldermort had decided on an impromptu visit to assess the training of the new death eaters. The training location was an abandoned farm owned by the Malfoys. Narcissa and Draco had gladly given up their property to accomodate the training death eaters in an attempt to get on the good side of Voldermort now that Lucius was in Azkaban. The property was protected from Muggles and uninvited wizards with a variety of spells and dark curses. The property was an abandoned farm which Lucius had stolen after he killed the previous muggle owner during the first war.
"Are the fighters reader." Voldermort said. He had come to examine the progress of his training of his new death eaters and give the dark mark to those who were worthy of it..
"Yes my Lord. They have been training very hard for this day."
The new death eaters arranged themselves in lines of ten as Voldermort walked in and sat on his make shift throne. Voldermort looked down at the new death eaters, they were about fifty of them.
"Today you have a chance to prove yourselves worthy of joining my ranks." Voldermort started. "A chance to prove yourselves as worthy wizards, a chance to join the fight to reclaim our heritage as Wizards. Today we strike fear right in the heart of our enemies, today we remind the world why we are feared." Snape and Bellatrix looked at each other in surprise, they expected Voldermort's presence today was werely to supervise the training of the new death eaters. They had been training the new death eaters for a few weeks and while most of them would bever really be accomplished fighters, together they could cause some serious damage.
"Tonight we attack where it hurts the most." Voldermort had intentionally kept the information concerning the attack private. It was going to be his triumphant entry and he couldn't risk anything going wrong with it. "This is what you have trained all these weeks for. Tonight we attack the Ministry of Magic."
There was murmuring among the death eaters as they looked at each other shocked, they had only been training for a few weeks and were not expecting to go on any raids yet.
Snape looked like he had a lot to say but his keen sense of self-preservation kept him from interrupting Voldermort. With the news of the attack coming soo late it was impossible for him to warn Dumbledore of the attack. He had expected Voldermort to attack Azkaban and not the Ministry. While the auror forces were still not at full capacity despite Dumbledore's effort, an attack on the Ministry's stronghold was near impossible to pull off. Even at the height of his powers in the first war Voldermort had not dared to attempt a full scale assault on the Ministry of Magic.
"Do not fret. I shall be joining you in this attack. Our aim is not to takeover the ministry but to rescue our comrades who were arrested and strike fear in the heart of our enemies. They must know that resistance is futile." The death eaters captured at the department of mysteries had been secretly transported from Azkaban to the ministry cells for a trial. It was supposed to be a quick private trial permanently condemning them to Azkaban, but a drunk ministry worker had shared this information with one his sources in Knockturn Alley. He had decided to take advantage of this opportunity to rescue his fighters and strike at the ministry since they wouldn't be expecting him.
"These are the 2-way portkeys that will give us access to the Ministry's atrium." Voldermort said as he snapped his fingers and several random items appeared in front of him. "You are to pick an item each, in 10 minutes it will be activated to take you directly to the Ministry's atrium where you will cause as much damage as possible. Once the dark mark appears in the sky, use the password "Victory" to activate the portkey to bring you back here." Usually Voldermort was not the one giving out instructions for raids to the lower death eaters, it was a task he usually left for his inner circle members. But since his most trusted had failed in their task last time, he had decided to take a more hands on approach for this attack.
"Now come forward and pick a portkey. Join me up here Severus and Bellatrix." The death eaters slowly came forward one at a time to pick a portkey and went back to their position. Snape and Bellatrix walked up to Voldermort's throne and knelt.
"My Lord"
"While the death eaters create chaos in the Ministry I have a special mission for you. The both of you will take advantage of the chaos to free our comrades from the ministry holding cells. These are the instructions to the get to the cell." Voldermort said handing the both of them a piece of paper.
The Ministry of Magic Atrium was more lively that it usually was at this time of the night. Since the ressurection of Voldermort had become public news the Minister of Magic had been pushing some major policies to try and get himself back on good terms with the general public. A lots of staff had been staying overnight recently to get the work done needed to implement the Ministers new policies. One such staff was Jim Corbyn, a high ranking staff in the Department of Magical Transportation.
Jim had taken to spending a lot of time in the brothels in Knockturn Alley. During an heated argument with his wife, she had packed her bags and left the house shouting that she was moving away with another wizard. He had thought she was merely speaking in anger. but he had not seen or heard from her since the argument. With his influence in the Department of Magical Transportation he later found out that she had moved abroad with a French wizard. The worst of it was that she had left him for a Muggleborn wizard.
So when he had been offered 10,000 galleons by a cloaked figure to make portkeys to bypass the ministry anti-portkeys protection he had done it gladly. While he didn't know the identity of the Wizard who approached him, he was certain it was for the Dark Lord. No one else would be willing to pay that much for a way to attack the Ministry of Magic.
Jim looked at the clock on the wall, in a few seconds the portkeys would be activated and it would be time. He had been promised a meeting with the cloaked individuals master if his portkeys worked correctly. With the Dark Lord's help he would be able to take revemge on the wizard who stole his wife.
"It is time." Jim said to himself as he walked to his boss's office. The Department of Magical Transportation was empty except for Jim and his boss, Preston. He had made sure the rest of the staff went home early. Knock knock
"Come in Jim." His boss said. Jim walked in and stood opposite Preston with his wand in his hand. Preston was focused on the files he was working on in from of him and didn't see that his assistant had his wand pointed at him.
"Any progress on the files the Minister asked for." Preston said still focused on his work.
"Yes, her it is." Jim said with his wand steady on Preston. Preston looked up and saw Jim's wand pointed at him.
"AVADA KEDAVRA" The green bolt of light that signified a successfully cast killing curse rushed out and hit Preston right in his face. The curse was cast too close for him to even attempt to dodge. Preston slumped lifeless on his chair with a look of shock and surprise on his frozen face. Jim had an evil smile on his face as he looked at his former boss lifeless body. With Preston out of the picture, Jim will automatically take his place as the Head of the Department of Magical Transportation. His death would be grouped with the many others who would likely die today from the Dark Lord's attack. Also any investigation into how the Dark Lord managed to get access to portkeys that bypassed the Ministry's protection would reveal Preston as the culprit and it would be assumed that Voldermort got rid of him after he was done with him.
Dumbledore was in his office going over documents needed in preparation for the new school year. He had just returned from the Ministry not to long ago having discussed several matters partaining to the newly risen Voldermort with the Minister. He ensured that Fudge signed the bill providing new funding for the Auror's and also recall retired aurors who had the much needed experience for the coming fight. When Fudge had cut the Auror budget earlier in the year, lots of aurors had been forced to resign early since the department could not afford their salaries any longer. With the new funding those aurors could be rehired now and even more junior aurors could be employed.
A immense wolf patronus burst into the Headmasters office startling him. "Voldermort attack at the Ministry, send help." The patronus said before it vanished. Dumbledore recognised the voice of the patronus, it was Tonks. Dumbledore immediately stood up from his chair and swished his wand, sending all the documents he was working on piling in one corner of the room. This attack was very much a surprise to him, he had not gotten any news from his spy indicating that Voldermort planned on attacking the ministry. All signs pointed to Azkaban being Voldermort's target. A huge silvery phoenix patronus burst out from Dumbledore's wand. "There is an attack on the ministry of magic. Convene at The Hog's Head immediately."
Dumbledore apparated from his office and appeared outside the Hog's Head. He entered the bar and walked toward Aberfort his brother who was also the owner of The Hog's Head. The Hog's Head was almost empty, only a few patrons were left most of whom were drunk out of their minds.
"Good evening Aberforth. I apologize for the intrusion, but I need a private room immediately. Send my friends to the room as they arrive." Dumbledore said. Aberfort barely looked up at him as he handed him a key with a number on it. Dumbledore proceeded to the private room as he waited for the members of the order to arrive. They couldn't wait for everyone to get here before they responded to the attack. If Voldermort himself was there, a lot of damage could already have been done before they got there. Dumbledore spent some time thinking about the possible intent Voldermort could have for attacking the ministry of magic. Even at the height of his powers Voldermort had not dared attack the ministry during the previous war. It was impossible to apparate into the Ministry or Portkey in just like Hogwarts.
Not longs after Dumbledore enetered the private room the other members of the Order started arriving. The first ones in were Minerva and Filius having being the closest, followed closely by Alastor 'Madeye' Moody. Within 5 minutes most of the fighting force of the order had arrived and it was time to leave.
"This evening I got a Patronus informing me that there was an attack on the Ministry of Magic. We will most likely be landing in the middle of a fight so be aware at all times. Our aim is to drive Voldermort and his forces away from the Ministry and minimize damage and loss of lives. If Voldermort is present, leave him for me and focus on the other death eaters." Dumbledore said as the members of the Order stood with their wands out.
"Everyone grab on to this rope. It will take us just outside the Ministry." Dumbledore said as he conjured a long rope which everyone held on to.
"Portus" The rope glowed blue and vibrated briefly and immediately all the occupants of the room vanished.
Nymphadora 'Don't call me that' Tonks was in the auror office filing paperworks for arrests she made that evening. As a junior auror it fell to her to do the boring paperwork. A lot of the aurors had been spending nights at the office either doing paperwork for arrests, or making plans for new raids. Things have been very lively in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement since Fudge had given them a huge boost in funding.
"BOOM" Everyone one froze in their seats as there was a very loud noise in the Ministry.
"Where did that come from." Scrimgourge, one of the most senior aurors in the department said.
"I don't know."
"Was it an explosion."
"Sounded like someone blew soemthing up." There was a lot ot confusion and panic as everyone gave their suggestions and thoughts as to what might be going on.
"ENOUGH !"Amelia Bones shouted as she came out of her office, she had been making plans on how best to utilize their new funding when she heard the noise.
"Scrimgourge, take Tonks and Jones with you. Investigate the noise, start from the Atrium and send a Patronus back with what you find out. Dawlish and Proudfoot, make sure the prisoners are secure in the cell, we do not want them escaping in the chaos. The rest of you, make sure our records room are secure and protected from any damage." The aurors started moving around carrying out her orders.
"Let's take the stairs, the elevators might be compromised. Stay alert." Scrimgourge said to Tonks and Jones as they left the office. As they got closer to the ground floor, they begans to hears screams and sounds of fighting.
"Is the ministry under attack."
Just as they got to the ground floor they saw 3 wizards wearing death eater mask patrolling the corridor.
"Stop" Scrimgourge whispered while holding his hands up to halt the junior aurors beside him. The death eaters were oblivious to their presence.
"Send a message to the office. We are under attack by death eaters." Jones conjured a parchment and quill and quickly scribled a message, with a swish of her wand the note disappeared and appeared immediately in the aurors office.
"Expecto Patronum" Tonks whispered as she created a patronus to send a message to Dumbledore.
Scrimgourge raised an eyebrow in question as she sent her message to Dumbledore.
"Voldermort might be here. We would need Dumbledore if Voldermort is present."
"Good thinking." Scrimgourge said. While he was not a fan of Dumbledore's unending influence in the Ministry, he knew that if they were to have any hope of surviving Voldermort's presence they would need him.
"At the count of three, we stun them. I'll take the one on the left, Jones you take the right and Tonks you have the last one." The junior aurors nodded their heads in understanding.
"One Two Three. STUPEFY." Red bots flew out of their wands towards the unaware death eaters. The stunner only hit one of the target, the remaining two death eaters were able to drop down just in time to avoid the spell.
"IMPEDIMENTA"
"STUPEFY"
"BOMBARDA" The aurors followed up immediately with a barrage of spells hoping to end the fight quickly
"PROTEGO"
"AVADA KEDAVRA" One death eater cast the shield charm to defend against the spells from the aurors while the other dove under the shield to cast the killing curse.
Tonks and Jones froze up as the green light of the killing curse speed towards them. This was the first time the killing curse had been cast at either of them. As junior aurors they had tagged along with the Senior aurors on minor busts and raids but the fighting had always been minimal. Scrimgourge quickly transfigured a solid slab of concrete to intercept the killing curse. The curse blasted the concrete into peices which he then banished towards the death eaters.
"Get a grip or you won't survive." Scrimgourge screamed at the junior aurors shaking them back into action.
"Expelliarmus" The wands of the death eathers flew across the hallway into Scrimgourge's open palm.
"Stun them, bind them and store them in the closet over there, we don't know if the ministry cells are still secure so we can't send them there. We will pick them up once the battle is over."
Several dozen wizards and witches with masks obscuring their faces appeared in the middle of the Ministry of Magic Atrium. Only one of them was recognizable as he was not wearing a mask. He had a bald head and snake like red eyes with thin slits on his face for his nose. He held his wand forward in his long, thin fingers.
"AVADA KEDAVRA" The first spell fired that night by the Dark Lord was the killing curse, and it's victim fell to floor liveless before they even knew what was happening. That was the signal for the rest of the death eaters to start casting spells and curses on random ministry workers who tried to take cover from the attack. The ministry staff were largely outmatched as none of them ever expected that the Dark lord would be crazy enough to strike the Ministry directly soo early in his return. Immediately they landed Snape and Bellatrix separated from the rest of the death eaters and quickly made their way to the ministry's cell.
Snape was anxious to get his task done quickly before the ministry could put up any reasonable defense. If he was caught here with a death eater mask on, not even Dumbledore would be able to save him from Azkaban. They were 2 guards standing just outside the hallway leading to the cells. The guards were alert with their wands in their hands having heard the noise from the attacks.
"You should not be here. Turn back now or you join your mates in Azkaban." One of the guards said pointing his wand at the death eaters. He tried to put on a brave face but his hand was shaking as he held his wand forward.
"I don't think we will" Snape said.
"What do you mean?" He replied
"STUPEFY INCARCEROUS" His partner who was stood behind him stunned and bound him in tight ropes.
"Here are the keys to the cells." He said as he pulled a bunch of keys out of the pocket of his bound partner.
"Good job. You should leave now." Snape said handing the guard a portkey. The threacherous guard handed the key over to the death eaters and immediately made his way our of the ministry using the portkey. His job at the ministry was gone now that he had betrayed his partner to the death eaters but he wasn't too worried about that. The job didn't pay much anyways and he had been promised lots of money to betray his partner, enough money that he wouldn't have to work again.
The noise of the attack had alerted Lucius and the rest of the captured death eaters. The few weeks they had spent in Azkaban had greatly affested their strength and looks.
"Fancy seeing you here. Lucy." Bellatrix said as she opened the door to their cell. Lucius grunted as he tried unsuccessfully to stand up. Snape put his arm round Lucius to help him out of the cell. The usual smartly dressed Lucius had been reduced to a shadow of his former self. His usual slick silver hair was rough, it looked like the rats had made a home in it, his skin was dry and his eyes were red and sunken.
"A few weeks in Azkaban and you look like a ghost, no house elves to boss around uhnnn." Bellatrix said taunting Lucius. Lucius didn't have the strength to think of a clever response to her taunt and just grunted in response.
"That's enough. We do not have the time for your games Bellatrix, the aurors would be here any moment." Snape said.
"I do not answer to you." Bellatrix responded.
"You do. The Dark Lord put me in charge of this mission. I am sure he would like to hear how you delayed our exit with your games." Snapes retort silenced Bellatrix. She knew she was on very thin ice with the Dark Lord from her failure in the Department of Mysteries, any more failures from her and the Dark Lord might decide she was no longer worthy of being his most trusted follower.
"Everyone, hands on the portkey." Snape said as he brought out the portkey from his robes. The rescued death eaters split themselves between his portkey and Bellatrix portkey.
"Victory" Snape and Bellatrix said, activating the portkeys once everyone had their on it. Few minutes after the death eaters disappeared from the ministry, auror Dawlish and Proudfoot walked arrived at the cells to find them empty. They had been delayed, fighting death eaters on their way to the cell.
"Send word to Madam Bones, the prisoners have escaped." Dawlish said.
"Subdue the death eaters, I'll handle Voldermort myself." Dumbledore said as the portkey dropped the members of the order of the phoenix outside the ministry. The fighters ran into the ministry, eager to join the battle.
"Stupefy. Incarcerous" Alastor Moody chanted as he entered the atrium, stunning and binding an unsuspecting death eater who was too busy torturing a ministry worker to notice the new fighters that had joined the battle. The arrival of the order of the phoenix turned the tide of the battle. The aurors had tried to form a response against the attack to defend the ministry but the death eaters had quickly overwhelmed them.
Dumbledore looked around observing the scene, the fountain in the center of the atrium had been destroyed by spell fire and the water had flooded a section of the atrium. The few death eaters in the atrium had all quickly dispersed from the atrium once they spotted new fighters joining against them. It would be a difficult task finding them all and restraining them.
Dumbledore could sense the oppresive darkness of Voldermort's magic in the ministry, Voldermort was here. For regular wizards it was impossible to sense and trace the magical signature of another wizard without special equipments. For a wizard like Dumbledore, with his years of experience, knowledge and training, it was easy to sense the magic around him. He was very familiar with Voldermort's magical signature having crossed wands with him multiple times in the past. As he got closer to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, the feeling got stronger and he could hear the noise of an intense fight going on.
All Dumbledore could see was carnage as he rounded the corner into the aurors office. Several aurors were strung out on the floor in different states of injury and some were dead. Voldermort was in intense fight with Madam Bones, Kingsley Shacklebolt and the other aurors that had managed to survive. They were putting up a good fight but it was obvious that Voldermort was going to overwhelm them soon.
Dumbledore transfigured some of the rubble around the office in wolves and sent them after Voldermort who was still unaware of his presence. Just as the first transfigured wolve was about to get to Voldermort he turned around and blasted it back, he cast several cutting curses on the rest of the wolves killing them.
"You shouldn't have come here Tom." Dumbledore said. The usual twinkle in his eyes were gone, there was a stelly edge to his look.
"You are too late once again Old Man, my mission here is done. As we speak I have cast a blood poisoning curse on the Minister of Magic and killed his guards, he would be dead in a few minutes." Voldermort said. The surviving aurors looked at each other in shock, none of them had even considered that the minister was still in the ministry. Fudge usually left the ministry early, either to go to a campaign donors event, or some other coperate dinner.
"What are you going to do? Stay and fight me or save your Minister."
Amelia slowly crawled to the records room of the aurors office while Voldermort was distracted by Dumbledore. There was a secret passageway that led to another section of the ministry from where they could escape Voldermort. Voldermort had attacked them by surprise while she was still waiting for updates from he aurors she sent out to scout. A lot of the aurors had frozen at the sight of Voldermort and were cut down viciously even before they could raise their wands to defend themselves. Voldermort had then spent the next few minutes toying with the survivors and taunting them till Dumbledore arrived.
The other aurors slowly followed behind her to the records room, keeping as silent as possible. None of them wanted to be around for whatever happened next. She unlocked the secret passageway with her magical signature and motioned for the other aurors to go through. The secret passageway in the records room was only known to the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and was keyed to their magical signature. Amelia looked behind her one last time at the destroyed auror office before she went through the passageway. While she hated running from a fight, she had accepted that Voldermort largely outclassed her and her most experienced aurors. There was no use staying behind for what would likely be a clash of titans in an enclosed space, she could easily get caught in the cross fire.
Dumbledore and Voldermort were caught in a standoff. Dumbledore didn't want to turn his back on Voldermort to check on the Minister. Beside if Voldermort wanted the minister dead, he would have killed him already, no curse him with a slow acting curse.
"You will not be leaving here alive Tom." Dumbledore said. Voldermort's bold move to attack the Ministry directly had worked too well. He had decimated the auror force, probably killed the minister and put the entire of Magical Britain in terror. Perhaps if he could manage to cause some personal injury to Voldermort in a fight, there might be something to salvage from what had been a disastrous night.
"I disagree" Voldermort replied. He had considered engaging Dumbledore in a fight here but he thought better of it. He had achieved all his aims in attacking the ministry today, there was no need to push it any further. As much as he wanted Dumbledore dead, he could do that another time, in a location of his own choosing.
"MORSMORDRE" Voldermort chanted, his voice echoing loudly throughout the ministry as he cast the Dark Mark and immediately disappeared with his portkey.
Author's Note : Would be focusing more on Harry's experience at his new school from next chapter. See you in 2 weeks, hopefully.