Planning Stage 2: Planning

November 1997 to January 1998

"Everything alright?"

Harry didn't take his eyes off the frozen lake he had been staring at for who knew how long.

He shrugged. "Yeah."

He felt Theodore sit down right next to him on the bench and Harry wordlessly raised an arm to offer him part of the blanket he had wrapped around himself.

Theodore was warm.

"It's fine if you're not."

"I know that."

"I'm not."

Now Harry did tear his eyes away to look at Theodore.

"I'm nervous," the other boy told him. "About tomorrow."

"I wish I could come with you."

Theodore smiled. "Oh, I know. But we all agreed that would be an unnecessary risk. Though access to your vault would be nice, but I think Lynea and I have enough money between us to cover our expenses for the foreseeable future. If my father didn't ban me from accessing the family vaults, that is."

"What if – What if something goes wrong?"

"Then we'll do our best to work with that. What's the worst that could happen?"

"You getting captured." Harry averted his eyes. Everyone getting killed.

Lynea and Theodore might not have minded dying, but Hermione was a different story.

And Harry and Ron would have to wait in their little hut and hope for the best.

Theodore exhaled loudly and out of the corner of his eyes, Harry saw his breath fogging in the cold winter air. "If the worst comes to pass, Lynea knows how to kill an entire room of people without lifting a hand. She wouldn't want to do it, but I know she can do it just as well as Rhea can. I know Professor Totengräber taught them how."

"Do you think," Harry swallowed, took another breath. "Do you think Professor Totengräber would help us if we asked?"

Theodore shrugged and Harry could feel the motion against his shoulder. "Depends on what we would ask for."

"She could kill him. She wouldn't even have to destroy his Horcruxes first."

"Probably."

"But we're not going to ask her."

"No."

There was a pause.

Then, in a lighter tone, Theodore continued, "Are you having second thoughts about sneaking into Hogwarts to retrieve some Basilisk fangs?"

Harry laughed. It was a quiet, breathy laugh, but a laugh all the same. "No, not at all. It will be nice to see the castle again. I only wish it was under better circumstances."

"We will be fine," Theodore said quietly. "Everything will work out."

"Alright," Harry said. "I will hold you to that."

They spent the rest of the evening in companionable silence, side by side huddled under a warm blanket, watching the stars come out one by one.

o

Hogwarts Castle was a magnificent sight to behold from above. In all the years Harry had spent here, he had never seen it from this angle. It was gorgeous.

Following Rhea's advice, Harry, Ron and Lynea – there had been some debate about who would go – had apparated right into the Forbidden Forest, just outside the anti-Apparition wards. Lynea had used some blood magic to navigate them out of the forest and towards the castle grounds. Disillusioned, they had broken into the broom shed and then flown up to the castle where Rhea was waiting to let them in via the astronomy tower.

Harry wasn't prepared to see Ginny and Neville standing next to her, but it was a welcome surprise.

Ron immediately ran over to engulf his sister in a crushing hug.

"What are you doing here?" Harry whispered.

He saw Rhea wave one of her gloved hands and a shimmer of magic settled around them. Privacy spells, Harry guessed.

Ginny beamed at him over Ron's shoulder. "We heard you were coming, so we thought why not greet you?"

"That's way too dangerous!" Ron exclaimed. "And you're supposed to be home for Christmas!"

Ginny laughed. "Oh, please, the school's perfectly safe and none of the teachers will mind if they see who is with us." She gave Harry a meaningful look.

Harry blinked. "What?"

"Rhea," Lynea said with a heavy sigh. "What did you do?"

"It's been madness," Neville told them cheerfully. "She picked off all the Death Eater and Death Eater loyalists and turned them into Inferi. The Carrows went down first and it's been a breeze since then."

Harry stared at him. "And you're – fine with that?"

"Well, it was that or being forced to use the Cruciatus on the younger students." Neville shrugged. "You learn to pick your poisons."

"Blaise, Neville, Ginny and Luna were very helpful in helping me identify the right targets," Rhea said, her tone even more cheerful than Neville's had been. "It's how we figured Greg would be fine. Vincent was a lost case, though. The early days were a bit tricky, because we had to balance pretending everything was exactly as the Death Eaters and those loyal to them wanted it to be with helping the people who unfortunately had to suffer under those we hadn't turned yet and not being caught until we had everything under our control."

It took a moment for Harry to fully parse her words. Rhea had never even so much as alluded to any of this in her letters.

Ginny nodded. "Couldn't risk having anyone outside the castle catch wind of what we were doing. But we're good now. Making sure that everyone who can't go home for the holidays is doing well."

"I imagine having Snape on your side helped," Ron said and Harry was sure he was aiming for dry, but it came out rather high-pitched.

"Immensely," Neville said. "So. What are we doing today?"

"Going down to the Chamber of Secrets," Harry said absently, still trying to wrap his head around what he had just learned. "We need some Basilisk fangs."

They wouldn't even have needed to go to Hogwarts at all to retrieve them if it weren't for the Parseltongue required to access the Chamber. Rhea had tried, but apparently ghosts speaking the words didn't work and she hadn't been able to replicate the sounds.

Harry looked at Ginny. "I'm not sure if you –"

"No, no, it's fine," Ginny was quick to assure him. "I think I – It might be good for me to go, really. To see it again and – yeah."

"If you're sure."

Rhea clapped her hands. "Let's go, then!"

They didn't encounter any teachers. A few ghosts greeted them – Harry actually remembered to ask after Myrtle, who seemed to be doing fine. Ginny needed several moments, but she resolutely stayed with them all the way down to the Chamber.

It was … unpleasant. The damp, stale air had not helped dissipate the stench of rot and decay in the least. Thank Merlin for bubblehead charms.

They destroyed the Locket and the Cup then and there, before quickly leaving. Neville and Ginny led them to the kitchen, then, where the house-elves served them tea and biscuits and the group caught each other up with what they had been doing the past few months.

Harry had not at all expected the trip to go this smoothly, but he wouldn't complain.

Now all that was left were Nagini and Voldemort, himself.

o

"We will have to kill Nagini at the same time as You Know Who – preferably one right after the other." Ron looked at Harry. "Any ideas?"

Harry shrugged. "I don't know. Stab her with a Basilisk fang? Behead her with Gryffindor's Sword?"

"We don't have the Sword," Hermione pointed out. "And we can't rely on it appearing in times of need. It's too unpredictable."

"Stab her with a fang, then." Harry frowned. "Do we know if her being a Horcrux makes her more resistant to magic?"

"If you use magic that doesn't affect her directly, it won't matter," Lynea said. "Use the environment. Restrain her with a cage made of earth or something."

Theodore nodded. "If we do it like this," he made a rough sketch on the whiteboard Hermione had procured for them from somewhere, "with a sort of muzzle in the front – she won't be able to move and we can easily stab right through her head. If we accidentally suffocate her, it won't matter"

"Looks like a burrito," Ron said, snickering to himself. "A dirt'n'snake burrito."

"I'm sure she'll be delicious," Lynea said dryly.

"Alright," Harry said. "Say, you manage to take care of Nagini – and Lynea and Theodore will have to be the ones to do it, because their way is fastest when casting magic. No offense, Hermione. That still doesn't help us kill Vo– Tom. He has decades of experience under his belt. Even with the five of us, I doubt we'd stand a chance."

Ron leaned back in his chair. "Too bad Lyn's usual solution of 'just kill it' won't work here."

"Sorry," Lynea said with a shrug, not sounding sorry at all. "If Rhea tried and failed, there's no way I will succeed."

"Still can't believe she got away with that," Ron muttered. "How?"

"We definitely need more time to think about this," Hermione said. "Maybe try to contact what's left of the Order and see if they can help."

"How dire are things?" Harry asked. "How fast do we need to kill him?"

"What are you thinking about?"

Harry met her eyes. "I'm thinking we could visit a certain Defence Professor of ours and train under her tutelage. But it will likely take months to get anywhere close to Tom's level."

"Hogwarts is safe," Theodore said. "And even with Rhea and the others graduating, they've made sure it will remain safe."

"I have faith she will convince Aidoneus and the twins to play nice somehow," Lynea said. "That should take care of all the Inferi roaming the school and keep the system Neville and Blaise came up with nicely intact."

"And outside of Hogwarts?" Harry asked. "What about all the Muggle-borns they're rounding up and sending to Azkaban?"

"Well … We do have Umbridge under our control." Ron looked at Lynea. "How easy do you think would it be to replicate what Neville, Lémure and Zabini did at the Ministry?"

Lynea raised her eyebrows. "That's a lot of people we'd have to kill."

Ron wrinkled his nose. "I was thinking more along the lines of using the Imperius."

"Too risky."

"Wouldn't it be easier," Hermione began," to simply make Azkaban safe? We wouldn't be able to do what Neville and the others did because of the Dementors, but so far, all they've done is send people to Azkaban, right?"

"And torture them," Ron said.

"Not as severely anymore since we took care of Umbridge."

"Torture is torture."

"Yeah." Hermione sighed. "Yeah, it is."

"I've been wondering," Theodore spoke up. "What exactly is the Dark Lord's plan? What is he trying to achieve? The entire pure-blood propaganda seems to come entirely from the followers he gathered and the Dark Lord is simply indulging them. His vendetta against Harry stems purely from a prophecy talking about his potential downfall. Aside from his obsession with immortality, what is he actually aiming for with this reign of terror?"

There was a moment of silence.

"You know," Hermione said, "that is a good question."

"Power," Lynea said. "Isn't that what they all want? Absolute power for themselves."

"Grindelwald didn't," Harry said. "Not for himself, at least. His goal was to abolish the Statute of Secrecy and have magical people rule over Muggles – with peaceful force or something like that. He wanted to stop hiding and for – er – 'our kind' to be able to just be themselves without having to live in fear of the Muggles persecuting us. He viewed the violence of his actions as necessary 'for the Greater Good', but never as something to enjoy." Harry shrugged. "Doesn't change the fact that his methods were completely immoral and wrong, of course."

The others all looked at him in various states of surprise.

"How do you know that?" Hermione asked. "Barely any of our textbooks ever mentioned that."

"Professor Totengräber knew him personally – or, knows him personally, I suppose."

"Oh, no, he died," Lynea said. "He passed away shortly after Dumbledore." She paused. "Perhaps the Dark Lord's goals are similar to Grindelwald's, but in a more extreme way? As long as he reigns supreme for eternity, what would he care whether his followers establish a hierarchy with the pure-bloods at the top and the Muggles at the bottom? It's likely that he's not thinking beyond his own immortality and power. Unlike Grindelwald, his goals are more personal and the greater world is just collateral."

"He's a madman," Ron said. "Who cares what goes on in the heads of madmen? He needs to be stopped either way. Sooner, rather than later, but better stopped later than not at all."

"You're right," Harry agreed.

"Right," Ron said, getting up from his seat. "I need some tea. Anyone else?"