Chapter 19: Plans in the Making
AN: Thank you for those of you who have reviewed the story. I am getting good feedback. Sorry about the late update. I've had a lot to do with school, and I have had dozens of story ideas that take up my mind. Not all of them were good, of course, but I have to sit down and think about things before I can write on other stories.
Over the next few nights, nearly two dozen more Death Eaters ended up in the custody of the Ministry, dead or alive. There were also reports of quite a few firefights that Aurors turned up at to find nothing but a little magic residue that was determined to have come from the Death Eaters. The person or persons who were attacking the Death Eaters were not to be found.
The public, of course, was informed every time this happened, and there was an undercurrent of hope that the war would end sooner than expected. With the loss of so many Death Eaters, the attacks seemed to almost stop.
MORE DEATH EATERS CAPTURED!
WHO ARE THESE VIGILANTES?
MINISTER ADDS REWARD FOR CAPTURED DEATH EATERS TO RECONSTRUCTION FUND
Harry smiled as he read the headlines in the paper. He could feel the hope himself, as he felt much better for doing something about the Death Eaters. It also made him feel good that the bounty for each of the captured Death Eaters was placed in a slush fund that would fund the reconstruction after the battles were completed.
"Harry, darling," Daphne said, as she entered the room. "Are you hunting tonight?"
"Nope," Harry said. "We decided to give it a break."
"Why is that?"
"Easy, Daphne," Harry said. "I told them that you needed me tonight. And, of course, we can't be gone every night."
"Good point," Daphne said. "And you are making the right choices with that issue," she purred, letting her hand slide down his chest.
Harry smiled at her as he put the paper to the side. After all, it was old news to him, and he had something else to do.
When Harry walked down the halls of Hogwarts, he smiled, as the school was returning back to normal. The Great Hall was clean of patients, and the students were back in classes. However, Harry wasn't back in classes, as he was studying the Book of Merlin that he had found back in Romania over the summer. The book gave him quite a few ideas of spells to use for various purposes in this war. And he knew that these spells could lead to more inventions one day.
Daphne, of course, was too busy as a Healer to do anything else. She was either brewing potions or working in the hospital wing with the few patients who were here. Since St. Mungos was gone, Hogwarts was now serving as the hospital for the magical populace until another facility could be prepared. And that made everyone at Hogwarts stay in a bad mood.
She and Harry brewed more of their phoenix tear potions, with Daphne collecting a vial or two of tears from him every day. Of course, the Ministry now provided the ingredients for the potions, as well as an appropriate award for the two for brewing these potions that saved so many lives. The award was in the form of a million galleons, which included the continued use of these potions at St. Mungos and for the Ministry field healers.
Soon, Harry had to go visit Minister Bones about another issue. It had been some time in coming.
"Mr. Potter, please have a seat," Minister Bones said, motioning to a chair.
Harry sat down and looked at the Aurors in the room. There were several there, including an official recording quill.
"We shall begin," Minister Bones said. "This will be recorded using a solicitor-grade dictation quill to take down a transcript. Auror Williams, please start the transcript."
"This is an official inquest into the death of Patient George Vickers," Auror Shacklebolt said. "Each of those present will say their name. I am Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt.
"I am Auror Nymphadora Tonks."
"I am Auror Joshua Williams."
"I am Minister of Magic Amelia Bones."
"I am Healer Harry Potter."
"Healer Potter," Auror Shacklebolt said. "Can you please describe what happened when you were treating Mr. Vickers?"
Harry nodded.
"Auror Shacklebolt, Mr. Vickers was a victim of a Death Eater attack within two hours of the time I saw him. He had been hit with a botched blood boiling curse that was destroying his circulation system. I had to remove the curse immediately if he was to survive.
"The counter curse for the blood boiling curse is quite complex, and an incorrect wand movement would exacerbate the problem for the patient.
"As I cast the counter curse, Molly Weasley moved up to me and grabbed my arm to get me to treat her lightly wounded son. Her interference threw off my wand movements, and the spell was cast despite my efforts to stop it. It hit Mr. Vickers. After Mrs. Weasley was escorted out of the area by Aurors, I checked Mr. Vickers and realized what had happened.
"At the time, I had no other recourse and no time to develop a counter curse for the spell I hit him with, which had added an additional curse to the patient. I was left with no other choice but to stop care and send him to be monitored by volunteers. I am told he died just an hour after I attempted treatment."
"If you had the time and people available, would it have been possible to save Mr. Vickers after he was hit with the miscast counter spell?"
"I do not believe so," Harry said. "When the miscast spell hit him, there were essentially two curses on him. Anytime you have more than one curse on a person, you need some time to plan the correct course of action. With the similar, yet different curses, any counter spell would have exacerbated one or the other curses, and it would have made the patient have an even lower chance of survival. The longer it takes to remove the curses, the lower the chances of survival for the patient. With the Blood Boiling Curse, the patient needs to have it removed and be treated as soon as possible after being hit by the curse."
"Do you think the patient would have survived if the counter curse had been cast correctly?"
"It is entirely possible. However, I do not know if he would have survived. In cases like this, it would have taken more time."
"With those phoenix tear potions, do you think the patient would have survived?"
"It would have increased his chances of survival, yes."
"But there was no clear survival or not surviving?"
"With the Blood Boiling Curse, treatment has to be given within a certain time frame. I am not certain that treatment was given in the correct time frame given the sheer number of patients and lack of healers."
"Thank you, Healer Potter," Shacklebolt said. "We will contact you if we have any further questions."
The recording stopped, and Harry sighed.
"What will happen to Mrs. Weasley?"
"We will still decide that at a later time," Minister Bones said. "Officially, we cannot comment about this matter. We are only gathering evidence to look at."
"I understand," Harry said.
"How bad was he when you hit him with the miscast spell? What exactly did it do?"
"Well," Harry said. "The counter curse for the Blood Boiling Charm is two wand movements away from being a permanent, delayed Heart Attack Curse. I don't know if that was the case here, but I'm sure whatever it resulted in was equally as horrible."
The Aurors grimaced at the thought.
"Why didn't you mention that," Shacklebolt asked.
Harry shrugged.
"Either way, it was irreparable damage to the patient after it hit him. There was no way I could save him in the time he had left."
"That is good enough," Minister Bone said. "Mr. Potter, I would like to speak with you on another matter privately. Aurors? If you'll excuse us?"
The three Aurors stood and left the room, shutting the door behind them. Minister Bones activated several privacy charms for the room and then motioned for Harry to take a seat across from her.
"Mr. Potter, what can you tell me about the Death Eaters who have arrived here?"
"Officially or unofficially?"
"Unofficially," she said. "I know you had something to do with it. And do we expect to have any more in the morning?"
"There won't be any in the morning unless your Aurors catch them," Harry said. "I'm spending today going over evidence to plan the next raid."
Minister Bones nodded.
"You know, the Aurors wonder who is catching the Death Eaters. It's obvious that the people catching them know what they are doing and make sure the Death Eaters aren't able to escape or pose a threat to anyone."
"You could leak to the press that you have a team of specially trained people who are spearheading these efforts. It wouldn't hurt to go from black to grey."
"Why is that?"
"Psychological warfare," Harry said. "Voldemort and his Death Eaters rely on being able to scare people they face in order to accomplish their objectives. We've managed to capture quite a few Death Eaters in places they thought were secure. If they know the Ministry has a team after them who can break into warded areas, they won't feel as safe and secure.
"The less safe and secure they feel, the more likely they are to be restless. That will lead to more mistakes on their part, and we can take out more of them safer and easier."
"Or they could hire goblins to create wards."
"Doesn't matter to me," Harry said. "They can hire the goblins or anyone else to make wards. The only one that is even remotely capable of making me have a hard time is a death ward, a blood ward, or the Fidelius Charm. But there are ways around all of them."
"Why aren't you going out tonight?"
"I want to start hitting them at random times. Our next raid or two will be in daylight, and that will make it much harder. It won't be big targets, but we will take out a few Death Eaters we have probable locations on."
"What good is that?"
"If we can make them insecure no matter where they are, then we have an advantage. If we can make it where they lose the advantage of being able to instill fear in people, then we are winning. We don't have to be capturing a lot of them to do this. I would like to get a lot of them off of the streets, but then again, I'm not sure how many Death Eaters he has left."
"What do you mean?"
"How many were killed and captured since June?"
"Probably about seventy or so," Minister Bones said.
"How many witches and wizards are in the United Kingdom?"
"No more than thirty thousand."
"How many of those would support the purist movement?"
"Probably no more than ten percent. And most of those will only support them financially or morally."
"Exactly. So we have about three thousand people supporting the movement. Of those, probably about three hundred or so support the actions Voldemort is taking. Some of those blood purists don't want the society to be destroyed in a war, and they want to do this using political means, not violence."
"So you're saying that we may be taking out a lot of his direct support?"
"Yes. I think so. I don't know how many for sure, and that is part of the research I am doing right now. We've taken out seventy of his followers. Seventy out of about three hundred that will support Voldemort directly. Once we take out a few more, then we will have the ability to take him on directly and I can kill him."
Minister Bones looked thoughtfully at Harry.
"Of course, I think that is going to work well. But we don't have the manpower to take on a two hundred supporters plus the creatures."
"That's where planning comes into play," Harry said. "It won't happen soon, but you should start making plans to defend Hogwarts. Voldemort will be planning on attacking Hogwarts since he realizes we're holding Death Eaters here and this is our major base. If we lose Hogwarts, then the war is essentially over."
"How can we prevent that?"
"I am studying wards that will help stop this mess," Harry said. "I will get back to you later about this, but I do believe I have a solution that may work. It's an intent-based ward, and anyone who wishes ill intent against someone inside the ward will not be able to enter until they take down the ward."
"But they can take it down."
"Not if I do this right," Harry said, cryptically. "That's all I can say about this."
"Then I will wait for your progress reports, Mr. Potter."
"I will be glad to keep you up to date as much as I can," Harry replied. "But I won't be able to reveal any of my techniques for security reasons. If anyone knows the techniques, then they will have a much easier time taking down the wards."
"I agree," Minister Bones said. "I wish we could talk more, but we both are very busy. I shall make an appointment with you in another week to keep track with what you are doing."
Harry nodded.
"I will be ready for the meeting," he said. "I will have more ideas for you to use by then. My team is considering our options and we will discuss them later when we meet again.
That evening, after dinner, Harry went to meet in the Chamber of Secrets with his team. He had provided them with portkeys that would allow them to enter the Chamber safely and secretly. It was also the location of their interrogation chambers, which they had built and warded so it seemed they were in a home somewhere. It was mind games at its best, and Harry, who had spent years with Daphne, was getting decent at these mind games.
"Potter, what are we doing tonight," Moody asked.
"Nothing," Harry said, with a smile. "I think we should lay off of them for a few days while we rest and plan our next moves."
"What moves are we going to do," Shacklebolt asked.
"I think we are going to take out a couple of Death Eaters during the day," Harry said. "It would be another significant move. I want them to be afraid of being anywhere, during any time."
"How can we accomplish that," Tonks asked. "It's hard for us to work at night when they have tighter security now."
"We will work it out," Harry promised. "If you have any ideas, let's get them out in the open. We don't have to make a final decision tonight."
The three Aurors nodded their acceptance.
"How many Death Eaters are left," Tonks asked.
"That is the question," Harry said. "I estimate Voldemort has about three hundred active supporters in the population. And we have about seventy of them killed or captured."
"But he can be recruiting outside the country," Moody said.
"We don't have evidence for that," Shacklebolt said. "Our intelligence networks aren't picking up any activities outside of the UK."
"But it doesn't mean it isn't happening," Harry said. "I have sent out letters to some friends of mine who work in various law enforcement agencies around the world. They've agreed to supply us with intelligence reports in the background, versus going through official channels."
"What did that cost you?"
"Not much," Harry said, smugly. "I have a few friends who owe me big favors. And I've arranged to teach a few of them some of the spells I've learned. They like my spells, and I know a few that will help them out while keeping us safe."
"What kind of spells?"
"Just the non-lethal incapacitation spells," Harry said. "The first ten or so I taught you."
"Ah," Tonks said. "Those aren't too bad. And I'm sure that there are many people who would pay good money to get them."
"I know. I've agreed to train some of the Aurors, War Mages, and Unspeakables in other countries in return for weekly intelligence reports on Voldemort and his forces. They don't have to give me anything that will compromise any of their agents, but they will give me information."
"How can you get it?"
"Technomancy," Harry said.
"What do you mean," Shacklebolt asked.
"We have developed a secure, magical method of transferring large amounts of information within minutes," Harry said. "It's based off of the Mundane Internet and computer communications systems."
"How do you access it here?"
Harry motioned them over to his office, and he opened the door to reveal a desktop computer.
"This is a computer," he said. "I've been using it to print out our intelligence reports for our meetings, as well as to help us keep up with Death Eater activities. I'm also in contact with my friends through this."
"What intelligence have you gotten so far?"
"Nothing more than what we already know," Harry said. "The LE agencies in Europe and North America are following this situation with great interest. I also believe Asian authorities are following the war too. They don't want it to spread to their countries, and I don't blame them one bit."
"Neither do I," Tonks said.
"When is our next attack, and where," Moody asked, trying to get things back on track.
"What do you suggest?"
"I suggest we go after Jugson," Moody said. "He's a mid-level Death Eater and he may have more information. He is also wealthy enough that we can take out financial support too."
Harry nodded. The Ministry was heavily fining the Death Eaters that were captured alive. It was aimed at shutting down the financial support Voldemort and his followers had. If they could shut down the financial support, then they would have a better chance of making them desperate, and taking away their resources to hire healers and get potions for the troops.
And it would make it harder for them to arm those who lost their wands.
"His house is located here," Shacklebolt said. "He has quite a few wards up and we will need to recon the manor to see what kind of defenses he has there."
"I can do that tomorrow evening," Harry said.
"We can, Potter," Moody said. "We don't want you to do this alone. It could be a trap to capture you. They may start letting us get information about their people and then have more than we can handle there."
"True," Harry said. "But I have a way to sneak into a warded area and detect the types of wards without setting off any detectors."
"How is that," Shacklebolt asked.
"I can't tell you, Shack," Harry said. "It's a proprietary technique that I only learned as a Gringotts cursebreaker. They won't let me teach anyone else the method without their approval."
"I guess I can understand," Moody said. "But then again, how do they know this? Can they do it?"
"It's a hard skill to master," Harry said. "Maybe one or two goblins in the world can master it. I happen to be apprenticed to one such goblin who did master the technique. He was able to teach me."
The three Aurors shared a look. If there were only one or two goblins in the world who could do that, then Harry would definitely be the only wizard capable of doing it.
"Very well," Moody said. "We won't ask too much about it because we know you can't talk about it."
"You're right," Harry said. "But let's get back on track. If we do this right, I can add in another set of wards over the area that will allow us to stop them from traveling."
"How is that possible?"
"I recently learned a technique that will allow me to place wards of my own over existing wards without anyone knowing. All it will take is for me to activate them and we have them trapped inside my wards."
Moody grinned.
"And can you have a ward that will incapacitate them?"
"Yes. I can put up a Death Ward."
"A modified Death Ward, you mean," Moody said. "I know you can modify Death Wards, but it is very difficult."
"You are right. I do have a technique I can use to make a ward put everyone to sleep for two hours after I activate it."
"How long does it take you to put them up?"
"Four hours," Harry said. "And it's all I can do in a night."
"Then we will prepare to use that method," Moody said. "Can you make it to activate after you put it up?"
"Yes."
"Let's focus on warding several areas," Moody suggested. "Then we can come back later with an Auror Strike Force to take out the Death Eaters and send them to Graniteville."
Graniteville was the new Ministry prison building. Trusted and sworn Unspeakables and Aurors ran the prison, and they had set it up over a period of weeks. Harry had been contracted to ward it for the Ministry, and he was doing that officially during daylight hours since he could do a lot of the work while in the Fidelius Charm covered area.
"Let's make plans for that," Harry said. "What targets do we need to ward? It will take several weeks to ward the targets because we want to have time to make several attacks as well."
Moody nodded.
"Let's just ward the large manors and then capture the owners when we know they are there," Tonks suggested. "Maybe we can use some sort of tracking device or ward to let us know when they are within the target area and who is there."
Harry paused and nodded. He'd just read about such a ward in Merlin's book.
"I have a ward that can do that, but I need to test it first," Harry said. "I'll speak with the Minister and Headmistress McGonagall about warding Hogwarts to see how the ward works. Then we can discuss adding it to other areas."
"Aye, lad," Moody said. "But for now, let's sit down here and write out our plans."
"I agree," Tonks said. "We shouldn't do anything of this magnitude without planning. And we should involve the Minister at some point. She may have some suggestions about locations."
"I'm ok with that," Harry said. "But as long as we swear everyone who knows about this into secrecy. One word to the wrong ear, and this can be blown wide open against us."
The others nodded, and they settled down to work.
Two days later, Harry and company were prepared for their first big foray in the day time. They were prepared for the worst, and had decided to attack a Death Eater's home in broad daylight, which was quite the undertaking. The monitoring wards had been set, and they knew their target was in place. The reinforcing Hit Wizard squad was also ready for action.
With a nod to his people, Harry held out the portkey and they left the Shreaking Shack for their destination: the Parkinson Summer Home in Kent.
Chapter 20: An Explosive Ending
This isn't exactly the best chapter. It's hard to work on fanfiction when one has too many plot ideas and then is in graduate school trying to worry about comprehensive exams and masters projects. I'm sorry for the wait, as it is entirely my fault for not putting the time in for this.
When the portkey arrived, the team silently spread out and looked around for danger. All were wearing full up body protection, things that Harry had worked on and made better over the past few weeks and months of his life. This wasn't grounds for them to become careless and trust their gear.
All four of the experienced raid team members knew that they had to keep alert and anything could go wrong. They had experienced things going wrong in previous missions, but this was the first attack against a heavily warded residence of an inner-circle Death Eater.
Once the area was clear, Harry looked at the map that the monitoring wards were tied to. He scanned it quickly and noted the small green dots that indicated marked Death Eaters. Powerful wizards were indicated with a red circle around the dot, and there were three of those there. Three powerful Death Eaters.
Harry held up three fingers. Then he made the arranged symbol for powerful: the thumb and index finger were together in a circle, while the other three fingers were in a plane with the rest of his hand. The others gave him the acknowledgement symbol, and then they gathered around Harry while Moody kept his eye looking out for trouble.
"Ok," Harry whispered, as he pointed at the map. "We have ten marked and three powerful marked. This will be the hardest raid yet."
"ID?"
Harry nodded and pointed to a list on the side. They had managed to find a way to copy wand signatures from the Ministry's wand records database and compare it to the signatures the wards picked up. George Parkinson, Damien Valentine, and Nicolas Redwood were the three powerful inner-circle Death Eaters there. At least they felt they were inner-circle from the intelligence they had collected.
The other death eaters were new recruits, or part of the Parkinson family.
Harry glanced at his monitors one more time before they headed to the sight. After giving the signal, the four split up to reach their attack positions. Harry waited to rip down the wards and was monitoring the map. Since they had no way of communicating, they were on a timed attack. But first, if the wards didn't go down, then they would know that Harry had aborted the attack. It was safer that way.
Just as Harry was ready to tear down the wards, he saw quite a few more people arrive via portkey. A moment later, he backed off and returned to the meeting point, which was where the others would return to if Harry didn't set off the wards to signal the attack.
Ten minutes later, the others were back. Moody gave him a look.
Harry crossed his index fingers. More arrived. Moody nodded and then signaled for the portkey. Harry nodded, and the four were gone from the sight.
When the portkey landed, they activated a series of portkeys that took them through several locations around the United Kingdom. Several of the locations were secured by the Fidelius Charm, and Harry had placed it himself to use as safe houses around the area. This would prevent the Death Eaters from tracking them.
An hour after the canceled raid, Moody spoke.
"Well, what was it?"
"Voldemort himself showed up with about two dozen more Death Eaters," Harry said.
"Aye, good call, lad," Moody said. "We couldn't have taken them."
Harry nodded his agreement.
"I know," he said. "But I will be watching them to see what they do. What they do not know is that I have added a few discrete tracking spells that will follow them."
"What does it do?"
Harry grinned.
"Well, I found a book that allowed me to make it," he said. "All I will tell you is that anyone with the Dark Mark will soon have the tracking spell applied and, once it is there, the only way to remove it is to remove their magic."
Moody grinned at Harry.
"What about You-Know-Who," Tonks asked.
"Let's just say he'll have to remove all of his magic too."
Tonks grinned as the Shacklebolt gave Harry a thumbs up.
Over the next few days after the failed raid, Harry kept a close eye on the tracking charms. He realized that there were only two dozen tracking charms active, and that should indicate that there were that few Death Eaters, he surmised. He hadn't told Moody and the others that it would perpetrate through the Dark Mark itself, and they didn't have to have close contact with anyone else with the mark for that to happen.
When he saw them all in one place, he made a call.
"Moody, Shacklebolt, we have a Class IV Hot Operation."
The Aurors looked at Harry.
"A Class IV? Are you sure," the veteran Auror asked his friend.
"I am, Moody," Harry said. "Let's get everyone together and see if we can't end this once and for all."
Ten minutes later, the remnants of the Auror Corps, Hit Wizard Squad, and Unspeakables all met in the Ministry's meeting room.
"Potter, what is the meaning of this," Minister Bones demanded.
"I have gathered intelligence that all of Voldemort's Death Eaters are in one spot, and if we move now, we can take them out and take him out."
"Numbers?"
"He has about two dozen Death Eaters plus himself."
"Location?"
"Under the Fidelius Charm."
A few Aurors snickered.
Harry turned to glare at them for a moment before he spoke.
"I will break that damn Fidelius Charm and they will know we're coming. It is a hot operation."
"And Lethal Force is authorized," Minister Bones said, examining the document Harry handed to her. "Mr. Potter, you're in charge. I will hold the back-up and stay here."
Harry nodded.
"What's the plan?"
Harry grinned.
"We're going to break through their wards and then put up some of our own to keep them there. Then, we kill them."
Some of the Aurors blanched, and Harry smirked when he saw one trying to send a messenger spell. Instead of leaving the room, it spoke loudly.
"My Lord, Aurors on their way," The voice said.
"Did I mention that I warded this room against all unauthorized communications, traitor," Harry asked, an evil glint in his eye.
"AVADA…"
Before the Auror, Dawlish, could finish, his head rolled on the ground from Harry's cutting spell.
"Now, does anyone else wish to betray us," Harry asked, in a cold voice, as his eyes scoured the room. There was no movement as everyone was in shock.
"He murdered an Auror," one of the new recruits said.
"Recruit," Minister Bones said. "Dawlish was about to use Lethal Force on Auror Potter. Proceed, Potter."
Harry waved his wand and a map of the area ended up on the board.
"This is their location. They are located in Kent, in the Parkinson Summer Home. It is heavily defended with Death Wards and Death Eaters. I also have indications that there are at least three trolls on the premises.
"The parameters for this operation are that anyone who points a wand at you is hostile and should be taken down with lethal force," Harry said, coldly. "We do not take chances."
"What if a kid attacks me," One Auror asked.
"If they attack, they become enemy combatants," Harry said. "The rules of war are specific on this issue."
Ten minutes later, Harry had the Auror teams ready to go. He was going in first with his team and they would head for Voldemort.
An hour later, the assault force was in place and Harry had his map out looking at the surrounding area. Nothing had changed, and he knew they were planning something, probably a recruiting drive since they had so few Death Eaters. It could also be an attack, or Voldemort just wanted all of his people in one place.
After checking the wards again, Harry smirked as he placed the finishing touches on his ward stones, which were surrounding the area. When he activated the wards, the other wards would be totally destroyed, including the Fidelius Charm, and it was all thanks to Merlin's book that he was able to do this safely. It had given him many hints since he'd gotten it and he was glad that he had found the book. It would save many lives.
He gave the signal of one minute to go and set the last charging rune on the last warding stone. It would take a minute to pass through to the other warding stones that he set up and then it would immediately put up his wards and tear down the others by absorbing all of their energy to produce the other wards in a hurry without draining the attackers. Harry, of course, planned on letting no one know about this method, as it was a surefire way of getting a lot of people to attack others and break down the wards of places they could defeat.
Exactly one minute after he gave the signal, there was a loud crashing sound and lightning in the sky as the wards took effect and destroyed the others.
When the wards fell, Harry and his team were on the move already, and had sent a flurry of spells against three trolls that were in their area. The trolls didn't stand a chance, as the powerful blasting spells tore them to pieces.
The four didn't even stop to admire their handy work. There would be time for that later. Three Death Eaters started to shoot curses out of a second floor window, but the attacking force replied with a flurry of spells against all windows, which was their plan.
The spells broke through glass, and the screams of pain from several Death Eaters indicated the spells had hit. A moment after the other teams hit, Harry felt the attempted escapes through the wards. He smiled as the wards rebuffed the magic, and it would momentarily stun whoever had tried to leave.
Blasting through the door and sending in several blasting spells, Harry dodged a killing curse that headed his way.
"POTTER!" came Voldemort's familiar voice.
"Hello, Tom," Harry said, in a loud voice. "Long time no see, my half-blood friend."
Harry got another killing curse in response, but he sent three more dark arts spells at Voldemort as the Death Eaters around him were taken out by the attacking Aurors. Harry heard a scream as one of his people went down, but he couldn't turn to look. He had to trust the others to do their job and care for the wounded.
Dodging two more killing curses, Harry sent one back at Voldemort, surprising the wizard. But he dodged the curse with ease, and the battle was on.
As they flung spells back and forth at each other, the room was getting destroyed by the powerful magic being sent forth.
"I see you've learned quite a bit, Potter," Riddle said, as he batted away one of Harry's dark cutting spells. "Using Dark Magic too. We could be quite a team, you know."
"The only team I want you to be on is the team of the dead, you fuckwit," Harry replied, using one of the terms he'd learned from an American friend. Harry sent two spells at Voldemort, who dodged them with ease.
But the evil sorcerer walked right into Harry's killing curse. The last thing on his face was shock that he'd been beaten.
When Voldemort fell, Harry didn't stop moving. He summoned the man's wand, snapping it over his knee, and then sending a spell that would burn all of the magic in the corpse, making it impossible to revive him. It was one of the counters to necromantic rituals, Harry had learned, during his education.
The gray spell hit Voldemort, and, when it did, because the body was a magical construct, it exploded, and Harry's world went black.
Outside, the Aurors were shocked as the building seemed to explode. They knew that there was at least one of them in there: Potter.
The Aurors had evacuated the building once it had begun to shake and threaten to collapse in on itself during the duel between Harry and Voldemort.
When it exploded, however, the Aurors looked on in shock and horror.
"Get in there to find Potter!" Moody yelled, as he glanced over at a wounded and pale Shacklebolt. Tonks was tending to Shacklebolt's wounds as a healer team arrived. Daphne was on the team.
"Where's Harry, Shack," Daphne asked the black Auror, as she examined his wound.
"In there," the black Auror said, reluctantly, indicating the building with his good arm.
Daphne's eyes went wide in shock for a moment, and then she froze. Her Harry was in that building and she didn't know what to do.
Tonks realized what was happening, and she moved over to grab Daphne as the brunette's tears started to fall down her face. Tonks hugged Daphne close, and the healer started to sob, knowing that it would take a miracle for anyone to survive an explosion like the one she heard described on her way there.
Several hours after the explosion, there was a shout as Aurors removed the debris.
"WE'VE FOUND HIM!"
Several people converged on the site immediately. To their surprise, it was Voldemort's body, or what was left of it. His broken wand was in pieces by him and Moody spoke in a gruff voice.
"It's over," he said. "Potter should be nearby."
By the time the sun rose again, the sight had been cleared and there was no sign of Harry. It was surprising to everyone that they couldn't find him.
Daphne sniffled as she grabbed onto one of Harry's shirts. It reminded her of what she lost, and hoping that her Harry was alive. Her mind told her that he was probably gone, but her heart told her that he was alive.
There was a knock at her room and she stood and walked to the door, opening.
"Yes?"
"Miss Greengrass…" Minister Bones said.
"It's Mrs. Potter," Daphne said, showing her ring.
"When?"
Daphne gave a wistful smile.
"We eloped last weekend to get away from the press."
The woman smiled slightly.
"I come bearing news."
Daphne nodded and sat down, clutching the shirt that she'd been holding to since Harry had gone missing.
"We cleared the sight and found Voldemort's body. It seems Mr. Potter killed him."
Daphne smiled.
"I knew he could do it," She said. "Where was Harry?"
"His body is missing."
Daphne closed her eyes for a moment and then they opened again. She ran out of the room, forgetting she wore only a pair of shorts and a tank top. She had her wand with her, and she ran out of Hogwarts, ignoring everyone who called for her.
When she got outside of the wards, she immediately disapparate and appeared in Diagon Alley. She ran to Gringotts and immediately entered the bank.
One of the tellers recognized her and spoke.
"Mrs. Potter, please follow me," the goblin said.
Five minutes later, Daphne threw herself on Harry's sleeping form, crying. She felt an arm come around her, and she looked up to see Harry's green eyes looking at her, a smile on his face.
"I wondered when you would realize about my emergency portkey," he replied.
"You scared me, you fool," Daphne said, right before she kissed Harry. "Why didn't you contact me?"
"I can explain that, Mrs. Potter," Ragnok said.
"You'd better have a good explanation," Daphne said, glaring at the goblin leader.
The goblin only chuckled.
"The reason we didn't contact you was because he only just arrived. I don't know where he was before that."
Daphne turned to Harry with a raised eyebrow and her hands on her hip.
"Mistress Daphne," Dobby the house elf said, popping in. "I's took Master Harry to Potter Manor and then brought him here when I couldn't help him."
Daphne nodded and looked at Harry.
"We're hiring that elf," She said, point blank.
Harry smiled and then Dobby gave a large smile back to them.
Daphne snuggled up to Harry in the bed again.
"This time, you're not leaving my side until I tell you that you can," she said.
"I can't handle that, Mrs. Potter," Harry said.
"I hope so, Mr. Potter," Daphne replied. "Besides, you owe me."
"I know. I owe you a lot."
"And you'll pay even more once our son is born," Daphne said.
Harry's eyes opened wide and looked at Daphne, who gave him a smile, her hand on her stomach. He grinned and kissed. For him, all was well, and getting better. Voldemort was gone, and he was going to be a father. There was nothing better than that for him.
Chapter 21: Epilogue
AN: This is a long-awaited epilogue. I just finished rereading the story today and decided that it needed an epilogue of sorts to clear up some loose ends that people wanted closed.
After healing from his injuries, Harry returned to Hogwarts for a hero's welcome. The press and the public hounded him for days, so much that Harry and Daphne chose to go public with their training. It was necessary for their plans, as they had to reveal their true mental and physical ages for the public to accept that Daphne was pregnant.
Once their history was revealed, Harry and Daphne resigned from Hogwarts, though they continued to study in the areas they had begun for their own reasons. After leaving Hogwarts, the Potters purchased a new house and Harry warded it to his highest standards, meaning that few people could get into the house. It was necessary due to his fame for defeating Voldemort permanently, as well as the revelations that he had traveled in time.
Within eight months of Voldemort's defeat, Daphne gave birth to Daniel Jameson Potter. She would later give birth to two more children, Andrew Steven Potter and Delilah Minerva Potter. She would continue her work as a potions mistress and a healer, spending part of her time at St. Mungos, and the other part researching healing potions.
Harry would spend much of his time studying Merlin's Book of Magic, and he would develop or modify spells in this book that he would release to the public, gaining fame and accolades for his work in rediscovering ancient magic. He, too, would study healing, but his focus was on spell damage. When he wasn't studying or spending time with his family, Harry was at St. Mungos working as a Spell Damage consultant, or working as a warding/curse-breaking consultant for Gringotts, Hogwarts, and the Ministry of Magic, leaving him with plenty of things to do when he chose to work on them. He remained as a Hit Wizard, but only in a part-time, reserve status.
Fleur would eventually return to Harry and Daphne after her attempts at dating. She couldn't find anyone who she wanted to have more for a husband, so, with Daphne's permission, Fleur and Harry had a public ceremony to proclaim their relationship status, with Fleur being publicly named and shown as his concubine through the public ceremony. Fleur and Harry would have two kids together: Dominique and Laura. Fleur would eventually become a healer, and she, when not working her full-time job as the Hogwarts Hospital Wing Matron, would help Daphne and Harry perform research into healing spells and potions.
Hermione would eventually marry Neville, and the couple would travel the world learning. Neville would study plants, and Hermione would study other forms of magic. Hermione and Neville would eventually work together to discover a new magical species of plant. The plant led to Daphne discovering a potion that would allow Alice Longbottom to recover from her injuries enough to have something resembling a life. Frank, however, died from his injuries, having never recovered despite the use of the best potions and healing techniques wizards, and muggles, knew.
Ginny, who had been on the straight and narrow since being caught, eventually married Dean Thomas when she realized that Harry was not interested in her at all. She would enjoy her life as a chaser for the Holyhead Harpies before she became a mother and a sports reporter.
Ron would never forgive Harry for marrying that Slytherin bint, as he called her. Instead, he barely got into the NEWT classes, and he barely got his NEWTs. He would later find a job working for minimum wages as an equipment manager for his beloved Chudley Cannons. He would never manage to make it to play Professional Quidditch, nor would he become more than an assistant coach.
Sirius eventually settled down after the war, marrying Annabelle, whom he had gotten to know when she had come to spend time at Hogwarts. It wasn't unusual to have Adrienne in their bed as well. He would have several children of his own, and he would dote on them until he died in his sixties of a heart attack after a rousing night of sex with his Veela lovers.
As for Magical Britain, things slowly changed when people realized that it was their society that allowed the war and damage to happen. Their country slowly rebuilt itself, with Minister Bones leading the charge. Harry and Daphne would offer advice to those who asked, but neither wished to take a position in the Wizengamot, at Hogwarts, or the Ministry beyond what they had already done. The public liked them much better that way, and no one person would ever have as much statutory control over the Wizarding World as Fudge or Dumbledore ever had.
Not to say that people didn't have a lot of influence. Harry and Daphne continued to be positive influences in the wizarding world until their deaths three-quarters of a century after Voldemort's defeat. Fleur joined them in death a few years later.