"What has Horatio reported?"
Harry settled back into his armchair, thinking of the strange, stilted conversation that he'd had with Horatio over the mirror.
Things at Hogwarts didn't seem to be too good, no. Horatio had been utterly terrified of being caught, and even cloistered as he was in the Room of Hidden Things, blanketed under layers of concealment spells, he'd been nervous. Very, very nervous.
No, things at Hogwarts didn't seem to be too good at all.
"Most of his news is very troubling, my lord," he said, swallowing. "Grindelwald is still the Defence Professor, and he's apparently been teaching with a major focus on offensive magic. He's building an army out of Hogwarts, my lord"
"Is he? And the other professors are perfectly fine with that?"
"Horatio says that they're not, not really. But there is a heavy atmosphere of fear. Apparently, the Slytherin students have it the worst. Gr-Grindelwald, he believes that they all are ours"
"Were it only so" the Dark Lord murmured.
"He-he encourages the students to be on the watch for any sign of allegiance to us. To spy on their fellows"
Voldemort laughed, lightly tapping the arms of his throne. "And that will achieve nothing other than pushing those Slytherins still there closer toward us. Interesting. I had not thought Grindelwald to be such a blind fool"
"He-Horatio says, that there's a group that Grindelwald teaches privately. Thirty or so students. All very dedicated to him. All becoming increasingly violent and belligerent. He believes that they are being taught the Dark Arts"
"He has not joined them?"
Harry shook his head. "Rumors claim, that everyone who wants to join is tested with Veritaserum and legilemency. And that they are made to swear an Unbreakable Vow, that they have never sworn their service to you, and never will"
"I see. What else has he to say?"
"That-that there seems to be another group. Much smaller. Only three students. But they are absolutely dedicated to Grindelwald. And Horatio is terrified of them"
"Did he say who they are?"
"The Weasley Twins, and Padma Patil, my lord. Her sister fought against us in the battle at Hogwarts. She died"
"And one of the Weasleys' brothers was made into an example at the ministry. Interesting. What else?"
"The security has apparently been upgraded. They've redone many of the wards, and have even extended wards around Hogsmeade, as an early warning system. There still is a team of Aurors there, that were assigned before the ministry fell, as well as some members of the Order of the Phoenix. Between them, the professors, and some of Grindelwald's trusted students, the castle is being patrolled at all time. Furthermore, they've supposedly made deals with a lot of the creatures in the forest. Horatio says that he's seen a herd of centaurs patrolling the grounds with their bows at the ready"
The Dark Lord motioned for him to continue.
"They haven't found the Room of Hidden Things. They still don't know how we managed to get in. But if we used the Cabinet for a surprise attack, we would be discovered much quicker than last time. He says that there've been new portraits added all over the school and that he's seen the suits of armor walking around on a frequent basis. The ghosts, as well, seem to be on high alert"
"Interesting"
"And-and he says he's sure that some of the Slytherin students have been disappearing. He says that a few days ago, three of them just vanished"
The Dark Lord went absolutely still, His eyes burning.
"Vanished?"
"So-so he says, my lord"
"Grindelwald has just proven himself to be a far greater threat" He murmured, still staring into space, "if he is using them as sacrifices… he must be dealt with. We will have to approach this very carefully. Very well. What of the Gryffindors? Has he any ideas about which of them are not present?"
"He-he wasn't completely sure of his list, my lord. He was never exactly friendly with them. But he's certain of a few"
"Tell me"
Harry started listing off the names, only to be interrupted suddenly.
"Longbottom. Longbottom"
The Dark Lord had gone absolutely still again.
"Longbottom"
"Y-yes, my lord. Longbottom isn't there, and neither are his two closest friends. Weasley and Granger"
"Two blood traitors and a mudblood" Voldemort snarled. "Dumbledore. You-"
He breathed deeply, shutting His eyes.
"It is them. Find them. What leverage can we get on them?"
"W-Weasley has a large family, and-and Longbottom has a girlfriend. And his grandmother. Granger-I don't know, my lord, but her parents are dentists"
"Longbottom's girlfriend. Who is she?"
"L-Luna Lovegood. Her mother's dead and her father runs the Quibbler."
Voldemort waved a hand as if to brush away a fly.
"She is a student at Hogwarts?"
"She is, my lord"
"And the Weasley girl is as well" He mused, opening His eyes and staring straight ahead for a moment before focusing on Harry.
"Their winter break is in one month. I want it ensured that the Lovegood and Weasley girls return to their homes for it. We will take them, as well as the muggles and the Longbottom woman then. I want nothing that could alert them beforehand"
"I-it will be done, my lord"
' How the fuck am I meant to arrange that?'
"Perhaps," the Dark Lord said, as if sensing Harry's thoughts, "the families should be Imperius'd and then obliviated. Just to ensure that their children return"
"I-I'll arrange it, my lord. I'll have Blaise and Theo on it immediately"
"Good. And once their families are taken, I want a manhunt announced. With a suitably large reward offered"
"I-if I may ask, my lord. What makes you so certain that it is those three?"
Voldemort's crimson gaze pierced him.
"There were two possible candidates for the subject of the prophecy regarding my enemy. You were one. Longbottom was the other. Dumbledore would have desired my downfall to be at the hands of my prophesied enemy. And even he was not fool enough to realize that you were not that"
"I-Longbottom? But he's-he's useless!"
"Indeed. I chose the likelier of the two when you were both infants. Even then, I sensed your potential"
At the Dark Lord's gesture, Harry rose, and begin leaving the room.
"Send in Draco and Ian. And be wary. Grindelwald's plans are surely afoot"
He was relaxing on a couch in the lounge, Daphne's head in his lap, when Andrea walked in, looking absolutely shell-shocked.
"Andrea?" He asked as Daphne sat up, "are you-are you alright?"
She just looked at him and nodded, biting her lip.
"Uh," he patted the couch. "Why don't you come to sit down?"
She walked listlessly to the couch and sat down, with a strange smile suddenly spreading across her face.
"What's up?"
"I-I did it" she answered breathlessly. "I finally did it"
"You killed him?"
She just giggled.
"Well done! Damn, how was it?"
Her giggling cut off abruptly, and she looked down. "It was-it was good. It was good"
Daphne put her arm around the trembling girl. "What did your mum do? Afterward, I mean?" She asked gently.
"She-she-the blood traitor bitch, she tried to attack me! And I-I was just protecting her! So I had to-I had to-I had to kill her too"
And she was laughing again, laughing until tears rolled down her face.
Daphne patted her on the back softly, while looking over at Harry with a helpless expression.
He just shrugged.
Right then, Bellatrix walked into the room, looking absolutely furious and snarling to herself.
"Have you seen Sharptooth?" She snapped.
"Nope. What do you want with him anyway?"
"Capella tried to kill herself again!"
"Ok? And so you need Sharptooth?"
Bella looked at him like he was an absolute idiot.
"She needs to be punished. Letting a wolf play with her should be good enough. If that little cunt knows what's good for her, she'll learn that lesson"
She stopped mid-rant and gestured toward Andrea. "What's wrong with her?"
"She just pruned her family tree a little. I think she's feeling a bit shocked about it all"
Bellatrix bounded forward, clapping her hands joyously.
"Oh, you did? That's wonderful! Andrea, dear, that's so exciting!"
The lunatic pulled Andrea into a tight hug and kissed her on the cheek.
"That's so amazing! I'm so proud of you!"
"Thanks," Andrea said, muffled by Bella's chest.
"Really! Now, I need to find Sharptooth. But we can celebrate later. You can come to play with Capella. Harry and Daphne" she said, staring at Harry, "have been brushing me off for months now. You have to come. She needs a good push"
Harry nodded slowly. "Fine. Just give it a few days, ok?"
Bellatrix just ignored him and stalked out of the room, growling to herself.
Before Harry even had a chance to say anything, someone else ran into the room. One of the Russian Death Eaters, and looking as freaked out as Andrea had.
He stopped when he saw the three sitting on the couch, and looked at Harry, eyes wide.
"Where-where is our Lord?"
"He's in His study," he said, standing up. "What's going on?"
The Russian stared at him, mouth working soundlessly for a moment.
Dimly, Harry heard the front door banging open and hurried footsteps as someone else ran into the Manor.
"Inferi" the Russian finally said. "Thousands of them. Attacking us"
"Report" Voldemort ordered.
"The attack seems to be focused on three main locations," Rookwood said, his voice raspy. "From what our operatives have told us, there are thousands of Inferi attacking at Diagon and Knockturn, the Ministry, and our stronghold in York. Additionally, it seems that there are wizards and witches attacking our forces in Liverpool"
"Thousands of Inferi in each location?"
"So it seems. The ministry is in danger of being overrun"
"Rookwood, Severus, Bellatrix. Take ten or so of the Russians and French, and deal with the Inferi in York. Once that is done, give aid to our fellows in Liverpool"
The trio left, grabbing a few of the foreigners as they went.
"Harry. Take Daphne, both Notts, Zabini, the Crabbes, the Goyles, Alaine, and a group of the Russians and French. Go to Diagon and Knockturn. When the Inferi there have been dealt with, join our fellows in Liverpool"
Harry stood up, along with the rest who had been named.
"Everyone else. Go to Liverpool. I will handle the ministry. Go. Now!"
They all fled the study.
They arrived in Diagon to a scene out of a nightmare.
Bodies lay all over the cobbled street, as hundreds of small fires merrily blazed. Blood and viscera dotted the bricks of the recently rebuilt shops and homes, and throughout it all, thousands of Inferi shambled.
Easily two or three thousand of them, they practically packed the entire alley, the stench of their rotting flesh carrying on the wind.
Crabbe vomited, and his father clapped him on the back and whispered something to him.
"Ok," Harry said, his voice sounding shaky. "Let's do it. Fire spells, everyone. Keep them away from me."
The horde started making its way toward them, and Harry waved his wand.
"Fiendfyre"
As the monsters roared their way out of his wand, he devoted his mind to them, focusing all his concentration on the cursed flame.
He ignored the little ball of thoughts and feelings in the back of his mind that was the muggle minister and commanded the fiery creatures to attack the Inferi.
' This is quickly becoming my favorite spell'
Dimly, he noticed spells and curses flying from around him, jets of light exploding into flaming tornadoes as they reached the Inferi.
But he was focused on the battle in his mind, as the manticores and basilisks fought him for control.
He gritted his teeth, sweat dripping into his eyes, and slammed his will against theirs.
And won.
His beasts pounced, burning the reanimated corpses into ash where they stood, the fiendfyre cutting through the very magic that gave these monstrosities their semblance of life.
Engaged as he was in the battle of wills, he didn't notice any time passing. After what could have been seconds, or could have been hours, he became aware of someone calling his name.
He ended the spell, pulling the life out of his animals, fighting one Sphinx, in particular, the entire way.
He lowered his wand, his arm feeling like lead.
There was nothing living left in front of him.
"What?" He asked, ears ringing.
"You ok?"
"Yeah. Just-tired"
Theo's dad clasped his shoulder. "I'll take the fiendfyre at Knockturn"
"Sounds good," he said, voice wavering. "We'll still need to walk through the alleys. Afterward. To make sure that-that there's none left"
"Right you are. Let's get going, shall we?"
"Yeah. To Knockturn!"
Theo's dad had a pretty good control over his fiendfyre.
It was different, not being the one in the front of the group. He stood a few feet behind Thaddeus, shoulder to shoulder with Daphne, firing spells around Thaddeus.
There weren't as many Inferi here as there had been in Diagon. Either the denizens of Knockturn had been better at fighting them off, or simply fewer had gone there in the first place.
It didn't matter. It just made things a bit calmer for the group of Death Eaters.
It also gave Harry a chance to observe some of his friends. Crabbe and Goyle each stood next to their fathers, shooting off nothing more complicated than an Incendio.
They had been acting really weird around Harry since their fathers had brought them to swear to the Dark Lord. Since they realized what his position was in the Death Eaters.
' Maybe this will ease their tension a bit'
It didn't take too long until there were no more Inferi advancing through the smoke.
Theo called his dad, and he ended the curse.
"Great! Let's go through the alleys. Then we'll head to Liverpool"
"Shouldn't we get heading there now?" Someone asked, in a heavy French accent.
"No" Harry answered with a sigh, internally bemoaning his fate. He had clearly been cursed to deal with idiots all the time. "We were told to deal with the Inferi here. Which means we do it. And we do it properly. Now, let's go"
They walked through the alleys, hunting down the few Inferi that had survived.
There weren't many. And those that were left were quickly burnt or blown to bits.
"Ok. Let's get to our Liverpool base. Anyone here who hasn't been there before?"
Predictably enough, Crabbe and Goyle both raised their hands.
Other than them, it was only a few foreigners who hadn't been.
"Those of you who haven't, you should side-along with someone who had. Let's go"
With a crack, he disapparated, followed by the rest of them.
The Liverpool manor was a madhouse. The few Death Eaters there were injured, with one healer working on them.
It didn't take long for them to get to Liverpool's small street of magical shops. It was nothing major, just a robe shop, an apothecary, a closed branch of Gringotts, and one or two other random stores.
The Dark Lord was already there, standing in front of a large crowd of kneeling people. At least sixty or seventy of them.
It wasn't just those who had been fighting, clearly. Harry could see people ranging from mothers with babies clutched to their chests, to elderly wizards, one looking so old that he was frankly surprised that he was still alive.
The crowd huddled in front of the Dark Lord, whimpering and weeping.
Not a sound emerged from them.
Behind Voldemort, the Death Eaters stood.
It began to rain, a soft drizzle blanketing them all.
"Tonight," the Dark Lord said, his voice cracking like a whip, "you will learn the price for disobedience. I have been kind. I have offered you all a chance to live and to contribute to the new world. You rejected my offer, casting it back into my face. I warned you all. All of you knew what the cost would be when you raised your wands against my followers"
The wind howled, the only noise breaking the silence.
"Crucify the fighters. And then burn the rest"
Harry smiled, and as he advanced on the terrified crowd with the rest of the Death Eaters, he began to giggle.
"I am told you performed well yesterday. It is good, for the common follower to have a chance to see you lead."
"Thank you, my lord"
He rubbed the back of his neck, catching a whiff of burnt pork as he did so.
The Dark Lord had removed the silencing spells once the punishments had well and truly begun.
And they had screamed so excellently.
"Take a few of your fellows. Daphne, Nott, Zabini. Perhaps Crabbe and Goyle as well. They would benefit from taking part in an operation, would they not?"
"I think they would. Since yesterday, they've both seemed a lot more… lively, I would say"
"Good. Take them as well. I'm sending out teams to examine the large muggle cemeteries. If Grindelwald wishes to turn this into a war of Inferi, then I will gladly oblige. Go to the Brookwood cemetery. I want to know if Grindelwald drew his horde from there. If Grindelwald is there, do not engage. Leave immediately"
"Gladly, my lord. Will-will you show me, my lord? How to raise Inferi?"
Voldemort smirked.
A loud series of cracks split the air outside the fence of Brookwood Cemetery.
A group of people formed from nothingness. Some of them immediately turned, scanning their surroundings, holding lengths of wood menacingly.
None of them saw the man across the road.
It wasn't very surprising. After all, he was under an invisibility cloak.
The group was obviously satisfied with what they saw, or in fact, didn't see. They made their way through the gates, into the enormous necropolis.
As they did so, Bill Weasley raised his wand, hidden from sight.
"Expecto Patronum" he whispered.
A silver mongoose appeared.
"Go to Kingsley Shacklebolt," he told it, "tell him Harry Potter is at Brookwood with some friends"
"Doesn't look like they came from here" Theo said, looking around.
The cemetery looked peaceful. Calm, quiet. The graves were smooth and closed.
The trees rustled soothingly in the wind.
"No. Probably not from here"
"How did he manage to transport them? Without muggles seeing?"
Harry shrugged.
They all turned at the tell-tale cracks of apparation.
Harry had less than a second to gape, shocked, at the intruders.
At Lupin, Shacklebolt, Diggle, and someone who was clearly a Weasley.
Less than a second, and then the battle was on.
Lupin snarled out something and leaped toward Harry, his wand flashing in midair.
He acted instinctively, throwing up a stone shield and blasting it forward into the spell.
"Kill them!" He shouted, spurring the rest of his friends into action.
Shouted curses, threats, and insults filled the air.
Harry was locked into a duel with Lupin, and he was having a hard enough time just deflecting and blocking the spells the wolf kept sending at him, as he advanced, snarling and growling with his teeth showing. He wasn't even close to landing a curse on Lupin. As good a fighter as he was, it was quickly becoming apparent to him that he was outclassed. That if this fight went on much longer, he'd die at the wolf's hand.
"Lupin, back!"
Lupin jumped a good ten meters backward at Shacklebolt's shout.
Immediately, Harry sent a killing curse, followed by an earthquake hex.
Lupin managed to pull a tombstone in the way of the killing curse, but the earthquake spell hit him.
And then, Shacklebolt shouted again.
"Now, Diggle! Now!"
As if in slow-motion, Harry saw Dedalus Diggle reach into the pocket of his robes with one hand, still not letting up on his assault on Blaise.
The short wizard's hand slowly withdrew, and he threw three beads into the air, shouting something Harry couldn't really make out.
He didn't have time to throw up a shield before they exploded, throwing him back hard enough that he knocked a tombstone over.
He lay there for a second, his head spinning, his ears ringing, his back all scratched and torn up.
He heard someone scream.
' Daphne!'
And as he went to get up, Diggle shouted again.
Everything went black.