Indeed, there was a new computer on the desk, complete with a colour printer and a scanner. Once it was turned on, it soon became clear that it also had a high-speed internet connection and had the latest software a home office would need. Harry wasn't sure how that had been achieved but refrained from asking. He would probably not understand the explanations, lacking too much basic knowledge.
It took Hermione almost no time to check for the information she needed. "We're expected to come to a military base near Sheffield and present our documents and then load the equipment into our vehicle. We seem to need a lorry for that, or possibly a large van." She turned to Ted. "Do you drive?"
Ted smiled. "I do. I spent most of my life, even after Hogwarts, in the muggle world. I needed to drive and my license even allows me to drive a lorry if needed."
Hermione considered her options before talking some more. "We may need to hire an appropriate vehicle at Sheffield and drive to that place. We can then ask the house-elves to take it all here before returning the hired vehicle. Will that be alright with you?"
Ted smiled apologetically. "I need to check and see if I still have my license. I need to present it at the car rental agency when we hire one."
Hermione smiled with some mischief. "If needed, we can always procure one." She then turned serious again. "Fine, we shall get organised and leave in half an hour. I'd like to finish this before lunchtime."
"May I also join you?" Luna asked.
"Why would you like to do that? We're just doing some business, you know," Hermione asked back.
"I've never visited the muggle world, although I passed through it. I'd like to see what kinds of vehicles there are, how one hires one and how it's driven. I may also like the company."
Hermione smiled. "Alright. Do you have appropriate clothes?" She then thought better of it. "You probably have nothing of yours. Ask the house-elves for something suitable for the weather there." She turned to the computer to check some more. "The forecast is for partly cloudy with no rain, but quite cold. We shall take umbrellas in any case."
Luna skipped out quickly to go change. Harry turned to the Lupins. "Try to complete the list of possible revenge targets by priority and try to warn the occupants to move elsewhere for a while. Use house-elf-mail, as I did with you."
"May we suggest Grimmauld place for temporary lodging?" Remus asked.
Harry gave it a thought. "We already have Narcissa there and Xeno too. The Diggorys may be welcome, although they might be a bit apprehensive about Narcissa. I see no way that the Weasley would stay there with her. Maybe Bill should have goblin wards erected at his house and then invite the others to stay there. Molly may pose some problems even with this arrangement."
Remus chuckled, not quite amused. "We can't let that stop us. Molly will have to cope. I'm sure Bill and Fleur will put her in her place, if necessary."
With that, they parted. A while later, the ones going to Sheffield assembled in the dining room, all dressed appropriately. They all held hands and Dobby transferred them to a back alley near the rental agency.
With Ted handling the conversation, it went quite smoothly. The group of four was then driven to a nearby car parking for the larger vehicles. Ted took a few minutes to get acquainted with the large van they had hired, which was a bit different (and newer) than the ones he had driven before.
Luna watched everything attentively but refrained from commenting or asking anything.
Almost an hour later, they reached their destination.
After presenting her documents, Hermione and her associates, as the official called them, were led to a depot, where twelve large boxes containing eight missiles and four launchers were loaded into the back of the van. She signed the delivery documents and they were then escorted back to the gate and out.
Ted only drove for a few minutes before they found a rest area with nobody parked there. Dobby popped into the van when called. He then clicked his fingers once for every box, transferring them to the Manor. He was also ready to take the teens back, but Luna wanted to experience some more, so they all stayed together.
With nothing urgent, Luna let go of her curiosity, making even Hermione seem uninterested when comparing the number of questions per minute. Ted and Hermione tried to answer to the best of their abilities but neither was a car expert. Ted found it easier to answer questions about the traffic signs and lights, about the various kinds of vehicles they could see and about the muggle way of life in general.
When they arrived back at the Manor, Luna still had many questions, yet she was fascinated mostly by the sheer number of muggles. She suspected there were roughly a thousand times more muggles than magical folk. It looked like a complete folly to try to conquer them. Magicals couldn't communicate so fast and so efficiently, couldn't use any of the sophisticated equipment that muggles had and were much less imaginative than muggles in using the assets they had. The folly of the pureblood bigotry was pretty much screaming, the way she saw it.
\/\/\/
The Potters didn't waste any time. While Harry, with Ted and Dobby helping, started unpacking one set of launcher and missile, Hermione took the manuals and quickly found the assembly and setup instructions. Under her supervision, the launcher and missile were made ready, but still unarmed.
In a way, launching the missile was very similar to their sharpshooting. Each launcher had a small red laser, 'painting' the target and the missile just went to that spot.
Still, Hermione found it lacking. "That laser beam shows where the launcher is, making it a counter-target. We must make sure this will not be the case."
She thought for a moment and then smiled. "We can use a similar technique to the modified Sonorus. We can make the light shine from many sources around the target, making the real source practically undetectable."
It took her some time to come with the right spell. She then cast it on a pen-laser and turned it on. As soon as it touched an object, several more red beams, coming from multiple directions became visible. The longer she lighted a spot, the more alternate sources seemed to appear. Once she moved the beam, the other sources moved accordingly, until she turned it off, making the other turn off immediately.
"That's really ingenious!" Ted complimented her.
Hermione shrugged it off. "It's just the same principle used when taking Harry from his relatives' house at his seventeenth birthday. With seven Potters, the Death Eaters didn't know who was the real one. I implemented that principle for the laser beam, that's all."
"And it's still very impressive," Ted insisted.
"Well, thank you," she said, not wanting to turn it into a debate.
"We can use this on our rifles' laser sights," Harry commented.
"I'll do it as soon as we reach our room. That will allow us to use the lasers for aiming at night without risking to reveal our positions."
\/\/\/
They trained for three hours after lunch. Dora stopped them from working on it any longer. "If you exhaust yourselves, you will be unable to act the way you did last night. You must always be ready, the way I see it."
Harry stopped reluctantly, as did Hermione. Luna, though, had a different idea. "I'm not as well trained as they are. I need more training before I can join their activities. Please continue training me."
Dora did.
Not getting too tired proved to be a good idea. That evening, shortly after dinner, Winky told them of a Death Eater celebration at the pub in Knockturn Alley. It was booked for the whole evening, allowing only Death Eaters in. Death would wait for them on the way out.
Remus joined them this time, as did Ted. He had used the afternoon to go with a house-elf to his parents' house and take the shotgun they had there. While not as exact or long-range, it was more than good enough at less than a hundred feet and Ted had some experience with it. He added some silencing and anti-recoil charms when at the Manor.
They made sure to stay as hidden as possible, with the teens settling on the roof of a closed shop, much farther than the other two, who also positioned themselves on roofs, much closer to the pub. Winky took her previous place as a spotter and garbage collector.
They refrained from shooting the groups that came in by two and three or more, not wanting to cause any suspicion. Some latecomers, though, never reached the pub's door, being eliminated on their way there. Some two hours later, people started to come out, most were at least slightly drunk. The Potters waited until they went a bit farther, where nobody still in the pub could see them, before taking care of them.
A larger group came out. This one needed some more firepower. Remus was the first to act. He hit the straddler with a piercing charm to the back of the head. This was followed by a bullet to the temple of another, who just tried to turn and see why he heard somebody fall. This was followed by two well-placed bullets into the remaining targets.
Winky quickly removed the cadavers and vanished the bullets. She also vanished any signs of the attack,
It was just in time, since a larger group came out. Once again, the ambushers waited for them to walk some farther. This also made the group stretch longer. Remus had no problem removing the last two in quick succession, followed by Ted removing another one. From their position, the Potters were able to hit two more at the back of the group before those in the front were even aware of something happening. They started turning their heads and were hit by two bullets from the front, a piercing charm and another bullet in the heart.
Harry thought this was enough killing for one night. He signalled a retreat. Ted made sure to leave no used cartridges behind. He didn't have all the additional equipment that the teens used, though, so it didn't take him long to be ready.
This time, Winky couldn't handle the removal of the bodies all alone. Remus and Ted joined her, with Remus masking any magical signature left while Ted removed the left sleeves.
They were still busy in the passage between the two buildings when a back door opened and two more Death Eaters came out, evidently wanting to take a piss. They got a piercing charm in the head each, instead.
Remus suggested putting the bodies where others leaving the pub wouldn't notice them when leaving. They helped Winky position the bodied in the deserted Diagon Alley and made sure to remove all the wand too. All in all, the dark forces lost seventeen that night.
This didn't mean that the Potters felt content. They needed some chocolate, like after meeting Dementors and hugged each other to sleep. They would never like killing, that was sure.
\/\/\/
They were in a better mood the next morning. Once again, the Prophet hid the news on a middle page. It was clear that somebody up the ladder didn't want it to get well known that the Death Eaters were falling to some unknown force and had no clue about it. Yet it wasn't as great a success as they hoped. Most of those eliminated were low level and new recruits, with only one middle level and none from the inner circle. It was still a very bold message. Somebody was hunting Death Eaters and that gave some hope to the rest of the population.
The house-elves had some more to add. "The mistrust and panic at Malfoy Manor are at a new peak. Nobody trusts anybody. Lucius has locked himself in his rooms and seems not to care about the rest. He was heard mumbling that Draco was lucky not to be at home. He may even order Draco to stay at school for the holidays. It's also unclear if he even noticed the absence of his wife.
"The Ministry is also in turmoil. The minister fears for his life, once the Dark Lord returns, but he has no qualified Aurors to handle the investigations. All the currently employed Aurors are Death Eaters with less than minimal training and no skills.
"Yesterday afternoon we've located supplies of wood for wands and collected some core ingredients. The wood pieces will arrive today and Ollivander expects to make enough wands for all present by the end of the week."
That was good news. The mood of all present improved, although they didn't expect it to last. War has a tendency to destroy moods.
A.N. Please don't flame me again about the weapons. While the details are probably all wrong, all governments sell surplus or old weapons to other countries with the help of weapon dealers, so the main idea is realistic. The details are purely my imagination.