The Deceiver's Distillation
by Jardyn39
Chapter 12 - Attack
At the first shouts from across the other side of the encampment, Harry pushed Ollivander behind a caravan and struggled to get his invisibility cloak out. He threw the cloak over Ollivander, who appeared to be oblivious to his surroundings.
Harry grabbed hold of Ollivander's robes through the slick fabric of the cloak and held his wand ready in his other hand. He couldn't risk them both under the cloak. If there was fighting, he'd need his wand out in the open.
The sound of close automatic gunfire erupted through the air, making both Harry and Ollivander jump.
Harry pushed a reluctant Ollivander onwards, forcing himself to think kind thoughts about the confused old man. After all, it wasn't really his fault that Harry hadn't been able to catch up with Hermione.
A small group of confused wizards were assembling ahead of them.
"What was that noise?" Harry heard one say.
Harry fired a volley of stunners into their midst. He got four of them but two jumped to safety and returned fire. In the meantime, though, Harry had shoved Ollivander to the side, moving around a large tent.
There was a loud bang and a flash of light lit up the night for a moment. Harry had no idea if it was a wizard spell or one of Bateman's ordnances.
Ollivander was by now actively resisting Harry's attempts to get him out of there. Invisible under the cloak, he was beginning to make frightened whimpering noises.
Hearing rapid footsteps coming towards them, Harry instinctively turned and fired into the shadows. It was only after he'd fired that he realised with a shock of horror that he had no idea whether the person he was firing at was friend or foe. Fortunately, the figure sprawled before him was definitely foe.
Ollivander, feed from Harry's grip in the same instant, stumbled forward.
Harry stooped to feel for his cloak, picked it up and stuffing it back into his robe pocket, ran after Ollivander who had moved surprisingly quickly.
To Harry's great concern, Ollivander was wandering in the lit open space between a row of tents.
As Harry ran towards him, a group of four Death Eaters ran past Ollivander towards the camp centre where it sounded like most of the fighting was going on. Rapid gunfire was still punctuating the air.
A wizard in black emerged from one of the tents and immediately took direct aim at Ollivander. Harry fired as he ran, making the attacker duck down.
Harry hurled himself at Ollivander, throwing him roughly to the ground. Harry rolled over on the wet grass and fired again, hitting the wizard square on but attracting the attention of several more Death Eaters.
As a barrage of spells flew towards him, Harry felt Ollivander crawl off to the side.
Harry tried to follow but as a series of Reductor curses scorched the grass by his face, he was forced to roll the other way, finding some shelter behind a two wheeled cart.
As the cart began to disintegrate under the force of the spells being fired at it, Harry knew his position wasn't good.
Harry looked around. He was very exposed. Behind him was open ground in front of the large main carriage. If he ventured that way he'd be cut down. He also realised that his invisibility cloak would be more of a hindrance than a help in this situation. He wouldn't be able to run fast enough nor return fire from under the cloak. The density of firing meant he would stand a good chance of being hit at random anyway.
Just as his quandary reached its pitch, Bateman's words came back to him.
"If you are outgunned and outnumbered, you are dead anyway. The only option that makes sense is to attack. Nine times out of ten an advantaged attacker will fall back in the face of fire. Just remember, you are dead anyway. Attack!"
Harry calmed himself and made ready to jump out from behind the cart which was by now ablaze.
He jumped out and fired. Harry prepared to run at his attackers who were now firing at from much closer, when a stunner barely missed his head.
Harry realised that shot had come from behind him. He was caught in the middle and now very exposed.
"You are dead anyway. Attack!"
Harry fired, picking out his targets and knowing he would be cut down at any moment.
"Get down, Harry!"
Harry had no intention of taking cover. He zigzagged out in front of the burning cart, firing as quickly as he could.
He glanced back and was amazed to see emerge and Ron blast the last of the attackers behind him off their feet. He then ran forward, drawing fire from Harry.
As Ron drew level with him, they both advanced quickly and their attacker's resolve was broken. The surviving Death Eaters vanished into the darkness.
"Come on," said Harry turning back. "Ollivander's wandering around here somewhere. We need to find him. He's not quite himself."
"Harry, have you seen Hermione?" asked Ron as he following Harry at a run.
"I thought I saw her a bit earlier, but I might have been mistaken," shouted Harry. "Why did she come into the camp?"
"Don't know!"
Harry grabbed Ron and pulled him down as a low barrage of spells flew over them.
"It's okay," shouted Harry. "They're not aiming at us. Thanks, by the way."
"You can thank me by saying we can get out of here!"
Harry gave a groan and pointed out into the open.
"Look, over there!"
Hermione was pinned down beside the wide stone steps that led up to the great wheeled building.
Harry ran straight towards her but was immediately grabbed by Ron.
"No, Ron! Look, go around the outside and pick off as many as you can that are firing at her."
Harry didn't wait for Ron to respond. He shrugged him off and ran as fast as he could towards her, firing as he did so.
He hurtled into the low dip beside Hermione and had to crawl back a few feet to where she was still firing from.
"He got away from me again!" cried Hermione above the din.
"Yeah, I saw."
"I think he went inside!"
"I suppose we'd better go and get him, then," he replied with a grin.
Hermione grabbed his arm and shouted, "Harry, we'll be cut down in all this fire. I'm amazed he wasn't hit."
"Don't worry, Hermione. Ron and the cavalry are here," he added, pointing out across to where he could see four machine gun muzzles emerging from the shadows beneath a row of smaller carriages.
The sound of mortars being fired came from the same direction. A moment later several explosions rocked the great wheeled building. At the same time the machine guns opened fire.
"Let's go!"
Harry grabbed Hermione and dragged her at a run up the exposed stone steps.
*
Inside, Harry was amazed to find that the wheeled building was actually one great hall.
"Oh, my," said Hermione as they walked along the deserted tables.
"Remind you of anywhere?" asked Harry unnecessarily.
He looked over to Hermione who was looking up. He looked up as well and realised that the similarities with Hogwart's Great Hall continued to an enchanted ceiling. The pre-dawn sky was clearly visible.
Hermione halted when she caught sight of the great throne at the far end of the hall.
"Don't worry, Hermione. Voldemort isn't here, I'm sure of it."
She nodded nervously, but appeared quite unable to tear her eyes away from the throne.
They emerged from between the tables at the far end and Harry went over and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.
At last she turned her attention away from the throne and smiled weakly.
Harry was just smiling back when Hermione shoved him to one side. A red stunner just missed him.
They both fired back and a white clothed figure dashed from behind the throne towards the side door.
A bright green flash cut them down and the figure collapsed in a heap.
They ran over.
Ollivander was on both knees, concealed behind the long table on the far side. In a shaking hand he held a wand which was still pointing at his victim.
"I think that's the Nurse," said Harry, going over and turning her over.
Hermione was helping Ollivander to his feet.
"I had to do it," he was saying feebly. "I couldn't let her get away."
Harry wondered just what Ollivander had witnessed.
"Look, we need to get out of here," said Harry, looking at his watch.
Just at that moment the side door opened. Harry and Hermione levelled their wands at the opening door, but they lowered them seeing it was Careem.
"Ready to leave?" he asked with a grin, and hurling a large pack right into the centre of the hall.
"One moment," said Harry, turning and walking to the throne.
"Er," said Careem, "Harry, there's a chemical timer on those explosives. We really do need to get a move on."
Harry got to the chair and sat down.
Hermione hurried over to him, clearly both curious and wanting to hurry him out of there to safety.
Harry was looking down at the arms of the chair and the immediate floor. He closed his eyes, trying to remember every detail of his last vision through Voldemort's eyes.
"Um, Harry?" Hermione said gently.
He opened his eyes again and smiled up at her.
"We can go now," he said, jumping up. "What are we waiting for?"
Hermione found time to tut him as he grabbed her hand and they ran to the side door. Before they left, Harry turned and fired a reductor curse at the throne which immediately exploded.
*
The extraordinary sight of a group of thirty or so Ministry wizards hurriedly disembarking from a military transport helicopter struck a slightly uncomfortable note with Harry. He realised there must be Anti Apparition wards in place.
Kingsley, though, greeted them with a wide grin.
"I'm glad you all made it back," he shouted above the din from the rotors. "Get aboard! We've set up a field hospital for the wounded!"
Harry looked over to a stretcher. Strapped down under a red blanket could only have been Gurnet. It looked like he was lying on his side, presumably so Alison would be more comfortable. Then Harry realised that the blanket had been extended up over their heads.
"No, Harry," said Bateman into his ear. "They're alive, but they've been prepared like that for transporting to the hospital. They have drips and oxygen for the flight."
Harry nodded shakily, and followed the stretcher as it was lifted into the helicopter.
*
Harry was brought out of his reverie by the bump the helicopter made upon landing. The stretchers were the first to be taken off and Harry made to help but was pulled back by Careem.
"Let the medical people do their job," he advised. "We'd just get in the way."
Harry nodded to indicate that he'd understood and looked around. Everyone was hanging their ear defenders up on the hooks inside the large payload bay they were in.
Realising that he too was wearing some, he took them off and looked for somewhere to hang then. Duke grabbed them and hung them up for him. Harry had no recollection of putting them on and must have spent the entire flight staring at the stretchers.
He looked around again and did a hasty head count.
Ron and Hermione were there, looking shocked but otherwise okay. Duke and Careem were next to him as always. Hope, Carlyle, Smith and Hagland were there too, but where was Bateman?
Everyone was getting off now as Harry looked around with more concern. He was about to ask Duke where he was when he felt a hard slap on his shoulder.
"Come on, Harry, move yourself."
Harry smiled with relief as Bateman pushed him off the aircraft.
They had landed in a large grasses field. Some yards away were a number of tents, some of which looked like they were still being put up. The largest had a large St. John's cross.
Harry hurried to catch Bateman, who had marched off with a purpose, up.
"What happened to the bomb? I thought you were going to drop a bomb!"
"Well, it would have been a guided missile, actually," said Bateman, switching off some kind of radio that had a long aerial attached to it. Harry saw that the black box had a small screen under a lid and a keyboard with symbols and numbers. Bateman slung the device over his shoulder.
"I decided we didn't need to use it. We'd done what we needed to do without destroying everything. I'm hoping that they will have left enough documentation to provide some valuable intelligence for future operations."
"Would a bomb have worked anyway?" asked Hermione, who had joined them walking towards the tents.
Bateman smiled at her and said, "A conventional weapon definitely would not have worked. Too much electronics that can be interfered with, you see?"
"Yes, that's what I thought," agreed Hermione.
"One of our mission objectives this morning was to test whether conventional weapons and munitions work. We now know that chemical based munitions work as well as projectiles provided the targets don't have too much warning. We also know these fabulous Weasley shield garments work."
"What?" cried both Harry and Hermione.
"Yes, we had Ministry defensive robes sewn into our combat clothes. I must admit I was rather sceptical about these, but they worked really well. I'm sure I was hit several times, as were most of the others.
"Frankly, I'm amazed we didn't have any casualties. Well, that we know about so far, but I'm really looking forward to meeting Ron's brothers."
"You want to meet Fred and George?"
"Certainly! Kingsley says they are prepared to make garments to our specification provided they get to make and sell them to the Ministry generally. The strange thing is, Kingsley wondered if we were quite ready to meet them as well!"
Harry and Hermione laughed and Bateman grinned, looking around.
"The main thing we needed to be sure of was our ability to fight people capable of performing magic in combat. We proved that and it was important.
"The range of skills we encountered last night varied considerably. It's always easier to overcome inexperience. That's true in any combat situation. We'll need to train hard to go up against Voldemort's core Death Eaters, but we have the advantage of numbers and our allegiance with Kingsley and the Ministry."
A slight shiver went down Harry's spine as he heard these words.
"We've been developing new weapons, as well. Those have been less successful so far. We fired a few long range missiles at Kingsley and he was able to vanish them before they got close. Don't worry, they weren't live rounds," he added seeing their alarmed expressions.
"I know our brute force approach is of limited use," continued Bateman seriously, "but we just might be able to make a difference. The only way to win is to take the fight to them."
Bateman stopped, still looking around.
"Oh, there he is," he said absently. He then set off towards Ron who was now standing dejectedly against a short wheelbase Land Rover.
*
Hermione went off to see if she could help in the Hospital tents while Harry went off to join Bateman and Ron. He caught the end of their conversation.
"It's no use you telling me that," said Bateman, "because I saw what you did. You ran out in the face of fire to help when every instinct you have would have been screaming for you to dive for cover."
"But look at me," complained Ron, holding up shaking hands.
"Your hands are shaking because of what's known as adrenaline. It has nothing to do with fear and everything to do with too much excitement in a small amount of time."
Ron shrugged.
Harry surreptitiously looked down at his own hands which weren't shaking at all. Clearly he needed a little more excitement to get his adrenaline working.
"I think you took a much bigger step this morning than you realise," said Bateman and Ron frowned slightly. "Mind you, if you could work out a direction for your next step that doesn't lead you towards a small burning cart that some fool thought would be a great place to hide behind; we'd all be a lot happier."
Harry snorted as Bateman gave Ron's shoulder an encouraging squeeze and walked off.
Both Harry and Ron snorted hearing him yelling a rebuke to a group of soldiers standing around doing nothing.
"He's in a good mood," said Ron.
"Yeah, I think he's missed the shouting," replied Harry.
"I lost my rucksack, Harry. I dropped it and it got hit by a Reductor curse."
"Don't worry. You can have mine if we can't find you a new one. I wonder if Fred and George can get us anything better?"
"Ron! Harry!"
They both looked behind them to see Mr Weasley hurrying towards them.
"Are you alright? Where's Hermione?"
"We're all fine, Dad."
"Hermione's inside helping, Mr Weasley."
"Your mother has been so worried about you. We all have."
Mr Weasley almost ran around the Land Rover to hug Ron.
"Dad! Not in front of the army guys!" complained Ron, trying unsuccessfully to wrestle his father away.
Mr Weasley relented and offered Harry his hand instead. Harry grinned at him and spread his arms out for a manly hug.