disclaimer:
If you honestly think I own Harry Potter, you haven't been reading my previous disclaimers. I assure you, nothing has changed since then.
Harry woke up the next morning feeling very comfortable. Hermione had her head on his shoulder and slept fitfully, not making a noise apart from the small inhale and exhale of air. Last night she had coaxed him to sleep with his shirt off and she herself was wearing nothing except a nightie.
It was all a part of Hermione's master plan of course. The Baron Black was a cruel and unforgiving creature with no emotions. Harry Potter on the other hand was a teenager who had more than enough emotion as far as Hermione was concerned at least, always afraid he'd do something to push her away. So she would gradually bring him to sleep with her naked and he might be a little less innocent by then.
That was not to say they hadn't played with each other, and each of them had enjoyed it immensely, but Harry kept an infuriating check on his emotions somehow and resolved to never go all the way.
Harry himself couldn't believe that he had actually proposed to her, he still couldn't believe that she had accepted, but even as his eyes focused and he placed his glasses on his face for another day, he came face to face with the ring he had given her. Every morning was a new reminder that he was a fianc.
Hermione stopped pretending to be asleep and kissed him on the cheek. "Good morning."
"Hey, sleep well?"
She nodded and smiled. "Uh huh."
Harry blinked as their artificial light flickered on. "Awww... I don't wanna get up..." He complained.
"Me neither, but we're supposed to visit Greyback today and go through the plan with him."
Harry groaned. The last time he had met the leader of the werewolf 'pack' Harry felt like the man had glared at him the whole time. Kind of like Bellatrix tended to do unless Harry was doing something gruesome.
That and the fact that werewolves other than Remus tended to make him nervous. It was hard to tell whether they'd take his orders or use him as a quick snack. Especially Greyback who had apparently developed a spell that could fully emulate a full moon, allowing him to change at will. Harry thought it was creepy, though they'd be making extensive use of the spell together with a large batch of wolfsbane that Snape had been preparing just for this occasion.
After Hermione pushed herself upwards, Harry slipped out from under her and stepped out of their bedroom where he found Remus practising his wandless magic. It wasn't a skill Remus used often, though he was capable of it; it wore him out quickly.
He found Luna teaching Cynwise how to play exploding snap in the study where they had taken to eating breakfast. "Hey Dobby, what's for breakfast?" Harry called out.
Luna looked up at him, "You look really delicious." She said showing her fangs.
"I don't like the way you said that Miss Lovegood. That's my meat you're drooling for." The Baroness growled from behind him as he sat down.
"She can't help it." Cynwise said from behind her cards. "Vampires are inherently sexual creatures. Still, Luna, you may not make moves on our masty."
Luna pouted.
"I've never seen you show any sexual nature." Harry commented.
Cynwise gave Harry a death-glare. "I'm a vampire with the body of a six year old, I consider myself handicapped in that respect."
"Right, sorry." Harry said blushing. He hadn't meant to hurt her feelings.
"If I could have anything in the world, it would be an older body."
"You wouldn't want your teeth back? Or to become human?"
"And have a lifespan? I think I'd feel I didn't have enough time in the world to do anything! As for my teeth, I think if I could age a little bit, I would have lost those teeth anyway and gotten adult teeth."
"I'll bet you had really cute baby fangs." Hermione said.
Harry wondered how a vampire's fangs could ever be described as cute.
Cynwise pouted and from then on until she went to bed, gave both of her masters the silent treatment.
Over breakfast, Hermione finally asked Harry when he had in mind to get married, who would marry them, and what kind of event it should be.
Harry wanted it to be a simple event. He didn't want to bring too much attention to himself. They were both sure that having Dumbledore aware they were getting married was anything but a good idea.
When Hermione had asked him where he wanted to get Married, Harry had jokingly suggested that Voldemort marry them.
"Harry, the only way you're going to get me to an alter with Voldemort is if you can convince him to allow an all-muggle audience and he has to wear hot pink."
Harry struggled very hard to get that image out of his head and pretended to look thoughtful.
"Harry! Voldemort as a 'Justice of the peace'? The concept is just oxymoronic!"
"So we'll elope to a muggle town, organise for a Mayor or someone to marry us and everybody will be none the wiser. We'll invite everyone that lives here." He glanced at Cynwise. "It'll be a night time affair obviously."
Hermione seemed happy with those arrangements. The only question left then was 'when?'. Harry didn't want to leave it too long; his self-imposed chivalry was really starting to wear him down and he was starting to find it very hard to resist Hermione when she pleaded him with puppy dog eyes.
Likewise, Hermione was rather insistent that they didn't leave it too long.
When Remus woke up in the morning and heard them talking about it, he had pushed the question of whether it was alright to get married so soon. They hadn't been going out for even a year and they'd just gotten over being forcibly in love with someone else.
"We've known each other for seven years Remus," Hermione huffed. "We may not have been going out that whole time, but I like to think I know Harry better than anybody else in the world."
"It's alright Remus. I think it's a good idea." Luna told him as he dug into his bacon and eggs. "Fate has already put them together, and Marriage really is nothing more than a ceremony."
Her way of putting it disturbed Harry. To him, Marriage seemed like a huge barrier. Who knew what was on the other side?
Putting aside his own breakfast, Harry asked his beloved if she was ready for their trip to see the werewolves.
She wasn't enthusiastic, but she downed her pumpkin juice and they both moved to get their cloaks.
As they were expecting, Wormtail planned on making sure he knew everything about the plan.
'Why was the damned rat was so interested in this mission?' Harry wondered to himself. Sure, Voldemort really didn't want it to fail, but on that same note, Wormtail never really got involved in the last one and he was actively involved in that one.
They had organised to meet in an abandoned warehouse in London. It was dark except for the lumos of three wands illuminating the packing crates immediately surrounding them.
Harry saw what he thought were printing presses, but having only once taken a school trip to a newspaper printing press he wasn't convinced.
They were waiting an hour and a half past their designated meeting time before Greyback finally appeared. Harry was seriously thinking about skinning him and using him to keep warm over the next Christmas at their cave.
Wormtail was probably thinking the same thing.
"Yo."
"Crucio!"
Harry watched as the werewolf collapsed to the ground and writhed in pain.
"Your tardiness is inexcusable." Pettigrew sniffed.
"Why? It's only these two." He grinned nastily at the barons as he pushed himself shakily off the floor.
"Do you have something against me?" Harry asked him, leaving the air tense.
"I just don't like taking orders from kids." Greyback replied, not looking anywhere in particular.
"Care to duel me? I may be young, but I'm more than enough for a hairball like you." Harry replied savagely.
Greyback paled. "Your skills at duelling are not in question." Fenrir said. "But we werewolves stick together, and you have a reputation for not caring about those under you. You got two people killed in your last mission."
"There was only one killed." Harry retorted. "And that was a betrayal."
"Heh, it's true. You really don't even care. How about the one killed when you blew up that wall?"
Harry was surprised. Yet, as Greyback had said, Harry really didn't feel sad about it. It was just a Death Eater.
"Then there is the fact that we are... werewolves. I'm certain you have no love for our kind."
"You might be surprised." Hermione replied. "We live with one under our roof."
"You do?" Both Pettigrew and Greyback adjusted their composures.
"You know Remus Lupin don't you Peter?" Harry asked.
Peter coughed nervously.
Greyback snorted in disapproval. "Hmph, I didn't realise that traitor was still alive."
"Don't speak about Remus that way." Pettigrew snarled. "The only reason he didn't join the Dark Lord was because he had friends firmly planted in with the Order of the Phoenix."
"That didn't stop you." Fenrir replied nastily.
"I had my reasons." Peter snapped back.
Harry stepped between them. "If you want me to show some compassion to your werewolves Fenrir, I want to meet each of them, in person, and I want to know their names, this afternoon if you can."
Fenrir thought about the suggestion and slowly agreed.
"And Wormtail, I'm most interested in hearing those reasons." Harry said coldly. "They are the reasons that got my parents killed aren't they?"
The rat-man blanched.
"Boys. Enough of this for now, we have a mission to do." Hermione said from her position against one of the crates. "Werewolves aren't bad people if you treat them as humans." She said. "Just like vampires, goblins and house-elves." Fenrir growled at the mention of vampires, but didn't say anything.
"Let us meet the team, and we'll make sure we do all we can to make sure they return alive."
Greyback nodded. "I'll be back in a sec then, I'll get Fluffy organising this 'meeting'. We'll see if anybody follows you."
He disappeared with a loud pop and was gone for about five minutes before returning, which surprised Harry. He'd been expecting to be waiting half an hour while he had lunch too.
"Three hours and everyone will be assembled. Now, let's get this show on the road." He said.
Hermione pushed herself away from the crates and pulled out a map.
"Now, I have with me the layout of Erskine Barracks. According to intelligence, they have guards stationed where I have the crosses in red.
"We will have the element of surprise, which makes it highly important that we hit their resting quarters as quickly as possible. That will allow us to kill off the reinforcements before anybody has a chance to think of calling for them."
"We guestimate there are about four hundred people on site there."
"I've heard all this shit." Fenrir growled. "I'm not interested in what we have to do. I want to know how we're going to do it."
Hermione glared at him. "Very well, but don't bother asking me to fill in any gaps then."
"First Phase, Harry and I blow up this building here. In the confusion, you will take the opportunity to morph and attack the guards surrounding the place..."
"You seem awfully busy..." Remus said softly as he caught Minerva reading.
"How is it going?"
"It will need another month or so, but everything is going well." He said. "I'm toying with the idea of cutting myself a home for myself a couple of hundred meters north."
"Oh?" Minerva raised an eyebrow.
"Our beloved 'Last Dark Lord' will want some space at some point, this cave is very nice and all, but they're entitled to their own time without any of us being here, especially after they get officially hitched."
"Perhaps I ought to consider doing likewise." She said as she transfigured a page into a bookmark and closed the book. Minerva McGonagall always did have a soft spot for Remus, He truly was the Hermione of James Potter's gang.
Remus took note of the writing on the cover. "International Politics?"
"As much as I hate politics, Mister Potter and his betrothed are going to be inundated with political issues if they succeed in defeating both Albus Dumbledore and Tom Riddle."
"Yes, I suppose you're right." Remus replied.
"The way things are going at the moment I don't think there's much chance of me ever going back to teaching at Hogwarts."
Remus smiled sympathetically. "Perhaps once everything has died down and Britain is sane again."
"I don't think that will happen while I'm still alive Remus." She said tiredly.
"Oh come now, you're not that old." He replied. "You're only what... 72 years old." He said. "Oh, this must be one of those mid-life crises I've heard about." He said with a mischievous grin.
"This is a war we're talking about Remus!" She replied through pursed lips. "I'm lucky to have lived as many years as I have!"
"I don't think you need to worry too much." Remus told her. "I don't think anybody would mind you staying here as it all plays out."
"I will do no such thing!" She replied angrily. "I'm stuck here like a cat in a cage! I haven't seen another person ever since those two brought me here!"
"Neither have I." Remus replied.
"I was under the impression you spent most of your time alone." She replied snakily.
"Nobody likes to be alone." Remus replied. "I'm alone because I have to be."
"That's bullshit Remus and you know it."
Remus stared at his ex-teacher stunned.
"You've been alone because you were too scared to let anybody else close."
Remus didn't respond to that. He had tried to let someone get close, but she was killed a few months ago. The memory of Nymphadora returned to him and he found he couldn't argue with her anymore.
Minerva caught the look on his face and softly apologised. "If you want to talk about it, I'll listen. I know what it's like to lose a loved one to war."
"She... She didn't deserve it!" Remus fought back his tears. "She was one of the few people who as willing to accept me for what I am."
Remus started crying and without realising it, found himself bawling on his ex-teacher's shoulder.
At the same time as that meeting, a couple of ladies were roaming the halls of a secret society. People would splutter as they walked passed deliberately with one location in mind.
Two hands reached out and pushed on a couple of doors revealing twelve disgruntled upper-class men and women.
"Uncle Dotty!"
"Cynwise. It has been a long time." The head, oldest vampire replied impatiently. "I had heard that you were back in circulation again, and much to our surprise, you finally took a minion, tough I must say, reports of this... Luna have been nothing less than disturbing."
As he talked, Cynwise and Luna both approached the head of the table. Cynwise rested her chin on the table and looked bored. "Whatcha doin'?" Luna stood back as she had been told to in the past.
"That, is not, nor has it ever been your business." He replied exasperatedly.
"Can I get three guesses?"
He groaned. She hadn't changed one bit. Not that he expected her to.
"You're playing Charades?" He shook his head. "Then... you're talking about the next bloodsport."
"No!" He grumbled. Everyone present was getting antsy at her being there.
"Then... are you talking about negotiations with the one who calls himself Voldemort?"
"N- How did you know about that?"
Cynwise giggled. "I know lots of things." She replied happily. "I know that you shouldn't join him."
"Why you impertinent...!"
"At ease Bartholomew." The man at the centre called. "What do you mean?"
"The Last Dark Lord will be coming to take him down very soon." She said almost mystically. "If you side with Voldemort, you will condemn most of us to death."
"The Last- Cynwise! We have no time for your games!"
"I live with him." She said and turned to Luna. "Luna, tell them the truth."
"Yes master, She and I currently live with The Last Dark Lord, Harry Potter."
"Thank you Luna, you may have a chocolate."
She held out a chocolate and Luna picked it up without using her hands.
"... Vampires don't eat... chocolate."
"I do." Luna replied.
Needless to say, with Cynwise' presence, it was a very, very long meeting. The outcome of which was to delay any agreements with Voldemort.
It took nearly the whole three hours to go through the plan thoroughly while Fenrir pointed out a couple of holes in their plans, like what would happen if they decided to use the helicopters that were shown on the map.
Once the conversation had moved onto petty things that were of no importance, Wormtail had excused himself and took off.
When Fenrir took them to the meeting point for werewolves, the Barons found themselves in the middle of a forest which had a large clearing and two podiums on either side of the forest. When Hermione asked Greyback about it, he told them that this was also the site of a popular werewolf sport but they often used it for meetings as well.
There were already a few people gathered and chatting amongst themselves while passing worried looks at the couple of dementors amongst them.
"You guys seem like a rather tightly knit community." Harry commented.
"After people get turned, they normally go through a period of resentment where they want nothing to do with the person that turned them. Most werewolves get lonely and come join the pack. Others, like your friend Remus, are so overwhelmed with hate for themselves they become lone wolves.
"There are number of werewolves who go out and don't come into the fold that go out and give the rest of us a bad name."
"Is that how many of you get turned? The rogues?"
"No. I myself have turned many myself."
Harry frowned. "Why? Don't you use wolfsbane?"
"Thirty Galleons a month, just in ingredients. It's not a cheap potion." He replied.
Harry and Hermione shared a look. Hermione was fuming, when she and Harry took control of the magical world, they'd see about that!
Over the process of the conversation, a large crowd had gathered and Fenrir gestured to the podium.
"Right." Harry said as he ascended to the podium.
"Good luck," Hermione told him and pressed her mask against his.
He took a moment to compose himself. The glares he was getting was nothing he was unused to.
"How is everyone feeling?" Harry called out to everyone. There was a murmur between the werewolves present. "Presumably, you're all here to create a bit of acceptance for your kind. Is there anybody here who doesn't want to be here, if so, could you please leave now."
The werewolves all looked around, unsure of what to make of the dark clad teenager in front of them.
"Is there anybody here who does not belong to the pack? Anybody amongst you who you cannot trust with your lives?"
"Does that include you?" Someone up the back asked.
"I'm not asking for your loyalty to me, I'm not even asking for your loyalty to the Dark Lord." Harry told them. "I'm asking for your loyalty to your own cause. Werewolves are persecuted in this world. Wizards fear you and discriminate against you, muggles are only vaguely aware of your existance, and they choose to only make movies and write inaccurate books about you. Do you wish to change that?
"Aren't you all here because you want somewhere that you can fit in and belong to?"
There was a murmur of ascent.
Harry smirked inwards.
"Good. There is concern about me being the leader of this attack. It has come to my attention that nobody here thinks that neither the Baroness, nor I care about those put under our charge. Let me say that we have no real compassion for Death Eaters, but especially the Baroness has a soft spot for the oppressed. We'll do our best to make sure you are all given a chance to feel like normal people again."
"So what you're saying is that if we're sympathetic with the Dark Lord, you don't care about us?"
"That depends entirely on why you're with him. I don't go for this pureblood mania, but I don't like the way the world is. I don't know about any of you, but I'm going to change this world."
A low hum of talk rippled through the crowd. "How blasphemous!" Someone called out. "It has been proven that purebloods are vastly superior to mudbloods!"
"How many of you are muggle or muggleborn?" Hermione called out, speaking for the first time amongst them. "Go on, put your hand up."
A few hesitant hands went into the air, then a lot more until more than ninety percent of them had their hands in the air.
"I'm not surprised, I'm sure it would be an insult to a pureblood to be turned into a werewolf. After all, you are 'dark creatures'." She said rather venomously. "You are shunned by society because you have a transmittable disease which cannot be cured. Yet you cannot tell me you're all here because you believe that purebloods should rule England because of this 'proven' pureblood superiority.
"Personally, I refuse to believe that I'm limited by my blood. I believe that I'm limited by what I perceive as my limits."
She let her words digest and glanced back towards Harry.
Harry returned her gaze and spoke softly in a tone that carried. "If you want me to care about you on that battlefield, come talk with me; tell me your name, if you have a family, anything. I don't care why you're following the Dark Lord, I want to know that each of you have a reason for living and for trying to change this world. I will not care about anonymous lackeys." He said gazing forcefully at them all.
"And what about you? You're wearing a mask!" A woman up the front said.
"I'll take my mask off if you want." Harry replied. "It's merely traditional now that I wear it."
"Go on then!" One egged him on.
So Harry glanced at Hermione and removed the sticking charm from his mask and took back his hood.
Hermione did likewise.
"Harry Potter..." They all seemed to chorus as one.
"So you all seem to know who I am, I'm not anonymous, how many of you are?"
Harry jumped down from the podium and moved to stand in the middle of the crowd where Hermione pushed to join him.
He looked expectantly at them, and there was silence until a man, woman and a child came forth. "I'm Samuel Greenbrook, this is my wife Belinda and my son Paul."
"You're a family of werewolves?" Harry asked surprised and then grinned broadly. "I shouldn't be surprised, I'm happy for you." He held out his hand. "I'm Harry Potter and this is my fiance, Hermione Granger."
Hermione smiled, but inside, she was jumping for joy, Harry had called her his fiance!
After that, the werewolves seemed a lot more interested in speaking to the feared, heartless Barons Black.
When they finally left the werewolves, they had a great deal of support from the pack, give or take those who were blood-elitists. Harry had a feeling that by officially announcing his stance on the issue would cause a bit of friction between himself and Voldemort. Ironic as it was that a half-blood should give the impression he himself was an elitist.
Hermione had smiled at him as they apparated back to their cave.
Harry hung up his cloak and mask and ran his hands through his hair.
"I almost feel like those werewolves would follow you to the ends of the earth." Hermione said. "Every day I'm with you, I feel more and more like you are the destined ruler of this isle instead of either Voldemort or Dumbledore."
"I'm not a great leader." Harry told her as he led her to the kitchen where Dobby was just finishing off making lunch. "I just said what I thought needed to be said."
"And now you have a pack of loyal werewolves."
"Yous would like some lunch?" Dobby asked them.
"Yes thanks Dobby, do you have anything handy?" Harry asked him.
Dobby walked to his preparation table and handed them a tray of pre-madesandwiches much to Hermione's continuing disapproval.
They both took the sandwiches into their study where Hermione voiced something that had been worrying her ever since she'd involved herself in the mission after the love potion incident.
"Harry, about this mission..." Hermione started. Harry grunted a query in response. "Don't you feel something isn't right about it?"
"Yeah... I have been feeling that way..." Harry said. "But I thought it was simply nervousness from being given such an imposing task."
"I have a gut feeling that we're walking into a trap."
She stared into Harry's eyes and allowed him a moment to think about the likelihood of it by his perspective.
"Doesn't it seem odd that Wormtail is highly interested in our plans, but doesn't seem to care about whether or not we can get along with the werewolves?
"Why does Voldemort even need to know about how we're going to do it anyway unless he's specifically co-ordinating other attacks with ours?"
"You think he might be co-ordinating an attack against us? Why? We haven't done anything to break the contract..."
Hermione shrugged. "It could be anything. He would kill off anybody that tried to usurp his power. Perhaps he feels threatened. Perhaps he just feels tired of us." There was a moment of silence as she thought. "Perhaps he found out about your prophecy."
Harry frowned. "We could what-if ourselves to death. What we need is contingency plans. We've got a plan that works right? What could go wrong with it?"
Hermione banged her head on the desk. "Only everything! He could inform them ahead of time what our plans are, he could send a legion of death eaters there, he could... He could turn up himself!"
The young man chewed thoughtfully on his curried egg sandwich. "What we need is some anti-anti-apparition wards..."
"Be serious Harry! You can't ward against wards!" She snapped.
"I know," He replied with a wry grin.
They set about designing Plan-B through Plan-Q, but as they soon found out, Hermione's gut feeling that it might have been a trap came far too late. There were simply too many possibilities to nut out plans for everything.
Even worse was the feeling that instead of making up contingency plans, they could have better spent their time inventing new spells to help with the actual eradication of the facility.
Harry wished he had enough power to just vaporise the whole complex.
At one point, Remus and Minerva joined in the conversation and helped out where they could until they were all too tired to do any more, at which point Cynwise and Luna took over.
In the end, they had a handful of plans and Cynwise and Luna were temporarily suspended from the ceiling; the reason being that an army of fictional bears that spread love throughout the world would not stop even quarter an army of death eaters.
So after throwing out seventy-four rolls of parchment with nothing but love-hearts and copying down the two decent ideas the vampires had come up with, they were little better off than the night before.
Harry was glad that they at least stuck to paper. He had heard that as a child he had once gotten crayons onto the Dursley's walls and it had taken Petunia a lot longer to clean it off than it had taken him to put it on there. Then again... the walls of their home were above all else, sand and rock.
He sighed as he thumbed through plans. He had seriously hoped that Luna would have started acting more maturely without the issue of Dumbledore constantly obliviating her, but it seemed that with her having to obey Cynwise' every command, she felt no need at all to grow up.
So he was resigned to having two eccentric Vampires suspended from the roof which was an excellent punishment for Cynwise, but Luna took it as an opportunity to get a different perspective on the world.
"They're like a couple of children, aren't they?" Remus asked him as Harry admired his handiwork with an annoyed scowl.
"Sure are."
"How are you feeling?" Remus asked. "Your mission is tonight."
Harry nodded. "Hopefully Hermione's premonition will turn out to be a false alarm and we can just wipe the place clean and get out of there."
"I hope it's that simple too." Remus replied in turn. He shifted uncomfortably on his feet before finally opening his mouth to speak. "Harry, I thought you should know... I'm sure that wherever James and Lily are at the moment, they would be proud of you. But I don't think they'd approve of your methods."
"No parent should ever wish a path like ours on their children. I certainly won't."
"Nor I lad."
The Barons Black met their allies prior to the mission to explain changes in plan.
Naturally, the werewolves were quite annoyed about it and got even more uncomfortable when they confided in the werewolves why they were changing the plan, but eventually accepted that perhaps it was weak for a leader to let his subordinates know that he was having second thoughts, but at least he was letting everyone know what could go wrong.
With everybody understanding the countermeasures in place, Harry called forth the group leaders and sub-leaders and handed out necklaces for each of them. One lick of them would set a trigger on Harry and Hermione's medallions they had in their hands. They would be using them as clocks to synchronise the night's events.
After much arguing, everybody had finally decided that perhaps the change in plans were just as well. None of them thus-far trusted Wormtail as far as they could throw the pudgy bastard.
Once they had reminded a man named Forgetful Fred to take his wolfsbane potion, they all apparated to the mission starting point, and once the team was fully assembled, Fenrir pointed his wand skyward and called out "Lunarius!"
The Barons Black darted away from the people in the clearing, making themselves invisible as they ran to the walls of the compound.
Harry glanced upwards as the moon visually swelled, the quarter moon gradually moving to become a full moon.
Apart from the fact that it served the purpose of allowing werewolves to morph to their alternate form in the night, it also did a wonderful job of distracting guards who would stare at the moon and make comments like "I didn't know there was an eclipse tonight..." and "That's not an eclipse dude, Eclipses are the other way around." And "So what do you call an anti-eclipse?"
A few seconds later, they were dead.
A rumble grew in volume until a pack of transformed werewolves cleared the trees and leapt completely over the wall.
Screams echoed through the place followed by gunshots.
Two werewolves stopped in front of the now visible Barons Black who each jumped on the back of the lycans and were promptly taxied to the other side of the wall.
In mid air, Harry and Hermione could see their allies mauling the ground guards whose bullets were barely having any effect on the werewolves.
A louder bang denoted the use of heavier firearms and the first werewolf fell.
Harry and Hermione each nodded to each other and their rides took them at high speed to the barracks while another group headed directly for the armoury.
Erskine Barracks seemed a lot bigger in real life than on the maps, but that hardly surprised the Baron; they always did.
By the time that he reached the barracks, men were already running around like headless chooks and Harry wasted no time in releasing an overpowered reducto and reducing the barracks and everything around it to nothing.
He brushed his hand across his medallion and released his ride to attack some of the scattered men while Harry let loose his new and improved shield and started taking pot-shots at the men who were still standing.
A loud bang in the distance gave Harry knowledge that the other barracks were taken care of and thirty seconds later, a yellow glow on the medallion let Harry know that the armoury was now under werewolf control.
He let loose a sigh. It looks like this would be nothing more or less than a massacre. Nothing had gone wrong so far and with the sheer number of werewolves under his command, they were making mincemeat of the military.
He surveyed the area around him and smiled as he renewed his shield and started his trek back towards the administration building.
Peter Pettigrew was a loyal follower of Voldemort. Or so he told himself as a mantra. "I am my lord's most faithful follower." But even so as he chanted it softly to himself it doesn't seem to ring as true as he wanted it to.
The Silent Knight was standing at attention beside him and Pettigrew's nervousness was not lost on him. In the time that he had known the man, this was the first time in recent years that the rat-man was displaying such unusual behaviour.
Ahead of him, Voldemort was giving a grand speech about how tonight would be the turning point of the war. Knight didn't need pep talks as long as he had a purpose.
"The loyal shall be rewarded at the end of this very evening. Those with me step forward and we leave." Voldemort said, finishing his speech. A cheer ran through the crowd and Pettigrew repeated his mantra one more time.
A number of pops later and the number of wizards present were significantly reduced.
Lucius Malfoy stepped to the front. "You all know the plan. Let's go."
Knight gripped Pettigrew who looked stunned as everybody around them disappeared.
"What's gotten into you?" Knight demanded.
Peter looked around nervously to affirm they were the only ones left.
"James' son." He said nervously. "I lead him into a trap."
"What!" Knight roared.
"I am a loyal Death Eater..."
The Silent Knight glared at the pathetic man who shrunk in front of him. "I'm not going to let that kid get killed. How do we stop this?"
"It's too late by now." Peter lamented. "Bellatrix is there and..."
Knight's eyes went wide and he gripped his companion's arm and promptly apparated him to the Baron's home.
"Minerva! Remus! Cynwise! Someone!" He called out desperately.
Everyone was at the cave, anxiously awaiting the return of Harry and Hermione. They looked at the two arrivals.
Peter locked eyes with Remus and cringed.
"It's a trap."
"I knew it." Minerva said tensely.
"What is he doing here?" Remus asked coldly, then shook his head as he realised there were more important things. "It doesn't matter, we've got to go and help." He said getting up from the chair.
Cynwise looked to Luna. "Come." And they disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"Remus, they're using a werewolf spell, and you haven't taken any wolfbane." Knight told him.
"About that..." Pettigrew said tentatively.
Hermione was to move to the armoury as soon as she had knocked out the barracks. The werewolves would take care of any personnel there, but in their current state, they were hardly able to make the weaponry completely unusable.
The run was about 400 metres from the barracks, it came as a shock to her to see the werewolves savaging already dead military flunkies. She ignored them and walked to the barracks, but soon noticed that many of them were staring at her and growling.
"Don't you have anything better to do?" She demanded. "Withdraw to the headquarters."
They didn't seem to hear her and as she moved to raise her wand at the armoury building, they all dashed towards her, teeth bared.
'Something's wrong!' She thought in a panic.
"Protego!"
A few minutes later, Harry arrived at the headquarters and couldn't believe the sight in front of him. Werewolves lay scattered in front of the building, all dead. Holes littered the ground around them and Harry saw a glint of what looked like silver scattered across the ground.
'Silver bullets! I knew this was a trap!'
As he stepped towards the bodies, a rain of silver and lead drilled into his shield, shattering individual cells of the shield. He could see that from the four story building, most of the windows had weapons poking out of them.
Harry frowned as the werewolves around him started becoming human again. He briefly looked at the moon which was receding. More than likely Hermione had cancelled the spell.
With the bullets still flying around him, he faced placed his wand up his sleeve and pushed all the bodies away from the building using tergum compello and when they were far enough away, he took a deep breath and aimed his most destructive spell at the building.
The werewolves, now human, hearing the explosion congregated around Harry, some close enough to almost fall in the huge hole that marked where the administration building had been. A few whistles marked the admiration they had for the feat he had performed.
Harry himself moved towards the crater and looked down. As the dust and smoke cleared, he was able to see a luminous blue shield lay at the bottom of the crater, perfectly protecting the lower areas.
Hermione pushed through the crowd and hugged Harry, then she too noticed the shield.
"The wolfsbane has been tampered with. It seems that Snape made it so that it would be ineffectual after half an hour."
"Damn... That changes everything." Harry remarked. "We should withdraw, this whole thing was a setup."
"I agree."
Harry called out to everybody. "Alright everyone, let's get out of here."
Harry touched his portkey and poured his magic into it. Nothing happened.
A second later the ground started rumbling and everybody seemed to be saying "Now what?"
The tremors grew in magnitude until nobody could stand. Harry fell to his hands and knees and tried to stay no lower than that, but a few people fell into the crater.
From within, a few people could see that the earth inside the depression was slowly rising back up to ground level.
Gunshots rang and those rolling down the precipice were dead when they reached the bottom.
Those standing around were too deafened by the rumbling to notice the appearance of near on two thousand military men and three helicopters now circling around them.
When the ground was level once more, Harry rose to his feet to see that Bellatrix Lestrange and her husband Rudolphus smiling serenely at them.
Behind him was the military with their guns aimed at him and his allies.
They were trapped, like jam in a doughnut.
"Oh Merlin..!" Hermione whispered and immediately every werewolf capable of magic started casting shields; Harry and Hermione following suit a second later, making shields large enough to cover large groups of werewolves.
Instead of the next volley of bullets being fired, Bellatrix rose her wand and re-cast the full moon spell Greyback had used earlier on that night.
"finite!" Harry called out and put up another two shields around muggle-werewolves, only to have Bellatrix try to recast it while Rudolphus was firing random unforgivables at the werewolves.
After about the fifth time of Harry trying to stop the Matriarch of the Lestrange family from transforming his werewolves, Rudolphus got annoyed and called out "FIRE!"
The noise was deafening and many shields couldn't hold.
Harry got off a wide-range slicing spell that disembowelled an arc of soldiers, but only had a brief second to put his shield up.
"This is ridiculous!" Harry called to Hermione whom was spending all her time shielding too.
"That's a might impressive shield you have there kiddos," Bellatrix admired as she fired off an Avada Kedavra right into the midst of the werewolves. A flick of Harry's hand sent a piece of rock to intercept it before it could hit anybody.
Remus had wanted to jump right down there into the middle of the ring to fight along side Harry, but Minerva had her head screwed on correctly and restrained him with a petrification hex.
"I'm not sure we'll be able to get them out of this..." Knight said, as he looked through his omniculars. "We might be too late."
He handed the device to Pettigrew to look through.
"I'm going to help one way or another." Peter said.
"Currying favour with Harry might save you from him, but it won't save you from me." Remus replied with a low growl as he fought off the spell his ex-transfiguration teacher had placed on him.
"They're handling well enough for now." Knight said with a sigh and with a pop, he disapparated.
"What the... He didn't just leave us did he!?" Remus said, simply shocked.
"No." Peter said. "I'm sure he's just getting something to help."
The outcast of the marauders stepped forward and started his way down a knocked down wall that had been destroyed by spell-fire.
"Hey! Wormtail! Wait for me!" Remus called.
Minerva shook her head at the folly of them both, but she couldn't stay and watch. She sighed and turned to the trees, waving her wand intricately until they sprang to life, pulling their roots out of the ground, three enchanted ents moved ahead of her towards the fighting.
"What are we going to do Harry! We can't keep this up forever!"
A couple of werewolves had gotten bored of being shielded and jumped through the shields towards Bellatrix only to be shot down before they could even get close.
Everyone was getting annoyed with how things were playing out. The military were firing too many bullets, the wizards were getting too annoyed and the Lestranges just didn't want to spend so much time for so little pain.
Bellatrix dropped her wand to the ground and Harry was almost blinded as she let her aura flare larger than Harry and Hermione's combined.
"Oh shit!" The Baron Black channelled all his power into stopping the overpowered explosive which was not an easy task. Many werewolves were vaporized in the blast that were outside of His shield range.
It occurred to him that Bellatrix had grown up in Grimmauld place and she probably knew all about the taps. This was going to be a hard enough with the military, let alone with her too.
Still, the flare of her aura was enough to make Harry think that it wasn't natural for someone to have such a large aura and certainly wouldn't have put her above using a power-increasing ritual together with the release of her magic.
"As you can see, I'm not someone to be trifled with. I am done playing."
Hermione felt panic welling up inside of her.
A loud thud-thud-thud alerted her to something coming from behind the military and she could see the branches of an ent.
"Awww," A voice whined from behind her. "But I want to play."
Bellatrix spun around to find Luna Lovegood grinning at her.
"Come out, come out, wherever you are!" Called a far older vampire and a cloud of smoke rose from the ground and second later, an army of vampires joined in to help with the fight.
Cynwise stabbed her hand into a nearby soldier and tore out one of his lungs in the blink of an eye.
Bellatrix was about to turn around when Harry found the chance to fire a spell at her.
The Vampires were upon the military who were now desperately fighting to stay alive.
Wormtail's left hand closed around the nearest head and closed so tight that it was crushed under the pressure while Remus fired reductor curses as quickly as he could, simultaneously dodging swinging branches from Minerva's enchanted ents.
Harry grinned. This was more like it. He exhaled from the effort of shielding the werewolves for so long. "Wipe out the military." He said to Fenrir who grinned maniacally and gestured to his werewolves.
The Barons Black faced off with the Lestranges. Harry would take Bellatrix, Hermione would go against Rudolphus.
This battle was one of skill. There was no variety in their spells, every single one of them was an unforgivable and nobody wasted time on shields that weren't rock or otherwise physical.
"I thought you would have wanted to play a bit." Harry remarked as he brought up a rock wall in front of him and jumped to his left to fire a shot at Rudolphus.
"Tonight is very important and I want to be a part of what my lord is doing. I don't want to waste time with you."
Harry dodged two Avadas aimed right at him and was hit a second later by an imperio. "Stand still."
'Stand still...' that calm voice told him.
"Like hell!" Harry yelled verbally as he leapt out of the way of another killing curse which hit an unaware werewolf.
Hermione too was not being kind in her curses but she herself was not above using a few obscure spells she had created, none of which were connecting and because of that small detail, she was starting to become very angry.
Harry drew his sword soundlessly and charged towards Rudolphus who was too busy trying to dodge Hermione's nerve breaker spell to realise.
A searing pain in Hermione's shoulder propelled her forward as a killing curse and a cruciatus flew over her head as she fell forwards.
Harry brought the sword down on Rudolphus' neck who was staring stunned as the sword sliced through his neck, downwards cutting his spine, windpipe, lungs, liver and becoming lodged in his gallbladder.
A green glow out the corner of Harry's eye notified him of the curse that would be on its way towards him in half a second.
Twisting the sword around, Bellatrix' husband was brought right into the line of fire of her own killing curse.
"Rudolphus!" She cried.
Harry likewise ran to Hermione who lay bleeding on the ground; a bullet wound to her shoulder.
"Hermione love, are you alright? Can you move?"
"Oh god it hurts!" She cried.
"We've got to get you out of here." He said, stealing a glance at Bellatrix who was cradling the body of her husband which was almost in two halves.
She seemed to sense him looking and stared back at him, a cold rage burning in her eyes.
She placed her dead husband on the ground as Harry got up from his crouch and stood between Harry and Hermione.
Around them, the battle waged on, with the cooperation of the werewolves and vampires, the military were being massacred.
The lycans were shocked at the help being given to them by their undead enemies, but the vampires made no move to attack the werewolves, instead too concerned about the helicopters flying around shooting chainguns at them.
"Accio... Uhhh... big green flying thing!" Remus called and was caught completely off guard when he realised it was heading towards him rotors first when one of McGonagall's ents stepped in the way and got carved into toothpicks a second before the helicopter exploded.
Cynwise was surveying the carnage around her, the sword of Gryffindor stained with the blood of thirty or forty soldiers.
Beside her, Luna kneeled down and punctured a soldier's jugular vein and stuck a straw in it which caused raised eyebrows from the elder vampires around them.
"That is your 'Last Dark Lord'?" Dotworth asked as he watched Harry stand defensively in front of Hermione, reading his opponent for her next move. His opponent was speaking softly that they couldn't hear. "He pales in comparison to the one against him, but he does have a certain viciousness about him and those werewolves do follow him quite loyally."
"She has an unnatural limit to her magic, my Lord has only his natural limit for now. Wait until after this battle and when you speak with him; you will see what kind of leader he is."
Dotworth nodded as he noted that most vampires were finished with the marines and were just watching the scene in front of them.
"We will withdraw. Consider my debt paid to you Cynwise, and for blood's sake girl, see about training that underling of yours. It's just not kosher to drink blood with a straw, and... and... is that an umbrella up his nose?"
Luna nodded.
Uncle Dotty closed his eyes and turned his head. "We withdraw."
As the vampires appeared to evaporate from the scene, Luna and Cynwise looked to Harry and Hermione.
Luna moved forward to help them, but Cynwise told her to stop.
"This is their fight. We shall finish off the soldiers and help with the wounded."
The younger wanted to protest, but against a direct order, all she could do was look longingly at them.
Hermione pushed herself upwards with her good arm and yelped in pain at the movement of her right arm.
"You killed my husband Harry Potter." Bellatrix said coldly.
"Yes, I did." He replied coolly. "We both knew that at least two of us would die tonight."
"You were the one supposed to die! So that my lord could live on and rule this world! Rudolphus and I were supposed to be thanked by him for removing the final obstacle to his immortality! Now I'll have to go alone."
'So, Dumbledore leaked the prophecy did he?' Harry mused.
"You'll get thanked by him once you're both 6 foot under." Harry said as he moved his sword into an attack position and held his left hand at the ready.
Harry ran towards her and didn't flinch as her magic flared. He brought his sword down where he knew she would be despite the brightness that surrounded him.
His blade sliced through nothing and he overbalanced.
"Crucio!" Said five voices, all belonging to the same person and Harry was hit by the spells in his back.
One cruciatus was painful, three were just unthinkable. His back arched upwards, threatening to snap his own spine from the pain. He was barely aware that he was not the only person screaming.
Hermione too writhed under the effect of two cruciatus. She had seen Bellatrix suddenly become seven instances of herself, each of which she learned a second later were capable of casting their own spells.
She curled into a foetal position and desperately tried not to scream. She wouldn't give Bellatrix the pleasure.
"Scream!" Bellatrix yelled at her. "SCREAM DAMN YOU!"
Another of her doppelgangers picked Hermione up by her hair while she was still being hit by the curse and very roughly poked a finger into the hole in her shoulder where the bullet wound was and wriggled it around.
Hermione couldn't take it any more and she screamed. The pain continued until she threatened to black out, and then the stimuli stopped and she dropped to the floor.
The idle instance walked up to Harry who lay on the floor groaning and grabbed his sword.
She looked down at her prey and without so much as a hand movement or a whisper, Harry's eyes glassed over.
The residue pain from the combined cruciatus made it impossible for Harry to disobey her.
"Sit up." Bellatrix commanded. "Finite." The doppelgangers turned to dust and Harry got up from the floor and kneeled down, his back straight as a ruler.
"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a husband for a husband, Baron Black." Bellatrix said coldly as she raised the sword high into the air, aiming for his neck at the same angle Harry had killed Rudolphus.
Hermione willed her body to move, but she couldn't.
'Please move. I have to save Harry! Move damnit!'
Bellatrix smiled triumphantly as she swung the sword downwards.
That was when a bang resounded over the area and one side of Bellatrix' head exploded, splattering her brains across the ground and flinging her a metre to the left of where she was, Harry's sword flew through the air and landed blade first into his own leg. He very quickly snapped out of his trance with the death of his controller and screamed anew at his wound.
Fenrir Greyback looked back at where Bellatrix fell. Upon the end of their battle with the military he had taken to looking after his wounded. He was pissed off because Remus Lupin had saved him, but it looked like it was all over.
Seventy of his werewolves were dead, another fifty wounded. It was hard for him to admit, but if not for those accursed vampires, they would have all been dead.
McGonagall lay, dying on the ground, having taken a bullet wound to her lung. Merlin did he hate that woman too, the amount of anguish she had caused him in school. But she too had come to their rescue and so he was doing everything he could to keep her alive.
Remus Lupin was sitting down on a piece of stone thinking. He had never taken someone's life before, but tonight he had. There was no mistaking the silver knife that would have easily lopped Greyback's head off of his shoulders, but as one werewolf to another, you just couldn't let that happen.
There was a bit of movement out to one side and Remus frowned. "Accio rat." Pettigrew flew into his hand. "Arrestum Tempus." Remus was only just strong enough to cast the spell, but the fact that it was so small meant that he didn't faint from the pull of magic it caused to manipulate time.
Pettigrew's fate would be decided by everyone at Harry's cave.
Ahead of him, he could see a man walking towards him holding a long stick.
"What took you so long?" He asked with a wry smile.
Knight nodded back to him. "I needed to pick up a few toys that I'd hidden so well I almost came back without them. I'm glad I didn't."
"What is that?"
"This?" He said waving the stick around. "This is called a L118A1 sniper rifle. A muggle friend of mine pilfered it somehow. Never asked him how, but he seemed to think I could hide it better than he could. I'm glad it came in handy."
"I think I learnt more about muggles tonight than any other night in my life." Remus said disdainfully.
"We need to see about getting everybody back to the cave."
"Everybody?"
"Everybody. The Dark Lord knows exactly where the werewolves are hiding, so we need to take them back to the cave for their own protection. Then I'm going to need your help to kidnap a few doctors from St. Mungos."
Remus nodded.
"We'll come back for the bodies after that."
Harry ground his teeth in pain. He wrapped his fingers around the hilt of the sword and screamed as it moved, cutting him a little more. Because he had been kneeling when Bellatrix was about to bring the sword down on him, the flying sword had pierced straight through both his thigh and calf.
Yanking the weapon upwards it sliced further down his wounds but managed to pull it completely from his leg which spewed blood. "OH GOD!" He screamed, tears streaming down his face.
Luna stepped towards Hermione, who looked up at her, pleading.
"Everybody is leaving this place." She said serenely. "Will you be able to portkey home?"
Hermione nodded.
"Knight and Remus will be getting us a few healers, we'll take care of your wounds there, alright?"
Hermione reached into her robe and touched her portkey. She disappeared from view shortly after.
One by one everybody was being evacuated from the site and Cynwise joined Luna in confronting Harry who was trying to use his sword as a crutch to get up.
"Oh no..." He whimpered as he saw the death and carnage around him. "What have I done?"
"You were still under contract with the Dark Lord." Cynwise told him matter of factly. "It is only now that you are free to do as you wish."
"I still shouldn't have come. Hermione and I both knew it was a trap." He muttered softly, then regarded Cynwise for a moment and appraised the little girl. "If not for you both bringing the vampires, we would have been dog food. Thank you." He placed his free hand on her head and messed up her hair.
The two vampires looked at each other sympathetically and let there be silence between them.
"Dobby has a milkshake waiting for you at home." Luna informed him, having just come from there a moment ago.
Harry laughed, despite his feelings.
"Go home Master." Cynwise told him. "We're finished here."
Harry's mood did not improve when he made it back to his cave where Hermione was revealing the fidelius secret to them all. There were wounded bodies everywhere in the cave except their personal bedroom and bathroom. The training hall had werewolves head to toe and Hermione had shrunk her fingers to make more room.
So many bodies in fact that Remus and Knight had gone out of their way to put six healers under the imperious and dragged them to the cave in order to deal with as many people as possible before giving them instructions and promptly apparating away to pick up dead bodies.
In the healers instructions Greyback had given them were to deal with Harry and Hermione first, followed by McGonagall. The werewolves, being werewolves would heal much faster than the humans and were generally in much less danger than the humans.
Harry's leg was bandaged and he was confined to his own bed, separate from Hermione. He had complained, but the healer was quite adamant that for a while, any movement of his legs could cause him to open the wound again.
Hermione too was bedridden for a while and would find herself in a sling for days to come.
Together, they asked the healers to put Minerva in their room with them.
Harry spent time alone with his thoughts, cursing himself for the nights events.
Fenrir Greyback imposed himself on the Barons Black and stared for a while at the pathetic couple. He personally thanked his lucky stars he came out of the battle completely unscathed.
"You did a good job tonight Baron." He said. "You planned as best you could, and when the chips were down, you didn't just protect your own skin. You're a real friend of the lycans."
"So many of them died tonight." Hermione whispered, demonstrating that she too had been thinking about it as much as Harry.
"Believe me, they wouldn't have gone down without taking more than a couple of muggles with them. The trai- Remus... has been collecting bodies, we're grateful for that."
"How are the wounded?" Harry asked.
"The healers are doing well, they've managed to stabilise a few of the criticals. We've had two die while waiting on assistance." He said sadly. "I'll never forgive the Dark Lord for what he did tonight."
"Nor will we." Hermione said.
"I just..." Fenrir said. "I wanted to say thanks, and ask if we could impose on you until we find somewhere to stay that he doesn't know about."
Harry and Hermione very quickly agreed. "It's the least we can do."
With that, Fenrir left their presence.
"We really bit off more than we could chew..." Harry said softly.
"I was so scared." Hermione replied distantly. "I never want to feel like that again."
"I feel the same." Harry said. "I don't want you to ever leave me."
They both stared into each other's eyes from their beds.
"I've been thinking..." Harry said finally. "I'm thinking about settling down for a bit and getting away from this war. We could stay here in this cave, get married, perhaps... have a few children. They'd be safe here, away from Dumbledore and Voldemort."
"You're not just saying you want this for the power of that potion are you?"
"No." Harry replied. "But the thing is... I want to have a family before I face Voldemort and kill him or die trying. Perhaps with that potion I'd have a chance, but I'd want to wait until the kids are grown up."
Hermione smiled and reached out with her left hand towards him. Harry too reached out with his right and they held hands. "Will you marry me?" He asked seriously.
Hermione smiled. "I already said I would didn't I?"
"Yeah, you did... but I don't think I really asked you properly." He smiled.
"Yes Harry, I'll marry you,"
Minerva listened on and hid her own smile.
An hour earlier, in London.
"Aragh!" The last wizard fell to the ground with a slouch, a pool of blood pooled around the Dark Lord's bare feet.
"Your majesty." He sneered. "I would like to commend you for serving your country so well for so long. I really do think that it's time that you retired however."
"Dark Lord Voldemort, even if you kill me, you will never be able to destroy the royal bloodline. You will be hunted down and killed."
Voldemort laughed shrilly. "They will not need to hunt me. I shall be sitting right here, in this room and every one of their heads will be lined on the wall as a reminder that they cannot kill me. There is only one brat who could kill me, and by now that brat is lying face down in the mud with no more life than your children or great grandchildren.
The Queen raised her hand to her heart as it thundered in her chest.
"Let us end this banter. I am eager to take my rightful place. Avada Kedavra."
She slumped to the ground, dead.
Voldemort ascended the steps to where she lay and picked her crown off of her head and tried to place it on his own. The crown shot lightning at him and flew across the room.
"So I'm not allowed to wear it am I?" Voldemort sneered. "That doesn't matter. Mulciber, have a duplicate made immediately. I want my replacement crown by tomorrow."
Lucius Malfoy entered the room with his team of Death Eaters behind him. "It is done my lord. The Parliament is nothing anymore, we have crippled this country."
"And by now Bellatrix and Rudolphus will have wiped out the military, Harry Potter and his star-crossed are dead, everything is perfect."
Voldemort was a very happy man indeed.
"Bring me the girl."
Lucius Malfoy bowed. "It will be done my king." He disapparated.
"Ah Lucius, you really do like to suck up to me don't you? But I really do like the ring of that." Voldemort mused. "Yes, from now on, I shall have you all call me that."
"Yes my king!" The death eaters all chorused.
"Start hunting down the rest of the royal family. Where is Wormtail?"
"Nobody has seen him my king. He never appeared with us at Parliament."
"What!? Ah, no matter. If we are lucky, the stupid rat splinched himself."
Voldemort raised his hand and summoned forth goblets into the hands of everybody present.
"A toast!"
"A toast!" Everyone chorused.
"To me!"
"Long live King Voldemort!"
Author's note:
I won't want anybody to think that I had abandoned this story, but the break between chapters proved to me that reading too many fluffy stories is not conductive to writing large scale battle scenes like the one in this chapter.
I was overly concerned that this chapter would not be well recieved due to the general lack of creative spells truth be told I'm having troubles thinking of new stuff in that regard.
It might surprise some people to know that originally, Bellatrix was going to defect to Harry's side, and the main enemy of this chapter was actually going to be Susan Bones. I really wanted to have someone over powerful there, but the more I thought about it, the more I realised that having Susan there would just be too weird if I hadn't hinted stuff in the past, soooo.... Goodbye Bellatrix.
The next chapter is probably the one most people are waiting for. If I haven't already, I'm going to have to up the story rating for this next chapter, but take it easy on me would you, I've never written sex scenes before.
--Steven
PS. I also found that I have a hard time writing warehouse. I tend to write it as werehouse, which brings to mind some interesting mental imagery.
Omake #4:Preview of next chapter's wedding
The church was packed. Standing room only. The most notable thing about this wedding was that nobody present actually knew the bride and groom. The people in this town just loved weddings. Well, they did now that they were under the imperious.
The groom stood up the front in a suave black tuxedo, sporting glasses and a scar on his forehead, feeling very nervous.
Harry had thought that marriage was a huge barrier in a relationship, and today, he would see about climbing over that wall to see what was on the other side.
As he waited for the groom, the priest leaned over to him and asked, "So, tell me again how you managed to con me into this?"
"Come now my Lord" Harry said soothingly. "Now that you're king of England, who better to marry us?"
"I've got no objection to marrying you off potter, but what is with this dress! You would dress up this world's most powerful dark lord in HOT PINK!?"
"Hey, you lost at exploding snap and I have your wizards oath to say you'd do whatever I asked."
"This is so embarrassing."
The music started and after a moment, Harry bore witness to Hermione stepping down the aisle with Remus holding her arm.
When she got to the dias, she stepped up and stood opposite.
Voldemort cleared his throat. "Dearly departed!"
"Nobody is dead!" Minerva snapped.
The dark lord glared at her and she squeeked as he shouted "Avada Kedavra" which went just over her shoulder and killed the muggle behind her.
"As I was saying... We are here today to bear witness to the blessed matrimony of Harold James Potter to Hermione Jane Granger. If there is any here who object to this union, I dare you to voice your opinion now."
"I OBJECT!" A familiar voice called from the back of the room.
Albus Dumbledore strode forwards. "I have a contract here that says Harry was betrothed before birth to one Ginerva Weasley!"
He stood in front of Harry and stared him down for a moment.
"Albus Dumbledore" Voldemort said frostily, almost as if his name in itself were a challenge.
"Now not madam." Dumbledore said, giving the dark lord a brief glance.
Albus did a double-take and looked back at voldemort in his hot pink dress, complete with lipstick. "Sweet Merlin!" he cried and put his wand to his own head. "Obliviate!"
Harry, Hermione and Voldemort shared a look before shrugging. Voldemort called to the crowd, "Does anybody else have any complaints about this marriage?"