Moody limped around the table, frantically waving his wand around as he tried to reassemble the representations of the different units within his army. On the flat table was a large scroll of parchment nailed down at the ends. Enchanted on the map was a mostly accurate drawing of England. Different colored dots representing unit positions, known Death Eater locations, suspected Death Eater camps, and large, friendly encampments crowded the map. Moody squinted his available eye and frowned as he saw the gap grow larger between the largely Slytherin unit and MacMillan's unit. He tapped his wand on both units and drew out a message on a blank box on the bottom part of the parchment. The message would immediately be delivered to each of the unit's wand via a charm that the Potter had created.
Shore up and close the gaps.
As Moody hobbled around to plan out more strategically moves, he was interrupted by a cough from the entrance of the tent. Moody used his magical eye to identify the intrusion, his hand automatically reaching for his wand from years of paranoid experience. As he identified the target, however, his hand relaxed as he realized it was the Muggle, Samson.
"Samson," Moody said before he turned around. He found that most people were intimidated when they realized he could see them even with his back turned. It allowed him to immediately achieve superiority in the conversation.
"Mr. Moody," Samson replied in greeting.
"No mister, just Moody."
"Aye," Samson nodded as he stepped forward into the center of the tent, curiously inspecting the enchanted map, "I've come here to discuss the Prime Minister's decision."
There was a pause as Moody said nothing in reply. Realizing that Samson wasn't going to continue, Moody stamped his wooden leg impatiently, "Alright! Go on then!"
Samson threw him a critical eye but kept pacing around the table, "The Minister has authorized the use of carpet bombing for the entire effective area around the tower. We're giving last minute evacuation orders for anyone still within the radius but after that…" Samson trailed off, leaving the implication hanging in the air.
"Your chances of success are very low," Moody growled pessimistically, "The tower is ancient magic and even with your supposed advanced technology, I doubt it will even leave a blimp on the tower."
"But you don't know that," Samson calmly countered, "You said it yourself: you don't know the applications of the tower."
"No," Moody relented, "But trust me when I say this is going to do more harm than good. You'll just be leveling the entire area for not a damned reason. Not everyone's going to get that evacuation message. Hell, I still have units inside there!"
"Well pull them out," Samson fumed, his temper finally showing, "We're sick and tired of waiting around and watching this maniac go on the telly and threaten us to capture some teenager wandering the wasteland that is now our country and execute our own soldiers. We have to do something."
Moody was silent as he realized the implications of Muggle involvement. Voldemort would only escalate the situation against them, possibly causing the more desperate Muggles to indeed turn Neville in if the boy happened to run into some of the Muggles that were ready for this magical tyranny to end.
"Do you have an ETA for the bombers?" Moody asked.
"The bombers are being launched via aircraft. The Minister is ready to give the signal tonight," Samson gulped.
"Tonight?!?" Moody whirled around, both of his eyes frantically trained on the Muggle, "Tonight?!?"
"That's why I'm here," Samson steeled himself, "They weren't going to warn you, but I figured to give you as much time as I possibly could allow. The decision only went through yesterday."
"Yesterday," Moody whispered to himself as he approached the table and looked at the map.
There were units stationed around the accepted perimeter of the tower, but none close enough where they wouldn't be able to escape the fire bombing. There was only one blue dot at the heart of the tower's location.
"Potter's unit," Moody said in a low voice but loud enough for Samson to hear.
"Potter? That's the one with the Irishman I met with Thorn, right?"
"Aye, Thorn, bless his soul," Moody nodded in confirmation, "They're in charge of retrieving Longbottom and they're in Diagon Alley."
"Diagon Alley?"
"It's in London. A magical location that used to be occupied by shopkeepers. It's now a main hub for Death Eater activity and they're right there," Moody smashed his fist against the table.
Moody scribbled a message and sent it, ordering the unit to retreat immediately. The charm wasn't sophisticated enough to allow the units to send a message back to headquarters. They could, however, send a number of chimes indicating a positive or negative reply.
Muggle bombers incoming. Evacuate IMMEDIATELY.
"What are you doing?" Samson asked.
"Waiting for a response," Moody said sullenly, "One chime is a yes and two chimes is a no."
"Sort of like Paul Revere?"
"Who?"
"Never mind."
Moody waited, hoping that someone in the unit, Potter hopefully, would be smart enough to give an immediate reply. After a few more tense seconds, Moody heard one chime…and then another.
"Why would they say no?" Samson asked, alarmed.
"Because they're either close or can't leave under their circumstances. Something dire."
Moody rubbed his forehead in frustration, his hand brushing against his crooked nose and his magical eye whizzing about his eye socket.
"What are you doing, Potter?"
--------------------------------------------------
"They're taking longer than they said they would," Ron said nervously as he paced in front of the window in the building across the street from the entrance of the Leaky Cauldron.
"Just slight deviations from the plan, probably," Su Li assured Ron, "Harry can handle whatever happens."
"Potter's never waltzed into a Death Eater camp with hostages in tow," Malfoy chimed from his spot in the corner.
"It wouldn't kill you to be optimistic about something, Malfoy," Seamus shrugged, "Or should I still call you Archer? You are still wearing your mask after all."
"He just doesn't want every Death Eater to come crashing down on him once they realize he's still alive," Michael idly commented as he too looked out the window.
"Corner finally uses that big excuse he calls his head," Malfoy complimented the Ravenclaw.
"Thank you, Archer," Michael drew out his moniker facetiously.
Everyone suddenly jumped, with the lone exception being Ron, as they felt the buzz that accompanied a message from Moody. Raising their wands to their ears, each member of the unit heard the message that Moody relayed. Once they were finished, they turned to each other in confusion.
"Muggle bombers?" Dean asked aloud.
"Tonight? Why would they do that?' Seamus also asked.
"They're getting desperate," Su Li bit her lip worriedly, "Voldemort killed a Muggle soldier and effectively told the Muggles they were incapable of destroying him. That probably didn't sit too kindly with them and this is their form of retaliation."
"Will the bombers even do anything?"
"I don't know," Su Li answered honestly, "I have no clue what sort of magical protections the tower holds."
"Regardless, we need to get out of here before that."
"Can someone tell me what exactly is happening?" Ron asked as his head snapped back and forth between the arguing factions.
"Muggle bombers heading to London to bomb the tower tonight," Dean simply explained, "We need to evacuate immediately."
"But we can't leave without Harry, Hermione, and Padma!"
"We know," Dean tried to placate the quickly panicking Ron, "But we have to start making contingency plans as soon as they get back since they've deviated from the original timeline. Who knows how long they'll take to get back?"
"But I don't understand, I thought you had a plan if something wrong," Ron said in confusion.
"And that's the signal of something going wrong," Malfoy suddenly stood up and pointed towards the sky.
The unit turned around and looked to where Malfoy was pointing. High in the sky were bright, purple sparks. It was Harry's signal that the plan had gone awry and they needed immediate help.
"We have to help them!" Ron cried out.
Malfoy was already ahead of the group, sprinting up the staircase.
"Where's he going?!" Ron asked.
Dean answered with a dark look on his face, "He's going to try to pull off the hook and ladder."
"And what's the hook and ladder?"
Dean simply shook his head in response.
----------------------------------------
Harry never intended to duel Bates. Though he knew he could take the brute on a one on one duel, it would attract too much attention from other senior Death Eaters in the crowd and force Harry to reveal himself. Besting one of the most notorious Death Eaters in a duel was not the best way to escape. Harry's only other option was to put up the signal for the hook and ladder and hope that Bates thought Harry was simply casting innocuous charms. Harry dodged the first curse Bates threw at him and immediately pointed his wand in the air and sent purple sparks high into the sky.
Still, this escape plan could prove to be a complete disaster as well. It was predicated on one thing and one thing only: Malfoy's flying ability. The "hook and ladder" revolved around extracting someone from a place that had anti-Apparition wards. Since they used their emergency Portkey prior, it was too dangerous to conjure another one lest they end up somewhere they didn't intend or worse - the Portkey would fail to work.
Thus, the safest plan of escape that Harry could think of was using the "hook and ladder." Only…it wasn't particularly safe. In order for their escape to work, Malfoy would need to fly above them with a powerfully resistant series of cords that could carry a number of people. Once Malfoy flew over them, Harry would latch onto the cord and hold on for dear life as Malfoy flew them out of the danger area.
The only problem was that Hermione and Padma would need to accompany him as they hooked onto the cord and Hermione was currently behind Bates and Padma was somewhere behind him. As Harry dodged a rather harmless jinx by Bates, he struggled to formulate an exact plan while he thought of another curse that would buy him some time.
He needed something that would distract Bates. Most of said spells fell under the category of obscuring Bates' vision but that in turn would obscure his vision as well. He needed to be able to see Hermione and Padma when Malfoy performed the fly over. Of course, a simple drawback for the hook and ladder plan would be that the Death Eaters would give chase on their brooms, but Harry reckoned that Malfoy could get away and stow them somewhere safe before the Death Eaters had a solid chance at taking flight.
Harry futilely aimed a Jelly Legs hex at Bates. Bates easily blocked the curse and guffawed, gesturing to the crowd, "Jelly Legs? Are you twelve?!"
As Bates was boasting, however, Harry struck him with a Cutting curse. Bates wiggled to avoid it but his hampered mobility only allowed him a little space to avoid the curse. He couldn't avoid all of it and Harry grimly allowed himself a pat on the back as the tiniest bit of blood was drawn from Bates' side.
Bates seemed shock that Harry drew blood so early and so effortlessly. He dipped his finger into the cut, not minding the pain, and stared at incredulously. He chuckled to himself, a dark sort of chuckle with no hint of amusement, and immediately fired a volley of curses that put Harry on the back foot.
Harry twisted about, deftly avoiding the non-lethal curses. It was to his advantage that Bates was on the attack. Although it put Harry on the defensive, it allowed him a slight advantage in that he was spared from revealing his hand. If Bates even sniffed a trace that Harry wasn't really trying, he would immediately grow suspicious and suspend the battle in favor of a more tactical approach in capturing the supposed Death Eater.
Harry spotted Hermione inching away from Bates, trying to create some space with him while keeping the shrunken diadem hidden underneath her dress. He needed to somehow signal Hermione to slip out from behind Bates and find Padma so they would be together. As Harry deflected another curse with a shield, he decided to distract Bates by aiming at the metal stump that was his spare leg.
"Cremato!" Harry aimed at the leg, intending to ignite it on fire and hopefully melt the steel away. As he cast the spell though, there was just a tiny spark that flashed against the cool metal. The leg seemed impervious to that kind of magic.
Bates laughed at Harry's attempt to harm him and stomped his metal leg against the ground, "A gift from the Dark Lord."
"That explains that," Harry muttered to himself as he circled around Bates, trying to move him away from Hermione.
Unfortunately, Bates wasn't interested in moving more than a few feet each direction. It was obvious that his plan of attack didn't involve a lot of movement. He was content with trying to overpower Harry from a standstill. But Harry used his reticence to move to his advantage as he conjured a couple of fireballs and started circling around Bates, hurling the fireballs at him in the process.
The fireballs themselves were easy to deflect, but Harry's constant movement didn't allow Bates to get a clean shot on him. The crowd was protected by an invisible dueling barrier which left Harry's conscience clear as he kept running circles around Bates. He finally arrived at Hermione's feet and feigned falling over from one of Bates' curses.
"Get to Padma," Harry hissed to her as he rolled to avoid a particularly nasty curse.
Hermione gave away the slightest of nods, indicating she heard Harry's message. Harry scrambled back to his feet and continued to faux-fight Bates, hoping Malfoy would make an appearance soon. By now, Bates was frustrated that he couldn't place a solid jinx against Harry. Growling, Bates made a hand motion that Harry couldn't quite understand - that is - until he felt a Stunner come at him from behind.
Harry twisted, praying his flexibility would carry him far enough away from the Stunner to avoid it. It narrowly missed him, the magical energy sizzling along his robes as he maneuvered his body so he could keep one eye on Bates and another eye on the source of the Stunner. He spotted a Death Eater pocketing his wand, grinning at him lazily. Harry frustrated gripped his wand tighter, furious that Bates was using outside measures to distract Harry. Then again - it was surely Bates' style to cheat.
"Angry, Drake?" Bates mocked him.
Harry only grunted and conjured more fireballs and flipped them high into the air. Bates curiously watched them soar into the sky but couldn't concentrate on them as Harry aimed more curses at him, forcing Bates to deflect them and tear his eyes off the soon to be raining projectiles. Bates knew he didn't have a lot of time before the fireballs descended from the sky and started using more explosive curses to fend Harry away. But Harry was having none of it as he kept Bates preoccupied and hoped that Bates' immobility would come back to haunt him as the fireballs fell faster and faster in the air.
Bates was forced to deflect the falling fireballs which gave Harry a clear opening. Juicing up his magic a bit, Harry used a curse that would cast both of Bates' legs in stone, completely immobilizing him. As Bates subsequently tried to finite himself out of the imprisoning boulders, Harry used his preoccupation to lash him with a simple Disorienting Hex, causing Bates to see double and sideways.
Furious, Bates roared and swung his metal leg, easily breaking out of the stone cast. He remarkably wrenched his other leg as well and stumbled around, the Disorienting Hex causing him to sway on the spot. It was the perfect opportunity for Harry to finish him. There could only be one spell that he could use - only one spell that would ensure Bates would not follow after Hermione.
"Avada Kedavra!"
But Bates was not a foolish wizard. He knew his back was against the ropes and he anticipated Harry's death blow.
"Accio!" Bates called out.
As the green beam of light raced to Bates, an unsuspecting person was summoned in it's way and accepted the fatal blow, sparing Bates from a sudden death. Harry was fuming, upset that someone else had to be used as a sacrifice. Releasing himself from the Disorienting Hex, Bates squinted at Harry suspiciously and shrugged off his outer garb, showing off his multitude of tattoos.
"Drake, is it?" Bates spat at him, clearly reeling from being bested at it for a short moment, "What battalion are you with? I'd like to inform your unit leader that one of their Death Eaters will surely be…incapacitated."
Harry didn't answer and fired a Stunner at him, delaying and frantically wishing Malfoy would hurry.
"ENOUGH!" Bates deflected the Stunner with a wild arch of his wand, "Death Eater! Battalion and Unit!"
"The Dark Lord's personal protector," Harry casually replied, still pacing around Bates.
The crowd fell into a hush, not believing the words that came out of Harry's mouth. Bates, in particular, looked furious with Harry's petulance. One did not simply joke about the Dark Lord.
"It is obvious -" Bates growled, " -that what we have here is an imposter."
"Clearly," Harry muttered as he spotted a small dot zooming along the sky.
"And that the Dark Lord will surely enjoy his death for even thinking he could grace his presence."
"Bates," Harry stood straight and stopped pacing, making sure to look at the mangled and disfigured man right in the eye, "I do not fear Voldemort."
The shock that reverberated through the crowd seemed to stun them for a moment. How could someone say the Dark Lord's name? How could someone even pretend to admit fearlessness? Who was he? But Bates and the crowd didn't have time to ponder the question as they watched the supposed 'Drake' point his wand at his two prisoners.
"Accio HERMIONE!"
Hermione managed to grab hold of Padma just in time as she felt the vigorous pull of Harry's charm. At the same time, Harry lifted his hand in the air and grabbed the rope as Malfoy flew over them, already weaving in and out of aimed curses. Harry felt Hermione's hand slip into his own and held for dear life. Looking down, Harry spotted that Hermione was keeping a tight grip on Padma and sighed in relief. But they were not out of the woods yet.
The added weight caused the broom to drag and buckle, unused to the weight and cargo attached to the end. As experienced of a flyer Malfoy was, he was having difficulty pulling them up to the proper elevation where they could clear the building skyline and escape Diagon Alley. Narrowly avoiding skewering the dangling trio on a jutting sign, Malfoy yelled down to Harry.
"Too much weight! We're getting pulled down!"
Indeed, the broom struggled and groaned against Malfoy's pull as he continually tried to jerk the broom upwards, hoping to clear the buildings. It wouldn't take long before the Death Eaters took flight and by then, Harry and the girls were easy targets for the picking. Harry frantically looked around, looking for a slight gap they could slip through.
"Malfoy! Over there!" Harry shouted.
"Unless you can magically create an arrow, I can't tell what you're talking about!" Malfoy yelled back as he dodged a Killing curse.
Harry couldn't use his hands to point as one hand was busy holding the rope and the other hand was busy holding Hermione. He had pointed with his chin, but Malfoy was too busy dodging curses to look down and see the gap.
"Between the red, brick house and the broken down apothecary!" Harry frantically yelled, twisting his own body as the spells picked up.
Luckily, Malfoy spotted the gap and started twisting the broom around so he could attempt to fly all of them through it. He looked at the gap that Harry was talking about and made a quick guesstimate in his head.
"Potter! Pull them up as high as you can or else they're going to lose their feet!" Malfoy ordered them as he leaned low on the broom and urged it onwards.
"Got it," Harry said mostly to himself as they flew closer and closer to the gap between the buildings.
Malfoy gave an almighty yell as he pulled the broom handle up as high as he could, the cramps in his hand building and the tendons in his forearms straining at the pressure as the broom fought him tooth and nail. Harry similarly yelled as he curled his bicep, pulling Hermione as high as he could, hoping Padma's feet would clear the small ledge attaching the two buildings together.
They were close.
There was a sickening snap that even Malfoy could hear as Padma's right ankle caught the little ledge. She howled in devastating agony, her ankle no doubt broken if not worse. Looking down, Harry spotted an ivory bone peeking out from Padma's leg, a sign that the injury was ghastly.
"Harry, she's slipping!" Hermione yelled as she tried to hold on to Padma.
Padma was quickly passing out from the pain, the jerky flight not helping her already worsening condition.
"I can't - Padma, please!" Hermione desperately yelled as Padma's wrist slid from her grasp. Hermione refused to drop her, however, and caught the edge of her hand to save her from a lethal fall.
But the slight jerk imbalanced Malfoy to the point where he swerved into a stray telephone pole, breaking off the tip of the broom. With Padma already swaying dangerously from the tips of Hermione's fingers, the situation worsened since Malfoy effectively lost all navigation of the broom.
"Going down, Potter!" Malfoy yelled as he struggled to control the broom, "Can you Apparate them?"
Mid-air Apparition, at best, was a nearly lethal task. Mid-air Apparition with two Side-Alongs, one of whom was unconscious, was almost impossible. Hermione heard Malfoy's question and formed the only solution possible.
"Harry, let me go! I can Apparate Padma by myself!" Hermione yelled up at him.
Harry weighed the decision in his head. He couldn't Apparate while Hermione held onto his hand, but if she let go, he could most likely Apparate cleanly. But if Hermione failed, she would most certainly fall to her doom.
"IT'S THE ONLY OPTION!" Hermione screeched.
"NOW, POTTER!" Malfoy yelled at the same moment as the broom quickly approached uncontrollable.
Harry looked down at Hermione's pleading eyes and gulped, praying to Merlin or what ever power there may be that he was making the right decision. He closed his eyes and let go of her, feeling her hand slip from his and focusing on his own Apparition.
--------------------------------------------------
Ron jumped as the loud pop of Disapparition startled him. Malfoy fell to the ground, banging his knees in the process and shaking the mask loose from his face.
"Malfoy?!" Dean rushed to him but was brushed off by the former Slytherin.
Malfoy had a haggard look on his face, his blond hair spilling everywhere as he fought to catch his breathe, "Went to shit," he said in between gasps, "Back to Hogsmeade."
Dean nodded and immediately Apparated away, the rest of the unit and Ron following suit. As Ron felt the tight squeeze associated with Apparition go away, he opened his eyes and was shocked to find the commotion he arrived in.
Padma was laying prone on an examining table, obviously unconscious. It took everything in Ron's willpower to not vomit as he spotted her dangling ankle. Only a few sinews of tendon held the ankle to her leg. A group of Healers were crowded around her, already focusing on mending her foot. On the other table, Harry was frantically racing around a groaning Hermione. There was a lot of blood falling from her right arm and her face was twisted in excruciating pain.
"Dittany! I need Dittany!" Harry pulled out several drawers as he looked for the Essence of Dittany, hoping to heal Hermione's wounds.
"Move, Harry!" Cho said as she physically shoved him away and started applying the droplets along the gash on Hermione's arm.
"Splinched herself," Harry gasped as he fell back on his haunches, burying his head in his hands.
"She'll be okay. Keep applying this," Cho ordered her assistant as she leapt over to the other table to examine Padma.
"Harrrry," Hermione groaned, causing Harry to scramble to his feet and run to her side.
"Shhhh…" Harry hushed her, gently brushing her hair as the mediwitch continued to apply the Dittany.
"Is Padma…" Hermione let her question linger in the air, her eyes squinting from the pain.
"She's going to be alright," Harry reassured her, "You did wonderfully."
Hermione nodded, assured of her own abilities even as she lay on an examining table in pain. Harry continued to whisper assuring words to her, gently brushing her hair the whole time. Ron turned to Malfoy, who was adjusting to the mask on his face.
"What happened?"
"What HAPPENED?!" another voice yelled from behind Ron.
Ron whirled around and sincerely hoped his heart wouldn't stop from shock as Neville suddenly raced onto the scene, Moody close behind him.
"Neville?!" Ron asked incredulously.
Neville ignored him and stepped to Hermione's side, across from Harry. He looked down at her and called for her, but the mediwitch informed him that she fainted from the pain and it was best to keep her unconscious for now. Harry did his best not to frown at Neville and how the boy looked at Hermione with obvious care in his eyes.
"How'd you get back here?"
"Obviously knew where all of you still were," Neville murmured as he reached a hand out to touch Hermione. He spotted Harry's eyes though and quickly retracted his hand, not wishing to incur his wrath.
"And where's Sirius?" Harry followed up.
Neville paled and resolutely looked up at Harry, "That's the reason I came back…"
-----------------------------------
"All stations, this is 0. Radio check, over."
"1, okay. Over."
"2, okay. Over."
"3, okay. Over."
"All stations, payload check, over."
"1, payload armed. Over."
"2, payload armed. Over."
"3, payload armed. Over."
"Roger that. Command has given a go for Red Dawn. Approach and hold at two-two, over."
"…"
"All stations, target should be in sight, over."
"1, Black Star is in sight. Preparing payload, over."
"2, affirmative, over."
"3, affirmative, over."
"Roger. Drop and go. Repeat. Go, go, go. Over."
A brilliant shower of fire rained from the sky, lighting London ablaze in a visual marvel that could be seen with the naked eye from the moon. Explosions rocked and sent sound waves that could be heard across the channel in France. The ground shook from the explosive force, causing fissures and cracks in the various subways and underground tunnels of London. It only lasted a few minutes and the resulting silence was in stark contrast to the bombastic explosions just a few seconds beforehand.
"All stations this is 0, do you copy? Over."
"1, target hit. Over."
"2, target hit. Over."
"3, target hit. Over."
"Roger, return to base. Over and out."
The radio operator swiveled his chair and hit a button that switched him to a different frequency.
"Searchlight, this is 0. Do you have a visual on the target? Over."
"Searchlight, smoke is still clearing. Over."
"ETA on visibility? Over."
"Just a couple of minutes. Over."
"…"
"Searchlight, any better? Over."
"This is Searchlight, smoke has cleared and target is still standing. I repeat. Black Star is still standing. Over."
"Searchlight, is there any visible damage? Over."
"This is Searchlight, no damage. I repeat. No damage. Over."
"Roger. Return to base, Searchlight. Over and out."
----------------------------------
A/N: Hope everyone likes this chapter. Thank you so much for all the great reviews and keep it up. Hopefully I have some downtime during the holidays to get a couple more chapters posted. Until then, thanks and leave one.