Well, that was a costly victory, no matter which side is doing the reckoning (and both could claim a "victory" of sorts). I rather suspect the long-term effects will indicate that it wasn't a victory for Tom and his minions. You're right, war is ugly but it happens and that revel captures the essence of the Death Eaters and why they need to be opposed firmly (it also likely will spur on the people Harry's training because they'll want to be ready to "return the favor" when prepared). Tom's next effort, though, seems to be a bit of a stretch with the force level he has, but he's not used, at least not mentally, for real opposition and he still doesn't know about the Cruciatus being monitored for the MOM.
The new "toys" for Moody will undoubtedly not be appreciated by Amelia's people, at least not until they're in another fight and realize just how prepared they've become.
I had to chuckle at the color of Tonks' stone, she does seemt o have a fascination with that color. I can appreciate Mac's choice and think it quite appropriate.
It's good that they've figured out what's really wrong with the Longbottom's and I can appreciate Harry's choice and the anguish it has to cause him. It's the CO's job to make the hard calls, but I doubt any have ever really enjoyed it (I'd worry about one who did).
Author's response
Heya Cat!
Yeah, this was a very hard chapter to write. I had to make the threat believable and yet still limit the damage.
Victory: It depends. I said earlier that every tie Voldemort strikes out, win lose or draw, he'll pull back a bloody mitt.
In this case, I'd say both sides lost. It's just that Tom and his friends, lost more.
Though nobody will learn directly of the savagery that went on during the revel, I wanted the readers to understand the type of character Voldemort was, and by extension, his terrorists. Snape in particular has been described as being a reluctant double agent so often, including in canon, that many people sympathize with him, but he's not. Everything, even in canon points to him being Voldemort's spy, not Dumbledore's.
I see a cold-hearted bully who'd never been knocked on his arse. He bullies because he can and that carries over to his 'after hours entertainment'.
Simply put, he's a thug. An intelligent one, yes, but a thug nevertheless.
Wanting revenge: Harry's speech did a lot to derail that, but he's going to have to deal with the occasional hothead (Yes, Ron, I'm talking about you!) who wants to go out and teach these bastards a painful lesson. His training programme is going to ensure they eliminate the threat entirely, but he'll have to ride hard on his students...especially now that they've been trained in the first three forms.
Moody, Mack, Remus and Tonks have all seen it before, and will help keep the students focused.
Moody's toys: The Aurors, at least the home-grown variety, will be cursing the day Moody was born, but the imports are better trained. They haven't had to deal with Fudge's stupidity. In either case, after a few months of the remotes, they will find their wits sharpened and their combat skills greatly enhanced.
Yeah, pink is definitely an identifier where Tonks is concerned. (My duaghter wants her hair that color!)
Mack was a doting daddy. (Much like I was) and wanted to make his baby happy. And purple is a loverly, soothing color.
Longbottoms 1: I stole the basic premise from Radaslab's fic 'The Harem War' an excellent read, and merely tweaked it some. It was such a logical idea I just had to use it.
Longbottoms 2: It's funny. I had the whole idea written where Harry gets Neville involved with his parent's treatment, but something I recalled from a novel I wrote popped to mind. "Y' know y'r job. Y' do it right you walk away. If not, y' get dead...an' mebby take y'r friends witcha!" So I scrapped it and went back to work.
And that's how that works. Like you said it's a commanding officers responsibility to see his men protected to the best of his ability. It's the ones who want to get promoted to Fleet Admiral you gotta watch.
Thanks for the nice review. Until next time...
Alorkin