Categories > Books > Harry Potter > Escape and Return!
Chapter V – Justice
By Dr T
The camps are liberated, and Justice prevails.
*
You know who owns Harry Potter and ‘canon’ and it ain’t me. I just plaster over plot holes and rearrange things to please myself.
*
Shortly before dawn on April 29, alarms rang throughout the Ministry. The remaining pro-Voldemort aurors and other enforcers, official and unofficial, for Voldemort’s Ministry responded to the alarms at the ‘re-education’ camps they had established for the Muggleborn, Muggle-lovers, and other opponents of the regime.
Voldemort himself was not made aware of the alarms until a few hours later, when worried lackeys were forced to pass bad news up their chains of command.
The higher ranking Death Eaters, not being complete fools, made certain that their lackeys made the actual reports. Many did not survive the experience.
The alarms had gone off when death camps had been attacked and the inmates liberated. Before the Ministry could respond in any meaningful way, the camp ‘guards’ and other torturers who had been at the camps (most slept at the camps) were dead or missing, and most of the Ministry responders were dead, injured, or missing as well. Those who had been held in the camps were soon outside the country, under medical care while those who were able were telling their stories.
The next twenty hours were hard ones for Kingsley Shacklebolt. As bad as he thought things had become in magical Britain, the testimony of the surviving men, women, and children from the camps showed that conditions had been even worse. He had entertained hopes that once Voldemort and the few dozens of Marked followers were somehow dealt with, the worst would be over, that magical Britain could quickly be rebuilt. Throughout the magical world, as news came out late on the evening of April 30, the tales of abuse and torture – all in the name of ‘pure blood’ – would start tearing down much of the tacit bigotry of the ruling elites as they were smeared with the overflow of what had been done in Britain. The rantings of the some of the captured officials (many replayed over Wizarding Wireless stations) like Dolores Umbridge, who both defended the outrages while claiming that Voldemort had nothing to do with the British Ministry and that all ‘true’ magicals should be celebrating the ‘proper treatment of the Mudblood infection of Pure society’, also made most of the world’s magical elite wince, knowing that the power of every magical government in the world was based at least in some part on similar (albeit rarely spoken about) beliefs.
The majority of workers in the British Ministry of Magic still showed up for work that May Day, and the majority of them were, to say the least, confused. Those that made up the majority had either turned a blind eye to the changes which had happened over the previous nine months, or had to some degree accepted or even endorsed or encouraged those changes. They had been isolated from the rare reports which had been coming out about the camps before this, but the day before had seen chaos as the various enforcers had been called out and, for the most part, had not come back. Those that had managed to escape back to the Ministry had either reported to some higher authority outside the Ministry (after all, most Ministry workers managed to pretend to themselves that Voldemort was not directly behind the changes) or had just plain fled.
Voldemort had spent the night of 30th and into that next morning bringing what remained of his Death Eaters and other enforcers together and trying to decide how to strike back once he knew where to send them. Unlike most of his followers, he had a rough idea of what ‘Justice’ might mean.
The Strike Force leaders had seen what remained of Voldemort’s forces accumulate in the later afternoon and evening at his Headquarters on the 30th. Their partial penetration of the Fidelius gave them enough intelligence to know they could not risk an attack on the Headquarters while Voldemort himself was there. Nevertheless, the Druids in overall command decided to press ahead with their plan, although they delayed it by a few hours.
Therefore, as the confused workers had drifted into the Ministry between 9:00-9:30 that May Day morning, at 9:25 those in the large atrium were stunned when one wall suddenly showed the projection of a field. Over the next five minutes, most of the workers congregated into the atrium, wondering what was happening.
At 9:30, they found out.
The projection panned around, and set in the new portion of the open field, with what a few recognized as the Forbidden Forest in the background, over a thirty second interval a huge structure faded into view.
A Wicker Man.
The instrument of Druidical justice, those condemned would be burned alive inside the structure. Quick close-up views showed some of those imprisoned within – none were totally unknown to at least some of the crowd, and included known Death Eaters, some of the missing aurors, enforcers, Dolores Umbridge and a few of her fellow fanatics who had been involved with the camps, and most surprisingly, the Minister. Most were showing a great deal of panic, although Bellatrix Lestrange was merely smirking, believing that her lord would soon rescue her.
When the projection panned back, it showed a ring of figures circling the structure. One broad figure, dressed in a white robe and carrying a staff, came forward. A golden sickle was tucked into the belt of his robe.
Those who had stayed awake in their Seventh year history class recognized he had to be a very senior druid. “It has been a long time,” the Druid said, quieting the crowds watching the projections. “It has been Four hundred and forty-two years since a Druid leader of any kind has stood openly on these shores. It has been Nineteen hundred and forty-seven years since we have meted out Justice for all on this Island. Now, you have allowed one to grow too great in evil. And by you, I mean the Ministry and most of those who like to pretend they are ‘pure’! For he who calls himself Lord Voldemort did not become what he is totally unaided. Where did Tom Riddle find his training in basic evil? At Hogwarts, in Slytherin House – and from the British Magical community, which abandoned him in a Muggle orphanage. For where did He find wizards ready to take advantage of his already Dark nature? In the followers of Grindelwald in Britain, Western and Central Europe, and above all in Germany. For where did Tom Riddle finally go to transform and to learn many of the vile rites he has used to extend his life? To evil wizards in Russia, in Scandinavia, in North Africa. One of you, whom some of you considered the lowest of your lowly world because she was born of what you would call Squib or even Muggle parents, defeated him by blessing her son as WE taught, who was able therefore to defeat him. Did you then hunt down his evil essence and capture or destroy it and his soul anchors? No. You hoped it was over. It was not over and is not over, and you allowed Him and a few dozen followers to take over your Ministry, and many within your own government joined them in oppressing and torturing both your fellow magicals, fully human and other, and the non-Magical. And so now you are next to helpless.”
The face inside the hood was hidden, but he seemed to look at everyone for a moment before speaking again. “While a few of us enjoy the comforts of the Muggle world, we cannot care if it, on its own, lasts or is destroyed. However, those who believe in Justice cannot stand by as the innocent are killed and tortured, magical or not. Still, our primary concern is for you, or at least those you did not actively harm the innocent, not the Mundane, or as you call them, Muggles. You, however, you who have not only strayed from the paths of true belief but from the paths of decency, should we care for you? Yet, you are of our kind. Some of us find some value in at least some of you. Others think you are even more selfish and worthless than any of the Muggles so many of you despise.”
The Druid sighed and shook his head. “One innocent, whom you have repeatedly attacked for no good reason other than his stand for decency, and his companion, whom you despise for being better than you in everything but ancestry, pleaded with others for succor. They acceded, and asked if we would aid as well. We thought not to, until we learned how foul your actions have been. So, we have aided the Chosen One and his companion and those who call themselves the Resistance. We have returned Openly to the land of our ancestors, and we shall stay! Tom Riddle, who claims to be Lord Voldemort, you and your remaining supporters may live or die today, but these other followers of yours have been judged, so let Justice prevail!”
And with those words, the Wicker Man burst into flame, the three hundred and six screaming people inside, doomed.
Some of Voldemort’s minions had reported the appearance of the visions of Justice within minutes of the scene appearing in Hogsmeade, Hogwarts, Diagon Alley, and the Ministry atrium. Voldemort quickly sent some of them to the first locations to rally his remaining supporters on duty there and to prepare to be Called. Voldemort also decided that he had to go to the atrium himself before dealing with the Druids.
Once Justice had burst into flames, he made his presence known in the Atrium, causing as much fear as the burning people had. He spent the next six minutes, along with his followers, forcing most of the Ministry workers to floo to Hogsmeade, where he had decided to concentrate his forces. He sent orders for his people in Diagon Alley and Hogwarts to do the same.
While there was confusion in Diagon Alley, Severus Snape took instant action in Hogwarts, sending out the Carrows and some of the more violent Sixth and Seventh year supporters of the ‘New Regime’. Then he sent the students and other faculty to the common rooms and put the castle into lockdown.
Once the castle was fully locked down, Snape allowed himself a smirk. With any luck, his ordeal would soon be over and almost any outcome, although not all would be welcome, was planned for. Should Voldemort finally be destroyed, his work under Dumbledore’s orders would be revealed and he would be rewarded, despite nearly two decades of openly abusing the non-Slytherin students even before this past year. He could show the evidence he had filed away that he had in fact saved the current students from even worse abuse than they had suffered, even if in reality he could have easily saved them much of the abuse they had in fact suffered. He could prove that he had not leaked the addresses of the Muggleborn to Voldemort; the fact that he had pointed out how to actually find the information would, he believed, never be known.
Should Voldemort triumph, his position would even be stronger, although he disliked the thought of being even further under the Dark Lord’s authority. And, if the status quo remained, so to would Snape’s position.
As far as he was concerned, he couldn’t lose.
*
Once Voldemort was confirmed to have engaged the forces of Light on the field of Justice outside of Hogsmeade, three more teams swung into action. First, the small assault team which included Harry made its way into Hogwarts. A team of goblins had just finished digging out the collapsed tunnel which led to a full length mirror set in the wall of one of the corridors in Hogwarts. Because the tunnel had collapsed years before, it had not been warded the last Harry had been in the castle. There was a fair chance it still wasn’t, and if it was the entrance to the Room of Requirement was close enough that the team had a good chance of fighting its way there or back if it had to.
Secondly, a team of European aurors was retaking the Ministry of Magic, aided by a number of former and current members of the Ministry who were members of the Resistance, led by Shacklebolt and several Unspeakables. They found the building nearly deserted, and about half of the few workers who were there had been left behind, such as Arthur Weasley, were left because they were correctly considered too unreliable. Most, in fact, were thought to be associated with the Resistance to some degree and Arthur had rallied most of them to aid the invaders. The other half was made up of cowards who had managed to hide under desks or in storage closets when Voldemort’s forces had quickly combed the building. They had no problem in surrendering.
Meanwhile, the combat team assigned to Riddle Manor went into action. The Fidelius Charm prevented the accurate firing of spells, but the Charm and the other wards could not prevent the Stinger missiles from leveling whatever was inside the warded area. Once their instruments confirmed the destruction of the Horcrux (and the death of all life larger than an ant), most of the combat team redeployed to the field of Justice to engage Voldemort and his forces. The rest stayed to protect the team which was trying to bring down the wards in order to inspect the area, just to be certain.
At the field of Justice, most of the forces Voldemort had brought with him were being slaughtered with no mercy. Voldemort had hoped his attack would enable him to save his followers from being consumed in the burning Wicker Man, but although he was killing and maiming his enemies nearly by the dozen, he could not even come close to approaching the burning structure. Worse, every thirty seconds, teams of thirty wizards were portkeying to various spots on the periphery of the battle. Every one of them was well-trained, at least moderately powerful, and ready to give his life for the cause, and that cause was not Voldemort’s.
*
Back at Hogwarts, having checked the Marauder’s Map Harry was quickly leading his team to the Room of Requirement, not aware that Snape had placed a few movement detection wards of his own devising in the corridors around the room. Snape was well-aware that what passed for a ‘resistance’ in the school had used the Room, although he was somewhat unclear as to how. He allowed it to happen, and used the alarms mostly to let him know when the Carrows were about to stumble on the students, so that he could divert them. Being Snape, however, while he kept careful records to help him should Voldemort fall, he had neglected to inform anyone other than Dumbledore’s portrait. Both McGonagall and Flitwick had their suspicions, but they dared not share them with anyone other than the other.
When Snape determined that all the students who should be in the building were in their common rooms, and all the faculty were either with them or in their chambers, he went to investigate.
By then, however, Harry had led the team into the correct version of the Room of the Requirements. It took them less than five minutes to find the diadem Horcrux, and only three minutes from that moment to destroy it.
Tom Riddle was now mortal.
Their mission complete, they quickly exited as the one member of the Collective in the group relayed the information. All save Harry and 872 were trained soldiers, either commandos or at least well-trained secret agents to some degree. They therefore did not let down their guard simply because their primary mission was finished.
Snape was well-concealed in the shadows, and had he stopped to listen to the group quietly, he would have heard them debating on how best to leave the castle to join in the battle. Had Snape left the group alone, they would not have gone after him (Harry had detected him on the Map, but the group wanted to get into the main battle if possible). Snape could have emerged from the conflict, although never as a hero, at least intact. Instead, confident of his authority and power inside of Hogwarts and uncertain of which side he might be dealing with, he silently sent off a wide-area stunning spell.
The spell was easily blocked by the two team members closest to Snape’s position, as they had been watching out for this possibility, and Harry and three other team members sent off stunners of their own, rather hoping the could capture him since he was foolish enough to expose himself. Snape blocked one while trying to dodge the second.
Snape succeeded in blocking one stunner, but the other two hit him.
*
The message that Voldemort would be truly killed instead of disembodied to try again changed the waves sent in to attack him to every ten seconds instead of every thirty, and they came in knowing Riddle could now die. Fairly quickly, a severely injured and very magically depleted Dark Lord fled the scene of battle. His magic was powerful enough to break through the various holding wards partially established around the battlefield, but this did cause him to ‘splinch,’ leaving behind his left foot for nearly thirty seconds before it was drawn to his core.
This gave several of those closest to his appendage time to both severely damage it and to cast tracking spells on it (the reason they did not just destroy it). The signal went out to stop sending in reinforcements, but to try and track down Voldemort, triangulating on his mangled foot.
In the melee which had preceded this, over thirty of the defenders had been killed and over three hundred moderately to severely injured. However, all the attackers save Voldemort had been killed or captured, with all those captured injured to some degree. They would soon be sorted through to determine any crimes they might have committed before having been herded into battle. A few, like Percy Weasley, would soon be sent on their way – those quickly freed, again like Percy, had only fought defensively in any case. Others would either be held for future trials or would feature in a new Wicker Man within a few hours. Any of those actually Marked were executed on the spot.
That decision was relayed back to the group via 872, who relayed the information to the group, so they would know the orders.
“Snape is Marked,” Harry pointed out.
872 merely nodded his head at that information, and then turned to face the group. “One of us should execute him.” Seeing the group’s hesitation, he offered, “I could do it.” He pulled out his pistol, equipped with silencer.
Harry took a deep breath, and said, “I suppose I should be the one to do it.”
“No,” the team leader said. “You are too personally involved. Execution should be impartial. I have no axe to grind, and I am in command.” A flip of his wand, and a cutting hex removed Snape’s head.
872 then turned to Harry. “Voldemort has just left Justice. His forces there were destroyed or captured, and he is at best moderately injured.” He paused a moment, accessing new information. “He splinched leaving the area. His foot remained and was mangled, and had multiple tracers attached before he managed to pull it to him. You are asked to leave Hogwarts so that he can be finished off. We should accompany you.”
“Fine,” Harry replied, but he hesitated. “We should make an announcement to the castle before we leave, so they can choose what to do.”
“How?” Harry was asked.
Rather than answering, Harry simply stepped back towards the Room of Requirement and did the needed movements. He then walked into a room, bare except for an old-fashioned radio microphone on a stand. “Attention Hogwarts!” Harry proclaimed. The group could hear his voice echoing throughout the castle complex. “This is Harry Potter! As you should have seen before being sent out of the great hall, several hundred Death Eaters have been executed.” Harry smirked and then deliberately stated, “Voldemort . . . then led most of his remaining followers to interfere. He was defeated but managed to flee the battlefield, so it cannot be said the war against him is over. Still, his forces have at least been decimated, if not eliminated. Do not carry out reprisals; the Resistance shall soon be in control of the magical portions of the country, but any carrying the Dark Mark are to be executed. Be certain you have proof of a Dark Mark before you execute anyone but feel free to capture anyone you deem may need to be tried for crimes against the population of magical and Muggle Britain. Good luck!”
With that, the squad hurried Harry (and themselves) back into the passage so they could exit the castle, leaving three (mostly) ecstatic common rooms – and one plunged into chaos.
*
By Dr T
The camps are liberated, and Justice prevails.
*
You know who owns Harry Potter and ‘canon’ and it ain’t me. I just plaster over plot holes and rearrange things to please myself.
*
Shortly before dawn on April 29, alarms rang throughout the Ministry. The remaining pro-Voldemort aurors and other enforcers, official and unofficial, for Voldemort’s Ministry responded to the alarms at the ‘re-education’ camps they had established for the Muggleborn, Muggle-lovers, and other opponents of the regime.
Voldemort himself was not made aware of the alarms until a few hours later, when worried lackeys were forced to pass bad news up their chains of command.
The higher ranking Death Eaters, not being complete fools, made certain that their lackeys made the actual reports. Many did not survive the experience.
The alarms had gone off when death camps had been attacked and the inmates liberated. Before the Ministry could respond in any meaningful way, the camp ‘guards’ and other torturers who had been at the camps (most slept at the camps) were dead or missing, and most of the Ministry responders were dead, injured, or missing as well. Those who had been held in the camps were soon outside the country, under medical care while those who were able were telling their stories.
The next twenty hours were hard ones for Kingsley Shacklebolt. As bad as he thought things had become in magical Britain, the testimony of the surviving men, women, and children from the camps showed that conditions had been even worse. He had entertained hopes that once Voldemort and the few dozens of Marked followers were somehow dealt with, the worst would be over, that magical Britain could quickly be rebuilt. Throughout the magical world, as news came out late on the evening of April 30, the tales of abuse and torture – all in the name of ‘pure blood’ – would start tearing down much of the tacit bigotry of the ruling elites as they were smeared with the overflow of what had been done in Britain. The rantings of the some of the captured officials (many replayed over Wizarding Wireless stations) like Dolores Umbridge, who both defended the outrages while claiming that Voldemort had nothing to do with the British Ministry and that all ‘true’ magicals should be celebrating the ‘proper treatment of the Mudblood infection of Pure society’, also made most of the world’s magical elite wince, knowing that the power of every magical government in the world was based at least in some part on similar (albeit rarely spoken about) beliefs.
The majority of workers in the British Ministry of Magic still showed up for work that May Day, and the majority of them were, to say the least, confused. Those that made up the majority had either turned a blind eye to the changes which had happened over the previous nine months, or had to some degree accepted or even endorsed or encouraged those changes. They had been isolated from the rare reports which had been coming out about the camps before this, but the day before had seen chaos as the various enforcers had been called out and, for the most part, had not come back. Those that had managed to escape back to the Ministry had either reported to some higher authority outside the Ministry (after all, most Ministry workers managed to pretend to themselves that Voldemort was not directly behind the changes) or had just plain fled.
Voldemort had spent the night of 30th and into that next morning bringing what remained of his Death Eaters and other enforcers together and trying to decide how to strike back once he knew where to send them. Unlike most of his followers, he had a rough idea of what ‘Justice’ might mean.
The Strike Force leaders had seen what remained of Voldemort’s forces accumulate in the later afternoon and evening at his Headquarters on the 30th. Their partial penetration of the Fidelius gave them enough intelligence to know they could not risk an attack on the Headquarters while Voldemort himself was there. Nevertheless, the Druids in overall command decided to press ahead with their plan, although they delayed it by a few hours.
Therefore, as the confused workers had drifted into the Ministry between 9:00-9:30 that May Day morning, at 9:25 those in the large atrium were stunned when one wall suddenly showed the projection of a field. Over the next five minutes, most of the workers congregated into the atrium, wondering what was happening.
At 9:30, they found out.
The projection panned around, and set in the new portion of the open field, with what a few recognized as the Forbidden Forest in the background, over a thirty second interval a huge structure faded into view.
A Wicker Man.
The instrument of Druidical justice, those condemned would be burned alive inside the structure. Quick close-up views showed some of those imprisoned within – none were totally unknown to at least some of the crowd, and included known Death Eaters, some of the missing aurors, enforcers, Dolores Umbridge and a few of her fellow fanatics who had been involved with the camps, and most surprisingly, the Minister. Most were showing a great deal of panic, although Bellatrix Lestrange was merely smirking, believing that her lord would soon rescue her.
When the projection panned back, it showed a ring of figures circling the structure. One broad figure, dressed in a white robe and carrying a staff, came forward. A golden sickle was tucked into the belt of his robe.
Those who had stayed awake in their Seventh year history class recognized he had to be a very senior druid. “It has been a long time,” the Druid said, quieting the crowds watching the projections. “It has been Four hundred and forty-two years since a Druid leader of any kind has stood openly on these shores. It has been Nineteen hundred and forty-seven years since we have meted out Justice for all on this Island. Now, you have allowed one to grow too great in evil. And by you, I mean the Ministry and most of those who like to pretend they are ‘pure’! For he who calls himself Lord Voldemort did not become what he is totally unaided. Where did Tom Riddle find his training in basic evil? At Hogwarts, in Slytherin House – and from the British Magical community, which abandoned him in a Muggle orphanage. For where did He find wizards ready to take advantage of his already Dark nature? In the followers of Grindelwald in Britain, Western and Central Europe, and above all in Germany. For where did Tom Riddle finally go to transform and to learn many of the vile rites he has used to extend his life? To evil wizards in Russia, in Scandinavia, in North Africa. One of you, whom some of you considered the lowest of your lowly world because she was born of what you would call Squib or even Muggle parents, defeated him by blessing her son as WE taught, who was able therefore to defeat him. Did you then hunt down his evil essence and capture or destroy it and his soul anchors? No. You hoped it was over. It was not over and is not over, and you allowed Him and a few dozen followers to take over your Ministry, and many within your own government joined them in oppressing and torturing both your fellow magicals, fully human and other, and the non-Magical. And so now you are next to helpless.”
The face inside the hood was hidden, but he seemed to look at everyone for a moment before speaking again. “While a few of us enjoy the comforts of the Muggle world, we cannot care if it, on its own, lasts or is destroyed. However, those who believe in Justice cannot stand by as the innocent are killed and tortured, magical or not. Still, our primary concern is for you, or at least those you did not actively harm the innocent, not the Mundane, or as you call them, Muggles. You, however, you who have not only strayed from the paths of true belief but from the paths of decency, should we care for you? Yet, you are of our kind. Some of us find some value in at least some of you. Others think you are even more selfish and worthless than any of the Muggles so many of you despise.”
The Druid sighed and shook his head. “One innocent, whom you have repeatedly attacked for no good reason other than his stand for decency, and his companion, whom you despise for being better than you in everything but ancestry, pleaded with others for succor. They acceded, and asked if we would aid as well. We thought not to, until we learned how foul your actions have been. So, we have aided the Chosen One and his companion and those who call themselves the Resistance. We have returned Openly to the land of our ancestors, and we shall stay! Tom Riddle, who claims to be Lord Voldemort, you and your remaining supporters may live or die today, but these other followers of yours have been judged, so let Justice prevail!”
And with those words, the Wicker Man burst into flame, the three hundred and six screaming people inside, doomed.
Some of Voldemort’s minions had reported the appearance of the visions of Justice within minutes of the scene appearing in Hogsmeade, Hogwarts, Diagon Alley, and the Ministry atrium. Voldemort quickly sent some of them to the first locations to rally his remaining supporters on duty there and to prepare to be Called. Voldemort also decided that he had to go to the atrium himself before dealing with the Druids.
Once Justice had burst into flames, he made his presence known in the Atrium, causing as much fear as the burning people had. He spent the next six minutes, along with his followers, forcing most of the Ministry workers to floo to Hogsmeade, where he had decided to concentrate his forces. He sent orders for his people in Diagon Alley and Hogwarts to do the same.
While there was confusion in Diagon Alley, Severus Snape took instant action in Hogwarts, sending out the Carrows and some of the more violent Sixth and Seventh year supporters of the ‘New Regime’. Then he sent the students and other faculty to the common rooms and put the castle into lockdown.
Once the castle was fully locked down, Snape allowed himself a smirk. With any luck, his ordeal would soon be over and almost any outcome, although not all would be welcome, was planned for. Should Voldemort finally be destroyed, his work under Dumbledore’s orders would be revealed and he would be rewarded, despite nearly two decades of openly abusing the non-Slytherin students even before this past year. He could show the evidence he had filed away that he had in fact saved the current students from even worse abuse than they had suffered, even if in reality he could have easily saved them much of the abuse they had in fact suffered. He could prove that he had not leaked the addresses of the Muggleborn to Voldemort; the fact that he had pointed out how to actually find the information would, he believed, never be known.
Should Voldemort triumph, his position would even be stronger, although he disliked the thought of being even further under the Dark Lord’s authority. And, if the status quo remained, so to would Snape’s position.
As far as he was concerned, he couldn’t lose.
*
Once Voldemort was confirmed to have engaged the forces of Light on the field of Justice outside of Hogsmeade, three more teams swung into action. First, the small assault team which included Harry made its way into Hogwarts. A team of goblins had just finished digging out the collapsed tunnel which led to a full length mirror set in the wall of one of the corridors in Hogwarts. Because the tunnel had collapsed years before, it had not been warded the last Harry had been in the castle. There was a fair chance it still wasn’t, and if it was the entrance to the Room of Requirement was close enough that the team had a good chance of fighting its way there or back if it had to.
Secondly, a team of European aurors was retaking the Ministry of Magic, aided by a number of former and current members of the Ministry who were members of the Resistance, led by Shacklebolt and several Unspeakables. They found the building nearly deserted, and about half of the few workers who were there had been left behind, such as Arthur Weasley, were left because they were correctly considered too unreliable. Most, in fact, were thought to be associated with the Resistance to some degree and Arthur had rallied most of them to aid the invaders. The other half was made up of cowards who had managed to hide under desks or in storage closets when Voldemort’s forces had quickly combed the building. They had no problem in surrendering.
Meanwhile, the combat team assigned to Riddle Manor went into action. The Fidelius Charm prevented the accurate firing of spells, but the Charm and the other wards could not prevent the Stinger missiles from leveling whatever was inside the warded area. Once their instruments confirmed the destruction of the Horcrux (and the death of all life larger than an ant), most of the combat team redeployed to the field of Justice to engage Voldemort and his forces. The rest stayed to protect the team which was trying to bring down the wards in order to inspect the area, just to be certain.
At the field of Justice, most of the forces Voldemort had brought with him were being slaughtered with no mercy. Voldemort had hoped his attack would enable him to save his followers from being consumed in the burning Wicker Man, but although he was killing and maiming his enemies nearly by the dozen, he could not even come close to approaching the burning structure. Worse, every thirty seconds, teams of thirty wizards were portkeying to various spots on the periphery of the battle. Every one of them was well-trained, at least moderately powerful, and ready to give his life for the cause, and that cause was not Voldemort’s.
*
Back at Hogwarts, having checked the Marauder’s Map Harry was quickly leading his team to the Room of Requirement, not aware that Snape had placed a few movement detection wards of his own devising in the corridors around the room. Snape was well-aware that what passed for a ‘resistance’ in the school had used the Room, although he was somewhat unclear as to how. He allowed it to happen, and used the alarms mostly to let him know when the Carrows were about to stumble on the students, so that he could divert them. Being Snape, however, while he kept careful records to help him should Voldemort fall, he had neglected to inform anyone other than Dumbledore’s portrait. Both McGonagall and Flitwick had their suspicions, but they dared not share them with anyone other than the other.
When Snape determined that all the students who should be in the building were in their common rooms, and all the faculty were either with them or in their chambers, he went to investigate.
By then, however, Harry had led the team into the correct version of the Room of the Requirements. It took them less than five minutes to find the diadem Horcrux, and only three minutes from that moment to destroy it.
Tom Riddle was now mortal.
Their mission complete, they quickly exited as the one member of the Collective in the group relayed the information. All save Harry and 872 were trained soldiers, either commandos or at least well-trained secret agents to some degree. They therefore did not let down their guard simply because their primary mission was finished.
Snape was well-concealed in the shadows, and had he stopped to listen to the group quietly, he would have heard them debating on how best to leave the castle to join in the battle. Had Snape left the group alone, they would not have gone after him (Harry had detected him on the Map, but the group wanted to get into the main battle if possible). Snape could have emerged from the conflict, although never as a hero, at least intact. Instead, confident of his authority and power inside of Hogwarts and uncertain of which side he might be dealing with, he silently sent off a wide-area stunning spell.
The spell was easily blocked by the two team members closest to Snape’s position, as they had been watching out for this possibility, and Harry and three other team members sent off stunners of their own, rather hoping the could capture him since he was foolish enough to expose himself. Snape blocked one while trying to dodge the second.
Snape succeeded in blocking one stunner, but the other two hit him.
*
The message that Voldemort would be truly killed instead of disembodied to try again changed the waves sent in to attack him to every ten seconds instead of every thirty, and they came in knowing Riddle could now die. Fairly quickly, a severely injured and very magically depleted Dark Lord fled the scene of battle. His magic was powerful enough to break through the various holding wards partially established around the battlefield, but this did cause him to ‘splinch,’ leaving behind his left foot for nearly thirty seconds before it was drawn to his core.
This gave several of those closest to his appendage time to both severely damage it and to cast tracking spells on it (the reason they did not just destroy it). The signal went out to stop sending in reinforcements, but to try and track down Voldemort, triangulating on his mangled foot.
In the melee which had preceded this, over thirty of the defenders had been killed and over three hundred moderately to severely injured. However, all the attackers save Voldemort had been killed or captured, with all those captured injured to some degree. They would soon be sorted through to determine any crimes they might have committed before having been herded into battle. A few, like Percy Weasley, would soon be sent on their way – those quickly freed, again like Percy, had only fought defensively in any case. Others would either be held for future trials or would feature in a new Wicker Man within a few hours. Any of those actually Marked were executed on the spot.
That decision was relayed back to the group via 872, who relayed the information to the group, so they would know the orders.
“Snape is Marked,” Harry pointed out.
872 merely nodded his head at that information, and then turned to face the group. “One of us should execute him.” Seeing the group’s hesitation, he offered, “I could do it.” He pulled out his pistol, equipped with silencer.
Harry took a deep breath, and said, “I suppose I should be the one to do it.”
“No,” the team leader said. “You are too personally involved. Execution should be impartial. I have no axe to grind, and I am in command.” A flip of his wand, and a cutting hex removed Snape’s head.
872 then turned to Harry. “Voldemort has just left Justice. His forces there were destroyed or captured, and he is at best moderately injured.” He paused a moment, accessing new information. “He splinched leaving the area. His foot remained and was mangled, and had multiple tracers attached before he managed to pull it to him. You are asked to leave Hogwarts so that he can be finished off. We should accompany you.”
“Fine,” Harry replied, but he hesitated. “We should make an announcement to the castle before we leave, so they can choose what to do.”
“How?” Harry was asked.
Rather than answering, Harry simply stepped back towards the Room of Requirement and did the needed movements. He then walked into a room, bare except for an old-fashioned radio microphone on a stand. “Attention Hogwarts!” Harry proclaimed. The group could hear his voice echoing throughout the castle complex. “This is Harry Potter! As you should have seen before being sent out of the great hall, several hundred Death Eaters have been executed.” Harry smirked and then deliberately stated, “Voldemort . . . then led most of his remaining followers to interfere. He was defeated but managed to flee the battlefield, so it cannot be said the war against him is over. Still, his forces have at least been decimated, if not eliminated. Do not carry out reprisals; the Resistance shall soon be in control of the magical portions of the country, but any carrying the Dark Mark are to be executed. Be certain you have proof of a Dark Mark before you execute anyone but feel free to capture anyone you deem may need to be tried for crimes against the population of magical and Muggle Britain. Good luck!”
With that, the squad hurried Harry (and themselves) back into the passage so they could exit the castle, leaving three (mostly) ecstatic common rooms – and one plunged into chaos.
*
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