Morning came, and with it a strange sight for a small town on Britain's east shore. If any muggle had been in the forests surrounding Southhallerton, they would have been witness to scores upon scores of strange people appearing out of thin air, groups of them holding on to miscalleneaous objects like old shoes, branches, ropes, and chains. Most of them wore grey cloaks, some carried weapons, while others wore black cloaks with the Hogwarts crest embroidered on them - not that any muggle would actually recognized the crest for what it was.
Harry took a moment to gather his bearings after the portkeys had deposited him and Hiscophney's troops in the forest. Seconds later, Neville arrived via portkeys fashioned by Remus and Snape, with about a dozen members of Potters Legion, bringing their overall numbers to fifty, including Harry and Hiscophney. Bellatrix had insisted on accompanying them, but Harry had pointed out that she needed to work on the potion to heal the mental damage done to the Longbottoms, and that, after reading Neville's letter, she was hardly in any state to do battle. Reluctantly, she had agreed, but not before extracting a promise from him to return unharmed.
" Tempus," Harry muttered, and the time appeared in glowing numbers at the tip of his wand. Seven-thirty in the morning. According to Hermione's prediction, Voldemort would attack the town between nine and eleven, giving them a two-hour window. Harry just hoped that the message he had sent to Mockridge had been received, and that the Aurors didn't arrive too late to do any good. Shaking the thought from his head, Harry turned his attention to Hiscophney and Neville, as the Count conjured up an ethereal map of the terrain.
"This," Hiscophney indicated, "is the area around the town. If Voldemort's men follow their usual pattern, they will apparate in close to the town square, and fan out radially to cause as much havoc as they can during the few minutes they will be here." Glowing red dots appeared on the map where the town center would be as he manipulated the projection.
Harry nodded. "We know he usually doesn't bring more than thirty or so Death Eaters, so we'll have numbers on him. Their attacks usually last ten minutes, to half an hour at most. That means we will have to attack them when they are close together, so we can take down as many as we can before they retreat."
"That would be dangerous, though." Neville frowned as both Harry and Hiscophney turned to him at his comment, causing him to explain further. "I mean, if there's more of them close together, they will be able to defend themselves better. Plus, if they're attacked close together, what's to keep them from just apparating out the instant they come under attack?"
"Good point," Hiscophney conceded. "I can have five of my people put up an anti-apparition ward the moment Voldemort and his people appear, but that would also prevent the Aurors from arriving."
Harry studied the map for a minute, before pointing at a number of streets that ran outwards from the town center. "Let's assume they stick to the roads, they'd have to fan out along these, right? So what if we let them walk a few hundred yards, then take them down in small groups? They wouldn't be able to warn each other, and we have numbers on them. Worst case a few of them apparate away, leaving the other groups unaware of an attack on them."
"I have an idea." Hiscophney stared at the projection of the town, and the red dots began spreading out along the streets. "We wait till they are relatively dispersed, then spring out assault groups on them." Blue dots appeared on the map, next to the spread-out red ones. "At the same time, we engage localized anti-portkey and anti-apparition fields to keep from from running."
As he spoke, translucent green domes spread across the concentrations of red and blue dots. "That way, the Aurors can portkey or apparate into the town center, and we have enough people to at least contain them inside the fields. I assume the Aurors are smart enough to follow their ears to the battle?" Hiscophney finished.
"Probably." Harry nodded, the plan sounded good. "Here's an addition to the plan," he said as he waved his wand and conjured up a box filled with necklaces.
"What are these?" Neville fished one out of the box. It was a simple copper pendant engraved with the crest of Polairix strung on a leather string.
"Charmed pendants," Harry explained. "Touch them, to activate, and say the receiver's name, or say 'all' to send to everyone, then speak. It's basically a version of the muggle two-way radio, so it should allow us all to stay in contact."
Hiscophney picked one out of the box and examined it carefully, then nodded in satisfaction. "Good. That will give us another advantage. We will be able to call each other and report, or call for help if necessary."
"Nice charm work, Harry," Neville commented with a grin.
"Not mine. Bella charmed them late last night." Harry shrugged. "I'm not anywhere near her level of skill when it comes to charms or transfiguration."
Hiscophney waved over one of his men, and ordered him to hand out the pendants to the sorcerers and the students from Potter's Legion. When the man had left, the Count returned to the map. "There are five main roads leading out from the town center. Optimistically, Voldemort will show up with thirty people, that gives us five-on-three odds at each interception point."
"Right. Station five people ahead of where you want to intercept the Death Eaters, and have the other five swing around to pin them down. That should hopefully keep them there. One person from each five-man group will have to trail behind, casting an anti-apparition or anti-portkey ward before joining the fighting, make sure they know that." Harry pointed at the green domes. "It's really important those wards go up in time."
The town clock chimed ten, and the town was now alive with people milling around the streets, shopping for groceries, catching a late breakfast, or an early lunch. Some people just returned to their homes after a night shift at work, while cafes and restaurants were busy opening their doors. Unbeknownst to the muggles, ten teams of five wizards each were posted around the town center, and the tension at each of these was thick enough to cut with a knife. They had a lot riding on this attack - including Lord Polairix's public rehabilitation. If they could discredit Voldemort's attempts at branding Harry as the perpetrator of these attacks on muggles, his public influence would once more be a potent weapon against Voldemort and his Death Eaters.
Another twenty minutes passed, and Harry frowned as nothing happened. Could Hermione have been wrong? Maybe Voldemort, realizing that someone had been able to predict his pattern, had changed it? After all, he was aware that Hermione had already found him once, and he knew that the Ministry knew. This was their best shot at putting an end to these attacks - after this, Voldemort would definitely know something was up, and he would change tactics, but if he didn't show, not only would Harry loose this chance, but Mockridge would also be taking some heavy flak, if he had indeed managed to divert the division of Aurors Harry had requested.
Then the silence was broken by a series of staccado cracks as dozens of black robed and masked people apparated into the town square. Harry let out a relieved sigh and touched the pendant hanging around his neck. "Polairix to all. Targets just apparated in."
"Confirmed, Polairix. Spotters make out twenty-eight Death Eaters plus Voldemort," a voice he didn't know replied.
"Strike teams in position. Warders ready," Hiscophney reported.
Screams erupted below as the Death Eaters spread apart and spells began flying from their wands. Harry gritted his teeth as muggles began falling, some dead, some convulsing in pain. He hated this, hated leaving them to suffer, but if they wanted to make sure they got the Death Eaters this time around, they couldn't afford to attack them too early.
"Now?" Neville asked over the pendant, his voice strained and pleading.
"Hold fire, repeat, hold fire for now." Count Hiscophney's voice was steely as he replied.
"Come on, get moving," Harry urged the Death Eaters under his breath as they slowly began to disperse. Most of the muggles had managed to escape, and only a handful of corpses remained in the town center. The fleeing muggles drew the Death Eaters down the roads, straight towards the ambushes they had set up. Harry, Hiscophney, and Neville had agreed that warning the muggles would not be a good idea. They would all be safe, true, but Voldemort would know something was up the instant they arrived and no one was in sight.
Harry watched with apprehension as a group of six Death Eaters came down the road towards their position, casting blasting hexes and other, more destructive curses at anything they saw. When they were a dozen yards away, Harry waved to the others in his group, and he, together with three others, sprang up from behind his cover and flicked his wand at the Death Eaters.
" Impedimenta ! Stupefy ! Incarcerous ! Flippendo !"
A series of hexes and stunners left their wands as the glowing domes of anti-apparition and anti-portkey wards washed overhead. The Death Eaters, caught by surprise by the spellfire, screamed and dove for cover. One of them raised a panicked hand and pointed to the sky as their attempts to apparate away failed. Three of them fell in the initial barrage before they could find cover, and as Harry ducked back down behind the light post he was using for cover, more spells erupted from behind the Death Eaters, taking down the remaining three.
"Polairix, this is Alpha Team. Six targets down, area secure," one of the teammembers that had ambushed the Death Eaters from behind reported. Harry nodded and waved his group forward, where they bound their captives.
"Polairix, this is Beta Team, our targets are down," Neville announced. "Targets secured for the Aurors."
"Delta Team, targets secure."
"Epsilon Team, targets down."
"Gamma Team, Voldemort is here. Repeat, Voldemort is-" the voice cut off abruptly, and Harry's eyes widened. Gamma Team was Hiscophney's, stationed two streets over.
Grabbing his pendant, Harry shouted, "All teams, secure and guard targets, all available people head to Gamma location!" He spared a glance for his group, then took off in a sprint, seven of his people following him, while two remained to guard the Death Eaters.
When they arrived at the other team's location, Harry couldn't help but gasp in horror. All of the Death Eaters were dead, and six of Hiscophney's men were laying among them, unmoving. Through some miracle, the two members of Potter's legion had survived, and had been herded away from the battle raging amongs the corpses by the last surviving sorcerer. Hiscophney and Voldemort were trading spells, with Voldemort almost stationary, turning only to target his curses at his opponent, who was having trouble maneuvering in the limited space provided by houses, trees, and lamp posts.
Hiscophney was holding his own, for the time being, but Harry could see the strain on the sorcerer's face as he struggled to keep dodging the killing curse. Voldemort alternated his spellcasting enough to blast most of the available cover, and Hiscophney's return fire was intercepted by ruthlessly summoned corpses. Harry came to a halt about a dozen yards from the fighting, and raised his wand. Voldemort either hadn't noticed or was ignoring the arriving reinforcements, and was focusing all of his attention on the Count. Well, he was going to have to change that.
Harry slipped the black ash wand back into his wrist holster and summoned his ivory wand. He would only get one shot at this, and he had to make it a good one. The remainder of the troops had arrived, and had formed a circle around the fighters, but none of them dared interfere with the duel. Levelling his wand at Voldemort's back, Harry gave it a deft flick.
" Scelus Efflixi !" The spell had been one he had come across with Bella while they were searching through the library for combat spells that would be useful in a duel with Voldemort. While there wasn't anything really short of a killing curse that would be able to kill the person Voldemort, they had found a number of viable alternatives that would not involve Harry using an Unforgivable. The spell raced at Voldemort's back, but he turned and waved his wand in an arc in an instant, a shimmering silver barrier flashing into existence before him.
Harry's spell splashed against it harmlessly, and Voldemort jabbed his wand at his new target. " Eradico ."
Diving to the side, Harry returned fire with a number of overpowered stunners, courtesy of his new wand, and Voldemort found himself distracted as Count Hiscophney took the opportunity to counter-attack, himself. Harry ran and ducked into an entryway while Voldemort's back was turned, and threw his own hexes and jinxes at the dark lord. Caught in the sudden crossfire, Voldemort roared in anger as one of Hiscophney's slashing spells carved a deep wound into his side as he dodged one of Harry's blasting curses. Three seconds later, Voldemort leapt to the side to avoide one of Hiscophney's spells, only to catch one of Harry's bludgeoning spells square in the back.
Roaring in fury, a wave of power washed outwards from Voldemort, causing the wards to dispell. The dark lord ignored the opportunity to flee, however, and flung out his wand, a wave of concussive force blasting Hiscophney off his feet. The Count landed hard on his back, and was obviously struggling to remain conscious. Harry, who had been somewhat shielded by the entryway, snarled and stepped into the open before Voldemort could finish him off, speaking the first spell that came to mind.
" Expelliarmus !" Voldemort waved his wand and the jet of red light was deflected to impact an unfortunate tree.
"So," he hissed, his snake-like face pale in the sunlight, "finally you show yourself, Potter - or maybe I should call you Lord Polairix? It appears I have underestimated you."
Harry couldn't help but notice the strange glint in the dark lords eyes as he took up a duelling stance. "Actually, you underestimated Hermione," Harry replied, fighting to keep his voice even. "She figured it out, you know. It was a mistake to think that you could just let her go."
"Would you have preferred that I kill the little mudblood, Potter?" Voldemort cackled.
"She broke the memory charm you put on her."
That comment caused Voldemort's eyes to widen until they were as close to bugging out as they would probably get. "What? That's impossible," he spat
"No, it isn't," Harry bluffed with a grin. It was a risky gamble, trying to get Voldemort riled up, but he had to keep him here until the Aurors arrived. Where's the blasted Ministry when you need them?
"No matter." Voldemort waved it off with a neutral expression. "It was foolish of you to come here, where I could kill you. Now, shall we finish what we started at the end of your fourth year, Potter?"
"You and me, Tom. The way it's always been."
"Prepare for death, then, Potter - Everto !"
Harry ducked under the curse, and flicked his wand rapidly. He had trained with Bellatrix for this, worked on his duelling skill until she was satisfied he would be able to hold his own - and Bella was a demanding teacher, if nothing else. A fire spell erupted from the tip of his wand with a muttered " Comburo," which left it just a twist and quick jab away from the motion for a Sepelio . Wand motions flowed into each other as his body reacted on instinct, casting spell after spell without pause without even needing to mutter the incantations.
A freezing spell followed by a blasting curse and a stunner flew at Voldemort in rapid succession, forcing the dark lord to abort his counterattack. With a grand wave of his wand, Voldemort conjured up a translucent blue shield with a shout of " Aegis Contego !" All of Harry's spells splashed against it, causing colorful ripples to wash across it, but none penetrated.
"Good, good, you've learned, Potter. Bella must've taught you well," Voldemort taunted as he kept his wand steady and in position. Harry circled him slowly, trying to figure out a way to get past the shield, while his opponent seemed content to let him make the next move.
Finally, Harry shifted his stance, moving his weight forward, earning him a puzzled look from Voldemort. Spying a windowsill on the second floor on the building behind Voldemort, he held out his wand. " Admoveo !"
The summoning spell didn't really work on something as massive as the building, instead causing Harry to fly up there. He kicked off the ledge, lifting himself higher into the air just seconds before Voldemort's spells blasted the window into rubble. At the apex of his leap, Harry flicked his wand again, and cast the first spell he'd ever learned.
" Wingardium Leviosa !" And remember, swish-and-flick, he could hear Flitwick's voice. The levitation spell kicked in, causing him to hover in mid-air, and Voldemort's curses, which had been aimed at the spot he would have occupied, missed by a few feet. Harry smirked as he glanced down past his feet at Voldemort's face, imagining the surprise that wasn't showing on the snake-like visage. The levitation spell took an amount of energy proportional to the weight and height of the object levitated - human levitation usually took ridiculous amounts of power, which was usually why it wasn't done. With his new wand, however, Harry had felt confident to try.
"What are you playing at, Potter!" Voldemort screeched on the ground and shot a killing curse up at Harry, but his target dodged aside as he levitated himself around.
"Why don't you come up here, Tom?" Harry smirked. " Accio Voldemort!"
With a startled yell, the dark lord rose into the air with surprising speed - like the levitation spell, the summoning spell was designed for small items, and summoning something as large and heavy as a person took tremendous amounts of energy, but Harry mused it was well worth the look of surprise on Voldemort's face as he shot past him, high up into the air. And this time, the surprise did show, even as Harry slowly levitated himself to the ground.
" Ventulus !" A gust of wind slammed into Voldemort, buffetting him around in the air above the rooftops, and Harry continued the flowing wand motion into the next spell, with a muttered " Sonitus Laedo ." The shockwave exploding from his wand rattled windows for blocks around and disrupted Voldemort's attempt at casting the killing curse in retaliation.
When his feet touched the ground, Harry dispelled the levitation charm, and raised all of the shield spells he could think of, because when Voldemort came back - and Harry had no doubt that he would, and when he did, he would be pissed - he would need them. True to his prediction, a number of dark curses started raining from the sky, forcing Harry to seek shelter, as he didn't exactly want to test the effectiveness of his shields against an angry Voldemort's curses just yet.
" Arresto Momentum !" The yell echoed across the street, and Voldemort came to a stop an inch above the ground, his eyes wide with rage. "Potter! You will pay !" The hail of spells that followed caused Harry to duck back into cover; Voldemort was truly enraged, and the skill he was displaying, arraying spell after spell, weaving them so tightly together without pause, was frightening. Harry had known that Voldemort was powerful, and the dark wizard had had decades to hone his duelling skills, but this - he was chaining spells so quickly that there was no opening, no chance to get in a counter-attack.
" Procella !"
The spell swept across the battlefield out of nowhere, the hurricane force wind tearing through the street. Voldemort was caught up in the middle of casting a spell and was forced to abandon it to barely remain standing, and Harry let out a sigh of relief as he spotted Albus Dumbledore standing at the other end of the street, Order members and a squad of Aurors behind him.
"Dumbledore!" Voldemort howled in anger as the old mage strode towards him.
"You're surrounded, Tom," Dumbledore said quietly.
"I can still kill your golden boy." Jabbing his wand at the doorway Harry had sought cover in, Voldemort snarled as he began a spell. Dumbledore was casting, himself, when the dark lord disappeared with a crack, the spell he had been building dissipating harmlessly into the air.
"It was a feint," Dumbledore mumbled with a hint of anger as he looked around the carnage that surrounded them. Corpses of Death Eaters and Trazkaban sorcerers were littering the ground, while the remainder of Hiscophney's people and Potter's Legion were bringing in the captives from the other interception points. Neville and the Count were approaching Harry, ignoring Dumbledore's questioning glance.
"I'm sorry," was the first thing Harry said to Hiscophney as soon as they were close enough. "You lost a lot of people today because of me."
The Count waved it off. "That is the nature of warfare. We pledged our alliance to you, and we will uphold it. Voldemort is evil and must be stopped - and every one of them gave their lives gladly to see to it that he will be."
"We only lost people here," Neville told Harry. "I checked right after you and Voldemort started fighting. All of Potter's Legion are alive and accounted for, even if some are a bit worse for wear."
"How so?" Harry asked
"Scratches and bruises, a nothing major. I think Parvati was off the worst - she caught a bludgeoning hex in her shoulder, and it's dislocated. Nothing Madam Pomfrey can't fix."
"And," Hiscophney added, "we only lost six men today. We captured twenty-three Death Eaters, killed five, and you injured Voldemort."
Harry frowned. "But I didn't! None of my spells even came close to hitting him, not with that shield of his."
"Maybe not physically," Hiscophney laughed, "but you definitely injured his pride. You were duelling well, for someone with so little experience, my lord."
"Harry!" All three turned at the sound of Tonk's voice as she hurried over along with Kinglsey.
"Tonks! You're late," Harry greeted her. "Kingsley," he nodded at the older Auror.
"Sorry, Potter," Kingsley replied, "we got the message from the Minister, but there were a lot of bureaucrats trying to hold us back. We had to go behind their backs and talk to Dumbledore to get Order support in order to get the go for the deployment."
Harry's eyes widened in fear, but Tonks spoke before he could voice them. "Don't worry, we didn't tell them where the information was from. We just told them we had it from a reliable source that we could pinpoint Voldemort's next attack. After all, Hermione did it before, right?"
"She did this one, too," Harry told her with a grin. The grin died when he saw Dumbledore walking over towards them. "Count, please tend to your people. The injured can be cared for at the fortress - Neville, if the injured from your group want to come along, they're welcome to, have the Count tell you how to use the emergency portkeys we set up."
The two nodded, understanding that Harry wanted his discussion with Dumbledore to be private, and left to tend to their people. Kingsley and Tonks caught the look, as well, and excused themselves to see to the captured Death Eaters.
"Harry," Dumbledore greeted him neutrally.
"Dumbledore."
"I suppose now I know what their mysterious source of information is," the headmaster noted. "And I am glad now that I trusted them. I may be an old man, but even I can see what this means, and the implications of this," he admitted.
Harry snorted. "Took something pretty obvious to believe my word over rumours, didn't it. Now, what else will it take? Let's see, you could've tested me with Veritaserum to see if I'd really killed those muggles in Privet Drive, but you didn't. Priori Incantatem was enough - does it ever occur to you that a wand can be stolen ? Or maybe taken from an unconscious body ?"
"Harry-"
"No, of course not! Of course it didn't! But you know what?" Harry calmed himself down forcibly, "you know what? Azkaban was the best thing that ever happened to be, as unbelievable as that sounds, because it showed me what a traitorous, backstabbing lot you all are!"
Dumbledore stood in silence as his former student ranted, and as the dust from the battle settled around them, and the shame for his actions and mistrust settled inside him, there was only one thing that would come out of his mouth. "Could we talk?"
Harry stared at him for a long moment, and Dumbledore elaborated. "Just talk, no Aurors, no trying to take you into custody, no forcing you to help us out with the war. Just you and me, and whoever else you want to be present." The old man sighed, suddenly feeling even older, as if it were possible. "I believe I owe you an apology for something I can never make up for."