Companions of the White Warlock

Smoke Year VII - Companions of the White Warlock Chapter XXVII Tuesday, December 16, 1997

"Do we have a plan?" Harry asked.

"Yes," Tonks said, taking the lead. "The first thing to remember is that because the Valley is unplotable, we cannot apparate or portkey into it. Well, Harry might be able to, the rest of us certainly can't directly do so."

"But indirectly?" Harry asked.

Tonks unrolled a map and tossed some small pieces of plastic on top of it. "There is a way around the problem. The attack begins at Four-fortyfive in the morning on December Twenty-seventh. The vampires will launch two attacks at these two points. These are the two major entrances into the Valley. This large castle in the south is the headquarters, or at least the headquarters in the Valley, of the Knights and Companions of Walpurgis and that's where the main assault will be. This smaller castle to the northeast protects the other entrance, and that has some of the Companions as well as Voldemort and his people. The vampires must get to these general areas near the castles. If they can get further or take out more of the Companions and other guards, fine. Either way, they'll start withdrawing by Six-fifteen if they haven't before that, which will give them more than enough time to retreat to their camps and then be portkeyed to safety before dawn."

"And then what?" Harry asked.

"That's where these pieces of plastic come in," Tonks said. "These are portkey targets. There are no known wardings against these. Whomever has the mate to one of these can be portkeyed to the other. You hold or stand on one and it takes you to the other. If you stand on it and remember to pick up the other, you can portkey yourself back to the first. After that, they're useless."

"So, the vampires will be dropping these," Harry said.

"Hopefully we will be more careful than that," Marcia responded.

"Exactly," Tonks agreed. "Now, the North American and Romanian forces will attack the main castle. Their goal is to disable the Companions and to seize as much information as possible. There are three villages, two compounds, and a fortified manor in the valley."

"Are we sure of that?" McGonagall asked. "The area is, after all, unplotable."

"There are holes in those wards, unless you know about them and arrange new spells to take care of things," Tonks answered. "In this case, we're talking about photos from orbital satellites. These cannot be directed just on the site of the Valley. However, if a series of images are made all over the area around the Valley, we can piece together the photos." There were confused mutterings and complaints about that. Tonks held up her hand. "Professor Dumbledore took precautions for Hogwarts in the 1970s. The Walpurgis group did not. So, there are three villages, apparently of Muggle peasants. The two compounds are two of the areas for those participating in the Companion programs. We aren't certain what the manor is used for."

"Assuming we're successful," Hermione asked, "what happens to the peasants, and the Walpurgis people for that matter?"

Hanciu caught on immediately. "In the short term, there is little we can do for the peasants, other than take care of their physical needs. They have been separated from the outside world for hundreds of years, after all. We and the vampires have agreed to educate them and hopefully integrate their children over time."

Hermione frowned slightly, but knew that it would be a mistake to just toss the peasants into modern life.

"As for the people the Walpurgis groups are breeding, we shall have to see how conditioned they are. We hope that some at least can be quickly brought into the mainstream magical world, but we will have to screen them carefully."

It was not much of an answer, but Hermione was willing accept it for the moment.

"Go on, Tonks," Harry said.

"Once we're in the Valley, it should be possible to apparate around, except for inside of the castles, and most likely the two compounds unless the inner wards are also breeched. The Romanians are tackling the south castle, and the North Americans will hopefully be able to move on to the two compounds at some point. Those allies of the vampires and Harry here are tackling the manor. That leaves the north castle for the Order and the British Ministry team." She looked around. "Now, George and Ginny are working with a group of twenty-two flyers, mostly professional Quidditch players. George and fifteen others go in with the International and Romanian groups. They'll be launching against the south castle and the more southern compound. Ginny and her seven will be launching from our group towards the northern castle. Those will start about an hour before dawn, under the cover of the middle of the vampire attack."

"Ron," Harry said, "you and Luna are in charge of the DA. You'll be in charge of the flying squad, Luna in charge of the castle's outer defenses, while Professor McGonagall is of course in overall charge and in charge of the inside. Remember, the Walpurgis people certainly have other forces, and Voldemort might as well. We could easily be hit in retaliation here before we can get our forces back from Romania."

"We'll be on alert the whole time," Ron said. "It's a good thing almost all the Fifth years will be here."

"They're supposed to be studying for the O.W.L.s!" Hermione objected.

"Then they'll be glad for the break, and be more mentally alert after some exercise," Ron retorted. Most of the people rolled their eyes.

"Yes, well," Tonks said, taking control back, "I don't think we need to go into detail about the actual assignments of everyone, do we?"

"No," Harry agreed. He looked around. "Does anyone feel they need to ask any questions about anything which does not directly concern them?"

No one did. Harry dismissed the group, although the British group reconvened in the room behind the great hall. There Tonks would lay out in more detail the British objectives.

"So," Harry asked right before Tonks left, "what do I do?"

Tonks shrugged. "I would expect you'll be in the second attack wave. I want to assign five aurors to you, not the people you know. We don't want any distractions."

Harry frowned, but couldn't argue. "Fine," Harry said. "However, as much as I hate to say it, everyone has to be on the lookout for Nagini. She's large and very poisonous. Hopefully she's pretty inactive this time of year, but remind everyone that she has a magical power source inside her. Use a severing charm and move away."

"Right."

"So, now we wait," Ginny said.

"Now we wait," Harry agreed.

The next week passed. In some ways, it passed too fast -- there was a great deal to plan and prepare and only a limited amount of time to get it done it. In other ways, time passed slowly, because everyone was looking past Christmas to the attack. None told themselves that the war could soon be over, because they were afraid of disappointments. They were also afraid of what the cost of the attack might be, and only hoped they would have some sort of victory to justify the costs.

Therefore, most of the people closely in on the attack plans had an anxious time before Christmas. Neville, and to a lesser extent Ginny, did have the distraction of Neville's parents. They were still weak, and their minds often wondered. Still, compared to the condition they had been in, they were fully functional people once again, albeit on a slower scale than they had been before their torture.

The only member of Harry's Council who was really happy seemed to be Dobby, as he and Winky prepared Grimmauld Place to the holidays. No one, not even Hermione, was really sad to hear of the suicide of Kreacher, on the 21st.

The large group that gathered at Grimmauld Place the late afternoon of Christmas Eve was a quiet one. The Black house had a sub-basement, a cellar, a main floor of public rooms, a floor of parlors, and three floors of bedrooms, plus an attic. The elves had the second of the bedroom floors and selected other rooms bright and clean. The rest of the house they had left mostly alone so far.

Everyone took quiet pleasure in their gifts the next morning, and in the joy their friends and family took in the gifts given. Still, it was a somber celebration.

Far up in Scotland, the two Malfoys took a walk in the falling snow. "It's safe to talk here," Lucius said. "Falling rain and snow are very good for disrupting tracking and eavesdropping spells."

"Do we go through with the attack, Father, or do we turn them in?"

"And what would we do, Draco?"

"If you have some money and identities we can slip into, perhaps we could escape instead of turning ourselves in as well."

"And when the Dark Lord triumphs?" Lucius asked drily.

"Even if we agree the Dark Lord will triumph in the end, how long will that take? He's been trying to take over the world for about thirty years, and he holds partial control of one castle somewhere. Who's been fighting him? The British Ministry, which you insured was ineffective, and the Old Man. Even if he and Potter were the second and third most powerful wizards in Britain, or even Europe, there's a whole world out there for the Dark Lord to conquer before he reaches us."

"The Dark Lord's reach might be much longer than you think, even if your suppositions were correct. Think in these terms, Draco. Either Potter will be at Hogwarts, or he won't. If he is, then only the Inferi will make contact and we will not be suspected. If he is not, then we may decide to show ourselves and take out some of his support. Either way, we risk little, and may always consider our options later. If we are successful, we will have more chances to leave."

"And if we are not successful? Especially if Potter is there?" That was a difficult admission for both Malfoys, that Potter might actually be powerful and dangerous, not just lucky. Still, they had to take the possibilities into account.

"The attack is expected to fail," Lucius said. "The Inferi are expendable. The main test is of our will."

"Very well, Father," Draco said.

Saturday, December 27, 1997 12:01, Romania

Harry, Hermione, and Marcia

"Did you know that magical vampires who have tasted each other can communicate with their minds before I told you, Harry Potter?"

"I did," Harry said. Remus Lupin had been a very thorough teacher back in his Third year.

"Then," Marcia said, "with your permission, I shall only trade blood with you. I shall relay any information to you from my brothers and sisters, although I do not expect to have much to say until our attack is over."

"And then?"

"And then my brothers and sisters will be seeing through the eyes of some of your friends and allies, and then telling me if I need to say anything."

"And that will work after sunrise?"

"For some hours, although it will fade throughout the morning. By noon, sun-time, it will be gone," she reminded him.

"Alright," Harry said, unwinding the muffler from his neck.

"No," Marcia said, "that neck is too tempting. Your life force and magic are so powerful, no vampire could stop herself from bonding herself to you. Take off your left glove and roll up your sleeves." She glanced at Hermione. "Take out your wand. He needs to trust me for this to work. You do not."

"Right."

Harry held out his hand, and Marcia took it in her freezingly cold hands. She bent over and Harry hissed in pain, and then moaned in pleasure. Harry didn't notice Marcia's icy, hard tongue lick his wrist, her saliva sealing the wound. Her fang tore a small cut in her own wrist and she let the blood drip into Harry's mouth for several seconds before she sealed that as well.

"You can hear me, Harry Potter?"

"Yes," came the surprised response.

"That is good," Marcia said. "Now I must go to my coven for our part in the attack." She was gone from Harry's small room in the magical tent in a blur.

"We need to get in position, too," Hermione said nervously. She kissed Harry's cheek and turned to go. "You're the most important person in my life, Harry. Be safe."

Harry said nothing. Instead, he grabbed on her hand and pulled Hermione into an embrace. They kissed briefly, if passionately, and then they exited to go to their attack groups. Harry greeted the five middle-aged aurors, picked because of their power and experience, not their speed.

And again, it was time to wait.

Harry Alone

For Harry, it was much like the wait before the First Task. Time had little meaning. He ate mechanically when one of the aurors put a plate in his hand and drank the pumpkin juice without noticing what it was. The only interesting thing which occurred was the appearance of Theseus and five of his 'friends' -- all dressed in Bronze Age armor.

"Do not smile, Harry," Theseus said. "This armor is all magically enhanced, and our jabbing spears can act much as you would use a wand."

"Do you know what is at the manor?" Harry asked.

"Records," Theseus answered. "We shall destroy all who oppose us, capture the manor, and go over the records starting tomorrow. We shall send you a copy."

"Thank you."

Remus did manage to elicit another small smile a short while later, has he went by handing out chocolate bars to everyone. There may be no dementors in the Valley, but they could all use the sugar lift, not to mention the uplifting effects chocolate had on the magical. Harry smiled when Remus gave him a Mars Bar as well as well as the same two large bars of dark chocolate he was giving to everyone else.

"Thanks for everything, Remus," Harry said.

"Not a problem," Remus said. "James and Lily would be proud of you today, and Sirius would wish he were your back-up."

"Thanks."

It was only a few minutes later that Marcia told him through their link that the vampires were off. She was in on the attack on the northern part of the valley. Harry only got brief flashes of what she was doing, general impressions of magical vampires slipping sweeping in as bats and landing at their designated areas while others landed in trees or nooks in the castles near parameter guards. As soon as the first vampire transformed into their human form, the ward alarms would go off.

The vampires allowed forty-five minutes from their initial takeoff before the first made his move.

The first to transform were the vampires near the borders of the Valley, and they took the guards quickly, draining them of blood in less than half a minute. Within seconds, the ones at the castles did the same, and then the non-magical vampires, still moving faster than any normal person, ran across the ward lines to attack other guards.

Only then did the nine vampires with the portkey targets transform and scatter their targets. Less than three minutes after the first transformation, all the vampires were moving, looking for new targets.

It took the Knights and Companions only ten minutes to respond to the threat, but by then it was too late. All of the wards against intrusion and vampires were already screaming out their alerts, and so no new alarms went off to signal that several hundred other attackers had been portkeyed into the Valley.

Meanwhile, the vampires were retreating, sooner than they had hoped. Still, they were not leaving the way they came in. The non-magical vampires were heading for the lower points of the Valley, while the magical vampires were heading inwards -- all drawing some of the Valley's defenders away from the Ministry and Order attack teams. The magical vampires especially were causing additional casualties along the way. One stopped and planted a cylinder on his way past the center of the Valley. They then transformed and flew away.

Each of the attack groups checked their special goggles. Hermione had given a pair of night vision goggles to the twins the previous October, and they had managed to figure out a way to mass produce magical versions of them.

"All vampires are approaching the boundaries," the vampire linked to George sent.

George pressed a button, and a small flare launched into the night sky, bursting into red sparks. That was the signal for the broom squads to mount up. One minute later, a golden flare went off, and the flying squads took off.

Ginny

When the red flare went up, Ginny adjusted her goggles, checked her weapons, and mounted up. Then the next flare went off, and she kicked off, the seven fliers following her as she climbed nearly vertically into the cloudy dark night.

As she approached the castle, she could see no one outside or on the ramparts. She communicated this to her vampire conduit. Passing over the ramparts, she could see figures milling in the main courtyard. She passed that information on as well as she started to circle. She raised her left hand and gave a series of signals to her squad. Since they were circling, she could tell that the flyers she could see had understood correctly.

There was a circular metal cylinder case under each broom, containing twelve tubes -- twelve of the twins' missiles. They were not anticipating many flyers, so there were only two each of the anti-broom and anti-wand missiles. There were also only two of the anti-Inferi missiles. The other six were the air-to-ground missiles, and Ginny had ordered each flyer to be ready to fire four missiles. The first would be an anti-wand missile. these were designed to seek out any wand it had not been charmed to ignore which was more than twelve feet above the ground. Ginny could see a few wizards moving around the lower balconies of the courtyard. The other three in each salvo would be the air-to-ground missiles.

Ginny keyed in the missiles she wanted to the control pad Fred had invented, feeling a slight twinge in her heart as she did so. "This is for you, Fred," she muttered. She held her hand up in the 'ready' pose, and she could see three of the other flyers do the same. She waited a moment for any unseen stragglers, and then peeled off into a classic 'dive-bomber' strafing-run.

Voldemort

The first clue anyone in the north castle courtyard had that they were under a new attack was when the anti-wand missiles exploded on the upper balconies, killing eight and wounding a number of others. When Voldemort saw the explosions, he was reminded of the larger explosions which had struck the quarry he had had a headquarters in. He turned and ran into the castle, out of range of the twenty-four small explosions which rained down destruction on his allies -- each more than powerful enough to kill up to three or four if they were too close together.

As Voldemort hurried into the main corridor of the castle towards the small courtyard which led to the housing block he controlled, he heard more explosions coming from near the main gate. If it had not been clear before, it was certainly clear to everyone that a major assault was underway.

Voldemort carefully opened a mental pathway he had kept clear for over a year and a half. If Potter was nearby, he should be in a rage, and that would not hurt -- as opposed to those sickening feelings the Boy had directed towards him in the Ministry Atrium.

On the verge of apparating to a spot near the castle, Harry felt pain serge through his scar for the first time in a long while. He winced and stopped before he messed up his apparation. He felt a twinge of triumph as Voldemort fed on his deep-seated anger.

Harry calmed himself and stood up straight. He knew what he had to do, and gathered all his love for Luna and his friends, his followers, his family, and forced it through the bond.

Voldemort shrieked in agony.

Above Harry's head, Fawkes and three other phoenixes appeared in a diamond formation above him. They were holding a chord, as if waiting for Harry to set their song.

Harry smiled as a thought struck him. He was not angry. He was not filled with revenge. He remembered an old American movie about the Civil War, and the song they sang. Harry sang the song softly, but the phoenixes joined in immediately, adding complex harmonies.

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord,
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored,
He had loosed the fateful lightening of his terrible swift sword,
His truth is marching on.

Harry knew he was certainly by no means the Lord referred to, but he was a lord, and he wore the sword of Gryffindor. He was not here for revenge. He was here to mete out Justice.

It was in that mood that Harry Potter, the White Warlock, apparated to in front of the dark castle, a host of 27 phoenixes now hovering over his head, singing the chorus of the song with Harry. A dozen dark wizards were trying to hold back his friends, who were trying to widen the small breech in one of the panels in the great enchanted gate.

'He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat,' Harry sang to himself while the phoenixes sang along. He gathered forth all the power he could muster, enhanced by the phoenixes, and with a sweep of his wand the dozen castle defenders were blown two hundred feet away by a tornadic wind. Another wandless command sent all of Harry's power against the enchanted gate.

The gate blew apart, and a quarter of the front of the castle collapsed. Harry strode forward, and his very surprised followers did the same. Harry looked up and saw a figure standing in what had been the second floor of the castle before he had brought the front of that part of the castle down. He recognized St. John Montague, a Slytherin a year a head of him, in a Death Eater costume.

Harry amplified his voice, "REMEMBER CEDRIC DIGGORY!" he called, and then he stunned Montague with such force that his left shoulder, which is where he landed, was shattered.

Harry and his friends and allies march on.