A War of Nerves

CHAPTER 19: Wizard's Council

Lily's fingers twitched annoyingly as they made their long march to the meeting spot. It was somewhere deep underneath the castle in the secret room the Four Founders had used to meet, this is all she knew. Morgan was on her left and Brigid on her left, they walked in silence. It was like the long road to redemption, to understanding, and to war. For that is where they were going, to war; war against Voldemort, war against the Death Eaters, war against the Dark Forces of the wizarding world. Of course she was scared, courage is borne out of fear; it is the only courage can shine though.

Finally, they came upon a great obsidian door. It had the crest of Hogwarts on each of the doors, and statues of the house animals at either side. In front of Lily were the Hogwarts teachers and a man she had never seen wearing Muslim robes with a turban and a golden tooth. Behind Lily was approximately thirty-five more people, she hadn't counted in full yet, though there were loads of foreigners and Aurors, along with a couple of Hogwarts and Salem's seventh years.

Lily entered the hall and was in awe. It was huge, absolutely huge. There was no comparison; it was the grandest place she'd ever been in. Marble floors, expensive draperies depicting the Hogwarts Four in all their glory. Godric stood, tall and proud with a lion by his side, his set mouth and brown eyes making him look serious looking indeed. Rowena was slim and graceful with dark black hair, black eyes, and regal dark blue robes. Helga looked kindly down on them, a motherly gleam in her blue eyes. Salazar looked calculating at them; with green eyes and black hair, he looked astonishingly like Tom Riddle.

Twelve seats were arranged in the back of the room, Dumbledore's name in the middle of them all. To his left sat Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody, Severus Snape, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Professor Flitwick, and Professor Sinestra. To his right sat Minerva McGonagall, the Arabic looking man, Johannes Ollivander, Steven Woodsrow, and Professor Vector. They were intimidating to say the least, and the rest of the people who entered the hall were no less so. It was set up like a huge horseshoe, people filed in to where their name places were. Lily was in dead center, Morgan to her left and beyond her, Malfoy, Harry, Hermione, and Morgan's cousin, Blaise. To Lily's right was Brigid, Aden, Gwen and Katie (who were currently poking at Aden, trying to decide if he were seducible), Fred and George, and another red headed boy, her Uncle, though much younger, Bill. Lily counted the people, forty-four. She tried to see other people's name tags, but Dumbledore began.

"Fellow wizards and witches," he started gravely, "We are coming on the turn of the tides. The Dark Forces of the Wizarding world are rising again. Voldemort has come back into power and has already demonstrated this, by reaching his hand to Hogwarts and capturing one of our students, Lilith Merrins."

A few people gasped; apparently some people hadn't believed the rumors that Voldemort had captured some one when printed in the Prophet.

"Thanks to the works of two of Salem's most gifted I&IG students in a decade, Gwen and Katie Matson, we have discovered the core of Voldemort's planning.

"I propose we execute an offensive attack; something that will strike the core of Voldemort's plans and stop him once and for all; something that will change the history books. Witches and wizards of the world, I propose open warfare.

"I will not stand by idly while more of my students and young aurors die on the swords of Death Eaters and Voldemort. I will not see him hurt anyone anymore. I will not see the death of Muggles and innocents, our children, our children's children. I will not see chaos envelope our lands any longer.

"I will tell you what I will see, though. I will see peace. I will see world order. I will see freedom. I will see the end of Voldemort.

"If we band together in our greatest time of need, if we strike an offensive into the heart of Voldemort's organization, he will fall. But we must move fast, very fast.

"Voldemort has all the tools he needs to make a Juggernaut."

There were gasps from the crowd and grunts of suspicions turned true.

"The most evincible creation of magic and machine will be unleashed upon humanity, Muggles and wizards both, and all will perish...Unless WE DO SOMETHING!

"Help me! Help the world! We need all we can get. You are the best and the brightest in your fields and it is up to you. What will it be: Stand aside while your children and innocents of the world die, or make war on Voldemort, make an end to suffering; make a new beginning?

"There is nothing I can do with out you and your support. I'll leave you to your decisions. In ten minutes I will enter the room again and I shall see what you have chosen."

Then he stood and left. It was a grand speech. Lily had never heard Dumbledore speak so passionately, so emotionally, and so openly and supportive of war on Voldemort. Apparently this WAS the only way he thought was possible.

"Damn shame fo' a good speech like that ta be put ta waste. Ahm (A/N: I'm) in," a man with bright red hair and fair blue eyes said. Lily read his name tag: Red Decovenney - Louisiana.

Many 'here, here's were heard though out the hall.

A tall African-American woman with green patterned clothes, and afro-hair held back by green patterned bandana said in a wispy voice, "But has it come to open war already?" Her name tag said 'Estacia Badu - Louisiana.'

Professor McGonagall looked a bit bristled, "Headmaster Dumbledore wouldn't call for war unless it was absolutely necessary."

Estacia Badu looked at her calculatingly and said calmly, "Minerva, I simply suggested perhaps peaceful negotiations weren't yet out of the question, I meant no disrespect toward Albus. He of course knows better than us all. But perhaps the person we should be asking isn't him, but Harry Potter."

Every one turned to Harry, even Lily. He swallowed hard and said, "I support Headmaster Dumbledore in this. War is the only way now. After last year...it is the best way, the only way."

Professor McGonagall nodded her head approvingly; even Snape had a hint of pride in his eye in Harry's answer. Estacia just nodded, seeming satisfied.

"Viktoria ond (A/N: and) I have long been raidy (A/N: ready) to fight thees (A/N: this) war. Rasha (A/N: Russia) supports Dombledore," a pretty blonde Russian said, her thick Russian accent carrying about the room. Her name plate said 'Nataya Voskovsky - Russia. Her dark haired and eyed counterpart's read 'Viktoria Polinen - Russia'; she nodded as well.

From the front, the turbaned man whose name plate read 'Moses Rashad - Minister of Magic of Turkey,' said, "Turkey has and always will support Dumbledore."

"Ah (A/N: I) don (A/N: don't) know 'bout mah (A/N: my) otha' 'merican represent'tives (A/N: representatives), but Ahm ready fo' wor (A/N: war)," a man with an even thicker Southern accent than Lily's said. His name tag read 'Corbin Dallas - Texas.'

Perhaps a relative of Collin's, Lily mused.

"I for one," Moody grumbled from the head of the room, "don't know why action wasn't taken years ago. The auror force here in Britain supports Dumbledore, always has, always will." He grunted and sat down again, mechanical eye whizzing about, observing all the witches and wizards that nodded.

Lily thought it was a good opportunity to put the Salem's students to the test. "I'm Lily Merrins an' I speak fo' the Salem's students. All eight o' us 'gree that war is the way we must go."

She looked about and saw Hermione Granger, Fleur Delacour, Katie and Gwen, Brigid Kells, Aden Snape, and Morgan Estellan all nodded.

Apparently, Draco thought along the same lines and rose after Lily seated herself, "I am Draco Malfoy, and as a Hogwarts student, I think I can safely say, all three of us will support Dumbledore as long as he needs us."

Lily watched as Hermione and Harry (who was looking like he didn't know why Malfoy was there) gasped in surprise, but nodded anyway, Blaise simply nodded, and Morgan smile approvingly.

"You have Japan's support," a small man said; his name tag read 'Akira Hino - Japan.' "We will not see the death of the Minister's daughter go unnoticed."

That must be a relative a Rei's, Lily thought while remembering the carefree, happy girl AA&R subdivision.

A few minutes later, Dumbledore came back in. He looked around and smiled, "Good," he said, "It has begun."

Dumbledore sat back down at the middle of the front table, an unmistakable note of pride in his demeanor. He looked out at his attentive audience, and began speaking again, "I have spoken with top strategists from our group, and we have come up with a general plan for what we hope will be the 'hit and run' tactic that will win the war. May I introduce Morgan Le Fay Estellan of Salem's, Johannes Ollivander, and Moses Rashad, the Minister of Magic of Turkey. They will explain the plan."

Morgan rose from Lily's left and made for the center of the horseshoe meeting her uncle and the Minister of Magic of Turkey in the middle. She looked tentatively at her uncle and Moses, who both nodded, and she began.

"Alright. We figure that if we try to go at Voldemort from only one angle, he will be able to deflect the bruit strength of our forces away from him, then launch a counter attack that would kill us. We think that by splitting powers, and attacking from different angles, we can back him up into a corner with no support, so what we like to call our 'Calvary' can make a finishing blow.

"Now several things need to happen before that. First, we have to remove any hostages he may have so he can't use them against us. Remember, our first goal is to save lives. We call this rescue team 'Operation Mama Bear.' It will be a group of five highly skilled rescue operative/Aurors.

"Second, we need to take out the Juggernaut. If the Juggernaut is released at full power, we basically have no hope of stopping it; that is why they call it the 'Unstoppable Juggernaut.' We have reason to believe that the Juggernaut isn't finished quite yet. Therefore, if we take out the Death Eaters operating it, we will take down the beast. A team of four, highly skilled, infiltration/assassin, Hitwizards and -witches have been selected for this. We call this assassination team 'John Wilkes-Booth' after Abraham Lincoln's assassin.

"Third, the strategy team, or 'Team Auto-Intel,' will need to converse between all teams, so we need a group of channelers to open mental links for us. A group of five or six will be required to open channels between Team Auto-Intl and the other six groups. This team is called the 'Hermes Operation' after the Greek god of communication and speed.

"Fourth, we will need to know what Voldemort is doing. This is where the 'Spider Crew' comes in. The Spider Crew will be a spy team of no more than four who will observe and report though the Hermes Operation what they see and hear. They are not to interfere unless absolutely necessary.

"Fifth and last, we will need a large infantry or around twenty to go up against the Death Eaters, distracting them while the Calvary attacks Voldemort. The infantry will be called the 'Noble Six Hundred' after then Alfred Lord Tennyson poem 'The Charge of the Light Brigade.'

"Half a league, half a league,

Half a league onward,

All in the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred...

Their's not to make reply,

Their's not to reason why,

Their's but to do and die:

Into the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred...

While horse and hero fell,

They that had fought so well

Came thro' the jaws of Death

Back from the mouth of Hell,

All that was left of them,

Left of six hundred.

When can their glory fade?

O the wild charge they made!

All the world wondered.

Honor the charge they made,

Honor the Light Brigade,

Noble six hundred.

"For the plan to work, all this needs to stay more or less on track so I stress the importance of the Channelers and other positions, the best people for the best job we figure. To explain this, is my uncle, Johannes Ollivander. Uncle..."

Morgan stepped down after she finished, and her aging, pale eyed uncle, spoke in his wispy, yet powerful voice.

"As my niece was saying, the right men and women for the right job. Just like having the right wand for the right person, this operation will require everyone participating to be in a position that complements their particular gifts.

"I have made a rough listing that I'm sure the Headmaster will help me adjust later," he said, pulling out his wand and making a blackboard appear with a list of names written on it.

"First the Noble Six Hundred. Your job will be distracting Death Eaters by capturing them or killing them if necessary. I'll just read this off for people in the back.

"Alastor Moody will lead this group into battle with Amos Diggory as his Second-in-Command. Included in this expedition will be Professor Joanne Vector, Professor Sirius Black, Professor Remus Lupin, Aurors Mundungus Fletcher, Abrella Figg, Arthur Weasley, Bill Weasley, Zechariahs Zambini, David Ackerley, Lelila Nottingham, Russian Auror Viktoria Polinen, Hawaiian Auror Liliokalani Moi, and Louisianan Auror from the United States, Red Decovenney.

"The second group in the Hermes Operation; the channelers. This is a highly complex charm involving icons and personal objects, so I give the leading position of the Hermes Operation to Professor Flitwick

"His Second-in-Command will be Louisianan Voodoo Witch Estacia Badu. Other channelers include Professor Celest Sinestra, Cho Chang, and Nadia Turpin.

"Our third group, Operation Mama Bear, will be in charge of rescue of hostages.

"First-in-Command of this operation is Professor Minerva McGonagall. English Aurors Adam Davies and Austin Bowler, Russian Auror Nataya Voskovsky, and Salem's and Beauxbaton graduate Fleur Delacour will be the missions other members.

"Spider Crew, our fourth group, will be our infiltration and observations team.

"The Weasley twins, Fred and George, and the Matson twins, Katie and Gwen, will be the only four on this mission. Fred Weasley will be the mission's commander with Gwen as Second-in-Command.

"The fifth team, John Wilkes-Booth, will be our assassins for the Juggernaut Death Eaters.

"Salem's graduate and top Hit witch in history, Brigid Kells will be the mission's commander. The Second-in-Command will be Akira Hino of Japan. The other two operative are Aden Snape, another Salem's graduate, and Corbin Dallas of Austin, Texas.

"The sixth team is the strategy team lead by Morgan and includes myself and Moses Rashad.

"The final group is the Calvary. This was the hardest group to pick because we needed to be sure that these people would perform under stress. Albus Dumbledore is the First-in-Command, with Second-in-Command Severus Snape. Steven Woodsrow, Harry Potter, and Lily Merrins have been chosen as the other member of Calvary.

"We feel that these are the best possible groups for what we call the 'Hit and Run that Begun and Won the War.'

"I turn the floor over to Minister Moses Rashad of Turkey."

Ollivander made the numerous blackboards disappear and stepped down making way for the Minister of Magic. Moses Rashad stood and conjured a blackboard with what looked like the schematics of a house on it.

"Now I will be telling you the physical jobs of the Hit and Run. I, thanks to the efforts of Mr. Draco Malfoy and Fred and George Weasley, have the known schematics of the Malfoy Manner. It has been confirmed by Gwen and Katie Matson that this is the location of Voldemort, and there will be an event of some importance in a little over 72 hours. This gives up little time to plan and even less time to mobilize.

"Professor Flitwick informs me and the rest of the Auto-Intel team that he can secure a seventeen minute Apparition window onto the protected Malfoy grounds at the beginning of the operation and twenty at the end for safe Disapparitions. This gives us limited time indeed.

"The Auto-Intel team has theorized, that if everything goes on schedule, it will be a twenty-three hour and thirty five minute battle on the dot. That is if and only if things go on plan. Our strategy as it is leaves room for limited error, but not blunders.

"As you can see the North Wing of the house is mainly for family quarters, not much will be going on here as they are the least optimum for hiding hostages, performing spells, and fighting in general.

"The South Wing has twenty-four of the twenty-nine entrances to the dungeons, two of the others in the North Wing, and three of the others off the grounds of the Manner. This is where we expect the majority of the fighting will take place. We also think that the dungeons are where Voldemort has stationed himself and where the Juggernaut is under construction and where the hostages are being kept.

"The western half of the manner, behind the house, is also a place we envision being a fighting area. Behind the manner and to the north and south are huge gardens Draco tells us are completely fortified with nasty enchantments, moving statues, and dangerous magical creatures. In between the gardens are the lakes. There are seven and each have enchantments on them as well, nasty creatures and the like.

"The North Entrance is a place we consider to have no actual importance to the mission; nothing besides reception areas and waiting halls. Though this place will be heavily watched and guarded as will the North Wing.

"However, in the direct center of the house is an open ballroom/dining area used for banquets and parties. It has a charm on it that makes it difficult to cast spells inside the area. Flitwick has informed me, that he can completely destroy this charm in case fighting will occur inside.

"The schematics of the house are simple and elegant in theory, but there are trap doors, doors that lead to the same rooms or no rooms at all, spying paintings, secret entrances, attacking statues, solid halls, permeable walls, mirrors that take you to different places, hallways that rotate depending on the time and position of the moon, stars, and planets, and trick door handles. Not to mention the guards at all the entrances, old dark magic, and recognition charms preventing people from entering unless invited.

"Fortunately, Professor Flitwick can assure us that all the recognition charms will be taken off the house for a period of twenty-five hours, no more, no less. However, the rest of the charms, without correct identification or even knowledge of their workings, we can't counter and cancel. More than likely, you will have to fight off a lot of the defenses yourselves, though we are hoping since there is to be a gathering of some sort, some of the defenses will be down.

"Now for your jobs.

"The Hermes Operation led by Professor Flitwick, before anything else, will need to fashion devises so we all can communicate thought the channelers. A typical channeler can carry ten different conversations at a time though her mind and body with out getting them confused. Our channelers boast fifteen to seventeen each. But as for icons, each of them will wear a ring of a different color, red, green, blue, and yellow, and will carry the conversations of the operatives wearing the same color to other members of other and the same operations. For example, if a Noble Six Hundred member wearing a red ring wanted to report something to a Auto-Intel team member, the channeler wearing a red ring would send the message though her. The same goes to any other team member. But we will need a personal artifact such as hair, fingernail, or skin from each person to have a direct and usable link. You all will be given rings of appropriate color when you leave. All the Hermes Operation team members will stay in Rowena's Channeling Room on the third floor.

"The first people on the field of battle will be the Spider Crew. With sufficient charms, relics, and icons to protect them, they will seek out the exact locations of the hostages, Voldemort, and the Juggernaut, including anything else they might see or hear, to Team Auto-Intel though the Hermes Operation.

"After we find the location of these three things, John Wilkes-Booth will enter. While they take out the Juggernaut and Death Eaters operating said Juggernaut, the Noble Six Hundred will enter at various spots around the manner's grounds, most in the South Wind and Gardens.

"Directly after the attack of the Noble Six Hundred and John Wilkes-Booth, Operation Mama Bear will move into action, securing the hostages and getting them the hell out of Dodge.

"Then, after the hostages are secured by Operation Mama Bear and the core of the Death Eaters have been captured or killed by the Noble Six Hundred, the Calvary will come and defeat Voldemort.

"For the sake of hoping, let's say we defeat Voldemort with in the said time frame. Professor Flitwick will break the Apparition Charm and we will all escape."

The Turkish Minister took a deep breath and said, "Now, are there any questions?"

There was silence for a long, long time. Lily could understand this. People were in awe. Awe at the audacity, awe at the courage, awe at the strategy, awe at everything these people had planned, what they would soon be doing. It was like the wizarding world had gone beyond caring of consequences, only caring for the results, the reforms. They were making steps towards their total freedom; freedom from fear and pain, murder and death.

Lily felt a sudden surge of bravery, of pride and courage. It was like they could do it now. Before, everyone had wondered, there was doubt and suspicion. But to have it right in front of you was like a floodgate opening and the need to win flooded your mind and body.

"I have a question," a sort black haired, almond eyed woman said, standing. Lily read her name plate; 'Liliokalani Moi - Hawaii.' "What if the Juggernaut isn't destabilized? Not that I don't have faith in John Wilkes-Booth, but, it is an Unstoppable Juggernaut, how do you stop something like that?"

"Good question," Morgan answered with a smile, "As I said, we have reason to believe the Juggernaut isn't complete. The way a Juggernaut works is there is a group of 'Controllers.' The group ranges between eight and twelve highly skilled charmers. If you take out the Controllers the Juggernaut can't perform, it has no mind of its own and doesn't know what to do."

"I thought Jaggernots (A/N: Juggernauts) worked eendeepeendontly (A/N: independently)," the Russian Auror Viktoria Polenin said, "The Controllairs (A/N: controllers) gave the ordair (A/N: order) ond the Jaggernot complaited (A/N: completed) heez (A/N: his) meesion (A/N: mission)?"

"This is correct for a true Juggernaut," answered Dumbledore from the front. "However, Voldemort's is not yet a true Unstoppable Juggernaut."

"Are ya sure that there are survivors," Corbin Dallas, the Texan, spoke up, "I mean, Vold'mort woulda left people 'live?"

"We are sure of it," Morgan answered, "He would want to get as much information and satisfaction of his hostages as possible. But also, he would like to use them against us if he could."

"Excuse me," said Bill Weasley, "But just what are these bastards doing? Having some sort of pajama party? Were they planning on having a bit of a lie-in and tell scary stories?"

A few people in the room laughed (Katie, Gwen, George, Fred) and a few frowned.

The corner of Dumbledore's mouth twitched and he said, "We don't rightly know, but Katie and Gwen Matson have suspicions."

The twins stopped laughing and stood up.

"Right," Gwen began.

"We think that the night is a series of events-"

"-including the new Death Eater Initiations-"

"-the unveiling of the Unstoppable Juggernaut-"

"-and the reunion and twenty-eighth-"

"-quote unquote-"

"-birthday party of the Death Eaters."

"We also have reason to believe-"

"-from careful observation and infiltration techniques-"

"-that by one or two-"

"-in the morning-"

"-the lot of them will be rip-roaring drunk-"

"-and unable to tell their wands from a toilet plunger-"

"-much less use it against some one."

"Thank you Misses Matson," Dumbledore said, a bit of a twinkle in his eye.

"So when will we begin out attack?" the young Aden Snape said from between Brigid and the grinning Matson twins. "Why not wait till the lot of them are boozed up and then attack?"

"Because," Morgan growled at him, her uncle holding firmly on her shoulder, "they can perform a simple spell to cure them from it?"

"But for surprise purposes..." Aden suggested.

"We already thought of that," Morgan explained imperiously, straitening. "The point is to attack and kill or capture, not wantonly kill the lot of them, and they need to suffer in Azkaban. Besides, we need their cockiness to ensure we can get past them and to the hostages. If they think they have the upper hand, they won't fight to their full potential. Most of them are from Slytherin and Durmstrang, and we all know that they have superiority complexes. Remember, it all falls apart if there are hostages."

She and Aden locked eyes for a moment and Dumbledore cleared his throat. Morgan turned her nose in the air and looked away disdainfully.

"I have a question," a strong voice said. It was Harry. Lily looked at him with interest. "How do you want us to...what do you want the Calvary...how do we kill Voldemort?"

Morgan looked away uncomfortably, Ollivander looked sorrowful and Moses Rashad took this question. "We don't actually know. You have the group of the most talented witches and wizards in years, you figure it out."

Harry frowned, "So you're just going to throw us in there, not knowing what to do or expect? I thought you were Team Auto-Intel, you take care of strategy?"

"Harry," Morgan said calmly, looking him in the eye regretfully. "We don't know what to expect. You are the only wizard to fight Voldemort in any way that even looked like success, you tell us. How should we go about planning it?"

It was true; Voldemort hadn't fought anyone but Harry for the last seventeen years. Morgan, Ollivander, and Moses Rashad would have no idea what to do.

Harry's green eyes sparked for a moment and then he calmed down, "So the Calvary will be thinking on the seat of their pants. I can deal with that."

Dumbledore nodded and Morgan looked a bit relieved.

The conversation continued well into the night. Question after question,

suggestion after suggestion, and the exhaustion. It was the most intricate plan ever conceived and they only had a day to perfect it.

Soon, the lot of them went to bed in guest quarters, not caring to visit. There would be plenty of time for that the next evening. They were having a huge feast, a 'Last Meal,' if you wanted to look at it like that.