The War of Shades

Chapter 56 Raiding Party

Harry and Hermione were only a few minutes late meeting the others at the front steps of the chapel. When they were leaving Dobby and Melony, they had mentioned that they were going to go find something to eat. Naturally, Dobby insisted on fetching a small feast for them, even after they protested for him to stop. As they hustled across the courtyard, they noticed that the moon, already noticeably lowering on the horizon, was casting long shadows across the courtyard where the chapel was. Waiting for them were Reverend MacBoon and 22 wizards and witches, all chattering and laughing amiably, still enthusiastic over the days' events. There were adults, like Remus Lupin, aurors Tonks and Dawkins, Katie Bell and Fred and George Weasley, and students, fifth-, sixth- and seventh-years from every house. Harry's very sober tone contrasted sharply with that of the group waiting for him.

"I suppose you all know why we're here," said Harry.

"Of course," Katie spoke up, "because Ron and Ginny said you needed us."

Harry rolled his eyes at Ron and Ginny. "Couldn't you have given them a little more detail?"

"Hey, mate, you said to keep the fact that you had a plan a secret," replied Ron.

"Well, yeah, but I meant from the rest of the school, not the people who will be risking their necks."

The joviality of the group immediately became a grim silence.

Harry addressed them all, in the loud under-voice whisper called for by nighttime meetings and secret plans.

"I'm going to Voldemort's headquarters. It's a small house on an island out in the North Sea. It's protected by a disillusionment charm, but with my connection to Voldemort, I can lead all who choose to go in. With the brooms I see here, it'll take about two and a half hours. It's guarded by dementors, so I need people who can control them. We're also going to petrify them as we did at the battle. We will face Bellatrix Lestrange and Voldemort. If you're willing, Neville, I'd like you to carry the basilisk wand and take Lestrange."

Neville nodded resolutely. "Sure, Coach, but why me? I mean, I understand about the basilisk wand, since I'm the only one here who can't conjure a patronus, but we have better duelists here than me."

Harry nodded back. "Perhaps. It's very close amongst the best anyway. Ron had his turn today: he's done his part. And I reckon you've a score to settle with her. Besides, I've got a special plan for dealing with her - I'll tell you about it as we fly. You'll just have to tolerate a broom."

"If you're asking, Harry, then I'm ready."

"Harry," said Lupin, "don't they expect us already? Voldemort sees into your mind, after all."

"Not any more. I've found a way to close my mind to him," said Harry quietly.

There was an excited whispering, and then Tonks said, "Can I tell them, Harry?"

"Of course, Tonks - you were critical to getting me there."

"He's learned to push all the negative thoughts out of his mind - nothing but love is left. Voldemort can't stand to look into his mind that way."

The hubbub was even more intense. Cameron smiled.

"But Harry," said Luna Lovegood, "how can you be filled with love and set out to kill someone."

"I don't intend to kill him - I intend to heal him."

The murmuring was even more intense and not entirely positive.

Ted Nott looked at him suspiciously. "Did I just hear you say you were going to heal the Dark Lord? Do you want to explain that?"

"Of course. I don't want anyone along who doesn't understand what he - or she - is getting into. First off, it wouldn't do to just kill his body. He's got the same protections he did during the first war to protect him. Someday someone would be seduced by the power he wields and help him return. Also if I went with the intention to kill, my mind would be open to him; then we would be equal fighters again, and just fight to a stalemate. Ask Ron or Ginny what that's like - they saw it. To truly defeat him, the sickness in his soul must be healed. The healing gift I discovered tonight heals more than just bodies. Ron proves it - he used to lose control around spiders and tonight he was playing with them."

"So that's what it was!" exclaimed Ron. "I thought it was strange to be playing with them, but they didn't seem so terrible anymore."

"And after Harry healed Lucius Malfoy's injuries," added Hermione, "he became gracious, sweet even, and contrite!"

"That viper!?" said Nott. "You wouldn't believe some of the nasty things I've overheard him plotting. If you can turn him around, Harry, then I reckon you can do it."

"Well, I'm not going to kid you people. He's not going to just lie down and invite me to do it. He'll fight in every way possible. Hopefully we'll have the dementors disposed of already, since he's gone to bed thinking he can have a long sleep and start plotting again tomorrow. But if not, you may find yourselves having to defend from stray spells while maintaining your patronuses. He'll be as dangerous as any wild animal when it's cornered. He won't trust that I don't intend to harm him. I can't say as I would believe it either. I don't want anyone there who doesn't want to face that kind of danger. I absolutely will not think less of anyone who leaves."

"Harry," said Fred, "if you fail, we'll all be goners eventually anyway, especially this crowd. I'd rather see how the book's going to end sooner rather than later."

"Thanks, George - or is that Fred? Darn, it's too dark out here," said Harry, as the rest laughed.

"Seven years!" said George, "and he still can't tell us apart!"

"Reverend MacBoon is going to say a few words now," said Harry, "and anyone who wants to can just slip away easy. No guilt, no blame, no questions. It's too dangerous for anyone but true volunteers. Reverend?"

"Right, Harry," said Cameron. "First, I'd like us all to pray together, at least those of you who would like to. Those that would, could we join hands?"

He said a prayer of thanks for a battle that went as well as could be hoped, for those who had been killed, for those who were still recovering, and for the safety and success of those going on the mission. Then he allowed a full minute of silence for personal prayers.

After the prayer, Cameron continued. "I'd like also to share a few scriptures to contemplate on your long ride. The first is the 23^rd Psalm, attributed to King David, who spent his early years as a humble shepherd boy, and found the image of the way the shepherd cares for his sheep comparable to how God watches over all of us: 'The Lord is my shepherd: I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul: he leads me in the paths of righteousness for His Name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me. Your rod and Your staff comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever'."

There was a thoughtful whispering, and the phrase 'Valley of the Shadow of Death' was overheard being repeated. After this Cameron turned to the next passage he had marked. He continued, "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God."

"Peacemakers," said Remus, closing his eyes, "I like the sound of that."

Cameron turned to the third passage, but chose to explain the setting before he read it. "When Jesus was preaching, there were those who would try to trick him by showing that his teaching contradicted the religious rules of their society. One day they brought before him in the temple a woman. And then the passage reads 'And they said unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned, but what do you say? Jesus stooped down and wrote with his finger in the dirt, as if he had not heard them. But they persisted, demanding a response, and he rose up and said to them, He among you who is without sin, let him cast the first stone at her. Then he stooped again and resumed writing in the dirt. And those who had heard, convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the eldest, until all were gone, leaving Jesus and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus stood again, he saw none but the woman and asked her, Woman, where are your accusers? Has no one condemned you? She replied No man, Lord. Then Jesus replied, Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more."

Finally Cameron read, "In the beginning the Word already existed. He was with God, and he was God. He was in the beginning with God. He created everything there is. Nothing exists that he didn't make. Life itself was in him, and this life gives light to everyone. The light shines through the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it."

"I think another few minutes for silent prayer or reflection is in order."

They all bowed their heads and after a couple of minutes, Cameron said "Amen," and they all added their amens. Harry was standing silently, staring off into the distance, and the others looked at him for a sign that they should get going.

Hermione spoke up. "I've seen him like this, last year at the Egyptian shrine. We can get going. Harry? Ready to go?"

Harry glanced around at all of them and nodded without breaking his train of thought and mounted his broom. He waited for the rest to mount theirs, and for Neville to get on Harry's broom behind him. Then he kicked off, still deep in thought, and the rest followed right behind. None had left. They soared silently eastward into the dark.

When they got within twenty miles of Voldemort's island, Harry motioned for them all to fly near each other so he could give final instructions.

"We'll come in 5 to 10 feet over wave level. I'll know if Voldemort's awake, but not Lestrange. She shouldn't be: she just got her restorative potion about 4 hours ago. They're both tired and need rest. Staying low will protect us from spells until we are very close. I'll take the lead; we'll all have to form a chain so I can lead you past the island's disillusionment charm. The rest of you handle the dementors - herd them up and then create an opening in Neville's direction so he can petrify them. If Lestrange is already out, I'll handle her. Once the dementors have all been petrified, if Lestrange is still able to fight, Neville will take the lead, but you can all help - just don't hurt each other. I don't suppose it will take much encouragement to get you to leave Voldemort to me. Once the dementors and Lestrange are out of it, get out - back to Scotland and Hogwarts. Leave me with Voldemort. Ron, you can take Neville."

"Sorry, Harry, that's the one part I can't do. Neville can go with someone else that wants to can go, but I've stood with you this far, and I won't be leaving," said Ron.

The others all insisted on staying as well.

"Besides, Harry," added Hermione, "with your ability to draw strength from others, you might need us if a spell gets through - we don't know how far away is too far for that."

"Alright then," agreed Harry reluctantly, "but if things start to turn bad, save yourselves. And Voldemort won't accept healing graciously, so hide yourselves as well as you can while I'm facing him."

The island was a small rocky outcrop, too inaccessible and lacking in natural supplies to meet human needs to even serve as a seasonal fishing outpost, not that the jagged rocks all around it would allow fishing vessels to approach. Near constant wind and frequent storms kept any soil from forming, so if there was any native life on it, it was no more than lichens and well-anchored sealife. It didn't even provide sufficient cover for nesting seabirds or an accessible shore for seals.

The night was extremely dark - the moon had set, so they had only starlight. The starlight, however, was remarkably brilliant since they were so far from manmade light sources. Even in the rural highlands of Scotland, where Hogwarts was, there was enough manmade light - natural and magical - to reduce the full glory of the stars, but here a person could appreciate the name Milky Way for the star-bejeweled beltway that is our own galaxy as well as the innumerable other stars to either side. And yet the stars seemed lonely, in all their profuse numbers, due to their vast separation from each other.

Because of the darkness, they couldn't tell how many dementors were there. Harry had told them there were about a hundred dementors, but Voldemort had never precisely counted them himself. Harry and his friends came in and set down silently.

The dementors, having spent long months on the island without any souls with positive emotions available, were ravenous and stampeded toward the group. The invaders could see the onrushing herd and summoned their patronuses; Harry conjured a wind to blow between them and the house so as to minimize the chance that Voldemort and Bellatrix would hear the spells. There were a few so rattled by the onslaught that they could not produce their patronus at first, but on seeing that the other patronuses were in control, they soon overcame that fear, at least enough to conjure their own patronuses.

Neville gave a soft whistle so they knew which way to create an opening. There were several flying patronuses, such as Cho's swan, Nott's raven and Parkinson's vampire bat, that kept the dementors from floating over the barrier of patronuses. When the dementors made their way through the gap, there was Neville with the basilisk wand. As each dementor was petrified, the gap was moved enough to let the next one through. Neville had to keep backing as they kept coming along, prodded by patronuses from behind. Soon there was a closely-spaced hedgerow of petrified dementors.

When they got down to the last ten or so dementors, Neville called quietly to Harry, who was overseeing the process from a high point to the east and could only be seen in the pre-dawn dark for the starless outline he made against the sky, "Now, Harry?"

Harry nodded. "Now, Neville."

At this point, Neville began shouting 'petrify' each time he pointed the wand at another dementor. Although this was not a proper spell and dementors cannot be stopped with a petrification charm, it served its purpose. Lestrange, who had normal ears as opposed to Voldemort's internal snake ears, was awakened by the shouts. As Harry, Ron and the others had discussed on the flight, she had been asleep and so was still groggy from that, the injuries, and the restorative potion. Clearly she knew something was up and she rushed out with her wand, certain that she would be able to handle the intrusion and unwilling to wake her exhausted master. Harry had explained to them on the way that Voldemort had not revealed to her that he could no longer see into Harry's mind; as a result, she would think Voldemort would be aware if Harry had come.

Harry crouched out of sight when he heard the creaking of the door and the running footsteps from the house. Lestrange didn't seem so intimidating in just her knickers, house clogs, and a pink robe she hadn't taken the time to tie. She stopped for a few seconds, wand at the ready, as she peered about. Seeing in the shine of the patronuses that their guard was being petrified, she ran again toward Neville and, pointing her wand at him, she yelled, "Expelliarmus."

Neville and Harry had discussed just this possibility. In fact, it was just what they had hoped and prepared for. If she had used any other spell, Harry would have blocked it. Being braced for it, Neville could have resisted. Instead rather than resisting, he made sure the wand slipped out of his hands tip first as he was thrown back. He caught himself with his hands and got some fairly deep cuts from the rough stone. Lestrange triumphantly grabbed the wand to make sure Neville would have no chance to retrieve it and use it. Like a baseball player watching the ball nestle into his glove to make sure it is properly caught, she kept her eye on the wand as it flew to her hand. Consequently, she never realized that she had just brought herself face-to-face with a basilisk behind a crystal. She was immediately petrified, in battle stance, with left hand up to hold her own wand, her right hand up to hold the basilisk wand, and her face frozen in a maniacal stare.

Neville was thrown back, but looked up and in the starlight and patronus glow saw her frozen face. He started to laugh uncontrollably. It was rabid in intensity, such that the rest became concerned that he had become quite unhinged. The rest let their patronuses evaporate as they watched him laugh. However he sobered up immediately when Voldemort appeared.