The Ministry Has Fallen

Chapter 6

Author's Note: Sorry about the long wait! I'm getting ready to graduate college soon, so as you can imagine, I've been busy with VERY little time to write. I am writing when I have time though, so hopefully you enjoy this next tidbit.

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No, it certainly had not been easy. He'd had to pull the whole 'Boy-Who-Lived' card as a last ditch effort to convince the others that even if it was a trap of sorts, that he could get them and himself out of there without too much trouble. Shacklebolt was surprisingly the first one to agree that it was important to act on the information, even if it was just a dead end. Ron took a bit more convincing, as naturally suspicious as he was. But in the end, even he gave in. Now all they needed was a plan.

Of course, planning had always been Hermione's area of expertise, and she did not fail them now. Seamus joined in, proving that while he might have been a dolt when it came to charms and the like, he did know a thing or two about defensive and offensive tactics, as well as anticipating traps to look out for when inside the mansion. It seemed Pythios had managed to secure a general floor plan of the mansion, as they had visited when the safe house was first set up. Unfortunately, they would not have any information on how many would be at the mansion at one time, but Seamus suggested an early morning attack, when all in the area would be sleepy and not expecting an attack – especially on a secret safe house. "If they still seem to think their assassination attempts will work on us in the early morning, why not use their own tactics?" he pointed out, shrugging. Hermione's eyes narrowed at Harry, and he shot her an apologetic grin; he really had not meant to keep details of the last attempt from her. It had just slipped his mind.

She pushed past her annoyance in favor of continuing to plan the small invasion. "We need to keep this to as small of a party as we can," she said slowly. "While we run the risk of being outnumbered should a fight occur, we have a better chance of avoiding one altogether if the group manages to get in and out without being spotted."

Harry nodded. "I agree. It may be better if we just grab him and get out instead of attempting to assassinate him there." Ron looked over at him with a frown.

"But won't it be difficult to restrain him without making it difficult to get back out or alerting someone on the way?"

"Not as difficult than if we had to fight him, bring him down, and then wear down whatever defenses he's put up around himself." Harry glanced back at Hermione, who agreed.

"If we get him here, it'll be easier for our curse breakers to tear down his defenses and dispatch him without bringing anymore harm to anyone." She traced the outline of the first floor plans with her index finger. "The Portkey will most likely dump you all outside, so you'll be exposed. You all will need to disillusion yourselves before you leave. Harry…I'd prefer you not go, but if you do…" Harry nodded slightly, understanding what she left unspoken. Bringing his cloak was a no-brainer; it had given him the edge needed before, and he hoped it would prove useful again.

"Once you're in, you'll need to make your way to the third floor. Pythios circled this room here," she tapped the indicated room, "which I assume means our target would most likely be residing here in the wee hours before dawn. If he's got even the slightest hint of a brain, he'll have more wards placed around his room and inside of it. Those you'll have to watch out for. At least one member of the team will need to be one of our ward specialists. As soon as the wards are down, there will probably only be a few minutes before someone comes to investigate, if you even have that long. You need to move quickly. Use that stunning spell I taught you all last year – it should be able to break past his defenses temporarily and stall him long enough for you to knock him out the muggle way." She motioned towards the end of the table, where an innocuous bottle rested. "I had Luna brew up an industrial strength version of muggle chloroform. That should knock Rookwood out just fine, and keep him unconscious long enough to transfer him here. Other than the stunner, I wouldn't recommend using any other spells on him – you don't know what his defenses might do in retaliation. The stunner is the only spell you may use unless more force is necessary, am I clear?"