"Speaking"
<<Mind link>>
"Thought/flashback"
“Parseltounge/Beast Language”
"Any other language"
'Quote'
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Rain, thunderous, so thick he's soaked completely in a second. It's cold, and completely dark, a canopy of trees block out any moonlight. They finally arrived at their destination in record time with Danny leading them while carrying Harry and Thunder uses his power to catch them up.
"You okay Harry?" Danny worried voice asked him since he's start to trembling since the rain start to pour.
"Yeah I'm fine just a little cold," he said while wordlessly cast a warming spell on Thunder and himself.
"Thanks."
Harry shakes off his misgivings, wipes at his eyes in a futile attempt to shield them from the storm before Thunder takes a pity on him and lend him his cap, which at the same time Danny making a big ice umbrella using his cryo ability to shield them from the downpour.
"Thanks..." Thunder said while turn away so his brother doesn't see his red face.
Harry just shake his head at his brother antics, now if they're lucky, Frank Longbottom has not yet opened the envelope containing the portkey, and they can catch the four Death Eaters by surprise with no hostages. It's only been a few minutes since they parted with the Longbottoms after all... but knowing their luck...
They stumbles along the woods, following Danny's tracker lead and nothing else only to be stopped short just a minute later by wards. Strong complicated ones.
Since they dont want to test Danny's intangibility toward them Harry readies his wand with a sigh while his siblings get behind him so they didn't hindering him while he work. He supposes it was too much to ask for somewhere for the Death Eaters to hide without some ward.
But then he smirks. It's been a stressful day. He's almost looking forward to a fight. And lucky him that he ask for a crash course for Ancient Runes from Bill Weasley back then.
-<-<-<-<-<-<->->->->->-
In the end, he doesn't have to bring down the entirety of the wards surrounding what he recognizes as a Lestrange property due to the particularly painful paralysis curse he just barely evaded that was woven into the Anti-Disapparition Jinx placed in the wards. It was supposed to restrain anyone trying to do exactly what he was doing, and keep them in a contorted position, twisted by their own broken bones, until the master of the house saw fit to deal with the intruder. A favorite of the late patriarch Bastian Lestrange, and present in all Lestrange properties since the late seventeenth century, as far as future Aurors and Curse Breakers had been able to tell when they'd stormed the place. It was easy enough to bypass if you knew anything about curses. Bastian Lestrange didn't invent it to be a stalwart barrier against intruders, he invented it to be cruel.
They agree to left the Anti-Disapparition Jinx where it was, not wanting any of the Death Eaters to flee so easily, even if it meant they couldn't do so either. He also left all Muggle Repelling Charms, not wanting the local muggle authorities to get involved. He didn't even look at the plethora of charms protecting the fauna. No, in the end, the only enchantments he had to dismantle were the Anti-Foe Spells.
Not easy by any means, but he had enough experience tearing down Anti-Foe Spells from when he tried to renew the wards at Grimmauld Place only to find that the house still considered him an enemy, Kreacher's allegiance be damned, and it was the second reason he ask for a crash course for Ancient Runes from Bill back then.
(He brings down the Anti-Tracking Spells partly so Aurors can find them if Alice leaves a note again, but mostly out of spite, even his brothers agreed with him.)
It takes him about thirty minutes. The break is barely visible Harry can only see it after two years studying magical theory, of training himself to see it a spiderweb-thin thread circle in the air in front of him, expanding from the tip of his wand. As if a very large bubble was popping in slow motion. The wards retreat, slowly and quietly, like a thread unraveling, all over the property. It will take a few minutes for the entirety of it to be exposed, but it's a domino effect that's difficult to stop, and anyway the triplets walks over the property line with none the wiser.
The rain is gentler within the remaining wards, and not nearly as cold - a Fair Weather Charm, he thinks.
<<So they place the charm so a rough storm didnt damage the blood supremacist's rose garden while they're busy torturing Aurors?!>> Danny commented incredulously.
And indeed, there is a rose garden, and some sort of fern garden, and a greenhouse, they steps out of the small woods and into what he now realizes is the backyard of not just any property, but the Lestrange Manor in Norfolk itself.
Harry Disillusions himself while Danny grab Thunder hand and making them both invisible. There's still Harry faint outline visible because of the rain, and their footprints on the grass, but it's better than nothing. The short sprint across the garden is spent glancing at each of the manor's windows for signs of movement. All remains still and dark as they approaches the door. They hears it just as Harry places his hand on the doorknob faint through various walls, but unmistakable, an agonized scream.
Danny immediately grab Harry with his other hand and making the three of them intangible and went through the door before the scream even tapers off, their lips set in a grim line. It seems Crouch's portkey was successful.
Danny quickly focused on brought them to the source of the scream He hardly notices the opulence he's come to associate with old pureblood homes, takes no heed of his surroundings past the need to find the scream source while counting on his siblings to memorize the way to the nearest exit.
Danny suddenly take a sharp turn to a parlor, barely registering the messenger bag carelessly set aside on a coffee table.
Harry barely had time to cancels the spell with a muttered "Finite" (becoming visible once again) before following his brothers to the far side of the room, where an otherwise-innocuous bookshelf is open slightly, revealing a hidden staircase leading down, because of course the Lestranges have a secret dungeon entrance in their parlor, of course they do. There's another piercing scream of agony, cut short, and there's no question where it's coming from.
But it doesn't sound like Frank Longbottom.
They descends cautiously down the spiral stone staircase and strains to hear what's going on.
"-fighter, aren't you?" The mocking tilt of a woman's voice is immediately recognizable to Harry as Bellatrix Lestrange.
<<That woman is Bellatrix Lestrange!>>
"But for how long?"
"Protego!" comes the desperate voice of Alice Longbottom, followed immediately by the sound of several bouts of spellfire hitting a shield. "Protego maxi - aaaaah!"
Alice's scream is joined by a mocking rendition by Bellatrix, quickly turning into laughter.
"S-stop playing around, Bella, just disarm her," says the voice of Barty Crouch Junior, oddly strained.
A gasp as a spell is lifted. A defiant, if wavering. "Protego Maxima!"
Someone snorts.
A different male voice - one of the Lestrange brothers - says, "See, Crouch? She wants to play-"
That's as far as he gets before they rounds the final corner. Harry takes in the scene in an instant. They're in a barren stone chamber, empty save for the torches on the walls, Directly in front of them are the four Death Eaters, three of them crowding their victims, Alice crouches in front of her unconscious husband, one hand holding her wand aloft, the other poised protectively. over Frank, cornered, while Crouch looks on at the foot of the stairs.
Harry is the one who strike first "Ventus Tria!" He sends a typhoon-level gale of wind hurtling into the narrow room, sweeping Barty Crouch Junior completely off his feet and into the Lestranges. The Death Eaters, caught off guard, crash first into the Shield Charm that Alice erected, then into the wall farthest from the exit once Harry sweeps into the chamber and adjusts the angle of the spell, Danny immediately frozen the dazed Death Eaters to bought them the time they need to escaped, added with Thunder, taking a page from Ice, shooting some arrows that pinned them to the wall making them trapped.
"Go!" Harry tells her, he standing between the Longbottoms and the Death eaters pinned to the wall while his siblings still at the entrance. "Go, go!"
To her credit, Alice wastes no time with questions. She immediately picks up her husband, drops the Shield, and rushes to the exit.
The Death Eaters wasting no time to try to get out but with the ghost ice that trapped them and lightning blades that surrounded them they had no easy way to get out.
One of the Lestrange brothers, Rabastan is the quickest to recover. He sends a silent curse into the wall, the only place his pinned hand can point to and some dark conjuring slithers its way inside the stone only to spring up at Harry's feet. forcing him to end the Ventus spell to counter.
"Stupefy!" Alice sends down the stairs, catching Bellatrix Lestrange just as the Death Eaters free from Danny ice.
And the fighting starts in truth.
-<-<-<-<-<-<->->->->->-
Here is a picture of a battlefield: The parlor room in Lestrange Manor is large, dark, and cold. One wall has windows facing the rose garden, though its current guests would be hard pressed to see it, what with the dark clouds and storm blocking all moonlight. Another wall is covered mostly by shelves filled with books. sculptures, and various expensive knick-knacks the hosts could show off. On the wall directly opposite these shelves is a grand, ornate fireplace, large enough for an adult man to stand in.
It is to this fireplace that Alice Longbottom hurries to. husband over her shoulder, as the triplets holds off the Death Eaters in the bottleneck that the secret passageway behind one of the shelves has created. She throws a handful of Floo Powder into the fireplace, shouting. "Auror Office!"
Nothing happens, of course. The Lestranges would have made very incompetent Death Eaters indeed, had they forgotten to seal the fireplaces knowing very well they were going to kidnap a couple of Aurors. But it would have been tragic if they had and the Longbottoms kept captive only for lack of checking. They can't fault Alice for trying.
Someone must have revived Bellatrix, because she comes into the fight like a sight from hell and suddenly Harry is on the defensive.
Harry hears a crash behind him. "Fentons!" Alice calls them.
Harry and Thunder, who shooting some arrows at the Death Eater, immediately retreats behind the makeshift barricade Alice has created out of some overturned heavy ornate furniture reinforce by Danny's ice just in time for a good portion of the wall creating the bottleneck to explode into the parlor.
The bookshelf teeters dangerously from its hinges, but holds. Bellatrix takes cover behind it and the rest of the Death Eaters pour into the room.
"Crucio!"
"Stupefy!"
An arrow piercing one of the Death Eater legs making them scream as the electricity shocked them.
"Confringo!"
"Protego!"
"Cru-"
"Expelliarmus!"
Spellfire, Thunder's arrows and Danny's ice shots fills the air as the dust from the exploded wall begins to settle. Harry sees his Disarming Charm hit Barty Crouch Junior, who curses loudly but ineffectively as he takes cover behind a couch, wand shooting out of his hand and clattering onto the opposite side of the room while both Danny and Tim, who already transform into Wind, manage to disarm both Lestrange brother at some point.
Alice casts nonverbally and hisses, "One of you, can you-?"
"I've got it," Tim confirms, and quickly transform into Earth to made an earth wall to cover her while the rest proceeds to distract their enemy from their youngest brother who protecting Alice while she ducks down to attend to her husband, who was still unconscious.
"Ventus Tria!"
Rabastan Lestrange is ready for him this time, and counters quickly.
"Sanentur," Alice whispers, running her wand along the form of her husband. "Sanentur... Rennervate."
Rodolphus throws a sickly yellow curse at Danny, who ducks and retaliates by throwing some ectoblast at him. While Rabastan continue to strike Harry. Bellatrix cackles as she wildly throw spells at them.
They both holds their own against three Death Caters for a good ten seconds.
It is, thankfully, enough time for Alice to rejoin the fight. For Frank to stir between them with a groan. For Quake to transform into Thunderstorm. For the room to take a breath. For Barty Crouch Junior to use the brief lull in fighting to lunge at his wand. For Bellatrix to cast.
"Avada Kedavra!"
-<-<-<-<-<-<->->->->->-
Alice finishes healing Frank and hits him with a Rennervate.
Earth immediately transform back into Thunder joining the fight once again.
Rodolphus Lestrange peeks from behind the love-seat from which he took cover to hurl an unknown, sickly yellow curse at Danny, who ducks. The curse hits the fireplace behind him, but he pays it no mind, immediately retaliating with a ectoblast right into Rodolphus face followed by a "Stupefy!" From Harry.
Bellatrix cackles, perhaps at the nonlethal spells her opponents are using and throw a "Diffindo!" at Harry.
Alice rejoins the fight in time to catch Rabastan Lestrange as he attempts to curse Harry in his moment of distraction. Frank stirs and groans between them.
"Avada- "Bellatrix begins casting behind the cover of the heavy-built bookshelf that once served as an entrance to a secret chamber in the parlor. Experienced duelists know to start casting before locking their wand on target, it gives their opponent a smaller time frame to dodge, retaliate, or disrupt spellcasting.
Rodolphus hits the ground, unconscious face burned from an ectoblast, and his wand clatters and rolls away. Harry doesn't register it, focus taken completely by the sound of Bellatrix casting the Killing Curse. The rest of the room seems to share his sentiment. The Aurors tense beside him, he can feel that his brothers tense form near him. The room itself tenses, creating a single moment's lull in the fighting.
"-Ke-"Bellatrix allows half her body to emerge from behind the bookshelf, wand arm extended and steady. a manic smile on her face.
Barty Crouch Junior emerges from his cramped spot next to the now unconscious Rodolphus Lestrange, to dive for his wand.
Perhaps he'd been waiting for a pause just like this one. Perhaps he was eager to fight with his comrades. Perhaps he was just young and foolish and inexperienced, and wasn't paying attention at all.
"-da-"
The bookshelf Close-quarters interception. A nonverbal Levitation Charm, so practiced it takes but the twitch of a wrist. Being an experienced duelist, Harry begins casting before locking target, putting him directly in the path of Harry's wand..
"-vra!"
A nonverbal Levitation Charm gives no indication of Successfully being cast, no sound. no flash of light, other than the object of the receiving end jerking upwards at the behest of the caster's wand.
For Barty Crouch Junior, it looks like standing up.
The green flash of light meets a target, and Barty drops. to the ground.
(Harry drops him to the ground.)
There is a beat of silence. Then, "Junior?" Frank Longbottom croaks.
Things develop quickly after that. With the addition of Frank on their side, the fight becomes five-on-three, and despite how exhausted the two of them must be. the Longbottom duo are a force to be reckoned with.
The Lestranges fight like professional duelists. That is, they tend to plant their feet into one spot and concentrate their spellfire to drive their opponent into a corner or outside the hypothetical bounds of a professional dueling stage. Their dodges are minimal. favoring by far the use of shields. Their use of their surroundings is mostly reactionary, as though unused to fighting with obstacles between themselves and their opponents. In other words, their fighting style is fast paced, focused, aggressive, and best suited for one-on one fights.
The Longbottoms, in contrast, have trained as a team, and are well practiced in fighting at Auror raids, where the battlefields vary greatly. They communicate and work off of each other's spells effortlessly, and seem accustomed to trading opponents, defense/offense roles, and physical dueling places continuously, making them hard to predict. They use their surrounding liberally and to their full advantage.
Harry keeps most of his focus on Bellatrix, the only other person in the room who seems to realize what he's done while his brothers tense in anticipating attacks behind him.
She'd been startled when her curse hit one of her comrades, no doubt, but she pulls herself together in the next two breaths, no longer laughing. Her face is set in hard stone, eyes blazing with a hint of the madness that would one day overcome her. She sends an Entrails-Expelling Curse at them, which they swiftly dodges, quickly followed by an ectoblast, some lightning arrows and "Confringo!"
Still unbalanced from the dodge. Harry only manages to put up a Shield Charm before she fires another Killing Curse at him, making Harry dodge even as his shield holds otherwise.
Bellatrix, it seems, is done playing with her food.
A flurry of spells, curses, and counter-curses fly somewhere to their left, where the Longbottoms and Lestranges are locked in a duel. but Harry is barely aware of them. One of the sofas in the room, hit in the crossfire, briefly catches fire before being frozed by Danny along with a good chunk of the floor. Frank responds by spontaneously and violently evaporating all the ice in the room, filling it with steam, which Danny immediately utilizes by re-freezing it into thin, sharp ice spikes that he sends hurtling to Bellatrix as Alice uses the brief lull in enemy spellfire to aim a "Deprimo!" at the ground at her opponent's feet, trying to gain high ground where there previously was none.
The floor above the hidden room gives in with a loud crash, forcing the Death Eaters to either fall or scramble.
It is important to note, that humans, like most animals. become more dangerous when cornered.
Bellatrix's smile, even half-buried beneath the hole that used to be the floor of the parlor room, is vicious - more of a threatening display of teeth as she shouts. "Protego diabolica!"
For one heart-stopping moment. Harry balks. He doesn't recognize the spell, but its relation to Fiendfyre is immediately apparent, Combined with Protego, what-?
"Fentons!" Alice is shouting at him and then black flames burst forth from Bellatrix's wand like an ever-enlarging fireball.
The only reason Harry isn't immediately ashes is that Frank is fast and kind enough to to erect a "Protego horribilis!" wide enough to cover Harry from the onslaught of fire and Danny ice wall that covers all of them. They encase Bellatrix and the Lestranges in a tight circle of flames, harmlessly dancing on their shoulders while the fire spreads. The heat is so intense that Harry thinks every single hair in his body is singed, even behind Frank's shield Danny's ice wall.
"Fuck!" Oh that definitely not good, he thought as he watched his Danny fall to the ground with heavy breathing, he almost forgot that his older brother cant stand intence heat like this.
"Protego horribilis!" Alice covers their backs, the two shields curving into a circle around them as the dark fire twists and roars at Bellatrix's command, winding around them to try to get them from behind.
"Earth Shield!/Protego horribilis!" Harry and Earth reinforces Frank's shield as it begins to crack. The space where the triplets and the Longbottoms crouch between the shields becomes so hot that it distorts the air around them.
Sweat rolls down Harry's face as he tries to maintain his shield distantly notice his older brother already unconscious because of the heat. The fire has completely surrounded them, burning the room's furniture in a matter of seconds. The manor itself the ceiling, the walls remain unharmed, from what glimpses Harry can catch of them. There aren't many. He can't see the Death Eaters beyond the flames and earth at all. It's hard to breathe as the fire takes more of the room. His vision starts to waver.
Now, Harry knows Fiendfyre. This isn't quite Fiendfyre, despite the small waifish creatures he can see begin to form on the topmost licks of flame. If it was Fiendfyre, he could confidently tell you several ways to put it out.
One, if the caster has either left or died, you could try to wrest control of the sentient fire from itself by casting the General Counter Charm, so long as your will and magical power is greater than that of the curse's will to consume. Moot, since, Bellatrix is, more likely than not, still in full control of this particular curse.
Two, you could let it die out. Contain it with strong enough magical defenses that the fire has nowhere left to go and nothing left to burn. Quite the opposite position in which they and the Longbottoms find themselves.
Three and Harry had not known this until he accidentally cause it, you can fight fire with fire
"You got plan?"
"Yup I need you to take down your shield!"
"...I trust you know what you're doing?"
"Yes."
"Get ready to put it out!" Harry shouts at Frank over the roar of the flames.
The Auror looks at him incredulously. "What-?"
Harry backs away from his own shield as much as possible, pressing himself against Tim who carried unconscious Danny and the Longbottoms, and drops his shield Charm at the same time Tim dropping his shield.
"Emos Kyopyr!"he casts.
A stream of blue fire erupts from his wand, clashing with the dark flames that surged towards them as soon as the shield dropped. Where the two bouts of flame meet. they merge into ordinary orange fire, and halt their unnatural movement.
Cold Fire is what known as Bluebell Flames in smaller quantities is a hyper controled type of magical fire which burns on the caster's magical reserves only and on anything not physical. It isn't actually cold, the temperature can varried from warm to lightly stinging, rather, the spell leaves the caster feeling cold if they overdo it and magical exhaustion sets in. It's quite the opposite of Fiendfyre.
Whatever type of cursed fire Bellatrix is using is close enough to fiendfyre that its counterpart nullifies its cursed effects, leaving only normal fire behind.
Which still burns.
Frank curses behind him before casting a strong Aguamenti.
The Death Eaters, visibility hindered by the burning room as much as they're hidden by it, do not notice their friendly fire is slowly turning into just fire. Harry can tell the exact moment they notice by the startled yells that come from the direction of the hallway.
They were trying to run.
Tim already on it, and from the thud that they hear from the hallway he can say that he's successfull.
There is a moment of confusion as both parties gather themselves, making their way through the burning room, licks of flame running up the walls now that no one is controlling it.
As Frank follows the attack, since he's closer to her Alice grabs Harry's shoulder and roughly pulling him to face her.
"Who-" she cuts herself off. lips pressed into a hard line. "Where are we?" she demands.
"Lestrange Manor." says Harry, and pauses to clear the fire and smoke around them in a six-foot radius. "Near the North coast of Norfolk."
"Expecto Patronum!"A brillant gazelle forms in front of Alice. "Moody," she tells the gazelle, and repeats their location.
That is a good idea. Harry's glad Alice was the one to do it, having to explain how he knew the Order's secret messaging system on top of how he found the Longbottoms was not something he wanted to do.
But now he has more important things to do.
"How's he?"
Tim who look exhausted cradle Danny who still unconscious near his chest, "he's little overheated, need to give'm many ice, s'mthin to cool h'm down, 'Arry no injury?" The fact that Tim slurring while leaning to him is enough proof that he's already dead on his feet, he need to quickly get out of here before the reinforcement arrived.
"Silly little brother, no need to worry about me, now c'mon we need to get out of here before the others arrived."
Harry quickly pull out the portkey he prepare earlier for emergency before asking Tim to touch it and activate it before the Longbottoms aware.
They immediately arrived at their room at Leaky Cauldron, and it took all two seconds before being hit with a dizzy spell strong enough that he's deeply thankful that he assign their room as destination.
He noticed that Tim manage to run to the bathroom after they landed before, he presume emtiying his stomach if the sound from the bathroom is any indication.
Harry immediately picked up his older brother who still out of cold to move him to one of the bed, he'd followed by their familiar who staring at him as if asking what happens.
Hedwig immediately perched herself on his uninjured shoulder while Danny familiar laying down near Danny's feet after he put Danny to bed and start to inspecting him for any injury, "I'm alright girl," Harry cooed at her, "Maybe a scratch or two but the three of us didnt have serious injury."
He manage to forces Tim and himself to take a quick shower before collapsing into their bed, washing away the soot, blood, and sweat that covers them. He forces himself to stay awake enough to apply burn salve where needed to both of them and conjuring a big chunk of ice for Danny before gives in to exhaustion shortly thereafter, damp hair leaving imprints on his pillow.
-<-<-<-<-<-<->->->->->-
The next day Harry woken up by the sound of someone rustling around the room and the delicious smell of English muffin and milk.
And Hedwig who perched on his chest.
"Good morning 'Rian!" He hear Tim greeting.
"M'rning..." When he looked around him, it take him a few second before his half worked mind notice something about his little brother unusual manner.
"Tim..."
"Hmm?"
"Why are you in your Wind form?" He asked the grinning boy who eating his breakfast with a cheerful energy around him.
"Oh this? We just got bored when we woke up this morning and want you both to sleep in after what happen last night." He says while taking a sip at his milk.
"Earth already got you breakfast by the way, we thought you don't want to go downstairs just to get it so he ask for it to be brought here!" Tim say while placing a tray filled by a stack of blueberry pancakes and earl grey tea in front of him.
"Wait... You splitting? Then where's the other two then?" Harry ask even though he didn't denied the pancakes, he is starving and the smell of the delicious pancakes is diverting his attention to it as soon as Wind placed them infront of him.
He moaned at the tasted and quickly finished it before take a sip at his morning tea, "Yup, Earth's went to the apothecary to buy some burn salve while Thundy just go downstairs to ordered Danny's breakfast, since he said he'll buy some ice cream too."
As if on cue Danny let out a quite groan and their door is opened by Thunder who brought a tray filled with three different flavours of muffins, a glass of warm milk, a huge mug of black coffee, and a bowl of mint ice cream with Earth trailing behind him.
"Ugh did anybody get the plate number of whatever thing that hit me?" Danny groaned while rubbing his eyes.
"If what you mean is those Death Eater whose ass we blast last night then yes, actually I got this downstairs," he handed a newspaper to Harry who immediately skimmed over the front page, that contain the Longbottoms statement and the Lestrange arrest picture, "we're lucky that Harry manage cast a spell to obscure our faces so no one recognise us."
"Well it'll be troublesome if our faces got to spread out right?"
"Earth what's wrong?" Harry asking their (technically) youngest sibling who seems nervous while holding something looks like muggle newspaper in his hand.
Earth rubbed his arm, a clear sign that he nervous about something, without word he then laid the newspaper he hold on top of the table for his brothers to see.
Its a muggle newspaper with the front page showing a picture of the front of a thin forrest that closed by police line, meaning there's an investigation on the progress there. With the newspaper tittle that told them about the finding of three infant bodies.
"...Uh so on the way back after I went to apothecary I decieded to stop by the library nearby to look for some news, and... I found these and it got me thinking that if we send that newspaper to Daily Prophet, anonymously ofcourse, we can get them to think that we're dead with the bonus of having Dumbles take the blame."
"And with the likehood people checking on the Dursley's home yesterday seeing Harry's blood inside their cupboard without seeing any bodies there..."
"Added with the memory charm you put on the door knob for our dear relatives..."
.
.
.
"... After this we shall never speak this matter again."
"What are you talking about? I cant hear you with this warm muffins stuffed inside my ears."
"Ah this coffee is really bitter that it interfere with my hearings for the last couple minutes."
"I'm still sleeping here!"
"..."
-<-<-<-<-<-<->->->->->-
31 October 1981, Hogwarts, 19:45 P.M.
Albus was in his office when all the alarms he had tied to the Potter cottage went crazy. The old wizard gave a wry smile, a magical discharge of that magnitude could only mean one thing. His plan had worked and Tom was dead.
He didn't think that anyone else would have the guile or conviction to turn the mutterings of a near squib into a self-fulfilling prophecy, desperate times called for desperate measures.
It had taken all of his machiavellian manipulations to bring his scheme to fruition, but lady fortune had apparently just smiled on him. It took no more than a subtle hint for Black to quietly change the Potters secret keeper but the real challenge had been nudging Lily Potter to discover the sacrificial ritual. The muggleborn students didn't arrive at Hogwarts with the same sense of in-built respect and reverence for the school's headmaster that their counter parts did, Lily Evans was particularly sceptical. Only her overwhelming need to keep her triplet sons safe allowed Albus to steer her in the direction he wanted. If she had carried out the ritual properly, then her children would be alive and the dark lord gone.
This raised another issue though, Albus had suspected that Voldemort had more than one Horcrux as he instructed. Unfortunately there was only one way to prove this theory and killing Voldemort was easier said than done. With baby Danny, Harry, and Tim now banishing the dark lord, Albus needed to take control of the weapons he had just created. Should Voldemort indeed had more than one, he would come after the boys at the first opportunity. Albus was sure that, should this come to pass, he was more than capable of controlling any situation and turning it around to his advantage.
That was the future though, he needed to deal with the here and now first. He would dispatch Hagrid at once to the cottage and have him bring the children to Hogwarts, he would implement the next phase of his plan tomorrow. After all, it was Halloween and he so enjoyed the feast.
Continue...
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