"I don't like this. I really don't like this…"
At eight o'clock in the evening, four broomsticks rose slowly under the cover of darkness, climbing to an altitude of 3,000 feet within five minutes. Hermione Two and Hermione Seven, both battling their fear of heights, clung desperately to their respective Harrys' waists atop their flying broomsticks. Their thick, bushy brown curls were buried tightly against their Harrys' backs.
"Jumping from 3,000 feet without a parachute…" Hermione One gripped her Harry's waist with a death grip, cautiously glancing down at the tiny speck of Malfoy Manor below. "This has to be a nightmare…"
"As far as nightmares go," Harry One said with a mischievous grin, eyeing his Hermione, "I'd say clinging to me on a broomstick isn't exactly the worst thing to happen to you." His teasing made her blush and turn her head away.
Once they confirmed they were directly above Malfoy Manor, Harry One signaled for everyone to gather close.
"Alright, I'm going to count down from five. When I reach one, everyone holds hands and jumps immediately. Got it?"
The group nodded in unison.
"One more thing: under no circumstances should you use magic while we're falling. The manor's protective charms will detect you and expel you instantly. Now…"
"Five."
"Four."
"Three."
"Two."
"One."
Dumbledore and the three Harrys stowed their broomsticks, and the group plummeted toward the small patch of Malfoy Manor below. As they fell, a magical device—crafted by Dumbledore and the three Hermiones—flashed their current altitude before their eyes.
[2,800 feet]
[2,500 feet]
[2,200 feet]
[1,900 feet]
[1,600 feet]
[1,300 feet]
Then, as if passing through an invisible barrier, the howling wind in their ears abruptly ceased for a fleeting moment.
"We've breached the protective charms! Harry, don't forget Feather Fall!" Dumbledore shouted against the rushing wind.
"Already on it!" Harry One yelled back.
[1,000 feet]
Harry One raised his right hand.
[700 feet]
Feather Fall was cast.
The six figures landed silently on the roof of Malfoy Manor, unnoticed by the guards below, who continued chatting idly, wands in hand, oblivious to the intruders.
"You lot wait here. Hermione and I will grab someone to question," Harry One said, draping an Invisibility Cloak over himself and Hermione One before they vanished into the night.
Ten minutes later, Harry One and Hermione One returned, dragging an unconscious middle-aged wizard.
To save time, Dumbledore cast a spell to isolate them from the outside world, then woke the thirty-something wizard. The moment the man's eyes opened, Dumbledore used Legilimens.
Ten minutes later, Dumbledore extracted the information they needed from the captive's mind. After confirming the wizard bore the Dark Mark of a Death Eater, the old wizard reluctantly agreed to Harry One, Harry Seven, and Hermione Seven's request to let Harry One deal with the Death Eater swiftly and decisively.
After piecing together the situation at Malfoy Manor, Dumbledore addressed the three Harrys and three Hermiones. "I have good news and bad news."
"The good news is, there are no hidden traps or curses in the manor, so our infiltration should go smoothly. The bad news, however, is that the core Death Eaters trusted by Voldemort—and Voldemort himself, whichever version he may be—have been almost entirely absent from others' sight for the past year. All that's left is Barty Crouch Jr."
"Barty Crouch Jr.?!" Harry with the fake eye exchanged a glance with his Hermione, both of their eyes wide with disbelief.
"That's impossible," Hermione Seven said. "Barty Crouch Jr. had his soul sucked out by a Dementor back in my fourth year."
"Perhaps he's from a parallel world?" Dumbledore suggested.
"If that's the case," Harry One said, exchanging a look with Hermione One, "then maybe this Barty Crouch Jr. can answer some of my questions…" They nodded in unison.
With the aid of Harry One's peculiar spells, the group's infiltration proceeded smoothly. Harry One scouted ahead, Harry Two and Hermiones One and Two handled incapacitating enemies, Dumbledore kept watch, and Harry Seven and Hermione Seven methodically dealt with each downed foe.
They began clearing patrols from the northwest corner of the manor's perimeter. By the time the manor's guards realized something was amiss, Harry and his team had already cleared half the estate and were attempting to disarm the defensive charms protecting the castle's main hall without triggering any alarms.
Realizing they'd been exposed, Harry and the others abandoned subtlety. A few well-placed Bombarda spells blasted the door and part of the wall to smithereens.
Through the gaping hole in the wall, the six stepped into the grand hall and saw Barty Crouch Jr., clad in black robes, seated in the main chair.
"Three Potters, three Grangers, and a Dumbledore. Quite the impressive lineup," Barty Crouch Jr. said, rising leisurely from his seat. With a snap of his fingers, the hall's doors burst open, and a group of Death Eaters stormed in, wands raised—only to freeze at the sight of the bearded old man.
"It's over! It's Dumbledore! Dumbledore's back from the dead!"
"It's Dumbledore! Save yourselves!"
"Bloody hell!"
The Death Eaters screamed in panic, shoving and scrambling to flee.
"Tch, useless lot…" Barty Crouch Jr. snapped his fingers again. A powerful wave of psychic energy radiated from where he stood. Almost instantly, Harry Two, Harry Seven, and the three Hermiones clutched their heads and collapsed to their knees in agony. Even Dumbledore could barely maintain his balance. But Harry One's eyes widened, staring at the source of the psychic wave.
"Feels familiar, doesn't it, Harry Potter?" Barty Crouch Jr. said with a smile, locking eyes with the stunned Harry. "Don't worry—things are about to get even more familiar."
In the next instant, massive crimson tentacles erupted from the ground. With a single sweep, they dragged everyone who hadn't escaped into the gaping chasm they'd torn open.
Through the holes left by the tentacles, Harry caught a distant glimpse of a mass of deep red organic tissue—and a brain floating in a pool of yellow liquid.
--
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