Heavy rain suited the mood in the Ottery St. Catchpole graveyard as Fred and George Weasley were laid to rest. Molly wept as the two were lowered into the ground. There was a vacant look on Ginny's face, she'd spent so much time crying recently that she'd run out of tears.
Ron however looked enraged, someone was killing off his family and there was nothing he could do. He was particularly angry at his eldest brother, he didn't expect much out of Percy, but Bill should have been here protecting his family. Instead, Ron guessed he was off fucking his Veela whore. Ron wouldn't say it, but for Veela pussy, he might have run away too.
"Dad, where's Bill, he should be here with us?!" Ron demanded.
"I don't know son; I'd love to be able to tell you. We have to have faith in Professor Dumbledore. He's trying hard on our behalf."
"Yeah, sure," Ron said quietly. He had doubts about how much Dumbledore cared about his family. Dumbledore only cared about Potter, and that was fine with Ron, as long as he got Potter's money, and Potter's girl.
Amelia Bones gently placed the piece of scrap paper on her desk and leaned back in her seat. Knowledge of the Malfoy Estate and all the times, she'd been to visit came flooding back into her brain. She nodded assuredly and looked up at Shacklebolt. "Good work, Senior Auror. This is the puzzle piece we were missing."
"Thank you, ma'am," Kingsley replied. It wounded him that someone he considered a friend would use such a formal tone. But he knew why, he'd been the servant of two masters for over a year. And now the secret was out, it had harmed his career, and worse, his friendship with Amelia.
"Tell me, Auror Shacklebolt, if we'd found this a year ago, who would you have gone too first?" Amelia asked, pushing the piece of paper around the desk with her finger.
Kingsley licked his dry lips and took a breath. "Dumbledore, ma'am."
"I appreciate your honesty, Auror. Dismissed."
"Is there enough breakfast for me?" Andi asked as she entered the kitchen of 12 Grimmauld Place.
"Pull up a chair," Sirius said between bites.
As Andi pulled sat down a fresh place setting appeared in front of her. Andi looked up curiously. "I assume this isn't Kreacher's handiwork?"
"Definitely not," Sirius confirmed. "I sent him to join his ancestors, as soon as I was back on my feet. I'm paying Harry's mate, Dobby, to take care of the house. I doubled the negotiated price the first day, after he ripped my mother's portrait off the wall of the hallway and stuffed it in a trunk in the attic. I would have set it on fire, but Merlin knows what traps that old bag imbued the portrait with."
Andi nodded, pulling out a bundle of letters from her robes. "Harry, Hermione and Fleur sent you some letters. I was asked by Moody to deliver them," Andi explained, putting most of the stack in front of Sirius. "There's a letter for you dear," She added, sliding one of the letters towards Tonks.
"Me? Ok," Tonks said, taking the letter and ripping it open. "Fleur and Hermione have invited me to stay with them. If I want to go, I should reach out to Fleur's father."
"Lucky you," Sirius said with a half-smile.
"I can't go, I need to be here to help you," Tonks protested.
Sirius shook his head. "We'll manage. Go look after my godson. He's probably bouncing off the walls, trying to think of all the reasons he should be here."
Tonks nodded. "Ok."
Nick, Chiara and Bill Weasley were standing in the bowels of the Ministry. Nick had a wooden box filled with Voldemort's horcruxes, which he handed to a blank faced Bill. "Bill, enter the room and once the door is closed and locked, cast fiendfyre," Nick patted Bill on the arm. "Good luck."
Bill walked into the chamber and Nick quickly pulled the heavy door shut and locked it. He let out a long breath as he backed away. "We should get out of here."
"I thought R&D said the chamber was safe?" Chiara commented looking skeptically at Nick.
"They did, but they've been wrong before and I don't want to be nearby if they were this time."
"Good point…" Chiara agreed as she followed Nick up the stairs and away from the chamber as the heat began rising. The foundations of the building shook, causing dust and debris to fall from the ceiling. They kept running until the shaking stopped and the heat subsided.
Nick let out a long breath, sitting down against a wall. "Welp, we're safe for now, I think."
"Uh, huh," Chiara agreed, sliding down against the wall beside him.
"I guess I need to go to report to Moody."
Chiara raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that the boss's job?"
"Usually, but the boss told me to do it. I guess they figure Moody might trust a familiar face, rather than someone behind a mask," Nick explained as he regained his feet.
"Does Moody trust anyone?" Chiara asked as Nick pulled her to her feet.
"No," Nick replied flatly.
"Terrific."
"Be seeing you," Nick said, tipping an invisible hat to Chiara before disappearing.
"Why does he get to play with all the cool toys," Chiara complained, referring to the apparition device that allowed field agents to appear and disappear almost at will. There were only a few places in the world Unspeakables couldn't breach, one of them being Hogwarts. Its ancient wards were too much for even the boffins in R&D.
The half second pause of Moody scribbling on parchment was the only sign that he was aware of the new presence in his office.
"You should quit being the Minister for Magic and start an interior design business. Minimalism is really you, Alastor," Nick said of Moody's spartan office. Aside from the desk, chair and filing cabinets it was completely empty.
"Are you here to crack bad jokes, Carlstrom?" Alistor asked.
"No, I'm here to pass a message," Nick explained.
"Go on."
"You can kill Voldemort now. The barriers to him being gone for good are almost gone."
"Almost?" Moody asked, raising an eyebrow but continuing to write while his magical eye watched Carlstrom.
"When you kill him, kill the snake first."
"That's it?"
"Yep," Nick replied before apparating away.
Moody huffed angrily. "Fucking Unspeakables."
Remus landed in an alley near Privet drive and strode down the street to number four. He knew he wouldn't find Harry here, from talking to him and Sirius he knew Harry hated this house and the people within. However, with a lack of clues Remus had no choice to see if the Dursley's knew anything.
"Yes, may I help you?" Petunia asked, sending a withering glare at the man in front of her.
"Hello, my name is Remus Lupin, I'm one of Harry's professors," He said, if things went to plan he hoped that would be true again. Dumbledore had assured him that with Snape still missing he would be needed.
Petunia's eyes narrowed. "He's not here."
"Oh, that's a shame. Do you happen to know where he went?"
"He showed up a week ago, showing off to some French tart. He made my Vernon sign a piece of paper and left. Good riddance."
"I see…" Remus said as he peered into Petunia's mind. "Thank you so much, have a good day."
"Hmph," Petunia replied, slamming the door in his face.
Remus hurried back to Hogwarts and up to Dumbledore's office to report. "I understand why you're so worried about Harry now, Headmaster."
"Yes, this is very concerning," Dumbledore agreed, frowning.
"Harry is throwing Sirius's money away, for what? To impress a Veela? She's just using him," Remus complained. Dumbledore nodded along. He hadn't told anyone outside Snape and Pomfrey that Sirius was alive. Admitting that could cause his closest allies to have questions. He needed loyalty not critics.
"Will you tell Molly that Bill's fiancé has run out on him?" Remus asked.
"Ah, no, I think it's best that it stays between us for now. Until we find them and dissuade Harry that this dalliance isn't in his best interest, all it will do is hurt the Weasley family."
"Yes, of course," Remus agreed.
"You've done well, Remus. This is the first lead we've had on young Harry in some time. Get some rest, the next time you visit I'll have your itinerary ready for France."
"Thank you, Headmaster," Remus said before leaving.
Harry blew a breath through his pursed lips as he put the final touches on the fish before putting it in the oven. Tossing the apron aside he glanced at the watch Hermione bought him for his fourteenth birthday. It died after he dived into the Black Lake, but he had it fixed. Even without his memories of his relationship, Hermione was his best friend. He wasn't going to throw that away under any circumstances.
Harry rushed from the kitchen, upstairs and into the shower. Once he was finished and dressed he returned downstairs and checked on the fish. Harry took the fish out of the oven and walked onto the deck where Hermione, Fleur, and Tonks were sitting around a table, talking. Their eyes lit up when Harry placed the fish in the middle of the table and began dishing it out.
"Harry, this is amazing. Did you catch the fish yourself?" Tonks asked excitedly.
Harry ignored the snickering from his two girlfriends. "No, I tried… but in the end I had to buy a fish from the market in the harbour. I was assured though, that this fish was freshly caught today."
"Well, regardless, it looks amazing," Tonks said before taking a bite of the food. Her eyes comically widened. She eyed the two other girls jealously. "If you keep feeding me like this, I might have to steal Harry away from you two."
The girls grinned at Tonks while Harry blushed and focused on his food. Fleur ran a finger around the rim of the glass casually. "You can try, Nymphadora."
Tonks sent Fleur a withering look. "You know my rules."
"Oui."
Later that night Fleur pinned Harry to his bed, kissing him hungrily as her huge breasts pressed against his chest. When Fleur came up for air she grinned. "I love you, 'Arry."
Harry took a big gulp of air and nodded. "I love you too, Fleur. You know, I didn't take Tonks seriously earlier. I'm not looking for anyone else."
"I know, 'Arry. I hope you know I'd never stray either. There's a fire in my belly and it burns for you alone. Not even being brainwashed could change that."
Harry's eyes lit up happily. "I know."
Amelia didn't look up from her work, upon hearing the familiar 'tap, tap, tap' of Moody's wooden leg walking the linoleum floor of the department's bullpen. Instead, she continued writing, making notes on the latest field reports from her Aurors.
"You're up late, Alastor," Amelia said as Moody entered her office.
"I thought you gave up scolding me years ago," Moody bit back with a snarl that was supposed to pass as a smile.
"I did, the moment you lost an eye, and a wife," Amelia replied, putting her quill down and looking up at Moody.
"I got the bastard, that's all that matters," Moody said dismissively.
As his friend, Amelia knew better than to press. It was a sore subject even after twenty-five years. Moody would never admit it, but she could see the pain in his eyes, he missed his wife, and that pain would never go away.
"What brings you to my office so late at night?" Amelia asked.
"I had a visit from Carlstrom," Moody growled.
Amelia raised an eyebrow. "I see. And what wisdom did the Department of Mysteries impart today?"
"We're apparently allowed to kill Voldemort now."
Amelia snorted a laugh. "I'm so glad we have their permission."
"Carlstrom mentioned barriers being gone. Maybe if we'd tried before now, he would have come back again. I'm not going to ask because I don't care."
"What are you planning to do?" Amelia asked. There was an uneasiness in her belly. Voldemort had been weakened, but he still had many soldiers without counting the vampires and giants.
Moody leaned back in his chair. "Don't worry your head, Amelia. I'm not going to throw lives away trying to kill them. I'm going to ask the muggles to do it."
"The muggles? What can they do that we can't?"
Moody smirked. "Drop a bomb on the bastard."
A few nights later, Tonks exited her room to pour herself a glass of water. She vaguely noted that it was just past 3 am as she got up. Entering the corridor, she saw Fleur exiting Harry's room as Hermione blew past.
"Where the hell did, he go?" Hermione asked irritably.
"I don't know, you don't think he'd go back to England?" Fleur said, turning her reply into a question.
"No, Harry's not that reckless… I mean… I don't think he is…" Hermione muttered to herself.
"If you need help, let me know," Tonks said.
Entering the kitchen, Tonks turned on the tap and let her glass fill with water. As she waited, she glanced out at the ocean through the bay windows. She paused when she realised there was someone sitting on the sand. Turning off the tap and setting her glass aside, Tonks approached the back door and peered out into the night. She could see a mop of unruly raven hair shining in the moonlight.
Tonks walked back to the hallway where the girls were pondering the problem. "I found him."
Hermione and Fleur followed Tonks to the back of the house, where they spotted Harry sitting on the beach. Before either could reach the door, Tonks tapped them on the shoulder. "Let me talk to him. He might need a friend rather than a lover."
The two nodded and stepped back, allowing Tonks to walk out to the beach. She approached Harry gingerly at first, not wanting to startle him.
"Wotcher, Tonks," Harry said, he still had his head buried in his arms.
Tonks paused mid-step. "How did you know I was here?"
"Ever since they got that thing out of my head, I've been able to sense magical auras. I'm intimately familiar with Hermione and Fleur's auras so it only makes sense the aura approaching me from the house would be yours."
"What if I'd been someone dangerous?" Tonks asked.
"Then I would have known long before now, because the wards would have triggered and there'd be French Aurors swarming this place."
"True," Tonks said, she paused for a beat to sit down beside Harry, before speaking again. "Do you feel comfortable telling me why you're sitting on the beach in the middle of the night?"
"I… had a bad dream…" Harry reluctantly admitted.
"Wanna talk about it?"
"I don't remember a lot, I'm on this beach and…" Harry pauses and takes a shuddering breath. "Hermione is dead in my arms. The house is in flames behind us, for some reason I know Fleur is inside, but I can't help her. Because Dumbledore is here too. He said something and then everything went black…"
Harry leaned back, resting his hands behind him on the sand and looking up into the sky. "I woke up with a start, I was so fucking scared… it felt so real. I didn't want to bother anyone, so I came out here. It's going well so far…"
"That's not going to happen, Harry," Tonks said, she reached back and put her hand over his. "I won't let it happen."
Harry smiled wearily. "Thank you."
Tonks gently pushed Harry down onto the sand, running her fingers through his hair. "Sleep, Harry. I'll be here to watch over you."
"Ok…" Harry replied slowly drifting off.
Hermione and Fleur smiled at each other as they watched Harry and Tonks talk on the beach. Fleur intertwined her fingers with Hermione's and pulled her back into the house. "Let's leave them, it's time for me to put you to bed."
Hermione's eyes lit up lustfully. "Yes, Fleur."
Lieutenant James Lethbridge-Stewart had grown up hearing his father's stories about the Doctor and their crazy adventures. But this was the first time he'd become involved in anything remotely similar.
The man sat in front of him had led a hard life, James wondered if his day to day was anything but pain. However, he had to put that out of his mind as he saluted. "Lieutenant James Leithbridge-Stewart reporting as ordered."
"At ease, Lieutenant," One of his superiors said, the young man nodded and put his hands behind his back. "This is Alastor Moody, aside from that you don't need to know anything else about him. Is that understood?"
"Yes sir," James replied.
"Very good, go ahead, Mister Moody."
The old man reached into his jacket and pulled out a small piece of paper. "Read that to yourself, don't say it out loud."
James picked up the paper and read the address before handing it back to Moody. "I don't understand…"
"It's best you don't, soldier. Is that all, Mister Moody?" James's commander asked.
"That's it," Moody replied, he stood up and walked out of the room.
"Uh, sir…?" James asked quizzically.
"As I said, it's best you don't ask questions," The colonel said as he unrolled a map on the table. "Your target tonight is a house in Wiltshire."
"Sir… what am I bombing?"
"A house in Wiltshire," The Colonel repeated.
"Are there people inside?"
The Colonel was silent for a few moments as he weighed up what to tell the Lieutenant. "Yes, but not people who deserve to live. They're murderers, who kill based on the circumstances of one's birth. Don't let this weigh on your conscience, think about the people you'll be saving."
James hesitated for a few seconds before nodding. "Yes, sir."
"Good, get to work, Lieutenant."
James nodded and exited the office. The colonel lit up a cigarette and stared at the map. The surrounding area had been quietly evacuated as they organised the jet and its ordinance. He hoped they got them all, he'd been briefed on who and what the Death Eaters were, he had no sympathy for these murderers. They should be tried for their crimes, but that might allow some of them to escape justice. This was a permanent solution to this problem.
"How are you going to get around the muggles' repelling wards?" Amelia asked after she and Moody had sat down at her desk.
"I borrowed Potter's cloak and gave it to a curse breaker at Gringotts. They spent the last few days slowly adjusting the wards around Malfoy Manor. They're going to wait until the very last second before dropping the wards and getting the fuck out of there."
"You've never had faith in plans before, Alastor, what makes you think it'll work this time?"
Alastor huffed to himself, he still didn't trust plans. But he wasn't going to say it out loud.
Harry sat on the back porch of the beach house, watching as the sun went down behind the horizon. He had a butterbeer beside him from the ice box near his feet. They'd gotten a message through Fleur's father that today would be the day. In less than two hours Voldemort would be dead, and it would be over.
The girls sat together inside the house, watching Harry. Hermione shook with restless energy, she wanted to go to him, but Fleur's hand on his arm told her no. She knew Harry wanted to be alone for this. The culmination of sixteen years of pain, suffering, and loss.
Dumbledore stood at the window of his office, staring out into the Hogwarts grounds. John Dawlish had been kind enough to send Dumbledore a note, letting him know that some kind of plan had been enacted to rid the world of Tom. Of course, Dumbledore knew that was a flight of fancy. Only he could rid the world of Voldemort for good. Only he knew all the secrets to Tom's survival. Including the parasite attached to Harry's scar.
Once Harry and Tom were truly dead, he'd reap the rewards. The contents of the Potter vault and all the knowledge within. He was being paid a pittance compared to what he'd sacrificed, but those books had the capability to make him rich beyond his dreams and possibly immortal. Dumbledore was sure that the descendants of the Peverell's had more secrets to share.
"Approaching target, going weapons free," James said.
"Copy, red leader. You are clear to commence your bombing run."
"Roger," James replied. He let out a long breath as he waited for the reticule to align.
It had been a long week for the Unspeakable code-named Reinford. They'd been sitting in a bush on the edge of the Malfoy estate carefully dismantling the wards You-Know-Who had installed. They'd worked at a deliberate pace to avoid alerting the dark lord.
They let out a long breath, hearing the hum of a jet engine approaching. As a muggles born magic user, they knew the sights and sounds of that world. This was their signal to finish their work and get the fuck out. Connecting the last trace in the circuit, they stood and aparated away. Even if the Death Eaters on guard heard them leaving, it wouldn't matter in a few seconds.
"Package sent."
"Copy."
Voldemort sighed as he watched what remained of his inner circle argue about the best course of action. Though, to call it an inner circle was being generous. His army had been reduced to a rabble; they weren't even fit to be called a militia.
His eyes widened as he felt a change come over the building. Bolting out of his throne, the room stopped, a fearful ripple flared out among his troops, worried one of them was about to feel the wrath of their lord and master.
They were briefly distracted by a grunt rushing into the room. "Master, there's a muggles…"
The grunt never got to finish his sentence as the room was consumed in fire a second later. The great Lord Voldemort, defeated by a bomb.
There was a tense few seconds as James sped away from the drop zone…
"Target destroyed," The radio confirmed monotonously.
The colonel walked out of the command room and over to a waiting white owl. The owl hooted indignantly at him and stuck out its claw.
"You're a very demanding owl…" He observed tying a note as he'd been instructed.
The owl fluffed its feather and gave the colonel another indignant hoot before flying away.
In France, Harry popped the cap off another butterbeer and to a long pull. He tilted his head back, closing his eyes. He wasn't connected to Voldemort anymore, but he could feel it in his bones. The monster was dead, all that was left was to put away the monster who hid behind a kind face.
"Harry, are you ok?" Hermione asked from what felt far away.
"Yeah, I'm ok… for the first time in a long time, I'm ok."
"Does that mean…?"
"Yeah, Voldemort is dead," Harry confirmed.
Harry felt Hermione climb onto his chair and curl up in his lap. "I'm glad."
"So, what now?" Amelia asked, cradling a glass of Fire whiskey in her hand.
Moody glanced over at her quizzically. "You tell me, I plan on quitting in a few days."
"What??" Amelia exclaimed.
Moody let a rare smile cross his lips. "And I'm nominating you as my replacement."
"You had this planned from the start…" Amelia guessed.
"Not me, exactly, Black and Andromeda Tonks concocted this idea, and I'm sure Potter was there to sign off on the whole damn thing. That boy is going to be dangerous with that brain's trust behind him."
"Yes, wait…" Amelia said as she locked eyes with Moody. "Black, Sirius Black? He's alive??"
Moody scratched his face looking abashed for one of the first times in his life. "Ah, yes. I may have forgotten to tell you about that."
Amelia scowled and sat up in her chair, glowering at the old man in front of her. "I've had a suspicion that things were going on in the background that you weren't telling me about. Unexpected disappearances and deaths that had nothing to do with You-Know-Who. Those four Weasley boys in particular, and one of my top Aurors being spirited away for a secret assignment. What don't I know that I should know, Alastor?"
"I'll tell you, but you're not going to like it."
A few days later, Amelia Bones stood in her office for the first time as Minister. She'd never coveted the minister's position, unlike some in her former department. She just wanted to keep people safe, especially Susan. But events, and certain world-famous wizards and their advisors had conspired to put her here.
Amelia briefly wondered what their motives were. Until her thoughts were interrupted by someone whose motives she didn't need to guess at.
"Good morning, Amelia, congratulations, I am pleased you've ascended to the top of the ministry," Dumbledore said as he entered her office unannounced.
Amelia had to fight back, rolling her eyes. She'd seen Dumbledore's face when his preferred candidate, Daedalus Diggle, was voted down in the first round. "Save your platitudes, Albus. You're no more welcome in this office now than you were during the previous administration. I plan to finally hold you to account."
"For?" Dumbledore asked indignantly. He didn't appreciate being spoken to like this. Especially by this jumped-up girl. It didn't matter how old she was, she was still a child compared to Albus Dumbledore, both in terms of age and magical power.
"The incident with the basilisk, and what you did and didn't know about the Potter's plan to hide from Voldemort. You've acted with impunity for far too long. It's time that changed."
Dumbledore gave Amelia a condescending smile. "Do as you wish; you won't find anything."
Amelia grinned. "We'll see."