Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 108: Discovery
"Sir! The Dementors are retreating!"
Moody turned around and glanced through the small window at the top of the wall, just in time to see the shadowy creatures flying away. "They are giving up?..." He thought it was strange.
Those creatures had been pestering them nonstop since they entered the prison. And now that they had finally made it to the third floor, they simply left.
"How are our forces holding up?" Moody asked. He wasn't sure how many men they had lost already, as they had to go their separate ways after venturing inside.
Otherwise, they would risk hitting each other with their own spells due to their large numbers.
Thus, the New Order army had been separated into several squads, each one with its own leader. For his part, Moody's squad had consisted of over fifty men.
"We lost thirty-two men, sir…" The wizard who spoke was barely holding on and had to lean against a nearby wall for support.
Moody sighed as he glanced at his remaining men. "Take a moment to rest and patch your wounds."
Losses were expected… everyone knew this.
What concerned Moody was that they had yet to find the leader, as well as that powerful demon that Voldemort had encountered previously.
So far, they had only dealt with the normal demons ...Dreagnaus, imps, kobalos with their annoying guns, some shadow demons here and there, as well as the constant harassment from the Dementors, which required them to have dedicated individuals continually cast Patronus Charms to keep them away.
It was exhausting, and after an hour of being attacked from all sides, they made it to the dining hall.
"Mmm?..." It was then that Moody noticed something. There were signs of a battle having occurred here very recently.
There were pieces of furniture broken everywhere, and some of it was still releasing smoke. He had initially thought that they were the first ones to get this far.
Just as he was about to open his mouth to ask his men, Moody spotted a small Patronus construct making its way through a nearby window and flying toward him.
"Sir!" His men got nervous.
"It's okay. I know this one." Moody recognized the small bunny as Tonks' Patronus. "It's a message." This was a less common way to use the charm, but it was very effective when trying to convey a message to someone nearby.
As Moody listened to the recorded voice, his expression turned somber.
After the Patronus delivered the complete message, it vanished into thin air.
Alastor Moody turned toward his men. "We need t—"
He suddenly stopped when he heard a large number of steps approaching.
A few seconds later, Sirius, Wormtail, and Voldemort made their way into the dining hall. Following them were a few dozen of their squad members.
However, Moody did not miss the fact that, just like his own squad, their numbers had been drastically diminished at this point.
"Moody!" Sirius was able to force a smile when he saw him. Despite the hell that they had gone through, the man was happy to see one of his friends still alive.
"Have you found him?" Voldemort wasted no time questioning him.
"About that… I just received a message from Tonks," said Moody.
"My cousin? Where is she? Is she injured?" Sirius asked, with clear concern for the girl, as she was the youngest in their group.
"She said that the Demon Lord is not in Azkaban right now, and urged me to find her in the main bedroom on the second floor. I say we hurry… she sounded in distress," Moody explained.
"The boy is not here?!" Voldemort could not care less about Tonks or her distress. The only thing he wanted was to kill Harry Potter once and for all.
"Let's go then," Sirius urged them. "Let's go find her."
Moody turned to the other members of the Order. "Everyone who is too injured or tired to continue, stay here and recover. We don't know what we'll encounter on these last levels. If you don't feel ready… don't come."
Voldemort was already walking ahead. "The main bedroom, right?"
"My Lord, wait for me!" Wormtail hurried to chase after him, as he did not want to be left alone with Sirius and Moody.
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"Huff… there." Sirius pointed at a large wooden door that could be seen at the end of the corridor.
Moody groaned and placed a hand on his shoulder to cover the bleeding.
On the way here, they had been ambushed by a dozen more of those nasty shadow demons, as well as hundreds of imps, who were especially tricky to avoid in the narrow corridors of the second floor.
As a result, they had lost most of their men and suffered grave injuries.
Sirius was using a torn piece of his robes to cover a deep cut on his cheek, and Wormtail had lost his only remaining human hand.
Voldemort was the only one who still looked mostly unharmed, but even the former Dark Lord was visibly exhausted at this point.
"G-good." Moody said, as he didn't think he could fight for much longer.
As soon as Sirius opened the door, he found himself staring at his cousin Tonks, who was now pointing her wand at him.
"Sirius?!" It took her a moment to recognize him.
"Yep… that's me, your handsome cousin Sirius." He chuckled. "Maybe not so handsome anymore."
"You're hurt!" Tonks rushed to look at his injuries.
"We're all hurt," Moody scoffed. "But that can wait."
"Right! There is something urgent that you all need to see." Tonks didn't want to waste a moment and showed them the note that Susan had written.
Moody, Voldemort, and Sirius all got closer so they could read it properly.
"Merlin! Is this for real?" Sirius was the first one to speak.
"A secret hideout," Voldemort muttered.
"He's planning on attacking London?!" Moody's face went pale. This was beyond anything that he could have imagined.
London had over seven million inhabitants! And it wasn't just Muggles this time... it included several magical communities, as well as the main commercial district of Diagon Alley.
Voldemort's red eyes began to flicker. "Looks like we've underestimated how far he was willing to go."
Attacking a main metropolis meant shattering the status of secrecy. It would be impossible to cover an event like that from the Muggle masses. The existence of wizards would be revealed for sure this time.