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 117: A War on Two Fronts
The Minister's fears would be proven true over the next few days.
As everyone recovered from their injuries at Hogwarts, they would also read the Muggle newspapers that they managed to collect.
Every morning, Hagrid would get on his flying bike and visit some city so they could gain a bit of information about what was going on in the world.
Obviously, they couldn't use the Prophet, as their building had been in London, meaning that every reporter was already dead. Besides, right now, they were more interested in what the muggles were doing.
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Inside a quiet country house in Buckinghamshire.
"You knew about this?" An angry old man dressed in military garb slammed his hands on the table, glaring at the person in front of him. "Why was I not informed?!"
The Prime Minister sighed. "Only a few selected people knew about their existence."
"Was General Williams one of them?" the old man asked.
"Indeed. Unfortunately…" The Minister didn't need to finish the sentence, as they all knew what happened to everyone stationed in London on that day. "But I assure you I had no idea they were going to do something like this!" The Minister had heard news about the unrest among the magical population caused by the rise of another Dark Lord.
It had only been a sheer coincidence that he was not in his London office during the attack. Otherwise, he would have suffered the same fate as everyone else.
The current General did not have a hard time believing the Minister's words, as his own family had been in London at the time and were all dead now. The man had lost more than most already.
Thinking about this caused the General to calm his anger a little bit. "Okay, fine… what are we going to do now?"
"Now…" The Minister's eyes hardened as steel. "We fight back. Get the army ready."
A smile appeared on the General's face. This was exactly what he had been waiting for. "I would like to know everything I can about this enemy we are fighting. These… wizards. What can they do?"
"Unfortunately, this is something they had kept a secret from us. I do know that they can hide their houses by using their magic, and they can also delete people's memories. This is how they had remained undetected for so long."
The General frowned. "That is concerning…" He didn't care all that much about their firepower, as that was something they could compete with by using their own weapons. "If they can use their magic to manipulate our minds, erase our memories, or make us see things that are not there… that would be much harder to deal with."
"We do have one massive advantage, though," the Minister then said.
"Oh? And what would that be?"
"Their community is extremely small. Only a few thousand in number, their largest communities were stationed within London. The war they are waging against themselves has already wiped out the majority of their population. We only have to find the remaining ones," the Minister explained.
"I see…" the General responded. "Very well, leave it to me. We will find those freaks and wipe them all out."
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"They are looking for us." Sirius dropped the paper on his bed. "They are trying to find every magical settlement. Probably this school as well."
The muggle First Minister knew about the existence of Hogwarts, but not its location. There were also many protections set in place that would prevent muggles from approaching it. Still… other communities were not going to be so lucky.
"Do you think they will actually attack us?" Tonks asked as she left a tray of food next to Sirius's bed.
"Why wouldn't they? They all blame us for what happened to London, and all those other muggle villages. The muggles probably think we are monsters…"
Tonks' expression sank. "I'm scared…"
The door of the infirmary opened and someone walked inside.
"What are we going to do?" Tonks wondered.
"What we are going to do…" Voldemort interjected, "is finish what we started… we have to kill Potter."
"Demon Lord," Sirius corrected. "And that wouldn't solve things with the muggles. They blame us for everything."
"There will be time to negotiate with the muggles later on, when we have the actual culprit," Voldemort said.
"You know… he is making a lot of sense," Tonks felt the need to add. "If we can prove that all this chaos was caused by a single wizard and his demons… maybe we can find a way to make peace with the muggles."
It was too late to hide their existence from the rest of the population, but perhaps they could learn to coexist peacefully if they could clear the misunderstanding.
"Okay, let's say that we can do that," Sirius said. "Do you want to organize another attack on Azkaban? With what troops?"
"Other than ourselves, we will have the two dozen men that were stationed at the school," Voldemort commented.
"That won't be nearly enough." Sirius frowned.
The last time they had over five hundred, it was still an incredibly tough fight, where they ended up losing almost two-thirds of their numbers. "What about the I.C.W.? Shouldn't they be sending us more help?"
Tonks sighed. "The Headmistress and the Minister of Magic talked with some of their members, but everyone is currently busy with the political crisis with the muggles. The threat that the Demon Lord poses has been deemed secondary… until the war with the muggle governments has been avoided, the I.C.W will not be sending us more help."
"We don't need them this time," Voldemort said. "We don't need to launch another assault on Azkaban. I don't even think he is currently there. Have you forgotten about what that girl wrote down?"
"Oh, you mean…" Tonks recalled the note that Susan Bones left behind. "There was a mention of a secret cabin in the middle of some woods, north of London. We never had the chance to search it."
"Then now we wi—"
The door opened again; the Headmistress and Minister of Magic walked inside.
"We are going as well," McGonagall said.
"My apologies, but we heard your conversation from outside. We will be helping in this operation," the Minister added.
"But… you are the Minister of Magic!" Tonks exclaimed. "This mission will definitely be dangerous."
Shacklebolt had a sad look on his face. "There is no longer a Ministry, and if this continues in this direction, Magical Britain will soon stop existing. I was an auror for over twenty years… I can be of more use with my wand."
More people walked into the infirmary. Hagrid and Wormtail.
"I want to help too…" Hagrid said. "I am the one who introduced Harry to the magical world. I think it's appropriate if I am there too…"
"I am going too, my Lord." Wormtail glanced at Voldemort with mixed feelings. He was afraid of going into a dangerous mission, but he also knew that if this failed, there would be no more hope for any of them.
It would just be a matter of time before Harry and his demons came to destroy this school, if the muggles didn't find it first.
"Looks like we have a team then." Sirius scratched the scar on his face.
"And a goal."
"E-excuse me."
They all turned to the sound of the nervous female voice and found Hermione Granger standing at the entrance.
"Miss Granger, you should be in your common room," McGonagall told her. "It is not a good idea to be wandering around at this time."
"You are all going to find him… right? If you are going to kill him, I want to be there as well." Hermione said.
An expression of compassion appeared on the Headmistress's face. "Miss Gran— Hermione. I understand how you feel, but this is too dangerous. Leave it to the adults to handle this."
"I can help," she then said. "I know more about him than anyone else. Also… I think I may know about this wooden cabin that you are all looking for."
They looked at each other for a long moment.
"You can't seriously be considering bringing a child with us." McGonagall frowned.
"I would bring a toddler if that gave us better odds," Voldemort said with no hesitation.
"Minerva… I understand your position as an educator," Shacklebolt said. "But this may be the last chance we have."
McGonagall turned to Hermione. "Are you sure about this?"