Charlus let out a growl of frustration as he went through his gear for the third time that evening. His day had been one of anxious hell. Not only did he need to wait to storm the Ministry until the agreed upon time, but was worried about the kids, Harry was still in the hands of Dumbledore and Hermione, Ginny, Ron, Susan, and Hannah hadn't been found either. Wherever they were, someone had been smart enough to put up some anti-tracking charms.
The worst part had been Mrs Weasley. She had come to the ministry with Arthur when she learnt about her children going missing. She hadn't been happy to learn that while the Ministry was doing what they could, the Aurors were in the middle of an operation and didn't have the manpower to spare to look for them.
Operational security forbade any of them from informing her about what they suspected or that their big operation was probably the best opportunity to find them. While nobody could blame her it was obvious that if she was told she would charge off towards the Ministry looking for her children and she would blow the whole operation and their only chance to save Harry and end Voldemort. Charlus felt like a right bastard not telling her, and for not rushing off to look for Hermione and the kids, but he had to prioritise and trust and hope that he had taught Hermione and Ron enough that they would survive long enough to be grounded for the rest of their lives.
All of that was why he was having so much trouble checking his gear. He was distracted and unfocused and his check kept coming up as something missing but it was a different thing every time.
"Potter, if you can't get your head in the game, go home." Said a goblin voice from behind him. "You need your wits about you or you will just be a liability."
Charlus turned and saw KeenShard, one of the goblin commanders that were there to lead the goblin troops. "You're right, I need to get my head in the game. It's just hard." Charlus admitted.
KeenShard nodded. "You worry for your children. It is natural, it is understandable. It is also what will get them killed if you can't focus. You have ten minutes to clear your head then we move off with or without you." And the goblin walked away.
Charlus knew KeenShard was right. He had to get his head on straight so he went and sat in the corner of the cave they were in and closed his eyes while he tried to straighten out his mind. Some people will tell you that you need to be emotionless to fight in battles like this but from Charlus's experience that wasn't true at all. You wanted a fire inside you to push you forward but you couldn't let it control you. So he stoked his anger, using it to push aside his fears, not those for himself but those for his family, then when he was good and angry he forced himself to be calm. Not the kind of calm that isn't angry, but the kind where you can use the anger. Fury not rage.
Soon it was time to move out and everyone: Auror, goblin warrior, Charlus, and even Director Bones were led through some tunnels until they reached a dead end with a large room off to the side.
"Okay you lot listen up because I don't trust that any of you actually paid attention in your previous briefings" KeenShard said as he stood in front of everyone. Then another goblin next to him said something in the goblins language. Charlus knew just enough random words of the language that he knew it was a translation.
"Just where that tunnel ends is a three foot thick wall of stone that blocks off an old way in and out of Tas'ak'un. In a few minutes we are going to open the old way and make our way into Tas'ak'un. You should all know your squad assignments by now. You have three objectives."
"First, locate and destroy the last horcrux of the false lord. Fire squad you have the equipment from the curse breakers so that's your primary responsibility. Don't forget that once you do you need to send the completed signal by snapping the bracelet on your wrist. That is the signal for the curse breakers to destroy the horcrux they are using to power the detector you're carrying. The order of events is important: one, find the horcrux, two, destroy the horcrux, three, signal the breakers. If you signal the breakers early and the horcrux gets away somehow you will be losing your war or plunging your people into one. Don't fuck it up."
"Second objective. Eliminate or capture any resistance you encounter. We are looking for a decisive victory today, that means also killing the false lord, however to do that you need to wait until his horcruxes are destroyed. The bracelets work both ways. Once the breakers do their jobs all your brackets will break and fall off. If you still have your bracelet on he is unkillable. However, he is still only one wizard, try to capture him if the opportunity presents itself. Try to use numbers to overwhelm him and keep him in Tas'ak'un until you get the go. I personally have a barrel of the finest mead for whoever kills the bastard."
"Stone squad you are in charge of lock down. Keep everyone from leaving. I want no death eaters able to run away. Lock down the floo, anti-portkey and anti-apparition wards as well as physical lock down."
"Lightning squads you will spread out and kill or capture."
"Third objective, this one is mostly for the goblin warriors. Secure Tas'ak'un. We are getting our home back today and it would be a poor lookout if we lost it again so quickly. However, remember that our deal with the Ministry is that they will have time to come and collect their things. That means no looting, not even if it's goblin made. That is a legal argument for a different day, today we work together."
"Before we start there is one more thing to be on the lookout for. Harry Potter has been kidnapped by Albus Dumbledore. The wizards seem to believe the most likely place to find them is in Tas'ak'un fighting against the false lord. We also have reason to believe that a number of Potter's friends and allies are going to attempt to join the fight. These people are not targets, and while we have no responsibility to rescue the children, doing so will definitely score whoever does so some good will from both the house of Potter and the Ministry."
The speech was long but at least it was all an actual information briefing and not someone waffling on about motivation. They had all already been briefed before but it never hurt to have redundant briefing and it could help to reinforce the information. There were a few people looking at Charlus when the gratitude of House Potter was mentioned and the old Warlock simply nodded his head in confirmation. Anyone who got one of his kids out of there would have his support for as long as he lived.
Suddenly there was a lot of noise from out in the corridor. Charlus had been expecting an explosion as they brought down the wall but it wasn't that. There was a roar, not a sound that was best described as a roar, but an honest to magic roar. One that was getting closer with the sound of something clanking along behind it.
"Damn it, they are a few minutes early. Vanish the wall now. Everyone else, get ready to follow." KeenShard snapped. Three wizards who worked for Gringotts raised their wand pointing though the door and cast vanishing spells at the wall that separated the bank from Tas'ak'un and the wall vanished. Just in time for an albino dragon to come running past the doorway and through the new opening being chased by a goblin with a strange clanking instrument.
"GO GO GO!" KeenShard shouted and grabbing his own warhammer he charged through the opening first, following the path that the dragon was leading. Charlus drew his wand and joined everyone who was running after him.
-ϟϟϟ-
Unfortunately for Charlus but fortunately for Hermione nobody had thought to check Gringotts before she went in and grabbed a bag full of galleons from her vault, the vault Harry had set up for her when he gave her share of the basilisk fund. When an overworked Ministry employee went in later and handed over the paperwork that declared Hermione and the others as missing minors, he had just assumed all the school kids were minors despite Hermione being seventeen. Any goblin who would have known to override the standard operating procedure of only giving the Aurors the absolute minimum of assistance were already busy with preparing to breach the old ministry location.
So Hermione got back to Fred and George's shop with nobody the wiser. "Okay Ron I have the gold do you have everything we need?"
"Yeah I got it all packed up here. The total came to a little under two hundred galleons. Are you sure you're okay with covering all that? I don't mind chipping in." Ron said from where he had bags packed with his brother's products.
"It's fine. But if you still feel you haven't done enough after everything we can talk about you chipping in then. Now how are Fred and George holding up?"
It was Ginny who answered. "They aren't exactly happy with us but they understand why we are doing it. They would drag us back to Hogwarts if we gave them the opportunity and they sort of appreciate that because we have restrained them they won't get in trouble with mum, and that we are paying for everything we are swiping."
"Is it still stealing if what we are taking is from a shop and we are paying for it?" Ron asked.
Susan answered. "Technically yes. But honestly most shopkeepers wouldn't worry about it and if they did as long as you admit it the D.M.L.E will probably just tell you not to do it again. Not worth the time to prosecute someone who actually paid. Now keeping the shopkeepers locked up in their own flat over the shop is a different matter. Let's hope Fred and George aren't too pissed at us after all this."
Hannah, who was looking a little nervous at the topic of discussion, asked, "What time do we go?"
"They're not attacking until eight o'clock tonight." Susan answered.
"How do you know that?" Hermione asked.
"Family house elf. She has standing orders to keep me up to date on my aunty's schedule when I ask. It was so that when I was younger I wouldn't panic if aunty was home later than normal. She can't tell me any details of course but if I already know what's going on I can work out a lot from context." Susan explained.
"So we are just stuck here all day?" Susan asked.
"Looks that way. Ginny and I will go and see what our brothers have in the way of food, no point going hungry. Come on Gin." Ron said. Ginny gave her brother a look that promised a slow painful death for daring to tell her what to do but she got up and followed him.
They waited all day with nothing to do but plan, watch the clock, and look after Fred and George who were currently silenced while being tied up in the most comfortable chairs. At around five Ron was looking out the window and saw all the Aurors arriving at the bank. He even spotted Charlus with them
"What do you think that's all about?" He asked everyone.
"Joining up with the goblins I assume." Said Hannah with a shrug. "How do you think they will get into the Ministry?"
"Well the visitor's entrance is out. It's big enough for us but trying to get dozens in that way wouldn't work. Flooing would be dangerous because they control the network, portkeys and apparition are out so either they have something new or the goblins might just dig into the Ministry. They are pretty close after all and they both have tunnels under London. It would explain why it took all this time to get everything in place." Ron said thinking out loud as he went.
With that new bit of information they were finally able to put together the last few parts of their plan. They had another meal because Susan insisted that they didn't want to run out of energy while they were fighting and Hermione stunned the twins before removing anything that was keeping them tied down and set their wands on a small table between them. This way when they woke up they would be free to do whatever they wanted it would just be too late to stop them. Ron hit them all with disillusionment charms and they flew out of the alley and out into muggle London.
It didn't take them long to find the visitor's entrance to the ministry of magic. It wasn't particularly far from Diagon Alley. There were two people there who looked like they were just hanging around the alleyway that contained the phone box that was actually the camouflaged entry to the old ministry. It didn't take long watching them to realise they were wizards because they were complaining about, "All these filthy muggles." Which was also a massive clue about what side the two of them were on.
Luckily for the group of five teenagers the death eaters in question weren't all that good at their job. They didn't look up even once. Disillusionment charms weren't perfect, there was a chance to spot the shimmer they left on the surface of whatever was being concealed, but for that to happen you had to look at where the disillusioned person was and they never looked up to where the four teens on brooms were deciding if they were friend or foe. They could have been without Disillusionment and it wouldn't have made any difference.
Four stunning spells shot out almost at the same time. Three hit the one who had been calling muggles filth and the fourth took down the other one. Not bad considering they didn't have any opportunity to coordinate their attack.
They landed and Hermione shrunk all their brooms down so that they would easily fit in pockets and Ginny asked. "What do we do with these?" And she aimed a light kick at one of the unconscious death eaters to indicate what she meant. "We can't just leave them here, they will draw attention and if we don't do something then when they wake up they're going to come down and join in the fight."
"We can't kill them." Susan said firmly thinking that was where the younger Weasley was going. Hermione couldn't help but tut at that but Susan was right, they were unconscious and unarmed. Killing in a life or death fight was different than murdering people who were completely at your mercy.
Ron though was more decisive, he reached down and took both of their wands and snapped them clean in half. "There, now when they wake up they won't be able to do magic. Hermione, how much can you overpower a confundus charm?"
"Enough to keep them confused for a few days, but won't that be kind of obvious?" Hermione answered.
"You hit them as hard as you can with a confundus, and I will hit them with a short term Disillusionment. That will hide them and keep the muggles from getting curious until we are gone. Hopefully by the time they wake up the muggles will have found them and shipped them off to a hospital. Then when they wake up confused ranting about being wizards and how their going to kill all the muggles they will be shipped off to a mental hospital and by the time the confundus wears off all the doctors will be convinced they're nuts and they won't have their wands to hurt anyone with."
It was diabolical, cruel, and completely unethical so naturally that was exactly what they did. That done, they turned their attention to the phone box. "How does it work?" Hermione asked
"You dial 0800-magic, tell the voice why you're here, it gives you a badge, and then the phone box works like a lift taking you down into the Ministry atrium." Susan answered.
Hermione nodded her understanding and Ron took over. "We won't all fit at once. Hermione you still have those papers you used to practice the protean charm right? Give one half of a pair to me and the other to Susan. Hermione, you and I will go down under Harry's cloak. We will take the supplies with us, then when it's safe for everyone else to come down I will rip this parchment and the three of you will know it's safe to follow."
Susan and Ginny both protested what they saw as basically being on the B team but Ron reminded that "this isn't about A team or B team this is about saving Harry. Harry is my best friend and Hermione's boyfriend. Susan, Ginny I love you both, in different ways of course, but it's Harry and if anyone is going to take the risk first it's me and Hermione."
The only one who didn't need convincing was Hannah. Her real loyalty wasn't to any of them but Susan. That wasn't to say that she wasn't friendly with the rest of them, she was. It was just that Susan was the best friend she had grown up with. She was here to watch Susan's back and the longer She and Susan stayed out of trouble the better.
Ron and Hermione got in the booth at exactly eight-O-five. Hopefully whatever the main force was doing would have pulled enough attention away from the ministry lobby and after a little fumbling with the invisibility cloak they were both hidden. Hermione picked up the receiver and dialed the number.
"Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and reason for visit." Ron jumped in "Marcus Fibblewit and Gardina Banderbrich here to deliver a package."
Two gold badges popped out of the coin return and Hermione had just enough time to read one before Ron stuffed them both in his pocket just as the phone box started to descend. 'Marcus Fibblewit - courier'
"Gardina Banderbrich?" Hermione asked.
"Fake name in case someone is paying attention to some kind of record. Gardina Banderbrich, and Marcus Fibblewit here to deliver a package would get a much lighter response than Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley."
When they arrived in the atrium they were lucky, they could hear a commotion going on somewhere below them and the death eaters in the room were all crowding around the lifts ready to go down. Nobody had seen them come in and the two of them ducked down behind the old visitors desk. Ron immediately started pulling out everything they had brought from Fred and George's shop while Hermione tore the paper, signaling to the rest that it was safe to come down.
Less than two minutes later they were ready. All five of them were ducked down behind the solid marble workstation. A lot of the death eaters had left to go deal with whatever the aurors and goblins had done to create such a racket. And lastly everyone knew what their job was.
Ron picked up the bag that was full of Fred and George's most spectacular and long lasting fireworks, cast a spell into it, then threw the whole bag as far into the atrium as he could. A few seconds later there was a roar of sound and dazzling strobe of flashing colours as the fireworks flared to life causing a massive distraction just in time for everyone to open fire on the crowd of death eaters.
-ϟϟϟ-
Harry was bored out of his mind. While he had his wand back at this point and the door wasn't locked, at least from this side, he couldn't leave. Or more accurately it was a bad idea for him to leave. If he left now he would have to sneak around hundreds of death eaters and his only way out would be through the visitors entrance. Fighting his way through hundreds of death eaters by himself even with the luck potion he still had wasn't a plan so much as suicide with plausible denability.
No, his best option was to wait until the attack started. That would sow some chaos among the death eaters and there would be two possible ways out. Then hopefully with the luck potion he could slip away from Dumbledore and get away.
But then again should he be trying to get away? 'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies.' The prophecy that Dumbledore had shared echoed through his mind. If Dumbledore was right, and it sounded like he might be, this could be Harry's best opportunity to end the hell that was the repeating pattern of his life. Sure it was a gamble but the vial of liquid luck in his pocket could easily shift the odds in his favour.
Time passed and the only things that disturbed the silence of the room was the sound of their breathing and the surprisingly loud sound of a clock ticking away on the wall.
Harry Idly wondered if his drinking the luck potion would have any affect on the attack. What he knew of potions said no. Potions only affected the person who drank them, touched them, or even breathed them. But on the other hand luck had to also work outside of himself didn't it? And Harry definitely wouldn't consider himself lucky if he learned all the Aurors and goblins had died. He honestly didn't know. He made a mental note to himself to ask his grandfather if he lived through this.
The hours ticked by in awkward silence. Harry considered trying to stun Dumbledore so that he would be able to stay here when the time came with Dumbledore unable to bring down the Fidelius ward and force Harry into a situation where he had no options but to leave. Unfortunately Harry didn't think there was a good chance he could take the old man. Maybe in a fair fight but Harry was sure that Dumbledore had some plan up his sleeve if Harry tried that. No, if he was going to be forced to fight anyway then it was best Harry did so well rested and not exhausted from fighting someone so powerful.
Eventually Harry just had to ask. "So do you actually know what time the attack is meant to start or are we just waiting for some type of signal?"
"Eight o'clock my dear boy. Not long now and if all goes according to plan there won't be any more Voldemort and no more war for decades."
"Decades? You aren't pulling for a century or two?" Harry said with a sneer at the old man that might actually have impressed Snape had he been there.
Dumbledore ignored Harry's sneer and instead just answered the question. "Alas no Harry. I don't think that is likely. Wizards, much like our mundane counterparts, are one argumentative lot and eventually as it always does war will break out again, and I fear it will be far sooner than any of us would like."
They lapsed back into silence and this time Harry watched the clock. Two hours. One hour. Thirty minutes. Ten minutes. Five minutes. Then just before the clock hit eight there was an almighty roaring sound. It was a sound Harry recognised. He had heard it before, in his fourth year, back when Dumbledore had still been the school Headmaster. Someone had brought a dragon to a wand fight.
"I hereby abdicate my position as Chief Warlock." Said Dumbledore and suddenly there was a flash of light and Harry knew exactly where they were in the Ministry. Without a Chief Warlock there was no Chief Warlock Records Room to hide and the Fidelius had fallen. Now there was absolutely nothing to keep the mass of death eaters infesting the building out of this room.
Harry reached into his potions and drew out the vial of Felix Felicis and after popping the stopper with his thumb Harry downed half of the potion. Immediately a feeling of infinite potential washed over Harry. He stored the rest of the potion back in its pouch and after making sure his robes were on properly he strode towards the door. Just as a bunch of loud explosions echoed from a floor above Harry said. "It's Show time." as he kicked open the door. The fight for Tas'ak'un had begun.