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Category: Alternate Universe Characters:Harry/Ginny Genres: Action/Adventure Warnings: Disturbing Imagery Story is Complete Rating: PG Reviews: 160 Summary: Dumbledore is dead. Harry ran away from the Dursley's before getting his Hogwarts letter. Who will save the magical world now? Hitcount: Story Total: 85549; Chapter Total: 4752 Awards: View Trophy Room |
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Dolores Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic, former High Inquisitor and Deputy Headmistress at Hogwarts, walking indignantly through Diagon Alley, closely followed by two Auror guards, carrying a receipt from Flourish and Blotts. The receipt, dated September 1, was for a book she had purchased the previous day, Half-Bloods and Where to Find Them. After taking the book home, she noticed she had been overcharged by 10 Sickles, and that simply did not happen to the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic. As she approached the store, however, she was accosted by two seven-foot-tall creatures. She had never seen an elf since the slavery curse had been dispelled, so she didn't know what these were, but she knew they weren't human. "Get away from me, you vile beasts," she said as the Aurors stepped up to protect her. One of the elves snapped his fingers and the two Aurors dropped in their tracks. The other elf said, "Cwene Umbridge, you are coming with us." Not knowing why he called her a queen, she didn't know how badly he had just insulted her, but she didn't really care at the moment. She began screaming and kicking as the elf dragged her to a waiting Hippogriff who occupied much of the right-of-way in Diagon Alley. One elf climbed aboard the Hippogriff while the other bound Umbridge's hands and tossed her, face down, over the Hippogriff's back. The Hippogriff took off, while the remaining elf looked around at the gathering crowd and said, "Never again!" and then popped away. The invisible Hippogriff landed on the roof of Grimmauld Place and entered the attic. Dobby got off, picked up the struggling Senior Undersecretary, and stood her on her feet in front of Sirius and Nibbles, who had just popped in. Some pips and squeaks could be heard coming out of her mouth despite the fact that Dobby had silenced her. "Hello, Dolores," said Sirius. "So nice to see you again. I hope you realize the honour we are doing you. We are going to grant you your fondest wish: We are going to introduce you to Salazar Slytherin." He and the elves then dragged a shocked former High Inquisitor, who was convinced she was about to be murdered, to the other end of the attic, where Ginny had set up a large cauldron. "Did everything go all right?" she asked Dobby. "Everything went as planned, Ginny." "I still wish you could have done that in a less public place." "We needed to send a message," said Dobby grimly. Nibbles nodded his head in agreement. "Let's proceed," said Ginny. She dropped an ancient bone into the cauldron. "Bone of the body, unknowingly given, you will renew yourself," she chanted. Then she nodded at Kreacher, who sliced off the tip of his little finger. "Flesh of the servant, willingly given, you will revive your master." Finally, she looked to Sirius, who pulled out a goblin knife and sliced Umbridge's arm, holding it over the cauldron. "Blood from the enemy, forcibly taken, you will resurrect your foe." Then she threw the staff into the cauldron. There was a flash of light and a middle-aged man stood up from the cauldron. The man was completely bald, and Sirius hastily provided him with a robe. The man ran his hand over his head, smiled at Ginny, and said, "I guess the ritual doesn't resurrect the hair." Ginny smiled back and said, "Salazar Slytherin, allow me to introduce you to Dolores Umbridge, who was a member of Slytherin House at Hogwarts and who thinks she is carrying out your mission of oppressing Muggleborns and non-human magical beings." Umbridge realized then that the silencing charm had been removed, or perhaps she didn't care, and started screaming, "You have no right to kidnap me. I will see you all kissed or thrown through the veil." Slytherin summoned his staff, slammed it on the floor, causing a loud "boom" and a frightening fireworks display, after which he shouted, "Ástillian, Áglæcwíf." Then, remembering that he had decided to learn modern English before re-entering the world in a new body, he repeated, "Silence, crone. You bring dishonor to the house of Slytherin. My house was known as a place of peace, honour, tolerance, and intelligence. You've made it into a place of war, corruption, prejudice, and insanity." He stepped forward and Ginny handed him his sword. "Do you not recognize this? This is my sword, one that can only be wielded by the Lord Slytherin and his heirs." He closed his eyes a moment, and hair grew on his head and face so that he closely matched the image in the painting above the fireplace in the Slytherin common room. "Do you not recognize me?" he continued quietly. "I am Salazar Slytherin, craftiest of the Hogwarts Four." Umbridge gaped. She recognized the sword. The man did look like the painting. This could be a trick, but . . . what if it was not? Slytherin placed a hand on her head. "My child, you must be humble to be great; you must understand fear to be brave; you must work hard to be loyal; and you must open your mind to be crafty." Memories of her childhood swirled through her head: of how people had bullied her; of how she had conformed to what she thought people wanted to get ahead; of how she had put aside her ideals to achieve her petty dreams. She fell to her knees crying. "Lord Slytherin, what must I do to be saved?" "Pledge your loyalty to the true heir of Slytherin. If my granddaughter here is not the true heir, then you have lost nothing. If she is, you will be reborn." It dawned on Umbridge that this redhaired girl was the one who the Ministry had labeled the "Dark Lady." Yet she desperately took the girl's hand. "I pledge my life, my honour, my loyalty, and my obedience to the true heir of Slytherin." "Thank you, Madam Umbridge," said Ginny. "In exchange for your pledge, I vow to protect you and your family from harm to the best of my ability and that of the House of Slytherin. You may go if you wish. If you stay, however, you can provide a great service to the House of Slytherin." Dolores realized that they were offering this as a test for her benefit. If she left, it meant that the oath she had given, binding her to the heir of Slytherin, did not bind her to the one they called Ginny, which meant this girl was not the heir. But she didn't want to leave; she wanted to stay and help these people. In fact, the idea of turning these people in to the Ministry was abhorrent to her. This meant Ginny was truly the heir of Slytherin. Dolores stood up straight and asked, "What can I do to help the House of Slytherin?" "Tell us everything you know about Minister Flamel's plan to re-enslave house elves," said Ginny. The next morning, Ginny marched into the war council room, with Harry, Neville, Sirius, Salazar, Dolores, and Dobby in train, and sat down without exchanging a single pleasantry. "Dobby?" she said. The tall elf stood up. "The re-enslavement ritual will take place at Wookey Hole, a cavern in the south of Somerset." Dobby flicked a hand and an image of the cave entrance appeared in the air. "In retrospect, it should have been obvious. The cavern is filled with magic, and Muggles call a major rock formation in the cavern 'the witch.'" He flicked his hand again and the formation appeared. "In fact," he said sadly, "we think it is the last resting place of the last queen of the elves." Dobby moved again and an aerial view of the location appeared. "Muggles call the stream that emerges from the south-facing opening to the cavern the Axe River. Wizards call it the Battle Axe River; elves call it the River of Tears. The river follows a small canyon, at the south end of which is a Muggle village that has strange statues of creatures unknown to me." As erudite as he had become, Dobby had never heard of or seen a picture of a dinosaur. "We think they may be Muggle fantasies of dragons." Dobby pointed to the map. "Other than the village, the cavern entrance is surrounded by fields and dense forests. From the north, a near-vertical cliff nearly six rods high guards the opening to the cavern. The Ministry will undoubtedly station guards on this cliff to foil our efforts to stop the ritual. On the other hand, if we capture the cliff, we can easily defend our soldiers who invade the cavern. From the east and west, the slope to the canyon floor is gentler. "I recommend we divide our ground forces into four units. One should invade from the north, capturing the cliff top. One should invade through the Muggle village from the south. The other two should move from the east and west. The equinox takes place at exactly 6 pm on September 22; we will have until that moment to displace the Ministry army." "Why don't we just capture the cavern now and prevent the Ministry from starting the ritual?" suggested Deerslayer. "The Ministry has already stationed large numbers of Aurors, hit wizards, and other fighters around the cavern," said Dobby. "If we captured the cavern now, we would face a battle of attrition that would last for weeks. Since Ministry fighters are likely to greatly outnumber our own, if we lose that battle at any time, we lose the war." "There is another issue," said Ginny. "As a part of the ritual, the Ministry must completely drain the blood from the elf queen. Dobby and Winky have been the de facto leaders of the elves since they were emancipated, and Winky has been missing for several days. We don't know where she is, but she is still alive and heavily guarded. If we capture Wookey Hole now, the Ministry is likely to drain her blood and attempt the ritual some place else." "Will the ritual work anywhere else?" asked Bill Weasley. "We don't know," confessed Ginny. "Since we know they now plan to do it at Wookey Cave, our best bet is to stop it from happening there on the day of the ritual." "The Ministry has been withdrawing large amounts of money from Gringotts," said Wolfslayer. "We think it is to pay mercenaries, who traditionally ask for half of their pay up front." "Based on the money they have withdrawn, can we estimate how many mercenaries they've hired?" asked Snape. "We guess it is in the neighborhood of 2,000," said Wolfslayer, "though some of the money may be going for other things." The war council continued to plan. At the end of the meeting, Mountbatten approached Harry with a grave look on his face. "Harry Athailt, the Manticore meet this year is in Northumberland, which is more than 100 leagues from south Somerset. To arrive in Northumberland on time, we will have to run 14 leagues a day." "Then we better run fast," said Harry. "We must leave tomorrow to arrive at the meet on time," said Mountbatten. "I'll arrange for Deerslayer and Neville to oversee the combat training sessions." Early the next morning, Harry kissed Ginny good-bye and took the underground to Uxbridge, where he joined Mountbatten and Ernestine on their journey to Northumberland. Uxbridge was closer to Northumberland than south Somerset, but not by much, and they had one day less to get there, so they still had to run an average of 14 leagues, or 42 miles, a day. Harry knew he could fly Buckbeak or take a train, but to maintain the respect of the Manticores, he decided to run all the way. Fortunately, the previous months of combat training with his students had left him in good shape. When the magical folk of Diagon Alley walked by Gringotts that morning, they could read a sign: The sign listed several Muggle banks, including HSBC, the Royal Bank of Scotland, and Barclays. This didn't help wizarding families and institutions that had assets stored at Gringotts. The Ministry sent Aurors and Unspeakables who used every spell they knew to break into the bank, but they were unable to gain entry or even scratch the polished surfaces of the large doors and window shutters that remained firmly closed. The Ministry would be hiring no more mercenaries who demanded up-front payment, and some mercenaries who had already received partial payment left on the assumption that the Ministry would not be able to pay the rest. Most, however, felt ethically obligated to complete the contract under which they were hired, if only because they feared no one would hire them in the future if they broke their contracts. Underneath Gringotts, bankers turned to clankers as every adult goblin was pressed into service forging armour, imbuing their magic into blades, and helping elves sew suits of shedded Basilisk skin that had been gathered from the Forbidden Forest. In the fields west of Uxbridge, Viktor Krum and several of his friends from European Quidditch teams gave lessons to scores of aspiring flyers. Deerslayer and Neville continued to put both Muggleborns and former Death Eaters through their paces in ground combat training. Pollux and Torino roamed the countryside trying to enlist various centaur troops into service. Ginny met almost daily with an inner circle of her war council, including Wolfslayer, Nephele, Hermione, Dobby, Slytherin, Lucius Malfoy, Snape, and Umbridge, who attended mainly to be with her idol, Salazar Slytherin. When not meeting with her war council, Ginny visited with her Basilisks, studied in the library, or worked in the kitchen--anything to avoid thinking about how much she missed Harry. For Harry, the trip to Northumberland consisted of running and sleeping, running and sleeping, with brief breaks for food. During some of the food breaks, Mountbatten told him some of the legends told by Manticores. One was about the forest elves, who the Manticores remembered as bright spirits with whom they shared meals, mead, and song. When the elves disappeared, so did the mead as the Manticores couldn't make it themselves and wizards and other beings who could make mead were either hostile or uninterested in sharing camps with beasts that could rip them limb from limb in a second. On September 11, Harry, Mountbatten, and Ernestine arrived at the Manticore meet, where Harry immediately collapsed and went to sleep. The next morning he was awakened by Queen Sophia, who he had not seen in more than a year. While she gently tried to bring him back to life, he could hear the kings announce the engagements of their sons and daughters. "I thought the engagement announcements took place in the evening," remembered Harry. "Usually, they do," said Sophia. "But this is a special meet, and they desire to get the important things out of the way before they discuss the really important things." "What is really important this year?" he asked. "Harry, that's what I love about you. You are always so modest." Figuring he wasn't going to get any more answers on that subject, he asked after King Alfred, the state of the deer herds in Devon, and whether Alfred and Sophia were likely to have any princes or princesses soon. The sun was high but still rising in the sky when Mountbatten came over and said, "Come, Harry Athailt, we have much to discuss." Mountbatten led Harry to the front of the meet, where the king of Northumberland was speaking about the future of the Manticores. The king then introduced King Mountbatten. "Kings and queens, princes and princesses," began Mountbatten. "A year ago, I yielded my kingdom to King Alfred so that I could help Harry Athailt on his mission to save Albion. In that time, I worked side-by-side with centaurs and goblins, elves and hippogriffs, wizards and witches. I learned many things, but what I learned most was of the great heart of Harry Athailt. To be with us today, Harry joined Ernestine and I on a run of nearly 100 leagues in seven days, a feat that few if any wizards could ever match." The crowd roared; though 100 leagues in seven days might be routine for a Manticore, they were still impressed with Harry's run. "Now I want to introduce you again to Harry Athailt, and I ask you to listen to what he says. The future of many beings, the future of Manticores, the future of Albion itself rests on his shoulders and the shoulders of his friends." Mountbatten stepped back and Harry stepped up to take the king's place. "Your highnesses, my friends, my fellow beings," Harry said. "Since the last time I spoke with you, I have met many friends and done many things. One of the most important things we have done is to defeat a dark wizard whose goal was to subjugate all the beings of Albion under his thumb. He had imprisoned thousands of wizards and witches who disagreed with his policies, and we freed them. "Even more important, we freed the forest elves." Many of the Manticores roared in approval. "Once more, after 600 years of slavery, tall elves may walk the forests free of bondage or servitude." The Manticores roared again. "Sadly, some wizards are not happy with this, and they plan to re-enslave the elves. The re-enslavement ritual will take place in south Somerset ten days from today. They have brought in 5,000 wizards to defend the ritual." Some in the crowd roared in anger at that. "Tomorrow, I shall begin my run to south Somerset. With the help of goblins, centaurs, elves, hippogriffs, Basilisks, wizards, and witches, I intend to defeat these wizards who would oppress every other being in Albion. I hope you will run with me and join me in this war." The entire field of Manticores roared, and roared and roared, and roared some more. Sophia came to the front and kissed him. "If you asked them, they would start the run with you right now," she said. Harry didn't want to say so, but he desperately needed a day of rest. "Tonight, we eat," he said, knowing she and the other Manticores would understand. That afternoon, he lit several fires and put many deer on spits so every Manticore could share more than a taste of roasted meat. Manticore princes and princesses surrounded Harry with questions about his battles and his other exploits. Manticore kings and queens surrounded Mountbatten to find out if Harry's tale of the elves was true and whether the mead they made was as good as the legends. The next morning, amidst laughter and roars, the meet set out south. Never before, in hundreds of years of Manticore meets, had almost every Manticore in Albion traveled together for more than 100 leagues. The roaring could be heard for miles. Muggles dismissed it as thunder. Wizards and witches who heard it called their children indoors and huddled in the deepest rooms of their homes. Ginny and the war council faced a huge logistical problem. The Battle of the New Forest took place relatively close to a train station; the number of combatants that had to be moved to the battle site was relatively small; and the nominal enemy was a renegade. In contrast, Wookey Hole was 20 miles from the nearest train station; there were several times as many combatants and support personnel; and the enemy was a government that very likely was in touch with the Muggle government that controlled the rail lines. Like Manticores, centaurs could run; Hippogriffs and broom riders could fly; elves could pop. But that still left roughly a thousand human and goblin combatants and nearly as many support personnel. The only real choice was to hire private buses. Some 40 buses, made invisible for security purposes (but whose drivers wore Re-Visibility Spectacles for safety's sake), made the trip from Uxbridge to a gathering point in a large field about five miles north of Wookey Hole. There, in the waning hours of September 20, they met Harry, some 200 Manticores, and growing numbers of centaurs. The bus drivers, obliviated by Snape, Barthelme, and Frank and Alice Longbottom, departed as soon as their passengers and luggage were unloaded. In the morning, Charlie and Sirius reported to Ginny and other members of the war council in a small tent. "We sent a few broom flyers up at dawn for reconnaissance," said Sirius. "As we expected, the Ministry has large numbers of wizards on brooms circling over Wookey Hole. They do have some fast brooms, but most of them seemed to be on brooms slower than ours." "What we didn't expect was two dragons," said Charlie, looking abashed. "I guess the Ministry acquired them from somewhere other than a reserve under the International Confederation's supervision. The dragons kept our flyers from getting as good a look at the area as we would have liked, but they could see that the Ministry has built three circles of low, dirt walls around Wookey Hole. No doubt each wall will be defended by hundreds of wizards, and we'll have to breech each one to reach the cavern." "How did the Hippogriffs fare against the dragons?" asked Hermione. "We're keeping the Hippogriffs in reserve," said Sirius. "There's no point in letting them know we have them before we actually engage in battle." "The Ministry seems to have developed an anti-popping spell, similar to its anti-Apparition spell but for elves," said Dobby. "We can pop here, but not into the battle zone. We don't know if we will be able to pop once we enter the zone." "All right, folks," said Ginny. "We spend today resting, fitting combatants to their armour, doing last-minute combat training, and practicing field healing. After sunset, under cover of darkness, we'll move our troops into position." After the meeting, Ginny and Wolfslayer stepped out of the tent. "Did you bring him with you?" asked Ginny. In answer, Wolfslayer pulled a small cage out of a case. Inside was a rat. The cage was opened and the rat stepped out and changed into a fat little man. He immediately fell on his knees in front of Ginny. "Mr. Pettigrew," she said. "This is your opportunity to serve me. We will go into battle tomorrow morning. I would like you, in your Animagus form, to go now and disrupt their battle lines in any way you can. You should be small enough to escape their attention, especially as there are no doubt many rodents in these fields already. Do you accept this mission?" The little man fell all over himself to say yes. "Then you may go." He changed back to a rat and dashed off to the south. The morning of September 22nd dawned at about 7 am with light cloud cover. Even the best Invisibility Charms could not keep the freedom fighters hidden from trained wizards, so the first goal was to eliminate the Ministry's dominance of the skies. First up in the air were two Firecracker brooms--prototype models from the maker of Firebolts--that had been personally modified by the Muggleborn owner of the Comet broomstick company to carry a rear-facing passenger. Fred and George each flew one of the brooms, with Ron and Neville as their passengers. They quickly attracted the attention of the dragons, at which time Ron and Neville opened bags of Neville's dragonnip and tossed the leaves in the path of the dragons. The dragons were soon flying loop-de-loops and turning upside-down (and losing their riders in the process). After a few minutes, they settled down for naps, one of them crushing some of the earthenworks the Ministry had set up to defend the cavern. Scratch two dragons. As soon as the dragons were down, more than a hundred freedom flyers soared into the air to engage in combat with more than two hundred Ministry brooms. The six riders on Hippogriffs were surprised to be joined by a seventh, silvery Hippogriff without a rider. "It looks like someone's Patronus," yelled Charlie. "It might be a good decoy, but it won't help much in combat." But to his surprise, the silvery Hippogriff flew into the pack of Ministry broomriders and quickly grabbed one rider in each of its claws and one in its beak, after which it thrust out its chest and rammed another off of his broom. With a shake of his head, the Hippogriff threw the rider in his beak into another rider, then flew upwards and dropped the two riders in his claws onto other riders below. In just seconds, it had taken seven Ministry brooms out of commission. "Dat's some Patronus," yelled Viktor. Green and red spells fired from Ministry wands hit the Hippogriff, but merely reflected off. When the reflected spells hit some Ministry riders, the other broomriders flew off in panic, not daring to fire any lethal spells at the silvery Hippogriff--or, as it turned out, any other Hippogriff. The Hippogriff riders were struck dumb for a moment. Then Sirius yelled, "We can't let him have all the fun. Come on!" They all charged into the cloud of Ministry brooms, quickly followed by the hundred freedom flyers. It took more than two hours of aerial combat, but ultimately the skies were owned by the freedom flyers, who were able to then harass the Ministry troops from above. Rather than immediately attack Ministry lines, however, the broomriders climbed high in the sky so centaur archers could let volley after volley of arrows fly into the Ministry lines. The Ministry troops tried to duck behind their earthen walls, but the arrows came down at such a steep angle that the walls provided no shelter. The arrows killed only a few wizards, but those who received the most minor of injuries soon behaved strangely, babbling incoherently or even attacking their fellow soldiers. Ministry healers ended up having to stun anyone who had been pierced or scratched by a centaur arrow. Soon after 10 am, the centaurs had nearly run out of arrows, so it was time for the ground troops to move in. From the north, a calvary of 200 elves mounted on Manticores, who had been delighted to meet the elves of their legends, were supported by nearly 300 more elves on foot. The charge was led by Dobby, mounted on King Hal, with Nibbles, mounted on Queen Margaret Rose, at his side. Their target was to capture and hold the cliff above the cavern entrance so other ground troops could enter the cavern unimpeded by Ministry fighters. But it was a hard battle because the cliff was held by the elite of the Ministry Aurors and hit wizards. From the east, an infantry of wizards and witches, made up of older New School students who had attended Harry's combat training class, other Muggleborns and half-bloods who had participated in Harry and Deerslayer's intensive combat class, former Death Eaters who defected to the Dark Lady in the previous war, and a few former Aurors including Frank Longbottom and a woman who would only identify herself as Tonks. The nearly four hundred infantry were led by Ginny, whose emerald-encrusted sword flashed as she deflected curses back to the Ministry lines. In her left hand, she held Tom's wand, and her "Geminus Reducto" curses blasted huge holes in the Ministry earthenworks. From the west, Harry led an infantry of goblin warriors. Before going into battle, he divided his force into four groups. "The first wave goes with me," he told them. "We'll breach the Ministry earthworks and attempt to reach the cavern. The second wave immediately follows and subdues all remaining Ministry forces between the first and second earthen walls. The third wave secures the area between the second and third walls. The fourth group secures the area inside the inner wall. Top members from each of the later waves should also step up to replace any casualties in the first wave. Use as much force as needed to subdue the wizards, but don't kill them if you don't have to. Take their wands; when facing goblin warriors, a wizard without a wand is as helpless as a baby." Harry's holly wand blasted holes in the earthen walls, while his ruby-encrusted sword quickly put fear into the hearts of the mercenaries hired by the Ministry. The mercenaries had laughed when told they would be facing goblins and children. Now, in the thick of battle, they laughed no more as their spells had little impact on their targets even (or especially) when they hit them full square in the chests, but were more likely deflected back to them. When Harry ran out of enemies in reach of his sword, he pulled out his centaur bow and fired on targets further away. Breaching the earthen walls was easy. Capturing the ground before the next wall was not. Not only were hundreds of wizards behind each circle of walls at each point of the compass, but the freedom fighters trying to subdue those wizards were vulnerable to the wizards guarding the next wall. The aerial broomfighters provided critical assistance here, forcing wizards behind the inner walls to concentrate their attention on the threats from above rather than the invading ground troops. Though the freedom fighters were greatly outnumbered, their advantage was in their armour and their styles of fighting. The Ministry wizards relied almost entirely on their wands, which meant they could fire a curse or cast a Protego shield, but few could do both at once. The freedom fighters fought with swords, knifes, and hand-to-hand (and those on Ginny's side also had wands), and their blades and body armour reflected back the heaviest curses while the Basilisk armlets and leggings protected against all but the heaviest curses. Still, it took an average of two hours for the three invading armies to gain control of the land inside the first wall, then two more to capture the land inside the second. Once they were inside the third, there were more Aurors, conscripts, and and mercenaries shielded by the trees in a dense forest above the small canyon through which flowed the River of Tears. At one point, Ginny was fighting someone in front of her when a fighter behind her shot a green spell in her direction. No one saw a rat jump up and take the spell meant for Ginny. By the time Ginny's forces had penetrated the trees and were fighting down the hillside, it was after 5 pm. The elves had not yet gained control of the cliff top, but the Aurors there were so heavily occupied defending their position from the elves that neither elves nor Aurors could pay much attention to what was happening below. Harry, meanwhile, was well ahead of his goblins, who were busy subduing the last of the mercenaries and securing the territory behind him. Harry was practically indomitable, deflecting spells with his sword, petrifying Ministry fighters who were foolish enough to get close to him, and knocking down others with the broad side of his sword. Unlike Ginny, he fought with sword alone, pocketing his wand as soon as he breached the inner wall. As he ran down the canyon slope, a Ministry fighter hiding behind a tree aimed a spell at his back, but Deerslayer ruthlessly chopped off the man's hand with his sword, only to be hit himself by a Diffindo spell from another mercenary. The spell hit just below his armour, severing his arm. As it happened, Harry and Ginny broke out of the forest and on the canyon floor at about the same time. They could see Flamel watching the fighting from the cavern entrance; to his right was the arch, which the Ministry apparently planned to use to summarily execute its opponents. Flamel's top Aurors stood outside the entrance acting as his bodyguard. When they saw Ginny and Harry, the Aurors charged them, firing curses as they ran. Harry shot his last arrow into the leg of one of the Aurors, who fell in pain. Ginny deflected some of the curses, but there were too many to deflect them all. Harry shouted, "Stop!" and--using the same magic that he used to push his cousin Dudley and his friends away when Harry was 10 years old--the Aurors were flung to the ground. Ginny quickly stunned them and Accioed their wands. The two leaders marched up to Flamel and planted their swords, side-by-side, in the ground a few feet in front of him. "There will be no ritual today, Flamel," said Ginny, holding her wand on him. "A valiant effort, Miss Weasley," said Flamel, "but not enough to win the snitch." He waved his hand and Harry flew towards the arch. "Harry, no!" she shouted, and jumped between him and the arch. She was able to stop him, but his momentum pushed her through. "So much for the Dark Lady," said Flamel. As Harry picked himself up, Flamel Rennervated two large Aurors who ran up behind Harry and gripped his arms. Dolores Umbridge was no fighter, but her hero, Lord Slytherin, had taught her several healing spells that had been forgotten during the magical dark ages. The spells were especially useful for helping patients recover from curses such as the Cruciatus. Umbridge was so impressed that goblins, who she had once reviled as subhuman, were fighting for the freedom of another species that she elected to serve in the healer corps on Harry's side of the battlefield. She was right behind the first group of fighters, treating goblins who had been injured and directing other support personnel to carry those with serious injuries back to hospital tents. As she crossed through the breach in the third wall, she heard someone groaning in the forest. Running forward, she found a goblin who she thought she recognized laying on the ground, his severed arm nearby. He had lost a lot of blood and his skin was pale. Another goblin knelt beside him, but he apparently had no healing skills. Tenderly, Umbridge picked up the arm and magically reattached it. But she could tell that wasn't enough; the goblin had lost too much blood and was fading away. Unfortunately, Umbridge had used up the last of her blood-replenishing potions, and she doubted the goblin would survive long enough for the potion to work anyway. Out of desperation, she pointed her wand at her arm and extracted about a pint of blood, magically keeping it in the shape of a small sphere. Then she pointed her wand at the goblin's arm--the one that hadn't been severed--and banished the blood into one of the goblin's arteries. Umbridge knew that healers frowned on blood transfusions because they were rarely successful; given the ready availability of blood replenishing potions, few healers had bothered to learn about the Muggle discovery of blood types. Fortunately, Dolores's blood was type O, the "universal donor," while Deerslayer's blood was type AB, the "universal recipient." Within moments, the goblin's color improved and he looked at Umbridge with gratitude. When he tried to get up, Umbridge encouraged him to lie down for a little longer. "I've reattached your arm, but it will take at least a day for it to fully heal," she said, conjuring a sling. "In the meantime, you will have to keep it still; no more fighting for you, at least with your right arm." Suddenly, a shadow appeared above her. She looked up to see a tall elf, one of the ones who had kidnapped her several weeks before. "Madam Umbridge, your services as a healer are required," said the elf. "No wand, no sword, no powerful girlfriend to protect you," Flamel said, taunting Harry. "Whatever made you think you could beat me, anyway? I've lived nearly 700 years and know far more magic than you. Who are you, anyway? You claim to be Harry Potter, but the boy-who-disappeared was supposed to save the wizarding world, not try to destroy it." "You know nothing about me," said Harry. "My name is Harry Dursley Rabbitslayer Orion Athailt Greeneyes Black Weasley-Potter." Flamel had lived long enough to know Gaelic, Gobbledygook, and Parseltongue, so he understood Harry's use of words in those languages. "You don't know me, and you don't know magic," Harry continued. "You think you know magic, but all you know is wizard magic. You don't know goblin magic, or centaur magic, or Manticore magic. You don't know elf magic, or Redhorn magic, or Sphinx magic. You're a herbologist looking at a petal from a cherry blossom thinking you understand the entire tree. You're a Magizoologist looking at a tailhair of a unicorn thinking you understand the entire animal." "Big talk from someone who is about to die," said Flamel. "Let's see your magic protect you against this." He pointed his wand at Harry's forehead, and said, "Avada Kedavra." A green spell hit Harry, who blinked and said nothing. Flamel looked surprised, then picked up the wand Ginny had dropped and tried it again. Again nothing. "Voldemort couldn't kill me with that spell," said Harry. "What makes you think it would work any better for you?" "But that . . . that was just a myth," said Flamel. "No magic can protect against the killing curse." Angrily, Flamel said, "I guess those who live by the sword should die by the sword," and he gripped Gryffindor's sword and tried to pull it from the ground--but it wouldn't yield. "All right, push him through the arch," yelled a frustrated Flamel. Harry struggled and the Auror on Harry's right punched Harry hard in the stomach. Harry doubled over, but then the Basilisk magic welled up in him and his now-yellow eyes looked at the Auror in the eye and froze him. Harry glanced at the other Auror and petrified him as well. Harry shrugged himself from their stiffened fingers. "Basilisk magic has frozen your Aurors," he said. "Sphinx magic protected me from your wands." He pointed to an Auror who lay, twitching and mumbling, on the ground, his leg pierced by Harry's arrow. "Centaur magic--the arrows were soaked in a centaur potion that forces people to see visions of their futures, and the futures that might have been if they had made different decisions." Harry stepped forward and easily pulled his sword from the ground. "Goblin magic prevents anyone but the original owner of this sword or his heirs from using it," he said. "You may have escaped for now, but I have more than a thousand reserves in the south who will be here at any moment," said Flamel. "How many of your soldiers do you have in the south?" "Nine," said Harry. "And that's enough." Flamel laughed, but Harry cocked his head. "I can hear the clash of weapons and the cries of battle two leagues away," he said; "Manticore magic." He listened another moment. "Your side is losing, Minister. It's over. You've bankrupted the Ministry in your obsession over enslaving another race. Even if you managed to re-enslave the elves, we could easily break the spell by freeing 500 of them again before you could raise enough money to hire another army." A "boom" from the south punctuated Harry's statement. "You see," said Flamel, "my men are about to arrive." But he looked puzzled because there wasn't any need for his soldiers to use explosive curses to reach the cavern. "Boom!" came again from the south. "BOOM!" Harry could hear yells of people fighting and turned to see the backs of Aurors facing an opponent, then one more "BOOM!!" and all of the Aurors fell down. Those who didn't lie still were quickly petrified by the eight Basilisks slithering up the canyon floor. At their head was a bearded man carrying a staff. "One more kind of magic you don't know," said Harry. "Ancient wizarding magic; magic that was apparently forgotten between Salazar Slytherin's time and yours." "Hello, Harry," said Salazar. "Am I too late?" "No, you're right on time, Salazar. Let's go find Winky." Harry turned toward Flamel. "You want to live forever? Here is your forever." He looked into his eyes and petrified him. Harry looked at his watch; it was 5:55 pm. Inside the cavern, they found Winky tied to a tall stalagmite. Perenelle Flamel, holding a knife, cried, "No . . . the ritual . . . it must be done precisely at 6 o'clock." She charged them with the knife, but Harry petrified her, too. Nibbles and two other elves popped in. "We have secured the clifftop," said Nibbles as the other two untied Winky and helped her out of the cavern. "Some Ministry forces are still fighting, but we've taken down the anti-popping charm." "Are they dead?" asked Slytherin, pointing to the Flamels. "No, just petrified," said Harry. "The petrified Aurors outside can recover with a Mandrake root potion. But I suggest we give the Flamels a more fitting ending. Take them to the deepest part of the cavern, rock them in, and cover them with a notice-me-not charm. That way, they can live forever without interfering with our new society." The three of them walked out of the cavern just as the veil stirred and Lucifer stepped out of the arch. "Harry," he said with a smile, "look who I found." Following him, holding his hand, was Ginny. She was holding the hand of another Redhorn, and soon a string of several dozen Redhorns emerged from the veil. Ginny ran to Harry and gave him a hug. "It's just about over, Ginny," he said. "We won." Before they had a chance to savour their victory, Nibbles approached them and said, "Ginny, Harry, please come with me." Ginny pulled her sword out of the earth and followed the former Malfoy elf. He led them up the side of the canyon through the forest into the fields, then north to where the elves and Manticores had been fighting the Ministry Aurors. There they found Dobby lying on a small cot, Winky kneeling by his side. Dolores Umbridge was treating him, with Deerslayer, his arm in a sling, looking on. Dobby's legs were mangled, the lower half of his body was crushed, and he struggled to breathe. A few feet away, the body of King Hal lay unmoving. Queen Margaret Rose lay next to it, quietly sobbing. Ginny ran to Dobby as Nibbles whispered to Harry, "Dobby and I led the way through the three earthen walls when an Auror on the third wall shot an Avada Kedavra at Queen Margaret Rose, who I was riding, from behind, where she wasn't armoured. Hal intercepted the spell, dying instantly and falling on Dobby, crushing him." Dolores Umbridge stood up and looked sorrowfully at Harry. "There's too much internal damage," she said quietly. "There's nothing we can do to save him." "Oh Dobby, my dear sweet Dobby," cried Ginny. Dobby looked up. "Mi . . . miss . . . Ginny," he gasped. "Dobby, you and the elves fought so bravely," said Ginny through tears. "Dobby, we've won. You've won. You are free; the elves are free, forever." "Dobby . . . and Winky are . . . happy . . . to be free," said Dobby. Then the light in his eyes went out. "When King Hal died, Queen Margaret Rose went wild," Nibbles told Harry. "Apparently, the two had shared the Mors Vivo charm, as she fearlessly attacked Aurors all around us. I could protect myself from spells with the goblin swords, but I saw several green spells land on her to no effect. Without that, we might not have made it to the cliffs in time to protect you from attacks from above." Deerslayer approached Harry and Nibbles, and put his free hand on their backs, one by one, to comfort them. Winky stroked Dobby's hair as she gazed into his lifeless eyes. "Winky," said Ginny quietly. "I never asked: were you and Dobby mated?" "Not mated; but we talked of having children when the war was over. Not mated yet, and yet, like you and Harry, we were for each other." Ginny gave Winky a tearful hug. None of the other elves or nimble Manticores suffered serious injury, but Dobby and Hal were not the only casualties among the freedom fighters. Ministry fighters had killed scores of goblins in Harry's army and dozens of wizards, and not a few witches, in Ginny's army. Many more were injured. Peter Pettigrew was never seen again, and they presumed that he, too, had died. While doctors and nurses from the families of Muggleborns assisted Madams Pomfrey and Umbridge in treating the injured and identifying the dead, Ginny gathered a few members of her war council: Charlie, Harry, Nibbles, Salazar, Sirius, and Deerslayer. They Rennervated and interrogated an Auror who had been stunned during the fighting, and he told them that the Ministry Command Center was in the Muggle town. So they headed in that direction, stepping over the unconscious and petrified bodies of Aurors and other fighters who fell to Slytherin's staff and the Basilisks' gaze. The highest-ranking wizard they found at the command center was Rufus Scrimgeour. "Mr. Scrimgeour, I demand a signed statement of surrender," said Ginny. "You must command all of your troops to stop fighting, and you must agree that the Ministry will immediately and in good faith negotiate a peace treaty with the other magical beings of Albion." Appalled by the devastation around him, Scrimgeour immediately agreed, and the war for elf freedom was over. |
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