章 166: CHAPTER {194-196}
****THE-FIRST-LOSS? (I)****
~~Near Black Lake, Hogwarts~~ (A few minutes ago)
A sparkling green portal appeared at the edge of the lake and Jacklyn along with Himera and a few others walked out of the portal before the portal closed behind them. The Durmstrang ship was anchored at some distance and unfortunately for them, the ship wasn't docked to the shore.
"How the hell are we going to get aboard?" Someone hissed from behind.
"You are a Wizard, aren't you?" Himera turned around and sneered at the man. The man gave her an apologetic look while rubbing the back of his head.
"Well, that takes care of one problem, but everyone is home" One Wizard pointed out. They could see lights through all the windows, so it was obvious that nobody was asleep. "It is the same for the Frenchies too" The same man grunted as he pointed at the Beauxbatons' carriage. They could see light through all the windows, worse, a group of students were having a bonfire just outside the carriage.
Himera grimaced at the sight… At least, none of them seemed to have noticed their arrival. "I think we should call off this mission. There is no way we can kidnap Karkaroff without alerting anyone and we might get overrun before we can escape" Himera quickly revealed her opinion.
"No!" Jacklyn immediately denied Himera's suggestion while frantically shaking her head. "We can carry out the mission if we are careful" Jacklyn insisted. She didn't want to give up as this was the second time Harry decided to trust her with a mission. If she gave up then there was a chance that he may not trust her with another task like this. That was completely unacceptable to her.
Himera was torn between what to do… While she wanted to convince Jacklyn to give up on the mission, she could also understand what Jacklyn was going through. A small part of her wanted to inform Harry about their situation behind Jacklyn's back, but she didn't want to betray Jacklyn like that. After some consideration, she decided to see what the others wanted to say.
After all, Jacklyn might be leading the team, but the others were obviously more experienced than her in tasks like these…
"What do you guys think?" Himera asked as she turned toward the rest of the group.
Even though Jacklyn wasn't happy with the development, she decided to see what the others were thinking. "I think it can be done… We obviously need to be careful, so no loud stunts" One of the men said with a thoughtful look on his face before giving Jacklyn a pointed look when he finished. The others also seemed to agree with him.
Jacklyn wanted to defend herself by saying that she wasn't that bad, but she stopped when she saw the others nod their heads in agreement. So, she simply crossed her arms under her breasts and started to pout… "Alright! Fine! I will hold myself back" Jacklyn huffed looking miffed, but the look on her face kind of ruined the atmosphere she was trying to create.
"Okay then, let's move" Himera declared before she started to Transfigure the surface water into a wooden ramp. It didn't take the group long to arrive near the ship and after arriving, Himera signaled the only other woman in the group other than herself and Jacklyn to move. The woman walked up to the ship and started to run her Wand over the ship's hull.
"All clear" The woman declared after half a minute. There were a lot of Wards woven into the ship's hull, but she didn't find any alert Wards or anything like that.
After getting the signal from her, Jacklyn signaled everyone to start climbing. With Magic, climbing on a ship was an easy task… Even though there were a couple of students on the deck, they didn't waste any time to drop them. After inspecting the deck for any alert Wards, then finally stepped on the deck. Though there were some alert Wards at the door.
"How long will it take you to deactivate them?" Jacklyn asked impatiently.
"Give me a minute" The woman answered as she continued to work at the door, but only a few seconds later, someone opened the door from the other side and the woman disabling the alert Wards fell on her ass when the door smacked her in the face.
"Are you…" The person who tried to open the door went to ask, but it didn't take her long to realize what was going on, but before she could scream or anything, Jacklyn knocked her out, but unfortunately for Jacklyn and the others, the girl wasn't alone. "We are under attack!!" Someone screamed at the top of their lungs before Jacklyn or the others could knock them out.
Jacklyn and Himera quickly knocked out the other students behind the door, but it was already too late… The damage was already done… "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! We need to leave now!" Himera hissed urgently, but Jacklyn still wasn't ready to give up.
"No! We continue!" Jacklyn declared before she strode inside the ship fearlessly. The students could be seen pouring out, but all of them were easily knocked out by Jacklyn. She may not be as strong as Gellert or Katerina, but she was strong enough to handle a bunch of seventh years… Himera stared at Jacklyn's back before she turned toward the others who were getting ready to follow Jacklyn into the anthill.
Himera scowled at the sight… 'Fuck it!' She exclaimed in her mind and rushed behind Jacklyn. She needed to make sure Jacklyn walked out alive and well or Harry might… Himera quickly shook her head to clear her mind. No, she wasn't going to think like that. Himera knew that Harry probably would hurt them, but Harry might kill the whole Durmstarng delegation for hurting Jacklyn, completely ignoring his own actions.
Harry was insane enough to do that… She wasn't a saint or anything, but just like Harry, she didn't want any of the students to die… After all, they were simply protecting their territory…
"Shhh!" Himera was broken out of her musings when Jacklyn hissed in pain. A Cutting Charm seemed to have nicked her other arm.
"Are you alright?" Himera asked, only to get a nod from Jacklyn. "Okay. Let me take the lead. I can tank almost anything" Himera suggested and after getting a reluctant nod from Jacklyn, Himera took the lead. She had to admit, Durmstrang students were quite good, as good as the students from her former school, but Durmstrang students seemed to prefer Dark Spells over anything else.
They were ambushed by the students quite a few times, but none of the Curses went past Himera as she tanked everything they threw at her… Though internally, she decided to ask for some bonus after the mission was complete. After everything, she deserved pampering and Tipsy Pixie was always welcome to pamper her… Maybe she could get a group of Veela to pamper her this time.
"I think this is it" Jacklyn declared as they arrived in a well-fortified hall. "You guys have disarmed everyone I knocked out, right?" Jacklyn asked. Even though she was having a lot of fun, she was well aware of the fact that they could be ambushed from the back. She wanted to avoid such a situation at any cost… Himera internally praised the girl for not getting lost in ecstasy.
Jacklyn enjoyed fights more than a healthy person should and that fact wasn't unknown to the members of the Lost Garden… The girl was clearly ecstatic right now, the look on her face was a dead giveaway…
"Yeah, I got all of them right here" One of the men said as he revealed his rob's inner pocket which was completely stacked with Wands.
"Good! My guess, Karkaroff is hunkered down behind that door and they are probably ready to ambush us. We blast the fortifications away and then we move in" Jacklyn quickly explained the plan and the others had to admit, it wasn't a bad plan… Thanks to Himera, all of them were in tip-top shape and only Jacklyn sported a small gash in her other arm, but that wasn't a big deal.
"This is the Department of Magical Law and Enforcements. You have been surrounded. Surrender or you will be subdued with lethal means!" They heard a loud announcement from the outside. It was surprising that the DMLE acted this quickly, but they chose to ignore it for the time being.
"Okay… 1… 2… 3!" At the count of three, all of them cast Exploding Curses at the fortifications, and the fortifications were blasted into smithereens. "Fantastic! Let's go!" Jacklyn exclaimed as the door behind the fortifications was also blasted away. Once again, Himera decided to take the lead and as soon as she entered the room, something hit her and her vision started to turn around.
'Motherfucker!' Himera cursed inside her mind when she saw her own headless body spurting blood… 'Is this how I die?' Himera asked herself before she saw another of their members bite the dust when a Killing Curse struck him on the chest and then Jacklyn screamed in rage and blasted someone into the wall… The person was smeared over the wall.
A person being turned into a meat crayon was the last sight Himera saw before her vision started to become really blurry, but the sight did manage to bring a smile to her face before she finally closed her eyes…
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****ONE-FACTION-DOWN (I)****
'Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!' Jacklyn cursed inside her mind as she ducked under a Killing Curse cast by the person she intended to kidnap. He was the last one standing from his side, but he wasn't making it easy for them to knock him out. She could have killed him easily, but Harry wanted him alive even though she really wanted to kill him to avenge her fallen comrades, especially Himera.
She had no idea who was responsible for beheading the woman, but she was holding Karkaroff responsible for killing Himera… Fuck! Harry was not going to be happy with her. Himera wanted to call off the mission from the start, but she kept pushing it and now Himera was dead! Jacklyn was feeling horrible… Even though she wasn't very close to the older woman, they were still friends and Harry cared about her.
Though Himera wasn't the only one who lost her life, three more of her group have lost their lives and Jacklyn intended to mourn for all of them, but not right now… Right now, she needed to beat the person responsible for their deaths and take him back to the Malfoy Manor to punish him and his associates appropriately before the Aurors could catch them.
"The Aurors are almost here!!" Some exclaimed from behind and once again Jacklyn cursed inside her mind.
"Hold them back!" Jacklyn screamed back as she cast a Body-Bind Curse at the man, but the man simply ducked under the Spell, and then all of a sudden, his body froze up.
"So, what exactly happened here?" Jacklyn heard the question and she felt several chills run down her spine. She slowly turned around only to find Harry staring at her expectantly with a cold look on his face. She had no idea when he arrived, but she already knew that she was screwed and not in a good way… "Well, are you going to explain?" Harry asked coldly and Jacklyn gulped down nervously.
"Umm… Boss, the Aurors are almost here" The Witch helping them with the Wards pointed out nervously while holding her side with her other side.
"Hmm…" Harry simply hummed and a portal, leading to the infirmary of their temporary base opened beside him. "Don't leave anything behind and take all of theirs too" Harry ordered as he glanced at the side. Except for the meat crayon decorating the wall, everyone from their side was still alive, and some of his men, including Himera were dead. Someone needed to pay.
Harry then glanced toward Karkaroff from the corner of his eyes and the man slumped down like a lifeless doll, but Harry didn't kill him. He was going to die, but his death was not going to be quick… "I will handle the Aurors" Harry declared in an indifferent tone before he started to walk out of the room, but he left the portal open so that the others could leave.
'Harry, we are cornered' He received a message from Gellert and he felt his temper flare. Nothing was going according to his plans and that irked him. This was the first time he lost men today and even though he wasn't close to any of them except for Himera, it stung. It was a matter of principle for him and all of his problems somehow stemmed from the fact that the Ministry forces showed up too early to save the day.
How did they manage that? He knew not, but in the end, he decided to admit his own mistake… He never considered the Ministry forces to be a threat to his forces as he never expected them to arrive so soon, but he should have taken everything into consideration… It was a mistake he wasn't going to repeat. While the Ministry forces didn't have a strong leader to lead them, they could surely make that up with their numbers.
'Hold on, I will be there' Harry replied darkly as he decided to pay his attention to the Aurors and the Hit-Wizards.
"Harry Potter, drop your Wand and surrender yourself or we will be forced to take lethal action against you" The Auror at the front declared as he signaled everyone behind him to halt. They were in a narrow halfway, so there was not much space to move.
"Then let me return the favor to you" Harry declared as he started to ramp up his Magic and his eyes started to brighten. He wasn't in a good mood and this was probably the best time as any other to completely crush one of the Factions. "If all of you drop your Wands and surrender to me, then I will let you live to see another day" Harry declared and the Aurors and Hit-Wizards were completely stumped at his audacity.
The Aurors and Hit-Wizards have seen what he was capable of, but to threaten so many of them so boldly was simply unfathomable… There were probably fifty of them… Maybe forty since some of them were helping the students and a couple of them went to St. Mungo's along with the Durmstrang students. The Auror leading the group glanced to the side and gave a subtle nod.
"I warn you again, drop your Wands and surrender, I will let you live" Harry declared smoothly as he stepped forward and the Magic in the air started to thicken as he stopped holding back his Magic. The Aurors and the Hit-Wizards trembled as their knees went weak in the face of overwhelming might. A few cowards looked around before they tossed their Wands on the ground.
"I surrender!" "Please let me live!" "I surrender!"
Screams like that started to ring throughout the hall as Aurors and Hit-Wizards started to drop themselves down to their knees with their hands in the air, surprising their peers, who were ready to fight, but when so many started to surrender, some who were prepared to fight and die due to peer pressure, also started to surrender, leaving only a handful Aurors and Hit-Wizards standing.
"Do you still fancy your chances?" Harry asked in a mocking tone as he took another step and the Magic he was releasing increased, making the ones who were already kneeling use their hands to support themselves and the ones who still wanted to fight dropped to their knees due to the overwhelming pressure. "What about now?" Harry asked in an amused tone and the ones who were kneeling right now looked completely aghast.
"If you kill us then the Ministry will come after you. The Wizengamot will brand you as a Dark Lord" The Auror at the front breathed out with a lot of difficulty, in an attempt to scare Harry. They couldn't believe how much power the boy possessed, but that was for later… The boy needed to be stopped at any cost. He was young so he thought that maybe he could scare him.
"My… My… Your diplomacy needs work, but sadly, you won't be able to work on that" Harry declared with a chuckle before pointing his index finger at the man's head, and moments later, a lightning bolt shot out of his finger and pierced the man's head, killing him right on the spot. The lightning bolt pierced through the back of his head, but since everyone behind him were on their fours, the lightning bolt passed over them harmlessly.
The others who were on their knees screamed at him in rage and tried to stand up, and Harry allowed them as he wanted to give them a fair chance to fight back. He stepped aside to dodge a couple of Spells and hit a man on his right with a gray Spell and the man turned into a stone. Then he raised his hand and blocked a barrage of Spells with a translucent shield before he struck down the last two men on his right with a flame whip.
The flame whip cleaved right through their bodies, killing them instantly… Then Harry was forced to bat away a Killing Curse with Sorcery… He was overwhelmingly strong, but he wasn't foolish enough to try tanking a Killing Curse with his body… The remaining fighters were taken aback by that sight, but Harry used this chance to hit one of the Hit-Wizards with a vertical killing Curse, bisecting his whole torso along with his head from the middle.
He batted away another Killing Curse before killing the person who cast the Killing Curse at him with an Entrail Expelling Curse… Well, the man still wasn't dead, but he was busy vomiting out his intestines, so he was going to die pretty soon. With him experiencing one of the most painful ways to die, only two more Hit-Wizards and Aurors were left standing to continue the fight.
Someone among them banished a spear at Harry with the intention to impale him, but Harry simply turned around on his feet and caught the spear with his hand… He had no idea where the Hit-Wizard got the spear from as it didn't look like a Conjured spear, so he decided to return the spear to the Hit-Wizard. He was just that good…
Harry twirled around his heel and launched the spear at the Hit-Wizard at blinding speed and the man was pinned to the wall with the spear stuck in his chest before he could even realize what was happening. Without wasting any more time, Harry killed the last Hit-Wizard with a Bone Breaker. The Spell caved the man's skull inside and the body dropped to the floor with a loud thump.
Harry turned toward the last survivor… The Auror fell back on his ass in fear and tried to crawl away, but he couldn't since he was surrounded by the ones who surrendered. His Wand arm was shaking like a dry leaf, but he still held his Wand in his hand. "I was-was simply following orders" The Auror blurted out in fear.
"That is the lamest excuse I have ever heard" Harry groaned before hitting the man with a Killing Curse. Since the man was already broken, he decided to kill him with much fanfare. "Now, what to do about the rest of you…" Harry trailed off loudly as he tapped his chin thoughtfully and everyone tensed at his words.
"Okay… All of you may leave" Harry ordered, surprising all of them, but the next moment Harry was gone in a flash of flames…
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****ONE-FACTION-DOWN (II)****
Harry arrived where Gellert and the rest of his followers were in a pillar of flames, and the fighting stopped at his arrival… Harry started to float up in the air as he wanted to look down at the Aurors from above and Unsupported Flight was not something common at all… It was a psychological tactic from Harry's side. He wanted to intimidate the Aurors as much as he could.
Thanks to the missing ceiling, he managed to rise up quite a bit in the air before he finally decided to stop… He looked around and furrowed his brows when he noticed their numbers. He understood why Gellert called him to save their asses… There was no way his followers could have won against such odds… Yes, if Gellert wasn't occupied by Albus, Minerva, and Filius, then it might have been a different story.
As of right now, only a hundred Aurors and two hundred Hit-Wizards are employed by the Ministry. The number used to be a lot more during the last War, but after Cornelius Fudge was elected, he kept cutting the budget of the DMLE, which forced the DMLE to cut down on the number of their forces, and the Ministry used to employ even more Aurors and Hit-Wizards before and during the Grindelwald War.
Not that Harry was complaining in the first place, but he couldn't help but wonder who was guarding the Ministry and DMLE if almost all of their forces were right here… If someone broke into Azkaban right now, then there was no way the DMLE would be able to send backup before it was too late… He wondered if Voldemort somehow planned this development, but he quickly shook his head.
Lucius didn't know anything about his attack, which meant Voldemort couldn't have known about the attack as he didn't have any other leaks. Well, now, he could start hunting down the Death Eaters in earnest and he didn't need to worry about breaking into Azkaban to kill them. Voldemort was probably already on his way to Azkaban, after all, that is what he would have done in the same position.
A translucent barrier appeared around Harry moments before a barrage of Spells cast by the Aurors could hit him. Harry looked down at the culprit and smiled…
"Mad-eye Moody, I will get back to you and your posse, but it seems that the esteemed Headmaster wants to say something before that" Harry grinned as he glanced at Albus, who was glaring at him with a complicated look on his face from the corner of his eyes. Moody seemed to scowl unhappily, but he wasn't displeased at being called out, he was displeased by the fact that his surprise attack failed.
Now, Albus, who was staring at Harry in anger, sadness, and disappointment, perked up. "Hadrian! Where is Severus?" Albus' voice thundered. It was clear that the man was angry right now. A lot of people flinched at his tone as they had never seen him angry. Harry was a bit peeved at the fact that the man revealed his real name, but he decided to ignore it since he was already planning to reveal it by the end of the War.
"Back at my base… Since you are missing him so much I would have told you where my base is, but I am not the Secret Keeper" Harry shrugged with a 'what can you do?' look on his face. Albus was completely furious, the look on his face was a dead giveaway, but the man didn't attack. Harry was half expecting Albus to attack him, but he didn't fly off the handle.
"Hadrian, I do not know why you turned out like this, but this cannot go on… It is still not too late, Hadrian" Albus said in a grave tone, trying to suppress his anger. "You need to turn away from the dark path you are walking on… This will only lead to death and destruction. Look around you-" Albus finished and waved his hands around. "This is a school, and see what have you wrought here" Albus finished in a low tone.
His eyes were filled with genuine sadness at the sight of destruction inside Hogwarts. "Whatever Gellert has promised you is simply not worth it, my boy… It is still not too late" Albus pleaded, no longer looking angered.
Meanwhile, Gellert and the Lost Garden members who clearly heard everything Dumbledore said, stared at the man, before someone finally burst out laughing with the others soon joining him. Even Gellert started to laugh, surprising everyone as they couldn't understand why all of a sudden the Dark Lord and his followers were laughing. It took them almost half a minute to calm down.
"You think he is working for me?" Gellert asked in an amused tone and after getting no reply from Albus, who was looking at him dumbfoundedly, he decided to continue speaking on his own. "Wrong!! All of us work for him! He is the Leader of Lost Garden!" Gellert declared with a chuckle and Albus immediately turned toward Harry, including all the members of his staff and the Ministry forces and found Harry smirking at them.
"Well, I can't honestly blame you for thinking like that, after all, I am only fourteen" Harry declared with a mocking grin on his face and Albus and along with everyone else except for the Lost Garden members simply gaped at him.
Even Alastor didn't expect a development like this… When Harry showed up, he also thought that Harry was working for Gellert and he came here to help out his master, but it was the other way around… Who could have thought? Harry slightly lowered himself from the sky, so that he could address everyone without any problems. Even though there were a lot more Ministry forces along with the Hogwarts staff, he was planning to do the same thing he did on Durmstrang ship.
He would show off his power and then he would ask them to surrender… He wasn't planning to do anything to the Hogwarts staff, except for Albus… He wanted to see if the man knew anything about Horcruxes or not… The only reason he was playing the game before discovering Severus' role in the death of his parents was because he didn't know the location of the Horcruxes and Hela would only teach him even the basic Soul Magic after he became a second step Martial Artist.
So, he could do nothing but wait… So, he decided to play a game as it would have been perfect for the situation…
"Since the time for games is over… I am going to ask all of you to drop your Wands and surrender, if you don't then I will kill you" Harry said and stopped holding back his Magic, and a lot of Aurors and Hit-Wizards dropped down to their knees due to the overwhelming pressure from the get-go. Albus, Minerva, and Filius who were standing close could only stare at Harry in horror.
Albus was the one who was the most shocked as he never expected Harry to be this powerful… Harry was easily stronger than him and Gellert combined even in their prime. While the others were also scared and whatnot, none of them were scared as Albus was… They didn't know the existence of the second Prophecy, nor did they know what it said. There was something all people in power were afraid of and that was 'Change'.
According to the Prophecy, Harry would reshape the world according to his image and now that Albus has witnessed the overwhelming power he possessed, he was certain that the second Prophecy was also about Harry… "I repeat again, drop your Wand and surrender to me and I will let you live" Harry repeated and the pressure increased by another notch and some more people dropped to their knees.
"I will never kneel to the likes of you!!" Alastor snarled, but the next moment, he was forced down on his knees when Harry glared at him. Alastor could clearly see through his fake eye, but the vision from his real eye started to blur.
"If it was anyone else then I would have simply killed them, but no… Not you. I am going to keep you alive" Harry declared coldly before he looked around and saw that almost 90 percent of the Ministry forces had already surrendered to him. He smirked at the sight… There were a couple of reasons why he didn't kill Alastor. While Alastor would never surrender to him, he was a strong-willed man.
He would need people like him after the War to rebuild the system, after all, he didn't have any plans of staying in this ditch after Voldemort and everyone else was dealt with… "Hadrian!! Stop this madness this instant!" Albus roared as he cast a Spell at Harry with the Elder Wand, expecting the Elder Wand to break the barrier around him, but the Spell harmlessly splashed against the barrier.
The Elder Wand might be the strongest Magical Focus on earth, but it wasn't infallible and it was only as strong as its owner… "This is not madness, Headmaster. This is the reality… Good and evil are nothing but excuses, the only truth is power…" Harry declared as he held out his arms wide open and moments later, purple beams started to shoot down from the barrier.
The purple beams twisted and turned around in the air before raining down on the Ministry forces who were still standing...
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