Prologue: For the children

A few days later, Ron was once again in Diagon Alley, looking for a few supplies Hermione had requested for their experiments. Honestly, what kind of supplies couldn't the island grow? Sure, there were things like Nundu's whiskers on the list, but why was it him that was sent to fetch them? There were enough civilians with nothing to do but tend to the farms all day!

Suddenly, Ron saw a black-robed figure approach him.

"Ronald Weasley, just the man I was looking for.", the man spoke.

"Come any closer and I'll blow your head off!", Ron warned, his wand already drawn.

"Relax, I'm not here to fight. I'm only here to make a proposal."

"Oh, and what kind of proposal is that, should I lie down and let you capture me?"

"Nothing like that. I've heard you wouldn't mind getting away from the rebels. My offer is exactly that – safe living conditions on our side for your entire family for the small price of you letting us know where that Harry Potter has made his nest." Pantheon never acknowledged the Resistance, instead they considered the people opposing them to be rebels against the new world order.

"Even if I accepted your offer, it's not my secret to tell.", Ron replied. Out of the three Secret Keepers, none of them was him.

---

During the week Harry had set, Hitwizards as well as Aurors under the British branch of the Resistance had covered much of the world in a loose net of artefacts that would be able to detect the initial flash of radiation from the two little surprises Harry and Hermione had planted into the enemy ranks.

Finally, the group had once again been gathered, this time near Hogwarts castle.

"It's those collars again.", Hermione said bitterly.

"Before we even get started with the collars, haven't you noticed something strange?", Harry asked everyone.

The faces of the small army looked unsure, so Harry just spoke up: "The amount of magic each of these children possesses, it's through the roof. The first have more magic than most of you and the strongest fifth year I can sense is close to myself. I won't be able to ensure their safety if we end up fighting them."

"Hermione, Ginny, there's something you both need to see. Follow me!", Ron said, turning to walk towards the black lake.

The women both followed him. Ron might have a horrible sense of timing, but if he called them away just before an important fight, it had to be at least equally as important.

A few minutes later, they had made quite the distance from the group. Ron turned around and mouthed: 'Sorry' towards the people. In his pocket, he sent a bit of magic into a small device. 'For the children.', he thought, as if that thought could justify any action in the world.

Suddenly, the intended raid party was outnumbered three to one and spells had already started raining down on them.

###

At the same time, in a secluded location far away.

Amycen Boinksy, also known as Hermes of the Pantheon, smirked at the thought how Chronos must be lamenting his treasonous acts now that he had undoubtedly become a restless ghost.

He was sitting at the head of a conference table, the cloak around his shoulders sending out shadowy tendrils and moving about as if it was alive. It was Hermes' pride and joy – the protection of the Titans, as Zeus had put it, a cloak akin to what covered the Titans themselves, except for the different color.

Hermes spoke in an elated tone: "In just a short while, we should be getting a few new captives to interrogate. If we're careful enough, we'll even be able to extract the exact coordinates of their new secret home from one of them. After that, Fidelius or not, we'll be able to get in!

I don't need to remind you what that means, but still, there are a few thousand unclaimed Wizardkind in there. Since Kratos took the field personally, I'll be sharing the spoils with him, and through our cloaks being strengthened, so will your positions as my followers be strengthened!"

The people occupying the table cheered. Hermes' throat had become a bit parched from his speech.

Just in time, a low-tier grunt came in with a cart of refreshments. He kept pushing it forward until he was only a few feet from the table.

He stepped away from the cart and spoke: "The Resistance sends their regards!"

A bright blue glow slowly made its way through his robes, then poured onto the rest of his chest and after just a moment, his entire torso had started glowing.

Hermes' eyes widened at the sight. He suspected he knew what came next. It wasn't time to worry about anything else, if that thing blew, cloak of the Titans or not, he'd be lucky if there was a shadow left of him. He immediately showed his hand into his pocket, right where a miniature statue of Prometheus was and with a yell: "Pantheon!", he disappeared from the spot.

A few moments later, there was a bright flash of white. A sphere of energy spread out from the former position of the grunt, turning the solid marble floor underneath into nothingness. Even before the rest of the group behind the table could blink, the sphere had already engulfed all of them in complete silence, and then the whole building, not even leaving a shadow behind.

The silent, all-consuming shockwave finally reached its limits after an area about three city blocks in radius had been hollowed out, then it collapsed in on itself, causing the air from the surroundings to rush into the void. A moment later, the air mass collided with itself in the middle and a shockwave burst out, shattering any windows that had survived the initial blast and finally made some sound. This time, there was no dust or earthquakes, the only sound was a secondary effect due to the 'explosion' creating a perfect vacuum.

Similar events took place across the ocean, with one small exception: Hades, who had been grinding his gears in an attempt to once and for all get rid of DILOGS, was right next to the servant, and being rather preoccupied with his own thoughts, failed to notice anything odd before it was too late. He was erased with the rest of his followers.

###

Harry noticed the problem as soon as it appeared. He covered himself and his closest allies under the cloak of Invisibility, cast a few large-scale transfiguration spells and shouted: "Shield wall! Take cover!"

At the same time, thick stone walls rose from the ground and his allies cast shielding spells in front of them, forming a continuous wall of connected shields right above where the stone wall ended. The spells struck the shields and walls harmlessly, only chipping off rock fragments.

Behind those that had risen their shields were two more rows of people, already in a circular formation. They immediately returned with a barrage of bombardments aimed at their enemies' feet, intent on both throwing dirt in their faces and attempting to throw them off balance.

A quick leap backwards was all it took to avoid any more severe effects of the spell, however, another bombardment was already on the way, flying towards the spot where the Pantheon soldiers would land.

However, suddenly, a short one among the Pantheon's ranks, one with half his face covered with burn scars and a shadowy cloak around him shouted in a voice that resembled nails being dragged across a blackboard: "It's a dud!"

A translucent shockwave spread out of him, engulfing the entire battlefield in the fraction of a second, and when the spells hit the ground at the same time the Pantheon's soldiers did, only a small puff of smoke was produced.

Dionysus had a new artefact that amplified his natural talents greatly, especially his control over explosions that was close to evolving into a Sorcery in the first place.

An instant later, Another figure cloaked in shadows rushed out from the crowd and punched at the still growing wall hard with his bare fist, causing a chunk of the for feet thick wall to be blown through the ranks of those that were on the defensive, crushing bodies and tearing off limbs on its path.

"Hey, Kratos, leave some for me!", the screeching voice shouted from the distance.

Harry immediately whipped out the Elder wand and started chantlessly casting one protective enchantment after the other, before that barbarian managed to come in for another attack. Sure, chantless enchantments were weaker than those done with the full wand movements and chants, but they had to survive first before doing things properly.

Meanwhile, not too far from them, the trio of Hermione, Ginny and Ron heard the fight picking up.

"Harry!", the women shouted in unison. One was concerned for her husband, the other for her best friend.

Seeing that they had started to run in the direction of the noise, Ron shouted: "No, stop, you can't go there! It's too dangerous! You have to stay with me to be safe!"

However, the women didn't listen at all, Ron prepared to cast a spell to stop them in their tracks. Yet, the shouting had attracted the attention of a few nearby Pantheon soldiers and, seeing that Hermione and Ginny had already started casting spells upon spells at them, returned the deadliest curses that they could cast instantly.

A few moments later, Ginny's abdomen burst open in a spray of entrails and Hermione clutched her neck, blood seeping out between her fingers. Where her throat had been, there was now a gaping hole. Had she run just a little bit faster, her carotid artery would've been severed as well.

Seeing Ginny's condition, Hermione tried to call out to her, but other than hissing, no sound came out of her. After all, it was rather difficult to speak without vocal cords.

Meanwhile, Ginny's body had become numb to pain from the shock. She didn't even notice her own condition. Instead, seeing Hermione's injury, she started following the first aid training.

"You're going to be alright!", Ginny said to reassure Hermione. She finally started feeling some pulsing pain from her abdomen, but she figured it must've just been from the shockwave of a bombardment, as it wasn't so bad at first.

She tried casting a few healing spells on Hermione, but those didn't have any effect at all. She then rummaged through her handbag and took out a few potions.

"Hermione, I'm going to need you to remove your hand.", she said. Hermione seemed to come out of her daze a little and did as she was asked. At the same time, her eyes landed on Ginny's condition and her eyes widened, her breathing came extremely erratic, as if she was trying to shout and scream.

Tears started streaming down her face. Hermione took out her wand and cast spell after spell, to no effect. Then she patted her side for her Mokeskin pouch, only to find nothing where it was supposed to be.

Ginny uncorked the phials and poured the contents on Hermione's open wounds. The bleeding on Hermione's throat lessened noticeably, even giving signs that no further treatment would be needed to stabilize her condition completely.

By that point, the pain Ginny was feeling started to become unbearable and she started to get cold. The world in front of her eyes started spinning a little.

Seeing Hermione's horror-filled face and her gaze that was locked onto her body, Ginny looked down at herself. Suddenly, she felt a pair of arms taking hold of her and noticed that Ron had reached them. He seemed to be intent on taking her away somewhere.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!", Ron kept repeating.

However, Ginny already knew, she was running out of time. There wasn't a healer alive that would be able to save her now.

"Put me down.", she said.

Ginny then turned to the now crying Hermione and said in a single breath: "Take care of Harry. He'll need a friend like you to get through this. Tell Harry and the kids that I'll always love them."

Hermione took hold of Ginny's hands, too much in shock to find a way to convey her thoughts. Still, she squeezed Ginny's hands and forced a smile through her tears.

She then turned to Ron and said: "Idiot brother, you shouldn't apologize for something you have no control over."

None of them noticed that for a while already, the battlefield had become strangely quiet.

Nearby, a minute earlier.

The defenses that Harry had set up were shaking and cracking non-stop, only barely able to recover thanks to his immense magic reserves that were being poured into the charms like a bucket onto a forest fire. At most, he could take a few more minutes of this.

However, suddenly, a man in the Pantheon soldiers' ranks shouted with an amplified voice: "Full recall! Return to headquarters immediately! You too, Dionysus, Kratos!"

"Aww, come on! I didn't even get to have any fun!", Dionysus shuouted.

Kratos kicked the shields with his foot, causing them to nearly shatter once again before thundering: "It better be important."