Chapter 147: War Council
"Well, then let's get this war council on the way!" Harry said as he opened his folder which contained countless valuable documents. It was the reports and intel on the Nott family that was collected by the Micro Griffins Cohort and presented to him.
It contained detailed information of the Nott family from what magic they specialized in, their bonded creatures, their military strength, their financial power, their influence, their vassals, who they married, who they have connections with, their out of country power, who worked for them, and the list just went on for days.
He must say, Lieutenant Hakim and his men did a wonderful job and he was glad he raised the rank of the man as one of his Lieutenant.
"Tobry, is the room secure," Harry asked the house-elf right besides him.
"Yes, my Lord," the little magical being nodded his head as Harry watched him snap his finger and see magic race across the room, protecting it from any scrying or eavesdropping from unwanted eyes.
"We are well protected here from any prying eyes and ears," the Commander voiced.
"Good, now let's start with discuss the Nott family military strength," Harry said as he organized his documents and flipped to a parchment on the Nott family army. "I am sure you got the reports before coming here, and thank you, Lieutenant Hakim," Harry said as he turned to face the masked man.
"You value to this legion is innumerable."
The man gave a simple bow of his head, not uttering a single word.
Nodding his head in acknowledgment, Harry got back to the topic at hand. "So we will be dealing with the Grim Brigade, huh," Harry mused as he read up on the Nott family army.
"Yes," the Commander spoke up, "they are a very troublesome lot."
"How so?" Harry asked, curious to know.
"We have faced them in the field of battle during both the Grindelwald war and much later in the Voldemort war. So we have some experience against them," the Commander answered as a faraway look passed through his face as he recalled those bloody days.
"Yeah," Alex spoke up, "they are a bloody tough lot to put down once and for all as they just keep coming back. And they are tricky as well as they somehow find ways to curse you and weaken you slowly before coming in for the kill."
"That is because of their Dark affinity, correct?!" Harry said. "They are good with curses and the lot."
"Yep," Alex nodded his head, "so we need to be careful how we handle them. The family legion is best at frontal conformation and massive overwhelming damage, unlike the Notts who are a sneaky bunch that like chipping away at their enemy before dealing with them at long last."
"Well, the previous Lord of the family truly did not embody those virtues," Lieutenant Felicity sadly shook her head as she was mentioning the idiot's decision to try to usurp the Wizengamot.
"Well his son is not like that, I can promise you that for sure," Harry said. Although he hated Theodore's guts and wanted nothing more than to rip out any shred of his manhood, he had to admit that bastard was a very dangerous one.
He wasn't like Draco, that blustering idiot that you can manipulate every which way you want. Draco only represented the worst qualities in a Slytherin; ambitious with no cunning to temper it, domineering with no smarts to back it, arrogant with no foresight to look ahead, seeking leadership but with no talent at all.
But Theodore was the opposite of Draco, he was both ambitious and cunning, arrogant and smart, talented and resourceful. And to top it all off his was cold and ruthless. Nothing at all like good old Draco.
However that didn't matter to Harry, Nott made one little mistake and that was messing with him and those he cared for. He didn't care how smart or talented he was, he was going to teach him a lesson he would never forget and would remember for the rest of his miserable little life.
Nobody messed with his women and got away with it under his watch!
"So were we able to gauge their actual military strength?" Harry asked, it was good and all, knowing the natural disposition of an army and what tactics they are more likely to implore, but he needed actual numbers to know what he was dealing with.
"Like everyone they suffered during the past two wars. However, during this interim, they had made great strides in rebuilding their forces," a voice replied which seem to come from everywhere all at once. Harry turned to Lieutenant Hakim who could be the only one who could have answered, but he never saw the man's lips moved.
"So all in all, we are looking at 4,800 wizarding soldiers making up the Grim Brigade! They are divided into 2, Grim Dark and Grim Shadow!"
"And what of their vassals?" Harry asked with narrowed eyes, this would be very important for his coming plans.
"On that note, we have some good news," the man answered.
"I like good, tell me more," Harry let loose a savage smile as he folded his finger in front of himself, eagerly listening up.
"Thanks to the old head's, Tobias Nott, rash decision to try to take over the Wizengamot, he also took down three of his Knighly vassals with him who were there with him that day on the coup. Now those houses are in a mess with one having two sons fighting over Lordship, the other being left to a 3-year-old little girl, and the last ending since there were no descendants.
That leaves us with 4 vassals; 2 Barons and 2 Knight houses to deal with! I think we could get the Baron House of Gill to look the other way during the war. Get the Knight House of Finn on our side, and own the Knight House of Allen by taking on their debts that House Nott did not want to take up. That would only leave the Nott family with just the Baron House of Lean who close kin with the Notts."
"You said, the old head, does that mean that Theodore is now the new head of House Nott?!"
"Yes, there were some slight roadblocks to the young Nott becoming the new head, but that has been resolved."
"What happened?" Lieutenant Tia asked out of curiosity.
"His uncle tried to assume power on the account that his nephew was too young to take the heavy responsibility of Lordship. But that was quickly put to rest when the Grim Brigade who swore fealty to the young lord put him under house arrest. Now the young Lord is putting trumped up charges at his uncle's feet on how he lead his father astray whispering false things in his ear!"
"Smart," Lieutenant Otto nodded his head, "he gets two birds with one stone with that tactic. Not only does he show to the Wizengamot House Nott will not be following in his father's footsteps, but he also disway anyone from following in his uncle's footsteps."
"Well, thank you, Lieutenant Hakim," Harry said with an appreciative nod of his head to the spy.
"So moving on to their bonded creature," Harry said as he flipped to that section. The image he was presented of the ghastly creature roiled his stomach as he stared at it.
"Now that is just evil looking, alright," Lieutenant Riley made his opinion known without a second thought as he recoiled back at what he saw.
"You have no idea how right you are," Lieutenant Martin commented. "I fought one a long time ago and I still carry the scars to remind me of that day," the large man spoke up as he pulled down his shirt showing everyone a grisly old scar.
"You shall experience it when we face the Nott family, boy!" the Commander uttered.
"Alright moving on," Harry said, "I need to know all the valuable assets and properties of House Nott. Tobry could you bring it up on the screen?"
"Yes, master," the house-elf said as he pressed a few buttons and on the screen for him and the others appeared a map of Britain. Not regular old Britain that the Muggles knew and lived in, but the Magical one, the hidden home of the wizards and witches of the Magical Isles.
There were countless little dots on the map he knew very well from Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, 12 Grimmauld places, Diagon Alley, Azkaban, The Burrow, St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, his family manor, and so much more!
And little places that are not mentioned that much, the Great Fairy Groove, the Goblin Kingdom, the Giant's mountains, the Troll Nation, the Merpeople lakes, and many more!
There was a plethora of information on the map, all stuff that his family collected through the many years they lived in these isles. With concealment spells and powerful rituals, it is very difficult finding out the location of a place so this map was more than valuable, it was just priceless.
However, what drew Harry's attention was these locations marked with the Nott family. The only places of importance for a wizarding family is the Family Manor which holds the keys to the family from the beasts to the treasures and knowdgle. Then there is the Wizarding Tower which is where progress is made from spell experiments, the creation of magical items, new potion recipes. And finally, the army Fortress which is where the wizarding house army is stationed.
Though that is only for powerful families, knightly or Barons families don't really have.
Anyways anything else from mansions, cottages, villas, and so forth are of no import, but just for show or to have a small get away.
Though there is the small outlier of properties outside of Magical Britain, however rarely do they come into consideration since they have different functions.
Harry saw that the Nott family estates were located all throughout Btitian just like any other wizarding family. To muggles that would make no sense at all, but with countless means of teleportation on, for wizards distance means nothing.
Staring at the map, Harry was interrupted as Alex spoke up, "I can see you already have a plan in mind, my lord."
Looking at him, Harry saw the man had a smile on his face, and the Commander called out, "Well come on and spill it, boy!"
"My plan hinges on how ready the Nott family is," Harry said. "How much intel do you think they have on your family and our current assets." Harry had no doubt that just like how he had his men spy on the Nott family, they could do the same in turn.
"They of course know our military structure and how our legion is made up like we do, but I am sure they do not know our current numbers since you took the initiative and have been collecting intel on them for months," the Commander spoke up.
"Good," Harry said, then he addressed the gruff man, "Commander, I want you to start preparing the legion and gather them in force."
"And do what?" the man asked.
"Just be on the ready to move at anytime," Harry said.
"Now that is not much to go on," the old military hand furrowed his eyebrows.
"I promise I will tell you everything in due time, but I need you to trust me."
"Fine," the man said. "You haven't failed us yet, so don't make this a first. A war between two families of the Sacred 28 is not something to be taken lightly. So make sure you think everything through."
With that the meeting was all but over, and Harry watched as the Commander shout as his aid, "Now how do you turn off his damnable thing?!"
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After all his Lieutenants and the Commander left, Harry was left alone in the room with only his two House-elves.
"More, master," Dobby asked as he saw his empty glass.
"Sure," Harry said as he watched the house-elf pour him some of the amber liquid.
"Tobry connect me with my vassals, would you!" Harry said. He made sure to set up a communication center in each of his vassals' homes so he could have a quick and easy connection with them and could get to them at any time.
Before long he was in a very similar meeting he had with his Lieutenants as all 7 of his vassals were gathered. From Lord Bott, Ser Ryan, Ser Eddie, Lord Kerry, Ser Watts, Ser Gray, Ser Myles.
"Gentlemen," Harry smiled at his vassals, some looked bedraggled as they seem to have been pulled out of their bed. "You all have a rare opportunity before you all!" Harry made sure to word his phrase carefully, there is nothing more than vassals hate being dragged into their lord's battles.
However that would be very much different if there were lucrative rewards insight."I believe your chance to expand has come. I don't know if you heard, but were are going to war with the Nott family, and this is your chance to expand your family estates and lands."
Looking on the expression on each of his vassals' face, Harry knew he had them. Who did not want to expand their powerbase, the Nott family vassals' lands were chump change for him. All he wanted was to unleash his vassal's on the Nott which he schemed in the shadows.
"Truly, my lord," Lord Boot asked.
"When have I ever lied to you, gentlemen. The Nott family vassals' lands are ripe for the picking as they are in a mess with the fall of the old head. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity before you all, something I believe you all do not want to miss!"
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After his second meeting was done, and his vassals left with broad smiles on their faces and greed in their eyes, Harry was left to his devices.
"Tobry, we will be having one more meeting for the day!"
"Who, my lord?"
"Those mercenaries I hired out of course," Harry answered.
Harry saw Tobry wrinkle his nose, as he did as he was told, of course he would have some distaste for men that killers for hire! But they were just the bloody truth to war.
Soon Harry had the two brother mercenary captains on the screen. He made sure to get to know them over the time he had them on hire and they were both named Albert and Gilbert.
"I believe it time for you and your boys to earn your lunch..."
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Check out pa/ treon, I am 25 chapters ahead!
Pa/ treon/Mark_Ward