24

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR:

Harry clutched Dumbledore's frail body tightly as he spun through the Floo network, and as soon as they reached their destination he conjured an armchair to arrange the old man in, ignoring the gasps of the Order members already present. When he looked up he realized that all the Order members were already present, and announced, somewhat superfluously, that the Headmaster was injured.

"What happened?" Moody asked, his good eye intent on Harry.

"Albus ran afoul of a very Dark curse when we were dealing with one of Snake Face's Horcruxes," he replied, and Moody's gaze switched to Dumbledore's withered hand. "There is no way to reverse or stop the curse, but Severus," here he nodded at the seated Potions Master, "did what he could to slow it, extending Albus' life expectancy from several hours to a month. If we all work together, we can deal with Snake Face and his Death Eaters within that month; I would like Albus to be able to see the peace he has worked towards for so many years." Harry was glad that both Remus and Severus had such control over their expressions, for neither of them betrayed anything at his smooth words. Most of the other Order members looked either panicked or lost, and Harry knew that he needed to take charge before any of them succumbed to panic.

Conjuring himself an armchair, Harry sat down and cast a glance at Dumbledore; seeing that he was pale with pain and wouldn't be speaking for a while, Harry said, "I do have a piece of good news to give you." Seeing that everyone's attention was on him, he continued, "Most of Snake Face's Horcruxes have been dealt with; the only one left is Nagini, Voldemort's pet snake. Once she is dead, Snake Face will be mortal." The looks of relief on the other members' faces made Harry smile. "I intend for Snake Face to be dead by Sunday next week," he announced, and almost laughed at the gobsmacked expressions. "Please, have a seat, and I'll explain."

Once everyone was seated, he began to lay out his plan. "Severus believes that he will be called for a meeting of the Inner Circle tomorrow evening – I will accompany him to keep Snake Face believing that I am his follower," he ignored the worried looks of Mrs. Weasley and several others, "and will report on the incompetence of the Order." Here he winked at the Weasley twins, who grinned in return. "As soon as we have returned from the meeting I will call an Order meeting. Starting the following evening I want to begin taking out Death Eaters, interrogating them with Veritaserum and deciding which will go to trial and which need to be taken out of society entirely." His face was serious as he continued, "We all know that in the current Ministry, all of the Death Eaters will go free if taken to trial. In my opinion, the only Death Eaters that go to trial should be the ones that agree to swear an oath and we place under house arrest until we have cleaned out the Ministry enough to give them a fair trial. I do not doubt that all of them will end up going to Azkaban after such a trial, and I do not doubt that many of them will choose death over such a fate. If they choose such an end, each of us will have a vial of poison on hand to give them a humane death. No matter what their actions in the past, we will not stoop to their level." None of them needed to know that he was lying – he had absolutely no intention of giving either Bellatrix or Rodolphus Lestrange such an easy end. They would suffer for what they did to Severus.

"We will put together teams to infiltrate the Death Eaters' homes, and I insist that nobody volunteer if they believe themselves unable to either administer a poison or watch a poison being administered." He let that sink in for a moment, then said, "Volunteers please raise your hands."

Another pause, then, "Alright. When the Aurors among us took their oaths, did it include anything about unlawful action, interrogation, or killing?"

"We swore that whenever possible we would capture instead of killing," Shaklebolt replied in a rumbling bass. Harry nodded – he had expected something along those lines. A look at Moody had the man shaking his head, "When I retired I was released from my Oath."

"Alright then. Alastor, if you could head a team to the Nott residence with Fred and George under your command. You know how the Notts are; work out a plan with the twins." The three men nodded, and Harry shot Mrs. Weasley a level look that silenced her unvoiced protests. "Remus, you will go to the Carrow residence with Tonks and Bill. Incapacitate your targets immediately, and don't risk your necks in a duel. They're fast, they're tricky – don't give them any chances to try anything. If they so much as scratch you I will be most displeased." He meant it, too – the Carrows had a tendency to use a special cutting curse that was combined with a blood poisoning spell: If you got scratched by that spell, you would most likely die.

"On second thought – Severus, you will head that group instead of Remus. Take a lot of anti-venom potions with you; you know which spell the Carrows prefer." He gave Severus a meaningful look, and the man nodded grimly. "As with the other team, you will work out a plan with Bill and Nymph." It was a sign of how unsure Tonks was about working together with Snape that she didn't even protest the use of the nickname.

"Remus, that leaves you free to deal with Jugson. He's a tricky one as well; take no chances. Sirius is under your command." Harry shot his godfather a look that made it clear that he was to listen to Remus's orders. If anyone thought it strange that Harry was putting Remus in charge and not Sirius, they didn't show it.

"Minerva," he turned to his former teacher, "Please deal with Rowle; Mr. Doge will support you. Kingsley, Yaxley is yours – I am fairly sure that he will swear an oath rather than face death, believing that he will be able to bribe his way out of a trial."

Looking around the room, he thought briefly. "That leaves… Travers, Macnair, Goyle, Crabbe, Gibbon, Avery, Dolohov, and Lestrange. Alastor, you and Bill will take down Dolohov; the twins will join Nymph to take down Crabbe. Minerva and Mr. Doge will deal with Goyle. Remus and Sirius, your second objective is Avery, and Kingsley will deal with Travers. Gibbon and Macnair work in the Ministry and aren't fighters – they will attempt to keep their heads down, giving us enough time to deal with them at a later point in time. Severus and I will deal with the Lestranges." The hard look on his face made several members shift uncertainly; it was clear that he had personal reasons for going after that group.

"As for a timetable," he continued, "we will hopefully need only two strikes – one Saturday night, and one Sunday night. Everyone will head out at the same time, and if there are any difficulties you will press this disk; it will send out a distress signal to everyone else with the same charm, indicating person and location." He held up a small disk that he had pulled from his pocket; it was a simple charm for jewelry that Harry had charmed prior to the meeting. "I have a length of cord here as well; each of you will fashion a necklace so that the disk is always close at hand. If you have any troubles during your mission you press this, and any available member will come to aid you. I myself will be staying at Headquarters for just that case." Standing up, Harry laid both the charms and the coiled cord on the table before addressing the group once more.

"As I said, we will meet on Friday after the Death Eater meeting – unless the meeting is called for Saturday; then we will meet then and the missions won't begin till Sunday night. Once Snake Face realizes that his Inner Circle has been almost completely taken out he will call another meeting, and Severus and I will deal with Nagini and hopefully Snake Face himself then. Five minutes after we have apparated in you will join us." At the questioning looks he smiled slightly. "Let me explain how we will accomplish this."

Before he did so he conjured himself a glass of water and drank deeply. Am I giving them too much information at once? he wondered, but one glance at the members' focused expressions reassured him that that was not the case. Clearing his throat, he explained his plan.

"A tracking charm, applied to me, will give you the apparition coordinates, and once Snake Face is dead the wards will fall and you will be able to apparate directly into the hall. After that, it will be a simple take-down procedure – we take down all Death Eaters present. If there are many of them, do not stun them – they will be enervated by their companions. Use force. If there are few, however, then by all means, do stun them. Poppy, Miss Vance, and Mrs. Figg will wait at Headquarters; Hagrid, you'll stay at Hogwarts both during the missions and the final confrontation to keep an eye on the school and alert us should anything happen on that end. I will also inform Harry, Ron and Hermione so that they may keep an eye on the students, and Severus and Minerva will discuss with their fellow teachers the option of joining us. Filius especially would be a great addition to our Order."

Harry was somewhat surprised that everyone accepted his orders without question; he had expected at least a bit of resistance. He wondered whether they were just incapable of questioning the person in command or whether they actually had that much trust in him, despite having only really met him a few days prior.

"So, to recap." He swung his gaze along the room, meeting each member's eyes once. A thought occurring to him, Harry conjured a blackboard behind him as well as a piece of chalk to write down his points as he made them. "Tomorrow or Saturday evening there will be a Death Eater meeting that Severus and I will attend. As soon as we have returned to Hogwarts we will call an Order meeting to discuss the missions in further detail. The following two nights we will strike at the Death Eaters of the Inner Circle, and all members will wear a charm around their neck in case of complications. After each strike we will all reconvene here to discuss how it went and how to proceed; Kingsley, Alastor and Remus will place tracking charms on me. When Voldemort calls his remaining followers, Severs and I will each send a Patronus alerting Alastor and Remus; they will call together the Order and Kingsley will lead the group in once Alastor says that five minutes have elapsed since our Patronus reached him. Once the confrontation is over we will all meet again here to discuss how to proceed with the Ministry. Kingsley will speak with Madam Bones to lead the Auror force in for clean-up while we decide; I am inclined to use the political power of the Potter, Black, Malfoy, Bones and Longbottom families to bring about change within the Ministry, but I will want to hear your opinions." He smiled at the overwhelmed group, and his tone softened slightly. "For now, let's just focus on one thing at a time: I encourage you to sit in your appointed groups and discuss how you will go about infiltrating the homes of the Death Eaters. Can all remaining members please join me."

Turning, Harry moved back to his chair and crouched next to Dumbledore, who had his eyes closed, obviously in great pain. "How are you holding up, Albus?" Harry asked softly, searching the lined face.

The eyes opened slowly, needing a moment to focus on Harry's face. "Not as well as I had hoped, I am afraid," the man said faintly, and Harry mentally pumped his fist in the air. Outwardly he worried his lip, looking at his former mentor with concern.

"I'm sorry I can't do anything to help," he said, his voice tinted with self-reproach.

Dumbledore tried to smile gently, but it came out closer to a grimace. "It is not your fault, my boy," he said, but Harry was sure that the man felt otherwise.

"Still…" he said helplessly. Then he felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up into the sad face of Poppy Pompfrey.

"Don't hold yourself responsible, Harry," she said softly, and he felt his eyes tear as he remembered her saying the same to him after so many other deaths. "You did all you could." Harry bit his lip hard to keep the tears from falling and nodded shakily at the Mediwitch.

"Everyone here?" he asked, wiping his eyes as he stood and assumed the mantle of leadership once more. "Excellent. Poppy, I was thinking that you could teach these members a few basic healing spells – they may come in handy later." The woman nodded with a smile, and Harry turned the group over to her, retiring to a corner to survey the room. The next few days would be busy.