Seven days later.
England, London.
October 8th, 1994
In the last seven days, the whole of the United Kingdom has been transformed into a giant magical war machine, with Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland unsurprisingly joining the war. Without England's protection, these three countries would suffer from the prolonged war that would ensue.
Barriers and veritable magical fortresses were erected throughout the country, and unauthorized wizards and witches were forbidden to leave or enter the most important cities. Unfortunately or fortunately, all the countries in the world could never put 100% of their troops to war.
The reason for this was very simple: although the war had started, it didn't mean that the other war that humanity had been fighting for thousands of years against Cursed Spirits had stopped. Every country in the world still had to reserve troops to exorcise Cursed Spirits or the country would be in complete chaos.
Especially at this time, when the negative magical energy exuded by the whole world would increase in large quantities with the fear and uncertainty of the Third Magical World War.
Asterion was wearing a black military suit with gold details, in front of him was a row of two hundred and ten men and women, all lined up side by side. Among these people, he recognized three in particular, Nymphadora Tonks, her fiancée, Daphne Greengrass, and a shabby-looking old man next to her.
The old man had a prosthetic leg, a prosthetic right eye and part of his nose was missing. It was Alastor Moody, the Mad-Eye. Considered one of the most important Aurors of modern times and a Semi-Special Grade Wizard.
He was also the man who had imprisoned Bellatrix in Azkaban, as well as more than half of the Dark Wizards in Azkaban. Unlike other Aurors, Moody focused mainly on Dark Wizards, rarely doing missions involving Cursed Spirits.
Honestly, Asterion appreciated the man's meticulousness and paranoia, but he needed someone more sane to be his Vice General, unfortunately, there was no other person available and he would have to make Moody official as his Vice General on the battlefield in Spain.
Looking at Narcissa beside him, Asterion showed a slight helplessness, if she had the strength of Semi-Special Grade, he would have placed Narcissa as Vice General, but his cousin didn't possess such strength, so he had to accept Moody, even though the man didn't know he would be the Vice General of the Battle Front.
Asterion put these thoughts aside and said. "Attention, Battalion."
The next moment after his words, everyone stood erect and beat their fists against their chests. They remained like that, waiting for his own words.
"Our mission is simple. We will take the Principality of Andorra and advance together with the Spanish and Portuguese troops." Asterion spoke, his calm, regal voice echoing throughout the place.
It had been decided in Parliament that he would attack the Principality of Andorra and use it as a point of advance towards France. Andorra was perfect to use as a strategic base, especially the capital which was at high altitude and ready to be used as a bridge.
Just as he finished speaking, a hand was raised among the Aurors. Asterion tried to ignore the hand, trying to find someone with doubts, but the owner of the hand kept waving it sideways, drawing his attention.
"Yes, Auror Tonks." Asterion asked with an inexpressive expression.
"Will the battlefield be in the city or around the city?" Nymphadora asked, ignoring her teacher's disgruntled glances.
Asterion looked surprised at his cousin, he really hadn't expected her to ask such an important question. He gave her a calm look and replied sarcastically. "That will depend on the French troops, but it's possible that we'll be fighting in urban areas, it could be an attempt by the French to make us back down for fear of breaking the Secrecy Act."
He continued speaking, his gaze sweeping over everyone present. "If such a thing occurs, you are ordered to ignore the Secrecy Act and attack in front of muggles without any hindrance. Auxiliary troops from Spain and Portugal would control the entire city to prevent the news from leaking out to other cities. Don't hesitate and kill every French wizard you see."
"Yes, Sir." Everyone answered loudly, hitting him again on the chest, making a loud sound resound throughout the place.
Asterion nodded with a cold expression and looked at everyone for a moment, then finally spoke. "Prepare to Apparate."
Everyone drew their wands and with one movement, they all Apparated in a mere instant, a loud sound reminiscent of a car exhaust sounding, before their bodies were distorted into a spiral disappearing in front of Asterion.
"Let's go." Looking at Narcissa, Asterion put his hand on her shoulder and he appeared, disappearing from the scene.
-
Spain - Thirty kilometers from the Principality of Andorra.
Consecutive pops sounded in the air, men and women wearing black suits with a specific coat of arms embroidered on their chests appeared and gradually the numbers increased as time passed. The crest on the chest of these men and women was a tall tower and two swords next to the tower.
When Asterion felt the ground firm up again, he looked ahead and found some familiar faces. The Spanish and Portuguese Minister of Magic.
Alejandro Dominguez, the Spanish Minister of Magic and Duarte Vilar, the Portuguese Minister of Magic. Asterion didn't know the Portuguese Minister, Portugal hadn't accepted his invitation to take part in the International Tournament of Magic and Wizardry in England.
Duarte Vilar was an old man, about sixty years old, his figure was a little bent, but the strong look on his face showed that he had been in office for a long time.
From the magical intensity he was feeling, Asterion assumed that the Portuguese Minister of Magic possessed Semi-Special Grade strength. Stronger than the Spanish Minister of Magic, who was a Grade 1 Wizard.
Which seemed funny, given that Portugal was tiny compared to Spain, yet Spain never managed to annex Portugal, not for lack of trying. Every attempt by Spain to annex Portugal ended in disastrous or humiliating defeat.
Another example of this was China and Japan, China suffered because of Japanese pirates for thousands of years and remembering the size of both countries, you really wonder how the monarchs of China, or Children of Heaven, as they prefer to be called, were so foolish as to allow Japan to do so much killing and pillaging over thousands of years.
But it goes to show that size doesn't always win out in the end, weak countries were often more tenacious than many large ones.
Suddenly, Asterion noticed a familiar face next to both the Spanish and Portuguese Minister, it was the Italian Minister of Magic!
Valentino Ricci!
Asterion couldn't help but frown at Valentino's presence, he didn't like the Italian Minister of Magic's intrusion at all. Last-minute changes in plans rarely worked out and there was a reason for that, the unpredictability increased enormously!
"I don't recall being informed of Minister Ricci's participation in our meetings, Minister Dominguez and Vilar." Asterion spoke, looking at everyone, including someone he had fought personally, Ana Rodríguez, a Wizard who had the innate technique related to electricity.
Alejandro and Duarte, hearing the dissatisfaction in the Special Grade Wizard's tone, both looked at each other and saw the helplessness in each other's eyes. They had no choice, Italy had always been an important partner in the international politics of both their countries.
"Unexpected changes can occur at the last minute. No one can control fate, Lord Black." Duarte Vilar said, his aged voice somewhat hoarse, but the powerful timbre could not be hidden. He really didn't want the General of England and the Italian Minister to start fighting, or rather, he didn't want to see the Italian Minister's death on Spanish soil...
Asterion almost scoffed at those words, but remembering that it could affect the performance of the war and make a very bad impression in the eyes of the Portuguese Minister, he just replied with a cold tone. "Fate really is unpredictable."
He knew that more than anyone, but he still didn't like having another partner on the battlefield without having been consulted first. At that moment, Asterion wanted to turn around and leave Spain, leaving these three countries to fight the enemy coalition alone.
However, he had to play his part in his and Dumbledore's plan: invade France from the flank while Dumbledore would invade France from the front, pressuring both sides and destroying the French and other countries' forces.
In addition, he could keep an eye on Valentino, any sign of betrayal on the part of the Italian Minister of Magic, he would kill him. After all, you can trust the strong spirits of the Italians, but never the strength or cunning of these pizza and pasta lovers.
"Better not betray me, Valentino, I'm in a very bad mood and I can easily summon a Special Grade Spirit to crush you like an insect." Asterion approached Valentino and whispered with a cold but equally deadly gaze. His voice was only audible to Valentino, after all, he couldn't intimidate one of the allied generals in front of his troops.
It would be a severe blow to the morale of any troop, which, surprisingly, could be the difference between victory and defeat on the battlefield.
Valentino's face turned grim in the extreme as he heard the veiled threat against him in front of his troops. Not only that, he was being humiliated by the very man who had killed Italy's only Special Grade Wizard.
This could no longer be called contempt, it was a complete humiliation of him, a man who controlled an entire nation, humiliated by a fourteen-year-old boy!
-----------------------------
Author's thoughts: I've been studying the art of war, especially the Second World War. Honestly, I couldn't help but be surprised. If Hitler hadn't been addicted to drugs and made bad decisions like ignoring the plan to create the Atomic Bomb and thinking he was invincible in the face of nature's fury, the Nazis would have won.
People's stupidity knows no bounds...
Support me to write more and read chapters ahead of all regular readers!
Membership is only $5 all chapter, so if have some spare cash and wanna support this work that'd be appreciated
Donate me your power stones, your help can contribute a lot to this fanfic
P-atreon.com/HPSCB
(Just remove the hyphen to access Patreon normally.)
Next Chapter of the Third Volume: Chapter 231 - The French Battlefront (2), Chapter 232 - The French Battlefront (3), Chapter 233 - The French Battlefront (4), Chapter 234 – Battle Between Special Grade Wizards (1), Chapter 235 – Battle Between Special Grade Wizards (2), Chapter 236 – Battle Between Special Grade Wizards (3), Chapter 237 – Battle Between Special Grade Wizards (4), Chapter 238 – Battle Between Special Grade Wizards (5), Chapter 239 - Occupation of the Principality of Andorra (1), Chapter 240 - Occupation of the Principality of Andorra (2), Chapter 241 - City of Calais (1), Chapter 242 - City of Calais (2), Chapter 243 - City of Calais (3), Chapter 244 - City of Calais (4), Chapter 245 - The Grindelwald Plan (1), Chapter 246 - The Grindelwald Plan (2), Chapter 247 - The Grindelwald Plan (3), Chapter 248 - The Grindelwald Plan (4), Chapter 249 - The Grindelwald Plan (5).