"Drop your wands." Lucius Malfoy commanded as he grinned at the surrounded Order members. He had chosen to remove his mask while all the other Death Eaters holding their wands on the prisoners kept them on. "Resistance is futile, the Ministry will most certainly not come thanks to my arrangements, and you can only die if you fight."
Hermione was very confused. If this had been a simple raid, then the Death Eaters would have retreated at the first sign of resistance. Voldemort certainly wanted raids, but he didn't want Death Eaters to die unless he was after something. Several Death Eaters had died during the fighting. "What do you want here?" she demanded.
"Take a wild guess." Lucius laughed. "I bet that Dumbledore has a pretty good idea."
"You won't get away with this." Dumbledore advised. "Besides, is it worth it to have so many crimes over your head just for the blood of two ex-Aurors who couldn't harm you if they tried?"
Lucius shook his head disbelievingly. "Do you really think that they couldn't harm us? There are powers rising that could very well heal the Longbottoms. But you're too blind to realize that, aren't you? You were certainly blind enough to send Potter to Azkaban, weren't you? I bet he could have healed the Longbottoms."
"Could and would are not the same, Malfoy." Dumbledore stated.
The rich pure-blood Death Eater began to laugh sardonically. "You just don't get it, do you? You must be the stupidest person I've ever met. It doesn't matter though, the Longbottoms will die tonight."
"I don't really think so." came a cold voice. "Nitracit incendio maximus!"
Everyone turned toward the location in which the voice had come from just in time to see a gigantic ball of blue fire zoom toward the Death Eaters and explode at their feet, causing robes to catch on fire. Abruptly, several figures Apparated into the room, some with small pops, others with loud bangs.
However, this show did not distract everyone from the person who had cast the fire curse. Ron was one of these and was also the first to recognize the person. He yelled out incredulously, grabbing everyone's attention. "Harry?"
....
Harry scowled when he realized that Ron and several other Order members had just recognized him. He should have remembered to wear his hood up but in all the excitement, he had forgotten. It was probably for the best anyway. Casting curses and spells was a little harder when a cloak limited one's visibility. "Ron?" Harry retorted sarcastically, as everyone in the room stared at him.
"Leave the Longbottoms alone, Harry." Dumbledore said in what he hoped was a soothing voice. "They have never done any harm to you and are not capable of harming you at this point in time."
Anger surged through Harry's veins. How could they assume that he was here to attack Neville's parents? It was some nerve they had. "Why would I harm them?" he growled menacingly.
"They're a danger to you!" Ron yelled irrationally. "Just like they're a danger to you or anyone else who thinks they can practice the Dark Arts."
"I'm not here to harm the Longbottoms in any way whatsoever." Harry announced. "I'd also like to say that I'm innocent of all crimes that I stand accused of. I would never help Voldemort do anything. He killed my parents!"
Dumbledore's face paled as he drew some immediate and erroneous conclusions. Harry wasn't here to kill the Longbottoms. He wanted to use them. "Do you think that you can destroy Voldemort with your hate, Harry? You'll become worse than Voldemort was! Your victory will be as Dark as your defeat! I know that you don't see what you did on Privet Drive as a crime, but nevertheless- you did kill innocents."
"I DIDN'T KILL ANYBODY!" Harry roared at the Order who after Dumbledore's statement were looking at him as if someone had just announced that he killed babies for a living.
"Harry," Hermione said in a shaking voice, "please give yourself up. You can only go down from here. You don't want to become like the man who made you an orphan. We'll try to see to it that you stay out of Azkaban. We'll get you help."
A throbbing sensation began to assault Harry's head as his anger skyrocketed despite his ability to acknowledge the irony of Hermione offering him something she didn't have to give. They were lying to him. They wanted him dead. "Why won't you listen to me?" he whispered harshly, trying to control himself.
"You must listen to US." Dumbledore told him.
"Listen to ME!" Harry barked.
Ron laughed at him. "You don't deserve to be listened to. You bloody murderer and traitor."
Before Harry could react, Hiscophney, who had unobtrusively taken a position on Harry's right flank, dashed forward and lifted Ron off the ground, gripping his throat with one hand. "You will address the Earl of the North with respect." he said coldly. He then threw Ron to the ground and rejoined Harry.
The assembled members of the Order gasped audibly as the new information sank in. They knew that they needed the Earl to win against Voldemort. Unfortunately, it seemed to them that the Earl would be worse than Voldemort.
"You must surrender yourself." Dumbledore implored as thoughts about the revelation darted throughout his mind. "Would you shame the House of Polairix by tainting its reputation? What would your mother think? I'm sure that a plea bargain could be made."
Harry literally could not think. There were too many things assaulting his mind. Dumbledore shouldn't be so concerned about 'tainting' a House's reputation. He was only saying that. He was also angry that the Ministry could be depended on to let an alleged murderer walk free on such a plea bargain. Out of all this, a random thought emerged. 'I need a Pensieve.'
"My lord," Hiscophney said, "it's useless. They can't see and they won't listen. We must take action before the Death Eaters can do any more damage."
"We'll talk later." Harry spat at Dumbledore, Ron, Hermione, and all the Order. "But know this, not only will I eradicate Voldemort and his Death Eaters, I will fix your pitiful Ministry." He then turned to Hiscophney and Nailoff. "You know what you need to do. As for the Order, leave them be unless they attack you. If they do attack, stun them and escort them from the building."
Hiscophney bowed formally for the Order's benefit. "Of course, my Lord." By insulting Polairix, they were insulting him. This 'Order' would have to learn its lesson soon. Maybe he could rough them up a little.
By this time, the Death Eaters had recovered from his fire curse and a another battle had broken out between them and the Order. Those that had arrived with Harry immediately joined the fight. The Ice soldiers darted nimbly around the room shooting off spells while those from Trazkaban imperiously made their way through the battle ignoring the curses that bounced off invisible shields all while shooting stunners and other curses from the palms of their hands.
...
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