Ron, Hermione, Snape, and McGonagall were once again convened in Dumbledore's office with the Headmaster. Kingsley and Mr. Weasley, who had been present at the meeting earlier that day, were missing. Dumbledore had already informed them that Mr. Weasley was unable to come and that Kingsley was quite tardy.
"Perhaps we can start without Auror Shacklebolt," Snape suggested unhappily. "There are things that I need to do and wasting my time in useless meetings is not one of them."
"We should probably start." McGonagall stated logically. "I'm sure that he can be brought up to speed as soon as he arrives."
Hermione frowned as she mentally reviewed the events of the day. Closing down the Daily Prophet had been a very intelligent thing to do, she reckoned. Trying to seize Harry's money was also a good idea turned bad. There had been enough goblin rebellions in the past, but never over whether or not the bank should allow the Ministry to seize the funds of a witch or wizard. "I don't get it." she voiced finally. "Why did Gringotts close?"
"That was a very unpredictable move on their part, wasn't it?" Dumbledore mused. "It is quite possible that young Percy's attitude toward them insulted them. He's a bit stuck up, but I wouldn't expect a goblin to react so adversely. There's also another possibility, one that I hope is not the case."
Snape gave everyone present a dose of his trademark sneer. "What could that possibility be, Headmaster?"
"Well," Dumbledore said slowly, "it could be that the goblins are allied with Harry."
"What!" Ron exclaimed. "Why?"
He received no answer because Kingsley Shacklebolt burst into the office panting. "The Ministry received an anonymous tip that a Muggle village on the north coast is under attack by an unidentified group of wizards. Scouts were immediately sent to confirm the report. One of them returned and is barely alive."
"Death Eaters?" Hermione asked.
Kingsley shook his head. "No. There is no Dark Mark and all of the attackers are wearing gray."
Professor Dumbledore's face grew grim. "It seems that Harry is letting us know what he thinks about our actions against him today."
…..
Harry used his above average powers to magically transport himself, Bellatrix, Narcissa, and two of his bodyguards to a specified location in the besieged village from the hill outside of town where he and Hiscophney had quickly formulated a plan of action.
"There's something wrong about this picture." Bellatrix announced as she held one of her cherry wands in front of her, ready to fire a curse at anything that posed a threat. "The Death Eaters should be wearing dark cloaks with masks, not gray cloaks with no masks."
"Camouflage?" Harry hypothesized.
"Maybe." Bellatrix said, her voice reflecting her lack of assurance.
An explosion shook the ground and several random curses exploded only a few feet away from where the small group stood. In the confusion, Harry heard Narcissa scream and try to run for cover. However, she was prevented by his firm grip around her elbow.
"Let me go!" she demanded. "You can't make me go through this mess!"
"You and other like-minded pure-bloods seem to think that it's okay to put innocent Muggles through this." Harry commented dryly as he slowly turned and scanned the area, holding his Black Ash wand out as if it could stop anything from coming his way. "Let's go this way. It seems that all the Death Eaters are further in. Hiscophney and Nailoff should be driving the Death Eaters on their sides toward the center of the village."
Narcissa did not reply to Harry's bland barb, but did follow her sister and brother-in-law's bodyguards as they slowly made their way to the center of the village. The others seemed to concentrate on what lay ahead. However, Narcissa couldn't help but observe the occasional corpse laying mangled in the street.
She thought that she could never see anything worse than those corpses. Much to her horror, she found that she was wrong as they passed a corpse that wasn't quite dead yet. "Can't you do anything for him?" she asked Harry.
He shook his head. "There's nothing that can stop him from dying, I can feel it. It's my duty to care for those who have a chance."
There was nothing for Narcissa to do but nod in acceptance and try to steel her nerves as she felt herself sink into a mental state of shock. After several minutes of walking to the center of the village, they were all surprised when a small girl abruptly dashed out from between two houses farther up the street.
Before any of the group could call out to her, a Reducto curse flew from behind her and hit her dead on, ripping her to shreds before their eyes. Narcissa fell to her knees and vomited violently, only vaguely aware as Harry rushed forward, his bodyguards on his heels, and shot a counter-curse on the dead child's behalf. From his angry exclamation, Narcissa assumed that he had missed.
"Are you okay?" Bellatrix asked sympathetically.
...
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