Chapter 9

MALFOY MANOR

Voldemort wiped his mouth having just finished his dinner of one of Lucius' prized albino peacocks. He glanced at the clock on the wall and broke out into a cruel grin.

Things were about to happen soon.

His new tools would be tested.

People would die.

He was looking forward to hearing how well it all turned out.

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AZKABAN ISLAND

Severus Snape pulled his robe tightly around him. Thanks to Albus Dumbledore, Severus had never been to the Island of Azkaban before. It was strangely ironic that it was the dark lord that would be the one to send him there.

"Nervous, Snape?" Lorne Nott goaded just behind the potions master.

"Should I be?" Severus retorted, glancing back at the silver mask worn by Nott.

"Knock it off, you two!" barked Macnair. Of all of them, Walden Macnair knew the island best. "We go this way." He turned and walked down a rock path that almost wasn't there. He didn't look back to see if anyone was following.

Severus let Crabb and Nott pass him. Yaxley held back to stay with Snape. They stood together as the other new mercenaries Malfoy had found filed passed them.

"That cloak got us passed the island's anti-apparition wards."

Severus' eyes glanced over at the self-proclaimed 'Fadeaway Man'. "I know I've read of that cloak he wears. I just don't know when I did."

"I thought muggles couldn't use magical items," Yaxley said, shooting Severus a questioning look. All of the wizards had been amazed when the Fadeaway Man had them all walk through his extended cloak only to find themselves transported to the Island of Azkaban.

"He still could be a wizard, just a weak one, or more likely a squib." Severus knew that Yaxley would like that answer best. It would make the Fadeaway Man seem weaker, and less of a threat.

Severus and Yaxley had to keep from flinching as the Sea Wolf went by them. Both men gazed after the werewolf, then glanced up at the quarter-moon in the night sky. No matter what they wanted to think, there was more to these mercenaries then they were comfortable.

"How is he transformed?" asked Yaxley. "Not even Greyback can do that."

"There's more to this world than these islands of yours," stated a black man in a strange, skimpy garb. Neither man recognized the Haitian accent of Houngan, but they could sense the dark power emanating from him. Houngan actually had to tell them where Haiti was, much to his amusement. Severus did finally remember reading about the magical practices of Haiti, the majority of them being extremely dark, especially the necromantic rites.

As the Haitian villain walked after the others, Yaxley and Severus slowly followed after them. "I'm not sure what to think of these mercenaries that Malfoy hired," admitted Yaxley.

"They have been told of the dementors, and they are still willing to face and fight them." Severus paused. "They are either mad or… something else. Something we should be very wary of."

Yaxley grunted. "We shall see."

A thoughtful look crossed Severus' face. "Did anyone explain to Nott and the others to keep some of the guards alive so we can use them with the imperio to find our confined fellow Death Eaters?"

Yaxley muttered a low curse and rushed ahead to find the more impulsive and less conniving of their group.

Severus stayed in the rear trying to figure out how to explain all this to Dumbledore later. He hadn't returned to Hogwarts in almost two weeks. The dark lord had been keeping him busy brewing potions, identifying potions that other Death Eaters grabbed during a raid, and further training three of his former Slytherin students in the arts of potions making so that they could take up some of the slack for when he was doing other duties.

As they approached the outer wall of the Azkaban prison, three Dementors swooped down toward them. Black Manta fired red beams of light from the eyes of his helmet, sticking the furthest Dementor, causing it to bounce back against the prison wall, it's black cloak smoldering as it fell to the ground in a lump. Black Manta sent several more blasts until he was sure it wasn't going to rise again. Coldsnap, of the Masters of Disaster, encased the closest Dementor in a thick block of ice. His fiancée, Heatstroke, flew up into the air, and sent a volley of fireballs into the remaining Dementor. It tried to escape, but was not used to having to evade anything, and was quickly engulfed in flames.

Heatstroke landed as close as she dared to her fiancé. "Darryl, that-that thing made me feel cold," she said, shivering despite the flames covering her body.

"These things affect the soul, baby. It is psychosomatic. You were feeling what it was doing to your soul. Hell, it made me feel cold, and I didn't think that was possible for me anymore."

"But-but I don't believe in souls," she protested.

"You should," commented Jinx, a bald woman of Indian descent, who despite wearing very little, she seemed unbothered by the cold that engulfed the island. Jinx walked up to the Dementor encased in ice, and leaned close to stare into its hooded face. "Souls are what this thing likes to eat most." She raised an eyebrow as she watched Houngan taking some of the ashes from the Dementor that had burned, and placed them in an opening in a small metal doll he carried.

A muscular man in an orange bodysuit and a green cloak stepped forward. "I think I ran into something like this when I was attempting to perform a ritual at Stonehenge. That blasted Morgaina le Fey set them upon me to take the Sorcerer's Treasure away from me. Singed her hands good before I escaped her horde of minor demons." William Zard, a.k.a. the Wizard, used the hand wearing the mystical Power Glove to fiddle with the large Energy Prism that hung from his neck.

Corban Yaxley spun the Wizard around, his wand sparking in his hand. "How dare you claim to have met the great Morgaina le Fey! If you had met the great Morgaina, a muggle like you would have had your skin shredded from your body!"

Wizard rolled his eyes before flicking his finger, thus sending Yaxley flying back into a large puddle of ice and water. "I may boast from time to time, but I do not exaggerate. I met the withered old crone, and while I do not have the ability to best her yet, there will be a day of retribution."

"Yaxley! Control yourself!" snarled Nott. "The dark lord is your master, not the fabled le Fey! Remember yourself!"

Snape knew better than to help Yaxley as he crawled out of the puddle, but he still sent a drying and warning charm at the fuming man. Stepping past Yaxley, Severus couldn't help but say, "We were told that most of these mercenaries had great powers, that didn't mean that some of them couldn't have also been a wizard or witch." He mused over what he had learned. He had not known before now that Yaxley was one of the cult followers of Morgaina le Fay.

Severus continued on to where the rest had stopped right next to the back wall of Azkaban. A woman stood there in blue, including her mohawk hair and her skin, was talking to a large bald stuttering man in a green outfit.

"I want a hole in this $&%#ing wall big enough for us to all walk in! But don't you $&%#ing dare knock the whole building this time!"

"S-s-sure thing-ing-ng, N-n-new Wave."

The muscular bald man, slightly shaking, turned to the stone wall of Azkaban, drew in a deep breath, and raised a hand forward.

An immense wave of vibrations began to pound the walls of Azkaban, and to the amazement of the wizards, the infamous stone wall began to crumble before their eyes.

"Incoming!" shouted Sea Wolf, pointing skyward.

Severus felt his heart clench in his chest as a swarm of Dementors flew down toward them. He thought of using his patronus, but knew that if he did, and word got out that his patronus was that of a doe, the dark lord would be more than a little suspicious of him. But the alternative was to allow the Dementors to consume his soul, such as it was, and he didn't want that either.

But then another alternative happened.

The mercenary super-villains attacked the Dementors.

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THE BURROW

"This is so bloody not fair!" shrieked Alecto Carrow.

"Now, now, ducky," her brother, Amycus, said soothingly to her, but still keeping his distance as if she were an enraged pit viper. "How were any of us to know that the blood traitors wouldn't be home?"

Alecto shrieked into the sky with her rage.

The assassin Deadline soared around The Burrow on the flying discs he has mounted to his feet. He'd seen several bizarre things in his life, but this house defied all he understood about how a structure stayed up. In fact, in his opinion, a house of cards had a better chance of standing in a strong wind than this domicile.

"Well?" asked Gunhawk, who had just checked barn.

"Nobody about here," Deadline spoke as he zipped past in the air. "I'm going to check out further."

Gregory Goyle Sr. spat onto the driveway. He had cast the Homenum Reveilo spell and it had not detected anyone but themselves. "He won't find anyone. There is only us." He threw several curses at the apple tree nearby until it withered and died. He was just glad to have killed something.

"You're rather good with that," Gunhawk commented, and took a swig from his flask. "Here. It'll help."

Goyle wished he could just kill this stupid muggle, but knew that his master would punish him harshly if he did so. Maybe later then. He took the flask and took a large swallow, no expecting much from a muggle drink. It left him gasping for air. "What… is it?"

Gunhawk looked at the flask. "Not sure. Got it from… an old friend. The alcohol changes every few days. Never sure what I'm gonna get. Right now it is something like tequila, but stronger."

Goyle took another swallow and handed it back. He didn't dare indulge much before returning to his master. The dark lord was already going to be mad at them for not going to be able to kill the Weasleys. If his master had them kill these mercenaries later, Goyle made a mental note to get his hands on this magical flask.

"This is a waste of time," growled Plasmus. The walking protoplasmic furnace walked toward the house of the Weasleys. Reaching out, he touched the wooden structure causing it to catch on fire. He continued around the building, his hand touching the domicile, leaving a blazing line of fire behind him.

Floating down from the now smoking building was the white ethereal form of James Craddock, the Gentleman Ghost. "It looks like the only one we are disturbing here is the ghoul I found in the attic," said the ghost. "A truly despicable thing."

Alecto and Amycus were now shooting curses at the Weasley home, blowing out windows and putting holes in the walls. Goyle set fire to the barn next, hoping it would minimize the dark lord's anger.

Sitting next to a still pool, Mirror Master watched the fire grow. "I hate bein' just the soddin' transport." His hand strayed to his coat pocket again, and again he had to stop himself from taking out his cocaine and taking a hit. "Never on the bleedin' job," he muttered, pulling his hand back. "C'mon, let's go already. Some of us sots have plans later." He glanced back at the pool which was casting a near perfect reflection of the half-moon in the night sky.

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BONES MANOR

Baron Blitzkrieg flew back out of the broken doorway that he had just entered, nearly hitting Thorfinn Rowle.

Inside, Nymphadora Tonks crouched low behind a stone barricade she had transfigured out of a loveseat.

Tonks had been on bodyguard duty for Amelia Bones and her niece that night, along with Kingsley Shacklebolt, Milton Scarsmore, Tylinn Paris and Robert Mattheu. Milton lay on the floor near the fireplace. If he survives, he would have more scars for the other aurors to tease him about. Shacklebolt and Paris were to the back of the house somewhere. Mattheu was supposed to be out patrolling the grounds. Amelia and her niece, Susan, were somewhere upstairs.

"Tonks!"

Tonks didn't turn to look for her boss since she could hear her at the top of the stairs. "We are under attack."

"I know! They somehow bypassed the wards. They put anti-apparation wards up. The floo is out, too! I can't contact anyone at the ministry either!"

Tonks would want to be in on that investigation later. The floo network could only be shut down by someone inside the ministry. "I sent out a signal for help! Hopefully-"

Something fast slithered into the room before ducking out of sight. "Damn! Something is in here with us!"

"I am coming, auror!"

"Stay with Susan!" Tonks called back, only realizing later that she had given her boss an order.

"Homenum Reveilo!" shouted Amelia.

The form of a long thin man climbing the wall to the second level was highlighted in light.

"Reducto!" Amelia shouted, nearly hitting the serpentine villain known as Copperhead.

Gunfire could be heard at the back of the house. Tonks and Amelia almost froze, since they were not used to the sound of guns. But the sight of a Death Eater entering Bones Manor snapped them out of it.

Tonks dropped to the ground, just narrowly being missed by a blasting curse, which just so happened to also save her from an attack by Copperhead, who also had to dodge away.

"Ssstupid magic ussser!" hissed Copperhead.

Tonks managed to hit the snake-man with a stunner, before dodging another curse from the Death Eater. The Death Eater had been hit with a blasting curse from Amelia Bones from where she stood on the second story. His mask fell off revealing his identity as that of Ivan Jugson.

"Make a protective barrier," Tonks said.

Amelia used her wand on the railing, turning it into more of a solid metal structure that would not be easily blasted apart.

Baron Blitzkrieg rushed back into the room, his eyes shooting out heat beams. Tonks, remembering a curse she had cast on a really vexing boy during a date, hit the golden clad German with it. The metal masked man stopped in confusion, meanwhile, beams of heat shot out from his butt.

"What did you do?" asked Amelia, as she watched the German super-villain grope around in confusion.

"I exchanged his ass for his face and vice versa." She followed up by petrifying the powerful man before his bumbling did any more damage.

"Very amusing," said a cold, aristocratic voice.

Tonks looked to the entrance to see a tall woman who was probably in her thirties, all dressed in green. She raised her wand only to gasp in horror as her arm seemed to bend downwards, her fingers elongating as if melting away from her.

Amelia Bones was having a different problem. Her brother and his wife, Marcus and Caroline, were walking toward her, despite having been dead for nearly fifteen years. Even though she could not hear them, she knew their silent lips were accusing her of neglecting their daughter, as well as placing her in danger.

Tonks knew that her body melting couldn't be real. It was her greatest fear. Unable to think of how else to deal with this since she couldn't aim her wand, she pulled herself together enough to cast a patronus. The white light from her wand formed into the shape of a jackrabbit. The white rabbit raced around the room, and then straight at Phobia.

Phobia of the Brotherhood of Evil tried to dodge the illuminous animal, but it proved to be too fast. The positive energy made her scream as it touched her very soul and caused her to pass out.

With the illusions of Phobia gone, Tonks ran her hands over her limbs, confirming to herself that she was whole. Looking back at Phobia, she scowled. "She's like a human boggart." Using her wand, she transfigured Phobia's clothes so that it looked like she had been wrapped in Christmas wrapping paper made of leather. Then added a ball-gag to top it off, to stop Phobia from calling out for help or speaking any spells.

She didn't even see Cheshire until after the dart had hit her in the neck. "Wha-wha?

Tonks slumped to the floor.

"Tonks!" called out the Director of the DMLE.

"Don't worry about her," said Cheshire, easily dodging a curse sent her way. "Your bodyguard will be dead soon enough."

"What did you do to her?"

Cheshire grinned. "Poisoned her, of course." She dodged another spell that tore apart an antique loveseat that had been behind her.

Another part of the house shook, and someone screamed.

"Sounds like Lady Vic is having some fun." Cheshire mused.

Several spells flew up at Amelia, melting some of the barrier protecting her.

Cheshire scowled at the intrusion. "You did not need to interfere, Dark Mage."

"You were playing with her," scolded Dark Mage a.k.a. Lucius Malfoy. "She is more dangerous than you realize."

Instead of his usual Death Eater robes, Lucius was wearing the outfit he had designed for him at the superhero/supervillain bar known as Time in a Bottle. It was a mixture of green and yellow, and he wore a soft domino mask. His hair was colored a light brown, and he gave himself a devilish mustache and goatee that almost made him consider growing a real one.

Despite his urgency to defeat Bones, he found himself pausing to regard Phobia being wrapped up like a present right before him. He gave a small sigh. "Business first."

Before he could cast another spell, the sounds of fighting picked up outside.

Lucius went to the door to look, but first cast a barricade to keep Bones from hexing him in the back. Cheshire shrugged, and resumed trying to get past Amelia's defenses.

In the outer courtyard, Lucius watched as the nigh-invulnerable Ubermensch was being tossed back thru the air by a wave of metal fragments. The Frenchman Warp was flying up high while being fired on with small bolts of lightning by a man in a black suit with a skull imprinted on his chest. Another man in a strange blue outfit was throwing bent sticks at Warp with deadly effect. Malfoy could also see two aurors, Emmeline Vance and Hestia Jones, taking on some of the junior Death Eaters their lord had sent along to gain experience.

Lucius was about to go out to help fight when he saw a large shark-man race forward through the bits of flying metal, and take a biting tackle into Ubermensch's thigh who screamed in German.

Lucius looked for Avery only to see him half buried in a sheet of ice. Quentus Selwyn was being choked by his own hands that appeared to be controlled by a blond woman pointed a large crystal at him.

"We are spread too thin, and did not expect this type of response," Lucius determined. He watched as a woman in a flashy red and yellow costume use a katana to cut off the hand of a junior Death Eater.

Alastor 'Mad Eye' Moody was cackling almost as badly as an Azkaban inmate as he joined into the battle.

"We will only lose resources if we stay," Lucius concluded. That said, he placed his wand against a dragon pin he wore on his chest. "Exit," he said, pouring some of his magic into the pin.

In the next second, Malfoy and everyone else he had placed the delayed portus charm on before they went on this mission were suddenly transported away.

"Hey, no fair!" Harley Quinn squealed in indignation. She held a cream pie in her hands and now had no target to throw it at.

Hestia Jones got to her feet, her eyes scanning around them for any attackers. "We need to check on Madam Bones and her niece."

Emmeline Vance pulled out some stone fragments from her leg. "I'll cover you."

"Bones is right inside," called Mad-Eye, from over by a badly leaking water fountain. "Tonks is down."

Both girls immediately understood that Mad-Eye's magical prosthetic eye could see what was transpiring through the walls. They still took precautions while entering the house.

Inside, they saw the Director of the DMLE on the ground, holding Tonks.

"Emmeline, check on Susan," Hestia said, even as she hurried up to her boss and her still friend.

Emmeline went to the stairs to go check the safe room for Amelia's niece. She couldn't help glancing down to see what was happening with her friend.

"Boss?" Hestia asked, afraid of what she might hear. "Tonks? Is she…?"

"We have to get her to St. Mungo's immediately. The bezoar I gave her seems to be helping whatever poison that… assassin shot her with, but Tonks needs a healer before we can be sure."

"I'll take her, boss. One of the others can help me get her to the border of the wards, and I'll apparate her to St. Mungo's."

"She is in no condition to apparate," snapped Amelia. "Have a healer brought here. And I want everyone at the Floo Network investigated about why it shut down. Arrest anyone that argues about that."

"Yes, ma'am." Hestia turned to race out even as Mad-Eye stomped into the house.

"Looks like you need to redecorate, Amelia." Mad-Eye's prosthetic eye spun madly around in its socket before finally stopping to examine Tonks. "Looks like you got that bezoar to her in time."

Amelia nodded, but continued to hold Tonks' head in her lap. "Use that eye of yours to tell me how Susan is doing."

Mad-Eye grunted, but complied, sending the prosthetic eye spinning up and to the east in its socket. "She's gripping that wand of hers all wrong, but she is keeping it pointed at the door. Your house-elf is with her. Poor thing seems upset it can't apparate out of there. House-elves hate that damn blocking spell."

Amelia processed the information. "Pixie will be a nervous wreck all week. She won't be able to get any of her recipes right. Susan will probably be all right in a day or two. Also, I want you to show her what she is doing wrong with holding her wand. She needs to be ready if she has an opportunity."

Mad-Eye knew Amelia was trying to pull her thoughts together. She was one of the few aurors that he knew that could do so so efficiently.

"I take it you are a member of Albus's secret little vigilante group."

Mad-Eye chuckled. "Now, Amelia, I know for a fact that if I were a member of such a group, you wouldn't want to know of it for reasons of deniability."

She glared at him for a moment. "Fine. Be that way. I don't like it, but I have a feeling that old Voldie has a few spies among my aurors, and he evidently has someone in the floo department, too."

"Ohhhh, nice pad ya got here," came a new voice at the door.

Amelia spun around with her wand out, only to stop in surprise at seeing the strangely dressed female holding a cream pie.

"Girlie, you are to stay outside!" barked Mad-Eye.

"But you said we were to look for the Death Swallowers. Nobody sees any out there, so I thought someone should check in here," Harley reasoned.

"I've already checked the house, ya mad hatter!"

"Hey! I've met the Mad Hatter, so don't go comparin' me to Tetch, even if his tea parties are to die for!" she snapped back. "And you expect me to believe you, Mr. Peg Leg Pete, were able to explore this big mansion when I saw you come in here just moments before me."

Moody gritted his teeth. "My prosthetic eye can see through everything! I can see where everyone is as well as what is in every room, closet and even the drawers."

The eyes of the villainess widened in alarm. "You nasty pervert! You can see through me clothes, can't ya?"

The prosthetic eye that had been focusing on Harley Quinn spun hastily away. "That is not what I use it for!" he sputtered, glancing with his real eye over to a cold contemplative Amelia Bones. "Amelia, I am not a pervert," he began.

"Oh yeah?" snarked Harley. "We are supposed to believe that Mr. Paranoid Magic Cop doesn't use his magic peeping tom to check out under people's clothes to see if whether or not they have hidden weapons or hidden contraband."

"That's different," he insisted.

"Except," Harley went on, "if we don't have any weapons or contraband, that just leaves you looking at our skin!" She started to hold the pie she was carrying so could aim a throw at the retired auror.

Alastor Moody raised his wand to the strange clown lady. "Listen, girlie."

"Stop, both of you!" barked Amelia. "Miss, wait outside. Alastor, we will be talking about this later."

Harley pouted for a second. Then shrugged and headed toward the door. Glancing over her shoulder to look at Mad-Eye she began to sing, "Somebody's in trouble!"

After Harley had left, Amelia rounded on Mad-Eye. "Who was that woman? And why was she carrying around a pie?"

It was times like this that Alastor was glad that he was retired. "The clown is part of a group put together to fight old Voldie and his Death Eaters. That pie she was going to toss at me was explosive."

"Are you serious?" she said, while using her wand to create a blanket to put over Tonks' lower body. While the ministry was openly denying the return of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, Amelia had kept an eye out for rising Death Eater activities ever since the little show they did on the evening of the Quidditch World Cup. She didn't want to believe He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was back than any other rational witch or wizard, but that didn't mean she was going to stick her head in the sand and hope for the best.

"They are the same group that took down that group of giants up near Minsk that were going to join old Voldie," he said in a totally serious voice.

Amelia blanched. She had read the reports of what had been done to the giants. She finally requested the use of a pensive from the Unspeakables so she could see the devastation herself. The Unspeakables agreed as long as they could see the memory for themselves.

Mad-Eye cleared his throat. "I recently found out that the group did something similar to a group of werewolves up north that were getting recruited to join old Voldie's cause."

The director winced at that. "Why are they doing this?"

Mad-Eye let out a gruff laugh and went to sit down at a chair that had not been knocked over in all the commotion. "They were hired by Sirius Black."

Amelia gave him an incredulous look. "What? How? Forget that. Why. Tell me why."

"To keep his godson safe."

"Who is his godson?"

Mad-Eye chuckled. "Harry Potter."

"What? But…"

"Sirius Black was never given a trial. Just chucked into prison by Crouch, Bagnold and Dumbledore without so much as a word with Black. And it turns out Black was innocent, to boot!"

Amelia was holding one of Tonks' cold hands. "Do you have any proof?"

"We are working on that. But part of the proof is that Pettigrew is alive. He was actually the real secret keeper for the Potters, while Black was the decoy."

Amelia watched as a large scaly man walked by her blasted open front door. "And he hired these… individuals to protect Harry?"

"Yes, and a good thing, too. Two of them took down two dementors that had been set on the lad while he was staying in the muggle world."

"Dementors?" She knew those monstrosities were under ministry control, which meant someone high up in the ministry was able to use them to try and assassinate Harry Potter.

Someone had tried to assassinate Harry Potter. And tonight someone had tried to assassinate her.

"What the hell is going on in our world?" she asked.

Footsteps and sounds of alarm sounded outside. Finally, a young auror came rushing inside. "Madame Bones!" he gasped.

"What is it, Auror McLaird?"

"Azkaban! It's… it's been overrun!"

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AuThOr'S NoTeS: 12/12/2019

Sorry about being so long. I took on too many writing projects and it is showing.

I created first names for several of the Death Eaters because in cannon they aren't established as having any, so sorry for any confusion.