Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, objects, or anything else that comes from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series.

Warning: This story will contain scenes of violence, bad language, and maybe other themes

that some audiences may find unsuitable. You have been advised.

When You Have Nothing Left to Lose

Chapter 10:

Daphne rushed forward, leading one of the major sections of Death Eater. She blasted apart the center fountain so she could have a more direct route towards the rest of the building.

"No more distractions, no more obstructions in our path today.' Daphne thought to herself, as her feet swiftly moved across the wet, rubble-covered floor.

"It's very strange. In some ways, I wish I had met you back at Hogwarts and fell in love with you then, saving you from years of despair." Harry said, looking out one of Hogwarts' many balconies the night before the assault on the Ministry. He then turned to look at his love. "In other ways, though, I know that it wasn't possible with how I was, and I know that you are who you are because of it, as am I... I'm just thankful to have no more distractions.

"So from now on, no more distractions, no more obstructions we can't overcome in our path, no matter what."

"Charge! For freedom!" Neville's voice rang out, the man leading his own charge through his former office.

"Down with the Ministry!" Susan Bones screamed, blasting open her old office to reveal the sack of shit Corner had replaced her with.

"Down with the Ministry of Magic." Neville spoke quietly, sending an exploding curse down a row of offices.

"Down with the Ministry."

Susan set aflame the desk the coward hid behind as well as everything behind it. She scorched the room so badly that the wood melted as well as the bones that previously had been covered in flesh.

Harry was running forward, charging headfirst into his enemy. Some aurors and ministry staff attempted to fight, but most decided to to try to flee, only to be cut down by the Shadow Wolf's spells. His troops did not have to assist their commander, but they still contributed their share of spellfire into the fray. They were an unstoppable, unmerciful.

'I don't care what it takes, today the Ministry dies. I don't care if I need to give my life to achieve it, it will die.'

"No mercy!"

"How did this happen? Stop them!" Minister corner screamed at the top of his lungs, turning purple in the face as he watched the devastation from above. He would already be dead if not for his own office wards.

"Sir, it just isn't possible. Wherever the Death Eaters reach, they conquer. Too many of our troops were out trying to help assist the municipalities resist against the people's attempts to overthrow them. They hit us at our weakest. Those aurors are trapped out there now. The Death Eaters control every entrance and closed off every exit out of the building. The building is all but under their control." An aide spoke solemnly to the Minister.

"Get me safely to the Department of Ministries and tell all remaining staff, especially aurors to head there as well. We will make our final stand there." Corner directed his aide before rushing out of his office accompanied by five aurors.

Before they could get going, spellfire could be seen coming from a hallway connected to theirs on the left. Aurors were fleeing back trying to set up shields and return fire with limited success.

"Minister, get going! We'll hold them off as long as possible, but they are coming fast!" A battle auror officer yelled before taking a vicious curse that eviscerated her chest leaving only an image of blood and cloth. She screamed only momentarily, hitting the wall behind her already dead.

"Run!" An auror next to Corner shouted, pushing his charge to the right and towards the Department of Mysteries.

After physically pushing the Minister forward, however, he received a brutal cutting curse into the leg that all but severed off half of his lower leg.

Stumbling forward, Justin Finch-Fletchley fell hard onto his face.

"Hold them off, so that I can escape!" Corner yelled back to him as he turned around the corridor with two aurors in tow.

Wide-eyed, Justin stared after his minister before pointing his wand upwards.

" Well, well. What have we here?" A death eater chuckled to his fellow silver faced warrior.

"Fucking bastard." Justin's wand rocketed a spell towards the ceiling.

"I hope he finds you, Michael." Rubble cascaded down after the explosion impacted the ceiling. It flattened the talkative Death Eater as well as Mr. Finch-Fletchley while the other warrior narrowly dived out of the way.

Looking through the haze of smoke and debris, he easily could make out that the pathway was sealed.

"Sir, some of our troops have spotted Corner fleeing his office." James informed his commander.

"Apparent heading?" The Shadow Wolf asked quietly.

"It's becoming apparent that it's the Department of Mysteries, sir. All of our units are reporting that appears to be the general direction all of their forces are fleeing towards."

The Shadow Wolf smiled viciously behind his mask. "Good. We will have them trapped." He flicked his wand at a bunch of tablets that were connected to the stone floor. Each tablet was etched with many runes. "Get a team in here to set up new wards and rules that benefit us and inhibit Ministry personnel."

"Yes, sir. Right away, Harry."

Aurors were flooding into elevators, trying to make their way into the Department of Mysteries when suddenly, it felt as if time had paused momentarily as each elevator carrying aurors did.

Aurors in each exchanged confused and scared glances before each elevator's bottom opened, dropping its passengers into the abyss.

Some aurors who were near a floor entrance tried jumping to safety, only to be seen desperately grabbing at air. Their colleagues watched with horror and pity at their gruesome deaths.

"They… didn't even get a chance." A junior auror spoke softly in bewilderment.

"So will we if you don't move your arse and start setting up those defenses!" The highest ranked battle auror officer ordered, while the rest of his troops ducked behind covers they constructed. "Listen up!

"This is the first of our last line of defense, men! We are trapped here! I know things look grim, but this is your home! Your Minister depends on us! Your people depend on you! Your government depends on you! Make them proud today and push the scum out! Those who survive will be rewarded handsomely! Now, brace yourselves!"

Ducking behind his own piece of cover, the officer looked over to see one of his fellow battle aurors giving him an odd look.

"You do know that they will not be compensated financially, right, sir?"

The officer smirked, "Of course, but that does not mean they will have to know that until it is too late."

"Hmmm. An interesting choice of a battlefield." The Shadow Wolf thought aloud as he stood with his most trusted military advisors over a map of the building.

"Our troop flow is restricted due to the elevators, and the floors each have their own warding against blasting from floor to floor." Daphne commented.

Harry smirked behind his mask. "I may have a plan. Joshua, you will take command of the Shadow Army. James, command the rest of our forces. The Queen, Cub, and I will create the opening you need."

Every auror guarding the entrance to the Department of Mysteries waited on edge. All was quiet except for the random shuffling of bodies and equipment, when a distinct sound could be heard, the sound of one of the elevators closing in. Automatically, everyone turned and readied their wands, as the metal box pulled up.

As soon as the doors started to crack open, a wall of fire forced its way out at the aurors, leaving some dead, others wounded, some singed, and all shaken. All who were able, however, fired as many spells as they could into the elevator, eventually crowding the distance between the object and the aurors clouded in smoke.

Aurors spared each other scared, worried glances. Had they fended the Death Eaters off? Could anyone have survived such an onslaught?

Suddenly, spellfire erupted, directed towards the aurors. The only oddity? It came from behind and above the Ministry forces.

The three had disillusioned themselves while hiding above the elevator and snuck past their enemy by following right behind the wall of fire, positioning themselves in the ideal place to start their dance of death.

The Wolf, Queen, and Cub of shadows charged forward silently, ridding themselves of their disillusionment charms to save their magic. The wolf pounced first, launching an explosive curse into the middle of the aurors. As the closest auror aimed at him, Harry rolled to the left but continued moving forward while the Queen protected her king and Cub spread fire into the first wave of aurors.

They continued forward, never stopping, never hesitating while the aurors feebly tried to resist with all of their might.

This was another miscalculation, as the first of the Shadow Army, led by James, arrived and assisted the three shorten the attack. They were shortly followed by more and more of the army of shadows.

The entrance was captured within only a couple minutes, where the rest of the Shadow Army was still arriving by the time it was finished.

"Disable the wards." The Shadow Wolf instructed one of his soldiers.

"Yes, sir." The Death Eater quickly got to work with the rest of his team while the other Death Eaters present started to position themselves at each doorway, leading to the rest of the Department. "They're down, sir!"

"Good work. Let the fun continue." Harry smirked once more before each door was blasted open.

Expecting incoming spellfire, shields were already raised and those not on defense returned fire before explosions and screams could be heard from within each that were not caused by the Shadow Army.

Shouts of, "Clear," erupted after waiting only momentarily from within each of the first set of rooms. The general Army had forced their way in with the wards removed.

"Sir! They are getting closer! Our forces are falling room by room, and we are running out of space quickly! They are almost here!" An auror reported to Corner.

"Have we started the contingency plan?" Corner asked quietly.

"Yes, sir. We're sending the last one now, sir."

"Take me there. I am going as well."

"But, sir-"

"No. I am your Minister, and that is my orders." Corner interrupted the warning.

"Right this way, sir."

"INCOMING!"

As the two started to walk briskly towards the door to the back, the Shadow Wolf and his forces burst through the door behind them. Spotting Corner, the wolf-masked figure called, "Minister! I've found you!"

The Shadow Wolf charged through the aurors after the minister while his troops dealt with the opposition. Any spellfire or enemies in Harry's way were easily dodged and provided little distraction to his goal.

Corner had run into a small room with only one odd portal that was just getting rebooted up. It was the only object in the room, excluding the aurors, Minister, and Shadow Wolf. Each auror quickly tried to eliminate their enemy but only found death themselves.

"This is it, Corner." Harry walked slowly up to the piece of scum with his wand pointed right at him until the wand was pressed right into the man's chest. "Your corruption has ended. Your people hate you, and your troops are dead. I win."

"Not yet." Corner tried to dive into the portal but couldn't avoid a cutting curse into the gut. Corner's automatic reaction was to grab ahold of Harry as he fell into the sqirling portal, taking the man along with him.

"Harry!" Daphne shouted as she saw her fiance start to disappear with their enemy, their bodies getting absorbed into the portal.

Harry stared back at the woman he loved and realized that he only had a moment to tell her one thing before he most likely died. One thing to tell someone that meant more than anything to him.

"Thank you, my love." He spoke softly, heard easily in the silent room.

The next second he disappeared before the portal closed, leaving only his last words to hang in the air.

"No…" Daphne trailed off, falling to her knees.

Teddy came rushing in followed by James and Joshua. "What happened? Where's Dad?"

Daphne looked up at the teen, unable to speak, tears streaming down her face.

"No… no. It can't be…" Teddy stepped back gasping. Joshua and James bowed their heads solemnly.

"How?" James asked.

Harry groaned as he tried to pick himself up off the ground, only to collapse once more. Looking around, he saw the unmistakable outline of Hogwarts through the trees. He looked down to see why he was having so much difficulty to make a remarkable discovery. His robes were oversized, and upon removing his arm, his tattoo was gone.

Scrambling to the edge of the Dark Lake, Harry could make out his face in the water. It appeared fine with one exception.

Harry was 15 again.

He had travelled back in time, was 15, and had no idea how.