Forging Alliances (II) [Chapter 187]

~~Malfoy Manor, Wiltshire~~

Augusta Longbottom wasn’t a big fan of Gellert, but at the same time, she didn’t have any problems with him as she didn’t think of him as an enemy. One Longbottom did die in his War, but she didn’t even know that man, so she didn’t feel that she should antagonize Gellert Grindelwald for someone she didn’t even know in the first place. So, after making her swear some Secrecy Oaths, which make it impossible for her to sell out his secrets, he sent her on her merry way.

Later that night, Tonks returned to the Malfoy Manor along with Andi and Jacklyn… Since Tonks was at the Ministry while he cast the Fidelius Charm on the Malfoy Manor, he never managed to give her the Secret as he made Jacklyn the Secret Keeper. That is why he sent Andi and Jacklyn to Nymphadora’s apartment to grab her from there, but for whatever reason, Andi had to grab her daughter from the DMLE office, while Jacklyn waited for them at the apartment.

“You have been declared a criminal and now you have a bounty of 100,000 Galleons, but you must be captured alive” Tonks revealed as she threw Harry a dirty look before she plopped down on the couch. It had been a long day for her and Harry was the one to blame.

Harry whistled with an impressed look on his face… “That is a lot of gold. I wonder if I should hand myself over to the Ministry for the bounty” Harry wondered aloud as he levitated a cola bottle into Tonks’ hand from the ice box. He knew how to get her to work with him.

Tonks glared at him but still accepted the cola bottle. “Though who is going to capture you? You can’t ask a random member of the Lost Garden to hand you over to the Ministry. The capture needs to look somewhat legit” Jacklyn pointed out before she plopped down beside Harry and picked up a cola bottle from the ice box.

|It is not a bad idea| Harry internally mused as an idea popped into his Mind. He was already planning to break into the Ministry as he needed to grab the Prophecy from the Department of the Mysteries, though he had no idea where they kept those damn things. He knew that he needed more information before breaking into a place like that and that was why he was taking his sweet time.

|That is a stupid idea, Hadrian| Lily chastised him, but instead of accepting her words, he decided to explain why it was a good idea.

|Mom, I will be getting 100,000 Galleons. That is a lot of gold and I wouldn’t need to break into the Ministry as they will help me get inside, and when I am done, I will only need to escape| Harry explained like it was an amazing plan and while Lily had to admit that there was some merit in his plan, she still wasn’t completely sold.

“Don’t even think about it! Thanks to you, the DMLE became a laughing stock so don’t expect the Aurors to go easy on you as more than quite a few Aurors are planning to rough you up if they get their hands on you” Tonks warned Harry.

“Is that so?” Harry rubbed his chin thoughtfully before he leaned back in his chair. “What about Augusta?” Harry asked.

“Her name wasn’t brought up as the Minister decided to get rid of the body we brought. He was sure that someone was playing a prank” Tonks grumbled unhappily before taking a large gulp from her bottle. Moments later, a hard look appeared on her face and she leaned forward. “Why are you doing all of this Harry?” Tonks asked as he narrowed her eyes at him.

“Nymphadora, you…” Andi began to scold her daughter, but Harry stopped her.

“You need to be more specific, Tonks” Harry pointed out and Tonks glared at him angrily.

“I mean all of this. Kidnapping Snape! Then attacking the Aurors! Meeting Amelia and… and…” Tonks scowled as she couldn’t find the right words to explain her questions. “Why did you free Grindelwald and his followers? Why are you building an army?” Tonks finished with a scowl.

“I believe I have already answered the last two questions of yours” Harry said calmly. “You remember the speech I gave?” Harry asked and after getting a nod from the clumsy Auror, he decided to continue speaking. “It is for freedom or I have them because I don’t want to involve myself with every minor thing” Harry finished.

“As for your other questions?” Harry asked before he leaned forward. “I want to kick off the War as quickly as possible. With Voldemort back, a War is inevitable, but I want the War to start before any of the other Factions could finish their preparations. Right now, Voldemort is still consolidating his powers. Vampires and Werewolves are yet to join him and he is yet to start recruitment” Harry explained smoothly but his words only raised more questions.

Tonks also knew that a War was inevitable, she had heard it from Amelia, but wouldn’t it be better if they tried to stall the War as long as they could? But before Tonks could question Harry, he started to speak again. “It is the same case with Albus Dumbledore. He is yet to reestablish the Order, which means he can’t recruit yet. Amelia is also the same, but her problems are much bigger. She can’t recruit blindly as there are a lot of leaks in the DMLE itself” Harry finished.

Tonks stewed for the next minute as she kept reviewing everything he said inside her mind. “Then why aren’t we trying to stall the War?” Tonks asked, looking confused…

“Trying to stall the War will only work in favor of Voldemort. The last War officially started in 1973, but in reality, the War started way before that. It was 1968 when people started to disappear mysteriously, but nobody paid it any mind as they didn’t have any high positions. Muggle villages started to get attacked back in 1970, but nobody paid it any mind as nobody wanted to rock the boat too much and the Ministry was actively suppressing all of that news as they didn’t want to panic anyone” Harry continued to explain.

Tonks turned toward her mother, wanting to confirm if it was the truth and after getting a grim nod from her mother, Tonks started to feel sick. “The people who were mysteriously disappearing weren’t random. There was a pattern to it… Voldemort was removing them so that one of his followers or sympathizers could take their place. In the last War, Voldemort brought the Ministry down to its knees and by the time the Ministry decided to fight back it was too late” Harry shook his head in disappointment.

“Voldemort would have won if it wasn’t for the Prophecy” Harry finished with a scowl. “I am certain that Voldemort would once again use the same strategy to gain a foothold in the Ministry and this time, it would be easier for him as some of his agents never got caught and they are already in high places right now. I don’t want to give him that chance… Right now, he isn’t prepared, which would severely hamper his plans” Harry pointed out with a grin.

While Harry didn’t care much about the people, he didn’t want them to die unnecessarily, especially when he was going to kill all the Death Eaters and cut down the Wizarding population. They were already low in number and he didn’t want to hurt their population even more… Humans were a resource, and unnecessary deaths were nothing but a waste of resources.

Then there was the fact that Albus might try to sacrifice people for his misguided Light agenda… The reason he allowed the Prewett twins to be sold out was because they were starting to hurt his ideals. They were starting to fight back fire with fire and they were getting results too. The other members of the Order were also starting to buy into their methods and Albus couldn’t have that as according to him, they were straying from the path of the Light.

Then there was the fact that Voldemort also wanted them dead as he was losing his followers to the duo… So, with a heavy heart, he decided to get them killed. It was like killing three birds with one Spell… First of all, Severus’ position as a spy would get cemented among the Death Eaters. Secondly, the Order would no longer be swayed by their methods and thirdly, they would become an example.

The other Order members would get the message that fighting fire with fire was not the way… Doing that would get you ambushed and killed.

It made Harry sick to his core… Yes, he would openly admit that he was not a hero or a good guy, but he would never sell out his own people for whatever reason. If they were traitors then it was a completely different case, but he would never kill one of his own just so he could cement the position of a spy within the enemy camp.

After that, the conversation turned toward much lighter topics as nobody wanted to only talk about Wars…