The Order Strikes Back (III) [Chapter 58]

{Ptn Dply’d} Harry read the message and a smile bloomed on his face. He immediately signaled his group to get ready. His whole team started to get ready to breach, now they only needed to wait for the Potion to take effect…

The next three minutes were extremely boring, so almost all of them internally rejoiced when Harry gave them the signal to breach. Amelia Black stepped forward and placed her Wand at the door. Moments later, the door started to transform and a hole, big enough for humans to pass through, formed on the door.

Sirius gave her a nod as he entered the building through the hole, followed by Angelina and Alicia Weasley. Harry was the next one to enter the building followed by Hermione, and Neville. Harry signaled his team to spread out as he wanted to check if the Normals were out cold or not.

The building was completely silent as they expected it to be since everyone was supposed to be knocked out due to the Potion. Amelia was the last one to enter the building and Harry signaled her to stay by the door so that she could cover their back, just in case.

It didn’t take Harry’s team much time to inspect the ground floor and except for a couple of Muggles sleeping on the floor, they didn’t find anything else… Harry nodded his head in satisfaction and took out his D.A. coin…

{Grnd Flr Clr} Harry used the coin to send a message to James.

{Gd. We’re mvig 2} Harry received a message after a few seconds and nodded his head in understanding. Harry shoved the coin back in his pocket and signaled his team to move to the basement. Harry wanted to clear the basement before moving up.

From their friend Marko, Harry and the rest of the Order knew that Quinton and his team were digging a tunnel from this building’s basement leading to the Foreign Office… It seemed that ‘she’ wanted to avoid triggering the Wards.

Harry supposed that ‘her’ plan wouldn’t have worked in case someone noticed what they were doing… Harry shook his head to clear his mind. He wanted to be completely focused as a simple mistake could lead to a disaster. The Potion was working like it was supposed to, so everyone was probably already knocked out, but he didn’t want to take any chances.

The group climbed down into the basement and they immediately found a couple of Wizards lying on the ground. Harry signaled Angelina to check the duo and simply nodded her head while looking at him after she checked their vitals by placing her fingers on their necks.

The group continued to tread inside carefully while checking the corners… They found a few more Wizards and a Witch lying on the floor before they finally found the tunnel. Quinton’s team had been digging a hole through the floor. Harry wanted to check the tunnel too, but he had no idea how big or deep the tunnel was, so it would be foolish to enter the tunnel.

Then there was also a chance that the Potion never found its way into the tunnel, so everyone inside the tunnel could still be conscious. Harry seemed to think for a bit before an idea popped into his mind.

For a second, he considered using Fiendfyre to burn everyone inside the tunnel to nothingness, but he ultimately decided against it as controlling Fiendfyre is extremely difficult and the Spell requires a lot of power to cast.

Harry looked at the others before pointing the tip of his Wand at the entrance of the tunnel. “Let’s drown everyone inside the tunnel” Harry bit out in a clipped tone only to receive nods from the others as they agreed with his decision.

Moments later, all of them pointed their Wands at the hole and cast the Aguamenti Charm. The hole started to fill with water and after filling the hole with water for nearly a minute, they started to hear some screams from the inside after nearly. Harry realized that he made the right call by not entering the tunnel.

Harry knew that they could have overpowered anyone inside the tunnel since he and Hermione were there, but it was still a risk as the tunnel could have caved in due to the fight or their group might have ambushed them. They were already low on members and it would have been a disaster if they lost someone at this stage.

Even though they could hear some screams from inside the tunnel, they kept filling the tunnel with water and after nearly a minute, the screams finally stopped. After a couple of minutes more, the water finally started to flow out of the tunnel, which meant that they had filled the whole tunnel with water.

“I don’t think anyone is alive down there” Sirius pointed out, but Harry simply inclined his head with a thoughtful look on his face.

“Okay stop casting” Harry ordered and everyone finally stopped. Some of the members like Angelina and Alicia sighed, it was never easy for them to take a life. After a few moments, Harry turned toward Hermione. “Close the tunnel” Harry said as he turned toward the entrance of the tunnel, only to receive a nod from Hermione.

Hermione pointed her Wand at the tunnel entrance and without wasting any time, she started to Conjure a stone slab right over the tunnel entrance. Since she was Conjuring the stone slab, it wasn’t going to last for more than a few hours, but if someone was still alive in the tunnel, then they would die within the next hour, so a few hours were more than enough.

“What about the others?” Neville asked Harry as he pointed at the other members of Quinton’s team lying on the floor.

“First we make sure that the building is clear and then we take them with us. Maybe we could use them to get back Albus” Harry explained thoughtfully. He wasn’t sure if ‘she’ would care enough about her followers to release Albus, but it wasn’t going to hurt them for trying.

“Good. Rose will be delighted” Sirius said with a grin. A few of his team members nodded their heads in agreement.

“I think we have rested enough. Let’s move on” Harry ordered and everyone perked up after hearing his words. He was about to start moving when all of a sudden, his D.A. coin started to vibrate. Harry pulled out the D.A. coin from his pocket to read the message…

{2nd flr clr} Harry read James' message and nodded his head in satisfaction. Everything is going on smoothly.

{Bsmnt clr} Harry sent his own message after a few seconds and decided to wait for James’ reply.

{Mvig 2 1st flr} James replied after a few seconds and Harry nodded his head in satisfaction before sending his own message.

{Mt u thr} Harry sent his own message before shoving the coin inside his pocket. “James and his team have cleared the 2nd floor and they are moving down to the 1st floor. We will meet them there” Harry explained and the others nodded their heads in understanding.

After that, the whole team started to move upstairs… Since they have already cleared the ground floor, Harry and his team didn’t waste much time on the ground floor and started to climb the stairs carefully. They found a Witch lying face-first on the stairs and it seemed that the Witch ended up breaking her neck when she fell.

None of them felt bad for the Witch and they simply decided to walk around it. They finally arrived at the 1st floor and found James and his team waiting for them.

"Did you find Quinton?" Harry asked only for James to shake his head in denial.

Harry frowned… "Did he leave?" Harry questioned and James simply shrugged before pointing before them.

"He could be on this floor" James pointed out and Harry nodded his head. He turned toward his team and signaled them to move forward. James also followed Harry's example and signaled his team to move forward.

It only took them a couple of minutes to check the 1st floor and once again they were disappointed when they didn't find Quinton. They did find a couple of Wizard and Witches, but that was it. According to Marko, there should have been a lot more Wizards and Witches in this building, but they only found a handful of them.

"I think Quinton smelt the Potion and ordered an evacuation" Lily pondered loudly and Harry couldn't help but agree with her.

"Yes, that is quite possible. The Potion might have been colorless, but it wasn't odorless, so Quinton or someone else could have smelt the Potion, and then they blew the whistle" Hermione summarized.

"So, what do…"

"...we do now?"

George and Fred spoke up in their usual twin-speak.

"We take all of them and we leave" Harry said as pointed toward one of the Wizards lying down on the floor. The others nodded their heads in agreement, but before they could move, a loud explosion from downstairs shook the whole building…

<Line Break>

~~King Charles Street, London~~ (A few minutes ago)

Francheska Lavinski looked down at the street and spat in disgust… “I don’t understand why we can’t burn all of them down to the ground” She growled in disgust as she glared at the Muggles walking down the street.

“And that is why you are not our leader” Richard Harrison, Francheska’s most trusted man said from the side.

Francheska released an unladylike snort. “Fuck that! I am not a leader… I can’t plan shit and leaders need to plan a lot of stuff. I am someone you point in the right direction and I get the job done” Francheska shrugged dismissively and Richard started to snicker after hearing his words.

Richard opened his mouth to say something, but he was interrupted when one of their squad mates flew up to them. “Ma’am, I think we might have found something” The man said while staring at Francheska.

“Lead the way” Francheska ordered and the man started to lead them toward a building after respectfully nodding his head. Their whole team was using brooms to look around as flying was much better and faster than walking.

The man finally led the duo to a two-story building. Some of Francheska’s teammates were already milling inside the building. “We think some Wizards and Witches were using this building. We have found a lot of Magical signatures and we have also found a few Potion vials” The man who brought Francheka and Richard to this building explained.

“I see… Richard, call everyone” Francheska ordered and Richard immediately left the building so that he could gather everyone. Richard was planning to use a beacon to signal everyone and since everyone was somewhere around King Charles Street, all of them would easily notice the beacon.

After a few minutes, Richard finally returned with the rest of her team. Francheska immediately ordered them to tear down the building if necessary, but she wanted to find every single clue… It didn't take them much time to tear down the whole building, but unfortunately, they didn't find anything besides what they had already found in the building.

Francheska wanted to scream in anger and frustration… She finally found a target to kill, but all of her targets were long gone. She couldn't even kill a few Muggles to date her anger, after all, Quinton ordered her not to leave a trail of bodies… There were only a few people Francheska was afraid of and one of them was Quinton.

Yes, Quinton can be quite scary if he wanted to… All of a sudden, Francheska was brought out of her musings when an astral falcon flew into the room. She immediately recognized the falcon as Quinton's Corporeal Patronus. She immediately started to wonder what Quinton wanted from her… Maybe he wanted to know if she had made any progress or not.

"Attack on the base" The astral falcon dissolved into thin air after delivering the message, leaving a gobsmacked group of Wixen.

Moments later, Francheska growled in anger as she grabbed her broom. "Burn down this building, we are going back!" Francheska barked as she mounted her broom. Her team immediately followed her order and started to set the building on fire before they mounted their brooms.

As soon as the building was set on fire, they started to fly out of the building through the windows. "What's the plan, Cheska?" Richard asked hurriedly as he flew up to Francheska.

"We kill them" Francheska answered with a determined look on her face. The whole team finally arrived in front of their base and Francheska signaled everyone to land before they reached their base. Since their base was under attack, it would be foolish to fly straight into the building.

"I don't like this! Everything is silent" Francheska muttered as she walked up to the building. Yes, they have Warded the building, but they never Silenced it and they couldn't hear anything from the building.

"Is that a hole in the door?" Richard asked in a bewildered tone.

"Yes, that is a hole" Someone from the side confirmed Richard's question, but before any one of them could take another step, a Blasting Curse came from inside the hole and hit one of the Witches, but the Witch was fast enough to raise a Shield to protect herself and everyone around her.

Francheska growled in anger and cast the strongest Exploding Curse she knew at the door… The Spell hit the door, causing a huge explosion. The explosion was so strong that the ground trembled under their feet. Francheska simply couldn't believe that Quinton was defeated… They must have sneaked inside their base or there is no way Quinton could have been defeated, but Quinton wasn't good at handling multiple enemies, so they might have been overwhelmed with numbers.

"Charge! Cast to kill!" Francheska barked and her team charged toward the three-story building with Shields raised up… Francheska turned around only to find Muggles staring in their direction with dumbfounded looks on their faces. Her face twitched in irritation as she pointed her Wand at the Muggles.

"Fiendfyre!!" Francheska snarled, releasing a stream of cursed flames at the group of Muggles. Francheska was one of the few members among the Crimson Knights who could control the Spell.

She swiped her Wand sideways with a swish to spread the flames and the flames immediately engulfed the streets. The Muggles screamed for a moment before the flames engulfed them, turning them into ash within a matter of moments. If she wanted, she could have dispersed the flames, but she decided to leave them…

Whoever attacked them must be Muggle lovers, their hearts would start to bleed when they see the sight… Francheska smiled as she made her way toward the building, but she froze for a moment when she saw a couple of green flashes from the first floor. So, whoever was attacking them didn't have any qualms over using the Killing Curse.

Francheska finally stepped into the building and looked around to find her men milling around. Currently, some of her men were engaged in combat on the stairs. "What's the status?" Francheska asked Richard when she finally found him.

"Two dead and one injured… The Witch was good. Really good. I will put her someone around your level" Richard answered, surprising Francheska. She wasn't arrogant or foolish enough to think that she was the strongest Witch out there, after all, she had seen Destiny Grindelwald clash against Gellert Grindelwald and she knew that she would never reach their level, but Francheska knew how hard someone had to work to reach her level.

"She was wearing a gas mask, which meant they had flooded the building with some kind of knock-out gas. We have cleared the air on the ground floor, but I have no idea if we were successful or not… Anyway, I don't recommend staying for long" With that Richard finished his report and Francheska was not a happy woman after hearing his report.

"Fuck!!!" Francheska cursed in anger as she flicked her Wand toward the stair, exploding a good chunk of the ground floor roof.

"Blast the roof into smithereens and all of you cast Bubble-Head Charms! The five of you cast the Anti-Apparition Jinx and the Anti-Portkey Wards" Francheska snarled and everyone immediately started to follow her orders.

"What about our people on the 1st floor and 2nd floor?" Some asked and Francheska had to admit, it was a good question, it was something she was also worried about, but it was better if they died here, instead of ending up in the hands of their enemies.

"It's better if they died here. Don't worry, I will take responsibility" Francheska said grimly as she nodded her head. All of her teammates nodded their heads in understanding before they started firing at the roof. After a whole minute of continuous assault, the roof finally started to collapse.

Francheska smiled as her plan started to work… Dead bodies started to fall from the 1st floor and she immediately recognized some of them as they were a part of Quinton's team and the rest were Muggles. All the bodies were kind of mangled due to the Blasting Curses they were using. Francheska couldn't help but grimace, but just like she said, she will take the responsibility for all the friendly deaths.

Francheska was about to order everyone to move up, but all of a sudden, their Wards fell apart… "They are leaving! Let's move up!" Francheska ordered hurriedly and her men started to climb the stairs after checking the corners. Even though they collapsed on the 1st floor, they decided to leave the stairs, so the attackers could be hiding in the stairs.

As soon as one of her men was about to step on the 2nd floor, some Runes lit up, which were inscribed on the stairs and moments later, the stairs exploded before anyone could do anything. Francheska wanted to scream in anger and frustration… Nothing was going according to her plans. Now she didn't even know if anyone on the 2nd floor was still alive or not and since the stairs had collapsed, there was no way they could reach the 2nd floor without using brooms.

"What now, Cheska?" Richard asked, who was bleeding from the side of his head since he ended up scrapping his head when the stairs exploded.

To be honest, Francheska didn't know what to do… For the first time, she was facing enemies who didn't mind getting their hands dirty and from what she realized, whoever was leading these people was simply more experienced than her.

"Cheska!! Get your head into the game! This is not a time you can lose yourself!" Richard screamed as he shook her frantically. Francheska finally blinked as she finally regained her bearings, but before she could do anything, Anti-Apparition Jinx and Anti-Portkey Wards went up, and dread welled up in Francheska's stomach.

Moments later, Fiendfyre surged through the ground floor and Francheska's stomach dropped in fear. "All of you run! I will hold back the flames!!" Francheska screamed as she jabbed her Wand toward the flames, stopping them before the flames could reach her team.

Francheska dropped to her knees as her whole body started to tremble. Whoever cast this Spell was much stronger than her, so it was simply impossible for her to disperse the flames. At best, she could hold them back for a couple of minutes… In the back of her mind, she already knew she was going to die, but she would do everything she could to protect her team or what was left of it.

"What the fuck, Cheska?!" Richard screamed in worry, but Francheska simply turned toward him and smiled weakly.

"I think this is it for me, Richard… Leave" Francheska said weakly as she stared at Richard. "Leave, Richard… Let me do my thing" Francheska said and Richard started to cry after hearing her words.

"For whatever it matters, you would have been a great leader" Richard said with a pained look on his face before pulling out his shrunken broom from his pocket. Richard enlarged the broom before mounting the broom and then he flew off.

Francheska smiled as she turned back toward the flames… "So long my friend… so long… Looks like my sins are finally going to catch up to me. I hope I don't find you in hell" Francheska muttered solemnly as she started to use all of her powers to keep the flames at bay…

After nearly a minute, Francheska started to blank out… She knew that she was at her limit, she could barely hold back the flames anymore… The flames started to surge forward. She started to feel her skin burning due to the heat… She howled in pain, but she didn't give up. She knew that she needed to buy as much time as she could for her team to escape as she had no idea how far the Wards were stretched.

Francheska could feel the pain increasing as her face started to burn and even her Wand caught on fire and the skin of her Wand hand started to melt off… She realized this was it, but before the flames could engulf her, she was yanked back by someone… Francheska was extremely tired and her whole body was stinging in pain, she was barely holding on to her consciousness.

"Hold on, Cheska… I will get you ou…" Those were the last words Francheska heard before her world turned completely black…

<Line Break>

~~With Harry~~ (A few minutes ago)

“Fuck, she released Fiendfyre on the streets. We need to stop the flames or the whole street will be destroyed!” Scorpius cursed loudly as he pointed toward Francheska.

“Kill all the Wizards and Witches on this floor” Harry ordered. Since they decided to involve the Normals, all bets were off. Some of the hardline members nodded their heads in agreement as they started to cast the Killing Curse to kill all of the Wizards and Witches sleeping on the floor.

While some of the members didn’t agree with the murders, at the same time, they were also feeling somewhat vindictive after watching some of the Normals die on the streets, so they didn’t complain.

“What about the Normals?” Rose asked Harry while looking extremely concerned.

For a few seconds, Harry didn’t say anything as he knew that he couldn’t do anything for the Normals on this floor. They were not in a position to save them, but he didn’t know how to reveal the truth as some of the naive members wouldn't agree with his decision. Any sort of discontent at this moment would be disastrous for the whole group.

Harry turned toward Hermione for some help, but before she could say anything, Anti-Apparition Jinx and Anti-Portkey Wards went up… "Fuck! With the Wards, we can't save the Normals on this floor!" Harry barked and it was quite clear that not everyone was happy with his order, but before any of them could complain, the floor started to crumble.

"Move on to the 2nd floor, they want to collapse the 1st floor!!" James exclaimed loudly and everyone started to climb the stairs to move upstairs. Harry stared out of the window only to see that the cursed flames were still going strong. Harry vowed in his mind to make the woman who cast the Spell pay with her life…

"Wait! Give me some cover! I want to place some traps here" Lily exclaimed when they finally arrived on the 2nd floor.

"I will help" Hermione leaned down beside her and started to help Lily, who quickly explained what she wanted to do.

Meanwhile, Harry turned toward the others and ordered them to kill all the Wizards and Witches on this floor too, and round up all the Normals on this floor so that they could save them… All of them nodded their heads before spreading out. While the others were busy with their own tasks, Harry decided to Charm a Portkey for the Normals. He didn't have the time to create a special Portkey, so a normal Portkey would have to do.

A normal Portkey won't be able to punch through the Anti-Portkey Wards, but Harry was planning to rip through the Wards as soon as the others were done… After a couple of minutes, the others finally returned with the Normals levitating behind them. Lily and Hermione still weren't done, so he decided to wait until the two of them were done.

"James, I need your help. The two of us will punch through the Wards and as soon as the Wards are down, Sirius you will send them off with this Portkey" Harry said as he handed Sirius a lamp he Charmed as Portkey and James simply nodded his head in understanding.

"As soon as they are gone" Harry said while pointing at the Normals. "You will Apparate outside the building. We will need to deal with the flames and I also wanted to deal them a finishing blow" Harry added as he clutched his hands in anger.

"Harry, we are done!" Hermione exclaimed hurriedly.

"Good! Remember the plan!" Harry exclaimed and then he turned on his heel. He felt the space around him twist and he ripped through the Wards… It wasn't easy to rip through the Wards as the Wards were very well made. Harry arrived right outside the building with a loud crack and started to breathe heavily.

Only after a few seconds, the others started to arrive too… "James, take your team and control those flames. Hermione, Neville you help him too and the rest of you raise the Anti-Apparition Jinx and Anti-Portkey Wards, so stop them from leaving" Harry ordered. James nodded his head and left with his team. Hermione gave him a worried look before walking away…

A loud explosion was heard from inside the house and Harry couldn't help but grin… The fools finally stepped into Lily's and Hermione's trap. The Wards finally went up and the timing couldn't have been any more perfect. The grin on his face widened as he leveled his Wand at the entrance of the building.

"Fiendfyre!" Harry snarled, releasing a stream of cursed flames inside the building. Harry grinned vindictively as the flames started to surge upwards, but all of a sudden, the flames stopped moving upwards. Harry frowned… Someone was trying to stop the flames! Harry grimaced and started to channel more Magic through his Wand, but the flames didn't budge.

"They are escaping!" Harry heard Alicia's voice who was pointing toward the other side of the building. Harry wanted to scream when he saw them escaping on brooms… He wanted to burn all of them, but apparently someone decided to sacrifice themselves for everyone else. He didn't know that they had someone like that in their group.

Whoever was stopping his flames finally started to lose and flames started to move… It was a platonic victory to Harry since they weren't able to get Quinton, but it was still better than a loss. This was going to be a huge blow to 'her' forces and Harry couldn't help but feel satisfied internally.

Harry smiled as he felt his flames surge forward without any obstruction, but the smile disappeared from his face when he saw someone fly out of the building on a broom while carrying someone in arms… Harry would have tried to strike them down, but he was feeling tired and he knew that in his current condition, he won't be able to cast his Spells that far…

Well, it was a victory nonetheless even though it wasn't a complete victory like he wanted it to be… They did kill a lot of them, so 'she' wouldn't be able to scoff at the loss. Additionally, 'she' also failed to kill Torquil Travers and frame the Normals for it… So, it was a win for them on their part, no matter how unsatisfying it was…

<Line Break>

Destiny, Annabell, and Vinda arrived just outside the Wards of Ismail manor… Annabell stared at the manor with a pained look on her face as she clutched the stuffed toy in her hand more tightly. Destiny decided to give the woman all the time she needed, she was not in hurry…

“Are you going to kill all of them?” Vinda asked curiously as she stared at the manor at distance.

“No, Anna decided to spare the mother and her children, so I will make sure that they can’t attack Anna after growing up” Destiny explained as she stared at Vinda from the corner of her eyes. Vinda raised her brows questioningly as she wanted to know how Destiny was going to control them. Destiny noticed the look Vinda was giving her, so she decided to explain.

“I am planning to perform a Ritual connecting them to Anna… They won’t be able to even think about hurting her after that” Destiny explained with a grin and Vinda simply inclined her head. Even though Destiny told her how she was going to ensure Annabell’s safety, Vinda still failed to understand how Destiny was going to achieve that.

So, Vinda decided to stop asking questions in that regard since she didn’t want to look like a fool. Vinda was brought out of her musing when all of a sudden, Annabell cheerfully clapped her hands.

“Destiny, I am ready. Can you break the Wards?” Annabell requested while staring at Destiny. Annabell even decided to use puppy dog eyes even though she didn’t need to in the first place.

Destiny chuckled at her antics as she pulled out her Wand and Vinda immediately recognized the Wand, but refrained from saying anything. Destiny made a cut on her palm and dropped a few drops of blood right in front of the Ward line. When she was done, Destiny healed the cut with her Wand and started to chant… After a few seconds, the Ward line shimmered and a wicked grin appeared on Destiny’s face…