Chapter 253: Plan Unfolds

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Aurors Edward Moss and Isobel Dean were both relatively recent additions to the Aurors Office. Both made themselves known as all-rounders at their times in Hogwarts — one of the basic requirements of being inducted into the Auror training programs. Both passed said training programs with flying colors earning them their bronze shields, officially making them part of the DMLE as Junior Aurors.

Alas, while Trainee Aurors thought their lives were rough with training that went from early morning to the late evening didn't know they were nothing more than flowers soaking sunlight in a comfortable greenhouse shielded away from the harsh cold of the real outside world.

Passing in the same batch as each other meant Edward and Isobel joined the force at the same time, but that also meant that they entered the slave life of being a Junior Auror at the same time. Junior Aurors were worked to their bones — interrogative skills, deduction, dueling, stealth, potions and poisons, and more paperwork — everything they learned as Trainee Aurors was tested and tempered to the real-life standards. There was a saying in the Aurors Office — a rookie Auror wasn't really an Auror until they were broken down and rebuilt back together by Office.

It wasn't strange that Edward and Isobel, who went through the process at the same time, formed a strong bond of camaraderie forged through the fires of rookie hell. Moreover, DMLE putting forward the stringiest qualifications and requirements meant that only half a handful of people were ever made Junior Aurors every year. In Edward and Isobel's batch, only four made it out of training.

The long hours, workloads that even a mule would whine about meant that Edward and Isobel spent most of their days together for weeks and months at end, and after over a year, they began growing closer, and one thing led to another, and here they were visiting a traveling circus group for a date.

"It's too loud," said Isobel, pulling off a clump from the cloud of pink cotton candy. "Maybe we should've gone somewhere a bit quieter."

Edward nodded while sipping a soda from a bottle. "Is it strange that I miss the cubical? Because I really miss the cubical a lot."

"It's not strange, not at all. It's cozy and warm."

"So cozy."

"We can always bounce and go somewhere else. I think I remember a good restaurant that we can go to. It'll be in the range that I can apparate with you side-apparating."

"Hmm.. . okay, but I think we should see the show first — we did buy the tickets."

Isobel nodded, looking at the stub ticket in her hands. It felt strange to actually use the money on something. Junior Aurors made really good money, much more than their peers in other fields were making, but they worked so much that, believe it or not, Junior Aurors didn't spend much in the first year of their career because of the sheer amount of work they did which led to no downtime — zero work-life balance — no time to continue with hobbies — no money spent.

They had finally spent some coin; it would be a waste to let it go to waste.

Isobel looked head at the largest striped tent in the middle of the entire carnival — every path to the main tent was lined with concession booths and lines of multi-colored triangle flags hanging from the overhead grid.

She looked at the menagerie tent in the row of stands. "Edward, we should go to pet—" Isobel winced, feeling the sharp pain in her arm. She looked to her side and saw Edwards clamping her arm. "What are you —"

"I have Rabastan Lestrange in my sight," Edwards said with an unnatural stillness, "and he's with Rodolphus Lestrange. Don't look!"

Isobel freed her arm from Edward's grasp, looped it into his, and leaned into him. "Where are they?" she asked.

"They're standing in between two stands, dressed in simple pants and shirts.. . I can't seem to see any other Death Eaters," said Edward, observing through his peripherals.

"I see more," said Isobel.

Edward stiffened for a brief second before speaking with his bottle near his lips, "Who did you spot?"

"Antonin Dolohov at my two and further along the same line, I see Milkes Mulciber," she gulped, "that's four out of the Azkaban Ten."

".. . and if these four are here, there's a good chance that other six are also around somewhere."

"We need to call for backup."

"You have your shield?" asked Edward.

Isobel nodded, her hand going inside her satchel purse, feeling for the badge, and next to it sat her wand. "I sent for backup," she said, feeling her badge heat up.

"What should we do?" Edwards asked. "Also, let's walk; it's eye-catching for us to stand here in the middle of the street."

"We should keep an eye on them without engaging," said Isobel. "If all ten of the escapees are here, then they must be meeting here — you saw how they were dressed, none of them had a robe on, they are clearly not making their presence known."

".. . what if they're not here for a meeting.. . what if they're here to raid the carnival." Edward felt Isobel's eyes bore into him. "I mean, look around," they were surrounded by muggles and a distance away from the city, "isn't a place like this their preferred hunting ground?"

Isobel bit her lip, her other hand resting on her satchel tightened. "All we can do right now is to wait.. . and hope the backup arrives fast."

They didn't notice that another Death Eater was standing just behind them, listening to their conversation with a carton of popcorn in hand.

- (Scene Break) -

James Potter sat in his office, working through a week's worths of paperwork due the next day. Moreover, today he was a Thursday, and he didn't want to work through the Friday evening after-hours to get the work done, so he had brought in the blankets and sheets to grind the night away.

"I need to do this work daily!" said James, groaning and stretching his arms above his head as he leaned into his chair. After staring at the wall above for half a minute, he got back to dipping his quill into the inkpot and got back to the papers.

*Beep*

The Senior Auror jerked straight in his chair. His hand went to his wand, which summoned his Senior Auror badge to him, and it was hot to touch. James' eyes narrowed as he saw the badge number which had reached out to him and the message coded in Auror's in-house cipher taught to every Auror.

"1553? That's Dean's number," James stood up from his chair; if he had read the code accurately, then it was no time for paperwork, and off he went.

The Junior Aurors sitting in their cubicles looked up to watch as one of the most decorated Senior Aurors ran through the bullpen, thinking is it was time for another prank. They didn't know that a majority of them were going to be vacating their cubicles in a while.

As James ran through the corridors, he met Senior Auror Proudfoot, who similarly came running through a different part of the Aurors Office.

"Did you get it too?" asked James as both men fell into a power walk; he could still feel the badge go through the cycles of heating up and down — Isobel was repeatedly sending the message.

Proudfoot nodded. Every Junior Auror in the Auror's Office was assigned a Senior Auror mentor(boss), but at the same time, they were assigned to another Senior Auror as per department protocol.

"Moss.. . Edward Moss is there with Dean," said Proudfoot. "They're at a date if I heard the grapevine correctly."

The two men arrived at Captain Auror Gawain Robards' office, who was their immediate superior. James knocked on the door and opened it without waiting for an answer. Inside sat Robarts, and Captain Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt, who they weren't expecting to be there.

Robards looked away from Shacklebolt, who he had been talking to, and looked at his subordinates with a frown. "What do you two think you're doing entering my office like this?" He looked at Proudfoot, "I expect this from Potter, but you — you should know better."

"Sir, we got an emergency message from Junior Auror Isobel Dean," Proudfoot spoke, getting to the point. "She's at a muggle carnival with Junior Auror Edward Moss and reported that they have spotted four out of the ten Azkaban Death Eater escapees."

Robards' jaw set, and Shacklebolt's gasped. Robards' gaze sharpened as he asked, "Which ones have the identified?"

"The Lestrange brothers, Dolohov, and Mulciber," said James.

"Is it positive?"

"Yes, both of them are a hundred percent sure. They're currently watching them from a distance without engaging."

"Good decision," Robards got up from his chair and looked at Shacklebolt, "Go mobilize your unit. I'll go to Scrimgeour and talk to him about gaining access to Hit Wizards."

Shacklebolt nodded and set out to gather his Senior and Junior Auror.

Robards turned to James and Proudfoot and started, "Start briefing your Juniors and spread the word to the other Seniors to do the same and meet me with the status as soon as possible."

In a minute, the news reached the Head Auror Scrimgeour, and in the next ten minutes, Amelia Bones' home was floo-ed to call the already gone home Head of DMLE back

- (Scene Break) -

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"Dean."

Isobel heard a rustle behind her and took out her wand in response, but the sound of the voice did put her to ease as she turned to see her superior, James Potter, standing behind her along with Captain Auror Robards and a couple more Junior Aurors from the same sub-unit as her.

"Sir, you're here," she said, sounding relieved.

"What's the situation?" James asked, looking around the woods where Isobel stood. "In your initial message, you said they were in the carnival; why did you call use behind it?" The carnival stood a distance away from them, the music just audible.

"Sir, the Death Eaters, eventually moved out of the carnival and arrived here," she pointed a couple paces, and in the dim of the night, Edwards could be seen crouching behind a bush, looking into a clearing, "Edwards is keeping a lookout on them — it seems that our guesses were right and the escaped Death Eaters have indeed gathered here for a meeting."

"All ten?" asked Robards.

"No, sir, ever since our last communication, two more joined — Travers and Barilier."

"Good job, Auror Dean," said Robards, "your and Moss' response was excellent in this situation. Now, please fall back, and have a rest while we apprehend the Death Eaters."

With Robards' words, people dressed in Auror robes stepped out from behind the trees — as if emerging straight from the shadows. Isobel's eyes widened at the density of Aurors gathered for one operation — she noted around a number just shy of four dozen — one Captain Auror, a handful Senior Aurors, and the numerous Junior Auros, all gathered dressed in their Auror overcoats, looking ready for battles.

Sirius Black stepped out from the group and reported to Robards, "Sir, we are ready on our end, but it would take time for Hit Wizards to arrive here on the scene," unlike Isobel and Edwards, who knew of the place and could apparate, others had to take the broom to arrive, "should we wait or.. ."

"No use waiting for the Hit Wizards for six people," Robards replied sturdily, "we will move strongly and swiftly." He paused in thought, "order for the anti-apparition wards to be drawn up. If the Hit Wizards don't arrive by then, we will proceed on our own."

Sirius took the order and took the batch of Juniors with the warding duties to cast an anti-apparition ward around the area.

"Any idea what they're talking about?" James asked Edwards, who was relieved from his watch duty.

"No, sir, I wasn't able to hear what they're talking about, but they do seem to be in a heated discussion."

"Does it look like they're waiting for the others?"

"It doesn't look like it, sir, but without actually listening to them, we can't be sure."

James nodded, but a thought stuck in his mind. Why were these Death Eaters meeting there? He knew Voldemort was back, so why would they meet here, far away from any wizarding location, especially this particular group of people who would despise any place that wasn't touched with magic in some way.

It didn't make sense to him.

"S-Sir."

Everyone turned to see a Junior Auror with his wand out toward the sky, with a frown on his face.

"What is it?" asked Sirius, who was coordinating the warding

"W-We can't cast the ward."

"What do you mean, you can't cast the ward?"

"The ward isn't pulling up, sir. Something is blocking it."

Robards and James looked at Sirius, who pulled out his wand to check the problem, but everyone got the answer before he could even cast the spell.

"Oh, dear little cousin~."

Those who knew the voice couldn't forget it even if it had been more than a decade since the last time they had heard it. The voice was unmistakably from that woman — the pitch, the tone, rhythm, texture, everything was the same as all those years ago.

Sirius looked down towards the place where the six Death Eaters were, and suddenly, there were now ten people standing — all of the Azkaban Ten, and in front of the group stood Bellatrix Lestrange in all her crazy glory.

"Look at you all grown up~, big Auror Black, hehe~," she said.

Everyone saw Bellatrix raise her wand, and so did Voldemort's other nine best duellers, trained by the Dark Lord himself.

- (Scene Break) -

In the Ministry Atrium with the Fountain of Magical Brethren, the air twisted and turned, black haze spread, and from within, stepped out — tall, thin, and black-hooded, his terrible snakelike face white and gaunt, slit-pupiled eyes — Dark Lord Voldemort.

He glanced around the empty Atrium. The golden gates that were passed through by hundreds of people were now open, with everybody having gone home. Even the security booth was empty because no visitors were allowed at night.

He cracked his neck and smoothly moved towards the golden gate, knowing the path that led to the Prophecy Hall, but the moment he turned to face the golden gates, he came to a stop.

Albus Dumbledore was dressed in white and grey robes, a long white beard and hair, and blue eyes peeking from behind the golden framed half-moon glasses and were standing in front of the golden gates.

"Hello, Tom," said Dumbledore, "do you know that Ministry is closed off to visitors, so it's not proper for you to be here. How about you turn away and leave."

Or so he said, but Voldemort watched the old man take out his wand.

"Dumbledore.. . how did you know?"

"I never expected this from you, Tom," said Dumbledore, and Voldemort narrowed his eyes at how Dumbledore said his muggle name. "I never expected for you to use stealth and distraction as part of your arsenal. From what I remember, you were always a fan of the flairs.. . maybe, you have changed after so many years — it has been more than a decade after all. How has all that time treated you?" Dumbledore smiled, "Was it pleasant?"

Voldemort gritted his teeth; the old man was mocking him, just like he had always done as if he was lower than him.

"You made a mistake, Dumbledore," he said as his wand slid out from his sleeves, "you shouldn't have come here; now you're going to die here with no one to see it."

Dumbledore tilted his head, "You're mistaken, Tom. Today, you won't be leaving from here. It was foolish for you to come over for the prophecy, and now I'm going to make you regret it."

The air itself started to tremble as magic thrummed from the two magical powerhouses — the two most powerful men in the country.

"Time to go to the next great adventure, Dumbledore," said Voldemort as his magic flowed into his wand, concentrating as green light sparked up at the wand tip.

"It must've been tough, all those years; it's time for you to rest," Dumbledore smiled as he drowned the death stick with his magic.

The decade's biggest duel was about to start.

The two supernovas of magic had finally met.

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Quinn West - MC - Question: "What do you think would be my favorite manga/anime?"

FictionOnlyReader - Author - Okay, this felt a little better; by the end, I felt that things were going back into sync. Let's see how the goes.

Dumbledore - 2nd Coming of Merlin - It's time.

Voldemort - Dark Lord - to DUEL!

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