A/N: I didn't realise it had been so long since I had last updated, I study medicine so I have been ridiculously busy lately and I had considered stopping this story but have had a nice amount of interest lately that I thought I'd give it another go. Reviews will help me get this out faster, so review review review!!

Chapter 18: Another Round

mors et fugacem persequitur virum – Death pursues the man that flees

The rest of Christmas holidays passed smoothly, they kept in regular contact with Neville and continued with their recruitment. They organised a place where people could meet and train in small groups so as not to attract too much attention.

Candice Hurst called a few times over December and early January saying that the cold weather had slowed her search but that she was steadily moving northwards.

The headmaster of Salem Institute, Wilfred Durnap called Ron to inform him that the United States Ministry had pledged for Hogwarts to be investigated after the death of the Supreme Mugwump on its grounds. It was as the best they could do without Voldemort moving into the open, it may also alleviate the control Deatheaters had on the school the Headmaster thought.

"When do you think the best time is to get Luna?" Hermione asked one morning during breakfast.

"We can't rush in there half cocked, we need a full organised plan for this." Ginny said.

"Agreed but the longer we wait the more time Luna suffers under the Deatheaters. I think the best time to attack would be the day or two after the train heads back to the castle." Harry said.

"Why is that?" Hermione asked confused, as to how that made a difference.

"Either way it's likely Voldemort is in there. But Draco won't be there, and both of the Carrows would be back at the castle and it's not likely they would expect an attack. But we need to do some intel first but that seems almost impossible." Harry sighed.

"Well maybe it's not impossible." Ron said thinking. "Dobby may be able to get back into the Manor. He used to work there, he might know a back way, and as he's no longer working for the Malfoy's he can tell us anything. More than that, Dobby may be able to get us into the grounds safely."

"Yes, house-elf magic is different, they aren't affected by Apparition wards and such." Ginny said jumping on the idea.

"I'll talk to Dobby later and figure it out. What time is Neville coming round?" Harry asked Hermione.

"He texted a little while ago, he'll be here at 9.30am."

"Good that gives us enough time to finish here."

"Hey guys." Neville greeted as he came through the Floo.

"Hey Neville how are you?"

"Great, listen Gran has told me a few things about the Ministry lately. Apparently everything is a mess because of this investigation that the Americans initiated." Neville followed Harry into the kitchen where Hermione passed them all a butterbeer.

"Well we wanted to shake things up and give them another front to battle." Ginny said.

"Yes, and it means there is less focus on us. Hopefully major Deatheaters in the Ministry will try and stay quiet to avoid scrutiny,"

"Which is pretty much good for everyone." Neville interrupted.

"Yes." Ron agreed. "But what's our next step?"

"We have a group of witches coming from America, I believe they are supposed to arrive this week. It would be good if we set up a meeting with the Order for them." Ginny said.

"I've got to go out of town for a few days." Harry said.

"Huh? This is the first I've heard of this." Hermione started.

"Now Hermione, calm down, I got some news a few hours ago and need to sort it out. Don't worry, I'll be back within a week."

"Where are you going? What are you doing?" Hermione asked impatiently.

"I'm keeping this one rather close to the chest, so to speak." Harry replied defensively.

"Meaning it's rather reckless." Hermione translated.

"Of course not." Harry said before changing the topic quickly.

In America.

Dudley Dursley never thought the day where he'd appreciate his cousin, nevertheless actually miss the guy. They spent an amazing month in Egypt where Dudley, unknown to his mother and father interacted with the Wizarding world. He talked to Jack the hotel manager whenever he could, and even spoke to a number of the magical guests that stayed at the hotel with them.

The manager Jack had pointed out a few persons that Dudley could speak to and he got on great with those people. The taught him so much of the Wizarding world, more than the stories Harry told them that summer. But then again Dudley wasn't surprised considering before recent events the 'm' word was worse than any expletive language in their household.

Dudley and his mother joined a tour group that consisted on magical people that went exploring the Egyptian pyramids. The wizards were as ignorant of 'muggles' as they call them, than the normal people were of the wizards. Dudley remembered how the tour guide showed them skeletons of 'the poor dumb muggles' that explored the pyramids that had severe curses placed on them protecting the treasure within. The whole month was a true eye-opener for Dudley.

But as with all good things they came to an end. The month at Egypt went by without a hitch and the next thing they knew the Dursley's were in a limo to the airport, with Jack escorting them.

They arrived in Barbados and were promptly taken to where Harry's house was, the place was on private beach, and was a beautiful large beach house. Not too large that it looked out of place, but elegant enough. Petunia immediately fell in love with the place and enthusiastically looked around. Instead of staying the originally planned 2 weeks at the place, a quick phone-call to Harry extended their stay. The remained there until the beginning of December.

Once their plane tickets were booked for America, Dudley had called Harry and told him, who arranged anything else they may need.

They boarded a plane to the States, which took them to South Carolina, where Harry had secured a year lease on a house for the Dursley's. They got off the airplane at Columbia Metropolitan Airport, and saw that a car had been arranged for them. Thanking Harry for thinking of everything Dudley got in the back seat of the luxury SUV that had been booked for them. After quickly turning on the satellite navigation, Vernon Dursley drove off following the directions.

Dudley was amazed when they pulled up outside a house not too far from the centre of the Columbia, South Carolina's capital city. He double checked the address they were given. Nope, they were definitely at the right address.

The three Dursley's got out of the car and took a look at the house they were supposed to be living in for the next year.

"Wow, Harry really must like us if he got us this house." Dudley finally said after a few minutes.

"Not only that it has a lot of security features some of the newer houses round here don't have." A voice interrupted.

Dudley spun round only to be met with the sight of his cousin.

"Harry!" Dudley said shocked.

"Hey. Shall we go inside?" Harry said, pulling an envelope from his pocket and digging around for a set of keys.

He jogged up the steps to the front of the house and unlocked the front door, holding the door wide so the Dursleys could follow him in.

The four of them stood in the foyer of the grand house. Once the luggage was inside Harry let them explore the place.

"Dobby" Harry called.

Dobby apparated to Harry's side. "Yes Master Harry?"

"How is everyone at home firstly?" Harry asked.

"They are all fine. They asked Dobby where Master Harry was, but Dobby did not say."

"Good, thank you. Now who is the House-Elf assigned here? Tweedy right?"

"Yes Master Harry, Tweedy is working here."

"Tweedy." Another House-Elf popped to stand next to Dobby.

"Yes Master Potter."

"Please call me Harry."

"Okay, Master Harry."

Harry sighed, it was as good as it was going to get. "Tweedy my muggle family is staying here for approximately a year. You are in charge of this house, usually my aunt does some chores herself so only look after the parts of the house they don't go into, and the gardens, make sure they have food, but don't let them get carried away. They are not allowed to order you around, but if they wish I have given them permission to call your name and they may ask for you to do something. But it is your decision, I do not want them taking advantage of you." Harry told Tweedy.

"Master does not trust Tweedy?" The House-Elf looked terrified.

"No, they are muggles and are not used to a House-Elf. So try to keep out of sight during the day."

"Yes Master." Tweedy obeyed and disappeared again.

"Right Dobby, we've only got a few more things to sort out here then we can head back home."

Harry found the Dursleys again and got them down in the kitchen.

"Right, now this has been leased until next November, so unless things are over in England, here are the travel directions to Sweden. In the event of my death, I am giving you the cabin in Sweden to hide in, until a time where either the war is over by another avenue or Sweden is not taken over."

"It won't go to that will it?" Dudley asked worriedly.

"I definitely don't want it to, but I have to plan for everything. If I do die Dobby as a free Elf has agreed to ensure that you remain safe, all my other Elf's are bound to me so once I die they go free, so I am not telling them where your next safe house is. Everything has been taken care of here, a House-Elf called Tweedy is looking after the house. But she does not answer to you and she is definitely not a slave. If she is treated as a slave I'll remove her from the house, and it's a pretty big house to clean." Harry paused. "Tweedy will keep the fridge and larder stocked up, but she's not going to go over-board. If you desperately want something ask her or leave a note for her."

"How is the war going?" Petunia asked her nephew.

"Erm, so far it could be worse I guess it's still half in the shadows, Tom hasn't come out of hiding properly, and one of my friends has been taken hostage though so it's getting serious. I've got to figure out a way to get her back. Other than that we've made good progress with allies and training."

"That is all you are doing? Training? We are going to be in Sweden for years!" Vernon exclaimed rudely.

"I'm protecting you from these people Uncle Vernon, at least remain civil." Harry said coldly.

Vernon looked a bit taken aback by the tone, and wisely kept his mouth shut after his wife glared at him.

"Now, there is a telephone in the hall, call me if you need something, but try to use that only as an emergency, text my mobile otherwise." Harry said.

Petunia and Vernon nodded and moved away carrying on exploring the house, Petunia inspected the kitchen whilst Vernon checked out the American cable t.v.

"Can I talk to a minute Harry?" Dudley asked. Harry nodded and followed Dudley into the downstairs den.

"I really appreciate what you are doing for us, I know they don't really show it but I'm grateful."

"Don't worry Dudley."

"Well, is there anything I can help you with, like how you got me to research who R.A.B. was? How did you figure that out by the way?"

"Long story, but yeah we figured that out. There is something I hoped you'd help us with. Actually it's something you and your dad could do together, a sport."

Dudley looked confused so Harry thought he better just explain it.

He pulled another envelope out of his pocket. He handed it to Dudley and watched him go through the papers.

"Brilliant Harry. I'll be very happy to help." Dudley said with a spark in his eyes.

"Great, I'll have Dobby drop the funds straight to you. I suggest you go there and organise it before you take your dad down there."

"Good idea, I'll keep you updated." Dudley said shaking Harry's hand.

Harry left the house shortly afterwards and made his way back to England.

Once back in England, Harry made a quick trip to Longbottom Manor under his invisibility cloak to talk to Neville before the students went back to school. Harry gave Neville a box of things and instructions on how to use it.

"I'm home!" Harry yelled as he tumbled through the Floo.

"Harry!" Hermione yelled as she pulled him into a bone-crushing hug. "We were worried."

"Nonsense Hermione, I was perfectly safe. I just had to get the Dursley's into the new safe house and then had a chat with Neville." Harry said grinning that it was annoying Hermione that she didn't know what was happening.

"Well, now that you're back we can tell you what's happened since you went on your secret mission." Hermione smiled, "We've heard back from the Headmaster of Salem, you know from when Ron and Ginny went to see him to ask for help. Well it appears that whilst he's made moves in his Ministry to investigate the Dumbledore 'murder' and the Ministry of Magic he has set up his own 'Order' or something along that line. He says he has a number of eager, willing and capable fighters, he wants to know if he should sent them here or wait until we give the order of us attacking or something." Hermione finished leading him into the library where Ron and Ginny were.

"Good, I'm glad that he's come through for us like that." Harry said genuinely pleased that things were working out. "Now, I have an idea to get the Horcrux in Lestrange's Vault."

The first two weeks of January were extremely busy. Harry and Ron left the house each morning at 9am after training and breakfast, Harry spent a lot of time in Gringott's whilst Ron met up with various persons in their 'army'. Violet's clan of witches were slowly coming to England from various places in America and travelled the muggle way to London.

Hermione was called once one of them had reached London and herself and Ginny tracked them down and making sure they were who they said they were, and were loyal to them by using versiterium. Each member of the clan was then given the Fidelius phrase that allowed them access to Potter Manor.

The American clan of witches were startled at first by the huge display of magic in Potter Manor and spent most of their time learning as much as they could about it through the vast library. Ginny led their training and whilst they were very proficient in some potions and amulets, as well as ritualistic magic it was difficult for them to wield a wand.

Headmaster Durnap of Salem school of witchcraft and wizardry sent a list of all those in the USA that were pledging to help England in their civil war. The list of over a thousand names shocked the quadruplet but it was quickly replaced by a feeling of unimaginable hope. Having an extra thousand members of their army would help level the playing field.

Headmaster Durnap said some of the most eager had taken it upon themselves to travel to England already in the hopes of helping in the case of a surprise attack. Harry requested that each member currently in England already to buy a mobile phone so that they could communicate easier.

Headmaster Durnap laughed at Harry and said that nearly everyone that went to Salem has had a mobile since their early teens. Trying to get in there before Hermione started in a rant that muggle electronic devices cannot work in highly magical areas, Harry asked how they were able to do that. Durnap replied that the USA were more inclined to the muggle way of life and one inventor found a way to allow electronic devices to run on magic.

"I can't believe how far ahead America is from England. We are so medieval compared to them." Hermione said.

"I'm not really surprised, I mean America is the land of the free and whatnot I guess they can be a bit more accepting of muggle ways considering that America is so much bigger than England an owl would be pretty pissed off if it had to travel to California from Salem." Harry commented. "It would make sense they would be eager to get on the boat of electronic devices."

Candice Hurst called again in early January, she had followed the aura's signal all the way to Hogwarts, but to everyone's surprise Candice was saying that there was a Horcrux in Hogwarts castle. Harry decided that since there were Deatheater spies within the castle it would be best if they held back on storming the castle and searching it, instead he told Candice to continue and to go back there with him at a later stage, Candice wasn't clear on why that was a good idea but she agreed to do as Harry suggested, so she apparated back to Manchester, where she began her search north, and instead she began searching towards the south of England.

"Harry, we have word that there's an attack on Hogsmeade." Hermione ran in holding her mobile phone.

"Who did you hear it from?"

"American ally situated in Hogsmeade, they said that over thirty Deatheaters arrived less than two minutes ago and are causing chaos since it is a Hogsmeade weekend students are there." Hermione reported.

Ginny ran in just then, "Neville is reporting a Deatheater attack on Hogsmeade."

"Alright gear up, send the mass text." Harry ordered taking off his cloak, there was no need for it in battle.

The quartet had agreed that a good idea for summoning people to a battle was a mass text, they would send the details of an attack to everyone on their mobile address list and those able to apparate in would do so and help in the battle."

Within two minutes Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Harry were apparating to Hogsmeade.

The scene they apparated to was one of complete mayhem and disaster, they saw clumps of Deatheaters toying with groups of students, instead of fighting them properly they were playing with them, as if the Deatheaters had nothing to fear.

Harry immediately took charge and took Hermione with him to the main group of Deatheaters in the centre of Hogsmeade. He sent his patronus towards the castle to alert any teacher that had already not figured out that their students were in severe trouble. Ginny and Ron moved to helping the students that were being attacked by smaller groups of Deatheaters.

Several pops alerted Harry to the arrival of his backup, he watched as they organised themselves to help those nearest to them. Hermione ran slightly ahead of Harry and threw a powerful barrel hex that caused the Deatheaters to disperse and turn their attention to Hermione and Harry.

Harry knocked them down with a powerful gust of wind and the students they were targeting fought back and sent numerous stunners at the Deatheaters as they lay on the ground. Harry and Hermione helped bind and incapacitate the Deatheaters placing a portkey on top of the group and sending it to their special dungeon's where Dobby was waiting who would make sure they stayed there.

Hermione hustled the younger children into the nearest shop which was the three broomsticks and gave the elder kids the charge of guarding them. Turning Harry ran down the main street with Hermion close on his heels, he saw Ron and Ginny in front of Zonkos sending a bunch of kids inside as they had just done.

Ginny was holding back six Deatheaters from their position using heavy fire that ran from a line of bushes and trees to the shop effectively creating an 8foot barrier of fire that stopped the Deatheaters getting through. Ginny and Ron finished their task and Ginny made the fire explode outwards with an extra intake of oxygen causing several of the nearer Deatheaters to catch fire. As they stumbled trying to help themselves and their comrades Harry snuck up from behind them and threw several reducto's and stunners to put them down.

Hermione on the other hand went in the opposite direction, she found Neville who was with several other Gryffindor's and Hufflepuff's fighting against four Deatheaters, two of whom were inner circle members. Hermione joined in her effort and alerted Harry to their position.

Harry gathered Ron and Ginny and made their way to where Hermione and Neville were. They watched as a number of American allies gathered to help, creating a second place of attack. Together they took down three of the four. The fourth decided his odds weren't with him today and took his portkey out.

Within ten minutes Hogsmeade was secure again, Harry thanked the American's and advised them to leave before the Ministry got involved and caused a political headache. Smirking they apparated out and said they'd report in later that evening.

"That was a fun work-out." Ron said happily as he kicked a bit of rubble around.

Ginny gave a little laugh as well as she aimed her concentration on the numerous fires around the place, and calmed them down allowing them to fizzle out stopping them damaging the place more.

"We better leave before the Auror's come." Hermione said.

"Hey guys, thanks for the help. You better leave." Neville said as he saw the approach of several Hogwarts teachers approaching in the distance as well as a few pops alerting them that Aurors were on the way.

"Yeah, we better go, keep safe Neville." Harry said as he grabbed Ginny's arm and apparated them both out with Hermione and Ron following closely afterwards.

Neville went and met Professor McGonagall who was in front of all the other teachers on their rush down.

"What happened here? Mr Longbottom, I thought there were Deateaters here?" McGonagall cried.

"Yes Professor there was, lucky for us they were sorted out by some very good members of the public, although I must say most of the six and seventh years done a nice job as well."

"Where are the prisoners then?"

Neville looked around thinking to himself that Harry must have taken them with him. "Perhaps the Deatheaters had a time-released portkey on them." He saw Carrow watching him which was the reason he kept his mouth shut.

"Well we should be grateful no one was hurt, where are the rest of the students?"

"Some took refuge inside the shops." Neville pointed as the pub doors opened and the students came back out as well as from Zonkos.

"Let's get you all back to the castle." McGonagall said as she sent directions to the other teachers to get the students inside.

"So Headmaster Durnap is sending us the numbers as we speak. What are we doing about Luna. We said we'd have her out by this time and it hasn't happened." Ron said.

"I know. I had hoped that I'd have Lestrange problem solved by now, by going into his main control centre we are effectively starting this war, and we have to have the upper hand with his Horcruxes by then."

"We still haven't found the Ravenclaw item though." Ginny pointed out. "But we have a lead that it's likely to be in Hogwarts."

"I know, but if this escalates into a full scale war on all fronts, we can't be seen waltzing into Gringott's to get the Cup, we'd have to go underground properly." Harry said. "Ron, have you been working with Dobby to get the blueprints."

"Yeah, we've pretty much finished them now, he says they are accurate. The basement is said to have four prison cells. There is one access staircase, which leads up to the master study on the ground floor. Malfoy senior's domain. But...."

"Tom Riddle's if he is there." Harry interrupted.

"Yes, most likely where he'll be the majority of the time, and if that is true, then there are a number of Deatheaters there at that time. So if we have any chance of doing this, we need a distraction, and most importantly a way in and out of those cells without using those stairs." Ron finished.

"Almost seems impossible." Ginny commented sadly.

"Almost but not completely. Neville also said that they were waiting for Luna's dad to exchange me for her, so in all likeliness they are keeping her safe...well as safe as you can be in a Deatheater camp." Harry finished.

"I'm going to figure out the best way we can do this, Harry get this Lestrange thing dealt with and we can concentrate on Luna." Ron replied.

"Good, how's the new recruits doing?" Harry asked the girls.

"Oh, it's going amazingly well. The people from Salem are very advanced in duelling, I let the room challenge them more, they are giving us tips." Hermione told everyone.

"And Violet's people are in the process of making incredibly strong amulet's for everyone, some are strong enough to shield against mid-level hexes." Ginny said.

"Wow, that is quite impressive."

"Yes, a few of them have significantly more power than others and I'm in the process of working through all of them to see if they know anything that can help us on a battlefield. So far most of their rituals do take at least 10-20minutes to do."

"Interesting, what kind of rituals can they do?" Harry asked, leaning forward slightly.

He saw Ginny and Hermione exchange a significant look.

"They can use simple objects to have an audience with the dead." Hermione said finally.

Harry leant back on his chair thinking. He stood up after a minute. "Can you take me to one of them I have someone I need to communicate with."

"Harry, it's not good to do this, I mean what good can it be?" Hermione said pleadingly.

Harry gave her a funny look. "Hermione, I want to talk to Dumbledore."

Hermione jumped slightly "Oh, I thought you'd..."

"Want to talk to my parents or Sirius, yes that would be lovely but at the end of the day, this is a war and I've waited 16 years to talk to my parents I'm sure they won't mind waiting a little longer." Harry said.

"Right, of course."

"And Hermione, you should have told me this beforehand, it would have been useful."

Hermione coloured slightly but let it go and led the way to the library where a few members of the clan were studying.

Forty-five minutes later Harry found himself having a very surreal conversation with Dumbledore, who confirmed their theory that Snape was working under Dumbledore's orders, and everything that had so far discovered.

Dumbledore and Harry conversed for several hours about the way to retrieve the remaining Horcruxes and how to continue in the war, Dumbledore approving of Harry's plans wholeheartedly feeling that it was very good that the war effort lay on his shoulders as he fulfilled his tasks completely and to the best of anyone's ability.

Before long Dumbledore had to go and the spectral version left Harry. Harry stood up and collected the circle of candles placing them safely in a cupboard. He went down the stairs and called an impromptu meeting of all those in his Army.

"Harry why are we having a meeting?" Hermione couldn't help but ask once she spread the word.

"We need to co-ordinate our force Hermione. Dumbledore said we should get used to working together as a team. I agree with him, training in groups is a good idea but we are going to have to shake the groups up to make sure everyone is pushed to their limits. Besides I have a few tasks to hand out." Harry said turning from her and walking into the Master Study that had been converted by Dobby into a large conference room.

"Good afternoon everyone." Harry called the meeting to order. There was a large variety of faces looking back to him, from the familiar faces of the Order, to familiar faces from school down to the recruits from America. He had wisely asked Professor McGonagall the current official leader of the Order of the Phoenix to co-lead this meeting to avoid the mature members of the Order not listening to his orders due to his age.

"Mr Potter here has called this meeting to build bridges between the Order and his group." McGonagall began. "We need to work closely together to avoid any more major mishaps." She nodded to Harry to continue.

"Thank you Professor." Harry nodded back at her. "Now, Order members here know that Ron, Ginny, Hermione and I left after Bill's wedding to complete a task that Dumbledore left solely to us. We are well on our way to completing that task so now we must focus on our final strike against Tom Riddle."

"What task did Albus set you?" Dedalus Diggle asked cautiously.

"It's complicated, but it'll be all explained at a later date." 'Like after the war' Harry thought.

"Why are the Americans here?" Diggle asked.

"The Americans have kindly offered a number of graduated witches and wizards to help even the battle-field. These are the leaders of a few contingents." Harry explained pointing to 7 people who nodded at the English. Harry was glad everything in this meeting was being controlled by a secrecy vow, he didn't want Voldemort to find out that the Americans were helping him.

"What kind of final strike are you considering?" Tonks asked.

"Ron is working on possible scenarios at the moment, but I believe we need to force Riddle onto our turf. We would be at an advantage. Look how the Deatheaters that broke into the castle last spring were dealt with. Efficiently and with minimal casualties on our side. Again the same with the attack on Hogsmeade, not as clean cut but it was still a victory on our side, they had no hostages and no lives on our side were taken."

"So you want to lure them somewhere?" Moody asked. "I'm guessing you want to bring them to Hogwarts."

"Ideally, and if it comes to it it'll be pretty easy to lure him there." Harry replied. "But there is one pressing matter. Luna Lovegood has been captured by Deatheaters and is being held at ransom in exchange for her father turning me in."

Several outbursts came from those who had either not heard the news yet, or those who thought that the eccentric Xenophillius Lovegood could not take on anyone let alone Potter.

"Listen." He shouted. "There's no time for arguments, we have a plan to get her back, but there's something that has come up that solves another problem we have. There is going to be a raid on Diagon Alley this time tomorrow. I want most of you situated there, I've planned for a leak to get out that we know an attack is imminent, so hopefully Riddle will send most of his lower class Deatheaters with a few of the inner circle. Fred and George Weasley have a shop on the Alley and have created a number of items purely for me and my associates use. This will put us at a great advantage."

"You want us to willingly fight 75% of You-Know-Who's Deatheaters?" Hestia Jones stammered.

"Yes, and we will win it. Whilst you are drawing the attention to Diagon Alley, a small team is going to extract a very important item of Tom Riddle's effectively weakening him in the process."

"What is the task?"

"Bill Weasley, his wife Fleur and Oliver Wood under polyjuice will with the consent of the Goblins 'break' into Gringott's and steal something very valuable from a high security vault."

"What could possibly be in a Gringott's Vault that is of so much importance? Secondly how in Merlin's name did you get the Goblin's to agree to this?" Diggle asked.

"Something in a vault is very important to Riddle. He treasures it more than anything else I believe, and he tasked a member of his inner circle to safeguard it for his before his previous downfall. This Deatheater placed it in a family vault. Now the Goblins were much easier to persuade, I offered them the return of Godric Gryffindor's Sword once my task was complete. They see the destruction of Voldemort very important financially. Secondly I did offer them a few other items not of importance to us."

"Wait you can't just give back a treasure from the Founders like that?" An Order Member argued.

"I can and Professor's Dumbledore, McGonagall and Snape agree with me that it is better than attempting some half-assed attempt at breaking into Gringotts."

"What the hell does Snape have to do with this?" Tonks yelled angrily.

"That's not very important. But Snape just agreed that the only way to convince a Goblin to help us was to bribe it with Goblin made weapons or armour." Harry lied. Most people seemed to accept that thankfully.

"What about the Lovegood problem? We can't risk the chosen one to rescue one girl, an admirable trait I'm sure but it's not straight thinking," An Order member said.

"We don't leave people behind." Moody said. A few Americans agreed enthusiastically.

"I trained with the Muggle Army a few years ago, they are as loyal as you can get. They don't leave anyone behind, they all leave or they all stay." An American proudly stated.

"That's loyalty." Harry murmured.

"Can we see the battle plans for Diagon Alley?" An American called Hank Walker said.

"Right here." Ron said waving his hand and a roll of parchment appeared by his hand.

He spread the parchment down the long table and everyone saw that the parchment was a scale drawing of Diagon Alley. He tapped the parchment twice and the drawings came to life. The once 2-d depiction on the Alley became a 3-d interactive version.

"Right. We station persons in the main parts of the Alley. The major shops, Fred and George are meeting us here tomorrow to drop off the merchandise. Those most likely to be spotted need to be in disguise or under a cloak. Moody you need a cloak, Tonks can disguise herself nicely Lupin we'll get you a nice glamour." Ron looked at all the Order members deciding who would look out of place in the Alley.

Ron ran through his plan with everyone who agreed with the plan. Harry failed to mention his back-up plan, but thought that it was only a fail-safe if things got ugly.

Once the Order had departed, and most of the Americans had wandered off, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny ran over their plan again.

The next day the anticipation in the air was tangible, it electrified the house-hold, most of the occupants woke up early and done everything they could to get ready.

The information from Snape was trustworthy, but Harry thought turning up early would be very beneficial just in case Riddle got impatient and sent the troops early.

The items they received from the Weasley Twins were ingenious, Harry had asked them a month previously to invent something along the lines if walkie-talkies, and had provided the twins with a full description of how they worked. To their credit it took the two inventors merely 2 weeks to create it. They were a small invisible piece that went into your ear, when you tapped it once with your hand, it opened the comms, and talk at a normal level, and tap again to close the communication line. Harry was very impressed, it worked over large areas as well.

It meant that Harry could keep an ear out for the Diagon Alley team as well as the team in Gringotts. After teaching everyone how to use the device, he issued everyone with it and asked them to walk around and get used to it. He handed a number of other things out such as Peruvian Darkness Powder, only to be used in enclosed spaces when exiting the room, and only in an emergency. Shield hats and shield cloaks were also handed out, they had vastly improved from the first range the Twins brought out, it wasn't much against deadly spells but would stop any surprise jinxes or hexes.

The American Clan of witches provided each member of the mission with an amulet for protection. The other Americans helping them from Salem were teamed up with another Order member as well as another person Harry recruited. Each trio had a certain place to be near, it was decided that to avoid too much attraction by staying in one place that teams would move from one shop to the next, but in co-ordinance with other teams so that the Alley was equally protected.

It was currently 3pm Harry stood in the Study with Hermione, and Ron. Ginny had gone to Diagon Alley as part of their back-up plan. Dobby was close by, not speaking but concentrating hard. The trio heard up-dates from the new comm. system every ten minutes as planned. At nearly ten past three Moody alerted everyone that Malfoy senior was seen walking down the Alley.

"That means the attack is going to start soon, everyone get ready." Harry said down the comms to the rest of the team currently just outside the wards, ready to apparate in to the battle.

Diagon Alley.

Ginny sat on top of Fred and George's shop, on the roof to be more accurate. She has a disillusion charm cast on her and she spent her time studying the Alley below, keeping an eye on all the teams down there. She had muggle infra-red binoculars in her hands, it helped her keep an eye on Moody who was under his cloak as well as anyone they didn't know that may have an invisibility cloak, like a Deatheater.

She was sitting next to one of the recruits from America. She knew he was highly trusted, Headmaster Durnap said that he was a very skilled duellist and she knew that Harry was worried that she didn't have back-up being on the rooftops, so he put her with one of their best duellist. However Harry had another surprise for her, as did the American.

He pulled out a long thin case from the inside of his cloak before he sat down. After making sure that both their disillusion charms were securely in place he unlocked the case and pulled several bits out, after attaching them together he pulled a number of smaller metal things and proceeded to insert them in the now long metal...thing. Ginny simply had no other name for it. She watched him fascinated, until he was finished, she watched amused as he laid on his belly and covered the black metal thing with a piece of fabric the exact colour of the rooftop they were sitting on.

"What is it?"

"A secret weapon."

He crawled slowly on his belly until he was at the very edge of the flatroof, Ginny was glad that her brothers shop had a flat roof, she didn't feel like sitting on a sloped roof all day. The American who was called Hayden Adams, looked into the metal thing apparently down to the street below, maybe he had a device similar to hers?

Several hours of quiet conversation and watching the Alley with nothing interesting to note became boring rather quickly, they all kept in touch with Harry and the others waiting for the cue, and she had seen her brother go into the bank with Fleur and Oliver about 20 minutes ago under polyjuice of some random people she never seen before, she knew it was them though. Looking through her binoculars she scanned the street carefully. She picked up on Moody's position only a stone's throw from the entrance to the Alley if you were apparating. She frowned and noticed another cloaked figure seemingly just standing there, she knew it was a look out straight away, she whispered it to Hayden then used her earpiece to relay it to Moody. He nodded and whispered that he could see him, that he'd only appeared a minute ago, from the pub.

Everyone on the street knew the time was coming wands were drawn secretly and everyone was looking out for danger more closely than a moment before.

Hayden clicked his earpiece. "I have a shot on the cloaked figure, I'm going to take it Moody."

Ginny heard Moody deny it. Told him to take the shot only if the figure moved from it's position or more Deatheaters apparated in, effectively starting the battle.

Neither Ginny or Hayden moved a muscle, it seemed as if time itself had slowed down, Ginny watched the Deatheater stand still looking down the Alley from near the Leaky Cauldron, almost as if he were waiting upon a friend.

Hayden's hand was steady pointing the metal...thing he had at the stranger, waiting carefully for his moment.

Almost as if in slow motion the Deatheaters hand twitched, he reached under his cloak, but didn't pull anything out.

Ginny saw Hayden tense, and mutter a confirmation to Moody, who said no once more.

Ginny readjusted her binoculars and looking down the length of the Alley, in the mere moments that they had watched the Deatheater several more had stealthily appeared, perhaps via the Floo network within several shops, many had invisibility charms on them, she saw how they congregated in small groups, almost targeting specific shops, this was going to get ugly.

Ginny nudged Hayden and used the comms to relay her information to everyone.

"When I give the command hit the Deatheater Hayden, not until my order. Ginny I need more specific locations,"

Ginny whispered the locations and numbers of Deatheaters, she watched as the Order members placed themselves casually in better locations to attack.

"NOW!" Moody hissed.

A faint pop sounded from the metal thing, and within the milliseconds the Deatheater slumped to the ground as if he had fainted. Hayden shifted his metal...thing again and Ginny watched as he pulled the trigger-like thing on his device and downed 3 more Deatheaters before the chaos erupted.

As soon as the battle began Hayden eased away from the roof edge, Ginny continued her job, telling the Order Members if they were being sneaked up on, if there was reinforcements arriving and the such.

Hayden was dismantling his weapon and grabbed some binoculars and Fred and George's bag of treats. He leant back to his former position and took note of the happenings on the Alley.

"What was that?" Ginny asked.

"A sniper rifle, it was Harry's idea," Hayden answered, as he threw a stun bomb into a crowd of Deatheaters that had just arrived through the Knockturn Alley direction.

"Really?"

"Yeah, he's organised some sort of teaching thing to people who want to learn, it's a good way to assassinate people." Hayden said casually.

Ginny was shocked, she knew that things were going to get ugly, that people were going to die, but to kill them from such a distance seemed almost...wrong.

Seeing her discomfort Hayden said to Ginny. "Think of it this way, we know that they are the bad guys, that they kill people, so instead think of the number of people you save by killing them now, that's what I do."

"I guess so. I know they have to kill before they even get the Mark." She whispered, concentration more on her binoculars, making sure that their team down there had the best intel she could provide.

The battle wound down minutes later when the Deatheaters fleed seeing as their invisibility charms were not useful and they were being picked off one by one.

The Diagon Alley team retreated back to Potter Manor, to meet with everyone. All in all a good days job.

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