Sorcery and Seduction Chapter 23

He could hear them coming before they even entered the Shrieking Shack, as Umbridge’s Inquisitor Squad trudged down the secret tunnel that led to the Womping Willow.

It had been Pansy who passed the message to Umbridge for him, giving her the tip off that the DA would be meeting in a hidden location that was connected via tunnel from underneath the Whomping Willow. The woman had fallen for it with ease, so desperate to strike at him that she didn’t bother considering how ridiculous meeting underneath the Whomping Willow would be.

“~there’s a door up ahead, Professor.” He could hear the Inquisitor Squad talking as they drew closer.

“Perfect.” Umbridge hissed. “Draw your wands, and prepare to stun anyone who runs.”

It’s just me, Professor. Harry thought with mirth, already imagining Umbridge’s furious expression when she entered and found the place empty with no DA members in sight.

He heard the door which led to the tunnel slam open, as the Inquisitorial Squad stormed in. Harry was several rooms over from where they entered, meaning that the place appeared empty.

“I think this is the Shrieking Shack, Professor.” One of them noted.

“Gah!” Umbridge let out a shout of rage. “Search the place! Report anything you find!”

The group scrambled under her orders, as footsteps sounded throughout the wooden shack. Nott was the first to find him, opening the door and walking in before his eyes landed on him. Harry just sent him a smirk in return, all while he sat comfortably in an old cushioned chair. “P-Potter! Potter’s in here!”

The group stormed in then, filling the room’s outskirts as they kept their wands trained on him. And yet none dared approach, not even Malfoy, as Harry was strong enough to emit an intimidating aura which made any weaker wizards think twice about attacking him.

“Potter!” Umbridge both snarled and smirked at the sight of him. “It seems I’ve caught you now!”

Harry frowned in confusion. “I’m afraid that I don't follow. Did I do something wrong, Professor?”

“Don’t lie, Potter!” She spat. “I know about your little club, along with your and Dumbledore’s scheme to overthrow the Ministry!”

“Ah, that.” He pretended like he knew what she was talking about.

Umbridge straightened. “So you admit it? That Dumbledore put you up to this?”

“I’ll give you one better, I’m working with Dumbledore to overthrow the Ministry.” He said with fake seriousness. “Someone like Albus Dumbledore could never win an election against a man of higher standing like Cornelius Fudge. So the Headmaster decided it was best to form a group of students to break in and take over the Ministry instead. After that he was planning to end the statute of secrecy entirely, and even break Grindlewald out of prison, that way we could fully integrate with muggle society-”

“Enough! ENOUGH!” Umbridge roared, finally having taken notice of his sarcasm. Her wand shook as she pointed it his way, a crazed look in her eye. “I don’t want another word out of you, Potter!”

He yawned while rolling his eyes to antagonize her further. “Or what?”

The woman growled in rage, and twisted her wand. “Oscausi!”

She launched a spell to seal his mouth shut, with her motivation being to violently shut him up. Harry didn’t bother moving as her spell launched towards him, as the bolt of light hit a translucent wall and dissipated once it got close enough.

/////

“Susan, I hear someone talking-”

“Will you shut up!” She interrupted her best friend, making the blonde jump. “It’s obvious that Umbridge is in there, so be quiet!”

They weren’t positioned too far away from the Shrieking Shack, enough that they could both hear the heavy footfalls of the Inquisitor Squad as they stomped around the abandoned building. Next came Umbridge’s yells, and it was blatantly obvious to anyone listening that the woman was yelling at Harry.

So far, Harry’s grand scheme was all going according to plan. As he had said, in the initial stages Umbridge and her inquisitorial squad would take the tunnel under the Whomping Willow to the Shrieking Shack. That only left Susan and the rest of the DA to wait for the next part to unfold, which required all of them to hide and wait.

“What are you doing here, you fucking bitch?” A cold voice suddenly spoke, making the tiny hairs on Susan’s neck rise.

Daphne Greengrass hovered behind a nearby bush in the dark, her cold gaze fixed upon Hannah. For her part, Hannah looked ready to have a panic attack, not reacting well to Greengrass’s glare at all.

The poor girl had always been deathly afraid of Greengrass. For some reason, being one of the few blondes in their year gave Daphne a strange power over Hannah, one that only made the blonde Hufflepuff extremely self conscious when being around the Ice Queen. It was like Hannah was always measuring herself against Greengrass, and failing in every department all the while.

Either way, Susan couldn’t stay and do nothing while Greengrass ripped the girl a new one. “I brought her.”

“Why?” The question dripped with contempt.

“After we got back to the dorm, I set her straight.” Susan tried to sound convincing, when really she had yelled and screamed at Hannah for the girl’s part in helping Umbridge. “She’s determined to help Harry now.”

It had been half a screaming match, and half a crying session in the girls Hufflepuff Dorm the previous night, ending with Susan finally convincing Hannah to try and get back in Harry’s good graces. That was why she had brought the girl along, as to prove to Harry she would resist Umbridge. Maybe then he will forgive her.

Greengrass simply glared at her before looking back at Hannah. “You’re lucky we need to stay hidden, Bones. Otherwise I’d teach this bitch a lesson.”

/////

“W-What is this?!” Umbridge stared at the shimmering shield with wide eyes. “Y-You knew we were coming…”

Indeed, Harry had already prepared for their confrontation. Around his chair was a ward that blocked physical objects and spells, essentially acting as an invisible barrier which kept him safe from his surroundings.

And Umbridge along with her lackeys had just noticed that fact, and were looking at him with alarmed expressions. He could see the gears turning in their minds, with Umbridge especially looking confused. Clearly they all recognized a ward like the one around him would take hours to make, which he was grateful to the Carrow twins for doing, meaning Harry had prepared for this confrontation ahead of time.

Umbridge had arrived believing to have gotten the jump on him, when really he had planned out everything from the beginning. And it was this very fact she was beginning to understand in that moment.

“Indeed, I knew you were coming.” Harry let a smirk appear on his face as he voiced their very thoughts. “I was the one who set this whole thing up. I gave you that false tip that I would be here, and it was all so I could get you into this position, Dolores.”

“Potter! What is the meaning of this!” The woman looked terrified, yet she used her anger to mask it. “Just what are you planning?!”

“To kill you all, of course.” He answered easily. “But it won’t be me who kills you, but the Death Eaters outside.”

Everyone seemed to freeze in disbelief then, and he watched them all carefully to see who would run first. Surprisingly, it was Malfoy who ran out first, heading towards the tunnel, followed by Pansy at his heels.

“W-Wait! Mr. Malfoy, Ms. Parkinson, get back here!” Umbridge stuttered. “There’s nothing to-”

The walls exploded then.

/////

“MORGANA!”

Susan couldn’t help but scream in surprise as the Death Eaters arrived right on schedule, apparating in right next to the Shrieking Shack. The group of cloaked figures then began to lay waste to the old haunted building with explosion curses, turning the large rundown wooden structure into a mess of fire and splinters.

“Harry better not be dead in there.” Daphne grounded out from next to her, raising her wand. “Get ready.”

All around them, bushes shifted as the various members of the DA brandished their own wands. And yet, despite the Death Eaters being right in front of them, nobody made a move.

It struck Susan that all of them were worried—no, terrified—and that someone had to act first in order to prompt the others into action. She glanced over at Greengrass, seeing the Ice Queen held her wand tightly with a nervous expression on her face. Hannah was no better, as the girl was actively shaking in terror.

Susan took a deep breath, forcing herself to move as she recognized that she had to be the one to start their counterattack. She bit her cheek in concentration as she aimed her wand at the center of the group of Death Eaters, and took a deep breath before forcing as much magic through her wand as possible. “Bombarda!”

The red bolt left her wand and landed perfectly in the middle of the group, exploding and knocking two of the four Death Eaters off their feet. The other two covered themselves from the blast, and spun to face her.

That was when the rest of the DA attacked.

The first of the two men went down easily, as a dozen different spells struck him all at once from every direction. His body was uprooted and sent flying, before a new set of spells struck and launched him violently the other way before he finally landed on the ground with a violent crunch.

The other Death Eater, however, managed to dance through all of their spells as he eventually raised a shield to defend himself. Susan narrowed her eyes at him, her own wand moving once again as she targeted him.

/////

Smoke and dust surrounded him as the Death Eaters finally stopped attacking. The Shrieking Shack was in ruins, its walls blown out with the roof having collapsed and the support beams having been crushed.

In the quiet aftermath, Harry could hear quiet coughs and groans from those members of the Inquisitorial Squad who were still alive. When the dust finally settled, Harry could see that most of them were dead, with Nott being the only one noticeably awake and moving, albeit missing a limb or two.

The only reason Harry was still standing and untouched was the ward which the Carrow twins made for him. That said, he wasn’t the only one to survive the Death Eater ambush.

Umbridge still stood, her wand still in her grasp as blood covered her face and stained her pink cardigan. When she saw him, her expression changed from shell-shocked to utterly enraged, and her wand was up and pointed at him as he moved forward.

“Potter!” The woman snarled, bringing her wand to bear. “Crucio!”

He fell to his knees with a strangled gasp, his body shaking in pain as he tried to force himself through it. The spell hurt beyond anything he could imagine, that was something he could say for certain, and yet… Voldemort’s cruciatus hurt more than hers.

His wand moved with shaky fingers gripping it, as he pointed it at Umbridge. “D-Diffindo!”

The cutting curse hit true, cutting Umbridge from her shoulder to her torso as she went still. The woman’s eyes widened in shock, and that was her last movement before she fell to the ground dead.

Harry let out a breath, berating himself for his foolishness as he stood up and made his way out of the destroyed shack and out towards where the Death Eaters arrived.

It was there he found one Death Eater still standing, the rest unconscious and on the ground as a result of the DA’s pre-planned ambush. The one that was left was actually doing well against his attackers, dancing through every attack coming his way, while intermittently putting up a shield.

“You!” The lone Death Eater seemed to have noticed him, as he turned and took of his mask before throwing it to the side carelessly. A spell from out in the darkness flew towards him, and he deflected it carelessly with his wand without looking. “You knew we were coming, Potter!”

The man had a long and pale face, his hair as dark as Sirius’ but with a deranged look that distinguished him from Harry’s godfather. He looked worse-for-wear, clearly being an Azkaban escapee as Harry thought through the faces of all the named Death Eaters before he suddenly recognized him as Antonin Dolohov.

“I did.” Harry answered, all while mentally preparing himself to deal with the man. “I had this whole ambush planned from the beginning. I’ll even give you three guesses who passed the message on that led you here.”

“I don’t have to guess.” Dolohov hissed. “It was Snape, wasn’t it? You knew that we’d never pass up the opportunity to see you dead!”

Harry just smirked, and launched a silent cutting curse at the man, followed by an explosion curse and then disarming charm. Dolohov sidestepped all three expertly, and proceeded to swing his wand like a whip at Harry which sent purple fire his way.

“Incendio!” Harry yelled, and just before Dolohov’s fire reached him, his own conjured flame erupted from his wand and pushed it back.

He pushed enough magic through his wand to make the fire copious enough to burn down a small neighborhood, all while sending it straight at Dolohov. For his part, the Death Eater changed tactics and cut through his flame by bisecting it vertically in two, giving him enough time to get a spell off.

“Crucio!”

Harry cut off his fire and quickly pulled the ground upwards to intercept the unforgivable curse. He then transfigured the dirt into wooden spears which he sent hurtling at Dolohov, followed by ropes which managed to catch and wrap-around him.

“Fuck!” Dolohov screamed as Harry’s incarcerous spell sent him to the ground, and Harry didn’t wait a moment before making the ropes tighter. “W-Wait! Wait, Potter!”

The ropes tightened, and squeezed the life out of Antonin Dolohov until he was unable to breath and his heart stopped beating. That just left Harry alone and panting as he tried to calm his adrenaline and racing heart.

“You did great, Harry!” A girl called out, and he turned to see the rest of the DA making their way towards him.

Astoria was the one who spoke, followed by Daphne, Tracey, Cho, the Carrow twins, Angelina, Katie, Dean, Fred, George, and finally Ron who was staring at Dolohov with wide eyes. No one in the group looked injured, rather appearing a bit worn from the short encounter they had prepared for.

“Harry, are you alright?” He turned to see Susan making her way over with Hannah, the latter of which looking nervous.

“I’m fine.” He answered tightly, although his body still shook from Umbridge’s cruciatus curse. He then gestured at Hannah. “What is she doing here?”

“She came to help.” Susan answered, only for Ron to suddenly yell out.

“Merlin’s sack!” Exclaimed Ron suddenly as he pointed at Dolohov’s body. “That’s the guy who killed Mum’s brothers!”

Fred looked on with a grim expression. “Dolohov. Didn’t think he’d show up here of all places.”

“Me neither.” George replied, as he studied the man’s dead body. “Thanks for taking this one out, Harry.”

“No problem.” He sighed, knowing that they all needed to leave before any of the Professors from Hogwarts, or even Hogsmeade residents, arrived at the scene. Their group had made a lot of noise, and he was sure the news of Umbridge, several students, along with a group of Death Eaters being dead would be front-page news tomorrow.

Disclaimer: All Characters are over the age of 18