The Battle of Hogwarts was going very badly. The defenders were slowly, but surely being
driven back.
Suddenly, Death Eaters began collapsing, blood streaming
from their heads across the floor. Large
numbers of men, wearing green and brown swarmed into the room. They were incredibly fast and moved silently,
making rapid hand gestures to one another.
“Those are funny shaped wands, and I’ve never heard of a
spell like that!” Ron yelled, startled.
“Those are Muggle soldiers!” Hermione said, surprised, “How
are they…”
Voldemort’s pale face broke into an enormous grin. This was even more frightening then his
previous expressions of anger. But as he
turned to face the newcomers, his wand ablaze, two jets of flame shot into
him. There was an enormous crashing
sound and the building shook. When the
noise and dust cleared there was no sign of Voldemort.
A pair of Muggle soldiers with metal tubes on their shoulders
nodded to one another.
The rest of the Death Eeaters surrendered quickly. The wizards milled about, confused. But the Muggle soldiers did not. Still silent, but moving snake-like around
the room, the soldiers surrounded the wizards.
The silence was broken when a Muggle soldier spoke, not
loudly, but in a voice like cut glass, “Wizards – wands on the ground and hands
in the air. Now!”
The wizards moved as though under a powerful imperius curse.
The Muggle soldiers shifted slightly and a short, stocky man
emerged. His glasses were smudged, his
tie was soiled, and his shirt was stained.
He blinked and moistened his lips with the tip of his tongue. Despite these nervous gestures he had an
aspect of preternatural calm.
“I’m Geoffrey Grimace, MI-5,” he began, “Shacklebolt, I
assume you are in charge now. The Prime
Minister has authorized me to present you with an updated version of the treaty
governing Muggle-Wizard relations. We
are open to amendments to ensure more effective implementation, but the main
thrust of our changes are not open to negotiation.”
He handed over the papers and the wizards gathered around and began looking them over. A voice called out, “Muggles
and wizards have been separated for centuries, you can’t change that! We won’t
stand for it.”
“Yes we can and yes, you will,” Grimace replied, still
calm. “The government of the United
Kingdom can no longer tolerate this separate community with
extraordinary powers, operating without proper oversight. We have
demonstrated that you are not immune to our kinetic methods and we are prepared
to use them to a far greater extent then what you have just seen. There are explosives planted throughout the
grounds. Our first move will be to
reduce this castle to rubble.”
“You know, electrical devices cannot work at Hogwarts,”
Hermione spoke up.
“You must be Ms. Granger. I had a most revealing interview with your
parents,” Grimace said, without a hint of menace.
Hermione gulped audibly.
Grimace continued, “We have encountered a comparable
situation before. In the fighting in
Northern Ireland, the terrorists were using radio signals to detonate their
explosives. We developed jammers and
they countered with some very innovative non-electrical detonators. A quick search of our archives presented a
number of options. I am curious as to
their efficacy.”
Grimace turned, “Sergeant, let us try the emplacements in
sector D.”
“Yes Sir!” one of the soldiers replied.
An instant later, there was a deafening thunderclap and an
enormous cloud of smoke and dust appeared out the window. One of the far turrets had been
pile of rubble.
Shacklebolt’s face was ashen and his voice ragged, “I will
visit the Prime Minister as soon as possible.
I have a great deal to do here.”
Grimace retorted, “The Prime Minister is very busy and does
not have time to attend to this personally. At the back is a schedule of meetings between our
representatives. You shall need to
appoint your delegation promptly – the Prime Minister will not be pleased if
this matter is delayed.”
To be continued!
