Harry Potter And Bellatrix Lestrange

"I'll tell you. No one would've stopped him. No one . Because none of you wanted to stand up to him! Hell, you didn't even want to believe he was back, even with the evidence slapping you right in the face! No, you were so concerned with what was convenient for you that you didn't want to look out from your little dream world. I'll tell you what would've happened. I'll show you a world without Harry Potter." Harry started counting off his fingers. "First year, Quirrel would've gotten the stone. He would've brought back Voldemort, and with the Elixir of Life, he would've been virtually immortal. And then what? Simple really, you would've been screwed. Second year, Voldemort lets loose the basilisk. Who here wants to tackle a basilisk, hmm? Given the fact that no one's even seen one in 900 years, I don't see too many of you too eager to tackle one! You know what? Every scenario, every time I stopped Voldemort… what would've happened if I hadn't been there? You would've been screwed big time!"

Madame Arretha snorted disdainfully. "Now you're just full of yourself. Your fame goes to your head, Potter. You overestimate your value."

"Oh, I don't think so, but that doesn't matter. You don't matter. In fact, you're here merely out of courtesy, but I see that it was misplaced. If you insist on showing me and my allies nothing but disrespect, then we have nothing more to discuss. We have fought this war without your help, and we'll continue to do so. Leave the room."

"And let you and your merry band of fools foul up the future of the wizarding world? I don't think so!"

" Leave, before I have you removed."

"I'd like to see you try, boy. You're about fifty years too young to be a challenge," Arretha drew her wand.

" Expelliarmus !" Harry's ivory wand was in his hand and out before the witch could react, and the disarming spell hit her full-force, causing her wand to go flying and the witch to tumble backwards to the floor. "I said, leave. Get out. Now!" Harry bellowed, picking up her wand and throwing it after her as she hurried out the door.

He took a few deep breaths, then realized that everyone else in the room was still staring at him. "What?" he asked as he turned around, somewhat calmer now. Damn, he thought, but that felt good .

"Nothing… nothing," Hermione muttered, even as Moody grinned. Even Snape seemed to lighten up a little bit at the Order witch's hasty exit. Remus was openly chuckling.

"Prongs and Sirius would've been proud," the werewolf noted with a smirk.

"Now… who knows where Tonks is? It's not like her to suddenly take off without letting anyone know," Harry asked.

Moody grumbled in dissatisfaction. "That's just the thing, Potter, lately she's been doing that a lot. On Dumbledore's orders, mostly. No one knows where she goes or what she's doing on her secret missions for him, and she never has any backup."

"What worries me is the timing of events," Bella said. "I mean, the attack on the twins happens, and then one of our allies goes missing at the same time. That sounds like more than coincidence to me."

"What's more," Hermione added, "is that a large number of our reference texts on wards and blood magic went missing. We were looking into them in the library in the hopes of being able to break the ward around the Rod, but they're gone."

"That's why I would assume you're right, Harry, and that the traitor really is gone. Now is the perfect timing for them to strike, and if they manage to bring back any information on the Rod to Voldemort…" Remus trailed off at the horrifying thought.

"We're screwed," Harry finished grimly.

"So what can we do?"

Hermione glanced over at Moody and answered the old auror's question. "Nothing. We have no intelligence on Voldemort's whereabouts, and until Fred or George wake up, we have no leads on the traitor. Assuming Ginny's disappearance is related, we don't know where to look for her, either."

"What about Tonks? The Order must have some way to track its members, or some sort of communications device," Harry offered.

Remus shook his head. "No, we don't. Security purposes."

"It'd be too easy to reverse the tracking charm or the communications charm and backtrack to every single item that's linked. If we lost one to Voldemort's forces, the entire Order would be compromised," Moody added gravely.

"So we can only hope she'll show up again?"

"I'm afraid so, Potter."

Harry sighed in frustration. "Damn that old man. All right, let's get down to other business. Count Hiscophney and General Rotan are taking care of deploying our troops. By tomorrow, all four thousand should be in position, with all the fortifications in place. Voldemort attacks the day after that."

"Are we sure Voldemort is going to stick to the time he gave you?" Bella asked, "He's insane and unpredictable at times. He might actually attack earlier."

Harry shook his head. "I don't think so. That message was written in blood, and directed at me, not Dumbledore. The Order was just supposed to be the messenger. Voldemort wants me to know that he knows what I'm up to, and that he's walking into this trap fully intending to destroy us all. His ego demands nothing less. He'll be there the day after tomorrow."

"Potter's right," Snape agreed. "The Dark lord may be many things, but he will not attempt any deception on something of this importance. That'd be more the kind of trickery Lucius Malfoy would attempt. Since he's dead…"

"Then what about the attack on the Order? That'd constitute a premature attack, wouldn't it?" Hermione asked.

Moody's magical eye swiveled in annoyance. "No, not in his opinion. The battle he will fight in two days is with Potter, not with the Order, not with the wizarding world. As much as I hate to say it, the Order is inconsequential. The few hundred old witches and wizards in the Order would not make much of a difference with the number of professionally trained battle mages and soldiers there. Besides," he snorted, "I think he wanted to get the Order out of Potter's way."

"What?" Harry blinked in surprise.