The Phoenix Strikes

The rumours that were going around were saying that the resistance never did anything, that they were a sleeping dragon or a basilisk long forgotten. Inactive.

Damn it all. It had been eight years. Still polyjuice tasted as much as dead cat as the first time in 98'. Still the flight over the North Sea left his fingers numb and eyelids threatening to freeze shut. Eight years, and still he woke with nightmares of that green light flashing.

"Don't you just get tired of it all sometimes?" he asked while they were standing there on the dock, waves clucking away.

"Tired of what? Covert missions? Life in peril? Dementors?" she responded. "Yeah, sure I'm tired of it, but if I don't fight, how can I expect that someone else will?"

"I think you know what I mean"

"No, I actually don't, Seamus." she retorted. "What alternative do you have – that you can live with – to fighting this war?"

"I don't know. India? China? I hear the U.S is supposed to be pretty calm."

"Yeah well, how long do you think that is going to last if people start jumping ship here? We're fighting all over Europe, Africa, most of the Americas and how long do you think it will be until it spills into Asia? It's not an option. Not for me, not for you, end of story."

Then there was silence for a while. Seamus didn't really have anything to say in response. Angelina was always 'eyes on the target' and it made her excellent at her job, but he was getting really tired of this waiting around, doing near nothing.

"I mean, what are we even here for?" he asked her.

"They wouldn't tell me. But they did say that it might be one of the most important operations this year."

"They've said that the past 6 times I've been to England. Bloody hell, if Potter would just make up his mind already."

"I think that if Potter had his way, we'd be attacking by force. But well, last time we did that, things didn't exactly go our way, did they? Remember Trafalgar?"

Seamus was just quiet, watching the bay in the light of the lanterns and the stars. As if one could forget Trafalgar Square. England was still beautiful, but it had changed since then. People were visibly scared and the barriers between the Wizarding world and the muggle world had started to come down with force, at least here in England. Seamus didn't know how it was on other continents, but France and Spain was nearly completely under the control of Voldemort, at least politically. The muggles here lived in terror under the death eaters who had spent the past eight years taking over, even though they didn't know half of what they were capable of.

Since the fall of the ministry in 96' he had read up more on muggles and the history of European countries. So far there were no concentration-camps, but they weren't exactly needed.

"Did you notice something?" he asked Angelina.

"What?"

"No one is out."

"Yeah, so?"

"This is England. On a Friday night. And yet no one is getting smashed down at the pub, no one is pissing in the street. These people aren't being English; they're too scared for that."

This time it was Angelina's turn to turn silent. She hadn't thought of that. It was way to quiet out. They waited for another hour, then two, then three. They were still chatting a bit from time to time, but mostly just waiting.

The sound of the waves and the North Sea was heard all across the bay. The absence of night-time activities was less noticeable now when the clock had gone past two a.m. Then, in a matter of seconds, the calm was broken.

It started as a small flash of light hanging in the middle of the air on the dock, just a second later it had – with a noise that sounded like a horse kicking a large sheet of metal – been replaced by a person. Just three seconds later another one appeared, carrying small but strangely attention seeking package wrapped in some sort of blanket.

"Go, go, go!" Kingsley Shacklebolt shouted.

Angelina strode to action faster than Seamus was prepared for. With a swift motion of her wand she had unmade the knot that had kept the small boat from drifting out to sea and then proceeded to jump aboard. Kingsley was quite clearly in a hurry. Something had gone wrong.

"How many, and when will they be here?" asked Seamus, while taking out his wand from the inner pocket of his coat.

"Five? Six? It depends on if I hit that last charm" said Oliver Wood. "And we've got about thirty seconds to a minute I'd think"

"Yeah, sounds about right. They'll be here soon" Kingsley confirmed. "Angelina, did you hear that?"

"Yes, sir!" Angelina responded from the boat.

"Then get a move on, we haven't got all night!"

They didn't have time to wait around for long. A loud bang high in the air a few yards from the dock informed them that the first of the pursuers had found his or her way here. Seamus, who was not only facing the direction of the death eater but also had his wand at the ready, did not hesitate.

"Stupefy!" He yelled, pointing his wand at the point in the air that the person was going to be a second later. The red jet was almost blinding in comparison to the night. It hit the target before it had the time to orient itself, rendering him or her unconscious. It also removed whatever chance the person had of casting a spell to keep them from falling.

Kingsley turned around and watched the black clad assailant get pulled to the ground. It took a surprisingly large amount of time for it to reach its destination. The bolt of black robes turned into a newly created corpse as it crashed into the pavement with a crack and an audible thump.

"Oliver, would you go help Angelina. And secure the package; it is much more important than any of us. Mr. Finnigan, would you like to take offense? I prefer defence myself."

"Yes, Sir. It's what I do best, Sir."

"Good lad. Protega Horibilis" mumbled Kingsley as he pointed his wand towards the wooden dock.

Seamus saw a slight blue shimmer rise in the air and envelop them and the boat. Just as the shield closed above them with the sound of a miniature thunderclap, two loud bangs told them that the waiting was over.

"Lumos Aurora" whispered Seamus and pointed his wand straight up into the air and filled the bay with an unnatural light that did not seem to have any origin. It hardly made a difference on the dock, but it became so much easier to see the black jets that were the Death Eaters as they flew around the place.

Soon different parts of the dock were lighting up in green light and flames here and there. Kingsley was fast to put out the fires, lest they spread and hinder them to leave for the boat. He also kept strengthening his shield-charm in case he did not have the time to counter-curse those that would otherwise hit him or any of his team.

Seamus on the other hand had not done anything in the twenty unbearable seconds that had passed since the shield went up. But that was about to change.

"Confringo" The spell was aimed true and the robed flyer it hit absolutely exploded into flames and began to descend. Straight into to water the fireball flew and went out in a mist of steam.

"Damnit" said Seamus and followed up with. "Glacius"

The place that just a second ago there was a steam of boiling water, there was now a large block of ice. Seamus was already tracking the next target; it – whoever it was – was flying way to close to him to be safe.

"Incendio" Seamus screamed and a huge flame erupted from the tip of his wand. The flames were so hot that the water beside the bridge started to evaporate. The Death Eater who was unfortunate enough to get caught by the fire was gone when Seamus stopped pouring it out. Ash drifted slowly down towards the houses nearest to the port.

"Sir! We're ready when you are!" shouted Angelina over the noise of curses going haywire and Kingsley deflecting a fireball aimed for Seamus.

"Finnigan! Go!" he shouted as he cast an Expulso-charm on the nearest streetlamp causing first a bright light, then total darkness to envelop the dock.

"Get on the boat, Kingsley!"

The former Auror jumped in and Angelina revved the engine. They were moving. Soon they were moving very fast.

"Seamus, do it!" commanded Kingsley over the roaring engine.

"Sir? Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure! It's about time we actually told the world that we still exist!"

"Alright then" Seamus answered and felt a mix of feelings as he pocketed his wand again.

Come on, Seamus. Just as we practiced, he thought to himself as he stood up in the boat, left leg forward facing the retreating docks. The remaining Death Eaters were standing casting curses and hexes in their general direction. A green bolt flew straight past his shoulder. He put both hands behind his back and leaned forward and then moved them on either side of his body forward and leaned back instead. It looked as if he was throwing something. While he did this, he loudly incanted:

"Incendio Majora, Cinis Cineris Maneo"

At the end of the motion a wave of fire erupted from his bare hands and headed towards the shore. A few moments later the entire shoreline was ablaze, fire everywhere. The docks were at the centre of the line of flames and could not be seen. Several hundred meters was blazing in the night, and Seamus thought to himself.

Hopefully, we woke a few people up in the fighting. Maybe the body count will be slightly lower than expected. Hopefully.

"Oliver, wake up!" he heard Angelina shout at the front of the boat. Had he been paying little attention to his fellow passengers for maybe half a minute? As he turned around he understood what happened during that time. Oliver Wood had been hit, by a green flash of light. Kingsley raised his wand in the air and shouted.

"Decregium" and the light from the mark of the Phoenix enveloped the small sea town. The war had entered a new phase.