Wand-Leader & The Spy

43- Recovery

The Weald, Kent, Britain, October 2nd, 1999, 09.15 hours

Albus Dumbledore had never been as relieved in his whole life as when he saw the green shade appear again, floating in the air. He held the Resurrection Stone, but before he could use it, he saw that the shade was not moving as before, but fading. And he heard it scream in terror.

"Noooooo!"

The scream grew weaker as the shade dissipated. It didn't take more than a few seconds, and the Dark Lord was gone. It was over.

Harry pulled his cloak off. The cloak that had not hidden him from Voldemort's soul. Something Albus should have anticipated. The boy was on his knees, panting and retching. Miss Weasley and Sirius were there, kneeling in the mud next to him, holding him, hugging him.

A flick of his wrist and a whispered syllable told Albus that the boy, no, the man, was not seriously hurt. Not like other victims of a possession. Harry's scar was bleeding, but that was it. Though Albus didn't know how badly his mind had been hurt by the Dark Lord. He could only hope for the best.

"What happened?"

Albus turned towards the Wand-Commander. "The Dark Lord's shade tried to possess Harry. He failed."

"Did he survive the attempt?" She stared at him.

The old wizard shook his head. "He is dead for real now. He will not be coming back." Not unless Albus summoned his soul with the Resurrection Stone, at least. But even that might fail with a soul damaged by Horcruxes. Not that he had any intention of doing that. The Wand-Commander looked a bit doubtful, so he met her eyes and added. "I am certain. I have been working for twenty years to achieve this, Commander."

Sarah nodded at him. "It's over then."

"The battle is over," he answered, "though I fear that the aftermath will keep challenging us for quite some time." The seeds Tom had sown had not all been dealt with, after all. "And the price we paid for this was very high indeed." Although not as high as he had feared, he thought, looking at Harry. The last resort that Albus and the young man had talked about, in private, had not been needed.

"Indeed. We've lost the entire Curse-Breaking team. Twenty Wands were killed and more are wounded. And most of your friends died as well." Sarah sounded very matter-of-fact. He hadn't expected anything else - she was the leader of the Wands, and had known what to expect from previous battles.

He nodded. "The Order members were brave, but most of them lacked training and experience."

"Most, but not all," Sarah said, looking at the small group that had gathered around Harry. "We've identified Rabastan Lestrange among those killed while attacking our position. He was the last ranking Death Eater who had not yet been accounted for. Unless that was a decoy."

"Unlikely. The Lestrange were fanatical in their devotion to the Dark Lord. They would not have deserted him." They had spent almost twenty years trying to resurrect Tom.

Sarah nodded, accepting his reasoning. "I've called the Obliviators to help with the mopping up." She looked at him, as if waiting for a reaction.

"Good." Albus smiled. If the young witch thought he'd make an issue about her ordering the exiles who had taken up the duties of the Obliviators, then she was mistaken. Lucius might have cared about such power plays, but the old wizard preferred to care about things that mattered. "They have their work cut out for them."

Sarah shrugged, unconcerned. It was understandable, of course. Compared to fighting the Dark Lord's followers and monsters, this was an easy task. Not that the Wands were the type to avoid hard work.