B.Q. Book Two: Black Princess Ascendant

Chapter 43: Victorious Defeat

"Voldemort wouldn't care if handguns were illegal": The comment about gun laws was referring to availability, not legality.

During the gun buyback program the U.K. ran from July 1997 to February 1998, the government collected 162,000 handguns according to one of the sources I consulted, as well as 700 tons of ammunition.

That's… not insubstantial.

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Disclaimer: When Harry and Co., the Death Eaters, and the Order broke into the Ministry, was it Fudge and other administrators who were first on the scene to investigate rather than the DMLE?

If so, I don't own the Harry Potter franchise; it belongs to J.K. Rowling, Scholastic Press, Warner Bros., and whomever else she sold the rights to.

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"This is a terrible plan."

Cedric rolled his eyes. "You're just saying that because it's not your plan."

"No, I'm saying that because it's objectively a terrible plan."

The Head Boy sighed in mild exasperation, and Jen grit her teeth and turned away. She had tried to tell them that this would not work, but did they listen to her? Granger's 'bright idea' had been to try to blind the Death Eaters in a cloud of smoke, and though it was eventually decided that a wall of sand and grit would be more effective on that front, the other five had ignored her warning of what the Death Eaters would likely do when confronted with such a situation. They believed their enemies would hold back from doing anything for fear of hitting their allies, and if it were Danny and his friends having their sight taken away, she supposed that plan might work. But the Death Eaters?

She figured they would just fire Killing Curses indiscriminately and slaughter anything that got in the way. It was what she would do in their position.

Then again, that shouldn't be too much a surprise, she silently groused. After all, Potter thought I was just going to stun the Death Eaters. Why won't these fools realize that while Voldemort is by far the most dangerous enemy, it's his army that elevates him from terrifying wizard to potential conquerer? Just kill them all, and no one will be able to restart the war once he's dead.

Shaking her head, Jen peered around the corner of the building at her nine targets. Voldemort and the Death Eaters were just outside of town, past the security offered by the buildings; instead they were just standing out in the open, their only protection that strange ring of silver fire. None of the Death Eaters were moving much, their attention on the Muggles they were controlling, but Voldemort himself prowled the inside of the circle. He must be the final defense, which made sense when she thought about it. Besides a familiar, which in this case was dead at her hands, who would a black wizard entrust his safety to? No one.

"What are you waiting for? Let's get this over with," Weasley grumbled.

"Patience is a virtue you Gryffindors lack," she snapped back. "It's one of the many, many reasons the rest of us look down on you as reckless morons. I, however, am taking the time to make sure this actually works. Unless you'd like to do this in my place?"

Weasley sneered and turned away rather than continue the argument. And rightly so; she was the only one who could produce the miniature sandstorm, and that meant conforming to her timetable.