Harry flicked his wands towards the other side of the lake on the grounds of Potter Castle; he was practising duel casting, something which he was determined to perfect after his duel with Voldemort. The two fire whips decapitated the targets while he finished firing a spell at the practice dummy that was behind him. Sweating and panting, Harry collapsed on the ground, looking tired. He had been practising for several hours straight. It had been a month since he and Dylan had returned home from school and a lot had happened in that time.
After interrogating Barty Crouch and de-briefing Harry, Sirius and Amelia had issued arrest warrants against all those Death Eaters who Voldemort had identified in the graveyard. Unfortunately, all of them had done a runner and had disappeared underground. Sending a team of Aurors to Little Hangleton graveyard after the place had been identified proved to be useless as there was no evidence present other than traces of a dark magic ritual. Unknown to them, a large manor which used to be present on top of a hill in the village had disappeared - and no one in the village even remembered its existence or knew where it was. Dumbledore, who had tried to investigate it had realised that Voldemort had used a Fidelius Charm on the house - which he could not remember - and had turned into his headquarters.
Meanwhile, Voldemort had not wasted any time in showing the wizarding population that he was back. Barty Crouch Junior might have been executed by the Ministry but the information he had managed to acquire for Voldemort combined with the information Rookwood had been able to provide had made him smuggle giants into Britain without triggering the sensor net. There had already been multiple attacks and mass-Muggle killing, making the Ministry scramble to erase the memories of various Muggles and their contraptions - if the International Statute of Secrecy was breached, things would turn very ugly, very fast. Sirius had also informed the Muggle Prime Minister of what was happening - Magical Britain was in a state of war.
The Dementors had also sworn allegiance to Voldemort so now there were thousands of those foul creatures roaming all over the mainland. Sirius had any remaining Dementors at Azkaban destroyed with the use of Fiendfyre and then dumped their remains in the sea; a few hundred Dementors were destroyed, but there were too many of them out of control to capture them all. The Ministry had grown too dependent on Dementors over the last few centuries for them to change in such a short time. There had been several incidents of Dementor attacks on Muggles, but there had been no attacks on any witches and wizards - yet.
Not everything was bad though because the Vampires and Goblins had decided to stay neutral in the war, much to Sirius and Amelia's relief and Voldemort's frustration. There had been no werewolf attacks as yet but everyone knew it was only a matter of time. On the political side, Sirius had little success because the members of the Wizengamot were terrified to vote on any bill. If they took a stand against Voldemort and his Death Eaters, they would be the next ones to be killed. There had already been an attempt on Rufus Scrimgeour's life and people did not want to be on the Death Eater's target list.
Miller's Mirrors were proving to be an outstanding source for creating awareness with the public. The Ministry knew they couldn't broadcast anything which the Death Eaters wouldn't find out anyway, so they used it as a means to inform the common witches and wizards of the country in how to defend themselves and their families from the Death Eaters, Dementors, Inferi and a host of other things. A retired Auror would teach defence and offensive spells to the public through the recording crystals so that they would be able to protect themselves in case of an attack.
Meanwhile, Harry had been training extensively since he came back to Potter Castle. Dylan, ever Harry's shadow, had decided that he too wanted to train and help his brother so he began practising against the duelling dummies as well. Harry had also lent books to Daphne for her to study and she trained with him whenever he was in a teaching mode. Harry was an outstanding teacher, something which both Daphne and Dylan readily agreed.
There had been a few attacks on the lesser populated magical shopping districts, but it hadn't come to Diagon Alley yet. Harry was also curious about what Voldemort was up to. Clearly, he had something up his sleeve because he had not taken such a serious stance against the magical world yet. The security provided to the Minister of Magic and the heads of different departments were also beefed up considerably. Sirius, Amelia and Rigel were in grave danger and were top targets along with Harry. He had also raised the war wards around Potter Castle and all its defences so that in case of an attack, he would be able to defend himself.
Just as he was staring off into the distance, he sensed someone sit next to him on the ground.
"Finished with your training?" asked Dylan, panting, his body covered in sweat. "Those practice dummies can really tire me out. I've been using it on Level Three and the spells are supposed to be lethal."
"How long were you able to hold out before you got hit?"
"Fifteen minutes," Dylan replied smugly.
"Don't get overconfident," warned Harry. "Those are just enchantments; when you're fighting someone those curses will actually be lethal, not flashes of light."
"Sorry," muttered Dylan.
"It's fine. I'm actually proud of you, so well done. I just don't want you to become overconfident. I found out the hard way that overconfidence leads you to your downfall. I don't want you to face another Lockhart or Voldemort to learn your lesson."
The two of them were silent for a while, staring at the swans which moved in the water of the lake on the expansive grounds of the castle. Birds chirped nearby, the grass was green, and they could feel a light breeze; it was so peaceful.
"It's hard to imagine that there is a war going on outside, isn't it?" said Dylan softly. "It's like we are in a different world as compared to all the chaos going on outside."
Harry hummed. "There were two more Dementor attacks on Muggles in Nottingham," he said quietly.
"What? B-But that's just - just -"
....
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