Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The documents contained herein are for the internal use of Hennes Majestet Dronningens Garde (HMDG) only.  They contain state secrets of several foreign powers that have been agreed upon to remain outside of the eye of the general public by international treaty.  If this information is distributed to the wrong hands, the failure to secure the information could be used as a casus belli, even by states that are currently allied with Norway.

These international treaties specify particular people who are allowed to have access to this information freely.  If this file is your primary briefing on the subject, then you do not qualify for even the basic level of being allowed to know that these treaties exist.  However, there is a loophole granted that allows certain people to instruct their personal retainers on matters relevant to their duties, regardless of what the status of said retainers might otherwise be.  

Typically, this loophole is used for minor nobility and other members of the upper class to simply be lax about keeping secrets among their personal staff.  The treaties were not written with the intent of ruling monarchs meeting the established definitions for full rights under the statutes.  However, Queen Elsa I of Norway unambiguously qualifies for these full rights.  While it may be a stretch of legal definitions to call all citizens of Norway her personal retainers, there is no doubt that HMDG qualifies.  Since our duties include protecting Her Majesty from potential violent threats of any scale, it is relevant to our duties to have a full understanding of what those threats might be and what assets are available.

As a basic summary: magic is real, almost every creature you can imagine from any fairy tale is real in some form, magic users¹ and magical creatures are widespread throughout the globe, and none of them want the non-magical world to know they exist.

Queen Elsa I is one such witch.  As a quick shorthand, it is best to assume that a Queen Elsa I who is unarmed, unarmored, dismounted, and taken by surprise, is capable of filling the offensive, defensive, and mobility roles of a Main Battle Tank.  With preparation and the right equipment, her presence on the field of battle is worth an entire army.  In comparison to other magic users, Queen Elsa I is above average in general and is unmatched in the modern world in Cryomancy², perhaps unmatched in all of human history.  The documents contained within these files provide an overview of Her Majesty’s training and combat experience so that if a combat situation does occur in her presence, you are prepared to adjust battle plans accordingly.

As such, these files are need to know only.  As members of HMDG, you need to know.  You do not have the authority to designate who needs to know and thus will only divulge any of the information contained herein upon direct orders from a member of your chain-of-command.

¹ The technical term is wizard for a man and witch for a woman. 

² Magic pertaining to ice and cold.

Chapter Text

From infancy, the then Princess Elsa demonstrated significant magical power.  She was particularly skilled with Cryomancy and, at the age of 8-years-old, had the ability to produce feats of Cryomancy that rival those of top experts in that field around the world.  This was made more impressive by the fact that she could accomplish this without any training and without any focusing tools.  However, while that made her abilities more impressive, it also made them more dangerous.  After a close call that involved Princess Anna being injured, King Agnarr and Queen Iduna sought tutoring for Princess Elsa in controlling her abilities.

This alone made Princess Elsa noteworthy.  Typically, magical education was begun at the age of 11-years-old, as that was the age it was generally felt children had enough presence of mind to understand the instructions.  Additionally, while minor acts of uncontrolled and unfocused magic are common in magical children, the level of power needed for this instinctive magic to do anything of real significance is rare.  The fact that Princess Elsa was powerful enough to need early tutoring for the sake of safety indicated that she was incredibly powerful.

King Agnarr and Queen Iduna consulted with Headmaster Albus Dumbledore¹ to arrange for the Princess’s education.  He assured them that there would be a place for her at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry² when she was older, but that, for the time being, a private tutor would be more appropriate.  He arranged for such services from Remus Lupin, a werewolf³ who was a graduate of Hogwarts himself.  For the next several years, Mr. Lupin instructed the Princess in the fundamentals of how to increase the precision and deliberate control of her power.  For his services, Mr. Lupin was granted the honorary title of Úlfheðinn.

Once the Princess was of the proper age, she was enrolled in Hogwarts to continue her magical education.  This education was supplemented with tutoring in non-magical subjects during the summer months when she returned to Norway.  While the faculty was informed of her royal status, the Princess elected to omit disclosing her pedigree to the student body at large.  As the average student was unfamiliar with foreign royalty, this enabled the Princess to go unrecognized by the majority of the student body.  She took advantage of this to focus on her studies and personal connections rather than being fawned over as a celebrity.  The exception to this was a classmate by the name of Hermione Granger, who recognized the Princess from overly extensive research she had done for a school report the previous year.  Miss Granger agreed to keep quiet about the Princess’ full status and, by virtue of her unique status as a classmate and being aware of the royalty in their midst, became a close confidant of the future queen.

Over the next several years, the Princess firmly established herself as a prodigy of magic, gaining a great deal of respect from her peers.  During this time, the Princess learned how to apply her magic to a much wider variety of tasks than the simple Cryomancy she had already mastered.  At the same time, she continued practicing with her control over ice so as to both increase her control and increase the amount of raw power she could dedicate to such spellweaving.  Rumors soon began to circulate about how the Princess would eventually prove to be one of the most powerful witches of the modern age.

In the Princess’s fourth year at Hogwarts, the school played host to an international competitive event that also involved the schools of Beauxbatons Academy of Magic⁴ and the Durmstrang Institute⁵ .  The Princess used this as an opportunity to form personal and political connections with powerful young witches and wizards from throughout Europe.  In particular, she formed a close personal relationship with Fleur Delacour, the daughter of a French diplomat and a powerful witch in her own right.

¹ A wizard of significant social status, political influence, and with more titles than would be reasonably relevant to list here.  In relation to the information in this document, his most important role is as a prestigious educator.

² A school located in Scotland near Inverness, considered to be one of the top locations in Europe for magical education.  Typically serving the British Islands, it will also invite highly promising students from throughout Northern Europe.

³ See related file: “Úlfhéðnar”

⁴ A school located in France near Toulouse and of similar prestige to Hogwarts.  Typically serving France and Iberia, it will also invite highly promising students from throughout the Mediterranean.

⁵ A school located in Russia near Nizhny Novgorod and of similar prestige to Hogwarts.  Typically serving the former Soviet Union, it will also invite highly promising students from throughout Eastern Europe.

Chapter Text

Like many wars labeled as “the Second”, it is not possible to fully discuss how the second war started without discussing how the previous war ended.  Fourteen (14) years prior to the start of the Second Voldemort War, the UK was in the midst of the First Voldemort War.  This war was a civil war that was primarily isolated within the British magical community.  One primary faction was a group dedicated to increasing the isolation of the magical community from the non-magical community and the purging of non-magical influences¹ from magical society.  The second primary faction was a group in opposition to the first that wanted to maintain the status quo and increase peaceful relations with the non-magical community² .

The first group called themselves the Death Eaters and was led by a man called Voldemort (born Tom Marvolo Riddle).  The second group called themselves The Order of the Phoenix and was led by Professor Dumbledore.  In the Autumn of 1981, Voldemort personally conducted a raid on the home of certain members of The Order of the Phoenix.  It is unconfirmed what precisely happened, but the only survivor of the event was the infant Harry Potter³ .  The Death Eaters were largely organized and driven by the personal charisma of Voldemort so, without his leadership, the faction quickly dissolved and the war ended.  Harry Potter, in turn, gained a significant amount of notoriety as a symbol of the victory over Voldemort.

As it turned out, the death of Voldemort was incomplete.  Using the inter-school competition at Hogwarts as a cover for their actions, dedicated Voldemort loyalists arranged for the abduction of Harry Potter and the resurrection of Voldemort.  The intent was to kill Mr. Potter as a symbolic first victory to help rally people to Voldemort’s banner, but Mr. Potter proved himself a skilled enough wizard to escape from the ritual.

Mr. Potter’s report of the resurrection of Voldemort was largely met with disbelief and ridicule.  The administration at the time found it more politically expedient to deny the existence of a crisis than to face it.  However, Professor Dumbledore’s knowledge of magic made him aware that resurrection was a technical possibility, and his personal knowledge of Mr. Potter led him to believe that it was unlikely for the young wizard to lie about such an event.  Therefore, Professor Dumbledore began preparations for a second war.

Professor Dumbledore quickly began preparing Harry Potter as a successor to his role as leader of The Order of the Phoenix.  Due to his symbolic position representing the initial defeat of Voldemort, Mr. Potter functioned as a symbolic banner to rally supporters around much as Dumbledore had been during the first conflict.  In addition, Mr. Potter had repeatedly proven himself as a highly competent wizard and capable leader.  As such, he was a sensible choice to groom for a command role.

Efforts to prepare for war, however, were stymied by the government.  The official stance of “No Crisis” resulted in aggressive disarmament.  In particular, the older cohort of students, including Mr. Potter and the Princess, became concerned about the reduction in practical self-defense instruction.  In response to this concern, the students arranged for peer-to-peer instruction.  When such self-study was banned by the United Kingdom Magical Government, the students began meeting in secret.  They referred to their underground group as “The Defense Association”.  It was noted, however, that the common abbreviation of “The DA” could also be taken to mean “Dumbledore’s Army”.  Inspired to oppose the forces of Voldemort and distrustful of the capabilities of the adults due to aggressive inaction from the government, the student body prepared themselves as a paramilitary force.

This came to a head in the spring of 1996 when the DA encountered intelligence that suggested Voldemort was in the process of assaulting an archive of classified documents at the Ministry of Magic.  Lacking confidence that their message had been successfully relayed to non-student forces who were prepared to act, the top members of the DA mobilized for action.  This force consisted of Princess Elsa and Mr. Potter as well as the most trusted and effective magic users from the DA⁴ .  This force would later become known as the Ministry Seven.

This intelligence was later proven to be a ruse to lure Mr. Potter into engaging the forces of Voldemort in an attempt to trap him.  However, due to Mr. Potter performing his reconnaissance in force, this ambush instead turned into a full-blown battle.  The Ministry Seven successfully held their position long enough for reinforcements to arrive and drive the Death Eaters back.  Princess Elsa’s primary contribution to the engagement came in the form of battlefield control: She was able to facilitate the swift movement of her squad through the careful application of ice to reduce friction where it would be beneficial.  At the same time, she was able to use this reduced friction, combined with obstacles formed out of ice, to constrain the movement of the enemy.  Finally, Princess Elsa was able to quickly erect ice fortifications that served as improvised earthworks.

Tactically, the engagement was a draw.  However, from a strategic standpoint, it was a victory for The Order of the Phoenix.  Such an aggressive attack on a government facility as well as Voldemort himself appearing before several government officials made his resurrection undeniable.  This led to an end of the “No Crisis” policy and preparations for war began in the open.

¹ Including wizards and witches born to non-magical families.

² Short of public revelation of the existence of magic.

³ Harry Potter would later become a classmate of Princess Elsa sharing the same year at Hogwarts.

⁴ The full complement was Princess Elsa, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ronald Weasley, Ginevra Weasley, Luna Lovegood, and Neville Longbottom.  Two other members of the Weasley family, the twins Fred and George Weasley, deployed elsewhere to act as a diversion.

Chapter Text

Following the events of the Raid on the Ministry, King Agnarr and Queen Iduna withdrew Princess Elsa from Hogwarts out of fear for her safety.  Princess Elsa would spend the next year in private tutelage in Oslo¹ .  During that time, open conflict continued to escalate in the British Isles.  Due to the fact that the Death Eaters had a year to assemble their forces without interference while the Order of the Phoenix was prevented from openly doing so, the initial stages of open conflict saw the Death Eaters on the offensive.  The Order of the Phoenix, meanwhile, did their best to mount defensive operations while also marshaling their forces.

During this time, Hogwarts served as a symbolic strong point for the Order of the Phoenix.  It functioned as Professor Dumbledore’s seat of power and also showcased the ability for the Order of the Phoenix to shape the opinions of future generations.  Professor Dumbledore used this position to mount personal reconnaissance missions to investigate the mechanisms behind Voldemort’s resurrection.  His intent was to find a way to prevent it from happening again so that if the Second Voldemort War could be brought to a close, they could prevent a Third Voldemort War from happening.  During this information gathering, Professor Dumbledore incorporated Mr. Potter into his research process so Mr. Potter could take over if needed.

In the Spring of 1997, the Death Eaters launched a three-pronged attack on the Order of the Phoenix that was meant to be a crippling blow and secure their victory in the War.  The first prong was a coup launched at the UK Ministry of Magic.  This attack successfully took control of the UK Magical Government and forced the remaining Dumbledore loyalists to function as an underground resistance or a government in exile.

The second prong was an attack on Hogwarts itself.  This attack had three main goals.  The first goal was to take control of the educational system of Hogwarts so that Death Eaters could begin indoctrinating younger generations.  The second goal was to remove Hogwarts as a potential military hardpoint for the Order of the Phoenix.  The third goal was the assassination of Professor Dumbledore and Harry Potter.

The third prong was an assault into Norway itself to target Princess Elsa.  Despite being unaware of her status as royalty, the Death Eaters regarded the Princess as an important tactical asset for the Order of the Phoenix due to her being recognized as a heavyweight in cryomancy as well as her personal connection to Mr. Potter.

The first prong achieved all Death Eater objectives without significant hindrance.  The second prong was aided by Death Eater infiltration of the Hogwarts faculty and student body.  They succeeded in taking the castle and killing Professor Dumbledore, though Mr. Potter successfully eluded their grasp.  Between these two attacks, the Death Eaters largely claimed victory in the war and drove all opposition forces to either surrender or to form an underground resistance.

The third prong was a small force of five Death Eaters led by Bellatrix Lestrange² .  For reasons that are uncertain, this strike force managed to track down the location of Princess Elsa without discovering that she was, in fact, royalty.  They launched their assault on the royal family completely unaware that they were attacking royalty.  The ensuing fight took the lives of King Agnarr and Queen Iduna in addition to three members of HMKG.  King Agnarr was slain while trying to organize HMKG into a defensive response while Queen Iduna lost her life taking a blow meant for Princess Elsa.  The Princess then rallied the remaining Guard present and retaliated with a counter-attack that killed the majority of the strike force and took Mrs. Lestrange prisoner.  Mrs. Lestrange was then beheaded in a summary execution for the crime of Regicide by the newly ascended Queen Elsa I, as witnessed by Løytnant Jan Manus.

Publicly, this event was announced as a terrorist attack conducted by a fringe group from the United Kingdom.  While technically correct, it undersold the magnitude of the threat the Death Eaters posed to the nation.  The detail that the now Queen Elsa was the primary target was also omitted from the public record.  Coordination with the British government reassured the public that the situation was well in hand and that the criminals would be dealt with.  While this vastly oversold the ability of the non-magical authorities of the UK to gain control over what was at this point a successful coup, it helped to cool tempers in Norway that may have otherwise led to the conflict escalating in a manner, not to Norway’s benefit.

Queen Elsa made a public statement of entering seclusion to recover from the attack and to mourn the loss of her parents.  This was a cover for her disappearing from the public eye so she could coordinate a response.  Queen Elsa assigned KP2 to Princess Anna for her personal protection at full alert and then mobilized the remaining combat-ready portions of HMDG for deployment to England.  For the remainder of the campaign, she would operate under the name Captain Arendelle for the sake of OPSEC.  At that time, though the public remained unaware, the Kingdom of Norway was officially at war.

Within a week of her ascension to the throne, Captain Arendelle landed in East Riding of Yorkshire with KP1 and KP4, accompanied by elements of KP5 in a logistical support role.  Also accompanying them was a squad of Úlfhéðnar and a dozen Norwegian witches and wizards.  There, they linked up with detachments from the Coldstream Guards and the SAS.  The combined forces quickly set about making a fortified encampment just to the west of Hull, using the Humber as both a defensive feature and a potential withdrawal route.  This was presented to the residents of the area as a joint training exercise and it was noted with some amusement that the location of the encampment was not far from where Harald Hardrada had come ashore nearly 1,000 years previously.

Once the encampment was well fortified, Captain Arendelle reached out to the remaining members of the Order of the Phoenix in an attempt to coordinate their efforts.  She was informed that the senior members of the DA and the Order of the Phoenix would be meeting in Devon under the cover of a wedding³ to discuss strategy and to establish a chain of command following the death of Professor Dumbledore.  Captain Arendelle separated from her force to attend this meeting, bringing with her Oberstløytnant Joachim Welhaven, Úlfheðinn Gunnhild Rustad, and Regimental Sergeant Major Nils Olav⁴ .  The main force was given orders to remain in a defensive formation until her return.

In addition to Captain Arendelle’s contingent, the Ministry Seven, Úlfheðinn Lupin, Miss Delacour, Auror⁵ Kingsley Shacklebolt, and Auror Nymphadora Tonks were also in attendance at this conference.  Harry Potter and Captain Arendelle attended in disguise due to being declared outlaws by the Death Eater regime.  The rest of the attendees had plausible reasons for being at the wedding without the need for a disguise.  Mr. Arthur Weasley and Mrs. Molly Weasley, the patriarch and matriarch of the Weasley family, also participated in the discussion.  Their contribution as to tactical and strategic deployments was limited, but they provided helpful information for logistical coordination.

To start the meeting, Mr. Potter briefed the group on the operations he had undertaken with Professor Dumbledore.  Their research uncovered the methodology behind Voldemort’s resurrection.  Prior to his death, Voldemort had created a series of soul anchors called Horcruxes.  So long as these items were intact, any killing blow delivered to Voldemort would be merely temporary.  Miss Granger expressed suspicion that the resurrection process could be performed more quickly in the future, due to proof of concept for the process already being established.  With no evidence to the contrary, the conference agreed that this was a strong enough possibility to require it to be considered a factor they must plan for.  An agreement was made that destroying these Horcruxes should be the number one operational objective and that a decisive battle should be avoided prior to that point.

Mr. Potter further presented the information that the number of Horcruxes had been confirmed and that several had already been identified.  One of these had already been destroyed by Mr. Potter himself prior to realizing the full purpose of the item.  He laid out a plan for hunting the rest of the items himself, arguing that he could reduce the risk to others by traveling alone.  This plan was rejected as being tactically unsound.  As a compromise, Mr. Potter would be accompanied by Miss Granger and Mr. Ronald Weasley.  The two had supported Mr. Potter on a number of different dangerous endeavors in the past and the three could operate effectively as a team while maintaining the equivalent stealth and deployment speed accomplishable by a single person.

In addition to this primary objective, several secondary objectives were identified and resources were allocated to achieve them.  Mr. Longbottom, Miss Lovegood, and Miss Weasley would return to Hogwarts as students.  They counted as “Pureblood” under Death Eater rhetoric and would likely draw relatively little suspicion while operating under direct supervision.  The plan for this trio was to feign compliance with the new Death Eater regime while acting to protect vulnerable members of the Hogwarts student population and coordinate the DA still present in secret within the student body.

Auror Shacklebolt would return to the Auror Office and similarly feign compliance.  He would use his position to conduct intelligence warfare by both passing information to the Order of the Phoenix and feeding false information to the Death Eaters.  He would use Mr. Arthur Weasley as a point of contact and handler to pass along information.  Mr. Weasley also held a government position that would explain regular contact with Auror Shacklebolt even if he was not personally involved with law enforcement within the magical community.  Mrs. Weasley would then pass the information along to relevant parties and coordinate the dispersed Order of the Phoenix cells.

Miss Delacour, Úlfheðinn Lupin, and Auror Tonks would fall in with Captain Arendelle’s forces.  There, they would provide offensive, defensive, and logistical support spellcasting to support operations.  All three were both more powerful and more highly trained than any of the witches and wizards in the contingent other than Captain Arendelle herself.  Úlfheðinn Lupin and Auror Tonks would also be able to provide local information to help guide the forces through specific magical landscapes that would otherwise be unfamiliar.  Miss Delacour personally insisted that she was to escort Captain Arendelle during the conflict.

Captain Arendelle’s coalition force would be tasked with conducting a series of raids on Death Eater strongholds.  The primary objective was to cause disruption of their supply lines and to reduce the capacity of the enemy to wage war.  However, it would also have the benefit of forcing the Death Eaters into a more defensive position and creating a very visible distraction to screen more clandestine operations.  This operation was never intended to bring the war to a close on its own.  Instead, it was engaged as a supporting operation to allow other operations to succeed.  Hit-and-run tactics would be used and the force would avoid prolonged engagements.  Most importantly, direct engagement with Voldemort himself was to be avoided, due to the likelihood that such engagements would inevitably become a war of attrition that was impossible to win.

Once the conference was concluded, the war council began to discreetly disperse.  Care was taken to avoid a mass exodus and therefore reveal their movement.  However, before a full withdrawal could be made, Death Eaters attacked the wedding in force.  It was later revealed that they were unaware of the fact that the wedding was being used as a cover for strategic discussion.  Instead, they had been tipped off by an attendee of the wedding who had seen through Mr. Potter’s disguise.  Since the Death Eaters correctly deduced that Mr. Potter functioned as a figurehead for the Order of the Phoenix and tactical commander for the force (even if not officially), they prioritized this event as a chance to strike at him.

Captain Arendelle quickly took command of the situation.  Given that all other forces present were needed to either maintain their covers or withdraw quietly, she gave the order for those of her command that were present to engage the Death Eaters.  Meanwhile, Mr. Potter’s unit assembled and withdrew with minimum entanglement with the enemy.  Order of the Phoenix members who were not actively engaging Death Eaters moved to aid civilian evacuation.  Captain Arendelle herself quickly moved to place a wall of ice between the attacking Death Eaters and the civilian guests.  However, this made her own identity clear and the Death Eaters began focusing their fire on the Oberst and her staff.

Captain Arendelle’s squad was able to hold their position for approximately 15 minutes, which allowed enough time for all civilians and other allied forces to withdraw.  However, by the time all other forces had withdrawn, the remaining coalition force was deeply entangled with the enemy and unable to withdraw in good order.  The stalemate continued for another 5 minutes before it became obvious that the Death Eaters were maneuvering to encircle their position.  Úlfheðinn Rustad volunteered to cover their withdrawal.  Reportedly, her last words were “Go!  I have the rear guard!”  Úlfheðinn Rustad then transformed and charged the Death Eater position.

The Death Eaters had experience with fighting werewolves and, while surprised by seeing a transformation without a full moon, felt confident in their ability to handle a single wolf.  Úlfheðinn Rustad quickly relieved them of that confidence.  She displayed an expert level of battlefield awareness and continuously maneuvered to keep Death Eaters inside of each other’s line of fire.  At least two Death Eaters were noted to be struck by friendly fire due to her positioning.  The chaos she created in the Death Eater lines broke their engagement with the rest of Captain Arendelle’s forces, allowing them to withdraw without significant injuries.  Úlfheðinn Rustad was officially reported MIA at first, but was confirmed KIA three days later.  She would be posthumously awarded the War Cross for her actions.  This document serves as the unofficial citation of her award due to the classified nature of the engagement.

Upon the return to East Riding, Captain Arendelle integrated her local guides into her command.  Auror Tonks would be the leading witch assigned to the Coldstream Guard and the SAS.  Úlfheðinn Lupin would be the leading wizard assigned to KP4 and the Úlfhéðnar.  Miss Delacour would be the leading witch assigned to KP1 and KP5.  All three in addition to Oberstløytnant Joachim Welhaven, Regimental Sergeant Major Nils Olav, Captain Joseph Cole, and Lieutenant Jude MacLeod, would form Captain Arendelle’s personal command staff.

¹ At Princess Elsa’s insistence, her curriculum for tutored material included instruction on military protocol as well as both strategic and tactical theory.  She was silent on her reasoning at the time, but later would explain that she predicted an escalation of hostilities in the UK and that she knew she would want to become involved once more.

² Mrs. Lestrange was a veteran of the First Voldemort War where she occupied a leadership role among the Death Eaters with a specialty in leading wetworks strike teams.  She led numerous raids on Order of the Phoenix and civilian targets and was specifically noted for her brutality and effectiveness.

³ The wedding in question was a marriage between Willaim Weasley and Aurélie Dumont.  Between the two of them, they were friends and family with a large number of members of the DA and the Order of the Phoenix, giving potential cover for a meeting without inviting too much suspicion from the Death Eaters as to why so many of their potential enemies were gathering in the same location.

⁴ See related file: “Memo: Penguin’s Rank Not Ceremonial”.

⁵ The Aurors are the magical law enforcement officers for the UK Ministry of Magic.  At the time of this meeting, the Auror Office had been taken over by Death Eaters following the successful Voldemort Coup.  Several members of the organization opposed this transition of power and either openly or covertly opposed the forces of Voldemort.

Chapter Text

The decision was made to begin the Norwegian offensive as soon as practical.  The home of the Nott family was selected as the first target:  The family had openly taken up arms in support of Voldemort and their manor was publicly advertised¹  as a weapons cache and local base of operations for the East Midlands area.  However, it was also identified to not also function as a troop barracks and that Voldemort himself was unlikely to be on location.  This made it a perfect target to disrupt Death Eater operations and force them onto a defensive footing without forcing a major confrontation.

H-Hour was set for just after sundown.  As the coalition forces approached the manor, a growing sense of unease developed among the troops.  The presence of high levels of magic in the area disrupted the night vision equipment the troops had deployed with, rendering most of them functionally blind.  

In addition, there were defensive spells specifically designed to discourage the presence of non-magical people² . At H+15 minutes, HMDG was near its breaking point.  This is the closest the unit would come to breaking in the entire campaign.  However, since the force was well disciplined and had trust in their commanders, they pushed through.  Upon actively engaging, the area’s defensive spells were broken, allowing free operations.

The assault itself began with the walls of the manor being breached.  These walls had been reinforced against concussive force, but they were still made of wood and plaster:  Shaped charges capable of cutting a hole through reinforced steel had no problem making entrances.  The occupants were taken by complete surprise:  A small Death Eater force was on location and mounted a panicked defense³ , but all were taken down quickly.  The coalition force had no fatalities and only a few troops with moderate wounds.

Caches of dark artifacts⁴ and supplies for potential munitions⁵  were identified and marked for destruction.  Typically, magical households are rendered fireproof against even the strongest of natural house fires.  A typical house fire burns at somewhere between 500 °C to 1,000 °C, so fireproofing spells are tuned to these temperatures.  There are magical methods of reaching higher temperatures, but they are difficult to conjure and control so they are seldom used¹6 .  Thermite burns at roughly 2,200 °C and can be applied in a focused manner with ease.

Several thermite grenades were deployed to destroy the caches of artifacts and weapon supplies.  This not only destroyed the cache, but overwhelmed the fireproofing spells.  The building was quickly razed in its entirety.

During the assault debrief, the non-magical troops in the coalition forces were ordered to remember what the non-magical discouraging spells felt like.  Now that they knew what the spells felt like, they would have an easier time recognizing the feeling and consciously ignoring it.  Subsequent raids would show that repeated exposure would lead to further desensitization to the effects of these spells until they were not felt at all.

The pattern of the raid was repeated regularly for the next year.  Timing between attacks, time of day, and to some extent target selection, was randomized whenever possible.  Communication with intelligence assets confirmed that this forced the Death Eaters to disperse their forces and remain on high alert at all times.  This achieved the main objective of taking pressure off of other operations to allow them to operate more freely.

Death Eater rhetoric prevented their forces from accurately reporting the operational capacity of the coalition forces.  Death Eaters refused to admit that they had been taken down by non-magicals, or perhaps refused to even believe it themselves.  The force was primarily reported as a small number of magic users led by Captain Arendelle that had some non-magical retainers acting more as servants.  This lack of willingness to understand their enemy’s operating ability became a major flaw in Death Eater strategic thinking and made future assaults continue to be easily won even when facing increased resistance.

¹ After taking over the UK Ministry of Magic, the Death Eater faction attempted to add some legitimacy to their authority by, in part, operating openly.  Prior to the Norwegian attacks, they were under the impression that there was no force in Britain that could pose an open threat to them.

² These spells are common in magical society.  They are relatively energy efficient compared to other defensive spells and selectively target people without internal magic of their own that would counteract the effects.  For centuries, these spells had successfully made magical locations functionally undetectable by non-magical society.  Research into this line of magic began during the reign of Charlemange.  Germanic people at the time used combined arms tactics with magical forces augmenting a bulk of non-magical force.  However, they were overwhelmed by the largely non-magical Christian forces, and magical troops died in the hundreds.  To avoid persecution as forced conversions banned the use of magic, they turned to methods of concealment.  By the end of the Viking Age, magical society and non-magical society were firmly separated.  There remained a lingering fear that magical society could be overwhelmed by non-magicals if discovered and so this line of magic continued to be advanced.

³ Witches and Wizards are in the habit of keeping their wands on them at all times.  This is because of the broad utility that wanded casting has and the fact that each wand is unique and tuned to their user.  Wands become effectively a part of the spellcaster.  However, this has the side effect that even the most peaceful civilian is effectively heavily armed at all times.

⁴ “Dark Artifact” in this context does not imply historical value, but rather an item that has been saturated in destructive magical energy.  This concentrates the energy into a form that is then easy to use for a wide range of corruptive and destructive purposes.   They are to be treated as HAZMAT.

⁵ Potion materials can often appear to be harmless kitchen supplies to the untrained eye.  Many have little effect in isolation.  However, they have reactive properties with each other that can achieve a wide range of results.  A potion brewing setup is, in effect, a chemical synthesis lab.  In general society, this can be used for a number of beneficial uses including pharmaceutical benefits that far outstrip anything non-magical chemistry can produce.  However, in the context of a military operation, every single brewing station is a potential chemical weapons lab.

⁶ Fiendfyre is a highly destructive spell where semi-sentient fire is summoned and then encouraged to destroy whatever the summoner wants.  However, it is considered highly advanced magic and even the best users can only roughly point it in a direction.  It is a spell only used for large-scale destruction and, in the hands of an average magic user, it is as likely to burn the conjuror as it is to burn their target.

Chapter Text

In the early spring of 1998, the contingent led by Mr. Potter reported that they had either destroyed or accounted for all of the Voldemort Horcruxes.  One remaining Horcrux was present at Hogwarts while the other was kept on Voldemort’s person in the form of a familiar¹.  

Mr. Potter proposed a plan that involved his team infiltrating the castle and linking up with the agents already embedded in that location.  The intent was to destroy the on-location Horcrux ASAP and then openly take control of the castle.  In doing so, they hoped to draw Voldemort out into a pitched battle from a fortified position.  

Destroying the last Horcrux would be the primary objective of the battle.  Slaying Voldemort himself after that objective had been achieved would be the secondary objective.  The broader symbolic victory of holding and defending Hogwarts as a cultural touchstone for the British magical community would be a tertiary objective.  The speculation was that if all three objectives could be met during a single battle, it would win the war.  Achieving one or two would still be a major victory worth attempting, but would likely leave some degree of future conflict to be wrapped up.

It was agreed to leave the main body of the coalition forces outside of the castle.  It was expected that having an external force that could freely maneuver would be a great advantage,  especially given the Death Eater habit of perpetually downplaying the capability of non-magical troops.  The forces would make camp just north of Perth;  Far enough from Hogwarts to not be noticed by approaching Death Eater forces, but close enough to mount a rapid response assault.

Mr. Potter’s infiltration of the castle was conducted without any issues²:  He was able to link up with embedded forces undetected.  However, the on-site Horcrux was hidden well enough that it required more open control of the school to find.  Mr. Potter organized a swift assault to take control of the castle that succeeded without any friendly casualties.  Most of the school faculty sided with Mr. Potter.

With the local Death Eaters all either dead or taken as POWs, the search for the local Horcrux could begin.  It was found and destroyed before any further Death Eater forces could arrive.  The bulk of the defensive forces of the castle were placed under the command of Deputy Headmistress Minerva McGonagall.  Mr. Potter and the present members of the Ministry Seven operated independently with the objective of destroying Voldemort’s familiar followed by the man himself³.

Death Eaters marched on the castle within two days of it being taken by Mr. Potter.  They arrived through magical transport⁴ in the town of Hogsmeade⁵ to the south of the castle and then marched north in two columns.  In between the town and the castle was The Black Lake, a small loch that Hogwarts placed its walls on the shore of.  The Death Eater forces split in two to approach the castle from both sides of the Lake at the same time.  It appears that their thought was that any attempt to retreat from the castle would follow one of these two routes since the Forbidden Forest was to the north and impassable for a group of any size or navigational skill.

One column of Death Eaters was primarily made up of werewolves loyal to Voldemort led by Fenrir Greyback⁶.  They approached from the east and set up a siege line in the low plain below the castle on that side.  The other column was led by Voldemort himself and consisted of his “untainted” magic users.  They approached the castle along the main road to the west and set up their siege lines in direct view of the main gates.  The siege lines were disconnected, but both were anchored against the Lake on one side and the Forest on the other.  The expectation was that their picket lines in the outskirts of the forest would prevent them from being flanked on that approach and that any assault over the Lake would be easy to drive back⁷.

The coalition forces arrived in Hogsmeade approximately five hours after the Death Eaters made camp.  Their approach had been reported by Death Eater scouts but, just as before, the Death Eaters under-reported the coalition’s strength, so few adjustments were made.  Both Death Eater forces prepared defenses along the approach they had taken to drive off a direct assault from outside.

However, the presence of Captain Arendelle allowed for an alternative assault path.  By freezing select sections of the Lake, coalition forces could move swiftly and easily across the water’s surface.  It also offered the option of quickly melting the ice to cover a retreat if necessary. 

The decision was made to assault the Death Eater force to the east first.  This decision was made for two reasons.  First, it was speculated to be the weaker of the two forces.  This was due to it being primarily made up of forces that Death Eater rhetoric declared to be “lesser people”.  It was also positioned in a location that was less likely to see heavy traffic and less likely to be a major focal point for any engagements that would later be politicized.

The assault on this position was made with two prongs.  The first was the UK forces under Auror Tonks creating a diversion along the expected assault route.  They made every effort to be loud and noticeable, but made little effort to actually disrupt the Death Eater lines.  Primarily, they dug into position and laid down a barrage of mortar, machine gun, and DMR⁸ fire.  This was sufficient to hold the Death Eater's attention as well as pin them in place.

The main force assaulted over the Lake with Captain Arendelle in the lead.  To aid in the element of surprise, Captain Arendelle laid down a fog bank at the same time as she froze the lake.  As the assault approached the shore of the lake, the barrage of the distraction force ceased fire to avoid friendly casualties.  They had successfully played their part as the anvil to Captain Arendelle’s hammer and now moved forward to support the main assault.

The Death Eater forces did not realize they were being flanked until the assault was upon them.  The initial volley of enfilade fire was devastating and tore through the Death Eaters present, causing chaos among those still on their feet as they attempted to reform their lines.  Mr. Greyback quickly realized that his forces would not be able to drive back the Norwegians through conventional means, so he opted for a decapitation strike.

Seeing Captain Arendelle in the lead of her forces, Mr. Greyback waited for her to turn her head away from him and then charged forward.  His intent was to remove the leader of the assault, hoping to turn the tide of morale and use the shock to win the engagement, even if he was losing the exchange of casualties.  His assault might have worked if Úlfheðinn Lupin had not spotted his intent.

Úlfheðinn  Lupin imposed himself between Mr. Greyback and Captain Arendelle, giving his life in the process.  Their exchange of blows was brief, with Úlfheðinn  Lupin falling after only a few seconds.  However, by giving his life to delay Mr. Greyback, Úlfheðinn  Lupin had achieved his goal in the maneuver: Captain Arendelle knew Mr. Greyback was there and was able to turn her full offensive and defensive capabilities against him.  They exchanged a flurry of blows that was difficult to follow by any others on the battlefield.  After only another few seconds, Captain Arendelle bore a bloody wound⁹ on her left shoulder and Mr. Greyback lay dead.

The exchange was enough to break the morale of the eastern Death Eater forces, achieving the opposite result of what Mr. Greyback hoped.  The remnants of the force either surrendered on the spot or retreated to the north to link up with the other half of the Death Eaters.  Norwegian forces moved north and established a defensive line to protect their connection to the castle.  Meanwhile, the British forces coordinated the evacuation of non-combatants¹⁰ from the castle as well as ensuring that a line of retreat to and through Hogsmeade remained open.  POWs that had been taken were transferred into the castle with the thought that if the castle was lost they would struggle to hold the prisoners in a retreat anyway.

Meanwhile, the forces organized by DH McGonagall had been successful at keeping Death Eaters back from the walls of the castle.  The magical defenses of the castle were extensive enough that, in the hands of an experienced magic-user such as DH McGonagall, they could hold off the initial assaults of the Death Eaters.  Upon receiving word that the Death Eater force to their rear had been defeated, the castle forces changed tactics:  The top priority was turned to the evacuation of the non-combatants.

Mr. Potter at this point suggested a daring move.  In order to kill Voldemort’s familiar and then the man himself, he suggested a partial retreat from the defenses of the castle in order to fight within the castle itself.  He reasoned that this would prove less dangerous than attempting to sally forth and seek out his targets.  The other commanders were dubious, but agreed it was their best option to draw out their targets.  So, instead of reinforcing the defenses on the next Death Eater assault, they were allowed to tactically fail.

The pitched melee that soon followed resulted in heavy casualties on both sides.  However, Mr. Longbottom was successful in locating and destroying Voldemort’s familiar.  He quickly passed word of this success to Mr. Potter.  Knowing that Voldemort’s main objective was to see him slain, Mr. Potter openly challenged Voldemort.  Neither made any comment as to if their duel would be explicitly single combat, but both quickly proved maneuverable enough that no one else on the battlefield could have intervened even if they intended to.

Their duel ended up taking several minutes and displayed, without a doubt, that both could be counted among the most powerful and skilled magic users to have ever lived¹¹. At the end of the engagement, Voldemort lay dead and Mr. Potter walked away with only minor wounds.

With the death of Voldemort, the remaining Death Eaters either surrendered or were routed.  In the ensuing months, most of those who were routed would be tracked down and arrested so they could be brought to trial.  Norwegian forces gave some logistical support towards this cleanup effort, but with the main force of the enemy broken, the majority of Norwegian troops returned to Norway.

The British magical community was very thankful for the Norwegian involvement in the conflict.  Queen Elsa I was awarded the Order of Merlin First Class for her efforts, with the entirety of her command staff being awarded the Order of Merlin Second Class.  HMDG, as a unit, was awarded the Order of Merlin Third Class and all members of the unit are permitted to wear their awards at events solely attended by personnel who meet the necessary security clearances.

Queen Elsa I also formed the Order of the Snowflake, which was established as a ceremonial magical counterpart to HMDG.  Membership in this order was granted to the members of the Ministry Seven, Auror Tonks, Miss Delacour, and Úlfheðinn Lupin (posthumously).  Though ceremonial in nature, all members of this order are regarded as having a high degree of combat ability as well as personal loyalty to Queen Elsa I herself.  If a situation should arise when any of these individuals are present in the future, they are to be regarded as friendly military assets and, if the situation is magical in nature, command of the situation should be deferred to them.

¹ A familiar is an animal kept as a pet by a magic user which is used as an on-hand focus for spells that require a living and cooperative animal.  This repeated channeling of magic through the animal builds a connection between the animal and the magic user that synchronizes their psychology to some extent.

² Mr. Potter had spent his time while attending the school fully exploring secret tunnels and other methods of traversing the school undetected.  At the time, this knowledge was mostly used for youthful hijinks, but now it was employed for a more serious purpose.

³ Professor McGonagall had been a longtime instructor and mentor for Mr. Potter and many other members of the Order of the Phoenix.  Mr. Potter was willing to give her command of overall operations but she declined after realizing that Mr. Potter already had specific plans for confronting Voldemort in place.

⁴ A combination of apparition and portkeys, methods for teleportation that were respectively for individuals and for groups.

⁵ Hogsmede is the local town outside of Hogwarts.  It is the only settlement in Britain made up entirely of magic users.  As such, it has the infrastructure in place to support a high volume of magical transportation. 

⁶ Mr. Greyback was the werewolf that infected Úlfheðinn  Lupin as a child in a deliberate assault in order to settle a grievance with Úlfheðinn  Lupin’s father.  He had been considered a dangerous criminal for decades by this point.

⁷ Magic offers few options for crossing water in a controlled manner.  Most options are either very slow or very difficult.  Against most magic users, it is typical to assume that an amphibious assault is going to, at most, consist of a small number of highly skilled magic users with a mass assault being almost impossible.  However, it is still possible and should be accounted for in tactical planning.

⁸ DMR: Designated Marksman Rifle.  Not always a specific piece of equipment, but rather a role of an infantryman who was capable of high precision fire with their rifle.  By the standards of a typical infantry unit, every member of the SAS and Coldstream Guard would qualify as a Designated Marksman.

⁹ Queen Elsa I would later undergo the full trials of Freki to become recognized as an Úlfhéðnar by full merit.

¹⁰ Being a school, there were children as young as 11-years-old on-site.  Some of the older students volunteered to fight, but none under the age of 16 were given an option and were instructed to evacuate.

¹¹ Unlike Captain Arendelle’s unmatched skill in Cryomancy while being, at best, above average in other types of magic,  Both Mr. Potter and Voldemort demonstrated a high level of talent and raw power across a wide variety of magic types over the course of this engagement.