The planning for that massive operation was spearheaded by Bones with three of the Master Aurors. Even retired Master Auror Alistair 'Mad-Eye' Moody was brought in for it... after he first swore a magical vow not to release any of the information concerning the arrests to anyone not an active member of the DMLE until Bones made it public. Surprisingly, especially for Bones, he was happy to do so.
His reason why? "I'm sick of Dumbledore's lies," he grumbled in reply.
At 9.30am the plan activated.
After first shutting down the internal floo system with the public announcement a major problem had been detected and it needed to be brought down to effect repairs - together with the parchment aeroplane and owl mail systems also brought down, but without explanation teams of three aurors each spread throughout the Ministry. Their targets were each individual office and department with the intent of checking them for Polyjuice, glamours and the Dark Mark.
As when Bones took 'her' aurors back to the DMLE from the ex-Malfoy manor they stunned first, checked, revived when the person was considered not a probable DE; and magically strip-searched, manacled and taken back to the DMLE when discovered otherwise. Over two dozen where arrested from within the Ministry within the first two hours, mainly in positions of at least some authority. Three were Directors of Departments, over half a dozen were Heads of Offices, many more were senior clerks or Deputy Heads.
All of them ended up in cells; all while Bones was practically cussing up a storm. She managed to break four items in the DMLE Director's office with accidental magic, one being an expensive bottle of Hammer's cognac she'd have to replace.
With the Ministry cleared - they hoped - the other teams of four sent out to collect 'at home' DEs were also having successes and started bringing in who they captured. And the site that was having the most success was the one outside the gates of the ex-Malfoy manor, which is where Harry had keyed the wards of the manor to 'bounce' anyone trying to use a portkey to get into the property that he hadn't personally made. They'd even had to call for back-up, due to the high number of Death Eaters who were turning up there.
The aurors soon had it figured out by questioning their fresh detainees that many of the Death Eaters had emergency portkeys made by Riddle that would take them from where they were to the emergency portkey arrival point in the manor dining room. Apparently, that dining room was easily converted to a 'makeshift' infirmary, as needed, with Snape's and his assistants' potions laboratory in the breakfast room just next door; which acted as a buffer between the kitchen and the dining room. After all, it would 'not do' for guests sitting down to a dinner in the Malfoy dining room to have to put up with noise coming directly from the kitchen, so the breakfast room was nominally a buffer and now used as the potions lab.
With Harry setting the manor wards to refuse any portkeys but those which he made, almost every time a DE tried to escape the aurors who were 'breaking the doors down' at their homes by activating their emergency portkeys, they turned up by bounced portkey at the main gates. And, there, the 'temporarily encamped' aurors would quickly have them subdued, magically strip searched, manacled and 'auror prisoner' portkeyed to the DMLE cell's portkey area.
Then they'd 'reset' and wait for the next one or two. That is, of course, when they weren't chuckling away in amusement at the shocked looks on the faces of their new detainees when they didn't arrive in the manor.
Others that would turn up at the gates were Death Eaters arriving by apparation. They'd pop in and hurry to the gate, only to be brought down by a couple of well-aimed stunners from two different directions to the midsection. These, too, would quickly be magically strip-searched, manacled and auror-portkeyed to the DMLE.
The aurors at the gate felt that, by five pm that evening, they'd caught another over three dozen of the bastards. They had; thirty nine.
So many were caught that day that Bones had to beg for help from the Unspeakables. Croaker, the lead Unspeakable, turned up, saw what the problem was and said his people would handle it.
Half an hour later, the 'already interviewed' Death Eaters were magically transported by Unspeakable portkeys down to the Department of Mysteries. This freed up room in the cells of the DMLE for the still-coming-in.
It gave the aurors some breathing room to effect more interviews, which they carried out with near-calm efficiency and speed. Every DE captured was fed Veritaserum with the first question asked, 'Are you a true pure-blood?' If the answer was 'Yes', they were fed the antidote and taken back to their cells. However, if the answer was 'No', they were hammered with questions.
Bones did not yet have the authority to question any 'pure-blood' with the powerful truth serum, but did have the authority to hit them with a cheering charm and added powerful compulsion charms to answer questions truthfully. It was something they'd worked out early in the war somewhat worked, but had kept secret and not used until the 'perfect' opportunity presented itself. That opportunity was now; or would be once they'd questioned the half-bloods, of which there was quite a few, of every scrap of useful information they could get out of them.
Harry and Luna's day out in muggle London was deemed by both to be a huge success. They'd managed to visit the Tower of London a place, a hell of a lot bigger than Harry had thought it was - and quietly and surreptitiously talked to some of the ghosts there. They'd visited the Royal Guard's barracks and watched the Trooping of the Colours and Changing of the Guard, amongst others. And took time out to go to the new Millennium Wheel, which had only a few days earlier finished being raised upright. Luna, especially, was amazed the muggles were able to accomplish such a feat.
After their day out they returned to Grimmauld Place just in time for dinner; which is what they'd planned. And then proceeded to tell Sirius and Remus about their day.
"So," asked Harry, once he and Luna finished their tale of their day of adventure, "Still no sign of Tonks?"
"Not yet," said Remus. "I received a messenger Patronus from her about an hour and a half ago, though. She believes she's got a few hours yet before she can leave."
It was that early evening the story of 'You-Know-Who's' defeat, and how it occurred, broke.
Florean Fortescue had managed to talk his way out of Saint Mungo's and, as he was actually in not bad shape when he was brought in, the Healers had him healed up well before the previous evening.
He claimed he was not under arrest and was free to go. If he wasn't released he would claim unfair imprisonment and, even if his 'prison' was a private ward at Saint Mungo's, go see his law-wizard to start legal proceedings as soon as he wasreleased. Saint Mungo's management knew the man had a point, but delayed it long enough to summon Bones to come and talk to him. Bones arrived and pleaded with him to give her just one more day. However, he claimed his business had suffered enough and, "Besides, my wife must think I'm dead! I need to go home, so she can see for herself I'm alright."
"We can quietly inform her," she suggested.
He just gave a snort and said, "The wife would immediately spread it around, no matter what you say to her. Therefore, you may as well release me now."
With a sigh, she said, "I'll get you home. However, can you make sure no one, bar you and your wife, learn of what's happened until tomorrow morning at the earliest?"
"No," he firmly replied. "I go home... right now and unencumbered by any sort of charm, oath or vow... or I sue your arses for illegal incarceration. Yours, the Ministry at-large and the management of Saint Mungo's."
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