Title: War Within a Breath
Author: Muddgutts
Rating: R
Ships: H/Hr
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Chapter 9
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Tonks and Kingsley made no sound as they apparated to the street in front of Borgin & Burkes. They moved quietly alongside the building until Tonks came to the front window. Reaching inside her cloak, she produced a small hand mirror and slowly edged it into view so she could see inside the store. The store was cluttered with strange artifacts and shelves filled with tombs of dark magic ancient and evil, and on the counter in the rear of the store Dolohov sat cross-legged with his wand extended in front of him. The wand's tip glowed a faint yellow and Dolohov's eyes were white. Reaching behind herself, Tonks searched for Kingsley. Her hand grabbed his cloak and pulled him closer as she slipped back from the window.
Pulling Kingsley down to her level she whispered in his ear, "In the back," then handed him the mirror. "It's Dolohov, he's controlling the giant. I don't see anyone else."
Kingsley got down on one knee and inched forward a bit, propping the small mirror around the window to look. The image of Dolohov came into view and Kingsley's blood boiled. "How many times do I have to bust this guy before they lock him up for good?" he thought. Then from the back room Lucius Malfoy walked into the room with a small roll of parchment in his hand. Kingsley had no doubt this parchment was from the owl the Order had been tracking. He watched intensely, trying to pick up on their conversation. Tonks crawled low under the window to the other side so she could watch too.
"Damn that woman!" Malfoy yelled, kicking a small brass pot across the floor. He crumbled the parchment in his hand and drew his wand from the end of his cane. "I will not let her get the upper hand on me again."
"What is it now?" Dolohov replied, remaining as still as a statue.
"I've just been informed that she has no intention of eliminating Potter at all," Malfoy barked as he stomped around the store. "She's planning on bringing him back as a present to the Dark Lord."
Dolohov's face showed no emotion as he spoke. "That's good, Potter will be out of the way for sure this time, right?"
"NO! You simpleton, that's not good. Don't you see the big picture here?" Lucius paused for a second watching Dolohov, but he didn't move so Malfoy continued on. "If she brings in Potter we're done for! Don't you get it?"
Again he waited and Dolohov didn't respond. Enraged, Malfoy closed the gap between them quickly and slapped Dolohov across the face, "Are you even listening to me DAMN IT!"
Dolohov shook his head quickly, rubbing his cheek. "What the hell did you do that for? I'm trying to work here!"
"Well pay attention when I'm talking to you! This is important!" From somewhere in the distance the giant roared in pain. The sound echoed off of the London skyline. Malfoy glanced out the front window quickly. He turned back to Dolohov, pointing a finger at him as he spoke calmly staring into his eyes. "If Bellatrix delivers Potter to the Master then we," he motioned between the two of them, "we are going to be worth less than dirt to him. You and I have had failed in the past and she has been sucking up to him all this time winning his trust."
Dolohov still watched Malfoy with a confused expression. "I didn't spend fourteen years holding the Death Eaters together while he was playing dead for nothing! These are my men. They may be sworn to serve him, but I trained them. I was the one who converted them; they're MINE!" Pulling back slightly Dolohov averted his eyes from Malfoy's gaze.
"And remember this, my friend," Malfoy said, placing his hands the counter and locking Dolohov in place, "when the Dark Lord falls, and believe me he will. Remember Potter has defeated him before, and he'll certainly finish the job one day. Just look at his Potter's track record against the dark Lord so far, he always gets away some how. It clear that Potter holds some power that the Dark Lord can't beat. So when he falls I will be there to take my rightful place as the leader of this organization, and I will-not-have-that-woman-screw-up-my-plans!" he paused for effect then looked Dolohov in the eyes. "So are you with me? Or against me?"
A shudder ran down Dolohov's spine, and he took a calming breath as he soaked in the information. He remembered the look on Bellatrix's face when she tortured him, and he was eager to have his revenge on her.
"What do you need from me my lord?" Dolohov asked, his lip twisted upward in a smirk.
"Good, very good. I knew you were a smart man, Dolohov. Now this is what we're going to do," Malfoy said, scratching his chin in thought.
Outside the store Tonks and Kingsley both looked stunned.
'Bellatrix is after Harry!' Tonks silently mouthed to Kingsley, who nodded and produced a small glass jar from his belt pouch. On the side of the jar was a small paper label that read 'Tracking bug,' and inside was a small cockroach with a blue dot between his wings. Tonks smiled knowingly and retrieved hers as well, but hers had a red dot on it. Together Tonks and Kingsley uncorked the jars and slipped the cockroaches under the front door. Unnoticed by the two Death Eaters the roaches scurried across the dusty floor to their targets. The roach with the red dot crawled up Malfoy's cloak and clung to his back. The other with the blue dot went around the counter and up into the hood of Dolohov's cloak.
Tonks chuckled to herself quietly and Kingsley dragged her around the corner into an alleyway. Shushing her with a finger Kingsley pulled a piece of folded parchment from his cloak and whispered the revealing charm under his breath. Slowly the outline of the store appeared on the paper with the name Borgin & Burkes written in red. Two dots, one red and one blue, moved around the store. Kingsley watched the dots move for a moment then the red dot disappeared from the paper, and his eyes shot to Tonks.
"He's on the move! Quickly where did he go?"
Fumbling with the clasp on her pouch Tonks' fingers worked desperately to find her tracking parchment. Gritting her teeth she yanked the pouch open and the parchment fell to the ground, where it landed on the edge of a smoldering piece of timber. Almost instantaneously the yellowish parchment caught fire around the edges.
Tonks gasped and without thinking thrust her hand into the fire retrieving the paper. "Ahhh! Damn it!"
"TONKS! Are you alright?" Kingsley yelled, pulling her away from the flames.
Tears rolling down her cheek, Tonks cradled her blistering right hand to her chest. "Read it quickly," she hissed, thrusting the crumbling paper at Kingsley. Flattening the charred paper against the wall Kingsley read the letters in red across the top. His eyes flashed from the paper back to Tonks as the blood drained from his face. Tonks shook her head slowly starring at him. "Well . . . where did he go?"
Kingsley's mouth worked but no sound came out for a second. His expression was confused and troubled as he spoke the location softly. "Grimmauld Place."
"Oh no . . . Remus-Harry!" was all Tonks could manage. "I'm going, Kingsley!"
"No wait, I'll call Atticus and get some back -" Kingsley never finished his sentence as Tonks apparated away to Grimmauld Place. "God damn it Tonks!"
~*~
Recklessly Bellatrix dragged Harry off of the street onto the grass. Harry had lost all feeling in his arms and legs as his body scraped and bumped across the jagged pavement. His vision was fixed towards the heavens and his heart was hollowed. The sight of Hermione getting hit with those arrows was branded into his mind. Bellatrix hovered over him with a satisfied smirk as she twirled her wand and bound Harry in magical ropes. She then released him from the full body bind. The power of movement returned to Harry and an indescribable wail burst from his mouth as tears stung his eyes and made them burn and swell.
"You fucking bitch! I swear," his voice choked as his chin trembled against his will. "I'm going to watch you burn. Even if I have to drag you down to hell's gates myself and throw you in-I'll get you if it's the last thing I ever do!"
Landing on his chest with a hard thump Bellatrix straddled his bound body and jammed Harry's mouth shut with her hand. Her eyes flashed brightly as she ripped the remaining bits of the 'Sirius' mask from her face. "I seem to have struck a nerve this time," she crowed. Shaking her hair out from the last bits of her disguise Bellatrix swooped down close to his face and licked the tears from his cheek. Savoring the taste a bit she bucked her hips against him.
Harry grimaced trying to turn away from her, but she would not have it. Holding him in place she continued to speak, whispering into his ear, "Was she dear to you? Did you love her?" All expression left Harry's face as the full impact of this hit him. He did love her. More then anyone in the world she above all others was most dear to him, and the thought of living in a world without her was too much for him. He wanted to just disconnect everything and everyone. What was the point of going on without Hermione?
The stinging pain of Bellatrix's nails digging into his cheeks as she grabbed hold of his face and yelled into his ear, "WELL? Did you love that little Mudblood?"
When Harry chose to ignore her, it only maddened her. Jumping to her feet, she growled, "You're a blood traitor just like your father! You make me sick just looking at you!" Her face full of fury, she pointed her wand directly at him.
"Crucio!"
Everything suddenly went white as electrifying waves of pain shot through Harry's body. He tried to lock his jaw from rattling so he wouldn't bite his tongue off. His mind blanked, and then it stopped just as quickly as it started. Harry gasped as he spat up blood, coughing violently. He couldn't focus his eyes enough to see her, but he heard the draw in Bellatrix's voice as she chastised him, "That's how you use an unforgivable curse boy. You have to mean it. Observe."
Harry's eyes started to focus again as Bellatrix leveled her wand on him. Just as she began to twist her wrist to cast her spell, the front grille of the old BMW in the street exploded in a flash of red light. Shards of plastic and metal rained down on the street as Bellatrix turned quickly on her heel toward the street.
Blinking rapidly, a bruised and very angry looking Hermione stepped into the light, pointing her wand at Bellatrix. It felt like a hundred pounds had been lifted from Harry's chest as his eyes met hers, and he knew it was really Hermione. In one glance Harry could see her desperate pleas to hang on just a little longer.
"It's not possible!" Bellatrix shrieked, blocking Hermione's path to Harry. "No one can survive three poisoned arrows! Not even a full grown troll!"
Hermione thrust her chin out as she glared at Bellatrix. "You-missed."
"Never!"
Slowly with her left hand Hermione slid her backpack off and let it fall to the street. It hit the ground with a low thump and a book peeked out from the opening. Hermione dragged it out with her foot, and there in its cover three poisoned arrows were firmly lodged.
Bellatrix's brow furrowed as she tried to read the title. "What do you have there, Mother Goose? Hmm little Mudblood?"
Harry chuckled to himself knowingly as Hermione's eyes narrowed. "Hogwarts A History, limited edition seconded printing. Now get away from my boyfriend-Bitch!"
"Oh, so you want to play do you?" Bellatrix said with a wide smile. Her eyes blinked slowly as she sized Hermione up. Something about the way Bellatrix was looking at her made Hermione's skin crawl. Bellatrix took a step closer towards the street, and as her mouth twisted into a smirk she shook her head.
"This is what you were so broken up about, Potter?"
Hermione's jaw tightened and her stance widened, ready to duel.
Throwing Harry a sideways glance Bellatrix frowned. "Honestly now you can do better than her. She's positively boring, and look at that hair. Hah! What a disgusting little wretch."
Harry tried to sit up as best he could. "She's twice the witch you'll ever be!" he shot back, his voice laced with malice. Feeling a bit prouder Hermione slowly started to face off with Bellatrix moving forward towards Harry.
"Really?" Bellatrix questioned as she drew her cloak behind her back. "Let's see then."
"Reducio!"
~*~
The sound of breaking wood echoed through the open kitchen window as Ron scrambled to his feet and ran towards the front of the house. When he reached the corner of the house Ron saw Hermione and a tall woman in black robes dueling in the middle of the street. Drawing his wand from his pocket he shuffled forward, hunching low so as not to draw their attention. As he reached the cluster of Muggle waste bins by the curb he paused, trying to think of a good spell to use. There was little doubt that the woman Hermione was dueling was a Death Eater. So he knew his spell had better be effective. Pounding his forehead with his palm he tried to think, but his mind was drawing a blank. All he could hear was the pounding of his heart in his ears.
A loud tearing sound startled him from his thoughts as clumps of grass and earth rained down on his head. Risking being noticed Ron peeked his head around the side of the waste bin to his right and watched as Hermione and the Death Eater sent hexes and curses at each other. Both Hermione and the unknown woman in black very quickly jumped out of the way of incoming spells and retaliated with their own.
Ron raised his wand and tried to aim at the woman in black, but the duelers were dodging too fast, and he was afraid of hitting Hermione by accident. Just as Ron was about to lower his wand he spotted movement from another person lying on the grass, bound from head to toe in ropes. Ron pulled back behind the waste bin and quickly plotted a course across the street that would keep him out of view from the streetlights.
~*~
Sucking in a deep breath Luna sprang up from behind the wall of mattresses and took aim at the center of the attacking group of hobgoblins. "Lumos Solarum!" she cried.
A brilliant burst of white light flashed from the end of Luna's wand. Most of the hobgoblins shrieked and shielded their eyes, which momentarily halted their attack. Neville flipped over the body of the headless hobgoblin and drew the dagger from its belt and the short sword from its hand.
Turning to the girls he held the weapons out for them. "Here, hang on to these."
"I don't want that!" Ginny said holding her hands up in the air defensively. "I wouldn't know the first thing about using a sword."
"You're going to need it!" Neville demanded. "There are too many of them and our spells are having little effect on them. So take it!"
Luna cocked her head at Ginny as she took the sword. "Haven't you ever played Pirates before?" Neville couldn't help but chuckle as he slapped the dagger into Ginny's hand.
"Yes, but this is totally different." Ginny said, as she held up the dagger by two fingers.
As if she didn't even hear Ginny's answer Luna continued talking to herself, looking over the beds. "I used to love playing Pirates with my cousins. Protego!" A small cluster of arrows bounced off her shield charm. "I think they're getting mad," she nodded toward the hobgoblins.
Ginny popped her head up over the edge of the bed just in time to see a large hobgoblin throw a spear at her. She ducked back behind cover just in time as the spear sank into the wall behind them.
Several hobgoblins rushed the protective mound of beds at once and started scaling up the outside. Neville stood up and drew back his wand to cast a spell when a hobgoblin dove over the beds, landing on top of him. The hobgoblin let out a short gargled growl as he clawed at Neville's face and neck. Neville surged forward, slamming the hobgoblin into the bed frame. The impact rocked his whole body right down to his toes. He drew back to slam the hobgoblin again, but he felt a wave of heat pass before him and stopped. The hobgoblin sprang off Neville to the floor, and then straight at Ginny.
"Inflamare!" she yelled, thrusting her wand at the hobgoblin. Three white-hot balls of fire hit the hobgoblin in the face and chest setting him ablaze. He franticly waved his arms trying to extinguish his burning hair, but Luna made an overly dramatic forward lunge with her new sword, piercing his chest. Thick dark blood bubbled from the hole in his chest as the hobgoblin fell dead to the floor. Luna tried to withdraw the blade, but it was stuck in the hobgoblin's ribs and refused to come out. Neville quickly doused the burning hobgoblin in a shower of water from the tip of his wand, and Luna yanked the sword free from his chest.
The makeshift wall of beds shuddered violently and started to list towards the teens. The hobgoblins had worked themselves into furious battle frenzy now as they attempted to knock the wall of beds down on top of the teens. Neville threw his back against the beds and placed both feet on the back wall trying to hold the beds in place.
"The spells weakening! Freeze it again!" he yelled.
Ginny blasted the structure again with the freezing spell, but that didn't stop its collapse. She panicked and tried to hold the bed too.
Dropping her sword Luna took aim with her wand, but suddenly the blade of a short sword wiggled through a small gap between the beds and pierced her shoulder. Falling to her knees Luna cried out in pain, clutching her shoulder as blood flowed freely from the wound at an alarming rate.
"LUNA! Are you okay?" Ginny screamed.
Luna's head sagged to her chest, as she shook her head, 'No.'
Holding the beds one-handed Ginny pointed her wand at Luna, yelling and trying to get her attention.
"Luna! Show me your shoulder!" Luna's face was rapidly turning white as she slid down into the corner.
"Show it to me Goddamn it!" Ginny yelled again. Slowly Luna released her grip on her wound with a small whimper. The flesh had been cleaved right down to the bone, and blood pumped out of the wound in steady streams. Fighting back the urge to gag at the sight of so much blood, Ginny muttered a bandaging charm. The magical bandages wove around Luna's shoulder stemming the flow of blood, but Luna still looked like she might pass out at any moment.
"BACK! Get back damn you!" Neville screamed, and when Ginny turned to see what was happening Neville was fighting off two hobgoblins at once with the spear that had just been stuck in the wall. As one hobgoblin slashed at him with its sword another was trying to smash Neville with a spiked metal mace. Neville swung the spear at both of them, deflecting the sword, but when the blade of the sword hit the shaft of the spear it rebounded to the floor and hit the other hobgoblin in the legs knocking him over. The mace flew from the hobgoblin's hands and smashed into the wall next to Ginny, leaving a fist sized hole in the wall. While Neville was struggling to get back to his feet Ginny saw a small ray of light coming from the hole left by the mace. Without hesitation she moved closer to the hole and peeked through to the other side. It was the bathroom next door, and it looked empty. Just as she was about to turn and tell Neville, the room was filled with a haunting growl from the hallway.
Neville checked the hobgoblin in front of him across the chest with his spear and looked across the room to the doorway. The sickening sound of crunching bones caught the attention of the rest of the hobgoblins and everyone turned toward the smashed in door to the room. Watching the hallway, no one moved as the sound of claws scrapping against wood echoed down the steps. Ginny's hands trembled as she pulled herself up just enough to see over the wall of bed frames and mattresses.
Slowly the blood-drenched snout of a large gray wolf moved down the steps from upstairs and stopped in front of the doorway. His eyes had rolled back in his head and were completely white. Arrows and the broken shaft of a spear pierced his chest and back, and the gray fur around his neck was stained red with blood. Dagnir, the leader of the hobgoblins, pushed his way towards the door.
Drawing his sword, he cursing in Goblin under his breath, "You! We already killed you. You want some more?"
Now completely berserk with rage and pain, Remus Lupin saw his prey and snarled, licking his bloody chops.
Pointing his sword at Lupin Dagnir barked out to his soldiers in a booming voice, "KILL HIM NOW!"
The hobgoblins charged just as Lupin leaped through the door into the advancing enemy. With his claws out and his teeth ready Lupin slashed and bit everything within range. Chopping and stabbing at the insane werewolf with their weapons, the hobgoblins fought desperately to stop him, but nothing worked. Their weapons inflicted no pain, only wounding the wolf, but as they fought the wounds closed before their eyes, healing at an amazing speed.
Transfixed by the horror in front of them, Ginny and Neville watched as Professor Lupin, now fully in his werewolf form, killed hobgoblin after hobgoblin. He bit off arms, ripped out throats, and cleaved their leather breastplates in two with his claws.
"Is. . . that . . . Professor Lupin?" Ginny squeaked out as she clung to Neville's arm.
Neville tore his eyes away from the carnage. "Yeah-I think so," he nodded, closing his eyes. "We have to get outta here fast, or we're going to be next."
Like a firecracker going off in her mind Ginny remembered the bathroom. She spun Neville around quickly and pointed her wand at the crumbling wall. "Reducto!"
The hole widened and the tiled floor of the bathroom could be clearly seen on the other side. "Come on, we're leaving. Help me with Luna," Ginny demanded. Neville nodded and they both pulled Luna to her feet. The hobgoblins didn't even notice their actions; they had much bigger problems on their hands now.
~*~
AN: As always I would like to thank AnneU for taking the time to Beta for me, and from being a good friend. I'm sorry to say that there will be no update of chapter 10 until the beginning of May. My wife and I are going to England and Paris next week, and will return at the end of the month. Well happy reading and thanks again everyone.