Chapter 5: Enth E Nd
Harry wondered which god or deceased wizard hated him. It was his first Hogsmeade weekend in months and he'd spent all of it so far in a bank discussing his dead loved ones with a creature that probably remembered when Grindlewald was still beating up other kids for lunch money. And now a Dark Mark stood between him and Hermione.
'Bollocks,' thought Harry. Turning toward the now wide-eyed Overseer he spoke quickly. "You do have vaults here, right?" The goblin nodded. Harry kicked over both buckets of water. "I'm going to be sending a lot of people this way. Open the entrance to the vaults and send everyone you can inside. Make sure you have your employees inside to keep things organized. If any dark wizards get past me and your 'doormen,' lock yourselves inside. I assume someone from London could reopen them if necessary?" Another nod.
"Good," said Harry. "Do it. Now." With that, he sprinted down the street, following the screams. At every store he darted inside, checked his position and told everyone to make for Gringotts. He did his best to ignore the crying customers and students. Anyone who had even the most tenuous grip on themselves was recruited to get the others to safety. By the time he reached Zonkos, the golems were fully formed; behind them, K'Shiv and the teller he'd first talked to were standing just outside the bank and were waving everyone inside. In front of him, several bodies were strewn around the street. At least one was a death eater. Harry was glad to know he wasn't the only one fighting back. He accioed the downed Eater's wand, pocketed it, and considered revealing the secret passage under Honeydukes and herding people to the safety of Hogwarts. Unfortunately, he wasn't sure the Death Eaters wouldn't be able to enter that way as well, and revealing a way around the wards to Voldemort would be worse than any injuries or deaths to the people in the town.
He spotted Ron inside the joke shop, wand drawn to protect himself and the group of fourth and fifth years huddled behind him.
Harry was panting as he blew through the doors to Zonkos. "Have you seen Hermione?"
"Sorry, mate," Ron replied, grateful to see his friend. "Last I saw she was window shopping at the bookstore. If she went inside, I'm sure she's safe. Books are like garlic to these vampires."
"They are to you too," Harry joked. It was either laugh or cry. "Has anyone gone for the professors?"
"Not that I know of. A run for the castle would put you right in the line of fire."
"You're going to have to do it then, Ron." Harry made certain that it didn't come off as a request.
"Har-" Ron started.
"No choice, Ron," Harry interrupted. "We need them, and I don't want the back door revealed. That leaves you. Most of the DA is here somewhere and Hermione's around, so I'm not alone. We have to get word through. Look, get these people over to Gringotts, they'll be safe there. Then just cross the street and get to Dumbledore."
"Bloody hell, Harry," Ron sighed. "All right, but I'm coming back with them and when we get done it's your arse I'll kick next."
"Back in a few, mate," said Harry, blowing off Ron's threat with a smile. Taking a deep breath, Harry bolted out into the street toward the clothing store. For the first time, Harry was the target of spells. He tossed out a few stunners as cover and dove behind the bargain clothing bin as at least two killing curses were sent his way. The spells stopped while the Death Eaters took time to regroup and converge on his location, and he took the opportunity to reinforce the bin with as many defensive spells as he could remember. When this was all over they could probably use the entire front porch of Gladrags as a fallout shelter.
By the voices, the death eaters were in two groups and numbered at least eight, and while they had been headed away from his position, they immediately changed course when he was spotted. He could hear Crabbe and Goyle arguing over who had actually killed him, with the other two members of that group telling them to shut up. Looking behind him, he saw Ron herding everyone he could find across the street and up the bank steps. Harry silenced Crabbe and Goyle by sending several stunning spells at them, taking out one of the other death eaters. The other three dropped to the ground and blasted away at Harry's defenses. Harry accioed the dropped wand.
The voice he recognized from the other group made his blood boil. Bellatrix Lestrange. "Here, Potty-wotty!" she called. "I have a present for you," she sing-songed. Floating in the grip of her magic was an unconscious Seamus Finnegan. Blood was dripping from a garish headwound that Harry could easily see from twenty paces. "One of your ikkle Gryffindor friends, I believe. Best to come out now, before the party really gets started."
Harry saw Neville stick his head out from a doorway cattycorner to Gladrags, a good twenty feet behind the Death Eaters. He nodded to Harry and took position, obviously waiting for Harry to lead. Harry motioned for him to stay down and quiet.
The two groups of Death Eaters formed up together and walked down the center of the road. Harry checked behind him and nearly moaned. Ron was about to cross the street to Honeydukes and there was no way for him to see Bellatrix and the others from his angle, and no way to warn him. Harry closed his eyes and cringed as -eight- curses were thrown at his best friend, including at least one killing curse. He didn't know which curses had hit, but as he opened his eyes, Ron's body hit the ground and rolled.
"Ooh, a Weasley," Bellatrix cheered.
For a long minute he stared at Ron's corpse. When Ron's unconscious body took a breath, Harry remembered that he needed air too.
With the one he found unconscious and the one he'd stunned, there had originally been ten Death Eaters in the attack. With eight left, Harry slid his head over the side of his bunker, pointed to Neville then Bellatrix and to two other enemies with his wand. Neville nodded, and Harry stuck out his hand and counted down.
Five.
Four.
"I'm losing my patience, Harry," Bellatrix yelled. "Now, Harrykins."
One.
"Stupify, Stupify, Stupify!" Neville hollered. Two unknown Death Eaters dropped, but Bellatrix spun and used Seamus' body to take the curse, sending out her own. Bellatrix managed to shred the wood that protected Neville and he screamed in pain, rolling down several steps to fall unconscious on the ground. With their concentration broken, Harry leapt up and managed to disarm two more unknown Death eaters and to get Bellatrix in a full body bind. That left Crabbe and Goyle and one other, all of whom had now taken cover and were firing a steady stream of explosive spells and killing curses on his position. The bin was starting to crack and warp under the barrage. Harry accioed all the wands.
Harry knew he was out of time. He couldn't see another defensive position he could reach and there was no way to take out the last three Death Eaters without killing Neville. Just in case, he stunned the already-incapacitated Bellatrix before casting expelliarmus on her as well, giving him a total of seven enemy wands, one of which had killed his godfather.
"Last chance, Potter," yelled Goyle.
"Yeah," hollered Crabbe. "We've got a clear shot at all three of your little friends."
Taking just a moment to think, he decided the best course of action was to mess with their heads and hope Dumbledore really was one of the best teachers in the history of Hogwarts. He took three captured wands and broke them each in half, tossing the remains over the bin and into plain sight, then took the other wands and broke three more, tossing out a piece at a time. The number of curses aimed at him seemed to double, and the little bin shuddered and shook and grew increasingly hot. Taking out his Galleon Pouch, he reached in and took at least thirty galleons in his fist. Shoving the bag back in his pocket with his free hand, he closed his eyes and focused as hard as he could for a good ninety seconds. Taking a kneeling position behind his nearly-destroyed fortifications, he hurled the coins at the Death Eaters, managing to pepper the wall just behind them.
"If you're gonna bribe us, Potter," Crabbe called, "this isn't nearly enough. Besides, we can just take the rest you have off your corpse."
"Look at 'em," Harry heard the unknown Death Eater say to his companions. "They're kind of glowy. Probably Leprechaun Gold from-" Harry never heard the rest of the sentence, but did get to hear the startled gasps as the remaining death eaters were portkeyed out of Hogsmeade. Harry summoned the rest of the tricked galleons and put them back in his pouch. Not yet ready to check for any remaining death eaters, Harry levitated Neville, Seamus and Ron to his position. Neville and Seamus required stasis spells to control the loss of blood, but Ron just looked like he'd been hit by one bludger too many. Checking that their breathing was regular, he left them for a moment.
Stumbling to his feet, Harry struggled over to Bellatrix. A galleon dropped on her took care of that problem. Moving carefully to the space the death eaters had made their last stand, Harry decided that his luck must be changing for the better: two wands were lying on the ground, meaning only one of the death eater's he'd captured was still armed. He picked them up and dropped them into his pouch.
The thought brought Harry up short. How many pops had he heard? Either he'd disposed of one armed and two disarmed death eaters, or-
"Time to say nite nite, Potter," Goyle whispered in his ear.
He tapped his wand on Harry's back. Harry lowered his head and closed his eyes. The wand pushed harder into his spine.
Harry thought of Hermione and Ron and a tear slipped down his cheek. Where was Hermione, anyway?
"Avada-"
"Stupefy." Goyle dropped like a stone and Harry circled, wand raised.
"Fifty points from Gryffindor for almost getting killed," said Mad-Eye Moody gruffly, taking the opportunity
to kick Goyle's body firmly in the gut. " Constant Vigilance!
"Where'd they end up, Harry?" Moody asked.
"The only place I was sure they wouldn't be able to escape," Harry managed to get out, shoving his wand into his pouch. He was starting to feel light headed. "The Chamber."
"Fifty points for ingenuity then, boy. However, I'm going to have to talk to Minerva about your ability to count. Three killers minus two pops leaves one, Potter."
"At least I broke even," he gasped before collapsing.
Coming soon: Chapter 6: I Don't Like Mondays
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