CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
THE COUNTER-CURSE
What's happening?" Mrs. Granger asked in a high-pitched, hysterical voice. The color had drained from her face and she started slumping to the ground. With tremendous effort, Mr. Granger covered his wife and youngest daughter with his body as a protective shield as he too felt the Dementors' pull on his happiness and joy.
Harry and Hermione knew that something had to be done quickly. There had to be more than one Dementor in the area for this level of effect, not to mention the number of Death Eaters wasn't known. Harry turned as he heard the door click as if it were being opened.
"Hermione, watch our backs. We need to take out the Dementors first or we're goners for sure." Harry whispered quickly as he turned towards the slowly opening door.
Within a few moments, there were several Dementors floating into the entry way and Harry heard the bedroom window start to rattle.
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Harry shouted and his magnificent silver stag erupted from the tip of his wand. The Dementors in front of him didn't have a chance to move out of the way in time and within a scant few seconds, they were trampled into dust.
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Hermione echoed the spell and her silver otter ripped through the remaining invaders that were slipping through the window into the room behind them.
The lights flickered back to life and the only chill that could be felt was that of the blizzard outside. Harry dug into his pocket and pulled out a folded, shimmering cloak.
"They want me, get under the cloak with your family and keep them safe and quiet." He instructed Hermione as he shoved the cloak in her hands.
"Harry ..." Hermione began earnestly.
"No argument!" He hissed. "We don't have the time, we need to protect them!" Harry put his hand on her shoulder and gently, but firmly pushed her down to the ground next to her cowering parents. "I love you." He whispered.
Hermione looked at her boyfriend with wide eyes. "I-I love you too." She said softly and without any further argument covered the four of them in Harry's invisibility cloak.
Harry looked around quickly and caught no sign of the enemy. He snuck quietly around the corner to the front door and peered into the darkness.
The sound of a foot crushing snow assailed his senses. It was a scant few meters from the door.
Another, then another, there was definitely more than five heading his way.
Why didn't Dumbledore warn us that Voldemort was here!? Harry thought desperately. How can I handle five or more on my own?
He didn't have time to think of a better plan. I need to lure them away from Hermione and her family!
In a split decision, he bolted for the picture window opposite the front door. Grabbing a poker from beside the fireplace, he flung it in one fluid motion through the large piece of glass.
There were footsteps behind him in the front entry way.
"He's making a break for it!" One of the masked intruders shouted.
Without looking back, Harry dove through the window into the soft snow below. He was on his feet at once and ran towards a line of trees not far from the house. He stopped and looked behind him, hoping that his pursuers were following. Four cloaked and masked figures dropped to the ground and began scanning for his footprints. Harry couldn't hear what they were saying and he knew he wouldn't be safe here.
A plan exploded in his mind's eye.
Being careful to stay out of sight, he circled around to the front of the house. He was already feeling the bite of the wind and he could feel the wet snow melting in his hair and dribbling down the back of his neck.
I can probably deal with whoever is left in the house. It looks like the majority of them are following me. I have to make sure that Hermione is ok. He thought.
He made his way around the front of the house where the warmth from the burning mini van gave him some relief, but not much.
There were two shadows on the bedroom window, large and foreboding.
I hope they haven't found the Grangers! Harry thought desperately. He leveled his wand and jumped into the air, morphing into his owl form. He flew as close to the house as possible and landed softly next to the open door.
After returning to his normal form, he scanned around the outside to be safe and peeked quickly into the cabin.
There were three of them. One he recognized immediately with his silver hand, the other two were arguing with him.
"B-But we were told to bring him alive and unharmed!" Wormtail whimpered to the one on his right.
"I don't care, the Dementors didn't work, he's strong and we need every edge we can get!" It was Bellatrix Lestrange!
"I didn't go through all that trouble of sending those imbecile muggles false information just to lose our Lord's prey!" The other one cursed, definitely a man, but Harry had never heard his voice.
Harry lifted his wand and tapped himself on the head. "DISILLUSION!" He said in a quiet whisper. The familiar feeling of an egg breaking over his head was quickly followed by the chameleon effect that he had experienced during his first flight to Grimmauld Place.
That should buy me some time. He thought as he slowly slipped into the house and stood next to where the Grangers were hiding. He couldn't hear any of them but he noticed that none of the wet, snow-laden footprints left by their attackers came close enough for them to find his hidden friends.
"Do you think that forging those documents we sent to Potter was child's play?!" Bellatrix bellowed at her companion. In one fluid motion she whipped out her wand and pointed it directly in Pettigrew's face. "Find that Potter brat and do whatever it takes to bring him down! The Dark Lord is tired of these failures and I'll make bloody well sure that it will be you who takes the fall!"
Harry had to think quickly. I need a distraction!
He couldn't believe his luck, just then there were several loud cracks in the cabin's living room. Moody, Moony, Tonks and Kingsley had just apparated on the scene.
Acting as quickly as he could, Harry let out a stream of curses on the three Death Eaters. Pointing at Bellatrix's head he let loose a loud EVANESCO and with satisfaction, her head disappeared with a loud pop.
Everyone burst into action. The four members of the order shot to different parts of the room looking for shelter. The remaining two functional Death Eaters brought their wands to bear in the direction of the new intruders. Harry leveled his wand on his next target and let the furnunculus curse hit him between the eyes.
With a shriek of pain, the afflicted man ripped his mask off and began to scratch feverously at the rapidly growing boils.
Wormtail disappeared from view when he suddenly shrunk and the scraping of claws could be heard on the kitchen linoleum.
"Hermione!" Harry whispered. "Try and move your family to the bedroom closet!"
He heard her quietly whisper "Ok" and then the shuffling of feet towards the bedroom closet quickly followed. Harry closed the front door and jammed it shut with an engorgement spell.
The two incapacitated Death Eaters were already bound by ropes from Kingsley and Tonks. Lupin was looking around the kitchen for the elusive Wormtail.
"Nice disillusionment charm you have there, Harry." Moody said quietly as he let his magical eye roam the house and apparently the property outside as well. "We've got four more circling around by a stand of trees."
"I led them out the window and around the yard a bit." Harry said as he removed the charm from himself. "Does anyone have some chocolate? There are some drained people who need it."
Harry went into the bedroom. "Hermione, go ahead and bring them out. We've got help now."
Hermione stuck her head out of the closet. "Mum and Dad are in shock, Harry. They don't want to move." She was looking understandably worried.
"Here ya are, Harry." Tonks said as she handed him a large chocolate bar.
Harry gratefully took the offered candy and broke it into four pieces. He broke his in half before popping a part of it into his mouth. "Here, have them eat this. You'll need to find a way to get this piece to Diana." He handed the pieces to his girlfriend.
Hermione ate hers as she turned around and went to the back of the closet. There were gentle whispers of encouragement and after a few moments she re-emerged.
"We'll need to leave them there for now." Moody said quietly. We're going to have some company in a few minutes ..."
Hermione was at Harry's side with her wand drawn. "I told them to stay where they were and to leave the cloak over themselves."
"I don't want you in danger." Harry whispered back.
"We've been in worse spots, Harry, or have you already forgotten the Department of Mysteries?" She retorted.
"I remember that all too well, thank you! I keep playing that moment in my mind over and over again ..."
"There's nothing you could have done for Sirius, Harry!" She cut him off.
"Not Sirius! You! I thought I lost you that night!" Harry was starting to lose his temper.
Hermione was on her heels. "Well, you didn't lose me, Harry." She looked him directly in the eyes. "And you're not going to lose me. But I'm not going to sit back and watch you try and protect me by yourself when you know full well that I can protect myself!"
Harry sighed. "I just don't want to see you hurt again, Hermione. I don't want to face that feeling again."
"You won't, Harry." She said as she reached up and softly cupped his cheek. "I'm not going to leave you and I want to help you."
Harry caught a glimpse of movement out of the corner of his eye. He looked quickly, startled to see Lupin gasping for breath. Behind him, with an evil grin on his face, was Wormtail. Lupin's eyes lolled into the back of his head as he fell into a heap on the kitchen floor, revealing a bloodied, silver hand at the end of Peter's outstretched arm.
"So long, old friend." He said with a rat-like hiss.
"REMUS!" The three remaining members shouted at once.
Before they could act, Harry had his wand up. "PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" The curse hit Pettigrew in mid transformation and the half-rat/half-human fell to his face on the blood soaked kitchen floor.
Hermione rushed to their ex-professor's side. "He doesn't look good." She said through a sob. "The wound is already infected and his breathing is shallow! He's losing too much blood!"
Something slammed into the front door. Harry and the others took cover and Tonks dragged Lupin behind the counter, muttering as many healing charms as she knew. Hermione joined in and soon the blood loss slowed.
The door bowed slightly with the next assault.
"The only way we'll get everyone out is through the Floo!" Kingsley growled from his vantage point.
"Moody! Are they circling around the house to the broken window?" Harry asked quietly.
The retired Auror looked around the house with his magical eye. "Two of them, one on each side of the house. Two are up front trying to break the door in. Most likely a distraction to let the others sneak up on us."
"I'll take the one on the left. Kingsley, you take the one on the right. Moody, keep the other two busy if you can." Harry whispered the orders out with such confidence the others didn't question him. "Tonks, Hermione, freeze the other two and try and disillusion everyone so that the house looks empty."
Without checking to see if things were being done, Harry ran to the window and leapt into the air. He transformed into his owl form and flew up over the house. The winds were strong, but he was able to steer his way to the left side of the house and behind the advancing Death Eater.
The lumbering oaf didn't know what hit him. The wind was fierce, Harry's landing went unnoticed and his shouted curse never reached his target's ears. Crabbe senior stiffened when the petrificus totalus struck and he fell sideways into a snow bank. Harry raced around the corner to see Kingsley leap from nowhere and render the equally slow Goyle senior to a crumpled, babbling heap.
There was a large explosion that caught the two men unawares. They raced to the front of the house to see the last two of Voldemort's servants rush into the cabin. Harry bolted to the door as fast as he could.
Moody was lying on his face, stiffened with his hands frozen to his eyes. Boils were covering most of the exposed flesh and he had been caught with a freezing spell in the midst of a mad attempt to clear his eyes.
Mr. Granger had recovered from his shock and was rushing out of the bedroom holding a dowel that once held coat hangers filled with clothes. He was using it like a bat in an attempt to fight off one of the intruders.
Harry was nearly frozen in shock when one of them lifted their wand and shouted. "AVADA KEDAVRA!"
Without thinking, Harry raised his wand as a vague memory rushed from his Defense Against the Dark Arts classes. Time seemed to slow down as the charm raced from his mind to his mouth. "ANIMADOMUS!" He bellowed as the green light erupted from the Death Eater's wand on a killing path towards Hermione's father.
Miraculously, the green light stopped in mid-air and reversed itself, gained momentum, and struck the one who had issued the spell directly in the chest. Without a sound, he fell to the floor, dead.
The remaining assailant turned around in astonishment and gaped at The-Boy-Who-Lived. "What?!" Was all he could say as Mr. Granger's make-shift bat slammed with a sickening crunch into his skull. The man fell to his knees then to his face unconscious.
"What the bloody hell just happened here?!" Robert Granger was shouting at the top of his lungs.
"Hermione! Tonks! Are you ok?" Harry shouted as he regained his wits and looked around the room. The two women reappeared from behind the kitchen counter.
"We're fine. Lupin is stable, but he doesn't look good." Hermione said with a squeak. Tears were running down her cheeks.
Harry gave her a grim smile. "See if you can't keep him stable a while longer. Tonks, can you help Moody?" Tonks gave him a quick nod and Harry made his way to the enraged father.
"Mr. Granger." Harry said in a quiet, even tone. "We were lured here by forces that want me dead."
Hermione's father blinked stupidly at him. "What? Hermione invited you to spend the holidays with us. There's a dentist's convention here we were invited to attend."
Harry shook his head. "Sir, you were given false information. I overheard these three talking about it all." He pointed to the now visible but still frozen forms of Wormtail, Bellatrix Lestrange, and the unidentified man. "It seems they also forged Professor McGonagall's letter and made sure I would arrive here with you on the same flight and with the same itinerary."
Hermione stood next to Harry. "That's right, Dad." She said in a soft voice. "I heard them too. Just before Harry had me move everyone into the closet."
"Hermione, why don't you make sure your mum and sister are ok?" Harry offered. "It looks like this is going to take a good amount of explanation." Hermione nodded and went into the bedroom.
"Why would they go to all that trouble? I know Anne and she wouldn't do anything like this!" Mr. Granger bellowed at Harry. "What would make them so sure that you'd be with us if it was you they were after?"
"Hermione." Harry said simply.
"What does my daughter have to do with this?!" The angry father yelled in Harry's face.
"It seems that Voldemort knows how much I care for her. He'll do anything to break me, even kill the ones I love." Harry looked at the floor when he should have dodged. He was now lying on the floor holding his jaw as Kingsley quickly had one very enraged father in a tight arm-hold.
"Let me go! Get away from my family!" He shouted at the top of his lungs. "You have no right to endanger my daughter this way!"
"DAD!" Hermione shouted when she saw what was going on. "What happened?!"
"You are not to spend another minute with Harry Potter, young lady!" Robert Granger shouted again. "No daughter of mine is going to put her life on the line because of him!"
"I don't want her in the line of danger, Mr. Granger!" Harry retorted as he got back to his feet. "I love her too much to do that!"
"Dad, I love Harry too much to let him deal with this on his own. I love you too, but I'm not going to leave him. Not now, not ever." She looked at her father with sad yet determined eyes. "He's saved me more times than I can count, and I'm not about to let him face these people alone."
"Young lady, as long as you live under my roof, you will obey my rules!" He was red-faced and seething at this point.
"Robert! Calm down!" Mrs. Granger said with the authority that her marriage gave her. "If you happened to notice, Harry saved your life!"
"What?!" He looked at his wife incredulously.
"It's true, Dad." Hermione said with a shaky voice. "That man who shot that green light at you? That was the killing curse. There isn't supposed to be a counter-curse to it, but it seems that Harry found one."
"The killing curse?" His anger was quickly forgotten and he stared at his eldest daughter.
Hermione nodded. "If that had hit you, you would have died instantly. Did you see the effect it had on the one who cast it at you?"
Mr. Granger looked at the man crumpled in a heap next to the sofa. His arms stuck out at strange angles as did his legs, almost as if he was a man-sized rag doll that some child had thrown in the corner.
Moody groaned from his sitting position on the floor. "Bloody furnunculus jinx!" He cursed under his breath. "Sorry about that, they rushed in ready for an ambush and got me between the eyes."
Harry smiled at his friend grimly. "How you feel?" He asked quickly. "It looks like you'll have some scars from the scratching you did."
"Yeah." Moody growled under his breath. "Just add a few more to the mix. I'm going to be fine. It's Remus we need to be worrying about."
"Remus?" Mrs. Granger asked quietly. "Your professor from third year?"
Hermione and Harry both nodded. "He was attacked by his 'old friend' Peter Pettigrew." Harry added. "Remus is a werewolf and has a special weakness with silver."
"Peter has a silver hand." Hermione added. "It might have poisoned him beyond being able to save him."
"Let's take the Floo and we'll have him in St. Mungo's as quickly as we can." Tonks said as she pulled a pouch from her pocket.
Harry thought for a moment as Tonks walked to the fireplace. He remembered something about a fire and Hermione from his dream. "NO!" He ran to Nymphadora before she could pitch the floo powder onto the grate.
"What are you doing, Harry?!" She shouted in surprise.
"We can't take the Floo. There's something wrong with it!" Harry explained as quickly as he could.
"Let me have a look." Moody said as his eye spun around to the chimney. "Oh, that's one bad piece of magic on the fireplace." He said with a whistle. "If anyone had used it, they would have been ripped to shreds during transit."
Tonks' face paled considerably. "I-I didn't know." She stuttered.
"It isn't easy to see, even with this." Moody pointed at his spinning eye. "I had to really concentrate to see that subtle curse they put on it."
"How are we going to get out of here then?" Harry asked after a moment. "I know that you three can disapparate. Hermione and I haven't been trained in that yet, and the Grangers are muggles."
"I'm not sure if there's another house close enough to use the Floo." Hermione said after a moment. "I was asleep until we got here."
"We'll just have to ask Sirius to send word to Albus." Kingsley said after a moment.
Everyone turned towards the tall man.
"That just might work." Moody said with a grin appearing on his face. "You hear that, Sirius? Get to Dumbledore and let him know we need a portkey that can get us to St. Mungo's."
"He's here?" Harry said with a gasp.
Moody chuckled. "He was, Harry. Dumbledore has had him keeping an eye on you. You must have felt him around you from time to time? A shadow here, a noise there, or maybe even a touch from time to time when he was worried and trying to warn you?"
Harry thought about this new revelation. "There was someone moving around ... err ... the house. And, and someone touched my shoulder when I was looking in the mirror."
Moody nodded. "That was him alright. He didn't want you to see Voldemort's headquarters, he was afraid that you'd take off on some half-brained scheme to save him. And look where you turned up, right next door!"
There was a burst of flame in the middle of the living room and Harry snapped his head and wand to the intrusion with a quickness belying his form.
"Fawkes!" He exclaimed with a smile.
The phoenix warbled a greeting as he dropped a large, flat bicycle tire on the floor in front of them.
Inspiration hit Harry. "Fawkes, can you heal Remus? He was attacked with a silver weapon tonight and he won't be able to survive a portkey trip!"
The magical bird hopped to Harry's shoulder as the young man went to his friend's side. The phoenix jumped to the ground and bent his head over the exposed wound on Remus Lupin's back and let its tears drip quietly into the tender skin. Within a matter of seconds, the green and purple tinge of the infection cleared up and the man groaned as he regained consciousness.
"What? Fawkes?" He looked up at the magnificent bird, his eyes slowly slid into focus.
"How do you feel, Remus?" Harry asked tentatively as his old professor moved into a sitting position.
"Stiff, but fine." He said with a gravelly voice. "W-where's Peter?"
"He's been frozen, Professor Lupin." Hermione said with a smile. "We thought we lost you."
"I thought I was lost." He looked at the half-transformed animagus lying at the other end of the kitchen.
"Oi, Harry." Tonks called from across the room. "Dumbledore sent a note with the portkey. We have about five minutes left before the portkey activates. We need to get ready."
Harry looked at the rest of the people in the room. "Mr. Granger, you need to get your luggage together. We're heading home in a few minutes."
"How are we going to get home?" The older man asked incredulously. "We don't have a car to get to the airport." He seemed much calmer after his wife had taken him aside and talked with him.
"No time to explain in detail. The portkey here will transport us. All you need to do is touch it and hold on to your luggage. It doesn't take long to get where we're going." Moody said quickly.
Hermione took a still sleeping Diana from her mother's arms. "Get your bags together, Mum, Dad. We'll be back in England in a few minutes."
Without further questions, the two older Grangers gathered their things and met with everyone in the living room. Each of the adult wizards grabbed a Death Eater as did Hermione, Harry, and Mr. Granger. Mrs. Granger clutched her baby to her chest as they all grabbed the old tire.
"Three ... two ... one ..." Harry felt the familiar hook behind his navel as his feet lifted from the ground once again. He shot forward through the swirling wind and color and felt Hermione bouncing against him on one side and Lupin on the other. They found themselves stumbling to their knees in St. Mungo's entry hall a few, short minutes later.