Disclaimer: Harry Potter and related characters and settings belong to J. K. Rowling. The Lord of the Rings and related mythology belong to the heir of J. R. R. Tolkien.
A/N OK, easy enough title, thank God. It's in Sindarin: "Dagor" is "battle", "min" is "in", "Haered" is "remote" or "distant", and "dor" is "land". So the title is "Battle in a distant land".
Chapter 12: Dagormin e Haered-dor
The smell of smoke and the screams of children filtered through the air. The staff and the older students fought valiantly but the explosions kept coming, little by little reducing the castle into a heap of rubble. And those creatures, vile creatures of charred black skin, wielding such sinister bladed weapons and issuing malicious cackles. Orcs they were called, but no one really cared about what they were called, only how to fight them. Those who could fight continued to blast away the Orcs with strong bursts of magic. Yet no matter how many Orcs fell, more kept pouring into the castle through the openings, never ending like a plague of locusts ready to devour everything in their path.
One of the Orcs made it passed the magical barricade. Snarling, it leapt upon a terrified 11 year old girl. Screaming, the girl ducked down waiting for the painful fangs of death: only they never came.
"Hiya!" cried Angnathron as he smashed the Orc away with his war hammer. "Run Lassie!" The girl immediately stood up and ran toward the relative safety of the Beauxbatons staff. "Ah, my hammer desires more Orc blood to be spilled!" roared the Dwarf. His bashed the head of another nearby Orc.
A third Orc leapt up upon Angnathron only to be blasted away courtesy of a curse fired by Nymphadora Tonks. "Watch it Angy! I got your back!" she said cheekily.
"'Angy'? That's a new one," said Angnathron. He crushed his hammer upon the chest of another Orc.
"Don't you like it?" asked Tonks as she blasted another Orc.
"I'm not one for nicknames, Nymphadora."
"Don't call me Nymphadora! It's Tonks!"
"Like I said Lass, I'm not one for nicknames."
"It's not a nickname! It's my family name that I prefer over my..."
Tonks was interrupted when another figure, this time not an orc but rather a pale humanoid baring large canines, swooped toward her. Luckily, Remus Lupin showed up right behind her and stabbed his wand into the creature's heart, whereupon the creature dissolved into dust with an unearthly scream.
"Vampire," said Lupin. "Careful Nymphadora, Moody would say you aren't being vigilant enough."
"Don't call me Nymphadora!"
The Order of the Phoenix managed to erect a magical shield over the nearby opening which managed to stop Orcs from pouring into the castle for the time being. They quickly set about evacuating the students as quickly and efficiently as they could.
"Hurry up!" demanded Moody as he ushered the students to pick up small pieces of rubble. "The spell is Portus. Make sure you think of Hogwarts as you're using the spell or who knows where you'll end up"
Fleur Delacour suddenly entered the chamber crying, "Gabrielle! Where eez my sister? I can't find 'er!"
We've already looked in her dormitories and common room," said Bill Weasley, coming behind her along with a few younger students. "We managed to find a few younger students who got left behind but no sign of Gabrielle."
"Continue your search," barked Moody. "He turned to Lupin, Tonks, and Angnathron and said, "You three, head to the main entrance and hold off the enemy there!"
"We're on it!" said Lupin. The three of them started making there way to the main hallway of the castle. They passed by many fires and rubble, often hearing the screeches of ungodly creatures issuing from the outside.
"You think we have a chance, Laddie?" asked Angnathron. "I may have no clue how many of the enemy is out there, but its clear that we're vastly outnumbered."
"We have to at least try," said Remus. "There's no way I can say for sure that... AAAAAH!" Remus Lupin suddenly fell to the floor and started convulsing. The other two stopped dead in their tracks.
"Remus, what's wrong?" asked Tonks, as she kneeled down beside him.
Lupin appeared to have a hard time speaking as each breath he released came with a struggle. "The... wolf. The wolf... it's trying to come... out!" he managed between gnashed teeth.
"How is that possible?!" exclaimed Tonks. "It's only the half moon! The werewolf side of you isn't due for weeks!"
Angnathron's face twisted into a look of dread. "Voldemort-Sauron! He's here!"
"What? How do you know?" asked Tonks.
"According to the old writings, Sauron was once the lord of werewolves at the tower of Tol Eresa," exclaimed the Dwarf. "Back in those days, werewolves were evil maia who could transform into wolf form at will. Modern werewolves were born when seeking to escape the wrath of the Valar following the final battle of Beleriand the ancient werewolves possessed certain humans which eventually became modern lycanthropic werewolves. But ancient or modern, all werewolves still answer to Sauron."
"Oh my God," said Tonks. "Remus, you have to fight it! Fight it!"
Lupin continued struggling as if he were in a fit. "I will not... will not... not lose to the monster! I... will not be... come the monster!" With a great heave of strength, he pulled himself to his feet though he was clearly still struggling. "Let's go!" he hissed through gnashed teeth.
Tonks still had her reservation but she followed Lupin and Angnathron to the nearby main entrance only to find that something was trying to beat their way through it: something massive.
"Whatever comes through the door, stand your ground," shouted Angnathron, brandishing his weapons. Lupin was starting wheeze though he looked ready for a fight.
Only a second later, the doors blasted apart and three armored trolls equipped with large metallic maces charged into the castle with a roar. Unfazed, the fearless Dwarf let out a war cry and leapt toward the lead troll, only to end up being knocked aside into the back wall. Angnathron fell to the ground groaning in pain, his arm clearly broken. The lead troll came forth and swung his mace down toward the fallen Dwarf with a grunt; only it never landed.
Remus Lupin had suddenly stepped in front of Anganthron and caught the mace with his bare hands, utilizing inhuman strength. "Lupin?" questioned Angnathron. Letting out a roar that was more wolf-like than man like, Lupin threw the mace aside, leapt at the lead troll slashing at its face with his nails which were seemingly more like claws now. The wounded troll screamed before it toppled over due to loss of balance in its weight. Using more beast-like agility, Lupin leapt at the other two trolls, shoving them back to the wall. The strength of the werewolf was so great that the trolls crashed into the walls reducing it to rubble before falling to the ground.
Lupin landed on his feet, his face covered with sweat, his back hunched over, and his breath wheezing through his teeth. "I... I... I am... master of the beast! I... will not be... enslaved by the... beast!" he said with a canine growl.
"Right you are Laddie! Master the thing!" shouted Angnathron as he pulled himself up. He turned to Tonks and said, "What do you say lass? There's nothing to worry about ole' Lupin."
Tonks however did not answer. Her face was deathly pale and she appeared to be in a state of shock. She hadn't been paying too much attention to the trolls as her eyes were completely glued to the view outside through the broken doors: an ocean of char black heading back over the horizon clearly thousands upon thousands of orcs marching toward the castle. "Oh my God!" she whispered.
* * *
As the Order was busy evacuating the students, Mad-Eye Moody's magical eyes was constantly revolving, searching through the rubble and walls for any students that had fallen behind. He seemed to have noticed something as he called, "Weasley, up on the tower!"
"Mad-Eye? What do you see?" asked Bill.
"It appears to be our young Miss Delacour."
Hearing that Fleur burst into tears, "Iz she... iz she dead?" she whispered.
"No," said Moody, "but she will be unless you get up that tower and get her out of that debris."
"Let's go," shouted Bill. He and Fleur dashed up the nearby spiral stairs, running as fast they could manage. They finally made it to the top of the tower which overlooked much of the castle. Finding a large pile of debris, Bill cleared it with a tricky spell to find the unconscious, critically injured, yet still alive form of Gabrielle Delacour.
"Gabrielle! Oh Gabrielle! She iz alive!" exclaimed Fleur as she cradled her sister, tears streaming down her face.
"Come on, let's get out of here. Mobilicorpus!" Bill gently levitated Gabrielle and they turned around. It was only then that they saw the sea of thousands upon thousands of orcs covering the entire eastern side of the Beauxbatons ground: an army far larger than any wizard during that life time had ever seen. Bill was so shocked that he nearly let Gabrielle fall and Fleur already pale face was stark white.
"Sacre Bleu," she whispered.
As if the site of the army wasn't bad enough an ear piercing screech was heard from the sky. Terrified, Bill and Fleur looked up to see for shapes descending toward the castle: four black, winged, dragon like beasts though they were far fouler than the noble dragons. The breath of these fell creatures appeared to decay everything in its path and their visage seemed to suggest that they were of a race older than the ancient days. And riding those Fell Beasts were beings of greater dread: four men hidden under midnight black robes and hoods carrying great weapons. It was these humanoid entities that had issued the screeches as they swooped down toward the castle accompanied by a troupe of Dementors.
So terrified were Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour that neither could later recall how they made it down from the tower.
* * *
"Mad-Eye!" shouted Tonks as she made her way back. Falling behind her were an injured Angnathron and a still convulsing Lupin. "Mad-Eye! We have to get out of here now!"
Moody looked toward them relieved to see them back. Bill and Fleur also noticed them but they still appeared to be in a far too large state of shock to say anything.
"Thank God you've made it back," said Moody. "I was worried you may have suffered from shock like these two. They'll be OK once we make it back to Hogwarts."
"How about the students and faculty?" asked Angnathron.
"I've managed to get all the survivors back to Hogwarts," said Moody. "Now it's our turn, let's head ou..." It was then that Moody seemed to have noticed something through his magical eye as his face started to pale.
"What is it Mad-Eye?" asked Tonks.
"Nothing, nothing important. Just..." Moody suddenly whipped out his wand and with a blast, threw all the others into a nearby closet. Before any of them could recover, the closet closed shut and locked.
"Mad-Eye? What are you doing?" shouted Tonks as she started banging on the door of the closet.
"If all of us stay and fight all of us will be killed," said Moody from the other side of the closet door. "However, if one of us stays behind as a decoy, the others can escape!"
"What are you talking about?" demanded Tonks. It was just then that she started feelinga tugging sensation around her navel.
"He's turned the closet into a portkey!" exclaimed Angnathron.
"Mad-Eye no!" screamed Tonks. "ALASTAR!"
Just as the closet disappeared, monstrous, fiery form of Gothmog II burst into the room. The Balrog looked down at Moody and growled, "Ah, a fresh victim."
* * *
Only a mere thirty minutes later, the Dark Lord Voldemort-Sauron walked through the remains of Beauxbatons castle surrounded by his Death Eaters, observing the damage firsthand. He stopped by the mangled body of Alastar "Mad-Eye" Moody and said, "I see Gothmog's been doing his job quite well." He kicked the corpse aside.
A Nazgul entered the room carrying a silver chalice. He walked over to his master and offered it to him. Voldemort-Sauron gladly took it.
"Two in our possession," said the Dark Lord with a laugh, "Only one left to go!"
To be continued...
A/N Darn it! The great two headed monster rears its head again: the combination of lack of free time and serious writer's block! Blast! Sorry for the delay. I should be over my case of writer's block by now so hopefully the next chapter should come soon.