Unofficial Portkey Archive

Chapter Twenty-Two

"Sweet Mother of Merlin....." James said, his eyes traveling upwards, and growing wider by the second.

Giants. No less than twenty giants. All of them, pounding with their giant clubs into the buildings surrounding St. Mungo's. Not only that, but a large army of an assortment of dark creatures, who were crawling in and out of buildings, reeking havoc whomever they could get their hands on. If one thought that this attack was completely random, the five Death Eaters instructing all the creatures put that thought to rest.

"Are they all creatures?" Fabian asked. "We could blast them all with one shot!" He brandished his wand and aimed for one group of dark creatures. James was quick to grab his arm and pull him away.

"You can't just exterminate them as if they're pests!" he said, shaking his head.

"Oh, really?" Gideon said, ripping James' hand off of his brother. "What do you suggest then, James? Stunning them?"

"We can't..."

"There's no time for your social commentary!" Gideon growled. "People are dying!"

"But-"

James couldn't finish his statement because Sirius had grabbed him by the arm and pulled him out of the way of a giant club swung by one of the giants.

"Thanks, mate," James muttered, getting his bearings back. They had become separated from the Prewett twins in the craziness that was the street before them. But he had just gotten himself back on his feet, when Sirius yanked him to another place of safety, because the giant apparently wanted to try to make some pancakes.

"You need to get out of here," Sirius said, dragging James up the street out of harm's way. "Go back - THUMP - to the office - THUMP - and get - THUMP - everyone!"

"What - THUMP - about - THUMP - you?" James said, the giant club barely missing his much- wanted appendages each time.

"I'll - THUMP - be - THUMP - fine, - THUMP - if - THUMP - you - THUMP - hurry!" Sirius grumbled. "Now get out of here!" He pushed James out of the way and turned around to tackle the giant head on.

Without thinking anything else, James Apparated to the Atrium of the Ministry of Magic and ran over to the Statue of the Magical Brethren. He pulled out his wand and tapped the left arm of the wizard on the statue, thus causing an alarm to go off one floor below him, in the Auror offices.

The arm extended to James' face and he blinked, clearing his throat.

"Erm? Hello? Is this thing on?" He sure felt stupid talking into a palm.

Even from one floor up, he could hear Moody yelling at him to get on with it.

"St. Mungo's is under attack by a bunch of dark creatures, so...erm....everyone needs to get there as soon as possible....erm....thanks?"

Deciding that was good enough for an alarm, James Apparated back to the battle field.

"Where've you been, Potter?!" Moody barked at him from his perch atop a giant, trying to get a spell to penetrate the thick skin.

"Sounding the alarm?" James said, looking up at him. "How'd you get up there?"

"Never mind that, idiot!" Moody growled. "Get your arse in gear and help people!"

"Oh sorry!" James nodded, shooting a spell up at the giant Moody was wrestling with. The spell ricocheted off the clip that held the giant's giant scrap of clothing together, and then bounced off of the gilding of a building, and then, miraculously, up the giant's nose.

Days later, James would not understand the geometry of how that happened.

The point was that it managed to stun the giant, or kill it, either way, it fell to the ground with a thud. Moody hopped off of its shoulders and walked over to James, who was still trying to figure out how the spell managed that angle....

"Bloody idiot!" Moody grumbled, slapping James upside the head. "I didn't mean help me!"

A pop appeared beside James and Remus was there. Moody grumbled and ran off to go tackle some other monstrosity.

"Glad you could make it, Moony," James smirked at him.

"Your announcement was quite amusing," Remus said, keeping close to James and helping him defend the both of them. "If I hadn't known it was you, I'd think it was a prank."

"What took you so long then?"

"Was in the loo," Remus smirked. "Can't drop everything for-"

James turned his head quickly when Remus stopped talking. He had turned as white as a sheet and was staring at a wizard who was not wearing a black cloak over his head, but who was blasting Aurors with everything he had. He had a savage look about him as he did so.

"What?" James said, keeping an eye out for anyone who would want to attack him.

"He's...a werewolf," Remus said, blankly, lowering his wand.

"Moony!" James exclaimed, just as a goblin decided to make them his next prey. Remus stepped back and couldn't tear his eyes away from the man, who was yelling things at the Aurors. Obviously, he betrayed his disease to them and was met with a silver arrow through his chest.

"MOONY!" James grumbled, grappling with the goblin that was trying to choke him.

"I-I can't stay here..." Remus said, putting his hand to his mouth and Disapparating.

"GERROFF!" Sirius said, running over to help James. He pulled the goblin off and blew it to smitherinnes for good measure. "What the hell is wrong with Moony?"

"I have no bloody idea," James shook his head. "He was looking over there...." He searched the area for any clues.

"We don't have time to fuck around, Prongs," Sirius growled, pulling him back into reality. "People are dying!"

"Right," James said, steeling himself and bringing his wand up to fight the next thing he saw.

But he suddenly found himself surrounded by blood-thirsty creatures. Everywhere he looked, there were teeth, and there was hissing, and there were scales, and it was all making his head spin.

He jumped when Sirius pressed his back against him, a sign that Sirius, too, had no idea what to do. They'd been in battles before, but this...this was bordering on a massacre. And they were soon going to be a part of the dead unless something amazing happened in the next few minutes.

"Retreat!" Moody called over the roar of the crowd. "The patients are out of the building! RETREAT!"

James turned to Sirius, who was looking back at him, a wild and scared expression on his face. It was the first time James had ever seen him truly scared, and it caused chills to go up James' spine. He reached down to grab Sirius' hand as a signal that James was still there, and Sirius squeezed it so tightly James thought his hand would fall off.

Before the two of them could Apparate to safety, they were distracted by twin cries of pain. "Prewett," they said, unison and looked about wildly for the source of the cry.

All five of the Death Eaters had decided to turn on the Prewett brothers, as they had obviously been disposing of massive amounts of the dark creatures. They were faring less well against their human enemies, however, and seemed to be running out of steam.

James and Sirius tried to break through the river of dark creatures to get to them to help. They pushed and shoved and clawed and kicked as hard as they could, because they knew, if they could get close enough to distract them for only a few seconds, the twins could get to safety....

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

It was the first time either of them had seen that curse performed on someone they knew. As Aurors they were permitted to use it, but nobody that they associated with chose to use it, choosing instead to bring the villain in as whole as possible.

Seeing the twins fall in unison to the floor, still sweaty, still shocked, still battling, was nearly enough to unnerve the two of them. If it weren't for the fact that Moody was still hanging around to make sure everyone got back safely, they probably would have suffered the same fate.

"There's nothing you can do for them, boys," Moody said gruffly. "We've got to retreat. We'll come back for them later."

The safe house was very subdued for all of the people in it, Lily thought. They had all appeared at once, and had the same look of uncomprehending shock on their faces. It was through scattered mumblings that Lily had learned the truth; the Aurors had lost the battle.

Apparently, the sheer number of creatures that had shown up was staggering. And also, word was that the civilian casualties were also staggering.

Remus was one of the first to show up. He still hadn't said a single thing to Lily, but just had a look of complete horror on his face. He'd retreated to one of the bedrooms, or the bathroom, and hadn't come out since.

Then they information came pouring in. Lily had gotten most of it while she was bandaging up the people who appeared there, but oddly enough, none of them were in a hurry (as they usually were) to get back to the battle. In fact, none had left once they appeared.

She had kept her eyes open for James or Sirius, and had gotten worried when she hadn't heard from them in a while. Somewhere, deep in her belly, she knew something was horridly wrong.

Relief washed over her when Moody appeared holding James and Sirius by the shoulders. Cold dread pierced her when they choked out two words.

"Prewetts. Dead."

The entire house went as silent as a grave. James and Sirius stumbled over to the fireplace to sit and stare off into space, still not recognizing what they had seen.

Moody cleared his throat, understanding that a speech was needed. However, he could not find the words to say it. So he pulled out a orange feather and it disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Two seconds later, a whoosh was heard, and Dumbledore walked out of the fireplace. His eyes first landed on James and Sirius, who were sitting on the edge of the fireplace, then they swept the room, landing on the ashen faces of those who knew the Prewetts the best.

He was quiet for a minute and then he turned to address the room.

"You have suffered...a defeat," he began quietly. "A horrible, heart-aching defeat."

Next to James, Sirius gave a small sniffle.

"You have lost two very fine Aurors this afternoon. They died like heroes, so I am told."

James bit his lip so hard that he felt as if he was going to make it bleed.

"What Voldemort wants... is for this to ruin us. We have never suffered a defeat like this before; you have never had to run from battle to keep yourselves alive. You may feel worthless right now, you may feel guilty for leaving when Gideon and Fabian Prewett stayed to fight."

Sturgis Podmore put his hand to his face and his shoulders shook.

"Gideon and Fabian stayed because they knew that if they stopped fighting, their sister and her two new children would have died as a result," Dumbledore said. "Our first priority was to ensure the safety of those inside the building. Thanks to Gideon and Fabian, who kept the Death Eaters occupied, we were able to get many people to safety." He did not discuss the three-hundred-and-twenty-three who were not able to be saved.

Lily now felt hot tears leaking down her face.

"However," Dumbledore said, looking at them all. "Each and every one of you combined could not have stopped the flow of dark creatures. If you had all stayed and fought, you all would have been killed, and then Lord Voldemort would be free to do as he wishes. As long as there is strength to fight, there will be hope. Their goal today was to unnerve us. Their goal was to make us afraid to come out and face them, to think that to defeat them is impossible."

Every face turned to look at him, as if his words were the very air they breathed.

"You must not let this deter you from your goal," Dumbledore stressed. "Instead of shying away from it, you must fight harder, stronger, better, so as to honor the memory of these two fallen Aurors who risked their lives so that others could live on, or, as in their nephews case, begin anew."

This was the final straw for some of the people in the room, as they burst into sobs. Dumbledore said nothing else, but headed back to the fireplace where James and Sirius were sitting, heads in their hands. He put his hands on both of their shoulders.

"Molly wanted me to thank you for watching her children," Dumbledore said, quietly. "And also for trying to save them."

Mouths too tight to say anything else, James and Sirius just nodded. Dumbledore passed them and went back into the fireplace, and with another whoosh he disappeared in a puff of fire.

The funeral was a very quick affair, three days after the battle, but word spread very quick throughout the offices. People were lined up out the door to pay their respects to the two heroes that saved St. Mungo's.

Gideon and Fabian's sister, still very weary from giving birth to twins, sat near the two caskets, a resolved, closed expression on her face. Her three older children sat still as statues, even the youngest understanding the solemnity of the occasion.

Remus had shown and paid his respects, and then had left quickly, still refusing to tell anyone what he had seen that had caused him to loose his cool the way he did. Frank and Alice were some of the ones who didn't cry, though Alice came close when she passed by Molly. Sturgis and Kingsley spent a while in front of the caskets as well, Sturgis having a harder time leaving when it was time. Emmeline had come by as well, dabbing her eyes with a napkin, but she had left quickly to follow Remus and try to coax out of him what it was that he had seen.

Professors came by as well. McGonagall sounded as if she had a head cold when she talked with the twins' sister. McGonagall took special pride in informing her that the twins were on the list to come to Hogwarts, and how she thought that they would make their uncles proud. Professor Sprout had also come by, as head of the house that both of them were in; she weeped and patted the caskets. Dumbledore had come by, of course, to pay his respects. He paused in front of the baby carriage that held the two red headed twins and paused to look down at them approvingly. Then he too had moved on.

Lily had come as well, but after looking at the family, she had run out, sobbing. Dorcas was one of the last people to come, as she had spent most of her time outside the building with James and Sirius.

Neither of them wanted to go inside. They didn't want to see the caskets, or the kids sitting erect, or the sister staring stonily at each person who paid their respects. They didn't want to keep reliving the deaths that they felt that they could have prevented. And if they could prevent having one more aspect of those deaths seared into their memories, then they were going to do it.

Finally, Dorcas had given up and gone inside by herself. Which left James and Sirius sitting on a bench outside the rickety house with one lean-to.

They couldn't say anything to each other; there was nothing to be said. It wasn't until the twins' sister waddled outside that they even looked up.

"You two need to go inside," she said, gently. When faced with their sister, James and Sirius couldn't say no. They stood up and walked inside, though every fiber of their bodies was telling them not to.

The house was crammed with chairs and platters of food that nobody had touched. Two closed caskets lay at the front of the empty living room. The older kids were gone, and so was the twin's sister's husband. All that was left was two caskets, a sister, and her two newborn babies.

"Go on then," she prodded gently. James and Sirius walked up together and each took a casket.

"Even in death, can't bloody tell them apart," Sirius said, thickly. James nodded.

They spent a few minutes, with their hands on the respective caskets, before removing them, and turning to walk out the door.

"Wait just a minute," the sister said, going towards the baby carriages. "I want you to meet somebody."

"Please-" Sirius said, holding his hand up. "I don't think I can-"

"Yes, me neither..." James shook his head.

"Please," she said, putting a baby in each of their arms. James felt as if his heart was being torn out of his body. Sirius looked as if he was feeling the same.

"I've named them George and Fred," she said, businesslike. "After their uncles."

Sirius could only nod, which was more than what James was capable of doing.

"My brothers would have rather died than have let anything happen to their family," she explained. "Life ends and life begins, that's the way that it has been and that's the way it always will be. They died so that these children could live."

James could feel his chest slowly becoming less tight. Somehow, holding this baby was like holding a reincarnation, and it made him feel better.

"Gideon and Fabian live on in the memories of those who loved them. And in their nephews."

"I expect great things out of them," Sirius said, letting out a watery laugh.

"And I expect to see great things continuing from the two of you," she said, taking the children back and putting them in the baby carriage. "As Professor Dumbledore told you, don't let this deter you from your ultimate goal."

"What is that goal, though?" James whispered.

She smiled and looked down at the babies. "Right there."