Harry Potter and the Last Stand
By: Winston Noble
A/N: All right, I looked over last chapter and realized how rushed it was, it seemed to go by way too fast. I've decided to make chapters more detailed and longer. Due to the major time consummation this will require, I will be updating a bit slower. Yesterday I put two chapters in one day. I will make it to one chapter probably every three days, depending on how busy I am, but there will be an update at least every weekend. R&R. Also, this chapter seems to be a little different. It had three separate important parts and they seem like they should be different chapters, but they are too short alone and they aren't important enough to get their own titles. So voila, three important parts rolled into one.
Chapter 3: The Fall of Diagon
Harry's days passed by slowly, and life at Grimmauld Place was hectic but cheerful. Tonks had come to wake up Harry for his first private lesson and found him and Hermione together. She smiled and left, closing the door quietly. Soon, everyone in Grimmauld Place knew about their relationship and everyone approved, even Mrs. Weasley.
As Harry met Tonks in the kitchen, the topic of Fred and George's new inventions was her new plan. Tonks had decided that they would start their training with the items. Over the summer, Dumbledore had extended the enchantments over Grimmauld Place to the backyard. So it was safe for them to begin their training there.
"Tonks," Harry started, "If these items are released to the public, wouldn't the death eaters know how to use them?"
"Fred and George are careful about how they sell their new merchandise, being sure to only release them to people they know can't be death eaters," she replied thoughtfully, "even so, they released weaker versions to the public, and they created much more powerful and more various items for the Order Members."
"So they're selling second rate things to the public?" he asked, a slight bit angered.
"Not at all. The equipment released for public sale is actually very powerful. But the Order's weapons are even more powerful. Then, of course, they also created an ingenious loophole. Every weapon they created and their effects can be cancelled with a simple spell. The spell doesn't even need to be spoken, making it even better against death eaters who use the equipment. Simply think of the spell `exitus' and point your wand and any weapon created by Fred and George will simply become harmless," Tonks replied happily, "Now then, lets go through this gear."
"Ok," Harry smiled.
"This," she said, indicating a small blue-glass ball no bigger then a snitch, "is an explosive. Fred said they got the idea after seeing a muggle hand grenade. Simply throw it hard enough to shatter and it will explode with tremendous force."
"Watch," she said, standing up. She threw it against the ground and it shattered. A force that blew Harry off his feet emanated from the point it had broken at, sending blue fire in every direction. The fire caught on everything, even the dirt. "Ingenious," Tonks smiled, "The fire is magical and it can't be put out by water. It can't be put out at all except by the `exitus' spell."
She sent a jet of water at it from her wand and it grew larger. "See? The flames feed on everything. They are basically unstoppable." She sounded proud of the twins. She raised her wand and flicked it at the flames and they all rose from the ground, the trees, the dirt and the grass and flew together to form a blue fireball floating in mid-air. They wrapped themselves together closer and closer, making the ball shrink and shrink until it vanished in a wisp of blue smoke.
"This is a freezy. It uses a complex spell to freeze everything in a target area. Just throw it hard enough to crack and it will freeze everything in the immediate area." She said, holding up a small white object that looked like a tiny star snowflake. She went down the list explaining a detailed amount about the items. "Dumbledore wants you to keep a full set on you at all times. Oh and Moody said it would be a good idea if you had a concealed blade on your person. He also said something about carrying your invisibility cloak and started drinking from a hip flask," she added, rolling her eyes. Harry made a mental note to keep Ron's knife with him.
"Alright, now Dumbledore thinks you have a good understanding of average level dueling so he wants me to train you with these first, so that you have an easy way to defend yourself until you become more proficient at more complex magic," she said, handing him a full set of Fred and George's inventions, "We are going to duel using only these items. You may use your wand only in emergencies during this duel and only to end the spells. Now, lets begin."
Without warning, she pulled out a purple sphere and hurled it at Harry. Harry ducked and narrowly avoided it, and then as he tried to place what the item was, he began to sink into the soil. He looked down to see that the soil had formed quick sand around him and was glowing a dark shade of magenta. Quick sand sphere, he thought.
Tonks then pulled out a green cube and squeezed it before throwing at Harry. It exploded into a thousand flashes of light. Harry's eyes burned in pain as the light seared through his eyelids.
"Come on Harry, be faster!" Tonks screamed excitedly, drawing yet another dangerous tool. Harry was too fast this time. He pulled out the blue glass sphere and hurled it at the general direction of Tonks. It shattered on her arm. He heard her scream. The flames had exploded from the sphere as they had done earlier, and had set fire to her upper torso and the right side of her body. She cried in pain.
She had dropped her wand and a wall of blue fire blocked her from it. She probably couldn't even see it. She couldn't put out the flames. Harry tried to reach for his but it was in his pocket below the sand. He desperately reached in the wet soil and tried to pull it out, only getting his arm stuck. He yelled out for someone to help. He desperately wished someone would come. But inside, no one heard. Tonks had placed a silencing charm on the door so they wouldn't wake Sirius's Mom.
Harry desperately thought of something he could do to save her. His hand was too far from his wand to do anything. Please please help someone, anyone, he thought desperately. He screamed and desperately thought the spell, hoping it would do something. Exitus exitus exitus exitus! He thought desperately. It wasn't doing anything. He concentrated harder. But everything was too hard to concentrate on. He thought of Tonks and how she had fought for him for the last two years. He thought of how he had met her, he thought of her kind soul. He thought of how she had helped him with Hermione. Then he saw Hermione. Hermione's beauty became transfixed in his mind and he felt a surge of love flow through his entire body. He felt stronger when he was with her. Now he recalled that feeling and thought of how Hermione had suffered last year. His thoughts of the past and present blended together and he no longer saw Tonks searing with pain. He saw Hermione.
"EXITUS!!!!" He shouted. The connection that bound him and Hermione together surged again and power flowed from every part of him. A flash of white light emanated from his position in the soil and the flames left Tonks, the ground, and the area around her, combining in a ball, wrapping themselves closer and closer until they smothered themselves out of existence and disappeared in a wisp of blue smoke yet again. The quicksand around Harry ceased to glow anymore and returned to regular soil and Tonks collapsed onto the ground in pain. The flashing lights that had impaired Harry's vision were no longer there.
Harry returned to the present, and he felt pain throughout his entire body. He tried to lift himself out of the soil but received only excruciating pain shooting through his body like needles for his efforts. He groaned in pain. He tried one last time. Pain shot through his body from his finger to his toes, like a wildfire it spread to his head and he screamed in agony, pulling himself out and collapsing onto the grass. He lifted himself up and received more electrodes of pain jolting across his body. He tried to stand and his leg gave out on him, and he fell to the ground. His body was sweating profusely. He crawled over to Tonks, every movement causing his muscles and joints to groan and protest and send more pain to his brain, trying to shut him down so they could finally rest.
He placed his hand on Tonks neck and felt a dull throb. She's alive, he thought. He heard the door open and he turned his head to face it. When his head reached halfway in between, his body screamed out in pain and his muscles finally succeeded in their goal. His body forced his mind to shut down, and he saw no more.
A/N: Poor Harry, Poor Tonks. I hated doing that. Hey! Don't leave, its not over! Second important plot turn coming up.
Harry awoke to be blind and confused to the darkness around him. He tried to move his body but his muscles screamed in protest, threatening to shut him down again. He heard voices and moved no more.
"He put out the spells without his wand Albus, how is that possible? I know my boys didn't finish at Hogwarts but they know their own merchandise. They say that it's impossible to stop without a wand. I mean I know he's great and everything but how on ear-"
"Molly, I know not what happened or how it did. When Mr. Potter awakens, I shall ask him about it. Until then, I ask that you leave here and let him rest. Tell Mrs. Granger that he will be fine; no doubt she is worried sick about him. I ask, however, that you inform no one of what happened. I wish to first figure that out before we tell anyone."
"Yes…yes, of course."
Harry heard footsteps leave and a door close gently. He tried to recall what happened but he was greeted with a headache that split his thoughts in two.
"Its all right to wake up now, Harry."
Harry opened his eyes to see a smiling Dumbledore. A sight that somehow made him feel much safer. "Professor," he asked, "What happened?"
"That is what I would like to ask you, you seemed to have ended the effects of the Weasley Twin's merchandise to stop without a wand in hand. A feat that the Twins have informed me is impossible," he said. "But then again, you are full of the impossible aren't you Harry?" he added, his eyes twinkling.
It all came rushing back to Harry. The events replayed to Harry in flashes of a slideshow. Tonks showing him the multicolored spheres. His body disappearing under the quicksand. Tonks screaming as the flames engulfed her. Harry thinking of Hermione. The flash of white light and then darkness. His head seared in pain and he winced. "Something wrong?" Dumbledore asked, "Is it your scar?"
"No sir. Just a head rush," he responded.
"Molly informs me that you preformed the counter-curse to the spells without a wand. Upon further inspection, your wand's last spell was indeed a hovering charm. What happened?" he asked, his voice full of seriousness.
"I don't know sir. I remember trying to reach my wand and then my hand getting stuck. Then I started thinking of the spell, hoping my wand would perhaps activate with it. Then I saw her almost die and I just screamed out the spell and the there was a flash of white light and my body just felt immediately exhausted," he said slowly, hoping Dumbledore didn't think him insane.
"Tell me Harry, what exactly were you thinking of?" he asked.
"I started to think of Tonks, sir. About how I've known her over the past two years. Then I remembered the day we spent together and how she gave me advice on…er…what to tell Hermione. Then I thought of Hermione and well, I thought of the day Lestrange nearly killed her and then…then I remember Hermione…on fire, instead of Tonks. Then I suddenly sent a surge of power and I shouted it out, trying to save Hermione…and…and…" he broke off, his head throbbing after the rembrances of what happened.
Dumbledore put a hand on his shoulder and Harry looked at him. "It is alright, I think I know what happened," he said calmly, "I ask that you rest and when you are feeling stronger I shall explain to you my theory."
He stood to leave and Harry drifted off into sleep. He felt exhausted. Pain still coursed through his body at regular intervals. He hoped that it wouldn't be like this for much longer. His thoughts turned to Hermione. He missed her. He wanted to see her again. "Hermione…" he said quietly before drifting off into sleep.
A/N: Okay, so here's the third important plot part, probably could've made this one chapter on its own, but I felt like it belonged with these two. Also, when I said he thought about the day Lestrange nearly killed Hermione, that is something that happened in this storyline, but hasn't been in the story.
Harry awoke the next morning to the sound of the usual clattering and stomping of people running up and down the stairs. He felt a heavy weight on his arm and turned to see Hermione lying on his chest, her cheeks red from tears. Why had she been crying, he wondered. Then yesterday's events came rushing back to him. He choked and looked to his right. He saw Tonks laying asleep, her burns seemed to be completely healed except for part on her right arm, which was covered in a thick orange goop.
A/N: I think that a `heavy weight on his arm' kind of makes Hermione seem fat. What do you? I debated whether or not to change that.
Harry turned away. He saw a daily prophet on his bedside and picked it up. He spent the remainder of the morning, reading the paper, which was uneventful and cheerful, with an empty obituary section. He read almost every article, running his fingers across Hermione's cheek and playing with her warm hair. She must have been up all night looking after me, he thought.
She suddenly sighed and spoke, "Oh Harry, I love you."
"I love you too," he said softly and happily, "I love you too."
She laid there for another half hour before waking up, "Harry! You're alright!"
"Of course I am, you're here," he replied, kissing her cheek.
She hugged him around the waist as if she never wanted to let go.
"You want some breakfast?" he offered.
"Only if you're there with me," she said smiling, and planted a kiss on his lips.
"I wouldn't miss it for the world," he smiled at her and she smiled back. Then, together they made their way into the kitchen.
"Good morning dears," Mrs. Weasley greeted them, "there's porridge on the table."
They ate in near silence hand in hand. Harry at first thought it would be difficult to eat with one hand, but he didn't notice it. Tonks joined them a few minutes later, and she smiled at them.
"Tonks, I'm sorry," Harry suddenly blurted out.
"Don't be, I didn't give you much of a choice to defend yourself, and I shouldn't have been so hard on the first try, I also should have had a better grip on my wand. If anything, I should be thanking you for saving my life," she smiled, "Besides, the pain is all gone, it wasn't that bad anyway."
"Really?" Harry smiled hopefully.
"Really," she smiled. She began to eat her porridge and it was very quiet until Ron burst in, "Harry! Guess what, I got new dress robes! They look really good on me! They are deep red like our house color and they are made of this silky material," he would've kept going on and on, but Harry cut him off.
"Honestly Ron, you sound like your sister," he said, Hermione giggled. "Besides," he continued, "we don't need dress robes this year."
"Yes we do, didn't Hermione tell you? Dumbledore gave her permission to plan a dance for 4th years and up," he replied.
"Oh yes! I'm sorry, I forgot what with all that happened yesterday," she said looking at him with a sorry face on.
"Well its not alright at all that you didn't tell me sooner," he started in a mock-angry voice that had them all looking very scared, then he continued in a lighter tone, "you'll have to make it up to me by helping me pick out some new dress robes."
Hermione looked relieved, "Of course I will."
"I can take you three this afternoon if you'd like," Tonks said hopefully.
"No you cannot!" Moody's voice barked at them, "These three go nowhere without a full escort."
"Yes, well I'm free this afternoon, and you have no duties, and the twins are taking a day off, and I'm sure they would be eager to spend the day with us," Lupin's voice entered the room. "I mean, they would be eager to help guard these three young'uns," he said in a mock serious voice while nodding violently after Moody rounded on him. Moody turned to address them and Lupin rolled his eyes. "I SAW THAT!" Moody barked.
Tonks, Harry, Hermione and Ron all snickered. "We'll be happy to come along," Fred's voice said. "Yes, these three need looking after, they are only 17," George's voice chimed in, sounding oddly like Mrs. Weasley. Everyone laughed but Moody.
Then at around 2:00, they apparated into Diagon Alley. They had to stick together, so first they stopped off at Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. There, Harry tried on several different colors. He didn't quite feel like wearing green again, though everyone agreed it matched his eyes.
He finally was set on robes of a deep blue and they all left smiling happily at the jokes provided by Fred and George. They moved on, stopping off at Quality Quidditch Supplies. They then all stopped to admire the latest inventions in the sports world.
Ron goggled at the new broom in the Nimbus series, the Nimbus 2500. It looked similar to Harry's first broom, except it was sleeker, longer, darker, and had gold set into the handle and tail. Still, nothing had beaten the Firebolt for speed and maneuvering.
As Harry talked with the people who he admired as his surrogate family, he was at peace with himself and the rest of the world. He heard the bustling of the busy street outside. Children laughing and chasing each other while their mothers shopped. He heard the laughter of his friends and saw the smiles on their faces. He looked down at Hermione, whose hand he held in his own. He looked at her and smiled. It was bliss to be like this. He forgot all about the pressures of his life. For once, he was completely and totally happy.
Then they heard it. An explosion erupted among the happiness of the warm summer day. Then a child screamed. They rushed to the door and saw the black hooded figures. Sweeping in and allowing all hell to break lose. At least 50 of them approached from their right and another twenty or so on their right. They blasted anything in their path, the carts that elderly witches and wizards pushed, the buildings that had stood for generations, the men and women who tried to run, and the children. The innocent children died in flashes of green light. In Harry's ears, he heard silence, then Hermione grabbed his arm and the screams erupted in his ears as he snapped back to reality.
"WANDS OUT!!" Moody roared, sending several curses at the approaching ranks of Death Eaters. Three fell and three more blocked Moody's hexes sending several back. Lupin took the slack and blocked all three with a powerful shield. "STUN THEM!" Moody shouted, until George interrupted him, "We've got a better way," he said as he pulled out a handful of the blue glass spheres and hurled them into the middle of the ranks of death eaters approaching from the right.
They flew through the air in slow motion in Harry's mind. He watch them fall. There were eight in total. One shattered on a death eater's head, three more hit the a death eater in a chest, and two hit two death eaters in the arms and the last two shattered somewhere on the ground.
Harry thought that Hell had been unleashed on the Death Eaters. Blue flame spread from the shattered spheres like a ripple through a pond. The raging inferno lit every death eater in its path and several tried to use mist barriers to protect themselves. It was a bad idea, they simply fed the flame gas and they were instantly incinerated in a flash of blue light. Lupin was the first to see the flaw in the plan.
"Put out the fires or they will burn down the buildings, there are people inside!" he screamed at them. Everyone complied but Harry. Did they forget about the Death Eaters on the other side? They were less then 20 yards away now. Harry grabbed a handful of the twin's objects from his pockets and threw them at the crowd. Another Hell broke lose. White flashes blinded several death eaters and several froze in solid ice. Several were knocked back into shops and houses, blown back by one of the objects. But a considerable amount seemed unfazed and continued their march, killing everything in their way.
A green jet of light shot from one of the hooded figure's wands and hit Hermione in the back and she shot into the wall and her wand flew into the air. Harry caught her wand and Hermione crumpled to the ground. Anger surged through him like wildfire and he raised both his and Hermione's wand to curse the death eaters into oblivion but then he heard someone shout, "AVADA KEDAVRA!" He turned to see Roger Davies fall to the ground, dead. Anger surged through him again and he shouted stupefy. Instead of the usual red spark, a red beam of raw energy shot out from both wand tips and connected with two death eaters. Their silhouettes shined red as they were raised into the air and then shot back into the buildings behind them, one crushing a fruit stand and one flying in a window.
"CRUCIO!" a voice shouted from behind him. He screamed in pain as thousands of knives tore his body and mind to pieces. "OBLIVIATE!" he heard Lupin's voice shout and Harry was immediately released. He collapsed to the ground and saw Lupin point his wand at the Death eater's head and repeat the memory charm. "You are a bird," he muttered in the Death Eater's ear.
The man wandered around the battlefield aimlessly cooing and chirping at his enemies and allies, no longer able to tell the difference. He made it about 6 steps before a fellow death eater ended his life and continued fighting.
Hermione crawled over to him. He handed her back her wand. Then hugged her and told her to get somewhere safe. He stood and fired spells in every direction. He saw an elderly lady trying to hold off a death eater. Behind her, he recognized Macnair who raised his wand and began to mutter the killing curse. Harry saw Ollivander's sign above him.
"REDUCTO!" he shouted. It hit the chain supporting the sign and it swung downward with the force of a charging rhino. Macnair's surprise was almost comical. He turned to see the sign hit him in the chest, breaking his rib cage and send him into a window. He wasn't getting up. He turned to see that Avery had finished the elderly lady and had proceeded to her toddler son. Harry charged forward and before he could say anything Avery shouted, "EXPLLIARMUS!"
Harry's wand shot into the air and Avery caught it. He threw his head back to laugh but he didn't see that Harry hadn't stopped charging. Harry hit the death eater full in the chest slamming him to the ground. Harry picked himself up and threw punch after punch at Avery's face. Not stopping after he had blood on his fingers.
"IMPENDIMENTA!" Avery gasped. Harry was thrown back off Avery. Avery picked him up by the collar and dragged him to his feet and punched him. Harry felt like the sky had fallen on him. Avery lifted him up until Harry's feet dangled above the ground. "Pathetic child," he laughed evilly. Harry searched his pocket for something to use as a weapon. He felt something round and pleasantly warm to the touch.
"Pathetic this!" Harry screamed pulling the sphere out of his pocket and shoving it into Avery's open mouth. Avery choked. Harry wasn't done yet. He gathered all the strength he had left and hit Avery's chin with all his might and then held it shut. The death eater's mouth snapped shut and the glass sphere inside his mouth shattered, the glass cutting his gums and tongue into undistinguishable chunks of red. But that was the least of his worries.
The blue flame exploded with him, traveling through the path of least resistance. It went all through out his body, cleansing it of everything. Flame shot out his lips and eyes and ears and nostrils. He exploded in blue flame and crumpled to the ground. Harry gasped and grabbed his wand before rolling away from the burning carcass. He stood and surveyed the field. Moody was taking on three death eaters, Lupin was fighting Malfoy, Ron had turned over a table and reminded Harry of a sniper he had seen in a muggle war movie once. His spells shot like bullets and always hit their mark. Fred and George were a two man wrecking team. They each had a wand out and a box full of their own merchandise under one arm. Death eaters who had taken cover with whatever they could find surrounded them and they turned round and round firing various spells and throwing various items at the tables and stands that death eaters used as barricades. They had their backs together and Harry didn't think they needed his help. No one seemed to. Several people Harry didn't know were also dueling, but the pair of girls inside Ollivander's wand shop caught Harry's attention.
Bellatrix Lestrange had been dueling Hermione and Hermione had put up quite a fight. Wands and boxes scattered the floor. Several chunks had been taken out of the walls and windows. Over on the side, Macnair had not moved from where the sign had left him.
"EXPELLIARMUS!" Bellatrix shouted, and Hermione's wand fell to the side. She raised her wand and prepared to finish her, "Avad-"
Harry came out of nowhere and tackled her into the corner of the shelf and then they both collapsed onto the floor; their wands fell into the piles on the ground. He muttered a spell he learned in 6th year, "Reveal to me."
His wand glowed bright red for a moment a few feet away he scrambled to it and his hand brushed over it and then Bellatrix's shoe came crashing down on his hand, he heard something crack and his hand erupted into pain. He screamed. She picked up a wand and muttered something while making a mad slashing movement, hoping to finish it before she fell and was left open. Her position was quite strange. Her left knee was on the ground, slightly rolling on several wands, and her right leg was stretched to its limit four feet away on Harry's hand. Instead of finishing it, the wand let out a feeble purple spark. She threw it out side and slapped him with all her might. She continued her mad slapping craze until Harry had a chance to mutter a spell.
"Reducto," he muttered feebly. His hand, which was still on his wand groaned in pain and a powerful red spark shot out and demolished the bottom layer of the shelf behind Bellatrix, causing it to wobble threateningly. She turned around and screamed, making a mad dash out of the isle. She did something quite stupid though. She ran down one way when she could've simply stepped to the side the other way. Harry rolled over just as the shelf fell to the ground.
Bellatrix dived out of the isle but not fast enough. The shelf landed on her right leg, pinning it with a sickening crack. She screamed. "Potter!" she wailed, "You're little mudblood girlfriend will die for this!"
Harry's heart rushed. He scrambled to his feet and ran through the next isle. He saw Hermione's beaten and crumpled form against the shelf at the end of the isle. There was blood trickling down her forehead. Just as he heard Lestrange mutter the curse, Hermione moan slightly in her semi-conscious state, and a person's foot steps entering the doorway, he dived out in front of Hermione to feel a pain in his body, hear the rushing sound of death, and green light flash before his eyes.
His vision went dark and he heard the person who entered the doorway say something and then he heard Bellatrix's scream as everything went even more blurred. "Harry…" a voice called to him but it became more and more distant. "Harry…."
Harry saw no more.
A/N: So? What did you think? It was a lot longer than my other chapters. SO PLEASE R&R! But before you do, remember, the story can't go on if Harry is dead, so no stupid questions like WHY DID HARRY DIE YOU MORON??? Hermione isn't dead. Neither is Tonks or Lupin or Ron. That's all you get for now.
Next Chapter: The ride back to Hogwarts. First glance at the DADA teacher. Why? BECAUSE HE/SHE HAS TO DEFEND THE HOGWARTS EXPRESS FROM DEATH EATERS! MWAHAHAHAHA!!! Also, guess which character is now a death eater? Can you guess? Huh? Huh? It'll be fun, but won't be out till Saturday. Awwww.
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