Harry Potter and the Last Stand

WinstonNoble

Rating: R
Genres: Romance, Action & Adventure
Relationships: Harry & Hermione
Book: Harry & Hermione, Books 1 - 5
Published: 07/02/2005
Last Updated: 03/04/2005
Status: in_progress

H/Hr R/L Harry's 7th year of Hogwarts. Pressures start overcoming our hero and he no longer has the will to go on. Hermione is the only thing keeping from falling off the edge. Rated R for extreme violence, graphic nudity, and mentions of suicide in later chapters. Ok, I was kidding about the nudity. It isnt at all graphic.

Chapters

1. Alone in the Dark

2. A Talk With Tonks

3. The Fall of Diagon

4. Going Home

5. Trials of Cunning

1. Alone in the Dark

A/N: Ok, it's my first full year fan fiction so please R&R.

Rated R for extreme violence and depression in later chapters. Mentions of suicide.

Also, there seems to be a problem with italization in this story. It ends after Ron's letter on my word document but it has the entire story italicized on Portkey. Hmmm.

Chapter 1: Alone in the Dark

Blackouts had plagued Surrey for most of the early summer. No one could explain why. Reporters said that power plant workers described the events as “machines going haywire.” Residents placed candles over most of their houses, and kept flashlights and matches on them at all times. They had become accustomed to the nightly blackout.

But there was one who was unaware of anything that went outside his room. A young 16 year old with black hair and green eyes spent his days on his bed. Hardly ever leaving for anything but food. He used to enjoy food. But he had started to become detached to it.

He had started to become detached to everything actually. He hated the third class meals he got from his aunt. He was sick of the all but innocent glares of pure hatred that the residents of number 4 Privet Drive shot him whenever they got the chance. He hated mostly everything. Except for sleep.

Sleep was his paradise for the most part. After several lessons of practice with Snape, he had become proficient at occlumency. No longer were his dreams cursed with the lingering screams of his mother or visions of the Cedric in the graveyard. It was very scarce that he would dream of Sirius falling through the veil. He had come to terms with that. He had accepted that it wasn't his fault.

He was Harry Potter, The Amazing-Boy-Who-Lived. That was his identity to the rest of the magical world. He was supposed to be their savior. But he didn't want to be. Other boys his age dreamed of the latest broomstick, or some new Zonko product. On occasion, they dreamed of that special girl whom they wanted to be with. But for Harry, he only dreamed of being able to dream of those things. He dreamed of being normal. He was alone.

He blamed himself for everything that had happened to his friends. He had nearly lost Hermione last year. This year he wouldn't let Voldemort harm his friends. This year he would finish Voldemort somehow. He thought long and hard about it, until the light from the window dimmed and night crept on. Harry Potter slowly drifted in to sleep.

BANG! Harry jumped out of bed and gripped his wand tightly. He slept with it under his pillow now. He grabbed his glasses and moved to inspect the noise. Something had hit the window. At first he thought it was hail from the storm that roared outside. Then he saw a familiar white among the darkness of night.

“Hedwig!” he moved to open the window. He was greeted by raging water that splattered the wall floor and Harry himself. He fought against the wind that blew strongly through the window, whistling as it went. He finally made his way through and pulled Hedwig inside off the roof.

Her wing was ruffled and several feathers were sticking out at odd angles. “You poor thing,” Harry muttered, removing the letters attached to her leg. He made his way to her cage and refilled her water and food with generous portions and let her next to it.

“Hold on,” he told her. He then preformed an enlargement charm on the inside and let her inside. She hobbled in gratefully, and then moved around to inspect her larger cage. Harry looked at her, feeling better that he had helped her, and then moved onto the letters she had brought. He opened the first one he saw, the one with the Hogwart's seal.

Dear Mr. Potter,

Please note that the new School will begin on September 1st. The Hogwart's Express will leave from King's Cross Station, Platform Nine and Three Quarters at exactly 11:00. Your position as head boy has been reviewed due to a request by Professor Snape. The staff has mostly agreed that you do indeed merit the rights to maintain your position despite your actions at the end of last year.

Enclosed is a list of supplies required for next year.

Harry was actually surprised at how short the letter was. He glanced over the list and something caught his eye.

The Art of the Duelist

By: Hamilton, Charles

Advanced Defensive Tactics

By: Grendon, John

So there teaching us dueling now huh? The voice in Harry's head stated. Dumbledore must've found a competent teacher then. He moved onto the next letter. He recognized Ron's untidy scrawl. He ripped it open and read it hastily.

Dear Harry,

Long time, no see mate. My family and I will be leaving for padfoot's old place soon. Hermione said she'll be there in a week and Mum says that Dumbledore will send someone to pick you up real soon. I don't see why you don't just apparate there. Guess what? Dad got a pay raise! The new minister took Dumbledore's advice to ally with the muggles quite far. He thought that first the entire magical community should be enlightened on muggles, so who better to do that? Also, Fred and George's new line of defensive trinkets are making business boom more than usual, you should see the money they are bringing in. They just keep showering us with gifts. They gave me a full set of every one of their products. It's amazing what they've invented. Between them and Dad, I feel rich and spoiled. Anyway, see you soon. Hope the muggles are treating you all right.

-Ron

Harry felt a surge of happiness for Ron. Ron had always been very touchy about being poor and it was hard for Harry to ever give him gifts. He was happy hearing that Ron was finally getting the same things that everyone else got. He thought it very clever of Fred and George for doing what they were doing. They knew that their family would never accept money because it would wound their pride. So Fred and George showered them with gifts instead. It took him a moment to register what he had meant by Padfoot's place. Then he realized that they were talking about Grimmauld place. Harry, feeling much better than he had in months, went to open the next letter.

Dear Harry,

Hope you've been having fun. I'll be meeting you and Ron at Padfoot's place. Did you get your book list? It's a lot less then I expected. I already had the Transfiguration books though. I wonder who the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is. How have your dreams been lately? I heard that you've mastered occlumency. That's great! See you soon and I hope the muggles are treating you right.

-Hermione.

Harry frowned at this letter. It seemed so…jumbled and mixed up. Like an awkward moment. Then he noticed something else and his heart nearly broke. He ran to the loose floorboard and unearthed a large rubber banded stack of paper. He ripped the rubber band off and looked through them.

Love, Hermione

With all the Love that I posses, Hermione

Much Love, Hermione

Love, Hermione

Love, Hermione

Love, Hermione

Much Love, Hermione…

Every letter was just like it. Harry looked down at the letter and felt his heart break for the second time in so many minutes. The familiar feeling of despair welled in his chest and tears brimmed in his eyes. He didn't hesitate to release them. He cried and cried and cried himself to sleep, the pain in his heart burning through him.

He should've told her. She spilled her heart out to him and he had held back his feelings for fear of her safety. Now she had moved on. She had forgotten about him. Her heart was set on bigger and better things. Harry fell asleep with those thoughts in his head.

If only he knew that she thought that there were no bigger and better things than Harry Potter.

A/N: First chapter completed! MWAHAHAHAHA! Next chapter: Harry goes to Grimmauld Place and decides he would win Hermione back. But Hermione has other ideas. She doesn't want to jeopardize their friendship or hurt like she had again. Fred and George give Harry a couple presents and so does everyone else! It's his birthday!

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2. A Talk With Tonks

Harry Potter and the Last Stand

A/N: Ok, so Harry is determined to win back Hermione. Please people R&R. Also, any one who wants to be a Beta email me or tell me so in a review.

Chapter 2: A Talk with Tonks

Harry was awoken by his uncle's screams. “BOY! GET DOWN HERE AND GET YOUR SICK FRIENDS OFF MY PROPERTY!!!!” he was enraged. Harry scrambled to his feet and threw on a pair of Dudley's old jeans and a T-shirt. He then ran down the stairs as fast as humanly possible, tripping on the sixth step and falling to the bottom in a painful heap.

“You ok there, Harry?” a familiar voice questioned. Harry looked up.

“Tonks?” he breathed. His nose was rather red and his right knee had painfully collided with the stair corner. His forehead was splitting down the middle in pain. The reason was obvious of course; he had landed on his face. Luckily, his nose had broken the fall.

“Wotcher, Harry,” she said grinning. She had bubble gum pink shoulder length curls. Here eyes were blue and wide with happiness. Other than that, her usual round face was happy and as normal as ever.

“Well if you're quite finished, I would ask you to leave my property immediately,” Vernon barley kept his voice below screaming. He was quite red in the face. He was very afraid that of all wizards.

“You would, would you?” Tonks scowled, turning to Harry, helping him up, “So your room where its always been?”

“Yeah-listen, what are you doing here?” he panted.

“Is that your greeting to your rescuer?” she smiled sarcastically at him.

“I'm leaving already?” he asked hopefully.

“Why wouldn't you be?” she questioned.

“Usually Dumbledore lets me rot here a few more weeks.” He mumbled to the ground.

“Well actually, I'm here to spend the day with you and then we'll set off for Grimmauld place.” She said rather knowingly.

“Er-Spend the day with me?” Harry was quite puzzled.

“You know, I'm taking you to Diagon Alley to get your books and things,” she said, wandering aimlessly around the room exploring the various muggle `artifacts'.”

“Oh,” Harry mumbled, and then in a brighter voice, “When do we leave?”

“Right now actually,” she smiled, flicking her wand and making all of his books and clothes, socks and robes, quills and papers fly neatly into his trunk. His socks paired themselves and flopped into his cauldron. “I've been practicing,” she winked at him.

Harry laughed. Then he levitated his trunk downstairs and into the pale blue muggle taxi that waited for them. The journey to London would be a long one, and Harry wasn't much of a small talk maker. Luckily, Tonks broke the ice for him. “Guess what, Harry?” she smiled at him.

“Er-What?” he replied.

“Dumbledore had decided you need training in dueling. So I'll be your private dueling instructor for most of the year. It's like pre-Auror Training!” she added excitedly, “He also decided that since I would need to give you lessons at least twice a week, I will be the `golden trio's' body guard through out the year. I'll bunk with Hermione.”

Harry stared at her for a few moments and a smile broke across his face, “Brilliant! What will we be learning?”

“Oh...er…um…” Tonks clearly had not thought it through all the way, “Basic Auror Training, then we'll move onto sequence spells. Then Dumbledore said that once you could beat me, you would continue your training with him so you would have someone to practice with who was in Voldemort's league.”

The conversation died down. Harry was not surprised she had said Voldemort's name. Dumbledore had started forcing people to. Harry's thoughts turned to Hermione, and then he did something very peculiar. “Tonks, can I ask your advice?” he asked.

“Sure, go ahead,” she replied, eager to start conversation.

“Well, there's this girl that's my really good friend. But well, I kinda want it to be more then friends with her.” He said slowly, choosing his words carefully.

“I see, well how does she feel about you?” she replied, analyzing the situation.

“Well actually, last year she told me she felt the same, but I turned her down because I didn't want Voldemort to hurt her,” he said, holding back tears.

“Is it Hermione?” she blurted out, looking surprised she had said it. “I'm sorry,” she started, “Hermione and I are actually good friends and she told me about her feelings for you last year.”

Harry was surprised at the information. He started to ask her about it, but they had arrived at the leaky cauldron. They got out of the car and levitated Harry's trunk into the bar. “So, what should I do?”

“Tell her, she deserves to know, and don't forget to explain why you turned her down in the first place.” Tonks said, eager to help, “Tom, keep hold of this for awhile, we'll be back in a couple of hours.”

She handed him the trunk, struggling with the weight.

“But…it's just that, I don't want to hurt our friendship,” he said slowly, his head to the ground so that she would not see his tears.

She thought for a moment and then gave him the best advice he had gotten in a long time, “If it's really a friendship, then it will last no matter what you tell her, but love, you can never keep something as complicated as love bottled up inside. It'll destroy you from the inside,” she said rather sagely. She seemed very wise for a moment, until she tripped over a bar stool and fell over, knocking over three chairs and breaking a glass.

Harry stifled a laugh. Tonks and Harry made their way through Diagon Alley. They stopped in several stores and filled their pockets with merchandise. They got everything Harry needed for school, and stopped in several extra ones, until they came to Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes.

“Awww, it's closed,” Tonks sighed, pointing to a sign, “Shame you can't see their defensive items.”

They moved on and stopped at several more places, until it was late in the afternoon. They were weighed down by merchandise and Tonks had bought something in secrecy while they were in the Quality Quidditch Supply Store.

They left Diagon and got Harry's Trunk back from Tom, then got in an ordinary muggle cab, and made their way to Grimmauld Place. On the way there, they talked merrily about Quidditch and the latest brooms. Nothing had beaten the Firebolt yet. When they arrived, Tonks made sure the cab was well gone before telling Harry the same thing he had learned in 5th year. He thought silently to himself. “The headquarters to the Order of the Phoenix may be found at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place, London.”

The house appeared out of thin air, pushing aside the two houses on either side to make room. Harry stepped inside, only to find darkness. Then someone's hand brushed past his pocket and removed his wand. He threw a punch in the direction that it came from, hitting nothing but air.

A creepy chill was sent down his spine, he wasn't alone. “Tonks?” he questioned the darkness.

A cackle was all that was heard. Then there was a voice, “Please Potter, did you think you would live to see your friends?” He recognized it as the voice of Lucius Malfoy.

A second voice cracked the silence. “Oww, is little Potty baby scawed?” it said in a mock voice. It was Bellatrix Lestrange.

“What are you doing here?” he questioned, trying to keep his voice straight.

A laugh spread across the room, there were a lot of people here. “Have you forgotten what day it is?” Malfoy asked. The lights flashed on, revealing at least 50 death eaters. They all cackled evilly. Then Malfoy repeated his question, “Have you forgotten what day it is?”

Harry looked at the figure the voice was coming from. Funny, I remember Malfoy taller then that…

“ITS YOUR BIRTHDAY!!!” the crowd threw off their hoods revealing all of Harry's friends and Order members. A wave of relief spread over Harry. Some people laughed, he looked over to where Malfoy's voice had come from to see Tonks, doubled up in laughter. She could mimic voices.

“Harry, Happy Birthday Mate!” Ron had appeared wearing black robes; “this was actually Hermione's idea. She didn't want to go through with it because she was afraid you'd get mad.” Ron looked at him hopefully.

“No, this was bloody brilliant!” he said, halfway between a laugh and a smile. The party was amazing. There was food and many faces to become acquainted with. After everyone had eaten and talked themselves sore, they sat Harry down and presented him with gifts one by one. Moody had given him a belt attachable wand holder so that he wouldn't “blow off his arse” as Ron so adequately put it. Lupin had given him a book called “The History of Lycanotrophy” which had a detailed history of werewolves and how the first one had been created. Ron had given him a knife just like the one Sirius had given him so long ago. Ginny had given him some hair-care products and the Weasley twins had supplied him with a package full of every item invented by them. Including all of their magical defensive explosives and such.

He received a lot but he was a little detached from the party for a long time. He only waited for Hermione's gift. But it never came. He couldn't find her anyway. She never came to the party. He asked Ron where she was.

“I don't know, she is here but I don't know, try her and Ginny's room.” He replied, a little tiredly.

He found her in her room. Sitting alone on the bed looking at a picture. He opened the door quietly and made his way over to her, sneaking slowly so she wouldn't hear him. He snuck behind her and looked at the picture she was staring at. It was a picture of him and her. Walking alone with his arm over her and her head resting on his chest. Both of them laughing quietly. It was splotched with tears. Her tears. “Why did I expect you to love me?” she cried.

Harry put his arms around her and whispered in her ear, “Because I do.”

She looked around wildly to see him there, sitting with the most incredible look in his eyes. She stared into them and saw no fear. She saw regret, and hope, and a longing, for what she did not know, but she saw love. Harry felt his chest constrict, and an invisible force pulled at his chest, like a steel cable connecting his heart to hers. He brought his fingers up to her face and stroked her cheek, the longing in his heart now apparent through his emerald eyes.

The force connecting them surged more and he knew she felt it too. His hand moved to her hair stroking it gently. “Why do people call it bushy?” he thought, “Its so beautiful and flowing, not at all bushy.”

The force surged again drawing them closer. Hermione's tear shining cheeks shined as the light reflected off them. They were inches away now. She looked so beautiful this close, he thought.

The force surged a final time, stronger than ever before. Harry leaned in and kissed her. Gently, but deeply. Her lips were soft and warm, a little moist, without lipstick, but with her own natural flavor. She tasted of vanilla and cream. So clean and pure, untainted by anything. His tongue brushed across her lower lip and she opened and allowed it entrance. They were locked together now. She ran her hands through his hair. He held her around the waist and pulled her closer to him.

Then she pushed him away. It stopped and the connection broke and no longer surged. “Harry,” she started, “Do you really mean it? Do you really love me?”

He was not hesitant, “Of course I do, I love you with all my heart and I want nothing more than to be with you. And believe me, I never wanted to tell you no.”

“Then what made you?” she asked hesitantly, her eyes shining with hope and heartache at the same time.

“I didn't want you to get hurt,” he said quietly his eyes on the floor, “But I understand if you have moved on.” He stood to leave, his eyes still on the ground. She moved to him swiftly, and before he could take a step she pushed his chin up. “Harry, I love you and I could never move on.”

Then she reached up to him, standing on her tiptoes to kiss him again. His lips were soft and smooth, with an innocence that still maintained there even after the evil things that had plagued his life. They tasted like marshmallow and sugar, sweet and alluring. And his scent filled her nostrils, entrancing her even more. He smelled of soap and of a Quidditch field. He smelled like meadow rain on a fresh spring day with a hint of lemon. She had her hands on his chest and she never wanted the connection to end.

Too bad for her, stupid Ron did. “FINALLY!” he said loudly, causing them both to jump, he grinned and ducked as Harry chucked a pillow at him. Harry waved his wand and muttered, “colloportus.”

The door slammed shut and clicked, signifying that it was locked. Harry then realized how tired he was and collapsed onto the bed. “That's my bed, you know,” Hermione's voice played music within his ears.

“Well I'm not moving so you can just climb in with me,” he grunted, his voice muffled by the pillow his face was buried in.

“Gladly,” she said, lying down next to him. Harry moved his head to face her. They stared at each other and then he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pulled her to him. She put her hands around his waist and buried her head in his chest. She never wanted that scent to leave her mind; it was her heaven. Harry bent down and kissed her forehead, “I love you, Hermione Jane Granger.”

“I love you too, Harry James Potter,” she said sighing with passion. They both drifted into sleep, neither moving from their embrace. For once, they both felt eternal bliss.

A/N: Awwww. I made myself cry. This really made me happy. I wasn't planning on making them come together soon. Bet you weren't expecting that part with the death eaters? AND I bet you thought Ron would be angry! But no, Ron is with Luna. Next Chapter: a look into R/L probably from Ron and Luna's POVs. And something extra special when Harry forgets to buy something at Diagon and has to make a trip back. With a full escort…hint hint.

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3. The Fall of Diagon

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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4. Going Home

Harry Potter and the Last Stand

By: Winston Noble

A/N: Ok, the fourth chapter in the epic saga is released. To clear things up, I've read a lot of FanFics where Harry can't use magic until he turns seventeen. But if you read the books, Fred and George's Birthdays are in April, (mentioned in fourth book) and before their sixth year they were doing magic. Since you have to be eleven to receive a Hogwart's letter, this would mean they could apparate and use magic at the age of 16. Thank you. Also, this chapter starts in Hermione's POV, and then moves onto Harry's. There are some flashbacks in this story and they are marked because if I use too much italization it glitches.

WARNING: THERE IS GRAPHIC SEXUALITY. THIS IS A `LEMON' AS MY FRIEND PUT IT.

Chapter 4: Going Home

Harry's eyes were shut tight. His body had broken out in cold sweat. He was running a fever and his cheeks were flushed. He shook in his bed fiercely, plagued by nightmares. Dumbledore had told her that Harry might be under Voldemort's influence because of the extreme pain his body was going through both mentally and physically.

Hermione had cried for hours as he thrashed and screamed in his sleep. She felt the pain he felt when tears escaped from his closed eyes. She knew that he was dreaming of Cedric and Sirius and of his parents. She hadn't moved from his side since Dumbledore had saved them both. She vividly remembered her fight with Bellatrix.

-Flashback-

“Please, Potter's girlfriend wishes to duel with me? I shall kill you for the thought of it, filthy little mudblood!”

“Expelliarmus!”

“Protego! Your second year tricks won't help you here. CRUCIO!”

Hermione screamed in pain and she fell to the ground. “Accio,” she managed to sputter through the pain. She pointed her wand at Bellatrix and concentrated on the wands behind her. The wands flew from behind the hooded woman and flew forward pelting her in a maelstrom of wood.

The pain lifted and the many wands fell to the floor in front of Hermione. Bellatrix picked herself off the floor and Hermione did the same. “So you know a few tricks, disgusting mudblood.”

“Stupefy!”

“Protego!”

The spell bounced and hit the shelf to the right, splintering the wood. “You stand no chance, CRUCI-“ she was cut off by Hermione, “SILENCIO! PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!”

Bellatrix stopped mid-word and her arms and legs snapped to her sides and she fell to the ground. Hermione advanced towards her with wobbly legs. Before she could stun the older woman, Bellatrix's hand broke free and grabbed Hermione's ankle, pulling it with all her might. Hermione fell backwards, her ankle twisting in the process until it snapped. She screamed in pain.

“EXPELLIARMUS!” Bellatrix croaked, finally breaking the silence charm, her wand arm jabbed the air and the green light hit Hermione as halfway in her fall. She was thrown back into the wall her head snapping back and making a sick thud as she collided with the wood. She crumpled to the ground and her vision blurred, and finally, she blacked out.

She awoke to Bellatrix's scream. Moody had walked in and muttered a hex and Bellatrix's robes had caught fire. She struggled with the fire, sending spurts of water at it with her wand. The water passed straight through the flames and did nothing. She continued to burn and scream in agony. She dropped her wand and tried to roll the flames away but she was still pinned by the large wooden shelf.

“Alastor!” Lupin had walked in. He muttered the counter curse and stunned the flailing woman. He then summoned a stretcher and levitated Harry onto it, and then helped Hermione to her feet, one arm around her holding her up and the other pointing his wand at the stretcher, levitating it out to safety.

-End Flashback-

“Oh Harry, I'm so sorry,” she cried to him, though he couldn't hear her, “I should've never tried to duel her, I should've ran to get help! I'm so stupid. Stupid, stupid Hermione!”

“Now if you're stupid, what does that make the rest of us?” a familiar voice spluttered, choking after he finished. She looked up to see Harry smiling at her. He choked again. “Mrs. Weasley!” she screamed, “HES AWAKE!!!”

People came rushing in, all of them smiling hectically. People greeted him and threw themselves upon him uncontrollably, Ginny and Mrs. Weasley holding back tears, yet their eyes were extremely red and puffy, they were not smiling natural smiles. They looked as if they were forcing their happy spirits. But before Harry could ponder it further, Dumbledore entered, and everyone hushed immediately.

“Everyone leave immediately. I must speak with Harry,” he said in a tone filled with seriousness yet still calm and controlled. They all complied, except for Hermione who clung to his arm. “Ms. Granger, I ask that you leave so that I may have a word with Mr. Potter here.”

Hermione frowned and bit her lip, staring at Dumbledore. She felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked around, saw Harry, smiled, and then stood to leave. As she approached the door, she turned and mouthed, “I love you.”

Harry returned the favor and mouthed it back.

Harry watched Hermione leave and then turned to face Dumbledore. This was important.

“Now, Harry, I understand you have some questions for me,” Dumbledore said, sitting down.

“How am I alive?” he said slowly and softly, looking directly into the headmaster's eyes.

“I am not certain, but I have a two theories that I shall share with you. When I learned of the prophecy, I though of how the prophecy was a blessing to the wizarding world and yet a curse to the one on whom it was made. They would be cursed to death, and yet if they were doomed to die by the hand of the other, or kill the other by their own hand, anyone who killed them would break the prophecy,” he replied calmly, “Prophecies are extremely ancient and powerful powers, Harry. The killing curse and the power of Bellatrix Lestrange are insects in comparison to the prophecy. This is why you could not die by her curse. You are destined to die only by the hands of Voldemort. That is one theory and its probability is confirmed by you surviving the killing curse yet again.”

He paused, collecting his thoughts, “But then I thought that maybe the prophecy had looser guidelines. Maybe you could die by the hands of one who Voldemort controlled. I think it is possible that the reason you have survived the killing curse yet again is because of a power stored inside of you. The power I spoke of at the end of last term. I have thought it over countless times, and I have come to a revelation that magic is controlled and released by emotions. Every wizard has emotions, and so do muggles. I'm sure that in the countless years that your cousin bullied you, you got sudden second winds out of the hatred you felt and suddenly you were stronger and faster, and felt as if nothing could harm you. I believe that every wizard or witch has a certain emotion that controls their magical powers. For example, Voldemort feels only hatred, for he found some way to purge the love from his heart, so when he feels hatred, he is at his most powerful, so he is always at his very best. You on the other hand are very different. You feel power when you feel hatred and anger, but also when you feel love. ”

Harry nodded. Very absorbed in what Dumbledore had to say. Dumbledore continued, “Well I believe that the reason you survived is because of the extreme emotions that you can feel, I believe that when you took the curse for Ms. Granger, you felt pure love in your heart and that love released raw magical power greater then that of the killing curse. This would explain why you survived the curse the first time, your mother left so much love behind for you, that it marked you forever with the power of love and unleashed magical power from you, your mother and your father, hence saving you and destroying Voldemort. I believe that the reason you can feel so strongly is because of what happened to you as a child. Your mother deposited so much love in you, you gained the ability to feel so much love, you would feel more than anyone else can handle. Then, after your ability to feel emotions had already been expanded beyond that of anyone else, Voldemort's curse hit you, contradicting the love with the pure and raw hatred that he felt. Then, as I have told you before, part of Voldemort was left inside your heart and soul, which is why you gain so much more power when you are angry or when you feel hatred. Which is why you have the potential to become the greatest wizard ever, greater even then Merlin. This is why I believe you have the power to defeat Voldemort. I believe that when you face him, you will feel everything. Your hatred for what he has done to your life will increase your power, as well as your love that your mother and father left behind for you and the love you have for your friends and family.”

“Do you understand, Harry?” he added, looking calm.

“I think so, his brow furrowed, “Is that how I saved Tonks?”

“Yes Harry,” Dumbledore smiled, happy that Harry was grasping the concept, “When you thought of Ms. Granger, you unleashed your ability to feel love, and didn't require your wand to channel magical energy. Now while it was an extremely simple spell, it is still an accomplishment never before preformed. The first time you unlocked the energy on your own, you were hospitalized for nearly a day, after performing a very simple spell, and your body must have felt so much pain.” He looked at Harry sympathetically and Harry nodded, Dumbledore continued, “The second time you unlocked this power on your own, you somehow deflected a very powerful and complex spell, creating a counter curse of your own, simply blocking it with insane amounts of energy. It hasn't been more then 18 hours and you are completely fine with no pain at all. It is clear you are becoming more proficient at it. The death eaters don't realize it, but each time they attack, they will probably facilitate your progress with this newfound ability.”

Harry sat up from bed and then realized something, “Professor, why didn't the aurors show up at Diagon Alley?”

Dumbledore frowned slightly, “Well, the assault on Diagon was a small part of an attack of a much larger scale. Several magical schools have been attacked, along with the Ministry. That is why I did not come to Diagon immediately. I had to defend the Ministry.”

Harry looked down at the ground, “Who did we lose?” he said barely above a whisper.

“Several Aurors and ministry workers died, along with the Minister,” Dumbledore replied, his voice as quiet as Harry's with all of the mourning as well, “Madame Bones has taken over the job for the time being, but she has no desire to keep the job. No one from the Order was present except…for Arthur and Molly Weasley.”

Harry looked up, “No…”

“Arthur Weasley was protecting his wife. An unnamed death eater sent a curse at Molly and Arthur shielded her and took the fall,” Dumbledore said, his voice cracking with emotion, “We do not know what curse hit Arthur, but he is in critical condition at St. Mungos. It is the Order's, no, my top priority to find out what the curse was.” Harry felt tears leave his eyes, then he felt the hatred well inside him and the candle on his bedside suddenly lit and flared before extinguishing itself again. Voldemort had hurt the yet another parental figure in Harry's life. First his parents, then Sirius, and now Mr. Weasley.

Dumbledore stood to leave, and then turned to Harry, a single tear rolling across his weathered cheek, “Harry, do not suppress your emotions, but do control them. You will leave for Hogwarts in a week. With that said, he left the room. Harry beat the pillow with his fists until Hermione walked in.

She ran over to him and threw herself upon him, hugging the life out of him. “Oh Harry! Mr. Weasley…he's…he's gone!” She stopped and sobbed quietly when Harry soothed her. He held her close and leaned towards her ear, “I will never let you go.”

They stayed together and Hermione fell asleep, clinging to Harry's chest. He stroked her hair gently. Feeling both love for her and hatred for Voldemort. He cleared his mind and fell into the eternal happiness of his dreams.

Harry's last few days at Grimmauld Place were a blur. Ginny and Mrs. Weasley did their best to suppress their extreme sadness. Ron had locked himself in his room at nights, but other then that, he maintained his average way of life: eating like a pig, making constant sarcastic comments, fighting with Hermione, and complaining constantly.

Harry and Hermione had taken to spending the nights together. Hermione was usually in tears every night. Her gentle soul couldn't take seeing people in such despair. Every night was somewhat similar.

“Oh Harry, why does life have to be so horrible? Why does he have to do such horrible things?”

Harry did not know the answer. He just held her in his arms. Soothing her gently, his voice filled with love. She would fall asleep in his arms. It was amazing how much comfort she found in his arms. They were so warm and gentle. They held her and she felt secure. She felt like she was anchored safely to the earth. It was as if pure love and warmth were charged into her through his arms.

Their last night at Grimmauld Place, though filled with the sadness of a lost family, was quite peaceful for Harry. He and Hermione sat alone by the fire. The sound of people rushing around collecting things to pack in their trunks was muffled through the closed doors. Hermione lay with her head against Harry's chest. Her arms secured firmly around his midriff. He had his hand draped across her shoulder, fiddling with her hair.

“Are you all packed for tomorrow?” she asked him gently.

“Yes, I don't know why though, I guess your rubbing off on me,” he answered gently. She nudged his chest playfully.

“Don't you think I'm going to forget that comment,” she said sharply yet sweetly with a hint of sarcasm.

“It was a compliment,” he squeezed her closer to him. She smelled like something he could not place. But whatever it was, it smelled heavenly. He allowed the scent to fill his mind and his head drooped down on top of hers lazily.

“Harry, wake up. If you fall asleep her, you won't get up in the morning,” she nudged him gently.

“As long as I'm with you, I don't mind not waking up,” he replied rubbing his cheek against hers. He leaned in closer and kissed her cheek. But she leaned in too and his kiss slipped onto her lips. It was deep and fulfilling. He was just about to send his tongue into her mouth when hers intruded upon his. Surprised, he almost broke the connection, but then joined in.

She had sat up and her hands were on his chest, running up and down his abs. He moved his hands from her hair down to her waist and pulled her closer to himself. She fell backwards onto the couch and he followed, his body pressed against hers. His excitement was anything but well hidden.

She began to take off his shirt, slowly pulling it from his powerful chest. Surprised, Harry followed and pulled it off. He then moved his hand to her blouse, and undid the first button. She moaned from their enraptured kiss and he moved to the second button. She rolled over on top of him and he began undoing the third. His hands moved diligently and carefully. She moaned with pleasure and undid the fourth for him. The last two seemed to come off themselves.

That was when Ron witnessed them rolling in passion. He had come to get search for one of his books, but he luckily saw them before he said anything. He blushed and covered his eyes, backing out and closing the door silently. He locked the door with his wand and walked away.

Inside however, Hermione moaned once again as Harry's kisses slowly moved down her neck. His hands fumbled behind her back, trying to undo her strap. It snapped and fell to the floor, and Hermione pressed her bare chest against his. His erection was showing through his jeans, however loose they were.

She felt him throb against her. She removed her skirt obligingly and their kisses trailed all over. Harry was holding back, she knew it. He wasn't sure if she wanted him to or not. Realizing this, Hermione unzipped Harry's pants for him. By now, Harry was sitting on the ground, jeans half off, Hermione in his lap, in nothing but her lacy panties, her legs wrapped around his waist. Their kisses never ended.

Harry suddenly became aware of how painfully hard he was. He carefully placed his hands on her waist and stood, lifting her with him. He lifted her up against the wall, and she kept on, persisting for him to release himself. Their kisses became rougher and more sexual.

He lifted her to the couch. She removed her hands from his chest and placed them on her last remaining piece of clothing, ready to remove them. Harry pulled away.

“Hermione, I don't want this to happen if I'm forcing you to. I don't want to pressure you into doing this. This should be your-“ Hermione placed a finger on his lips.

“Shh. I want to,” she said, smiling and kissing him again.

“Harry, wake up!” he awoke when a pillow smacked him in the chest.

“Hmm? What?” he replied tiredly. He looked around, there was no light coming through the window. The fire was down to embers, and they glowed brightly.

“We need to get up! We need to get ready!” Hermione's tone was frantic. She struggled to put on all her clothes. Harry yawned and dragged himself off the couch. He moved to dress himself, and then they both made their way up the stairs, as quietly as they could manage.

Later on, the morning of the train ride was as hectic as ever. Ron running about packing last minute things, Ginny being frantic about her hair and her outfit. Harry and Hermione had both showered and changed (not together.)

Mrs. Weasley was cooking up a storm. Plates filled with fruit were stacked on the wooden table and sausages, eggs, bacon, kippers, toast, and marmalade stood next to them. Everyone helped themselves to whatever they wanted.

“Molly, are you trying to exhaust our food supply?” Lupin asked her sarcastically. As they finally managed to stop Mrs. Weasley from stuffing them full of food, they set off for the station. Moody, Lupin, the twins, Tonks, Kingsley, and two other aurors who had recently joined the order escorted them outside. They took ministry cars, and in no time at all, they were unloading their baggage.

“All right, I'll go in first with George, then Harry, then Tonks with Fred, then Hermione, then Lupin, then Ron, then Kingsley, then Ginny, then Will and Alex,” Moody said gruffly, then proceeded to enter the enchanted platform. George followed, and then Harry casually walked through and wheeled his trolley to Moody.

Tonks and Fred came through and joined Moody, George, and Harry. Moody's eye was swiveling wildly, analyzing each and every person on the train and platform. Hermione emerged panting; she had obviously taken then barrier on at a run. Lupin came through and joined them. But then Ron came through.

He emerged through casually, until a dark bullet shot at him and grabbed him around the middle, throwing him forcefully against the wall and hugging him enthusiastically. Then Ginny emerged, pushing Ron and the girl down to the ground, her trolley tipped and they were all a tangled mess.

“Ow…Oh…Hi Luna,” Ginny panted, trying to lift herself from under Ron.

“Hello Ginny,” she said rather hurriedly. “So Ronald, how has your break been?”

“Not as good as this,” he grinned, grabbing her cheeks and pulling her in for a kiss. It was fast but still very deep. He pulled away, slightly red. Luna was almost as red. And then she returned to her dreamy self and accompanied them onto the train. Tonks joined them and they made their way to the back of the train.

They finally found an empty compartment. The train shifted, and began to move.

“So Harry, how has your break been?” Luna asked dreamily.

Harry and Hermione exchanged glances. Blushed and looked away. He reached for her hand and laced his fingers with hers. Then he replied to Luna, “Better then ever.”

Hermione blushed and kissed him on the cheek. Luna leaned her head on Ron's shoulder and took out an issue of the quibbler. She adjusted herself to a comfortable position and turned the magazine upside down so she could begin to read. Ginny and Tonks began a game of exploding snap. Harry and Hermione watched, occasionally leaning in for a kiss.

Then the compartment door slid open. Tonks looked up and jumped to her feet. “Alex! What are you doing here?” She blushed and stared at the man. He was about two inches taller then Tonks, with long black hair and deep blue eyes. His figure was refined and muscular, but he had a laid back look to him. His grin was relaxed and his face was round and slightly boyish.

“I'm the new defense against the dark arts teacher, I heard you were here so I decided to come along for the ride,” he smiled at her and she smiled back. There was a long and awkward silence, which the pair spent staring at each other until Ginny coughed.

Tonks snapped back to reality, “Oh, this is Ron and Ginny Weasley, Luna Lovegood, Hermione Granger, and Harry Potter.”

The man looked down at Harry, smiled and his eyes traveled around the compartment, making notes of the faces. “Hello everybody, I'm Alexander Dren, your new professor.”

Murmurs of greetings ran across the room. He smiled and opened his mouth to say something. They never found out what he was about to say. The train shook violently. Harry and Dren whipped out their wands simultaneously. Everyone else followed suit.

Dren stuck his head out the compartment door, half way out, a red spark shot past, almost scraping his nose. He quickly withdrew his head. “Stay here,” he commanded.

Harry put an arm out and stopped him. “Let me,” he threw out a green cube. “Cover your eyes,” Harry advised. There was a flash of light brighter then any Harry could remember. He then ran out into the hall. Two death eaters stumbled blindly, their hands grasping their eyes.

“STUPEFY! STUPEFY!” Harry shouted. They both fell motionless to the ground.

“Harry, go wait in the room with the others, Alex and I will take care of this,” Tonks said.

“No, you need my help,” he replied coldly.

“Harry-“ she began.

“No,” he replied more firmly.

Dren studied him for a moment, and then locked the compartment door. Tonks and Harry set off to the right and Dren set down the corridor to the left. The train was swarmed with death eaters. Harry and Tonks made an incredible team, Tonks blocked spells for Harry, and Harry would shoot every hex and curse he could think of at the death eaters.

“Incernio!” the icy voice of a death eater shouted.

“Protego,” Tonks countered.

“STUPEFY!” Harry shouted.

The death eater fell motionless to the floor. They reached an exit and ran out onto the dirt where several aurors battled with death eaters. Tonks and Harry sent curses flying in all directions. Harry saw a 4th year trying to duel a death eater. She was doing an incredible job, but another was sneaking up behind her.

“Tonks,” he shouted, pointing at the girl. Tonks ran forward and shot two curses.

Harry saw a group of death eaters approaching in the distance. He threw out a purple sphere and it melted the ground beneath them.

He assaulted a group of death eaters trying to team up on one auror.

“STUPEFY! IMPENDIMENTA! EXPELLIARMUS!” Harry shouted, pointing his wand with deadly precision. A death eater fell to the ground, another froze, and a third was thrown into a shrub, his wand flying in front of Harry's feet. Harry picked it up and shot another stunner at the group that was now down to three. Two death eaters went flying into the train from the force of Harry's spell. But the third made a slashing movement with his wand and muttered something under his breath.

Purple flame exploded from the tip, slicing through the air with deadly speed. Harry froze, watching his death approach. This was the curse that had hit Hermione in 5th year. Time slowed to a crawl as Harry watched the curse approach. Things were distant and he was unaware of them.

He heard a voice far away, “Locomotor! Silencio! Letum Nexus!

A piece of wood flew between Harry and the spell. The spell hit the wood and wrapped around it, engulfing it in flames of death, then the board exploded into infinitesimal pieces. As the death eater raised his wand to cast another curse, no noise came out. Then a red cone of energy flew and slammed him in the chest. His body shined with a red outline as it flew into the train with the force of a rhino. The entire car shook and there was a sickening crack as the death eater hit the solid train.

Dren ran up to him and then grabbed him by the collar and flung him to the ground as another curse flew over his head. He raised his wand and made a complex motion while muttering a long spell under his breath. His wand swung up then swished to the side, made a flick, then drew a long curl in the air ending with a sharp jab.

At first nothing happened, but then, at least a dozen death eaters were lifted by their robes into the air. They were confused by whatever the strange spell was and stopped trying to attack people, but instead shot spells at the invisible force holding them up.

Dren then disarmed and stupefied every one of them, shooting spells at a speed that seemed to rival Dumbledore's. Harry stood to his feet, but before he could thank him, a stunner hit him in the back. He saw no more.

Harry awoke. Dren was standing over him, his wand pointed at Harry's chest. Harry started to stand but Dren forced him back down just as a spell flew over his head, grazing his hair with white-hot intensity. Dren fired three more spells over his back and then helped him up, handing him his wand.

“Thanks,” Harry said.

“Don't mention it,” he stated, before turning on his heel and running back into the fray.

Harry turned in the other direction and began walking slowly to a battle between seven aurors and two-dozen death eaters. He had his second wind and felt ready and calm. Adrenaline rushed through him but he felt calm and ready.

“Locomotor,” he said calmly, pointing his wand at a large fragment of a train door. He flicked his wand with force and the chunk of metal soared like a bullet, hitting two death eaters and pinning them to the ground.

Three death eaters turned on him and advanced towards him. They raised their wands but Harry was ready. He withdrew the green cube from his robes and hurled it forward, while simultaneously shifting to the right. It exploded into shards of light, brighter than the sun. The death eaters covered their eyes in pain.

“STUPEFY! STUPEFY! STUPEFY!” Harry shouted.

They fell to the ground and Harry advanced on the ranks of Death eaters. Two aurors had fallen but the Death Eaters stood strong. Harry racked his brain for a spell. He stunned one and the Death Eaters turned on him.

“Obliviate!” he said while pointing his wand at a death eater. The death eater lowered his wand and began walking around aimlessly. Several more Death eaters raised their wands, prepared to kill. The forgotten aurors picked up the slack.

Nine death eaters fell to stunners and the remaining nine spun around wildly. Harry took his chance.

“Petrificus Totalus! Reducto!” Harry shouted, noticing a third about to use the killing curse, “SILENCIO!” A death eater was thrown forward into the train and fell to the ground. A second wobbled clumsily before falling to the ground flat as a board. A third did his best to say something.

The aurors took out the remaining death eaters with ease. They thanked him briefly then ran out into the fray. Harry looked around. Few death eaters still stood, and aurors and students surrounded those who did. They had won.

He heard a scream. He turned towards the noise and saw at least a hundred death eaters advancing forward. He gasped. Voldemort had been recruiting. He turned to see Hermione, Ron, Luna, and Ginny emerge from the train, clutching their wands and looking around fearfully.

Hermione spotted him and shouted, “Harry-“

She stopped in mid sentence as a red spark smashed into her chest and she slumped to the ground.

“NO!!” He shouted, anger welling in his heart. He turned menacingly, wand raised. No one noticed, but his eyes changed from emerald to forest green very quickly. He felt hatred well inside him, bubbling from deep in his chest. It would overcome his judgment soon. He saw hundreds of stunners flying towards him and the area around him. Ron hurled Luna and Ginny inside the train just before a stunner hit him in the arm, closely followed by one in the chest, one in the leg, and one in the neck. He slumped to the ground.

Aurors and students around him fell to the spells, only a few managing to dodge, hide, or reflect the spells. A stunner hit Harry in the chest. He felt no pain. He stood straight and continued to advance. A second hit him in the stomach and he stumbled. He roared in fury and fought the urge to give up. He was less then twenty yards away from the army of death eaters now.

A stunner hit his arm and he spun slightly to the left, but fought it and kept advancing. He shot two stunners and three death eaters fell to the ground. Yet another stunner hit his chest just above his heart. The wind was knocked out of Harry and he fell to his knees.

He fought collapse and stood again, firing two more stunners. They both hit the same death eater and he was thrown back into his comrades. He continued to advance. He was less then 10 yards away now. The death eaters noticed him.

Three stunners shot at him. He ducked and two flew over him, but the third hit his shoulder. He nearly fell to the ground, but struggled and stood again. More death eaters took notice and some backed away nervously, firing stunners. Harry moved like fluid to avoid them, nearly loosing his footing. He stumbled.

They took their chance and five stunners shot at him, three hit him in the chest, one missed, and the fifth nailed his forehead. His head shot back and his neck bent nearly to the breaking point. He was thrown bodily backwards three feet, landing on his back.

He was dazed. He felt like quitting. Then he remembered Hermione. Power shot through him and he flailed his arm around to his side, forcing him up onto all fours. His body screamed in protest, but his mind screamed back. He hoisted him self up to his knees and another stunner hit him in the chest.

He was overwhelmed. His body screamed out in unimaginable pain. His stomach was churning around his insides. His heart was lodged in his throat along with the rest of his entrails. His body slacked and fell backwards. Hermione filled his thoughts.

A fourth wind overcame Harry. His arm stopped his fall and his heart filled with emotions. He felt love for Hermione. He felt hatred for Voldemort and his Death eaters. He remembered his time with Hermione. The curse that nearly killed her. The person who cast it. Dolohov flashed in his mind. He remembered Dolohov's master. Voldemort's snake-like face filled his thoughts. He remembered his brief duel with Voldemort. He remembered the spell that had saved his life. Emotions filled his heart and he felt strengthened beyond anything he had ever experienced before.

During his revelations, he did not notice the eight stunners flying towards him at alarming speed.

His mind's resistance silenced his body's screams of complaints and protests. His vision blurred and sound no longer came to him. He felt nothing but his love for his friends and his hatred for Voldemort. He raised his arm.

“EXPELIARMUS!!!!” He shouted. Pointing his wand at the crowd of hooded figures, his anger and love exploded through the spell. He poured his heart and soul out through his wand and the results were devastating.

White energy poured out through the tip of Harry's wand. It was flowing and fast, large and powerful. It was…Lightning. It traveled through the air, speeding to its target with deadly accuracy.

It made contact. The death eaters in the front ranks received the brunt of the blast. Their arms shot out sideways and their heads shot backwards, peering out to the heavens. Their bodies shined white and their eyes rolled into their heads. They were shot back into their comrades and they fell, unable to even twitch in pain.

Half of the death eaters fell to Harry's spell. Harry turned his head to hear loud cracking noises from all over. They were saved. The reinforcements were here. They charged the remaining death eaters, outnumbering them ten to one. Then the last stunners made contact. They hit Harry fully in the chest and he was thrown onto his back. He saw the beauty of the sky until his body made its final protest and he collapsed. No longer able to resist total shutdown.

His eyes closed and he saw no more.

A/N: Ok, so that thing about a new death eater, decided not to go through with it, didn't want to. Harry isn't dead. He is just unconscious…forever! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Next chapter: Harry awakes, and the real training with Tonks begins. Losses are accounted for, and, someone is missing. Harry tries to push Hermione away as he slips further into darkness. Also, what is going on between Dren and Tonks?

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5. Trials of Cunning

Harry Potter and the Last Stand

By: Winston Noble

A/N: Ok, so this chapter wasn't originally planned this early on, but I was inspired to show the skills Harry got from sparring with moody last year. Anyway, what I said would happen this chapter doesn't happen, but it will next chapter.

Chapter 5: Trials of Cunning

A heavy weight was on his shoulders. He struggled to move. His entire body screamed in pain but he couldn't give up. He watched as she was dragged along. Two men in dark robes, towering above her broken form, held her by one arm each and dragged her through the cold stone darkness before them. They remained unperturbed by his cries of pain and worry. They were cloaked and hooded, their faces turned forward, staring into the everlasting darkness.

Her legs trailed the ground behind her. Her head hung low in defeat. Harry watched helplessly as she was dragged away from him. Her brown curls covered her face. Her robes were torn and bloody, her form was lifeless and her eyes were closed. She never heard him cry out for her. She never saw him crawl towards her. Trying desperately to pull his beaten, bloody, and broken body forward to catch her. She never saw him, or heard him. She would never open her eyes and look at him again. She couldn't. She was gone.

As he watched them take her. He watched them take her away from him, the last bit of anything that he had. He couldn't catch up. Their strides were swift and powerful, and his broken body was unable to keep up. He dragged a tremendous weight behind him and he had not the ability to look back. He could never look back. He had to keep moving but he couldn't. With each motion his body became even more exhausted. His legs gave out and he felt no more pain from them. He felt nothing. He couldn't use them. But she was still being taken away. He had to keep going.

He dragged himself forward with his arms. His useless legs trailing behind him like a rag dolls. He felt a pain like no other. It was pain beyond that which could be caused by any spell or torture device. It was a pain of the heart. It was all he felt. All physical pain was lost on him. His body was numb with defeat. With each pull of his arms, they snapped just a little more. He cried out for them to stop. He tried to grab for a wand that wasn't there.

The men walked on and noticed nothing, the motionless body of his salvation trailing behind them. Slowly, the darkness engulfed them and Harry lost the last bit of hope he had ever had. He cried out in pain. Louder then he had ever before, “NO!!!!”

Harry shot up awake. He was drenched with sweat. Darkness surrounded him. His body was sore all over and the cold stone did nothing to help his aching body. He groped for his wand. It was nowhere to be found. His robes were torn and he began to shiver. His eyes finally adjusted to the darkness, and by doing so they told him his glasses were cracked.

He heard a whimper. He turned to see a small girl. She was sobbing almost silently into her arms. She was in torn Hogwart's robes and her head had a bad cut on it. He decided not to bother her. He had other worries. He got up to his knees and studied the area around him.

His surroundings were far from friendly. The walls were cold stone, encrusted with grime and filth of centuries of no cleaning. He was in a cell and the bars were old and rusted. He could make out dozens more cells with bodies on the ground in them. Small amounts of light filtered in through one area that Harry figured to be a trapdoor in the ceiling. A masked figure snoozed loudly on a chair in the corner outside the cells.

Harry got to his feet and moved around the cell. It was cramped and uncomfortable. He moved over towards the girl. She looked up at him, “Who are you?”

“I'm Harry Potter. What's your name?” Harry said sweetly. The girl was two heads shorter then Harry. She had brown wavy hair and amber eyes. She looked to be about eleven and she seemed so familiar. Harry's thoughts of her age were confirmed by the way her eyes widened with glee childishly when she heard his name.

“I'm Courtney Sholars. I've read about you! You're the boy who lived. Are you going to save us?” she said quickly and excitedly. It clicked… Harry had found mini Mione.

“I'll do my best to try to get us out,” Harry smiled. He noticed a large cut on her arm. He ripped off a part of the sleeve of his uniform and wrapped it around her arm; pulled it tightly to pull the wound together, and then said to her, “Keep your arm elevated so it doesn't bleed as badly. Stay here while I look around.”

Harry moved towards the cell bars and looked around. His eyes had become even more fit to the darkness. He studied the bars. They were old and extremely rusted. With a little force they might bend just enough for someone to get out. Harry placed an arm on two adjacent bars and pulled.

The old bars didn't budge an inch. Harry's fingers certainly hurt though. He looked around the room outside his cell. An old umbrella bucket stood in the corner opposite the hooded wizard just outside Harry's cell. Nothing much he could use.

Just below the wizards chair and a little to the right sat a bucket with a ladle sticking out the top. “Probably for when we get thirsty…not like that bloke will give us any,” Harry thought. Then he got an idea. He got on his knees and stuck his right arm as far as he could out the bars. “Maybe if I can just…there!” Harry thought just as he reached out and grabbed the water bucket and pulled it closer to the cell.

He then considered his plan for a moment. After coming to a decision, he started undressing. He removed his robes so that he was in his muggle clothing. He then stripped off his shirt and replaced his robes. He then took a drink of the water and gave the girl a drink too.

He placed his shirt in the water quietly and moved it around. He made sure to get all of it thoroughly soaked. He removed it made a dire mistake. The water dripped from it and echoed noisily off the stonewalls. Harry's head shot up and looked at the figure in the chair. It snorted and then continued to snore.

He sighed and then twisted the shirt into a rat-tail and wrapped it around two bars. He then pulled with all his might. The bars groaned and slowly bent, but the wet shirt held strong. The bars continued to bend. Finally they met and would budge no farther. Harry unwrapped the wet garment and placed it on the two bars next to the previously bent ones. He repeated the process and the shirt still held strong.

The gap was small but Harry wasn't very big either. “Shh…stay here, I'll be right back,” he said to the girl. She nodded and Harry tried to squeeze through the bars. His waist got stuck. He pulled perhaps a bit too hard. He broke free and stumbled forward onto the man's legs. The man sat up awake and looked down at the heavy weight on his legs.

Harry knew that it would take a second for the man to register what was going on, that would be enough to formulate a plan of action. He also knew that it would take another two seconds for the man to get his wand out and curse Harry: which would be enough for Harry to put his plan into action. Throw the man's temporary impaired vision into the equation and Harry stood a chance.

Harry moved like lightning and grabbed the wet shirt and hurled it on the man's face. The garment covering his face muffled his shouts. He stood and knocked the chair over while trying to pull it off his face. Harry then proceeded to the umbrella stand and grabbed an old cane.

The cane was made of dark wood and had a weighted grip made of silver or chrome. “Perfect,” Harry thought. The death eater finally managed to pull the shirt off and find his wand. Still, Harry knew he could not possibly see Harry. Harry was well hidden in the dark corner. But it would not last long, the man would soon have his eyes adjusted to the darkness as well.

He whirled around and kept turning trying to find the missing captive. He turned to face the cell where the girl was kept and Harry took his chance. He lunged forward and raised the cane. The hooded embodiment of evil turned just as Harry's blow hit him in the shoulder.

Harry backed off; he needed the distance to have a chance of avoiding the spells. The hooded figure stumbled then fired a stunner at Harry. Harry dodged it and lunged again. The death eater sidestepped to the right and fired a disarming charm at Harry. Harry lost his grip on his weapon and was thrown in to the cell wall. The structure shook and vibrated from Harry's hit. The man raised his wand and sent another stunner at Harry.

He groaned and rolled to the right. The spell hit the floor just as Harry stood and grabbed his discarded weapon. The death eater was getting tired. “Forget the orders, I'll just kill him,” the man thought violently. He raised his arm and began to mutter the killing curse, “Ava-“

Harry lunged forward for the last time. His back still ached from the cell collision. The death eater was about to end the fight. Time froze and Harry analyzed the situation. He had to stop the curse from happening. He could either destroy the wand, or stop the man from uttering the incantation. That gave him a few options.

He could attack the face or throat to stop him from talking, but in the man's current position, he could probably block the attack with his left arm and continue the curse with his right. Harry could also attack the stomach and knock the wind out of him, therefore rendering him unable to speak, but it would take longer for the man to fully feel the effects then it would for him to finish the spell. Harry's last option was to attack the man's hand. An attack on the arm would just divert the path of the spell, and in their current positions, it would probably still hit Harry. So his plan was to hit the hand hard enough to knock the wand out of the death eater's hand.

“Simple enough,” he thought. Time sped back up and Harry brought his silver headed weapon crashing down on the man's hand just as he finished the first word of the incantation. “Avada-ahhhhh…”

The man's hand snapped under the blow and his bones cracking was heard throughout the chamber. His wand clattered to the floor as he doubled over in silent fits of pain. He gasped at his broken and bloody hand. He opened his mouth to scream but never got to it.

Harry registered the man's pain and saw the steps happening. Disbelief, silent fits, and then the screaming. Harry raised his bloody weapon and brought it crashing into the man's throat right before he could call for help. The man gasped his last breath as the silver and wood crashed through his trachea and esophagus. His eyes widened and he fell over.

Harry sighed. He picked up the death eater's wand and then tested it. It was short, stiff, and rigid. Harry doubted it would provide him with a good dueling assistant. He sighed and proceeded to the cells. “Alohamora,” He muttered. Nothing happened. He sighed. “Figures,” he thought.

He proceeded to try every unlocking charm he knew. Nothing worked. He racked his brain for something he missed. “Ah screw it,” he muttered frustrated, “Virga mucro!”

The wand began to glow red from the tip to about half way down its shaft. “Stand back,” he advised to the people in the cells. He placed the wand in between the bars and slashed it with force horizontally. It cut swiftly through the bars and left the edges of the cut bars hot and burning.

He continued it on all the cells until the captives were freed. He looked around and saw that the oldest one there besides him was only in fourth year. They all stared at him expectedly. This was bad. “Hand me that cane…that on there, yea that's it…hand it over here…Thanks.” He asked calmly as they passed the bloody utensil to him.

Harry concentrated hard on hogsmeade station. He doubted he had enough energy to make a portkey past the Hogwart's barriers with a foreign wand. “Portus,” he muttered. The cane began to glow bright blue, then settled. “Ok, you 3 over there, take this and hold on tight,” he ordered, tossing it to them. They gripped it tightly but nothing happened. “Damn it,” Harry cursed underneath his breath.

“Alright. Everyone listen to me. I'm going to make a portkey for all of you. Find something in the room and bring it to me, rip off a piece of your robes or something. When I'm done, we will need to make a break for it. We need to find a way out of here and outside of this area. It's the only way. There are wards stopping the portkeys from working so well need to get outside of them. Do not lose your portkey,” Harry commanded.

“Why should we listen to you?” a small voice that reminded him of Zacharias Smith came out. Harry looked around and saw a small figure in slytherin robes. He opened his mouth to tell the little cretin that he could just stay behind when someone answered first.

“Because HE'S Harry Potter!” Courtney shouted out, “He already stopped that bad man and got you out so I don't think you are in any position to criticize!”

“God she's like Hermione…” he thought and smiled. The little figure backed off grudgingly. Slowly, all of them approached him one by one and he gave them a portkey. “Alright…here we go, follow me.”

Harry slowly got up and pushed the trap door open slightly. The light burned his eyes but he squinted and looked around. One small man in dark robes was rummaging through a drawer in a large storage cabinet. He had his back towards them. As far as Harry could tell, the man was alone in the room.

Harry carefully aimed his wand and sent a stunner at the man. It hit him in the back and he slumped to the floor. Harry opened the trap door and stepped out. The chamber was just like the on below, it was made of stone and it was extremely dirty and shabby. The major difference was the absence of cells and the bright torches that burned in brackets on the walls. There was a desk in the corner of the room a few feet from the door. On top of the desk was an assortment of wands.

“Accio wand,” he muttered, concentrating on his wand. A holly wand flew from the bottom of the pile and into Harry's hand. He turned to see the captives emerging from the trap door. “Alright everyone, you all have no doubt already purchased wands. Now I want you to concentrate hard on the mental picture of your wand and repeat after me: Accio wand!” Harry commanded. Voices rang out and several wands shot to the hands of their owners. They all were impressed. Slowly, the non-believers tried harder and eventually got their wands.

“Now, after we leave this room, it will get dangerous. I want you all to stay close. Do not stray behind. We could be attacked from all sides. I do not have the time to train you to fight. Simply remember this. If you see someone that isn't on our side, point your wand and say `stupefy', if you see a spell coming at you or someone else, move your wand like this, and say `protego',” he instructed, “everyone got that?”

Some nodded nervously, but most were quiet. “Alright…lets go,” Harry commanded, opening the door. They ran out into a long stone corridor. Two deatheathers stood at the end talking. “Preamium!” Harry shouted. A bright green spark erupted at the tip of Harry's wand and hit the floor beneath the deatheathers before they could react. The floor erupted beneath them and exploded sending rock chunks everywhere. They both fell to the ground unconscious.

Harry reached the end of the corridor with the small students in tow. He slowly opened the door and peered out the crack. He saw a great entrance hall made of stone and as big as the one at Hogwarts, yet with none of the charm. It was empty and the walls were lined with doors similar to the one Harry peered out of. It was dimly lit by its one source of light coming from the ceiling, a large black chandelier with withering candles. Harry had an idea.

“Alright, everyone hold hands. Make a line and make sure that you are all connected,” Harry commanded quietly. They obliged. Harry moved to the back of the line and started his spell work. One by one, the children faded from view. “Don't worry, I've only disillusioned you, it will wear off in about an hour. Here's the plan. I'm going to take out the lights and we are going to make a break for the door. Once outside, we will run until we get outside the wards or whatever else is preventing the portkeys from working. Then you will be taken to Hogsmead station. There, we will wait for help. Everyone understand? Everyone still have their portkeys?”

Everyone showed signs of saying yes. He disillusioned Courtney, who was the first in line, then took her hand and whispered in her ear, “We're going to make it.”

He then proceeded with the plan. “One shot, then my position will be given up. Just…There! REDUCTO!” he bellowed, sending a solitary spark flying into the chain that held up the chandelier. The death eaters looked towards the source of the spark, but then looked up and ran for safety as the chandelier came down.

Harry disillusioned himself then led the group forward into the fray. He hoped the he could remember the position of the front door. He couldn't use light; it would give away his position. He hit something hard and stumbled. He felt the hard wood of the front door.

He led the group a short distance back, and then yelled, “REDUCTO!!!”

The door was blasted to splinters. The magical reinforcements were meant to protect it from outside attacks; it crumpled like tin foil. Harry led the group of children outside into the night. He looked around; woods surrounded them. They didn't look friendly.

Harry contemplated his options. He heard a death eater's shouts and listened to them start to give orders. No choice. He started to lead them off into the forest. A stunner shot out and hit one of the children. She slumped to the ground. “Pick her up!” Harry commanded. A burly fourth year lifted the small girl onto his shoulder. More and more stunners were being fired in different directions. “Fire stunners!” Harry commanded.

They all complied, but few were able to achieve the desired effects. None of the first years could produce a stunner, except for Courtney. Harry looked towards the looming stone structure. More and more figures were beginning to emerge. Their leader was at the door shouting commands. If the deatheaters kept coming, Harry doubted that they would make it out.

“PREAMIUM!” Harry shouted, sending a green spark at the arch above the doorframe. The stone cracked and shattered, and then the structure gave in and collapsed the door. The man shouting orders looked up just as he was crushed by the large amounts of rubble coming down on him.

The entryway sealed and deatheaters scattered about.

“You idiots! Find them! Lumos!” a harsh voice cried out. Light fanned out across the grounds and the deatheater identified the shadows of the escapees. “Get them!”

Stunners shot out towards them. “RUN!!” Harry shouted. He urged them forward into the woods. A stunner hit him in the back. His body went limp. He became sluggish. Two more hit him and he fell forward, fighting the urge to quit. A small figure crawled over to him and tried to help him up.

“Run Courtney…run…please…run…” Harry fought unconsciousness as more and more stunners rained down upon them. Another hit him in the back of the head and he collapsed…his vision darkened, and the last thing he remembered seeing was the form of a small girl trying to get him to wake up.

A/N: Ok so Harry saved the day again. People hate me I know. Oh well…

Anyway…sorry again this chapter wasn't like I said it would be…

But I got inspired.

Next Chapter: Dumbledore shares some more revelations. New friends are made, and people set out to find the friend missing in action.

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