Warning evil authorness ahead
Chapter 16: Where Else Would we be on a Night Like This?
***************************North Sea*****************************
August 12, 2012
12:19 am
Harry?
Yeah Mione? Harry replied distractedly as he looked out the canopy to check on the brooms keeping formation with them. Silver moonlight glittered down, turning the deep waters of the North Sea into a glittering cloth stretched out before them, and casting the riders flying alongside into pewter statues of wizards. At their current speed, the power output of the field drive enchantments keeping his ship aloft should not bother the riders, but he was concerned nonetheless. His eyes flicked forward, checking the HUD to watch a flaming circle bouncing aimlessly about. The dark outline of St. Christopher's Rock was off their nose, steadily growing bigger. Keys clicked as Hermione touched something in the back.
Are we going to be in time...are they ok, I mean...
We are going to bring them home today Hermione. Harry looked up at a mirror mounted above his head to give him a rear view. He caught her eyes searching for his, I don't care what Lucius has waiting for us, I will get them home with you, I promise. He looked up, "We're here." He heard Hermione take a deep breath in the back, and heard the soft click of her helmet sealing. He sealed his and touched a button on the stick. "Ok ladies and gentlemen, the snitch is released." He announced softly as everyone in formation heard him in his or her ears. "And Ron."
"Yeah, mate?"
"Now's when you fly like a seeker, not a slow-arsed keeper." Harry shot off to his left and laughed as he watched the dim outline of his best friend raise one finger in salute. "Ok Mione." Harry heard her mutter an incantation under her breath and suddenly he felt the plane crackle with power. His screen blossomed with glowing dots with little fiery circles surrounding each dot. Small text labels floated next to each one, with names like Hibernian Black and Siberian Acid.
A soft gasp came from behind, "I have twenty-five, large, airborne magical signatures centered at 320 degrees, most likely Dragons. I'm locked up Harry." Harry was never prouder of her as her voice never wavered, despite the emotions he could feel boiling under the surface in each of them.
He flipped a pair of switches and their chairs leaned back slightly, "just think, this will be first time anyone has taken on a Dragon with a plane, magical or otherwise." He was talking to keep his mind off of what they were about to do and she knew it.
"No Harry, the Americans shot one down in eighty two off of Alaska, thought it was an UFO. Lost the plane though, called it a bird strike or something." She added meditatively. Then after a long pause, he heard a slight creaking, groaning sound from under his seat. "Launching." A continuous ripple of blue, wavering witchlight erupted from under the plane and fifteen glowing points of light raced ahead faster than the normal eye could track. "GO HARRY." She snapped and a heartbeat later she was thrown back in her seat.
Ron, and the rest barely held themselves aloft as the Lily vanished from sight with a flare of blue witchlight and a rush of displaced air. Twin, hundred-foot-tall roostertails of water shot skyward as a crack of thunder sounded on a cloudless night. Off in the distance, huge, blue-white fireballs made the night, day. "I have fifteen kills on the dragons" Hermione gritted out, as Harry banked hard right. The light from the contained reductors had not faded as huge, winged shapes filled the canopy. Tiny riders on their backs could be seen urging them to wheel about in the sky, and a orange-red fireball shot by the plane on the left, right where they would have been had Harry not turned.
REDUCTUS SPARSI Harry growled and twin streams of blue spell bolts snapped out and two more Dragons went tumbling from the sky, a flick of a finger and a stream of tracers shot out from the Gatling and a third joined them. And they were through. Azkaban rapidly fell behind, and Harry pulled up as hard as he could. Wheeling about, two more Dragons fell to the guns and... BOOM. The entire craft shook and started to tumble. Hermione bit off a scream in the back as the sky outside rapidly alternated between sea and sky. Harry glanced out the window and a world of water filled his vision. "ARRESTO MOMENTUM." He screamed and the plane slowly, tentatively slowed, and he pulled up close enough to the water to see a kelpie diving out of the way. He panted heavily as he glanced back.
"Don't ever do that again." Hermione snapped, breathing hard. She looked up to catch his eyes in the mirror. "Good job, love." A brief, tight smile flitted across her lips under the clear visor of her helmet. But any other endearments she might have said were lost as a loud, blaring alarm went off. Harry glanced back to see a long plume of black smoke trailing from under his left wing and the plane suddenly slowed and movements became jerky. "We lost the port broom-core pod Harry. We are going down." Harry nodded as he slowly turned back towards the island.
"Grab our stuff then and get ready to go." He pointed the nose of the plane at the last five Dragons who were fluttering about in a rather stupidly tight group. Tiny riders could be seen holding on for dear life as the Dragons fought to stay airborne in the turbulent sky. REDUCTUS DELAYUS FIVE SECMUNTO...GO HERMIONE. Behind him, Hermione vanished with a soft pop, Harry rammed the throttle home, and vanished a second later. In the sky above the prison, a black arrow shot forward and impaled a huge Hibernian Black hanging in the middle of pack. It rider fell screaming into the darkness, and second later, a huge blue-white flash erupted, making the previous broom missiles' explosions look like a child's Christmas cracker.
Still five miles out, Ron looked up. "HARRY...HERMIONE." He screamed.
"It's ok Ron." Harry's voice rang softly in their ears. "Just hurry up ok?" He looked up from the pile he and Hermione had tumbled into after their hasty Disappartion, at the tide of X'Sheen pounding their way. "Really. It would be good." Hermione nodded as she got up next to him and tossed him the Gryffindor sword from a large bag open at her feet.
The millennia-old steel of the Ravenclaw sword sang softly as it filled her right hand, while a greenish glow lit the end of her drawn wand. "Really Ron." She agreed as her eyes lit blue, "It would be rather smashing if you got here pretty soon."
**************************Hogwarts, Headmaster's Office********************
Dumbledore swept a vast pile of papers from his desk as he placed a large, old, poster sized parchment on the aged oak. From the apparent age of the parchment, one might think it heralded from Dumbledore's own school days here. With a practiced flick of his wrist, an old, one might say antique, wand slipped from his sleeve into his hand. He touched the tip to the paper, "I love lemon drops." Tendrils of ink appeared filling in from the corners. Rooms and halls appeared with small, labeled dots representing people, familiars and several ghosts populating the castle. Up in the hospital wing, Pomfrey could be seen bending over a pair of dots labeled Neville Longbottom and Ginevra Weasley. A quarter of the castle away, near Gryffindor tower, a small dot labeled Mrs. Norris ran up to a dot labeled Crookshanks, hesitated a second then scampered off. Minerva McGonagall was pacing, back and forth in her office at the base of Gryffindor Tower. Down below the dungeons, several people could be seen scurrying about, packing or panicking or something.
Albus nodded and touched the wand to the parchment once more. "Foundrous Locatus Revelium" The ink lines slipped to new, unfamiliar outlines. Where once straight lines demarking rooms and halls were drawn, now a jagged, unknown outline of an island was visible. A large fortress with almost innumerable tiny named dots occupied a quarter of the island, with a large plateau drawn in overlooking it. Two tiny dots labeled Harry and Hermione Potter stood on that bluff, with a solid wall of ink coming towards them. Out over the ocean, just entering on the edge of the parchment, eight more dots labeled Sirius Black, Cordelia O'Connor, Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Lupin, Fred, George, Ronald and Luna Weasley were approaching the island rapidly. From the opposite corner, a blip labeled Fawkes appeared and arrowed towards the island. "Hurry my friends." He whispered.
Dumbledore left the parchment open on his desk as he stepped to the center of his office. His left hand swept back his outer robes to reveal the jewel-encrusted hilt of the headmaster's sword. A soft hiss of steel on leather echoed in the silent office as the blade emerged. The thousand-year-old blade lit with a blinding white fire matched only by the sudden glow in Dumbledore's eyes as he spoke, "sanctorum protegum" Out of the window, a shimmering gold light encompassed the castle and grounds, shimmering and pulsing like a giant neon sign. "It is only temporary Minerva, I need Harry and Hermione here as well to fully unleash the castle's wards." Dumbledore said softy in the direction of the door. She had entered without a word, "I was not ready for this, not yet."
******************************Azkaban, North Sea*************************
Harry ducked the swing of a black blade wielded by a particularly fast X'Sheen and countered, opening the dark one up from hip to collarbone for an instant before it vanished with a flare of ultraviolet. An angry shove at the air threw an entire rank of X'Sheen back fifty feet and he Apparated to Hermione's side. She dodged a green bolt, decapitated a an X'Sheen and retaliated with a cone shaped blue bolt, that spread as it shot out and detonated taking ten X'Sheen with it. She panted as Harry settled at her back, "I guess they aren't members of your..." she grunted as she blocked a blade. She pulled her fist closed and snapped it open at her attacker, it erupted in blue flame, "your fan club." She finished tightly.
Harry flicked glowing blue eyes over his shoulder at her for an instant, "ASTRUM DELATARIS." Flashes of blue-white lighting hammered from the cloudless sky, plowing great rents in the advancing lines. A flicker of green caught the corner of his eye; he grabbed Hermione and flung both of them backwards closer to the edge of the cliffs overlooking the prison. Harry laid his palm on the ground as Hermione rolled over the top of his back, blocking a strike at his head, "Terratus Disperisum." Great rents opened in the earth dropping tens of X'Sheen into dark chasms. "Finite" he finished and the holes snapped shut. "You mean there is still one?"
"Yeah," She grunted, "I even attended a meeting last year as a speaker." Hermione tossed her sword in the air, slammed her palms together, and a wave of destruction flared outward, and more X'Sheen vanished in flares of purple-black light. She caught her sword as it fell and flicked it back into a guard position. A pause fell as a black tide surrounded them, backing them to the edge of the plateau they had landed on. Harry looked over at Hermione and gave her a small nod; she smiled slightly at him, "Shall we my Lord?"
"Aye, my Lady." Harry replied softly, but loud enough for her to hear him. A loud, shaking thunder crashed in the night, and under their feet, Harry and Hermione could feel the ground shaking slightly. Their enhanced night vision could see the X'Sheen army parting for something or some things, and moments later, twenty large mountain trolls thumped into the cleared area. The one in the lead grinned, showing blacked, broken teeth and Harry rolled his eyes despite the situation. Mione? Harry asked quietly as his fingers tapped idly on the hilt of his sword.
Yes Harry? She replied as she inverted her sword and jammed it into the ground at her side. A pair of wands came into her hands and their tips lit as tiny stars of energy rushed towards them to gather and dance on the ends.
His eyes flicked to hers, Do it. She smiled evilly and brought the tips of her wands together. A wave of brilliant orange light shot out enveloping each of the twenty trolls in a column of scintillating light. The light faded to reveal...twenty chickens. "DIFFINDO" she snapped, waving her left hand wand in an arc and suddenly there were twenty headless chickens. Harry looked over at her with a crooked eyebrow.
Hermione shrugged, I did still owe you for that troll in first year.
The X'Sheen gathered to rush them once more, and an odd keening wail broke out from their ranks as the leaders charged. Harry ducked one blow, flicked another X'Sheen away from Hermione and flipped over the head of another. Gradually, the circle closed about the pair, as gradually they slowed. Harry was a fraction of a second too slow as he caught a black blade in his side. "HARRY" Hermione screamed as she flicked her wand and a tiny void sprung up next to the X'Sheen attacking Harry and sucked them into the void.
A line of explosions shattered the ranks of the attackers as eight brooms swept overhead. Harry bit off a dark laugh as the eight settled next to them. "About time Ron."
"Traffic," Ron explained. "Here they come." The reformed enemies struck in a whir of black blades and a flurry of spells. Luna ducked under a green spell and her Impediment Jinx threw an X'Sheen. A shining blue Reductor met her target in mid air and it shattered. Cordelia blurred as she leapt to fight the X'Sheen on their own terms, one, five, ten fell to her sword and wand before she was knocked back to fly through the air. Sirius caught her with a cushioning spell and together they rose and counterattacked once more.
The ten held fast, outnumbered a hundred to one, but there were far, far too many X'Sheen.
"Damn it Harry." Ron screamed as he ducked another curse. The conjured, stone wall that Ron, Luna and Remus were sheltering behind took another shattering hit and Harry nodded across the barren stone battlefield. He rolled out of the way of another green curse and felled his attacker almost absently but Ron was right. There were too many.
Suddenly, in the midst of ugliness, of terror and pain, a haunting, beautiful song filled the air, driving away the fear and the hurt and causing their hearts to soar. Several dozen X'Sheen in the field and a good twenty Death Eaters on the walls of the fortress pointed up to the cloudless sky as a new crimson star decorated the heavens. The star circled, faster and faster, the sound getting louder all the time, and with a sudden realization Harry and Hermione's eyes grew wide as saucers.
"EVERYONE GET OVER HERE" Harry screamed as the star shot upwards like a moonshot. Ron, Luna, Sirius and the others dove to Harry's side, their wands pointing outward like the quills of a giant hedgehog. A dozen X'Sheen noticed the clustered targets and charged. "HERMIONE" He snapped as he tossed the Sword Of Gryffindor in the air. His eyes never left the ever-rising red streak of light as she caught the sword in her left hand, the wand held there previously dropping away to the ground. With a flare of power, the twin blades ignited with bluebell flames and she MOVED.
CLANG, Hermione caught a strike with her left blade, spun left and decapitated an X'Sheen with her right. A rising blade caught another, while a descending one caught a third. Hermione flipped and twisted over the heads of two more and backhanded both blades at once. Two more dark ones fell to her blades as she cartwheeled sideways and jammed the Ravenclaw sword into the ground. "TERATUS CONDUCTUS" Lightning snaked out along cracks in the hard ground, seeking the remaining seven and enveloping each in a pillar of fire.
Harry watched as the red star reached the top of its dive, turned over and a red streak shot downwards. NOW MIONE Hermione vanished and reappeared sliding on her knees to Harry. "PROTEGO ASTRALUS ENCLOSUM" A shimmering blue dome enveloped the ten as the red streak impacted the center of the X'Sheen forces waiting to attack. A blinding flash permanently etched their shadows on the rocks for all eternity as waves of fire shot out from the impact like rings on a pond. The protective dome shuddered and shook as the shockwave and fireball washed over them cleansing the area of X'Sheen, various overseeing Death Eaters, and the bodies of twenty headless chickens.
The shield flickered and died as Harry collapsed to his knees, panting. A thin trickle of blood was escaping his nose as Hermione helped him to his feet. Her eyes were concerned, even considering the still desperate situation they were in. Are you ok? Hermione asked softly as she looked about the suddenly almost empty battlefield. Between the fireball and the fact that X'Sheen generally didn't leave bodies behind when they died, the way was clear to the castle.
I'll be fine. Harry snapped, and immediately sent a flicker of apology her way. "Let's go." He growled and MOVED. His body shot ahead in a blur of motion, Hermione following an instant later. As Harry leapt over a tiny pile of ashes emitting a soft chirping sound, "RON." He pointed behind him even as he was sprinting towards the castle. Ron and Luna slid to their knees next to a tiny, shivering Fawkes as Lupin, Tonks, Sirius, Cordy and the twins sprinted past. Digging in a thigh pack, Luna pulled out a small, black medallion and with a muttered sticking charm, placed it on the baby Fawkes. A flick of her wand, a murmured, "Portus" and the Phoenix vanished in a fall of color and a rush of wind.
Harry slowed to a merely human pace as he approached the gates. Spells shot down from the parapets cratering the hard ground around him, with an almost annoyed sigh, he raised his wand and swept it along the wall, flicking it as it passed each Death Eater as if marking them. Thunder deafened them as twin forks of lighting stuck either end of the wall, striking the Death Eaters at either end and bouncing to the next. In milliseconds the incoming fire died as either there were no Death Eaters left alive to man the walls or they suddenly had found other pressing appointments.
"POTTER" a dark hiss echoed out over the grounds as a dark, cloaked figure faded into view. Dark steel armor covered its robes as it raised a long, serrated broadsword. Deep inside its hood, glowing purplish-black eyes gazed out from darkness. "It has been a long time since the Gryffindor Sword crossed mine." The words had an odd sibilant undertone as the Dark One strode to the fore and raised its sword in salute. "I shall return you to your ancestor."
The corner of Harry's lip twitched upward for instant, he straightened to his full height and slowly sheathed both of his wands. The field was oddly silent as Harry reached over his shoulder and with a soft scrape of steel on leather; his sword came free into his hand. Harry's eyes never left the glowing purple ones of his foe as he slowly brought his sword to the salute.
****************************Hong Kong, China****************************
(Two days prior, several hours after the fall of the Ministry)
A slim, athletic, raven-haired young woman climbed from the front seat of a jet-black SUV and sighed. Fashionable, dark, Muggle sunglasses shielded her dark eyes from the early morning glare over the harbor as she watched a sampan pass in the harbor. With a shrug, she settled her black leather jacket more comfortably on her shoulders and walked towards a taped-off scene near the entrance to warehouse.
She frowned to herself as she looked at the collection of Muggle police scattered about. A tall, very pale man with bright red hair stood out, as he was arguing with the officers in quite fluent Cantonese for a man born in Aberdeen. Andrew McFollet was the unfortunate victim of a peculiar difference in the treaties handing Hong Kong back over the Chinese. In 1997, the Muggle government of Britain had handed the responsibilities of government over to the Chinese, but due to a peculiarity in the treaty, a hidden passage only visible with the proper revealing spells, the Ministry of Magic of Britain still held sway over the Wizarding portion of the city until 2050.
It was for this reason that the two top Aurors of the British government in Hong Kong were here on this early morning, very early for Cho as she had had the day off today. Stopping for an instant, Cho dug a small vial from her jacket pocket, palmed it, and drank the contents discretely. Instantly, her hangover from last night's partying cleared, though a slight headache remained, as she couldn't stomach the version of the WWW Hangover BeGone that got rid of that as well. Reaching into her other pocket, she flashed a set of credentials to the guard at the edge of the tape, the badge looked to the Muggle patrolman to be a Scotland Yard ID. She padded towards the crime scene slowly, and stopped suddenly as an experienced instinct caused her to spin on her heal and cross back to the officer. She leaned into the man, and despite the fact that he was several inches taller; he leaned back slightly. Her tone was deceptively light as she whispered in his ear, "I catch you ogling my arse again, and I'll feed you whatever tiny little thing I find in your pants...understand?" She didn't wait for his jerky nod as she turned back to McFollet and stood close enough to talk quietly.
He grinned slyly at her, "Come on now, Cho." He was barely keeping from laughing, "even I think about that sometimes."
"I doubt it." She shot back, "Mei would have your balls fried up and on a plate with rice." She motioned him over to the railing over looking the water and they leaned on it, facing outward to make it harder to read their lips.
"Yeah you are right." Andrew agreed, then his grin widened slightly, "unless she was there too of course." Cho rolled her eyes but didn't disagree with the observation, "What's wrong partner?" His oddly dark brown eyes were concerned, as he looked over at his and his wife's best friend in the Eastern Hemisphere.
"Oh besides the fact that my damn crystal went off, just when I was getting to the good part." She laughed softly, "though the disappointed look on the boy's face was almost worth it, when I got up right in the middle. I thought the poor boy was going die. I guess he will have to take care of it himself." She groaned and shook her head slightly. "Why am I here Andy? A homicide, even a Wizarding one, isn't SOP to call me in on my day off."
"Because something else is going on Cho." His face was suddenly concerned as he glanced to either side to see if anyone had gotten closer.
"Start at the beginning, just like Dumbledore always used to spout."
He nodded, "At five fifteen this morning, a watchman found an unknown Caucasian male dead of no apparent cause outside of this warehouse." Andrew motioned over his shoulder with a thumb towards the covered body behind them. "When the report went out over the wire, the Ministry offices called me in to look over the scene. When I looked over the man, I found the signs of a Kedavra or similar, but there was no wand signature associated with the casting of that curse detected in the last seventy two hours in this city, and the vic has been dead only about four hours, somewhere around three, three fifteen." Her eyes flicked to meet his, "Yeah Cho, either someone with an off the grid wand cast it, or someone or something cast a wandless Kedavra. And that club, is a very short, very concerning list. According to the files here, there are maybe ten, fifteen wizards in the world who can do that without a focusing medium such as a wand or staff, and the majority already have officially unmonitored wands such as Dumbledore, and the Potters."
"None of them would have done it." Cho breathed. She frowned, "there is another possibility."
"What?"
"You'll laugh." She muttered, he shook his head, "Malfoy or the X'Sheen, or...v..v...Voldemort."
"He's dead Cho. I'd be personally more concerned that there are possible X'Sheen outside of England. One more thing."
"Yeah?" She asked, not really wanting to know.
"We can't get through to the Ministry or anyone at Hogwarts. Daniels took a portkey to the Ministry two hours ago...we've heard nothing back."
"You're right." She frowned as she turned and walked over to the body. She knelt and raised the sheet slightly to look at the body. The man was light skinned and tow-headed with a scar marring one cheek. His eyes were open and fixed in the usual aftermath of the Kedavra. She gasped suddenly and stood. "Come on Andy." Cho snapped and almost ran to her vehicle in her sudden haste to escape. He followed and jumped in the passenger seat as she threw the Land Rover in reverse and sped out of the lot.
"What the fuck is going on Cho? You look like you've seen a ghost."
"I have." She shot back heatedly, "That was James Stackpole under that tarp. He was one of Dumbledore's special investigators for the Order. And if he's dead like that, either Malfoy or the X'Sheen are here...and we're screwed."
"How the hell would you know that?" McFollet retorted with a raised eyebrow, barely hanging on to his seat as she dodged back and forth in the heavy morning traffic. She seemed to be heading more or less in the direction of their downtown offices."
"Because I've been a member of the Order of the Phoenix since I was seventeen, okay?" Both of his eyebrows shot up, few members of the Order actually admitted it, save the Potters and Dumbledore as they were rather obvious. Order members tended to get dead if they did so, if not from Malfoy's various forces then from some up and coming dark wizard looking to make a name for him or herself. "He was here in town to check out some rumors that Malfoy was using Chimera egg smuggling to finance his operations...but he wouldn't have had X'Sheen here for that. They would only be here for an attack." She swerved hard into an empty alley and slammed on the brakes. "Take the truck back to headquarters and start setting up the Niffler protocol...just in case. Then get Mei and Stephen and get the hell out of here." She reached into a pocket and handed him a large, golden key. "This is a key to my place in Nottingham." He frowned, and she shook her head, sending her inky locks flying, "I mean it Andy, you two and your son are the only family I have left outside of the UK. It should be safe, it is warded and under a Fidelius charm, and I'm the secret keeper. The key will port you there."
"What will you be doing?" he asked as he reluctantly pocketed the key.
"Trying to contact Albus..." A soft pop was heard in the car as she vanished.
****************************Azkaban, North Sea***************************
Harry's sword was utterly steady as it dropped from the salute into a low ready position. All round him, and the X'Sheen commander at the gate, the very air became energized. Small sparks leapt from rock to rock and wall to ground as the two combatants stood, measuring...testing.
They were calm, utterly so at least on the outside, and if a raging conversation were indeed happening between Harry and Hermione's minds, it didn't show. His breathing was slow and deep, and the X'Sheen's, if it was breathing at all, was undetectable. Behind and around the dueling pair, and the watching Marauders, the few X'Sheen and Death Eaters that had survived Fawkes' fiery plunge were encircling them. They started to close in, with their wands and hands rising.
"STOP!" Hermione's voice shattered the stillness as a translucent, shimmering wall snapped into existence. Hands, feet, swords and not a few spells hammered it uselessly as her glowing eyes narrowed. She spun back to her husband; end this now.
As soon as I can. Be ready. "Why don't you walk away?" Harry asked as the pair started to circle each other slowly, "what does Malfoy have over you, what has he promised? You have to know that he won't share power."
The X'Sheen actually laughed, "Of course he will not. Never fear human, his power over us is temporary. Your ancestors at Atlantis learned that as well to their dismay. They should have been content with staying home instead of seeking us out." His black sword came back slowly, so slowly it was almost unremarkable, "when their ships came out of the blackness to find ours waiting for them, we laughed. At last there was someone new to conquer."
Harry felt a sudden realization as Hermione's thoughts spilled over into his. He saw flashes of an ancient tome with black ships hanging in the sky over silver towers bombarding them with emerald beams. Of wave after wave of X'Sheen and Dementors overrunning hasty defenses of a doomed city. "So...how did you lose?" The X'Sheen never answered. A huge black blade flashed for Harry's head, missing as he ducked and rolled to his left. He bounded to his feet to block a second at his head, then a third at his legs. Harry flipped backwards, slashing his sword horizontally and catching his foe on the arm. Black ichor stained the glinting steel of the sword as Harry watched warily.
The X'Sheen snapped up its free hand and green bolts shotgunned across the intervening space, but Harry wasn't there. They passed through the air where he had been standing as a black blur MOVED to the right. CLANG. Swords rang in the night, as Harry swung hard at its head, he flipped sideways, dropped to his back and swept. The X'Sheen stumbled as its legs were struck, Harry flip-kicked to his feet, gestured with his left hand, and banished the X'Sheen hard against the wall. It hit hard enough to leave a slight impression on the ancient stones and staggered foreword. A second wave of his hand and a cylinder of fire erupted around the X'Sheen.
Green bolts of spellfire shot out of the flames, and the Gryffindor blade whirred, blocking them and sending them whining off into the night. Hermione started to come forward, to stop at Ron's hand on her shoulder. "He's fine Hermione." His words came just as the towering, dark figure erupted from the flames, his robes smoldering. The X'Sheen charged, firing and swinging at the same time.
Harry spun on his heel and ran flat out at the wall. And time slowed. In the blink of an eye, it was over.
Harry's movements were a blur to everyone except Hermione. She clearly saw as he ran almost fifteen feet up the obsidian walls, flipped backwards and fired a Repulsion Hex, left-handed at the ground under the X'Sheen. She watched with no small satisfaction as Harry twisted in mid-air and sliced down and right with the Gryffindor sword just as the X'Sheen and he crossed paths. She witnessed the blade of the Founders, and mate to her own, neatly cleave the X'Sheen's broadsword in two and go on to do likewise to the wielder of said broadsword.
Time returned to normal as Harry landed in a forward roll and sprung to his feet. Behind him, ten feet in the air, a purple-black flash lit the night and two haves to a large, black sword clattered to the ground. His breathing was a touch rushed as he turned to glower at the audience assembled outside of Hermione's protective barrier to watch. He almost laughed as the human Death Eaters seemed to vanish into the very ground. The X'Sheen outside of the barrier, as one, gave him a brief nod and stood at some odd pose of attention. Not moving as if they had decided to sit the remainder of this battle out.
Hermione eyes caught his and he gave her a brief pained smile. They would have time later, Merlin willing. Harry slid the sword back into his sheath and turned to the forty-foot high gates barring their way into the fortress. He stood; feet shoulder width apart. His right slipped back a half pace as brought his empty hands together at chest height, the left cupped as to grasp a cricket ball, the right cupping it. Ron, Sirius, Lupin, Tonks and Cordelia shared worried looks as they felt sudden tendrils of energy whipping past them, rushing towards Harry. Luna of course was calm, while Hermione stood at his back looking out into the night.
The energy built to a crescendo, and Harry pulled his hands hard into his chest and flung them forward, his hands flying open. A shimmering ball of blackness flew from his hands, impacted the doors exactly in the seam joining the two and halfway up. The massive doors, shook and rattled for a devastatingly long moment, then all at once, the material of the door seemed to melt and stream towards the singularity, faster and faster, and a heartbeat later, there was no door at all, only the black ball hanging motionless in space.
Hermione gasped and turned to face the prison. "Harry I can feel them." She pointed towards a large tower. "Up there." He nodded and with a shared nod, they vanished along with the rest of their party.
The group of ten appeared in a black room. A soft scrape came out of the darkness, and then a leering, drawling voice spoke, "So nice of you to join us Potter, we have been expecting you."
A/N: Yeah I know...a cliffie....sorry.