Chapter Eighteen: Facing Dark and Difficult Times
As they left the grounds, the four were chatting softly among themselves, when Tonks smiled and turned her hair bright purple. "I never remembered to thank you both, Harry, Hermione, for leaving me that nice Kreacher to deal with the other night."
Hermione looked as angelic as she could, but Harry ruined the attempt by snickering. "Well, we couldn't let you have fun all night, Tonks. What did you do with him anyways?"
Tonks glared at the two younger people. "Vaporized him. It was the only way I could think of to dispose of him without just tossing him out with the rubbish."
Harry nodded. "Figured you would do something like that. Better you than us, though." He chuckled, and turned back to Hermione, steadily ignoring when Tonks kissed Remus full on the lips, except for the hardening of Harry's emerald eyes. "Let's stop at the Three Broomsticks before we head home. I need a drink."
The other three agreed readily, none of them eager to return to the grimness of Number Twelve, which, while slowly improving under the care of the industrious house elves, still had a long way to go before being considered livable by regular wizards.
"What does everyone want?" Harry asked as they stepped inside, his eyebrows rising at the crowd. "I'll get it from Madame Rosemerta while you all find a table."
"Butterbeer for me," Hermione said, a choice echoed by Tonks.
Lupin, on the other hand, looked slightly confused and breathed in deeply, as if clearing his head, before answering. "I'll just have some water."
Harry nodded, weaving his way through the crowded bar. Apparently, the defeat of Voldemort had brought people back into their old habits of congregating in public places. After a moment, a harried looked Rosemerta stopped in front of Harry. When her eyes lit up, Harry quickly raised a finger to his lips, and she said quietly, "What can I get you, Harry?"
"Two butterbeers, a water, and a double firewhiskey," he answered in an equally soft tone, pulling out the appropriate money and placing it on the counter as she went to get his order. So far, no one had noticed him, or perhaps word had spread that bothering him had unfortunate consequences after Diagon Alley. After a moment, the tavern owner returned with the drinks, and Harry idly waved his hand, levitating them easily as he turned to find the table his friends had chosen. With a slight frown he realized the crowd had forced them into two separate, small tables, fit for only two people, that were nearby each other, but in the noisy bar, too far apart to talk. Hermione was sitting at the one with the empty chair, and Remus and Tonks sat at the other.
He sighed softly as he sat down at the table with Hermione, having deposited Tonks' butterbeer and Lupin's water with them. Sliding Hermione's bottle across the table, he said quietly to her, "I had no idea there would be this many people here or I wouldn't have suggested it. They're all staring at me, aren't they?"
Hermione nodded, fascinated, as she broke the seal and opened her bottle. She had observed, like Harry, the way the people looked away when he looked in their direction but immediately went back to staring at him when they thought he could no longer see them. "Let's just finish our drinks and get out of here, Hermione."
She looked down at his drink in surprise as he sipped it. "Harry, that's firewhiskey. I've never seen you drink that."
Harry blinked. More than twenty years of it as the occasional habit made it hard to remember that he had not ever touched it until he worked at the Department. "Well, I've always wanted to try some."
Hermione smiled wryly. "We're not in school any more, so I suppose it's alright."
Harry stuck out his tongue. "Thank you for your permission, Miss Granger." He leaned closer to her. "Do you really think that my plan will work if we need it?"
Hermione shrugged. "There are too many unknowns, and we don't know how literally that description was meant to be taken. I still think it would be safer to have someone sneak in and stab you, some place harmless, than try your plan. It's a lot more sure."
Harry frowned. "I thought you liked me, and here you are, so eager to hurt me." He smiled teasingly. "I would agree with you, except this is likely to take place in the middle of some Death Eater stronghold, and I don't need anything slowing me down on the way out."
Hermione smiled. "As long as you're planning on coming out. If this happens, and I wake up and find Voldemort there, I will kill you."
Harry laughed. "Somehow, I think that is the least of my worries."
He knocked back the second half of the firewhiskey in a single gulp and watched Hermione's eyes widen in shock. "It's good," he tried to argue unsuccessfully against her disapproving frown.
"Don't like it too much, Harry."
"Not too much," he agreed with a grin. "Whenever you're ready."
"I'll take the butterbeer with me," she said, as she had been very slowly sipping it.
Nodding, Harry stood, and once Hermione was following, moved towards the door, catching Remus' eye in the process. The werewolf gave a tiny, nearly invisible nod and got up with Tonks a moment later to follow.
Stepping out into the late June sun, the foursome walked slowly down the street to an area that was not too busy so they could Apparate back to their accommodations. Tonks went first.
Or tried to, at least. With her face screwed up in concentration, she breathed out heavily, then blinked as she realized she had not gone anywhere. "Shit," was the only thing to come out of the female Auror's mouth before Harry realized what was going on.
He could feel them, immensely strong anti-Apparition wards like those that surrounded Hogwarts. "We were out too long. They're coming for you," he whispered, and Hermione shrank against him slightly. "Stay with me. If they need me intact for this little project, and I stay between you and them, well, they'll lose."
Tonks pulled her wand out, joining Remus in readiness, looking about for something to engage. Harry's wand slid into his hand from somewhere, merely just appearing there as the silver wisp of Tonks' Patronus whipped by on the way to the castle.
The pop of Portkey transit sounded before them, shattering the silence which had grown nearly oppressive over the wizarding village, then more and more pops as black robed figures appeared like stalkers from the night. Spell light still flashed just as bright in the midday sun as the battle was joined.
As the flashes of curses and the shouts to produce such echoed in the hot air, more and more people began to tumble out of buildings into the street, most of them unprepared for the chaos which had engulfed Hogsmeade in a corona of magical lights. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry watched as an old man stepping out of a house nearby was cut down by a reveling Death Eater, randomly shooting off powerful curses in every direction to add to the mischief his fellows were causing.
Moving slightly behind him as she had been instructed, Hermione brought up her wand and the red blast of a Stunning spell erupted from it to spear the dark wizard to the ground. Harry, meanwhile, sent two dark blue spell lights twirling back at their caster, bounced from a shielding spell, and having the unfortunate result of spraying the street with a crimson stain as the Death Eater's body shattered. Purple light tore through the air as a tall Death Eater attacked them next, Harry's arm stopping Hermione barely from advancing through the blast with her back turned as she defended them from two more Death Eaters coming up from behind.
Flicking his wand, Harry tore cobbles from the street and pelted them at the Death Eater, distracting him as he attempted to stop the flying bricks, and letting Harry put a stunning spell in under his guard. Wheeling, the dark haired wizard blinked once as Hermione's wand waved almost faster than he could see, pummeling her attackers with a veritable rain of spells. The addition of Harry's spells won him a smile and two more Death Eaters lying on the ground.
All around them, the lights were flashing brilliantly as Harry paused to check the wards again, seeing if they were weakening or even gone. No such luck. A swish of light caused him to dive aside, away from Hermione and a red jet met the Death Eater who was attacking as Harry came back to his feet. Hermione ran towards Harry, who was noticing the same thing Hermione shouted at the same time she shouted it. "They're coming after me, Harry!"
It was indeed true. The other Death Eaters were merely occupying Remus and Tonks and the villagers while group after small group came after Hermione and Harry. Harry reached out and pulled Hermione towards him with a wandless summoning charm, pulling her out of the blast of a spell she had missed while distracted. "Get down while I see if I can spot a way out." Hermione nodded and ducked behind an overturned carriage whose owner was lying unconscious from the first moments of the attack.
Harry flung spells at the Death Eaters from their relatively isolated position near the edge of the village, Hermione occasionally popping up to lend him a hand, but not seeming to realize Harry was casting protection charms with his left hand while his right worked his wand and the powerful combat spells it produced.
More Death Eaters were charging, and Harry noticed that Lupin's spells were coming slower now, the older man appearing to be limping, and he could not see Tonks' bright hair anywhere. Suddenly, the explosion of the carriage from a spell Harry missed as not being directed at him threw Harry off his feet and away from Hermione. Spitting up blood onto the street, he shouted, "Fall back, Hermione!" before realizing she was just as bad off as he was, with an ugly wooden splinter protruding from her arm. Shaking his head, the young wizard heaved himself off the ground and flicked his hand, sending the nearby Death Eaters flying backwards with no warning flash of light. Bending over as he reached the young woman, he wrapped his arm under her shoulders and pulled her to her feet. "Let's go."
Progress was slow at best, but the explosion and the flying Death Eaters seemed to pause the assault on the two youngsters for the moment, at least until a green bolt flashed by overhead, resuming the attack with its full vigor. Hermione collapsed behind the corner of a wall, Harry spinning about to fire a series of dark red bolts back at the dark wizards pursuing them.
Like a roll of powerful thunder, the wards about them shattered as reinforcements from Hogwarts and the Order of the Phoenix arrived in a powerful display, tearing into the center of the Death Eater ranks behind the point of Dumbledore and McGonagall. Now, instead of trying to reach the two young magical people, the Death Eaters main force wheeled about, trying to prevent the powerful new group from saving the young people.
Harry flung another bolt of power at the Death Eaters, and smiled as they sprawled face down in the street, knowing the force of scraping along the stones would leave a bloody trail. "Hermione, can you Apparate out of here?"
"I think ss…. HARRY!" As his name became a wordless cry of pain, Harry wheeled and was confronted with what remained one of his worst nightmares. Bellatrix Lestrange was standing there with Hermione's injured arm in her hand, pressing the splinter in deeper, surrounded by a body guard of Death Eaters.
"So, Potter, you lose now." The insane laugh tore through Harry as it reminded him of the time he had chased this madwoman through the Ministry of Magic. "The girl or your own life, your choice."
His wand did not move, did not rise from its half lowered position, but light burst out from Harry, striking down two of the evil woman's guard, then a third as it jumped towards her, but the cracking pop of air collapsing in on itself told the tale that even now the Boy-Who-Lived was too slow, too late.
All the Death Eaters vanished with Lestrange, and Remus came running up to Harry. "Are you two okay? Sorry we got…" The werewolf paused in mid-sentence. "Where's Hermione, Harry?"
"Lestrange got her. She's gone."