Unofficial Portkey Archive

Chapter 10: A Dark Majority Part Duex.
**********************Ottery St. Catchpole**********************

August 1, 1997
2:15 am

"This is your test." Lucius related softly as he looked down on a hooded man, who was standing silently, too silently at the edge of the forest surrounding the Burrow. "Succeed and the Dark Lord will reward you greatly," Lucius smiled darkly, "fail in this however, and the consequences will be severe." The anonymous Death Eater nodded slowly and moved towards the yard of the house. Shadows detached themselves from the tree and followed. Glimmers of moonlight off of steel and darkly polished wands caught the attention of an errant owl; it hooted and jumped into flight.

As the group of perhaps twenty Death Eaters approached the house, a golden wall shimmered into existence. The man from before, the mysterious man under the hood raised his wand, and with a muttered incantation, described a doorway in the ward.
Raucous alarms blared as the first of them stepped onto the lawn, and green bolts hissed towards the house.

**********************Canton*****************************

A body fell to the ground as a blade flashed. Snape walked over and nodded almost absently as he looked down at the lifeless body of Theodore Slilton. "You should have gotten out why you could Teddy." Snape whispered almost to himself as an anonymous Death Eater levitated the body of the Order member behind a hedgerow. A slight rustling in the grass to Snape's left caused him to whirl with his wand extended. Antonin Dolohov chuckled menacingly as he looked over at the arch-traitor.

"Why so jumpy Sev...afraid that Potter will jump out from behind the bushes?" Dolohov sneered as he regarded the light blue house, he leaned lazily on a post box labeled, "Drs. Granger" "It is just a couple of Muggles...there was no real protection here. The Order is overwhelmed since their Great and Powerful Leader died, and the Ministry would not lower itself to protect a few disposable Muggles. Relax my friend...perhaps we can still have...pleasure tonight. The mother is supposedly the equal of her daughter." Behind him several of the young, masked figures that had accompanied him and Dolohov tonight laughed, with terrible, eager laughs.

"We will see Antonin, we will see." Snape gestured to the Death Eaters with them and pointed at the house. Eight, black shapes swarmed past them and toward the house. He frowned absently as he watched them rush toward the house in a clump. A dog, wandered across the lawn in front of one of them, barked once, and yelped as a green bolt snapped out, and it dropped to the ground lifeless. "Idiots..." Snape hissed.

He flinched as a Reductor blew the door to splinters with a thunderous BOOM, and the attackers piled in.

Up in the master bedroom, Roger Granger snapped awake at the sound of the bark, and final yelp of their neighbor's dog. "Jane" he hissed as he was already rolling out of bed and shaking her awake. Her bleary eyes shot open and she barely managed to stop a shocked scream as their front door exploded downstairs. She looked across at her husband, who had already taken a position at the wall next to the door, he nodded, his eyes wide, but not panicked. A dark fury glittered in his eyes as the door creaked open and a wand led the way through.

Roger grabbed the wand arm and swung the Death Eater hard into the wall, stripping him of his wand and snapping it with a quick thought. He rolled to the side as several red bolts snapped past his head and Jane rolled off the bed and grabbed the picture frame Hermione had charmed just this past evening. Hermione... She watched fearfully as another Death Eater charged Roger. Roger ducked to the side, and grunted as a bad knee; the one that had retired him from the Regiment staggered him. He punched the second Death Eater in the throat, and spun to his wife...

Six red bolts shot out of the darkness to impact him. He crumpled as two Death Eaters paced into the room and pointed their wands at Jane. The rightmost one stunned her almost absently. The standing Death Eaters stood to some odd sort of attention as Snape and Dolohov appeared at the door to the bedroom. Snape sneered at the sight. "Take them downstairs...it will make a better presentation for Potter and his bitch." Snape looked over at the first Death Eater, who seemed to be cradling a broken arm and the second, who had survived, as Roger had been in a hurry and out of practice. He looked up at Snape pleadingly as he gurgled something through a damaged throat. "Avada Kedavra" The green beam snapped and the Death Eater slumped. The rest, except Dolohov looked to him with fear in their eyes.

Dolohov chuckled as Snape pointed at the fallen Death Eater, "that is the price of failure to Lord Voldemort...do not forget it." The team nodded as one, and began to carry the Grangers to the bottom floor where Dolohov was already thinking of something...artistic to do.

**************************12 Grimmauld Place/#93 Diagon Alley**************

"Angelina move." Fred snapped as he rolled over with sleep-glazed eyes, shocked, as a Patronus sprang into his room and...he knew. He tumbled out of bed, pausing only to transfigure his sleep clothes to jeans and a shirt. He met George coming out of his room next to his twin nodded fearfully.

George spun to the fireplace and flung a handful of glittering powder into the low fire burning there. The flames became emerald. "12 Grimmauld Place," he screamed and thrust his head into the flames. He didn't notice the spinning sensation as he looked into an empty kitchen. "DOBBY," he screamed and the elf appeared a moment later, "Get Ron, tell him the Burrow's under attack." Dobby popped away with a terse nod, and an instant later, back in Diagon Alley, the twins vanished.

Angelina and Alicia grabbed small packs from the kitchen counter and vanished right after them.

*****
Ronald Weasley was a notoriously heavy sleeper. As Dobby appeared in his room, which was remarkably like Harry and Hermione's room, and started shaking him he just rolled over, muttered something about moons and cradled his pillow. Dobby clapped his small hands next to his ear with no effect. Dobby looked fretful as he snapped his fingers and a bucket appeared hovering above Ron's head. It tipped and ice-cold water rained down on the redhead.

He sat up suddenly sputtering, "FRED..." he roared as he blinked himself awake and his wand came into his hand from under his pillow. He frantically looked about the room at head height as his surroundings came into focus in his sleep-addled mind. Finding no one, especially not a stocky redheaded doppelganger, he frowned and looked down next to his bed as a soft noise pierced the fog of his thoughts.

"Please forgive, Dobby Wheezy sir, but George sir, he says to gets yous sir...the Burrow is under attack sir." Ron's heart stopped as he rolled out of bed, almost stepped on Dobby, stepped into a pair of boots near the door and flicked his wand at them. They were lacing themselves as he dove down a flight of stairs and flung open Harry's door.

At any other time the sight of his two best friends lying naked and half-covered would have at least caused the infamous Weasley blush to erupt, or at the very least the formulation of diabolical plot of teasing and embarrassments. Not tonight however, as he sprinted across the room to shake Harry's shoulder hard.

He spun away with a gasp as a pair of wand tips, already lit with a pre-discharge glow; aligned themselves with his head as if by magic. Harry blinked rapidly and Hermione groaned. "Ron..."

"The Burrow is under attack." Ron interrupted. Harry and Hermione glanced at each other and rolled out of bed. Ron did blush then for a brief second before his higher brain functions beat down the response. His eyes cut away as Hermione skinned into a pair of jeans lying at the floor next to the bed and tossed on a black, long-sleeved t-shirt. She glanced up to see Harry already dressed and tossing her, her daggers followed by a small thigh pack with some of the twins' newest toys.

The Gryffindor sword vanished behind his back as Harry met her gaze again fearfully and nodded. "Ok Ron." She said, "Let's..." But here statement of readiness never finished as a picture of her and Harry at some party lifted itself from the nightstand and started vibrating and glowing brightly. The frame was a matched set with another one that she had presented her parents with third year. "OH GOD!"

Ron took a deep breath, "Go, you two GO; I'll go to the Burrow. There are a hell of a lot of Weasleys coming, move it." He snapped, and watched as Hermione shot him a ghost of a thankful glance. Her and Harry turned back-to-back...and vanished without a sound.

Ron's CRACK a second later shattered the window glass of Harry's room.

************************Ottery St. Catchpole****************************

In the pitch darkness of Ginny's room, Luna's eyes popped open. Her eyes flicked back and forth as she rolled gracefully to her feet from her cot and padded over to Ginny like a large, blond Anterian Snartcat. The blond shook the redhead hard, but unfortunately, Ginny shared Ron's sleeping habits. Luna let out a tiny, exasperated grunt.

Instead of Dobby's solution...Luna's was a bit more practical. A small fist slammed out of the darkness, hitting Ginny on the shoulder hard enough to scoot her over on the bed. Ginny's eyes shot open. She tried to scream at Luna, but was silenced by a curiously strong hand over her mouth. "We are about to be attacked." Luna related in an infuriatingly calm voice. She crossed back to her cot and removed a pair of dark trainers from under it and laced them on. A flick of her wand later and her red Gryffindor Lions pajama pants, with 'I'm a Keeper' written across her arse and a yellow t-shirt with a picture of a dragon eating a quaffle underscored with the motto, "so you think you could score on me...I'm the King", morphed into black jeans and a dark blue pull over. "I would suggest that you get ready."

A blaring, atonal alarm pierced the night. "Too late."

Luna was already easing around the corner of the hallway and pointing her wand down the stairs when the front door tumbled into the living room accompanied by a huge explosion. Molly and Arthur staggered out of their room, shakily pointing their wands into the night, when Luna pointed them back sharply. Ginny slipped in behind her and nodded. "You kids stay back," Molly screamed.

"Stay here mum," Ginny growled as she tossed a small pack to Luna. "Turn about is fair play, wouldn't you say?" Luna's gray eyes lit with an evil grin as she took in the package. Molly mouthed something but the girls were already moving.

"This is the limited use stuff." Luna remarked absently as they heard footsteps stomping around downstairs. The crack of Apparations could be heard on the lawn, along with the crash of spellfire. "Sounds like friends...I like having friends, let's go join them, shall we?" Luna remarked and flipped a pair of pellets down the stairs.

The inside of the Burrow vanished into a depthless, featureless morass of blackness. A crash cracked out in the room as one of the Death Eaters crashed into a coffee table. Another cursed loudly as a clattering, gonging sound echoed in the hall as he ran headlong into the Weasley Family Clock. The three Death Eaters that had actually entered the Burrow turned in the darkness, unseeing, as they heard footsteps coming down the stairs.

"STUPEFY" Ginny and Luna screamed as one, and a pair of red bolts pierced the sudden night caused by the Instant Darkness and two Death Eaters crumpled to the ground. The third turned towards the source of the bolts, "AVADA KEDAVRA" The green bolt of death hissed into the room, it's light vanishing almost immediately as it shattered the stairs.

A quarter of the way around the room, twin wands tracked, "STUPEFY" The final Death Eater that had penetrated the Weasley's sanctum crashed back against the wall, and slid down it, lifelessly as both girls' more than full power stunners impacted a hand's breath apart on his chest. They didn't stop to admire their handy work as they sprinted for the door and out into the starry night. Luna tossed aside the night vision glasses of the twins' and headed towards a flicker of spellfire to her right, Ginny to the left.

Fred and George had arrived and were already heatedly dueling with another four Death Eaters. Half a dozen of their Fanged Frisbees were circling them, periodically rushing out to attach a Death Eater. Angelina was down, unconscious behind the shed, as Alicia tended to a large gash on her forehead. A Death Eater came around behind her, "REDUCTO" A red mist settled slowly in the air as a headless body slid to the ground. Fred frantically grabbed Angelina and pulled her with one arm while firing off curses with the other as he pulled the girl back to cover with him and George. George ducked as Alicia dove over the low garden wall that all four of them were covering behind.

"How many do you think dear brother?" Fred asked as he snapped off a Severing Charm over the fence. A scream cried out.

"Well one less now." George put in. "Better question is how did they get through the nighttime wards...should only be family can do that, or Harry and Hermione I guess, but I doubt it is them." All four of them ducked as a Reductor shattered the garden wall ten feet from them.

"And why would that be?" Fred quipped as he reached into one of the packs the girls had brought and pulled out a shining silver sphere. "I did tell Ron that it wouldn't be healthy even if you were human..." He popped up, and threw the small ball like he was a chaser instead of a beater. It landed at the feet of three Death Eaters and they stared at it for a long moment, "wait for it..." A thunderous roar and a flash of blue-white light lit the lawn for a moment as shining silver stakes ripped into the night. And as fast as that, the odds were almost halved.

"If it were they wanting us dead...." George replied almost contemplatively after a moment, as the pair of them rolled over the wall and dodged toward the porch of the house, spell fire crashing around their heels, he dove and slid in next to it, his brother bumping his back a second later with his own, "I would fully expect that we would be dead by now."

"Fred" Ginny fairly howled as she rolled over the side of the porch.

Fred glanced over at her and back forward as he was satisfied she was all right. "Quite bro, quite. Ginny, everyone ok in the house?"

Ginny rolled to the side and a pair of red stunner bolts shot from her wand in the general direction of the forest, "yeah, three came in, Luna and I took them out. Mum and Dad are still inside." With a sudden hiss and a bang, a Reductor smashed the corner of the porch and Ginny cried out in pain as a huge post fell out of the darkness and shattered the same ankle that had been damaged in the Ministry Battle. "FUCK." She howled as Fred pulled her under cover. Ginny immobilized, the twins gathered round her, as several, black, cloaked shapes appeared ghosting back and forth.

Fred and George raised their wands for a last stand. A sudden CRACK further rent the night and with that, the tide had changed.

Ron appeared directly behind three Death Eaters, DIFFINDO SPARSI a hail of silver darts shot from his wand, shredding the two on the left, he stepped left and swung up and right and the Arthurius dagger or sword rather, tasted blood for the first time in a thousand years. Ron sheathed his dagger, not watching as it shrunk to its carrying size, as he ran off into the night. A familiar cloud of dirty blonde hair appeared at his back as if summoned and Ron let out a breath he had not known he was holding. "Ok Luna?"

"Yes Ronald." She replied tightly. Their eyes met for a heartbeat and a tight smile flitted across her face, "Lets' go." Ron paced off after her as she spun behind some odd Muggle tractor Arthur had gotten the other day to fix up.

Over on the other side of the open clearing demarking the yard of the Burrow, Bill, Charlie and Fleur arrived as a unit and a Reductor, an Asphyxiation Curse and a Severing Charm shot out as one before they had fully solidified. With brief chopped screams of pain, three more Death Eaters went on to wait for their master in Hell.

Fred and George pulled Ginny behind them as five Death Eaters rose behind their wands and began to charge. They took a breath...Ron and Luna rolled out from behind Arthur's broken tractor, Luna's wand bucked as a Reductor popped the head of the rightmost like a grape, he crumpled and a pair of spells from Ron's wand and dagger hissed through the space where he had been.

Snape's custom Cutting Charm was only amplified by a thousand-year-old wand core as a fan of blood shot out across the lawn from a ripped-open chest. Ron's other shot, the one from his wand, shot out into the night, missing everything until it cut down an eight-inch tree in the forest beyond. Ron and Luna dove away as three bolts of green answered their attacks.

Eight spells from seven people blended into a lethal rainbow as all seven defenders fired on the three Death Eaters...nothing was left but a puddle. At the edge of the forest, Lucius grunted as he fired a Severing Charm near his leg, opening it from knee to hip. He grunted in pain as he clenched the wound together. He vanished with a soft POP.

In the glen, all was suddenly quiet. The Weasleys, adopted and otherwise, and their guest panted slightly. Ron took another breath and started reaching out for his new destination in Canton, when... a last shadow rose behind Bill, he was turning, his wand in hand, "BILL." Ron screamed and dove to the side, desperately trying to get clear so he could get a shot...

Charlie dove in front of Bill, his wand spiting silver as a stuttering red bolt slammed into him. He crumpled as a spray of blood shot spewed from his attacker. Ron ran up, Luna at his heels just as Bill knelt down next to him. "He's alive," Bill muttered, "but barely."

Ginny limped up on the shoulder of Fred and stared at Ron. "Where's Harry?" She snapped, But Ron shook his head and took a step back. He didn't question the hand that grabbed his, as he and Luna Disapparated with a CRACK. Ginny gave the air where the pair of them had been a slight pout and started to limp over to where the rest of her brothers were crowding around Charlie as Fred conjured a stretcher and Bill walked over to the last Death Eater, his wand extended just in case.

Behind them Fleur let out a scream as Bill tugged at the hood of that last Death Eater. He was green as he sat down heavily on the ground; he rolled over onto his hands and knees and lost his dinner.

"Oh my God..." Fred muttered disbelievingly, "Percy..." Ginny fainted and George joined his eldest brother.

***********************Canton*************************

With only a whisper of displaced air to mark their arrival, a pair of darkly clothed figures appeared silently on the lawn behind the shed. They were back to back with a pair of wands already questing for targets and hoping there were none to see them arrive. Harry flicked his eyes back to Hermione as he could feel her heart racing. She gulped once and her eyes hardened as they met his. A soft flickering glow danced at the edge of the irises, ready to flare up into a conflagration. Let's go Hermione. Harry muttered, and snapped out a silvery cloak.

With a twirl of a cloak that he had practiced innumerable times, but never for an occasion as dire as this, he vanished. Hermione followed suit a heartbeat later. They headed out together, more silent than ghosts as they snuck towards the house.

Only temporary footprints could be seen on the grass as Harry crept up behind a lone Death Eater standing watch. She was standing aimlessly, a lit cigarette dangling loosely in her hand as she watched an inflatable raft drift by in the pool.

A wand in an ear and a silent, silver flash later, a body fluttered to the ground with a muffled thump.

Harry crept up to the edge of the sliding door and opened it a crack...and heard the voice of one of the three people that he had sworn specifically to kill. Harry took a deep breath, muffled by the Silencio on his cloak. It's Snape...and Dolohov. Harry added a moment later as the distinctive accent of Voldemort's second or third most psychotic henchman after Bella rang out. Harry dug into a thigh pack and rolled a small blue ball about the size of a marble into the kitchen. No one noticed as it oriented itself on the room and the living room beyond.

Harry took a small pocket mirror out from the bag and watched as an image appeared of the two Grangers lying on the floor in the living room surrounded by three Death Eaters and Snape. The large comfortable couch that Harry had held Hermione on, less than a quarter of the day past was tipped over and the scarred coffee table was shattered. I see your folks, Dolohov and Snape along with three others... A soft fury colored his thoughts as he considered the room. He forced it down, to a cold hard ball as he felt Hermione's own thoughts start to reinforce and amplify it...now wasn't the time.

How are they Harry? Hermione sent over, as she tasted blood from her lip. She forced it out of the death grip of her teeth

I don't know. I would guess they are still alive though; they wouldn't be still here otherwise. How many do you have?

Hermione tapped her wand on the ground next to her, Domicillia Enimatus Revelo instantly, a series of small glowing dots appeared next to her shoe. Two empty red circles were present, one above and to the right of a cluster of five red dots surrounding a pair of blue ones, while the other seemed to be in the direction from whence they came. Hermione took a breath, as she knew what she was about to have to do, what Harry had already done... Another pair of dots was standing away from the others on the far side. I've got five in the house Harry, plus mum and dad. One more over to our left next to the Mullhulans' hedgerow and two up front... Hermione slowly sheathed her wand. She reached back and grabbed a pair of matched hilts from behind her back. I've got the two up front...You got the one to the side? Even without seeing him, she could feel the slow, worried nod...Hermione padded away as she slipped to the front of the house and flashes of both long sessions with Tonks and Lupin, and images of thousand-year-old battles flicked across her mind's eye.

She paused as she flipped her left hand dagger inverted, I love you Harry. Hermione sent desperately. She took a breath, and a green fire flared across her nerves and she MOVED. Hermione took one step, a second. Her cloak fluttered to the ground as she slipped up behind the first Death Eater. Her foot shot out, buckling his knee and a blade flashed. She released the dagger to fall with the body, rolled left, and the other knife shot across the ten feet separating the two Death Eaters, burying itself in his chest to the hilt. Hermione summoned both blades with a thought, resheathed them and vanished once more under the cloak...ten seconds passed on the clock.

In the side lawn, a soft rustle, a flash of steel and another Death Eater darkened the Granger's grass. You ok Hermione? Harry asked tightly. She sent a nonverbal reassurance, as he slipped back to the back door. He could feel her quivering in their link, and felt it as she clamped down on it with a will of iron.

No...Hermione almost whimpered in her thoughts back, but I will be... she took a deep, heavy breath as she glanced back to see the pair of bodies lying in untidy heaps on the lawn. She gulped down air as she fought down a sudden wave of nausea. Hermione's temper flared as she felt a wordless, worried inquiry, I'm ok, damn it Harry... she snapped, and closed her eyes for a heartbeat. Let's just do this, please...

Bullshit... Harry's stomach grew queasy for a second, as suddenly what he saw in front of him was not from his own eyes. An unseen ghost breezed in through the gaping hole that had once been her front door. Harry felt a familiar wand track upwards to align on the back of Snape's skull. And his heart stopped as he remembered his being discovered on the train...if Hermione was caught, far, far worse would happen then just a beating.

Dolohov smiled, as he pulled a large knife from somewhere under his cloak and reached for Jane. And every thought of tactics went out of Hermione's head. "NO...STUPEFY!" Hermione snapped and watched as her bolt shot into the ceiling, deflected off a hasty shield. The Death Eaters turned as one. A fusillade of spells shredded a couch as Hermione dove behind it.

"Granger...where is..." Snape hissed.

Incedio Incarcerium. Flaming ropes erupted over two of the Death Eaters, they fell away screaming as a silver whirring disk flashed into the room and buried itself in a third's head. Harry rolled behind the counter and ducked as a blue beam of a Reductor shattered Jane's pot rack. Snape and Dolohov shared a look. With a flick of a wand Dolohov summoned Jane to hang as a shield in front of him. APPARECIUM DELATARIUM a soft glow settled over the house for an instant, as Harry quickly barred their escape.

"COME OUT POTTER..." Dolohov snarled as he started to back towards the door. Jane hung limp, still unconscious from the stunner as she floated in front of Dolohov in the grip of a hasty Mobilocorpus Charm. Snape remained curiously quiet as his beady eyes scanned about the room. "She will die Potter...Mudblood do you want your mother's blood truly on your hands...give up..." Dolohov ranted.

Harry chanced a visible glance around the corner; his cloak had long fallen off into the floor. A green beam hissed back, close enough to singe his hair. Harry rolled back behind the counter as Snape began to systematically reduce it to splinters. Get ready...He felt Hermione nod...GO...

Hermione MOVED. A dark blur met surprised eyes as she snap kicked to her feet, rolled over the top of the couch and fired a Summoning Charm at the cabinet behind Dolohov in one long continuous, blurred movement. He spun slightly; Jane fell away, as Snape's return shot missed Hermione by a foot. She rolled to her right....

As Harry dove over the top of the shattered counter, firing. A wave of force flung Dolohov into the wall, and partially through it. His shield flickered and died as his wand came loose from his grip in the impact. And a moment later, he followed as a shining silver beam neatly bored a third eye in Dolohov's forehead. Time seemed to stop as he flowed slowly to the ground.

Eyes glowed slightly in the dim house as Harry and Hermione's wands centered on Snape. "Hello, Snivellus." Harry said quietly in a voice dangerously bereft of emotion. "You seem to be remarkably lacking in friends."

"Potter...so sure of yourself, especially when, just two months ago, we proved just how weak you really are..." Snape sneered, "I suppose that the presence of Granger, might give you a chance to survive, but then again...a Mudblood didn't save your father either, did it?" He looked around, "So Potter where are your friends? Where are Dumbledore's little lapdogs in the Order ready to jump out and save you, where is your Godfather...oh yes, I remember...HE'S DEAD" A wand flicked and a wave of purple fire slashed towards Harry.

PROTEGO A shimmering, blue dome broke the wave, dissipated and Harry took a breath, as he felt Hermione circling to her left. Snape's eyes widened slightly, as a dark, half smile lit Harry's face and the former and once again Death Eater started to circle towards the door, to stop as Hermione cut him off. "You always accused me of being my father Snivellus," Harry taunted softly, more as a distraction than anything. "I guess you got him..." Harry spun to his left and vanished. Snape's jaw dropped as he barely dodged a line of white fire.

"Crucio." The yellow beam missed Harry by a foot and blew a large divot out of the stairs as he vanished once more...Snape glanced around the room, desperately, as he noticed that Hermione, and both of her parents had now vanished as well.

"Did you think that Dumbledore only talked to me last year Snivellus?" A dark baritone filled the house. A silver jet sliced out of nowhere to open his thigh from hip to knee. Severus gasped as he staggered behind a bookcase, which the Granger household had in abundance and clamped his thigh closed, he muttered a charm as he ran his wand across it, to find that his Binding Charm was only partially successful. Blood oozed from the long wound. He glanced up; saw a flash of jet hair, "AVADA KEDAVRA"

Harry flicked his wand, and a chair shot across the room and shattered as the Death Curse destroyed it. A flaming whip shot back from Harry's wand, charring a long, burnt line at head height on Jane's light yellow walls. Snape stuck his head back around the corner and Hermione sent a severing charm racing back towards him. A suddenly summoned silver shield, emblazoned with the logo of a bat caught the spell and deflected it with a loud gong like sound as it spun out of his hand from the impact. Hermione rolled back to her left and snapped her wand diagonally at the bookcase Snape was sheltering behind.

Dozens of books rose from the shelves and flew at him, like a hailstorm of leather and paper. "REDUCTO" a hastily fired curse blew a hole in the storm attacking him. Snape spun to his right, spotted the Grangers lying in a downstairs bedroom through an open door, "REDUCTO" The hissing blue bolt snapped into the ceiling over them...

ARRESTO MOMENTUM Hermione frantically flung a hand towards the bedroom where she had moved her parents. The entire weight of the house suddenly fell on her mystical shoulders as she desperately tried to keep it from falling on them.

The load suddenly lightened as Harry spun from Snape, his hand and eyes were glowing bright green as he fought to hold the house up. GO HERMIONE...she felt Harry cancel the anti-Apparation ward he had cast, and she dove for her parents. A soft POP and a loud CRACK echoed in the house as both Hermione and Snape Apparated away with their precious cargos, Hermione with her parents and Snape with his skin. Harry vanished a moment later right as the center of the house caved in on itself.

He reappeared next to Hermione and fell to his knees. She was worriedly examining her father. Jane was stirring next to them as she shook her head and rose to her hands and knees shakily. Harry crawled over to her exhaustedly. Hermione turned to him; "We have to get him out of here to St. Mungo's or Hogwarts, she turned to her mum, "What hit him mum?" She snapped.

Jane blinked at her vaguely a couple of times as Hermione repeated the question more forcefully, her voice rising, "I think...five or six...red beams." Harry glanced at Hermione; her lip was trembling.

"Yeah, Mio..." Harry's response was cut off as sirens suddenly sounded in the distance, and a loud CRACK echoed in their ears. Ron almost learned exactly how powerful a wizard his best friend really was.

Ron and Luna looked around, shocked, as they saw the devastated house. "OVER HERE" Harry yelled, as he flung out his free hand and a two-foot piece of lumber shot to it from the wreckage. "Portus." The board shivered and glowed blue, before settling to a low vibration in his hand. "We have to go now Ron." Harry flung out his hand again, and a pair of slivery cloaks draped themselves over his shoulder.

"Where," Ron replied breathlessly as he slid in feet first next to Harry, Hermione and the Grangers. Luna dove on him and the six vanished in a rush of color and howl of wind.

"Here" Harry replied tiredly, as Ron recognized the white, stone walls of the Hogwarts infirmary, and the harried steps of its matron.

*******************************Hogwarts*************************

8:35 am.

Ronald Weasley was becoming quite accustomed to the espresso spell that the twins had developed. He took a sip of his conjured coffee as he looked fondly across the Head Students common room at Luna. She was currently curled in a ball on the ragged couch, like a large, blond tabby cat, snoring softly. Maybe after the war, I can go into business with Gred and Forge with this espresso stuff...maybe a shop off the joke shop. Ron mused absently as he finished his cup and set it on the table. A flick of a wand later, and the cup vanished into the ether.

Ron glanced towards what would be technically, in about a month, Harry's bedroom at Hogwarts. An odd, half grin, half-frown crossed his face for the briefest of moments as he glanced through the open door to see his best friends passed out on the bed. Hermione was clinging to Harry in her sleep, as if afraid that he would vanish forever if she let go. The pair of them, had lasted only about as long as it took to relate to Poppy what had happened to Roger, and Hermione had slumped down on a bed next to her father, crying softly...at the loss of innocence more than one had experienced this night.

Ron honestly did not know what to think as he looked in on them. He expected, absently, that if say Ginny could see them now, that she would be berating him about how he should be jealous of them, about how Harry should be with her, and Hermione should be with him so they could all be one big happy family. That, of course, was putting aside the whole, she used talismans and potions to try to get her way with Harry's emotions, and shattered Hermione's in the process, and possibly caused the death of the greatest Wizard the world had ever known as a unforeseen side effect...Yeah, Gin... we see how well that happy family thing turned out didn't we?

Ron let out a soft grunt as he thought of the revelation that had occurred right after he and Luna had left to go help Harry and Hermione. A rescue that in the end had been needed more from themselves than from the Death Eaters. Ron was probably the only person in the world that could convince Hermione to go get some rest, that Poppy was astonishingly capable at her profession, and if anyone could fix up her dad, it was her. And where Hermione went, Harry followed, so by getting her to sleep, Ron got Harry to sleep.

He had not yet told his friends about the shocking revelation at the Burrow, the tearful owl from Bill telling of the news, had arrived an hour after Ron had forced the rest to go to sleep at about five or so. Luna had woke instantly as he read the last letter and pulled him into her arms as he wept for a brother, who despite what he had become or why, was still of his blood in the end.

No, Ron thought absently as he sat down next to the couch to Luna and she spun around on the couch, still asleep by all appearances and laid her head on his thigh, some things weren't meant to be. He glanced over towards the two, that now, considering all they had been through in almost a month's time, and beyond that in almost six years time, he considered more than blood. Luna let out a soft moan as she shivered and her eyes snapped open.

"Ronny?" She asked tremulously, very possibly not seeing him at all in the room. "Will the bad people come again?" Her voice was like a small child's as he pulled her into his lap and she buried her face in his chest. "I keep seeing that Eater dieing Ron." She whispered softly as the night came back to haunt even the most serene of them all.

"It'll be alright, Luna..." Ron breathed into her hair as he gently ran his fingers through her tresses. "I'll make it better..." Luna nodded into his chest, if Ron believed himself or not, it really didn't matter, or even if Luna believed him, in the end all that mattered was that he was there as the walls broke.

A/N: there you go....

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