A/N The long, long day continues...Thanks to Lady Starlight for her work on this chapter. As usual she
provides the sanity to my insanity.
Chapter 55: A Grand Morning in Hogsmeade
***********************Hogwarts*************************
Harry and Hermione dove out of the large hole in the side wall of the Great Hall, landing softly on the rocks below. They looked up, immediately ducking as the shattered walls came alive, throwing themselves at them. Hermione flipped away as a bolder crashed down between them, she landed precariously on the very edge of the cliff, looking almost straight down at the Black Lake, she started to fall forward and flew backwards to safety as Harry pulled her to him.
Hermione panted once as Harry's arm wrapped around her, pulling her down behind a fallen, house-sized chunk of the castle's outer wall. He looked back up at the broken remains of the Great Hall, a loud creaking sounded, his eyes widened in silent horror, and the odd squeeze, side-step of Apparition at Hogwarts filled his bones as Hermione grabbed his wrist. They reappeared tumbling to the side in the middle of the shattered courtyard, as a horrible, thundering sound of thousands of tones of stone falling several stories came from behind them.
Harry turned back just in time to watch the ceiling of the Great Hall collapse, along with part of the side wall. You think they all got out?
I don't know,Can you feel that?
Harry looked in her direction, knowing the fear in her eyes; The wards...
Dumbledore's still out...they are shifting back to normal...The Dementors, Hermione finished, horrified.
They can come in; he's not holding them out... Harry shivered as a sudden cold filled their bones. He grabbed Hermione's hand pulled her into motion, dropping it after a few steps, as both of them passed the Quidditch Pitch already, moving much, much faster than humanly possible. Harry looked up as a blooming of silver filled his eyes, as Bill and his few, that had been put outside to watch the dark forces waiting in ambush, stepped out from cover.
A sudden spike of terror filled their shared consciousness as Hermione glanced to the right, towards Hagrid's hut, and three terribly familiar Auras filled her vision, OH GOD...DADDY! Hermione screamed as the host of Dementors swept inexorably towards the three rushing up the lawn towards the castle.
Lupin and Tonks turned as they felt ice begin to creep along their nerves, "RUN, ROGER," Tonks screamed as her and Remus' wands tracked back, "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" A silver wolf, and a larger, vaguely bipedal version of the same, erupted from their wands, tearing into the dark horde. One, five, ten Dementors fell back as ethereal teeth and claws tore into their ranks.
Remus and Tonks staggered back, their cloaks flapping open as their Patroni drove away another dozen. Tonks fell to a knee, weakening as her Patronus drove another four away before vanishing. She fell forward onto her hands, panting. An endless tide of black, freezing the very ground as if in the deepest of winter, moved forward, losing a miniscule few more to Remus' protector before it too weakened and faded away.
Roger looked back as Remus let his wand fell, shaking. Roger turned and started to run, and froze as a small, invisible hand grabbed his shoulder and pulled him to a stop with irresistible strength. "No, Dad," Hermione snapped as she and Harry faded into view. Harry reached out with his hand and Remus and Tonks flew backwards, away from Dementors, landing roughly several feet behind them.
Mione...Harry glanced over at her for a bare second as they looked towards the dark, seemingly endless horde heading towards them. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the silver light of a few other Patroni bloom near the stadium, Ready...EXPECTO PATRONUM. A shining Otter and Stag appeared, each easily the size of a small Dragon, and waded into the dark horde, ripping and tearing. Prongs bent and straightened, tossing Dementors in the air, as Hermione's Otter swam around him. Even more Dementors appeared, driving forward, charging their mortal enemy and the true threat to their existence.
Harry reached over, pulling Hermione to him, both their eyes slipped closed, with bright, emerald glows leaking from the edges of their eyelids, PATRONUM EXTRANIUM DELLATRIUM.
The eyes of the two Patroni lit with beams like searchlights. The pair of defenders moved closer, and closer, until with a thundering flash, they merged. A wave of energy, inches thick, ripped outward, sending Dementors flying like bowling pins, tossing them in the air where they vanished in flares of dark, purple-black energy and unearthly screams. Another wave, a company of Dementors returned to the hell they came from, and as one, the dark host broke. All thoughts, if they really had thoughts, of their alliance with the dark one gone.
Harry took a deep breath, as he and Hermione held each other up. They slid to their knees together, as their eyes slipped open and their glows flickered and died.
A dark shape slid out of the air, as if stepping around an invisible corner. He looked back towards the retreating Dementors, and then towards Harry and Hermione. They looked up just in time to see... "CRUCIO" Voldemort snarled. A thick yellow beam shot out, and both of them collapsed into each other, shaking. Voldemort waited a beat, and lifted the curse. He looked up just as Tonks and Remus, having recovered from their near encounter with the Dementors, sprinted at them. A flick of his hand and an invisible wall appeared, throwing them back onto their bums. A fusillade of sparks lit the wall as Roger emptied his magazine into the shield.
Tom just laughed as he turned back to the pair, "Though I am somewhat disappointed in their performance...it is so pleasurable to see them suck the souls from children, they performed adequately, however, forcing you to exhaust your power to save your pitiful companions, love ..." he flicked his wand again, and the weakened pair, convulsed. "You should scream, Potter, your mother screamed..." He looked back towards the castle, "I will so enjoy having the castle as my lair."
"Tom," Harry's baritone cut across his words and Voldemort's red, glowing eyes cut back to the pair. "You forgot something...unlike you, we still have Familiars." A howling hiss erupted as a ginger streak tore from under a set of bushes and launched. Glowing claws extended, suddenly almost three inches in length. Black blood spurted over the ground as a furry buzz saw ripped the side of his face open. Tom spun, screaming in rage, his wand tracking with a green glow, as a white streak dove from the heavens, and knocked his wand spinning into the grass. The Familiars grounded next to their partners, yellow eyes lit from within, and a beam of the purest white shot from the tip of the castle split into two, and impacted the familiars. A brief pause, as both familiars glowed brighter than the noonday sun for an instant, then beams shot from them to their masters, and a shimmering globe snapped in place around them.
Voldemort instantly shot a Kedavra at them, and the globe hardened to stone for an instant, stopping the beam. He took a step back...
Eyes lit fully, emerald orbs glowing brighter than ever, as the pair of them vanished and appeared next to Voldemort. Harry rolled to his right, and a ball of the purest plasma ripped from his palm impacting Voldemort and throwing him backwards a hundred feet. He landed, digging a furrow into the soft soil of the lawn. He stumbled to his feet, the glow fading from his eyes, as he looked back at them. "GET THEM!" he roared, and a load, thundering sound filled the air as the trees at the edge of the woods fell and a phalanx of giants, along with companies of trolls emerged fro the woods. Voldemort looked back and vanished at inhuman speed towards the edge of the grounds and the burning village beyond.
Voldemort's invisible barrier fell and Remus, Tonks, Roger and Bill, along with his few DA members, spun as the very ground trembled, as the tall trees at the edge of the forest fell, and the first of eight, huge mounds moved. Hermione flicked her wand, and the ground rumbled, and a ten-foot wide, and equally deep, trench appeared in the ground. Harry gestured, and it filled with a dark liquid. He nodded to Hermione and she SHIFTED. She hovered on flickering blue and red wings for an instant, and shot forward, trailing fire.
The phoenix flitted down the length of the trench, and the behind her, the dark liquid burst into bright, white flames. Hermione reached the end of the trench and vanished in a fall of fire, reappearing next to Harry. Furious howls of frustration rent the air from the eight Giants, along with their innumerable troll escorts. Bitter voices of Death Eaters, extolling the Giants and trolls to attack, rang out.
"Go, damn it, Harry," Bill snapped as he motioned Boot and the other DA members to spread out, "Go after him, if you don't kill him now, you may not get another chance."
"But..." Harry snapped, waving towards the flames, still keeping the forces at bay, even though he could see them starting to work around the barricade. Hermione nodded as she looked over to her father, standing with Remus.
"Go, Poppet," Roger said quickly stepping forward and pulling her into a bone-creaking hug, he looked over her shoulder at Harry, "Just be careful, both of you, Jane really wants those grandchildren."
"I love you, Daddy," Hermione whispered against his shoulder. He nodded, and pushed up her face, looking into her eyes that were, for this instant, the same chocolate eyes that had remained as his tiny daughter grew into what was before him. She nodded, her head snapped around as the first of the Giants found their way around the flames, through a small gap left by one of the Hogwarts' outbuildings. Hermione spun from his arm, and thrust her hand out towards the Giant. A six-foot boulder from the wreckage of the castle shot past and rapped the giant smartly in the temple.
His eyes rolled up in his head and dropped, the ground trembling enough to almost shake them from their feet. "GO!" at least four voices howled and Harry looked to Hermione, and they vanished. Remus looked back at the Giant, as another came around the edge of the flames and looked down at his fallen comrade. A torrent of trolls charged around his legs as the giant let out a roar that rattled broken glass in window frames in the castle, and suddenly the defenders were too busy to worry about anything else.
***********************Hogsmeade*****************************
Harry and Hermione appeared in the center of the high street, their backs together and wands spread, covering the approaches. Harry had not known that his heart had any room to sink further, but on seeing the wreckage of the only fully Wizarding village in England, he knew he was wrong.
The Three Broomsticks was a smoking ruin, the second floor where rooms where travelers might tarry a night, was collapsed down into the pub. Soft popping noises, probably bottles exploding under the heat from the fires, almost drew a spell from Harry before he checked himself. Hermione touched his arm and motioned to the side with her head; he nodded and slipped to the other side of the street, both of them vanishing utterly after an instant.
They passed the smoking ruin of Honeydukes, the building had collapsed down into the basement; the smell of burnt sugar filled the air, almost covering up other, much more heinous smells. Harry looked over in the direction that he knew Hermione to be in, and a dead, sick feeling filled his stomach as he saw what she was delaying over. Hermione looked over at him, he could feel her eyes on his, even though they were invisible, as Hermione knelt over Susan Bones and gently closed the Hufflepuff's eyes with two fingers. Hermione set a stick from the ground on Susan's stomach. I'll set this to go in a half hour, Hermione said grimly, we should be well away by then.
Sure, Hermione. Hermione touched the stick, it glowed blue and faded back to its normal colors. Harry started forward again, passing the ruin of Zonko's before stopping in front of Hermione's favorite store. The bookstore was smoldering, small fires flaring up periodically as the flames found new fuel and air. They froze as they heard rough voices coming from around the corner towards the Hog's Head.
Hermione's wand led the way as she slipped around the corner of the ruins of the bookstore. A good dozen Death Eaters were picking at the ruins of the Hog's Head. Hermione...
I see, Harry, Hermione whispered darkly, as one of the Death Eaters knelt over a crumpled, silver-haired body. Two of the Death Eaters hauled out a large wooden case of firewhisky from the still-standing back of the bar. They broke open the case and started handing out the bottles.
Harry watched, trembling slightly, as the Death Eaters started drinking, sloshing each other with whisky, and occasionally kicking at the body. Harry waited one more instant as two of the Eaters raised their bottles to their lips, INFLAMRE! As one, all twelve Death Eaters erupted in impossibly-hot, blue-white flames. Harry turned his back on them, as they started to scream. One of them fell into the ruins of the disreputable pub, and with a whoosh, it too erupted in flames...a fitting pyre for Aberforth.
Hermione paused for a second; invisible eyes hard, she started to turn to follow Harry...HARRY, she screamed, as a sudden presence bloomed behind him. Harry spun and a blue bolt impacted the center of his chest, knocking him back through a house.
Hermione turned, slowly becoming visible. "Hello, Mudblood," Voldemort said happily, "CRUCIO." Hermione dove, catching only the nimbus of the beam, still enough to set her nerves on fire, but not enough to incapacitate, her anyway. She panted as she scrambled back to her feet; just a black beam cratered the ground at her feet.
"Leave her alone, Tom," Harry snapped, blurring across the distance to his foe. The sword came around, crashing into Voldemort's own, summoned one, with a loud clang. Voldemort jumped back, flicking his wand in his off hand and sending Harry dodging away. The building behind Harry exploded in flames from the missed shot.
"I think I will let your pet live, Harry," Voldemort called, "I forgot to get Bella something for Mother's Day after all."
"Pity you won't live to see her, then," Hermione growled, and blurred into motion. A hail of bright blue balls shot from her fingers, exploding at Voldemort's heels, setting the cobblestones of the street flying into the air. He stopped, throwing up a black field that sucked them in as into a black hole, before laughing darkly and sneering across the distance to them as they shimmered to a halt, panting slightly.
Tom casually deflected a Reductor from Harry that shot off into the mountains and set off a small landslide, before letting loose with a black spiraling curse at Hermione. It wrapped around her shields, coiling like a dark serpent and squeezing, contracting around her, shield and all. The spell collapsed suddenly as Harry shot forward, cutting downward with the sword, shattering the beam into black shards that ripped outward, tossing him through the shattered kitchen window of a small house. He pushed himself upright, batting down a teapot that seemed to be determined to serve him a drink and exploded the wall outward and rushed into the street.
Harry took a breath and vanished, moving to the side, and pausing in the lee of a shattered clothing store. MIONE! he called, searching around.
I'm here, Harry, she whispered. He closed his eyes for an instant as he felt her hand brush his shoulder, He's here...somewhere, Harry, but he's like a ghost, too indistinct to pick out from the background.
Harry's invisible eyes glanced up towards the school as another explosion lit the sky, before they started looking around the ruins of the village again. His eyes widened...MOVE! Harry picked Hermione up in a wave of magic and tossed her thirty feet to the side, flinging her away while he dove to the right, as a huge, putrid green fireball crashed down from the sky. It exploded as it hit, flattening three houses and setting another ten on fire. Flaming shards bounded off a hasty shield, Harry saw movement out of the corner of his eye...
The sword blurred in his hand, and a bolt of lighting ripped from the cloudless sky, impaling Voldemort and sending him tumbling back into the flames. Harry stood slowly and started to advance, his wand and sword held out in front of him, warding off an attack.
**********************Ministry of Magic*************************
9:20 am
The smell of burning things-paper, wood, and other, much, much less pleasant smells-filled the stale air inside the Ministry. The air circulation charms had collapsed hours ago, leaving the foul stench of the Inferi infesting the lower levels to permeate up from the depths below. Quiet moans filled the air, here in the upper levels, from Aurors and ordinary Ministry workers wounded in the fighting below. A flickering oil lamp lit a makeshift command room, the Minister of Magic's own office, as Arthur Weasley, leaned over a map of the building.
Small, moving figures moved through the representations of the halls and rooms, blue stick figures for friendlies, red ones for Death Eaters, and oddly-hued black ones for Inferi. The bottom two floors and the Atrium were filled with a writhing black mass, except for the Department of Mysteries, which was blank, and the area immediately around the Death Chamber, which the zombies seemed to not be able to approach near.
"We're still cut off from the Atrium, Arthur," Kingley Shacklebolt said tiredly as he staggered into Arthur's office and collapsed onto a couch. He looked down, frowning, at a long cut in his leather duster, and then back up at Arthur. "The lifts are all smashed beyond repair, at level four. Even with magic, we can't repair them."
"No other way out then?" Arthur asked tiredly.
Kingley shook his head and accepted a cup of coffee from one of Arthur's aides, trapped here with him, when the fighting had started. He took a sip, and winced slightly as he twisted an injury. "Not that I can see...we thought about trying to blast our way to the surface...but the upper levels of the Ministry were armored in '39 to keep the damage from the Muggle part of the Grindelwald War from the Ministry. We probably could...maybe, blow a hole, but we wouldn't have the precision to keep the whole damn top two or three floors from dropping on us and killing us all. You need a single wizard or maybe two with enough power to force it themselves, without help, and unless..." He gulped the rest of the coffee and stood again with a grunt, "I'm going to try to force a salient to the Atrium, Arthur...maybe we can get some out..."
"Kingsley," Arthur called after him. The huge Auror stopped and looked back at him from the door, he nodded. "Just in case, before you do that, set up to do that...to cave the whole place in on them, if we lose here...I don't want these damn things getting loose in Muggle London." Kingsley took a breath and nodded, before leaving.
Arthur grabbed at the table as an explosion from below rattled the walls and as his eyes panned around the room for damage, he caught sight of the couch where Kingsley had just been sitting. He swallowed heavily as he saw the reddish-brown stain on the light fabric before returning to the map. "Allston," he called to an aide, "get me Sampson, on the fifth floor, it looks like there could be an opening there..."
*****************************Hogwarts***********************************
"WOTCHER...THIS SUCKS," Tonks snapped as she jabbed her wand at a troll, and a fusillade of silver darts shredded its chest. She ducked under he swing of a club, and rolled to the side, just in time to watch Roger demonstrate that kinetic energy works just fine on trolls as one coming up behind her fell away with its head shattered from a long burst. He tossed the weapon behind him on his sling and continued to drag Terry Boot backwards by the collar towards possible shelter.
Tonks sprinted back and grabbed the boy's uninjured arm and together they got him behind the cover of the small, stone broomshed. Tonks patted Roger's shoulder and sprinted back out to where, Bill, Remus, Robert and Jean were holding the small gap in the flames, through which trolls were still pouring. Roger frowned, for just an instant, before he ripped away the boy's shirt at the sleeve, and wrapping a tourniquet around it to stop the bleeding from his crushed arm. The other six giants, the ones remaining after Hermione's David impersonation for the first; and the one that the combined use of every Argentium grenade that Bill, and the DA members had had for the second, hid behind the barrier of flames, waiting.
"They are sending the bloody pawns at us," Bill growled, ducked sideways and made a snapping motion with his wand. A wave of purple snapped out, taking a troll's arm off at the shoulder. It bellowed and charged him; he jumped backwards and pointed his wand at the earth. A ten-foot pit appeared and it fell in, only to vanish as Bill flicked his wand again and the hole in the ground vanished as if it were never there. "They are trying to cut us down, then the Giants will finish it," he grunted as a club came out of nowhere, sending him crashing down to the ground. Only Fenrir's ...gift; saved him that time.
Lupin ducked under a club, and jabbed the point of his wand under a Troll's chin. A flash of light and it fell away. He leaped backwards, at least ten feet. Tonks swallowed as she saw his eyes, completely black, and the tips of his fangs hanging down slightly as he opened his mouth to yell across at Bill. She did not say a thing, only casting out a cutting curse to take off a troll's leg at the knee. It fell to the ground, howling and started to crawl towards her. A silver beam pierced the crown of its head and it stopped. She spun to Remus' side, and he glanced at her. "Didn't you tell Harry you had an idea?" Remus roared at Bill.
"Yeah," he snapped, firing a curse over the top of Jean's head. The former Beauxbatons' head was staggering, her eyes unfocused, but she was still firing curses. "But I'll need a minute to do it, and I'm not sure that it'll even work..."
"We're dead anyway, if it doesn't," Tonks snapped, and dove sideways, taking Remus to the ground as a horse-sized boulder arched over the flames to crash down into their midst. Five trolls took advantage of their momentary distraction and ran at them, only to lose their first pair to concentrated spellfire. The remainder soon proved that even they could learn, as they ran back, grouping for another attack.
Bill nodded grimly and ran back several steps behind the rest. He pointed his wand at the sky and reached under his torn shirt with his free hand and pulled free a gift from his best man, his brother who had fought so bravely, but lost in the end. He looked down at the large Dragon's tooth in his hand, held on a leather cord around his neck. He ripped it from his neck and held it up above his hand, and took a breath, remembering the note that Charlie had included with the gift, "DRACONUS OBLIGATIUM PROTECTORUM!" Runes and archaic symbols, some seeming, somehow, to have been drawn with a talon, lit on the talisman with brilliant red flames that erupted around Bill's hand but did not burn him. The flames contracted into themselves; then shot a flaming arrow into the morning sky.
A terrible roar, like a hundred Hungarian Horntails, hammered their ears, and high-pitched screeches of terror came from the remaining trolls in response. The sound faded away, and a sudden, utter silence fell over the field, broken only by the sound of the flames, and the crash of spellfire from the castle and ominously, still from Hogsmeade.
The edge of the horizon lit with fire, flaming falls of fire like a million Phoenixes, but as the flames faded, much vaster, dark shapes filled the sky, at least twenty of them, with vast, leathery wings. A dark roar shattered the stillness, followed by another and another... "TO ME," Bill screamed, as he ran to Roger and the injured DA member. Remus caught Tonks' eye, and sprinted over, picking up the dazed Jean, who was wobbling on her feet, her wand more or less pointed towards the suddenly terrorized Trolls, and almost bounded over to the sudden cover of the Broomshed.
Tonks grabbed Jean by the arm, "COME ON, DAMN IT..." She jerked her into motion, just as the first Dragon folded its wings, diving like a Peregrine on the massed Trolls and Giants.
Twenty, vast fireballs tore the air in front of them, falling on the rapidly dispersing Troll army, like giant, flaming bowling balls. They hit, almost at once and the ground trembled, as trolls, and parts of them were tossed into air, some almost as high as the broken walls of Hogwarts behind them. One Dragon, a vast, shimmering, blue and black female, grounded in the center of the Trolls and casually started strolling forward, tail, talons and fangs flashing crunching the trolls underfoot, disemboweling scores at a stroke. She turned as a group of Trolls lined up to desperately charge her, some deep instinct telling them that there only chance was in concert.
It was not much of one.
An observer, who did not know better, would have thought she sneered as she looked over, took a breath, and exhaled. A torrent of flame shot out of her, burning the trolls to cinders in an instant. She turned her back on the few remainders as they broke, heading to the Forbidden Forest. Moments after they had reached the 'safety' of the forest, the sounds of hunting horns rang out, and flocks of arrows rent the air. A single giant broke and ran as well, running through the forest...
Seconds later, a loud gruff voice yelled, "FOR HAGGAR..." and the trees shook for a long instant.
The remaining five Giants' fates were just as bleak. All twenty Dragons, now all on the ground, formed up into packs and advanced on the Giants, fangs and teeth glinting in the fires from the school and trench. Four of the Giants went down almost instantly under vast, scaly mounds; that writhed and moved for only instants, before they became still. Sixteen of the Dragons backed away, muzzles wet with blackish Giant blood, and with occasional drips of their own greenish ichor, and sat in a huge horseshoe around the last, greatest Giant, the new Gurg, who had sided with Voldemort.
A shining yellow Dragon pounced at him, the Giant moved aside with an incredibly graceful move for one his size, grabbed its tail and flung it through the air, to crash through the side of the Quidditch Pitch, shattering a whole section of stands. The Gurg dove out of the way of two fireballs that splashed against the stands, setting the Slytherin and Gryffindor sections on fire. They burned quickly as the last Dragon, the large blue-black female from before, slowly stalked in front of him; she circled slowly to her left and pounced.
The Giant scored a tremendous punch to her muzzle, sending her reeling, she hopped back once, and sprung straight up, spinning, and the end of her spiked tail took him across the ribs with a loud crunch. He crashed back to the dirt, started to rise...and died as she shot forward, her jaws snapping forward and ripping out his throat.
The Dragon leaned her head back and roared, and an instant later, all of the others joined her. The roars died, and the Dragons slowly began to take flight, two of the larger ones helping the injured yellow where he had staggered out of the pitch, destroying even more of the stands in the process. The last one, the huge blue-black one watched them leave; then slowly paced over to the broomshed where the defenders still sheltered.
The Dragon paused, looking down at them for a long instant as all five of them that were conscious stood looking up at her in shock and awe. Slowly, she bent her head and worked her huge tongue around the inside of her mouth. With a soft cough, she expelled a tooth, still covered in her blood from where the Giant had scored his blow, to the ground in front of Bill. Huge expressive ice-blue eyes held Bill's for a minute, and then she bent her head slowly to the side, and Bill gasped as he found a worked collar that he had seen Charlie with the last time they had visited him in Romania, he had placed it on a yearling dragon that day, a small black female, only the size of a pony, that had followed him around constantly.
She turned slowly, took two hopping steps and exploded into flight, the downbeat of her wings sending them staggering to the ground.
"Wotcher," Tonks exclaimed softly, her eyes wide as she looked over to Remus. She took a breath, and her eyes widened further, as behind them, from the cover they had cowered behind while their thralls were being slaughtered, the twenty Death Eaters, whose mission had been to guide the trap, appeared in a large half circle. The group stood silently, waiting...
A rough-looking Death Eater at the center, pulled his hood away, and howled eerily ... He smirked, "Let's play...and do try to leave the women alone...for now..." Tonks snarled and fired a Stunner at him, only to watch it only adsorb into his body. He laughed and flicked his wand...
A shining, white globe appeared in the sky above the Death Eaters, and as one, they started to change, growing, shifting, their robes ripping away as faces elongated, claws appeared and fur sprouted. A heartbeat later, twenty huge, bipedal wolves howled at the false moon...Lupin looked in horror at it, he had only heard of the spell that allowed Fenrir to try to kill Hermione. He watched, eyes wide as the huge leader, a dark grey were with white stripes, looked to Tonks and sprung...
Lupin felt time stop. He felt the wolf howl within him, and for the first time in his life, he let it claim him, channeling his anger and fear and feelings for the woman in front of him, and in between the time the wolf hit the ground and launched into his second leap at Tonks, he had SHIFTED. He sprung, leaping through the air a good fifteen feet and intercepting Tonks' attacker in a hurricane of claws and fangs. The pair tumbled to the ground, Lupin rolled on top, and a crunch rent the air as the Death Eater's jaw ripped away in his claws.
He bounded away, leaping at the other startled werewolves, and two more went down in seconds. Another leapt at Tonks, he turned, lifting his eyes from his victim, the fourth to go down, and went flying as three Death Eater wolves crashed into his side. He roared and tumbled with them, baying as a swipe of claws opened up his hip, but did not stop to look as he tore out another enemy's throat. He kicked backwards, sending the other two flying and spun to Tonks just in time to see all fifteen of the remaining wolves fly backwards as if pins in ten-pin bowling.
He turned and looked toward the castle at some unknown instinct, to see, striding out from the wreckage, a tall, auburn-haired presence. Lupin crawled over to Tonks, transforming as he moved only to collapse in her lap, naked and bleeding, panting, but relaxed for a moment, as he knew that she was safe, at least for now.
Albus Dumbledore was wounded and bleeding. He was limping slightly, and a bandage was wrapped around his right arm and the entire left side of his black robes was covered in soot and blood, some of it his and much of it, not, but for this moment, none of that mattered. The wolves stood slowly, pounced...
Dumbledore gestured in the air, with his left hand and every one froze in the air. His other hand flashed to the edge of his robe, and in one move, drew a long, bejeweled broadsword and flung it. The sword howled as it twirled through the air, its edge trailing a silver light. In a blur of motion, it transected the entire group and flitted back to Dumbledore, dropping into his hand as he turned from them. He took a step and staggered, only to be immediately supported by Bill's hand on this arm.
Roger ran to him, and eased the ancient, young-again wizard to a bench that Tonks hurriedly transfigured from a bit of stone. Dumbledore looked slowly around the grounds, not commenting as Roger re-bandaged his arm. He started to push himself to his feet, but swayed. A soft, bitten-off curse, the first anyone could remember Dumbledore ever saying was barely heard, and then only by the werewolf, who looked up, his head still cradled on Tonks' lap. "Roger," Dumbledore said heavily, "There are more students, inside that could use your help..." Roger nodded and stood, slinging his pack back onto his back. He reached into a pocket of his vest and pulled out a small bottle, and handed it to Dumbledore, "This is a Pepper-Up...."
"Yes," Dumbledore replied, smiling just slightly for just an instant, "I am quite familiar with Poppy's blends after my many...adventures." Dumbledore took the potion, and slugged it down on one gulp. A cloud of steam and a sound like an almost-to-explode boiler came from Dumbledore, and he shot up. He stood and stretched, still tired but once again mobile. Dumbledore gestured towards Remus, and bandages appeared around his wound on his hip, and an instant later, he wore brand new copies of the clothing he had started the night with.
"What about..." Roger just waved towards Hogsmeade, where the smoke and fire had redoubled.
Remus looked at Dumbledore, as did the rest of them. "For now..." Dumbledore replied, his voice on the verge of breaking, "It's up to them...Merlin help me, there is nothing I can do for them now..."
************************Hogsmeade****************************
10:15 am
Hermione made an invisible gesture, waving Harry over to the side of the street. She forced back tears, as she felt the ripping pain along Harry's ribs. Harry stopped, his wand held ready in his left hand as his sword filled his right, and slowly searched in front of him. She pulled back into a small, covered alcove, with a defendable entrance, Come here, Harry, he shook his head irritably, Now, Harry, she repeated.
Harry sighed silently and slipped across the street, moving quickly. He stopped next to her, What, Mione? Somewhere beyond in the village, a loud creak came from overstressed timbers. Hermione slid her weapons back into sheaths and waved a hand at the head of the alley, setting a faintly visible ward. She pulled Harry to her, and knelt down next to him as he watched the end of the alley, pushing up the side of his shirt. Hermione let out a soft gasp between her teeth as she found his entire side purpled.
Blood trickled down over her fingers as she held together a long cut along his ribs. Harry winced, as Hermione drew her wand with one hand as she kept the cut closed with the other, and slowly ran the tip down the cut. Sticking Charm to hold that closed...Where else are you hit? Harry hissed silently as she touched his leg, Harry...
I'll live, he replied, watch the street, he muttered and handed her a conjured canteen, she took a drink, and he looked at her expectedly.
Hermione rolled her eyes slightly; My head and left hip...everything else...is just spell damage. She winced as Harry lifted her long braid gently and muttered some spell, the headache she had felt, since getting hit with a timber about an hour ago, slipped away. Harry knelt and pulled up her shirt on the left side, and eased down the side of her pants, low enough to show her hipbone and the strap of her underwear on that side.
Oh...Merlin, Mione, Harry whispered as he found a through and through puncture wound on her side, set on the top of the curve of her hip, why didn't you say anything... Hermione did not reply beyond a slightly helpless shrug. Harry looked up at her, and pulled a small bottle from his essentials pouch, This is going to hurt, Love...
Harry pulled out the stopper with his teeth, spat it onto the ground and placed his free hand on the back of her hip. Quickly, he poured the contents into the wound, dropped the bottle and took her hand with his. Hermione staggered, fighting not to scream as she squeezed his hand hard enough to feel his bones creak. Tears dotted the corners of her eyes as the wound smoked and sealed over with a purplish plug. Fuck...Hermione took a deep breath as Harry eased her pants up and pulled her shirt down, resettling her weapons belt on her hips, At least I'm ready for kids now...
Funny, Hermione, Harry replied sourly, standing quickly. He squeezed her hand again and let go, and canceled the ward at the end of the alley. Where the bloody hell is he, Hermione? She just shrugged, and took a breath. She sent out a visible pulse of magic and instantly vanished, reappearing on the half-collapsed rooftop of the building that had been her favorite bookstore in town.
She glanced over, to find Harry appearing on top of a house that was still mostly standing, before he vanished in a flicker of psuedomotion to reappear next to the still burning ruins of Zonko's. One of the Weasley-produced fireworks that Zonko's stocked went off, causing a flaming chariot to appear in the sky over the village. "HARRY!" Hermione screamed, seeing a yellow curse rip from nowhere to drive Harry to the ground. She Apparated away, just as a spell shattered the roof beneath her, appearing next to Harry. He was still twitching as he fought his way back to his feet, grabbed her hand and vanished again.
The pair of them reappeared at opposite ends of the High Street. Hermione looked around, finding nothing and growled. She fired her wand straight up in the air, and a fire rained down, dropping to the ground and vanishing except where it stuck to a man-shaped outline lining up again on Harry. A shimmering blue bolt hammered in at Voldemort, he turned and caught it just in time on a silver shield. Another shot in from Harry and another from Hermione, hammering him on succession. Harry took a breath and rammed the Sword tip first in the soil, sending a wave of sparkling white energy running along the ground at the Dark Lord.
Voldemort turned, his scarlet eyes widened, and he was tossed thirty feet backwards into the burning remains of the Three Broomsticks as his shields overloaded. A line of lighting ripped from a cloudless sky to hammer his chest with a searing pulse. Hermione snapped her wand downward and a huge anvil dropped on his head, followed by a half dozen fireballs.
A single green beam snapped out of the sudden dust cloud filling the street, missing Harry by five feet. Harry spun to the side and snapped the Sword through the air. A purple-white wave ripped out, smashing into the wreckage of the pub. Something exploded, knocking both of the Gryffindors a half step back.
Harry looked over at Hermione, finding her bent over with her hands on her knees, panting. She straightened and nodded and the pair of them cautiously advanced, wands tracking towards the wreckage. A bloom of magic, "DOWN!" Harry leapt to the side, just as three Kedavras stuttered out of the smoke. He rolled to the side, and came up on a knee, as a pair of glowing red eyes appeared in the smoke. REDUCTO! A blue wave, three feet across roared from his wand, ripping towards the presence. It vanished just as the spell arrived. The spell ripped on, obliterating the wrecked Pub, and tearing off further to explode against the side of the mountain.
Hermione flicked her wand and the smoke vanished, leaving the area clear as she turned to Harry's back. "He's not here..." Harry said bitterly, with utter assurance, "He's run."
Hermione sent out a visible pulse of magic, not that she did not trust Harry, but just in case. She frowned and nodded after a moment. "Yeah," she agreed softly, looking around the area warily, "But where the hell did he go?" She looked over at Harry, and her face went white, even more than the stress and seeping blood loss they both had already experienced could account for, "No, Harry!"
"It's the only way," he snapped, then apologized with a look, "I'm sorry, Love, but..."
"Be careful," Hermione whispered, closing to him. She reached up and pulled his head down, touching her forehead to his as he took a breath, dropping a barrier that they both carefully maintained. She felt her mind rushing away, following his as he fell down a hole, quickening towards a presence that had haunted him all his life.
She blinked and suddenly she saw, for just an instant, an image of a shining, white edifice. Hermione staggered as Harry or maybe herself, she couldn't tell, slammed down a barrier cutting off the link before they could be detected. She took a breath and looked at Harry. Diagon Alley, he said quietly, fearfully, it will be packed...
No choice, Hermione said grimly, her fingers trembled on the back of his neck, giving lie to her mostly steady 'voice'.
The street was suddenly empty as the pair vanished without a sound, winging away to London.
A/N: There we go, next chapter we go...shopping, cars go flying through the air, and we learn just why Tonks gets a Ministry paycheck.