A/N: There are Lions amongst the sheep, the jackals only hold sway as long as they sleep... Thanks as usual to Lady Starlight for her work on this chapter.
Chapter 56: The Lions of Gryffindor....
******************Hogwarts*********************
11:20 am
Remus looked over at the tall, bearded wizard at his side and sighed quietly. Remus followed him, limping slightly as Dumbledore moved along the shattered halls of his beloved school. Behind and around them, the broken remains of Harry's DA, there was no longer a question of who the young forces gave their allegiance to, provided an escort. Remus looked to his right and found Tonks there, knowing he would, she had not left his side for an instant since the fighting had begun, so many hours ago. Lupin looked up as Dumbledore stepped out onto one of the flying bridges linking the main keep to the Divination Tower and stopped, leaning on the rail and looking down at the smoking debris that had once been the Quidditch stadium and Hagrid's abandoned hut.
"How bad is it, old friend?" Dumbledore asked quietly, looking up as Neville and Parvati, each with utterly dead faces, directed a scratch team to stand guard between them and the rest of the castle. Remus would have had the two leading the teams sweeping the castle, but right now, Dumbledore was the most important piece on the field, and moreover, the team that Harry had lead into the Great Hall after Voldemort was decimated. Of the almost thirty DA members that Harry had rallied for that final strike, eight were dead, and another fifteen wounded seriously, with some of those on the cusp of passing the through the veil.
"Bad...but, I hate to say this, we were lucky. It could have been much worse, Albus," Lupin paused, and took a drink from a canteen he had conjured. He frowned at the taste of blood on his lips and spat a mouthful over the edge to the chasm down below. "Harry performed a miracle on this one, Albus, they retook this place at conservatively, ten to one odds, and that wasn't counting Tom's surprises, that he threw at us, or Tom himself-"
"Unfortunately," Dumbledore replied, looking down as several DA members led a half-dozen captured Death Eaters towards the castle. Dumbledore muttered a spell and his vision changed, zooming in on the figures. He dropped his gaze with an inaudible sigh as he saw that all six were still in the green and silver trimmed uniforms of Slytherin house. A sudden commotion erupted as one of the Slytherins pretended to trip, then charged a DA member, bowling him over, and sprinting towards the forest. Four Stunners took him down before he made a hundred yards. "All of that will be for naught if Harry and Hermione do not succeed." He closed his eyes wearily, "If they do not stop Tom, this night, before he can escape to marshal his forces, perhaps even create additional horcruxes, all of it will be for nothing."
"Why don't you help them, Professor?" Tonks asked, her dark eyes wide as she watched Remus reach down and run his hand along the bandage on his hip, and finding blood.
"Alas, Nymphadora," Dumbledore at this point, "I am relegated to holding the wards here, intact. The Dementor host is damaged, but not destroyed, and even if it were, I have not yet recovered enough to be of assistance. I am afraid that I would be more of a hindrance than an aid at this point."
"We can go," Neville put in, walking closer, his hand grasping Parvati's hand firmly, "Me, Par, Seamus, there's a few of us who can fight still-"
Tonks looked away quickly, fighting the sudden bloom of tears that threatened to spill forth. She paced to the end of the bridge and hung out over the edge, breathing deeply. "Your thoughts are commendable, Neville, in the highest traditions of both your House and Hogwarts," Dumbledore said gently, "However, it is more vital that the victory that so many gave everything for, not be squandered. Hogwarts must remain free..." Neville nodded heavily and led Parvati a little ways away. Dumbledore's eyes remained on them, as Neville pulled the girl to him for a long moment, "How is the situation at King's Cross, Remus?"
"Bill just reported in that about half of the students have been claimed by their parents," Lupin replied, glancing at a notebook he pulled from a pocket, "He has Harry's...available sixth years that I sent along with him, guarding the rest. We have Portkeys set up to evacuate to the London Zoo, if needed, though if we have to use those, the Ministry will be Obliviating a lot of Muggles."
"And the Ministry?"
Remus shook his head, "Still no word. We did manage to confirm that the Atrium, at least, is overrun with Inferi...there's no other way out. All communication, Floo, Mirrors, everything is cut off."
Dumbledore nodded and took a breath, standing suddenly, "Remus...Nymphadora," he added as Tonks returned, still slightly green, "create a plan, both with and without my assistance to relieve the Ministry...assume that we will lose it for the time being in favor of evacuating the personnel."
"What about Harry and Hermione's help?" Tonks asked very quietly. Dumbledore did not answer, just replied with a vague headshake.
"If you could excuse me for a moment," Dumbledore's voice was firm, but soft, holding emotions held in check only by hundreds of years of experience. Remus just nodded and took Tonks' hand, pulling her along with him. They stopped for a moment, next to Neville and the lycan whispered something to him before moving on. Neville directed a half-dozen DA members with hand gestures, and settled back against the wall with his wand in hand, out of earshot of his Headmaster and pretended to not see the glistening in ancient blue eyes.
************************Diagon Alley*********************************
May 24, 1998
11:36 am
Diagon Alley was only moderately crowded on a late Sunday morning, with shoppers looking for supplies, or families looking for an easy Sunday dinner. An uneasy feeling filled the air, however, as wizards and witches stopped each other, asking about rumors of attacks on Hogsmeade and Hogwarts, of odd occurrences at the Ministry, and other strange events that had percolated through the Wizarding community in the last day or so. Even odder a store that almost never closed, Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, was closed and locked, with high-level defensive wards set. As was Gringotts, though they did not normally open until after lunch on Sundays.
Through this crowd, a pair in dark traveling cloaks moved swiftly, their hidden faces moving quickly from side to side as they slipped down the street. Their hands were hidden as well, deep within voluptuous sleeves. The slightly taller of the pair, turned towards the other and gestured down the street. The other nodded and moved away towards the other side of the street, almost reluctantly. This is creepy, Harry.
He's here, somewhere, I can feel it, Harry replied, he shivered slightly as he watched a family of four, complete with pair of children both only eight or nine years old. If he hits now... he tightened his grip on his sword, which he held concealed down next to his leg as he moved past Quality Quidditch Supplies. Seven or so customers were crowded in, all of them wearing identical shirts from some amateur Quidditch team, most likely getting gear for a Sunday afternoon game.
Hermione looked up at Gringotts' and reached up, pulling her hood more forward. She hid her hands back under her cloak, donned as was Harry's to hide their identities more from the inhabitants of Diagon Alley, then to provide any concealment from Voldemort. Both dark and light were actively dispersing their presences, enough to hide them from almost any Death Eater or Auror, except the ones that that were engaged this day, at this place. I could lure him out...
Harry stopped, and stepped back into the shadows the doorway of a used robe shop, No, Hermione, Harry shook his hooded head across the street at her, where she had ducked into the head of an alley between a haberdashery and a used bookshop. Even though he could not see her eyes in the depth of her hood, he knew she was glaring across the street at him. We need to... Harry broke off as a brief flicker of a presence crossed his mind, a sense of...frustration coming from the area off towards the Weasley's shop. Didn't you redo the Weasley's defensive wards, Mione?
Yeah, Hermione replied as her image wavered and vanished, an empty cloak falling to the ground behind her, I did...but I can't really bring them to a lethal level, not like at Grimmauld or Godric's-
How about a nice, shocking ward? Harry replied, and vanished as well with a faint afterimage of twin green glows hanging in the air for a moment longer. Harry grunted silently as he felt a twinge in his side, as he moved further down the street towards WWW, As soon as we end this...I am sleeping for a week, I don't care that NEWTs start Monday.
Oh, bullocks...they do? Hermione muttered silently, stepping aside as she moved so a large, elderly witch could slip past without noticing the invisible presence in their midst.
Forgot did you? Harry whispered, and wrapped his shields around himself even tighter, clamping down on any hint that he was anywhere near Diagon Alley. Mione, Harry added, his tone becoming utterly serious again, as soon as he is revealed...do what you can to get these people out of here, I'll hold him off.
Harry, no...
I'll be fine, he muttered as he stopped fifty yards from WWW and took a step backwards into the shadows. You have to, Love...I promise I'll be alright. He looked forward, and this close, a faint, dark shadow was visible to his enhanced senses. Listen, if you change the ward to a Trapping Ward...
I can give you a minute...maybe, Harry.
It will have to do. Harry took a breath, GO! Magic flowed as he became visible, his eyes blooming to life. Voldemort turned just as a shimmering, almost solid bubble snapped into being around the Weasley's shop. A roar of rage ripped from the Dark Lord's throat as he started to fight free, sending sheets of lighting skittering along the edges of the suddenly visible wards.
"NO!" a withered old witch screamed and fainted as she turned and saw Voldemort, his sullen red eyes blazing in an eerily shadowed face. Hermione flung her hand out, tossing the witch back as Voldemort sneered and snapped a green bolt at the woman. It exploded a crater in the cobblestone street as he turned, exerting his will on the wards. Screams of panic and terror filled the air as families ran, or vanished with loud CRACKs of Apparation. Cries for Aurors or help, any help at all, went on as Harry stepped fully into the street, feeling Hermione bodily clearing the area around him with utter expedience by flinging spectators back down the street, a rush of power filled him as he took a breath.
A literally horseless carriage snapped through the air, crashing into Voldemort, just as the wards began to fail, flinging him back into the shop. INFLAMARE! Harry roared and reached for Hermione pulling them both back as the Weasley's shop, fortunately empty of friendlies as every stockpiled firework, exploded. A shockwave picked both of them up, tossing them thirty feet through the air, to crash into a display of magical birds outside of a pet shop.
Harry pushed himself to his feet, looking back down the street, and finding patrons pouring out of the shops, running stupidly towards the Leaky Cauldron, even when most of them could Apparate away. Harry stood, and turned to the flaming ruins of the Weasleys' shop. He ducked, as another explosion ripped out as even more inflammable substances, of which Harry knew the building was filled with, detonated. Harry's eyes widened as he looked into the flames, and watched a tall, skeletal shape move out of the flames.
Voldemort sneered, "Good try, Potter," a couple stepped out of a shop with a shattered front window and froze at the sight. Harry reached for them, but was too late as Voldemort casually killed the man with a flick of his wand. His wife screamed and fell to her knees, sobbing. Harry and Hermione's Reductors slammed inward, smashing into a conjured silver shield and shooting off into space. Voldemort canted his head slightly and with a wave of his hand, buildings began to crumple like empty cans. He reached for the building next to Hermione, and crooked an eyebrow as he felt his reach blocked, "Good, Mudblood, but not good enough."
"Then how about this?" Hermione snarled, reached back and tossed a broken chunk of stone the size of a Volkswagen at his head. It changed, shifting in mid-flight to a chimera that roared and crashed into Voldemort. He jumped back and shattered the golem with a flick of his wand, only to scream in pain as a silver jet ripped into his side.
"Die, Potter," Voldemort twirled and vanished, only to reappear next to Harry. A glittering black blade cut towards Harry's spine only to be caught by the Sword of Gryffindor behind Harry's back. Harry spun with the blow, slicing downward, and ripping into Voldemort's leg and back out again with a spray of black blood that hissed and burned when it hit the cobblestones of the street. A precise wave of force slipped past Harry's shoulder and smashed Voldemort back through a stone wall.
Hermione spun to her right, vanishing in place as a Kedavra ripped back at her, exploding the front of Flourish and Blots as it continued on down the street. A small child stepped out from Magical Menageries, a terrified kitten in her arms and Hermione screamed, "NO!" She reached out, grabbing the child and flinging her elsewhere, Apparating the child through space to King's Cross. Hermione's knees buckled as a Crucio ripped into her stomach, sending her to the ground.
EXPELIARMUS. A precise blue bolt snapped from Harry's wand, knocking Voldemort's aside, followed by a line of lighting that roared down from the heavens, ripping up the street until it impact Voldemort's side. An explosion of white light filled the street, briefly blinding everyone in range, and when it vanished Voldemort stood, smoking, his left arm hanging uselessly at his side. He smiled slightly, and shook his arm out. He frowned as it only halfway repaired itself, still a charred and damaged limb, though useable.
Voldemort looked up and down the street, now damaged almost beyond recognition, only the shining edifice of Gringotts remained standing undamaged behind its near impervious wards; he looked slowly to Hermione as she stood from the ground, panting slightly. A spiraling green spell snapped at her, she dodged to the side, and spun as the shattered stone front of a store shifted and changed, becoming a pair of large, Nagini-sized grey stone serpents. They charged Hermione with unnatural speed, striking at her head; she darted to the side, batting one aside with the blade of a dagger that grew to size of a wakizashi. Hermione bent backwards, time eerily slow as the second struck at her head, she rolled to the side and sliced downward with a glowing blue blade. A terrible shattering sound filled the air as the blade passed through the neck of the stone snake, and it fell away, collapsing into gravel. Hermione flipped forward, twisting in mid-air to land behind the first snake just as it's head crashed into the ground where she had just been.
Across the street, Harry MOVED, snapping into motion, and blurring to a stop directly in front of Voldemort. His sword cut at Tom, skittering aside in a shower of blue sparks as Voldemort blocked it, and pushed Harry away. Harry grunted as his knee twisted on a pile of stone. Voldemort turned, and flicked the wand in his off hand; a purple wave tore at Harry. Desperately, Harry flicked his sword at it, knocking the curse off course, but not enough, as his right leg burned and he fell as his leg went limp. Voldemort sneered as he lined up his wand on Harry's head...
A green curse snapped towards Harry and exploded on a chunk of stone that flew in from the side, intercepting the death curse. Voldemort tumbled backwards as the force of the explosion was channeled back at him. Hermione stepped around the rubble of the first snake and reached out and yanked Harry to her. Hermione's arms went around Harry as he came even with her and they both vanished.
Voldemort stood slowly in the center of the now-abandoned street, several corpses of bystanders, those that they had not been able to save, were lying on the ground, but only a few. He looked around with undisguised disgust, "Since you love the Muggles so much, Potter, follow me." Voldemort vanished, Apparating away.
Hermione glared after him, before she looked down at Harry, How bad is it? she asked, running her wand down the seam of his pants, opening it to find a long, jagged tear in his leg. She frowned, Suterus, and ran the tip of her wand down the cut, closing it, temporarily.
I'll live, Harry replied as he flicked his wand at his clothes, repairing them. He's gone into London proper, Hermione. She just nodded, her face flat with exhaustion among other things. We're going to have to follow him; he went on, as his head tracked towards the south.
Hermione nodded, silently, she took a drink of water from a canteen, and tossed it in the air where it vanished, I'm worried, Harry...it's not like we are hiding, I'd have expected someone to have been along by now...
Harry stood, the sounds of belated alarms and sirens filled the air, as patrons of Diagon Alley, started to come out, from the shattered stores. Several of them looked oddly at the pair, but no one approached, Let's go. They vanished between breaths, leaving the shattered street as bystanders started to rush to the aid of those trapped in the buildings.
Several miles away, following a trace burning an arrow in their minds towards the Dark Lord, Harry and Hermione reappeared in the middle of London Bridge. Hermione looked to the south, HARRY! She dove to the left as Harry dodged right, and flung up his hand catching a Toyota with a sudden rush of wind and more or less gently setting it down on the bridge to the side. Four people, three adults and a ten-or-so-year-old girl got out of the car and ran, screaming towards the shore.
Even more Muggles ran, dashing down the street or the sidewalks at the edge of the five-arched bridge, heading away from the sudden commotion. Harry flipped away as first one; then a second, empty car flew at him. They crashed together and exploded, crushing another few vehicles near them, and sending burning wreckage tumbling into the Thames. Harry batted away an orange curse with his wand and snapped a Reductor back, as Voldemort stepped into view.
Hermione rolled behind Harry, her back to his and started to mumble something under her breath. "So much more, open, wouldn't you say, Harry?" Voldemort called as he laughed and flicked his wand at another abandoned vehicle. It rose in the air ten feet and exploded, shrapnel rained down, bouncing off Harry's hastily raised shield like steel rain. Distant sirens filled the air, as the Muggle authorities started to respond.
"I don't know, Tom," Harry called back, and behind him Hermione took a breath and summoned a tendril of power, wrapping it around itself between her cupped hands. "I think a small, dark place would be just fine for you." Harry dove away as Hermione spun and shot out both hands, palm first, flinging a small, black, lighting-encrusted ball at Voldemort. Voldemort tried to dodge, but it hit at his feet, and a sudden singularity bloomed, sucking in everything for fifteen meters around. It exploded in a flash of light, leaving the center of the bridge...gone, along with the Dark Lord.
Hermione felt Harry move behind her. That hurt him, but it didn't do him in, he said and she just nodded, drawing both of her daggers and watching them grow to sword-like lengths. Hermione took a breath and a ring of blue-green magic expanded out from her, reaching out.
He's gone again, she growled. Her breath was coming in short pants; she paused, and calmed herself, forcing her breathing back under control. I don't think he's here...
****************************Hogwarts*******************************
1:00 pm
A pall of nearly noxious smoke hung over the school, fed by the fires from the Quidditch Pitch, the Great Hall, the still burning trench, and from the winds blowing in from Hogsmeade, where a bare few rescue efforts had just started. Wizards and Witches, and a pair of centaurs who had stopped at the edge of the Forbidden Forest coughed in the smoke, as they searched the grounds, looking for any Death Eaters still unaccounted for, or wounded that could still be saved. Already, a pile of corpses filled a paddock behind Hagrid's hut, Death Eaters that had been found in the castle.
Another, guarded section, held other Death Eaters, these still alive, but stripped of their robes, masks and weapons, leaving them in whatever they had had on underneath. Which in the case of a few was not much. A shimmering field surrounded them, shocking any who approached it to unconsciousness. That, in turn was backed by a large, three-headed dog, who growled on occasion as he padded around the corral, and ten DA members, all with their wands in hand, and utter, implacable fury in their eyes.
None of that, however, bothered one small soul who sauntered along the ground, his bottle-brush tail held high. His orange fur was matted, full of soot, and he had a burn mark down one flank, but his yellow eyes twinkled as he padded in a side entrance to the castle, a limp bit of ragged fur held proudly in his jaws.
Crookshanks broke into a sprint, passing Poppy and a few DA members as they escorted her on her mission to help wounded, and started up the moving stairs. They all seemed to move in place for him as he ascended the long stairs. He jumped over a missing patch between the fourth and fifth floors and leapt lightly onto the fifth floor. He pushed aside a tapestry with his nose, to reveal a foot-high door that opened at his approach.
A set of tiny spiral stairs was revealed and Crookshanks sprinted up them, rising two levels to stop in front of another tiny door inset with a carved lion. The tiny lion roared at his approach and the half-kneazle stepped though into his master and mistress' common room. Crookshanks dropped his burden, a large, scraggly rat with a silver paw, at the edge of the hearth and padded over to a small fountain set against the wall and drank deeply.
He sauntered back over to his prize and settled down to wait, watching it and the door at the same time.
*************************London, Savoy Hotel************************
1:20 pm
Remus Lupin looked out from the edge of the hotel's roof, at the smoke rising from the wreckage of London Bridge and sighed. He turned from the sight of flashing lights from police cruisers and ambulances, and walked back towards Tonks, who was perched on the edge of a large, rooftop air conditioner, with a mirror propped open next to her. A tiny image of Albus Dumbledore hung in the air over it, with a partial image of Neville to one side. "Remus?" Dumbledore asked tiredly.
"They've been here, Albus," he replied, and scrubbed at his eyes. Lupin absently took a chocolate bar that Tonks handed him and took a bite. He swallowed, "Looks like Voldemort tried to ambush them at Diagon Alley, but they turned it on him...there were casualties there...he ran to Muggle London and took them on, on London Bridge, no one died there, thank Merlin, but traffic will be a pain for a long time to come."
"Any sign of where they went then?" Dumbledore asked looking around where he was standing at Hogwarts. In the background, Remus could see several stretchers bearing wounded pass by.
"No, I'm not even too sure how Harry tracked him here, after Hogsmeade."
"Tom's own doing, I am afraid," Dumbledore replied with bitter cheer, "for years he exploited that link with Harry, but now, as the saying goes, it is coming around to bite him on the arse." Lupin just smiled, barely. "Since you were not able to find Harry, proceed with your primary mission, Remus, scout out the Ministry."
"Albus, what if..."
"It was a long shot, Remus," Dumbledore cut him off with a shake of his head, "we only knew about the fighting in Diagon Alley due to reports on the Wireless. The reporters from the Prophet have already shown up here as well, though I've barred them from the grounds. Go to the Ministry, we need to relieve Arthur if he is still alive." Lupin let out a soft, sub-audible growl but nodded as Tonks closed the mirror with a snap and slipped it into a pouch.
"Let's go, Wolfie," Tonks muttered, her eyes tired beyond exhaustion as she grabbed onto his arm, and the pair of them vanished with a soft POP.
*************************Godric's Hollow****************************
3:00 pm
Harry slipped along the streets of his home, darting from cover to cover, as he slipped through the abandoned town. As soon as they arrived, after trailing the Dark Lord through half of England, in a lethal game of cat and mouse, Hermione had, with a spell that almost made her pass out, sent a compulsion over the whole small village of a hundred souls, making them realize that they had much, much more pressing matters elsewhere.
Harry had felt Voldemort's rage, at losing his de facto hostages, but had not struck, reluctant to reveal his presence too soon. Which was only a boon to Harry and Hermione, as that misstep had given Hermione time to recharge. He's at the house, Harry said after fifteen minutes of tense searching. "Come out, Tom," Harry pushed open the garden gate, and stepped through.
The door to the Godric's Hollow house opened slowly, and a dark shadow, that had last darkened this door a bit over sixteen years before, walked out, bringing a dark chill in the air with him. Above them dark clouds started to gather with a sudden rush, turning the once sunny day, dark as night. A crash of thunder and a torrential downpour began, instantly drenching Harry and Hermione as they slowly spread out, wands coming up to track the Dark Lord as he stood at the entrance to the house. Voldemort stood in the midst of the downpour, the rain parting from him as if cleaved by a knife. "I see you came home to die, Potter." He looked to Harry's right, and found Hermione's glowing eyes staring back, as rain water streamed down her face, "And you brought a Mudblood along, just like your father. It will be...enjoyable, and this time there will be nothing to save you..."
Harry laughed as he took a step forward. A sizzling ball of blue plasma grew from nothing in his off hand, and a sizzling sound unlined his laughter as the rain hit off the superheated sphere. Harry glanced to Hermione, she smiled darkly, "Tom...the ambiance is superb, I will admit...a torrential downpour, a dark storm...classic. But there are soo many better uses for getting caught in the rain...A nice slow shag, that's always fun, but since you just have Bella, it's just not the same."
The simmering red glow bloomed in Voldemort's eyes, "AVADA KEDAVRA." A terrible rushing sound filled the air as a searing green bolt tore towards Harry. With infinite slowness, Harry took a step sideways and watched the curse slip past. A thunderclap tore at his back a moment later as the beam hit a propane tank behind a house, detonating it, flattening two houses in the village beyond. Harry glanced back as flames started to spread, hopping to the next house. He glanced back as Hermione flicked her wand at the ground at Voldemort's feet and large spikes grew from the ground, surrounding him.
Voldemort hissed darkly and the spikes changed to serpents before they vanished, he spun and waved his wand in a broad arc, soil exploded, tossing up to the air. Hermione took one, two, hopping leaps, kicking off the top of the low garden wall and diving away as the wall shattered in an explosion of bricks. She landed in a roll, tumbling away as Harry gestured and the shattered chunks of wall shot across the garden, hammering into Voldemort, impacting against his shield and tossing the Dark Lord, shield and all, back through the entrance door, through an interior wall and back into the kitchen beyond. Harry followed him through the large hole left by his passage, his eyes lit. Harry batted away a maroon spell with the flat of the sword, avoided another Kedavra and stepped to the side as Hermione flicked into existence across the room.
Hermione twirled away, as a Cruciatus snapped back at her. She gestured with her wand and a flaming whip cracked back from her wand, ripping away the wall to the timbers as Voldemort vanished and reappeared behind her. A black sword flicked at her head, blocked only barely by a blade in her left hand. She tumbled backwards from the force of the blow, over the top of the couch. Stuffing flew in the air as the black blade tried for her head; she turned slightly with the block and gasped as the blade ripped open her back below her left shoulder blade.
Voldemort laughed darkly as he raised his blade above his head, and crashed backwards, tumbling through a wall as Harry dove over the top of the couch, tackling Voldemort to the ground. Harry's arms slipped around his neck, a heel of a hand crashed against Voldemort's chin, and his neck broke with a loud, sickening crack. Harry rolled off of the Dark Lord, scrambling to Hermione. He pulled Hermione into his arms and flickered away, vanishing behind the kitchen counter. A dark growl slipped from his throat as he looked to her back. It's not that bad, he muttered, sealing the wound with a drag of his wandtip.
Harry looked up as Voldemort slowly stood, his head held at an odd angle. Voldemort reached up with skeletal hands and straightened his head on his neck with a loud popping sound. That's just not fair, Harry muttered and rolled to the side, he flicked his wand like a whip and a flaming strand reached out and wrapped around Voldemort's legs. Harry pulled up, tumbling Voldemort to the ground, again. Harry grabbed Hermione's collar and vanished, reappearing in the rain-soaked backyard as Voldemort's return exploded the entire kitchen side of the house.
Harry looked back towards his now-burning house, and closed his eyes for a bare instant. Hermione groaned in the back of his mind, and pushed herself to her feet. We can't keep this up, Harry.
We have to, Mione, Harry rolled to his feet, just as the kitchen to the house collapsed, and Voldemort pushed out onto the lawn, stepping from the burning house. A blue ball of plasma ripped from his fingers, exploding at Voldemort's feet, setting his robes on fire as Voldemort's return spell hit him in the shoulder. Harry grunted, holding his hand to his shoulder as Hermione's wand bucked several times, sending Reductors crashing into a silver shield in a staccato rhythm. Voldemort spun away, and the last few spells exploded in the house, vaporizing a hole all the way through the house. The flames in the house were already dying away, the fire suppression charms and rain, combining to slow the spread of the flames.
Far beyond, the situation was not the same in the town, as house after house erupted in flames, the fires carried along too fast for the rain to slow them. Harry watched as Voldemort moved from the house, floating down to the grounds like a Dementor from the porch. Harry reached back, and pulled, flinging his hand over his head. Behind him, the leftmost post from the pitch ripped from the ground, and swatted the Dark Lord like a large annoying insect, sending him tumbling away. Harry staggered, swaying slightly until Hermione grabbed him, pulling him behind a small storage shed on the grounds.
"Nice, try, Harry," Voldemort's mocking voice echoed back, a bolt of lighting from the gathered storm crashed into a tree a hundred meters away and Harry reached out, grabbing Hermione as splinters of charred wood crashed into the side of the shed. Voldemort stepped back into the open, slowly, his left arm hanging loosely, and Harry stepped from one side of the shed, the Sword of Gryffindor glowing brightly in one hand. Hermione moved out on the other side, she glanced towards the house that should have been waiting for them when they finished with this, before snapping her wand in a complicated gesture that sent a cyclone of debris at the Dark Lord. He deflected it with a swish of a twisted wand and stepped forward.
"You've already lost, Tom," Harry mentioned almost brightly as he deflected a Sectumsempra straight up in the air. Hermione dodged a Kedavra, leaving a trace of green light behind her as she darted to the side. She vanished in place, as Harry went on, "You have to know that you've lost...Even if you kill us, Dumbledore is still alive, your Horcruxes are gone...a decent paper cut could end your sad existence now."
Harry's breathing hitched, imperceptivity, as Hermione flickered into existence, cocked her wand and Voldemort spun, "Crucio", yellow beam crawled across the distance, Harry vanished and reappeared in its path, taking the hit. Hermione's eyes screamed as she dove to the side and a hail of silver darts tore from her wand, racing across the distance to Voldemort. Five, ten, a dozen bounced harmlessly off his shield, but another ten ripped through Voldemort's legs, shredding them. He screamed in rage, and vanished, leaving behind a smoking black pool of blood behind. Harry wavered on his feet and collapsed to his knees. He fell forward on his hands, his arms twitching randomly.
Hermione snapped out a Detection Pulse, found nothing, and dropped next to Harry. I swear to Merlin, she growled, pulling him to her side as he continued to twitch in her arms for a moment, that as soon as I get done shagging you to insentience, you are sleeping on the couch for a month.
Sorry? Harry choked out as he panted for an instant; his eyes flickered as he drew a rush of magic in from their surroundings. His eyes lit fully, He's gone? She nodded; Harry took a breath, "CAN YOU FUCKING STAY AND FIGHT, YOU BASTARD?!" he roared, before dropping back to his hands. Harry looked up as the clouds began to part, vanishing as if they had never been. The ground started to steam as Harry let Hermione pull him to his feet, even though he was fine by now.
"We can't keep this up, Harry," Hermione said softly as she watched their house burn for an instant, "It's going to kill us, even with stopping the wounds, we've lost too much blood...I know how much you're holding together with your magic."
"Not any more than you," he replied, looking down at her. She just nodded and kissed his forehead, moving aside bloody and ash-filled hair with her lips to brush his scar.
"You going to search for him?" Hermione asked worriedly. Harry shook his head, and took her hand.
I know where he went, he really has no choice, now...Hermione crooked an eyebrow, as he reached up and bent her head to the side, checking on a shallow slice on her cheek. He's gone back to Hogwarts...he has to try to kill Dumbledore while he still can...before we injure him enough to make it a walkover for Albus or us to finish him off...
***************************Ministry of Magic******************************
4:10 pm
Five darkly-robed figures stood restlessly in a trash-strewn alley. Several yards away, down this misused street, a broken callbox sat empty, as far below, a battle still raged. The tallest of the five, a swarthy man with a white beard tracing his jaw, puffed on a noxious smelling cigarette. He looked back as two of his confederates dumped a blue-uniformed Bobbie, who had happened to walk past on patrol, behind an overflowing dumpster. He tossed the stub of his cigarette to the ground and pulled another from a leather cigarette case and lit it with the tip of his wand.
He took a long pull of the cigarette, and a waft of a sharp, distinctive odor flitted down the alley. He looked up and
blinked twice, stunned, as a dark-haired, dark-eyed young woman with a heart-shaped face paced down the street headed
for the telephone box.
She sauntered to the box and stopped, her hands cocked on her hips, and cursed quietly at the out of order sign on it. The men stepped from the shadows, their eyes only on the young woman with a black leather skirt, hanging low on her hips and stopping barely below her arse, and a white, short, long-sleeved top that left a good two inches of skin bare around her midsection. A small diamond stud glinted from her navel as she turned to find the men. She smiled slowly and paced over to them, calling, "Oi...would any of you blokes," she let her eyes pan over the five appraisingly, "have a mobile I could use, this bloody box is broken."
She seemed not to notice as the group surrounded her; a wizard behind her lowered a hood, revealing an eyepatch over one eye on a scarred face. "No, lass," he growled gruffly, "but we do aim to entertain you." A look of sudden panic filled the young woman's face as she ran to the side, only to let out a soft scream, as one of the Death Eaters grabbed her, pulling her back to his front as he tangled his hands in her hair.
Unnoticed to them, a black shadow flitted across the head of the alley, before vanishing from view.
"You do, huh?" she asked in a slightly choked voice. She fought to fight free for a moment, then stopped as hands clamped around her arms. She took a breath, and looked around at the four not holding her and licked her lips. A sudden, accepting expression fell over her face, "Don't hurt me, I...I'll do what ever you want me to." The Death Eater holding her let her go, pushing her into the center of the rough circle.
She looked back, her eyes narrowed slightly as a sixth presence detached from the wall behind her. One of the Death Eaters took a step forward, grabbed her chin and pulled her face up for a rough kiss. He leaned in...A spray of blood shot out as her head snapped forward, breaking his nose. A palm strike hammered up, driving splinters of bone into his brain, and dropping the suddenly lifeless Death Eater like a sack of rotten potatoes. The woman bounded backwards, spinning, her right leg coming up even as her clothes shifted, the skirt flowing into a black pair of cargo pants as her shirt darkened to black and her hair pulled into a short, spiked style.
A second Death Eater went spinning as her heel clipped him behind the ear. She leapt away, diving to the side as two wands tracked her, and flicked her wrists, dropping a throwing dagger and wand into her hands. Her left wrist snapped a dagger across the alley to embed in a shoulder, causing one of the two wands after her to fall to the ground as a bellow of pain came from the Death Eater. Her wand flicked, batting away a purple wave into the brick walls where it shattered a large chunk from the wall. She backed away slowly; her wand held out in front of her as the three remaining Death Eaters started to approach with darkly promising glints in their eyes.
"You'll pay for that lassie," the smoker announced darkly, and raised a wand towards her.
Tonks smiled, and shook her head, "Somehow, I doubt it." A soft growl came from behind the Death Eaters, and a figure blurred out from the wall. It rolled around the back of the smoker and he fell to the ground with his head held at an odd angle. A second Death Eater died just as quickly as a silver jet shot out, drilling a neat hole to his heart.
The final Death Eater spun towards the new threat, wand raised, and collapsed as a bolt took him behind the ear. Tonks took a breath, and watched as Lupin's eyes slowly returned to normal, canines sliding back up in his jaw. "Wotcher, Wolfie, took you long enough."
"You seemed to have things well in hand," Remus replied, shrugging as he led the way to the phone box. He watched as Tonks dug in a pocket and set a spinning, glowing blue orb and a silver, palm-sized disc that rapidly grew to the size of a dinner plate, on a shelf under the broken receiver.
She quickly dialed 6-2-4-4-2 on the rotary dial and before the voice could speak, snapped, "Emergency override, Auror Nymphadora Tonks, 7223915 Alpha," to the air. She jumped back as the box started to sink into the ground. She spun to Remus as he folded open a hand mirror and muttered a spell. Instantly a image of the inside of the booth appeared, then changed, as the booth stopped moving to a visage of the atrium below.
Tonks let out a quiet gasp as she saw the picture filled with innumerable Inferi; their grey-green forms shambling around aimlessly. She bit back bile as she saw several kneeling over a body, ripping off chunks. She looked to Remus as the image passed by several Death Eaters in robes, standing over a pair of Aurors she knew, and he closed his eyes and nodded to her. She opened a second mirror, "Neville," she waited as Neville's image, tired and exhausted, his eyes mostly dead, filled her mirror. At his shoulder, Dumbledore's face, along with Parvati's dark eyes, and a few other DA members looked out. Remus tapped his mirror with his wand, and the images from the Osiris eye Tonks had placed projected from Neville's mirror as well.
Dumbledore just nodded, "I am sending the DA to you Remus, I will hold here..." The image vanished, and barely a beat later, the alley was filled with rainbow-hued vortexes as an even dozen Portkeys flung the entire remaining DA, that where standing at least, into London. Neville stood slowly, from where the Portkey had tossed him against the trash bin, and looked to Remus and Tonks.
Neville's eyes were hard, glittering points as they alternately looked over the alley at the twenty or so, bandaged, wounded and utterly exhausted teens that he had brought with him from the castle where they had already paid such a bitter price. "What's the plan, Professor?" he asked, checking a wand and a dagger at his hip. Parvati trailed him as he slipped to the empty hole where the Phone booth once stood, and looked down. "We can't Apparate in, and we can't fight our way in with that many Inferi?"
Tonks looked to Remus and shook her head, "That's why I sent along a little package of the Twins' that they developed for clearing buildings...of everything." She looked down the hole, "We'll Apparate down the hole in the wards, and hold against whatever's below the Atrium as Arthur gets his people out."
Neville nodded, "Honor, Seamus, Teresa, Michael, you're with me and Par," he looked to the former Beauxbatons heads, "Jean, Robert, you take the sixth years, you'll hold the rear. Everyone else, we spread out as we Apparate in and hold the Atrium, stay alive, if it's a Death Eater, it dies, if it's an Inferi, it burns...that's it." A few nods answered him and he turned back to Lupin.
"We go in one minute."
A/N: There we go...next chapter...the end of the circle....