Chapter 20 - Unlikely Succor
Great bolts of lightening leapt from cloud to cloud in the darkness of the night as Voldemort's unusual attack on Dumbledore continued. The Headmaster looked like he was being drained of his strength rapidly, but as near as anyone could tell Voldemort was just touching him. He wasn't using a wand or anything else that the mages assembled could really distinguish as a spell.
"Luna," Ron said sharply as he nodded toward the stricken Headmaster.
"Ronald," Luna replied, her eyes pleading with him. Her posture seemed to slacken slightly as she looked at Dumbledore's situation again. "I lead."
Luna pointed her wand at herself and extended her armored arm straight out in front of her before accelerating away. Voldemort reeled from the unexpected impact of Luna's magically enhanced blow, but his grip on Dumbledore didn't loose enough for the Headmaster to break free.
"Didn't you know it's rude to interrupt your elders, child?" Voldemort asked sinisterly. He tossed Dumbledore aside like a limp doll and turned on Luna. Her eyes widened with fear and her already pale face drained of what little color it had as Voldemort pointed his wand at her.
"Don't touch her," Ron yelled as he performed the same trick as Luna. Voldemort wasn't about to be struck twice though; he jumped backward just in time to avoid Ron's arrival.
"Crucio," Voldemort said through gritted teeth. Ron braced himself for the pain, but Luna conjured up some kind of opaque material that defeated the curse.
"No one defies Lord Voldemort," Voldemort said haughtily as he prepared to cast another spell.
"You-you, you're just a man named Tom Riddle!" Ron shouted emotionally. He flicked his wand and dozens of thin spikes erupted from the ground in all directions that were aimed at impaling Voldemort. The evil wizard motioned with his wand and the earthen assault crumbled into dust.
Dirt reached up to solidify around Ron and Luna's legs. "You can't fight me with my own element," Voldemort intoned smugly.
Ron looked over at Luna as she squirmed ineffectively and all hope drained out of him. He felt cold, listless, as if he could never be happy again for the rest of his life, which didn't appear to be much longer anyway. Voldemort's grin, which had gotten even bigger, suddenly turned into a mask of confusion and the next thing Ron knew a stream of dark shapes were rushing by him. The dementor onslaught overwhelmed the Lestranges and Voldemort in quick order.
Rabastan tried to cast a patronus charm but he was unable to quickly enough in the face of the surprise attack. His eyes widened as a dementor clamped down over his mouth. Ron averted his eyes from what he knew would probably happen next. Before he could process the images flashing through his mind the earthen restraints on himself and Luna crumbled away, either from McGonagall's counter spell or because Voldemort was too busy fighting dementors. The two teens were flung backward rapidly as they were caught up in a summoning charm.
"Help Albus," McGonagall snapped. "We're getting inside the castle while we still can."
Ron draped one of Dumbledore's arms over his shoulder and Luna attempted to help prop him up too. A giant heap of dementors obscured Voldemort and his minions, but who knew how long that would last. Of course, getting into Hogwarts probably wasn't going to help much either. The first two walls around the entrance had been ripped apart and the first flight of stairs that went up into the main stairway network was completely exposed. Once there, in the nexus of Hogwarts' complex maze of hallways, it would simply be a matter of fighting a running battle uphill. The would be faced with the choice of trying to escape from the rooftops or else trying to hold off the dark forces at the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets in hope that Harry would arrive in time to save them.
More lightening sounded and amazingly it started to rain. McGonagall looked back hopefully as if she expected Dumbledore to revive himself in a flash of magic now that his element was falling. Nothing of the sort happened. Dumbledore's half moon spectacles, which had somehow escaped destruction and remained in their place on the bridge of his nose, merely fogged up.
Luna stumbled and Ron felt his muscles strain under the shifting weight of the surprisingly heavy Headmaster. She whimpered slightly as she resumed her burden and Ron tried not to notice the cuts on her hands from where the sharp rubble from the demolished stone wall had penetrated her skin.
"Commander, what's going on?" an elderly witch asked as soon as they stepped into the main stair hall. Above them Ron could hear the enchanting stairs moving back and forth in their incomprehensible pattern.
"The dementors have finally turned on the Death Eaters," Ron said. "We've got…however long it takes Voldemort to get rid of them before he storms in here and kills us all."
Ron pointed his wand into the air and sent out a mass of silvery bird shaped messenger charms. He took out the Marauder's Map and hurriedly tried to make out how their forces were faring. Just by looking at where the various battles were taking place Ron couldn't understand how the Death Eaters had managed to arrive at the positions they had. Some of them were completely surrounded in locations deep inside the inner most hallways of the castle while others were only a few turns away from the main stair network that they would have had to entered from.
"Professor, how is he?" Ron asked hurriedly as responses began to arrive from the messages he had just sent.
"I don't know, I've never seen anything like this," McGonagall replied. "I've sent for Poppy, but who knows if she can reach us here."
"She's on her way," Luna replied as she pointed at the map.
"Dementors ran crazy through the halls for a while there," Ron said as he glanced over the first note that he plucked from overhead. "That's how the sides got so messed up, everyone scrambling all over each other to avoid soul suckers."
"What about that?" Luna asked as she gestured at the gaping hole that was once the main entrance. The unearthly shrieks of dementors could still be heard coming from outside.
"Let's block it up," McGonagall said resolutely. Together the three mages began raising thick slabs of stone across the damage to patch it up as best as they could. Unfortunately, they had no idea how much or little good such a fix would do. Voldemort might have to blast through it a little at a time or he might vanish it with a flick of his wand.
"Dementors," Luna whispered as the ghastly creatures started to pour through a side hall. Ron was startled for a moment, but then realized that the things could come through windows pretty easily.
"First Proxy for the Masters of Undoing…" the lead dementor wheezed.
"Your switch was very timely," Ron said, unsure of what to say.
"We waited until the last possible moment to best serve," the dementor replied.
"What are you doing…here," Ron said hesitantly. He was glad that the dementors seemed to be toning down their happiness draining aura. It was still terribly cold and depressing to have them so close though.
"The Dark Lord will finish repelling us shortly now that he and his minions have used the lifeless emotions against us," the dementor responded. "Those who remain able to do battle await the First Proxy's commands."
Ron snatched up the map. "Luna, help me move him," he said, indicating Dumbledore.
"What are you going to do?" McGonagall asked.
"We're going to fortify the second floor there so we'll have some height advantage," Ron said. He pointed to the level directly above them that overlooked the area they had just patched up with stone.
McGonagall levitated Dumbledore's prone figure up the stairs as gently as possible while Ron set up the map on a conjured table and began looking over it with Luna's help. Under the most controlled of circumstances it was difficult to keep track of the large number of dots moving around, but now Ron noticed that the dementors seemed to be causing interference with the map's spells. They showed up, but they had no names, just black banners over them. Even worse, they would sometimes freeze in one place for a while, then leap ahead unexpectedly as if the map couldn't track them effectively.
"There are an awful lot of dementors here," Luna observed. Sure enough, the group that was assembling in front of the barricaded entrance had swiftly become the most dementors Ron had ever seen. There was easily a couple hundred and still they poured in from the wings as they used various windows to penetrate the castle.
"I'm glad they're on our side," Ron commented. As much as he hated to admit it, they'd all be dead or captured by now if it hadn't been for the timely intervention of the dementors.
"Minerva," Madam Pomfrey shouted as she skittered up to the group. She was carrying a large black medical bag in one hand and her wand in the other. "What happened to him?"
"Voldemort overpowered him," Luna said softly. "He grabbed him by the throat and some kind of magical exchange took place."
"Magical exchange?" McGonagall asked quizzically.
"You could tell by the look in their eyes," Luna affirmed.
"There was some sort of energy crackling around them," Ron admitted.
"All right, get back so I can work," Poppy said, clearly unconvinced.
"Luna," Ron whispered tersely, "Since when did you say His name and what were you talking about magical transfers?"
"Oh, I always said his name," Luna replied. "It's just a name. I didn't want to say it around you because you would get uncomfortable."
Ron felt his heart tighten a little, "Luna…"
"And I saw it, when the dementor killed that Death Eater, his eyes, you could see it in his eyes the instant it happened," Luna whispered emotionally. "It was the same way when Voldemort was strangling him…"
"Voldemort was sucking his soul out like a dementor?" Ron asked incredulously.
"No, but almost," Luna replied, her eyes moist. "Don't let him get near you Ronald, stay with me, okay?"
"I promise Luna," Ron said sincerely. He felt his cheeks heat and quickly looked back down at the map. They didn't have time for such things. The little groups of dots that Ron could make out as students or Light Bearers had rearranged themselves yet again. The dungeons seemed to still be under their control, as was Gryffindor tower, but the common rooms for the other two houses were cut off by Death Eaters. Fortunately, there didn't seem to be anyone trapped between Voldemort's forces and the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets.
"Are we really going to retreat to the children?" Luna asked. She could see that if they continued to retreat in the same pattern as they were currently then the Chamber is where they would all end up. At its narrow choke point they would be able to resist for quite a while, but if Harry didn't arrive soon enough they would lose everything.
"Yeah," Ron said, "It wasn't really so good of an idea to send them there in retrospect. Voldemort already knows about the Chamber and he seems to have the castle under his control somehow."
"The Ring of Erus," Dumbledore gasped. "Hogwarts will not attack someone who bears the mark of the Founder Slytherin."
"Don't talk," Poppy admonished him. "Your magical aura is nearly gone and your physical aura is little better."
Dumbledore clutched her shoulder to steady himself. "Some things are more important than one old man's health Poppy. You already have more patients than you can attend to."
"And I won't get to attending them until you stay still so I can heal you," Poppy replied.
"There isn't anymore that you can do for me now, even with your considerable talents," Dumbledore said sadly. "We need the wand of every person you can heal in time to fight. Poppy, please, go."
Madam Pomfrey looked around in confusion to McGonagall. The transfiguration professor nodded and inclined her head in acquiescence to Dumbledore's wish. Poppy shook her head in disbelief, but nonetheless she bustled away back towards the hospital wing as quickly as she could move.
Dumbledore raised himself shakily to his feet and ambled over to peer down at the map. He looked over at the patchwork done on the front of the ruined castle entrance and then looked back to the handful of people who had been gathered to ambush Voldemort when he eventually finished with the dementors and broke through. His face creased into a deep scowl when he saw the knot of dementors who were gathered below them, well aware that he had once sworn that no dementor would enter Hogwarts so long as he was Headmaster, but refrained from saying anything about them.
"We don't stand a chance at even slowing down Tom with only this many people," Dumbledore said finally.
"Surely, with your help, we can do something," McGonagall said. She offered Dumbledore his wand, which she had apparently picked up at some point during the chaos.
"Curious," Dumbledore said as he took the long thin piece of polished wood. "I wonder if I can manage a simple light spell now."
"Now isn't the time for your soft headed jokes Albus," McGonagall said with a chuckle.
"lumos," Dumbledore said forcefully. His wand started to light up, but then it failed entirely. "Ah, see, I wouldn't joke about something this serious."
"S-stop fooling around Albus," McGonagall stuttered.
"I'm in all earnestness Minerva," Dumbledore said lightly. "I appear to be quite powerless now."
"How is that possible?" Ron asked frantically. Dumbledore was stronger than all of the rest of them put together. Without him he didn't know how they were supposed to defend the castle.
"It would seem that Tom has devised a most unnatural ability," Dumbledore replied in a more serious tone. "I believe that this was something closely related to what he tried to do to Hermione."
"He tried to destroy your mind?" McGonagall asked, her face bearing a horrified expression.
"The branch of legilimency that Tom seems to be experimenting with may take many forms," Dumbledore replied cryptically. "However, I am most appreciative that young Mr. Weasley and Miss Lovegood was able to disrupt the process."
Ron turned his attention back to the map as McGonagall and Dumbledore continued to discuss theories about what Voldemort had done. The number of defending dots had started to thin at a disconcerting rate and Ron realized that they had lost quite a bit more territory to the point that the hospital wing would soon be threatened at the rate things were going. He sent out a messenger charm instructing Madam Pomfrey to evacuate when he noticed something else.
In Gryffindor tower over two dozen new dots had suddenly appeared and one of them read Remus Lupin. "Luna, let me know if things change here, okay?" Ron instructed.
"Right," Luna replied. She and McGonagall looked at him strangely as he bolted away up the stairs towards the common room.
"It's Remus," Ron called down as he sprinted away, "He's back with help."
The trek up to the tower, which had been Ron's home for the last nearly seven years, had never taken so long as it seemed to now. Ron couldn't even begin to remember what the password for the portrait was, but thankfully he didn't have to because a stall sandy haired wizard in weird clothes was already holding the door open.
"Four bars," he muttered to himself as he saw Ron approaching. "You're that Weasel guy, right?"
"Weasley," Ron said breathlessly. "Where's Remus? I need to talk to him fast."
"Ah, he's a bit indisposed as far as talking goes," the sandy haired wizard replied. "Come on guys, that Weasley guy is here."
Ron tried to look inside the opening when a big fang filled mass of fur came bounding out. Ron nearly fell over as he scrambled back away from the two werewolves that had exited first followed by a large number of witches and wizards.
"Remus convinced us to help. My name is Mia Valian," a short dark haired witch said in a thick Yankee accent. "I was elected captain of this expedition."
Ron scrutinized the two werewolves and noticed that they were wearing makeshift leather armor all over their bodies. The patch on Remus and Tonks' torsos was adorned with a crudely drawn silver torch symbol of the Light Bearers. The rest of the Americans were dressed in long gray overcoat style uniforms held together with a belt that sported several different boxes and pouches. They all carried three wands visibly and probably had more elsewhere.
"How many did you bring?" Ron asked.
"We've got seventy six volunteers, roughly half of which are current or former military," Valian said. More gray coat clad individuals continued to spill out of the fireplace in the room behind them.
"Okay," Ron said slowly. That was a lot more help than he had ever expected. "I want about half of you to come with me, the rest stay here and await messenger charms to direct them to where they're most needed."
Ron continued to stare for a moment until Captain Valian prodded him. "We're going where?"
"Right," Ron said mechanically, "As you can guess things aren't going good here. Voldemort is right outside fighting dementors and his Death Eaters already control half the castle."
"Where is Potter?" Valian asked. "Or Headmaster Dumbledore?"
"It's a long story, I'll explain on the way," Ron said. Now none of them moved as he started to jog back in the direction that he had come from. "Follow me!"
"We don't know where Harry and Hermione are right now, not exactly," Ron said when the lead warriors caught up to him. "It's difficult to explain, but they went off to infiltrate Voldemort's main base in preparation for an attack and they haven't come back."
"So they could be dead?" Valian asked.
"No," Ron replied vehemently. He pulled out his silver necklace. "We would definitely know through these magical symbols if they were dead."
"Captured then?" Valian asked.
"Possible, but it doesn't make any sense," Ron replied. "Voldemort would have no reason to keep Hermione alive."
"So can we hope for them to arrive in time to help us or not?" Valian asked, finally getting to her point.
"Maybe," Ron said, then shook his head defiantly. "Harry has never let us down. He'll be here,
count on it."
"That's good enough for me," Valian said with a small smile.
"There," Ron said as he pointed toward the stone barrier over the main entrance. "That's where Voldemort will be coming through at."
"Looks like something's already breaking in," Valian noted as the castle shook and dust rained down from the ceiling high above.
"We need to concentrate as much magic as possible on that opening when they come through," Ron said. Hopefully this many resisters would slow even Voldemort down.
"Man those stairways, everyone get a clear view of that opening," Valian shouted to her command. "No more than two people in one location, I don't want any targets for elemental spells presenting themselves in my unit. If you idiots make me look bad I'll curse the ugly off your faces."
"Ma'am!" the soldiers said as they saluted in response to her orders. Ron decided that Valian must have made sure to only take military personnel with her to this, the most dangerous battle in the castle. He looked over the tiny Captain with new respect as he recognized the admiration that her soldiers had for her.
"Professor McGonagall, Headmaster Dumbledore," Ron said as they approached the two teachers. "This is Captain Valian."
"American First Voluntary Expeditionary Force, at your service," Valian said. She saluted smartly and then shook their hands. "My government gave us full combat gear a month of vacation."
The castle shook again. Voldemort was clearly trying to break through and by the looks of things it wouldn't be much longer.
"So, anyone want to tell me why there are dementors down there?" Valian asked hesitantly.
"They agreed to fight against Voldemort," Ron said. "Harry coerced them into it."
"They're the only reason we've had this much breathing space," Dumbledore added.
"You approve of this?" Valian asked in a surprised tone.
"I did not say I approved," Dumbledore replied sharply. "I merely acknowledged the reason that Tom isn't already in here."
"Pardon me sir," Valian said softly, "But you don't look well."
"I have already matched wands with Tom and found myself lacking," Dumbledore said with a deep sigh. "Do not count on me for any help."
"So…the Chosen One is missing, the Dark Lord is about to break in here, presumably invincible to the likes of us, portkeys are disabled, the legendary conqueror of Grindelwald is disabled, and but we do have an advantage over the regular Death Eaters now," Valian said in summary.
"Right," Ron said heavily as he sat down next to Luna and began studying the map again. Valian came over and watched as he started writing out instructions detailing where the awaiting reinforcements were to go.
"Stop," Valian said authoritatively. "There's no reason to keep any of this section here open. Have your people fall back into the choke points that intersect the halls at these points."
Ron watched as she indicated where she was talking about. "No," he replied as he indicated four other locations. "The point is to keep the Death Eaters as far apart as possible. We've got avatars in these spots and the last thing we need is for them to get a big group of people piled into one spot where a single lucky shot could kill everyone."
"You'll never win if you don't mass your firepower though," Valian insisted. "There is plenty of space there to protect from widespread attacks and yet still bring a large number of wands to bear on a single location."
"We can't win period," Ron retorted. "Don't you get it? This is a losing battle up until the moment Harry arrives! We've got to buy as much time as possible."
"Silly child," Valian muttered.
Luna bristled. "Ronald is a great wizard," she said hotly. "He led the Battle of Hogsmeade while you were probably sitting around de-gnoming your garden."
"I see," Valian said crisply. "And you are?"
"Major Luna Lovegood," Luna said firmly as she displayed the three silver stripes on her cloak. Valian's face twisted in some indiscernible emotion, but she was clearly pained to give any kind of recognition to the rank of a young girl in a makeshift group that wasn't even associated with a government.
"Please, now isn't the time," Ron said. "You came to aid the Bearers of the Light, correct?"
"Indeed," Valian replied.
"Then you've come to help me. Until Harry or Hermione return I am the Light Bearers," Ron said forcefully. "Understood?"
"Sir!" Valian said, even if a little half hearted. "I hope you know what you're doing."
Ron watched as she stalked away shouting orders to her people. He hated to anger the people who had come to save them, but if they were to have any chance at this there had to be a proper chain of command. He couldn't afford to have someone who didn't understand the situation disrupting his plans behind his back. "Me too," he muttered before turning back to Luna. "Thanks."
"You're welcome…Commander," Luna replied dreamily.
It felt like hours were passing as Ron scrambled to send off orders to all the various embattled groups, but in reality only a handful of minutes had expired. The quaking of the castle had grown in intensity as everyone settled into position for the inevitable. It came quickly, with a huge explosion of stone fragments and dust as the barrier exploded into the castle from the force of some spell.
Remus and Tonks, who had taken it upon themselves to guard Ron's group, growled uneasily as three dark cloaked figures walked into view. Rodolphus and Bellatrix Lestrange, who looked exceedingly angry about the loss of Rabastan, flanked their master with wands held ready for action.
The dementors surged forward but surprise was no longer on their side. A larger than life silvery basilisk patronus slithered out of Voldemort's wand and coiled around the dementors, trapping them. The dark creatures howled and hissed as the snake rent them apart, not killing them, but disabling them to the point that they lost their physical form. The darkness of each damaged dementor would have to slip away somewhere to reconstitute itself in what was probably a painful process.
"I didn't even know a patronus could do that," Ron said sheepishly. Their allies hadn't lasted very long after all.
"Avada Kedavra," Valian yelled. Thirty beams of green light rained down on the three intruders. A huge cloud of dust kicked up as the destructive energy pulverized everything it touched. After a dozen volleys Valian raised her hand in signal for the attack to stop. Dumbledore stood, arms crossed, and looked on silently while McGonagall twirled her wand nervously as if unsure about what she should do. Ron tried to keep one eye on the battle and the other on his map.
"They shouldn't have stopped," Luna commented idly as a magical gust of air blew the dust away. Voldemort waved his wand in a loose circle over his head and conjured a tight cone of rotating air that slammed into the stairs on his left side. The mages positioned there found themselves blown back bodily from the force of his attack until they landed painfully on the hard stone walls and slumped to the ground.
"Party mix!" Valian yelled. Ron looked up questioningly until he realized that it was some sort of code so that her troops would know what spells to use without warning the enemy. Many multi-colored beams and more than a few elemental spells started sizzling through the air toward Voldemort. Valian obviously hoped that a wide range of attacks would prove more challenging to stop than a single type.
Then, after the first wave of attacks had hit, Ron noticed a smattering of green killing curses mixed in and realized the true brilliance of such a tactic. A normal foe would likely be so intent on repelling the deadly magical assaults that he wouldn't notice the occasional killing curse. Voldemort was hardly a normal foe. He swept the weaker attacks away with a wave of his wandless hand and blocked the stronger ones with some sort of shield that resembled the cylinder barrier shield in appearance. The Lestranges then were left to spot the killing curses and block them with something solid.
"I think we're keep'm busy," Valian said proudly as she surveyed the fight. Most people were huddling behind stair rails or were else laying flat on the floor, but Valian was pacing back and forth calmly as she shot an occasional killing curse toward Rodolphus.
"Everybody move," Ron yelled as he pointed to the danger area. The map had finally taken a turn for the worst as their defenders on the second floor left wing had fallen apart. The avatar that had been fighting there must have finally gotten through with a good spell because a half dozen dots had disappeared before Ron's eyes in an instant.
"You heard him," Valian bellowed. " Cover those hallways."
The wizard who had been using the second floor passage as cover didn't manage to get clear before a green flash struck him in the back. Ron pointed his wand at the opening and shot a large ball of fire through it. Liquid flame gushed out and he heard a couple of screams. He might not be able to use fire like Hermione, but if it's unexpected even a weaker spell could still be dangerous.
Ron glanced over at Luna to see if she had watched his spell and was surprised to find her concentrating on an attack of her own. She had cast many small round balls of lightening for a swarm attack. Luna held them back until she decided that there was enough and then loosed them all at once. Several of them got through and scorched black spots on Voldemort's arm and torso. The evil wizard didn't even flinch though; he just cast another cone of rotating air. Ron grabbed Luna and used his armor to clamp down on the railing to keep from being blown off. Despite the ferocity of the attack he couldn't help but feel that Voldemort was just teasing them, making them believe they had a chance, so that he could dash their hopes in the most brutal way possible later on.
Valian looked around as more of her people fell victim to the elemental onslaught and sent back a wave of energy. The stone floor around Voldemort and his two followers was ground down into powder, but none of them were affected in the slightest. She realized that these sorts of attacks, no matter how strong, would never prevail against the Dark Lord. Only one spell had a chance of working against any of them.
"Swarm!" Valian shouted. She leapt up onto the railing with the intent of throwing herself down when she saw the glint of metal and felt something go whistling by. Valian fell backward and let out a scream as she saw the bloody stump of her leg, which had been cut off smoothly right below the knee by a spinning silver disk. Sparks flew as Ron battered away at the incoming projectiles with his armor, but the American wizards were not so well equipped. Some of them were cut cleanly in half; others just lost limbs or received deep gashes.
The ones that didn't suffer death or incapacitation had landed in an uneven circle around Voldemort and his minions. Rodolphus was apparently their first target because they quickly parted him from the group by using some kind of spell to blast him a good distance away from Voldemort. He blocked the first attacks, but being so completely surrounded and surprised allowed a few to start getting through. Before Bellatrix or Voldemort could react one of the wizards managed to shove a wand in his face and complete the killing curse.
In retrospect Ron supposed he shouldn't have been surprised by that or by what happened next. After all, Neville and his team had used similar tactics in the past to overwhelm avatars. Also, Voldemort apparently had some kind of strange soft spot for Lestranges because he promptly came unhinged by Rodolphus' death.
His first spell turned the sandy haired wizard Ron had first seen into a skeleton. There was no taunting, no fancy tactics, just unbelievably deadly spells. The next two wizards were cleanly eviscerated and the fourth was turned inside out. The rest finally managed to run frantically back up the stairs as they tried to put something between themselves and the enraged Dark Lord.
Bellatrix had gone over to Rodolphus and folded his limp form into her arms. Luna watched as her stooped shoulders heaved a few times before she dropped him and stood back up.
"I think they just broke the last of her sanity," Luna mumbled softly. Ron took his eyes away from Voldemort long enough to see what Luna meant. Bellatrix had a crazed, almost mirthful expression on her face even as she cried freely.
"Time to move," Dumbledore said suddenly. McGonagall motioned for Luna and Ron to help Valian and together the five of them scrambled up the moving staircase to the next level. Tonks and Remus had disappeared at some point or at least Ron hoped they had. He finally caught sight of them hiding in ambush around one of the compromised hallways that threatened to erupt with Death Eaters at any moment. In their werewolf forms they were only very marginally useful for magical combat anyway.
They had barely gotten off of the place where they had been standing when it was demolished by some kind of spell Ron had never heard of before. It looked like a giant invisible force had simply crushed the first level of stairs flat into the ground. The wounded Americans who had been left behind never stood a chance. The ones that escaped the massacre howled with outrage at their comrade's demise and pelted Voldemort with lethal spells.
"Help me Ronald," Luna said as she squatted down on the floor.
"What's that?" Ron asked. Luna was tracing something in the floor with her wand.
"You should all move up another level," Luna said pointedly at McGonagall, Dumbledore, and Valian.
Dumbledore peered over at the strange, half-formed design. "Yes, quite right. We can't hold this place long anyway."
"What do you want me to do?" Ron asked hopelessly.
"I need more magic," Luna replied. "Just put your wand on the spell."
Ron dubiously did as instructed and felt a curious sensation that he realized was magical energy being drained from him. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Voldemort waiting for the moving stairs to align with him again.
"Hurry it up Luna," Ron said anxiously as the dark wizard started approaching them with a murderous expression on his face, yet seemingly wary of them too.
"Get back Ronald," Luna said crisply. Ron jerked back just as Luna slammed her hand down into the center of the spell. Her eyes widened and turned completely black for an instant as she threw her wand hand forward. Voldemort was thrust back violently as whatever spell Luna used connected with him.
" What was that?" Ron asked. Clearly Luna has just utilized some form of very dark magic that used a spell form to bypass a wand.
"It's a cheat," Luna said vaguely as she tugged him up the stairs towards the third floor. "Professor Flitwick taught it to me from one of the few remaining texts that have survived from Ravenclaw's personal library."
"How is it a cheat?" Ron asked. Somehow he knew he wouldn't like the answer.
Luna pointed down to where the spell was throbbing with a bright crimson hue. Voldemort had reached the top of the stairs, but he threw himself backward to cover Bellatrix when he saw the symbol. Long streams of black energy lashed out repeatedly to leave great gashes in the evil wizard's back. There was a violent burst of energy as the spell pattern disintegrated. Voldemort and Bellatrix were both heaved back down to the ground floor.
"It should have done a lot more than that," Luna said with a characteristically mellow tone. The spell finished flattening Voldemort, but it clearly didn't do any permanent damage because he was getting back up almost immediately all the while blocking the spells that were still being thrown at him. Luna seemed to remember Ron's earlier question. "It's a cheat because it allows me to access far more magical potential than I possess naturally, but at a cost. Basically, I have to trade some life force for magical force."
"Life force?" Ron asked, his face paling considerably.
"Life force is one of the most powerful magical forces there is," Luna said evenly.
"Luna, don't use that spell anymore," Ron said roughly.
"Ronald, what's a little life force now if the only other option is getting killed?" Luna asked, her eyes swimming again as they conjured up something to hide behind.
"Only Ravenclaw logic could see the wisdom in shortening your life span for another," Ron replied.
"Only Gryffindor bravery could see the wisdom in sacrificing one's life entirely for another." Luna countered.
Ron stared at her for an instant. "Bloody smarter than me women," he finally muttered jokingly.
The handful of defenders who were left approached the edge of the third floor so they could look down on what Voldemort was doing. He was temporarily out of reach since the stairs leading to the second floor had been demolished.
"If I can't come to you, then you can come to me," Voldemort said laughingly. One of the American wizards was jerked off of the ledge and down to the floor. He survived the fall for a moment, his wizard genes protecting him from mundane injury, but the killing curse finished Voldemort's dark purpose.
"How does it feel Dumbledore?" Voldemort asked smugly as he jerked another person off of the ledge. Everyone had attempted to flee only to find their feet somehow stuck to the ground. "I'm going to kill them all one by one while you watch. Then we're going to go through this school and you're going to watch as I exterminate every last trace of muggle filth that you have allowed to sully this castle."
Voldemort pointed his wand at the ground and parts of the ruined stairway leapt back into their former location. He began a slow taunting ascent, Bellatrix at his side, as he continued to kill people, slowly, starting with those he deemed would matter least to Dumbledore and working his way up. The Headmaster seemed determined not to give Voldemort the pleasure of seeing him fall apart.
Ron tried to grab another of the American witches as she went sailing past in his own summoning charm, but Voldemort's much more powerful charm overwhelmed Ron's spell.
"Just for that," Voldemort said nastily as he pointed to Luna, "She's next."
"No, Rachael! Someone do something," Mia gasped, referring to one of her comrades, as she struggled to sit up. She had suffered a blow from another unknown spell in addition to having her leg cut off below the knee.
McGonagall looked around wildly and cast a thick burst of air. The young witch, Rachael, was barely rescued from Voldemort's grasp. Her body was sent spinning wildly into the wall on the other side of the room where it impacted with a sickening thud before sliding down nearly two stories to the bottom. Ron didn't know if one's ambient magic could protect against that kind of treatment or not, but it was still better than a killing curse in terms of survivability.
"McGonagall," Voldemort said with a reproaching tone. "Still a meddlesome old bat I see."
"You've never seen meddlesome," McGonagall replied tartly. She transformed into her animagus form and slipped free from her earthen bonds. Ron could have slapped himself for being so distracted as to forget his own transformation as he morphed into his shaggy wolf body. Whatever spell had been holding him wasn't prepared to survive that sort of change and he was free. He followed McGonagall and quickly morphed back as she did just in time to see Voldemort preparing to launch a lethal attack on them both.
The entire castle sounded with a deafening crack of thunder and the darkness of night was torn apart by a strongly shining light. All eyes looked down at the shattered wall that now stood open to the outside and beheld two thin figures, cloaked in black, radiating magical power. Around their heads, like a giant heavenly halo, was a huge circle of silvery messenger charms. Another bolt of white lightening twisted through the air and raked across Voldemort.
"Voldemort!" Harry yelled, lightening still pouring from his wand and twisting around his body. His eyes were wild with excessive magical power. "Your fight is with me now."
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