Chapter 5 - The First to Fall
It was a peaceful night not unlike any other night but for some reason that he couldn't quite put his finger on the old man most people knew simply as Gramps was worried. For the fourth time he peeked through the curtains to observe the street of the small village where he lived with his son and granddaughter but couldn't see anything noteworthy.
"Come on dad, for the last time, there's nothing out there," young Robert Tambly said. He was finishing up some accounting work that he hadn't got done down at the office.
"Put that bean counting away and get your wand," Gramps hissed back, "I see something moving."
"Dad, don't be ridiculous, its probably just a cat. I can't believe you're so paranoid." Robert replied in a bored tone.
"You weren't old enough to remember how it was last time, not like I do, now don't argue with me get your wand before-" Gramps fell to the floor as the house shook from a massive explosion. Down the street excited whoops and yells from reveling Death Eaters made the situation seem even more surreal. Gramps peeked out the window again and saw several muggles being bounced around the street, limbs hanging at odd angles.
"What's that?" Robert asked, visibly shaking. He had his daughter in one hand and a wand in the other now.
"This is our ticket out of here, now grab hold," Gramps said as he pushed back his sleeve and revealed a beautifully decorated ornate bracelet. His son did as instructed but when Gramps pushed the little jewel that activated the portkey nothing happened except a strange tingling sensation.
"Dispersion wards," he muttered grimly. The Death Eaters were specifically targeting people's families since anyone who wasn't a young child or a muggle could simply apparate away to safety. "We're going to have to run."
"What? They aren't even coming up here, let's just hide." Robert whined.
"Use your brain boy," Gramps snarled at his son as he pawed around in his jacket, "your mother was a muggle and I'm only a half blood myself. We're exactly what the Dark Lord has sworn to wipe out."
"What's that?" Robert asked, eyes widening as he saw his father clutching at a little silver medallion shaped like a torch. "You've brought them all down upon us."
"Don't be an idiot, no one knows I joined, now hush and let me concentrate," Gramps said. He tried to focus like the noisy red haired brat had taught him.
Bright flames shot up all around them and the top of the house was sheered off by a powerful blast of magic. Gramps grabbed his shell-shocked son and drug him out the backdoor. Silently he berated himself for his poor physical condition when he became winded only a few steps down the street. Many of the other houses in the small village were in ruins and the residence of the other wizard family had been reduced to a smoldering hole in the ground.
The air shimmered and a dark cloaked avatar stepped into existence in front of them, wand clutched in long black gloved fingers. Gramps heard his young grandchild wail with fright and he clutched the little silver emblem again in a desperate plea for help. Black wires shot out and slammed them into the ground so that the Death Eaters could enjoy a round of sport with their victims.
Sharp cracks echoed all around the gutted town and suddenly there were dozens of tall black cloaked figures standing on what had once been houses. Gramps looked through fuzzy eyes and saw two figures with golden trim on their uniforms standing atop the tallest remaining structure, eyes glowing with vengeance. "We're saved..."
Harry's stomach threatened to tie itself in a knot as he quickly surveyed the situation before them. There were at least two dozen Death Eaters and two avatars which would easily make this the Light Bearers' largest battle to date. Hermione had insisted that they bring forty members so that they would have a numerical advantage but she refused to summon more for fear of inviting chaos in battle. Not to mention the necessity of keeping a reserve for other attacks, preserving the identity of their members, and ensuring that the Light Bearers' entire strength would not be exposed in one place unnecessarily.
Harry registered out of the corner of his eye that everyone was splitting into their teams of four and moving off to engage the regular Death Eaters. Doubt racked Harry's mind about the ability of these mostly ordinary people to go up against veteran killers like the Death Eaters but he managed to banish such thoughts from his mind. His job was to take on the avatars and he had no choice but to trust the others to handle their jobs as well.
Harry fired a full strength stunner at the avatar on the right at the same time as Hermione let loose with a rainbow colored spell. Both avatars flickered and vanished before either spell got even close to them. Neither of them had expected the spells to do anything, they were just to test the waters a bit.
"Potter and the mudblood…you should never have challenged our master," one of the avatars wheezed. Both of the black cloaked monsters had appeared behind the teen couple, their presence exuding an icy aura. Harry and Hermione apparated away an instant before killing curses slammed into their previous position.
Harry could sense Hermione's location through their link as they played a dangerous game of tag with Voldemort's avatars. Each time Harry took a step he appeared in another place, launched a spell, and then flitted away to keep from getting hit. Hermione saw an avatar stop on a pile of bricks that used to be a wall and sent a large gout of fire at it. The avatar sidestepped the main force of the blast and deflected the rest with an aqua colored shield.
Harry saw his opportunity and lashed out with a dozen tendrils of lightening. The avatar managed to deflect the bolts that would have hit it directly but failed to take into account the bricks that it was standing on. Shards of brick ripped through the black cloak of the avatar when magical lightening raked the pile of rubble.
Hermione lunged in for a finishing blow but her green beam of death was intercepted by a big chunk of masonry. The other avatar had come to the rescue of its comrade. Harry and Hermione didn't let up though; they poured their most mighty spells into the two minions of darkness. The entire area exploded in debris and emitted a strong rush of air from the force of the magical energies decompressing. A thick cloud of dust boiled up and obscured the area for several meters around the impact zone.
All around them people screamed and deadly spells flashed. Harry and Hermione circled each other as they stood back to back, searching for the avatars. At the far end of the desolated street the two fiendish minions materialized. Harry and Hermione walked toward them, shields shining, stepping past the fallen bodies of foes and comrades alike as they realized that the day was going to be very bloody.
A Death Eater stumbled back from his duel with a Light Bearer team and then slumped to the ground as Harry pumped a stunner spell into him without even a glance. As they closed the distance the avatars unleashed killing curses, just out of habit apparently, since Hermione easily intercepted them with debris scattered all over the street. Harry replied to their attacks with a new spell he had been working on. Dozens of thin red lines, like cat scratches in the air, rippled out from his wand in a random pattern. Everywhere they touched they ripped through solid material and exploded. Again the rush of air whipped Harry and Hermione's cloaks back, at the same time coating them with masonry dust. One of the avatar's arms hung oddly but it didn't seem to affect the thing's ability to fight.
"You'll never win, even with your unnatural powers," Hermione said bitterly, yet confidently.
The two things laughed, an eerie high-pitched banshee like laugh, and seemed to suck the warmth right out of the air. Harry scowled with rage as the taller of the two began to talk. They began to shed some of the spells that they were using to appear inhuman and intimidating since psychological tactics clearly had no effect.
"Weeee-baby Potter is angry isn't heeee," it said, "but can put him out of his misery if he wants."
"Who are you?" Harry shouted with rage, already knowing the answer.
"I'm the Dark Lord's greatest servant, his loyal follower, the one who will be rewarded above all others when I caaaaapture you," it screeched.
Hermione thought she heard Harry's teeth break when Bellatrix Lestrange pulled off her mask, shaking her head and letting out another half screech, half laugh.
"Harry, NO!" Hermione yelled, but Harry wasn't listening anymore
"Avada Kedavra." Harry charged at the evil witch-turned-avatar. Bellatrix's eyes widened slightly as the curse bore down on her.
"Don't be ridiculous," the other avatar said calmly. A dead Death Eater yanked by a summoning charm blew apart as it met Harry's curse. Harry stopped short and suddenly felt Hermione's firm grip on his arm.
"You've got to keep your calm or your power diminishes," Hermione said. Harry indulged in a brief chastisement of himself before letting his anger flow away. He almost lost it again when he saw the other avatar pull off his hood.
"Tram," Harry growled. "So did Voldemort make you an avatar as a reward…or as a punishment."
"Your escape had nothing to do with me boy," the ex-auror replied. "I performed my task flawlessly."
"Right, it was poor old Tom himself that bolloxed up and let me escape wasn't it?" Harry taunted.
"You won't speak of the Dark Lord with such insolence when he absorbs you, you vile muggle lover," Bellatrix howled.
Strong incapacitating spells flew at Harry but he was already gone along with Hermione. From a good distance above the town Hermione gathered a large ball of fire and Harry held a shining diamond like crystal aloft. Giant meteors of stone and flame rained down on the location of the two evil avatars. Other combatants scattered to seek shelter on opposite sides of the battered little village.
Harry and Hermione materialized behind a piece of stone wall that was still standing. Over twenty Light Bearers along with an old man, a young man, and a little girl were huddling there.
"What in the bloody blazes was that, you trying to kill us all boy?" Mad Eye Moody grouched. "I can't move out of the way so fast with this flotation device of a leg."
"Recover everyone you can," Harry snapped out, ignoring the old former auror's banter. Out of the original forty Light Bearers fourteen were dead, six were badly wounded and out of the fight. They were so badly wounded as to even be unable to draw sufficient power to apparate.
"We're fighting over nothing," Hermione said tersely, "we've saved everyone we can, lets get out of here."
"Hermione's right," Harry said quickly, berating himself for not making the call sooner, "I need six volunteers to get the wounded past the portkey dispersion wards. Everyone else apparate out, Hermione and I will hold them off until you've all made it safely away."
The others protested that they wouldn't leave Harry and Hermione alone but they finally relented when Hermione pointed out that they couldn't afford to get more wounded since they couldn't portkey out.
"Harry, Tram is still injured a little, I'll occupy him and Bellatrix while you take out as many Death Eaters as you can." Hermione said.
"We can't take prisoners," McGonagall said tersely.
"Of course not," Hermione replied hotly, "from here on out we're finishing off anyone we can with the killing curse."
Several people looked as squeamish at the idea of intentional killing as Harry felt. Hermione threw a glare at him to lend his support. Harry sighed with anguish.
"Hermione's right. Anyone we let get away now we'll face again and they won't hesitate to kill us." Harry said finally.
The six volunteers with the wounded jumped and ran from their hiding place at the same time as the rest apparated. The young man and his daughter also accompanied the six volunteers since they too needed to get clear before using a specially conjured portkey given to them from Hermione.
Death Eaters sprang up, firing off killing curses to try to get the injured and those who carried them. Chunks of broken building leapt up to defend them and Harry began casting killing curses of his own. None of them hit however as the Death Eaters blocked them with debris. Harry suddenly felt sick, the Death Eaters had some of their number doing nothing but block spells and others doing nothing but casting the unforgivable curse. As a result of specializing their tasks they were far more effective than the Light Bearer forces had been.
Calmly Harry fought down the nausea brought on by his own stupidity. He would deal with his tactical shortcomings later, but for now he needed to cover his comrades. Harry swung his wand like he was playing a muggle game of bowling and summoned giant silver disks. The disks spun along like wheels on the ground, their razor sharp edges churning up the turf and severing anything in their path. One Death Eater was caught by surprise and split into two gory halves.
Harry cringed but shut the image out of his mind to focus on the many surviving foes that were now burning with rage. A dark shape spun limply into the wall behind him, shattering it into a pile of rubble. A whimpering moan echoed through his mind and Harry realized that the dark shape was Hermione. He flickered in a tiny apparation just as she burst through the rubble covered in bruises and scratches. A thin grimy mist clinging to her explained her relatively unhurt condition. She had been defended by a variant of the barrier shield charm in addition to her own magical genes, which resisted mundane injury from simple physical impacts.
"I can't handle them on my own Harry, I'm sorry," Hermione said to him. He could feel her disappointment in herself radiating through their link.
"It isn't your fault Hermione, no one could do a better job than you're doing," Harry replied reassuringly. They leapt apart as another killing curse whisked by them, missing by inches.
"Everyone is away," Hermione said. Harry could feel through the emblem that all the members who had participated in the battle had just reached the edge of the portkey dispersion field.
"Finally," Harry breathed with relief, "We have to destroy the town, take as many Death Eaters out as we can."
Harry and Hermione flickered as they apparated away to a point high in the air above the tiny village. Even as they began falling the pair started pooling up their most powerful elemental spells.
Harry's looked down on the ruin of the town and hoped that the Death Eaters were still searching for them in confusion. If they would just remain for a few more seconds it would be too late and what had become a rather embarrassing defeat for the Light Bearers could be salvaged into a tie. Hermione had summoned a titanic ball of liquid fire and Harry had formed an equally impressive ball of magical black lightening.
The two elements converged on each other until they mixed into a single point of light that exploded like a muggle bomb. The rubble of the tiny village was swept away in a wave of destruction along with any Death Eater unfortunate enough to still be in the path of the blast. With a final look at the shock wave rippling out from the point of impact Harry and Hermione vanished back to Grimmauld Place.
Harry found himself staring into the Foe Glass that Moody had got him for his last birthday. He was making a habit of always looking into the dark detector as soon as he escaped from contact with Death Eaters just in case that they had somehow discovered the Light Bearers' headquarters. Fortunately the glass was calm, having all the appearances of a normal mirror, but Harry didn't have time to look at his own reflection now that he had assured himself that no Death Eaters would be showing up unexpectedly.
Hermione was already running toward the main room, which was always converted into a makeshift hospital for wounded returning to Grimmauld Place. The six injured Light Bearers would undoubtedly be there receiving care from Poppy and anyone else who could cast even a basic healing charm. Harry ran after her, his cloak billowing behind him and giving off a cloud of dust he had picked up during the battle.
People were scattered around the edge of the room and vaguely Harry wondered why they needed an audience for this. Most of the people were refugees, family members of people targeted by Voldemort's purges, but he also recognized the Grangers and the Dursleys looking on. Molly was hovering about trying to apply what little treatment she could while Poppy worked intensely on the most injured.
"Stand back," Hermione commanded. Molly looked up at them and gasped before staggering away.
Harry took out his wand and leveled it on the woman Molly had been trying to help. Hermione added her healing charm to his and the woman rolled over while moaning softly. Cuts disappeared, the flow of blood expanding across her right thigh stopped, but she didn't regain consciousness.
"She's got serious head trauma," Poppy snapped, "you've done all you can for her, now leave it to me."
Harry didn't say anything, he just followed Hermione to the next person and repeated the process. After adding as much of their own healing ability as possible the worn and beaten couple summoned the ornate chairs Harry had created earlier. It was then that Harry took a good look at Hermione for the first time. She was covered in bruises and a thick stream of blood was running down the side of her face from a scalp cut.
"You look awful Harry," Hermione said dully. She pointed her wand at him and immediately Harry felt pain he hadn't even been aware of start to dissipate.
"Hermione are you okay?" Mrs. Granger asked. Harry was amazed that Hermione's ever-concerned mother had managed to contain herself for so long.
"I'm fine Mum, this all looks worse than it is," she replied, leaning back tiredly in her chair. Harry returned the favor to her now by using his healing charm to fix the superficial damage she had suffered.
Loud cracks sounded in the room as Shacklebolt and Tonks apparated in. The two aurors looked especially grim and haunted.
"What have you done boy?" Shacklebolt asked in a near whisper. "The entire village of White Acres is gone, blown away, and the Ministry is in an uproar. How will we ever conceal such a thing from the muggles?"
Hermione passed Harry a restoration potion from her hat and Harry could tell she was doing her best not to explode at the troublesome auror.
"The town was a complete loss, everyone was already dead, the buildings were mostly destroyed by the Death Eaters before we arrived. We hoped to catch lingering enemies in the town and destroy them with it." Harry explained in an excruciatingly calm voice that would have made even Dumbledore proud.
"We can repair buildings!" Shacklebolt half-shouted, "but we can't repair anything when you've bloody well vaporized the entire place with more dark magic than I've ever seen concentrated in one spot…"
"This is a war Kingsley," Hermione bit back with a deadly tone. Harry saw the Durselys cower when her appearance changed. The young witch's eyes blazed with fire and her clothes rippled as if in a slight breeze. Even Shacklebolt took an involuntary step backwards. "If we hold back then how many more innocent people will die like almost all of the residents of White Acres died?"
That quieted the auror down but Harry could tell that he still didn't approve. Tonks gave Hermione an odd look, almost one of approval, before reminding Shacklebolt that the Ministry wanted all personnel on call. The two double agents disappeared with sharp cracks back to auror headquarters.
Hermione sighed audibly. "Harry, library, now, there's nothing more we can do here."
The Grangers looked like they wanted to come after them but Molly got in their way. Harry didn't linger to see how that encounter turned out instead wrapping an arm around Hermione's waist as they exited the room. When they reached the library they found Ron and the rest of the gang already assembled. They had long since moved out of the study since it had been converted into extra sleeping space for the refugees.
"We've got a lot of problems to fix," Ron said as soon as they entered. "I don't think I need to tell you two that this was a first rate disaster. If it hadn't been for you guys carrying the load we'd have been wiped out easily. The Death Eaters out did us on a tactical level every step of the way."
"I know Ron," Harry replied sadly. He sank down into a large plush chair and was joined by Hermione who put her arm around him dejectedly.
"We need to figure out which of our fighters are best at blocking incoming attacks and have them work only at defense while the rest of the squad handles attacking," Hermione said.
"Every team needs someone to hold off dementors too," Luna said. Despite the wavy disconnected sound of her voice Harry realized that her suggestion was a good one.
"I can't believe we didn't think of this before," Harry moaned.
"We're not warriors Harry," Hermione reproved gently.
"Before this is over we'll have to be," Harry replied grimly. Hermione didn't have any response to that.
"Well, we can correct the flaws with the way teams are put together easy enough," Ron said, trying to be positive. "I think we've got enough people who are good with levitation charms to be able to assign one as a defender to each group."
"What happens if the defender gets taken out though?" Neville asked.
"We need some way for everyone to be able to defend themselves at least a little," Ginny said. "I can talk to Fred and George…"
"We'll try to come up with something as soon as we can," Hermione said tiredly. Fred and George were clever but if a portable defense were to be found that could stop the most deadly spells it would have to be up to her and Harry to find it. The twins just didn't have the power that creating such a device would require.
They continued the analysis of the battle until Hermione fell asleep. Harry was incredibly tired too, not just from the late hour, but from the immense amount of strength he had expended during the fight. The affects were cumulative too; he and Hermione had been responding to Death Eater attacks for days now. Most of the time they only arrived in the aftermath to help the survivors, if the was any. With thousands of witches and wizards under the constant threat of attack it was all they could do to try to keep up with Voldemort's forces.
"Ron, we've got to find a better way to get intelligence," Harry said for what seemed like the millionth time as the red head moved toward the door. He just nodded and followed Ginny out, leaving Harry alone with a still sleeping Hermione.
"Wake up love," Harry said, shaking her gingerly. Hermione snorted and blinked rapidly before giving him a little grin.
"I drifted off a bit," she said sheepishly.
"I know, I thought you might want to get out of that chair though," Harry replied.
Hermione gave her wand a short wave and switched her clothes into a snugly fitting two piece set of silk pajamas. Harry tried not to stare at her when she got up and conjured some bedding on top of the library table.
"Sleep well," Harry said, "I'll see you in the morning."
"Aren't you going to stay here?" she asked mischievously.
"What would the neighbors say," Harry replied glibly, smirking.
"Good night Harry," Hermione said, grinning at him as he closed the door behind him. Hermione climbed into her makeshift bed and silently made a note to herself to begin some research on another talisman she hoped to have a use for in the future.
Harry groaned, swatting away something annoying, and rolled over to try to get comfortable again. One bone jarring impact later he found himself in a heap on the floor in front of the sofa that he had been sleeping on.
"Kreacher is sorry Master, but Master is insisting Kreacher wake him as soon as Missus got up," Kreacher said, bobbing up and down pitifully in front of him.
"Yes, thank you Kreacher," Harry slurred sleepily. Harry collected himself and slumped off to the kitchen. Molly and Kreacher had been busy fixing a wide range of foods for the mob of guests currently residing in Grimmauld Place.
"Oh Harry you look awful," Molly said. She gave out a disapproving cluck and began pushing food at him.
"It's just my clothes," Harry replied, trying to be funny. He took out his wand and cast a series of cleaning charms to restore a fresh look to his attire.
"I suppose that helped…a little," Molly said, but her nose still crinkled slightly.
"Harry, you're already up?" Hermione's surprised voice came from the doorway.
"I had Kreacher wake me," Harry explained, then added silently, "I'm used to not getting a lot of sleep by now anyway."
"Harry you're pushing yourself even harder than I am. If we don't get enough rest we'll be useless." Hermione said worriedly.
"I know, but we're the only ones who can fend off an avatar except for Dumbledore and maybe Neville's team. With Dumbledore guarding Hogwarts that leaves us." Harry replied. Hermione nodded solemnly, she might not like it, but it was true.
"Morning guys," Ron said hurriedly as he practically flew in and proceeded to start amassing an impressive plate of food. Luna drifted in slowly along with Ginny but Neville was no where to be seen. He always returned home to his gran's house to try to keep her safe. Neville's gran stubbornly refused to leave the ancient home of Longbottom with a typical pureblooded pride despite already having been targeted by Voldemort's henchmen once before in Diagon Alley.
"Just where is your father," Molly demanded.
Ron flinched, "Uh, well, he said that he was expected in the office, they've shut down the misuse of muggle artifacts department to free up personnel and, uh, so Dad's doing, magical law enforcement now."
"What?" Molly shrieked, "and when did this happen? That infuriating man didn't feel the need to tell me that he's walking around with a target on his back now?"
"He just got the owl this morning Mum, I wouldn't have known about it but I, uh, saw the letter when I woke up," Ron said sheepishly.
"Its not like he'll be in any danger," Luna said suddenly. Molly's head jerked around toward the blonde girl. "Fudge isn't using the magical law enforcement to go after Death Eaters, he's using them as tax enforcement officials. Daddy has an article about it in the next issue of the Quibbler."
"Tax enforcement?" Harry echoed quizzically.
"The twins have been in an uproar over it," Ron said. "Apparently the Ministry has raised taxes again on all items deemed as luxury goods. Almost everything the twins sell is classified as luxury."
"Well, as long as some irate shopkeeper doesn't go crazy on him," Molly said in a calmer voice. "I always did say that fiddling with those enchanted bits of muggle rubbish was a hazard too."
"What do you want to do today?" Harry asked, glad that Molly was pacified once again.
"I think its past time we started training Ron and the others again," Hermione said.
"They didn't do too well yesterday did they?" Harry replied. Of course even the members who were fully qualified didn't do that great. Standard school taught spells just couldn't stack up against the dark arts.
Hermione pointed her wand at her throat and cast a new enchantment Harry didn't recognize. Instead of amplifying her voice it projected it throughout the house in at an even volume. "Anyone who wishes to learn magical combat will come to the basement level in fifteen minutes."
"You're going to train anyone who wants to?" Ron asked incredulously.
"As safe as Grimmauld Place is, this is still Voldemort's number one target. If we're somehow attacked it couldn't hurt for everyone to be better equipped to fight." Hermione said with a shrug as if she really didn't have much hope for most of the refugees to be able to improve their skills.
"So what are we going to cover first?" Ron asked excitedly. For some reason the red head had really enjoyed leading the D.A. sessions. He was a much more enthusiastic teacher than student.
"Elemental skills," Harry said.
"Great idea Harry," Hermione's voice echoed in his mind. "But I don't know how successful most people will be with those."
"Ron should be able to use them at least at some level," Harry replied. Ron was a strong wizard when he wanted to be and even though elemental spells were difficult to cast even a weak one would be effective against a normal wizard.
Fifteen minutes later Harry and Hermione made their way down the stairs to the basement with Ron, Ginny, and Luna in tow. Waiting for them at the bottom was a rather large group of people including the Grangers.
"I hope you don't mind if we watch," Mrs. Granger said nervously.
"Of course not," Harry said easily. The others went on ahead and started moving people into the enlarged room they would be practicing in. Hermione looked at Harry pensively, their eyes flashing back and forth in silent communication.
"I know we can't understand what's really going on," Mr. Granger said suddenly. "I know you two love each other very much, anyone can see that, and I know you're both very busy…"
"We would never cut you out of our lives Daddy," Hermione said thickly, "Don't even think such a thing."
"I was going to say, that we know you're both very busy with the war so you shouldn't worry about trying to take time to explain everything to us," Mr. Granger finished. Hermione's eyes shown with love and gratitude toward her parents.
"You have the right to know everything we do Mr.Granger," Harry replied in a rather shy voice.
"Please, call me Erwin," Mr. Granger said firmly.
"And call me Sarah," Mrs. Granger added, "All we ever needed to know is that you're trying to make the world safe for our daughter…and grandchildren."
Harry and Hermione both flushed crimson as if on cue. The Grangers laughed merrily at their embarrassed reaction. "Please, don't start Mum," Hermione finally stammered out.
"We'd better not keep them waiting," Harry said, gesturing to the door in an eager attempt to change the topic. Hermione grabbed his arm and steered him toward the door while the Granger's followed closely behind them.
"My Mum is a nightmare when it comes to grandkids." Hermione said, "She'll probably be dropping hints from now on. She's been bugging me about it ever since fourth year."
Harry raised a surprised eyebrow at her. Hermione's parents were certainly a continual surprise, not unlike their daughter. Harry belatedly realized that the Grangers had covertly managed to do something else. They had taken, at least for a moment, their minds off of the terrible events that still weighed heavily on them.
The assembled group of would be students were a motley bunch of middle aged witches, a few old wizards, and even a couple of kids that couldn't be over third year. Harry shook his head and again wondered if there was any point in even trying to train such people in advanced spells. He didn't suppose it mattered one way or the other since they were really there to train the handful of Light Bearers that called Grimmauld Place home. If anyone else managed to pick up some pointers in the process it would just be an added bonus.
"Today's lesson is elemental spells," Hermione said with her best McGonagall-lecturing-the-class-voice. "With sufficient practice anyone can cast this class of spell, but only raw magical power will determine how effective the spells will be."
"Hermione will set up your targets but first let me tell you a little general information about the elements. As Hermione said, anyone can use any elemental spell, but each person will usually have a natural element that they are more adept with. For example, mine is lightening, the weakest of the elements, but symbolizing other worldly intervention or justice. Hermione's is fire, the strongest of the elements, which symbolizes civilization, man's triumph over chaos, and the judgement of evil." Harry said. Hermione had meanwhile scattered a several blocks of stone onto the ground near the wall opposite of the trainees. With a wave of her wand she transfigured them into human sized stone statue warriors not unlike McGonagall's enchanted chessboard that they faced in their first year. Hermione's statues could walk and fight much more freely though, should she choose to make them.
"In case anyone was wondering," Hermione added as she rejoined Harry, "Voldemort's natural element is earth, the primal element, which symbolizes untamed nature, the power of life and death, and the law of the jungle. The unreasonable power of the strong to dominate the weak is what characterizes our enemy. We would all do well to remember that."
"Not that symbolism creates destiny, but Voldemort's case the similarity is rather eerie if you ask me and our ancestors believed that one's character predisposed one's element, though there is no proof of that. Anyway, let's start with the easiest element to control, air. Each of you should concentrate in packing as much air as possible into a bubble and then forcing it rapidly against your target in a bludgeoning effect." Harry said.
"Now I know you will all want to use words to cast this spell but elements don't work that way. Even if you've never practiced silent casting before or never managed to master the art on any level, you can still perform elemental magic. This sort of magic, while very strong, is also a sort of natural magic. It requires power, concentration, and strength of mind not the memorization of silly words," Hermione said.
After some torturously slow examples everyone began to cast their feeble bursts of air at the stone soldiers Hermione had conjured. As expected most of the refugees were terrible at it. Ron managed to crack his soldier after an hour of practice and Luna was even managing to knock pieces off of her target. Surprisingly Ginny was the best, at least at air, and Hermione surmised that air was probably the girl's natural inclination.
Harry was getting pretty weary of explaining the concepts over and over again when two figures stalked into the room. Mad Eye and McGonagall looked with amusement at the little impromptu training session underway. Harry and Hermione checked on their students to make sure they were doing everything correctly before going over to see what was happening.
"You're teaching them air Potter?" Mad Eye grouched. "What good is bloody air in battle anyway?"
"Air is the easiest to learn," Hermione said defensively.
"Air is plenty strong if you know how to use it," Harry smirked. With a wave of his wand he sent a super dense scythe of air cutting through the statues. They all crumbled like a sledgehammer had bashed them in. Moody gaped openly at the scene while Harry waved his wand again and caused the statues to jump back together.
"Carry on," Harry yelled to the startled trainees. They had been bashing away at the stone warriors for hours now with minimal damage and Harry had washed them all away in a second.
"Goodness Moody," McGonagall huffed, "You've seen him in combat. Very nice transfiguration work by the way Miss Granger."
Hermione blushed slightly, "It was your chess pieces from first year that gave me the idea."
McGonagall beamed, but changed the topic. "I took the liberty of acquiring your books and supplies for next year. The Headmaster said to pass them to you as his gift."
"I don't know if seventh year classes will be all that helpful," Harry said slowly.
"Don't be silly Potter," Mad Eye grumbled, "even you will learn a few things that you've never seen before. Magic isn't all about how to destroy stuff as quickly as possible you know. Besides, everything isn't about you; Dumbledore needs you there to keep the students safe. The Dark Lord wouldn't dream of trying to confront you in the middle of the ancient defenses of Hogwarts. You're the only person that can stop him from eventually stomping on it."
"What do you think Hermione," Harry said pointedly.
"If we can keep Hogwarts safe then we should consider it," Hermione said. "It was created by wizards much more powerful than anyone alive today. There may even be things we can learn about it to improve our own infrastructure."
"Middle Yard," Harry said thoughtfully. If they could discover secrets in the ancient castle that could improve their quickly developing prison-fortress complex it would definitely be worth the effort.
"The Headmaster also wanted me to give you these," McGonagall said. Two shining badges bearing the title of Head Boy and Head Girl were in her hand. "You'll have complete run of the castle, even more so than the Heads usually have. Full staff access."
"All right, we'll do it, but don't expect us to be regular attendees to classes," Harry said. He felt Hermione's pleasure wash over him. She had been looking forward to her seventh year even if it would be a bit unconventional.
"Come on Harry, everyone's looking a little lost, lets wrap this up," Hermione said. She grabbed Harry's arm and pulled him out of his thoughts back to the group. McGonagall and Moody stayed where they were standing, apparently curious to see what they were going to do.
"Everyone, stop, that's enough for today," Hermione yelled out before getting between the trainees and the stone soldiers. She transfigured the statues back into their original form and summoned them to her pocket. "We're going to show you one last thing for you to think about until our next session. Harry, if you please."
Harry walked across the room and drew his wand to see what Hermione had in mind. The class had gathered together in a tight little knot so they could see and hear Hermione better. Ron and the others who had witnessed the infamous duel between the pair back at Hogwarts were especially eager looking. Even the Light Bearers who had not seen the duel had mostly seen the couple in combat or heard rumors about their skill.
"Air is the simplest skill to learn but it is also one of the most powerful when it comes to the augmentation of another elemental spell or to thwarting an elemental attack. Harry and I will now demonstrate its defensive properties." Hermione said.
"I'm going to send some fire your way now," Hermione said. She waited for Harry's affirmation before sending a thick stream of liquid flame at him. A few people gasped with surprise and everyone was impressed as Harry conjured an invisible barrier of icy, super dense, oxygen deprived air to defend himself. The flame flickered and died almost at the same time when it hit his barrier of air. A fine dust was all that made it through Harry's formidable defense.
Next a thin jagged piece of ice formed at the tip of Hermione's wand. She grabbed it out of the air and suspended it over her palm, which she raised aloft over her head. The shard spat out a hail of identical pieces of deadly ice towards Harry. They all vaporized several feet away from him when they impacted against the superheated air bubble he had created.
Hermione took a deep breath and twisted her face in concentration as she tried to call forth the branch of elemental magic that was most difficult for her to use. Bits of dust floated up from the stone floor and swirled around her before suddenly bloating out into huge stone spikes. Everyone's clothes whipped in a strong wing as Harry prepared his defense. The spikes were sent hurling toward him at a ferocious rate but before they could hit their mark they were halted in midair and crushed.
"Even earth can be stopped by a sufficiently dense pocket of air," Hermione said. Harry walked over to rejoin her and noted that her cheeks were pleasantly flushed with her efforts making her look immensely cute. Hermione stuttered in mid-sentence at the peculiar look on Harry's face combined with the feelings that she could sense radiating off of him via their link.
McGonagall coughed loudly. "Er, that's it for today, we don't know how soon we'll be able to do this again, so until then practice on your own." Hermione said quickly.
"You looked distracted," McGonagall said with an uncharacteristic smirk after everyone had left. Hermione flushed again and murmured something incomprehensible.
"Sorry," Harry said sheepishly as they climbed the stairs.
"I'll get you back," Hermione said with an audible giggle.
"Anytime," Harry replied with a smile.
At the top of the stairs they turned towards the kitchen and made their way slowly through the still dispersing crowd of students who seemed to be talking with each other about what they'd just learned. Harry and Hermione came to a halt when they opened the door to the kitchen. Molly was fixing some kind of food while a familiar red head wizard and silver haired witch sat at the table.
"Fluer?" Harry asked. "Uh, Bill, just stopping for a visit?"
"Not exactly, and its nice to see you too Harry," Bill said jovially.
"Sorry, of course it is nice to see you Bill," Harry replied, feeling embarrassed for his initial reaction.
"It's nice to see you again too, Fluer," Hermione said coolly but politely. Hermione had never liked Fluer too much after her snobbish attitude toward Hogwarts during her visit in the forth year for the Triwizard Tournament.
"I'm actually here to ask a favor Harry," Bill said as the teens took their places around the table. "I'm going to be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts this year and I was hoping Fluer could stay here at Grimmauld Place while I'm at Hogwarts."
"We are gettinz married eventually," Fluer said delightfully, flashing a ring on her hand with an excited gesture, "So we vanted a plaze where Bill can vizit eazaly."
Everyone was well aware of Bill and Fluer's engagement thanks to Molly and Ginny carrying on about it. Still, congratulations and thanks were exchanged all around.
"What happened to Tonks?" Harry asked once pleasantries were aside. He had actually enjoyed the young aruror's classes and there was no denying that the students had learned a lot.
"After what happened last year you didn't expect the Ministry to be back at Hogwarts did you?" Molly asked disdainfully. The Ministry had tried to use Harry as a human sacrifice to destroy Voldemort and in the process had leaked the prophecy to the evil wizard. In the aftermath of the fiasco that followed the Ministry had withdrawn its protection, including Tonks apparently, from the school.
"My background breaking curses and exploring old wizard dwellings makes me uniquely qualified according to Dumbledore," Bill said. He gazed longingly at Fluer. "Plus I don't want to be traveling quite so much anymore."
"Bill, er, honestly mate, I don't know if Grimmauld Place is the safest place at the moment if you're trying to protect Fluer from the war," Harry said hesitantly.
"Don't worry Harry, I've already told her everything," Bill said quickly. If this place isn't safe under your protection then I don't know where would be safe.
Annoyance radiated off of Hermione when she spoke. "That's just it Bill, Harry and I will be returning to Hogwarts…"
"This will still be the safest place," Bill argued stubbornly.
"Harry, he's already told her about the Light Bearers apparently, maybe we should keep her here so she can't spread that around. If Death Eaters captured her it would be an intelligence bonanza now that she's seen Grimmauld Place," Hermione said as she reconsidered her initial reaction. Hermione might let her emotions get the better of her for a moment but her brain always reasserted itself.
Harry sighed, "Of course Fluer can stay here Bill."
"Oh, thank you Arry," Fluer slurred happily. Bill beamed and covered her hand with his own.
Hermione took out a bracelet like the one she and Harry wore except empty of the tiny jewels that enabled it to portkey to different locations. She conjured up some jewels and transfigured them into portkeys before setting them in the bracelet.
"Okay Bill, this will let you portkey between Hogwarts and Grimmauld Place, it also goes to our second most secure location Middle Yard. You should go there if Grimmauld Place is destroyed." Hermione explained. She also gave Fluer an identical bracelet.
"I'd recommend you not go anywhere outside these walls," Harry told Fluer, "unless you want to take an emblem there is no way we can keep track of you."
Bill shook his head fiercely. "No way Harry, Fluer isn't a fighter."
"Most of the people fighting with us aren't fighters," Harry grumbled.
"Harry isn't a fighter either," Hermione broke in hotly.
"I doez not vant to get in your way," Fluer said haltingly. "I waz never good at zuch thingz. Remember during zee tournament?"
"Of course not dear," Molly said gently, "We can help out more here. There's always lots to be done that doesn't include battle."
Hermione pushed a sandwich under Harry's nose before taking a bite out of her own. The sight of food reminded Harry that he hadn't eaten in hours and he tucked in eagerly. After a minute Hermione giggled and started dabbing at his face with a napkin. Harry caught Bill and Fluer winking at each other out of the corner of his eyes as Hermione admonished him to be still.
There was a loud crack and a few seconds later Tonks ran into the room shouting frantically. "Harry, the avatars are attacking everywhere, Madam Bones is under siege."
"Ron, contact Neville, get him and his team to Madam Bones' place, send out someone to watch over all the people in the Ministry most sympathetic to us. Voldemort may be trying to wipe out our friends." Harry said quickly. He morphed his clothes into his Light Bearer uniform and turned to Hermione who had done the same.
"No one come after us," Hermione said urgently, "We don't dare risk anyone against an avatar, but be prepared in case regular Death Eaters go on a rampage while we're busy."
For the second time in two days the young couple vanished away to try to stem the tide of the Dark Forces' onslaught, but this time they were going alone against an unknown foe. Molly slumped into the nearest chair, her face drawn, and stared at their half-eaten meals.
A large crater had been carved out of the countryside where Madam Bones' stately home had once stood. Four avatars stood at cardinal points around an egg shaped structure that sat in the middle of the crater and fired killing curses at it. Each curse gouged out a chunk of the squat looking shelter. Now and then a spell would lance out of the building but so far it didn't look like the avatars were having any trouble in defending themselves from the elderly lady.
They were spotted immediately by the black cloaked figures. One of them pointed and the other three ceased their attacks on Madam Bones to come after Harry and Hermione.
"Welcome to the beginning of your end," the lead avatar said haughtily.
"Where have I heard that before?" Harry replied mockingly. "Could you guys get anymore cliché with your black menacing robes and superior attitudes?"
"Scoff all you want Potter, but I wasn't referring to you. I was talking to Granger," the avatar said.
With a sweeping gesture it removed its mask. Harry startled at the sight of something out of his old nightmares. Hermione had a similar shocked queasy reaction to the appearance of an old nemesis.
"I've been so looking forward to an opportunity to finish the job I started over a year ago," Dolohov sneered.
The Death Eaters unleashed fiery ropes that whipped around Harry and Hermione like angry serpents seeking to ensnare them. With a flash the ropes fell to the ground as they were transfigured into actual snakes. Harry hissed snake language and the mighty serpents flung themselves at the Death Eaters who scattered in surprise.
"You dare use the Dark Lord's gift against us you whelp?" Dolohov bit out with rage.
The avatar Death Eaters advanced on the couple again, this time casting powerful spells that impacted heavily against hastily conjured shields. Hermione stepped behind Harry and crossed her arms daintily, waving her wand like a symphony conductor. Great stone hands reached up out of the earth and clamped down on the avatars.
"Blast, what enchantment is this," Dolohov screamed as he bludgeoned the earthen hands with curses. Dozens of shadowy chains burst out like the avenging spirits of the vanquished snakes and wrapped themselves around the struggling avatars.
"Now Hermione, killing curses," Harry yelled, sidestepping so she could get a clear shot. Green beams lanced out and impacted harmlessly as they passed through a multitude of great spikes that had thrust up from the ground. With a singular effort the avatars broke their confines and then banished each other's chains.
"New tricks only work once," Dolohov said, "What will you do now?"
"Old tricks," Harry and Hermione screamed as one. They launched themselves at the avatars with an air of recklessness, firing off breaker curses with each step they took. Silver shields crumbled and broke before they apparated behind the avatars to launch a new round of killing curses. The avatars apparated too the instant they realized what was happening and thus returned the battle to a stalemate.
Sharp cracks echoed as Neville's team appeared around the fourth avatar, which was still busily assaulting Madam Bones' shelter. The surprised creature never saw anything coming as sixteen killing curses impacted it from all directions at the same time. The first avatar of Voldemort to be killed died at the hands of average witches and wizards.
"This changes nothing," Dolohov intoned dangerously but Harry could see in his eyes that it had. The avatars had thought that they had prophecy protecting them too, but it appeared that their connection ran only one way, if even that. Dolohov had the look of someone who just realized that he was expendable. With silent apparations the avatars flickered away from a battle that had shaken their morale and dwindled their numbers.
"They'll be more desperate than ever now," Harry said glumly. Hermione didn't respond, instead she gestured for him to follow her as she sprinted toward the egg shaped shelter to check on Madam Bones. Neville and his team were already helping the ancient looking witch out into the open.
"Mr. Potter, Miss Granger…thank you, I thought they had me this time when they managed to get that anti-apparation jinx on me," she said haltingly, her chest heaving with exhaustion from her extended battle. Harry was immensely impressed that the fragile looking woman had managed to repel four avatars for so long even if she did have the benefit of a prepared defensive position to aid her.
"We're just glad we could make it in time," Harry said modestly.
Neville pointed his wand toward the sky and uttered the words to summon the Light Mark "arguo verax"
"Do you have someplace you can go Madam Bones?" Hermione asked gently. The light from the silver torch played down gently all around them.
"The Ministry has safe houses for endangered officials to hide out at that I'm sure will be adequate," Madam Bones replied. "A team of aurors should be arriving…"
Harry jerked as he felt the emblem around his neck tug at him and turned to Neville. "Captain, the avatars are attacking again so keep this area secure until aurors arrive to take over."
Neville clapped a fist to his heart in salute to show he understood an instant before Harry and Hermione shimmered away. The scene at the next house was entirely different from the one that they had just left. Two avatars stood outside a mostly intact structure, though it wouldn't remain that way much longer if they weren't stopped. Harry could sense the presence of the Light Bearer lookout through the emblem but he couldn't see the individual.
"Ah, Potter, how nice of you to join us." Dolohov said. "I'm a little surprised you managed to follow us here so quickly. Let's see if you can keep up."
The two avatars apparated away leaving Harry and Hermione looking bewildered. Before they could collect themselves however, they felt another tug on their emblems. For hours Harry and Hermione played a tiresome game of tag with a shifting number of avatars. After a few encounters the evil creations seemed to focus on places that they knew Harry would respond to defend.
"Hermione, we've got to start evacuating these places, we can't keep this up much longer," Harry said after their fourth trip to a low level Ministry official's house who had joined their group. With much difficulty they began calling in Light Bearers at each stop after the avatars retreated in order to move those at risk to the various safe houses that the twins had been setting up for the past several months.
A staggering, grueling forty-eight hours of non-stop damage control passed before it was all over. At least before everything that the two exhausted teens could affect was over, anyway. All opponents of the Dark Forces who were known to Voldemort and under direct Light Bearer protection had been safely relocated. Madam Pomfrey practically fell over herself when they showed back up at Grimmauld Place.
"What were you two thinking? You could've died!" She fussed. "Your magical energies are nearly depleted, both of you, and you've got an almost toxic level of endurance potion in your blood. I'm seeing after effects of multiple endurance charms too."
"No choice," Harry wheezed.
"Couldn't let them die," Hermione echoed. They sank into the sofa and cuddled up against each other unconsciously, already asleep as Poppy forced dreamless sleeping potion down their throats to make sure they didn't wake up until it would be healthy to do so.
The Granger's looked on anxiously and even the Dursley's seemed to be having mixed emotions about what was happening. Ron watched his two best friends with a distinct feeling of pride before Luna found him to help continue directing the war. Tomorrow would be the start of a new year at Hogwarts but somehow he didn't think Harry or Hermione would be making it on time.
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