Chapter 20: Casualties of War
Christmas morning dawned bright and chilly on the sleepy French ski resort. Harry was woken by Hermione who bounded onto his bed like an over excited puppy, clutching a set of packages that Harry recognised immediately. They were unmistakably the gift he'd brought her for Christmas and she looked, Harry was happy to say, delighted with them.
`Oh Harry! This is just wonderful!' she crowed as she bounced up and down beside him. Harry had bought Hermione a set of books on the procedures and structures that needed to be put in place to start up proper social societies and organisations. Harry had found this specialised set, called Unslaving the Enslaved: A Guide to Inter-species Harmony, and thought Hermione would like it, if she ever decided to set up S.P.E.W outside Hogwarts. It came with advice on leaflet campaigns, public promotions, rallies and events and other ways to raise awareness of cruelty. It also came complete with a practical kit to aid the creations of leaflets, badges, handbooks and many other things besides.
`Harry, this is truly incredible!' Hermione beamed, `Its perfect! Thank you so, so much!'
A little peck from Hermione made Harry's day; he considered not getting up at all, not wanting to spoil the mood. He found that this was impossible, however, as Hermione began nattering excitedly about all the things she was going to do with her present, all the ways she would be able to help the house-elves. Harry let her babble on, eyeing the small pile of packages that had lodged themselves at the foot of his bed and had somehow miraculously escaped falling off when Hermione bounced on the mattress.
He reached down and took the first package as Hermione read aloud from her book. Harry unwrapped it and found a chocolate fudge Christmas Cake from Hagrid; the next package was his usual jumper from Mrs Weasley, who had knitted a scene of two wizards duelling on the front; Mrs Weasley had also sent a tin of her fabulous homemade fudge along with Ron's present, a book called The Quidditch Encyclopaedia with was packed full of Quidditch trivia and including moving video-like images of great matches and spectacular highlights.
Harry also unwrapped a set of teaching aids to Defence Against The Dark Arts, sent by Remus Lupin; a very old manual describing the best ways to produce lesson plans for teaching this subject, which included a set of very old defensive and offensive spells, which Harry had never heard of but was desperate to try, sent by Dumbledore; a lovely velvet cloak was enclosed with a small handbook called Metamorphmagi for Beginners, and a note which read, `Wotcher, Harry! Thought you might like this, it was knocking spare around the office. Trainee Aurors use it to change their form and disguise themselves. Have fun with it. Tonks xxx.'
Hermione's present was last. As he reached it, Harry noticed her reading tailed off and the corners of her eyes twitched towards the parcel as Harry unwrapped it. There were two packages, one was a book that Harry was transfixed by immediately. Duelling Without Incantation: Silence Can Be Deadly, was its title and as Harry flicked through the pages he saw exercises designed to allow the wizard to go beyond spells; in effect, to duel in the way Dumbledore had fought Voldemort in the Department of Mysteries.
`I thought you might need that,' said Hermione absently, placing her book aside, `Dumbledore said you will be duelling with him next term. He wants you to go beyond the basic hexes and jinxes to more advanced duelling. I was against the idea myself but I know he's right. If you go into a duel with…V-Voldemort…you'll need more than Petrificus Totalus and a Jelly Legs Curse.'
Harry laughed at the thought of fighting Voldemort with such silly spells, trying hard to focus on a mental image of him dancing like he was doing the Riverdance while being attacked by flying bogies. If only there was a Boggart around…it'd have no chance against that image.
Harry still held another box in his hand. He noticed that Hermione's hands were fidgeting in her lap; this was obviously her personal present. Harry opened it slowly, savouring the pressure as Hermione was kept on the edge. He found a handsome red leather box inside the wrapping paper and he creaked it open. Inside sat a thin silver band that looked like a bracelet of sorts. It had a jewel sunk into the centre of it and inside a milky mist was swirling around, much like in a Foe-Glass.
`What s it?' Harry asked breathlessly, mesmerised by the swirling in the jewel.
`It's a mood amulet,' said Hermione nervously, `if you put it on we're linked. They come in pairs; I've got one too, see? Once you put it on, I'll feel it when you feel strong emotion; when you're really happy, or really frightened. Stuff like that. It'll let me find you wherever you are. I thought you might like it.'
`I love it!' cried Harry as he slipped the band around his wrist. The band itself was thin and where it went around his wrist it arced up on the back of his hand and came to a point just below his knuckles. Harry thought it looked cool.
Immediately after slipping it on, though, he felt a surge of emotion that was most certainly unconnected to what he was feeling. On the one side he could still feel the happiness and joy he felt on opening his presents, but he could also feel a strong sense of anxiety. This, Harry surmised, must be Hermione's wait for approval on her gift. Harry decided to put her mind at ease…
When they finally got up properly, about an hour later, the residents of the resort were all in the dining area tucking into breakfast. Harry and Hermione joined the queue to the buffet-style self-service area and helped themselves to the food of their choice. Harry made sure he put food on his plate in premium quantities, not wanting to incur the disapproving stares he'd got from the Grangers during their first breakfast, when Harry had piled tons of eggs, bacon and toast with lascivious amounts of butter and marmalade on his plate. He didn't want to appear too piggish, unhealthy and uncaring about his teeth.
`Merry Christmas!' Mr and Mrs Granger chirped as Harry and Hermione sat down.
`Merry Christmas,' replied Harry eyeing his breakfast hungrily and hoping Hermione's parents wouldn't keep him from eating.
`Thank you for those presents, Harry,' said Mr Granger jovially.
`What?' Hermione said looking surprised, `I didn't know you had got mum and dad anything.'
`It wasn't much,' said Harry, `Just a couple of boxes of Toothflossing Stringmints, a model Quidditch kit for your dad to make and learn about the sport-'
`And this!' Mrs Granger said excitedly, thrusting her wrist at Hermione, `Isnt it lovely. It's a watch that doesn't just tell the time but its got a hand that will let me know where you are and what you're doing. And, if I need to get in touch with you I just push the button on the side and the alarm on your watch will go off. Lets try it.'
After a few more minutes of Hermione's parents enjoying the magic watch, she turned to Harry and said, grinning, `Wonder where you got the idea for the watch from? Not thinking about The Burrow, eh?'
Harry shrugged back and tucked into his breakfast, which he was sure had started to call out silently to his stomach and it had rumbled in response. Harry decided after his first helping that it just wasn't enough so he helped himself to more and was happy to see Hermione's parents too engrossed by the watch to have noticed his greed.
After breakfast Harry and Hermione strolled down to the village with the intention of seeing if it was any friendlier by daylight. Hermione had put a little holly clip in her hair that Harry found quite cute and he spent most of the time looking unblinkingly at her as she talked merrily about things Harry thought totally irrelevant. After all, who cares about SPEW, Voldemort, school and all that rubbish when you were walking in the snow with a pretty girl?
The walk seemed shorter in the day than it had at night but Harry suspected it was because they knew the way this time. The village seemed quite boring so Harry thought; quaint little shops selling quaint little pieces of rubbish. Harry thought it was the perfect place to buy token presents for people you didn't want to spend much time thinking about.
Apart from the shops the only points of interest were a wishing well, which Hermione suggested was about as likely to bring good luck as Professor Trelawney was of correctly predicting Harry's death; there was also a strange looking-glass inside one building that showed a perfect version of the face of anyone who looked into it. Harry thought it was like a perverted version of Dumbledore's Mirror of Erised.
The village grew tiresome well before lunch so Harry and Hermione spent most of the time in front of the large fire in the resort. Hermione was already half way through Unslaving the Enslaved and Harry was half way through the cake Hagrid had sent him, which wasn't bad considering Hagrid's usual appalling cooking standards. By the time lunch was served Harry was starving again. Not caring about how much of a pig he looked, he stacked his plate full of every item of food he could find and drowned the whole lot in rich gravy.
During the meal Mr and Mrs Granger indulged in several bottles of wine and began telling stories about Hermione's youth. It didn't take long for Hermione to start blushing, which Harry noticed she hadn't done for a long time. It was only after her parents started telling stories that involved a naked Hermione getting lost at the beach, and at the funfair, and in the street that she dragged Harry away from the dining room.
`Those two,' she said flustered, `honestly! Could they be any more embarrassing. Harry, watch out!'
They had reached Harry's room just as a small rock smashed through the window. Harry threw himself in front of Hermione as shards of glass cascaded across the room. Harry thought it lucky he hadn't been cut. This thought paled into insignificance quickly as Harry remembered why he had been given special privileges for this trip. He whipped out his wand, crossed the room in a single bound and peered carelessly out of the window.
`HARRY!' Hermione yelled, `Get back! Make yourself an easy target why don't you? That's your stealth Auror training failed!'
Harry realised she was right and stepped back, thinking that it was pointless to do so now. He eyed the blackness falling outside the window but couldn't make out any figures of any sort. He even chanced a look at the floor but couldn't see any snake tracks either. The likely source of the thrower would have been the woods but the rustling trees were providing perfect cover.
`Harry, look at this.'
Hermione had picked up the rock that had smashed the window. She handed it to Harry, then repaired the window with a quick spell. The breeze in the room died away as the shards of glass shot back into the window frame and Harry unfurled a piece of card from the rock. It looked like a crudely cut Christmas card and the image on the front brought a lump to Harry's throat. It showed a shaggy black dog, draped in a thin, ragged cloak, being strangled by a serpent. Harry opened the card and saw a message written inside.
`My pieces are set, the BLACK knight has fallen, the checkmate is coming…Dumbledore's Pawn'
`What does that mean?' Hermione asked, casting nervous glances back towards the window.
`Obvious isnt it?' Harry said gloomily, `The Black knight, that means Sirius. Pieces are set - the plan is ready. One more move and I'm dead.'
`Don't be so pessimistic, Harry!' Hermione cried, trying to sound encouraging though her voice didn't truly mean it.
`Why not?' Harry yelled, `Its clear to me. I'm here, all alone. Voldemort knows I'm here cos his snake is watching me, and now he wants to let me know he's got me where he wants me. He wants to see me in fear, paranoid, stuff like that. He knows I'm not really his equal; this is just a game to him. Give me one reason not to be pessimistic.'
`Well,' said Hermione slowly, `We played a game of chess once before where the black knight was the first piece taken. We won that game and you defeated Voldemort that time.'
`Well,' said Harry, calming in his amazement at Hermione's ability to remember exact details of things that happened ages ago, `lets hope history repeats itself. I'm going to send this to Dumbledore, just to see if he recognises Voldemort's handwriting. It could be another trick; maybe Malfoy knows we're here.'
At that moment a burst of flame illuminated the small cabin room. Fawkes, Dumbledore's phoenix, shot from the fire and landed on Harry's shoulder. Harry tentatively held out the card for him and he took it in his beak and flew into the air again. A burst of flame later and he was gone.
`I don't think you're alone here, Harry,' smiled Hermione.
Harry was about to react when a disturbance outside broke the mood. It sounded like people fighting; angry voices, sounds of a scuffle, pained yells, small explosion-like noises…then all quiet. This time, Harry didn't even bother going to the window. He raced, instead, to the door, yanked it open and took off into the hall. He sprinted past an old couple in the corridor, trying not to laugh as the old woman said to her husband, `Oh look, dear! That boy and his girlfriend are pretending to be wizards! Look, they've even made little magic wands! Aww!'
Harry kicked open the door to the complex and hurtled around the side of the building towards the place where the noises had come from. The place was deserted, Harry even checked the trees before Hermione dragged him away from them. There was, ominously enough, a splattering of blood on the snow outside Harry's window.
`This cant be good,' he said resignedly to Hermione as they crouched over the spots of blood.
Harry insisted on checking the entire complex, Hermione managing to convince Harry to stick to the parts with lights. They found nothing but just as they were giving up hope they heard loud voices again, more of them this time. They were coming from the entrance to the complex, which was, unfortunately for Harry, on the other side of the building. Frustratingly, by the time Harry had dragged Hermione around to the entrance the voices had gone. There were, however, scorch marks on the porch and more, heavier, spots of blood in the snow. Harry heard footsteps behind him and swung around.
`You missed it I'm afraid,' said Mr Granger.
`What? Missed what?' Hermione demanded impatiently.
`The fireworks,' answered Mr Granger calmly.
`What fireworks?' Harry asked, almost dreading the answer.
`Well, five or six men were out here just moments ago. Not quite sure how they disappeared so fast actually. Anyway, they were all shooting stars and sparks from fireworks. It was quite spectacular, though I think its highly irresponsible to hold fireworks.'
`They were shooting them from their hands?' said Hermione desperately.
`Yes. Anyway, your mother and I are going to walk down into the village for a-'
`NO!' yelled Harry and Hermione together.
`Why not?' Mr Granger asked with an infuriating smirk.
`They weren't fireworks, Mr Granger,' said Harry, losing all pretence, `We think they were wizards. Bad ones. They were attacking someone. See the blood?'
`Dad,' begged Hermione, `Stay in tonight, please.'
`Why on earth-'
`Because,' said Harry loudly, `the bad wizards could be after me. It sounded like they were fighting someone else. I'm going to find them, the blood trail leads through there. Hermione can stay here with you.'
`No she bloody well cant!' cried Hermione, her father looked shocked at her language, `There is no way you're going in there alone. I'm coming.'
`I will curse you, I swear to god,' said Harry softly but steely, turning his wand on Hermione, `you stay here. I'm going in there. This is my fight. I'm not putting you in danger.'
`But-'
`No arguments,' said Harry, his wand in Hermione's face, `Stay!'
It was Mr Granger's firm hand on Hermione's shoulder that gave Harry his chance and he sprinted away. The snow was crisp and soft underfoot, crackling smoothly with each step Harry took. It was quite a while before Harry could no longer hear Hermione's yells, but die away they did. Harry suddenly felt very alone and very vulnerable.
The path was quite dense with trees overhead and the gloom was unnerving. Harry, unable to shake the strong sensation of being watched, was toying with the idea of lighting his wand. On the one hand, he could see hardly anything due to the trees, but on the other if he lit his wand then the unseen faces would know where he was. As he walked on he made a decision; the trees had become so thick that Harry could barely make out his own hand in front of his face. So, despite a wide clearing that was slightly brighter than the path, Harry muttered `lumos' and lit his wand. It was a mistake.
Almost as soon as the beam of light hit the snow then several shouts, maybe four or five, of `Stupefy!' rang around the little clearing. Harry flung himself to the ground and was amazed to see five red jets of light spin off trees in the dark and vanish. Several branches and clumps of leaves fell from the trees as more spells rang out. Harry had to take a chance.
He watched one jet of light erupt from one patch of darkness. He aimed his wand towards it and had an idea. He abandoned his idea of a stunning spell, deciding instead to try and cause pain.
`Diffindo!' Harry yelled. To his astonishment, a scream pierced the night and Harry knew he'd hit his target. A large, cumbersome figure stumbled through brambles on the floor and into the clearing. Harry saw him illuminated by the red sparks flying past him. `Petrificus Totalus! Stupefy!' Harry yelled with two fast flicks of his wand towards his target. The man, who Harry saw had a deep red gash across the width of his face, was hit by Harry's spells; his arms snapped to his sides and as he was falling Harry's second spell caught him and was of such force that it sent him spinning away and Harry heard a dull thud as he hit a tree.
Harry heard several pops nearby and knew for certain that more people had Disapparated nearby. He stumbled up, trying to get out of the clearing just as a jet of light flew in Harry's direction. He turned away from it but it still caught him in the shoulder and sent him sailing ungainly through the air. Harry recognised the spell as a Blasting Curse but it didn't make the pain any less. Harry thought it lucky it had caught his left side because if his right arm had been shaking with pain as much as his left now was then he'd be done for in this battle.
As it was, Harry managed to get to his feet and shoot several hopeful spells into the darkness. However, Harry knew that flight and not fight was the order of the day. From what he could tell, due to the number of places the spells were aimed at him from, Harry guessed that he was outnumbered six to one. The problem was that the exit to the clearing was being guarded and it seemed the Death Eaters were determined to keep him there. On the plus side, Harry could make out the guard on path and could see him bleeding. Harry hoped his blood was the same as the one by the cabin and whoever had fought him before was a good wizard.
Harry edged forwards out of the darkness, ducked a slow stunner that flew his way and moved to the path. He duelled with the Death Eater guarding the path, spending most of his time uttering the Protego Charm and hoping for a break. Suddenly, the Death Eater lurched forward as if hit from behind and he fell to the ground. Harry was elated for half a second, then distraught for the rest for as the Death Eater fell the last person Harry wanted to see hopped up from behind him.
`Hermione!' Harry yelled, `I told you to stay at the cabin!'
`I heard noises, good job I came really,' she said calmly, `Come on.'
But Harry could do nothing of the sort. He had to dive and throw Hermione to the ground as a flash of green light decimated a bush on the edge of the path. Harry fell right into the pool of blood on the snow and gagged as the snow filled his mouth. He pulled Hermione away as another spell, this one from much closer, snapped a large branch off a tree and fell to earth, missing Hermione by inches.
They got up and Harry did what Hermione would later describe to Ron as `wand work so fast that I've never even heard of anything like it, let alone seen anything like it.' Harry seemed to have discovered a new duelling gear; three Death Eaters had left the woods and were in the clearing. Hermione was sending spells at them but Harry was somehow able to block all the spells sent at them by the Death Eaters and even hit one of them with a Blasting Curse, sending him flying out of the battle.
However, it was the sight of an unusual Death Eater that distracted Harry. Out of the gloom came one much shorter and skinnier than the rest. His hood wasn't on properly and Harry could make out the top of a shiny blond head. He wasn't using his wand and, in an ordinary situation, Harry would have expected himself to recognise this as a diversion. He didn't, though, and couldn't bring himself to attack an unarmed foe - it just wasn't honourable. It distracted him enough, though, and he watched in terror as two Stunners passed his head and hit Hermione. She went though the air like a spinning top and landed with a heavy thud a few metres back.
Harry left the fight and knelt at her side and whimpered softly. He had let her get hurt…Dumbledore was wrong. Or was he? Harry could feel something inside…something strange and squirmy. It was boiling up inside him and rushing towards his wand hand. It was like the feeing of being on the edge of vomiting; Harry knew it was coming and just had to retch a little more for it to explode. But then he was distracted.
`Not you again!' yelled one of the Death Eaters slightly wearily.
He was blasted off his feet and flew across the clearing. The remaining Death Eaters flew out of hiding, there were six of them in all, not counting the ones who had been taken out already. Harry looked up and saw a man striding through the clearing and his heart lifted.
`Dumbledore!' he breathed, but so quietly that nobody would have heard it. But it wasn't Dumbledore. It was the man from the Hogs Head; his head was no longer hooded and Harry saw his face. He did look remarkably like Dumbledore except his beard and hair were slightly shorter and more grey than the white of the Hogwarts Headmaster.
The stranger started blasting Death Eaters all over the place. For an elderly sort of man he was quite agile, spinning and sidestepping all over the place. One of the Death Eaters was trying to escape and the stranger spotted him, his spell pulling him back like he was on a bungee rope. This man was good, but he was too outnumbered. Harry felt a surge of bravery.
He dived up and ran to the man's side and together they duelled with the Death Eaters. Trees were obliterated, flashes and sparks threw the clearing into surreal relief, cries and screams echoed into the night and then…
`Leave him to me…you are all pathetic!'
Harry felt his heart stop for a moment. The high pitched voice…the icy tones…the scything red eyes hanging in the darkness.
`Run, Harry!' said the stranger.
But Harry couldn't run, the appearance of Voldemort had frozen him. The Death Eaters slinked into the shadows as Voldemort stalked forwards. The stranger stood quite still; Harry feared for him.
`Let's make this a proper duel,' said Voldemort icily and flicked his wand at Harry who shot like an arrow into a tree some ten feet away. He hit the ground as Voldemort and the stranger duelled. This was a proper wizards duel; an arrow of fire flew from Voldemort's wand and the stranger conjured a deluge of snow to cover it in mid air; the stranger flicked what looked like a net of pure energy towards Voldemort but a few swishing actions with his wand and the net was cut up and fell away.
The duel continued and Harry could hear the Death Eaters muttering away. Harry got annoyed with them and started firing spells towards them. It was, Harry decided, one of the worst decisions he'd ever made. It had the effect of making them all fire back at him and though they missed they did hit something. Harry looked back towards Voldemort as he called for the deluge of spells to stop. Harry's heart sank; the stranger was frozen on the spot, hit by one of the spells.
Harry could only watch in horror as Voldemort raised his wand menacingly and point it at the face of the stranger.
`Avada Kedavra!' hissed Voldemort.
A flash of green, a blasting noise, a scream of pain, a scream of horror by the only female voice in the clearing, and a thud. The stranger was dead.
`The old resistance is dead,' cackled Voldemort, `time to end the new one.'
He stalked towards Hermione but Harry dived across the clearing. Whether through surprise or underestimation of Harry's skills, Voldemort wasn't prepared for Harry to strike him.
`Incendio!' Harry bellowed with a voice of pure hatred. An amazing flash of bright blue exploded from his wand and hit Voldemort as Harry landed next to Hermione. Harry looked up at an incredible sight; Voldemort engulfed in angry flames, licking his body and sending his howls of pain into the night sky.
Voldemort put the fire out as soon as he had chance to, though Harry knew he'd caused him pain. He was still smoking as he advanced on Harry with his wand.
`Just try it!' Harry heard himself say, the familiar weird sensation burning in his stomach. Then he had an idea. He turned to Hermione, rapped her on the head with his wand and muttered two spells, one was a Disllusionment Charm and the other a Banishing Charm. Harry heard Hermione land some distance away but wasn't sure where, but at least no-one could see her.
He turned around but felt chains wrap around him. Voldemort had him, there was no escape now. The Death Eaters were cackling in the background as Voldemort stalked to Harry.
`You fought bravely, Potter, like your father before you. I have to admit I respect that. It wont save you but I thought I'd tell you all the same. An interesting use of the fire back there. My skin is still stinging, I quite like the feeling. But, enough chat,' Harry heard a crackle of flame above him, someone yelled `Master!' Voldemort raised his wand again and muttered the Killing Curse as Harry heard a swoosh from above. Fawkes had returned and taken the green light in his mouth and died again. Harry wondered if Fawkes ever got bored of eating the Avada Kedavra Curse, just as Voldemort swung around.
`You are mistaken, Tom,' said a voice from the clearing, a voice Harry was immensely glad to hear but had never heard it this angry, `when you say the old resistance is dead. Some of us remain.'
Dumbledore cursed Voldemort before he could even raise his wand and he soared across the clearing into the group of Death Eaters. Dumbledore strode across but the enemy fled; multitudes of popping noises echoed around the wood as the Apparated away.
`Sir! How did you know?' Harry cried.
`Where is Miss Granger?' Dumbledore replied, the concern obvious.
`Over there, I did a Disillusionment Charm and Banished her somewhere. Don't know where.'
`I'm here,' said a pained little voice from behind a bush. Dumbledore strode across and returned with Hermione, now fully visible. The three of them walked over to the body of the stranger in the clearing. Harry saw a silver tear run down Dumbledore's crinkled face as he observed the corpse.
`He fought really well,' Harry said, `Did you know him?'
`Yes,' said Dumbledore sorrowfully, `we had a unique connection. He's how I knew what was going on here tonight.'
`What do you mean?' Harry asked, `How would you know that?'
`Simple, really,' said Dumbledore, `He's my brother.'
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