A/N: Here we go. Thanks, as usual to Lady Starlight for her work on this chapter.
Chapter 10: A Dark Sheen in the Moonlight
*******************Southern Highlands of Scotland*******************
The pack of ten werewolves slowly began to circle Rain and Emilia as they crouched over Xander. Rain looked up, and flicked her wand towards the train. Her sword shot out of the darkness and dropped into her free hand. "Em, get up, Em..." she whispered fiercely, prodding her with the toe of her shoe. Emilia looked up, and at the line of death arrayed in front of them, pinning them against the train, and further back the chasm that the bridge had once spanned.
"EM!" Sirius yelled over the top of the car, "I'm..."
Emilia snapped out of her fugue, "NO, STAY THERE!" she screamed, standing and calling her blade to her hand. She slowly moved to stand back to back with Rain, the pair of them standing over Xander who was unconscious, the side of his uniform shirt red and glistening.
Emilia's eyes relit, and a faint, ghostly blue flame licked up the edge of her blade, "BACK OFF!" she snapped, as one of the Weres took a step forward. It leapt, covering the twenty feet between her and Rain in a single bound. It leapt again, and Emilia blurred to her left, and snapped her blade back. The wolf stumbled back, staggering towards Rain, who cut left and back, and it fell to the ground, shuddered once and died.
The remaining nine howled as one, sending an atavistic shiver up the girls' spines. Xander moaned quietly at Emilia's feet. The wolves paused for one long moment...
Nine furry forms streaked across the ground, their claws skittering on the loose gravel of the rail bed. They shot forward, fifteen, ten, five feet away---
A flare of fire lit the night, and a thunderous baritone filled the air, "NOT TONIGHT!" A wave of scarlet fire ripped across the werewolf line, scattering them like tenpins and sending them tumbling back, howling as flames licked at their fur. Dumbledore took a step, eyes glowing with pure magic as he shot an empty hand out, crashing five of the wolves into the side of the locomotive where they slid to the ground and stopped. The other four looked at each other and ran...or at least started to...they froze, as still as statues...
A beat later, on the other side of the train, Sirius grabbed Harriet and they both moved over to where Abigail was stirring next to the train. She was lying under the window she had been flung out of. "SIRIUS!" Harriet cried as five or six robed attackers slid from the darkness, even as the fight with the remaining weres was continuing, on the other side of the train. Sirius looked over towards Justin, where he was still laying unconscious, victim of a 'friendly' Stunner.
Sirius flung up a shield, just as three silver bolts snapped across the night. They hit with a ringing clatter and shot straight up to the stars. He glanced to his right, just in time to see Justin's unconscious body fly past, as Harriet summoned him. She tucked him under the train, out of the way, and grabbed Sirius' shoulder pulling him to his feet. He in turn almost tossed the youngest Lupin five feet behind him, as Harriet hammered out three Reductors in quick succession, a pair deflected off into the forest, shattering trees and sending the scent of pine into the air, and a third gained a cut-off scream. The trio turned and ran as a rain of fire chased them, thankfully none coming near Justin's resting place.
CRACK, a pair of wizards appeared in front of the teens, their wands already bearing-
A hissing blue ball of plasma shot across the way, exploding in the ambushers' midst, half-vaporizing one and crashing another back into the train.
The remaining three dark ones turned to run, and froze as a dark-haired shape loomed in front of them. Harry spun in place, vanishing and reappearing next to them. A wand dimpled the ear of one, a silver flash and he crumpled. A blonde haired women jabbed her wand at Harry, "AVADA KEDAVRA," he dodged without seeming to move, and her curse shot past hitting her remaining partner. He crumpled in place as Harry vanished again, appeared next to the blonde, and his hands shot forward, neatly stripping the woman of her wand, rolled right and his elbow crashed against the back of her skull, sending her bonelessly to the ground.
Harry straightened and tossed the woman's wand up in the air, where it vanished in a flare of fire. He looked over at Hermione, who was next to Sirius, she waved him to the other side of the train, and he vanished, reappearing next to Dumbledore.
Harry's heart staggered as he found Emilia, cradling Xander in her lap. "MIONE!" Harry snapped, and a beat later Hermione appeared, with Sirius and Harriet in her arms. She dove to her knees next to her daughter, who was sobbing softly, and quickly felt for a pulse in Xander's neck. Hermione let out a breath she had not been conscious she was holding as she found a slow, weak beat.
"XAN!" Abby cried as she clambered though the space between a pair of cars and sprinted at her brother, only to be caught and wrapped up in Harry's arms.
"No, Poppet," Harry muttered, holding her back, and she seemed to collapse. Hermione looked up over Xander and caught Harry's eyes, her bottom lip trembling slightly, before she took a breath and ran her wand along the side his shirt, opening it like it had a zipper to find what she half knew she would, a long, ragged tear in his side, white bone glinting softly in the blood. She reached down into her essentials pouch and dug out a phial of purple potion, she poured it over the wound, sealing it roughly in a cloud of acrid, red smoke.
A rush of wind and a fall of color filled the air, and Neville Longbottom and Poppy Pomfrey tumbled out into the night. Poppy took one look around the area and moved spryly to Xander, kneeling down next to him and pulling several items from a bottomless bag she had dropped next to herself.
She started to work on him as CRACKs filled the night air and twenty Aurors appeared out of nothingless and spread out, their wands casting white beams into the gloom. Harry motioned them into the trees with hand signals and slowly moved to stand next to his wife. He handed Abigail to Neville for a moment, and looked up just as Anastasia jumped down from the train. She had her wand in hand as she turned back to the train and said something to a Prefect in Hufflepuff colors who was following her. Dumbledore looked to her, "Are there any injured on board, Miss Granger?"
She looked up at him, her eyes a hair glassy as she turned from Xander, "Wha..." she took a breath, and her vision cleared, "I think Elliot may have a concussion, sir..." Poppy made a gesture without looking up from Xander and Neville and Abigail ran for the car, Abby cursing herself under her breath, as she remembered Elliot.
"Albus," Poppy said softly as she pointed to Xander and rose to her feet. Dumbledore grabbed a stone from the ground next to him, and laid it on his chest, and touched it with his wand. It glowed blue and hopped about, before settling back down.
"Go with him, Em," Harry said, and Emilia grabbed the stone and they both vanished in a rush of wind. Hermione looked up at Harry and made a tiny, almost unnoticeable gesture towards Sirius and Harriet, both of them were looking at the empty spot where Emilia and Xander had been with wide eyes. Hermione walked over to the pair and lead them away, ostensibly to look over the other side of the train in more detail.
"Are there any more, Miss Granger?" Dumbledore asked flatly, looking over the train, which, as someone summoned several Illumination Orbs, showed the night's damage readily.
"Not really, sir, just some bumps and such..." Her eyes narrowed slightly as she looked back towards the train, "Justin took a Stunner...from our own side...I will be bringing that up at the next Prefects' meeting, the rest are some cuts and such," she frowned slightly, "though I will admit that I thought I saw Abby get tossed through a window..."
"Very well, Miss Granger. Have Mr. Black and yourself see to getting the students together by year, we will Portkey them to the school." Hermione's sister nodded and headed back towards the train, just as a pair of Aurors came out of the darkness, dragging a cloaked man between them. He was bleeding from the shoulder, fragments of a white mask still hung around his face and his cloak was torn, ripped as he tried to escape.
They tossed him at Harry's feet. Harry gestured and the man floated up, his feet hanging several inches of the ground. He squirmed, trying to escape the invisible bonds that held him firm. "Who are you working for?" Harry snarled, his eyes pulsing softly with his heartbeat.
The Death Eater smirked, and spat a wad of blood at Harry. The wad shot across the two-foot gap, and stopped in mid-air, sliding down to the ground as if hitting a glass wall. The Death Eater rolled his tongue around in his cheek....He shuddered and convulsed, a green foam escaping suddenly slack lips. Harry pulled back quickly, only to watch as the man slumped lifelessly, his eyes going eternally blank. "Bullocks," Harry snapped and turned from the body, letting it drop to the ground. He did not say a word to Dumbledore as the Chief Warlock bent to it. Harry slowly paced over, following the mental trace of his wife, to the other side of the train.
He found them after a minute, Hermione was kneeling next to Sirius, who was on his hands and knees next to the train tracks and his face was rather green. He was panting softly, his eyes unfocused as he seemed to be staring at the gravel. She silently conjured him a glass of water and handed it to him. He just now realized, Harry, she explained almost silently.
Harry nodded, feeling rather ill himself. He flinched slightly as he felt the first of many Portkeys erupt near him as Dumbledore started to send the students on to the school. Soft popping sounds joined the rush of Portkeys as Hogwarts' Elves started to arrive and vanish, taking away the luggage. At least half of them are paid these days, Harry thought randomly, and just glanced down, totally unsurprised, as Dobby appeared at his feet. "Can you make sure that the family's luggage makes it, Dobby?" Harry asked, and Dobby just nodded, for once not at all loquacious, and vanished with another soft POP.
Harry looked down at his hands, noticing, just now that he had his wand in hand and slipped it into his sheath before walking over to Hermione and kneeling behind her, wrapping his arms around her and Sirius. "Harriet," he said softly, she looked at him, her eyes were wet and he saw several silver trails slipping down her cheeks, "grab onto Sirius, Honey." Harry took a breath and all four of them vanished without a sound.
************************Ambush Site******************************
September 2, 2015
2:25 pm
The site of the attempted ambush of the Hogwarts express was vastly different by the light of the sun, from the dark desperate fighting the night before. The long, thirty-car train still sat where it had stopped, several cars were heavily damaged and the locomotive was at least partially derailed. Several members of the Department of Magical Transportation were standing around, looking at the engine and scratching their heads, while a short, greying Wizard examined the tracks closely.
Beyond the engine, which had stopped in the nick of time the night before, a deep chasm gapped, with only air for two hundred feet between the ruined end of the bridge hanging halfway across the gorge and the shattered tracks at the edge of the cliff.
Harry looked away from them, rolling his eyes slightly at the transportation wizards, and started back along the tracks, headed towards the back and the sight of the majority of the fighting the night before. The bodies of werewolves and several other wizards were still present, covered in conjured white sheets, as white robed wizards and witches moved among them, examining them for anything that might indicate their origins.
He stepped around a group of four that were carefully categorizing a naked, headless corpse, a former werewolf most likely and stopped next to a short wizard with salt and pepper hair and beard, in a bright red robe. "Supervising today, Wendell?" Harry asked quietly.
"You know that I was supposed to be on holiday with my wife in the Virgin Islands," Homes said tiredly, "Elie and I were there to see Sara off for her first year yesterday, we had a Portkey out-" he looked down at a silver pocket watch, "about four hours ago."
"Sorry."
Wendell shrugged, "Terry, start getting samples of the blood spatters back, perhaps we can do a potion trace on some of these...wankers." A blonde witch waving a odd, silver device over the nearest body nodded, handed it off to the wizard next to her, and walked over to a large trunk set on the ground and started digging for phials. Homes reached up and ran his hand through his hair. "This is bad, Harry...they never went after the train, not even when Voldemort..."
"Yeah."
"Harry," Homes looked at him out of the corner of his eyes, his voice tight, "Thanks...You and Hermione...your kids, I lost a son in the last war, in the Ministry...I'm so grateful that I didn't lose a granddaughter last night." Harry nodded slowly, not trusting his voice.
"Wendell..."
"It's alright, Harry." He looked back over the train, "Sara got sorted into Ravenclaw, I guess that Minerva sorted them last night," he snorted, "couldn't put them in their houses otherwise..."
"Yeah, the floor of the Great Hall, isn't the most comfortable," Harry replied, "What can you tell me, Wendell...I need to get back to Hogwarts, Hermione is there with Em..."
"Has anyone told Remus yet?"
"Yeah," Harry said, reaching up and scrubbing his hand through his hair violently, leaving his dark mop disheveled almost beyond belief. "I did this morning...he's not in fit shape to be out and about...probably not for the next couple of days...Tonks is at the school with Mione, but she'll go back tonight to be with Remus."
Homes nodded and started pacing towards the caboose, he waved at the tree line, "From spell residue, the trestle was dropped with fifteen Reductors from eight separate Wizards at about 7:30, give or take ten minutes. We found the bodies of sixteen weres, none of them known Death Eaters or associates, in fact most of them seemed to be foreign nationals..."
"Mercenaries?" Harry cut in, puzzled.
Homes shrugged, "Who knows, we've found no glyphs, a few had them, but they were removed, like that group that hit you in London..." Homes stopped and looked down, not wanting to meet Harry's eyes, "I've known you, personally, ever since you've started this job, Harry, but..."
"It seems as if someone has a grudge against us, and the rest got in the way," Harry supplied, darkly. "Yeah, it's possible, Merlin knows Bella hates us that much, but I can't imagine what it would have cost for these many were mercs." Harry shrugged, "Let me have the rest, I want to get out of here."
"About thirty Death Eaters or equivalents...we didn't get any residual Dark Mark trace," Homes said, his voice falling into a flat, lecturing tone, the same he would use if and when he testified on the night's events. "And probably the same number of weres, all wolf we think, were set up at least twenty minutes before they blew the bridge. Train stopped at about 7:51 pm, and the kids spread out to investigate. Looks like they got jumped about four, five minutes after that. So far we've found eight DE's that we can contribute to one of the kids, and another six or seven from you and Hermione. There are blood trails from another four, which vanished abruptly, with two more captured alive. One of those died, as you know. The other was useless."
Homes waved towards the train, "Found were blood, and bodies on top of the train, and in the car immediately following the ones where the kids were held up. One Were down inside the car from a Silver Ripper curse, one on top from a sword and another next to it."
He walked towards and empty spot, and several nude bodies, most missing parts, "Em took two here, both with her sword and Xander another with a Ripper. Xander took the curse at 8:16 pm, and Dumbledore arrived about a minute and a half later, after Emilia took out the Wizard that got Xander, and ended the fight on this side." He took a breath, "Is it true that Emilia and Xander are handfasted?" Harry nodded. "Give them my best, Harry...All of that is from the blood traces and magic remnants, it's all subjective for now until we get the results from the full work up."
"Fine, get the report to me," Harry said, his hands in his pockets and shrugging helplessly, "I'll be at Hogwarts or home." Harry vanished and the Auror and forensic teams, that had been watching him out of the corner of their eyes, returned fully to work at Wendell's glare.
There you go, I know it was a touch short, but I'm out of town right now...Next chapter, we'll see the
fallout, in both hearts and body.