"Ron! MOVE!" Harry yelled, as the roof of a burning building collapsed where Ron had been standing moments before.
Harry picked up the unconscious little boy, and he and Ron raced to the Three Broomsticks, where they were evacuating people from the smoking, Death Eater infested village.
"Enervarate!" The little boy woke up and started howling for his mother; the woman Ron was carrying.
They Ran outside again to look for more injured people. They had been at it for hours.
"Liar! You are a mudblood, I know it!" A Death Eater was holding a woman against the wall by her neck.
"No!" she sobbed "my father is a Wizard, Malcolm Sterling, he works in the Department of Magical Sports and Games- urk!" he had tightened his grip on her.
"Levicorpus!" thought Harry, and the Death Eater sprang into the air. The woman scampered away.
"Impedimenta! Stupefy! Petrificus totalus!" Ron roared at several Death Eaters. They could see Kingsly collecting injured people, Tonks fighting three Death Eaters at once and Neville Longbottom duelling fiercely with a brawny Death Eater.
"Where's Hermione?" Harry yelled, as Ron went to help Tonks.
"No idea!" he yelled back, but Harry didn't hear him: a hand had closed around his throat.
"Well, well" sneered a cruel, cold voice in his ear "I wonder how the Dark Lord will reward me when I bring him Potter?"
Harry felt hot, exited breath hit his face, and the hand was closing in around his throat, cutting off his air pipe. He could not breath, could not swallow…
"LET GO O' HIM, YER HYPOGRIFF MURDERIN' SLIME, YER!" The hand let go of him immediately, and through watering eyes he saw Hagrid send McNair flying through the air.
"Hagrid!" Harry choked, gasping for air.
"C'mon Harry, lets get rid o' these ruddy filth" He punched a Death Eater, knocking him unconscious, and used his limp body to shield them from other Death Eaters. "Take tha'… an' tha'…"
They reached a large black object that Harry recognised as Sirius's flying motorbike.
"We have to find Hermione and help Ron" said Harry as they got on the bike. The tyres sunk a little with Hagrid's weight, but with a roar they sped into the air.
Ron and Tonks, even with Neville joining them, were out numbered by the now five Death Eaters. Harry stunned one from behind: sneaky but effective.
He could see Hermione bravely duelling Bellatrix Lestrange on top of a roof. Their wands were blurrs, and the shooting flashes of light illuminated their faces; Bellatrix looked mad with frustration and Hermione looked determined.
"Oi! Lestrange!" Harry yelled as he jumped off the motorbike, hoping to distract her. But she just cackled.
"Well, look at that, it's your boyfriend!" she sneered mockingly to Hermione "come get your pretty mudblood, Potter!"
"Yes, Potter, go and get her" hissed a voice that was more chilling than a glacier.
Harry's blood ran cold. His skin erupted in Goosebumps. No, not him, not now… He turned around, and, standing about ten meters away, was the skeletal, unearthly form of Lord Voldemort.
Bellatrix gasped and Hermione's spell hit her, causing her to fall off the roof.
Voldemort stared at Harry through his burning scarlet eyes, and walked so softly and smoothly he seemed to glide, cloak trailing like a velvety black ghost on the floor.
"Well, well, Harry Potter, we meet once more" Wormtail was cowering behind him as he drew his wand "but this time, you're dead."
"NOOO!" Hagrid charged towards him like a raging bull, his mane of shaggy hair flinging about and making him look savage.
"Avada kedavra" hissed Voldemort lazily.
"Hagrid, No!" yelled Harry, but it was too late. The jet of green light had hit him square in the chest. He didn't die immediately, probably the giant's blood in him, but ran in slow motion for a while, before keeling to his knees.
Hermione screamed and fell off the roof, but she had a soft landing: Bellatrix.
"Hagrid…" Harry whispered, eyes wide in horror. Voldemort chuckled.
"Well now, it's just us Potter, no more… distractions" he smiled cruelly "Avada kedavra!"
"Expelliarmus!" Harry yelled furiously. Hagrid had been the first person to introduce him to the Wizarding world, his first real friend…
"You killed Hagrid!" Harry roared "I'll kill you!"
The two wands were connecting again, and he and Voldemort were stuck in a battle of will. The beams of magic cackled and danced wildly, sending sparks flying everywhere.
Harry's heart was filling with grief for Hagrid, and it was making him strong. His beam of light was triumphing over Voldemort's, getting nearer to him.
"Wormtail!" Voldemort screeched "Wormtail, kill him!"
Wormtail raised a shaking wand.
"You gonna kill me, Peter?" Harry muttered quietly, not taking his eyes off Voldemort. "You gonna kill me after I saved your sorry life?"
Wormtail trembled.
"Just kill him! You're even weaker than I thought!" Voldemort spat.
"No…" Pettigrew whispered, dropping his wand. He stared from his master to Harry, and, with a tiny flicker of Gryffindor courage on his face, he scuttled into the beam of green light coming from Voldemort's wand. He dropped down dead as the connection broke.
Voldemort gave an outraged scream, before Harry's expelliarmus hit him. More screaming, and Voldemort disapparated away, along with all the other Death Eaters.
The only sound in the tense silence was the flames cackling. Harry took a quick look at Wormtail's body, a look of pure terror etched permanently across his face. Hermione, shaking fell to her knees at Hagrid's side. Harry joined her.
There was a tremendous cheer in the distance, as everybody realised the Death Eaters were gone.
"Harry!" Ron ran excitedly over to them, beaming. "We did it, Harry! We won! The- oh" his face fell dramatically when he saw Hagrid.
Tears were trickling into his fuzzy black beard.
"Yeh thought bravely, you three" he said faintly, his chest heaving. "Harry… Ron… Hermione…"
"You did too, Hagrid!" Hermione sobbed. Her eyes were red and puffy, her cheeks glistening as tears streamed down them.
"Yeah" whispered Harry "you were brilliant…"
"I know yeh'll beat `im, Harry" Hagrid's voice was weak and trembling. "I jus' know yeh will…"
Time seemed to stand still as Hagrid peacefully closed his eyes and eventually stopped breathing.
Hermione broke down into sobs. Ron looked confused and stricken. Buckbeak, who had come to see what the fuss was about, let out a horrendous noise, and flew off into the night, nearly deafening everyone with his incessant, mournful screeching.
Silent tears were cascading down Harry's cheeks, but he stared at Hagrid's closed eyes, waiting for them to open and for Hagrid to spring back to life again, even though he knew they wouldn't.
Various people had gathered around in a circle, immediately stopping their laughing at the tragic scene before them.
"Harry" Remus croaked "Ron, Hermione, what happened?"
"What does it look like? Ron snapped, before burying his face in his hands.
Remus, Tonks, Neville and McGonagall, who had been fighting too, stood behind Harry, Ron and Hermione.
The circle of people gazed sorrowfully at them all, tears in some of their eyes.
Neville passed Harry Hagrid's pink umbrella, where his wand was concealed. Shaking, Harry opened one of Hagrids enormous dustbin- lid sized hands, and curled his fingers around his umbrella.
He loathed Voldemort with all his energy. He had taken another person in Harry's life away from him.
"I know yeh'll beat `im, Harry… I jus' know yeh will…" Hagrid's last words.
"Oh I will Hagrid" muttered Harry quietly, so only Ron, Hermione and Hagrid's unhearing ears could hear him. "I'll beat him, definitely. I'll do it for Sirius, I'll do it for Dumbledore, I'll do it for Moody and Mum and Dad and everyone else he's killed… and I'll do it for you."
And in his mind's eye, he saw Hagrid beaming proudly, slightly red with embarrassment at Harry's speech.
And he pictured Hagrid walloping him on the back so he fell over, and Hagrid saying: "Atta boy, Harry, make us proud. Don't give up yer hope."
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