Title: Heroes are made when you make a choice.
Rating: T
Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with Harry Potter, no matter how many times I may wish I did.
Summary: SPOILERS FOR DH. There were three people who died, and we never knew how they actually died. This was a challenge given to me by LollyLovesAngua, so I hope she likes it and that it's not too bad.
Author's Note: I know that some parts of this story don't tie in with the events of the actual DH events, but I'm using artistic liscense. xD Anyway I hope it's okay, I'm not too happy with this chapter but hopefully the next two will be better. Please let me know what you think, because your comments help me know what I'm doing right and wrong. )
Thanks.
Spells were flying everywhere; bright jets of green and red created a sickening firework display. Hogwarts, always a place of tranquillity, safety and learning had been changed to a place of death, destruction and grief. The bodies of students, teachers and death eaters lay like small mounds on the grassy lawns, their eyes no longer seeing, their lives prematurely ended by the sea of darkness swelling against the castle. How could this be happening? How could it be right that children should be dying? Surely the death toll, which was still rising, was not meant to be this high!
Remus Lupin hurried across the grounds, narrowly missing several bodies lying still on the cold, grassy lawn. He did not dare look at their faces, if he looked into those glassy eyes then he would not be able to control the anger that was already welling inside him. He was fighting for his son, his wife and his friends. He wanted vengeance, but he knew that if this feeling overtook him then…he shuddered at the very thought of what he may end up doing. As he'd run along the corridors of the school he'd bumped into countless students, most too young to still be in the midst of such fighting, but every time he'd seen their faces he'd seen the face of the little boy he'd left lying asleep in his crib, and he knew that he had to protect them. It was times like these that he was glad for the many secret passageways in Hogwarts!
Hazel optics flickered between the castle looming towards him and the ground beneath his feet, he just wanted to get back inside and find Greyback! He'd chased Bellatrix out here after she'd attacked a student, but he'd lost her in the darkness. All around him he could see teachers, students and members of the order flinging spells at death eaters, he desperately wanted to help them but he couldn't stop now, not when he had a mission.
Suddenly a jet of green light whizzed past his right ear, and he stopped dead. His head tightened around his wand, readying himself for yet another fight. With deliberate slowness, he turned lifting his head to squint at his attacker. The lights from the various spells helped to light up the area around him, but his attacker's face was shrouded in darkness.
"Now, Lupin it's time for you to disappear." Remus felt a growl in his throat at the sound of Lucius Malfoy's voice, how he hated that man. He swallowed hard, trying to force the primeval sound back down.
"What's the matter Lupin, cat got your tongue?" The man walked forwards, his blonde hair lit up suddenly by a jet of white light. Remus straightened, raised his wand before speaking,
"You will play for what you've done over the years, Malfoy, for the deaths you have caused and for the pain you have caused." Lucius laughed coldly at these words, and the werewolf saw him raise his own wand.
The fight began, spells being cast between the two with an intense ferocity that it was almost impossible to see their wands.
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Remus looked down at the quivering man, the once tidy blonde hair now unkempt. Malfoy's wand lay a few feet away, he could quite easily pick it up and continue to attack but he didn't. Instead he looked pathetic, kneeling at the feet of a half-blood asking for forgiveness. No matter how much Remus may detest the man, he couldn't kill him. Not now.
"You're pathetic." The words were barely more than a whisper, as he turned sharply and ran towards the open doors to the castle. He'd never expected Lucius Malfoy to fall, to grovel at his feet. He'd been expecting…well he didn't quite know what he'd been expecting.
Finally he reached the doors to the castle and swept through them, his eyes sweeping around the Entrance Hall checking to see if any death eaters were there. The coast seemed clear for the moment, and he hurried inside, keeping alert for any sound or sign of movement.
"Remus!" His head turned quickly, and saw Kingsley jogging towards him. The tall man had a cut across his forehead, but apart from that he seemed fine.
"Kingsley! How bad is it?" He asked, his gaze switching between the man before him and the staircase to his right.
"I don't think we're doing well, Remus. We've lost many people already, too many." Kingsley bent his head slightly, and Remus felt sadness wash over him.
"We can't give up. Have you seen Harry?"
"No, I haven't. But I'm sure he's fine, if he'd been killed already we would have heard." Remus nodded slowly, hoping with every fibre of his being that Harry was indeed all right, they were fighting for him and without his presence then their fight was worthless. The werewolf was about to speak when they heard footsteps, and then several more jets of light were fired at the two of them. Remus pushed Kingsley aside, causing one of the spells to miss his friend by inches and hit the wall. Two death eaters were descending the stairs, firing spell after spell at the two order members.
'Impedimenta' Remus thought as he shot the jet of light towards one of the attackers, it hit him in the face and caused him to fall backwards. He knew that that wouldn't do much for their fight, but at least it bought them some time to deal with the other attacker.
"Remus!" He ducked swiftly, causing the jet of green light to fly just above his head and hit the wall again. Huge chunks of stone fell to the ground, causing a cloud of dust to appear above the battle. When Remus lifted his head once more, he saw the second attacker running down the steps after his fellow who was now at the bottom fighting with Kingsley.
"CRUCIO!" The death eater screamed, and before Remus could duck he felt pain ricocheting around his body. Every nerve was on fire; every fibre of his being was being destroyed. He felt a scream rip from his throat, he was no longer aware of his surroundings; everything was melting into a white haze. From somewhere, far away it seemed, he heard shouting, someone calling his name but he was unable to answer.
Suddenly the pain stopped. He lay on the floor panting, trying to get his body to respond once more to his commands. The ghost of the pain was still shooting along all his nerves, but the white haze began to lift. Shaking slightly, Remus lifted his head and saw Kingsley and Neville fighting the two death eaters. He felt his stomach drop slightly as a curse narrowly missed the seventeen-year-old, why on earth had they let these students stay behind and fight? He took a deep breath, before standing as quickly as he could and readying himself for the fight.
Remus shot a spell at the Neville's attacker, but he deflected it. Neville, following Remus' lead, shot another spell at the death eater just as Remus sent a stunning spell at the attacker. The werewolf didn't care if two on one wasn't fair, right now he just wanted to win this fight!
"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" Neville shouted, the spell shot out of the end of his wand and hit the death eater in the chest. His arms and legs snapped together, before he fell onto the stone floor.
"Very good, Neville." Remus said, in the same voice he used all those years ago when Neville had defeated the boggart in his third year. The young man shot him a nervous smile, as Kingsley's death eater went flying into the air and smashed into the opposite wall.
The ex-Gryffindor glanced swiftly around the hall, and noting that it was strangely quiet. His eyes narrowed slightly, before he turned to look at the oak front doors. Jets of light could be seen shooting across the dark sky, but no one seemed to be walking inside the castle.
"It's too quiet." He said, and he felt a sense of fear overtake him.
"I don't think we should complain." Kingsley's voice sounded at his shoulder, and he felt himself nodding slowly. Maybe they were just lucky for the moment. With that thought he turned towards the Marble staircase,
"Kingsley, can you go and find Harry? We need to make sure he's all right. Neville, you should go too." Both males watched him carefully for a few seconds, before nodding.
"HERE ARE THREE MORE!" The shout from behind caused Remus to turn, his heart pounding harder. Four more death eaters were hurrying through the front doors, their masks ripped off and evil smirks on their faces. Bellatrix Lestrange. Antonin Dolohov. McNair. Augustus Rockwood.
Remus raised his wand, his anger rising to terrifying levels as he looked at Bellatrix. This female was the reason for all his pain…well almost the whole reason.
Before they were fully ready spells began to fly in the air between them. Jets of red, green, white and so many other colours were filling the air. Soon Remus could no longer see Neville or Kingsley, the air was too thick with smoke and he was too caught up in his battle with Dolohov and McNair. The two of them were working together, trying to catch him off-guard. Thank Merlin for his knowledge of defensive spells; otherwise he'd have been dead long ago.
With a flash of light McNair fell flat on his back, and Dolohov was knocked off his feet. Remus felt himself panting as though he'd just run a marathon, but he knew that he didn't have time to catch his breath. He needed to finish them off.
Behind him he heard someone running up the marble staircase, but he didn't turn, instead he shot a curse at Dolohov as the man tried to stand up. As the death eater fell back against the floor, Remus heard Bellatrix yell in triumph and his gaze was drawn to the body of Neville lying at the bottom of the staircase.
"No." He felt his brain going numb. The boy couldn't be dead! He was too young to die, had so much to live for. Before he could run to the Gryffindor, before he could even properly comprehend what had happened he heard shout,
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" Another scream, a female's scream, filled the air before he felt something hit him in the side. He was thrown off his feet and flew into the air, but he was dead before he hit the floor.