This is an item of FanFiction, and I thereby understand that all the characters contained within my story are property of JK Rowling.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Ambush
Harry leapt from his broom, feeling the heat of twenty spells ripple over his head.
Fighting to concentrate, the full moon disappearing through the thick fog of the clouds as he fell, plunging him into near-darkness, Harry twisted in mid-air and felt out for Nothingness – his only chance of safety. But as the familiar pressured feeling of Apparition gripped Harry's body, a blinding flash of yellow light suddenly released him, and he was still accelerating through the black cloud.
The pallid mask of the Death Eater that had blocked Harry's Disapparation loomed from the darkness, grinning in triumph.
"Down here! I've got him!" he roared, diving after Harry through the clouds.
Shutting the impending darkness below and the jeering shouts above from his mind, Harry concentrated as he never had before. He couldn't die now, of all times. He mustn't.
Almost in slow motion, Harry sensed the thoughts of his pursuer and parried the curse before the Death Eater had even opened his mouth to utter an incantation; the force of it knocked him off his broom, but already several more hooded figures were swooping through the gloom to replace him.
"Accio broom," thought Harry desperately, a second before soundlessly blocking two fiery jets of air as the wind whistled through his ears and he emerged, soaked, through the dense clouds, racing thick rain droplets to oblivion.
A mass of black figures plunged through the cloud seconds later, their lit wand-tips focussed on Harry like a spotlight. Harry shot Stunning spells into the pack of chasing broomsticks, and one body fell from the group. Several curses shot down in response, but Harry was ready: in one fluid movement he parried two spells aiming directly for his chest, then slashed his wand through the air and three Death Eaters fell off their brooms with anguished cries. But there were too many of them and he was running out of time. Sensing a Killing Curse about to be cast by the nearest one, Harry reached desperately into the air, willing his Firebolt to arrive…
"Avada Kedavra!" screamed the Death Eater, but Harry's hand closed around his beloved broomstick just in time to put on an extra spurt of speed, and see the jet of green light miss its mark and be swallowed up in the blackness
The Death Eaters were now closing in above and on every side. There was only one option. Easily outstripping his pursuers, Harry dived, faster than the rain that was splattering against his glasses in the vertical descent. Spells flew wildly past him, making tiny craters as they exploded on the fast-approaching hillside that was now just feet away.
Jerking the nose of his Firebolt up at the last second, Harry rolled sideways off his broom, feeling his back splatter with mud as he surveyed the hell of the heavens through his blurred glasses. Fiery sparks of red and green showered down like falling fireworks from the approaching wand tips of at least fifteen dark wizards.
Aware that he had only seconds to act – not enough time to perform the complex counter-curse for the anti-Disapparation jinx that had been placed upon him – Harry prepared for battle.
Gathering all his strength, he yelled "Protego maxima," and drew his wand in a full arc above where he lay. The powerful Shield Charm instantly absorbed a shower of green light, but Harry knew it wouldn't protect him from a Killing Curse. Frantically shooting hot red sparks and hexes randomly into the air, like rapid gunfire, Harry saw a couple of explosions as his spells found their mark, and heard the dull thud seconds later of bodies hitting the ground.
But it was too late. The remaining Death Eaters were landing around Harry, swiftly forming a tight circle. Their leering masks, barely visible under each hooded cloak in the scant wandlight, seemed to foretell the inevitability of death even more than the multitude of raised wands, poised to perform a deadly curse at any second.
"It's over, Potter," growled a voice that Harry found vaguely familiar. "Did you really think you stood a chance against all of us? The Dark Lord will at last be avenged."
Harry sprang to his feet, but before he could muster the strength to mount his final defence, several things happened at once. A loud crack punctuated the spattering rain and in a flash of long red hair someone materialised next to Harry out of thin air; a strangled cry of "Kill him!" simultaneously rent the biting breeze and Harry felt his invisible defence barrier shatter by a spell that missed his face by inches as he instinctively ducked.
"Ginny," breathed Harry, adrenaline coursing through his veins as his heart seemed to stop. The Death Eaters, momentarily stunned by Ginny's sudden appearance, hesitated.
"Kill them!" Harry heard, and the last thing he saw before Ginny's warm hand guided him into Nothingness was a flash of green light.