On The Run
Chapter 2 : Fight
'Quick! We need to get away from here! Dementors! Followed by Death Eaters! They don't know where we are but they're comi – AAARRGGH!'
Ted ducked, pulling Dirk down with him as an orange jet of light shot through where they were stood a second ago. It hit the tree behind them and it caught fire illuminating the whole area. There was no time to put the fire out so Dean quickly turned around and cast a spell to contain it. He then turned around to where the curse had come from, expecting more to come or Death Eaters to come bursting into the mini-clearing.
Meanwhile, the fire seemed to have put some warmth back into Dirk's body, who stood up shakily. He and Ted also faced the direction of the Death Eaters, wands raised, prepared for an attack.
No attack came.
The area became quiet instead. The air of urgency and hurry was dispelled. But something wasn't right. Dean knew that the other men felt it too because their wands were still raised, the goblins cowered behind them. Something was definitely wrong. It kept getting quieter. It also looked like it was getting darker – the fire behind them was going out because of the cold. The kind of cold that could only mean one thing.
Suddenly, the fire went out. Dean started shivering. 'Expecto Patronum!' he heard Ted shout and the silver of his patronus shone light on their faces. Dirk shouted something as well and the bright dolphin was joined by his bear.
But their patronuses were fading. And the cold, the dark was spreading so fast. It washed over him. He could hear voices in his head, a lot of scuffling followed by a shout of 'Dumbledore! He's dead!' piercing the tension. There was panic everywhere. He felt his resistance crumble. All the good people seemed to die. What was the point of fighting? What if he just gave in?
'Dean! Snap out of it!' he heard a shout from his left. Dirk was stood there, staring at Dean with enormous intensity. His and Ted's patronuses were barely keeping up. But Dirks eyes still had conviction in them, sporting a look that said 'I'm going to keep fighting till the end and it'd be best if your ass decided to join in.'
Dean screwed his eyes shut. He imagined the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest where he usually hung out with Seamus. His best mate was there holding hands with Lavender. Neville was there too and behind him was Katie, talking to Parvati. She said something that made the older girl laugh – loud, clear and full of life. The sound was ringing in his ears as he cried, 'Expecto Patronum!'
A silver tiger now joined the dolphin and the bear. The three patronuses did what the two previously could not. The cold was disappearing and it seemed like everything was normal again.
'Stupefy!' came a shriek and hit Griphook's head and the goblin fell to the ground, unconscious. 'We need to get out of here!' Dirk shouted, grabbing Dean's arm and taking the fallen goblin and turned on the spot.
Nothing happened. It seemed that the Death Eaters had put up an anti-Apparition ward making it impossible for them to escape.
Then they came. Out into the clearing jumped two, five, six Death Eaters, all masked. There was a tense moment of silence when the two sides just stared at each other, assessing the opponent. Ted then broke it and sent a stunner at one of them and the fighting began.
Something hit his left arm and he felt like it was being held over a flame. It burnt and his skin started reddening and blistering. The heat was spreading to the rest of his body now. He muttered the counter curse and went back into the fight. It was dark but the constant firing of spells made it easy to see what was going on.
He joined the other two men. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Gornuk drag a semi conscious Griphook behind a wide tree for safety. He continually kept firing curses and hexes, mentally thanking Harry and his DA sessions. There was no point in shielding so he simply dodged the oncoming curses. 'Impedimenta! Stupefy! Petrificus Totalus!' His stunning spell hit one of them. The other tried to dodge his Body Bind and walked straight into the path of one of Dirk's spells. He doubled over, howling in pain, hit his head on something and passed out.
The fallen Death Eaters weren't the leader of the group because the anti-Apparition Jinx was still in place. An evil, sinister-looking, red curse hit Ted. He cried out in pain and held his arm which seemed to have been cut. The cut must have been very bad, because he was bleeding profusely now. The pain and the blood also made it impossible for him to use his wand and concentrate on the fight.
The others took full advantage of Ted's weakness and he suddenly was on the receiving end of four different curses. He got out of the way of the first two but the other two hit him and he fell down on his knees. Dean swiftly moved over to stand in front of the older man to stop him from being attacked and he saw Dirk do the same.
But now it was two and a half of them against four Death Eaters. They were being backed out of the clearing into the thicker part of the woods. The Death Eaters were laughing. Laughing at their helplessness and sure defeat. Dean saw Dirk pulling Ted and then felt himself being yanked away and dragged behind the tree where the goblins were for cover.
Ted looked completely battered but he was conscious and listening to Dirk who was talking. 'I need to attack the brute to the far left, I think it's Avery, to remove the anti-Apparition Jinx. He seems to be the leader of the gang. Then I can grab you, Dean can take these two and we can leave. We can go to the forest behind the mines in Worcestershire. There aren't that many people there, we won't be spotted.'
'What do you want me to do?' Dean asked.
Before Dirk could reply, Ted interrupted him, 'What do you mean, grab me? I'm okay now. Look!' he showed him his arm which had indeed stopped bleeding but he still looked drained. He carried on nonetheless, 'If that is Avery, then I'm taking him. And you will not make me sit out.' He added giving Dirk a look that finally made Dean appreciate the loyalty and relentless hard work that Hufflepuffs always embodied. Dirk seemed to notice it too for gave in and nodded in a resigned way.
'Come on out and play! Or are we getting a little tired? You're not scared are you, you filthy mudbloods?' the Death Eater called out mockingly.
Dirk jumped out from behind the tree shouted 'Protego!' Ted and Dean followed, taking the cover the shield provided. Ted went on to attack Avery and Dean started fighting the other Death Eater. He dodged a curse.
Dean then heard a crack followed by a cry so full of pain and anguish that he could never believe it had come from Dirk Creswell. Dean whipped around to see Dirk's face contorted with pain. He was holding his leg which was bloody and broken. Ted was cornered by two Death Eaters. Dean sent a Full Body Bind at one of them and suddenly there was a whooshing sound and he got a funny feeling making him fell like he could properly breathe again, a sense of claustrophobia that he didn't know had gripped him was now gone – the anti-Apparition ward was down. They could leave now but Ted was fighting the other Death Eater.
Dean rushed over to Dirk who was now trying to stand up behind a semi-permanent Shield charm. He helped him stand up muttering 'Ferula!' binding his leg. A green curse came at then with rushing speed, announcing clearly that the Death Eaters were finally bored of their little game and now were fighting to kill. The Shield charm protecting them was broken and they were forced to hide behind a tree.
'Go! Take Griphook and Gornuk and go to the forest behind the minefield.' Dirk said. 'Take them and go, I'll bring Ted; he doesn't know that we can leave yet.' Dean opened his mouth to protest but at that moment a curse so powerful hit the tree that it shook the whole tree and a few branches fell out. 'Go! I'll get Ted and we'll see you there in about five minutes! Trust me.'
Without waiting for a reply, Dirk joined the fray again fighting the remaining two Death Eaters while constantly inching closer to where Ted was duelling the third. Dean took the cover the man provided and ran over to where the goblins were. He reached them and grabbed their arms.
Then he heard it. A cry of 'Avada Kedavra!' louder than the rest of the sounds in the wood. A cry let out with such conviction that Dean knew the curse had found its target without even looking. But he spun around anyway to see Ted Tonks fall to the ground. He was dead.
The Death Eater fighting Ted, now victorious, turned to Dean and raised his wand. 'Go! Dean! Leave now!' Dirk shouted.
Dean saw a jet of orange light rushing at him and did what Dirk asked him to do. He closed his eyes, tightened his grip on the two goblins and turned on the spot. He felt Gornuk's arm jerk in his hand but held on, concentrated with all his willpower on the forest behind the mines, hoping it would take them to safety.