Based on characters created by J. K. Rowling

Chapter 4—The Army of the Righteous

Charlie was aware of shadow and movement. His head hurt and so did his chest. He was hit with powerful curse straight in the chest, which knocked him back and he hit his head on a rock. He wasn't sure what he would find if he opened his eyes; probably the bad guys, he thought ruefully.

A shaking hand touched his shoulder tentatively. "Charlie?" It was a woman's voice.

Opening his eyes, his vision was blurry for a second, but he saw a figure leaning over him. It was Eileen Parker. Tears stained her cheeks and she shook uncontrollably. When Charlie opened his eyes, Eileen burst into tears and sobbed into his chest. He put his hand on her back and patted her awkwardly, trying to reassure her.

"It's okay," he comforted. He didn't know what else to say.

Eileen's arms and face were battered and bruised. She had a long cut above her eye. "I thought you were dead. That poor dear boy is dead." She said.

"What about Wolfgang?" he asked, trying to get up. He leaned on his elbows. He couldn't see the researcher anywhere.

"I don't know. I don't know where he is." She wiped her eyes with her shaking hand. "Charlie, what was that? What happened?"

She didn't understand about dark wizards. How could he explain something she didn't understand? Americans only recently discovered the existence of dark magic, and most of them hadn't had it touch their lives. It wasn't a concept that they could wrap their heads around.

"Dark wizards, Eileen. It's a war and we'd better get ready for it." He said, standing up. He dusted the dirt from his hands and off his trousers.

Charlie found his wand and produced a patronus message, which he sent to his friend Travis in Austin, letting him know what had just happened. He knew that Travis would alert the Department of Magic and call The Society into action.

The Auror Division was becoming more effective in locating dark wizards, but it was the secret society formed by Travis and two others, The Society of Fred, named in honor of Charlie's brother, Fred Weasley, who was killed by Death Eaters that had more combat experience than all the Aurors put together and had sworn to fight the evil that was invading America.

Charlie knew that Ares had raised an army and had made a pact with a demon to supply a supernatural army. This meant actual combat. He thought Ares meant to battle the Society literally. He was ready to fight, but was the Society?

"We have to get back to the Preserve. Can you fly?" he asked her, gently wiping the blood from her face.

Clearly, Eileen was still in shock, but Charlie didn't have time to wait until she felt like she could travel. They needed to get out of there before the army returned with reinforcements.

The bodies of the dead and wounded soldiers lay where they fell. There were twenty dead or dying. Suddenly, each of the soldiers burst into flames, even the ones who were only wounded. Their screams filled the night until they were silent. Eileen watched in horror as the bodies turned into ash and blew away.

What kind of sick fuck destroys his own men, Charlie wondered as the wind carried the ashes away. Someone who could call up an army of demons; someone who had an infinite army, he thought.

Charlie didn't know much, but he didn't believe Ares was as powerful as Voldemort had been when he was in power, but he knew how to recruit willing and probably unwilling souls. He figured he had recruited at least one more witch to help him. His main recruiting tool before was the very sexy Muireann. What he didn't know was why Ares let him live. No doubt he wanted to torture Charlie and killing him right away would spoil his fun.

Charlie walked around the camp site carefully, looking for Wolfgang. Finally, he spotted him at the bottom of a ravine. There was no way anyone could have survived the fall, but flew down to find out for himself. Unbelievably, the man was still breathing, but just barely. He was unconscious and would probably die within the hour. Charlie had to get him back to the preserve.

He fashioned a carrier, similar to the ones the wranglers used to haul dragons. He and Eileen would strap the carrier to their brooms and fly him across the desert. The trip would be long and very difficult, because any unnecessary movement would cause Wolfgang more pain. Charlie didn't know if he could survive the trip, but at least they needed to try.

Eileen cried when Charlie told her they had to leave Dustin's body behind. She told Charlie that Dustin's mother would want him returned.

"I can't argue with that," Charlie said. "But we can't do it now. We'll come back. I promise. But there's a chance Wolfgang will survive if we get him back."

Suddenly Charlie heard a noise behind him. He spun around and saw to his amazement, Ricardo Sanchez and a number of Mexican wizards. Ricardo walked up to him hesitantly.

"Charlie! Amigo! Are you all right?" He asked, assessing the situation.

"We were attacked by Ares's men. Who are your friends?" he asked nodding to the men and women who stood behind Ricardo.

"This is El Ejército de la Justa; The Army of the Righteous. Trained warriors who have been guarding the domain for centuries, waiting, ready. We knew war was eminent because there were so many signs." Ricardo looked at the expression on Charlie's face and smiled. "What? You think you're the only one who gets to fight dark wizards?" He shook his head sadly. "I just wish we had gotten here sooner."

"Dustin's dead," Charlie said. "And Wolfgang's badly wounded. We were about to fly out of here."

"Not a good idea. You'd be flying directly over Ares and his armies." Ricardo said. He motioned for two of the men to take the carrier from Charlie and Eileen. The men examined Wolfgang, then looked at Ricardo and shook their heads. "I don't think he'd let you live this time. I'm actually kind of surprised you're alive," he said, a little suspiciously.

"It's really me, Boo," he said. "I'm not imperiused or possessed."

Ricardo shrugged. "No offense." He said. "Why didn't he kill you?"

Charlie shook his head. "I have no idea, but I figure he's got something else in mind; after all I did kill Muireann and his three stooges. I'm sure he'd prefer I suffered a lot before he kills me."

"Do you know much about Ares?" Ricardo asked.

Again Charlie shook his head. "I don't even know who he really is. All I know is that Lord Voldemort sent him away right before his death. Lord Voldemort some big plan for world domination. Ares had all this time to plan the takeover of America. He wasn't prepared the first time. Now I think he's ready. I saw him talking to," he shrugged, thinking of the right word to describe what he saw earlier. "Something supernatural, who agreed to supply him with an army. I don't know who she is, but I'm guessing some kind of demon."

"Oh, shit," said Ricardo and the men around him nodded. "There are actually two of them. One isn't so bad; but the other one, Ramorphus…" He looked at Charlie. "She didn't happen have to have two big ugly dogs with her, did she?"

Charlie nodded slowly.

"Fuck." Ricardo studied the ground. "We can stop it here if we fight them in the desert. We can destroy them before they can hurt innocent people. Charlie, this army needs a leader, someone with real combat experience." Ricardo looked at him, "Will you join us?"