The Muggle Woman
"AIY-AIY-AIY-AIY-AIY-AI!"
Xena threw her chakram, where it ricocheted off a nearby building before knocking into one of the masked strangers and then ricocheting again and taking out two more. When it returned to her hand, she jumped up in the air, flipping three times before landing in front of them before they even saw her coming.
"Hello there. Allow me to welcome you to the village," she said cheekily; her sword was raised.
They stared at her in slight shock before they all began firing at her. She dodged the multi-colored beams of light as she began stabbing through her attackers with her sword.
Elsewhere, another of the masked men was torturing one of the villagers. His victim was writhing in pain on the ground.
"Excuse me," said Gabrielle, tapping him on the shoulder.
He turned around to look at her. Gabrielle swung her staff, knocking the stick out of his hand.
"My stick is bigger," she brought the staff down across his head, knocking him out.
A jet of green light flew by her shoulder. She turned around and confronted the robed person, hitting him in the stomach with her staff before swinging from the side, knocking him out of her way. She swung low at another, knocking his feet out from under him.
"Aiy-ah!" Xena called out as she flipped over another of the masked men. She twirled back around, slicing him across the chest.
Looking around for more opponents, she spotted one pointing his stick at Gabrielle, who was busy fighting two more of them.
Xena threw her chakram, which cut off the man's hand that held his stick, causing him to howl out in pain.
Then came a loud crack! "Fools! You were chosen by the Dark Lord himself and you can't handle two muggle women!"
Xena turned to see a crazed-looking woman with sunken eyes and wild, unkempt hair. She walked up to the strange woman to confront her, sword and chakram still in hand.
"Leave this village now and you won't be hurt," said Xena as Gabrielle moved to her side, holding her staff protectively in front of herself.
"You dare to give me orders, muggle!" the woman screamed.
"Oh, she dares," said Gabrielle cockily.
"Crucio!" the woman shouted while pointing her stick at Gabrielle.
Gabrielle fell to the ground, twitching and screaming in agony.
"Gabrielle!" Xena shouted, kneeling at her friend's side. Seeing nothing tangible that was causing her anguish, Xena jumped up and kicked out at the woman, knocking the stick out of her hand, then brought her fist to the woman's face.
"Ahh!" the woman screamed as she fell to the ground, clutching her bloody nose.
"You should have listened in the first place," Xena scolded the woman as she helped Gabrielle to her feet, "Now who are you and why did you attack this village?"
"You will hear nothing from me, you filthy muggle. You will be severely tortured and killed for this when my master hears of it."
"I have ways of making you talk," Xena took a step forward, but the woman disappeared with a terrified look on her face and a sharp crack ringing in the air. Even more cracks followed and Xena looked around to see that all of the men remaining alive had followed their mistress.
"How were they able to do all that?" asked Gabrielle, still shaken from what the woman did to her.
"I don't know. I've never seen the likes of it, except maybe from a god. But the gods aren't this showy and they would put up a better fight," Gabrielle shrugged and nodded. Xena nudged one of the dead attackers with her foot, "We'd better keep an eye out for these guys,"
They both went to help regroup the villagers and to tend to the wounded, unaware of the trouble that was currently brewing.
Harry descended the stairs and went to the front door when he heard the bell ringing.
"Who is it?" he asked, pressing his ear to the door.
"It's us, Harry dear," he heard Mrs. Weasley's voice on the other side. Harry's hand immediately went for the latch, but he thought better of it, "How do I know if it's really you?"
"Let us handle it, mum," he heard one of the twins, "You gave Fred and I the money to start our joke shop at the end of our sixth year."
There was a gasp, "So that's how you got the building," Mrs. Weasley said. Harry grinned and opened the door. Mrs. Weasley swept him into a suffocating hug, "It's so good to see you, Harry."
"What are you all doing here?" he asked, seeing that the twins, Bill and Ginny had all accompanied her. Tonks, Lupin and Mad-Eye were there as well. He hugged Tonks and Ginny and shook hands with the rest.
"Ron left us a note telling us he was coming here, and that it was urgent. We were worried," said Ginny.
"But did you have to assemble a guard?" he asked, eyeing them all.
The twins shrugged and Mrs. Weasley answered, "You can't be too careful these days. We thought they'd be helpful if something serious had happened."
"Who's at the door, boy?" Uncle Vernon yelled as he walked into the slightly crowded entryway, Petunia at his shoulder. They both stared wide-eyed at the group.
"Oh, Vernon, Petunia," said Mrs. Weasley, her eyes narrowed, "I've been very much looking forward to seeing the both of you. We met briefly the summer before last, do you remember?"
Both Dursleys nodded, becoming nervous.
"Well, since you're all here, we may as well go to the sitting room and we can talk. I'll go fetch the others from upstairs," Harry said, before going back upstairs. Ginny followed.
The wizards and the Dursleys all stood awkwardly for a moment, except for Mrs. Weasley, who glared daggers at the Dursleys.
"Well, it's likely we'll all be here for dinner. Perhaps Petunia and I should start on dinner," said Mrs. Weasley, still glaring, "Come, Petunia," she said, grabbing Petunia's arm and pulling her toward the kitchen. She looked pleadingly at her husband, as if asking for help. He looked as though he was about to say something, but decided against it when he saw the group of full-grown wizards still in the room with him.
Bellatrix's screams echoed throughout the forest where the death eaters made camp, only ceasing when the Dark Lord lifted his wand.
"Tell me, Bellatrix," he said in a threatening voice, "how is it that you were driven off by a muggle woman?"
Bellatrix tried to cat her breath, "This- muggle- she was a very skilled warrior."
"That is no excuse!" Voldemort screamed, turning his wand back on the woman. He released her from the curse again after twenty seconds of agony.
"Please, My Lord- she struck down three of our own- before we noticed she was there, and then- she moved too fast for us to curse her. Please- please forgive me!" she was nearly in hysterics by this time.
Voldemort looked down on her in disgust, before turning away from her and addressing the rest of his death eaters.
"We continue as planned. We must establish our dominance over the muggles of this land and begin our search for the ambrosia."
"My Lord," Severus spoke up.
"What is it, Severus?" Voldemort asked coldly.
"What should we do about the muggle woman?"
"If she should interfere again, then you will capture her and bring her here. I will deal with her personally." He swept back into his tent, his robes dragging silently on the ground.
