i "It killed them, it killed them all!" She cried, her pained eyes looking around hysterically as she struggled against the arms of Fred and George who were holding her down.

"Who Tonks, who killed who?" Remus asked. Tonks swallowed hard and seemed to try to compose herself.

"The Riddle Stone, it came to life and killed them all." /i

b Harry Potter and the Curse of Riddle House /b

by arukas

As Tonks' words echoed off the walls of the meeting room Harry spun on his heel and headed for the front door.

"Harry, where are you going?" Hermione called.

"Isn't it obvious, to the Riddle Stone." Harry replied without turning around.

"Not without me you aren't." Ron said as he threw his long coat on. Harry nodded at Ron, an appreciative if grim smile on his face.

"And me." Hermione added as she too pulled her coat off the back of her chair and put it on.

"Alright then, the three of us will go investigate the Riddle Stone site and report back here." Harry said. Several order members looked about to protest but Harry didn't give them a chance as he apparated out of Grimmauld Place with a loud pop. Hermione and Ron followed suit a second later leaving the other members to stand with mouths open.

Moments later Harry, Hermione and Ron stood at the top of the chasm that the Riddle Stone sunk into.

"Tonks was… what she said was true it would seem." Ron replied, swallowing hard as he finished speaking.

"This is horrible." Hermione breathed as she raised her hand to cover her mouth. "Did those monsters do this?" She asked. Harry shook his head as he stood right on the edge of the chasm and appeared to be looking down into it.

"The wizards down there have all died of wounds that burnt them, the creatures always kill by tooth or claw." Harry explained. Hermione was just about to ask how he could tell what kind of wounds the engineers had with those bandages when Ron spoke up.

"Merlin, that one over there has had his entire chest burnt out." He murmured.

"I don't know any spell that works like that." Harry said.

"Neither." Ron replied.

"Well, no sense in wasting time up here." Harry said nonchalantly as he jumped down to the first level of scaffolding six feet below the rim of the chasm.

"Right behind you." Ron called as he jumped down next to Harry.

"Are you two crazy?" Hermione cried from on the surface. Before anymore could be said though a strange wind rushed up from the ground, ruffling the hair and clothes of the trio.

"What in the..." Ron began. He was cut off though as he and Harry were forced to press themselves to the wall as a tide of winged gray bodies spewed forth from within the chasm and shot up into the sky.

"God in heaven." Ron breathed as the mass of wings and claws on gray leathery bodies shot of like a stream to the north.

"Where are they going?" Hermione asked as she pulled herself up off the ground. Harry leapt up out of the chasm, something both Ron and Hermione were impressed by, and looked up into the sky after the creatures.

"I can't know for sure, but there's only one major source of magic I can think of in that direction." Harry answered.

"Hogwarts." Ron said sternly as he too appeared from in the chasm.

"We have to tell the order!" Hermione cried. Harry shook his head.

"No time," He said, "We apparate to the edge of the grounds and make our way inside on foot."

"We'll be outnumbered hundreds to one." Ron said grimly.

"Not scared are you Ron?" Harry challenged. Hermione didn't like the way the two friends smiled at each other then as Harry and Ron seemed to communicated without words.

"Hermione, you go back to the Order and get together as many members and Aurors as you can." Ron ordered as he stepped forward to stand next to Harry.

"But you two will need me!" Hermione protested. This was insane, the two of them facing off against hundreds of those creatures?

"Hermione, don't argue. Our priority is and will remain saving the students. They're all but defenseless against those things." Harry said sternly. Hermione made to protest again but knew it was useless. Her shoulders slumped in defeat and she nodded.

"Please be careful, both of you." She muttered before apparating away.

"The closest we can apparate to is halfway along the path from Hogsmeade Station." Ron informed Harry.

"Then that's where we go now." Harry replied. Seconds later the two disappeared and reappeared again on the gravelly pathway. "The creatures are resilient, nothing but the strongest death and injury spells will even phase them." Harry explained as he drew out his two wands. Ron nodded and drew his own wand.

"We need to move the students into a defendable room, I vote the Great Hall." Ron suggested. Harry nodded.

"I agree, now let's move." He said. As the two friends ran up the pathway towards the looming school in the distance a gray cloud spiraled ever closer. Both Harry and Ron knew it would only be a matter or minutes between when they arrived at the school and the creatures did. Time was not on their side.

Hermione apparated into Grimmauld Place with a loud pop and ran into the meeting room only to find it empty. Surprised, she next ran into the kitchen and found only Mrs. Weasley pouring hot soup into a bowl.

"Mrs. Weasley, where is everyone?" Hermione asked frantically.

"Oh Hermione, you scared me. They've all gone out pet." Mrs. Weasley replied calmly. Then as she looked into Hermione's eyes her face suddenly grew concerned. "Why, what's wrong?" She asked.

"It's Hogwarts, the creatures are going to attack Hogwarts!" Hermione all but screamed.

"Where are Harry and Ron!" Mrs. Weasley demanded, though in her heart she already knew the answer.

"They went to Hogwarts already." Hermione explained. Mrs. Weasley looked like she might cry.

"Merlin, not again. Not my babies again." She said, tears beginning to form in her eyes as she gave Hermione a pleading look.

"We need to get to the Ministry and get help for them now!" Hermione yelled, her desperation growing with each passing second.

"Of course dear, we'll go by floo." Mrs. Weasley said. Moments later both women were being hurled magically towards the Ministry of Magic and towards what Hermione hoped would be the help they needed.

Harry and Ron sprinted up the last few steps into Hogwarts and the Entrance Way.

"Eleven O'clock, they'll all be in classes." Ron panted. Harry frowned, deep in thought. Ron was amazed that his friend seemed to barely be out of breath. He considered himself to be extremely fit but obviously whatever Harry had been forced to live through had pushed him beyond normal limits.

"Alright then, you go to the classrooms and get the students and I'll go see McGonagall in her office." Harry said.

"Why me to the classrooms?" Ron asked.

"Simple, you look far less scary than I do." Harry replied with a lopsided grin. Ron grinned back and began running.

"Oh and Ron." Harry called.

"Yeah?" Ron asked, looking over his shoulder.

"First years first." Harry replied. Ron nodded and continued on his run, leaving Harry to make for McGonagall's office.

Back outside, the creatures' wings flapped tirelessly as saliva dripped from their giant maws filled with teeth. They could feel the huge concentration of magic ahead of them and it drew them ever onwards.

Hermione and Mrs. Weasley ran from the fireplace they were ejected from in the Auror admin section of the Ministry over to the front desk.

"Uh, can I help you two?" A surprised looking secretary asked.

"Hogwarts is under attack, we need all the help you can give us and we need it now!" Hermione demanded.

"Excuse me?" The women asked skeptically.

"Listen missy, my son is Ronald Weasley and he is currently the only Auror on the scene." Mrs. Weasley interrupted. Upon hearing Ron's name the girl seemed to snap to attention and nodded two the two women before running through another door behind her desk. Hermione noted that Mrs. Weasley had left out the part about Harry Potter returning from the dead also but figured it was the right idea in this situation. No need to complicate things further.

Professor McGonagall sat in her office calmly reading over a piece of parchment that had been handed to her earlier that day. An informant had gone to great lengths to sneak it out of the ministry to her, an action she certainly wouldn't be able to ask of him again for a long while. Suddenly she felt a strange rumble followed by an enormous crash resonating up the stairs to her office. Whipping her wand out of her belt, McGonagall flew down the stairs, quietly muttering defense charms to herself as she went. No one, not even in the days of the Weasley boys, had ever made such a terrible ruckus in the halls of Hogwarts. The sight that greeted her as she reached the bottom of the stairs however was not something she expected. Harry stood in the center of a pile of rubble that was attempting to slowly reassemble itself into what McGonagall guessed had been the gargoyle that guarded her office.

"Sorry, didn't know the password." Harry said as, with a simple wave of his wand, he dusted a stone hand that had gripped his ankle.