Chapter Nine: Hammer To Fall
Before Harry – or anyone else – could formulate a plan of action, Ron had thrown himself into the action once more. Transforming in a matter of seconds into his half-wolf form, he clawed himself again, and allowed the blood from his forepaws to drip onto the Stone Inferious. However, the monstrosity – despite screaming at the mere touch of the crimson liquid – was doing its best to hold the Ron-werewolf back. Slowly, the Pince-Inferious was managing to strangle her werewolf opponent with her rocky hands.
Meanwhile, Alex and Charlotte had pulled Hermione to one side. She was groggy, but conscious.
"Ron!" Harry yelled, as he wondered what the hell to do. In desperation, he tried his wand again. No luck.
And pounding on Pince with our fists will achieve nothing. Except getting ourselves killed…
Ginny growled, and was about to rescue her brother, when there was a loud 'POP'. Dobby materialised on the shoulder of the Pince-Inferious, and immediately began blinding the wraith with quick flashing spells – his brand of magic evidently being immune from the neutralising spell the young wizards and witches had cast. And his actions were enabling Ron to break free of Pince's grip.
"Harry Potter, sir!" squeaked an agitated Dobby. "You must see to the wicked Malfoy boy and the monster he is guarding! That way Master Potter will save his wheezy!"
Suddenly, there was a rumbling noise that shook the room. A few books and ornaments fell off their shelves. Neville jumped back in alarm, yelling, as he jabbed down with his finger. Another Inferious was slowly rising from the stone floor – separating Harry and Ginny from Hermione, Neville, Alex, and Charlotte.
"Quick! Jump across, guys!" Harry shouted.
Alex shook his head. "You two get Malfoy! We'll be okay." He swept aside the contents of Professor Lupin's cluttered desk, and yelled for Charlotte to join him on top of it, which she soon did. Neville, for his part, helped Hermione over to the corridor doorway.
"Go, Harry!" Neville urged him.
Harry hesitated – then nodded, and swallowed the hard lump in his throat. Ignoring the groan of the second Inferious still emerging from the study floor, he led an eager Ginny over to the far side of the room, where the door that had been ajar earlier was now shut. It was also bolted to, Harry soon discovered.
"Blast!" Harry raised his wand again, but it was still not working.
A series of bone-crunching noises, plus the blurring of the wolf beside him assuming half-human form, told Harry that Ginny knew what to do.
"Alloww mee…, Har-ry." Ginny, now a wolf girl, rasped. There was, however, a growing look of unease on her furred, semi-human, face.
"Ginny…? What is it?" Harry whispered, worried by her expression.
"It is the nnight…that Trelawney…showed mee a vision of…" She flashed Harry a look of sorrow. Her yellow eyes stared straight into his green ones. Then the moment was gone, and Ginny slammed against the door with her lycanthropic might – and, after a few attempts, the door was sent flying off its hinges.
"Good girl!" Harry stroked Ginny's cranial fur, and they both stepped into Professor Lupin's lounge – then froze, shocked to the core by what they were seeing.
The room was dominated by the presence of a black, throbbing mass.
The dark centre of the creature was roughly shaped like an upright egg, and it was about the size of Hagrid – but its dozen or so tendril-like arms were extended in various directions, and the ends were apparently sunken into the ceiling and walls.
The skin of the horror rippled like oil, and two tiny, crimson eyes raised their gaze to regard the two intruders with silent animosity.
Harry's skin crawled with revulsion. A sensation of evil hit him, and he nearly gagged.
This must be the thing empowering the Inferi – what I sensed earlier. And Malfoy is controlling it via that Jet amulet – the Nightshadow – Harry reflected to himself.
Scattered around the floor of the wrecked lounge were the broken dark pieces of what looked like an eggshell.
The huge black egg Dobby had mentioned…, thought Harry.
"Ahh! Here at last, Potter!"
Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson, still clad in their Death Eater robes, were standing close by – wands at the ready.
"He's got a lady werewolf with him." Pansy smirked. "It's not Granger, so… It must be that Weasley girl! She's now a big doggy!"
Ginny growled and took another step forward.
"Drop your wands, or Ginny will rip your throats out!" Harry warned them. "Malfoy – get your toy to stop the Inferi from roaming. Permanently!"
The ends of Draco's lips turned down. "Worked it out, have you, Potter? Well…, think on this! Why should we stand down? Especially as one of our spies at the Ministry told me that my father was killed by a werewolf – and that there's a good chance your witch bitch here killed him!"
"I am…nnot…a bitch. I am…a she-werewwolf!" Ginny snarled, forcing her vocal cords to work. "But I…am a better hu-man…than you two…wwill ever bbe…!"
Malfoy gave a barking laugh, and raised his wand. "Ooh – I'm scared! Werewolves? They can eat fire! Incendrio!"
His wand, however, failed to act. Draco's face turned almost as pale as his hair.
Pansy shrieked as she too discovered that her wand was now useless. The two young Death Eaters looked at each other – uncertain what to do. And yes, they were now afraid.
Harry smirked, but now his senses were blazing. The black monstrosity was emitting a power that made the wolf in him raise its hackles. He wanted to change, to fight alongside Ginny – his wolf sister – and kill the young man before them, the one who had caused so much misery for him at Hogwarts…
"Surrender, Malfoy! This is your last chance!" Harry declared, making a determined effort to rein in his animal impulse – if only for a little longer…
"Make us!" Draco spat.
"Right! Watch them, Ginny." Harry put down his wand, and Ginny growled, drinking in the fear being emitted from the Death Eaters. Quickly, Harry undressed – dropping his clothes by the only door, then placing his spectacles on top.
Pansy started to laugh – but Malfoy narrowed his eyes in suspicion.
Standing naked besides Ginny, Harry closed his eyes and called upon the change, imagining his skeleton reforming, his bare skin sprouting fur. Within a matter of seconds, thought became reality – and Harry grunted with the pain of the self-induced transformation. Suddenly, something clicked within him – and his body began to flow, with ease, into his half-wolf form. A rush of energy swept through him, even as the fur cloaked his body – from his reformed legs and emergent hind paws, to the top of his reshaped skull. The tension building up in his head was relieved as Harry's face grew out into a muzzle. His now-pointed ears twitched at the din of Pansy's screams – and the horror wafting from the two humans hit Harry's heightened senses like a furnace. The nostrils on his leathery nose flared. He licked his newly-grown fangs, and growled with relish.
Ginny snarled in unison, sharing his desire to end the evil present in the castle.
But before Harry's transformation was done – before either of them actually moved – Malfoy had clutched at the Jet pendant hanging from his neck. He spun round and yelled to the monstrosity present in the room.
"Brollachan! Kill them both – now!"
"No, Draco! We need it to sustain the Inferi…!" Pansy protested.
But it was too late. The Brollachan had withdrawn its tendrils from the walls, and – now free from its anchored position – started to roll forwards, like a swollen black ball of sticking putty. The tendrils shot out again from its core, aiming for the two humanoid werewolves.
Watch out, Harry! Ginny communicated to him, via her howl.
Harry twisted aside, then sank his fangs into the black tendril. There was an inhuman cry from the Brollachan – and then both Harry and Ginny were fighting away with their collective fangs, claws, and were-creature strength – biting, slashing, and tearing against the black tendrils that shot out from the shape-changing mass of the horror, whipping around the two young werewolves, forcing them away from the Brollachan's central body. Its 'limbs' tried, without success, to strangle them.
Harry and Ginny howled in fury and frustration, as they came to realize that they were locked in a permanent stalemate.
In the minute of chaos that followed, Harry dimly heard Malfoy yell to Pansy. Then the blond-haired young man seized his companion's hand and dragged her along with him. They ducked and ran along the length of the room, as the Brollachan prevented the werewolves from intercepting them.
Within seconds, Malfoy and Pansy had escaped.
No! The others! And the secret passageway! Harry remembered.
But he had no opportunity to stop the Death Eaters. The Brollachan – lacking claws – was trying to bludgeon and suffocate its lycanthropic attackers with its myriad tendrils.
Does it react to our blood…, like the Inferi do?The thought came to Harry's mind as he fought on.
With care, he cut the edges of his forepaws with his claws – then, before the cuts could heal themselves, Harry pressed his bleeding wounds against the countless black limbs assailing him.
The glistening flesh of the Brollachan hissed as though touched by acid. The nightmarish horror actually bellowed.
Ginny was now using the same technique, and had managed to sever the tip of a tendril on the Brollachan. However, her wolfish grin faded as the limb swiftly grew again before her.
It's like the Hydra re-growing two heads from a severed neck wound! She yelped at Harry.
Don't give up, Ginny! We must destroy this thing! Then the Inferi will die… "Agghh!" he snarled, as another tendril snaked around his neck.
Ginny's lupine eyes widened at his plight. She sank her fangs into her forepaws, and gripped the tendril with her blood-soaked, half-formed fingers. The limb hissed upon the touch of her fluids, and dissolved, freeing Harry.
But still they were battling against an untiring, seemly-unstoppable enemy. The Brollachan pulled back briefly, to allow itself to grow more tendrils – and the released werewolves were given a few precious moments to gulp for breath.
The respite would not last long.
Harry collapsed upon his knees and panted. Can't…give…up… He snarled. His leg had been crushed by the Brollachan's now-defeated grip. Thankfully, his bones and flesh were slowly healing…
No, Harry. We can't. Ginny reached out a bloodstained forepaw to stroke the dark fur on Harry's chest – then she gently tilted his chin upwards, forcing him to look her in the eyes. I am sorry. This is the vision Professor Trelawney showed me, when she was channelled – that day you caught me crying and running away, she said to him in their silent language. One of us has to die…
What…! Our blood hurts it! We can kill it, Ginny!
She tried to smile. Yes, we can, Harry. But only by the loss of so much blood. And in the big scheme of things, you are more important than me. Even after Voldemort's death…
Ginny…? What do you mean? Harry started to whine.
She nuzzled him, then nipped his ear. I love you. I just wish we had longer…
The Brollachan lashed out again, striking the nearest target – Ginny. She snarled and wrestled the tendril away from her neck – then she began to bite and slash herself furiously – working as fast as she could before the were-creature condition in her could reseal the injuries. Howling, Ginny leapt into the black, tangled mass of shapeless 'limbs', which hissed and slowly dissolved before her. Slowly, the she-werewolf was edging her way closer to the oval trunk of the Brollachan…
Ginny! Harry howled. Snarling, he rolled himself onto all fours and bit away at his forearms, determined to kill the monstrosity quickly. Before it was too late…
The next minute or so flashed by in a blur. Harry's mind was consumed only with the twin objectives of destroying their foe and saving Ginny. Saving his mate. The one who had gifted him with this form and nature that was better suited to tracking down and fighting their enemies. And now he bit, gnarled, and slashed out at the countless tendrils of the Brollachan – his black fur matted with blood from where he had cut himself…
His nose – then his eyes – alerted him to the presence of more blood. It was spreading out, in sluggish scarlet streams, from where Ginny had fallen – close to the hissing, blistering torso of the monstrosity…
Wailing with the grief of an injured animal, Harry pushed through the weakening tendrils and dived for the eyes of his shrieking opponent. His raised claws found their target and sank into the nearest of the Brollachan's eyes, piercing it as he collapsed upon his knees.
With a shrill cry that was painful to Harry's ears, the monster shuddered. Then there was another ghastly scream as the other eye was stabbed by the claws belonging to the russet-furred werewolf standing next to Harry. His heart lifted – then froze, in surprise, as he realized that his helper was male.
Ron!
The screams of the Brollachan were abruptly silenced. The dissolving limbs all fell still, and the fiend gradually disintegrated into smoking, sticky pools of foul-smelling, dark liquid.
Harry collapsed, drained by his exertions. Without any prompting, he found himself reverting to his human body. His skin itched as the fur disappeared into his pores, and his bones realigned themselves again so that he was a young man once more.
"Harry! Are you okay?" Ron had transformed back too – and was slapping his face, to revive him. Slowly, Harry's vision – bereft of his spectacles – changed from an almighty blur to the one he was more used to, in his human form.
"Ron…! Thanks…" he wheezed. "We…did it… Ginny! Where's…Ginny?"
"She's here." Ron was sobbing. The two of them, soaked with blood, were on their knees besides Ginny – who had also returned to her human shape. She was now lying sprawled across the hissing remains of their defeated foe.
Harry's eyes were wide with shock. Ginny was bleeding heavily from the numerous cuts she had inflicted upon herself. She had already lost too much blood.
He squeezed her limp hand. Ginny's eyelids fluttered, and she focused her dull, pained gaze on both her brother and chosen partner.
"Ron…, Harry… Don't cry… This was inevitable." Her voice was little more than a whisper. "We'll all be re-united, one day… Just promise me – both of you…that you'll allow yourselves to live long…and happy lives, first…"
Not knowing what else to do, Harry bent over Ginny's face and kissed her on the lips. His tears fell and ran across her cheeks. "Don't go, Ginny!" he choked. "I...I love you…"
She smiled at him and squeezed his hand back. "There is another…destined to look after you… When she admits her feelings for you, Harry…, don't be afraid to love her as much as you love me… Goodbye, Harry…, Ron… Tell our family I did my best…"
Her eyes closed. With a sigh, Ginny breathed her last and became still.
Harry spun round to face Ron. His friend's face was ashen white, as he searched desperately for a pulse, then he returned Harry's gaze. Ron could not hold back his tears.
"She's gone, Harry!"
"Nooooooo!"
Harry flung himself upon Ginny, and cried his heart out, as he buried his face against hers.
For how long he and Ron were slumped there, united in grief, Harry didn't know. The next thing he knew, both of them were being dragged away from the room by Professor Moody and Hagrid. Moody was shouting at them. Harry's ears didn't seem to be working – he couldn't hear what Mad Eye was yelling.
Suddenly, Alex was there too. He looked shaken, as he handed Harry back his spectacles.
Fingers trembling, Harry managed to put them on.
"…to get dressed! Now! We have to leave the school!" Moody barked.
Harry slowly regained his senses. He and Ron were covered in drying blood, but their cuts had now healed. And, of course, they were naked.
The Nullandvoida spell had evidently run its course, for Moody and Alex blasted Harry and Ron with water jet spells from their wands. Then Alex quickly fetched towels from Lupin's bathroom for the lads to dry themselves. Still feeling half-dazed, Harry managed to conjure a cleaning spell on his clothes, before getting dressed. As for Ron, Hagrid had thoughtfully brought along the young man's discarded clothes from the Great Hall.
"Hagrid… What are we…?" Harry trailed off, then started again. "The Brollachan's destroyed! The Inferi should have perished…"
"They have, lad." Hagrid looked uncomfortable as he patted both him and Ron. "You boys did great. Ginny too. An' I'm sorry that she didn't…didn't make it."
"She…sacrificed herself… For us all." Harry turned to stare at the awful scene before him, then he forced himself to turn away – feeling as if he was trapped in a nightmare. Wanting nothing more than to wake up.
"And it counted for sum'thing. The Inferi have all exploded into dust!" Hagrid's lips twitched up into a short-lived smile. "But them Death Eaters 'ave fallen back, an' brought along…their reinforcements."
"Hagrid! No time for talk. Let's go through that secret tunnel!" Moody impatiently slammed his staff on the wet floor.
Emerging into the study, Harry blinked. There was a pile of scattered earth on the stone floor – what was left of the Pince-Inferious. And still lying where he'd been struck by Neville's now-retrieved knife, was Kreacher. His eyes were wide, his mouth frozen in shock. He was now silent.
The unnatural angle of his neck told Harry that it had been broken.
Halfway up the wall above the remains of the Pince-Inferious, a pair of legs, and the hands, were protruding from the stonework. The rest of Dobby was buried in the wall. The last victim of the Inferi.
Harry gasped, but Hagrid held him steady.
The rest of the gathered party were mercifully alive, and were now staring at Harry and Ron in wonder.
Hermione ran over to Harry and Ron. The gash on her temple couldn't have been as bad as it first seemed, thought Harry. It had faded, and Hermione was alert and coherent.
"Ginny?" she whispered fearfully. Her eyes were taking in the expressions on both himself and Ron.
Ron shook his head, and held Hermione to him. She gave a gasp, but otherwise remained composed. "Oh, Ron…," she said, lips trembling.
Neville was sat in a chair, staring at the floor – face in his hands. Alex, meanwhile, had his arm around a pale-faced Charlotte.
Hagrid and Mad Eye gave them a few moments.
The silence was abruptly broken by a loud, thumping vibration that shook the furniture. Charlotte gave a yell as a framed magically-animated photo hanging on the wall next to her came crashing down. Another thump resounded through the walls, then another, and another.
"Right!" Moody glanced up at the ceiling, his face grim. "Let's move!"
Harry gave the bodies of Kreacher and Dobby a last glance, before departing with the others.
Harry couldn't remember much of what happened in the next few minutes. Professor Moody got the secret door opened, using the password learnt by Dobby – and all eight of them hurried along the long, dank tunnel that was lit only by their wands.
They emerged from a thicket of trees and bushes close to Hogsmeade – and, despite the chill of the dark November evening, the scene was chaotic. Pupils and Hogsmeade residents were running in various directions, panicking. Too many people were shouting at once – assaulting the keen hearing of Harry and Ron with a bewildering bombardment of noise. They were on a slight rise, and to the south they could see over the nearby school fence and the main gates.
"Oh, my god!" Charlotte Greenway cried out as she turned and saw what the source of the commotion and thumping was. She tightly held onto both Alex and Neville.
"The devils finally got them over here!" Neville spat.
Bashing away at the walls of Hogwarts with clubs were a pair of ten-metre high giants, clad in specially-made leather armour. And in the distance, emerging from the depths of the Forbidden Forest, were three – no four…, no, six – trolls, also armed with crudely-made clubs, Harry witnessed. They glared down at the centaurs before them, who were firing a volley of arrows. One troll strode forward, and kicked at the nearest centaur – sending him rolling over, as he screamed. The next centaur, unable to escape in time, got crushed by another troll's club.
And in the air, circling above the castle, were at least six Dementors…
Ron gave a cry. "Professor Moody! We must do something!"
"We can do nothing more than implement your approved escape plan, Master Weasley! The senior pupils know what to do…" Moody curled his lips in grim fury. "Hogwarts has been lost! They've thrown more at us than we can take…"
"C'mon, yur lot. Let's move out of here!" Hagrid urged them. Harry saw his eyes watering.
There was an almighty cry from their left. Another troll was now emerging from the trees that bordered Hogsmeade. Raising its blunt weapon, the ugly invader turned and headed with some haste directly towards its new prey.
Harry, and the company with him…
"Quick! Everyone – get your wands ready!" Neville panicked, alerting the others to the oncoming menace.
"Wait! It's heading across the roped-off clearing!" Ron pointed out. "It'll…"
The grin on the troll's face suddenly vanished, as the grass within the rope barriers gave way underneath the huge creature. With a cry, it fell into a concealed pit trap. Several foot-long spiders were then consequently thrust into the air, out of the pit where they had been placed.
Before the troll could free its lower half from the pit, the spiders took objection to some of their brood being flattened – and began to swarm over the intruder, biting him repeatedly. The troll roared in anger and pain. Having lost grip of its club, it sluggishly swatted at the spiders using its massive hands.
"Go get 'im, lads and lasses!" Hagrid yelled, grinning.
"Well… At least one of our defences worked. Thank you, Master Weasley!" Mad Eye allowed himself a brief, hard smile. "Keep moving, all of you!"
Harry himself was still somewhat dazed. The smell of Ginny's blood was clinging to him – or so be believed.
In the course of the next few minutes, Moody and Hagrid left instructions with Hermione and Neville, the ones who seemed to be the most alert out of their party.
"Catch you later, 'arry – if I'm lucky. Alistor and me will try to save some of the young uns!" Hagrid hugged the young man, and Harry stirred from his trance-like state, as he gripped the half-giant's arm.
"Hagrid – don't go!" But the groundsman had slipped out of his grasp with ease, and soon vanished into the gloom of the night – the crowds of screaming pupils and the war cries of the trolls soon swallowing all sight and sound of both Hagrid and Moody.
"This way! Hurry!"
Hermione and Neville led their party through the open school gates and into the forest bordering the long drive that led to the school itself. Within moments they came across the first of the resident Thestrals – the four-legged beasts that acted as the carriage-pullers, transporting the pupils between the Hogwarts Express and the school. Normally, the magical creatures were invisible to the sight of humans – but everyone in the party had, by now, been witness to violent death, and so could see the bizarre-looking beings.
Luna Lovegood was there in the clearing. Along with a few other seventh-year pupils, she was helping to co-ordinate the crowd of fleeing pupils (some of whom could not see the Thestrals). Right now, each Thestral was being coaxed to wait until two precious lives were secured in place on its back – before the creature was allowed to take to the skies and steer itself to the rendezvous point it had been trained to head for, in case of an emergency.
"Harry! Hermione! Ron!" Luna looked relieved to see them, as they entered the clearing. Then her face fell, as she saw their distraught expressions. "Oh…"
Hermione hurried over to Luna and touched the younger girl's arm. "Luna… Ginny's dead! Can..., can our party join this queue for the Thestrals?"
"Ginny…? Dead…? Oh no…!" Luna looked horrified. Then she managed to snap herself out of her state of shock. "The Thestrals…? Yes… Yes – of course!"
"Harry Potter?" The familiar voice made Harry, Hermione, Ron, Neville, Alex, Charlotte, and Luna all turn round.
The younger pupils around them took a few steps back, in wide-eyed amazement, as the centaur Firenze entered the clearing, his hooves clip-clopping on the hard, bare ground.
"Hi, Firenze." Harry managed a weak smile. "We don't get to see much of you, these days."
Suddenly, there was a sucking sound, and somebody apparated, close to Harry. He spun round, startled, just as Charlotte screamed. Alex hissed in anger, and reached for the wand tucked into his belt.
Harry recognised both of the newcomers. The elder of the two disengaged himself from the grip of the younger man, and reached for his wand. It was Walden Macnair – a Death Eater, who had escaped from Azkaban Prison, along with Draco Malfoy's father.
The other intruder was Draco himself.
"Don't leave yet, Potter! With this toy, I can even reach you here!" Malfoy was holding the Jet amulet – the Nightshadow – aloft. An electric-like field of energy was fired from it, before anyone could protect themselves. The magical discharge slammed into Harry. He was thrown to the ground, screaming, as the energy struck him in the chest. A crackling arc licked at his face, scorching his nose.
"No!" Firenze yelled angrily. Acting on reflex, he pulled himself back onto his rear legs, and lashed out at the Death Eaters.
Malfoy saw the danger in time, and disappeared with a flash. But Macnair gave a yell as the centaur's fore hoof struck him on the head. The former Ministry employee went flying into a tree. A moment later, he slid down the bark and did not stir.
For a moment nobody dared to move. Then Neville bravely ran over to Macnair and examined him. He looked up at Firenze. "He's dead. Thanks, Firenze – that's another blackheart down!"
The centaur bowed his head solemnly. "I wish his death could have been avoided. But our enemies do not value life as we do," he responded, sighing.
Meanwhile, Luna, Hermione, and Ron helped Harry up.
"Are you alright, mate?" Ron breathed.
"Yeah… Just feel as though…I've been shocked…," Harry groaned.
"That amulet must be powerful for Malfoy to apparate within the grounds of Hogwarts! And for him to bring Macnair here, too…" Hermione pointed out, her lip trembling.
Harry tried to walk, but stumbled. His friends caught him.
"Can you move now, Harry?" Luna asked anxiously, after a long moment.
He nodded and took a few steps without further mishap. "I can't smell anything, though… Why aren't I dead?"
"You are a werewolf, young Mr Potter." Firenze trotted forward and whispered the words, so that the agitated pupils in the background could not hear him. "You too are a creature of the supernatural and fabulous realms, like centaurs and many others. You are stronger than you realise."
Harry's low voice was full of regret as he replied. "I wish Ginny had been stronger too, then! She was a werewolf, as well – and now she's dead!"
Firenze was taken aback, and he paced restlessly on the spot. He was silent for a moment, then he spoke. "Come, Harry! Climb on me – before Draco returns. I am sorry to hear of your loss – but right now, my priority is your life! And I can take one more."
Hermione looked at Ron. He paused, then nodded back.
"I'll be alright with the others, 'Mione! We'll wait for the Thestrals. You look after Harry. Besides…," He managed to smile. "I know you hate flying!"
"Too true!" Hermione's hand touched Ron's and held it briefly. Then, with a forlorn glance, she parted. She followed Harry, climbing onto Firenze's back, as the latter lowered himself to the ground. They held on tight – Hermione onto Harry's shoulders, and he in turn onto the centaur's mane on his human-like back.
Harry took a final glimpse of Hogwarts Castle in the near-distance, as Firenze rose and started to move out of the clearing. The other pupils, looking amazed and jealous of the centaur's passengers at the same time, quickly moved aside to allow him to increase his pace…
The trolls had now reached the perimeter of the school, Harry and Hermione observed. Whilst the giants continued to bash away at the walls, the trolls slammed their clubs to the ground, flattening any pupils they could catch. The Dementors too, were now on the offensive, and sucking out the life-force of anyone unlucky enough to be caught by them. Screams rang out from a pupil as she was set upon – her cries mingling with countless others echoing across the field of battle. Then the girl, too far away for anyone to help her, dropped lifelessly to the ground between the Dementors who had absorbed her energies.
Hermione gasped, and wept. She clung tighter to Harry.
There was a sudden flash of green light in the sky above the school. With a ghastly cry, the magical force formed itself in a matter of seconds into a vaporous skull with the shape of a serpent emerging from its open mouth.
The Dark Mark. The sorcery signature of Lord Voldemort and his Death Eater supporters. Cast to announce their victory in creating anarchy and death.
The sight of the whole scene before him sickened Harry to his very core – and despite his injuries and fatigue, he growled through his teeth.
"Let's get out of here, Firenze," he spat.
The centaur, too, had taken in what Harry and Hermione had seen. "Do not despair too much, my friends. We will return!" And with that, he turned and gathered speed – first cantering out of the forest, then galloping along the driveway and through the open gates. The pupils who were racing for their lives away from Hogwarts, dived aside to avoid the hooves of the centaur teacher.
You will regret what you have done, Malfoy, Harry swore to himself. You and all of the other Death Eaters. This isn't the end of it…
"Firenze is right, Harry." Hermione was crying as she made herself heard over the noise of the centaur's gallop. But her tone was defiant. "We will be back!"
Harry nodded grimly as he saw the night-shrouded landscape flash by them. "Yes, we will – Hermione," he agreed. "And we're going to fight to reclaim Hogwarts. Even if it takes the last breath in my body, I'm going to see that the school becomes ours once more! And as for Malfoy…"
"What about him?" Hermione sniffed, as she tried to blink aside her tears.
"Malfoy had better start digging his own grave!" Harry snarled. "One way or another, I'm going to see him dead!"
END OF PART ONE
(Please provide well-rounded feedback - and tell me what you think will happen in Part Two, which will start to appear in June 2010!)
