Chapter Nine - Invasion
The crowd at the door had dispersed almost immediately now that the fun and excitement was over. Most had in fact followed the Dante and the woman at a safe distance, rather than return to lessons, gathering outside the Headmistress's office. When Dante stormed out of there, he was most surprised by the group of students, and rather irritated by it too. Apparently he had knocked over quite a few people as he left, rolling another bullet between his fingers.
Harry and the other two had not been around to see this latest episode. They had instead remained by the front doors. Harry in particular had no wish to come face to face with Dante when he was in such a mood - it couldn't be any better than seeing him drunk and that would have been traumatic enough for anyone. The bullet that had been fired by the strange woman still lay incongruously on the floor. Harry suddenly knelt down and picked it up carefully, trying not to get his fingers covered in blood, though that proved a little difficult. He wiped it off with his robes. Ron gave the piece of metal a look of absolute disgust.
"Why would you want that thing?" he asked as Harry looked at it closely, turning it this way and that in the dim light.
"Don't you think it's strange," Harry answered thoughtfully, "that he's survived two injuries that should have killed anyone else?"
Ron shrugged. He was obviously unimpressed. "He's probably got some sort of charm thing. Leave that alone, it was in his head for crying out loud!" Harry ignored him and instead pocketed the bullet.
Hermione also gave Harry an unnerved look, which seemed to suggest that he was crazy for wanting a bullet that had recently been embedded in a man's head. But she made no comment, except to say, "It can't be a charm, Ron. We know he's a Muggle, he can't do magic."
This observation was met with a disagreeing snort. "So if he's a Muggle, how can he pull off all those tricks? How can he see the castle, for a start? It's supposed to appear as ruins to Muggles, according to your books." Harry looked at his friend in surprise. He hadn't realised that anything Hermione had ever told them about the school had actually penetrated Ron's skull.
"Well I don't know, do I?" Hermione answered, snapping a little.
"You look at him often enough, I'd have thought you'd want to find out everything about him so you can declare yourself his number one fan." At this Hermione turned slightly pink. She opened her mouth to retaliate but Harry quickly intervened before the argument could get heated. He wasn't in the mood for being stuck between the pair of them today.
"Leave it, both of you," he said quickly. "It doesn't matter one way or another. Who cares if he's a Muggle or even human or... or... Hermione," he broke off irritably, "are you actually listening to me?" Her face had taken on a sort of vague look. The other two recognised this look - it usually appeared when she'd realised something of great interest/importance. Ron snapped his fingers in front of her and grinned as she blinked.
"Back with us now?"
She swatted his hand away impatiently. "Harry, that's it!"
"What's it?"
"Human!"
"One day," Ron said loudly, "our friend Hermione will speak clearly and explain things properly and on this day, hell will freeze over."
"Dante is a Muggle. He's certainly not a wizard and he can't perform magic in the conventional sense. But he's definitely not human either. Or at least, he's not fully human."
"Like Hagrid?"
"Well, yes... I mean, he's not half-giant, otherwise he'd be enormous. But there is something different about him, I'm certain of it." Harry considered it. He supposed it would explain a lot about Dante - his disappearing trick for one thing, and his remarkable recovery speed.
"What's his other half then?" Ron asked, mollified slightly by her wise words.
"That's what I don't know. So we'll have to go -"
"Don't tell me," Harry interrupted. "The library."
Ron groaned, but didn't argue. Hermione's face had lit up considerably at the thought of even more research in the library. Harry himself wasn't particularly thrilled, but if it stopped them bickering, he'd do anything. And of course, he wanted to know about Dante... he wasn't prepared to trust him unless he knew all there was to know. Even McGonagall thought there was something funny about the demon slayer... all they had to do was find out.
Now that they were all in agreement once more, the trio turned to set off for the library. But they'd barely moved before Harry paused, frowning at the doorway leading from the Great Hall. A girl stood there, leaning against the doorframe, as if unable to support her own weight. Her gaze was unfocused. With a start, Harry realised that she was one of the girls involved in the fight outside, a few days ago. Apparently she was in shock and had not spoken a word since. He stepped forward uncertainly, wondering if she somehow forgotten where she was.
Hermione spoke kindly to the girl. "Are you all right? Do you need some help?" The vacant eyes suddenly locked on Hermione's face, who flinched a little. Without a word, the girl shook her head slowly. Harry was uneasy for some reason; the girl seemed empty but he sensed that some strange intent lurked behind her eyes.
"C'mon," Ron muttered, nudging Harry. "She's nuts, leave her to it."
But somehow Harry didn't want to leave her to it: if he turned his back, she would do something which could not be taken back. But really, what could she do? She was in shock and who wouldn't be, after what had happened to her?
She straightened, taking them all by surprise, and stumbled forward, as if she did not have full control of her limbs. Or, Harry thought, it was more like something else was inside her, something that was unsure of how to work a human body. She lurched towards them and the three stood aside hastily. Harry would often wonder whether things might have changed if they'd stood their ground.
In an unexpected burst of speed, the girl in shock sprinted across the Entrance Hall, arms outstretched like some deranged zombie. Too late, Harry realised her intention.
"No, wait!"
He started after her, but she'd already reached the main doors and was feverishly sliding the large bolts. As he reached to pull her back by the shoulder, she threw the doors open savagely. His mind gabbled, It's all right, the demons are at the forest, it'll take them a few minutes to realise -
He pulled her back roughly and she fell over, sprawled on the stone floor, a horrid inhuman grin stretched across her face. Ignoring her, Harry grabbed the doors and tried to pull them closed. "Help me!" he yelled to the others and looked outside. And instead of being just inside the Forbidden Forest, the great mass of demons were almost at the castle. Monsters dressed in dark rags and wielding cruel scythes shambled forward; enormous chess pieces, rather like the ones he'd played against in his first year, hopped toward the castle; above these were the Fallen with their angelic appearance, and Sin Scythes, their terrible cackles clearly audible. How...?
Maro had laid his plans carefully. It had been a stroke of lucky really that a demon had managed to possess one of the girls, and he was not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Take whatever comes and grab it with both hands. And so he had sent the demonic army on its way, flanked by Death Eaters. He and Lord Voldemort brought up the rear, the better to see the carnage about to ensue. Maro still clutched his old book in his hand but it was virtually useless now - most of the pages had fallen out and only the hardback cover and a few ragged pieces of paper remained. Yet he still held it like some sort of talisman.
Ron and Hermione had joined Harry at the door, trying to help him pull it closed, but the girl, who'd been lying prone, leapt up with a vicious hiss and with a single word, the doors locked in place, wide open. No matter how hard the three tugged, it was impossible to budge the doors, and the girl's furious shrieks did nothing to help. And all the while...
"Harry!" Hermione shouted. He glanced at her and realised she was pointing at something outside. In the time they'd been trying to shut the doors, the demons had gained a terrifying amount of ground. The front line of various scythe-wielding monsters were barely fourteen feet away and coming closer.
"Oh, that's a problem," Harry noted. "We should probably run."
"Yeah," Ron agreed. "That's a pretty good idea."
So they ran.
- - - - - - - -
Dante couldn't believe this. This had to be the worst job he'd ever taken on. Okay, perhaps that was a little strong, there had been that call out a few months ago to stop some madman which he hadn't enjoyed, but this job ranked highly on the "Totally Sucks" scale. He even had a list back at the office, with Temen-Ni-Gru up at the top. This Hogwarts job could go a little below that.
He wasn't particularly upset that Lady was here - he had enjoyed working with her before she buggered off to Asia, the constant bickering had provided light entertainment - but the fact that McGonagall had simply gone ahead and hired her irked him. She obviously thought him inadequate, but he'd done nothing wrong. The death of that girl had been unfortunate but the Headmistress seemed to think he'd let it happen on purpose.
"Like I ever would," he muttered, scuffing his boots as he wandered the corridors. He still had the bullet between his fingers, rolling it thoughtfully. The Headmistress must think him some kind of monster. He knew she disapproved of his presence, refusing to place trust in Dumbledore's opinion, but jeeze! you had to be heartless to just let someone die. It had been unavoidable. The other two had been lucky to escape just about unscathed.
You would have thought, he said to himself, that after his outburst the other day, McGonagall would have listened. Maybe Lady would talk some sense. Speaing of Lady, he rather thought it would have been polite of her to check with either him or Trish about this job. After all, she'd been called out from Asia, all the way back here. Common sense, surely? Apparently not.
Dante cast a glance out a nearby window, his pace as quick as ever. But it slowed suddenly as he stopped to take a closer look. "What the..." His sharp eyes caught movement at the very edge of the dark mass of trees which was the Forest. A second later, his fears were confirmed - the demons were on the move, and moving at an alarming speed. What could they be hoping to do? The castle doors were shut fast, they couldn't be opened from the outside.
No time to worry now. Something was up. Leaving the window, he sprinted away, leaping down the stairs, sometimes missing out whole floors by vaulting over the banisters. What if the demons had found some way of getting inside? Or maybe someone inside would open...
"Dammit!" he groaned. Of course! How could he have missed it? Obvious, really, when you thought of it, but he'd been so preoccupied after that incident. If he'd had the time, he would have banged his head against a wall but sadly he couldn't afford that particular luxury.
He rounded one final corner and skidded into the Entrance Hall, almost knocking over Harry, Ron and Hermione. For a moment they stood still, gaping at each other.
"The doors are open," Harry said by way of explanation.
"Oh, really?" Dante said in conversational tones.
"Yep."
"Wasn't you, was it?"
"Nope."
"Thought not."
Hermione suddenly tugged on Dante's arm. He looked down at her in surprise. "It was that girl," she said breathlessly. "You have to do something, the monsters are nearly -"
She was interrupted by a loud screech. Looking past the trio, Dante saw one of the girls who'd been caught up in the battle. Instead of cowering in fear, she was standing just inside the doors with her head raised. It was she who was screeching. Again Dante felt the urge to bang his head against a wall. You total dumbass, he scolded himself.
"Get outta here," he said shortly. "They'll be inside in a few seconds, go warn everyone." With that he sprung forward.
"What if we want to help?" Harry shouted after him, reluctant to leave.
"I said get outta here! Tell Lady to get a move on." Ron and Hermione disappeared to warn the other students. Harry however took a different route and headed to the Headmistress's office, a sudden idea in his mind.
Meanwhile, Dante had reached the girl. She was oblivious to his presence for a moment, her eyes fixed on the rapidly approaching demons. Dante roughly grabbed her arm and, ignoring her shrieks, dragged her away from the doors, just as a blade flew by. Time to get a move on.
"Now what am I gonna do with you?" he said. Glancing down, he saw tears on her face. "Nuh-uh, you won't fool me that way. Let's see..." He wrenched open a door and discovered a large cupboard. "Aha. This should do nicely. In ya go." He slung the kid in, none too gently. She stumbled and spun round, a venomous look on her face. He gave her a sardonic wave and slammed the door in her face. "And hey, a key, how convenient! Think I'll just leave you in here to think about what you've done. Like the naughty step. Only it's a cupboard. And when you're ready, you can come out and say sorry, how does that sound?"
Her response was a horrible screech.
"Have it your way. I'm just off to wipe out some of your mates." He turned his back on her protests and surveyed the hall critically. Many demons had found their way inside, making the room echo with their groans. For the second time, he got the feeling that there was somebody coordinating the whole thing - not just the attack, but everything that had happened. Demons never worked together so well unless they had a leader who could offer them something they might want.
Well, it wasn't as if he had time to waste, thinking about it. There be demons to kill and there was still no sign of Lady. Typical woman. Drawing Rebellion, he tapped the flat side of the blade against his palm, smiling as the demons became aware of him. "Don't remember inviting you," he said cheerily. "I never did like gatecrashers which makes it your unlucky day."
He darted forward and before any of the demons knew what hit them, he'd decapitated several of them with one slash. He continued in the same fashion, moving faster than any human eye could follow. "Come on, I was hoping for a challenge this time!" Gunshots joined in the cacophony of ringing metal. Twisting round, Dante saw that Lady had finally put in an appearance.
"It's about time you got here," he called to her as he dodged a scythe or two. "I was beginning to think you'd turned chicken."
She flashed a smile. "I thought I'd let you warm them up for me. Anyway, you're not taking all the credit this time, like you always try to."
Dante ducked under a marionette's knife and thrust upwards with his sword. "Hey, I don't always try to take the credit. Only when I deserve it, of course."
"Oh yeah, like that time when I was the one who blasted that giant demon to smithereens?"
"If it weren't for me wearing it down, you'd never have been in with a shout."
"Nice teamwork, you twit. I don't know why I still talk to you."
"You know you can't resist my devilish charm," Dante said sweetly.
"If by charm you actually mean utter idiocy, you're right. I need someone like you around to make me look even better."
He swooned, clutching at his heart. "Aw, that's hard, miss, awful hard!" Lady scowled and aimed a pistol at him. He moved to the side quickly and the bullet instead made contact with a tall Fetish. He gave her a thumbs-up but then the smile slid from his face as he caught sight of someone else entering the hall.
"Oh no. No no no." Lady followed Dante's gaze and she blinked in surprise at the sight. A tall teenager with messy black hair stood in the doorway. In one hand he held a long sword, its handle encrusted with huge glittering rubies.
"Friend of yours?" Lady asked with a quizzical look. Instead of answering, Dante simply stared in abject horror. What the hell was the kid thinking? What on earth could be going on in his obviously puny mind??
Harry looked back at Dante defiantly. Professor McGonagall had been reluctant to allow him to get Gryffindor's sword, but her protests were cut short at Dumbledore's intervention. He refused to sit back and wait while others did the work and it was impossible to know what was happening. This time at least there was nothing the devil hunter could do about it.
A Hell Pride suddenly realised that there was fresh prey. It swung round and lunged towards him. Dante opened his mouth to shout a warning but it was unneeded. Harry lifted his weapon and stabbed forwards fiercely. The demon stopped in its tracks, looking at the blade in surprise, as if it had not been expecting retaliation. Demons were not that easy to kill, however, and it wrenched itself away, almost pulling Harry's arm along with it. It screeched at him petulantly and slashed its scythe. Harry darted to the side and the scythe emedded itself in the stone floor.
"Kill it" Dante bawled despite being caught up in his own fight. "Finish it off right now!"
Harry tightened his grip on the sword's hilt and lifted it up higher, ready to bring it down swiftly. But something tugged at the back of his mind and stayed his hand. Could he really do it... weren't these things alive? And though he'd seen the monsters kill, he somehow couldn't do the same to them. He hesitated and that single moment almos cost his life. He span round as a puppet drenched in blood leapt at him, evil intentions in its yellow eyes.
But instead of latching on to Harry, it collided with something tall and clad in red leather. Dante caught the thing by the neck and snapped it easily.
"I..." Harry stammered. The demon hunter barely looked at him as he blasted a bullet through the Hell Pride's skull and then snatched Harry up by the elbow. He stalked into the Great Hall, leaving Lady to deal with the demons in the Entrance Hall for now.
"I'm inclined to think that you don't have a brain," Dante growled, releasing Harry. He rubbed his arm ruefully, glaring at the taller man. "Not only do you arrive without permission with that tooth-pick, you can't actually do anything useful with it. What the hell were you thinking? No, wait, you weren't think, of course."
"I just wanted to help," Harry muttered, looking furtively at his 'tooth-pick'.
Dante snorted. "Yeah, you'll be a lot of help when you can't actually kill anything."
Harry began to protest. Suddenly another new voice spoke, cutting across Harry's.
"Well well, certainly not what I would have expected from the great Harry Potter."
"Yeah, I completely agree," Dante nodded. His expression turned into one of comic surprise. "Wait a second. Who said that?"
"Hey," the voice said indignantly. "Don't say you've forgotten me already?"
"Erm..."
Leaning to the side a little, Harry saw the speaker, standing in the doorway, beyond which the battle still raged. It was a man who didn't look particularly old, but rather as if he had seen a lot in life. His face was thin and his hair was grey and dirty. Harry wrinkled his nose in distaste. Dante realised the man was standing behind him and turned round slowly. The look of surprise on his face turned to one of utter shock.
"You?"
"Me." Maro spread his arms wide. "Happy to see me again, eh, Dante?"
- - - - -
A/N: Gah. I suck. I suck big time. Sorry!!!! Thank god for my personal writing coach or this might have taken even longer. Erm, hope none of you are dead... I did get reviews saying that people would die if I didn't hurry up... sorry...
