CHAPTER X – BATTLE AGAIN
Harry was really desperate. All he could now do was defend himself, in the hope that someone would wake up due to the noise. And he was right. Just as he was about to fall under the weight of two spells that hit him, the door burst open. Out ran three people – Minerva McGonagall, Severus Snape, and Hermione Granger. Bellatrix screamed with fury as Snape at once shot a Healing spell at Harry, who returned to full health a moment before he was about to black out. Minerva joined Dumbledore, and her wand sent showers of spells upon Voldemort. Voldemort's face was twisted in fury.
Snape struck up a duel with Bellatrix, who was intent upon killing the spy. But for the first time, Harry actually realized how powerful Snape was. While Harry dueled alongside Hermione against Dolohov, he saw that Snape returned each and every spell of Bellatrix with a more powerful one. At one moment, it seemed that Snape had won, when he caused slashes to appear on Bellatrix's body, but Bellatrix still dueled. Her wounds were healed nonverbally by Voldemort. Thus the duel continued.
Harry was very tired, especially after the Cruciatus, but Hermione had renewed energy. She, being a seventeen-year-old, used spells of extreme complexity. She transfigured the ground below Dolohov to throw huge chunks of Earth at him spontaneously, which proved a fantastic distraction. Harry, meanwhile, used only simple spells at a fast speed. But suddenly, Harry and Hermione had an idea at the same time. As one, they slashed their wands vertically, and unleashed a gold flash of light and fire at Dolohov, who fell under its weight. This was the DA's own creation. Courtesy Hermione and Neville.
A moment later, one Death Eater broke through the bubble of protection Dumbledore had placed. The old man, along with McGonagall, dueled incredibly. Harry then realized that actually he had never noticed how powerful any of his teachers were. He had heard about Flitwick's fame, but never seen him duel either.
Anyways, Hermione ran forward to meet the new Death Eater, who turned out to be Malfoy. The "Mudblood" faced the Pureblood with such ferocity and unanticipated power that he faltered. He was dueling well, but he couldn't imagine how this young witch was so powerful.
Then, two more figures burst through the charm, and Harry challenged them. But he needed some help, as he was tired. As if in reply, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin burst through the door of the Burrow. They ran and pushed Harry aside not roughly, and dueled as if it was fun. They kept laughing as the twirled and swiped their wands, and kept shouting insults to the Death Eaters, and reminding the other of earlier duels they had participated in. Harry couldn't imagine they were facing Death Eaters. It was as if they were in school, at a training session, facing eleven-year-olds.
More and more Death Eaters were finding their way in. At the same time, Arthur and Molly had run out of the house to defend it. They too dueled with much power, which Harry had neither seen nor expected from the weary Arthur or the gentle, plump Molly. Flitwick and Ron too came out of the house, and dueled two Death Eaters each. Harry, who was doing nothing, ran forward and teamed up with Ron. Harry's entry surprised the Death Eater, and Ron took use of this distraction and burned him. Everything was going fine.
On the other side of the Battle, the earliest duel was still on, except that it had a new member. Neville had joined McGonagall and Dumbledore, and he seemed not very less in front of their own strength. Dumbledore and Voldemort, it seemed, didn't want to waste their Magic, because they used just a little amount of transfiguration now and then and sent the other's own spell back at him. Dumbledore was attacked by ropes, which he turned into snakes and put onto Voldemort ('Snakes? They are mine, Albus,'). Voldemort, in turn, sent the snakes at Dumbledore and changed them to daggers at the last minute, which Minerva managed to vanish just in time. Neville, however, was acting as a good distraction, as he aimed spell after spell at Voldemort. This seemed to bother Voldemort a lot.
Finally, the last of what the Order had on their side stepped out of the door. This has to get over soon, thought Harry, as Alastor Moody, Nymphadora Tonks and Luna Lovegood ran and took up duels. Everyone was dueling at least two Death Eaters, some even three, and everyone was coping fine. Harry acted as the Reviver; he darted in and out of the duels and sent Healing or Reviving spells at any of his friends or teachers. Occasionally, he also changed place with any of the DA, because as they were not very experienced (their only experience of real battle had been the Ministry and the rare invasions at Hogwarts that year), and got tired. Slowly, the situation seemed to improve as the Death Eaters were taken out one-by-one...