Disclaimer: Wow. It's becoming more and more difficult to find new ways of telling people that I don't own these things, and that I'm not making any money off of someone else's ideas. Oh...I guess I just did it :) Enjoy.
Chapter 20: Hogwarts' Express And One Less SecretAfter assuring Mrs. Weasley that they would, in fact, try to stay out of trouble, the trio made their way to the train. Ginny had slipped out of the group earlier when she noticed some of the DA getting on, saying a quick goodbye to her mom and running off.
As they were getting on the train, Harry, appearing as his regular self, noticed that Hermione was looking rather agitated and nervous about something. He chalked it up to returning to school, but decided that he'd ask her about it after they had found a compartment.
They finally found Neville, Ginny and Susan Bones in one of them and so joined them there. Ginny and Susan had been whispering and giggling but stopped abruptly when they noticed that the trio had entered. Harry gave a questioning look at Neville who just shrugged in response. Harry took the seat next to Susan across from the other two occupants as Ron and Hermione said their goodbyes and headed off to the prefects' car.
"So Harry, how did your tests go at the ministry?" inquired Susan.
"Quite good actually. I ended up getting an O in all three. Which is nice, even though they don't count towards my total OWLs achieved." Harry explained.
"Why not?" asked Ginny.
"It's because they don't want everyone to do them that late in the year. The only reason they even offer it is for students who messed up the first time, or those like myself who wanted to get the requirements for the corresponding NEWTs."
"Then why did you take the Muggle Studies one? You planning on taking that at the NEWT level?" asked Susan.
"I took that one for four reasons actually. First, I was thinking I might if I needed an easy course to round out my NEWTs, which I wont be needing now. Second, because I wanted to know how much stuff I actually knew about how wizards see muggles which is apparently enough to pass the OWL without cracking a book. Third, I might decide to take the exam at the end of my seventh year just to see if I'll pass because you don't actually need to take the course in order to write the exam since they are technically government tests and not school ones. And the fourth reason is that I have a really good friend of mine who's taking muggle studies at the OWL level this year, and I wanted to be able to let her know what to expect." he explained as he smiled at Ginny, who returned it with a thank you.
"What classes are you taking then?" asked Susan.
"I have 8 that I'm signed up for, which is the maximum, though I wont be staying in all of them. Right now I have Charms, Transfiguration, Potions, Arithmacy, Runes, CoMC, DADA and Herbology." Everyone was surprised at Harry's course load. Most people took 5 or 6 tops since they'd be writing NEWTs for them at the end of the year, but this many was just...suicide. "I'll also be going to the new dueling club that will be announced at the opening feast. But like I said, I'll definitely be dropping one or two. Especially since my ban on Quiddich was lifted." he added with a smile. He had already decided on which ones he'd be dropping, how and when for that matter too. And boy, was he looking forward to it.
Susan pouted, and in mock anger said "There's no way Hufflepuff will win this year then. It's not fair!" but she was soon smiling along with everyone else.
"What about the DA Harry? When are we going to find time to do that?" asked a concerned Neville.
"Sorry Nev, but we're not gonna be continuing the DA this year."
"WHAT? Why not?" yelled a surprised Susan, as she threw her hands up in the air.
Neville just sat speechless and he appeared to deflate slightly, looking a little gloomy. Even Ginny seemed disheartened, even though she had known all this before.
"I'm sorry guys. Dumbledore asked me to discontinue it since he says that he got a really good DADA professor and is starting a dueling club. He wanted me to support that with my full attention." Seeing that this wasn't doing anything to return his friends to their former good spirits he added, "Ok, I have an idea. If any of you start to have problems with the things we're doing in DADA or in Dueling, we can get together for extra help, like a study group. Is that an ok compromise?" he asked tentatively, waiting for a response.
They all seemed to cheer up a bit, and Neville answered for them "Ya, I guess that'll do. But I will miss spending time with everyone. Don't get me wrong Har, the spells were good and the other stuff too, but it was just nice to spend time with people from different houses outside of class." Susan nodded in agreement.
"If you put it that way, maybe we can have DA reunions every now and then, just to hang out and spend time together. Maybe find some sort of DA common room or something. I'll see what I can do." Harry suggested.
"That's a great idea Harry, thanks. We should use the coins to call a meeting the first week back though and tell everyone exactly what's going on." suggested Ginny.
"Do you think everyone still has theirs?"
"I got mine," said Neville, patting his pocket.
"Me too" said Susan reaching into her robes to remove it from an inside pocket. "Besides, if they didn't keep it, then I doubt they'll care about what we do with the DA anyways."
"Good point. Ok, I'll call a meeting for sometime this week."
The four friends went on to discuss their summers and happenings. Susan tried to make a big deal about that new Sorcerer who took out those Death Eaters in Diagon Alley, but the other three didn't seem to interested in the topic. Harry had visited Neville again after his time in the lake, and told him everything. He had even brought his manor with him, and gave Neville a tour. During the rest of the summer, Harry had made a couple more visits to Diagon Alley in the guise of the Heir of Gryffindor. He found that it helped people feel safe, and if his mere appearance could do that, he didn't mind popping in every now and then. He never spoke to anyone, only nodded in acknowledgment when someone thanked him, and refused interviews. If he saw a camera, he left immediately, as such, not many pictures had been taken of him, but the few that had, had found their way into every paper in wizarding Europe. Susan was more then happy to show them the scrapbook she had been keeping on the matter, much to Harry's amusement.
They also talked quite a bit about Harry's press conference. Every periodical in Wizarding England had commented on it in some form or another. 'Around the Cauldron' had said he was spoiled child, and should act his age and leave the politics of the world to grown ups and 'Ministry Monthly' had accused him of acting like an self centered brat who had just been told he couldn't have a candy before dinner. Neither of these came as much of a surprise to Harry, since he knew that Fudge was the primary financial backer of both. All the others had pretty much seen it for what it was: Someone finally stepping up to a corrupt government who had been lying to the voters and using every means at his disposal to end it. In this case, Harry had used his fame, and Dumbledore's support to bring the Fudge administration crashing down. He admitted that he might have been able to handle it better, but it had been so much fun to yell at the minister, and to see the look of exasperation on his face.
The Dailey Prophet wrote a huge four page article detailing everything Harry had said, and every accusation that he had leveled against the current government, and Fudge in particular. The Quibbler also had a large article, and interviews with many dead political analysts, who had been dead for quite some years, through people claiming to be channelers of their spirits and also an exclusive with what Elvis had to say on the matter. The picture of Fudge looking like a goblin had been used in another one of their stories, entitled "You are what you eat" referring back to their earlier accusations of Fudge and his penchant for goblin pies.
Even though the matter was still in the courts, Fudge had received a vote of no confidence, and had been removed from office. The Wizengamot had temporarily appointed Emmeline Vance, head of the unspeakables and secret member of the Order of the phoenix, as acting minister. She would remain in the position until the war was over.
Much to Ginny and Neville's surprise, there was a great deal of flirting between Susan and Harry as well. After a little while, Susan excused herself to go visit with some people from her house, but said she'd try to get back before they got to the station. Neville also left, saying he wanted to see if Seamus was there, something about a football game he had gone to see with a muggle friend of his grandmother's that summer.
"So, Harry, Susan seems nice. Don't you think?" asked a grinning Ginny. "I know she finds you particularly attractive."
'At least I know what they were talking about before I got here. I wonder what boy Ginny was thinking about.' he thought to himself. He noticed, at that moment, that Ginny seemed to get a little embarrassed, but quickly returned to her grin. Now it was Harry's turn to smile. He had an idea.
"She does seem nice. I think I might have to look into getting to know her better." he said before going to pick up the book Neville had put down before leaving.
Ginny assumed the conversation over, so she too went back to her reading. Noticing that she was no longer paying attention, Harry decided to enact his plan.
'Ginny?' he thought while looking at her.
"Ya?" she said as she looked up to see a madly grinning Harry. Then it hit her: he hadn't actually said anything.
"I knew it!" he whispered with conviction.
Before either of them could discuss this revelation, the door opened and in stormed Ron, followed by a concerned looking, babbling Hermione.
"Ron, I'm sooooo sorry. I didn't mean to make it sound like that..." but he cut her off.
"Didn't mean to make it sound like that? How can you say 'I never thought you intelligent enough to come up with something like that' in a good way?" he asked, more disappointed then angry.
"I...I meant..." she sputtered before the tears came to her eyes in full force. "I'm so sorry Ron. I'm terrible. I'm just gonna..." her voice tapered off as she turned to leave. But before she could walk out the door, a hand caught her arm and turned her around slowly.
Ron was now standing right in front of her, her wet cheeks could feel the warmth of his breathe as he exhaled.
"Hermione," he said softly, with no anger left in his voice, "please stop crying. I know you didn't mean it like that, but that doesn't mean it didn't hurt. And leaving isn't gonna make me feel any better. Just like Harry," he said as he nodded his head to the side to acknowledge Harry's presence, "you're stuck with me. I just ask that you think before you speak sometimes. For the smartest witch in Hogwarts, you can say some pretty stupid things."
Hermione didn't know whether she should be angry at his comment or embarrassed by the truth of it. To be honest, she was having a hard time thinking at all, as she looked up through teary eyes into the eyes of the gorgeous...
She gave herself a mental shake, broke eye contact and stepped away from Ron with a small smile on her lips. She wiped her eyes with her sleeve as she muttered a thank you and another sorry. Ron had changed a LOT over the summer. She wasn't sure how or why, but the change was more then a little obvious, and not just the physical one.
He had come up with a good idea in the Prefects meeting for a standardized point penalty system. That way prefects could penalize other students responsibly, while at the same time minimizing the possibility for dishonest prefects to abuse their position. His proposition also suggested that the Head boy and girl get more power over the prefects, allowing them to remove points from a prefect when they abused their position, or even to overrule a prefect's decision if thought to be unjust, but only if both Head boy and girl agreed and got approval for this ruling from one of the head's of house. This new Ron was something she was still getting used to and she still wasn't sure how to act around him.
Ron smiled too and told her she was forgiven as he took a seat next to Harry. Hermione sat down next to Ginny just as the door opened again.
"Anything from the trolley dears?"
"YA!" exclaimed Ron, "I'll take 25 chocolate frogs!"
The others looked at him in shock, and with a little bit of disgust. "What? They have a special series out now commemorating the fall of evil wizards. I'm just missing 3 out of the possible 50 to finish the set." Seeing that this wasn't doing much to change his friends' facial expressions he added "but they're a limited edition!"
Ron got the frogs, regardless of his friends' reactions, and Harry too bought a good amount off the trolley to share with everyone. He even grabbed a chocolate rose for Susan, though he wandlessly shrunk it and slipped it in his pocket before returning to the compartment so the others wouldn't see it.
As they waded through the many sweets, a good number of DA members dropped by to say hello. Ron was true to his word, and only ate about 5 of the frogs, but managed to slip the cards out of the others and saving the chocolate for later. He had spent the last week before going back working at the twins' store. This earned him a bit of cash, so the frogs weren't as big a financial strain as they would have been even the year before.
Ron looked over at the card in Harry's hand, "Who's that?"
"It says here that the guys name is Medwin Blaz Reinblut. He was, along with Albus Percival Dumbledore, one of the major strategist and planner in the war against Grindewald. It was his calculations and planning that resulted in the trap that finally forced Grindewald to face off against Dumbledore. He was praised as a hero after the war, but disappeared shortly after failing to win the election for Minister of magic. He has not been heard from since. Author of the book 'How evil falls: The weaknesses in thinking yourself indestructible.' which was blacklisted and declared illegal for fear that it would give dark wizards too much information as to how to avoid being defeated, he is rumoured to be living in seclusion somewhere as a hermit."
"Whoa! That's one of the ones I need! You wouldn't want to trade me for him would ya Harry?" asked Ron hopefully.
"That all depends Ron," he responded with a grin "What're ya willing to trade for him?"
Ron smiled confidently. "How bout this one?" he said as he handed the card to Harry, who read it with a look of surprise on his face.
There, on the card looking back at him was...himself? He read absently, "Harry James Potter, A.K.A. The-Boy-Who-Lived. Harry Potter was solely responsible for the first fall of the great dark wizard 'He-who-must-not-be-named' over a decade ago. This child was only a year and a half old when the Dark Lord tried to kill him with a killing curse, only to have it reflect back on himself, successfully ending his reign of terror. To this day, no one knows exactly why this happened. Harry Potter is the most recent to fell a dark wizard, and has since evaded this same dark wizard twice since his resurrection. Grandson of John Potter (#34 of the dark wizard slayer series), he is the youngest, and possibly most inspiring of all the wizards in this series earning him the rank of number one." Harry was...well...he didn't know exactly how he was, "I don't believe it!" he whispered.
"I know!" snorted Ron, "They can't even WRITE his name. How pathetic!" Everyone laughed at Ron's obvious attempt to lighten Harry's mood, and it actually worked.
Harry smiled, but then with a grin replied, "I already know this guy. You'll have to do better then that if you want my card, Weasley."
"Does that mean you don't want this one either then?" Ron asked as he handed him another.
Harry smiled, and then read the name aloud for the benefit over every one else there, "John Potter." Harry handed him Reinblut's card keeping both his AND his Grandfather's as payment. Ron thought it a fair trade.
"Besides, I already have 2 of John, and I had 5 of you, but I think Ginny stole them and taped them to the wall beside her bed." he said with a wink to Harry, who laughed.
Ginny just snorted, "In your dreams Potter! Besides, I've already seen you naked, and wasn't overly impressed." she said, in reference to the Tonks gag that backfired. Having heard the story from Harry during one of their flights around the park, Ron let out a howl of laughter. Not having heard the story, Hermione just stared at Harry in shock. Harry turned a gorgeous shade of crimson, and decided that the quickly moving scenery outside the window was much more interesting then the conversation in here, which caused Ginny to start giggling too, as she tried to explain to Hermione what actually happened. Ron was having problems breathing now, but it was all worth it.
Eventually the laughing ceased, and Neville returned.
They talked for a bit more about the new DADA professor and who he or she might be, also wondering if there would be any other new staff this year. Ron and Ginny shared a knowing smile when this topic came up, but no one else noticed.
"Hermione?" started Harry "what's up? You don't seem yourself today. Somethin' wrong?"
"Well...you see...I need to tell you guys something before we gat back to school." she said, looking around nervously, "but I don't know how you're gonna react when I tell you." she added, almost worried.
"Hermione, didn't you hear me earlier? You're stuck with me, and lets face it," said Ron with forced arrogance, and a Lockhart smile "Wherever I go, these three follow." She cracked a smile at this, and some of her nerves left her.
"You just wait Ron." warned Harry, "You want a following? You'll have one. I promise you that." he said, with a mischievous smirk.
"Oh no you don't! I know that look!" said Hermione "That's the same look you gave me right before we sat down in those charmed chairs that took off flying and recreated a famous dog fight from WW2." she said in reference to one of his earlier pranks at the Manor. "My knuckles STILL hurt from holding on to that chair so hard so that I wouldn't fall off."
"But Hermione, I had safety bars appear on them." he said in mock defense.
"You do know why they put safety bars on roller coasters don't you Harry? It's cause THEY'RE NOT SAFE!" she said pointing a menacing finger in Harry's direction.
Everyone started laughing at that.
"It's ok Hermione, besides, this one's JUST for Ron." he said with a twinkle in his eye.
"Anyways," interjected Neville "We don't want to interrupt you...again. What Ron said, well, most of it anyways, goes for all of us. We'll stick with you no matter what. So what is it you need to tell us?"
"Ok, you see, we're gonna be getting some new students..." started Hermione before being cut off.
"Who? And how do you kn..."
"RON!" the other three yelled.
"Sorry, you were saying Hermione?" he said with an apologetic look on his face.
"I was saying, that we are getting new students. Do you and Harry remember the night Ginny came to the manor?" They nodded. "Well, what I was trying to tell you that night, is that I not only know them, but I'm..." but she was again interrupted, this time by the door opening.
"Well, well, well what do we have here? Potty and a bunch of the members from his Dork Association." drawled Draco Malfoy who had entered with Pansy at his side, and Crab and Goyle standing menacingly behind him.
"Buzz off Malfoy, we were trying to have a civilized conversation." said Ron, who was remaining surprisingly calm, before he turned to face his friends again.
Draco's anger flared that the Weasel had DARED to turn his back on him, but he calmed himself, after all, he only had to distract them for a few more minutes. "What's the matter Weasel? Been taking lessons from Longbottom? Too chicken to stand up for yourself?" he mocked, much to the amusement of his arm candy, and two thugs.
Harry put his hand on Ron's shoulder and stepped passed him. All of the friends had stood up when they saw it was Malfoy, they had a feeling trouble would be close behind, and they didn't want to be caught napping when it happened.
"Tell me Malfoy, does it hurt?" Harry asked in all seriousness.
"Does what hurt, scar head?" he spat out in frustration. He didn't know where Potter was going with this, but he was sure he wouldn't like it.
"When Voldemort (Pansy, Crabbe, and Goyle flinched) casts the Cruciatus Curse on you for failing him."
"I wouldn't know." Draco said with a smile.
"Why's that? Is it because you haven't joined him, or haven't failed him...yet." asked Neville with a sneer of disgust.
"If it were you FATbottom, I would have to say that it was because you hadn't joined him, since I know for a fact you'd never be able to accomplish anything the Dark Lord asked of you, since you're so weak. But as for me, I guess you'll just have to guess."
As he finished, he felt the tip of a wand under his nose. He hadn't seen Potter draw it, but there was no denying his senses.
"It would seem that we have over stayed our welcome." said Draco with a calm cool tone as he backed away through the door. "Until next time, Potter." he said evenly, throwing them a confident smile as the door closed.
"That was odd." said Harry.
"I know, Ron I'm so proud of you for not exploding." exclaimed a happy and proud Hermione.
"That's not what he meant Hermione." Ron said, and then, turning to Harry, he agreed, "You're right, that was very odd. I've never seen him that confident and sure of himself before."
"Especially with a wand pointed at him. He didn't even look scared. That's not a good sign."
As if on cue, the train began breaking abruptly, causing everyone to be thrown up against he wall of the cabin. Ginny seemed dazed, but Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville were up in a flash.
"You guys stay here, I'm gonna go find out what that was." ordered Harry.
"Bugger that!" exclaimed Ron, "You're not going anywhere without us, mate. Don't even try it."
"Fine, but stay close."
Harry peaked out the door, seeing no one on the left, he slipped out with Ron and Hermione close behind him and started making their way to the front of the train.
Suddenly, Harry saw a bolt of red light out of the corner of his eye, causing Ron to drop. He whipped around just in time to see another bolt hit Hermione, who then dropped too. Before Harry could even react, Neville had jumped out of the room and began firing curses down the hall. Harry was impressed at the courage that had manifested itself in his friend over the summer, and he promised himself to talk to Neville about it later to find out where it all came from.
They saw a form move down the hall and Neville chased after it before Harry could stop him.
Making a quick decision, Harry checked both Hermione and Ron for a pulse, finding one, and thanking God they were still alive, he levitated them back into the compartment. Ginny, who was now standing, saw her brother's and Hermione's bodies floating in, but also saw the look on Harry's face and was calmed instantly. They were alive.
"Stay here with these two and make sure no one gets them." he said as he made his way out the room.
"Like hell!" the redhead exclaimed as she followed him out with her wand out and magically locked the door behind him.
"Fine, but be careful, and keep close." He was about to follow down the hall that Neville took when he heard a massive explosion coming from the other direction. Cursing his luck, he ran to find out what had happened.
A couple of cars ahead, he saw that a big chunk of the car had been blown to shreds. There were several bodies lying around, unfortunately all of them were students. Most of them were moving, but two of them weren't so herushed over. Lying there, battered and torn was Colin Creevy and another young boy, whom he assumed was a first year since he didn't recognise him and he didn't have a house symbol on his robe either. Finding a pulse, he motioned Ginny over and then quickly did a couple of spells to partially close the wounds and reduce the pain of both students. He was by no means a healer and hadn't put much work into that aspect of magic this past summer, but he did what he could.
"Ginny, get him back to the cabin with your brother and Hermione. Try to enervate them," he said, mentally kicking himself for not thinking of that before, "and then try to help everyone who is injured, and patch them up. Hermione's been studying healing. The other boy will be ok, but she'll be Colin's only hope. I can't do any more for him." The other boy had been bleeding more then Colin, but his wounds had been straightforward and external. Colin, on the other hand, was bruised severely, and was obviously bleeding internally.
"Where are you going?" she asked, more then a little scared.
"To stop the ones who did this. Keep them safe. I'll be back."
Ginny nodded, and began casting the spell to levitate Colin back to the compartment, as Harry morphed into his kneazle form and stealthfully slipped outside through the large hole that now decorated the side of the passenger car.
Harry looked around quickly and saw the battle waging. He was about to go to the aid of a young girl wrestling with a hooded figure a little ways down, only to realize who it was:Sally-Ann Perks. He watched as she fought off the death Eater. As he crept closer he heard her yell "NO! I told you that last time too. I will NOT serve him. Leave me alone!" Then she sent a swift kick to the groin of the Deatheater, causing Harry to flinch despite the fact of who had been hurt, allowing her to break free and run back into the train.
He quickly morphed back into Harry and sent a stunner at the man who was trying to chase after her.
He continued down the side of the train to where more people were fighting. He saw Susan send off a couple of stunners, and joined in from where he was, about five meters away, and sent them in the same direction she was as he tried to make his way closer. He heard spells being cast all around him, "CRUCIO" "REDUCTO" "AVADA KEDAVRA!"
Harry saw the green ray heading towards Susan who had frozen in her place. Despite the training she had received in the DA, nothing can ever totally prepare you for the real thing.
Thinking quickly he yelled "ACCIO SUSAN"
The green bolt just barely missed her as she was pulled to him. Catching her he immediately rolled away, with her in his arms, as 2 stunners hit theside of the carwhere he had been standing. He quickly hopped inside the open door with Susan in his arms and threw up a shield.
Susan was weeping uncontrollably, bruised and had several cuts. "Are you ok?" he asked the crying girl that he was still holding in his arms.
She looked up at Harry through her teary eyes and nodded slightly. He was holding on to her with his left arm, and his right arm was outstretched and holding the shield in place with his wand. Harry had decided to use his wand for this battle, not wanting whatever advantage he had next time he faced Voldemort to be taken away from him.
Relieved that she was safe in Harry's arms, she clung to him tightly.
"Susan," he said with a compassionate, but authoritative voice, "I need to get back out there. I'll come and check on you afterwards, but I need you to make your way back to the compartment I was in. Hermione and Ginny should be treating wounded there, and they need help. I'll go there as soon as everything is taken care of."
She nodded and began to separate from him, but before getting up, she kissed Harry on the lips and whispered, "Thank you."
He had been surprised slightly by this, but fortunately was able to keep his concentration on the shield as two more jets of red light hit the invisible barrier. He smiled genuinely, "Susan, you have to go now. I'll be back as soon as I can."
She nodded again, got up and left. This allowed Harry to focus on the fight outside again. Before he could get out into the fight, he heard a voice from beside him yell 'CRUCIO'. Harry was instantly hit with immense pain. Trying to push the pain out of his mind was useless. Even the best occlumens in the world couldn't do it, so what hope did he, someone with barely an above average working knowledge of the subject hope to accomplish that. It might not have dulled the pain but it did help him focus more clearly when the assailant had finished. It was then that he caught a reflection of sliver behind the wand of his adversary.
Before Wormtail could cast another spell, Harry sent off a flurry of crippling curses. He hit with the bone breaker, the full body bind, and a severing curse. Wormtail stood rigid, and blood began to pour freely from where his silver hand used to be, his left shoulder was clearly shattered, and he had silent tears rolling down his cheeks.
Harry cast a flame spell at his stump to cauterize the wound. Wormtail passed out because of the pain, but Harry didn't care. As long he didn't die, Harry could care less how uncomfortable he was. Harry then cast a spell he had read about while looking up information regarding becoming an Animagus. This spell forced an Animagus into his form, and he stayed that way until the caster released him, or died.
Picking up the pathetic rat, Harry placed him in his pocket. He then shrunk the silver hand and placed it in another one, planning on taking a closer look at it at a later time.
Looking around now, he noticed that there were no students outside, and that the Deatheaters were trying to make their way onto the train but with little success. Various members of the DA were positioned at different doors effectively keeping the Deatheaters from getting too close.
He quickly downed one of the potions that he carried in his belt that reduced the after effects of the Cruciatus, before jumping out the door and starting to shoot stunners and body binds at them. He was able to drop four of them before the others noticed him but then, as another four focused on Harry, one of the other Death Eaters revived the four he had felled.
'Well this sucks.' he thought to himself. 'Time to start using my wandless stunners.' He continued pointing his wand at them, but shot the spell out through his fingers instead, making it look like he was still using his wand. It was a ploy he had been working on over the last week of the summer. This would allow him to cast wandless spells in a situation where a wandless spell was needed, but still keeping his identity as a Sorcerer concealed.
He dropped two of the four that were trying to keep him busy, and had successfully dodge all the others, but now more had been appearing.
As he was casting his ancient stunners with his wand hand as he did his best to dodge their spells. He thought they had really bad aim, until he realized that he was now a full six meters away from the train, and they were starting to surround him.
A quick count revealed four fallen hooded figures, who they hadn't been able to revive, and 8 others closing in on him from all angles. He got hit a couple of times with bludgeoning curses, luckily the Robe of Gryffindor that he had made look like a school robe had absorbed most of the damage. His Metamorphmagus abilities would be able to take care of the subsequent bruising as soon as he had 5 minutes to concentrate on his injuries, unfortunately now was not the time, and the bruises just increased in number.
He dropped another opponent, and cast multiple 'Serpensortia' spells. He had them attack the Death Eaters anyway they knew how. Unfortunately, his slithering friends were all taken care of quickly, and they had only managed to drop one robed figure before they were killed. Soon after, another two Death Eaters finally succumbed to his wandless stunners, but there were still four surrounding him. But his movements were slowing significantly, and he didn't know how much longer he'd be able to keep this pace.
"Awww, is poor ickle potty starting to get tired?" a woman's voice cooed from the group followed by the same blood freezing laugh that he had heard as his godfather was sent through the veil.
It was during that short moment of surprise, as he recognised the voice of Bellatrix Lestrange taunting him, that he lost focus long enough for two spells to slip past his defenses.
The first slicing curse caught him in his right ankle, practically severing his foot. This caused him to stumble a bit, and his robes flew open allowing the second cutting curse to hit him in the lower right abdomen. He was in incredible pain and so couldn't concentrate on much of anything, including flashing, or healing himself. He clutched at his side as he lay on the ground, slightly propped up by a large rock at his back.
"Well, well, well, ickle Harrikins has finally fallen. You did much better then that mutt of a godfather of yours. What a waste he was." she cackled.
Harry gritted his teeth and tried to raise his wand.
"Oh no you don't, CURCIO." she cried.
Harry was instantly reeling in pain. This curse felt a million times more powerful then Wormtail's and it was all he could do not to scream out in anguish. He refused to give her the satisfaction.
"You're a stubborn brat." she said as she smiled seductively. "You're strong, but I'll make you scream. I always make them scream." It was obvious that she found this kind of thing erotically exciting, which did more to disgust Harry than the broken bodies of his fallen fellow students. How anyone could find the suffering of another pleasurable was something that he would never understand.
Harry tried to muster up the strength to spit out some sort of cliché like 'not in a million years' or 'go to hell bitch' but he couldn't. His pain ridden body was fighting hard to respond to even the simplest of instructions, like breathing. Something as complex as speech was not going to be accomplished anytime soon.
"But not here. I think my master would like to be there when you're broken. Yes, I think he would enjoy that very..." and that's all she got out before she was thrown forward having been hit from behind by something.
The remaining Death Eaters had been so engrossed in the capture and torture of Harry Potter,that they didn't notice the seven students walking towards them until each one of them was hit by a spell.
Harry looked up to see Neville leading the way, and 3 members of the DA flanking him on either side. After the Death Eaters had fallen, Susan ran up to Harry to see if he was ok. Seeing how hurt he was she held back her tears, promptly fell to her knees by his side, and tried to apply pressure to the wound in his abdomen.
Neville looked down at Harry and started taking action. "Justin! Dean! Go back to the train and get Hermione. Tell her it's Harry, and tell her to hurry. Hannah, I want you to..." But that's all Harry heard before succumbing to the sweet embrace of darkness.
AN: Thanks to my reviewers: Ubetiburn, hp fan 30, chaser1 (congrats on being reviewer #400, and thanks), mohit, Murdax, Fairtale-princess, Tmctflyboy, Jack-A-Roe, donna ficfan, Life Love Sanity , Tanydwr, yo-yo55d, captuniv, Kyle Brofloyski, Ava Monroe, TankerMDK, nonjon, Nessa Fefalas, Nightwing 509.
A big thank you to my proof readers/editors ChickA.Dee and HJP
Farfumsane.