Chapter 21
Voldemort sat on the sidelines as his army was sent to overwhelm the defenses of Hogwarts. In many ways he had accomplished his goal of becoming the most powerful wizard of his age. He had deep knowledge of magic, he had eliminated his rivals, and he had created an army that would not be denied. From his vantage point he saw the last of his army enter the castle. He knew that Hogwarts staff would prove themselves capable defenders but eventually numbers would win out. One did not earn a place in his army without demonstrating their power and skill. He would give the fools ten more minutes before he entered Hogwarts to quell the resistance and end the battle.
Fenrir Greyback had managed to escape the centaurs and had resumed his wizard form before rejoining his comrades. If the initial waves of the Death Eater to enter Hogwarts were the cannon fodder then the group the Greyback joined was the artillery. In front of the werewolf was the Dark Lord's inner circle: Avery, Crabbe, Goyle, Mulciber, Nott, Rosier, Selwynn, Travers, Wilkes, Jugson, Gibbon, Antonin Dolohov, Rabastan and Rodolphus Lestrange, Augustus Rookwood, and Walden Mcnair. Each of the men was a proven warrior who had been fighting for more years than most of the students at Hogwarts had been alive. They were responsible for making sure that those that the Dark Lord had sought dead were killed.
The group contemplated splitting up, but decided against it. Instead they directed the rank-and-file Death Eaters ahead of them to concentrating on sweeping the upper floors while they secured the Great Hall. Though none of the rank-and-file Death Eaters would admit it, they were glad that they would not be faced with the task of dealing with the professors. The majority of the Death Eaters who existed outside of the inner circle had been students at Hogwarts before joining the Death Eater cause. They had witnessed the professors perform very powerful magic and did not wish to be on the receiving end of such magic. So, with haste they moved away from the doors of the Great Hall and began marching up the staircases that would lead them to the upper levels of Hogwarts.
Once the inner circle had a clear path to the Great Hall they huddled together before blasting through the doors. One advantage that the Death Eaters possessed was the fact that Hogwarts' defenders had been fighting almost non-stop for almost an hour. After that much time even the strongest wizard would become exhausted; the professors would be on their last legs. All the Death Eaters would have to do to be victorious would be to wait for the eventual mistakes that their opponents would make and to capitalize when the opportunity presented itself.
The Lestrange brothers took the lead with the other members of the inner circle flanking them from either side. If the other Death Eaters were surprised by the Lestranges leading their group to a section of the wall thirty feet away from the doors to the Great Hall then they did not show it; they dutifully followed the brothers who had been selected by their master to lead the force. Rabastian and Rudolphus looked at each other and began counting down. When they got to three, they raised their wands and pointed them at the wall. The other Death Eaters realized what the pair intended and also aimed their wands at the wall. As the word one was said all sixteen Death Eaters cast blasting curses at the wall causing it to implode into the Great Hall.
Kingsley Shacklebolt was suspicious. He was sure that the mass of Death Eaters in the entrance hall had intended to swarm the Great Hall. Thus he had called out to the other defenders to make sure that they were on their guard. When no more Death Eaters swarmed into the Great Hall he began to feel that something was amiss. He kept his wand trained on the door so that he would be prepared when the next batch of opponents burst into the room. What he was not ready for was a section of wall, close to where the Weasley family was standing, to be blasted into the Great Hall. Although the blast was far enough from the Weasleys that Kingsley seriously doubted that any of them were seriously harmed Charlie was knocked off his feet from the concussive waves.
The combat that had occurred in the Great Hall earlier paled in comparison to the level of combat that the newest batch of Death Eaters fought on. The battle pitted sixteen Death Eaters against ten of Hogwarts' defenders, one of which still hadn't gotten to his feet. The Death Eaters paired off and attacked the defenders. Greyback was the only Death Eater who stood alone against his opponent, but that was the way he preferred it to be.
Molly and Arthur shared a look before they took a stand side-by-side to face the four Death Eaters who would kill them as soon as they got the chance. The night before Molly and Arthur had a very long discussion about the possibility of them dying during the battle. Although neither wished to leave their children without parents, they agreed that they would do what they needed to keep their children safe even at the expense of their own lives. The pair was exemplified Gryffindor bravery as they stood resolutely against their adversaries. Molly was the first to begin casting. She used the Azote Ardiendo spell to turn her wand into a fiery whip capable that could be used for offensive and defensive purposes as her defenders learned when she used it to send a volley of their own spells back at them.
Arthur saw his wife cast her favorite combat spell and was compelled to do the same. Howevere, his favorite combat spell was very different from his wife's. Instead of conjuring a whip to use against his opponents he called upon his magic to cast a spell that he had created himself after his years of studying Muggle technology. As his wife distracted their opponents with her whip Arthur cast ten Grenada Paralizante charms in the area where the Death Eaters were being held by his wife's fire whip. After taking a breath to regain his composure he shot a series of stunning charms at the Death Eaters to inform his wife that the trap had been laid.
Molly saw the stunners fly toward the Death Eaters that she had been distracting and knew that it was time for her to make a retreat. Still brandishing her whip to deflect the curses directed at her and her husband she steadily put distance between herself and the Death Eaters. After five seconds there was a great explosion as the magical grenades detonated and the Death Eaters were tossed into the air. Molly turned to embrace her husband and, to her horror, saw the jet of green light hit him from the side. Arthur Weasly died looking into the eyes of the woman that he loved most in the world while doing what he could to protect his family. Molly derived little pleasure from the fact that her husband had managed to take down Avery, Crabbe, Goyle, and Mulciber with one attack.
On the other side of the room Bill and Fleur were also faced by four of the Death Eaters: Nott, Rosier, Selwynn, and Travers. Bill was very dangerous in combat; his work as a curse-breaker had taught him how to respond to threats decisively. He would use his power to defend his wife, his family, and the students of Hogwarts. Fleur was equally determined to stand her ground against the Death Eaters. As a former Triwizard Champion she had proved her mettle in front of thousands of spectators; now it was time for her to prove herself once again. Fleur saw Arthur Weasley fall victim to the killing curse and was determined not to let Bill fall victim to the same fate.
The Death Eaters who stood against Bill and Fleur had been Death Eaters long before the group went public. They were much older than the pair that they had elected to face and expected a short battle on their way to Minerva McGonagall and the Hogwarts professors. Rosier and Travers were struck with Déjà vu as the couple before them bore a striking resemblance to the McKinnons who they had killed during Voldemort's first rise. This resemblance only strengthened their resolve because they remembered the conviction that was visible on the McKinnon's face before Rosier and Travers succeeded in breaking them.
Selwyn attacked first and sent a barrage of killing curses that forced the couple to separate while they dodged. The beautiful blonde witch shot a fire bolt from her palm that honed in on Selwyn and knocked him off of his feet, temporarily disabling him. His companions would not allow themselves that attack to catch them unaware in the future. Travers shot a spell at the witch that caused a massive fissure to appear in the ground where she had been standing. However the young witch moved with an unnatural grace, almost as if she was floating.
Bill faced the combined magic of Rosier and Nott. Rosier and Nott had very different strategies for taking down their opponents. Nott favored working from behind the scenes making the most out of his Slytherin cunning. Rosier preferred to metaphorically kick the door down and overpower his victims so that they knew that they were no match for his power. In this fight their fighting styles would complement each other because Rosier's attacks would allow Nott the opportunity he needed to catch the young curse-breaker off guard.
Bill elected to use one of the darker spells that he had come across in his career as a curse breaker in order to disable his opponents. Ironically, it was the same spell that Hermione had used against Amycus Carrow. Nott, wisely chose to dodge but Rosier wasn't so lucky. The screams of Rosier's agony captured the attention of every witch and wizard present in the Great Hall.
Unfortunately for Pomona Sprout and Irma Pince had been so distracted by the screams of the Death Eater that Bill had hit that they did not see the killing curses that their opponents had fired at them. The two women died freeing up Wilkes, Jugson, Gibbon, and Antonin Dolohov to assist theLestrange brothers, Augustus Rookwood, and Walden Mcnair against Minerva McGonagall and Kingsley Shacklebolt.
Molly Weasley had joined Bill and Fleur in their battle against Nott and Travers brandishing her fire whip with a vengeance. The trio managed to overpower the Death Eaters very quickly. Seeing how hard the Death Eaters were pushing McGonagall and Shacklebolt the Weasleys rushed to their aid, evening up the odds to an extent. The defenders were still out numbered but five against eight is a lot better odds than two against eight. The groups fought to a standstill; the Death Eaters were not able to gain any ground against those five defenders.
Septima Vector and Hestia Jones had been overlooked in the Death Eaters' initial assault. They rushed to aid their comrades and the stalemate was broken. The defenders of Hogwarts found the battle turn in their favor. They were successfully corralling the Death Eaters, with each volley the Death Eaters found themselves less and less able to launch an offensive counter-attack. The Death Eaters were on the brink of defeat when there was a howl of pain followed by a howl of satisfaction.
Fenrir Greyback had discovered that Charlie Weasley was not as dead as his immobile posture suggested. The second eldest Weasley had been given a concussion when the Death Eaters had blown their way into the room and had moved to one of the walls in an attempt to regain his bearings. Fenrir had used his heightened enses of smell to smell Charlie before attacking the disabled wizard. Charlie was unable to defend himself as Greyback had transformed into his werewolf form and proceeded to bite his victim. Usually Greyback would have stopped himself from killing his victim so that they would have to live with the curse of the werewolf. However, his earlier battle had left him at less than 100% and he needed to eat something magical in order to heal himself.
The death of Charlie Weasley spurred Molly into a frenzy. She poured her magic into her fire whip extending it to unheard of lengths. Wilkes and Jugson were slain by the Weasley matriarch. The sound of clapping drew the attention of all those in the room. Very slowly and deliberately, Voldemort walked into the Great Hall. "Congratulations, never did I think that my inner circle would face such a tenacious resistance when I sent them forward to end the resistance. You have fought valiantly, but you cannot change the outcome of this battle. Give up this futile resistance, so much blood has been spilled in the castle today. When would you have it stop? I do not wish to spill more blood than necessary but if you continue on this path I will make sure that your blood and the blood of any allies you may have in the castle dirties the floor before the day is over. I will not tolerate resistance of any kind, perhaps today I should clean Hogwarts of potential blood-traitors and mud-blood filth. Hogwarts shall be united under the banner of the snake, any who oppose the house of the snake will meet their end at my hand."
"Quite a stirring speech from the Dark Lord, perhaps he wishes to stop the fight because he knows that his forces have been devastated by what he misinterprets as a weak resistance from Hogwarts and her allies. I have waited for this day for a long time, you broke your promise to me and killed the one person that made my life worth living. Now you will face my wrath," declared Severus Snape as he strode through the doors that Voldemort had just opened with his cape billowing behind him as he prepared to face off against the Dark Lord.
AN: Took him long enough to get there right? I'm trying to get to the end of this story arc but I find that every bit requires more explanation than I anticipate. I would very much like feedback on how I'm doing writing my action sequences. They have taken the driver's seat for the last few chapters and I want to make sure that I'm not boring my audience with them. Please take a minute to review and tell me what you think!