A/N.- Hello there! Well...sorry about the cliffie from the past chappie, but I promised I'd update quickly, and so I did. WARNING: Violence and Character deaths.
Disclaimer: ...
Chapter 25.- Wrath
The members of the backup team broke into the auction house in an attempt to assist the two teenagers. Bill was the first one to arrive, since his emergency exit was in the room where the auction had been held.
As soon as he opened the door, he was confused since there was chaos inside. Muggles were running everywhere, trying to get out of the place; ten unknown wizards were firing spells randomly, but mainly at the other two wizards that were trying to defend in the middle of the room. They looked to be in their mid-thirties, the man was wearing a tuxedo and holding a cup in his hand and had his back to what looked like his wife, who was wearing an elegant blue dress and was trying to defend as well.
Bill's mid was racing, he had to act fast. After several seconds he was joined by other members who came in through their own doors.
"We have to get the muggles out of here to avoid any casualties" He commanded through the magical microphone and then shouted at the room "Everyone, please head to the emergency exits as fast as possible" while taking aim and firing a stunner at one of the aggressors.
"There's gonna be trouble, there's too many civilians here…" Moody's voice came through the earpieces. "…and they seem stupid enough not to go to the goddamn exits…instead they run around…"
Harry and Hermione had their backs toward each other and tried to deflect every curse that came towards them. As soon as a jet of green light came towards him, he pushed Hermione out of the way and jumped himself.
"Are you OK 'Mione?"
"Worry about your own hide" Came her reply. She was already on her feet again and had disarmed a wizard.
Harry got to his feet as well and started casting spell after spell as fast as possible without hitting any muggles (which unfortunately wasn't fast enough, since the aggressors were casting way faster and didn't care if they hit a muggle or wizard).
"Bill, watch out, one on your tail!" Bill turned around and barely avoided being hit by a stunner, but had no chance to retaliate since an unknown person blocked the attacker from his view.
The twins were coordinating their attacks to hit the same person at the same time, but were usually obstructed by the running muggles, who still hadn't managed to find the emergency exit, even if it was wide open.
"Harry! We have to get these people outta here!"
"I know! But how do we…dammit! …how do we do that?"
Her response never came back, since she had been pushed away accidentally and hit her head when she fell, luckily enough it only disoriented her for a moment.
"Remus! We have to do something; these guys just keep running randomly!" Harry called through his microphone.
"I know cub! But we cannot shepherd them out of here!"
"What do you suggest then Lupin?" Moody growled
"There's nothing we can do about it" Kingsley replied "We have to take 'em out ASAP to avoid more casualties"
"Got it"
Jets of different colors were flying across the room, and hit everywhere; several people were on the ground, either unconscious or dead.
The members of the Order were desperately trying to take every enemy out, but as soon as one was stunned, another revived him, and they resumed casting whatever they thought of, even unforgivable curses.
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After about fifteen minutes, a police siren wailed loudly and the police car stopped just outside the house, the policeman that was driving emerged from the car, checking a couple of guns and running into the building. He had attended a call from his sister a couple of hours ago, asking him to go to King Street in London, and to be ready for anything. The building's alarm was ringing loudly, and people came out of it scared, running away and not looking back.
"Crap, this is worse than I thought…I just hope Giselle isn't hurt" He thought as he dashed into the auction house.
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The room was slowly clearing, as more and more civilians found their way out of the building, leaving only the two groups of wizards dueling inside. When the last muggle was out of the building, the exchanging of spells increased its speed, with most of them hitting the walls and leaving scorch marks. A couple of the attacking wizards were on the ground unconscious and George Tonks had a broken arm and leg.
Harry was looking for Hermione at the same time as he defended himself from another wizard. When he spotted her she was being hit by a jet of red light aimed at her chest. He stunned the wizard he was dueling with in the first window he managed and dashed to the other side of the room where she was lying on the floor. He also saw another wizard aim his wand at her; without thinking it twice he withdrew his gun and aimed it at the man's back.
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Hermione was on the ground and was trying to regain the focus she had lost when she fell, only to see a wizard aim his wand at her and say, smiling malevolently "The Dark Lord will reward me for this, filthy little mudblood…Avada…"
She had closed her eyes, bracing herself to receive the Killing Curse, but the man never finished the incantation. She opened her eyes to see the man's pained expression as he collapsed face-first to the ground, revealing a gunshot on the back, which had killed him. Still not knowing what was happening she recovered a bit more to see Harry kneeling beside her.
"'Mione, are you alright?"
"U-huh" She replied groggily since she had not yet fully regained her senses.
"You have to get out of here; I don't want to get hurt"
"In your dreams Harry, I'll be here as long as you are"
"NO HERMIONE! YOU AND THE TWINS…" He was cut mid-sentence by a curse hitting the wall beside him. He turned around to see a witch being stunned by Giselle.
"Harry, Hermione, get moving!" She yelled at them
They nodded and split up, avoiding getting killed. Harry used his unarmed hand to summon Hermione's wand, and tossing it at her. She barely caught it, but lost it again as a disarming spell hit her, followed by a stunner that hit her fully on the chest, tossing her back towards the wall, where she hit her head and fell unconscious.
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Police officer Gordon Summer entered the auction house where he saw several wizards dueling, and spotted his sister amongst them. She was battling another wizard fiercely, unaware of her surroundings and yet another wizard was about to hit her from behind. He aimed carefully and shot his gun before the other man could cast any spell.
A loud explosion filled the room as the bullet hit the wizard's side, making him fall to the ground in pain.
The explosion caused by the gunshot caught everyone by surprise, and wizards from both sides turned around to find the source of the explosion. Giselle Summer heard and recognized the gunshot and the thud of a man falling behind her to the ground groaning. She stunned her surprised opponent, bound him and turned around to see her brother in his officer suit with a gun on his hand, holding his fire. As soon as the brothers made eye contact, the auror nodded, and the policeman drew the other gun, which she immediately summoned to her hand and started shooting at the other dark wizards.
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Harry heard the gunshot but didn't stop casting spells, catching his opponent off-guard, and shooting him with his own gun. As soon as he made sure the Death Eater was dead he thought "'Mione, where are you?" but received no reply.
He started fearing the worst, and tried looking for her. There were already only three Death Eaters standing, and he spotted the Summers with the guns on their hands and came up with an idea.
"Everyone listen!" He commanded through his microphone "Take the three Death Eaters to a corner"
"Why's that Harry?" Tonks asked curious
"JUST DO IT!" He commanded.
The others obeyed, gathering a shrewd idea about what Harry would do next, and quickly cornered and disarmed the remaining Death Eaters, who were greatly outnumbered.
Everyone was panting as the last Death Eater was bound by magical ropes.
"Now what Potter?" Moody asked.
"We'll take the prisoners back to Grimmauld and…son of a bitch" He said as he spotted a very familiar rat trying to make his way out. He aimed his wand and cast a stunner that hit the unaware animagus.
"What is it Harry?" Lupin asked as he saw Harry cast the spell
"That bloody son of a bitch again…Mutatio Commodo" As Harry said these words the rat became the even more familiar figure of the traitor Peter Pettigrew. "Rennervate"
Pettigrew started groaning and mate to open his eyes when he felt ropes around his body and opened his eyes fully with fear clearly reflected on them.
"'Sup, Peter" Harry greeted with venom in his voice, making the animagus cower with fear and swallow hardly. "Can't even go a month without seeing your ugly face…"
"H-h-h-Harry, g-g-g-good to s-s-s-see you"
"Can't say the same unfortunately"
"Hello Wormtail" Lupin greeted coldly
"R-r-r-Remus"
"What do you think we should…Mutatio Impedio…you never learn your lesson do you Peter?"
"I'm not afraid of you Potter" He said, but his trembling voice betrayed him.
"Oh really?" He said, aiming both wand and gun at him, he swallowed hard.
"Go on, kill me, the Dark Lord already has his cup back"
"Cup? What cup? You mean this cup?" He said mockingly, extracting Hufflepuff's shrunken cup from his tux "Nah, I created a replica and left it 'unprotected' and you idiots fell for that, and now…I'm really sick of you, pathetic traitor" He said, pulling the gun hammer.
"Harry, stop it, we can get something useful from him" Lupin said
"Maybe…" He conceded unloading the gun "But as soon as he is no use to us…"
"Heeeeey, anyone…I could use a hand here" Tonks called from the ground and Fred went to help her.
"Harry?" A voice came from behind, and he turned around, wand at the ready "Hey, point that somewhere else" Gordon said.
"Oh, it's you, what are you doing here"
"Well, Giselle called me, and here I am"
"OK, but how did you recognize me?"
"Aging potion wore off during the fight" Moody growled behind him.
"Oh…" Was Harry's reply
"Where's Hermione?" Gordon asked curiously
"What do you mean…oh, shit!" He remembered being unable to talk to Hermione near the battle's end, but had forgotten about her because of Pettigrew, he turned around to look for her among all of the bodies on the ground, he finally spotted her near a wall, unconscious. He run towards her, and knelt beside her.
"Hermione, Hermione, please wake up"
Gordon ran beside him and started checking for vital signs. "She's unconscious, but alive, she must've received a very nasty impact"
"Oh no" Bill's voice came from somewhere else.
Harry turned around to see him kneeling besides another unconscious body: Kingsley Shacklebolt
Moody just needed a single glance for him to recognize it "He's dead…hit by a Killing Curse"
Harry's insides were boiling with anger, and a ferocious wind started blowing across the room.
"Dammit! How many more people have to die before that bastard is gone?" He yelled angrily.
"Harry! Stop it, control yourself!" Were some of the phrases from the other members of the Order, who tried not to get blown away by the wind.
"I'm sick of it! I'm sick of that son of a bitch, sick of his killing, sick of this fucking war!"
Peter's ropes vanished into thin air, but the wind forced him against the wall.
"Your stupidity provoked this, your cowardice, now you'll lose that which you've helped take away from my beloved ones since sixteen years ago one by one, you traitor!" Harry yelled as he approached the frightened animagus and aimed his gun at him. When he pulled the trigger, no sound came, and yet a bullet pierced Peter's left arm and he cried in pain.
"That was for my dad"
He pulled the trigger again and a bullet pierced his right arm
"That was for my mom"
The third bullet pierced his left leg
"That was for Sirius"
The fourth bullet pierced his right leg
"That was for Dumbledore…and this…is for Hermione!"
He withdrew his wand and slashed the air at Peter's abdomen's height, making a wide gash appear on him, which started bleeding badly right away.
The wind started to decrease, until it was blowing no more; Harry's eyesight started to blur and he felt himself drift away slowly, until he knew no more.
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Fred, George, Bill, Giselle, Moody, Tonks and Lupin apparated in a deserted alley close to the House of Black, carrying with them the three captured Death Eaters, Kingsley's dead and Harry's and Hermione's unconscious bodies. Fred ran hastily to the door and hammered on it. McGonagall opened it.
"Is it done?" She asked as soon as she saw the redhead "Where are the others"
"No time to explain, we have several injured and one man down, we need to get them here from the alleyway."
"Oh my lord…POPPY, COME HERE NOW!" McGonagall called into the house, involuntarily waking up Walburga Black's portrait.
After some members managed to shut the curtains closed, Mme. Pomfrey reached the door.
"What's wrong Minerva?"
"Come quickly" Was the only response from McGonagall, who immediately darted after Fred towards the alley. The vision that awaited them on the alley was not precisely welcoming. There were three prisoners and the cup intact, but there was also a dead body and two more unconscious, one of them carrying two more lives within her.
"Merlin's beard, what happened here?!" Mme. Pomfrey asked in shock
"Help first, ask questions later Poppy" McGonagall replied, conjuring splints and bandages for Tonks's limbs.
"Oh, right" She replied, instantly conjuring stretchers for Harry and Hermione and levitating them towards the inside of the house.
After everyone was inside and Moody muttered "Good this place is like a ghost town or else…" they started tending Harry and Hermione and asking the rest to retell what had happened.
After an hour of retelling the story and making certain points clear, the conversation turned around to Harry's attack on Pettigrew.
"I still can't believe Potter unleashed such power" Moody growled
"Well, as far as I know, he did something similar when Hermione's house was attacked" Lupin added and then remembered "Dammit! Hermione got hit!"
"We are aware of it, Remus, thanks for the reminder though" Moody replied sarcastically
"No, no…it's not that…" He then turned to the headmistress and the matron "She was hit by a stunner…and she's pregnant"
Both women (as well as all the eavesdroppers) gasped in shock and ran to check on the young couple, especially Hermione.
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Harry opened his eyes heavily and started regaining his senses. He was in a bed as far as he perceived, but couldn't make out where; his muscles hurt as if a steamroller had passed above him, so he couldn't move. He closed his eyes once again and perceived a source of light that wasn't there when he opened his eyes. He turned his head towards that side with lots of effort and could make out three sources of light that irradiated strongly, outlining a female body in a horizontal position.
"She's alive…the three of them are alive…" He thought with great relief. Then the door burst open and he could make out three more bodies, but each carried only one source of light, each being a magical core.
"Poppy…" McGonagall said as they made their way to Hermione's bed, unaware that Harry was conscious, but with his eyes shut.
The Hogwarts matron performed a spell over Hermione's body, and then turned to McGonagall.
"She's fine, and so is one of the babies"
"What about the other one?" The headmistress asked dreading the answer; Mme. Pomfrey merely shook her head. "It can't be…it's…dead?"
"No" A voice croaked behind them, and they turned around in shock just to see Harry with his head towards them, but his eyes closed.
"Potter! Are you alright?" Poppy Pomfrey asked.
"Well…" He croaked and slowly opened his eyes "I feel as if I had been run over by the Hogwarts express…" He tried to shift himself to a sitting position, but failed due to the pain.
"Here Potter, drink this" The matron instructed, handing him a vial of pain killing potion.
"Umm…mind helping me, can't move" He replied and the matron then tilted the vial so the potion fell on his mouth, so he could swallow it.
Harry's pain was eased slowly, but effectively; after a couple of minutes he could sit, but not stand.
"Now…what did you say Potter?"
"What did I say about what?"
"Well, I asked if one of the babies was dead and you say no"
"Then I guess the message was clear Minerva" Harry replied.
"What do you mean? How do you know?"
He then explained that sometimes he could sense magic coming from someone/something, detect magical cores within people and sometimes even see them when he closed his eyes.
"You know Potter, you are a box full of surprises" McGonagall admitted admiringly "But you say both babies are safe?"
"Dunno if they're safe…but I hope so…at least they're alive, both of 'em"
"Well, well…if it isn't Wrath personified" Lupin greeted "How ya doin' cub?"
"Been better" Harry replied a bit groggily.
"Well, you better recover soon; there are plenty of things you gotta explain to us"
"Yeah, well…let me recover first them I'll let you know what I can" Harry replied "And by the way…I wouldn't mind getting outta this tux…it's not comfortable for resting"
Lupin rolled his eyes and transfigured the tuxedo into a set of pajamas, and Harry fell asleep several minutes later, after the others left the room.
A/N.- Good, bad, sucked, was confusing, liked it? Let me know in a review. I'm not quite sure if it was good enough but only you can tell me that. Ibris out.
Spell Meanings:
Mutatio Commodo: L. Mutatio: Transformation; Commodo: To impose or force (Mutatio Commodo.-To force transformation)
Mutatio Impedio (This one had already appeared)L. Mutatio: Transformation; Impedio: To stop or impede (Mutatio Impedio: To impede transformation)