Chapter Twenty Five:

The Edge Of Destruction

(Chapter named after the 3rd Doctor Who story)

Harry shook the prisoner before her with her hands. Then she moved onto the next clone, shaking him also.

"You're free now! Do you hear me? Can any of you help us!?"

"We…hear you," intoned the clone she was grasping at. The voice was sluggish, dry, as if not used to speaking. The other prisoners were now turning – as if directed by a shared will – towards the real Harry Potter. "We sense a kinship with you both." The clone laid his hands on Harry and Harlan.

"How…how long have you been on this vessel?" Hermione asked. She dabbed at her tears, focussing on the clones.

"Long?" another prisoner echoed, frowning. "We have been here…long enough. We all exist solely to power this ship. Some of the Muggles and wizarding folk brought here…have also been fed to the furnace…"

"The wands Goyle had on him…," Luna whispered, her face turning pale. "This is where their owners ended up."

A third prisoner spoke, stepping forward. "Our captors are cruel. Some of our brothers were abused… Tortured to the point of death…"

"We wish to punish such cruelty… And to then die in peace," said a fourth. "More of us are locked away on this vessel."

"Oh, Merlin…," Hermione sobbed. "They're partially brain-damaged! So that they could never use their magic. Never fight back against the abuse, or the burning and deaths of the others…"

A thought seized Harry. Panicking, she turned round and grabbed Harlan by the throat. He gasped, and tried to pull her hands off from him.

"Urk…!"

"Now it's your turn! Answer me this – do you or any of the clones, have a part of Voldemort in them!? Well!?"

Hermione cringed. "I didn't think of that!"

Harlan choked. Harry released his throat, and Harlan shook his head. "No… I may have the scar, but I never sensed any connection to Him… Doctor Blanchard suspected that there was a mind link you shared with the Dark Lord, when He gave you the false vision of Sirius Black being in danger. He hoped that somehow He could be contacted beyond the veil through me or my brothers… None of us were able to…"

"And neither will they, in that case," Luna surmised, looking at the clones with pity for their predicament. "Voldemort is not coming back."

Harry sighed with relief. She removed her clenched hands from Harlan's lapels. She saw the tears running down his frightened face as he swept his eyes across the prisoners now staring back at them.

"I…I could've been one of them. Instead of a treasured one, like Ares and Seth…," he muttered, his lip trembling.

"You've only been alive for about two-three years, haven't you!?" Harry asked him. "Have you aged faster than the Death Eaters you've served with?"

Harlan nodded mutely. "Ares, Seth, and I were magically modified, so that our bodies and brains developed rapidly. Upon reaching maturity, we were modified again. Now we age normally."

"No childhood to speak of…," Hermione whispered, shaking her head.

"And the cloning process is imperfect. When the clone of Draco Malfoy died during his fight with you on the train, Harry, his body had disintegrated by the time the Aurors found it," Luna pointed out. She took in the constant background noise coming from the shaft, and hummed. "We need to act. Stopping the prisoners going into the Fornax hasn't been enough. I sense that the Dauntless is still moving."

"Right…" Harry regarded Harlan and the other clones.

"We wish to…help," the nearest prisoner declared, managing a vague expression of determination and anger. He raised his hands. "You have given us…courage."

"We cannot use magic… But we…can use these," another stated, raising his hands also.

"My brothers and I… We were tools… Just tools. How many things did the Death Eaters not tell me…? How many lies did they tell us!?" Harlan wailed. Shaking, he slowly stood up and faced the three witches.

Harry looked into the green eyes and determined expression before her. "I guess we all have a joint goal now…," she said.

Harlan nodded. "Let's get to work."

*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*

Ron watched as the Sneakoscope kit she had just activated and deployed got into action. Having got George to bring some useful stock from 'Weasley's Wizard Wheezes' with him, in the aftermath of the Death Eaters' invasion of Hogwarts, Ron now had the latest model from George.

Ron held onto the plastic coated receiver box. The yellow lead connected to it became taut as the life-sized ear with the tiny arms and legs pulled itself through the valve opening below and crawled along the ceiling of the room underneath, sticking itself firmly into place with the self-adjusting suction pads on its hands. Next, the eye at the end of the Sneakoscope's blue lead pushed itself past the valve and used the same method to fix itself to the ceiling. Both ear and eye then used their in-built magical properties to take on the colouring of the ceiling – in the manner of a chameleon.

Adjusting the controls on the box, Ron gingerly turned up the volume control slightly, so that they had sound to accompany the picture now being transmitted to the little screen of the Sneakoscope – the sound and picture that the magical device was picking up in the room below.

As the eye panned around the room they were spying on, Ron felt Remus, Snape, Daphne, and Theodore crowd in around her in the cramped ventilation shaft that they were gathered in.

Just as well that it is airy…, Ron mused.

"Stand to attention! The Dark Lady is now on the deck!" rang out the deep voice of Blaise Zabini.

The Death Eaters who were at the controls arranged around the room stiffened and pressed their clenched fists to their hearts in a form of salute, as Nabilah Zabini, clad in a formal black dress over her coffee-coloured tunic, strode into the chamber. Following just behind her was Dr Blanchard, who was now wearing a grey suit and tie.

"At ease. Return to your stations," Mrs Zabini ordered them coolly. "What is our position now?"

"We are passing over the Great Glen fault of Scotland, my Lady," a sharp-sounding male voice answered. Ron recognized it as Augustus Rookwood's. "The shrouding device is still in operation."

"That is good." Ron and her party saw on the screen that Mrs Zabini had steeped her hands together as she sat herself down in the command chair that her son had vacated upon her entry. "Are our weapons ready for action, Mr Nott?"

Theodore audibly sucked in his breath. Ron glared at him, urging the lad to be quiet.

"Be silent… There are too many to fight down there," Snape instructed the strike group gathered next to him, keeping his snide voice as low as possible. "Let us watch, listen, and learn…"

"Fireball generators are operational. Tar guns are in position to fire. Thruster controls for the vessel's Hammer Descent strike were checked after we used them to destroy Helga's Haven…," an older Death Eater answered, in response to his leader's question.

Nabilah Zabini fixed him with her piercing dark brown eyes. "Have they also been checked before we took off? As in earlier today?"

Mr Nott hesitated. "Of…of course, my Lady."

She was silent and still for several moments. Even via the Sneakoscope, Ron felt the tension in the room as the Death Eaters looked between Mrs Zabini and Nott Elder.

"I want Balmoral Castle to be reduced to rubble when we have finished today's work, Mr Nott," their leader declared, her tone dangerous. "There will be only the bare minimum of Muggle survivors to pass on word of our achievement, after we deactivate the Shrouding device. They need to witness the coup de grace of the Dauntless slamming down from the sky to crush the residence and the conference attendees."

"Personally, I'm looking forward to the firing of the fireballs again, Nabilah. That was a hoot to watch, as they engulfed the residents at Helga's Haven," Dr Blanchard guffawed as he stood next to her chair. "And seeing the gargoyles snatch up those screaming young witches and wizards… Ahh, well. At least they provided enough fuel for our return journey. We needed enough clones of Potter for this trip, after all."

She turned and gave him a hard, lip-tight smile.

"I am glad that you do not approve of children, Aloysius. As I have already made clear, our union will be childless. Blaise, here, is all I desire to succeed me. Once we have taken control of these islands after the war to come, that is." Mrs Zabini turned to her son. "Well, Blaise? Do you have anything to say, now that our glorious moment is nearly at hand?"

His face twitched. "I wish that the original Draco Malfoy was still alive - able to see what we have achieved without him. I despaired of his ego, his tendency to draw too much attention to himself in his antagonistic approach to Potter and his friends…"

"…whereas you, the patient man, have proved yourself to be more worthy than him." His mother gave another wide grin. "Still, you can be content with the thought that you are more senior than both Sargas and Pansy."

"Are they still in their quarters, mother?"

"They are…"

Mrs Zabini was interrupted by one of the Death Eaters at his organically-grown bank of knobs and levers. He was a tall man with a pale, twisted, long face. "My Lady! Targets bearing in on us from the south. Flying through the air…!"

"What!?" Voldemort's successor snapped out of her content state, and stood up sharply. "Identify them, Dolohov! Are they Muggle devices?"

Dolohov checked over his console – then raced over to a transparent valve set to one side of the control room. "One is. It's a blue car… But it's flying!"

Mrs Zabini sneered. "That will be the property of that Ministry underling – Arthur Weasley! What about the other targets?"

"They… They're Pegusi! About ten- No, twenty or so of them. Bearing Aurors!"

"Sound battle stations!" Mrs Zabini shouted at the top of her voice. "Active the rock cannons! Now!"

Seconds later, a shrill cry was emitted from a valve set into the opposite wall. The battle alarm, Ron guessed. Some of the disturbed-looking Death Eaters present then left their control banks, and hurried through one of the two visible exits. Then another wail joined the first alarm. Rookwood ran over to check the relevant controls. He spun round to face his superiors, astonishment evident in his voice.

"My Lady, my Regent… We have intruders in the Fornax gallery!"

"How can that be…?" Blanchard paused. "Wait… We cannot contact Umbridge whilst we are in flight!"

Nabilah Zabini narrowed her gaze to slits. "So… Maybe the takeover of Hogwarts wasn't the success we thought it to be."

"Potter… What if it's Potter and her friends?" Blaise spoke up.

Mrs Zabini parted her lips and licked them. "If it is, we have some people they will not dare to fight. Especially that one. See to the arrangements." She nodded at someone standing behind her son.

Her heart missing a beat, Ron twisted a dial on her control box. On the ceiling of the room below, the eye twisted round – to pick up the image of Ginny and Lavender standing silently to attention in the corner. Their expressions were blank – just as they had been when they left Hogwarts with the senior Death Eaters.

Even more disturbingly, both girls were now dressed in Death Eater robes…

"Of course, mother." Blaise smiled and nodded. He turned round and fingered his amulet. "Ginny Weasley – you will accompany me."

Ginny suddenly broke into a warm smile. "Yes, beloved," she replied. Then they departed the control room together, holding hands.

"Gin-!" Ron's agitated whisper was cut off by Remus's hand clamping over her mouth.

"She's still imperiused, Ron! We'll save her." He turned to Snape. "The Pegusi! It must be the Ministry attacking the Dauntless! Somehow, they've found and sighted this vessel."

"Hagrid got word back to Hogwarts!" Daphne reasoned.

Snape nodded. "Now is the time to act – with half of the Death Eaters out of the Control Room. Listen, all of you! We need to take the enemy down quickly, and…"

But Ron had her eyes fixed on the screen of the Sneakoscope. Nabilah Zabini was now gazing at the ceiling of the Control Room – rage distorting her refined facial features as she raised her wand…

"She's heard us! Get back, everyone!" Ron yelled.

"Expulso!" Mrs Zabini shrieked.

The floor underneath Ron, Theodore, Daphne, and Snape was blown into shreds – and they all fell, screaming, upon the deck of the Control Room…

Ron shifted herself, painfully aware that she could be struck down at any moment – but she did see that the chamber was about half the size of the Great Hall at Hogwarts, and it was divided into two sections. She and her Slytherin allies had dropped about three meters into the Control Room itself, which was joined at the front (judging by the direction of the Command chair and control banks) via a wide doorway, to another room. Ron thought of it as an observation deck – going by the transparent membrane stretching one hundred and eighty degrees in a half-circle, facing forward. It was all set within the sphere that the assault party had seen from the outside, at the top of the Dauntless's tower. As the supporting tower corner turrets smoothly rotated around the window-like outer membrane of the sphere, Ron noted that the observation area came complete with four long cannons, which moved in separate arcs on the floor between a pair of rails. The huge weapons were now manned by the Death Eaters who had hurried from the control area. Like an eyelid, the membrane now opened up all around the deck simultaneously before the cannons, allowing the gunners to take aim, and fire at the oncoming Auror squad on their pegusi. Cannonball-shaped rocks shot out of the cannons, and Ron saw, to her horror, two teams of Inferi being ordered by the Death Eater gun crews to reload the cannons with more rocks…

With the gunners preoccupied with defending the Dauntless from the Aurors, Ron spun her head round as she heard the Dark Lady's startled cry.

"Severus Snape!"

Mrs Zabini was shaken by the sight of Snape staring back at her from his slumped position on the floor. Enough that she froze, her wand hand shaking in fright. Her left hand was raised, delaying the moment of execution for Ron, Daphne, and Theodore, as Blanchard, Dolohov, Rookwood, and Nott Senior all paused from firing their drawn wands. Daphne and Theodore were about to pull out their wands also.

"Correct…, Nabilah Zabini," Snape responded drily as he twisted his body to face her – his wand pointing back at hers in a stalemate situation. "Serving under you was hardly any more of a joyful experience than obeying the twisted orders of Riddle…"

The thin dark lips twisted into a scowl. "Do not speak His true name…"

"I certainly will, now that he is dead and suffering in the afterlife for his countless crimes! Tom Riddle Junior was a deluded, evil-minded excuse of a human being! I only wish that I could have seen his death for myself!" spat Snape. "And you yourself are glad that he and Bellatrix are dead, Nabilah – because you, the secret leader of his scheme to build this vessel, could then take Riddle's throne for yourself! With Blaise as your appointed Regent."

"I had learnt that you pretended to serve the Dark Lord, when you were secretly carrying out the will of the late Albus Dumbledore…" Voldemort's successor glared at Snape, ignoring his taunt. "The sentence for your betrayal is death!"

Snape laughed. "The Muggles call this a Mexican stand off, Nabilah! I can perform non-verbal magic. As soon as you utter the syllable of a spell, I could take you down. Then we would probably both die… I do not think you would want to miss your destruction of the peace conference."

Mrs Zabini frowned. Her left hand moved to the amulet hanging over her blouse as her eyes narrowed. Ron suspected that she was weighing up her options as she nervously fidgeted with it – and Ron also noticed an onyx amulet around the woman's neck. Meanwhile, out of the corner of her eye, Ron saw that Theodore and Nott Senior were staring at each other. Mr Nott's moustache visibly moved as his lips twitched in the moment of uncomfortable recognition. He was a thin, white-haired man, with just enough of a facial resemblance to match him with his dark, curly-haired son.

"My Lady," he spoke up, keeping his eyes on Theodore. We must not act in haste here…"

"Silence, Mr Nott!" Mrs Zabini responded tartly. Her eyes flicked across to Daphne and Theodore. Are these two…Slytherins?"

"We are…" Daphne swallowed and forced herself to stare back at the woman. "And we are going to help change our house for the better – by ridding ourselves of the scourge of your murderous fascism!"

Dolohov hissed through his teeth. "You traitorous brats… Snape, the Malfoys – and now the offspring of…"

"Enough! No one here needs to die! If you are reasonable…," Snape interrupted, deflecting Dolohov from verbally identifying Theodore Nott.

"What…do you propose?" their leader asked cautiously.

"Nabilah!" Blanchard objected. She ignored him.

"Put down your wands – all of you, and surrender. That way, you might just all survive…," Snape remarked with an icy calm authority that Ron could only admire.

Slowly – very slowly – the Dark Lady actually compiled, as she knelt down and placed her wand on the floor, before rolling it aside.

But something was wrong. Ron heard the faint noise of clothes falling to the floor – and she looked to her left, to the corner of the room where the forgotten Lavender had slipped off her Death Eater robe, to reveal that – apart from her underwear, she had on nothing except for two items. One was the long silver necklace that was enabling Mrs Zabini to control her through her amulet. The other was a brass amulet – the same kind that Ron remembered Greyback and Blaise wearing, to guard themselves from spells cast against them.

Lavender was, however, about to cloak herself in something else. The fur of her werewolf form…

"No, Lavender! Break free of their hold on you!" cried out Remus, who was still crouched in the ventilation shaft, covering the Death Eaters with his wand.

She ignored him and held out her hands - the nails of which Ron saw were already sharpening into claws.

"Stupefy!"

But Remus's spell was, as expected, absorbed by the brass amulet that his adopted daughter was wearing.

Lavender shuddered – and then the myriad light-brown hairs sprouting all over her exposed skin joined up to form her pelt, which swept across the Gryffindor girl's changing form. Her limbs altered – the bones shortening or lengthening as appropriate, to assume their half-lupine positions. Her skull reformed with a series of 'cracks', and Lavender's darkening nose and mouth were thrust forward into a muzzle. Her moaning voice changed to a snarl that grew louder, as the horrified members of Ron's team watched – transfixed – whilst Lavender's underwear broke and gave way, leaving the fully-transformed wolf girl to drink in the scents of fear emitted from the intruders before her. Her tail and arrowhead-shaped lupine ears twitched, and her jaws parted – revealing her sharp, glistening fangs. Teeth that promised pain, death – or infection.

Blanchard guffawed. "Now ain't that something for you to see, just before you die, eh, Snape?" he mocked, in his drawling, half-American accent.

Severus Snape forced himself to face Mrs Zabini again. She was now actually grinning. Her teeth were white and perfect.

"Behold…," she declared. "…the first specimen of our new werewolf army! Able to change at will, upon my command!"

Daphne screamed. Ron nearly followed suit.

"Lupin!" Snape bellowed.

Remus dropped down from the ventilation shaft – his own transformation coming to an end, as his ears and muzzle shifted into their lupine positions, his fur bristling. He straightened up, growled, and leapt – intercepting Lavender who had just bounded forward to slay Snape. Instead, the two of them collided in the centre of the control area, between Snape and Mrs Zabini. Lavender snarled furiously – her human intellect suppressed by the black witch, in order to kill for her new mistress. Amidst the yells and the screams, everyone else dived behind what cover they could find behind the organic control banks and the command chair, as the spells and curses of various wands shot out across the room. Those that came near to the two humanoid werewolves were deflected and absorbed by Lavender's brass amulet…

*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*

Within the Engine gallery, another fight had broken out. Blaise Zabini had entered the chamber – along with Ginny, Pansy, and the Draco Malfoy clone, Sargas. All four of them were wearing the brass magic-absorbing amulets – and so Harry, Hermione, Luna, and now also Harlan, were unable to harm them. But the defenders of the Dauntless were finding it hard to shoot at their enemies. The lobotised clones of Harry Potter had ambushed them on the balcony as soon as Blaise's party had entered – and now all four of them were being physically assaulted by the clones.

From her position in the centre of the Engine deck, Harry watched the fighting with mounting horror. Blaise had now forced his opponent off him. With a blasting hex, he sent the Harry clone flying over the balcony rail, to land on the deck – never to rise again. He then proceeded to shield himself from the flock of birds that Hermione had conjured up to attack him, before dropping his magical shield and casting fire at them. Half of the birds perished around him – whilst the rest flew off and melted away, as Hermione cancelled her spell in order to re-gather her magical strength…

Luna and Harlan were copying Hermione – their conjured flocks assailed Sargas and Pansy, as another Harry-clone fell to their Killing Curses.

"Avada Kedavra!"

The Harry-clone sucked in his breath, feeling the lime-green flash of light strike his heart. He then smiled.

"Free…"

And with that word on his lips, the clone collapsed upon the balcony at his opponent's feet.

Harry's heart lurched with terror. This time, the spell caster had been Ginny. She had used an Unforgiveable Curse. And she was smiling as she looked down upon her handiwork.

I've got to free her somehow from that dammed amulet that's enslaved her mind!

Alright… Let's do this!

Gritting her teeth, Harry ran underneath the organically-grown balcony where Ginny was standing, and raised her wand.

"Expulso!"

The blast, enhanced by the Elder Wand, caused the section of balcony around Ginny to break off from the wall. There was a wail from the Dauntless itself, drowned out by Ginny's cry as she plummeted to the base of the Engine deck. She landed on the foam mattress that Harry had already conjured for her.

"Urrh!"

Ginny's eyes fluttered - then closed. She did not let go of her wand, however. Harry paused, but then drew nearer. Both Ginny's face and wand arm were angled in her direction. She seemed to be still breathing, but…

Casting a shield charm, Harry rushed over – wanting to snatch Ginny's wand, before taking the amulet off her friend.

Ginny's eyes snapped open. She glared at the other girl coming towards her.

"Expulso!"

Harry screamed, as Ginny's jinx was discharged at her feet. The explosion of the deck floor, flung Harry backwards. She had a rough landing on the deck at the centre of the gallery, and then found herself rolling over several feet more. The organic rails surrounding the shaft – over which Avery had fallen earlier – dug into her back, making her wince.

Harry could not move for a few moments. The world around her was spinning. There were too many flashes of spells, jinxes, and curses being fired. Too much noise all round, from both the combat and the background roar of the engines in their metal castings, fixed rigidly around the Fornax and the shaft behind her. Harry groaned, feeling her accumulated bruises, grazes, and gashes whilst she forced herself to turn round. She gazed down into the shaft and saw and heard the electrical arcing. The brightness hurt her eyes, and so she reached for her wand, as…

"Expelliarmus!" snapped the voice of Ginny Weasley.

Harry cried out, seeing her wand spinning through the air, to land on the deck, on the opposite side of the three-meter wide shaft.

Harry rose to a half-risen position, still on one knee – and faced Ginny again. The ginger-haired witch glanced at the wand that she had just separated from its owner.

"The Elder Wand… And I have won it off you, Harry. What a wonderful present you have left for me…." Ginny gave a sickly grin.

"Ginny… Fight Blaise's control over you! He doesn't truly love you! He doesn't care… We do. I'm your friend!" Harry tried to reach her.

She gave a harsh laugh. "I'm no longer a blood-traitor, Harry! My mind is clear – and I now see you for the self-absorbed, pathetic, winy wizard-turned witch that you are! Lavender and I will soon become confirmed Death Eaters, proud of the snake tattoos that we'll be given. We will faithfully serve our Lady and her Regent, her son – and I will marry Blaise, and give birth to his children! Whilst you will be dead – like the stupid Muggles and lilly-livered Muggle-loving wizards and witches at that conference…!"

"And will Ron and your family die too, under the new regime?" Harry yelled, fighting back the tears that Ginny's barbs were provoking. "What about Hermione, Luna, and Neville?"

"They will all serve us as we rebuild this nation – or perish…" Ginny grinned.

Then Harry saw the flash in her friend's eyes as she blinked against the heat. A glimpse of darkness – nothing more. But Harry's mind flashed back to when she last saw that same darkness. In Draco Malfoy's eyes, when he was dying from the Whomping Willow's attack on him…

"Tenebrae…," Harry whispered. Her expression of horror turned into utter rage. "Get out of Ginny, Tenebrae – and face me directly! If you dare!"

Ginny – or rather Tenebrae in the body of Ginny – laughed mockingly. "But who better than to finish you off with, Harry Potter? Your friend, whose memories of you telling her about the Elder Wand are so useful? Your former girlfriend, who you can't harm – thanks to this amulet – and who you would not dare to kill anyway…"

She sidestepped and raised her wand. Harry's heart missed a beat.

Can I pull out my own wand from my jacket pocket in time…?

"Accio, Elder Wand!"

Harry turned, to see the Elder Wand spin in the air over the shaft. Ginny's spare hand caught it with ease, and she smiled again at Harry.

Harry's face turned deathly pale. Tenebrae had succeeded where Voldemort had failed. In Ginny's body, she was not only the possessor of the Elder Wand, she had won it too. Its power was now hers…

"I'm the new mistress of the Elder Wand, Harry... I only paused in killing you, because I'm delighting in your misery, now that you realize you have lost everything to me." Tenebrae laughed mockingly at her quarry, as she tucked Ginny's wand behind her belt. Then the Elder Wand was directed at Harry.

"I told you - no one escapes me in the end, Harry Potter. It's time to die…"

*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*

As the first exchange of spells flashed across the Control room between Ron's party and Nabilah Zabini's remaining confederates, some of the control panels were struck as the two sides tried to strike down those who were hiding behind them. The edges of the grown panels exploded, and – almost drowned out by the sounds of the battle, were the shrill cries of the vessel itself as a black tar-like liquid bled out from the remains of the controls. The Dauntless began to tilt…

Mr Nott screamed, seeing the panel he was using as cover fall to a blasting spell. "No! You'll kill us all!" He rushed over to the panel and then cast a shield charm over both himself and it. Seconds later, he adjusted the remaining controls and straightened the vessel.

From her cover behind a long bank of controls, Ron shot a glance at Theodore as they ducked from the Death Eaters' latest volley.

"Your dad, Theo…!" she snapped. "He's guarding the navigational controls! If we can do some damage there… Get past his shield charm…"

Theodore Nott panted for breath, thinking furiously. He nodded.

"Ron, Daphne… Distract them for me!"

"Theo…?" Daphne looked at him with alarm. "No! Stop…!"

But he was off, crouching down as he hurried around the edge of the Control room – scuttling from cover to cover between the instrument banks.

"Fight on, Miss Greengrass!" Snape roared at her. He quickly deflected Mrs Zabini's latest Killing Curse from him – and it slammed into the ceiling.

Then Dr Blanchard, having lost his wand to one of the explosions in the room, leapt upon Snape – knife in hand. The two men wrestled furiously for control of the blade held between them.

And so, whilst the Death Eaters were preoccupied by their dogged opponents and the two sparring werewolves exchanging bites and slashes in the centre of the control area, Mr Nott was taken by surprise as his son got past his guard and struck him with a partial paralysis spell. Seeing the levers and dials before him with labels, Theodore gulped and then forced himself on to play roughly with them. As the vessel began to both turn and tilt, he raised his wand and fired at the controls, point-blank.

"Deprimo!"

The spell punched a hole through the centre of the instrument bank, provoking another high-pitched scream from the walls around them. Ron followed on by striking another panel with a blasting curse, wrecking it.

Nabilah Zabini screamed out her fury.

Then everyone yelled in fear as the Dauntless tilted forward violently by about twenty degrees. Snape and Blanchard – locked in their dance of death were thrown off balance and they both fell, rolling forward, into the observation gallery where the gunners were still pounding away at the attacking Ministry force with their cannons.

Dolohov and the two werewolves also lost their footing, and were thrown out of the Control room – whilst the other fighters managed to grab hold of what remained of the instrument banks to hold themselves in place…

"Agghh! You'll pay for this, Snape…"

The knife went sliding out of Blanchard's grip as he and Severus Snape continued to roll out of control. They both crashed against the lower part of the closing membrane screen of the observation deck – and they gasped for breath, winded by the experience. Close to them, the gunner crews yelled as they held onto the cannons for secure their footing. Some lost their grip, and – along with the Inferi – landed on the screen, whilst a few of the undead minions were unfortunate enough to slip through the narrowing gap, and they fell soundlessly to their deaths.

Snape gritted his teeth as he kicked himself free of Dr Blanchard. Crawling up the floor to his left, which was now tilting upwards, he pulled out a knife from his own robe pocket and stabbed it into the floor close to the membrane window on his left, holding himself in place. Dolohov and the two fighting werewolves had slammed into the ammunition rack fixed into the centre of the gallery floor, from which the Inferi had carried the cannonballs. Lavender landed head-first against the racking, and slumped upon it, dazed.

"Urh!" Dolohov grunted, and picked up his dropped wand in order to execute Remus Lupin, the wolf man who he had landed against, at point-blank range.

Remus snarled and lashed out with his forepaw – his talons cutting across Dolohov's throat. The Death Eater drew in his breath, shocked. Blood began to flow from his injury. He gasped for breath. His wand was still in his hand, aimed – but now he could not speak, could not concentrate in order to kill his werewolf opponent…

Then Remus lunged forward and tore out his throat, before spitting it out. Dolohov's eyes widened, and he fell, rolling down the tilted floor, giving out his death gurgle. The Death Eaters around them screamed their terror, making Remus's ears twitch with annoyance.

Next, Snape found his trouser leg being yanked upon from below. He glanced down. Blanchard had retrieved his dagger and was using Snape as leverage to climb back up. The doctor grinned and raised his blade.

"Say goodbye to it all, traitor!" Blanchard declared in his transatlantic twang.

Snape turned and quickly aimed his wand at the base of the cannon on the deck before him. "Expulso!" he yelled.

The locking brakes on the base were blasted away. The deserted cannon and the upper part of the base gave way to the tilt of the floor, and slid downwards, just missing Snape…

…but landing straight onto the wide-mouthed Doctor Blanchard.

"NNNOOO!"

The cannon smacked into Blanchard, even as he tried to stand up. Clinging now to the side of it, as it spun out of control and slammed into another cannon, the doctor screamed. The second cannon, dislodged from its rigging, joined the first – and they both crashed into the screen where the fallen Death Eaters were struggling to regain their footing.

The screen was torn apart with the twin impact. The screams of the Death Eaters joined those of Doctor Blanchard as they were first crushed, and then violently punched out of the Dauntless's gallery deck – to fall to their deaths far below, the two loose cannons topping over in mid-air with them, outside of the tilted sky-ship.

And in the Control Room, amidst her rising panic at the destruction caused by Ron's party, Nabilah Zabini froze in shock – glimpsing the death of her partner. Gripping tightly onto the central instrument bank that she had wedged herself behind, she screamed out her fury…

*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*

On the Engine deck, Ginny – possessed by the spirit of Tenebrae – was about to kill Harry where she stood.

Then the Dauntless listed, thanks to Theodore Nott's work on the navigation controls.

Caught off guard by the sudden lurch, Ginny staggered forward towards Harry – who dived at her. In the collision, Harry tried to twist Ginny's wand arm, forcing the Elder Wand away from her. At the same time, Harry tried to grasp her friend's other hand as it clawed at her.

"No! Deprimo!" Ginny raged. Her blasting spell took out half of the railing around the engine shaft. The metal pieces fell into the electric arcing below. Then Harry and Ginny twisted and fell towards a control panel next to the entrance to the Fornax. Ginny struck it, head first.

"Urh!"

The Elder Wand fell to the floor from Ginny's limp hand. Harry quickly snatched it up, before it could roll into the nearby engine shaft. Then she took in the concussed state of Ginny.

Oh, god… Hope that was a big enough bump to give Tenebrae the boot – and didn't damage Ginny any more than it had to!

That silver necklace and the brass amulet! Get them off her – now!

Shaking with nerves, Harry quickly took the magic-absorbing amulet off Ginny. She was about to remove the mind-controlling necklace that had been underneath, when she heard the footsteps running up behind her…

"Avada Kedavra!"

Alarmed, Harry spun round to cast a shield charm to protect herself. But as she did, the lime-green bolt of light from Blaise Zabini's wand was redirected to, and absorbed by, the brass amulet in Harry's left hand.

They stared at each other for a few moments – as they took in what had just happened. Harry felt the sweat on her forehead, as she reeled from her latest escape from death. Then she saw the identical amulet around Blaise's neck.

Harry looked up to witness the latest on the fighting around the gallery. Hermione, Luna, Harlan, and the remainder of the Harry-clones were still doing what they could to hold back Sargas and Pansy, who were gradually cutting down the wandless prisoners. But now Harlan had seen that Blaise had slipped past them, and he was racing along the gangway to aid Harry.

"Stalemate, Blaise… We can't use our magic against each other," Harry panted. She forced a smile. "Like to surrender yet?"

The Regent curled his lip, suppressing his anger. Putting away his wand, he pulled out a knife instead.

"No surrender, Potter," he growled. "Now step away from Ginny…"

"Oh sure… Neither you or I don't want to see her dead, do we…?"

Harry trailed off, yelping, as the Dauntless abruptly tilted sideways. She and Blaise staggered – and Ginny's unconscious body rolled towards the engine shaft, on the side where the railing had been destroyed…

"Nooo!" Blaise spotted the danger first. Shoving Harry aside, he dropped his dagger and grabbed his would-be-bride by the hand as Ginny fell into the shaft. The young black man then found himself sliding forward, and balancing precariously at the edge, as his stomach rocked on the very lip of the shaft.

Seconds later, Harry was upon Blaise, pushing his cloak to one side as she hurriedly grabbed hold of his belt – holding him back from being pulled into the shaft by Ginny's limp weight.

"Get off me!" Blaise Zabini raged.

"I'm the only thing making sure both Ginny and you get out alive, Blaise!" Harry yelled. "I can't levitate you – unless you break off your magic-absorbing amulet!"

"Can't… I'm holding onto Ginny with both hands!"

Then Harry looked up as someone's shadow fell across her face. It was Harlan. He stared at the scene before him with unreadable emotions. Then he scooped up the amulet that Harry had taken from Ginny, and which she had dropped as she dived upon Blaise Zabini.

"Harlan! Help us out here!" Harry shrieked.

"Just stay where you are, Harry! I've got an idea…" Harlan retorted. "As your clone, I have a few of your memories. I remember a DADA lesson in our fifth year. About magic-absorbing objects…"

"What about them!?" Harry screamed. "We were reading boring theoretical textbooks!"

"If they're subjected to the influence of a greater field that absorbs magic…"

"…they will discharge the magic stored in them…" Harry's mouth dried up as she followed Harlan's gaze to the Fornax. "Oh…my…god…"

Harlan flashed her a grin. "Don't let go of Blaise – and keep down!"

Harry looked up and her heart missed several beats. Both Hermione and Luna had been disarmed, thanks to the arrival of reinforcements on the Death Eater side. Some of the Inferi from the corridor outside had been herded in by a pair of female Death Eaters who were twins – their pale-blonde hair cut into severe fringes.

In spite of their efforts in killing several of the undead guards sent against them, Hermione and Luna were now being held captive by two Inferi still standing after the battle. As they were forced to walk down the ramps, fear and revulsion was etched on the faces of the girls. They could feel the clammy grip of the animated corpses holding their arms tightly behind their backs. Meanwhile, Sargas and Pansy – both looking bruised and cut up from the fighting – were now joining the female Death Eater twins, ready to apprehend Harlan and Harry and rescue Blaise and Ginny. In addition, several Inferi were now blocking Harlan's access to the cover to the Fornax. They were surrounded…

All of the prisoners had been eliminated, Harry realized with a heavy heart.

"Saw the clone captives did you, Harlan?" Sargas sneered in the manner of the original Draco Malfoy. "Guess you'll have to take their place now! You'll be fed to the Fornax!"

Harry saw Harlan's face tighten with anger. "The furnace will have to settle for this first, Malfoy!"

And with that, he threw the amulet in his hand onto the cover to the Fornax, which was in-between the feet of the nearest pair of Inferi - a couple of meters away from him. The membrane cover opened up like a trapdoor, and the amulet dropped into the Fornax below.

"You vandal! We don't have many of tho-" Pansy cursed herself for her outburst. She aimed her wand at Harlan. "Sargas – go levitate Blaise and that Weasley toy of his out of the shaft…"

Her voice drifted off, as the floor around the Fornax began to ominously rumble. Panicking, Harry tried to pull Blaise and Ginny out from the shaft before it was too late.

Unable to properly see what was happening, Blaise roared out.

"What have you done, Harlan?"

"Overloaded the magical energy your furnace can hold, hopefully." Harlan grinned as the rumbling turned into the rocking motion of a heavy earthquake.

"Johnson and Johnson! Shoot ice spells on the Fornax – now!" Blaise ordered the female Death Eater twins."

"Yes, Regent," they called back. But as they lowered their wands to the re-opening membrane cover, there was an almighty explosion.

A multi-coloured fire burst out from the decking around the Fornax, incinerating the two Death Eaters and the surrounding Inferi. Sargas and Pansy threw themselves down, but got a lick of the flames and scorching hot air as they screamed. Meanwhile, still on the ramps further away, Hermione and Luna quickly twisted their distracted Inferi captors round – ensuring that the undead minions shielded them from the effects of the fireball that was filling the centre of the Engine deck…

*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*

Seconds after the possessed Ginny was knocked out, Shardraya Darke shot upright in her bed within her guest quarters onboard the Dauntless, gasping. She then forced herself to slow down her rapid breathing.

The assassin known as Tenebrae rubbed a hand over her forehead. The headache that Ginny Weasley would wake up with, had also struck her – forced her out of Ginny's mind…

Very well, Potter… You want me to face you directly in our fight? I will soon find you and end this…!

Quickly strapping on the lightweight body armour from her kit, Tenebrae ensured that the throwing knives in her calf scabbards were securely in place. Grabbing her wand, she hurried out from the quarters and ran for the Engine deck.

*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*

Harlan waited until the immediate aftereffects of the explosion from the destruction of the Fornax had abated. With the centre of the Engine deck now ablaze, he pulled himself upright and ran over to Harry.

"Can't hold on any longer…," Harry gasped, feeling the strength in her arms ebbing. Although unharmed by the flames overhead, both she and Blaise were sweating in the smoke-tinted, burnt air of the vast chamber.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Harlan barked, applying the levitation charm upon Blaise Zabini with Harry's wand. He yelled and rose a few inches, still holding tightly onto Ginny's hand – but then began to sink back into the shaft again as Harlan's magic faltered.

"Let's do this together!" Hermione declared, sprinting over to them. She and Luna had retrieved their wands from the slumped Sargas and Pansy – and now they stood next to Harry's last-remaining clone. "On three. One, two, three!"

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Harlan, Hermione, and Luna all called out.

This time, Blaise and Ginny were levitated out from the deadly shaft by the combined force of their rescuers. Seconds later, Harry rolled away from the shaft to recover from her ordeal – whilst close by, Blaise slumped his back against a pillar next to the unconscious Ginny.

"Harry! Are you all right?" Luna pressed her palm against Harry's flushed face.

"I'll live…," Harry croaked, managing the ghost of a smile. She glanced at the fiery devastation still burning at the centre of the Engine deck. "Well… That should slow this ship down… What about Sargas and Pansy?"

"They're looking a bit worse for wear – but still alive, if rather groggy," Hermione answered, squeezing Harry's hand as she smiled. She held up another pair of brass amulets. "I took these from Pansy and Sargas, after our Inferi captors perished. They must be just like Blaise's – able to absorb magical attacks. You take one, Harry."

"Thanks…" Harry carefully slipped on the offered amulet. Then, with the aid of Harlan and Luna, she got to her feet, feeling the aches and stings of her injuries as she did so. Nevertheless, they couldn't afford to stop now. Far too much was at stake. "We'd better get back to Ron and the others…"

"Get down!" Harlan shouted, pushing Hermione and Luna to the deck of the chamber. The floor where they had been standing exploded – and the girls yelled.

Harry's vision stopped spinning. Harlan was on the floor, close by and unmoving – his cloak singed, and his face cut by flying debris. Next to him, Hermione and Luna coughed. As the smoke cleared from the latest blast, Harry looked up and scrambled back up, pulling out the Elder Wand. Her jaw trembled with anger – and the wand was snapped up to bear on their latest assailant.

"Accio, Tenebrae!" she spat, directing her fury and willpower through the wand.

Although Ginny was now still the wand's mistress, since she had not been defeated by Harry in spell combat, the wand still acted as a powerful-enough conduit to Harry's strong magical core. Tenebrae gave a surprised cry, as she was yanked off the balcony close to the chamber's entrance. Crashing upon the floor, Shardraya Darke forced herself to roll herself back up into combat. But her next cutting spell was redirected and absorbed by the brass amulet around Harry's neck.

Snarling, Tenebrae tried to fire Killing Curses at Harry's friends – only for Harry to throw herself in front of them. Each attack was taken by the amulet.

"Now it's your turn, Tenebrae!" Harry rasped. "Stupefy!"

But quick as a flash, Darke had whipped out a knife, which bounced Harry's spell away from her…

"Right… Same sort of magic-repelling blade as that Draco-clone had. Antares, wasn't it?" Harry huffed. "So, what's it to be, Darke?"

"You will not defeat me in close combat, Harry Potter…" Tucking her wand away with her free hand, the young woman glared at Harry and the devastation around them. Then she gave a battle yell and ran straight for the other witch across the blasted, fire-scorched floor, wielding her dagger in her right hand…

*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*

In the Control Room, Nabilah Zabini pushed herself on across the floor, fighting against the tilt of the Dauntless. Straining, she reached out for a button set into the instrument control panel before her. Hitting it, a membrane screen came down to shut off the observation deck from the control area. Close to her, Rookwood was wedged against a console, watching over the pair of groggy witches he had just injured – Daphne Greengrass and Ron Weasley. He gathered their wands as they stirred and tried to pick themselves back up from the floor.

"Incarcerous!" Rookwood spat. Ropes materialized out of thin air and bound Ron and Daphne to the control panels at the side of the room.

Theodore Nott spun round from the navigational controls he had been tampering with, as he realized what had happened to his fallen comrades.

"No! Stupefy!" He held his wand up, and fired – only for his stunner to glance harmlessly against Mrs Zabini's shield charm.

"It is over, you foolish boy!" she spat at him. "Surrender now – or I will get Rookwood here to kill the girls!"

Ron saw the two Slytherin pupils share a look between them. Then, sighing, Theodore used his wand to cancel the petrification spell he'd just used on his father.

"Thank you. I will take that…" Nott Senior got up and seized the wand his son offered up. Next, he looked over the controls that Theodore had used to send the ship out of control. "Now to see if I get the Dauntless level again…"

"Father…" Theodore whispered, so that only his dad could hear. "Mother misses you! Come back to us…"

"It is…too late for that," Nott Senior muttered back, avoiding eye contact, as he continued to work on the controls before him. Seconds later, the tilt of the Dauntless was cancelled out. The elderly man ran his eye over different magical screens displayed before him.

"Mr Nott! I want a report," Mrs Zabini barked at him.

"We are still on course, my Lady," he responded. "The battle continues to rage outside. But we are holding them off with our gargoyles, rock cannons and fireball cannons."

"And Snape and your werewolf pet will not get back in here, unless I open the door. Do you hear that, Miss Weasley?" Her lips curling with satisfaction, the Dark Lady turned to address the injured and bound Ron. "You have failed! The Ministry forces outside have failed. We will soon be over Balmoral, and we will destroy the peace conference! We will make sure that those who oppose us will be wiped out in the war that will follow…"

Mrs Zabini then slammed a black control button on her command chair. An alarm sounded. Some moments later, the door at the back of the Control Room opened up. The three Dementors that entered drifted across to the damaged control panels and touched them. Before the disbelieving eyes of Ron, Daphne and Theodore, the damage to the controls gradually faded.

"Platelets… Snape said that the Dementors were the immune system of the ship!" Ron whispered to the Slytherin pupils.

"Then for all the damage we've done…, it's not been enough!" Daphne wailed.

*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*

Harry leaped aside at the last moment, as Tenebrae's dagger struck. The assassin found herself hitting one of the support pillars close to the energy shaft – before Harry ducked and tackled her hated enemy. The two witches crashed down to the deck, rolling over each other. But Harry soon found herself being physically overcome. Darke was a skilled fighter, and she was driven by her rage, her determination…

Then Tenebrae froze, looking across, as she sucked in her breath. Harry followed her gaze, and saw Harlan, looking on the point of collapse, stagger over to the energy shaft. In his hand was the remaining brass amulet…

"Harlan – no!" Harry cried out, understanding what was about to happen.

"My turn…to die…," Harlan croaked, forcing his lips into a pained smile. He coughed blood, waved – then took the final few steps into the shaft.

"Stop!" Tenebrae scrambled to her feet. "Accio H-"

There was a wailing cry, as the electrical arcs below incinerated Harlan's descending body – then the brass amulet he held broke up, releasing the magical energy it had absorbed.

BOOM!

This time, the explosion seemed even greater than the one that had wrecked the Fornax. Harry quickly rolled aside behind the nearest support pillar, and cast a shield charm over the unmoving Hermione and Luna. But Tenebrae was blown back by the blast into the far wall of the chamber, screaming. Then the very floor, ceiling and walls began to shudder and start to melt. Harry heard a wail emanating from the fabric of the vessel itself.

Time to get out! Now!

Harry rolled to her feet and ran over to assist Hermione and Luna, slapping them into alertness. Groaning, the two girls were helped up by Harry.

"Ginny! Where's Ginny?" Harry snapped.

"I'm sorry, Harry… Blaise snatched her up and staggered out of the chamber, whilst you were fighting Tenebrae," Luna answered, rubbing her sore head. "Poor Harlan… He's sacrificed himself for us! Oh…! Your brass amulet, Harry…"

Harry glanced down, stunned. Her amulet was beginning to break into pieces on her. Luna quickly used her wand to cut it free from Harry's neck – and it slid to the floor, disintegrating.

"It… It must have overheated from absorbing some of that explosive energy," Harry rasped. "Blast it…"

"Where's Tenebrae?" Hermione scanned the chamber, seeing the raging fires.

The balcony over the far wall was now collapsing piece by piece. Harry stared grimly at the rubble. "She's done for! Now's let's make a run for it – or we'll go the same way! Got your wands? Good. Now move!"

The other girls nodded. Keeping together, the three witches tried to stay alert and focused as they half-ran, half-staggered up the ramp to the exit door on the balcony.

As they left the Engine deck, Pansy and Sargas – half-burnt by the fires around them – stirred and helped each other as they hurriedly, and painfully, limped their way out from the devastation also…

(Please review, dear readers!)