Before Voldemort could do anything with the newly required information, a white snow owl came flying through and aimed her claws straight at Voldemort's face. Harry's eyes widened as he recognized the bird trying to scratch the Dark wizard's eyes out.
"Hedwig!"
"You damned bird!" Voldemort roared once he was able to slap her away.
He aimed his wand at the owl, sneering hatefully.
"Deletrius!"
"Protego!"
The magical shield Tom conjured protected Hedwig from Voldemort's curse. Harry couldn't stop the sigh in relief, but soon tensed again when he realized that Hedwig had to have come here together with someone, and that someone was likely not Voldemort and his followers.
He barely thought of this when three people stormed in, screaming curses and hexes at the Death Eaters. Harry's eyes widened when he recognized them as Remus, Tonks and Moody. The Death Eaters jumped into action right away, and so did several of the party guests. Michael's parents and two older sisters pulled out their wands while Sirius, Hermione and the Weasleys did the same.
Like Tom had ordered, his friends stayed back and watched with grim expressions. Tom nodded at them in encouragement. They'd know when the time came for them to act, and it was not yet.
The following battle was one to behold. Remus and Sirius almost immediately caught up with one another and battled the Lestrange brothers in a four-way duel. They were fierce and Tom could see that they were trained. The metamorphmagus, Tonks, was fighting along with Harry's friends against the other Death Eaters, while Moody took on Bellatrix and Lucius Malfoy at the same time.
Tom just stood calmly and watched the whole thing with a detached expression from his position next to Voldemort. The older version, however, was less composed, and though he didn't do anything whatsoever either, he was grinning widely as he watched the battle commence.
Ron and Hermione were the first to be disarmed, followed almost immediately by Ginny and Tonks, who was knocked out with a Stupefy. Sirius and Remus got really close to defeating the future time Lestrange brothers, but all went wrong when Moody's defeat distracted them.
Mad Eye Moody proved himself to be the perfect Dark Wizard catcher he had always been made out to be and easily juggled against both Inner Circle Death Eaters. Bellatrix Lestrange laughed insanely, casting dark curse after dark curse, which were all deflected or send back. Lucius seemed to struggle much harder, and it was no one's surprise when the man was blasted backwards. Sadly, this had left Moody open for an attack from Bellatrix for just long enough for the dark witch to cast the killing curse at his back.
Rodolphus Lestrange cast a full body bind curse on Remus just as he was about to rush towards the dead Auror, and grabbed the man, pressing his wand against his jugular. Sirius had no choice but to surrender his wand to his mad cousin's brother-in-law.
"Let's not start something unnecessary," Voldemort told them all amused.
"All of you, move back and wands down before anything… tragic happens."
He looked pointed at the bodies of both Dumbledore and Moody and smirked darkly. He clearly knew he had won and with the way he glanced smugly over to Tom, he was probably very confident that his younger counterpart would join his side.
Tom smirked darkly, but didn't confirm nor deny Voldemort's expectations. It was odd to think that he would underestimate himself. Did his mind get so muddled in the future that he couldn't even remember what he had been like? How Tom hadn't hated muggleborns yet, and that he always had his own agenda? It was sad that when Tom had claimed himself disappointed with his own older self, he hadn't even lied. The man was nothing more but a shadow of what he could have been. Voldemort was less than Tom Riddle.
Harry was standing tensely next to Tom and Voldemort, eyes darting around for a way out. His friends were all gathered up near the back, surrounded by Death Eaters from Harry's own time. He could see Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange lingering closely around a very confused and terrified Nicolas and Dimitri. They could probably guess who they were supposed to be, with their masks off, their familiar features were easily discerned as those of the Lestrange family.
"What do we have here?!" Bellatrix' deranged, gleeful shout rang through the room.
Harry's eyes widened when he saw her pull Hermione out of Ron's arms and throw her on the floor in the middle of the room. The brunette witch scrambled back, eyes wide and fearful as she stared at the older witch advancing on her. Bellatrix gave a mad cackle and threw a Crucio Hermione's way.
Harry jerked forward as the curse hit and Hermione started screaming. He wanted to rush forward, but another spell from Voldemort had his muscles all cease and he dropped to his knees, his body convulsing in pain, but unable to cry out.
"Don't touch him!" he heard Tom hiss.
"I didn't touch him though," Voldemort replied amused, chuckling.
When the pain faded, he could do nothing but watch helplessly as Bellatrix laughed and circled a shivering Hermione like a shark smelling blood. He wanted to jump up and help her, but the magic that held him in place was too strong, no matter how hard he strained.
No one else dared to move either. Fred and George had tried, but were easily overpowered by the Lestrange brothers – the ones from the future – Ron and Ginny were standing back, knowing that trying would be useless without wands, and they'd lost those already.
"Itty bitty Mudblood thought she could hide between the bloodtraitors?" Bellatrix taunted as she aimed her wand at Hermione again.
Sirius growled and surged forward, slamming into the first Death Eater he came across, who lost his mask and clutched his nose. If Harry had been able to move even a single muscle in his body, he'd have grinned at the sight of a bleeding Lucius Malfoy, but as things were, he couldn't.
"Leave her alone, you bitch!" Sirius yelled.
Bellatrix turned to face him, but didn't need to do anything as her husband cast a full body bind spell on the man, who dropped heavily on the stone floor. Bellatrix smirked viciously and turned back towards Hermione.
"No!" Alphard yelled, trying to shove forward, but after a harsh kick in the ribs from one of the Death Eaters, he was forced to his knees, groaning in pain.
Bellatrix did nothing but grin widely at that as she glanced over her shoulder to the Black teen, though she quickly turned back to Hermione. The brunette had been able to crawl away a bit, but it did nothing but make Bellatrix' grin widen even more.
"Crucio!" she yelled, laughing madly.
Hermione's screams echoed through the large ballroom, making many of the guests flinch and look away. Harry's breathing sped up the longer the curse was held and the harder his friend started convulsing under it. At last, the curse was lifted and Bellatrix took a step back. Hermione groaned and lifted herself up, glaring at the witch that had just tortured her. She spat. A glob of red spit landed on Bellatrix' boot.
"You dare!" the female Death Eater screeched furiously.
A swipe of her wand and Hermione was thrown backwards with great force. Another swipe and a deep cut appeared in Hermione's face, making her cry out in pain. With large strides, Bellatrix was back at Hermione's side and grabbed the teen by her brown hair, hauling her up forcefully before marching back to the middle of the room and throwing the young witch back down.
"Stupid mudblood!" Bellatrix yelled, kicking Hermione in the ribs a few times.
"Stop it!"
Many eyes turned towards the teen who had just raised his voice. Alphard stood tall, ignoring the many stares as he glared at his niece. His wand was still fisted in his hand, as he hadn't been part of the struggle before. Avery and Michael were flanking him, and Megan stood next to the latter.
"Of course, uncle," Bellatrix sneered sarcastically, before looking back down at Hermione.
"Seducing a pureblood even when you're hiding what you really are? Crucio!"
"Expeliarmus!"
Two red flashes lit up the room. The first hitting Hermione, again, making her scream hoarsely, and the other hitting Bellatrix' wand. The torture curse was forcefully cut off as the wand was ripped from its owner's hand and skidded over the ground, landing at Harry's feet. He looked at it for a short moment, straining against his bonds as he tried to reach it, but it was useless.
Bellatrix turned her head, eyes flashing in anger and hatred, which dimmed as she saw who it was that had cast the disarming spell in the first place. Cygnus lifted his chin bravely, glaring at his first born daughter from the future with defiant dark grey eyes.
"What was that?!" Bellatrix screeched angrily.
"The bitch is a mudblood! What are you doing?!"
Harry could see fear flash in the young boy's eyes, and he really wanted to get free so he could protect the child. Cygnus was everything Bellatrix was not, sweet, gentle, caring, immensely curious… He breathed a sigh in relief when he saw that he wasn't needed to protect the youngest Black when Walburga lifted her own wand and aimed it at Bellatrix's face.
"We know perfectly well who she is," the Black woman hissed.
"But Hermione is one of us. She holds Tom's favour and she hold my brother's heart. That is more important than blood."
Lucinda Malfoy pulled away from her parents and walked up to Hermione while everyone stared at her. The pale blonde knelt down to the wounded, tortured girl and put a cool hand on her forehead.
"She doesn't feel good," she mumbled, looking up at the others.
"Abraxas, can you heal her, please? Hermione is my friend."
The young Healer in training walked over and crouched down next to his sister. As he started muttering healing spells, more and more of the people found their courage to step away from the walls. Alphard was the first to hurry to the brunette's side, followed by Ron and Ginny. Fred, George, Nicolas and Dimitri in the meantime advanced on Rodolphus and Rabastan, who, in their shock of what was happening, relinquished the twins' wands back to them without a fight.
Smirking, Tom turned towards Voldemort. The Dark Lord scowled as he saw the sharp grin on his younger self's face. For the first time ever, Harry actually saw the great, terrifying Dark Lord look uncomfortable and uncertain. It was kind of funny, if one were to ignore the situation.
"I think you should leave," Tom suggested darkly, keeping a cold look on Voldemort.
"This is my time. You don't hold any power here. I do, and Harry and Hermione hold my favour. You and yours don't. Leave."
"I don't need your favour," Voldemort hissed angrily.
The man still cancelled his spell on Harry and swept out of the room, his followers coming after him immediately. Harry stared on shock, before he looked over to a very proud-looking Tom. He scowled. When Tom noticed Harry looking at him, his expression softened and he approached quickly.
"I think you were right to worry all along," Tom mumbled.
"I don't want to be like him. He's barely more than a shade."
"Of course I was right," Harry replied quietly.
He turned away from Tom without another word and walked over to where everyone was already fussing over Hermione. He stopped between Alphard and Ron and put a hand on both boys' shoulders to offer support.
"Hermione is strong. She'll pull through," he told them.
"I know," Alphard mumbled, voice hoarse from repressed emotions.
"But family or not, if I see that Bellatrix bitch again, I'll kill her."
"Get in bloody line," Rom muttered darkly.
"Blood or not, Hermione's still my sister."
Probably the shortest chapter so far, my apologies for that. I hope you all still like it.