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Chapter 38

The missiles had scarcely left their cradles when the Flight Captain heard his Radar Operator's voice over his headset. "Trailing bogie is changing its heading!"

"Bollocks!" he said under his breath, hoping he had not just sent his missiles after aircraft that were willing to comply. "New heading?" he asked.

"He's…" The operator hesitated. "He's coming right at us! Impact in ten seconds!"

As the events unfolded he watched in stunned horror through low light attachment on his helmet, as the flares of white he associated with their missiles in flight flew into the distance.

"Impact in four…" said his Radar Operator. "three… two… One! Impact!"

Less than a blink later he found himself looking away involuntarily as the sky was filled with light. "BLOODY HELL!" he screamed as he pulled on both of the control sticks, automatically breaking away from the massive fireball.

Two switches later he was pushing the lowlight attachment up, locking it in place and rubbing his eyes, "Flight! Report!" he yelled, trying to blink away the spots.

"Locus 2, Locus 3," came over the radio, as his vision cleared.

He was stunned by what he saw; a gigantic plume of fire that had erupted from where the target had been had to be over a kilometer wide. He was still trying to make sense of the sight as he felt the pressure wave wash over his helicopter jarring it around quite heavily.

"Ha-have the other missiles made contact?" he asked.

"Negative!' came the voice of his operator. "I have negative impact on missiles two and three!" he said. "They never made it close, and they're not on my screen! The blast must have destroyed them!"

"Form up!" he growled over the radio. "I don't know what the hell those things are carrying but we can't let them get wherever they're going!"

He tipped his control yoke forward and took up the pursuit again.

Harry gritted his teeth as he felt the twisting sensation latch on to him behind his navel and yank him away from the maze, into a swirl of colors.

In seconds he found himself tumbling onto the ground. Rolling with the impact he was quickly on his feet in a tight crouch, two voices grunting from the impact alerting him that both of the other champions had managed to grab hold of the cup as well.

"Portkey..." said the male voice, even as he heard him start to gather his feet.

"Oui…." agreed Fleur. "But to where?"

He could almost hear the older boy shrug. "Wands out?" he asked.

"Quiet!" Harry hissed, waving his hand, even as another voice came out of the darkness.

"Kill the spares!" it said as a green glow appeared.

Harry moved automatically, and in a single leap knocked both of the other teens to the ground as the green bolt sizzled just above their heads.

"Stay down, and get to cover! This isn't a game anymore, someone is trying to kill us!" he growled, rolling off them.

Pulling a coin from his pocket he depressed the center and tossed it forward, toward the area the spell had come from. "That will buy you a few moments!" he said as an inky darkness obscured the night sky.

"Take this, someone will find you," he said, pressing a small silver cigarette lighter into her hand after depressing the button hidden within. "Stay together, and watch out for each other! Get to help if you can!"

They watched confused as he ran into the darkness.

Alex watched in awe as the diminutive goblin she had met outside the maze, Balcross, bounded into the midst of a battle between a sphinx and chimera, his axe in one hand and MP5 in the other.

The MP5 chattered as he ran, small spurts of blood appearing along the flank of the chimera as it did, causing the snake head that made up its tail to rear back and strike in his direction.

To her surprise he was suddenly no longer there, but a few feet to the right, his axe already in motion towards the now overextended and unprotected neck of the creature, biting deep enough that when the neck pulled back the head tumbled off in a different direction.

He was in a whirlwind of motion, each movement calculated and ending in a spurt of gore and blood.

As quick as it began it was over and the goblin was standing over the dead chimera alongside the large form of the sphinx.

"I thank you warrior," said the gasping tawny colored monster.

"You would have been victorious in the end," he said, bowing to the larger creature.

"No," it said, returning the bow. "I am beyond my prime, and the poisons from my opponent were taking their toll. Even with your aid I do not know if I have survived this encounter," it said, dropping to a knee in obvious pain.

She was approaching them slowly when her earpiece crackled to life. "Glenda, Bravo actual."

"Glenda, go," she said automatically.

"Strider's emergency beacon just activated," said M's voice. "According to that he is no longer on the grounds, can you confirm?"

"Bollocks!" she said, looking around at the destruction surrounding her. "No!" she replied simply. "Big sections of the maze are destroyed… But it doesn't seem to be trying to repair itself or shift any longer… And I can still hear fighting from elsewhere… but I still haven't made positive contact with Strider!"

"Understood; we are dispatching support as we speak." There was a slight pause. "Be advised one of the incoming bogies is down, two are still incoming! ETA ninety seconds!"

"Roger that," she said, turning to the goblin and sphinx. "We've got to get your people out of here! The air threat will be here in just over a minute…"

"A threat remains to this place?" asked the sphinx.

She nodded, barely trusting her voice talking to the monstrous creature. "By air, muggle machines are coming to destroy the school."

The creature's face seemed to darken in anger. "From which direction?" it asked, struggling to its feet.

She pointed towards the mountains behind Black Lake.

"To attack a place of children's learning… This I will not allow!" it said, lifting into the air with a beat of its mighty wings and wheeling into the direction she had pointed.

Harry removed the outer robes he had been wearing as he moved, letting them fall as he did, and assessed his surroundings.

A cemetery… 'Just perfect…' he thought morosely.

At least two opponents somewhere in the darkness, and they had been expecting them. 'Or at least one of them,' he amended mentally, going over the fact that the voice had said "kill the spares" before the attack.

He flipped the mag light off in an automatic gesture, knowing that now stealth was his priority, and pulled out his last decoy, tapping it and sending it on its way.

"One way or another I've got to buy them time to get away," he muttered under his breath and began to move, staying low among the headstones.

"New contact!" rang out from behind him.

The Flight Leader's eyes widened. "What? Where?"

"It's appeared just in front of our bogies and is closing on them fast!" his Operator cried.

"Any IFF (Identifier Friend or Foe)?" he asked hastily.

"No, it doesn't have a tag!" he replied.

"Try to raise it on the radio and lock onto it with our missile, just in case. Flight fire as soon as we are in range again!"

Amelia watched as a light appeared in the sky beyond the mountains and the Sphinx soared over their heads. "That doesn't look good…" she said under her breath. "We've got to get these people out of here…"

"The Aurors' arrest portkeys!" Sirius yelled over the roar of the crowd. "They'll take them to the ministry holding area! But at least they won't be here!"

She looked at him wide eyed, then snogged him soundly. "I knew I kept you around for something!"

"You mean for more than just my stunning good looks?" he said with a smile.

"Prat, help me spread the word!" she yelled.

Filius stepped over the rubble at the end of the tight corridor, and flicked the tip of his wand causing a ball of light to float into the room beyond.

"Oh my!" he said, waving his wand at the rubble, shoving it magically to the side to allow him entry.

"What could have caused this?" he asked the air around him as he stepped into the ward control room.

"The control scheme had been completely disrupted…" he said quietly with a sigh. "It will take some time to put this to rights… No wonder Minerva and the elves are unconscious, the backlash would have been quite substantial… I do hope that it hasn't done anything permanent."

Knowing that the repairs that were required were beyond what he could do alone, he returned to the stairway and made his way upwards.

"Ms. Lovegood?" he said as he arrived,

"Is everything okay sir?" she asked, seeing his face lost in thought.

"No, no I am afraid it is not," he said with a small shrug. "I do believe that no matter what, the school term is over for the year after tonight… Let us be off Ms. Lovegood, I have much to discuss with others of the staff."