Disclaimer I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling. Also this story is inspired by 'A Shattered Prophesy' by Project Dark Overlord.
Again, many, many thanks to all my wonderful reviewers. You guys really are the reason I have kept going with this story! You guys rock! okay, now enjoy!
Chapter Fifty Two
There must have been around forty, maybe fifty Death Eaters surrounding the five teens. Harry felt like the air around him had vanished. He struggled to breathe due to the panic he felt. It would have been near enough impossible to fight all of these men alone, but with the added complication of the four teens with him, Harry didn't know how he was going to survive this and help the others to survive as well.
He felt the four teens huddle closer to him, they all had their wands out, but Harry was sure that they wouldn't know the first thing about fighting Death Eaters. The men in front of him were all wearing their masks but one of them stood out clearly. The long silver blond hair was always such a give away. Harry felt his heart leap in anger as he saw Lucius Malfoy step towards them.
"Looks like your luck has finally run out, Harry." He said at him.
Harry gripped his wand tightly and surveyed the men in front of him. He was trying desperately to think of a way he could escape with the four teens with him.
"Luck doesn't have anything to do with this. I'm just better than the rest of you" Harry mocked. He knew that angry Death Eaters equalled to clumsy Death Eaters. All it took was one nasty comment and most of them would lose their composure.
Malfoy gestured to the rest and at once the circle around Harry started getting smaller. The Death Eaters were closing in. their wands were pointed at the five teens and the closer they got the more difficult it would be to escape.
'Here goes nothing' Harry thought to himself as he got ready to duel. He hoped that the four teens managed to keep up with him. There really wasn't any other option.
As soon as one Death Eater got close enough Harry threw an acid spurt spell at him, the Death Eater at once dropped his wand and grabbed at his face and started howling in pain. Harry threw up his shield, putting every bit of strength he had into holding it up as the shower of curses fell onto him and the others. Since they were all huddled together, the shimmering bubble protected all five of them. All fifty men were hitting the shield again and again, trying to break through it. Harry felt his shield shudder under the strain. It had never been used to deal with so many curses. Harry knew that the shield wouldn't be able to take much more. He shouted instructions over the thunder of the curses.
"The shield's going to break! Once it does start firing spells at them. I don't care which ones! Aim for their heads if you can! Stay together and summon your energy! We need the shields now more than ever!" Harry finished saying, just as the shimmering blue bubble began to crack and break away.
As soon as Harry's shield broke, the four teens sprung into action. Ron and Hermione had already started summoning the energy to bring up their shields while Damien and Ginny threw the strongest 'Stupefy' spells they could. The yellow and pink bubbles merged together, protecting the four teens. Harry had already moved away to start duelling. All of them were moving at an incredible speed to take shelter in the dark woods. Harry wasted no time and was firing the darkest spells he could at the men. He struck down three Death Eaters with the killing curse in an instant. Harry never used the Unforgivables other than when he was instructed to do so by Voldemort, the only time he had used an Unforgivable without getting Voldemort's permission first was when he cast the Cruciatus curse on Sirius, the time he had attacked the Hogwarts Express.
Harry hated using the Unforgivables. Unlike the rest of the Death Eaters, Harry took no pleasure in casting the torture curse or the killing curse. It used to be merely an order for him. He would cast whatever curse he was instructed to do so at Voldemort's command. However, today Harry was firing the spells vigorously not to take life but to protect it. He felt nothing as he cast the curses other than an overwhelming desire to get himself and his friends out of here alive. Harry would realise later on that this was the first time he had registered them as his friends. He would always protect Damien, no doubts about it, but the others were usually just in the way. But now, Harry wanted to get all of them out of here alive and well, not because of any other reason but because he couldn't bear to think about any of them getting hurt.
Harry threw himself to the ground as another body binding spell came at him. Harry was being aimed with 'stupefy' and body binding curses only. It seemed the killing curses were being used only on the four teens, who miraculously managed to avoid getting hit by it. Ron and Hermione's full body shield had not managed to keep the multitude of spells away. It had cracked and broken, like Harry's had. So they had no other choice but to throw themselves out of the path of the killing curse. Harry spun around after sending another killing curse at a tall Death Eater and saw something that made his heart jump into his mouth. Damien had just stepped in front of the other three as four Death Eaters aimed Crucio's at them. Before Harry could react, Damien had thrown himself into the path of the spells. Before Harry's eyes the four spells zoomed towards Damien's chest but never hit him. They simply dissolved into the air a mere inch or so away from him. At once the four Death Eaters were thrown to the ground by Ron, Hermione and Ginny's spells. Harry realised that the Layhoo Jisteen was responsible for saving Damien but Harry was unsure whether the unique stone would protect him from the killing curse. Harry was certain that the stone would not be able to protect him from the ultimate dark curse.
Harry took a quick survey of the body count around him. He must have killed around fifteen Death Eaters. Their bodies lay sprawled on the ground. The four teens had managed to take out ten Death Eaters amongst themselves. Harry knew that they were only stunned, since none of them would have been able to cast the killing curse.
Harry ran after the four teens as they plunged into the dark woods, running and aiming spells at the Death Eaters that were chasing them. They did what Harry had said and aimed for their heads. Harry was racing through the dense woods after them as fast as he could manage.
Just before Harry got within reach of them he felt a spell zoom by him and explode in front of him, fire erupted all around him, encircling Harry, so that he was cut off from the rest. The four teens stopped in their tracks at the sound and made to move towards him, wands raised to extinguish the fire.
"NO! Just go from here!" Harry yelled at them.
The four teens looked terrified to leave Harry alone. They backed away and looked around helplessly to find some way to help him. Harry yelled at them to leave again and saw Ron and Hermione pulling the reluctant and struggling forms of Damien and Ginny away from the flames and further away from Harry.
Harry turned around to see that he was trapped. There were at least twenty five Death Eaters standing in front of him while the fire blocked him from behind. Harry stood, ready to take out anyone who approached him. The men stood still, no one moved to get to him. Harry watched with a thumping heart as a blond haired Death Eater walked in front of the others and stood facing Harry. He reached over and removed his mask. Harry already knew it was Lucius Malfoy. His grey eyes were burning with anger as he stood, wand pointing at Harry.
"Never thought it would come to this" he almost whispered.
With a jolt Harry realised that there was another emotion, hidden deep within Malfoy's eyes. It was regret. Harry knew that Malfoy had been affected by Harry leaving Voldemort's side. He was undoubtedly given punishments for firstly being indirectly responsible for leading Harry to Wormtail. He had then failed to capture him for so long now. Harry understood the anger Malfoy must feel towards him. What Harry was not prepared to accept was that Malfoy senior had ever felt compassion for him. As far as Harry was concerned, everything that came out of his mouth or Voldemort's was a lie. They were mere tricks used to betray him and use him as a weapon in this war. Harry gripped his wand more tightly as he felt the familiar rage burn inside him.
"There is nowhere left to go now. If you resist you'll only be making things more difficult for yourself." Malfoy continued to say as he took a tentative step towards Harry.
Harry took a step away and felt the heat of the flames behind him intensify.
"Don't make me hurt you, Harry" Malfoy said in a low voice that again unsettled Harry.
"You can't hurt me anymore than you already have." Harry whispered back, hearing the sound of his own blood pounding in his ears.
Malfoy seemed to be taken aback at the statement. He looked uncomfortable for a moment before making his face expressionless.
"Have it your way" he said and signalled to the other men.
Every single one of them threw a curse at him. Harry threw up his shield that repelled them. But the force of the twenty five curses slammed into him and made Harry stumble and fall to the ground. His shield faltered as Harry hit he ground and two stinging hexes fought their way through and hit Harry, one in the chest and the other on his hand.
Harry gasped at the pain but got to his feet at once. He threw another acid spurt curse but it missed the Death Eaters. Harry stumbled as his shield was hit with another blast of curses. Again Harry lost control and his shield faltered allowing another curse to hit him. He felt a searing pain take a hold of him as someone had sent a bone breaking curse at him, obviously aiming for his wand holding arm, but it hit Harry in the ribs instead. With a hand placed over his broken ribs, Harry tried to bring up his shield as he heard 'stupefy' spells being aimed at him. Harry had to throw himself out of the way as his shield didn't come up in time. Harry got to his feet but knew that it was no good. He was too exhausted to hold up the shield for much longer. They were tiring him out so that he could be captured. He was exhausted and sooner or later would be hit with the stupefy spell.
He stood glaring at the men that had their wands trained on him. A few were pointing at his face while most were aiming for his heart. Harry still had his shield around him, but the Death Eaters didn't hit him with anything this time. They looked over at Malfoy as he walked towards Harry. Malfoy could see that Harry was beginning to lose the fight. He wouldn't be able to keep up the shield for much longer.
"Had enough?" he asked as he pointed his wand at Harry through his shield.
In response to his question Harry reached into his robes and pulled out the black diary, fury and rage was coursing through him. If he was going to be captured and taken back, he was going to make sure he had succeeded in taking his revenge first. He wasn't going to fail when it was only the last Horcrux left.
Harry turned his fury filled eyes towards Malfoy, revelling in the fear that was held in his grey eyes as he stared at the diary.
"Fuck you" Harry hissed at Malfoy before turning his gaze onto the black diary.
All Harry had to do was remember Bella and the empty look in her eyes as Sirius had held her, and the burning rage overtook him. The black diary had burst into a ball of flames and turned to dust within a few seconds.
It seemed as if Malfoy had been the one who lost a fraction of his soul rather than Voldemort. His grey eyes widened with fear and shock. He let out a howl of rage as he sent a curse at Harry.
Harry pushed all the energy he had into strengthening his shield. Harry's shield protected him but again the tremendous blow of curses had Harry stumbling backwards. He only just managed not to fall into the flames behind him.
Just as Harry thought his shield was going to crack, since he didn't have the energy to keep on going, a sound filled the air around him and shook the ground. A few Death Eaters had to leap out of the way as something came crashing through he trees towards them. For a moment everyone forgot about Harry and capturing him. They stood gasping at the sight. A huge tree had crashed down towards them. It smashed to the ground, making a bridge through the fire. Harry could just make out Hermione and Ginny standing on the other side of the tree, wands pointing at the Death Eaters.
Harry wasted no time. He threw another acid spurt spell behind him so that no one could follow him across the bridge made from the fallen tree. He raced as fact as he could to the other side. He didn't stop even a second. The four teens joined him and all of them raced away from the Death Eaters. They could feel spells zooming past them but they kept on running.
Harry knew that they were heading deeper into the woods. The deeper they went, the better chance they had at hiding. Harry didn't want to lead these enraged men towards the small muggle village.
Harry and the rest stopped next to a huge boulder and hid behind it. They listened hard for any sounds that might tell them if they were being followed or not. They all had to catch their breath. Harry looked at his hand and saw that the stinging hex had left a deep cut. He caught the others looking at him worriedly. He probably looked like he was feeling right now. The pain from his broken ribs was making him feel faint and his chest and hand throbbed with pain from the stinging curse.
"You okay?" Damien whispered.
Harry gave him a nod and gestured to keep quiet.
Harry groaned mentally when he heard Malfoy's voice shout instructions to the others. He looked at Ginny as she suppressed a shudder.
"Harry! I know you're here, since we placed anti-appartation wards before coming. You can't escape! Make it easier on yourself and come quietly!" Malfoy's words rang through the woods and Harry felt his heart thump louder in his chest.
"If you come quietly, we promise to give your followers a chance to escape. Surrender now!" he yelled and his words echoed loudly.
Harry saw Ron and Hermione catch his eye and desperately shake their heads, signalling for him not to listen to Malfoy. Harry wasn't planning on listening to him anyway but gave them a small smile. 'My followers, that's new' he thought to himself.
Harry peeked a look around the boulder and saw that Malfoy was wearing his mask again. There were still twenty five of them, looking around desperately for him. Harry tried to get his exhausted mind to work. With the anti appartation wards, they couldn't escape. Harry was sure he would be able to take down the men if he could just separate them out into smaller groups, all he needed was some time.
"Okay, you guys stay here. I'm going to go finish this" Harry said, but was stopped by Damien.
"I'm coming with you" he said determinedly.
Harry didn't know why he bothered with Damien at times like this.
"What?" Harry asked, knowing that Damien was going to come up with the stupidest excuse.
"Your shield can't hep you against all of them. You've proved that already. The Layhoo Jisteen protects me and those around me. I can be your shield." Damien said at once.
Harry stared at him. 'Yep, definitely the stupidest thing I've heard' he thought to himself.
"Damy, if you think I'm going to use my younger brother as a human shield then you are even thicker than I thought!" Harry hissed at him.
"There's no other way, none of the curses work on me. I can help you take them out" Damien insisted as he gripped his wand tightly.
"You don't know that! The killing curse is probably going to override any protection the Layhoo Jisteen has! Stop making ridiculous plans and stay here, out of sight and out of the way" Harry said as he prepared to leave his hiding place.
"Harry, we're not letting you do this alone. We all came here prepared to help you fight. We're all coming with you" Ron said as he too gripped his wand closer to him.
"We're standing by you, Harry. Even it's the last thing we ever do!" Hermione added, keeping the emotional tears away.
Harry looked around all of them, feeling his own heart constrict painfully at their loyalty.
"All you guys have to do is bring up your shields and keep them there. Okay?"
The four teens nodded their heads. Ron and Hermione looked at each other and wordlessly held hands. Ginny and Damien crept next to them, focusing harder than ever to bring up the full body shield. Harry was in the middle, next to Hermione and Ginny.
"Now" Harry said and the five teens shot out from behind the boulder.
Harry started firing curses at the Death Eaters and felt a magical surge all around him as four full body shields went up instantly. The shimmering yellow and pink bubble merged with Ginny's purple and Damien's orange ones. The bubble that was created was strong enough to uphold the attack of the Death Eaters.
Since Harry didn't have to conjure up a shield he was free to cast as many hexes and spells at the surrounding Death Eaters as he could. He started firing them, aiming at the men nearest to them.
Harry could tell that they wouldn't dare use the killing curse, in case it hit Harry. Voldemort would surely want Harry to be killed by his own hands, after destroying all his Horcruxes. The Death Eaters tried to break through the strong shield but couldn't weaken it.
"We're doing it! Oh God we're actually blocking all the curses!" Ginny shouted excitedly.
The four teens were beside themselves with joy at being able to conjure up something so powerful. Harry was glad too, but knew that the shield wouldn't hold for much longer. It was taking too much energy from them.
"Get ready, it won't hold much longer" Harry shouted just as the multicoloured bubble began to crack.
Harry had managed to take out another ten Death Eaters, leaving now only fifteen men to deal with. But by now these men were raging mad. The five teens ducked as a jet of green light came flying towards them. Harry realised that they didn't care about risking Harry's life anymore. They army of fifty Death Eaters being led by Lucius Malfoy had been thwarted terribly by a group of inexperienced teenagers, except for Harry of course.
They fired more killing curses as they knew that the full body shield couldn't protect them all against the Avada Kedavra. The teens gave up the shield and drew out their wands and duelled fiercely against the Death Eaters, leaping out of the way as the killing curses sped towards them. Harry tried to aim his own killing curses at as many Death Eaters as possible.
Suddenly another sound distracted the five teens. There were shouts being heard and the unmistakable sound of robes swishing in the air. On no! They called for back up!' Harry thought, panicking at the thought of another fifty Death Eaters turning up.
It wasn't Death Eaters though who came charging out from behind the trees. It was difficult to make out as the thick black smoke, coming from the burning woods, was obscuring the scene. Harry was distracted by another Death Eater and so didn't see the men charging towards them.
Damien was busy duelling fiercely with one Death Eater and had just knocked him out with a body binding spell when he heard a familiar voice.
"Damy!"
Damien turned around, pointing his wand at the person standing behind him. Damien felt his knees weaken and heart jump into his mouth with shock when he saw who it was standing before him.
"Dad!"
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James stood, staring wide eyed at the scene before him. His youngest son, his thirteen year old son who was supposed to be with muggles, safe and sound, was in the middle of a violent fight with Death Eaters. He stared at the teen, with his muggle clothes, torn and muddy, looking at him with shock and fear written clearly on his face.
Before James could say anything, he saw a Death Eater take aim and fire the killing curse at Damien. James summoned Damien too him, knocking him out of the way. James threw a hex at the Death Eater and grabbed Damien before taking shelter behind a large boulder.
"Stay!" James barked at him. Damien wasn't even thinking about disobeying him.
He watched numbly as his father ran to join the battle that was taking place. A piercing scream made Damien jump and look around and he saw Ron fall to the ground.
"Oh God! No!" Damien yelled as he saw Ron crumble to the ground, yelling in pain.
At once four Aurors were circling him, protecting him from the Death Eater that had sent a bone breaking spell at him. Ron clutched at his leg and howled in pain. At once the Aurors brought Ron, along with Hermione and Ginny to Damien. The four teens huddled together. Ron was taking short gasps but managed to stop crying out.
"Ron! Are you okay? Oh God!" Hermione cried out as she tried to comfort him.
"I'm f-fine" Ron managed to say before closing his eyes and taking a shuddering breath to calm down.
Harry saw Ron fall and was about to help him when he spotted the Aurors. Felling like the bottom of his stomach had dropped out, Harry dodged the spells aimed at him by the Aurors and tried to get behind some sort of shelter. It was then that Harry spotted his father, duelling with three Death Eaters. Harry looked around for signs of Damien and the others. He felt panicky about what was going to happen with them. The place was filled with Aurors, who had by now seen the four of them here with Harry. He couldn't see them anywhere.
Pushing aside the nightmarish situation, Harry concentrated avoiding the curses being aimed at him by both the Death Eaters and the Aurors. After dodging the curses by the Aurors, Harry sent a stream of hexes at the Death Eaters.
Damien saw his father rush back towards him. He looked even angrier at noticing the other three teens around him. Without saying a word he took out an oval object from his robes and roughly pushed it into Damien's hands. Damien looked at the silver object that had James Potter written on it. Looking confusedly at him, Damien was about to speak when James cut him off.
"Just hold it tightly!" he said and instructed the other three teens to hold it as well. A few seconds later all four teens felt a pull just under their navel as they port keyed out of the woods and straight into the Ministry of Magic.
Harry saw the Aurors take over the remaining Death Eaters. He knew that he had to get out of here. He couldn't really fight anymore anyway. His ribs felt like they were on fire and he was struggling to hold onto his wand with his hand throbbing horribly.
He saw Malfoy signalling to the remaining Death Eaters, now only six or seven left, that the wards were lifted. They could apparate away. With a series of pops the Death Eaters began to disappear. Harry didn't hang around. After jumping out of the way of a body binding curse sent by an Auror, Harry also prepared to disapparate. He managed to lock his eyes with his father seconds before he disappeared.
James met Harry's eyes only a second before he saw Harry disapparating away. James watched helplessly as Harry disappeared. He didn't even get a chance to see if Harry was okay.
The Death Eaters had also disapparated away before any of them could have been arrested, leaving only the dead ones behind. The Aurors swept the scene, making sure no one was alive in the midst of all the bodies. James hadn't waited though. He had left the scene and went back to the Ministry, praying hard that the four teens could explain what the hell they were doing here with Harry.
James didn't even want to contemplate what would happen to Damien and the others. He already had one son to protect from the Ministry. He apparated outside the Ministry as he had given his Auror portkey to Damien, to get them out of danger.
As he entered the building, he quickly ran to the second floor. He knew that's were the kids would be. As he turned the corner, he saw a very pale looking Arthur Weasley. Sirius was there as well and both seemed to be deep in conversation.
As James approached them, Sirius saw him and at once rushed to his friend.
"James! What's going on? Were the kids really there? Fighting with…with Death Eaters?" it was clear from the sound of his voice that Sirius was having a hard time trying to imagine four children take on so many dangerous Death Eaters and live to tell the tale.
James didn't say anything but nodded his head. He turned to look at Arthur.
"They're all in separate rooms, being questioned about why they were with…with him" Arthur said in a very tight voice.
James looked sympathetically at him but his own anxiety over Damien was stopping him from saying comforting to his friend.
"We better go inside" James managed to say and the three men went inside the observation room to witness the interrogation taking place in the four separate rooms.
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Oh dear, the kids are in trouble. Wonder what will happen now (evil smirk). The next chappie is being written so hang in there. Please review!
