Ch. 14 Water Wall
The city lines are down
The kerosene's run out
The fracturing of all we relied upon
Let's shed this unclean skin
And start to feel again
Cause all the shoulders on which to cry are gone
~Endgame by Rise Against
I followed Maggie out to the edge of the city as we helped to erect the water wall. She looked tired already as we raised it up, up over our heads. Everyone we cared about was around us, and I felt terrified as I had before the Battle of Hogwarts.
The wall continued to rise up and over the entire city, creating a dome of elevated water above London. I briefly wondered what the muggles could possibly be thinking, wondering if the Statute of Secrecy could ever be repaired. When it was finally okay to stop, Kingsley signaled to all of us and I lowered my wand.
Maggie looked over at me for a moment before rushing into my arms, holding tightly to me.
"I don't want to lose you," Maggie sobbed into my chest, "Please don't let me lose you. Not again. Never."
"I promise," I whispered, "To the best of my ability. And you know I can't promise more than that so don't make me."
"Alright," Maggie was shaking in my arms and I held her tighter.
"I promise too," she mumbled, "I promise to not let you lose me to the best of my ability."
"That's all I ask," I responded, holding her now as tightly as I could. The water wall was steadfastly over us, quite a few feet thick all around and swirling madly. I could see over Maggie's head the bits of debris and chemical waste swirling around, along with some rather unsuspecting fish.
"I love you," she continued to cry, looking up at me with flooded eyes. I wiped the water away from them, as we already had enough water with us in my opinion.
"I love you too," I responded, massaging her back and kissing her briefly. We stood there like that for a long moment, just holding to each other.
"Erm…" I heard a voice call out from behind me. I, still holding Maggie by the waist, turned to face none other than Draco Malfoy.
"Maggie, Neville," he seemed to have been trying to settle on a name to call us. We nodded at him stiffly.
"I was just coming over here to apologize to the way I treated you," he looked at me for longer than Maggie but turned to her, saying, "Both of you."
We waited, silently, for him to continue.
"For teasing you, and bullying you for all of our school years. And for attacking you at Hogwarts and causing a lot of pain to you both that last year," he continued, as if he had to clarify, "I'm sorry."
I sighed, taking a deep breath, "Well, I can't say anything for Maggie, but… I forgive you, Draco. You've clearly grown and matured enough to the point where you've moved on and realized your mistakes. I can't say the same for some of your friends."
"He was a right fowl git, I know that now. What the Carrows did to Maggie was reprehensible and I don't know why they would inflict that same punishment on your kids, for Merlin's sake," Draco looked embarrassed, as if he had confessed a great sin.
"You're allowed to be a good bloke, Malfoy," I smiled thinly. He returned the expression.
There was a long pause where Maggie and Malfoy just looked at each other before she finally sighed and said, "Alright, I forgive you too. Sorry, I'm not much of the forgiving type, and even though you didn't even do that much to me, I still remember what you did to Neville, even when I wasn't around. But Neville's right. You've grown. So I forgive you."
Draco smiled even more now.
"Don't push it," Maggie said, but she smiled in response.
"Alright, well I better get back to Astoria. I dunno if you've met her Maggie, she was a Ravenclaw in our year," Draco paused, "I'll see you later."
"Bye," we both smiled thinly as he left. I looked down at her and she laughed slightly.
"Didn't see that one coming. I expect he's making the apology rounds. But it's nice, I'm glad he's doing it," Maggie sighed softly.
"Me too," I held onto her tightly again, "Man, I don't want to deal with this situation."
I looked over and saw the group of our friends and acquaintances run up to join our side. Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Kylie, Elena, Richard, Ezra, Seamus, Lavender, Dean, Cho Chang, Parvati, George, Angelina, Padma, Kita, Jethro, Draco, and others- Percy and Audrey, Kingsley, many Aurors, and basically everyone who fought in the battle of Hogwarts came to stand with us in front of the wall.
I turned from Maggie and held tightly to her hand. Jethro and Harry came to stand with us. Jethro had his bow up in front of him with a grim smile and Harry smiled in a weak manner at us.
"Ready guys?" Harry asked calmly.
"Ready," Maggie and I answered in unison. She put out her hand and I pulled out my sword.
The dragons came then, and in droves. Ours were safely on our side, but the Unionist dragons came pelting in, attacking the water wall. They were, as Maggie predicted, unable to penetrate it- they bounced and crashed into it, falling to the ground or zooming through the air.
The sky was filled with the sounds of the crashing and the angry roars of the frustrated creatures. I could hear people shouting on both sides as muggles began to screaming and run about and the Unionists roared, running through the wall to try and gain entry but being unable to last long enough to do so. Some even died inside of it.
Maggie held very tightly to my hand during the whole ordeal, clearly terrified of their getting through. I squeezed her hand in response and reassurance.
Many Hogwarts teachers appeared- McGonagall, Flitwick, Hagrid, Vector, even Sprout made an appearance making me smile at her. The dragons had eventually stopped trying to get through, making Maggie's grip on my hand loosen somewhat.
"They'll try and get through another way," Hermione shouted, "They won't give up now."
"Definitely not," Maggie paused, "But at least we've slowed them down."
There was a long pause as we all stood there. Maggie looked up at me with tired eyes.
"I dreamed of this, you know," she murmured softly as Harry rose up more water into the wall.
"Really?" I asked calmly, frowning down at her.
"Yeah. I dreamt of this back when the Unionists were just getting started. I dreamt of a huge water wall around a city just like London, and all of us standing here and trying to keep it up," Maggie continued, looking pensive.
"Well, as weird as that is, it doesn't change much of what's happening does it?" I asked calmly.
"No," Maggie paused, "Now I just wish it had told me the outcome, but it was a short dream."
"Well, there's nothing we can do about it now, love," I kissed the top of her head, "We just have to deal with it when we can."
Suddenly we could hear new, more directed shouts coming towards us- familiar shouts. We all turned around to see basically the entire student body of Hogwarts from year 4 on running towards us, but at the head of the pack were one fourth year and three third years- our kids.
"What are you doing here?" I shouted in amazement.
"Get back to where it's safe, now, that's an order!" Maggie roared.
"No, mum," Alice snapped in response, coming up to us with Teddy, Nate, and Victoire.
"You're mad. All my children are mad," Maggie sighed in amazement.
"We're not mad," Nate paused, "We just can't sit idly by while everyone we love is in danger and the people who hurt us try and take over our home."
"We have as much a part in this as you do," Teddy explained, "We have just as much emotional investment. We need to fight, same as you."
"When Uncle Harry faced the basilisk in the chamber of secrets he was younger than us. When he, Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron faced Quirrell and a three-headed dog and everything else off the third floor they were younger than us. When Harry cast his first patronus he was our age. We can fight, we can help, and we can't not," Victoire begged.
"I will point out that he was my age when he entered the Triwizard Tournament. Granted, not by choice, but still," Teddy finished.
I looked over at Maggie, who was still clearly furious.
"We can't send them back now, I don't even know how they got in," I sighed, defeated.
"Just… don't get into too much danger you four," Maggie snapped, "If we get out of this, you're in big trouble, I hope you know."
"We'll all be too happy to be alive to care," Alice muttered, but Teddy dragged her back with the others.
"I can't believe them," Maggie muttered as we watched the water wall get continuously battered with magic now.
"Wouldn't you have done the same? Didn't we do similarly idiotic things in our youth?" I sighed, "I don't like it but I can't condemn them either."
"Fair enough," Maggie admitted, "I just want this to be done with."
"Elisha will be in this battle," Jethro sighed from next to us, "I can feel it. She wants us gone and she, by now, will realize she's the only one who has a chance to stop us."
"No chance, more like, but I agree," Maggie muttered.
Suddenly, a spell burst forth through the water and between me and Maggie as we jumped apart on reflex. We both looked at each other with wide eyes.
"Alright," Kingsley roared, "Time's up. Everyone get ready."
Maggie braced herself, leaning forward, palm and wand out. I was upset we were no longer touching, but I supposed it wasn't practical to continue with that. I pulled out my sword with my other hand ready for my wand if need be. Harry's brow was furrowed in concentration and Jethro was muttering under his breath.
Another spell burst forth. And another, and then another. They kept coming and coming, startling all of us each time but luckily we were all prepared enough to block them.
And then the first Rider walked through. He looked tired and exhausted at the effort and Jethro immediately shot an arrow into his heart. Maggie summoned the arrow back from him and they nodded at each other.
They started coming in in groups then, and we all began stunning and cursing in unison. Trelawny managed to actually force a Rider into the wall for a long enough period of time to drown him. McGonagall transfigured the surrounding hedges to attack another group of Unionists, the long tentacles of the plant vines reaching out and strangling them.
Harry waved his wand repeatedly every time the water in front of us moved, stunning everyone as they passed. His wandwork was, as per usual, astounding.
A large group managed to come through, signifying that the wall was truly breaking down. Maggie forced them back through, however, by waving her hand and literally bombarding them with a large burst of magical energy. I could feel the reverberations from where I stood as the blue light smashed into the group, sending them backwards with a large boom.
I turned and saw in horror that a Rider was charging up to me, wand out and a sneer on his face. He sent a curse my way and I deflected it, somehow, with my sword, before running up to him and running him through.
The trickle of people getting through and fighting quickly became a stream and we all began fighting in earnest. The dragons still didn't come out yet- we had about twenty on our side, but we knew that the Unionists would have at least twice as much and we kept them hidden. Not to mention, their dragons still couldn't get through.
Curses filled the air now, snaps and brilliant flashes of light whirring back and forth across the sky. Harry was soon all out dueling a tall man with an angry complexion. Maggie was doing the same with a similarly built man- they could have been twins, at least brothers. Jethro was shooting as quickly as he could, I summoning the arrows back for him as fast as I could as I dodged and deflected the spells sent at me with my sword before running their casters through.
I could see out of the corner of my eye Alice running forward at a Unionist, screaming at the top of her lungs, her wand out and a million stunners streaming from it as she finally literally knocked him back into the water with a flash of light. Teddy nearby was whirling in one place, sending curses all around him at the Unionists that had surrounded him. Nate and Victoire were standing together as they fought against another pack of Unionists, their bright red spells knocking many backward and smashing into the ground.
A large pack of Unionists rushed forward, sending us all into chaos. I ran forward and slashed as they passed by, ducking under spells and leaping over people as I killed them. I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment before killing another, my sword now glistening red.
I ran over, seeing Maggie caught in a tussle with a large, brutish Unionist and rushed to help her. I stabbed the man in back, grunting with the effort of removing my sword from his body. Maggie ran towards me and kissed me before running back into the fray.
Our side suffered casualties, too- I watched as a few seventh years fell to the ground, dead, and I tried to not focus on my intense sadness with the occasion. There were obviously others, adults and children, who fell. I simply didn't have time to keep up with them all as I fought the Unionists throwing themselves towards me.
Occasionally I had to take out my wand, waving it angrily as they attacked me from too far away to fight with the sword. I ran forward, roaring at the top of my lungs, feeling my small amount of dragon-ness fill me up inside. Harry seemed to be having the same experience, also roaring in unison with me and rushing forward at a new group of Unionists. He ducked and rolled to avoid spells and leaped over five Unionists just to curse them from behind.
Maggie let out a huge burst of energy that almost knocked me to the ground, but for some reason I stayed standing. All the Unionists around me, however, did fall. I looked at her and she smiled before turning around and slitting another throat with magic. Jethro had run out of arrows and Harry summoned them back for him, allowing him to once again shoot in a more lethal way than I had ever seen.
"It doesn't help they freed all the people from Azkaban," Ron, nearby, shouted, "All those Death Eaters and their cronies- the Snatchers, everyone- are fighting for their freedom right now."
"They are insane if they think the Unionists won't experiment on them," Harry replied, "But they're still fighting."
I turned and leapt out of the way as another spell came towards me, catching it head on with my wand and forming a chain between us. Harry's eyes widened and Maggie called out as I broke the chain and sent another stunner at the man, whose eyes widened as he fell to the ground.
Many of those who had been stunned were getting up now but, instead of fighting, limped back to the other side of the water wall. The onslaught of new attackers also seemed to be slowing down and I grew nervous as I had very little to fight against.
A bright flash of green light whirred past me and I felt my eyes widen as I faced my attacker, an aging man with a sneer and many tattoos littering his body.
"Scabior," I heard Ron hiss.
Maggie screamed, however, in anger at seeing me so close to death and ran forward, knocking the ex-snatcher onto his back and sending another burst of energy forward, making him lie perfectly still.
She looked at me with narrowed eyes and fury fuming behind them. I raised my eyebrows at her and she calmed down.
"I hate seeing you so close to death. I've had enough of that for a lifetime and no one should be allowed to put me through it again," Maggie muttered before turning back to another attacker.
Hermione ran up to us, tears flowing down her face. I reached out to her and looked at her in concern.
"We need a break to bury our dead," she sobbed, "Or care for them. We've lost a lot of people."
"Who?" I asked, terrified to hear the news.
She shook her head, "Not yet, you need to concentrate."
Draco Malfoy came running up then, chasing after another ex-Death Eater. Upon closer look I could see it was none other than the former owner of Borgin and Burkes, whom I recognized from Harry's stories.
"You're mine, you cowardly, bullying menace, you're mine," he screamed, "For making me a Death Eater, for forcing me to work to kill Dumbledore." He ran so fast after the man I was actually mildly impressed, despite myself.
Maggie was fighting again, with another Unionist much bigger than herself. She was struggling, the hand magic flying between them hitting her as hard as it hit him.
Jethro and I both ran forward, him shooting an arrow through his head and me blasting him off his feet with hand magic of my own. Maggie looked to me and threw her arms around me, four new scars across her face.
"Thank you," she looked over at Jethro, "Both of you."
Jethro nodded and turned to another enemy as I leaned down to kiss her again. I had to kiss her, as many times as possible. Who knew if we would both survive this to kiss again? Who knew if I would be left to raise our children alone, or her to raise them in a similar fashion? I couldn't keep the Tree's promises of the future as truth. Time could always be rewritten
She looked up at me with similar emotions behind her eyes before turning to fight another enemy. I turned around and saw Minerva McGonagall standing next to me.
"You two," she was smiling, though, a rare sight for her.
"You were expecting it the entire year, that year," I smiled in response and she laughed.
"Of course I was. Almost immediately. She's always had a strong personality and when I met her and discovered what that personality was one of my first thoughts were She would balance out Longbottom almost perfectly. So I told her to spy on you and Dumbledore's Army," Minerva laughed a little.
"I thought Snape did that?" I raised an eyebrow.
"We both did, turns out. Now, go back and help her," Minerva pointed out behind me and I turned around rapidly, shooting a curse immediately at a tiny woman fighting Maggie.
Maggie stuck her tongue out at me, "I had that one."
"I know!" I shouted in response, going forward to take care of another, solitary Unionist.
Soon after that, the trickle of Unionists came to a stop. The fighting ended and we all looked at each other, our faces bloody and battered and scarred. Jethro looked exhausted and Harry just looked old.
Maggie walked up to me, "I'm terrified to see who has died."
"As am I," I paused, "But we have to."
We walked amongst the bodies, many who were moaning where they lay. Most of our fighters had immediately begun to help with the cleanup and tending of the wounded.
I turned to see Dean Thomas walk up to me. He reached out and held to my upper arms and I looked back at him in earnest.
"Get Maggie," Dean whispered.
I looked at him, "What-?"
"Get. Maggie," Dean repeated.
I turned and ran through the crowd, finding her tending a young wounded Hogwarts student. I recognized her immediately- a Ravenclaw fourth year, Caroline Brooks.
"It'll be OK, I promise," Maggie soothed, "Just breathe, a healer will be by in a moment."
Caroline nodded, whimpering. Maggie looked up at me and I could see a fresh new scar bleeding heavily across her eyelid.
"Maggie," I sighed, waving my wand and cleaning it. She smiled in thanks.
"Caroline, you're going to be ok, alright? I promise," I soothed as I knelt over the girl, "You've been very brave."
She nodded and smiled a watery smile at me, "Thanks Professor Longbottom."
"Just breathe," I reassured again. I saw over her head a healer rushing forward and I smiled even more, "Help is coming, I promise."
I stood up and looked at Maggie, who threw her arms around me, "I love you."
"I love you too," I whispered in response, "Dean asked for us."
"Dean?" Maggie frowned, "Why?"
"I don't know, but he looked very grim. So I'm terrified," I whispered.
Maggie rushed up to me and held tightly to my hand as we walked back over to Dean. He was crying now, and I felt my eyes widen.
"Dean?" Maggie whispered.
Dean waved us forward and we walked with him through the crowd, back to another edge of the wall. Below us were two people, both dead.
Seamus and Lavender.
Maggie let out a cry and I fell to the ground next to them. Dean looked emotionless, having lost his best friend and his wife at the same time. I looked up at him and didn't even know what to say.
"Dean… I…" I felt tears come to my own eyes. Seamus was one of my best mates. He always had been. And even though Lavender wasn't my favorite person in the universe, she was still a nice girl who didn't deserve to die.
"Don't," Dean whispered, "I just thought you two should know."
Maggie was sobbing and reached out to close Seamus' eyes. I wrapped my arm around her and she shook in my arms.
"Do you know of anyone else?" I asked Dean softly, crying heavily myself.
"No, you'd better look around to see," Dean replied, "I'm going to go find Parvati. Wherever she went."
"I'm here," I looked up to see Parvati walking over to us, looking downtrodden, "And Padma's gone, too."
"No," I gasped.
"If I don't die in this battle, Dean, you have to promise to kill me, because that's everyone," Parvati begged.
"No," Dean replied firmly, "You have to keep living for them."
Maggie looked up at Parvati, "They wouldn't have wanted you to give up." She stood up then, looking down at me, "Us too. Come on. We have to keep helping. That's our job."
I stood up with Maggie and nodded at Dean and Parvati, walking back through the throngs of people milling about. I saw the Weasleys all gathered around something and we headed towards there, and I could hear extraordinarily loud sobbing. Maggie's grip on my hand tightened extremely and I knew she was terrified of what they would find.
Everyone was sobbing, but I was amazed at the amount Percy Weasley was. He usually showed no emotion and there he was, sobbing over the body of his wife, Audrey. Next to her was Charlie Weasley, dead before a single dragon had crossed over. I looked up and realized Molly and Arthur, Bill and Fleur wouldn't even know about this; they would be babysitting the children.
"Someone has to send word to Molly and Arthur," I whispered to Harry, who was crying softly next to me.
"Already done," Harry responded, "I can't believe this."
"Nor can I," I agreed, "We have to end it, now."
"Agreed," Jethro stated gruffly from behind me.
There was a loud rumble that shook the foundations of the city. I looked up wildly and saw that the water wall was beginning to shake around above our heads. I swallowed as I looked up at it, nervousness filling me rapidly.
"Well, almost time," Maggie stated dully. I looked down at her sadly.
"I need to mourn Seamus, Nev," Maggie whispered, "But I haven't time for that, do I?"
"Neither do I, apparently," I agreed, "I'm sorry."
"It feels like last time," Harry whispered, "It feels like that break we had during the Battle of Hogwarts."
"At least we don't have to walk to the Forest where you'll willingly give yourself up this time," Maggie stated, still in a dull voice. I could tell through our link that she was just trying to block all her emotions from coming out at this worst possible time.
"There is that," Harry agreed with a sigh, "That seems almost simpler than just going in and killing the bitch."
"Do you think she has Horcruxes? Just so we're aware," I asked Jethro. He shook his head immediately.
"She isn't clever enough, I'm sad to say. England produced a villain who was intelligent as well as evil. America produces a villain who is an idiot but fantastic at brainwashing," Jethro muttered.
"Seems appropriate," Maggie sighed.
"I hate to say it, but it does," Hermione commented as she passed us, carrying medical supplies to help tend the wounded. Maggie shrugged, clearly in agreement with the bashing of her country.
She suddenly looked up and at Jethro, "Elena? Is she OK?" She looked panicked, as if by forgetting to check up on her sister she had doomed her.
"Elena went back to help look after your kids, actually," Jethro paused, "Midway through. She said having one of us in danger was enough," Jethro shrugged.
"Oh thank God," Maggie whispered, "Thank you for telling me."
"No problem," Jethro agreed."
The wall let out another violent shake and I looked up at it in terror, wishing for it to stay up and keep the dragons out for just a little bit longer. Maggie looked at me and shook her head. I knew time was rapidly running short now.
The Unionists were aware of it too- I could see Dragons mulling about outside, hovering around the edge of our magical barrier. They were huge and terrifying and I took a deep breath. Our own dragons flew out from their hiding spots, coming to stand by their owners. Thailus, Emralda, Oscuro and Norerta stood with us, looking determined.
"We can do this," Harry stated bravely, "We can. I believe in us."
Maggie, Jethro and I nodded, too tired to argue and too in need of hope to actively disagree.
"The wall will crash down over our heads, but it won't be enough to drown us or even knock us down. Everyone should be prepared to get wet," Kingsley shouted.
"What about the Riders among us?" Hermione asked.
"It shouldn't be enough to damage us," Maggie replied, "Especially if it comes down all at once."
We all braced ourselves for the eventual disintegration, and the Unionists seemed to be the same as no more came through as the wall was shaking. I looked over at Maggie and she looked at me with a similar gaze, filled with desperation and slight fear. I braced myself and closed my eyes as the first droplets of water began to fall on my head. I said a silent prayer, something I didn't usually do.
Maggie kissed me, suddenly and unexpectedly as the water continued to fall above our heads. We could hear the roars of dragons on the outside, the roars of triumph and excitement. But she continued to kiss me and I thought, idly in the back of my head, that now probably wasn't the best time to be low on oxygen.
She had a similar thought and pulled away from me, bracing herself where she stood. I looked up and closed my eyes, and a cascade of water fell down over us like a waterfall.
And the roars of dragons filled the air.
AN: Well, to hell with the four reviews system, I thought to myself this week. I only have this chapter, two more big chapters and the epilogue left. So, I've finished the story and am just posting it all at once. Expect the next three chapters very soon.
Shout out to TA-twinarmageddons for being my last faithful reviewer. I really owe you a lot.
Please review, though I know you guys won't. Not gonna lie, the Harry Potter fan community has let me down with this one. Though, I'm hoping my other story- since the main characters are going to be Hermione and Harry- will get some reviews.
