Disclaimer: Being neither British nor Japanese, it should therefore come as no surprise that I own neither Harry Potter nor Naruto, nor anything from their respective franchises.
The defenders' battle plan was by necessity relatively simple; they hadn't had much time to truly flesh it out, and they didn't have enough trained, disciplined troops to effect something complex anyway. They'd divided the battle into two major phases:
Phase one was the initial defense. Their goal in this phase was to keep the attackers outside the castle while bleeding and weakening them as much as possible. From what Iruka had seen, this phase had gone about as well as they could have reasonably expected; as much as they'd hoped the defenses would hold, they knew it probably wouldn't be that easy. Still, most of the giants and trolls were neutralized, and the attacking wizards had definitely taken some substantial losses. Most forces would have broken and retreated or even routed from the damage the defenders had inflicted, but between fanaticism and fear of Voldemort they'd pressed on.
Now, with the doors breached, they were entering phase two - the fighting retreat. One of the defenders' goals in this battle was to draw Voldemort out so that he could be captured or killed, but they knew he was enough of a coward that he'd probably only take the field in person under one of two conditions: Either he was so confident in his victory that he wanted to take part and show off, or he was so desperate to pull out a win that he took direct action. An unbreakable defense during phase one could have brought about the second condition, but at this point that no longer looked as doable. Thus, they had to at least appear to be losing, let him think all was going well and that he could safely make an appearance.
In this phase the plan was to fall back in an orderly fashion, holding ground when and where possible but allowing the attackers to push the defense back if things got too hot, all the while causing as much damage as possible while husbanding their strength. It was more or less trading ground for lives, or more accurately making the attackers trade lives for ground. The defenders didn't want to pull back any faster than they were forced to, though, since the cabinet repair crew continued to work full-tilt, desperately trying to open a path between worlds before in time for it to be of some use.
The spread-out attackers rushed to gather back together to join the push through the now-shattered doors, with those groups that were too hasty to guard their backs and flanks taking extra losses from the continued fire of the defenders. As defenders at the windows ran out of targets in their field of fire, most of them began to fall back to join the main defensive force, though some left a few of their people at whatever window or vantage they'd been using just in case.
None of Iruka's group remained behind as they headed for the Entrance Hall - they were all family, in one way or another, and they were going to stick together. The chuunin noticed the shutters of the windows they'd been occupying slam closed behind them, and the moving staircases seeming to actively funnel defenders toward the fighting. He could only assume that this was Albus's doing, wielding his control over the castle as its Headmaster so that even if he couldn't fight directly, he was still doing his utmost to protect the good people of Wizarding Britain.
Rather than gathering their full strength for a concentrated push, the attackers had rushed in with those forces they had on hand as soon as the way was opened for them. That was... well, it wasn't a smart tactical move. The overeager mob that surged through had run into a virtual wall of incoming hexes as the defenders, who were spread across every exit from the Entrance Hall, were able to concentrate their spellfire on the much smaller area of the castle's front doorway. This in turn piled a lot of dead or incapacitated wizards right in that choke point, further throttling the flow of attackers.
With that over-aggressive initial push stymied, the attackers pulled back, trading fire with the defenders as the giants went back to pounding against the castle in an attempt to enlarge the entrance. It was during this lull that Iruka and the others arrived at the top of the staircase leading up to the First Floor from the Entrance Hall. They took whatever cover they could find, preparing to act as a second line throwing spells over the heads of the main defensive line.
The stalemate held for a minute or two before a volley of spells - Banishing Charms, blasting spells, and the like - sleeted in through the doorway, aimed not at the defenders but at the fallen attackers. While some of those unfortunate wizards might have survived the engagement that felled them, now they were all quite definitely dead. Iruka idly wondered whether more of that particular group had died to the defenders or to friendly fire. Regardless, even here on the front lines where fighting was expected to be heaviest and nastiest only a fraction of those present were battle-hardened enough to keep their equilibrium when unexpectedly showered in human remains. Dozens of screams echoed from the Entrance Hall as many of the defenders were thrown into a panic, frantically trying to cleanse themselves of the blood and gore, or simply trying (and in some cases failing) to avoid emptying their stomachs.
With a substantial portion of the defenders briefly but thoroughly distracted and their morale having taken a massive hit, the Death Eaters made their second push. A half-dozen of the surviving trolls were first through the door, followed by a tide of black-robed witches and wizards. The trolls did exactly what they were presumably brought to do, and absorbed at least two-thirds of the frantic spellfire by the defenders as they charged wildly towards whichever group looked like the best target to them.
Between the shock from the brutal friendly-fire incident and the sudden assault by the trolls and Dark wizards, the defenders' lines simply couldn't hold. They fell back down whichever paths they'd been guarding, ceding the Entrance Hall to the attacking forces. Some of the groups managed to retreat in at least a semblance of good order - particularly those guarding the main staircase who'd been among the most capable fighters present - while the group guarding the right-hand corridor simply broke and routed, two trolls eagerly chasing after them.
Iruka and those with him provided covering fire to the retreat up the stairs, pulling back to this path's first defensive fallback point in the process. Their role in the battle plan was clear: Help where they could, but avoid the front lines for as long as possible unless they had an opportunity to deal with Voldemort or his snake.
Each of the major routes inward from the Entrance Hall had one or more fallback points, relatively defensible spots where groups of defenders had been stationed to either bolster retreating allies or act as a second line of defense in case any attackers got past the first line. This particular location was at the entrance to the largest of the corridors off the First Floor landing; coming up the stairs would provide some cover to the attackers, but it also limited the number of wands they could bring to bear on the defenders, who were under no such restriction. Also, people tend to be reluctant to stick their head up when they're likely to get it promptly blown off.
Covering fire from Iruka's group helped keep the attackers from pressing their advantage as the defenders retreated up the staircase, but Iruka sent his students and their families back to the fallback point once their allies had reached the top of the stairs. He remained behind briefly, using a quick C-Rank fire jutsu to discourage pursuit long enough for the second defensive line to settle before quickly rejoining his students. Judging by the screams, at least a couple of the attackers had been more than just discouraged, but that was more of a bonus than the goal; Iruka had long felt that fire ninjutsu's greatest strength wasn't in direct offense as some might think, but rather in battlefield control and manipulating an enemy's actions. Fire was flashy, drew attention like few other things could, blocked visibility, and could play on people's instinctive fear of being burned to cause them to flinch back.
The attackers coming up the stairs were already a bit hesitant after being immolated, even if most had managed to protect themselves with shield spells or Flame-Freezing Charms, and didn't have any trolls accompanying them. Fighting at this fallback point thus quickly settled into a bit of a stalemate, with the attackers and defenders both trying various methods to strike at each other without having to advance and expose themselves but finding little success.
With this position stable and secure at present, Iruka pulled his group back. "Is everyone still all right?" He got a round of affirmative responses, with only some minor scrapes and bruises thus far, though Augusta Longbottom piped up.
"As much as I'd prefer to keep fighting alongside my grandson," the elderly witch said, "I'm afraid I'm not quite as young as I used to be, and if we're to be running about the castle I'll just slow the rest of you down."
Iruka nodded. "In that case, since it looks like the wounded are already being sent back to the Hospital Wing, why don't you escort them back and guard the Healers and their patients? It'd be less running around but you'd still be able to do some good." He'd previously noticed that she was definitely no slouch as a magical combatant, so it made good sense to add such a strong fighter to the defense of a vital location filled with vulnerable targets. She agreed, and went to help with the transport of the injured defenders.
"Okay," the chuunin said, "They should be able to hold here without us, so it's time to go somewhere we can do more good. Those trolls running amok down on the Ground Floor need to be dealt with."
They hustled down the corridor, using one of the non-trapped passages to get down to the Ground Floor and head towards where they could easily hear (and smell) the two trolls battling the second fallback point for this path. When they arrived, one of the trolls was busily smashing its way through some transfigured dogs that had occupied its attention while the other was simply ignoring the ersatz animals and stomping its way towards the defenders who were even now desperately trying and failing to halt the spell-resistant beast.
"Focus fire on the one with the dogs!" Iruka shouted. While his students and their families obeyed his order, he dashed towards the other troll. Drawing a kunai, he channeled fire chakra into it; being ordinary steel, it didn't take the chakra flow nearly as well as a blade made for the purpose, but it did still heat the edge and boost the small weapon's damage potential. He started with a slash at the tendons on the backs of the troll's legs, his fire-infused blade cutting through them like a hot knife through troll.
The troll roared in a combination of shock, pain, and rage as it toppled forward, its legs no longer able to bear its weight. As it tried to use its arms to right itself in the world's ugliest push-up, the chuunin took advantage of the lack of flailing to leap onto its back and cut the tendons in its elbows as well, leaving it with no functioning limbs. With all the killing he'd already done and likely would be doing tonight, it was nice to be able to spare even a troll's life.
Unfortunately for the other troll, non-lethal incapacitation wasn't in the cards. With twice the wands and half the targets, it was already in a bad way by the time Iruka turned. He threw the kunai for the gap between two ribs, and the effects of his fire chakra lingered just long enough to help the blade bury itself deep enough to pierce the creature's heart and hasten its demise.
Now that the immediate threat was dealt with, Iruka called his group in to bolster this defensive position and help with their casualties. Only a couple of the witches and wizards that had retreated here were unhurt, though many were walking wounded and at least somewhat able to fight. Others, though... One Auror was already so far gone that all the chuunin could do for him was to apply a specialized genjutsu to block his pain and ease his passing.
The overall assessment wasn't good. Even with the healthiest of the front-line defenders added in, the people manning this fallback were badly under-strength. While the Death Eaters hadn't sent any wizards this way yet, relying on the trolls to do the damage for them, once they did it wouldn't be long before these defenders were dislodged. The lack of high-priority targets or defensible locations in this part of the castle meant that there wasn't another position to fall back to, so they'd basically have to cede this area to enemy control. It also didn't help that after such a horrific rout, morale amongst this group was extremely low, and even the felling of the two trolls didn't help much.
"I think you all need to pull back to the First Floor," he suggested, having to raise his voice a bit to be heard clearly over the moans of the stricken troll. "The wounded need healing, and there aren't enough people to get them all to the Hospital Wing without leaving this position untenable."
"We were always going to have to retreat sooner or later," an older wizard nodded. "Better to do it now in good order than wait until we've been hit again and have to dodge curses while we go."
They helped the position's defenders organize their move and escorted them to the passage they'd taken down from the First Floor, though Iruka stayed behind briefly to leave a few strategically-placed explosive tags on proximity triggers. Just because they couldn't hold that position didn't mean they couldn't still make the attackers pay to take it, after all.
With no real idea of what was going on in the larger engagement, Iruka and his group ended up accompanying the injured most of the way to the Hospital Wing. They left the still-battle-ready people with the large group defending and interdicting the Grand Staircase from the First Floor landing and broke off from the wounded to stop by a nearby classroom occupied by Rufus Scrimgeour and several others. This room was being used as the first of a series of forward command posts meant to organize efforts on the front lines.
The command staff stood around a Staff Map that'd been expanded to cover a large desk. Unfortunately, while it still functioned as a detailed map of the castle and its many secret passages, the function that tracked and identified people seemed to be less than entirely functional: Dots were constantly winking in and out all over the map, with many of the names either absent or nothing more than an illegible scribble. Based on how many people were in the castle at the moment, at most a tenth of them were being tracked at any given time. Iruka could only guess that whatever Voldemort and his forces had done to breach the outer defenses had damaged or disrupted the wards.
"What's the situation?" the chuunin asked.
The Head Auror grimaced. "Better than it could be, but not very good. Once the bastards pushed us out of the Entrance Hall, they pretty much swept the Ground Floor. I saw a lot of the right-hand-corridor group passing by wounded as you came in, so I can only assume they've had to pull back entirely. A couple of other groups are still working a fighting retreat, harassing the Death Eaters as they can, but most of the Ground Floor belongs to them now along with the dungeons, the cellars, and the kitchens. We no longer have access to any of the usual exits from the castle, so if it weren't for that miracle escape route Frank and Alice's lad found we'd be trapped."
Iruka nodded. "So where do you need us?"
"The forces guarding the Astronomy Tower stairs have been hit hard..."
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The next two hours or so were the sort of boredom-randomly-interspersed-with-hectic-terror that would be painfully familiar to combat veterans worlds-wide. They'd move to reinforce whichever defensive position was most in jeopardy at the time, help fend off a couple of attacks there, and then be called off to another trouble spot. Fred and George had rejoined them by this point, and had used up the last of their Portable Super-Swamps and the few prank-level Portable Swamps they'd brought to render several choke-points completely impassable on foot. Most of the defenders from those spots had been reassigned elsewhere, with only small forces left behind to deal with broom-riders or attempts to bridge the Swamps.
About forty minutes after the retreat from the Entrance Hall, Iruka received a message via portrait that Hagrid and Snape had killed Voldemort's snake when it attempted to assassinate the former double agent. Hagrid was now among the wounded, having been bitten repeatedly while physically restraining the magically-enhanced reptile long enough for Snape to put his knowledge of Dark magic to productive use.
Outside the castle, the two surviving giants had made some attempts to attack those defenders still outside on the ramparts, but were distracted by bow-wielding centaurs accompanied by a smaller giant that presumably knew Hagrid, at least if his bellow of "HAGGER!" was any indication. From what Iruka had seen and heard, one of the two attacking giants had been felled and the other driven off (though the latter might also have just been chasing the centaurs that'd been peppering it with arrows, the second- and third-hand reports were unclear).
Now, Iruka and the leaders of several other groups were gathered in the command center along with the top commanders of the castle's forces. "They're pressing too hard towards the Hospital Wing," Bones stated urgently, "probably trying to cut us off from being able to treat our wounded; that, or they're just looking to murder a lot of helpless people in their beds. On the one hand we can't let that happen, but on the other this may give us an opportunity to hit back a bit. Given how much of their force has been concentrated on that offensive, they must be pulling people from their other pushes. If we can hit their weakened positions hard enough, we should be able to at least do some real damage and cost them some troops. Best case, we start retaking some of the ground we've lost, but holding that ground might be tricky."
"What about pushing a force through to hit them in their flanks and rear?" Iruka suggested. "Have the unit stay mobile and focus on hit-and-fade attacks to bleed the enemy?"
"That'd just be asking to get surrounded and wiped out by overwhelming numbers," Scrimgeour growled.
"Can they free up enough fighters for that?" the chuunin asked in return. "After all, if they pull too many people from the front lines, they'd pretty much be asking for us to overrun their forward positions. Maybe whoever we send out could just dip out past our lines briefly, coming up behind another group of attackers to catch them in a hammer-and-anvil situation, wipe them out, and step back into friendly territory to rest and recover."
"It'd be chancy," Moody grumbled thoughtfully, "especially since nobody's spotted the Dark Bastard yet and we haven't had any reports of the Lestrange bitch in a while. Most of their other top fighters are tied up in the push on the Hospital Wing, though, so it's basically just those two wildcards to worry about."
"It's the best plan we have," Bones stated, "unless we want to just keep on as we have until they break through and cut off the Hospital Wing, maybe even break our lines completely. I say we do it."
About two thirds of those present agreed, and after some discussion Iruka was tasked with using his mobile force for the first of these "stitching attacks" as one wizard dubbed them.
Iruka returned to his "troops" where they were resting up after the most recent skirmish, taking in their worn appearance after hours of intermittent fighting and running: The side of Pandora Lovegood's head was swathed in red-tinged bandages courtesy of a piece of falling masonry, and Sirius's entire left arm was covered in burn paste after not quite dodging a flame spell. Those two were the most severe, but everyone was grungy and covered in small cuts, scrapes, bruises, or burns. Twice already they'd had to stop by the Healers to get a broken bone fixed - those wouldn't heal entirely without rest, but the healing spells were enough to at least put them back in the fight. Even he hadn't made it through unscathed, and his shoulder still ached from an earlier dislocation.
"We've got an assignment," the chuunin announced without preamble, "and it's going to be a tough one." He explained the plan and the reasons behind it before stating, "This is going to require us to move fast and hit hard, and it'll probably involve some very intense fighting. There's also the usual danger of running into nasty surprises when you're behind enemy lines. We'll be moving faster and facing more danger than earlier, and while we're making our way between positions there won't be any backup. I'll be pushing the pace hard, so anybody that's not sure they can keep up, I've got permission to swap people with the Hospital Wing defenders; let me know now." The framing as a question of mobility was deliberate, giving anyone leery of participating in such a dangerous mission a way out with no shame or judgment attached. If these were shinobi or other soldiers, he'd have just given them their orders and gotten on with things, but even with the training many had gone through up to this point they were still civilians and he wasn't going to order any of them into anything if he could help it.
This offer was met only by a chorus of resolute refusal. "Teamwork is vital," Neville pointed out, "and nobody else has trained with you as much as the five of us, aside from maybe Professor Flitwick, and he's not here."
"Even if the kids weren't going with you," Sirius chimed in, "we probably still would be. You need people that've been training with you at G- at Headquarters," he stumbled as the Fidelius kept him from spilling the Secret. "I really don't think you'd be able to pull together enough Order members to make up your numbers without us."
"We can keep up," Molly assured him, before nodding in the twins' direction. "Merlin knows keeping up with those scamps all these years has to have been good for something."
"Right then," Iruka said with a firm nod, "our first target is the passage by Myrtle's bathroom. It's one of the farthest from the main front, and things have been fairly quiet there, so we shouldn't have to deal with much resistance. It's also only really close to one other pocket of fighting, giving us a quick, short route with minimal odds of running into any other enemies before we're back behind friendly lines. Let's go."
It turned out that Auror Proudfoot, the same man that had interviewed Iruka the day he first arrived in Britain, was the one in command of the defensive position they'd be moving out through. "Professor Umino," he greeted with a firm handshake, "I hear you and yours are making a move here?"
The chuunin nodded with a grim smile. "That's step one, at least. Ideally I'd hope to take down whoever's on the other side, so they can't pass on warning or report what's happened, but I'd settle for routing them enough for your group to move forward and reclaim some ground. What do you know about the situation and the forces we're up against here?"
Proudfoot explained that the defenders here were taking advantage of a junction of several different corridors, each of which was now mostly barricaded with furniture and other debris, to create a withering crossfire against anyone foolish enough to challenge their position. This arrangement was made possible in part by the fact that there were quick routes between the defended corridors nearby, either through rooms with doors onto multiple hallways or smaller cross-passages. Two people manned each of the two side barricades, with Proudfoot and two others in the center. They'd been able to hold quite solidly against a force estimated to be at least fifteen witches and wizards thanks to their defensible position and the fact that Myrtle was spying on the attackers and regularly reporting on their activities.
"You've probably got a bit of a numbers advantage," Proudfoot mused, "especially if we pitch in on the push, but you'd be running right into spellfire the instant you cleared the corner. That's not a good place to be."
"No, it's not," Iruka agreed. "What we need is a way to draw them into the reinforced defenses or flush them out somehow."
"Flush..." Ron Weasley muttered. "Doesn't Moaning Myrtle flood the hallway outside her loo a lot? What if you used one of those water spells of yours to wash them into this hallway?" Everyone present turned to look at him, causing his face to swiftly approach his hair in shade. "I mean, you'd need to get behind them, but you said nobody ever looks up, and the ceiling's all shadows anyway..."
"I think," Iruka said slowly, "that I'd like to speak with Myrtle next time she pops by..."
The ghost in question showed up a few minutes later, and after speaking with her to confirm his suspicions Iruka laid out the plan. She left with a truly wicked grin, and Iruka set out to play his part. One Disillusionment Charm later he walked up the nearest wall and began creeping along the ceiling, moving slowly and keeping to the areas where the light from the corridor's surviving torches didn't fully reach.
As he turned the corner he saw the enemy fighters, about half of whom were watching the corner warily while the other half stood nearby visibly at ease. That ease was interrupted somewhat by the sound of splashing and trickling water, drawing several pairs of eyes to the puddle rapidly growing out from under the door of the girls' washroom a few meters behind the group.
"Bah, nothing to worry about," said one of the hooded wizards, "just old Moaning Myrtle pitching one of her tantrums again. Our Lord'll probably exorcise her or the like at some point once the castle's properly ours. I hear she was a mudblood, anyway." With that said, the rear group relaxed again and went back to quietly discussing plans for pushing out the defenders ahead of them and what they'd do to any they captured. None of them seemed to notice the flow of water increasing after the man's comments.
Iruka, who'd frozen just above the attackers when they went on alert, now resumed his progress, silently dropping to stand on the rapidly-growing puddle; landing in the puddle would have given him away, after all. Through the door beside him he could hear a girl's voice muttering "-exorcise me?! Typical, just typical, nobody ever cares about my feelings..." He turned the handle on the door - not far enough to open it, but enough to be noticed if one was paying attention - and the muttering stopped before Myrtle's head poked out through the door. It'd been easier to just agree to her price of allowing her to watch what he did, rather than try to argue the tactical merits.
Very few situations allowed a shinobi to run through a protracted seal sequence, though some raised their sealing speed enough to mitigate this issue. More often, jutsu were selected that could be performed with only a brief sequence, while other times the sequence could be abbreviated at the cost of reducing the power or efficiency of the jutsu. In this case, the attackers' inattentiveness bought Iruka plenty of time to run through the full forty-four seals he needed; this, plus the copious water on the floor, drastically reduced the chakra cost of the B-rank water jutsu.
Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu!
The chuunin shimmered into view, his rapid weaving of hand-seals disrupting his Disillusionment, but his targets barely had time to notice before being distracted by the huge dragon-shaped torrent of water that erupted from the puddle at his feet and blasted them all tumbling down the corridor. He cut the flow of chakra almost immediately, leaving the battered and disoriented wizards to wash up - if he'd judged it correctly - in just the right place for his and Proudfoot's groups to promptly begin raining hexes on them. Sure enough, the sounds and multicolored lights of spellfire announced the fight beginning in earnest.
Since rounding the corner at that moment was just begging for a friendly-fire incident, Iruka instead kept a wary eye on the corner for any fleeing stragglers while he turned to see Myrtle gaping at what she'd just witnessed. "I'd say that was a pretty effective team-up," he said with a friendly grin, "wouldn't you?" Her only response was to continue her impression of an undead fish.
It only took about a minute for the sounds of battle to taper off before Sirius's voice called out "All clear!"
Iruka rounded the corner cautiously, still wary just in case things had gone against the defenders and this was a trap, but what he came upon was a corridor strewn with downed Dark wizards in front of some well-manned barricades. "Everybody okay?" he asked as he approached, keeping half an eye on the prone bodies in case anybody was playing possum.
"We're good," Proudfoot replied, stepping out from behind the barricade to join him. "Most of them didn't even have a chance to get their bearings, let alone cast back at us. That water spell, though... that was you at the World Cup a couple years back? I was trying to contain the rioters, got a right soaking too, but damn if it wasn't satisfying to see them on the receiving end for a change."
Iruka chuckled awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck before turning to help secure the survivors from the attacking force. "It seemed like the fastest way to stop the lot of them without hurting the people responding against the riot. My other option was fire, and I didn't think you guys'd appreciate getting splashed with that..."
Proudfoot gave a somewhat maudlin chuckle, then shook his head as he rose from confirming the wizard at his feet was dead. "Yeah, that wouldn't have been fun. Might have been worth it in hindsight, probably be a lot fewer of them coming at us tonight, but no way of knowing that then. Anyway, once we've got this lot dealt with we ought to get moving out to the next position. Best have my people and yours move together at least that far."
"Of course," the chuunin agreed. "We'll stick with you until you're at least reasonably set."
They were all soon advancing to a different set of defenses just shy of the top of the stairwell that ran from the first dungeon level up to the Second Floor, Remus sending a Patronus message back to the command center to let them know about the prisoners that needed retrieval. The dead attackers would have to stay where they were for now; the defenders didn't have the manpower to spare gathering enemy bodies, and it was only because of the worry that unwatched prisoners could be revived and allowed to rejoin the fight that they were even gathering the incapacitated. If things got much direr, the order might have to go out to deliver a coup de grâce to downed enemies for lack of people to deal with prisoners. Nobody wanted that outcome, especially considering the high likelihood that some of those attacking were either coerced or bewitched rather than fighting of their own volition.
This corridor had been, to Iruka's knowledge, the only place where the Death Eaters had won through to the Second Floor: The stairwell didn't go any higher, and wasn't particularly well-positioned to take more ground, so there hadn't been as much of a force defending it as some other areas. A surprisingly large attack by the Death Eaters almost an hour earlier had dislodged the defenders holding the First-Floor landing, taking advantage of how poor a defensive position that landing actually was to push the most of the defenders far enough back into the adjoining corridor that they couldn't effectively interdict traffic on the stairs while a few retreated behind the prepared barricades on the Second Floor to use better fortifications to hold back superior numbers. Both groups of defenders had since been reinforced enough to stand against what forces the Death Eaters could spare from their main offensive, but if this counterattack went well those groups would be able to recombine and retake the landing with enough strength to hold it.
Once the Second-Floor landing was secured, Iruka's group made their way down the stairs as quietly and cautiously as they could; none of them wanted to get caught in a fight somewhere that bottlenecked them without offering any substantial cover. Upon reaching the First Floor, Iruka scouted ahead stealthily, finding that the Death Eaters were again using a bend in the corridor to keep most of their number safe against the defenders' spellfire. Out of twenty attackers, three to five at any one time would use the corner or a thick column that protruded from a nearby wall as cover to keep a bit of pressure on the defenders' position. It wasn't much, but it was constant enough to mostly keep the defenders' heads down in the absence of a concerted assault and would likely wear them down over time.
Iruka crept back to his friends and filled them in on the situation. None of them were enthusiastic about being outnumbered - the reports had estimated only half as many attackers on this front as were actually present - but given the circumstances all agreed that they'd have to chance it. Hopefully the position they were relieving had gotten the message and would sortie to assist them; that plus their training and teamwork should ideally tip things in their favor.
They advanced as quietly as they could, stopping just out of sight of the attackers' position. Once everyone nodded their readiness, Iruka crunched a food pill; even with what brief rest breaks they'd gotten, the hours of intermittent fighting were taking their toll on the middle-aged chuunin's reserves of chakra and stamina. His hands flew through familiar seals, and he stepped around the corner just as the final Tiger seal took shape.
Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu!
A torrent of fire barreled down the corridor, prompting cries of alarm from the attacking wizards who hastily cast whatever shields or other protections they could. Iruka kept the jutsu going as he advanced, the others with him now stepping out as well and exploiting the fact that the flames were blocking their opponents' vision to rush into whatever cover positions they could take before starting to cast curses and hexes at where they'd last seen their targets. It didn't take long for curses to start coming back in response, so once the last of his allies had found cover Iruka cut the flow of chakra to his jutsu and leapt up to the ceiling before the flames had dissipated.
Two of the attackers now revealed were down with massive burns - obviously they hadn't reacted in time and nobody else had bothered to try and help them - and several others were at least noticeably singed, but all those still standing were now hurling nasty-looking curses at this new threat that had so suddenly appeared. Due in part to the pronounced support arches characterizing this section of corridor, both sides had ample sources of cover and the firefight immediately bogged down. Iruka did what he could to even the odds, bouncing between walls and ceiling and adding in his own attacks from wildly varying angles while avoiding return-fire, but the other side's superior numbers allowed them to hold their own.
Unfortunately for this group of Voldemort's followers, their lack of organization and coordination meant that they'd all turned to confront the newest threat and completely taken their attention off the defensive position they'd been besieging. They discovered this fact when wizards and witches from said position hit them from behind, downing half a dozen attackers in fewer seconds and turning the corridor into a chaotic crossfire of offensive spells. Less than a minute later, the last of the Dark wizards was down and both groups of defenders moved out to secure prisoners and check for wounded when a scream of horror and grief went echoing through the castle.
"ARTHUR!"
A/N: I'm sorry.
Fic Recommendation: "Just Like A Child" by Snapjack on Archive of Our Own - After a bad breakup, Negasonic ends up crashing at Wade and Vanessa's place, and Deadpool turns out to be actually a bit parental.
Posted 22 March 2020
