The Auror office was buzzing with the sound of nervous energy and it smelt of stale sweat, cheap perfume and abrasive cigarette fumes.
Harry studied the small, enchanted map of the Selwyn Manor that they would be raiding later that same day. It was a map that he had gotten very used to in the last few days as Robards, Savage and Kingsley meticulously studied and went over their plan, making the odd adjustment here and there as they secretly scouted the area in more detail with the help of the Irish Ministry.
The leader of the Irish Ministry, their Taoiseach, Orlaigh O' Duinn, had actually reported to Kingsley that there had been a few suspicious deaths in the area recently, which they had initially put down to foul play from smaller, underground Dark wizard groups within Ireland itself. However, upon hearing of potential Death Eaters in the area, she was even keener to help in their mission in whatever capacity that she could to get rid of the potential threat.
Kingsley had been quite keen to take her up on her offer to get the Irish involved with the mission, but Robards was suspicious of her and saw to it that no Irish Aurors or Hit Wizards were to be involved.
Gawain believed that she had an ulterior motive of looking to distract her public with a good news story from the ongoing scandal that was rocking Wizarding Ireland, which related to pretty much their entire international Quidditch team, federation and numerous politicians, including O' Duinn's disgraced predecessor, facing trial for the ongoing match fixing scandal. Robards had put his foot down and that had been the end of that.
Gawain had permitted for Irish Wards to help with the anti-apparation perimeter though, as they knew the area better and it would have been a very time-consuming job for some of the more experienced members of the department who could be better spent planning or scouting for the mission itself.
The Manor sat towards the end of a large strip of secluded grassland at the bottom of a large hill, surrounded by a great lake which overlapped the large house on either side, but primarily flanked off towards the rear end of the house.
The grounds had perhaps once been home to a muggle farmer in a past life, as at the very top of the hill there appeared to be some kind of disused barn which eventually led out onto a stretch of muggle road, which winded back towards the local village, where there was an actual farm filled with sheep, cows and pigs, as well as a large old-fashioned church, with its own graveyard where the local muggles appeared to lay their loved ones to rest.
The barn had been decided upon as the primary location of the end of the anti-apparation perimeter, which gave them roughly a mile of land in all directions, although the majority of the land in all of the other directions was made up entirely of lake.
It stood to reason that if Selwyn and any of his fugitive friends were camped out in the manor, that if they were to escape and get past the initial raiding party, then whether they were on foot or broom they would most likely take the route that lead back to the barn and the muggle-village once they figured out there was an anti-apparation perimeter in place. They would hopefully suspect and realise that the anti-apparition perimeter wouldn't stretch into the village itself, which it didn't, so if they did try to escape then they could entice them into a potential trap and false sense of security.
There were two very tiny animated figures keeping guard by the barn on the small enchanted map, which were meant to represent Robert Williamson and his protégé Ernie Macmillan, who were the defensive guard that would be kept at the anti-apparation point with a spare pair of brooms should anybody look to escape.
Although in reality they were only really there, kitted out in full faux-British muggle police officer uniform, to keep out any overly nosy muggles from the local village. This was because there was very little chance of Selwyn or anybody else managing to get that far, with Robards, Savage and Kingsley taking absolutely no chances with this mission after the abject failure of The Camden Raid.
If Selwyn could somehow blast his way past the initial raiding party, which would be no mean feat in itself considering it consisted of Gawain Robards, Rhea Savage, Femi Wakanda, Farzana Badwal and Arnold Peasegood, then he would have to contend with the defensive ground party, consisting of Conrad Proudfoot, Neville Longbottom, as well as four other members of the department who had not been used on the Camden Raid.
Harry had only ever had any meaningful interaction with one of these four, Gordon Hunt, who he remembered as the fresh-faced mid-twenties muggle-born lad who Gawain Robards had gone mental at when he asked to have his picture taken with Harry. Hunt, an excitable young Auror, had spent the vast majority of the last few weeks on guard at Hogwarts, where he was joined by the slightly older pure-blood Jeff Fawley, as well as their two female colleagues, Kwame Adebayo and Priscilla Weiss.
Fawley, Adebayo and Weiss were all primarily Wards by trade, specialising in protective enchantment casting, but from what Rhea had let on to Harry it sounded like they were all actually somewhat enjoying the additional overtime and field-work that they'd been getting as of late.
It was primarily for their benefit that this final preparation meeting was taking place, as since they were typically posted out of office for almost the entirety of their shifts they had not been briefed on it as extensively as everybody else had.
In the unlikely event that Selwyn and any potential accomplices got through the raiding party and the six members of the ground crew, then they would almost certainly be halted in their tracks by the air support team that Harry himself was assigned to.
For the Camden Raid he had been joined in the sky by hit-wizard Arnold Peasegood and Order of the Phoenix member Sturgis Podmore, but this time instead of Arnie, he and Podmore were of course joined by Charlie Weasley.
The three of them would support the ground team directly over the Manor and they were also in charge of providing an additional barrier should Selwyn or anybody else attempt to escape over the hill and towards the barn by means of flight themselves. In a strange coincidence all three of them had actually represented Gryffindor as Seeker at one point during their respective school-days.
They were not alone however, as they were joined by four other flyers who would be patrolling over the other side of the Manor, who were able to swiftly fly in and support the ground team too, as well as easily pivot to cover the large lake should any potential runaways use that as their escape route.
Saskia Marlowe, the new Head of Magical Games and Sports and former Quidditch ace, was the leader of this quartet of additional support which she herself had assembled, all of whom were former Quidditch players that she was close friends with and trusted dearly.
There was Venice Morgan, the American chaser, who had been one of her team-mates back in her days in the dominant Holyhead Harpies side which she had once captained and lead to both domestic and international glory.
They were joined by the bald headed former Tutshill Tornadoes keeper Dominic McCabe, as well as the former England captain and seeker, Octavian Addington, who no longer had his once famous, long, luscious golden locks, but instead a receding hairline which he appeared to permanently cover with a Pride of Portree branded purple cap. It was under this cap that he was able to give the false impression that he actually still did have the nice long hair that he was famed for, as the remnants of his formerly glorious curls still grew on the back of his head which the cap did not entirely cover.
Marlowe had gone the extra mile in her support of the mission by managing to supply them with several Nimbus brooms, which were definitely an upgrade on the Ministry issue Cleansweep brooms that they had been using on the Camden Raid.
Gawain Robards, assisted by Savage, explained every step of the plan to the room, whilst also making sure that each individual knew exactly what it was that was expected of them at any given point in the mission. It seemed a fool-proof plan so long as everybody stuck to it and helped each other out where possible.
Robards ended the meeting on a high, as Savage brought good news of Josh Morris' condition at St. Mungo's. Whilst it still seemed unlikely that his lost arm would ever grow back, there was at least a significant improvement in his general condition, as he was now back on his feet and able to do more or less every day to day activity without any assistance again. He was in such good spirits that he had even asked to come back to work, but Rhea had of course in no uncertain terms told him where to go whilst he was still on his road to recovery.
Harry looked down onto his wrist at the face of Fabian Prewett's golden watch. It had many strange scratches and bumps on it, although its biggest curiosity was the very small engraved little heart just above the clock face, which had the initials "CB" on it. It was obviously one of Fabian's former lovers, presumably engraved on that particular portion of the watch so that whenever he looked at it he would be reminded of that special someone.
The identity of "CB" had always remained a mystery to Harry ever since he had inherited the gift on his 17th birthday. He had no intention of ever asking Molly or even Arthur Weasley if they perhaps knew who it was, as he knew the subject of Molly's brothers, murdered at the hands of Antonin Dolohov and his four unknown accomplishes, was understandably a very sore subject – and not the sort of thing you could just casually bring up over some apricot cobbler and custard at the dinner table.
It would likely forever remain one of life's unsolved mysteries – and perhaps it was better and more exciting that way.
The briefing had gone on a little bit longer than he had anticipated, but by the clock's reckoning he still had several minutes until he would speak with Ron and Hermione again.
He was not quite sure why exactly they had gotten in touch again so quickly after their last call a few days ago, but he suspected, and also hoped, that this call would see them bringing news of their return to Britain. In a very selfish sort of way he had missed them both terribly, and he also felt it would be good to have them back to take part in the search for the missing Death Eaters.
Harry quickly paced out of the Auror Office and headed to the lift to make his way to Level 1, as it was in one of the back offices on the floor home to the Minister for Magic and Support Staff that he would be using the muggle telephone to speak to them. Kingsley was experienced with muggle technology from his time shadowing the muggle Prime Minister, so he had taken it upon himself to help set it all up for them.
The lift came quickly and he was pleasantly surprised to find it completely empty. He hopped in and set its course for Level 1. As the lift burst into life and began pulling him forwards and backwards in quick succession, his eyes were drawn to the animated poster with a list of all of the names of witches and wizards which were missing following the last twelve months of war.
The name that stuck out on the list most to him was his friend and former Quidditch team-mate Katie Bell. Nobody had seen or heard from her after the Battle of Hogwarts, of course the overriding presumption was that she had sadly been killed amid the mayhem, but as no body had been found there was to be no definitive closure for her family or friends. This was sadly the case for many others too due to the chaotic and often brutal nature of the battle, as well as the war itself, which had unfortunately left many bodies unable to be identified.
This of course did also offer the possibility that some of the reported missing Death Eaters could also already be dead too, but this was not a theory that too many people subscribed to. The majority of spells, hexes and curses that would cause such destruction or disintegration of the human body were seldom only used by Death Eaters themselves, so the chances of someone casting one against them was pretty slim.
His heart ached for Katie Bell's family, who may never get the closure of finding her body. It was for people like the Bell family that it was so important that the raid later that day went smoothly, so that they could get that bit closer to bringing Voldemort's wicked followers to the justice that they so deserved.
The lift stopped very abruptly, causing Harry to fly forward a little bit. The doors opened and he quickly stumbled out towards the little side-office that he had used to speak to Ron and Hermione previously.
"Plymouth," he uttered softly against the password enchanted door, which swung open quickly following his command.
"Harry, my boy, good, good, I was wondering when you would get here," Kingsley said warmly as he entered the room.
He was a little surprised by the Minister for Magic's presence as he had not expected him to be there. Kingsley had not needed to help him start the original call with Ron and Hermione, as he had enough experience using the muggle telephone from his time at Privet Drive.
"Good to see you, Kingsley," Harry replied. "It's alright though, if you're busy I mean… I can manage the telephone by myself."
Kingsley gave him a slightly guilty look, which Harry thought was a bit odd.
"I'm sorry to disappoint you Harry, but you're not here to speak to Ron and Hermione this time," Kingsley said glumly.
"Oh," Harry said. "Then what is it-
"You must forgive me for my deception, but I am afraid that it was necessary to prevent Rhea and Gawain from cottoning onto my true motive for bringing you here."
Harry didn't understand.
What could Kingsley possibly not want Savage or Gawain Robards to find out about?
"I didn't want to drag you into this Harry, but for some reason Rhea really has it in for Hestia Jones," Kingsley began, before stroking his beard thoughtfully.
"I've been pushing hard for her to be involved in this raid so that she could be my eyes on the ground, but your boss is adamant that under no circumstances should she be getting involved with it, unless in an Obliviating capacity afterwards. I could force her to take Hestia of course, but I don't see that as too wise a move, it would undermine Rhea and Gawain's authority and place Hestia in an awkward position. I would ask Sturgis or Charlie, but neither would prove as useful as you since they cannot cast a corporeal patronus."
Harry still was not sure what exactly it was that Kingsley was asking of him. Was he worried that there would be Dementors on this mission?
"I'm sorry to have to ask this of you Harry, but I need you to give me my word that if anything happens there today… if you feel like control of the mission has been lost and you need some help… I want you to send for me."
"Of course, Kingsley," Harry replied without thinking. "Wouldn't Rhea and Gawain do that themselves anyway though?"
Shaklebolt sighed.
"I hope so, Harry, I really do, but pride and wanting to avoid losing face can be a dangerous combination sometimes. Have you ever sent a corporeal patronus as a messenger before?"
"No," Harry replied in a slightly down-beat voice. "Do you think you could teach me? Before the mission later, I mean?"
He was not sure how good a teacher Kingsley would be, but Harry thought surely even in a couple of hours he wouldn't be able to manage to teach him something as complex as a patronus spell. It would be a fruitless venture. It had taken him endless lessons with Remus Lupin to learn how to cast a patronus in the first place – and Remus had been the best teacher he'd ever had.
"Teach you?" Kingsley laughed. "From what I hear you've already got one of the best patronus charms in the business. You already know the hard part of the spell. The trick to the messenger part is in visualizing the person you want to send the message to, then telling your patronus what it is you need to tell that person… but you don't say it out loud, it must come from within."
It turned out that Kingsley really rather was quite a good teacher in his own right after all. They spent just under an hour together as Harry practised the incantation – and whilst Harry wasn't altogether sure that he had completely perfected the charm, Kingsley was at least satisfied and confident enough that he could manage it.
"With any luck you won't need to use it anyway, my boy," he said, before swiftly departing after wishing him all the best in the mission.
Harry looked down upon the Manor from up above in the warm, early evening sky. The very real figures on the ground below did not look all together that different from the hastily erected battle-plans that Robards had conjured up in the Auror Office.
The air support squadron, of which Harry was of course a part of, were already high in the sky in place for the mission, awaiting the ground team to break the defences of the Manor and launch their attack. They had already broken through much of Selwyn's protections without being detected, as it appeared the defensive enchantments on the outer grounds, whilst capable of keeping out even the nosiest of muggles, were not so adapt at keeping out highly skilled users of magic.
Ernie Macmillan and Robert Williamson had already been set-up at the outer reach of the Manor, which marked the check-point for the anti-apparition perimeter that had been erected to help prevent any potential attempts from Selwyn or anybody else to avoid capture.
Ernie was in a particularly jovial mood as he'd asked out Farzana Badwal on a date and she had not said no. His mentor, Robert Williamson, as well as Neville Longbottom, had both been very quick to point out that she had in-fact not said yes either, rather she had been so stunned into silence and embarrassment by the whole affair, that she had been too annoyed to even utter a single word to him. This had not deterred Ernie in the slightest though and he seemed convinced that she was at least somewhat interested in courting him, although even Harry had conceded this seemed wishful thinking at best.
"These Nimbuses that Saskia sorted us out aren't too bad! I might have to get one myself for when I'm back in Romania!" Charlie commented from Harry's left, as Ron's brother practiced hovering up and down slightly on his broom.
"I used to love my Nimbus 2000," Harry replied. "It was a great little broom."
"I bet it was," Charlie said with a slightly jealous sounding tone to his voice. "Was that the one that the Whomping Willow had its wicked way with?"
"Afraid so," Harry said glumly.
"Didn't you get a Firebolt right after though?" Charlie jibed. "Gryffindor seekers never had brooms like that in my day… what about you Sturgis, when you were seeker did you have a broom that good?"
Sturgis Podmore grunted slightly at the sound of his name, but it was evidently clear that such was his concentration on the figures below and the mission at hand that he hadn't heard a word of their conversation. Sturgis looked over in their direction momentarily, before shrugging his shoulders and returning his gaze to the action on the ground, of which there was actually very little to speak of.
"He didn't," Charlie mouthed, which caused Harry to laugh slightly. "Nevertheless I shall happily conform to the popular belief that you are the greatest Gryffindor Seeker of them all Harry."
"Thanks Charlie," Harry answered. "But I'm really not."
"Is that so?" Charlie replied, sounding interested. "And who then, does the almighty Chosen One hold in such high regard?"
"Ginny," Harry said back honestly, which caused a great smile to form on her elder brother's face.
"Yes… yes I have heard rumours of this, Harry," Charlie said curiously.
"She's brilliant!" Harry replied. "She's much better at Seeking than I ever was. I think she'll make a better captain than me too next year. You have to try and get to a match and watch her, I think she could be a professional if she ever wanted to."
Charlie chuckled a little bit.
"You may have misinterpreted what I meant, Harry," Charlie began. "I didn't mean that I'd heard rumours of how good Ginny is on a broom… I've seen that for myself many times… when she was little she used to steal my broom at night and fly it when she thought that nobody was watching, but being such an early riser I often was."
Harry smiled at the idea of it.
"Hang on," Harry said, in a moment of sudden realisation. "What was it that you meant then?" he asked, as below them they watched as the Raiding Party slowly made their way towards the large Manor house's entrance gates.
"That I have heard rumours of you holding Ginny in such high regard of course!" Charlie shot back.
"Oh," Harry said awkwardly.
"Yes, Oh, indeed, Harry," Charlie said in a very serious tone.
Harry suddenly felt a little bit uncomfortable, as he was not sure if Charlie was joking or not. It was always quite hard to tell with him. In a weird kind of way he was actually much more naturally gifted at sarcasm than even George was or Fred had ever been when he was alive, as with the twins you always expected it, but with Charlie you just weren't sure.
Or maybe that was just from where he'd spent a lot less time around Charlie.
"Now, I really do hate to have to ask you this," Charlie began. "But as a concerned and protective older brother I am afraid that I am honour bound to do so. Tell me Harry, man to man, what exactly are your intentions with my sweet little baby sister, Ginevra?"
Harry suddenly felt a little clammy.
"Erm," he mumbled. "Well… I… we… erm… we-
"EXCINDO TUTELA!"
The loud cries from the Raiding Party down below instantly took their minds away from Ginny, as Harry looked down from up high as Robards, Savage, Wakanda, Badwal and Peasegood blasted at the large, black gothic gates that formed the last barrier between them and the Selwyn Manor.
Harry watched on nervously as he saw the five figures slowly, yet swiftly make their way across the courtyard towards the front-door. They were led by Savage, with Robards and Wakanda just behind her and Peasegood and Badwal at the rear acting as the guard.
He glanced back a bit and could see that Conrad Proudfoot, alongside Neville Longbottom and Priscilla Weiss, were now covering towards the opened gate, with Jeff Fawley, Kwame Adebayo and Gordon Hunt still patrolling closer towards the lake-side potential exit, of which the four ex-Quidditch players were all circling above.
On Savage's signal Robards and Wakanda cast protective charms, then she, with support from Peasegood and Badwal, shot a furious blast against the big, black gothic door. It did not burst open as Harry had anticipated, nor did it cause a large explosion as he had feared like he had witnessed back in Camden.
Savage signalled for another blast attempt, although as she did so, in the corner of his left eye Harry thought he saw something pop into sight by the bank of the lake. He turned his head slightly to get a better look of it.
He couldn't quite work out what it was from so high up, but it almost looked like it could be an Elf, or maybe a Goblin. It was parading its arms up and down as if it was conducting a classical music symphony, but Harry realised it must instead be performing some kind of enchantment.
"Have you two seen that thing by the lake?" Harry asked urgently, as he heard Savage's fiery voice command yet another strike attempt on the front-door.
Charlie quickly turned towards him, then looked down towards the lake.
"Looks like an Elf," Charlie said in a confused sort of voice. "What the hell is it doing?"
"I'll check it out," Podmore volunteered, but all three of them soon spotted one of the ex-Quidditch players heading down to check it out. They were a fair distance away, but it looked like it must be Dominic McCabe as Harry couldn't make out any hair of any description flowing in the wind on their head.
Podmore held off as it looked like McCabe had it covered, but then the Elf suddenly spotted him and without any kind of warning sent a surge of sparks flying in his direction. McCabe managed to dodge it quite effectively to avoid being knocked off of his broom, but the Elf then seemed to finish whatever charm that it was conducting on the lake.
As it finished, as if by magic, the lake suddenly lit up incredibly brightly, instantly transforming from a deep blue sort of colour to a very vibrant and bright turquoise one.
"What's it trying to do? Blind us?" Charlie muttered, as they watched McCabe dodge another bombardment of sparks flown in his direction. He now had his own wand at the ready and was firing jinxes at the troublesome little Elf, who side-stepped and dodged whatever McCabe sent towards it. Harry spotted the other 3 Quidditch player swooping down to aid their companion.
"I think it's just trying to cause a distraction," Podmore huffed. "We mustn't break formation."
Harry's attention was quickly drawn back to the courtyard as he heard Savage yell once more, louder than she had previously and this time the subsequent blast seemed to do the job.
The front door flew off – and they were in!
Unlike in Camden the house did not suddenly burst into flames or explode, but rather, albeit quite conservatively, Savage, followed and covered by Wakanda and Robards, burst into the property, with Peasegood and Badwal in quick pursuit.
Almost instantaneously one of the front windows was blasted in by a spell of some kind - and they soon saw what looked like a very overenthusiastic firework display from inside the house. Harry's heart began to beat rather quickly, as he saw Conrad Proudfoot, Neville and Priscilla Weiss quickly make their way across the courtyard and into the house too.
Hunt, Fawley and Adebayo stood their ground outside the property in formation, ready and waiting should anyone manage to blast their way out. Harry wished that he was inside the house and was able to see what was happening. If Selywn and/or Travers were in there he wished he could help take them down and bring them to the justice that they so very much deserved.
"G- g- guys," Sturgis fumbled in a frightened sort of voice. "The lake! There's… there's things coming out of it!"
Harry quickly looked across to the lake and couldn't quite believe what he was seeing.
At the bank a wide array of creatures appeared to be emerging from the depths below. Some of them were human-like in their form, but some were a bit smaller and looked like they could be badgers, cats or foxes…regardless of what exact creature they were, Harry feared that all of them were…
"INFERI!" Charlie roared in sudden amazement.
"Fuck!" Podmore groaned, as the true enormity of the situation seemed to overwhelm him.
It seemed, upon the Elf's bidding, that there was now a small army of dead people, animals and birds emerging from the lake. McCabe was still battling the Elf itself, neither seemed to have the better of the other, but the other three ex-Quidditch players, who had flown down to help McCabe, now seemed to be firing down spells at the dead people and creatures to try and take them down.
They had quite good aim, but it seemed for every one dead "person" or creature that they took down, another two emerged from the lake, then suddenly, without warning, something else altogether entirely began to emerge from it.
"Are they? Are they birds?" Podmore mouthed in horror, as what looked like dead sparrows, crows and pigeons began to come up from underwater and began to fly upwards into the sky, heading straight for McCabe, then Marlow, Morgan and Addington.
"We have to help them," Harry said urgently, as they watched the ex-Quidditch stars fire hexes and jinxes at the flying Inferi birds.
"They might be able to handle the birds themselves," Podmore said quickly, still sounding quite panicked.
"They can't take the birds and the ones on the ground though!" Charlie shot back quickly. "Look, they're heading towards the Manor, everyone down there will get flanked and caught by surprise if we don't help them!"
Help.
That was it!
Harry couldn't believe he had only just thought of it.
Kingsley had said if they needed any help to send for him at once.
He would cast his Patronus and send for Kingsley, just as the Minister for Magic had showed him how to do earlier on in the day.
Harry closed his eyes, quickly thinking of the happiest memory that he could muster. His thoughts drifted instantly to the moment at the end of the battle, where everyone had mobbed him in celebration, when Voldemort was finally dead. Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Molly, Arthur, everyone was right by his side. In his mind he pictured it vividly, then-
A huge explosion of glass erupted from down on the ground.
Harry quickly opened his eyes and scanned the scene.
"It looks like they're getting out the back entrance!" Charlie shouted, as they watched three figures emerge in the back-garden of the Selwyn house. He couldn't quite tell who exactly they were from so far above, but they seemed to be, in-between firing flashes of spells back towards the house, heading towards what looked like a small, shabby looking shed.
One of them cast a spell to open the shed door as the other two covered him, then to Harry's sudden shock and horror, he pulled out a broomstick, then one more for each of his companions.
"Looks like we're gonna get to see who really is the best on a broom," Charlie said in a very grave sounding voice.
Harry prepared himself for a chase, as he saw one of the figures mount his broom and begin to ascend into the air.
"I'll take this one," Sturgis said confidently, before bolting off downwards to meet the would-be escapee.
Sturgis surged downwards in the general direction of the runaway, casting some kind of pink coloured jinx that Harry couldn't quite make out, but just as the potential Death Eater attempted to fly off there was a bright, blue set of sparks that came hurtling up from the ground.
Harry could just make out the figure of Rhea Savage, who had somehow managed to fire off a hex that had directly hit the escapee flat on the back. Podmore pulled up as he noticed it, as the man instantly hurtled back down towards the ground and landed in a heap.
"Nice shot, Rhea," Harry heard Charlie shout, although he doubted very much that she would have heard him on the ground over all of the commotion.
Then, without warning, Harry was almost blown off his broom as he heard a devastatingly loud explosion on the ground. He wasn't quite sure what had happened, but it looked like at least half of the back-garden had been blown to shreds by some kind of jinx or curse.
In his panic he suddenly remembered Kingsley and cursed himself for having forgotten in the heat of the moment to send for him.
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" he shouted loudly, thinking once more of the emotional end of battle sequence, then he soon saw the tried and tested fluorescent blue Stag emerge from the tip of his wand.
He thought back to what Kingsley had taught of him.
With every fibre of his body he thought intensely of Kingsley Shaklebolt and could think of just one word – "help".
Harry opened his eyes and looked down at his Stag patronus, which seemed to, he thought, to nod knowingly at him, before galloping off downwards towards the battle, before swiftly disappearing into thin air in haste to get his message to the Minister of Magic.
As his patronus disappeared from view Harry saw an altogether more worrying one playing out right in-front of him. It was the unwanted sight of two more figures on the ground running back towards the brooms that had been briefly discarded by the explosion, which had unfortunately not blown them to shreds like much of the rest of the garden.
He saw Sturgis quickly fly back up to address him and Charlie.
"We out number them three to two!" he shouted. "I don't think we'll get any support from the others," he added, as they looked quickly towards the lake where the four quidditch players were still duking it out with the birds and the Elf.
Harry looked towards the ground in horror as he saw the swarm of Inferi heading for the Manor. It seemed that Gordon Hunt, Jeff Fawley and Kwame Adebayo had at least spotted them, as they appeared to be edging towards mounting an attack on them head on. Even so, they were hopelessly outnumbered. Kingsley couldn't get there soon enough.
"Harry, you're the strongest on a broom and with a wand! You take one of them. Me and Charlie will take the other, that's our best chance of taking them both down."
Harry and Charlie nodded in agreement, as they watched the two dark wizards mount their brooms and begin their ascent upwards.
"NOW!" Podmore cried, as Harry immediately darted off in the direction of the larger one of the two.
His broom was quick and agile and he used its rapid pace to his advantage as he flew with utmost haste towards his target. His only slight concern was that whilst he was very experienced on a broom and in duelling, he did not have a huge amount of experience, if any at all, of duelling whilst on a broom itself.
He pulled out his wand and found it considerably harder to maintain balance and equilibrium whilst wielding it, in the process of which he suddenly had a new-found respect for both chasers and beaters, who managed to juggle wielding objects as well as flying all game long in a Quidditch match.
As he got closer and closer he began to recognize the figures that he was gaining on. They were Death Eaters after all, but it was not Kit Selwyn or Rufus Travers that he was fast-approaching.
The larger of the two figures was now recognizable, as he could see the short, blonde hair of the crazy and unpredictable Thorfinn Rowle. To his left, the much smaller figure with mousey-brown hair looked to be Phillip Jugson, who he remembered from The Battle in the Department of Mysteries.
Harry took a sharp nose dive down towards Rowle, but the giant Death Eater seemed to spot him coming at the last moment. Rowle reached for his wand, but he was not fast enough as Harry already held his steady.
"FLIPENDO!" he yelled, attempting to stop Rowle in his tracks, but his opponent saw it coming and managed pull his broom up sharply to dodge it. Rowle continued to ascend upwards and flew above and past Harry, who quickly turned to give chase to him.
Rowle kept ascending into the sky, although Harry was hot on his tail.
"CONFRINGO!" Thorfinn yelled blindly behind him, perhaps trying to make Harry's broom, or even Harry himself explode into thin air.
"PROTEGO!" Harry cried, just in the nick of time, so that the protection spell would swallow up Rowle's curse whole and do no damage to his broom or his body.
Rowle then swerved sharply, pulled up and in briefly going upside down, managed to escape Harry's path and forge a brand new one just below him. Harry copied Rowle's motion so that he too briefly went upside down and turned back on himself, although he had to swerve instantly as a flash of red-light flew straight past him, just above his shoulder.
There was such chaos now in the sky that he could not be sure whether the spell had come from Rowle, or from the melee below where Charlie, Sturgis and Phillip Jugson appeared to be scrapping in between ducking and diving out of each other's way.
It was to assist Jugson that Rowle now appeared to be heading, as a good deal below where he and Harry had risen up to Harry could now see the other Death Eater struggling to fend off the number's advantage that was very much against him.
Rowle shot a curse in Podmore's direction, but Sturgis saw it coming and quickly put up a shield charm of his own to block it, as Harry saw Charlie fire a purple-jinx towards Jugson, who only just managed to duck it.
Harry aimed at Rowle, although he was a moving target and such was the nature of his zig-zagging that Harry could not be sure that he wouldn't hit Charlie or Podmore in the process of attempting to go for the Death Eater, as such he tried to be quite cautious in order to avoid taking one of his own down with friendly fire.
Rowle swerved and pulled up violently, aiming at Podmore once more, but before he could cast a spell, a violent, vibrant yellow curse could be seen hurtling towards him from the ground. It was perhaps Savage or one of the other ground crew members coming to their assistance, although how they could be sure of who they were aiming for from down there Harry could not be sure.
The light, amber sparks looked destined to hurtle into Rowle and knock him off his broom.
"INVORTO!" the Death Eater cried loudly at the last moment, swerving slightly with his broom, Harry saw that in a split-second the yellow curse had paused in mid-air, it was almost as if time itself had stopped. "PERCUTIO!" Rowle added venomously, before viciously pointing his wand in Podmore's direction before Harry himself could react.
Sturgis himself did notice and quickly cast a defensive charm to protect himself, but it was too little, too late.
The bright, yellow curse that had been fired from the ground suddenly sprang back into life with extreme force that was no match for the hastily erected defensive barrier Podmore had produced. The curse clattered into him and sent him flying off of his broom.
"PODMORE!" Charlie yelled in shock and surprise, but he did not have too much time to think about it, as in this distraction Phillip Jugson managed to fire a black hex in his direction, which Charlie managed to parry, before chasing off after the brown haired Death Eater.
Harry may have had a decent shot on Rowle, but his only thought in the moment was for the fast falling Sturgis Podmore, who he quickly chased down after. The broom was pretty quick, but gravity itself had a fair amount of pace and it took Harry a good few moments to even make the slightest gain on the falling member of the Order of the Phoenix. To Harry's horror it seemed that Podmore was falling straight towards the roof of the main manor house. The impact of such a fall would surely kill him.
As they got closer to the ground Harry managed to get within a position where he could cast a protective spell to stop Podmore from smashing onto the roof, but just as he thought of the right spell to cast he heard Charlie yell.
"Man on, Harry!"
Harry recognised the call, which in Quidditch was used, primarily by Beaters, to let their Chaser know that a member of the other team was closely gaining on them from behind. He chanced a quick glance behind him, and, sure enough there was Rowle rapidly gaining on him and within shooting distance of him.
"EXPELLIARMUS!" Harry blindly shouted with his wand, not able to fully crane his neck to get the best possible aim off. He continued to descend downwards in pursuit of Podmore, when all of a sudden a flash of blue-light from on the ground came from out of nowhere and seemed to completely cover Sturgis. It looked like somebody else on the ground had managed to spot someone falling from the sky and had saved him from smashing onto the roof and to his likely demise.
"EXPULSIO!" came a yell from behind Harry, as he managed to swerve himself to the right a little, not knowing whether the curse had come from that direction or the other.
The bright-orange sparks of the spell flew just past his face, so close was it to connecting that he felt his hair rustle slightly as it rushed past. Harry pulled up swiftly, which confused Rowle, who had cast the spell and who kept going and actually ended up flying slightly past and below Harry before he himself could pull up to engage him once more.
The apricot-tinted curse continued to fly downwards though, and to Harry's horror he saw it connect with the back of the house, not far from the bubble where Podmore appeared to have safely landed.
The sky erupted for a brief few seconds with a blinding orange and yellow light, before a deafening explosion of noise could be heard as the curse caused half the house to blow up in a deadly inferno of glass, brick and smoke.
Harry looked down in horror hoping that everybody on the ground was unharmed, but he could not glance for too long as he saw Rowle return to come after him once more, the Death Eater too had briefly stopped in his tracks to investigate the carnage that he had inadvertently created.
"EXPELLIARMUS!" Harry fired at his target once more, but Rowle ducked and dived and flew past him yet again.
"INCENDIUM!" Rowle growled fiercely, as large flames quickly erupted from the end of his wand and flew out in Harry's direction.
"AGUAMENTI!" Harry quickly cast, causing a tsunami of water to emerge from his wand to greet the fiery inferno. The water managed to drown out the majority of the flames, but he felt a bolt of pain shoot up his right leg, as it appeared a trailing flame had somehow managed to surge its way through, singing his trousers and some of his skin in the process.
He cried out in pain for a brief moment as he directed some water in the direction of the graze, causing it to sting violently for a few seconds, but hopefully disinfecting it to some extent.
His glasses had become steamed up from the hot, humid smoke that had been produced by the water cancelling out Rowle's fire. He rubbed them quickly and when he gained his eye-sight back again he could not see the Death Eater in his peripheral vision at all.
Harry searched the sky left, right and up and down to try and find his target. It was like he was playing a life or death version of Quidditch. Rowle was the Snitch, and he just had to find him, catch him and end the match.
He flew up a bit, trying to get into a better scouting position, then into the distance, during which he seemed to be heading towards the direction of the anti-apparation perimeter, manned, at least at the start of the mission by Robert Williamson and Ernie MacMillan.
Whether or not they were still manning it now Harry could of course not be certain, but what he could be certain of was that there was a wide array of brightly coloured sparks coming from the sky in that direction, which he guessed must be Jugson and Charlie in their own aerial duel, perhaps Rowle too had spotted this and had headed off to try and assist his comrade.
Harry bent his body downwards, to ensure he could fly at the quickest possible pace and he headed off in the same direction, wand at the ready. He flew for a good couple of minutes with absolutely nobody in his sight, all he could see was the fire-work display of spells in the distance, growing ever larger and more visible as he got closer and closer to it.
He searched desperately for Rowle, unsure as to how he could have flown this far without Harry having spotted him yet. He had only been caught up by the fire and water for about ten seconds, or so it had felt at least. He couldn't have thought that the Death Eater had got that much of a head start on him, but despite glancing up, down, left, right and even chancing the odd look behind him there was no sight of Rowle to be had anywhere.
Perhaps he had drifted a bit higher, or lower, or maybe Harry himself had unknowingly drifted higher or lower in the aftermath of Rowle's Incendium curse. He kept accelerating on the Nimbus broom as swiftly as he possibly could, pulling up and above a little as he got close enough that he could now see Charlie and Jugson duking it out.
Charlie seemed to have the better of Jugson, who may well have been a better dueller, but even if he was he seemed to be no match for the Dragonologist and former Seeker in flight-mode. Harry saw Charlie perform a slight feint, pretending to go left, which caught Jugson off guard as he instead went right and fired a blue-looking hex in the Death Eater's direction. The hex appeared to hit his broom slightly, very nearly causing Jugson to come tumbling off of it.
Charlie had Jugson right where he wanted him now, as the Death Eater was too preoccupied with trying to stay on his room to be able to muster up much of a defence.
That was when Harry saw Thorfinn Rowle, who was not much more than 10 metres away from Harry, although slightly lower.
The blonde-haired Death Eater had not seen or heard Harry catch up with him, and now his giant-back was like an enormous target for Harry to hit and he could not believe his luck.
Harry thought of the spell that he wished to cast as he flew towards the Death Eater, which would surely bring Rowle to some form of justice that would await him on the ground, when in the corner of his eye he saw Rowle's wand aimed squarely at Charlie, who was completely unaware that he was being watched himself as he eyed up Jugson.
Rowle's wand hummed with a tinge of green.
Charlie seemed to spot him at the last moment, but it was too late to save himself.
"AVADA KEDARA!"
"PROTEGO!"
Harry watched on in horror as the force of the spell smacked into Charlie, sending his body limp and knocking him right off his broom.
Harry's shield charm had somehow just managed to beat Rowle's killing curse to Ron and Ginny's older brother, but whilst it had protected him from the harsh green spell that would've instantly killed him, the force of the defensive shield had still been enough to seemingly knock him out, or at least off of his broom, which incidentally, had shattered in half on the spell's impact.
In that moment Harry briefly forgot about Rowle and Jugson altogether entirely, thinking only of his promise to Ron that no harm would come to his brother on his watch. Harry surged downwards in hot pursuit of the falling Weasley son, quickly gaining on him, at least this time Charlie had started off a lot higher in the sky than Podmore when he had fallen.
"ARRESTO MOMENTUM!"
Harry's spell quickly flew off and connected with Charlie's bulky falling body, instantly causing his fall to drastically reduce in speed, almost as if he had released an invisible parachute. Charlie was still some way below Harry, so he raced down to try and catch up with him, but as Charlie appeared to become somewhat aware of what was happening Harry heard him calling up to him.
"GO AFTER THEM HARRY! I'LL BE FINE!" it sounded like Charlie had shouted, although he very much did not look or sound fine.
Harry studied the green hills beneath where Charlie would likely land. It looked like that part of the estate had so far managed to avoid any of the action. He was not sure if Charlie still had his wand or not, but against his better judgment he immediately pulled up, leaving the Weasley brother to safely descend to the ground, before hurtling back into the sky in the direction of where Rowle and Jugson would have been.
He scanned the skies but could not see either of them.
It was likely that their plan would be to escape and if they were to escape then they would likely fly towards civilisation, where the anti-apparation perimeter had been erected as the additional defensive barrier just for this very scenario.
Harry took some solace in the fact that even if they had got past him, Rowle and Jugson would still have the fearsome Robert Williamson to contend with, as well as Ernie Macmillan and maybe even Kingsley himself if Harry's patronus had gotten to him as swiftly as he hoped.
The sun shone harshly on the back of Harry's neck as he moved his body to be more streamlined so he could travel as quickly as possible towards the perimeter. He wondered what brooms Rowle and Jugson were flying on and whether his Nimbus would out-pace them, it had been quite hard to tell what type of broom they were on in the brief glimpses he had gotten of them so far.
As he eventually got closer and closer to the perimeter and could see the old-fashioned muggle barn he chanced a glance below him, trying to see if he could spot the figures of Ernie and Williamson on the ground. He thought he could just about make Williamson out, but he could not see Ernie, or indeed anybody else.
He wondered where Rowle and Jugson had got to – and whether they had flown past the perimeter without Williamson or Ernie spotting them.
Then, in the corner of his right eye, he spotted a shadow high above him, then another one not that far away. He looked up, peaking higher than his field of vision would typically allow and that was when he saw them.
It was Rowle and Jugson. They didn't appear to have spotted him, possibly due to the glare of the sun beating down on them, or perhaps being more preoccupied with their escape, but whatever their reasoning was for them not spotting him this was his chance.
He had to fly up and cause some kind of diversion to prevent them from both escaping, or at least draw some kind of attention to the skies so that Williamson and Ernie down below would notice.
Harry quickly surged forwards and flew up, almost completely vertically, as he aimed to cut them up completely just before they reached the perimeter. He really hoped that they would take the bait, as he doubted he would be able to take them both on or out.
He was quite close to them now and thankfully neither of them had yet noticed his ascent towards them. Harry approached with Jugson on his near-side, so it would be him who he would have to target first, if his quickly concocted plan was to have any chance of succeeding.
"Arresto Momentum," Harry cast towards Jugson's broom in a hushed voice, instantly causing the Death Eater's broom to massively slow down.
"Wait up!" Jugson yelled to Rowle, who had now drifted ahead of him. "Lousy bloody broom's pulled up!"
"FULGEO PROMOVEO!" Harry shouted into the sky, as his wand shot out the blinding red, blue and green fireworks that he had cast. Almost instantly they shattered and caused the sky to light up in a primarily red hue, which would simultaneously draw attention to Williamson, Ernie and anybody else that happened to be on the ground.
"SHIT!" Harry heard Jugson swear, as Harry flew past him in pursuit of Rowle, who was heading straight for him in turn having noticed what had happened.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" Rowle screamed, as the green-shot of light that accompanied the killing curse came flying towards him.
"PROTEGO!"
Harry's quick defensive spell managed to deflect Rowle's killing curse, but as Harry manoeuvred to dodge and get into a better attack position on Rowle, he noticed that it almost flew off into the direction of his comrade, Phillip Jugson, which appeared to be something which had not been lost on him either.
"WHAT DID I TELL YA ABOUT SHOOTIN' OFF KILLING CURSES WHEN I'M RIGHT NEAR YA?!" Jugson shouted in an angry voice, but before he could continue his rebuke of Rowle his broom was hit by a trail of purple sparks that had come from down below.
"STOP WORRYING ABOUT ME AND GET YOUR FUCKING BROOM MOVING AGAIN!" Harry heard Rowle shout at Jugson, as he dodged and defended another killing curse from the big, blonde Death Eater. Almost as soon as he said this Jugson appeared to find the right counter-curse for Harry's spell, although Harry could not hear it over the noise of another set of purple sparks from down below.
"EXPELLIARMUS!"
Harry's trademark spell just missed the large target of Thorfinn Rowle, who furiously swerved and pulled up, trying to out-do Harry in their now continued hotly contested aerial duel. Rowle fired another killing curse towards him, but his aim was poor and it was always going high and wide of Harry, who still shot another Protego off just to be safe.
"FUCK! ME BROOM'S HIT!" Jugson swore loudly, as someone on the ground, who Harry could now spot was indeed Robert Williamson, got another even greater hit on him. The Death Eater began swerving uncontrollably, almost flying straight into a furious Thorfinn Rowle, before Harry had to dodge him too as he began to wildly descend to the ground.
Harry exchanged a momentary glance with Rowle, who cast some kind of defensive barrier protection to briefly block Harry off as he soared down to check on his fallen comrade.
"Bombarda!" Harry cast at the defensive block, instantly shattering it, as he flew after Rowle and managed to get a better look of Jugson's fall to the ground himself.
The Death Eater had possibly gained some control of his broom as he was no longer turbulently zig-zagging, although he was still spiralling down heading straight for Williamson on the ground, who continued to fire spells at Jugson, yet he was struggling to hit his target now that he was moving a lot more quickly.
As Harry flew slightly lower down, still not quite in reach of Rowle, he thought that it looked like Jugson's flight-path appeared to suggest he was aiming to land straight on top of Williamson, then, without warning, there was flash of purple and yellow, before a small explosion of sparks and loud screaming from both Jugson and Williamson as they collided on the ground in a big thud.
The impact on the ground sent both men flying in opposite directions and from his vantage point Harry could not tell whether either man was alive or dead following the collision, but both of them at the very least looked like they might have been knocked out.
Rowle snuck a fearful glance behind him and saw Harry heading directly for him.
The blonde Death Eater retrieved his wand once more and fired yet another killing curse in Harry's direction, although as they were still separated by a fair bit Harry had plenty of time to send a counter-curse and save himself, although in doing so he almost fumbled and dropped his wand, as the sharp-turn caused his singed right leg to wither in pain.
This setback did not appear to have been lost on Rowle, who seeking his opening, waved his wand and from it some furious looking flames emerged, soon developing into large, fearsome ones that Rowle wielded like a large whip, he cast it, attempting to catch Harry out in his horrific flaming wheel.
"AGUAMENTI!"
Harry's hastily cast spell managed to extinguish some of the flames, but it seemed whatever dark magic Rowle had used this time was far stronger than the flames that he had cast earlier, as Harry had not managed to eliminate any more than half of his flaming wheel of death.
The flames were truly ferocious and they reminded him of the Fiendfyre that the late Vincent Crabbe had quite regrettably cast and lost control of in the Room of Requirement.
He panted slightly, feeling a little tired of the chase, before darting and dodging the dangerously hot flames that flew mercilessly towards him, relentlessly pursuing him, as his wand continued to extinguish as much as it possibly could.
Rowle's distraction had worked perfectly.
Harry fumbled to try and get into a defensive position, but he was still trying to protect himself from the flames, let alone from any further curses from Rowle himself.
He was in the clear.
Rowle might actually kill him this time.
"AVADA-
"EXPELLIARMUS!"
Rowle's wand flew from the sky before he could cast the killing curse that almost certainly would have ended Harry's life.
Ernie Macmillan, clad in his muggle-police officer gear and all, had appeared out of absolutely nowhere, completely blind-siding the Death Eater on one of the spare brooms that he and Williamson had stored at the check-point in-case they needed to assist the air support team.
Ernie had certainly done just that.
"IMMOBULUS!"
Harry, thinking fast, shot the freezing charm quickly at Rowle's broom to prevent him from trying to escape, as Ernie extinguished what remained of Rowle's dark-magic induced flames in the sky, before he pulled up victoriously, floating in-front of the helpless Thorfinn Rowle, with his and the Death Eater's wand in either hand.
Rowle, furious, yet clearly defeated, bit his lip nervously as he evaluated his very limited options.
"Good job, Ernie," Harry shouted to his former Hufflepuff class-mate, who looked towards him and nodded in acknowledgement.
"I've got the other one tied up on the ground," he said confidently. "Williamson took a nasty bump, but he should be alright. How do you propose we bring this guy down?" Ernie asked, as Rowle sighed angrily at hearing of Jugson being taken out of the picture.
"I'll stay close to him from the front," Harry proposed. "You use Wingardium Leviosa to float him down. If he tries anything I can soon confund him or put a body-bind curse on him, although I imagine you'd like the use of your hands to stay on your broom and avoid a nasty fall to the ground?" Harry added, addressing Rowle directly as he spoke the last part.
Rowle glared at him menacingly, saying nothing, before briefly looking down to the ground. Harry judged it was about a thirty or forty feet drop towards the barn and hilly ground below. He doubted even Rowle would be stupid enough to want to fall that far to the ground and he did not want to needlessly kill or maim the Death Eater by knocking him off his broom unnecessarily.
"Do you not think we should put some kind of body-bind on him now? You know, just in-case?" Ernie asked, as he eyed up Rowle and manoeuvred his broom so that he was directly behind him.
"I think we should be alrigh-
"OWFUCK!-
Harry had not even finished his sentence of reassurance when Rowle unleashed a vicious elbow out of nowhere onto Ernie, almost knocking him off of his broom. He instantly regretted his show of kindness to the Death Eater, but it was no problem, he had his wand at the ready and Rowle had no hope of escape, as Ernie still had his wand.
"PETRIFICUS TOTA-
What Harry had not anticipated, and for good reason, as no sane person would even attempt it, was what Thorfinn Rowle did next.
The large Death Eater balanced himself slightly on his broom, before taking an incredible leap of faith straight off of it and full on flung himself towards Harry in mid-air.
It caught Harry off guard completely and in what felt like a split second he felt one of Rowle's massive shoulders and arms violently grab him, in what was something between a spear and a rugby tackle.
Harry felt his broom come loose from his legs and within an instance they were both hurtling down towards the ground. As he rapidly descended to the hilly terrain below, he felt Rowle's firm grip and hulking body holding onto him, perhaps attempting to use him as some kind of safety mat for when they would hit the deck.
He felt the grip on his wand loosen, before it flew out of his hand altogether and was lost in the chaos. A few helpless seconds went by, before Harry felt a crushing pain of impact on his back a fair bit sooner than he had anticipated.
A deafening crash rang through his ears as Harry felt Rowle violently flung off in another direction, as piles of wood flew through the air and he eventually landed in a large pile of old, decrepit hay and horse-muck. Whatever offering of softening the hay may have had on his landing as he crashed through the old muggle-barn, was immediately offset by the tumbling piles of wood that soon crashed down on top of him in the aftermath.
Harry's very last memory of the immediate moments following his crashing through the barn was one of unimaginable pain as a large chunk of wood landed on his right leg, before a smaller one tumbled down and hit him square on the head, which caused everything to fade to black
When he first came to his senses Harry thought that he was awakening from a snooze in his makeshift bed in Ron's room back at the Burrow, but the sharp pain in his back and his right leg soon reminded him of what had just happened.
His head was absolutely ringing in pain. He didn't have that much feeling in either of his arms, but after a few moments of struggling he managed to clear a piece of wood off his head and began to attempt to pull his possibly broken leg from out of the pile of heavy debris that had landed on it.
"Harry?!"
"Harry are you alright, mate?!"
He heard Ernie's voice from outside of the destroyed barn's wreckage, but Harry could not quite muster the energy to reply before Ernie's voice trailed off away and out of earshot.
The dimly lit remains of the barn made it hard for Harry to work out where exactly he was. He reached to either side of himself trying desperately to find his glasses. It took him a little while but he soon found them scattered to his left hand side, but upon finding them he discovered that they'd been completely shattered on impact, rendering them completely useless anyway.
Harry used his hands to try and scan for his wand, but he couldn't find it amongst all of the broken up wood, splinters and dried up old horse shit in the dark. To try and find it without his glasses would be somewhat akin to looking for a needle in a haystack, which seemed quite ironic given the large amounts of hay that surrounded him. He saw a slight glimmer of light to his right, where the barn was still somewhat held together into place and seemed to maintain some resemblance of structural integrity.
With great caution he moved his body ever so slightly to try and peer through the gap in the wood, causing himself great pain in his right leg in the process of doing so, as it was still well and truly trapped below the heavy debris that lay awkwardly on top of it.
"We'll find Harry soon, I'm sure he'll be alright, he's survived worse than that before."
Through the small gap in the barn wall Harry squinted and thought he could just about make out the towering figure of Robert Williamson, who appeared to be back on his feet, although from his tone of voice he still sounded pretty heavily winded at the very least.
"Any sign of that blonde fella that came crashing down with him?" Williamson asked in the distance, presumably to Ernie.
"Not yet. He's not in that big pile over there, perhaps he crashed in through the roof. I'll check it out," Ernie said, sounding slightly panicked, although all the same it did not sound like he had come to much harm and presumably had not been sent flying from his broom in the same fashion that Harry had by Rowle's vicious elbow.
Harry was glad for Ernie, as he would not wish the ghastly levels of pain in his lower back, head and leg on anyone, except perhaps for Thorfinn Rowle. He tried to call out to Ernie and Robert, to alert them to his presence, but he could not find the strength and all that came out was a brief cackle. The energy from trying to call out to them seemed to exhaust Harry's lungs and he even felt slightly dizzy upon having done so.
He tried focusing through the gap in the barn as intently as he could, trying desperately not to pass out again. He felt sick, like he might vomit, but he managed to move past it and soon reverted back to just being in a massive amount of pain instead.
With a great deal of effort Harry placed an arm on the side of the barn, so that he could prop himself against it and make his leg more comfortable as he peered out, but surprisingly as soon as he did this the weight of his full body against the side of the barn caused it to fall and completely collapse outwards on itself. He fell to the ground, which hurt his leg tremendously, but he knew he must now be at least half-way out of the barn, as instead of the humid, stuffy smell of shit he could now smell some real, clean, fresh air as well.
He looked up into the direction of where he had heard Ernie and Robert talking not long ago, but he could not see either of them anymore. Harry had imagined that his fall and the tumbling of the wood may have caused enough of a noise for one of them to notice, but it seemed neither Ernie nor Robert had heard it.
At least being outside in the air now he had more to try and look at and didn't have to settle for peeping through a little hole. The light of the sun as well also made it slightly easier to see than when he'd been stuck inside the barn, so he concentrated on trying to locate his wand once more, but again with all of the shards of broken wood all around him it made it extremely difficult to do so.
"Oh for pity's sake, that muggle man in his car is back," Harry heard Ernie complain loudly.
"I'll move him on again, keep looking for the other one," Williamson ordered urgently, as Harry strained to pull himself along the ground slightly to try and catch a glimpse of the towering Auror in the distance.
He saw a big blur jogging swiftly past what must have been the anti-apparation perimeter to the track of dirt-road just outside, where a large car, possibly a Range Rover had pulled up.
Harry surveyed his surroundings once more as he tried desperately to wrench his damaged leg free from the rubble of wood, but it just wouldn't budge, each time he tried a horrific surge of pain cut up it and caused him to have to stop before he passed out from the dizziness. He was not sure how badly he had hurt his leg, whether it was broken or not, but he was sure that the earlier burn he had sustained from Rowle's fiery curse had not helped matters.
Using what little strength he had left he leveraged himself against the ground to try and slowly, but surely, manoeuvre his burned and possibly broken leg in such a fashion that it would come out from under the wood. He leaned his right elbow firmly into the ground, clenching his teeth as he tried to pull himself out, but it was no good.
He sighed desperately, before the sun's glowing glare against his watch caught his eye. Fabian Prewett's old watch had taken a massive battering from his fall. The face of it had been utterly smashed and the clock hands no longer worked. Harry felt quite saddened, as whilst he could pick up another watch very easily, he doubted he would ever own another one which carried the same sentimental value.
Molly gifting him her dead brother's watch had been one of the greatest presents he had ever received, as it had finally made him feel like a proper member of the Weasley family. He could get it fixed one day perhaps, although admittedly in that very moment a working watch was hardly that high up on his priority list.
What he really needed was his wand.
If he could only just find his –
But there it was!
In the reflection of the bashed up old watch's face he could see it!
There, not all that far away from him, barely an arm's reach away in-fact, was his wand, or at least he thought it looked very much like it.
His vision was blurry enough that he could not categorically be sure that it was his wand, but he was almost certain.
"I REALLY MUST ASK YOU BOTH TO LEAVE!" he heard Williamson order in the distance, presumably to whoever was in the large muggle vehicle.
"BAS DO NA BRETAINE," shouted one of the muggles with a thick accent in a language that Harry did not understand. He guessed it was Irish, or maybe his hearing was just a bit off.
"I DO NOT WANT TO USE FORCE OR TO ARREST YOU," Williamson continued in a hurried fashion. "BUT AS A MEMBER OF THE BRITISH MUGGLE POLICE I WILL HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO PROCEED WITH- ARGHH
A deafening shot ran out in the area and echoed hauntingly.
Such was the ferocity of the noise that the vehicle's security alarm system began loudly blaring.
Harry, his ears still ringing, clamoured to get a good look of what had just happened.
To his shock and horror he saw the big figure of Robert Williamson on the ground, he squinted as hard as he could to see and to his surprise he saw one of the muggles sticking out of the vehicle with what looked like a gun.
They'd shot Robert Williamson!
"OH FUCKING HELL!" he heard Ernie yell, who Harry saw quickly sprint across the perimeter to help his fallen mentor.
He moved himself again slightly, causing his leg a great deal of pain in the process, but he shuffled with all of his might to try and see what was happening and get closer to what might have been his wand.
Another brutal shot ran out and it looked to be aimed straight at Ernie, but with a slight crack, Ernie had apparated out of harm's way at the last moment as the bullet flew towards him.
"EVANESCO!"
Suddenly the glass-windscreen of the vehicle, offering the two muggle men inside some form of protection from any potential spells, disappeared into thin air, although Harry could not quite see where Ernie had cast his charm from.
"STUPEFY!"
Harry heard the two muggle men groan loudly as the force of Ernie Macmillan's surprise follow-up spell caused them to crash back against their seats, possibly knocking them both unconscious on impact.
Ernie looked satisfied that the threat was duly nullified and Harry saw him turn back towards his fallen mentor Robert Williamson, when suddenly Harry saw a very large shadow slowly limping towards them both.
He looked back towards where his wand was located.
With all of his remaining strength Harry leaped towards his wand, hearing a nasty tear and rip on his leg that caused him perhaps more pain than he had ever felt in his life, yet his fingers had just missed his wand.
"EXPULSIO!"
The large muggle-vehicle erupted into a large fire-ball, instantly vaporising the helpless muggles inside.
Ernie was almost sent flying off his feet, but he used his arms to instinctively shield himself from the blast.
Harry watched as his former class-mate and friend almost fell down to the ground, before turning towards the direction of where the blasting spell had come from with his wand drawn ready for a duel.
Harry felt his finger-tips just grasp his wand and he tried desperately to pivot himself into such a position that he could pick it up and stop what was about to happen, but as he gripped it his fingers slipped, and it fell just out of his reach once more.
"STUPEFY!"
"AVADA KEDAVRA!"
There was a blinding flash of green-light.
Rowle's killing curse overwhelmed the spell that Ernie Macmillan had fired towards him, drowning it out and casting him down to the ground like a discarded piece of chewing gum.
"No!" Harry sighed hopelessly to himself, as he could just make out his friend's lifeless dead body laying limp on the floor beside the wrecked Range Rover.
He was momentarily completely consumed by grief and anger, grief for his fallen friend, anger once more that someone else had needlessly fallen to a Death Eater when he could have helped prevent it.
"Nice one, Finn," he heard Jugson comment, as he tried once more to reach for his wand.
In the chaos of the muggles arriving Rowle must have sneaked out from wherever he had been hiding, found his wand and untied his partner in crime.
Harry cursed his luck.
If he had a big hulking body like Rowle he might well have been able to walk away from that fall himself.
The way in which the barn had fallen in on itself Harry thought that he was still covered enough that they may not be able to see him, although his vision wasn't good enough that he could easily confirm that.
There were hot, white tears forming in his eyes as well, caused by both grief and anger, and they too clouded his vision.
"That kid apparated just after them muggles shot at the big fella. So right about 'ere must be past whatever apparation enchantment they stuck on the place," Harry heard Jugson stammer out, as the Death Eater slowly staggered towards his much taller comrade. "Selwyn and Travers must be caught, or dead, we need to leave now or we'll soon follow 'em."
"You can follow them if you like," Rowle spat. "I'm not finished here. I'm gonna make sure that big ginger bastard is dead, then I'm gonna kill Potter and anyone else that my Inferi and Selwyn's little cunt Elf didn't finish off."
Harry finally felt his finger-tips grasp his wand again, this time he tried desperately not to let it slip out of them before he could fully wield it, although his heart was beating rapidly, such was his panic and fury.
"Finn, even The Dark Lord himself couldn't kill Potter," Jugson said nervously, as Harry gripped his wand with his right hand, but he was still facing the wrong way to cast a clear shot at either of them.
He would have to re-position himself to be sure that he could definitely hit either of them, especially without his glasses on.
"What makes you think we can?" Jugson added nervously, as Harry thought he heard a female voice and the sound of running in the distance.
Perhaps it was some of the others, or Kingsley, coming to their aid.
He hoped very much that it was, as he felt himself going dizzy again from the anger, the stress and most of all the pain in his leg, head and back.
"I learnt much from The Dark Lord," Rowle growled. "But some things, even he was blind to, especially with Potter. Dolohov had this theory that-
"Did you hear that fuckin' voice, Finn?!" Jugson cried. "More of 'em are coming. That was too high pitch to be Kit or Rufus! Sounded like a woman! Let's get out of here whilst we still can!"
Harry clenched his teeth and moved himself over, propping himself so that he could see them both as clearly as possible.
They were not too far from him.
They were within shooting distance, but he was dizzy, so very dizzy.
"If they want to come… let them come. I'll give them a fucking welcoming sign!" Rowle snarled, before casting his wand into the sky.
"MOLS MORDE!"
Harry swore under his breath in abject fury as the Death Eater boldly cast the Dark Mark into the sky, illuminating their position to any remaining survivors of the raid.
"YOU MUST'VE HIT YOUR HEAD PRETTY BAD ON THAT FUCKIN' FALL YOU DAFT CUNT!" Jugson shouted angrily. "HAVE YOU LOST YOUR DAMN MIND?!" he said, pushing his comrade slightly, although given the size difference between the two he did not push him all that far.
This distraction of the two in-fighting however was just what Harry had needed.
"SECTUMSEMPRA!"
Harry fired the curse straight at the big blur of Thorfinn Rowle.
In his consumption by rage and anger in the moment he was not quite sure what his exact intention had been for the Death Eater, knowing what Severus Snape's old curse had previously inflicted on Draco Malfoy, but at that moment he knew for sure that he had to take Rowle down – and he wanted him to feel it.
"ARGHFUCKK!"
Rowle instantly screamed out in pain.
Harry was unsure where exactly he got him, but it looked like it might have been in the chest, or maybe even as high up as the neck.
The strength Harry had used to cast the strong, violent curse had taken a lot out of him.
He thought that at the very least he still remained covered on the ground, which was just as well as he could feel himself become very dizzy, too dizzy to cast another spell, too dizzy to even watch on, but he clenched his teeth and pried himself to carry on watching, trying desperately to find the strength to fire another spell in their direction.
"Fuck!" he heard Jugson yell suddenly.
"GEH- US O-T OV HEERE!" Rowle yelped in pain like a wounded dog.
"In this state?! You might splinch… it could kill you!" Jugson cried in terror, suddenly not in as such of a hurry to leave as his now potentially mortally wounded partner.
"JUS-T FU- FUCK-ING DO IT!" Rowle spluttered once more, before Jugson reached over to him with his hand - and with a loud sudden clack, they were both gone.
"No," Harry sighed to himself.
"No!"
Why did he cast Sectumsempra?
He could have used a simpler spell to trap them both, or disarm them both, or confund them both… or anything!
Hindsight was a beautiful thing.
He looked up towards the sun as he began to feel sick again.
The sun was a beautiful thing.
It was shining so brightly, so lovely.
Harry felt the back of his head hit the muddy grass behind him as he looked up at the sun.
"THE DARK MARK IS OVER HERE! I THINK I CAN SEE POTTER!"
The sun almost looked like a snitch in a way.
It was so shiny, so small, yet so big.
It would be much bigger if he flew closer towards it.
Yes, that would be nice.
He could get back on his broom and he could catch the sun.
Ginny would like that.
Yes, she would think he was the best boyfriend ever if he caught her the sun.
"HARRY!"
Who was that calling his name?
It didn't sound like Ginny.
"HARRY, ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!"
"Whus threre?" Harry mumbled, more to himself than anyone else.
He thought he saw the very worried and concerned looking face of Hestia Jones standing over him, but that wasn't right, she wasn't on the mission.
And did she always have two heads?
One of the heads kind of looked like Savage.
It couldn't be Hestia.
Or maybe it was.
"Harry, are you alright?" the strange double-headed woman asked once more, although this time Harry could not even muster a reply.
He felt all of the energy in his body suddenly leave him, and thankfully with it, all of the pain too.
The world suddenly faded to black as he passed out.