I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters.
Chaos
Alex frowned as Harry explained quickly what was going on and what he wanted. He was leaving with Dumbledore to find a Horcrux, he'd learned that it was Snape who overheard the prophecy that led to his parents' deaths, he'd learned from Trelawny that someone in the Room of Requirement had been celebrating and had thrown her out before she could see them, and Harry was there supposedly to get his Invisibility Cloak when actually he was giving them a job. Watch Malfoy and Snape on the Marauder's Map, gather the DA to keep Malfoy from pulling off his plan. He also gave them the Felix Felicis to share between them all. Then, he took off at a sprint to meet Dumbledore.
Alex took a long breath and turned to the others. "How much luck do we have?"
"If Harry said his luck lasted about three hours," Hermione said, looking at the bottle. "A little more than five hours a piece, if we're careful."
"That's four ways?" Alex asked, Hermione nodding. "Good. That'll be you three and Luna."
"You can't-" Ron began, but Alex glared at him to silence him.
"Hermione, separate it evenly," Alex said, fishing his DA coin out of his pocket and tapping it, setting the time for fifteen minutes from now. "You'll all drink it once we get there."
Hermione nodded, quickly using four bottles to measure out equal portions before corking each as they all headed for the seventh floor. Several members of the DA were already present, and Alex checked his watch, seeing more and more making their way up quickly. Luna arrived a few minutes after Alex and the others, frowning in confusion.
"You weren't answering," Luna said. "What's going on?"
"Why're we having a lesson now?" Zacharias Smith demanded, walking over.
"We're not," Alex said. "Smith, Creevey brothers, go away. You're not ready for this."
"How do you know!?" Smith demanded.
Alex flicked his wand, a Knockback Jinx slamming into Smith's chest and hurling him. "Go. Now!"
All three fled, Alex also ordering any others that he knew weren't up for a battle away.
"What's going on?" Luna asked again, once nearly half the group had been sent away.
"Harry and Dumbledore have left the castle and Harry's asked us to patrol the corridors," Alex said. "There's a chance we're going to be fighting someone, maybe Death Eaters."
Fear spread instantly, but they all understood their orders and quickly spread out in groups, all trying to keep the more skilled members relatively evenly devided, except for Alex and his friends, who all waited just to the side of the Room of Requirement's door. The four chosen to drink Felix Felicis did so, and they all settled in to wait. The hours ticked by in silence. Alex felt himself getting restless, his chest compressing as he felt a weight and a growing feeling of dread beginning to press down on him. Luna slipped her hand into his, and he smiled, squeezing it and giving her a kiss. Another hour dragged by before the wall where the door to the Room of Requirement finally exploded open. A chunk of black and purple rock smashed against the floor and darkness flooded the hallway, obscuring their sight. Alex swore instantly, snatching Luna's hand and throwing them both against the wall of the corridor. He couldn't see. People were shouting, someone screaned, and several people sprinted past them toward the Astronomy tower. Alex looked after them, resisting the urge to use the Wand-Lighting Charm, knowing it was useless.
Suddenly, there were several surprised shouts and bangs, and Alex sprinted after them, leaving Luna where she was safe. As he emerged from the cloud of darkness, he saw a crowd of Death Eaters dueling with members of the Order of the Pheonix. He brandished his wand instantly, stunning a Death Eater at the back. Two of them spun instantly, one tall, blond man and one whose robes looked too tight, who had long, yellowed fingernails filed into claws, pointed teeth, and matted grey hair and whiskers.
Both shouted excitedly, beginning to fire off spells, but while the clawed one was firing off spells directly at Alex, like a normal duelist, the blond man was firing ridiculousky fast but without aiming, resulting in his spells ricocheting both at Alex and at nothing. It was chaos instsntly, and Alex struggled to fend the pair off with both hands. He ducked aside from a jet of green light, blocked a pair of curses from the front, used his left hand to block a spelk from the side, sent an Impetus back, blocked a pair of spells. A Knockback Jinx slammed into his face and he hurtled backward, his nose crushed and several teeth missing. He hit hard but did a backward somersault to his feet again just in time for Luna, Hermione, and Ginny to step out of darkness around him, all sending a curse at the pair. As soon as the pair's spelks ended for a brief moment as they blocked the curses, Alex snarled and went on the attack. Spell after spell slammed into the pair's defenses. Stunners, Full Body-Bind Curses, Stinging Jinxes, Bat-Bogey Hexes, Knockback Jinxes, Impetus blasts. The others joined him, quickly forcing the Death Eaters onto the defensive. However, finally, the big one stepped out of the way of multiple curses and began to fire off a massive, rapid barage again. Alex blocked several, then dodged a Killing Curse, and the others all scattered. The shorter Death Eater with the claws turned, charging into the rest of the battle as more and more spells ricochetted along the hallway in all directions. Alex charged, ducking and sidestepping spells, blocking some, and finally brandished his wand up close, his left hand knocking the Death Eater's wand arm away, sending a Killing Curse ricochetting backward into the battle. Alex's own wand issued a blast like a cannon and the Death Eater sailed backward, slamming into several other combatants. However, within seconds, other Death Eaters had rounded on Alex. The big one stood, McGonagall turning to engage him instead, and the chaos resumed. The three Death Eaters targeting Alex began to overpower him, only for Luna and Ginny to step up to either side of him. Together, the all pressed hard, sending any spell they could think of at their opponents. Suddenly, Snape swept past them, brandishing his wand and deflected several ricocheted spells away from himself carelessly, one spell blasting one of the Death Eaters into the wall. Then, he was gone. Alex decided to take it as a vote of confidence that he didn't help more than one accident, and pushed himself harder.
Finally, he found an opening. Just as all of the others on both sides were pulling their arms back to cast a spell, Alex roared, "REPLICARE CORPORIS! ! !" in his head, and his clone formed beside him, instantly blasting one of the two Death Eaters. The spell sent him bouncing off the wall where he intercepted a Killing Curse from the big one before it could hit Tonks. Then, the last Death Eater cast his spell and the chaotic, now one-on-four, duel continued, but only for a few seconds. Then, four Impetus Blasts, one from each of the Death Eater's opponents, exploded into him, three to the torso and one to the face, and he sailed away, trailing blood and bits of shattered bone. At the same moment, as though Lady Luck wanted to make sure he was dead, a ricocheted spell from the big Death Eater exploded against the ceiling, bits of it being blasted free and crashing down, crushing the Death Eater ex and the others had just blasted and filling the corridor with dust. Alex and the others charged into the dust instantly, joining the chaos. Alex's clone found the first opponent, then Ginny and Luna joined Tonks together. Alex found McGonagall still dueling the big one and joined her with a furious string of spells, only to have to stop to block multiple spells from all sides for them both. McGonagall flicked her wand rapidly, great blasts of flame issueing from her wand at the Death Eater, only for him to block them before returning to sewing chaos. Alex fired several spells, but the Death Eater avoided them. A moment later, a curse slammed into Alex's chest, only to deflect off of him and burst into a shower of sparks on the floor, cracking it. Alex's robes fell away in tatters, leaving him in his shirt, pants, and dragonhide vest. The Death Eater growled in rage, moving to target Alex directly, only for Snape to slam into his shoukder from behind, the Killing Curse missing and bursting against a wall as Snape continued to sprint with Malfoy.
"It's over!" Snape shouted. "We're leaving!"
Alex's gut dropped and he spun after Snape just as the Death Eater he'd been dueling howled in pain and fled past Alex, ramming into him and knocking him to the floor. Alex shoved himself up and took a step forward, only to stop as he spotted Neville on the ground. He darted over instantly, kneeling, and rolling him off his stomach.
"You alright?" Alex asked.
"I'm fine," Neville nodded, clutching his stomach and grimacing. "Someone's bleeding over there."
He pointed, and Alex ran over, dropping beside a body with his face absolutely maimed past the point of being recognizeable, just looking red. Alex froze. It wasn't just blood. The hair was red. He glanced along the body, taking stock of the clothes and hair length. Bill, he thought. He raised his wand and focused. He'd learned a spell to mend lacerations, but he wasn't sure it would do much against something so severe. Except, it wasn't doing anything. He swore. Greyback.
"Lupin!" Alex shouted, Lupin running over from where he was checking on the others. "It's Bill, I think! Greyback got him!"
Lupin cursed, setting his ear on Bill's chest for a moment before standing and lifting him, setting off at a sprint. Alex followed, grabbing Ron and Ginny on the way, Hermione and Luna following, and they all raced to the Hospital Wing. Madam Pomfrey met them at the door, only to shriek in surprise, then sprint away when Lupin managed to gasp out the word "werewolf!" through his gasping, ragged breathing. A few moments later, she returned, applying a heavy dose of the same, foul-smelling ointment as she'd used to treat Alex's own werewolf injuries when he'd been wounded, at least, the time before Fawkes had healed him personally. Alex glanced at Luna, who was covered in scrapes and cuts, had a layer of sweat-soaked dirt clinging to her, and who was trembling slightly with her eyes wide with fear and shock still. Alex took her hand, pulling gently, and she moved into his lap, wrapping her arms around him and curling into him.
"Ginny," Alex said. "Harry chased the Death Eaters. He won't catch them, but..."
"I'll go get him," Ginny nodded, standing and leaving the Hospital Wing quickly.
"Hogwsrts," Luna breathed, sounding close to tears "They got into Hogwarts."
Alex squeezed her, and Luna returned the squeeze, beginning to cry silently. They all sat in silence for a long while before Harry and Ginny arrived, and Harry told them all the worst possible news. Dumbledore was dead. Snape had killed him.
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