Uncle Steve's shield - Captain America's shield - shattered. Instinctively, Harry ducked as best he could as the force of the impact sent Uncle Steve flying over his head.
Voldemort smiled, obviously satisfied, and brought his wand to bear on Harry once again.
Not like this, Potter. Not like this.
"Avada"
Harry took a breath, let it out, and willed his baobab wand into his hand from its holster. The holster didn't work like that, but it had to - right now. It had to…
…and it did.
The wand solidified in Harry's fingers and he twisted it so the tip was at the ropes binding him. "Diffindo."
"Kedavra!"
The spell cut through the ropes - and part of his left arm, but Harry barely noticed as he dove to one side just as the Killing Curse struck the gravestone he'd been tied to, splintering it into chunks and shards that sliced his back and bruised his arms.
Ignoring the pain - those years with the Dursleys had some use, after all - Harry rolled to a crouch and brought his wand to bear on Voldemort.
"Diffindo," he cast again.
Voldemort dodged aside with a snarl, sending another curse Harry's way.
"Avis!" A flock of birds shot from the tip of Harry's wand straight toward Voldemort, who flailed his free arm wildly, trying to shoo the birds away. Taking advantage of the other man's distraction, Harry cast, "Confringo!"
The ground exploded beneath Voldemort's feet, sending him stumbling backward-
-right into the cauldron that still held a boiling-hot potion. The cauldron wobbled and tipped, spilling hot liquid over Voldemort's legs and feet.
Voldemort screamed as flames engulfed his robes - and where Harry thought Voldemort was catching fire, he realized that wasn't quite right. Instead, Voldemort appeared to be melting, like the witch in The Wizard of Oz.
Is that what offering my blood did? Harry shook the thought away, realizing that he couldn't just let someone die, not if he could prevent it, but still his first instinct was, "Expelliarmus!"
Voldemort's wand - presumably the one that was brother to Harry's own holly and phoenix feather wand - flew from the man's hand as he tried to keep his balance. Harry easily snatched it from the air and stowed it in his holster.
Now, his enemy disarmed, Harry could focus on saving the man's life.
"Ventus!" he said, hoping that the wind he produced would be enough to blow out the flames licking around Voldemort's body.
"Aguamenti," came Sirius' voice, and a jet of water rained down on Voldemort.
Between the wind and the water, the flames slowly died down, leaving a half-melted, wheezing Voldemort on the ground.
HP - IM - HP - IM - HP
Natasha watched with amused interest as the one called Mad-Eye Moody was hit by a dozen spells at once - Stunners, Binding Spells and Disarming Spells, judging by the results, plus a few others she couldn't identify. Moody collapsed to the ground, petrified and unconscious.
Gibbs leapt onto the platform and took up a sentry position over the unconscious man. Andrea Thomas gave an approving nod, and Natasha could only respect both of them - Gibbs for taking on a grunt duty rather than force Thomas to split her forces, which presumably were far more accustomed to working with each other than with a stranger like Gibbs - and Thomas for accepting him.
It always was nice to work with professionals - even when she herself had made a rookie mistake.
"Is this polyjuice permanent?" Natasha asked from where she rested on the ground, unwilling to expend the energy to learn this new body enough to stand without wobbling unless there was no other choice.
DiNozzo clambered onto the platform and strode to her side, dropping to one knee beside her. "The effects last anywhere from ten minutes to several hours, depending on how well it was brewed - unless you take another dose to extend the effects. Feeling okay now?"
Natasha glared at him from the one good eye she had left, feeling sudden, unwilling, sympathy for Nick Fury as she did. "For this body? I suppose."
DiNozzo grinned briefly, but his attention was on a pouch that hung from his belt - a pouch Natasha hadn't noticed before.
"Disillusionment Charm," she murmured - as much as Moody's rough voice could murmur.
"Mm-hm." DiNozzo pulled a vial from the pouch and offered it to her. "A strong general counter-potion. If you're on any kind of chemical or pharmaceutical treatments - birth control, whatever - you'll want to get another dose as soon as you can, because it counters everything."
"Learned that the hard way, did you?" Natasha asked, but she accepted the vial and knocked back its contents, grimacing only slightly at the taste.
"Not personally, no," DiNozzo answered as her transformation began.
This time, she was prepared for the pain, for the twisting sensation like a bunch of snakes were writing in her gut, and she rode it out in silence, only allowing a bit of relief to show when she was fully back to herself.
DiNozzo took the vial back, cleaned it with a wandless "Scourgify," and tucked it back into the pouch on his belt - which promptly disappeared again. He stood and offered her a hand, which she took - and clung to when her legs took a moment to readjust to being hers.
"Thanks," she said. "Any after-effects I should be aware of?"
"Shouldn't be. If there are - or if you think there might be - give one of us a call, and we'll make sure."
Natasha nodded an acknowledgment, then prowled the few steps to the other "Moody."
"So who is he, do you think?" she asked.
"One way to find out," DiNozzo said.
A minute later, after DiNozzo had translocated the potion into "Moody's" stomach, "Moody" transformed…
…into a pale-skinned, slightly freckled man with a mop of fair hair.
"Who is he?" Natasha asked.
"No idea," DiNozzo replied. He looked toward the others gathered around. "Supreme Mugwump, Hit Witch Thomas - either of you know who this is?"
"That's Barty Crouch," Dumbledore replied, frowning as he took a step toward them. "But he's dead - or should I say, he's believed to be dead. Obviously, we were mistaken."
"You've been mistaken about a great many things recently," Thomas said as a grey-haired man in an emerald green pinstriped robe hustled up.
"I'll take it from here," he said, and Natasha wondered who he was that he thought he had that authority. "That's a British citizen, so he's under our jurisdiction."
"But he may have been involved in illegally entering an American citizen into the Triwizard Tournament," Thomas replied. "The ICW has jurisdiction here, Minister."
The man - the minister - spluttered for a moment before turning to Dumbledore. "You're Supreme Mugwump, Dumbledore - you can overrule her! Britain has jurisdiction!"
"I would be delighted to assist you, Minister," Dumbledore said mildly, "but, as I am apparently under investigation for my role in the Tournament-" he turned a disappointed look on Thomas before focusing on the minister once again "-I am enjoined from acting outside of the Tournament's rules with regard to it and anything related to it, such as the investigation into Crouch's potential role."
The minister blustered, his face reddening, and Natasha idly wondered how long it would be before the man had a heart attack. Assuming wizards had heart attacks.
"As the British Ministry can clearly not be trusted to follow the law," Thomas said, turning to face Gibbs and DiNozzo, "Agents Gibbs and DiNozzo, I authorize you to take this man into custody."
"Want us to conduct the initial interview?" Gibbs asked.
"Yes, please. My people will search the castle for the real Alastor Moody," Thomas continued, "and then I'll join you for an in-depth interrogation."
"Interview One," Gibbs ordered DiNozzo, but he shook his head.
"We're on sabbatical, remember? We can't just apparate into the office now," DiNozzo said, and Natasha wondered what that was about. "We need clearance - and someplace to be while we get that clearance."
Gibbs looked thoughtful for a moment. "Basement?"
"Foot of the stairs," DiNozzo agreed. "You lead, I'll support."
Each man grabbed one of the impostor's arms. Gibbs counted down from three, and the trio disappeared.
"Ms. Romanoff."
Natasha met Thomas' gaze. "Ma'am?"
"If you'll lead the search of the school for Alastor Moody?"
Natasha nodded and led a trio of Aurors toward the castle. She'd start with the Defense teacher's office and quarters.
HP - IM - HP - IM - HP
Tony looked around at the fallen Death Eaters - stunned, bleeding, or worse, all of them - and allowed himself to relax somewhat, especially when he saw Big Green returning from the forest with a twelve-foot-long snake draped over his shoulders like a scarf. Barton trailed behind, an arrow held loosely in his quiver.
Then he saw Thor sprinting across the field to the body of …Cap?
No. Not Cap. Not Captain America. Not Steve.
Repulsor technology had him kneeling at Steve's side a half-second after Thor.
"JARVIS?"
"Captain Rogers is alive," JARVIS replied, and Tony breathed a relieved sigh. "Multiple contusions, some lacerations, but nothing life-threatening, especially with magic."
Tony jerked upright, looking around the cemetery, his gaze coming to rest on Sirius, who stood beside Harry, both of them gazing down at the smoldering, charred remains of … something. Maybe whatever came out of the cauldron?
That was a question for later. For now, "Black! Rogers needs healing."
"Wait one." Sirius cast a half-dozen spells at the thing that lay before him and Harry before dashing to Tony's side. "What's wrong with him?"
Tony repeated JARVIS' description, and Sirius nodded, pointing his wand at Steve and casting, "Brackium emendo!" followed by "Episkey!" and "Rennervate!"
Moments later, Steve was sitting up and looking around, taking in the relative quiet and lack of activity punctuated by moans of the injured. "Is it over?"
"Mostly," Sirius answered.
"Where's your shield, Cap?" Barton asked. "I don't see it."
"It shattered," Steve replied. "I blocked the Killing Curse with it, and it shattered."
"Vibranium…shattered." Tony let the enormity of that statement wash over him for a moment, then shook himself out of it. "It's metal- it can be recast, if we collect the pieces."
"I said shattered, and I meant shattered," Steve replied. "Pieces no bigger across than the width of my thumb. It'll take all night to collect them all."
Sirius snorted. "Or one Accio pieces of Captain America's shield."
Tony watched as hundreds, maybe thousands, of tiny metallic bits rose from the ground and soared gently toward Sirius, glittering in the moonlight as they did.
"And, no need to recast it," Sirius added. "Not with a Clypium Reparo."
The pieces of the shield glittered in the moonlight as they rejoined each other, coalescing into the familiar round shield, and Sirius handed it to Steve, though his attention was on Tony. "We have to figure out what to do with Voldemort."
It was a grim group of Avengers who rejoined Harry, who was staring at the baobab wand he held trained on Voldemort as much as he was at Voldemort himself.
"Oh, before I forget," Sirius said, "I got this from Sitwell."
Sirius offered Harry the holly and phoenix feather wand he'd been using since Tony first met him.
"Thanks," Harry murmured absently, frowning as he holstered the holly wand with a flick of his wrist.
Tony let his faceplate retract. "What are you thinking about so hard?"
"What should I do, Dad?" Harry asked, turning troubled eyes on Tony as Sirius and the others kept watch on Voldemort and the fallen Death Eaters.
Hulk, in a move that was as amusing as it was spiteful, flung the snake's body on top of Voldemort's supine form, pinning him as thoroughly as the ropes binding him, before shifting back to Bruce Banner.
"What do you mean, Harry?" Banner asked.
"Well," Harry said, "he should be arrested, tried and punished for what he did to Mum and James, and everyone else during the war. But how do we keep him subdued until then?"
"Easy enough when you have a standard Hit Wizard field kit." Sirius stepped forward and pulled a vial from … somewhere? Tony would have to look over JARVIS' recordings to figure out where ... and broke its seal. "Draught of Living Death."
"And what about his followers?" Banner asked. "Yes, a lot of them are … not a problem anymore. But from what you've said, if he's tried in Britain, he has enough sympathizers that he could be acquitted."
"A case could be made to try him before the ICW," Sirius said as he worked Voldemort's jaw open to pour the liquid down his throat. "And I will make that case. The Tonkses should, too, as Harry's solicitors, since he's a US citizen now. Most other countries are a lot less tolerant of this kind of shite."
"Great," Tony said. "Now we just have to get back to Hogwarts - or is there someplace else we should take him?"
"And the injured need attention," Steve said.
"Got it covered," Sirius said, and a medallion with an unfamiliar logo appeared, dangling from a chain around his neck.
"Hit Wizard all-call," Sirius added by way of explanation and reached up to tap a pattern onto its surface. "Combination distress signal and homing beacon, basically."
That was apparently true as witches and wizards in Auror robes started popping into the cemetery.