Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or its universe.
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The Shadow of Death
Chapter 19: A Date with Death
He felt them, their undiluted joy, their anticipation. Dread gripped his heart in icy talons, threatening to rip him apart. He went rigid, disbelief clouding his mind.
'They shouldn't be here,' he thought. 'It's too soon and Dumbledore is nearby. Are they just a distraction? But where else would they be?'
"'Arry?" Fleur's voice was distant, hardly penetrating the fog swirling in his mind.
Harry ignored her and extended his senses. Wards sizzled and cracked to life around them. Crackling spells rent the air from the other side of the village. The first scents of smoke carried to his nose on a chilled breeze.
There were several of them. He checked a pocket in his cloak, fingering the coarse thread of his grey cloak hidden within. His hand twitched from the pocket.
Harry mentally cursed. He had been seen in the village. Unspeakable appearing during an ambush would be too coincidental. He would be found out.
'I have to keep my cover.' A growl ripped from his throat. 'But I also have to protect the students. Which is more important?'
A scream pierced the air and his feet set to motion, ploughing through the snow. The loose powder slowed him as if he were shuffling through mire.
"'Arry!"
Her footfalls reached his ears over his pounding heart. Harry looked over his shoulder, fifteen metres of ground separating them and her cold-flushed face set with grim determination.
"Go back to the castle!" He turned forward. "Get Dumbledore. Tell the teachers Hogsmeade is under attack."
"Non!" Her yell was nearly drowned by the screams coming from the village. "Expecto Patronum! Zhey will come and we will 'old zhem off!"
His mouth opened to tell her to turn back, that it would be dangerous, but something held him back.
'A solution to my problem?' His mouth twitched, but Harry shoved down on the smirk threatening to take hold of his face.
And so they ran into the village, snow kicking up in their wake. Harry stopped at the edge of the small town, his eyes racing over the structures.
People clamoured out of their houses, curious at the noise. The battle had not yet reached them.
'Fools, the lot of them,' he thought. 'I cannot lose my cover. Not for them.'
A series of four cracks echoed down the street. Harry's eyes raced to catch the source of the noise.
'They are here.'
Orange flickered to life amid explosions. Laughter and shrieks of terror pierced the packed streets. Students and residents stood transfixed as the flames reached out with greedy tendrils, racing over wood and thatched roofs.
"Run," Harry yelled. "Get out of the village!"
Bedlam broke loose. Black cloaks whipped around a corner in the distance. Orange flame glinted off the white snow and the white of their masks. Fire and deadly spells spewed from their wands, each promising a grisly end.
The ground shook and the village trembled. Adults and students alike screamed, trampling one another in their desperation to escape.
Yet Harry stood rooted to the spot as his body was pushed and pulled by a sea of bodies. A crackling spell lanced by his ear, felling a fleeing person behind him with a strangled yell.
'How can I win?' His fingers tightened around the cool wood of the Elder Wand. 'How can I beat them while holding back?'
"What are you doing?" Fleur grabbed his arm in a tight grip, struggling against the crowd to stay by his side.
"I…" Harry shook his head and scowled. "We have to survive. I will distract them while the others flee."
Fleur cocked her head, her shimmering blue eyes narrow. "And me?"
"You will not run?"
She shook her head.
"Then you come with me." Harry stretched to see over the fleeing crowd. "Death Eaters," he spat, "but only a few."
Fleur's hand snaked down his arm to grab his hand and turned, pulling him with the tide of bodies. Screams battered his ears from every direction as the sounds of spellfire and consuming flame loomed ever closer.
They veered from the crowd at the edge of the village and Harry pulled her to a stop behind a small building. Mad laughter and spellfire rang out in the clearing on the other side of the shop.
Extending a finger, Fleur prompted Harry to peek around the corner of the building.
A shop across the street exploded in a plume of orange. Debris streaked through the air, cutting down a swath of fleeing people. They fell like marionettes whose strings had been cut, only to be trampled by those who still lived.
The sharp odour of iron stained the air.
Pained moans joined the chaotic din. Harry's eyes snapped to the source of the noise, watching as a wizard attempted to crawl through crimson slush.
Fire danced across the rooftops. Smoke cast a dark film over the village while children cried for their parents. Snow crunched under Death's creeping advance.
A gaunt witch stood above the man, her glowing violet eyes crazed. Rotten teeth peeked out from behind cracked lips. She stood loosely, her form haloed and half-hidden by roaring flames.
Sweat trickled down Harry's back. The hair of his arms stood on end and his stomach tensed.
Confidence fled him in a cold, debilitating retreat. She was here.
Her eyes glimmered with malice as a hoarse cackle left her lips. Acrid, black smoke billowed around them. Madness danced in her eyes as she lifted her wand.
"LeStrange," Harry growled. His knuckles whitened around the Elder Wand.
The ancient wood chilled his fingers to the bone. Harry scowled down at the Wand.
He jerked his head around as red light flooded his vision.
The spell from Fleur's wand sailed toward the hunched form of Bellatrix LeStrange. The thin woman staggered away from the spell and her prey.
LeStrange killed the man in a shower of gore with an errant wave of her wand and her narrow, violet eyes came to a rest on Fleur.
LeStrange cocked her head, frizzy black hair framing her thin face. A feral grin stretched her sharp features.
Harry stepped out from the building, his wand raised.
"You interrupted my fun, girl." LeStrange licked her lips. " Let's hope you two are more entertaining than him."
A blasting curse lept from her wand. Debris exploded from the building beside them and Fleur slashed her wand. Wood turned to ash beneath an onslaught of blue fire.
Rosewood danced in Fleur's grip and the flames rushed their opponent. Furious screams rang out above the inferno.
Harry flicked his wand, a shuddering blue shield fizzing to life to intercept a spell from their side. Fleur shot him a sidelong glance as they stepped away from the burning building.
"They're mine, Rudolphus." Bellatrix jerked her wand up, snuffing the blue flames.
Spellfire screamed from across the village. 'More are coming, and soon.'
"I didn't bring us here to play, Bellatrix." Barty Crouch Jr smiled down at Bellatrix.
Bellatrix pouted, not paying any mind to the two students. "Fine, but the girl is mine. You can have-"
Harry shot a stunner at her. The older woman dodged to her left, a disappointed frown etching itself on her features.
"Potter's as weak as we were told." The crazed witch looked at Fleur and licked her brown teeth. "You can have him. I'll have fun with the girl."
"Crazy bitch," Rabastan LeStrange muttered. He jerked his head. "Come on, Rudolphus. Let's make sure nobody else interferes here. Maybe we'll find something else to entertain us."
Rudolphus followed after his brother. "Have your fun, Bellatrix, but remember that Potter's to be taken alive."
A sharp breeze covered them in smoke, stabbing Harry's lungs like daggers.
"Expelliarmus!" Harry's voice echoed down the lane and Crouch's amused laugh answered.
Wind swirled around them, carrying away the smoke. Fleur's wand blurred in furious motions, launching a deluge of spells at Bellatrix.
The older witch danced away from the assault in a way that forced Fleur to break away from Harry. But her steps were clumsy. She had yet to fully recover from Azkaban.
Harry looked back at Crouch.
'He is the more dangerous of the two.' Melted snow numbed his feet. 'He is perfectly healthy, perfectly calm. Calculating.'
"You'll have to do better than that to best me, Potter." Crouch twirled his wand between his fingers. "It'd be best if you surrendered. There's no need for us to fight."
"Not a chance," Harry said. "Accio!"
Crouch smirked. "You missed."
His smile faded as a burning plank slammed into his back. Black robes fell victim to the fire, catching as easily as tinder. Crouch growled and extinguished the fire with a wave of his wand.
"Clever." The Death Eater's eyes narrowed. "But let's see how you fare against… CRUCIO!"
Crackling red light shot from his wand. Harry sidestepped the spell, his left hand twitching at his side.
Crouch was a powerful wizard, but not one he would normally have much trouble with. Harry clenched his left hand.
'I cannot show my true power,' he thought.
"Stupefy!" Harry's spell was sent astray with a flick of Crouch's wand. "Diffendo!"
Crouch sent the spell to the ground with an errant flick, cutting a small gouge into the snow. Harry growled.
"You truly are pathetic, Potter." Crouch's wand crackled. "Let me show you real power, power only the Dark Lord can provide."
Spells bursted from Crouch's wand in a pressing deluge. Harry dodged around the spells and brought forth a weak shield. The shimmering construct whined, buckling under the older wizard's assault.
Crouch cackled as Harry was forced to weave and dance around his spells. He was outmatched and they both knew it.
A screech filled the air. Both men looked to the noise. Fleur stood hunched over, clothes ripped, cuts and burns marring her skin.
Bellatrix giggled, none the worse for wear, and renewed her assault. Fleur set her jaw and returned fire.
"Imperio!"
Bliss washed like gentle, lapping waves through Harry's body and he turned toward Crouch. The older wizard conjured a gleaming dagger, throwing it at his feet.
"Kill the girl." Malicious glee glimmered in his eyes.
The steel blade was cold in his hand. Harry's eyes turned sluggishly to his betrothed, who was being forced back by Bellatrix. Warmth washed over him, wrapping him snug in its embrace.
'I can fight the spell.' Harry stared down at the glistening blade, fire dancing on its polished surface. 'But I could be free… Just one little action…'
"Kill the girl," Crouch repeated. "Use the knife and make it hurt."
The dagger drooped in his fingers. 'It is so heavy.'
"Yes." Harry's monotonous reply brought a sinister grin to the older wizard's face.
His body turned jerkily without command and he refused to fight it.
Harry's feet trudged through the thick, white powder, his dull eyes focussed on the Veela in front of him. Fingers clenched the blade's haft until they whitened. Crouch crowed in Harry's mind as he approached Fleur.
The spell consumed him, filling him with warmth. His perfect alibi.
Screams, explosions, and fire thundered in the distance. They would cover the sounds of her anguish as he extinguished her life. She would be just another victim of the Death Eaters' attack.
And Harry would be freed of her.
Her heavy breathing reached his ears. His blood sang, surging pleasantly through his pounding heart. The Elder Wand rose, a tripping hex zipping from its tip.
Fleur cried out as she plummeted face-first into the snow.
LeStrange lowered her wand and watched through hooded eyes. The older witch strode toward them, licking her cracked lips.
The blade rose above his head as Fleur turned over. She paused, her wide blue eyes painted with betrayal and sorrow.
'Perfect.' A grin creaked across his face.
A different pair of blue eyes flashed in his mind's eye. Disappointment. Loathing.
Failure.
He paused. His fingers loosened around the leather-bound handle.
"KILL HER," Crouch shrieked.
Harry kneeled over Fleur, the dagger shaking above his head. His betrothed scrambled for her wand, but she was too late. It was beyond her reach.
Cold steel sang through the air.
And the warmth shattered.
"Depulso!"
Harry released the knife as the spell left his wand and the knife whistled away. Shrieked curses pierced the air. LeStrange stood despite the knife piercing her gut.
His hand wrapped around Fleur's wand, the wood searing his palm, and forced it into her hand. Whipping around, Harry yelled and sent a deluge of snow over Bellatrix and Crouch. Fleur waved her wand, hardening the snow drifts.
He hauled the Veela to her feet as the LeStrange men ran toward them.
Their world was drowned in white as spells impacted the ground around them, nipping at their heels as they ran toward a building. Fleur pulled them to a stop outside the shop.
"'Arry, zhis building is on fire." She looked over her shoulder. The LeStranges had stopped to free their compatriots. "We must find another way."
Elder wood raised toward the burning building and a moment later a human-sized hole blew through the wood.
"Are you a witch or not?" Harry led her into the blazing building.
Greedy flames licked at his skin and smoke burned his lungs. Looking behind him, Harry saw nothing of their pursuers. He turned back to the bright interior as a burning beam crashed in front of him.
"Set traps at the front in case they try to follow us." Harry raised his left hand. "I'll take care of the fire."
A thick mist issued from his hand,extending to the rear exit of the building. The fire within the fog sputtered before dying. A wave of the Elder Wand reinforced the structure with an invisible shield.
Sweat ran in streams down his back, his robes sticking to his chest, as he turned to Fleur. The witch flourished her wand, creating a trap that would incapacitate their foes for several minutes. If they did not disable the trap their pursuers would burn to death.
Her ruthlessness surprised him.
"Why did you 'old back?" Fleur's platinum hair fell from her ponytail, plastered against her cheeks and forehead. "We could 'ave been killed."
Harry reached in his robes and pulled out his Invisibility Cloak before throwing it at her. "Now is not the time. We need to get out of here."
With a huff, she threw the Cloak over her shoulders.
"Grab hold." Harry held his right arm back, his left still channelling mist. "This building will not last much longer."
He felt her grab the cuff of his sleeve and he shimmered from existence. Harry led them through the fog and registered two magical signatures outside as they neared the door.
Magic rushed from his body and the two began to float. With a thought they rocketed through the door as if they were ghosts. The air outside bit at his slick skin.
Fleur's grip on his sleeve tightened. "Zhey were waiting for us. What are we going to do?"
Harry floated them to an area behind one of the few buildings not burning. The group of Death Eaters stood fifty metres away.
"We watch them and we wait," Harry whispered. Fleur tugged on his sleeve. He shook his head. "These are the most dangerous of the lot. The Headmaster and the teachers can take care of the rest."
"Why not incapacitate zhem now?" The Veela's warm breath tickled his neck. "We 'ave zhe advantage and I know you were 'olding back before."
He brushed her hand off his sleeve. "No. You know as well as I that I have a cover to maintain. Let the teachers handle this."
"Zhat is connerie!" Fleur turned him around to face her despite the fact she could not see him. "'Ow many will die because of your inaction? Fight zhem."
He looked back at the two Death Eaters. They were still waiting for them to emerge from the burning building, wands at the ready.
"This is not my fight. Not here, not now."
"Alors tu es un lâche," she spat. "If you won't fight zhen I will."
Reaching out, Harry grasped her arm before she could move. "I cannot reveal myself. If I do then all of my plans will be ruined. I will fight, just not now."
"To 'ell wiz your plans!" Fleur snatched her arm from his grip. "I'm not willing to let zhem be slaughtered."
Harry released the magic holding up the building. It crashed to the snow, flames rising to the heavens, as familiar voices shouted from down the lane. Harry's head whipped around the corner of the building.
Granger and Neville were standing, wands raised, on the other side of Crouch and Bellatrix.
"Idiots. But where are the other-" Footsteps appeared in the snow as Fleur dashed into the lane. "Shit."
The sounds of spellfire rang in his ears from further in the village as his feet pounded against the snow. Familiar, deep laughter mixed with the sounds of battle.
'The LeStrange brothers were sent to delay the teachers.' Harry watched as Granger opened the battle with a stunning hex. 'We have a chance.'
Harry caught up to Fleur thirty metres from the Death Eaters and grabbed her around the waist. He whispered in her ear, "Wait. Strike at the most opportune moment. LeStrange is wounded. Crouch is the more dangerous of the two."
"Non, we must 'elp zhem!"
Bellatrix's insane cackles echoed down the lane. "Does little Longbottom not want to play? Or are the rumours that you're a squib true?"
The blonde wizard's snarling face reddened. He launched a weak disarming charm at her. LeStrange batted it into the snow and laughed again.
"They will play with them." Harry tightened his grip against Fleur's quiet struggles to get free. "And when they are suitably distracted we will incapacitate them."
"Your parents would be ashamed, Longbottom." LeStrange stalked around the two students. "They were strong, proud. And you? You're weak, pathetic. We did them a favour, it seems."
Granger whipped her wand toward LeStrange, a spell on her lips. A flick of Crouch's wand saw her wand in his hand and the girl bound in ropes. He eyed the wand for a moment before snapping it.
"How much time do we have Barty?" The crazed witch looked up at her partner, a demented gleam in her eyes. "Can I play with them?"
The blonde Death Eater glanced at the collapsed building. "A few minutes at most, Bellatrix. The other two likely died. Have your fun, but we must leave before Dumbledore arrives."
LeStrange's wide smile put her foetid teeth on full display. "Tell me, Longbottom, are you afraid? Your body quakes. I can see it."
"No." Neville looked up at her, fury burning in his normally bright eyes. "I'm going to kill you. I'll make you suffer, like you did to us… like Harry."
Neville's wand sparked dimly in his clenching fist.
"Oh?" LeStrange tittered behind a blood-smeared hand. She shot a spell at his feet. Neville did not move. "Tell me how I made you suffer all these years while I was locked away."
Darkened skin peeked out from beneath her thick robes. LeStrange had cauterised her wound.
"Not just me," Neville growled, his body wracked with shivers. "My parents… Harry… My mum was his godmother. We should've grown up as brothers. You took that from us, made us miserable. You're the reason we can't be happy, and I'll make you pay."
Harry nudged Fleur with his hand. "When the fight starts we move. Distract LeStrange. I will take Crouch and free Granger."
She nudged him in return.
"I'll take more before we're through, little Longbottom." Bellatrix threw a knife hidden in her sleeve at Neville. He tripped over a plank and fell to the ground. "I've waited so long. Your screams will-"
The blond wizard's wand snapped up, vengeance shimmering in his eyes. "CRUCIO!"
LeStrange fell in a convulsing heap on the ground, mad, shrieking laughter echoing down the lane. Neville's eyes burned as he stared at the writhing witch, his face set in a grim, satisfied smile.
Harry released Fleur and they shot off down the lane.
Fleur stunned LeStrange, her writhing ceasing, as Crouch swatted Harry's stunner to the ground. The follow-up banisher sent him sprawling. Harry bound him in rope and ran to Granger.
"Diffendo!" The young wizard hauled the bushy-haired girl to her feet. "Run! Find the Headmaster!"
"I can help. I can still-"
"Your wand is snapped." Harry shot a stunner at Crouch. The Death Eater cut the ropes binding him and rolled away. "Help us with reinforcements."
Granger bit her lip and paused for a moment. Finally, she nodded and sprinted down the lane.
Neville stood over LeStrange's crumpled form, his shaking wand pointed down at her.
Fleur and Harry set upon Crouch as the man rose to his feet. She had discarded the Invisibility Cloak in her robes.
Fire and wind flew from Fleur's wand, forcing Crouch to shield, as Harry launched a salvo of low power hexes and charms at the man. The Death Eater dove from behind his shield, coming up to a knee.
Despite their deluge, Crouch returned fire with a pair of Bone Breaker Curses and a Rotting Curse that forced them apart. Their pause saw Crouch Ennervate LeStrange.
LeStrange opened her eyes and banished Neville away from her.
A pained shriek pierced the air. Harry glanced down the lane.
Granger fell to the snow, a twitching leg dropping beside her head. Blood pooled beneath her, staining the once pure snow, as she whimpered and scrabbled at the snow.
Rabastan LeStrange stepped around a building to greet her, knife and wand drawn.
"Help Neville," Harry grunted as he dodged a Severing Curse aimed at his neck. "He will not last against LeStrange."
Neville's screams joined Granger's in a cacophony as Bellatrix held him under the Torture Curse. Fleur's stream of fire forced the crazed woman to break the spell.
"You should have left him to his fate." Crouch flicked his wand. Rattling, fiery chains raced toward him. "You can't hope to beat me, Potter."
Harry rolled away from the chains. They hissed and clinked in the snow behind him. "I only have to survive until help comes. Funnunculus!"
Laughing, Crouch flicked the spell away in a casual gesture. Granger's screams reached a fever pitch, the smell of burnt flesh filling the air.
Bellatrix sang a jaunty tune as she pushed Fleur and Neville back with her spellfire.
Acidic yellow light spewed from Crouch's wand. Harry pirouetted away from the spell. The flaming chains clinked behind him and struck with the swiftness of a serpent, forcing Harry into a roll.
Spellfire rained down around him, snow pluming in thick clouds and distorting his vision. Harry banished the snow back at Crouch. The older wizard stumbled.
"Incendio!"
Fire gushed from the Elder Wand. Crouch transfigured the snow around him into a sphere of water. A cloud of hissing steam rolled out from the point of impact, obfuscating the man.
Light erupted from the steam with reckless abandon. Harry cast a weak shield, buying him enough time to retreat. He stumbled back into Fleur, interrupting her spellcasting.
Harry looked back at Crouch, whose eyes were on the sky. Magic, chaotic and deadly, tingled against his skin. Time slowed and the hair on his neck stood on end.
Hogsmeade fell silent.
"He approaches." The Elder Wand's whisper was quiet as a breeze and it froze him to the core.
Harry could feel Him. He pervaded his very being, His essence overwhelming his every sense.
Buildings burned beneath hissing flame, smoke covering the once sleepy town.
Unnatural cold pushed against him.
"NEVILLE, RUN!"
Moans rang in his ears. Granger laid in a mangled heap far away, blood leaking in sluggish rivulets from her cauterised leg.
Rabastan LeStrange's Blasting Curse sailed toward Neville. The boy turned, his hazel eyes wide with fear.
'Too slow.'
Flung away from them, Neville landed in a crumpled heap. Bellatrix LeStrange crowed, raising her wand toward him.
Fleur regained her balance, a spell on her lips.
'Too slow.'
Harry looked up. Rodolphus LeStrange had taken to the skies to flee Dumbledore, a sickly blue spell leaving his wand.
Death came from above, from all around, surrounding them. Neville would die. Or Fleur would die.
'Too slow,' he thought. 'This is it.'
His chance.
His freedom.
Harry smiled.
Turning, Harry stepped toward Neville. He watched Bellatrix cast a Withering Curse at the downed blond. Harry could only save one of them.
Blood pounded in his ears, his wand raised, ready.
But Neville shook his head, smiling.
He faltered.
"It's what friends do." Harry grimaced at the memory. "But I think you could start by helping her."
Disappointed blue eyes filled his vision.
Harry turned back.
The blue spell was close, too close. Harry leapt, his left hand stretching out.
Pain shot up his arm and blood sprayed out. Noise returned to the world, slamming against his sensitive ears.
Neville's hoarse screams greeted him.
The blond wizard writhed in bloodied snow as his skin greyed, his body withering. Neville bit his lips to stave the screams, but only managed to bite his lip off.
His screams garbled, black liquid leaked in sluggish rivulets from Neville's mouth.
Tears poured from the boy's bloodshot eyes, his hair falling out in clumps, as he raised an arm toward Harry. Bloody, flaking hands clawed and pulled at the snow, ripping the skin of his stomach open. Neville whimpered, curling into the snow with withering gore pooling beneath him.
Blood pattered against the snow and Harry looked down. Ribbons of skin hung from his left arm like grotesque, bloodied party streamers.
Bellatrix cackled, dancing, enraptured as she watched the last Longbottom scion die.
Fire danced and crackled around them. Buildings collapsed, sending spark and flame flying into the dark sky. Snow mixed with ash drifted peacefully to the ground below, only to be tainted by blood.
'He did not deserve to die.' A lump formed in Harry's throat as Neville stilled. 'He was innocent.'
"Death comes for us all in the end," the Elder Wand whispered.
A spark cracked in his chest, swelling to an inferno. Harry's skin tingled. Wind roared around him.
Harry raised the Wand with an unintelligible yell. Wind, snow and ice rushed in a raging torrent toward the Death Eaters. Crouch and the LeStranges raised their wands.
Their eyes widened and they were buried.
Fleur touched his shoulder, her wide blue eyes on his arm. "Are zhey dead?"
White exploded around them.
"No."
Stomping feet echoed behind the duo as more Death Eaters appeared at the end of the lane.
"Playtime is over, Bellatrix," Crouch yelled. "Dumbledore's here."
"Morsmordre!" The Dark Mark shot from Rabastan LeStrange's wand, bathing the village in a morbid, green light.
Bellatrix mad cackles weaved into crackling flame and the Death Eaters disappeared from Hogsmeade.
Pops of apparition sounded from the border of the village.
"Minerva, please see to the Aurors so we can begin to assess the damage. We have a long night ahead of us." Dumbledore strode toward Harry in long strides, his electric blue eyes molten. "Are you well, Miss Delacour, Mister Potter?"
Harry nodded and hissed as bandages lept from Dumbledore's wand to wrap around his arm. The white cloth reddened.
"Filius, please escort Misses Delacour and Granger, and Mister Potter to the infirmary." Dumbledore turned to look at the assembled professors. "Professors Snape and Antov, we must assess and assist in the village-"
Whispers flitted through Harry's mind quicker than he could comprehend as the unnatural cold intensified. He looked up, fearing what he would find.
A sea of black cloaks swarmed down on them like a cloud of locusts poised to devour their prey. Rattling breaths filled Harry's ears as fog rolled across the burning village. Grotesque, grey and withered hands reached toward him.
"Demontors," Fleur yelled as he collapsed. "'Arry, can you cast a Patronus?"
He opened his mouth to reply but her voice came from far off. His body was wracked with shivers and all he could hear was rattling as he fell. He closed his eyes, straining, and hoping for rescue as he plummeted into an abyss.
Harry knew not how long he had fallen, only that he was warm.
He opened his eyes, wrested from his peaceful slumber by a loud bang from outside his door, his vision filled by a halo of red. Green eyes, so similar to his own, stared down at him.
She was rocking him, whispering soothing words in his ear. Harry cooed back at her, his chunky hand reaching up to touch the tears pouring from her eyes.
Warmth surrounded him and his eyes began to droop. Another loud bang from downstairs jerked him awake and he began to cry.
The red-haired woman shushed him. Harry whimpered, burying his face in her chest. The noise her chest made surrounded him like a warm, snug cocoon.
"Mummy loves you, Harry," she whispered. "Always remember that Mummy loves you."
Thuds came from outside his door. His mother stood, laying him in his cot as the door to his room exploded in a shower of splinters. His mother yelled, jerking to stand over him.
Harry smiled at his mother. He was safe, so long as she was near. Harry reached up to play with her hair but she stepped away, her back to him.
"Leave," hissed a high, strange voice. The stranger was cloaked in black cloth and shadow. "I am here for the boy, but you can still live."
Red hair fanned out as his mother shook her head. She stood straight but her voice trembled. "L-let Harry live. Kill m-me instead!"
Kill? What was that word? It wasn't one he'd heard before.
"Step aside, woman." The man in dark clothes raised a wooden stick he'd seen his parents play with before. His mother raised her own stick.
Harry recalled his mother scolding him when he'd played with hers. But his parents had both played with them in front of him. It'd been so much fun. But this?
This was not.
A red beam of light shot from the man's stick and her mother batted it aside. The light fizzled against the wall, scorching it. Harry whimpered from his cot.
"Stand aside!"
He shivered and grabbed his blanket, pulling it over his head.
"No!"
The man hissed and Harry's hair stood on end. Tears filled his eyes and he shut them. He wanted it to stop, he wanted his mother to make the bad man go away.
If he couldn't see the bad man, then the bad man would go away.
"Avada Kedavra!"
Sickly green light flashed through his closed eyes. Harry heard a thud. Footsteps tread softly on the carpeted floor.
He peaked out from under his blanket. It was ripped from his grasp. Flowing black cloth filled his vision, a white, wooden stick prodding his forehead. Tears fell from his eyes as he looked up at the hooded man.
Shrill, mad laughter echoed around the room. The stick was hot against his skin. Harry closed his eyes.
"So ends the child of prophecy," the man chuckled. "AVADA KEDAVRA!"
Green filled his vision. It seared him, it pulled him…it hurt.
A loud boom clapped against his ears and something warm leaked from them. A shrill, pained scream pierced the air.
And all fell silent.
Harry opened his eyes. The bad man was gone. He looked around his room.
A smouldering pile of black cloth laid in a heap in front of…
"Mummy?"
Harry reached through the bars of his cot and pushed her shoulder as best he could. She didn't move. She didn't make a sound. Was she playing?
"Mummy?"
If so, it wasn't funny.
He pushed harder and pulled her hair as tears streamed down his face. His chest hurt. Why did his chest hurt? Was she asleep? Why wasn't she waking up?
"M-mummy?"
Something warm and wet trickled from his ears and down his forehead. Harry looked at his cot and saw red drops. He had a booboo.
"Mummy," he cried. "Hawwy has booboo. Kiss booboo better… Mummy?"
"So this is the one you told me of?"
Harry looked up. A man in red robes stood over him, sneering. A foggy, black figure holding a strange, old wooden stick stood beside him. It nodded.
Frost covered the room. Harry's breaths came out in puffs of fog.
"And you are sure?" The red man turned and waved a hand at Harry. "There's nothing special about the boy, Master."
"He is mine," the black figure snapped, "and you would do well to remember that. Take him. Train him. He shall be different from the others…my legacy."
The man in red bent down and picked Harry up. He began to wail, hitting his chubby fists against the man's chest. He was taking him from mummy!
The red man glared down at him.
"Shall I start the standard augmentations when he is of age?" The red man waved his hand and Harry's bawling ceased to make noise.
"No," the black figure replied. It leaned over Harry. It smelled rotten, dead. "You will know more in time what I will have you do with him. Take him. Prepare him to take my mantle. For now I must away."
A pulling, stretching sensation washed over Harry and his world went black.
Something shook him. Pale light battered his eyes and he scrunched his eyelids. A weak, pitiful moan escaped his lips. He was cold.
"'E is awake, 'Eadmaster." The voice was soft, unsure.
It made his temples pound in agony.
Harry opened his eyes and forced himself to sit up despite the world spinning around him. Lights flashed before his eyes and his vision swam.
"Can you stand, Harry?" That was the Headmaster.
"Give me a moment," he rasped.
Noises and sights sharpened as the moments passed. The village was once again a flurry of activity, but for the worst of reasons.
Witches and wizards in crimson robes ran through the small town. Healers in white robes zipped from person to person, each of them harried and covered in blood. Professors helped where they could. And many more stood transfixed, unaware of their surroundings.
Moans, cries, and screams pierced the once calm, joyous atmosphere.
Hell had descended upon them, and they had all been unprepared.
Harry stood to his feet, his legs shaking beneath his weight. Fleur wrapped an arm around him to support his weight.
He was too exhausted to care.
"Headmaster, I-"
Dumbledore held up a hand. "We will discuss the attack later, Harry. For now, follow professor Flitwick to the infirmary."
The Headmaster's gaze was steel. It cut him to the core.
'Did I err?'
Harry nodded and the Headmaster left to find Madam Bones. A sombre Professor Flitwick appeared beside them, floating an unconscious Granger. Blood dripped from her many wounds onto the snow below. Her severed leg was not with her.
Their march to the castle was slow. Harry's left arm burned and itched and his legs trembled beneath his weight, threatening to give out.
He had never experienced the effects of a Dementor, and he hoped he would never have to again.
'What was that dream?' Harry scowled at the snow in front of him. 'No… Dementors can force people to relive their worst memories. Then that was… Who was the figure in black? What did he want with me?'
A loud wail at the edge of the village pulled Harry from his thoughts. The group stopped and Harry's eyes widened.
A woman covered in cuts and soot sat in the snow, cradling something to her chest. She rocked back and forth, tears streaming down her face and snot falling from her nose into the snow. The woman screamed and he looked down.
His eyes widened.
She held a young boy, no older than nine, in her arms. His black hair was coated in ash, missing large chunks. He was as white as the snow dotting his tattered clothes.
His brown eyes were as glass, staring into an endless, twisting void. Cuts marred his body, dark blood trickling from his many wounds. Blackened burns sat stark against his skin, his mother's pawing sloughing the tissue off in oozing clumps.
Tears splashed on his face but there was no reaction. The woman's shaking intensified, her wails loud enough to wake the dead.
But he would never wake.
"You could have saved him. You can save others, if only you partook of my power." He ignored the Elder Wand's whispers.
Harry extricated himself from Fleur's grip. He took a stumbling step forward and fell to the ground. He crawled through the snow and slush, his body trembling.
The woman looked up, terror in her eyes, as he reached forward with his bloody hand.
'Why does my chest hurt?' The pain spread and lumped in Harry's throat.
"He was innocent." His outstretched arm quaked and the woman backed against the wall of her destroyed home, cradling her son tighter to her chest. "Neville was innocent. It should have been me…those years ago. Why was it not me?!"
"Away! Go away! Don't come near him!" The woman choked. "He'll be fine! He just needs…he needs…"
She devolved into gasping, choking sobs as Harry became weightless.
He looked back at Flitwick, whose face betrayed no emotion, but Harry knew he was close to breaking.
"There is nothing you can do for them, Harry," his head of house whispered. He turned toward the castle, Harry floating behind him. "Death comes for us all in the end. Do not let Him claim you this day."