Chapter 4
People and colors blurred by Harry's vision as he sprinted.
Panic hadn't set in yet for the attendees, so the Death Eater attack must not have started yet. Harry counted that as a win. Panic does more damage than the Death Eaters could on their own.
His mind was in overdrive, plotting strategies and possible tactical adjustments for when he arrived. He had no doubt he could affect the landscape and ensure it favored him, so he instead focused on which Death Eaters he believed would be there.
As he knew it, there were four active Death Eaters who were part of Voldemort's inner circle, and Harry already knew where each would be tonight. The de facto mastermind, Lucius Malfoy, wouldn't risk capture, so he'd be nowhere near the action when it happened. Harry would be shocked if Lucius and his family hadn't left the World Cup the second it wouldn't be considered rude to Fudge.
The Death Eaters in his world were far more dangerous than the ones his other self faced. One major difference was that only Voldemort's most trusted followers received a full Dark Mark. However, not all of his lieutenants were given a visible Mark. Malfoy was one such follower, as Voldemort valued his influence in the Ministry too much to risk compromising his public status. Based on Riddle's memories, Harry knew of only two others with that type of Dark Mark, and both had since revealed their allegiance to the Dark Lord publicly.
The first of the two had been Bartemis Crouch Jr., revealed in the same way as his other self had seen in Dumbledore's memories. The difference this time was that Crouch's Dark Mark had been invisible until he'd told the world whom he served. Crouch had then been sent to Azkaban until his eventual escape last year with Bellatrix.
Harry had his suspicions as to how they both had gone about their escape. Likely, it involved Malfoy's money and the third and final secret lieutenant.
The last lieutenant had been a shock to Harry when he'd found that memory. How deep the lieutenant's adoration of Voldemort went shook the Potter family to the very core when it had been discovered. The fact this man had been the one to rat out the Potter family's Fidelius charm made Harry's blood boil.
"There he is," Peter Pettigrew boasted as Harry arrived. "What did I tell you, Bella? Right on time."
Harry snarled, more for Pettigrew than the other two Death Eaters.
Peter Pettigrew had always been Voldemort's left hand. Even as far back as his Hogwarts days. He'd sought out the Dark Lord early in his second year and begged for power, and Voldemort gave it to him. Sealed with an Unbreakable Vow that was almost unnecessary, Pettigrew became Voldemort's double agent, feeding him information about the Order of the Phoenix until the night James Potter, a man who had considered Pettigrew one of his closest friends, was murdered. Not once had anyone suspected Pettigrew's treachery, and it had nearly cost magical Britain the war.
Sirius and Lupin had, after confirming Lily and the Potter children were safe, set out for Peter's blood once they realized his betrayal. The three had fought and destroyed an abandoned countryside town, but Pettigrew had bested the pair and escaped with barely a scratch.
The battle cost the two friends dearly. Both had been hit with dark, cursed magic Pettigrew had learned from his master. Those curses still affected both to this very day. Sirius, luckily, hadn't lost anything he couldn't live without according to him. Lupin, however, had been cursed to forever stalk the night as a wolf. Ever since, no one had seen or heard from Remus Lupin. Sirius had gone on hundreds of expeditions to find his friend, but to no avail. To everyone, it was as if Lupin had vanished.
Pettigrew was the most wanted man in magical Britain for the last thirteen years, and he'd avoided capture easily in that time. Nobody knew where he'd hidden, though Harry of course had a few ideas. Scabbers had never come to Percy Weasley, so Harry was certain he'd gone to ground either overseas or with another Death Eater. Hogsmeade, three months ago, had been his first appearance since fighting Sirius and Lupin.
Bellatrix Lestrange cackled in response to Pettigrew. "Right again, Wormtail! And lookie! He's even alone again!"
Barty Crouch Jr. licked his lips. "I've been waiting for this," he said, madness in his eyes.
Harry quickly took in the battleground. Luckily, they were in a relatively secluded area of field, so that would minimize the chances of someone getting caught in the crossfire. Dealing with three of the top Death Eaters would require all of his concentration. Not having to keep track of bystanders would make it easier on him. Around the area were rocks, chairs, and tables strewn around. It looked like whoever had been camping in this area had packed up in a hurry.
A worry wormed into his mind. Where are all the others? he wondered. These three can't be the entire strike force. The three in front of him could dole out serious carnage on their own, but they'd never do enough to matter until they met the authorities. Unless… Harry nearly cursed. The rest are elsewhere waiting to start.
He'd gotten arrogant again. Tonks and Daphne had warned him dozens of times to not always be so certain in his gut. He'd been certain the entire Death Eater force would be together. Instead, he'd been baited in and couldn't impede the actual attack. Crouch, Bellatrix, and Pettigrew could keep him occupied long enough for the strike force to cause enough mayhem. And he'd fallen for the bait hook, line, and sinker.
Harry hadn't thought the Death Eaters would center their entire plan on him, but it looked like his last fight left quite the impression. Luckily, Tonks and Daphne gave him a signal he could send that would tell them something went awry.
With a mumble of "Morsmordre" he hung two Dark Marks in the sky, shocking the three Death Eaters with him. He knew it would cause mass confusion and probably get a few people hurt, but it would at least alert his girls and the aurors present of the attack. All he could do now is hope everyone reacted in time to prevent too many casualties.
Pettigrew looked at him. The rat chuckled. "Clever, Harry." He then slashed his wand through the air and sent the killing curse his way.
Harry levitated a chair from the ground and used it to block the curse. The wooden furniture shattered into hundreds of tiny pieces. With a wave of his wand, he banished the splinters at all three of his opponents.
Crouch vanished the projectiles and Bellatrix sent her favorite spell, the Cruciatus curse, at Harry. Pettigrew joined in with a few quick, silent hexes at him as well.
Harry rolled under the red torture curse roaring through the air. As he rolled, he summoned a Protego shield to eat the hexes. The four small flashes of light hit the shield, making it shimmer in the air. Harry dropped the shield to preserve every drop of magic he could. Precision would be key to fighting three very competent duelists.
His eyes never stopped moving, constantly darting between the three foes faster than even a hawk's. If this were a one-on-one duel with any of them, he had no doubt he could quickly end the fight and move on to the assault in earnest. With these three though, he had to constantly divide his attention and ensure none of them could flank him. To do this, he used the spell he developed specifically for such a situation. With a mumble, he forced his innate magic to start pouring out of his body and saturate the air itself around them. This new ability let him feel the magic in the air and always feel where everyone was, but it was incredibly taxing. Even with his tremendous magical reserves, he could only hold that ability for fifteen minutes with an area as large as this, and he would be completely spent once it was over.
He couldn't afford to fight defensively.
That had been his mistake in Hogsmeade. He'd been too preoccupied with not letting them pass him, so he never risked going on the offensive. He'd kept all three in his line of sight at all times, and they'd taken advantage of him.
Now he didn't need to worry about that. He knew where everyone would be. He could go on the attack.
And so he did.
Harry apparated away from a yellow spell Crouch sent and reappeared a dozen yards behind the Death Eaters. Crouch reacted in time to keep Harry from casting anything truly powerful, but Harry had enough time to cast a few hexes. Crouch deflected most of them, but Harry's cutting spell sliced into his right knee. Crouch grunted in pain and fell to his knee. His robe was sliced clean through, showing his pale leg and blood dribbling from the fresh gash.
Harry didn't have time to press his advantage though, as both Bellatrix and Pettigrew moved to Crouch's side. They formed a defensive shield while Crouch numbed the pain and froze the wound over. Both standing Death Eaters were sending a colorful barrage of spells at Harry, which he avoided with another timely apparition. As he appeared, he sent a couple minor curses that he didn't expect to hit.
He continued this strategy for a few moments. He was able to sneak a number of hits through their defenses, scoring a few welts and slices on all three Death Eaters. As he moved, he apparated in seemingly random locations to keep from being predictable. Crouch was standing again and they formed a triangle defensive formation, their backs to each other. They tried to return fire, but Harry always vanished before they could hit him.
Harry was keeping close count of precisely where he was apparating to in order to make sure a pattern didn't develop. A few times, he feigned a pattern, which the Death Eaters always fell for, and broke the pattern right when they moved to score a prediction hit. With each of those, Harry smacked the one who'd reached out too far with as nasty a spell he could manage in the few seconds between apparations. He hit Bellatrix first, Pettigrew second, Bellatrix a second time, and Crouch one final time. Pettigrew's side was bleeding profusely from the slicing curse, Bellatrix's left arm was shattered below the elbow and hung limp, and Crouch's knee wound was bleeding through again due to Harry's blood-thinning spell.
Harry could soon feel his constant magic usage start to drain him, so he switched tactics. He knew he couldn't let them get on the offensive. He apparated one last time across the way from them. Once he stopped, he immediately started casting spells with a wider radius so that it would press on all three of them at once.
While they focused on shielding themselves, he snuck a trio of Conjunctivitis curses through. Pettigrew and Bellatrix managed to react in time, but Crouch, slowed by his would, was not so lucky. With a wail, Crouch covered his eyes.
Pettigrew snarled. "Get out!" he screamed. "He'll tear you to pieces!"
Crouch almost hesitated, but he acquiesced. With a small nod, he activated his escape portkey.
Harry smirked. One down. He never acknowledged the rivers of sweat pouring from his forehead or the heavy heaving of his chest. Droplets of water fell from his hear to the ground. Now for the bigger ones.
Harry pointed his wand at the ground and cast a silent Bombarda. The ground beneath him exploded in a shower of dust and debris that obscured everyone's vision.
He ignored the new cuts he gained form the explosion. He could seal those later. Now, he had to press his advantage while he had it. He mumbled, "Gemino projectura," and cast a spell he'd crafted for a situation like this.
Three solid-looking copies of Harry – dirt, cuts, sweat and all – stood around him in the dust could. Harry swapped places with one of the copies to help prevent his foes from figuring out which he was. To any observer, they were another Harry. To Harry, they were distractions meant only to hold their attention for an instant.
It worked.
When Bellatrix and Pettigrew banished the dust, they hesitated.
Harry pounced.
Before they could blink, he apparated behind them, casted a supersensory charm on them both, and shouted into a Sonorous. Their magically-enhanced sense absorbed the titanic shout, both shrieking in agony as their eardrums burst.
Harry jumped back to avoid Bellatrix's wild counter, but she got a solid hit to his chest. His breath left him and he felt a few ribs crack. The spell pushed him into the air and flung him fifty feet backward.
He twisted in the air and hit the ground hard, tumbling another twenty feet. He crashed through a few stray chairs and tent canvas. He stopped spinning when his back met a sturdy rock that didn't give.
Harry groaned in pain, but he knew he couldn't afford to stay down. He stood shakily, his vision swimming but not so much it would disorient him. He quickly readied to cast a shield to defend against the expected barrage of spells. But none came.
Instead, both Death Eaters snarled at him. He would see thick trails of blood trailing from their ears. It appeared his strategy worked. They couldn't heal their deafness in time before Harry attacked again. Both sent the killing curse at him, but he easily blocked them with some detritus laying near him.
Harry sent a few stunners at them and they shielded themselves. After that, there was a brief lull where both sides glared at each other. Bellatrix with her mad sadism, Harry with his utter enmity for both Death Eaters, and Pettigrew with an enraged flex of his neck.
Bellatrix made to fling another curse at him, but Pettigrew grabbed her wrist. She sent an enraged stare at her partner. Pettigrew mouthed a few words that Harry couldn't see from this distance. He then gestured to their necks and pulled out a small nail on a chain around his neck. She grunted but nodded with a huff.
They both then grabbed their portkeys and vanished.
Harry waited a moment before easing out of his battle mindset. The tension left his body and his energy with it. He suddenly felt like he was carrying an anchor on each shoulder.
He stopped his magic's flow over the area to spare everything he had left. His enemies were much worse off than him, but it had taken nearly all of his magic to do that. He was running on fumes now, and that wouldn't last him long.
I can't…let them get away like that, he thought through the fog in his head. He trudged across the battlefield, each step taking a conscious effort. It took all of his will to not fall over. Daphne's going to give me one hell of a lecture, he thought with a wry grin. But I won.
Once he made it to where Bellatrix and Pettigrew had disappeared, he closed his eyes and concentrated. Portkeys were almost impossible to track without the portkey registry. Luckily, he made a habit of redefining 'impossible'. It wasn't easy, but he felt the portkeys' residual magic in the air. With it, he could feel the direction and distance of the portkey's destination.
Two hundred kilometers, he felt. South. No. Southwest. With that in mind, he apparated to where his family's campsite was. Of course, nobody was there now. Shit. Everyone had already left.
Feeling his consciousness beginning to slip, he summoned his Patronus. "Find anyone," he instructed. "I'm at the campsite. Tell Sirius this: Two-hundred kilometers southwest. Send every auror possible. That's where their porkeys are letting out." He then sent the Patronus on its way.
Harry glanced around and saw no one near. "Good," he mumbled. "Everyone got evacuated in time, it looks like."
He then grabbed the softest material he could find and put it on the ground in front of him.
His eyes rolled back into his head and he fell onto the pillow he'd found, his mind blank.