A/N- Honestly, I think this is pretty good; I'm proud of myself. Ummm…yea, as you all know I suck at speeches and there's one further down…just close your eyes and hopefully you'll miss it.
Without further ado…
Chapter 6- Dogfight
March 18th, 1996
"Harry! Wake up!"
Harry looked up from his reflection in the beautiful, crystal-clear water of the pond in front of him, from his position on the rock. To his surprise, there was not a face to match the frantic voice.
He wanted to ignore it, but his inner hero was battling its way through his conscience, until finally, he forced himself to look for the owner of the call. Unfortunately, nowhere on the wide-open plains of slightly swaying blades of grass was there another person.
Harry frowned and the world started to shake violently. He fell over, and when he next opened his eyes, he was no longer in a sea of grass. He was in his bedroom, with a wide-eyed Amelia standing above him.
"Uhh…" he said a bit unnerved by her close proximity. He was always quickly aware of his surroundings when he woke up.
"A platoon of aurors engaged a few death eaters on one of their raids about an hour ago. As usual, the ministry wasn't expecting much, so they didn't call me in. The aurors barely escaped when the death eaters reinforced. A few hundred death eaters are now headed towards London on brooms!" she said in one massive breath.
Harry was already up and moving. "Have you sent—?"
"Susan's already gathered all those who can suitably fly and are already awaiting orders," she interrupted with her reply.
"And how many is that?"
"150 or so."
Harry was surprised by that number; he hadn't thought many people could fly since only a handful from each house even tried out for the team. Of course, considering that it was a highly popular wizarding pastime, it would make sense if it was more highly practiced, but…
The armor was surprisingly comfortable and almost skin-tight—except for in certain areas as that would be very uncomfortable for the guys; however, it would be perfect for flying.
"Do we even have enough brooms?" Harry questioned, having nearly forgotten that vital piece of information.
Amelia blushed and said: "I figured that the Bones could make a contribution for the cause as well…"
Harry only nodded; they could discuss this later. He diligently made his way to the closest floo—located in Amelia's room. He was just about to throw in a pinch of powder, when he felt Amelia grab his arm.
"Be careful," she said, her eyes shining with admiration. Only now did he notice that she was not in her own armor.
"Sorry, Harry," she said, noticing his questioning gaze, "I've got cleanup duty. Ministry's orders."
Harry gave an exasperated sigh when he realized that in his first battle, he would be the only commander. It didn't make him feel better about this at all; it only cooked the bubbling nervousness in his stomach.
"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"
He managed to gain some of his balance back upon impact, but it didn't help much; he still rolled a couple of feet. There were a few giggles from the gathered students, probably just from the nervousness that permeated the room.
He'd apparently been the last to get the call; even the Tonks's were present. Every single person was clothed the same, black robes with small red scales intertwined into the fabric. The most noticeable feature, however, were there unique platinum masks. He wasn't sure how useful they'd be protection-wise, but if anything, they looked rather intimidating.
"I assume you've all been briefed?" Harry questioned.
"Not really; Auntie just told us to bring our brooms," Susan answered, her voice holding a hint of hysteria.
"Basically," Harry began as everyone turned their attentions to him, "Death eaters on brooms heading for London. The last thing they'll expect is a group of kids ambushing them."
The legionnaires were looking a bit more confident now, but not much. As Amelia had once said: "Speeches help everything."
With the gentle flick of his wand, a podium appeared in front of the crowd of nervous legionnaires. He wasn't going to sugarcoat it; they deserved more than that.
"So it seems we've got to fight a bit earlier than expected. Our enemy is ready and they're going in for what they think will be a crippling attack. Our ministry is in disorder and in ill condition to fight back. That's why it's our turn. You've all done so well in your training; you know how to fight. You've got amazing squad commanders who know what they're doing. It's time to show these death munchers what we're made of! Let's kick some arse!"
The speech was horrible, barely worthy of the impending engagement, but the legionnaires cheered all the same, somewhat ready for combat.
"Alright, we're flooing to one of the Black apartments in Norfolk. Mind your wandering hands as I'm sure there are some dark artifacts there."
"Yes sir!" cried his battalion in confidence. Harry gave an uncharacteristic smirk. Volde—dad wouldn't know what hit him.
Amelia arrived at headquarters, sulking about missing the action. She knew that Harry would be alright by himself, but she'd definitely feel more comfortable by his side. She idly wondered when she had begun to care so deeply for him.
She didn't love him—not by any means—but it was difficult not to like him. He was terribly shy and passive, and despite his pessimistic view, he always made people feel better when they were around him; a sense of hope perhaps?
Those vibrant purple eyes still brought shivers to her, but no longer were they always bad. While the occasional night terror did occur, they were mostly about those shining eyes getting steadily closer to her…
"Madam Bones!"
She looked up, finding the pre-called detachment of aurors staring at her. She blushed as she realized she must've been out of it for quite a while.
"Eh…sorry. It's quite late…" she apologized lamely.
Anna, who stood proudly to her left, giggled and said, "You weren't thinking of a man perhaps, Madam Bones?"
Several of the aurors snickered and a few teasing whistles were called out. Amelia was able to contain her flushing this time and gave her grinning secretary a mock glare. "Whether or not I was makes no difference, speaking of personal relations is highly inappropriate, especially with our orders."
Anna, ignoring her superior's slight annoyance, continued, "Was it Sirius Black? He's looking amazing; even after his stint in Azkaban!"
To Amelia's greater irritation, many of the present female aurors acquired a dreamy look in their eyes when Anna talked of Sirius. She knew, correction, she was certain she was over Sirius.
Still she was having trouble controlling her emotions when she growled out, "Let's get this over with." She apparated away, leaving behind a confused batch of aurors who quickly followed.
Anna smirked; her job was a bit too easy. She apparated away as well, however, her destination was not to the recently ravaged battlefield, but to another place entirely.
"Mi lord," she said, nearly boiling over with anticipation, but still trying to remain respectful to her superior.
Her master smiled, a wave of his eccentric but seducing power washed over her. She shivered; it was just as good as when she first joined his forces all those years ago.
"News, Anna?" he asked from upon his skull throne, giving no argument as to who the subordinate was.
"Yes, mi lord, the aurors are headed into the trap."
"Perfect. You've done excellent this evening, love," he said silkily and held out his hand, allowing her the unbelievable honor of touching him.
Anna nearly cried with happiness and was forced to control her shaking hand as she touched him. Very few of the inner circle—much less the average death eater—was allowed to even come near him. This was the highest honor.
"Return to Madam Bones; I wouldn't want them becoming suspicious of my best spy, would I? The attack shall commence in a few minutes, try not to be killed."
Anna did cry when she heard of her lord's obvious care for her. Why did she deserve the honor? When did she become so special?
They moved forward in several v-shaped units, Harry at the lead. The weather was abysmal, with the clouds doing everything in their power to stop their advance. The rain and lightning were numerous despite the vast sky and the legionnaires were forced to dodge many times.
This would not be an easy battle at all, with horrible weather, no reinforcements, and the small matter that they were flying at speeds reaching over 100 mph. Only the worst commander in history could possibly get their soldiers into such a disadvantage.
Up ahead, Harry could barely make out some silhouettes. After closer contemplation, he realized that it was not a flock of birds, but it was too late to have any kind of reaction.
Harry watched as the front of his broom made contact with the foremost death eater's head, quickly and efficiently snapping it. The enemy soldier silently fell off his broom, sailing towards the waiting ground below. That ought to be quite a mess.
The death eaters immediately came to a halt; it must've been a scouting party because there were only a dozen or so. The legion, who had stopped once they had witnessed the first casualty of the battle, stared at their equally bewildered enemy.
The fragile piece of olive branch that suppressed the two armies was quickly crushed when enemy reinforcements arrived—in the hundreds. Harry was the first one out of the reverie and quickly drew his unloyal, but capable hybrid wand. The nearest death eater was soon falling after his comrade—courtesy of a nicely placed diffindo by Harry.
Much too soon, the killing began once again, with a heavily outnumbered group of children facing a well-armed and commanded fighting force.
"Madam Bones," called Kingsley from his position on top of the partially destroyed building.
Amelia sighed as she looked away from the charred corpse of a woman no older than herself. Her children lay behind her—she'd obviously died protecting her defenseless youth against what must've been an elusive and eccentric foe—in equally mutilated conditions. Whoever did this didn't even deserve the deepest pits of hell, and she'd make sure that they'd have a session before she gave them such a respite.
"What is it Kingsley?" she asked, pondering why she had accepted such a position when they'd offered her current occupation. Must've been the prestige.
"I think I see a few…"
"Madam Bones!" a voice, reinforced with the Sonorous charm, yelled into the chilling night air. "I'd suggest you give up, your forces are surrounded."
The voice seemed familiar…"Bartemius Crouch Jr," she challenged, more as a statement of recognition than anything else.
His insane cackles became clearer as he stepped out from one of the numerous shadows. It had been many years since she had seen his face, and never had it looked so haunted, and certainly not so cheerful. He exuded the same diseased, dark filth that his master claimed to be "power."
His straw colored hair fell around his thin scarred face—scars that Amelia neither remembered or had not cared to—all the way to his firm, pale jawline. His eyes were the most nostalgic part of him; they were no longer the kind, brown eyes he used to sport; now they were a blood red, yearning for the bloodshed that was sure to follow this interaction.
Other death eaters soon melted from the shadows, immediately putting her aurors on guard. As fate would have it, they were once again outnumbered, however, this time; they had very little hope for reinforcements.
"Might I have this dance, Amelia?" asked Barty, pulling out his dragon heartstring wand.
"Polite even when facing death, eh, Barty?" Amelia taunted with a confidence that she didn't have. His magical aura was so powerful that it was causing her to nervously shake.
Barty smirked as if he knew her predicament. "Avada Kedavra!" he shouted, starting off the second engagement of what was sure to be a very bloody night.
"Reducto!" Harry shouted as he performed a barrel roll to maneuver out of an oncoming enemy curse whilst firing off his own.
His opponent managed to dodge Harry's pseudo-lethal curse, but he had no time to implement a feint to escape his ally's oncoming curse. It hit his broom, swiftly changing it into a miniature version which had neither the strength nor the capacity to support an entire human. He soared towards the ground, his arms flailing wildly.
Harry didn't have time to feel even a bit of guilt as he barely managed to escape the fiery clutches of his adversary's unwise and uncontrolled fiendfyre. The fiercely burning fire burned out almost immediately, but the fact that he or she could even execute such a complicated spell was not lost on Harry.
All around him, the confused aerial battle raged, the legion having attained a temporary advantage with the enemy reinforcing in piecemeal units. That didn't subtract from the fierceness with which their enemy fought.
Harry tried to outmaneuver his opponent but found that his persistent engager was just as good or better flyer than he. Unable to assault his enemy face-to-face and unable to outsmart them with fancy flying techniques, Harry was forced to blindly shoot spells over his shoulder.
"Avis Oppugno!" Harry shouted, shooting aggressive, sharp-beaked birds at his aggressor.
The death eater cast a simple shield charm, which more than protected against the, admittedly, schoolgirl curse. "Avada Kedavra!"
This person, as previously mentioned, was highly experienced and was able to control the death spell after it had been released. Harry had never faced such a thing before, and he was very nearly killed, except for the quick intervention of one of his allies; he assumed it was Tonks.
She countered with an Expelliarmus that halted the advance of the killing curse long enough for Harry to escape its clutches. The death eater quickly retaliated with a flurry of dark spells at Tonks, who had moved on to another target after an understood "you're welcome" nod.
Now it was Harry's turn to play the hero and warded off the oncoming spells with several blasting hexes. It caused a rather strong explosion and Harry managed to take advantage of the small lull by turning towards the death eater.
Out of the smoke came his opponent with the bottommost part of his mask missing. Harry immediately recognized him as one of Voldemort's inner circle, but he couldn't place a name.
"You little shit," he growled, pulling off his smoking mask. "I'll kill you!"
He promptly shot forward, his wand already glowing with an impending curse. Harry reacted in a way that seemed plausible at the time: "Arresto Momentum!" As was the plan, his enemy came to an abrupt stop, but that didn't stop the oncoming spell, which hit Harry on the left shoulder.
Harry hissed in pain, nearly toppling of his broom. He managed to stay on using only his balance and raised his wand with his still functioning right arm towards his unsuspecting enemy, who had turned his gaze elsewhere looking for a new adversary. Harry wasn't going to give him the chance.
"Confringo!" the purplish light of the blasting hex struck the death eater right in the chest. Death eater robes must've had some sort of protection to them, as he sat back up on his broom, a smoking hole on his chest, but still very much alive.
His eyes were glazed over with unbridled rage and he smirked chillingly—not quite Voldemort's—but terrifying all the same. "So little baby wants to play?" he asked mockingly. "I'll give you something to play with!"
He raised his arms and his body became wreathed with smoke and he jumped—seemingly foolish at the time—off of his stationary broom. The death eater charged at him, leaving a trail of smoke behind.
This time, Harry literally had no time to react and felt the breath knocked out of him when the smoking object made contact with his head, chipping off part of his mask. By the grace of providence, Harry managed to keep hold of his broom so that he didn't fall to his demise.
Harry had just managed to right his broom, when he was slammed into from the back. He managed to stay on a right his broom once more, only to be clobbered from the front, straight in the chest. It hurt. A lot.
Harry found his wand still clenched stubbornly on his right hand. He had just enough time to fire off a spell.
"Depulso!"
The death eater's strange smoky armament collided with his swiftly cast banishing charm. He had imprudently used the first spell that came to mind; this just proved he was an idiot. Fortunately, the spell did its job and more, striking the enemy head-on and destroying his cloak of smoke.
Without his cloak or his broom, he fell to the depths below. Harry had only been able to catch a glimpse of his adversary's widening eyes as he realized he'd been beaten by a mere boy.
"Reducto!" Amelia fired off her favorite spell, whilst rolling out of the way of a deadly disemboweling curse.
Crouch simply sidestepped, but it looked as if he didn't even have to try; he was extremely fast. He responded with an unknown spell—one Amelia had never seen before.
The ground broke into pieces and attempted to trap her in its rough grasp. She fired several reductos into the ground, but the earth quickly reformed every time. Finally, she wised up that she could no longer continue this tactic of fighting.
She apparated away—just a short distance—to cover behind a still moderately intact building. She could hear Crouch's terrifying cackles and she shivered.
"Running away already, Amy?"
She wouldn't lie; at this moment, a few miles of separation wouldn't hurt. But hopefully with a bit of hit-and-run, she would gain an advantage.
"REDUCTO!"
Suddenly, she was no longer behind cover and a gentle breeze passed against her red hair. Her eyes widened and she rapidly did the recognizable spin of apparation. She arrived at her anticipated destination with her wand already aimed at her target.
"Expelliarmus!" she shouted, certain that this fight was nearing completion.
The speed with which he whipped around proved that she was not always correct. "Avada Kedavra!"
The two spells collided and as expected, bounced off of each other. To Amelia's satisfaction, her disarming charm struck an unsuspecting death eater in the back.
Already, too many of her precious aurors lay dead, and many others would probably be scarred for life because of those horrible, vile curses the enemy was well-known for utilizing. It looked like she'd be dead too, if she didn't end her personal prolonged battle quickly.
She apparated away again, once more hoping to surprise Crouch. This time, she reappeared behind him taking a knee and quickly reaffirming her aim: "Confringo!"
The spell moved forward agonizingly for Amelia—as she was sure that with the speed her enemy had recently shown, he would have little trouble in halting her attack.
Sure enough, with the barely noticeable flick of his wand, Crouch sent the spell over his shoulder. With another casual flick, Amelia was forcefully thrown through the air, landing painfully on her back.
"You actually gave me more of a fight than I was expecting…'tis a shame for you to go out so easily," Crouch said, actually seeming to be depressed over the end of their fight. "And with such strong prospects to look forward to; a younger man, amazing career opportunities…"
The agonizing speech—stereotypical to all villains—was cut abruptly by the pained, violent gasp of her overpowered adversary and a sudden hole appearing on the right side of his chest. Crouch gave a startled glance downwards, and promptly fell over, his blood spurting slightly over her.
Behind him stood a characteristically smiling Sirius, his wand aimed where certain death had stood before her only a moment ago. It wasn't difficult to connect the dots and Amelia, embarrassed, mumbled a small: "Thank you."
Several death eaters, having noticed the death of their commander, moved hungrily towards what they thought would be an easy meal. They had no clue just how powerful their opponents still were.
Amelia and Sirius took up a back-to-back position well-known amongst the auror ranks.
"Just like old times, eh, Amy?" Sirius said, ever so silkily.
"Close your bloody gob and kill, idiot!" Amelia yelled, resisting the urge the hex Sirius at that moment. Luckily, she had some victims to take her anger out on.
Harry jumped as his broom was disjoined into two pieces by three small, purplish sound waves, dodging the surely nasty spell, although, at the likely cost of his life. It seemed though, that luck was on Harry's side this day—as it often was—and Harry landed perfectly onto the front of an unlucky death eater's broom.
The force threw the pureblood idealist off balance and he was sent soaring down, following the trajectory that many of his like-minded brethren had followed.
Harry, in a show of stellar broom control, managed to successfully saddle the out of control broom and bring it back under control, and just in time as well, as that death eater was back behind him once more.
Harry quickly found out that his stolen broom was complete rubbish. Its previous owner must've been a true survivor if he had stayed alive this long!
Harry put on a burst of speed, in an attempt to outmaneuver the strangely familiar death eater, but as like before, he was horribly under practiced and even if otherwise, Harry doubted he could outdo his slippery adversary.
The death eater, using overwhelming speeds, took a position parallel to Harry's, tauntingly raising his wand. All the while, they were passing other battles just as violent as Harry's previous one and dodging hostile spell-fire from unengaged enemies.
Harry raised his own wand, in preparation to receive the attack. The enemy did not disappoint.
"Sectumsempra!" he said—the voice was undisputedly masculine—executing a slash much like a common cutting curse.
The unfamiliar curse from the familiar voice, nearly threw off Harry's concentration—he'd always been rubbish at paying attention—but at the last moment, Harry responded: "Lacero!" making his own slashing movement with his wand.
The blood-red arc of Harry's cutting curse collided with the bright white arc of the death eater's. The cutting curse managed to put up some meagre resistance, but in the end, it lost its battle of power. Fortunately for Harry, he was going fast enough that he escaped the wrath of the strange spell.
The death eater broke off the engagement, probably going to look for some easier prey. Harry considered following him, but as usual, he managed to get himself into the fiercest action.
He felt it before he heard it. A massive wave of magic exploded from some poor bloke and the pained yell of "Fiendfyre!" was called out. Almost immediately after the fire had escaped the death eater's wand, it began to take form—that of a dragon.
The idiot who'd foolishly cast a spell that both Dumbledore and Voldemort had trouble with received the luxury of immediately passing out. Whoever they were, the magical exhaustion would keep them out for days.
Unfortunately for all those in the vicinity, be them ally or enemy, they didn't have the leisure of a nap, as the dragon wouldn't be choosing sides. A huge breath of fire escaped its mouth, and more than Harry could bear to see were burnt alive.
Harry, enraged, charged the dragon with a spell already in mind. "Aguamenti Maxima!"
Amelia and Tonks had taught the various spell variations to the legionnaires during their training. He'd caught on rather quickly and though he'd never used it in conjunction with the water-making charm; he had shown promise in life-or-death situations. This seemed like an appropriate moment.
The dragon looked right into his eyes (was it alive?) and opened its fiery maw, unleashing a giant gasp of flames. As had become common today, Harry's spell was defeated in its grapple for potency and Harry had to pull up quickly on his terrible borrowed broom to escape a crispy departure.
Lightning was crackling overhead and it gave Harry an idea. Could it be so simple?
"Levitas Telum!" he shouted, pointing his wand straight at the dragon's literal burning gaze.
He'd never shot off a spell so powerfully before and the results were clearly visible. In a flash, a lightning bolt sliced through the dragon and it broke into small embers.
"Retreat!"
The death eater commander decided that it was not smart to be fighting an enemy that could so easily take out a fully-formed fiendfyre. The enemy, tired and having been at a constant disadvantage, gave no word of dissent as the pulled back in their fractured, piecemealed units.
The legion gave no cheer.
"That's the last of them," Kingsley called from his vantage point on the roof.
Amelia gave a sigh of relief. They'd won this one and Crouch, who was sure to become a very powerful enemy, lay dead, with a good bit of his troops as well.
However, there was no denying it anymore; there was a spy within the ranks. She just hoped that she could catch them before the war spun out of control. Then again, hadn't it already? They'd stooped to letting teenagers fight for them. What was the world coming to?
A/N- Like it? Hate it? Review so I know! Horrible ending though, I'll admit.
I feel like I'm constantly forgetting something for my author's notes...Oh well.
