Chapter 9
The Escape
Voldemort looked at them, dumbfounded yet still with a cruel stare. There had been no way of them to be able to break their bonds, yet they stood before him, all with their wands ready. It sickened him that such an elaborately thought out plan could be foiled. But now he had nothing to worry about. Nothing but Potter.
Harry stood at the ready awaiting Voldemort to move. For once he was glad that Malfoy was with him. But that didn't matter up to the power of Voldemort. Voldemort then smirked. Why was he smiling? He clearly was out-numbered. Yet he found some pride in himself to smirk.
"Very funny, Mr. Potter," Voldemort said, walking towards him. "A very perceptible move indeed. I have no idea of how you have somehow broken out of my binds, but very clever. And it makes no difference." Harry looked at him quizzically. What is he talking about, Harry wondered. He gave a laugh. "Do you think you get out of here alive?"
Harry actually hadn't thought about it. All he had wanted to do was to get from his binds, he hadn't planned after that. Andrea seemed to look grim after hearing Harry's thoughts about that. Harry glared at Voldemort. For some reason, it seemed Voldemort was starting to intimidate him. But Harry didn't want that to get to him.
"I know a way out of here," Harry said out of nowhere. Voldemort's smirk faded a bit, as if Harry's tone of voice sounded like it had some truth to it. Harry hadn't known why he had said it. It just occurred to him somehow that he knew a way out of here. He had no idea where he was or how the portal had gotten him there, but he had just blurted out that he knew a way out.
Draco didn't seem to believe Harry at all. Harry didn't always have to have the glory of being the heroic one. Standing behind Andrea, he felt as though he was just another follower of Harry, just one of the people that said "Oh, thank you for saving me, I couldn't have done that myself." Maybe it was that that urged him but out of nowhere Draco started running away from the group.
"Stop him!" Voldemort ordered. The Death Eaters quickly followed Draco in his rampage. While this happened Harry noticed a hallway to the right of them. That was their ticket out of there.
"Come on," Harry said and started running for the hallway. Hermione, Ron and Andrea followed him running up to the hallway, running as fast as they could. Voldemort turned around noticing them in horror.
"Get them! They are trying to get away!" Voldemort shouted. The Death Eaters seemed to stop chasing Draco, turned and went for the group. "No, no! Some of you try to the other one, you fools." The confused group split up, 6 of them going for the group, 2 of them going for Draco.
As Harry neared the hallway, he checked the others behind him. He would have to thank Draco for that one. But the Death Eaters were closing in, so he had no time to think.
"Try to hold them off, I'm gonna try to get Draco," Harry said. They nodded and backed into the hallway. Harry ran off to the right just as the Death Eaters seemed to come upon them. One of the them noticed this and ran after him. Harry seemed to run straight into Draco, which also surprised Draco. Voldemort came running for Harry, in hopes of catching him finally.
The Death Eaters came up jolting behind them both. They both seemed out of ideas except to jump. Draco jumped first out of the way, Harry coming behind him, almost getting hit by the person behind him. Harry looked up at the rampaging Voldemort, stopping on the spot. He turned left ran, then spun around and ran as fast as he could. His fast movements may have only taken a few seconds but Voldemort followed them all.
Voldemort aimed his wand and yelled, "Stupefy!" Harry turned and saw the light coming towards him. He had nothing to do. Suddenly, Draco jumped in front of him. It was the most uncanny thing to happen, but Draco had saved Harry's life. Draco went flying onto the ground. "No!" Voldemort yelled, pointing his wand yet again.
Harry aimed his wand at the end of Voldemort's robes and shouted, "Belluricus Flamorus!" Suddenly, blue flames emitted from his wand landing on the end of Voldemort's robes. It was only fit as a diversion though, because Voldemort recited the counter-spell easily. Harry rushed over to Draco and picked him up. Draco seemed pretty heavy so Harry performed the feather-light spell on him, making him easier to carry.
"Don't let them get away!" Voldemort shouted. Harry went over, placed Draco down, and pointed his wand at the Death Eaters in front of the group.
"Freilos!" Harry shouted. The group immediately started turning to ice. Harry took Draco up and joined his friends. They all ran down the hallway, passing the cell they had been in. After running past three doors, they went into the fourth one. It happened to be a small room. Andrea closed the door behind her, leaving Remus outside to get the approaching Death Eaters.
"Alright, now what do we do?" Hermione asked.
"I don't know, I didn't pull you into coming," Ron commented.
"I never said you did, I only wanted to help," Hermione contradicted.
"Well, you're not helping by asking questions with no answers," Ron said. Hermione glared.
"Stop it! Both of you!" Andrea said, getting between them.
"Stay out of this!" Ron and Hermione said together. Harry set Draco down. And got between all of them.
"This isn't helping, fighting like this," Harry said. He stared at all of them. Suddenly, he noticed something in Ron's pocket. It was a little bag marked "Floo Powder." "Ron! That, in your pocket!" Ron looked down, saw it and smiled.
"My Floo powder," Ron said.
"How do you all of the sudden have Floo Powder?" Andrea asked inquizically.
"Oh, I've always had this all night." They all looked at him weirdly. "I've been through many things over the years that I've wanted to get out of. I thought of being prepared now." Hermione rolled her eyes. Andrea smiled at him, then bit her lip. Harry didn't do anything at all.
"Okay then," Harry stated. He looked around and found a fireplace near the end of the room. "We can start a fire over there." Hermione shot out a flaming ball into the fireplace, which cause it to create a roaring fire. Ron sprinkled some Floo powder into the fire and it immediately turned blue. Harry gave a sigh and beckoned Ron to go first.
"No, I want to go right before you. Andrea can go first," Ron said. Andrea agreed and approached the flame. She said "Hogwarts" and stepped into the flame, disappearing a second later. Hermione went next. She sighed before she stepped into the flame and disappeared. Then left Ron, Harry, and the still stunned Draco. Ron decided that he should carry Draco with him, though he wished Harry would disagree and take him. In a flash Ron and Draco vanished in the flame.
Suddenly, the door to the room burst down. Voldemort was at the lead of the crew, a smile across his face. "You may have been able to save your friends, but you shall die Harry Potter!" Voldemort shouted, pointing his wand at Harry. "Avada Kedavra!" The green light proceeded to Harry, who had now run out of ideas. Then, out of nowhere, the wall rumbled and broke through, knocking Harry down under the rubble. Voldemort's eyes widened as the debris made dust fly through the room. By the time the dust cleared, all Voldemort could see was rubble across the room.
"Search the room," Voldemort said, "I want to find Harry Potter, and I want to find him NOW!"
*****
When Harry awakened a few minutes later, he was in the air. He didn't know how he was in the air, but he was. He felt the feathers of what he was flying on and only one name came to mind.
"Buckbeak!" Harry said, and the hippogriff squawked. "You must have come to save Sirius and me." The bird nodded in agreement. "Well we need to save a lot of people. And I think I know how to do it. Let's fly around to the backside of the building." And as Buckbeak flew around the building, Harry's confidence seemed to greaten. Buckbeak had saved his life and he now owed 2 people, well, things for saving his life.
As they rounded the corner, they found the other end of the place. Harry could see it's round shape as it had looked from the inside. Harry pointed at the far wall and held on getting ready for the collision. Buckbeak quickly dive-bombed at the wall breaking into the interior. He quickly saw that the 5 people were still in the circle. The Death Eaters in the room quickly turned, their wands at the ready.
Harry quickly got off Buckbeak and ran towards the circle. Why hadn't they been released from the trance. Harry then noticed that Voldemort hadn't removed the Permandebien Star from it's floating stance. As the dust cleared, the Death Eaters ran towards Harry. Harry quickly took the Permandebien Star into his hands. Suddenly a wind went through the room, blowing across everything. After a moment the wind died down, and all of the people at the table seemed to be released from their trances.
"What happened?" said Ms. Ricita Fladmore, as if waking from a dream.
"Where am I?" said Mr. Thomas Goddfrey. He shook his head, as if having a headache.
"What's happened? Is Harry all right??" Sirius asked looking around. When he saw Harry standing with the Permandebien Star in his hands he could have cried. Suddenly, a flock of Death Eaters entered the room surrounding the table. And at the near front of them, Voldemort stood.
"The Permandebien Star," Voldemort chuckled, "And in the hands of a boy yet again." Harry glared at him. "You have no use of that gem, boy. So, just give it to me."
"Never!" Harry shouted at him. Voldemort grinned at him.
"A good one til the end, eh? Just what I expected" Harry and Voldemort exchanged glares. Harry pointed his wand just as Voldemort did the same. "I'm sorry to see you die in such a fashion, but you've left me no choice."
"You stay away from him, you son of a bitch!" Sirius spat. Voldemort did not even release his glare from Harry.
"I wouldn't talk, Mr. Black. Your position is much worse than his," Voldemort said.
"My starsMr. Potter, is it really" Ms. Claria Incruim started, but was interrupted.
"Yes, I am Harry Potter. I have been alive for 15 years, if you haven't noticed, so I don't mean to be rude when I say I'm not a boy in a cage that you gawk at," Harry stated clearly, not releasing his stare. Ms. Incruim immediately shut her mouth.
"Mr. Potter," said Dumbledore from across the table. "You know what to do." Dumbledore said it as if Harry had done this before. Harry had no idea what he was doing. After his experience in the Comercian Portal, he just made up things as they went along. And so far, they seemed to be working.
"Incaresis Detanion!" Harry shouted. Voldemort stood back a step, trying to get away from the spell. A dense smoke emitted from his wand, covering the room. Harry immediately, went to the floor and started crawling around.
"Avada Kedavra!" Voldemort shouted and the green light went into the smoke. He immediately heard a Death Eater fall dead at the edge of the room. I'll find you yet, Mr. Potter, Voldemort said in Harry's mind. Harry quickly thought fast and unlocked someone's binds at the table. Voldemort heard this and quickly shouted "Avada Kedavra!" in the direction he heard it. Harry pulled the person in his hands to the ground, just as the green light passed them. Voldemort heard another Death Eater hit the ground. "Damn it, Potter." In a sudden movement, Harry slipped the Permandebien Star into someone's hands.
Suddenly, a brisk wind entered the room from the hole in the wall. Harry hadn't expected this. As the wind went through the room, the smoke cleared a bit. Harry's glasses seemed to be a bit fogged from the sudden change. Harry took off his glasses promptly and tried to clear them off. Voldemort suddenly saw Harry sitting there a few feet ahead of him on the ground, wiping his glasses off. Voldemort smiled and stepped over to him.
Harry could only see a hazy blur coming over to him. Suddenly the blur took his glasses from him. He had no way of seeing where he was now. He now felt alone in a room full of people. Voldemort pointed his wand in an easy fashion.
"Stop!" came a voice from beside the boy. Voldemort turned to it and smirked.
"Rici, you had your chance," Voldemort said. "I suggest you back away now."
"No! I can't let you do this!" Ricita said, walking over to him. Voldemort's smirk went to a frown.
"Ricita. Move out of my way" Voldemort said, pointing his wand at her.
"Don't do it! Please don't!" Ricita said, starting to back away.
"NOW!"
"I should have never liked you!" Voldemort glared at her.
"Goodbye, Ricita." Voldemort poised his wand at her. Suddenly, Voldemort fell onto his back. "What is this?" At his feet was Harry, who had pushed him down while he was distracted. "Now I have you! Avada Kedavra!" A burst of green light emitted from Voldemort's wand. All Harry could see was a green blur heading towards him. It only meant one thing to him. And he couldn't see a thing, so he would positively get hit this time.
His life seemed to flash before his eyes in those few seconds before it hit him. He saw Hermione, Ron, Sirius, Hagrid, Dumbledore, Fluffy, the basilisk, Ginny, Fred and George, Cedric Diggory, and most of all, he saw himself at age 11. He saw himself getting the letter. He saw himself seeing Hogwarts for the first time. It was amazing the images his mind had kept. Then he returned to the current image of the blurred green light. He bowed his head in angst.
The light finally hit him. Harry could feel a lightness in his body. It felt as if his body was being lifted into the air for a moment. But then he could feel nothing. He could hear faint yelling and could seeing light flying around him, but nothing came into focus. After a moment, everything went black and quiet.