"There is many a boy here today who looks on war as all glory, but, boys, it is all hell.
You can bear this warning voice to generations yet to come. I look upon war with horror."
General William Tecumseh Sherman, August 1880.
"Wars are not acts of God. They are caused by man, by man-made institutions, by the way
in which man has organized his society."
Speech at Arlington National Cemetery (Memorial Day, 1945)
0 minutes prior.
Albus Dumbledore and Victory Hawke were in his office when they heard McGonagall scream. They raced into the main hall just in time to see McGonagall be flung to the ground. The woman was clutching her left eye as blood oozed between her fingers. A Hit Wizard charged at her assailant.
The Death Eater reached out his hand and snapped the Wizard's neck. Behind him, the three nearest attacked two of the Hit Wizards, finishing them off in sickening speed and precision.
Kaiya, and Remus had taken the time to react. Kaiya had pushed Harry to the nearest corner and told him to stay there. She pulled out her wand and muttered an incantation under her breath while Remus traced a circle around them both.
"Blood for blood, let no one harm thee. Truth for truth, let no false witness come. Life for life, let the circle be unbroken." Kaiya muttered, grabbing hold of Harry's hand.
He felt a cut form on his hand and instinctively he pulled away. She was bleeding too. She looked at him and smiled. "I forget to tell you, Harry. I'm Auror. But more importantly- I'm your guardian. Listen to me, as long as you stay in this circle you're safe. No one who wishes to harm you can pass its boarder but you must stay there. Got it?"
He nodded vigorously. "But…but I can help."
"I know you can, Harry but please stay out of this one battle."
"Do as the woman says." The Head Death Eater said. "After all Mr. Potter, it's only a matter of time before I get to you." He threw back his hood to reveal a pristine mask, perfectly made save for the three gold marks running down the left eye. He turned to Kaiya. "Now lets see the extend of what I taught you…"
"Expelliarmus!" Dumbledore boomed. His curse hit the Death Eater nearest to the Dark Prince squarely in the chest. He was sent sprawling on the stone floor.
Madame Pomfrey had ran into the main hall to see what was the commotion. She nearly fainted when she saw the six Death Eaters. McGonagall called out to her. She ran to the woman's side just in time for Hagrid to appear and help get her out of the way.
Hagrid looked at Dumbledore. "Now Professor?"
"Wait for it…" Hawke advised.
"Ah, the Ministry bitch!" Rang a distinctly female voice from behind the mask of one of the Death Eaters. She withdrew her wand slowly and laughed. "We should have known this fight was going to be waged by old grandparents and little children."
"Do you want to try and take this old grandmother?" Hawke asked raising her gloved hand. A long ebony wand held dangerously still, like a sword.
The woman laughed. "They call me Jack the Ripper, grandmother. Remember that name, you'll obituary will need it."
"One must admire the dramatics." Purred the platinum haired one to Remus. "It almost gives this all an epic feel. Too bad it all has to end with his death." He motioned carelessly to Harry. He pointed his wand to Remus and shouted. "Cruio!"
"Stupefy!" Remus shouted in return.
Kaiya was rushed by two of the Death Eaters and promptly threw them back. One swung at her, seeming content with physical combat for a while. She was forced to comply. The other one seemed to be enjoying himself too. She uppercut the nearest one and slammed her foot into the groin of the other. The second fell to his knees, howling in pain.
Hawke ducked the wild swing Jackie gave to her. She countered by a chop to the throat. Jackie began to wheeze but not to be outdone she drove her knee into Hawke's back.
McGonagall had recovered just enough to attack the Dark Prince himself. She used a phobia curse that caused the Dark Prince to flail wildly against illusions. She felt eye contact with him, refusing to blink and muttering the words to her jinx as if they were the last prayer of a dying pilgrim.
Dumbledore and the bodyguard were the only ones not fighting. They had their wands pointed directly at each other's hearts, daring the other to move first.
"You know Headmaster, I admired so very much until I discovered the truth about you."
"And what was that?"
"That you are a coward and weak. More so then you believe Lord
Voldemort and we are, because you see he hides behind masks and rumors and fear.
But you, you hide behind something greater: your followers. You send other
people to do what your dirty work while all the while you have clean hands."
"Is this the lie your Prince has told you?"
"No, this is the truth I had to come to grips with and when I did, all my pretenses were stripped away and I was faced with one terrifying truth. In times of war, there is no difference between right and wrong. In war the only thing that matters is ensuring you had no blood on your hands."
Dumbledore looked around. It looked like the Death Eaters were winning. Remus was backed against a corner. Kaiya was struggling to reach him. To break the jinx, the Dark Prince had backhanded McGonagall so hard she had hit her head against the stone wall. Pompfrey and Hagrid were trying to save the life of the last Hit Wizard.
"You had other people do your killings for you. You let them be damned for your purposes." The bodyguard smiled at him coolly. He opened his arms out wide and tilted his head. "How many would die for you? Like lambs led to the slaughter." He took a step back and then another and then other, inching closer and closer to Harry Potter.
Harry stood frozen, wide eyes and shivering. The Death Eater laughed coarsely then swung around stepping into the glowing circle and taking the boy in his arms. "How many would die for you?" He demanded. "And more importantly, how many you let die? This boy? Your teachers?" He glanced at Hawke and Jackie. "Or maybe even the woman you love…"
"Victory!" Kaiya screamed.
Victory Hawke was standing perfectly still. Jack the Ripper had her on the end of a rusty sword she had pulled from a suit of armor. Jack turned around a walked away, ripping the sword from its human sheath. Victory hunched over, blood oozing from her mouth. She managed a small smile directed towards Dumbledore before…
Victory, scarred and bleeding, fell to the floor and died.
"Bye, bye grandmother." Jack cooed. She swung the sword up, holding it over her head, letting the blood drip unto the mask's ivory features. She laughed insanely and pulled off her mask, to reveal the face of a beautiful woman. Jacqueline opened her mouth and caught a few drops of the blood. "Now granted killing an Auror is a terrible crime. But you know what's worst?" She ran her fingers across the blade and painted three lines on her eye. "Killing your own kind."
Her next action shocked everyone. She drove the edge of the sword into the Dark Prince's back. The sheer force of her swung cause the Prince to jolt forward almost crashing into McGonagall. He tried to speak but only a gurgling noise came out. He lifted up his wand and pointed it at her before falling next to Victory.
The Prince and Victory lay in a jumbled heap on the floor. Good and Evil both bled red and it seeped like a slow moving river around the livings boots.
"I'm in charge now!" Jacqueline said. "Now take off your masks, all of you… let them see their murderers." She squatted down over the Dark Prince. She reached over and began to peel away the mask. "And let the Boy Who Lived see the man who made the nations tremble. Let him see the man who was going to kill him."