The One Sided Duel



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Harry took Hermione home, but when they got there, something made Harry's scar burn, almost like. "Hermione run." He said abruptly "But why Harry?" Hermione protested "I don't have time to explain, I need for you to go and hide in the park. Something's not right." Harry said as his scar burned worse, blurring his vision "Harry are you alright?" Hermione asked looking at him as if he had lost him mind. "Do as I say and go hide keep your wand out, they're here." Harry said looking at her "But Harry-" "Go." Harry said more sternly "you're not a fighter let me handle this. I'm sure that I can handle it." Hermione reluctantly left him for the park, and Harry turned the corner to see at least a dozen Deatheaters making their way towards him. It was now or never, and he had the element of surprise on his side. Harry crawled through the bushes to get nearer to them. Then, without warning and suprising(sp? Maybe not?) even himself, he leapt out from behind the bush and started to attack the Deatheaters. One after the other Harry yelled out spells. "Stupefy! Mureal! Stupefy! Expelliarmus! Stupefy!" It took a minute for the deatheaters to realize that they were under attack, and by the time that they realized it, Harry had cut their number by 3. One of the deatheaters ran around him to the park, obviously knowing that that was the most obvious place for someone to hide. A spell hit Harry, causing a deep cut in his leg, another hit his shoulder, and yet another hit him in the head causing blood to start to run down his face. Harry knew that if he was going to win the duel that he had to finish it quickly, he was chanting spells as though it were a poem that he had to memorize. "Stupefy, Knockteai! Stupefy!" Harry decided to try a Patronus on the last Deatheater, and he was getting tired, "Expecto Patronum!" the patronus charged the Deatheater, distracting him long enough for Harry to stun him, just before he collapsed from exhaustion. He was surrounded by unconscious Death Eaters. Harry himself had been hit by quite a few curses, most of which had cut him or scraped him or hurt him in one form or fashion. His right leg would barely support his weight and Harry suspected that it was broken. He stood up, testing his leg and blinking blood out of his eyes. More than one cut was now on his forehead and they were freely bleeding, as were the ones on his arm, one of which had cut to the bone. Harry was weak, and knew that he had to find Hermione before the lone Deatheater did. He set off not knowing whether he would find her or not. He finally saw her lying on the ground. "Please don't let her be dead." he though "Please, Please," Harry reached her side. She wasn't dead, merely stunned, her attacker lying not a hundred feet from where she was, Bleeding freely from a cut that was 6 inches long. He wasn't stunned, but had been knocked out, and it was obvious that Hermione had thrown the rock. Harry didn't know how he was going to get Hermione and himself back to his camp, where, he thought, they would be the safest for the time being. He picked her up and disapparated to the camp. He then limped up the hill towards the medical tent, collapsing twice from the effort of remaining conscious and carrying Hermione. He finally reached the tent and stepped inside. There was only a receptionist at the desk, and one doctor in the entire tent. Harry saw to it that Hermione was taken care of, sat down, and finally lost consciousness.

"Do you know what happened" Ron's voice said distantly "No he brought her in and then he collapsed, blood loss and stress I imagine." An unfamiliar voice said. They were distant, but Harry could not help feel that he was going to be all right. He ached all over and when he opened his eyes, his scar burned fiercely, causing him to shut them again. His body felt like it had been beaten, then run over, and beaten some more. Harry tried to raise his head, but could not. The room was icy, but Harry was soaked with sweat. "Ron?" Harry said questionably "Harry are you awake?" Ron asked, "Open your eyes." "I can't. My scar is still burning horribly and my body feels like it's been run over." Harry said "Doctor, I need a Pepper up Potion over here right now!" Ron said his voice sounding further away. Ron brought Harry the Pepper up Potion and helped him drink it. It burned the whole way down, but was the only thing that made his scar stop burning. Harry opened his eyes. The room was blurred and Ron (also blurred) was sitting in a chair beside him. "What happened to Hermione?" Harry said suddenly "She's fine. She right over here." Ron said motioning towards the bed on the other side of him. "How did I get here?" "Well, you collapsed in the waiting room, just after you came in, they didn't know who you were at first. They came and got me, because they saw that you had one of my men's tags. Harry who did this to you, what happened?" "I don't have time to explain, you have to take your squad down to Hermione's house to pick up at least a dozen Deatheaters, I'm not sure how many there are, but you've got to send someone to get them, before they wake up and escape." "Alright, I'll take McAlester's squad, they didn't have anything today. Sirius is on his way and I'll go and get them just as soon as he gets here." Sirius walked in just after Ron said this. Ron got up and went to get McAlester's squad ready. They would be down there within five minutes to pick every one of the Death Eaters up. Sirius looked from Harry's broken leg which was sticking out at a weird angle to the cut on his forehead, to the blood stained sheets, and finally to Hermione, lying in the bed on the other side of the small room. He groped for a chair and collapsed into it. It was a while before he could speak, and when he did it was in a voice, barely more than a whisper, so that Harry was the only one who could hear. "Harry, what happened?" He asked sitting down Harry pondered this question for a while. He really wasn't sure how everything had happened. The last few hours were in fast forward. The burning sensation in his scar, the argument with Hermione, her reluctance to leave him, the fight with the Death Eaters, the pain, him fighting to stay conscious, and the loss there of. "I'm not sure exactly what happened." Harry started "everything happened so fast, and it's still going so fast." Harry said and told everything that he could remember. "Alright, you just rest now. You've been through a lot." Sirius said, and he walked out. Harry stared after him, thinking about what had just happened. Had Voldemort known about his and Hermione's relationship? Did he choose her as a target for a reason? Was this a random choice of target? Harry thought silently to himself, knowing exactly what the answer was. Voldemort did know about their relationship, and Voldemort did choose her for a reason, to get at him, in a way that would be impossible in a few weeks. 'It was lucky that I was there.' Harry thought to himself, staring at the dark ceiling. He saw shadows reflected on it. He heard angry voices from the other room. "What do you mean that I can't see him? I'm his overseer! His advisor!" "I'm sorry sir, I can't let you through to see him without proper identification, and you do not even have authorization to be in the camp after hours." Everything was traveling very slowly from his ears to his brain, and he only now realized who the first angry voice belonged too. He called for a nurse. "Let him in." The nurse protested. "I told you to let him in I don't give a darn if he has the proper identification or not! I know who my advisor is." Harry said angrily. Hermione stirred in the bed next to his, and the nurse left and came back a moment later with Dumbledore. "Now please leave." Harry told her impatiently Dumbledore looked first at Harry lying in the bed covered with blood, then to Hermione who was in the other bed, then back to Harry, who greeted him finally noticing that he was in the room. "Albus, I don't know how this went undetected-" Harry started but Dumbledore cut him off. "It doesn't matter, Harry, what does matter, is that you're safe and we get to the bottom of this." "Who told you what had happened?" "Ron sent an owl straight away, it said, however that you were still unconscious, and that you were all beat up, he had no idea what had happened, or if you were going to be alright or not. So, what did happen?" Dumbledore asked "I'm going to let Sirius tell you because I'm feeling really dizzy. This cut on my head had been bleeding freely for the past thirty minutes that I know of." Dumbledore looked at him like he had just said the largest understatement on earth. "And no one seems to care about Hermione or I or what happens to us. We could die and no one would notice for three days!" Harry said starting to have trouble getting him into focus. Dumbledore jumped up, and left the room returning with a doctor, who put a potion on the cut on his arm, which smoked and healed the wound. He also applied it to the cut on his forehead, but couldn't get any to stay in the cut, it all bled out, the doctor tried many different methods, but finally had to heal it with wand power. Harry was still very weak and still was having trouble focusing on anything, a few minutes later he lost consciousness and knew no more.

(end Chapter)