THAT SUMMER, Chapter 18
By Reija Linn
Bill
Once the battle was induced, things moved on pretty quickly. Dumbledore had sent his letter out right after the meeting, and Draco Malfoy had left around the same time, since his story would sound more believable if he returned before the letter arrived.
No later than the evening of our second day back at Hogwart's, the first sign of the Death Eater's was discovered - in form of the burning village of Hogsmeade, which had fortunately been evacuated weeks ago after the first failed attack on Hogwart's, after which much of the village had been destroyed by frustrated Death Eaters.
Moments later, large groups of hooded figures in dark robes flew swiftly into the grounds of Hogwart's from all directions, most of them mounted on broomsticks, though I could see a small group of four or five of them riding Thestrals - very rare black winged horses - we would have to keep watch of those, Thestrals were known for their ability to make themselves invisible.
For a moment, I could - from the outlook I was standing on with Harry, so very visible to them once they were close enough to the castle, merely gasp at the number of them. Of course, Voldemort would assemble all of his followers for the final conquest of Hogwart's he had obviously planned, knowing that Dumbledore was still here - but that so many wizards and witches, some of whom I probably knew from my parent's and even went to school with at my time, had gone over to the Dark Side... this was more terrifying than any thought of what they would do to us if we were captured.
Harry beside me kept an air of confidence and acceptance I truly admired, though I could see he gripped tightly on his wand, and both of his hands were shaking.
When they had broken in close enough for spell-casting, the first differently coloured lightning bolts passed between the sides, though Harry was still standing next to me unmoving, merely blocking a spell now and then.
The other member's of our small resistance group were placed strategically around the castle - Dumbledore himself I couldn't spot at the time, though I knew he had to be doing something.
Closer and closer they came, and it was hard to recognise much of anything through the whiz of colours produced by spells, hexes and curses all over the place. All I could think was to defend myself and Harry against anything that came into our direction, and make sure he was still at my side.
The battle raged. The four - I could only see four now, had I imagined the fifth? - riders with their Thestrals raced towards the castle, attacking, I think, Severus Snape and someone I couldn't recognise standing beside him, and were only stopped by a huge plant that suddenly erupted from the ground, it's large coils moving seemingly of their own volition, winding around the Death Eater's and their horses, inflicting multiple boils on them at every contact.
I checked the horizon feverishly every now and again - had Charlie and his friends made it to England? Or were they intercepted on the way?
Harry, still safely beside me, was now hurling various curses upon the groups of attackers, though I could tell he was holding back for his own final battle with the Dark Lord himself, and I dealt out a vast share of them myself, though the blazing lights from my own curses hindered my sight even more.
And then I saw them, high above us in the sky, sweeping across the clouds, flying in from the west - four large beast, flying in a circle above the castle before launching their own attack. Charlie with his swift green Romanian Longhorn, Colin on a huge Ukrainian Ironbelly, Mitchell riding the Norwegian Ridgeback Norbert, and Phil on the terrifying fire-breathing Hungarian Horntail had come through, and had joined us in the final battle.
Descending and sweeping up high again, the dragons (and the curses of their riders) inflicted great damage on the numbers of Death Eater's, though I could see the Ironbelly's metallic scales were dyed in dark, crimson dragon blood, and Mitchell's dragon was swaying slightly to the left while flying - obviously some damage to his right wing.
And then, just when victory was turning towards our side through the appearance of the dragons, so many things happened almost simultaneously I lost count - first, a Peruvian Vipertooth, a small but swift dragon, attacked Mitchell's animal, driving it's poisonous fangs into the other creature's neck, whereupon both dragons fell from the sky in a death claw. Secondly, Harry next to me swung onto his Firebolt and with the speed only a superb seeker for many years could must flew off in the direction of where the dragons were going down, as if through wonder catching Mitchell out of the air just before he smashed into the ground near the Quidditch field, and even more miraculously did not crash into the broom shed despite Mitchell's extra weight.
The third thing that happened - and for this I could have cursed myself at that moment, I *had* sawn five riders - was that a large Thestral carrying one of the Death Eaters appeared right in front of me.
"Silencium," the Death Eater hissed at me, in a voice strangely familiar, though I could not place it, and I felt my jaw clench - an effective means of making sure I could do no magic at all, since though I had learned to perform some spells and curses without a wand, I had never mastered the art of silent spell-casting (something that only mute wizard's seemed to posses a talent for, therefore making up for not being able to perform magic through ordinary means).
Positive I had met my end, I tried to at least defend myself through non-magical means for a short time, I refused to give up with a fight - but surprisingly, I was not killed, but bound and placed behind the Death Eater on the large winged horse.
We flew across the grounds, while my abductor masterfully dodged all curses thrown towards him, in direction of the Quidditch field, where I spotted the two fallen dragons still clutching at each other's throats - the Ridgeback was looking very weak by now, the poison had probably set - and...
Harry. Standing there, alone amidst a cruel carnival of colours, standing protectively in front of the still figure of Mitchell, his wand extended.
The last thing I noticed was that the Earth was shaking, and in a hurricane of deep black that twirled directly in front of Harry, the Dark Lord himself appeared, smiling cruelly upon my dearest friend, that I had come to love.
Lord Voldemort had returned to Hogwart's himself...
Then my consciousness faded to black.
By Reija Linn
Bill
Once the battle was induced, things moved on pretty quickly. Dumbledore had sent his letter out right after the meeting, and Draco Malfoy had left around the same time, since his story would sound more believable if he returned before the letter arrived.
No later than the evening of our second day back at Hogwart's, the first sign of the Death Eater's was discovered - in form of the burning village of Hogsmeade, which had fortunately been evacuated weeks ago after the first failed attack on Hogwart's, after which much of the village had been destroyed by frustrated Death Eaters.
Moments later, large groups of hooded figures in dark robes flew swiftly into the grounds of Hogwart's from all directions, most of them mounted on broomsticks, though I could see a small group of four or five of them riding Thestrals - very rare black winged horses - we would have to keep watch of those, Thestrals were known for their ability to make themselves invisible.
For a moment, I could - from the outlook I was standing on with Harry, so very visible to them once they were close enough to the castle, merely gasp at the number of them. Of course, Voldemort would assemble all of his followers for the final conquest of Hogwart's he had obviously planned, knowing that Dumbledore was still here - but that so many wizards and witches, some of whom I probably knew from my parent's and even went to school with at my time, had gone over to the Dark Side... this was more terrifying than any thought of what they would do to us if we were captured.
Harry beside me kept an air of confidence and acceptance I truly admired, though I could see he gripped tightly on his wand, and both of his hands were shaking.
When they had broken in close enough for spell-casting, the first differently coloured lightning bolts passed between the sides, though Harry was still standing next to me unmoving, merely blocking a spell now and then.
The other member's of our small resistance group were placed strategically around the castle - Dumbledore himself I couldn't spot at the time, though I knew he had to be doing something.
Closer and closer they came, and it was hard to recognise much of anything through the whiz of colours produced by spells, hexes and curses all over the place. All I could think was to defend myself and Harry against anything that came into our direction, and make sure he was still at my side.
The battle raged. The four - I could only see four now, had I imagined the fifth? - riders with their Thestrals raced towards the castle, attacking, I think, Severus Snape and someone I couldn't recognise standing beside him, and were only stopped by a huge plant that suddenly erupted from the ground, it's large coils moving seemingly of their own volition, winding around the Death Eater's and their horses, inflicting multiple boils on them at every contact.
I checked the horizon feverishly every now and again - had Charlie and his friends made it to England? Or were they intercepted on the way?
Harry, still safely beside me, was now hurling various curses upon the groups of attackers, though I could tell he was holding back for his own final battle with the Dark Lord himself, and I dealt out a vast share of them myself, though the blazing lights from my own curses hindered my sight even more.
And then I saw them, high above us in the sky, sweeping across the clouds, flying in from the west - four large beast, flying in a circle above the castle before launching their own attack. Charlie with his swift green Romanian Longhorn, Colin on a huge Ukrainian Ironbelly, Mitchell riding the Norwegian Ridgeback Norbert, and Phil on the terrifying fire-breathing Hungarian Horntail had come through, and had joined us in the final battle.
Descending and sweeping up high again, the dragons (and the curses of their riders) inflicted great damage on the numbers of Death Eater's, though I could see the Ironbelly's metallic scales were dyed in dark, crimson dragon blood, and Mitchell's dragon was swaying slightly to the left while flying - obviously some damage to his right wing.
And then, just when victory was turning towards our side through the appearance of the dragons, so many things happened almost simultaneously I lost count - first, a Peruvian Vipertooth, a small but swift dragon, attacked Mitchell's animal, driving it's poisonous fangs into the other creature's neck, whereupon both dragons fell from the sky in a death claw. Secondly, Harry next to me swung onto his Firebolt and with the speed only a superb seeker for many years could must flew off in the direction of where the dragons were going down, as if through wonder catching Mitchell out of the air just before he smashed into the ground near the Quidditch field, and even more miraculously did not crash into the broom shed despite Mitchell's extra weight.
The third thing that happened - and for this I could have cursed myself at that moment, I *had* sawn five riders - was that a large Thestral carrying one of the Death Eaters appeared right in front of me.
"Silencium," the Death Eater hissed at me, in a voice strangely familiar, though I could not place it, and I felt my jaw clench - an effective means of making sure I could do no magic at all, since though I had learned to perform some spells and curses without a wand, I had never mastered the art of silent spell-casting (something that only mute wizard's seemed to posses a talent for, therefore making up for not being able to perform magic through ordinary means).
Positive I had met my end, I tried to at least defend myself through non-magical means for a short time, I refused to give up with a fight - but surprisingly, I was not killed, but bound and placed behind the Death Eater on the large winged horse.
We flew across the grounds, while my abductor masterfully dodged all curses thrown towards him, in direction of the Quidditch field, where I spotted the two fallen dragons still clutching at each other's throats - the Ridgeback was looking very weak by now, the poison had probably set - and...
Harry. Standing there, alone amidst a cruel carnival of colours, standing protectively in front of the still figure of Mitchell, his wand extended.
The last thing I noticed was that the Earth was shaking, and in a hurricane of deep black that twirled directly in front of Harry, the Dark Lord himself appeared, smiling cruelly upon my dearest friend, that I had come to love.
Lord Voldemort had returned to Hogwart's himself...
Then my consciousness faded to black.