Malfoy watched as the girl reveled in the carnage. He had to admit that she orchestrated the attack with a beautiful rhythm. She had killed enough of the aurors that the Royal Guard would not be a threat for years, which had been one half of the goals for their end of the attack. Using the creatures as cover, she limited their numerical and talent advantage and now, with only isolated pockets fighting the escaped creatures, she was moving on to the second portion. Though he burned at the necessity of kowtowing to her, he very much enjoyed the spectacle unfolding in Cansbury.
"Malfoy."
"Yes, mistress?" They stood in the center of the now empty dragon pens.
"They should be arriving soon. Harry them as best you can. I doubt they will bring those children, that Potter and his friends, but they will probably have the Watcher and the vampire, and possibly even the Slayer. None of those can be allowed to enter the Refuge. I wish to face Grey without other interference."
"I concur, mistress." She turned her black eyes on him, and Lucius Malfoy feared instant death.
"When I want your opinion, I will give it to you, you sniveling worm. Now, make certain that our people engage in hit and run attacks only. The longer we drag this out, the better. I will handle my fiancee; you need not spare any forces to aid me." Malfoy nodded, afraid to speak. "I want to know the second they arrive."
Spike never felt so stupid in his life. He left Draco on the roof, pondering his future. Spike doubted the boy could join his father's evil forces now; his distaste for old Lucius ran very deep. Lost in thought comparing Draco's circumstance and his own, he blundered right into them.
"My Spike," Drusilla said. Her voice still carried the same currents of lace underthings and violent dismemberment.
"Dru," he said, taking in the dozen minions she had with her. "Surprised to see you, luv. How are things?"
"You've been nice," she went on, not truly listening. "Now, we'll just have to make you naughty. I've found the perfect room for it, too. Come along, Miss Edith. If you're good, mummy will let you watch."
One of the minions poked him in the side with a sword. He had no choice.
The floo network had gone down in Cansbury. Hardly surprised, Dumbledore whistled up his enchanted coach. As they landed at the outskirts of the town, Willow could hardly absorb the sight.
More than half the town lay gutted. Smoking hulks of buildings puffed dying breaths of smoke, while others leaked rivers of flame from windows and doors. The screams drowned out any semblance of conversation. As a dark undercurrent they could hear the beating of wings and the stomping of hooves.
"My god," Dumbledore said. He had not been prepared for the magnitude of the carnage. "Willow, Tara … we must contain this."
"How?" Willow asked.
"M-maybe an air dome? It would keep the dragons contained if we made it big enough," Tara said. She had read about the spell earlier in the week.
"That requires a tremendous amount of power," Dumbledore said. "I do not, I fear, have the necessary capability to create a large enough one."
"What's an air dome?"
"A shell of concentrated air, Will. Sort of like a force field."
"It's elemental magic like the flamey ice, right, professor?"
"Yes, Willow, it is."
"Could the three of us do it, if you drew from our power?" He thought about the mechanics of that.
"Yes. It will draw on quite a bit more of your reserves than you have used previously, though. You may risk losing control." She thought about that and decided she could handle it.
"I can deal with elemental magic. I have been for years. We don't have a whole lot of Plan B's." Dumbledore agreed, knowing it would be a difficult but workable solution.
"I'm going in there," Grey said. He had been quietly observing the discussion and the town.
"You can't …"
He cut her off.
"I'm useless here. Somebody has to get in there and disrupt what they're doing. You're all needed here, right?" Dumbledore nodded. "Case closed."
Cautiously, Willow acquiesced. She put her arms around Grey and kissed him.
"Be careful. She's here. I can feel her."
"You too." He slipped his impassive mask on and took off for the Refuge at a dead run.
Spike had disappeared, and Giles had no more time to look. Two children from Slytherin house, Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson, were missing as well. Dumbledore and the others would arrive at the Refuge in less than an hour. Any attack that would come, would come now.
In a cruel irony, the thought finished just as he heard the rising tide of shouts and crashes.
Rounding the corner, he found Snape and Malfoy hurling curses in all directions. Several vampires, fangs bared and growling, closed on the retreating pair. Pulling a stake from his robe, Giles took one of them from behind. The other vampires never noticed, nor did his allies.
"Snape! This way is clear! Hurry!" The Potions Master caught Giles' voice over the din. He grabbed Malfoy's shoulder and roughly shoved him towards the Watcher.
"ENFUEGO!" Snape's curse created a curtain of fire in front of him. Tapestries began to smolder and catch as the fire spread down the hall in both directions. The flame easily consumed the vampires; Snape barely triggered a countercurse before it finished him off as well. Breathing heavily, he limped back to Giles and Malfoy. His left leg had not escaped the fire entirely, and he could feel the burnt skin cracking as he walked.
"The Parkinson girl?" Giles asked.
"No sign," Snape responded, shaking his head.
"How could vampires get in the castle? Don't they need an invitation?"
"Yes, Draco," Giles answered. "I believe that is where we will find the body of Miss Parkinson, next to whatever door they entered." His eyes hardened. "Come along quickly. Gryffindor is closest. We can leave Mr. Malfoy there and discuss a course of action with Minerva." Snape nodded, and they headed for the stairwell.
"Someone needs to investigate," Harry was saying when Giles walked in.
"You don't even know if he's there," Neville countered.
"I saw it. It took awhile to figure it out, but I know that room." He saw Giles listening intently. "I think I know where Spike is. I saw the room in my vision, but it took some time to figure it out."
"Where would that be, Mr. Potter?" Snape growled.
"Your classroom, Professor." The older man gaped. "I forgot at first, but it has that viewing platform in the rear. That's the balcony I saw."
"We need Spike if we're to stop Drusilla," Giles commented.
"What do you suggest, Rupert?" McGonagall had just entered from the girls dormitory, flanked by Hermione and Ginny. "Vampires are your area of expertise, after all."
Giles walked over to a chair by the hearth. Abruptly, he lifted it into the air and snapped a leg off over his knee.
"We need some additional stakes. Then I think the three of us," he indicated the three teachers, "should attempt to retrieve Spike." He looked at Harry and his friends. All of the other students had fled the common room for the safety of their individual dormitories. "You are not under any circumstances to leave this room. We saw several vampires in the hall; based on that, Drusilla will have at least ten more with her. If this is related to the attack at the Refuge, as Harry's vision indicated, she will likely have a number of Death Eaters. It is far too dangerous for the five of you to enter the fray." They nodded.
Snape waved his wand and whispered an incantation. A pile of stakes appeared on the floor. Giles and McGonagall each grabbed two, as did Snape.
"Do not leave this room," Giles emphasized. The Gryffindors nodded. Without another word the three professors departed.
"What now?" Ron asked. Harry answered him, his voice quiet.
"We wait."
The knife twisted in Spike's side. He bit a hole in his lip to hold in the scream. Blood flowed from his mouth, and Drusilla's cold tongue ran along his jaw.
"Oh, Spike, you've been such a bad boy. I can still feel her on you, you know. Your precious Slayer."
"What are you here for, Dru?"
"Why, to get my Spike back, of course." She gave him the look she always did, the one where she wasn't really seeing him. "And to play with all the nice kiddies. He wanted me to come and play. That's why he gave me all these friends."
"Who's he, luv?"
"The snake man," she said dreamily. He had forgotten how completely off her rocker Drusilla was. If anything, she seemed even more disconnected then when he last saw her. "Do you remember the animal show?"
"What, pet?"
"The cartoons with the little animals, and the bad snake man."
"Not a bloody clue what you're talking about. Sorry."
She lashed out viciously, raking his face with her nails.
"Miss Edith says I should carve the Slayer out of you. Would you like that, Spike?" She slid the knife from his body. "I think I'll start with your legs."
As the knife gouged his thigh, Spike gave in and screamed.
The main thoroughfare of Cansbury barely existed any longer. Grey saw red and blue draped bodies, some beaten and others charred. The Royal Guard. Other bodies littered the streets, wizard and muggle alike. As he dodged between a stream of marauding combatants and frightened civilians, he forced himself to ignore the consequences of not stopping to help them. He turned left onto a residential street with no sign. Some of the houses were rubble, but many were intact. The boulevard itself opened widely, and he raced down it to the outskirts of town. Five hundred yards away he could see the gates to the Refuge.
Between his location and the gates, four Guardsmen battled eight Death Eaters. They weren't winning. With no real choice in the matter, Grey lunged into the fray. His lightsaber came out unbidden, the low buzzing still audible amidst all the carnage. He came up next to one of the aurors, a small man named Jaret that he knew from training. Jaret hurled fireballs at two of his assailants, who easily dodged; they responded with two curses, one brilliant blue and the other deep black in color.
Grey leaped in front of Jaret and deftly intercepted the spells.
"Grey! What the bleedin' 'ell are you doing 'ere?"
Grey didn't respond, choosing instead to race forward and skewer the nearest Death Eater. The other turned on him, flinging a pulsing red curse. Unwilling to find out what it was, Grey intercepted it and lashed out with his right foot. His kick caught the dark wizard on the shoulder. Startled by the physical attack, the Death Eater froze. One of Jaret's fireballs finished him off.
"Thanks," Jaret said, running over. "Right bastards, these ones are. Hit 'em others from behind?" Grey nodded.
The other Death Eaters had taken out one of the aurors. Jaret and Grey circled around behind them as they closed on the last two; Jaret's voice rang out loudly.
"TERRA DISRUPTO!" A brown sphere shot from his wand, landing among the robed figures. The ground began to roll beneath the Death Eaters, as if someone shook out a green bed sheet. Miniature hills came to life and disappeared as quickly as they formed. All of the dark wizards flew into the air, heaved off their feet by the suddenly furious tumult. As they landed, they came face to face with the point of Grey's lightsaber. The battle ended quickly.
Grey kept his lightsaber out. Despite his aid, all three aurors eyed him carefully.
"Are you…"
"Not with her," he told Jonathan, the youngest of the three.
"What are yeh doin' here, then?" asked Donnie, the third man.
"I work at Hogwarts, with Albus Dumbledore. He and two professors are trying to form an air dome."
"Makes a good bit o' sense," Jaret said. "Where?"
"Far side of main. They could use some cover." The three aurors nodded simultaneously.
"What abou' you?"
"I'm going in after her."
"All those Death Eaters, plus her," Jonathan said. "You positive you don't need the cover?"
"No," he said, his eyes burning. "Better that you help save some lives. I'm going to finish this. Alone."