Chapter Thirty-four: Battle Lines
Summary: Thirty-fourth chapter. Fifteen to go. That about sums it up.
Sirius and Arabella wasted no time in gathering up Harry and heading by portkey to Hogsmeade. Once there they headed straight for the castle, where they met by a group of men in black robes, led by Alastor Moody.
"Wondered when you three were showing up, Arabella." Moody stated.
"We only got the letter this morning." Sirius countered. "We came as fast as we could. What's going on?"
But Moody's gaze had fallen to Harry. "Why bring the boy? He's no part of this."
"Harry is a great deal part of this, Alastor." Dumbledore replied, coming through the crowd. He smiled as he set is eyes on the three new arrivals. "Ah, Arabella, Sirius, and Harry. Good of you to come so quickly."
"And as yet we have no idea why you summoned us, Headmaster." Sirius replied. "Least of all why it was necessary to bring Harry."
"Our spies have come back to us with reports that they have found Voldemort's stronghold. It's a rare opportunity for us to act on the offensive and catch them unaware. But there's likely to be quite a few of them and we'll need every available Auror to take as many of them alive as we can. You and Arabella will be welcome additions to our numbers, Sirius."
Sirius snorted out a sarcastic laugh. "I have no doubt of Arabella's ability to be of use, Headmaster." He replied. "But myself? I can still barely float a teacup let alone fight a Deatheater. What good will I be?"
"You may not have your magic fully back yet, Sirius. But you still have your mind. And you are still one of the best tacticians I know. You will be invaluable, I feel, in planning the attack and making sure it is executed effectively."
"And what about Harry? I'll not have my godson in the middle of something this dangerous, Dumbledore."
The Headmaster stared back at Sirius without saying a word.
Arabella suddenly put herself between Harry and the old wizard's stare.
"No!" She cried, anger burning in her eyes. "He's only a little boy! How can you even suggest...?"
"I think we would do better to discuss this inside."
"We'll discuss it here, Dumbledore." Sirius stated in a tone he had never used when addressing the Headmaster of Hogwart's.
Dumbledore looked about at the others gathered, then turned back to Sirius. "We think we have found a spell that could well defeat Voldemort. It could in fact kill him. However, one of the provisions of this spell is it has to be spoken by Harry."
"Why my godson?"
"The spell is based on righting a wrong. The greater the injustice done to the one casting the spell, the stronger the spell will be."
"And you don't think twelve years of my life stolen from me is a great enough injustice?"
"Voldemort did not steal those years from you, Sirius. Pettigrew did. But for Harry, Voldemort was the only person directly responsible for the deaths of his parents. He has the strongest claim against Voldemort of any one of our members. So the spell's greatest success rests with Harry."
Sirius was barely containing his outrage. "He is fifteen years old, Dumbledore." He hissed between his teeth. "How can you asked such a thing of him? How can you asked it of Arabella and myself? To take our godson into that pit of snakes? Have you lost your mind? Or think we have?"
"Sirius..." Dumbledore began in his usual calm voice. But Sirius quickly cut him off.
"No." He stated solidly. "Arabella and I will not subject Harry to this. I can't believe you ever thought we would. He is our godson. We swore to protect him. What you're suggesting goes against everything we have tried to do for him. My answer, as his godfather, as his legal guardian, is 'no'. And if you persist in this madness, Dumbledore, I promise you, we'll take Harry and leave. And you'll likely never see any of us again. You know how good I am at hiding when I put my mind to it."
Dumbledore stared at Sirius for a moment longer, as though testing the man's sincerity in the threat. But slowly he turned his eyes to Harry, who had stood through the whole exchange behind his godmother, peering around the corner of her robes at the two men.
But Arabella quickly shifted her position to again cut Harry out of Dumbledore's view. This was not a decision Harry should have to make. Harry would naturally side with the greater good, ignoring his own safety for that of others. Sirius was right. This wasn't a decision for a fifteen year old to be making.
Sirius quickly pulled Arabella and Harry back over to him.
"If this is what you summoned us here to discuss, Headmaster, the meeting is ended. We want to see an end to Voldemort's reign as much as any one of you." He added, looking over the gathered wizards and witches, "But what one of you would be willing to put a child of yours in Harry's place? Knowing the danger. Knowing the possible outcome? What one of you would risk your child?"
Sirius pulled a small green stone out of his robes and held it in his hand. "We will be at the house if you wish to contact us further." Sirius stated shortly, then squeezed the stone tightly in his hand and the three of them vanished.
When they finally reappeared with a small popping noise, Sirius suddenly grabbed hold of Harry and Arabella and pulled them closer to him.
It took Arabella a few seconds to realize what had alarmed him. Nothing around her looked familiar. They certainly weren't in the cozy living room of Sirius' house. Or anywhere else near it from her recollection. Instead they were standing in a large field. One that seemed overcast and gray.
Arabella looked about worriedly. "Where are we, Sirius?" She whispered.
Sirius already had his wand out as he stood crouched a bit lower than his full height, looking about.
"Wherever it is you can bet it isn't good." He replied.
Before Arabella could say another word, Sirius suddenly yelled a spell out. Seconds later popping noises were heard all around them as black robed figures began appearing around them. Everyone one of them wore a mask.
Harry gave a slight cry as he pulled back from one of the figures that lunged at him. But to his amazement the Deatheater stopped several feet from him as though held back by an invisible wall.
"That won't hold forever." Arabella stated, indicating Sirius' protective circle that he had cast around the three of them.
"It'll hold for now." Sirius replied. "Hopefully long enough for us to sort this out."
"There's only one thing to sort out." Arabella stated, her gaze shifting to her godson who stayed crouched in front of her. "We have to protect Harry."
Harry turned to her, but was just as quickly distracted again as a loud, warped sound vibrated around them. Harry looked up. A Deatheater had cast a spell at the protective wall, causing a swirl of color to erupt just above them, then fade.
"Sirius...?" Arabella turned to him with a concerned stare.
"Protection charms are my best right now, Arabella." Sirius reassured her. "It'll hold."
Another vibration shook the sphere around them, a wave of colors washing through it.
"We have to get Harry out of here." Arabella stated firmly. "If we lift the charm, he can use one of the portkeys to get back to Hogwarts while we distract them."
Before Harry could protest, Sirius blocked the plan. "The portkeys are how they got to us to begin with. We don't know that they haven't tapped into all of them by now. If Harry uses one, they could hijack him right to Voldemort's liar for all we know."
"Then what?" Arabella asked, her voice deceptively calm as another vibration shook the sphere and washed it in bright colors.
"We can use an apparation charm. They would have no time to try and intercept it and it will take him straight to Hogwarts. Safe and sound." Sirius stated, looking off to the distance at a small forest of trees.
Another vibration sounded, this one louder than the last.
Arabella turned quickly to Sirius, her expression one of coolly masked concern.
Sirius grabbed Harry by the shoulders and stared straight into his eyes.
"Now listen to me, Harry." He stated firmly. "You have to do exactly as I say. Arabella is going to place an apparation charm on you. All you have to do is think of where you want to go and the charm will take you there. But you can't apparate from within the protection charm. So I'm going to have to drop the spell. When I do, I want you to run for those trees as fast as you can. The farther you are from the protection charm, the better the apparation charm will work. Stun anything that gets in front of you or tries to stop you, you understand?"
"But Sirius..." Harry plead.
"Do as I say, Harry!" Sirius stated almost harshly. "When you get to the trees you think of Hogwarts and say the spell Arabella is going to teach you. It will take you back to the castle gates. Tell them what's happened."
"But what about you and Arabella?" Harry asked quickly.
Sirius didn't answer. But the silence confirmed Harry's fear.
"No!" He stated as firmly as he could. "You can't stay. They'll kill you. You know they will."
Arabella turned her godson to her as another vibration shook the air around them
"Harry, I told you once before that the day may come when you might have to leave us behind."
Harry's eyes filled with tears at her words.
"Now the only way any of us will survive is if you do as we say now. Sirius and I are trained for these sorts of situations. We know how to handle Deatheaters." She past a forced smile to Sirius who quickly returned it as he looked at Harry.
"Don't worry about us, Harry. We've been a lot worse off than this. But we need to know you're safe. You just do as I said. Stun anything that gets near you and run as fast as you can."
Harry stared up at his godfather. He doubted the tightness forming in his chest was going to let him run very fast at all. His fear of the Deatheaters was nothing to him compared to the fear he felt now that he might never see his beloved godparents again.
"But I can fight." He whispered hoarsely.
"Not this time." Sirius replied sternly. "Arabella and I will create a flash that'll blind them for a few seconds. You run straight north to the trees. Apparate as soon as you reach them, you understand?"
Harry nodded mutely, a line of tears already running down his face. He listened as attentively as he could as Arabella taught him the word to activate the apparation charm, repeating it to her when she asked. When they were finished, Harry watched as his godfather raised his wand.
"You do as I said, Harry. Let us know you're safe at least."
Harry felt his mind suddenly lapse into a state of indecision. How could Sirius expect him to leave them? But he had to. He had promised Sirius as much. When the spell was dropped, he had to run with all his might.
But how could he leave them behind?
He couldn't.
He just couldn't.
He heard Sirius start to speak the spell when a sudden cry rang out, stopping him in mid-phrase.
Chaos immediately erupted around them. Deatheaters were scattering as fast as they could, running in every direction at once.
Harry looked about for the source of the disturbance. He didn't have far to look. From behind a group of scattering Deatheaters several unmasked men in black robes suddenly appeared. Several of the Deatheaters fell to the ground almost immediately. Harry watched in stunned silence as the black robed men began grabbing Deatheaters, inflicting what damage they could on their adversaries at point-blank range.
Harry had never seen wizards or witches attacking anyone like this. The attack seemed so well planned that within minutes the Deatheaters were without question on the defensive. Several were offering themselves up without any resistance. But the black robed figures seemed to care little for who was surrendering and who was pointing a wand at them. They responded to both with the same cold indifference.
From behind him Harry heard Arabella breath a sigh of relief.
"I never thought I would ever be happy to see the ministry." She whispered.
Harry looked across the field at one of the ministry members pursuing a Deatheater. He seized the figure by the back of the robes and threw him bodily to the ground. Once the Deatheater was down his attacker jabbed his wand into the robes. The Deatheater's body shook violently, as though a sudden jolt of electricity had been sent through it.
"Ministry?" Harry whisper in a puzzled tone. Surely these couldn't be the bumbling ministry of magic members that Sirius was always ridiculing. The acts of the people he was watching to Harry boarded on brutal and callous. Much like those of the Deatheaters themselves.
Harry tried to remind himself that the Deatheaters weren't likely getting anything they hadn't earned, but the rationalization still didn't make the scene any less difficult to witness.
Harry suddenly found himself pulled to his feet as Sirius dropped the protection spell around them. As quickly as they could, both his godparents were directing him across the field, stunning any Deatheater that got too close as they worked to get him away from the worse of the fighting. Moments later Harry found himself standing in the shadow of the very trees Sirius had told him to run to before. His godmother quickly turned his face to her.
"You stay here, Harry." She stated firmly. "Sirius and I have to help if we can. But we need you to be safe. We'll place a protection spell around you that'll stay in place until you're back at Hogwarts. None of the Deatheaters should be able to get through it. If they do," she added with a soft smile, "you scream like a two year old. See how fast your godmother arrives."
"Still be three seconds behind your godfather." Sirius winked at him as he headed briskly back toward the field, wand in hand.
"But Arabella..." Harry started. How could they consider going to fight? Why would they do something so dangerous?
Arabella seemed to read his mind in his concerned expression.
"This is just 'clean-up', Harry." She explained. "The real fight is over. We just need to let the Deatheaters in on it. OK?"
Harry managed a small smile. "Just be careful." He whispered. "And watch out for Sirius. He's still not up to snuff."
"He'll be fine." Arabella promised, kissing the top of his head as she turned to leave. "But I'll look out for him. Don't worry. You just stay here."
Harry watched her head back towards the field, which now looked like the sight of some great battle. Scorched patches of earth billowed up clouds of smoke that drifted across the rest of the grass plain, causing figures to fade in and out of his view.
For several minutes Harry stared out over the field when a sudden movement caught his eyes. A lone figure was heading for the trees. Short, squat, and low to the ground, it was practically crawling as it hurried along to what it seemed to perceive as safety. So intent was the little figure that it scuttled within a few feet of the tree Harry's godparents had left him standing by without even seeming to notice him.
But Harry noticed the figure. What was more, he recognized it.
Wormtail.
Harry watched in stunned silence as Pettigrew hurried through the trees.
He turned back to the field for a few seconds, looking for his godparents as he struggled with his decision. He caught sight first of Sirius, standing with one of the black robed ministry members. Off to his left Harry caught sight of his godmother, her brown hair being blown about by the wind as she stunned several Deatheaters attempting to make a run for freedom.
Convinced they both seemed in no immediate danger, Harry turned and started after the lone figure hurrying through the trees.