Chapter 22 Battle
Harry was awoken to the sounds of people screaming and explosions outside his window. Jumping out of bed he ran to the window and his blood ran cold. Deatheaters and dementors, he shivered involuntarily, they can't actually be attacking the school. His mind flashed back to this evening, to what Cat had seen. He still couldn't believe it, Voldemort wouldn't dare, not as long as Dumbledore was here. Yet they were there, and many of the teachers were already outside trying to defend the school and protect the students.
Grabbing his wand and a coat Harry woke Ron, as they ran to the common room to find out exactly where everyone was, he ran into Hermione, Fred and George on the way down the stairs, "its Voldemort" Harry yelled to them, "Cat said to keep the younger students inside the tower" he was trying to find Ginny, he knew he could rely on her.
"Harry, where are they, what are we going to do" Hermione yelled across the crowded common room.
"Find Ginny," Harry yelled back, "then meet me at the fireplace" grabbing Ron he quickly got to the fire. "Ron where are Fred and George? I thought they were right here."
"Oy, here we are. So anyone got a plan then?" George said looking at Harry.
"According to Miss MacLeod, there aren't that many of them. If we go out now and use patronuses on the dementors, and let the teachers handle the deatheaters, we should all be alright" Harry said anxiously
"And exactly how would Miss MacLeod know that, read it in her tea leaves did she" Hermione was not in the mood for this, not when so many people were in danger.
"No Hermione, listen, just believe me, she and I talked to Dumbledore tonight, he believes her too" Harry looked imploringly at her, he didn't have time to argue the point.
"What should I do, I don't know how to make a patronus yet." Ginny had become quite pale in the last few minutes, Harry smiled at her kindly, he knew how she felt.
"Ginny, I want you to stay here with the younger students, keep them calm and keep them in the tower. If anything happens one of the teachers will come to get you. Okay?" Harry asked, sounding much surer than he truly felt.
Ginny nodded and took a deep breath. She and Hermione rounded up the students and herded them into the dorms, trying to explain with as little detail as possible what was happening outside.
Meanwhile, Cat was startled out of sleep by a loud banging at her door. "Kitty, come on, they're here!" it was Remus. Springing out of bed Cat yelled back "Remus, its open, I'll be right there" she paused only to grab a jewelled and silver package from off the foot of her bed.
"Brought the family jewels I see" Remus said sarcastically, as they began running to the front hall.
"Hey, you know me. Prepared for anything." Cat shot back as they reached the front door. "Ready Lupy?" she looked at Remus with smile on her face.
"Always" he looked outside at the approaching forces "Think we'll make it back alive?"
Cat answered by grabbing his hand interlocking his fingers with hers "When have we not?" she paused long enough to throw down part of the silver package. As the echoes of metal striking stone passed through the hall, Cat and Remus ran outside and into the fray.
Severus Snape had entered the hall just in time to watch Remus and Cat leave. He had yelled out to them but they were to far gone to hear him. As he rushed to join them, his attention was drawn to the item Cat had dropped as she left. He paused to stop and pick it up, bejewelled and silver, ornately engraved, it was practically a work of art on its own, yet the sight of it made his blood run cold. It was a scabbard, one which belonged to a particular clan, and the sword was missing.
When Hermione returned they left the common room and quickly made their way down to the great hall, only to run headlong into Professor Snape who quickly hid something inside of his robes. "And what exactly are you doing out of your tower?" he asked, a frighteningly cold tone to his voice.
"Outside, deatheaters, we need to stop them" Ron said breathlessly
"Thank you Mr. Weasley, I am quite well aware of the situation. Now return to your common room at once." he was positively menacing now "Stay out of the way and leave."
"Are you mad" Harry yelled "Do you really think he's just going to go away. We need to fight."
"Potter perhaps you did not understand Professor Dumbledore when he spoke with you earlier. Now, return to your tower immediately." he gave Harry a deadly gaze.
"But Cat is out there....."
"Miss MacLeod is NOT your concern" he was positively snarling "return to your tower NOW Mr. Potter" Harry returned Snape's angry glare as he turned, headed towards the tower.
"Harry" Ron whispered, "we're not going to leave Remus and Cat out there, right."
"Right, just keep walking." Harry murmured softly "He'll have to leave soon."
Snape stood there, watching the young Gryffindors walk towards their tower. "Idiot children, they are going to get themselves killed yet" he thought. Still, he did admire their bravery, foolish though it was, it would take a small miracle if they managed to get through the year without losing another student, or teacher.
Taking one last look around the hall to make sure no other students were stumbling towards an untimely death, Snape quickly left to join the others outside, who were busy defending the school and its students.
"Has he left yet?" Fred asked. The friends were huddled inside one of the many storage closets along the hall.
"I think so" Harry replied "Come on, lets go,"
"Hermione, are you sure your going to be alright?" Ron asked her "You look kinda pale, not scared are you."
"Scared, of course not" she said with a trembling voice "Why are you?"
"Me no, not at all, just wanted to make sure you were, you know, alright" Ron said, giving her a half-hearted smile.
Smirking at their little brother Fred and George couldn't resist "Oh Fred, I'm so scared, hold me" George squealed "O my love, I'll protect you" Fred responded, grinning madly as Ron scowled at them.
Harry had to laugh, they were all going to fight against Voldemort, probably coming back injured, or worse, and still Fred and George were joking. Some things never change, he thought thankfully.
Harry's mind was soon turned to more urgent matters as they came upon the battle. The teachers were holding their own, making sure no one got close to the school, but Harry was still surprised at the number of people here. He was sure Cat had said it was nothing, she seemed sure she and Remus could handle it. But there where a lot of dementors here along with deatheaters, and she had mentioned something about creatures she couldn't identify.
Harry and his friends quickly filled in the gaps along the line of defence. Sending out patronuses against the dementors to give the teachers a chance to focus their attention on the deatheaters. Harry was still concerned about Remus and Cat, he couldn't see them anywhere, but he knew he needed to keep his spirits up, he needed happy thoughts to make a patronus, he thought about his friends, his godfather, about the joy he would feel when they could all be together again.
Hagrid came up behind Harry "What'r ye doin here Harry. Student are suppose to be inside" he gave Harry a scolding look, but was kept to busy by the half dozen drakes he had with him to chase the children back inside.
"I'm helping Hermione, she's head girl. We're supposed to be here" Harry felt bad lying to Hagrid but he didn't have time to argue "What are you doing with the drakes?"
"Professor Dumbledore says tha they'll come in handy t'nite." he said as he dragged the drakes off to were Albus Dumbledore was standing. Harry looked over at Dumbledore guiltily, in between summoning his patronus.
Dumbledore looked at Harry over his half-moon glasses and shook his head slowly. It was not as though he actually expected Harry to listen to him, too much had happened in the past to even let the thought pass his mind. But still, Harry may not be prepared for what was going to happen, they were fighting by different rules this time. People were going to die, no matter who they were, that was not going to be an easy thing for someone as young as he and his friends to understand.
Harry moved closer to Hermione and Ron, trying to ask them if they had seen Cat or Remus. Neither of them had and Harry was really getting worried. He expected to see them fighting along side the other teachers, but they weren't around, he hoped nothing had happened to them. Next to Sirius they were the most important people in his life. He tried to think of what it would be like when all four of them would be together, tried to imagine how much joy and happiness they would share. He needed to believe that day would come, he needed to keep the patronus coming to protect that dream and his friends.
Hermione cried out to him "Harry, look over there, I think its Remus"
Harry looked over to where Hermione had pointed, she was right, it was Remus, surrounded by dementors. But what was that silvery flash, it didn't look big enough for one of Remus's patronus, and there was something else with him, something light blue, moving really fast. What ever it was, it seemed to be following the silver flashes around, and it never moved very far from Remus. Maybe it was Cat's patronus, she wasn't very tall, its not like he would be able to see her over Remus and the dementors, Harry shivered at the thought of them being surrounded like that. At least whatever they were doing, it seemed to be working, the dementors kept dropping back, in fact, it seemed that no matter how many came near them, their numbers didn't seem to increase.
Harry was beginning to tire out, Hermione and Ron had already stepped back to allow older students to take their places, but Harry was to concerned about who was missing. With all this action going on, he just knew Voldemort would be around somewhere, he had to be. His scar was hurting too much for him not to be on the grounds.
"Potter" Harry heard his name being screamed out. Oh no, not Snape. Just what he needed, he already felt half-dead and now this.
"Potter, get inside, now" Snape was livid, why couldn't the boy listen, just once. "Move" was he honestly so stupid. How could he not realize they came for him, he should be inside, protected, not out here, a willing target. Stupid boy, he takes after his father, seems to have delusions of being immortal..........
Harry could hardly stand up right now, he didn't need to hear it from Snape. He'd suffer through detention later, he was not going to let his friends down. He wasn't going to let there be another Cedric, not ever. If Voldemort was so obsessed with killing him then he would have to come out into the open to do it. Snape was still yelling something at him, he just couldn't understand him anymore, he was getting too weak to hold on much longer, he felt as if he were going to pass out.
"NO" Harry heard Hermione scream, as he turned to find her, he was knocked to his knees by an explosion. Looking up he saw figures approaching. One was covered in a red and black robe, the other was a dementor.
"Well, well, who do we have here?" the deatheater said sarcastically, twirling his wand in his fingers. "Lord Voldemort will be very pleased to see you Mr. Potter" he signalled to the dementor, who began to move towards Harry.
Harry's stomach lurched, he was beginning to feel cold inside, he couldn't breath right. He felt like he was being drowned in icy water, gasping desperately for every lungful of air, as he began to black out his mind drifted to what Cat had said about drowning. Something about don't fight it, relax, ride the wave, have faith in your friends. Nice thought, with any luck he might be able to tell her about it, the last thing Harry remember hearing was the sound of someone roaring in anger.
Severus was infuriated, how many times would Harry have to go through this before he learned to listen. Summoning his energy he roared "PATRONUS" as a huge silvery hawk emerged from his wand, taking one of the dementors down. Moving quickly, he knocked Harry out of the way as the deatheater flung curses at them.
"You! Snape, you traitor, the Dark Lord will destroy you for this." the deatheater said venomously.
"I think not, Mr. Froste" Severus replied calmly, rising to his feet.
"Think again" the deatheater sneered. "I've fought you before Snape, and I have always beat you" he said taunting the potion master.
Harry watched in amazement, he couldn't believe Snape had just saved his life, and now he was going to fight to protect him. He watched as the deatheater sized Snape up, Harry had never really seen Snape duel, not unless you counted Lockhart, and no one did. Harry had to admit, he was impressive, Snape didn't even flinch when Froste had the three remaining dementors circle around them.
"Just so you don't get any ideas about running" Froste said nastily baring his teeth "Let's begin, shall we...."
Snape easily avoided the first several curses, but then so did Froste. Harry was beginning to wonder if they would even notice if he snuck away, looking around him, he realized the three dementors were still circling them, waiting for their opportunity to strike . If they wanted any chance of getting out of here alive, they needed to do something about the odds. Luckily, it seemed Snape was thinking the very same thing.
"MORTIS RIGORUS GRANITA" Froste screamed
Snape quickly moved out of the way, allowing the curse to strike one of the dementors who had tried to sneak up on him. Harry watched in horror as the dementor quickly turned to stone in front of his eyes.
"You honestly can not expect me to fail so easily" Snape smirked, thankful that it was down to only two dementors. "You are getting careless" he taunted, hoping to get Froste to make another mistake.
Froste eyed him warily "No, I think I know exactly where to attack you" he quickly pointed his wand at Harry and yelled "INCENDIA"
Harry never even had the chance to scream. He saw the bolt of fire coming straight at him, it was going to hit him square in the face. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion as the horrific realization of what was going to happen to him began to sink in. Harry was never going to graduate from Hogwarts, never be able to live with Sirius, never know what it was like to have a family, he would never even see another sunrise. When without warning something black hit Harry hard, knocking him flat on his back. It was Snape, he had thrown himself into the curse to protect him.
"Professor, Professor Snape" Harry wasn't sure if he was still alive or not. His entire left shoulder and arm had been badly burned, the smell of burning flesh was making Harry almost as ill as the realization that Snape had just sacrificed himself to save him.
He heard Froste laughing coldly "Don't worry Potter, I'm not through with him yet." Froste threw Harry off of a half conscious Snape. Dragging the potion master to the foot of one of the dementors Froste nodded. The dementor greedily attacked the wounded Professor, grabbing him roughly by his wounded arm........
Severus groaned as Froste dragged him across the ground, he had never felt such excruciating pain. He was barely able to remain conscious, but he had to keep Voldemort away from Harry, if he ever actually succeeded in killing Harry, the world as anyone knew it would be over. Severus was able to open his eyes just enough to see the dementor approaching him. "NO, not that" he thought, he could not survive his own past. He had known too much horror and pain, suffered too many wounds to be able to live through it again. He felt the warmth being drained from his body, he knew it was inevitable now, he tried to focus his mind on happy memories. His mind went immediately to the walk he had taken with Cat, their first trip back to Hogsmeade together, he willed himself to remember every detail, her voice, her eyes, the scent of the flowers, the touch of her skin against his, her lips. Nothing mattered, he was shivering now, the dementor had found the darkness in him. He screamed as the past played back through his mind. The pain he had suffered at his father's hand, the beatings and the humiliations, being forced to witness the horrors his father inflicted on his mother and sister, being helpless to stop it. Being forced to marry a woman he hardly knew in order to keep the family blood 'pure', to finally know the joy of being a father, to understand what selfless love was only to loose her to a senseless death. Severus was screaming from his soul this time, he couldn't bare anymore he would rather die than suffer through this. Unexpectedly the memories stopped, all he could hear now was Froste laughing and Harry screaming his name.....
Harry was crying, he had never actually seen what a dementor could do to someone, now he had to see it, had to watch Snape's face and hear him scream. Harry was close to losing his mind now, he wanted to kill Froste, how could anyone enjoy this. Harry had always hated Snape, hated him for how he treated him, for what he did to Sirius, but he could never do anything like this, not even to someone as evil as Voldemort.
Froste however was enjoying himself far to much to let Snape die so quickly. He pulled Severus away from the dementor and began torturing him some more. "CRUCIO" Snape was hit hard, his body stiffened in pain, "Don't worry traitor, I'll let you watch what happens to the boy before I kill you" Froste signalled to the dementors again, sending them towards Harry, as he made sure Snape would be able to watch it all. "CRUCIO" he attacked Snape again, his body was wracked in pain, but his eyes remained defiant ...
Harry heard the deatheater laughing cruelly as the dementor approached him. He felt the coldness again, only this time there was no one here to help him, he crumpled to the ground as his mother's screams began to play inside his head. He looked out through bleary eyes only to see the dementor over him, pulling down its hood. Harry wanted to scream, but he didn't have the strength, it was going to be over soon, he would finally see his mother and father. He vaguely heard Snape yelling something about Clannad MacLeod, he was making no sense. But Harry did wish Cat was here, she had a way of making him feel safe and warm. She knew what to do, what to say. Harry wished with every bit of strength in him that MacLeod could be here to tell him what to do.
Almost as soon as the thought went out, Harry felt a calmness coming over him. He knew he wasn't alone anymore, it was like this evening at Hagrid's when he heard MacLeod singing. Harry closed his eyes and concentrated on this feeling, on the warmth it was giving him. He felt the warmth lifting him, protecting him, he could breath again and the coldness was leaving him. He opened his eyes to see the dementors face above him. It was terrifying like something out of a nightmare, its eyes were scabbed over, and the flesh looked as though it had been stolen from a corpse; the only words Harry could find to describe it was unholy. As Harry waited for the dementor's kiss, a flash of silver passed in front of him, accompanied by a heart wrenching cry. The dementor's head fell onto Harry's chest, its face frozen in an eternal scream. Harry yelped as he scurried away from it.
Suddenly all the terror was gone, Harry felt safe and protected, even his strength was returning. Remembering Professor Snape, Harry quickly looked over to where he laid on the ground. The silver flash was in the process of going through the dementor attacking Snape. Harry watched in fascinated horror as a flow of putrid yellow blood followed the trail of the radiant burst of silver light.
Snape's eyes opened in time for him to see Froste bearing down on Harry. Yelling something intelligible again, Snape sprung to his feet just in time to pull Harry out of the way as Froste's body landed heavily, a huge gash across his chest. Looking briefly at Froste's corpse Snape looked at Harry's questioning face "Looks like the ministry just lost another member" he said simply, as he pulled Harry over to the safety of the other students.
"Harry, Professor Snape!!...What happened" Madame Pomfrey seemed a bit panicked. She stared for a moment at them, Harry was covered in blood and dementor ooze, he was a bit shaky but he was alright. Professor Snape on the other hand had not been so lucky. He grimaced painfully as he slid against the wall of the castle, his arm was bleeding badly now, and the burns had only gotten worse. As Madame Pomfrey rushed to attend to Professor Snape, Hermione and Ron ran to make sure Harry was alright.
Shaking himself Harry assured Hermione and Ron that he was uninjured "But what about Professor Snape, he really got hurt?" his sudden concern for Snape alarming Ron.
"Snape, he'll be fine. He always manages, probably deserved it anyway" Ron began off-handedly.
"No! Ron don't ever say that" Harry said angrily "its my fault this happened, he got hurt saving me. He saved my life" he finished softly, looking over to where Snape was being treated.
"Harry" Hermione said earnestly "Snape will be fine. Madame Pomfrey will take good care of him. Right now I'm more concerned about Remus." as she finished she pointed Harry toward the middle of the battle.
Harry's heart caught in his throat. In the middle of the grounds was Remus still surrounded by dementors, although the number of deatheaters appeared to have dropped dramatically. Harry rubbed his eyes, there was that silver flashing again, and this time he saw the blur of light blue that had accompanied it earlier. Harry could barely keep track of it, it kept darting in and out of the enemies, but never straying far away from Remus who was busy sending out patronus after patronus. "Hermione what is that thing, it is some sort of spell Remus is using." Harry was completely perplexed.
"No Harry, not a spell. Take a very close look at it, not the silver part, the blue part" she said patiently, as Ron rolled his eyes
"Go on Harry, see if you can tell" Ron said dramatically "'cause apparently Hermione here is the only one who sees anything."
Harry rubbed his eyes again and tried to focus on Remus and the blue blur, Remus seemed a little tired but besides that completely fine. The blur was moving in and out too quickly for Harry to really see what it was, he noticed it was a shiny light blue, but the flashing of silver light kept distracting him. He looked away from it over to where the teachers were standing, faced off with Voldemort's forces, at least what was left of them. Harry was amazed, with the exception of Snape, no one else really seemed to be hurt.
Harry turned back to Ron and Hermione "What happened, did I miss something? What happened to all those deatheaters, there were at least three dozen when it started!"
"They happened" Hermione said, pointing back to Remus "most of the teachers haven't needed to do anything but keep a few deatheaters and dementors away from the school."
"They happened" Harry said crossly "Hermione what are you talking about 'they' all I see is Remus"
"See, tolda you were losing your mind, Hermione"
"Ron would you please shut up. Now Harry, look out at Remus, don't look directly at the blue thing, let your eyes relax and see what happens" she explained.
Sighing and shrugging his shoulders, Harry did what Hermione asked him to. He looked out at Remus and let himself relax, breathing slowly and deeply he cleared his mind and allowed his eyes to go out of focus slightly. He barely noticed the streak of blue, in fact, it seemed to be slowing down now, and it wasn't exactly blue. There seemed to be flames surrounding it, steering it in between the dementors. Harry tried not to focus, it was like one of those dreams where you try to look closely at something, the minute you open your eyes, you've lost the whole thing. He returned his concentration to Remus, still sending out his silver wolf patronus, he seemed to be moving strangely though, just like the blue fiery thing. Suddenly Harry realized what was happening, Remus could see the blue thing just fine, he was moving in synch with it.
Harry took a deep breath and held it in, the blue thing was going past his line of vision. The flames, or what Harry had thought were flames, it was hair, long red hair, and the silver flashing he had been seeing, it was a sword, she was using a sword against the dementors. Harry must have been blind, he couldn't believe he hadn't seen it before. Harry stood there spellbound as he watched Remus and Cat work together, it was like they knew what the other was going to do before it happened. Remus would send out a patronus to break apart a hole in the dementors and Cat would rush in using her sword to stop them. Harry tried looking closely at her now, she had a wild look in her eyes, and she was covered in blood, her face, her hair, her blue dress, she was drenched in it. Harry closed his eyes and hoped none of it was her own.
"Hermione, what are they doing.." Harry could hardly speak.
"They've been out there like that the whole time" she said slowly "the only time they even came close to us is when you and Snape were in danger. Snape yelled out something, and before I could even blink, she was right there." Hermione didn't need to finish the sentence, Harry understood was she meant.