Chapter nine beta'd 5/22/04
"Crucio!" one of the Death Eaters cursed one of the staff members. Harry realized how badly they were all doing. He rose his wand in the air and shouted.
"Stupefy!" the hex hurled towards the Death Eater that threw the Cruciatus Curse at the professor, which he later realized was Professor Sprout. Instantly, the crucio was pulled off of her and Death Eater knocked out. "Expillarimus!"
He hurled another hex at another Death Eater whom was attacking Professor Flitwick. The Death Eater lost his wand and went hurling into the air and landed with a thud. Harry knew he had an upper hand, since no one had noticed him arriving, but now the others began to notice 'Raven' boy attacking.
"Stupefy!" one of the Death Eaters shouted.
'Protego!' Harry cried, deflecting the Stupefy Hex, which went into the air.
"Furnunculus!" a kid yelled, whom Harry recognized as Neville. He casted the boil hex at a Death Eater who screamed in agony.
"Good one Neville!" Harrry yelled, grinning. Neville looked to who shouted his name, and a face of confusion. "LOOK OUT!"
"Avada Kedavra!" a woman's voice bellowed. Neville didn't registered what just happened and realized only moments too late with a face of horror. The jet of green light headed towards Neville, and dropped dead. "Ha, ha, ha!" the woman shrieked in laughter. "Wasn't that a Longbottom?! Ha, ha, ha!" Harry, feeling furious, and something inside of him snapped.
Neville, the Longbottom, the family had suffered so much by the Death Eaters. He remembered when they were in St. Mungos and saw his mom, tortured beyond insanity, and their own son gone. Neville, his dormmate, his housemate. A fellow classmate who had showed so much promise in the D.A Harry had watched Neville giving his all, fighting along with him. He realized that Neville didn't know who 'Raven' really was. Feeling deep dread, that he couldn't believe another student of Hogwarts had been taken away by the green light.
"YOU'RE DEAD!" Harry enraged, yelling and charging at the Neville's murderer.
"Hey! Who are you?!" she yelled, noticing the dirty brown hair boy heading her way. "Well, no matter, I'll kill you too!" But all the while, Harry had his wand out in front of him, pointing at her, when he realized, a Lestrange who tortured Neville's parents, who had just killed his roommate.
"Stupefy!" Harry bellowed, causing a jet of red light coming out of his wand, straight at Bellatrix and got swept off her feet and knocked out. Then Harry heard footprints coming from behind and twirled around, facing the coming person, with wand to his chest. "Si-Steve!"
"H-Raven, what're you doing here!? You're supposed to be hiding back there!" he said, asking for an explantion.
"Sorry, but I couldn't resist, look out!" 'Raven' shoved Sirius out of the way, conjuring the Protego charm, deflecting the Imediamenta hex back at the attacker. He recognized the attacker straight away. "Wormtail!" Harry spat. Wasting no time, the four males whom surrounded the Death Eater and yelled out.
"Stupefy!" Which caused by a lot of power, because of four magical emitting rage and anger at the weakling. Being knocked off of his feet and hurled five feet into the air and landed with a sickening thud.
"Wow, that doesn't look too good," someone remarked and Harry looked who said those words and saw Remus. He looked at 'Raven' and widened in shock. "H-Raven! What're you doing here!?"
"I asked the same thing, but he won't go back," Sirius muttered.
"Please go back, this isn't safe for you Raven," Lupin pleaded, defending another Death Eaters. Whom are coming in big numbers. "And just how did Voldemort find all of these people!?"
"Where're the Aurors?" Harry asked, sending off another stunning spell.
"No idea, only few Order members are here," Sirius replied. Harry then saw another guy, taller than he is, with red flamming hair and freckles.
"Ron!" Harry exclaimed.
"Huh? Who're you?" Ron replied, suspciously.
"Augh mate! It's me, shush about it though," Harry said, Ron's face dawning on recognition of his five year-long best friend.
"WHAT the hell are you thinking mate!? Fighting here! Though it's good to see you, impeditmenta! Bloody hell, where's the help?! We'll lose for sure! Wait, Harry!?"
"Uh yeah Ron..."
"Mate! You shouldn't even be here! They're drawing you out so they can capture you!" he exclaimed.
"What!?" Harry looked around, but only moments too late as a Cruciatus curse being thrown at him. He let out a strangle pain cried. He fell to the floor, convulsing in pain, letting out small shrieks of agony. He felt that small shapr knives were stabbing at his chest, his limbs. Feeling as if they were pulling limb by limb, his breathing became hard to breathe, as the lungs felt extreme pain. The tingling feeling feeling much more powerful in pain, as if his leg had woken up, but with twenty-five folds over. The Death Eater laughed at the pain whom convulsed in front of their friends.
"Where is Harry Potter!?" he yelled, "Or he'll be tortured to madness!"
"We don't know where he is!" Remus yelled, unable to do anything but watch 'Raven' squirming in pain. "Let him go!"
"Too bad," he shrugged and continued to watch the display. But not a second later, he felt a lurch of arms around his waist, tumbling him over to the floor, taking the curse off of Harry who lied there. Gasping for breath. The death eater searched who had jumped at him and realized it was Ginny. "Grr, isn't there enough of you Weasleys!?" he snarled, picking her up by the scruff of neck. "Shut up, or she gets it!" she let out a whimper. The three males stopped shouting and watched them in silence.
"Good, now where's Harry Potter?" then the dirty blonde haired boy slowly got to his feet and stood difiantly against him. "Well, do you?"
"Yeah, I do," he replied.
"Very good, where is he?"
"Right here!" he lurched forward, swinging a hook punch to the jaw and stuck the wand into one of his eyeball and screamed. Dropping Ginny to the ground, and the man fell to his knees as Harry pulled the wand back out of his socket. The others stared at him, paling deathly white. "Oh finally!" Harry looked at the gates, the aurors finally arrived. "I guess we best be going now."
"Er--yeah," Ron said slowly. "Are we going to see you for the OWLs exams?"
"Sorry, but I'm taking them much later in the day in one of private classrooms," Harry replied. "You okay Ginny?"
"Ye-yeah thanks," Harry helped her to her feet.
"Alright then, see you two later, tell Hermione I said hi... wait, is she out here?"
"No, she stayed in the tower, protecting the younger years," Ron replied.
"Oh that's good, I won't have to worry much now," he looked around and saw that every Death Eater had already run off including Bellatrix and Wormtail. "Though I will avenge Neville..." he muttered darkly.
"Neville?" Ron asked.
"You didn't see him?" he asked sadly.
"W-wha-?"
"He was hit by a killing curse... it's all my bloody damn fault!" Harry screamed.
"No it wasn't, it was theirs," Ginny tried to comfort him.
"You don't understand, I-I distracted him, ah gawd, I distracted him! I-I-I..." Harry stuttered. "I can't believe, Longbottom's don't deserve to be tortured anymore!" Harry walked away at a fast pace, leaving the two Weasleys behind and walked back to the Shrieking Shack.
Several minutes later, he heard the opening of the hatch and closing. Harry had been sitting on the sofa, curled up with his knees to his face, tears falling softly. He heard the two pairs of footprints sounding through the house, as if they were searching for somoene or something. And he heard them coming nearer to the room and entered.
"There you are Harry," one of them said.
"Go away," muffled Harry. The two of them sighs, and shifted a little with their feet, unsure what to do next.
"Harry, it's not your fault," he recognized that voice as Remus.
"But I'm a murderer..." Harry said, sobbing softly.
"No you're not--"
"Yes I am! I dileberatly killed Avery! I killed him!" Harry tore his face from his knees, staring at the two who wore the shock expressions of their faces.
"Harry--" Sirius began.
"I killed him... I didn't even think twice about it... I--"
"Harry, it's NOT your fault, it's Voldemort's that you should be blaming on!" Remus shot him a face of defiant. "If you ever need to blame somoene, it's him! Not yourself. . . not yourself..."
". . . but . . ." Harry began, trying to argue.
"No buts, and just how did you kill Avery?" Remus asked.
"I . . ." Harry looked away.
"You didn't use the killing curse did you!?" Sirius shouted.
"No, nothing like that, I froze him and.. conjured a blade and stabbed him... I wasn't even mercyful to him! All I thought that I had to kill him..." Again the two males were left speechless. The way that Harry killed someone who was down, not being able to defend himself. The very thought of that was terrifying to think about. The three stared at each other for good twenty minutes before anyone spoke.
"Listen Harry..." Remus Lupin began again. "Well, as long no one witnessed that you killed him...."
"...go on Remus," he said coldly. Remus shivered under his glance.
"Meaning that you won't have to worry too much about getting jailed up. Even if you did get accused, it was in self-defense wasn't it?"
"I-I'm not so sure about that..." Harry looked away, staring at a fixed point in the wall. "I didn't give him a chance at all when he was frozen..." Remus sighed.
"Well, I don't know what else we can do then Harry... I hope this doesn't happen again."
"But I have to..." Harry said softly.
"Have to do what Harry?" Sirius asked, pressing him.
"I have to kill Voldemort."
Then stunned silence after that, unsure what else to say.
"You don't mean--" Sirius spoke.
"Yeah, that stupid Prophecy, oh man, I shouldn't have had said that! Bloody hell!" Harry stood up, and kicked the sofa in anger. "I wasn't supposed to say that!" he screamed in rage, exploding a weak flower vase on an end table. "Sorry," he muttered a repairing spell. The two males didn't say anything after that, unsure what to think or say next.
"I'm going to sleep," Harry announced, after another ten minutes of silence. "You better get going Remus, the moon's nearly up. See you two later." He went into his room, and closed the door, turning in for the night.
"Crucio!" one of the Death Eaters cursed one of the staff members. Harry realized how badly they were all doing. He rose his wand in the air and shouted.
"Stupefy!" the hex hurled towards the Death Eater that threw the Cruciatus Curse at the professor, which he later realized was Professor Sprout. Instantly, the crucio was pulled off of her and Death Eater knocked out. "Expillarimus!"
He hurled another hex at another Death Eater whom was attacking Professor Flitwick. The Death Eater lost his wand and went hurling into the air and landed with a thud. Harry knew he had an upper hand, since no one had noticed him arriving, but now the others began to notice 'Raven' boy attacking.
"Stupefy!" one of the Death Eaters shouted.
'Protego!' Harry cried, deflecting the Stupefy Hex, which went into the air.
"Furnunculus!" a kid yelled, whom Harry recognized as Neville. He casted the boil hex at a Death Eater who screamed in agony.
"Good one Neville!" Harrry yelled, grinning. Neville looked to who shouted his name, and a face of confusion. "LOOK OUT!"
"Avada Kedavra!" a woman's voice bellowed. Neville didn't registered what just happened and realized only moments too late with a face of horror. The jet of green light headed towards Neville, and dropped dead. "Ha, ha, ha!" the woman shrieked in laughter. "Wasn't that a Longbottom?! Ha, ha, ha!" Harry, feeling furious, and something inside of him snapped.
Neville, the Longbottom, the family had suffered so much by the Death Eaters. He remembered when they were in St. Mungos and saw his mom, tortured beyond insanity, and their own son gone. Neville, his dormmate, his housemate. A fellow classmate who had showed so much promise in the D.A Harry had watched Neville giving his all, fighting along with him. He realized that Neville didn't know who 'Raven' really was. Feeling deep dread, that he couldn't believe another student of Hogwarts had been taken away by the green light.
"YOU'RE DEAD!" Harry enraged, yelling and charging at the Neville's murderer.
"Hey! Who are you?!" she yelled, noticing the dirty brown hair boy heading her way. "Well, no matter, I'll kill you too!" But all the while, Harry had his wand out in front of him, pointing at her, when he realized, a Lestrange who tortured Neville's parents, who had just killed his roommate.
"Stupefy!" Harry bellowed, causing a jet of red light coming out of his wand, straight at Bellatrix and got swept off her feet and knocked out. Then Harry heard footprints coming from behind and twirled around, facing the coming person, with wand to his chest. "Si-Steve!"
"H-Raven, what're you doing here!? You're supposed to be hiding back there!" he said, asking for an explantion.
"Sorry, but I couldn't resist, look out!" 'Raven' shoved Sirius out of the way, conjuring the Protego charm, deflecting the Imediamenta hex back at the attacker. He recognized the attacker straight away. "Wormtail!" Harry spat. Wasting no time, the four males whom surrounded the Death Eater and yelled out.
"Stupefy!" Which caused by a lot of power, because of four magical emitting rage and anger at the weakling. Being knocked off of his feet and hurled five feet into the air and landed with a sickening thud.
"Wow, that doesn't look too good," someone remarked and Harry looked who said those words and saw Remus. He looked at 'Raven' and widened in shock. "H-Raven! What're you doing here!?"
"I asked the same thing, but he won't go back," Sirius muttered.
"Please go back, this isn't safe for you Raven," Lupin pleaded, defending another Death Eaters. Whom are coming in big numbers. "And just how did Voldemort find all of these people!?"
"Where're the Aurors?" Harry asked, sending off another stunning spell.
"No idea, only few Order members are here," Sirius replied. Harry then saw another guy, taller than he is, with red flamming hair and freckles.
"Ron!" Harry exclaimed.
"Huh? Who're you?" Ron replied, suspciously.
"Augh mate! It's me, shush about it though," Harry said, Ron's face dawning on recognition of his five year-long best friend.
"WHAT the hell are you thinking mate!? Fighting here! Though it's good to see you, impeditmenta! Bloody hell, where's the help?! We'll lose for sure! Wait, Harry!?"
"Uh yeah Ron..."
"Mate! You shouldn't even be here! They're drawing you out so they can capture you!" he exclaimed.
"What!?" Harry looked around, but only moments too late as a Cruciatus curse being thrown at him. He let out a strangle pain cried. He fell to the floor, convulsing in pain, letting out small shrieks of agony. He felt that small shapr knives were stabbing at his chest, his limbs. Feeling as if they were pulling limb by limb, his breathing became hard to breathe, as the lungs felt extreme pain. The tingling feeling feeling much more powerful in pain, as if his leg had woken up, but with twenty-five folds over. The Death Eater laughed at the pain whom convulsed in front of their friends.
"Where is Harry Potter!?" he yelled, "Or he'll be tortured to madness!"
"We don't know where he is!" Remus yelled, unable to do anything but watch 'Raven' squirming in pain. "Let him go!"
"Too bad," he shrugged and continued to watch the display. But not a second later, he felt a lurch of arms around his waist, tumbling him over to the floor, taking the curse off of Harry who lied there. Gasping for breath. The death eater searched who had jumped at him and realized it was Ginny. "Grr, isn't there enough of you Weasleys!?" he snarled, picking her up by the scruff of neck. "Shut up, or she gets it!" she let out a whimper. The three males stopped shouting and watched them in silence.
"Good, now where's Harry Potter?" then the dirty blonde haired boy slowly got to his feet and stood difiantly against him. "Well, do you?"
"Yeah, I do," he replied.
"Very good, where is he?"
"Right here!" he lurched forward, swinging a hook punch to the jaw and stuck the wand into one of his eyeball and screamed. Dropping Ginny to the ground, and the man fell to his knees as Harry pulled the wand back out of his socket. The others stared at him, paling deathly white. "Oh finally!" Harry looked at the gates, the aurors finally arrived. "I guess we best be going now."
"Er--yeah," Ron said slowly. "Are we going to see you for the OWLs exams?"
"Sorry, but I'm taking them much later in the day in one of private classrooms," Harry replied. "You okay Ginny?"
"Ye-yeah thanks," Harry helped her to her feet.
"Alright then, see you two later, tell Hermione I said hi... wait, is she out here?"
"No, she stayed in the tower, protecting the younger years," Ron replied.
"Oh that's good, I won't have to worry much now," he looked around and saw that every Death Eater had already run off including Bellatrix and Wormtail. "Though I will avenge Neville..." he muttered darkly.
"Neville?" Ron asked.
"You didn't see him?" he asked sadly.
"W-wha-?"
"He was hit by a killing curse... it's all my bloody damn fault!" Harry screamed.
"No it wasn't, it was theirs," Ginny tried to comfort him.
"You don't understand, I-I distracted him, ah gawd, I distracted him! I-I-I..." Harry stuttered. "I can't believe, Longbottom's don't deserve to be tortured anymore!" Harry walked away at a fast pace, leaving the two Weasleys behind and walked back to the Shrieking Shack.
Several minutes later, he heard the opening of the hatch and closing. Harry had been sitting on the sofa, curled up with his knees to his face, tears falling softly. He heard the two pairs of footprints sounding through the house, as if they were searching for somoene or something. And he heard them coming nearer to the room and entered.
"There you are Harry," one of them said.
"Go away," muffled Harry. The two of them sighs, and shifted a little with their feet, unsure what to do next.
"Harry, it's not your fault," he recognized that voice as Remus.
"But I'm a murderer..." Harry said, sobbing softly.
"No you're not--"
"Yes I am! I dileberatly killed Avery! I killed him!" Harry tore his face from his knees, staring at the two who wore the shock expressions of their faces.
"Harry--" Sirius began.
"I killed him... I didn't even think twice about it... I--"
"Harry, it's NOT your fault, it's Voldemort's that you should be blaming on!" Remus shot him a face of defiant. "If you ever need to blame somoene, it's him! Not yourself. . . not yourself..."
". . . but . . ." Harry began, trying to argue.
"No buts, and just how did you kill Avery?" Remus asked.
"I . . ." Harry looked away.
"You didn't use the killing curse did you!?" Sirius shouted.
"No, nothing like that, I froze him and.. conjured a blade and stabbed him... I wasn't even mercyful to him! All I thought that I had to kill him..." Again the two males were left speechless. The way that Harry killed someone who was down, not being able to defend himself. The very thought of that was terrifying to think about. The three stared at each other for good twenty minutes before anyone spoke.
"Listen Harry..." Remus Lupin began again. "Well, as long no one witnessed that you killed him...."
"...go on Remus," he said coldly. Remus shivered under his glance.
"Meaning that you won't have to worry too much about getting jailed up. Even if you did get accused, it was in self-defense wasn't it?"
"I-I'm not so sure about that..." Harry looked away, staring at a fixed point in the wall. "I didn't give him a chance at all when he was frozen..." Remus sighed.
"Well, I don't know what else we can do then Harry... I hope this doesn't happen again."
"But I have to..." Harry said softly.
"Have to do what Harry?" Sirius asked, pressing him.
"I have to kill Voldemort."
Then stunned silence after that, unsure what else to say.
"You don't mean--" Sirius spoke.
"Yeah, that stupid Prophecy, oh man, I shouldn't have had said that! Bloody hell!" Harry stood up, and kicked the sofa in anger. "I wasn't supposed to say that!" he screamed in rage, exploding a weak flower vase on an end table. "Sorry," he muttered a repairing spell. The two males didn't say anything after that, unsure what to think or say next.
"I'm going to sleep," Harry announced, after another ten minutes of silence. "You better get going Remus, the moon's nearly up. See you two later." He went into his room, and closed the door, turning in for the night.