In Every Darkness
Chapter Sixty One: In Remembrance of the Slain
3.10.1996
Severus woke to Lupins voice chattering away in his mind. "Are you going to sleep forever? I'm trying to talk to you, you know. You could at least do me the courtesy of listening!"
"Lupin! Where were you last night?" Severus demanded.
"Worried, Sev? How touching. I was eavesdropping," Lupin replied.
"Worried, about you, Lupin? I don't think so. No, I was only worried about what Dumbledore would say if I lost you here. What were you eavesdropping on? And why?"
"I was eavesdropping on Voldemort's meeting with the Death Eaters, as to why, I would have thought it obvious. To find out what was being said, isn't that usually why one eavesdrops?"
"What did you learn?" Now Severus was interested.
"That Voldemort is attacking Durmstrang and Beauxbatons to try and gain the upper hand against Dumbledore. Don't worry, I alerted the Order of the Phoenix, they'll be stopping the attack, I'm sure."
"You could have mentioned that you were going to do something like that," Severus growled.
"You really aren't doing a good job of convincing me that you weren't worried about me, Sev," Lupin replied teasingly.
"Shut up, Lupin. Now, what do I have to add next in this potion," Severus deliberately ignored the deceased werewolf for a few minutes, tending to the Caducus Potion. Oh well, at least it would one day kill Fudge, even if it would make an attempt on Dumbledore's life also.
"Harry? What is it?" Hermione asked, following his gaze, as indeed most of the rest of the school was.
Dancing with flames, the chariots from Beauxbatons were heading, veering crazily, towards the Hogwarts grounds. There seemed to be Death Eaters battling with Order wizards and witches on the tops of most of the ten chariots, and sounding like there might be some fighting going on inside as well.
Harry was already heading towards the door as Hermione called to him. "DA students fourth year and above, come with me!" he yelled over his shoulder, not paying any attention to the screams of the student body.
The teachers leapt up to block the entrance. "Mr. Potter! What do you think you're doing?" McGonagall asked.
"Going to help, isn't it obvious?" Harry replied. "Dumbledore isn't back from Durmstrang yet, you might want to send someone for him," he added. "DA and me can probably help the people out there well enough. There will be other adults."
"We'll go with him," Tonks said, her face grim. Michael stood beside her, nodding firmly.
"I don't know if this is a good idea …" McGonagall started.
Harry glared at her. "Professor! They could be dying out there!" he snarled. It went against his judgement to be like this to anyone, particularly McGonagall, but he didn't have time for protests.
Already, the students from the Defense Association had joined up with Harry, wands out and faces grim.
"Very well," McGonagall said heavily. "Go then, I'll go for Dumbledore."
Harry nodded in relief and led his companions outside, but not before Malfoy yelled on last comment. "Playing hero again Potter?"
Not caring to put up with insults from the Slytherin boy at present, Harry muttered "stupefy," under his breath, sending a beam of red light to knock the other boy out. No one noticed who it had come from, so Harry knew that he wouldn't be getting in any trouble.
"If I say run," he muttered to his friends, "head back to the castle as fast as you can. You have to do what I tell you to, otherwise you might get badly hurt. Always make sure a friend is nearby. Maybe you should pair up, just in case."
Ron joined them just as they were going out of the front door, elbowing his way through the group to reach Harry. "What are we doing?" he asked his friend.
"Fighting the Death Eaters, protecting the Beauxbatons students," Harry replied briefly. "Stick with Hermione, don't get separated, you need someone to watch your back."
"What about you?" Hermione asked.
"I've got Grypis, I'll be fine," Harry replied, though his voice was so low that no one could overhear it when he spoke the griffins real name.
"Harry," Hermione started, but Harry had already raised his wand.
"Stun 'em," he called softly. The air was immediately laced with red beams. Not expecting the added ground attack, three of the Death Eaters fell, stunned.
"Curse at will!" Harry yelled, as the Death Eaters began to turn their attention towards the students on the ground. "Don't forget to duck," he added, dropping to a crouch as a spell shot over head.
The giant palomino horses were rolling their eyes wildly in terror as they hit the ground. The chariots bumped violently as they also 'landed', causing more than one of the combatants on their rooves to lose balance and fall.
The horses reared, pawing at the air, whinnying. in terror, but they weren't running willy nilly over the Hogwarts grounds, at least.
"Put the fire out!" Harry yelled to his companions. "There'll be people inside!"
Water poured from wands at the chariots, and there seemed to be people inside doing the same thing, so the fires were soon out. Doors swung open as students leaped down, shooting spells back at the Death Eaters that had been within.
The Defense Association students were racing over the area in pairs, doing whatever they could to help the students. Harry realised that he was very glad this hadn't happened at Durmstrang.
With Grypis on his shoulder, claws beared and ready to leap and attack anyone who tried to sneak up on Harry, the boy threw himself into the fray, using his hands and feet as often as he did spells.
One Order member, a young woman who's name Harry didn't know, was attempting to fight against three opponents, she was being worn down quickly, until Harry hit the scene like a lightning bolt.
Kicking one hard in the back of the knees, he sent the man toppling to the ground, the other woman stunned him quickly. Turning his attention to the others now that the element of surprise was lost, he kicked one in the groin, since the opportunity presented itself so invitingly. The man, unfortunately, didn't double over for long enough to attack with a spell.
"Stupefy," Harry muttered, but the Death Eater dodged.
"Crucio," he hissed. Harry threw himself to the ground, feeling the curse shooting over his head. Close one, he thought. Shoving himself upright, he had to dodge a repetition of the curse.
"Imperio," the Death Eater snarled. This time, quickly noting the opportunity to put a plan into action, Harry gave every appearance of trying to dodge the curse, but let himself fail purposely.
Kill the girl, a voice muttered in the back of his mind. Harry turned to the Order witch, giving every appearance of doing what the Death Eater was telling him to. It was very easy to disobey this voice, the spell wasn't nearly as powerful as the one that Voldemort had cast one and a bit years previous.
Raising his wand, at the last second, Harry spun, aiming for the Death Eater just as the curse "stupefy," once more left his mouth. The Death Eater, too surprised to do anything else, failed to dodge the curse and fell to the ground, unconscious.
The witch had managed to take out the other Death Eater who was battling with her while Harry had been busy.
"You're quite a fighter," the woman remarked, respect in her voice. "I take it you're Harry Potter?"
"Yeah," Harry replied, looking around. Everywhere he looked, the joint forces of Beauxbatons and Hogwarts students and the Order members were turning the Death Eaters back, quite a few of Voldemorts supporters were running rather than deal with the forces against them.
"How many where on the chariots with you?" he asked.
"Twenty, I think," the woman replied. "I wasn't really counting. But it looks like five ran, and the rest are all stunned. I know a few of them were lost while we were travelling here."
"How long did it take you to get here?" Harry asked curiously. If they'd flown all the way from France, the Death Eaters would have been defeated long before this, he'd have thought.
"Oh, only ten minutes or so," the woman replied. "We just had to get clear of the Beauxbatons grounds, then the magic bound to the chariots and the horses transported us to just off the Hogwarts grounds. Then we just had to land."
Hagrid came jogging up towards them, ready to take the horses, who were now calming down. "What happened?" Harry asked.
"Someone will explain when Dumbledore gets here," the woman replied. "I don't think anyone wants to speak of it more than is necessary."
"Everyone! Over here!" Harry yelled, magically amplifying his voice to make sure that everyone heard. The students from Beauxbatons and Hogwarts grouped slowly around him. There were only about one hundred people wearing blue.
"How many people are there in Beauxbatons?" Harry asked a boy around his own age, forgetting that they didn't speak English.
"Twice dis many," a girl a said in heavily accented English. "'E doesn speak Eenglish," she added, waving at the boy. "Zer are over two 'undred of us, or zer were, dis morning."
"Were some trapped at the school?" Harry asked, thinking that he should tell some of the Order members that not everyone had made it.
"Only vat you zee 'ere are left alive," the girl replied sadly. "No one at Beauxbatons now vil still be alive, not ze students, not ze people 'oo came to elp us."
Harry bowed his head in grief. At least one hundred and twenty people had lost their lives defending Beauxbatons and getting the students out.
He led everyone back into the Great Hall, which was now even bigger than it had been when he'd returned with the Durmstrang students. At all the tables people were moving aside so that the new students could sit down, though it seemed to be mainly the younger students at the Slytherin table.
Harry, along with quite a large group of Beauxbatons students – they seemed to feel safer with him than the rest of the people, since he'd been the one to lead the rescue attempted – walked to the Gryffindor table slowly.
"Harry?" Hermione asked. "Are you alright?"
"I am, but there's a lot today that won't be," Harry replied grimly. "There were over two hundred students at Beauxbatons, Hermione, plus the Order members and teachers."
Ron and Hermione looked around at the pitiful remainder of the proud wizarding school. Madam Maxine was sitting at the staff table beside Hagrid, looking limp and weary.
The doors burst open and the people who'd been at Durmstrang, along with McGonagall, hurried into the Great Hall, looking relieved when the saw that the chariots and the students were safe, then horrified to see how few people were wearing the light blue of Beauxbatons.
"What happened here?" Dumbledore asked, his eyes no longer twinkling. Dedalus Diggle, who'd come with the Beauxbatons students, stood up to address the Hall, his voice tight with grief.
"The Death Eaters were at the school ahead of us," he said, voice echoing in the silent Hall. "Some of the students were already dead, the rest were running towards the chariots. The teachers were helping the students, and dying as they tried to waylay the Death Eaters and Dementors as best they could.
"We took of the Dementors pretty quickly, they just needed a lot more Patroni, but the Death Eaters had already taken the castle. They were in a far better position than we were, and there wasn't much we could do for anyone still left in the castle. They were destroying it, and laughing as they did so.
"About fifty Death Eaters had come in the attack, and twenty of them came out to try and capture or kill us, along the rest of the students. We got everyone to the chariots, but the Death Eaters reached there before we could take off.
"They boarded the chariots and fought with the students, teachers and Order of the Phoenix members. We got here not long after, with about fifteen Death Eaters still with us, and ten of our own missing as well.
"The Potter boy and some students came out when we reached Hogwarts, if not for them, all would have been lost. We managed to turn back the Death Eaters, but only with their help," Dedalus bowed his head.
"How many people dead?" Dumbledore asked, voice heavy.
"One hundred students, four teachers and ten Order members," Dedalus whispered to the shocked Hall.
"They will be avenged," Dumbledore's voice, laden with grief and anger, shocked the Hall. Few people had ever seen the Headmaster actually angry. Harry knew all too well that it was a sight beyond compare. "But in the meantime, grief rules us all. There were no fatalities at Durmstrang, I'm thankful to announce, we arrived before the Death Eaters there, but we had to leave the castle in their possession when another fifty odd and Dementors turned up.
"A minute of silence, in remembrance of our fallen friends and companions," Dumbledore said, bowing his head, and every other person in the hall did the same.
***
Well, that put a bit of a damper on spirits, didn't it? Please review and tell me what you think! I'll update when I reach 2580, another fifty reviews from now, since I'm on 2531! I got 55 reviews for last chapter, so lets see if we can't do that again, huh! I had the chapter finished in time when I reached 2520 reviews, but then ff.net wouldn't work, so I couldn't post. Sorry about that.
~WolfMoon~