A/N:If I tried to list all of the reasons why this took so long there would be more to the list than this chapter. All that I'll say is that I'm sorry and will try to do better. :) Please review.
Neville coughed and slowly scrambled in an attempt to pull himself off the ground after the explosion. He quickly checked on Elizabeth before pulling himself up and standing. She had weathered the explosion considerably better than he had. It must have had occurred to her to use her power to shield herself.
She was staring towards the explosion. Neville turned to look as well. Advancing towards the couple was a single person. Neville blinked and took a second look at the approaching figure. It wasn't a person exactly. . . .
Abruptly he realized that it was up to he and Elizabeth to do something. He could worry about what he was fighting at a later time. He gathered his power and swung an invisible whip of pure force towards the figure. The whip threw the figure clothed in rotting black cloth back towards the Forbidden Forest. It did nothing to harm the mysterious creature though.
"I don't think that we can hurt him," Elizabeth panted after attempting to burn the attacker with a fireball. "We can hold it back until reinforcements arrive though."
"If they arrive," Neville said grimly.
*
Harry and Ginny ran into the vault within Valahost Hall and began to ransack all of the chests desperately looking for something that could help Neville and Elizabeth face the wraith.
"Are you giving them as much power as you can spare," Ginny said as she threw over a chest that had been opened and searched. "You can't face this thing personally, you have to rely on surrogates for now."
"I know, I know," Harry replied as he came to the last chest. Ginny joined his side as he forced the chest open. He sighed as he scanned the contents. "Why would anyone want to store glass cups?"
Ginny shrugged. "Glass was valuable back then. . ."
Harry sat down and began to brood. "We are officially caught between a rock and a hard spot. Any last minute, save the day ideas?"
Ginny joined him on the floor. "There is one possibility. You would have to take precautions though, and make sure that you controlled how Neville and Elizabeth dealt with it. They would also have to team up because they're not strong enough alone."
As he began to realize what she meant he began to carefully form his strategy. He only hoped that they could hold of the High Lord of Hell's wraith long enough.
*
Ron and Hermione used their magical power to transport themselves to Hogwarts. They appeared next to each other just a couple of hundred feet away from Neville and Elizabeth's position. They broke into a run together towards their position.
"Can you make out what that thing is?" Ron panted as they approached the fight. He hoped that Hermione had read about it in some sort of book. She always seemed to know what they were dealing with and what they should do.
His hopes were in vain. "I have no idea," Hermione replied. She took the brief moment as they approached to examine the attacker. The true form of the attacker was hidden in the drapery of rotting black cloth. His head was the only thing visible. It looked like a face from a coffin. A face that had been in a coffin for a very long time. A strange crown that seemed to be formed of dark light rested on his head. He was slowly moving forward despite Neville and Elizabeth's best efforts.
Hermione composed herself and watched as Elizabeth sent a mass of flame towards the attacker in perhaps an attempt to set him on fire. The flames did not even appear to touch the advancing aggressor. Perhaps a wall or barrier, Hermione thought to herself. She carefully composed a wall of fire and earth using the elemental powers that Harry had granted to her (as well as Ron) and wrapped it around the figure that was getting closer by the second.
The wraith stopped. Hermione was about to cheer when very slowly, the figure lifted its foot and pressed it's way through the invisible barrier. Hermione was ready to scream. As far as she knew, there was no way to stop it.
*
Elizabeth was ready to give up. No matter what happened the attacker was going to reach them. She looked over to where she had sensed the invisible barrier being formed and saw Ron and Hermione with defeated looks on their faces. She glanced towards Neville expecting to see the same sort of hopelessness.
Instead of looking defeated or staring at the wraith he was examining his hand with a faint smile on his face. Elizabeth was about to ask him what he was doing when suddenly her hand began to tingle. After the tingle had accelerated for a few seconds she felt the overwhelming urge to touch her hand to Neville's hand.
She turned and raised her hand towards Neville's hand at the same time he did. Their hands moved towards each other with an agonizingly slow speed. When they finally made contact, Elizabeth screamed. It was as if the very power of the universe was speeding through her. If she didn't let it out she felt that she would explode.
*
What are they doing? Ron thought to himself as he squinted towards Neville and Elizabeth who were turning towards each other and holding out one of their hands. He looked at Hermione. She seemed to be asking the same question to herself.
Abruptly there was an explosion of light just out of his vision. Ron whipped around to see what had happened. Neville and Elizabeth's hands were now touching and an extremely white light was beginning take the form of an orb as it pulsated between them. Just as he thought the light could get no brighter, the orb suddenly shot towards the advancing wraith. There was a second explosion of light and the wraith was no more.
Ron blinked and looked at Neville and Elizabeth. They stood for a moment staring in shock at where the wraith had been walking. After seeing that it was gone, they collapsed into each other, conveniently breaking each others fall.
"Stop staring Ron!" Hermione said, pulling both of them out of their shocked silence. "We need to do something about those two. They could be hurt." She began to make her way towards the fallen couple.
Ron stood for a moment and then ran to catch up. "What was it that happened?" he asked.
They reached Neville and Elizabeth and as Hermione turned them over to check their vital signs she answered. "Somehow, somewhere, they found a source of power. Obviously it must have been a bit much for them to handle." She briefly checked each of their pulses and used her limited abilities with healing to check their health. "I think that they'll live. They'll be in the hospital wing for a couple of days though."
Ron nodded absently as he looked around and began to wonder where the wraith could have come from and where Neville and Elizabeth could have found enough power to fight it.
*
Ginny uncovered her eyes as the light faded away to find Harry slumped and leaning on Miledy Faisia for support to stand. She quickly noted that he was conscious but was breathing shallowly. "Are you okay Harry?" Ginny asked uncertainly.
Harry managed a weak nod before answering. "I think that I shall live," he panted. "Neville and Elizabeth were marvelous. A little practice and they could fight this whole war for me. They'll need time to recover though. If the wraith had been targeting Ron or Hermione I could have used them instead. They would have handled it better I think."
"Don't worry about that now." Ginny instructed as she quickly stepped over and helped to support Harry. "You'll have plenty of time to get things like this sorted out."
Harry smiled. "Yes, I suppose so. I think that you should probably head over to Hogwarts and sort things out. Everyone is probably in shock. Assemble the Griffin Order and tell everyone everything and how to stay prepared. If anyone else saw the wraith, calm them down and try to keep them from scaring everyone else."
"What about you?"
"I think that I can make it to my bedroom," Harry said. He smiled at Ginny and then disappeared with a very faint pop.
Ginny used her ring to confirm that Harry had made it safely back to the bedroom before drawing on her power to magically transport her to Hogwarts. She appeared just a few feet behind Ron and Hermione. Ron was standing quietly and examining the Forbidden Forest while Hermione was kneeling over the Neville and Elizabeth.
Ron turned around quickly and smiled. "I'm glad that you've finally showed up. We nearly lost that round, or rather, Neville and Elizabeth did. They fought most of the battle I suppose."
"They fought all of it," Hermione corrected him.
Ginny nodded, "Looks like you have everything under control here. Get those two to the hospital wing and I'll meet you up in Dumbledore's office."
They nodded and Ginny once again called on her power to transport her to the landing just outside of his office. It was extremely likely that members of the staff were meeting with him at the moment. When she arrived she found her guess to be true. Professor McGonagall and Snape were discussing the wraith loudly. It seemed that Dumbledore was taking a smaller part in the discussion.
Ginny knocked politely and entered. Dumbledore immediately looked up and smiled. "I think that will be all Minerva, Severus. See what you can do to calm the students."
The two professors nodded and quietly left. As soon as the door closed behind them Ginny explained the situation to Dumbledore and filled him in on everything including Harry's use of the staff. "Basically, everything is under control. We'll just need to be more prepared in the future for such instances." she concluded.
"I hope that Harry is well," Dumbledore said.
Ginny nodded as Ron and Hermione appeared. She quickly briefed them and then moved onto the next topic. "It seems that this would be an optimum time to have a meeting for the Order of the Griffin," she said, drawing on her choice of words carefully. "Obviously the enemy is growing stronger. The time when we have a final battle with him is drawing close."
Everyone nodded grimly and Ginny continued. "We need to begin making plans for Hogwarts and for the Order of the Phoenix. . ." They continued well throughout the day and the night planning strategies and jobs for the Order, and policies and precautions for Hogwarts.