The death eaters began to advance, and Harry looked at the others. This
was it. He leaned over to Neville, as Viktor started dueling with one
of the masked Death Eaters.
"I want you and Luna to go find the others while we distract them. Lucius is too busy with Draco, there's enough of us here to hold the others off for now. Get them out of the house and into a safe part of the forest. I'm sure Tonks will be around soon and she can get them to a safer place. The twins should be here soon, they can help." he ordered.
Neville and Luna nodded and snuck out backwards, while Harry and the others started battling with the Death Eaters. Harry had to get his way to Bellatrix. He didn't know which one she was though. He'd lost sight of her when the dueling started. He sent a stunner spell at his Death Eater, knocking the masked figure to the ground. Someone sent a body-bind curse at him.
"Finite Incantatem!"
His counter-curse blocked it and he made his way over to help Malfoy. He got him to his feet. He was coughing up blood.
"Hrm, yes I see. You really aren't all that much like your father. Risking yourself to save your enemy? Your father had more respect for himself than that." Lucius smirked and moved towards them.
"Go away, Harry. This isn't your fight." Draco told him and pushed him aside. It took Harry a moment to register the whole sentence. Malfoy had never called him by his first name before.
"Don't be stupid, you can't fight." Harry responded, and started dragging Draco away. Draco mustered up enough strength to push him away again.
"This has nothing to do with you! Mind your own business!" he snarled, and turned his wand on him.
Harry didn't have time to respond, a Death Eater hit him with a stunning spell while he had his back turned. He fell to the ground, trying to capture his breath. He turned around.
"Aw bitty Potter being told to go away? There's something we left unfinished." said a woman from behind the mask, dropping the baby talk with her last sentence.
"Don't kill him, Bella. The Dark Lord wants him brought alive." Lucius warned.
"Oh, I won't kill him, I just want to make him squeal." she laughed, and raised her wand.
"Stupefy!"
Harry looked behind him, Draco had his wand up. Harry gave him a questioning look. He was a bit annoyed. He'd just been told mind his own business, yet he was involving in his.
"Find Granger." Malfoy told him, with urgency in his voice.
Harry turned back towards the fight, exasperated. He started making his way towards the door, waving in and out of fired spells and jinxes, and past Death Eaters and the DA. Someone grabbed the back of his robes just as he reached the door.
"Where do you think you're going?" the attacker hissed in his ear. Harry couldn't reach him with his wand, and no one had seemed to notice his capture. He struggled, but the Death Eater was stronger.
"Ron!" Harry yelped as he was dragged out into the hallway. Ron sent off a stunning spell and went to help Harry.
"Petrificus Totalus!" the Death Eater sneered, hitting Ron with the spell causing him to fall over. The Death Eater grabbed him by his arm and dragged him off with Harry.
"Alohomora"
The door leading to the room that Harry had seen earlier that day. The scent hit Harry's stomach immediatly. He started hoping it was just another dream, but seeing Michael Corner's body looking more lifeless than before, gave up any hope he had of waking up. Zacharias Smith, Colin Creevey, and Terry Boot had already been rescued. Harry was confused. Neville and Luna hadn't had time to get in the room, it'd still be locked. Maybe they hadn't beed rescued, but disposed of. His heart sank as he was thrown into a corner. The Death Eater removed his mask. It was Macnair, and he wore an expression of eagerness and hunger.
"Colloportus!" he yelled to the door. It closed at his beckon. He turned back to Ron and Harry, his wand pointing at them.
"Now this was just too easy. You see this here, it's called the Iron Chair. It's one of my favourites. It'll leave such small holes, you'll bleed to death slowly. Now I'm not one for many muggle inventions, but I think they had the right idea with this here. Now which one of you would like to die first?" he snarled and moved in closer.
Ron moved in front of Harry to protect him as Macnair reached for him. Harry protested and grabbed Ron, but Macnair had a firm grip. He pulled him up and was about to force him onto the chair, when a blood curling scream came from outside the door. Macnair dropped Ron and rushed to the door.
"Come on." Harry whispered and helped him up. They pointed their wands at Macnair's back.
"Confundus!" Harry yelled. It hit it's target, and Macnair stumbled back. He looked around bewildered. Harry ran over to Justin Finch-Fletchley and managed to get him out of the shackles. Ron grabbed Justin's other arm and flung it over his shoulder. They quickley rushed past the confused Death Eater.
"Reducto!" Harry pointed his wand to the arch of the doorway. The stones began to crack and crumble, and with a loud crash the support system crashed and caved in. Macnair was trapped inside. The staircase began to wane without it's support. Neville and Luna came bustling down it followed by Ginny and Hermione.
"That's the last of them!" Neville yelled from upstairs to Harry.
"Watch out!" Ron called as the staircase started to fall apart. Ginny screamed and grasped the banner for support. It broke and Hermione caught her only just in time. A huge howl came from within the study. Harry tried to stretch his attention from the staircase to the study and back to the staircase.
"Er... Hermione? What kind of moon is it tonight?" Ron asked, his voice cracking.
"I don't know what's the date?"
"The eighteenth..."
"It's a full...moon." Hermione replied catching her balance as the stone steps began to make cracking noises and slide from underneath her.
"Something tells me Professor Lupin didn't take his potion tonight..." Ron suggested, the look of worry on his face becoming more apparent.
"How could he, he's been tied up." Harry mentioned. He turned to run towards the study, but Ginny screamed again. The staircase began to give way and began to crash down. Her, Neville, Luna, and Hermione jumped stones to try and get down faster than it was falling. Ginny had tripped. Neville quickly pulled her back up. They jumped off half way down and landed hard on the floor.
"Ow!" Hermione flinched. She'd landed on her arm. Harry ran over to her, as Ron ran over to help Ginny up. Harry touched it gently, then looked up at her, worried.
"I think it's broken. Don't worry about me, we need to help the others." she stated and winced again. Harry helped her onto her feet.
"Ginny, help Neville and Luna take Justin out to the forest."
"I knew you'd come, Harry." she smiled at him, then rushed off to help grab a part of Justin.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione rushed over to the door leading into the study. Ron's prediction had been unfortunatly accurate. Instead of Remus Lupin, the fierce werewolf stood where he'd been bound. Strings of rope hung off his back as he breathed in and out heavily, snarling at the mass of people. The battle had changed. There was no difference between a Death Eater and a student in it's eyes. They were on the same side at this point.
"What are you fools doing? Kill it!" Lucius roared above the noise of everyone screaming and ducking out of the way.
"Do you expect us to just shoot silver bullets out of the end of our wand, because if you-"
"You better figure out a way, or I'll give you a far worse death than that of a werewolf!" he yelled at the Death Eater who'd protested.
Harry noticed Draco laying motionless on the ground. The werewolf moved towards him, smelling the scent of his blood. It let out a howl. Hermione screamed and rushed into the room. Harry tried to grab her arm, but was too slow. Harry and Ron rushed in after her. She threw herself on Malfoy's body as the werewolf advanced.
"Arania Exumai!" Harry sent the pulse of light at it. It yelped as it struck. Then turned on Harry and growled.
"Out!" Krum yelled to the DA members and started pushing people towards the door.
"Enervate." Harry sent the reviving spell to Malfoy, and he regained conciousness. With Hermione's help, he pulled him up.
"Can you walk?" she asked, soothingly.
"I don't think so." he gasped, trying hard not to breath too deep. Harry and Ron were now trying to ward off the werewolf with more stunning spells. Hermione tried to get Draco to walk but he couldn't stand on his own. Krum ran over to help, as he ushered the last of the students from the study. Occasionally, a Death Eater would make a feeble attempt to hit them, but they too were trying to fight against the werewolf who'd already gotten a hold of one Death Eater and ripped into him like a chew toy. As soon as Hermione and the others were safely out the door, Ron and Harry ran after them. Fred and George rushed over to help Hermione and Krum.
"What happened to him?" George asked.
"Piss off, Weasley." Malfoy spat, and pushed them away. He nearly fell over again. He looked at Hermione who had her good arm around his trying to support his weight. He obviously couldn't think of what to say to her, so he began to avoid her glances as she helped him stumble into the forest with the others. All of the Slytherins they'd left earlier were tied up.
"By the time we got back from Grimmauld's, we couldn't find you." Fred told Harry.
"You arrived sooner than we thought. When we got here we found these lying around. We bound them up."
"They had an aweful fit though when they came to."
"But then we used to good old silencing charm, and now it's like they're not even here." explained George, with a smile.
"They're going to kill Lupin aren't they?" Ginny asked as she gazed back at the house.
"Not very likely. The others are on their way." Fred replied.
"Anyway, we have a portkey." George interrupted.
"Oh yes, we've been asigned the duty of transporting you all back to Hogwarts." Fred smiled. He pulled out a case of butterbeer.
"The bottles were our idea." they said at the same time.
"There are so many of us, that they had to make more than one portkey. Even with the six though, we're going to have to do two groups." enlightened Fred.
"We were thinking we should send the Slytherins back first, and the most injured, each with a someone's whos not injured to make sure the Slytherins don't try anything. These will transport everyone to the hospital wing at Hogwarts."
"That was Dumbledore's idea." added George.
The first bottles were handed out to Seamus Finnigan, Dean Thomas, Ginny, Lavender, Cho Chang, and Neville. They took with them: Blaise Zabini, Adrian Pucey, Frank Fratz, Theodore Nott, Clara Watson, Millicent Bulstrode, Parvati and Padma Patil, Justin Finch-Fetchley, Zacharias Smith, Malfoy, and Michael Corner. Fred went with them and returned with the bottles.
"Now the rest of you." he said as he handed out the bottles again. Ron, Harry, and Hermione grabbed the same bottle. Harry prepared himself for the feeling of traveling through a portkey, but nothing came. He opened his eyes and realized that both Hermione and Ron had let go. Everyone else had gone and the three of them remained. Harry turned around suddenly at the sound of twigs and leaves crunching. A Death eater stood just feet from them. They removed their mask, revealing the hideously ugly and worn face of Bellatrix LeStrange.
"Tisk-tisk. Where do you think you're running off to?" she asked. She had gashes across her face which suggested she'd had a run in with werewolf Lupin. Ron and Hermione stood in front of Harry.
"You're all Lucius has left to send after us? After all I've seen since I've been here, I'd have to say you're the worst of the bunch. Can't get anything right, such a pathetic excuse for a witch." Hermione snapped at her.
"You shut your mouth, you little bitch. You've been causing enough trouble in this family." Bellatrix sent the Cruciatus Curse at her, making her scream and writh around in pain. Ron panicked and tried to attack by with a Stunning spell, which Bellatrix easily blocked using a protection spell that sent his stunner back at him, knocking him to the ground. She took his wand.
"I'm going to kill you!" Harry screamed and attacked her. He didn't care what was happening. If he'd recieved any stunners or other spells, he couldn't tell at this point. The anger that'd surged through his body reached a breaking point. All he could think about was ripping her to shreds, to avenge Sirius. She threw him off her and laughed.
"Growing up with muggles has definately taught you how to fight like one... like an animal. You think you're so big, well prove it and pick up your wand like a good boy and fight me like a wizard." she taunted. Harry reached for his fallen wand, but before his hand could close around it, Bellatrix accioed it to her with another shrill laugh.
"I'll give you a head start. You have till the count of three to run."
She wore a grin over her face that Harry could've thought was Voldemort's itself. He scrambled to his feet and took off as fast as he could through the forest. He didn't want to leave Ron and Hermione alone, but he had a feeling that she wouldn't be bothered with them. It was he that she wanted. Harry wondered what Voldemort had done to her after she'd returned, prophetless the previous summer. Obviously it was something bad enough to leave her with the same rage that Harry was feeling towards her. He felt useless, all he could do was hide and hope she never found him. He kept looking back. Her laughter was growing stronger, filling his head. Suddenly he felt weak. He could bairly move. His vision began to get hazy and he felt his head hit something hard, then there was black.
"I want you and Luna to go find the others while we distract them. Lucius is too busy with Draco, there's enough of us here to hold the others off for now. Get them out of the house and into a safe part of the forest. I'm sure Tonks will be around soon and she can get them to a safer place. The twins should be here soon, they can help." he ordered.
Neville and Luna nodded and snuck out backwards, while Harry and the others started battling with the Death Eaters. Harry had to get his way to Bellatrix. He didn't know which one she was though. He'd lost sight of her when the dueling started. He sent a stunner spell at his Death Eater, knocking the masked figure to the ground. Someone sent a body-bind curse at him.
"Finite Incantatem!"
His counter-curse blocked it and he made his way over to help Malfoy. He got him to his feet. He was coughing up blood.
"Hrm, yes I see. You really aren't all that much like your father. Risking yourself to save your enemy? Your father had more respect for himself than that." Lucius smirked and moved towards them.
"Go away, Harry. This isn't your fight." Draco told him and pushed him aside. It took Harry a moment to register the whole sentence. Malfoy had never called him by his first name before.
"Don't be stupid, you can't fight." Harry responded, and started dragging Draco away. Draco mustered up enough strength to push him away again.
"This has nothing to do with you! Mind your own business!" he snarled, and turned his wand on him.
Harry didn't have time to respond, a Death Eater hit him with a stunning spell while he had his back turned. He fell to the ground, trying to capture his breath. He turned around.
"Aw bitty Potter being told to go away? There's something we left unfinished." said a woman from behind the mask, dropping the baby talk with her last sentence.
"Don't kill him, Bella. The Dark Lord wants him brought alive." Lucius warned.
"Oh, I won't kill him, I just want to make him squeal." she laughed, and raised her wand.
"Stupefy!"
Harry looked behind him, Draco had his wand up. Harry gave him a questioning look. He was a bit annoyed. He'd just been told mind his own business, yet he was involving in his.
"Find Granger." Malfoy told him, with urgency in his voice.
Harry turned back towards the fight, exasperated. He started making his way towards the door, waving in and out of fired spells and jinxes, and past Death Eaters and the DA. Someone grabbed the back of his robes just as he reached the door.
"Where do you think you're going?" the attacker hissed in his ear. Harry couldn't reach him with his wand, and no one had seemed to notice his capture. He struggled, but the Death Eater was stronger.
"Ron!" Harry yelped as he was dragged out into the hallway. Ron sent off a stunning spell and went to help Harry.
"Petrificus Totalus!" the Death Eater sneered, hitting Ron with the spell causing him to fall over. The Death Eater grabbed him by his arm and dragged him off with Harry.
"Alohomora"
The door leading to the room that Harry had seen earlier that day. The scent hit Harry's stomach immediatly. He started hoping it was just another dream, but seeing Michael Corner's body looking more lifeless than before, gave up any hope he had of waking up. Zacharias Smith, Colin Creevey, and Terry Boot had already been rescued. Harry was confused. Neville and Luna hadn't had time to get in the room, it'd still be locked. Maybe they hadn't beed rescued, but disposed of. His heart sank as he was thrown into a corner. The Death Eater removed his mask. It was Macnair, and he wore an expression of eagerness and hunger.
"Colloportus!" he yelled to the door. It closed at his beckon. He turned back to Ron and Harry, his wand pointing at them.
"Now this was just too easy. You see this here, it's called the Iron Chair. It's one of my favourites. It'll leave such small holes, you'll bleed to death slowly. Now I'm not one for many muggle inventions, but I think they had the right idea with this here. Now which one of you would like to die first?" he snarled and moved in closer.
Ron moved in front of Harry to protect him as Macnair reached for him. Harry protested and grabbed Ron, but Macnair had a firm grip. He pulled him up and was about to force him onto the chair, when a blood curling scream came from outside the door. Macnair dropped Ron and rushed to the door.
"Come on." Harry whispered and helped him up. They pointed their wands at Macnair's back.
"Confundus!" Harry yelled. It hit it's target, and Macnair stumbled back. He looked around bewildered. Harry ran over to Justin Finch-Fletchley and managed to get him out of the shackles. Ron grabbed Justin's other arm and flung it over his shoulder. They quickley rushed past the confused Death Eater.
"Reducto!" Harry pointed his wand to the arch of the doorway. The stones began to crack and crumble, and with a loud crash the support system crashed and caved in. Macnair was trapped inside. The staircase began to wane without it's support. Neville and Luna came bustling down it followed by Ginny and Hermione.
"That's the last of them!" Neville yelled from upstairs to Harry.
"Watch out!" Ron called as the staircase started to fall apart. Ginny screamed and grasped the banner for support. It broke and Hermione caught her only just in time. A huge howl came from within the study. Harry tried to stretch his attention from the staircase to the study and back to the staircase.
"Er... Hermione? What kind of moon is it tonight?" Ron asked, his voice cracking.
"I don't know what's the date?"
"The eighteenth..."
"It's a full...moon." Hermione replied catching her balance as the stone steps began to make cracking noises and slide from underneath her.
"Something tells me Professor Lupin didn't take his potion tonight..." Ron suggested, the look of worry on his face becoming more apparent.
"How could he, he's been tied up." Harry mentioned. He turned to run towards the study, but Ginny screamed again. The staircase began to give way and began to crash down. Her, Neville, Luna, and Hermione jumped stones to try and get down faster than it was falling. Ginny had tripped. Neville quickly pulled her back up. They jumped off half way down and landed hard on the floor.
"Ow!" Hermione flinched. She'd landed on her arm. Harry ran over to her, as Ron ran over to help Ginny up. Harry touched it gently, then looked up at her, worried.
"I think it's broken. Don't worry about me, we need to help the others." she stated and winced again. Harry helped her onto her feet.
"Ginny, help Neville and Luna take Justin out to the forest."
"I knew you'd come, Harry." she smiled at him, then rushed off to help grab a part of Justin.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione rushed over to the door leading into the study. Ron's prediction had been unfortunatly accurate. Instead of Remus Lupin, the fierce werewolf stood where he'd been bound. Strings of rope hung off his back as he breathed in and out heavily, snarling at the mass of people. The battle had changed. There was no difference between a Death Eater and a student in it's eyes. They were on the same side at this point.
"What are you fools doing? Kill it!" Lucius roared above the noise of everyone screaming and ducking out of the way.
"Do you expect us to just shoot silver bullets out of the end of our wand, because if you-"
"You better figure out a way, or I'll give you a far worse death than that of a werewolf!" he yelled at the Death Eater who'd protested.
Harry noticed Draco laying motionless on the ground. The werewolf moved towards him, smelling the scent of his blood. It let out a howl. Hermione screamed and rushed into the room. Harry tried to grab her arm, but was too slow. Harry and Ron rushed in after her. She threw herself on Malfoy's body as the werewolf advanced.
"Arania Exumai!" Harry sent the pulse of light at it. It yelped as it struck. Then turned on Harry and growled.
"Out!" Krum yelled to the DA members and started pushing people towards the door.
"Enervate." Harry sent the reviving spell to Malfoy, and he regained conciousness. With Hermione's help, he pulled him up.
"Can you walk?" she asked, soothingly.
"I don't think so." he gasped, trying hard not to breath too deep. Harry and Ron were now trying to ward off the werewolf with more stunning spells. Hermione tried to get Draco to walk but he couldn't stand on his own. Krum ran over to help, as he ushered the last of the students from the study. Occasionally, a Death Eater would make a feeble attempt to hit them, but they too were trying to fight against the werewolf who'd already gotten a hold of one Death Eater and ripped into him like a chew toy. As soon as Hermione and the others were safely out the door, Ron and Harry ran after them. Fred and George rushed over to help Hermione and Krum.
"What happened to him?" George asked.
"Piss off, Weasley." Malfoy spat, and pushed them away. He nearly fell over again. He looked at Hermione who had her good arm around his trying to support his weight. He obviously couldn't think of what to say to her, so he began to avoid her glances as she helped him stumble into the forest with the others. All of the Slytherins they'd left earlier were tied up.
"By the time we got back from Grimmauld's, we couldn't find you." Fred told Harry.
"You arrived sooner than we thought. When we got here we found these lying around. We bound them up."
"They had an aweful fit though when they came to."
"But then we used to good old silencing charm, and now it's like they're not even here." explained George, with a smile.
"They're going to kill Lupin aren't they?" Ginny asked as she gazed back at the house.
"Not very likely. The others are on their way." Fred replied.
"Anyway, we have a portkey." George interrupted.
"Oh yes, we've been asigned the duty of transporting you all back to Hogwarts." Fred smiled. He pulled out a case of butterbeer.
"The bottles were our idea." they said at the same time.
"There are so many of us, that they had to make more than one portkey. Even with the six though, we're going to have to do two groups." enlightened Fred.
"We were thinking we should send the Slytherins back first, and the most injured, each with a someone's whos not injured to make sure the Slytherins don't try anything. These will transport everyone to the hospital wing at Hogwarts."
"That was Dumbledore's idea." added George.
The first bottles were handed out to Seamus Finnigan, Dean Thomas, Ginny, Lavender, Cho Chang, and Neville. They took with them: Blaise Zabini, Adrian Pucey, Frank Fratz, Theodore Nott, Clara Watson, Millicent Bulstrode, Parvati and Padma Patil, Justin Finch-Fetchley, Zacharias Smith, Malfoy, and Michael Corner. Fred went with them and returned with the bottles.
"Now the rest of you." he said as he handed out the bottles again. Ron, Harry, and Hermione grabbed the same bottle. Harry prepared himself for the feeling of traveling through a portkey, but nothing came. He opened his eyes and realized that both Hermione and Ron had let go. Everyone else had gone and the three of them remained. Harry turned around suddenly at the sound of twigs and leaves crunching. A Death eater stood just feet from them. They removed their mask, revealing the hideously ugly and worn face of Bellatrix LeStrange.
"Tisk-tisk. Where do you think you're running off to?" she asked. She had gashes across her face which suggested she'd had a run in with werewolf Lupin. Ron and Hermione stood in front of Harry.
"You're all Lucius has left to send after us? After all I've seen since I've been here, I'd have to say you're the worst of the bunch. Can't get anything right, such a pathetic excuse for a witch." Hermione snapped at her.
"You shut your mouth, you little bitch. You've been causing enough trouble in this family." Bellatrix sent the Cruciatus Curse at her, making her scream and writh around in pain. Ron panicked and tried to attack by with a Stunning spell, which Bellatrix easily blocked using a protection spell that sent his stunner back at him, knocking him to the ground. She took his wand.
"I'm going to kill you!" Harry screamed and attacked her. He didn't care what was happening. If he'd recieved any stunners or other spells, he couldn't tell at this point. The anger that'd surged through his body reached a breaking point. All he could think about was ripping her to shreds, to avenge Sirius. She threw him off her and laughed.
"Growing up with muggles has definately taught you how to fight like one... like an animal. You think you're so big, well prove it and pick up your wand like a good boy and fight me like a wizard." she taunted. Harry reached for his fallen wand, but before his hand could close around it, Bellatrix accioed it to her with another shrill laugh.
"I'll give you a head start. You have till the count of three to run."
She wore a grin over her face that Harry could've thought was Voldemort's itself. He scrambled to his feet and took off as fast as he could through the forest. He didn't want to leave Ron and Hermione alone, but he had a feeling that she wouldn't be bothered with them. It was he that she wanted. Harry wondered what Voldemort had done to her after she'd returned, prophetless the previous summer. Obviously it was something bad enough to leave her with the same rage that Harry was feeling towards her. He felt useless, all he could do was hide and hope she never found him. He kept looking back. Her laughter was growing stronger, filling his head. Suddenly he felt weak. He could bairly move. His vision began to get hazy and he felt his head hit something hard, then there was black.