Chapter 27
Severus dropped the shield and all hell broke loose. Here he was, shooting curses at his own students, his own house. At children he'd tried for so long to slyly lure away from the Dark. He ducked a wicked sizzling bolt of orange and sent two rapid stupefy's back. At least he spells weren't missing.
His students might not be children any more, he thought grimly, firing again and taking down Millicent Bulstrode with a well-placed stunner, but they were not yet adults. Not yet full-fledged Death Eaters, and not yet able to do the damage their parents might.
Next to him, Draco was doing a commendable job of guarding his back and firing off rather nasty hexes of his own. Cutting curses and total paralysis hexes seemed to Draco's favorites at the moment. It was still only two against nearly twenty, however, Severus thought harshly, and that meant far too many to try and remove without getting killed. Parkinson, in particular, had blood lust in her eyes.
And then he heard a hiss of pain next to him and knew that Draco had gotten hit with something, and the odds got worse. Damn it all, he'd promised Sonora… Severus' lips thinned and he flung a particularly strong Nerve Ending Hex, hoping it would take out enough of them. It didn't.
Parkinson was closing in, a dozen black-clad sixth and seventh years behind her, and Draco was dragging a bit next to him. Oh, the blonde boy was still rigidly upright, but he seemed to have lost the use of his left arm.
"Expellariamus!" came twin shouts from the other side of the hall, and it caught Severus by surprise. It also took the Slytherins by surprise, as a half-dozen wands flew away to the far corridor. "Stupefy, petrificus totalis, stupefy, stupefy!" The odds seemed to be evening a tad as black-robbed students began to stumble and drop. Next to him Draco was still steadily casting nasty curses and hexes.
"Come out and get what you deserve, mudblood!" came Pansy's shrill shout. Granger, Severus realized. Dammit all, they were supposed to be out front with Potter, he thought, positive that the infernal Weasley was at her side.
"For the last bloody time, DON'T CALL HER THAT!" came a roar, proving him right. At least Weasley followed that statement with a half-dozen good hexes, taking down another three students. They were down to three black-robed figures, and Pansy, who was surprisingly sneaky and strong with her curses. Severus had difficulty dodging them.
There was a quick succession of stupefy's, and then finally it was just Pansy, standing wandless. She glared not at Severus, but at Draco. "Traitor," she hissed. "Traitor for that bitch Gryffindor, a muggle-loving whore who'd as soon fuck one as not…" And then she dropped like a stone, blood welling from a cut over her forehead.
"Expellariamus," snapped Granger's voice, the Head Girl finally coming into view. He was getting too old for this, Severus thought wearily, looking at the limp bodies cluttering the hallway. "Ron, get them tied up, we've got to get out front." Weasley was already doing that; for some reason Severus just stood back and watched. The girl rounded on himself and Draco. "Are you ok, Malfoy? Let me see that arm," she ordered. Severus' eyebrow lifted as Malfoy obeyed with nary a sneer. A few flicks and muttered charms and Draco was flexing his left hand once more. "Done, Ron?" Granger asked, swinging around once more.
"Nearly," Weasley called.
"Right, Professor, here's the wands," a large bundle of them was thrust into his hands. "Come on, Ron, we've got to get out front!"
At that moment there was a distant 'boom', and the faint shaking of the castle around them. "Harry!" Granger gasped, and then she and Weasley were tearing off in the direction of the front door, Draco hot on their heels.
Severus watched them go, feeling very old and worn. In so many ways, he thought for the first time, looking down at the wands in his hand and then the bound forms lying neatly before him, this was no longer his war. It had moved on, taken another generation. He'd never truly appreciated it before, he'd always been too deeply immersed in the Dark himself.
Bending, Severus set the stack of wands on the ground and pointed his own. "Implodius," he murmured and watched as the fire began to blaze, bright green and lavender as woods and cores burned. The smoke stung at his eyes as he then cast the strongest containment shield he could about the bound bodies centered in the hallway, and he set off for the front doors himself.
It might not be his war any longer, but he still had his part to play, and his heart to protect.
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The explosion at the gate had all of them jerking tensely in surprise, fingers tightening painfully about their wands. Cara stood next to Ginny and wished like hell that Draco was there. Bloody boy, she wanted to weep. Had to go and save his bloody classmates and be a bloody hero. She'd never forgive him if he ended up dead.
Dust and debris was billowing about where the gate should be and then they all heard it. Harry's voice, raised clear and strong. "Stupefy," it came in a whip-sharp crack, and bolts of light began to sizzle within the cloud.
"I can't see," Ginny muttered anxiously. "I can't see a damn thing to hit in that mess, and I'd be afraid it was one of ours even if I could." The cloud was billowing closer, too, Cara noticed anxiously. Was this one of Voldemort's tricks? There was a scream of pain, and another, and they didn't know who.
The cloud was closer, perhaps a few meters away. And finally Cara saw one, black-clad and robbed with furious eyes. She jerked her own wand up, but her classmates had beaten her to it. A half-dozen hexes hit the man who fell backward and disappeared into the cloud.
And then the cloud was on them, and they were engulfed in the mess of dust and blood and screams and spells. Cara found herself gasping for breath, ducking and weaving and shooting off every paralysis spell she could think of. Incapacitate, incapacitate, her mind kept repeating. There was a shriek of pain next to her, and she jerked her head around to see Ginny with blood running down her face but still on her feet, wielding her wand furiously.
And then Cara spun about and came face to face with her own personal devil. One she'd thought was long since drained dry and gone. Bellatrix.
The black haired woman gave a shrill laugh, eyes wild and exultant. "I was looking for you," she cooed. "Draco's little Gryffindor." And Cara was nearly frozen in shock and fear while Bellatrix raised her wand. "Crucio!"
Cara came to her senses and ducked but too late and she knew it. Every muscle tensed, anticipating the pain, the sheer pain of the Unforgivable. Instead the bold of wicked light hit her and exploded into a blue glow that engulfed her body. Bellatrix stumbled back a step from the brightness.
"What?" she shrieked, but Cara was already recovering. Thank you, Professor, she thought silently.
"Petrificus totalis!" she shouted and made Bellatrix duck. "Stupefy, stupefy, stupefy!"
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Harry was afraid. He was afraid because it was all coming too easily. The Death Eaters were falling; slowly, to be sure, and not before he'd seen some of his fellow students stumble and drop themselves. He hoped that no one was dead, he hadn't seen that distinctive shade of green yet fly through the air.
But it was still all too easy and Harry knew it, even as he wielded his wand furiously, sending hex after spell after charm, slashing and cutting and petrifying and squeezing the very breath from some black-robed figures. It was too easy.
And then the pain exploded in his head again, making him stumble to one knee, his left hand coming up to clutch at his forehead. And he heard it. A laugh.
"Potter," the voice rolled triumphantly over the darkness of that infernal dust cloud. "Come here, Potter." He couldn't see, Harry realized with a moment of panic, he couldn't see where anyone else was. He was suddenly standing alone in that swirling dirt and dust, not even Death Eaters about him. All the sounds of the battle had retreated from his ears and he couldn't hear a thing except the throbbing in his head and the smoothly evil voice that raised above the dark.
"No. This is not the time or place," Harry found himself shouting. Like his dream…
"I choose the time and place, Potter," came that voice again, closer. His head seemed like it would explode soon, and Harry had to force himself, weaving, to his feet. He felt an icy chill down his back, much like Dementors and almost without thought swept his left hand about.
"Expecto Patronem," he called weakly, and silver light lit out from all sides, briefly lighting the cloud and showing him Neville and Seamus not too far away, locked in a duel with three Death Eaters. And then the light disappeared, as if it went off seeking the cause of that chill.
"So, you've been learning, have you?" came that voice again, darkly amused. "Perhaps this will be more interesting than I thought."
And then Harry's head exploded and he fell to his knees, hands scraping against the ground, rocks cutting into his hands even as he felt nothing but the agony in his mind. His wand clattered away uselessly. No, he silently screamed, trying desperately to get those walls back up, those walls he'd so carefully built the last two years.
It is futile, that voice said in his head. I have your mind. You are mine, mine to take, mine to break, mine to end. And scenes began to flash before his eyes, and Harry screamed inside his head with the agony of it as Ron and Hermione were tortured, as Ginny was raped as she struggled against black-clothed arms, as Neville, as Cara, as Dean and Seamus one by one dropped to the ground, eyes glassy and blank.
You see what will come, sounded within his head. You see what I will make be, once I have taken care of you.
And then there was a shout, almost a muffled sound from far away. "Crucio!" it came, and there was a jerk within Harry's head and he was suddenly free again, his own person. He blinked away blood that seemed to be dripping down his face and saw someone standing near him, wand trained on another figure, this one tall and gaunt and cold.
Neville, Harry realized. Neville.
And then Voldemort snarled something and shot a hand toward his friend, and Neville stumbled backward. "You think you can curse me, boy?" the Dark Lord snarled. "Your foolishness will not go unrewarded."
"No," Harry tried to shout as he lurched to his feet, he tried to move, but it was too late.
"Avada Kedavra!" That bolt of green, so horrifyingly familiar to Harry, shot from Voldemort and Harry staggered as he watched Neville reel backward and crumple to the ground.
"No!" Harry roared, "Neville! NEVILLE!" Something surged inside him, something deep and unfamiliar and began to gather beneath his breastbone. His friend had just tried to save him and was now dead.
And Voldemort laughed. "He is gone, and now, so shall you," said that cold, compelling voice. Red eyes gleamed violently through the dark, as the dust about them seemed to have cleared away. The two of them stood in a circle now, a cleared circle of blackness, the two of them the only thing visible.
Harry was on fire, burning with something, something so powerful he didn't understand it. But he knew how to use it. "I won't let you kill anymore," he shouted. "Not anymore, you pathetic excuse of a wizard!"
Voldemort hissed and raised his wand. "I tire of this," he snarled. "Avada Kedav…"
And Harry pushed, with all his might. He pushed all that power, that rage, that love that had roared through him with he'd seen Neville attacking Voldemort. White light shot from his hands, forward, wrapping about the two of them. The light blinded him, made him stumble. His head was exploding again, pain wracking his body, his arms, his legs, his chest. His heart was pounding so hard it felt like it would come through his chest. And through it all he heard two screams, and one of them was his.
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AN: Bwahahahaha! I do love being evil. I'm going to try to finish this in the next week or two, never fear. Everything will be wrapped up by Christmas. Oh, and the penguins were a raving success, by the way. Thanks for asking. : - )
Sugarbaby – Let all the evil people die? Where's the fun in that?
Sibling Creature – Worried for Draco? Heh heh heh… I think Draco's got a chance. Of course, the battle ain't over yet…
Lirael Goldenhand – I'm rather fond of Sonora myself… We'll have to see where the next chapter finds her.
Plateado – Another story? Do you think I have NO life? Lol. Actually, my sister (ferggirl99) and I have considered doing a piece or two together, but nothing yet. We'll see.
MusicMonkey88 – Hey, my penguins were really cute! And we painted their noses orange… But I'll take that fish stick, thanks. (munching)
Shahrezad1 – Mid-fight? Hah! That was just getting started, babe. I got news for you, I have not yet begun to fight! (Uh, sorry, wrong war…) And quit hiding those cookies! (Snatching at package, conveniently missing the WWW logo on the side) Hey, why'd I suddenly turn yellow?
Ariana15 – Aahhhh….
MrsSakuraPotter – Me? Cruel? (waving gleefully at pissed-off looking reader who's stuck beyond the veil)
Ravenfair – I do love hearing people found me by word of mouth! When people ask me for recommendations to read, that's the first thing I say: look at favorites lists of authors you respect. And frankly, Draco's not a good boy. How could he be? But he ain't evil to me. Oh, and begging is always good. : - )
Ll4ever, mary-v, Jennifer Cole, The Legendary Centurion, hplovah, Moonglaze, Akugin Ashura, Lady of Masbolle, Maddie, Fancyeyes, Kele Yuy, jimminybug, nebulia – Why does everyone think I'm evil? I swear, I'm really a very nice person. Really. (hiding crossed fingers) Umm, keep reviewing?