Shines A Light
Chapter Nine: Shattered Peace
Days more passed, and Ron rejoiced in the fact that Hermione had stopped hounding him. Harry and Hermione both did not mention homework to him, and as a consequence, a week later he had nothing to give to Tonks when the day came around. Neither Harry nor Hermione commented on it, though Ron earned himself a detention.
He came back complaining, and Hermione informed him that if he'd actually made the effort himself, he wouldn't have had the detention in the first place. After that, Ron just complained quietly, where Hermione couldn't hear him.
"Let him go," Harry repeated softly to Hermione that night, when Ron went to bed early, complaining of soreness after having to clean trophies without magic. "He'll get there eventually."
Hermione only nodded, and Harry went to the Room of Requirement to do his exercises and practicing magic duelling, and using a Katana, which he had had little time for since he broke his back. He was disgusted by how far behind he'd gotten. He hadn't been attending Neko's classes, because she was still going through stretches and learning how to hold a Katana, not actually doing anything. The exercises were basically the one's that Harry was already doing himself, and he knew how to hold a sword, so he had no reason to go.
He practiced a little with the Katana, and was happy to note that his back didn't hurt as much as it might have, had he tried this a month before hand. The extra training was doing him good, it seemed. Pain, however, soon returned when he had been working for only a short time. Harry stopped working with the Katana and sighed. He would not push his skills with the sword as much as he had pushed himself in his exercises. Perhaps it would be best to work on one thing at a time.
Harry put down his katana and settled down on a chair that appeared the moment he thought of it, leaning back and relaxing his body completely, seeking the sanctuary of the Centre, and finding it with the ease of long practice. Grypis came slipping up to Harry's side, rubbing his head against Harry's hand.
"Your skill will return, Gryfas," Grypis assured Harry calmly, "Give your body time to recover. You know full well that most Muggles who suffered what you did would find them confined to a wheelchair for life. You have been given the chance to find your life anew … but you must work for the privilege. Do not despair."
Harry smiled, and scratched under his friends chin, "I know," he sighed, "But I grow tired of waiting for things to come to me. It is difficult to watch to watch Ron bragging about the Quidditch games and so forth, when he knows that I cannot be a part of it."
"Perhaps he thinks he does you a kindness by keeping you informed of what is going on in Quidditch. Perhaps he feels that he can he can let you live through him," Grypis remarked. "I know you do not appreciate it, but I am sure that your friend believes he has your best interests at heart."
"He has a funny way of showing it," Harry groused.
"Would you like to fly?" Grypis asked.
"It is dark," Harry pointed out.
"So? I can fly in the dark as easily as in the daytime. It matters not to me. Flying in the darkness is amazing, you must experience it!" Grypis said happily, "Come! Let us go!"
Harry smiled and followed Grypis from the room. Grypis certainly had Harry's best interests at heart. It was the perfect way to make him cheer up – even if it wasn't Quidditch, and it wasn't a broom he was riding, at least he would be in the air. At present, Harry did not even have a broom. He had given the Firebolt to Ginny on a semi-permanent loan, at least until he recovered enough to fly it himself.
They went back to their rooftop, and Grypis changed back to his true form. Harry clambered up onto his back, and Grypis took off. In the darkness, flying was far different from anything Harry had experienced before. The moon was only a silver of silver in a midnight sky, and gave off little light. The castle also gave off some light, but not huge amounts of it.
They turned and flew gracefully over the Forbidden Forest, Grypis's wings sweeping with a soothing rhythm, and Harry let his body relax into the movement. It was different from riding a broom, different, too, from riding a hippogriff, Harry decided on this, his second flight.
"Are you enjoying yourself?" Grypis asked quietly, after a little while.
"Yes," Harry replied.
"Where do you wish to go?"
"Can you fly us as far as Hogsmeade?" Harry asked, "I know you aren't used to the weight, so I don't mind if you can't get us there."
"I might be able to. I will see. We shall fly as far as I can in that direction. I will know when I am too tired to go on and still make it back, it is something all griffins can tell," Grypis said calmly, and they flew on, over the shadowed, half seen treetops of the Forbidden Forest.
They reached the edge of the Forest, and Harry looked ahead, searching for Hogsmeade.
"Harry, I grow tired. We must return. Perhaps we will make it to Hogsmeade in a few weeks, when I have had some practice," Grypis said suddenly, about to turn, when, at the same time, he and Harry spotted Hogsmeade in the distance. Light was flashing, as if a huge fire had been made, and multi-coloured flashes could just be seen.
"Grypis! There must be Death Eaters! We have to go and help!" Harry said, "No one else would be attacking!"
"I know," Grypis said, turning back. "I will be able to get you there, but I will not be able to get you back again."
Harry hesitated for only a second, "We go, they will need all the help they can get, as soon as they can get it. Could you fly back to Hogwarts in eagle form with a note for Tatsu?"
"I expect so, I will try," Grypis replied.
"Thank you," Harry replied. Every beat of Grypis's wings carried them closer to Hogsmeade, and they watched as the fire grew brighter, higher. Grypis was flying faster now, and soon they had reached the outskirts of the town. Grypis settled down and Harry grabbed some parchment and a quill from his pocket.
"Help. Hogsmeade. DE's."
That was all he wrote, and he handed it to Grypis, who had changed into his eagle form and accepted the note calmly, taking off again into the night, as Harry drew his wand from his sleeve, green eyes frighteningly calm. His back ached, but he was in his Centre, and he did not really notice. He would do whatever was necessary now to fight the Death Eaters here, not matter what it did to him.
He walked into the town. It was the Hogs Head that was burning so brightly, and Harry felt a stab of pity – it was that place where DA had been formed, and he felt some sentimental attachment to the place. But he could not put out the fire and stop the Death Eaters from killing everyone. He did not know how long they had been here, and he really needed to find everyone who was alive.
He figured the best idea would be to follow the flashes, and they led him down the main street until he reached the Post Office and Dervish and Bangs. Most of the people lived outside the town in the first place, and so the Death Eaters would not have had much to do on the main street.
Out there, however, Harry could see the Death Eaters laughing and cursing the people of the town. They were delighting in torture and baiting. They must have stolen most of the wands, though there were a few people hanging around behind the houses, who were trying to stop the Death Eaters and who still had their wands.
Harry watched as one of the Death Eaters used crucio on a girl who could not have been much older than five or six. The girl writhed and screamed, while her mother struggled, screaming, to reach her.
"Stupefy," Harry whispered, pointing his wand at the Death Eater who had performed the curse. Red light blazed through the air and struck the masked figure, which fell and struck the ground with a painful thump. The girls' mother ran to her, gathering her up and hugging her tightly, but one of the other Death Eaters sent a flash of green light, and the mother fell, dead, smothering the child.
Harry felt tears gather in his eyes. It was not fair that one so young had to go through something like that. He would try and get the girl out from there; he would try and get them all out. "Stupefy," he said again, pointing at another Death Eater, but he hung back, not wanting to get too close to the action until he had someone else with him.
He moved around, so that the Death Eaters couldn't tell where his spells came from, and picked his targets carefully, aiming for those Death Eaters who were just about to cast spells, especially trying to protect the children. He met up with some of those who had escaped and who were hiding out.
"Harry Potter?" one of them asked when he came across a little gathering of them.
"Yes, I'm here to help," Harry replied, "I've sent a note to Hogwarts; hopefully more people will be here soon. We have to try and keep as many people alive as possible. I would advise that you only aim curses at the Death Eaters who are about to perform a spell."
They nodded. "Let anyone else you find know," Harry added, and slipped through the houses, whispering, "Expilliarmus," and stealing a Death Eater's wand. His huge bank of curses was serving him well, as he struggled to even the odds against those poor souls trapped within the town.
The Death Eaters were getting nervous, because so far they had done fairly well about keeping those who were attacking them away, but now the fight back had really begun. Harry slipped very close to the group of Death Eaters, and pulled the girl whose mother had been killed from under her body. The girl had gone silent with shock, but when Harry pulled her out, she threatened to start screaming.
"Hush, I'm your friend, I'm going to get you out of here," Harry told her, and she fell silent. Harry picked her up and carried her away. One of the Death Eaters saw him retreating and went to curse him, but a volley of curses from the houses stopped him.
When Harry reached the safety line, a man came forward and took the girl from his arms, "I'm her father," he told Harry, hugging the girl to his chest. "Did you see-"
"Her mother is gone," Harry replied softly, eyes filling with tears.
Face contorted with grief, the man took his daughter away.
A short time later, Tatsu and Neko arrived on the scene, along with most of the staff and several members of the DA – all of them Gryffindors, fifth years and up, because Tatsu and Neko had summoned Ron and Hermione, not thinking of any one else.
Ron and Hermione had woken the older DA students, knowing better than to consider calling the younger students into a situation of all out warfare. Ron and Hermione made a beeline for Harry, who called the DA students to him. Tatsu came to him as well, while Neko and the other staff members went to organise the free villagers.
"Tatsu, get Neko back here," Harry murmured, "I'm going to need you to work on keeping the Death Eaters from killing anyone else."
Tatsu nodded, and he and Neko slipped away from the main group, finding themselves somewhere to sit tight and work their own unique branch of magic. Harry was glad that Tatsu and led the group in from behind – the Death Eaters did not know of the reinforcements that had arrived.
With the DA around him, Harry organised his own plan of offence. He left the staff of Hogwarts to organise themselves, knowing that they would do the work perfectly well, and concentrated on making sure his friends knew what they would need to do. "You'll probably see quite a few people dead out there," Harry said, "I saw one woman killed in front of me … please; try not to lose your heads over it. I know it seems an insensitive thing to say, but you need to concentrate on keeping the living safe."
Everyone nodded, though they were now looking a little nervous. "It's not your fault that those people died. That's a lesson I learnt the hard way," Harry added. "Let's go, and remember – you have a plan, follow it!"
Harry led his group along through the houses, throwing curses at the Death Eaters and ducking out of the way as those below tried to return fire. Harry smiled as he saw one of the Death Eaters try to kill a girl, an obvious threat to the families above, but the green light did nothing but give the child a dazed look for a moment.
"What's going on?" one of the fifth year students asked.
"You'll find out later," Harry said, "We don't have time for explanations now. Come on!"
Not much later the Death Eaters disaparated in disgust, since their spells weren't working, and they weren't used to things not going their way. Harry kept the students back as they went to go down to the battleground. "Come on, we aren't of use here any more. We should get back to the school."
"But shouldn't we help down there?" Ginny asked him, looking down at the place where the Death Eaters had been, and where now all of the adults were congregating.
"No," Harry said firmly, "You all have classes tomorrow, and you've done a lot to help out. There are dead people down there, and I can tell you now, you do not want to see it. It's a terrible sight, and one that you don't need to see. The adults can deal with it – they have before, and they know what they are doing. I'll go and tell them that we're heading back up to the school."
Everyone nodded quietly, probably privately glad that they wouldn't have to help with the clean up. Harry found Tatsu and Neko, staggering with weariness, obviously having had a pretty hard time of it, Modifying the spells to make them harmless. "You two wait here," Harry told them, "I'm taking DA back to the school, just going to tell someone down there that we are going."
Tatsu and Neko just nodded, not even considering arguing with him. Harry told Headmistress McGonagall, and then returned, with Neko and Tatsu leaning on him for support. When they reached the group of students, others came to help support the two teachers, and the group moved off toward the castle, grim older students at the edge of the group, wands out, ready to curse the first thing that moved.
They made it back to the school without incident, and Ron, Harry and Hermione took Tatsu and Neko to their beds and tucking them in tightly. The pair fell asleep almost immediately, and the three students went back to the tower. Tomorrow would be a tiring day after a night of action.
When Harry reached his bed, he found Grypis, in cat form, lying there, apparently completely worn out, though still awake. "Are you alright?" Harry asked.
"I feel as if I will never fly again," Grypis replied. "My wings are that worn out that I cannot stand remaining in a form where I even have them. But apart from that, I am alright."
"Sleep my friend, you did a brilliant job tonight, you deserve all the rest that you can get," Harry told the griffin, who nodded sleepily and curled up on Harry's chest. The pair of them drifted off together, though the adrenaline pumping through Harry's veins made it difficult to calm down enough for sleep.
Tomorrow would bring its own challenges.
And that is yet another chapter gone. The first battle of the story – was it ok? Let me know what you think - battles aren't my strong point. Looking forward to getting your reviews … Hopefully I'll be updating this story a fair bit more in the near future, as well as the reworked version of Deceptions …
Thanks to:
Katepotter13, Dumbeldave, hpfanchrissy1502, elvishchic13, hummer, Numba1, Lisienna, gina87, CantFindAGoodName, Lina Thanatos, JeanieBeanie33, FreedomStar, QueenWeasel, Kordolin, moonypadfoot, katesari, TuxedoMac, uNoeWho.