Chapter 8: The Fights, Many Fights
The universe is filled with many strange and wonderful things. After everything that had happened to him, Harry was surprised to see that on the eve of battle, he had slept better than when he was a baby. When the alarm went off at five the next morning, Harry was up and moving at a lightning fast pace.
Within five minutes he was showered, clean shaven, and wide awake. He had downed his coffee in three gulps and had changed into his battle gear at record time. At five fifteen in the morning, before the sun had even ridden, Harry was ready to go. He ended up giving a sleeping Ginny a quick kiss and then he apperated to Diagon Alley. He appeared in a privet room in the Leaky Cauldron, one that had already been reserved with Tom the inn keeper.
Inside was the already assembled Order of the Phoenix. All but a skeleton crew was here. All the Hogwarts professors were here, along with the older Weaselys (minus Percy), all the auroras not on duty at Kings Cross, and a group of volunteer fights that Tom, who was working as a scouter for the Order, had assembled. They were all dressed in light weight clothing and when Harry looked at the large group, he knew they weren't fit for battle. Not the type of battle Harry knew was coming. Just then, Albus Dumbledore stood up and called everyone's attention to him.
As Harry leaned back against the wall the speech began, "You all know why you are here. Today, the time is not yet known, there will be an attack on Diagon Alley. We can only guess how many Death Eaters will be arriving, but we estimate anywhere from one hundred to two hundred of them. We, that is to say Harry and I, highly doubt that Voldemort himself will show. If he does, try to get out of his way and continue to fight his followers, a fight with him will only be prolonged if Harry or I is in the area. Now we have been watching all the entrances to and fro the Alley, and so far haven't sensed any activity, though Knockturn Alley seems a bit darker and slightly colder lately. For this reason we believe dementors will take part in battle, so please make sure you take chocolate with you."
Interrupting the Headmaster from saying anything more, Harry spoke out, "To be honest, I don't want many of you in the alley itself. Don't take this the wrong way, but only a handful of you actually have robes good enough to do battle with this amount of Death Eaters. I want the majority of you up on the roofs and inside the buildings. The top floors would be the best. Also, by six thirty I want to have ten very strong barricades set up against the following establishments; Weasely Wizard Wheezes, The Leaky Cauldron, Eyelops, Fortescue's, the apothecary, magical menagerie, Flourish, Quiditch, and two directly in front of the Knockturn Alley entrance. Use every charm, spell, knowledge, muggle uses and wizards to protect these. If you begin to get overpowered, make your way to these barricades. We'll also be issuing portkeys. They will be activated as soon as you say the word 'portus'. You will be transported to the Hospital Wing in Hogwarts."
"Now I believe we have a job to do, let's go do it!" The entire assembled crowd cheered with the finish of Harry's speech.
As expected, everything was set up by six thirty. The group then went about to their assigned positions and everyone began to feel the tensions of the calm before a storm. It could almost be heard in the silence as people finished some last minute setting up. All ninety defenders, for that was all there was, were trying their best to act calm and collected and all managed to eat a good amount of breakfast that was delivered to them. Soon the clock started ticking away and small clumps of chatter could be heard.
By eight, a few shoppers arrived, though as the Order soon explained what was going on they either left quickly or stayed to help with the fight. Before explaining anything however, the person in question was checked for the Dark Mark. None had them and everything was still running pretty smoothly by eleven.
The Hogwarts Express would be leaving now, and with it Harry's friends were on their way to safety. For that Harry was grateful. He knew, even with the extra training they were all getting, they wouldn't last long in the upcoming fight. Within ten minutes after that thought, a series of pops could be heard, about ten, and Harry already had disarming spells headed their way before they could blink. Catching their wands, Harry noticed they were the auroras from Kings Cross and after checking for the Dark Mark, he handed them back their wands and proceeded to tell them the best areas to stay, what to do, and who to avoid.
After the auroras arrival, Harry had his shield and sword drawn. He had a prickling feeling that associated with danger. Knowing it wasn't far away, Harry and Dumbledore gave the order to be at the ready. They couldn't have had timing if they had seen the future. At the exact moment that all wands were facing the entrance to Knockturn Alley, a great wave of black rolled out of it.
A chilling sensation filled the air and the area started to go dark. Those that could produce a patronus did so immediately, thought the black was barely deterred by the small patroni. It was then Harry finally managed to come up with a happy thought. The thought was of when Ginny had told him that she loved him. He couldn't have ever been happier.
"Expecto Patronum!" Harry screamed. Out of Gryffindor's sword came a stag. But not just a normal stag patronus, a Harry Potter patronus. Owing to the extra power given by the sword and the immense power he already had, a twenty foot tall GOLD stag had rushed forward. It charged the incoming dementors and with its charge came a shriek.
A horrible sound was coming from any dementor it touched, the result being in the dementor disappearing in a puff of smoke and a loud screech. It was a mesmerizing sight to behold and everyone, including Harry looked on with awe. Until Harry remembered the patronus would only affect dementors, not Death Eaters. "At the ready, the battle has yet to begun!" Harry shouted.
The few surviving dementors decided to turn tail and run instead of facing something so pure and strong. Soon they and the golden stag disappeared and Harry's group was waiting with bated breath for the first sign of a Death Eater. Harry and Albus, for now Harry respected the man and the power he held, were standing directly in front of the entrance into the alley. They radiated power and it seemed no Death Eater was brave enough to attack first.
That was when an Explosion was heard inside Gringotts. Turning his head quickly, Harry saw the roof of the building explode outwards. The rubble rained down upon the Order members and Harry saw one of their barricades fall. Luckily the people themselves had remained unharmed. Now using his griffin earring to its full extent, Harry heard the sound of approaching Death Eaters. "Approaching Death Eaters! Too many to count and I want them all stopped before a single life is wasted!"
As soon as he finished the first Death Eaters rushed into visual sight. Harry sent a five stunners at them using his shield hand while sending a very large reducto curse and the on coming black mass. A group of about ten Death Eaters were already out of the fight from the two spells and Albus seemed to have taken out about the same number as well. The Death Eaters kept coming though. And they never seemed to stop.
Spell after spell rained down from the rooftops and buildings. The few fighters stationed on ground level were taking down any advancing members that managed to get past the two leaders. Unfortunately, the Death Eaters definitely decided to go for size today and even the two hundred mark seemed slight in comparison to the amount of black robed figures.
Soon Harry and Albus were surrounded around all sides. They were forced back to back with one another and still managed to cut down the oncoming forces. They knew who they needed to get and who the others could handle. The others were busy handling their own problems though.
Just as a stunner was fired from a nearby rooftop, the shop ceiling exploded outwards. The man seemed to fly and then fall slowly to his death. For some ironic reason, he fell atop the same Death Eater that had fired the spell and killed him in his crash. From there, the careful planning by both sides started to fall away.
It seemed like hours, all the fighting and mayhem. In reality, it was hours and it was only increasing in intensity. Harry was backed up against the wall, with a fair number of cuts on him and some nice bruises along his body. He didn't deter though in his movements and continued to be a royal pain in the Death Eater's arses. He had already managed a staggering fifty two downed members. There were still over two hundred of them still and the Order wasn't fairing as well.
Their numbers dwindling, must of the fighters of the light were trying to stay together. There was a total of thirty left, out of what had once been a hundred strong. After an intense six hours of fighting, Charlie Weasely was the only Weasely left at the sight. He had been fighting along his brother Bill, but he had been hit hard with a cutting curse to the leg and had to portkey out of the line of three killing curses. Charlie's father had been under a balcony when it collapsed on top of him. Charlie had seen his father's look of fear before managing to utter portus.
Fred and George had been sending some things they called magical grenades at the Death Eaters. The little things had exploded and released a variety of curses that incapacitated the Death Eaters long enough for them to be taken out. That had made them prime targets and had been constantly under fire. Harry had already had to come and ward off the Death Eaters there two times, each leaving a mess of blood and robes where his sword had once been.
They had soon succumbed to the Death Eaters and were being subjected to crucio when Charlie had stunned their attackers and made the twins portkey away. Remus had been quick to back Charlie up and the two had been doing their very best to stay standing. After realizing how good of a dueler Remus was, Charlie was surprised James had not beaten Voldemort when he had dueled him those many years ago. Unfortunately, the Order was only left with about twenty members when something happened that made every heart stop, friend and foe alike.
It was laughter, maniacal laughter that chilled the bone. Following it to its source everyone was astonished to find a deadly white human standing there. Behind him was a group of thirty similar looking people. Seeing that he had the attention of every person on the battle field, the man spoke.
"I am Darmien, the half-blood prince! You may not have heard of me, but I am a very special creature. I am a vampire!" at this pronouncement everyone but Remus, Albus, and Harry shivered. "But that is not all my warriors. I am the first vampire to be able to do magic. And I am quite exceptional at it. Now, I am not on anyone's side though I will alley myself this once against the light with another. Feed now, my children and drink the blood of any who gets in your way."
A shout was heard Death Eaters and Order members alike began scrambling together. Harry on the other hand knew what needed to be done, and wasn't happy about it. "EVERYONE PORTKEY OUT! THE BATTLE IS OVER FOR NOW! GET OUT AND REGROUP AT THE POINT. ALBUS, MYSELF, AND REMUS WILL MEET YOU THERE SHORTLY." The group immediately activated their portkeys and disappeared. Remus had been given the chance to stay because he would not be acceptable to the vampires, being he is a vampire. The Death Eaters saw their chance for victory and started to troop towards the three remaining light figures.
"Harry, we must get out of here," Albus said.
"I know Albus, but we need to gain an assessment of the enemy, both enemies actually and this is the only way to do it. Remus can hold the vampires off while you take care of the Death Eaters. I'll be doing both while trying to get to the prince. I have a feeling he will be a n instrumental part in this war, and if we could hope for a chance to beat him, now would be a good time to test out his strength."
After blasting a few Death Eaters aside Dumbledore replied, "You will not have long. We won't have long." Just as he said it his Headmaster was hit in the back by a curse and was sent flying. He disappeared in mid air though and Harry breathed a sigh of relief.
Remus wasn't fairing much better. He was shooting sunlight charms at the vampires and using his werewolf strength to throw the vampires off him. He had already staked five and was in the process of burning another when he saw Albus disappear in mid flight. He turned to see Harry come running forward. "I have to do something, I'll be right back. Hold them here, but do not get yourself killed. I think I have a lead on something that will get rid of one problem for good, but these vamps will get in my way."
Remus nodded, while shooting a spike out of his wand into an incoming vampire's heart. "Get going, Harry, the Death Eaters are afraid of the vampires and won't attack me with them still here, and the vampires are afraid to get too close because they can smell the werewolf. Do it, but do not get yourself killed."
Before he could finish Harry had raced off up the street of vampires to where Darmien was standing. He had given up on accuracy long ago and had just sent spikes out of his sword and shield while running. Seven more vampires disappeared in a flash of flames and that was when Harry finally let the enormity of what he was about to do sink in. He couldn't believe he was trying to do it, but the movie had seemed real enough, maybe there was truth behind the fiction and this Darmien guy seemed to be like the Drake in the movie he and Ginny had seen.
In the movie, a group of hunters had tried to get the original vampire's blood and then in the process release a virus that would kill every vampire to touch the deadly DNA. After joining the wizarding world and seeing so many surprises, Harry wouldn't be too astonished if his idea worked. He was going to try to get Darmien's blood so they could see how to destroy the other vampires, or at least find their weakness so they could actually fight them.
As a matter of fact, the idea of facing on enemy instead of three hundred appealed to Harry and he was quick in his journey to the Half-Blood Prince. The two remaining vampires tried to jump Harry once more who had once again staked the two in the heart. No more vampires came and Harry saw the gathering mass of Death Eaters down below. Remus was no where to be seen and every wand was on him, including Darmien's, who seemed to hold it more like a sword.
The reason would become clear as the wand suddenly became a sword. "I know what you are thinking Mr. Potter. I know about the movies, books, comics, and mockery my name has become over the millennia. I promise you that I will once again rule, and I will not be as kind as Voldemort. You and I will face each other again, but before I leave, how about a parting gift?"
With that he lunged forward. For all the vampire's speed, Harry was at his prime and had managed to match the prince blow for blow. Soon cuts were all over Harry and his blade was shining in Darmien's green blood, though his injuries were repairing themselves before Harry's eyes. Just as he was about to portkey away, Darmien made a sweeping gesture with his feet and forced Harry to jump. As he did, the vampire was able to grab his portkey from his neck and crumbled the object in his hand. Where a guitar pick had once been was now only a pile of ash. With a sinister laugh, Darmien disappeared, leaving Harry facing a hundred plus Death Eaters alone. If only he could apperate, but he knew it was out of the equation. The amount of wards that had been set up around here before the battle made it impossible for anyone to apperate until Hogsmead. If only I could get away!
Then Harry saw it, his salvation. Quality Quiditch was still standing, and he was right next to it. He concentrated on bringing a Firebolt to him and in the next moment he was kicking off the ground and into the air. Furious cries were heard underneath him and Harry was soon being pursued on his second flight to Hogwarts.
When Ginny had first arrived at Hogwarts she felt like she was back home and safe. Unfortunately, she could now see the thestrals after witnessing Bellatrix's death.
The first thing she had noticed upon entering the Great Hall was the absence of quite a few professors, but in their places were many faces she hadn't recognized. In fact, they were so many strange adults here that another table had been added to the hall, and the banner of a phoenix and griffin was hanging over it.
The Order of the Phoenix. She immediately spotted her father, Bill, Charlie, Fred, and George at the table and went to sit down. Before she could however, two sets of hands had grabbed her and were gently pulling her towards the Gryffindor table.
"Come on, Ginny, I want to see them too, but we can't make a scene out of this. Remember, we have to act like we don't know anything happened?" Ron also wanted to find out what was happening and why the Order was suddenly here, missing quite a few people.
Hermione wrapped an arm around Ginny a sat next her, Ron on his girlfriend's other side. "Ginny, I'm sure Dumbledore will explain everything to us. Or at least us and if he doesn't, Harry will be fine just like always."
Ron pointed excitedly, "Look! There he is now," and true enough Headmaster Dumbledore strode into the Great Hall.
His arm was in a sling and his nose was bandaged, but he still looked like Dumbledore. Behind him were the first years and behind them even more professors and Order members who were supporting various injuries. The adults made their way up towards the Staff/Order/Griffin table and sat down, while Minerva had stopped to place the sorting hat and stool in front of the first years.
The hat opened its rim and began to sing its yearly song.
(AN: I'm going to skip the song because I don't think I would be able to justice to the hat. Sorry but if you would like to make a song up and email it to mean, I may consider adding it to this chapter in the future.)
The Great Hall erupted into applause and a few murmurs were heard talking about the song. They all abruptly stopped as, "Albeito, Eithen" was sorted into Ravenclaw. After a about ten to twenty minutes the sorting was finished with "Zacramatis, Tom" being sorted into Hufflepuff. There was a surprisingly low number of Gryffindors as well as Slytherins this year and the older students took note of this.
Professor Dumbledore then rose from his chair and addressed the Hall. "Most of you must be wondering why there are so many 'teachers' here this year. The answer is complicated but please be patient. Today Lord Voldemort," the student body all flinched, "lead an attack today against Diagon Alley. We were prepared for him but his numbers appeared to be much greater than expected. Also, there was an implication involving Darmien the Half-Blood Prince, the first vampire and the only one able to do magic. He is not on any side but he saw us as the greater overall threat and decided to try to finish us off. Thanks to emergency portkeys, we only lost ten people out of a hundred who stayed to fight. Two men are unaccounted for. The first is Remus Lupin who will be returning as our defense professor this year-"
He was cut off by a voice saying, "-Well, Albus, I never thought I would see the day you were wrong. Only one person his unaccounted for, and I am alive and kicking!" a smiling Remus made his way up to the table. "Harry and I managed to get all thirty vampires but I had to leave when the Death Eaters turned to me. The last I saw, he was still battling Darmien and was actually scoring quite a number of hits."
"Please save this for later, Remus. The other unaccounted person is Harry Potter, who was still fighting strong. I will take this time to warn no one to pick a fight with him when he returns for he will be in an extremely bad mood. Now, onto regular announcements! The Forbidden Forest is as its name suggests and…"
As this was going on Harry was busy trying to get to Hogwarts. He had been following the train tracks that the Hogwarts Express took and was dodging the Death Eaters best he could. As it was, the shield lying across his back was deflecting most curses and the sword was in its sheath. Harry was going for all out speed right now and he hoped he would make it before he had to have a dog fight in the air.
Feinting left than going right Harry managed to avoid a purple spell. As he looked back up, he finally saw it destination. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry loomed in the distance. Directly underneath his was Hogsmead. Feeling the Death Eaters desperation increase to catch him, Harry urged his broom faster. Going in a straight line, Harry passed onto the Hogwarts grounds. The Death Eaters were still behind him and in his need for speed one of them managed to get a direct hit on his broom.
Harry flew forward off his broom. He knew that he could control the weather but he just wasn't practiced enough in that field. Wishing he had worked harder to learn to become an animagus, preferably a flying one, and to practice his elemental magic Harry continued to plummet. He was always lucky during Quiditch, but he had to remind himself this wasn't a sport. He also had to remind himself that could only die at Voldemort's hand.
And with that he hit the ground from a hundred meter fall and caused a mighty crash.
Inside the school, Dumbledore had just asked everyone to head to bed. Just as the prefects were getting up to lead the students an all mighty crash was heard from outside. Immediately the Order and the DA Harry had trained all had their wands out. Dumbledore told everyone to stay where they were and he rushed outside to see what was happening. What he saw made his heart stop.
Back in the Great Hall, Hermione performed a spell that allowed the people to see what was happening through the wall. It was amazing. Rising from a crater ten feet by ten feet, Harry was slowly standing up on wobbling feet. The Death Eaters immediately landed and had encircled him; there were a total of ten.
What Harry did next surprised most students who hadn't seen the new Harry. He pulled the shield off his back and drew Gryffindor's sword. He then shot five stunners, a reducto curse, and had launched himself at the nearest Death Eater. The observers were amazed he had managed to take down six Death Eaters in less than a second. They were even more amazed at what he did next.
He screamed. It was a primal roar of rage, and with it the weather changed. The Death Eaters were beginning to look scared as Harry slowly advanced towards them, oblivious to everything except the people who caused Harry continual pain.
"That stung like a bitch and this will too," he snarled, hurling a fireball curse at the closest opponent. He immediately started screaming while Harry ignored him. He put the shield away and drew his dragon heartstring wand. "Did you know that these two items double the power I put into any spell?" Harry asked the remaining three.
Without waiting for an answer Harry fired three curses, all red. At the same time he shot another three curses, these were blue. The combined effect was to make the Death Eaters stunned and trapped in ropes. Harry then proceeded to the smallest man who had managed to get the fire out and was just lying on the ground whimpering. "Wormtail, so nice of you to join me and Remus. I missed the feast because of and I'm quite hungry for rat stew at the moment."
Harry looked like he wanted to kill the traitor then and there. Yet he knew that if he did, Sirius's name may never be cleared. He settled instead to cut off his left hand, the one made of silver that his nemesis had given the rat. "You're lucky I'm not Voldemort, Wormtail, or else that would have been your head." He finished up the job and binded Pettigrew.
As he turned he realized he had an audience. Dumbledore was the first to react, "Get them to our secure location immediately, yet leave the man without a hand here. We need to question him and set an innocent man's name free." Approaching Harry while the Order moved off, he asked Harry, "Harry, I'm glad to see you, but I'm wondering what made you not use the portkey? And what you were doing?"
Nodding his head while holding his hand around his talismans, Harry told him that he wanted Darmien's blood in order to try something that should eliminate everything vampire in existence. He then told him how the portkey was destroyed and that Darmien's blood had vanished once he left Diagon Alley. Clasping a hand on his forehead, Harry said, "Voldemort's also dammed happy. I don't mean to be rude, but can I leave now? I feel like I fell from a hundred feet, oh yea, I did. Good night, Albus."
Harry then walked into the castle and as everyone turned to watch his progress, Dumbledore was smiling at their reactions, noticing the spell Hermione had cast. "Very good magic, Mrs. Granger, 10 points for Gryffindor. Now, off to bed. Also, I did warn you not to get on Mr. Potter's bad side, that was only a miniscule fraction of the amount of enemies he had handled today, so please do not give him reason to want to hurt you." He said the last bit looking directly at Draco Malfoy, who gulped and looked away. "Now, come on, off to bed!"
