Chapter 22: An Unforeseen Show Down

Harry awoke the next morning to the sounds of children playing in the snow. It took him a moment to remember where he was. He peered out of the vents of the cupboard to see if anyone might be in the hall. He slowly pushed the door open and peeked his head out, which was still covered by the cloak. Satisfied that no one was there Harry let the cloak fall off him. He stood up and stretched out all the knots in his body from being cramped up in a small space. Even thought he felt a little sore physically he felt mentally refreshed, but more importantly he felt hungry. He slowly walked to the front door and watched out the windows as children threw snowballs at each other. As he breathed against the glass he saw his breath and suddenly realized just how cold it must have been in the house. The robe really does work, he thought as he went to the dining room and grabbed his broom from under the table. He took one last look at the house then quietly slipped the invisibility cloak back on an escaped out the back door.

The Leaky Caldron was almost empty as Harry walked in. Only a couple people at the bar and two suspicions characters at a table. He kept the hood on his Order robe up so no one could clearly see his face. He walked up to the bartender to see if they were serving food.

"Excuse me," he said. "Are you serving food?"

"Only the lunch menu," said the bartender as he handed Harry the piece of paper with the lunch options on it. Harry looked at it quickly then handed it back.

"Can I get the soup and sandwich, with tomato soup and a ham sandwich," said Harry.

"Anything to drink?" asked the bartender who was writing down the order.

"Uh yeah, can I have a butterbeer," said Harry. The bartender grabbed a bottle from under the counter then popped the top in front of him. Harry took the drink then headed to one of the tables. He leaned his broom against one of the chairs then took a seat. After several moments he could hear the two men suspicious men talking.

"So how do we know he's leaving the house?" said one of the men.

"One of our men in the Ministry called him and made up some emergency," giggled the other man. "I'm guessing he should be leaving the Ministry about now, and Bella will be waiting." Harry started to become much more interested in the conversation. He leaned back in his chair to hear them better.

"I'm surprised she's doing it, I would think something like this is beneath her," said the first man.

"You know what I heard," said the second man. "I heard it was an order straight from the top," whispered the man. Harry slowly scooted his chair back to hear them.

"You mean," the first man paused then lowered his voice even more. "Lord Voldemort." Harry almost fell out of his chair trying to hear them. But he didn't hear a response from the other man so he assumed he must have nodded or something.

"And all because his son is a friend of Potters," said the second man. Harry didn't need any more information. He jumped out of his chair grabbed his broom and ran out the door, throwing money at the bartender as he left.

Harry jumped on his broom and pushed as hard as he could. If he was right then those men were talking about Mr. Weasley, who might be a good wizard but he was no match for Bellatrix. As he flew, someone's voice broke into his head.

"ANY BODY AT GRIMMAULD!" yelled Rosie. "ARTHUR IS BEING FOLLOWED AND HE CAN'T SHAKE THEM!" Just as Harry was about to answer he heard the voice of Mad Eye.

"Where is he Lass?" Harry was wondering why he could hear Moody, when someone else answered.

"We're on our way back from getting Hermione, where is he?" came the voice of Tonks.

"He just went by Grimmauld Place and is heading for the park two blocks up," said a very concerned Rosie. Harry could begin to see Rosie in the distance. "He's in the Park cutting threw to Wilshire . . . no wait . . . he's being attacked!" Harry just passed Rosie and was heading into a dive straight for Bellatrix who had just shown herself to Mr. Weasley. Harry took of his cloak and threw it on Mr. Weasley as he jumped off and tackled Bellatrix to the ground. As he tumbled on the ground he could still hear everyone talking through Rosie.

"Rosie, what's happening?!" asked Tonks.

"I don't know, someone came out of nowhere and tackled Bellatrix . . . I think it's – yes it's Harry!" Harry got to his feet and pulled out his wand.

"Voldemorts not here to protect you now!" spat Harry. In the background parts of Mr. Weasley could be seen as he fumbled to try and get the cloak off of himself.

"Insolent boy!" she hissed. "STUPEFY!"

"PROTEGO MAXIMUS!" shouted Harry. "PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" Bellatrix jumped to the ground to get out of the way. They were in a bit of a clearing before they got to the end of the park. The only things that Harry could use to shield himself were the trees behind him and behind those trees was Wilshire Street and Harry didn't want any muggles to get hurt.

"My my my, baby Potter knows a few more spells," taunted Bellatrix as she stood.

"I know enough to kill you and Voldemort," said Harry in a vicious tone.

"How dare you speak his name," she yelled. "INCARCEROUS!"

"EXPELLIARMUS!" yelled Harry as he hit the ground avoiding her spell. Her wand flew out of her hand, but her reaction time was remarkable.

"ACCIO WAND!"

"IMPEDIMENTA!" yelled Harry at her wand. The wand now stopped in mid air and ever so slightly crept a few centimeters a second. Bellatrix gave Harry a dirty look then sprinted to the wand. Harry also sprinted towards the wand, "IMPEDIMENTA!" He shouted at Bellatrix but she dove out of the way and towards her wand.

"REDUCTO!" screamed Bellatrix as she haphazardly aimed. Harry didn't have to leave his feet to get out of the way but the debris from the tree and bushes knocked him down along with Bellatrix. He tried to get up but realized a branch had pinned him down. "You putt up a good fight Potter but I've been trained by the Dark Lord himself and no one can beat me," she laughed. "Now to teach you a lesson . . . CRUCIO!" Just as Harry began to prepare himself for pain deflection a large brown wing shielded his face.

"Don't worry Harry help is on the way," said Rosie as she flew off.

"WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA!" said an irate Bellatrix. Harry's body flew up into the air and then flew backwards through the new opening in the brush. He landed with a thud on his back in the middle of the road. He could here the screeching of tires and looked to see a car about to run over him. But just as the car was about to hit, it was lifted off the ground and moved high in the air. Harry could hear Bellatrix cackling as he frantically looked to his left and right for his wand.

"It's no use Potter, this muggle car will come crashing down on you before you could say one word," she had an evil smile across her face. Harry could hear the people in the car screaming for help. All the muggles along the street were froze in fear as they saw a car hovering twenty feet above him. He noticed his wand lying several inches from Bellatrix's feet. He might have a chance to call it then stop the car. He looked back up at her. "Say 'Hi' to your parents for me!"

"ACCIO WAND!" the wand flew over to Harry but as he pointed up at the car he knew it was too late. He braced himself for the impact but none came, he slowly looked up at the car and saw it mere inches from him. It then slowly moved away from him and was placed on the street.

"WHAT THE –"

"BELLATRIX!" yelled a voice from down the street.

"JULIA!" Yelled a livid Bellatrix. Harry quickly looked to the other end of the street to see his aunt in her white pajama's slowly walking towards them. There was something different about her, a glow so to speak.

"Leave him alone!" she said, her voice also a little different.

"Or what?!" taunted Bellatrix.

"STUPEFY! EXPELLIARMUS!" shouted Julia. The spells were cast so fast Harry didn't know how any one could avoid them. Bellatrix got a shield up in time for the stunning spell but both charms were so powerful that the shield was gone after the first one hit. Bellatrix's wand flew out of her hand and down the street. Muggles were now running screaming for help, some jumped out of their cars and left them in the road.

"ACCIO WAND!" cried Bellatrix who jumped behind a car so Julia couldn't get her. Harry slowly started to move when he heard Julia in his head.

"Don't move! She's completely forgotten about you and moving would remind her that you're close enough to hurt," Julia's voice sounded normal again.

"STUPEFY MAXIMUS!" Bellatrix popped up from behind the car. Julia dropped to the ground to avoid the spell. Bellatrix pointed her wand at a little muggle girl who was running away with her mother. The girl was quickly pulled over to Bellatrix who pointed her wand at the child's head. "One more step and this muggle brat will die!" Julia stood up from behind the car and began to walk towards Bellatrix again.

"You don't want to do that!" her voice sounded different again.

"And why is that?" Bellatrix backed up slowly with the little girl crying in her arms.

"Because if I have to I will kill you," Julia's voice echoed. She began to walk past Harry who was completely shocked by the glow he was seeing emanate from his aunt. He then looked over at Bellatrix who looked completely scared. Bellatrix whispered something and with in a matter of moments the little girl was shot up in the air. Julia reacted quickly. "MOBILICORPUS!" The little girls body now gracefully glided down over to her mother. Harry stood up and noticed Bellatrix was gone. He was about to say something to Julia when he noticed her closing her eye and concentrating on something.

"Harry when I say 'now', produce a shield," whispered Julia. But before Harry could ask why, she shouted. "NOW!"

"PROTEGO!"

"CUNCTOR HORA!" Harry could feel the vibrations of her voice as it echoed all around them. She opened her eyes and looked around. "Are you okay?" her voice back to normal.

"Yeah I'm fine," breathed Harry as he looked around. Nothing was moving, not even the wind, everything had stopped, muggles in half sprint, birds in mid flight, everything was still. Harry looked up at his aunt. "What did you do?"

"She made sure we could clean up after that Death Eater," came the annoying voice of Cornelius Fudge. Who was storming up towards them with many Aurors and people from the Ministry. "It should only take a half hour to fix everything," he said as people began to point their wands and put things and people back in place.

"I can't hold the spell for much longer Cornelius, you have ten minutes. I'll send up sparks when I have to take it off. Come on Harry let's get back to Grimmauld Place," said Julia as she began to head in the direction of the park. The stopped and picked up Harry's broom and cloak. Mr. Weasley was frozen in place with the cloak still draped around him. Harry was about to grab it when Julia stopped him.

"Don't touch him Harry, not while he's suspended," Julia seemed weaker then before and there was a seriousness in her tone that worried Harry.

"Julia, what did you do?" he asked hoping she would give him a straight answer.

"Let's just say time is on hold for a moment," she smiled weakly at him. There was an awkward moment as they continued to walk.

"When did you wake up?" Harry asked trying to lighten the mood.

"I can't answer that question," she said.

"Why? Does it have something to do with why you were glowing and why you sounded like your were in a trance?" Harry felt bad for pushing her when he could see she was losing strength as they walked but he was sick of people hiding things from him.

"Harry I will answer your question but will you let it wait until tomorrow? I need to rest," she stumbled as she talked. Harry grabbed her arm and began to help her, she was a little bit more heavy then Hermione mostly because she was just as tall as Harry, around six feet.

"Will you answer one question for me?" Harry needed to hear it from Julia before he'd completely believe it. "Are you really my aunt?"

"I –" she fell to the ground, her strength quickly slipping away. Harry pulled her up to the space where the Grimmauld steps would appear. "Send up the sparks," she whispered. Harry pointed his wand into the air and sent up several sparks, after a moment he saw sparks fly up where the Auror's where.

"They sent back sparks," he said. He could see Julia try and concentrate again.

"Pergo Hora," she whispered. As her eyes closed, the door to Grimmauld Place opened. All of the Order started to charge out the door but stopped just as suddenly as they saw Harry sitting on the ground holding Julia in his arms.

"What in the name of Merlin is going on," huffed Moody.

"I'll explain everything once we're inside the house," came the voice of Dumbledore who was walking with Fudge towards the house. Moments later everyone was seated in the living room, including Draco, Padraig, Ron, Ginny and Hermione. Harry had taken Julia back up to her room. Then he came back to see everyone waiting on him, Hermione gave him the only smile as he took a seat next to her.

"Now can someone explain what happened?" asked Fudge.

"I believe Rosie can tell the majority of the story," said Dumbledore who pointed to Rosie perched on a chair.

"A bird?! Albus have you gone daft?" said Fudge.

"I'll tell him who's daft," said Rosie. This caused all the children to giggle.

"I believe I can tell you the story up to a point and then Harry can take over," said Mr. Weasley. "You see someone from the Ministry called me this morning saying they needed me to come in. So I went down to the Ministry but no one was there, I figured they had solved the problem and just failed to leave a note. On my way back, Rosie noticed someone following me and informed me I should try to lose them. But as I cut through the park, Bellatrix Lestrange appeared and began to attack. I dodged the first round and as I pulled out my wand a cloak fell over me," he glanced at Harry and then grabbed the cloak and handed it to him.

"So Harry what happened next," asked Fudge.

"Well Sir, I tackled Bellatrix to the ground we dueled for a bit and I realized the street was behind the park so I tried to avoid hiding behind the trees, but she used the Reducto charm and I got out of the way but it blew a whole through the trees and bushes," Harry paused to see if Fudge believed him. Everyone seemed eager to hear what Harry had to say.

"Well go on," said Fudge.

"She threw me into the street where I almost was run over by a car," Hermione's hand instinctively grabbed Harry's. "But she thought crushing me was a better solution and lifted the car up with the muggles still inside. Just before she dropped it I called for my wand, which I lost when I was tossed in the air and as I pointed up to the car I knew I couldn't stop it. So I braced myself," he was getting frustrated with telling the story. If he had to go to court again, because he was under the age for practicing magic, just for trying to save some one he was going to explode.

"Is that when Julia appeared?" asked Dumbledore

"Yes, she stopped the car and . . . "Harry was about to mention the glow and her voice being weird but decided against it. "She and Bellatrix started to duel, Julia was better and Bellatrix knew it so she took a muggle hostage and just as Julia was getting close to Bellatrix the hostage was shot up into the air. Julia got her, but in the process lost Bellatrix. After that, Julia performed that spell which made time stop," there was a collective gasp in the living room.

"Well," Fudge looked worried. "Harry I can't thank you enough," for a second Harry thought he was dream. Did Fudge just thank him? "I know it's against the rules for you to practice outside of Hogwarts BUT you were risking your life against a very powerful wizard and you were doing it to save someone else. I don't think we'll need any investigation into this matter further," said Fudge. Harry couldn't believe it, for the first time people were on his side.

"I'm glad we could clear things up so quickly. Would the students please excuse themselves while the rest of us talk with the Minister," asked Dumbledore. Harry avoided eye contact with him and left the room, followed by the others. The doors closed behind them, Harry started to head to his room when Ginny stopped him.

"Don't you want to know what they're talking about?" asked Ginny.

"The door's closed!" smirked Draco.

"That's never stopped us before," she smiled and ran to her room.

"Where is she going?" asked Padraig.

"I believe she's going to get Fred and Georges extendable ears," said Ron.

"Extendable what?" asked Draco.

"Ears," said Ginny who had three in her hand. "Harry, Hermione share this one. Draco you and Padraig share this one and Ron you and I will use this one." She tiptoed by the door and placed the other end of the strings. Everyone gathered together to hear what was going on.

"I don't doubt the sorting hat Alastor," came the voice of Fudge.

"Then why can't you give us more man power, we're going to be up against every Death Eater and loyalist to Voldemort," said Mad Eye.

"We're already spreading ourselves thin Alastor, we have Auror's missing, Ministry workers not coming to work for fear they might get hurt and you expect us to provide you with an army?" Fudge seemed more worried then annoyed. Harry was surprised that he believed the story.

"Well then, how many people can you provide?" asked Lupin.

"Maybe twenty Auror's and thirty security personal," said Fudge.

"That's only fifty people," gasped McGonagall.

"We're talking about hundreds Minister," said an angry Moody.

"Alastor we can't throw all of our resources into this . . . what if you lose? We'll need some people left to protect the community," Fudge was now getting upset.

"If you don't give us the people we WILL lose!" roared Moody.

"Alastor, calm yourself," came the voice of Dumbledore.

"We wont have anyone Albus," exclaimed Moody.

"We'll have the students," said Dumbledore.

"Yeah 400 fighting and about 250 protecting Hogwarts that's still no match for what we're going to face! You're asking these kids to sign they're own death certificate!" shouted Moody. Everyone in the hall nervously looked at each other. Harry decided to voice what everyone was thinking.

"We're in trouble."