Chapter 45: Fighting for the Future
Remus was the first to break off from the group after spotting a fat rat with a silver paw scurrying across the lawn. He used the spell to change the anamagi back into human form and it hit Wormtail and he instantly became a man again. "Remus my old friend it's so good that you are not hurt." Peter said trying to think of a way out of the situation.
"I am not your friend Peter. You gave up every right to my friendship the day you betrayed Lily and James." Remus told him as they exchanged light spells. "And what did you betray them for, a mad man who was destroyed in the end by James' son. Tell me Peter are you happy with your decision?"
"I was afraid," the small man whimpers as he dodges another of Remus' spells. "I wasn't strong like all of you, he would have killed me."
"We would have protected you with our lives," Remus snarled. "And you betrayed us thinking it would save you. There is no escape this time; you will finally pay for what you have done."
Peter, startled by the venom in the voice of the usually calm man, knew that he had no chance of out dueling the werewolf. So the rat did the only thing he could and lunged at his one time friend. Since Peter weighed more than Remus he was able to throw him off balance. The two fought and intense hand to hand battle. It was obvious that Wormtail had gained some strength; perhaps all the curses from the Dark Lord had built his endurance. Remus normally would have had no problem fighting off Peter except that he had used quite a bit of his energy and power in the battle already and all Peter had done was hide.
"Peter why fight. Everyone knows you were with Voldemort. The only way out for you is to live the rest of your life as a rat in a sewer somewhere. What kind of life would that be? Just stop and turn yourself in." Remus said to him trying to regain his strength and figure out a good way to subdue his old friend.
"A life as a rat is better than a life as a soulless mongrel in Azkaban!" Peter shouted.
"You do realize that the dementors are gone from there and that the worst you can get is life imprisonment," Remus told him wondering why they ever brought Peter into their group in the first place. The fight continued and Remus finally pushed Peter away far enough to reach his wand and stun him. He conjured ropes that wouldn't allow him to transform and then sank down to the ground. Remus was hurt and he knew it. Peter had lots of strength in his fake silver hand.
Remus looked down to see a slash across his side that was bleeding freely. He had never worried about cuts before as he had dealt with worse while transformed, but this one was deadly. He had been slashed by Peter's silver hand and he could feel the silver poisoning his blood stream, after all silver was deadly for werewolves. He just hoped Tonks would forgive him.
Draco was making his way through the fight picking of any death eaters he could and helping any of the injured aurors and ministry personnel that he found alive. There was a flash of green up ahead and he rushed forward in time to see Kingsley Shacklebolt go down. Draco immediately started dueling the death eater who was still laughing about killing an auror.
"You filthy traitor," the death eater hissed at him. "I can't believe I ever thought myself in love with you!"
"Pansy?" Draco asked in shock but was still quick enough to dodge her hex. "Why did you kill him? What is the point in killing?"
"Why not?" Pansy asked him laughing again. "And to think our lord thought you were loyal. I can't wait to take you before him and see what he does with you. You'll be worse than dead when he finishes with you."
"Voldemort is dead." Draco told her with a smirk. "Potter just killed him. I saw it with my own eyes. You picked the wrong side."
Pansy didn't know how to comment to that. "You're lying, just trying to mess with my head." She said obviously not sure of herself anymore. "But it doesn't matter. We will still win and I've already killed 3 aurors. Do you want to be next Drakie darling?"
"You're crazy," Draco said as he covertly reached down and picked up Kingsley's wand. "I should just kill you now and save us all the trouble."
"You can't kill me," Pansy said with a laugh. "Your precious Order and the ministry would never forgive you for using an unforgivable."
"That's true, but they let aurors use them." He said with a glare. "Like my friend Kingsley here who you didn't even think about as you killed him. He was a better person than you'll ever be." Pansy just sent more curses at him that he easily dodged. She had obviously used most of her power to cast the killing curse as it took a powerful wizard to cast it. "Kingsley and I had a little mishap over Christmas where we accidentally took each other's wands since they look so similar," Draco told her conversationally. "Interestingly enough his wand worked quite well for me, and now I have his wand. Since he's an auror anything that I cast with it would seem like he did it and I would never be held responsible."
Pansy's eyes widened and she became afraid for the first time in the battle. Draco hated her and was standing in front of her with a compatible wand that could cast an unforgivable. "You don't have the nerve to cast the killing curse." She spat at him hoping to talk him out of it. "It's sad really; your father is probably rolling in his grave knowing what a muggle lover his son has become."
"That's interesting as he already knew before he died. You see, I killed my father." Draco said watching her pale. "And now I kill you. Avada Kedvara." The green light sped towards his one time friend and she crumbled to the ground. "Good bye Parkenson." He said as he looked around for other death eaters to kill. Now that he had Kingsley's wand he could take out any of them that he wanted to. They had hurt too many of the people he cared about and now he was going to pay them back while he could. They deserved death not spending the rest of their lives rotting in prison, it almost made him wish the dementors were still there. At least then he would know they were getting what they deserved.
Draco bent down next to Kingsley's body and shut his eyes. "Safe passing my friend. May we meet again in the next world."
Severus and Hermione took off together in the direction of a handful of death eaters that had run when they saw Voldemort fall. Soon the two were engaged in a fierce duel with the four death eaters. The death eaters were screaming obscenities and sending nasty hexes at Severus for betraying them. Hermione had to fight them off as Severus could only defend himself against the barrage of curses. She had taken out two of them with a nasty combination of jelly legs (changed to affect the whole body) and the eat slugs curse Ron had tried on Malfoy in 2nd year. The two men were puking up all kinds of things and couldn't control the movement of their bodies. She was still dueling the 3rd death eater when the 4th was able to hit Severus with an extremely powerful Confundus Charm.
Hermione had to duck as Severus started aiming spells in random directions. Luckily one of them hit the man she was dueling, giving her time to disarm and tie up the 4th death eater. Severus was muttering to himself and fighting invisible enemies and she knew she had to do something before he hurt himself or someone else on their side.
She finally disarmed him and put him to sleep. She hated having to immobilize him but it was safest for everyone involved. She noticed they were quite close to the school and decided to take Severus to White Squad on her own. She levitated him and started off to the main entrance.
"What happened to him?" Molly Weasley asked her as soon as she was inside the entrance hall.
"He was hit with a very strong Confundus charm and I had to put him to sleep so he wouldn't hurt himself or me." Hermione told her as she was instructed on which isle of beds to place him on. She took him to the far side of the great hall where all the stable patients were. He would be fine in a few days most likely and just needed to stay out of the way.
"How's the battle going?" A much frazzled Poppy Pomfry asked as she healed a 5th year Hufflepuff boy.
"Harry defeated Voldemort," Hermione said with a smile. "We just have the death eaters to subdue and then it's over for good."
"Thank Merlin!" Molly and Poppy said before rushing off to help more wounded fighters. Hermione took that as her cue to leave and decided she was needed in the fight.
Ron and the twins headed off towards a group of magical law enforcement officers and ministry officials that looked in need of help. Fred and George were helping him with White squad and retrieving the injured. They were only half way to the group of injured MOM employees when 5 or 6 death eaters surrounded the group and started torturing them.
"Stop," they heard a voice yell and two of the 6 were taken out. The 3 boys ran as fast as they could toward the group hoping to get there in time to help. Whoever was fighting to protect the group was doing a very good job but they knew one person couldn't hold off 4 death eaters for long.
They were almost within cursing distance when they recognized who was fighting. It was Percy and he was defending the injured wizards. Just as Ron and Fred released their first hexes at the death eaters they saw the green light heading for their estranged brother. "NO!" George yelled out in anguish as the three watched their brother be murdered right in front of them.
The four remaining death eaters turned towards their new targets. One of them was cruel enough to taunt, "Look, more Weasley's this should be as easy and fun as the last one."
That was all it took to set off the Weasley temper more than it ever had been. Ron started throwing hexes that he wasn't even aware that he knew. His aim was to cause the death eaters as much pain and suffering as possible. The twins took that as their cue and started throwing every single nasty hex they could think of at them.
The injured MOM employees that were still conscious watched in stunned silence as Ron and the twins avenged their brother. Even though most people knew that Percy Weasley was estranged from the family they realized that he had come to their aid and died for the side of good. They were sad that his brothers had to watch him die but were glad they were there to take on the death eaters. No one would ever think a Weasley weak again; even the ones everyone only thought were jokesters were a force to be reckoned with.
After the death eaters were in heaps on the ground the three conjured multiple stretchers and moved all of the injured onto them. There were 5 injured people and Percy to move. They were all silent as Fred conjured a white sheet and placed it over his brother's body before loading him onto a separate stretcher from the rest. Ron and George navigated the enlarged stretchers full of injured persons up toward the school with George following solemnly behind levitating Percy.
Ginny and Albus were bringing in a passed out Harry Potter and saw the three boys. Ginny had never seen her brothers look so sad and haunted before. That was when she noticed the sheet covering the person on George's stretcher. She didn't know who it was but knew she couldn't handle finding out just yet. It had to have been someone close to their family for it to have all three of them nearly in tears. She knew they had to concentrate on the battle first and mourn their losses later.
Bill and Charlie were fighting together as it was always better to fight in pair if possible so you had less chance of being surrounded. They had just taken out 2 death eaters each when they saw another set of them up ahead. There was someone on the ground still trying to fight them off and they hurried forward, throwing spells the whole time. Bill had to steady himself of his brother's shoulder when he saw the state Fleur was in. She was barely conscious and her beautiful hair had been singed off but she was fighting with everything she had in her. There were two students next to her that were unmoving and most likely dead. The two death eaters were skilled duelers and must have been playing with Fleur for once they turned on Bill and Charlie the boys had a hard time defending themselves.
Bill stood in front of Fleur, protecting her from any more damage. He was dueling the less experienced of the two death eaters and it was a good thing since his mind kept screaming at him to check on Fleur. He knew he couldn't help her until he beat the man in front of him and redoubled his efforts.
Charlie was getting the stuffing knocked out of him. The death eater was fond of slicing hexes and severing charms and it took all his years of Quidditch reflexes to dodge the ones that could have easily have killed him. He had slashes across his face, chest and arms and was loosing blood at a fast rate. Bill was still battling the other one and wasn't in a position to help him. Charlie, for the first time in his life, was afraid he was about to die.
The next severing charm the man sent at him he didn't have time to completely dodge. The man had aimed for his stomach in hopes of cutting him in two but he moved in time for the charm to hit a less life threatening area. The charm severed off his left arm from about four inches below his elbow down. Luckily, it wasn't his wand arm but the pain and loss of blood made him collapse. He was sure now that it was his last moment on earth.
"Stupefy!" He heard yelled from behind him and the death eater crumbled to the ground. Another shout of the same spell and the one Bill had been fighting was taken out as well. Charlie remained conscious enough to see the angelic face of the woman of his dreams look worriedly down at him.
"Hang in there Charlie; I'll get you to the medics." He heard Hermione's beautiful voice sooth him before the darkness engulfed him.
Bill checked the two students and realized they were both dead before taking care of Fleur. "Thank you for saving us," he told Hermione as they hurried to the makeshift hospital with their severely injured friends. Charlie was loosing a lot of blood and if he didn't get treated very soon he wouldn't make it. Fleur had a wide assortment of hexes and spells upon her and it would take a long time to sort her out, but at least she was alive. That was more than she could say for her two classmates that had died next to Fleur.
Queen Amelia rushed back towards where she had left her husband to help Harry with Voldemort. She knew that if anyone of the death eaters recognized him they would stop at nothing to destroy him. When she reached him there were only three death eaters left and a large amount of black cloaked figures littering the ground around them. Edward was fighting alongside Pavarti and Justin, the only three still able to fight.
Amelia took out two of the death eaters with one curse and the last one was quickly stunned by Justin. "Is he dead?" Edward asked as he sank to the ground exhausted. He had been hit with quite a few curses and was feeling drained of power.
"Yes love, he's gone forever." She said as she quickly surveyed the scene to see if anyone needed immediate medical help. There was one dead student in Slytherin robes and three girls that were unconscious and bleeding. The girl who had been fighting was crying over a girl that looked like her twin.
The Queen hurried over and examined the three students and determined that they were in bad shape but stable. "I need you two to help me get these three into the school. They are badly hurt and in need of a medic."
Pavarti jumped up and conjured stretchers for her sister and best friend and Justin helped her set them carefully onto the stretcher as the Queen had said not to perform any more magic on them. The three girls were soon being levitated towards the entrance hall along with the King. "You two did well, thank you for helping my husband." Amelia told Justin and Pavarti.
"It's what we've been training for madam," Justin said as they reached the doors to the school.
Poppy rushed over to help the King. "Help the girls first they are in worse shape than I," he told the medi-witch. Poppy nodded and hurried to fix up Padma, Lavender and Millicent Bullstrode. Millie was in the worst shape as she had been hit with several slashing hexes but luckily they didn't damage any vital areas. Padma had a head injury and would most likely be unconscious for several days. Lavender had passed out from the pain of having both her arms and legs broken by a hex.
"You should stay here with them," Justin told Pavarti knowing she would be no good to the fight if she was worried about her sister and best friend. "I'll head back out. Thanks for saving me from that blinding hex." He nodded towards Hannah before leaving so she would know he was alright since she was too busy to stop and talk to him.
"What happened," Amelia asked Edward softly. She could tell there was something bothering him greatly.
"That boy, the Slytherin, he and the Slytherin girl stuck to my side like bodyguards. They helped me fight off the pack of death eaters along with the other 4 students. We were outnumbered 20 to 7 at the beginning. Once we had taken out half of them they started throwing the really powerful stuff. Then one of them recognized me and laughed. Two of them sent the death curse at me at the same time." Here he paused looking sadder than she had ever seen him. "The boy jumped in front of me and took both curses. He didn't even pause to think about it… he just gave his life for mine. He was so young. How did it come that this war was fought by children?" He asked her with tears in his eyes at the losses they had received.
Amelia didn't know what to say to comfort her husband. "He died a hero, fighting for the light. He and his family will be honored." She told him.
"No, they won't be. He was killed by his own mother and his father is one of the ones that went to Azkaban after the attack on Hogsmead last year. The girl sent a slashing hex at his mother that cut her throat. I believe the girl may have had feelings for the boy as I have never seen a Slytherin cry in public before. She took out two more before they got her." Edward told her and she was stunned to silence. She knew the Slytherin students had turned on what they had been raised to believe but to actually have to duel your own parent on opposing sides of a battle, no one should have to do that.
"Sleep now love, there will be plenty of time to mourn later." She told him kissing his forehead before heading over to see if the medi-witches needed any help.