Sorry for so long without an update, i've been working on a new fanfic so this one sort of got pushed aside for a while. Not that i could ever forget it!

Read on for plenty of action, fight scene coming right up...

Into the hall burst the Aurors who'd evidently gotten bored of waiting outside. There were around forty of them and they were firing spells in all directions. The dark wizards abandoned all rank and organisation at that point and they began running all over the place. Frank and the counter guywere still fighting and Crouch was still trapped underneath, but Ali, bruises forming fresh around her neck, saw their chance for escape. Kicking at one of the two Death Eater's heads, Ali tried to pull Frank up, but he was too caught up in his anger.

"Frank," she said loudly, tugging at his shoulder through the tussle of fists, "Come on, we need to go. Come on!"

Her voice seemed to bring him back to his senses. He paused from the fighting long enough to through the counting man off him. He scrambled to his feet and pulled his hood back up. Ali followed suit. The pair of them dodged the spells and the fleeing Death Eaters and headed towards an exit. All around smaller battles were forming between groups of each side, or one on one exchanges of curses. It was impossible to tell who was winning. They gripped hands to prevent separation as they jostled their way through. People were collapsing all around them. The air was thick with flying magic.

They ran (Ali as best she could in her too long robes) through a crowded exit and into an only slightly less crowded corridor. The amount of people thinned out as they ran further and further, they only came across the odd Death Eater trying for an escape. In their robes they would have seemed ordinary, anyway, in this panic, what were they going to do?

They were heading for towards the edge of the building, some way back out into the car park. They turned another corner and saw a large room at the end of the corridor. It was open and had an outside door leading from it. Delighted they ran forward, to be faced by at least ten aurors. All of who had their wands out, and all of who looked perfectly ready to use them.

They skidded to a halt.

"Wait, don't shoot," said Ali, pulling down her hood, "It's us."

"Ali?" exclaimed Michael, who had been at the front of the group. "Frank? Why are you dressed like that? And why are you here?" His face darkened. "I told you not to come."

"We…" began Frank.

"We," Ali searched for an excuse, "We aren't here. We are still at the ministry and what you are now seeing is just a figment of you imagination." She nodded and elbowed Frank in the ribs. He quickly nodded too. "We're just an illusion, remember that." She ran to the door and kicked it open, moving her arms up and down as she did, trying to symbolise mystery. "An illusion, an illuuuusion." She shoved Frank through the door and followed with a wave. "Bye."

They legged it as fast as their legs would carry them until they were sheltered behind a couple of industrial rubbish bins.

"That," panted Frank, his hands on his knees, "was the worst excuse I have ever heard."

"Yeah…well," gasped back Ali, "we got away didn't we? You try doing better." They stood silent for a moment, catching their breath.

"We need to go back in," said Frank quietly.

"I know," agreed Ali, how could they just walk away when they knew their friends could be dying in there, "but not like this." She gestured at their Death Eater costumes. They tugged off the black robes and threw them in the bin (they had their ordinary clothes still underneath). They looked at each other for a moment, knowing what could await them inside. Ali wanted to say something, give Frank an answer to his question. She loved him she wanted to say- but she couldn't. Not now, not when they knew they might not live out the night.

"We're aurors," said Frank gruffly, touching her cheek "this is what we do."

"This is what we do," echoed Ali softly.

They turned and ran towards the front entrance.

For the last two years they'd practiced for a situation such as this, but reconstructions in a ministry training building still don't prepare you the real thing. They had no sooner put three steps into the building before a Death Eater had fired the crucio curse straight at them. Both dodged, and a full-body-bind soon put an end to that little difficulty. Unfortunately it was only a matter of seconds before another jinx came their way. The dark wizards had had pretty thorough training. If you see anything not wearing black robes, kill it. Not very friendly.

Frank and Ali were good though, in fact, they were very good. It wasn't without reason that Michael had declared them some of the best, an anyone who'd been watching them then, would have had to agree. Both were agile and nimble, skirting round spells and hexes as though it was child's play. Both of their aims were also deadly accurate, one curse and their opponents were on the ground. Their most defining feature however, would have to be the way they communicated so seamlessly with each other, while never even opening their lips. All the time they had spent in each other's company over the years must have paid off, or they wereusing somesome kind of telepathy, because if Ali noticed a Death Eater behind Frank, he would turn; if Frank saw a spell heading straight for Ali, she would duck.

Magic.

In less than two minutes they had made short work of a corridor full of Death Eaters. Ali had singed the back of her jacket, and Frank had had a blow to the hand (on top of the several ones he's received whilst muggle duelling in the hall) but apart from that they were fine. When you compared them to the bodies all over the floor anyway.

As they ran along they noticed several Death Eaters had lost their hoods and masks in the fighting. Instant recognition struck at some of the battered and bruised faces, over there was Aran Hill, wanted for the murder of two wizards and a muggle. Behind him was Sarah Plum, a middle-aged woman who'd been a mother of two and a prominent member of the wizarding world, before she accepted You-Know-Who's invitation to the dark side, and killed her own family. Each person who now littered the tacky corridor had caused someone pain, had ruined somebody's life. They were evil, and Ali hoped they rotted in hell for it.

"Come on," Frank said gently, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Ali looked up, shocked. She'd stopped walking next to stunned form of Sarah Plum and she hadn't noticed. She'd been so full of hatred for what kind of person could murder a four-year-old child. She was writhing with anger.

"Ali, we need to carry on," Frank tried again in a slightly louder voice.

Still she did not move.

"Ali!" repeated Frank, now with a worried kind of urgency, "If we stay here we'll be found, and then we won't be able to help anyone!"

At last his words penetrated her brain. Shaking her head, Ali looked up. Frank gripped her shoulder for a moment.

"Don't worry. She'll be dealt with."

Ali looked one final time at the face that would have once been kind and friendly, which the dark arts had turned taught and twisted.

"She better be."

They pressed on.

A couple more spells got them to the main hall. The air of chaos was still as thick as the blood that covered the floor. There were casualties on both sides, but Frank and Ali were glad to notice more Death Eaters taking up floor space that aurors.

Absent-mindedly shooting an impedimenta curse at a nearby villain, they surveyed the scene. The sides were about equal, which was something is you considered the massive head start the Death eaters had had in the first place. The fighting had been driven to nearly all on-on-one fights as the numbers dwindled. Glad to see she was still alive and kicking, Ali spotted Tracey duelling with one hooded specimen towards the back of the room. With a kick to the neck and a quick hex she made short work of her opponent. Barely stopping to breathe, she ran to help one of her colleagues who had run into difficulties.

A shot of green light brushed the top of Frank's head and he whipped round. He retaliated for the attack with a shot of blue light that the Death Eater managed to dodge. Ali made to help, but before she could raise her wand a beefy looking monster, whose left eye looked beyond use judging by the amount of blood spurting out of it, shot his very own spell straight at her. Using her well-trained reflexes, Ali sprung sideways and quickly returned the favour. It hit him just below hid right shoulder with a blow, while not strong enough to knock him out, caused him to stumble backwards onto the floor. He quickly regained his senses and fired a curse in her direction, but because of his rather unhelpful positioning, sprawled all over the floor, his aim wasn't the most accurate. Instead of hitting Ali's head or chest, where the most damage would have been done, it went straight for her feet. Burning a sizeable hole in her bright pink boots.

"You arse-hole!" she yelled, looking down in horror at her ruined footwear, "those were new!" She fired a powerful expelliarmus. The force of her spell sent him crashing into the wall, his head lolled onto his head as he slid back to the floor.

"Done and done," said Ali triumphantly to herself as she looked for her next battle.

It was while she was halfway through a fight with a dark-skinned Death Eater with a number on pretty amazing facial piercings, did Ali realise something was wrong. Nothing had changed. The volume of the room was the same; the yells and spells flying around were still there. Even the temperature was constant. But Ali trusted her instincts, and they were screaming that something was terribly out of place.

Frank was in trouble.

Elbowing Mr Piercing is the stomach, and kicking him backwards into one of his companions, Ali searched desperately for her boyfriend, terrified she was too late. After ten seconds she spotted him. He'd been exchanging spells with your average dark wizard scum, but something had gone wrong. Badly wrong. In a brief moment of concentration loss, the Death eater had managed to relieve him of his wand. Frank had managed to survive for a moment or two by dodging the hexes, trying desperately to grab it back, but things had gone rapidly down hill. He was frozen as the man's thick arm held him in a headlock, his wand pointing straight at Franks head.

Everything stopped, or at least it seemed to. The background noise of the other fights faded to nothing; the others, friendly or not, disappeared. The only people in the whole hall were her, Frank and the Death Eater. The one who was about to kill him.

"No," she choked, running forward.

The Death Eater looked up and she recognised him. Rodolphus Lestrange, the man who had delivered the message back at Hogwarts. He grinned up at her with a sick smile, his yellowing teeth parted. He was enjoying every second of her pain. His mouth formed the words of the spell that never failed to end a life. She was powerless to stop him.

"Wait!"

The yell had not come from Ali's mouth, nor any of the other aurors or Death Eaters. Rudolphus did not release Frank, but he almost cricked his neck in his hurry to look round. He'd recognised the voice. So had Ali. It was one she'd tried so hard to forget, but it had never left the back of her mind since the day she first heard it, nearly four years ago.

Lord Voldemort had just entered the room.

Everything went silent. All the Death Eaters stopped fighting to bow, yet none of the aurors made a move to stun them while their guard was down. They too were staring at the cloaked figure in the doorway with their mouths wide. They were looking at him not with awe and admiration of the dark wizards, but with shock, and hatred. Only a few of the aurors had actually seen Voldemort before, but tales of his bizarre appearance were widely known. They fact had been a little changed in the telling, but the roots were with truth. They told of his ghostly skin, snake-like features, and above all, his scarlet, emotionless eyes.

"So we meet again my fearless little foes?" said Voldemort softly as he moved silently forward, his long cloak trailing behind as he walked. Everyone watched in stunned silence as he drew level with Frank.

"Release him, Rodolphus."

Quick as a flash Lestrange dropped Frank and stepped back. He fell to his knees and bowed until his forehead was touching the floor. Voldemort's long fingers grabbed the top of Frank's jacket and pulled him to his feet. He stared straight into his eyes, and though it must have caused him the pain of the world, Frank did not look away. He looked back, unwilling to show any emotion or fear. His eyes were stone.

Lord Voldemort smiled. He let go of Frank's collar and turned to Ali, just feet behind.

"Come here."

Ali hesitated. She did not want to take one step nearer that creature of evil.

"Come here," he repeated, his voice icier still.

Acting of their own free will, Ali's feet began to move. She tried to resist them, but they walked her quickly to stand next to the pair. Unable to tell if it were a spell or just some unnatural power he seemed to hold over her, Ali could not move. Her feet were glued to the floor and her head was immobile on her shoulders. The only things that seemed to be working were her eyes, and she deliberately kept them looking anywhere but at Voldemort.

"You've grown," he said with a shrill laugh, "It seems only yesterday you ran blindly into the trap my Death Eaters had laid for you. It seems but hours ago you still doubted I was real." He traced one white, spindly finger around her face. His touch was like fire to her skin.

Suppressing a whimper of pain, Ali continued to look past him, to the wall on the far side of the hall.

"You called us monsters, insane," he was tracing a capital D onto her cold forehead. D for Danger. D for Dark magic. D for Death.

"But though it seems so close, it was long ago," he continued, straightening up, "It is easy to see you are not the same pair that fell blindly with their own mistakes. You are far different today from who you were then. Gone are the children, here are the adults, fresh and new. I've been watching you see, before, in the corridor, your wand work is…incredible." He was looking at both with head to one side, there was almost a hunger in his expression. "But though you may be powerful, you have much still to learn. Not just about spells and incantations, but about life, survival, power." He looked from Frank, face empty and emotionless, to Ali, who was struggling to keep the screams inside from escaping.

"Join me, both of you."

Ali's stomach chilled at the idea. She at last looked up into his face, though making sure his eyes did not look directly into her.

"Never."

Frank murmured his agreement.

"Voldemort's face turned into a snarl. His raw anger showed for a moment, before he crushed it back down and presented them again with his ice-cold stare.

"Very well, if that is what you wish then there is no other choice." He sniffed hi snake-like nostrils once and raised hi wand. It was aiming straight for Ali's heart; there was no question as to who would be next.

"Avda-"

If I were to say an explosion happened, I would have been understating. The noise that reverberated through the hall at that moment was passed deafening. It was mind-blowing. Luckily it distracted Voldemort nicely. Ali saw, thinking the stress of the situation had caused her to hallucinate, the front wall of the hall blasted apart. Through the rubble stepped, everyone. It seemed all of Ali's old school friends had somehow appeared just when they needed her. Lily was there, and James, and Sirius, and Remus, and Peter and the rest. Leading the group was none other than the current headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore.

More magic.

"Leave them Tom," said Dumbledore softly, his sharp blue eyes fixed on Voldemort. The others had formed a semi-circle around him, their wands pointing straight at any nearby Death Eaters.

"You," hissed the Dark Lord, returning his stare, "You should not be here old man."

"Oh yes I should," replied Dumbledore, nodding, "Anywhere innocent people suffer is a place I should be. It is you, Tom, who does not belong. This world has no place for evil as the likes of you."

Voldemort was seething, completely forgetting about Ali and Frank. He called to his Death Eaters, but as they tried to get up the semi-circle of wizards fired warning spells in their directions. They didn't dare move again.

Shaking with rage he spat,

"I think you wish to battle Dumbledore, and believe me, I would love nothing better than rid myself of this ignorant fool who knows nothing despite his supposed wisdom." He was trying to sound cool and unconcerned, but as well as the obvious fury, the traces of fear were apparent in his manner. "But we should not do it here, too many of your, innocents, to injure." He pulled his hood over his skeletally face. "You know where I will be." There was a bright flash of green light and Voldemort was gone.

Dumbledore gave a brief nod to the semi-circle, and then he too disappeared. His light however, was white.

No one there had any idea how they'd disappeared, seeing as apparition was impossible. It must have been a magic none of them had heard of, something too difficult for ordinary witches and wizards to comprehend. They were both, after all, very powerful sorcerers.

All was complete silence for a moment after they had gone. The wizards and witches were frozen with their wands still out. The Death Eaters and aurors were still halfway through battling, hung in suspended animation.

Then Sirius stepped forward. His eyebrow was raised and his expression was cocky.

"And let the fun begin."

Spells flew once again in all directions. Rodolphus was quicker to his wand then Ali and it was she this time that went flying into the wall. She knocked her head hard on the cold, white stone. Unluckily, this was not the least of her worries, from the crack her ankle made on impact she was sure it was broken. Trying to stand up on it confirmed this suspicion. Ali collapsed back to the ground as stars danced around her eyes. Frank was now fighting Rodolphus and it was hard to see who was winning. Rodolphus kicked Frank straight in the chest and he stumbled, apparently completely winded. But as Lestrange advanced, grinning, he stood up as right as rain. He'd been miming all along. An impedimenta jinx put a stop to Rodophus's progress long enough for Frank to hit him with a selection of rather unpleasant curses. He wouldn't be going anywhere for a while.

As soon as Frank was sure he was out for count he rushed over to Ali. Grabbing her shoulder he said urgently,

"Are you alright? Did he hurt you?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," lied Ali, trying to keep the blackness from consuming her brain completely. She tried again to rise.

"No your not," Frank said firmly, pushing her back down again. "You won't make it three steps. Look, just stay here and keep your head down. The Death eaters won't bother you if you pretend your unconscious."

There was no need to pretend. Ten seconds later and Alice McKinnon was out for count.

Voldie's back...back again. So thats twice of the thrice times Ali and Frank have defied him, just one left.

I'llupdate chapter eight as quicklyas possible,as it introduces a minor character whoplays a much bigger part in some of my other fanfics. I won't say who, you can guess!

Like you'd care...

Oh well, write soon.