Chapter 17
• Surprises and Disguises •
"Mum?" Fred Weasley asked, astonished. "What happened?" he asked as he stepped forward.
Harry tried to pull her to her feet but had trouble doing it, his legs starting to feel weak beneath him. Luckily, Fred seemed strong enough to hold her and pulled her to the side of the room.
George appeared through a curtain in the wall. "What's going on— " he started to ask, but paused, smiling when he saw Harry. "How the bloody hell did you get back here?" he asked, then just shook his head. "Never underestimate you I guess. That's what you-know-who keeps on doing—and why he keeps failing you know. Have you tried those rings yet? We were just discussing those a little—"
"Shut up George, mum's hurt," Fred said from the side where he was trying to position Mrs. Weasley on the couch. George blinked and turned to them, staring. He dropped the box he was holding and ran forward to help.
"They were attacking St. Mungo's," Harry heaved after Mrs. Weasley had been laid down on a couch. "She's got some potion in her I think, she's not acting normal, but I have to go now," he said, thinking about Tonks. She was the only person that the Death Eaters would target now, since she was an Auror. They easily had to outnumber her if the hospital staff was in such a panic, he had to get back and help even if she didn't want it.
Fred and George seemed to dimly respond to his comment, but they were busy trying to make their mom more comfortable, so Harry just focused again, trying to make sure that he'd land next to Tonks this time. Wand in hand he thought about a spell to use as he stepped into the hole he'd made.
The hospital already seemed quieter than it had the last time he'd entered into it. He was standing in an open area, bodies scattered everywhere on the floor, most of them Death Eaters. Behind him Tonks groaned, he recognized the voice but when he turned he was staring at a little girl. "Are you alright?" he asked, bending over her. "What happened?"
Tonks resumed her normal form as she cautiously opened her eyes. "Hey," she said with a lopsided grin, "it worked." Then, she tried to stand and ended up falling back into the chair with a laugh, dragging Harry along with her. "So you came back to save me?" she asked huskily as they stared at each others eyes. "Even after what I said?"
Harry attempted to crawl off her, not sure why he felt so odd about the situation, but Tonks held him tight. "I'm sorry," she said, "I didn't really mean to hurt you, I just needed you to get Mrs. Weasley away from here. When the Death Eaters attacked I didn't want to have to worry about hurting anyone else with my counterattack."
"You did all of this?" Harry asked his heart pounding as he stared into Tonks' eyes. "How?"
"Trade secret," she said and started to pull a lightly struggling Harry closer.
The attack on Hogwarts filled Harry's mind though, not the situation he was in. "Dobby," Harry said, "and Hermione and Ron, we need to go save them."
Tonks pushed Harry gently away with a look of mock horror. "Leave it to you to spoil a perfectly good mood," she said huffing. "So where are they and why do they need saving?"
"Hogwarts," Harry said, "it's under attack, didn't you know?"
Surprisingly Tonks shook her head. "I was undercover for the last 4 days trailing someone. You caught me just after I'd apprehended the guy this morning. I couldn't contact anyone until then. How did you do that by-the-way, pop in right beside me?"
Shrugging Harry tried to figure out what they could do. "We could apparate to Hogsmeade and run the rest of the way," he said.
"Yeah right," Tonks muttered. "Harry, how many times have you apparated in the last 20 minutes?"
"Four times," Harry said wondering why it mattered.
"And can you use your wand?" Tonks asked. "Hit me with a leg-locking curse."
His wand already in hand Harry waved it a bit. Tonks wobbled, but stepped forward one foot at a time. "As I suspected, it didn't work. You haven't been practicing apparating, have you?"
"I can't," Harry said in his defense. "I've been at Hogwarts, remember? You can't apparate on the grounds."
"Come on Harry, I don't mean on the grounds, and I know you haven't been able to practice, it's not your fault. But, the more you practice the easier it becomes and the less energy you use. You may have been able to apparate a lot on the island, but you were only going a short distance and you were under the influence of a powerful potion. It's going to take a few minutes for you to be able to use magic successfully again. The more you apparate the more time it'll take to recuperate. We should Floo in."
Though he didn't like it he knew he'd better listen to Tonks, but there was a problem. "Dumbledore said he was going to seal the castle so that people couldn't come and go."
"You're exhausted," Tonks said as she helped Harry stand again. "You're not going to be very much help if you don't rest a bit."
Harry nodded, ignoring her, he had to get back and make sure that the Death Eaters didn't hurt his friends or any of the other students. Tonks whipped out her wand and gripped Harry tight. "This might not be very comfortable,' Tonks said just before Harry felt a jerk in his naval almost like when they used a Portkey. This time it spread throughout him and there was an explosion sound as if it where in the far off distance. When he opened his eyes again they were in Hogsmeade, standing in front of Zonko's.
"What was that?" Harry wondered out loud.
Tonks snickered as she straightened herself back up. "That was called apparating, it's a bit different from whatever it is you're doing, has a little more kick to it, wouldn't you say?"
Ignoring her, Harry turned to start off towards Hogwarts but Tonks grabbed his hand. "Hold it," she commanded and Harry paused. "I told you, you need to rest for a few minutes before you start battling anyone or anything. You're not going to be much help if all you do is run in there and get captured. Hermione'd take my head off for letting you do something so stupid, not to mention Molly's wrath," she shivered. "Don't you dare make me face that!"
"Fine," Harry muttered and sat down.
"How about I take one of those rings of yours and you can tell me when you're up to the task and I'll tell you where the best place to start is," she said when she saw his frown. She knew what it felt like to be left out and hated to do it to Harry, but she was only doing it to make sure he stayed alive.
"Please don't be mad Harry?" she said, her hair flowing to a violent purple as she spoke. Her lips dropped and her eyes turned brown she looked like a mix between a lost puppy dog and a street punk. He couldn't help but smile, only to get one in return.
Slipping the rings off his finger he pulled them apart and handed one to Tonks, activating it. He wasn't sure what to hold them with, but Tonks conjured a set of necklaces with ring clasps that were the slightly too big for the rings. She slipped the ring inside the clasp and it then touched her wand against it, shrinking it so it fit around the ring tightly. She took the second one from Harry and then proceeded to do the same thing until she was holding two necklaces with the rings looking like charms dangling from them.
Once she was done she held up one chain and put it around Harry's neck, tucking it into his shirt for him. "I'll see you later," she whispered and then kissed his cheek. "That's for coming back to save me."
Harry blushed even though he could hear people screaming not too far off and he sighed. "Go show them why they should fear us," he said rather awkwardly and watched as Tonks disappeared. There was nothing he could do but wait... and listen. He took the ring out of his shirt and placed it to his eye watching the battle come into view.
Hundreds of people were running around in black cloaks and white masks, way more than Harry thought there would actually be. There'd been quite a few at St. Mungo's as well, but neither was where Voldemort was. It didn't matter how much control Harry had over his mind, he could still feel it when Voldemort was close or angry even if he didn't see visions. And Voldemort was neither right now.
Where was he? What was he really doing? Harry wondered as he saw even more of the fight come into view. There were Aurors all around fighting, shields coming up all over the place, but there were other things fighting, things not human. There were huge trolls that were swinging their clubs like bats, sending anyone who got close enough off into the distance. Harry was sure that anyone who got full impact of the club wasn't going to be standing up anytime soon. Then Harry saw what he'd been expecting, the Dementors. But, there were only a few of them, not the hundreds that he knew existed, maybe a few dozen. That was what Harry wanted to focus on, he hated the beasts and he wanted to drive them away first, that would definitely help the fight a little. There were other things as well, animals like Harry had never seen in his life.
Something scuffed a stone and Harry shrunk back into the alley way, ignoring the ring for a few minutes. He certainly didn't need to get caught right now.
A kid came running around the corner, starting down the alley and Harry jumped out of the shadows, scaring the boy. "Get in here," Harry whispered quickly, pulling him into the shadows. "Who's out there?" he asked once the boy had stopped breathing so heavily.
"Men in white masks," the boy said, trembling. "They took mum and made her do things, she wasn't herself, and she tried to hurt me. They made her put on a white mask too."
There was a moment's paused and then the boy threw himself into Harry. "Please help mummy, make her better."
Harry clenched his wand and held the boy for a minute then took out the ring again. "Tonks!" he yelled into it. There was no response. He couldn't see anything either, it was as if the world had gone black on the other side. "Shit," he murmured to himself.
"Stay here," he said to the boy as he got slowly to his feet. He pulled up his ring again "Tonks," he said, more quietly this time, waiting to see if she'd respond.
Nothing.
Slowly Harry made his way down the alleyway, trying to make sure it wasn't a trap. If it was then Tonks was going to kill him for being stupid, but he couldn't just let the boy's mother get injured because she was under the influence of some death eater.
Three people were standing at the end of the street, one was dawning black robes, the second was putting on a white mask and the third was turned away from Harry. The second person, a young woman, couldn't have been much older than he was, he could have sworn he'd seen her in the Gryffindor common room before. Groaning Harry ducked back behind the wall before anyone saw him.
"Tonks!" he whispered fiercely into the ring one last time. No answer. "Alright," Harry whispered out loud.
He turned back and glanced where the three had been standing and he saw the last one putting on a black cloak, dropping the robe's she'd been wearing. The third person reached out and did something out of sight and the girl didn't seem to respond except to pause before continuing to put on her cloak. Harry shivered at the thought of what the man might do to her if he weren't about to send them to a battle.
The third man, the one whom Harry assumed was a Death Eater pointed off towards Hogwarts and then turned sharply, heading away from the first two. One of them started to walk towards Hogwarts and the other finished putting on her cloak. Harry waited a few seconds and then dashed after them. Quietly he snuck between the buildings until he was right behind the second girl and he pulled out his wand, tapping her and whispering 'Finite Incantatum' quickly.
The girl stopped. After a moments pause she turned to Harry, looking dazed, and reached up to pull of her mask. Harry shook his head and put his finger on his mouth. "Just wait for a minute and I'll explain everything to you. Be quiet until then, alright?" The girl nodded.
Instead of spending any special time trying to make sure he could trust her, Harry dashed off after the first person, whom he assumed to be the boys mother. He didn't get to approach her as easily as he had the first. She was already away from the main part of Hogsmeade and so Harry had to approach her out in the open. Of course she heard him and turned, stopping completely. Harry cringed, as he continued forward, hoping he wouldn't have to dodge a spell. "Harry Potter?" she asked, sounding confused.
It took a moment, but Harry recognized the signs of fighting off the Imperius and he raised his wand quickly. "Finite Incantatum," he whispered for a second time.
Again there was a pause, but this time when she reached up to take off her mask Harry didn't stop her. "Madam Rosmerta?" he gasped. She looked at him with a blank stare. "What am I...?" she said offhand and Harry shook his head.
"Come on, follow me." She nodded her head, and Harry could see she was trying to think back.
It only took a minute for them to reach the other person, the girl who'd been released first. "That man was a Death Eater and he... he touched me," she said in disgust.
"Yeah," Harry said, "I think they're putting people from the town under the Imperius curse and making them fight the battle going on over at Hogwarts. Since you're all wearing mask I don't think that people will realize they're not Death Eaters. We have to go help them."
The girl looked away, and Harry could tell she was afraid. Madam Rosmerta was clenching her fist. "Your sons alright," Harry said to her. "He's in the alley just down the street." There were visible signs of relief. "How about we do something else instead? I need to go see if I can stop the Death Eaters that are putting people under the Imperius, and someone needs to go and tell the Aurors that they're not fighting Death Eaters," he looked at the girl. "Would you be willing to do that?" he asked. "With the mask and robes you can get past all the others under the Imperius, but you'll have to figure out how to get the Aurors to listen."
The girl blinked back tears, but nodded her head. Madam Rosmerta put her hand on her shoulder. "We'll do it. I just need to go tell my son that he needs to stay hidden until everything's over." Then, after glancing to Harry she smiled. "You sure you're going to be alright?"
Reluctantly Harry nodded. He really didn't want to deal with Death Eaters alone, but he wasn't about to bring anyone into it they couldn't protect themselves. "If you see someone with unnatural hair see if you can get close to her, her name's Tonks - she's a friend of mine and an Auror. If you see her tell her the rings aren't working. She's the only Auror I can be sure of, so if you see her you might want to tell her what's happening."
"Nymphadora Tonks?" asked Madam Rosmerta and Harry couldn't help but form a half-cocked grin.
"Might not want to call her that, it'll get you cursed even if you're trying to help."
Both nodded and Harry took the silence as an agreement. He turned, and began heading down the path the Death Eater had gone a few minutes before. His wand held out, he was trying to remember all of the things Tonks had taught him. It was then he stopped again, in a dark corner, thinking. Blend in. That's what Tonks had told him. Wearing a Hogwarts uniform certainly wasn't going to get him anywhere.
Pointing the wand at himself he whispered a spell. "Vestidaus Muto." The clothing he was wearing transformed on him, changing into the solid black robes that the Death Eater had been wearing. He reached down and picked up a rock, performing the spell again and placed the bone-white mask on his face.
Something shuffled to his left and Harry turned, wand raised. There was another girl, but this time it was someone he recognized right off the bat. She was hiding between a set of boxes, and hadn't moved until Harry had donned the mask. He could see her face was in shock, but he wasn't worried about her saying anything. "Emily?" he said, forgetting to be quiet.
The face looked even more shocked, and Harry ran over to her. "I was in the shop the other day," he whispered to her. "With blue hair and different eyes, you measured me for Auror Robes."
Emily nodded faintly. "I'm not with the Death Eaters. I'm trying to make sure they don't curse me as soon as they see me. Do you know where any of them are?"
Once again Emily nodded, but not as faintly. She made several motions with her hand, but nothing Harry understood. When he shook his head Emily looked around and then slowly stood up offering her hand to him. Harry looked at it and shook his head. "I won't take you, it's too dangerous."
There was a piercing glare that made Harry shudder, it was even worse than the look Mrs. Weasley used. "No," he said firmly. He wasn't about to let her get hurt because of him. "Just point in the general direction, I'll find them."
It seemed Emily was as stubborn as him though because she jumped to her feet and took off running down the path. Harry ran after her angrily, forgetting needing to change his face as well. He did have the sense to don the mask again.
They slipped through several back alleys before Emily slowed down. She didn't say anything of course, but she made a motion and then pointed towards a doorway that was half open. It looked as if someone had just entered it.
"In there?" Harry asked in a whisper and Emily nodded.
Clutching his wand tightly Harry started forward but Emily grabbed him and shook her head. She pulled him down another side alley and a few minutes later Harry found himself looking at the building from the other side. Emily pointed up at a window that was propped open. Then, bending down she drew out a rough sketch of the building, and made a door where they'd been and two rooms on the side they were on.
After several motions Harry understood what she was trying to say. "Alright, I'll go through the window," he whispered fiercely. From the drawing it looked as if the room he'd be entering was pretty small, and probably not used a lot. It also meant that he could catch the Death Eaters off guard.
There was a distant popping sound from Harry's chest and suddenly the sound of battle could be heard on the other side. "Harry!" a voice came from the ring. "Harry, are you there?"
Harry pulled the ring from his neck wildly, covering it quickly. "Keep it down Tonks," he hissed. "You'll get me caught."
"Your messengers made it to us," Tonks said appreciatively. "We're stopping them a lot faster, but they're still overwhelming by sheer numbers. Some of them have already made it into the castle, we can't keep track of them all... Where are you?"
"I know where the Death Eaters are who are controlling them. Is there an easy way to make them lose control?" he asked, holding the ring somewhere between his ear and mouth. Emily was staring at him, eyes full of wonder.
There was a prolonged pause and a shout. He heard Tonks curse about something she'd tripped over and then heard her directing her speech to him again. "Yeah, there's a lot of ways. The easiest is to knock the caster unconscious and using a dispelling charm on them… You're not going to try it are you? Harry, where in Merlin's name are you!"
"On one of the backstreets of Hogsmeade in front of an old warehouse. I'm going to go in and try to stop the Death Eaters. What's the best dispelling spell to use?"
"Harry! You're not going in alone, I'll come and help."
Shaking his head without thinking Harry stared at the window, if some of the people had gotten into Hogwarts then the students weren't safe. The DA might be able to hold them off for a while, but if they were using unforgivables… "I'm going in, Tonks, and if you don't shut up you're going to get me caught. Just tell me what the best spell to use is."
"Just wait for a few minutes Harry, I'm already headed back. I'll be there, just wait for me," Tonks said desperately.
Harry turned to Emily, covering his ring. "Can you go help her find this place while I go in?" he asked, trying to keep Emily from trying to enter with him. At least she could help be getting Tonks to him as quickly as possible. Harry tapped his wand against the ring, making the sounds from it die down to almost nothing. "Tonks," he said as Emily disappeared down the street. "the girl who helped me get my robe measurements the other day is going to show you where I am. Hurry up."
"Don't you dare go in Harry Potter!" he heard through the ring, but it was barely even more than a whisper, though he doubted very much that it was a whisper on the other side. He'd heard Tonks yell before.
Smiling, he climbed on to the crate and opened the window. He looked back to make sure that no one was behind him. It was of course empty, but he had the creepy feeling that someone else was behind him. Tonks had taught him to trust his instincts and so after he crawled in the old window he crouched down, and then peaked back over the windowsill to see if someone had come out of the shadows or from under an invisibility cloak.
The alleyway remained undisturbed and Harry shook his head, turning back to the task at hand. He was in a storage room just as Emily had drawn out. The room was layered in dust and obviously rarely, if ever, used. Stepping down from the boxes to the floor he kicked up a cloud of the dust and choked, then coughed. He was quick enough to get his arm in front of his mouth to suppress the sound, hoping no one would hear it. He held up a piece of his cloak to his mouth and nose and used them to filter the air as he stepped through the stale room. Briefly he wondered if there was such a thing as an anti-dust charm, and if there was why the owner had failed to use it, but the thought passed when he heard muffled movement beyond the door.
His wand was ready in an instant, but nothing came through the door. More sounds of movement came and went while Harry was completely still, waiting for them to come charging. When he finally stepped forward again he began to hear other sounds, bits and pieces of words until he was able to make out a few through the door. Glancing to his chest, at the ring he wore, Harry took a deep breath and ever so slowly turned the doorknob. If he survived this Tonks was really going to strangle him, but she'd said that people had broken into the castle… if any of them knew about the secret room – which they might – then all the students would be in trouble.
The knob didn't squeak and Harry whispered silent thanks for small miracles. Pulling the door slowly open he found himself looking at a room full of people who were standing, with horrified looks in their eyes, but none of them seemed to be moving at all. "Hurry it up," Harry heard from beyond the people who were directly in front of him. Even without seeing the person he knew who it was. Wormtail.
It was hard not to burst through the door at that moment, with curses flying, but Harry was able to maintain his position. 'Never be a target' Tonks had told him and he wasn't about to go and do something to get her even angrier. Besides, she knew what she was talking about and he certainly would rather rely on her knowledge than his anger.
Someone caught his eye, and he could see that the person, an older man, looked frightened glancing to the area beside the door. Harry stopped and nodded a silent thank you and the man blinked and looked away.
Don't ever go in without a plan of some sort, it'll always get shot to shit, but it's still better to have some sort of sketch of what you're going to do, it helps to keep you focused. More advice from Tonks came. Harry suspected that there were at least two men that were Death Eaters in the room, and that was counting any of the others who'd been put under the Imperius already. One of them was across the room and one of them was probably right next to the door. Harry hoped that the latter hadn't seen the door crack open, because if he had he was going to be in big trouble.
Harry stepped back away from the door, keeping his wand pointed forward and taking a second to think. He needed to be silent, and he needed to be fast. He wished he'd grabbed his invisibility cloak because that might have made things easier, but he didn't have it so he had to improvise. First he went over Tonks' first advice when tailing someone.
'If you don't want to be heard, don't be heard. It's simple really, just use a strong silencing charm on yourself. If you've got an invisibility cloak, all the better.' She'd gone on to talk about how it was a bad idea if you were trying to blend in, silencing yourself made you stand out even more in a crowd, everyone made sounds and if a person didn't subconsciously hear them while a person was around, the mind made a point of it. Harry took another step back from the door and whispered the charm, making sure to focus as much as possible.
'If you're compromised or attacking you will have to do what is necessary to stop the target from getting away. Do not limit yourself to just magic, physically fighting someone is never out of the question. Usually when you're after a target, the best way to capture them is to surprise them – like what you did at the headquarters, knocking a bookshelf on them... That's not a compliment, Harry, and I don't want to see you ever disobey me again! Anyway, sometimes simple curses are as effective as complex ones.'
'Now, if you're working with multiple targets try to keep them from communicating. There's a few small protections that the…'
Harry blinked and smiled. Simple was best, he certainly hoped that she was right. All he had to do now was think of a simple charm to disable his opponents. They'd used some sort of petrifying charm, so why couldn't he?
When he approached the door again there were three different curses that he was thinking about. He edged the door open little by little until he could see that there was a person sitting next to the door, but fortunately enough for him, they were asleep. Harry smiled and tapped on their shoulder with his wand, whispering the petrifaction curse. Even if the person woke he wouldn't be able to do anything. Just to be safe Harry also silenced them.
"Well hurry it up. He'll be angry if we don't get the rest of the villagers out as soon as possible. You rounded up all the extras?" The second man, who had to be Wormtail asked. Harry looked in that direction, but couldn't see past the group of people that stood in front of him. There were actually quite a few people there and Harry wondered exactly how they'd gotten there in the first place. It couldn't have been the work of three death eaters.
Another voice, this one soft, female, answered with a snappish "yes." Harry groaned; he didn't like fighting women, it just wasn't right, but she was a Death Eater, and he could certainly make an exception. After all, Belatrix Lestrange was a woman and one of the worst Death Eaters that Harry knew of. The voice continued, "There were a few stragglers, I just cursed them and sent them out to fight, though I seem to be having some control problems right now, I can't send them any new commands. I think they fought it off."
Harry grinned smugly. Something out the front door crashed and Harry winced, hoping it wasn't who he thought it was. When he heard a yell, he knew it was Tonks – she really had come quick.
Well, it was all for the better. Harry stood tall, hoping that both of the Death Eaters that he could hear had been distracted, along with any of the others that might be up there. Fortunately enough for him there was only one more, and all of them were staring at the entrance. "They've found us," The woman snapped. "We can't let the battle end yet. If any Aurors make it back," She paused. "Kill them," she hissed and some of the people moved forward.
There was no other option, Harry knew what was happening, and since Tonks was coming to rescue him she wasn't being careful enough, and probably hadn't even thought to bring reinforcements. As he ran along the crowd of people Harry canceled the Imperius curse as much as possible, repeating Finite Incantatem over and over again. He was lucky he'd put the silencing charm on himself, because by the time he'd gotten to the front he'd been yelling constantly for the past minute and a half.
No one seemed to notice him, or think that he was out of the ordinary. They thought that he was the Death Eater who had been stationed in the back, the one Harry had petrified. So, when he approached the first Death Eater, he was able to free him without any problems at all. That left only two others, the woman and Wormtail. The next in line, the woman who'd been speaking earlier, turned to him. Her mask had been pulled down revealing a very attractive woman with a nasty grin. "Don't trust the slug to defend you this time?" she said with a laugh.
No wand was raised, and she didn't even think it was odd that he'd just cursed the Death Eater laying on the ground. "You didn't kill him, did you?" she asked with a sneer. When Harry shook his head she smiled again. "You know," she said half seductively, throwing off Harry's perception of her, "he's not going happy when he comes around. It'd probably be a good idea not to be around."
When the woman turned back to the doorway Harry breathed a sigh of relief, but didn't raise his wand. The other Death Eater standing, a pudgy man whom Harry knew was most likely Peter, stood in the distance watching him intently. Harry didn't like the stare, and he turned away from it pretending to be ready to curse whatever came through the door. The ploy didn't seem to work, because Wormtail still continued to stare.
Something shook the door with a tremendous bang and Harry couldn't help but turn his attention away from Wormtail for a second. Another blow landed, and still the door held tight. Harry raised his wand in the air and muttered a curse, throwing it at the young woman who'd laughed. She wasn't ready for it, but even after taking the full brunt of it she didn't falter. It was almost as if she'd just absorbed the spell.
Turning to Harry her lips turned to form a wicked smirk. "So, another Auror huh?" she said with an obvious amount of distaste for Aurors. Her wand flicked and before Harry could even shield himself, he was being thrown across the room. The mask that had been covering his face was broken in half and it fell from his face.
"Potter," she hissed, more snakelike than before. "Of course it's 'Potter to the rescue'. Oh, I've heard so much about you, makes killing you sound even more fun than playing games with the Aurors. It'd be easiest to just kill you know, but sadly I must wait, our Lord surely has other things to do to you. When Pettigrew told us you'd escaped the castle, we all wondered where to." The glance that the woman gave to the other Death Eater as she spoke was a definite indication that the person was Wormtail. Harry growled and tightened his grip on his wand, trying to stand again. He hated Wormtail, he hated Voldemort and he hated Death Eaters. "Seems he doesn't know all the passages in and out of the castle. I never thought you'd come to us!" Mad laughter accompanied her last statement, making Harry shiver reflexively.
"Expelliarmus!" Harry shouted as he stood, ignoring the pain in his back and legs. The curse shot across the row of people moving forward and one of them stepped into it, getting blown away, their wand flying towards Harry. There was an evil laugh beyond the crowd and several of them turned on him, raising their wands to curse him. Another resounding bang filtered through the room and Harry felt the vibrations echo through the floor. "Finite Incantatem!" he yelled several times over, trying to release the people. He wondered briefly what had happened to the others but didn't think about it for long.
Some of the people in front slowed and Harry used the time to dive forward, slipping to the right and running as fast as he could past them. Most of them reacted slowly, their hands never quite reaching him as he passed by. The few who acted quickly never got a strong grip and he was always able to tear free. Harry continued yelling the spell as he ran, trying to free them all from the curse; he knew what it was like to be forced to do something he didn't want to do, and right now anything he did to stop them would help him and hinder the Death Eaters' plans.
"So, wee-baby-Potter has come to join the party, now?" The woman asked as Harry exploded through the people who'd surrounded him. "The brave Gryffindor, riding to the rescue--"
Harry had to scramble out of the way as a spell sliced through the air, blowing up the floor next to him. He coughed and continued to roll trying to find a good place to get to his feet again. Another spell jetted towards him and Harry rolled back the other way as it exploded where he'd been.
"Rolling around on the ground like a dog, Potter? I thought that was your godfather's role to play… oh, my mistake, he no longer has one, does he?" she cacckled with laughter and Harry stopped, leaping to his feet angrier than before. Instead of using a spell to detain her he charged right into her, rolling right as another spell was fired at him, but still charging forward.
When he struck her, it was almost as if he'd hit her with a spell. She was thrown several feet back and as she fell her head struck a box, immediately knocking her unconscious. She lay crumpled on the floor, and Harry turned away from her. Someone mumbled something behind him and several people gasped. Harry ignored them at the moment. "Peter!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, charging after the fleeing Death Eater. He waved his wand, and released the silencing spell from himself, yelling at Peter again. He wasn't about to let him get away. The cloak fell to the ground, empty and a rat scurried out from under it heading towards the rows of boxes on a far wall.
"ACCIO WORMTAIL!" Harry screamed at the top of his lungs and the rat lifted into the air and started flying towards him. Another bang echoed through the room and several of the people shouted and moved away from the door. Harry stuffed Wormtail into his pocket and then grabbed the ring quickly. "Tonks!" he yelled through the ring, "quit the attack, I already stopped the Death Eaters."
She didn't respond, though, and the door shuddered again. It flew open and three Aurors came running through, none of them recognizable. One of them immediately fired a curse at Harry who realized he was wearing the Death Eater robes still. "Don't!" Several of the people shouted. "He's not one of them!"
The Auror turned on the people, all of whom stepped back, and he glanced back to Harry. The rat Peter tried to crawl out of Harry's pocket and he grabbed it before it took off. "Hey, do you know how to force an animagus to transform?" Harry asked the Auror who was watching him suspiciously. The Auror nodded and Harry held out his hand. "Can you do it now?"
One of the other Aurors stepped forward, "I'll do it," he said quickly. "Cover me, Trill."
When the first Auror nodded the second man raised his wand, and then paused. "You're Harry Potter?" He asked and Peter squealed, wriggling in Harry's hand, trying to escape. Harry held him tight though as he bit his hand several times. Harry nodded.
"Did Tonks come with you guys?" he asked quickly, wondering where she was.
"Around back, the girl that led us told her you'd gone through the back. She went that way as well."
Peter bit down hard again and this time Harry finally let go, but the Auror was quicker, stopping his descent with a quick levitation spell. "Let's get this done with now, shall we?" he asked as Peter rose into the air, the silver paw glinting in the air. Harry listened, but something crashed in the background and he turned to it as the Auror spoke. When he turned back Wormtail was screaming in mid air, jerking convulsively. He dropped to the floor, squealing loudly.
It was exactly as it had been before at the shrieking shack; the rat Wormtail jerked and a head shot out, arms and legs following quickly. Watching it was like watching a balloon inflating, his head expanded quickest, but his arms and legs followed soon after, expanding until there was a short, but full grown man standing before them, cringing. He wasn't as shrunken as he'd been beforehand, he was flush, and his eyes were bloodshot. Peter was quick, even for a large man. But, as he raised his wand to curse the Auror Harry saws the Auror was quicker and Peter was petrified instantly, his wand dropping to the ground.
"Merlin's beard…" one of the Aurors said, as Peter's wand finished bouncing. "That's Peter Pettigrew," he continued, gasping. "He's alive."
"He was the one that murdered all those people," Harry spat. "Not Sirius Black; it was all a setup."
The Auror turned to look at Harry, his eyes wide, and then without speaking he turned to look back at Peter. Something caught Harry from behind, and he found that he couldn't move or speak again. "Not such a smart one, are we, Potter," a voice whispered and there was a sudden jerk in his stomach. Harry's last thought was that it was a Portkey, and wondered faintly where he was being taken.
• Last Edited 07/09/2004 •