37) The Star of Senkrad


He was fighting against some Death Eater, when something cold crept through his heart. Whirling around, he saw them coming. The moon was rising in his mind and his heart raced.

"Expecto Patronum!" he yelled and a silvery dog erupted from his wand. The patronus pounded over the burnt grass toward the shadowy figure, that stood bowed over a motionless body. Red hair was peeking out from beyond the creature's grasp, but Remus had no time to investigate, as another dementor swept towards him. Raising his wand against the foul thing, he summoned his patronus to protect him, when a huge, shiny griffin chased the dementor away. Tonks was waving over to him, slightly out of breath, but seemingly unharmed. Stumbling over the ground, they reached the prone figure lying in a blue heap on the ground. Rolling the wizard over, they gasped.

"Shit, it's Percy!" Remus stated the obvious.

"Did the dementor get him? Did you see?" Tonks asked, and Remus shook his head.

"Enervate!" he tried and Percy coughed before blinking once.

"Whe'm'I?" the redhead mumbled and they sighed in relief.

"Ye alrigh?" A deep voice asked from behind.

"Yeah, Rubeus," Remus smiled faintly, "for now. Have you seen the others?"

"It's been quiet mos'ly since Harry started battling You-Know-Who. There's jus tha' big quarrel around them, nothing more. Everybody has been runnin' there to watch… But I brought some more friends, here," he waved his hand behind him and Remus could see shapes between the trees. So it had begun…

"They're ready to attack, jus waitin for a sighn, methinks," Hagrid supplied.

"I see," Remus said awkwardly. Together they went over to the auror's headquarters, which luckily were not far. On the way they nearly tripped over a leg. The rest of the body was lying some metres along the path. Tonks could identify the young witch as a recruit from the Ministry squad. Hagrid was carrying Percy, who was still a bit faint on his legs.

Things were not progressing as planned!


The sun was already setting in the west and the battle was still running high. From the far side of the grounds Percy was watching the fighting. Unable to walk on his own he had become rather useless and the others had simply left him with the wounded and dead. Mostly dead.

From his seat against a tree trunk he could observe the battle quite well:

A circle had formed around the main fighters; Dumbledore, Harry, Snape and his own brother, Bill. Against them stood Voldemort and two more Death Eaters, who dared to join. Corpses were lying all over the place and the few that were left standing had hidden behind trees, hedges and rocks. Behind the castle windows and on the towers the teachers were still vigilantly defending the castle. So far, nobody had approached within a hundred feet of Hogwarts. Those few who had actually been so stupid were nailed to the ground with McGonagall's deadly arrows.

The air was bristling with magic, although it was quiet – far too quiet…

And then there was noise again. It had begun to rain. Heavy drops quickly transformed the meadows into a huge mud puddle. Harry was swirling his staff and Voldemort threw spell after spell. Other fighters had engaged in the fight again and the plain was bustling with witches and wizards in arms. Overhead thunder and lighting came crashing down on the people beneath.


In all the chaos Harry had lost his footing and was slipping on the wet ground. A hex flared by his cheek and singed the skin under his eye. Ginny was towering above him in her dark, flaring robes laughing maniacally. Rising her wand Harry tried to rise his staff in defence, but the angle was wrong and he was too late –

Something suddenly came rushing at them from behind and knocked Voldemort to the ground. Looking up, Harry saw Ron, face wide with fear, on a broom. He dismounted quickly and ducked down next to Harry.

"All right there?" the redhead asked, grinning grimly.

"What are you doing here?" Harry hissed.

"Looking after your back, mate. What did you expect?" Ron joked, disarming a Death Eater near them.

"Don't be stupid, this isn't a game!" Harry shot back angrily.

"Now calm down-", Ron dodged a spell and Harry saw Voldemort rising in the corner of his eye, "We're your friends, your greatest strength. We'll never leave your side!"

"Right so!" another voice said from his left.

"Neville! Luna!"

"At your service, Harry Potter," Luna said, ducking under a curse and shouting some exotic incantation at her unsuspecting opposite, who wailed loudly and started running away.

Harry wanted to ask her about that spell, but it was not the time, because Voldemort had risen now and was advancing full speed. Shielding himself and his friends, he let his staff twirl, but Voldemort seemed unimpressed. Trying an different approach Harry started throwing spells, but then a dreadful feeling of cold and pain froze his fingers and he stumbled.


"Dementors! They're attacking!" somebody screamed from the castle banister, just when he apparated in. A cluster of brilliantly white creatures moved over the grounds to fight the dreadful force, that was approaching them slowly. Screams echoed from the lake and Lucius's smug smile soon vanished.

He was screaming. Screaming in fear, screaming in pain. For everything he had lost, everything he could lose. The voices told him to surrender, but he must not! With a last feral scream he tore the voices from his mind and for a moment blacked out.

When he regained consciousness, he was traumatized by the picture in front of his eyes. He was on Hogwarts grounds, in the middle of a battle, and only a few yards in front of him a group of dementors was feasting on wizards, no matter of what origin. He saw Garcia MacFarlan's soul being sucked out, a perfectly acceptable pure-blooded witch. There was no reason for her to die.

And then he saw Voldemort, half-blood and bastard, in the body of the youngest Weasel, duelling against Potter, deathly and doubtlessly insane.

"He made you treat Draco badly," another voice in his head said. "He is a half-blood bastard, he betrayed you all…"

Seeing red, he got up from the ground. In the mess he saw Severus casting a Patronus. His magnificent cobra slithered toward the dementors and her venomous bite chased them away. Dumbledore's phoenix was prancing above all others, his dazzling light and sheer power stunning the foul creatures instantly. They puffed into black smoke and where gone. But more came from the sides. The main field had not seen them yet, but Lucius had.

"Expecto patronum!" he yelled, thinking of meeting Severus and Draco's birth. A shiny white light erupted from his wand, not very intense, but bright enough to alert the others of the nearing danger. Blinking, he watched the light take shape and fly towards the dementors.

It was a boy, smiling brightly on his broom. Lucius stared after him as he flew over the darkening sky, sparkling with cheer and happiness. He never noticed the stray hex coming from behind, before it hit him square in the back. Stumbling forward, his face hit the grass with a wet noise and everything turned black.


Mere metres away, Harry was struggling with an enchanted vine that had caught his foot and would not let go. Before him Voldemort's eyes glowed red as he rose his wand over his head, summoning all his power into one spell. A red orb appeared out of nowhere and grew in the dark sorcerer's hands, before he screamed in victory and hurled it at Harry. Unable to move away he threw his staff up to block the curse.

A deafening bang swallowed all other noises and everything tuned out for a second, before hell broke loose. Harry was kneeling in the mud, mostly unharmed. The vine had released his foot, but it seemed broken, or at least sprained. Clutching the injured limb, he tried to get up, but with a hiss he sank back to the ground.

In front of him lay the shards of what was once the staff of Merlin. Some feet away Voldemort was glowering at him and once again raising his wand.


/memory: flashback/

The men were singing in the streets. Hail Dumbledore, they hollered, the drunken bastards! It was April 14th, 1945, and the war was over. Just hours ago Albus Dumbledore had killed their leader. Grindelwald had fought bravely, the star singing gracefully in his skilful hands. But a traitor from his own guard had hit him in the back and he had stumbled, while Dumbledore had taken the chance and beheaded their beloved lord white he was down. Sword dripping with the enemies blood, they had carried him upon their shoulders, the crowd rejoicing and cheering to his name.

But they, the lost children, had lingered in the shadows, while the mudblood lovers had dishonoured their leader's dead body. His disfigured corpse would have been left to the vultures if his faithful followers, those who had remained unharmed, had not taken it away.

Saduj Ollivander, their master's advisor, had then taken the staff with him…

And the lost children had eventually found a new father…

/memory end/

Nasty little half-blood scum! He would die, the worthless bastard. Nobody refused the dark, NOBODY! None dared to deny the leader! Potter, his intestines clenched with rage, had destroyed his gift. Nobody was allowed to sully the holy staff!

"It is time to die, Harry Potter. You refused to join the right side, just like your foolish parents, and now you pay the price. Nobody denies Lord Voldemort!" he spat.

"Wrong, Tom! Confundissimo!", Dumbledore shouted over the chaos and his spell distracted Voldemort for a while.

"You harm Harry? Over my dead body!" the Weasley boy yelled, shouting his own hex.

"DIE!" Longbottom and some strange girl snarled in unison and fired a double stunner.

Arrows hailed from the castle again, the crowd was roaring and somewhere in-between all his enemies he felt his heart sink. He stared at Harry with unmasked fear.

No, he prayed to whatever god might still listen to him, while his foe rose from the ground.

"You cannot defeat us!" Harry screamed, aiming his wand at Tom.

His shouts were lost in the thunder, the storm and heavy rain nearly made him stumble.

"…and NEVER COME BACK!"

And in the back of his mind he could almost hear a girl screaming…


R&R (!)