I did something stupid…I wrote the ending after doing half of the chapter, so I could get it out of my mind. And then I forgot to go back and put the scene in! Whaaaaaah…I feel so stupid…
If this particular chapter seams really late, it's got two reasons. One, I've been at Synod of the Sun Youth Workshop in Tulsa, Oklahoma for the last week. And two…I got my copy of The Half Blood Prince right after I got back…And the next two volumes of Artimes Fowl, and Douglas Adam's last book, and The Five People You Meet In Heaven, and this funny grammar book Eats, Shoots and Leaves…
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or Harry Potter. So sue me. No wait…don't.
Chapter 37: Return of the Legendary Warriors
After thirty-five minutes, only one thing was readily apparent: someone, somewhere in the Malfoy line someone was ridiculously paranoid.
The whole of the mansion appeared to be one very long, very complicated maze. Hallway after hallway looped around and tied knots in each other with almost no regard for physical for physical space. The stone walls were lined with lavish, rich tapestries depicting some rather…disturbing…images of rather bloody, gory and painful Muggle-hunts and other disturbing things. Junpei and Takuya had both Digivolved, the former in case of surprise attack and the former to carry the semi-conscious Kouichi.
"This place is harder to get around in than the school!" Izumi sighed, shaking her head in disgust at the dried severed head resting on a bookshelf just under her eye level. "And not half as pleasant."
"I know what you mean." Beatlemon buzzed. "I've heard some Westerners have weird hobbies, but…Yuck."
Ron looked a bit offended and opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off when Harry let out a very small cry, snapping his hand up to his forehead painfully. "Harry, what is it?"
"My scar…" Harry hissed, rubbing the burning, itching lightening bolt furiously. "I think Voldemort's found out about the jailbreak."
Tomoki blinked up at him, cocking his head curiously. "How'dya figure?"
"Later." Hermione whispered urgently, pulling out her wand. "Right now we have to get out of here. If they find us, it's all over!"
Kouji shot her a slightly annoyed-but-secretly-agreeing look, turning back to the compass feature now displayed on his D-Tector. The red light was flashing softly, which usually meant they were within twenty meters of Kouichi's Digivice. But the direction it was pointing lead straight through a bookshelf set into the wall, and there was no sign that they'd be able to reach another room through this hall…
Wait a moment…
After eyeing the bookcase suspiciously, Kouji sighed, shaking his head, and grumpily shoved at a book sticking just out of the shelf. That was stupid, even a magically charmed castle wouldn't have something like…
And, quite suddenly, he fell through the now-transparent bookcase.
It took a few moment of explanation and instructions to get everyone through to the other side. Once there, it took another long moment to recover their senses enough to react.
In the room was a computer.
And not just any computer, but a gargantuan mass of lights, buttons and wires that looked to have been first built in the early 70s. We say 'first built' because it seamed to have been crudely upgraded, enhanced and up-linked with several others by people grossly inexperienced in the use and/or management of electronic devices. Of course, all this had to be explained to a rather stunned Ron, which took another several minutes as the more astute eyes began scanning the monstrosity for a certain key component.
It was Tomoki who noticed it first. "There!" he announced, pointing up at the black device grafted to the consol roughly eight and a half meters above them. Wires had been attached from every angle save the front, some having no identifiable purpose and others fused directly into the plastic.
"…Holy cow." Agunimon muttered blankly.
"Don't wizards here know anything about computers?" Izumi wondered outlaid. Hermione automatically shook her head.
Junpei…Beatlemon…grinned behind his face-plate. You could see it in his eyes. "I'll get it." He buzzed brightly. Metallic wings spread as he took flight, coming to a hovering stop right even with the plastic device.
Large, blue-gloved hands wrapped around the small thing firmly and pulled. It came, but so did the wires attached, pulling it to a stop about eight inches from the computer.
"No good!" he called down. "They're too tight! I need something to cut it down!"
Kouji huffed slightly, pulling out his D-Tector. "No problem. Execute, Spirit Evolution!"
There was a flash of light and a rush of data, sliding away to reveal Lobomon in the boy's place.
Ron drew in a sharp breath. "I am never going to get used to that."
Lobomon pulled out the silver hilt bearing his light-bladed-sword, tossing up to Beatlemon. The blue Digimon caught it expertly, extended the hilt not-so-expertly, and set to slicing the extra wires around the black Digivice.
"You know…" Izumi muttered thoughtfully, running her hand along the cold metallic casing of the huge machine. "I'll bet this thing is how he's been tapping into the Digital World this whole time."
Agunimon grinned as he set Kouichi (who himself was quite happy NOT being fussed over) ob his feet next to Harry and Hermione. "Then we'll just have to do something about that, won't we?"
Kouji sent a scathing glare in his friend's direction, tossing Lobomon's long, wolf-printed scarf back over his shoulder. "After we get the D-Tector out. Those wires could short-circuit it."
"Almost done!" Beatlemon called down, followed by a few bright sparks as one of the thicker wires were cut. "Just a couple more…whoops!"
The last wire came loose with an unexpected snap of kinetically-born energy. The black device leapt from Beatlemon's hands, plummeting down through the air for split seconds that seemed to be quite a bit longer, before clipping the side of Ron's head and landing squarely in Harry's hands.
"Fer Cris' sake…" Ron swore painfully, rubbing his aching head sorely, then ducked to avoid the flat hand of an annoyed Hermione at his use of language.
Harry unfolded his hands to examine the black device with interest. It looked like one of Dudley's old game systems, but quite a bit more active. It beeped at him with a cheery tune and slowly flashed the odd purple symbol glowing on the screen.
"Here." he sighed simply, handing it to Kouichi.
The transfer smiled at him. "Thank you."
Their sleeves brushed against each other as he took it. For a moment, Harry's eyes focused on the two clashing colors of their linings…bright red against tattered, frayed green…and almost felt a split second of subliminally-registered symbolism. But it was only a fleeting moment, and seconds later it had gone, leaving only a gentle, knowing glint in Kouichi's blue eyes.
There was a crash from the hallway above, followed by the great beating of footsteps. Agunimon, Lobomon and Beatlemon tensed. "They're coming." The light-warrior hissed.
"Then let's get to this." Takuya growled, and punched his way through one of the huge consoles and ripping out a huge handful of wires.
Lobomon retrieved his sword from Beatlemon and made quick work of several connections, as the blue Digimon's electricity shorted every wire in the system. Izumi and Tomoki snatched out their own D-Tectors, changing into Kazemon and Kumamon in an instant, the first giving the nearest keyboard-interface a swift kick and the later freezing one of the huge machines to harsh fragility.
Soon the room was full of sparks and smoke, small fires erupting both from short circuits and Agunimon's power. It got bad enough that Hermione erected a minor shielding charm around the four who remained human, to stem off the smoke, but she couldn't do anything for the heat as they tried to find their way out the door.
Harry squinted past the flames, wand drawn and hand raised on instinct to protect from sparks. He could see the hallway past the transparent back of the bookcase, but how to get there was seaming a bit hard…
"Time to leave." Agunimon's voice sudden perked in his ears, and he felt himself being scooped off his feet. The Flame-Warrior bounded out into the hall and slide to a stop, followed by Beatlemon (with Ron in hand), Kazemon (carrying Hermione), Lobomon (plus Kouichi) and Kumamon, who was icing the flames as he backed out.
Lobomon turned his head slightly, a low growl rumbling from his throat. Kouichi looked up at him, blinking as though he'd only just woken up. "Kouji, what is it?"
"They're getting closer…" the wolf-warrior growled. "From both sides…"
Beatlemon turned his head as well, buzzing a bit. "Then we'll have to break through somehow."
"And how're we supposed to do that?" Harry asked, reaching for his wand.
Agunimon set him down on his feet, looking back and forth down the hall before taking a deep breath. "Okay then…Everybody stand back!"
The moment everyone had done as he'd asked, there was another flash of light as the voice rang out again. "Agunimon…Slide Evolution!"
With a slightly deafening roar, BurningGreymon reared up from the cocoon of data, raising his long claws back and stretching them towards the ceiling. He lunged at the nearest wall and slashed, crashing through the thick stone almost effortlessly.
The other Digimon instantly took it upon themselves to cover the humans from the falling debris, carrying them as they dove through the newly-created opening. They found themselves in a large, decorative hall that was easily big enough for eight more of them, as huge as their Digimon forms were, even with the large, highly decorated staircases stretching down from the upper levels. There were a pair of equally huge oak doors, decorated extensively with layers of black onyx, at the end of the hall, obviously leading out into the front gardens of the estate.
However, they also found themselves faced with at least twenty people stationed in front of those door, all of whom were wearing long dark cloaks and the signature white masks of the Death Eaters.
"…Darn." Takuya muttered in a low growl.
A low, haunting laugh echoed down from above. The group turned at the chill running up their collective spines, nine pairs of eyes turning up to the tall, dark figure above them.
Harry's eyes narrowed in fury. "Voldemort." He growled.
The tall, grotesquely pale creature allowed a sickly grin to spread over his snake-like features. "Well well. Harry Potter. Once again I find you meddling in my business." He chuckled softly, as golden eyes turned to the creatures now forming somewhat of a semi-circle around the unevolved humans. "And what do we have here? Digimon, in a complete, corporal form, even here? How intriguing…"
Kazemon adjusted her flight to hover just over the humans in the center. "Um… Kouichi-kun, do these goons know how to fight Digimon?"
"I don't know." the dark haired boy shook his head. "But we have to be careful."
Harry's eyes scanned around anxiously at the dozens of wands pointed directly at them. So many people, to fight them all would be suicide… "Our best shot is to head for the door."
"It's probably charmed." Hermione hissed as well. "We'd have to get a wand over there to figure it out."
"Then we'll do that." Lobomon growled.
Ron gulped slightly, looking around at the Death Eaters with anxious anticipation. "Why haven't they attacked yet?"
"They're waiting for us to move." Beatlemon whispered, but was cut off by yet another sickening laugh.
"Already planning your escape, are you?" the snake-creature laughed deeply, removing his own wand from deep inside his cloak. "I wouldn't count on it, children. Your precious Headmaster isn't around to save you this time."
"So what!" Beatlemon shouted, lunging at a group of Death Eaters with lightening sparking around his fists.
A chorus of spells rang out, accompanied by many different-colored flashes of spells that ricocheted into and off of Beatlemon's armor. The blue Digimon was temporarily blinded, which turned out pretty bad for the Death Eaters as he came crashing into them.
As if on cue, the Digimon burst forward in all directions, knocking the Death Eaters back as un-lethally as possible. Hermione lunged for the door, under Kazemon's spinning kicks, aiming her wand at the semi-small keyhole in the black onyx. "Alohomora!"
Green sparks shot out, but nothing happened. "You said it would take more than that!" Ron exclaimed, racing over and trying to cover Harry and Kouichi as he went.
"This is just for starters!" the girl snapped, starting in on another spell of green sparks, one that seamed to be taking much longer.
The Death Eaters rose up again, a few managing to duck under the Digimon and aim spells at the humans. Harry released Kouichi's arm for just long enough to whip out his wand, aiming several Stupefy spells before activating a Shield Charm…
"Execute, Spirit Evolution!"
The red and blue spells that had been heading straight towards them were suddenly blocked, but not by his shielding charm. It was blocked by an almost see-through purple shield, shaped like a lion and borne by and equally lion-like figure, covered completely in black armor. It held the shield steady against the charms before falling back to catch his breath.
It took a moment for Harry to put the pieces together. "Kou…Kouichi?"
The lion-like Digimon glanced at him with a grin showing in his brown eyes. "I don't have enough…energy…left to fight…" he sighed. "But the least I can do is cover for you guys."
Harry grinned, turning back to fire his spells as the Digimon held off the attacks. Death Eaters occasionally got in a shot or two, mostly in the gaps of the Digimon's armor, but very rarely a spell slid past Lowemon's shield, such as the sudden burn Harry received across his right shoulder.
"Enough of this." Voldemort growled, raising his wand into the air. "Accia Dementa!"
An all-too-familiar, icy feeling sudden fell over the entry hall. Harry spun around, just in time to catch sight of the Dementor flying down from the ceiling before the screams began yet again.
Harry instantly covered his ears, though he knew it would be no use. Beside him, Hermione's wand hand was trembling terrible as she tried desperately to finish her spell. Both she and Ron had gone desperately pale, the later reaching out to grab Hermione's wrist, trying to help keep her steady. (One could only assume that was what the arm around her waist was for as well…)
The Digimon-Transfers seamed to be having just as bad a time, if not somewhat worse. Lobomon's strikes were off, unheard of for the warrior's skill, while Kazemon and Beatlemon's flying had become shaky and uneven. Agunimon and Kumamon were now both aiming for the Dementor and not having any luck, even when they hit.
The sounds of his mother's screaming grew louder and louder as more and more Dementors streaked in. Death Eaters were screaming and running, leaving the demons to do their work. Harry pulled out his wand shakily and raised it as best he could, focusing on the memory of the night in third year, when Sirius had promised to give him another home…
"Expecto…Patronum!"
A thick mist blasted from the wand, stemming off the Dementors for only a moment, but it was enough to muffle the screams of the past. Harry shook his head sharply, clearing his thoughts as best he could, searching for another happy memory.
There was a loud thump next to him, startling him slightly. Lowemon was shaking terribly, brown eyes darkening behind his mask. He had dropped to one knee and was gasping for breath, one arm around his stomach and the other clutching his staff for painful support.
For a moment the black armor flickered in and out, then it disappeared with a flash of blue 'data', leaving Kouichi on hands and knees, gasping for breath with his hands reaching up to tug at his collar.
"Nii-san!" Lobomon growled, turning his head back for just a moment before he had to whip around again to defend against one of the Dementors.
Ron responded instead, taking out his wand while keeping one hand around Hermione's wrist. "Expecto Patronum!"
His happy idea must have been a strong one, as a fully-corporeal, unusually large white ferret shot from the mist his wand expelled. The Patronus lunged and the nearest Dementor, sinking its sharp teeth deep in the creature's withered, black-cloaked arm, tearing at it with its jagged front claws. The Dementor shrieked as the glowing ferret pushed it back away from the humans and chased it back to wince it came before disappearing again.
Harry raced forward, planting his feet a short ways away from Kouichi and pointing his wand directly at two Dementors coming towards them. His mind latched onto the memory of his parents in the Mirror of Erised, smiling and waving at him with joy in their eyes…
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"
His wand gave a tremendous jerk as the billowing white smoke and stunning silver stage burst out into the room. The two Dementors it had been aimed at, plus two others, were tossed out of the way like rag dolls on its horns. The fear-demons shrieked again as Ron's ferret returned, biting and scratching, backed up by a suddenly-slide-evolved KendoGururumon's blast of light-bullets.
A rain of green sparks flashed from the lock as Hermione's wand jumped back. "Got it!" she called, giving the doors a hard push as they swung open, almost on their own.
Harry looped his arm under Kouichi's, pulling the transfer up as best he could while keeping his wand ready and his eyes trained on the galloping Patronus. From the stairs an inferno of malice radiated, and Lord Voldemort roared.
"DON'T LET THEM GET AWAY!"
The Dementors lunged again, but now they were weakened and easily thrown back by collective efforts of several Digimon and three Patronuses. At this Voldemort himself raised his wand again, pointing directly at Harry as he helped Kouichi up onto KendoGururumon's back…
"I don't think so." BurningGreymon growled, grabbing the offending wizard by the waist in one of his huge claws. The Warrior of Fire jerked the feared 'Lord Voldemort' into the air so fiercely that the phoenix-hair wand dropped from his hands. "I'll teach you to mess with our second home!"
His low roar was combined with Voldemort's scream of fury as he lifted the so-called Dark Lord back over his shoulder and threw him squarely back through the open doors at the very top of the stairs. There were several loud crashing noises that made it apparent Voldemort had gone through at least on set of door and perhaps a nice bookshelf, but his angered cries indicated that he was still kicking, somewhere.
"Now we can get out of here." BurningGreymon grinned, scooping up Ron, Junpei and Tomoki (both of whom had DeDigivolved). "Before the reinforcements get their second wind."
KendoGururumon growled in agreement, keeping his head as still as possible so Kouichi and Harry could keep a better grip. Kazemon swooped down on her way out and lifted Hermione into her arms, speeding out into the dark forest once more.
Harry turned back in his place, watching the blazing remains of the Malfoy Mansion's west wing fade into the night. He smiled a bit to himself, absently rubbing a bleeding spell burn on his right shoulder. They'd gotten out, with everyone, Kouichi included. They were going back to Hogwarts, as a team. No one was dead. He should be feeling happy, right?
…Right?
TBC…
Heh heh…I don't know what made me think of Ron's Patronus as a ferret. They're always calling him weasel and Rowling-sama's even commentated that she based the Weasley name off the word. But ferrets are like weasels, only a tad bit cuter. And it suits him, doesn't it?
I still can't believe I posted an unfinished chapter…(crawls off into a corner and hides) I feel duuuumb…
