Chapter Thirty-Six
The attack happened on a Saturday. Hermione and Ron had finally persuaded Harry to come out of his room and grab some food from the kitchens. Something Hermione normally didn't approve of, but since Harry seemed to have stopped eating altogether unless food was forced on him, she found this approach more than acceptable.
Harry had put one foot on the stairs, when his whole body began to shake and his friends latched onto his arms to keep him from falling head first down the stairs. While they pulled him back to the floor level, Harry writhed in pain and crumbled to the floor.
"Harry!" Hermione cried out in alarm.
He was thrashing wildly and clutching his scar, which Hermione noticed with horror was turning a bright red almost as if it were on fire.
"He… he's here," Harry choked out.
Neither Ron nor Hermione needed to ask which he Harry was referring to.
Harry squeezed his eyes shut, trying to summon the strength to block the murderous rage exploding through his head. He didn't know if it was his Occlumency or his other powers that finally kicked in, but it reduced the ache in his head to a throbbing echo. Having regained control of his body he tried to stand, but his legs were still shaking so badly he was having trouble keeping his balance.
"Mate, you shouldn't try to stand. You were just – "
"No," Harry practically shouted, his voice rough. "I need to find him."
"Harry, you can't possibly be thinking of going after Voldemort in your present condition," Hermione tried to dissuade him.
"Something's happened. He's excited," said Harry, ignoring Hermione. He winced as he reached up to feel his scar. It was raw and painful.
"Whatever's happened, the Order can deal with it for the moment," Hermione said to him."
"No, they can't," he responded, his voice severe. He couldn't waste time explaining what he was feeling to Ron and Hermione. They wouldn't understand.
The pounding of booted footsteps against concrete tore Ron's attention away from Harry. He pulled out his wand, thinking that if the Death Eaters had already penetrated this far into the castle they were all in a lot of trouble. To his relief, it only turned out to be his father and Tonks, who looked just as relieved to see them.
"What's happening?" Ron demanded to know.
"Kingsley saw Death Eaters breaking through the protective wards outside when he was on watch," Tonks informed them.
"The Order's trying to hold them off, but it's going to be difficult to cover all the entrances into the school. They seem to be attacking from every direction," his father added.
"McGonagall's already got the other professors rounding every one up to prepare the next line of defense," Tonks explained quickly. "Take Harry and find McGonagall. She'll give you instructions – "
"I'm not a bloody babysitter," Ron scowled. "I'm an Auror, I need to be out there!"
"Aurors follow the orders they're given," Tonks said, her normal easygoing attitude replaced by her Auror conditioning. "When the Death Eaters break through our defenses outside, you'll be part of the second wave that leads the attack on them."
"Ron, good people are dying," His father said, pressing the urgency of the situation upon him. "Do what you've been told."
Tonks and his father wasted no more time arguing with him. They ran passed Ron and out of sight. He was still furious. Even after everything he had proved, they weren't letting him be a part of the front line.
"Ron, come on. We need to do as Tonks said," Hermione's voice broke through his thoughts.
He was going to tell her Tonks wouldn't know if he followed her instructions or not, when Harry gasped out loud and grabbed the sides of his head. Before he or Hermione could ask if he was all right, Harry took off at a run.
Harry ignored his friends' shouts and ran as fast as his legs would carry him in his current state. He could not ignore the vision that had just pierced through his skull moments before.
Lupin took down four consecutive Death Eaters in the span of only a few seconds, but it made little difference considering the sheer number of enemies surrounding them. The Order had never been able to get a good estimate on the number of witches and wizards that were loyal to Voldemort, but Lupin had a feeling that they numbered in the hundreds based on their initial attack.
"Kingsley's reported they've already breached the outer perimeter around the castle," Moody's gruff voice resonated in Lupin's ear.
Lupin was uneasy. "That quickly?" Even with an on mass attack like this, he had not thought it possible for them to get through the Order's defenses so fast, even if they were spread a little then.
He and Moody had both taken nearby shelter in one of the outside walkway's students would use to get to their classes. Moody was busily using both his good eye and his revolving magical one to assess the situation in front of them.
"Dumbledore was expecting this," Moody said, drawing his wand and stunning a Death Eater that was running through the open. "Tonks is here." He saw her approach quickly from behind and dive away from a burst of wand fire.
Tonks crouched down beside them and swore. "It's bloody insane out there," she told them. "Arthur's with Charlie and Mundungus."
Lupin took down another cloaked figure attempting to enter the castle, and asked, "what about Harry?"
"He's with Ron and Hermione," she shouted, fighting to be heard over the sounds of battle. "I told them to take him to McGonagall. She'll tell them how to set-up for when the Death Eaters get inside."
"They're already inside," Moody told her.
Tonks swore again.
"And you really think that they listened to you?" Lupin resisted the urge to shake his head and chuckle despite the dire situation they were in. "They're going to want to be on the front line."
"Potter's always done whatever he's wanted. He just better know what he's getting himself into," said Moody in a rough voice.
"Hagrid could use a hand on the west side of the castle," Tonks said a moment later. "That's where the lot of them are coming from. They'll have themselves a second entrance inside if we can't push them back."
Moody nodded. "Tonks, give him a hand but tell him we're already spread too thin so not to count on any more help." While Tonks hurried off, Moody said to Lupin, "they're weakest over by the lake. If we can take them out there, we can come at them from two sides and move in towards the school."
Brandishing their wands, the two Order members began cutting a path in the direction of the lake.
Ron pursued Harry in silence, not wanting to draw any more attention than was necessary to their position. Hermione was somewhere behind him, but she had forced him to go on ahead because she was having trouble keeping up with their furious pace and knew she was only slowing Ron down.
Ron had his wand out, having already heard the echoes of battle coming from below. As of yet, he had not spotted any of You-Know-Who's followers but he wasn't going to take the chance of being caught off guard. His Auror training wouldn't allow for that to happen.
He rounded a sharp corner, spotting Harry, who had finally stopped running. Like him, Harry had his wand out and was walking slowly, as if he were trying to hear something. Harry continued to ignore Ron's presence, even after he had come to stand beside him.
Ron had enough. He hadn't chased Harry half way around the school to be given the silent treatment. "You mind telling me what's going on?"
Harry took no notice that his friend had even spoke. Ron saw him stare straight ahead but he didn't seem to be looking at what was in front of him. That was when Ron decided to grab him by the shoulders and shake him out of whatever trance he was in.
"Leave me alone, Ron," Harry warned, shoving him away.
At least I got his attention, thought Ron. "You're the one that ran off," Ron argued. "Tonks wants us to – "
"It doesn't matter what Tonks wants," Harry cut in sharply.
"Would you at least tell me what's going on?" Ron tried to stall, knowing it wouldn't be long before Harry was done wasting time and took off again. He watched as Harry regarded him carefully, as if he were gauging whether or not he could be trusted. That alone told Ron something was seriously wrong.
"I had a vision," Harry started, picking up his pace. "Voldemort and Dumbledore were dueling. Dumbledore was losing – badly."
He should have known it was something like that making Harry act so irrationally. "It's obviously not true. I mean, you've seen Dumbledore fight him before – "
"This is different," Harry said, growing impatient with Ron's presence.
"It's a bloody trap, can't you see it? You-Know-Who planted that vision in your head because he knew how you would react. It's like fifth year all over again, when he planted that vision of Sirius in trouble at the Ministry." He didn't know how it was possible for Harry not to see through what was such a blatant trap. What was worse was why he hadn't used his Occlumency to fight off the vision be sent to him.
"Ron, stay out of this."
Not of his own volition, Ron found himself being forced backwards until he hit the cold stone walls.
"You can't follow me," Harry said, his tone full of regret and then he started to run again.
The grip holding him in place, disappeared a few seconds after Harry was gone. Ron couldn't believe Harry had used magic on him to keep him from following. When he started after Harry again, he didn't get more than a few steps before he collided with a solid, yet invisible force that wouldn't allow him to continue. He hadn't seen Harry cast any kind of a shield, and even if he had it shouldn't have been able to hold once he was gone.
Bewildered, he made several more attempts to get through from different spots, but whatever magic was in place continued to hold and keep Ron from following, which had been Harry's intention all along.
Harry ran.
He didn't know how long the massive magic shield he had created would last – he hadn't known he was even capable of creating something like that until a few moments ago. He just knew Ron wouldn't accept being told to stay behind and was desperate for a way to keep him from following. He had never before created something on that scale with his powers. Using his empathy and penetrating people's minds was one thing, performing wandless magic was something else entirely. Ron would be furious without a doubt. But Harry would rather Ron hate him for the rest of his life then end up dead.
He was getting close now. The sound of wand fire blasting walls and statues into rubble told him that much. He pressed on; hearing the sinister laughter before he saw the grotesque, snake-like face it was coming from.
Even with his mental defenses wrapped around his mind like a force field to keep Voldemort out, Harry had felt his murderous thoughts lingering nearby, just out of reach. His Occlumency only barely succeeded in keeping the crippling thoughts out that had almost rendered him unconscious when he had first felt the attack on the castle.
Dumbledore and Voldemort were standing almost ten meters apart, and they both paused in their battle when they saw Harry.
Voldemort's lip curled, further stretching the scaly skin of his face, as he raised his wand. "Watch me destroy this pathetic old fool."
"No!" Harry shouted, his own wand aimed at Voldemort, who cackled loudly.
"It's all right, Harry," said Dumbledore calmly.
Despite Dumbledore's seemingly calm exterior, he looked worn and something else Harry had never seen in the Headmaster's eyes before – defeat.
Voldemort seemed to forget Dumbledore for the moment and took aim at Harry, shooting red crackling waves of magic out through his wand.
Harry yelled out, "protego!" His shield was just strong enough to prevent the red bolts of magic from seriously harming him, but the spell still managed to cause his shield charm to shake considerably.
A split second after he successfully blocked the vicious attack, Voldemort was already taking aim at Dumbledore using the same spell. From his knees, Harry saw him conjure up a shield charm without having to say any words. Dumbledore appeared to be successfully deflecting the curse much the same way Harry had. But Voldemort did not let up on his assault as he had done with Harry. He continued to pour more and more of his energy at Dumbledore and Harry noticed with horror the shield charm beginning to crack in spots.
Dumbledore continued to fight back, even after his shield had all but collapsed and his body was riddled with pain. Dumbledore demonstrated one last burst of significant power to send Voldemort hurtling through the air at such a speed he crashed through the stone wall and disappeared from sight.
Dumbledore's grip on his wand slackened before slipping through his fingers. The old wizard's body collapsed to the ground after it.
Ron no longer cared if anyone heard him swearing up a storm. If Voldemort didn't kill Harry, he sure as hell would. He had known Harry wanted to do whatever was possible to keep his friends out of danger, but Ron never thought he would actually go through with any of it. Always trying to be the selfless hero, Ron thought with some resentment.
"Ron!" Hermione yelled running into view. Her sides ached and her lungs burned but she had finally caught up. "Why are you just standing there?" Harry wasn't anywhere in sight.
Ron tapped his wand against the magical barrier and Hermione watched as it shimmered blue at being disrupted before turning invisible again.
She moved closer towards the field, saying, "what is that?"
"That is Harry." At the puzzled look she was sending him, he elaborated further. "He did that with his mind to keep me from following. I didn't even know it was there until I ran into it."
Hermione was fascinated. "That's amazing," she breathed. "I mean, Harry must be a lot more powerful then even he realizes. He was desperate for us not to follow and his mind took care of the rest."
"Yeah, it's fascinating stuff all right," Ron said sarcastically. "But I think finding Harry is our first priority."
Hermione backed away from the magical field, knowing this was not the time to get caught up in something as remarkable as this. "We'll have to go around," she said to him. "There's no telling how strong this field is or how long it will last."
As she said the last part the field shimmered blue again and developed hundreds of spider web-like cracks.
If this was indeed connected to Harry's mind as Hermione thought it was, the condition of the magical field was indicating that Harry was having difficulty keeping it up. He was in trouble.
She tugged at Ron's arm and started to run. She was sure Ron felt the same urgency that she did because he didn't question her as they ran side by side.
It wasn't long before Harry wasn't the only one in trouble. Death Eaters who had made it this deep into the castle spotted movement on one of the upper staircases. As soon as they realized it wasn't coming from one of their own, they took aim at Ron and Hermione, firing curses through the open spaces on the banister.
Ron pushed Hermione ahead, knowing that after all the grilling practices Mackenzie had put him through with moving targets, he had the much better aim.
But Death Eaters didn't play fair either, a harsh lesson Mackenzie had burned into the brain of every Auror trainee. The Death Eaters gave up on trying to hit them directly, and were now aiming at the floor beneath their feet, hoping they would fall through.
Hermione made it to the alcove on the other side safely, and Ron had just enough time to jump after her before what was left of the hanging walkway collapsed and fell hundreds of feet to the floor.
The Death Eaters continued their pursuit…