I said I wasn't going to answer every review, and I want, but I find myself wanting to address one. Gag Hafrunt, you are of course correct about the beau term, which has just confirmed for me. My thanks.

Major apologies to everyone for this taking so long. I suffered a bit of writer's block, but I managed to sort out the finer details of my plot while bored out of my skull at work. I should warn you that this chapter contains strong language and a reference to sexual assault; which is basically a warning that it contains a very unpleasant Draco Malfoy. I hope the wait was worth it, I really do.

Disclaimer – I don't own Harry Potter or his world. The plot alone is mine.

Chapter 4 – Dumbledore's Legacy

For the seventh night in a row that week, Harry's dreams made no sense to him. Where he had expected to be tormented by images of Snape and Dumbledore, Malfoy's cowardice, Greyback and Bill Weasley, Hagrid's burning house, Snape's uncommon magical abilities and Dumbledore's corpse trickling blood at the foot of the Astronomy Tower, in fact he dreamt of something utterly different.

He stood in a wide hallway, clutching what was unmistakeably the sword of Godric Gryffindor, the weapon Harry had pulled from the school Sorting Hat in his second year. Standing beside him were Ron and Hermione, dressed in medieval-fashion armour, both of them bearing Gryffindor's crest upon their chest and shield and clutching similar swords, not as fantastic as Harry's but nonetheless dangerous looking. Harry himself was dressed in gleaming armour, decidedly aged but carrying a massive scarlet Gryffindor lion and a helmet that fit his head comfortably without crushing it or being too big. All three of them carried their wand in their other hand.

Walking forward, Harry witnessed Dumbledore casting some kind of spell on a baby, shuddering as he did so as something brilliant and white flew from his heart and pressed into the child's. Harry had no idea who the child was, but he had a sinking suspicion that it was him, and that this might have been evidence of some kind of protection Dumbledore had invoked for him from Voldemort. He had no other conclusions to draw, but before he could contemplate it, he was always sucked into the closing stages of the dream, running down the massive hall, casting spells and cutting down Death Eaters armed in the fashion of Salazar Slytherin.

There Harry would encounter Voldemort, while Ron would tackle Malfoy and Hermione would fight Snape. The battle never ended, with Harry's armour protecting him from the various charms but in the end, he always managed to floor Voldemort and look straight into his eyes, and view himself dressed in Dumbledore's robes staring back at him, his own wand and Dumbledore's raised at Voldemort and a massive green flash which often shook him awake.

This time, however, Harry was jolted awake by someone grabbing his shoulders and desperately shaking him, as though imploring him to awake. He opened his eyes in a flash and was caught completely off-guard by Hermione's brown eyes, filled with sheer terror and desperation. Harry sat up immediately, understanding that there wasn't much that could terrify Hermione so irrationally.

"Hermione! What's the matter?" he asked urgently, but Hermione gestured to the window and made quiet shushing noises, which he respected. "What's the matter!" he asked even more urgently.

"Harry… there… outside, look outside!" she whispered frantically. Harry stared at her in surprise, unsure of why she was asking him this, but his hesitation made her mutter even more urgently. "Harry, there are Death Eaters in the garden!"

His eyes shot open in astonishment, and instantly his head went to the window, keeping it down as he peered into the garden, where – sure enough – several cloaked figures had just Apparated into the garden, joining the original three, two of which were ripping through some kind of ethereal green fabric. Dumbledore's wards! Harry thought desperately. "Hermione, they're… they're destroying Dumbledore's protection!"

She nodded desperately at Harry, asking him silently what they were to do, but he knew she had a solution to the problem in her head already, she just hadn't realised it. "What do we do then, Hermione? They… they must be trying to get to me!"

"I know Harry, but… what about the Order guard? There must be one on duty!"

"Damn… I don't know… maybe we should owl the Order?"

"Harry! Hedwig would be spotted instantly; the Death Eaters would blast her out of the sky!"

"But Pigwidgeon wouldn't! Wake Ron, tell him what's happening and I'll write to Lupin and the Order!" Hermione saw the desperation in his eyes, and she leapt off his bed and ran to Ron, shaking him awake as well. Harry, meanwhile, pulled a sheaf of parchment towards him and a quill, and as quickly as he could, wrote:

Remus,

Death Eaters in Privet Drive. Anti-Apparition wards dismantled. Call OOTP, we need help!

Harry

Harry then ripped the piece of parchment from the greater whole and rolled it and sealed it, pulling Pig from his quiet dinner with a minute squawk and tying the letter desperately around his leg. "It's for Remus Lupin, Pig! Go quickly!" Harry then crept carefully over to the window, opening it silently just enough to let Pig out, and then closing it just as quickly. He risked a glance back down towards the garden but withdrew his head immediately as a Death Eater swept his wandlight over the windows. Harry saw that Ron looked stricken at the news Hermione was relaying to him, and when the two boys' eyes met, Ron suddenly went from mortally afraid to intensely determined. Harry shivered at the change, not wanting to think about it.

"Harry, mate, what are we going to do?" Ron asked, his eyes not losing their sparkling intensity. Hermione looked a little nervous, but it seemed she – like Ron – was waiting on his orders. Why were they treating him like a leader?

"I dunno, why are you asking me? You're the strategist!" Ron looked taken aback, and he glanced at Hermione as he always did when he was confused, but she seemed to have taken Harry's words as permission to speak.

"Listen, we need to get the Dursleys out of here. If the Anti-Apparition wards are down… but you two don't have your licenses…" she finished worriedly. Ron scoffed and Harry alleviated her fears by insisting that he'd Apparated before and that Ron wouldn't miss the other half of his eyebrow, which caused him to scowl.

They silently agreed to work together, but first Harry needed to get the Dursleys together in one place; thus, he found himself creeping towards Dudley's room, desperate not to make a sound, as Ron and Hermione sat in doorways on either side of the corridor with their eyes on the stairwell, the only gateway to the upper level. Dudley proved to be immovable, sleeping as though dosed with elephant tranquiliser. Harry eventually lost his temper and dragged Ron in to levitate Dudley into his parent's room while Harry took his place in the doorway of the bathroom, staying low in the dark. It was while doing this that he nearly gave away the fact he knew the Death Eaters were there.

The lights were dim and flickering – evidently wandlight – downstairs but they were coming closer to the foot of the steps all the time, as though the Death Eaters were progressing laboriously, waiting for an ambush. When the lights flickered up the stairs, Harry heard voices, voices he recognised, and he and Hermione exchanged a wild glance, before she immediately turned her look to one of caution. But Harry wasn't looking; he was too focused on the drawling arrogance that leaked from that voice like sludge from a sewage pipe.

"Knowing Potter's luck, he might be forewarned of our coming, but I doubt it. He's not any kind of brilliant mastermind; the best he can hope for is a vain charge in which he Stuns maybe three of us before we subdue him for the Dark Lord. His arrogance is astounding; he will believe himself invincible when in fact he won't be able to touch our Lord, not with a single curse." Severus Snape drawled lazily to his companions, who were unrecognisable to Harry in the dark, his mind reeling with rising anger as he considered how close his most hated adversary was. "Ravens, you and Carrows stay down here and protect the door against any Phoenix incursions. The Dark Lord must have uninterrupted access after he completes his mission with Amycus and Bellatrix. The rest of you will come with me to subdue Potter; he must be forced to face the Dark Lord alone, for that are our orders; any questions?" The disdain evident in Snape's voice basically forbid questions, but Harry didn't really notice.

All he really knew was that he was now standing in the centre of the hallway, his anger pouring out of him in a violent, porous eruption, and he bellowed down the stare, hatred dripping from his words, "SNAPE, YOU FILTHY COWARD! COME AND GET ME YOU DECEITFUL BASTARD!" Hermione looked immediately stricken at Harry's outburst, but she quickly composed herself and hid behind the door to the bathroom so as to give her the element of surprise. Harry realised that Hermione had realised that Snape and the Death Eaters assumed he was alone, which would work marginally to his advantage if Ron – who had just burst from the Dursley's room frantically at Harry's shout, and was now responding to Hermione's frantic gesticulations to hide behind the door to Harry's room – and Hermione could use their element of surprise.

"It would appear Potter lacks the subtlety for a surprise attack…" Snape's lazy drawl floated up the stairways, tinged with an icy fury he seldom kept in check. "It appears we shall have to curb his disrespect… as I said, Goyle, Travers, Gnarle and Ferguson, try and get in the windows at the back of the house; Kyrgiakos, Yaxley, Narcissa, Draco," - Harry's heart gave an oddly vertical leap into his chest as he realised that both of the murderers of Dumbledore were here – "Pernickle, Kova and Rosier, come with me to teach perfect Potter a lesson…"

There was muffled muttering amongst the Death Eaters, as well as the sound of people leaving through the back door of the house, before with a mighty roar of "Mosmordre!" they fired a huge, smoky Dark Mark into the house, which clouded Harry's vision before it seeped out through the roof and Harry was left with his wand pointed at the stairway, Ron and Hermione flanking him faithfully as he prepared to fight for his life.

Yet again, he thought drily.

Hermione hardly heard the first spell Harry cast, too intent on stomping on her own nervousness at the possible fate of her two best friends, but she definitely noticed the massive flash of red light that accompanied Harry's shout and the crumpling figure of a woman in black robes, hit with a Harry Potter Stunner no less, hitting the floor. Instantly, she was lugged to a sitting position and revived, but Harry was relentless, casting spells into the mass of people but having most deflected.

"IMPEDIMENTA! FURNUNCULUS! LOCOMOTOR MORTIS!" Harry roared, firing curses at the equally fast Shield Charms being cast by the Death Eater mob. Suddenly, one of them roared "PELLIO!" at Harry and hit him straight in the chest with the Banishing Charm and sent him flying down the corridor to land hard on the carpeted floor, skidding painfully until he hit the wall unceremoniously. Hermione nearly leapt out to help him then, but she caught Ron's eye and saw him shaking his head furiously and gesturing towards Harry. Hermione turned back to him with wide eyes, surprised as Harry had deflected another curse expertly and had now managed to lock the legs of the Death Eater Krygiakos together, but was forced to roll aside from a Stinging Hex thrown by Narcissa Malfoy.

The Death Eater mob began to close in on Harry, with Kyrgiakos, Yaxley, Narcissa and Draco Malfoy, Pernickle, Kova, Rosier and of course, Snape, all advancing on Harry. As the last ones started to pass Ron and Hermione's positions at the doorway, Ron gave her a look of fierce determination that she found unbearably sexy, and she was struck by the fact that she could die tonight and have never told him how she felt. Or worse, he could die. No, she didn't want to think about that. She had to protect Harry!

Hermione leapt from her hiding place as Snape passed her position, her wand raised at him as she cried "Petrificus Totalus!" catching him completely off-guard with a Full Body-Bind. Ron had struck Rosier in the back with a Stunner, slamming the young son of the former infamous Death Eater in Draco's back; saving him from the Impediment Jinx Hermione threw his way. Malfoy wasted no time, however, informing the Death Eaters of Ron and Hermione's presence.

"The weasel and the Mudblood are both here! Turn, you idiots!"

Harry, revitalised by his friends' attack, raised his wand and cried "INFLATIUS!" Hermione was not the only one who cried out in horror as Harry's Blasting Hex hit Yaxley hard in the chest and exploded with the force of a small bomb, sending the Death Eater mass, Ron and Hermione flying down the corridor and Harry backwards against the wall.

Disoriented, Hermione scrambled back to her feet and quickly threw up a Shield Charm against Kova's Stunning Spell, before stumbling backwards into the bathroom to escape the attack. Seconds later, however, the door was blown off it's hinges, but Hermione – wild in her terror for both Ron and Harry – thought with all her might, "Wingardium Leviosa!" and pointed her wand at the door, holding it in mid-air as the following two hexes blew it to pieces. She quickly retaliated with a cry of "Immobilus!" as she froze the young woman Kova in her place, but wasn't quick enough to avoid the revived Rosier's Slashing Hex as it ripped through her jumper and scored a deep gash in her arm. Gasping in pain, Hermione leapt behind the considerably sized bathtub and cast a searing Cauterising Charm on her arm, causing her to flinch horribly and to start sweating. She hated performing medical aid on herself, but she had no choice, Ewan Rosier was now launching curses at her position indiscriminately.

Hermione tried to count the instances between his curses, which he was now casting tauntingly, Ingrid Kova beside him with her wand trained and ready to hit her when she emerged from her position, and when she thought she had the rhythm of his attack, she resigned herself to some scrapes and leapt out from behind the tub, muttering "Protego!" immediately and deflecting the curses aimed at her from both Death Eaters. Hermione knew she had to act fast and so she dodged aside nimbly from the Hurling Hex thrown by Kova and instead pointed her wand at Rosier, forcing all her magical might down into her wand and crying "IMPEDIMENTA!" Rosier was blasted hard off his feet and soared into the tiled wall, cracking it with a burst of dust and slid to the floor, apparently unconscious.

Kova didn't give Hermione a moment, however, as she immediately raised her wand at the young witch and cried "crucio!" All of a sudden, it felt like a thousand red-hot knives were being pressed roughly into her body, the agony of which was indescribable. She was barely aware of sinking to her knees, such was the numbing ferocity of her pain, but it was only when she felt the horrifying pain subside, as Kova's wand lifted, she became aware of a horrid scream dying on her lips. Hermione's breath came in short, laboured blasts as she struggled to get her trembling under control.

"You didn't like that, did you, you disgusting Mudblood? You don't like it when Ingrid gives you a dose of pain? Perhaps your filthy Muggle parents can stitch up that nasty cut for-"

"SILENCIO!" Hermione screeched above Kova's incessant taunts. The Death Eater looked furious at having been silenced, and raised her wand at the trembling Hermione. But the young witch had already seen her life flash before her eyes, and was beginning to doubt whether she had it in her to take Kova down. She felt weak, abused and not at all up to casting duelling spells. Ron and Harry were elsewhere, fighting for their lives and couldn't hope to help her. She resolved then to take this Death Eater down with her if she could.

The light in Kova's eyes screamed "Avada Kedavra!" but Hermione, whose wand was already raised, pointed hers at the ceiling over Kova's head and cried "Inflatius!", which brought the entire door-side of the roof down on an astonished Ingrid Kova, crushing her under the mighty pile of rubble. Hermione stared at what she'd done, barely taking in the fact that the Death Eater couldn't possibly be alive under there, when she heard a grunt and then a low moan of anguish emanating from the corner.

Trembling on her knees, she turned to see Ewan Rosier desperately trying to drag his leg free of the massive boulder which had so unceremoniously crushed it, waking him from unconsciousness. She stood shakily on her feet and trained her wand on Rosier, who was watching her with the kind of seething patience of a helpless carnivore at the mercy of its prey. She took pity on the sad Death Eater's apparent pain – despite the fact that he'd tried to kill her – and Stunned him almost immediately. She didn't think about the fact that he was completely defenceless; after all, how humane could she be expected to be?

Wobbling on her feet, Hermione began to feel the effects of the blood she had lost from Rosier's hex, and she leant against the wall, clutching her head to ward off the effects of the dizziness. Merlin, I hope Harry and Ron are all right… she thought desperately, recognising that she was all of a sudden trapped in a bathroom and rapidly losing consciousness. Sliding to the floor, Hermione desperately wished she had her Potions equipment with her, as she could whip up a Blood-Replenishing Draught in seconds. Her last thoughts before slipping away were of Ron, and an ardent need for him to find her so that she could wake up with him nearby.

Ron had a bit more luck than Hermione, mostly because he had landed against a wall after Harry's insane Blasting Hex, and was therefore able to scramble to his feet quicker. He managed to dissuade Kyrgiakos from going after Harry with a quick Freezing Charm, but it was cancelled almost instantly by Narcissa Malfoy, who quickly fired a Cruciatus Curse back at him. He was forced to duck wildly and leap into Harry's room to avoid three curses sent at him at once, slamming the door behind him as he went with his wand.

The curses, however, quickly smashed the door to pieces, and Ron cursed loudly as a wooden shard slashed him across the cheek, drawing blood. Ignoring the stinging, Ron threw an Impediment Jinx over his shoulder, earning a muffled shout before he leapt behind the cover of Harry's bed. Shit, shit, shit! he thought desperately, seeing no way out of his predicament. The three Death Eaters after him had piled into the room and were edging closer to his bed, waiting for him to make a move. Unbeknownst to him, Hermione had been in an unusually similar situation in the bathroom, but Ron's solution was completely different from hers. Seeing the difficulty of his predicament, Ron pointed his wand at his cover and performed a swift Levitation Charm on it, so that the bed leapt into the air and exposed Ron immediately, surprising the three Death Eaters and allowing Ron to point his wand at the nearest one and cry "Incarcerous!" The thin, snake-like cords erupted from his wand and wrapped themselves around the arms of the man, knocking his mask from his face and slamming him to the floor, revealing him to be the Death Eater Pernickle, who Ron had seen in an exposé on the Death Eaters who worked as spies in the Ministry that had been uncovered not even a week ago.

His brazenness, however, had left him open to attack at the hands of the other two Death Eaters, which Narcissa Malfoy took easily, throwing Ron across the room with a silent Impediment Jinx. As he hit the wall, Ron's wand fell out of his hands, much to his dismay, but in his attempt to retrieve it, Draco flicked his wand and Ron's soared into his outstretched hand. Unarmed and winded, Ron was forced to watch as Narcissa cut the bonds on Pernickle as Draco stood over him, his own wand trained on his heart.

"Well, well Weasleby, isn't this a delightful situation? Finally, the blood-traitor brat gets what he so sorely deserves!" Draco cackled gleefully, his eyes flashing with a menace and a thirst for revenge that chilled Ron in an ominous manner. He met Draco's delighted sadism with a fiery determination.

"Well, considering you don't have the stones to kill me, I reckon a couple of deadly furnunculus jinxes could teach me a lesson…" Malfoy flinched at Ron's cold tone and choice of words, as his eyes darted warily between each of his eyes.

"What makes you think I won't kill you right here, right now, Weasel King? You're at my mercy…" Draco sneered down at Ron unconvincingly, but even in that typically Malfoy look, Ron could see the drain that his failure to kill Dumbledore had put on him. He had a twitch he hadn't had before, and he had an almost desperate fear in his eyes at the idea of being unable to kill Ron. He decided to use Malfoy's gaunt weariness to his advantage, climbing to his feet at wand-point from Mrs Malfoy and Pernickle, as well as a trembling Malfoy.

"Because, Malfoy, if you didn't have the courage to kill a frail, defenceless old man, you certainly won't have the courage to kill someone perfectly capable of beating you into a bloody pulp, now will you?" Malfoy eyes darkened immediately, and Ron suddenly regretted taunting the desperate young Death Eater. He was beginning to think that Malfoy was more than capable of murder tonight, so desperate was he to prove himself; or rather, escape punishment.

"You can't out-duel me, Weasel…" Malfoy muttered, his tone low and dangerous. Ron gave him a look of utter contempt and spat out his reply.

"No, not without a wand, Ferret. But hand to hand, I'd pummel you worse than your father could ever hope to…"

Malfoy looked horrified at the insinuation, as he immediately raised his wand to curse Ron, but Narcissa beat him too it, slamming Ron with the Cruciatus Curse and causing him to yell out in agony, before he firmly shut his mouth and bore the agony of a thousand lacerations or stabbings or burns without shouting in front of Malfoy. But his horrifying torture didn't last long: Draco lifted his wand to his mother's and knocked it away, releasing Ron from the spell and allowing him to scramble back desperately and haul himself to his feet against the wall.

"How… how dare the blood-traitor brat speak of Lucius in that way! Draco! Kill him, and be done with it!" Narcissa Malfoy looked livid and even Pelitas Pernickle – the Death Eater with the permanent sneer and impeccably fine eyebrows and hairline – looked considerably disturbed by her anger. Draco however, has his eyes on Ron.

"No mother. The Weasley had impugned the honour of our family, and I've decided, following his boast of being a better duellist, to kill him with his wand in his hand." And then to Ron's utter surprise, Draco launched Ron's wand through the air to him, which he deftly caught and instantly cast a Shield Charm to ward off the Stunning Spell Malfoy had followed it up with.

Ron barely heard Pernickle growling, "For Merlin's sake, Narcissa! Stop this madness, kill the boy for him!" because he was too busy trying to get the feel of Malfoy's cursing technique, ducking and deflecting the various hexes being launched at him. Malfoy seemed to be getting frustrated that his curses were not penetrating Ron's defences, because he raised his wand impatiently and cried "Crucio!" but Ron was quicker. He ducked under the curse, lifted his wand to Malfoy's body and cried "Impedimenta!" Malfoy was blasted off his feet and thrown across the room, colliding with Harry's bed and causing it to collapse.

As expected, Narcissa and Pelitas immediately attacked him, but Ron was ready for this, catching Pernickle with "Morfodius!" and leaving him to deal with the effects of the Stinging Hex to the face. Narcissa Malfoy threw a Banishing Charm at him, but he ducked under it and aimed his wand at the desk behind her, crying "Accio desk!" and then leaping aside as the desk flew at Narcissa and cannoned into her, pinning her against the far wall. Ron raised his wand to stun her, but Draco suddenly threw himself between them and pointed his wand at Ron, crying "Incendio Spherus!" causing a large fireball to erupt from his wand and launch itself a Ron. He quickly cried "Aguamenti!" and doused the flaming sphere, but the ensuing steam led to him and Malfoy throwing hexes indiscriminately until it cleared. One of Ron's Stunners struck a blinded Pernickle in the chest and knocked him out, leaving Malfoy alone to fight Ron.

Then, just as Ron caught Malfoy in his crosshair and was about to hit him with a Stunner, Hermione's screams of agony rent the air, and Ron froze, petrified at her pain.

"Well, it seems that the Mudblood has either proved to be a worthless dueller or Rosier is giving her a right good rodgering… not that I agree with him, after all, she is a worthless Muggle-born slag and no decent pure-blood should go near her with a barge pole…"

Ron felt so angry that the steam of the room seemed to be a manifestation of his anger, his fury that coursed through every fibre of his being like molten lava. "SHUT YOUR MOUTH, MALFOY! I SWEAR IT, SAY ANOTHER WORD ABOUT HERMIONE AND YOU'LL REGRET IT!"

Malfoy simply sneered at Ron's fury and continued, saying "Of course, she's been due a good fuck for a few years now, since she's so uptight, but she's been waiting on you and it's clear that you play for the other team with Potter. Considering how smart the Mudblood is, you'd think she'd realise your dick is roughly the same size as hers?"

This was too much for Ron, who was already rent with an agony he couldn't describe when he heard Hermione's screams cease, but Malfoy's words left no turning back option. He clutched his wand, pointed it straight at Malfoy's heart and mustered all the hatred for the pale, pointed, drawn and gaunt blonde son of a bitch who stood before him, screaming the words he never thought he'd hear himself use.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" Malfoy's eyes shot open in horror at the brilliant flash of green light, and he leapt instinctively aside, the curse narrowly missing him. What both he and Ron had failed to notice, though, was Narcissa Malfoy – having freed herself from the desk pinning her to the wall – had been standing behind Malfoy, and was now the unwilling recipient of Ron's curse, straight to her buxom chest. Her expression was one of pained surprise, but as she was thrown against the wall again and slid to the floor, her expression remained utterly slack and devoid of any emotion.

She was dead.

It took a full five seconds for what had happened to register on the two 17-year olds, and it hit them almost at the same time. Ron began to tremble, wavering on his feet, while Malfoy was absolutely hysterical. "MOTHER! MOTHER, NO!" He leapt to her side immediately, disregarding his wand and shaking his dead mother violently, willing her to be awake, tears streaming down his face. "NO MOTHER, NO, YOU CAN'T BE DEAD! YOU CAN'T!" He seemed to have forgotten all about Ron, who was sitting on the bed, staring at Narcissa's corpse in utter disbelief.

In a single second, however, all of Malfoy's impotent fury transferred itself to Ron, as he leapt to his feet with a single heart-stopping roar of "WEASLEY!" and charged Ron, fists flailing. Ron reacted immediately, dodging one of Malfoy's hooks but receiving another to the gut. He ignored the stab of pain and drew his fist back, slamming it as hard as he could into Malfoy's face, unprotected, so intent was he on hurting Ron. The junior Death Eater stumbled back, and Ron raised his wand, wanting nothing more to do with Malfoy. He simply thought the spell, not feeling much up to uttering another curse, and thin, snake-like cords erupted from his wand and bound Malfoy's arms and legs together. He struggled slightly before falling over, rolling around in impotent rage, desperately trying to get at Ron. "WEASLEY! YOU KILLED MY MOTHER, YOU BLOOD-TRAITOR BASTARD! COME BACK HERE! I'LL KILL YOU!"

Shaken, Ron left the room, and was standing in the empty corridor - suitably destroyed - when a thunderous explosion rent the hallway. Ron looked up in astonishment to see the roof over the bathroom entrance collapsing and heard the heavily accented scream of the Russian-descended Death Eater, Ingrid Kova. He blinked in astonishment, before he realised that the last time he had seen Hermione was in the bathroom.

Suppressing the icy chill of fear, and ignoring Malfoy's ranting behind him, Ron started blasting away the rubble – there was a hell of a lot of it – with the Reductor Curse. He hadn't been at it for long, however, when something else happened. He heard Harry in the next room throw a curse, but then his voice suddenly changed, becoming deep and booming and incredibly powerful, reverberating around the house. Ron didn't recognise the incantation, but Harry's cry of "Gryffindo!" certainly sounded impressive. But what astonished him even more was the accompanying burst of phoenix song that filled the house, sad and beautiful and happy and destructive all at once. Ron gaped openly at the doorway to Dudley's room where a massive blue-green phoenix, shimmering in the wake of its own firelight, swept out into the hallway and glided towards him, resting on his shoulder.

It was a few moments before he understood, but the phoenix dripped a tear into his cheek and it healed the deep laceration there. Astonished, Ron watched as the beautiful creature – female, Ron was now certain – sweeping back from the destroyed doorway, turning sharply and emitting a low, harrowing growl. All at once, the rubble turned to fire, erupting around Ron causing him to panic, and then just as suddenly it was gone. The creature swept over Ron's shoulder, leaving him blinking in the sudden darkness of the hallway. He took a few moments to get his bearings, before he ran into the bathroom, astonished by what he saw.

Hermione sat against the wall, blinking against her sudden consciousness thanks to the beautiful specimen on her shoulder, and when Ron took in the two crushed Death Eaters and Hermione's warm brown eyes, filled with relief to see him, his heart suddenly lightened. But it tightened again when it fell upon the huge hole in the wall, leading into Dudley's room, and he saw, to his utter astonishment, Harry Potter caressing the beautiful blue-green phoenix on his shoulder, his green eyes glittering with a confidence Ron had never seen, and the shadow cast by Harry from the light of the phoenix bearing an uncanny and chilling resemblance to that of the mightiest of wizards, Albus Dumbledore.

Ah, but what does it all mean? I should point out that I've invented a few things here, most notably some Death Eaters – there's a disturbing lack of names if you discount the ones captured at the Department of Mystery, and once I took Bellatrix, Amycus and Greyback out. I've used Goyle, since he wasn't in the DoM battle, as well as Alecto who I've given the surname Carrows, because Snape mentions the Carrows in HBP but we never find out who they are. I therefore assigned this surname to Alecto and Amycus. I also used Yaxley, mentioned by Snape and made her into a woman, and Travers, who is a man.

The rest I invented. Pelitas Pernickle (from the general who conspired against Alexander the Great, and therefore means deceitful, and from the word Pernickety which means picky) is one of the richer Death Eaters. Ewan Rosier is the son of Evan Rosier, killed by Moody. Ingrid Kova is of Russian descent, since I figured Riddle would have international support. Zacharias Kyrgiakos and Chandler Ferguson have two forenames I like and the surnames of two players from my least favourite football team. Terrence Raves is a generic Death Eater – doesn't need a back-story – and Podrice Gnarle is a much older Death Eater, skilled in Dark Magic but with slow reflexes. The name is just a name I like. They'll all appear more in the next chapter.

FINALLY, the spells. I've created modifications for the Incendiary Charm, namely Incendio Arcus – creates an arc of flames ala Dumbledore in HBP against the Inferi – and Incendio Spherus which creates a fireball. I always imagined plain Incendio as creating a jet of fire, which is why I wanted modifications. Morfodius is a fusion of two Latin words for sting, which is my incantation for the Stinging Hex. Pellio is Latin for Banish, which made sense as Accio is drawn from the Latin for Summon. Inflatius is a manipulation of the latin inflatus which means blast, to make it sound more incantation-like. Immobilus is the film term for Hermione's Freezing Charm, and I reckon it has a different effect to the Full Body-Bind. I liked the term so much, I decided to use it.

All reviews welcome, and sorry for waffling. All this information is relevant in later chapters. Thanks again for reading!