To those who review: You make it all worth it. Especially seeing as I seemed to have a lot more time to write this when I started it; now I'm only adding bits of it here and there when I find the time…
Disclaimer: I do not nor ever plan to own Harry Potter; only some minor characters (Death Eaters and OOTP members that are not canon) and the plot is mine…
Chapter 5 – The Endowment Charm
Harry didn't need to be a genius to realise that three-against-one odds were not at all surmountable, without a considerable bit of luck, so – counting on his apparently inexhaustible fortune in these situations – he cast a lingering Shield Charm on himself and leapt sideway to avoid a Kyrgiakos curse that never came, as he was taken out by Ron. Silently thanking Ron, Harry scrambled into Dudley's room as the Death Eaters struggled to come to terms with Harry's completely impetuous Blasting Hex. He wasn't sure why he chose that hex; only that he was sure – without knowing why – that it was the best possible way of ensuring his friend's survival. At the same time, he knew – again, with a kind of steely confidence in his own judgement – that splitting up with Ron and Hermione was the best way to ensure their own survival. Harry wasn't sure why he knew this, nor why he felt so confident in his own and his friend's abilities, but he didn't think it had anything to do with an illicit dose of Felix Felicis. No, this confidence came from inside him, as though he hadn't known it was there before and it was suddenly bubbling over.
As he tried to process the remarkable change in his manner, the door was Vanished by the very capable Snape and he and two other Death Eaters – Kyrgiakos and Yaxley from the looks of it – fanned out in the doorway, scanning the dark room with their wandlight. Harry – hidden behind Dudley's wardrobe – watched them carefully, noting the way they seemed wary of him yet arrogantly confident. He noted, however, that none of them seemed to be taunting him, as he had grown accustomed to Death Eaters doing. In this kind of situation, Snape would revel in throwing taunts out at Harry in an attempt to have him erupt from his hiding place and attack brashly, but instead, Snape looked almost apprehensive about finding Harry, as though he'd rather be anywhere else but here. Intrigued by this, Harry was struck by an overwhelming urge to confront Snape, and he leapt out from behind the wardrobe directly into Snape's wandlight, his wand raised at his face.
Snape looked startled, and for a split second, Harry saw indecision in Snape's eyes – Snape, who was always so absurdly convinced that he was right, Snape, whose neither concentration nor contempt for Harry ever wavered – as though he was suddenly unsure of he wanted to attack Harry. Harry, however, recognised the face of the man who had killed Albus Dumbledore. He stared through the slits in the Death Eater mask at Snape's cold eyes, and felt a surge of hatred so strong that it overcame even his unexplainable assuredness, and he cried out with all his rage, anger and impotence that he had felt at Dumbledore's death, "STUPEFY!"
Snape's eyes hardened immediately as Harry began to think the curse, and because of their eye contact, he knew what Harry was doing before Harry knew. Snape deflected the Stunner easily but his return curse appeared to be almost half-hearted, and Harry deflected it just as easily.
"Yaxley! Krygiakos!" Snape roared, as the two wand-light beams shone on Snape and Harry, and they both ran over immediately. Harry, slightly unprepared for a three-on-one assault, jumped back behind the wardrobe just as two curses slammed against it, splintering the wood. The rattling jolted Harry's glasses from his nose, and just as he was fixing them his cover exploded in a roar of Reductor Curses and splintering wood. Harry cried out in pain as large splinters embedded themselves in his back, but he quickly waved his wand and cauterised all the small wounds, hissing in pain as he did so. The dust from the blast gave him an unexpectedly good cover position, as he whipped around and cried "IMPEDIMENTA!" at the nearest moving shadow. Whoever it was was blasted out of the cloud of dust and frozen as Harry erupted from the shadows and launched curses at the other two Death Eaters.
He soon found himself to be in dire straits, however, as once the charm on Yaxley had lifted, he was duelling with three Death Eaters, with every item that might have provided cover being blasted to pieces, and then to compound things, there was a loud smashing noise and the rear guard – that is to say, the Death Eaters that were chosen to enter the house through the back windows – arrived, with Gordon Goyle and a Death Eater Harry didn't recognise piling in. Harry managed to hit various curses – he locked the legs of Yaxley together and he hit the unknown Death Eater with a nasty Stinging Hex – but he suffered far worse, having the fingers on his wand hand jammed together and forcing him to duel with his left, as well as various cuts, bruises and a temporary blindness that had – for some reason that he wagered had to do with his apparently spontaneous increase in duelling skills – hadn't impaired his fighting at all.
It was when Harry heard Hermione's screams of agony in the next room, however, that whatever it was that had been building in him suddenly erupted. He thought of Hermione, being tortured, and of Ron, alone against three Death Eaters, and of Ginny, without him to protect her if he went down on this occasion, and he felt the force of the assuredness, the confidence, the – Harry now had a word for it – Dumbledore-ness in him rising to the top, until it suddenly overtook all his thoughts, all of his feelings, so that where he had been about to Stun Snape, he suddenly cried an incantation that seemed to come from the very recesses of his memories, one of the oldest things he'd learned in the days of his parents, his orphaning and his first meeting with Dumbledore at one-year old. Images of his dream flashed through his head, of Dumbledore enchanting that white mist to bind them at the heart, and of Godric Gryffindor, and he suddenly cried – in a completely different voice – "Gryffindo!" and his wand erupted in light.
Unsure of exactly why he'd cast the spell but at the same time assured that it was exactly the right thing to do by an immense wave of relief that crashed over him, Harry was nonetheless dumbfounded to witness the huge, shimmering phoenix that slid as gracefully from his wand as a wisp of smoke, beating it's molten wings effortlessly and soaring around the room, it's beautiful crest of feathers shining with a piercing blue Harry had only ever seen in Dumbledore's – and Ron's, when he thought about it – eyes, and a crystal, bottle-glass green he recognised as his own eye colour. Staring open-mouthed at the mighty creature, Harry momentarily forgot the presence of the Death Eaters, but he was suddenly alighted to their presence by a sudden barrage of curses aiming for the mighty specimen.
Outraged, Harry pointed his wand at the phoenix and cried "Protego!" while completely unfazed by the fact that he'd never projected a Shield Charm before. The Charm proved unnecessary, however, as the great bird swooped away from the attacks and suddenly let out a haunting tune, sweeping out of the room and leaving a trail of golden, molten flecks behind it. Everyone stared at it in astonishment, and suddenly all the wands were on Harry again. He, however, didn't hesitate, rattling off a Stunning Spell – which slammed into Krygiakos with such force he was thrown against the wall, where he slumped unconsciously – and a curse he'd only ever used once before - one that he'd learned for one of Mad-Eye Moody's classes on unexpected hexes, and with which he had debilitated Seamus, his sparring partner – a time-release Invalidity Curse, which caused all the feeling to go out of Goyle's limbs, leaving him in a paralysed heap. Snape, Yaxley and the other Death Eater all managed to block whatever Harry threw their way, but Yaxley reacted very quickly to her defence and threw a hard Reductor Curse at Harry, who – almost nonchalantly – deflected it against the wall, blowing a huge hole in it and bringing it down at almost the same time as Hermione brought down the roof on Ingrid Kova.
With a flick of his wand, he disarmed Yaxley and threw her wand against a wall, leaving her speechless. The third Death Eater almost dared to curse Harry, but his piercing green eyes froze him in his place, unsure of whether to attack. Harry made his choice for him, flicking his wand and thinking "Levicorpus!" so that he was suddenly dangling in mid-air. Now faced with only Snape armed, Harry narrowed his eyes and raised his wand, but suddenly the mighty phoenix – the one who had armoured him with such a huge level of magical strength, or rather, seemed to draw said strength right out of him – floated in through the huge hole in the wall and landed on his shoulder, folding in it's great wings and staring straight at him with eyes that at the same time were the warm chocolate-brown of Ginny's and the dark hazel-brown of Hermione's – and, Harry noticed with astonishment, his father's eyes. Harry realised that this phoenix was the embodiment of everyone that was important to him, everyone who had given their all for him; it was an embodiment of his will to fight, to win, to defeat and annihilate Voldemort completely.
But at the same time – perhaps because this phoenix was undoubtedly female, from the look it was giving him, and because that reminded him of his unwavering sense of equality – the phoenix seemed to be the embodiment of everything Dumbledore had given him to fight. Harry felt mesmerised by the creature's gaze, and was suddenly overwhelmed by an urge to name his graceful companion. He thought back to Fawkes – Dumbledore's elegant, male phoenix – and the historical significance of his name, and he was suddenly decisive. This phoenix would be named for the most powerful witch Harry knew from history.
Hera. Queen of the Olympian witches, the 12 who ruled over the Muggles of Ancient Greece. That was fitting, and as he whispered it to her, the phoenix seemed to accept it with a slight twinkle in her eyes.
But Harry's tranquil exchange with the phoenix was suddenly interrupted by the posse of Death Eaters convulsively grabbing their left forearm, each emitting a low hiss. Harry's heart felt an icy stab of fear, which was quickly quelled by the phoenix's soothing gaze, but he knew what was coming now. He knew the danger he was in, and as he cast his eyes over Ron and Hermione – standing together, closer than he'd ever seen them, wands raised defiantly – he felt an overwhelming urge to protect them.
But something inside him told him that was the wrong thing to do. Dumbledore had tried to protect him, protect him from whatever his destiny was. And it had led to the death of Sirius. Harry couldn't risk a loss like that again. Risking Ron and Hermione meant facing the possibility of losing one of them; but at the same time, they'd been in the DA. Only Neville and Ginny could ever hope to best either of them in a duel. Ron was one of the most magically powerful wizards Harry knew, but his confidence – or lack thereof – held him back. Hermione, meanwhile, could rattle off any curse to turn a situation to her advantage. Her only weakness was a fragile nerve. She tended to give a little easier than Ron or Harry.
But fighting together? Ron would be desperate to prove himself in Hermione's eyes – however unnecessary that was – and would give every ounce of magic in his blood to protect her. And Hermione would be determined to vindicate her stance of self-protection, doing everything she could to protect Ron while he boldly protected her. Harry had to admit, aside from possibly him and Ginny, he couldn't think of a tandem that could out-duel Ron and Hermione together.
"Snape! What the hell is going on?" the dangling Death Eater was whispering to his leader, who was staring wide-eyed at the bird on Harry's shoulder. He didn't seem to hear his companion however, until he tugged harshly on Snape's sleeve. "Severus! What do we do?"
Snape turned to look at him, instantly cancelling the Levicorpus Charm, and then looking into his eyes, gauging the feeling there, before he turned his spiteful gaze back to Harry. "It would seem that Dumbledore has armed Potter with more than I think even he realises, Ferguson… I wondered earlier, with Potter's uncommonly good duelling skills, if Dumbledore hadn't in fact invoked an Endowment Charm…" Hermione let out a short gasp of surprise, as she always did when a piece of a puzzle fit – "but it would seem the old fool has gone one step further. Potter is an unworthy choice… but nonetheless, the Dark Lord must be informed…"
"He is on his way, Snape! We must go quickly!"
"Thank you Ferguson, but I am in control here… Potter! I wouldn't advise any rash moves on your part, you'll only prolong an encounter with the Dark Lord you can't afford…" Snape muttered oily to Harry, who was filled with a contemptuous anger at Snape's words.
"Can't afford? Snape, you go down and tell the other half-blood hypocrite, that Harry Potter is ready and waiting to face him…" Harry considered Snape for a moment – "although I'm afraid you're going alone…" after which he nodded to Ron and Hermione, who roared a curse – Ron's was "Incarcerous!" while Hermione rattled off "Stupefy!" – and struck Yaxley and Ferguson respectively. Yaxley was bound in thin cords, while Ferguson simply slumped to the floor, unconscious. Harry laughed harshly, all of a sudden, enjoying the look of mortified embarrassment on Snape's face. "For Death Eaters, they weren't up to much, were they Snivellus?" Harry taunted cruelly.
Snape's face twisted alarmingly at the use of the nickname, and he raised his wand immediately. Harry had thrown up a Shield Charm almost instantly, but it proved unnecessary, as Hera swept from Harry's shoulder and snatched Snape's wand out of his hand, sweeping carefully into the air before snapping it in half with her mighty, taloned feet. Snape looked immediately horrified at being disarmed and was forced to duck wildly and flee the room at the curses launched at him from Ron and Hermione. When Snape had left, they stood, wands out, facing the door; but each looked over their shoulder at him, searching his face for an answer.
"Harry…" Hermione began tentatively; her face alive with a glow only Ron or a solution to a difficult problem could give her, but Ron quickly cut her off.
"Where in the bloody hell did you get the bird?" he asked, his eyes following the beautiful creature around the room with unmistakeable astonishment. His eyes quickly snapped to Harry when it took him a while to answer, however.
"I'm not sure… I think… I think Dumbledore gave her to me…" Harry said softly, completely sure of the fact but unsure of how Ron and Hermione would react. Hermione frowned at this, as though something had thrown a spanner into her theory, but Ron seemed astonished again.
"Dumbledore? But… Harry, mate… Dumbledore's…"
"I know he's dead, Ron!" Harry said harshly, and – when Ron looked mildly affronted – he continued in a more level tone, "but I think this is some kind of spell he put on me a long time ago… to protect me…" At this point, Hermione met his eyes and Harry trailed off, waiting for her to speak.
She waited for a few moments, biting her upper lip nervously, before speaking. "I think it's what Snape said it is, Harry. An Endowment Charm; I think that explains why you seemed so much stronger… before… when you were duelling in the corridor…"
"Hermione, what the heck is an Endowment Charm?" Ron asked sceptically, as though anything Snape thought was right was wrong.
"Well, Ronald, it's a Charm that a person can place upon another person to… well, to endow them with a greater level of magical strength if said person is incapable of protecting them. It's a very difficult charm and requires a very powerful wizard to cast it, so Dumbledore would be able to… but it only comes into action when the person has died… and it only really works in one place. It was invented during the war against Grindelwald as a means for parents to protect their kids… if a parent performed the charm on their kid, it would mean they'd be much stronger and capable of defending their house in the absence of a parent. But sadly, only in the house…"
"So… I only have this kind of strength while I fight here?" Harry asked, disappointed. He had hoped his newfound strength would remain with him; it would help massively in the fight against Voldemort.
"I'm afraid so Harry. It only works where the spell was cast… but… Harry, I have to admit, even with Dumbledore's prodigious magical strength, and your own, I really can't believe how strong you've become. How… well, honestly, how assured you are!"
Harry smiled uncomfortably at Hermione's astonishment, as Ron eyed him suspiciously. He turned away from them to watch the – no, his – beautiful phoenix soar around the room, and answered them as best he could.
"I'm surprised too Hermione. But I know what's causing it. It's definitely Dumbledore, I'm sure of it. And… well, I never told you two, because it never seemed important and it almost certainly wasn't Voldemort-related… but…" He looked uneasily at his friends, but they seemed unconcerned that Harry had kept something to himself; he suddenly realised that they both had secrets they didn't want out in the open – at least, not yet anyway – and this caused him to smile slightly. "I've been having dreams since Dumbledore died… of him, on the Dursley's doorstep, performing some kind of complicated incantation that involved giving a part of himself to me. And… also of Godric Gryffindor, although I don't understand that particular part of it…"
Hermione was biting her lip again, and Ron's forehead was furrowed in thought. Harry waited anxiously, eager to hear their opinion on what was happening to him. Ron met his eyes with an unusually sombre look, and said something Harry hadn't even considered. "Harry… Dumbledore cast a spell that would only come into action if he died… but… Dumbledore couldn't have expected you to need this kind of strength right now. Don't you think it's… well, bloody coincidental that he died right before you needed the strength? At almost exactly the right time?"
Harry looked at Ron grimly, but his best friend didn't flinch from it. "So you're saying Dumbledore expected to die?"
"Harry, you said it yourself…" Hermione whispered, her face drawn and unhappy. "The first Horcrux nearly killed him… the second one… well…"
Harry stared at her now, wave after wave of horrifying doubt slamming into him. Hermione seemed to read this in his eyes, or at least in his dramatic change of expression, and even Ron looked perturbed.
"Hermione… Ron… if that's what two Horcruxes did to Dumbledore, how the hell are we going to find and destroy four?"
At this, Hermione's eyes lit up – to Harry's immense surprise – and she seemed on the verge of divulging something important, when there was a loud crack downstairs, and a high, piercingly cold voice carried up the stairs, sending shivers down Harry's back.
"Where is Potter?" Harry then heard mumbling from someone – surely Snape – and he suddenly felt a stab of pain and anger through the scar in his head, something that astonished him given that he hadn't felt pain in his scar for almost a year.
"Bring him to me, you idiots! Bella, Amycus, Wormtail, do what Severus so blandly failed to do and bring me Potter…"
"My Lord, there is something else you must know…" Snape interjected sullenly, as though he had no patience for even Voldemort's wrath.
"Severus, where are the others?" Voldemort cut across him harshly.
"They… my Lord… Rosier, Kova, Ferguson, Yaxley… Goyle… Kyrgiakos… Pernickle… Malfoy and Malfoy… I don't know what happened to Gnarle and Travers… Carrows and Ravens are here, of course…"
Voldemort let out a cry of rage and apparently blew something up, because Ron, Hermione and Harry – all upstairs and in the furthest possible room from the front door – suddenly wavered as the whole house shook. Ron and Hermione shot each other looks of terror and reassurance, and then turned determinedly to Harry who nodded. The three of them walked towards the door and Harry called Hera to his shoulder.
Harry waited until he could hear footsteps, and he was just about to give the signal to unleash Ron, Hermione and Hera into the corridor when he heard a voice he hadn't expected.
"Aunt Bella!" cried Draco Malfoy, anguished. Harry heard the footsteps stop and Malfoy's aunt speak back to him.
"Draco? You're all right then… and Podrice, Brad, Pelitas… why were you lot in there?"
Harry next heard a gruff voice he didn't recognise, and a quick exchanged glance with Ron and Hermione showed they didn't recognise the wheezy voice either. "Travers and I came in through the window, like Snape said, Bella. We found Pernickle out for the count and Malfoy tied up and sobbing next to…" but the voice suddenly stopped, as though he didn't want to say what he was about to say.
Harry looked at Ron and Hermione, and was startled to see how pale Ron had gone. Harry met his eyes, and saw a kind of glazed determination in there, before Ron tip-toed out into the shadow of the corridor. Harry, alarmed, sent Hermione after him but held Hera back, as the light of her wings would be a dead giveaway. He poked his head around the corner and looked at the concernedly wrinkled face of Podrice Gnarle and the desolate look on Draco's face.
"You were sobbing, Draco? What is the meaning of it?"
"Aunt… Bellatrix… it's… its mother…"
Bella seemed to blanch at this. "Narcissa? What about her?"
Gnarle exchanged glances with Pernickle, who looked equally as grave. Hanging back along the corridor were two forms that suddenly filled Harry with a cold rage: Amycus Carrows, one of the invaders of Hogwarts; and Peter Pettigrew, AKA Wormtail, the man who had sold out Harry's parents to their deaths. Neither seemed interested in the proceedings, and indeed, Amycus was bent over the semi-conscious Ewan Rosier.
"Bellatrix… your sister Narcissa is dead…" Harry and Hermione both flinched, astonished by this piece of news. Ron, however, remained completely stationary, staring down the corridor at the Death Eaters. Bella, however, had drawn herself up to her full height, stiff as a board and fury in every line of her face.
"Who?" she managed to utter through inhumanly thin lips. And Harry started in alarm as Ron stood up and walked out of the shadows, despite Hermione's squeak of protest, and declared the group before him: "Me."
Harry just gaped at him, as did Hermione and the Death Eater contingent. Nobody seemed to know what to think, and Bellatrix looked to Draco for confirmation. He just stared maliciously at Ron and raised his wand in a defiant screech of "Avada Kedavra!" which Harry immediately blasted Ron out of the way of. Instantly, Ron rolled over and threw an Impediment Jinx at Malfoy, which hit him hard in the chest and froze him, allowing Harry to slam him with a Stunner and send him flying over the heads of the Death Eaters. Malfoy's allies seemed stunned momentarily, and then all hell broke loose when Bellatrix screeched and immediately started pummelling Ron with curses.
Instinctively, Harry moved to defend his friend, projecting a Shield Charm in front of Ron to deflect the worst of Bellatrix's curses, but Ron was holding his own already, such was his anger. Hermione also leapt into action, catching Pelitas Pernickle with a Leg-Locker curse and bringing him crashing to the floor, dragging a flailing Wormtail with him as he grabbed his robes for support. Harry managed to block a few curses from Podrice Gnarle and Amycus Carrows, but he was forced to leap aside and deflect a curse thrown at Hermione that she didn't see coming when Bellatrix managed to put Ron on the back-foot for a second.
The fight seemed to roar above Harry's level of perception; such was his intense reliance on his instinctive duelling. He found himself projecting Shield Charms to ward off stray curses aiming for Ron and Hermione every second curse, the first usually defending himself. His concern for his friends was damaging his own offensiveness, and Ron and Hermione were finding it hard to combat six Death Eaters successfully. Harry finally snapped, leaping to land beside Hermione and deflecting two Stunning Spells at once to give him a moment to speak with her.
"Hermione, I'm going to leave you unprotected for a minute!" he hissed, hoping she'd understand.
"Go for Gnarle, he's the slowest target and the easiest to take down; and if you get a chance, Wormtail's just as susceptible!" she muttered back quickly, causing Harry to gape at her in surprise. She quickly deflected a hex he'd taken his eyes off of and roared at him, "HARRY! GO!"
Snapping back into action, Harry deflected two simultaneous curses and raised his wand at Podrice Gnarle as he crossed the field of battle, crying "ELEKTRIUM!" and watching as a bolt of blue-white electricity shot from his wand and hit the Death Eater in the chest, erupting in a flash of white light and causing him to emit a screech of agony before his singed body was thrown backwards down the hallway. Harry knew that the Thunderbolt Curse was bordering on Dark Magic, but Mad-Eye had always advocated it as perfectly legal and non-fatal and very, very useful. Quickly, Harry was forced to duck and dodge the wrath of Amycus and Wormtail, before he rolled hard along the floor, leapt to his feet and hammered his fist against Amycus' head, catching the huge man completely unawares. Harry then whipped around, aimed his wand at Wormtail and cried "Expelliarmus!"
Pettigrew's wand soared through the air and he gave a loud whimper, before backing away hurriedly from Harry's raised wand, from which he threw a Stunning Spell that was surprisingly well-deflected by Wormtail's silver hand, crashing into the ground. Cursing himself, Harry watched as Wormtail fled, wand-less but not defenceless, down the stairs, and he turned back to help his friends.
He was stopped in his tracks, however, by the covert movements of Bellatrix Lestrange, who managed to deflect Ron's Body-Bind Curse, duck and roll out of the range of his wand. Harry watched in horror as she raised her wand at Hermione's back – Hermione, who had just succeeded in stunning Bradley Travers and was now going for his wand; Hermione, who he had left unallied to take down an old Death Eater and one who had worse duelling skills than a giant – and give a loud, triumphant "HA!" before a dark bolt of light erupted from her wand and slammed into Hermione's back, causing her to scream in agony and be thrown up the hallway, before she slammed against the far wall, sliding the floor with a trickle of blood running from her mouth.
There was a moment in which Ron stared open-mouthed at Hermione, all the colour gone from his face and a sudden, glazed horror in his eyes before he truly erupted. "HERMIONE! NO!" he screamed agonisingly, before he whipped his wand around and screeched "CRUCIO!" at Lestrange, who deflected the curse but was forced to retreat as Ron hit her with an unrelenting barrage of curses, many of which penetrated her defences and left her with several small wounds and a broken arm. Pernickle roared to her defence but Harry took him out of it immediately, launching him down the stairs with nothing more than a flick of his wand, while Amycus dragged a floating Rosier and Travers down the stairs behind him, leaving Gnarle but fleeing Harry and Ron's wrath.
Finally, Ron pressed Bellatrix against the stairs, where she stood shakily to cover Amycus' retreat, and looked as though he was about to enact his revenge, when she finally played her ace. Bella wasn't Voldemort's best duellist for nothing, as she feinted that Ron's "Stupefy!" was going to hit her, before ducking immediately, pointing her wand at him and screeching "SECTUMSEMPRA!" Neither Ron nor Harry's Shield Charm was quick enough, and while Harry managed to cover Ron's head, torso and legs, it was Ron's raised arms that remained unshielded. The curse missed Ron's wand hand – his right – but bit viciously into the wrist of his right, and – to Harry's unending horror – severed Ron's left hand right off.
It appeared to Harry that his best friend didn't even register the attack, because he immediately launched another curse at the fleeing Bellatrix, the blood flowing copiously from his stump at the end of his arm. Harry couldn't remember seeing a moment of pain until Hera's soothing tears began to drip into the wound, healing the skin and arteries and everything else severed, but completely unable to grow a hand back. Finally, when his phoenix was finished, Ron was left with a completely unmarked left arm; the only thing missing was his left hand.
He stared at it numbly, shock beginning to set in, but Harry couldn't allow Ron this moment of thought. His thoughts turned immediately to those still lying in the corridor, and he roared "Hermione!" As expected, this snapped Ron back to reality and within seconds, the two boys were leaning over their crumpled best friend, who was pale as a sheet and shuddering slightly.
"Oh no… oh Merlin… Hermione… Hermione, love… please… no…" Ron choked out, his eyes never leaving her soft features as his hand stroked her hair delicately, his expression desolate. Harry, just as heartbroken, was a bit more practical about things: he immediately grabbed Hermione's wrist and felt for a pulse. He didn't dare to hope on the first soft beat; he began to silence his imagination on the second; his head began to throb with adrenaline on the third.
On the fourth soft beat of Hermione's pulse, he announced to Ron through a half-sob, his head virtually drowning in relief, "R-ron… she's still alive!" Ron's swimming blue spheres snapped to Harry's piercing green, hope flaring desperately in his eyes, and Harry couldn't help but be strengthened by this. He stared at Ron, measuring the man in front of him; his best friend, loyal to both he and Hermione to the end, and decided without any formalities that Hermione definitely needed him more right now.
"Ron…" he began quietly. "Ron, you need to get Hermione to St Mungo's. I'll cover your retreat." Ron's eyes widened immediately, his automatic protest never reaching fruition. "Ron! Damn it, this isn't about us! It's about Hermione! I don't give a crap about what happens to me! If the choice is me facing Voldemort alone or Hermione dead, I'd take Voldemort any day!" Ron stared at Harry quietly, horror emanating from his eyes as he began to tremble.
"Harry… Harry, mate… I can't choose between you…" he said weakly, the entire situation crumbling around him as he spoke.
"You're not. You're choosing which of us needs you more. I'm on my feet, stronger than I've ever been, uninjured and I have Hera with me. Hermione is none of those things. She needs you, Ron!" Harry tried to ignore the burning feeling of horror at the fact he might never see Ron again after this.
"Harry… you can't kill him… the Horcruxes…"
"I won't. I'll just scare him, that's all. Snape, I can kill" he finished darkly.
Ron didn't even seem shocked at this. He just looked incredibly pained all of a sudden. "Harry… Mrs Malfoy… I was aiming for Draco…"
"Ron!" Harry said warningly, seeing where this was leading. "Hermione needs you right now! As quickly as you can, get her out of here and to help! Understand?"
Ron's blue eyes stared back at Harry in agony, before he turned them again to Hermione, her usual flush at such a gaze from Ron absent. That wrung Harry's heart in a way he hadn't expected, but he was glad when Ron nodded determinately. Harry felt no more words were needed, as he clapped Ron on the shoulder, trying to remain brotherly. It didn't last, however, as Ron pulled him into a crushing hug, which he returned fervently.
"Harry… Hermione would want you to know that she loves you. And… and so do I… you're my brother, mate… in a way my brothers aren't…" Ron said deliberately, his eyes never leaving Harry's. Deeply touched, he climbed to his feet, having nothing else to say, knowing that Ron knew that he above all else loved Ron and Hermione more than anyone he knew. Harry walked down the corridor, preparing himself for what he was going to encounter downstairs, when he heard Ron's voice calling from down the corridor.
"Good luck mate." Harry Potter turned to look at Ronald Weasley, and they shared a look that they'd never shared before, each burning the look into their minds in case they never got to see the other again. Harry nodded silently, which Ron returned, and then set off down the stairs, whispering quietly to himself the mantra he'd been preaching all night.
"I don't need luck, Ron. I don't need it."
Ah, finally. Like I said, sorry it took so long, but it was hard to find a time when I could just sit down and write for an extended period. This was mostly constructed over 20 minute bursts when I suddenly had free time. It's a bit longer than I meant it to be, but I quite like the battle scenes. I promise the rest won't be such a slog!
R.A.C.