Disclaimer: Don't own, I only fantasize I do.
A/N: I can't believe it's almost over!
Hermione shifted slightly, her leg from the calf down starting to tingle as it fell asleep. Her muscles were aching from being crouched behind the statue for so long, and her ears were hearing sounds that weren't there. At least she knew she wasn't the only jumpy one. A mouse had scittered across the floor earlier, and at least 7 wizards had 'stupidifed' it before it reached them.
No one said a word, no one hardly moved except for the occassional shift in position to alleviate the stiffness in their muscles. Everyone's nerves were on edge, everyone's wands were being gripped to the point of finger marks in the wood.
True to his word, damn him, the internal sensors went off in the Ministry of Magic at exactly 3:30am on that Tuesday morning. The doors were thrown off their hinges as a flood of Death Eaters ran in, wands ready to kill anything that moved so much as an inch. Their cloaks fluttered around them, the swishing the only sign of their location.
It was an almost inaudible command, one they were trained to hear. As Moody said the word, every one of them stood up from their position and fired a spell into the darkness. They were awarded with several screams and several bodies hitting the floor. They had but a moment before a string of curses were launched at their cluster and they were forced to scatter.
Hermione ducked as she saw the green light of an 'Avada Kedavra' coming straight for her. She felt sick as she heard it hit the person behind her and then their body fall to the floor. She made her way across the dark room, circling a Death Eater until she felt a spell brush her leg. It sent her crashing to the floor, a pool of blood as her only padding. She pushed down the urge to empty her stomach before she looked up.
Fear took her over as she saw the white skull mask of a Death Eater only a few feet from her.
Viktor and Harry watched the battle ensuing below them. They heard the screams of Death Eaters and Aurors alike. Both prayed that the majority was from the Black Robed attackers. Harry scanned the battle below them from the roof of the Ministry of Magic looking for the snake like movements of Lord Voldemort himself.
Viktor spotted him first and nudged Harry in the side with his elbow to get his attention before he pointed to the creature walking through the battle, weaving in and out of the fighting.
Harry crouched down on the roof and turned to his team. He held up 3 fingers as he turned back around and watched Voldemort walk towards the entrance to the building. He lowered one finger, Voldemort was nearing the door. He lowered another, Voldemort stopped to admire the carnage around him. Harry lowered the third finger and they all jumped off the roof as one, hopping on their brooms with their wands out.
They flew over the battle, throwing spell after spell down at the unsuspecting Death Eaters. It only took a minute for the enemy to realize they needed to defend from above rather than directly ahead of them.
Viktor dodged a well aimed curse and it merely brushed passed him, the air sizzling where his head used to be. He let out a deep breath as he pulled up from the group of Death Eaters nearing him and turned to see where Harry was. Viktor finally spotted him hovering around where Voldemort was, the snake like man throwing curse after curse at the boy, who dodged every single one as easily as dodging a bludger.
Viktor turned as he saw a flash of black robe beneath him and pointed his wand down. Before he could open his mouth a yellow light caught him in his chest and he fell from his broom onto the hard concrete beneath him. He heard something in his chest crack as blood from a cut in his head seeped into his eye. He squinted as he looked up to see the same Death Eater near him, wand raised.
The Death Eater muttered a spell Viktor couldn't hear, but he rolled out of the way as it grazed his arm. The pain traveled from his fingertips up to his shoulder, causing his entire arm to go limp at his side. He tried to flex his fingers, but nothing he did would make his arm move. Cursing under his breath he gripped his wand tighter in his other hand.
The dark figure let out a low female laugh as it neared him. He raised his wand to defend himself and blocked a well aimed curse that melted the concrete 4 feet beside him. Viktor stood up and shot a spell at his attacker. She blocked and rose her wand again.
"Crucio," he heard her whisper only moments before the pain seized his body.
The pain coursed through his veins, getting worse and worse each passing second. It seemed like an eternity until the pain was too much for him to even move. He just lay there, the darkness closing in around him. The last thing that went through his mind was a vision of Hermione.
Hermione watched as a flash of green knocked the Death Eater in front of her into the wall 10 feet behind him. She looked up to see Moody standing not too far from her, his wand still pointed at the unconscious figure.
"Get up girl. It's not your time."
She scrambled to her feet, throwing a spell at the Death Eater closing in behind Arthur. He turned and smiled at her briefly before he disappeared out of her sight again.
She ducked and rolled as another curse threatened to catch her, and was able to ward it off before she tossed a spell at her attacker, rendering them unconscious. While still ducked low, she looked around the room the best she could. Watching the lights of various curses and counter spells, she saw that all the Death Eaters were moving towards the door and slipping back out into the early morning air. Every Auror still able to walk followed them, taking down the ones in the back of the crowd.
The fresh air hit Hermione's face and stung her eyes. Her vision cleared long enough for her to see a wall of black in front of her. Fear gripped her heart for a second before she realized their backs were still turned to her. That's when her eyes moved over the crowd and saw Harry, tumbling from his broom and land with a sickening thud on the concrete below.
Hermione looked over at Moody who silently nodded before he pressed the tip of his wand to the back of the Death Eater in front of him. The person slumped down, Moody catching their weight and silently lowering the body to the ground. Hermione and the other Aurors began doing the same thing, taking them down one by one, praying that they would find an alive Harry at the end.
When the last Death Eater fell, guided down by a tired looking Arthur, they all looked at the back of the Dark Lord who was laughing at a now defenseless Harry. Hermione's heart screamed out as she saw Voldemort lift his wand to fire the final curse at Harry.
"Stupify!" she yelled suddenly, catching the Dark Lord by surprise, but not enough to allow the spell to land.
They all watched as he turned and saw them all, his face actually paling slightly when he saw he was surrounded by Silver Robes and not Black. A cruel smile twisted on his face as he raised his wand to fire a spell at the nearest Auror, who happened to be Moody.
Every person there fired anything they could think of as the Dark Wizard blocked them all with ease. Hermione scrambled from the ground as a curse landed only inches from where her face had just been. She nursed the gash on her side as she stood back up, wand ready for another defense. That's when she saw the flash of movement behind Voldemort.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!"
The sound of the curse echoed through the air. Time seemed to slow as the green light burst from the end of Harry's wand and trailed it's way to the Dark Wizard whose back was still turned. The look on the man's face when the curse hit him was of disbelief for the split second it took for it to drain the life out of his body.
A shell of Voldemort flew across the air, landing loudly on the sidewalk in front of the Ministry. No one moved, no one breathed. They watched as Harry neared the body, his wand still clutched tightly in his hand. He stopped and looked down, kicking the corpse to roll it over.
They were all met with the blank stare of two vacant red eyes. Hermione felt the bile rise in her throat and pushed it back down. She moved over to Harry, pulling his attention away from the man at his feet.
"He's not coming out," she said, wiping a line of blood off his cheek. "You stopped him, he can't come back from that."
As if Harry just realized what had happened, he slumped against her, clutching her and crying with everything he had. Hermione, her side still bleeding, fell to her knees, supporting Harry and wrapping her arms around him.
She looked up and peered around, watching as Mediwitches started apparating into the lobby of the Ministry and running out into the street. The sun was starting to come up over the horizon and everything was doused with reds and oranges. Hermione trembled as she tried to hold up Harry, her eyes closing in pain. After a moment she felt Harry being taken from her and looked up at Ron. She just looked at him, barely even a scratch on him as he helped Harry over towards the mediwitches.
Hermione pressed her hands on the slightly damp concrete beneath her and pushed herself up so she was standing again.
"Viktor?" she said quietly.
Author Babble:
Ohmigosh! What happened to Viktor?