The Adventure Continued

Chapter 22: ABRA KEDABRA!

A/N: Sorry, this chapter is really short, but another one will be coming soon. Battle scenes are so much fun to write that I thought I might divide up the chapters. Actually, it takes so much time to think and write about the motions that occur that I want to get it right, so please bear with me. The story is slowly coming to an end (is the author trying to purposely drag it out?) and hopefully, we'll see some more Harry/Ginny interaction before long… Ok, I'm not really speculating. There will be more, I promise. Hope you enjoy the chapter!

Surrounded by the roar of the blazing fire, Harry stepped out into his dark and quiet office, searching the room for a possible ambush. When he convinced himself that there was no one else other than him and Hedwig, he let out a sigh relief and handed the owl a treat. Hedwig swallowed it gratefully and offered her left leg to Harry where a letter was attached to it. Harry untied the letter and eagerly read the neat handwriting:

Harry,

I'm sorry about the letter that was sent to you terminating your position at the office. That wasn't sent by me, but someone else inside the ministry. I need you to come to the ministry immediately. Four aurors died this afternoon and we need all the help we can get- especially yours.

Yours truly,

Tonks

Harry stared at the letter for what felt like an hour before he crushed it in his hands and threw it on his desk. He didn't want to hear any apologies and after what had happened earlier, it didn't seem like the Ministry was the place to turn to. Instead, Harry bolted out of the room and down to the Entrance Hall where the combat had taken place. Standing in the midst of darkness was Professor McGonagall looking thoughtfully around the room.

"Harry!" she looked up in mild surprise. "What are you doing here? I thought I had already sent the students and staff home…"

"Professor, I need to tell you something," Harry interrupted hastily, glancing around the room expectantly.

"Why am I not surprised?" McGonagall sighed, fixing her glasses. "What is it this time, Potter?"

"Neville is alive," Harry announced.

McGonagall looked sharply at Harry. "How do you know?"

"He's at Grimmauld Place at the moment-"

"No, I'm not, Harry," Neville corrected, standing at the top of the stairway. "I thought you were up to something and decided to follow," he answered Harry's quizzical look. "If you're trying to defeat her by yourself, then you're fighting a losing battle, Harry. You're going to need friends."

"This isn't your battle, Neville!" Harry protested. "She's not after you. I'm not going to let another one of my friends die!"

"You don't have a choice, Harry," Ginny answered, appearing right next to him and putting her hand on his shoulder. "We're going to fight with you no matter whose battle it is. We're your friends and we won't see you die."

Hermione nodded along with the small army she and Ginny had managed to gather in the last hour. Harry gaped at the party that surrounded him and if he hadn't been so shocked, he would have laughed at his sudden relief. Along with the Weasley clan, there was Ernie, Hannah, Luna, Romilda, Lupin, Cho Chang (looking rather sheepish), Colin and Dennis Creevey, the Gryffindor Quidditch team, some people he knew from the Ministry, and others he had recognized from Hogwarts. The group made up about fifty people and filled only an eighth of the room, but to Harry, this was a luxury that he didn't deserve.

"You all are here…to help me?" Harry asked awkwardly.

"No, Harry!" Demelza replied sarcastically. "We just came to give our respects. What else do you think we are going to do here?" Katie and Angelina smiled and nodded in agreement.

Oliver Wood stood on the other side of Ginny and pointed his wand at Harry. "We're with you, mate. We won't let you die alone."

"Very…Good…" a voice echoed in the hall.

Harry looked around, trying to find the source of the voice, but there was no one around them. "Stop being a coward! Show yourself!" Harry yelled, holding out his wand.

"Oh, Potter brought his friends for us to play with. That was truly noble of you, Potter, since you are about to die…"

"You are a coward, Bellatrix! Even Voldemort wouldn't hide from his enemies!" Harry cried again. A blast of red light out of nowhere hit him in the chest and sent him crashing into a wall on the other side of the room.

"Harry!" Hermione screamed, running over to him, followed by Ginny and Mrs. Weasley. "Harry! Speak to me: are you all right?"

"Just a bad bump, 'Mione," Harry grumbled, trying to stand up.

"Oh, didn't like that, Potter? Are we being too rough? Maybe we should step it up a notch…Crucio!"

Harry closed his eyes, waiting for the curse to hit him and fill his body with horrible pain. However, the voice that shrieked with pain wasn't his. Ginny was lying on the floor in front of Harry, taking the curse for him. Her body twitched and tears were running down her face.

"ABRA KEDABRA!"

CRASH! BOOM! THUD!

Ginny stopped moving and remained unconscious on the floor and around her were about twenty people where black robes and black masks. The one in the center with her wand raised, Harry knew to be Bellatrix Lestrange.

Neville stood on the other side of the sea of black cloaks, still holding out his hand, and almost amazed that this spell had worked. After receiving the shocked looks from everyone in the room, he shrugged embarrassingly and said, "Haven't you ever used that spell?"

Bellatrix and her supporters didn't look amazed about it, but quite angry as can be expected. The spell bound them and kept them from changing back to their dangerous, invisible selves. "You think you're something, Longbottom," Bellatrix sneered. "You think you can live up to your parents, maybe get revenge. You think wrong. You're just going to go down like Potter-"

"Stupify!" another voice cried out behind Neville.

The spell hit Bellatrix in the stomach and she collapsed on the floor. When another black figure had revived her, she pointed and screamed, "Get them! Kill them!"

And so the battle began…