36. The Battle of Hogsmeade
The Dark Lord led them to the one room in the Manor where it was possible to Apparate and Floo in. There were some other fireplaces where you could use the Floo to talk, but not arrive or leave.
"Astoria, hold out your wand hand, with your wand," Harry said as they arrived in the right room. Some of the Dark Lord's forces were here already. Severus, Lucius, Narcissa, Rabastan, Alecto and a couple more. "After this you can't put your wand away without interrupting the working. Got it?"
"Absolutely." Astoria held out her hand, wand at the ready and Harry laid a bloody hand over hers and stroked the warm blood, sticky over her hand and out to the tip of her wand.
"Remember, if you let go of the wand, the working is broken and the flames disappear. Have fun with them, and think smart. We want the bastards terrified and confused."
"Yes, my Lord," Astoria gave a bow from the neck.
"Draco, want to play? I need two more for the net to work." Harry held up a blood dripping hand and grinned at Draco. Blood pooling on the floor beneath him.
"I would be honoured, my Lord." Draco gave a bow and held out his wand hand, his wand already drawn.
Harry covered Draco's hand and wand in his blood. "Same rules apply. I conjure the fire, you form and lead it. Hold the bastards there." Draco bowed again and Harry looked at the Dark Lord. "You can conjure your own fire and have more fun on your own, don't you?" he asked.
"I can and I do, yes."
In more normal situations Astoria would very much have objected to the word fun in a circumstance where they were going into battle to save children, but she suspected Harry would have objected too, in a more normal situation. Right at this moment, Harry wasn't his more or less functioning self. He was but a small step away from insanity, and an insane Harry Potter apparently thought battle and killing was fun. His eyes were shining manically and the smile on his face was truly disturbing. He had jumped straight from calm and collected, flown high above both hot anger and ice-cold rage, and landed just short of the drop down into insanity.
Astoria suppressed a shudder and hoped desperately that they would get the chance to drag Harry back from the edge when the night, and the fight, was over.
Harry looked at the room that was now full of people in black robes and cloaks. Everyone was looking at Harry where he stood in the middle of the floor. Wand in hand, magic rolling of him in powerful but invisible waves, black fighting robe almost moulded to his chest and arms, sword hilt showing over his shoulder, blood dripping red and potent down his arm to pool on the floor and green eyes glowing in the firelight from the big fireplace and the candles on the walls.
Even the Dark Lord couldn't take his eyes off him.
"I need a volunteer to finish my Fiendfyre net to stop these bastards from leaving before we can get to them," Harry stated to the room in general. "You do not need to call the fire, I will do that, all you do is form it and lead it. I will keep the ultimate control all the time."
Lucius twitched before he did a stupid thing and took one step forward.
The snarl that filled the room the moment after was entirely inhuman and Lucius stumbled backwards into the ever-growing crowd of fighters. Astoria saw Narcissa straighten her spine and she smiled. Narcissa would do very well. The older woman took one slow step forward, then another, and then shook off her reticence and stepped right up to Harry to kneel in front of him, her black fighting robes pooling around her. Astoria could only see the top of her head, her long, blond hair plaited into a tight braid and coiled at the back of her neck.
"I would be honoured to help, my Lord," she said steadily.
"Yes, you will do nicely. Thank you." The sound of deep grottos and silent groves was back.
Narcissa raised from her position after Harry gave her leave, drew her wand and got Harry's blood and instructions.
Dobby, Prim, Amber, Jade, Opal, Onyx and Topaz popped into the room. That was all the elves serving at Malfoy Manor. The five that had lived in the Manor when Astoria was made Mistress, her own elf Prim and Harry's Dobby.
"We will all fight for Master Harry and save the children!" Dobby declared in a loud, squeaky voice that filled the room.
"Thank you, Dobby. And the rest of you, it's good to have you with us. You all know that it will be dangerous, and you don't have to do this? It's between humans, after all."
"Small humans should be safe!" Prim declared as decisively as Dobby had. She had been Nanny to Astoria and Daphne when they were children. The rest of the elves nodded to this.
"Good. What I want you to do is get to the tent camp outside Hogsmeade, find everyone under seventeen and put them to sleep. Everyone can do that, yes?"
They all nodded gravely.
"When you have one or two sleeping children with you, you take the children here, to the Manor, to a safe room and let them sleep, until it's over and we can get them back to their families. If they don't have to be awake during this at all, and wake up surrounded by people they know, that would be best for them. Do you understand?"
Opal raised her hand while looking at Harry with violet eyes that were bigger than normal.
"Yes?" Harry nodded at her.
"We be allowed to use magic on human children?" she asked hesitantly.
"Today, absolutely. If anyone tries to give you trouble for doing that, send them to me. I will take care of them. If you have to put grown humans to sleep to protect a child, that is also alright, today."
She nodded several times.
"We be ready!" Dobby declared.
"Go on and good luck!"
With one, single loud pop all the elves disappeared.
"Me thinks you look far too calm, husband mine," Harry crooned with a glance at the Dark Lord.
"And me thinks you do not like the look off me much when I am enraged," was the calm answer.
"But the bastards will like it even less." Harry grinned.
They shared a long look, one of those moments when Astoria was almost certain that they communicated silently. A moment later the Dark Lord's glamour fell away and he grinned back at his husband. A sharp toothed smile from a white, gaunt face with eyes that shone ruby red just as much as Harry's shone like fiery emeralds. Harry didn't flinch at the sight, didn't react at all. Even if the last, and only time, as far as Astoria knew, Harry had seen the Dark Lord in this form, he had almost completely lost it.
"Then it's our turn," Harry said to the big group in black. His words were fast, but clear. "Severus, Alecto, both of you know the people that live in Hogsmeade and work on the new houses." He didn't wait for an answer, he knew that they knew. "Take a squad each. Severus will arrive east in the tent camp; Alecto will arrive west. You will work your way to the centre from there. Put down, preferably not permanently, anyone who doesn't belong, didn't come with us and isn't an Auror. If they put up too much of a fight and you are more than ninety percent sure they are an actual enemy and not a terrified civilian, put them down like the dogs they are.
"The Fiendfyre net I will conjure will hold in no more than three minutes. It will not burn you unless you walk right into it, it will merely be extremely hot. Use the Bubble Head Charm to make breathing easier. Any questions?"
Alecto and Severus gave deep bows in confirmation of their orders and silently set about dividing their squads, without any questions. Harry had already known that those two had experience as squad leaders.
"Narcissa, you take your place south of the camp, Draco west, Astoria east; I will take north. After landing, on the count of three I will cast the curse. Form your beasts, and make sure to terrify the attackers and …oh, right …" Harry cast two Patronuses' in fast succession. "Badger, Dragon, there will be fire. Notify your people." The two big stags disappeared.
Just moments later a Patronus in the shape of a honey badger moved fast through the room.
"Harry James Potter!" The honey badger shrieked with the voice of Susan Bones. "Don't you dare conjure Fiendfyre around civilians, don't you bloody dare, you utter bastard! I will skin you, you hear me; I will fucking skin you and put your hide on my wall!"
"Gotta catch me first!" Harry muttered with a grin, eyeing the honey badger fondly.
The man was decidedly weird, Astoria concluded.
Harry turned on Astoria, Draco and Narcissa. "Any questions? Last chance." He threw a glance over the two squads on the other side of the room.
It was an eerie moment when everyone in the room, except the Dark Lord and Harry himself, moved as one black mass and bowed to the man that just months before gladly would have killed them all on the battlefield.
Now he would lead them. Hopefully to victory.
"Right then. Fiendfyre goes first. The rest will follow on 'two'." A glowing red number five appeared in the air in front of Harry. "Be ready to attack in five," Harry said and caught her gaze and then went on to catch Draco and Narcissa's gaze too. The glowing number five in the air changed to a four when he began to count down. "Four."
He Apparated and Astoria followed without hesitation. Landing east of the tent camp outside of Hogsmeade. The night was black. It was impossible to see the beginning of the new Hogsmeade or the ruins of Hogwarts on the hill a bit off.
Three.
She couldn't see, hear, or feel Harry, but nevertheless; she knew where he was in the countdown.
Screams and shouts rent the air. There was heavy, grey smoke and spell fire. She used her second wand to conjure a Bubble Head Charm around her mouth and nose, glad for the clean, cool air.
Two.
The rest of their forces Apparated in and the noise got even louder. Someone screamed almost right in front of her, but she couldn't see them through the darkness and smoke.
One.
She felt the curse activate through the blood on her skin and wand and she focused on big animals with a lot of movement and on animals that could fly. She had never cast Fiendfyre and didn't know if that was enough for this to work. Harry had made it sound like it would be enough.
She gasped when countless serpents, not even one smaller than Nagini, appeared from her wand and spread out on her silent order. Then came phoenixes, big, majestic, and ruthless. They filled the air above her, dove and shrieked and made a right ruckus.
To the left and right of her she saw other flame beasts spread out. A dragon roared and she was certain she saw an enormous serpent rear up where Harry supposedly stood, a basilisk.
The screams from the camp became even higher, even more desperate, and for one moment she spared a thought to those who would be absolutely terrified by this. But just one moment before she concentrated her fire on keeping people panicked, keeping them in, cornered, trapped, making sure they could not, would not, leave. Making sure that panic would make them easy targets and that they after tonight would have no more trouble with disgusting child-murderers!
She gritted her teeth and made the phenoxies swoop down and scream at the people in the camp, enemies, allies, and civilians alike. Her snakes slithered around and snapped at anyone coming too close to the edge of the camp, without setting fire to anything they touched.
It felt like seconds.
It felt like an age.
The Fiendfyre disappeared and the blood on her hand suddenly grew cold where it had kept to a higher-than-normal temperature for long minutes. Then the blood both on her hand and her wand dried up and blew away in less than a heartbeat. She only blinked for a moment and then she ran towards Harry, around the edge of the camp, to the north.
He wasn't where she had expected him to be, where she had seen the basilisk, and for a flash she feared that he had been felled, that that was the reason that the Fiendfyre had been dispelled.
She held her now clean wand in her open palm. "Point-me Harry Potter!"
Her wand pointed straight into the camp and Astoria ran for a suspiciously long time, her thoughts on nothing else but to find Harry, before she recognised his silhouette against the smoky surroundings. Wild hair, sword in one hand, wand in the other and a stalking gait, like that of a big cat on the hunt.
She breathed out in relief and fell into step, half a step behind him. Keeping his back clear. He tossed her a glance over his shoulder, green eyes glowing, face marked with soot and blood, but he had to have recognised her before she got too close, or she had no doubt that he would have attacked her, coming up behind him as she had.
She had been stupid, assuming that Harry would keep on the edge of the camp, like he had instructed the three of them to do. He had been too far into the camp for that to be true. The idiot of a man had been fighting while keeping control of the Fiendfyre Curse. She cast a curious glance at the sword and saw a multitude of runes shine in muted fiery red on black metal. It wasn't a sword, or not just a sword, but for the life of her, she couldn't guess how he used it.
It was disconcertingly silent in this part of the camp. She could hear sounds of battle, screams, spell fire and explosions farther away, but close by there was only the crackle of normal flames together with their almost silent steps through ash, grass and debris. He didn't speak, neither did she. The smoke was heavy around them, and she was grateful for the Bubble Head Charm. They came across a still body and Astoria cast a diagnostic.
"Alive and stable enough," she muttered.
Harry nodded and bound and levitated the body to make it follow them. They found two more before Draco fell into step next to her and then Narcissa only moments later. Someone came running right at them and fell to a red spell, a Stunner, before Astoria had even lifted her wand. They hadn't come close enough for them to see their face, but Harry didn't even look at them before he bound them and levitated the still body with the others. It didn't matter right now if they were enemy or ally, either way, they were safe until they could figure it out. Then they came close to an unnervingly silent fight in the smoke, two against one, and two new Stunners felled the two enemies. How Harry could be that sure who was who was unsettling. He didn't have the years of familiarity of fighting with the Dark Lord's forces that Astoria had.
Astoria watched as Severus bowed to Harry before he hurriedly checked on two of his squad that lay on the ground next to him. She watched in horrified fascination as the two Harry had felled with Stunners began to glow and … melt. Severus spun around and doused the melting humans in water and then a potion from his pocket, but that only made steam rise and didn't stop anything. The Potion Master made a disgusted face and turned away to help his comrades again.
The Dark Lord swooped down from above and landed some steps away, green robes billowing around him. He watched the melting humans with a grim expression. Now it was impossible to even guess who they had been.
"Not again!" the Dark Lord huffed, as if put-upon.
" "Not again", as in 'this happens to every enemy taken alive'?" Harry asked.
The Dark Lord turned towards Harry and his expression changed rapidly. Upon first focusing on Harry, he looked mesmerised, even hungry, red eyes burning bright in the gloom, roving over Harry's face and form, and then his face blanked out completely.
"Yes, I have been attempting to get any of them alive the entire battle, but they continue to … melt." The Dark Lord gestured distastefully to the mess on the ground that had been living, breathing humans just moments before. "I wanted information." It was a growl.
"Maybe every mission is a suicide mission for them," Harry commented, strangely calm now. Astoria guessed he was battle calm, as she herself was. "Or at least has the possibility to become one. What about those that were killed? I have not noticed any melting people before now."
In other words, he probably hadn't even tried to take anyone alive. Not that she could blame him.
"We may perhaps be able to discern some identities from their corpses, but that gives us little but names," the Dark Lord said moments before Hestia Carrow came running out of the smoky darkness to kneel in front of Harry.
At the very least she and her sister knew how to show proper deference to the Dark Lord's husband now, though Astoria doubted it was sincere. It was probably her own generous application of the Cruciatus that made certain that they wouldn't forget the basic courtesies owed to Harry.
She was honestly still a bit stunned about the fact that every one of the fighters that the Dark Lord had summoned tonight, even Rabastan and Lucius, had bowed to Harry without a word of complaint before they left for the battle. She wasn't stupid enough to think that they never would make any trouble again, but somehow they had gotten it into their thick skulls that objecting to Harry's command when the Dark Lord and Astoria herself didn't, was a bad idea.
Maybe they actually could be taught, maybe, who knew.
"Report," Harry said, still without a word about the bowing, kneeling and the way they now titled him.
"The fighting is over, my Lord. There are many wounded, but our own forces lost only one. The civilians in the camp lost five. Three adults …"
She didn't get to finish because Harry turned away and with a roar of anguish the Fiendfyre was back, incinerating everything in front of him in moments. Harry stood with his back to them. Watching the monstrous pack of wolves he had conjured as they howled against the night sky that they themselves lit up as a miniature sun.
His back was ramrod straight, as if he refused to show any more weakness. When he vanished the flames with a gesture and turned around so his robes billowed and snapped around him, Astoria only saw his eyes for a moment before she swiftly looked away. Not only because his eyes now were a glowing green, completely without pupil or white, but because those strange eyes held a despair in them that made her want to cry, and this was neither the time nor the place.
"What about the Auror's? Did Susan make it to the fight?" Harry asked roughly.
"She did make it to the fight," a female voice said from Astoria's left and had her and pretty much everyone else turn around, wands drawn, only to see Susan Bones and five Auror's come out of the smoke and tent ruins around them. Two of the Auror's were obviously battered and another had gotten her fighting robes cut open, but had just as obviously been healed.
Bones stalked right up to Harry, the only one who hadn't reacted to her voice, and clasped his forearm in a greeting, before she suddenly swung around, kicked his legs out from under him and brought him to the ground. Astoria would have cursed the other witch, if not for the fact that she could see Harry's face, and the amusement there, even as Bones snarled at him. Astoria waved down the people around that would listen to her. When she looked at the Dark Lord, she found herself hoping that Bones knew what she was doing, because he had the look about him, as if wondering how much pain a human body could possibly take before just collapsing in on itself.
"I told you not to conjure Fiendfyre around civilians, you bloody wanker!" Bones snarled. "I told you not to do it! It's banned for a reason!"
Harry caught her waist between his legs, swung around and brought her down beside him. They tussled and swore and threatened each other before she ended up on top again, but Harry was grinning, and not in a vicious way either.
"I am so setting Hermi on you for this, just you wait!" Bones growled, but with a bit more huff and a bit less ferociousness now. "You like that curse far too much!"
Harry moved and got Bones under him in just a few moves.
"Susan, I'm good enough with the curse for her to let me be about it. And really, you should know me better than to believe I would risk children to the flames. There was no risk." He got up with an acrobatic jump.
Bones huffed, but let him drag her up to her feet when he gave her a hand.
"Prat," she said as she shook her head. "Feeling better?"
"A bit more level now, thanks."
That was when Astoria remembered how Harry had sparred verbally with her to calm down after one of the confrontations with Lucius. She guessed this was much the same, just physical, and she really hoped the Dark Lord realised it, too. She looked at him and he no longer looked murderous, so she expected Bones to survive the night. She obviously knew Harry very well, and knew what he needed when he was on the edge. Apparently, what he had needed was a friendly tussle with no risk.
Harry gave Bones a nod, but his gleaming green eyes that had held a modicum of amusement the moment before, became cold and sad, and he turned towards Hestia that still knelt on the ground, as if nothing had happened. The razor-sharp edge might have been taken off his temper, but people had still died, children had still died.
"Right, Hestia. Thank you. Go help in the clean-up. Do not let anyone else die." Harry's voice was low. Hestia hastily got to her feet and ran away. Bones and the Auror's gave the Dark Lord a bow and retreated to help clean up. Astoria recognised the Dark faction from the Light faction on how deeply they bowed. Three bowed properly. Bones and two others bowed as shallowly as they could get away with. The Dark Lord had told her to let it be, so long as they weren't outright disrespectful and did their jobs well, he had no trouble with them bowing shallowly. After all, they had fought against him, not with him, the entire war. He would never believe them if they bowed deeply anyway.
Harry looked after Bones for a moment and breathed deeply before turning to Astoria. His eyes were still glowing green, but they had pupils again at least, thin vertical pupils. She held back a shiver and bowed deeply and waited. This was her place, after all. For better or for worse, she had fought for it for years, to be next in command to the Dark Lord, and now his husband. No matter what happened and what would be asked of her; this was her place.
She wanted it no other way.
"I know that this camp was well protected. I remember asking about it myself, not even a month ago," Harry stated. "So how the fuck could this happen?"
"I do not know, Harry, but I would very much like to find out," the Dark Lord answered for her.
Slowly she raised out of her bow and watched the two look at each other.
"Dobby!"
Dobby popped into being right in front of Harry. "Dobby answers Master Harry!"
"How are the children you got away from here and how many did you save?"
"All is asleep, Master Harry, we be healing twelve with our own magic. Master Harry said we could be using our own magic today, Master Harry."
"Absolutely. And how many did you save?"
"67 children, Master Harry." Dobby sounded unsure of himself.
Harry's glowing eyes met hers. If she had ever been in doubt, she was not anymore, the Dark Lord had the right of it; Harry Potter was more than just a man, more than just a wizard.
Merlin alone knew what that entailed.
"That is everyone but three, my Lord," Astoria said in a low voice.
Hestia must have missed one, she thought forlornly. As if two dead children hadn't been enough, now there were three.
Harry closed his eyes and said without opening them again. "Dobby, the wards around the tent camp have been destroyed. Get me all the ward stones so I can have a look at them. Put them outside the camp." He pointed without looking. "I will come in about ten minutes."
"At once, Master Harry."
"Severus, will they be alright?" Harry asked of the man that was still kneeling by his two comrades.
Severus turned towards him, still on his knees. "Yes, my Lord. Just a minor curse on one and blood loss and a concussion on the other."
"Good." Without a word Harry flicked his hand upwards and a great big Lumos lit up the night sky.
A flap of mighty wings thundered above them, and a roar rent the air. Everyone but Harry ducked down and they could hear screams in other places of the camp. Astoria looked up fast enough to see a big, dark shape wing away from the Lumos. How such a monster could have been silent up until now, right above their heads no less, Astoria had no idea. No idea at all.
What a terrifying thought.
"Dragon! You came!" Harry shouted in something akin to joy. Then he was running. Astoria tore after him, glad that she still made sure to run a couple of times a week, or she would never have been able to keep up with him. They quickly left Draco and Narcissa behind them, but the Dark Lord took to the air again.
When Harry left the camp behind and kept running into the night, Astoria swore silently. When he lit his wand in a clear purple colour and shouted up at the black sky, Astoria swore loudly. When a great beast roared above them and the flapping of wings told her they were more or less right underneath it, Astoria screamed a curse.
Moments later the dragon landed less than ten metres in front of them. The earth shook beneath their feet when it landed and great gusts of wind threatened to push her to the ground. The dragon was barely visible in the grey light from the Lumos above the camp, now several hundred metres behind them, but Astoria thought that its scales had a purple tint.
"Dragon!" Harry breathed, and Astoria was certain now that he was absolutely ecstatic. If she hadn't been certain, the fact that he ran straight up to the beast and began petting its jaw, would have been a very good indication.
The fire red letters of a Flagrante spell cut the black air over the dragon. The great, hulking dragon that let Harry pet it like it was a cat.
Valar Dohaeris the letters spelled out.
Harry looked up, saw the letters and let out an amused huff while he waved a hand at a shape sitting on top of the dragon, and how had she not noticed that before now and how by Hades did one ride a dragon? There was a dragon rider! It should be impossible. Utterly and totally impossible!
"As if I could ever mistake anyone else for you, Dragon," Harry murmured and rubbed the ridge above one eye that was as big as a dinner plate. The eyes were purple, and Astoria thought she could be excused for believing that this was an Hebridean Black for a moment before she realised that no, the body most definitely was a dark purple and not black, so it couldn't be a Hebridean after all. The dragon had put its head down to the ground to give Harry easier access. "The code word was so you knew that it really was me that was asking for help, you know that."
"I believe I might be in shock," Astoria whispered through stiff lips when Draco stepped up to her.
"You are not alone, darling," he took her hand in his, he was as cold as she was.
"A docile, purple dragon, and a dragon rider," Narcissa whispered. "Did we leave our own reality behind?"
"No, we did not," the Dark Lord said decidedly. "This is just another of Harry's impossible feats that we knew nothing about before now. Even though I, admittedly, did believe that Dragon was an alias and not an actual dragon. Harry, might I bother you for introductions?" he called softly, so as not to spook the dragon, Astoria assumed.
Spook the dragon. The dragon! The dragon that still let Harry pet it like a contented cat!
Harry turned towards the Dark Lord. "Sure. Husband, meet Dragon. Dragon, meet my husband, the Dark Lord Voldemort."
The dragon only looked at the Dark Lord for a moment, Astoria thought it looked decidedly unimpressed, before it tapped its big head against Harry's chest and huffed out warm air.
"Yes, yes, you big cuddle bear. I missed you too, so much." He leaned into the great neck of the beast and looked over his shoulder while he rubbed its jaw. "Sorry, it's been a long time since I last saw her and apparently, I owe her some rubs."
"How …" Astoria heard her own voice say. "I mean … how?!"
Harry looked at her and smiled, his now normal eyes gleaming.
"Surely, I must be allowed to keep some secrets to myself, especially since this secret isn't actually mine."
The dragon raised its, her, head and looked at Astoria. Her eyes were gleaming too, but in a dark, dark purple colour. Astoria looked at the dragon, the dragon looked at Astoria.
"Astoria, don't stare a predator in the eyes," Harry called quietly and Astoria looked away hurriedly.
The dragon huffed out a big breath of almost scalding air, that luckily wasn't directed at any of them.
"Does she have a name?" the Dark Lord asked.
"She does, but I'm not allowed to give it to anyone. She came tonight as a possible back-up because I did her a favour once, that is all."
"And the rider? Do they have a name?" the Dark Lord asked.
"They are not so much a rider as a protector. Her species is very … unusual and they are incredibly rare. The protector is to help keep her safe, they don't speak, ever."
And right enough, the cloaked and hooded person on top of the dragon didn't even look in their direction, even when they talked about them.
"My dear, I have some ward stones to look at, would you care to accompany me and maybe donate some blood, to make sure this never happens again?" Harry petted her muzzle in long strokes.
The dragon got to her feet and followed Harry when he began to walk to where Dobby had collected all the ward stones. Four of the stones were completely destroyed, more than enough to ruin a ward net, even a ward net as strong as this one had been. The dragon sniffed at blackened stones and growled.
"Quite right, darling, someone knew what they were doing when they broke these stones and they didn't much care how they did it, even at cost to themselves. So, definitely suicide missions, then, if they use magic that might end up killing them."
The rumbling from the dragon seemed even more aggressive this time.
"Shh, shh, what about this, I will talk to the humans and get the clues and work to find them, and then I will let you know what I find? I know you feel as protective about younglings as I do."
Something told Astoria that Harry had spent a massive amount of time around this dragon to be able to understand her every move and sound as he did.
The dragon swung her head around and looked at Harry for a long moment, then huffed out warm air and looked back at the stones, lifted a heavy paw, and crushed all the stones to rubble in one, single movement.
Harry gave a heavy but resigned sight. "Yes, I was afraid you would see it that way. Best to begin from scratch when so many of the stones have been compromised. Draco, might I ask you to find out how many of the enemy were killed, if any of them survived being captured and if anyone has any idea how many got away?"
"At once, my Lord." Draco bowed and disappeared into the grey night, towards the camp.
"Astoria, Narcissa, might I ask you to help me find suitable ward stones? Eight will do for now. I will make a new ward net with dragon blood tonight, and then another net can be properly carved in the next few days, before I can power it a bit extra with more dragon blood."
Power it a bit extra, he says, Astoria thought wryly as she bowed and set to work. A bit extra, with dragon blood, my skinny arse!
She had been around Harry too much, she realised, if she had begun to think in such terms. He had been a bad influence on her.
"Right, Hogwarts has stones aplenty," Harry said somewhere behind her, "just make sure that the stones are magic dead, you hear. I don't want to meddle with stones that still hold any of Hogwarts's magic."
A chuff answered him, and the dragon took to the air.
"Thank you!" Harry shouted after her. "You are the best!"
Yes, Astoria decided, Harry Potter was a madman.
The dragon came back with three big stones and disappeared towards Hogwarts again before Draco came back to give his report. Seven of the enemy had been killed in the battle, five more had died after they had been stunned or otherwise detained, and then simply melted, while still alive. Not even the Dark Lord wanted to speculate what kind of magic or potion could do that. So, twelve enemies were dead, and unfortunately it looked like that might have been only half, or less, of the force that attacked. This wasn't over. Not yet.
Astoria shuddered at the thought of another attack like this. Another attack on the children. Harry didn't shudder or swear, he just got a really determined look in his eyes and settled in to paint the new ward stones with the blood the dragon willingly had donated to him when he asked.
It was very early in the morning before Astoria and Draco Apparated back into the Manor, bloody, dirty, and completely exhausted both physically and mentally. The number of dead wasn't staggering, but they were supposed to be at peace now, the civilians were supposed to be safe, at the very least … The children were supposed to be safe, and still … Three dead children. The rest was now back with their families, safe behind wards made of dragon blood and an extremely powerful wizard.
But there were still three dead children …
A pained moan dragged Astoria out of her exhausted haze. Harry was staggering over the floor, his face pale and sweaty, his hands shaking. It hit her then, sharp and cold; it had been many hours since the time the Dark Lord and Harry usually withdrew to give Harry the physical closeness he needed to survive, to stay somewhat sane and functioning. Fear, rage and adrenaline could keep a body going through impossible situations, but now that it was over …
Harry went down to one knee, as if he wasn't able to keep himself up. His hands clutched at his head and he whimpered.
"Draco, go back to the camp, get the Dark Lord! Now!" Astoria ordered, a moment before the Dark Lord appeared in the room. "My Lord, Harry …!"
The Dark Lord followed her gaze and hurried over the floor, but the moment he touched Harry, the other man screamed and attacked him.
"Out!" the Dark Lord ordered and drew his wand while Harry's magic began to spark around him. Golden embers spinning and snapping in the air. His power grew heavier, darker, nastier.
"You did this to me! You did this to me!" Harry sounded both enraged and broken, and he lurched towards the Dark Lord, hatred and madness burning in his eyes, a snarl on his face. "You fucking bastard, you did this to me!"
Harry got hit with a white beam of magic and collapsed on the floor before Astoria managed to close the door behind them. There were few, if any, that could shake off the Dark Lord's Sleeping Charm. She was grateful for that, now Harry would get the help he needed, and hopefully he would be alright again in a day or so.
Draco swore and Astoria almost stumbled into a wall when a roar on the other side of the door made the walls shake. The roar was repeated, and they both stared at the door, mouths agape. Not only had Harry shaken off the Sleeping Charm, now he apparently was truly enraged. Something shattered on the other side of the door, and she heard a deep, ominous crack and she could have sworn she heard the rumble of flames. Astoria silently begged Magic herself that Harry wasn't killing them both on the other side of that door. Many minutes went by before things calmed down completely, and remained calm.
After several minutes without any sound, she couldn't help but open the door. She swallowed hard at the sight. The walls and roof were blackened by flames, there was nothing in the room that had survived, not a painting, a chair, a mirror, a wall-hanging or a candelabra. One wall had a great fissure in it and the floor was more or less covered in blood. Beside her, Draco swore hard enough that Narcissa would have washed his mouth out with soap, but Astoria agreed with his sentiment.
On the other side of the room, by the only other door out of the room, the Dark Lord held a limp body carefully in his arms. The last thing she noticed before he closed the door behind him, was that his robes were slashed open in several places, and his pale skin was partly covered in deep gashes and blood.
The door shut behind the two with a silent and still deafening click.
A/N:
Thank you so much for the comments, the favs and the follows! They are much appreciated! Knowing that people read and like the story helps a lot when I fight with obstinate chapters that don't want to get written, as I have been doing in the past few weeks. I love to hear what you think about the story and the characters! It makes writing this story even more fun! Each and every comment makes me smile!
Hope you liked it! Please review!