Chapter Nine
As the yellow curse slammed into Tonks's chest, she let out a groan of shock and collapsed to the ground. Instantly, the entire blaze exploded into screams of terror.
"Blood boiling curse!" Fleur yelled out as Harry grabbed her and Hedwig and dragged them to the ground. A dozen more curses flew over their heads as the multiple pops of apparition signaled the arrival of more Death Eaters. Harry already had his wand out, but couldn't get a shot back due to the screaming crowd running around trying to get away.
"Death Eaters!" he spat out with disgust, looking around for some cover. He spotted the fountain in the center of the plaza and tapped Hedwig's shoulder. "Do you think you can drag Tonks over to that fountain?" Hedwig nodded her head and he turned to Fleur who was trying to check Tonks but the incoming spell fire was too intense. "We need to cover Hedwig!"
Fleur nodded her head grimly and when the crowd thinned enough so that they could see the Death Eaters, they both popped up and cast powerful bombardas at their feet. Harry doubted they would seriously injure them, but the cloud of dirt and rubble that was kicked up gave them perfect cover to hurry over to the fountain and take cover behind it.
"Fleur!" he called out as he popped up to cast another bombarda. "Can you apparate us out of here?"
"No!" Fleur called back as she was casting diagnostic charms over Tonks. "They 'ave the whole plaza warded off!" she scowled angrily as yet another charm failed to hold and she grabbed Tonks's shirt and ripped it open. She gasped. "'arry!"
Harry glanced over after casting a curse and then did a double take. At first he thought she hadn't worn her bra, but a second glance told him that she was instead wearing one of the suits of armor from his vault. He watched fascinated as the metal flexed and flowed with Tonks's chest as it rose and fell with her breathing, molding itself perfectly to her skin. There wasn't even a blemish from where the curse hit her.
"Is she ok?" Harry asked as he popped from behind the fountain and let loose with a bone breaker. He was rewarded with a scream of pain and he grinned as he took cover from the volley of green killing curses that were returned at him.
"Oui." Fleur answered a tone of disbelief in her voice. "I just can't wake her up. I think when she collapsed she hit her head on the ground."
"Well then we will just have to hold them off till she gets better or help arrives." Harry said grimly. Fleur nodded and directed Hedwig to keep an eye on Tonks as she joined Harry in sending curses at the Death Eaters, some of whom were trying to edge themselves around to flank them before a brutal volley of cutting curses drove them back.
The two sides exchanged spellfire for a minute before a second larger group of Death Eaters apparated in. Harry cursed, realizing that the anti-apparition ward they had put up must let all those with the Dark Mark through. While the first group of Death Eaters kept Harry and Fleur pinned down, the second group turned their wands on the backs of the terrified crowd that was still struggling to find a way to escape.
It was nothing short of a massacre.
Entire families were incinerated when a Death Eater directed a torrent of fiendfyre into the crowd. Others were trampled to death when all of their bones were suddenly vanished and they fell to the ground. A river of blood started to flow into the plaza's drains as people had their internal organs violently expelled from their bodies, or had limbs cut or blasted off. The men and women who tried to fight back to protect their families were ruthlessly cut down by the lethal Avada Kedavra, while their children were tortured into insanity by the Cruciatus Curse.
All Harry could do was helplessly keep his head down in the diminishing protection provided by the fountain. Hedwig had tears running down her face as she cradled Tonks's head in her lap. Fleur yelped when a burst of dirt was blasted into her face.
"'arry!" she coughed out as she cleared her vision with a wave of her wand. "We can't stay 'ere!"
"And go where?" Harry shot back. "We can't apparate and we're pinned down! We wouldn't make it five feet before getting cut down!"
"But the fountain is getting blasted to pieces!" Fleur protested. "Soon it won't matter!" Harry scowled with frustration, trying to rapidly come up with a plan on the spot.
"OK, Fleur, cast a feather-light charm on Tonks. Hedwig, you'll be carrying her. Me and Fleur will be casting a steady stream of bombardas as we make a break for the closest store. That has got to have better cover then what we have now, and the bombardas might just break them up enough that we get there intact. Does anyone have a better plan?" Fleur shook her head as she cast the charm and Hedwig gathered the pink-haired Auror into her arms.
"Alright…" Harry said grimly, gripping his wand tightly. "On the count of three. One… Two… Three! BOMBARDA!" Both Harry and Fleur jumped to their feet and started firing curses as fast as they could cast them into the crowd of Death Eaters. A fierce, but hasty, volley of Killing Curses was sent in return, but the cloud of dust kicked up by the explosions threw off their aim.
"You're dead Potter!" Yelled out one of the masked attackers. "The Dark Lord has decreed that he doesn't care who kills you anymore! He just wants your head on a spear!"
"I don't feel like dying today!" Harry bellowed back, aiming a cutting curse in the direction of the voice. A brief scream of pain was his reward.
With a yell of triumph, Hedwig made it to the safety of the target shop and set Tonks down. Fleur slid in seconds later, but Harry was still outside exchanging spellfire with the Death Eaters.
"'ARRY!" Fleur screamed at him. He turned to leap in, but his feet slid out from beneath him as he slipped on the growing pool of blood that was spreading across the plaza. A curse slammed into the doorframe and the entire entrance collapsed, separating Harry from the girls. Thinking fast, he scrambled into the shop next door and kicked the door close just as a Killing Curse thudded into it.
Quickly casting a reducto at the storefront window, Harry resumed the spellfire exchange, wondering when help was going to arrive. He tried to ignore the flashes and explosions from the other end of the plaza where a pitched battle had broken out between the Death Eaters and the more skilled combatants that had been in the plaza that day. Next door, the girls were cut and bloodied after a curse had blasted the window into them, but Fleur was still grimly fighting on. She grinned savagely after one of her cutting curses separated a Death Eater's head from his body.
Hedwig was desperately trying to wake up Tonks. She knew that they were massively outnumbered and needed her experience and training in this kind of fighting. She had tried almost everything, shaking, yelling into her ear, slapping, all to no effect. Finally, in utter desperation, she grabbed Tonks' wand and waved it in her face. To her shock, for the first time in her life, she preformed magic.
The result was a very wet, very cold, very pissed, and a very much awake Nymphadora Tonks.
"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL DID YOU eep!" Tonks started to scream at Hedwig, only to receive a sudden buzz cut from a passing Cutting Curse.
"I take it we are in a spot of trouble?" Tonks asked as her hair grew back.
"Yes!" Hedwig exclaimed, handing Tonks her wand back. "We need your help!"
"Where is Harry?" Tonks asked as she crawled to the window and set the nearest Death Eater on fire with a well aimed incendio.
"'e got cut off from us!" Fleur answered her. A bone breaker curse sailed out of the shop next door and a Death Eater fell to the ground as his leg was shattered.
"Well it seems that he is ok for the moment." Tonks said cheerfully, her hand moving in a complicated pattern as she put a small anti-apparition ward around the two shops. She smiled wickedly as she heard two thuds from the back of their store when two Death Eaters slammed into the newly erected ward while trying to apparate in behind them.
For a few minutes, it seemed like they would be able to hold the Death Eaters off, at least until they gave up or help arrived. But with a shout of triumph as the last of the civilians fell, their hopes were dashed as the main bulk of the Death Eaters turned their attention to them. Curses and hexes rained down on the two shops, forcing them to go on the defensive. With sheer brute force of overwhelming numbers, the Death Eaters started to slowly advance towards the shops to finish them off.
Tonks and Fleur fought grimly on, the number of wounds they were getting slowly rising. Tonks's left arm was shattered, and she was too busy fighting to even use her powers to keep the bones together. It hung uselessly at her side as she fought on. Fleur was also wounded, but they were more surface then anything else, her quick shield charms saving her a lot of pain. A deep cut sliced through her cheek, and her blood slowly dripped to the dust covered floor.
Next door, Harry was having a harder time holding off the advancing Death Eaters by himself. One bombarda curse had exploded against the wall to his right, peppering his body with stone and metal shrapnel. While his body was bloody from dozens of cuts, the most serious wound was the four inch shard of metal jutting from his right eye. With blood running into his left eye, he half-blindly fought on, downing two more Death Eaters with a lucky cutting curse that sliced through both of their necks.
Finally, just as the Death Eaters were about to make a final attack, a loud screech ripped through the air as the Death Eaters' anti-apparition ward collapsed followed by a trio of loud cracks from behind the Death Eaters. Instantly, three Death Eaters fell to the ground with their spines cut in half. Half a second later three more had their heads explode into a shower of flesh, blood, and bone. Completely demoralized by the sudden turn of events, the surviving Death Eaters abandoned their injured and apparated away. Tonks peered out from the ruined shop and recognized the blue cloaks worn by the trio of newcomers.
"French Aurors!" She said excitedly, before standing up holding her right hand over her head. "Over here! We have wounded!"
"So are plenty of others!" one of the French Aurors yelled back, but directed one of his companions over to them. Blasting away the rubble in the doorway, he helped the three girls out of the wrecked store.
"Just the three of you?" he asked cheerfully in an American accent. While his mannerisms were that of a jokester, his eyes were those of a hardened warrior.
"No!" Tonks exclaimed. "There is a man next door who is… HARRY!"
Harry had managed to stagger out of the store he had taken shelter in, the clothes on his right side soaked with blood.
"Fuck." The auror cursed, and rushed over to catch Harry as his legs gave out beneath him.
"You know," he told Harry teasingly. "The goal of a fight is to avoid as much damage as you can, not use your body as a pin cushion." He gestured over the three girls. "Can one of you hold his head? He has a lot of serious wounds, but we have to fix his eye now or he loses it for good."
Hedwig hurried over and cradled his head in her lap, while Fleur clung desperately to his hand. Tonks fixed her arm with a groan of pain.
"Can you do that?" she asked slightly concerned. The auror chuckled.
"I was trained as a combat medic in the 82nd Airborne." He explained as he started weaving a pattern over Harry's eye with his wand. "Got more training when I joined the Foreign Legions. Right now I have a spot waiting for me as a healer at your Saint Mungo's when I decide that I'm tired of saving the world." Tonks frowned.
"The 82nd?" she asked as the three girls watched as the metal shard was extracted from Harry's eye.
"It's a part of the United States' Magical Military Forces." He explained. "The MMF is comprised entirely of magical users or squibs. Once I did my time there, I joined the French Foreign Legion, did my five years, and joined the Auror Corps here." As he talked, Harry's eye was slowly healed, and his vision was restored for a few seconds before the auror conjured n eye patch and put it on him.
"I want you to keep that on for at least twenty-four hours so that eye can heal Mr. Potter." The auror said with a wink. He immediately started working on Harry's other wounds. Harry groaned when he realized that the man had identified him even though his scar was covered with blood. The auror chuckled. "I am afraid I don't know the names of your lovely ladies though."
"Nymphadora Tonks, English Auror Corps."
"Fleur Delacour, Gringotts curse breaker."
"Hedwig, former owl."
"Ah." The man said as he vanished Harry's top to work on the wounds on his torso. Tonks had finished patching up Hedwig and was working on Hedwig now. "You can call me Kendor. And no, you can't comment about how strange of a name it is."
"So…" Harry asked slowly as he felt broken rips snap back into place. "What happened?" Kendor scowled.
"You-Know-Who declared that England was secure and sent a message to Europe with his intentions of beginning his assault on taking over the entire magical world and then the muggle one. Using Death Eaters and those who supported his cause, he launched attacks across large areas of France and Spain." He glanced back at the thick carpet of corpses that the two aurors were picking through for possible survivors. "I don't even want to think about how many innocents are dead so far today. However, I am an optimist, so I can only hope that the international community will finally make a move against him."
"And if they don't?" asked Fleur. Kendor was silent as he finished working on Harry.
"For the fourth time in history," he said slowly. "The whole world is a powder keg. All eyes are on a single glowing ember, waiting with baited breath to see if it will catch." He sighed bitterly.
"You-Know-Who is that ember. And if it catches, the whole world will plunge into a war the likes of which has never been seen before."
As if he was a prophet, the doors to Gringotts Paris exploded outward with a loud bang. The shredded bodies of three goblins flew out of the building to join the other corpses in the plaza. The next person to emerge chilled Harry's blood.
Lord Voldemort himself.
His snake-like eyes seemed to gleam with delight as he took in the death and devastation that his followers had inflicted. That is, until he saw the small group of people watching him in horror.
"POTTER!" he screamed, immediately casting a Killing Curse at them. Harry tried to roll out of the way, but his newly healed ribs protested and he hissed in pain. He expected his life to be snuffed out within seconds, but was surprised when a large chunk of rubble suddenly intercepted the green beam. He looked around in confusion till he saw Kendor standing up with a fiendish grin on his face.
"Well howdy there 'mort!" he called out joyfully, hurling a killing curse of his own in Voldemort's direction. "Been looking forward to meeting you!" Harry and the girls looked up t the American with awe as he almost casually traded curses with Voldemort before the other two French Aurors rushed over to join the fight. Kendor waved his wand and thick wall of ice formed to give them a few minutes of protection. Thinking quickly, he summoned another chunk of rubble and tapped it with his wand, mutter "portus." The rubble chunk flashed a bright blue and he smiled happily.
"Here." He said quickly, as he handed it to Harry. "This portkey will take you to northeastern France. I recommend that you either hike or take a train deeper into Europe." The ice wall behind him shook violently as several spells hit it, but it held firm.
"Deeper into Europe?!" Tonks exclaimed. "But we need to get back to Hogwarts!" Kendor scowled t her.
"Do you honestly think you would be able to sneak into England right now? They will have every inch of the coast warded and watched in case someone tries to launch a counter invasion… or in case Mr. Harry Potter tries to sneak back in now that everyone knows he is still alive. We are rapidly plunging into the largest magical war since the 40s, and the farther from the front lines you get while waiting for your chance, the better." The wall shook again, and this time large cracks appeared in it.
"Come on." Kendor said. "You're running out of time. Get going now."
"What about you?" Harry asked. "Why don't you come with us?" Kendor laughed as he turned his back on them and faced his crumbling wall.
"You don't worry about me. I am going to enjoy a nice duel with Lord Voldemort and then go see what I can do about helping to evacuate the citizens. Who knows, we may run into each other again."
Fleur sniffed in disbelief, but Harry nodded his head and held out the portkey for the others to grab hold of. The wall shattered revealing a seething mad Voldemort. Kendor grinned happily and quickly fired off a killing curse at Voldemort who dodged out of the way and deflected the curse with a conjured silver shield.
"Come on Voldy boy!" Kendor called out cheerfully. "Let's dance!"
Harry shook his head at the antics of the American, and as the girls grabbed the portkey, he activated it with a tap of his wand. As he felt the now familiar jerk behind his naval, he watched the two men start rapidly firing killing curse at each other. Then the scene disappeared in a swirl of colors and howling wind.
~Birds Of A Feather~
It was a subdued group that settled in for the night in a cheap, but easily warded motel room in northeastern France near Strasbourg. A small wizarding wireless radio that belonged to Tonks was playing, keeping them and the rest of the international magical community up to date on Voldemort's widening war in Europe. The slow reactions of the various the various governments was of particular focus and concern. Each of the room's occupants had their own thoughts on the events of the day.
Hedwig was sitting on the threadbare sofa, staring down at her hands. Somehow she had performed magic. Were all owls capable of doing magic? Was she a victim of extreme coincidence and was just an unusual owl who could use magic, that by being turned into a human allowed her to use it? Or did the ability stem from her bond with Harry? She didn't know for sure, and wasn't sure who to ask who would.
Fleur had settled on a rickety chair and was looking down at the floor, one hand caressing the collar around her neck. She had taken lives today, something she had never dreamed of doing. When she signed up to be a curse breaker, she thought she would spend the days of her life protecting lives, not take them. She glanced over at Harry, her mind troubled. She wasn't, couldn't, change her mind, but how often would she be forced to kill to protect herself and Harry?
Tonks was leaning against the wall next to the table with her radio on it. Her mind was heavy as the various reports of Voldemort's rapidly expanding invasion of Magical Europe. Her mind was also fixed on her home of England. That American French Auror, Kendor, had said that You-Know-Who had deemed England secured. Did that mean Hogwarts had fallen? So much had already happened in two weeks time, who could say what would happen in a single day's time? She too looked at Harry. If Hogwarts had fallen, she and the other girls in the room were the only people left alive that Harry knew. Between that, and him being her lord and her only option was very clear. As much s she wanted to sneak back into England to check on Hogwarts and Remus, Harry's best chance at survival was with her being with him. Plus… it didn't hurt that a lot of her fire for Remus had been killed by him fleeing the fall of Gringotts London. The announcer on the radio started to give details on the invasion of Paris and she bent down to listen closer.
Harry was lying on the room's lone bed, staring up at the ceiling. Like Fleur, he was dwelling on the fact that today he had willingly taken a life. Sure, Quirrel had died as result of fighting him, but he had had no clue that was actually going to happen. Today he had aimed to kill, and found to his disgust that it came easily to him. What did that say about him in the end? That he was no better then those that he fought? Or was this a case of a bloody war that had been destined to occur no matter what, and the ease to kill was a hidden blessing? However, his mind was also thinking along the same lines that Tonks's was. What had Kendor meant? What exactly was going on over there? The radio had made no mention of England other then the fact that is where Voldemort had launched his invasion from. He glanced over at the bag containing the shrunken trunks they had taken from Gringotts and fervently wished they hadn't gone there. He would have gladly given it all up to be at Hogwarts right now.
He cringed and looked over at Fleur. He couldn't think like that. If they hadn't done what they did, then Fleur would have been at work this morning and would now be dead or worse. No matter what, they were now all exiles, and Harry felt a responsibility to make sure they all got through this alive.
~Birds Of A Feather~
Many miles away, Lily Potter stood in the still corpse filled La Place Magique… slowly cleaning blood off of the Sword of Gryffindor while the freshly bleeding bodies of five Death Eaters surrounding her. She had an angry scowl on her face. When she had first arrived, Harry's magic was everywhere, but the sheer number of bodies terrified her. What if she was already too late? She was in the middle of searching through the bodies for Harry, when she must have tripped a ward that the Death Eaters set up and was jumped by five of them who thought they would have easy prey. They never even saw the blade swinging through the air that ended their lives. There was a silver lining. When she was moving around she moved into an area covered with a layer of water, and Harry's magic was strong… and leading away from the plaza. Sheathing the sword, she walked back over to that spot and closed her eyes, the ring on her finger glowing softly. She smiled as she felt the magic stretch off to northeastern France… and the living energy of her son. He was still alive.
"Hold on Harry…" she said softly. "I'm coming." With another crack, she apparated away, following the trail of Harry's magic.
A/N: Sorry for the delay. My computer keyboard was broken for awhile. The A key is still skipping at times, but I got it fixed enough that I can resume typing up what I have written. I hope to have another chapter or two typed up and released in the next 2-3 weeks. Still trying to get enough ahead I can set up a posting schedule. If you see any errors that I missed, point them out when you leave your review and I will go back and fix it as soon as I can.
Thank you, and don't forget to review!