Chapter 31, The Battle of the Southern Outskirts

The congregation sang…

"O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.

"Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

"O come, Thou Wisdom from on high,
Who orderest all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show,
And teach us in her ways to go.

"Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

"O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan's tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save,
And give them victory over the grave.

"Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

"O come, Thou Day-spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death's dark shadows put to flight.

"Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel."

It was mere hours before the BWLA would leave the caverns and march north to London. The entire cave, it seemed, even people who were not usually religious, had gathered in the American section for the Liturgy celebrated by the American Brigade Chaplain: Captain Father Malchus Ewls.

Ron and Hermione prayed together silently as hard as they possibly could that they would both face the same fate, whatever that would be. To hell, they thought, with the agreement they had originally made for the sake of their son, they could not leave one another, if one of them died, the other would die with them. The communion had been served to those who were catholic, the primary litany had been prayed, all that remained was Father Ewls' sermon and one more hymn.

A small podium had been placed at the head of the congregation which sat upon the stone floor of the caverns, the members, even agnostics, praying as hard as they knew how, beseeching whatever ultimacy that would listen for freedom, for victory. Father Ewls took his position on the podium, his usually nervous expression was replaced with one of resolve and courage. He had no notes or prompt from which to deliver this homily, he truly spoke from the heart.

"Brothers and Sisters, today is Good Friday; a day of darkness, a day of suffering, a day when the Christ, the one hailed as Messiah, Son of God, heir of the throne of David, the great Emmanuel, our God with us, who was to Liberate captive Israel instead is put to death in one of the most painful ways imaginable; the light of the world extinguished, the hope of the world shattered, the sound of joy silenced.

"Confused, saddened, hopeless, the disciples and the Holy Mother looked upon the cross of the savior, 'what do we do now?' they must have asked. But we know now that this is not the end of the story. Death, brothers and sisters, does not have the final say, for on the third day, glorious and immortal, our God-with-us fulfilled the very promise that he gave; he liberated captive Israel from the sting of death, indeed, as brother Paul wrote, 'death has been swallowed up in victory, oh death where is thy sting? oh grave where is thy victory?'

"In a few hours we shall move in the valley of the shadow of death, for one purpose, the destruction of our enemies who seek to oppress us and thwart the purposes of God. Our enemy is Lord Voldemort," some of the congregation gasped at the saying of his name. "Perhaps the most powerful dark sorcerer in history, so powerful and dreadful in fact that many of us fear to even say or hear his name. It reminds me, brothers and sisters, of the ancient Hebrews who feared to say the name 'Y.H.W.H.' The God of Israel was so dreadful that the Hebrews, in similar fashion, dared not speak his name (A/N: It has been brought to my attention that this paragraph has been taken by some readers to be anti-semetic… this is NOT my intention, and I apologize if it is offensive to anyone but I will not edit it any further, for the likening of the fear of God's name to Voldemort is, I think quite justified, given that—even though God is loving and kind—God is called dreadful in the old testament 1 Sam 11:7; Isa 8:12-13; Jer 20:11; and his dreadfulness is certainly implied in New Testament Eschatology)

"I am reminded brothers and sisters of something that Brother Paul once wrote, 'If God be for us, who could be against us?' Is Voldemort more powerful in our eyes than our God? Is Voldemort a God? Some might think that he is, indeed his goal is the same as God's, to swallow up death in victory, but what Voldemort and his followers fail to realize is the glorious truth that we have in Christ, Jesus: death has already been swallowed up in victory.

"Many here have doubted our ability to defeat Lord Voldemort, many here have suggested that our only option is surrender, that Voldemort is too powerful, to magically gifted to be defeated. They could be right; I will not, brothers and sisters, hide the truth from you, Voldemort is a powerful tyrant; perhaps the last great antichrist, and indeed we may die, indeed we may lose this battle and this war. But as powerful as he is, as magically gifted as he is, as dreadful as his very name may be, he is but the buzzing of an annoying fly to the power and might of our God, Jesus Christ, who has already won the victory over death, 'oh death where is thy sting, oh grave where is thy victory?'

"Though Voldemort may triumph today, though he may triumph tomorrow, though he may even rule the world in darkness for years to come, God remembers still, his promise, 'fear not I am with you, be not dismayed, I will strengthen thee, yea I will help thee, yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.' Christ will return again in glory, and not even Voldemort will stand to his righteous power.

"For those who doubt our chances; Mahatma Gandhi once said, 'whenever I despair, I am reminded that throughout all history, there have been tyrants and murderers with such power that for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall.' Think about it brothers and sisters, always the way of love, and truth, and righteousness has prevailed. Such is the way of things, the way of the Lord; that though darkness may rule, its reign is only temporary but God's glory is forever and ever, and to the ages of ages.

"Our reading from the letter of Paul to the Romans reigns more true now than it ever has before, 'For thy sake we are killed all the day long, we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter, Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.'

"Let us learn from this the comforting truth, that in the fight against evil, God is not neutral! And if God be for us, who could be against us? Let us stand together now, and sing our closing hymn, Charles Wesley's beautiful hymn of victory, victory already won, let us stand and sing 'Christ the Lord is Risen Today! And let us remember that although today, on Good Friday, darkness veils the earth, but we know that the story does not end on Good Friday, for Easter comes shortly and the resurrection of the savior manifests the ultimate victory of God."

A make-shift magical organ began to play, the congregation sang…

"Christ, the Lord, is risen today, Alleluia!
Sons of men and angels say, Alleluia!
Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia!
Sing, ye heavens, and earth, reply, Alleluia!

"Love's redeeming work is done, Alleluia!
Fought the fight, the vict'ry won, Alleluia!
Jesus' Agony is O'er, Alleluia!
Darkness Veils the Earth No More, Alleluia!

"Vain the stone, the watch, the seal, Alleluia!
Christ hath burst the gates of hell, Alleluia!
Death in vain forbids His rise, Alleluia!
Christ hath opened paradise, Alleluia!

"Jesus Christ is risen today, Alleluia!
Our triumphant holy day, Alleluia!
Who did once upon the cross, Alleluia!
Suffer to redeem all loss. Alleluia!

"But the pains that He endured, Alleluia!
Our salvation have procured, Alleluia!
Now above the sky He's King, Alleluia!
Where the angels ever sing. Alleluia!

Lives again our glorious King, Alleluia!
Where, O death, is now thy sting? Alleluia!
Once He died our souls to save, Alleluia!
Where thy victory, O grave? Alleluia!

Soar we now where Christ hath led, Alleluia!
Following our exalted Head, Alleluia!
Made like Him, like Him we rise, Alleluia!
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Alleluia!

--------------------

Early that evening, about 6:00 PM, while the BWLA was marching north to the Southern outskirts of London, two American Aurors along with Kingsley Shackbolt, escorted Cornelius Fudge to his meeting with the Muggle Prime Minister. Shackbolt, after having worked for the Prime Minister only a year earlier, still knew how to gain access to the Prime Minister's office via the muggle entrance. In fact as he, and the two Aurors, escorted Fudge—all four dressed in muggle business suits—his old muggle cohorts would greet him. The four had passes straight to the waiting area just outside the Prime Minister's office, whose schedule told him that he was meeting with the French Deputy Ambassador. This was exactly how Fudge was introduced to the muggle secretary outside the Prime Minister's office.

As Voldemort had placed anti-apparition fields to protect London, along with the cut floo connections courtesy of the resistance, no wizard could get in or out of the city through organized wizardry means unless they wanted to fly. Hence, Fudge, shackbolt, and the two Aurors had to travel as Muggles.

The Prime Minister had been eagerly awaiting this meeting for some time now, over the past few months he had developed an enjoyable working relationship with the French Deputy Ambassador, both enjoyed playing Golf together. When the secretary buzzed his office indicating that the Ambassador was waiting, the Prime Minister eagerly instructed that he be allowed in.

The first to enter the office was Kingsley shackbolt…

"Oh Mr. Shackbolt, I didn't know you were transferred to the…," the Prime Minister began, when he noticed Cornelius Fudge entering his office as opposed to the French Deputy Prime Minister, his jaw dropped in shock. "You!"

"Yes, good to see you again Mr. Prime Minister," said Fudge as he shook the Prime Minister's hand. An expression of shock and fear grazed the face of the Prime Minister.

"The last time we met, you and Scrimgeour assured me that I would never see you again Fudge," said the Prime Minister angrily. "What have you done with the…"

"Relax, the Deputy Ambassador never had an appointment with you today, he's playing Golf in Scotland," said Fudge. "And Minister Scrimgeour and I actually told you that, should all go as planned, you would never see us again; unfortunately things have taken a turn for the worse: you-know-who has now taken control of the Ministry of Magic."

"You mean that Vol…"

"Don't say his name!"

"He is in control of your government?"

"Unfortunately Mr. Prime Minister, Minister Scrimgeour made a mistake which allowed you-know-who to gain control of our Ministry," Fudge continued. "But we have formed a resistance Mr. Prime Minister, and unfortunately in the next four to five hours, or so, this resistance will make itself manifest."

"You mean…"

"We're going to attack London,"

"You can't…"

"Mr. Prime Minister, if we are not able to defeat you-know-who tonight, I fear that it will only be a matter of months, perhaps weeks or days, before he will attempt to take over the muggle world as well, your very political survival depends on our victory tonight."

At this statement, the Prime Minister's attention was caught. He suddenly gave an expression of resolve. Minister Fudge had just pushed the Prime Minister's main button.

"What do you want from me?" asked the Prime Minister?

"Simple," Fudge responded. "Our wand cannons are going to bombard an area of the city about four square blocks, Mr. Shackbolt will give you the exact coordinates, it would behoove you to evacuate this area."

"I can't evacuate four city blocks of London without a reason Minister!"

"Believe me Mr. Prime Minister in only a few hours—six at most—you will have a reason."

"But…"

"Thank you Mr. Prime Minister," said Fudge as he shook the confused muggle leader's hand. "As always it is a pleasure to see you again," Fudge turned to Kingsley Shackbolt. "Mr. Shackbolt if you will help the good Prime Minister with what he needs to make the appropriate decisions?"

Fudge then turned to the door, he and the American Aurors left the office in a Rush. The Prime Minister turned nervously to Kingsley Shackbolt who remained in his office. The Prime Minister's face gave the expression of a nervous wreck as Shackbolt conjured a map of London with his wand.

"Mr. Shackbolt, do you still remember how to operate a telephone?"

"Yes sir,"

"Then get me Scotland Yard," the Prime Minister instructed, he continued unsure of himself but mysteriously trusting of Fudge. "After that, I want to talk to the Lord Mayor, we have a rather large area to evacuate and only a short time in which to do it."

"Yes sir."

--------------------

In the countryside south of London there marched a huge box formation of over fourteen hundred men and women marching (out of step) north. In midst of this formation, standing next to each other, their hands clutching their wands, their expressions resolved and confident—yet insides turning inside out with nervousness, were Ron and Hermione. Occasionally the two would hold hands, in order to strengthen each other, as they continued the walk which had now lasted three hours, but was aided by the use of magical time-forwarding devices.

Several meters away from Ron and Hermione were Draco Malfoy and Neville Longbottom who marched together in the formation. The two old enemies had been assigned to so many missions together by the BWLA that they had almost become friends and were so used to working and fighting together that their mutual presence gave each other a since of comfort as they marched into what would quite probably be their deaths.

In the front of the formation marched R.J. Lupin with his wand in hand and his sword sheathed at his side. Aside him marched another British Nasserite who had chosen to remain with the resistance rather than going to the temple. Closely behind the formation, rolled several wand cannons atop small wagons about the size of muggle cars. Marching at the head of these wand canons, just behind the formation, with her wand in hand was Nymphadora Lupin.

The skies were also filled with hundreds of America broomsmen (including Father Malchus Ewls), bombardiers atop hippogriffs (including Hagrid atop Buckbeak), and a magically flying platform, pulled by a hippogriff atop which stood Severus Snape, General Alias Coulter (with his firebolt slung behind his back) and Alastor Moody.

While the friendly broomsmen and Hippogriffs surrounded the formation as it moved slowly forward, General Snape looked ahead of his formation with a hand-held telescope. His expression suddenly became more resolved, his hand's twitch gave the faintest hint of nervousness. After removing the telescope from his eyes, however, his outward expression was as resolved and unemotional as ever. He handed the telescope to General Coulter.

"Their Army is approaching, we're outnumbered."

General Coulter's nervousness was slightly more pronounced, though instead of unemotional resolve, he chose optimism as a means by which to hide it as the telescope rested on his eye.

"Not by that much, it could be worse," he said.

---------------------

Voldemort had moved from his office to a large room deep in the ministry of magic, wherein stood a large table, atop which laid a large map of London and it's Southern Outskirts. Several magical blips moved slowly upon this map toward each-other representing the two armies about to engage in battle. Moving south from London was a group of blips colored blue, moving north was a group of blips colored red.

As Voldemort, joined by several high-ranking Aurors surveyed this map, a red light suddenly surrounded Voldemort, and before him stood Bellatrix Lestrange, whose expression was one of fear. Voldemort's face became powerful, he stared directly into Lestrange's eyes, causing her hand to twitch nervously.

"Yes, my lord?" asked Lestrange.

"How many men can you spare Bella?" asked Voldemort, his voice calm, but his expression powerful and frightening, his eyes glaring into Lestrange who responded with apologetic fear, knowing that her master would not like her answer.

"None, we're in the middle of a battle my lord."

"We are under attack Bella!" Voldemort responded harshly, his eyes glaring even more intensely. "I want a thousand of your best men here in three hours, and I want you here as well!"

Lestrange's face became even more frightened, her face pleaded for release from the assignment her master had given her.

"We can't get there in three hours, we can make it to the coast, but with the magical transportation cut off, we'd have to march to London."

"Better double-quick it then Bella!" shouted Voldemort harshly. "If that army makes it into London, heads will role, your head to be specific."

Bellatrix Lestrange's expression became one of resigned nervousness, she nodded.

"Yes my lord."

--------------------

Atop the small, hovering kart, pulled by hippogriff, which carried Snape, Moody, and Coulter, the mood was becoming tenser and more nerve-wracking with each passing moment. All three men were doing their best not to display any visible emotions, but even Snape's hands bore a nervous twitch as they held his small magical, long-distance telescope to his eyes. Moody had begun to drink from his flask quite regularly, and often muttered to himself incoherently, while General Coulter kept pacing back and forth, his hands shaking.

"We should be within weapons range in about thirty minutes," Snape's voice broke the silence as he brought his telescope down from his eye.

At this, General Coulter's face became resolved, he stopped pacing and maneuvered so as to be able to look Snape in the eye. It was clear to Snape, that Coulter wanted something, his eyes bore intense desire.

"Their Broomsmen could be here any minute though," Coulter said. "General with your permission I'd like to lead a company forward for reconnaissance, bombardment, and to intercept what we must assume to be their opening aerial attack.

Snape considered this for a second before responding.

"Send your company in, you stay here."

"But General…" Coulter began to protest, obviously desirous that he should lead his men personally."

"I cannot win the aerial battle without you," Snape responded, his commanding gaze fixing into the resolved, yet submissive, expression of Alias Coulter. "Send your men in."

Coulter reluctantly nodded, taking his wand from his robes. With a wave in the upward direction, Coulter sent red sparks from his wand which moved to form a red-white-and-blue star, and the letter C. In response to this pattern, several broomsmen, including Captain Ewls, began to fly several kilometers-per-hour faster than the others beside whom they flew.

Seeing the sign from the kart above them, along with the broomsmen advancing quickly with a hint of rush and urgency in their movements, served to increase the already present nervousness of the people marching on the ground. Upon seeing the advancing company of broomsmen, Hermione took Ron's hand into hers as they continued to march. Her expression was one of uncertainty and nervousness, her hand shook as it clenched her husband's hand as tightly is it could.

"So here is starts," said Hermione with a definite shudder in her voice.

"They're going to try and intercept enemy broomsmen." Said Ron, with a hint of shaking in his voice as well.

Hermione nodded as she breathed deeply and heavily, a tear of tension welded in one of her eyes.

"We can probably eventually expect aerial bombardment for the next few hours till we get to the real thing," she said. "We may die before we even get into the actual battle."

After finishing this statement, Hermione and Ron, along with just about everyone in the formation began to hear the definite sounds of curses and jinxes being conjured, along with explosions and human screaming, in the distance. A loud, deep, powerful, male voice came over the nervous chatter which traversed the BWLA ranks.

"DOUBLE-QUICK TIME, MARCH!"

Hermione, Ron, and the entire formation responded by picking up the pace of their steps. This same nervousness was present throughout the formation; as the two of them virtually jogged along with the other surrounding fighters around them, both Draco Malfoy and Neville Longbottom bore expressions of sheer terror. As they continued to run, their breathing became heavier, their hands clutched their wands to the point of nearly squeezing sawdust there from.

"Good Luck to you Neville," Draco suddenly shot to Neville.

Neville looked back at Draco Malfoy, who looked back at him. As they continued to jog, their eyes caught each other's for a moment; the two gave each other a nod and continued jogging.

It was indeed a stroke of good fortune for the BWLA that General Coulter thought to advise Snape to order the first of his companies into the fight, anticipating the interception of a preemptive aerial assault from Voldemort's forces. Indeed, the American broomsmen ran into just such an assault.

Two formations of Broomsmen, one belonging to Voldemort's aerial army, the other belonging to the American Auror force, virtually collided into one another, jinxes and curses of an innumerable variety hurling at each other without mercy. Within seconds, the sky was full of curses and human bodies, some dead, some alive, falling from the sky.

Within seconds of the opening shots of the battle, Captain Ewls had already downed two enemy broomsmen. Flying amidst a hale of curses, all of which narrowly missed him, he suddenly jerked his broomstick upward, pulling himself into a climb at an incredibly high velocity; performing half of an inside loop, he maneuvered himself into a dive at two enemy broomsmen who were chasing an American, hurling killing curses at her, narrowly missing. Upon obtaining a clear line of site, taking aim with his wand, Captain Ewls hurled two stunners at the pursuing enemies, downing both of them. The former pursuant gave a thankful wave of her hand.

The skies around the aerial fighters suddenly became cold, the expressions on the faces of the broomsmen on both sides suddenly became desperate, hopeless, as several Dementors joined the fight, attacking almost indiscriminately. Several broomsmen on both sides managed to make it past the fight now taking place above the two advancing ground formations in order to dive into the opposite sides' ground formations with various curses.

Hermione's and Ron's nervousness suddenly decreased as they observed these attacks descending directly upon them. They were suddenly filled with a new emotional constitution, anger, rage, even hatred, a sudden urge to kill took over their volitions; they wanted to be in the fight and a strange exhilaration replaced their fear of death.

"Look!" shouted Hermione as three enemy broomsmen were making a dive into the formation at an angle which put she, her husband, and the other resistance fighters in their immediate surroundings directly in their firing line. The three broomsmen carried, on their backs, small packs, out of which each of them retrieved small, glowing, silver, spheres. The Broomsmen threw theses spheres to the ground; they exploded on impact, causing Hermione and Ron to be thrown back by the shockwave.

After Ron struggled to his feet, he found himself disoriented, an annoying ringing filled his ears; amidst the double-time jogging of the resistance fighters around him, several bodies lay as well, not moving. He scanned the ground for Hermione, beginning to panic at first, worrying that she had not survived the explosion. He finally found her only a few feet away, obviously disoriented as well, struggling to her feet. Ron took her by the arm and pulled her into his embrace. It took only a second before they were able to get their bearings and took off in a double-time jog with the rest of their formation.

Across the now running formation, broomsmen and Dementors dived into its ranks, wrecking havoc. Each of the broomsmen on both sides had similar packs, with similar spheric bombs which they hurled into their respective enemy's formations. With the aid of the Dementors however, Voldemort's aerial attack had indeed inflicted much more damage to the BWLA formation.

As Hermione and Ron continued in their jog, Ron suddenly spotted three more broomsmen making a dive at their section of the formation. They didn't wait this time; before the three could even reach into their packs, Hermione, Ron, and the others in their section opened fire with stunners and killing curses. Ron's stunner hit one of them, while the killing curse of another BWLA fighter hit another, the third broke off his attack.

The hippogriff-towed platform, atop which stood Snape, Moody, and Coulter, flew above the aft section of the ground formation which too was under aerial attack. All three men found themselves hurling curses and jinxes at enemy broomsmen, as their platform was indeed a target. The three who stood atop the platform, however, were perhaps among the foremost dark arts defenders in the world, hence none of the enemy attackers were successfully able to bring the platform down.

One determined broomsman made a run directly at the side of the platform manned by Severus Snape, flying a firebolt-broomstick at an incredibly high rate of speed. The man made it close enough to the platform for him to hear the incantation of the curse that killed him. A greenlight came from the platform, and darkness.

----------------------

Lord Voldemort demanded regular updates on the battle from Lucius Malfoy. As such, Malfoy often found himself surrounded by Red Light, standing in front of the Dark Lord who demanded a report. Malfoy directed the battle from a similar hippogriff-pulled platform, flying above his own ground formation with three other wizards. It was during his observations of the continued gradual closing of the two formations through a magical, hand-held telescope, that he found himself once again surrounded by red light, standing before the Dark Lord.

"Lord Voldemort," said Malfoy confidently. "Our broomsmen have engaged the enemy for about twenty-five minutes now, enemy infantry is now within weapons range."

"Deploy wand cannons," Ordered the Dark Lord calmly.

Malfoy nodded as the redness surrounding him faded and he found himself back to the platform on which he had previously stood. Malfoy quickly turned to one of three men who joined him on the platform.

"Artillery, concentrate on weakening their flanks," He ordered calmly, coldly. "We're going to try and surround them.

Just aft of both formation were in the upwards of fifty to sixty wand cannons which had been armed; these artillery pieces were moving forward with both Formations, waiting for the moment in which their enemies would be in range in order that they might open fire. Standing atop the wagons which carried these magical artillery pieces were wizards who, with their wands, waited for the order to begin.

On Voldemort's side, the order finally came down to the men manning the artillery, "fire at will, concentrate on the flanks." The men manning the cannons took their wands, and without incantation, gave the side of the long rods—which composed the wand cannons—hard taps. These taps caused explosive noises resembling muggle artillery to sound, along with large fire-explostions to occur at the tips of these rods, out of which flew fireballs the size of large catapult boulders, hurling into the air toward the BWLA formation at an incredible rate of speed.

From his platform, Snape could see the large fireballs hurling into the air, and then falling quickly onto his formation, causing havoc. He now realized his mistake at not anticipating sooner that the enemy artillery was in range, as was therefore his own, he turned to Moody; unable to hide his emotions he practically shouted at him.

"There gonna try and flank us on both sides!" he said. "Artillery, concentrate on their flanks, we'll fight this battle in the center."

With a wave of his wand into the air, Moody sent a miniature version of an exploding fireball hurling in midair. Almost immediately after having done so, the BWLA artillery began to hurl fireballs of its own at Voldemort's formation.

Hell was probably the word that could best describe the situation in both formations amidst the aerial attacks and fireballs hitting and consuming in flames tens of wizards at a time on both sides. Ron and Hermione's exhilaration had been replaced with terror as firebolts exploded only meters away from them, causing the ground beneath their feet to shake violently, even throwing them off of their feet. People around them who stood to close to the explosions burst into flame. Unable to do anything, having to fight the incredibly strong urge to run, they pressed on.

At the front of the formation, Remus Lupin and his fellow Nasserite attempted to keep their formation moving amid the hail of fireballs, dementors, and aerial broomsmen attacks.

"KEEP YOUR RANKS!" Lupin shouted at those who were behind him as they continued to jog.

The huge enemy formation, which was suffering almost as badly from attacks from BWLA artillery and American Broomsmen, was now coming into sight.

"KEEP MOVING!" shouted the other British Nasserite.

Fewer than expected had deserted under fire. In fact only a handful from both formations ran. In spite of the intense pounding, both of the formations managed to remain mostly intact as they now came to within about a quarter of a mile's distance from each other. Upon realizing the increasingly close distance, and now being able to see individual figures as opposed to the blur of black robes which made up the enemy's formation, Lupin drew his Nasserite sword and pointed into the air.

"CHARGE!"

Amid the explosions of the fireballs, amid the attacks of the dementors and broomsmen, amid the emotional chaos which reigned in the minds of those who composed the infantry formations, a new sound came. It was said that both Voldemort's and the BWLA's forces gave a yell capable of conjuring the fires of hell.

The pace on both sides increased to the point of a full sprint of everyone in both formations. The distance between them closed: a quarter mile, three hundred meters, two hundred, one hundred, fifty, twenty feet, ten feet… collision!!!

The two formations hit each other with the force of a crashing waterfall. In seconds there were no more battle lines, in seconds the two formations were indistinguishable. R.J. Lupin and the other Nasserite broke from command of their ranks and began to deflect assorted curses, including killing curses, with their swords, slashing through any enemy wizard who managed to get too close, dueling with any Nephesites they found.

Amid the chaos, Ron and Hermione somehow managed to stay together, defending each other against unfriendly wizards attacking them from all sides. Their inhibitions to the wind, both of them resorted to the use of the killing curse, both of them even using it with the motivation to cause pain to their enemies. All reason and rationality had left them, they now fought off of adrenaline, using their rage and hatred to block out the utter chaos around them and focus on the destruction of any enemy wizard they came across.

Explosions!!! Draco and Neville found themselves in a similar situation, attempting to defend themselves and each other amid the utter chaos around them. Both of them fought well, successfully able to put away their fear.

Dementors!!!

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

"AVADA KEDAVRA!!!"

"STUPEFY!"

"CRUCIO!"

"IMPEDIMENTIA!"

"INCENDIO!"

"PROTEGO!"

"STUPEFY!"

"INCENDIO!"

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

The ears of the wizards on both sides were filled with these sounds. Upon hearing them, each wizard could only hope that they were not the target.

Curses!!! The Aerial Formations were now as blurred and confused as the ground formations. Captain Ewls simply hurled whatever curse came to his mind first, including the killing curse, at whatever enemy he saw next. Maneuvering through the hundreds of broomsmen on both sides all around him was like maneuvering through a nearly impossible obstacle course. Half of the danger to the aerial broomsmen was running into another broomsman and getting knocked off his broom.

Boom!!! The explosions from wand artillery left huge impact craters in the ground which wizards from both sides used as cover while they continued their hurling of various curses at various random enemies.

As the formations continued their intermingling, both aerial command platforms were in visual range of each other. Severus Snape knew immediately that Lucius Malfoy stood upon the other platform as it slowly descended into the intermingling formations. Lucius, drawing his Nephesite Sword, had joined the fight, slashing into any BWLA resistance fighter he found, blocking any curse anyone dared to send at him.

"I'm going down there," said Snape after watching the enemy command platform descend.

"General you can't…" began Coulter in protest.

"You may join your men General," Snape said. "Take command of the aerial battle!"

Without a word, General Coulter slung his broom around to his front, mounted it and lunged forward into the fight. Seconds later, the Platform landed just behind the intermingled battling formation. Both moody and Snape dismounted the platform.

"General Moody, assist Captain Lupin in commanding our artillery," Snape ordered. "We have to relieve ourselves of their bombardment, concentrate your fire on their wand-cannon positions."

"Yes sir," barked Moody. "Good luck to you."

While Snape moved forward into the intermingled formation, cursing any enemy wizard he came across, Moody struggled on his false leg, back to the BWLA artillery positions. All-in-all, the BWLA was slowly, but surely, pushing forward, while Voldemort's forces were slowly but surely giving ground. The ground was slowly beginning to slope upward toward the summit of a hill, atop which the BWLA fighters beheld a trench in which several of Voldemort's fighters took cover.

The ground was littered with craters caused by the explosions of wand-artillery. Ron, without warning, took a firm hold of his wife's arm and lunged her into one of these craters before diving after her himself. The two now believed they had better cover from which they continued their jinxing of enemy wizards.

Remus Lupin meanwhile dueled with a Nephesite Death Eater, who lunged toward him with his sword, Lupin successfully deflected the attack, sending the sword flying from the Nephesite's hands. Before the Death Eater could reach for his wand, Lupin lunged his sword into his chest, causing him to fall. After retrieving his sword from the dead Death Eater's chest, he turned immediately to other enemy wizards, deflecting their curses, slashing into their bodies, sending them to the ground.

General Coulter, meanwhile, had joined his broomsmein in their aerial attack. In terms of air superiority, the Americans far outnumbered Voldemort's forces. In over an hour of battle, nearly the entirety of Voldemort's aerial force had been destroyed, causing an overwhelming amount of positive emotional energy among the Americans which in turn served to overwhelm the dementors who discovered it now quite difficult to suck it from their enemies.

This, in addition to the multiple patronuses cast at them, began to suck the energy from the vast army of the Dementors. The first round of Dementors began to shrivel up in mid air and fall to the ground, dead. The Dementor's defeats, in turn, caused even more invincible positive energy to run through the American broom fighters which caused even more of them to starve to death. Somehow, the positive energy caused by victory was untouchable to the Dementor's feeding abilities.

After only an hour-and-a-half of battle, the Americans controlled the skies. Lead by General Coulter, they began to attack the enemy's wand cannon positions, wrecking havoc on Voldemort's artillery.

Had Lucius Malfoy been able to see the attacks made on his artillery, he would have been able to handle the situation, as it was however, Voldemort's artillery was completely confused. Instead of assigning half of their remaining wand-cannons to target the BWLA's artillery, and the other half to fire flack at the attacking broomsmen, they completely ignored the BWLA artillery, focusing entirely on the broomsmen who were flying too low to hit. Within ten more minutes, Voldemort's artillery was in a shambles.

---------------------

It had been early evening when the battle began, it was now fully dark and overcast outside as the battle continued to rage. After two full hours of battle, the BWLA now had the clear upper hand and was pushing Voldemort's army up a gently sloping hill. The ground formation had passed Voldemort's wrecked artillery line; the positive energy caused by the continually positive prospects for victory on the part of the BWLA had now killed almost all of the Dementors, and caused the others to flee; the Americans had also taken complete control of the skies. It was quite clear that Voldemort's defenses would not last much longer at all.

Lucius Malfoy, with his Nephesite sword was wrecking havoc on anyone he encountered, working his way forward through the lines until coming upon the field commander of the BWLA ground formation, R.J. Lupin. It was Lupin who initiated the duel, Malfoy didn't actually see him as he was slashing through normal wizards who were unable to accurately curse him on the count of amazing deflections with his sword. He was about to thrust his sword into a BWLA witch's chest when it was deflected and held to the ground by Lupin's Nasserite Sword. Both Lupin and Malfoy now looked each other in the eye.

"R.J. Lupin, I can't tell you what a pleasure it will be to kill you."

"If this is my time to be with the Lord, Lucius," began Lupin in response. "…the pleasure will be all mine."

Without exerting any physical effort whatsoever, Lupin leapt high into the air over Lucius Malfoy, he performed a flip in mid air, and came down to his feet behind his opponent. Malfoy immediately turned to face his Nasserite opponent and thrust his sword toward Lupin's stomach, it was deflected by Lupin's weapon. Lupin began a slash for Malfoy's torso, but was blocked by Malfoy's sword. The two continued their duel intensely for several minutes in midst of explosions and curses erupting all around them.

Dueling with three enemy wizards nearby was Severus Snape

"STUPEFY!" shouted the wizard

"Protego!" said Snape, deflecting the enemy wizard's curse with a wave of his wand, "Locomotor Mortis!"

The legs of the enemy wizard suddenly locked, and he fell to his face. As he fell, he revealed to Snape's plain sight, the duel which was currently taking place between R.J. Lupin and Lucius Malfoy. The two were lunging at each-other intensely, Malfoy swung for Lupin's neck and narrowly missed as Lupin leaned far enough back at the right second; at the same time he brought his own sword swinging at Malfoy's torso, cutting barely into his side. Malfoy fell back, grasping his side in pain.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" came Snape's voice, as a green killing curse lunged at Malfoy. At the very moment when the curse was about to hit him, Malfoy let go of his wound and brought his sword up to deflect the curse, and send it hurling back towards General Snape, who dove out of the way just in time to save his life.

When Snape recovered from his dive to the ground, he found himself slightly disoriented, and unable to locate Malfoy and Lupin, who had returned to their intense dueling. It was then that Snape realized that his own forces were moving steadily forward, spotting the first sign of independent enemy withdraw as several enemy wizards were fleeing. Snape immediately began to urge his own forces forward, going around to the various craters in which people took cover, beckoning them harshly to get out and continue the advance.

"GET UP! GET OUT OF THERE! YOU HAVE NO COVER IN THERE! GET OUT AND ADVANCE!"

Most of the people to whom he yelled obeyed immediately, some of them, however, had to be persuaded more forcefully by Snape jumping into the crater and physically removing them in spite of their fear.

-------------------

As Hermione and Ron continued to take cover in one of the craters several meters away from Snape, Hermione finally notice the duel between Malfoy and Lupin. Lupin made an upper-cut at Malfoy's legs, causing him to be lifted off of his feet and land on the ground on his back. Lupin then having the upper hand raised his sword to make the final stabbing blow in Malfoy's chest; just then the overcast clouds gave way to what was, unfortunately for Lupin a full moon. When the light came upon him, he froze as his sword about to carry through with its thrust. His pupils widened, his mouth flew open, and he stepped back several steps in obvious pain in obvious pain.

All across the formation, several wizards—most of whom were on Voldemort's side—began having the same kind of fit as Lupin. Many of these wizards were killed by members of both armies immediately as they were seen to be having these convulsions. As he too slashed into normal wizards with a Nephesite sword, the werewolf, Fenrir Greyback transformed quickly into wolf form. He did not resist it, as did other werewolves involved in the battle, which gave those around them precious seconds in which to kill. Greyback not only embraced his change, he began to jump into those around him, even wizards on his own side.

"Oh no," said Ron as he observed Lupin.

Malfoy quickly came to his feet, and before Lupin could complete his involuntary transformation into a werewolf, thrust his sword into Lupin's chest; he then twisted it in order to complete the kill.

"NO!" shouted Hermione who, without thinking jumped out of her covering crater and ran toward Lucius Malfoy.

"Hermione No!" shouted Ron from behind, trying to lay his hands on her back in order to stop her from leaving the cover of the crater but failing to do so.

With tears of rage in her eyes, Hermione took aim at Lucius Malfoy with her wand, she did not think of the good of the cause, but of pain. She wanted to transfer the pain she felt at Lupin's death to Malfoy, she wanted him to suffer.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.

Lucius deflected the curse with his sword, sending it hurtling back toward Hermione. At the last second when Hermione thought sure she would meet her maker again, a warm mass rapped its arms around her, taking her to the ground; the curse passed safely overhead. Lucius Malfoy suddenly noticed the retreating members of his army, and began to fall back himself.

Hermione found herself on the ground, breathing heavily, the body atop her was that of her husband.

"That was really stupid Hermione!" Ron told her.

Tears came to Hermione's eyes; the battle no longer raged around them, but was now moving more quickly up the gently sloping hill, atop which were trenches that were being held by Voldemort's forces and used for cover as they continued to fire curses at the approaching BWLA. Hermione's tears were not only for the loss of her old professor but for herself, she not only tried to kill someone, but she wanted him to suffer, she wanted to cause him indefinite pain, she wanted quite literally to send him to hell. Not only this, but she had successfully killed other wizards in the same way during the course of the battle.

She felt like a murderer, she had become what Lupin had unfortunately predicted the war would make her. As Ron continued to lay atop her, she found herself praying for her God's forgiveness. Her tears were not only for herself and Lupin, they were tears of fear, exhilaration at the sight of the retreating enemy, continued anger, loss of innocence, any and all emotions which could possibly be imaginable.

"GET UP!" came the voice of the exhilarated General Snape. "MR. WEASLEY, MS. GRANGER, GET UP NOW!!! GET UP TO THE CREST OF THAT HILL AND FIGHT!"

Snape took hold of Ron's shoulders and pushed him forward toward the crest of the sloping hill, he then took hold of Hermione's hand and pulled her up as well, giving her a harsh push toward the hill. Ron took Hermione's hand as the two of them joined the charge toward the enemy trenches, which were now not only being attacked from the land, but the sky as well, as American Broomsmen were commencing strafing runs at the trench.

None of the bombarding broomsmen managed, however, to notice what was beyond the hill. When General Coulter and Captain Ewls first spotted it, they could not, at first believe their eyes. Their expressions were ones of utter terror at the new prospect.

"Son-of-a-Bitch!" Ewls cursed in frustration, after which he made the sign of the cross penitently.

"Stay on the attack, Captain!" Coulter ordered Ewls as he set off searching the grounds in an attempt to find General Snape.

From his position on the slope of the hill, without any cover at all, General Snape directed the charge of the remainder of his army toward the enemy trenches atop the crest of the gently sloping hill. The curse-fire emanating from the men and women taking cover in those trenches was intense, but weakening as more and more of Voldemort's fighters fell.

As Snape continued to direct the charge, a broomsman suddenly landed next to him. At first, Snape took aim at the lander with his wand, after noticing it to be General Coulter, he lowered it.

"General, we have a problem!" said Coulter with a definite presence of fear in his voice.

--------------------

As Ron and Hermione continued the Charge, to their relief and excitement, they noticed several of Voldemort's forces leaving their trenches and retreating.

THEY'RE IN RETREAT!" came a voice.

"Yeah!" shouted Ron while Hermione cheered as she and her husband continued the charge.

Hermione and Ron joined the now shocked and mortified forces of the BWLA in the newly held trenches to behold a sight which made them both nearly collapse in despair.

--------------------

Professor Snape, who had managed to keep his calm through the course of the entire battle was now nearly in tears at what Coulter was telling him.

"General we must withdraw, we don't have a chance!" said Coulter.

"It's too late," said Snape. "Our forces are already advancing too quickly, keep fighting!"

Without another word, Snape left General Coulter and made his own dash for the trench. Coulter got back on his broom and lunged into the sky. Those already in the trenches beheld with horror, the sight of over a thousand fresh troops lead by Bellatrix Lestrange, advancing up the other side of the hill. The BWLA was now hopelessly outnumbered, having maybe six hundred fighters left. What was left of the American broomsmen, lead by General Coulter, took advantage of their continued air superiority by beginning an attack but there was little hope; the BWLA infantry were outnumbered almost two-to-one, and exhausted.

As Hermione and Ron viewed this in despair, new tears came to both of their eyes; Hermione turned her back on the approaching enemy troops and sat down in the trench, her expression one of resignation. Ron accompanied her, placing his arm around her shoulders.

"So that's it then, isn't it?" said Hermione. "It's a hopeless cause."

She turned her head to see the sobs of her husband, and the tears falling from his cheeks to the muddy ground. She remembered suddenly his sobs as she lay dying in the infirmary of the Temple of the Cross, which in turn, caused her to remember the smiling eyes of Jesus after having died briefly. A smile grazed her lips through her tears, as she continued to look at her husband.

"I love you Ronald Billius Weasley," she said. "I always have, since the first moment I met you on the train our first year; somehow I loved you then, and I know that whatever happens here, I always will love you."

Ron turned to face her, his expression was a strange combination of desperate determination and resignation. He brought his lips to his wife's briefly; after breaking apart he gazed directly into her eyes, assuming a look of determination as powerful as one of Reverend Ewls'.

Hermione, I thank God every day for you," he said. "And I am so grateful that we will die together."

"Who says we're going to die Ron?" Hermione asked rhetorically. "We have a savior! I'm so happy that we will to go to paradise together."

"That's right," said Ron, kissing her again. "We're going to live forever, hell this may not even be our time."

"All we have is hope, right?" said Hermione with a definite smile on her face. "Well then I guess there's one more thing left to do here."

The two stood and faced the advancing enemy forces with looks of determination.

--------------------

As the newly arrived army of Voldemort made its way at a slow speed up the hill, Lucius Malfoy joined the side of Bellatrix Lestrage, whose Nephesite sword was drawn.

"We're you retreating Lucius?" asked Bellatrix with an arrogant gleam in her eyes.

"Hardly," retorted Malfoy. "Just joining your formation."

--------------------

As Hermione and Ron stared at the oncoming enemy forces with looks of peculiar hope, Ron suddenly took Hermione's left hand into his right; both of them held their wands in their opposite hands.

"In Paradise Hermione…"

"In Paradise Ron…"

The two gave each other a quick peck on the lips.

"No matter what happens Ron," Hermione began. "Promise me that you won't let go of my hand; promise me that we'll be together."

"We'll always be together Herm, I promise."

Hermione nodded in resignation.

"Then let God's will be done."

The two aimed wands in front of them as the enemy formation began to charge up the hill, shouting at the top of their lungs. Hermione and Ron replied with shouts of their own, hurling whatever curses came to their minds first at the advancing enemy.

From across the horizon, several fireballs rose from new enemy wand-cannons, landing all around Hermione, Ron, and the BWLA resistance fighters around them. The shock-wave of one of the explosions sent Ron to the floor of the trench; he was, however helped back up by Hermione, and continued with his curses and jinxes.

Walking parallel with the wall of the trench at a quick pace, Snape shouted orders of encouragement at his remaining army.

"POUR IT INTO EM MEN, POUR IT IN TO EM!!!"

--------------------

A sudden explosion sent both Hermione and Ron to the ground. When Ron came to, he saw an enemy witch in a black robe holding him at bay with her wand. Ron instinctively put his hands above his head. This did not, however, stop the witch from beginning to wave her wand for the killing curse. At the exact moment when Ron expected to see the last green light he would ever see, a red stunner hit her in the chest from the sky.

As Voldemort's forces began to enter the trench, several curses came from a new direction in the air; not from the American Broomsmen, but from a new source. Several hundred new broomsmen adorned in black robes, each of their robes bearing a shield, had entered the fight and targeted Voldemort's forces. They flew low, so low in fact, that most of them leapt off of their brooms, drawing swords as they did so. Upon reaching the ground they sliced into Voldemort's forces… The Nasserites had arrived.