CHAPTER 17
The Chudley Incident
For hours they wandered around the pub and area just outside the door, waiting for the clock above the fireplace to tell them it would be safe for them to leave. When they had only twenty more minutes to wait, they gave up all attempts to try and occupy their minds and stood next to the fireplace looking very uncomfortable. As the time neared, they took a moment to cast some simple transfigurations, giving Ginny black hair again and turning Harry's a sandy blond color.
Ginny could feel her heart pounding as the long hand on the clock face clicked into alignment with the ornately carved nine. Ginny stepped forward but Harry quickly grabbed her shoulder to hold her back.
"What are you doing, Harry?" Ginny nearly shouted. "Ron's in danger!"
"We need to go to Grimmauld Place first," Harry told her.
"We— What?" she sputtered. "Why did we stand around for the last twenty minutes? We could have been waiting there instead."
"No, we couldn't, remember? We need the distraction that crowd in Witherwind's Inn is giving us."
Ginny gave a frustrated huff and twisted her shoulder free. "Well, we could have saved a minute if you'd have told me this beforehand."
"It would have only made you even more anxious."
"Well, forgive me if I don't thank you just now," Ginny growled, knowing he was right. "Why exactly do we need to go back there? Is there a plant you need watered or perhaps you wanted to wear your favorite boots?"
Harry frowned and stepped up to the fireplace. "Think about it, Ginny. We're about to walk into a fight with thirty trained wizards. If there are any Aurors there, they're going to assume that we are the evil ones. If we're really lucky, we'll have some help from Ron and Hermione. Otherwise, we're on our own. Myself, I'd prefer to face that behind a new Shield Cloak or two."
"Fine," Ginny reluctantly agreed.
"I'll go first," Harry said as he took the first pouch and tossed it into the fire. He ignored the looks from the patrons around him and stepped into the fireplace, shouting, "Witherwind's Inn!"
There was a long, dizzying whirlwind of grates and dimly lit archways. Finally, a large square opening froze in place in front of Harry. With a rough jolt, he was ejected from the fireplace and sent sprawling across a wooden floor and into the legs of a small crowd of robed wizards.
"What the devil was that about?" one wizard shouted after he lost his balance and dropped to the floor near Harry. A few seconds later, Ginny tumbled out of the fireplace, slamming into Harry with an abbreviated shriek. The second impact was enough to bring down a pair of young witches who scowled at Ginny and climbed back to their feet where they turned their noses up at her with the greatest effect.
Harry got Ginny's attention. "We've got to go," he hissed. "We're drawing too much attention."
A tall wizard in crimson robes walked over toward them. "What's the meaning of this?" he asked in a higher pitched voice than his height suggested. "Are you two daft or mental? The fliers specifically said not to use the Floo system."
"Sorry about that," Harry apologized as he helped Ginny stand from he was laying on the floor. "We're not really here for the Tornados."
"Oh, you're not, are you?" the shopkeeper asked dubiously. "Then why did you know why everyone else is here?"
Harry rolled over and crawled onto his feet. "We knew they'd be here, we just didn't—"
"—Just didn't think that the rules applied to you?" the wizard shouted shrilly. "—Didn't think that anyone would notice you sneaking ahead in the queue?"
Harry ignored the man, and pointed Ginny toward the front door. It was only twenty feet away, but crowded with wizards holding an assortment of brooms. The moment they started moving toward it, the wizard behind them shouted over the noise of the room.
"Robert!" echoed his voice. "Two queue jumpers!"
Suddenly a very large wizard stepped in front of Ginny, blocking their path. He ungracefully shoved them both back toward the fireplace. As he stumbled backward, Harry's eyes scanned the room. In one of the far corners he saw a wizard looking toward him. It was a face he recognized, though he didn't have a name for it. He had been one of the younger wizards in the Brotherhood. He'd also hated Harry. Right now he was struggling to make his way through the crowd to get to him and Ginny.
"We're not here for the Tornados!" Harry insisted. "We just want to leave."
"And that's exactly what you'll do," the shopkeeper said as he pulled his wand and grabbed the collar of Harry's robes. Together with the rather brutish looking Robert, the two wizards started pushing Harry and Ginny toward a smaller door on the opposite side of the room. It must have been the back door.
"No, please!" Ginny pleaded. "The other door!"
"And expose all my guests to that? You must be drunk."
They were pushed closer and closer to the back door. Suddenly, it opened and a cloaked wizard stared at the four of them. Even the shopkeeper and his guard were caught by surprise. In the brief moment that they stopped Harry's hand shot into his pocket and pulled out his wand. Ginny had just enough time to close her eyes before a loud crack and flash of light burst from Harry's wand.
Ginny felt the hands on her shoulders go limp for an instant, and she ducked beneath them and slipped between their captors. Harry was right behind her. Harry was casting some spell and it sounded as if every witch in the room were screaming. There was a loud rumbling of chairs and tables being tossed about. When she reached to door she yanked it open and waited for Harry.
He was only a few feet behind her, swirling his wand about his head. All around him, the room seemed to be caught in a massive whirlwind. A number of wizards were leaping out the door in front of them and when Harry was nearly out, Ginny slipped out with them.
The day was bright and clear. A perfect day for Quidditch. Ginny, however, could think of only one thing right now: escaping. Once Harry was out onto the street he turned his wand to the door. He fired a quick charm and a second later the doors shuddered as if struck by a gigantic hammer.
"Go!" he shouted. "You know where. I'll meet you there!"
Instead, Ginny pulled her wand and aimed it at the door. If today was going to be a battle, then it best start right now. Harry frowned at her, but said nothing more. She knew what he was doing. He was going to make sure that the Brotherhood didn't harm anyone in their attempt to stop Harry and Ginny.
The door shuddered again, and then with a third rumble, the great wooden doors shattered into large chunks. Only a single wizard stepped out onto the street and the moment he raised his wand toward Harry and Ginny, a great shout erupted from the nearby crowd.
"It's him!" they shouted, pointing at the wizard in the doorway. "He's the one who attacked them!" In a flash, twenty wizards were leaping toward the Brotherhood wizard. As they wrenched the wand from his hand, Harry nodded toward Ginny and shouted a quick message to their pursuer:
"Tell Grigore we are coming!"
Then they Disapparated.
When Ginny Apparated into the alley across from Number Twelve Grimmauld place, she found Harry already halfway across the street. It was a little comforting that he was finally showing some signs that he shared the same feelings of urgency she'd felt for the last hour.
When she reached the door he was already holding it open. After letting her in, he followed her to the kitchen where she was forced to stand lamely, waiting for him to show her just where he kept the robes they'd returned for.
Harry strode into the room a moment later and moved directly toward the same small, locked cabinet she'd seen him use before. After tapping the handle with his wand, he opened it and tossed a pair of darkly colored rolls of cloth toward her. He grabbed another pair for himself and dropped them to the floor.
"Go put those on quickly," he ordered. "There are a few things we need to talk about."
With a deep breath, Ginny dropped the larger cloak on the table and unrolled the set of robes. "There's no time, Harry," she said quickly, hoping that the jumble of sounds were clear enough to be understandable while hiding her nervousness. "Tell me now. I'll change here. It's not like it's the first time, is it?"
"No, I guess not," Harry agreed in a hoarse voice while Ginny slipped her robes down off her shoulders. She was wearing a knee-length skirt underneath it, along with a long-sleeved white blouse that she was already unbuttoning. As she dropped the shirt to the floor, she could tell that Harry was trying to say something, but his mouth just hung open loosely.
"Harry!" she called out. "You said you needed to talk about something."
"Er— Yes, I— Er..."
Ginny pushed her skirt down to the floor. When she stood up, she found Harry staring at her, completely dumbstruck. "Wake up, Harry! We don't have time for this!"
"Right," he said as he turned to stare at the floor. "It just that— Well, it's a little different than... " His voice trailed off. He shook his head and turned his back to her in order to reach into the cabinet again.
Ginny was over at the other cabinet where she kept her extra clothes. She quickly picked a small, tight-fitting shirt and slipped it over her head. It was still quite warm out and if she was going to fight in robes and a heavy cloak, she wanted to wear the lightest and most comfortable clothes she could find underneath them. She began tossing clothes out onto the floor haphazardly, looking for something easier to move in than a pair of jeans. To her left, Harry finally found his voice and began talking very quickly.
"We shouldn't show up at the same time. We can be certain that at least two Brotherhood wizards will be watching and they'll be looking for any pair of witch and wizard our age and height. I'll let you go first. I'll give you a three minute head start. After you Apparate, just keep moving toward the gate. The matches at Chudley are so unpopular they don't even check for tickets. Your disguise should work just fine the way it is. When you're finished dressing—"
"—I am finished—" Ginny announced.
Harry turned and found Ginny slipping on a pair of soccer shorts. His breath caught for a moment, but he recovered quickly. "Alright, then. Take these," he said, handing her what looked to be a pair of eyeglasses.
Ginny stared at them with distaste. "Do you really think these are necessary?" she asked.
"They're Farscopes. They're like binoculars, but they look like eyeglasses."
"They look like bino-whats?"
"Binoc—" Harry started, then cut himself off. "They let you see stuff that's far away. You'll need them."
"For what?"
"Your job is to find Hermione," Harry announced as he changed into the new Shield Robes. "She'll be there. She shows up at all of Ron's matches. If we rescue Ron, she'll be in just as much danger, and if you can find her before anything else happens, she'll be one less wizard we have to fight to get to Ron."
Ginny took the glasses and slipped them into her robes. She slipped the cloak over her shoulders and tied it around her neck. She frowned at it. It felt bulky even when she was just standing still.
"Alright, so I'm supposed to go looking for Hermione. What are you going to be doing?"
Harry began rummaging through the cabinet again. "I'm going to try and figure out the best way to get Ron out of there without having him attack me." He turned around and tossed a small egg-shaped object at Ginny. "You know what that is?" he asked.
Ginny goggled at the small orb in her hands. "Yes," she growled with narrowed eyes. "I helped make it. It's an Eggsplosion. George said they couldn't get it to work right."
"They work just fine," Harry reassured her, "—at least the other one did. There were only two of them. I sort of stole the only two they ever made." Harry gave an apologetic shrug.
"What am I supposed to do with it?"
"I guess it's up to you," he replied. "Just don't use it until you find Hermione and get her down from the stands. Once you're on the ground and safe, toss that at something as far away as you can. Do you think you could get it into one of the towers?"
She rolled her eyes at him. "I was a Chaser, Harry. What do you expect it to do? The worst it might do is make someone ill for a bit. I mean, the smoke should smell really vile, but that's all there is. There isn't even enough of it to hide in."
"All I need is something that will get everyone's attention without actually killing anyone," he explained. "The moment you use that, a lot of things are going to start happening."
"Like what? The pitch has anti-curse wards placed on it."
"Those wards aren't unbreakable," Harry said pointedly. "Once Grigore sees that thing going off, you'll see just how long it takes to pull down wards. And if he doesn't, I will."
"What happens then?" Ginny asked.
"I'm going to get to Ron as quickly as I can. I won't tell you not to help, but it's much more important that you and Hermione escape. This isn't the first time I've faced the Brotherhood. Ron and I will be fine. You need to make sure you and Hermione get out alive. Do whatever it takes. I probably won't be able to break the Anti-Disapparation wards, so you'll have to get away from the pitch before you Disapparate. We'll all meet back here."
"Is there anything else I need to know?"
"Probably," Harry said flatly, "but we're out of time. You need to have Hermione on the ground before the match starts, and we're running late. Do you have a watch or something?"
"Er... not really," she replied while searching her pockets.
Harry reached into the cabinet and pulled out a small watch. He held it up to his own to check the time, then tossed it to Ginny. "With the time it'll take you to get to the pitch and the two minutes it takes to announce the teams, it looks like you've got about seven minutes to find Hermione, convince her that Ron is in danger and that she shouldn't do anything about it."
Ginny Apparated just outside the gate to the Chudley Cannons' home pitch. Unlike most of the other matches here, there was actually a queue of wizards waiting to get into the pitch. The queue seemed to come to an end right under the eaves of a large stand of trees, where a large iron gate stood. At first Ginny was thankful, as the crowd provided her with plenty of cover to get into the pitch.
Standing some distance away, in the shadow of one of the few large trees on the near side of the gate, she saw a pair of wizards watching the stream of spectators. They were probably Brotherhood wizards. Their eyes had already passed over her twice, and they had not so much as twitched an eyebrow. She paused for a moment, letting a pack of tall wizards in appallingly orange robes get between her and the pair of wizards. The extra cover couldn't hurt.
She slowly walked toward the main gate. It hadn't occurred to her that the queue was moving slower than it should be until it was nearly too late. Flanking the gate were two pairs of Aurors. Hung from either gate post was a pair of large signs. In bold print across the top were the words Have You Seen This Witch?, and along the bottom it read: Unpredictable and possibly dangerous. Report sightings to an Auror. Do not approach. Between the rather ominous lines of text was a large photo of Ginny smiling weakly. It was from the photos the Daily Prophet had taken of the British delegates to the World Cup vote a few weeks earlier.
Why were they looking for her? Why did it say she was unpredictable and possibly dangerous? She hadn't attacked anyone. Well, she hadn't attacked anyone without good reason. She ruffled her hair, adjusted the glasses Harry gave her and kept her head forward and slightly down. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see that the Aurors were bored. Perhaps after a half hour or more of searching, they wouldn't be very vigilant.
"Hey there!" a nearby wizard called out. "Isn't that Arthur Weasley's daughter?"
Ginny's reflexes betrayed her and her head snapped up to look at the person who had called out. A quick glance, however, revealed that they were not looking at her, but the poster on the gate.
"What's she done?" the wizard called out to one of the Aurors.
"If you haven't seen her, then it's nothing you need to concern yourself with," one of the Aurors shot back.
"I suppose not," the wizard huffed. "If it was serious they wouldn't have sent you lot. Four Aurors to find one girl? That's one step up from tending Flobberworms."
"Shut up and keep moving," the Auror barked in response. The comment, however, still had some effect. Ginny watched as the Aurors shared annoyed looks at each other. As she passed by, she heard one of them mumbling to the other: "If this were a Tornados match it would be bloody simple, but this is impossible. Spot a red haired girl in this lot? We'd have a better shot of finding a quill in an owlery."
Ginny tried to look natural as she looked around her. She turned back quickly and stifled a laugh. She'd been too preoccupied to notice. It was the last match of the season for Chudley, and since the next year would be a World Cup year, there would be no more matches for a little over a year. This was a fact that few other people had forgotten, and it seemed that many of their fans had decided that they best make up for the upcoming drought by wearing the most outlandish outfits possible. In the few seconds she'd turned around, she'd spotted at least twenty or thirty people who had unnaturally bright orange hair. One wizard had even enchanted his hair to blink from blonde to pumpkin orange.
The Aurors were right. She probably could have sneaked past them even if she hadn't tried to disguise herself. Whoever had assigned them that job hadn't really thought about it all that much. As she passed through the gate, her mind caught on that thought.
Why were they here looking for her?
She'd only been gone for an extra day. Even if Harrington got paranoid and started searching for her, he wouldn't put up a poster saying she was possibly dangerous. He'd also have no reason to think that she'd be at the match, or that she wouldn't simply come forward if someone called for her. There was only one person who could have made the Ministry think that.
Grigore Tarus.
Ginny felt her jaw clench and her pace quicken. How could she have been so foolish as to not see what he'd been doing? He'd been manipulating her since the first time she'd heard his name. He had forced her to talk with D'Anneau. He'd tricked her into helping France host the World Cup match next year. He'd even used her to request the training of new wizards who were almost certainly meant to help him hunt down Harry. Now that she knew what he was doing, he'd turned on her just as he'd turned on Harry. She wondered if she still had a job.
She tried to avoid being noticed by everyone she walked past on her way to the pitch. Chudley hadn't had a popular team for over eighty years, but their pitch had been constructed over a hundred years ago. All of the towers were made from the same grey stone. Each tower had a wide staircase winding around its exterior walls, giving the wizards a surprisingly picturesque view of the area while they climbed to their seats.
Sadly, this was the most impressive thing the Chudley fans had to brag about. The Cannons had been rubbish for the last few years, and while Ron was more talented than a couple of the other players, his addition had not really turned their fortunes around.
As Ginny walked into the shadow of the nearest tower, she touched a small metal knob on the frame of her glasses, and her vision blurred for a moment. The Farscopes were curious things. They seemed to be somewhat like Omnioculars, but more discreet and much harder to control. If she focused on one thing for more than a few seconds, the glasses would begin magnifying it, making it easier to see. If she moved slowly, they would keep their current magnification. However, if she looked about quickly —as she had to when a pair of small children bounced off her— then the glasses unfocused wildly, leaving Ginny feeling as though she would be sick.
She tried not to think about them too much. She didn't have much time. She carefully looked down at the watch on her wrist. Harry had been right. She had just under eight minutes. That would mean that he should be Apparating to the entrance in less than a minute. It would take him another two to reach the pitch. Ginny closed her eyes. She didn't have time to worry. She needed to find Hermione.
The first place she felt she needed to look was the large tower on the north side of the pitch. That was where Dragomir had said Tarus would be sitting and watching Ron. If Hermione was there, she would need to do some more thinking. A few seconds later, she carefully looked through the rows of wizards in the tower. Tarus was sitting in the very front row, and staring down at the wizards walking toward the other towers. It unnerved Ginny for a moment, but she reassured herself that he could not possibly see her, if she needed the Farscopes to see him.
After a few more seconds, she felt certain that Hermione was not in that tower. For the most part, all the wizards sitting with Tarus seemed to be rich, important, or being paid to do whatever some rich, important person told them to do. Just as she was about to look somewhere else, a familiar face caught her eye.
Josef was walking along one of the rows. Ginny stopped and focused in on him. He looked just as serious as Tarus, but walked with a calm confidence that was unsettling even from hundreds of feet away. He sat down next to Tarus, leaned close to him, and began talking. Her heart began beating just a little faster. What was Josef telling him? Was he reporting how gullible she and Harry had been when they accepted help from Dragomir? Or perhaps he was betraying Dragomir just like he'd betrayed Harry.
The sound of loud cheering broke her from her thoughts. She pulled down the glasses and watched as a group of wizards in brooms began circling over the pitch. The players were back up on their brooms after their last meeting as a team. Ron was already zipping back and forth in front of the goal hoops, practicing various acrobatics that Ginny hoped he'd have plenty more seasons to perfect.
She had to find Hermione.
Ginny spurred herself forward. She had less than seven minutes now, and only five until the referees took to the pitch. Once that happened, it would be a lot harder to get up into the towers.
There were six towers arrayed around the pitch. The two tallest towers, the north tower and the south tower, seemed to be reserved for special guests. The one Tarus occupied was directly behind Ron. A quick check of the south tower showed no sign of Hermione.
Ginny began checking the two towers on the opposite side of the pitch —and farthest from her— hoping she would not find Hermione there. Two thorough checks, and one nauseating interruption later, she was certain that Hermione wasn't there. That left the two towers closest to her. It would be impossible to check the tower she was standing under, but she decided that if Hermione wasn't in the other tower, it would be the only option.
She stepped out closer to the pitch and into the sunshine, trying to get a good view of the other tower. As the Farscopes focused in, Ginny began looking for a patch of black and brown in the sea of orange. Her heart gave a little leap as her eyes locked on the image of a witch with wavy hair tied back over her shoulders. She'd found Hermione.
Trying not to run, Ginny quickly weaved through the crowd. As she neared the tower, her eyes caught something rather disturbing. Smoke was rising from near the main gate. A quick check with the Farscopes revealed that the large tree the Brotherhood wizards had been hiding under was being consumed by pale green flames and filling the sky with dark smoke. A number of Aurors had gathered around it. For a moment, she was afraid that something had happened to Harry, but there wasn't nearly enough commotion for that. Instead, a pair of Aurors were ushering a huge group of late-comers through the gate. They hadn't even tried looking at any of them. The Minister could have walked past them without noticing. Ginny smiled and turned off the Farscopes. She'd found Hermione, and Harry was headed for the pitch. So far, everything was going as planned.
The climb up the tower took less time than she'd expected. Most of the spectators had made the trek quite some time ago, and by the look on Hermione's face, she had spent most of the time between then and now listening to their songs and cheers for a team that had won two matches in the last year.
There were no more open seats near Hermione, so Ginny was forced to stand at the side of the large platform. She walked forward a bit, making it easier for Hermione to see her while putting a large wooden beam between her and Tarus's seat in the north tower.
Now she just had to find some way of getting Hermione's attention. Another look at her watch told her that she had only two minutes until the the teams would return to the ground to be announced. She needed Hermione to see her, but she didn't want to risk being obvious about it. If she just walked over to her, it would be a dead giveaway to any Brotherhood wizards who might be watching. Instead she tried something more discreet.
"Psst!"
Hermione didn't even turn to look at her. Ginny tried to be a bit louder, and even waved her arms. While she didn't get Hermione's attention, she did get someone to notice her. A wizard about her age stood up and walked toward her.
"Why, hello there," he greeted her with an oily voice. Ginny stared back at him with distaste. "You looking for someplace to sit?" the wizard asked. He looked to be a few years older than her with bright orange hair and a toothy grin. "You're dressed... er... a lot. Why don't you ditch that cloak and I'll let you watch from my lap."
Ginny almost spat an insult back at him, but stopped herself at the last moment. "Yeah," she forced herself to reply, "Yes, I think that would be nice. I am a bit hot in this. There is just one problem."
The orange-haired wizard straighted up and flashed another smile. "Well then, let's hear it. I'm sure we can find a way to fix it."
"Oh, would you?" Ginny replied in her most helpless-sounding voice. "You're the best. See, I was supposed to sit by my friend there," she said pointing at Hermione. "But there's no room now, and don't want to walk through all these nice people to tell her that I want to sit with you. Could you tell her?"
The wizard ran his hands down his robes, straightening them out and puffing out his chest. "Just that, then?" he said in a deeper voice. "I'd be happy to help you out. What did you say her name was?"
She returned a genuine smile. "Her name is Ginevra." With a little luck, Hermione would understand the hint.
Ginny watched as the wizard shuffled along the benches to where Hermione was sitting and watching Ron tighten the guards on his arms. The wizard who'd been chatting her up tapped her on the shoulder and began talking. Almost immediately, Hermione's eyes opened wide and jerked over to stare directly at Ginny. Before the wizard was even finished talking, Hermione was pushing past him and headed directly toward Ginny.
"No, it's really alright," the wizard said. It sounded like he was almost pleading. "She already said she wanted to. You don't have to—"
"Piss off!" Hermione snapped.
The wizard stopped as abruptly as if she had slapped him. "Hold on," he said in a higher voice, "there's no reason to be like that."
Hermione ignored him and took a moment to stare at Ginny's face, no doubt trying to confirm that it truly was her. When she was satisfied, she took Ginny's arm and began pushing her toward the stairs leading back down to the pitch.
"Hey! Come back!" the wizard called out. He ran after them, catching Ginny's shoulder just as they reached the first step. "She said she wanted to sit with me."
In a flash, Hermione's wand was out and pointed at the wizard's chest. "I don't care what she said," Hermione replied with narrowed eyes. "I said, piss off."
The wizard scowled at the wand. "What do you think you're going to do with that?" he asked, practically mocking her. "Didn't you know? They have wards to stop the use of charms and hexes."
Hermione pushed him away. "Why don't you go back to your howling and barking before I teach you just how much I know about the wards we put up around this place." The wizard paled slightly and slowly backed away from them, shaking his head and mumbling to himself.
"Bloody moron," Hermione said under her breath. She nudged Ginny forward. Together they descended the stairs. Once they had walked halfway around the tower, Hermione stopped abruptly.
"I have to get you out of here," she announced.
Ginny was caught off guard momentarily. "What? Why?"
"Why?" Hermione replied incredulously. "How did you get here? How could you miss the posters? They're all over. The Aurors are all over. They're looking for you, Ginny. They say you're dangerous, but no one is saying just what you did."
"It's a lie," Ginny told her. "It's just a story someone told the Minister to have the Aurors do all the boring work."
"Ginny, the Aurors aren't here on the Minister's orders. Reynard ordered them here. He found some old rule somewhere that allowed him to take recruit Aurors to help Unspeakables if the situation was dangerous," she explained. "Scrimgeour doesn't even know they're here."
Hermione looked into Ginny's eyes. "Ginny," she began, sounding completely serious, "I need you to be completely honest with me. Your safety depends upon it." Ginny nodded. "There are Brotherhood wizards here, right now. Maybe as many as twelve of them. Reynard is convinced that you've joined them, and that you're here to recruit more members, probably me and Ron. Did you join them? Have you agreed to do anything for them?"
Ginny stared at Hermione in shock. "No! Well— I've done things which helped them, but it wasn't for them. I'm not one of them. They've been chasing me ever since I went to Romania to speak with Tarus."
"I really wish you hadn't gone there," Hermione commented. "Grigore Tarus is not a wizard you should be trusting. He's..." Hermione's voice trailed off and she looked around to see if anyone was listening. When she was satisfied she turned back to Ginny and whispered, "He's their leader. He's the head of the Brotherhood."
"I know," Ginny responded, surprising Hermione. From the pitch, an echoing voice was announcing the teams. She was running out of time. "Tarus is sitting in the north tower, and there are more like thirty Brotherhood wizards here, not twelve, and they—"
"—Thirty?" Hermione interjected. "How could you know that?"
Ginny began urging her down the stairs. "I don't have time to explain it to you right now, Hermione. Perhaps you should take the fact that I do know that as a signal that you should just trust me right now."
Hermione followed closely behind Ginny. "They sent thirty of them after you?" she said. "What are they thinking? What did you do?"
Ginny reached the second to last corner, and took one last moment to look at the pitch before the stairs turned away. The players were all making their ways back to the center of the pitch. "I did the right thing, and I don't know what they're thinking," she called back over her shoulder, "but I don't think they plan on failing."
Ginny didn't say anything more and focused on getting down the stairs. She began down the last flight of stairs just as she started to feel a burning sensation in her legs. With one last burst of energy, she leaped down the last few stairs and stumbled as she hit the ground. As she tried to catch her breath, Hermione reached the ground and walked over closer to her.
"This is bad, Ginny. We need to tell the Aurors."
"No!" Ginny barked. "There's no time."
"Ginny! The Death Eaters are here," Hermione hissed. "Don't you see? Fifteen Death Eaters, twenty Aurors, and thirty Brotherhood wizards? They all hate each other. If someone figures out how to take down the wards, we'll be standing in the middle of a war zone! We have to stop the match!"
"I know," replied Ginny as she pulled the small egg-shaped object from one of her pockets.
"What's that?" asked Hermione.
"A signal," Ginny answered, feeling quite a bit more uncertain about this plan than she had when Harry told her. Did he know about the Death Eaters? What would the Aurors do? It didn't matter. One way or the other, the match had to be stopped. "Once I throw this, we're going to want to get moving."
"What sort of signal is it?" Hermione asked warily. "What is going to happen?"
"I don't know," Ginny replied, "but I'd rather not be around to find out." She rolled the egg around in her hand, feeling its weight and judging the best way to throw it. She looked up toward the tower. Harry had told her to toss it into one of the towers. He wouldn't have told her to do it if it was dangerous. She pulled her arm back, and prepared to launch the egg.
"Wait!" Hermione shouted as she lunged at Ginny's arm. "What about Ron? If I'm in danger, he will be, too! Are you just going to leave him here?"
Ginny lowered her arm. "Don't worry about Ron. He'll be safe, I swear."
"How can you know that?"
"Hermione," Ginny growled, "did you not hear me say that we don't have time for this?"
A chorus of shouts erupted from the pitch. Ginny whirled about, and pointed her wand toward the noise. A second later, she realized what had happened. The referee had tossed the Quaffle. The match had started and she still hadn't signaled Harry. For a few seconds she hesitated, waiting for some sign that something horrible was happening. What would Harry do if he hadn't gotten the signal yet?
Ginny reached into another pocket and pulled out a tightly rolled bundle. "Put this on —NOW!" she ordered Hermione.
Thankfully, Hermione said nothing and simply did as Ginny had told her. While Hermione was tying the cloak around her neck, Ginny was taking aim at the platform of the nearby tower. There was no more time to think. She had to just do it and hope that everything turned out well. In one fluid motion, she launched the egg into the sky on a direct course for the ceiling over the top platform.
There was a second or two of complete silence as the small projectile began slowly arcing downwards. It didn't matter. Ginny's aim and anxiety augmented strength more than sufficient. With a barely audible crack, the egg smashed against the ceiling of the tower, releasing a billowing cloud of mustard-yellow smoke.
Ginny quickly turned away and pulled up the hood on her cloak, prompting Hermione to do the same. She had expected shouts or explosions, or something else dramatic, but instead there was only a slowly growing murmur from the crowd.
"What exactly was that supposed to accomplish?" Hermione asked as she looked around.
It didn't seem that anyone had seen Ginny throw the egg, and even now, no one was all that interested in the two black-cloaked witches. Instead they were all watching the tower as coughing spectators stumbled down the stairs through the cloud of acrid smoke.
Beyond the tower, the match had started despite the attack, and panic started to fill Ginny's mind. Something had gone wrong. Harry said something would happen. Why wasn't anything happening?
"Er, Ginny?" Hermione began. "I don't know what you expected, but it's not happening.
Slipping past the Aurors and Brotherhood wizards at the gate had been easy. He hadn't even had to use his wand. He simply dropped a Bouncing Bonfire on the ground near the entrance and let a pair of young boys do all the work for him. He felt a little guilty when the ball struck the old tree, but a burning tree was even more of a distraction than a bouncing ball of flame.
He'd made his way to the north tower as quickly as he could. From the shaded side of the tower, he searched the rest of the towers for any sign of Ginny. There was a chance that Hermione would be in the north tower as well, but it seemed rather unlikely. The north and south towers seemed to be the more expensive seats, as evidenced by the patches of orange in every other tower.
So he stood in the shadows and waited. Ron was flying around again, practicing maneuvers and adjusting his robes and guards. They were only waiting for the team introductions now. Ginny was running short on time. He wished that Razvan hadn't destroyed his last set of Omnioculars in March. They would have been useful here.
Time dragged on, and there was still no sign of Ginny. He hoped the Eggsplosion he'd given her wasn't faulty. The other one had cleared an entire pub in Italy in seconds. The cloud of smoke was so foul that even the rats had evacuated the building. He was certain he couldn't have missed it. Perhaps Hermione had been more difficult to find than he'd thought.
As the announcer began introducing the two teams, Harry had to force himself to take deep relaxing breaths to keep himself calm. Ginny will find her, he kept telling himself. When the introductions were done, both teams flew down to the center of the field. The referee began talking to them, and Harry began nervously scanning the other five towers. There still wasn't any smoke. Something was going wrong. Why hadn't Ginny used the egg?
Harry felt a sharp pang of panic as he watched the Quaffle soar into the air. The Cannons' Chasers shot into the air and actually took control of the Quaffle. Harry couldn't help but frown. That was the best start the Cannons' had all year —and he was going to ruin the match for them.
He started to think of what he could possibly do. Something must have happened to Ginny. He doubted it was anything serious. She wouldn't have let herself be taken without a fight, and he would have seen or heard something. Perhaps she was having problems convincing Hermione without some solid proof of the danger they were all in. Short of running onto the pitch and announcing himself, he didn't know how he could get everyone's attention. Seconds later, the thought vanished as a giant cloud of sickly yellow smoke bloomed from the top of one of the towers.
Ginny had done it. She and Hermione were escaping.
Harry pulled his wand and began focusing on a stand of spare brooms near a referee's tent under the south tower. If Ron was on a broom, the best way to protect him would be from the air. He knew that in a matter of seconds, Tarus would break down the wards and he'd be able to summon himself a broom.
A few seconds later, Harry was still holding his wand and focusing on the distant broom stand. Nothing was happening. All the spectators from the bombarded tower were fleeing as quickly as the staircase allowed, but no wards came down, and no curses were fired at Ron. At the moment, Ron wasn't even paying attention to the match. He was staring at the tower, no doubt wondering if Hermione was alright.
Had Dragomir and Andros lied to him? Where were the Brotherhood wizards? What were they waiting for? Harry strode across the front of the tower and started running up the staircase to try and find Hermione and Ginny. From the landing at the first corner, he stopped and looked out across the scattered crowd still on the ground.
Then he saw them. Most of the crowd was standing still, as though they had been shackled in place. Standing near the tower was a pair of wizards in black cloaks who seemed to be arguing with each other. On the other side of the tower, Harry caught another pair of wizards running through the crowd. They weren't wearing the uniforms he'd seen on the Aurors, so they had to be with the Brotherhood. Seconds later he found another pair, and then a third. They all had their wands out and they were running toward Hermione and Ginny.
They didn't need to break the wards. They could simply grab both of them and there would be nothing Harry could do to stop them. As he tried to think of something to do, he saw one of the witches throw something at the tower again. Harry watched in surprise as a dozen or more vines burst out of the ground and began wrapping themselves around the tower. The first pair of wizards didn't see them until it was too late, and as they passed the tower, they were immediately overwhelmed by the aggressive tangle of stalks and leaves. They struggled against them, but to no avail. With the wards in place, they were unable to free themselves.
From somewhere above him, a voice was chanting. He looked up and saw a wand pointing out over the railing. It had to be Grigore. Guessing his intentions, Harry leaped down the stairs trying to reach the pitch as quickly as possible. Just as his feet struck the grass, a huge, jagged bolt of light shot across the sky above him, tearing through the air with the sound of ripping linen.
Grigore had broken the wards, and now he was coming down the stairs.
Harry dashed across the dusty path and through clumps of shocked wizards. As the first flashes of spells danced in the corner of his eyes, he ran forward, trying to get a clear view of the broom stand again. Suddenly a horrible realization struck him. Grigore was headed right toward Ron. He had to find some way of warning him. After only a split second of contemplation, he acted on the first idea he had.
Running forward onto the pitch, he cleared half the distance between the path and the posts of the goal hoops. He closed his eyes, and forced himself to remember the events of the past year: all the running, all the fighting, all of the people Grigore had hurt to get to him. Then he opened his eyes and pointed his wand into the sky.
"Annihilisto!"
The center goal hoop exploded with an ear-shattering Crack. Less than twenty feet away, Ron nearly dropped from his broom, but quickly recovered and spiraled away from the sound as quickly as his broom could take him.
Harry strode forward and viciously slashed his wand at the three poles in front of him. A brilliant arc of orange flame sliced cleanly through them, making them twist crazily before dropping to the pitch.
As he hoped, the pitch filled with shouts and screams from all the towers. On the grass below, the referees were shouting to clear the area as dozens of hexes erupted from every corner of the pitch.
Above him, Harry watched as Ron shot off toward the south tower. The other players had seen the explosion, and they had also quickly turned, twisted or looped away from the shower of hexes. The flight barriers put up to keep the Snitch and Bludgers near the pitch had become a trap. Unable to simply fly away, and unwilling to join the spectators on the ground, the players were pinned between the invisible barriers and a cloud of hexes being tossed at them. At first it was not easy to keep an eye on Ron, but that changed quickly: Ron was the one who all the hexes were aimed at. Harry raised his wand, pointing it across the pitch.
"Accio Broom!"
One of the brooms leaped off its stand and began sailing toward him. In the back of his mind, he could hear the rumbling echoes of explosions on the other side of the towers. He tried not to think about them. Ginny and Hermione could take care of themselves. The Brotherhood was here for him and Ron, not them.
The broom was nearly to him. His eyes looked to the sky, searching for the wizard who seemed to be in the most danger. Just as he spotted Ron, he felt the smooth handle of a broom strike his open hand. With one fluid movement, he swung his leg over the broom and kicked off the ground. He felt the rush of wind against his face and a sudden impact like a Bludger to his back.
The force tossed him from his broom and sent him tumbling across the grass. His broom landed a few feet away. He looked around to see if he could spot the Bludger, but there was nothing to see. It hadn't been a Bludger at all, but a powerful hex. Instead of the sky, he searched the horizon, and found a pair of cloaked wizards striding toward him. He reached for the broom, but as soon as his hand touched it, it became blazing hot, scorching his hand and splintering into glowing embers only a second later.
He realized his mistake now. He was in the middle of the pitch, visible to almost everyone. He needed to find cover. He scrambled to his feet and ran for the edge of the pitch, where crowds of wizards were flowing toward the only exit. He kept low to the ground, trying to leave no part of himself unprotected as he neared the panicking crowd. He felt a second curse ricochet off his shoulder, and after stumbling a bit, he regained his balance and plunged into the dense wall of fleeing wizards.
However, his safety only meant that there were that many more wizards available to help in the attempt to capture Ron. The only good news Harry could think of at the time was that he hadn't seen any Killing Curses used yet. They were still trying to capture him, not just kill him. That would give him time. He needed to find a broom, but he needed to be a little more discrete about it. If he could follow the path, he could slip through the crowd and reach the broom stand without having to make himself quite as visible as he had been.
He only had to hope that Ron would last that long, and that Ginny and Hermione were escaping with the rest of the spectators.
Ginny could barely hear herself think over all the screaming and shouting. The river of people running down the path to the gate had come to an unexpected stop when a small wooden stand selling gaudy orange hats had exploded in a wave of flame and a shower of sparks.
The gate was down the path, almost within sight. She thought she should have been able to see it, but thick dark smoke was hanging in the air around her. After the explosion, she and Hermione had ducked behind a large stone building that seemed to be some sort of large meeting hall. Twenty or more other wizards had run to join them, all seeking shelter from the violence occurring nearby.
"We have to go back!" Hermione shouted.
"We can't go back!" Ginny replied. "It's worse up there!" To confirm her statement, the ground shuddered and a second later they were struck with the low thud of some explosion up at the pitch.
Hermione glared at her. "I know it's worse up there! We left Ron up there! We need to help him!"
"No!" Ginny argued. "We need to get out of here! Ron's on a broom. He'll be fine. Please, trust me." Ginny paused to peek around the corner. Dark shapes were still running about, crisscrossed by the occasional frightened wizard, trying to make a run for it through the haze.
The air was still filled with dark smoke and angry shouts. Ginny thought she could make out the shapes of three wizards huddling under a short stone wall near the remnants of the wooden stand. They looked to be Aurors, though they weren't doing much fighting. Instead, they were simply hiding behind the wall as two groups of wizards exchanged powerful spells in the middle of the path. The air sizzled and snapped with the energy they were tossing at each other.
A pair of smaller explosions filled the air with even more sooty smoke, making it nearly impossible to see the other side of the path. There was a moment of peace, then a shower of curses from the direction of the gate. There was a truncated cry, then the sound of three sets of feet sprinting up the path toward the pitch. One of the sides was retreating. If the other wizards followed them, they would have their chance to slip past them. More curses zipped past them, blasting apart other stalls and ripping trees from the ground. They weren't running after the other wizards, they were looking for Ginny and Hermione.
Maybe if they timed it just right, they could move around the building and slip past them. Ginny kept watching, waiting for them to appear through the smoke. If she couldn't see them, she was certain they wouldn't be able to see her. Then, slowly, she realized that she could see them. She had taken the first two as the burnt ruins of a cart, but she saw them move and gesture to each other.
They were little more than shadows, but she recognized them now: tall, with black robes, pointed hats, and dark masks obscuring their faces. The pair of Death Eaters seemed to be inspecting the body of one of the less fortunate spectators. Then, like a trio of ships cutting through the fog, three more Death Eaters strode forward. Behind them, the silhouettes of eight other wizards in the same pointed hats slowly approached.
"We need to go!" Ginny shouted as she grabbed Hermione's shoulder and pushed her away from the path. There was a sharp whistle and the area suddenly went deadly quiet. Hermione stared at the path, and through the heavy air, Ginny could see her face going pale. For several seconds no one moved or made a sound.
Without any warning, the air was split with a sharp crack. A second later, Ginny felt as though she'd been hit with a bucket of cold water. She looked down at her cloak, but saw nothing. When she looked up, Hermione was staring at her.
"Your— your hair," she whispered. "It's... red."
"Hold on," a nearby witch whispered. "You're that girl from the poster, aren't you? You're the one they're looking for!"
Ginny waved her hands, pleading for the witch to keep quiet.
"It's her," the witch said in a louder voice. She was panicked and thinking only of her own safety. "She's here! It's her!" she shouted out.
The witch's voice seemed to be swallowed by the dark air, but not quick enough. Seconds later, Ginny heard the sound of heavy boots on dusty earth, and they were coming right toward her.
"Come on!" Hermione said as she tugged Ginny away from the path. The other wizards hiding behind the building shrank away from them as they passed. They turned the far corner running as fast as they could. On the other side of the building was a bizarre maze of tents and fences. It seemed to be a small village of buildings, probably for the various groundskeepers.
Ginny and Hermione dodged between the tents, working their way in the general direction of the main gate. Behind them, they could hear the shouts of the Death Eaters as they blasted their way through the winding paths. Ahead of them was one large red tent. As they ran toward it, Ginny veered to the right, but Hermione went left.
It took a few seconds before Ginny realized what had happened. About the time she noticed, she heard Hermione calling out to her. She shouted back and was rewarded with an explosion as the fence between them was ripped down. Hermione came leaping through the hole, followed by a Death Eater. Ginny pulled her wand, and Hermione dropped to the ground. A quick stunner dropped the Death Eater, and Ginny quickly pulled Hermione to her feet.
"If we get split up again—" Ginny said as they ran for a line of tall trees, "—just run. We'll meet up at my house, alright? Don't wait for me, just run."
"And leave you?" Hermione shouted back.
"If we waste time trying to find each other, we'll both end up dead," Ginny yelled. The line of trees was getting closer. They were only seconds away from it. Those trees meant that they couldn't be too far from the main gate. As they passed under the first trees, Ginny felt her stomach leap. They were going to make it. Harry was going to protect Ron. They were all going to be safe.
The Death Eaters were firing curses into the trees, but they had no hope of hitting either Ginny or Hermione. As they ran, Ginny slowly started to fall behind. It seemed that even Hermione had more endurance than she did. In the distance, Ginny could see the far edge of the tree stand. She was almost out. With grim determination, she forced herself to put every last bit of energy she had into reaching that gate. In her mind, she was already concentrating on the alley on Grimmauld Place.
She never even saw the dark shadow behind the tree. In a second, it had lashed out catching her cheekbone with some horribly hard part of its arm. Pain exploded through her skull, followed by matching blows to her hips and shoulder as she slammed into the ground. As she blinked her eyes to try and clear the tears forming in them, she saw a dark shape looming over her.
In the back of her mind, she recognized the rough, pebbled texture of the fabric. It was dragon-hide, and well made, not the rough stuff that students normally bought. It was not unlike the quality used to strap her to a table a week ago. Now, that didn't seem quite so bad.
Her feet were no longer touching the ground, and the dragon-hide glove was pressing into her neck, pinning her against the rough bark of one of the trees. Her eyes blinked wildly trying to get a clear view of the world around her. With luck, a clearer view might give her some idea of whether it would be getting easier to breathe, or harder.
"Running again, eh?" a rough voice cackled. "We're a little smarter than those Brotherhood traitors."
Ginny sucked in wheezing breath and tried to focus on the wizard in front of her. He still had his mask on, but it sounded a lot like the same Death Eater who had stopped her at last week's match.
"Where's Potter?" he asked with a squeeze of her neck. After she let out a piteous gurgle, he relaxed his grip a little to let her answer.
"He's... dead," Ginny answered weakly.
"Not yet, he isn't," the Death Eater replied. "He's here, and if he's smart, he brought the wand with him."
A number of dark shapes were gathering behind the Death Eater holding her. They were laughing and jeering. Ginny tried not to think of what was going to happen to her. Would they kill her? Or would they just take her as a prisoner? Which was worse?
"Does she have it?" one of the dark shapes asked. There was some jumbled conversation followed by a terse order: "Search her, then!"
As she hung pinned to the tree she felt a number of hands running over her robes, searching all her pockets and patting her down, searching for anyplace she might have put a wand. Her own wand had been dropped a few feet away after being knocked to the ground.
"It's not here!" one voice announced, only to be answered by a second. "Then find Potter!"
Most of the dark shapes disappeared with a rustling of grass and fallen leaves. It seemed only two of them were left, but it was getting harder to tell. Her vision was blurring again, and it was getting darker.
"Where is the wand?" growled the one holding her neck. "That fool Grigore doesn't have it. The Ministry doesn't have it. I think you know where it is. Tell me and we'll see that you live long enough to beg for your life at the feet of the Dark Lord."
Ginny's lips pulled back in a strained smile. "I don't know where it is, and you'll never find it if you kill me."
The Death Eater leaned forward, crushing her windpipe and suffocating her. "Who said we were going to kill you?" he laughed. "We'll sell you to Tarus for the wand. He'd do anything to keep his little pet safe."
Ginny coughed out a laugh. "Didn't you hear?" her voice rasped. "We had a bit of a row. We don't get on anymore."
"I think you underestimate him. If he doesn't have the wand, he will kill whoever has it and trade it for your life."
"No... you're the one—" Ginny paused to draw in a wheezing breath, "—who's underestimating him. He'll take the wand and resurrect Voldemort himself. Tarus will control him, or take his power, and let you lot twist in the wind." Ginny forced her eyes to look into the Death Eater's face. "He'll betray you, again."
"Enough of this!" barked the other Death Eater. "Where is the wand?"
"I don't have it."
"Where did that little Mudblood coward run off to?" he spat. "Does she know where it is? Speak up and we might let her live! Where is Granger?"
"Right here," came an answering voice. A second later there was a bright flash of light, and the wizard who had been talking to her slumped into the one who was pinning her to the tree. The two Death Eaters tumbled to the ground together, leaving Ginny to collapse limply at the foot of the tree.
The Death Eater who'd been choking her pulled his wand out and jabbed it toward Hermione, shouting "Stupefy!" The beam of light struck her, and she collapsed much like the other Death Eater had. Instead of turning his wand on Ginny, he aimed it at the sky. A jet of green sparks rocketed into the sky, exploding into millions of sparks above the trees.
It was only a matter of time before more Death Eaters would arrive. There would be no escape then. Ginny's eyes quickly surveyed the area. They were close to the path and close to the edge of the trees. The gate was very close. She had to try.
Summoning all her strength, she pushed off the tree and lunged for her wand. The Death Eater hadn't expected it, and his first hex missed her by a few feet. Ginny felt her hand close around the familiar shape of her wand.
"Expelliarmus!" she cried. The Death Eater's wand leaped from his hand, sailing in a lazy arc high above them before landing some distance away among months of dropped leaves and twigs. She pushed herself onto wobbly legs and trudged over to the Death Eater. She couldn't leave him conscious. She and Hermione wouldn't make it twenty feet before he caught them.
For a split second her mind contemplated her options for dealing with him. Stunning him seemed to almost be a reward. He would have killed her. He wouldn't have spent a second wondering if she truly deserved to die. He wouldn't think back to that moment for years wondering if she'd done the right thing. In that brief moment, she remembered the face of the dead man in Giza, Lawrence MacClintock. Maybe the Death Eaters could kill without remorse, but she couldn't.
With a disgusted scowl, Ginny stunned him then delivered a brutal kick to his ribs. A second image flashed to the front of her mind: Lawrence had done the very same thing to Stefan Buscan after killing him. Ginny felt her blood running cold.
There wasn't any time left. She had to go. Other Death Eaters were coming. She aimed her wand at Hermione and shouted, "Enervate!" Seconds later, Hermione was crawling to her feet, and searching for her wand.
"You came back," Ginny commented.
Hermione frowned and looked toward the pitch. "You needed help. I couldn't leave you behind. Just like I can't leave Ron behind."
"He's being taken care of. If we can escape, I know he'll be just fine. Right now he's probably worrying about you. Once we're safe, he'll be able to escape, too. Come on, we have to go," Ginny told her. "He sent up a signal. More of them are coming."
Hermione snatched up her wand, and shoved Ginny ahead of her. They ran for the path now, not the edge of the trees. It was closer, and they'd be able to find the gate faster from the path. It couldn't be far. Then they'd be safe. They broke out of the trees and onto the smooth path. They could see the gate, and the path to it was clear. Ginny turned to check the other direction, and felt her stomach tighten.
"Hermione!" she shouted. "We've got to go now!"
Hermione took a second to look down the path, then turned and bolted for the gate with Ginny on her heels. Behind them, a rolling battle of smoke, wizards and wildly aimed curses was charging down the path like a raging storm.
Harry slipped between clumps of wizards as they escaped from their towers and fled down the path toward the gate. His mind was getting more and more troubled by the growing volume of shouts and screams muffled by distance. Something was happening down the path that didn't sound good.
He didn't have time to think about that for the moment. That was the way he would need to take to escape, but he'd never make it on foot like the rest of them. The Brotherhood would spot him long before he made it back to the gate. Right now, he needed to find a quicker way to get to the gate. Speed was the key. If he could get a broom, he and Ron could leave before the Brotherhood and the Aurors even knew where they were.
The rack of spare brooms was only a little farther away. It was sitting by the officials' tent at the base of the south tower. He paused for a moment in the shadows of the nearest tower, trying to figure out just where Ron was.
Ron, along with several other players, were dodging curses and flying from tower to tower, picking up stranglers and ferrying them to the pitch below. He didn't yet realize that if he would simply leave, that the attack would come to an abrupt end.
Harry took a deep breath and decided to make his dash for the brooms. The south tower was almost completely empty now, and there were no more wizards for him to camouflage himself behind. So he simply ran.
When he'd covered only half the distance, someone realized what he was doing. A large bolt of yellow light struck the rack of brooms, destroyed it, and then exploded against the wall of the tower. The masonry had been enchanted to resist damage from storms and Bludgers, not that type of intense magical bombardment, and the stone fractured and crumbled. Harry skidded to a halt, then turned and ran back, just in time to avoid the flying debris as the stone tower crashed onto the pitch.
Harry ran back to the shelter of the other tower and watched as the Quidditch players wheeled about the sky in dismay. They spiraled higher, probably trying to avoid the curses aimed at them from the ground. Harry needed to get up on a broom, but he couldn't see a way.
Then, as if fate had decided to test his will, one of the players dropped from the sky. A second, smaller person was sitting on the back of the broom. As they dipped low to the ground, the second wizard stepped off and ran for the path. Harry knew he wouldn't get another opportunity.
As the player pulled up on his broom handle, Harry's wand flashed out and took aim. "Stupefy!" he shouted.
He was rewarded with a bright red beam of light and a sudden change in the direction the player (a Chaser, by the look of it) was headed. He tumbled backward, but his broom sailed forward, finally striking the ground and flipping end over end before settling on the grass.
Harry apologized to the poor wizard on the pitch, hoping he wasn't injured, and prayed that his broom hadn't been damaged. Harry ran across the pitch directly toward the broom. He felt a curse strike his lower back, sending hot pain through his legs. The broom was only feet away. He snatched it from the ground, then rolled, dodging another hex.
When he got back to his feet, his now useless cloak was already half off. He finished pulling it off and found the wizard who had attacked him. It was a young wizard standing behind the ruin of the old south tower. After quickly twisting his cloak into a long rope-like shape, he cast a quick charm on it and tossed it toward the wizard.
As he kicked off the ground, he saw the long, thin cloak wind its way up the wizard's leg and wrap itself around his arm, sending his last curse at the ground instead of Harry.
Once in the air, he realized that while he might have accomplished his goal, there was now another obstacle between him and escape: the other Quidditch players. Apparently, his trick on the pitch had not gone unnoticed. Now the other players had drawn their wands and they were aiming curses at him.
Harry tried to ignore them. He didn't want to retaliate and risk confirming their suspicions. Luckily, the broom he had was indeed made for a Chaser, and while it was no match for his Firebolt, it would be enough. He dropped his chest parallel with the handle, and shot forward, following Ron's flight as he circled a tower.
Harry gripped the handle and tried to catch Ron. If he could speak with him, he felt confident that Ron would trust him. However, that was not as easy as he hoped it might have been. Ron's skill on a broom had improved over the years, while Harry's had mostly been used only for desperate situations where he was trying to run away from something. It had been over two years since he'd actually tried to catch something.
As Ron dove for the pitch, Harry followed and noticed something peculiar. They weren't the only wizards dropping to the pitch. Ahead of him, Ron gave a cry of frustration as a pair of wizards pulled up sharply and turned to fly right toward Harry and Ron. One of them was in normal robes, but Harry recognized him as a member of the Brotherhood. The other was wearing black robes with a mask over his face: a Death Eater.
The Death Eaters are here, too? Harry asked himself as he and Ron turned toward the new wizards in some form of silent agreement. As they neared the other wizards, they pulled up sharply and spiraled away. Ron checked to see if Harry was still on his tail, but he didn't seem to recognize him.
Taking a gamble, Harry let go of the broom long enough to remove the disguise he'd given himself. It was no use hiding from the Brotherhood. They already knew who he was. Harry leaned over again, urging his broom forward and into a tight turn to avoid the Death Eater and follow Ron.
As he pulled out, Ron looked behind him again and for a second, Harry thought that Ron was about to fall of his broom.
"You think I'm going to fall for that?" he called back.
"No," Harry shouted as he pointed forward, "I think you're going to turn yourself into jelly on that tower if you don't pull up!"
Ron turned his head forward again, and pulled up just enough to skim through the center of the tower between the benches and the stone ceiling.
"What do you want?" Ron asked.
Harry didn't think that now was the best time to talk, but if that's what it was going to take, he'd do it. "I want you to leave as quickly as you can and meet me at Padfoot's old house." Ron didn't reply right away, but his flying became a little more relaxed. Harry took a moment to try and figure out where the Death Eater and Brotherhood wizard had gotten off to.
"How do I know I can trust you?" Ron shouted over his shoulder.
"You don't! Just escape and go to Padfoot's!"
As they shot past another tower, a curse rocketed past Ron, missing him by only inches. Ron instinctively dove and spun away. He hadn't seen that the curse had come from directly behind the tower. From the corner of his eyes, Harry caught the younger wizard dropping as well, with his wand trained on Ron.
Without thinking, Harry drove the tip of his broom down, sending himself into a deep dive. He twisted as he dropped. He saw a flash of sparks and gripped his broom as tightly as he could.
The pain was substantial, but not enough to break his grasp on the broom. As he pulled himself out of the dive, he saw another object drop past him. The Brotherhood wizard landed with dull thud and a pained moan on the grass next to the tower. He had been tightly bound with thin rope. Harry quickly looked up, and found Ron looking back at him with his wand still pointed at the place the other wizard had been a second ago. There was an odd expression of awe and wonder on his face.
A second later, another curse exploded against the tower, ripping chunks of stone from the wall. Finished sharing their moment, Ron and Harry shot off into the sky again. Only seconds behind them was the Death Eater, firing off more curses.
He had the right idea, Harry realized. They hadn't invented a broom yet which could outrun a curse. He didn't need to keep up with them; he only had to hit them with curses as he followed. The plan worked quite well, and after only a few seconds, he had struck Harry with another hex.
"We have to go!" Harry shouted.
"Not until Hermione's safe!" Ron replied.
Harry pointed over toward the gate, where sharp flashes of light could be seen piercing the dark smoke. "If she's not safe yet, she'll need our help, not a diversion!"
"Not if we bring them!" Ron shouted, pointing to the pitch. Harry looked down and saw a clump of twelve or more wizards standing on the path and watching the events unfolding above them. They were more Brotherhood wizards, and they were would follow Ron and Harry wherever they went. They needed to fly, but they couldn't do it with the Death Eater firing hexes at them every other second.
"What about a Bludger?" Harry called out.
Ron nodded and pulled his broom into a climbing spiral. Far above them, the remaining Quidditch players had been circling and waiting for it to be safe to come back down. As they approached, Harry began separating himself from Ron.
Ron let out a sharp whistle. "Fillywick! Set us up!"
Far off, Harry heard the sharp sound of a bat hitting a Bludger. Ron and Harry shot off, and seconds later, the Bludger was quickly catching them. Just as the Bludger was about to hit them, Harry turned sharply, drawing it away.
It was risky. Ron didn't have a shield cloak, but after one more hex, neither would Harry. He twisted the broom roughly, turning in tight circles and loops, trying to give Ron a little more time. Finally, he straightened out, and shot forward as quickly as he could. The Bludger took a more indirect route, but it was following him.
He was flying directly at Ron. The Death Eater was still behind him, firing off hexes. They closed the distance with shocking speed, and at the last moment, all Harry needed to do was lean his head just slightly to one side and Ron veered sharply to the other side. Harry flattened himself to his broom and passed within inches of the Death Eater.
The Bludger, however, did not. Finding a much easier target, it happily drove itself right into the Death Eater's chest pulling him off his broom instantly.
When Harry got his bearings, Ron was already headed toward the path where the battle seemed to have spread out quite a bit. The trees were on fire now, and more Aurors had come down from the towers to try and protect the spectators who were seeking any possible way to escape the attack.
Harry and Ron pulled alongside each other and began scanning the scene below them. "How are we supposed to find her?" Ron asked as he slowly dropped closer to the ground.
"She's with Ginny," Harry replied. "They're supposed to head directly for the exit."
"Ginny!" Ron exclaimed. "Why is—"
"Not now, Ron!"
As they began flying over the main path, Harry was shocked by the amount of destruction below him. They circled the path a few times, dodging curses and looking for any pair of witches that seemed to be trying to escape instead of hide or fight.
The scene was disheartening. Harry couldn't see how anyone could have made it past the battle that was being fought there. In support of that thought was the swirling crowd of wizards fleeing the area, seeking any area that was not the Quidditch Pitch or the path to the gate. Perhaps that had been the plan. Only Ginny and Hermione would be trying to leave, and it would make them easy to spot.
Just as Harry was about to move to fly lower, Ron cried out and pointed farther down the path. There was a path of smoke and destruction leading to the large clump of trees near the gate, and bright green sparks were exploding and crackling over the top of them.
It was a signal, but not the type that Harry wanted to see.
Everyone beneath him seemed to take note as well. The spectators screamed and shouted and tried to run farther away, while a flood of wizards spilled through the barriers and smoke. They ran for the gate as quickly as they could, heedless of curses or fire or who they had been ordered to attack. Something had happened near the gate, and Harry was suddenly certain of where Ginny and Hermione were.
Ron didn't need to be told. He was already dropping out of the sky and shooting forward as quickly as his broom could take him. A band of Death Eaters was already far ahead of them. As they flew, they tried to stun or disable as many as they could, but there were too many of them, and not enough time.
Not far from the gate, Harry saw two small figures stumble into the middle of the path. Within seconds, a shower of spells hit the path all around them. They were running, but the Death Eaters were too close. Ron stunned one of them, but missed on his next try. There just wasn't enough time.
Harry let go of his broom and aimed his wand. He focused on a patch of ground between Ginny and Hermione and the oncoming Death Eaters. A slow heat began to fill him, a boiling anger at all the wizards who were trying to use his friends to get to him. Suddenly, pain shot through his scar, his eyes flew open, and he watched in amazement as a wave of green light shot toward the wizards.
Even as it was tossing the last wizard to the ground, Harry felt a hex slam into his back. His broom lurched, then snapped and fell out from under him. With a quick banked turn, Ron leaned over and caught Harry's hand.
"Hang on!" Ron shouted as he leaned forward and shot toward the Gate.
He watched as Hermione and Ginny ran through the gate and then simply disappeared. Harry clutched his wand and cast a quick Shield Charm to protect himself and Ron from a pair of hexes headed their way. They were only seconds from the gate.
"Harry!" Ron shouted in a panicked voice. "Harry, I can't let go of the broom! I can't get my wand."
"Don't worry," Harry shouted back. "I've got it."
Harry watched the gate fly past them, and he closed his eyes. In a fraction of a second, he focused on Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, the only place he thought of as home, the place where he would finally get to see his friends again.
With a crack Harry and Ron disappeared, leaving Ron's broom to tumble through the air before striking the ground and splintering into four jagged pieces.
Author's Notes:
So, the gang's all back together. This will be the start of the final ascending tension. Hang on.
I've had issues with uploading documents, so Chatper 18 is also ready. I'll post it in a day or so.
