Chapter 9

A Hero returns

It happened so fast, it took her conscious mind a second to grasp the situation that unfolded before her eyes.

There was a flash of steel. The death eater in front of her stopped mid curse, frozen as if he was placed under a petrificus totalus. Soon he started to emit a slow gurgling sound from his throat. As she continued to stare in horror, I thin red line appeared across his face. It ran diagonally from above his right ear, to the bottom of his jaw on the left side of his face. It was as if gravity decided to finally kick in, his upper half of his head slid down onto his shoulder. From his shoulder it landed on the floor with a sickening splat.

Shock filled her mind as she continued to stare at the good eye on his right side of his face. Without any further objection his body as if boneless, sunk to the floor in front of her.

With the death eater out of her field of vision, the truth of the scenario around her shone through.

There he stood, her Harry. He was taller, and had put on a considerable amount of muscle mass. But there was no mistaking the mess of black hair, the government issued glasses, and those intense green eyes. Eyes that were blazing with blue flames.

The Black cloak he wore blew in the calm afternoon breeze. His blood red chest plate gleamed in the sun, Arrhythmic symbols of protection standing out between the moulded muscle.

After observing her briefly he turned around and slowly walked into the middle of the street. The group of death eaters had froze, all there eyes fixated on him. Looking around she noticed that everyone had stopped and where staring at Harry.

This didn't surprise her much, considering Harry was displaying some sort of ancient magic. It appeared almost as if he had blue flames dancing across his shoulders and triceps.

In both hands he held a sword, pointed at a forty-five degree angle from his body. Blood was dripping from the one he had used to save her. All of these observations happened in less than a blink of an eye, as the reality of the situation came crashing down on her.

"Harry, you came," she whispered. Her emotions got the better of her.

"What have I done?" she said to herself in a low whisper, the magnitude of her mistake weighing down on her.

"Harry cant win against those odds."

Then as if time sped up, the battle engaged. Harry moved as if it were a dance, every move calculated to the last possible moment. He sprung left, decapitating one death eater with his blade. Continuing in his spin, he sent a reducto spell at a small group of death eaters sending them sailing through the air. Before he even finished his spin he disappeared, only to reappear in the blink of an eye behind another death eater. The blades of his swords protruding through the death eaters chest.

It was an unbelievable site, every spell sent at him he either casually brushed it away with a shield charm or he just disappeared, reappearing without a sound. Only to draw his blade across another death eaters throat from behind sending a spray of blood into the street.

The battle quickly changed in favourism as the smug attitude of the death eaters became frantic advances in order to prolong the already doomed existence. Some already seeing the outcome of the battle not in their favour tried to apparate away only to encounter anti-apparation words Harry had erected without blinking an eye.

One death eater foolishly grabbed a small third year, threatening to kill her if Harry didn't let him go. Without even slowing down in his path of destruction Harry aimed a small reducto spell, hitting the man straight between the eyes, burrowing it into his skull before exploding, sending the man's grey matter spraying all over the already stained red square.

Finally after what felt like an eternity, but in reality had only lasted a few seconds the last death eater died. Harry's swords criss-crossing across his neck sending his head tumbling to the ground in a spray of red mist.

Once his body hit the ground, Harry standing at a slight angle to the ground after the strength of the blow he had just delivered, rose in a quick movement sheathing both blades firmly in place once again behind his back. He walked towards Hermione, not a drop of blood on his clothing or armour.

Blue flames still surrounding his shoulders, eyes still ablaze from his higher power. He knelt down on one knee in front of Hermione.

"Harry" she said with a weak voice. She smiled while raising a shaky hand and resting it on his cheek.

"You came" she whispered echoing her earlier statement.

"Of course Mione" he replied in a deep magical voice, the tone still came across extremely gentle especially for a man only seconds ago had single handedly dispatched fifty death eaters without breaking a sweat.

Her hand still caressing his cheek, he turned his face to kiss her palm. She smiled at his gesture. Her eyes closing from exhaustion of keeping alert after her blow to the head. Her hand dropped to the ground as she slipped into unconsciousness.

With little effort Harry easily picked Hermione up into his arms cradling her head against the armour of his chest. Without taking his eyes off of her face he apparated away. Leaving the rest of Hogsmeade to decide first what had happened, and second how to start cleaning up the destruction behind his wake.