Disclaimer: I told you all before, I don't own anything related to the Harry Potter franchise nor am I making any money off of this fic.

Chapter 9:

The Fall of Privet Drive

"Where are we going, father? It's raining outside, can't this wait?" Draco being his usual whining self, complained to his father. The weather was terrible, as a summer storm had decided to descend upon much of England that day. His father, who had been freed only a few weeks ago, had arrived back from a meeting with the Dark Lord a few minutes ago and had immediately told Draco to grab his wand and put on his cloak.

"Quit your whining, boy, it is unbecoming of your station," the elder Malfoy sneered. It was times like this that he felt he had been too soft on his son. "The Dark Lord has graciously allowed you the grand opportunity to witness the defeat of one of his most outspoken opponents, so do be silent and be grateful you have been given this gift by our lord."

"Potter!" Draco, the sick little boy he was, could not hide the glee in his voice. "You're going to kill Potter!"

"That is correct. Now, you will wear this the entire time you are there." Lucius tossed his son an invisibility cloak. "And do not lose that! I do not wish to explain to the Dark Lord why one of his cloaks has gone missing! Remember, you are only to observe, not to get involved. Is that understood?" Draco knew from his father's tone that any argument would be futile.

"Yes father," he said sullenly.

"Good, now grab this portkey." Lucius Malfoy handed his son one end of a piece of rope, ignoring the small pout on Draco's face as the two Malfoys felt a tug behind their navels pull them to their destination. They found themselves standing amongst a group of about thirty other Death Eaters, all milling about in their masks and black robes. Despite his relatively small number of followers right now, the Dark Lord was not willing to risk this mission failing and had sent most of his already limited forces to ensure the death of Harry Potter.

"Lucius!" A harsh female voice called out to him. "About time you showed up! We have been waiting on you."

"My apologies, Bellatrix," Lucius replied with the trademark Malfoy sneer, "but I had to take care of some business for the Dark Lord before we proceeded. Speaking of which, are we ready to proceed?"

"Quite ready," she snarled before addressing the whole group. "Lucius, Crabbe, Goyle, Macnair, Peterson, Avery, Wilson and Smith, you all are with me. Our job is Potter and his family. The rest of you, deal with the muggles then regroup at Potter's house. Do not, however, allow Potter to escape! Rabastan, you take your men and watch the exits. Keep them secure while the others torch the neighborhood. Now, get into position!" With that, all the Death Eaters began to disperse, moving off in their groups to their pre-designated positions.

The group of nine led by Bellatrix headed off to #4 Privet Drive, with Draco tailing behind in the invisibility cloak. They seemed to have no concern about being spotted in the terrible weather and strode proudly to their target. The rain and wind seemed to have no effect on the Death Eaters as their robes remained unmoved by the howling wind and the rain appeared to not touch the cloth at all. As they neared the house, Macnair looked as if he had noticed a slight indentation in the grass off to his left where the rain seemed to behave a bit oddly. Without a second though, he pointed his wand in the general area. 'Accio Invisibility Cloak!' A cloak flew to Macnair 's hand leaving a startled looking Mundungus Fletcher standing in the open. Before he knew it, the old criminal had been stunned and bound. Once he was secure, Bellatrix walked over to the body and revived him.

"Ah, Mr. Fletcher," she said in a falsely sweet voice. "Doing the dirty work for that Muggle-loving fool Dumbledore? Perhaps watching over a Mr. Harry Potter. Hmm?"

"I don't know what you plan to accomplish here," Fletcher said with as much false bravado as he could muster. "There is more than just me protecting the boy!" Bellatrix laughed at the weak defiance in the old criminals voice.

"Do you really think my master is ignorant of the protections around the Potter boy? Just like the old fool, you underestimate the power and knowledge of the Dark Lord!"

"Potter's untouchable! The blood protection will keep the likes of you out!" While the old criminal tried to sound confident, his voice held a waver of fear.

"Really?" Bellatrix seemed to purr. "Do you think that the Dark Lord would not find a way around the blood protections? Or perhaps the old muggle lover has overestimate the strength of these wards and underestimated the skills of our Lord and his servants? Either way, you are very much mistaken. Oh, and don't go thinking that your Order is going to save the day like last time. Our Lord has been planning this for a very long time and has already taken steps to ensure the success of tonight's operation."

"What are you talking about?" a noticeable panic had crept into Fletcher's voice. Vernon Dursley's timing could not have been worse, for at that moment, he pulled his car into the driveway to #4, completely unaware of what was going on. Fletcher tried to yell out a warning but was elbowed in the face by a near-by Death Eater, and whatever noise he had made was drowned out by the rain and wind. Vernon, meanwhile, got out of his car with a small plastic bag of groceries, grumbling about having to walk to the house in this atrocious weather, only to have two Death Eaters block his path. He spluttered and his face turned a shade of purple before he managed to get any words out.

"What is the meaning of this! I will not have freaks like you tainting my property! I have guests and I don't want you poisoning them with your unnaturalness! I demand that you leave immediately!" None moved, and even a few were heard snickering at the stupid muggle. Vernon was just inhaling to continue his shouting when Lucius stepped forward and after a quick Imperio, Vernon calmed down. McNair stepped forward and pulled a rather large carving knife from within his robe and pushed it into Vernon's hand.

"Now," Lucius began speaking again, "Go and kill your family. And please, make it long and painful." With that, Vernon, his eyes slightly glossed over, turned around and walked calmly into the house, carving knife in hand.

Bellatrix turned back to Fletcher. "Now, my dear Mundungus, what should we do with you?" She grinned wickedly and the others smirked, as they knew that whatever Bellatrix was planning, it would be very unpleasant.

Draco stayed back and watched in morbid fascination as his father and his cohorts dealt with the enemy of the Dark Lord.

R-o-t-G-L-

Severus Snape was not having a good day. He had been busy preparing potions for Madam Pomfrey so she could heal the children who were stupid enough to get themselves injured during the school year. Really, he reasoned, would it not be more educational if they learned to brew the healing potions for themselves? Unfortunately, those who ran the school disagreed. So, he had to spend his day creating such mundane concoctions that he almost wished something would happen.

Fate had apparently heard his plea.

It was midday when his mark had started to burn. Albus was out on Ministry business, so leaving a note on his own desk, Severus had to Floo to his house where he then apparated to the Dark Lord's side. He was surprised when he got there. It appeared as if all of the Dark Lord's Death Eaters were present. He joined his place in the circle and waited for the rest to show up. As soon as all of his followers were there, Voldemort made his appearance.

"Welcome, my Death Eaters. Today we shall finally show our strength to the world and continue what we started so many years ago. Today, we shall destroy the Boy-Who-Lived!" Cheers came up from the gathered witches and wizards. Even as Severus cheered, his mind was racing. 'Didn't Albus have the boy under some powerful wards? I'm positive he said they were impenetrable. Has the Dark Lord figured out how to break them?' His thoughts continued to race as Voldemort quickly calmed down his servants gave them their orders.

This was how Severus Snape found himself going from house to house along Privet Drive, killing muggles and torching the houses. He hated it. Normally, he had no problem tormenting students, for they no doubt made fun of him behind his back and probably deserved it. But these helpless people hadn't done anything do deserve his ire, and it made him sick. There were reasons he had left the Dark Lords service those many years ago, and this was one of them. Severus had hoped to be on the team that went after Potter. Perhaps then, he might be able to save the foolish boy. As he dwelled upon this thought, he couldn't help but feel confused. What was so important about the boy that Albus took great pains to protect him while the Dark Lord had devoted almost his entire force of Death Eaters to his either killing the boy or bringing him in (the dementors had remained with the Dark Lord so as to protect the manor)? After all, he was just an arrogant whelp who was far too much like his father and survived by luck.

There were too many Death Eaters for Potter to escape, Snape told himself. This came to him as no surprise and this had always been the Dark Lord's failsafe plan. All his others had been made so as to minimize the risk of his forces getting captured or killed. Seeing as Potter had foiled all of those, this was the back-up: an assault on Potter's home. Like everything the Dark Lord did, it was planned out well, perhaps over-planned, but planned out none the less. All through the school year, Death Eaters had prepared to create new wards and negate the old ones around Privet Drive, while the campaign of terror in the rest of the muggle neighborhood was planned in such a way that it should have the maximum effect on the rest of the populace. What better way to kill the Boy-Who-Lived than to have his corpse surrounded by so much destruction? If that did not break the spirit of the wizarding world, then the wizarding world was far stronger than it had ever indicated before hand.

What really upset Severus, however, was that Harry Potter was going to die and he would have to explain his actions, or lack thereof, to Albus when he got back. Sure Albus would understand, to a point, but the old man though too highly of the brat and would probably give him a guilt trip for not being able to protect Harry. Mentally sighing, Severus turned back to his task of killing the muggles. He would definitely need to brew a dreamless sleep potion when he got back to Hogwarts. As he set fire to another home, he kept repeating to himself that he really hated his job.

R-o-t-G-L-

It had taken Hermione and Remus almost a half an hour to calm down her family. If the attack hadn't rattled them, then the trip by portkey certainly did. Of course, they were all panicked for different reasons. Her parent's were upset because she had put herself in danger and had kept them from helping. Her grandparents and cousin, however, were shocked because not only had they just been attacked by wizards, they had discovered that their wonderful, if elusive granddaughter (or cousin), was a witch as well.

Right now, Hermione was with her family in the sitting room of #12 Grimmauld Place. The house had been cleaned up since Christmas. The walls, while remaining dark, had been scrubbed and the chandeliers and serpent door handles polished. The only real renovation was the addition of pink carpeting. Oddly, after seeing some of the ridiculous things wizards and witches dressed in, this didn't surprise her.

Remus had remained there also so he could help explain the situation to the muggles as Kinglsey had to go to the scene of another Death Eater riad. An uncomfortable silence descended over the room, no one exactly sure what to say. Hermione fidgeted. This summer had not been good, as all of the little secrets she had been hiding from her family had come to light in a most unpleasant way.

"So..." It was Melissa who finally broke the silence. "What's it like being a witch? I mean, do you really worship demons and stuff?"

"No Melissa, that just a belief created by ignorant muggles a long time ago. I am pretty sure that-"

"Muggles?"

"Sorry, non magic folk." Melissa just nodded her head in understanding.

"John, Anne, why didn't you tell us?" It was her grandmother who had spoken. "We want to be apart of our granddaughter's life! Did you not consider us?"

"We wanted to tell you mom, we really did." Anne cried out. "But there are rules about secrecy that we needed to follow."

"But why would it matter, Anne? We could have kept it in the family." The older woman sounded almost pleading.

"If I may?" Remus had decided that his intervention was most likely necessary to prevent a rift in the family. It seemed everyone had forgotten about him as they just stared at him, before nodding at him to continue.

"The rules were created hundreds of years ago when the muggle world actively hunted witches. While they were generally unsuccessful, it proved to the magical world that muggles could not handle the idea of magic. I'm sure much of muggle culture has changed and the idea of magic may possibly be acceptable to now, the magical world, however has not changed much in the past few hundred years. The pureblood families, though a minority, practically control the ministry and they are very much stuck in the past. In fact, breaking the Statute of Secrecy on any sort of large scale can lead to a sentence in Azkaban. So, whether or not you kept the secret or not is inconsequential. Had the ministry found out, it may have led to legal trouble, anywhere from expulsion from Hogwarts to prison time." He then turned to Anne and John. "Would I be correct in assuming that you received a letter informing you of this?"

"Yes, it came with Hermione's acceptance letter." John then turned to his in-laws. "Anne really did want to tell you, but the letter was very insistent that only the immediate family could be informed. Will you forgive us?"

"We understand, John. We may not be happy about it, but we understand." With that, Hermione's grandfather turned to Hermione. "Well, what's done is done and things can't be taken back. Now that your secret is out, why don't you tell us what you have been doing for the past few years."

"I agree. What has happened has happened, but I still want to know what you have been doing with yourself all these years Hermione." Hermione's grandma added.

"Yeah, and don't spare any details!" Melissa chirped in excitedly, obviously trying to brighten everyone up. "We were just attacked by your world, so the least you could do is give me, I mean us, all the juicy details." Hermione just smiled at Melissa. She always knew how to lighten the mood. She glanced around at the expectant faces of her family, glad that they had accepted her so easily, glad that they were willing to move on so quickly after an attack. If talking kept their minds off of the attack, she had no problem participating.

"Well," Hermione began, getting into her lecture mode, "as you know, I go to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Currently, I am studying the basics; Transfiguration, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, History, Potions, and care of magical creatures. I also take Ancient Runes and Arithmancy. My best friends at school are Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. The headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, is most likely the greatest powerful wizard of our time."

"You will probably meet him later tonight." Remus added. Hermione nodded to him and continued.

"Right, I should probably tell you where you are. Currently, you are in the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, an organization set up by Dumbledore to fight against Voldemort."

"Who is Voldemort?"

"Well, Melissa," Hermione said patiently, "he is the Dark Lord that sent the Death Eaters after me."

"Why did he send those Death guys after you?" Hermione's cousin queried. "I mean, I'm sure you are quite talented witch and all, but I would assume that a student wouldn't be a threat to some evil lord."

"Normally you are quite right young lady, but Ms. Granger here is very good friends with one of Voldemort's greatest enemies." A strong yet old voice said from the back of the room. Albus Dumbledore had arrived.

"Headmaster!" Hermione almost yelled in surprise. "Remus thought you wouldn't be here until later. Is everything alright sir?"

"Yes Ms.Granger, everything is fine. The paperwork at the ministry didn't take as long as I had anticipated. Indeed, I would have been here sooner, but I had to stop by my office to check on some things."

"Were there any casualties tonight Albus?" Remus asked cautiously.

"Luckily no, though we are still trying to figure out what the purpose of these raids were. I will be calling a meeting tonight where we discuss this in more detail."

"Sir?" Hermione asked. "Were there more attacks? I mean, more than mine and the one Mr. Shacklebolt went off to."

"Indeed there has been Ms. Granger. It appears that the families of the students who had been involved in the incident at the Ministry were targeted by Death Eaters this evening. I do believe that your home was the only one that was breached, likely due to the fact that, being a muggle home, it only had a few defensive wards. Most wizarding homes have some form of warding around them, usually put into place by the builder."

"Was Harry attacked?" Both Hermione and Remus asked almost in unison.

"No. When I was at my office, I checked the status of the wards around Privet Drive. They remain intact and un-breached. Harry is fine." Albus replied, though under his breath he added "not that they would have an easy time even if they did breach the wards."

"Was there a lot of damage?" It was actually Anne who asked this.

"No Mrs. Granger" Albus replied, "Like I said, the wards on those homes are strong, and we have Order members watching them. As soon as the Death Eaters showed up, we knew and sent help."

Melissa had stayed quiet and seemed to be pondering something. When she seemed to be unable to adequately answer her own question, she spoke up.

"Which one of Hermione's friends is the Voldemort fellow after? And why does he have these followers?" Albus looked at the young woman. 'Most definitely related to young Hermione,' he thought amusedly.

"Perhaps it would be best if Hermione explained her relationship to Mr. Harry Potter herself? I believe she knows more about Harry than anyone else, including Harry." Hermione seemed to blush faintly at the attention, especially the focus on her friendship with Harry. "If you don't mind, Ms. Granger?"

"Of course not sir!" Hermione then turned to her grandparents and her cousin. "The story really started about fifteen years ago in a place called Godric's Hollow..."

R-o-t-G-L-

An exhausted, half-asleep Harry stumbled out of his tent and into his dark bedroom in #4 Privet Drive. He had spent quite a bit of time today working on building up his latent magic, which was thoroughly exhausting in and of itself. Add in the ritual he had done, he was dead on his feat. As he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, he silently prayed that it was just a false alarm., that perhaps the Order had come early and he was getting all nervous for nothing. After all, he definitely did not feel up to a fight and even if he was, it wasn't how he wanted to spend his evening.

As he gained his bearings in the dark room, a flash of green light drew his attention to the window. He crept to his window and peered outside. The rain was coming down hard and was almost horizontal from the high winds, but he could still see the street. He almost wished he couldn't. #3 across the street was burning, along with at least another dozen homes. And that was just what he could see from his window. He could hear screams and he saw people in white masks and black robes running about killing any of the muggles that tried to flee their burning houses. Suddenly he heard someone begin to scream downstairs. This shook him out of his shock of seeing the carnage outside. Reflexively and with a quick wave of his wand cast a very complex locking charm on his door.

He dove into his tent, grabbed his trunk, and tried to apparate, only to find that the area was covered in an anti-apparation ward.

"Damn," he muttered as he felt his magic well up in preparation for apparation only for nothing to happen.

He kicked his trunk open and snatched the first thing that he found, which happened to be a quill, and muttered 'Portus'. He grabbed hold of it and counted down to three.

Nothing happened. Looking outside, he knew he couldn't go into his 'smoke form' he had practiced with his duplicates. He had learned in his training that even with magic, he was a slave to physics sometimes and thus wind easily effected him, and the more spread out he became, the harder it would be to re-form. With the wind as strong as it was, he would probably be torn apart before he was even completely out of the window.

He quickly realized that he would have to fight his way out. He looked around his tent, considering hiding out in there, but then he remembered that the Death Eaters were burning the homes and that #4 would be next if they didn't find him. He closed his trunk and opened it up again to the compartment where he held his clothing and pulled out his red and black leather combat robes. He tossed the robes onto the back of one of the chairs and with a quick switching spell was dressed in the combat robes

"Hedwig, come here," he called out to his bird as he headed back into his room.

Sensing the urgency, Hedwig flew to the edge of Harry's desk as he had turned to a spare piece of parchment and had written a quick message as he tried to ignore the screaming coming from downstairs.

"Girl, I need you to deliver this to headquarters as quickly as you can. I know the weather is awful but this is an emergency. I'm going to disillusion you and add some weather protection charms, but I still want you to be careful, okay? Remain at headquarters until I get there or the weather lets up. If I don't make it, stay with Hermione, okay? " Hedwig hooted solemnly in acknowledgement as he tapped his wand on her head and she seemed to blend in with her surroundings. He put a few more charms on her and opened the window quietly. He felt the air move as his beloved bird flew off into the raging sky.

"God speed girl, and good luck."

Suddenly, the screaming from downstairs stopped. It could mean only one thing: the Dursley's were dead. He dashed back into his tent and ran into the small kitchen. Throwing open the cabinets near where he had been practicing potions, he grabbed a handful of vials filled with pepper up potions. He downed one and shoved the rest into a pouch on the side of his robes as he ran back out into his bedroom, grabbing his sword which he had left in the entryway. He heard someone yelling downstairs.

"You! Go check upstairs for the Potter brat!" It was a woman's voice and soon followed by the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs. He glanced at his foe glass but all the figures in it were wearing white masks. What bothered him the most though, was the number of masks he saw. He cast a few more locking charms and unbreakable charms on the door for good luck and to hopefully buy him more time. He slowed his breathing and tried to draw up his magic, which was proving exceptionally difficult as the pepper-up potion was taking it's time in getting through his system.

He was quite sure he was bordering on magical exhaustion. He finally felt his magic began to flow though it seemed a bit shaky. This meant he would need his wand and that he would be somewhat limited in what he cast.

'Looks like I will have to keep things simple tonight,' he though grimly as he heard someone on the other side of the door working on taking down his locking spells.

He grabbed his sword in his left hand and gripped his wand in his right as he checked out his window again. Some of the Death Eaters were still torching the homes, but most had taken up position around #4. As he watched the houses burn, he felt anger rise up in him. It wasn't right that those innocents had to suffer because Voldemort couldn't kill the Boy-Who-Lived. Where he had been having trouble gathering his magic, it seemed to flare suddenly at his rising anger. His attention was drawn to the door as he felt the Death Eater getting close to breaking through his spells. He closed his curtains, cutting off the little bit of light that was coming into his room and positioned himself just off from in front of his door, and using the shadowcat ability he had gained at the beginning of the summer, blended into the darkness and waited.

Soon the door burst open and the Death Eater charged in. He stopped in the middle of the room, wand extended, and twirled around, searching for him. Silently, Harry sent up a silencing spell. The Death Eater moved to the window and, tearing the curtains off, peered out of it. The man, seeing as how he could not find Harry, turned to leave. That's when Harry stepped out of the shadows behind him. The Death Eater, hearing his boots on the uncarpeted floor, swung his body around and lifted his wand. He never got the chance to use it.

As soon as the Death Eater has started to turn around, Harry was already moving. Before his opponent even knew what was going on, Harry thrust his sword into the Death Eater's torso, right bellow his rib cage. Without wasting time he stepped fully in front of the Death Eater and placed his wand right against his heart before screaming 'Reducto!'. In a splash of blood and bone, the Death Eater was blown off of Harry's blade and into the wall across the hallway.

"Shit." While his spell was not heard downstairs, no doubt the death eater slamming into the hall wall was.

Harry looked only long enough to see the gaping hole in the Death Eater's chest and know that he would not be getting up. Harry would have spent more time contemplating what he had just do to another human being but such thoughts would have to wait, as he immediately had to jump out of the way of a killing curse that had come from the base of the stairs.

With his wand he quickly created a golden shield around him and with his sword he pointed down the staircase and the DE at the bottom of it. 'Lacinia caro!' The DE quickly raised a simple protego shield, but the dark curse blew right threw it, striking the Death Eater on his wand hand, causing the man to let out an unholy scream as the flesh of his hand and much of his lower arm was stripped away. The man fell to the ground clutching at his mutilated appendage. Casting a quick stupefy, Harry sent the man mercifully into unconsciousness. Harry bounded down the stairs and leapt over the unconscious Death Eater towards the door, but was thrown back against the wall as a violet beam of light impacted with his shield.

"Awe, has wittle Potter learned how to play with the big boys and girls now?" He knew that voice. It was the voice that had haunted him in his nightmares. It was none other than Bellatrix Lestrange, and, after looking around too, eight other Death Eaters.

He suppressed a groan as he pushed himself against the wall into a standing position. 'If that's what it was like with my shield up, I don't want to know what would have happened if it had hit me.' The realization had also hit home that he had been caught unaware. His anger grew, though now at himself.

"Why hello, Bellatrix." He responded in a most cordial voice. "I take it this is not a social visit?"

"Funny, Potter. It's a pity your relatives did not find the situation as amusing." With that she gestured to something behind her. Harry almost threw up when he saw what was left of his 'family.' Vernone Dursley lay dead, a bloody carving knife in his hand and a look of absolute horror and pain on his face. No doubt it was him who Harry had heard screaming when his wards went off. Next to him was Aunt Marge, her torso cut open like fish with her guts hanging out. He looked down to the floor and closed his eyes; he did not want to even look at his Aunt Petunia. She may not have been nice, but she was truly his only family by blood.

"Muggles are so much fun, aren't they Potter? And so easy to control." Bellatrix then looked at the sickened expression on Harry's face. "What's the matter? Afraid to look at the dead muggles? Really Potter, they are no better than animals and, as such, they deserve to be slaughtered like animals." Bellatrix had long ago dropped her baby voice and was now looking disturbingly gleeful at the prospect of cutting open muggles. "Of course, blood traitors and half-bloods like yourself are little better than them. You are outnumbered, Potter. Any last words before you join your family?"

Harry finally raised his head and stared right into Bellatrix's eyes. The Death Eater was a bit surprised to see not only determination and confidence etched on his face, but also a slightly deranged twinkle in his eyes. 'Stupid, arrogant Death Eaters' he thought, 'I would have thought that by now they would have learned to just kill outright instead of these pointless theatrics.'

"As a matter of fact Bella, I do." With that he whipped his wand forward and cast a reducto curse at the couch that separated him from the DEs and dove into a roll to avoid the hail of curses that were directed at where he had been standing. The dust and shrapnel created by the destruction of the sofa and the multitude of curses that had hit the wall he was standing in front of created enough of a distraction that they did not see him jump to his feet and point both his sword and his wand at the Death Eater. He quietly began chanting 'Vespa' as dozens of little yellow bolts of energy sprung from both weapons every time he whispered the incantation. The yellow bolts seemed to swarm around each of the DE's before plunging into their flesh, leaving wounds that were very similar to deep paper cuts. While continue to chant the incantation, Harry made his way to the door.

Just as he had reached it, the door burst open, knocking him to the ground and thus disrupting the chanting. His sword flew from his hand and skid across the tile away from Harry. He heard the man who had just entered start to utter an incantation. Harry tried to roll out of the way, but was not quick enough as a rather powerful cutting hex hit his left arm, slicing through his robes and causing a deep gash to form from his elbow to his wrist.

Throwing up his mental shields to block the pain, Harry tucked his feet underneath him and back flipped away from his assailant. Landing back on his feet, he held out his wand and summoned his sword to him.

"Well, Potter, it seems you have been busy since we last met."

Standing up and taking a defensive stance. "I do aim to make things more interesting for you, Bella."

"What are you going to do Potter? You are outnumbered almost ten to one in this room alone, and that is not even considering our forces outside! You can't apparate, you can't portkey, and we have all the exits covered! You have no hope for escape. The best you can hope for is a quick death if you surrender now."

"I suppose you could just let me go?" he said cheekily. 'Stupid bitch, the more she talks, the more energy I can recover.'

" No." 'Crucio'. Harry barely had time to avoid that curse only to jump into the path of another spell thrown by another. He cried out as he felt his ribs crack as he was slammed against the wall, again. Quickly casting another shield, he took a step to his left and swung his sword recklessly at the closest DE, who had come closer to get a better shot, slicing cleanly through the man's neck neck. As the man's head fell away from his body Harry began casting hexes as quickly as he could as the other Death eaters descended upon him. He dodged what he could and blocked other spells, but he was significantly outnumbered and quite a few of their spells made it past his shields and were battering him and his armored robes. He staggered slightly as a conjured flaming arrow slammed into his hip. He quickly threw a severing hex at the man who had cast it and saw with a morbid fascination as the spell sliced into his forehead, cutting deeply into the man's brain.

Another barrage of spells brought his attention back to the task at hand a little too late as he was thrown backwards. He hit the kitchen door, which was partially opened, and slammed into the counter. He rolled out of the way as more curses flew his way. With a wave of his wand, he sealed the door, but for how long he did not know. Gripping the edge of the counter, he pulled himself up. He looked around, trying to find an escape route. Peering out the window that faced the back yard, he noticed movement in the smoke and rain. The Death Eaters were still out there, waiting for him should he escape.

"Fuck."

He cast some more locking charms on the back door. It would not do to be flanked. His eyes searched the kitchen, trying to see if there was something that he could use. His eyes settled on Petunia's expensive set of knives that the now-dead horse faced woman never used. 'I suppose payback is only fair.' He grinned maliciously as he pulled the knives out of the block of wood holding them and laid them on the counter, sharp end facing the door. He threw up more protection spells around both doors.

"You!" He heard Bellatrix screams through the door. "Go get the others!"

Harry quickly turned his attention to the Death Eaters outside. It would not do to have them come inside, things were bad enough as it was. He reached into his robe and pulled out a small glass marble. A wicked grin came across his face. Perhaps it was time for reinforcements. Keeping his head low, he sneaked over to the window. He cast a silencing charm on it and pushed it open a few centimeters. Not wanting his actions to be seen by the enemy outside, he put his wand in his right hand and levitated the marble wandlessly out the window with his left. In the harsh rain, no one noticed the semi-transparent sphere float by him or her. Focusing his magic through his wand and onto the round piece of glass, he created his back-up.

Shouts were heard outside as a large, demonic creature very similar to the one that had confronted Dumbledore pounced upon the closest Death Eater, tearing him apart. Harry slumped against the counter. That bit of wandless magic had taken him more energy that he'd planned, and he wanted to do nothing more than go to sleep. An ear-splitting crack filled the room as one of the protective wards he had put on the door and surrounding wall was broken by the Death Eaters still in the house. He didn't have much time.

Confident that the opponents outside were too distracted to watch the house, he headed for the back door. He had to throw himself down as a curse crashed through the window and cut through the air where his head used to be. 'Maybe they aren't all distracted.' Sighing in frustration at not being able to leave by the backdoor, he cast some more locking charms on the back door, going so far as to even conjure a block of stone to jamb the door. If he couldn't go out that way, he didn't want them coming in. It would not do to be flanked.

Keeping low, he reached into his pouch and pulled out two small vials of pepper-up potion and downed both of them. Now was not the time to worry about overdose as the immediate threat was far greater. He felt the rush of energy from the magical liquids flow through his veins. He was ready to face the enemy once again.

He turned to face the door to await the Death Eaters and began focusing on rebuilding his mental shields. His wait, however, was not long long. He heard a triumphant yell as the kitchen door blew apart. He pointed his wand at the knives on the counter. As soon as he saw the shape of a Death Eater in the doorway, he flicked his wand, banishing the knives into the Death Eater's body. He quickly followed with a reductor, blowing away what was left of the doorway and hopefully any Death Eater's that were waiting to come in. Throwing up a shield, he threw himself through the doorway and began cursing anything that moved.

The air was thick with noise and light, as the remaining DE's in the house regained their bearings and returned fire. Harry yelled his spells out furiously, using his emotions to power them. Even with the potions he just downed, he had neither the energy nor the concentration to do it wordlessly. He put up a valiant effort, but it soon became apparent that the odds were once again against him. Spells flashed from both his weapons, his blade also flying out to strike any who tried to close in on him, occasionally slashing one of his opponents. He rotated using his blade and his wand. At some times he would create shields with one while attack with another, and vice versa, hoping that by doing so, he avoided any pattern so that the Death Eaters could not predict his moves.

He continued this way for almost five minutes, but knew he could not hold out much longer. His shields were getting weaker and his movements slower from fatigue and injury. At the same time, another group of Death Eaters had finally broken through the back door. By now there must have been twelve standing, 'The same number there had been at the Department of Mysteries' he thought ironically. He began flinging whatever spells came to mind, both Dark and neutral spells. Blasting curses, cutting hexes, stunners, flesh-stripping charms, whatever came to his mind first. Part of him wanted to start flinging the killing curse and get this done with, but he would probably only be able to get a few off before he completely exhausted himself.

His mind did not register when he took down a Death Eater, for there was always one to take his place. There were too many of them, and his shields were becoming almost useless. Fatigue and injury slowed his movements, allowing more curses to hit him. He doubted he would still be standing had it not been for his dueling robes.

Things were not looking up. All his training has centered on only having to deal with at most 4 other opponents without back up, as that was how many duplicates he had. He had also been fully rested when he had dueled with his doubles. Time was running out and he had to do something, and do it soon as he found he had been backed into the corner, his old cupboard to one side of him, the ruined kitchen entrance on the other. 'I am so going to regret this in the morning,' he thought painfully, making a snap decision Casting the most powerful shield he knew with his wizards sword, he pointed his wand at his feet. Summoning all of his so-called 'righteous anger,' he bellowed "Malleus Maleficarium"

As he said the incantation, the tip of his wand glowed a brilliant white. When he uttered the last syllable, the ball of energy seemed to contract for a moment before exploding in a flash of bright blue energy. Harry was temporarily blinded as the sphere of energy engulfed #4 Privet Drive. He heard the deafening roar as the spell expanded away from him and blew through the walls of the house. When the light had faded, he found himself on the floor, his back against what was left of the wall. The front wall of the house had been blown out, littering the yard and street with debris while the walls that were left standing were stripped down to the wooden studs that held the house up. Many of the Death Eaters had been thrown through the wall, while others lay prone on the floor. A most unnerving creak indicated to him that the damage to the house had sustained. Fearing that the building would was now structurally unstable and seeing nothing but unconscious DE's everywhere he looked, Harry pushed himself off of the wall and tried to stand up. Pain shot through his legs as he tried to put his full weight on them. Looking down, he adjusted his tattered robe and found out why.

One leg was twisted in a most unnatural angle, either by the after effects of his own spell or one of the Death Eater's, he wasn't sure. The other was worse off, as there was bone sticking through his flesh. He pointed his wand at the leg hat was merely twisted, and with a modified version of what Voldemort had done to force his body to bow during the duel in the graveyard, he straightened his legs. A sickly grinding sound accompanied the pain as his the bones were crudely forced into position. He conjured some splints and using a modified incarcerous, he secured the splints to his leg with rope. His other leg would not be so easy. He was pretty sure he had been hit with a bone-shattering spell. While the robes had blocked most of it, some of it still got through. Which didn't help him that much. Instead of having his entire leg shattered, only a few inches were. Apparently, the bone had cut through when he had put weight on it during the battle. He knew that if he made it out, Madame Pomfrey would have his hide.

He jabbed both his thighs with his wand, casting some pain-numbing charms on his legs. Wrapping up his shattered leg the same as the other, though this time with a sticking charm at the two ends of the splint (so they would act as a sort of exoskeleton) he raised himself off of the ground. He out his weight on his better leg used his magically re-enforced sword into a walking stick to keep his weight off of the other. He heard some groans as some of the Death Eaters started to come around, inspiring Harry to get out of there as quickly as possible. Steeling himself against the pain, he hobbled out the ruined house.

Stepping out into the pouring rain, he looked around for any sign of Death Eaters, but with the thick smoke and heavy rain, his visibility was severely limited. He stumbled away from the ruins of what he considered to be his prison for ten long years and got his first true glimpse of what was left of Privet Drive. Homes were engulfed in flames, some fires magical, others not. He had stumbled about twelve meters away from the house, only reaching the road, when he heard a voice cry out through the wind and rain behind him: Crucio!

He had no time to react. The curse slammed into his back, throwing him to his knees, screaming, as not even his overtaxed mental shields nor his weak numbing charms could block the pain induced by a cruciatus curse. He felt his weapons torn from his hands as multiple disarming spells hit him. Suddenly, the pain intensified, if that was even possible, as others joined in the casting of cruciatus curse. It felt like an eternity under the curse, and he could feel his mind slipping when suddenly the pain stopped.

He lay on the ground, breathing heavily as he tried to regain feeling in his body and stop the twitching. After a moment of concentration, he was able to pull himself up into a kneeling position only to be greeted by the smiling face of Bellatrix Lestrange surrounded by dozen or so Death Eaters. She looked very much the worse for wear, as did the rest of them, most having been in or around the house when he had literally blown most of it up. However, she was still standing, and he was not. He did not have a weapon while her wand was aimed just above his heart.

"Well Potter, all that effort and look where it got you. Though I must say, you put up quite a fight, much more than our Lord or I had expected. Gave us quite a few surprises, I assure you. But, alas, it was all for naught. You see Potter, the Dark Lord truly wants nothing more than to see you dead, especially since all his plans, not matter how fool proof they seemed to be, always seem to be ruined by you. Too long you have been a pest to my Lord, too long have you set our plans back. After tonight, you shall not trouble our Lord anymore. My Lord wanted the pleasure of killing you himself, especially after he learns of what you have done tonight. However, bringing you to him is an unacceptable risk, so I am quite sure that he will, however, understand that I must do it for him. Goodbye, Harry Potter. Avada Kedavra!."

He was too tired, too weak. Resigned to his fate, time seemed to slow as the green bolt of energy bore down on him, bringing him his death. He closed his eyes, wanting his face to appear at peace when he died, not filled with terror like so many others before him. Just like in his dreams of Voldemorts first fall, he heard a great rushing sound and felt a terrible stab of pain just as the spell impacted right above his heart.