Disclaimer : I don't own anything in the world of Harry Potter, that's J.K.Rowling's job. The plot is mine though.
Chapter 9 : Death Eaters
He was just beginning to lose all hope when Ron shouted, "She's alive! I know it!"
"Go!" yelled Voldemort to the followers who stood before him, "I want you all to come with me to Hogsmeade, they won't be expecting an attack now. That old fool will have to come out of the castle to protect the people. I'll show him that nobody can stand against Lord Voldemort."
In small groups the crowd disapperated, heading off to their intended targets, followed shortly by Voldemort himself.
Already quite tired from the morning's workout, Hermione entered the training room again, and joined Ilana on the floor.
"Ah good, you're back," Ilana said, "I'm sure you will like this part of the training much more than this morning. From what I can tell, you were quite powerful already. Four genes was it?"
"Erm, yeh," Hermione replied thinking back to what the Professor had told her, "I think so. I had a block but the Professor helped me to get past it."
"Ah that's good, did Christin tell you about his magic?"
"He told me that he didn't have any of the genes in him, and it was his mentor who changed him. So that's you?"
"Yes that's right." Ilana smiled, "When the time came, the guardian before him didn't have enough strength left in him to transfer the magic correctly, so I had to go there and sort it myself. I don't leave this place very often because this is where I belong, but I do when necessary."
"So that's what the Professor did to me, take away my magical genes and give me the Guardian magic?"
Ilana nodded.
"But why me? Surely there are more experienced people out there, people who know more about magic or are more powerful?"
Ilana thought about this for a moment before replying, "To be honest I don't completely know. From the looks of you when you got here you had a rather nasty injury to your head. Perhaps he decided that there was no other way to save you than to send you here. He certainly wouldn't have done it unless he wasn't going to lose the magic himself anyway. Leaving the world without a guardian even for a few days is dangerous."
"Why is it dangerous? There can't be that much evil trying to take over can there?"
"You'd be surprised what goes on that can't be normally seen. There are more worlds than just the physical one. You should know about the ghostly plane, it is where ghosts are. It is the closest one to our own, that's why you can see them, but they aren't quite there. Then there is the spectral plane, the spiritual plane, where prophecies come from, and many others that few people have heard of. Usually the simple fact that the Guardian is there is enough to keep everything where it should be, but without one, a few may try and cross the boundaries.
"Anyway, you can worry about that some other time, I am here to teach you how to control your magic. But first, I must give you this." Ilana held out her hand, and in it appeared a light grey sword, shining brightly as though catching the sun at every angle.
"Is that… that looks just like the one the Professor was using yesterday."
"He was using this?" Ilana asked, "Whatever it was that attacked him, it must have been serious. He never did like using it all that much. He always relied on his magic a little more than he should have. This isn't just like his; it is exactly the same one. There will only ever be one of these. It is practically unbreakable and was made out of pure light by the first Guardian. You must keep this with you at all times. Hide it with a spell, shrink it down and put it in your pocket, wear it in plain sight, it doesn't matter. You never know when you might need it."
Hermione carefully took the sword and placed it down on the ground next to her.
"Now lets try this first exercise, could you banish this ball for me please." With a wave of her hand Ilana conjured a small rubber ball a few feet away.
As the Professor had taught her, she pointed the palm of her hand towards the ball and tried to concentrate on the feeling of magic inside her. As she focused, she noticed that there was definitely something different about the way the magic felt. Before it had been like a fire burning inside of her, waiting jump out when she used it. Now it felt more restrained and focused, like a wild animal waiting to pounce. As she spoke the words of the charm, the force behind the spell was enough to push her onto her back, and was enough to send the ball rocketing straight through the air, through the far wall, and out into the garden, with no sign of slowing down. A few moments later the wall shimmered slightly, and the gap disappeared.
Ilana didn't look at all surprised and started to explain. "You should have noticed that felt slightly different to what you are used to. Simply having in your mind what spell you want to perform won't be enough any more. As you can see, performing a spell with no limits like that is dangerously powerful. When casting a spell you have to also focus on the details. So instead of just banish, you think banish carefully over there. Here have another go."
Ilana conjured another ball in the same place as before and gestured for her to try again.
"This time just try and get it to stop by the far wall."
This time Hermione had much more success and the ball bounced harmless off the wall.
"Fantastic!" applauded Ilana. "Your training should hardly take any time at all! Now, try banishing both of these at once…"
Harry made his way slowly down to the Great Hall for lunch, though to be truthful he wasn't really hungry. His knees still felt weak after finding out what had happened to Hermione, and was so relieved to see that she was all right. He would still feel much better when they knew how to find her, but until the Professor woke up, they didn't know where to start.
He sat down at the table, and Ron sat down next to him. Neither of them said anything as they placed food on their plates, they were too lost in their own thoughts. Just as Harry was about to begin eating a sharp pain burst through his scar and he caught sight of where Voldemort was. He was attacking Hogsmeade! He could see some of the Death Eaters setting fire to the houses, and Voldemort himself was just standing there in the middle of the street, careless cutting down anyone unlucky enough to get close to him. It was total chaos.
Staggering to his feet he called out, "Ron, it's Voldemort. He's attacking Hogsmeade. I have to warn Dumbledore."
Ron put one of Harry's arms over his shoulders and led him back up to the Hospital Wing again to find Dumbledore.
It didn't take Dumbledore long to decide what he had to do. He gathered together a group of the staff and instructed the others to make sure all the students were safely in their common rooms. On his way up, Harry came to a decision.
"Ron, I have to go and help. There must be nearly all the Death Eaters there, and even Voldemort himself. I have to try." Harry kept repeating the prophecy over and over in his mind. He knew that Dumbledore couldn't stop Voldemort, so the battle surely couldn't be won without him. He was the only one who stood a chance.
"But mate," replied Ron, "Dumbledore and most of the teachers are going. One of us isn't going to make any difference, it is safer to stay up here where they know where we are."
Not wanting to explain to Ron about the prophecy he tried to think up some excuse. "But Ron, we could at least try and keep some of the people safe. If Dumbledore loses it won't matter where we were. Voldemort will come to the castle next. I'm going to slip out down the secret tunnel."
"Fine. But if you're going, I'm coming with you."
Harry didn't protest to this so when nobody was looking, they both slipped away and hurried down the tunnel as fast as they could.
As Harry looked out of the window to the Three Broomsticks, he could see that Hogsmeade was already half in ruins. A number of the buildings that were the furthest away from the castle had burnt almost completely to the ground and the Death eaters were gradually working their way up the street. Individually they were no match for any of the staff, but by shear numbers they were managing to gain ground. Dumbledore had taken it upon himself to get as many people as he could inside the Three Broomsticks and was frantically defending the entrance from at least half a dozen Death Eaters.
From his point inside the building Harry could see that the fight wouldn't be lasting much longer. Voldemort was making his way over to where Dumbledore was with a slow and confident stride. When he saw Voldemort being raising his wand he started to panic. There was no way Dumbledore could win. The prophecy said he was the one to defeat Voldemort. He could not let anyone else die because of him. He quickly pushed Dumbledore out of the way, putting a quick stunning spell on him, and stepped onto the street.
"Stop!" ordered Voldemort to the Death Eaters who had now trained their wands on Harry. "This one's mine. Avada Kadavra."
Even before Harry could react to what was happening he saw the bright green light from the curse cracking towards him, and he knew there was no way he could get out of the way in time. This was it. He closed his eyes, and braced himself.
A/N – The end. Hehe. No, only joking. Got two chapters sorted out today. Next one may not be for a few days, I have an exam coming up. Hope you have enjoyed it up till now! Thanks for all the reviews.