Red jolts of light shot in every direction, not nearly threatening the Death Eater who ran into the entrance hall that was filled with students. He didn't even feel the urge to raise a shield, trusting in his luck and the children's inexperience.

"Stupefy!" a kid with a yellow shawl shouted while pointing at his head.

As if… Rodolphus dodged the bright red spell with a swift sidestep and decided it was time to show the students what a real fight was like.

Still running for the staircase, he pointed his wand at the student and said "Avada Kedavra."

With the loss of the kid evident, the group of Hogwarts students paled and froze as one. It appeared none of them took the fight seriously, until then. Plus one. Easy game, Rodolphus thought as he ran further, nearing the stairs.

Walking up the marble staircase felt just like being back in school, back when playing with his victims was more important to him than getting lost in the sheer joy of killing… He took a deep breath and felt himself calming down from his initial frenzy, realising the slaughter outside had resulted in madness taking over again. He stood still for a second to calm down further and then strolled on.

"Reducto Maxima" the strong Blasting Curse left the tip of his wand that was pointed blindly behind him as he climbed the last few steps. Rodolphus relished in creating chaos just as much as he did in murdering creatures and Mudbloods; he was master over his behaviour again. Time to play.

Rodolphus Lestrange's first battle frenzy was now truly making place for euphoria. With the killing intent satisfied, for now, he had no real goal in the castle except enjoying the fun of creating disorder and destruction. He methodically walked around corridors and blasted holes in walls leading to classrooms while looking for remnants of resistance to break.

At a crossing between two main corridors on the first floor Rodolphus found a little girl on the ground. She had bite marks on her arm and was sitting against the wall left crying by herself.

"What is your name?" he asked the girl with his sweetest voice. The girl looked up at him with big blue, teary eyes. "Are you hurting?" he asked with false concern as he got down on one knee. The tears stopped as the girl entered a state of shock. Eye to eye with a Death Eater, she could not bring out any words. The smell of ammonia pierced his nose; she'd peed herself in fear.

He took her arm gently in his hands and planted a kiss on the wound after which he got up again. "Now you're healed" he sneered and laughed his cruellest laugh as he simply walked on. Leaving the child behind against the wall...

After relieving the madness that always took him at the start of the action, he took more pleasure in injuring than in ending the lives of his victims. This day by itself was proving to be more fun than the whole of the First War combined! Finally, he got to kill and play with Mudbloods and blood-traitors again!

When it became too silent to his liking he went on to the next floor where there were more children and adults laying around in the corridors, some dead, some heavily wounded. It made for a delightful sight.

The windows looking out over the meadow and Forbidden Forest shattered, and hundreds of acromantula entered the corridors. Well done brother he thought as he readied his wand to curse an approaching Auror.

0o0o0o0

Rodolphus soon found himself fighting against both Aurors and the spiders in a dark corridor on the second floor when Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy ran by, shouting for their son. The spiders attacked them at once.

"Help! Find my son!" Narcissa desperately called out to him while her husband set a spider afire. Rodolphus only shot her a smirk but his opponent, a pure-blood wizard from the old Fawley family, directly ignored him in an attempt to help the desperate woman and her traitor husband looking for Draco.

"Sectumsempra!" Rodolphus whispered from between thin lips as his ice cold eyes saw their chance to get rid of this foolish opponent. The spiders directly began their feasting on the bloody, soon to be corpse while Lucius and his wife ran off and disappeared from his sight. He would get them later. First he wanted to ruin the next floor's corridors.

By the time he got to the third floor, most of it was already overrun by the acromantula who were feasting on the few fallen wizards and spider carcasses alike. It was truly a good fight for it to have reached this high into the castle, it must have been Bella and the group under her command who directly made it to the secret room on the upper levels to check on the status of the Malfoy boy's mission...

As the Death Eater made his way to the next floor a searing pain burst from his left wrist; the Dark Mark was burning as if it were on fire. He froze on the spot and roared in pain. Then, at once, the unbearable pain lessened rapidly and stopped completely. Rodolphus felt the connection to his master disappear.

0o0o0o0

In the corridors of Hogwarts the fighting slowly came to an end as both parties came to realise Lord Voldemort was defeated. The fighting Aurors and teachers, Dumbledore's Army and all other students who had fought, stunned, and chased away Death Eaters and their allies from the castle, were now focussed on exterminating the spiders.

Fenrir Greyback, his face covered with blood, passed by Rodolphus, followed by a group of hooded werewolves dressed in now blood-stained black robes. They ran for their lives with Kingsley Shacklebolt and an Auror he didn't know right behind them, firing every curse they could think of at their unprotected backs.

With a well-aimed flick of his wand, a Cutting Curse severed the Auror's legs from his body while the caster ran after the fleeing werewolves with Shacklebolt in between.

"Incarcerous" he panted, aiming for the Auror. Long, thick ropes shot at the black man who disappeared from his sight around the corner leading towards the staircase.

Exhausted both magically and physically he decided it was time to follow after the werewolves in withdrawal, something cheered on by the Aurors and teachers but made hard by the spiders. The hairy eight-legged creatures made the chaos Rodolphus relished complete by appearing at random places and attacking all that moved.

Apparently, acromantula did not care for the end of the battle, nor for the wizarding war. And also they didn't care about who they were fighting; stunned werewolves, Death Eaters and Order members alike got poisoned by their long teeth and quickly turned into spider food.

When Rodolphus and the werewolves made it out the oaken doors and onto the grass, the surviving giants had already seized their attacks. A small giant, heavily wounded, broke the spines of two of the Dark Lord's huge giants in the confusion that had fallen over the creatures at the death of their master.

More Death Eaters joined with the giants and the werewolves as they ran towards gates. Dementors were fleeing into the Forbidden Forest while the Dark forces gathered at its edge near the iron wrought Hogwarts gates.

"Retreat! Regroup! NOW" shouted Rodolphus Lestrange out of breath.

The Death Eaters and their allies who had managed to escape from the castle ran along towards the iron gates. Rodolphus missed some faces in the crowd but had no time to worry about those who stayed behind. Some would be dead, some would be unconscious or in a body-bind inside the castle and some would have fled earlier to join them later or were being eaten by spiders.

He wasn't known for caring about his allies. Rabastan and Bella were great wizards, they would survive with him. For now it was most important to get away and recover. Find a way to get back their master like last time, he knew the ritual.

It was clear that the army of Death Eaters suffered less losses than the blood-traitors. Most of their opponents were not able to kill and even hesitated to damage Hogwarts property while the Death Eaters were trained for duelling and murder. Still, they had lost a considerable number of Snatchers and werewolves and even some higher ranking members. And upon Apparition at the gates the distance between them and the Imperiused Army would be too big to sustain the curse which would result in a big loss of forces.

Thorfinn looked like a moving corpse, pale and bloodied and Rabastan, who was studying a cracked black stone set in a golden ring, did not look much better but had not a scratch on him, he was panting loudly, magically exhausted.

Rodolphus helped Walden, who seemed to have broken every limb in his body but still tried to look as if nothing was wrong, out of the gates after which the man directly Disapparated to the hideout.

He shot a last glance back at the castle grounds where he saw the few remaining centaurs shooting arrows at those who were nailed to the ground at the moment the Death Eaters Disapparated. Ministry workers and other Imperiused people, confused and lost, fell to the ground screaming in pain. The piercing arrows allowed them no time to recover from the Imperius Curses' effects. Suits them well to murder their own allies.

Then he saw Lucius and Draco Malfoy exit the castle at high speed, followed by Narcissa who appeared to be relieved to have found her son unharmed. At the sight of the last of the fleeing Death Eaters, followed by the werewolves who were still chased after by Shacklebolt, Rodolphus heard Lucius shout; "Cissy, take Draco back inside, I'll handle our future!"

When Lucius noticed Draco running after him he pointed his wand at his son, "Petrificus Totalus". Draco, now petrified, fell over with his face towards his father who was cursing the fleeing mass of Death Eaters in the back until they were all Disapparated.

At the hideout it was almost as chaotic as in the corridors of Hogwarts. Exhausted Rodolphus collapsed to his knees, put the tip of his wand at his throat, and murmured "Sonorus", following in the calmest and even voice he could muster; "Everyone who can still stand, heal the wounded. Tomorrow, training starts at six."

The last thing he noticed before the Felix Felicis effects trailed off and Rodolphus lost consciousness was that not only the magical connection with the Dark Lord was severed but the link with his wife was gone without a trace as well. Bellatrix was dead...