The Dueling Duo
"Harry? Where now?"
The group looked around the empty Ministry Atrium before looking back towards their leader, Harry. He strode forwards towards the lifts at the far end and he answered over his shoulder, "down on Level nine. I saw the door when I was down there for my trial."
After pressing the appropriate button in the lift, the group of six waited in a tense silence as the doors closed and the lift began to travel down deeper into the building. When the doors opened Harry took no time as he immediately strode out of the door, wand out and checking out the surroundings with military precision, his wand held out before him.
They followed him through the strange door at the end of the empty corridor that Harry had turned down and heard the door slam closed behind them. They appeared to be in a circular room that had eight doors interspaced around the outside. As the entryway closed the doors around the room all began to spin around. Moments later the spinning came to an abrupt stop, leaving everyone slightly disorientated.
"Pick a door and check it out," Harry ordered, immediately striding forward to do as he said. He pulled the door open to see a long corridor of similar doors. Taking a single step in he opened the first door on his right to see a sparse and empty office. Checking the door opposite to find a very similar room he stepped back into the circular chamber and closed the door which remained where it was as several other doors were still open. Harry used his wand to burn a large 'O' as a reference to the door that held the offices.
Harry heard the calls from his friends and went to inspect what they had discovered. Hermione was closest and was sending a flurry of advanced detection and unlocking spells at her door. Harry raised an eyebrow at her. "It's locked." Harry nodded before telling her to put a slash through it in a similar manner to what Harry had done. Neville was the next person along from them and he told them it was the door they had come through, which he marked with an 'E'.
"Harry mate. I… I think this room's got brains in." At Ron's bewildered voice Harry had to stifle an eye roll which everyone save Ron saw.
"Brains, Ron?"
"Yeah in a big tank of funny water. It's definitely brains or something." Harry muttered about Ron having the latter and not the former, eliciting a quiet chuckle from Neville who was next to him.
"Mark it with a 'B' then, for brains."
"How?"
Harry almost smacked himself in the face at how ignorant the ginger could be. "Cast a short and small Incendio and draw the letter." After several tried Ron eventually got it.
Luna had discovered a room which served as a hands-on planetarium, containing several large floating planets arranged like the solar system. The room looked like an endless black void besides the planets and in the distance two similar doors could be seen floating nearby one another.
Luna marked the door with an 'S'
Ginny's room contained several clocks displaying many different times. "Harry this room is just full of clocks. What is this place?"
Harry went to answer but was interrupted by Hermione. "The Department of Mysteries was founded sometime around the thirteenth century and studies many arcane facets of magic and nature. It is primarily respon…" Harry tuned out his friend's quotation as he and the others moved towards the two unmarked doors. Harry opened the first one he came to and saw it was the one he was looking for.
He interrupted Hermione with a cough who turned to face him looking sheepish. "Sirius should be in here. Keep an eye out for Voldemort," Ron flinched, "and wands at the ready." He nodded to them before heading in with Neville at his left side. Luna and Ron followed the pair in, and Ginny and Hermione brought up the rear.
Harry and Neville both began to check their surroundings. Harry noticed the row number, currently 36, and began heading to row 97 where his vision had showed Sirius to be. Within moments of entry both Harry and Neville stiffened at almost the exact same time before relaxing slightly. As they headed towards the correct row, Harry pressed his thumb left thumb onto a small ring he wore on his pinky which sent a tiny burst of magic to Harry's lip and ear.
"How many you count?" Harry asked aloud.
Neville didn't look across at him, knowing that their communication wouldn't be heard or seen.
"So far nine. But I reckon there will be more."
Harry made a non-committal grunt before scanning the surroundings again. "I got twelve this count," Harry said, to which Neville agreed to a few moments later. Harry was thankful for their ability to communicate without notice. The rings they both wore on their littlest finger were made by the pair of them.
The rings had a small depression that when pressed activated its effects. The rings sent a pulse towards their mouths and ears and a similar pulse to the others ring. It created a localised silencing charm over both ears and mouth, and a listening charm again in both. It allowed for Neville and Harry to communicate without notice, thanks to a clever glamor, and quickly without others hearing.
"Yep, twelve too." A few more moments of silence before Harry slowed down, his wand in front of him as they neared their destination, trying to buy them more time
"Shit. Harry it's the inner circle. They've got their fancy masks. All twelve of them. Bloody hell this is gonna be a mess. Lethal from the start?"
Harry swore as he heard this. "Right, plan of action. Keep together and run in one direction, don't start lethal until we can break away slightly. We're surrounded and can't fight two for twelve when surrounded. Got to split them up." Neville agreed and would wait for the signal to switch his spells before they both pressed their rings again.
Harry reached row 97 and began to frantically look around for Sirius. "Sirius? Sirius?!" Harry began to call out for his godfather.
"Harry I don't think he's here." Hermione was quiet as she didn't want to be on the receiving end of Harry's anger but was confused when he started looking towards the floor.
"Maybe he was dragged off somewhere, check to see if you can see a trail of… of blood." Harry's voice shook slightly with the last word, but the rest of the group ignored it and used the light from their wands to check the floors. It became quickly apparent that there was no sign of Sirius, nor any blood.
Ginny broke the silence, "maybe he's not here Harry. Could it have just been Vol- You-Know-Who's dreams? Or plans?"
Harry looked to be deep in thought. "Yeah! Yeah Sirius is fine. Phew. Thanks for coming guys but I guess we can head out now. Thank god." Smiles were had all around as they realised that everything was okay and the others besides Neville and Harry began to stow their wands, none save Neville noticing that Harry was laying it on a bit thick.
"Oh no! We ran away from school. Harry James Potter we are going to be in so much trouble when we get back to Hogwarts. I swear if I get a det-" Hermione's rant was cut off with a cackle from off to one side which was followed by the slimy voice of Lucius Malfoy.
"Oh I wouldn't worry about that. In fact, I doubt you'll see the sunrise." The cackle came from behind him as he strode from the darkness in Death Eater regalia sans mask. The cackle turned out to be from a woman who stood to his side, wand held at the ready with a look of madness in her eyes.
Neville's eyes narrowed before he spat out, "Bellatrix."
The woman turned her eyes to Neville before the madness and anger was replaced with glee. "Well if it isn't little baby Longbottom. Aw look he's all grown up and with baby Potty too." There were several laughs from the darkness surrounding the group, who promptly turned away from the visible two Death Eaters to point their wand outwards. "How's mum and dad?"
Neville's wand started to glow an angry purple as he pointed it at the crazy killer before spitting, "better now I'm going to get revenge."
The witches face turned into a cold and calculating murderous look and her wand snapped up, ready to cast, the tip glowing green. Lucius deftly moved forward and put a hand on her arm to lower her wand. "Now now, children. Play nicely. There is no need for insults. Potter if you hand over the Prophecy we'll let you and your friends go."
Harry was genuinely confused at this. He had played dumb since they had entered the Ministry, just in case there were Death Eaters watching as the duo didn't want to give any hints away, but that statement genuinely confused him. "Prophecy? What are you blathering about?"
More chuckles ensued from the darkness. "Itty bitty Potty doesn't know. Haha," the mad witch cackled again. Lucius however didn't spare her a glance.
"Haven't you ever wondered why the Dark Lord chose to attack you? Why he failed to kill you?" Bellatrix shot him a murderous look at that, "surely you must have wondered boy? If you hand it over then all will be answered."
It was obviously and unequivocally a trap, but Harry couldn't say he wasn't interested in the answers. "I don't have any Prophecy. I didn't even know one existed so how could I?"
"Check the shelf behind you boy, surely you don't think the Dark Lord brought you here for no reason." Harry scowled at the deception but was still curious to the answers. "Hermione," Harry called for his friend not turning away from the two in front of him. "Check row 97 for a it."
A minute later she answered him, "there's one here with your name on and I think Professor Dumbledore's initials."
"Very good girl, now pick it up Potter and hand it over." Harry waited until Hermione was again pointing her wand outwards before slowly turning towards the one she had marked with a small scorch before picking it up. The fist sized glass ball felt warm in his hand and cooled once he picked it up.
"So how does this thing work then?" Harry asked.
"Hand it over Potter and I will show you and give you all the answers you seek."
"But surely you could just tell me how to use it?"
"I could, but then where would be the fun in that. Now, hand it over before you and all your pretty little friends end up on the floor." As Malfoy finished spitting his threat Harry took action.
"Now!" He shouted, "Stupefy." Six bolts of red energy shot out into the darkness from the group. Malfoy and Bellatrix shielded and the energy dissipated upwards harmlessly from Neville and Harry. None of the others hit but the other Death Eaters were revealed. "Run, back, go!" Harry shouted and they began to run, Ginny at the front as she ran down the aisle with Harry firing stunners over his shoulder.
The group ran towards a door that Ginny could see of to one side. Once they reach the main pathway to the door three Death Eaters appeared between their destination and they could hear more running in the darkness to catch up. The whole group shot their stunners at the trio and managed to clip two of them who were carelessly batting them aside rather than shielding and forced the third to duck out of the way as shards from several broken prophecies rained down upon them courtesy of a poorly aimed spell.
With their exit now free they moved through the door and into the room of clocks. Harry, the last through managed to duck a nasty looking orange curse before closing the door and sealing it with a powerful Colloportus. The door at the far end banged open and three Death Eaters came in. Harry quickly took stock of the situation before beginning to order his friends.
"Neville cover the sealed door, we're moving to lethal casts," his friend nodded to him even though Harry had turned to face the new threat. "Guys check the other door, see what's there." Hermione made to protest but was quickly shut up as Harry made to engage the three Death Eaters together and she had to duck a stunner.
Harry engaged the three before him and his mind sank into the calm tranquillity he was used to in his fights. He and Neville had spent the last six months both duelling and fighting and learning spells and tactics for both. One of the first things they both learnt was the difference between the two. Duelling is on a stage, with bowing and with lots of rules. A fight is the opposite. It's dirty and brutal and any tactic goes, no matter how underhanded. They would often plan ahead for their fights for tricks and pranks to throw the other off their game.
Harry began his engagement with a bevy of stunners, his wand flashing as three bolts of red light shot towards each of the Death Eaters. They were surprised by the speed of his casting but managed to shield them all with plenty of time before returning the spell. Harry was not idle however and began, as he and Neville had agreed and trained for, to cast with lethal intent.
-Flashback-
"Harry," Neville called down the corridor, "Harry can I have a word." When the shy boy caught up Harry nodded and they moved into an empty classroom before Harry put a silencing spell on the door. "You saw the breakout in the Prophet yeah?" Harry nodded.
Today was the 2nd of January, the first day back of lessons. The paper this morning had had news of the Azkaban breakout of the top Death Eaters over New Year.
"Well, I don't know if you know but… my parents… they aren't well." Harry raised an eyebrow at the shy boy. He had definitely improved in that regard since joining the DA but had seemingly reverted for this. "They aren't dead, but they are stuck… they're stuck in St. Mungo's." Neville sighed and slumped. "About a week after your parents were killed, Bellatrix, Rabastan and Rodolphus Lestrange with Crouch Jr. came to my house and used the Cruciatus to torture my parents. They lost their minds and are stuck there permanently."
He drew in a shuddering breath. "I want to train Harry." Harry was confused so Neville explained. "We're training to defend ourselves. I want to train to fight. I want to kill the bitch and her family that ruined mine and I want to be ready for it."
"Um… okay Nev but we're already training right?" Neville shook his head.
"I want to learn more, be better and stronger. I don't want to be firing stunners when I meet her, you understand?" Harry was slightly unnerved at the steel of his normally reserved friend's voice but he couldn't blame him or help but agree. Because he did understand. He knew if he ever came to see Wormtail again then he wouldn't want to be firing stunners either.
"Right, um, okay. How about after the next DA session we stay behind and do some extra work with Ron and Herm-"
"No Harry. Just you and me." Neville cut him off. "The Potters and Longbottoms have had each-others back for centuries. I want this to be just us."
Harry was surprised at the revelation but quickly agreed. "Okay, sure. We can stay after the next session to talk and see what the room can do for us."
- End Flashback -
Harry began his first spell chain against the trio before him. He and Neville had worked to created and learn several new and old spell chains. The act of spell chaining was based off of the final and initial wand movements for a spell. The end Expelliarmus is a downward left-diagonal slash and the start of Diffindo the cutting curse are the same motions, so one can be chained into the next which allows constant wand movement without breaking flow.
The technique was difficult to master and took time to learn for each spell chain, a chain being a number of spells from three up to anywhere as many as thirteen, which was the longest that the duo both had mastered. Chains had to be learnt as it was next to impossible to make them up on the fly.
So Harry began his first chain rather than simple repeated stunners and chose the one they had developed and named 'Deceitful Opener'. The chain was eight spells long and was a mix of stunners and disarming charm with a piercing curse and a banishing curse thrown in. Harry and Neville could cast with enough speed that the two more damaging spells were practically hidden and would either break the shield or go unnoticed for several seconds having hit the shield hard.
His silent casting surprised the other occupants of the room as Harry shot his spells at the left Death Eater who were still returning stunners. The sudden change from shouted albeit fast spells to silent and ferociously speedy casting caught them off guard. Stupefy, Stupefy, Expelliarmus, Confodio, Expelliarmus, Stupefy, Stupefy, Depulso. The disarming charm broke the shield and the piercing curse punched through the Death Eater's neck, spurting blood everywhere before the man clutched his hand up to his throat and knocked his mask off, revealing himself to be Goyle Sr. The right Death Eater was shocked and still hadn't cast anything back since Harry had started to cast silently, but seeing a comrade injured resulted in Harry being aimed at by multiple Unforgivables.
The middle Death Eater quickly tried to shield the injured one but Harry broke that with the rest of his chain and his banishing hex threw Goyle into a large clock which cracked and fell onto the slumped man beneath it, crushing his arms onto his chest.
One of the trio was dead and Harry had only cast his first chain of eight spells in half as many second before he moved on to a simple three part chain.
"Harry it's a corridor of offices here," Ginny called from the door. His friends had been shocked at the sudden death of an enemy, but Ginny had missed it as she was following his shout to check the next room.
The call turned the head of the middle Death Eater, who was promptly dispatched thanks to the momentary distraction. Harry had been the three-long chain for half a minute now and had been repeating it whilst dodging the Unforgivables. Harry didn't need to shield as the curses were unblock-able and fortunately weren't too hard to dodge either as they were often wide of the target.
First a banisher followed by a Reducto and lastly a cutting curse. The chain was a popular one both in and out of duelling and was called 'Severing Blow'. Harry's cutting curse hit the middle one from the centre of his chest up to his right arm, cutting deep and severing the appendage. The man, who turned out to be Avery as his mask fell when he was banished into the far wall to slump at the floor.
His counterpart ripped off his mask revealing Crabbe Sr. and with a hateful grin began to cast, "Fiendfy-" He was cut off with a gurgle as Harry's quickly shouted 'Defodio' gouged half of the man's throat and part of his shoulder into a pulp.
Harry's friends were all staring at him. Neville gave him a sharp nod before he turned back to the door he was reinforcing with wards. The fight was over in about ninety seconds. The other four were all staring at him with shocked looks and besides Luna, who's usual dreamy look was steely and hard, were all slightly green.
"We don't have time for this. Its them or us. Just cast stunners, but don't expect me or Nev to, okay?" They were too shocked to do anything but nod as Harry herded them towards the next room. "Nev leave it, if it takes too long they will just go around." As Harry said that his friend dropped his wand down from the door and moved away into the corridor of offices. They heard the door blast inwards from the room behind them and Neville just managed to get a shield up to block the shards of wood.
The group ran down the corridor with Neville bringing up the rear keeping his shield up and sending back repeated 'Reducto's' down the corridor amidst bolts of angry red and green travelling the other way towards the teens, earning himself a yell of anger and pain. "You bastard."
The group ran to a stop as they reach a T-junction and weren't sure which way to choose. Their choice was made though as Lucius followed by Bellatrix came through the door on the left. Harry charged ahead to the right and the group followed him. As Harry ran he began to conjure sharp stone rods. About a foot long and an inch diameter with a sharp point facing towards the group of Death Eaters behind them, Harry began conjuring them in a pile about halfway down the corridor ahead of them. By the time the group made it to that point there was now a pile of fourteen stone rods which were harry levitated as he ran past.
Neville ran past them and with practised ease he turned around and separated the rods to spread them out and whilst still floating mid-air he banished them down the corridor. Harry and Neville had created numerous tactics for most situations, several for use when in retreat or with enemies behind and this was one of them.
The stone spears flew straight and true, but fortunately for the Death Eaters both Lucius and Bellatrix had dived to the floor beneath them. Not so fortunate was the Death Eater behind the duo who managed to only dodge to the side before the next in line conjured a marble wall which the spears smashed into and broke into shards.
The unfortunate Death Eater was hit across the stomach, effectively gutting him and across the face, removing his mask and nose and revealing Walden Macnair, the Ministry Executioner who was going to kill Buckbeak two years ago.
The Death Eaters all looked back as they heard Macnair slump to the floor before turning to the group and shooting the green Killing Curse straight down the corridor repeatedly. Neville's eyes widened before he quickly conjured a wall of granite across the corridor, a feat he repeated four more times before they ran out of the far door and into the Space room. Where Harry was frantically defending against three Death Eaters who had all unmasked.
Augustus Rockwood, Antonin Dolohov and Mulciber were all long standing members of Voldemort's Inner Circle and were some of his fiercest fighters. All three had plenty of experience and many had died at their wands. All were surprised to be fighting against Harry Potter and not easily wining on their own but barely holding advantage as a combined trio.
Neville ran to the other four who were covered in debris from a shattered planet and were occasionally sending spells at the Death Eaters. Neville herded them towards the free door and turned back to help Harry who was being forced backwards. "Head left," Neville called, his shout telling Harry it was safe for him to back in that direction as Neville summoned the Moon to block a dirty yellow curse that was heading towards the other four.
Harry wasted no time and as he was moving back quickly grinned as he transfigured a replica of Mars which was now behind the trio into a Runespoor, a red three-headed snake. The loud thump behind the trio was enough of a distraction for Harry to get through the door and begin warding it with Neville. "Anyone injured?" Harry asked, not turning to look at his friends who were still shocked and confused.
They shook their heads but Hermione answered when neither turned back around, "no we're all fine. What… what spells have you been casting? How have you been casting so fast? And silently? Since when can you cast silently? Also why are you fighting so viciously? Why haven't we-"
"Look Hermione, whilst I would normally indulge and answer honestly now isn't the time. They're all murderers and a stunner doesn't really keep people down in a six versus twelve fight."
Harry had stopped casting at the door and was now casting minor healing spells at the cuts on his legs and arms from the broken planet before doing the same with the other four. "Nev leave the door, we would've felt it if they were coming."
"I know, means they're going around and they've got Rockwood so know where to go. Shit. Where are we?" Neville had still not turned and was still waving his wand before beginning to burn runes into the door frame.
"Ugh, looks like more offices, another corridor. Straight, I'd say 30 meters long. One exit door at the end." Neville nodded at Harry's short description. "I think eight remaining and at least one injured badly," which Neville grunted at.
"Right," Neville was done with the door which shimmered red for a minute before the colour faded into the wood. "Let's carry on, this is going to be a shit show. Right, Harry, what rooms have we got left."
"Locked door, Brain room and one we didn't check. Brains would be a five to three split on each side of that tank. Chances of liquid being lethal is low, creatures is high though. Hmm-"
"What are you two talking about?" Ron was red in the face and out of breath from all the running and had just watched three people die at the hand of his best friend and was now being ignored.
"Look Ron, Nev and I have been training. We know what we're doing. Now hush." Harry dismissed the redhead. "Reckon break front side of tank, probably best with Defodio, gouge out a lot of the some of that liquid on them. Probably stood halfway down tank. Turn floor into sand or bog under larger group." Neville thought for a moment before nodding.
"I can animate the panes into golems. I think there were desks too so can do some of your cruel transfigurations." The teens gave each other a grin which Hermione couldn't help but roll her eyes at and thinking 'boys'.
"Right, Nev and I go first then you lot follow after we see where we are."
With that the six moved down the corridor, wands at the ready.
Harry counted down silently from three before opening the door and following Neville through, shield already cast to cover them both as Neville had a flame whip overhead ready to bring down. The second Harry stepped through though, the door slammed shut and three metal bars grew from the floor and each side just beyond the door and flush with the walls, shutting it closed.
Neville immediately swung at the closing bars with his whip which clanged off of them, leaving no marks.
Unable to retreat to their friends they quickly took in their surroundings. They were in a large circular chamber which was flat besides the raised dais at the centre, only a few steps high, upon which sat an archway with a fluttering shadowy curtain inside. At cardinal points around the room were doors, three others besides the one they came through
"Definitely want to stay away from the curtain," Harry said in a low voice, which Neville nodded back to.
"Oh, you most definitely don't want to play with that, boys." Lucius Malfoy stepped around from the other side of the archway and was followed by six others who spread out as Malfoy stood before them at the centre with the archway framed behind him. The Death Eaters were now all unmasked, leaving the three Lestranges to Malfoy's right with Bellatrix in the middle, which was Neville's side, and the trio Harry had just been facing on the right.
"Now, you've had your fun, but if you want to stop the others from playing with your little friends then you're going to hand over that Prophecy." The others grinned at this and Bellatrix gave her mad crackle. "You see, Jugson really doesn't care how young they are, if you understand me."
Both boys glared at the man before them. "Now, hand it over." Both stood there waiting for something to happen. The Death Eaters began to prepare to kill the two and just take it. "This is your last warning, hand over the Prophecy and you can go back to your friends, or we will kill you all."
Both boys stood there not answering the Death Eaters, however the two were having a speedy tactics discussion hidden from the rest.
"I'll take Malfoy if you push forward and I follow. We need to get to the doors to check which is the exit."
"Fine we can do that. I really want to stay away from that arch though. So we head left and check doors sequentially?"
"Yeah."
"Okay, we take first shots. One two three go okay?"
"Yeah." Harry was ready to end this.
"Three," Neville drew himself up. For my parents.
"Two."
"One."
"Go." Both shouted at the same time before they deactivated their rings and began to cast whilst Malfoy was still posturing. Harry opened with his most brutal chain, which was also his longest at thirteen different spells called 'Death's Riposte'. The chain opened with the Bone Exploding curse, which detonates a bone it lands on and the shards act like shrapnel, shredding the surrounding tissue.
Next was one of the worst spells Harry had seen, the Sawblade Shredder 'Serro Cortar', a Portuguese spell that was a copy of the severing curse except the matter either side of the cut looks like a sawblade has been run over it repeatedly. It's a very messy and painful curse.
It was followed by a three different blasting curses and a simpler Bone Breaker 'Ossis Fragmen'. The next one in the chain had been found by the duo in the Room of Requirement in their training library in an untitled medical journal. The spell caused a clot to form at the point of impact, which can quickly shut down a limb or kill if the hit is in the right place.
At the halfway point of the chain it turned towards elemental magics. The eighth spell was a spear of ice that was two feet long and as thick as a clenched fist. The Ice Spear was followed by a blast of dark green lighting, a spell of Harry's own creation which resembled his scar whilst it was in flight and thoroughly electrocuted the target. It was a less painful Cruciatus but it also burned the skin.
The tenth spell was a small, dark purple ball slightly larger than a marble. When it hit it slowly expands to three times its size, about a tennis ball, before popping and anything inside the bubble disappears, the only example of void based elemental magic that Harry was comfortable with. The book the boys had found that in was incredibly dark and had evil acts from splitting the soul to summoning demons. Even reanimating the dead was fair game. It was followed by an overcharged 'Auguamenti' which shot water at an incredible pressure in a small beam.
The penultimate spell was a twisted 'Incarcerous'. Instead of the normal rope bindings, this version shot a metal chain of barbed wire; harder to simply cut and more effort to vanish, along with far more painful.
The last spell was a flesh-eating spell used in satanic rituals in Ancient Egypt. It destroyed flesh and tissue, leaving "clean and purified" bone. The muddy orange spell was unique in that there was no magical counter for the effect, it required a mundane chemical solution to neutralise. Adding water which many Magicals would do immediately causes the speed to increase.
As Harry began to cast, his opponents hadn't realised the severity of the situation they were in. They knew that there had been some injuries as some of their companions were missing, but naturally assumed they were stunned or simply waiting in a trap. Sure, Harry had managed to hold the three of them off just about but he couldn't know any real spells and it must have been a fluke. They were wrong
Harry's first three spells hit an unshielded and unprepared Mulciber. The Bone Exploder shattered his right knee, tearing off his leg. The Sawblade Shredder cut halfway through his torso, just below the navel, and then the first of the three blasting curses blew his body back into the far wall when he crumpled, never to rise again.
To say the four, now three, Death Eaters watching Harry were shocked would be a vast understatement, however they had little time as Harry moved along the line to Rockwood and wasn't slowing down. The former Unspeakable managed to block or dodge the rest of the chain, still too surprised to cast anything offensive in return until Harry's second use of the lighting spell got through. Technically it should be an Unforgivable, it caused extreme pain with burns and was unblockable, much like the Cruciatus. Harry wasn't proud but it did the trick.
The green spell hit Rockwood at the elbow of his wand arm, causing him to drop it as the whole arm vibrated with pain, making it easy for Harry to cave in his chest with a fast blasting curse.
Harry had downed two of his opponents in under a minute but it was purely down to luck and he would have to start properly shielding now as he moved his focus onto Dolohov. He would also have to cut down on the esoteric spell usage. Harry was unaware how Neville was faring as he couldn't spare a glance but Harry began to slowly move towards his left whilst casting, intending to get closer to one of the other doors.
Five minutes later and Harry was getting annoyed. The Death Eaters had quickly realised their plan of moving around the room to the doors and so had pushed back hard against Neville, causing him to remain where he was rather than forcing them to back down.
Fighting the pair of Dolohov and Malfoy was very frustrating for him. Malfoy liked to focus on Conjuring and Transfiguration whilst Dolohov used his strength to overpower painful and downright evil curses. Of course, both used the Unforgivables liberally too. Harry had managed to get himself bitten by a weird deformed cat on his right thigh before he had blasted it away, he was also pretty sure he was poisoned as the wound was burning.
The floor surrounding Harry was littered with half transfigured rubble from the stone floor and headless and broken corpses of transfigured creatures. Harry had no choice but to also transfigure creatures as they kept distracting him, making it hard to remain on the offensive.
Harry's main injury was that he hadn't deflected away a Bone Breaker far enough and his right foot definitely had something broken. He also had lost a good portion of his hair on the left side of his face along with his glasses and received a painful gash above his forehead from a cutter which was dripping blood slowly into his eye, blinding him every few seconds. If it wasn't for the enchanted contacts he had been wearing for the last few months he would really be in trouble without glasses.
Fortunately, Harry had scored a few hits too. Dolohov was missing three fingers on his left hand courtesy to his own flame cutter being bounced back at him and also had something broken in is foot. Malfoy was worse for ware as he had two serious injuries. He had taken a Piercing curse to the gut. It wasn't fatal as it had been weakened by a shield and hadn't gone all the way through, but he was still fighting with one hand pressed against his stomach.
He also had a large purple bump on his forehead. Malfoy had the smart idea to summon the Prophecy, which Harry had still in his pocket. Not only did the Prophecy fly from his pocket, but Harry shot it with a banisher which sped it towards him. Not towards his outstretched hand, but towards his face where it smashed and broke on his forehead.
Malfoy had been livid and had cast the Cruciatus non-stop for the next minute.
Harry was interrupted as he heard Neville scream in pain as Bellatrix cackled. From the corner of his eye he could see Neville writhing on the ground as Bellatrix held her wand to him. Rabastan was crumpled on the floor, cleanly decapitated and Rodolphus was in a bad way but still standing, a long chain of barbed wire wrapped around one leg and his torso.
Harry wouldn't allow his friend to suffer the same fate as his parents, so Harry did as Harry normally does. He did something incredibly stupid.
Normal witches and wizards cannot wield a wand in each hand. Primarily because of the power required to cast at the same time, but also due to the concentration. It is easy to confuse parts of the incantation or movement or which hand is casting which so very few people can do it. Harry had been attempting recently and had yet to try it in a serious practise fight with Neville as he found it very draining.
With a flick of his wrist his original Holly wand shot into his left hand. When the pair had gone to buy Neville his own wand, not his fathers, Harry had gone into Knockturn Alley to have a custom wand made. Ebony and Basilisk Fang with a core of Basilisk Venom, at 11 inches, the wand was a masterpiece of black ebon wood with intricate filigree of ivory white fang with a sharp cap courtesy of the fang that incidentally had pierced Harry. The core venom was also from the one Harry killed.
Harry used his new wand as his primary in the fight as it was much more powerful.
He used the Holly wand to conjure a rudimentary marble wall between Neville and Bellatrix before summoning his friend over to him using his first wand. The two remaining Lestranges were shocked at the dual wielding, much as both Malfoy and Dolohov were, earning him a very brief reprive, as Harry continued to attack and defend against the pair.
Harry stood over the body of his friend and began to cast offensively with his second wand, now aiming at the Lestranges. Harry took advantage of the shock to break through Malfoy's shield with a Blood Boiler which he was too weak to overpower and dispel and so the curse crumpled the blond Death Eater to the floor.
The three remaining Death Eaters converged on Harry who was heavily on the defensive as he couldn't move far from Neville and was facing three of Voldemort's best, still trying to find a rhythm in the dual wielding. Harry earnt himself some freedom as he successfully put up a reinforced marble and granite wall surrounding Neville at waist hight, who was now unconscious on the floor. His friend wasn't too injured, there were plenty of small gashes from banished debris and both arms were terribly broken. The main concern was the effect of not being treated for Cruciatus exposure, so Harry needed to wrap it up quickly.
As Harry began to move away from the small wall towards the trio who weren't stood too far apart, Harry used a poorly aimed blasting curse to create a pile of rubble behind the last male Lestrange, who was starting to slow down courtesy of the painful metal wrapped around him.
As Harry dodged a fire whip each from Bellatrix and Dolohov, Harry summoned a rock from the floor to block the Killing Curse that Rodolphus had sent at him and banished the debris back at him. As his wand was aiming towards the most injured of the three, Harry silently transfigured the pile of rubble behind the man into several snakes.
As Harry continued to dodge Dolohov's whip, Bellatrix saw the snakes that were heading for her husband and turned her whip from Harry and towards the snakes. Using the freedom from the mad witches' attacks, Harry sent several overpowered 'Reducto's' at him, the force sending him down on to one knee.
Bellatrix had been to slow to decapitate the snakes and the last one left managed to bite Rodolphus in the jugular, severing the artery and sending the man to the floor. Bellatrix let out a scream of anguish before turning her eyes on Harry who was frowning deep in concentration as he was now exchanging cutting curses and transfigured creatures with Dolohov as the last Lestrange was distracted.
Bellatrix was incensed, her two brothers in law and now her husband? She was going to kill the whelp regardless of the Dark Lord's orders. "You're going to die Potter," she screamed as she re-joined the fight with a flurry of ten killing curses in half as many seconds.
"Oh shit." Harry had to dive out of the way of the green storm of death and landed painfully on his left side, a sharp rock digging into his ribs. Dolohov used the opportunity and managed to land another two Bone Breakers on his right shin, further running the leg.
Harry was now fighting an incensed Bellatrix, furious over the loss of her husband and two brothers in law. Dolohov was pissed too as this damned kid just wouldn't die. Harry was having to keep switching focus between the two as they had slowly started to spread out either side of him as he made his way back to his feet. Now with one on either side of him, his head was rapidly switching back and forth from each side as he tried to keep pace with the castings. Bellatrix had managed to hit him with a cutting curse that dug into the left side of his torso.
After several flurries of conjured weapons, painful curses and dangerous creatures, Dolohov made his last mistake in order to land two more Bone Breakers on Harry, hitting his ankle and knee. As the second bone breaker connected and Harry screamed in pain, Dolohov relented for a minute and started to begin taunting. He was too slow to raise a shield and was eviscerated by Harry's flame whip which ended his life.
Harry now turned to face Bellatrix, both wands in his hands as he took full stock of his injuries, never pausing in his casting. His gash on his head was still slowly dripping into his eyes, and he now had a deep gash in his left side. His right leg was in ruin and was barely able to keep him up. Harry had to apply numbing charms a few times a minute so he could keep standing and not black out.
Bellatrix was faring much better and was practically uninjured save for some small grazes from banished debris she ignored after fifteen minutes of constant fighting.
She conjured a swarm of knives which she sent flying at Harry. He transfigured the armaments mid flight into two large wolves and banished them back at her, closely followed by a blasting curse. She vanished the first as it was only a conjuration and destroyed the second with a slash of her wand. The blasting curse broke through her shield and Harry scored his first hit on her. It was weakened and only caught her left shoulder, but the force produced a loud crack and she stumbled backwards.
With her left arm hanging useless by her side she returned a volley of the darkest curses she could, casting so fast that Harry could barely keep up with the blur and ended up using both wands for defence.
The chain she used contained Entrail Expelling, Organ Rupturing, Blood Boiling and Mummification curses amongst other painful ways to die. Harry was furiously summoning rocks from the floor and conjuring walls to block and shield the curses.
After she completed the chain she then conjured and transfigured sharp objects; a mix of knives, swords and axes and would banish them at him, followed by several Unforgivables before repeating her deadly chain.
Harry was barely holding her off from killing him when he realised the pattern she was following and came up with an idea. He had been holding her off on this routine for about three minutes before he could attack and had earned two knives to his already wounded right thigh and a sword that had luckily hit his rib and shattered it rather than gut him.
As she raised her wand to cast the next spell, the Mummification curse which would have drained all the water from his body over a few seconds, Harry retaliated, knowing she wouldn't be able to produce a shield in time. He caught her with his Sawblade Shredder along her right side, shaving off a chunk of her thigh and hip.
The evil woman screamed in pain and after finishing the curse, shot Unforgivables at him without cessation. Harry hobbled out of the way of several and managed to block the rest. He couldn't put any weight on his ruined right leg and so had conjured two planks either side and had wrapped rope around them and his thigh tightly, allowing him to hobble without letting his broken leg touch the floor.
In her furious casting of the torture curse and killing curse, Harry managed to slip a piercing curse through her actions and caught her in the gut. She screamed in fury but Harry could tell by the frantic look in her eyes that she knew she had to get out of there. Harry shot his green lighting spell at her, and both were shocked when it collided with the lighter killing curse and detonated in a blast that vaporised the floor beneath and blew the two combatants backwards.
In flight Bellatrix shot a final killing curse at Harry, who landed out of it's path, before she got to her feet and scrambled towards the nearest door. She was erratically darting from side to side as she dodged Harry's blasting curses, creating sizeable craters in the floor.
Before she could make it to the door though, it blasted open and Sirius strode in, wand at the ready. To say he was surprised was an understatement. That surprise soon turned to fear as he saw his wounded cousin charging at him in fear. When she saw him, the fear turned to glee as she raised her wand.
"Avada Kedav-hguh," the green curse was cut off before it could be cast as a thick spear of ice erupted from her chest, dropping her to the floor.
Before he could really process it, Remus and Moody had moved into the room besides him and all three had to quickly shield as a Flame Whip descended upon them with blasting curses in tandem.
The rest of the Order of the Phoenix were stuck outside the room as the three front fighters defended against their assailant. Remus was the first to take stock of who was attacking him and when he did he quickly shouted a ceasefire. "Stop. Sirius, Moody Stop! It's Harry. HARRY STOP!"
Thankfully, all three heard him and did stop, but neither Harry nor Moody lowered their wands.
Sirius was the first to speak as he looked around the destroyed room and the bloody boy before him. "Merlin Harry, what happ-"
"Where did I meet Sirius Black two years ago and who did I blast into a wall?" Harry shouted, his wands still glowing, ready for action.
"Harry it's us, the Orde-" Moody grabbed Sirius by the shoulder as Harry shot a blasting curse into the ground before them and held another flame whip in his right hand.
"Answer him laddie, I don't fancy joining the mess in this room."
"It was the Shrieking Shack and it was Snape."
Harry turned towards Remus, "what do I hear when near a Dementor?"
Remus looked forlorn before answering, "you hear your parents' deaths. Your mum begging for Voldemort to spare you."
Moody grunted before Sirius gasped. Harry sagged and quickly conjured a chair and slumped into it. "Get the rest of the Order in here now," and they quickly filed in behind Sirius. "Right, I need half of you to get through that locked door over there," he pointed towards where he and Neville had come from. "The other four are through there with Jugson and I haven't seen them for near twenty minutes, so someone needs to get to them.
"Neville is over there behind that wall," he pointed to where he had left his friend, "broken arms and Cruciatus exposure. He needs immediate medical. Also, someone check all the Death Eaters in here are dead. I'm pretty sure but we don't need surprises."
Harry's commanding voice, his visage and the appearance of the room had everyone stumped as to what to do. Even the ever-alert Moody was at a loss for words.
Sirius broke the silence, "Harry what-"
Harry let off a loud blast with his wand which brought up several wands facing him which Harry ignored. He roared out, "get doing what I said, or people may still die. NOW!" When nobody still moved Harry cracked his flame whip and began to stand before Moody strode forwards and began relaying orders.
As people burst into motion, some to get through the door, some to check the other rooms and two to go and get Healers from St. Mungo's, Remus, Sirius, Moody and Tonks all came over to the bloody, battered and bruised boy who was sat before them, his wands both returned to their hidden arm holsters.
Tonks started to check the bodies, and after having seen Rockwood and Dolohov she swore when she got to Malfoy. "Bloody hell Potter. How the hell did you get Rockwood, Dolohov AND Malfoy?"
The other three adults stared at her agog and Harry let out a rasped chuckle.
"Well Tonks, I couldn't help but agree with Moody about the best kind of Death Eater being a dead one." Moody guffawed at that. "Anyway are they all dead in here?" Tonks moved onto the next body before swearing again.
"This is Rodolphus Lestrange! How many are here Potter? This is four of the Inner Circle!"
Harry chuckled slightly as Remus and Sirius were both looking at him incredulously. "Well it's more like twelve than four to be honest."
Silence.
"Harry, did you say that there are twelve of the Inner Circle down here?" Sirius asked fearfully.
Silence.
"No, of course not," Harry answered.
Moody grunted and the others let out a deep breath.
"They're aren't really Inner Circle anymore because they're dead. Well, Jugson might still be alive but the rest… what?" Harry saw they were all looking at him with wide eyes, even Moody had both eyes focused on him. "Crabbe, Avery, Goyle, Macnair, Mulciber, Rockwood, Rabastan, Malfoy, Rodolphus, Dolohov and Bellatrix. In that order."
They were all stunned into silence until Moody stomped over and handed over a flask from the inside of his jacket. Harry was practically delirious now and all he managed was to murmur, "mmm Polyjuice, my favourite," before taking a glug of the Firewhisky and closing his eyes.
Sirius was really confused now and had to ask, "how do you know what Polyjuice tastes like?"
Harry smiled with his eyes closed and mumbled, "me to know, you… find out," before passing out.