Year Four, Part Nine
Harry walked, determinedly focusing on nothing more than the feeling of his feet hitting the pavement.
Thoughts swirled around in his mind, demanding his attention. Thoughts of Ron and Hermione and Sirius and how he never got to say goodbye to them, fear that the two-hour time-limit had passed and that he would be too late, fearful thoughts of what would happen to him.
He ignored them all, knowing that if he were to allow himself to think he would lose his nerve.
He couldn't back away, not now.
'Oh God, what if they do the same thing to me as they did to Lupin-'
He shook his head angrily, banishing the images that threatened to arise and returning his eyes and thoughts to his moving feet.
Before he knew it, he was standing outside the Leaky Cauldron.
Pushing his hair down to cover his scar, Harry looked around, a violent pang of envy twisting his stomach as he looked at the Muggles around him. None of them gave him, or the Leaky Cauldron for that matter, a second glance.
None of them were walking toward what would probably be their torturous death.
'Don't think about it, don't think about it!'
He took a deep breath, patting his fringe again, and walked in.
Luckily, Tom the bartender was deep in conversation with a stooped-over old warlock at the bar. No matter how much Harry hid his scar, he was quite sure Tom or one of the patrons would recognize him if they paid too much attention.
"Just heading to the Alley," he said in as gruff a voice as he could manage, striding through to the back door and nodding briefly at the gaggle of elderly witches sitting at the corner table.
Diagon Alley was emptier than Harry had ever seen it before. Of course, all the previous time he'd been there had been during the summer holidays. Still, it seemed strange to not see it bustling with life. No families were making their way from shop to shop, no groups sitting at the restaurants and cafes and arguing about Quidditch.
There were still a fair amount of shoppers meandering along, but it was nothing like what he was used to.
Large posters were hung on the walls every few feet, with the faces of the escaped Death Eaters leering out at him along with announcements of their bounties.
There were fewer posters of Ginny, but more than enough to make him wince.
All of this, all the suffering Lupin had gone through, everything that was going to happen to him; it was all her fault.
'No, it's Voldemort's. He possessed her, he turned her into this monster. It's all his fault.'
When he reached the entrance to Knockturn Alley, he paused, staring down the gloomy street with his legs trembling and his heart thumping like a steel drum.
'I've got to do this,' he told himself, taking a few deep breaths. 'I won't be able to live with myself if they keep going after my friends to torment me. I need to do this.'
Slowly, his shaking stopped, a cold sense of determination coating him again.
He nodded his head once, fingering his wand in his pocket. If he had the chance, he could at least try and attack Voldemort.
They'd probably take his wand well before he reached that point, but it couldn't hurt to imagine it.
Setting his jaw, he entered Knockturn Alley.
It was much like he remembered it being, from his accidental trip there three years previously. There were no wanted posters on the wall, although he noticed a few places where strips remained from where they had obviously been torn down. Unlike Diagon, the timing of his visit didn't seem to disturb the business of the market. Cloaked and hooded figures scurried down the road, looking as suspicious as any Harry had seen before, while a group of hags sat at an outdoor table, cackling to each other loudly. Displayed against the storefront windows were all sorts of disgusting and creepy objects; from necklaces of human bones to strangely pulsating plants and pigeons with shiny teeth that glittered in their deformed beaks.
He strode along with his head down, trying to attract as little attention as possible.
Strange noises echoed through the gloom, odd growling sounds mingling with a shopkeeper announcing twenty percent off all coffin wood.
He was nearing the curve which led to Borgin and Burke's when he distinctly heard someone mention his name.
Flushing, he stumbled, wildly looking around until he could locate the source of the sound.
Two wild-looking wizards were leaning against the wall a little way off from him, whispering furiously to each other. They didn't appear to have noticed him. As he watched, the one bared his teeth and growled at the other, his jaw stretching far wider than should have been possible.
"Fine," the other wizard hissed, just loud enough for Harry to hear. "I'll keep an eye open."
Suppressing a shiver, Harry patted his fringe down again and kept walking, picking the pace up a bit.
Passing Borgin and Burke's, Harry looked around, quickly noticing the winding side street Ginny's letter had referred to.
'Just down here. This is it.'
That steely focus settled over him again as he walked down the street, his eyes peeled for the sign Ginny had mentioned.
As he walked, his senses seemed to go into overdrive, as if they knew that they were nearing the end of their time to function.
The smell of bread being baked in a nearby flat wafted over to him, the sound of an old song playing on the radio filling his ears.
He could feel every cobblestone underfoot and every inch of exposed skin the wind kissed.
The signs and advertisements grew brighter, catching his eyes and demanding his attention.
He glanced at them all, watching carefully for the one he had been told about.
His stomach gave a painful lurch as he noticed the large red canvas sign flapping in the breeze a little way down the road.
Blazed across it were the words "Mordred's elixir: Accomplish your goals."
A few people were standing around near the sign.
'That's it. This is it.'
Terrible, icy fear gripped him, mad thoughts of just turning around and running away circling through his mind.
'I have to do this. No matter what comes, I've got to do this.'
He began to walk toward them, his fingers trembling again.
As he drew nearer, he started to make out who some of the people waiting for him were.
Lucius Malfoy stood at the front of the group, a small smile twisting his lips, his hand gripping the silver head of his cane. Slightly to the left of him were two hulking forms, unmistakably recognizable as Crabbe and Goyle's fathers.
Standing against the wall on the opposite side of the street were a witch and wizard who looked scarily alike; both of them squat and lumpy with similar pig-like faces.
"This may be the first and last time you hear this," Lucius drawled when Harry walked up to him. "But it is a pleasure to see you."
Harry bit down on his instinctive furious retort, forcing himself to stay silent.
"I believe your little former girlfriend is most excited to see you," Lucius continued. "I think the only one looking forward to it more than her is her master."
The sound of the short witch's wheezy giggles sent bile rising in Harry's throat, his hands automatically curling into tight fists.
Somehow, he managed to keep from saying anything.
"No clever replies? No famous last words?"
Harry's throat felt like it would burst with the effort of not saying anything. Still, he held strong, refusing to give Lucius the satisfaction of seeing him upset.
Lucius locked eyes with him, an eyebrow rising as he stared.
After a few minutes, Lucius nodded to the wizard by his side.
"Amycus," he said, "inform our friend in the Department of Mysteries that we are coming. Potter, we are taking a short detour. Try anything funny, and you will spend the rest of your miserable life dearly regretting it."
'The Department of Mysteries! Harry realized, his eyes widening, 'That's where that door in the dreams goes! I saw it at the trial, that's it!'
Before the wizard Harry presumed was named Amycus had even moved, everything went mad.
A series of loud cracks split the air, Lucius automatically taking a step back and pulling his wand out at the sound.
The squat witch next to Amycus made a squawking noise, jumping forward and drawing her wand.
Harry spun around, just as a loud, frantic voice yelled: "HARRY, NO!"
His jaw dropped, unbridled relief filling him as he comprehended the sight.
Dumbledore, Sirius, Moody, Sturgis, Bill, and Charlie Weasley were standing a little bit down the road with wands drawn.
Dumbledore looked like he had when Barty Crouch's identity had been revealed; his face an utter picture of fury, his eyes blazing with power and might.
Harry's relief turned to horrified dismay an instant later, however, as he remembered why he had come in the first place.
'No, no, I need to do this!'
Before anyone could react, Lucius leapt forward, yelling: "Summon him!" as he grabbed Harry around the waist, his wand coming to rest with its tip at Harry's neck.
Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw Amycus pressing his finger to his left arm.
"LET HIM GO, YOU-"
"DON'T MAKE US-"
"Lucius," Dumbledore said, stepping forward and calmly interrupting Sirius and Moody's shouts. "I would release Harry, if I were you."
"Not one more step," Lucius warned, his grip tightening around Harry and his wand pressing deeper against Harry's skin.
"Do you really think you can prevent me from doing so? I am giving you five seconds, Lucius. A chance of a lifetime, one might say."
One of the Death Eaters cursed loudly. "He's blocked Apparition!"
"Dumbledore-" Lucius started.
Dumbledore moved, his wand flicking in an almost lazy gesture.
Hot blood splattered Harry's face, Lucius's shriek making him feel like one of his eardrums had popped.
Something seized him and tugged him harshly, pulling him from where he had been standing to Dumbledore's side before he could blink.
Stumbling, he glanced back to see Lucius cradling his bloody stump.
His right arm had been nearly sliced through, severing it from the elbow down. It lay on the cobbled ground, the wand still tightly gripped in its fingers.
There was a moment of shocked stillness, everyone present watching as Lucius, still shrieking, dropped to his knees with his arm clutched against his chest, the spurting blood giving his robes a crimson tinge.
"I did warn you," Dumbledore said quietly, not an ounce of pity evident in his voice.
The Death Eaters flinched as he raised his wand above his head, Amycus and the witch both crying out and slashing their wands through the air.
Sirius jumped forward, grabbing Harry's arm and pulling him around just as a series of strange ringing noises sounded.
"We need to get out of here," he said, nodding to Bill and Sturgis, "Let's go, before-"
Sirius cut off suddenly, his face paling and his throat working soundlessly.
Dreading what he knew he would see, Harry turned around to face the Death Eaters.
Voldemort was there, a look of enraged fury twisting his inhuman face.
Without sparing the sobbing Lucius a glance, he reached out and placed one long, slender finger against the tattoo on Amycus' arm.
Spinning around, Ginny sent a Bone-Breaking Curse to where she had last seen Bellatrix.
The spell shot forward, whizzing through the air until it hit a tree trunk.
Ginny held her breath, her wand slick in her hand as she turned around, keeping her eyes peeled for her opponent.
She heard a soft noise behind her and spun again, casting a Shield Charm just in time to block Bellatrix's hex.
Bellatrix growled, her cloak whipping out behind her as she raised her wand.
Before she could cast a spell, it happened.
A terrible, burning spasm shot through her arm, originating in the Mark and spreading out to fill her whole body.
She fell to her knees with the sudden, shocking pain of it, an image of a location flashing before her eyes.
"He's summoned us!" Bellatrix cried. "Come! We need to go!"
"Wh-that-"
Growling again, Bellatrix ran over to Ginny, grabbing her shoulder roughly and dragging her to her feet.
With her hand still tight on Ginny's shoulder, Bellatrix spun around, pulling Ginny with her.
"Anti-Apparition Charms," Bellatrix whispered, her eyes widening. "We need to go to somewhere close to him but out of the Charm's range."
Bellatrix twisted again, and this time they were able to Apparate.
Ginny stumbled as they arrived, Bellatrix's hold on her the only thing preventing her from falling over.
Adrenaline pounded through her, the sound of shouts and incantations nearby setting her blood ablaze.
They were in what she assumed to be Knockturn Alley. She'd never been there before, but had heard enough about it to think that's where they were, not to mention Potter was meant to be picked up from there.
There was barely anyone around, the only presences being a pair of shadowy figures slinking away from her and Bellatrix.
"Come on!" Bellatrix hissed, grabbing her arm and pulling her down the road, toward where the sound of fighting was coming from.
They'd just begun moving when they heard a loud crack behind them.
A moment later, Dolohov, Rookwood, Travers, and Mulciber drew even with them, also running toward the fight.
"Do we know who's there?" Dolohov yelled as he caught up.
Bellatrix just shook her head, the screams from ahead growing louder as they drew closer.
They rounded the corner, all of them coming to an immediate stop at the sight that met them.
Lucius Malfoy was lying unconscious or dead on the ground, his right arm ending just above the elbow in a bloody stump. There was another body, someone that looked very much like Crabbe, a few feet to his left. Three Death Eaters were duelling with Moody and Charlie, while Sirius stood against the wall with his left arm held protectively in front of Harry's chest, his wand blurring as he fought off someone Ginny vaguely recognized. In between Sirius and Moody, there were two bodies on the floor, one of which Ginny thought was Sturgis, an enormous hole in his chest.
The other had a mess of red hair.
She noticed all of this in the blink of an eye, but the two figures in the middle of the road drew her attention.
Dumbledore and the Dark Lord were duelling, a simultaneously entrancing and terrifying sight.
Spells shot between them faster than her eyes could track, brilliantly bright jets of light hurtling from one to the other.
As she watched, open-jawed, the Dark Lord waved his wand like a lasso. Dark shadows crept out from the alcoves and shops lining the walls, pooling together between him and Dumbledore and growing, taking the shapes of monstrous, half-formed beasts.
Ginny heard a half-swallowed exclamation behind her and turned instinctively to see that more of her companions had arrived.
The Lestrange brothers were running forward with Jugson, Gibbon, Rowle, Pettigrew, and three figures in dark robes and silver, skull-like masks.
"KILL THEM ALL!" Her lord shrieked, flicking his wand and sending a giant wall of flame hurtling past Dumbledore toward the Order. "BUT BRING ME POTTER!"
Dumbledore jerked his arm, twisting his wand in a strange, impossible-looking movement, and the wall of flame shuddered, stopping to move and spreading out to block off the Alley behind him.
The Dark Lord hissed between his teeth, slashing his wand and making the shadow creatures begin to howl.
Just as the Dark Lord gestured forward, making the shadow creatures howl and snarl and start running toward his opponent, Dumbledore twitched his wand, transfiguring the wall of flame into one made of large, thick stones which completely cut off the fighting behind him.
Screams and flashes of light filtered through, strange, unearthly colours lighting up the sky.
A Killing Curse shot from the Dark Lord's wand, clearly aimed a few feet to Dumbledore's left.
Dumbledore seemed to smile for an instant, nothing but his wand moving.
A small tornado appeared before him, the force of its winds tugging at Ginny's hair even as it began to move.
It tore through the summoned beasts, sending dust and almost-physical specks of darkness through the air. As it passed through the horde, the creatures vanished.
The emerald jet of the Killing Curse smashed into the wall behind Dumbledore, bright-green flame rising and licking at the stone before dissipating.
The Dark Lord and Dumbledore stood there warily, neither of them making a move.
"Surely you didn't think it would be so easy, Tom," Dumbledore said in an icy voice, glancing around at the Death Eaters. Ginny shivered as his gaze rested on her for a second.
They were not the kindly, compassionate eyes of the foolish old man he'd always been. They blazed with fury, power seeming to radiate out of them.
"Bellatrix, Rowle," the Dark Lord hissed. "With me. The rest of you, kill them all. Now!"
Bellatrix gave a wild, shrieking laugh as she jumped to the Dark Lord's side with her wand flashing, a bright blue curse leaping toward Dumbledore.
Dumbledore twisted oddly, making a whistling noise even as his wand twitched.
As he ran past her with his wand jabbing towards the wall Dumbledore had created, Dolohov gave a loud yell.
It spurred Ginny into action; she tore her eyes away from the fight before her and began to run along with the other Death Eaters, avoiding the whirlwind of flying spells around Dumbledore and hurling a Blasting Hex at the wall as she went.
Rookwood almost knocked her over as he picked up speed, waving his wand and calling out an incantation in some language she didn't recognize.
She heard a bird screeching behind her, but kept her attention on the wall, screaming "EXPULSO!"
The wall shimmered, becoming almost see-through for a moment, as Dolohov repeated Rookwood's incantation.
And then it vanished.
Behind her, she could hear Rowle screeching in agony.
Somehow, she kept from turning back and running to help Bellatrix and the Dark Lord, forcing herself to choose his orders over her instinctive need.
Instead of turning back, she followed the other Death Eaters through the vanishing wall.
Moody and Charlie were still standing, though a large gash had opened up across Charlie's face. In front of them, a witch was jumping around, clearly overwhelmed by the odds she was facing. As Ginny ran forward, the witch tripped over a twitching body on the floor.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" Ginny howled, aiming for Moody.
He snapped his head out of the curse's path, letting it splash against the wall between him and Charlie.
Charlie's eyes widened, a pained look flickering across his face.
"Ginny-"
"FUCKING DIE! AVADA KEDAVRA!"
Moody reacted quick enough to save her brother's life, slashing his wand through the air and sending a bunch of cobblestones flying into her spell's path.
He raised his wand-
Dolohov crashed into her, throwing her to the side and immediately beginning to duel Moody, jets of light making the air between them sizzle.
"GINNY," Charlie yelled, shooting a Stunner her way, "STOP!"
"FUCK YOU! AVADA KEDAVRA!"
Charlie jumped out of the way, sending a sickly-yellow spell flying toward her.
Her training with Bellatrix paying off, she cast a Shield Charm without thought.
As she raised her wand, she caught a snatch of Dumbledore's voice, even through the screams and yells.
"The Aurors are already here," he was saying. "Even someone as brilliant as you cannot win this fight."
She spared a glance down the road, blanching as she realized what she was seeing.
Sirius and Harry were no longer facing her companions alone.
Standing around them, mostly with pale, terrified faces, were at least two dozen witches and wizards, all wearing the uniforms of Aurors and Hit-Wizards.
Kingsley was standing next to Sirius, gesturing at the Death Eaters and at the Dark Lord and yelling furiously.
'Fucking hell!'
Charlie sent another curse toward her; it smashed into her Shield, tearing it apart but getting no further.
She twisted, casting a Bone-Breaking Curse.
It smashed right into Charlie's leg, a terrible cracking noise sounding as he fell to the floor.
"You're weak," she spat, taking a step toward him. "Pathetic!"
"STOP FUCKING AROUND!" Dolohov yelled, "GO HELP THE OTHERS!"
She shot a look down the road and grimaced. The fight did not seem to be going well at all.
The Aurors were advancing, with two more Death Eaters down than when she had last looked.
Worse, she could see Potter at the very back of the group, with four Aurors around him.
They were very slowly backing away, two Aurors facing toward the fight while the other two stood on the other side.
Sirius was nowhere to be seen, but Ginny was completely confident that he wasn't too far away.
"ROOKWOOD," She screamed, "POTTER'S GETTING AWAY!"
Rookwood nodded to her, sending an explosive curse at the encroaching Aurors and grabbing the wizard next to him by the arm.
Something crashed into her side, knocking her down.
She kept hold of her wand and managed to roll when she hit the floor, rising a few meters away with her side aching.
Charlie had managed a rudimentary healing on his leg; it still looked exceptionally wobbly, but he was managing to stand.
The light blue haze of a shield charm hung in the air before him.
"GINNY," He screamed, "YOU-"
She slashed her wand through the air like a knife, spitting out the incantation of the organ piercing curse Dolohov had shown her.
It smashed right through Charlie's shield, his mouth opening in a huffed exclamation as he fell on his back.
She didn't spare a thought for him, instead whirling around to give Dolohov a hand with Moody.
He didn't need the help. At some point, Travers had joined him, and as she turned around one of their curses hit Moody, sending him flying through the air to crash right through the nearest building's wall.
"COME ON," Dolohov cried, starting to run toward the Death Eaters still fighting the Aurors. "WE NEED TO GET POTTER!"
Looking around wildly, Ginny noticed Rookwood and two others, both wearing those silver masks, appearing out of an alley just ahead of where Harry and his Auror companions were heading.
"ROOKWOOD'S ON IT," She yelled back, gesturing to him, "LOOK!"
She ran alongside Dolohov, their mad rush into the insanity of the fight pushing surprising the Aurors, letting them draw closer.
Imitating Dolohov, she began to cast curse after curse, her wand twisting and moving as quickly as she could manage.
Closing the gap between them and the Aurors, she could make out Rookwood and the Death Eaters with him. They were fighting frantically, slowly whittling down the Aurors around Harry, pushing them forward.
A spell whizzed through the air, coming so close to her that it moved her hair with the wind of its passing.
She shrieked wordlessly, frantic fear and fury turning her thoughts to mush.
"INCENDIO! EXPULSO! AVADA KEDAVRA! AVADA KEDAVRA! BOMBARDA MAXIMA!"
One of her Killing Curses flew true, dropping one of the Aurors.
The rest of her spells flew completely off-target, however, and she could hear one of them shouting about fetching backup.
'I can't do this! This is all just too much!'
She began to laugh, a hysterical cackle that tore its way out of her and made her feel like she was going to be sick.
Dolohov was standing next to her, his wand moving so fast that she could only envy him.
Everything around her seemed to come in flashes, snatches of sight and sound and even the scent of burning flesh.
She fought, jumping out of the way of curses even as she cast shield charms, sending spell after spell whirling toward whichever target she saw at the time, Killing Curses and Cutting Hexes leaping from her wand with equal measure.
She thought one of her Cutting Hexes hit an Auror, but she couldn't be sure. Dust, smoke, and ash filled the air, powerful winds whipping through the street and stirring up all the mess the fight was creating, making it all but impossible to keep her eyes open.
A frantic sense of disappointed fear pounded through her. This battle, it was nothing like anything she'd experienced before. She'd spent hours and hours training with Bellatrix, but it hadn't come close to preparing her for the pure confusion and wildness of a fight of this scale.
A loud commotion broke out in the Auror ranks. Through teary, slitted eyes, she saw a group turning around and running to help those around Potter; Rookwood and those with him had been joined by five or six rough-looking wizards and witches. As she watched, she just barely made out one of them leaping at a Hit-Wizard and grabbing him by the throat. She distinctly heard Harry screeching out a hex.
'Someone brought Greyback!'
The Aurors surged forward, yelling and casting whatever they could.
The fighting grew fiercer, the gap between Ginny and the Aurors slowly closing.
An Auror appeared right before her, emerging from the dusty cloud and waving his wand at her.
Screaming, she cast a Shield Charm just in time, his Stunner splashing up against it.
'A Stunner?!' she thought with disdain, 'Bellatrix barely ever uses such useless spells!'
She began to laugh again, baring her teeth and staring her opponent in the eyes as she cast an Expulso.
He managed to block it, but barely, sending a strange, orange jet flying toward her.
It broke through her shield, but the shield slowed it for long enough that Ginny had leapt out of its path.
"YOU'RE WEAK," She shrieked, sending the Cutting Curse Snape had taught her, Sectumsempra, his way.
He almost avoided it, jumping to the side and slashing his wand again.
Almost, but not entirely.
As if a sword had been swung at him, a large gash opened in his chest, blood immediately spraying out and splashing all over Ginny's face.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" She cried, jabbing her wand forward before he could finish the spell he was clearly trying to cast.
The Killing Curse took him right in the face, dropping him to the ground with blank, empty eyes.
Someone screamed, a spell touching her shoulder as it flashed past her.
Gritting her teeth, trying as best as she could to ignore the leaden feel of her arm, she attacked.
Curse after curse spat from her wand, but barely any seemed to find targets.
She tried to push forward but immediately had to dodge a wayward curse. As she sidestepped, the ground under her shook, throwing her down. By the time she had risen again, the Aurors were right on top of her, forcing her to turn and run before trying to face them from a distance again.
'I need to fight another one individually! It's the only way, this is all too mad!'
She didn't get the chance. The Aurors were pressed together as tightly as they could manage, and when Gibbon began fighting one of them from up close the one beside him joined, the two of them quickly felling the hulking blonde figure.
As it went on, she began to feel sluggish. She barely managed to twist out of the way of a Stunner, and a moment later something grazed across her face, blood immediately seeping out and dripping down her cheek.
She flinched the moment the spell hit, and that single automatic weakness cost her.
Three spells hit her, two on her chest and one on her left shoulder; thankfully, none of them were Stunners or Disarmers, so she managed to stay conscious and keep hold of her wand, but she could feel cuts opening up and bruises blossoming.
Slowly, the Aurors continued to advance, pushing her and the other Death Eaters back step by agonizing step.
It was only when she heard Bellatrix laughing and shouting out a mocking comment that she realized they were back where they had originally started. "COME ON," Bellatrix cried, "SURELY YOU CAN DO BETTER THAN THAT?"
The Aurors faltered in their approach, and Ginny chanced a look around.
The Dark Lord was still duelling Dumbledore, alone once more. Sirius and Tonks had made their way forward and were standing beside Dumbledore with the two of them fighting Bellatrix.
Dumbledore's phoenix swooped through the air, slashing its talons at the head of a large snake that slithered around, trying in vain to attack Dumbledore.
Somehow, Bellatrix was holding her own against them.
"Do you see them, Tom?" Dumbledore called, his voice piercing through the sound of fighting. "You cannot hide any longer. You have accomplished nothing but revealing yourself today."
The Dark Lord made a sound somewhere between a laugh and a growl, his wand suddenly twitching to the side.
Ginny was thrown through the air as a large portion of the street in front of the Aurors simply blew up with an explosion so loud that the noise itself seemed to have physical force.
Stumbling to her feet, she rubbed the blood from a new cut on her forehead out of her eyes, feeling exceptionally dizzy and disoriented.
All the sounds around her seemed to be filtering through water, a Ginny ringing in her ears making her want to vomit.
The street ahead of them was mostly clear, with the few Aurors that were still standing having scattered.
Harry and the Aurors with him, one of whom, she realized, was Kingsley, seemed unaffected by the blast.
As she rose, she saw one of the werewolves diving toward Kingsley, only to crash down into the ground as if a giant fist had punched it.
The Dark Lord waved his wand, firing off three Killing Curses in half the time that it would take Ginny to cast one.
One of them shot towards Dumbledore, another straight at Sirius.
Dumbledore's phoenix squawked, appearing before him in a golden flash and taking the Killing Curse in the head. The bird burst into flames and dropped to the ground a tiny featherless chick. A large section of the ground rose, intercepting the one aimed at Sirius.
But nothing blocked the third one.
It shot down the street, missing an Auror by less than an inch, continuing its flight until it hit the target.
It struck Harry in the chest, bathing him in an eerie green light for a moment before he fell on his face.
For a perfect, crystallized moment, everything fell still, no-one daring to break the shocked hush that had fallen upon them.
The universe seemed to take a breath, the only sound that of Harry's glasses shattering on the cobblestones.
Dumbledore's face bore the strangest expression Ginny had ever seen; it crumpled, but something bright and hopeful lurked below the surface.
Everything was still, as the realization of what had just happened settled in.
And then Sirius broke the silence.
"HARRY!" He howled, agonized pain echoing through the suddenly quiet area.
"Have I really accomplished nothing?" The Dark Lord asked softly, raising his wand against Dumbledore again.
Sirius spun around suddenly, his face that of a beast in pain.
He slashed his wand through the air with a terrible shout, a jet-black spell flying from the tip.
Bellatrix screeched, crying out an incantation.
Whatever it was, the spell was halfway to her when it exploded, a wave of hardened air rolling out from it and knocking Ginny down with a horrific crack in her ankle and a brutal pain as her head smashed into the cobbles.
Everything began to grow dark around her, unconsciousness urgently trying to settle in.
'I need to stay awake! If I pass out now, I'm done for!'
She felt a hand grip the back of her neck and tug at her, distantly heard Bellatrix's shout.
Biting her inner cheek hard enough to draw blood, she forced herself to remain conscious, forced herself to suffer through the agony and stand.
Slowly, she did so, shaking her head and blinking away the dots that swam before her eyes.
"YOU DIRTY ANI-"
Bellatrix's shout cut off with a sudden gurgling noise, her eyes bulging and her face paling as her grip on Ginny's neck slackened.
Again, everything went silent, no-one so much as moving.
Shakily, Ginny followed her line of sight and gasped, fearful panic filling her.
Just down the road, Harry was getting to his feet.
'No, no, no! It can't be, he's dead, he's dead! He has to be dead!'
"It would seem that my immediate assumption was correct," Dumbledore said, sounding positively cheerful.
Terrified, not understanding, Ginny turned to her lord.
His face was whiter than she'd ever seen it, his eyes wide and almost frightened.
With a terrible snarl, he slashed his wand through the air. She felt it more than anything else, a sudden sensation of lightness in the air.
With a swirl of his black robes and a loud crack, the Dark Lord vanished.
More sounds of Apparition filled the air as Bellatrix's arm tightened on her neck again and she pulled, tugging Ginny with her into the space between here and there.
As she was pulled into Apparition, Ginny caught one last sight of the street.
It was littered with bodies, covered in blood and gore and small fires and the wreckage from the shops and buildings around them.
And in the middle of it all, impossibly, Harry Potter stood, very much alive.