Chapter 8 – Uninvited Guests
The Dark Mark hung in the sky over the Burrow. Harry lifted Ginny off himself and set her down. "Ginny get under cover! I need to go stop the Death Eaters."
"Harry, I can help you!"
"Ginny please just do it. I promised." Without looking back, Harry ran towards the attacking Death Eaters.
Many of the wedding guests were Apparating away from the Death Eaters. Harry was glad to see them leaving as it meant less victims for the Death Eaters. The Aurors guarding the wedding receptions job was to first protect the guests and then to capture any of Voldemort's followers possible.
Harry came through the remaining guests and stepped around a flipped over table. The garden in front of the Burrows had turned into a battlefield. The low stonewall marking the edge of the garden marked the boundary between the two sides. A large tree that had stood next to the wall lay on the ground near where Ron stood. The trunk looked as though sliced by a great axe.
Harry could now see approximately fifteen Death Eaters fighting Remus, Tonks, Professor McGonagall, Fred, George, Charlie, and Bill. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley lay on the porch in front of the house. Hermione was slumped on the ground near the garden wall. It looked like she had not even been able to draw her wand when the attack started. Another clump of bodies lay further out from the house, outside the wall. Harry suspected they were the Aurors who had been standing guard around the Burrow.
The Death Eaters had the defenders under a constant attack. The Weasleys and their guests held up their shields and were refusing to give up ground, but were unable to counter-attack.
The Death Eaters had not yet noticed Harry. Stepping back behind the table Harry thought quickly. Concentrating, Harry Apparated to a place two meters behind the Death Eaters. Harry recognized Rookwood, the elder Avery, and Macnair. The rest of the Death Eaters fought with their hoods drawn up or were unknown to Harry..
Quickly, Harry pointed his wand at the nearest of them and shouted, "PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" The closest Death Eater seized up and fell to the ground. Harry turned to the next and said, "STUPEFY! STUPEFY! STUPEFY!" The next three Death Eaters, including Macnair, fell stunned to the ground.
Realizing that the wizards next to him had fallen, Rookwood turned and saw Harry. An evil grin crossed him face. Turning to face Harry, he released a series of hexes that Harry blocked with a shield charm.
The battle had reached a fine balance. The defenders were still outnumbered by twelve to eight, but the Death Eaters were facing a two front battle. Harry now faced two Death Eaters. It became a struggle of endurance and who would make the next mistake. Neither side could afford to allow this fight to drag out. The Death Eaters knew the Aurors would arrive soon. Harry and his friends did not know if more Death Eaters would be arriving.
Rookwood dove away from Harry's attack. When the other Death Eater forced Harry to defend, Rookwood mumbled something and a great ball of force slammed into Harry's shield, knocking him to the ground. Stunned by the force of the impact, Harry lay defenseless.
The unknown Death Eater facing Harry shouted, "Cucio!"
A red beam of light shot from the wand toward the defenseless Harry. With a pop, Ginny appeared in front of Harry, intercepting the curse. The two Death Eaters paused, stunned by Ginny's sudden appearance.
Harry looked at the fallen Ginny in disbelief. "She was supposed to be safe," he thought. Gabbing up his wand, Harry pointed it the hooded Death Eater and wordlessly cast "Sectumsempra!" The spell slashed the Death Eater across the hood, his hands going up to cover the blood welling forth from his ruined face.
Harry quickly got his shield charm up and stepped over Ginny to protect her at the curse she intercepted ran its course. The fighting continued. Harry realized that while he was stunned, both Ron and Charlie were out of the fight.
A figure appeared from behind the Burrow and ran past the defenders. A long thick tent pole in his hands, Mike charged the Death Eaters while screaming a loud, undulating cry. Taken aback by this charging mad man, the six Death Eaters fired stunners. All of the spells impacted, but had no effect and did nothing to stop the charge. Mike hurtled the stone wall and land with a roll.
Suddenly, Mike was among the Death Eaters, swinging the pole like a quarterstaff. Mike speared on end of the staff into the chest of one Death Eater, then cracked it against the head of Rookwood. Two more Death Eaters went down quickly to spells from the defenders when they focused on Mike. Seeing they had lost the initiative, Avery hollered and all of the Death Eaters still standing Apparated away from the Burrow.
A sudden silence fell on the yard, as the defenders carefully looked around, prepared for the Death Eaters to attack again from a new direction. Harry turned to where Ginny lay unconscious. The Cruciatus Curse had left her balled into a fetal position on the ground. Her bridesmaid dress had torn off one shoulder turning the attack at some point. Harry sat down beside her and lifter her to hold her in his arms.
The rest of the defenders spread out to help the others who had fallen during the battle. The Death Eaters had killed all the four Aurors that had initially defended the Burrow. Their delay bought the others time to prepare their defense. Unfortunately, they bought that time with their lives.
An hour later, the battered and bruised defenders sat in the Burrow. The brief battle left them exhausted. The aftermath seemed even worse. Aside from the four Aurors, no one had died. Molly Weasley went to St. Mungos after because a hit by a stunner and a Confoundus Charm at the same time. It left her very confused at what happened and what year it was. The rest of the defenders survived relatively intact. Professor Flitwick sat with a large bag of ice resting on his head was the only other visible sign of the aftereffects.
Moody with twenty Aurors appeared in the Burrow's garden ten minutes after the attack ended. They had quickly taken charge of the prisoners. They found Macnair and seven other Death Eaters lumped in a pile with Hagrid and Mike sitting over them with tent poles. The Aurors took them into custody. Three Ministry employees were included among the unmasked Death Eaters. Arthur Weasley was especially upset that one of them included Malcolm Shatelpats, a member of his own department.
Two Death Eaters died in the attack. Rookwood died as the result of a blow to the head from Mike's tent pole. The remaining Death Eater died of blood loss from Harry's spell. The spell sliced the blond haired wizard across the face and down the artery in his neck. Ron later recognized the hair and build as being one of the Death Eaters who attacked the night Dumbledore was killed.
Later, sitting in the Burrow, Moody told them they had received a tip about the Death Eaters' attack. They had come immediately after receiving the tip but it had not come soon enough. Ron asked where the tip had come from but Moody only glared and refused to answer. The Aurors that arrived with Moody now stood guard outside the Burrow.
Ron had assisted Hermione upstairs and sat with her. Hermione and Ron had walked out of the reception for some quiet when the attack started. Hermione had been hit by a spell in the first volley. She had no warning of the attack The first spells had hit most of the people outside the party itself along with the Aurors on duty. Some of the Death Eaters fired spells in arcs that landed inside the reception area. One of these spells that ended Harry and Ginny's dance.
Harry did not participate in the conversation much. Ginny sat holding his hand in a tight grip. Truthfully, Harry would not have let go even if she wanted to. Harry felt the edge of loss cut through him. It was a foretaste of what he would have felt had Ginny died from the battle. Harry felt numb from that sense of loss. All of the emotions Harry had suppressed since Dumbledore's funeral came pouring out.
Charlie watched Harry and his only sister. Charlie did not know Harry as well as the rest of the family. Charlie had met Harry several times since he had befriended Ron, but never spent much time with him. Watching Harry today in the battle had reminded Charlie strongly of the dragons he studied. Dragons were fearless and charged into battle whatever the odds. Granted, dragons were usually the toughest combatant but even baby dragons were fearless. The quickest way to provoke a dragon is to attack or injure their mate or offspring. Seeing Harry standing over his unconscious sister reminded Charlie of that behavior. Frowning, Charlie realized that those descriptions all covered Ginny as well.
Professor McGonagall stood up and looked around the room. "That is enough for today. The Aurors will continue to guard the Burrow. I suggest the all of you return to your rooms and get some rest. It has been a long day." Accustomed to taking orders from McGonagall, all of the former students rose and started out of the room along with Professor Flitwick. When Mike rose with the others, McGonagall motioned for him to remain seated.
Seeing McGonagall signal, Harry stopped and walked back to his seat. Ginny remained by his side. "What do you need Mike for, professor?"
"Mr. Potter, since you are here you may be seated but what I have to say is for Mr. Dursley."
Harry sat down with Ginny.
"Mr. Dursley, you were hit directly by several spells today. Without a wizard's protection, a Muggle would most likely have been killed. Do you now why you were not?"
Mike shrugged. "Please call me Mike. And, no, I do not know. I half expected to be killed but I could not let the kid here fight alone."
"Mike, you appear to be a very unusual type of Muggle. I have not heard of one being found in almost four hundred years. They are called Binks."
Harry frowned, "Binks? I have never heard of that professor."
Professor McGonagall smiled, "I doubt even Ms. Granger could have answered this one. A Bink is a Muggle that magic has no direct effect on. Spells of all types cast on them just end. No one has ever determined why this happens. A spell cast on an area or a nearby object can affect them as a secondary though. For example, a Blasting Curse cast directly at Mike would do nothing. But a spell causing a wall to explode could hurt him with flying debris."
Mike seemed shocked by this information. "That is very interesting. I wish I had known that before. I was sure I was going to die on my mad dash. I just wanted to throw them off. I couldn't think of anything else. I am going to have to think about this."
"Very well. Now, I suggest Mr. Potter that you take Ms. Weasley upstairs and get her into bed. Mr. Dursley, when you are ready with questions, please let Professor Moody know and he will get in touch with me. Good day."
"Mike, I am sorry to get you involved in this."
"Kid, I got involved when I helped you with my cousin. Take your professors advice and get some rest. I think we will all need it."
Harry woke the next morning in his bed in Ron's room. Sitting on the end of the bed was Ginny. Harry pushed himself up and reached for his glasses. Ginny smiled at Harry with a happy look.
"My mother is okay. The effects wore off. She will be home in a couple of hours. Dad and Charlie are with her now. Percy visited her at St. Mungos. She told Dad it was worth it to get him back."
Harry smiled and felt his spirits rise. Mrs. Weasley was the closest thing Harry had ever known as a real mother. "That is wonderful, Ginny! I am glad. How are you feeling this morning?"
"A little shaky really." Ginny grimaced, "I don't want to have that experience again."
"I am sorry you did. But thank you for saving me. I wish you had stayed safe through."
"Harry, no place is really safe anymore. Do you really think if you had fallen they would not have killed everyone in the area?"
Suddenly Harry's scare hurt with a searing pain. After a brief flair, the pain started to subside. Ginny moved to Harry's side and placed he hand on the scare. Like a key in a lock, Harry felt warmth spread through his body, pushing the pain and hurt out. Harry felt wonderful. Peace filled Harry's soul and he felt refreshed, his energies restored.
Harry looked at Ginny and saw a look of awe on her face. She felt it too, he thought. Ginny gave Harry a shy smile. Harry could still see the little girl who demanded to see him on the train his first year at Hogwarts in that glance. However, the little girl was gone in the beautiful young lady in front of him.
A sudden peck on the window caused the pair to look. A post owl stood with a letter on its leg. Harry rose from the bed and opened the window. Taking the letter, Harry placed a Sickle in the bird's pouch.
"Who is it from Harry?"
"I don't know." Harry opened the letter and read.
Harry-
Very well done yesterday. Better then I expected. Tell Ms. Weasley that she did me a favor. My Death Eaters were told that only I would take your life. Her noble efforts saved my fun for latter. I shall have to reward her efforts with my personal attention. Like the personal attention, I favored your parents with.
My destiny will not be denied. Soon you will be nothing but a footnote in the history of my rise to power.
Take care Harry. Soon we will meet,
Lord Voldemort
Ginny's face went bright red. At first, Harry thought she was afraid but then he realized it was a boiling anger. A stray thought entered Harry's brain for a second. I will have to remember NEVER to get her that angry with me.
Ginny turned to Harry and said, "I hope you realize this means that your noble attempt to separate from me for my protection just became completely meaningless. Voldemort is now after me for me, not my relationship with you."
"I didn't want you in any danger"
"Well, I am. Now what are you going to do about it?"
Harry turned and took out his quill and parchment.
Tom-
I hope we did not ruin your plans yesterday. You seem to be a few Death Eaters short now.
Get some rest Tom. The last time I saw you, you looked all pale and clammy. Get some sun. 'After all if you don't have your health, you don't have anything at all'
Sincerely,
Harry
Reading over his shoulder, Ginny giggled, "That's a start."
"Here is another one," Harry said. Sitting up, Harry wrapped his arms around Ginny and kissed her.
A/N The quote in Harry's letter is from the movie The Princess Bride, one of the best all time movies. Mike's immunity to magic is named for Bink, a character in Piers Anthony's "A Spell for Chameleon", the first fantasy novel I ever read. Bink was also immune to magic but it was an intelligent talent. It prevented harmful magic while permitting helpful. Mike is … well we will have to wait and see.
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