Chapter 28
Trying
"What the-?" Petunia began, but Harry jumped up without hesitation as soon as the noise sounded. "An attack!"
Hermione looked up and indeed saw the shadowy form of individuals holding wands through the humongous hole in the ceiling. No doubt who they wanted.
"We have to…" Harry began but Hermione quickly grabbed him and shoved him in the hall closet as the Death Eaters jumped down, pointing a wand at Vernon and Petunia's head. There was nowhere to run.
"Are you the family of Harry Potter?" the one in front said.
"Uh…uh…uh…" Vernon stammered, while Petunia looked surprised. "Well, techinically…ah…not…directly…related…through blood…for…ah…me…"
"Where is Harry Potter?" the Death Eater snarled. "We've spent the year locating the filthy Muggles he's supposed to stay with."
"He left on some damned mission of justice," Petunia said in a high pitched voice. "We don't know where he is and couldn't care less."
"Get the Veritaserum," the wand holder growled. The Death Eater beside him turned to dig into his robes pockets, but stopped when he saw Ron and Ginny standing there in shock.
"Weasleys," the man said softly in surprise and suddenly his voice seemed jarringly familiar.
"What's that?" his fellow said.
"I said-
Hermione stepped aside quickly to allow Harry to burst out of the closet. "EXPELLIARMUS!"
All the Death Eaters wands went flying up with them giving crimes of alarm.
"You guys get my aunt and uncle out of here, I'll get Dudley!" Harry shouted as Luna and Neville used the opportunity to shoot curses at their opponents.
"I'll go with you!" Hermione, who was closest to him cried and raced after him
They met Dudley standing outside his room looking groggy. "Wha's going on…?" He gaped at Harry. "What're you doing here?"
Harry and Hermione grabbed him and began to haul him down the hall.
"This town will never be the same again," Harry muttered.
"Hey!" Dudley began but Harry interrupted "Shut up or I'll curse you!" and that was the end of that.
"Hermione, get the cloak out of my bag!" Harry cried. Nodding, Hermione rummaged around in it until she extracted the silvery fabric and threw it around them.
"I-you-what the hell…!" Dudley cried.
"The house is being attacked by evil Wizards," Harry hissed. "You need to be quiet!"
"Stop telling me what to do! I'm-
"Silencio!" Hermione cried, seeing Death Eaters approaching. They ran past, while the two of them restrained the struggling Dudley.
"Good call," Harry said gratefully. "Come on, we have to get everyone together so we can Apparate out of here."
The two of them plus their unfourtunate hostage skirted down the hall, sidestepping Death Eaters along the way. When they finally got down to the kitchen, Ginny, Ron, Neville and Luna were gone. They could hear cries of panic and shouted curses outside. They turned to follow when the furious Dudley smacked them both in the back of the head. The both tumbled sown, tangled in the Invisibility Cloak and twisted around to see Dudley mouth angrily at them.
"Don't hit my friend! We already told you, we're being attacked you idiot! If you keep this up, we are going to DIE. D-I-E. This isn't the time to be a moronic bully!" Harry hissed under his breath, pulling himself up by Dudley's shirt and jamming a wand in his face.
"Ow," Hermione rubbed her head.
Dudley gestured at his mouth with great agitation.
"Okay, we'll unsilence you, but make a sound and we turn you into a slug!" Harry snapped. Dudley nodded mutely.
"Finite Incantatem!" Harry said, just as Hermione noticed two hooded people approaching.
"Harry! Run!" Hermione scrambled up. Harry whipped around and saw the Death Eaters, both now pulling out wands, and they made a break for the door, avoiding curses (accompanied with a cry "It's Harry Potter! Our Lord wants him! The other two are fine!) and dragging Dudley along.
They slid out the stoop, and crashed into Ron, who had been standing over a Stunned adversary.
"Where are the Dursleys?" Harry breathed.
"Neville has them," Ron said. "He's over there, fighting that bloated chap. Ginny and Luna are thataway. We need to go!"
"Tell us something we don't know," Hermione said, as Harry deflected a curse. Their Death Eater friends from the kitchen had caught up with them.
"Ron, out of the way!" Hermione shoved him out of the line of fire as two others closed in. "Oh God, oh God…"
"Apparate, Apparate!" Harry cried. He and Hermione grabbed Dudley by either arm and Hermione grabbed Ron's hand, closing her eyes and thinking Anywhere but here, Anywhere but here! Destination, Determination, Deliberation…
They were automatically sucked into the heinously constricted vaccumn of instantaneous travel. Hermione could hear Dudley screaming, and the force pulling him way. Desperately she managed to hang on to him and-
They popped up in an alleyway two blocks down. Hermione stumbled against a trash can as Dudley keeled over and vomited all over the place. "Aaah…ehhh.." he squeaked, hyperventilating.
"This is the alleyway where that Dementor attacked me," Harry, who she had just realized was beside her, muttered, mopping his hair off his forehead.
"D-d-demeder…cold…" Dudley's face was flushed and covered with sweat, "…saw…bad…stuff…Mom…upset…baby…broke things…letter from…with Potter…"
"…and he's lost it," Harry sighed, kneeling down beside his cousin. "What are we going to do?"
"Gotta summon the others," said Ron, who was slumped against the wall.
"How?" Hermione said.
"What was that thing you said Tonks did that time last year you were late for school? She…sent a Patronus…? Maybe we can do that…"
"Yeah…yeah!" cried Harry, who had been kicking Dudley in a vague attempt to stop him whimpering. "Expecto Patronum!
A silver stag bloomed from Harry's wand and cantered away into the night. Dudley moaned.
"Good idea, Ron," Hermione squeezed her beloved's shoulder and he smiled at her palely. Perhaps five minutes later, the stag came cantering back, followed by Luna, Ginny and Neville, and the very shell shocked Dursleys.
Ginny had a cut across her face, and Neville was clutching his stomach, and Mr. Dursley appeared to have retched like his son, but otherwise they looked fine.
"Barely lost them," Ginny gasped. "Guess we go now?"
"No No No not doing that again!" Dudley screamed.
"I…refuse…to…as well…" Vernon gasped spastically. "You're…all…insane…I can't…stand another…moment with…you…"
"Well, your prayers have been answered," A figure stepped out from the darkness behind the Dursleys "Avada Kedavra!"
There was a green flash and without a sound, Vernon Dursley fell, dead before he hit the ground.
"Vernon! VERNON!" Petunia screamed, staring pop eyed at the corpse. "Oh my God…!"
"Silence, Muggle," The hooded Death Eater snapped and with another flash of green, Petunia Dursley joined her husband in the afterlife and on the ground.
As the rest of them stood there in shock, Bellatrix Lestrange pulled off her hood with a twisted smile and rolled the dead woman over with her foot.
"Who's next?" she hissed.
…
Karolina: All right, just follow Nico's lead and you should make it through in one piece.
Victor: You guys have some kind of rallying cry? You know,Avengers Assemble? It's clobberin' time? Hulk smash?
Nico (jumping into the fight): "Try not to die."
-Runaways 7 (second series)