Chapter 14
"Careful Harry! Not too close to the house!" Dumbledore shouted as Harry brought the spiraling water vortex a little too close to his home.
He had safely extracted the memories of the four spells from Dumbledore's mind and had been practicing them constantly all week. His determination was echoed in his results as he brought the giant water vortex safely back to the lake by his home. Outside he had also been practicing the earth elemental spell and was now able to cause minor earthquakes in specific locations and was able to control the damage.
The other 2 spells he had practiced in the training room on dummies. He realized that the Transmorma was the spell Voldemort had used to make him bow at the graveyard at the end of the tri-wizard tournament. With these spells Harry felt a lot more confident about his abilities and spent everyday improving his dueling against up to eight fake Harrys. During training he was completely focused but afterwards he would always feel emptiness inside of him. Sure he had Dobby for company and he saw Dumbledore everyday but that wasn't enough.
Sat down at breakfast one morning Harry was lost in his own thoughts when he realized what day it was; it was February 13th, the day before Valentines Day. He decided that for this one special day he wasn't going to be alone. He would go to Hogwarts and get Tonks the next day. One day with her wouldn't hurt Harry told himself.
He was going to inform Dumbledore of his plan but he wasn't there yet. Harry assumed he was just running slightly late and settled into a book in the library.
Kyla smiled for the first time in a long while. Over the past month she had taught the PA some good spells and showed them how to improve their dueling. They had come on leaps and bounds in the short period of time and although they weren't amazing they worked well as a team.
She had been nervous at first and managed to trip herself up a few times in demonstrations but she quickly got into the flow of things and people were beginning to respect her.
All the PA members had gotten through the first two rounds of the Hogwarts dueling tournament which made Kyla quite proud. However Kyla's happy mood was dashed when she realized what day it was. Everyone was talking about tomorrow being Valentines Day but it only reminded Kyla that she wouldn't be with Harry for yet another day.
She poked at her breakfast and was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't see a very pale looking professor Snape practically run towards the staff table to talk to Dumbledore. Dumbledore's face went very blank as Snape spoke and when Snape finished he stood up gravely.
"If I could have everyone's attention." He said loudly the twinkle no longer in his eye. "All 1st. 2nd. 3rd. and 4th years return to your dormitories now." He said and seeing the look on Dumbledore's face they all did as they were told silently. When they had gone Dumbledore continued.
"As for the rest of you, I have some very disturbing news. Hogwarts is about to come under attack by Voldemort's forces." The hall gasped and some people screamed. "There will not only be Deatheaters but also dementors. I am not asking you all to stay and fight. If you want to leave and return to the safety of your dormitories then please fell free to leave now and we will think no less of you." He said to everyone. Over half the Slytherins stood up and left without saying a word. None of the other houses left and although some people looked scared they were still willing to fight.
"I will not lie to you and say this will be an easy fight because it won't. The Deatheaters number near 100 and there will be about 50 dementors. We must fight together to have any chance of survival and fight hard. If we do this then Hogwarts will not fall this day. We will show evil what the light side can do!" he nearly shouted the last part and the hall erupted in cheers.
"Follow me outside," Dumbledore said as the noise died down.
"Hermione," Kyla said trying not to show the nervousness she felt. "Get all the PA together, we'll fight better together." Hermione nodded in agreement but didn't have to do anything as the PA had seemed to come together of its own accord as they made their way outside.
The small group of PA huddled together when they got outside and Kyla started to talk to all of them. "Look, you've not had lots of training but that doesn't matter if you fight with courage and brains. I have no idea whether Harry will turn up but this is your chance to show him what we can do. For Harry!" she shouted and everyone cheered loudly.
There were about 200 students stood outside Hogwarts along with about 20 staff members and the forty Aurors that had managed to be summoned on such short notice. They all stood in nervous silence as they waited for their enemy to arrive. After a while they heard the pops of apparition coming from the far end of the forest and awaited the Deatheaters to come out from the trees.
"Remember to use the patronus spell on the dementors!" Dumbledore shouted. As he said this the air around them chilled very quickly. They all looked towards the trees and could see hooded figures coming form the forest. The dementors were coming first.
As they came closer almost half of the students were overcome by their own bad memories and either fainted or were unable to fight. All the teachers and Aurors fired of patronus spells and the students took this as their cue to do so as well but not all the students could produce a corporeal patronus because of all the fear they felt.
As the patronus spells shot towards the dementors they were knocked back but obviously they feared their master's wrath more than these spells because they kept coming forward. More people were overcome by the dementors power but they held strong.
The battle got more heated when the Deatheaters ran from the trees towards them. There were well over a hundred white masked fighters charging towards Hogwarts. The PA sent stunning spells at the Deatheaters and managed to stun about 10 of them before they reached them but they knew they would have to fight harder than that. The first Deatheater came towards Hermione who fired a body binding curse which it dodged and Hermione narrowly missed getting hit by a slashing curse. She hit the Deatheater with a stunning spell and turned her attention to the next Deatheater that was attacking her. Ron and Kyla came to her aid and Kyla hit the Deatheater with a burning curse. The Deatheater screamed in pain and was out of the fight.
"There's so many!" Hermione said looking at the amount of dark wizards around her.
"Keep fighting!" Kyla shouted. She was determined to beat every single Deatheater for Harry. "Constricto!" she shouted at the nearest Deatheater. The spell hit him and she moved on to the next one.
The PA were coping better than expected mainly because they were fighting in twos and threes. None of them had been seriously hurt yet. Three Deatheaters turned their attention to Neville and Luna and were about to fire spells at them when they were struck down by spells. Neville turned to see Ron, Hermione and Kyla running towards them.
"Thanks guys," he said.
"Anytime," Ron smiled.
Elsewhere on the battle field, Remus was locked in his own battle. The Deatheater he was fighting was tough and Remus had been hit in the shoulder with a stinging hex.
"Reducto!" Remus shouted, blowing the ground around the Deatheater to bits. The Deatheater flew backwards and another Deatheater took his place. This Deatheater, Remus noticed, had a silver hand.
"Wormtail!" Remus growled. Wormtail seemed slightly scared at the anger on his former friends face but didn't let it show.
"Remus my old friend. You're still following that fool Dumbledore?" he asked mockingly.
"Enough words." Remus spat firing a curse at Wormtail who just dodged it and sent his own back. Remus sent a volley of curses at him and Wormtail was hard pressed to dodge them.
"You never were a good wizard," Remus shouted. Before he could fire another spell Wormtail ran at Remus and grabbed his neck with his silver hand.
"Ahhhhhh!" Remus screamed as the silver touched his skin. He couldn't do anything to help himself. He would die if he wasn't released soon.
"Always underestimated me didn't you werewolf?" Wormtail spat. He tightened his grip on Remus' throat but he was hit from behind with a stunning curse and fell back. Dumbledore ran to Remus as he collapsed to the floor.
"Get him to the hospital wing!" he commanded to two Aurors who complied straight away.
The Deatheaters were being fought off quite valiantly but because of the presence of the dementors the light side was unable to gain a foothold in the battle. If a person stopped to cast a patronus they were overcome by Deatheaters and if they ignored the dementors then they would be overcome with fear and unable to fight.
Just as the lightside were beginning to dispose of more Deatheaters and focus on the dementors the Deatheaters began to fight with renewed vigor and the reason why soon became clear.
Five Aurors were blasted backwards as the reducto curse hit the ground in front of them. Then another fell as he was hit with the Cruciatus curse then swiftly killed with the killing curse. Lord Voldemort smiled to himself. He was winning the battle for Hogwarts.
Dumbledore sensed when Voldemort had appeared and made his way to were he was. He had not had time to inform Harry of the fight but he knew that even without Harry he had to do his best to stop Voldemort.
"Hogwarts will never be yours Tom." Dumbledore said calmly. Everyone stopped their battles to watch this exchange.
"Hogwarts is mine Dumbledore, your petty little force won't last much longer. This is just the first wave of Deatheaters I will bring here." Voldemort said venomously.
"Numbers don't win battles Tom, you know that." Dumbledore replied.
"Save it old man. Let's see if your still a match for Lord Voldemort." both Dumbledore and Voldemort raised there wands and fired off spells and everyone else started their battles again both fighting harder as their two leaders were locked in an epic battle.
"Crucio!" Voldemort shouted. His spell hit one of Dumbledore's and sparks filled the air. Both then started firing off spells at a very fast rate either dodging or reflecting the curses with their shields. Voldemort was knocked back as a bludgeoning spell hit him and Dumbledore winced as a slashing curse hit his leg and he fell down to one knee.
"Avada Kaderva!" Voldemort shouted still on the floor. The green light shot towards Dumbledore who rolled to the side just as the spell flew past him. Quickly he raised the ground around Voldemort trapping him inside a cylinder of earth and rock. The cylinder blew apart and Voldemort walked out looking very irritated.
"No more games Dumbledore!" he shouted. "The only way to beat me is to kill me! Little tricks will do you no good against me!"
Dumbledore cast a disillusionment charm on himself and disappeared form view much to the anger of Voldemort. Spells flew at him from all angles but they were all stopped by his shield which was probably one of the strongest shields of any wizard. Voldemort moved his wand horizontally and a cloud of green smoke issued out of his wand. The gas forced Dumbledore to reappear coughing and spluttering.
Meanwhile Kyla was in her own fierce battle with Ron and Hermione by her side. Seeing Dumbledore fighting with Voldemort left them to deal with the Deatheaters. Ron was bleeding from his head from being knocked down and Hermione was nursing a possible fractured hip.
Despite their injuries they fought on and took down at least ten Deatheaters.
"We can't carry on much longer," Hermione breathed. "Dumbledore needs to beat Voldemort."
"He can't," Kyla said. "Only Harry can do that."
"Well where is he?" Ron asked wincing from the pain in his head.
"I don't know." Kyla admitted.
"How are the rest of the PA doing?" Ron asked.
"Looks like they're all ok," Hermione said. "But the other students aren't doing as well." She said noticing bodies of some students. "I can't tell if they're just injured or dead," Hermione said sadly. Not having time to worry about it right then she continued to fight as best she could.
"I'm sick of your little party tricks Dumbledore!" Voldemort shouted and raised his wand. "Let's see how long you can dodge the killing curse."
Dumbledore dodged the first green light that came towards him and a second as he tried to shoot off his own spells at the same time but there was not much he could do against such reckless hate. Voldemort had the advantage of youth and Dumbledore was not as nimble as he used to be.
"Give in Dumbledore!" Voldemort yelled. "Don't fight the inevitable."
"You know I will fight until you kill me." Dumbledore said anger in his voice.
"So be it." Voldemort said raising his wand again. Then he heard something that he truly hated. One thing that had ruined his night in the chamber of secrets but brought hope to everyone else.
The phoenix song could be heard and everyone stopped their battles and turned to see the beautiful red and silver phoenix that had come and brought hope to them. The phoenix landed in front of Dumbledore as Voldemort looked towards it hatefully.
Then the phoenix began to disappear and in its place stood a wizard dressed in black battle robes lined with sparkling emerald green. His stance showed confidence and everyone could sense a powerful aura surrounding the wizard. His unruly black hair and steely gaze could strike fear into anybody. It was only when Voldemort spoke that people realized who it was.
"Harry Potter," he said smiling sadistically. "I hoped you'd show up to try and save your friends. After escaping me once, I hope you realise it wont happen again."
"I'm not running from you this time Riddle," Harry said icily feeling his magical energy start to build up. His hatred of Voldemort was increasing his power. "This time it's just me and you."
"Well when you're ready to begin Potter, you may start." Voldemort said mock kindly.
Kyla ran to Harry from amidst the Deatheaters unable to hold herself back. He was about to face off against Voldemort and she had to stop him. "Harry stop! Don't fight him!" she cried.
"Stay back Tonks," Harry said calmly not looking in her direction. She halted seeing the danger in his eyes and she knew now that no one could stop him from what he was about to do.
"I believe it's customary to bow," Harry said casting the Transmorma spell on Voldemort. Voldemort seeing that Harry didn't have a wand assumed he wouldn't be able to do anything but as his spine was bent he realized he was wrong. He fought off the curse and drew his wand.
"You are going to die painfully Potter!" he spat. "Crucio!" he shouted and the spell shot towards Harry. Everyone was watching this with baited breath. These two duelists were the only ones fighting. The light side gasped when they saw that Harry didn't move as the spell shot towards him.
Letting his magic flow Harry raised his right hand. "Sphero Maximus!" he said and his shield appeared around him and absorbed the curse. The Deatheaters looked on in shock at seeing this but Voldemort just looked angry as he began to fire all kinds of spells at Harry who returned the favour. Harry was firing every possible spell he knew in the hopes of Voldemort being unable to stop them all but both of them being powerful wizards were able to block and dodge all the spells.
No one had ever seen spells be cast at such a fast rate before as these two wizards were effortlessly ducking and diving from each other's spells. Even Dumbledore didn't dare interfere in this battle. Voldemort was bringing out the rest of Harry's power and seemed to have stepped up his own abilities as well. The amounts of flying curses were rebounding off into the two surrounding armies who tried their best to avoid them but some were going so fast that people barely had a chance to move before they were hit.
Dumbledore summoned a shield around the spectators which went unnoticed by the two wizards on the other side of it. Harry was getting a feel for the battle, he knew he was pushing Voldemort to the max and felt a satisfaction at that. It was time to truly put power against power as Harry focused his mind and raised a swirling vortex from the lake and threw it directly at Voldemort.
Voldemort raised his wand and produced probably the most powerful freezing charm ever seen which shot towards the vortex and it all froze suddenly. In the split second it was still standing both wizards shouted, "Reducto!" and the towering pillow of ice shattered sending shards of razor sharp ice everywhere and blowing Harry and Voldemort back. Harry protected his face as he flew but felt quite a few shards of ice pierce his skin and he shouted in pain. To his satisfaction he heard Voldemort do the same.
Harry got up slowly and in pain. He pulled the obvious shards of ice out of his body and saw blood coming out of the wounds. He needed to end this battle and soon otherwise the blood loss would be too much. Voldemort was getting to his feet as Harry cast the silent bludgeoning charms. This time he was more powerful but he felt slightly drained after casting the spells. Voldemort was unable to dodge all six spells and three of them hit him and sent him flying backwards and crashed unceremoniously onto the ground. Harry walked closer to where Voldemort was lying on the floor.
"You can't kill me Potter. No spell can kill me. I am all powerful!" Voldemort yelled getting up.
"NO!" Harry shouted fiercely casting the life drain curse on Voldemort who fell to his knees as Harry soaked up all his magical energy. Voldemort's face contorted in rage as he felt all his power leaving him. Harry felt an amazing surge of power and felt invincible with all this energy. He released the spell and stared at the crumpled form of Voldemort.
"Look at your master!" Harry roared to the fearful looking Deatheaters. "Surrender now or you will all suffer!"
Apparently surrender wasn't part of the Deatheaters lexicon and in a last ditch attempt they started to fight again. Ten Deatheaters turned their attention to Harry and ran towards him. Harry could see Tonks coming to help him but she needn't have bothered as Harry turned and shouted, "Electrolonux!" and lighting flew out of his hand and streaked towards the Deatheaters. Harry's own magical energy combined with that of Voldemort's was enough for the lightning to strike all ten Deatheaters and they shrieked in agony as their bodies were fried by the lightning. Harry gave a final push with his hand and the Deatheaters flew backwards and landed in a crumpled heap on the floor.
"Harry!" Tonks cried throwing herself at him. "I'm so glad you're ok!" Harry's anger seeped away as he felt the comfort of Tonks' embrace.
"I'm fine," he said slowly pulling away from her. "It's time I finished Voldemort off once and for all." He said turning his attention to Voldemort who was looking ragged but no less malicious.
"This ends now Tom," Harry said calmly.
"No Potter, this was just the opening ceremony." He raised his wand and fired a jet of black light. Harry raised his shield but realized too late that the spell wasn't intended for him. The black beam hit Tonks just below the shoulder and she screamed out in pain. Before Harry could do anything Voldemort had pulled out a portkey and he and the rest of his forces disappeared.
Harry ran to Tonks who was lying on the floor overcome with pain. She had a deep wound just below her left shoulder and Harry picked her up and carried her to the hospital wing as fast as he could oblivious to everyone around him who all had their gazes fixed on him and the person in his arms.
The hospital wing was filled with casualties and nearly all the beds were full. Harry lay Tonks down on a spare bed and insisted madam Pomfrey tend to her right then.
"It'll be alright," he said softly to her.
"Harry?" Tonks asked through the pain.
"Yeah it's me. I'm here."
"Don't leave me Harry." Tonks pleaded.
"I'm not going anywhere." He said gently stroking her hair.
"It hurts so much Harry," she said as tears rolled down her cheeks and Harry had to hold back his own.
Madam Pomfrey carefully examined the wound and tried to close it with her wand but nothing happened. She tried again and again but the wound remained open, blood steadily coming out and madam Pomfrey was looking very worried.
"We need Dumbledore," she said finally.
"What's up with her?" Harry asked worryingly.
"I don't know. I really don't know." She walked out of the hospital wing and returned a few minutes later with Dumbledore in tow. He looked closely at the wound for a minute then turned to madam Pomfrey.
"Keep applying pressure to the wound to stop the bleeding, I need to go and check something." He didn't wait for a reply and walked straight out of the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey did her best to stop the blood flow but it kept seeping through her fingers. All the while Harry sat their hopelessly looking at the pained expression on Tonks' face.
Ron and Hermione had come to the hospital wing to get their injuries looked at but instantly came over when they saw Harry sat by Tonks' bed.
"What happened to her Harry?" Hermione asked.
"I don't know," he said. "It was a curse from Voldemort. It didn't look that bad but the wound won't close."
"She's going to be alright though isn't she mate?" Ron asked worriedly.
"I don't know," Harry said quietly so Tonks couldn't hear.
Dumbledore hadn't come back yet and Tonks was slowly slipping away. She was losing all her energy and had returned to her normal form.
"Harry," she said breathing heavily. "You were amazing today." Harry clutched her hand as her eyes closed and she slipped out of consciousness.
"No!" Harry shouted. He could still feel a pulse in her arm but it was getting weaker. "Come on Tonks," he said desperately. "Come back to me. You can't die. You can't!" Harry held her hand tighter and began to cry.
"Come on Harry," Hermione said gently. "Madam Pomfrey will find a cure soon, you just have to have hope and think happy thoughts."
Harry released Tonks hand and turned to face Hermione, tears still rolling down his cheek. "You don't get it do you?" he said angrily. "I – AM – NOT – HAPPY – ANYMORE!" Hermione cowered before Harry's rage and Harry's breathing became ragged as he tried to calm himself down.
"I'm sorry," he said finally. "I just feel so helpless not knowing what's wrong with her."
"I think I can answer that," Dumbledore said gravely looking at Harry. "Come with me Harry." Harry followed him outside into the corridor.
"You know what's wrong with her?" Harry asked feeling a slight twinge of hope when Dumbledore nodded.
"She was hit by a very dark and ancient curse called the Lentas Mortalitus spell. I'm afraid that the wound on Tonks' shoulder cannot be closed." Dumbledore said sadly. "There's nothing we can do."
Harry shook his head in disbelief, it just couldn't be true. Tonks couldn't die, she was always so full of life, surely Dumbledore was wrong. "No!" Harry shouted, "There must be a way!"
"Harry there is nothing we can do," Dumbledore said regretfully. "She won't last more than another hour."
"I WON'T LET HER DIE!" Harry roared as he turned round and blew the door off the hospital wing. He stormed into the hospital wing and rushed to Tonks' bed. Her face was beautiful even though Harry could tell she was in pain. He gripped her unresponsive hand and pleaded with her to wake up. "I can't lose you!" he shouted attracting the attention of everyone in the hospital wing.
"Mr. Potter calm down! You're disturbing the rest of the patients!" Madam Pomfrey said annoyed.
"Don't tell me what to do when the woman I love is dying!" he shouted dangerously and madam Pomfrey stepped back.
I have to save her he kept telling himself. There has to be a way.
"I have a way." He suddenly said out loud. Still holding Tonks right hand in his left he placed his right hand over the wound and began to focus his mind.
"What are doing Harry?" Dumbledore asked questioningly.
"I'm going to save her." He said starting to feel more hopeful. He continued to calm his mind and summoned all his magical energy. He visualized what he wanted to happen in his brain then tried to reverse the life drain spell. Nothing happened.
"No," he said despairingly.
"Harry let her go." Dumbledore said softly.
Dumbledore's words echoed in Harry's brain and he felt despair overwhelm him. He was losing her and he could do nothing about it. Everyone looked at him sadly and felt hopeless that they could do nothing to help.
"I love you so much," Harry whispered. "I'm sorry I couldn't save you." Clutching both her hands he rested his head on her chest and cried. He closed his eyes refusing to let go of Tonks' hands as the reality of the situation flooded all of his being and made him want to die.