Harry Potter and the Veil of Time
Chapter Two: The Battle Continues
By Cybergades
Harry clutched his sides, trying to draw air through his agonized throat. Voldemort chuckled, the laughter rumbling in his throat like the purr of some great hunting cat. Harry raised his wand, but the emaciated wizard disarmed him with a simple flick, sending the stick of holly skittering into a snow bank. The boy reached out, but drew his hand back to his ribcage swiftly with a sharp gasp. Voldemort clucked his tongue reproachfully, waving his wand lackadaisically at the various aspects of Harry Potter's failure.
"Now now, Harry, this simply won't do," he said, barely able to contain his sadistic glee within his mock criticism. "You simply standing there like that, like a child whose wet the bed, it's…" he drew a bony finger across the length of his chin, furrowing his brow as though in deep contemplation before waving his hand dismissively. "There's simply no drama in it, you see?"
"If you're waiting for me to beg," Harry rasped painfully. "You could at least pop over to the Hog's Head and get me a butterbeer." He managed a halfhearted laugh, which Voldemort parroted mirthlessly.
"Oh, yes, Harry Potter, ever stolid, ever brave in the face of- Crucio!" He dropped his cheerful facade mid-sentence, his lips curling up cruelly as he lashed out with the Elder Wand.
Harry was struck unprepared and dropped back to his knees from his wobbly standing position, screwing his eyes up tightly in an attempt to shut out the terrible pain assailing him from all sides. Through the fog of agony he heard Voldemort's rising laughter.
"Yes, well, I suppose this will have to do. Although I must admit, Potter, I expected so much more from you than for you to simply drop yourself out of the sky on a dead horse."
Harry's back arched in the snow, although he refused to give Voldemort the satisfaction of hearing him scream. In his mind's eye he tried to focus, tried to remember Dumbledore…his parents…his friends…
"'Arry!" came the gruff cry, as though from a great distance. All at once the pain of the Cruciatus Curse seemed to recede from his body. Opening his eyes, Harry raised himself to one knee, looking around cautiously.
Voldemort lay splayed out on the ground, at the tree-trunk feet of Rubeus Hagrid, who was clenching and un-clenching his fists mightily. With a snarl, the Dark Lord scrambled to his feet, only to meet a ham like fist to the face, presumably for a second time. Harry couldn't help but chuckle out loud. From above, he saw the descending thestral of Katie Bell, a pair of Death Eaters in hot pursuit, and his mood quickly hardened. Rushing forward, forcing himself to move through the pain in his chest, he grabbed his wand from where it had fallen in the snow, and fired a stunning spell at one of the dark wizards in pursuit of the black steed. They were only too eager to retaliate, forcing Harry back around the corner of a building and out of range.
"Harry, come on! Get on, quickly!" Katie shouted as her thestral's feet skimmed the snowy ground. Without waiting to hear the plan, Harry dashed towards her, jumping onto the back of the thestral without it ever fully stopping, and gasping out a choked cry of pain as his cracked and bruised ribs were jostled roughly by its take-off. Glancing over his shoulder, Harry saw Hagrid stand his ground, roaring with fury, as the Death Eaters broke away from their pursuit in order to help their Dark Lord. The half-giant's massive frame shrugged off curse after curse, swatting one of the Death Eaters out of the sky as they buzzed low over him.
"Go on, 'Arry, Katie, gerrouta here! I can handle these- argh!"
Hagrid fell thunderously to his knees, his body haloed by red light. Voldemort, now standing and furious, vigorously thrust his hatred into the Cruciatus Curse, and the last thing Harry saw before the thestral carried him out of view was the red light turning to a sickly necromantic green, and Hagrid toppling forward soundlessly into the snow.
Harry tried to catch his breath, his mind racing and his chest burning as he soared over the scene of carnage below him. Katie maneuvered the thestral to avoid the airborne curses of Death Eaters who witnessed their flyover from the ground, while Harry strained his eyes to try and pick out faces he recognized.
"We can't stay like this, it's too dangerous!" Katie shouted, reining in the thestral and causing it to ascend into the foggy clouds overhead.
"Hagrid…" Harry said, his voice almost lost in the wind.
"I know," Katie said. "It's…they got Alicia too."
Harry felt ashamed of himself. He knew this was likely to happen, he knew that it was a child's fantasy to imagine that they would come out of this battle without significant losses. Why was he now paralyzed with remorse?
"I'm going to let you down near the Shrieking Shack," Katie said. "I think there was a group of D.A.'ers there, they could use your help."
Harry nodded, internally slapping himself out of his shock and malaise. There would be time later. Hagrid…Hagrid would have understood.
As they descended out of the clouds Harry gripped his wand with sweating hands. He immediately aimed a disarming spell at a Death Eater, which went wide, dissipating on the snow-patched ground and drawing the masked figure's attention upward. Katie swung the thestral low overhead, and Harry dismounted roughly, hitting the frozen ground and going into a roll, rising immediately to his feet to find himself in the heart of a chaotic magical exchange. Several members of Dumbledore's Army were engaged in a delicate and dexterous battle of spells and ripostes with a handful of Death Eaters. Harry caught a glimpse of Ron near the forefront, casting and deflecting his spells in a manner most uncharacteristically competent. Harry was glad to see that he was alive, but cast his eyes around for Hermione with little success.
"It's Potter!" Shouted one of the Death Eaters, causing Harry to instinctively raise his wand to bat aside an incoming magical bolt, which screamed into the snow, bursting a drift into a cloud of loose snowflakes and steam.
"Expulso!" Harry shouted, pointing his wand at the ground near the Death Eaters' feet. It erupted into chunks of snow and clods of dirt, the force of the explosion knocking several of the wizards off their feet entirely, whereupon they were quickly stunned or paralyzed by other D.A. members.
"Alright, Harry?" Ron said with a wry smile.
"Been better," Harry said. "Where's Hermione?"
"With the group on High Street," Ron said. "They're apparently driving the Death Eaters back towards the edge of the village. We're winning, Harry!" His grin was cut short as he blocked a curse flung by one of the standing Death Eaters. "Cripes, more of them coming up from behind," he said, thrusting his chin out to indicate the handful of approaching figures cloaked in black. Harry readied his wand, searching his mind for a spell to aid him.
"Potter!" Called out a thin, cold voice. One of the Death Eaters' masks melted away, revealing the stern, pale face of Lucius Malfoy. "What have you done with my son?"
"Didn't your precious Draco come out with the rest of the Slytherin slime?" Ron called out. "Guess your purebred priss was a coward after all."
"INSOLENCE!" Lucius shouted, lightning spewing from his wand with a thunderous crack! Ron dove out of the way, but the hissing crackling energy caught Lee Jordan on the shoulder, sending him reeling into the wall of a nearby cottage and driving the breath from his lungs. The sight of one of their enemies falling was like blood in the water for the Death Eaters, who redoubled their efforts, Killing Curses lashing out left and right. Susan Bones fell, blood streaming from her mouth, nose, and eyes, her screams muffled by the fluid in her throat. Harry and Ron worked shoulder to shoulder, each one trying to watch for potential threats to the other.
"Oh! There, Harry, your left!" Ron said, wordlessly disarming a Death Eater with a flick of his wand.
"You're getting better at that," Harry said. "Incendio!" Smoke billowed from the slit eyes of a Death Eaters mask as he dropped his wand, trying desperately to try and put out his now-flaming robes and smashing awkwardly into his comrades as he did so.
"Yeah, well, Hermione's been helping me," Ron said.
"You know, I had a feeling you hadn't exactly been cracking the books in your own free time," Harry said, ducking as a spell flew over his head.
"Cheeky, are we?" Ron said, disarming a Death Eater, catching his wand, and snapping it in half with a single motion.
"Only until one of these," Harry began, cut off as he was forced to leap awkwardly out of the way of a green blast of Killing energy. "Only until one of these blasted things finally hits me," he finished, sharing a black-humored chuckle with Ron. What else was there to do but laugh in the face of Death?
Lucius Malfoy deflected or reversed every curse thrown at him, his long white hair whipping violently behind him in the chill wind.
"I will deliver your heart to the Dark Lord, Potter!" he cried, his eyes glinting with malice.
"Fiendfyre…" He murmured evilly, his wand glowing in his hands as though red-hot. Fire erupted from it, as though from the end of a hose, quickly curling back on itself and flickering to and fro like a living thing. Harry and the other D.A. members drew back, transfixed by the horrifying faces and forms twisting and writhing within the flame.
"The fire will consume you, Potter! I will burn the very soul from your body!"
"Aguamenti!" Ron cried, but the blast of water he produced was insufficient to do more than cause a gout of steam to rise from the fire spell, making a catlike hiss that leant an even greater sense of purpose and malice to the growing body of flame. Malfoy's brow furrowed with concentration as he thrust a finger accusingly at Harry Potter. The flames responded immediately, surging forward hungrily.
Harry and the others broke and ran without a second thought. Harry could swear he felt great bestial tongues of fire lapping at his flesh as he ran from the seething beast-flames. Briefly, he wondered if Voldemort would be satisfied with Lucius' offering of the ashes of the Boy Who Lived, or if this would only disappoint him some way, not to be able to see what sort of expression was frozen on his face in the moment of death. The group rounded a corner, the cottage behind them exploding into smoldering splinters, and Harry almost breathed an audible sigh of relief at the sight that greeted him.
"Finite Maxima!" Hermione's authoritative voice seemed to draw the demonic flames to heel like a dog. She stood like a warrior queen at the head of her own group of students, wand held lightly in her outstretched hand, the corner of her mouth turned up in the faintest hint of a smile as her magic undid the advance of Malfoy's spell, the fire wilting like a plant at the first touch of frost. In that moment, Harry felt a slight pang of jealousy for Ron Weasley.
"Mudblood! Blood traitor! Worse than a Squib! Filth!" Malfoy spluttered profanities and expletives behind them. Hermione giggled slightly at the agape faces of Harry, Ron, and the others, tilting her head and offering a slight mocking curtsy.
"At your service, gentlemen," she said, but was drowned out by Lucius Malfoy's pained shriek of "Bombarba Maxima!"
"Protego!" Harry shouted, almost without thinking. Lucius' curse rebounded off the shimmering wall of energy conjured forth, striking Lucius Malfoy's wand at the tip. The ensuing explosion obscured Lucius from view in a cloud of dirt and dust and snow, some of which was vaporized into steam. When the cloud cleared the majority of Lucius Malfoy lay limply on the broken and mangled patch of earth, small flecks of wand still fluttering to the ground around him. The other Death Eaters faltered, unsure of how to proceed, but the D.A.'ers were quick to capitalize on the pause, stunning several and sending the others fleeing in retreat, eliciting cheers from the students.
"How've you two been faring?" Hermione asked the two boys, brushing the snow off her robes and rubbing fretfully at what looked like blood. "Don't worry, I don't think it's mine," she said, noticing Ron's concerned look.
"Had to slog through about a half-dozen giants," Ron said, the very memory of the struggle seeming to visibly tire him. "Michael Corner and Terry Boot, they…" he stopped, mumbling something unintelligible and shrugging apologetically.
Harry explained his ordeal to the two of them, hoping that Ron would remember something about the giant he had felled, but he shook his head; there were at least a dozen giants joined in battle, and Harry must have assisted another group of students. This gave Harry some comfort though; perhaps there was another group of his friends that was also faring well.
"I hope Katie and the others are alright," Hermione said. "We should have known they would have had wizards in the air as well. Still, better to have met them in the air then to have them up there dropping curses on us without any resistance. A lot of the Professors were apparently driven back to the school, they were targeted almost immediately. I heard they killed Professor Flitwick. But," she sniffed, trying to press past a knot of emotion in her throat, "there are still a good number of Order members about, and they're some of our best-" she was cut off at the approach of Lupin and Tonks.
"Speak of the devils," Hermione said with a smile.
"Glad to see you're all alright," Lupin said, visibly out of breath. He squinted, peering at the slumped mass in the nearby snow. "Is that…?"
"Lucius Malfoy," Harry offered. "Had his own curse reflected back on him after Hermione upset his plans to cook us all alive. Can't imagine Draco will be too pleased when he finds out."
"Well, if you're particularly unlucky you'll be able to tell him yourself," Lupin said. "I saw him skulking about the rear lines a bit earlier, fed me some mumbly tripe about wanting to redeem himself and his family name. Turned a few shades of green when I asked to whom he wanted to be redeemed," he sniffed, curling his lip slightly. "Still, he has potential; he just needs the opportunity to make his own choices for once."
"He's made plenty of his own choices," Harry spat venomously, thinking of the Astronomy Tower, watching Malfoy disarm and almost kill Dumbledore in his mind's eye. Tonks seemed to know Harry's thoughts.
"But it was Snape killed Dumbledore," she said, touching Harry's shoulder gently. "Malfoy's only had his family to guide him all these years, and, well," she gestured towards the prone form of Lucius Malfoy, "I mean, imagine if you had only had your aunt and uncle raising you from birth, no other influences." Harry pondered this for a moment, thinking of the moment of sincere gratitude shown to him by Dudley, after years of their antagonistic relationship; could something like that be lurking inside Malfoy?
"We're going back to Hogwarts to check on the school grounds. I heard someone saying something about acromantulas coming out of the Forest," Lupin said. "Are you going to be alright here?" The trio nodded. "Stay safe," he warned sternly. "Watch out for each other,"
"Go on, then, Lupin," Ron said, but he quickly followed it with a nod and a sincere, "We'll take care of each other."
The couple grasped each others' hands and turned in place, Apparating as close to Hogwarts as they could and leaving Harry, Ron, and Hermione relatively alone, the others having filtered away to pursue the retreating Death Eaters. The area of Hogsmeade in which they now stood seemed to have been more or less secured.
"I'm going to the Hog's Head," Hermione said. "Professor McGonagall said she was going to try and meet with Aberforth Dumbledore there, it'll probably be an area of some importance. I'll Apparate back as soon as I can and find you, alright?" She gave the two boys a quick hug, one arm around each of their necks, although Ron was the only one for whom she spared a kiss on the cheek. And then, with a turn and a whooshing influx of air, she too had vanished.
"Guess it's a lad's night out, now, eh?" Ron said. Harry laughed, but was cut off before he could respond.
"Potter? Weasley? Is that you two?"
Ron rolled his eyes. "Merlin's trousers, who is it now?"
Draco Malfoy skulked his way out of an alley, eyes darting around the street like an animal unsure of its own freedom.
"Listen, Potter, before you fly off the handle,"
"It's…it's alright, Malfoy," Harry said.
"Everything's gone totally mad," Malfoy said. His skin, normally pale, seemed positively bloodless, with his eyes sunken into deep bruiselike pits on his face. Harry felt a pang of pity somewhere in the frenetic emotional storm the day had wrought upon him. "I never really…I didn't think…"
"Oh come off it," Ron began, but Harry cut him short.
"Listen, Malfoy, before we go any further…Malfoy?"
But Malfoy had trailed off, one eyelid twitching slightly as he stared between Harry and Ron, his eyes transfixed on a limp robe-wrapped body several dozen meters up the street. He blinked rapidly, as though he could clear this frightful vision from his eyes like a piece of dust.
"Is…" He choked before any further words could exit his mouth.
"Malfoy," Harry said, trying to cram as many different justifications and reassurances into the one word as he could manage.
"You…did this?" Malfoy said, looking between his father's corpse and Harry's battle-weary face. "You did this?" he repeated, angrily.
"Lucius tried to kill Hermione, I only cast a Shielding Charm and his spell, it…" Harry could sense that this situation was spiraling horribly out of control.
Malfoy's face twisted into a mask of hatred. "I should have killed you, Potter!" Harry Potter watched with dismay as any chance of redemption drained out of Malfoy's face, leaving it soulless as well as bloodless. "I should have killed you any of the times I had the chance, and father would have been proud! Proud and ALIVE!" He drew his wand, closing his eyes and thrashing out violently, wildly…"Avada Kedavra!"
Harry raised his wand, but he knew, he knew that there was no way to stop what was coming. Then, suddenly, the green light erupting from Malfoy's wand was obscured, and he felt himself being knocked backward as Ron Weasley pushed him out of the way, the curse's light permeating through his chest and appearing as a sickly green corona to Harry before he slumped on top of him. Harry saw Ron's eyes, focused intently on the snow beneath him, the empty white of the ground stretching away into his newly vacant body.
"Expelliarmus!" Malfoy's wand flew from his hands. He took a step away from Harry as the other scrambled to his feet, face burning hot with rage.
"Did that make you feel powerful, Malfoy, finally had the spine to go through with it?" Harry asked, holding his wand as though he planned on stabbing Malfoy in the gut with it.
"Harry…" Malfoy said, looking swiftly at his wand and then back to the other boy. Harry took this as a challenge.
"Sectumsempra!"
Malfoy screamed as great crimson gashes opened up on his arms and face, with more no doubt dampening his robes with spilled blood.
"Please, Harry, stop!"
"Do you feel powerful, Draco?"
"No! No, I don't!"
"Sectumsempra!"
"I mean YES! Yes, I feel powerful!" the boy sobbed, squealing as the gashes deepened and were joined by fresh ones. A ring of crimson snow was beginning to form around him as he writhed on his knees. Harry Potter spat out yet another spell, his hands shaking so much he almost missed even at point-blank range.
"Sectumsempra!"
"I'LL FEEL WHATEVER YOU WANT ME TO FEEL!" Draco cried in desperation, before a gash finally opened itself on his throat and he could no longer speak. He clutched at the hem of Harry's robes feebly, opening his mouth to gurgle some sort of plea for his life. He only managed to choke up blood onto Harry's shoes before he finally bled out and lay still.
Harry Potter looked from one body to another, letting his wand drop into the snow, and feeling completely without power.