Disclaimer: I don't own any of this other than the odd stranger who sometimes will be popping in to help Harry out. All of the unique creatures, characters, and previous events of this universe belong to J.K. Rowling.As Harry came through the trees, he stopped in a morbid sort of shock. He had never in all his life, seen this many dementors. Even during his third year, when he and Hermione used the time turner to save Sirius and Buckbeak, that amount of dementors was only a fraction of the contingent of foul creatures that he saw heading towards the Burrow.
--
Harry could only watch in horror as he saw Kingsley, Remus, Tonks, and Mr. Weasley faint from the effects of the dementors. A sliver of hope shot through him as he saw a terrier, a dragon, and two fox patroni attacked the dementors, but it was shattered as they faded.
He realized that unless he did something, the residents of the Burrow would surely die.
He searched his mind frantically trying to find the happiest memory that he could. The dementors caused him to think of Sirius, and the image of him falling through the veil plagued his mind. Harry pushed those thoughts away.
"Come on Harry, think God Damnit!" he scolded himself. Suddenly, the memory of Ginny hugging him on the train came into his mind.
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Harry screamed as a brilliant gold light shot from the end of his wand. His questioning of where the thought of Ginny had come from was crushed by the fact that before him a golden stag was charging the dementors. He watched ad the dementors fled from the golden stag, but those that did not get away disintegrated as the stag charged them.
As his patronus was attacking the dementors, Harry ran as fast as he could towards the Weasleys, throwing stunners at any Death Eaters that were remaining. Remus, Kingsley, Tonks, and Arthur recovered first.
"Harry?" Arthur asked incredulously as the teen moved past them.
"Mr. Weasley, where are Ron and Ginny?" Harry asked as he continues moving across the yard.
Arthur cringed thinking of what may have happened to his two youngest.
"They're over by the shed, come, quickly." He said to Harry as he turned to address the other Order members. "Grab the twins, Molly, Charlie, and the Grangers and get them to Hogwarts to Albus. Harry and I will be right behind you."
He and Harry moved quickly to where they saw Bellatrix throwing cruciatus curses at a screaming Ron with Ginny laying motionless beside him.
Harry and Arthur ran over to them and knelt down to help them.
"Ginny," Harry pleaded as he raised her head off of the ground. "Ginny, please wake up."
"Harry?" she said faintly as her eyes opened slightly, then went back into unconsciousness.
Harry looked up to see Bellatrix eyeing them hungrily, and said,
"Mr. Weasley, take Ginny and Ron to Hogwarts."
"But Harry…" he started.
"Mr. Weasley, I don't know how Ron is, but Ginny will be in trouble unless she gets medical attention immediately. Get your children to Hogwarts, and I will try to get there as soon as I am able." Harry said with finality.
Arthur shuddered at the look of utter hatred on Harry's face as he glared at Bellatrix, and said.
"Harry, I will be back as soon as I can get Ron and Ginny to safety."
Harry just nodded as he stood up and faced off against Bellatrix, and Arthur apparated away with Ginny and Ron to Hogsmeade.
"Brave ickle baby Potter staying behind?" Bellatrix asked as she circles him, the remaining Death Eaters forming an audience. Before they could initiate their duel however, a Death Eater launched a curse at Harry from behind. Harry was surprised when Bellatrix threw a shield behind him, and then killed the Death Eater.
Bellatrix saw this on his face and grinned.
"I'm not going to let anyone interfere in this duel Potter; I have more class than that."
Harry snorted with laughter as he said,
"And now we bow Lestrange."
They both bowed, and as soon as Harry lifted his head he saw a yellow curse flying right towards him. He jumped out of the way, and threw up a shield to block the next curse.
The duel carried on this way for several minutes, Bellatrix lazily throwing curses at Harry, while he dodged and shielded.
"Is this all baby Potter can do?" She asked rhetorically. "No wonder that mangy cousin of mine died, you're too useless to help yourself, so people have to be your meat sheilds."
Harry knew that she was trying to egg him on, to tempt him into using the Unforgivable as he had at the Ministry, so he didn't rise to the bait, instead, he launched a powerful bludgeoning hex that she deflected with ease.
"Oh by the way, how was the Weasel doing? I didn't get to see after I had finished up with those cruciatus curses."
'Don't listen Harry, concentrate on the duel.' He told himself as he felt himself getting angrier.
Harry could tell that Bellatrix was quickly becoming bored, and more ruthless as she started sending killing curses at him. He knew that he could only dodge for so long before fatigue set in.
He continued dodging, occasionally getting a hex in, but tripped suddenly, and found himself on his back on the ground. As he raised himself up to his knees, he saw Bellatrix laughing madly as she sent a killing curse right at him.
He knew that there wasn't enough time to get out of the way, so he closed his eyes as the curse flew towards him.
Halfway there. Images of his parents, and his friends and dorm mates at the school clouded his mind.
Closer still. The Weasleys, Remus and Tonks, and Sirius were put in the very front of his mind.
Just before the curse hit, images of Hermione, Ron, and Ginny flashed in front of him.
"I'm so sorry…" He whispered as the curse struck his left shoulder. He wasn't sure what death would feel like, but whatever it was supposed to be, he wasn't expecting it to feel like laying face down in the dirt, with something that felt like electricity flowing through his body. He heard laughter, and cheering, which confused him even more. He raised his head slightly and saw a large group of Death Eaters congratulating Bellatrix.
He wasn't dead.
Harry slowly tried to move, but what he heard next made his blood boil.
"Everybody, before we head back to headquarters, if we hurry we can catch the blood traitors before they make it to Hogwarts." Bellatrix said from the front of the pack. "All of us enjoy a little torture every now and then, and I'm sure that you boys could thinks of things to do with the little Weaslette slut."
Harry had never felt as angry as he did at that moment. He shot to his feet, and in a deadly quiet voice he said,
"Don't you ever talk about Ginny like that."
Even though it was said quietly, everybody heard it, and all conversation died immediately. And for the first time in years, a look of fear came across Bellatrix Lestrange's face.
"You… I killed you!" She screamed at him.
"Aww, can't perform an Unforgivable? You need to really mean it." He smirked as he mocked her.
Even though Harry was smiling, he knew that even with this new energy in him, he wouldn't last very long in an outright duel again.
Bellatrix started throwing curse after curse at Harry, whose shield was starting to fade. After a few more curses, Harry's shield shattered, and Harry fell to the ground from holding a shield for so long.
"This time, you will die." Bellatrix snarled as she threw another killing curse towards him.
'No.' Harry thought to himself. He couldn't die. He hadn't survived the first curse just to be hit again, had he?
'No' he thought again, this time more resolutely. 'I won't let this be the end.' He thought as he raised his wand and felt the strange tingling feeling travel through his arm, out of the end of his wand, and collide with the killing curse.
Arthur Weasley had never run so fast in his life. The lives of his two youngest children whom he was levitating depended on him, as did the life of a boy just as good as his own son who had covered their escape. He was about halfway from Hogsmeade to Hogwarts, when his thoughts returned to Harry. He had complete faith in him, but there was no way that he could take down all of the Death Eaters that were still at the Burrow
He was approaching the gates of Hogwarts when a gust of air rushed past him, and was thrown to the ground as a sudden surge of power rushed past him. He saw all of the trees in the area shake at the force of the blast, but remembered that he had to get to Hogwarts, so he levitated his children and continued running.
--
Albus Dumbledore was a very difficult person to scare, but as the staff and few members of the Order gathered, preparing to head to the Burrow, he felt more afraid than he had in decades. He had heard from Remus and Kingsley that the Burrow had been attacked, which had been disturbing in itself, but what was even more disturbing was that Harry was there, and that he had stayed behind to help Arthur retrieve Ronald and Ginevra.
As he was pondering this, a wave of magic rocked the school, and sent many people in the room to the floor.
Albus jumped to his feet, as he believed that the blast may have something to do with the events of this morning.
"Everyone, move outside the school to the apparating area. We are leaving."
Albus led the small group to the doors, and as they stepped outside they saw Arthur Weasley levitating Ron and Ginny, and panting heavily.
"Arthur what happened? Where's Harry?" Albus asked him as he ran up to him.
"Ron and Ginny need medical help." He wheezed. "Harry stayed to give us a chance to escape."
Albus was now terrified. Harry was alone with several Death Eaters, some of which may be Voldemort's inner circle.
"Everyone, let's go."
The sight that greeted the members of the Order as they arrived at the Burrow shocked them. There was at least two dozen Death Eaters thrown about the yard, and at the centre of them, was Bellatrix Lestrange, and Harry potter, all unconscious. They did however, notice one other person sitting cross-legged beside Harry.
The stranger got to his feet and walked towards them. He was met with several raised wands and had to dodge a few hexes.
"Jesus fucking Christ!" He yelled as he dropped to avoid the hexes. "What the bloody hell is wrong with you people? Bloke can't approach any of ya without you throwing a bloody fit!"
"Who are you and why are you here?" Dumbledore demanded as he attempted to access the man's mind.
"Now, really Albus, the question you should be asking is what happened here, and by the way, try to use legilimency on me again and you won't have twinkling eyes anymore, wait, actually, I'd probably just better take your eyes, avoid the trouble of you being able to make them twinkle again… by the way how do they twinkle?" the stranger asked.
Albus was temporarily stunned as the man shoved him out of his mind, and took a moment before responding, thinking that this man may be insane.
"I don't know what you mean about my eyes, but since you offered, what happened here?"
"Weeeelll… Harry here got hit with a killing curse."
The entire group gasped, some even starting to cry as they thought that Harry was dead. Some however noticed that the stranger had a confused look on his face, and he was studying them.
"Umm, pardon me, but I didn't say that he was dead…"
"But you said that he was hit with a killing curse!" Molly Weasley yelled.
"Yeah, but simply because someone gets hit with the curse, doesn't mean that they die. If there were another soul in their body to push forward per say…"
The look on Albus' face was priceless.
"Well, ladies and gentlemen, it looks to me like your amazing leader has come to a startling revelation, and since I only showed up to make sure Harry here got into good hands, I'll be off." The stranger said as he skipped away from the group. "Oh, by the way, Dumbledore." The man said as Dumbledore turned to look at him. "You are horrible at casting wards." And with that, the strange man apparated away.
Most of the Order members were extremely confused, but snapped out of their confusion when Albus ordered them to take Harry back to Hogwarts and get him to the hospital wing, and to apprehend the unconscious Death Eaters.
As Albus reached his office waiting for word about Harry, he pulled out a bottle of Ogden's finest, and pondered about the morning's events.