A/N – Hell everyone, I'm sure any of you who were following this thought it had been abandoned. Well no it wasn't, but it was very close, and not by my choice. This has been an extremely chaotic year for me, and a series of family dramas has kept me from having any time at all for fun pursuits, and that includes writing. I have already started writing again though, and in fact I actually finished this chapter and the next at the same time, but due to feedback from my younger brother (who is also an avid fanfiction reader) I have decided to do some re-writes on that one so it will likely be several days before that is complete. I will do my very best to not have another hiatus like the last one, but I can make no guarantees as my family does come first. As always, please enjoy.
"Hurry up everyone and get on board, the train will be leaving any minute," shouted a frazzled Mrs. Weasley as she hurried her brood across Platform Nine and Three Quarters towards the waiting Hogwarts Express. Ron, Hermione and Ginny all came hurrying behind her, each pushing an overloaded cart filled with belongings. Harry trailed in the rear, followed by a team of three Aurors, but his cart only held the small new trunk he had received from Moody. While packing up his belongings, he had been pleasantly surprised to find that everything he owned could now be fit into this single trunk, and ironically that even included his old trunk.
Their group was one of the last to arrive at the platform, which for once had been a conscious decision rather than habitual lateness. For the last hour Aurors had been scouring the station for any sign of magical tampering, and Mad-Eye, who had been driving them, had circled King's Cross at least a dozen times before he had finally received the all clear and pulled in to park. He had then led their small group, accompanied by a small team of Aurors, through the station and onto the platform, which was almost empty at this point except for Auror personnel.
Mrs. Weasley's cry had them all hurrying quickly towards the rear of the train, but Harry slowed momentarily to wave when he spotted Tonks patrolling further down the platform. He quickly came to regret that decision as he felt a hard smack to the back of his head.
"Ow," he started, reaching a hand to rub the spot where he was hit.
"Keep moving boy," Moody growled, prodding him forward to keep pace with the others, "take this as lesson number one. Don't ever get caught standing still out in the open. We won't be safe until we reach the train; we'll have cover there."
"Sorry," Harry said, chastised.
"Don't be sorry, learn."
They soon reached the last car and each of them began stuffing their luggage into the storage compartment near the bottom, except for Harry, who simply tapped his trunk with his wand and whispered "Prongs," causing the trunk to immediately begin shrinking down to a more manageable size. Once it was small enough, he slipped it easily into his pocket and stepped forward to help a struggling Ginny ease her own trunk into the tightly packed space.
"Thanks," she said, tucking a loose strand of fiery red hair behind her ear as Harry took the heavy trunk from her.
"You're welcome," he replied, smiling awkwardly. They stared at each other for several long moments, with Harry squirming uncomfortably under her intense gaze. He wasn't sure where things stood between them at the moment, and that more than anything worried him. In the two weeks since the incident, she had not said or done anything to suggest that anything was out of place between the two of them. It seemed that she was content to just go on as if it had never happened, and a large part of Harry felt nothing but relief at that idea. But there was another part, a part that he tried his hardest to ignore, that just couldn't forget the feeling he had felt in the pit of his stomach when he had realized just how close he and Ginny were…and the smell of her hair, so strong even after they had flown so hard all afternoon.
He shook his head roughly, clearing his head of such thoughts, just as he felt a none too gentle prod to his back.
"Onboard, the lot of you," Moody growled, his back to them as he kept his human eye busy sweeping the platform, and his magical eye sweeping literally everywhere. They all followed his instructions, hurrying forward through the door to the train car.
"Be careful dears," Mrs. Weasley called after them as they disappeared one by one, "and don't forget to write!"
Moody hobbled away from the distraught Molly and ambled his way towards the small knot of Aurors standing outside the lead car. All of them were younger witches and wizards, some only a few months past receiving their promotion from trainee status, with the most senior of them being Tonks, who herself had only passed her test less than two years ago. As a group they saluted him at his approach.
"At ease," he barked at them, annoyed. When the Ministry had finally acknowledged Voldemort's resurgence soon after the battle in the Department of Mysteries, the then head of the Auror office and now Minister of Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour, had requested that he officially return to the Auror ranks. He had, not very politely, declined. He had watched the Ministry make an arse of itself for the past year, and he more than most wizards understood that the gears of bureaucracy turned slowly, often too slowly to do anyone a damn bit of good. It would take months for their Auror force to be ready to face Voldemort's followers, much less the Dark Lord himself. He could do far more good continuing his work with the Order of the Pheonix, however…distasteful…he might find some of Dumbledore's requests.
But despite his refusal to take his rank back up, all of the younger Aurors still insisted on saluting him, at least as long as their superiors weren't around. Apparently his legend had only grown in his time away from the force, and now that his paranoia had proven to be well founded rather than the ravings of insanity, he had become some kind of idol; they all looked up to him, wanted to emulate him. He found it irritating as hell.
"Platform secure sir," Tonks reported briskly, dropping the salute and placing her hand on her wand holster. "Final sweep in progress, we should be ready to move out in three minutes."
"Stop calling me sir, damn it. Now get everyone on board, we're moving out now."
"But sir," Tonks said, looking startled, "we aren't scheduled–"
"Rule one hundred and thirty seven: never stick to a schedule if you know the enemy has access to it. We move now."
Tonks nodded sharply, "Yes sir. Alright," she shouted, "everyone on board, now!" The small team hurried through the doorway, taking their place in the lead car, and Tonks followed right behind them. Moody limped as quickly as he could, reaching the open door just as the whistle blew and the scarlet steam engine began to pull away from Platform Nine and Three Quarters. Moody stood in the threshold, holding tightly to the nearby hand rail as he watched the platform slowly slide away.
"I have a bad feeling about this."
"Well," Harry said as the four of them boarded the train, "shall we find a compartment then?"
"Oh, I'm so sorry Harry," Hermione replied, looking guilty, "but we can't. Ron and I have to go the prefects meeting. I promise we'll find you afterword though."
"Sure thing, I'll see you then."
Harry kept a wide smile plastered on his face as Ron and Hermione left, headed towards the front of the train. But as soon as the door to the next car closed behind them it faded, his face a stony mask.
"Harry, are you alright?" Ginny asked, concerned.
"Hmm?" he replied, distracted, "Oh yeah, sure, I'm fine. You don't need to worry about me Ginny. Go ahead, I'm sure you had friends you wanted to sit with. I'll just go find an empty compartment."
Ginny crossed her arms and glared at him. "Are you telling me to get lost Potter?"
"What? No, not at all, I just thought you must have friends you would want to sit with, that's all."
Ginny laughed, rolling her eyes at him as he stared at her wide eyed.
"So we aren't friends? Come on Potter, follow me."
Together they walked down the narrow hallway, peering into each compartment as they passed.
"You can be a real idiot you know Harry," Ginny said as she peered into a room occupied by Pavarti Patil and Lavender Brown, along with several other Gryffindor girls. "Do you really think that I would just ditch a friend like that?"
"I was just trying to be polite," he replied, sounding a little annoyed now at her ribbing. The shade was drawn on the next door on his side, obviously occupied, so he moved on to the next, spotting Justin Finch-Fletchley and several other Hufflepuffs inside. "You're telling me that there was no one else you were going to sit with? What about your other friends?"
She shrugged, "They'll get along fine without me. We aren't exactly as close as you and Ron and Hermione. Dean wanted me to ride with him, but honestly I'd rather spend the time with you."
A cold, icy dagger slid into his chest at the mention of Dean's name, suddenly recalling what she had said to Ron on the train ride home last year.
"Right…Dean," he said haltingly, not sure of what to say, "But wasn't he like…your boyfriend?"
"Where did you hear that? Oh, right, the thing with Ron! No, he isn't my boyfriend, I just said that to get under Ron's skin; worked too. I mean, we've flirted a bit, and he dropped a few hints. He even said he would write to me over the summer, get to know one another better and see what happens. But we aren't actually dating or anything like that. Oh, in here!"
He turned at her call and saw her holding the door open to an empty compartment. Lucky there was one left, he thought as the two of them entered the room, shutting the door behind them, we're almost all the way at the back of the train as it is. They sat on opposite sides, Harry staring intently out the window as he tried to figure out what to say.
"But," he began finally, turning his gaze back to her, "why not sit with him then? I mean since you two have been writing all summer…" Even as he said it, Harry was kicking himself. Partly because he felt like he should have noticed that Ginny had been talking to a potential boyfriend all summer long; they had spent almost every waking moment together after all. But also because he knew he should just shut his mouth and let it go, talking to Ginny about her love life could lead to nothing good.
"Like I said, I would rather spend the time with you," Ginny said, shrugging her shoulders. "But if you must know, we really didn't talk all that much. He tried, sent several owls right after school let out, and I replied back a few times. But it wasn't all that long before you disappeared, and then reappeared, and I just didn't have time to reply to any of his letters. Wasn't all that upset about it honestly; once I stopped writing back he got very whiny. I don't want to date any guy who is so insecure that he starts complaining the moment I don't give him my full attention."
Harry felt his gut unclench slightly at this, and he felt his neutral expression lift ever so slightly towards a full blown smile. He was so focused on trying to fight that simple impulse that her next question caught him completely off guard.
"Why so interested Harry?" She smirked amusingly at him as his jaw flapped with no sound coming out, making him look very much like a fish trapped out of water. "You do know," she continued matter of factly, "that eventually we're going to need to talk about what happened the other week…or didn't happen."
"What? Um, I mean…t-that is…Neville!" Harry stood as he shouted, arms outstretched towards the very surprised looking Neville who stood in the open doorway.
"Umm…hey Harry," Neville began slowly, taking Harry's offered hand and giving it a hesitant shake. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything."
"Of course not. Well come on in then, sit down."
"Are you sure Harry?" Neville said with a short glance at Ginny, who was sitting with arms folded, glaring daggers at the unusually chatty Boy Who Lived. "I don't want to intrude."
"You're not intruding," Harry assured him, resuming his seat and patting the one next to him, "come on, sit down. How was your summer?"
"It was alright; not that exciting, but then compared to how it started I'm kind of happy about that. Better than usual though. Once Gran found out about what happened at the Ministry, she was nearly in tears; kept hugging me and talking about how I was living up to my dad's legacy at last. Never seen her like that, it was a bit scary. But she did buy me a new wand though. Thirteen inch cherry wood with a unicorn hair core."
He held it out for inspection and Harry nodded appreciatively, "Very nice. With a wand that actually chose you I'm sure you'll do loads better in class too."
"I don't know about that," Neville said, blushing as he tucked the wand back into his pocket. "But I thought it might help me do better in the DA. We're still gonna be meeting, aren't we Harry?"
"Wow," Harry replied, taken aback, "to be honest with you Neville, I hadn't thought about it. But I guess there isn't a reason to keep it going is there? I mean, we created it because of Umbridge, but she's gone now. And I don't think Dumbledore will let a teacher that incompetent back into the school."
"So what?"
Harry looked over at Ginny, who's eyebrows were raised questioningly.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean exactly what I said, so what? What does it matter if the professor is good or not, that wasn't all the DA was about. It wasn't just about spiting Umbridge, though I will admit, that was fun. It was about teaching people the things they need to know to protect themselves. Do you honestly think that isn't important anymore? "
"No," Harry admitted, "if anything people need to be prepared now more than ever, now that Voldemort has moved into the open."
"Exactly," Ginny said, rolling her eyes as if this had been the most obvious thing in the world. Harry considered her words carefully, but it was Neville who finally helped him make the decision. He just looked so...hopeful, that Harry didn't have the heart to tell him no.
"Looks like the DA is back on then," he said, smiling at Neville's enthusiastic reaction. "If Dumbledore approves that is."
"Don't see why he wouldn't," Ginny said, shrugging, "if there's anyone who would be in favor of the students learning more defense, it's Dumbledore."
"True," he replied as he reached into his pocket, removing the shrunken trunk and placing it on the floor. He tapped it while muttering under his breath and it sprang to life, the wood warping and stretching before their eyes until finally it had reached its full size. Another muttered phrase caused an audible click and Harry reached out and opened the lid, quickly removing a large black leather bound book before shutting the lid and reversing the process, placing the miniature trunk once again into the pocket of his jeans.
"What's that?" Neville asked curiously.
"It's a present that Moody gave me for my birthday," Harry answered as he opened the book and began to glance through it, quickly flipping through the pages, "talking about the DA just gave me an idea."
"It's full of dark arts spells and curses," Ginny explained for him. "Moody gave it to him as a birthday present; the trunk too. Luckily he left the book inside of the trunk though, cause if Mum had seen it she would have gone mad. Anyway, the note Moody left with it said that to be prepared to fight something, you have to understand it first. I guess that means he wanted Harry to learn all of these spells so that he would be ready if anyone ever used one on him." She shuddered. "At least I hope that's why. Some of the spells we saw in there were just disgusting. Honestly, who wants to rip out someone's intestines and strangle them to death with them?"
"I think it'll do a lot of good though," Harry said, looking up from a page that depicted a screaming man with half of a goat hanging out of the rear of his robes. "I mean like Ginny said, they aren't very pleasant, but just knowing what they are could be dead useful. If the meetings are back on then I'm going to try picking some of these to go over with everyone."
"Harry, you can't do that!" This indignant shout came from the open doorway where Ron and Hermione were standing, the latter looking outraged while the former looked merely bored.
"And why exactly is that Hermione?" Harry asked politely without looking up from his book.
"Because," she explained as she and Ron entered the cabin and took the open seats next to Ginny, "if Hogwarts even has a copy of that book, which I doubt, then it would undoubtedly be in the restricted section. And even if we ignore school rules-"
"You can do that?" interjected Ron, sounding shocked. She ignored him and continued on as if no one had spoken.
"Even if we ignore school rules, then there's still the fact that it isn't right. Some of those spells were just plain evil Harry. We can't just go around teaching people the dark arts." Harry looked indignant.
"Who said anything about that? I'm not saying we should give them handouts about the incantation and wand movements. I'm not even talking about casting the spell in front of them. All I'm talking about doing is explaining what some of the spells they might see are, and show them ways to defend against them."
"But Harry we're talking about the dark arts here," Hermione insisted firmly, "this isn't the kind of thing you want to be messing about with."
"Who says I'm messing about?"
"Look Harry," she said carefully, looking almost nervous, "are you sure your thinking isn't just a bit…clouded on the issue?" Harry looked genuinely confused.
"What are you talking about?"
"Well...It's just that…I mean Harry, you haven't said a word to us about Sirius. Are you sure you aren't pushing yourself too far, maybe even crossing the line because you want revenge?"
For a moment, Harry nearly exploded. If he had gone off, he felt fairly certain that it would have made his explosion in Dumbledore's office earlier this summer seem miniscule in comparison. But he also knew that such a reaction would only serve to convince Hermione further that she was right. Instead he breathed, slowly and steadily, as he tried to bring his flaring temper under control. As angry with her as he was for suggesting that he would actually start teaching himself and others the dark arts in the name of revenge, he told himself that he couldn't fault her for it. He knew that she meant well, she just didn't realize exactly how irritating her attempts to help could be.
There was a long empty silence that hung in the air of their compartment for several long moments, Ron and Neville not even daring to breathe as they glanced back and forth between the two. Ginny however took a different approach.
"That was way out of line Hermione." The bushy haired girl crossed her arms indignantly.
"No it wasn't. I'm not saying that Harry is evil or anything. This could be something subconscious; he may not even realize that it's happening."
"And what makes you so sure that anything is happening?"
"Ginny, he lost his godfather and he's refusing to talk to us about it. There have to be some feelings that he's repressing and if he doesn't talk them out then they'll build up and…"
"Shut up." The simple command cut Hermione off mid flow and she gaped at the stubborn looking redhead, who stared right back. "Look, I'm sorry Hermione but you're running under two assumptions here that I think I need to point out. One, you are assuming that Harry has some kind of deep wound that needs to be nursed back to health. You can't badger him into feeling broken just so that you can fix him." Hermione looked thunderous and opened her mouth to retort but Ginny continued unabated. "Two, you are assuming that Harry hasn't already talked to someone about what happened to Sirius."
"He hasn't," Hermione said quickly, "he hasn't talked to me or Ron." Ginny laughed.
"Ok, why is it that he has to talk to one of you two?"
"We're his best friends."
"So what, that doesn't mean he has to come to you for everything. I know for a fact that he's written Lupin a few times since his birthday party, and he's talked to me as well." Hermione couldn't have looked more stunned if she'd just been hit with a Stupefy.
"He…he talked to you about it? And Professor Lupin?" Ginny didn't answer, just crossed her arms and stared pointedly. Hermione swallowed heavily and looked at Harry, who hadn't said a word during the entire discussion, merely sitting quietly while the two girls argued. "Harry, I'm sorry. Ginny's right, I shouldn't have assumed that you would only talk to Ron and me. After everything that's happened to you this summer though I can't seem to stop worrying about you. I know how much Sirius meant to you, and I know if I lost someone that close to me I would need you to be there for me. I didn't mean to bring up painful memories Harry; I honestly just wanted to help."
"I know Hermione," Harry said, offering her a small smile, "and it's ok. I know you wanted to be there for me, and I'm sorry that I couldn't let you. I don't know why, I just…couldn't talk to you about this. But I hope this makes you feel better about me teaching dark spells for personal revenge?" Hermione blushed and looked away.
"Yes."
"Excellent," he said, rubbing his hands together. "Now, I hope that means that you'll be willing to help me put together a plan for the DA again. I'm rubbish with all the organizational stuff and I could really use a hand."
"Of course," she replied, perking up instantly, "I'll start putting together a rough draft of a schedule tomorrow morning and we can go over it during lunch, ok?" Harry's smile widened.
"Sounds excellent." His eyebrows furrowed slightly as a thought entered his head. "Hermione, what are you even doing here? Not that I mind, but you and Ron were only gone for about ten minutes. Last year it took you nearly an hour to finish with Prefect duties." Hermione blushed yet again and Ron laughed aloud.
"Well the meeting was short as it was, what with the Aurors confiscating our usual compartment. But believe me mate, I'm as surprised as you are. As soon as the meeting was over, we skipped out and found you. Didn't do one bit of patrolling."
"I'd expect that from you Ron," Ginny said with a wry smile, "but I can't believe that Hermione let you get away with that."
"I can't believe it either," Ron laughed, though he did flinch a little when he saw the scowl Hermione was giving him. "But it wasn't my idea. Hermione said that Harry shouldn't have to be alone, and that was more important than patrolling the train. I wasn't about to argue." Everyone looked at Hermione in shock, even Neville, and at this point her face was so red she could have been mistaken for a Weasley. None of them could believe that Hermione, who took her job as a prefect very seriously, had not only skived off work, but it was even her idea.
"Well I didn't know that he would have Ginny and Neville to keep him company," Hermione growled, "but now that I know, why don't we just go back out and patrol now?" Ron shook his head and held up his hands in surrender.
"No, no, that's ok, really." The other three laughed at them, unable to help themselves as they listened to Ron's desperate pleas. They were still laughing when they felt the train lurch violently beneath them before resuming its normal steady pace.
"What was that?" Neville asked as they all looked around in confusion.
"Not sure," said Harry, standing up and moving to the window, staring out at the flashing scenery. "Maybe something's wrong with the engine?"
"It can't be," Hermione contested, "the Hogwarts Express isn't like a muggle train, it's run by magic. In over a century it hasn't broken down once." Ron shook his head sadly.
"It's scary that you know that."
"Oh shut up Ron. It's in Hogwarts: A History. Just because you can't imagine reading anything more complicated than a quidditch magazine doesn't mean the rest of the world has to be that way!"
"Just be quiet, the both of you," Harry warned them as he continued to peer out at the passing countryside. He saw nothing but rolling hills and the green boughs of the nearby forest, but that did nothing to ease the tightening sensation he felt in his stomach. Whether he could see it or not, he knew that something was terribly wrong.
Then, from out of nowhere, there came an enormous shriek of metal, and everything became chaos as they were all suddenly flung towards the front of the compartment. Harry, who had still been on his feet, didn't even have time to scream as he felt his feet leave the floor and he was propelled forward, his shoulder slamming hard into the wood paneling that separated the compartments. He felt a pop and felt a rush of pain before he hit the ground with a mighty thud and lay there until he finally felt the world come to a grinding stop. For several long moments, no one moved or spoke and all that could be heard was pained moans and groans as they lay in a huddled mass on the floor of the compartment.
"I think I broke my arse," Ron finally mumbled, hand held to the back of his head as he slowly propped himself up on an elbow.
"Shut up Ron!" Ginny snarled at him, the end of her shout turning into an angry hiss as she clutched at her side. "This is no time for jokes."
"I know," he laughed weakly, "sorry. How bad is everyone hurt?"
Neville, who had pushed himself up to his feet, swayed unsteadily and lowered himself back into the seat he had been occupying. "I'll live," he answered quietly, rubbing at his chest and wincing. Hermione was much the same as the others, battered and bruised, though she was also nursing a sprained wrist. It was Harry who had obviously come out the worse for wear, likely because he had been standing while the others had been sitting. He was covered in more bruises than the rest, including a very nasty looking one on his forehead, and his face pinched in obvious pain when he tried moving his left shoulder.
"Jeez Harry, you look like you tried to wrestle a mountain troll," Ron said, eyeing him up and down. Harry laughed softly through gritted teeth as he used his other arm to pull himself up to his feet.
"Yeah I feel like it too." He reached down and offered Ginny his hand to help her to her feet before he resumed his position at the window.
"What in the bloody hell happened!" Ron exploded, a deep scowl spread across his face. Hermione laid a placating hand on his shoulder.
"I could have been wrong," she admitted, sounding almost hopeful, "maybe something has gone wrong with the train."
"I don't think so," Harry said darkly as he stared out the window where the front of the train was barely visible through a gathering mass of thick fog. He watched as the group of dark cloaked figures swarmed the second car behind the engine, and already he could hear the distant sounds of spells echoing through the corridor.
The moment he had felt the first lurch, Mad-Eye had known they were in trouble. While the young Aurors around him shared questioning looks with one another, he had reacted, drawing his wand and pointing it towards the side of the car, shouting "Expecto Patronum!" as he did his best to hold a happy memory in his mind. He saw the telltale silver mist erupt from the end of his wand and he held an image of Dumbledore in his head and managed to shout "Under attack!" moments before the inside of their train car came alive with flying bodies.
"Sound off," he growled as soon as the shrieking and shaking had stopped, pushing himself upright and grunting in discomfort. Luckily their car had been mostly empty except for their seats so there had been little for them to slam into save one another, but that had been more than enough. One by one the Aurors called out, some moaning, others groaning, but all in various states of pain. But it was quickly apparent to him as he scanned the room that their number was short by one. He found the missing man at the very front of the car, lying limply on the floor with Tonks cradling his limp head in her lap.
Moody had been a soldier for a long time and had fought dark wizards all his adult life. It was immediately apparent to him from the unnatural angle of the boy's neck and his blank, sightless eyes that he was gone and Moody laid a comforting hand on the young woman's shoulder.
"Bloody hell," someone said from behind him, and Moody could already hear shocked and horrified gasps as they all came to their feet and saw the state of their comrade. "What happened? Why did we stop?"
"Death Eaters," Moody called over his shoulder as he stood, his magical eye finally locating the wand that had been ripped from his hand during the crash. He retrieved it and then leaned forward and peered out the nearby window, eyes narrowing at the thick mist that clung to the glass. His magical eye spun round and round, desperately searching for any sign of their approaching opponents, but was dismayed to learn that even its powerful enchantment could not pierce the thick veil. He reached out and attempted to open the window, but even throwing all his weight into it could not open the sliding glass.
"Maybe it was just an accident," one of the Aurors offered weakly. Moody whirled on him, and the look he gave told the man that he couldn't have been more disgusted with him if he had just sprouted tentacles from his face and started to fondle himself.
"Are you slow in the head?" he asked before snorting dismissively. "Never mind, let's just assume you're an idiot and move along. We have Death Eaters moving on the train Aurors, we need to protect the students. Wands out and start moving back, we'll clear each section as we go."
His commanding tone shook them out of their collective shock from the accident plus the loss of their comrade and they all straightened slightly, pulling wands from holsters and moving towards the door to the next car. Tonks finally stood, wiping her wet cheeks on her sleeve and moved to follow but Moody held out an arm, stopping her.
"You're with me," he said in answer to her questioning eyebrow. "Let the other's deal with the rest of the students, we need to get to Potter." She opened her mouth and he raised a hand to forestall any objections. "Look, you know as well as I do that they have no real interest in killing all the students on this train. If they did then they would have just blown us to pieces in the first place. They're here looking for him. Damn it all, I knew I should have forced him to ride up front with me, but Dumbledore insisted that we let him try to be as normal as possible. Phagh, hard to be normal when you're dead."
She acknowledged his orders with a nod and the two of them fell into step as they passed through the dual line of Aurors to reach the door to the next car. Moody paused with his hand on the door, looking back at the anxious faces behind him.
"Remember, these are Death Eaters you're dealing with. I managed to get a message off to Dumbledore asking for help, but we don't know when that might arrive. So shoot first and ask them to surrender after. Move fast and always…constant vigilance!" And with that reminder he turned and pushed open the door, moving into the next car with his wand at the ready and with Tonks and the rest of the security detail close behind him.
They had barely made it a half a dozen steps inside before the door at the far end of the hallway was blasted open, revealing a robed, masked figure with his wand held at the ready. Before any of the others could even blink, Moody shouted "Protego!" and almost instantly felt his arm shake with the shock of spells impacting his shield. He part fell, part dived into the closed door to his left, landing with a thud at the feet of a half dozen screaming first year girls.
The rest of the team was not idle, having taken advantage of Moody's shield spell to find their own cover, ducking into the nearest doorway or even entering a compartment as Moody had, doing their best to assure the students that everything was just fine. But by the time any of them began to fire their own stunning spells down the narrow hallway, the first Death Eater had parroted their movements, as had a second just behind him, and the two of them were already firing a seemingly endless barrage of curses towards the beleaguered group.
"Hey Mad-Eye," Tonks shouted, her voice barely audible in the chaos of shouted spells and splintering wood, "you still alive in there?" She leaned forward slightly from her position in the open doorway of one of the train compartments, careful not to go too far and give the Death Eaters a target to hit. From her position she could just make out the doorway Moody had fallen through just ahead of her and across the hall, but could see no sign of the grizzled veteran.
Her answer came in the form of a scarred, steady hand thrusting out of the open doorway. She heard him shout "Confringo" and saw the spell erupt from the tip of his wand, moving faster than her eye could follow as it flew down the corridor and smashed into the floor between where the two Death Eaters crouched.
The moment the spell impacted the thin carpeting covering the wooden floor, it exploded, a gaping hole appearing in the floor and hurling hundreds of wooden slivers large and small through the air and directly into the surprised Death Eaters. Though their masks protected most of their faces, their eyes were still quite vulnerable, and against the fast moving projectiles, their robes might as well have been tissue paper. Within seconds of the explosion, both men were rolling on the floor, shrieking in pain as pools of blood slowly grew beneath them.
Tonks and the others slowly began to emerge from their positions, wands held at the ready but many of them flinching and looking away from the gruesome sight.
"Eyes front," growled Moody as he emerged from his compartment, wand and magical eye never wavering from the two twitching bodies, "constant vigilance."
"Somehow I don't think they're going to jump up and attack us sir," someone behind him said, sounding like they were barely containing their lunch. Moody didn't reply as he advanced forward, each step slow and cautious. His magical eye widened and he was able to shout "Cover!" and press himself into the nearest doorframe moments before spells began flying down the hallway once again. At least two Aurors were knocked unconscious before they were able to react, but the rest were quick to pull their unconscious comrades to safety. Though with the amount of spells being thrown at them, safe was a relative term.
Moody cackled wildly from his position at the front of the group, back pressed tightly against the wooden door. "Anyone else think we don't have anything to worry about?" He poked his wand out and fired several stunning spells in the general direction of their attackers, but he knew that he wasn't going to be hitting anything blindly like that. Even so, it would at least cause the masked bastards to flinch a little. As useless as his eye had been at piercing the fog surrounding the train, inside there were no such problems. He could see their exact situation, and it wasn't promising.
The two he had injured had stopped moaning, so they were either dead or soon to be. But beyond them in the next car he could see three more masked figures standing to either side of the doorway that connected the two cars. Occasionally one of them would lean outward and fire a half dozen spells towards the Auror position before pulling back to avoid any possible return fire. Considering their entrenched position as well as the narrow corridors, not to mention the hundreds of students that were in danger, the Death Eaters could sit there and hold his team in place for as long as they liked. And there was damn little he could do to stop them.
His little tactic had worked on the first two Death Eaters because he had surprise on his side and because the pair were overconfident in their own abilities. Even if this group hadn't seen what had happened to the others, and he would be a fool to assume that was the case, he couldn't rely on that trick working a second time.
"So, this is fun," Tonks shouted at him from across the hall, trying not to flinch as a curse zoomed past inches from her face. "Any bright ideas?"
"Ones that don't result in possibly killing dozens of students as well?" Moody asked before he shook his head. "No, not at the moment."
"What about apparition?"
"Feel free to try it, but I'll bet my pension that they have anti-apparition wards already placed."
Tonks eyed him anxiously, "What about Harry?"
Moody shook his head slowly, "We're no good to anyone dead, which is exactly what we'll be if we try to charge them blindly. Albus should have the word out by now, we'll have reinforcements soon. Until then…the boy's on his own."
