Chapter 4 Distraction
Harry couldn't believe the attack had been approved by the council. As soon as the majority had voted in favor of it, even before his turn to vote had come up, he regretted putting in the suggestion. A lot of people were going to die and it would be because of his idea. People had died under his command before, but it had never been on the scale of what was about to happen. One or two, sometimes a handful if the mission had gone wrong. This would be hundreds though; possibly more. He wondered how he would handle it once the battle was over. He tried not to think about it.
On the plus side, his proposal to help the Griffin Militia had also been approved. The attack was going to be the main focus over the course of the next two weeks but once it was over, Harry was to lead a convoy to Durmstrang with crates full of supplies and several scores of formerly imprisoned fighters. The sneaking of almost one hundred men and women throughout Europe and right underneath the nose of Lucius Malfoy and Voldemort would be tricky but it was something that needed to be done. If they were going to win this war, they were going to need all the allies they could get.
Harry knew that included the Amazons. The order of female battle mages numbered a few hundred worldwide. Their numbers paled in comparison to groups like the Phoenix Rebellion and the Griffin Militia but they were all highly trained and extremely skilled. They had remained relatively neutral throughout Voldemort's rise to power in Europe and Harry didn't know whether to be shocked or not that Lestrange had taken to getting the group involved in the war against her side.
"Are you ready to go Harry?" Dumbledore asked.
Harry glanced down and saw the Headmaster looking at him curiously. He was sitting on the edge of the rampart that ran along Hogwarts borders, his feet dangling over the edge. He pushed himself forward, free falling for a brief moment before landing in a crouch.
"Of course," Harry replied as he stood up. "How are we getting there? No offense, but I doubt you can sit a broom for fourteen hours."
Dumbledore chuckled. "You are indeed correct. While you have been off on your missions and fighting in Europe, Madeleine has been busy with a lot of different projects. One of them you might know the origin of."
A car pulled up to the road nearby them and Harry blinked. It looked a lot like the old Ford Anglia that he and Ron had crashed into the Whomping Willow. He slowly walked around the vehicle, before glancing at Dumbledore.
"It can fly?"
"Fly, turns invisible, reach speeds over one hundred and fifty miles per hour. This is one of three ready. Larger vehicles are in the works as well."
"While I'm sure it makes travel much easier with supplies and important members of the Rebellion, broom escorts will probably be needed, otherwise they're sitting ducks."
Dumbledore inclined his head in acknowledgment. "Moody is already devising strategies and uses for them. As of right now it shall just be you and I on the journey. Although, I shouldn't forget our driver."
Harry glanced into the front seat and saw a man in his late forties. He vaguely remembered the man from a mission he had been on several months ago. The squib son to a minor pureblood lord who had been kept as a servant and whipping boy for Rabastan Lestrange. Harry knew the experience had both traumatized the man into perpetual silence and left him with a severe limp.
"Is that wise sir? No offense to your fighting skills but if any of the Governors or Generals caught wind that Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore were traveling without escort down the middle of the United Kingdom, we'd have an entire army bearing down on us.
"While this is true, the only people who know we are leaving are the three of us and whoever we told about the trip."
Harry's mind immediately jumped to Gabrielle. She was the only one he told the full details of his trip to. Silver Team, his only team posted at the Hog's Pen, only knew when he was leaving but they weren't aware he'd be traveling with Dumbledore himself.
Harry looked over the folders of each of his teams. The attack the Council was planning was going to need support, which is what his teams would be supplying. But he wasn't going to commit all his teams to this either. A major offensive like this was the perfect distraction to do some other things as well. Like raid prison camps and military supply warehouses. While it might be a stretch to hit the ones in different zones then where they were attacking, it wasn't a stretch to perform multiple hits in the region, further discrediting Malfoy.
Harry had ten teams, all under his command. Each team consisted of six members. There was some members who he hadn't even met in his entire life. When the member of a team died, it was generally up to the team leader to find a replacement for them. The only member of Amber Team that Harry knew was it's team leader, Idalia Ortego. Most of her team had been wiped out in a raid gone completely wrong a few months ago.
He was probably going to split his teams in half. He would bring four additional teams with him to help support the attack. The other five would be tasked with multiple raids throughout the day. He just had to decide who would be doing what.
He wanted Ruby Team on the attack just because of the skill Broderick Anwell Jr. possessed. Onyx Team was their best team of flyers, which would probably come in handy. He would take Diamond and Silver along as well, just because he knew their team leader's the best.
He had already sent out a message to gather all his teams to him as soon as possible. It would range from half a day to a week for them all to gather to him, depending on where they were and what they might be in the middle of when they got the message. He needed to make sure they all knew their assigned task.
The targets set to be raided needed to be provided by spies and then double checked to make sure the information was legit by other spies. That itself would take a few days to get done. He had already spoken to several of their informants in Lucius Malfoy's government, putting feelers out.
This would be the first time in a long time all of his teams would be gathered together. He would be seeing a lot of old friends he hadn't seen in ages. A small smile made it's way on Harry's face at the thought.
A soft knock at his door interrupted his thoughts.
"Come in," Harry called.
The door opened and Pavarti poked her head inside. "The Headmaster has left his great-granddaughter's room."
Harry tilted his head in thanks as Pavarti pulled the door closed behind her. He had asked to be updated on when Dumbledore left Alexis room, and was a little surprised the Headmaster had stayed there for almost three hours. When they arrived back from the raid in Greece, he had quickly been called to a meeting with the rest of the Council and wasn't able to talk to Alexis much. Coming back, he figured it would be best to let her family member see her first before he went to talk to her.
Standing from his desk, he left the folders where they lay and made his way out of his office. It was a short trip to the group of houses connected together that made up their hospital. The place was currently overflowing with the prisoners they had rescued. A lot of them were simply malnourished and just needed healthy foods and supplementary potions to get back to good health. Others, those who had been tortured for information as well as entertainment, would take longer to heal.
He tapped lightly on the door and waited to be welcomed in. When he finally got the okay, he pushed the door open and entered the room. Alexis sat up in the bedroom, which has once been a large master bedroom but had been divided into three smaller hospital rooms.
Her face was still pale and red scars still crisscrossed the visible skin. Her strawberry blonde hair was sprawled out over the pillow, clean for the first time in several weeks.
Harry moved to the bed and sat at the chair sitting by the bed's side.
"Hey Harry," Alexis stated, trying to sit up a little straighter but grimacing at the effort.
"Don't strain yourself for my sake."
With a sigh, Alexis relaxed back into her pillows. "It's been a while since we last saw each other."
"Almost a year," Harry agreed.
"I'm sorry about..."
"We've all lost someone," Harry said, cutting Alexis off. "In a war, that is bound to happen but it does still hurt, as I'm sure thousands of others feel the same way about the loved ones they've lost."
"Thank you. For rescuing me I mean. Who knows how long Lestrange would have kept me down there. Who knows what she would have done to me."
She shuddered at the thought, no doubt imaging the sick and twisted things a psychotic bitch like Lestrange could do. Harry reached out and rested his hand over hers.
"Might have beens don't matter. I got you out because you're a friend. All that matters now is you're safe."
Alexis smiled gratefully at him, and he returned it with a small smile of his own.
"The Amazons will want to know we're safe. I don't know if they would have sent a rescue party of their own but it would be best to let them know one isn't needed."
"I can give you Hedwig to use. I try to keep her here in the base where she will be safe because she is very recognizable as my familiar but she is a very stubborn owl. She gets mad at me if I don't send her to deliver letters and flies off on her own. Sometimes she doesn't come back for days at a time and I worry for her. Why are you smiling at me like that?"
"You care a lot about your owl; it's endearing."
"Hedwig is more than a pet. She's one of my oldest friends. She was there for me during the summers between Hogwarts when no one else was."
"That's sweet."
Harry stood up. "I'll go see if I can find Hedwig and I'll send someone with some parchment and a quill so you can write the letter."
"You'll visit again right?" Alexis asked.
He smiled at her. "Of course."
Harry threw himself down behind a car as spell fire shot over his head.
"Where the fuck is Moody?" Harry demanded.
"He's at that mot...I mean at Forward Operating Base Danger sir," the teen, who Harry found himself taking cover with, stuttered out.
Harry cautiously peeked over the hood of the car and looked down the street, pass the group of Sentinels who were raining spell fire down upon his position. He could see a small motel several blocks up that was taking a lot of spell fire. That must have been Forward Operating Base Danger. He needed to get there and see how the situation was coming along. Though judging by what he was looking at now, not too good. The fact that the LZ, which was way behind the lines they had established, was under attack, well let's just say it wasn't a good thing.
Harry muttered an incantation under his breath, a ball of glowing red energy gathering at the tip of his wand. The teen stared at him in both wonder and fear. No doubt he was a green recruit who had just completed the training courses and was participating in his first battle ever. Harry hoped he lived long enough to see his second.
Jumping up, Harry launched the ball of magic at the nearest grouping of enemy combatants. The magic hit the ground and let out a wave of energy that tossed aside all non-shielded opponents. Harry waved his hand forward, motioning his teams to move up and press the attack. He had bought five of his teams with him. That was half the number. While the other groups in the Phoenix Rebellion Military Force had been the ones initiating the main attack, Harry's teams had been acting in support roles in the beginning.
Silver team had hit three enemy outpost that were located several miles way, eliminating the forty combined Sentinel garrisons at the locations. Diamond, Ruby and Onyx teams had hit the nearest transportation hubs, killing its guards and then placing up their own wards, effectively delaying reinforcements by several hours. Harry had led Gold team on an assassination against Milo Leon, the second in command of the region, as well as several high up figures who had been in the meeting room as well. Harry would have loved to have gone after Lucius Malfoy, the Gorvernor of the region but the man was currently tending to an issue in Germany. They needed to strike against the leadership who would be the first ones to respond to the threat, and they had done that. Without effective leadership, the response would be delayed and sloppy.
Now he was going to see how they could support the operation as it stood now. And it looked like the first thing they could do was clear out the enemies who were behind their lines. Taking out those who were attacking the LZ was first and the Forward Operating Base Danger would be second.
"Stay here," Harry told the raw recruit.
The teen didn't respond but looked at Harry as if the idea of him going anywhere was insane. Harry shook his head and used his leg strength, with a little added magic, to vault the car from his crouched position. As soon as he landed on the other side of the car he had to dive to the side and come up in a roll. His wand slashed through the air, deflecting a wave of spells back at their casters. He was forced to quickly take cover behind another car though as the Sentinels focused on his position.
His Knights used that to their advantage, moving out of their cover and pressing forward. The Sparks, all of who looked fresh out of Hogwarts and were probably given the thought to be easy task of guarding the LZ, stayed where they were. There were no Death Eaters to be seen, which was a relief. They didn't need any of the skilled fighters making things more complicated.
Sensing something, Harry threw himself from the car he was using as cover and threw up a shield. A trio of explosion hexes slammed into the car and it went up in a fiery explosion. His shield protected him from the blast but he still felt the heat from the flames as they brushed against his defensive magic. Harry twisted his wand and directed the fire toward a shop front that Sentinels were using as cover, causing a few to scramble backwards as others threw up shields.
"Press the attack!" Harry shouted. "We need to clear the LZ!"
He sprinted forward, weaving around spell fire. His wand was jabbed, waved and slashed in every direction, spells flying every which way. A second floor window of a townhouse exploded, a car was thrown into a wall and the large glass window of a store front shattered inward. From each of those locations, a Sentinel or two was knocked out of the fight.
Harry slid into a doorway and threw up a wall of protective energy as some added protection. He keyed his mic; "I want sweeps of every building within a ten block radius. Split into three man kill teams. Gold Five and Gold Six, you're on me. We do not move on until we have a secure perimeter set up around the LZ. Do you copy?"
"Copy," was heard a few dozen times in his ear piece.
It took almost forty minutes to clear all the buildings. The ten teams moved quickly and efficiently throughout all the rooms, clearing floor to floor of every Sentinel. Luckily, there weren't a lot, other wise it would have gone on much longer. Harry jogged back to the Sparks tasked with guarding the LZ and gathered them up. He counted thirty-one of them and they all looked fresh out of Hogwarts.
"Alright listen up you green fucks. We have secured you a ten block perimeter which you need to maintain in order to keep this LZ clear. Set two man teams at the intersections and keep a rapid response team of five guys to respond to any threats to the perimeter. If any of you know wards, set up trip wards a few blocks farther out for some advance warning. We need this open and secure in case we need to withdraw, so you better not fuck it up."
Most of them stared at him with terrified faces. He had to remember that these were seventeen and eighteen year olds who hadn't seen a battle before.
"Just remember you're training, stay alert and follow my instructions."
Harry walked to where the team leaders were gathered. Susan, Ron, Alicia and Broderick all stared at the Sparks who were clumsily splitting up to follow Harry's orders. Alicia shook her head while Broderick snorted in amusement.
"You gonna leave a team behind to help keep the LZ secure?" Ron asked warily.
Harry shook his head. "No. When I talk to Moody, I'll have him send back some vets to get things in order. Based on what I'm seeing, I think we're going to be needed to support the main operation, not play babysitters."
"What's the plan?" Broderick asked.
Broderick Anwell Jr. was Harry's best fighter. Hell, he was even better then Harry right now. Broderick had reached his magical maturation so not only had his full magical power available to him, he also had some serious dueling skills that rivaled Harry's own.
"See that motel getting pounded like a cheap whore?" Harry asked, jabbing his finger off to the side. "That's Forward Operating Base Danger. I need to talk to Moody and get a SITREP but I don't like the fact that our base of operation is getting taking advantage of like that, especially when those Sentinels didn't even have the fucking courtesy to take her out to dinner first. So you guys are going to teach them some manners and clear a five block radius around Forward Operating Base Danger. Any questions?"
"Whose in tactical command?" Susan asked.
"Broderick," Harry answered. "Now move out."
Harry took off at a light jog as the other split off and started moving into the surrounding buildings. He had to weave his way around stray spell fire, occasionally casting a shield to deflect a curse too close for comfort. It wasn't long before he was waved into the hotel by a Spark.
The walls that had separated the individual rooms of the motel had all been torn down. The beds were being used to hold the wounded. Harry could see almost two dozen wounded men and women laying around. There was several Sparks milling about doing nothing. Harry could see Moody in the middle of it all. He was standing in front of a large, circular table that seemed to have a holographic map of the real life action going on in the town. Harry could see thousands of little figures fighting through the holographic streets.
"Come over Potter and see what I'm looking at," Moody called as Harry approached.
Harry wondered if it was because of his magical eye that Moody could see him, or if he somehow spotted his little figure on the map. As he approached, he realized he didn't recognize any of Moody's current staff. It had been so long since he and the man had been in the same area for more than just council meetings.
"What's the SITREP?" Harry asked.
"Black has stalled the main force compromising two regiments on the right flank but his forces are severely outnumbered and won't be able to keep it up. Salvador is holding fine in the middle but he has a troop of Giants and a squadron of flyers moving in on his position. They're gonna hit in twenty minutes. The left flank under Pierce suffered a surprise attack by Malfoy's vanguard accompanied by some artillery staff and crumbled under the attack. They're in a slow retreat and if it isn't stopped soon, the center is going to be vulnerable on the left flank. You managed to secure our exit strategy but we're supposed to hold until we get the all clear that the infiltration team has captured the Horcrux and I don't think we're going to last that long. The rest of Malfoy's army is on its way here and though you might have delayed their arrival, reports have them at three hours out."
Harry looked over the map for several seconds. The entire thing was a shit show. He should have never of put this idea out there.
"Good thing I'm here then," Harry stated.
"Why is that Potter?" Moody asked.
"Because I'm going to solve all your problems."
Moody snorted. "Enlighten me."
"I'm going to take Gold Team behind enemy lines and secure those artillery staffs. If we can bring them on our side and shift them to the right flank, it will give the main force pause and relieve the burden on Sirius' two companies. Silver and Ruby will establish a new line for the left flank about a mile behind their retreat. This will give them a place to rally and stop the fall back. The center line is going to have to shift back some to keep themselves lined up with the flank but it will keep the center safe. Onyx will go into the air and take out that flyer squadron and help with the Giants so the center can shift itself backwards free of harassment. I'll leave Diamond back here with you as a rapid response team. Also, you need some vets to organize the defensive perimeter of the landing zone. Don't know why its nothing but rookies back there."
"They had veterans leaders but both were killed," Moody mumbled as he thought over everything Potter had just said.
The capturing of the artillery staffs alone would definitely help shift the tide of the battle, if Potter could pull it off. The use of one of the teams for rapid response would be advantageous. They wouldn't be used to help plug a hole, since they didn't have the power to do that, but their wide ranging talent made them a valuable asset to have at his side.
Moody turned toward his command staff. "Well did you guys here what Potter just said? McQueen, get Iota and Dagger squads to assist with the setting up of the second line of defense for the left flank. Tell them they can take three of the magi-chainguns we have on the roof. Karlsson, tell Sparrow squad to grab their brooms, they're going to help take out the flyer squadron and delay the giants. Frost, get Bulldog squadron back to the LZ. And while they're heading there, get the critically wounded to the LZ and call in a med-evac. No use letting them bleed out here."
Harry nodded his head and went to move off.
"Potter."
Harry stopped and turned to look at Moody again. "You need to hurry with those artillery staffs. If the right flank falls, we're going to be screwed here."
"Give me an hour," Harry stated.
"Jasper, gather the remains of Sabre and Kappa. Instruct them to gather the four other magi-chainguns on the roof and go reinforce the right flank. They have to tell Black to hold at all cost."
Harry made his way out of the motel as Moody's aides rushed around to complete his orders. The entire operation rested on his shoulders. He needed to hurry if he wanted to give his godfather any chance of holding. Not to mention, they really needed to dig in, just in case they were still here when Malfoy came with the bulk of his army. The fact that the Vanguard was already here was bad news.
"Status report?" Harry asked, keying his mic.
"Clearing out the last two blocks now. Not as many Sentinels as you would have thought. They just got their hands on one of our magi-chainguns."
"Finish quickly and meet me at the FOB. We've got our assignments."
As Harry waited for his teams to join him, the fourteen members of Sparrow squad came jogging out of FOB Danger, each one clutching a broom in their hands.
"How experienced are you guys with giants?" Harry asked.
They all looked at each other for a moment before the leader of the squad shrugged his shoulders.
"We're better against enemy flyers and ground troops to be honest. Giants are a little beyond us."
Harry nodded his head. Not many new the effective way to take down a giant. He had learned when he was fifteen and had taught it to thirty-seven of his classmates when he was still at Hogwarts. He had then expanded on that and had taught numerous squads for the Phoenix Rebellion in the art of taking down a giant. In fact, there was a squad specifically designated to taking down giants; designated Goose Squad. Harry believed Dumbledore had named them after the story Jack and the Beanstalk, a muggle fairy tale and part of magical history, though the truth was much darker and bloodier than the fairy tale.
"You guys will focus on the flyers then. My team will take care of the giants. All you have to do is delay the attack enough for the center line to shift back a mile. After that you break off your engagement and help fortify the line."
In groups of threes and fours Harry's teams joined him and Sparrow Squad.
"Alright, here's what we're going to be dealing with. Onyx One, you're going to take your team and along with the assistance of Sparrow Squad here, you're going to delay a squadron of enemy flyers and a dozen of giants that are on their way to hit the center line."
Alicia nodded her head, looking Sparrow Squad up and down, sizing up whether they'd be a help or a hindrance. Her team was made up of mostly ex-Quidditch players. Viktor Krum was her second in command. She had Oliver Wood, Cho Chang and Angelina Johnson, as other former Quidditch players as well. The only one in the team who hadn't played Quidditch was Romilda Vane but she had partaken in semi-pro broom races throughout Europe.
"Silver One and Ruby One, you will be getting in contact with Iota and Daggers Squads and establishing a new line of defense for the left flank, which is slowly retreating. I don't know where Iota Squad and Dagger Squad are at this moment so you're going to have to patch them into your mics in order to set up a rendezvous point. Diamond One, I'm leaving you with Moody to do with as he pleases. He'll probably use you to run some interference."
Ron looked disappointed at being left out of the main action, while Susan and Broderick nodded their heads in understanding. Harry turned toward his own team, who stood to his right.
"We're going behind enemy lines and capturing some artillery staffs." Harry turned back toward the rest of the group. "Stay safe and I'll see you all back at the Badger's Burrow. Beers on me tonight."
His teams nodded their heads and they moved off to go complete their task. Harry turned toward Gold Team and looked them all over.
"Stealth is going to be the name of the game. Moving pass several hundred of the enemy without being seen."
"What can we expect to encounter?" Derek asked.
"Standard wards on a moving front. They'll have some ward stones at the back that move forward with the main line. It will help them identify any threats trying to move around them," Su explained with a shrug of her shoulders.
"So how do we go around it?"
Harry forgot Derek wasn't good with wards or runes at all.
"Do you know anything about our armor?" Marco asked. "A lot of former Gringott curse breakers spent hours on each set making sure our armor will allow us to bypass the basic wards. Battlefield wards are no where near as complex as stationary wards. We'll be fine."
"Brooms, high altitude," Harry ordered. "Blanket yourselves with invisibility charms. If we can avoid the moving ward front all together this will be a lot easier. The staffs won't be too far behind the enemy lines. If we cause too big of a commotion, they'll send back reinforcements."
"What about sensors? The brooms, our armor, the invisibility spells, those sensors will make a more horrid noise than Neville singing a Weird Sisters song on New Years," Katie pointed out.
Neville glared at the metaphor while the rest chuckled.
"The air above the artillery staffs will be clear of the sensors. That much magical power will overload any sensor they try setting up," Harry explained.
"But the air above the artillery staffs is going to be filled with gigantic balls of magic that will kill us if we get within half a foot of them."
Harry grinned. "That's the fun part, isn't it?"
Neville paled. "Blimey Harry, you know I'm terrible on a broom. I won't be able to dodge those things."
"You can't," Harry acknowledged. "But Katie and I can. We'll move in fast and eliminate one of the staffs. You guys have to rapidly descend to our location. As soon as that first staff goes offline, the others will notice. As soon as we touch down, the name of the game changes from stealth to speed. We have to hit them hard and we have to hit them fast."
Four of the five nodded their heads and quickly pulled out their miniature brooms from their utility belts. Katie stared at Harry with an uneasy look on her face.
"It will be just like Wood's Quidditch practice back at Hogwarts," Harry assured.
"We were dodging two bludgers from Fred and George, not a dozen blobs of powerful magic shot at high speeds from gigantic staffs."
"Semantics," Harry answered with a shrug.
Harry hovered on his broom, looking down upon the scene below him. There were ten artillery staffs set up ten feet apart from each other. Su had run a quick check and, just as Harry had predicted, saw that the area not covered by the magical scanners was the sky directly above the artillery staffs. There was no room for maneuvering without setting off the scanners. They were going to be in the line of fire.
"As soon as the first group is gone, the rest of you dive," Harry ordered. "Let's go Katie."
Harry dove sharply and found a ball of magical energy being launched from the staff directly below him. It ascended quicker than he expected, and he quickly moved to his left to avoid it. Except that put him in the path of another ball of energy, which he had to barrel roll away from. They must be renewing their attack because suddenly the artillery staffs were launching a rapid fire salvo that they hadn't been launching moments ago.
He twirled around a third projectile and narrowly avoided a fourth. He was tempted to take a quick look back to see how Katie was doing but squashed the urge. If he did that he would be dead. Harry zig-zagged around a few more before he was close enough where he felt his accuracy wouldn't be affected by the movements of the broom. He launched a series of curses at the nearest group below him as he avoided another projectile.
Usually there was four to each artillery staff, two at a time pouring their magical power into the artifact too build up the magic to necessary to launch the devastating attack. The other two would take a quick breather, sipping from a potion that quickly restored magical reserves but left the user suffering from severe magical exhaustion several hours later. This time there was six to each artillery staff. Being as there was ten artillery staffs, they would be facing sixty opponents. Harry knew his team was highly skilled but he didn't like the odds the six of them faced.
His salvo, which no one even saw coming, took out the group of three on the left hand side of the artillery staff and caused his invisibility charms to overload and collapse. Exposed to the witches and wizards below him, Harry put on a burst of speed, blindly casting spell fire in every direction as he descended.
One of his spells caught an artillery staff twenty feet over dead center, causing a large crack to appear in the weapon. That must have caused a destabilization of the magic because it exploded outward in a powerful wave that plowed through any shields put up and tossed the nearest witches and wizards through the air like rag dolls.
Harry pulled up on the broom to bring it parallel to the ground before quickly jumping off. He ducked under a barrage of spells before rolling to his right and came up firing. Sometime in his spell casting, Harry was joined by Katie, who had her back to him and dealt with the guys behind him. The rest descended quickly on their brooms, flying over the groups on the ground, and raining spell fire from above.
"Frag out!" Harry shouted, hefting on of his explosion hex primed magi-nades.
He tossed the explosive toward the artillery staff farthest from him. When the grenade exploded, it engulfed the artillery staff in it's destructive energy, unsettling the magic of the large staff and causing it to explode as well. The power from the resulting explosion knocked the nearest witches and wizards off their feet.
"Gold Three and Gold Six, secure a staff!"
As Harry threw up a towering wall of shimmering defensive magic, blocking the attacks from one side, Su and Derek came in on a passing pattern, lining up so they were flying in sync. Each of them jabbed their wands downward, a ethereal gold rope of energy shooting from their wands and wrapping around one of the artillery staffs. Neville came bearing down, shooting spells at the closest Sentinels and pinning them down to prevent them from retaliating.
In unison, Su and Derek banked upwards, yanking the artillery staff off of the ground and having it swing precariously beneath them. Trailing behind them was Marco, who did his best to deflect any curses shot up at the preoccupied duo.
Harry's wall of magic was shattered under a barrage of Killing Curses. Harry threw himself to the ground, pulling Katie with him as the green jets of light flew through the air. Several of them slammed into the staff near where they lay and Harry could see the magic of the weapon begin to overload. He threw up the strongest shield he could possibly think of and rolled over so his body covered Katie's.
The fire and energy from the blast slammed into his shield, which struggled to hold against the powerful energy pushing against it. The shield collapsed with a pop and Harry felt searing heat wash over his body. It lasted for a few seconds before subsiding. Rolling off of Katie, Harry checked to make sure she was fine. She looked at him with wide eyes but showed no signs of any injury.
Then the pain hit. It felt like someone had charbroiled his body. The dragon armor had protected most of his body, even if some areas had burned away. He could see his left hand's skin was black and peeling off his body. Reaching up with his right hand, he felt the left side of his head. All of the hair had been burnt away and he could feel the charred and blistered skin.
"Gold Two and Fould Five, secure another artillery staff," Harry ordered as he swayed on his feet.
Katie stood up, deflecting a piercing hex aimed at Harry. She put out an arm to steady him and cast a dome of protective magic around them.
"We need to get you to a medic," she stated.
"We need to complete this mission," Harry objected, trying to wave her off.
He could see spell fire colliding with her shield; see the glow of the dome get dimmer and dimmer with every spell that hit it. Harry could feel his mind get sluggish and knew his adrenaline and pure stubbornness was preventing him from falling into shock right now. Sooner or later, he would succumb and be useless.
Katie pulled him down to a crouch as her defensive magic fizzled from sight and hexes flew over their heads. Neville and Marco were preparing to make a pass to grab another artillery staff, just like Su and Derek had done earlier. However, without Katie and Harry to cover them, the two would be vulnerable.
Katie must have been thinking the same thing because as Harry was thinking that, she summoned their discarded brooms. They were both slightly charred from the explosion but they could still fly, and that's all that mattered right now.
Harry was forced to cast a spell to dull the nerve endings in his left hand so he could still use it despite it's ruined state. Katie prepped one of her explosion grenades and threw it in the area they were receiving spell fire from. The Sentinels were forced to shield themselves from the blast, putting a lull in the spell fire. They both hopped on their brooms and kicked off hard, shooting into the air. Katie was clipped by an over-powered cutting curse in her thigh that ripped through her armor and cut into the skin. She gritted her teeth but made no other indication that the wound affected her.
"Strafe them with explosion hexes," Harry ordered.
Such a thing would have two effects. The first was that it would cause the Sentinels on the ground to have to shield themselves, thus preventing them from attacking. The second is that the explosions hexes, if powerful enough, would damage the artillery staffs and take them out of the fight.
Harry turned one way and shot forward, aiming his wand downward. He didn't speak, didn't gesture with his wand or anything like that. He just concentrated as best he could and let loose a rapid fire of high end explosion hexes. They rained downward slamming into staffs, pavement and magically conjured shields.
One artillery staff had it's focusing crystal destroyed, sending glass shards flying in every direction. Another split in two, letting out a wave of destructive energy. He pulled up from his strafing run and shot into the air. From his count, that was five staffs destroyed and another two taken. He turned toward Katie, to see her destroying another two of the staffs, leaving one remaining.
Spells shot at him from below, and Harry continued his ascension into the sky. He shifted so he was flying away from the rest of the Phoenix Rebellion, and looking over to his side, he could see Katie doing the same. That last staff would be theirs to carry. They banked at the same time, Katie having to adjust herself as she was slightly ahead of him.
Harry looked down at the Sentinels. In all the chaos and explosions, they had taken out about half of them. That still left thirty people gunning for them. From up above, well above the ground, the other members of Gold Team shot spells downward to provide some kind of covering fire.
Their efforts had attracted the attention of the rest of the forces in the immediate area. Sentinels came at them from all directions, shooting spell after spell.
"Get behind our lines!" Harry shouted to the other members of Gold Team, as Katie and he struggled to gain altitude.
Then Katie screamed. Harry looked at her to see her eyes wide and staring at her left leg. Or what once was her left leg. It had been hit by an Explosion Hex; a powerful one. It was missing from mid-thigh downward.
She looked like she was about to faint.
"Hold on Katie, we're almost there!" Harry shouted, trying to wandlessly block as many spells as he could.
He contemplated breaking the connection he had to the artillery staff that swung between his and Katie's broom. He decided it would be best to get Katie out of there quickly, rather than add another artillery staff to their attack.
"Break your hold, we need to get you out of here!"
Katie sluggishly nodded her head but before she could do anything, a pale beam of light hit her her broom, dissolving it completely. Katie seemed to hover in mid-air for a moment before gravity took affect. She let out a deathly wail as she tumbled, losing her grip on her wand.
Harry found himself being yanked downward as he was now the only one supporting the artillery staff. He yanked his wand upward, severing the connection and releasing the weapon from his magic's grip. He reach out and tried to catch Katie with his magic, but his need to dodge the spellfire shooting at him from below messed with his concentration.
She hit the ground with a dull thud he could hear from where he was. He looked at the artillery staff, which was cracked and chipped in some pieces but still relatively intact and stable. It was seconds from hitting the ground. Harry nailed it with an over-powered explosion hex. The staff exploded in a wave of energy, knocking Sentinels off their feet and nearly tossing him from his broom.
"FUCK!"
He rose high enough where the spells shooting at him from below wouldn't be able to reach him before fizzling into nothingness. The others were already ahead of him, crossing over the no-man's land between the two sides.
He had suggested the damn attack. Katie's death was on his hands.