Digital

Chapter 12

Desperate Circumstances

Chapter edited on: 7/3/11

Thanks to all who reviewed the last chapter.

Previously on Digital:

The aurors cheered as they watched the red menace get hit by the spell and their captain in particular smiled as he saw it collapse.

He wasn't stupid. He knew that it had only happened, that he had only won, because the girl had all so foolishly attempted to help it, whatever 'it' was.

'Ah the sweet follies of love,' he thought to himself as he motioned a few of his remaining aurors to advance. 'Love kills you know,' he thought again, smiling smugly, relieved that he had evidently won. It was the reason why he had never married. He simply hadn't wanted to have to worry about a family. His job was difficult enough already as it was without having to worry about a family too.

With those thoughts in mind he began to walk forward. 'OK, there is Granger, now where was Potter?...and what the hell was that thing?' he wondered as he advanced.

Raising his hand he was just about to order his men to attack again and finish it off for good, when he suddenly heard multiple cracks of incoming wizards and witches around him.

Surprised, he turned around to see who had come and froze. Eyes wide and getting wider at every second he only had a few seconds to scream to his men before multiple spells rained all over them.

Death Eaters had arrived.

And now the continuation:

The situation seemed desperate. EGO was having quite a few problems ordering his hosts weakened body to get up. For a second an arm failed to support the weight of his hosts' body and EGO cursed as he collapsed back to the ground. Finally, slowly, silently pleading with the weakened body to comply, he managed to raise himself up.

'That last spell seemed to have drained our power levels more than I had at first anticipated,' he realised sullenly, though he kept those thoughts to himself.

'We are lucky that we are still active. If we are not careful one more hit could finish us off,' EGO thought, this time directing his thoughts to Harry.

Harry, who was by now back at the back of his mind, kept quiet. He knew he had seriously messed up with his latest rescue attempt. But what should he have done? he wondered. He couldn't have just stood back and let Hermione take the hit, could he? He had had no choice but to help her, and so get hit instead, he reminded himself.

EGO ignored Harry's last thoughts. Filing them away to discuss them at a later stage, preferably when they were not in any danger of being deleted at any second. Instead, EGO turned his full attention back towards the ever increasingly dangerous battle.

It seemed lady luck favored both; the bold and the incredibly stupid, as luckily for them, while they were on the ground; weak, vulnerable and ripe for killing, a new group of wizards and witches had arrived and had begun to attack the aurors. The old phrase proved itself true once more: 'the enemy of thy enemy is thy friend', even if said enemy is also your enemy too. At the very least they would cause disruptions. How very true that was!

It was probably the first time Harry had ever been happy to see Death Eaters. If they hadn't come… well, Harry didn't even want to consider what would have happened then. Neither outcome looked favorable to say the least. Of course, neither was the current, as they would still be killed once the Death Eaters were finished with the aurors, or visa versa, it didn't really matter which side won. However, as it was, the current situation was still better, if only a by a Little, than the alternative. After all they were still alive, if only barely.

Quickly identifying the newcomers as Death Eaters from what he could access about them from Harry's mind, EGO gratefully used the sudden distraction he had been given to his advantage; to grab Hermione and carry her to relative safety, while the enemy was not looking.

Quickly identifying the next best cover he could find as the reinforced metal table Hermione's parents were currently hiding behind, at the far corner of the room, he quickly carried her over, dodging a few stay spells on the way, which had missed their targets, before dropping her off beside her parents.

Dan didn't waste any time, seeing Harry arrive, he quickly took Hermione from his arms, giving him a quick grateful and relieved look and handed her to her mother, telling her to stay down and to keep her head low.

Unfortunately, the same could not be said for Harry. Too big to effectively crouch behind the table himself, or in fact any other object in the room, simply because there were either not enough obstacles or not enough enough room left to do so, EGO was left with only a few short seconds grace before he was back to dodging spells, full time, as both Aurors and Death Eaters soon realised that he was either; still alive (aurors) or that there was an unknown creature, which didn't look friendly, and should therefore better be killed first, questioned later. (Death Eaters) In fact EGO was so busy dodging spells from multiple sides, in his current unfavorable position of 'piggy in the middle', or the proverbial 'meat in the sandwich,' that he didn't have time to even think about attacking himself.

As it was, Harry, who was watching the escalating drama from the back of his mind in mixed horror (that the situation was so bad), awe (at what was happening) and a large amount of pride (that his alter EGO was so skilled), was simply happy they didn't know that the red creature, or red menace as the aurors called him, was actually him; Harry James Potter, most sought after criminal of the wizarding world and Voldemorts arch nemesis to boot. Enemy number one for both sides. If they did…well…Harry wouldn't have been surprised if they decided to combined forces just long enough until he was dead.

The Grangers for their part could only watch in dismay and utter hopelessness as the situation steadily grew worse with each passing second. No matter what happened or what the outcome was going to be, they knew they would be next. The only consolation of the situation was that the Aurors and Death Eaters were also concentrating on each others too and not just on Harry. They only hoped Harry could outlast the battle and still be strong enough to take out the remainder of the victor when the time came. A tall order indeed.

EGO however had different plans. Already weakened from the earlier fight and the spell which had hit him moments before, add to that that he did not have any form of cover and was therefore a wide open target in clear line of fire, for both sides, he knew he wouldn't have the required necessary strength to do so. He was just barely holding on as it was.

As such, he was frantically looking for an exit out of the building. Any exit at all. He knew that the next spell which, if it somehow where to hit him, could possibly delete him and he was not about to wait around for that to happen.

Then there was also the problem of the Grangers. EGO knew that Harry would be heart broken if Hermione died. The same would be said for Hermione, who would, in turn, also be heart broken if her parents…or Harry died. Every second they stayed in this 'war zone' (and it really was a war zone with over 70 wizards and witches battling it out at the same time) was a second too much and one more second leading straight towards disaster.

All around them, one by one, Aurors and a few unlucky Death Eaters, died as spells met their marks and before long EGO was beginning to get desperate as time was running out.

The Death Eaters were winning and were steadily overwhelming the Aurors, some of which were already weakened by EGO's earlier attacks. Realizing that the battle was hopeless and lost, some of the aurors tired to apparate away, only to realize that they couldn't, as the Death Eaters had created wards blocking their escape.

Knowing that Death Eaters generally took no prisoners, and those which they did take would only be tortured, then killed anyway, the remaining aurors decided to fight on to the last. The auror captain himself just managed to take out one more Death Eater with a slashing curse to the head, before an Avada hit him and he fell down, dead, his last thoughts before the spell hit him being: 'Why didn't I call in sick today.' It was a question he would never get answered.

Suddenly the wall, near to where the Grangers were pinned down behind, exploded as a stray spell hit the wall beside them (showering them with shrapnel, which Hermione quickly blocked with another shield) blowing a hole just large enough for them to get out of, if they squeezed through it. The only problem was is was too far away to reach safely.

Harry saw their chance. EGO agreed. It was the only way. Now they only had to get the Grangers (and themselves) out as soon as possible.

Seeing that it was their only hope of survival, EGO quickly dodged another spell - which missed him by a thin hairs wight and which then carried on into an auror behind him, blowing him into bits of gore – then motioned towards the hole and called out to the Grangers: "GO! GET YOURSELVES OUT OF HERE WHILE YOU STILL CAN!" ….he roared to them. "I will cover you and try to follow you later," he added a second later, though not as loud, while at the same time dodging another spell, this time a stray one.

Dan, realizing what Harry, or rather EGO (though he didn't know that) had planned, nodded in reply as years or taking orders without asking questions caught up with him, then quickly told his wife and daughter what they were about to do.

It took a moment to explain to them and to make them accept the daring plan; to run towards the hole and what would hopefully be relative safety, but at last they agreed. They were just about to do so at the next best opportunity when Hermione suddenly realized that Harry wasn't going to follow them.

"What about Harry?" she asked just before they could run for it.

"What?" Dan said, halting in his tracks, before he could start his run. Taken by surprise he looked at his daughter.

"What about Harry? We can't leave him here," she said again.

"He said he would follow us later…we have to go now while we still can," said Dan, already concentrating on the hole and the safety which hopefully lay beyond it, again, ready to make a dash for it once more when…

"NO! I won't leave him, I can't," Hermione said.

Dan flinched. He really didn't need this right now. He had no time to argue. Time was of the essence. Every second they wasted could well mean their death.

"I can't leave him, I owe him…I won't leave him behind…," she said again, a mad desperate look in her eyes.

Chancing a brief look over the solid safety of the metal table they were cowering behind, Dan just managed to glimpse Harry/EGO cut off another head with a sharp claw after a 180 degree turn, before ducking down again just in time as a spell flew over his head. Looked back at his daughter he replied: "He'll be fine," believing every word as he said them.

"You can't know that, one spell could finish him off, he needs help," said Hermione stubbornly.

"And what could you possibly do to help him, missy?" asked Dan trying to reason with his daughter, becoming impatient and angry as well as a small bit more desperate as their precious seconds were steadily slipping away. Had he still been in the army a simple command would have been enough...however...

Suddenly another spell tore away another piece of a near by wall nearby, which then started to crumble bringing a small part of the ceiling down on a near by Death Eaters head. In a stoke of good luck, It also widened their hole, making it easier for them to escape.

Seeing this Dan's eyes widened slightly as he noticed that the whole building was becoming unstable and could collapse at any second. Not giving Hermione another chance to argue he simply said: "No!... We have to go now!… "

"But," said Hermione

"No arguing, we don't have time, we have to go, NOW!" said Dan and he made a move to grab Hermione to drag her along with him if he had to. Emma had already left the safety of the table and was already half way to the hole when a death eater fired a spell at her.

EGO, seeing the spell, reacted immediately and kicked a near by chair, which had somehow survived the onslaught, into the spells path, blowing it into several pieces as the spell hit it, but allowing Emma the time she needed to escape through the hole relatively unscathed.

"GO! QUICKLY," EGO roared just before dodging several more spells which came from multiple sides as an answer to his actions, nearly grazing him as they flew past.

The aurors were nearly all gone by now, killed or incapacitated by the Death Eaters. It was a complete slaughter. The few which had somehow survived until now were fighting their way valiantly towards the door in a last desperate attempt to get out.

EGO himself was becoming increasingly desperate to get the Grangers and himself away soon. EGO simply couldn't understand what was keeping the Grangers so long. Every second they waited only decreased their chances of survival.

Hermione, for her part continued to be stubborn. "No, I said I won't leave him," she said, waving her wand and firing a spell at a near by Death Eater, nearly getting her wand hand blown off by a retaliatory Death Eater for her troubles, had Dan not pulled her away in time.

Dan was angry now. "Damn it Hermione, We have to go NOW! I order you to go," he said angrily.

Hermione however ignored him and fired of another spell, this time hitting her mark.

"FOR GOODNESS SAKE, WHAT'S TAKING YOU SO BLOODY LONG!... Go!," came EGOs frantic voice again. It sounded really stressed and tired now. Not surprising as Several Death Eaters had started playing a game of 'hit the monster' with him in the lead role.

Angry and desperate as he was, out of options and not knowing what else to do, Dan resorted to something he normally would never have: he raised his hand and slapped his daughter, hard.

Completely shocked by her fathers actions, Hermione stopped firing spells at near by Death Eaters and looked up at her father. What she saw frightened her to the bone. Her father looked really angry, but above that, he looked really scared too. He had the look a person had when they knew they could die any second if they didn't escape fast. It was probably this which made Dan speak to his daughter in the way he did next.

"Hermione," Dan said in a dangerous no-nonsense voice. "I mean it, if you don't obey me right now and get your ass out of here and through that bloody hole RIGHT NOW!… Then I promise you…if we ever get out of this alive, I will spank you so hard, you won't be able to sit down for a week. Do you understand me!" he growled menacingly.

Hermione squeaked, wide eyed, as she looked at her father in shock. She had never seen Dan so angry, so furious….so scared before. She could practically feel the anger and fear rolling of him in waves.

"Do you understand me?" Dan asked again, furiously.

Hermione, wide eyed, too scared to do anything else at that moment, did what any child would do when faced with the promise of a sore backside from a furious parent; she nodded.

"Good, now let's go," Dan said. It was definitely an order. Grabbing her by the scruff of her jumper, in case she should somehow change her mind, Dan waited for the right moment, then seeing an opportunity to move, he advanced, dragging Hermione with him as he made a wild dash towards the hole in the wall.

It was at this very moment that disaster struck once more.

Bellatrix Lestrange, insane dominatrix witch, royal captain, second in command of Voldemorts dark army, General in command of Voldemorts elite troops and leader of the Death Eater platoon sent to kill Potter and his little mudblood witch, gloated as her spell hit one of the last surviving aurors and cackled with insane glee as she watched her burst into flames.

Practically receiving an orgasm from the screams the poor woman was emitting, as she slowly burnt to death, Bellatrix cast a second spell designed to prolong the effects of the spell, before cackling once more like the insane witch she was.

Finally seeing that the former auror was nothing more than ash, she was about to turn her attention towards the next auror when she suddenly smirked as she noticing one of the Grangers run out of her hiding place and towards the eventual safety of a hole in the wall of the inn.

'Now, now, we can't have that now can we,' she thought, a manic gleam in her eyes, then cast a killing curse at the woman, only to be surprised when her spell was blocked by a chair and angered when the woman escaped.

Seeing that her spell had missed, Bellatrix cursed loudly then started to scream and rant like a little child, stamping her foot into the ground before scowling angrily at the red furred creature which had been the cause of her misfortune.

It would have been funny had the situation not been so serious. Needless to say EGO was not laughing.

EGO knew very well who she was. A highly trained insane and highly sadistic killing machine. Simply listening to Harry's' unnecessary warnings was enough to tell him that she was not somebody to be trifled with. She may act like a little spoiled child during a bad temper tantrum, but that only made her even more dangerous.

Here was one nasty, bad tempered thirty six year old child in an adults body who loved to kill and torture people for fun, simply because she could, her favorite curse being the 'everlasting flame of pain' spell; a spell so horrible, it did like its name said: It traps a body in special searing hot flames which won't actually consume the body, but which would burn like hell, a whole new definition to being burnt alive indeed.

Said witch was now staring at his hosts' body, with fanatic crazy eyes. And EGO did not like it one bit.

Risking a quick glance at the Grangers position, EGO groaned a groan which was quickly emulated by Harry when he saw that Dan and Hermione still had not left.

'What is wrong with those two?' he wondered frantically. 'What in the name of fucking bloody hell are they arguing about,' EGO cursed as he dodged a spell once more. "FOR GOODNESS SAKE, WHATS TAKING YOU SO LONG! Go!," he roared, becoming angry now. Live's where at stake here after all. Their fucking lives. Bella-fucking-trixie-the-strange was on her way and those two idiots seemed to be arguing. EGO couldn't believe it, neither could Harry for that matter. Didn't they realize it was a life and death situation?

Risking another glance after dodging another spell, this time from Bellatrix herself, Harry gasped as he suddenly saw Dan hit Hermione.

'Goodness,' Harry gasped as he saw it happen.

'Good!' growled EGO angrily, 'maybe that will shut her up,' he said loudly to Harry in his mind.

'What do you mean?' Harry asked, shocked at what had happened.

'Oh come on, it's clear as hell that that idiot girl is the cause of this,' EGO said angrily as he took a swipe at another nearby Death Eater but missed as said Death Eater just ducked in time. Dismayed EGO realized that he was slowing down. Earlier on he would not have missed.

Growling fiercely, EGO tried once more, but this time he was blocked and nearly blasted back by a shield cast by a second Death Eater.

'Great, just bloody great, they're adapting. They're learning how to protect each others. I can't reach them,' EGO said as he jumped out of the way, of what seemed like the umpteenth hundredth spell that day.

'If we don't get out of here soon, were done for! I can't keep this up for much longer,' EGO gasped as another spell, nearly hit them.

'Seriously, If Dan doesn't spank for her this, then I will if we ever get out of this mess,' he said irritably.

'Damn it! Your body is just too bloody fucking tired to do this for much longer,' he added, cursing angrily, frustrated that he was having no success, just before he dodged three spells in a row before getting grazed by a forth.

Harry thought it best not to respond doing his best to ignore the brief stinging pain. Both never the less noticed the slight decrease of strength the spell caused and cursed again. 'Wonderful, just what I need, less strength' EGO thought sarcastically before sighing. This was hopeless. Stopping himself in time from stumbling as the sudden weakness took its toll on his hosts ever weakening body, he attempted one last swipe with his claws, before giving it up as a lost cause. He was just becoming too slow. It was hard enough dodging spells from over twenty wizards, he just didn't have enough time, or the strength, to fight them too.

'If we ever get out of this alive I'll…,' EGO never finished his last thoughts as it was at that very moment, that Dan and Hermione finally made their move.

"About bloody time," EGO growled angrily, then winced as he saw what Bellatrix was planning to do next.

Bellatrix smiled viciously as soon as she saw the remaining two Grangers, move out from behind the table and would have cackled furiously if that wouldn't have hindered her from issuing a few orders.

"Get them!, Kill them, Burn em all!" she sang, in near hysterical excitement and utmost delight, pointing towards the Grangers, before raising her wand to fire a spell at them herself. At that direct moment, time seemed to slow down for Harry and EGO.

'Oh no!' though EGO dismayed, a thought which was mirrored almost immediately by Harry as approximately thirty or so Death Eaters started to raise their wands simultaneously at the unsuspecting Grangers. He always knew it would have been dangerous for them to run to the hole, but this was ridiculous.

EGO sighed, realizing that their time was up. Wearily, sounding rather defeated, he chose to speak to his host. 'Time to choose, Harry,' he said, sending Harry a brief explanation of what he had in mind. Sighing at the mere thought of what he was about to have to do, he waited to see if Harry said: 'yes'.

"You can't be serious," said Harry equally dismayed, when he realized what EGO had planned.

"That's why I asked you to choose. You have to mean it. How serious are you about saving her?…Her life…or ours?" asked EGO sadly.

"Are you sure there is no other way?" asked Harry.

"No!…well…maybe…maybe...yes!...actually there is...but...," EGO said, pausing, unsure.

"But what…I'll take it," said Harry. After all he thought anything would surely be better than deletion…right?...What could possibly be worse than death...besides perhaps being tortured to insanity? Harry asked himself. What EGO was considering was sacrificing themselves to save the life's of the Grangers. There had to be another way.

"You don't even know what I have in mind yet," said EGO slightly amused.

"I don't care, anything's better than...," Harry paused.

"…than what you have planned first," he continued.

"I mean, it's not like we have much of a choice," he finished.

"Are you sure…it would most likely be for life," asked EGO sending Harry what he was planning to do though their link.

Harry didn't answer, but EGO could clearly sense that he did.

"So be it… " said EGO, resigned, but happy that they 'might' just have a way out after all.

"Er, Harry, just in case we don't make it…it's been a pleasure," said EGO just as dozens of spells from many different wands started to fly towards the unsuspecting Grangers, who were busy in the process of running towards that ever important hole in the wall. Most of them were clearly Avada Kedavas.

Harry sighed before answering, "No my friend, the pleasure was all mine.' Then he closed his mental eyes (not the physical ones) in dismal expectations of what he was sure was sure to come. He really hated fools errands and that's what it really was...a suicide move.

Knowing what he had to do, EGO quickly summoned up the last of their remaining strength and blurred. A second later time seemed to speed up again as both, training gene and host suddenly appeared and found themselves standing directly in front of the Grangers, right in the way of the advancing spells.

'This is going to hurt real bad,' said EGO, only just managing to smirk and grin in macabre anticipation of what was to come before playing his last ace.

"Good luck Hermione Granger, it was a pleasure meeting you too…" EGO mumbled, a phrase which was quickly mirrored by Harry, though he quickly added a thought of 'I love you' to it too. That said, EGO closed his eyes. "I hope my faith in you isn't misplaced, Hermione" he thought before pushing the last remaining strength he had into it he called out:

"FireFox Storm!"

-At that very moment, far away in a certain digital world.-

Gennai, was enjoying a quiet pleasant walk through a digital forest when he suddenly felt a brief shiver run down his spine.

Realizing that something big was happening somewhere; he immediately reached out through his connection to the digital mother and gasped. Seconds later he began to glow bright white and float a few inches of the ground.

As if that wasn't enough, the whole digital world started to shake as if an earth quake were rampaging through it. This earth quake lasted for several seconds before it finally stopped.

At the direct moment the ground stopped shaking, the white glow left Gennai and disappeared into the sky as a white beam of light, on a one way trip towards earth.

Exhausted, Gennai fell to the ground with a smile. "So he has chosen! Interesting! I didn't expect it this early, but… may the digital mother smile favorably open thee," he said weakly, then, completely spent from his previous ordeal just moments before, he collapsed and drifted off to sleep.

Far away on the top most layer of the digital world Fanglongmon shivered and suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of dread. Something big had just happened and for once he didn't want to know what it was. Every sense in his body screamed for him to hide, but why? With a deep sigh he slowly went back to whatever a sovereign digimon did. One thing was certain: he wasn't going to get much sleep that night.

-Meanwhile, back with Harry and Co-

Hermione hated leaving Harry behind. She honestly thought they were leaving him behind to die. But what else could she possibly do?

A part of her knew her father was right; that she couldn't do anything to help and that she would only be endangering herself and everybody else, if she staying back to fight. That didn't mean she had to like it though. In fact she absolutely hated it.

She was shocked that her father had slapped her and was even more shocked that he had threatened her with more if she didn't obey.

This was not the fun loving, gentle, wouldn't-hurt–a-fly-let's-not-even-talk-about-hurting-my daughter type of father she remembered. True, he did punish her when she deserved it, but this. The stress and danger of the current situation must have really affected him, badly.

Not willing to anger him more after what he had just said to her, she reluctantly let him drag her away. She only hoped that she wasn't about to regret it. She would gladly take any punishment if it meant she could save Harry, but she first had to know how.

The first sign that something was horribly wrong was when they were half way to 'that blasted all important hole' in the wall.

It was at that direct moment she heard EGOs final mumbled words: "Good luck Hermione Granger, it was a pleasure meeting you…"

Shocked, she stopped in her tracks. Glanced behind her back she gasped as she saw thirty or so spells fly towards them, or rather Harry, who was standing between them. Horrified she froze.

Eyes widening immensely, she did what most people would have done in such a situation: she screamed.

Dan Granger was not having a good day. He knew that running for 'the hole' was always going to be dangerous. Fool hardy dangerous in fact, with only a fools hope of success, as it made them clear targets with no protection at all. He only hoped their powerful red ally could 'cover them' so they could escape.

He would have laughed if the current situation hadn't been so desperate.

Had somebody told him a few days ago that he would have to trust a red furry creature with his life in a few days time; he would have laughed at them and probably have called the Mad Hatters Lunacy Asylum. Now however, he was just grateful to have that creature on his side.

Dan was no fool; years of army training had thought him that running out of cover, right into enemy fire, with little or no protection, was never a good idea. But what else could they do? They had already wasted enough time, thanks to his stubborn daughter and if they stayed for much longer they would probably be killed anyway.

It wasn't as if they had had much to loose after all. All they could do was die and they were going to do that anyway and if not now, then later. Surrender was definitely not an option as the Death Eaters would simply kill them for fun... or worse. It was for that reason alone that he consented to their daring move.

He hated having to hit his daughter. He really did, but he was serious with what he had said. If threatening her helped, then he would do so. If that meant he would have to follow up with said threat later on then so be it too. He simply couldn't waste anymore time arguing. Besides it would do her some good. Dan was a firm believer that if you promised something, then you did it. One of the reasons why he always made sure he could follow it through, and be sure that he wanted to do it, before he promised something.

In war, when a soldier blatantly disobeyed a direct order during a dangerous situation, from a commanding officer, they were either left behind, used as cannon fodder…or shot. Those who were lucky enough to survive would usually have faced a disciplinary committee…if they survived that is. Dan had no illusions though, he knew that his daughter was not in the army, he was thankful for that, really he was, but that did not mean she did not have to learn when it was important to follow orders, especially when it so clearly was a life and death situation. If a small bit of well deserved pain on a certain body part brought that message across to her, then who was he to deny it. Especially in the current circumstances.

Suddenly he felt his daughter slow down. Thinking she was simply tiring he automatically tightened his grip on her as she started to slip.

Then Hermione suddenly stopped running altogether.

For a second his heart leapt. Fearing the worst, thinking that she might have been hit, Dan chanced a quick glance behind his back, only to wish almost immediately that he hadn't.

Thirty odd spells were flying right towards them.

Feeling like panicking for the first time in years, Dan threw himself and Hermione head first onto the ground, hoping that he or his daughter would not get hit.

"Firefox Storm"

Looking up he only had a fleeting second to realize what had happened, what their furred ally was planning to do, before an explosion rocked the remains of the inn.

Father and daughter could only watch in quite awe as their saviors arms crossed over once more and started to glow bright white. Just like the other times, sharp flaming darts flew out from the creatures body and right into the way of the incoming spells. Only this time there seemed to be many more darts, not just thousands, but tens of thousands.

Unknown to the Grangers, EGO had pulled out every last bit of his hosts' available strength into one last desperate attack. (Besides that absolutely critical for survival)

Darts connected with spells, as magic connected with physical data. Unable to support each other, both exploded with a loud bang.

Outside of the inn, heavily concealed in a bush, Emma watched horrified, as a large part of the building exploded outwards in a shock wave and started to collapse.

She could only watch in horror as multiple walls suddenly wobbled, then started to crumble as tons upon tons of stone wood and sleet started to fall to the ground as what was left of the inn collapsed.

Inside, Dan just had a few fleeting seconds to grab his daughter and forcefully push her out of the hole before he jumped through it himself, head first, just narrowly missing a falling brick which would have easily killed him had it hit.

All around them bricks and large pieces of sleet and wood fell to the ground, only barely missing them as they scrambled to get away from the falling inn.

Emma could only watch hopelessly, with bated breath, unable to help her family as they ran for their very lives from several tones of falling debris, as it fell to the ground.

The whole ordeal lasted little more than several seconds before it was finally over, but those were the longest of her life.

Back inside, EGO and Harry collapsed as their remaining energy left them and watched impassively as the spells were stopped by their darts, then watched resigned as the ceiling started to crumbled, then fall.

Looking back, they noticed Dan throw himself out, though the hole in the wall and smiled.

'At least they made it,' thought EGO happily, ignoring several pops as Death Eaters apperated away, as their anti-appertion ward fell, the whole building collapsing around them.

'Yah! They did!... But what about us?' asked Harry, as he watched the ceiling come closer and closer.

'We did what we had to, now it's up to her,' said EGO, meaning Hermione.

Harry simply nodded. A few second later, too weak to move, both closed their eyes, then everything went dark.

Outside, Hermione screamed, in horror as she realized what had happened, then with an anguished howl of despair she ran forward, breaking free of her fathers grip, then, completely ignoring her father screams ordering her to return.

Hermione screamed in horror as she realized what had happened. With an anguished howl of despair, which could nearly be heard miles away, she ran forward, breaking free of her fathers grip, then, completely ignoring her fathers screams and threats, ordering her to return, she proceeded into the debris.

"Hermione Jane Granger, get back here this minute," Dan screamed, completely at the end of his nerves. This day had just officially become the most horrible day of his life.

Hermione however, in her madness, didn't listen and continued to run towards the ruins of what had at one stage been an inn, only one thought left in her mind: she had to find her friend.

"COME BACK!," Dan roared again his voice changing to a pleading tone as he watched his daughter disappear into the debris, before finally releasing a howl of anger and despair as he collapsed to the ground, then started to cry, completely missing a bright beam of light which suddenly came from the sky.

All around them Death Eaters, lead by Bellatrix Lestrange appeared, then with a smirk she started to advance.