-Chapter Five-

Headlong Flight

A chill went though Harry's entire body at the sight of the masked Death Eater. For a few moments they faced each other in silence, both sizing up their opponent.

They both raised their wands at the same time. Harry was a fraction faster. "Stupefy!"

A bolt of red light shot out from his wand towards, the Death Eater, who leapt aside and fired off a spell of his own. Harry flung himself back into Malfoy's compartment to dodge the spell, tripping over one of the bags and falling to the ground, the impact causing several other bags to fall off the shelves and land on him. Harry's heart pounded in his ears. This can't be happening… not here, not now…. Quickly he tried to get to his feet again, but the Death Eater appeared in the doorway all too quickly. It raised its wand…

"Stupefy!" bellowed another voice and the Death Eater was sent flying as the spell hit it. It hit the far wall with a loud clang and collapsed in a heap on the floor. Next thing Harry knew, Ron was inside and helping him up. "You okay? Good job I got here in time!"

Harry grinned as Ron helped him up. "Thanks, where are the others? More could turn up at any moment!" he asked.

"On their way. You think there's more Death Eaters on board?"asked Ron worriedly.

"I doubt one would be brave enough to attack alone."

They moved out into the corridor and were relieved to see the Death Eater still lying comatose on the floor. "Come on, we'll have to restrain him somehow." Harry shouted, running towards it.

But as Harry drew closer he was alarmed by the sight of two more masked Death Eaters charging down the corridor of the next carriage towards him. Thinking quickly, Harry raised his wand and cried "Impedimenta!" and as the two Death Eaters were thrown backwards by the spell he slammed the connecting door between the two carriages and locked it with a quick "Colloportus!" He backed away from the door as the two Death Eaters reached it and struggled to open it. He ran back to a grinning Ron. "Nice one, Harry!"

The door behind them opened suddenly and they turned around in alarm, wands at the ready.

"Hey, it's only us!" said Hermione as she, Ginny and Neville ran through.

"Where you guys been?" demanded Ron, lowering his wand.

"Looking for Golden Gormics (1), where do you think?" asked Ginny, rolling her eyes. "Is it true? Are there Death Eaters?" she asked more seriously.

"Yeah, but we've got them trapped in the next carriage, they won't be getting through that door any…" Harry broke off as the two Death Eaters gave up on trying to open the door and smashed through the glass itself and entered. "Oh, right, yeah."

The two Death Eaters raised their wands simultaneously. There was no room to dodge.

"EXPELLIARMUS!" yelled Hermione. The two Death Eaters wands flew from their hands.

"STUPEFY!" Yelled Harry, Ron, Ginny and Neville again and again, forcing the Death Eaters to hastily retreat back down into the carriage they had arrived from, snatching up their wands as they went.

For a few moments Harry and the others stood in silence, getting their breaths back. Harry recovered first and ran down to the doorway, but there was no sign of the Death Eaters. "Right, Neville, stay here and guard him." He gestured to the Death Eater lying on the ground. "Hermione, Ginny, go back to the others and find some more members of the DA, we're gonna need all the help we can get. Ron, come with me."

"Wait!" cried Hermione. She pointed her wand at the unconscious Death Eater, said "Incarcerous!", and he was quickly bound in ropes.

"Brilliant!" Grinned Harry. "Okay, let's go."

The girls nodded wordlessly and hurried off, and Neville pointed his wand at the unconscious Death Eater. Harry stepped through to the next carriage, Ron behind him, both had their wands at the ready. The carriage was empty, the door at the end hanging open. Harry and Ron headed through it.

It was pretty unnerving as the travelled through the sight of abandoned possessions was unnerving, and on several occasions they would come across one the conductors, lying in a heap where they had fallen. They soon found themselves jumping at imagined noises. They'd soon be at the front of the train, could it be that the Death Eaters had just made good their escape? And what of the Driver and the Witch who normally who had the buffet cart? He'd not seen either of them in the crowd earlier.

He suddenly became aware of the sound of battle, he could heat spells being fired up ahead. He motioned for Ron to stay where he was and then creeped to the end of the carriage they were currently in.

A tremendous fight was happening in the Locomotive, a fantastic room (that seemed oddly larger within than it did on the outside (2)) filled with the most unusual controls Harry had seen. Levers, buttons and what appeared to be taps covered the walls, each one connected to the others by a network of pipes. Each pipe travelled along the wall and into a large firebox at the front of a train. The Driver of the train and the Buffet Witch were engaging the Death Eaters in battle. Curses and Jinxes filled the air as the four of them fought in the cramped spaces. Without even hesitating Harry stepped out of hiding and ran down to help.

"Get back!" cried the Witch as she spotted him. "Leave this to-" she was cut off by a green spell that sent her flying back against the train controls. The Driver cried out in anger and shot a flurry of spells at the Death Eaters, only for a second spell to hit him and send him flying back as well. The Death Eaters turned to face Harry. With no time to halt his charge Harry ran straight into the nearest Death Eater, hoping to knock it off balance.

It was like hitting a brick wall. Harry fell backwards, stunned by the impact. The Death Eater quickly grabbed him and threw him over to join the Driver and Buffet Witch at the controls, knocking him senseless.

Harry shook his head in an effort to clear it. In front of him he could see Ron run forward to help, only to be forced back by the other Death Eater firing a spell at him. The Death Eater Harry had tried to tackle ignored all of this and raised his wand to finish Harry off.

Harry only just dodged the spell, throwing himself aside at the last possible moment. The spell hit one of the pipes, causing it to burst open and thick, dark liquid to spray out straight onto the Death Eater. Harry ducked past it as he flayed around. The Death Eater Ron was fighting spun round, took the situation in at a glance and hastily fled, shoving one of the outer doors open and running out into the night. Harry made to follow but a shout from Ron stopped him. "Harry - Look!" Harry spun round and was horrified at what he saw.

The Death Eater had been covered in whatever it was that was in the pipes and fell to his knees. As Harry and Ron watched the liquid continued to spread across the Death Eater, even though the leak had stopped. Before their eyes the affected part of his body seemed to melt, and the rest of the body followed suit as the liquid spread across the body. In a matter of seconds all that was left of the body was a large, formless puddle on the floor, and even that had soon dried away. Harry and Ron were alarmed to see that even the floor beneath the Death Eater had been affected, the carpet worn away to reveal a strange, pure white surface underneath.

"What happened to him?" asked Ron incredulously as Harry leant down examine the affected area. Gingerly he ran his hand across the surface. It was cool to the touch and incredibly smooth. Was what the entire train was made of? He looked at the Driver and the Buffet Witch but it was clear they were beyond help.

A shout from further down the train caught their attention. Harry and Ron looked at each other. "Neville!"

They found Neville lying semiconscious on the floor, being tended to by Ginny. A nasty looking gash on his forehead marked where he had been struck. All that remained of the captured Death Eater was the broken ropes lying on the floor. "What happened?" asked Ron. "Where's Hermione?"

"Down with the others." Replied Ginny. "It's chaos back there, everyone's in a panic! I hear Neville scream and just got here."

Neville groaned. Harry hurried to his side. "Neville? What happend?"

"Had his back to him…" muttered Neville. "Got free somehow. He took something from that compartment…" he pointed weakly at Malfoy's compartment.

"Where is he?" asked Harry quickly, fearing the worst.

"Gone. He just ran out of the train." said Neville.

Harry ran to the compartment and had a quick look inside and than ran for the door leading outside, his worst fears confirmed. "He's got the pyramid!" he shouted, leaping out of the train.

It was pouring with rain outside. Harry looked around desperately and spotted a cowled figure running up a bank next to the train and disappearing into a forest at the top. "STOP!" he bellowed, setting off in pursuit.

It was hard going. The ground was getting increasingly muddy and Harry had trouble climbing up the bank. Once he reached the top he looked around, trying to spot the Death Eater, but he could barely see anything.

"Lumos!" he muttered. The tip of his wand lit up and he held it up high, trying to spot the Death Eater. He quickly spotted him, rushing through the trees not too far away. Harry set after him.

The rain continued to pound down but Harry refused to give up. He made his way through the trees, tripping over the roots and slipping in the mud. At several points he though he'd lost his prey but luckily he was able to find him again each time. His clothes were soaked and the rain had grown so bad that he had to use the Impervious Charm to keep it off of his glasses.

Suddenly he spotted something up ahead. There was the Death Eater, on his knees in the mud. Harry ducked behind a convenient tree (3) and whispered "Nox", extinguishing the light on his wand instantly. Moving as carefully as he could, Harry risked another look.

The Death Eater was still on his knees, and was scrabbling in the mud as if trying to find something. Maybe… Maybe he'd dropped the pyramid! Harry peered through the rain and his heart leapt as he spotted it a few meters behind the Death Eater, who was determinedly searching in the wrong direction. Harry stepped out from behind the tree and began to creep towards the Death Eater. If he was fast, he could grab the pyramid and be out of there in a matter of moments. Even as he moved forward Harry noticed some odd things. Why was the Death Eater not using the Lumos spell? Perhaps he'd lost his wand in the fight beforehand? And why hadn't the Death Eater noticed him before when Harry had caught up to him? The pyramid must be extremely important to Voldemort…

Harry crept closer and closer, hardly daring to breathe. Thankfully the Death Eater was still too absorbed in his search to notice. Harry's eyes never left the pyramid as he got closer. Soon it was within arm's reach and he knelt down to grab it…

Suddenly it was snatched away from. Harry looked up at the Death Eater holding the pyramid triumphantly, before a sharp kick to the stomach knocked him to the ground and the Death Eater fled once again.

Although winded, Harry struggled to his feet and set off after the Death Eater. None of this was making sense. Why was the Death Eater running? Why hadn't he apparated? They weren't on Hogwarts grounds, it should be possible!

Harry charged blindly after the Death Eater, pushing through branches and leaping over any protruding roots he noticed. Up ahead he saw the Death Eater run into a group of bushes and Harry plunged in after him.

Next thing he knew the ground vanished beneath his feet and he was falling. Harry cried out as he slid down a slope and went over the edge of a cliff, frantically grabbing at anything within reach.

His hand found a root protruding from the cliff and he grabbed it, stopping his fall. Breathing heavily, he risked a look down.

Below him was a tremendous drop several hundred feet high above a large lake. Harry's heart was pounding. One false movement and he'd fall. Harry risked reaching for another root close by but stopped as he slipped down the root he was holding. "Help! HELP!" he shouted, hoping someone would hear him. He tried to get a better grip and cried out in horror as he slipped even further down. The rain had made it very slippery. Harry risked another shout. "HEEEEELP!" he bellowed as loudly as he could.

The root snapped.

Almost instantly his hand was grabbed by another and Harry felt himself being pulled upwards. He looked up to see a grinning face looking back at him.

"Lucky I was passing! Need a hand?"

Appendix

(1) An incredibly rare creature capable of flying at incredible speeds, only visible during the (even rarer) occasion that they need to stop to rest. Its mention here should not be taken seriously.

(2) The idea of changing the dimensions within a vehicle to make it more spacious without any apparent change to the outside design is a popular way of making travel more comfortable within the Wizarding World. In fact, if you are ever on a public transport and someone is complaining loudly about no leg room, that they are travelling too slowly, or complaining about the vehicle in general, then chances are that this person is a wizard furious at having to travel on a muggle vehicle.

(3) Well, how convenient a tree can be when it's in a forest is up to you