AN: Sorry about the delay folks. My motivation hooked up with my inspiration and flew the coop. Hopefully I'll be back to my normal writing habits soon. I am trying. Hope you enjoy.
Chapter 22: Cassie
My name is Cassie.
We were making pretty good time in this jailbreak, despite the ever increasing number of Dementors. The problem that we'd had before was almost instantly resolved the moment Jake appeared with no less than three Patronuses not far behind him. With the others, along with two witches and a wizard, rejoined the group, taking the third level had been made easy. With the others below us, not one single Hork-Bajir made it to us, so we were left with an uneventful trip through the rest of the third floor and managed to free another ten people, four of which joined us on the way up while another three chose to keep the level as clear as they could and one more levitated the last two, both in a horrible mental state, down with the intent of getting them to our boat, where he'd stay to help protect them.
It wasn't until we were halfway through the fourth floor, and had freed another eight people, only two of which were willing to help us, the rest intent on either saving themselves or their broken cellmates, that the Taxxons had finally made it to us, forcing their way through weathered holes and the few, glassless windows.
/Now this is more like what I expected./ Seamus admitted aggressively as he rammed his head into a Taxxon's gut. With most the witches and wizards focusing on maintaining either misty shields or animals of silver light, it had been left to us Animorphs to deal with the Taxxons, not that that was much of a problem. We were used to it.
Marco had taking to charging again, albeit at a slower pace this time. Throwing his horned head around, almost every Taxxon in front of us was either impaled or trampled under his feet, leaving disgusting piles of goo everywhere. Those that managed to avoid him were quick to become distracted by the squashed or torn body parts and stopped to consume them, making them easy prey for me and Jake. Jake leapt on any Taxxon he came across and tore at its throat or the top of the head just behind the mouth, taking great care to avoid the pincers so as not to bleed and attract them to himself. I on the other hand, chose to simply rake at their eyes with my talons like Tobias liked to do, blinding them and drawing more blood to attract their own before taking off into the relative safety of the air again.
At the back of the group, the wizard Animorphs had taken full advantage of the opportunity to test the abilities of their morphs and were doing great. Red and yellow streaks of light lit up the area as one witch from the second floor shot spells back, blowing Taxxons ten feet back, ripping them open or causing their long legs to get stuck together, but the bulk of the opponents were going down to the much more physical assault
Seamus was taking full advantage of every weapon he had. One second he was on one side of the room kicking a Taxxon with back legs so hard that it was blown into and ripped open by the bars on the cell doors and the next he was bounding to the other, slamming his horns into another opponent and jerking his head to rip its torso open and bounding out the way of a third enemy. He'd yet to take a single bite or pinch.
And Anthony, he was a whirlwind of teeth, claws and terrifying growls. They'd seen far more scary things in their lifetime, but the Taxxons almost looked horrified as Anthony came at them, ripping out a leg with a vicious jerk of his jaw before jumping up and scratching his way all the way up a Taxxon and jumping onto another's back. There, he wasted only a few seconds, but by the time he'd leapt at another, his last target was bloody all along his upper back and screaming, at the non-existent mercy of his brothers as they moved to consume him. Many tried to eat or snap at the wolverine, but the small form kept moving far too quickly and evasively between its savage attacks for them to have a pray of succeeding before they were wounded and consumed themselves.
"Diffindo!" The witch snapped, slashing her wands and getting the immediate reward of a Taxxon's screams as its torso split open with a deep gash. "Diffindo! Diffindo! Diffindo!" Her face had turned even greener than before, but the moment she saw other Taxxons diving to eat the first Taxxon she cut open, she went to work casting her spell again and again wherever there wasn't any sign of fur.
Between us, it didn't take long to ditch the Taxxons, but no one cheered. The Dementors were still everywhere and more Taxxons would appear soon. It was only a matter of time.
And more importantly, we were about to hit the most difficult and dangerous point of this mission. The maximum security cells began just at the top of the stairs we were approaching.
/Tobias, Ernie, where are you guys at the moment?/ Jake called as we gathered close together, Marco covering the front with Harry and a witch right behind him.
/About to descend to the sixth floor./ Ernie called back. /We're just waiting for Tobias and Hermione to come back. We had no choice but to send a number of mentally unstable prisoners flying to the boat./
/Good. we're about to attack the fifth floor. Hopefully we'll see you in five, ten minutes./ Jake replied.
"From here we must proceed with the utmost care." A man from this floor cautioned, glaring hard at the staircase. "I heard Death Eaters laughing about the traps placed on the next two floors and the treatment of the Muggleborns many times. Our fates in Azkaban are going to look pleasant if what they said was anything to go by."
"We should always send something ahead of us."His cellmate agreed, conjuring a handful of balls. "Most trap type spells and curses rely of pressure, magical signatures or movement for a trigger. Theses conjured balls are sufficient for all three."
"Let's hope it's enough." Harry muttered, glaring up the stairway and taking a deep, calming breath. "Let's go." With that, he strode straight up, his silver stag galloping before him and the rest of us right behind.
Taking a moment to rest my exhausted wings, I landed right on Harry's left shoulder as he reached the top. So, with nocturnal eyes, I had the perfect view as the ground broke apart and a giant stone snake surged up, sharp, jagged teeth aiming to rip Harry in half.
"Protegto!"
"Reducto!"
"Diffindo!"
"Gallius Disruptus!" Ripples of air, flashes of light, booms and a fierce wind flooded the place in an instant and the stone snake's strike was instantly ended as it seemed to hit a wall at the same time the light struck it and turned half of it dust while the rest was split in two and blown right down the hallway.
/What the heck was that?/ Marco cried, letting a loud cry escape his mouth.
/Reanimation ward./ Anthony whispered, like he couldn't believe what he'd seen. /Extremely advanced magic that crosses the principles of charms and transfiguration. The talent needed to pull that off is well beyond even Professors McGonagall and Flitwick. The Dark Lord had to have done that himself./
/And it's not the only problem!/ I cried, drawing everyone listening back up front. So many Dementors were flocking toward us that it didn't even look like an army of ghouls. It looked like a wall of darkness itself was shooting our way.
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Those who'd dropped their Patronuses to help with the snake immediately threw their wands up and unleashed all the silver wispy light they could as even Harry's stag began to falter under the raw numbers. It took all four animals we'd acquired, one of our last recruits managing to summon a small, dark starfish, and two barriers of mist just to hold the swarm back. If we lost any of it, our defence from the biggest danger we had to face would fall and we'd be consumed in no time. And unfortunately, that left only us Animorphs and one witch to deal with every other magical trap set into this place.
"SSSCCCRRRREEEEE!"
/Oh, like we don't have enough to deal with./ Jake snapped angrily as the familiar screech came up from behind us. Apparently more Taxxons had entered the prison and were coming up from behind.
"SHIT!" A wizard shouted, scowling hatefully over his shoulder. "Now what are we supposed to do?"
"Leave them to my friends! Try to get close to the cells, we need to hurry up and free everyone." Seamus, Anthony and Jake were at it again before Harry had even finished speaking, but I paid it no mind. Instead, used every advantage my eyes gave me in this place to see into the nearby cells.
And felt a burning rage like none I'd ever felt before.
It was worse than I'd even imagined. The flying river of black robed ghouls was horrible enough, but the...additions to the cells...and the prisoners...
I realise that Marco would make a comment and the others would panic if they heard my thoughts, but the good for nothing slime ball who declared himself a Lord was going to die for this.
The prisoners in the closest cage couldn't be older than eight. And if that wasn't bad enough, they were chained to the back wall, barely able to move, looked on the brink of starvation and had numerous patches of long dried blood covering their bodies. They were all unconscious, but even that didn't seem to free them from their pain and distress, their faces scrunched up in agony and their bodies frequently jerking, as if they were being jabbed by a hot poker. If I'd been human, I would have completely broken down and puked at the sight.
/Get them OUT OF THERE NOW!/ I screamed, making everyone listening to me jump ten feet in the air, as I flew off and hooted erratically, making my fury known to everyone as I moved towards the poor victims.
"Oh, my God!" Gasps of horror and furious growls echoed throughout the area as the others registered what I'd seen, one of the witches running straight to the bars.
"AAARRRGGGGHHHH!" However, as soon as she touched them she whipped her hand away, her ear splitting scream blocked out every other sound in the building. Taking a look at it, I almost screamed along with her. Her hand was burnt black.
"Cursed doors." The wizard who'd conjured the balls hissed, raising his wand. Muttering under his breath, he let his Patronus wisps die and shot three streaks at the cell, destroying half of it, ripping the rest of it to pieces and then rolling the remains into the cell, though careful not to touch the kids. "The cell looks clear, but you can bet those shackles are cursed too-Argh!"
Whipping back to him, I froze as a Dementor ripped him off his feet by his neck and tossed him to the ground where he stayed, the balls rolling free of his hands as I looked away. I didn't even need to wait for someone else to check him, I'd heard the snap loud and clear. He was dead.
"Stay, focused, don't let anymore through!" The man from the second floor ordered as his ox Patronus chased the killer back from whence it came as he turned to Marco. "And change back will you? Right now, we need more wand wielders to deal with the cursed doors and shackles, not animals."
/Um yeah, that won't really do any good./ Marco muttered snidely as he snorted.
/I'd help, but I transform to slow, it'll be suspicious. Plus, they'll ask why I'm naked and don't have my own wand on me./ Seamus contributed as he kicked a Taxxon back down the stairs and Jake and Anthony ripped out the legs and throat of another, the last of them for now. Looking around, he seemed to gulp before grunting and dropping back down the stairs. /On second thought.../
/Oh, boy./ Anthony muttered, shaking his head down the stairs before running to the freed wizards. Clenching his teeth around fabric, he ripped the outer robe off a now startled wizard with one tug and tossed it down the staircase.
"What the hell was that about?" The guy cried, though he didn't look back or wait for an answer. With his own Patronus Charm disrupted, he pointed his wand carefully at the children's shackles. However, just before he could utter a spell...
"STOP!" The panicked scream had everyone stopping in their tracks, freezing in place as gasps and the jingling of moving chains met their ears from the next cell. The source of the sound was revealed a moment later to be a sickly looking boy about the same age as Seamus and the others. He didn't look much better than the kids, but the blood on him was fresher and he wasn't nearly as malnourished. Not to mention that he was conscious and clearly still spirited, his movements being hindered more by the long chained shackles rather than his injuries. He couldn't have been in here longer than a few days. "All the restraints are cursed! If you unlatch them, then the skin they'd been touching will split open right down to the bone!"
/ARE YOU KIDDING ME?/ Marco screamed, summing up everything I felt. If we tried to save them, we'd be slitting the kids' wrists. The urge to puke swelled again.
/The Death Eaters would never of told them that./ Anthony said so quietly that I couldn't hear him at all, though I could still make out the sheer horror in his voice. /For him to know that.../
I didn't want to hear anymore. I wanted out of this God-forsaken Hellhole and I wanted to destroy the people who were responsible for its creation. This was too much, far too much.
"What do we do now then?" I woman whimpered, only growing paler as her Patronus Charm disappeared and the Dementors pressed even more greedily in on us. They're powered by happy memories. It was obvious to all that the new set of horrors had removed her ability to hold onto one.
"Hope that's the loophole." The man muttered before raising his wand again. "Curses like that are usually very specific. REDUCTO!"
"What are you doing?" Harry cried while the rest of us screamed in fear. "You'll kill them!"
However, it wasn't a shackle that were struck. The spell left it completely untouched, colliding with and shattering the chain connecting it to the wall instead. The kid's arm dropped, but rather than splitting open and leaving him awakening with a scream of agony, he actually gave out a whimper of relief. As the other chain was destroyed, he fell to the ground looking completely appeased, compared to a few moments ago. The pained jerking had stopped.
"See? Specific." The man grumbled, letting a small grin cross his face as he repeated the process with the other two kids. "It's only in the shackles. Destroy the chains, we can get some curse breakers or Goblins to deal with the curses later."
"Oh, thank God." The teenage prisoner sighed, his face radiating with deep relief as the light of the Patronuses brightened and pushed the Dementors a little further back, bathing him in their glow. An event that set Harry's eyes wide with recognition.
"Justin?" He cried, running straight to the cage, the guy who saved the kids following just as soon as he and the witch with the burnt and now cleaned and bandaged hand had them levitating after him. "They got you too?"
"Harry!" The boy smiled excitedly as the wizard set work freeing him. "I should have known you were in this group. You think I would have recognised your voice or Patronus before now!"
"Well, we were both preoccupied." Harry shrugged before another rotting creep broke through the Patronus shields and flew down to grab them. However, Harry was not one to be so easily distracted in a dangerous situation and grabbed his friend and dropped to the ground, leaving it flying harmless over their heads before being sideswiped in the shoulder that resulted with it making a nice imprint in the stone wall, courtesy of a rhino horn. "Speaking of which, care to help us out?" He asked, offering a handful of wands.
"Gladly." Smirking, Justin grabbed one on the end, nodding at it with satisfaction, and pointed it at the black mass. "EXPECTO PATRONUM!"
"WOOHOO! YEAH!"
/Sweet, a good one!/ Marco cried along with the witches and wizards, Jake howling happily behind him as silver light exploded out from Justin's wand into the form of a finch. It was smaller than the other silver animals, but it was beautifully bright, shining as strongly as Harry's stag and with it joining the ranks, the Dementors fell over themselves trying to escape, filling the air with the wild flapping of their robes. It was amazing just how much difference one little, corporeal Patronus could make.
"Wow, that's impressive." Harry grinned as we headed forward, only stopping to spare one more mournful glance at the guy we lost and grab the balls he created.
"Well, you were my teacher." Justin grinned proudly, ignoring the limp of his right leg completely, though Harry was quick to notice and wrap a supporting arm around his shoulders. "And while I'm not brave, happiness usually comes easy to me, especially when the Great Harry Potter comes to save me. Makes a Patronus pretty easy." He commented, though the look of joy disappeared a moment later. In its place was look of sheer determination as his finch zipped left and right, dispelling Dementors and shielding the people in the nearest cages.
"What...Please help us!"
"Get me out of here."
"Please, save my children. PLEASE!" It seemed that our hopes had been answered. Relief flooded my entire being as I stared around, watching the place actually come alive. As the silver light shone over their cells, every conscious adult awoke their cellmates and shouted. Their calls were for help, their voices were a little weak and scratchy and all of them were showing early signs of deterioration due to insufficient nutrition, but for the most part they were strong and determined, albeit extremely desperate. They'd be ok.
"Everyone, stay calm and be ready to fight and protect young ones." The coyote Patronus bearing woman called, already destroying another cell door only to cry out and duck as the pieces turned to needles and shot out at us. It was only her scream as they transformed that warned the rest of us to duck in time, or fly to the ceiling in my case, a real struggle to do in a hurry with dead air. Marco failed to move in time, taking most of them in his side, but he barely felt them. Rhinos are extremely hard to really hurt.
/Great, now half of me looks like a porcupine./ He was fine.
"Different curses." A wizard growled, glaring at where the bars used to be as another moved to destroy the chains on two women, one of which ran right to the floating kids and wrapped her arms around all three. Safe to say that she was their mother. "Probably at random too. No one in these cells was ever intended to leave after all."
"Nothing we can do about it now. We'll just have to deal with each one as it comes." Harry called, getting nods of agreement from everyone as he handed the new two witches wands and the wizard released a few of the conjured balls. Good thing he did.
SHWWIINNNGG!
BOOM!
SNICHT! The results sent shivers up my hollow spine. A pendulum swung across the corridor from seemingly solid walls about five feet from us, a giant boulder dropped from the sky and crushed a ball ten feet away and around that, another one a had set off what looked like knives sticking out from the floor and walls.
/Well, at least we won't need to worry about the boulder now?/ Anthony muttered nervously, staring stiffly at the sight before him as the last surviving ball finally came to a stop...as a gargoyle at the end of the corridor burst to life.
"RROOAAARRRR!" Jumping from its place it whipped out its wings and flew right through every trap and Dementor and dropped down at us, claws ready to tear and jaw opened wide, its sharp teeth set to tears us apart.
The wizards were quick to respond, just as they had with the snake, but none of their spells seemed to do a dent.
"MOVE!" Screaming, Harry flung his arm out and shoved everyone up front back and to the ground just as gargoyle crashed down where they'd been standing. Unperturbed by its initial failure, it got right up and lashed out again, barely missing us as we pulled back again and not even flinching as spells of five different colours crashed into it.
"How the hell do you stop this thing?" A Muggleborn witch cried, shielding the mother and her children with her body as she shot spell after spell. "The curses I'm throwing its way should have destroyed some of it by now!"
"It must have wards, though I don't know what!" The burnt witch sobbed between firing spells of her own.
/I think...hang on!/ With that Anthony jumped and scurried up Marco's back as he charged, slamming right into the centre of the gargoyle only to scream as he was flung back. Anthony however, leapt up onto its arm and ran up its back, ignoring the Dementors flying above it completely as the Patronuses were force to recede. /Found it! Protection runes./
"What the hell is that one doing?" A wizard shouted, conjuring and flinging metal spears only for them to bounce of aimlessly.
/What do they do?/ Jake shouted as he and I jumped and swooped respectively out of the way of the clawed hand coming down at us.
/Hang on, there's a few and it's dark up here./ Anthony grunted, digging his claws in to tiny grooves as the gargoyle jerked about trying to kill us. /There's protection from...concussion, erosion, blades, raw magical energy...Merlin, this one hell of a well constructed rune circle./
/So what will work on this damn thing?/ Marco snapped irritably as he was knocked off balance and into a wall.
/Well, we can just keep firing until the magic reserves in the rune circle dry out, which will take a while, or maybe.../
"Anthony, get out of the way!" A very familiar voice shouted. One with a very distinct, Irish accent.
/Seamus? What are you do out of morph?/ I asked, not sure if I was confused or exasperated as Harry, Marco and Jake all gave confused stares. That sure wasn't part of the plan.
He didn't answer me as he approached, not that I expected him to. Clad in the robe Anthony had stolen before, the hood up and covering his face, he walked right up to Harry, snatched a spare wand from the bespectacled boy's pocket and aim it right for the gargoyle.
With three swirls of his wand, each one releasing small flames, he thrust it out and silently unleashed a vortex of fire straight the attacking arm of the gargoyle and blew right off.
"No way." Justin muttered staring at the severed limb with in utter dumbstruck. Not that the rest of us were much better. Focusing hard on the stone stump of the lopsided and wobbling statue, I almost fell out of the sky. It was dripping liquid fire. Molten rock.
/He's melting it./ I muttered in amazement as Seamus went on, ignoring the stunned looks the rest of us were giving his work as he moved on to the main body.
"RRROOOOAAAARRRR!" The stone behemoth's rage filled scream echoed throughout the area, but none of us paid attention. Whether we were free in the corridors or trapped in the cells, everyone's attention was solely on the spinning flames devouring not only the gargoyle, but every trap behind it, leaving nothing but ash marks and pools of molten rock and liquid metal behind. Even the Dementors were blown to the far end of the corridor, the robes alight, though being extinguished quickly once they were out of reach.
"Auuh." However, it seemed to have a price, for as the flames began to die, Seamus began to sag and stumble, leaning against Marco for support. He did the job though, every trap was destroyed and by the time the Dementors had put themselves out, the corporeal Patronuses were halfway down the walkway with three other witches and wizards moving cautiously ahead to add their mist shields.
Everyone else however, was staring with open mouths as Seamus.
"Son, what was that spell?" The ox casting wizard demanded, staring back and forth from the boy and the damage he'd done while the burnt witch came back to her senses and moved to cool everything back into solid form.
/I take it that kind of power's unusual for wizards./ Jake mused as he and I went back to business and ran or flew on. After all, with all that fire, we had to make sure no one was hurt. Fortunately, they all were held back at the back of their cells. It was a good thing because a lot of the bars had melted too. At least we would have to worry about their curses now.
/You could say that./ Anthony replied in awe. /Normally the wizards casting spells like that have at least reached fifty two./
"It's the Wildfire spell. The second most powerful fire spell in existence. Second only to fiendfyre." Seamus muttered between gasps. Looking back, a bubble of concern started growing in me as his eyes closed. He looked exhausted. "But it's power relies solely...on the caster...it's one of the most taxing spells known and with the size and...length of time I did it...I don't have another one in me."
"Just rest mate. Catch your breath." Harry smiled, looking very impressed. "We can take it from here."
/Change back when you get the chance./ I added as I flew around a cell, hooting incessantly so one of the spellcasters would come and free a pair of boys I'd found curling up as best they could with their arms chained. /You'll be back at full strength when you morph again./
"I'll do that." He muttered with a nod as he let himself sink to the ground. Marco simply stayed in place, standing over the boy protectively as everyone else got to work. By the time we'd made it to the end of the corridor, we'd freed eighteen Muggleborns, half of them children who were being rushed down to the lower levels by two mothers, a father, the burnt witch, Jake and the Ox Patronus casting wizard and gained three more corporeal Patronuses, albeit dark and dull ones, not including Justin's, and Seamus was back in his mountain goat morph. Marco had changed too, hiding in a now abandoned cell until he was ready to reveal himself as a wolf. No one had noticed Jake going with the last group, so they'd just assumed that Marco was Jake and the rhino had returned to his true form and gone with the kids. We just went with it. Rhinos weren't going to be of much more use and couldn't go down stairs, so this was the best opportunity to fix that problem and hide Marco's identity and our secret.
/Look out!/ I cried just as we turned a corner into the next hallway to find chains exploding from the walls. Fortunately, most of the group managed to scramble out of the way.
"RAAH!" Anthony was the one exception. Slightly ahead of the group, he'd had no chance of pulling back and avoiding them at their speed, so instead he'd weaved and leapt through the gaps between them, but before he could clear them, his foot was snagged and he was yanked hard back toward the wall. Right as the smooth stone started growing spikes.
/ANTHONY!/ Seamus shouted, a panicked cry leaving his mouth along with the rest of us. fortunately, a Muggleborn wizard was more reactive and waved his wand. By the time Anthony hit the wall, the spikes had turned to dust, leaving the new Animorph stunned and with what looked like a rapidly swelling ankle, but with no life threatening damage.
"Are you alright?" Justin called, severing the guilty chain with a flick of his wand and dropping Anthony onto his three good legs. The poor guy looked more than a little wobbly, but he did manage to nod and calm everyone as they destroyed the chains and looked down the hall.
"There's no one down there." Harry muttered, frowning deeply as he moved his eyes up to where the Dementors were trying and failing to weave and sneak around the five corporeal Patronuses blocking their way. The coyote had held back and was blocking the rear with the mist shields as those we left below and behind us tried to make a comeback. "And there aren't any more Dementors than we were dealing with before. But you guys said that there were over forty Muggleborns."
"Over two levels." The coyote's witch reminded him. "That's not enough to fill all the cells on these floors. They may not be spread equally over them either. So it makes sense that some corridors would be empty of prisoners."
/But not traps!/ Marco cried as a witch walked ahead only for her foot to sink through the ground, trapping her in place as metal spears fell from the ceiling. Fortunately for her, the witch didn't even have time to scream before Marco tackled her out of the way. She lost a shoe and earned herself a nice, big bruise on her knee, but they both made it safely past the spears.
"Thank you...wolf." She gasped, staring with terrified eyes at the spears clattering around right where she'd been only a moment before.
"I think we might need this again." Justin muttered, grabbing the only ball to survive the last hallway and rolling it down the new one and...wow. Swinging pieces of sharp metal again, gas that two wizards were quick to panic and blow away through the nearest, and only, open window and then, right at the end, an explosion had us all jumping in shock. When the Dementors moved out of the way, all we saw where the ball had been before was a scorch mark. And just as we were settling down from the boom...
"DUCK!" Even I dived and struck the ground, ignoring the pain and flattening myself to it as best I could as the far wall released a powerful flamethrower right down to the end. When it finally ended, everyone rising was pale and covered in sweat from the sheer heat given off as we watched the Dementors flailing to put themselves out again.
/Great. Fire was out friend before and our enemy now./ Marco grunted, grunting irritably at his singed fur. /And I'm now the not so proud owner of that burnt fur smell./
/At least you're not an extra crispy rhino./ Seamus offered, though he too looked rather irritated by the smell.
"We'll have to move fast and carefully. Does everyone remember where each trap is set?" The coyote owner asked, getting shaky nods in return. "Good, then watch out for them and each other. There may still be more places where we can sink into the floor, especially around the traps."
"But what about the explosion and the flamethrower?" Another witch asked frantically, paling considerably at the simple thought of walking in such a place.
"Flooding the area before we reach it will neutralise the Explosion Curse." A wizard said calmly. "As for the flamethrower...be ready to duck is the best I got."
/Shatter the wall./ Seamus called quickly, turning his gaze on Harry. /It's just a variant of the Fire Maker Charm./
/Probably enhanced and stabilised by runes surrounding the focal point that the flames erupt from./ Anthony agreed. /To make it happen frequently, the wall would have to be also protected from the heat, but you can't let raw fire run free and block raw power. A Reductor Curse should do it./
"Break the wall. Aim for the hole the flames came from." Harry quickly passed on, using his Patronus to clear a path to the target.
The others didn't need to be told twice, within a moment everyone not using a Patronus was firing streaks of magic right through the dark flock that slammed right into the stone.
BOOM! The resulting explosion of stone actually sent tremors through the ground, enhanced by the string of explosions from the curse on the ground as the debris set it off again and again.
"Wow. Now that was a show." Justin muttered, wide eyed, before turning to Harry with a grin. "We gonna send this place crashing to the ground next?"
"Don't tempt me." Harry grinned back, albeit a little sheepishly as he gave Seamus a look. "Let's get going, we've still got plenty of people to save." With that, we set off again, eyes wide and alert and bodies tense and ready to move.
It was relatively easy for me to get through. With my wings, I didn't have to worry about sinking into the floor or any other curses set into it and while the others had to leap, dive and roll as swords and pendulums swung from the walls, I weaved around them with ease. Even the Dementors left me alone, not touching me even when the Patronuses had to retreat or flickered from loss of concentration, leaving me free to check around the next corridor while the others dowsed the floor at the end with water, cancelling out the explosions with a puddle.
/There's no...Hey, that's the others!/ I cried, almost falling out of the air in shock. Sure enough, just at the end of corridor came Tobias running around the corner, a bunch of kids on his back and over twenty people behind him, including a bloody looking Ron, a chimpanzee missing a hand and a battered Hermione. And everyone looked panicked terrified.
/Guys, stop, there's curses all through the hallways! You'll trigger them!/ I shouted, only growing more horrified as they didn't even slow down.
/We'd love to stop, but we're already in the middle of RUNNING FOR OUR LIVES!/ Ernie shouted back wildly. It was then that I noticed every member of their group was screaming. And they weren't the only ones either.
"SSCCCRRRREEEEEEE!" Not far behind them came dozens of Taxxons, all running as fast as their spindly legs would carry them. However, they didn't show the slightest interest in the witches and wizards, a fact that could have filled me with a sense of pure dread all on its own. They were hell bent solely on getting away. For them to actually ignore their hunger, especially with people bleeding right in front of them, then that had to mean...
/We managed to get all the prisoners out along the way, NOW RUN!/ Tobias shouted and this time it was heard by everyone. And not a second later I saw why. Following them was what looked like a dragon, a chimera and a bird. All enormous and made of dark flames. /Fiendfyre!/
/WHAT?/ Seamus and Anthony screamed simultaneously as every other wizard and witch screamed.
"RUN!" That was the end of it. Like Tobias' group, everyone ran like crazy, not bothering to take the time to be careful with the deadly curses and just jumping through them, though much more safely than the group coming up behind them.
/Why is the fire so bad?/ Marco asked, though he and I had both taken the hint and ran for it. /With all of us together, couldn't the wizards put it out?/
/No, fiendfyre is the extremely powerful, extremely hot dark magic./ Ernie shouted just as a series of bangs and shouts pierced through the hallway behind us and Tobias moved around the corner. /The ocean itself would have difficulty putting out those flames!./
/Tobias, swinging blades! And everyone, hold your breath, don't breathe in the gas!/ I shouted, extending my thought speak to everyone. In the panic, they'd never register that the voice was in their heads anyway. /Be ready to blow it away and then dodge a pendulum!/
/How the hell did this happen?/ Seamus shouted, his mental call almost being completely drowned out by the roar of the flames behind us and the chains shooting out at the beginning of the hallway again. /It's impossible to set fiendfyre like a trap! It's either there and raging or it's not!/
/It wasn't a trap./ Tobias answered, somehow managing to sound grave despite his open panic. /We were dealing with a hex sending pain through a man's foot and another freed prisoner snapped when they saw an army of black widows coming our way. He was consumed with two other people as soon as he cast the spell./
"KEEP RUNNING!" A middle aged woman shouted, the only person who seemed to be keeping a cool head as she shattered the blades shooting at them and repeating the process with the pendulum as a few other people dispelled the gas. "Stone and metal aren't fuel for fire. If we can keep running ahead of it, the flames should soon die down. Keep casting fire resistant charms and water spells over your shoulders, it may not do much, but together it should by us more time."
Hanging back just long enough to ensure everyone made it past all the still existing traps, I pulled myself into a circle and flapped as fast as I could to the nearest glassless window, only just making it through before the flames could incinerate me. My body temperature had sky rocketed and I had to get to the water fast before the sparks on my tail feathers spread flames up my entire body, but I was safe.
/Don't worry about me. I made it out./ I called back as the flames started to grow. The last thing I needed to add to the list of nightmares we had going on was the others thinking I was fried.
And as I fell into the water with a nice, painful splash and started to demorph, the only thing going through my mind was a desperate hope that the others would be alright too.