A/N- I just thought I'd finally add a note to thank those of you who are reading this fic and to thank those of you who have left reviews- it's really appreciated! It's also nice to see people seem to enjoy reading it even after we know what happened in the Cannon world. Anyway, thanks again and here is the next chapter…
-Deedee
Beyond the Rubble
Harry's stomach clenched at the sound of the voice he immediately recognized as belonging to Bellatrix Lestrange. Was that the reason they had not found Ginny and Hermione? Had Bellarix Lestrange captured them?
Frantically, he started clawing his way to get out of the cavern. He had made it over halfway up when he came to a large pipe that formed a tunnel in the rubble. He could see light shining into the other end and the pipe was just large enough for him to crawl through. He made his way toward the end of the pipe and he carefully eased forward in an attempt to discover what was actually happening.
He saw several dozen Death Eaters had surrounded fifteen to twenty people, presumably shopkeepers and their patrons and were holding them at wandpoint. The people were all fearfully looking in the same direction and Harry followed their gaze. What he was able to see made his blood run cold.
It was not Ginny and Hermione to whom Bellatrix had referred but to Fred and George Weasley. The twins' wrists were bound behind their backs and two extremely large Death Eaters were forcing them to kneel before her.
Harry gripped his wand tightly when he heard Bellatrix say, "Now the question is which one of you to kill? I would prefer it to be both of you but unfortunately my orders are to let one of you remain alive to relay the Dark Lord's message. So… should it be the bravest or the one who screams the loudest? Crucio!"
Being all l too familiar with the effects of the curse Harry watched in horror as both Fred and George collapsed to the ground, screaming and wreathing in agony.
He was not sure how he was going to do it but he had to stop Bellatrix and get them out of there.
He could not see her clearly because she continued to pace before the twins causing her to come in and out of his view from behind another pile of rubble. If only she would move closer in his direction then he might be able to get off a clear shot at her. Nothing would please him more than capturing Sirius's murderer and sending her back to Azkaban. He had no idea what he was going to do about the remaining Death Eaters but he would deal with that when the time came.
Bellatrix lifted the curse and the two Death Eaters yanked the twins back into a kneeling position. Bellatrix walked over to stand in front of Fred but the pile of rubble continued to block most of her body from Harry's view. He still did not have a clear enough shot.
"I've decided it will be you," he heard Bellatrix say to Fred.
She let out a taunting laugh when George yelled "No!" and began to struggle.
The Death Eater holding Fred grabbed him by the hair, pulled his head back, and forced him to look up at his tormentor. Harry could see a bloody gash on the side of Fred's face and blood was trickling from one side of his mouth. George did not look much better; Harry was certain they had both put up a good fight before being captured.
"Awww. What's wrong?" he heard her address George in a baby-talk voice. "Don't want to see your brother die?"
Bellatrix nodded to the Death Eater holding George who hit him hard across the back of his shoulders and he collapsed to the ground. The Death Eater then roughly yanked him back up and forced him to kneel again.
"You both should be honored by the parts you are playing here today," Bellatrix said in a triumphant voice. "One twin's death will provide an example to all these people and to one in particular; he needs to learn what happens when he meddles in the Dark Lord's affairs. The other twin will have the pleasure of delivering the Dark Lord's message."
'One in particular', Harry's mind repeated. Could Voldemort have sent Bellatrix to kill Fred as a warning to him to stop his search for the last Horcrux?
Harry frantically looked around at the scene below. It was at least a ten-foot drop to the ground. He doubted he would be able to jump down and throw a curse fast enough to take out Bellatrix and the Death Eaters before she killed Fred. He had to come up with something else.
Harry spied a large piece of rubble roughly two feet in diameter directly beside the Death Eater who held George. Concentrating as hard as he could, he pointed his wand at it.
He could see just enough of Bellatrix behind the debris to know she had just raised her wand toward Fred. At that moment, Harry cast a levitation charm on the chunk of debris.
"Time to die, young Weasley! Avada—" was all she managed to get out.
Before the Death Eaters or the crowd knew what had happened, the rubble grazed George's Death Eater on the shoulder and knocked him down; then it continued forward and struck Bellatrix LaStrange directly in the chest.
Taking full advantage of everyone's surprise, Harry jumped down from inside the pipe. He fired a disarming curse at the Death Eater holding Fred as he landed on the ground. The next thing Harry knew chaos erupted all around as Aurors began appearing out of every doorway. Harry saw several Aurors and Death Eaters engaged in combat very close to the twins and he ran toward Fred and George; he knocked them to the ground and temporarily out of the line of fire.
"Keep down!" Harry said as he removed the ropes that bound their wrists.
An astonished Fred said, "Harry! Where did you come from? Are you the one that stopped her?"
Ignoring Fred's question, Harry started pulling both of them toward the opposite side of the larger pile of rubble that had blocked Bellatrix from his line of vision.
Urgently he said, "Come on! We need to find some cover!"
Fred headed in the direction Harry had begun to pull him as a hex flew very close over their heads. Harry was trying to pull George to safety but he was still groggy from being hit by the Death Eater and was having difficulty moving.
Harry said, "Fred, give me a hand with him!"
Fred grasped his brother's other arm and together he and Harry managed to get the three of them behind the debris pile.
Breathing heavily, Fred said to Harry, "Am I glad you showed up when you did! I guess we owe you big time!"
Harry was sitting with his back against the rubble trying to catch his breath. The effect of his use of magic was settling over him and he was beginning to feel extremely tired.
Nonetheless, he smiled slightly and said, "A lifetime of free Weasley's Wizard Wheezes products should make us even."
"Would you listen to him," George said, trying to sit up. "Saves our lives and already he thinks he can take advantage of us."
Both Fred and Harry grinned but Fred quickly sobered and said, "I just wish we could have stopped them when they first showed up outside the shop."
Harry looked at Fred and asked, "What exactly did Bellatrix mean by your death being an example to one in particular?"
Before Fred could reply two Death Eaters whom they did not recognize came around to their side of the debris pile. They stopped short when they saw the three young wizards sitting there.
Pointing their wands at them one said, "We were wondering where you two went. And will you look at this! We caught Harry Potter, too! It must be our lucky day! Drop your wand, Potter. You three are our ticket out of here."
Seeing no other option, Harry let his wand fall to the ground as he, Fred and George, struggled to their feet.
"Hands behind your heads and move!" the other Death Eater said and pushed Harry forward roughly.
Before Harry had taken three steps, he heard two quick consecutive shouts of "Petrificus Totalus!" coming from above them. Both Death Eaters went rigid and fell to the ground. Harry turned to see Ron grinning down at them from the top of the larger pile of rubble.
When Ron had climbed down, he handed Harry's wand back to him and said, "I waited on the other side for a little while but when I didn't see anymore Death Eaters I thought it might be better for me to follow you. Guess it's a good thing I did."
Looking at Fred and George's bloody faces he asked, "You guys okay? You look awful."
"How else are we supposed to look after being mauled, tied up, threatened and coming within seconds of being killed by a crazed Death Eater?" Fred demanded.
"What?" Ron asked, his eyebrows arching and gaping in surprise.
Fred began to explain what had happened but Harry had stopped listening. His legs were feeling weak and his head had started to spin again. The fighting had stopped and Aurors were rounding up fallen and surrendering Death Eaters. Harry walked around the pile of debris they had used for cover and noticed a group of witches and wizards were crowding around several Aurors on the far side of the pile.
Curious, Harry walked over to see what was happening and abruptly stopped when one middle-aged wizard gasped at seeing him.
The startled wizard said, "Harry Potter! I knew it! I told my wife not to believe you were dying in the hospital! I told her you can't believe anything that Prophet rag prints these days. And, see, I was right! You show up right here in Diagon Alley to take those bastards on! They all panicked and started to run when you killed her. The Aurors made short work of them after that, yes they did!"
Harry stared back at the man completely confused. He thought perhaps a confounding curse had hit him and he was still feeling the effects. Ron and the twins had come up behind Harry in time to hear most of what the man had said. They seemed nearly as baffled as Harry.
"Who'd he kill?" Ron asked the man as he exchanged a puzzled look with Harry.
"Why, that Lestrange woman, of course! And that did the trick, I tell you. Ran like the cowards they are once they saw what he'd done to her!" the man said and pointed at Harry.
"Bellatrix Lestrange is dead?" Harry asked bewildered. He still did not understand what the man was talking about.
"Sure is. Right over there," the man replied indicating the direction of the crowd that was growing larger.
Harry walked over and a hush fell over the crowd as people became aware of him. They parted and created a clear path before him to where several Aurors were standing with their backs to him.
One of the Aurors moved to the side and Harry saw Bellatrix Lestrange looking like she was leaning back and resting against the wall of rubble; her dead eyes were staring vacantly and blood was trickling from her mouth and nose. When he took his eyes off her face and looked down at the rest of her body, he thought he might retch. She was covered in blood and he saw that several rods and pipes were sticking out grotesquely from her chest and stomach and were holding her in place. Only as he drew his eyes away from the sight did he see the clump of debris that he had used to stop her from killing Fred lying at her feet.
"A witness has informed us that you are responsible for this, Mr. Potter. Is this true?" one Auror asked him.
"What? I didn't think I… I mean I didn't mean to…" Harry stammered.
It must be true. He had killed her. He looked back into the face of Sirius's murderer and into her dead eyes. He had hated her for taking his godfather away from him. He had spent many nights thinking about ways to avenge Sirius's and Dumbledore's deaths. He knew that she had been responsible for many horrifying deeds, including the torture of Neville Longbottom's parents to the point of insanity; and Fred would be dead now if he had not stopped her. But even knowing of the atrocities she had committed and knowing that Sirius' murderer was dead, he found no relief or satisfaction in knowing he was the one who had put an end to her life. If anything, he felt just the opposite.
"Leave him alone!" he heard a voice call from the crowd.
"The boy's a hero for what he did here today! He stopped them and saved Fred Weasley's life!" chimed in another.
"That woman got what she deserved as far as I'm concerned!" Harry heard a short balding wizard next to him claim.
"That's right! She showed no mercy for that poor girl she killed!" said a blond woman behind one of the Aurors.
"All the girl did was run across the street to find out whether the Weasley brothers were alright," said her companion.
"I saw it, too. That was the girl who had just started working in their joke shop…"
"…the pretty redhead?"
Harry felt the bile begin to churn in his stomach. Panic threatened to overwhelm him and he turned back to the twins and Ron.
He asked desperately, "Have any of you seen Ginny?"
With fear showing in his eyes, Ron said. "Last I saw her, she was with Hermione when we all were on the other side of the barrier."
George grabbed the blond woman and yelled, "Where is she now? The girl who was killed! Where is she?"
Seeing the combined look of fury and fear on each of the boy's faces, the blond witch could only point and say, "Over there."
Without waiting for the others, Harry blindly tore in the direction the woman had indicated. His mind chanted over and over "It can't be Ginny! Please don't let it be Ginny!"
Harry ran as hard as he could even though he was barely able to breathe and his side was beginning to ache. He came to a stop when he saw the body of a girl lying on the ground. A white cloth covered her from her head down to her waist and Aurors were walking around her taking notes with their quills.
All he could tell was that she was wearing a pair of black jeans and trainers. His fear intensified when he realized Ginny owned a similar pair of jeans. He wracked his brain to remember what she had been wearing when he saw her across the alley earlier that day but he couldn't.
One of the Auors noticed him and walked over and said, "You shouldn't be here Mr. Potter. Only Aurors are allowed on the scene."
Harry was shaking and everything seemed to be growing dark, as if someone had just dimmed all of the lights.
Trying to catch his breath, he asked the Auror, "Who… please… can you tell me who she is?"
Shaking his head apologetically the Auror replied, "I'm sorry, but we can not release names until the next of kin are notified. I'm sure you understand."
Harry grabbed the Auror by the arm and yelled, "JUST TELL ME IF THAT'S GINNY WEASLEY OR NOT!"
Before the Auror could answer, he heard a voice as if from a distance say, "Harry? I'm over here."
Slowly he turned and silently prayed that his ears were not playing tricks on him. But there was Ginny standing next to Hermione no more than a few yards away.
He slowly walked over to her and reached out to touch her face to assure himself that she was truly standing there.
Fred, George and Ron had caught up to him and Fred said with relief, "Ginny! You're okay!
"I'm fine," Ginny said and turned a tear-filled gaze to the body of the girl lying on the ground. "But I think that's Gretchen."
"Gretchen?" George exclaimed.
Ginny sniffed and said to Harry, "She started working at the shop around the same time I did. She had quite a crush on George."
All Harry could do was look at Ginny as relief continued to wash over him.
He did not even notice when Tonks came up to him and said, "Harry, we need to get you out of here. The reporters from the Daily Prophet are starting to show up and I don't think you should talk to them until we've sorted this out."
Harry made no indication that he had heard Tonks and he said to Ginny, "I thought that was you. I thought you might have been the one that was…"
"Shh, it's okay, Harry. Everything's going to be fine," Ginny said. She looked up into his face and took his hands into hers. "But Tonks is right. You need to get out of here."
Ginny was still trying to comprehend what she had already heard about Harry killing Bellatrix Lestrange just when the woman was about to use the killing curse on her brother. However, a thorough explanation would have to wait because her greater concern now was for Harry. She could tell immediately that something was wrong with him; his face was paler than normal and when he walked over to her, it looked like he was having trouble keeping his balance.
Ginny's voice sounded strangely muffled to Harry's ears and it was becoming a major effort for him to continue standing.
Harry pulled her to him and whispered in her ear, "Thank God you're okay. I was so scared that was you. But Gin… I don't think I'm doing so well at the moment…"
It suddenly felt as if all of his weight had shifted onto her and Ginny said, "Harry? Harry! Somebody help! "
Both Fred and George saw Ginny start to buckle under Harry's weight and rushed over. Each placed one of his arms around their shoulder just as his body went limp. Ginny grew even more concerned when she saw Harry's head loll backward, his eyes now closed.
Hermione ran to Harry and placed her fingers on his throat to check his pulse.
She asked hurriedly, "How much magic has he used this afternoon?"
George said with concern, "After he stopped that Lestrange woman and the Death Eater holding Fred, he stunned the one holding me— just that couldn't have done this to him, could it?"
Ron added worriedly, "But he also helped us fight the Death Eaters on our way up here from the Leaky Cauldron. And he knocked out Draco Malfoy which seemed to affect him a bit."
"Oh, Harry," Hermione said under her breath, shaking her head. She turned to Tonks and said, "We've got to get him to the hospital!"
Tonks pulled a large, brass key out of the pocket of her robes and said, "I'm going to activate this emergency port key which will take us directly to Saint Mungo's. I think it will be best if you all come along. Everyone ready? On the count of three."
All of them quickly placed a finger on the key and when Tonks said, "Three," they all disappeared from Diagon Alley.