I ran down the stairs two at a time and sped into the courtyard to meet the oncoming horde. Voldemort was at the head and our eyes locked as soon as he came within sight. I stopped in the middle of the courtyard and looked around me. Cornelius nodded at me from behind a pile of masonry to my left and Albus gave me a smile from an archway to my right. The rest of the assembled wizards and witches were all scurrying to positions around me. Then the noise started. It began with a huge fireball hitting the tower I had been standing in a few minutes ago and sending the whole front of it into the tower shaft.
There was no return fire from our force. We were waiting for our moment. We waited and the bombardment got worse and closer and we kept waiting. Then it came.
"Fire at will!" boomed Albus's voice across the open space of the yard and then as one we all rose from our cover and sent a wave of debilitating spells at the first ranks of the Death Eaters a fair few of them fell to the onslaught but just as one fell another took his place. It was like fighting the ocean. Voldemort blocked the Bombarda that I threw at him and cast one of his own at me which I dodged by throwing myself behind a pile of rocks. There was three Death Eaters fighting Cornelius and two more approaching him from behind. I got up and headed off to intercept them before they could overwhelm him.
To his credit Cornelius was holding his own against his opponents; I had always thought he wouldn't last long in a fight. I jumped in front of the approaching Eaters and sent a Stupefy at the first one. He crumpled to the ground without a sound. The other one sent a killing curse at me and dove to the side. The curse missed me by an inch and I blasted the cover he had sheltered behind into rubble before killing him with an Incendio.
I paused for a second and surveyed the area. Death Eaters were swarming into the castle because we just didn't have the manpower to stop them. But it did mean that there would be less out here for us to deal with. I couldn't see Voldemort but I could see Sirius duelling with Dolohov and Bellatrix and Hermione fighting Mcnair. I rushed over but before I could get to them there was a black cloud that enveloped me and threw me against the wall. I looked up and shook the daze from my eyes and an awesome sight greeted me. Albus was fighting Voldemort and there were red and green sparks coming from the nexus of their spells.
"Harry!" yelled Hermione. I turned to face the direction her voice came from. She was now surrounded and backing away from four opponents. I jumped up, staggered slightly from the force of the impact, and rushed off across the square to get to her. As I ran I heard a scream. I looked up and had to jump to the side to avoid the falling body from the opening where the window had been previously. Sirius looked out and dropped something silver and shiny out of the window towards me. I watched it travel for a second and then leapt up and grabbed it from out of the air. As I held it in my hand I felt a brief surge of power and I continued my run towards the group menacing Hermione. I got there and put a stunner through the closest and the others turned to see me.
The sword of Godric Gryffindor flashed in the light and cut one of the Eaters down before he could react. Two more sweeps killed another and crippled the kneecap of the last one.
"Are you alright?" I asked briefly.
"Yea, thanks. Where did you get the sword?" she asked.
"Sirius" I said and helped her to her feet. With a quick peck on the cheek she waded back into the melee. I turned my attention back to the fight as well. Dumbledore was still holding Voldemort back and the rest of the Death Eaters seemed to be either contained or dead. I could see a lot of non-black clad bodies on the floor, indicating that we had not had it all own way.
"Harry, help!" called Albus and I started to run towards the duel. But as I ran the unthinkable happened. Voldemort pulled his wand down from the nexus and threw himself to the side. As he fell he sent a green bolt straight at Albus. He was just too slow. The spell hit him in the side of the chest and threw him against a pile of rubble nearby.
"ALBUS!" I screamed and kept running towards where Voldemort had dived. I arrived moments later and he was not there. I turned again and ran to Albus's body. It was cold. I stood in the midst of the carnage for a second and tried to assimilate what had happened.
"Harry!" called someone. I turned to look and it was Hermione.
"Voldemort has gone into the castle" that snapped me out of my stupor. Screaming out defiance I charged in through the main doors and headed for the Great Hall.