Dance of the Fairies, Flight of the Phoenix
Chapter 47:- Stand Together
"GET AWAY FROM HIM!" Natsu bellowed, but Remus and Sirius barely had any time to react at all before Zancrow burst forwards and seized them both by the necks, carrying them to the floor and hissing as he pressed down with incredible force. Both of them stabbed their wands furiously at the yellow-haired Inferi as he rapidly cut off their air supply, Sirius even including a couple of cutting curses straight to the chest. But even though the spells hit him he seemed to shrug them off entire, even though large gashes appeared in his torso. And yet no blood spilled from them. Not a single drop.
"SIRIUS!" Harry screamed. "REMUS!" he fired an Impediment Jinx at Zancrow while Ron and Hermione were madly trying to Stun him but only the jinx worked, serving to slow Zancrow down just enough to stop him from crushing Remus and Sirius' windpipes long enough for Hagrid to shove Hermione and Neville aside and charge straight in with a mighty bellow. The half-giant wielded his umbrella like a spear, plunging it straight into Zancrow's belly and scooping him off the ground, flinging him away like an old rag doll. But Zancrow flipped over in the air and landed on all fours, not in the slightest bit concerned by the hole in his abdomen.
Had he still been alive, this would have been the point where he would be cackling madly and bragging about how they couldn't hurt him but instead he just stood up, momentarily swaying in a manner that was actually eerily reminiscent of the way he moved when he was alive. But a deep rattling breath was being drawn into his lungs, and he suddenly proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that though Inferi could barely think for themselves, they could definitely speak.
"ENJIN NO… DOGOU!" he screamed, and colossal blast of black flame erupted out of his mouth and pulsed through the trees towards the wizards, ripping the tree trunks and the ground to shreds as it went. But even as Hagrid whirled around to try and physically shield the students with his body, Natsu surged forwards to intercept the blast.
"KARYUU NO HOUKOU!" the Dragon Slayer shouted, belching forth a torrent of his own orange flames from his mouth to collide with Zancrow's attack head on. Black and orange conflagration roiled together for a moment before the black fire pulsed forwards, ripping through Natsu's attack and exploding into him to send him flying with a scream, but Natsu's attack had weakened its power enough that it dissipated before it could reach the wizards.
"NATSU!" several people shouted at once, but Natsu was already twisting around in mid-air to slam his feet into a tree-trunk and rebound off it, shooting himself like a flaming arrow directly for Zancrow's belly. He swung his foot up and over to try and slam it down onto Zancrow's head, but the God Slayer lurched out of the way at the last possible second allowing Natsu's flames to blast a small crater into the ground where he'd been.
"Leave him to me!" Natsu shouted, hurtling after the God Slayer with fists aflame. "I took him down before. I can do it again!"
But despite the fact he was just a dead body now, Zancrow proved to be just as agile as he had been in real life. In fact, possibly a little more so. He swiftly dodged Natsu's three rapid flaming punches normally but when Natsu swung a fiery kick for his midriff Zancrow bent over backwards at an impossible angle, his spine audibly snapping as Natsu's kick sailed over his midriff before flipping over to slam a black-flaming foot straight into Natsu's chin. "GAAH!" Natsu gasped as he was sent tumbling backwards, but where before Zancrow would have gloated now he just came relentlessly back in for the attack, fire exploding out of his foot and seizing Natsu by the neck to drag him away through the trees with him, crushing the back of Natsu's head down against the ground as they went.
"NATSUUUU!" Happy shouted, but the Dragon Slayer was able to slam his hand up to seize Zancrow by the face and shout, "KARYUU NO… AKUGEKI!"
Fire blasted from his palm to pummel Zancrow in the face at point-blank range, throwing him backwards and breaking his grip on Natsu's neck, allowing him to hack and gasp for breath. But Zancrow was entirely undamaged by the attack and generated a huge spear of black flame in his hand which he flung down at supernatural speeds straight for Natsu's stomach. Natsu was forced to kick his legs up and flip back onto his feet to avoid being impaled but as soon as the spear hit the ground it exploded in all directions, an omni-directional strike that crashed into Natsu's front and sent him catapulting backwards to crash back-first into a tree trunk.
"GUHAAAH! AAH!" Natsu bellowed the wind was knocked right out of him and he fell to his hands and knees at the base of the tree. Looking up and breathing heavily he could see Zancrow pounding in towards him, sometimes using his hands like extra feet in a mad scramble to close the distance between them, like he was driven by a primal instinct just to attack, attack, attack! This time Natsu waited for him to get close before using a fiery burst from his feet to jump upwards and somersault over him, Zancrow hammering face-first into the tree.
But again that didn't faze him at all and he spun around, only to be met by Natsu hurtling forwards with his body a flame and smashing headfirst into Zancrow's stomach with a Sword Horn attack. The blow blasted them both through the tree, and the next one behind it and send Zancrow carving a deep trench through the earth when Natsu pulled to a stop at last. Natsu pressed hom the attack and sprang up once more, his arms coating with fire as he lashed them down with a great fiery wing attack:- "KARYUU NO YOKUGEKI!" But this time Zancrow just sucked the fire straight into his mouth, physically drawing it away from Natsu's arms until he was forced to break off the attack. The God Slayer twisted onto his feet and rocketed upwards to slam his flaming fist into Natsu's stomach, then smash the other into the side of his head and then crash both down into Natsu's back all in rapid succession - a flurry of blows that send Natsu smashing into the ground below stomach first.
"Ghhhnggh… damn it…" Natsu coughed, but Zancrow was already plummeting down towards him feet first like a rocket! The Dragon Slayer had to react quickly and he did so by slamming both of his fists down into the ground and channelling another Wing Attack deep into the earth. Fire ripped through the ground around him like a volcanic eruption, pulsing him back upwards and tossing massive chunks of rock and earth up as well which clouted at Zancrow and threw him off pace which allow Natsu to bounce himself off a falling rock and seize the dead God Slayer by his hair and swing him around, slamming him into a tree trunk, hard. The resulting crash slammed a huge dent in the bark, but Zancrow didn't seem to even feel the blow. Instead, his entire body suddenly ignited, and Natsu yelled as a burst of black flame sent him surging backwards and away.
Both of them were able to land on their feet, though Zancrow dropped down onto his hands as well, splaying across the ground like some kind of lizard. And he didn't even pause before he was throwing himself back into the battle once more.
"Damn it," Natsu grunted, nursing his ribs. "I need to do that thing again… need to create a vessel where I can eat his flames."
But now Zancrow didn't even seem interested in using his flames to attack. He just threw himself at Natsu and punched at him wildly, forcing Natsu to dance backwards to avoid his widely swinging strikes. And he succeeded until Zancrow blasted forwards to hammer his knee straight into Natsu's stomach and knock him onto his back, whereupon the Inferi fell on top of him and seized him around the neck, brutally slamming him down against the ground again and again as he tried choking the life out of his adversary. Natsu burst into flames, the hungry dragon fire swamping over Zancrow's body but he inhaled the flames even as Natsu struggled to inhale anything. Natsu clawed at the back of Zancrow's hands, his nails actually leaving marks there but Zancrow didn't budge an inch.
"Ggghnnghhg… get… off…" Natsu gasped, rapidly starting to see spots and his voice coming out in a breathless croak. But just as he was beginning to black out something seized the back of Zancrow's robe and heaved, dragging the God Slayer off the ground and tearing his hands away from Natsu's throat with an energy born of desperation.
"I WON'T LET YOU!" Happy shouted as he dragged the flailing God Slayer into the air. "I WON'T LET YOU KILL NATSU!"
"Happy!" Natsu gasped, heaving for breath and pushing himself upright. "Let him go! Quick!" But Zancrow's arm had already twisted around at an inhuman angle to seize Happy by the wing and yank him loose, black fire bursting into life to surround the blue Exceed.
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Happy's scream rent the forest, but Natsu's reaction was instant. He exploded forwards and hammered his fist into Zancrow's nose with such force that he broke it instantly, shoving him backwards and forcing him to drop Happy.
"MODO RAIENRYUU!" Natsu shouted, as lightning flashed into existence around him along with his fire. He kicked Zancrow down to the ground and spun into the air above him, falling down with his fist raised and bellowing, "RAIENRYUU NO… GEKITETSU!" His entire forearm was engulfed in flame and lightning which he pounded straight into the back of Zancrow's head, a massive blast of both element erupting downwards to the forest floor and carrying Zancrow with it hard enough to tear the ground asunder, slamming the God Slayer down through the gaping hole that opened up beneath him, while the earth collapsed in on top of him, burying him under about twenty feet of soil and rock.
Natsu landed awkwardly beside the crater he'd just made, dropping to his knees and gasping for breath, feeling more than a little drained after that attack. But he was quick to push himself back up and hurry towards Happy, who was lying nearby.
"Happy! Are you okay?" he asked.
"… Yeah… I'm fine…" the blue Exceed winced. Happy's fur was badly singed and he couldn't move well but it looked like Natsu had intervened before any serious damage could be done. Natsu gingerly picked him up and carried him to a tree trunk where he laid him down, right as the ground behind him was suddenly ripped asunder by a torrent of black flame shredding its way up from below. Zancrow blasted his way back up with it and Natsu wheeled around. Even after his Lightning-Fire based attack, the Inferius looked absolutely no worse for wear at all, except for a his robe which had been partially shredded by the lightning to leave him bare chested - which was not a pleasant sight considering he was semi-emaciated.
"Damn it," Natsu snarled. "Damn it all!" He turned to charge in once more but as Zancrow landed he'd already prepared his next attack.
"When you burn down the west… and you burn down the east… ENJIN NO… KAGUTSUCHI!"
"GGWWAAAHHHH!" Natsu cried as the humongous ball of black flame that exploded from Zancrow's hands crashed straight into him and pulsed him backwards, searing at his flesh and slamming him into the rocks. This battle was going nowhere fast! Zancrow's resistance to fire had always made him a problem for Natsu but now he seemed to have a resistance to practically everything! As Natsu picked himself up, grunting in pain, he wondered if the trick of merging his and Zancrow's own flames together that he'd used last time would even work on him like this.
But he didn't have time to think about it long because Zancrow was already pounding in towards him once more.
Only a very small portion of the battle between Zancrow and Natsu was being watched by the rest of their group now. Because very soon after the fighting had been carried away, Voldemort turned to sneer at Harry and the others.
"You see, Harry? You may have thought Fairy Tail would be your salvation, but they will fall too. And you… I almost wish you could see the power that I will attain… learn just how strong I will become. But no, I think this will be the last time we meet. Because now… you will die!"
"Harry, run!" Sirius bellowed, flinging a curse at Voldemort only for the Dark Lord to dodge it while Remus seized Harry by the robes and dragged him away.
"Sirius!" Harry shouted, struggling in Remus' grip when Voldemort retaliated with a huge jet of green light that barrelled straight for Sirius' chest, which Sirius was just barely able to avoid by leaping aside and turning into a dog mid-jump, the curse zinging past his tail to strike at a tree instead.
"We can't fight him, Harry!" Remus shouted as Ron, Hermione and Neville wheeled around and dashed after them. "We're not strong enough to best him! Our only choice is to run! Now go! Get out of here!"
Harry's gut wrenched, a large part of him wanting more than anything to face Voldemort head on in some hope it would buy everyone else time to get away if the Dark Lord focused on him, but Remus' shoving forced him to get moving. "After them!" he heard Voldemort scream behind him as he and his Death Eaters surged forwards in pursuit, some of them Disapparating with a loud cracking noise re-appearing at the sides and in front. One of them made the mistake of appearing too close and Remus dispatched him with a rapid Stunning Spell straight to the chest and another fell victim to Hagrid as the half-giant ran with the group and crashed into him without even meaning to.
"Use the trees as cover!" Hermione shouted, turning around and flinging a Stunner of her own at Bellatrix, who cackled as she send it rebounding back and would have hit Hermione in the face if she hadn't ducked rapidly. The group darted rapidly through the forest, zig-zagging as they went with the Death Eaters in hot pursuit. One appeared right next to Ron and tried to slash at him with a cutting spell only for Sirius to seize him by the leg in his jaws and drag him backwards, snarling and ripping at his leg with his teeth. Curses zinged through the air in all directions, crashing into the ground or the trees, bouncing off quick shield charms or off Hagrid, who took a couple of Stunning Spells to the back but didn't appear to be too fazed by them.
"Split them up!" Voldemort shouted. "I want Harry Potter alone!" he surged forwards in a whirl of black robes and lashed his wand outwards. A huge sandstorm suddenly whipped out of nowhere, and washed over the fleeing group, battering against their eyes and sending them stumbling all over the place. Neville crashed straight into a tree trunk and fell over, dazed, but none of the others noticed because they couldn't see further than a foot in any direction.
"RON! HERMIONE! SIRIUS!" Harry shouted, flailing his arms as he tried to batter his way towards where he thought his friends were but only ended up running in the other direction.
"'ARRY!" Hagrid shouted. "WHERE ARE YEH!" he stumbled blindly, the sand clogging his beard, but the half-giant ended up tripping over a rock and crashing to the ground to go rolling straight down a hill.
"HARRY! JUST RUN!" Remus was also shouting. "GET OUT OF HERE! YOU'RE THE ONE HE'S AFTER!"
"AVADA KEDAVRA!"
Harry's heard stopped at the sound of Killing Curse ripping through the air. Had it hit someone? He had no way of telling through the sand battering at his glasses, but another curse struck against the tree an inch from his ear and spurred him to dodge away. He ran madly through the trees, searching for someone and ended up crashing straight into Ron, the both of them collapsing backwards but Ron able to surge back to his feet quickly and pull Harry up with him.
"They're right, Harry!" he shouted. "Run! Just run!
"I'm not running anywhere!" Harry shouted back, but in that moment the sandstorm abruptly vanished and as soon as Harry could blink the sand out of his eyes he saw what was happening. Sirius was back in human form and duelling furiously with two Death Eaters some distance away, with Remus doing much the same. He couldn't see Hagrid or Neville anywhere but Hermione was not far away, using an Aguamenti spell to try and wash her eyes clear of the stinging sand. But most importantly Voldemort was surging towards him like a bat out of hell.
"RUN!" he shouted, and both he and Ron dashed over to Hermione to seize her arms and haul her to her feet, the three of them dashing pell-mell through the trees with Voldemort hard on their heels. Harry spun around to fling two, three, four Stunning Spells at him in rapid succession, but rapid slashes of his wand meant Voldemort deflected them all easily.
"You won't escape from me this time, Harry Potter!" he laughed. "And I'll be sure to kill your two friends there in front of you, just like that Diggory boy! Just like your parents!"
He raised his wand again and this time fired a large ball of some liquid green substance at the fleeing trio. The substance hit the ground next to Ron and splashed outwards, some of it crashing against his leg. "AAAHHH!" Ron screamed as he fell to the ground, Harry and Hermione gasping when the realised it was acid, which was burning at Ron's leg. Hermione quickly bent down to mutter a counter spell to get the acid out but Voldemort was already firing several others, laughing madly as they homed in towards the hapless trio.
"PROTEGO!" Harry shouted, an invisible shield raising between himself and the approaching Voldemort to protect himself and his friends from the attack. Globs of acid spattered against the the shield and Harry gasped as they began to eat into it, weakening the translucent barrier while Hermione hauled Ron up to his feet behind him. Voldemort chuckled as he homed in on them and raised his wand imperiously, the tip glowing green.
"When we're finished decimating you and your friends, we'll be sure to deposit your bodies back at Hogsmeade village. I can only imagine how Dumbledore will react when he sees you lying there in the street. Perhaps he'll come and hunt me down personally… he's more than welcome to try. But now… the Mudblood first! AVADA KEDAVRA!
Ron immediately tried to throw himself in front of Hermione and push her down at the same time while Harry broke off the shield charm and tried to get in front of both of them, knowing the Shield Charm wouldn't protect them from the Killing Curse. But quite abruptly an arrow streaked through the air to crash into the jet of green light in mid-air, stopping it cold. Another arrow struck Voldemort right in the shoulder and he stumbled backwards with a yell, his wand lashing up to block another two that would have embedded themselves in his chest half a second later.
"What…?" he gasped, staring in disbelief at the man in the horse suit standing nearby. "Who the heck…?"
"I'm afraid I cannot allow you to harm innocent children, moshimoshi," said Sagittarius, stringing his bow once more and unleashed another arrow right for Voldemort's forehead, which was sent zinging aside with another stroke of the Dark Wizard's wand. Furiously he lashed his arm out and a flurry of twigs and fallen branches lifted off the ground and sharpened themselves into points, firing at the archer Spirit like an entire volley of arrows, but the horseman's hands moved in a blur of motion to fire about a ten arrows from the same bow in the space of five seconds, some of them duplicating in mid-air to strike through all the projectiles and zoom in towards Voldemort. Slashing his wand, Voldemort sent all of them scattering to the side and yelled as he fired a concussive blast from his wand that sent Harry, Ron, Hermione and Sagittarius all flying backwards at once.
But he didn't see Lucy swinging in from the side until the last second. The Celestial Spirit Mage had coiled her whip about a branch above Voldemort's head and used it like a vine, swinging in towards him.
"LUCY KICK!" she shouted and the sole of her boot crashed straight into Voldemort's slitted nose, catching him completely off guard and bowling him over with a yell. Lucy swung her way outwards, releasing the whip and landing in a run, dashing over towards Harry and the others as Voldemort tried to recover. Even though he didn't have a proper nose, that had still hurt.
Harry though was stunned. "Did you just… kick Voldemort… in the face?" he said as Lucy moved over to stand next to him.
"Er… seems so, yes," Lucy chuckled. "I kicked the leader of the Phantom Lord guild in the nuts once. Sometimes a good kick can be more effective than any magic."
"You little…" Voldemort snarled, pushing himself upwards and wiping a steak of blood from one of his nostrils. "This is no business of yours, mage girl!"
"That's not true," Lucy glowered. "It became my business the moment that I met these guys. You don't need to be a member of Fairy Tail to warrant our protection. You don't even have to be our friend. You just have to be not our enemy. The difference is, these three definitely are our friends. So yeah… you're our business now, Voldemort. All our business. We're not leaving them."
"No matter," Voldemort growled. "You will still die! All of you will die!"
"STUPEFY!" Harry shouted and flung a red spell at Voldemort but he blocked and fired a Killing Curse in retaliation. Harry dove aside and a flurry of spells crossed the divide between them, red, green, blue, the air filling with colour as jinxes Harry couldn't even begin to guess at came firing at him. He dodged and weaved, just like Erza and Mirajane had been helping to teach them, trying not to block unless necessary just in case something went wrong and throwing back spells of his own whenever he saw a gap. But Voldemort was marching forwards, almost casually flicking Harry's spells aside.
"You should know by now Harry you're no match for me. Not without your mother's protection!"
"He has our protection now!" Ron shouted as he stood away from Hermione and ran forward despite his bad leg. He looked like he was about to soil himself with fear - after all he was facing Voldemort himself, but he hurled a Stunner at him nonetheless. Hermione was right behind him, her bushy hair swirling out behind her her as she fired two quick Impediment Jinxes but again Voldemort blocked them and returned fire, forcing Ron to dive aside as a green jet of light swooshed past his thigh and Hermione to duck behind a tree to avoid another.
"Guys, don't!" Harry yelled, running out in the open in a bid to draw Voldemort's attention and blasting out three rapid Stunning Spells and a Disarming Charm at the same time only for Voldemort to block them again. "Get out of here and leave him to me!"
"We're not leaving you to face him alone, Harry! Not again!" Hermione yelled, jumping forwards and swirling her wand to kick up a whirlwind around Voldemort, lifting the leaves up from the ground as the attempted to plaster over the top of his face. He slashed his wand and send them blasting away to the side instead, allowing him to block Ron's next Stunning Spell and spin himself around in a wide circle, a long tongue of purple flame lashing from his wand in a giant ring around him that pulsed outwards in all directions. Harry was able to raise a Shield Charm to block but the spell flung him backwards anyway while Ron and Hermione took cover, the attack scorching at the trees they crouched behind but leaving them undamaged.
Lucy however swung herself up and over the attack, her whip coiling around another tree as she kicked off from the ground and whipped out another key - Sagittarius having already returned to the Spirit World. "Open!" she cried in the air. "Gate of the Maiden… VIRGO!"
Suddenly the ground exploded underneath Voldemort and the pink-haired maid came flying out from underneath him, crashing her fist into his chin and actually managing to lift him off the ground from the unexpected blow. But Voldemort was able to turn this to his advantage and flared his cloak out, taking flight and veering backwards and around a tree to come for another pass. Virgo sprang up after him and flung her chains out like massive bullwhips but he was able to dive between them and slashed his wand point-blank straight for Virgo's midriff.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!"
The spell blasted the maid straight in the chest. Hermione screamed while Ron and Harry both yelled in horror… but Virgo barely seemed to register the attack. She clapped her hands together above her head, taking Voldemort completely by surprise as she cried, "SPICA LOCK!" Boulders immediately flew in from all directions, blasting towards Voldemort who was forced to Disapperate to avoid being crunched in between them. He appeared nearby, slack-jawed as the crush of boulders dropped to the floor with Virgo landing easily on top of them, none the worse for wear at all.
"H… How are you still alive!?" he hissed. "I hit you! I hit you with a Killing Curse right in your chest! I saw it!"
"Hee!" Lucy grinned triumphantly. "That's the thing though, isn't it? Virgo's a Celestial Spirit. And Celestial Spirit's are immortal. It's impossible to kill them! Your precious spell won't work on her or on any of the guys I can summon to fight you."
"Princess," Virgo said as she jumped off the boulders. "Does that merit a punishment?"
"NO IT DOESN'T! I LIKE THAT YOU CAN'T DIE!"
Voldemort could feel himself trembling with utter rage. This was the second time… the SECOND… where he'd hit someone associated with Fairy Tail with the Killing Curse - a spell that up until now only Harry Potter had ever survived - and it hadn't worked on them! That was… that was… infuriating! And based on what Morgana had said, the Killing Curse might not even work if he hit the blonde girl with it as long as she was on this island.
"If I cannot kill you," he hissed. "I will make you wish you were dead! And those three," he indicated to Harry, Ron and Hermione. "Those three I can kill!"
"Virgo, get him!" Lucy shouted and Virgo instantly tunnelled into the ground at incredible speed. Voldemort threw himself into the air moments before the ground beneath him opened up again and swept across the forest floor and firing rapid Killing Curses at each of the three students, one after the other. Ron and Hermione dodged aside but Harry found himself protected when Scorpio blitzed into existence in front of him and knocked the Curse aside with a swing of his metal tail.
"Oh yeah!" Scorpio grinned. "Let's rock and roll this chump, Virgo! SAND BUSTER!"
"NNNGHH!" Voldemort cried as he was engulfed in an explosion of sand from Scorpio's tail and sent rocketing backwards with them stinging at his eyes but moments before he crashed into a tree he Disapparated and reappeared behind Scorpio, lashing his wand and driving a powerful Cutting Curse into his back. Scorpio's tail again took the brunt of it but he still yelled and stumbled forwards with a bloody gash on either side of it, just in time for Virgo to leap over his head and lash her chains downwards, pummelling the ground a mere second after Voldemort leapt out of the way. He fired a burst of chains right back at her and they entangled around her body, snapping her legs together and wrenching her arms behind her back while a cloth pulled its way into her mouth and tied itself off tightly.
"VIRGO!" Lucy cried as the maid fell to the floor in a heap, squirming wildly, but then she saw how much Virgo's eyes were sparkling with delight, moaning gratuitously into her new gag. Lucy facepalmed and muttered, "Oh yeah… you're into that."
"CRUCIO!"
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" Lucy suddenly screeched as pain thundered throughout her entire body, every inch of her suddenly feeling as though it was being pierced by red hot needles over and over again. She fell to the floor, convulsing wildly, but her torture was quickly put paid to when Scorpio fired a barrage of Sand Spears from his tail, showering down upon Voldemort and forcing him to break his curse upon Lucy to redirect them away. The Scorpion Spirit looked suddenly furious and dashed forwards to seize the bound Virgo by the back of her chains and hoisted her into the air.
"Nobody does that to our owner!" he growled and actually threw Virgo straight for Voldemort before firing another Sand Buster in her wake. Even bound and gagged, Virgo began to spin rapidly on the spot, the sand conforming around her as if it passed to her control. She dove underground head first, the chains seemingly leaving her ability to dig entirely unimpeded, and Scorpio's sand swept into the ground with her to fill up the tunnel.
"SPICA SAND GEYSER!" Scorpio shouted and suddenly the ground exploded all around Voldemort, a colossal outburst of sand upheaving the ground and firing a sandy blast straight upwards the engulfed him and threw him straight up towards the canopy. He yelled and flailed in the midst of the attack, thrashing his wand down to erect a Shield Charm that protected him from the onslaught until he could clear his eyes enough to Disapparate again.
"A… combo move?" Lucy gasped as she pushed herself upwards, still hurting. "I didn't know you guys could do that."
"Thhrsh rrh llrr rrff frrngsh wrrh ccrhn ddhhw…" Virgo said from where she was sitting in a large hole in the ground, and Lucy didn't understand a word of it.
But this was the point where a huge gout of flame rose up from nowhere nearby, swirling around in a wide circle and forming itself into a massive serpent of fire, fangs and all, searing the leaves off the trees around it. Voldemort held his wand high and thrust it forwards to a screech that tore at Lucy's eardrums, sending the snake blasting straight for her and her Spirits, charring the ground as it went.
"SAND WALL!" Scorpio yelled but the serpent powered through the protective barrier of sand he raised and descended upon them, only to crash into a huge Shield Charm that was erected at the last second. Harry, Ron and Hermione had all run forwards to cast the spell at the same time, creating a shield that the serpent snuffed its snout up against but was unable to breach.
"Guys," Lucy whispered.
"We can't have you Fairy Tail guys rushing to our defence all the time," Harry grunted over his shoulder at her. "Sometimes we have to protect you too."
"Water spells on three!" Hermione shouted. "One… two… three!" The three of them cancelled their Shield Charms at once and powerful jets of water exploded from their wands to crash into the snake, dousing it in liquid and pulsing it backwards as it kicked up a cloud of steam in a bid to fight through the blaze. But Lucy's eyes lit up and she pushed herself to her feet a moment later.
"Virgo! Go back to the Spirit World and get someone to unchain you!" she shouted. Virgo pouted around her gag, but vanished in a puff of light while Lucy through herself forwards and plunged another key straight into the watery burst.
"Open, Gate of the Water Bearer! Aquarius!"
Suddenly the water broiled and the mermaid Spirit exploded out of it just as the fire snake was successfully put out. Voldemort abruptly swept through the steam but only just managed to dodge the explosion of water from the urn in Aquarius' hands.
"WE ARE!" Scorpio grinned widely. "Nice to see you on the other side again, Aquarius!"
"Scccoooorpio!" Aquarius cooed and immediately swept over to snuggle up to his side. "We get to fight alongside each other again after so looooong. I really missed this. Let's make sure our keys are never separate again."
"…I forgot how weird it is seeing her like that," Lucy muttered, before turning to the three students. "Thanks very much, but let these two take point. They can't die. You can."
"We're staying with you, Lucy," Hermione said firmly. "If you're going to put yourself in danger then we won't run either."
"We wouldn't be proper Gryffindors if we did," Ron agreed.
"Besides, he's my enemy," Harry murmured. "Even if I'm not strong enough to beat him, he'll always be my fight."
As if to prove his point, Voldemort suddenly appeared off to their right screaming, "DIE! DIE! DIE!" and a thunderstorm of Killing Curses shot in towards them so close together they almost looked like a giant, green laser. Ron reacted fastest, his reflexes as a Keeper leading him to stab his wand downwards with a spell that brought the others crashing down onto their fronts so the curses shot by overhead and before Voldemort could correct his aim, he had two Celestial Spirits charging for him.
"Let's do this, Aquarius! YEAH!" Scorpio grinned savagely.
"Maybe I won't even sweep you away this time, Lucy!" Aquarius laughed.
With Natsu battling the corpse of Zancrow and Lucy having run off to help Harry against Voldemort, now there were only two Fairy Tail mages facing off against Azuma. But there was a momentary lull in the fighting at first, all three of them a little occupied with watching the orange and black flames clashing together nearby as Dragon and God Slayer duked it out once more.
"I don't believe this," Azuma murmured. "I just… don't… believe it."
"It's horrible," Lisanna whispered. "Taking a man's corpse and turning it into a puppet… it's absolutely disgusting."
"You feel sympathy for him?" Azuma raised a brow. "Zancrow was your enemy just as much as he was my comrade. He would have immolated you in and instant if he took a fancy to it."
"But he's still a human being!" Lisanna insisted. "Nobody deserves to have that done to their remains."
"Surely you're not comfortable with this, are you?" Freed looked to Azuma. "I mean… look at it. They're using your friend's dead body as a puppet."
Azuma was indeed looking, his expression entirely unreadable. But then his brow furrowed and he turned to the two mages with a scowl. "Zancrow was never my friend," he said. "He was always a lunatic. And what I see… is one of my former comrades fighting for our cause again even in death. Some people might classify that as a miracle."
"And you're one of those people are you?" Lisanna asked sceptically.
"Enough talking. I have no desire for conversation," Azuma replied without answering the question. "I desire to battle you, though with two of your friends otherwise engaged this fight has suddenly become rather less interesting for me. I doubt you two will provide me with the challenge I seek in my fights."
"It is not wise to underestimate us," Freed glared.
"Maybe its time I really demonstrated what I can do in this form," Lisanna glared.
The both of them took off at the same time, rushing through the air to arc in towards Azuma from different directions at once. The Tree Mage slashed his hand upwards to generate a flurry of roots and branches from all directions, sharpened into vicious spikes that sought to impale them, but the two Fairy Tail mages zig-zagged madly amongst them, correcting their courses in wild dodges with Freed occasionally slicing through the thinner branches with his sword as they approached. Lisanna was the first to reach Azuma and somersaulted over to slam her tail down towards his head but he jumped nimbly sideways and grabbed a tree root, swinging himself around it to jump onto another which he disappeared into. Moments later he sprouted out of another right in front of Freed and hammered the green-haired man in the face, sending him crashing backwards onto the forest floor and launching a volley of wooden fists down upon him.
"Hwearftlian!" Lisanna shouted and suddenly the fists twisted around and lanced straight back towards Azuma instead. He started and redirected them again, this time towards Lisanna, but with a spurt of speed she whooshed through the gap between them so they collided within inches of her tail and reared her hand back, gathering her magic into her palm and yelling, "BYRNSWEORD!"
A huge blade of flame appeared in her hand, a curved weapon made entirely of fire that she swung back as she charged straight for Azuma. He quickly raised branches to defend himself but the sword searing through all of them in a single slash, the flames decimating the wood on contact. Azuma tossed himself backwards off the branch as Lisanna streaked overhead, carving a flaming line through the air where he had just been, but he was able to grab hold of the branch he'd been standing on and dive straight through it to seize Lisanna by the ankles before she could fly past and bring her crashing down upon the branch, two more branches seizing her wrists to hold them out and keep her from using her burning sword while he stamped his foot down upon her chest, drawing a scream of pain from deep within her lungs.
"I see, you've improved dramatically. But you have a long way to go before you reach my level," Azuma glared.
"Nnghhh…" Lisanna grunted as she tugged on her wrists, but she met Azuma's cold gaze with one of her own. "I swore… I would never again be as helpless as I was when you trapped me in your roots before and forced my sister to battle you. I may not be as strong as you yet… but I will not let you pin me down again!"
Fire exploded from her mouth and caught Azuma right in the chest, sending him surging out into thin air on a plume of flame that burnt at his skin. Azuma grunted with pain but was able to cancel out the flames with a quick Bleve explosion in the middle of them, clutching at his chest as he saw Lisanna shatter the roots holding her wrists down with a quick spell. "RAMUS SICA!" Azuma shouted and a massive barrage of sharpened branches zinged downwards in a rain of spears, forcing Lisanna to leap away and take bat a couple away with her sword, though several of them still managed to tear at her legs and put a couple of holes in her wings. She fought down the urge to scream but suddenly Azuma was in front of her and delivered a huge uppercut to her chin which would have easily broken her jaw if she was a regular human. Azuma followed up with a kick to her midriff that sent her flying back into another branch hard enough to crack it in two and then sent another massive fist at her, intent on crushing her with it.
But that was when Freed re-entered the fray, Lisanna having given him time to recover from the daze Azuma's previous blow had put him into. He rushed upwards at high speed to seize Lisanna by the first appendage he could grab - which happened to be her tail - and yank her out of the way moments before the fist found its mark. He was back in his Absolute Shadow and after depositing Lisanna on a branch so she could recover he launched himself at Azuma. A small electrical orb sparked across his hand as he dodged a couple of rogue branches that Azuma flung his way and he launched the attack right for Azuma's face.
But Azuma took him by surprise by a tree-like fist sprouting right out of his chest just before Freed reached him to hammer Freed straight in the gut. Freed was pulsed backwards by the blow but Azuma launched branches after him that entangled around his waist. "CHAIN BURST!" he yelled and explosions ripped across the branches from one end to the other blasting around Freed to tear at his armour and rip half of his face-mask away. But Freed was quick to recover and turned his fall into a dive, looping underneath some of the branches to come up for another pass. His sword was held at the ready as Azuma sent a plethora of other branches flinging in at him and his exposed right eye glowed a dark purple.
"YAMI NO ECRITURE: KIKA!" he shouted and whirled himself around in tight circles, touching his sword to each branch that came his way and the moment it made contact a glowing purple rune would appear on the branch before it burst into atoms, totally disintegrating on the spot. Azuma gasped and tried to leap away but Freed anticipated his move and angled his course to slash his sword across Azuma's chest and leave another rune in its wake.
"BYŌKI!" Freed announced it, and suddenly Azuma vomited spectacularly, seizing his stomach and heaving even as he fell through the air and crashed into the ground - a very unpleasant shower splattering down all around him. He grabbed as his stomach and coughed up sick profusely, his body breaking out in sweat, a splitting headache forming, and he felt like he was burning up all over as he continued to spew his guts out. And that was when Freed descended upon him with fist raised back and slammed it straight into the back of Azuma's head, slamming it straight into the ground deep enough to create a small crater with the big man's face.
For a moment, Azuma lay still… unmoving… and Freed stepped back, breathing heavily but thinking he'd managed to knock the man unconscious.
But then Freed suddenly noticed that he'd sprouted roots, literally connecting him to the ground and appearing to channel energy into him. Suddenly Azuma surged to his feet, the roots snapping as he did, allowing him to spin around and roar, "TOWER BURST!"
A massive tower of flame erupted out of the ground around him and engulfed Freed, bearing upwards off the ground with a roar of pain as the flames rent through the rest of his Shadow armour and burned at his hair. He was carried right up to the canopy of the trees which immediately turned around to ensnare him, the thinner branches grabbing at his throat and seeking to throttle him while the thicker ones punched and pummelled at him like fists.
"That was dirty fighting, using magic to make me ill like that," Azuma growled. "But I can use the energy from the land to restore me when sick, so tricks like that will never affect me for long."
"Gghhnngg… rrhhhff…" Freed yelled, hacking at the branches with his sword only for more to come in and try and smother him. But this time Lisanna came in to rescue him when a flaming sword was hurled through the air to slice through half of the attacking branches, allowing Freed to break free enough to cut the other half away properly with his own. Lisanna herself had dived towards Azuma and slammed her fists into the ground with a shout of "HWEARFIAN EARD!" The ground suddenly rose up like a tidal wave and launched itself at Azuma, washing him backwards with a torrent of soil and dirt. But tree roots launched up from the ground to carve their way through it, launching themselves at Lisanna and forcing her to take flight to dodge. The younger Strauss sister hovered her way up to Freed, who was nursing his neck, and the both of them glaring down at Azuma as he tore through the rest of the earthen wave.
"He's strong," Freed murmured. "Very strong. No wonder even Erza almost lost to him."
"We'll lose to him too if we continue attacking him one at a time," Lisanna murmured.
"Agreed," Freed nodded, hefting his sword. "Let's make sure we do it properly this time."
Azuma merged with a tree and appeared from the branches above them, slamming his feet down into their backs at the same time. But this time they were able to twist themselves around and seize his legs simultaneously, heaving him over to crash him down upon another branch and the battle resumed in earnest.
Neville had scrambled to his feet as soon as he recovered himself from running slap-bang into a tree, his entire world spinning around him as he tried to clear his head. He looked round wildly and was able to see lights flashing all around him. Some distance away down a hill Hagrid was swinging his enormous fists at several Death Eaters that scrambled around him, proving to be surprisingly fast on his feet and clocking one straight in the chest to send him hurtling across a clearing, his ribs almost definitely broken. Not far from him was Lupin, currently in the middle of duelling with three Death Eaters at the same time. Hardly a fair contest, but Lupin was holding his own, weaving in and out of their spell work and his wand jabbing forward repeatedly for quick, efficient shots that they were only just able to dodge or block.
Similarly, Sirius Black was off to Neville's right, locked in a duel with two more Death Eaters. It was still so strange for Neville to see Sirius Black, the very same man that had used his list of passwords back in the third year to sneak into his dormitory with a knife, fighting against the bad guys, but that was exactly what was going on here and he was doing a great job at it. Even as Neville watched he managed to hit one of the Death Eaters with a spell that made his entire body seize up, yelling as muscle cramps developed throughout his entire body and falling to the ground, yelling in pain as he tried to sort himself out, leaving Sirius bounding around in a one on one duel with the other.
Yet there was one Death Eater unaccounted for. Neville felt his guts churn with hatred as his saw Bellatrix running away from the fighting and towards the distant crashing sounds from where Voldemort was locked in combat himself, intent on joining her Master to fight alongside him. Neville acted before he could think and rushed forwards, charging across the leaf litter until he was behind Bellatrix and shouting, "STUPEFY!"
A red spell lanced from his wand, but he'd already made his mistake. If he'd cast the spell non-verbally then there was a chance Bellatrix wouldn't have noticed him and actually been knocked unconscious, but he hadn't learned how to do that yet. And because he shouted it out, she had more than enough time to wheel around and send the spell careening off to one side with a flick of her wrist. She immediately sent a retaliatory Killing Curse at him and Neville only avoided it by tripping over as he scrambled backwards, the light missing his nose by mere inches as he collapsed straight onto his back.
Bellatrix cackled with undisguised delight as she stalked towards him, the Gryffindor boy shuffling backwards and rattling off another couple of Stunners, one of which Bellatrix blocked and the other of which she didn't even need to try and avoid as it went hopelessly wide.
"And who the hell are you then?" she said, her wand pointing straight for his chest. "Did the ickle kiddie think he could be a hewo and stop big bad Bella in her tracks. Not very heroic is it, sneaking up behind someone like that? What would your mother think of that?"
"DON'T YOU DARE TALK ABOUT MY MOTHER!" Neville shouted before he could stop himself, rage twisting in on his face again and actually taking Bellatrix by surprise with the venom in his voice. So much so that she allowed him to stumble back to his feet.
"And why ever not?" she asked. "She's some filthy Mudblood no doubt. Or maybe you're the Mudblood here."
"I'm a Pureblood actually," Neville growled. "Not that that means much when a… a bitch like you is also one! You tortured my mother! And my father! You tortured them so much you… you…"
Bellatrix looked momentarily blank but then her eyes lit up, her face splitting into a grin of delight. "You!?" she giggled insanely. "You're the spawn of those miserable Aurors, the Longbottoms?"
"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" Neville shouted and in his rage he forgot all the lessons on movement that he'd been learning in the DA and madly launched about a dozen Stunning Spells at her. The flash of red lights prevented him from seeing Bellatrix Disapparate and he had no clue she was now behind him until she screamed, "CRUCIO!"
"AAHHH! AAAAHHHHAAAAAA! AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" Neville screamed as he fell flat on his face, every pore of his body congealing with unimaginable pain and leaving him a convulsing wreck upon the floor. Bellatrix licked her lips in delight as she approached him, holding the spell for a full ten seconds before releasing it.
"Like that!?" she crooned. "That was just a taste of what I did to those filthy Blood Traitors you call parents. How are they doing nowadays anyway? Have they kicked the bucket yet? Or are they still teetering on the brink of existence drawing mindless symbols on the walls and drooling all day long?"
"SHUT… UP! STUPEFY!" Neville bellowed, rolling over and launching another spell right for Bellatrix's eyes - a turn of speed that had even her surprised, but she was still able to block it just before it struck her and with a flick of her wand Neville's went flying out of his hand, allowing her to cleanly snatch it out of the air and leaving him utterly defenceless before her.
"That takes care of that," she said smugly. "I'm tempted to take you prisoner… see if I can't do to you what I did to your parents. Wouldn't that be sweet of me? All your family together in one place in St. Mungos all the time. I'd call that considerate of me."
Neville was breathing rapidly, his anger rapidly being replaced by fear. He'd allowed his anger, his intense feelings and desire for revenge, get the better of him. Suddenly Gray's words from back in the Room of Requirement came filtering through his head:- 'Desires like that… they're double-edged swords, Neville. If you dwell on them too much they produce such tunnel vision that you don't think your actions through until its too late.' That was exactly what had happened… and his emotions had been so powerful, it was like that entire conversation hadn't even happened at all.
What was he thinking? He was the biggest idiot in the world! There was no way that he was ready to take on Bellatrix Lestrange after only a couple of weeks of training! And now he'd just doomed himself at her hands! There were many things that Neville had failed at in the past… but this felt like the biggest failure of them all.
And Bellatrix could see the look in his eyes and screeched with laughter. "Aaaww, is baby going to cry!?" she crooned. "Does baby Longbottom want his bottle?"
Neville swallowed, mustering his courage together and looking Bellatrix right in the eye despite the fact he was still trembling.
"Whatever you're going to do, just… just do it… already," he muttered.
"…Just like your parents," Bellatrix sneered. "Defiant at first… but they were begging me to stop way before the end. But I don't have time for you now, so you get lucky Baby Longbottom. A quick death it is! AVADA KEDAVRAAAAAAAAA!"
The green spell crashed into the ground off to Neville's right because at that moment a very large, shaggy black dog had barrelled in from the size to seize Bellatrix's wrist in his teeth and knock the spell aside, dragging the Death Eater around by it as she screamed in pain. She ended up dropping Neville's wand while her fist lashed down to punch the dog in the face twice and get it to let go of her now bloodied arm, but Sirius immediately shifted back into his human form and cast a Reductor Curse at her at point-blank range. Bellatrix was able to lift a Shield Charm but the she was still sent skidding backwards across the ground, her heels forming grooves in the dirt as she went. Neville gasped and looked round to see the Death Eater that Sirius had been fighting before was now slumped unconscious against the base of a tree.
"Sorry, dear cousin," Sirius growled, spitting a little blood out of his mouth. "But you won't be taking any lives today."
"You dare spill my blood!" Bellatrix screeched, waving her bleeding arm furiously. "You DARE spill my precious pure blood! You filthy little… I'll bathe this entire island in your own traitorous blood!"
"Sounds fun! Come and get me!" Sirius half-grinned and sprang sideways to avoid Bellatrix's opening Killing Curse, lashing his wand across to two Impediment Jinxes in rapid succession. Bellatrix caught them on her shield charm and pulsed them back, following up with a wide cutting spell that slashed across the air like a giant wind blade. Sirius conjured a boulder out of thin air to take the hits for him and then banished it towards her, forcing her to dive aside and execute a quick shoulder roll to get back onto her feet. A Reductor Curse lashed from her wand to hit the boulder and reduce it to gravel which she sent flying straight for Sirius like a hailstorm. He lashed his wand down the middle to send the barrage flying out to either side of him and but had to duck under another Killing Curse as he morphed into a dog again and bolted away.
Bellatrix lashed her arm like she was using a whip, blasting green curses after the dog as he zig-zagged wildly from side to side before springing into the air, morphing back to human in mid-flight and conjuring a large iron weight in mid-air right above Bellatrix's head, which instantly obeyed gravity and would have slammed down atop her if she hadn't caught it with a levitation charm, melted it into slag and cast the hot liquid metal at Sirius, who was forced to raise another shield to block the deluge, leaving him open for when Bellatrix cast more Killing Curses that passed through the shield and almost hit him, but he was able to throw himself into a backwards roll at the last minute. But Bellatrix bore down upon him until the air between them was a mess of curses and jinxes rebounding and zinging all over the place in a duel that had them both locked in concentration.
Neville sat watching all this in stunned amazement. Clearly Sirius was a capable fighter to hold his own against Bellatrix like this but he couldn't tell who was winning. And more of Gray's words from before came filtering back into his head:-
"Don't get yourself or your friends killed in the attempt, or when the victory does finally come it will be a hollow one."
And Sirius… well, he couldn't count Sirius as a friend just yet given he barely knew the guy, but he knew he was Harry's godfather and Harry trusted him with his life. That was good enough for Neville, and if Sirius died protecting him he'd never be able to look Harry in the eye again.
That was why he scrambled to his wand and pushed himself upright with a Disarming Charm on his lips. Unfortunately though Bellatrix noticed his movement out of the corner of her eye and whipped around to casting a Killing Curse at him while avoiding Sirius' next Stunner. This time Neville remembered the movement training he'd been doing and practically danced sideways, casting another Stunning Spell as the curse whipped past him that had Bellatrix jumping sideways as she was unable to block it and Sirius' Reductor Curse at the same time.
"Nice to have you on board," Sirius grinned. "Care to help me send this bitch back to… well, not Azkaban… but back to jail?"
"I'll do what I can," Neville nodded. "Let's just make sure neither of us die in the process, okay?"
"Fine by me, kid."
Death Eaters were swarming the beach as the DA pushed their way through. Flitwick was locked in an intense duel with Dolohov that had the diminutive teacher springing from side to side, while Professor Sprout had taken a wound to the side courtesy of Rodolphus Lestrange, having only just been able to deflect a Cutting Curse moments before it hit Susan Bones, who was now helping her along. McGonagall was also fighting hard against two Death Eaters at once, though she couldn't tell who they were as they still had their masks on, although one of them was quickly taken out of the equation when McGonagall conjured an entire concrete pillar out of the sand, which she then tipped over to smash down upon the Death Eaters. One was able to dodge aside. The other was not so lucky.
McGonagall took the momentary respite to check on how the students were faring… and she had to admit she was impressed with their performance.
Fred and George had effectively taken command of the students in Harry's absence and the twin pranksters were proving to be surprisingly effective commanders, shouting out instructions to the rest of the group and casting shield charms everywhere they could to deflect incoming attacks from the Death Eaters. The rest of the DA were following their instructions quite clearly, forming a circle with two distinct ranks. One rank would cast a flurry of spells straight ahead of them regardless of whether there was a Death Eater there or not while the rank at the back were specifically aiming for certain targets, forcing them to either defend themselves or get out of the way of their spells, which were usually Stunners.
More than one Death Eater was caught out this way, Disapparating away from one spell only to reappear in the path of another one that had been fired at what had previously been an empty spot. And with the mad cover fire, they were finding it difficult to get close to the group as they made their way quickly across the sand back towards the Portkey cage.
Fred and George had managed to turn a group of relatively inexperienced students into a force to be reckoned with.
Now and again though, one of the Death Eaters would get in and firing off an ominous flash of green light that surged towards one of the students like a phantom out of hell. Whenever that happened, whoever spotted it first would scream, "DOWN!" and every single member of the DA would immediately duck down to the floor as low as they could go so the Curse could pass by harmlessly. But that didn't always work, as evidenced when Rabastan Apparated into existence in mid-air and launched a Killing Curse straight downwards before Disapparating again. Ginny was the one to spot it and gasped when she realised it was heading right for Marietta Edgecombe.
"LOOK OUT!" she cried and lunged forwards, grabbing Marietta by the back of her robes and heaving her backwards just in time for the Curse to slam into the sand where she'd just been standing. Marietta gasped, her entire life practically flashing before her eyes in that moment when she realised how close to death she'd just come.
"Th… Thanks…" she whispered hoarsely.
"Just keep your eyes peeled," Ginny patted her shoulder and quickly fired a Stunning spell over Hannah's head at Rabastan when he re-appeared nearby, forcing him to dodge away.
They were approaching the Portkey Cage now, and that was when Charla swept overhead, carrying Wendy with her. The small Dragon Slayer spun around in the air and yelled, "You guys get out of here, quickly!"
"What about you!?" Fred shouted up to her.
"Don't worry, we'll be fine! Fairy Tail members can't die while we're on this island! You can!"
"What about Harry and the others!" George and Ginny both yelled at the same time.
"Send the cage back as soon as you're gone and we'll get them!" Charla cried as she looped around the group, Wendy throwing out her arms and yelling, "TENRYUU NO… YOKUGEKI!"
Wind whipped outwards from her arms in all directions, her Wing Attack throwing up deluges of sand and blasting several Death Eaters backwards, while forcing others to duck and cover, giving the students the window of opportunity they needed to make a break across the final distance to the cage, the teachers right behind them.
"Everyone grasp the bars!" McGonagall shouted, though the students didn't need to be told. They crowded around the cage, seizing the golden bars of the domed construct while McGonagall magically keyed the co-ordinates for back in the Room of Requirement once again, slamming her wand down to make the transition.
But nothing happened.
"…What?" she gasped, keying in the co-ordinates again quickly but again nothing happened. "It's not working!"
"What do you mean, it's not working!?" Zacharias shouted frantically, and the other students looked understandably horrified as well. McGonagall's mind raced, deciding that if they couldn't take the Portkey they were going to have to get out of there through Apparition, even though repeated long-distance trips would be draining on the couriers. She quickly grabbed the two nearest students - Dean and Justin - and tried to Apparate to the Hog's Head bar where they'd be able to get back to the Room of Requirement through the tunnel… but again nothing happened. She couldn't Apparate!
"They've cut us off!" she cried. "They've set up some kind of ward the prevents us from leaving the island by magical means!"
Many of the students looked like they were about to panic at this revelation, but before mass hysteria could break out Luna Lovegood stepped away from the cage.
"Well then there's only one course of action to take, isn't there?" she said simply. "We'll just have to keep fighting until we've driven them away."
And she fired a spell that narrowly missed hitting Selwyn in the face. It ended up hitting a rock behind him which transformed into a large kumquat. Selwyn returned fire but the three Hogwarts teachers had already rushed forwards to throw up a combined Shield Charm that they pulsed across the sand like a wave.
"Put the sea behind us!" Flitwick shouted as the duelling began again in earnest. "They'll find it harder to fire at us from the back if we do!"
Not far away, Fairy Tail and Grimoire Heart members were viciously duking it out, shredding the landscape around them in a storm of magic. Mirajane and Juvia had managed to push Bluenote away from the rest of the group but Bluenote had been very quick to turn the tables on them again, slamming his hand down into the ground and blasting a huge gravity wave that affected everything within a one-hundred metre radius of himself, slamming the both of them down into the ground and crumbling the rock itself to pieces, an enormous sinkhole opening up around them with looming high walls as they were pushed deep into the heart of the island.
"NNNGHHH! HHHRMMNN!" Mirajane yelled as her body was put under tremendous pressure, feeling like every bone within her was about to shatter apart at a moment's notice.
"Mira! Hold on!" Juvia shouted, having liquefied herself so her own body was not in danger of being crushed, but before she could make another move a magic circle appeared above her and drove her deep into her own personal sinkhole within the bigger sinkhole, the Water Mage vanishing from Mira's sight.
"Juvia!" she shouted in alarm.
"I'm hardly about to let you take me by surprise again, Water Mage," Bluenote growled. "Under my gravity, even you won't be able to move and sooner or later you'll run out of magic."
"Gnngh…" Juvia grunted, trying to stand up but inexorably pinned against the ground. But her eyes snapped open, fiery with determination. "Underestimate water at your peril!" she shouted and she suddenly lost all human form, transforming into liquid which increased rapidly in quantity, rushing up the sides of the sinkhole like a glass filling up with tapwater. She burst upwards and spread out in all direction splashing over both Mirajane and Bluenote as she began to fill up the larger sinkhole too. Bluenote blinked and leapt upwards, lessening the gravity to allow him to jump out of the hole before he could be submerged. But in doing so he was forced to cancel out his gravity hold on Mirajane, who exploded out of the water and hammered him straight in the chin with her scaly fist before summoning dark energy between her claws and blasting him down across the rocks with it.
But despite the deep groove his body cut into the turf when he landed he pushed himself back to his feet without any difficulty, not looking particularly harmed beyond a sore chin.
"You're strong, I'll give you that," he said, gripping his jaw. "But you'll run out of tricks eventually."
Nearby, Gajeel and Pantherlily were in the middle of a full scale brawl with Kain Hikaru, and were finding him to be quite the hard opponent - literally. Lily swept his massive sword in with all the strength he could muster but Kain was able to sweep one chunky leg upwards and kick the blade upwards before it could hit him, throwing Lily completely off kilter and leaving him wide open for Kain to charge in and hammer him straight in the face with a powerful palm strike that knocked him away. Gajeel came roaring in half a second later to slam his iron elbow into Kain's throat. A hideous choking noise spluttered out from the big man as he stumbled backwards and Gajeel followed up with an Iron Dragon Club aimed at his face, but even when choking for air Kain was able to seize the incoming attack in his hand and use it to haul Gajeel up and over his head to slam him into the ground once more.
"Damn it!" Gajeel growled. "Guy's tough."
He balked when Kain leapt upwards above him and crashed down towards him in a full belly-flopped body-slam, turning Mr. Cursey into what appeared to be rock as he did so. But Lily was able to sweep in and seize him in his arms, re-directing his fall and throwing him away to land nearby while Gajeel somersaulted to his feet and brought an Iron Dragon Sword swinging down atop Kain's back, only for Kain to transform into what appeared to be pure light. The Iron Sword passed straight through him and both Gajeel and Lily were blinding by the sudden intense glare, giving Kain more than enough time to get up and charge forwards once more!
"SHINING DODOSKOI!" he yelled, pounding both Gajeel and Lily in the chest with his hands and bombarding them with light energy as he tossed them backwards through the air. But despite this, Lily was able to seize Gajeel in mid-flight and swing him around, throwing him straight back at Kain. The big man evidently wasn't expecting that because he'd just transformed back into his usual self when Gajeel's head slammed straight into his stomach, knocking the wind out of him as they were both sent tumbling over each other.
The loud crashing sound reaching Levy's ear as she hurled a large STONE at a nearby Death Eater. "Gajeel," she whispered, and instinctively hurried off towards their fight.
Rustyrose, on the other hand, was having a much harder time of things. Because he had all the rest of the Fairy Tail mages ganging up on him at once.
"COME FORTH! DINGIRU NO TŌ!" he shouted, spreading his arms and successfully engulfing Elfman, Gray, Erza and Cana into the glowing walls of the huge tower that exploded out of the ground around them, leaving the front half of their bodies protruding out into thin air while the rest of them were immobilised within. "Blast these foolish Fairies with all that sadness and return them to dust!" he intoned as it rose higher and higher into the air, gearing up for a massive explosion.
But Evergreen had been able to avoid the attack and swept out above him on her wings, arcing around the tower and sweeping her hands together, preparing to use one of the new attacks she'd learned within the last week. "YŌSEI GYORAI: UNDINE!" she shouted, drawing Rustyrose's attention as her Fairy dust swirled around her hands and fired outwards, coming together like a massive torpedo that lanced down towards him. He immediately created his golden shield to take the attack but when it struck the shield it exploded with spectacular force, ripping up the ground beneath him and tossing him backwards.
The Tower of Dingir immediately disintegrated, and as soon as Gray and Erza had their hands free they launched a volley of ice lances and swords down upon Rustyrose at the same time. He was only just able to crouch behind his shield to block in time, but then a card suddenly zinged in from the side to nestle at his feet. Elfman burst out of the card to hammer Rustyrose in the stomach and knock him airborne where Evergreen was waiting with a cloud of Fairy Bombs which went off and immediately sent Rustyrose hurtling into a hillside nearby.
"You're tough, Rustyrose. That much is clear," Erza said as the five of them squared off together against him as he struggled back to his feet. "But this time you're outmatched. Make it easy on yourself and surrender. If you do, we'll be sure to treat you well as our prisoner until we find a way to get back home."
Rustyrose glowered at them wordlessly for a second before his face split into a sudden grin. One that instantly had the five Fairies on the alert as he pushed his glasses up his nose.
"Yes… alone and outgunned… a hopeless situation for me indeed it would seem," he said with a flourish of his hand. "But not for much longer. Like shining stallions, my guild mates shall ride to my defence."
"Take a look around you, pal," Gray rolled his eyes. "Your guild mates are currently busy fighting our guild mates. You won't be getting any help from them."
"Won't I?" Rustyrose grinned as he placed his fingers to his temples and sneered. "Allow me to shatter your perceptions and drown you in your disbelief."
Suddenly something began to form in the air alongside him… no, three somethings. All five Fairy Tail mages tensed, preparing themselves for whatever creature he was imagining to fight against them next.
…But none of them were prepared for what appeared.
Three figures solidified out of nothingness all around Rustyrose, at first kneeling but quickly pushing themselves to their feet. Elfman and Evergreen had never seen these three before, but Cana, Erza and Gray had their breath stolen away.
"Capricorn?" Cana gasped, staring at the goat man who had appeared to Rustyrose's right, clad once again in the short-sleeved jacket, with yellow shirt and wrist-bands he'd worn while with Grimoire Heart. "But… I thought you were on our side now!"
"You… you're that little girl…" Erza breathed, staring at the girl with short pink hair, golden-wing like ornaments on either side of her head and a long red cloak billowing out behind her. "The one that Juvia and I fought against."
"No…" Gray whispered, his eyes wide and disbelieving at the sight of the buxom woman with long dark purple hair, clad in a skin-tight body-suit and with a large greenish orb floating above one of her hands. "This can't… you can't… what have you done!?" he yelled at the grinning Rustyrose.
"They're not real," Erza said, levelling her sword quickly. "He's created them from scratch with his magic."
"They're real enough! Grimoire Heart stands together even when torn apart!" Rustyrose cackled, lashing his hand out towards the stunned Fairies. "Caprico… Meredy… Ultear… let's take them out!"
Alright then, that's the end of the chapter. *grins* Hope you enjoyed it and the next one should be up next Monday as usual.
But now I've got a request for all of my readers. During the course of writing this story I have determined that it's a lot harder for me to write combat scenes involving the Harry Potter characters than it is for me to write them with the Fairy Tail members. And this is mainly because its difficult to think of what spell the Potter cast will use next in their fight scenes as I don't want them to just be firing off Stunners, Impediment Jinxes and a few others all the time. I want some variety to their battles and some interesting twists and turns they can take just like the Fairy Tail characters do in their fights. But considering the Potterverse characters can cast spells that have almost any imaginable effect, its tough coming up with new things for them to do, whereas the Fairy Tail characters have much stricter guidelines as to their individual abilities which are easier to follow.
So, I'm turning to you lot for help. From now on, if you ever think of a new and interesting spell that you think a Harry Potter character, good or evil, could potentially use at some point in a battle, please do not hesitate to tell me via PM. DO NOT DO SO IN REVIEWS! If I think its a good spell I will log it and then try and use it if I think it works well within a particular scenario! You can send in as many spells as you like. The more the merrier. They may not all get used, but if I think they fit then they'll definitely go in somewhere.
Thanks and see you all next week!