A/N: Thanks to all those who have reviewed, followed, and favorited this story. I'm glad that people have been enjoying it. And a special thanks to Bonnie and Mainsail for beta reading this and thus improving on the original. If you have questions or concerns about what's going on, feel free to include them in a review or a PM — I'll try to answer.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, JK Rowling does.
Recommendation: This chapter's recommended fic isn't a Harry Potter fic at all, it's wildbow's web serial Worm. It's dark enough that it's definitely not for everyone, but I still recommend it. This is story where everyone is broken and everyone is struggling to get by, often making poor decisions in the process. A good subtitle would be "The road to hell is paved with good intentions."
Chapter 35 - Sunday Bloody Sunday
Sunday, January 16, 1996, Evening.
Bellatrix nodded to Mulciber as he led his smaller force away towards the Lovegood home. They had decided to portkey in together at a point between the Lovegoods and the Weasleys, far enough away from the wards that they would escape detection until they were ready to start their attacks. Bellatrix herself led the larger of the two groups of recent Death Eater recruits — including a few that her master had brought in from the continent — towards the ramshackle building which the ginger blood traitors called "home."
It's disgusting, is what it is, Bellatrix thought as they crested the last hill and the Weasley home came into view. How could any self-respecting witch or wizard bring themselves to live in... oh, that's right — they don't respect themselves because they don't respect Magic. If they did, they wouldn't be blood traitors! Bellatrix cackled to herself over her joke, making the new recruits even more nervous than they already were.
Once they were close enough, she ordered them to surround the house to prevent escape. People who commit treason against the magic of their blood don't even deserve to be called witches and wizards. I've been looking forward to putting an end to this family's blood for a long, long time; maybe tonight I'll get the excuse I need.
Once it was time, she and the three strongest recruits began to attack the house's protections, discovering that they were quite a bit more robust than when she visited in early December. "Work harder!" she commanded. "This is going to take longer than I thought." The others redoubled their efforts, and soon their work was rewarded with a crash as the wards collapsed.
She then ordered the three recruits to cast their own anti-apparition and anti-portkey wards while she and the rest of the Death Eaters converged on the house from all directions, a sight that Bellatrix was certain would incite panic in everyone in the house... except there was no reaction at all. In fact, the house was entirely dark, and there hadn't been any sort of reaction even when they had been attacking the wards — something that surely would have been noticed.
"Careful," she commanded. "It could be a trap."
When no hostile spells could be detected, they burst through the front and back doors, only to find—
Nothing. The house was completely empty.
Bellatrix flew into a rage. Screaming as she cast curses left and right, she destroyed furniture and household effects with equal vigor, sending debris flying in all directions. When the worst of her fury was spent, she realized that her team had already fled the building and was standing around outside, looking somewhat nonplussed. None of the plans had allowed for the possibility that the targets might not be home.
Mustering the tattered remnants of her composure, she stalked outside and personally began sending explosive fireballs into every part of the house she could see, creating a pillar of flames that would be visible for miles around.
"Let's go," she barked, still furious that the first stage of her own part in tonight's attacks had been such a complete failure. "We'll head to the rendezvous for the attack on the Bones home and wait for the others."
Luna was skipping home with a nice bunch of Freshwater Plimpies in her bag, eagerly looking forward to her father's famous Plimpy soup. I wonder if I can take some with me to Hogwarts tomorrow so the others can try? she thought, longing for some way to share something of her home and family with all of her wonderful friends. Almost as soon as she exited the trees, her happy mood evaporated as she saw four men firing spells into her home. Occasionally she saw a spell or two come out of one of the first-floor windows, but they all went wild because her father didn't have time to aim properly.
"Hurry up," she heard one of the black-robed figures shout. "We need to get in there and kill the girl before the deadline! We can't be late for the attack on the Greengrass home!"
"Quiet, idiota!" shouted another in a strange accent. "If you keep announcing our plans like that, you won't survive the night!"
Luna's eyes narrowed as she began to understand what was happening. They're here for me. They're going after Daphne next. They're attacking all of us — all of my friends.
The Plimpies were forgotten as Luna pulled out her wand, crouched down low, and willed her father to hold out long enough for her to be able to help. Being focused on their attack, no one saw her as she approached the most isolated of the four from behind. Hours and hours of target practice ensured that her whispered Confringo struck the figure in the center of his back despite having been cast from twenty meters away.
Between the long shadows cast by the woods and the glare of the setting sun behind her, she was able to move unseen before the other three could even start searching for the threat, and their shift in attention allowed her father to cast several spells of his own that were now much better aimed. None hit, but they were close enough to force the three attackers to move and focus on the house again. Another whispered Confringo came out of the shadows, and another black-robed body was lying on the grass, broken and burning. Luna crouched low and once more retreated while her father's spells came ever closer to the remaining two assailants.
"We're wide open here — we can't fend off attacks from two directions," Luna heard one of them snarl in frustration. "Let's get to the rendezvous point and hope that the next target isn't so well defended." They cast several fireballs at the house, setting it alight in multiple places, before jogging a short distance from the house and apparating away.
Once they were gone, Luna ran for the house, incanting "Auguamenti!" as soon as she was close enough.
"That looks like magical fire!" her father called as he stumbled through the remains of his front door. "Let me try to counter it."
"Daddy!" Luna rushed to embrace him, but she immediately let go when he groaned in pain. "Daddy?"
"It's not as bad as it looks," he said as he cast counter-charms at the house, putting out the fires before they could destroy it.
"But... your arm!"
"It's not cursed," he replied, gesturing with his wand to his limp and bleeding left arm. "A blasting curse caught me and the window frame at the same time. Broke the bone and sent several large splinters into me. I'm just glad you're alright," he whispered hoarsely, hugging her with his good arm. "That was dangerous, what you did. You should have simply run."
"And leave you to deal with them alone?" she asked, pulling back to look at him. "I would never do that. Besides, it's me they wanted in the first place. They were only attacking you to get to me."
"You? Why would anyone—" Realization suddenly dawned. "It's your friends, isn't it? Do you think they are in danger?"
"I'm sure of it," Luna answered. "I heard one of them mention Daphne's house being next. I need to warn people before it's too late!"
"I think it might already be too late for some," her father said sadly and pointed off in the distance. Luna turned around and gasped at the pillar of black smoke she could see over the hills, punctuated by the occasional gout of flame.
"Is that...?" she tried to ask.
"Yes, I think that's the Burrow."
"Then there's no time to waste," she declared. Two patronuses were sent off with messages before she started jogging towards the Burrow. She soon realized she wasn't alone and looked to her side to find her father jogging along with her.
"You didn't think I'd let you go alone, did you?" he said in response to her questioning look. "But you really must teach me that spell you used. It looked like a corporeal patronus, which you shouldn't even be able to cast; but you did something different with it, didn't you?"
Despite their dire circumstances, Luna smiled and began to explain how their study group had been learning to use patronuses as messengers as the two ran to see if they could help the Weasleys.
When Nigel Abbott apparated home after having gone to get ice cream for his pregnant wife, he was surprised and not a little concerned to find himself in a nearby alley instead of in his backyard as usual. It was when he stepped out of the alley, though, that he learned why the air smelled so much of smoke: his entire house was engulfed in flames. "Charlotte!" he shouted as he ran forward, still clutching the paper bag with her ice cream.
He had almost made it to the sidewalk in front of his house when he heard "Crucio!" behind him and collapsed to the street, writhing in agony. After what seemed like hours, the spell was cancelled and he felt that he could breathe again. When he looked around he saw that he was surrounded by a half dozen black-robed figures.
"Nigel Abbott, do you have a heart condition?" asked one that he thought he recognized.
"What?" he managed to gasp, only to have another torture curse cast on him in response.
"Do you have a heart condition," the familiar wizard asked again.
"N-no," Nigel answered.
"Good," the wizard said. "Apparently your wife does. If I'd had to interrogate her much longer, I'm quite sure she wouldn't have survived. Now that you're here, though, we can question you instead. If you're useful enough, maybe we won't have to return to her. That would be quite risky."
"Charlotte!" he choked as tears welled up in his eyes.
"Is that her name?" the wizard asked. "That's a pretty name. Not as pretty as my wife's, but pretty enough."
"Le-lestrange?" Nigel asked, finally recognizing the thick features and greying beard.
"So, you recognize me?" Rodolphus asked with a pleased smile. "Good — maybe it will save us some time if you already understand what you're facing. We're on a deadline, so let's make this quick. Where's your daughter?"
"M-my daughter?" Nigel said, blinking stupidly.
"Crucio!"
"Don't make me keep asking," Rodolphus said. "I may not have a lot of time to spend here, but I assure you that I can make that time more painful than you could possibly imagine. Now where's your daughter?"
"She... isn't here," Nigel wheezed.
"Crucio!"
"Obviously she's not here," Rodolphus growled. "If she were here, I'd have her already."
"Wh-why do you w-want Hannah?"
"Crucio!"
"You seem to have forgotten, but I'm asking the questions here, not you," Rodolphus said. "Tell us where your daughter is and the pain will stop. Refuse to answer and the pain will persist while I go back to questioning your wife... for as long as she's able to hold out, that is."
"M-my daughter... with friends," Nigel said before he could stop himself.
"Which friends?" Rodolphus demanded.
"B-b-bones."
"What luck!" Rodolphus exclaimed. "Some of our associates should already be there, and we'll be joining them shortly. We may get a chance to kill the little bitch yet."
"K-kill? Why?"
"Crucio!"
"Didn't I already tell you that we're the ones asking questions?" Rodolphus said with a laugh. "Let's go," he then said to the others. "We still have another stop to make tonight."
Once the echo of their cracks of apparition had faded, Nigel rolled over to look at his burning home. "Charlotte..." he whispered and began crawling towards the house.
Alfred and Honoria Davis had spent the afternoon with the Greengrass family, allowing themselves to be persuaded to stay for an early supper after delivering their daughter so she and the Greengrass sisters could catch the Hogwarts Express together the next morning. Upon trying to apparate into their backyard, they found themselves instead in the front yard of the house across the street, watching black-robed figures casting spells at their house.
Alfred instinctively began looking for cover, noting in the back of his mind that the protections on their home were holding up and that the structure was thus far undamaged. Unfortunately his wife's involuntary cry when she saw what was happening attracted all the wrong attention, and curses immediately started flying past them. He pulled hard on Honoria's arm and pushed her ahead of him as they rounded the front corner of their neighbor's house. That act spared her but resulted in him getting a blasting curse to his legs, turning them into a ruined mess as he tumbled to the ground and screamed in agony.
"Alfie!" his wife cried as she turned around and tried to help him up.
"It's no good, Nonie," he said through gritted teeth. "I won't be able to walk." He groaned as he rolled himself over and cast a couple of curses in the direction of the attackers, hoping to dissuade them from following too quickly. "Get out of here," he said. "I'll hold them off as long as I can."
Honoria herself cast a series of nasty curses where she thought she saw some movement in the fading light and was rewarded with a scream of pain. "Silly git," she said. "You think I'd ever leave you?"
She knelt down next to him and pulled his arm up around her shoulders. "Hold on tight," she told him. "I think I can get us both to St. Mungo's."
"Are you sure?" he gasped, barely stifling a shriek at having his legs moved.
"No, but it's better than staying here," she shot back. Taking a deep breath, she quickly apparated them away.
Moments later, several black-robed figures rounded the corner and found that their prey was already gone.
"Dammit!" Rabastan cursed. "You all better hope the rest of the night goes exceedingly well, because that's the only way the Dark Lord won't torture you all into insanity for letting those two get away. Now let's at least finish destroying the house, then we'll move on to the rendezvous point."
Padma Patil was picking at the food on her plate, lost in thought about a communications charm which Hermione had asked her to investigate and trying to ignore the giggling conversation Parvati and Lavender were having across the table. "Are you feeling alright, Padma?" her mother asked. "You've barely touched your dinner."
Padma had only just opened her mouth to answer when the entire house shuddered. Everyone looked around in confusion until her father declared, "Those were the protections on the house! Someone is breaking them down!"
Padma was on her feet in an instant. Looking at her sister, she said, "Check the front, I'm going to the back." Despite not having had nearly as much training, Parvati didn't hesitate to follow her sister's orders, and Lavender was right behind her.
"Girls, what are you doing?" her mother called out, but Padma wasn't paying any attention to her parents. After cutting the lights, her focus was entirely on the dark figures she could see moving outside some distance from the house. "I see a half dozen!" she called out. "Same here," she heard Lavender call back.
Suddenly her father was next to her. "The floo is blocked and we can't apparate out. I've sent your mother to the garden side of the house; I'll go to the other. I know you've been spending a lot of time trying to train with your friends, but... Padma, will you be alright alone?"
She looked up at him with grim determination. "They'll know they were in a fight," she said, and her father nodded reluctantly.
"Call if you need help," he said, giving her shoulder a quick squeeze.
Soon there was a sound like a loud gong. "That was the last of the wards falling!" she heard her father shout from the next room. Padma had already guessed that, given how the people outside were starting to send curses at the house, so she simply started casting her own through the windows. "Confringo! Confringo! Ossus Fragmen! Confringo! Lacero! Lacero! Confringo!"
When she paused to take stock of the situation, she could hear howls of pain outside, letting her know that at least a few of her curses had found their targets. Spells of all different colors began exploding against the back of the house with more than a few coming through the windows, forcing Padma to keep her head down.
With surprise now lost, she started moving randomly from one window to another and continued casting the worst curses she could think of. She had thought she understood when Hermione had told them about fighting for family and not caring how much she harmed their attackers, but now she realized she hadn't — not really.
She did now.
"Confringo! Lacero! Ossus Fragmen! Lacero! Lacero! Confringo! Confringo!"
Some sort of cutting spell flashed by her, slicing her face and taking off a large chunk of her hair. She wiped at the blood with her sleeve and sent several curses of her own in the direction she thought that spell had come from. She could hear spells being cast elsewhere in the house, but she had no idea how the rest of her family was doing.
She kept moving though, and after what seemed like an eternity, her mother was beside her. "They seem to be focusing on the front and back," she explained, "and your father has gone to help your sister and Lavender with the front." Two wands meant double the defense, but it also created two targets for those outside, and the curses started coming in even faster.
Then there was a scream from the other side of the house, and the barrage of spells abruptly stopped. Padma gave her mother a frightened look and was about to say something when the whole house started shaking, causing them both to tumble to the floor. Suddenly there was an ominous cracking from the ceiling above them. Rolling over, Padma launched herself to where her mother was and cried, "Protego!" She got the shield up just in time as the ceiling chose that moment to collapse on the two of them.
Luckily the debris from the upper floor slid off her shield instead of piling up on top of it, thus creating a wall of plaster and wood around them. When she cancelled her shield, Padma could see that most of the house had come down around them. "Rajan and Parvi!" her mother gasped, and the two of them started crawling through the wreckage. The whole time Padma kept looking around for the attackers, but it seemed as though they had left once the house had been destroyed.
When they got to the remains of the front room, they found Lavender desperately digging through the debris, trying to free the others. Her father had thrown himself over Parvati, so he was pulled out first. Aside from being unconscious and covered in dust, he seemed to be in relatively good shape. Parvati, in contrast, was a mess: she was covered in blood, her face twisted in pain.
"I think they were after you," Lavender said quietly as they lifted Parvati's body out of the rubble. "A burly wizard with dark hair got in close enough to see her, then he hit her with some sort of purple curse — I never heard an incantation. When she fell, he shouted, 'That was Padma! The bitch is dead — now destroy the house so we can do the others.' I think he meant your group of friends."
Padma looked horrified, but before she could respond her mother pulled her away from her sister. "Your father is hurt, but not too seriously. The anti-apparition wards they must have cast earlier seem to be down now, so I'm apparating Parvi to the hospital. As soon as I can, I'll be back for your father. Watch over him until I return — do you understand?" Padma nodded dumbly and stepped over to her father's unconscious body as her mother apparated away with her severely — possibly fatally — injured sister. It's all my fault, she thought, anguished. They were here for me, and she was the one they took it out on.
"Keshi?" she heard her father whisper as he started to come to.
"Mother has taken Parvi to St. Mungo's," she said as she knelt next to her father and took his hand in hers.
"The others?"
Padma looked up at Lavender, who had been moving around the remains of the room, looking in every direction for any sign of their attackers. She shook her head, and Padma turned back to her father. "No sign of them. I think they left once they brought the house crashing down on us."
"Why?" he asked softly. "What did we do to them?"
Nothing, Padma wanted to say. I'm the one who did this — it's my fault, not yours. But she couldn't bring herself to say it aloud.
A crack announced her mother's return; unfortunately, she chose to apparate right into the middle of the room and found two glowing wands pointed directly at her. "Whoa, wait, it's me! Sorry!" she said hastily, sounding more than a bit afraid. She'd seen some of the curses her Ravenclaw daughter had been using and must have known that they weren't all part of the standard curriculum.
"He's awake," Padma said as she made way for her mother.
"Not anymore," her mother responded as she examined him. "Concussion, probably." The two of them disappeared with another crack, leaving Padma and Lavender alone.
"Who do you think they were?" Lavender asked. "Do you think they were after everyone in your group, or just some?"
This broke Padma out of her self-recriminations and forced her to remember that others were in danger, too. She incanted "Expecto Patronum!" and a silvery-white tiger burst out of her wand. She whispered a message to it, and it rushed out of the remains of her home.
"Wow," Lavender said. "I know that was a patronus, but what did you just do with it?"
"It's a slight variation that lets us send messages," Padma said absently. "I told Jasmine that we were attacked, that others may be in danger, and that I and my family will be in St. Mungo's. I... I should have thought to send one out when we were first attacked. To call for help."
"It wouldn't have done any good," Lavender said, looking impressed. "The attack happened too fast. I just hope the others are warned in time."
"Me too," Padma whispered. "Me too."
Jasmine yawned and stretched in her chair at the kitchen table. Mrs. Weasley had gotten it in her head that she needed to bake something. Lots of somethings, in fact, and had been doing it since even before dinner. Everyone knew she was doing it to distract herself, so they decided to humor her by sitting in the kitchen, chatting amiably and eating the delicious fruits of her labor.
Even Mad-Eye was gracious enough not to check every piece he ate for poisons and potions.
"Tired already?" Sirius asked when she yawned again. "Maybe you should consider going to bed early. We've got an early morning tomorrow — that's why our escorts are staying over night."
"Lucky thing we are, too," Tonks said indistinctly through a mouthful of apple pie. "Otherwise these pies would have been left unprotected all night!" That earned her a quick half-smile from Mrs. Weasley — one of the few they'd managed to get out of her since she'd moved in.
"I suppose you're right," Jasmine said reluctantly. The impromptu gathering in the kitchen had been one of the most enjoyable evenings of the entire holiday break, despite the sadness of its origins, and she really didn't want it to end. Before she could stand up from her chair, though, a silvery-white rabbit bounded into the kitchen, jumped up on the table, and began speaking to her in Luna's voice:
"We've been attacked. Probably Death Eaters. Burrow in flames. Others in danger. Daphne is next. Please help her!"
Barely a second passed before everyone started talking and shouting at once, but Jasmine and Hermione simply looked at each other. Decision made, Hermione raised her wand to cast a loud noise charm that got everyone's attention. "Others are in trouble," she said, "and we're going to help them." No one noticed Fleur and Gabrielle slip out the door.
"Listen, lass, you don't know who sent that," Mad-Eye objected, but Hermione immediately shut him down.
"That's Luna's rabbit," she said flatly. "We know it because we taught her and the others both the patronus charm and how to use it to send messages."
Tonks whistled. "Impressive."
"We don't know what's going on," Sirius argued.
"We know Luna's been attacked," Jasmine said. "The Burrow, too, most likely, but luckily the Weasleys are here."
"I'll see if I can make a floo connection," Bill announced as he stood. "If not, I'll apparate well away from the house and find out what's going on." Mrs. Weasley nodded reluctantly and watched him leave.
"Luna wouldn't have said that Daphne is next if she hadn't heard something," Hermione added. "So that's where we're going."
"In fact..." Jasmine muttered, then cast her own patronus, whispered to the stag, and sent it galloping out of the room. "I just warned Daphne and let her know that we're organizing help."
"The floo is down!" they heard Bill call. "I'll be back as soon as I can."
"The rest of you need to go see if our other friends need help," Hermione continued. "Neville Longbottom, Blaise Zabini, Hannah Abbott, Tracey Davis. Padma Patil. Susan Bones."
"We don't know that anyone else is in danger," protested Remus. Before either of the girls could respond, a silvery-white tiger charged into the kitchen and stopped in front of Jasmine. Speaking in Padma's voice, it said:
"Family attacked. House destroyed. Parvi seriously injured. We and Lavender will be at St. Mungo's."
No one doubted now that there was a series of attacks being launched against Jasmine's and Hermione's friends that night.
"We can probably skip the Patil residence, then, but there's still not enough of us here to go to every house," Tonks said.
"I can help," Ron said as he stood up.
"Me, too," said Ginny. "We've had plenty of training and—"
"No you won't!" their mother cried, becoming far livelier than anyone had seen her in weeks. "You're underage and you're staying here!"
"But Mum!" Ron protested. "If Jasmine and Hermione—"
"I don't think they should be going anywhere either!" Mrs. Weasley interrupted. She eyed the girls sadly. "Unfortunately, I have no say in what they do." Turning back to her two youngest children, she went on, "You two, however, I do have authority over, and you're not going anywhere!" She then aimed her steely gaze up at the twins. "Am I going to have a problem with you two as well?"
"Not a chance," one twin said, his hands raised in surrender.
"We know better than to try that," the second twin said.
"When you're around, at least," the first twin added, a bit more quietly.
"It's a good thing my parents went back to France this morning," Hermione whispered to Jasmine, "but it's a shame that Apolline and Adrienne went with them. We could use their help."
"There are only five adults here available to help if Molly stays behind to watch the place," Sirius announced, trying to bring everyone's attention back to the original topic. "I may not be able to stop these two from going, but there's no way I'm letting them go alone!"
"Who said zey would be going alone?" came a hard voice from the door. Everyone turned to look and gaped in disbelief at the sight of Fleur and Gabrielle in radiant golden armor. "Ze four of us will at least be able to hold our own."
Even Jasmine and Hermione were stunned at what they saw. The brilliant golden helms shaped like the heads of birds, breast plates, greaves, and bracers shone so brightly that it almost hurt to look at them.
Tonks leaned over towards Moody and said quietly, "Do you get the impression we're missing something important here?" Moody just grunted.
Before anyone else could say anything, a silvery-white fox entered the kitchen and stopped in front of Jasmine, where it spoke with Daphne's voice:
"House under attack. Apparition and portkeys blocked. Floo blocked. Tracey is with us. Wards holding, but don't know how long we'll last."
"I guess that settles it," Mad-Eye said, taking charge of the situation. "It will take too long for aurors to form up and act, so we'll have to take care of it. Everyone takes a different student to check on, but you shouldn't go alone — call in another Order member to meet you there. Tonks, you head straight to the Ministry and get addresses, contact Emmeline Vance, then go to the Abbotts. Lupin, you go to the Longbottoms. The boy knows you. Send a patronus to Hestia Jones to join you. I'll go to the Davis house — I already know where they are. Black, you call in Shacklebolt, then go to the Zabinis." Jasmine and Hermione snickered as Sirius groaned.
"What about Susan Bones?" Tonks asked.
"Amelia is a high-priority target," Mad-Eye said. "I'll have Albus go there himself."
"I'll ensure that these four get to the Greengrass home," Sirius said as the others started filing out. He then led the four witches into the sitting room and asked, "I take it that you have some mysterious means for getting to your friends?"
"I think so," Jasmine said as Hermione cast her own patronus and sent it out with a message. "I could apparate to Hermione over the summer because I could feel her distress and... and I knew where she was. Somehow, I feel something similar when I concentrate hard on Daphne. It's not the same thing, but it's close enough."
"Me, too," Hermione said, "though I don't understand it any better than Jasmine does."
"I wonder if it's a side effect of having finalized your soul bond right after zat ritual?" Fleur suggested. "Remember, your friends' magic was part of you when you fully bonded."
"OK, that's not disturbing at all..." Sirius said, making a face. Then he shook himself. "The important thing is, you can get there, right?"
They both nodded, but Hermione added, "We can't make any promises about getting back, though."
"I can take care of zat," Fleur assured him.
"And you two are wearing your Christmas gifts?" Sirius asked.
"All the time." Jasmine confirmed. "I wish Fleur and Gabrielle had their basilisk hide tunics as well, but at least they have other armor."
"OK, then," Sirius said as they started moving for the door. "I must be crazy for letting you do this, but I honestly can't think of a better plan."
When Bill Weasley arrived at a secluded apparition point in the trees near his home, he knew at once that Luna's message had been genuine because he could smell the smoke despite the distance. Once he had oriented himself, he could see the flames through the trees, and it was all he could do to stay upright. Stumbling through the wooded area, he emerged to find that little of his family's house was left.
He also found a glowing wand pointed right at his face.
His first instinct was that the attackers were still around and he'd walked into a trap, but a split second later he recognized the blonde hair of their nearest neighbor. He slowly raised his hands and said as calmly as possible, "It's me, Bill Weasley. You're Luna, right? I was with Jasmine when your message arrived."
"Oh, hello, William," Luna said softly as she lowered her wand. "It's been so long, I barely recognized you. You look nice in long hair, though."
Bill heaved a sigh of relief, then jumped when he heard a voice behind him. "You're sure you recognize him, sweetie?"
"Yes, Daddy, this is William. Ginny's favorite brother."
"Very good, then," Luna's father said as he came up beside Bill and held out his hand. "Xenophilius Lovegood. I know we've met, but it's been quite a while." Bill shook his hand, then turned his attention back to his family's home. Or what was left of it.
"I'm sorry about your house," Luna said.
Bill nodded bleakly. "How about your place, is it alright?"
"Just some light damage to the outside," Xeno replied.
"Did you see who did this?" Bill asked.
"No, they were gone by the time we arrived," Xeno said. "But Luna took down a couple of those who attacked us."
For the first time since the messenger patronus had arrived at headquarters, Bill smiled, though it didn't quite reach his eyes. "Let's go see if we can get any information out of them, shall we?"
Remus had to pound on the gates for two minutes before an elf finally arrived. "Why is you being here so late? Everybody is being asleep!"
"My name is Remus Lupin. I taught Neville Defense during his third year. I've received information that your family may come under attack tonight. You must get Madam Longbottom immediately."
"Attack? I be waking her right away!" the elf cried, then popped away.
Remus spun, crouched, and pulled his wand in a single fluid motion when he heard a crack of apparition behind him. "Smooth move," Hestia said. "Anything suspicious around here?"
"No, nothing," Remus answered. After a moment, the frantic elf returned and led them into Longbottom manor.
Mad-Eye Moody apparated into an alley near the Davis home and immediately saw from the flashing lights that muggle authorities were already involved. Grumbling, he put on a bowler hat that he pulled down over his magical eye and stepped out into the street. The location of the Davis house was easy enough to find: it was the one engulfed in flames.
A few careful questions to the muggles revealed that no bodies had been found anywhere near the house, which might have been good or bad. A few detection spells led him across the street to where he found the residue of heavy spellfire, and it wasn't long before he located quite a bit of blood — but probably from just one person.
Better check St. Mungo's, then, he concluded before going off to find a secluded place to apparate away from.
Tonks also apparated into an alley, and she just as quickly found that the house she was searching for was being tended to by muggle authorities. Unlike Mad-Eye, however, she found two victims also being tended to. A flash of her Ministry badge bought her a few minutes, and she learned that they were Nigel and Charlotte Abbott.
By the time she was done getting their story, Emmeline Vance had arrived. As a Healer, she was able to diagnose their condition and convince the paramedics to let her take the victims away — though she first had to assure the Abbotts that help had already been sent to the Bones residence. Nigel wouldn't stop talking about how it was his daughter that they were really after and that she and her friend were in the greatest danger.
It was only a few minutes later that the four of them were in front of the St. Mungo's admittance desk, with Mad-Eye stomping in close behind.
Merlin, this is a bad idea, Sirius thought. Why did Mad-Eye have to send me here of all places?
He looked around again, checking for threats, then pounded on the door for the third time. "Si?" came a sleepy woman's voice as the door opened. "Signor Black?"
Sirius tried desperately to focus on her eyes rather than the bathrobe which seemed to be the sole item of clothing she was wearing. A very short, very thin, very low-cut silk bathrobe.
"What are you doing here so late?" she went on, trying to hide a yawn.
"I apologize for disturbing you, Ms. Zabini" he said, "but we received intelligence that suggests you and your son might be targeted for attack tonight."
"Truly?" she asked, her eyes going wide as adrenaline finally woke her up. A crack of apparition caused Sirius to spin and draw his wand, but he relaxed when he saw who it was.
"Anything?" Shacklebolt asked.
Sirius shook his head. "Nothing so far."
"I'm Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt, ma'am," the tall man introduced himself while showing his badge.
"So this is real? This is not some prank?" she asked.
"It seems your reputation precedes you, Black," Shacklebolt observed, clapping Sirius on the shoulder. "I'll take a walk around the neighborhood. You stay here and watch the house."
Once Shacklebolt was gone, Alessandra opened the door the rest of the way and invited Sirius inside.
"I really should stay out here," he tried to protest. Where I'll be safer, he added silently.
"But you're too much of a target out there," she protested. "Besides, I'd feel better if you were in here, with us. What if someone tries to enter the house from another direction?"
Sirius sighed and went inside, completely unable to resist a woman showing him such pleading eyes. Or such long legs.
When Shacklebolt returned, he reported that the area was clear. He was about to accept an offer of tea when a silvery-white phoenix entered the living room and spoke with Dumbledore's voice:
"Bones residence under heavy attack. Lestranges involved. Need reinforcements."
"One of us should stay here, just in case," Shacklebolt said.
"You're the auror," Sirius replied. "Go save your boss." Shacklebolt nodded and was out the door in a flash. Sirius looked back at Alessandra Zabini, who gave him a wide smile as she patted the couch next to her.
Oh, Merlin, I am so dead... he thought as his feet automatically carried him over to the nearest beautiful woman.
The Greengrass house shuddered with another assault on its wards as Karl and Annika moved around the ground floor, casting every kind of defensive and strengthening charm they could think of on the walls, ceilings, doors, and windows. Daphne, Tracey, and Astoria stood in a loose group in the middle of the sitting room, the best-protected room in the house. "I wish I'd spent more time practicing defense," Astoria fretted.
Daphne reached out and squeezed her sister's shoulder. "You'll do fine, squirt. Remember your lessons on dodging and accuracy. Make every spell count, and don't let yourself get hit."
"Do you think they got your message?" Tracey asked.
"I'm sure of it," Daphne replied. "We're lucky that Luna was able to get a message out to us, otherwise we wouldn't have been nearly as prepared." While not a Mistress of Transfiguration, Annika Greengrass was still skilled, and immediately after the rabbit patronus had delivered its warning, she stepped outside and proceeded to transfigure dozens of rocks into wolves, lions, and other animals. It had left her a little winded, but it was worth it considering the cries of pain from the attackers when they arrived in the midst of an unexpected menagerie of large, hungry predators.
Just then a doe patronus arrived in front of her and spoke in Hermione's voice:
"Hold tight. We are coming."
"We've got reinforcements incoming!" Daphne shouted to her parents.
"Do you know who it is?" her father asked as he entered the sitting room.
Daphne shook her head. "It was Hermione's patronus, so definitely her. Probably Jasmine, too. I don't know about who else."
"Gabrielle, I'll bet," Tracey added. "Haven't you ever noticed how she never takes her eyes off of Jasmine? Where Jasmine goes, Gabrielle follows."
"Who is this Gabrielle?" her mother asked, having just joined them.
"She's the sister of our new Defense teacher, who was last year's Triwizard Champion from Beauxbatons," Daphne replied. "Gabrielle Delacour and Fleur Delacour."
"Delacour?" her father asked, startled. "Veela?"
"Yes, they are," Daphne said. "Do you know them?"
"Of them, yes," her father said, shaking his head. "It was stupid of me not to have made that connection before."
The house shuddered again, and her mother said, "Whoever is coming, I hope they get here soon. I don't know how much longer those wards will—"
A loud crashing sound signalled the demise of the wards, and the walls shook as spellfire impacted the outside of the house.
"We should set up our defense in the living room — that will allow us to harass the attackers, maybe reduce their numbers before they try to enter the house," Karl said as he started heading towards the front of the house. "We'll use overturned furniture for cover. Everyone watch a different window."
As they took up positions, they could see what looked like fighting outside their home — exchanges of spellfire and odd golden flashes.
With Gabrielle holding on to Jasmine and Fleur holding on to Hermione, the four young witches apparated to the top of a hill near the Greengrass home. Night had fallen, but the light of the moon was enough to let them make out dark figures all around the house, casting spells at its walls. "Ze wards must have fallen already," Fleur said. "See how zey are moving in on ze house. Zere is not much time left."
"The biggest group is in the front," Hermione pointed out. "We need to concentrate on them first."
"Bon," Fleur agreed, and pointed to the far side of the field where the attackers were located. "I will take Hermione and apparate to zat rise over zere. We will attack in pairs from behind and from two different directions." Everyone agreed, and the two witches apparated away.
"Ready, Gabrielle?" Jasmine asked. The young veela nodded and pulled out her short bronze sword.
Antonin Dolohov swore as another barrage of curses failed to breach the walls of the Greengrass home. Not even the front door showed any serious damage. The night had gone from one disaster to another, and it still wasn't done. The Patils had put up a much stiffer resistance than he'd been led to expect, and he'd had to content himself with collapsing their house on the survivors once he'd cursed his target.
Then Mulciber showed up to the rendezvous with only half of his already-small group, complaining about having been ambushed from behind. Upon arriving at this target, they were set upon by dozens of transfigured predators. Two of their attack force had been killed and another half dozen injured before they could get organized and kill off the beasts.
We still have four at the rear with Mulciber and a dozen here in the front with me, he thought. That's more than enough to take care of two adults and two underaged witches... if we can just get inside! I hope Bellatrix is doing better than we are, otherwise the Dark Lord will punish us for days. Unless... maybe we can blame it all on these dregs that were brought in from Germany and Italy?
Just then there was a horrible, gut-wrenching scream from behind him, and he turned to ask what was going on. "Something has killed Wilhelm!" cried one of the Germans — Gunther, he thought.
"Is it another one of those bloody lions?" he asked. "I thought we got rid of all of them!" After staring into the bright lights around the house, he was having trouble seeing in the dim moonlight behind him. The one he thought was Gunther appeared in front of him, looking terrified.
"No, it vas no animal," he said. "It looked—"
Whatever he was going to say was cut off abruptly when the tip of a bronze sword burst out from the German's chest, eliciting a gurgle of agony. Then the sword disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared. As the man's body fell dead to the ground, Dolohov saw the blade spinning back into the dark as if it had been summoned. Where it stopped, he thought he caught a glint of gold.
"We've got enemies behind us," he called out. "Turn and fight!" It was the smart thing to do; unfortunately, half of his remaining wands were already down, and the rest weren't organized well enough to mount an effective defense in either direction, much less two at once. He and they were casting curses almost randomly into the night in places where they thought their enemy was... except that it was, at best, where their enemy had been moments before, not where they were now.
As spells kept flying back and forth across the field in front of the Greengrass home, Dolohov gradually came to realize that there was no way he'd be able to come out on top. He was faced with a difficult decision: stay and fight to the bitter end, or apparate away and risk facing his master's wrath. When a witch with bushy hair appeared in the night, he fast-cast a silent curse and purple flame burst out of his wand, striking the witch across the chest.
He smiled as he watched her tumble bonelessly to the ground, knowing that she was as dead as that little Patil bint he'd killed earlier. Before he could seek out another target, though, he saw her slowly get back up to her feet and fix him with a hard stare. No one ever got up from that curse, he thought disbelievingly. Not right away, and usually not ever.
Then he realized that the little witch's eyes were glowing blue, and suddenly he no longer had trouble deciding what to do. With a silent incantation, he cast a shield behind him and was running to the back of the house to get Mulciber before he even saw her wand hand move. He was forced to dodge left and right as curses flew past and missed him by mere inches, a level of accuracy he'd not seen in years.
By the time he got to the rear of the house, he found that Mulciber and his men had managed to break through the back walls — but judging by the screams, they hadn't gotten far.
Fuck this, Dolohov thought as he raised his wand into the air to cancel the wards they'd cast, then apparated away.
There was a large hole in the side of the Bones house when Dumbledore arrived, and there were bodies strewn all over the street and sidewalk. This is not good, he thought. Not good at all. When he found an auror who was still alive and conscious, he learned that the attack had been spearheaded by all three of the Lestranges.
Even when he was at his best he'd have avoided taking on those three simultaneously and alone, so he sent out several patronuses asking for reinforcements, then stepped through the bodies of defenders and attackers alike as he carefully entered the house, wand at the ready.
As he passed over the remains of the threshold, he could feel what he assumed were anti-apparition and anti-portkey wards that had been cast by the attackers. Before long he started hearing the sounds of spellfire and screams of pain. Moving more quickly, he encountered a few attackers who'd been left behind due to their numerous injuries. These wizards he quickly stunned and bound before moving on. He gingerly stepped around debris from broken walls and caved-in ceilings as he tried to make his way to wherever the battle was currently being fought.
It wasn't long before he heard a familiar and unwelcome cackling. Bellatrix, he thought. I hope those reinforcements arrive in time, because I'm not at my best these days.
Fortunately, Albus Dumbledore not at his best was still far better than the average witch or wizard on their best day ever, so when he entered the room where Bellatrix and her men had cornered the last defenders, he was able to launch an assault that effectively distracted all of the attackers. Off to the side, he noted the prone forms of Rabastan and Rodolphus, and he thanked Merlin for that.
"Dumbledore!" Bellatrix singsonged. "You've come to pway with me!" The witch started dancing around and casting lethal hexes all around him, putting him on the defensive. Around her, black-robed figures increased the pressure as they also began sending curses his way, though he tried hard to hide his fatigue,
"You're looking well... Bellatrix," Dumbledore commented between dodging and batting away their salvos. "My compliments to your Healer. Not many... can throw off the effects of more than a decade in Azkaban so well."
"You should leave, Dumbledore," she said, now sounding sane. "I have business with a couple of little witches here, and my reinforcements will soon be at your back."
"Those 'little witches'.. seem to be doing fine for themselves," Dumbledore observed, noting how his two fifth-year Hufflepuffs had started casting rather violent curses at the backs of Bellatrix's men, surprising them and cutting their numbers steadily. "Well enough, in fact... to put your husband and brother-in-law out of the fight. On top of that... I think my own reinforcements will be here quicker than yours. Surrender, and I will guarantee that you'll be treated fairly."
Bellatrix narrowed her eyes and looked around, realizing that her numbers were dwindling fast and that she'd be in trouble if caught alone between Dumbledore on one side and the house's defenders on the other. Rather than surrendering, though, she cast Bombarda at Dumbledore's feet, then raised her wand high to cancel the anti-apparition and anti-portkey wards. Only a second later, all of the attackers — alive, injured, or dead — were gone.
Dumbledore sighed and leaned against the wall as he watched Amelia and Susan Bones, Hannah Abbott, and the few remaining aurors check each other for injuries and prepare to go to St. Mungo's. He looked up at a wall clock that had somehow survived the assault and saw that in a few short hours it would be Monday, the day the Hogwarts Express was supposed to arrive to start the spring term.
I don't see how I'm going to make it all the way through the opening feast, he thought wearily as Kingsley Shacklebolt led a group of reinforcements into the room.