AN: Chap 32 review responses are in my forums like normal. Thank you all for reading.

Chapter Thirty-Three: A Black Legacy

Harry woke to a beautiful, soothing silver light. When his eyes focused sufficiently, he saw a silvery doe Patronus standing at the foot of his bed, staring intently at him. He sat up in shock, startling Hermione. Luna and Tori slept in one of the other rooms.

"Is that…is that a Patronus?" Hermione stammered, still half-asleep.

"Leave the castle," the doe said in Professor Snape's voice. "Leave the castle immediately."

With its message delivered, the magical construct faded away, leaving the room dark and somehow colder by its absence.

"What was that?" Hermione asked.

"A warning." A sudden, powerful sense of urgency struck, making Harry's hands shake. "We need to get out of here now! All of us."

"But what about Justine?"

"Can you get a message to her through the army coin?"

Hermione nodded and began digging in her night bag for the coin, while Harry left their room and padded barefoot to the one next door. He walked in and found Luna and Tori snuggled together, spooning but fully clothed and seemingly content. He walked around to Luna's side and gently nudged her shoulder until she woke.

She turned over and smiled up at him. "Want to join us?"

"We need to get out of the castle immediately," he told her. "We just received a warning."

Luna's eyes widened in alarm before she nodded and turned to wake Tori, which was a task even on the best of days. Harry ran back into his room to get dressed and found Hermione frantically doing the same. "I can't reach Justine!" she said. "I did get a response from Megan Jones, though. Justine is not in her dorm."

Cursing under his breath, Harry finished dressing and ran out into the sitting area of their suite and the trunks they had stored there. He opened his and dug through it until he found his map. After activating it, he searched desperately for the Muggleborn Hufflepuff he would marry someday soon.

He found her in the Great Hall with Dame Delia Griffin, Dame Elezeta Malfoy, Professor Narcissa Black, Lucius Malfoy and… "Oh Merlin," he whispered.

By then all three of his wives emerged ready to go. "What, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"Voldemort is here," he said. "He's here in the castle, and they have Justine. Look!"

Hermione and Luna looked at the map, while Tori whimpered in terror. "We need to go now!" the Slytherin girl said.

"Harry, there are more people coming for us," Hermione pointed out.

She handed the map back and Harry saw a group of wizards approaching with names like Rookwood, Rutger, Crabbe and Goyle. He recognized some of the names from their Christmas lessons as Death Eaters who chose to bond rather than go to Azkaban.

Hermione shrank their trunks. Each of them had a broom save Tori, though Luna's and Hermione's were Christmas gifts from the Order of the Phoenix for this very reason. Luna mounted with Tori, Harry gathered their shrunken trunks, and all four flew out the window. "Fly toward the astronomy tower," Harry called.

He noticed how wide-eyed Hermione was and flew close to her, in case she lost her balance and fell. They made it to the tower in just minutes and dismounted their brooms. "Hermione, you, Luna and Tori wait here," he said.

"What do you think you're going to do, Harry?" Hermione said with a shrill note of terror in her voice.

"I'm going to go get Justine," he said.

"How? They're surrounded by Dames and Voldemort!"

"I don't know," Harry said. "I'll think of something."

"Try the married quarters," Hermione said. "Fred said something about magical fireworks they were going to set up when they left the school tomorrow."

Harry nodded and took off, flying toward to the fourth floor wall beside Gryffindor Tower. Because of how Angelina and Fred were displaced by Malfoy, the couple now had the last suite against the wall, which meant they had a window.

He brought his broom next to the window knocked loudly until he saw a dark face looking out from behind a curtain. A moment later, having thrown on a robe, Angelina opened the window. "Harry, what are you doing?"

"Voldemort's in the castle," Harry whispered. "Death Eaters and Dames are with him, and they have Justine. I need help!"

Angelina gaped at him for a moment before motioning him to come in. He flew through the window and dismounted to see Fred, Georgina and Lee Thomas all staring at him in various states of dress with their wands out.

Harry's cheeks bloomed red. "Were you all in here together?"

"Not the time, boyo," Lee said, blushing himself.

Harry quickly filled them in on what was happening. "Hermione said you might have some fireworks or something to distract them."

Fred and Georgina shared a long look before Georgina grinned. "We'll do better than distract them. Lee, go get the Longbottoms, Angelina, you know the back way into Gryffindor?"

"Yeah." She dropped her robe, momentarily shocking all the boys while she quickly dressed. Moments later, she was gone.

"She is right sexy," Georgina breathed. Lee had already left, leaving the twins alone with Harry. "Look, Harry, no offense, but you're not saving that girl by yourself."

"You've got to let me try!"

"No, that's not what we mean," Fred said bluntly. "We mean, if you go out there by yourself you're going to die. You're not that good. None of us alone are—we're kids. But if we get a big enough group of the army together, it might buy us time."

"But won't that put everyone in danger?"

"Harry," Fred said without a trace of humour, "four coven dames are in the Great Hall with Voldemort himself. Even if it's an open secret that he had support among the Sabbat, for it to be this open means they think they can win. That means we're all in danger. We act now, or we end up all dying. I say we act now."

Harry shook his head, deeply alarmed at the possibility, but used his coin to communicate with Hermione what was happening. He was not at all surprised when she arrived at the window just minutes later, just in time for Fred, Georgina and Lee to finish dressing. "So we're going together?" she asked.

"I really wanted you on that tower," Harry said.

"Not a chance," she said.

"What about Tori?"

"Luna's with her," Hermione said, staring flatly at Harry, until at last, he nodded.

"Okay. Just…don't get hurt, please."

"No promises."

They stepped out into the hall just as Neville, Hannah and Susan did the same. "Do you have all your things?" Harry asked Neville quietly.

The other wizard nodded, while Susan fingered her wand. They slowly made their way down the hall, carefully activating the rune in front of Draco's door. When it was safe, the nine of them quietly opened the portrait that led out of the married wing and Harry led them into the hall.

"Hello there, luv," Antonia Dolohov said with a skeletal smile and a foot-long knife in her hand.

Harry had just enough time to shout a warning when a pair of stunning hexes hit Lee and Georgina from the other wizards in the group. Dolohov stabbed the knife forward at stomach-height, not slashing so much as intending to impale.

In the back of his mind, Harry thanked Samuel White when he spun into the strike, causing the knife to just miss him, and brought his knee up as hard as he could into Dolohov's crotch. The witche's eyes bulged nto so much from the pain a wizard might feel, as shock that a wizard would to that to her. Harry then jammed his wand into the woman's neck and shouted, "Stupefy!"

The stunner sent Dolohov spinning into the wall opposite the portrait. Harry heard shouted shields and spun around to see Hermione, Fred, Angelina, Neville and Susan facing off against three other unmasked wizards in black robes, while Hannah revived Georgina and Lee.

Unfortunately, though the three men were obviously heavily bonded and magically weak, they had also received some training in fighting. They summoned what shields they could and immediately attacked, moving into close quarters where their knives would remove the advantages of wands.

Harry took advantage of their charge by mounting his broom and soaring over the skirmish to the far side. Still mounted, he targeted the back of the nearest man and shouted, "Reducto!"

Crabbe senior screamed as the devastating curse struck between his shoulders and destroyed his spine. He collapsed to the floor still screaming but not moving. The two other wizards, realizing they'd been flanked, moved to fight back-to-back, but the break in their charge gave the others a chance to regroup, and nine stunners broke through Goyle's hastily raised shield and brought both him and Rookwood down.

"Anyone hurt?" Harry asked as he dismounted.

"He is," Fred said as he silenced the still-screaming Crabbe Senior.

Harry tried his best not to look at the man he most likely killed. Magic could be wonderful, but it could also make death long and painful. "Does everyone have brooms?"

The Order members did for sure, given the gifts they all received over Christmas. The Weasleys all had their own from Quidditch. They ran through the hall together until they met another group of the army led by Ron and… "Ginny Weasley?" Hermione asked in a heated voice. "What are you even doing here?"

"I stayed with my family. I can help!" the youngest Weasley said.

"And if nothing else, she's family," Fred said. "Weasleys never leave family behind."

"Not even Percy," Georgina added.

"Any other houses?" Ron asked.

"No, and we want it that way," Susan said firmly. "Whatever we do tonight, there's going to be fallout. We want to reduce the collateral damage as much as we can. But us? We're the core group—we're all in danger."

"As witnessed by the four Death Eaters waiting outside our portrait," Georgina said.

Ron's eyes widened in alarm. "Death Eaters?"

"What do you think is happening, Ron?" Hermione asked archly. "Voldemort and his followers are going to take the castle. They're already here, for Merlin's sake!"

"So, plans?" Angelina asked.

"Full pitch press," Harry said. "Fred, you and Georgina hit them with your fireworks. Angelina and I are the best fliers, so we go in and grab Justine, while the rest of you just shoot the strongest curses you know from the door."

"Curses?" Ginny asked.

"We're past hexes," Harry told the young girl. "They're trying to kill us, Ginny. If you don't think you can fight, then go up to the Astronomy tower. Either way, we're leaving tonight."

With that quickly sketched out plan, they mounted their brooms (Ginny rode with Ron) and flew quietly through the halls, hoping the sound of the brooms would be less noticeable than the sound of footsteps. They slowed to a crawling hover when they reached the antechamber right before the Great Hall itself.

Harry saw immediately that the doors were open and voices were coming from inside, followed by the sound of a girl's screaming. Harry started to pull forward, but Angelina grabbed the thistles of his broom. "Wait," she hissed. "Look at your map first!"

Harry pulled the map out and activated it. The name Voldemort was still there, along with Dame Delia, Dame Elezeta, Narcissa Black and Lucius Malfoy. Justine was there as well. No one else appeared on the map at all.

"Just five," Angelina said.

"Yeah, but one of them is Voldemort!" Fred said.

"There are twelve of us," Angelina pointed out. "We're not trying to beat them in battle, just grab the girl and get out. I say we launch all the fireworks first, and then fly in low to grab her. You others stay behind and fire stunners just to distract them, and then we get our arses out of this school!"

"Sounds good to me," Harry said. "Fred, Georgina, ready?"

The twins nodded and then began pulling magical firecrackers out of their school robes. Harry was thinking poppers or some such, but the two pulled out four large canisters that could not possibly have fit in their pockets. With a nod to each other and a tight grin, the lit the first with Fred's wand and then levitated it toward the entrance of the hall.

They had the second lit when the first ignited. The sound alone was stunning, like a thousand cannons firing at once. The light show was equally amazing—the sparks took the form of a giant dragon that roared viciously and swooped toward the stunned onlookers.

Harry and Angelina shot into the great hall as the second, third and final firecracker's erupted. Harry could see the red stunners flying around them from their friends and saw with satisfaction as Dame Elezeta fell to one.

Whatever elation he felt, though, faded away to rage when he saw Justine sprawled over the stones of the floor, her nightgown torn and bloodied from cuts. Harry cast a feather-light charm on her as he swooped down to collect her. He snatched her from the feet of Voldemort himself as the Dark Lord ducked down from another sparkling dragon in a rather un-Dark Lord fashion.

Harry pulled Justine tight as he charged toward his line of friends as fast as he could. His heart thudded painfully in his chest as he grew closer and closer to the doors. "Come on!" he shouted as he blew past his friends.

He just cleared Hermione when the doors to the Great Hall slammed shut with a resounding clang as loud as the Weasleys' firecrackers. As good a flier as Harry was, he was hampered by keeping Justine safe and could not do that and stop fast enough. He, Justine and his broom slammed painfully into the door, causing the girl in his arms to moan in agony as she slipped from his limp fingers and fell ten feet to the floor.

Harry followed, landing with an explosive release of breath. He held his broom up, doing his best to keep from breaking it, and landed beside Justine. He looked into her red, puffy face and saw her trembling all over. Looking deeper at her magic, he could see it was strained and damaged, and somehow burning much hotter than Hufflepuff magic should have, as if her earthen-toned magic were lit to lava. The Cruciatus hurt people's magic and nerves, but the heat coming off her worried him.

He scrambled to his feet just as the rest of his friends dismounted and took positions around him and Justine.

At the head of the room, Narcissa Black was assisting Dame Delia back to her feet. The witch looked dishevelled from the stunner, but otherwise unharmed. As if she were not standing within feet of Voldemort himself, she began to clap. "Very good, Potter. An excellent show—very dramatic. Did the Mudblood come up with your plan, or perhaps your flighty little Ravenclaw?"

As Harry watched, Voldemort on the dais, wearing Barty Crouch Jr's face, started to melt and shift. "How…?"

"Polyjuice Potion," Hermione whispered a few feet away.

Harry wasn't sure what that was, exactly, but when he checked his map again, he did not see Voldemort. He saw Dame Cassandra Greengrass.

"Oh Morgana's tits," Angelina whispered.

He looked up from the map as the walls on either side of the hall seemed to shimmer, until with a single wave of magic, twenty grim-looking Hit Witches became visible. Harry looked down again at the map in shock—none of the witches appeared on it at all.

"But how?" he said.

Elezeta Malfoy laughed. "Stupid little halfblood, do you honestly believe we didn't know about your map? We, who turned one of its creators to our side?"

Sirius Black. This was Sirius's final legacy to Harry—one final betrayal.

"All this just for a trap?" he whispered.

Somehow his voice carried. Delia stepped down from the raised platform at the head of the hall. "Not a trap. If you'd stayed in your room, we'd be done by now. But Elezeta believes in back-up plans, and as usual her deviousness has paid dividends. Whereas I just hoped to remove the core of the problem, you delivered to us all peripherals as well. Well done, Potter. Thank you."

"No," Harry whispered in dread.

"Throw down your wands," Delia ordered.

"She'll kill us if we do," Hermione said.

"Dear, I'm going to kill you regardless," Delia said with a grim smile. "The difference is dying quickly, or dying slowly."

"You can't do this!" Georgina shouted. "Our mother is a Dame!"

"Covens can be removed," Delia said. "You have attacked a Dame while she was pursuing Sabbat Business."

"When has torturing school girls become Sabbat Business?" Angelina demanded.

"Enough talk," Elezeta Malfoy snarled. "Take them now."

Twenty hit witches cast twenty stunners. The Firebird Army members reacted instinctively, summing their best Protego shields. The shields stopped the stunners, much to the surprise of the Hit Witches.

Unfortunately, that just made them switch to more powerful spells.

Desperate, Harry spotted the folded tables against the walls to the left behind four of the hit witches. "Accio table!"

The witches in front of the table had no warning before the table shot out from the wall, bowling all four over and flying toward Harry. "Oh bugger," Harry said. He banished the fast-approaching table over his head, sending it tumbling into the grouping of witches on the other side of the room.

The distraction gave Harry's friends a chance to scatter. "We need to get to a window and blast our way out!" Harry said.

"We can't, they've been reinforced by magic," Hermione yelled back. "Haven't you ever read Hogwarts: A History?"

Tell that to Daphne, Harry thought grimly.

"Not the time," Georgina snapped, right before a stunner hit her between the eyes. She dropped like a stone.

"Georgina!" Lee said, rushing to her side while Fred and Angelina covered them. Harry stayed close to Hermione, Ron and Seamus trying to protect Justine as much as possible, but it was a hard proposition. The Hit Witches quickly recovered from his tactic and had both clumps of students surrounded and were pelting them with increasingly more powerful spells, curses and jinxes.

"I'm sorry I dragged you guys into this," Harry grunted after a particularly strong curse struck his shield.

"Yeah, well, the dorms' been borin' without you," Seamus said with a tight grin.

"Boring's better than dead!" Ron muttered.

Suddenly the hall shattered before an ear-piercing scream as Ginny Weasley fell to the ground, writhing under the Cruciatus curse at the wand of one of the Hit Witches. Enraged, Harry broke off his shield and shouted, "Confringo!"

The Hit Witch screamed briefly before she exploded, casting blood and innards across the floor, and more importantly across her fellow witches.

Harry stared at the mess he made in shocked silence, right before every wand in the room turned on him and half of the Hit Witches there found the hatred, concentration and magic needed to cast the killing curse at him. "Oh bugger," he muttered.

I'd say I'm sorry, but I would be lying. I love cliff hangars.

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Author's Note: Very special thanks as always to Teufel1987, JR and Miles for beta reading. If there are any major faux-pas, they are entirely of my own doing.