CHAPTER 36: A Long Day At Hogsmeade (Part 3)

The Three Broomsticks

5:45 p.m.

"HARRY POTTER," the man called out before cackling an eerily familiar, deeply unnerving laugh. "THIS ISN'T A GAME OF HIDE AND SEEEEK! THIS IS YOUR ONE CHANCE TO SHOW YOURSELF WITHOUT HAVING ANY EXTRA WEIGHT ON YOUR CONSCIENCE!"

He could feel everyone's eyes on him. Longbottom and Weasley were looking at him darkly, as if he were the one who had called whoever this guy was to hunt him down. Theo, Draco, and Daphne had set up a perimeter around Susan - with Theo even physically restraining her from coming close to him - though Harry doubted the latter two had the initiative for this action. Blaise was looking at him apprehensively, and Granger was staring at him with a piercing gaze that promised much interference from her in the future.

If they even had a future to begin with.

He chanced a glance at Pansy, to which she subtly nodded. She was the only one not looking at him, instead, she was focusing on the problem at hand. And he was glad he wasn't the only one.

"It seems," the red-haired man began with a toothy grin, "you're in need of some motivation. Luckily for you, I consider myself a proficient man of action."

The man groaned theatrically as he reached down and grabbed Madam Rosmerta up from her hair, yanking upwards as he elicited a painful cry for the woman. The reality of the situation kicked into Harry with a massive wave in his body. He immediately stepped forward, despite Pansy's clear objection to the idea. But just as he was about to yell at the man to stop, he slashed his wand at the woman's neck.

The effect was immediate, her throat was ripped in half. Blood squirted to the ground as her neck bent backwards and exposed the pulpy entrails inside the throat, as well as a barely concealed hint of white, which Harry assumed was a bone. The red-haired man guffawed frenziedly as the Three Broomsticks was filled with cries of horror and sorrow, with some of its occupants even throwing up on the floor.

"NOOOO!" Longbottom screamed, pushing past Harry as he immediately raised his wand at the man, anger disrupting his breathing.

"Neville Longbottom," the man said with a hint of awe. "A true honour, to meet you, and what a surprise." He broke out into laugher.

Harry blinked, staring at Rosmerta's still spasming future corpse, before he forced himself out of his state. Rosmerta wasn't the first death he'd seen personally. However, it was the first one he hadn't caused. He gazed around the room, catching the eye of some students on the floor as the muffled cries and sobs intertwined with the laughter. Any sense of safety had been quickly dispelled by Rosmerta's murder, and a cold fire ignited in him as he pictured Theo's body next to Rosmerta's. Pansy's body. Susan's body.

"What do you want?" Longbottom snarled.

"Not you, unfortunately, though, I'm not opposed to a bit of fun with you later. But no, right now, I'm here for-"

"Me." Harry said simply, calmly stepping out from behind Neville as he bought more time for him to come up with any ideas. "Hey arsehole."

The man smiled widely, calmly walking towards him as he stepped over Rosmerta's body and soaked blood on the floor. "Bingo!"

"Stay back!" Longbottom shouted, jabbing his wand at the man in what Harry assumed was meant to be more threatening and less terrified.

"Wait your turn, will ya?" Dolohov immediately acted, moving faster than Harry had ever seen anyone other than Moody move, the man pulled out his wand and blew Neville backward.

"Arresto!" Granger screamed, catching Neville's flying body just before it hit her and Ron.

Harry cleared his throat, ignoring the spectacle that had just happened, as he slowly began moving away from his friends, hoping to remove the man's attention from them. "You know my name, but I don't think I know yours."

"So gracious of you," the man said amusedly. "I was led to believe I was dealing with a mannerless brute."

"I don't think you understand," Harry continued without missing a beat. "I'm not looking for any pleasantries between you and me, I just like to know the name of a man before I kill them."

"Oooooooh," he smiled, and the other five men did not hold their laughter. "Such gumption, such… balls. I like you, kid! Antonin Dolohov, at your service." He finished off with a bow and a wink.

"Who sent you?"

"Well, aren't you a clever boy?" Dolohov laughed. "You are… unlike what I expected, I must confess."

"So I keep hearing, and you haven't answered my question."

"And oh how I wish I could answer it, my little friend. My employer, bless his soul, he did everything he could to conceal everything about him. I couldn't tell you who he was even if I wanted to. But what he wasn't able to hide, at least from me, is just how badly he wanted me to hurt you. I mean, it almost seems as if you murdered this guy's puppy, and then took a shit all over its corpse. What the hell could someone like you do to piss off someone like that?"

"How about you raise your wand at me and find out?" Harry said, stopping as he realised Weasley and Longbottom were having a row with Granger, slowly moving away from her.

"You?" Dolohov raised his eyebrows with mirth. "Ohh, this is going to be fun. You don't even know what's about to happen, do you? You seem to be lacking creativity, my employer doesn't want you dead." He smiled. "He merely wants to make you wish you were."

"Expelliarmus!" Two chorused cries snapped his attention to his side as he watched Longbottom and Weasley attack Dolohov. The man, in an almost lazy manner, parried both spells before he was overcome with a fit of cackles that made the hair at the back of his hair.

In an unnatural abruptness, Dolohov stopped laughing and turned to the two boys with a large grin that displayed all the yellow, near rotten teeth, in his mouth. Harry screamed internally, he could see three of the other men already training their wands on him, if he were to raise his against Dolohov, he would be compromised, and the look in Dolohov's eyes promised the sanguinary murder of the two boys.

"Neville! Ron!" Granger shrieked, running over up to them whilst pulling out the wand from her robes.

"Ah, ah, ah," Dolohov taunted, and as he did, one of the other men came up from behind Granger, putting one of his arms over her neck as he held her tight to her, his wand coming to rest on her temple. "And who might this pretty little bird be?" The man licked his lips, motioning for two of the other men to put wands on Longbottom and Weasley, before he began walking over to her, fixing his hair with a predatory smile.

One less wand on him, but it wasn't enough. He tried to temper the flare of hatred that overcame him as Dolohov sauntered over to Granger, but was unable to do so. Numbers over skill, he couldn't do anything without risking either of those morons or Granger. He needed a distraction, he needed speed, he needed an element of surprise. Turning to Pansy, he nodded towards Granger with an intense expression. She gritted her teeth, but he could tell she understood the basics of what he was asking of her."

"Hey, you ginger freak!" She shouted, stepping out of the safety of the crowd. "I don't think the Mudblood cares much for your advances."

No apparition or floo, the windows and doors were being guarded by the man as they controlled the rest of the hostages watching the exchange wide-eyed. He had no idea how to make portkeys, and Harry doubted they would've forgotten to add anti-portkey wards. This felt too coordinated, too well planned, they hadn't left any loophole, none that he could think of at the moment. His best bet was waiting for the Aurors, see if they could get past the protections they placed outside that completely obscured the windows.

"You know…" Dolohov turned to her - one less wand on Granger. "I really don't care for that word."

Except… he had been able to attempt an apparition, he hadn't even been able to do that at Hogwarts. His problem hadn't been with managing apparition, it had been with escaping through the apparition wards.

"I really don't care for your ugly face either," Theo said, placed himself slightly in front of Pansy, draining one more wand targeted at Harry. "You fucking twat!"

Granger was the clear and present danger, a wand straight to her temple, if he moved a muscle, the brute would most likely blow her brains out. Weasley and Longbottom followed, as he trusted more of Pansy and Theo's skill in combat, besides having Daphne and Draco there for support if needed, only it would leave Susan unprotected. It would not come to that.

Harry took his chance, twisting on the spot, he suddenly appeared a few feet above the man holding Granger hostage. Falling on top of him, he used the surprise to move the wand arm away from Granger's head just before it blasted a curse that hit a nearby chair, obliterating it instantaneously. However, it wouldn't give for long, the man was far stronger than him and without the element of surprise he was fucked.

Gripping his wand from the bottom, he stabbed it over the man's collarbone, forcing a scream of pain out of him as he tumbled backwards, releasing his grip from Granger. Twisting, he apparated right behind Granger, grabbing her across the middle before twisting again and apparating right in front of Longbottom and Weasley.

Immediately, Harry placed a powerful shield between him and the two men, who immediately began hailing a storm of curses at Weasley and Longbottom. They were meek and poorly cast, his shield could easily hold them without breaking, but the other men were beginning to overcome their shocked status.

"Oooooh!" Dolohov cackled. "Little Harry knows how to play. You're making this a whole lot more fun than I expected!"

"Get the fuck out of here, you blithering morons!" Harry roared at the three Gryffindors, who immediately vaulted over one of the booths and took cover. Once they were finally out of the fireline, he dispelled the shield and apparated behind Pansy and Theo, pulling them behind a turned over table before placing another shield between them.

"Thanks," he muttered to them.

"What's the plan?" Theo asked.

"Oh, Pottyyy. No time to sit and chat, there are a lot more kiddies I play around with!" Dolohov raised his wand painfully slowly, targeting a group of cowering Hufflepuff's that immediately began shrieking as they realised what was about to happen. Without thinking, Harry turned on the spot and apparated in front of them, his shield blocking the incoming spell, sending it upwards to where a portion of the ceiling was cut off, falling to the ground.

"You're fast," Dolohov grinned. "Let's see just how fast."

The man placed a shield in front of him before turning, raising his wand as he looked from left to right around the room. Harry trained his wand on the man, about to unleash a powerful blasting curse before he saw two orange lights headed towards him. He apparated away quickly, happening in front of one of Dolohov's curses, hitting him directly in his wand arm. He screamed as a long gash spread from his upper forearm all the way to his tricep. Holding on to his wand tightly, he turned on the spot, apparating in front of the Ravenclaw couple, casting a half-hearted shield - one that was still enough to absorb the blast from Dolohov's curse - as well as two other from the other men, without breaking.

Even as his arm kept on bleeding profusely, he managed to spot Dolohov's final curse as it was aimed at its red-headed victim. Harry twisted before immediately grabbing Ginny Weasley's arm and yanking her downwards with him, immediately apparating away with her into the small fortress - built from chairs and tables inside the booth by Granger, Weasley, and Longbottom whilst fending off two of the other men. Without saying a word, he turned again, apparating only a few feet behind Dolohov, where he finally had his shot.

Casting a silent severing charm, Dolohov turned back - a maniacal smile seemingly carved permanently into his face - as it hit him straight in his wand arm. The man laughed as his arm was ripped clean off, slumping down on the ground as he held on to what remained of it tightly. The pain on his arm spiked, embroiled, Harry sunk to his knees before tending to his wound. Holding his wand with his other hand, he attempted the Episkey charm, as well as other basic healing spells he had learnt back when he had been fixing Michael up, but none of them worked on the wound.

Dark magic.

Removing his jumper, he tied it over the injury as tight as he could. It would severely limit his mobility, and he had no idea if it would stop it from bleeding, but he didn't have any other options at the moment.

Harry stood up, taking advantage that the Golden Trio, as well as Pansy and Theo, were holding off the four remaining men. He looked at Dolohov, the freak was still cackling in the ground, clutching at his arm. Training his wand at him, Harry let the same rage from Halloween fill him. He could feel it in his veins, travelling around his body like a poison - a sick, intoxicating craving that could only be quenched by letting it out, inflicting all sorts of pain to anyone who got in his way.

You're a monster.

Those three words rang in his head, and he could feel as they immediately sobered him. The worst type of blue balls imaginable, all the pent-up resentment he needed to release, suddenly gone in the most unsatisfactory way, leaving him with a void in his heart as his hand shook. He gritted his teeth in frustration, he wanted to do it, wanted to rip this arsehole to shreds so fucking badly… but he wouldn't get anything out of it. Worst, he would only feel like shit afterwards, thanks to bloody Granger's words not leaving his fucking head!

"Fuck!"

But he didn't get any respite, he was immediately forced to duck as one of the four remaining men had launched a curse at him. He quickly apparated away, seeing how the Golden Trio plus Pansy and Theo were being overpowered by the other three men. Daphne and Draco still hadn't joined the fight, but they were flanking Susan, keeping her safe in another one of the empty booths. The rest of the students were all cowering, not even the brave Gryffindors were doing anything to join in the fight - so much for house of the brave. Fucking twats.

The reality was, they could easily overpower the six attackers. There were over thirty students inside the Three Broomsticks, as well as a couple of bartenders besides Rosmerta. Their numbers would manage to overcome their lack of skill and practice, but no one was willing to do shit. Then again, a small voice in his head reminded him, the attackers weren't there for the students. They were there for him.

He launched a silent blasting curse to the centre of the three men attacking the others, launching each of them in different directions by the size of the explosion. In his distraction, the remaining man targeted him with a purple curse that Harry just managed to shield himself against.

The blast exposure wasn't enough to incapacitate the other three, they recovered quickly, and were all headed for Harry. The others tried helping him out, but one of the men turned towards them, targeting the ceiling with reductor curses, bringing it down and effectively stopping them from being able to help.

Instead of being able to go on the offensive, he was left shielding and apparating all around the room, having to be careful with his apparitions so that no student would be caught in the crossfire because of them. Soon enough, the attackers began apparating around the room as well, making it excruciatingly hard to even hit one, much less launch a curse without fearing any collateral damage. Soon enough, he was tiring at an exponential rate. It would be impossible to keep this up, he needed to think of something to stop the fight, anything. But it all seemed useless, and the fact that a single one of the men managed to keep the other five busy was extremely annoying.

Soon, grunts and yells rang from behind him, and Harry quickly took cover with a shield. Turning, he could see Dolohov, who was clutching his cut-off arm - that was no longer bleeding, as he began attacking Daphne, Draco, and Susan. The three returned fire, but it was useless, Dolohov was far more adept*in duelling and magical knowledge.

"Hold on!" Harry screamed, but was immediately forced to apparate away.

Appearing behind Dolohov, Harry launched a powerful blasting curse at him. Only, Dolohov turned around, placing a shield between him and the curse. He was saved from being exploded into smithereens, however, the power of the curse broke the shield the moment it impacted it, blasting him straight into the booth where Daphne, Draco, and Susan had taken cover at.

Harry had no time to waste, as another curse had been launched at his head. He apparated a little beside Theo and Pansy, launching an expulso curse - one he had only begun learning a few weeks back - towards the man who had been attacking the others. Taking him by surprise, the man was blasted away. The curse, while poorly cast, was still strong enough to smash the man across the room, onto the wall on the opposite side, leaving a large and growing red stain on his robes.

"Hello, gorgeous," a childish voice said loudly, before it was followed by a giggle. The room stopped, gaining Harry's attention as he turned around wildly, only for his breath to get snatched away at the scene in front of him. Dolohov was standing atop the booth, with Daphne lying across the seat below it, a massive bruise on her left eye, a cut across her left cheek, and a broken leg. Draco was lying unconscious at Dolohov's feet, his face painted with blood, his jaw and nose broken, and a large stab wound on his abdomen. However, what held Harry's eyes was the pristine and unhurt Susan Bones, who was currently being held with his arm going under her armpit, across her breasts, and his hand with a wand dancing against her throat. "Isn't she beautiful?"

Harry was too stunned to speak, and Dolohov smirked.

"Get away!" She struggled, but Dolohov put some pressure against her skin with his wand, stopping her immediately.

Snapping out of his trance, Harry immediately raised his wand, only to stop before he could do anything. He couldn't risk it, leaving his arm shaking in impotence.

"I can see why you like this one," Dolohov said conversationally, ogling Susan in a way that elevated Harry's heart elevate unlike ever before, he could feel his heart inside his head, as any use of his brain was nullified by the almost impossible wrath flowing through his body. Dolohov stuck his tongue out, licking the girl from her cheek to her temple, making Susan cringe as tears of anger began forming in his eyes. "Just exquisite."

"GET AWAY FROM HER!"

"You were doing so good," Dolohov suddenly spat with uncharacteristic anger. "I was actually impressed! And then - THEN! You let me live! So much promise, fuck, a part of me wanted for you to kill me! You showed so much strength, so much character - so much… ME, and then you squandered all that by letting me live! You turned weak! All your power, your skill, all that priceless nature you showed, so unlike every other idiot in this country, and you threw it all away! You let your morality, your… conscience rule you! What a pity."

"GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM HER!" Harry roared again. "YOU WANTED ME! HERE I AM!"

"No, no, no!" Dolohov threw a tantrum. "You don't listen, do you! My employer didn't want me to kill you! And even if he did, that doesn't matter anymore! You're… special, just the type of person this country needs, our cause needs, I need! So much power and ability, wasted away on some petty grudge, I won't have that. The Dark Lord will see what I see, I'm sure of it… now I see why I was called back!" He grinned suddenly, before sobering up just as quickly. "But you're not ready. You're still weak, ruled by some absurd principles mediocre men before us brainwashed us with to. Nullified us with, all because they were too scared of our true potential. You need to understand that in this world, there's no place for morality, no place for sentimentalism or any of that bullshit."

"No," Harry said, somehow knowing what was about to happen.

"You need to learn what it takes to survive in this world, there is no line you can't cross, no invisible rules to limit you."

"Don't you dare!" Harry screamed, his hand shaking faster as he was too afraid to even cast a simple spell.

"The world is cruel and unforgiving, being anything other than that will only subject you to its mercy. There is no place for weakness or naivety if you want to survive it. Deluding yourself of being a good person, of following your code, will do nothing but get you killed. You… and the ones you love."

"NO-"

Immediately, Dolohov slashed his wand against Susan's throat. Blood spurted out from it like a fountain, as an unbelievably large gash - one that cut across half her neck and propelled her head back, suddenly appeared.

"NOOOOO!"

Harry apparated to her, just in time as Dolohov let her go, catching her before she fully fell. As she did, her neck completely snapped backwards. He gently cradled the back of her head with his hand, falling to his knees atop the table.

"You're okay, you're gonna be okay." Pulling out his wand, Harry put it against her neck and began pushing all his remaining magical strength into the episkey charm. "You're gonna be okay. Come on!" He cast it again, and again, but none of his attempts were successful.

"It's not going to work," Dolohov singsonged. "This isn't your standard severing charm, it's a dark cutting curse, one which isn't affected by healing spells and only has one counter-curse. One I didn't bother on learning." He cackled madly.

"No, no, Susan, don't go, please." He threw his wand to the ground, cradling her head with both his hands. Her mouth suddenly spouted blood, landing everywhere, in an image Harry would never forget. "You're okay, you're okay. You're okay." He kept repeating, each time with a louder sob. He stared into those blue eyes, always so warm and full of… her - now a vacant shell of itself. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, please, don't go. Don't leave me. Susan. Oh, God, please! Don't go, Susan, please, God. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

The world around him slowly disappeared as Susan became the centre of his universe. Uncaring about the blood, he brought her up to his shoulder, hugging her tightly as he sobbed and cried like he hadn't done in such a long time.

You're a monster.

Those three words again, only, it wasn't Granger who said them.

He should've killed him, he should've murdered the fucker, murdered every last motherfucker who thought it would be a good idea to attack him and his. The unrelenting sorrow gradually turned to pure, unbridled rage. Rage at whoever sent these men, rage at Dolohov, rage at himself. As abruptly as he was pulled out, he was back to the real world. Back beside that laughing psychopath.

Gently, Harry laid down Susan's head before rapidly apparating on top of Dolohov's lap, who had taken to sit in the same booth where he had just murdered Susan. There was no restraint as he gripped Dolohov's shirt and began beating the shit out of the murderer. As he did so, Dolohov only laughed harder.

"YES!" His demented guffaw was cut off by another one of Harry's blows. "Harder! Come on!"

Harry pushed the both of them out of the booth, landing on the ground, he continued hitting Dolohov mercilessly. One of his blows even launching one of Dolohov's tooth's out as the man's face became more bloodied by the second. He kept on before he was violently thrown across the room by a blue lightning that hit him directly on his left arm.

Growling, Harry stood up, ignoring his now broken arm as he apparated again, landing on the booth where he grabbed his wand before once again apparated. Landing in front of the man who had launched the curse at him, Harry quickly gripped his wand from the bottom, and, taking advantage of the element of surprise, stabbed the man directly in the eye. The man screamed in agony, a sound which Harry ignored as he removed the wand from the socket and stabbed the other eye as he pushed the both of them downwards.

No other sound but the man's screams and Dolohov's laughter could be heard.

Pulling out his wand once more, Harry stabbed the man at the neck, before casting a blasting curse that sent his head flying over to the ceiling of the pub, drenching him and anyone nearby in blood and guts as everything above the man's shoulder's was utterly destroyed.

Without taking a second to rest, Harry looked up. Everyone was staring at him in terror, not just the attackers who were only now realising what would happen to them, but everyone else - all the students, the bartenders, the Golden Trio… even Pansy and Theo.

Good.

The shock wore off the men as all of them began launching curses at him with unyielding speed. Harry apparated away from all the blast points, behind the three huddled man before he conjured a rope out of his wand and threw it over one of the men's neck, immediately transfiguring its physical composition to be made from magma. The man cried out, and Harry tightened the rope, burning over the skin, muscle, and bone until it completely beheaded him.

Before the headless body had fallen to the ground, Harry had cast a severing charm at the man on the left, one that completely opened up his stomach and released his innards onto the floor. Turning faster than the last one had time to react to the deaths of his two companions, Harry shoved his wand into the man's mouth before, using all his might, he cast a shield charm inside the man's head. The shield was swift and large, bursting from the top of the man's head and the back of his neck, and Harry watched as the front part of its head slowly dropped off before the body toppled upon itself.

Harry panted, throwing himself to his knees as he recovered from the exhaustion, hearing as Dolohov kept giggling madly - the mere sound boiling Harry's blood all over again. He stood up, casting another blasting curse at the unconscious body of the man who had been dealt with by Longbottom and Weasley at the beginning of the fight. Its head exploded in gory fashion, as everyone stared, terrified they'd be next. All but one.

"He's down," Pansy warned him as she stepped between him and Dolohov.

"Don't make me move you," Harry warned, his voice trembling, and there was no doubt in him that he would force her to get out of his way if it came to it. And she knew it too, for she sighed, but stepped aside.

"Brilliant," Dolohov cackled, choking on his own blood. "I haven't seen such gory kills in such a long time. What a rush!"

Harry didn't answer, instead, he launched two blasting curses at Dolohov's legs, exploding both into small pieces as the man finally stopped laughing for a second as he cried in pain. Though it didn't last, as he continued laughing again.

"Potter, stop!" Longbottom screamed at him, but Harry ignored him. He knelt in front of the man and began hitting him over and over again. Each hit was cathartic, as groans of pain meddled with the laughter, Harry finally felt something, he felt good. Beating that piece of shit to death would be the most satisfying thing he would ever do.

"Stop! Harry!"

"That's enough, you fucking psycho!"

"Potter!"

He kept going. Violently removing the tears from his cheeks in between each hit, as his hands got bloodier and began aching more and more, Harry didn't want this to end. He needed this, needed to keep going for hours, days. Maybe, then, he'd truly feel good. There was a certain cleansing with the pain, not just the one he was inflicting, but the one he was receiving. He deserved this pain just as much as Dolohov deserved this beating.

His laughter and taunts grew more incoherent, and it wasn't until two minutes of non-stop blows where Harry stopped, a morbid sense of curiosity getting hold of him over what Dolohov was saying.

"You…" He wheezed, a smile still etched in his face. "Are… ME."

Harry growled, hitting the man once again before, suddenly, the windows to Three Broomsticks burst open, with two men on each window jumping in only a second later. The door was also blown off the hinges as Scrimgeour and Shacklebolt stepped inside, a gaunt look on their faces as they looked around the room, with Scrimgeour's eyes eventually landing on Harry's.

In a flash, the world began spinning. Harry stumbled around, feeling weaker and more nauseous by the second, with the only thing he could hear being the gurgled laughter from Dolohov.

That's it for this chapter! Thank you all for reading!

Next chapter will focus on the aftermath to the whole A Long Day At Hogsmeade arc, so stay tuned for that!

By the time I'm posting this, I'm three chapters ahead. I'll post a new chapter every 7 - 10 days in FFN and AO3, but if you want to learn how to get early access to them, join my discord server using the following link: discord . gg / jyPfbGqhJT

As always, thank you for reading, favouriting, and commenting! I appreciate all of you! :)