CHAPTER NINE
Inherited Creed
In retrospect, launching a flare and giving his location away to four dozen armed anti-witch radicals wasn't the smartest thing he could have done.
By the time Harry lowered his wand, the foot soldiers (who'd still been scrambling to find him on the warehouse floor) turned their rifles up at the overhanging walkway. The only reason he wasn't immediately riddled with bullets was due to their fear of hitting their leader.
However, that became less of a problem for them when Oliver Sterling made a run for the stairs.
Hidden underneath his Invisibility Cloak, Harry was temporarily frozen as he tried to figure out his next move. A part of him was lurching to chase Sterling or at least use magic to pull him back. Perhaps even use him as a human shield against the guns that were being pointed up at him. Another part wanted to sneak away and hope no one could hear the sound of his footsteps on the rattling, metallic walkway.
Instead, Harry acted cautiously and threw up a Shield Charm. However, while this protected him from gunfire, it also revealed his location to everyone in the warehouse.
It was rather difficult, maintaining a single Shield Charm to protect himself from the relentless assault of bullets that were being fired at him, and it was using up more Mana than he would've liked. Worse still, the Witch-Hunters were observant enough to notice that his back was entirely exposed. His stomach dropped when he saw a bright handful of them hurry underneath the walkway to take a shot at him from behind.
His vitals were protected by the Auror gear he wore beneath his clothes, but his hands, feet, and (most importantly) head were exposed to any projectiles that were fired his way.
Fortunately, he was only one member of a larger team.
"Accio Guns!" Anthony shouted as he, Michael and Terry flew through the hole in the ceiling. There were shouts of outrage as guns were yanked out of hands. However, their reprieve was a short one. Witch-Hunters were trained to fight Aurors and knew to strap their rifles around their torsos before confronting them.
Still, by the time the Hunters managed to grab hold of their hanging guns, Michael had already landed on the warehouse floor, disillusioned himself, and moved swiftly amongst them to sow discord in their ranks. "Go!" Michael shouted. From the direction his voice had come from there was a flurry of panicked movement as half a dozen Hunters began to sink into a pit of quicksand. "We've got this!"
"Yeah, we do!" Terry called from across the room. He was cackling wickedly as he dropped vials of Scale Solution onto the heads of Hunters below. Harry guessed that being doused with a magical potion that was thrown from a flying broomstick was every Witch-Hunter's worst nightmare. Which, he slowly realised, was probably the reason Terry was doing it. The ones lucky enough to avoid the solution fled in terror as their comrades began to shapeshift into giant reptiles.
Credit where it was due, Terry really knew how to take control of a room.
As much fun as their friends were having, Harry and Anthony didn't hang around to join in. The former vaulted over the walkway railing and landed on the back of the latter's broom.
"Which way?" Anthony called, already flying forward to avoid any stray bullets from striking them.
"That way!" Harry pointed at the nondescript door at the end of the highest walkway. "It looks like an office, but it's radiating the same kind of magic as an Undetectable Expansion Charm!"
"Spatial magic?" Anthony asked, having to raise his voice to be heard over the skirmish below. "How far does it go?"
"Only one way to find out!" Harry pointed his wand at the door as they approached. "Arbeto!" Normally- in a Wizarding establishment- any door that was intended to be secure would've been protected with more than just a lock. But Harry guessed that Dolohov wouldn't want to keep coming and going to open the door for his Muggle allies.
He was right, and the door opened with a bang. Zooming inside the long corridor, the boys landed, and Harry jabbed his wand over his shoulder. "Colloportus!" The door slammed shut and the heavy-duty locks whirred closed. After a brief moment of hesitation, Harry added, "Decalustrum!" and the edges of the door glowed an ethereal white before melding into the stone wall.
"Good idea," Anthony nodded. "That should slow down our party crashers."
Harry stared at him. "Our what?!" When Anthony caught him up on the two sorcerers he'd seen hurrying to the warehouse (at least one of which was wearing a Dark Mark emblem on their chest) he let out a groan. "As if this wasn't hard enough." He gestured at the maze they'd stepped into.
The door they had come through should have opened up into a tiny office that surveyed the warehouse floor. Instead, they had flown right into the mouth of a stone-walled labyrinth with more doors than any building had a right to have.
"You realise you have to go back and grab the others to help me destroy the research, right?" Anthony asked as they ran down one of the many corridors in their search for Dolohov. Harry used his kindjal to slice open the locks on every door they passed as the two hoped to find the Artifice stored in one of the rooms along the way.
"Yeah, yeah, I know." Harry sighed. He wished he could have used the Flagrante Spell to leave markers on the walls, but he didn't want to leave a trail for the Death Eaters who would inevitably break through the door to follow after them.
"You'll have to do it after you fight Dolohov, which means you'll be exhausted at the very least, probably injured-" Anthony continued.
"Yeah, I know!" Harry snapped as he cut the lock on the next door. He felt relieved when he saw the Goblin Silver monstrosity waiting for them at the centre of a cavernous room. He shoved Anthony inside and locked the door behind him as best as he could. It was only after applying all the protective and obscuring spells he knew on the door that he feel safe enough to continue his hunt for Dolohov.
He was nearing the Acolyte's location but opening every door they'd come across had slowed him down. Enough so that one of the party crashers he'd been warned about beat him to it. Perhaps it would have taken them longer if they hadn't taken such a direct route.
With his Mage Sight, Harry could see Dolohov scrambling around in the distance- likely gathering his things in preparation to escape the fight- but then the ceiling caved in and a secondary figure dropped into his room. Harry could immediately tell how dangerous he was, both because his Mana Reserves were almost as large and dense as the Acolyte he had now engaged in combat, but also because he made no effort in concealing them.
This was a sorcerer that was unafraid to be noticed.
However, as concerning as this was, Harry was more focused on the explosion that had come from behind him. Glancing back at the corridor he'd just come from, he was alarmed to find that someone had blown clean through the wall. Knowing that he couldn't continue on his way and expose his back to a Death Eater, he braced himself for the brutal duel ahead. He felt he was right to do so as this intruder was as powerful as the one that had just dropped in on Dolohov.
It was a mark of how much he disliked her that he further tensed when he recognised Felicia Solace through the dust and smoke. He would have preferred a Death Eater.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Harry demanded.
Felicia turned towards the sound of his voice. She looked like she was about to reply before pausing. Her eyes narrowed as she looked right over his head to where she'd sensed Dolohov's location from the combat flaring behind him. "Avenging my sister," she said bluntly before brushing right past him.
Harry growled slightly and hurried to keep up with her. "Oh, so now you care about her?"
Felicia didn't stop running, but she did look him in the eye for the first time. "What does that mean?"
"I was at her funeral. You couldn't even be her Wand Bearer."
"Not that it's any of your business-" Harry's voice had been cold, but Felica's response was glacial "-but I let her down. It would've been a lie to pretend that I'd been there for her when she was alive."
Harry blinked, ruminating on that as they skidded around the corner. "I let her down too," he admitted carefully, thinking of his failure to protect Dolohov's victims. "She expected more from me, and I let her down." Even without Mage Sight, it would've been obvious where they needed to go; the door at the end of the corridor looked like it was about to vibrate off its hinges.
"I know what that's like," Felicia muttered, clearly bracing herself to burst through the door.
"Dolohov's on the right," Harry told her. He could recognise the Acolyte by his Mana and didn't know if Felicia could do the same. "I'll take the other one." Felicia slowed down some at that, glancing at him with some concern. Apparently, it had taken her this long to realise she was running head-first into battle with a thirteen-year-old. Harry immediately dissuaded her of any well-intentioned, but unnecessary concern. "Don't worry. Captain Solace trained us well."
"Of course, she did," Felicia's expression didn't change, but there was a tinge of pride in her voice. "She didn't know how to do things by halves."
"No, she did not." Harry agreed as he raised his wand at the door. "When this is over, we need to talk. Your sister wanted me to tell you something." He ignored her sudden call to wait, mostly because he wanted to discourage any ridiculous notion of this being a suicide mission, but partly because this was neither the time nor the place for such a conversation.
He jabbed his wand at the door, shouting, "Arbeto!" Running through the door, Harry took a quick survey of the room beyond in a split second before he made his next move.
Despite the thick layers of bandages wrapped around his midsection, Dolohov had a clear advantage over his attacker. There was a variety of transfigured items like blades, tables and eviscerated animals scattered around the room and between the two Death Eaters. While Dolohov was in the centre of the room, his adversary was already injured, bloody and had been pushed so far back he was pressed against the wall.
Both men froze when the door was blown wide open. As Harry was the only one expecting his abrupt entrance, he was the first to act.
Trusting his new ally to have his back, Harry flooded his body with a finite amount of Mana while twisting his wand at the vaguely familiar Death Eater. Expelliarmus! Harry burst forward with such speed that he was almost able to keep up with the spell he'd cast. By the time he crossed the room, he caught the Death Eater's wand just as it left his grip and tackled him through the already-weakened wall he'd been pressed against.
Brick and plaster gave way as they burst outside, tumbling over the paved ground, carried forward by his enhanced momentum. Harry did his best to not only keep the Death Eater in his grip but to subdue him properly in an armlock Captain Solace had demonstrated. However, it proved difficult to do so when he had a wand in each hand, and the two ended up separated before they could even come to a complete standstill.
Harry leapt to his feet the moment he stopped rolling. He was ready to jump back inside through the hole he'd made as he could already sense fierce spells being exchanged between Felicia and Dolohov. However, instinct made him throw himself back to avoid an incoming attack.
But he wasn't fast enough.
The Death Eater moved so quickly that Harry could hardly sense him coming. It was as though he'd melted into the very air around him. While he was able to dodge the elbow that had been aimed at his temple, Harry wasn't able to keep a hold of the man's wand, and it was snatched from his grip the very moment he'd jumped backwards.
Harry bounced on the balls of his feet and got into a fighting stance, now recognising how dangerous his opponent was. He was one of two men he and the other Marauders had met in The Howling Tavern a couple of years ago: Kanishk Agarwal.
While the Disarming Charm had caught him off guard, he was skilled and practised enough to reflexively augment his body with magic before Harry had shoved him through the wall. Any normal person would've been left with more broken bones than intact ones, but he only had plaster dust sullying his black robes to show for it.
The injuries on his body were numerous, yes, but they were given to him by Dolohov, not Harry.
"You landed one blow on me, boy. One." Agarwal spoke with an eerie calmness, as though he hadn't just been locked in deadly combat with an Acolyte ten seconds ago. "It will not happen again."
Harry smiled impertinently. "You wanna bet?" The Death Eater's calm expression was betrayed by a scowl. Harry's smile grew just a little wider.
There was a brief moment of stillness where each waited for the other to attack first. Sensing his tension, Harry's blackthorn wand thrummed in his grip, anticipating the fight.
Then they both exploded into action.
At first, Harry believed Agarwal's words might come true. He spent the entirety of the duel fighting defensively, but while that might've been enough to put him on the backfoot five weeks ago, he was a shade more experienced now.
Agarwal was lightning-fast when it came to casting spells. He proved this repeatedly by launching a never-ending stream of Martial Spells to end this duel as quickly as possible. But Harry didn't make it easy for him. He had fine-tuned both his body and sensory abilities to work together seamlessly. He shielded, dodged and deflected every spell that was sent his way.
The jet of white light was of particular concern; it emitted a deafening screech as it tore up the concrete it flew over towards him. Worse than that, he sensed it would damage his cognitive functions in the short term, effectively ending his ability to cast spells.
Protego Horribilis! It was blocked by his Anti-Martial Shield Charm. However, before he could fire back, Agarwal followed it with three wide razor-thin slices of air that were shot horizontally towards him. Too late, Harry figured out that this was the real attack, the one that Agarwal wanted to land.
Already gritting his teeth from the strain he could feel from his enhanced movements, Harry leapt as high as he could and tucked his body into a ball. Aegis! Fianto Duri! A silvery shield emblazoned with the emblem of a black crow materialised out of thin air. By design, it was large enough to hide his tucked body behind. His jump had cleared him of the lower two blades of air- as one had been aimed at his legs and the other at his midsection- but the one that had been aimed at his head was blocked by the shield, which then emitted a deep gong-like sound.
Harry was sent into a mid-air backward tumble, flying even higher and further back by the sheer force of the air blades that had hit his shield. However, he didn't let that slow him down.
Depulso! Engorgio! He banished the shield with as much force as he could muster. On its own, the shield would've been more than enough to block Agarwal's next attack, but Harry had already added an Unbreakable Charm to it. As such, his enemy was unable to transfigure it. Still falling back to earth, Harry smirked when he saw Agarwal pause after flicking his wand at the shield, momentarily confused as to why it wasn't transforming before diving out of the way. That was where the Engorgement Charm came into play.
If it was in its original size, Agarwal would've been safe as he'd moved out of its path. But it suddenly grew five times in size, so he was still downed when the massive shield pummeled him into the concrete. Harry pumped his fist a little as he finally landed in a crouch. He'd been trying to buy enough time to return to the ground safely to prevent Agarwal from taking advantage of his lack of mobility in the air, but he'd somehow managed to take him out.
Or so he thought.
When the enlarged shield finally settled, Harry froze when he noticed there wasn't enough space for a fully-grown adult to be hidden under there. Captain Solace's words rang in his ears.
Just because you know a high-level technique, don't assume your enemy doesn't know it too.
Disillusionment Charm, Harry realised. He knew the only reason he was still alive was because he'd managed to keep his distance from Agarwal throughout the duel. He was perfectly aware that Agarwal's speed eclipsed his. If the brief window of time he had to erect defences got any smaller he would be a goner. He's closing the gap with a Disillusionment Charm.
Harry let out a burst of Mana in all directions, heavier than he normally would've done as he didn't have time to be subtle. The results that came back let him know he was right about Agarwal's overall tactic, but not the method of choice. He didn't sense Agarwal's Mana moving towards him across the ground but through it.
Tunnelling Spell, Harry thought, teeth gritted in anger at himself for not even considering that possibility. Knowing that Agarwal would simply follow him from underneath if he moved across the ground- as he was obviously sensing Harry's Mana in return- Harry pointed his wand between his feet. Aeris! The bullet of air shot him higher than he had ever gone before with this spell; he wanted Agarwal to have time to emerge before he even touched the ground.
Emerge right into his trap.
Lamina! Reduico! Several dozen knives with six-inch blades were conjured between himself and the ground before being forcibly shrunk to the size of needles. As he reached the apex of his propelled height, the ground opened, and Agarwal emerged from directly underneath him. When he didn't immediately capture Harry from below, he quickly turned this way and that before he eventually realised he'd been had. Agarwal looked to the sky, but it was already too late.
Depulso! Harry had cast the moment Agarwal emerged from the ground. By the time he looked up dozens and dozens of sharp miniaturised projectiles were already too close to block or evade. To his credit, while the first of the shrunken knives embedded themselves in his face, neck and beneath his left ear, he managed to throw up an arm to protect himself from the rest. Aside from that, his Death Eater armour managed to save him from the worst of such a mundane attack.
But the few that got through were more than enough.
"Engorgio! Accio!" Agarwal had believed the needles were a distraction for a bigger threat, so he didn't realise it was the real attack. Not until it was too late, anyway.
The shrunken knives returned to their original size, both those that had fallen harmlessly to the ground and, more critically, those that had been driven to the hilt in his head and neck. Agarwal might have managed to save himself if Harry's Summoning Charm hadn't ruthlessly pulled the blades from his body.
By the time Harry's feet touched the ground, Agarwal was already waving his wand at himself in an attempt to self-heal. So he was too panicked to see, much less sense, the incoming Disarming Charm. Harry caught the wand as Agarwal flailed on the ground, blood gushing from his head and neck.
Ears filled with the familiar rattle of a man's dying breath, Harry dropped to his knees and gasped for his own. His muscles were overworked from the Body Enhancing Technique, and his stomach felt queasy due to the grisly sight before him. He almost couldn't believe the thing lying there had been a man thirty seconds ago, but it was easier to acknowledge that than the fact that he was responsible for it.
For a few moments, the pain in his muscles and bones became so great that he forgot where he was. This was a critical error as he was in the middle of a three-way battle.
He was suddenly thrown to the ground and his vision turned white when a large, booted foot kicked him in the side of the head. Harry felt the harsh THUNK! vibrate throughout his entire body as his skull bounced twice on the solid pavement. Before he could even begin to assess the damage, a second boot stomped down on his wrist and the crack! of breaking bone echoed off the buildings around them.
Harry managed to choke down a cry of pain, but he was unable to keep hold of his wand with a broken wrist. However, just as the thought of using his Ouroboros to summon his wand to his other hand appeared in his head, he was pulled back up onto his knees by a clenched fist in his hair. Despite his face burning and already beginning to swell on one side, he got a good look at his attacker.
At some point during the fight, Mr Bridger had lost his weapon but he looked prepared to kill Harry with his bare hands.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0
It wasn't weapons or skills that made Witch-Hunters so difficult to fight. It wasn't even their natural immunity to the Mind Arts. No, what made them the vexation of the Auror Corps was their sheer numbers. No matter how many cells were stamped out, another popped up to take its place.
Just as they had destroyed the Witch-Hunter cell in Acacia Asylum, another had popped up here to take its place.
From Basic Training, Michael knew that Witch-Hunters outnumbered Aurors ten-to-one, and that was the most generous of estimates. But it was one thing to be told that and another to experience it in person.
As they'd attacked with the element of surprise, he and Terry had been able to overpower them with relative ease but corralling them was proving more difficult. While the smaller boy remained airborne- not wanting to risk a slow and clumsy dismount until it was safe- Michael was left to capture the stragglers and bring them to the cage Terry was building from on high.
As Michael dragged a balding, middle-aged Hunter back to the still-in-construction cage with invisible cords, there was a flurry of movement from their gathered captives. The handful of teenagers that Harry had arrived with managed to escape on foot.
"Oi! Go get them!" Terry shouted down at him, still working on attaching the final bars on one side of his giant cage.
"I wouldn't have to if your cage didn't have three walls!" Michael shouted back. He carelessly tossed the bald Hunter inside said cage. "I already caught them all once, didn't I? And now I'm supposed to do it all over again?!"
"Yes!" Terry snapped. "Because Harry's gonna be pissed off if you let his side piece escape!"
Michael had already been halfway to the warehouse door, but when he heard the term "side piece" come out of Terry Boot's mouth, a shock of laughter was expelled from his chest with such force that he almost fell over. "I dare you to say that to him later!" He called back, voice choked with mirth.
He could just about make out Terry's returning shout when darted out of the warehouse. "I will! But only to see the look on his face!"
Michael expected the hoodlums to make a run for their mopeds, so he was surprised when they instead ducked into the warehouse straight across the open area between the row of buildings. He could see the outlines of their silhouettes within as they'd left the door wide open for him.
It was an obvious invitation, one he was going to have to refuse.
"Brachiabindo!" There was a chorus of yelps and shouts as the attempted escapees were yanked off their feet and dragged towards him by invisible cords. When they threw vile insults in his direction, he got back at them by binding them all tightly together and silencing their voices.
In the sudden quiet, he was able to hear movement coming from the darkness of the warehouse.
Michael didn't hesitate. "Protego!" The Shield Charm was erected in the nick of time. Something sparked off it, and the sound of a gun firing reached his ears a fraction of a second later. There, stepping out of the darkness, was the man Harry asked them to keep an eye out for the night before, just in case he came home.
"Let them go!" Bridger shouted from across the way. "Let them go, or I'll-"
"Or you'll what?" Michael shouted back defiantly. He noticed the hand holding the pistol wasn't even shaking but he was unsurprised by this; one of the captured kids was his daughter. No, what bothered him was the lack of remorse. That shot could have killed him.
"Accio Gun!" The pistol was wrenched from Bridger's hand with enough force to break his trigger finger. Michael heard the crack of bone even from across this distance. He caught the gun and dropped it to the ground. "Defodio!" His Gouging Charm was strong enough to take a hefty chunk from the middle of the pistol as well as a bit of concrete beneath it, leaving only the handle and barrel at his feet.
Cradling his injured hand, Bridger opened and closed his mouth like a fish at his destroyed weapon. Harry had mentioned that he was an experienced Witch-Hunter, but like most of them he'd probably only ever hunted the most vulnerable of their kind- young children and the poorly educated- never going against a sorcerer specifically trained for combat. Michael would have been more than happy to teach him what a competent duellist was capable of, only Bridger didn't give him the chance.
"There's no point in reasoning with devil spawn," he spat, before turning on his heel and fleeing back into the warehouse.
Michael was so stunned he didn't even bother giving chase. Instead, he glanced down at a furiously silent Sara Bridger. "That's your dad abandoning you? I can relate." He found momentary humour in how her mouth moved in violent anger as she insulted him silently. Before he could come up with something taunting to say back at her, he heard the repeated slap of boots on pavement coming from the warehouse.
Michael whirled around, afraid that Bridger had returned with Witch-Hunter reinforcements, only to be met with the sight of something much worse.
Five men and women wearing the Witch-Hunter's guerrilla uniform sprinted out of the warehouse and into the freezing cold. At first, Michael was concerned for them. He thought they might be captives of the Hunters that were using this opportunity to escape. It was only when they when moved to encircle him that he spotted the polished sticks of wood in their hands, and he finally understood what was going on.
Dolohov had perfected the procedure.
Michael didn't know how powerful or skilled they were, but he didn't want to take any risks, so he darted back to stop himself from becoming surrounded. However, this proved to be a mistake. One of the women pointed her wand at the bound group he'd captured, now that he was no longer obstructing them from sight.
"Finite Incantatem!" The bindings were undone and the captured teens scrambled to their feet and ran away.
Even though Michael already guessed they weren't holding those wands for show, it still felt like a punch in the gut to see the spell work perfectly.
"TERRY! GET YOUR ARSE OUT HERE!" Michael bellowed, knowing he couldn't fight and capture all these people alone. Evading a Disarming Charm and a Body-Bind Curse, Michael jabbed his wand at the ground. "Seisimos!" The earthquake he manifested was nothing compared to the one Captain Solace used to destroy Acacia Asylum, but it was powerful enough to knock everyone present off their feet.
Unfortunately, this included himself.
Michael blinked back tears, rubbing the spot on his head that banged against the fractured pavement and glanced around to make sure that none of the Witch-Hunters escaped his earthquake. However, while he was pleased that he'd even managed to knock over the fleeing hoodlums like a row of bowling pins, he missed the nearest Hunter pointing their wand at his side from where they were slumped on the ground.
"Diffindo!" Michael turned, raising his wand to defend himself even though he knew it was too late. He was going to be hit.
Lucky for him, Terry had excellent timing.
"Protego!" A shield sprang into existence just in time to block the Severing Charm from cutting into his side. "Stupefy! Stupefy!" The first jet of red light struck the offending Hunter and knocked him unconscious, but the second was blocked by another with an adequate Shield Charm. "I'd ask who these people even are, but their uniforms make that fairly obvious." As a sign of how dire the situation had become, Terry's voice lacked any trace of humour or frivolity. "I can't believe he managed to perfect it," he muttered as he knocked half of them over with a powerful gust of wind.
"But he's only had a month to train them," Michael pointed out. He blocked an incoming Mouth-Sealing Curse with enough power to rebound it back at its caster. "See? I can handle them alone," he said confidently as the struck Hunter struggled to unseal his mouth. "I just need you to round up the junior division." He jerked his head at the fleeing group of teenagers that had now almost reached their mopeds.
"You lost them again?" Terry tutted and ran after them before Michael could snap back. "Accio Broom!" His Nimbus 2000 shot out of the warehouse and met him halfway to where the kids were already zipping off on their bikes. Terry leapt onto his broomstick with more skill than Michael would have expected of him and gave chase.
Michael turned out to be right about the Hunters' level of skill. Dolohov had only trained them on the Basic Seven as well as a handful of other useful, but rudimentary counter-spells. While this was little threat to him at the moment, it was a sign of how dangerous the Artifice was if this was the result after only five weeks.
Still, the Hunters' numbers were enough to make them a threat. Their training and discipline meant they worked well together and it took all his skill to both fight them and keep them from reviving the ones he'd already dispatched. He would have to end this quickly.
Michael had duelled against Joan, Solace, Harry and Anthony over the last eight months, so he was used to fighting opponents that were far quicker and more skilled than he was. As such, he was able to put down the remaining four Hunters in under a minute.
As the last of them fell to the ground, bound and unconscious, Michael took a second to catch his breath. While it hadn't been particularly difficult, having to be aware of so many spells coming from so many different directions had pushed his spatial awareness to its limits in a way that Quidditch never had. However, it wasn't so easy to turn off. From the corner of his eye, he noticed a burly figure running off into the darkness.
"Oh no you don't," he muttered as he gave chase.
Bridger was surprisingly quick for both his size and age, but Michael managed to shrink the gap between them by the time the former rounded the first corner. Despite this, he found that he'd been too slow when he made the corner himself. Bridger was already pulling a beaten and bloody Harry to his knees by his hair.
"You!" Bridger was hissing, his expression apoplectic. "This all started with you! My family is gone because of you! My daughter is hurt because of-"
"Because of me," Harry finished. His voice was muffled by a mouthful of blood, but his irritation was more than clear. "Yeah, yeah, I know." His face was swelling up on one side, and Bridger was still gripping his hair, but Harry looked at him as though he were less than dirt. His levels of condescension were almost impressive.
Michael didn't think Bridger could get any angrier, but his reaction to Harry's flippant words proved him wrong. It was only when the man raised his fist to strike his best friend again did Michael finally snap out of his surprise, pushed forward by sudden rage. "OI!" He bellowed. Bridger froze and he seemed to remember that he'd been fleeing before he came across a downed Harry.
Michael had a Stunning Spell ready on his lips, but Harry moved first. He twisted in Bridger's grip and grabbed him into a wrist hold with one hand before jamming the thumb of his other, floppier hand (Was his arm broken? Michael wondered) into the man's eye. "Oh," Michael rocked back and forth on his feet, unsure what to do with all the fury that had risen within him. "You had it."
"Nah," Harry groaned as he held his left hand open, the bronze runes on his Ouroboros flaring bright gold before his wand snapped into his palm. "I really needed someone to come along and shout "Oi!" Seriously. That was so useful. Vides Corpori!" A colourful three-dimensional representation of Harry's body shimmered into existence, before zeroing in on the clear damage that had been done to his head and wrist.
"Ha, ha." Michael rolled his eyes. "Remind me to leave you to your fate next time." Harry smiled briefly, letting him know that he'd only been joking, but Michael still felt useless. Even when the perfect opportunity presented itself, he was unable to save Harry in return. When was he going-?
"Oh, good." Harry's sigh of relief snapped him out of his troubled thoughts. The results of the Diagnostic Charm were good, more or less. "I thought I might have a concussion or something. Episkey! Momordi Recesus!" He waved his wand at his own head, first healing the cut inside his mouth before dealing with the growing bruise on the side of his face. "Brackium Emendo!" With a sharp whistle of air as the vacuum was filled, his wrist snapped back into place and Harry rotated it once as though checking for pain. Nodding as though satisfied, he said, "Let's get going."
"Not without me." Terry flew around the corner at a sedentary pace. The four escaped teens and five artificial Hunter/Sorcerers were dragged underneath him in a conjured fisherman's net.
Harry raised an eyebrow. "I'm not even going to ask. Come on." He turned to lead the way back into the warehouse. Michael would have followed but Terry stopped them.
"What about him?" He pointed at Bridger, crumpled on the ground at Harry's feet with a hand clamped over one eye and wrist cradled to his chest.
"Oh yeah," Harry muttered with the air of a man that had been reminded of something mundane. "Petrificus Totalus!" The Body-Bind Curse left Bridger frozen but still experiencing the pain he was in.
Michael didn't fail to comment on that. "You are so cruel," he said, shaking his head.
"I know," Harry replied unashamedly. "Now come on! We got to help the others!" He took off running, leaving Michael and Terry to stare at his back.
"Others?!" Terry shouted after him. He was still flying on his broom but had dumped the net filled with comatose captives next to Bridger. "What others?!"
0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Anthony had been rattled after killing Elias Torrington.
With everything that happened later that night, his and Michael's fight against the Death Eater had been overshadowed, but not entirely brushed over.
His parents had been appropriately concerned when they found out. Anthony would've preferred to keep it from them forever, but the downside of having two high-ranking Aurors for adoptive parents was that they were both his superior officers. They were able to get their hands on his post-mission statement with ease.
Anthony knew he was lucky though, as their concern came from a place of love. They'd been tactful in bringing it up, asking him about it in the privacy of their home and well away from Terry's ears. However, while they didn't believe he was alright despite how many times he repeated that fact, they eventually gave up after telling him to come and speak to them if anything changed.
"Just because you're okay with what happened today doesn't mean you will be okay with it tomorrow," the Commander told him sagely. "It might hit you when you least expect it, but just remember there's no shame in feeling whatever it is you feel."
"That's right," Joan chimed in, squeezing his hand. She had taken hold of it when this talk began and hadn't let go since. "We know you only did as much as you had to. He was attacking you." While it was reassuring to know that they supported him no matter what, it did little to change the fact that he wasn't concerned with what he'd done in the slightest.
That was what had bothered him. He didn't feel anything after killing Elias Torrington.
Of all his friends, it was only Michael that knew the truth. He'd tried speaking to Anthony several times about it when the new term began. Anthony got so annoyed with his concern that he took measures to avoid all his friends just to get a little peace.
If he was being honest with himself, his real annoyance didn't come from Michael's concern but from his fear that Terry might learn the truth of what he'd done. It was no real secret, as his brother could simply ask for the mission report next time he was at the Citadel and see it written in plain parchment and ink, but Anthony dreaded the very idea of it. He feared that Terry might come to look at him differently because- even though he would never admit it out loud- it was his brother's opinion that he valued the most.
Due to his self-imposed exile, Anthony spent most of his time wandering around school and- due to her penchant for exploring all nooks and crannies of the castle and grounds- he often found himself bumping into Luna.
It hadn't escaped his notice that she always seemed to appear whenever he was on his own. While it could merely be a coincidence due to her stark lack of friends within her own year, Anthony enjoyed the idea of her seeking out his company.
On a particular afternoon, as they were standing on the shore of the lake, far away from the school, Anthony admitted his worries about his disturbing lack of empathy. As always, he could speak to her freely about anything and everything without fear of judgement or letting her down. Luna Lovegood was impressively unimpressed by almost everything she came across.
"I do feel bad about it," Anthony had told her. "But only because I don't feel bad about it." With his hands hidden underneath his cloak, he gave her a helpless little shrug. "I did it because I felt it was absolutely necessary at the moment."
"So why are you so concerned by it now?" Luna asked from where she was crouched by the water, feeding snails to a curious Plimpy that had come to greet her at the surface. "Did someone say something to you?" She turned her head back to face him as she asked this, her expression indifferent as ever, but there was a defensive tenor to her voice that made him smile a bit.
The idea of this small, spacey little girl coming to his defence made him want to chuckle. He suppressed it as he didn't want her to think he was laughing at her or that the thought wasn't appreciated.
"No," he said finally when he regained control over himself. "I just know that some people react differently when they kill. Especially the first time." He didn't mention Harry by name. His friend had only told himself, Terry, and Michael about what had gone down between him and Quirrell at the end of their first year. Anthony didn't want to betray his confidence.
Luna hummed nonchalantly as she returned her attention back to the water. "You shouldn't let other people's expectations wear you down, Anthony." She paused to plop another snail into the water. "Don't think you have to apologise for what you did, because you don't. If you say it was necessary, then it was so."
For some reason, he accepted the words more readily from Luna than he did from his mother. Joan had spoken them as though she had been trying to convince him while Luna uttered them as though it was plain fact.
Now in the present, he did his best to focus on those that he'd lost rather than those he still had. Thinking about the people he cared about calmed him and that was the opposite of what he needed right now.
Despite this fact, remembering how Harry had simply thrown him into this room and locked the door behind him was a good place to start.
The room he'd been forced into had bare stone walls, just like the maze he'd stepped in from. It was empty save for a few levitating cots and the familiar Artifice that was given centre stage. There were a few disturbing stains here and there that could have been the remains of potion ingredients or something more sinister, but Anthony decided not to concern himself with that at the moment.
It was dangerous to destroy the weapon without proper airflow, so he pointed his wand at the wall that should lead to the world outside. "Defodio!" An immense chunk of stone was cleanly removed from the wall, but it wasn't nearly large enough for a device the size of a small house to fit through. After half a dozen more Gouging Charms, he was able to create a hole large enough for the Artifice to squeeze through.
"Locomotor!" He would've thought the Artifice too precious to risk moving by a motion charm, but Dolohov must've been moving it with enough regularity that relying on the Witch-Hunters to lift it for him became impractical. Whatever the reason, Anthony was grateful for it now as it allowed him to levitate it outside, behind the warehouse.
When the Artifice was floating above the pavement between this row of warehouses and the next, Anthony prepared to cast the most powerful spell in his arsenal. The rage necessary was easy to come by, as he was staring at the object that had led to the death of his squad captain.
Raising his wand, Anthony roared, "IGNIOTEMPUS!"
The chilly evening air rippled with hazy heat waves for just the briefest of moments, before igniting into a red-hot raging firestorm that enveloped the Artifice that hovered before him. Anthony had taken care to cast a Flame-Freezing Charm over himself before he got to work, but he still found it difficult to breathe as the air around him became incredibly dry after just a minute.
While the stubborn Goblin Silver began to slowly turn red around the edges, the environment exhibited the results of his intense flames far more rapidly. The sound of exploding glass quickly became familiar to his ears as the windows of the warehouses around him couldn't take the heat. The buildings caught on fire themselves, and the pavement around the Artifice began to soften as the fire quickly surpassed its melting point.
But the Artifice remained stubbornly solid.
Anthony forced himself to think about his most hated enemy, Vincent Lancer, and the sight of his picture on the front page of Wizarding World News. He forced himself to think about the mother he would never come to know and the father that had spent most of his son's life laying in a hospital bed in a hellish limbo. Anthony forced himself to think about Captain Solace and all the other people that had been hurt due to his failure to destroy the Artifice the first time around.
That's right, Anthony told himself. The Acacia Asylum mission was his failure and his alone.
But not again, Anthony thought as he focused all his energy on the floating Artifice before him. He was filled with such fury that he tasted the metallic tang of blood emanating from the back of his throat. I can't do anything about Lancer now. I can't help my father and my mother is beyond my reach, but I can destroy this damn thing.
The firestorm seemed to vibrate for a moment before exploding with incandescent energy. The flames turned bright blue, and the heat became so powerful that he began to drip with sweat despite the Flame-Freezing Charm that was still keeping him safe.
I'll do whatever the mission calls for, Anthony silently vowed. It doesn't matter if I have to kill someone or save another. As long as I get the job done, I'll never have to live with regrets again.
His new mindset was already serving him well. Right before his eyes, the Artifice began to melt and droop at the edges, letting him know that the end was in sight.
Suddenly, somewhere in the far distance, Anthony heard a roar of, "PROMETHEUS!" The warehouse wall behind him exploded outward, showering him with flaming brick and plaster.
Turning his head back, he saw Antonin Dolohov glowering down at him with seething fury.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Felicia had been caught off guard when she'd first noticed the Potter boy entering the industrial park. She'd been confused as to the reasons behind his presence here, but if she thought speaking to him would clear anything up then she was quickly proven wrong.
His clear disdain for her, quick turnaround, off-the-wall strategy and, worst of all, his reveal that Alexandra had given him a message meant for her, had all left Felicia in stunned confusion.
She wasn't the only one.
When Potter launched himself forward with augmented speed and strength towards the other Death Eater, she and Dolohov could only stare, dumbfounded. The boy used the man's body as a bulldozer, smashing his way through the wall and to the street outside, leaving them to gape at the hole he'd left behind in a dull stupor.
"What the Bedlam is going on?" The Acolyte wondered aloud. Felicia could understand his confusion. From his perspective, he'd been attacked by a former ally only to be saved by the son of the two Aurors that had defeated his former master.
Fortunately, Felicia had a little more warning about what the boy had been planning. She was able to react to their bizarre circumstances a little quicker than he could.
She cast three Severing Curses, one after the other and all with precise targeting. Dolohov predictably dodged them, too experienced to be caught entirely off guard, but he did so in the exact pattern that she assumed he would. This left him with only one place he could go.
With his back to the wall, Dolohov had no more space in which to dodge the Piercing Curse that she had fired at him. However, this was a duellist who was experienced enough to know that some injuries were acceptable in the place of others, so he dropped to the ground at the last second and took the curse to his shoulder instead. He clearly considered losing the mobility of one arm to be worth escaping here with his life, something that less seasoned fighters couldn't manage as they instinctively avoided any injury at all.
Not wanting to lose her advantage, Felicia conjured a pack of wolves to corral him as he attempted to roll away. Dolohov turned his attention to the animals as they were the most pressing threat, but as he cut them all down, he left himself open to attack from her spells. Severing and Piercing Curses rained down on him like hail, and while he made a good attempt at avoiding the first few and using her wolves as a shield from the rest, eventually a jet of light met his throat.
Felicia held her breath. For a split second, she believed that she'd won, but then a concussive blast of scarlet energy was released from Dolohov's body which blasted everything away from him, including her.
Blinking tears out of her eyes, Felicia lifted her head and looked around to assess the damage that had been done. She had still been standing in the doorway when the energy had been released, which meant that she'd been blasted back into the corridor, where she banged her head against the nearest wall.
Struggling to her feet, afraid that she'd lost Dolohov even though she came here expecting to face such an attack, Felica was knocked back down by a Tripping Jinx. As footsteps approached, she realised that Dolohov hadn't taken the opportunity to escape as she'd imagined but had come to play with his food instead.
"You know, you're the second bitch who's taken a piece out of me," Dolohov informed her as he loomed over her downed form. She remained silent, but he must have noticed an imperceptible twitch. "Oh, you knew her? Is that what this is about?" He glanced back at the room that they'd been fighting in. "I suppose that would explain why Potter is here." He sighed and tutted. "I wouldn't have killed her if I knew it was going to bring me so much trouble." He paused briefly before chuckling. "No, that's a lie. I definitely still would have killed her. Making that little chit cry was worth any trouble."
Felicia was experienced enough to know that she should keep him talking and wait for a better moment in which to strike. However, nothing set her off more than people speaking ill of her family.
Attklyva! The Disarming Curse was blocked of course, but it gave her enough room to scramble to her feet and let loose with the deadliest curses in her arsenal. She attacked him with the same rage that led her into torturing a fellow Auror. The same wrath that cut a bloody swathe through the Witch-Hunter ranks and led her here in the first place.
Felicia thought this unbridled anger was a good thing, as it allowed her to fight with strength she never knew she had, but this was exactly what Dolohov wanted.
Where she had been calculated in her offence earlier, there was nothing but wild, sloppy attacks coming from her now. Dolohov seemed like he was having fun, smiling as he dodged and deflected her spells back at her, which only served to infuriate her more.
The worst part was that she was just self-aware enough to recognise how detrimental her current state was to her goal, but she couldn't stop herself.
Commander Boot always did say that she had a terrible temper.
Finally, she was brought to a forcible stop. Her Severing Curse was deflected right back at her, catching her in the middle and opening up a long, deep cut in her stomach. The pain of it washed over her like a bucket of cold water, temporarily extinguishing the raging flames of her anger. She staggered backwards where she slumped against the wall after her legs gave way.
Dolohov's laughter echoed off the stone walls, so it seemed like a small crowd was jeering at her pathetic showing rather than just one hated man. "It's poetic, isn't it? You came here to avenge her and now you're going to die by the very same spell." He grinned widely down at her. "I might just stick around long enough to watch this time-"
He suddenly froze as though someone had hit him with a Body-Bind Curse. After a moment, he turned away from her and stared blankly at the wall to his right.
He's sensing something, Felicia realised dully, more focused on stemming her blood loss than locating what had attracted her enemies' attention.
"PROMETHEUS!" Dolohov roared with sudden rage. He pointed his wand at the wall and a Expulsion Curse blew it to smithereens and he ran out of sight.
Felicia took this opportunity to tend to her wound and found that she was just as out of practice in her healing as she was in her duelling. She was left with a nasty, ropey horizontal scar across her abdomen. Drinking a Blood Replenishing Potion, she released a thin burst of Mana outward, trying to sense what had attracted Dolohov's attention. What she found sent a thrill of fear running down her spine.
Dolohov was outside attacking another sorcerer, while Potter and two others were running at full speed in their direction. It didn't take her very long to understand that this was the entirety of her sister's Cadet Squad, as it seemed unlikely that Potter alone would have come to avenge her.
No, they're here to complete her final mission, Felicia corrected herself. If they were here just for revenge, then the four of them would have come down on Dolohov at once instead of just Potter. No, instead of coming here to settle a score, they were doing exactly what an Auror should do. Exactly what Alexandra would have wanted them to do. Exactly what Felicia had failed to do.
Felicia gritted her teeth and climbed to her feet, casting a Numbing Curse on her midsection to quell her pain. Those four reckless, moronic boys were the last pieces she had of her little sister. She would be damned if they were taken from her as well.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Harry had expected Anthony and Felicia to require their assistance, but it quickly became clear that they did not.
Anthony had levitated the Artifice outside where he was able to let loose with a powerful inferno. Felicia had moved the fight to the corridor outside of the room they'd found Agarwal and Dolohov in. Through Mage Sight it was plain that the Acolyte was on the back foot as he was merely deflecting the spells that were being thrown his way.
So instead of helping them, Harry led Terry and Michael in a rapid search of the warehouse to locate any documents or research that Dolohov may have had. After all, there would be little point in destroying the Artifice if anyone could replicate it with his written work.
Fortunately, finding the room that held the bulk of the research proved easy, as the door had been left wide open. While Harry found this mildly disturbing as he'd passed this door ten minutes ago and it had definitely been closed, his friends weren't ones to look a gift horse in the mouth.
"Stop wasting time and get to it!" Terry shouted as ripped open the nearest file cabinet. He took a single look at the contents before setting everything within on fire. "This stuff deserves to be destroyed," he gagged, face pale.
"I'll take your word for it," Michael muttered. He opened another filing cabinet and set it ablaze without peeking within.
Harry couldn't help himself and took a look at the research before he destroyed it, but soon wished he had not. It was filled with the most disturbing written details on Dolohov's findings and gruesome images of his numbered victims. If he'd been left with any doubt that destroying this research was the right thing to do, then a look into what that research actually entailed quickly erased it all. He couldn't believe someone, even a Death Eater, could do those things to children...
The ability to give Muggles magical abilities wasn't worth the untold number of people it would kill in the process. Even those that survived would have to live through the most harrowing of experiences.
The destruction took longer than he would've liked. The filing cabinets were protected from the outside, but they were able to destroy decades of work in under a minute before moving their rampage to the next room where they smashed vials and destroyed bizarre Artifices to pieces, before setting everything on fire for good measure.
"You know what? This feels really cathartic," Michael said loudly over the roar of flames and the hissing of chemicals. "Not just the damage we've done, but the actual ruining of a Death Eater's life work. I feel like we've truly hurt him."
As though responding to those words, the boys heard a distant voice shout, "PROMETHEUS!"
Harry reflexively raised his wand as he opened his Mage Sight. He felt Dolohov's familiar Mana moving quickly towards his teammate's position.
"Anthony!" Harry said aloud, not because the boy would hear it, but to inform the others what the trouble was. He took off running as quickly as he could. Even though he was still aching from his earlier duel with Agarwal, Harry still augmented his body with a precise amount of Mana as he moved. Anthony was alone and being attacked by an Acolyte of the Knights of Walpurgis, so even a second could mean the difference between life and death.
Harry sprinted across the burning warehouse floor, shooting a Flame-Freezing Charm at both himself and the cage filled with captured Witch-Hunters as he went. He was glad that he did so, as when he ran outside, the ground beneath his feet had already begun to melt due to the heat.
Clearly, Anthony had no choice but to extinguish his fire as he found himself the sole focus of Dolohov's fury. Cleverly, he had used the rapidly cooling Artifice as a shield between himself and his attacker. Dolohov couldn't risk damaging his already fragile Artifice, so he darted around it as quickly as he could to capture Anthony with his superior speed.
As Anthony came around the other side of the Artifice, back towards the warehouse, Harry was standing there at the ready. The instant Dolohov came into sight, Harry shot four consecutive Nightmare Hexes at him. But even though he was clearly caught off guard, he managed to block them all with impressive speed.
He let out an angry puff of air from his nose, like a bull about to charge, but paused when Michael and Terry ran out of the warehouse to stand beside Harry and Anthony. His eyes narrowed when Felicia ran through the broken wall he'd destroyed in his haste and joined the boys against him.
"Really?" He asked. "All this because I killed one Auror?"
"No," Harry replied coldly. "All this because you killed our captain." The five of them slowly began to surround Dolohov. Harry maintained his position while his friends moved to block him off from the Artifice. Felicia placed herself in such a way that would prevent any escape he could make on foot, away from the Anti-Apparition Barrier.
Dolohov wasn't blind and noticed what they were doing, but when he took a step towards his Artifice, they all raised their wands a little higher, letting him know that they weren't going to let him escape again. "Honestly," he tutted. "If this is the best the Auror Corps believes I'm worth, then someone somewhere has severely underestimated me. Truly, I'm insulted."
"I'd say you'll learn to cope-" Harry began equably, before his tone turned dark- "but you'll be too dead for that."
The moment he stopped speaking, all six exploded into action.
Anthony let loose with an intense blue firestorm that enveloped the Artifice in seconds. If they all hadn't placed Flame-Freezing Charms onto themselves they would've also caught on fire merely due to their proximity to the inferno. Michael and Terry stood beside each other, fanning the flames with air spells but also protecting Anthony from any reprisals that Dolohov might send his way.
With Harry attacking his front and Felicia at his back, the two worked in unison to bring Dolohov down. However, as she was clearly injured, Harry took point in this attack.
Aqua Erecto! A dense bullet of water, as large as a dining room table, was fired at Dolohov from the end of Harry's wand. When the Death Eater brought his wand down like a sword and parted the water around him, Harry quickly twirled his wand to prevent Felicia from being struck by friendly fire. Vibaku! The water lost all the momentum it had been launched with and instead moved to encase Dolohov on all sides.
Harry jabbed his wand at the swirling ball of floating water. Marum Aqua! For just a moment, he watched in satisfaction as Dolohov's mouth opened in a silent scream due to the water boiling around him. But then the water was turned into scalding vapour, and he landed back on the ground in a crouch. Moving to dodge Felicia's capture spells (as she too was clearly afraid of striking her allies with deadly spells) Dolohov directed the boiling vapour directly at Harry.
It would have been simpler to vanish the vapour, but Harry wanted to use it as camouflage for his next attack. Nebulus! Lamina! Reduico! Depulso! The steam was cooled by the fog that surrounded him before it could land on his skin, and it hid the shrunken knives that he banished directly at his enemy.
Though this move had worked earlier on Agarwal, Dolohov proved more aware and skilful despite his mounting injuries.
A dome made of earth sprang from the ground and enveloped him, but while this hid him from Harry's eyes, he could clearly sense him tunnelling away underground. However, Harry hadn't made full use of his best advantage just yet, as he'd almost forgotten that he had a partner in this two-on-one duel.
But Felicia didn't forget. She'd merely been biding her time.
She pointed her wand down at the ground and twirled it repeatedly. The ground responded by first transfiguring into wet cement and then rotating itself into a vortex. In a matter of moments, Dolohov was forced to the surface by the momentum of the cement, and he was coated in the grey stuff.
The exact second he became visible again, Harry and Felicia both cast simultaneous Exploding Curses at him. But even though his eyes were coated shut by wet cement, Dolohov sensed the spells incoming. He was forced high into the air by a column of earth that shot out of the ground. He pressed himself flat on the very top of it so they couldn't get a clear line of sight to hit him from their positions on the ground.
By the time they returned the ground to its original state to approach the column, Dolohov had already healed his burnt skin and cleaned himself of cement. Then he pointed his wand at the cloudy night sky.
"METEORUM!"
The stratus clouds that covered the entire sky above quickly turned orange, as though someone had set it aflame. Then the first red-hot meteor punched through its cover, roaring as it fell to earth, quickly followed by dozens more.
"I got it!" Harry called. Felicia took him at his word and moved to press the attack on Dolohov. She blew up the column he was lying upon, forcing him to leap from it.
Harry held his ground this time and stared up at the meteors that were about to smash into them. He knew he could never expose his friends to an attack, especially when they were trusting him to watch their backs.
Ignoring the spells Dolohov was throwing- Michael and Terry were both capable of protecting Anthony and themselves- Harry got to work. Impedimenta! He knew that it would be safer to simply vanish the meteors, but Harry was starting to feel the strain of expelling so much Mana after his previous duel and the continual energy he was pumping into his body to keep up with the more experienced duellists.
One by one, his Impediment Spells halted the meteors from making an impact, freezing them in place anywhere from thirty to ten feet off the ground. Harry only focused on the meteors that were about to hit himself or his allies, ignoring the ones that fell too far away to do any damage to them as well as the ones that were about to hit Dolohov while he was occupied with Felicia.
Unfortunately, Dolohov had summoned the same scarlet Combat Avatar that he'd used during his duel against Captain Solace. It protected him from the meteors and brushed off the fires they left in their wake.
However, every cloud had its silver lining. Harry had already guessed a possible weakness for the Combat Avatar and he was willing to bet Felicia had too. If Dolohov kept using it...
Felicia was conjuring wave upon wave of fearsome predator animals to attack Dolohov and to prevent him from having another moment of rest to regroup. Harry rejoined the duel and attacked with a new level of ferocity, as he wanted to keep Dolohov's attention as divided as possible.
Avis! Oppugno! Harry copied Felicia's idea of using animals to distract Dolohov. He conjured a murder of crows and sent them forward to attack with extreme prejudice. Then he took her idea a step further. Piertotum Locomotor! The remains of the many animals that Felicia had conjured- only to be eviscerated by Dolohov- now returned to life. Beaks, claws and sharp teeth all began to move independently to attack and distract the enemy.
Dolohov swore when a dismembered bear's paw took a swipe at him. Harry smirked when he saw the Avatar falter. He now had evidence that his initial theory was right.
If they simply split his focus enough, his ultimate defence would falter.
Dolohov himself had given Harry the idea, as he'd used the same tactic against Captain Solace. He'd divided her attention between himself, the safety of her Cadets and the innocent people he put in harm's way, all to get a shot at her unprotected body.
Harry and Felicia were now working to achieve that same result. They just had to wait for the perfect moment to strike.
Harry could only hope that moment presented itself quickly. He wouldn't have enough juice left in him for the final attack otherwise.
Fortunately for him, Anthony came through with impeccable timing.
An ear-splitting screech was suddenly released into the night air, originating from somewhere within the azure firestorm. Anthony immediately stopped conjuring fire from his wand and fell to his knees in exhaustion. The sight of the now glowing red Artifice was revealed to them all, intact for only a moment before changing from a solid state to a liquid one before their eyes.
Later, Harry would learn that the Goblin magic which kept the metal safe from anything that would damage it was burnt away by the intensity of the fire, leaving nothing but molten silver bubbling on the ground like lava.
"PROMETHEUS!" Dolohov cried again. For a second, Harry believed he was calling for an ally. Then he realised it was simply the Artifice's name.
Dolohov began to move towards his destroyed life's work and swept aside all attacks cast upon him with his scarlet tendrils. But while Harry was distracted by the possibility of unknown enemies joining the fray, Felicia kept her focus on the fight in front of her.
The concrete had been forcefully settled earlier so that she and Harry weren't impeded by it while dealing with the column of earth and shower of meteors from above. Now, Felicia twirled her wand at the ground at Dolohov's feet and once more turned it into cement.
Dolohov had taken a step towards Harry, intent on going through him by any means necessary to exact revenge on Anthony, so he was unbalanced by the now fluid ground he was standing upon. Felicia doubled down, and with another slash of her wand, she transfigured the still-frozen meteors into sand and whipped them at Dolohov to combat the red octopus arms that were already trying to dig him out.
Harry wasn't the only one to know about the Combat Avatar's weakness; he'd informed his friends of his theory back on Friday. So the instant the Artifice was destroyed, Michael and Terry darted forwards before splitting up, each one coming around on one of Dolohov's sides.
Dolohov, unbalanced as he sank into the cement, hesitated. Harry could understand why; his next move wasn't immediately obvious. But that brief moment of hesitation was what they'd all been waiting for.
Even if his Combat Avatar was at full strength, Harry knew one spell that was guaranteed to blow him back. Though he had failed in his attempts to conjure it before today, he was certain he was capable of it now.
We wear these badges to protect people. There's no other reason for all of this. If we do anything that gets in the way of that- if even a single person is harmed after we've arrived on the scene- then we've failed. Remember that.
He had failed in his duty once. He'd ignored Captain Solace's lesson in a desperate scramble to save himself and his friends. He'd abandoned Dolohov's experimented victims to their fates without a second thought, thereby forcing Solace to divide her attention to save them and damning her to an early death.
Harry swore, then and there, to take her creed as his own. He would never fail to follow it again.
Felicia flung two Severing Curses at Dolohov's back, Michael shot a Gouging Charm at his left flank and Terry conjured thin razors of hot air aimed for the Acolyte's right. Harry, standing directly in front of Dolohov, spoke his incantation aloud.
"FULUMINATA!"
The air pressure around them plummeted and the scent of ozone became more prevalent than the ash of the burning industrial park. The flash of white light that followed was all anyone saw of the bolt of lightning that was fired from the end of Harry's wand and their bones rattled at the clap of thunder which followed.
Dolohov willingly lost his balance to bring his full focus on moving his Combat Avatar around. He wrapped the octopuses' many scarlet arms around himself, creating several dense layers to protect his front. Even with that layered translucent armour, he was still rocked backwards by the mighty force of the lightning bolt. But he was unharmed. The Combat Avatar had protected him.
Unfortunately for Dolohov, in doing so he had left the incandescent armour on his back thin and virtually exposed.
As their first wave of attacks had been blocked, the Cadets prepared to launch a second wave, but Felicia made such a thing unnecessary. She darted forwards with speed that could only have been enhanced and stabbed her wand directly into Dolohov's spine.
"BEULLA IGNIS!"
A wicked blade made of scarlet flames shot out from her wand, through Dolohov's torso and out his front in an explosive burst. Harry could see the Death Eater's mouth open and close in silent shock as the fire incinerated his heart. His armour shimmered and fell away as his hands came up and scrabbled uselessly at his chest, burning his fingers on the red turret of fire that was still shooting through him.
"No," he gasped, weakly.
"Yes," Felicia hissed, darkly.
Dolohov dropped face first on the ground, an undignified end for an undignified life.
"Good riddance," Harry muttered, before joining his teammates on the ground, utterly exhausted.
Around them, the industrial park continued to burn and light up the night sky in a smoky orange as though signalling their destruction to the world.