As soon as Dumbledore stepped outside the wards, Augusta let go of Sirius' arm, and the man sunk to his knees. "Merlin, that was exhausting." He muttered.
"We did the right thing." Frank said out loud, and Alice nodded.
"I can't believe everything that's happened over the last few hours…" Augusta sighed. "James and Lily are gone, and You-Know-Who might actually be gone too if Dumbledore is to be believed."
"I don't know whether or not to trust him." Sirius admitted. "I think he's right about most of what he said, but that blood protection thing seems a bit of a stretch to me." He shook his head. "All we know for certain is that Harry is alive, and James and Lily…" His voice broke, and he began to cry once again.
Nobody said anything, but Alice approached Sirius and crouched beside him, rubbing his back in much the same way Augusta did not even two hours prior.
With Frank's guard up because of Dumbledore's antics, he noticed immediately when the Headmaster apparated away, and breathed a sigh of relief to himself. Hopefully, there wouldn't be too much trouble –
Oh, Merlin's balls.
"Mum…" Frank said cautiously, not taking his eyes away from what he'd just spotted. "Do you see that?"
Augusta looked towards where Frank nodded his head, and saw the same thing: a crowd of people exuding an incredibly angry aura, all clothed in black. "Alice." The old witch said in a commanding voice. "Go back inside. Get Neville and Harry and go to the cellar."
Sirius and Alice looked at each other in fright before looking towards the incoming group.
Alice swiftly disappeared back into the house, and Sirius had his wand drawn before Frank could even say anything.
"Sirius," Frank started. "If this is the end—"
"Don't, Frank." Sirius replied darkly. "I lost James and Lily tonight. I won't lose the rest of my family too."
Overhearing his declaration of them as family – something he'd never done out loud before – made Augusta want to swoop him into a hug again. Merlin, she was so proud of her boys. Frank, Sirius, James, even Remus… all of them were her boys, and all made her a very proud Mum.
"We'll get through this together, just like we always do." Sirius continued. "I just wish we had James here too."
"We'll do it for him. For Lily. To protect Harry."
"And Neville," Sirius added. "Just because James and Lily are gone doesn't make your son any less important."
Frank smiled at him. "Of course."
An attack on the wards drew Frank's attention back to the Death Eaters not ten feet from him, and he raised his wand to point at them.
Right in front was Bellatrix Lestrange, Sirius' least favourite cousin. Honestly, he could not possibly hate a family member more than he hated Bellatrix, and he thought he hated his Mum more than anything. But after the emotional turmoil that she put Andromeda through when she married Ted, Sirius could never forgive her.
And right now, it looked like Bellatrix had something to hate him for eternity about, too.
She screeched something at him through the wards, but it was so muffled that all he heard was incoherent anger. He put a hand to his ear with a smirk, indicating that he heard nothing, and this infuriated Bellatrix even more.
Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange were also in the group, with their wands raised and their attacks on the ward being felt by both Frank and Augusta. He saw a boy that looked a lot like the son of the Head of the Department of Magical Law, Bartemius Crouch Senior – of that, he wasn't certain, he was never close with the boy so would never even be able to pick him out of a crowd – was with them, which surprised him. Before he could react, he realized there was one other person. A man Frank recognized as being someone they went to Hogwarts with, by the name of Owen Oakwood.
Oakwood was always a bit of a slimy bastard in a lot of ways, but nothing more so than his treatment of women. He was particularly nasty towards Gryffindor and Hufflepuff girls, especially the Half-Blood and Muggleborn ones, believing them to be below him as a Pureblood Slytherin. Despite her status as a Pureblood witch as well, Oakwood seemed to really enjoy tormenting and harassing Alice, especially once she became a Prefect. Oakwood never became a Prefect himself, but he liked to harass the Prefect girls.
Oakwood was expelled in his sixth year, due to an attempt to assault Alice in an empty classroom. Thankfully Alice had always been a powerful duellist and she had him incapacitated before Frank himself had found them. Many of the girls who Oakwood had tormented over the years came forward around that time to talk about their experiences, and were grateful to Alice for his expulsion, and humiliation at having been beaten in a duel by a fourth-year girl.
Frank doubted that Oakwood had ever forgotten about that, or forgiven Alice for it. In fact, he'd be willing to bet several galleons that Oakwood would have been the first to sign up for an attack on their home.
His thoughts were confirmed when he made eye contact with Oakwood, and Oakwood shot a malicious grin at Frank.
A jarringly strong jolt on the wards came upon them, that almost felt like it could never have come from the Death Eaters in front of him. Regardless, it tossed Frank out of his daze of anger, and he focused his attention back at the Lestrange brothers. He and Augusta both shot up spells of their own, attempting to keep up the wards, but Bellatrix, Oakwood and the Crouch boy all joined the Lestranges in their efforts, and the wards were failing faster than the two Longbottoms could put them back up.
Frank chanced a look at the house, where he saw through the window that Alice had both Harry and Neville in her arms and was summoning food from the cupboards into a basket, and she turned towards the window to look at him. A silent conversation was had, and she nodded at him in understanding. They looked at each other with all the love in the world, before the fleeting moment was over, and she was leading the boys to safety.
"Sirius," Frank said urgently. "I need to admit something to you before we start this battle."
"Frank, please don't tell me you're in love with me. Now is not the time." Sirius cracked a smile.
Frank chuckled briefly. "I'm completely into women, sorry my friend. But I have an emergency plan I developed with Alice when Neville was born if things ever go very south during a duel. Mum knows it, and I need you to know it."
"Let's hear it."
"If I think things are going badly and are not going to end without massive loss of life, I can do something drastic to hold them off. The plan was originally for Alice to take Neville and run, but now it is for you and Mum to take them all and run. If –"
"No, Frank. It'll be up to your mother to take Alice and the boys. You're not holding them off by yourself." Sirius responded.
"Sirius, I'm an unregistered Animagus. I can hold them off on my own as a bear." Frank admitted.
Sirius threw his head back in laughter. "Oh Merlin, what are the odds?"
Frank was shocked still, but only for a brief moment before continuing to fight against the ward attacks. "The odds?"
"James, Peter and I are all unregistered Animagi too. I'm essentially a Grim. I can hold them off with you."
Frank grinned at Sirius. "Well, I suppose that would be fun, wouldn't it?" He turned to Augusta, still grinning. "So I suppose you are in charge of Alice and our boys if we have to take drastic measures."
Augusta nodded, trying to suppress her own smile. "I'll keep them safe, Frank. You know that."
Another particularly strong jolt of magic hit the wards, and Frank and Augusta were thrown back a few steps, both of their concentrations broken. The last of the wards falls, and the whole group of Death Eaters step forward cautiously, as though uncertain if they would still be hurt by the wards.
Sirius aimed his wand directly at Bellatrix, still standing in front. "Bella." He growled.
Bellatrix glared at him. "What have you bastard blood traitors done with the Dark Lord?"
"Done?" Frank asked incredulously. "You don't know where he is?"
"He went to attack the Potters and never came back!" Rabastan yelled. "He won't answer our summons!"
"But we heard that the Potters are dead, which means he must have succeeded." Bellatrix continued. "So that means that the Dark Lord is somewhere, and we want to know where."
"Some precious servants you are, if he won't even tell you where he's gone. Maybe he just got sick of you and left." Sirius teased, raising an eyebrow.
Bellatrix snarled at him. "Our Dark Lord loves his servants! He would never!"
"Your master is dead." Augusta cut in, and the Death Eaters all stared at her in shock as she continued. "Dumbledore said so himself. And You-Know-Who didn't succeed. Harry Potter still lives."
"Lies!" Bellatrix screeched, and she shot a hex at Augusta who easily blocked it. She approached angrily and sent repeated jinxes and hexes towards Augusta, who blocked all of them. "Lies! Lies! All lies!"
Augusta blocked a particularly nasty-looking purple hex sent her way, and in return cast a stinging hex directly at Bellatrix's face. The Death Eater screamed and cursed, holding her face, and both Rodolphus and Rabastan rushed forward to attack Augusta as Bellatrix fell to her knees.
Before the other two Death Eaters could join them, Frank blocked Oakwood's path with a shielding charm that he ran face-first into, and Sirius simply cast a tripping jinx on Crouch Jr.
Oakwood took one look at Frank before sending a hex at him, which Frank blocked with the same shield charm. Frank, remembering the horrid grin on Oakwood's face before the wards fell, felt a surge of protectiveness and a need to ensure Alice's safety above everything else. He knew there was no holding back; this was going to be the duel of his life.
And, he thought as Oakwood gave him the same terrible smirk again, there was no one else he'd rather be fighting for.
A/N: Thank you for all the reviews! Stay safe!