A/N: All previous warnings still, and will continue, to apply. Not for children or the faint of heart, or anyone sexually conservative. You've been warned.
Thanks as always to my amazing Beta, Hrymeigh, for going back and editing everything I've already posted before digging into new content.

And thank you to all those who review, it really does encourage me to post the chapters sooner. :)
Enjoy!

Chap. 15: Battle Damage

Harry grunted, then sighed out loud in visceral relief when he felt the Bond strengthen tenfold as if cables were being wrapped around it tightly. Master, I'm here. We- Hermione, Ron, and a few others- are in the Hall with you. What Row...?

I don't know, he thought, I can't s- see. Be careful. Probably hiding, a lot of them. Three I can see, one- victim. Professor Tofty.

A few seconds passed, Alright, I told your friends. They seem resolved. Good trait. Be patient- stall if you can. We're coming.

Harry, though, had had enough stalling. Knowing his friends were close, even in the same cavernous room, gave him a strength he hadn't felt just seconds before. "You know one reason I won't give you the damned orb?"

Lucius took off his mask, moving slowly and deliberately, then stepped up to Harry, looking directly into his eyes in the dim light, "Why is that, Potter?"

"My hands are still tied."

The Death Eater blinked, then frowned, hissing, "Idiot..."

A wave of his wand later, Harry collapsed bonelessly to the ground. Before he could react, he was hit with another spell, one that sliced his cheek clear through- Harry could taste blood on the inside, and felt a familiar wash of cold air through the pain, which helped solidify, in a weird way, his thoughts.

"Now, Potter... enough stalling. The orb, if you please."

He struggled to his feet, hand brushing across his pocket. There was no wand, of course.

Slowly, he reached for the sphere, brushing his hand across it. "Mm... how about no?"

The squat man didn't resort to a spell this time. Instead, he yanked Harry's head back by the hair, the other pressing the wand into his carotid artery, "You'll do as yer told, boy. We're only gettin' warmed up, see? Grab it."

"Now, now, husband," the woman cooed, "Perhaps we should play... nicer."

Husband... brother... that's Bellatrix Lestrange, which means this is Rudolphus behind me.

The information meant something, he was sure.

What, he couldn't quite tell.

The situation, not least the wand prodding his neck, was a bit distracting.

The once-gorgeous but now wasted woman who pressed her body against him was less so, but not without notice.

"So, little Potter boy," Bellatrix whispered into his ear through the mask, "Do you like to play? Does the pain excite you, like it does with me?"

"Can't say it does," Harry grimaced, fighting the urge to strike physically at her or her husband, both of them entirely too close for his comfort.

"Shame," she whispered, then, louder, "Lucius... I'm randy. Since Rudolphus can't help me anymore, will you?"

"I don't know why you think you're still prettier than my own wife," the blonde wizard said cruelly, "But no, I'm busy. Perhaps... perhaps in a few minutes. After we've... gotten what we came for."

"Mm, that sounds nice," Bellatrix cooed, running a hand down Harry's chest, "Maybe we can play with Potter, too. Our Lord will give us a gift, yes?"

"Not my- my thing," Lucius said with a swallow as he approached the witch from behind. Harry thought he might have felt a hand slip around her waist, between her and Harry, but he couldn't be sure.

E- Eww...

I'm here. Master, and they're heavily dosed with Fog... not sure what else I can do and stay hidden. Your friends are just seconds away... I think. What's the plan?

Harry frowned, hand still hovering near the orb, body aching with remembered agony already. More... can you do more? Get Lucius and Bellatrix more distracted?

There was a brief pause, then Lilith's voice echoed in his head again, Probably. Not without becoming visible, though. And you should know, there are a lot more of these robed folk around than you can probably see. Fifteen, I think.

This conversation, mental rather than verbal, took just a few seconds. Harry swallowed as Rudolphus Lestrange's wand twisted further into his neck. "Al- Alright," he murmured quietly, not really having to fake the stress and tension in his voice.

Friends on the way or not, fifteen adult witches and wizards with a penchant for cruelty and the Dark Arts were about to be swarmed by... some number of his friends.

It would be a slaughter, and Harry wasn't going to be on the winning side.

He had to do something drastic.

His shaking fingers closed around the ball. It was surprisingly cool despite the radiant light coming from it, and very smooth. Yet, as he lifted, there was no problem keeping his grip. Slowly, the hand and arm withdrew from the shelf while he felt the heft.

Just a few pounds at most, not really an effective weapon, and he didn't know how hard it was.

In fact, the only weapon he could see... Lilith, I need a wand. Mine, if you can find it, but if not- the one in my neck will work. Stay invisible.

He slowly turned, arms slightly spread in a hopefully-subtle attempt to get Bellatrix and Lucius to back away, give him some room to move. Rudolphus, though, stayed on him, the way Harry had turned meant only that his enemy's arm was no longer wrapped around his neck, but jointed between them.

"There you go, Potter... that wasn't hard, was it? Now, if you please..."

Harry swallowed, then held out the prophecy orb over Lucius' outstretched hand.

It was at that exact moment that, as far as even Harry could detect, some unseen force yanked the wand jabbing into Harry's neck upward, causing a painful scratch with the tip against his jaw and cheek, then, the moment it left the wizard's grasp, spun end-over-end and down into Harry's empty right hand.

The left hand, already outstretched, drove up and forward, the knuckles crashing into the chin of Lucius Malfoy.

The orb absorbed some of the force, and the adult wizard most likely outweighed Harry by thirty pounds or more, but he still staggered back from the sudden impact.

Before he could formulate any further plan, things blurred into motion for Harry, and there was no thinking.

From his left, the wizard whose wand he'd apparently stolen grabbed for his neck with both hands, but he was already out of reach, dashing out of Bellatrix's range, too, to shoulder-check Lucius Malfoy.

The heavier blow knocked the blonde man, already off balance, from his feet. He crashed back into the shelf on the opposite side of the walkway, which sent several shelves full of orbs crashing to the floor in a terrible symphony of shattering glass and dozens of solemn, shrieking, or madly gibbering voices.

The chaos, unfortunately, was not enough.

"Incarcerous," Bellatrix lazily incanted as he dashed past.

The ropes flew around him, beginning with the ankles, leading him to crash to the floor. "Finite!"

Harry scrambled to his feet as quickly as he could, wand now turned toward the smirking witch, who was still rubbing her free hand all over her body, as if unable to ignore her arousal.

But it was not she that caught his eye.

It was the other masked, robed figures, eight in all, that he could see stepping out from the shadows into the light cast by the orb he carried. Four ahead, four behind.

Shit.

Before any of them could say anything, though, spell-fire erupted from further away, behind him. Jets of red, green, yellow, violet, and more streaked into the Death Eaters at his back, and over their shoulders too.

The voices incanting those spells, despite the din, were voices he knew.

Harry turned directly toward the incoming spells, and ran into the darkness.

It was surreal, he would later recall, running through a tunnel of darkness illuminated only by a painter's palette of streaking light that winked in and out of existence faster than he could track, coming from both ahead and behind, making it impossible for him to judge whether he was making progress.

At least, with his eyes. Harry was able to tell, some thirty seconds or more later, that the hastily-erected Protego shield behind him was failing, and that the position his friends had taken was only feet ahead, while the sounds of the Death Eaters, most of them at least, were receding.

He'd always been a good runner.

Then another spell cut across his shoulder from behind, opening up a gash there that would definitely need looking at, but didn't feel lethal. He staggered once, then kept running.

As he blurred past the line of students at the end of the row of shelves, their own spell-light illuminated in flashes the faces of Cho Chang, Anthony Goldstein, Alicia Spinnet, and Zacharias Smith.

"Thanks," Harry called, then whirled to fight, too.

"No, Harry," Anthony said firmly, looking away from the corridor where increasing fire continued coming in, "We've got orders from Hermione! You have to get back to the circular room with the doors- you'll know it when you see it. That's the rally point- go! We'll hold a few seconds, then follow!"

Before he could formulate a response, Harry had already sent three spells, one Stupefy and two Expelliarmus charms, down the way. "No! You come with me, or-"

"Go, Harry!" Alicia cried, wincing as a spell cut into her upper left arm, making her drop her wand and grab the gash instinctively. A moment later, though, she'd shaken her head, bent to drop the wand, and stood back up, casting again. Between spells, though, she winked and mouthed, blowing a kiss, "Go!"

"Ten seconds, no more," he ordered, then nodded, sent another trio of spells down the passage, then turned and ran.

Why, he could not say. He wanted to fight- needed to fight, to ensure his friends were safe.

They'd come here for him, yes, but what was the point of saving him, if they were hurt, or killed?

He almost turned back.

The only thing that kept him from doing so was Lilith's fluttering wings above him, and the sound of four students saying at once, "Go!" to each other, then pounding feet as the spell-casting behind him dropped off to next to nothing.

To his right, though, far away, another group of students lit up, casting furiously into a cluster of dark figures, again lit only by their spells and the faintest of lights from the orbs.

"Get out of here!" he yelled, hoping the students would heed him.

Praying they would, yet knowing, somehow, that several would not.

Neville for example, whose parents had been tortured into insanity by the Lestranges and Barty Crouch, Jr. If he knew any of them were there, he would probably fight to the death.

Anthony Goldstein, too, had lost family.

Most of them had.

Almost every member of the D.A. had a personal score to settle with one Death Eater or another.

He couldn't blame them for wanting to fight, but this was not why he'd taught them to.

Or at least, tried. He'd taught them so they could live.

"Harry!"

He skidded to a halt, the familiar shock of white skin and red hair, students he knew, through the door on his left, more than the name, caught his attention. He turned back cautiously, stepping around the door-frame even more carefully, wand at the ready.

There were no Death Eaters in the room. Instead, there were six members of the D.A: Luna Lovegood, Ginny and Ron Weasley, Angelina Johnson, Hermione, and Neville Longbottom. Each had their own wands raised, aimed at him.

No... over his shoulder.

"Get in here," Ginny said after a tense moment, yanking him forward by the arm.

She was half his size, so he didn't move far, but it got Harry moving, looking around, rather than staring at the faces of his friends. "Glad to see you," he gasped. The room was mostly circular, with dozens of doors lining it. The one door was open, and several had large, flaming red X's over them, six doors were unmarked, and most were covered.

"There's others-" he started, turning around back to the Hall.

"Wait," Neville said, putting a hand on his shoulder, voice tense, "Hermione said we have to hold this position. It's our way out. We have to wait for the others, and the room spins if the door shuts."

Harry swallowed. Lilith, you get that?

I did, Master, she mentally replied, Not sure what to make of it, though. I can feel... most of your group is here. It's... going to be bad. They'll be slaughtered, most aren't fighting, just duelling. The Death Eaters aren't so kind.

It was as Harry had already surmised. Dumbledore's Army was not formed of killers. They were students. Children. The oldest among them, Angelina Johnson, was just eighteen.

He stepped through the doorway cautiously, shaking off Neville's hand, but the other boy followed.

"They're taking too long," he said, peering down the edge of the Hall he'd just run up.

Nothing.

There was another flurry of spells from across the chamber, which started a distant cascade of shelf after shelf.

Then, four figures, crouched low, started firing from thirty feet away in the opposite direction.

Harry could see four adult sized shadows in the red-green light, one of which dropped at once, while two others raised a shield for the fourth to drag back and revive the first.

"You have to-" Harry wasn't sure what he'd been about to command his friends to do.

The thought had not finished formulating it when one of the two figures who'd raised the quick shields incanted, voice low and raspy, "Confringo."

The orange-white light streaked out, not directly at the students, but at their feet.

The floor exploded upward in slow-motion to Harry, who watched, horrified, as Anthony Goldstein's wand, hand gripped around it but no longer attached to his arm, flew upward, spinning rapidly. Watched the same boy's knees, closest to the point of impact, disintegrate a moment before the front of his torso did the same.

A little further away, Zacharias Smith, the most obnoxious boy Harry knew outside of Malfoy, screamed as Alicia Spinnet's shoe cut through his torso, leaving a bloody hole clear through, before embedding itself into the wall a brief moment before the rest of his body impacted the same surface with a dull, wet thwap that was immediately drowned in the sound of the explosion.

The rest of Alicia's body hurtled past Harry, who had only just begun to duck and shield his eyes, her own, still living, but echoing with horrible pain she had just started to realize was there, before her neck and spine caught the edge of a shelf. Snick. Then she spun like a top, landing in a crumpled heap several feet down the row past the door.

And Cho... beautiful Cho Chang, quiet and smart and petite, suffered the least.

She had turned to face Harry, face full of regret, of longing, as the blast pushed her entire body through the air directly toward Harry.

Then, half-way there, a stray shard of wood from the nearby shelf streaked by. Even in slow motion, it was just a blur as it entered the back of her head.

A head which snapped forward, chin against her neck. Time resumed normal pace, appearing almost break-neck with the lurch forward. The momentum of the strike sent the lithe body into a tumble which ended at Harry's feet.

He knew.

They were all dead, all four.

Anthony.

Cho.

Alicia.

Zach.

Dead- because of him.

"Potter," one of the Death Eaters growled, "The prophecy, boy."

"Don't bother," another said harshly, "Accio Pro-"

In the time it took the unknown woman to speak a single syllable, Harry's world-view changed.

Not drastically, but enough for him to draw a conclusion.

He had not been the cause of their deaths.

They had chosen to come.

Chosen to help him, when he had been the victim.

They had done what he had always tried to do.

Help. That's all, just help.

And they'd paid the ultimate price.

Harry James Potter had not killed Zacharias Smith, Anthony Goldstein, Alicia Spinnet, or Cho Chang.

That Death Eater had.

Rudolphus Lestrange's wand raised.

Before he knew what he was doing, spells began to leave Harry's wand in rapid succession. "Serpensortia. Confringo. Impedimenta. Depulso. Aranea Exema. Wingardium Leviosa. Stupefy. Lumos Solem-"

He was not speaking with rage, though he felt a great deal of it.

No, Harry Potter was not having a problem, somehow, controlling his emotions.

He was not bottling them up.

He was pushing them out with every syllable of every spell.

The snake he summoned was a massive, ten-foot reticulated python. It charged forward at his mental command, forcing one Death Eater into a rapid retreat.

The explosion was behind them, cutting the Death Eater off, forcing him to slow as he changed paths, the snake that much closer.

The Impediment Jinx slowed another Death Eater who had tried to run and help his compatriot. The Banishing Charm hurled another of the wizards into the fire caused by his explosion. He screamed, but immediately stood and rolled out of the fire.

The Spider-Killing Charm, Harry had no idea he'd even cast, and it rippled into the ground to no effect, though the remaining Death Eater leapt out of the way to avoid it.

He was still in the air when the Levitation Charm hit his robes, lifting him up, up, and higher still.

The moment the red jet of his stunner hit the Death Eater, he let go.

Two legs, and possibly a spine, shattered when the man hit the ground, though, stunned as he was, no sound left the man's mouth.

The last...

Blinding white light erupted from above Harry, signalling, he hoped, that he was in the clear- for now.

"Get out of here!" he roared, both to rally his friends toward him, and, hopefully, intimidate the Death Eaters back.

Alicia, Cho... both girls he'd made love with in the last three weeks.

Friends.

Anthony and Zach, despite the Hufflepuff being one of the least pleasant people Harry had ever met (and he knew the Dursleys) had a family who loved him.

Friends of his own.

Anthony, Harry knew since starting the D.A., had four siblings.

What would he tell them, tell his parents?

How could he face any of them?

Didn't Anthony have a sibling in Hogwarts, right at that moment? A younger brother or sister?

How could Harry standto be in the same castle as them for two more years?

"You didn't kill them," a hoarse Neville said firmly, stepping directly in front of Harry to stare into his eyes, "Help me get- help me get them together. We should- take them back, if we can."

Harry only shook his head, "Useless..."

"It's not useless," Ginny Weasley cried from behind him, her own voice choking with unshed tears, "They died fighting! You just fought! Fight more, Harry! Help us!"

It was the last two words that broke Harry from his stupor.

Another door of the round room, behind him, had opened.

He whirled, wand already raising, but he had no clear shot.

Still in the doorway were Hermione, Ron, and Angelina Johnson. Probably the most mature, experienced casters among them aside from himself, according to Hermione, those best able to keep their heads.

Behind them, a Death Eater with the head of a screaming baby was throwing objects, but two others cast from the far doorway of the room beyond, and it was to these that Hermione and the others directed their fire.

He dashed forward, pushing Ginny to the side a bit, raising his wand over Hermione's head, "Confringo!"

This time, he borrowed a book from the Death Eaters.

A shield went up immediately, blocking the two wizards from any direct impact.

His spell, aimed as he had, touched the door just above them.

It exploded, raining down debris and fire on both of their heads.

He panted, gasping, while looking around frantically.

"The others?" Hermione asked hurriedly, casting her eyes about too.

Neville shook his head, "Cho, Anthony, Zacharias and- and Alicia, they're... they're gone."

"Oh, no," Hermione sobbed, "This is all-"

The door to Neville's immediate right flew open, knocking him forward into the Hall.

This time, it was not friends who burst into the room.

Instead, it was a single Death Eater, robes on fire, though he ignored that as he retreated backward. His hood had been knocked back, revealing a shock of thick, spiked blonde hair cut short, though the mask was still on.

The intense spellcasting forcing the Death Eater, who was wildly casting the Killing Curse away from the group, seemed to be coming from just two witches: Hannah Abbot and Susan Bones.

One green light nearly ended the life of the red-headed girl, who ducked with a quiet scream.

Her friend roared, casting even faster, as the Death Eater took another step back.

Harry was not surprised by the Death Eater walking blindly into their group. His mask was on, and likely he couldn't see them because of the narrow eye-holes.

So when he stepped back into Harry's wand, he froze briefly.

In the time it took Harry to say, "Stupefy," knocking the wizard out, four hexes from Hannah and two from a renewed assault via Susan, had struck him.

Ducks really shouldn't be that color of puce.

Nor should they have webbed fronds instead of wings, or caterpillars for feet.

Nor the fetid odor that most reminded Harry of one of Dudley's 'used' socks.

The two girls sobbed with relief when they rejoined the others.

"Who are we still missing?" Ron asked, using his tall form- the tallest in the room, aside from Angelina- to count heads.

Several people present began to cry silently. Harry watched, helpless, furious beyond belief as they came to realize the same thing he had moments earlier.

Four of them had died, trying to save him.

"We have- we have to stick together," Hermione said between sobs, "Safety- safety in numbers. Gather everyone up, and run."

Ron started naming names, "We need Colin, Dean, Katie, and Lee's group, pretty sure they went into the room with the tank of- of brains. Lavender, Parvati, Padma, and Ernie's, I think they went into that room with the archway, right? And- Michael Corner and Terry Boot and Justin Finch-Fletchely, they all went..."

Angelina, perhaps the calmest of them, though she, too, was crying openly for the loss of one of her closest friends, said, "Into- they went into the office area. I don't- we didn't mark that door."

Harry's heart fell, but he knew what he had to do. "Alright," he said firmly, "You all stay here. I'm going to bring them back."

Before they could protest, he had picked a door, gestured at Hermione, and said, "Mark it," then stepped through. He did not have the emotional strength to protest when Ron and Neville followed him, wands raised.

He stepped into the room that the first group must have entered, because the first thing he noticed was a cube-shaped tank ten feet on a side filled with what looked like nothing other than the brains of intelligent humanoids, were it not for the long tendrils of wispy, almost jellyfish-like tentacles trailing from each of them, the tank lit softly from within by some faint, pink light, the only source of it in the room.

A quick scan revealed no Death Eaters, and no signs of battle. The only other furniture was a single table on the left side as they entered, which had two stacks of parchment and a self-inking dicta-quill hovering over the blank piece of parchment between them.

"Don't hesitate," Harry murmured quietly, "And take anyone in a mask down. Don't let them get back up."

Ron and Neville, behind Harry's back, shared a look, but nodded at each other. "Right, mate," the taller of the two said, "L- Lethal, or just hard to remove?"

"Don't care," Harry shook his head as he stepped forward, "But I'm not letting them kill any more of my friends."

Ron sent a single glance backward at Hermione, who looked to be conflicted as she watched them go. Wanting to accompany them, make sure they were safe. To stay back, guard the others. Herself. As well, to be merciful, not to kill at their tender ages. And, at the same time, filled with a very similar rage to what he, and Harry, must have been feeling.

A need to put the animals down. All of them.

Not even truly a need for revenge, but a sheer need for survival.

Neville, for his part, did not look, though he did skirt to the edge of the table and take a moment, while Harry cautiously stepped around the other side of the tank looking up at it, to read the topmost filled parchment. "It's... a record of memories, I think. Don't touch the tank. If- if that's what my Gran thinks they are, they're really dangerous."

Ron's hand was yanked back at once, half-way to the glass. He swallowed, then followed Harry toward the door, Neville catching up a moment later.

Harry opened the door with a soft click, just a crack, then listened. All was quiet. He was about to step in, when Lilith made herself known yet again. There's someone in there, Master. Three females and a male, one of the females is in pain. They're hiding.

Harry swallowed, sending back, No one else?

No, just those four. The adults in the area- your Death Eaters, I think- are pretty much only sending emotions of anger and desire for control and power. They aren't afraid of you all.

"Maybe they should be," he murmured under his breath, then, a little louder, "L- Lavender? Parvati, Padma, Terry?"

Ron's hand on his shoulder made Harry jump, "Ernie. Any of you there? It's Ron, Harry, and Neville."

A moment later, from behind a work-desk on the far right corner, Harry could hear the word lumos, followed at once by a single soft, white glow. "We're here, yes," one of the girls said. Harry thought it might have been Parvati, but it was so quiet he couldn't tell.

He started leading the way across the room, his own wand still up cautiously, scanning for threats.

Because of that, alone, Harry was able to react before the others when a door on the left side of the room burst open with a gout of flame, four figures as tall or taller than himself clad in black robes with masks flowing in through the now open hole, all with wands up. "Found 'em!" one hoarse, rough male voice called, "We got 'em in the 'eads office! Potter, and some others!"

As soon as that Death Eater finished speaking, the shorter of the four, a woman with a cracking, raspy voice, ordered, a little quieter, "Drop yer wands, you lot, or you'll all be sorry."

Harry did not hesitate.

They were outnumbered, outgunned, certainly.

But he was not letting them hurt his friends, not again.

"Depulso Desks!"

Three of the four large pieces of sturdy wood hurtled across the room at the doorway, crashing into the knot of Death Eaters. "Run," he shouted, then immediately returned to sending spell after spell toward the other door.

Ron followed suit, while the black-haired boy instead hurried toward the huddled group of now-exposed teens in the other corner behind them. "Padma, is she-"

"She'll- she'll be alright," Parvati said quickly, helping her twin to her feet, where the Ravenclaw staggered slightly, clutching at a hastily-bandaged right arm, "Which way?"

"Out the way we came in," Neville answered, "Straight through- don't get near the tank. It's just the next door."

"We were that close?" Ernie muttered sourly, "Should- should we stay?"

"No," Harry shouted, "Get to the others!"

Were the Death Eaters not disoriented by his opening move, Harry knew they would already have lost, but the tangle of hands, arms, wands, and legs trying to hit Harry, Ron, and the others through the desks which still lay half atop several of the Death Eaters and entangled the rest were the only things helping them.

Lilith, he thought hurriedly, Can- can you do anything? Like, to k- kill them?

Her response was immediate. I was waiting for you to ask, Master. Hold tight.

A moment later, he felt her small form wrap around his, and then they vanished into a puff of smoke.

Ron gasped, but the others didn't notice as they hurried for the door, though Neville, having escorted them that far, turned and asked, "R- Ron? Where's Harry?"

The red-head could only shrug, "Don't know," as he continued to cast, fighting harder now just to keep the enemy from firing back.

Harry, for his part, felt only the briefest moment of discomfort, not even really pain, as his body expanded several thousand times, then re-compressed into its normal space in a different location.

He took a moment to look around while Lilith released him, one hand lingering on his arse for a moment. He was now in a large, low-ceilinged room lit by several hundred candles, four or five on each desk which sat in long rows, split only by waist-high cubicle walls.

To his right, a blasted-open doorway barely concealed several Death Eaters, all looking in the other direction.

His wand raised without thinking, but a soft hand on his pushed it down. Let me, Master, so I can show you what I can do.

Harry hated it, he wanted to kill them all himself. But Lilith, as always, expressed so much confidence in herself that he had to respect her wishes.

She hazed into semi-transparent existence, and he watched as her body changed. Just as semi-clothed as before, Lilith grew taller, until she towered over him at nearly seven feet tall, long, lanky, but curvy still, further accentuated by another joint appearing in her legs that twisted her pelvis back, arching her chest forward even more. Bone extended from her feet until she seemed to be walking on stiletto heels, if the pointy bits made from her own leg bones. Similar growths extending from her elbows, and the luxurious nails that created the occasional delightful scratch on his back, too, lengthened to two-inch, razor-sharp claws as a gauntlet-like chitin spread across the outside of her hands and fingertips. The little wings unfurled, expanding to six feet or more each, the joints and fingers of the wings growing claws of their own.

Finally, a whip-handle appeared in one hand as she reached the doorway, blackened leather from some creature that did not look like a cow or deer, from which a lash of intense purple flame began to lick and lengthen.

With a twitch of her wrist and lower arm, the whip wrapped first around the neck of one Death Eater, whose hands rose to his neck even as it began to burn and blacken. Lilith yanked backward, and a moment later, the head fell from his shoulders, the body collapsing right after.

Lash of Flame... hard to do. Probably my strongest single attack. It's very tiring, and I can't keep it up long.

Even as she finished explaining the flames vanished. The whole process took but a moment as the Death Eaters only just noticed one of their number had fallen.

Lilith's form, still invisible to others, blurred into motion, faster than Harry could really follow. A moment later, one clawed hand had wrapped around the neck of the shorter, squat woman and began to squeeze, choking off any ability to cast spells, while her body twisted sideways, standing on one foot while the other drove behind her and up, the bone heel catching the hoarse, equally short Death Eater in the abdomen, and slashing downward, opening up his intestines and even genitalia to splatter onto the stone floor.

Harry fought to keep down his bile, even as Lilith withdrew her foot and let her other hand punch, fingers and claws extended, into the woman's gut, up underneath her ribs.

There was a burst of light from the woman's throat and mouth, and when Lilith withdrew the hand, it was covered in smoking gore.

Flameclaw. Not nearly as strong, but if you can get a vulnerable spot, it can do a lot of internal damage. She's dead.

Then Lilith let go, the body the third to hit the floor, though Harry thought the man she'd eviscerated and at least partially emasculated might survive, with the help of immediate magical healing.

And finally... Her wings enveloped, one each, the last two Death Eaters, even while she stepped between them and pressed the palm of each hand against their chests.

Then she withdrew, and both stood there, stunned, not casting.

Over the wreck of the desks, Harry saw Ron, too, watching in horror at the carnage, and Neville facing away, retching.

Then the Death Eaters turned toward each other, as one, and raised their wands. "She's mine," both growled, followed by words Harry hoped he never had to hear again. "Avada Kedavra!"

That, Master, is Chains of Lust. Essentially concentrated Fog of Lust, combined with an imperative to follow my wishes in return for promised... favors. Obviously, I had no intention of granting them, since my 'wishes' were to kill the one trying to take me from them.

Both bodies hit the floor at once, and Lilith's transparent body returned fully to view.

Ron, too, suddenly turned a little green with the additional viscera visible on the Succubus' right claw, but he did not look away.

Harry, in that moment, felt that Lilith, despite being more monstrous than he had ever seen, might just have been the most beautiful creature in the world.

"Thank you, Lilith," he said quietly, then swallowed, fighting to ignore his growing erection- now was not the time.

"It was my pleasure, Master, Ronald, Neville."

The boy in the other room coughed, saying nothing. Ron only muttered, "Holy hell."

"Indeed," Lilith giggled, then started becoming invisible to the others again. This time, as the others knew she was there, she continued speaking aloud, "Shall we find the rest of your friends? Take note- that's all I can do, combat wise, for now. Succubi as a general rule are not known for making war, after all."

"That's all," Ron muttered as he started climbing over the desks and bodies, carefully avoiding the remains of the Death Eaters, "just takes down five Death Eaters in about three seconds, that's all..."

Neville stood, wiping his mouth, then turned and started to follow Ron.

Harry, though, shook his head, "Neville- I'm worried about the others. Stay with them, okay? Um... if Hermione looks worried, find a way to tell her and her alone that Lilith is with us, alright?"

Slowly, reluctantly, Neville nodded, then turned back.

Harry turned to his summoned companion, "Can- can you sense the others?"

She closed her eyes for a few seconds, then nodded, pointing vaguely to the right, "Somewhere over there. This place, it has a lot of confusing space-warping magic. I can't get a good feel for the exact location, but they're over there somewhere. One girl and three boys."

"That'll be Katie, Colin, Dean, and Lee," Ron said, before setting out across the large room. "How'd you get over here, Harry?"

"I took him," Lilith said, "through my world. Or at least, the border-world. From what I've read and heard from Hermione, it's a little like your Apparition, but the realms of reality it passes through are different. If I had to guess- this isn't ego- your version folds space, requiring you to travel through a smaller dimension, bringing you to the destination space. Ours... is the opposite. Instead, you expand to become all space, contracting back to re-form where you want to be."

"Same effect, different method, I get it," Ron said a minute later.

Harry was glad his friend understood, because he hadn't. All he understood at that moment was getting his friends out of there before any more of them were killed, and utterly destroying any of Voldemort's followers he came across.

Fortunately, they did not see any other Death Eaters before they came across Katie and the others, who were skulking as a group through a room filled with shelf upon shelf of books written in dozens of languages Harry could not identify, some of which did not even look Terrestrial in origin.

"Am I glad to see you," Katie murmured as she stepped from one shelf, wand up just as his was, then turned to say over her shoulder, "It's Harry and Ron."

Three more exhalations followed, and the others stepped out as well.

Lee immediately asked, "Where's the rest?"

Harry and Ron shared a look, "Safe. Come on, this way," the red-head said, turning back.

Harry felt it was entirely too easy.

And he should have known better.

The door on the far side of the room opened with a crash as Colin, the youngest present as he was just a fourth-year, clambered first over the pile of desks Harry had created against the doorway on the other side of the room. Harry and Ron threw themselves down below one of the desks for cover, even as Lee Jordan helped Colin over the desks.

The voice that yelled out was deep and strong, even cruel, "Stop, you! I got 'em, off the main work-room! Bunch of ours are dead, too! It's the ones from the west side of the Hall of Prophecy! Hey, you, I said stop!"

Lee, panicking, almost threw the smaller boy over the last of the desks, and started scrambling up it himself.

A splash of familiar, sickly green hit the wall right next to Lee, showering him with debris, but he kept going.

"Run!" Harry ordered when the dark-skinned boy, best friend of Ron's twin brothers, Fred and George, looked back in horror.

He swallowed, looking apologetic, then obeyed, chasing after the rest as they fled to the safety of the group.

"Lilith, can you get to him safely?" he asked quietly.

Her response was quick, "Give me a few seconds, Master."

He and Ron hunkered down as no fewer than seventeen, eighteen, twenty Killing Curses started splashing around the walls and desk as the Death Eater moved closer and closer.

They were abruptly cut off with a flash of flame, the man gurgling on his own blood as clawed hands, burning with hellfire, slashed through his throat.

Harry cautiously rolled and peeked around the desk. Nothing.

Slowly, he started to rise.

Time dilated again.

A Death Eater, tall and thin, was standing atop the desks, half-way across the room.

A lance of purple fire, thin like Lilith's flame whip had been but somehow crueler, formed from anger and hate, straight like a laser beam, streaked toward him faster than he could move.

No matter how much he urged his body to.

Lilith, semi-transparent, appeared between them.

The lance hit her body, and splashed away.

"Oh, o- ow..."

Then Lilith collapsed, her body returning to full visibility.

"P- Potter!" the Death Eater yelled, even louder, "He's got some kind of- of female demon thing! Took a hit for him!"

Again, he heard, distantly, the sound of the same curse being muttered.

"Confringo," Harry roared, wand suddenly breaking free of the terror that had held him in place, "Diffindo! Expelliarmus! Diffindo!"

The first and second spells bounced away from a hastily-erected shield, the enemy wizard forgetting his own curse half-way through, but as he attempted to retaliate against Harry, the shield fell.

The wand, something dark and thick, flew from his fingers in Harry's direction.

The fourth spell severed four fingers on the wand-hand, and bit deeply into the man's right side.

Without hesitating, Harry threw himself up into a run, Ron right behind to cover him. He slid to a halt on his knees next to Lilith, who was, to his immense relief, scowling as she lay, face-up, on the floor with one hand over a nasty-looking burn on her right abdomen. "Bastard's spell hurt," she said with a wince, putting a hand over the wound as she forced herself upright.

"I... I thought he got you," Harry gasped, panting.

Lilith's angry features softened at once as she shared a look with Ron, then down at her Master. Aside from the positions being reversed as far as height went, Harry had not seen her looking more tender, despite the situation, "Master, I told you... it takes a lot to put me down for good. The most a normal wizard could do would be sending me home early. But thank you for worrying about me."

Harry gave a shaky grin, then looked up, glancing around.

Ron followed suit, the blood immediately freezing in his veins.

There were no fewer than fifteen Death Eaters arrayed around the room, each with wands up and levelled.

"Shit."

He had only a few seconds to panic, though, before one, then a second, group of Death Eaters came under fire from behind.

Within seconds, things were over.

Aurors flooded the room, even as Lilith vanished from view yet again, returning to her normal, small form and hovering as high as she could get over Harry's head, invisible to all but himself.

"Wands away, lads," a gruff, rough voice that Harry was most relieved to hear, ordered as the crimson-robed wizards and witches flooded into the room, "There's a good pair. You lot caused a lot of trouble this evenin'. Best keep your wands away, and follow my boys' instructions, yeah?"

"R- Right, Mad-Eye," Ron said with a gulp, stowing his wand at once.

Harry was a little more hesitant- he had dealt closely with a Polyjuiced Mad-Eye Moody before- but the sheer number of Aurors in the room and, apparently, still casting spells in other nearby rooms convinced him this had to be the real Moody.

If not that, then the worried, haggard expression of Albus Dumbledore as he appeared in another doorway would have done it.

"Harry- Harry, are you alright?" the Headmaster- he could think of Dumbledore as nothing else- asked the moment he came near the teenagers.

"I'm alright," Harry answered quietly, fighting to force down his fury. It was over... wasn't it? "Ron, you good?"

"Yeah, I'm alright, Mate," the ginger said just as tense as his friend, eyes still tracking as many of the Aurors as they could, while they swarmed the room, checking beneath each and every desk, in every nook and cranny, sweeping for Death Eaters.

Four of them stopped at the robed, dis-fingered man. "Your work, Potter?" one of them, a dark-skinned, big man Harry knew to be a member of Dumbledore's Order of the Phoenix as well as a high-ranking Auror, asked.

He nodded.

"Good. Dolohov caused a lot of trouble in the last war. Harder to cast with no fingers, though, eh, gentlemen?"

Two of the others chuckled.

Moody stomped away, calling out to Dumbledore, "We found the rest of 'em, as many as the Granger girl said came, anyway. Supposing she was being honest, the kids're all accounted for, at least."

Harry's expression fell. "S- Sir, I... I'm sorry. I..."

A part of him could not shake the feeling that this was his fault.

"Harry," the aged wizard said quietly, one wrinkled hand rising to his chin to lift it to the old man's gaze, "I want you to listen to me very carefully. This is not your fault. Your friends chose to come, and Voldemort's followers chose to take you. If I am correct in assuming- forgive me- that you did not choose to come here this afternoon, then you did not choose to get your friends injured, or..."

"You can say it," Harry said quietly, "I know they... I was there. I know they're dead."

Ron swallowed. Apparently, part of him had been unsure of that last bit as far as Alicia, Cho, and the others had been concerned.

"Yes," Dumbledore responded solemnly, "But again, you did not do the deed, nor are you responsible for it. That fault, sadly, lies in the end at Voldemort's feet."

Harry nodded, not even half-believing it, though a part of him knew, as he had before, that it wasn't his fault, that what Dumbledore was saying was correct. "I know I'm not, Headmaster. It doesn't... make me feel less guilty."

The aged wizard sighed slowly, lifting a wrinkled hand to rest on Harry's shoulder a moment, "No... no, it does not, does it? I am glad you understand, however. You've done well, all of you. Come with me, if you please. We'd best be on our way."

For the next few minutes, Dumbledore led he and Ron through a twisting maze of room,s back through a half-wrecked Hall of Prophecy, through the brain chamber again (though the doors had changed), and eventually, back through the spinning room with all the doors- the flaming doors were no longer present- and out into the dark stone hall, then, eventually, up the long lift to the Atrium.

There, he saw the rest of his friends, most injured in at least some way, being treated by Aurors or the green-robed Healers, while still others questioned them for every detail of what had transpired. The entire time, Ministry officials, some appearing more tired or hastily-dressed than others, continuously Apparated or Flooed into the Atrium, from Department Heads to low-ranking junior staff.

Dumbledore remained a quiet presence, deflecting attention away from Harry and Ron just by being there, for which the young man was incredibly grateful.

Eventually, what seemed like hours later, a portly wizard wearing lime-green pinstripe robes and carrying a matching bowler hat in both worried hands, approached, flanked by no fewer than seven Aurors, though he waved them off as he neared the three.

"Dumbledore," he began firmly, the Minister for Magic appearing quite cross, "What, exactly, is the meaning of this? You have no authority to call my my Aurors, or to-"

"I have not called up your Aurors, Cornelius," Dumbledore said calmly, "I only came when I was summoned myself."

"And who summoned you, then?" the Minister asked haughtily.

"I did," Moody answered from a dozen steps away, stumping loudly toward them, "When I got a call from 'your Aurors' that several security charms had been tripped, and that combat spells were being cast in the Ministry, including more than a few Unforgivable Curses. You have a problem with that, Minister?"

The portly man blustered, but frowned, no doubt aware of the many witnesses as, around them, nearly everyone stopped what they were doing to listen in, "I- Of course not! But who was fighting, anyway? These children should be at Hogwarts, not here."

"And they would have been," Dumbledore answered quietly, "had Harry Potter not been kidnapped. Kidnapped by Death Eaters that you have repeatedly claimed are not active, right from the Great Hall of Hogwarts."

"I- that's impossible," Fudge growled, shaking his head angrily, "You can't-"

"Make a Portkey in Hogwarts?" Dumbledore interrupted quietly, "On the contrary, with no active Headmaster, you can. It is a safety measure for evacuation of the students should the Headmaster be killed in an attack. As I was removed from that post, and your own substitute has since been arrested, Hogwarts has no Headmaster. As such, a Portkey would work very well."

"And who knew that?" Fudge cried, "You? You alone, I bet!"

"No, several people in the Department of Mysteries, and the Auror Department's ward teams know as well," Moody growled from Dumbledore's other side, "It's not a secret, Fudge, just because you don't know it. Besides, how do you explain the Death Eaters in the D.O.M. if you think Harry or Dumbledore cooked all this up, hm? Explain that."

Harry glanced away from Fudge's red face to see the crowd of people around them staring, each hanging on every word one of them said.

"Death Eaters- preposterous! There's no-"

An Auror, low-ranking judging by the insignia, from behind Fudge looked down at the robes and mask he was carrying, shaking his head, then held them up for the crowd to see.

Harry, though, saw none of that.

Instead, all he saw was pain. All he heard was agony. All he could taste was the screaming in his mind.

His body, bereft of his control, twisted, his face looking up toward Dumbledore's. "Kill me, Dumbledore," he hissed, voice high and not his own. "You seek to bring me low, to destroy the rightful ruler of this world... through this boy. Well, if you want to kill me, you'll have to kill him, first. Do it... if you can."

Around him, Harry could only just register Fudge and even Moody springing away, the latter's wand raising to aim between his eyes, though no spell was cast, while Dumbledore's hands, free of any such weapon, fell to his shoulders. Reflected in the aged wizard's bright blue eyes and spectacles, Harry could see his own were no longer green, but a deep, crimson red, as dark as blood.

Blood that he could feel leaking from his eyes and ears.

Pounding in his veins like his life-essence wanted to escape his very body.

And so much pain.

"Kill me," Voldemort taunted again, quieter now, "Kill me, and watch your hope fade."

Magic began to gather at Moody's wand-tip, but it did not leave.

Dumbledore only stared into Harry's eyes, and said, "Harry, I know you can hear me. You are not that monster of a person. You are stronger than he. Force him out."

Harry, though, had to do no such thing.

Because even while Dumbledore was mid-sentence, a third voice filled his head. No, Voldemort... you cannot have him. His true bond is with me.

The pain, at once, vanished. In its place, a feeling of warmth, of belonging, of passion, of peace, serenity and lust, warm summer evenings and cool breezes, crackling fires and hot cocoa, mown grass, wind in his ears with a broom beneath him, or a writhing, sweating body, and...

He shuddered, blinked.

Looking up, in Dumbledore's eyes, his own were reflecting back once more.

"He's gone," Harry murmured.

"No he's not," Moody growled, and a kaleidoscope of color shot from the retired Auror's wand over Harry's shoulder, up into the Atrium.

There, a dark mist wearing the snake-like visage of Voldemort coiled and writhed.

It jerked to the side, the spray of colors striking the ceiling behind it, causing no visible damage but making the endless scrolling of golden letters and runes shake and shimmer, then cease to move, before whirling around the room once, then fleeing for the nearest elevator shaft.

Twice more, once each from Dumbledore and Moody, the same spell lanced out, but each time it missed at the last moment.

Then it was gone.

The Atrium, for all that it was filled with several hundred people, was deathly silent.

"Harry," Dumbledore said quietly, "I would like it if you would take your friends back to Hogwarts, see them safely to the care of Madame Pomfrey, and then return to my office to speak to me. Can I ask you to do that?"

Numbly, he nodded.

"In the meantime," the elder mage continued, turning toward the Minister, "I believe Cornelius needs a few things explained to him in great detail. You may use the Floo, I am sure the Ministry can afford it. The phrase is, 'Headmaster Dumbledore's Office'. To return, you will merely need to inform the gargoyle that you have a meeting with me."

Fudge immediately began to splutter and protest, but a hand from Moody on the shorter wizard quieted him quickly, even as the one-legged, grizzled veteran began to guide his former boss away.

A/N2: Review, folks! New chapters posted monthly (roughly around the 5th), but I will post early when I hit 15 reviews per chapter!

For those who might be interested, I now have a Pat(r)eon (and thanks, FFnet, for being obnoxious as always with outside links. And by thanks I mean I kind of hate you for it).
Here's the link: www . Pat r /KajaWilder? Fbclid =IwAR08dUlNir3Aa0fggM_KW4fjYLNSWV88wTw6soznajhd8tqwhgIzyAxWpbM

Delete all spaces as usual, and it should work just fine.

Glossary:

Imagine, if you will, a WoW-style Succubus with a bit more 'armor' and a bit less 'spikey'. That's more or less what Lilith's 'battle-form' looks like, whip and all. Sooner or later I'll make a 3d model of sorts and show you all with some links. Maybe sooner, now that I have a good way to do that. In fact, I may do that for all Lilith forms, and how I picture the human(ish) girls in my head, too... maybe. I'd have to basically set up a website or google doc folder for that. But maybe. :)