Chapter 90. Every year, at the beginning of summer...
A deafening crash and animal roar woke up all the inhabitants of the castle who made the mistake of going to sleep that evening. Drowsy students poured out of their dormitories into the living rooms, rubbing their eyes in fear and confusion. Although the annual oddities at the beginning of summer had long become a tradition at Hogwarts, as unyielding as the changing of seasons, first-year students still panicked at unfamiliar phenomena like kneazles at the sight of a dementor.
The seventh-year students, hardened by years of studying, met the poltergeist Peeves' latest prank or the trolls' latest intrusion into the dungeons with stoic composure. They understood that any troubles were simply another adventure before returning home. It was only the grim news from the outside world that disrupted their fragile calm, reminding them that not everything was as safe as it seemed behind the impenetrable walls of Hogwarts.
Tension in the Room of Requirement reached its peak. The Order of the Phoenix and the Death Eaters were preparing for the decisive battle, as the Death Eaters had taken over Hogwarts. Suddenly, there was a screeching sound, and the door of the Vanishing Cabinet swung open. From it, a tall figure in a black dress with a blood-red hem emerged with inhuman grace. The stranger's pale face was cold and indifferent, while her eyes glowed crimson like a vampire ready to sink its fangs into its prey.
"Who is that?" whispered through the ranks of Hogwarts defenders.
"I am Abigail Williams, servant of Absolute Evil," she whispered barely audibly. But those words echoed through the room, causing everyone to freeze in horror.
With a wild scream, Abigail drew a blade from the folds of her dress. Her figure blurred, and she lunged at the nearest members of the Order with unearthly speed. A final gasp was heard as the crimson blade slit the throat of her victim. The defenders of Hogwarts panicked, attempting to resist the stranger's fierce attacks.
But all their spells bounced off Abigail; she was surrounded by a flickering force field. She danced among her enemies, her sword whirling in a crimson tornado. With each swing, more Death Eaters fell lifeless, while the remaining ones desperately tried to escape.
Hope among the defenders of Hogwarts dwindled by the minute. It seemed that nothing could stop Abigail's bloodthirsty dance among her victims. But suddenly, the sound of hooves and a loud, courageous shout filled the air:
"Fear not, friends! I have arrived to help you in your time of need!"
Everyone turned towards the sound. Standing in the doorway of the Room of Requirement was a tall knight in gleaming armor. His blue eyes shone with determination and strength. Beside him stood Charles-Henri Sanson, who had just been freed from a battle with Hercules, a slender man in outdated attire and a pouch full of strange instruments. He was a executioner from a distant past.
"I, Astolfo, vow to attack this abominable creature!" jingling his spurs, the knight charged forward. His sword struck the flickering barrier around Abigail with force. A crack sounded, and the defense cracked.
Meanwhile, Charles-Henri seized a strange device resembling a metallic scorpion. Clicking its pincers, the mechanism released a cloud of corrosive gas. Abigail cried out in pain and fiercely rushed towards her new opponents...
Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, Jeanne Alter was engaged in a fierce battle with Passionlips. Jeanne's blade cleaved through the air, deflecting the blows of her opponent's massive metal gloves. For a while, the battle was evenly matched - Jeanne managed to block all the attacks, though it required tremendous effort.
But suddenly, she was briefly distracted by the cries from the other end of the room, where Astolfo was fighting Abigail. That was all Passionlips needed - her steel claws dug into Jeanne's shoulder. She cried out in pain and was flung against the wall.
"Hahaha!" Passionlip laughed triumphantly. "Now you're mine, Jeanne! You'll die like the last dog!"
She raised her terrifying gloves for a final blow. But Jeanne had no intention of giving up. Clenching her teeth, she stood up, despite the excruciating pain in her shoulder.
"It's just a scratch," she gritted through her teeth and raised her sword. "You won't see it coming!"
Her eyes blazed with no less fury than Passionlip's. Gathering her last strength, Jeanne charged into battle. Her strikes rained down one after another, forcing her opponent to retreat.
"Impossible!" the opponent roared. "I wounded you!"
"You can't stop me so easily," Jeanne replied. Her voice rang like steel.
She continued to attack, not giving Passionlip any chance. The opponent tried to counter-attack, but Jeanne evaded the strikes, as if dancing. Her movements were full of agility and grace. Jeanne fought with such force that she quickly shattered Passionlip's monstrous gloves, leaving her unarmed. Soon, Passionlip dropped to one knee, breathing heavily. Jeanne raised her sword for the decisive blow...
There was neither fear nor despair on Passionlip's face — only the bitterness of defeat. She looked at Jeanne with a gaze filled with hatred, awaiting the inevitable end. Jeanne froze, her hands visibly trembling. Passionlip's and Jeanne's eyes met. For a moment, Jeanne wavered, images of all the villainy of this woman flashed through her mind. But then Jeanne's gaze softened. She lowered her sword.
"Live," Jeanne said quietly. "My vengeance ends today."
Passionlip's eyes widened in astonishment. The hatred in her gaze was replaced by a different feeling — disbelief and even gratitude towards her merciful victor.
Jeanne nodded at her and turned to leave. Her shoulders were straight, and her footsteps were firm. She had made her choice.
Hercules roared and leaped up, trying to catch the girl, but missed. Then he grabbed a big rock and threw it at Melusine, missing again.
"Idiot! I'm here!" she shouted, flying around him.
Hercules waved his arms like a windmill but couldn't hit the nimble fairy. His rage grew with each passing second. Soon, the entire Hogwarts courtyard was destroyed in his pursuit of the little girl with wings.
While Hercules jumped and waved his arms, trying to catch Melusine, she flew around him and made faces at him — wrinkled her nose, puffed her cheeks, stuck out her tongue.
"Well, well, the big and scary Hercules can't catch one little fairy?" she teased him, dodging his giant fists and tickling Hercules's ears with her wings.
This only infuriated Hercules even more, and he jumped higher with a growl, but the cunning girl eluded him every time, laughing loudly.
Hercules jumped and waved his arms, but never managed to catch the agile Melusine. In anger, he grabbed a large barrel from under the mead and threw it after the flying fairy. The barrel flew high into the sky, flipped over, and swiftly fell back to the ground. Hercules jumped and caught it on his back. The barrel got stuck there, and its bottom looked like a mask in front of him.
Refusing to give up, Hercules climbed higher onto the roof of Hogwarts and in his frenzy grabbed the Slytherin flag, which was fluttering on one of the towers, and threw it aside. It flew not far and firmly attached itself to his barrel. Now it looked like a cloak. Leaping after Melusine again, he fell from the height, destroying the broomsticks' storage and landed on one of them. He didn't even notice how the broom flew up with him, gaining altitude. Waving his "cloak" and periodically grabbing the air with his hands, Hercules raced around the courtyard.
At that moment, Harry appeared at the window of the Gryffindor Tower. In the darkness of the night, he saw Hercules flying on a broomstick in the courtyard with a barrel on his back and a Slytherin flag waving on his shoulders, waving his arms. From that distance, it looked as if a Slytherin student was having a night training session and catching the Golden Snitch! Harry rubbed his eyes in astonishment. This new Slytherin seeker looked like he was really catching the Snitch!
"Wow, this guy is really a master! I'll have to work hard at the match," Harry thought. He even felt a slight envy - he couldn't catch the Snitch as artistically as that.
Suddenly, Voyager flew onto the field and knocked Hercules off his broomstick. Harry gasped:
"Oh no! I hope he's okay," Harry gasped. Did this guy forget to close the trunk with the balls and the Bludger escaped during training? Poor guy, that must have been quite a crash!
In the heat of battle, Dantes secretly drew a rune on the ground as he passed by. The rune was almost invisible, but it was supposed to make someone slip. And just a second later, the Death Eater slipped on it. He merely shrugged and helped the Death Eater up before a curse hit him.
"Oh, how inconvenient," Dantes puzzled.
Another time, Moriarty accidentally released a burst of energy towards the Death Eaters, making them jump back.
"Oh, sorry, ricochet!" Moriarty apologized with a guilty expression.
Bellatrix Lestrange and her companions, Rabastan Lestrange, Thorfinn Rowle, and other notable Death Eaters suddenly appeared from the Vanishing Cabinet.
"Here we are!" Bellatrix said menacingly. "Jack, darling, has someone offended you? If so, slash these filthy mudbloods!"
"With pleasure, Mommy!" Jack replied and enthusiastically began attacking everyone in sight.
Thorfinn Rowley ordered Moriarty to start blowing up walls and columns in the Room of Requirement. Moriarty obeyed, but he laughed and behaved provocatively.
In the end, Dantes discreetly scattered illusory traps around the perimeter. And Moriarty fired bright fireworks into the air, much to the confusion of his Master.
Rabastan Lestrange forced Passionlip to use her charms against the defenders of Hogwarts. They began to lose their will to resist under her influence.
Edmond Dantes clearly did not want to follow Alecto Carrow's orders and constantly distracted her, irritating her.
"Just listen to me already!" Alecto shouted.
"I'm sorry, madam, I'm no one's servant!" Dantes retorted.
"Crucio!" Alecto aimed her wand at him.
The beam struck Dantes, but he simply shrugged his shoulders.
"What was that?" Dantes raised an eyebrow. "Some pathetic version of Crucio? You must truly desire to hurt me, madam! And it seems like you're struggling with that."
Alecto became infuriated by his audacity.
"How dare you! Crucio! Crucio!" She began continuously sending curses at Dantes, but he skillfully dodged them, all the while continuing to mock her.
"Come on, madam, you can do better! Put a little more feeling into it!"
While Alecto Carrow was busy with unsuccessful attempts to curse Dante, Sherlock Holmes analyzed the situation and developed a plan of action. He noticed that Moriarty, under Torfinn Rowle's orders, deliberately blew up supporting columns in the "Salvage Room". This threatened the collapse of the ceiling and walls.
"They are trying to destroy the room to block the exits and cut us off from the rest of the castle," Holmes understood. "We need to stop this urgently."
He dashed to one of the columns just before Moriarty could explode it and deflected the curse.
"Stop this madness! You are putting everyone, including yourself, in danger!" Holmes addressed Moriarty.
The latter only laughed in response.
"Oh, my dear Holmes, you know I can't resist a good explosion!"
Meanwhile, Alecto roared with fury and lunged at Dantes with bare hands, but he disappeared, bidding farewell:
"Try better next time, madam! And now, if you'll excuse me, I must go."
"Well, showing all the tricks at once is not interesting!" Moriarty declared. "Let's leave something for later!"
Then Dantes appeared next to him, further provoking Alecto's rage. They exchanged bows and vanished. Holmes only smiled subtly, continuing to analyze the situation and search for ways to stop the invasion of the Death Eaters.
Tonks, Lupin, and Moody rushed into battle against the Death Eaters. Scrimeger personally engaged in a duel with Bellatrix. They exchanged spells until Bellatrix was distracted, scolding Jack for not being active enough. Scrimgeour took advantage of this and stunned her with a spell.
But they kept coming through the Cabinet, and some managed to slip out through the hole in the wall made by Hercules. The defenders of Hogwarts had to enter the corridor to prevent them from spreading throughout the castle. An intense battle ensued there.