Chapter 39 - Three Towers

"C'mon," Ron urged, running from the room.

Harry turned and blasted the crystal from Rowle's hand, then turned to follow Ron. There was a scream of rage from Rowle and a howl from Lavender.

"Dungeons?" asked Ron as Harry joined him.

"No!" Harry warned. "I watched Rowle. His eyes flicked upwards when he was talking about Hermione. Too subtle for him to feel but enough for me to notice. Upstairs!"

They ran to the broad staircase, then ran up them two at a time. An inhuman snarling, growling, and crashing came from the room they had left. They ran on.

"There were three towers, unless you saw more," Harry said.

They reached the top of the stairs and stopped, looking around them.

"I counted three as well," Ron confirmed. "Two at the front, either side, and a bigger one in the middle. I say we go for the big one."

"I say we go for the one with the best defences and guards," said Harry. "Big tower's too obvious. We'll try the front towers first. Preference?"

"Left," Ron decided. "This way, however you look at it."

He turned to his left and ran, Harry hammering along behind him. Rounding the corner, they saw two guards by a doorway in a heated argument.

"Fulminis!" Harry roared.

A bolt of lightning erupted from his wand and struck the guards. They convulsed and dropped to the floor, smoke rising from their bodies.

"That's new," Ron remarked.

"Got to get in quick. Shields can block it," Harry said as they ran to the door.

"Effective, though," Ron said with admiration.

"Learned it from Ambrose," Harry said. "I need to practise the non-verbal."

There was a bare room through the door, with a spiral stairway in the far corner.

"Too easy. Not promising," Ron reasoned.

"Quick look, just in case it's a bluff," Harry said.

They padded across to the stairs. Stopping to listen, they heard nothing. Ron ran up ahead of Harry. At the top was a store room littered with boxes, trunks and buckets containing scrolls.

"Revelio?" Ron asked.

"Why not?" Harry said. "If it sets off an alarm, it's not like they don't know there's something going down already."

Ron cast the spell. "Nothing here, nor above. I can just see some bunches of people at the far corner of the building. Other tower, I guess."

"Let's go," Harry said.

They ran back down the stairs and past the bodies of the two guards. Harry hesitated a moment.

"Fortunes of war, Harry," Ron said. "We can't arrest everyone, and they would have killed us."

Harry shrugged, and they ran again. They passed the top of the main stairway and carried on towards the other tower, stopping just before the last corner.

"Expecting more guards this time," Harry whispered.

"Bombarda?"

Harry shook his head. "Don't want to risk bringing the tower down if Hermione's up there. I can get them with the lightning attack, but I need to surprise them. Can you distract?"

Ron looked at the corridor junction. "This is a mirror image of the other side of the castle, so they'll be that way. I'll get a run-up, dash across the corridor and burst through that door opposite. They'll chase after me rather than putting up shields."

Ron crept back down the passage. He turned, gave Harry the thumbs up, then ran towards the junction. As he passed Harry into the crossing corridor, he roared, then ran into the door facing him. With a thump, he bounced off and fell on his back on the boards of the floor.

Harry just had time to see the astonishment on the faces of the four guards before he bellowed, "Fulminis!". The bolt of lightning hid the scene with its glare. As Harry's sight returned, he saw four figures on the floor.

"Not quite as planned, but effective," he said, hauling Ron to his feet. "If there are more guards inside, they'll know we're here. Listen, we're on a war footing here. You have permission to use the Unforgivable Curses."

"I don't think I could, Harry," Ron said, massaging his shoulder.

"They've got Hermione," Harry reminded him.

Ron nodded gravely.

They crept past the contorted and charred bodies of the four wizards and up to the door.

Before they could do anything with the door, they heard shouts of attacking curses and defensive charms. There was a thumping of spells hitting the walls of the castle.

"Damn it!" Harry snarled. "Reinforcements. But Rowle's people have seen them. They know we're about to burst in, but they're split. I'll have to give them a chance."

Harry cast a shield charm, then held his wand to his throat to amplify his voice. "You inside. You're trapped. Rowle and Stoia are in custody. Surrender now and you'll be treated fairly. Resist and I can't guarantee your safety."

A barrage of spells struck through the door, splintering it into shreds. The shield charm stopped most of the attacks, but the green flash of a Killing Curse buzzed between Harry and Ron.

"Avada kedavra!" Ron roared.

"Confringo!" Harry shouted as the shield spell dropped

The spell threw the six wizards in the room against the far wall. One fell through the already smashed window.

"Up the stairs!" Harry said.

Harry retrieved the wands of the fallen wizards. Three of the guards were still alive. Ron's curse had killed another. One had gone out of the window. The remaining guard lay dead against the wall, his neck broken. Harry used binding spells on the survivors, then ran to the stairway to follow Ron. Ron was returning, dragging a bound enemy with him.

"The third bloody tower!" Ron growled.

Harry summoned his patronus, murmuring a message into his wand. Then he sent the spectral stag down to the troops outside.

"I've told Gretchen what's going on," Harry said. "If they can get in, I've asked her to check on Lavender and Stephano downstairs, then join us at the central tower."

"I'm not waiting, Harry."

"I'm right with you," Harry told him. "Let's go."

They ran.

"That could be a problem," Ron whispered.

They had crept through the corridors to the central tower. There were guards in the last corridor. Harry had used a revealing charm and discovered a dozen more wizards inside.

"We can't take them all," Harry whispered back. "Not safely, anyway. And if we wait for the reinforcements, any frontal attack would put Hermione at risk."

"We have to go in from the outside," Ron hissed. "We climb the tower and take out whoever's holding her."

"OK," said Harry. "I'll tell Gretchen to hold back until we're in place, then attack from the corridor as a distraction so we can grab Hermione."

Ron gave a wry smile. "OK, but leave any grabbing to me, mate."

They moved back down the corridor until they came to a window. Ron opened it, and they looked up at the tower.

"It won't be easy," Ron assessed the climb. "Wish we'd brought climbing gloves."

"You forgot yours?" Harry asked, pulling out a pair of black gloves.

"I had to hand back all my auror gear when I left!" Ron protested. "I'm still going with you, even if I don't have the gloves.

"No, you're not!" Harry scowled, then grinned and pulled out another pair.

"Git," Ron muttered.

With the gloves on, they climbed out of the window and up to the parapet at the edge of the roof. The gloves allowed them to stick their hands to the wall at will, like a spider's feet. They crouched on the roof's edge while Harry sent a patronus message to Gretchen, telling her the plan and giving her a time to start an attack. After sending the instructions, they kept low and crept along behind the scant cover of the parapet.

"Revelio?" Ron asked. "We need to see what we're up against."

Harry pondered.

"There haven't been any alarms anywhere else," Ron prompted.

"There hasn't been a valuable hostage anywhere else, either," Harry pointed out. "I don't want to take the risk. We'll climb the tower and see what we can find out by looking through the windows. Better go. The reinforcements will be attacking in a few minutes."

Ron set off up the tower. Harry followed. They climbed to the first row of windows. Ron gestured for them to move around the tower until the dark mountains were in their background rather than the bright sky. They did not want to be silhouetted in the windows.

They peered in and found they were looking down into a high-ceilinged room. A dozen guards were lounging on the antique furniture. Harry and Ron withdrew, then climbed to the next level of windows. Here, the ceiling was lower, and the space split into rooms. The first they saw was a storeroom filled with discarded furniture, bedding, and other linen. They moved around the tower to look into whatever other rooms there might be. There was only one other. It was a broad semicircular landing. There was a chaise longue and a set of stairs leading from the room below. At the far side stood a ladder up to the next level. There were no guards.

Reaching the next floor, under the conical roof of the tower, they found Hermione. Her guards had tied her to a wooden chair and gagged her with a thick cloth rag. Two wizards were sitting at a card table, rolling dice and playing 'dragons and ladders'. Two piles of golden galleons lay beside the board, along with a pair of wands.

Harry and Ron drew back from the window to discuss a plan. At that moment, there was an almighty tumult from below. The attack on the tower had begun.

Harry vanished the pane of glass, and they swung inside. He cast a shield charm in front of Hermione. Ron scrambled to draw his wand, hampered by the gloves he was unused to wearing. He dropped it. As Harry exchanged spells with one guard, the other drew aim at Ron. Ron leapt at the guard. He grabbed the wizard's wand hand and stuck his other hand over the wizard's face. He locked the climbing glove in place. The wizard could not see. Ron grabbed the wand itself and writhed furiously, knowing his glove would not let go of it. They struggled and kicked and slammed each other against the walls and furniture. The guard's grip loosened on the wand for a split second, and Ron had it. He turned the wand on the guard and petrified him. The guard toppled to the floor.

There was a shout from the hole where the ladder entered from below. Ron sprang towards the window and scooped up his own wand. Using both wands, he stunned another guard whose head appeared at the top of the ladder. The wizard fell backwards. Ron spun around. Harry and the other guard were still duelling. Ron levitated the card table with one wand to distract the guard, then cast a jelly legs jinx with the other, throwing Harry's opponent off balance. Harry petrified the hapless wizard.

There was a roaring from the landing below. Ron and Harry dashed across the room to Hermione's side. Sounds of crashing and screams rose through the ladder hole. Then silence.

"Ron? Harry? It's just me," came Lavender's voice from the ladder.

Lavender's head, now human again, appeared through the opening. She saw them all and grinned.

"Everything's done down here," she told them. "Except a lot of mopping up, I suppose. How's Hermione?"

Ron went to untie his wife, but his hand passed through her. Ron stumbled backwards and almost fell. He looked at Harry, his face a mask of horror.

"It's not her," he breathed. "She's not here, it's just an image."